Hong Kong: Deputy SJ to visit Europe

Deputy Secretary for Justice Cheung Kwok-kwan will depart for Europe on March 5 to visit Italy, Austria, Switzerland and the Netherlands for meetings with three prominent private international law organisations.

The organisations include the International Institute for the Unification of Private Law, the Hague Conference on Private International Law and the United Nations Commission on International Trade Law, which are all headquartered in Europe.

The visit aims to foster closer connections and collaboration as well as consolidate Hong Kongs status as the centre for international legal and dispute resolution services in the Asia-Pacific region.

Mr Cheung will attend and speak at a number of conferences and receptions.

He will also meet the leaders of international organisations and prominent political and business figures to introduce Hong Kongs robust legal system and rule of law situation as well as update them on the citys latest legal developments with the unique advantages under one country, two systems, and tell the good stories of Hong Kong.

Mr Cheung will conclude his visit at The Hague on March 11 and return to Hong Kong the next morning.

This story has been published on: 2023-03-03. To contact the author, please use the contact details within the article.
What topics of China's "two sessions" command global attention?

Xinhua) 08:08, March 03, 2023

Aerial photo taken on June 29, 2022 shows a view of the Nansha Bridge, which links Guangzhou City and Dongguan City, in south China's Guangdong Province. (Xinhua/Liu Dawei)

BEIJING, March 2 (Xinhua) -- With China's "two sessions" around the corner, the global community has once again turned its eyes towards some of the hot-button topics expected to be discussed over the coming days.

This year's version is of special relevance, as 2023 marks the first year for China to fully implement the guiding principles of the 20th National Congress of the Communist Party of China (CPC).

More importantly, how China will get off to a good start and provide the world with new opportunities through its own development has captured global attention.

BOOSTING GLOBAL RECOVERY

At a time when the world economy is still plagued with growing and overlapping uncertainties and risks, China's economic recovery has become the sliver lining of the prolonged global recession.

During the Spring Festival holiday, China witnessed a booming domestic market and expanding consumption in various sectors. International institutions like the International Monetary Fund have raised China's growth expectations, and multinational companies have increased investment in China.

China is arguably the only major economy set anticipated to see faster economic growth this year, Yi David Wang, chief China economist at Credit Suisse Group AG, told Xinhua.

An accelerated recovery of the Chinese economy has sent a positive signal to the world, and gives more reasons for observers to be confident in a stronger economic outlook.

After China optimized its COVID response, cross-border movements of personnel and materials are returning to normal, which will significantly improve global expectations for the stability of China's industrial and supply chains, Ding Ke, senior research fellow at the Institute of Developing Economies of the Japan External Trade Organization, told Xinhua in a written interview.

Aerial photo taken on Dec. 16, 2021 shows the automated production line of a technology company in the Economic Development Zone of Anji County in Huzhou, east China's Zhejiang Province. (Photo by Xia Pengfei/Xinhua)

The rapid growth of digital economy, new energy and other emerging industries will equally bring greater dynamism for China's economic development, he added.

Such a good start, stemming from the fundamentals supporting China's steady economic growth, sheds light on the country's economic resilience, potential and vitality.

Given the fact that China is the world's second-largest consumer market and the largest trader of goods, the international community expects China to further consolidate its economic comeback and continue to inject confidence, stability and vitality into the global economic recovery.

"China will undoubtedly continue to be an important 'engine' for world economic growth," said Liang Guoyong, a senior economist with the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development. Focusing on economic policies expected at the "two sessions," Liang believes a rational use of macroeconomic policy tools will play a more active role in promoting China's economic growth.

For other economies, China's expanding import demand means new trade opportunities, and the surge in outbound trips by Chinese tourists will also give a boost to the global service industry, he said.

Khairy Tourk, a professor of economics with the Stuart School of Business at the Illinois Institute of Technology in Chicago, said that the swelling consumption market in China entails "a tremendous demand for new products, say refrigerators, the durable goods, housing that kind of thing."

"My expectations in the short term is that property market will gradually rejuvenate, and foreign direct investment to continue, it is growth unabated," he added.

This aerial photo taken on Jan. 30, 2023 shows a view of the Ningbo-Zhoushan port in east China's Zhejiang Province. (Photo by Jiang Xiaodong/Xinhua)

RAISING ALL BOATS

This year marks the 45th anniversary of China's reform and opening-up. How China will continue to open up its door means a lot for both itself and the wider world, particularly at a time when the economic globalization is under serious pressure.

The reform and opening-up has prompted the Chinese economy to grow at high rates over decades, with a giant leap in per capita income and living standards, Lewis M. Ndichu, a researcher at Nairobi-based think tank Africa Policy Institute, told Xinhua.

The expert said he believes that during this year's "two sessions," there will be much deliberation concerning how to continue to expand opening up, lift market confidence and defuse major risks.

Noting that China's Ministry of Commerce has pledged to fully resume offline trade fairs and support Chinese enterprises to go global, among other policies, Koh Chin Yee, president of Singapore's South Seas Society, said that many business delegations of Chinese local governments have recently headed to Singapore in search of new opportunities for trade and investment, attesting to China's commitment to further strengthening foreign cooperation.

From holding such international fairs as China International Import Expo and Canton Fair and pushing forward free trade projects like the Hainan Free Trade Port, to joining multilateral mechanisms such as the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership ... China is opening its door wider, further expanding international cooperation and sharing its development dividends with the rest of the world.

From the perspective of an exporter, Nicolas Perinetti, export manager for Asia at Argentina's Casarena winery, noted that China's import categories have been increasing in parallel with the expansion of its economic openness.

Noting that products of agricultural trade between Argentina and China have extended from grains to fruits, meat, wine, etc., Perinetti believes the trade of goods with higher added value will help boost Argentina's economic development.

China's further opening-up in the new era has caught high attention from the international community, said Yuri Tavrovsky, a professor of the Russian University of Peoples' Friendship. He has long been following China's development and published in 2017 the book One Belt, One Road: Traveling Westward.

Noting this year also marks the 10th anniversary of the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), Tavrovsky said how the initiative will foster common development of the partner countries is also an interesting topic to which he has paid much heed.

Over the past decade, China has signed Belt and Road cooperation agreements with 151 countries and 32 international organizations in the principles of extensive consultation, joint contribution and shared benefits.

Take Uzbekistan, one of the first countries joining the BRI. It has collaborated with China in multiple major projects such as the China-Central Asia Gas Pipeline and the Qamchiq Tunnel on the Angren-Pap railway line.

The initiative acts as a crucial venue to consolidate cooperation through infrastructure connecting land and sea; simultaneously, it is becoming an important platform for global economic growth, said Azamat Seitov, a scholar of Uzbekistan's University of World Economy and Diplomacy, who hopes that new measures to be declared at the "two sessions" will bring new opportunities to expand cooperation between the two countries.

Tourists view the scenery of cole flower fields in Panzhou, southwest China's Guizhou Province, March 7, 2022. (Xinhua/Yang Wenbin)

NEW CHOICE TO MODERNIZE

Since the 20th CPC National Congress, the "Chinese path to modernization" has spurred worldwide discussions. Many believe that it has offered another option for developing countries to modernize, and embodies Chinese thinking on the cause of peace and development of humanity.

The forthcoming "two sessions" have become an important window for observers to have a deeper understanding of the Chinese path to modernization and keep pace with China's future development.

"The proposal of the Chinese path to modernization is a pioneering work for the development of human society," said Yersultan Zhanseitov, a senior expert at the Institute of World Economics and Politics in Kazakhstan, who believes the new ideas and practices provide new choices, which shows that countries can independently explore their own modernization paths and achieve leapfrog development.

Joseph Matthews, a senior professor at the BELTEI International University in Phnom Penh, said China's modernization is unique in the sense that it is based on inclusive development, common prosperity, people-centered and friendly policies, and a community with a shared future for mankind.

As the world's second-largest economy, China's modernization drive will bring positive changes to the world and promote multilateralism and economic globalization, he told Xinhua, adding China's economic development in the last four decades is a great inspiration for other developing countries such as Cambodia.

Abdoulaye Ba, general secretary of the Foreign Press Association in Senegal, said many African countries, including Senegal, are beneficiaries of China's modernization, which promotes high-quality development in the world.

Applauding several Belt and Road projects in Senegal, such as the Foundiougne Bridge and the Ila-Touba highway, he said, "I am very concerned about the two sessions this year. I want to know how China will further promote and expand Chinese modernization, and how to further promote high-quality development in the world, including African countries."

"Without the slightest doubt, China is a successful case that serves as an inspiration for all developing countries aspiring to become more developed," said Luis Antonio Paulino, director of the Confucius Institute at Sao Paulo State University.

It's hoped that the upcoming two sessions will not only help China forge ahead toward its goals, but also contribute to upholding a fair and equitable global order so as to bring peace and development to the rest of the world, he said.

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Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann called on Union Home Minister Amit Shah and apprised the latter of the usage of drones for the supply of drugs and weapons from across the borders and urged him to allocate more funds to check the menace of cross-border terrorism. Expressing concern over it, he said that this supply of drugs and weapons from across the borders needs to be checked for which the support of the Union government is a must. Bhagwant Mann sought the intervention of the Union Home Minister to combat this challenge effectively. The Chief Minister also urged Amit Shah to provide more funds to ensure modernization of the state police force to effectively combat the new challenges. He said that the need of the hour is to provide ultra-modern gadgets and weapons to the state force for checking cross-border infiltration and drone attack from across the border. Bhagwant Mann said that this is most important for preserving the unity, integrity and sovereignty of the country. During the 40 minutes meeting with Amit Shah, the Chief Minister underscored the need for better coordination between the Union government and the state government to face this challenge from across the border. He said that it is the need of the hour to strengthen security on the border in the larger interest of the nation. Bhagwant Mann said that Pakistan is patronising the drug mafia which can be very fatal for the unity and integrity of the country. The Chief Minister also had a detailed discussion with Amit Shah on the gangsters nabbed by Punjab. He apprised the Union Home Minister that the state government is adopting a zero-tolerance policy against the gangsters. Bhagwant Mann said that the state government is duty-bound to maintain law and order in the state at every cost. The Chief Minister also flagged the issue of problems being faced by the farmers having landed across the fence. He also urged the Union Home Minister to appoint a Punjab cadre officer as SSP in Chandigarh, which has been pending for a long. Bhagwant Mann also sought the kind intervention of the Union Home Minister for the immediate release of pending arrears of the Rural Development Fee (RDF). The Chief Minister was accompanied by Director General of Police Gaurav Yadav and Special Principal Secretary to CM Ravi Bhagat. (ANI)
The Delhi High Court said that the denial of admission by a school under the EWS/DG category even after allotment of school by the Directorate of Education (DOE), frustrates the noble objective of the Right to Education Act, 2009. "It violates the fundamental rights of children belonging to the EWS/DG category, as enshrined under Article 21-A of the Constitution, as also undermining the object of the RTE Act, 2009", said the Delhi High Court. The direction of Bench of Justice Mini Pushkarna has come while allowing a petition moved by a minor child seeking direction to a private school to give admission in the Economically Weaker Section (EWS)/Disadvantaged Group (DG) category. The bench of Justice Mini Pushkarna in an order passed on February 28, 2023, said, "The present petition is allowed and it is directed that the petitioner child will continue to study under the EWS/DG category in the respondent school." This Court also takes note of the fact that under the DG category, income is not the criteria but the only criteria is whether the child belongs to any schedule caste/schedule tribe/ other backward classes, said the Court. "Considering the fact that the Directorate of Education (DOE) has given a report in favour of the petitioner child that he is staying with his family at the given address in Paschim Vihar, which is within one kilometre from the respondent school, which was the only objection raised on behalf of the school, it is directed that the petitioner child who is already studying in the school since June 2022, be allowed to continue to study in the said school under the EWS/DG category," said the court. Counsel appeared for Private school submitted that the enquiry conducted by DOE is a collusive enquiry. The lawyer submitted that two families are allegedly living in the same MIG flat without payment of any rent. "Further, even the Other Backward Classes (OBC) Certificate which was submitted on behalf of the petitioner also shows the address of the petitioner at Mundka and not Paschim Vihar, which was the latest residential address proof," the lawyer added. "If this court is to doubt the genuineness of the exercise of scrutiny and investigation carried out by the DOE as regards the residence of children on the basis of such objections as raised by the school, then many children would be deprived of admission under the EWS/DG category. This would defeat the very purpose of the provisions of The Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education Act, of 2009 (RTE, 2009)," the lawyer added. The Court would accept the bonafide of the investigation and scrutiny carried out by the DOE unless some very glaring discrepancy is brought to the fore. Even otherwise, the noble object of providing good education to the economically downtrodden strata of society and bringing them into the mainstream of society, cannot be lost sight of, said the Court. (ANI)
Officials said that the incident took place on Wednesday night.

They said that the victim had gone to her maternal place, and was on her way home when she was intercepted by the three accused.

On finding her all alone in the deserted area, the accused trio offered the girl drop her home. When she refused, the accused allegedly forcefully took her to an isolated place and raped her, the girl's family told the police.

Ballia SP Raj Karan Nayyar said that the three accused were arrested within a few hours after a complaint was lodged by the victim's mother on Thursday morning.

"A case has been registered against all three accused, and they have been sent to judicial custody," SP added. (ANI)
A Delhi Court has recently called for an Action Taken Report (ATR) from the Cyber Police Station of Delhi police on a plea seeking an FIR in an alleged cyber fraud worth of crores. This matter pertains to cheating people by inducing them to invest in a US company. Chief Metropolitan Magistrate (CMM) Shirish Aggarwal of Karkardooma Court issued a notice to SHO Cyber police station, Jyoti Nagar. The court directed the SHO to file an ATR. The complaint has been filed by one K S Bisht alleging that the proposed accused induced him to invest in a US-based company. They told him that they are members of the said company and promoters in India. It is alleged that on enquiry it came to the knowledge of the complainant that the above mentioned company to whom the above-mentioned persons are propagating as US based Company in fact the above-mentioned accused persons are operating/functioning the application/software in the name of the company from their offices in Delhi. It is also alleged that the above said accused persons have committed fraud to around one crore people who are the members of this company including the complainant and committed cheating of Rs.30,000 crores with the complainant and other people who are the members by inducing and taking them into confidence. It is further alleged that when any member including the complainant raises their voice against all the accused persons, they threaten to Kidnap their family and kill them and due to this reason no one raises their voice and reports complaints against the accused persons. The complaint filed through advocate Vivek Pandey alleged that the accused induced the victim to invest in a multi-level plan by creating an ID and they asked to introduce new people under their ID. There are many stages at every level. The accused persons organise meetings of the company and induce the attendees to invest. (ANI)
Days after the alleged "thieves" and the "house of thieves" remarks made for MLAs and the Assembly by the Shiv Sena Uddhav Thackeray faction leader Sanjay Raut, Bharatiya Janta Party (BJP) leader and MLA Yogesh Sagar on Friday said that Maharashtra Assembly's privilege committee will hold a meeting today and discuss what action to take against Raut. "The Assembly's privilege committee will hold a meeting today and discuss what action to take. There are high chance of decision that can increase difficulties for Sanjay Raut. A notice was issued to him over the controversial remark," said Yogesh Sagar. Maharashtra Legislative Assembly Speaker Rahul Narvekar had on Wednesday ordered an inquiry into the alleged "thieves" and the "house of thieves" remarks made by Sanjay Raut. BJP leader Atul Bhatkalkar submitted a breach of privilege notice to Speaker Rahul Narwekar against Raut. Narvekar said he would inquire into the matter and adjourned the House for the day as chaos prevailed over Raut's remarks. The Maharashtra Vidhan Sabha was adjourned four times today during the ongoing budget session amid sloganeering. Earlier in the day, Raut while talking to the reporters in Kolhapur allegedly called the Vidhan Sabha a "Chor Mandal" and the MLAs as thieves and goons. "This is not a legislature but a band of thieves. What if we are removed from the post are we going to leave the party? Many such posts have been given to us by the party, Balasaheb had given them, and Uddhav ji has given them, we are not hawkers," Raut allegedly said. Mumbai BJP President and MLA Ashish Shelar while talking to the media expressed his displeasure over Raut's remarks and said that those who are thieves themselves view everybody as thieves. Shelar further said, "Sanjay Raut does not have any work, he just sits idle. In his free time, he just sits and watches movies and makes statements But this is an insult to the assembly, and all the members present here are also insulted." Maharashtra Congress President Nana Patole said, "We do not support the statement of Sanjay Raut, the legal process that has to be done on this will happen, all the other MLAs also agreed with this." He said that the government itself created so much ruckus that the House had to be adjourned. "There are many topics in Maharashtra on which we have to discuss and seek answers from the government, but the government does not allow the house to run, so what can we do now, we hope that the government will answer all the questions of the opponents in the house," said Nana Patole. (ANI)
BJP MLA Virupakshappa submitted his resignation to Karnataka Chief Minister Basavaraja Bommai.

In a letter, Virupakshappa claimed that there was some conspiracy against his family.

"I am submitting my resignation under moral responsibility to Karnataka Soaps and Detergents Limited (KSDL) because there is an allegation against me." he said in the letter.

Earlier on Friday morning, the anti-corruption wing of Lokayukta raided the residence of Bhartiya Janata Party (BJP) MLA Madal Virupakshappa's son Prashant Madal and recovered Rs 6 crore cash.

On Thursday, Karnataka Lokayukta officers caught Virupakshappa's son while taking a bribe of Rs 40 lakh.

"The anti-corruption branch of Lokayukta yesterday caught Prashanth Madal, son of BJP MLA Madal Virupakshappa while taking a bribe of Rs 40 lakh. Over Rs 1.7 crore in cash was recovered from his office," Karnataka Lokayukta said.

Lokayukta was on duty after getting a complaint about the demand for a bribe.

According to Lokayukta, more than Rs 1.7 crore in cash was found at Prashanth Madal's office.

Notably, Madal Virupakshappa was the chairman of Karnataka Soaps and Detergents Limited (KSDL).

While his son Prashant Madal is a chief accountant at Bangalore Water Supply and Sewerage Board (BWSSB).

Further investigation is underway, officials added. (ANI)
Three out of four persons, accused in the rape and murder case of a 19-year-old Dalit girl in Hathras, were released from the Aligarh district jail on Friday, a day after they were acquitted by a special court in Uttar Pradesh. Accused Ramu, Lavkush and Ravi were released from jail. They were acquitted by the court. While accused Sandeep was convicted for the offence of culpable homicide not amounting to murder and for offences under the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act. "There were four accused, three have been released. Sandeep (convict in the case) has been imprisoned for life. The rest three have been released this morning at eight o'clock," Jailor PK Singh said. He said that they were acquitted by the court yesterday but sought a one-day delay in their release citing security reasons. A 19-year-old girl succumbed to her injuries at Delhi's Safdarjung Hospital on September 29, 2020, after being assaulted and allegedly gang-raped in Uttar Pradesh's Hathras on September 14, 2020. Her body was cremated by the Uttar Pradesh Police and the administration allegedly without the consent or the presence of the victim's family. (ANI)
Five accused have been arrested for forging the Govt IDs of 95 celebrities and eminent citizens to dupe banks of over Rs 90 lakh, said Delhi Police on Friday. "Arrested accused forged Govt IDs of 95 celebrities. The loophole is in the documentation and backend verification which needs to be upgraded. All accused have good IT knowledge," said Chhayya Sharma, Joint CP, Eastern Range. The police said the accused have been identified as Puneet, Md Asif, Sunil Kumar, Vishwa Bhaskar Sharma, and Pankaj Mishra. Explaining the modus operandi, the police said, "A complaint was lodged by Prem Shekhawat, authorised representative of FPL Technologies Private Limited, a Pune-based company having One Card project. This company provides contactless metal credit cards and virtual cards." "A case was registered wherein it was alleged that a few people have cheated their company to the tune of Rs. 21,32,572.85 by creating fake Pan Card and Aadhaar cards of celebrities like Sachin Tendulkar, Alia Bhatt, Abhishek Bachchan, Himesh Reshamiya and getting credit card issued from their company," the police added. During the investigation, it was revealed that the accused got GST details of these celebrities from Google. The first two digits of GSTIN are the state code and the next 10 digits are the PAN number, said the police. The date of birth of these celebrities is easily available on Google thus the accused got two important PAN details, like PAN and date of birth. "Similarly, they followed the same process to forge the Aadhaar details. And after getting new PAN and Aaddhar, the fraudsters applied for new credit cards from Pune-based fintech startup 'One Card'", said the police. The accused used all loopholes in the banking system of verifications and ensured the quick siphoning of money. During the investigation, it was revealed that the accused had together cheated a total of more than Rs 90 lakh and spoiled the CIBIL score of various celebrities. "Upon receiving the information, a dedicated team of Cyber Police Station collected the alleged IP Addresses from 'One Card', the Device ID of accused persons, IPDR of alleged 95 mail IDs, CDR of alleged Mobile numbers, details of alleged bank accounts which were involved in settling the cheating amount," said the police. "After getting the details, an analysis was conducted during which it was revealed that the said fraud was conducted by a gang of Delhi and Jaipur-based persons who worked together in a close conspiracy," the officials added. Further, after following the leads accused Sunil Kumar was arrested with various mobile phones, forged PAN cards, forged Aadhaar cards, Debit, Credit Cards with fake names, various Sims, forged Voter IDs and E-Shram cards. Later the police said, "Based on his information other accused were also arrested. The accused together cheated multiple banks like Axis Bank and multiple credit card companies like One Card etc. Other banks and credit card companies are also under investigation regarding their KYC procedure." Further investigation is underway. (ANI)
Shiv Sena Leader (UBT) leader Aaditya Thackeray on Friday said that democracy in India is under threat and the whole world knows about it. While speaking to the media he said, "Our democracy is under threat and the whole world knows about it. Not only Rahul Gandhi but everyone is saying the same thing. Only those who are standing with Government do not accept the reality of today but deep inside even they know that." Earlier Congress leader Rahul Gandhi in a lecture at Cambridge University in London stated that intelligence officers had warned him of pegasus software in his phone and he should be aware of that. In this regard, Aaditya Thackeray said, "I don't know about his phone being tapped but those who are trying to speak the truth in this country their voices are being stifled" "People's phones were also tapped in Maharashtra, on which no action has been taken yet", he added. Rahul Gandhi made these remarks at Cambridge Business school on the theme "Learning to Listen in the 21st century". Congress leader stated that democracy is under threat and all the institutional frameworks required in the country be it judiciary, parliament, or free press are getting constrained. He further stated that India is a union of states and the Union requires negotiation and conversation and that negotiation is under attack and threat. (ANI)
Urban Improvement Trust (UIT) on Friday removed illegal portions of a farmhouse belonging to suspended Additional SP Ajmer Divya Mittal. "The permission was given for the construction of a farmhouse but a hotel was being run on the land. Additional construction was made without permission," Nitendra Pal Singh, Secretary UIT told reporters. "60 per cent of the total construction was found to be illegally made. And on the basis of which the removal action was taken," Singh added. ASP Divya Mittal was arrested by the Rajasthan Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB) on January 16 for allegedly demanding a bribe of Rs 2 crore. It was alleged that ASP Mittal demanded a bribe from a suspected drug dealer and even got a broker to threaten him with a case under the Narcotics Drug and Psychotropic Substances (NDPS) Act, 1985 if he refused to comply. Acting on the complaint lodged by the alleged drug dealer, the ACB conducted searches at Mittal's properties in Ajmer, Jaipur, Jhunjhunu and Udaipur in Rajasthan. Additional SP of the Anti-Corruption Bureau, Bajrang Singh Shekhawat, said they registered a case at ACB Headquarters, Jaipur on January 4. In his complaint, the suspected drug dealer accused the ASP of calling him for questioning and demanding a bribe of Rs 2 crore in lieu of not arresting him in the NDPS Act case. He claimed he was pressured to pay the bribe despite being innocent of the charges. He further alleged when he refused to pay the bribe amount, the ASP tried to close the deal at Rs 1 crore and forced him to pay up. According to the complaint, after registering the complaint, the ASP called the suspected drug dealer over for talks on January 12. The deal was closed at Rs 50 lakh, with the amount to be paid in two instalments of Rs 25 lakh each, the complainant said. ACB sleuths said they laid a trap for the broker, a former police officer, and had the complainant ask him to collect the money on the Ajmer bypass. However, the broker sensed foul play and did not show up, they added. The ACB then searched the broker's residence after getting the court's nod. However, the broker continues to be on the loose, the Bureau added. (ANI)
Tamil Nadu Government on Friday told the Supreme Court that they are not totally against the RSS route march but can't permit it in sensitive locations. Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) on Friday also assured the Supreme Court that it is not going to hold any route march on March 5 in Tamil Nadu as the organisation has decided to postpone the rally. Senior Advocate Mahesh Jethmalani, appearing for RSS, told the Supreme Court the organisation is not going to do anything till March 11 or March 12. Senior Advocate Mukul Rohatgi, appearing for Tamil Nadu Government, hence urged the top court to post to March 17. The state government also agreed to present the inputs before the bench in a sealed cover and also the proposed routes. Tamil Nadu Government also said that they will have a dialogue with the RSS on proposed routes for march as they are not totally oppose of it. A bench of justices V Ramasubramanian and Pankaj Mithal thereafter adjourned the matter for March 17 for hearing a plea by the Tamilnadu government appeal against the Madras High Court order permitting RSS for its route march in the state. Senior Advocate Mukul Rohatgi, appearing for Tamil Nadu Government, said that they are not totally opposing the route march and public meetings by RSS across the state but it cannot be permitted in every street and mohalla. Senior Advocate Rohatgi apprised the court that the government denied holding route marches in the sensitive areas, which have faced PFI incidents and have border areas with disturbances. The lawyer said that the government had had some intelligence reports. Tamil Nadu Government lawyer submitted the court cannot shut its eye to the bomb blasts in Coimbatore, PFI incidents etc. On this the court remarked that one is a language of democracy and one is the language of power and which language you speak depends on where you are. The lawyer for Tamilnadu Govt stressed that they are not fully opposed to the procession but to the manner in which it is proposed to be done. RSS lawyer replied that the ground the state government mentioned is that PFI was banned by Central Govt and it is a threat to the organisation. They are not able to control terrorist organizations and that is why they want to ban the route march, the lawyer said. Tamil Nadu Government has moved the top court against the Madras High Court order permitting the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) to take out its route march in Tamil Nadu on rescheduled dates. On February 10, Madras High Court directed Tamil Nadu police to grant permission to Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) to take route marches in various districts across the State on public roads. (ANI)
Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on Friday attended an Excellence in Education Award event where he felicitated a number of students of Delhi and said his dream is to make Delhi a centre of education for the whole world. Speaking at the event, CM Kejriwal said, "A few days ago I met a woman on a flight who said that last year she also received the Excellence Award from a school. She was proud of it and I also felt good. We have been giving this award teachers of children since 2015. Now people consider this award as a big medal." "When I was giving awards to the students, I saw confidence and happiness on their faces. Students who didn't receive the award this year I wish in coming years they will also receive the award," he added. In the last seven-eight years, the education gap between private and government schools has ended. Excellence Award is the confluence of both education systems. Now there is no discrimination between government and private schools, Kejriwal added. He added, "There are around 1800 Municipal Corporation of Delhi schools. Their conditions are also not good but we will start trying to fix them soon." Our dream is to make Delhi the centre of education for the whole world. To improve education quality in the national capital the teachers and principals of both private and government schools have worked hard. The results so far are good and we will definitely succeed, the CM said. Earlier on February 28, Delhi Deputy Minister Manish Sisodia resigned from the cabinet. Sisodia used to hold 18 departments including Education. The development comes after Delhi Deputy Chief Minister Sisodia was arrested on February 26, by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) in connection with the Delhi excise policy case. Meanwhile, Supreme Court on February 28, refused to entertain Sisodia's plea challenging his arrest. The apex court suggested Sisodia move the Delhi High Court. A bench headed by Chief Justice of India DY Chandrachud said that the court is not inclined to entertain the petition at this stage and suggested Sisodia move the Delhi High Court. (ANI)
Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Friday lashed out at Congress and Aam Aadmi Party for objectionable slogans against Prime Minister Narendra Modi, and said that their prayers would not be heard as the people of the country are praying for his long life. "Congress is not left with any source of winning. The level of Congress is falling day by day under Rahul Gandhi's leadership. These people are raising slogans 'Modi teri kabar khudegi' and AAP says 'Modi Tu Mar Ja'. God will not listen to you because 130 crore people are praying for PM Modi's long life," Shah said while addressing a public meeting in poll-bound Karnataka, while further asking if people should vote for such a party. Congress leaders were heard chanting slogans against the Prime Minister at the Delhi airport on February 23 when Pawan Khera deboarded from the flight. Naming Karnataka Congress president DK Shivakumar and former state chief minister Siddaramaiah, Shah said that the leaders would not succeed no matter how much they "abuse" the Prime Minister. "Congress, Siddaramaiah and DK Shivakumar should hear, whatever message Rahul Gandhi might have given you, the more you throw mud, the more the lotus will bloom. It is the nature of lotus to spread fragrance amid mud. No matter how much you abuse PM Modi, you won't succeed," he said. Further taking potshots at JDS and Congress, which are allies in Karnataka, the Home Minister said that they are only fulfilling their "selfish motives". "JDS and Congress, both are 'Family Parties'. They never can think about the welfare of people. They are inclined towards just fulfilling their selfish motives. Modi govt's PFI ban was a good decision. And our double-engine government has been working with the double-speed. Congress and JDS, on the other hand, have never ensured development in Karnataka," he said. Shah accused Siddaramaiah of promoting corruption and said that the Congress leader was an ATM for a "family residing in Delhi". "Siddaramaiah did nothing except becoming an ATM for a 'family' residing in Delhi. He promoted nothing but corruption. I urge you all to never give any chance to such people and never subject yourselves to risk," he said. The Home Minister also spoke about the poll results of the three Northeastern states - Nagaland, Tripura and Meghalaya and said that the party has been wiped off from the region. "I am glad to be present in Karnataka, today, and I thank you all for your huge presence. You all must have been aware of what has happened in the North East Region. Thousands of km from Karnataka only yesterday, in the North East (Tripura, Nagaland and Meghalaya), the Congress has been wiped off. Congress got 0 seats in Nagaland, 3 seats in Meghalaya and only 4 seats in Tripura," he said. "It was said that the BJP cannot enter the Northeast. Today, the NDA and BJP formed the government for the second time," Shah added. The Home Minister detailed the work done by the government for Karnataka and said that there is the development under the BJP government. "Our government has been ensuring great development in Karnataka and has been religiously following Article 371 J. From a Special Package worth Rs 3,000 crore in the last budget, we have allocated Rs 5,000 crore for the same in this year's budget," he said. "Right from developing infrastructure to ensuring the welfare of farmers through increasing financial assistance under the PM-KISAN Yojana, we have brought overall prosperity in the State. For furthering the development, for furthering the security and prosperity in the State and the nation, Vote for Modi Ji, vote for the BJP," Shah added. (ANI)
The Delhi High Court on Friday dismissed a challenging petition for the appointment of the Director General (DG) of Manohar Parrikar Institute for Defence Studies and Analyses (MP-IDSA), the premier research institute in the country in the field of Defence research and analyses. While rejecting the plea, the bench headed by Justice Satish Chander Sharma and Justice Subramonium Prasad noted that the matter is related to a service matter which can't be raised in the form of Public Interest Litigation. The plea alleged that the appointment of the present DG, MP-IDSA is contrary to the guidelines of DoP&T and the rules of the society, without any advertisement or any selection process. Earlier the Court had sought the response of all respondents including MP-IDSA, Sujan R. Chinoy (DG, MP-IDSA) and the Director Appointments Committee of the Cabinet. The Petitioner Advocate Subash Chandran KR earlier stated that the very appointment of the top executive of the leading think tank in our Defence Sector is being questioned for the trade of qualification, impropriety, malafides in the selection process and the issue concerns the security of the nation and the nation at large is the beneficiary, plea stated. The plea also stated that the present Director General Sujan R. Chinoy retired from the Indian Foreign Service on December 31, 2018, and after one day, the Press Information Bureau in its press release dated January 2, 2019, informed that the Appointments Committee of the Cabinet has appointed Sujan R Chinoy as Director General of MP-IDSA, w.e.f. January 3, 2019, the petition read. Petition also submitted that the proceedings of a prominent subject expert in the Selection Committee is a primary requirement since the incumbent has to preside over the work of over 640 post-graduate/doctorate scholars who are thorough subject experts in the field of Defence Studies and Analyses and the incumbent Director General has to guide them and assess their work and has to be himself a doyen in the field of defence research and analyses. The said appointment of Sujan R Chinoy as DG is a violation of all norms as laid down in the DoP&T Circular dated 3.7.06 as well as clause 13 of the Memorandum of Association of the MP-IDSA, the plea read. (ANI)
The accused have been identified as Atul Rawat, Tuhin Bhattacharya and Mool Singh and were arrested from Marion Biotech Pvt Ltd.

The case had been registered at Gautam Buddha Nagar Phase-3 Police Station under various sections of Drugs and Cosmetics Act 1940.

A probe had been launched last year launched an inquiry into the Noida-based drugs manufacturer after deaths of 18 children in Uzbekistan.

Uzbekistan had alleged that 18 children had died after consuming medicines manufactured by the company.

The Central Drugs Standard Control Organisation had conducted an inpsection following reports from Uzbekistan and all manufacturing activities of Marion Biotech at Noida unit were stopped till the completion of inquiry. The Uttar Pradesh Food Safety and Drug Administration Department had suspended the production licence of the company. (ANI)
A day after the BJP created history by returning to power in Tripura, Chief Minister Manik Saha on Friday submitted his resignation to Governor Satyadev Narayan Arya at Raj Bhavan in Agartala and the Governor asked him to continue till the new government is sworn in. "Today I have submitted my resignation to the Governor and the Governor has asked me to continue as CM till the new government is formed. Swearing-in ceremony most likely to be held on March 8," said Saha to reporters. "Today met Hon'ble Governor of Tripura Shri Satyadeo Narain Arya Ji at Raj Bhavan and submitted my resignation as Chief Minister. He accepted the resignation and asked me to continue as caretaker CM till formation of the new government," Saha said in a tweet. Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) returned to power in the state by winning an absolute majority. According to the Election Commission of India, BJP won 32 seats with a vote share of around 39 per cent. Tipra Motha Party came second by winning 13 seats. Communist Party of India (Marxist) got 11 seats while Congress bagged three seats. The Indigenous People's Front of Tripura (IPFT) managed to open its account by winning one seat. The CPI(M) and the Congress, arch rivals in Kerala, came together in the Northeast this time in a bid to oust the BJP from power. The combined vote share of CPI(M) and Congress remained around 33 per cent. Chief Minister Saha defeated Congress' Asish Kumar Saha from the Town Bordowali seat by a margin of 1,257 votes. In the 60-member Tripura assembly, the majority mark is 31. The BJP, which had never won a single seat in Tripura before 2018, stormed to power in the last election in alliance with IPFT and had ousted the Left Front which had been in power in the border state for 35 years since 1978. The BJP contested on 55 seats and its ally, IPFT, on six seats. But both allies had fielded candidates in the Ampinagar constituency in the Gomati district. The Left contested on 47 and Congress on 13 seats, respectively. Of the total 47 seats, the CPM contested 43 seats while the Forward Bloc, Communist Party of India (CPI) and Revolutionary Socialist Party (RSP) contested one seat each. The CPI(M)-led Left Front ruled the state for nearly four decades, with a gap between 1988 and 1993, when the Congress was in power but now both parties joined hands with the intention to oust BJP from power. (ANI)
The Delhi High Court on Friday issued notice on the plea of Delhi police seeking to place on record the fact of the death of Shahzad Ahmed. He was convicted in the Batla House encounter case and his appeal was pending before the court. A division bench comprising justices Sidharth Mridul and Amit Sharma issued notice to the concerned party in the matter and listed the matter on March 10, the date already fixed. The application moved by the prosecution stated that Shahzad Ahmed died at AIIMS on January 28. Kindly take this fact on record and pass an appropriate order, the application submitted. Shahzad was hospitalized in the AIIMS due to ill health. Earlier, the Delhi High court on December 26, 2022, directed the authorities to transfer Shahzad Ahmed from GTB hospital to Safdarjung hospital. It was stated that his condition is deteriorating. He was on the ventilator for two days. The vacation division bench comprising justices Vibhu Bakhru and Amit Sharma had directed the authorities to take steps to transfer the applicant from GTB hospital to Safdarjung hospital expeditiously. The bench noted the submission of advocate Aman Naqvi that the applicant was admitted to the hospital 18 days back with a complaint of abdomen pain. His condition was deteriorating. He was on a ventilator for two days. The bench also considered the medical report filed by Additional public prosecutor Rajesh Mahajan stating that the applicant is suffering from Pancreatitis. He is being given the best possible treatment. There is a specialised endocrinology department. The applicant is satisfied with the treatment. He was admitted to the GTB hospital on December 8, 2022. Shahzad Ahmed is a convict in the Batla House Encounter case. He was convicted and sentenced to life imprisonment by the trial court. His appeal against the conviction is pending before the High court. The state also filed an appeal seeking a death sentence for him. There is another appeal filed by Ariz Khan against the capital punishment awarded to him in the matter. (ANI)
With an aim to galvanize private hospitals from across Delhi-NCR to contribute to the National Tuberculosis Elimination Programme (NTEP), and expand the impact of Mission TB Free India, Medanta and other private hospitals in association with the Centre, under the guidance of Central TB Division, Ministry of Health and Family Welfare organized a multi-stakeholder event engaging private hospitals and state health officials. As part of the programme, deliberation was held with Apollo Medical College, Yashoda Super Specialty Hospital, Amrita Hospital and stakeholders from a number of other hospitals. They were encouraged to support the national initiative by adopting the 'Active Case Finding' model of TB detection. Towards the Pradhan Mantri TB Mukt Bharat Abhiyan, Deputy Director General of Central TB Division, MoHFW, Rajender P Joshi, announced the private hospitals' engagement program in the presence of Dr Naresh Trehan (Chairman and Managing Director, Medanta), Dr Anand Jaiswal (Senior Director) and Dr Bornali Datta (Director) from the Department of Respiratory and Sleep Medicine, Medanta, Gurugram. The event was also graced by Dr Kuldeep Sachdeva (Regional Director - SE Asia, International Union Against Tuberculosis and Lung Diseases). The objective of this engagement program is to encourage private hospitals to actively contribute to TB screening and assist the state in bridging the gap in TB care services. This will further strengthen the robust NTEP that works to detect TB in unscreened population pockets and establish linkages between identified patients and government treatment services. Speaking on occasion, Rajender P Joshi, deputy director general (TB), Central TB division said, "We have made significant progress in strengthening the infrastructure for TB treatment. However, we must recognize that to scale access to therapy, multi-stakeholder models through partnerships with private hospitals are the way forward. Collaboration with Medanta and other private hospitals is a great step towards achieving the national goal of TB elimination by 2025." Dr Naresh Trehan, Chairman and Managing Director, Medanta Gurugram said, "Detection and treatment play a crucial role in the prevention and management of tuberculosis. Currently, a vast majority of patients go undetected and untreated in India, significantly increasing the disease burden. The private hospital sector can play an important role in the prevention and treatment of TB by taking on a larger, more active role in screening. We are delighted to share our learnings with other private hospitals and scale the TB-Free initiative through widespread adoption of the cost-effective screening model developed by Medanta." (ANI)
After a series of protests by students complaining that a Government Junior College with 700 students has just one toilet, the Telangana High Court on Thursday issued a notice to officials seeking a response in the matter. The matter pertains to the Saroornagar Government Junior College, where the students have alleged that there is only one toilet in the whole college having around 700 students. The students of the college have been staging protests against the management demanding redressal of their problems. The students demanded that Telangana Education Minister Sabitha Indra Reddy and the State Education Commissioner should come and solve the problem. Incidentally, a law student had also written a letter to the Chief Justice of Telangana High Court, Ujjal Bhuyan. Finally, on Thursday, the Telangana HC issued notices to the Chief Secretary and Principal Secretary of Education to respond to this matter. After the incident came to light, a BJP leader, Ramulu Yadav came forward to donate Rs 20 lakh to Government Junior College Principal for the construction of toilets and providing facilities. The Corporator of Saroornagar, Akula Srivani said that there is only one toilet in the college and that too lacks a water connection. Talking to ANI, he said, "Today, in the Telangana government, an unfortunate situation has occurred where work is being done only after students come out and stage protests. There are 400 boys and 400 girls studying at Saroornagar Junior College but there is only 1 toilet for all of them. Moreover, there is no water connection to it. The people should protest against this. I had also given a representation to the education minister." He said, "A few years back, after an inspection, I also gave representation to Hyderabad Metropolitan Water Supply and Sewerage Board (HMWSSB) that there is no water here. Despite this, there was no action taken. I had demanded that colleges should be started only after providing proper facilities and infrastructure. This assembly constituency comes under Education Minister, and the college falls under the GHMC limits, but still does not have toilet facilities, water or proper infrastructure." A student of MPC second year named Sanjana said that they have been facing many problems in the college. "I am studying in the college for the past one and a half years. We faced many problems in the first year. In the second year, their number of students increased and it turned into a big issue. We do not have sufficient washrooms, proper drinking water or even a compound wall for security," she said. (ANI)
Union Home Minister Amit Shah is scheduled to travel to at least two states in March as part of the ongoing Lok Sabha Pravas, said sources on Friday. Shah will travel to Madhya Pradesh and Odisha this month apart from holding a regional anti-drug movement conference in Karnataka. Sources privy to the details told ANI that Shah is expected to be in Chhindwara in Madhya Pradesh on March 25 and he is expected to be in Odisha on March 26. The programmes of the Home Minister in Odisha are still being worked out. Apart from public rallies during these visits, Shah will also hold meetings with the state leaders on various organisational issues. Home Minister Shah is also likely to chair a regional conference of Southern states/UTs on Drug Trafficking and National Security in Bengaluru on March 24, 2023. Last month the former BJP president travelled to poll-bound Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh and Bihar too. Late in December last year the top brass expanded Pravas programme for weak Lok Sabha seats from 144 to 160 seats. Interestingly, out of these seats, a maximum of 24 seats are from Bengal. The visits to these Lok Sabha seats, Lok Sabha Pravas 2.0 began in January this year. These seats are the ones where the BJP wasn't able to get victory in the last 2019 Lok Sabha polls. Out of these weak seats, half will be covered by BJP president JP Nadda and the other half by Amit Shah and Rajnath Singh. For the Lok Sabha Pravas, the BJP has also formed a committee that is being coordinated by General Secretary Vinod Tawde. The other members of the committee are Union Ministers Kiren Rijiju, Smriti Irani, Pratima Bhoumik, Pralhad Joshi, Arjun Ram Meghwal and Anurag Thakur to name a few. (ANI)
A senior Bihar Police officer said on Friday the Tamil Nadu Police has informed that videos circulating on social media showing alleged attacks on migrant labourers in the southern state were "false" and "misleading". "Bihar DGP has spoken to TN DGP. Other senior officers of the Bihar Police are in touch with senior officials of the Tamil Nadu Police. The Tamil Nadu Police has said that the said videos are fake and misleading," Additional Director General of Police (Headquarters) Patna, JS Gangwar told ANI. Stating that the alleged videos were of some old personal disputes, he said Tamil Nadu Police is providing protection to migrant workers. "Videos of some old personal disputes were shot and it was published saying that it is against residents of Bihar. They have said that no such incident has taken place. Tamil Nadu Police is taking action continuously and providing protection," said Gangwar, ADG (HQ) Patna. He said, "Everyone is safe and there is no problem." "Bihar Police is speaking to the people concerned to verify the new reports & trying to find out if there is any problem at all. Right now, nothing as such has come to light," he added. Earlier, Tamil Nadu Director General of Police C Sylendra Babu clarified that the videos circulating on social media were false and "mischievous." "Somebody in Bihar has posted a false and mischievous video saying that the migrant workers of Bihar are attacked in Tamil Nadu. Two videos are posted and both are false videos. These two incidents happened earlier in time in Tiruppur and Coimbatore. In both cases, the clash was not between Tamil Nadu people and migrant workers. One was a clash between two groups of Bihar migrant workers and another video was a clash between two local residents of Coimbatore. They are all Tamil Nadu people," DGP Babu said. The DGP further said that the facts are twisted to make it appear that the migrant workers of Bihar are attacked in Tamil Nadu. "Here, people are leaving very peacefully. Law and order is maintained very well in the state of Tamil Nadu. All the people are living in harmony," he added. The Tamil Nadu Police clarification came after Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar took note of media reports on the videos and directed the state chief secretary and DGP to speak to officials in the Tamil Nadu government and ensure the safety of Bihar labourers. "I have come to know through newspapers about attacks on labourers from Bihar working in Tamil Nadu. I have directed the chief secretary and director general of police of Bihar to talk to the officials of the Tamil Nadu government and ensure the safety of labourers from Bihar living there," Kumar said in a tweet. Bihar Deputy Chief Minister Tejashwi Yadav also said that Tamil Nadu Police has clarified that the videos are "baseless." He took to Twitter last night as well to say, "DGP Tamil Nadu is categorically stating that it is completely baseless and rumour mongering that migrant workers of Bihar are being targeted in Tamil Nadu. Old video of violence is mischievously being spread stating people of Bihar are no longer safe in Tamil Nadu, creating panic." (ANI)
Congress leader Sandeep Dixit has requested Delhi Lieutenant Governor VK Saxena to register a case under IPC section 420 against Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal for allegedly spreading "misinformation" for political gains. After meeting the Lieutenant Governor on Friday, the son of former Delhi CM Sheila Dixit, Sandeep Dixit tweeted that he has requested an inquiry into the matter. "Met LG Delhi and requested him to institute an inquiry into all the various allegations of corruption that @ArvindKejriwal @msisodia and their media and party lapdogs have been spreading about me in last 8 years and either prosecute me or prove them as liars," he tweeted. https://twitter.com/_SandeepDikshit/status/1631627895264395264?s=20 Sandeep Dixit has alleged that CM Kejriwal has issued advertisements by sharing wrong data related to PWD schemes, which is directly a case of IPC section 420. "Arvind Kejriwal repeatedly claims to save the government money in construction work like flyovers, he then issues false advertisements. But the data suggest that the claims made by Arvind Kejriwal in the advertisements are a lie," he said. Sandeep Dixit also accused CM Kejriwal of "misusing" funds received at the NGO from the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP). "The NGO in which Arvind Kejriwal used to work, the money received under UNDP was misused by Arvind Kejriwal. He later returned a lump sum of Rs 50 lakh, only after the money was demanded from him. This is a matter of sheer corruption and an inquiry should be done against Kejriwal on the matter," he further said. Sandeep Dixit also demanded an inquiry against himself on the allegations made by Arvind Kejriwal and Manish Sisodia. Further attacking the AAP National convenor, Sandeep Dixit said, "Arvind Kejriwal also tarnished the image of my mother and former Delhi CM late Sheila Dixit, for political gains. For defaming me, Arvind Kejriwal and Manish Sisodia said that the electronic power meter-making company is Sandeep Dixit's which is a lie." "Kejriwal lied that the orange-coloured cluster buses are owned by me. He also lied that the company installing water meters under Delhi Jal Board is also owned by me, which is also a lie," he added. Levelling these allegations, Sandeep Dixit has pleaded with the Lieutenant Governor of Delhi to investigate it. He has stated that if it is found that Arvind Kejriwal deliberately tried to discredit Sandeep Dixit and his late mother Sheila Dixit, then an FIR should be filed against the Delhi CM. It is pertinent to note that these allegations have surfaced just when AAP is facing a streak of corruption allegations. Delhi Deputy CM Manish Sisodia, who headed 18 departments in the cabinet, was arrested on February 26 by the CBI in connection with the Delhi excise policy case. Delhi Minister Satyendar Jain is also in jail for months in an alleged money laundering case. Following this, both ministers stepped down from their posts. (ANI)
The Supreme Court on Friday issued notice to Uttar Pradesh State Election Commission on a petition by the All India Council of Mayors in the matter concerning OBC quotas in the UP local body poll. A bench of Chief Justice of India DY Chandrachud and justice PS Narasimha issued notice and listed the matter on March 24. The petitioner All India Council of Mayors has challenged Allahabad High Court December 27, 2012, order which directed that a three-member committee shall take over the affairs of the Municipal Body till the new elected body is formed. The affected parties in the present case are 16 Mayors who were elected for their terms between 2017 and 2022. Their terms are to expire in January 2023. The petition was filed through the advocate on record Dhananjay Garg. According to petitioner, as a consequence of the Impugned Judgment dated 27.12.2022 and the consequential Notification dated 4.01.2023, 16 elected Mayors, who are the members of the Petitioner Society, shall be impacted, as they shall be replaced by the 3-Member Committee. "This direction is in complete disregard of the mandate laid down under Section 15(3) of the UP Municipal Corporation Act, 1959," the petitioner said adding that the direction is directly in conflict with Section 15(3) which provides that a Mayor continues to be in office, till such time the successor Mayor does not take charge. The Petitioner Society was constituted in the year 1962 and said the organisation was known as 'Akhil Bhartiya Mahapaur Parishad'. Similar provisions are also available for other constitutional posts such as President (Article 56), Vice President (Article 67) and Governor (Article 156), to ensure continuity in administrative functions, the petitioner said. (ANI)
Taking a dig at Congress and Janata Dal (Secular) in Karnataka, Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Friday said that the "dynastic parties" cannot work for the poor and the state's development, and only BJP government can work for the betterment of the people under the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Addressing a 'Vijay Sankalp Yatra' in Bengaluru Rural, Shah called Congress and JD(S) "number one in corruption." He asked the people to decide whether they want a BJP government which ranks number one in Foreign direct investment (FDI) or the Congress and JD-S which are "number one in corruption." "When you vote for JDS they, later, ally with Congress. It results in the rule of the Congress party. Make BJP number one in this region, and we will transform Bengaluru and South Karnataka," he said. He further said that parties which do dynasty politics could not do any good to Karnataka. "Dynastic parties can't work for the development and the poor people of Karnataka. Only the BJP govt can work for the betterment of the people, under the leadership of PM Modi. You need to decide if you need to choose a BJP govt that banned PFI or Congress which favours terrorists for the vote bank. You need to decide if you need to choose a BJP government which ranks number one in FDI or the Congress and JDS which are number one in corruption," Shah added. The Union Home Minister said that during the time of the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government, everyday terrorists from Pakistan used to infiltrate and slit the throats of "our soldiers" but after the Pulwama attack, in the time of PM Modi, the army took revenge by eliminating the terrorists in "their house" within 10 days. He said the BJP understand the importance of Bengaluru. "PM Modi has completed Bengaluru Airport project but I am told by CM that the airport is still smaller in space. I want to assure people that we know the importance of Bengaluru and PM Modi government will always be ready for its expansion," said Shah at Vijay Sankalp Yatra. He further thanked PM Modi for unveiling 108 feet high statue of Kempe Gowda and renovating the Bengaluru airport. Shah said that in the budget, the government of India gave Rs 37,257 crore for Karnataka, which is the highest amount allocated so far. "I want to thank Basavaraj Bommai ji since Karnataka ranked number one in the country in 'Ease of Doing Business' in 2022. Karnataka has the most number of Unicorns in India," he said. The Home Minister said that Karnataka manufactures around 75 per cent of the defence aircraft and after 2019, a 250 per cent increase has been registered in giving employment. (ANI)
On receiving this information, the police team reached the spot and entered into the room after beaking the lock and found that the missing transgender was lying on the bed in the decomposed condition.

No visible marks of injury was found on the body of the deceased. According to police, the preliminary investigations have revealed the cause of death to be smothering.

On Thursday, a missing complaint of Lichi (50) was lodged by Babita Kinner, a resident of Krishna Basti, stating that Lichi has been missing since February 28.

The deceased was a resident of Bagichi Allaudin Nabi Karim.

A team from the Forensic Science Laboratory was called in for inspection of the scene of the crime and the body has been sent for autopsy.

A case of murder has been lodged by police and an investigation is on nab the accused. (ANI)
The ambitious 'Mumkin' Scheme, conceived by Jammu and Kashmir government under the Mission Youth initiative, is proving instrumental in fulfilling the aspirations of youth who can contribute to societal growth and welfare in tremendous ways, said a press release. Under the scheme, unemployed youth are being facilitated to procure small commercial vehicles on a subsidised basis to establish a sustainable livelihood in the transport sector, added the press release. 'Mumkin' is a livelihood programme designed primarily for unemployed young people in the age group of 18 to 35 years, as per the statement. Through the scheme, small commercial vehicles are being provided to the youth with the banking partner extending the loan facility to the extent of 100 per cent for the on-road price of the vehicle to be purchased. Apart from this, Mission Youth provides an amount of Rs 80,000 or 10 per cent for the on-road price of the vehicle (whichever is lesser) as an upfront subsidy and the vehicle manufacturers (scheme partner of government) provide a special upfront discount, not less than the amount of subsidy. To make the scheme implementation completely transparent and fast, a module has been developed on the JK-e-Services portal for operating the scheme digitally. The J&K administration is also facilitating soft finance for setting up new enterprises or for the expansion and modernisation of existing ventures for income generation. Pertinently, Mission Youth is an ambitious programme of UT administration aimed at positively engaging youth in the socio-economic development of J&K through a multi-pronged strategy involving all necessary systematic interventions, particularly in the areas of skill development, livelihood generation, education, recreation and sports. The UT administration is laying a special thrust on youth skilling & self-employment in Rural areas with targeted schemes to drive a socio-economic transformation. Muzafar Wani of Ramban is thankful to the administration for providing him with a vehicle and helping him to secure a respectable livelihood that could fulfil the needs of his family. Wani is satisfied with the earnings after owning a vehicle under the Mumkin scheme. Similarly, Hatib Javaid of Shopian was working as a daily wage labourer and could hardly bear the expenses of his family with a meagre earning. In Khonmoh area in Srinagar, Riyaz Raqeeb, another beneficiary of the scheme, said he learnt to drive at a young age as he had to lend a helping hand to his family of six, including his four siblings. He worked as a driver for private companies and other vehicle owners on a daily basis, however, he struggled to earn enough to look after his family. "I was not earning enough to fund the education and other needs of my four younger siblings. Though I worked for 12 to 14 hours a day, I earned little," Raqeeb said. He stumbled upon the government's initiative on social media in August last year, and soon found himself at the District Employment and Counseling Centre in Srinagar. He further stated, "I am thankful to the government for providing me a source of livelihood." The awareness programme of the Mumkin scheme gave him a ray of hope for realizing his dream of owning a vehicle. (ANI)
As part of the Sikkim Krantikari Morcha's (SKM) flagship programme for mothers (housewives), the Sikkim government distributed Rs 20,000 each to 16,000 mothers of the state in Pakyong district on Friday. The initiative, a concept of Chief Minister Prem Singh Golay, entails 500 mothers from every constituency benefiting from the scheme every year, a press release stated. In a special event organised in SKM party colours, 32 women beneficiaries were handed over cheques of Rs. 20,000 while the remaining 15,968 mothers will be awarded the welfare amount in their respective bank accounts in State Bank of Sikkim or through their respective block divisional officers in various villages of the State. Addressing the gathering, CM Prem Singh Golay stated, "It was next to impossible to hand over 16,000 cheques in a day hence 32 mothers, one from every constituency are being awarded here today. However, the remaining mothers will receive money directly from the State Bank of Sikkim bank account." "We want our mothers to have an account in SBS as it is the State's own bank not in any nationalised banks. Besides, SBS has reached every village of the State, hence it will be easy for the beneficiaries," he added. Golay further announced that Rs 20,000 each is for the year 2022, however, as the years progress the amount will be increased to Rs. 50,000-60,000 for every mother. The CM also clarified that the amount will not be handed to fathers or husbands, fearing the amount to be misused while claiming mothers are more trusted members of society, the release added. Stating the reason for the welfare scheme being only mother-oriented, Golay said, "Our homes, our family is run by mothers. The mothers particularly housewives in rural areas have no source of income, the 20,000 Rupees are for their welfare. Mothers can use the amount for their own benefit or for their children's education or even for the healthcare of their family. "In the past government, mothers were misused for political benefits from carrying party flags to luring and threatening them to vote in favour of the party. SKM works for the welfare of mothers and women, not to use them for political gains," he added. Golay also informed that more women will join the welfare scheme as many women are yet to clear the necessary documentation to get the benefits. He informed over 1000 mothers still remain to be shortlisted owing to a lack of necessary documents. Golay further announced that three mothers will be selected every year from the welfare scheme for optimum utilisation of the welfare amount. "The three mothers will be ranked and will be receiving Rs 3 lakhs, Rs 2 lakhs and Rs 1 lakh each. The money will once again be deposited in the State Bank of Sikkim account," he said. On the occasion, three former ministers and legislators from the SDF party also joined the SKM party. They were former ministers GM Gurung, CB Karki and former legislator Chandra Maya Subba. Golay praised them for joining with over 5000 supporters. During the event, Golay criticised former Chief Minister Pawan Kumar Chamling and the Sikkim Democratic Front party for declaring Shok Diwas on March 4 on SDF's foundation day. Golay stated, "The Shok Diwas is being observed against the SKM government for not working on the immigrant issue. We resolved the issue almost a month ago. To observe Shok Diwas now on their foundation day is out of fear that less number of people will turn up on their foundation day. As apart from Chamling's own family members, there are hardly 500 people supporting SDF now". Golay also announced that Sikkim Bandh will not take place on March 4. SKM had earlier on February 4 declared to call for Sikkim Bandh on March 4 to deny SDF from observing its foundation day. The decision was in retaliation to Chamling calling for Sikkim Bandh on SKM foundation day on February 4-5, the release added. Golay stated, "Chamling's call for Sikkim Bandh on our foundation day in protest against the immigrant issue in February failed miserably as every shop, commercial establishment and even offices remained open. People declined his call for Bandh. In retaliation, we declared Bandh on SDF foundation day. But now I declare that we will not be calling for Bandh, we do not want revenge politics. With so less supporters, we will not dent their call for Shok Diwas". Urging Chamling to 'gracefully retire' from politics, Golay stated, "The only reason Chamling is not retiring is he wants his Harvard-educated daughter Komal Chamling to debut in electoral politics in 2024. He is trying to promote his daughter as a Harvard-educated future leader of Sikkim, we welcome her to politics. But prior to her entry, we question how his daughter was shortlisted for the government's scholarship scheme worth Rs 22 lakhs when she didn't fall in Below Poverty Line (BPL) category. Komal denied a deserving student from getting the opportunity to study at a prestigious university. So how can she be a people-centric leader in the future?". Golay also slammed the Joint Action Council for their criticism concerning the transfer and extension decisions of the State government's employees. He stated, "We praise JAC for the work they carried out during the immigrant issue in January-February. They worked in tandem with the State government to fight back against the immigrant tag. But now they are criticising the government's decision to transfer an extension given to a few government employees. Those are decisions of the government out of necessity. I urge JAC to distance itself from such issues and focus on the issue they have in hand. There are a few members of JAC trying to defame the council. Do not misuse JAC as a political party or platform for different issues. If they wish to criticise the government then they can come as a political party, but do not tarnish the image of JAC". (ANI)
According to sources, the Odisha crime branch sought permission of the district and session court, Jharsuguda, to send the accused to the National Institute of Mental Health and Neuroscience (NIMHANS) in Bengaluru to undergo various psychological tests.

However, the court rejected the plea of the police.

A lower court had earlier rejected the same prayer of the crime branch on February 20.

The crime branch wanted to conduct a comprehensive psychological evaluation of accused Gopal Das at Nimhans.

In a media statement, the crime branch (CB) has earlier said that the accused had a prolonged history of mental illness. Taking that into consideration, a special medical board was constituted consisting of four psychiatric experts.

After examining the accused, the board opined that there is a need to have a detailed examination of the accused to come to a definite conclusion about his mental health.

Accordingly, the crime branch police moved one court to another to get permission for Das's mental evaluation at Nimhans, sources said.

Notably, minister Naba Das was killed by the sacked police ASI Gopal Das on January 29.

The former police officer had fired a bullet on the chest of the minister from a very close range.

Though the police arrested the accused from the spot, it is yet to find out the motive behind the high-profile murder case.

--IANS bbm/pgh

( 270 Words)

2023-03-03-20:32:03 (IANS)
The Enforcement Directorate (ED) on Friday submitted to a special PMLA court the details on the proceeds of the multi-crore teachers' recruitment scam in West Bengal received by an arrested youth Trinamool Congress leader Kuntal Ghosh. The ED has also informed the court of the details of the portion of the scam proceeds of Ghosh that he had forwarded to former West Bengal education minister and ex-Trinamool Congress secretary general Partha Chatterjee, who is currently in the judicial custody for his alleged involvement in the scam. The ED told the court that these details have been available after examining Ghosh's bank accounts and other related documents in connection with the scam. "ED sleuths have questioned 10 individuals who acted as agents in collecting scam proceeds on behalf of Kuntal Ghosh. These 10 individuals have informed the investigating officers that they collected a total amount of Rs 16 crore from a total of 200 candidates for providing them teaching jobs in the state-run schools. Each candidate paid Rs 6 lakh," the ED counsel told the court on Friday. He also said that from checking the bank accounts of Ghosh, the ED sleuths have come to know that he had transferred a "massive amount" in different phases to a particular woman since 2020. "The investigating officers have summoned the woman for questioning," the ED counsel said. He also said that Kuntal Ghosh, besides collecting money for primary teachers' aspirants, also collected money from those willing to join state-run schools as secondary teachers. "He also collected money from private teacher's training colleges," the ED counsel added. --IANS src/pgh ( 281 Words) 2023-03-03-20:56:01 (IANS)
A division bench of Chief Justice Satish Chandra Sharma and Subramonium Prasad was hearing lawyer petitioner Subhash Chandran K.R.'s Public Interest Litigation (PIL) contending that it concerns a prominent post in defence for which no advertisement was published.

The bench said that since it relates to a service matter, it cannot be maintained and no case for interference can be made out.

"In the considered opinion of this court, as the present PIL is in relation to a service matter, no case is made out for interference in the matter. Admission is declined," it said.

Solicitor General Tushar Mehta has said that this appointment is made by a committee consisting of the Cabinet Secretary, the Defence Secretary, and two persons of eminence and the "petitioner has no connection. He is a stranger".

Noting that there is no advertisement for a lot of high offices, the bench dismissed the PIL.

The PIL claimed that the institute did not obey to the rules for a public appointment which was "an act of lawlessness cutting at the very root of the strict mandate of Articles 14 and 16 of the Constitution".

--IANS spr/vd

( 236 Words)

2023-03-03-21:14:03 (IANS)
The Foreign Ministers of Quad member nations on Friday called for lasting peace in Ukraine, and said without naming Russia that the use or threat of use of nuclear weapons is "inadmissible". The Ukraine conflict was discussed during the Quad Foreign Ministers' meet which took place here on Friday. The Quadrilateral Security Dialogue (Quad) is a strategic security dialogue between Australia, India, Japan and the United States that is maintained by talks between member countries. The meeting was attended by External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken, his Japanese counterpart Yoshimasa Hayashi and Australia's Foreign Affairs Minister Penny Wong. "We continued to discuss our responses to the conflict in Ukraine and the immense human suffering it is causing, and concurred that the use or threat of use of nuclear weapons is inadmissible. We underscored the need for comprehensive, just and lasting peace in Ukraine in accordance with international law, including the UN Charter," the Quad ministers said in a joint statement issued after the meeting. The Quad Foreign Ministers further emphasised that the "rules-based international order must respect sovereignty, territorial integrity, transparency and peaceful resolution of disputes". The Quad also opposed any unilateral actions that seek to change the status quo or increase tensions in South and East China seas. "Our meeting today reaffirms the Quad's steadfast commitment to supporting a free and open Indo-Pacific, which is inclusive and resilient. We strongly support the principles of freedom, rule of law, sovereignty and territorial integrity, peaceful settlement of disputes without resorting to threat or use of force and freedom of navigation and overflight, and oppose any unilateral attempt to change the status quo, all of which are essential to the peace, stability and prosperity of the Indo-Pacific region and beyond," the statement noted. The ministers underlined that the rules-based international order is anchored in international law, including the UN Charter, and the principles of sovereignty, political independence, and territorial integrity of all states. "We are committed to cooperate to address attempts to unilaterally subvert the UN and international system, in consultation with our partners and through multilateral and international platforms. We reiterate our unwavering support for the UN Charter, including its three pillars, and our steadfast commitment to strengthening the UN and international system through a comprehensive reform agenda, including through expansion in permanent and non-permanent seats of the UN Security Council," the statement said. "In this regard, we commit to active and constructive engagement in the Inter-Governmental Negotiations (IGN) process on Security Council Reforms with an overall objective of making the UN Security Council more effective, representative and credible," the Quad ministers noted. --IANS ans/arm ( 456 Words) 2023-03-03-21:26:03 (IANS)
An Uber auto-rickshaw driver has been arrested for sexually harassing a journalist during a ride from her residence to her friend's place in south Delhi, police said on Friday. The accused was identified as Vinod Kumar Yadav, 24, a resident of Noida's Sector 123 and native of Bihar's Madhubani. The incident occurred on Wednesday and the journalist also shared the video of the incident on social media. According to police, on March 2, at about 11.00 pm,, the journalist, a resident of Bharat Nagar, approached New Friends Colony police station and filed a complaint against a TSR (auto-rickshaw) driver. "She levelled allegations of indecent behaviour as well as lascivious staring by him, while she was travelling from New Friends Colony to Malviya Nagar on March 1 about 4.40 p.m.. Accordingly, a case under relevant sections of IPC was registered and investigation taken up," said a senior police official. "The ownership of the auto-rickshaw was procured which was found in the name of Mohd Yunus Khan, a resident of Nehru Camp, Govindpuri. Yunus was questioned and it came to light that the TSR was already purchased by Vinod," said the official. "Meanwhile technical surveillance was also applied and Vinod was detained and interrogated and he was confirmed to be the alleged and hence arrested. All legal formalities including statement under section 164 Code of Criminal Procedure was completed," said the official, adding that further investigation is in progress. Earlier, Delhi Commission for Women (DCW) Chairperson Swati Maliwal has also issued notice to Uber India and Delhi Police over the incident. "Notice has been issued to Uber India and Delhi Police over the unfortunate incident of molestation of a female journalist in an Uber Auto in Delhi," Maliwal tweeted. Narrating her ordeal on Twitter, the woman journalist said that when she boarded an auto-rickshaw from her residence in New Friends Colony to Malviya Nagar to visit her friend, the driver, identified as Vinod Kumar, started staring at her inappropriately through the side mirrors of the auto, "precisely at her breasts". "I took an auto from my home to a friend's place. After a while, I noticed that the driver was looking at me through the side mirrors of the auto, precisely at my breasts. I shifted a bit towards the right and wasn't visible in the left side mirror," she said. "He then started looking into the right side of the mirror. I then shifted to the extreme left and wasn't visible in any of the mirrors. He then started looking back again and again to see me. I first tried using the safety feature of @uber, but to no avail". "The first time I dialled the number, the audio wasn't clear. I then confronted him and said that I would raise a complaint. I even asked him to focus on driving. To this, he said, "kardo" (do it) and I then redialed the number but couldn't hear the audio due to poor network". --IANS ssh/vd ( 507 Words) 2023-03-03-21:26:05 (IANS)
During the meeting, a discussion was held on co-operation and joint ventures in areas like electric vehicles, quantum technologies, green hydrogen fuel, deep ocean mining, among others.

Singh said that the 23 lakh-strong Indian diaspora was reinforcing Indo-Canadian relations, and contributing to the development of both nations.

Welcoming the delegation, the Minister said: "India has one of the largest diaspora anywhere in the world at 2.3 million in Canada, and they have achieved success in all walks of life."

"The diaspora which contributes positively to both countries, would be a good bridge between the two nations, as Canada is one of the most favoured destinations for Indian students for higher education," he added.

The Minister also told the delegation that last week, on the occasion of National Science Day, the Central government announced the VAIBHAV Fellowship for the Indian diaspora to connect the Indian researchers/academicians with Indian diaspora researchers/academicians.

Singh said that India is keen to develop research collaborations with the Canadian R&D institutions.

Moe said that Canada-India relations have made great strides in recent years and have become truly multi-dimensional, spurred by a significant convergence of interests, mutual goodwill and exchange.

He said: "Science and technology cooperation is one of the strategic pillars of the bilateral relationship between the two countries. Academia, Research Institutions and Industries of both countries have strong bonding and are playing the role of catalyst in our strategic research and development partnerships."

--IANS kvm/pgh

( 279 Words)

2023-03-03-21:54:03 (IANS)
Several police officers, including the Superintendent of Police (SP) and Additional Superintendent of Police (ASP), were injured during a violent protest staged in Chhattisgarh's Kabirdham district under the banner of Gondwana Gantantra Party on Friday."In the incident, Superintendent of Police (SP) Dr Lal Umed Singh, Additional Superintendent of Police (ASP) Manisha Thakur, Deputy Superintendent of Police (DSP) Kaushal Kishore Wasnik, Inspector Bhushan Ekka, Inspector Chudendra and others suffered injuries as the protestors attacked the police personnel deployed in law and order duty," said a police officer. "An ASP rank officer had reportedly suffered a fracture on the hand," the police officer added."Somehow, police managed to push the demonstrators out of the village and efforts are being made to arrest the brawlers," said SP Dr Singh."Around 450-500 people under the banner of Gondwana Gantantra Party and leadership of organisation's district president J Lingo gathered at Bazaar Chowk in the district to register their protest against the removal of a flag and marched towards village Harmo," the SP added."To avert any untoward incident, police placed barricades outside the village and bid to prevent the protestors from moving ahead. The agitators broke the barricade and reached the village of Longo. Later, the demonstrators gathered outside the residence of Longo and marched towards the controversial spot, from where the flag was removed, to hoist their flag," the SP said. The officer further informed that as a preventive move, police personnel were deployed before the controversial spot to prevent the demonstrators from reaching the place. Aggrieved from being prevented, the agitators attacked on-duty police personnel including, SP, ASP and others. To restore the law and order, police personnel resorted to a lathi charge and also lobbed tear gas shells."If police personnel did not prevent the agitators from reaching the controversial spot, an untoward incident may have unfolded between the two groups of the tribal community," the SP said. "After learning about the incident, Durg Range IG Dr Anand Chhabra along with additional force reached the spot and currently the situation is under control," the SP added. (ANI)
A new irrigation channel which is under construction is expected to solve the water woes of people in Bhutan's Trashi Yangtse, The Bhutan Live reported. As paddy cultivation season approaches, it is normally a time of struggle for Jangphutse farmers under Toedtsho Gewog in Trashi Yangtse. People in the region have been facing an acute shortage of irrigation water for several decades. However, the new irrigation channel which is under construction is expected to address the water crisis, as per the news report. Farmers of Jangphutse village have been relying on this small stream to irrigate their fields for a very long time, The Bhutan Live reported. Besides the small size of the stream, water leaks out at several points along the irrigation channel which is the main cause of the shortage. About five years back, the channel was connected with a new water supply from another source. However, people have that the water still remains insufficient for everyone. Tshering Dorji, a farmer from Jangphutse, said they have to go to source to carry out repairs. However, the farmer said that the process takes a lot of time. "We don't have enough irrigation water for all, sometimes we have to go to the source to carry out repairs, and this takes a lot of time. But now we are hoping things will get better once the new irrigation system is complete," The Bhutan Live quoted Tshering Dorji as saying. Sumchu Wangmo, another Jangphutse farmer, said that they stopped working on some of the fields due to the water shortage. Wangmo said that the majority of the people stopped working in the fields. Meanwhile, Tawpo said that they are hoping the new irrigation system will address the irrigation water crisis. "I stopped working on a few of my fields because of the water shortage, and also because of the wild boar problem. Most of the people gave up working in the fields; I am the only one to do it," The Bhutan Live quoted Sumchu Wangmo as saying. "We are hoping the new irrigation system will solve the irrigation water crisis, and that we won't have to frequently travel to carry out maintenance works on it as in the past," Tawpo said as per the news report. The irrigation water crisis is expected to be addressed after the new 3-kilometre-long irrigation channel is completed. Construction works for the irrigation channel started in February and is being built at a cost of Nu 2.3 million with funding from the Gewog budget. The construction work is expected to be complete by next month. Usually, Janphutse farmers begin their farming work in May. (ANI)
A skyscraper was engulfed in flames in Hong Kong early Friday (local time), Fox News reported. The fire broke out after midnight in Tsim Sha Tsui at the site of an under-construction skyscraper in one of the city's shopping districts. Two bystanders were taken to Queen Elizabeth Hospital for treatment. Photos and videos from the site of the incident show the skyscraper engulfed in flames and the sound of explosions from within the structure have been reported, Fox News reported. Embers and burning debris rained down on the streets as firefighters tried to control the fire. The construction site is the former location of the defunct Mariners Club, opened by Hong Kong Governor David Trench in 1967, as per the news report. The old club building was demolished in 2018 and is set to be replaced by a 42-storey Kimpton Hotel, as per the Fox News report. The future skyscraper now damaged by the fire was expected to have 500 rooms across 3,40,000 square feet of interior space. (ANI)
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken on Friday discussed the importance of protecting democracy, human rights, food security with Argentine Foreign Minister Santiago Cafiero. "Good conversation with Argentine Foreign Minister@SantiagoCafiero at the G20 this afternoon. We spoke about the importance of protecting democracy, human rights, food security, and our shared commitment to a secure and prosperous hemisphere," tweeted Blinken. Both leaders participated in the ongoing G20 Foreign Ministers' Meeting in the national capital, New Delhi. Blinken on Thursday spoke briefly with his Russian counterpart Sergey Lavrov on the sidelines of the meeting of foreign minister of the Group of 20 nations. "US Secretary of State Blinken asked for 'contact' with Foreign Minister Lavrov, during the second session of G20 meet and they had the 'contact', there were no talks or full-fledged meeting," according to Russian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Maria Zarkhova. The meeting, was the first face-to-face meeting between the two foreign ministers since the conflict between Russia and Ukraine began over a year ago and which triggered a rift between US-led Western countries and Russia. Washington Post cited a senior State Department official familiar with the discussion to say, "During the less-than-10-minute exchange, Blinken urged Russia to reverse its decision to suspend cooperation in the New START nuclear arms treaty and accept a US proposal for the release of US citizen Paul Whelan." The US-based newspaper reported that Blinken also reaffirmed Washington's support for Ukraine's peace proposal that maintains the country's territorial integrity, said the official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive conversations. Addressing the presser in New Delhi, Lavrov said the West refused to include Russia's proposal on the need for an investigation of Nord Stream blasts in the G20 final declaration, according to Sputnik News Agency. "They [Western countries] also refused to accept another fact in this context, which reflects the events that have taken place since then. I am referring to the terrorist act against the Nord Stream gas pipelines. Our proposal to include in the document the need for an impartial and honest investigation was categorically rejected by our Western partners," Lavrov said. Lavrov landed in New Delhi on Tuesday for a two-day meeting of the G20 FMM. The minister addressing a press conference here said that the West insisted on reproducing the same text that was adopted in Bali last year mentioning the situation in Ukraine. "The West insisted on reproducing the text on the situation around Ukraine, which was agreed at the G20 summit last year in Bali, completely ignoring our arguments that a lot of events have happened since then, including the sincere confessions of Mrs. [ex-German Chancellor Angela] Merkel, Mr. [former French President Francois] Hollande, Mr. [ex-Ukrainian President Petro] Poroshenko, and [Ukrainian President Volodymyr] Zelensky himself that none of them was going to fulfill the Minsk agreements and the purpose of signing the Minsk agreements from the point of view of Western interests was to gain time to pump Ukraine with weapons and prepare it for war against Russia," Sputnik quoted Lavrov as saying. (ANI)
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken on Friday arrived at Taj Palace to attend the Quad Foreign Ministers meet on the sidelines of Raisina Dialogue. https://twitter.com/ANI/status/1631488296105787393 A panel discussion on "The Quad Squad: Power and Purpose of the Polygon," is going to be held today where Quad Foreign Ministers will be participating at the event from 9:10-9:50 am, which will be moderated by the President of the Observer Research Foundation (ORF) Samir Saran. The meeting will be chaired by External Affairs Minister, S Jaishankar, and will see the participation of Foreign Ministers of Australia, Penny Wong and Japan's Foreign Minister Yoshimasa Hayashi and the US Secretary of State, Antony Blinken. The meeting will be an opportunity for the Ministers to continue their discussions held at their last meeting in New York in September 2022, read the MEA press release. They will exchange views on recent developments in the Indo-Pacific region and regional issues of mutual interest, guided by their vision of a free, open and inclusive Indo-Pacific. The Ministers will also review progress made by the Quad in pursuit of its constructive agenda and implementation of initiatives aimed at addressing contemporary priorities of the region, added the release. The Quad evokes images of security partnership, of a development alliance, and even of a consultative committee. One and a half years since the first Leaders' Summit, the Quad is now facing a choice between focusing on its core identity, or seeking the benefits that might come from being a more amorphous and reactive grouping. As nations shift their attention to growth and the reconfiguration of their global economic partnerships, how will the Quad remain relevant? How does the re-emergence of land war in Europe implicate the future of a maritime grouping in the Indo-Pacific? will be the topic of panel discussion. The US has signed an ambitious tech partnership with Australia and the UK; is part of the I2U2 focused on West Asia; has entered into a new bilateral technology agreement with India; and has a close tech alliance with Japan. The panel will also discuss, how do these overlapping agreements and partnerships integrate with the Quad's tech agenda? What path can it pick between a tight, action-focused coalition and a relatively minimalist ambition that might more easily incorporate other actors in the Indo-Pacific? (ANI)
Japanese foreign minister Yoshimasa Hayashi on Friday sought to draw an analogy between legendary English rock band The Beatles with the Quad referring to the grouping of Japan, Australia, the US and India as more of a "soft Beatles" where "every member may release a solo album of their own"! Hayashi who was not present at yesterday's G20 Foreign Ministers' Meeting arrived in the national capital Delhi early this moring to attend the meeting of foreign ministers from the Quad nations. Speaking at a panel discussion at the Raisina Dialogue 2023 where all Quad foreign ministers participated, Hayashi said, "This is not a band like the Beatles where everyone jointly releases an album every few years as a rock band... The members are fixed and they always play together for 10 years. This is more like a soft group within the Beatles, and like Paul McCartney may release a solo of their own." Hayashi picked up from US Secretary of State Antony Blinken referring to ORF president Samir Saran who was moderating the discussion as "an honorary member of the Quad... A sort of fifth Beatle." Incidentally while Hayashi is a skilled pianist, Blinken has been referred to as an amateur guitarist. "This is the situation we are facing. It is nice to talk over Asia and the surrounding area because we have a trust between the four of us [Quad]. Like I said in the beginning, ...such as democracy, freedom and everything. So, without worrying about "big conditions", we can really freely talk and communicate," the Japanese minister said. The Japanese minister said, "for ASEAN we had the 50th Anniversary...That information we can share with four of us here. So any idea relating to that, I can talk with three friends [present] here. He also said that the Quad group is not a military group and they don't try to exclude anybody including China. "We don't try to exclude anybody (including China). As long as China abides by international norms and laws then there are no conflicting issues between China and the Quad," the Japanese FM asserted. China views the Quadrilateral Security Dialogue or the Quad with concern and has referred to the grouping as the "Indo-Pacific NATO" and anti-China. The joint statement issued after the Quad ministerial meeting here today stated that the grouping strongly oppose any "unilateral actions that seek to change the status quo or increase tensions" in the South and East China Seas. "We recognize that peace and security in the maritime domain underpins the development and prosperity of the Indo-Pacific, and reiterate the importance of respect for sovereignty, consistent with international law. We reiterate the importance of adherence to international law, as reflected in the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS), to meet challenges to the maritime rules-based order, including in the South and East China Seas," the statement said "We express serious concern at the militarization of disputed features, the dangerous use of coast guard vessels and maritime militia, and efforts to disrupt other countries' offshore resource exploitation activities," it said. The Quad joint statement agreed to strengthen co-operation on maritime surveillance to counter China's influence across the Indo-Pacific Meanwhile, Blinken speaking at the same panel as the Japanese foreign minister said that Quad is not a military grouping but is now engaged in working together to help countries to deal with humanitarian situations in natural disasters. "We are working on things that are really critical," Blinken said at a panel discussion of the Quad Foreign Ministers themed "The Quad Squad: Power and Purpose of the Polygon" in the national capital. The Quad Foreign Ministers meet on the sidelines of the eighth edition of the Raisina Dialogue the flagship conference on geopolitics and geo-strategy organised by the Ministry of External Affairs with the Observer Research Foundation. India, the US, Japan and Australia are members of the Quad grouping. (ANI)
Calling the Russian Foreign Minister, Sergey Lavrov's comments at the Raisina Dialogue as 'False and Propaganda', Ukrainian Charge d'Affaires Ivan Konovalov said that the speech shouldn't be pronounced by the Minister. "False and Propaganda. I have nothing to say after listening to the speech. This speech shouldn't be pronounced by the Minister", said Ivan to ANI. While participating in a conversation at the Raisina Dialogue, the Russian Foreign Minister said that why everyone was questioning the lack of Russia's initiative to negotiate but not Ukraine's. "Everyone is asking when Russia is ready to negotiate. Nobody asks Zelenskyy (Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskyy) when he's going to negotiate. Last year, Zelenskyy signed a document making it a criminal offence to negotiate with Russia as long as Putin is present. Can you ask him what he's doing?", said Lavrov. Lavrov also pointed out that NATO chief Jens Stoltenberg and US President Joe Biden believe that a Russian strategic defeat and a defeat on the battlefield is existential for them. "You saw, yesterday at the G20 ministerial, the Western friends were shouting in the microphones that Russia must, must, must stop the war. When Russia is ready to negotiate? If you are really interested in politics and in the root causes of this particular situation, then you would know why Blinken and Stoltenberg repeatedly stated that Russia must be defeated on the battlefield, Russia must suffer strategically", said Lavrov. Meanwhile, international political strategist, Actum, US, Vlada Galan said that Raisina Dialogue is an incredible event and it brings together decision makers across the world. "India finds a unique position as a peacemaker. India is trusted from both sides in the equation both with the US and other international key stakeholders," said Galan. The Raisina Dialogue is the flagship think-tank event organised by the Observer Research Foundation (ORF) in partnership with the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA). "India has to take steps as it has an amazing position as an international peacemaker and it is much much more trusted than China. India can do much more. It's Centre of Dialogue," added the international political strategist. (ANI)
Bangladesh State Minister for Foreign Affairs, Shahriar Alam on Friday said that India can play a critical role in resolving the Ukraine conflict. "India is in talking terms with both the parties of the war, that gives India's Presidency a unique position to bring, invite, work hard to bring them on the table and find a possible solution," said Alam. This is not the first time that a minister of a country has highlighted that India can play a central role in ending the hostilities between Russia and Ukraine. Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni on Thursday said that India as president of G20 may play a central role in facilitating the negotiation process for cessation of hostilities for "just peace" in Ukraine. "We hope that India having a G20 presidency can play a central role in facilitating a negotiating process for the cessation of hostilities (in Ukraine). Keeping the multilateral community together is important and we hope the Indian presidency can do it even more," the Italian PM said. Moreover today, international political strategist, Actum, US, Vlada Galan said that Raisina Dialogue is an incredible event and it brings together decision makers across the world. "India finds a unique position as a peacemaker. India is trusted from both sides in the equation both with the US and other international key stakeholders," said Galan. "India has to take steps as it has an amazing position as an international peacemaker and it is much much more trusted than China. India can do much more. It's Centre of Dialogue," added the international political strategist. Responding to the impact of war on Bangladesh, Alam said, "I do not know how much India got impacted, but we, Bangladesh initially suffered from grain. Through the Grain Initiative led by United Nation, we have smoothened the grain supply. But, of course, the energy market and oil market are volatile due to the Ukraine crisis." Lamenting on the fact that Bangladesh is an import-dependent country, he said, "We're having to pay a lot more, and our citizens are suffering due to high energy bills. We've re-aligned and changed things domestically and the suffering has been minimized, but these cannot go on. I mean, a lot of our achievements will vanish if war continues. The impact of war is global and it's reaching out to faraway land. If the war continues, it's going to destroy the world." Speaking on the G20 Presidency of India and issues pertaining to it, the Bangladesh FM said, "India is a mature democracy, has a lot of capacity, fire-power at the MEA, must say that and we shouldn't be too bogged down by the war only. There are so many other agendas that India has launched and Bangladesh is very happy to be invited as an Observer, as an outsider of G20. This will help also to send the message across, for a more inclusively approach and India's Presidency can deliver much more than its predecessors." Alam also expressed his views on UN reforms and said that India is one of the largest countries in the world and has a greater voice and presence, but it's one vote and vote of 1.4 billion people is as good as the vote of a country of a hundred thousand people. "India deserves a much greater place at the United Nations and the UN should address the reform dialogue to include countries like India," said Bangladesh's Foreign Minister Alam. (ANI)
Stating that "freedom of navigation in the Indian Ocean is a must", Maldives Foreign Minister Abdulla Shahid on Friday said the country will do everything possible to maintain peace and stability in the region. Talking exclusively to ANI, Abdulla Shahid said, "Freedom of navigation in the Indian Ocean is a must because it connects countries, and because of the critical nature of where Maldives is located." "Maldives is at the heart of the Indian Ocean, and that is why for us, a peaceful, prosperous, and stable Indian Ocean is essential, and we will do everything possible to make sure that it is maintained so," he added. He said that the Maldives will be affected first in case of any instability in the region. "Because of instability in the Indian Ocean, we will be affected first, and that is why we partner with our neighbours including Sri Lanka, India, Mauritius and Bangladesh for the Indian Ocean Rim Association to work together, to bring everyone together because it is in our interest to maintain prosperity in the Indian Ocean," he said. Further on being asked about comparisons between Maldives' relations with India and with China, he said that Maldives is a friend to all but not anyone's enemy. "For Maldives, India is special, and our foreign policy is based on 'India First', but we have no enemies and we work with everyone. China has been a development partner of Maldives for a long time. They have been generous, and you can see them in many projects through Chinese assistance and soft loans, and so would you see many projects and soft loans from the Middle East, and different parts of the world. So, Maldives is no enemy of anyone, but a friend to all," he said. Earlier on Thursday, India welcomed the Foreign Ministers' of Bhutan, Croatia, Maldives, Sri Lanka and Sweden to New Delhi, for participating in the eighth edition of Raisina Dialogue. Bhutan Foreign Minister Dr Tandi Dorji, Croatian Foreign Minister Gordan Grlic Radman, Maldives Foreign Minister Abdulla Shahid, Sri Lanka Foreign Minister Ali Sabry, and Swedish Foreign Minister Tobias Billstrom reached for India's flagship conference on geopolitics and geo-strategy. (ANI)
Chief of the Australian Defence Forces General Angus Campbell on Friday said that according to his assessment, until we see a fracture in President Vladimir Putin's will, the Russia-Ukraine war is going to continue. While speaking at the Panel discussion "The Old, The New and The Unconventional: Assessing Contemporary Conflicts," General Campbell termed Russia's invasion of Ukraine as an "illegal, unjust and outrageous invasion." He said, "This clash of wills at present has shown and demonstrated some extraordinary success by the Ukrainian armed forces and the Ukrainian people. Extraordinary and centred on it is an utter determination to resist and to see their country free of Russian presence and domination. But until we see a fracture in the will, and, from my perspective, a fracture in President Putin's will, unfortunately, this war is going to continue. This is my assessment." He also stated that this conflict is a disaster for the people of Ukraine. Australian Defence Chief was impressed by a wide coalition of nations who've come to support Ukraine, whether diplomatically or materially, humanitarian or in lethal arms. "But until will changes, I think this war is going to continue," Campbell added. Recalling Danish Foreign Minister Lars Lokke Rasmussen's statement "if Russia ceases to fight, the war ends. If Ukraine ceases to fight, Ukraine ends," General Campbell said that the Ukrainian nation unified, under extraordinary leadership and with a will determined to resist. He further stated that he did not see any change yet in the intent to prosecute at whatever cost, to Russia's own forces, and the people of Ukraine, being shown by President Vladimir Putin in his determination to continue to prosecute this conflict. Talking about the de-facto NATO vs Russia war, the Australian Army Chief said, "Not at all. Not at all. This is a Ukrainian defence of Ukraine. And, yes, members of NATO and members of the wider international community, such as Australia and other countries from the Indo-Pacific are seeking to assist Ukraine and their capacity to resist and defend. But this is not a war as you have characterized it, which I think not wishing to impugn your comment, but it is a comment that is comfortably played by President Putin and those who support his regime." "To suggest in some way that an international coalition has attacked their own country, which is rubbish. This is an unprovoked attack on an independent sovereign nation by a brutal regime," he added. He also stated, "there is an extraordinary campaign to create the narrative of Russia as a victim, Russia as being the defender and that is rubbish." (ANI)
French Minister for Europe and Foreign Affairs Catherine Colonna on Friday inaugurated the 'Villa Swagatam' network of residencies in India during a special event at the French Institute in India (IFI), with the residency representatives in attendance. The initiative represents an important milestone for the French cultural network in India, consisting of the French Institute and the network of 15 Alliances Francaises in the country. Constantly, evolving to be mindful of the needs of the times, the French cultural network has adopted sustainability, community engagement, as well as greater diversity and inclusion as its core principles. From this was born 'Villa Swagatam', a network of residencies in India aimed at creating more profound, more meaningful relationships between artistic and literary actors of the two countries for the long term. With the launch of this programme, India joins a list of international French residency-based initiatives worldwide, including Villa Albertine in the United States, Villa Kujoyama in Japan, Casa de Velazquez in Spain, and the Nouveau Grand Tour and the Villa Medicis in Italy. The French Institute in India & the Alliances Francaises in India have long been organising residencies, including renowned French dancer-choreographer Amala Dianor, who gave a dazzling performance on the evening of the launch. To attract more and more French artists and writers to India, Villa Swagatam has partnered with several French cultural institutions, such as literary residencies and centres, art schools, theatres and festivals, as well as private foundations. A call for applications will be launched in April to welcome the first residents to India in mid-2023. Hence, Villa Swagatam will pave the way for the constant presence of French artists and writers across India throughout the year. In stage two, Villa Swagatam will expand to send Indian residents to France: the 16 residencies in France added to the 16 residencies in India will generate no fewer than 320 Villa Swagatam alumni. For the next 10 years, this will be a new pillar for the French Institute and the Alliances francaises network for developing their cultural programming. At the event, French Foreign Affairs Minister Catherine Colonna said, "There is a deep friendship and mutual cultural admiration between the French and Indian people. We are both nations with rich histories, and extremely talented artists and innovators. It is our endeavour to bring them closer together and build a true Indo-French community of artists. That is the purpose of the Villa Swagatam initiative, which I have the pleasure of inaugurating today. I warmly thank the Indian partners who will open their residencies to French writers and artists all over India." (ANI)
Chief of Defence Staff Anil Chauhan on Friday said that the biggest lesson from the Ukraine conflict is that "we need to be self-reliant," as India cannot be dependent on the supply of weapon systems from "outside." "If you ask me, some of the lessons from this particular war would be that we have to be self-reliant. Actually, that's the biggest lesson for us. So, we can't be dependent on supplies of our weapon systems, et cetera, from outside. That's the one big lesson that we take from this particular conflict," Chauhan said while speaking at a panel discussion on 'The Old, The New, and The Unconventional: Assessing Contemporary Conflicts', during the Raisina Dialogue in New Delhi. The Ministry of External Affairs is organising the Raisina Dialogue in collaboration with the Observer Research Foundation (URF) from March 2-4. The conference which is being organised under the theme "Provocation, Uncertainty, Turbulence: Lighthouse in the Tempest," will witness the participation of representatives from over 100 countries. Chauhan during the panel discussion said that any conflict can be looked at from a number of perspectives and viewpoints. "So you can have a perspective from a political point of view, probably from an economic point of view or a diplomatic point of view. But as an army officer and as a Chief of Defence Staff, I see this war from the point of view of a military practitioner actually. So, we are looking at what kind of lessons from this particular war are applicable in the Indian context," he said. The panel discussion was also attended by Australia's Chief of the Defence Force, General Angus Campbell and the US former Secretary of Defence, Jim Mattis. On the power of narratives, Chauhan said that: "I think, as far as combatants are concerned, they should be focusing more on kinetic operations. Narratives will be built around it. That's my view. But war is not fought only by competence in today's modern war. So that's where, actually, the battle of the narrative comes in, because the whole nation actually gets involved in it." He said that armed forces should focus on kinetics, and that will build the narrative. If you lose that, then the narrative will be entirely different. "Narratives are important, yes. I cannot deny the significance of narrative because it gives you a notion of victory for the nation, actually. So even a smaller victory can be portrayed as a big victory. So it's important. But for us soldiers, I think we should also focus on the kinetic aspects of it," the Chief of Defence Staff said. (ANI)
A huge diaspora of US nationals and their family members living in different cities of the country met Blinken in New Delhi.

Binken also took a ride in an auto-rikshaw.

"A pleasure to meet with our staff from @USAndIndia, @USAndHyderabad, @USAndKolkata, @USAndChennai, @USAndMumbai, and their families. I'm deeply grateful for their hard work and commitment to strengthen our people-to-people ties and advance the #USIndia strategic partnership," Blinken tweeted on Friday.

The Secretary of State earlier on Friday met women civil society leaders in India.

"Met with dynamic women civil society leaders today in India. Over cups of masala chai we discussed their important work across India on women's empowerment, recognizing that it enriches and strengthens both our countries," Blinken tweeted on Friday.

Blinken on Wednesday arrived in India to take part in the G20 Foreign Ministers' Meeting and the Raisina Dialogue.

The Ministry of External Affairs is organising the Raisina Dialogue in collaboration with the Observer Research Foundation (URF) from March 2-4.

The conference being organised under the theme "Provocation, Uncertainty, Turbulence: Lighthouse in the Tempest?", will witness the participation of representatives from over 100 countries. (ANI)
Former US Defence Secretary Jim Mattis said on Friday that Indian defence forces need good technology as "more India is strong, the more calm things are going to get in this world." Mattis said this while speaking at the Panel Discussion On "The Old, the New, and the Unconventional: Assessing Contemporary Conflicts" at the 8th Edition of the Raisina Dialogue 2023 on Friday. "The human factors remain dominant even as new technology comes in. The Indian Army needs good technology because the more India is strong and speaks for itself, the more calm things are going to get in this world. We want that sort of strength, but we don't need it in the hand of a creature straight out of Dostoyevsky who will act on his impulses of hatred," Mattis said Regarding the fear of the usage of nuclear power in the Russia-Ukraine conflict, he said that all NATO could do was remind Putin that NATO is a nuclear-armed alliance. Its message was that Russia should not even think about it. "I must point out, here in India, Prime Minister Modi's firm statement about no use of nuclear weapons. I think that India has a connection to Russia that may have made that message strong and effective. We are thankful to your Prime Minister for it," he said while hinting at India's growing global influence under the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Quoting a saying from history he said, "Nations with allies thrive, nations without allies wither." "We are watching Russia wither before our very eyes. The Western nations can continue to provide this aid so long as the will of the people because we are democracies. Our governments follow the will of the people. So long as that holds, we can continue to do this. It was the human factors that threw the Russians under a tenacious leader who is reminding us that leadership matters," he added. Especially when Prime Minister Modi pointed out, this is not an era of war, but when war intrudes, you've to deal with it. Recalling his service days in NATO, he pointed out that earlier Russia had never considered NATO a threat. "Back when I was a NATO Supreme Allied Commander, I had Russian officers on my staff. Russian officers walked freely through the NATO headquarters in the 1990s and 2000s until 2014. They went to the cafeteria. We sat down next to them. They'd wander into our offices. Why did we do that? Because democratic nations are willing to be transparent in an effort to deter hostilities, to create understanding. The Russian army knew that NATO was no threat," he recalled. "They (Russians) have moved their troops off the NATO lines and they're down attacking in Ukraine. this proved that they know that there was never a threat from NATO," he said. (ANI)
US Republican presidential candidate Nikki Haley has said that she will stop giving aid to nations that hate America if she is voted to power. In her address at the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) on Friday (local time), she said that the US to this date continues to give foreign aid to Pakistan, Iraq, Palestine, Cuba and China. Nikki Haley stressed that the US has been paying its enemies. In her remarks at CPAC, she said that the US has been giving billions of dollars to nations that undermine the country each day. "We give billions of dollars to countries that undermine America every day. They stab us in the back and turn around and have their hands out wanting money, some of them even support terrorists that kill our troops," Nikki Haley said. "To this day, we are giving foreign aid to Pakistan, Iraq, Palestine and even communist Cuba and China. All we are doing is paying off our enemies, when I'm the President we will stop giving money to countries that hate America," she added. Nikki Haley called the alleged Chinese spy balloon incident a "national embarrassment." She said that China believes that the American era has passed and stressed that Beijing is wrong. "Chinese Spy balloon was national embarrassment. Make no mistake, communist China is the strongest and most disciplined enemy we have ever faced. We need to hold China accountable and need to start with COVID. China thinks the American era has passed, they're wrong," Haley said at CPAC. Criticizing US President Joe Biden, Nikki Haley said that he and Democrats have been giving them "oppression, poverty and lawlessness." In her speech at CPAC, Nikki Haley said, "When I look to the future, I see our country rededicated to freedom and opportunity. But when I look at the present, I see the total opposite, Joe Biden and the Democrats are giving us oppression, poverty, and lawlessness." She noted, "This is not the America that called to my parents 50 years ago. And make no mistake, this is not the America I'm going to leave to my children." Nikki Haley stressed that Biden has wasted taxpayer money since he took office. Haley said that the US has reached USD 31 trillion in national debt and is on track to add USD 20 trillion more in the next 10 years. "Look at how much taxpayer money that Biden has wasted since he took office. On Joe Biden's watch, we hit USD 31 trillion in national debt. He's put us on track to add 20 trillion more in the next ten years. And by the way, some Republicans have helped him do that. We need to stop with the earmarks and pet projects once and for all," Nikki Haley said. "Joe's only regret is that he hasn't spent more. He wants more handouts to illegal immigrants, more bailouts to rich college students and more to big labour and big business. He doesn't mind spending so much because he knows it's your money that he's spending and the only thing Joe Biden needs to spend more of is more time in retirement," she added. Last week, Nikki Haley said that if voted to power, she will cut every cent in foreign aid for countries that hate the US. This includes China, Pakistan and other adversaries as "a strong America doesn't pay off the bad guys". According to Haley, America spent USD 46 billion on foreign aid last year. She noted that the amount is more than any other country by far. "I will cut every cent in foreign aid for countries that hate us. A strong America doesn't pay off the bad guys. A proud America doesn't waste our people's hard-earned money. And the only leaders who deserve our trust are those who stand up to our enemies and stand beside our friends," Haley wrote in an op-ed for New York Post. While citing examples, Haley in the Op-ed said that the US has given Iran more than USD 2 billion over the last few years, even though its government is getting closer to the murderous thugs in Iran who shout "Death to America!" and launch attacks on our troops. She said that the Biden administration resumed military aid to Pakistan which she stressed is home to at least a dozen terrorist organizations. "The Biden administration resumed military aid to Pakistan, though it's home to at least a dozen terrorist organizations and its government is deeply in hock to China. Team Biden restored half a billion dollars to a corrupt United Nations agency that's supposed to help the Palestinian people but in fact covers for deeply anti-Semitic propaganda against our ally Israel," Haley said. (ANI)
Police

Police were looking for a shooter who killed one man early Thursday morning in east Phoenix and left another in the hospital.

Just before 2:30 a.m. at a 7-Eleven near McDowell Road and 48th Street, officers responded to a shooting and found two men with gunshot wounds, according to police.

One of the men, Kevin Turner, 27, died at a hospital, while the other was treated for injuries that were not life-threatening, police said.

A preliminary investigation found multiple shots were fired at Turner and the other man by an unidentified person during an argument, police detailed.

The suspect fled before officers arrived on the scene, according to police.

Police did not provide a description of the shooter."Additional details about what led up to the shooting is part of the ongoing investigation," police said in a news release. Anyone with information on the case was asked to contact the Phoenix police, Silent Witness at 480-WITNESS (948-6377) or for Spanish, 480-TESTIGO (837-8446).

This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: 1 killed, 1 injured in shooting at 7-Eleven in Phoenix
A sonar image of the Ironton sitting upright, with all three masts intact, on the bottom of Lake Huron.

Researchers with the National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration, the state of Michigan, and Ocean Exploration Trust have found a long-lost sailing ship called Ironton resting upright at the bottom of Lake Huron.



As the 191-foot-long (58-meter) Ironton sailed across the inky black water of Lake Huron in the early hours of a September 1894 morning, it collided with a freight ship called Ohio. Ironton sank, with only two of its seven crew surviving to tell the tale, and no one saw it again for over a century. This week, NOAA announced that the Ironton was found using sonar imaging in 2019. Researchers located the ship hundreds of feet below the surface, sitting upright on the lakebed, with its three masts and rigging appearing relatively undamaged.

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The discovery illustrates how we can use the past to create a better future, said Jeff Gray, Thunder Bay National Marine Sanctuary superintendent, in a NOAA press release. Using this cutting-edge technology, we have not only located a pristine shipwreck lost for over a century, we are also learning more about one of our nations most important natural resourcesthe Great Lakes. This research will help protect Lake Huron and its rich history.

Ironton sitting at the bottom of Lake Huron.

According to NOAA, Ironton was traveling with the Moonlight, both in tow behind the Kershaw as all three departed Ashtabula, Ohio en route to Marquette, Michigan. At 12:30 a.m. on September 26, 1894, the lead vessels engine failed while a strong wind pushed Moonlight and Ironton toward the crippled ship. Crew aboard Moonlight severed the line holding Ironton to Kershaw, and Ironton drifted away into the dark of the night.



At the mercy of Lake Hurons winds, Ironton veered from its course and collided with Ohio, a steamship that was carrying 1,000 tons of grain to Ogdensburg, New York from Duluth, Minnesota. Irontons bow ripped a 12-foot (3.6-meter) hole in Ohios hull, and Ironton drifted for an hour before sinking beneath the waves.

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The departure and arrival point for the Kershaw, Moonlight, and Ironton (blue circles) and the Ohio (red triangles).

Researchers from NOAAs Thunder Bay National Marine Sanctuary began looking for both Ohio and Ironton in 2017, and found Ohio submerged under 300 feet (91 meters of water). In 2019, NOAA partnered with Robert Ballards Ocean Exploration Trust to find Ironton using a piece of technology called BEN, or Bathymetric Explorer and Navigator, which is a self-driving boat that can use sonar to map a lakebed.



Using sonar imaging and knowledge of the location of Ohioalong with historic wind and weather data from the time of the collisionthe team of researchers soon found a ship. After observing the wreck with a submersible, they confirmed the wreck was the Ironton. NOAA says that Thunder Bay National Sanctuary is planning to create educational materials and exhibits based on the Ironton. Divers can also visit the site of the wreck.

The discovery of Ironton inspires us to keep exploring, said Gray. We will continue to map Thunder Bay National Marine Sanctuary, and this research will ultimately lead to even more discoveries about the Great Lakes and the unique collection of shipwrecks that rest on the lakebed.

More: Road to Atlantis Discovered on Seafloor Is Not Road to Atlantis

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Lujza Pados and her father sitting outside of the Jet House. Zsuzsa Darab

Lujza Pados, a 13-year-old girl from Hungary, loves traveling and flying on airplanes.

With support from her father, Pados approached a design firm with her ideas for a plane-themed tiny home.

Together, they created the Jet House  a 207-square-foot, pastel blue cabin that's shaped like a toy plane.

Nestled among the trees in Zala County, Hungary, is a little girl's dream come true: A baby blue tiny house that's shaped like an airplane.

The exterior of the Jet House. Zsuzsa Darab

Lovingly referred to as the Jet House, the unusual tiny cabin belongs to 13-year-old Lujza Pados.

She always dreamed of having a tiny house, and as someone who loves flying, a plane-themed tiny home seemed like the perfect fit.

"I am kind of obsessed with traveling," Pados told Insider. "When my family and I talked about me having a house to just be alone and spend quality time with my friends, I immediately thought about how cool it would be to have something like this."

When Pados brought the idea up to her family, she had their support  even though it took her father a little convincing before he was onboard.

The interiors of the Jet House have curved walls and ceiling. Zsuzsa Darab

Her father was initially hesitant about the scale of the project.

"At first, I thought this is a really crazy idea to start such a complicated project and potentially invest so much money, especially in a location that's not really a famous or an expensive area in Europe," Balazs Pados, Lujza's father, told Insider.

Zala County is in southwestern Hungary, about 130 miles from the capital, Budapest.

But when he saw how passionate his daughter was about the project, he couldn't say no  and eventually became just as excited as she was.

"My dad was really into the idea of having a little house in which my sisters and I can just be alone, or have a sleepover with friends," Pados added.

With support from her father, Pados approached Hello Wood, a Budapest-based design firm, to help bring her vision to life.

The Jet House has circular windows. Zsuzsa Darab

"It is indisputably the most fun cabin that Hello Wood has ever designed and built," Tamas Fulop, the project architect, told Insider. "Creating a building that needs to be 'adorable' and 'cute' is a challenging, yet inspiring assignment for an architect."

Story continues

The Hello Wood team started the project in January last year, and the Jet House was completed in November.

Although it took slightly under a year from start to finish, the architects only needed about three months to build the actual cabin, Fulop said.

Pados was extremely involved in the design process, and even brought along drawings of how she envisioned her house.

Pados reading a book on her bed in the Jet House. Zsuzsa Darab

This made it easier for Fulop and his team to understand exactly what Pados was looking for.

Although Pados was nervous about her first time working with so many adults, she warmed up to the process quickly.

"At first, I was completely terrified that they wouldn't hear my wants and needs, but they were friendly and did everything I could've possibly asked for, and more," Pados said.

In the end, the experience gave her the confidence to express her opinions.

"Now I can tell people what I like and don't like without being afraid of them saying something mean," she added.

"To realize the cartoon-like mood of the initial idea, we decided to design it to look like an enlarged version of a beautiful designer toy," Fulop said.

There is space in the Jet House for a double bed. Zsuzsa Darab

To ensure that the tiny house felt like an actual airplane on the inside, Fulop and the team created space-saving solutions in the same way as a real plane  by using overhead compartments.

The total floor area of the plane is about 207 square feet, excluding the wings and the stairs leading to the entrance, Fulop said.

Despite its size, the tiny house has a kitchenette, a living space, a bathroom, and even a double bed  which is in the nose of the plane, he added.

"It was important that the house should have the same atmosphere on the inside as it does on the outside," Fulop said. "We were not furnishing a house, but an airplane."

Even the sitting area of the tiny house is furnished with actual airplane seats.

The Jet House is furnished with actual airplane seats. Zsuzsa Darab

Together with her father, the two of them found a website selling furniture and decor items from airplanes that have been taken out of service, Pados said.

"We ordered two of them from there, and also a lamp, created from the windows of an actual plane," she added.

Although the Hello Wood team has been designing tiny houses since 2018, this is the first time that they're working with a young client like Pados.

Lujzi sitting next to a window in the Jet House. Zsuzsa Darab

In fact, Pados is the firm's youngest client so far, as she was only 12 when the project started, Fulop said.

"It was a great experience designing for her since she enthusiastically joined every meeting and brought a lot of ideas," he said.

It was also refreshing to hear her perspectives, which are vastly different from those of real estate developers that the team is used to, he added.

Other tiny houses that Hello Wood has designed include an A-frame cabin, a pebble-shaped mini pod, as well as the Wauhaus  a rectangular cabin on stilts. Prices vary depending on the scale as well as the complexity of the designs, but the firm's turnkey cabins are available from $2,280 per square meter.

To make the Jet House seem more lifelike, the structure is elevated on stilts  like how real planes are raised off the ground on wheels, Fulop said.

The entrance to the Jet House. Zsuzsa Darab

The airplane tiny house consists of over a thousand prefabricated pieces, Fulop said.

The frame is made of plywood, and the entire house is covered in a waterproof protective coating, he said.

"This is important because ordinary drainage and closing steel accessories like tin plating cannot appear on a shape like this in order to retain the clean silhouette," Fulop added.

The completed Jet House is located right by the Pados' vacation home, surrounded by trees.

An aerial view of the Jet House, which is situated in a mini-forested area. Zsuzsa Darab

"Even before the tiny house was built, we spent a lot of time there, and we just love it there, because it's near nature, and is very peaceful and relaxing," Pados said. "Although it is a two-hour drive from our house to there, for that feeling it is all worth it."

Pados and her father also have plans to lease it out as a vacation rental in the future, as they want everyone to enjoy the space like they do. However, they have yet to decide when that'll happen.

"I think this was a really good idea making this project happen, because it definitely brought me and my father closer," Pados said.

Lujzi and her father sitting outside of the Jet House. Zsuzsa Darab

While they preferred to not disclose the exact cost of the project, Pados' father shared that it was more than his original budget.

"Initially I thought 50,000 Euros should be enough, but of course, during the realization of the project, it got more expensive," he said. "But, honestly, how much is it worth for a father to see his daughter's smile?"

Read the original article on Insider
In this piece, we will take a look at the 15 biggest private jet companies in the world. For more companies, head on over to 5 Biggest Private Jet Companies in the World.

The aviation industry is one of the attractive sectors in the world simply due to the nature of the products. Jets taking off and flying are still marvels of technology despite having been around for decades now. In fact, a little known fact about modern day aviation is that it started out as a private affair - since in its early days most people could not own an aircraft, and companies that sold seats instead of charters did not exist. The first human flight - of Dr. Hans Von Ohain - was of a private jet, and Lockheed's JetStar was the first business jet in the world and one which initially flew the company's executives, alongside others such as Elvis Presley, Frank Sinatra, President Richard Nixon, and the Shah of Iran.

Fast forward to today, and the private jet industry continues to grow. According to a research report from Adroit Market Research, the charter flight market was estimated to be worth $48 billion in 2022 and will grow at a compounded annual growth rate (CAGR) of 12.4% between then and 2029 to sit at an estimated $51.88 billion by the end of the forecast period. This industry is dominated primarily by companies and other large organizations that choose to ferry their employees around the world without being constrained by the hassles of commercial aviation. Additionally, Adroit Market Research also adds that the world's wealthiest are starting to turn to chartered flights more as opposed to owning their own jets, due to the high costs associated with owning an aircraft.

Business Jets Market

A report from Fortune Business Insights illustrates that the business jet market was worth $25.87 billion in 2021 and will grow at a CAGR of 4.06% to sit at $38.34 billion in 2029. It explains that the market is divided into small, mid, and large sized jets, with the light and mid sized jets representing the largest chunk of the market. In terms of platform, the industry is divided into on-demand and aircraft management categories, and as a whole, the market covers propulsion systems, airframes, avionics, and software among others.

As should be evident, the operator segment is larger than the private segment of the business jet industry, and original equipment manufacturers (OEM) are expected to see stronger growth in the future as the demand for jets grows. Finally, North America is the largest continent with a market value of $9.23 billion and Asia Pacific will be the fastest growing region. Demand for business jets is booming as well, as data from the General Aviation Manufacturers Association (GAMA) - the aircraft industry's trade association - shows that 712 business jets were delivered in 2022 over the 710 delivered in 2021, even as the global economy battled inflation and high interest rates. In terms of value, the shipments were worth $26.8 billion, marking a 6% growth.

Today we'll look at the biggest private jet companies in the world, with the top picks being General Dynamics Corporation (NYSE:GD), Bombardier Inc. (TSE:BBD-B.TO), and Dassault Aviation Societe anonyme (EPA:AM.PA).

15 Biggest Private Jet Companies in the World

Spumador/Shutterstock.com

Our Methodology

In order to compile our list, we took a look at two different but interrelated segments of the market. These are the jet operators and manufacturers. For the former, since most of them are private and their revenue details are unavailable, we used total flight hours in 2022 as the ranking criteria. For the latter, their latest available 12 month revenue estimate is used, and the list starts from the operators. Finally, while Boeing and Airbus are the biggest airplane manufacturers in the world, they have not been included, since their private flying hours or private jet operations revenues are not available. We also excluded them to ensure that the list focuses more on pureplay companies.

Biggest Private Jet Companies in the World

15. PlaneSense, Inc.

Total Flight Hours In 2022: 42,907

PlaneSense, Inc. offers an aircraft sharing plan through which its members contribute to the costs of ownership and can request flights in return. The firm was set up in 1995, and it operates the PC-24 jet aircraft and the PC-12 turboprop. It is headquartered in Portsmouth, New Hampshire, and has partnered up with a pilot training academy near the Portsmouth Airport to provide it with pilots. The firm likes to have five pilots per plane, and the majority of its fleet is made of propeller aircraft. Its customers are allocated time on the airplanes based on their size in the cost sharing model.

PlaneSense, Inc. meets others such as Bombardier Inc. (TSE:BBD-B.TO), General Dynamics Corporation (NYSE:GD), and Dassault Aviation Societe anonyme (EPA:AM.PA) on our list of the world's biggest private jet companies.

14. Solairus Aviation

Total Flight Hours In 2022: 39,687

Solairus Aviation is an aircraft management and jet charter services provider that was set up in 2009 and is headquartered in Petaluma, California. The firm operates light private jets, and it offers dozens of aircraft to its customers to let them travel all over the U.S. At the same time, Solairus also offers high net worth individual aircraft management services, through which it takes over the full operators of the aircraft and provides an option of chartering it out to reduce ownership costs.

13. FlyExclusive

Total Flight Hours In 2022: 46,707

FlyExclusive owns and operates private jets all over the world to cover regions such as North America, Asia, Europe, and others. It also offers different services, such as a membership club, fractional aircraft sharing, a partnership program to offset negative cash flow from an aircraft purchase decision, charter flights, and aircraft maintenance and repair. The firm plans to list its shares on the NYSE under the ticker EGGF and its estimated revenue for 2022 is $360 million.

12. VistaJet

Total Flight Hours In 2022: 148,094

VistaJet is one of the largest private aircraft operators in the world with more than 360 planes in its fleet. The firm operates medium sized and large jets, and carries passengers to more than 150 different countries. VistaJet is headquartered in Luqa, Malta, and was set up in 2004. It offers customers the ability to subscribe to a program or request direct flights as opposed to preplanned routes.

11. Wheels Up Experience Inc. (NYSE:UP)

Total Flight Hours In 2022: 175,440

Wheels Up Experience Inc. (NYSE:UP) offers a variety of private aviation services, such as chartered flights and fleet management. It is based in New York, New York.

Wheels Up Experience Inc. (NYSE:UP) was one of the first firms to offer an annual membership plan to customers that provided them with hourly rates. Its trailing twelve month revenue is $1.5 billion. 14 of the 943 hedge funds part of Insider Monkey's Q4 2022 survey had bought the firm's shares.

Wheels Up Experience Inc. (NYSE:UP)'s largest investor in our database is Jim Simons' Renaissance Technologies which owns 1.8 million shares worth $1.9 million.

10. Flexjet

Total Flight Hours In 2022: 178,053

Flexjet provides fractional aviation services through which customers share the costs of jet ownership and are allocated usage accordingly. It had 186 aircraft in service as of September 2022 and is based in Richmond Heights, Ohio. The firm was previously owned by one of the largest private aviation jet manufacturers in the world, Bombardier, but was bought by a private aviation investment firm in 2013. Flexjet is also known for providing customers with a customized experience, which includes unique aircraft interior design and a crew dedicated to each aircraft instead of rotating shifts.

9. NetJets Inc.

Total Flight Hours In 2022: 546,153

NetJets Inc. is another fractional aviation company but the only one in the world that is owned by Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway. It is also the biggest operator of private jets in the world, with the total exceeding 600 aircraft in July 2022. It is the largest constituent of Berkshire's Service Group, which raked in roughly $18.8 billion in revenue as a whole last year.

8. Piaggio Aerospace

Latest 12 month revenue: $163 million (1EUR = 1.06USD)

Piaggio Aerospace is an Italian aircraft manufacturer that is headquartered in Genoa, Italy. It is one of the world's oldest aircraft manufacturers, having first built a plane in 1915. The firm primarily makes the P.180 line of business jets, which use turboprop engines, with hundreds of its aircraft in operation all over the world.

7. Pilatus Aircraft Ltd.

Latest 12 month revenue: $1.38 billion (1CHF = 1.06USD)

Pilatus Aircraft Ltd. is a Swiss company headquartered in Stans, Switzerland. The firm makes and sells the PC-21 and PC24 turboprop and jet engine business aircraft. Its revenue for the 2021 fiscal year was 1.3 billion CHF.

6. Honda Aircraft Company

Latest 12 month revenue: $2.46 billion

The Honda Aircraft Company is a subsidiary of Honda Motor Co., Ltd. (NYSE:HMC) and manufactures private jets, engines, and other products. Its primary plane is the HondaJet, and the division as a whole earned $2.46 billion in revenue for the nine months ending in December 2022.

General Dynamics Corporation (NYSE:GD), Honda Aircraft Company, Bombardier Inc. (TSE:BBD-B.TO), and Dassault Aviation Societe anonyme (EPA:AM.PA) are some of the biggest private jet companies in the world.

Click to continue reading and see 5 Biggest Private Jet Companies in the World.

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Disclosure: None. 15 Biggest Private Jet Companies in the World is originally published on Insider Monkey.
Two men are facing criminal charges, accused of shooting and killing a bald eagle near Stanton, Nebraska, on Tuesday, that authorities said they had planned to cook and eat.

The two suspects, identified as Honduran nationals Ramiro Hernandez-Tziquin and Domingo Zetino-Hernandez, both age 20, were charged with unlawful possession of an eagle, the Stanton County Sheriff's Office reported in a news release Tuesday. Hernandez-Tziquin was also cited for not having a driver's license.

At about 4 p.m. local time Tuesday, deputies responded to a report of a vehicle in a field northwest of the Wood Duck Recreation Area, about three miles from Stanton, the sheriff's office said, where they made contact with the two men, and found them with a dead North American Bald Eagle.

"Further investigation revealed that the two had shot and killed the protected national bird in that area and stated they planned on cooking and eating the bird," the sheriff's office said.

The Nebraska Game and Parks Commission seized the rifle used to kill the eagle, and also took custody of the eagle's body, the sheriff's office said.

Bald eagles are protected under the Bald and Golden Eagle Protection Act of 1940, which prohibits anyone, without a permit issued by the Secretary of the Interior, from shooting or killing them, including their parts, nests, or eggs.

The sheriff's office said more serious charges are possible as the investigation continues.

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About 200 residents of the settlement of Boiove, Kherson Oblast, have been taken away by the occupiers to carry out so-called filtration measures, and Russian mercenaries are being quartered in their houses.

Source: General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine report on Facebook

Quote: "Representatives of the so-called occupation authorities exert pressure on the local population with the aim of appropriating land plots. The majority of residents of Boiove in Kherson Oblast refused to transfer their private plots to the local occupation administration.

As of 1 March of this year, about 200 people from this settlement were taken to an unknown destination for so-called filtration measures, and Russian mercenaries are being quartered in their houses."

Details: It is also reported that the Russian invaders continue to rob the population in the temporarily captured territory of Zaporizhzhia Oblast

In particular, since the beginning of February 2023, Russian mercenaries have begun to actively take cars from residents who have not obtained Russian passports, according to the General Staff report.

Background: According to the National Resistance Center, the occupying so-called administration in Zaporizhzhia Oblast has not paid salaries to state employees for two months.

Journalists fight on their own frontline. Support Ukrainska Pravda or become our patron!
In November 1989, the Monroe County Sheriffs Office got a call that a body had been found by the interstate.

A group of deer hunters discovered it in the woods just off I-75, about 50 miles south of metro Atlanta, according to a sheriffs office release on March 2.

Deputies at the time identified the body as missing woman Mary Louicile Willfong, who was 23 years old. An autopsy report showed that she had been sexually assaulted, and her cause of death was determined as strangulation.

Willfong had last been seen in Forest Park, 47 miles away on the south side of the big city. She was at a farmers market, and deputies received tips that she had been seen getting into a tractor trailer with an unidentified man, according to the release.

Deputies interviewed suspects and DNA was collected, but nothing matched the DNA found on Willfongs body. The case went cold.

Four years ago, in March 2019, the Monroe County Sheriff decided to reopen Willfongs case, hoping new technology would help solve the decades-old mystery.

A special investigator resubmitted the DNA evidence that was collected 30 years prior to the Georgia Bureau of Investigation crime-lab, deputies said.

The evidence was also taken to DNA Labs International, a genealogy company based in Miam that could provide a more complete picture of the person who may have killed Willfong, according to the release.

The results came back, and there was a match.

Deputies identified Larry Padgett, a 59-year-old resident of Loogootee, Indiana, and arrest warrants were issued. Padgett would have been 25 at the time Willfong was killed.

On March 1, the special investigator, in collaboration with local Indiana law enforcement, drove up to Washington, Indiana, and arrested Padgett.

Deputies said that while in Indiana, investigators were able to find more evidence that linked Padgett to the crime.

Padgett is being held in Indiana until a waiver of extradition that would bring him back to Georgia to face charges can be signed.

Story continues

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A 25-year-old man has been arrested and charged with four felonies after police alleged he was involved in a Wednesday night shooting in Canyon County.

Sheriffs deputies responded to a report of a hit and run on U.S. 20/26 late Wednesday near the Canyon Springs RV Resort and located a man with a serious gunshot wound and another individual with other severe injuries, according to a news release from the agency. The victims were both hospitalized and the gunshot wound victim was in critical condition, police said Thursday afternoon.

Several police agencies responded to the scene, including the Caldwell, Middleton and Parma police departments, the release said. Officials were able to locate a suspicious vehicle near the residence of a subject in the investigation and eventually located the alleged suspect. The Idaho Statesman has reached out to the sheriffs office for clarity.

The man, who is being held at the Canyon County Jail on a $500,000 bond, is facing four felonies: two counts of aggravated battery, aggravated assault, and unlawful possession of a firearm by a convicted felon, according to police and online court records. He was also charged with a misdemeanor for battery.

I want to commend my staff for their incredible work last night and into this morning that resulted in the arrest of (the man), Canyon County Sheriff Kieran Donahue said in the release. They left no stone unturned in their effort to identify and locate the person responsible for this senseless act of violence and bring him to justice.
It might be obvious to say, but a film getting nominated for an Oscar doesnt automatically make it good.

In fact, there have been many deserving movies over the years that were somehow overlooked by the Academy.

Its easy to assume that certain releases dont get nominated because theyre not what Oscar voters would usually go for, but there have been some surprises in the past.

For example, pretty much every new superhero film earns a nomination thanks to the technical or makeup categories, while random animated films are acknowledged most likely because of the low number on offer in a certain year.

This means films likem say, DCs Suicide Squad may get mauled by the critics, but they still gain recognition from the Academy (it went on to win).

This is even more ridiculous when you consider that classics such as Dont Look Now and Blow Out didnt even get recognised.

They arent alone  weve run through the 25 most surprising films that didnt receive a nomination in any category.

1. American Honey (2016)

From appearing as a backing dancer on Top of the Pops to winning an Oscar for Best Director: it would have been a brilliant trajectory for Andrea Arnold following the release of American Honey, a drama following a teenage girl (Sasha Lane) who gets caught up in the wrong crowd. Arnolds day may  and should  still come.

2. Babyteeth (2019)

Babyteeth, which was shot in 2019 but released in the US in 2020, was one of the best films of its year. The films leads  Eliza Scanlen, Toby Wallace, Essie Davis and Ben Mendelsohn  all deserved acting nominations, but apparentlys voters never watched it.

Eliza Scanlen and Toby Wallace in Babyteeth (Picturehouse Entertainment)

3. Before Sunrise (1995)

While the final two chapters of Richard Linklaters Before trilogy earned screenplay nominations, the film that introduced the world to future married couple Jesse (Ethan Hawke) and Celine (Julie Delpy) was criminally overlooked.

4. The Big Heat (1953)

Fritz Lang had a number of films overlooked by the Academy (see: M, 1931; You Only Live Once, 193. While this noir, starring Glenn Ford, Lee Marvin and and Gloria Grahame, is a film youd expect to have been nominated, it became yet another film to receive no recognition from the awards body.

Story continues

5. The Big Lebowski (1998)

The Academys generosity to the Coen brothers peaked when No Country for Old Men beat There Will Be Blood in one of the ceremonys closest Best Picture races of all time. It remains surprising that one of their few films to evade any nominations is this endlessly-quotable comedy starring Jeff Bridges as The Dude.

Jeff Bridgers in the Coen brotherss The Big Lebowski (Netflix)

6. Blow Out (1981)

Brian De Palma doesnt exactly make films in the hope of winning awards, but his political thriller  based on Michelangelo Antonionis Blow Up  would have deserved any Oscar it was nominated for.

7. Dont Look Now (1973)

It seems the Oscars only had room for one horror film at the 1973 ceremony, with The Exorcist winning two Oscars that year despite Nicolas Roegs Venice-set chiller failing to secure a single nomination. In fact, Nicolas Roeg, who directed this Venice-set chiller, is one of the most unfairly overlooked directors in Oscars history.

8. Frances Ha (2012)

Looking back over the 2010s, Noah Baumbachs Frances Ha stands tall as one of the decades best films. Greta Gerwigs spirited performance as an aimless New Yorker is an all-timer, and even if that years acting categories were too crowded, it would have assimilated in nicely with that years (10!) Best Picture nominees. Gerwig would go on to become a Best Director nominee for her 2017 film Lady Bird.

Greta Gerwig in Frances Ha

9. La Haine (1995)

Mathieu Kassovitzs black-and-white drama  translated in English as Hate  follows three young friends and their struggles living in the suburbs of Paris. Looking back at the nominees of that year, it should easily have received a nod in the Best International Feature Film category.

10. Heat (1995)

On paper, the big screen union of Robert De Niro and Al Pacino in Michael Manns cop drama was a shoo-in for awards, but no Oscar nominations manifested.

11. In the Mood for Love (2000)

Wong Kar-wai set the benchmark for romance in film with his acclaimed Hong Kong drama following a man and woman (Tony Leung and Maggie Cheung) who develop feelings for one another after suspecting their respective spouses of having an affair together.

Maggie Cheung and Tony Leung in Wong Kar-wais In the Mood for Love (defd Deutscher Fernsehdienst)

12. The Long Goodbye (1973)

The first of two Robert Altman films on this list. This superior thriller stars Elliott Gould as Raymond Chandlers private investigator, Philip Marlowe, in one of the directors most entertaining films and is just as good as any other film nominated that year (see: American Graffiti, The Sting, Cries and Whispers).

13. Memories of Murder (2003)

Before Parasite, there was Memories of Murder. Bong Joon-ho has been making incredible films for decades now, and this sprawling and highly-influential crime thriller is just as good as Parasite, which brilliantly won Best Picture in 2020.

14. Never Rarely Sometimes Always

The fact Sidney Flanagan isnt an Oscar winner for Eliza Hittmans drama, following a young girl who seeks medical help after an unwanted pregnancy, is outrageous.

Sidney Flanagan in Never Rarely Sometimes Always (AP)

15. Night Moves (1975)

Gene Hackman starred in numerous Oscar nominated films (see: The French Connection, Mississippi Burning, Unforgiven), but Night Moves should be on that list. A twist-filled crime film with an ending for the ages, its more than worthy of a mention alongside Hackmans greatest films.

16. Mishima: A Life in Four Chapters (1985)

Its quite staggering to think that Paul Schrader has only ever received one Oscar nomination  for his First Reformed screenplay  considering he was behind such films as Blue Collar and Martin Scorseses Taxi Driver and Raging Bull. His fictionalised account of the life of celebrated Japanese writer Yukio Mishima is one such film that would have been a worthy winner, let alone nominee.

17. Our Little Sister (2015)

Japanese filmmaker Hirokazu Kore-eda finally broke onto the Oscars scene when Shoplifters was nominated for Best International Feature Film in 2019. In truth, Kore-eda should have several nominations to his name. Our Little Sister, his tender 2015 drama, would have made an excellent nominee.

18. Portrait of a Lady on Fire (2019)

How Celine Sciammas drama, following the love affair between two women in the late 18th century, didnt get any nominations, well never know. Its a staggering work, which ranks high up in Sciammas impressive back catalogue.

Adele Haenel and Noemie Merlant in Portrait of a Lady on Fire (Curzon Artificial Eye)

19. The Rider (2018)

Of all the films to be snubbed at the 2018 Oscars, Chloe Zhaos drama - which stars a real-life rodeo cowboy and his family  was easily the most egregious.

20. School of Rock (2004)

Hear us out: Richard Linklaters comedy is one of the greatest films of the 21st century to date, and the fact it never got a nomination says more about the Oscars than it does about School of Rock. Jack Black has (and will) never be better as Dewey Finn, a wannabe musician who turns a classroom of kids into a rock band while pretending to be their supply teacher. He should have easily scored a Best Actor nomination.

Jack Black should have got an Oscar nomination for School of Rock (Paramount)

21. The Shining (1980)

Another Kubrick film that was completely ignored by the Academy is the directors Stephen King adaptation of The Shining. Today, its considered one of his finest works as well as being one of the most revered horror films of all time.

22. This Is England (2006)

The 2007 ceremony was not one of the Academys finest years, with The Departed beating Babel, Letters from Iwo Jima, Little Miss Sunshine and The Queen to Best Picture). would have been far better had Shane Meadows coming-of-drama been in contention for awards.

23. Tokyo Story (1953)

Tokyo Story is deemed Japanese filmmaker YasujirA Ozus masterpiece and was named Sight & Sounds best film of all time in 2012  and yet, no Oscar nomination.

24. Tyrannosaur (2011)

Olivia Colman may be in contention to win her second Oscar this year (having taken home Best Actress for The Favourite in 2019), but the fact she failed to earn a nomination (even at the Baftas, for that matter) for her role in Paddy Considines hard-hitting drama Tyrannosaur is one of the biggest oversights in awards history.

25. You Were Never Really Here (2018)

You Were Never Rarely Here (Amazon Studio)

Lynne Ramsays You Were Never Really Here  starring Joaquin Phoenix - is a sensational piece of work worthy of reward that was actually hotly tipped following its festival premiere. Sadly, due to shifting release dates, the film lost steam and went down in the annals as one of the best films of that year not to get a nomination in any category.
A Cincinnati man was charged with sex trafficking and exploiting two missing teenage girls after they were recovered from his home.

>> TRENDING: Man indicted on 7 counts, including murder, assault, for deadly shooting in Dayton

Payton Jamar Brown, 26, initially met one of the two 16-year-old girls on the dating app 3Fun, WCPO reported, sourcing Colerain Township Police investigators.

Brown and the teenager, from Evansville, went to Kings Island, after which she failed to return home. Instead, she went to Indianapolis, then Chicago, later ending up at Browns home in Colerain Township.

The two began a relationship, which later became contemptuous as she gave someone five pounds of Browns marijuana after he cheated on her, WCPO stated.

Brown later asked if she would go on sexual encounters with men to make up for the loss in marijuana and its monetary value, WCPO reported, referencing an affidavit from law enforcement. She agreed and progressed to have sexual relations with at least 45 men for money. Brown instigated and enabled the practice by posting her photos on websites, advertising intercourse.

The man later housed a second 16-year-old girl, who was identified as the Evansville teens friend. She was reported missing from Greenwood, Indiana.

Brown was found and arrested after investigators received a report in October 2022 from the Safe Harbor Human Trafficking Coordinator at the Hamilton County Juvenile Court, WCPO said. The coordinator referenced potential victims, specifically two missing children.

He was later arrested after failing to appear in federal court Wednesday for the incident. He was ordered to remain in custody until his trial date.

If convicted, Brown would face a mandatory minimum sentence of 10 years up to life in prison for sex trafficking, WCPO reported. Sexually exploiting children could result in 15 to 30 years in prison.

Brown has had two previous convictions for possession of marijuana and carrying a concealed weapon. He was also arrested for trafficking drugs in 2020.
A 35-year-old Cahokia Heights man was found shot to death in the driveway of a residence in the 400 block of N. 57th Street on Monday.

Mikus S. Murray was pronounced dead at the scene at 2:05 a.m., according to St. Clair County Coroner Calvin Dye Sr. His last known address was the 400 block of N. 57th, authorities said.

Cahokia Heights Police Detective Jamal Jackson said the shooting was reported at 1:36 a.m.

When officers arrived on scene, they located a males body in the driveway of a residence, Jackson said.

Police investigators with the department are working the case.

Cahokia Heights Detective DeMarius Thomas said police have no suspects identified, and no motive has been established. He said the victim had been shot multiple times.

Anyone with any information is asked to call the police department at 618-332-1184.
CAMDEN  Thomas J. Doll, a decades-long presence at Subaru of America, is planning to step down as the firms president and CEO.

Doll will be succeeded by Tadashi "Tady" Yoshida, who is being promoted from executive vice president to chairman and CEO.

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Jeffrey A. Walters, currently senior vice president of sales, will become president and chief operating officer.

The transition is to take place April 1, with Doll assuming the role of corporate adviser at Subarus headquarters.

Doll, a 41-year employee, led the company to 12 consecutive years of sales records with unit sales rising from 187,699 in 2008 to 700,117 in 2019.

Subaru of America has announced changes to top management at its Camden headquarters.

The companys performance has sputtered in recent years due to the pandemic and subsequent supply-chain problems, particularly for semiconductors.

Subaru reported 2022 sales of 556,581 vehicles, down by 4.7 percent from one year earlier.

Doll on Friday said the Subaru brand and Subaru of America hold a special place in my heart.

The growth of this company has been nothing if not spectacular, but I am most proud of the good we have done with our Love Promise programs and the lives we have impacted, he said in a statement.

The companys website describes the Love Promise programs as a commitment to support the vitality of our communities, the health of our planet, and the well-being of our employees.

Doll was named Subaru of Americas president in 2013 and CEO in 2018. He previously was executive vice president and chief operating officer in 2009.

Subaru of America, founded 50 years ago in a Philadelphia suburb, moved its corporate headquarters to South Jersey one year later and was eventually absorbed into the Japanese parent company.

Doll oversaw the company's move in 2018 from its longtime base in Cherry Hill to a $118 million headquarters in Camden. It later demolished the vacant facility in Cherry Hill.

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Yoshida, who came to Subaru of America two years ago, is a 34-year veteran with parent firm Subaru Corp. of Japan.

Walters has more than 30 years of experience with SOA.

The company markets Subaru vehicles, parts and accessories through more than 630 retailers across the country.

Jim Walsh is a senior reporter with the Courier-Post, Burlington County Times and The Daily Journal.

This article originally appeared on Cherry Hill Courier-Post: Subaru of America president, CEO Thomas J. Doll to step down
BING-JHEN HONG / Getty Images

Spring is just around the corner, which means warmer weather and more outdoor entertaining. If you'll be having more guests around -- or just want to stock up for your own family -- now is a good time to head to Costco to stock up on food items for the new season.

Read: 4 Genius Costco Shopping Hacks To Try in 2023

See: 3 Signs You're Serious About Raising Your Credit Score

GOBankingRates spoke to shopping experts to get their picks for the best foods to buy in bulk at Costco this spring.

Costco

Kirkland Signature Organic Peanut Butter

Amazon

Nutri-Grain Bars

Right now, you can score 64 Nutri-Grain bars for $6 off the normal price. The package includes 32 strawberry bars, 16 blueberry bars, and 16 apple cinnamon bars--all made with real fruit and whole grains.

Shutterstock.com

D'Artagnan Green Circle Chicken Tenderloins

These tenderloins are selling for $20 off the normal price this spring, so you won't want to pass up this deal. The great thing about these is that they're certified-humane, contain no antibiotics or hormones, and they're air-chilled for maximum flavor concentration.

Frei sein / Wikimedia Commons

A5 Bacon Wrapped Cubes

If you're looking to serve a tasty appetizer at an upcoming gathering, these A5 Japanese Wagyu uncured Applewood Smoked Bacon cubes should do the trick. They're imported from Japan and come with 48 cubes total.

Costco

Kirkland Signature Organic Extra Virgin Olive Oil

"Experts, and even famous cooks, praise Costco for their big savings on olive oil," said Rousseau Vestal, founder of the grocery shopping blog Find the Aisle. "Kirkland Signature organic extra virgin olive oil is one of the few olive oils that meet the extra-virgin requirements, and it costs less than 15% of the price of other brands. It also has a nice flavor."

More From GOBankingRates

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Photo Disclaimer: Prices are accurate as of April 4, 2023, and are subject to change. Photos are for representational purposes only.

Sam DiSalvo contributed to the reporting of this article.

This article originally appeared on GOBankingRates.com: 5 Best Foods To Buy in Bulk at Costco This Spring
Cruise liners like Royal Caribbean are installing Elon Musk's satellite internet, Starlink, on ships. Justin Sullivan/James D. Morgan/Getty Images

Five big cruise liners are installing Elon Musk's satellite internet, Starlink, on their ships.

Guests on Royal Caribbean and Carnival Cruises are expected to have Starlink access this year.

SpaceX offers Starlink Maritime, an internet service for boats that costs $5,000 a month.

Starlink, SpaceX's satellite internet, is available for homes, businesses, RVs, and boats. Five cruise liners have begun offering their guests more reliable WiFi while at sea.

(Photo by Hannibal Hanschke-Pool/Getty Images)

Starlink Maritime costs $5,000 per month, plus a one-time $5,000 fee for the kit, and offers 350 Mbps download. The service was launched in July last year.

A SpaceX Starlink internet terminal in Odesa, Ukraine, March 15, 2022. Nina Lyashonok/Ukrinform/NurPhoto via Getty Images

Source: Starlink

Carnival Corporation in January announced it had agreed to install Starlink across its global fleet.

Carnival cruise ship. Chiyacat/Shutterstock

Carnival said in a statement it began rolling out Starlink on Carnival Cruise Line and AIDA Cruises ships in December last year. The company wants to expand Starlink to its other brands, including Princess Cruises, Holland America Line, P&O Cruises, and Seabourn, it added.

The company said Starlink would provide faster and more reliable internet on its ships.

"Starlink makes it as easy as possible for our guests to share all their great moments and memories, giving them even more joy out of their cruise vacation," Josh Weinstein, CEO of Carnival Corporation, said in the statement.

Royal Caribbean said in August that Starlink would be available across its fleet of Celebrity Cruises, Silversea Cruises, and Royal Caribbean International ships.

Royal Caribbean International

In its August statement, Royal Caribbean Group said all ships were expected to have Starlink by the end of the first quarter of 2023.

"This technology will provide game-changing internet connectivity onboard our ships, enhancing the cruise experience for guests and crew alike," Royal Caribbean Group CEO and president Jason Liberty said in the statement. "It will improve and enable more high-bandwidth activities like video streaming as well as activities like video calls."

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Royal Caribbean said it performed a trial on one of its ships, Freedom of the Seas, and said Starlink performed well enough to adopt the internet service across its entire fleet.

American Cruise Lines announced in January last year that it'll add Starlink to its fleet of riverboats and small cruise ships in 2023.

American Cruise Lines

American Cruise Lines said in its press release that Starlink would be free for guests on all cruises in 2023. The internet service would offer connectivity and faster upload speeds in almost every place where American Cruise Lines sails, it added.

The company said it tested out Starlink in 2022 and guests who used the service responded with "rave reviews."

American Queen Voyages recently said it was upgrading its fleet of seven ships to Starlink internet.

American Queen Voyages

Three of American Queen Voyages' vessels already offer Starlink so guests can use the satellite service. The company plans to test out Starlink and install it on all ships before they take to the seas in 2023.

Cindy D'Aoust, president of American Queen Voyages, said in the statement that Starlink would make the experience onboard for guests and crew better as they can "enjoy the comforts of at-home Wi-Fi at sea."

Meanwhile, Starlink will help crew members communicate easily with family back home.

Windstar Cruises is also jumping on the Starlink bandwagon.

Windstar Cruises

The Florida-headquartered cruise line announced in February it was planning to provide Starlink across most of its ships by mid-2023.

Windstar, which operates six vessels, said one of its ships called Star Legend will have Starlink in spring this year. After this, the company wants to install the service on four other ships.

"When the ships are inside the service area, faster speeds will alleviate much of the frustration felt at peak use times," Gregg Wagner, Windstar's technology director, said in the news release.

Musk said Starlink Maritime terminals were "important for maintaining the connection in choppy seas and heavy storms."

FilmMagic/FilmMagic for HBO

Source: Twitter

Read the original article on Business Insider
A view of Tiraspol, the self-declared capital of Transnistria in April 2022. Stringer/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images

Tensions continue to mount between Russia and Moldova  a small country bordering on southwestern Ukraine that is seeking European Union membership. Moldova is also home to a breakaway region called Transnistria that has strong Russian ties, landing both places in the crosshairs of the war in Ukraine.

Moldovas government voted on March 2, 2023, to formally condemn Russias illegal invasion of Ukraine.

This followed Moldovan politicians recently expressing concern that Russia is trying to overthrow its Western-leaning government and replace it with a puppet regime picked by the Kremlin.

Russian officials said in February 2023 that Ukraine is planning to invade Moldova  an accusation Moldovan officials struck down as a false-flag operation, meaning a military or political action carried out with the idea of falsely blaming an opponent.

In February 2023, following a meeting with Moldovan leaders in Poland, President Joe Biden reaffirmed strong U.S. support for Moldovas sovereignty and territorial integrity.

As a scholar of Eastern European politics, I think that breaking down the complex dynamic among Moldova, Russia and Transnistria is useful in understanding Russias military interests beyond Ukraine. Here are five key points to keep in mind.

1. What is Transnistria?

Transnistria  officially called the Pridnestrovian Moldavian Republic by Moldova  is a narrow strip of land between Moldova and western Ukraine that is home to about 500,000 people. It is an unrecognized breakaway state that left Moldova after the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1990.

The Transnistrian government has de facto independence, but it is recognized by other countries and the United Nations as part of Moldova.

Although Russia also does not officially recognize Transnistria as an independent country, Transnistria retains its independence today thanks largely to the military support provided by the Russian army, stationed in Transnistrian territory.

Transnistria has close ties to Russia. People living there are largely Russian speakers and the government is run by pro-Russian separatists.

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Russia also provides Transnistria with free natural gas and has supported older people in the region with pension supplements.

Approximately 1,500 Russian soldiers are stationed in Transnistria.

Only 50 to 100 of those soldiers are from Russia. The rest are local Transnistrians who have been given Russian passports. These soldiers have homes and families in Transnistria.

Moldova does not allow Russian soldiers to fly into the Chisinau International Airport. Since 2015, Ukraine refused them entry through its territory. These transportation restrictions led to Russias contracts with locals in Transnistria.

The Transnistrian military itself is relatively small and consists of 4,500 to 7,500 soldiers.

Russian military commander Rustam Minnekaev said on April 22, 2022, that Russia intended to establish a land corridor through southern Ukraine to Transnistria.

2. Why is Russia interested in Transnistria?

Russia has long sought to keep Moldova, formerly part of the Soviet Union, in its political sphere of influence. Moldova is located between the European Union and Ukraine, bordering Romania and southwestern Ukraine. Russian troops stationed in Transnistria give Moscow a way to intimidate Moldova and limit its Western aspirations.

Moldova applied for European Union membership in March 2022. Together with Ukraine, it received candidate status in June 2022.

The presence of Russian troops in Transnistria prevents Moldova from fully controlling its own borders. If activated, combat-ready Russian troops in Transnistria could quickly destabilize the region. Without border and territorial control, Moldova cannot join the EU. This is one of the conditions for EU membership.

Downtown Tiraspol, a city in the separatist region of Transnistria in Moldova, in November 2021. Alexander Hassenstein - UEFA/UEFA via Getty Images

3. Is Transnistria loyal to Russia?

While free gas has helped ensure Transnistrias allegiance to Moscow, the European Union has also provided an economic lifeline to Transnistria with new trade deals.

Russias annexation of Crimea, a Ukrainian peninsula, in 2014, as well as Russias 2014 war with Ukraine over the Donbas region, transformed Transnistrias economic orientation from Russia to Western Europe.

The fighting in Ukraine prompted Ukraine to reevaluate and tighten its border policy. This resulted in a crackdown on routes in and out of Transnistria that had been used for illegal trafficking of goods for nearly three decades.

The squeezing of contraband routes came at an opportune moment for Transnistria.

Moldova signed a free-trade deal with the European Union in 2014, also allowing trade to be conducted from Transnistria. Transnistrias trade with Western Europe has since continued to grow, as its trade with Russia declines.

Today, more than 70% of Transnistrias exports go to Western Europe.

4. How vulnerable is Moldova?

The Ukraine war and the presence of Russian troops in Transnistria have worried Moldovans and some international experts that Moldova could be Putins next invasion target.

Unlike Ukraine, Moldova has a weak military, comparable to Transnistrias forces. Moldovas active military personnel amounts to 6,000 soldiers, who likely do not have the ability to successfully fend off Russian troops.

Moldova is one of the poorest countries in Europe, with a population of about 2.6 million.

Moldovas energy sector is one of its greatest vulnerabilities. In December 2022, for the first time, Moldova started importing natural gas from international markets, mainly from Romania. Before 2022, Moldova was 100% dependent on Russian gas, which made it difficult for Moldova to escape Moscows orbit, despite its pro-European political orientation.

On paper, Transnistria looks like an ideal place for Russia to easily launch attacks on Ukraine or Moldova. However, Transnistria on its own does not have much capability to fight against Ukraine, or the will to fight against Moldova.

Reaching Transnistria, in turn, would require Russia to make massive gains in southern areas of Ukraine, where Ukrainian troops liberated the city of Kherson in November 2022 in one of Ukraines most significant gains of the war. The city was a key link in Russias effort to control the southern coastline along the Black Sea.

An anti-Ukraine war protester stands outside of an European ministers security meeting in Vienna on Feb. 23, 2023. Alex Halada/AFP via Getty Images

5. Why are Russia-Moldova tensions again escalating?

Russias attention to Moldova and Transnistria could provide a distraction, as Ukraine focuses on the most intense fighting in the eastern part of the country ahead of a planned counteroffensive against Russia this spring.

Russia has repeatedly accused Ukraine of storing radioactive material and preparing to build a dirty bomb in pro-Russian Transnistria. In November 2022, the United Nations nuclear watchdog agency found no evidence of this work underway.

This kind of false allegation is similar to what the Kremlin said in 2022, when it justified the Ukraine invasion by saying without evidence that Russians were being targeted in the Donbas  the eastern part of Ukraine  and needed protection. In both cases, Russia asserted falsehoods about Ukraine to justify a potential military attack.

Both Ukraine and Moldova have denied that they are planning any military operation in Transnistria.

This is an updated version of an article originally published on April 27, 2022.

This article is republished from The Conversation, an independent nonprofit news site dedicated to sharing ideas from academic experts. If you found it interesting, you could subscribe to our weekly newsletter.

It was written by: Tatsiana Kulakevich, University of South Florida.

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Tatsiana Kulakevich does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.
By Roman Churikov and David Chkhikvishvili

MOSCOW/GORI, Georgia (Reuters) - On the eve of the 70th anniversary of Josef Stalin's death, attitudes to the Soviet Union's wartime leader remain mixed in the nations he once ruled with an iron fist.

During three decades of dictatorial rule, Stalin oversaw rapid industrialisation and victory over the Nazis but also the deaths of millions in purges, Gulag labour camps and famine.

With Russia embroiled in conflict again in Ukraine, in what the Kremlin says is a fresh existential battle for national survival, memories of the Soviet dictator loom large.

"Firstly, thank you for the victory (in World War Two)," said 21-year-old Madina in a typically mixed view of Stalin's legacy among people on the streets of Moscow.

"Secondly, he is a negative person for me because there were a lot of deaths. A lot of executions, shootings, expulsions, arts were banned, etc. So its impossible to have a clear position one way or the other," she added, declining to give her second name.

Stalin died on March 5, 1953, aged 74.

Though public commemorations remain largely taboo and streets no longer bear his name, his reputation has in recent years undergone something of a renaissance.

Polls in 2021 by Russia's Levada Centre, for example, showed 45% expressing "respect" for Stalin while 48% backed installing monuments to him.

"Why should I have a bad attitude towards him?" said Moscow resident Andrei, 31, praising Stalin as a strong unifying personality whose war victory should be lauded.

Russian President Vladimir Putin, who casts himself as an heir to the tsars of the past, has offered a measured assessment of Stalin, praising his war leadership while condemning his domestic policies as "totalitarian".

Since the start of the conflict in Ukraine, the Kremlin - which says it is fighting Ukrainian "Neo-Nazis" - has sought to claim Stalin's wartime mantle, portraying its campaign as putting an end to unfinished business from World War Two.

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BORN IN GEORGIA

In February, Putin visited Volgograd - which was briefly renamed Stalingrad - to commemorate the 80th anniversary of the battle that was a turning point in the war.

"Unfortunately we see that the ideology of Nazism in its modern form and manifestation again directly threatens the security of our country," he said.

Ukraine says Putin is showing the same "genocidal" brutality as Stalin.

In Stalin's hometown of Gori in Georgia, many share positive appraisals of the Soviet leader even though their nation has broken with Russia and support for Ukraine is widespread.

"The majority in Gori value Stalin, of course. As a historical figure, as a great man and a person who ruled with an iron fist," said resident Jakob Kikriashvili, 48.

"But the attitude towards him is changing. The younger generation is more aggressive towards him."

Born Ioseb Dzhugashvili to a humble family in 1878, the young Stalin spent his childhood in Gori, before studying in the nearby Georgian capital Tbilisi. Today, Gori's Stalin museum, located on the town's Stalin Avenue, is the town's most famous tourist attraction, drawing visitors from across the world.

In 2010, the Georgian government ordered the town's Stalin statue removed, saying he did not deserve it.

Tsotne Gogiashvili, a Gori resident in his early twenties, said that while older people in the town still "worship" Stalin, younger generations have changed their mind: "The majority of the young people do not like him, and I think that's good."

(Reporting by Reuters; Editing by Andrew Cawthorne)
Eight-year-old Kayzen Hunter has a regular ritual: breakfast at his local Waffle House in Little Rock, Arkansas with his family, sometimes with his grandpa, but often with his parents and siblings. With these trips comes his meal served by his favorite waiter, Devonte Gardner.

It was about a year ago when they met. My dad started going and Kayzen would go with him. When he came home, he talked about Devonte and how much he liked him, Kayzens mom Vittoria Hunter tells TODAY.com, adding that the family go for breakfast just about every weekend.

Devonte Garner (l.) and Kayzen Hunter (r.) at Waffle House. (Courtesy Vittoria Hunter)

For Gardner, the feeling is mutual.

Every time he comes in, I always give him a high five because thats what he expects, Gardner tells TODAY.com. Gardner has memorized Kayzens usual order  scrambled eggs with cheese, no toast, hash browns covered with cheese and an Arnold Palmer.

Hes a wonderful kid. He tells me jokes every time he comes in, like, Hey, Devonte, I got a joke for you, and the next thing you know, were laughing, he adds.

Hunter says the family got to know Gardner better over time, learning about his wife, Aissa, and daughters 3-year-old Jade and 2-year-old Amoura.

As we started to go more and more and we met Devonte, we realized hes just really a light in the world, Hunter says.

Gardner with daughters Jade and Amoura. (Courtesy Devonte Gardner)

It got to the point where we always would sit in his section, she adds. Every time we go in, hes so smiley, hes always like, 'Hey, Kayzen, how are you?

One day, Kayzen learned that Gardner was in a dire living situation because his familys former apartment was riddled with issues, and he didn't have a car to drive to work.

We wanted to find something affordable, so we moved into a low-income area, Gardner says. We just got tired of infestations with rats and roaches and all this black mold. My daughters were getting sick. No heat and things like that. When it was cold outside, we had to bundle up with like four or five blankets in order to stay warm.

It was just horrible, Gardner says, adding that he and his family have been living in a motel for the past eight months.

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After learning this, Kayzen decided he wanted to help his friend.

He came home and told me that, Hey, Mom, Devonte walks or gets a ride to work and Im gonna start a GoFundMe, Hunter says, adding that Kayzen had begged her for a while to do a GoFundMe before she agreed to take the plunge. I was like, Well, OK, thats really sweet. Its a great idea.

The initial idea was to raise enough money to get the Waffle House worker a car. Gardner mentioned to the family he was looking for one, but the plans were put on hold due to his living situation. It really set him back because the motel was so expensive, Hunter explains.

With his moms help, Kayzen aimed to raise a modest amount of $500 for Gardner. They posted the GoFundMe titled Help Devonte get a family car on Feb. 18.

Hi, my name is Kayzen, I am 8 years old, reads the GoFundMe description. Devonte is a hard-working dad with two little girls and a wife. He is a dedicated worker and has to walk or get a ride to get to work every day.

Kayzen then explains that Gardner was looking for a decently priced car, and that the Hunter family wants to get Gardner's family into a clean rental property.

Devonte is one of the most joyous and positive people youve ever met!! He always greets us with the biggest smile, Kayzen wrote. I hope your heart is as BIG as mine and you will help me spread kindness in the world. Any amount helps!!

The Hunter family, with Kayzen, Vittoria and Korey up front. (Courtesy Vittoria Hunter)

Though the Hunters say the GoFundMe started out slow, as more attention comes to it, the amount  and the goal  has skyrocketed to over $100,000 as of publication.

Its exciting, Kayzen tells TODAY.com. His mom jumped in to add that all the attention has been slightly overwhelming for the little one.

I mean, hes still eight, you know? Hunter says. The other morning, he said, 'I was just trying to maybe make $5,000 and get him a car.' Now, its turned into a crowd. We had no clue that this was going to happen.

Thats the crazy part to us, Korey Hunter, Kayzens dad, tells TODAY.com. I get it, but the goal was $5,000 and people do not care what the goal was; they keep giving and giving.

Gardner, who spoke to TODAY.com while on break during his morning shift at Waffle House, says that he just signed a lease on a two-bedroom apartment thanks to the efforts of his little friend.

I will be moving into my apartment very soon. Were able to have something more stable, Gardner says, adding that hes looking to get a family sedan or minivan but will save the rest of the money for his kids.

Im gonna save the rest because I want to put my daughters in a good school, I want them to be in a good environment, Gardner explains. Everything Im getting is going mostly towards my daughters to make sure they have a great, great life. Make sure we wont have to struggle anymore.

Gardner and the Hunters also mention that they just saw each other recently, after the GoFundMe at the Waffle House, where Vittoria Hunter snapped a picture of Gardner still at work.

Gardner pouring a lemonade at Waffle House. (Courtesy Vittoria Hunter)

Hes a positive young kid. He has a very huge heart, and Im thankful he came into my life, Gardner says.

I think so many people spend a lot of energy complaining about what they dont like, Vittoria Hunter says. But if you just be positive, then you know eventually love and positivity is gonna prevail. It always does.

"'Be the change you wish to see in the world,' right? We know who we are as people and we know the potential of what our children can be, Korey Hunter adds. Kayzens middle name is actually Love.

When asked if they think Kayzen is living up to his name, both of his parents reply, emphatically, Exactly.

EDITOR'S NOTE (March 6, 2023 at 10:19 a.m.): This story has been updated to reflect the increase in money raised, from $66,000 to $100,000.

This article was originally published on TODAY.com
623      

In the release, Deputy Economy Minister Tetyana Berezhna reports that 623 of the businesses have resumed operations at their new location, while the other 239 are still in search of a suitable site or transport means.

Additionally, over 650 entities opted not to move as they had intended to do earlier, due to the liberation from Russian occupation of the areas where they were based.

"Besides, some businesses are returning to their previous places following the improvement of the security situation there, in particular in Kharkiv, Chernihiv and Sumy oblasts, Berezhna said.

She said 44 enterprises had gone back to these oblasts.

Most of the relocated businesses moved to Lviv (25%), Zakarpattia (14.5%), Chernivtsi (9.8%), Ivano-Frankivsk (8.3%), Khmelnytsky (7.3%), and Ternopil (6.3%) oblasts.

Read also: Danone Ukraine transfers part of production in Kherson Oblast to another plant

The deputy minister added that the relocation program is still in action, although far fewer businesses are applying compared to March and April of 2022, when there were about 1,000 applications.

The state program for business relocation is being implemented by the Economy Ministry together with local administrations, the Ukrainian state railway operator Ukrzaliznytsia, and Ukrainian state postal service Ukrposhta.

In order to participate in the program, businesses have to register on the governments platform for digital interaction via this link.

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
Police arrest a 41-year-old suspect in the murder case of Abby Choi that has attracted international attention (Reuters)

The investigation into the shocking murder of Hong Kong socialite Abby Choi has led police to arrest a sixth suspect.

Twenty-eight-year-old Chois dismembered body was recovered last week, two days after she was reported missing. Her remains were recovered from a refrigerator after police broke into a house in the village of Lung Mei Village in Tai Po, a Hong Kong suburb.

The 41-year-old suspect, surnamed Lam, allegedly tried to help one of the other suspects flee Hong Kong by water. Police said he was trying to help them for a fee of HK$100,000 ($12,738.9).

The local media reported that Mr Lam is an employee of a yacht rental company in Hong Kong. He allegedly tried to help 28-year-old Alex Kwong, Chois ex-husband  and a suspect in the murder case  escape Hong Kong in a speedboat on 25 February.

The suspect was arrested in Sheung Wan in central Hong Kong.

Apart from Chois ex-husband, his brother Anthony Kwong, 31 and their father Kwong Kau, 65, have been charged with murder.

Her mother-in-law Jenny Li, 63, was charged with preventing the course of justice. The police have also arrested the mistress of Ms Chois former father-in-law  identified just by Ng or her nickname Yung Yung by local media  and are investigating if she knew about the case.

The four were denied bail by the Kowloon City Magistrates Court earlier this week and their case was adjourned to 8 May.

Police discovered a skull, ribs, and hair, believed to be Chois remains, from a large stainless steel soup pot inside the house. The body parts were taken for forensic testing to determine if they belonged to Choi.

Police said a property dispute is a possible murder motive for the crime that has attracted international attention.

Police suspect Choi was first attacked inside a van, which has been seized as evidence, before she was taken home in an unconscious state.

Theres a hole on the right side rear on the skull, so the pathologist believes that that should be the fatal attack on the victim, the officer said.

The model had financial disputes running into tens of millions of Hong Kong dollars with her ex-husband and his family, police said earlier, adding that some people were unhappy with how she handled her financial assets.

Police are still trying to gather evidence at the crime scene.
BRISTOL, Va. (AP)  The pastors smiled as they held the doors open, grabbing the hands of those who walked by and urging many to keep praying and to keep showing up. Some responded with a hug. A few grimaced as they squeezed past.

Shelley Koch, a longtime resident of southwest Virginia, had witnessed a similar scene many Sunday mornings after church services. On this day, however, it played out in a parking lot outside a modest government building in Bristol where officials had just advanced a proposal that threatens to tear apart the very fabric of her community.

For months, residents of the town have battled over whether clinics limited by strict anti-abortion laws in neighboring Tennessee, Kentucky and West Virginia should be allowed to continue to hop over the border and operate there. The proposal on the table, submitted by anti-abortion activists, was that they shouldn't. The local pastors were on hand to spread that message.

Were trying to figure out what we do at this point, said Koch, who supports abortion rights. Were just on our heels all the time.

The conflict is not unique to this border community, which boasts a spot where a person can stand in Virginia and Tennessee at the same time. Similar disputes have broken out across the country following the U.S. Supreme Courts decision to overturn the landmark 1973 decision establishing a constitutional right to abortion.

As clinics have been forced to shutter in Republican-dominant states with strict abortion bans, some have relocated to cities and towns just over the border, in states with more liberal laws. The goal is to help women avoid traveling long distances. Yet that effort does not always go smoothly: The politics of border towns and cities don't always align with those in their state capitals. They can be more socially conservative, with residents who object to abortion on moral grounds.

Anti-abortion activists have tapped into that sentiment  in Virginia and elsewhere  and are proposing changes to zoning and other local ordinance laws to stop the clinics from moving in. Since Roe was overturned, such local ordinances have been identified as a tool for officials to control where patients can get an abortion, advocates and legal experts say.

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In Texas, even before Roe was overturned, more than 40 towns prohibited abortion services inside their city limits. That trend, led by anti-abortion activist Mark Lee Dickson, has since successfully spread to politically conservative towns in Iowa, Louisiana, New Mexico, Nebraska and Ohio.

Under Roe, the high court had ruled that it was unconstitutional for state or local lawmakers to create any substantial obstacle to a patient seeking an abortion. That rule no longer exists.

While such local ordinance changes are no longer necessary in Texas, which now has one of the most restrictive abortion laws in the country, Dickson says he and others will continue to pursue them in other states with liberal abortion statutes.

Were going to keep on going forward and do everything that we can to protect life, he said.

In New Mexico, which has one of the country's most liberal abortion access laws, activists in two counties and three cities in the eastern part of the state have successfully sought ordinance changes restricting the procedure. Democratic officials have since proposed legislation to ban them from interfering with abortion access.

In the college town of Carbondale, Illinois, a state where abortion remains widely accessible, anti-abortion activists have asked zoning officials to block future clinics from opening after two already operate in town. Thus far, they've been unsuccessful.

Meanwhile, some of the states that have severely restricted abortion access are trying to make it harder for residents to end their pregnancies elsewhere. Employees at the University of Idaho who refer students to a clinic just 8 miles (13 kilometers) away in the liberal-leaning state of Washington could face felony charges under a recently passed state law.

Perhaps no other place so neatly encapsulates the issue as the twin cities of Bristol, Virginia, and Bristol, Tennessee. Before Roe, an abortion clinic had operated for decades in Bristol, Tennessee. After Roe, which triggered the Volunteer State's strict abortion law, the clinic hopped over the state line into Bristol, Virginia.

That's when anti-abortion advocates began pushing back. At the request of some concerned citizens, the socially conservative, faith-based Family Foundation of Virginia helped draft an amendment to the citys zoning code that says, apart from where the existing clinic sits, land can't be used to end a pre-born human life.

Nobody wants their town to be known as the place where people come to take human life. Thats just not a reputation that the people in Bristol want for their area, said foundation President Victoria Cobb.

The amendment has stalled before the Planning Commission as the city's attorney, the American Civil Liberties Union of Virginia and others question its legality. Meanwhile, the board of supervisors in Washington County, which surrounds Bristol, passed a similar restrictive zoning ordinance on Feb. 14, and at least three counties have since adopted resolutions declaring their pro-life stance, according to the Family Foundation.

Before Roe was overturned, such zoning restrictions would have been unconstitutional, noted ACLU attorney Geri Greenspan. Now, however, we're sort of in uncharted legal territory, she said.

Its a struggle that residents like Koch werent expecting.

In 2020  when Democrats were in full control of state government  they rolled back restrictions on abortion services, envisioning the state as a safe haven for access. Virginia now has one of the Souths most permissive abortion laws, which comforted Koch when Roe was overturned.

Now, however, her relief has been replaced by anxiety.

I realized how little I knew about the workings of local government, she said. Its been a detriment.

The Bristol Womens Health clinic is battling multiple lawsuits but would not be affected by the proposed ordinance unless it tried to expand or make other changes. While some residents oppose the facility, theyre more afraid that this industry is going to expand and that Bristol is going to just become a multistate hub of the abortion industry, said the Rev. Chris Hess, who as pastor of St. Anne Catholic Church has advocated for the zoning change.

Debra Mehaffey, who has spent more than a decade protesting outside abortion clinics, said people are coming to Bristol from Texas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Georgia, "all over to come get abortions, you know, because they cant get them in their state.

"So it will be great to see it totally abolished, she said.

Clinic owner Diane Derzis, who has owned numerous other abortion clinics  including the one in Mississippi at the center of the Supreme Courts recent decision  downplays the pushback. She said she's grown accustomed to protests and even experienced the bombing of a separate clinic.

But Derzis is also girding herself for many more post-Roe battles in the future.

Abortion is just under attack and its going to be for years, she said.
CHICAGO (AP)  A judge ordered a teenager held without bond Friday in the fatal shooting of a Chicago police officer.

Steven Montano, 18, of Chicago, is charged with first-degree murder, two felony firearms charges and misdemeanor counts of assault and interfering with reporting domestic violence.

The officer was shot several times Wednesday afternoon on the citys Southwest Side, Chicago Police Department Superintendent David Brown has said. He was identified Thursday as Officer Andres Vasquez-Lasso, 32, by the Cook County Medical Examiners Office.

The bail hearing was held a short time after the body of Vasquez-Lasso was taken with a police escort from the medical examiners office to a funeral home in Oak Lawn.

Montano was being chased when he suddenly turned around and pointed a gun at Vasquez-Lasso, prosecutors said at the hearing, the Chicago Sun-Times reported. The two exchanged gunfire, with Montano hitting the officer in the head, arm and leg, prosecutors said. The officer fired twice and hit Montano in the face.

A police officer testified that Montano remained in critical condition Friday at Stroger Hospital.

An assistant public defender representing Montano said she had not had the opportunity to speak with her client and could provide no information about him for the hearing.
Prison warder in prison corridor - Michael Cooper/PA

The number of prison officers caught having affairs has hit a record high with 36 warders sacked over relationships in the past three years.

Thirty one female prison officers and five male warders have been sacked for misconduct since 2019, nearly double the 19 female staff dismissed over the previous four years, according to Ministry of Justice (MoJ) figures released under Freedom of Information laws.

They included one prison officer who had an inmates baby, another who had her lovers cell number tattooed on her inner thigh and the governor of Onley prison in Northamptonshire who was jailed for intimate communications with an inmate.

It follows concerns raised by inspectors and unions that high staff turnover has resulted in increasing numbers of young new recruits being placed in front-line roles

Over the past five years, the number of female prison staff has risen by 27 per cent to 15,000 and now accounts for 42 per cent of all staff as part of a diversity drive.

The MoJ say the increase in prosecutions comes amid a crackdown with a new counter-corruption unit working with 20 dedicated police officers from regional organised crime units to root out corrupt warders.

They have targeted prisoners and staff enticed into affairs by them in order to get them to bring in drugs, phones and weapons, and even help run their criminal empires from behind bars.

Staff caught having sexual relationships with prisoners can be convicted of misconduct in public office. Recent cases that have led to convictions include a 29-year-old officer at Maidstone who had sex with a prisoner in his cell and had his baby. She was handed a suspended sentence in 2022.

Pregnancies and illicit communication

An officer at The Mount in Hertfordshire had a prisoners baby and was caught after naming him as the father on the birth certificate. Last year, the 29-year-old was jailed for 25 months.

A 20-year-old officer at Full Sutton in the East Riding of Yorkshire had a prisoners cell number tattooed on her inner thigh, wrote him love letters and gave him an illicit mobile phone. She was jailed for 10 months in 2021.

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Victoria Laithwaite, 47, a former prison governor, exchanged intimate messages with a prisoner on his phone while she was working at Onley prison as head of safer custody and equalities. Her husband also worked at the prison. Last year, she was jailed for eight months for communicating with the prisoner through an illicit mobile.

Three prison officers, who all worked at HMP Berwyn near Wrexham, were jailed for having affairs with inmates over four years. They were caught sending explicit photographs, having sex in cells and exchanging intimate phone calls.

The figures only included staff directly employed by the Prison Service  both uniformed officers and other grades  and did not count prison nurses, who have featured in several recent cases but are employed by the NHS.

An MoJ spokesman said: The vast majority of prison officers and other staff carry out their duties to the high standards the public rightly expect, but the small minority who fall short of those standards are held to account.
By Allison Lampert

MONTREAL (Reuters) -Air Canada pilots are pressing for higher pay in the run-up to fresh contract talks, following recent gains secured by pilots at U.S. carrier Delta Air Lines, union representatives told Reuters.

A contract between Delta and its pilots that came into effect on Thursday delivers a 34% pay increase over four years, driving pressure on other U.S. carriers to reach similar deals.

It is also galvanizing pilots at Canada's largest carrier. Delta's latest hourly pay rates are up to 45% higher than current Air Canada hourly pay rates, the Air Canada Pilots Association (ACPA) said by email.

Air Canada pilots have received a 2% wage increase per year, since 2014, said ACPA, which represents about 4,500 pilots. They could potentially begin salary talks as early as this year, or in 2024, the union said.

"Pilots in the U.S. have recently secured significant wage increases and other contractual improvements, creating an embarrassing gap with Canada," Charlene Hudy, a top ACPA union leader, said in a statement.

The talks come as North American carriers are collectively recruiting thousands of pilots to meet a rebound in travel demand following a pandemic-induced slump. Air Canada did not respond to a request for comment.

ACPA is in talks to possibly join the Air Line Pilots Association (ALPA), the world's largest pilots' union, representing more than 60,000 pilots.

ALPA Canada President Tim Perry said many U.S. carriers recognize the importance of crew to their business model "by providing improved wages and working conditions for their pilots, in most cases far surpassing those of their Canadian counterparts."

Pilots north of the border are now trying to make gains. Canada's Sunwing Airlines pilots secured a 23% wage hike early this year and another 2.5% raise next January as part of their existing four-year agreement, union Unifor said.

Some airline executives are concerned that hefty pilot pay raises will inflate fixed costs and make it tougher to repair debt-laden balance sheets. Delta has forecast a hit on its earnings in the first quarter as the pilot deal is estimated to drive up operating costs.

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Air Canada, which expects to return to 2019 levels of capacity next year, is also facing cost pressures.

Salary is also a priority for pilots in negotiations at Canada's second-largest carrier, WestJet.

U.S. carriers American Airlines Group and United Airlines are also negotiating with their pilots.

(Reporting by Allison Lampert in Montreal. Additional reporting by Rajesh Kumar Singh in ChicagoEditing by Matthew Lewis and Susan Fenton)
(Corrects headline and first paragraph to remove reference to 30% headcount reduction)

(Reuters) -Home rental firm Airbnb Inc laid off some of its recruiting staff this week, a company spokesperson said on Friday, noting that it's not an indication of more widespread layoffs.

The decision, first reported by Bloomberg News, affected less than 0.4% of the San Francisco-based company's total workforce of about 6,800, the spokesperson said.

"We've become a leaner and more focused company over the last three years," Airbnb spokesperson said in a statement, adding that the company expects to grow its headcount this year.

The company said in February it expects headcount growth in the range of 2% to 4% in 2023, compared with 11% growth last year.

In 2020, amid the COVID-19 pandemic, Airbnb laid off 25% of its workforce, or nearly 1,900 employees, after its business was hit hard as global travel came to a standstill.

(Reporting by Kannaki Deka in Bengaluru; Editing by Shinjini Ganguli)
Airbnb has confirmed it will ban people who are likely to travel with users who have already been banned.

On 2 March, Vice reported that the rental company had been banning users from the platform on the sole basis that they were found to be associated with another, problematic user.

According to Vice, the users who were subsequently banned could only return to the platform if their previously banned acquaintance successfully appealed the ban, or if they were able to prove they are not closely associated.

A spokesperson for Airbnb confirmed the report in a statement to Vice, in which the short-term rental company said that users may be banned if they are likely to travel with a user who has already been banned.

The company referred to the practice as a necessary safety precaution, but claimed it was overly simplistic to suggest that the bans are solely due to association with a banned user.

In a statement to The Independent, a spokesperson for Airbnb confirmed that, if a person has been removed from Airbnb for safety reasons, in certain circumstances, the company may also take action to restrict the accounts of people who are likely to travel with that person, and that the precaution extends to any type of safety-related issue.

The Airbnb spokesperson also offered an example scenario where a ban would be enacted, such as if a person booking an upcoming reservation used the same credit card as a person who was previously banned from the platform for a serious safety incident.

For example, if someone is removed for a serious safety incident during an Airbnb reservation and we need to remove them and cancel their future reservations, and we then find that someone re-books the exact same future reservation with the same credit card number, we will remove the second account, the spokesperson said, adding: As an online platform that facilitates real-world travel and connections, this is a necessary safety precaution.

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Although the spokesperson did not state when the company began banning users associated with other banned users, CNET noted that Airbnb relies on a background check system to review its users.

According to Airbnbs website, the company performs background checks on guests 10 days before the check-in date of their reservation, and on hosts after the users login after creating a listing, or when a stay is booked.

As for what the background checks look for, Airbnb said the individuals identity is checked against public records such as the US Department of Treasurys Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) list of terrorists and narcotics traffickers.

Additionally, identities of users in the US are vetted using certain databases of public state and county criminal records as well as state and national sex offender registries.

Airbnb said removal depends on the severity of the criminal history, with the company noting that lesser crimes such as disorderly conduct or marijuana possession are not removable offenses, while cases of murder, terrorism, rape or child molestation may result in permanent removal.

If a user feels like they have been unfairly banned, Airbnb reportedly offers an appeals process, according to CNET.

The latest insight into Airbnbs safety precautions comes after the company announced in June 2022 it had permanently banned parties.

At the time, Airbnb said there would be serious consequences for guests who breach the party ban, varying from the suspension of their account to being permanently removed from the platform.
Alex Murdaugh listens on Thursday as the jury prepares to deliberate at the Colleton County Courthouse in Walterboro, South Carolina. Joshua Boucher/The State via AP

Alex Murdaugh, the scion of a powerful South Carolina legal family whose scandals and secrets were laid bare after the fatal shootings of his wife and son in the summer of 2021, was found guilty on Thursday of their murders.

The guilty verdict closes a chapter on a mystery that had garnered widespread attention almost immediately after the bodies of Maggie and Paul Murdaugh were found on their rural hunting lodge property in the states Lowcountry region on June 7, 2021. As it turns out, the killer was the one to call 911 that night: their own husband and father.

The jury deliberated for just three hours before reaching their decision. After weeks of breaking down in tears in court, Murdaugh stood with his attorneys looking straight ahead and blinking as the verdict was read.

"All of the evidence pointed to only one conclusion  that's the conclusion that you all reached," Judge Clifton Newman told the jurors after the clerk read their verdict. "I applaud you all for as a group, and as a unit, and individually evaluating the evidence and coming to the proper conclusion as you saw the law [and] as you saw the facts."

Murdaugh now faces a possible sentence of life in prison. A hearing is scheduled for Friday.

Speaking outside the courthouse Thursday night, state Attorney General Alan Wilson struck a celebratory tone as he thanked prosecutors, court staff, and jurors for the long hours and attention put into the case.

Wow, what a great day for the people of South Carolina, Wilson said to cheers and applause. We got to bring justice and be a voice for Maggie and Paul Murdaugh.

Referencing the family's status and influence in the state's criminal justice system, Wilson said the guilty verdict proved that no one  no one, no matter who you are in society  is above the law.

A lot of people doubted that this process would work, the state's top prosecutor said, and hopefully for those who did doubt the process, hopefully we have instilled and put a little bit of faith back into you and your lives as you view this process as it unfolds.

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Alex Murdaugh, center, and his legal team Joshua Boucher / AP

The case has transfixed true crime enthusiasts around the world with its many twists and turns. Media, too, were obsessed by the story of a wealthy and powerful small-town family brought down by scandal and tragedy. No less than two competing documentaries were produced before the case even made it to trial, while tens of thousands of people watched daily livestreams of court proceedings. More than five dozen witnesses were called to give evidence as part of the six-week trial and media frenzy that locals in the 5,000-person town of Walterboro said was unprecedented. At one point, the trial was even interrupted by a bomb threat.

When Alex first called 911 on the night of June 7, 2021, he could surely never have imagined the firestorm of speculation and scrutiny that would begin to engulf him. In fact, prosecutors argued that his motive for killing his wife and son was to divert attention away from himself amid a  gathering storm  of events that was threatening to expose his many alleged financial deeds and bring ruin and scandal to the legal empire that generations of Murdaughs before him had built in the area.

The entire illusion of his life was about to be altered  he couldn't live with that, prosecutor Creighton Waters told the jury in his closing statement . He's the kind of person for which shame is an extraordinary provocation.

For their part, defense attorneys argued that officials were sloppy in preserving or collecting evidence at the crime scene. They also suggested investigators had unfairly zeroed in on Alex as a chief suspect too early, potentially ignoring others, and noted Alex had nothing to immediately gain financially from killing his wife and son. The prosecutions case was rooted in theory, not fact, the defense argued.

He was destroyed. He was heartbroken, surviving son Buster Murdaugh testified about arriving at the property later that night having received a call from his father informing him of the killings. I walked in the door, saw him, gave him a hug  just broken down.

Prosecutor Creighton Waters. The State / TNS

Absent any witnesses to the killings, or even any guns that they could definitively pinpoint as murder weapons, prosecutors built a case based on circumstantial evidence. Some of the evidence was highly technical  data showing when cellphones were used or when they recorded steps, GPS data from Alexs car that showed his speed and location as he left the property  while other testimony essentially forced the jury to question just how much coincidence they were prepared to accept.

Maggie and Paul were each killed with types of ammunition and weapons that were all over the property, for example. Would an outside or hired killer not bring their own? Why did Alexs cellphone record him practically running shortly after the murders? Why did a seasoned lawyer and prosecutor like Alex, someone who would know about the importance of preserving potential evidence, send the family housekeeper over to clean the home the morning after the killings? And why did Alex later push both this housekeeper and his mothers caretaker to try to remember a version of events from that day that they said was not correct?

At the center of the prosecutions circumstantial case, though, was timing  specifically, the sheer volume of events that were all conspiring to come undone at the same moment for Murdaugh, threatening to ruin him. If his years of alleged thefts were uncovered  including millions that he later admitted he took from the grieving family of his familys former housekeeper who died in 2018 after a fall at the same hunting lodge  Alex was poised to lose his law license, his fortune, and his freedom.

On the very morning his wife and son were killed, the chief financial officer of Alexs law firm had confronted him about nearly $800,000 in missing fees, telling him she had reason to suspect hed stolen them. It was the first time in his years of alleged thefts from clients and the firm that someone appeared to be onto him. But, the CFO later testified, the murders brought a sudden end to any internal inquiry as colleagues rallied around Alex to support him.

Alex was distraught and upset and not in the office much, said Jeanne Seckinger, the CFO. Nobody wanted to harass him about nothing that we thought was really missing.

Similarly, the killings also delayed a lawsuit against Alex from the family of 19-year-old Mallory Beach, who was killed in a 2019 boat crash over which Paul had been charged with involuntary manslaughter. The Beach family had been seeking a court order to force Alex to open up his finances for review, with the matter scheduled to be heard on June 10  three days after the killings. Not only was that hearing delayed, but the entire lawsuit seemed as good as over after the deaths , Beach family lawyer Mark Tinsley testified, because juries would suddenly be immensely sympathetic to him.

If Alex had been victimized by a vigilante, nobody would have brought a verdict back against Alex, Tinsley said.

In his first words to a 911 dispatcher and responding officers at the scene, Alex pointed to the boat crash as the motive for the killings. Paul had been shunned and threatened because of the incident, Alex said, while Maggie had essentially decamped full-time to the familys beach home elsewhere in the state to avoid the negative local attention.

I know thats what this is, Alex told the very first sheriffs deputy who arrived on the scene.

Indeed, others also immediately suspected that the murders must have been connected to the boat crash. There had been complaints that Alex and his father used their legal influence to try to interfere with the investigation into Paul, and now those close to the Murdaughs feared the family was being targeted in revenge.

We were afraid. We didnt know what was going on. My family was scared. I was scared for Alex and Buster. I thought that they needed protection. I think everybody was afraid, said Maggies sister, Marian Proctor.

Everyone, Proctor said, except one person: Alex didnt seem to be afraid.

By far the most damning piece of evidence against Alex, though, was a video that investigators eventually recovered from Pauls phone months after the murders. Filmed by Paul just a few minutes before prosecutors contended he and Maggie were shot dead  a time estimate based on their phones both locking for a final time by 8:50 p.m.  the 50 seconds of footage showed Paul trying to corral a dog at the kennels as two voices could be heard in the background. Witness after witness identified the voices as belonging to Maggie and Alex.

Alex repeatedly told both investigators and his own surviving family that he had not seen his wife or son prior to waking up from a post-dinner nap and then driving to his mothers home. But this video proved that his version of events was not correct. He had been with them just minutes before each of their phones were locked for the final time.

Alexs defense team eventually conceded the state had proven that he was with his wife and son at that point in time, but insisted that his mere presence at the scene did not indicate guilt. They also denied he was present when the pair were eventually killed, arguing that the state couldnt even definitively say when that was.

When Alex made the surprise decision to testify in his own defense , he was forced to admit almost immediately that he had been found out as a result of the video and that he had lied about his whereabouts before the murders  something he blamed on drug-induced paranoia. He apologized for lying to his loved ones, but insisted he had nothing to do with the killings.

Oh, what a tangled web we weave, Alex said, quoting the 1808 epic poem Marmion by Sir Walter Scott. Once I told the lie, and I told my family, I had to keep lying.

Another shocking piece of evidence that emerged early in the trial was a recording of an interview Alex had done with investigators three days after the murders. Asking him about a graphic photo hed seen of the extent of Pauls head wounds, prosecutors contended that Alex made a Freudian slip, of sorts: Its just so bad. I did him so bad, they insisted he said.

Alexs lawyers, however, claimed that he had in fact been saying, They did him so bad, even calling Buster to the stand to support their interpretation of the tape.

Buster Murdaugh, the only surviving son of Alex Murdaugh, wipes away tears as witnesses are called in his father's murder trial. The State / Joshua Boucher

Buster, his girlfriend, and some of his paternal aunts and uncles attended almost every day of the trial, sitting behind Alex as a show of support. Buster testified that his father had never been violent with the family and sounded completely normal when he called him that night as he drove to his mothers home.

But the family had secrets too. Alex told investigators he had been addicted to opioid painkillers for 20 years, sometimes spending as much as $50,000 a week on the drugs  money he said he stole from clients and law partners. Alex had done a stint in a detox facility in 2018, Buster testified, but the addiction remained a source of stress in the family right up to the murders. Mom found several bags of pills in your computer bag, Paul texted his father about a month before he was killed .

Law enforcement appeared to concede they made several mistakes during their investigation, beginning on the night of the murders. Little, if any, attempt was made to control access to the Murdaugh property, where a coterie of Alexs friends and family soon arrived to support him. Some even cleaned the house that night, potentially destroying evidence. At least one bloody footprint recovered at the scene was also ultimately found to have belonged to one of the first responders .

Most shockingly, it wasnt until September  three months after the killings  that authorities searched the home of Alexs mother, which he had visited on the night in question, ostensibly to create an alibi. Investigators came to believe Alex may have stashed the weapons there and returned in subsequent days to finally dispose of them, but they had no concrete proof for this. They did discover at the home a blue rain jacket with gunshot residue on its interior, but prosecutors struggled to prove definitively that it belonged to Alex or that he had stashed it there.

There were also signs that the states investigation was hampered by internal errors. The lead investigator testified before a grand jury that authorities discovered blood splatter on Alexs clothing, indicating that he fired the fatal shots. But a crucial report, which the investigator said he was not aware of at the time, later found no such splatter.

The defense also tried to introduce their own technical evidence, most notably from a mechanical engineer who re-created the crime scene and analyzed the bullet trajectories, which appeared to come from someone holding the weapons at a low position. Whoever fired the shot that killed Maggie was likely a foot shorter than Alex, the engineer testified.

Again and again, though, attempts by the defense to paint Alex simply as a loving family man came undone. A slew of witnesses who had known Alex for decades said they now felt as if they didnt truly know him and were shocked by his alleged double life of drugs and crime.

He effortlessly and easily lied to you for years, and you didnt know it? Waters, the prosecutor, asked Mark Ball, a former law firm partner and friend of Alexs who had been called by the defense .

Didnt know it, and didnt catch it, Ball said. The way he was doing it was very, very cunning.

They all described their shock at hearing that Alex had been shot by the side of a rural road in 2021 on Labor Day weekend, three months after his wife and son were killed. Once again, it appeared the family was being targeted.

Soon, though, Alex himself would be charged over what authorities said was a suicide-for-hire scheme in which he paid his drug dealer to kill him so Buster would receive a $10 million life insurance payout. The plan only seemed to come undone when Alex survived and the ensuing media attention made him the prime suspect in the public eye for his familys killings.

Prosecutors fought throughout the trial for the jury to hear evidence of that roadside shooting, as well as the many alleged financial crimes, over the defense teams strenuous objections. The inclusion of the evidence dramatically lengthened the trial, but prosecutors insisted it was central to understanding his alleged motive and to make clear  as he sat in the court each day crying over his dead wife and son  that he was not who he appeared to be.

Did you really know Alex Murdaugh? Waters asked Seckinger, the law firms CFO.

I dont think I ever really knew him, she replied. I dont think anybody knows him.

Stephanie K. Baer contributed reporting.

More on this
South Carolina attorney Alex Murdaugh was convicted Thursday in the double murder of his wife and son, capping a trial that has riveted the nations attention.

Murdaugh, 54, was accused of fatally shooting his wife, Maggie, and son Paul, who were found dead in June 2021 at the familys hunting estate in Colleton County. Jurors deliberated for two hours and 50 minutes at the Colleton County Courthouse in Walterboro, S.C.

The disgraced lawyer was convicted on two counts of murder and two weapons charges in the case.

After the unanimous verdict was read Thursday evening, Murdaugh was taken into custody and led away in handcuffs as the courtroom remained silent. A sentencing hearing was scheduled for Friday at 9:30 a.m.

Each of the two murder charges carries a possible prison sentence of 30 years to life without parole.

Earlier on Thursday, Circuit Court Judge Clifton Newman removed a juror for what he called improper conversations outside the courtroom. Last week, Murdaugh took the stand in his own defense, testifying that he didn't murder his wife and son in what prosecutors alleged was a botched attempt to cover up his financial fraud.

Defendant Alex Murdaugh listens as Judge Clifton Newman charges the jury before they begin deliberation in Murdaugh's double murder trial, March 2. (Joshua Boucher/The State via AP/Pool)

I didn't shoot my wife or my son anytime, ever, Murdaugh said. He did, however, admit that he lied to investigators about the last time he saw his family members.

Before the trial, which began on Jan. 25, the Murdaugh family name had been synonymous with the legal profession in South Carolinas Low Country. From 1920 to 2006, members of the family served as solicitors, or local prosecutors, in charge of prosecuting all criminal cases in a five-county district that locals refer to as Murdaugh Country. The family also founded a prominent law firm specializing in personal injury litigation.

But the image of power and influence surrounding the Murdaugh clan began to unravel in February 2019, when a boat allegedly driven by Alex Murdaughs then 19-year-old son, Paul, crashed near Parris Island, S.C., with five passengers. One of those on board, Mallory Beach, also 19, was killed. Four of the five survivors were hospitalized, and Paul Murdaughs blood alcohol level was found to be three times the legal limit, according to hospital records. He was later charged with three felony counts of boating under the influence and pleaded not guilty, but was killed by his father before he could stand trial.

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The Beach family filed a wrongful death suit following the incident, which prosecutors say played a role in the motive for the eventual killings of Paul and Maggie. Prosecutors allege that Alex Murdaugh shot and killed Maggie, who was 52, and Paul, now 22, in a botched scheme to cover up his own financial fraud.

Alex Murdaugh, left, with members of his legal team, at the Colleton County Courthouse in Walterboro, S.C., on Thursday (Joshua Boucher/The State via AP/Pool)

The Murdaugh murder investigation has led authorities to look into two other suspicious deaths in the area. In 2018, the Murdaughs former housekeeper, Gloria Satterfield, died after a reported fall while at work. The Murdaugh family said she tripped over their dogs and hit her head.

According to the Satterfield familys attorneys, Alex Murdaugh told Satterfields sons he was responsible for her death and pledged that he was going to take care of the boys by suing himself to collect on personal liability insurance. But the family said they never received any money from Murdaugh, and they filed suit against him in 2021. The New Yorker reported in January that Murdaugh stole the settlement money, which totaled more than $400,000. Following Murdaughs arrest, police opened a criminal probe into Satterfields death.

In July 2015, the body of 19-year-old Stephen Smith was found in the middle of a rural highway in Hampton County, S.C. His death was initially ruled a hit-and-run, but following the murders of Maggie and Paul Murdaugh, police have reopened that investigation.

People interviewed in the Netflix docuseries The Murdaugh Murders: A Southern Scandal link Alex Murdaughs eldest son, Buster, to Smith, and Buster is named in reports on the case filed by investigators with the highway patrol.
Alex Murdaugh sits in the Colleton County Courthouse in Walterboro, South Carolina, as his attorneys discuss motions in front of Judge Clifton Newman on Dec. 9, 2022. Tracy Glantz/The State/Tribune News Service via Getty Images

Alex Murdaugh was found guilty of the murders of his wife and youngest son on Thursday.

The case has brought renewed scrutiny to the Murdaugh family.

The deaths of three people may have ties to the Murdaughs, including two cases that remain open.

The former South Carolina lawyer Alex Murdaugh was found guilty of the murders of his wife, Maggie Murdaugh, and youngest son, Paul Murdaugh, on Thursday after a 2 -hour jury deliberation.

The trial was six weeks long, garnered international headlines, and spawned a three-part Neflix docuseries.

But the case against the prominent former Hampton County attorney has also brought fresh scrutiny to the Murdaugh family from investigators.

Since the death of Alex Murdaugh's wife and son on June 7, 2021, authorities are examining a case involving the death of a 19-year-old student and exhumed the body of the family's longtime housekeeper.

In addition, the death of 19-year-old Mallory Beach, who died in a boat crash in 2019 while Paul Murdaugh was at the helm of the vehicle, remains unresolved. The Murdaugh son was expected to stand trial just days before he was killed.

These are the three cases that remain unsolved.

Stephen Smith, 19, July 2015

Stephen Smith, a 19-year-old nursing student at the time, was found dead in the middle of the road on July 8, 2015, Bluffton Today reported.

Detectives initially believed Smith may have been hit on the head by the side-view mirror of a semitruck in a hit-and-run incident. Smith's death certificate stated that the cause of death was severe blunt-force trauma to the head, the local newspaper reported.

In interviews with the highway patrol, some people began to direct investigators' attention toward the Murdaughs, ABC News 4 reported, though the Smith family's attorney, Andy Savage, told the outlet that he does not believe the death is connected to the Murdaughs.

A few weeks after the death of Murdaugh's wife and son in June 2021, the South Carolina Law Enforcement Division said that it had reopened an investigation into the Smith's death "based upon information gathered during the course of the double murder investigation of Paul and Maggie Murdaugh," People reported.

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Gloria Satterfield, February 2018

Gloria Satterfield, 57, served as the Murdaugh family housekeeper and nanny for more than two decades before she died in 2018 following a fall at their home.

Emergency services responded to the home following Satterfield's fall, but her death was never reported to the coroner and no autopsy was immediately performed, according to WJCL-22.

Michael Satterfield, Gloria's son, testified during Murdaugh's trial and said the disgraced attorney never told her family that he had collected more than $4 million in insurance settlements following her death.

In June, South Carolina's State Law Enforcement Division said that it would exhume the body of Satterfield to search for more clues, The Greenville News reported.

Mallory Beach, February 2019

Mallory Beach, 19, died in a 2019 boat accident connected to the family. Investigators believe that Alex Murdaugh's murdered son, Paul Murdaugh, was driving the family boat during a night of partying with friends on Beaufort River.

Law-enforcement officials arrived on the scene and said the underage partiers were crying, saying one of their friends was missing following the crash.

Paul Murdaugh's blood-alcohol level was three times the legal limit, hospital staff said, according to CBS News. He was later charged with several felonies and pleaded not guilty, but he was murdered days before he could stand trial.

Correction: March 3, 2023  An earlier version of this story incorrectly identified the son Alex Murdaugh killed.

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Alex Murdaugh, the fourth-generation heir to a powerful Lowcountry legal, law enforcement and political family, was found guilty Thursday of murdering his wife and son in a case that brought the glare of national and international media attention to a long-secluded but corrupt corner of Lowcountry South Carolina.

A jury of seven men and five women took less than three hours over days before unanimously finding Murdaugh, 54, guilty of executing his son Paul, 22, with a shotgun inside the feed room at the dog kennels before gunning down his wife, Maggie, 52, with a high-powered rifle on June 7, 2021, at the family 1,770-acre rural Colleton County estate, called Moselle.

The verdict was announced in the same courtroom where Murdaughs father, Randolph Murdaugh III, was the elected solicitor, or criminal prosecutor, from 1986 to 2006, and his grandfather, Randolph Buster Murdaugh Jr., the elected solicitor from 1940 to 1986, brought cases against thousands of the countys accused criminals over the years. And Murdaughs great-grandfather, the original Randolph Murdaugh, was solicitor from 1920 until his death in 1940.

For six weeks, lead prosecutor Creighton Waters pulled together a case with one major hurdle: no direct evidence.

In the case brought against Murdaugh, the S.C. Attorney Generals Office had no direct evidence, such as fingerprints or DNA, that would have allowed the state to conclusively prove Murdaughs guilt. Even the weapons used to kill Paul and Maggie were missing  hidden or destroyed by Murdaugh, prosecutors contended.

To overcome that hurdle, prosecutors introduced hundreds of pieces of evidence, ranging from police interrogation videos, gunshot residue tests, car and cellphone data and  most importantly  a cellphone video taken from Pauls phone that showed Murdaugh at the dog kennels just before his wife and son were murdered.

To establish an alibi that he was somewhere else when the killings took place, Murdaugh quickly drove to his ailing mothers house in a nearby unincorporated community, Almeda, where he visited with a caregiver and lay on his mothers bed for 20 minutes as a game show played on the television, prosecutors contended. Then he drove back to Moselle where he pretended to discover the bodies and called 911, prosecutors told the jury.

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All this digital data shredded Murdaughs alibi of being somewhere else at the time of the killings, prosecutors contended. After nearly three hours of deliberation on Thursday, the jury agreed.

An especially difficult obstacle for prosecutors was showing the jury that Murdaugh, a then-respected family man with generational ties to law enforcement and the states legal community, a man who numerous witnesses testified devoutly loved his wife and son, would go on a sudden rampage and kill his wife and son.

To explain Murdaugh had a motive for the killings, Waters introduced a theory called family annihilation, which says that an outwardly successful person who has lived a hidden life and suddenly faces exposure, might suddenly kill those closest to him.

To prove this theory, Waters during the trial introduced some nine witnesses, who testified that Murdaugh for years had lived a secret life of fraud, stealing from friends, family, colleagues and his law firm, bilking them of millions. Waters also showed that Murdaugh, even on the morning of the killings, was on the verge of being exposed as a debt-ridden criminal instead of a prosperous respected lawyer.

At the heart of the widespread media interest in the latest generation Murdaugh was a long-running whodunit mystery that quickly attracted national and international attention because of the brutality of the Maggie and Pauls execution-style killings, the prominence of the victims family and the seeming helplessness of the S.C. Law Enforcement Division to identify even one suspect for more than a year or advance a theory of what had happened.

For 14 months  until Murdaughs indictment on murder charges in July 2022  neither SLED officials nor prosecutors from the S.C. Attorney Generals office would comment on evidence in the case or law enforcements highly publicized failure to make an arrest.

The murders had taken place at night, the crime scene had been overrun by Murdaughs friends and family until it was sealed off and there were no witnesses except the familys dogs who barked at investigators from their cages. The state was never able to produce the murder weapons  a shotgun and a .300 Blackout assault-type rifle.

Facing life in prison without parole, Murdaugh has seen witness after witness testify how he has stained the name of his family that has been woven into the fabric of the 14th Judicial Circuit for more than a century. Today Murdaugh has become shorthand for wickedness and the firm the family founded in 1910 was dissolved and reformed, without the Murdaugh name.

In a move reportedly opposed by his defense team, Dick Harpootlian and Jim Griffin, Murdaugh took to the stand for two days.

In testimony that was in turn tearful, defiant and litigious, the disbarred attorney denied killing his wife and son.

But in five hours of cross examination by lead prosecutor Creighton Waters, Murdaugh offered a stunning series of admissions. He confessed, for the first time, to lying about his alibi and to a decades worth of thefts from his clients and his law firm, which he said was driven by a need to fund a $50,000 a week addiction to prescription painkillers.

Even before he took the stand, Murdaughs defense team had little room to maneuver.

Judge Clifton Newman, who oversaw the trial, granted the prosecutions wish list of motions.

He allowed them to introduce a landslide of witnesses who testified about Murdaughs financial crimes, leading Harpootlian to protest that it was more of a Madoff trial than a murder trial. Bernie Madoff was imprisoned for orchestrating a $64.8 billion Ponzi scheme, the largest in history.

While not required to prove motive, Waters repeatedly accused Murdaugh of being a family annhilator, driven to commit a biblical act of destruction when the facade of his successful life began to crack.

Ballistics experts also matched a family gun to the weapon that killed Maggie and the state used familys phones and data from Murdaughs car to , casting doubt on the defenses improbable claim that Murdaugh missed the killings by mere minutes.

Many of the witnesses were drawn from the inner circle of the Murdaughs close knit and clannish world, among them Murdaughs surviving son, 26-year-old Buster, who testified in his fathers defense.

Their testimony threw back the curtain on an insular world of privilege and power among the swamps of the Lowcountry.

Since the allegedly caused by Paul, the family has gained unwelcome international prominence through podcasts, documentaries and a zealous community of online sleuths.

In court, the 6-foot-four inch tall Murdaugh often appeared gaunt, his once red hair turned almost white. He frequently rocked back and forth and openly wept during testimony.

It was hard to connect the man at the defense table with the image of well-fed, affluent contentment who beamed out from family pictures that have been featured heavily in nearly four years of coverage of the case.

The verdict is a vindication for the South Carolina Law Enforcement Division and the Attorney Generals office who conducted perhaps the states highest-profile law enforcement investigation and prosecution in a generation amidst a whirlwind of scrutiny and criticism.

It was also a personal test for South Carolina Attorney General Alan Wilson, whose office rarely prosecutes murders and who sat at the prosecutions table throughout the trial and led direct examination of the states final witness.

Wilson is the heir to his own South Carolina legacy  his father is U.S. Rep. Joe Wilson  and is rumored to be considering a run for higher office.

The case was transferred to his office after 14th Circuit Solicitor Duffie Stone recused himself on Aug. 11, 2021.

Stone occupied the same office that had been held by Murdaughs father, grandfather and great grandfather. Murdaugh himself held the nebulously defined role of volunteer solicitor, and frequently displayed the badge in his cars cup holder while maintaining a seven figure a year practice at the Murdaugh law firm.

This is a developing story. Check back for updates.
Alex Murdaugh, a once-prominent South Carolina attorney whose legal family influenced the states Lowcountry region for generations, has been found guilty of murdering his wife and son.

The 54-year-old was convicted Thursday of two counts of murder in the 2021 shootings of his wife Maggie, 52, and son Paul, 22, at the familys rural hunting property in Islandton, South Carolina. Each count carries a sentence that can range from 30 years to life in prison. He was also found guilty on two counts of possessing a deadly weapon during the commission of a violent crime.

The jury deliberated for just under three hours.

Murdaugh had insisted on his innocence throughout the weekslong trial, though he admitted on the stand that he stole money from clients and his law firm, and that he lied to investigators about his whereabouts on the night his family was killed.

Murdaugh came clean about being at the dog kennels with his wife and son minutes before they were fatally shot, after prosecutors presented cellphone video that appeared to capture his voice at the scene with them. The video was recorded by Paul on June 7, 2021, at around 8:45 p.m., just minutes before its believed he was shot twice from behind. The video was discovered in April 2022 when Pauls phone was finally unlocked by authorities.

Murdaugh testified that he was briefly at the estates kennels, but that he left his wife and son there. He said he returned to the main house and then left to visit his ailing mother just after 9 p.m. When he returned home around 10 p.m., he said, he found his wife and son dead and called 911.

Murdaugh partially blamed his opioid addiction for his decision to lie to police about not having been at the kennels that night. The drugs made him paranoid and distrustful of state law enforcement, he said.

I did lie to them, he said. Once I lied I continued to lie, yes sir ... Once I told a lie, and I told my family, I had to keep lying.

Murdaugh, a fourth-generation lawyer, was disbarred last year from practicing law while facing multiple criminal investigations and civil lawsuits related to the shooting deaths and allegations that he stole from clients and his law firm.

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He is still awaiting trial for the financial crimes he admitted to on the stand, as well as insurance fraud charges  after being accused of attempting to arrange his own killing three months after his familys deaths  and tax evasion and money laundering charges.

Related...
Alex Murdaugh is led out of Colleton County Courthouse by sheriff's deputies after being convicted - Chris Carlson

The son of a prominent lawyer found guilty of killing his own family solved his own murder with a video he recorded before being shot dead.

Paul Murdaugh inadvertently placed his father Alex Murdaugh at the scene of the crime shortly before he and his mother were killed, despite Mr Murdaughs repeated claims that he was not there.

In the end it was the victim, Paul Murdaugh, who solved his own murder, Dave Aronberg, state attorney for Floridas Palm Beach County, told CNN on Thursday night.

Mr Murdaugh, a prominent lawyer, was found guilty of murdering his wife and son on Thursday following a trial that gripped America for weeks.

The 54-year-old, the scion of an elite legal family in South Carolina, showed no emotion as a jury found him guilty of two charges of murder.

The 12-person jury in Walterboro, South Carolina deliberated for less than three hours after a trial that had lasted six weeks and was broadcast live across the United States.

Murdaugh murdered his son Paul, 22, with a shotgun and his wife Maggie, 52, with an assault rifle Paul used for hunting wild pigs on the family's sprawling estate.

Alex Murdaugh is handcuffed after the guilty verdict was read out - AP

The two victims were killed at close range near the dog kennels on the estate on June 7, 2021.

After the verdict was delivered, Murdaugh's lawyers attempted to make a motion for a mistrial, which was denied by the judge.

Judge Clifton Newman said: "The evidence of guilt is overwhelming."

BREAKING: Jury finds Alex Murdaugh guilty in murders of wife and son by unanimous decision. https://t.co/RdYLvfum24 pic.twitter.com/dj2U9OQy3G  MSNBC (@MSNBC) March 3, 2023

Murdaugh faces 30 years to life in prison when he is sentenced on Friday.

He had pleaded not guilty, telling the jury: "I did not kill Maggie, and I did not kill Paul. I would never hurt Maggie, and I would never hurt Paul, ever, under any circumstances."

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But, giving evidence during the trial, he admitted having lied about his alibi, and to an array of financial crimes.

Throughout the case prosecutors portrayed him as a serial liar.

Alex Murdaugh with his wife Maggie and younger son Paul (Centre) and elder son Buster (far left) - UNPIXS

They said he gunned down his wife and son to distract from the financial crimes, which included the theft of millions of dollars from his law partners and clients.

He had used that money to fund an addiction to opioids and to support an expensive lifestyle, the court heard.

Murdaugh lied about his whereabouts

Murdaugh admitted on the witness stand that he had lied about his whereabouts on the night of the killings.

He initially told police he was not at the dog kennels before his wife and son were killed.

Murdaugh's lawyers attempted to make a motion for a mistrial, which was denied - UNPIXS

However, he changed his account after a video was found on Paul Murdaughs mobile phone, which had taken investigators over a year to unlock.

It captured the voices of all three Murdaughs minutes before the crime.

Murdaugh told the jury he had, in fact, joined Maggie and Paul at the kennels, where he took a chicken away from a Labrador named Bubba.

The feed room on the family estate where the body of Paul Murdaugh was found - AP

He could be heard on the phone video saying the dog's name.

He claimed that he had then headed back to the house shortly before the fatal shootings.

Claim to police that opioids had made him paranoid

Murdaugh claimed he had lied to the police at the start because opioids had made him paranoid.

Amid the 75 witnesses and more than 800 documents jurors also heard how Murdaugh had failed in an attempt to stage his own death in an insurance fraud scheme.

Following the guilty verdict, Alex Murdaughs lawyers attempted to make a motion for a mistrial, which the judge promptly denied, saying:



The evidence of guilt is overwhelming. I deny the motion. pic.twitter.com/Gy2OKc0TYI  NowThis (@nowthisnews) March 3, 2023

They also heard about a housekeeper who died in a fall in the Murdaugh home, and a fatal boat crash in which his son was implicated.

The weapons used to kill his wife and son were never found, and there was no direct evidence, like blood spatter or DNA, linking Murdaugh to the killings.

But, in addition to the phone video, the jury also heard that spent cartridges found near Maggie Murdaughs body matched those used at a shooting range elsewhere on the family property.

Murdaugh killed to cover his tracks

Prosecutors told the court Murdaugh was afraid all of his financial misdeeds were about to be discovered, so he killed his wife and son to gain sympathy to buy time to cover his tracks.

Murdaugh is led from the court after the verdict on Thursday night - AP

Before he was charged with murder he was in jail awaiting trial on about 100 other charges ranging from insurance fraud to tax evasion.

Murdaughs lawyers were expected to appeal the murder convictions based on the judge having allowed evidence of the financial crimes to be used in the trial.

They argued those were unrelated to the killings and were used by prosecutors to smear Murdaughs reputation.

Unanimous verdict unexpected

Bill Nettles, a former US attorney for South Carolina, told CNN that he expected a hung jury.

The one thing you can clearly take away from this was, he had been lying to a lot of people that he loved for a long time, and so he had obviously gotten to be pretty good at it, he said.

If he went in there and they believed him, then he would have likely been found not guilty. But once they decide that hes willing to put himself out there and they dont believe him, thats kind of a tough hill to get over, he added.

Justin Bamberg, who represented the alleged financial crime victims of Murdaugh, also expressed surprise at the rapid speed of the jury's verdict.

I truly think that the jury recognised this man lied to everybody, he told CNN.

Every single person whos been victimised by Alex has wanted one thing: complete accountability. And complete accountability started here today with this jury verdict."
A jury in South Carolina reached a verdict of guilty on all counts after just three hours of deliberations in the case of disgraced former attorney Alex Murdaugh, who was accused of killing his wife and son in 2021.

Murdaugh was charged with four counts: the murder of Maggie Murdaugh, the murder of Paul Murdaugh, and two counts of possession of a weapon during a crime. Murdaugh, 54, faces 30 years to life in prison without parole for each murder charge.

Sentencing is expected to take place on Friday. Murdaugh still faces another trial in the future over numerous financial crimes.

Jurors started deliberations Thursday afternoon following weeks of testimony from dozens of witnesses in a sprawling case that culminated in a visit to the crime scene, the family's rural hunting estate Moselle, ahead of closing arguments.

Murdaugh took the stand in his own defense and denied that he killed his wife and son. But he admitted under questioning that he had lied to investigators when he denied being at the estate that night  blaming his lies on his addiction to opioids.

"I'm not quite sure how I let myself get where I got. I battled that addiction for so many years. I was spending so much money on pills," Murdaugh said.

Alex Murdaugh stands next to the witness booth during a break in his trial for murder on Feb. 23, 2023 in Walterboro, S.C. / Credit: Joshua Boucher/The State via AP

Prosecutors argued that Murdaugh killed his wife and son in a desperate effort to distract attention from his financial crimes and gain sympathy from the community.

The defense in turn argued that the authorities conducted a shoddy investigation  failing to collect evidence like fingerprints or possible DNA on Maggie or Paul Murdaugh's clothing that could have pointed to someone else  because they were so determined to get him convicted.

Over the course of the trial, the number of alternate jurors dwindled to one, following dismissals for medical reasons and, in one case, speaking about the case. That juror was removed during closing arguments.

Murdaugh also faces nearly 100 charges against him for various financial crimes, including fraud, money laundering, tax evasion and forgery, and is accused of stealing more than $8 million and trying to get a man to kill him in a $10 million life insurance scheme. While he admitted to some of these crimes on the stand during this trial, legal proceedings in those cases are still ahead.

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This is a developing story and will be updated. The Associated Press contributed reporting.

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A juror in Alex Murdaughs double murder trial has broken his silence to reveal what it was that sealed the fate of the disgraced legal dynasty heir.

Craig Moyer spoke out for the first time on Thursday just hours after the jury convicted Murdaugh of the savage double murder of his wife Maggie and son Paul in Colleton County Courthouse in Walterboro, South Carolina.

Mr Moyer told ABC News that Murdaughs lack of remorse, crocodile tears and the damning cellphone video captured by Paul minutes before his murder convinced the panel of his guilt.

I didnt see any true remorse or any compassion or anything, he said, adding that the disgraced attorney came across like a big liar.

Mr Moyer said that he was certain it was [Murdaughs] voice from the very first time the kennel video was played in the courtroom.

Everybody else could hear [Murdaughs voice] too, said the carpenter from Colleton County.

Mr Moyer said that he locked eyes with Murdaugh in the courtroom as the video was played and described the killers demeanour as like he knew what was coming.

Key to the prosecutions case was a damning cellphone video which placed Murdaugh at the scene of the murders.

The video, taken by Paul on his cellphone at 8.44pm, filmed a dog inside the kennels on the grounds of the Moselle estate.

Off-camera, three voices are heard: Paul, Maggie and Alex Murdaugh.

During dramatic testimony, multiple witnesses identified Murdaughs voice in the footage.

Minutes later  at around 8.50pm  Maggie and Paul were brutally gunned down.

The bombshell video not only placed Murdaugh at the scene  but also exposed his lies about his alibi that night.

Alex Murdaugh stands in the courtroom at the Colleton County Courthouse in Walterboro, South Carolina, (AP)

Since the 7 June 2021 murders, he had claimed that he had never gone to the dog kennels with his wife and son that night.

He claimed that he had stayed at the family home, napped on the couch and then driven to visit his mother at his parents home in Almeda.

When he drove home, he claimed he went down to the kennels, placing a dramatic 911 call claiming to have discovered the bodies of the two victims.

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In a dramatic two days in the courtroom, Murdaugh finally confessed that he had spent the last 20 months lying about his alibi that night.

The convicted killer took the stand in his own defence and admitted for the first time that he was there at the kennels with the two victims that night  and that he had lied to law enforcement officials investigating the case, his family members and close friends and colleagues for the best part of two years.

Despite confessing to lying, Murdaugh continued to plead his innocence in Maggie and Pauls murders.

Yet, Murdaughs confession over the kennel video further cemented his guilt, Mr Moyer told ABC, saying it was that monent that he knew for definite where his vote lay.

The juror said that Murdaughs performance on the stand did little to help his case, describing his testimony and answers to questions coming across as too quick, rehearsed and clearly coming from someone with knowledge of how to play the legal system.

He knew what he wanted to say. I mean he is a lawyer, he said. I didnt see any true remorse or any compassion or anything.

Murdaughs tears  as we sobbed throughout the trial both on the stand and at the defence table as gruesome details of Maggie and Pauls brutal murders were revealed  were also far from convincing, he said.

Rather than being genuine, Mr Moyer said Murdaugh appeared to be more like blowing snot and came across like a big liar.

Buster, Maggie, Paul and Alex Murdaugh left to right (Maggie Murdaugh/Facebook)

The juror gave a glimpse behind the scenes of the jury room where deliberations took less than three hours before a unanimous verdict was reached.

Taking an initial poll as soon as they were handed the case, Mr Moyer said that nine jurors voted guilty, two innocent and one was on the fence.

Mr Moyer said that the holdouts had questions about the shotgun shells on the scene, after the defence had pushed the theory that there may have been two shooters responsible for the brutal murders.

But, utlimately, it took just 45 minutes to reach a unanimous verdict.

Not long into deliberations the panel asked for a monitor to view the bodycam footage from the first officer arriving on the scene.

After another vote, Mr Moyer said the evidence was clear and  less than three hours after they first got the case  the verdict was reached.

Murdaugh appeared stony faced as the guilty verdicts were read out in the deafeningly silent court on Thursday evening, before he was led out in handcuffs.

The disgraced legal dynasty heir  whose family once dominated the legal system in the lowcountry  will be sentenced in Colleton County Courthouse on Friday.

The sentencing will begin at 9.30am ET with victim impact statements expected to be read out in court.

He faces 30 years to life in prison on each of the murder charges and five years on each weapons charge. Sentences can be served concurrently  or consecutively.

Prosecutors are seeking the maximum penalty of life after taking the death penalty off the table.

Judge Clifton Newman has not indicated how he plans to sentence Murdaugh, but did say after the verdict was delivered that the evidence was overwhelming.

Mr Moyer said he will return to court on Friday to see the man he convicted of murder be sentenced for his crimes.

I want to see it. Its a decision I have to live with, he said.

Back on 7 June 2021, Maggie and Paul were gunned down on the familys 1,700-acre estate.

Paul was shot twice with a 12-gauge shotgun while he stood in the feed room of the dog kennels  the second shot to his head blowing his brain almost entirely out of his skull.

After killing Paul, prosecutors said Murdaugh then grabbed a .300 Blackout semiautomatic rifle and opened fire on Maggie as she tried to flee from her husband.

She was shot five times including twice in the head after she had fallen to her knees.

Buster  who has stood by his father throughout the trial and testified in his defence  gave little reaction as his fathers conviction was returned, before rubbing his eyes momentarily.

Prosecutors said that Murdaugh killed his wife and son to distract from his string of financial crimes  at a time when his multi-million-dollar fraud scheme was on the brink of being exposed.

Jurors were told that on the day of the murders, Murdaugh was confronted by his law firm CFO about missing money that he had stolen.

Three days after the murders, a hearing was also slated to take place in a lawsuit over a fatal boat crash.

In February 2019, Paul had allegedly been drunk driving the family boat when it crashed, killing his 19-year-old friend Mallory Beach.

While Paul was facing felony charges over the crash, Murdaugh was being sued by the Beach family, and their attorney had filed a motion to compel to gain access to his finances.

Over four weeks and 61 witnesses, prosecutors laid out this alleged motive for the murders as well as presenting the bizarre hitman plot as part of his pattern of making himself a victim when accountability came knocking on his door.

On 4 September 2021  one day after he was ousted by his law firm for stealing funds  Murdaugh claimed he was the victim of a drive-by shooting.

He kept up the story for days, with jurors being shown a police sketch of an imaginary man he claimed ambushed him.

Days later, he confessed that he had orchestrated the plot claiming he had asked his alleged drug dealer and distant cousin Curtis Eddie Smith to shoot him in the head so his surviving son Buster would get a $12m life insurance windfall.

Beyond Murdaughs other crimes, the state also presented jurors with a trove of circumstantial evidence tying him to the murders and revealing how he manufactured an alibi and covered his tracks in the aftermath.

Prosecutors said that he killed Maggie and Paul with family guns, trying to throw investigators off the scent by using two different guns.

After carrying out the attack, they believe he changed out of his bloody clothing  with jurors seeing a Snapchat video taken by Paul showing Murdaugh in one outfit just one hour before the killings. In bodycam footage when the first officer arrived on the scene, he was in a new outfit.

Alex Murdaugh is led out of court after being convicted of double murders (Copyright 2023 The Associated Press. All rights reserved)

He is also believed to have taken the guns to his parents home to hide them.

A blue raincoat was later found in his parents home covered in gunshot residue. The state claims Murdaugh used the coat to move and hide the firearms used in the slayings.

Throughout the defences case, they sought to paint Murdaugh as a flawed character and an opioid addict  but one who loved his family and could never have carried out the murders.

While Murdaugh confessed on the witness stand about lying about his alibi, he sought to convince jurors that he was not the family annihilator the prosecution painted him to be.

He also admitted to stealing millions of dollars from his law firm and to orchestrating a bizarre botched hitman plot three months after the murders. He is awaiting separate trials in both of those cases.

Among the 14 witnesses called to try to convince jurors of his innocence was Murdaughs surviving son Buster and brother John Marvin, who said that he was left heartbroken by the murders.

Murdaughs conviction marks the latest twist in the saga of the man who was once the powerful heir to a South Carolina legal dynasty.

His family had reigned over the local justice system for almost a century, with three generations of the family all serving as the solicitor in the 14th Judicial Circuit solicitors office.

Murdaugh continued with the family tradition working in the local prosecutors office and also at the law firm PMPED, which was founded by his grandfather.

The murders of Maggie and Paul shocked the Hampton County community but also brought to light a series of scandals surrounding Murdaugh.

As well as the boat crash case, the fraud scheme and the botched hitman plot, there are at least two other unexplained deaths with some tie to Murdaugh.

Days on from the murders, an investigation was reopened into the 2015 death of Stephen Smith, who was found dead in the middle of the road in Hampton County.

The openly gay 19-year-old had suffered blunt force trauma to the head and his death was officially ruled a hit-and-run. But the victims family have long doubted this version of events, with the Murdaugh name cropping up in several police tips and community rumours.

An investigation was also reopened into another mystery death connected to the Murdaugh family  that of their longtime housekeeper Gloria Satterfield.

She died in 2018 in a mystery trip and fall accident at the family home. Murdaugh then allegedly stole around $4m in a wrongful death settlement from her sons.

Murdaugh is now also facing around 100 charges over the multi-million-dollar fraud scheme and roadside shooting cases.
The scion of a prominent American legal family was called a monster by a judge as he was jailed for life without parole for murdering his wife and son.

Alex Murdaugh, 54, shot dead his wife Maggie, 52, and son Paul, 22, who he called Paw Paw at their family estate in South Carolina on June 7 2021.

The six-week trial captivated America and Murdaugh, a disbarred lawyer and opioid addict, was convicted by a jury of two charges of murder.

Lawyers for Murdaugh said they would appeal his convictions, arguing that evidence of separate financial crimes should not have been allowed in the trial.

They said the inclusion had caused jurors to believe Murdaugh was a despicable human being.

Alex Murdaugh is led to the Colleton County Courthouse by sheriff's deputies for sentencing on Friday, March 3, 2023 - Joshua Boucher

Judge Clifton Newman handed down two consecutive life sentences and said Murdaugh would serve the rest of your natural life behind bars.

The judge gave a deeply personal address, saying he had known the defendant for years, had presided over cases argued by Murdaugh, and seen him at various occasions.

Speaking directly to Murdaugh, Judge Newman said: You had such a lovely family, such friendly people, including you. To go from that to this...

It might have been the monster you become

It might not have been you. It might have been the monster you become when you take 15, 20, 30, 40, 50, 60 opioid pills. Maybe you become another person.

The judge said Murdaugh had savagely murdered his son, who he probably loved very much, and within your own soul you have to deal with that.

He told Murdaugh: I know you have to see Paul and Maggie during the night time when youre attempting to go to sleep. Im sure they come and visit you. Im sure.

Murdaugh told the judge they did all day and every night.

Alex Murdaugh was found guilty of the murder of his wife Maggie (both right) and son Paul (left)

But he added: Im innocent. I would never hurt my wife Maggie, and I would never hurt my son Paw Paw.

Murdaugh made millions of dollars as a lawyer suing companies on behalf of people who had been injured.

Prosecutors said he had cheated his legal partners and clients out of large sums of money to fund an addiction to painkillers.

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They said the motive for the murders was that Murdaugh wanted to garner sympathy and distract attention from his financial crimes.

The key piece of evidence was a Snapchat video on his dead sons mobile phone, which took a year for investigators to unlock.

It was taken minutes before the killings at the kennels on the family property where the bodies were found.

The voices of all three Murdaughs could be heard on the video.

Murdaugh had originally told police, and maintained for 20 months, that he had not been at the kennels.

Buster Murdaugh, the surviving son of Alex Murdaugh, listens as Alex Murdaugh's verdict is read - Joshua Boucher

During the trial jurors heard how Murdaugh had staged a failed attempt to fake his own death in an insurance fraud scheme.

They also heard about a fatal boat crash in which his son was implicated, and a housekeeper who died in a fall in the Murdaugh home.

Murdaugh had worn a dress shirt and sport coat during the trial, but was brought to court for the sentencing in a prison jumpsuit.

The sentencing took place in a courtroom in Colleton County, South Carolina where Murdaughs father, grandfather and great-grandfather tried cases as prosecutors.

His grandfathers portrait had hung in the back of the courtroom until the judge ordered it taken down for the trial.

The court heard that the Murdaugh family had controlled justice in this community for over a century.

The jury took less than three hours to find him guilty.

Alex Murdaugh - Grace Beahm Alford

On the witness stand Murdaugh had appeared to cry as he repeatedly denied the murders.

But juror Craig Moyer later said he had been a good liar, but not good enough.

Mr Moyer said: He never cried. All he did was blow snot. No tears. I saw his eyes.

Outside court Alan Wilson, the South Carolina Attorney General, said: The [Snapchat] video hung him. Murdaugh is someone who is a master manipulator and liar. He spent his career being very theatrical in front of juries.

[But] the verdict proved that no one, no matter who you are in society, is above the law.

03:21 PM

Could he have been given death sentence?

The judge indicated that Murdaugh could well have been given the death penalty.

However, the state has to file a notice if they wish to seek the death penalty. They did not.

Therefore, the most that Murdaugh could be given was a whole life sentence for each murder charge, which he was.

03:16 PM

Applause breaks out in court

As the judge bangs his gavel, saying the court has adjourned, a ripple of applause breaks out in court.

Buster, Murdaugh's only surviving son, is unmoved. It didn't appear as though his father turned around to look at him as he was led out.

03:07 PM

Murdaugh sentenced to life

Judge Clifton Newman says Murdaugh's testimony was "not credible."

For the killing of Maggie, the judge says: "Mr Murdaugh I sentence you for the rest of your natural life.

For Paul, he says "I sentence you to prison for murdering him for the rest of your natural life."

Murdaugh is taken away.

03:05 PM

Murdaugh still emotionless

There are no tears. Just a gentle rocking back and forth on his heels.

His son, Buster, is sat a few rows behind, listening intently.

03:02 PM

Murdaugh claims innocence again

"I respect this court, but I am innocent. I would never under any circumstances hurt my wife Maggie. I would never under any circumstances hurt my son Paul Paul."

The judge says that it may be the case that drugs turned Murdaugh into a monster who he does not recognise now.

02:59 PM

'You had such a lovely family'

Judge Clifton Newman brings up the line Murdaugh said when he was cross examined: "Oh what a tangled web we weave."

"What did you mean by that?" he says.

"When will the lies end?"

He says that Maggie and Paul likely haunt him at night.

"You had such a lovely family of such friendly people - including you," says the judge.

02:57 PM

Judge hints that death sentence would have been appropriate

"This case qualifies under our death penalty statute based on the aggravating factors of two or more people being murdered.

"I don't question at all the decision of the state not to pursue the death penalty," he says but adds that his family had sentenced people to death "probably for lesser conduct."

02:53 PM

Case is heartbreaking, says judge

Judge Clifton Newman is now speaking: "As a well known member of the legal community, it was especially heartbreaking for me to see you go from being a grieving father who lost a wife and a son to being a person indicted and convicted of killing then."

"You have engaged in duplicitous conduct, here in the courtroom, on the witness stand."

02:49 PM

Murdaugh speaks

Remarkably, Murdaugh has one more thing to say: "I am innocent. I would never hurt my wife Maggie. I would never hurt my son Paul Paul."

Still, he protests his innocence.

He will now be sentenced.

02:47 PM

Prosecutors call for two life sentences

Murdaugh, sat in a beige prison jumpsuit should be given two consecutive life sentences, Mr Waters says.

He adds that there won't be anyone representing the victims speaking at the sentencing hearing.

Alex Murdaugh is led to the Colleton County Courthouse by sheriff's deputies - AP Photo/Chris Carlson

02:45 PM

Sentencing hearing begins

Creighton Waters, prosecuting, says that Murdaugh "violated the trust of his friends, family and partners but most importantly, Maggie and Paul.

"I am so grateful that the jury gave them a voice.

"Paul was described as a fun loving young man."

"Maggie was cut down in the prime of her life."

No-one who thought they knew this man really knew who he was.

02:40 PM

How this will play out

Murdaugh will be brought into the courtroom shortly.

There may be victim impact statements read out in court.

Buster Murdaugh, whose mother and brother were killed in the attack, will now watch his father be taken away to spend what's likely to be the rest of his life behind bars. He was in the witness box during the trial, but may speak again today.

Maggie Murdaugh's parents were on the witness list but were never called. They too could deliver a victim impact statement.

After, will be the sentencing. Murdaugh is facing anywhere between 30 years to life in prison. Commentators expect he will be given a full life tariff.

He will then be taken into custody by the department of corrections.

02:25 PM

Murdaugh family dynasty shattered

As Alex Murdaugh stands before a judge to learn his fate, hell be in same courtroom on the circuit his father, grandfather and great-grandfather tried cases as the elected prosecutor for more than 80 years. His grandfathers portrait hung in the back of the room until the judge ordered it taken down for the trial.

Instead of the dress shirt and sport coat he wore through the six-week trial, the attorney who made millions suing big companies on behalf of people injured in wrecks arrived at court in a jail jumpsuit the day after he was convicted of two counts of murder.

Murdaugh being taken away on Thursday night - AP Photo/Chris Carlson

02:11 PM

Why the extraordinary story is gripping America

Between the drama taking place in the courtroom and a well-timed Netflix documentary on the small screen, the nation is hooked.

Read Josie Ensor's piece on the how the trial has gripped America.

02:06 PM

Sentencing due to begin at 2.30pm GMT (9.30am EST)

The Telegraph will be carrying a live stream of the sentencing of Alex Murdaugh, which is due to begin at 9:30am in South Carolina, which is 2:30pm in the UK.

The 54-year-old faces anywhere from 30 years to life in prison.

02:01 PM

How we got here

The case has drawn intense media coverage given the family's immense political power in and around Colleton County, where the trial took place. For decades until 2006, family members served as the leading prosecutor in the area, and Murdaugh was a prominent personal injury attorney in the Deep South state.

Throughout the trial, prosecutors portrayed Murdaugh as a serial liar and argued that only he had the means and the opportunity to commit the murders. Prosecutors said he gunned down his wife and son to distract from an array of financial misdeeds, including the theft of millions of dollars from his law partners and clients - money used to feed a years-long addiction to opioids and support an expensive lifestyle.

For their part, Murdaugh's lawyers tried to paint their client as a loving family man who, while facing financial difficulties and suffering from an opioid addiction that led him to lie and steal, would never harm his wife and child.

Murdaugh pleaded not guilty, but admitted to lying about his whereabouts on the night of the murders after evidence emerged placing him at the scene, denting his credibility with the jury.
South Carolina attorney Alex Murdaugh was sentenced to consecutive life terms with no chance for parole Friday in the double murder of his wife and son.

The trial, which began on Jan. 25, came to a quick conclusion, with the jury deliberating for just three hours on Thursday and issuing their verdict on the same day they heard closing arguments. Prior to the sentencing, prosecutors described Murdaugh as a cunning manipulator who placed himself above all others, including his family, and called for the two consecutive life sentences, the maximum allowed in the case. Circuit Court Judge Clifton Newman said Murdaugh engaged in duplicitous conduct during the trial.

Murdaugh, 54, was accused of fatally shooting his wife, Maggie, and son Paul, who were found dead in June 2021 at the familys hunting estate in Colleton County. The disgraced lawyer was convicted on two counts of murder and two weapons charges in the case.

Im innocent, Murdaugh said in brief remarks on Friday, saying he would never hurt his wife or son.

Where will [the lies] end? asked Clifton. Its already ended for many who have heard you and concluded itll never end, but within your own soul you have to deal with that, and I know you have to see Paul and Maggie during the nighttime when youre attempting to go to sleep. Im sure they come and visit you, Im sure.

Alex Murdaugh is led outside the Colleton County Courthouse by sheriff's deputies after being convicted of two counts of murder Thursday in Walterboro, S.C., in the June 7, 2021, shooting deaths of his wife and son. (Chris Carlson/AP)

Last week, Murdaugh took the stand in his own defense, testifying that he didn't murder his wife and son in what prosecutors alleged was a botched attempt to cover up financial fraud.

Newman said the case was particularly troubling because Murdaugh had practiced law in front of him, and it was especially heartbreaking to see you go in the media from being a grieving father who lost a wife and son to the person indicted and convicted of killing them. Newman added that appeals were absolutely expected.

Before the trial, the Murdaugh family name had been synonymous with the legal profession in South Carolinas Low Country. From 1920 to 2006, members of the family served as solicitors, or local prosecutors, in charge of prosecuting all criminal cases in a five-county district that locals refer to as Murdaugh Country. The family also founded a prominent law firm specializing in personal injury litigation. On Friday, Newman noted that Murdaughs family members had prosecuted people who received the death penalty for less heinous acts.

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But the image of power and influence surrounding the Murdaugh clan began to unravel in February 2019, when a boat allegedly driven by Alex Murdaughs then-19-year-old son, Paul, crashed near Parris Island, S.C., with five passengers. One of those on board, Mallory Beach, also 19, was killed. Four of the five survivors were hospitalized, and Paul Murdaughs blood alcohol level was found to be three times the legal limit, according to hospital records. He was later charged with three felony counts of boating under the influence and pleaded not guilty, but was killed by his father before he could stand trial.

Paul, Alex and Maggie Murdaugh. (Maggie Murdaugh via Facebook)

The Beach family filed a wrongful death suit following the incident, which prosecutors say played a role in the motive for the eventual killings of Paul and Maggie. Prosecutors allege that Alex Murdaugh shot and killed Maggie, who was 52, and Paul, then 22, in a botched scheme to cover up his own financial fraud.

The Murdaugh murder investigation has led authorities to look into two other suspicious deaths in the area. In 2018, the Murdaughs former housekeeper, Gloria Satterfield, died after a reported fall while at work. The Murdaugh family said she tripped over their dogs and hit her head.

According to the Satterfield familys attorneys, Alex Murdaugh told Satterfields sons he was responsible for her death and pledged that he was going to take care of the boys by suing himself to collect on personal liability insurance. But the family said they never received any money from Murdaugh, and they filed suit against him in 2021. The New Yorker reported in January that Murdaugh stole the settlement money, which totaled more than $400,000. Following Murdaughs arrest, police opened a criminal probe into Satterfields death.

In July 2015, the body of 19-year-old Stephen Smith was found in the middle of a rural highway in Hampton County, S.C. His death was initially ruled a hit-and-run, but following the murders of Maggie and Paul Murdaugh, police have reopened that investigation.

People interviewed in the Netflix docuseries The Murdaugh Murders: A Southern Scandal link Alex Murdaughs older son, Buster, to Smith, and Buster is named in reports on the case filed by investigators with the highway patrol.
Alan Wilson gives a press conference in Walerboro on Thursday 2 March (Law and Crime via YouTube)

Prosecutors in South Carolina reacted with elation to the guilty verdict against Alex Murdaugh on Thursday night, telling a cheering crowd: "Justice has been done".

At a jubilant press conference outside the Colleton County Courthouse in Walterboro, state attorney general Alan Wilson hailed "a great day for the people of South Carolina".

"Today's verdict proves that no one  no one, no matter who you are in society  is above the law.

"Our criminal justice system worked tonight. It gave a voice to Maggie and Paul Murdaugh, who were brutally mowed down and murdered on the night of 7 June, 2021 by someone that they loved and someone they trusted...

"A lot of people doubted that this process would work, and hopefully we have instilled and put a little bit of faith back into you and your lives."

Mr Wilsons speech came after a Walterboro jury unanimously found Murdaugh, 54, guilty of brutally murdering his wife Maggie and son Paul in what local media described as South Carolinas "trial of the century".

Lead prosecutor Creighton Waters likewise praised the verdict, saying: "Justice was done today. It doesnt matter who your family is. It doesnt matter how much money you have or people think you have. It doesnt matter what you think how prominent you are.

"If you do wrong, if you break the law, if you murder, then justice will be done in South Carolina. And I think South Carolina has shown to the nation, and the world, how a process can work, and work well. Thank y'all."

Waters: "Justice was done today. It doesn't matter who your family is. It doesn't matter how much money you have..., it doesn't matter how prominent you are. If you do wrong, if you break the law, if you murder then justice will be done in S.C." #MurdaughTrial pic.twitter.com/DK66wHKe9d  Cathy Russon (@cathyrusson) March 3, 2023

A judge will now decide Murdaugh's sentence, with prosecutors seeking life in prison without parole.

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Murdaugh's arrest in 2022, more than a year after the murders, sent shockwaves through South Carolina, where his family has reigned over the justice system of Hampton County for almost a century.

In a dramatic six-week trial, prosecutors said the disbarred lawyer had been pushed by a "gathering storm" of financial crimes, opioid addiction, and years of "living a lie" into becoming a "family annihilator".

Beyond his murders, he faces at least 100 other criminal charges over a string of allegations ranging from a multi-million-dollar fraud scheme to allegedly conspiring to hire a hitman to murder him so that his remaining son could inherit a $10m life insurance windfall.

On Thursday night, Mr Wilson described the verdict as the fruit of "nearly two years of blood, sweat, and tears", with officials working long hours and sometimes hardly eating to deliver "justice".

In a press conference that sometimes resembled an awards acceptance speech, punctuated by cheers, whoops, and shouts of amen! from the crowd, he gave his thanks to a long list of officials, prosecutors, law enforcement officers, clerks, bailiffs, and others, as well as the jurors and the media.

"When you go home tonight, hug your loved ones, Hug your spouse, hug your children," he concluded. "Because this case reminds us, if anything, that you just can't take for granted that people in your family are always going to be there

"When I get home tomorrow I'm gonna hug mine, and I hope you hug yours."
"48 Hours" will air "The Trial of Alex Murdaugh" Saturday at 10/9c.

Alex Murdaugh was sentenced to life in prison Friday morning in South Carolina, and his attorneys said they plan to appeal his conviction in the high-profile double murder trial. The disgraced former attorney was convicted Thursday on four counts: the 2021 murder of his wife Maggie Murdaugh, the murder of his son Paul Murdaugh, and two counts of possession of a weapon during a crime.

Judge Clifton Newman announced a sentence of "the rest of your natural life" in prison for each of the two murder counts, to be served consecutively. Murdaugh, 54, wasn't sentenced for the other charges because of the life sentence.

Murdaugh spoke briefly in court before the sentence was handed down and denied that he had ever hurt his wife or son.

"I respect this court, but I'm innocent," Murdaugh told the judge. "I would never under any circumstances hurt my wife Maggie, and I would never under any circumstances hurt my son."

"And it might not have been you," Newman responded. "It might have been the monster you become when you take 15, 20, 30, 40, 50, 60 opioid pills. Maybe you become another person."

Alex Murdaugh was sentenced to two consecutive life sentences for the murder of his wife and son by Judge Clifton Newman at the Colleton County Courthouse in Walterboro, South Carolina, March 3, 2023. / Credit: Andrew J. Whitaker/Pool/USA Today Network via Reuters

The convicted former attorney and the judge exchanged words a few times during Friday's brief hearing. At one point, Newman asked Murdaugh why he used the expression "tangled web we weave" when he testified in his own defense.

"I meant when I lied, I continue to lie," Murdaugh said.

"And the question is, when will it end, when will it end?" the judge said. "It's ended already for the jury because they've concluded that you continued to lie and lie throughout your testimony."

When Murdaugh took the stand during the trial, he repeatedly broke down in tears over two days of testimony as he denied the killings. But his testimony also included admissions that he had lied to investigators, and evidence presented by the prosecution placed him at the scene on the night of the murders.

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After the sentencing, defense attorney Dick Harpootlian told reporters Murdaugh had to testify because his credibility had been "stripped away" when prosecutors were allowed to include Murdaugh's alleged financial crimes in their case. Prosecutors argued Murdaugh carried out the killings to gain sympathy before the allegations came out.

"There was no choice because he'd been made out to be a monster who stole from children and crippled people and  is crippled not, that's not a politically correct word? I'm sorry, I'm an old guy  crippled people who had just done horrible, despicable things, and he had to try to push back on that," Harpootlian said during a press conference. "I mean, if he'd let that lay without taking the stand, he was toast."

Harpootlian said a notice of intention to appeal will be filed within 10 days. Attorney Jim Griffin said the defense team will appeal all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court if they need to.

In an interview with CBS News correspondent Nikki Battiste, Griffin said he believes Murdaugh is innocent.

"We believe he has a very strong appeal, and we plan to continue fighting because I for one and I think Dick for another and a lot of people who know him much better than we do believe in his innocence, that he could not have executed his wife and son for any reason, much less the fabricated reason they presented in court," Griffin said.

None of Murdaugh's family members, including his surviving son Buster, addressed the court during Friday's sentencing. Griffin told reporters it wouldn't have made a difference if Buster had spoken to the judge.

"We could have had Mother Teresa up there speaking on behalf of Alex at sentencing," Griffin said. "I mean, he was getting a double life sentence. That was expected."

Prosecutor Creighton Waters said Murdaugh displayed a lack of remorse for the killings and asked for the judge to impose the maximum punishment of two life sentences.

"This case is about Maggie Murdaugh and Paul Murdaugh, and I'm so thankful that the jurors gave them a voice," Waters said.

The judge brought up the victims when he spoke with Murdaugh.

"I know you have to see Paul and Maggie during the nighttimes when you're attempting to go to sleep," Newman said. "I'm sure they come and visit you."

"All day and every night," Murdaugh responded.

"They will continue to do so and reflect on the last time they looked you in the eyes as you looked the jury in the eyes," Newman said.

A family photo of Buster, Paul, Maggie and Alex is shown during the murder trial of Alex Murdaugh at the Colleton County Courthouse in Walterboro, S.C., on Thursday, March 2, 2023. / Credit: Andrew J. Whitaker/The Post And Courier via AP

The judge noted that prosecutors chose to not pursue the death penalty in the case and that Murdaugh once prosecuted defendants who were sentenced to death.

"Probably for lesser conduct," Newman said.

In a news conference Thursday evening, South Carolina Attorney General Alan Wilson said the verdict came after "nearly two years of blood, sweat and tears from a lot of hard-working people."

"Our criminal justice system worked tonight. It gave a voice to Maggie and Paul Murdaugh, who were brutally mowed down by someone they knew and trusted," Wilson said.

After the verdict was read, the defense moved to have it thrown out and a mistrial declared, but Newman denied the request, citing the massive amount of evidence and testimony the jury had considered, The Associated Press reported.

"The jury has now considered the evidence for a significant period of time, and the evidence of guilt is overwhelming," he said.

Murdaugh faces another trial in the future over numerous financial crimes.

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Alex Murdaugh, former South Carolina attorney and convicted murderer, was sentenced to two consecutive sentences of life in prison Friday.

Murdaugh was convicted Thursday of the murders of his wife Maggie and son Paul after a six-week trial at the Colleton County Courthouse. Jurors took less than three hours to return a unanimous guilty verdict for both slayings.

In a short pre-sentencing statement at the courthouse Friday, Murdaugh maintained he had not pulled the trigger at the familys rural estate on June 7, 2021.

Im innocent, Murdaugh said. I would never hurt my wife Maggie or my son Pau Pau, using the nickname Murdaugh frequently used for his youngest son on the witness stand.

Prosecutor Creighton Waters asked Judge Clifton Newman for the maximum sentence of life in prison. Murdaughs defense team of Jim Griffin and Dick Harpootlian did not make any comment Friday, and Waters indicated no victims had wanted to speak at sentencing.

Its a very complicated situation, Waters said.

Addressing Murdaugh, Newman called Murdaughs conduct duplicitous both leading up to the indictment and throughout the trial. He said Murdaughs story of a normal day leading up to the murders was not credible, not believable, and he was unable to convince anyone else of his story.

He said Murdaughs family controlled justice in this community for over a century, a man whose grandfathers portrait hangs at the back of the courthouse, which I had to order removed to ensure a fair trial was had by both the state and the defense, Newman said.

As a well-known member of the legal community, you have practiced law before me, Newman said. It was especially heartbreaking for me to see you go from being a grieving father who lost a wife and son to being the person indicted and convicted of killing them.

While Newman said he didnt question the states decision not to seek the death penalty against Murdaugh, but he said many defendants who had been sentenced in the Walterboro courthouse had received death for less heinous offenses.

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Newman asked Murdaugh what he meant when he said on the witness stand when he said What a tangled web we weave in reference to his previous lies.

When I lied, I continue to lie, he said.

And the question is, when will it end, Newman said, noting the jury determined you lied throughout your testimony and that many would say you continued to lie in your statement to the court at sentencing.

Newman said he could only imagine that Paul and Maggie visit you every night when you go to sleep, and will continue to do so.

I respect this court, but I am innocent, Murdaugh said in one last act of defiance.

It might not have been you, Newman said in response. It might be the monster you become when you take 50, 60 opioid pills. You become a different person.

This is a developing story. Check back for updates.
Alex Murdaugh was sentenced to two consecutive life terms in prison on Friday, a day after the once-prominent attorney was found guilty of murdering his wife and son.

Judge Clifton Newman handed down the ruling after a jury convicted Murdaugh on two counts of murder for shooting his wife, Maggie, and son Paul in 2021 at the familys hunting property in Islandton, South Carolina. Prosecutors said Murdaugh killed his family members in an attempt to gain sympathy and keep a bevy of financial crimes from being exposed.

Murdaugh spoke briefly before his sentencing, saying, Im innocent. I would never hurt my wife Maggie, and I would never hurt my son [Paul].

He had maintained his innocence throughout the trial, but prosecutors showed he had lied about being at the scene of the crime just minutes before his wife and son were killed. Murdaugh admitted he lied about being at his estates dog kennels, where the shootings took place, but said he left the pair and returned to find them dead.

The jury rejected that claim, reaching a guilty verdict on both counts of murder and two counts of possessing a deadly weapon during the commission of a violent crime.

The six-week trial rocked the state. The powerful Murdaugh family has been a legal dynasty in the Deep South for generations, with members controlling a regional prosecutors office for more than 80 years and running a powerful law firm in the area.

Todays verdict proves that no one, no one  no matter who you are in society  is above the law, South Carolina Attorney General Alan Wilson said after the verdict was delivered Thursday.

The minimum sentence for murder in South Carolina is 30 years in prison. Prosecutors had said they would seek a sentence of life in prison without the possibility of parole before Newmans decision was rendered.

Murdaugh can appeal the ruling.

He is still awaiting trial for a series of financial crimes he admitted to while on the stand in his murder case, as well as charges of insurance fraud, tax evasion and money laundering.

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Murdaugh was disbarred last summer. Prosecutors have charged him with stealing nearly $9 million.

CORRECTION: A previous version of this story said Murdaugh was sentenced to concurrent terms; the terms are consecutive.

Related...
Their names are not well-known like the man accused of stealing from them, Alex Murdaugh, who raked in millions of dollars in income and then pilfered millions more, prosecutors say.

The victims were his household workers and a highway patrolman injured on the job. One was described as a childhood friend, another a quadriplegic.

One woman whose name has become well known, Gloria Sattlerfield, was the housekeeper who helped raise Murdaughs children.

They were injured, some died, in accidents, and they or their family members received settlements.

Murdaughs alleged crimes took place across Lowcountry South Carolina in the counties surrounding the genteel estates where generations of Murdaughs lived and worked as lawyers and prosecutors.

Now disbarred, Murdaugh was found guilty Thursday of shooting his wife Maggie, with an AR style rifle, and son, Paul, with a shotgun that blew his brain out. They were gunned down at the familys 1,700-acre hunting estate in Islandton on June 7, 2021. He will be sentenced Friday.

The financial crimes charges played a central role in the murder trial. The prosecution says Murdaughs motive for killing his wife and son was to distract attention from those charges.

When he took the stand in his own defense last week, Murdaugh admitted stealing millions. He said he loved the people he stole from. He blamed, in part, an addiction to oxycontin.

The financial crimes date back almost a decade. First he used Palmetto State Bank and then a business he created called Forge, which was little more than a bank account in Murdaughs name.There is a legitimate company called Forge Consulting, which is based in Atlanta and used by Murdaughs former law firm to handle settlements.

The SC Attorney Generals Office says the fake Forge was used to launder the money Murdaugh is accused of stealing. Among the charges are variously breach of trust, money laundering, computer crimes and forgery.\u0009 \u0009 \u0009\u0009

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In 2011, a collision injured multiple members of the Pinckney family. Hakeem Pinckney was paralyzed and died two years later at 21. Murdaugh took a $309,581.46, settlement made out to Palmetto State Bank and used the money for money orders payable to a family member and to other client conservatorship accounts from which Murdaagh previously borrowed money, in part to pay down a personal business loan, and in part to obtain cash for himself and a different family member, the indictment says. \u0009

Pinckneys cousin Natarsha Thomas was also injured in the car accident. A $325,000 settlement to her was made out to Palmetto State Bank and converted to cash for Murdaghs benefit, the indictment says.\u0009\u0009\u0009\u0009\u0009

Murdaugh is accused of taking $338,456 from Deon Martin, of Allendale County, after settling a 2013 personal injury lawsuit. Murdaugh deposited the money in his Forge account. Court records online do not explain the circumstances of the injury.

Murdaugh is accused of using the money for credit card bills, cash, and checks written to himself and associates, the Grand Jury indictment said. There was an additional $45,000 deposit from the settlement in 2016, the indictment said.

In 2013, the indictment says, Murdaugh took $388,687 from Arthur Badger, whose wife died in a collision with a UPS truck.

Badgers money went to pay a credit card account, an auto dealership and his family members, according to the indictments.

In 2016, Manuel Santis-Cristiani, described as a worker at Murdaughs house and a Mexican citizen, received a $70,000 settlement in a personal injury case handled by Murdaugh. It was intended to pay his medical bills at the Medical University of South Carolina but ended up in the fake Forge account.

Also in 2016, Johnny Bush lost $95,000 and Jamian Risher $90,000, through the fake Forge account.

In 2017, slightly less than $10,000 intended for Randy Drawdy ended up in the Forge account.

The next year, Satterfield fell down the brick front steps at Moselle, the Murdaugh hunting estate, and died after never regaining consciousness. Murdaugh told her sons he would take care of them and arrange for a lawsuit to be filed against his insurance.

When the first settlement was received in 2019 for $403,000, Murdaugh put the money in the Forge account and did not tell the sons, the indictment says. Another settlement of slightly less than $3 million was deposited in the Forge account as well and used for utility payments, loan payments, a six figure credit card payment, cash, and checks written to himself and associates, including six figure checks written to his father and a law partner, the indictment says. Another settlement for $118,000 was used by Murdaugh, the indictment says,

In 2018, long-time family friend Jordan Jinks lost $85,000 intended for medical insurance liens after his car was rear ended, injuring his spine and knee, the Island Packet reported..

I grew to be loyal to him. He was loyal to me, I thought. Over the years, I never saw this type of personality in Alex, Jinks told NewsNation

Attorney Eric Bland told the network, They grew up together, played ball together. He actually broke Alexs arm when he was 8 years old..

In 2019, a wrongful death settlement intended for the estate of Blondell Gary for $112,000 was deposited in the Forge account. A Yemassee resident and evangelist, she died in a car accident in 2012.

Her obituary says, She was a dedicated servant and was always willing to help anyone within her means. She was always the one to make lots of jokes and kept the family laughing no matter what trials they faced.

In 2020, Murdaugh took $750,000 from Christopher Anderson, an indictment alleges. He had been injured on the job.\u0009

That same year, as personal representative of the estate of Sandra Taylor, Murdaugh told her mother the settlement would be $30,000 and he wouldnt take a fee because the recovery was so low.

The settlement was actually $180,000, the indictment said, and it ended up in Murdaughs Forge account.

Taylor was 35, and died after the car she was in crashed in Colleton County, according to court records. The cars driver, Deontre Cohen, was arrested and charged with driving drunk, according to Walterboros The Press and Standard.

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In 2021, Thomas Moore, a highway patrolman injured when a car hit his patrol car, received a $125,000 insurance payment for medical bills. Murdaugh is accused of putting the check into his Forge account. The indictment says Murdaugh told Moore the money had to be held until the litigation was finished. Murdaugh is accused of using it for overdraft fees, cash, and checks written to associates.

The Murdaugh law firm has repaid Moore and many of the others.\u0009\u0009\u0009

Murdugh also faces charges of tax evasion for not reporting more than $600,000 in income derived from illegal activity in 2011. His adjusted gross income that year was $2.3 million for this work at the law firm.

He is charged with taking checks intended for his brother, Randy.

On Sept. 4, 2021, Murdaugh called 911 to say he had been shot in the head after his Mercedes had a flat tire and someone in a pickup truck opened fire.

Ten days later, SLED said Murdaugh arranged for a man to kill him so his older son, Buster, could collect on a $10 million life insurance policy.

Curtis Edward Smith, a longtime associate and distant relative of Murduagh, was arrested on charges of assisted suicide, assault and battery of a high aggravated nature, pointing and presenting a firearm, insurance fraud and conspiracy to commit insurance fraud.

Then on Sept. 16, 2021, Murdaugh was charged with insurance fraud, conspiracy to commit insurance fraud and filing a false police report. Murdaugh was released on a $20,000 personal recognizance bond hours after turning himself in to police.

Ultimately, Murdaugh was held on a $7 million bond.

Last June, Murdaugh and Smith were indicted on charges of criminal conspiracy and narcotics offenses. They are accused of conspiring to purchase and distribute oxycodone in Colleton County from Oct. 7, 2013, to Sept. 7, 2021. Murdaugh wrote Smith 437 checks from 2013 to 2021 worth a total of $2.4 million, and then Smith used the proceeds to help Murdaugh conceal a myriad of unlawful activities, according to the conspiracy indictment.

The state Grand Jury has brought more than 100 charges against Murdaugh.
Alex Murdaugh taking the stand was a "fatal" move in his double murder trial  and the Snapchat video that placed him near the scene of his wife and younger son's deaths was the final "nail" that sealed the case, South Carolina Attorney General Alan Wilson said Friday ahead of the sentencing.

Appearing on NBC's "TODAY" show Friday morning, Wilson spoke of the moments in the high-profile trial that sealed Murdaugh's fate.

On Thursday, after three hours of deliberations, a jury of seven men and five women convicted the 54-year-old disgraced Lowcountry lawyer of murdering his wife, Margaret, 52, and son Paul, 22, at their hunting estate in rural Colleton County in June 2021.

Follow live coverage of the sentencing here

"That kennel video that no one knew existed until months after the murders occurred, it was basically Paul speaking from beyond the grave. That, yes, Alex Murdaugh was there just moments before Maggie and Paul were brutally murdered. That was a major piece of the states case," Wilson said.

In the case, the state presented the Snapchat video evidence taken from Pauls cellphone that placed Murdaugh at the estates kennels at 8:44 p.m. the night of the murders, countering his denial to investigators that he had last seen his family at dinner time. Paul and Margaret were killed some time from 8:50 p.m. to 9:06 p.m., according to investigators.

On Friday, after Murdaugh's sentencing hearing, NBC News asked his defense team, How damning was the lie about the kennel video?

Damning, attorney Dick Harpootlian said. Attorney Jim Griffin added, Extremely.

The attorney general said Friday that Murdaugh himself was the "biggest piece of evidence."

When he took the stand, I think that was fatal for him ultimately," Wilson said. "Alex had made very successful career of giving closing arguments to juries and winning major cases and making a lot of money." Taking the stand "was his closing argument to the jury. I believe in my mind that he believed that he could talk his way out of this. And at the end of the day, I think thats what sealed it for him," he said.

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He explained that the state made a case for motive in the trial  arguing Murdaugh was attempting to gain pity and distract attention from financial crimes threatening to destroy his reputation  because people had a hard time comprehending the brutality of the crime.

"One of the things that I would get from people in the street ... people can understand a spouse killing another spouse, but the way that Paul and Maggie were murdered, his son, the brutality of it, people just had a hard time making that leap," Wilson explained.

Image: (Andrew J. Whitaker / AP)

"What you have is a family legacy that is over 100 years old, you have a man that has lived a lifestyle of privilege in a world that many of us will never know, and all of that was going to end eventually. And he was getting desperate," he said. "He wasnt just killing his wife and son because of the money he wasnt making, it was everything, it was an entire lifestyle and lifetime that was going to come to an end."

Wilson said he believed Murdaugh probably loved his wife and son in his own way, "but he loved himself more. And killing them was the price he was willing to pay to preserve his way of life."

When asked about whether putting Murdaugh on the stand was a fatal mistake, Harpoolitan said he knew it could be a problem for the defense.

After all the financial crime stuff came in and the fact that he had not told the law enforcement the truth to begin with, Jim and I six months ago, when we knew what the story was, we knew that the lie, as we call it, would be a major issue, he said.

Murdaugh was sentenced Friday to life in prison without parole. In addition to two counts of murder, the jury also convicted him of two counts of possession of a weapon during a violent crime, which carry five more years in prison.

Lawyers for Murdaugh moved for a mistrial after the verdicts were read. The motion was denied by the judge, however, who said that the verdict was a matter for the jury and that there was enough evidence to have found the disgraced lawyer guilty.

The evidence of guilt is overwhelming, and I deny the motion, Circuit Court Judge Clifton Newman said.

The jury's decision came after a trial that started in late January and included nearly six weeks of testimony from 75 witnesses, including Murdaugh.

Alex Murdaugh murder conviction (Chris Carlson / AP)

Prosecutors said Murdaugh, who was disbarred last year in the wake of the charges, had been swindling clients for years and had used the money partly to feed an addiction to pain pills. He had also been contending with a lawsuit involving Paul, who at the time of his death had been facing trial on three felony counts of boating under the influence in connection with a 2019 boat crash that killed a teenage passenger.

The deaths of his wife and son brought the law firm's investigation into Murdaugh's suspected financial malfeasance to a halt and hindered the boat crash case to his advantage, lead prosecutor Creighton Waters said.

During closing arguments, the defense had portrayed Murdaugh as a family man who had a loving relationship with his wife and children.

Griffin had argued that the state had no direct evidence his client had carried out the killings before calling 911 the night of the shootings, June 7, 2021, to say he had found the bodies of his wife and son near kennels at their hunting estate.

Investigators testified that Paul had been hit twice by a shotgun, while Margaret was shot multiple times with an AR-style rifle. Neither weapon was found, but agents said they used shell casings from family firearms to match the murder weapons.

The prosecution relied on circumstantial evidence for much of its case to convince jurors Murdaugh was guilty, using electronic data and video from the victims cellphones to suggest he was the only person with the motive, means and opportunity to kill them.

We had no doubt that if we had a chance to present our case in a court of law, that they would see through the one last con that Alex Murdaugh was trying to pull  and they did, Waters said Thursday, speaking after the jury's verdict.

Wilson said that the case captivated the nation because of its complexity.

You cant write this story in Hollywood. Its a generational story. It goes back to the boat case. It goes back decades before that, he said. I do want to remind people, as interesting as this case was, a lot of lives were destroyed. Two people were brutally murdered and theres a wake of victims from Alex Murdaugh leading up to this.

This article was originally published on NBCNews.com
Disgraced legal dynasty heir Alex Murdaugh has been convicted in a South Carolina courthouse of the murders of his wife and son.

Mr Murdaugh, 54, was found guilty by a jury of shooting Paul, 22, twice with a shotgun and Maggie, 52, five times with a rifle on the familys sprawling hunting lodge in Islandton on 7 June 2021.

He was arrested more than a year later in July 2022 and charged with their murders.

In the 20 months since the brutal double murders propelled the Murdaughs onto national headlines, a series of other scandals, allegations and alleged crimes have also come to light.

Heres a timeline of the key moments in the case:

8 July 2015  Stephen Smith, 19, was found dead in the middle of a road in Hampton County, South Carolina. The openly gay teenager had suffered blunt force trauma to the head and his death was officially ruled a hit-and-run. His family doubted this version of events, and the Murdaugh name cropped up in several police tips and community rumours.

2 February 2018  The Murdaughs long-term housekeeper Gloria Satterfield died in a mysterious trip and fall at the family home. Satterfield, who worked for the family for more than 20 years, was found at the bottom of some stairs. She never resumed consciousness and died from her injuries on 26 February.

24 February 2019  Paul, then 19, was allegedly drunk driving the familys boat when it crashed, throwing him and his friends overboard. The body of Mallory Beach, 19, washed up on the shore around a week later.

18 April 2019  Paul was charged with three felonies over Beachs death including boating under the influence. He was facing up to 25 years in prison. Beachs family also filed a wrongful death lawsuit against the Murdaughs.

7 June 2021  Maggie and Paul were shot dead at the familys sprawling estate in Islandton. Maggie was shot five times with an automatic rifle and Paul was shot twice  once in the head and once in the chest  with a shotgun. Mr Murdaugh made a dramatic 911 call at 10.07pm claiming he had returned home from visiting his elderly mother to find their bodies.

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17 June 2021  Mr Murdaughs brothers Randy Murdaugh IV and John Marvin Murdaugh appeared on Good Morning America insisting their brother was not involved in the murders.

22 June 2021  SLED announced that it was reopening an investigation into Smiths death, based on information gathered during its investigation into Maggie and Pauls murders.

22 July 2021  Investigators released the 911 call made by Mr Murdaugh on the night of the murders. In the call, he is heard sobbing as he tells the dispatcher its bad and my wife and child have been shot badly. Mr Murdaugh also tells the dispatcher that he hasnt seen anyone on the property.

3 September 2021  Mr Murdaugh was confronted by the partners at his law firm PMPED after they discovered he was allegedly misappropriating millions of dollars of clients funds. He was forced to resign.

4 September 2021  Mr Murdaugh was shot on the side of a road in Hampton County. He survived and called 911, claiming he was ambushed in a drive-by shooting while he was changing a tyre on his vehicle. He was treated at a hospital for a superficial gunshot wound to the head.

5 September 2021  Mr Murdaugh entered rehab, announcing he was struggling with a 20-year opioid addiction and that he had resigned from his law firm PMPED.

13 September 2021  Mr Murdaugh confessed to police that he had orchestrated his own shooting as part of a botched hitman plot. He said he paid Curtis Smith, 62  a former client, distant cousin and allegedly Mr Murdaughs drug dealer  to shoot and kill him in an assisted suicide plot so that his surviving son Buster could get a $10m life insurance windfall. The two men were arrested and charged but Mr Murdaugh was allowed to be released on bond to return to rehab. SLED also opened an investigation into allegations that Mr Murdaugh had been misappropriating funds from his law firm.

15 September 2021  SLED announced it was reopening an investigation into Satterfields 2018 death.

14 October 2021  Mr Murdaugh was released from rehab only to be dramatically arrested on charges of stealing funds from Satterfields family. The family had reached a wrongful death settlement with Mr Murdaugh but said they didnt receive a dime. They filed a lawsuit against Mr Murdaugh claiming he pocketed the money.

19 November 2021  Mr Murdaugh was charged with almost 30 counts over the Satterfield wrongful death settlement.

3 June 2022  SLED announced that it was planning to exhume Satterfields body.

12 July 2022  The Murdaugh family was notified that Mr Murdaugh would be charged with Maggie and Pauls murders. The same day, Mr Murdaugh was disbarred from practicing law in South Carolina by the states Supreme Court.

14 July 2022  Mr Murdaugh was charged with the murders of Maggie and Paul  two counts of murder and two counts of possession of a weapon during the commission of a violent crime.

20 July 2022  Mr Murdaugh appeared in court on the murder charges where he pleaded not guilty.

22 November 2022  Russell Laffitte, former Palmetto State Bank CEO, was convicted of financial fraud charges in connection to Mr Murdaughs alleged white collar fraud schemes.

23 January 2023  Mr Murdaughs murder trial began in Colleton County Courthouse with jury selection. Opening arguments began two days later. By this time, Mr Murdaugh was also facing more than 100 other criminal charges over the suicide hitman plot and the alleged white collar fraud scheme where he is accused of stealing more than $8m from clients. He is also facing several civil suits.

24 January 2023  A judge approved the settlement agreement in the wrongful death lawsuit brought against the Murdaugh family by the Beach family.
The verdict in Alex Murdaughs high-profile double murder trial could have turned out to be very different  if it hadnt been for the actions of a juror with a dozen eggs.

The once-powerful legal dynasty heir was convicted on Thursday of shooting dead his wife Maggie and son Paul in a heinous crime at the familys 1,700-acre Moselle estate in Islandton, South Carolina, back on 7 June 2021.

The panel of 12 jurors deliberated for less than three hours before they unanimously found him guilty of all charges  two counts of murder and two weapons charges.

But the removal of a juror just hours before the deliberations got underway could have changed the course of the convicted killers fate, according to an insider.

On Thursday morning, before the defences closing statement in Colleton County Courthouse, Judge Clifton Newman announced that a female juror was being removed from the panel for discussing the case with at least three other people.

The judge said that he had received a complaint a few days earlier from a member of the public saying that the juror had discussed the case with multiple people not on the jury panel.

Following an investigation  which involved interviews with both the juror, who denied any wrongdoing, and the individuals she was accused of speaking to  Judge Newman said that it was determined that the woman had spoken to at least three people about the case. She had also given her opinion about the evidence she had seen in the case.

After telling the defence and prosecution his decision in the courtroom, Judge Newman brought the juror in and told her she was being removed.

The woman then prompted some light-hearted relief in the courtroom when she was asked if she had left anything in the jury room.

A dozen eggs, she replied.

This sparked laughter from Judge Newman, the defence and the prosecution  and even Murdaugh  as court staff were instructed to go and collect her eggs from the jury room to return to her.

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Source told FITS News that this juror had already indicated that she would have found Murdaugh not guilty  and that she could not be swayed in her decision.

Alex Murdaugh is led out of court after his conviction (Copyright 2023 The Associated Press. All rights reserved)

She was dug in. She said he was not guilty and there was nothing anyone could do to change her mind, a source told the local outlet.

Another added that she would have hung the jury.

In South Carolina, the verdict in a case must be unanimous  and so the jurors misconduct and last minute removal may well have changed the entire outcome of the trial.

While it is unclear whether the defence had an inkling about how the juror could have voted, Murdaughs defence attorney Dick Harpootlian did complain to the judge when she was ousted from the panel.

He complained that the juror issue was handled by SLED, including one of the agents who has been a witness in the case.

It is muddled, he said of the investigation being led by SLED.

SLED has made another bad judgment in this case. This is just a continuum of a calamity of errors.

The revelation comes as one of the 12 jurors who did seal Murdaughs fate spoke out for the first time.

Craig Moyer told ABC News that Murdaughs lack of remorse, crocodile tears and the damning cellphone video captured by Paul minutes before his murder convinced the panel of his guilt.

I didnt see any true remorse or any compassion or anything, he said, adding that the disgraced attorney came across like a big liar.

Mr Moyer said that he was certain it was [Murdaughs] voice from the very first time the kennel video was played in the courtroom.

Everybody else could hear [Murdaughs voice] too, said the carpenter from Colleton County.

Mr Moyer said that he locked eyes with Murdaugh in the courtroom as the video was played and described the killers demeanour as like he knew what was coming.

Key to the prosecutions case was a damning cellphone video which placed Murdaugh at the scene of the murders.

The video, taken by Paul on his cellphone at 8.44pm, filmed a dog inside the kennels on the grounds of the Moselle estate.

Off-camera, three voices are heard: Paul, Maggie and Alex Murdaugh.

During dramatic testimony, multiple witnesses identified Murdaughs voice in the footage.

Buster Murdaugh looks on as his father is convicted of killing his mother and brother (Law & Crime)

Minutes later  at around 8.50pm  Maggie and Paul were brutally gunned down.

The bombshell video not only placed Murdaugh at the scene  but also exposed his lies about his alibi that night.

Since the 7 June 2021 murders, he had claimed that he had never gone to the dog kennels with his wife and son that night.

He claimed that he had stayed at the family home, napped on the couch and then driven to visit his mother at his parents home in Almeda.

When he drove home, he claimed he went down to the kennels, placing a dramatic 911 call claiming to have discovered the bodies of the two victims.

In a dramatic two days in the courtroom, Murdaugh finally confessed that he had spent the last 20 months lying about his alibi that night.

The convicted killer took the stand in his own defence and admitted for the first time that he was there at the kennels with the two victims that night  and that he had lied to law enforcement officials investigating the case, his family members and close friends and colleagues for the best part of two years.

Despite confessing to lying, Murdaugh continued to plead his innocence in Maggie and Pauls murders.

Yet, Murdaughs confession over the kennel video further cemented his guilt, Mr Moyer told ABC, saying it was that monent that he knew for definite where his vote lay.

Murdaugh appeared stony faced as the guilty verdicts were read out in the deafeningly silent court on Thursday evening, before he was led out in handcuffs.

The disgraced legal dynasty heir  whose family once dominated the legal system in the lowcountry  will be sentenced in Colleton County Courthouse on Friday.

The sentencing will begin at 9.30am ET with victim impact statements expected to be read out in court.

He faces 30 years to life in prison on each of the murder charges and five years on each weapons charge. Sentences can be served concurrently  or consecutively.

Prosecutors are seeking the maximum penalty of life after taking the death penalty off the table.

Judge Clifton Newman has not indicated how he plans to sentence Murdaugh, but did say after the verdict was delivered that the evidence was overwhelming.

Mr Moyer said he will return to court on Friday to see the man he convicted of murder be sentenced for his crimes.

I want to see it. Its a decision I have to live with, he said.

Back on 7 June 2021, Maggie and Paul were gunned down on the familys 1,700-acre estate.

Paul was shot twice with a 12-gauge shotgun while he stood in the feed room of the dog kennels  the second shot to his head blowing his brain almost entirely out of his skull.

After killing Paul, prosecutors said Murdaugh then grabbed a .300 Blackout semiautomatic rifle and opened fire on Maggie as she tried to flee from her husband.

She was shot five times including twice in the head after she had fallen to her knees.

Buster  who has stood by his father throughout the trial and testified in his defence  gave little reaction as his fathers conviction was returned, before rubbing his eyes momentarily.

Prosecutors said that Murdaugh killed his wife and son to distract from his string of financial crimes  at a time when his multi-million-dollar fraud scheme was on the brink of being exposed.

Murdaughs conviction marks the latest twist in the saga of the man who was once the powerful heir to a South Carolina legal dynasty.

His family had reigned over the local justice system for almost a century, with three generations of the family all serving as the solicitor in the 14th Judicial Circuit solicitors office.

Murdaugh continued with the family tradition working in the local prosecutors office and also at the law firm PMPED, which was founded by his grandfather.

The murders of Maggie and Paul shocked the Hampton County community but also brought to light a series of scandals surrounding Murdaugh including a multi-million dollar fraud scheme, a botched hitman plot and some unexplained deaths.
Photo Illustration by Luis G. Rendon/The Daily Beast/Reuters

Alex Murdaugh, the once-prominent member of a legal dynasty in South Carolinas Lowcountry, has been convicted of murdering his wife and son in June 2021.

Murdaugh, 54, was found guilty of all four counts against him on Thursday in connection with the deaths of his 52-year-old wife, Maggie, and their 22-year-old son, Paul, near the dog kennels of their South Carolina estate on June 7, 2021.

The Colleton County jury reached a verdict at 6:41 p.m. after almost three hours of deliberation, with no questions to Judge Clifton Newman. Murdaugh appeared emotionless as the verdict was read in the packed courtroom. Several rows behind him sat his only surviving son, Buster, who had his head in his hands and looked downward.

Murdaugh is set to be sentenced on Friday morning, where he faces a minimum of 30 years in prison.

In a press conference after the verdict, South Carolina Attorney General Alan Wilson stressed that Thursday was a great day for South Carolina because Our criminal justice [system] worked tonight, it gave a voice to Maggie and Paul Murdaugh.

Justice was done today, lead prosecutor Creighton Waters added outside the courthouse. If you do wrong, if you break the law, if you murder, then justice will be done.

Alex Murdaugh just taken out the back door of the courthouse. pic.twitter.com/I2kwmc4oN4  Brian Entin (@BrianEntin) March 3, 2023

Rarely does a jury make up its mind so quickly, Randall Kessler, an Atlanta trial lawyer and professor at Emory Law School, told The Daily Beast after the verdict. Clearly this is the rare occasion where minimal deliberation was needed and no one on the jury needed to be convinced by the others.

Kessler added that it was one of the quickest verdicts and shortest deliberations of any public murder trial in memory and that the swift decision means that the jury rejected Murdaughs entire testimony.

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A quick verdict like this leaves little doubt they didnt believe a word he said, Kessler said.

Lawyers for Murdaugh said they were disappointed in the jurys verdict and added that they will not have any further comment until after sentencing.

How the Murdaugh Saga UnfoldedFrom a Boat Crash to Murder

The conviction marks the end of what has been deemed as the trial of the century in South Carolina and the first win for the prosecution in their string of cases against Murdaugh. In addition to the double homicide case, Murdaugh is also facing separate charges in connection to a September 2021 botched suicide scheme so that his only surviving son, Buster, would inherit his $12 million insurance payout.

He is also facing 100 charges for a slew of alleged financial crimes, ranging from swindling millions from his former law firm to diverting a settlement intended for the children of his deceased housekeeper for his own enrichment. Lawyers for several of those alleged victims cheered Thursdays verdict, saying that Murdaugh will drink from the same cup of justice as every other citizen and other convicted murderers.

His power, prestige and money afforded him no special treatment, Eric S. Bland and Ronald L. Richter wrote in a statement. The people have spoken. Alexs life of lies and deceit ended today. Maggie and Paul are vindicated. Justice prevails.

Former federal prosecutor Neama Rahmani told The Daily Beast that the quick verdict is a credit to the prosecution doing an incredible job in a difficult circumstantial case.

A quick, 3-hour verdict in a 28-day trial means it wasnt even close, he added. Murdaugh and the defense completely botched the case with his lie to law enforcement and his testimony.

Alex Murdaugh and his only surviving son, Buster, listen to the guilty verdict. YouTube

In the murder trial, prosecutors alleged that Murdaugh fatally shot his wife and son with two different guns in a heinous attempt to garner public sympathy and evade questions about his alleged years-long scheme to embezzle money from his former law firm and clients.

The pressures on this man were unbearable, and they were all reaching a crescendo on the day his wife and son were murdered by him, Waters said during closing arguments on Wednesday. Those pressures mount and that person becomes a family annihilator.

His defense team, however, insisted that Murdaugh had no motive to murder his family and that the prosecution has no hard evidence tying their client to the slayings. During closing arguments, attorney Jim Griffin spent time slamming the prosecutions caseand offering a different theory as to who murdered Paul and Maggie.

The most common sense thing here is there were two shooters, Griffin said Thursday. There were two guns. One gun was high capacity. If youre going down there to execute somebody, one gun is enough.

Throughout the six-week trial, jurors were introduced to the broad strokes of all of Murdaughs alleged crimesand even heard from his former best friend, who told jurors the former lawyer had stolen $192,000 from him. Jurors also heard from Murdaugh himself, who admitted to lying to prosecutors about his whereabouts the day of the murders and opened up about his years-long addiction to opioids that often led to tension within his household.

I did lie to them, Murdaugh told the jury about his previous conversations with law enforcement. As my addiction evolved over time, I would get into these situations or circumstances where I would get paranoid thinking.

Three of Murdaughs family members also notably took the stand, including his brother and his only surviving son, who both testified on his behalf. Maggies sister, Marian Proctor, testified on behalf of the prosecution and revealed to jurors what Murdaugh had said about the mindset of the killer after the murders.

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

The testimony from dozens of additional witnesses mostly focused on the day that Maggie and Paul were murdered. Prosecutors showed jurors hundreds of pieces of evidence, including cell phone data, ballistics, and autopsy reports to show that the former lawyer was the only one who could have brutally and maliciously murdered Maggie and Paul.

No one knew who he was. No one knew who this man was. He avoided accountability his whole life. He relied on his family name. He carried a badge and authority. He lived a wealthy life, Waters said.

Several witnesses in the trial also testified to Murdaughs years-long alleged embezzlement scheme, including Jeanne Seckinger, the CEO of his familys former law firm. Seckinger told jurors that hours before the murders, she confronted Murdaugh about the whereabouts of approximately $792,999 in legal fees that had gone missing from a case he had handled.

He looked at me with a pretty dirty look, one I had not seen before, and said, What do you need now? Seckinger told the jury. My concern was that he had stolen fees and they were paid to him personally.

After the murders, however, Seckinger said that all questions about the missing funds disappeared as the law firm rallied around Murdaugh. (Murdaugh was eventually fired in September 2021, the day before he hatched his botched assisted suicide insurance scheme.)

The most crucial piece of evidence for the prosecution, however, was a video Paul took minutes before his murder at the dog kennels. In the video, Pauls parents can be heard in the background talking about one of their dogsa conversation that demolished Murdaughs previous alibi that he was asleep at the main house at the time of the murders. On the stand, Murdaugh admitted to being at the kennels prior to the murders but insisted that when he left his wife and son were still alive.

On June 7, I wasnt thinking clearly. I dont think I was capable of reason. And I lied about being down there. And Im so sorry that I did, Murdaugh told jurors on the stand before apologizing to his family. I would never do anything intentionally to hurt them, ever.

In his closing arguments, Waters also poked holes in Murdaughs testimony on the stand, specifically his revelation that he was at the kennels minutes before his wife and son were murdered.

Why would he lie about that, ladies and gentlemen? Why would he even think to lie about that if he was an innocent man? Waters said. It doesnt make sense, ladies and gentlemen. Its a new story to fit facts he can no longer deny.

The defense, however, spent the majority of their case calling witnesses who poked their own holes in the prosecutions forensic evidence, highlighted the shortcomings in the murder probe, and spoke about their clients devotion to his family. During closing arguments, Griffin admitted that Murdaugh is not the perfect client and that he lied to investigators while in a drug-induced paranoia.

Thats what addicts do, Griffin said. And why did he lie? That is certainly a fair question. And, frankly, I probably wouldnt be sitting over there right now if he had not lied.

Murdaugh's conviction marks the start of justice for several South Carolina families who have long demanded accountability. The mother of Stephen Smith, whose 2015 death is now being investigated by authorities after Maggie and Paul's murder, said in a Thursday statement that the guilty verdict marks answers and closure.

We know firsthand the agony and frustration of being in the dark about how a family member was killed and I am thankful the whole story was put before the jury in a public trial, Sandy Smith said, adding that she hopes for answers in her son's case.

For the lawyers of Curtis Eddie Smithwho is facing several charges alongside Murdaugh for the September 2021 roadside shooting, money laundering, and drug traffickingThursday's conviction is a major win.

It should now be clear that our client had nothing to do with the tragic deaths of Maggie and Paul Murdaugh, attorneys T. Jarrett Bouchette and Aimee Zmroczek said in a statement to The Daily Beast. Mr. Smith is a good and decent man who was, like so many others, manipulated and taken advantage of by Mr. Murdaugh, and we look forward to the opportunity [to] present his story at trial.

Read more at The Daily Beast.

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9,836 people from Russia and temporarily occupied territories of Ukraine have already turned to the Ukrainian national initiative called Hochu Zhit ("I Want To Live"), stating their intention to surrender.

Source: Coordination Headquarters for the Treatment of Prisoners of War

Details: Over six months of the project functioning, more than 14 million people visited the website of the "Hochu Zhit" initiative, despite regular attempts of Roskomnadzor to block access [Roskomnadzor is the Russian federal executive agency responsible for monitoring, controlling and censoring Russian mass media  ed.]. 84% of those who searched the website were from the Russian Federation.

Apart from Russian soldiers themselves, their family members and close people call a hotline. Conscripted Russians who have come to Ukraine often do not have any access to the Internet or cellular data.

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






(Reuters) -Amazon.com Inc said on Friday it would push back the start of construction for the next phase of its Virginia headquarters, months after the e-commerce giant announced job cuts spanning more than 18,000 roles amid a sobering economic outlook.

A spokesperson for the company, responding to media reports on the construction delay, did not give details on when it would resume but added the first phase - Metropolitan Park or Met Park - is due to be completed in June and will have a capacity of 14,000 employees.

Amazon had earlier said the Virginia headquarters, a multi-year investment dubbed 'HQ2', would create 25,000 jobs.

John Schoettler, Amazon's real estate chief, said in a statement on Friday the company was pushing out the date for groundbreaking of PenPlace, the second phase of the northern Virginia campus.

Met Park comprises of two 22-story office buildings with 2.1 million square feet of office space, and a two-acre public park.

The news also comes as the pandemic-fueled boom in growth slows and companies try to curb their spending. Work-from-home has also become more common, reducing the need for large office spaces.

Earlier this year, Amazon announced it would eliminate more than 18,000 roles, in one of its largest layoffs in history.

However, the delay in construction would not mean any elimination in jobs, Amazon said.

(Reporting by Samrhitha Arunasalam and Eva Mathews in Bengaluru; Editing by Anil D'Silva and Krishna Chandra Eluri)
NEW YORK (AP)  Amazon is pausing construction of its second headquarters in Virginia following the biggest round of layoffs in the companys history and its shifting plans around remote work.

The Seattle-based company is delaying the beginning of construction of PenPlace, the second phase of its headquarters development in northern Virginia, Amazons real estate chief John Schoettler said in a statement. He said the company has already hired more than 8,000 employees and will welcome them to the Met Park campus, the first phase of development, when it opens this June.

Were always evaluating space plans to make sure they fit our business needs and to create a great experience for employees, and since Met Park will have space to accommodate more than 14,000 employees, weve decided to shift the groundbreaking of PenPlace (the second phase of HQ2) out a bit, Schoettler said.

He also emphasized the company remains committed to Arlington and the local region, which Amazon picked  along with New York City  to be the site of its new headquarters, known as HQ2, several years ago. More than 230 municipalities had initially competed to house the projects. New York won the competition by promising nearly $3 billion in tax breaks and grants, among other benefits, but opposition from local politicians, labor leaders and progressive activists led Amazon to scrap its plans there.

In February 2021, Amazon said it would build an eye-catching, 350-foot Helix tower to anchor the second phase of its redevelopment plans in Arlington. The new office towers were expected to welcome more than 25,000 workers when complete. Amazon spokesperson Zach Goldsztejn said those plans haven't changed and the construction pause is not a result  or indicative of  the company's latest job cuts, which affected 18,000 corporate employees.

The layoffs were part of a broader cost-cutting move to trim down Amazon's growing workforce amid more sluggish sales and fears of a potential recession. Meta, Salesforce and other tech companies  many of which had gone on hiring binges in the past few years  have also been doing the same.

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Amid the job cuts, Amazon has urged its employees to come back to the office. Last month, Amazon CEO Andy Jassy said the company would require corporate employees to return to the office at least three days a week, a shift from from the prior policy that allowed leaders to make the call on how their teams worked. The change, which will be effective on May 1, has ignited some pushback from employees who say they prefer to work remotely.

Goldsztejn said the company is expecting to move forward with what he called pre-construction work on the construction in Virginia later this year, including applying for permits. He said final timing for the second phase of the project is still being determined.

When Virginia won the competition to land HQ2, it did so less with direct incentives, and more with promises to invest in the regional workforce, particularly a graduate campus of Virginia Tech that is under construction just a couple of miles from Amazons under-construction campus in Crystal City.

Still, there were significant direct incentives. The state promised $22,000 for each new Amazon job on the condition that the average worker salary for those new jobs is $150,000, annually. Those incentives were about $550 million for 25,000 projected jobs.

Arlington County also promised Amazon a cut of its hotel-tax revenue on the theory that hotel occupancies would increase significantly once Amazon builds out its campus. That incentive, projected initially at about $23 million, is dependent on how many square feet of office space Amazon occupies in the county.

Suzanne Clark, a spokeswoman for the Virginia Economic Development Partnership, said state officials are not concerned about Amazon filling its commitments. The total of 8,000 workers now employed at the new headquarters is already running about 3,000 ahead of what was expected at this point, she said.

She said no incentive money has been paid out yet to Amazon. The company is scheduled to submit its first application for payment on April 1, which will be based on the job creation from 2019 through 2022. Amazon would then receive its first grant payment on or after July 1, 2026.

In a statement, Democratic U.S. Rep. Don Beyer, who represents the district, called on the company to promptly update leaders and stakeholders about any new major changes in this project, which remains very important to the capital region.

Arlington County Board Chair Christian Dorsey said during a news briefing Friday that Amazon hasn't earned any of the performance-based incentives and it has not received any funds from the county. He said its unclear how long the delay might be, but it's not really disappointing since officials there had initially projected the buildout to be completed by 2035. Amazon had previously said it planned to complete the project by 2025.

Amazon is still very much committed  as we understand it  to certainly fulfilling all of their plans and obligations within the window that was envisioned when they struck the deal to come here, Dorsey said.

Dorsey shared the company notified him about the pause in advance of releasing the information to the public. He said Amazon didn't provide a reason for the delay, but it wasnt challenging to guess it was tied to the economic uncertainty in the county.

They are really trying to take a pause and think about this consciously. And make decisions that not only make sense in light of current conditions but expected future conditions.

___

Barakat reported from Falls Church, Virginia.
Chinese FM urges stronger G20 cooperation to promote multilateralism, global development

Xinhua) 08:19, March 03, 2023

Chinese Foreign Minister Qin Gang attends the Group of 20 (G20) Foreign Ministers' Meeting in New Delhi, India, March 2, 2023. (Photo by Javed Dar/Xinhua)

Chinese Foreign Minister Qin Gang said G20 members should promote the development of globalization, reject unilateralism and protectionism, and ensure the smooth operation of global industrial and supply chains.

He called for efforts to make global development "more inclusive, resilient and beneficial for all," adding that the China-proposed Global Development Initiative has offered a new option for stepping up the implementation of the UN 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.

NEW DELHI, March 2 (Xinhua) -- Chinese Foreign Minister Qin Gang on Thursday called on the Group of 20 (G20) members to conduct closer cooperation in enhancing multilateralism and promoting global development.

Qin made the remarks while addressing a session at the G20 Foreign Ministers' Meeting here on Thursday.

In his address, the Chinese foreign minister urged G20 members to commit to multilateralism, consensus-building and globalization, and to deliver the outcomes of the G20 Bali Summit held in November 2022.

Qin said that faced with a volatile international situation and rising global challenges, the G20 must enhance cooperation and contribute its share to global development and prosperity.

G20 members need to practice true multilateralism, uphold the UN-centered international system and the international order based on international law, and observe the basic norms of international relations underpinned by the purposes and principles of the UN Charter, he said.

Qin highlighted the principles of dialogue on an equal footing and consensus-building through consultation in dealing with global affairs.

"No one should engage in power politics or even bloc confrontation," he noted.

G20 members should promote the development of globalization, reject unilateralism and protectionism, and ensure the smooth operation of global industrial and supply chains, Qin said.

He called for efforts to make global development "more inclusive, resilient and beneficial for all," adding that the China-proposed Global Development Initiative has offered a new option for stepping up the implementation of the UN 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.

To better deliver the outcomes of the Bali Summit, Qin called for enhancing macro-economic policy coordination, safeguarding food and energy security, improving global economic governance and bolstering international development cooperation.

"China has suspended more debt service payment than any other G20 member, and participated in the debt treatment under the Common Framework," he said.

"We hope that multilateral financial institutions and commercial creditors will be actively involved in the debt treatment of developing countries."

On global economic governance, he said that it is important to complete the 16th General Quota Review of the International Monetary Fund as scheduled, and conduct the shareholding review of the World Bank.

China also supports the African Union in joining the G20, and looks forward to an early decision by the G20, Qin said.

To increase international development cooperation, G20 members need to support the Sustainable Development Goals Summit of the United Nations, tackle climate challenge, and act on the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework.

"The consensus of the Bali Summit on preventing illegal cross-border traffic of waste must be earnestly implemented," he said.

China has put forward the Global Security Initiative, and issued a position paper on the political settlement of the Ukraine crisis. "China will always stand on the side of peace, actively promote peace talks, and play a constructive role," Qin said.

Qin introduced the decision of the 20th National Congress of the Communist Party of China on pursuing a Chinese path to modernization, emphasizing that the Chinese modernization is rooted in China's realities and in keeping with the global trend.

It is a modernization of peaceful development, and of harmony between man and nature, which will provide new opportunities for cooperation between China and other countries, Qin said.

He noted that China will continue to actively participate in all G20 agendas and make greater contributions to promoting world peace and development, and building a community with a shared future for mankind.

The G20 foreign ministers had in-depth discussions on multilateralism, food and energy security, development cooperation and counter-terrorism among other topics.

The participating parties expressed shared concern about the current international situation, and believed that global governance needs to be improved, sustainable development lacks driving force, and strengthening multilateralism is more important than ever.

They also agreed that the G20 should play a key and special role, and all parties should demonstrate political will, seek the greatest consensus, take practical actions on promoting inclusive cooperation and enhancing economic resilience, and join hands to address global challenges.

(Web editor: Zhang Kaiwei, Liang Jun)
Ambassador Cindy McCain will leave her post next month as a Biden administration representative to the United Nations on food issues to lead the U.N.'s World Food Program.

The move, which was formally announced Friday, burnishes McCain's history of humanitarian work and deepens her involvement in a global issue worsened by the Russian invasion of Ukraine.

In its announcement, the U.N. agency said McCain takes over "at a moment when the world confronts the most serious food security crisis in modern history."

"The increasing number of conflicts, climate shocks and economic turmoil have led to a sharp rise in the number of acutely food-insecure people struggling to get enough food to feed their families  up almost 200 million since before the coronavirus pandemic. (The World Food Program) provided more than 158 million people with food, cash and vouchers in 2022, more than in any previous year, and received a record $14 billion in funding."

Her impending departure first was reported earlier in the week by Devex, a media outlet that covers global development issues.

McCain was confirmed as the ambassador to the U.N.'s food agencies in October 2021. The post came after she memorably endorsed President Joe Biden, who was a longtime friend to her and her late husband, Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz.

Her backing was seen as among the most important Republican defections that helped pave the way for Biden's win. Her home state of Arizona was the closest contest in the country.

The World Food Program, which won the Nobel Peace Prize in 2020, is currently led by David Beasley, the former Republican governor of South Carolina. His six-year term expires April 4, which is when McCain will succeed him.

Cindy McCain has been named to lead the U.N.'s World Food Program, according to published reports. In this July 7, 2022 photo, President Joe Biden presents McCain, the widow of former senator and presidential candidate John McCain, his Presidential Medal of Freedom, the nation's highest civilian honor.

Politico reported that Beasley would consider running for the U.S. Senate if Sen. Tim Scott, R-S.C., enters the 2024 presidential race or if Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., retires.

Not long after McCain joined the Biden administration, Russia injected new instability to international food markets with its invasion of Ukraine.

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In an interview with The Arizona Republic last month, McCain said Ukraine and the food issue dominated concerns at the annual Global Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland.

Food insecurity:Sen. Mark Kelly, Ambassador Cindy McCain see effects of Russia's war on Ukraine

We talked about it at great length, she said. Food security is the No. 1 issue now, not just in regards to what is happening in Ukraine, but the fallout from it because grains are not getting out.

She said the Russians thwarted the Black Sea Grain Initiative that was negotiated by the U.N. last summer and is intended to provide safe passage of Ukrainian exports from three ports.

The temporary deal was extended in November and is set to expire this month. Moscow has indicated it wants relief from some economic sanctions if it is to allow Ukrainian exports to flow beyond the current deal.

Theyre stalling the boats and the inspectors arent getting in, so the grain is not going out, McCain said while inspecting conditions in the African nation of Zambia.

What does that mean? Were in Africa. Africa is struggling now because they dont have the grain because its stuck up in the Black Sea. The trickle-down effect is devastating.

Reach the reporter Ronald J. Hansen at ronald.hansen@arizonarepublic.com or 602-444-4493. Follow him on Twitter @ronaldjhansen.

Subscribe to our free political podcast, The Gaggle.

This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: Cindy McCain to take over United Nations' world food program
CHICAGO (Reuters) - American Airlines and its flight attendants union on Friday jointly applied for federal mediation in contract negotiations.

The Association of Professional Flight Attendants (APFA), which represents over 23,000 American flight attendants, said the decision to seek mediation is intended to move contract negotiations forward.

The current round of negotiations started in January 2020 but was paused at the height of the pandemic. Talks resumed in June 2021.

While the two sides have met regularly over the past few months, APFA said they still have "substantive" disagreements over many "important" issues, without elaborating.

American Airlines said it welcomed the assistance from the National Mediation Board (NMB) to "maintain the positive momentum" in the negotiations.

The NMB is a government agency that is entrusted with maintaining an uninterrupted flow of commerce in the airline and railway industries through representation, mediation and arbitration services.

It is expected to assign a mediator who will set the timing and location of the negotiations. The mediator, however, cannot compel either party to agree to contract terms.

(Reporting by Rajesh Kumar Singh; Editing by Aurora Ellis)
Fewer Americans want the U.S. to take the lead in world affairs than in previous decades, according to a new Gallup poll released on Friday.

Sixty-five percent said they think America should play a major or leading role in world affairs  marking a new low in the more than two decades that Gallup has posed the question. However, this falls just 1 point beneath the previous low in 2011, when support for international involvement briefly dropped to 66 percent.

The portion of Americans who feel the U.S. should play a leading, and not just a major role in world affairs, is still higher than it has been in previous years, with 20 percent saying as much. This number previously dropped into the teens in the mid-2000s and early 2010s.

Democrats are much more likely than their Republican counterparts to support the U.S. playing a substantial role in international affairs. While 75 percent of Democrats said America should have a leading or major role, 61 percent of Republicans said the same, the poll found.

This represents a reversal from the early 2000s, when Republicans were much more likely to support U.S. involvement in world affairs than Democrats. Republicans consistently backed the U.S. having a substantial role in world affairs about 10 percentage points more than Democrats until 2009.

The difference appears to come primarily on the Republican side, as the 75 percent of Democrats that said they support U.S. involvement is largely consistent with the partys historical average.

Under former President George W. Bush, an average of 84 percent of Republicans said they supported a major or leading role for the U.S. on the international stage. This declined to 73 percent under former Presidents Obama and Trump and now sits in at 61 percent under President Biden.

The shift is apparent in lawmakers responses to the war in Ukraine. House Republicans, in particular, have pushed to rein in the substantial amounts of military and humanitarian aid that the U.S. is sending to Kyiv, while Democrats and the Biden administration have frequently pushed for continuing or increased support.

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Americans overall had a fairly negative view of the United States standing in the world, as well as of the amount of respect that Biden garners from other world leaders. Only 37 percent in the poll said they are satisfied with the position of America in the world today, the same portion that said Biden is well-respected.

However, Americans are almost equally split on whether the U.S. is viewed favorably or unfavorably by the rest of the world  49 percent to 51 percent.

Gallup conducted its annual World Affairs survey from Feb. 1-23 with 1,008 adults responding. The margin of error was 4 percentage points.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to The Hill.
The latest analyst coverage could presage a bad day for Delek US Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:DK), with the analysts making across-the-board cuts to their statutory estimates that might leave shareholders a little shell-shocked. There was a fairly draconian cut to their revenue estimates, perhaps an implicit admission that previous forecasts were much too optimistic.

Following the downgrade, the consensus from eight analysts covering Delek US Holdings is for revenues of US$11b in 2023, implying a painful 47% decline in sales compared to the last 12 months. Before the latest update, the analysts were foreseeing US$14b of revenue in 2023. The consensus view seems to have become more pessimistic on Delek US Holdings, noting the pretty serious reduction to revenue estimates in this update.

Check out our latest analysis for Delek US Holdings

There was no particular change to the consensus price target of US$31.85, with Delek US Holdings' latest outlook seemingly not enough to result in a change of valuation. The consensus price target is just an average of individual analyst targets, so - it could be handy to see how wide the range of underlying estimates is. The most optimistic Delek US Holdings analyst has a price target of US$53.00 per share, while the most pessimistic values it at US$24.00. Note the wide gap in analyst price targets? This implies to us that there is a fairly broad range of possible scenarios for the underlying business.

Looking at the bigger picture now, one of the ways we can make sense of these forecasts is to see how they measure up against both past performance and industry growth estimates. We would highlight that sales are expected to reverse, with a forecast 47% annualised revenue decline to the end of 2023. That is a notable change from historical growth of 14% over the last five years. Yet aggregate analyst estimates for other companies in the industry suggest that industry revenues are forecast to decline 6.3% per year. The forecasts do look bearish for Delek US Holdings, since they're expecting it to shrink faster than the industry.

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The Bottom Line

The clear low-light was that analysts slashing their revenue forecasts for Delek US Holdings this year. Analysts also expect revenues to shrink faster than the wider market. Given the stark change in sentiment, we'd understand if investors became more cautious on Delek US Holdings after today.

Still got questions? We have estimates for Delek US Holdings from its eight analysts out until 2025, and you can see them free on our platform here.

Of course, seeing company management invest large sums of money in a stock can be just as useful as knowing whether analysts are downgrading their estimates. So you may also wish to search this free list of stocks that insiders are buying.

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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A customer upset about his order shot into the window of a Little Caesars drive-thru, according to North Carolina police.

The man fired into the restaurant just before 3:30 p.m. on March 2, according to a report from the Winston-Salem Police Department.

He fired in the direction of an employee, but no one was hit, according to the report. The bullet struck an interior wall of the restaurant.

He then left the drive-thruough in a tan or brown four-door Dodge pickup truck, the report says.

Police are still searching for the man. He could face charges of attempted assault with a deadly weapon and discharging a firearm into an occupied dwelling, according to the report.

Police are asking anyone with information to call the Winston-Salem Police Department at 336-773-7700 or the local Crime Stoppers at 336-727-2800, the report says. People can also use the online tip form or text a tip to 336-276-1717.

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BENGALURU (Reuters) - Apple Inc's iPhones will soon be assembled at another site in the southern Indian state of Karnataka and 300 acres have been aside to set up a factory, the state government said on Friday.

Bloomberg News had earlier reported that Apple partner Foxconn Technology Group planned to invest about $700 million in the Karnataka site to ramp up local production.

The state's investment promotion division said in a tweet that the move would generate 100,000 employment in the next 10 years.

Apple and Foxconn did not immediately respond to Reuters' requests for comment on the Bloomberg report.

Currently, iPhones are assembled in India by at least three of Apple's global suppliers - Foxconn and Pegatron in Tamil Nadu, and Wistron in Karnataka.

Apple has been shifting production away from China after the country's strict COVID-related restrictions disrupted the manufacturing of new iPhones and other devices in the country and also to avoid a big hit to its business from tensions between Beijing and Washington.

In January, India's trade minister said that Apple, which began iPhone assembly in the country in 2017 through Wistron Corp and later Foxconn, wants India to account for up to 25% of its production from about 5-7% currently.

(Reporting by Ashish Chandra in Bengaluru; Editing by Anil D'Silva)
Insiders who bought UK62k worth of Aquis Exchange PLC (LON:AQX) stock in the last year have seen some of their losses recouped as the stock gained 11% last week. However, total losses seen by insiders are still UK11k since the time of purchase.

While we would never suggest that investors should base their decisions solely on what the directors of a company have been doing, we do think it is perfectly logical to keep tabs on what insiders are doing.

View our latest analysis for Aquis Exchange

Aquis Exchange Insider Transactions Over The Last Year

Over the last year, we can see that the biggest insider purchase was by Independent Non-Executive Chairman Glenn Collinson for UK62k worth of shares, at about UK5.31 per share. So it's clear an insider wanted to buy, even at a higher price than the current share price (being UK4.20). It's very possible they regret the purchase, but it's more likely they are bullish about the company. We always take careful note of the price insiders pay when purchasing shares. Generally speaking, it catches our eye when an insider has purchased shares at above current prices, as it suggests they believed the shares were worth buying, even at a higher price. The only individual insider to buy over the last year was Glenn Collinson.

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!

Aquis Exchange is not the only stock insiders are buying. So take a peek at this free list of growing companies with insider buying.

Does Aquis Exchange Boast High Insider Ownership?

For a common shareholder, it is worth checking how many shares are held by company insiders. A high insider ownership often makes company leadership more mindful of shareholder interests. Insiders own 26% of Aquis Exchange shares, worth about UK29m. While this is a strong but not outstanding level of insider ownership, it's enough to indicate some alignment between management and smaller shareholders.

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What Might The Insider Transactions At Aquis Exchange Tell Us?

There haven't been any insider transactions in the last three months -- that doesn't mean much. However, our analysis of transactions over the last year is heartening. Overall we don't see anything to make us think Aquis Exchange insiders are doubting the company, and they do own shares. So while it's helpful to know what insiders are doing in terms of buying or selling, it's also helpful to know the risks that a particular company is facing. Every company has risks, and we've spotted 1 warning sign for Aquis Exchange you should know about.

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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The Argentine ambassador to the U.S. on Thursday denounced a Florida Republicans comments on alleged Chinese military involvement in the South American country, calling the remarks inaccurate and offensive.

In a letter to Rep. Maria Elvira Salazar, Ambassador Jorge Arguello lashed out at the lawmaker, who at a House Foreign Affairs Committee hearing Tuesday accused Argentina of joining other Latin American countries such as Venezuela and Bolivia in giving China a military foothold in the Americas.

Some of the remarks that you made at that meeting are not only clearly inaccurate but are also offensive, Arguello wrote.

Salazar, who chairs the Western Hemisphere subcommittee within Foreign Affairs, warned about a growing Chinese presence, accusing Argentina of playing host to its regional aspiration.

We know the Chinese are not here for trade, they are here for war, Salazar said.

Arguello pushed back against the idea of Chinese military presence in his country.

First of all, I would like to emphasize that there is no infrastructure or military presence of an extra-regional power in Argentina, with the exception of the one that corresponds to the illegal occupation of the Malvinas Islands by the United Kingdom, wrote Arguello, referencing Argentinas claim to what are known in English as the Falkland Islands, over which Argentina and the United Kingdom fought a brief war in 1982.

At the hearing Tuesday, Salazar also said Argentina was considering building a Chinese jet fighter factory in its territory and warned of a Chinese space installation in the country.

Arguello pushed back against both those claims, calling the jet fighter factory accusation absurd, and comparing the space communications station, run jointly by China Satellite Launch and Tracking Control Center General (CLTC) and the Argentine Space Agency (CONAE), to a nearby project run with the European Space Agency (ESA).

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Argentina is currently looking to update its supersonic fighter fleet following the 2015 retirement of the last of its Dassault Mirage III interceptor fighters, which were active in the Falkland Islands War.

The country is considering buying either used U.S.-made F-16 fighters from Denmark, the Indian LCA Tejas or the Chinese-Pakistani Chengdu-PAC JF-17 Thunder, according to a report from Air Data News.

Arguello wrote Salazar that the supply of jet fighters available to Argentina is very narrowly reduced because of British sanctions on the country related to the 1982 war.

I would like to draw your attention to a very specific obstacle to the acquisition and operation of combat aircraft manufactured by the United States and allied countries, for which the United States Congress collaboration would be valuable, Arguello wrote.

Taking into account that these aircraft contain parts of British origin, the United Kingdom exercises an unjustified veto that prevents any transaction whatsoever with our country.

A congressional aide familiar with the debate pushed back on Arguellos claim, saying the U.K. veto would not apply to U.S.-made F-16 planes or other options such as the Teja. The British veto played a part in ending talks in 2015 between Argentina and a Swedish company, Saab, to buy Gripen fighters, said the aide.

[Its] a hallmark of Argentine Peronist politics that the ambassador represents  the current party in power  is being anti-U.K., so its fairly standard on a letter like this to have language against the U.K., said the aide.

Arguello also defended the Chinese deep space tracking station thats been running since 2018 on land leased to China in 2012 on a 50-year lease, and promised Salazar further information on the project.

Two provinces in western Argentina are generally considered prime real estate for such stations, in part because of their arid weather, lack of radio interference and stable geological conditions.

CONAE and the ESA have operated a deep space tracking station in the region since 2012 that serves a similar stated purpose as the joint venture with China.

[I]t has exactly the same characteristics as the one operated by the European Space Agency located in our country, less than 300 miles from it, wrote Arguello.

The problem is that Argentina has no idea whats going on there because the Chinese dont let them in, Salazar said at the hearing.

In response to Salazars question on the installation, Assistant Secretary of State for East Asian and Pacific Affairs Daniel Kritenbrink responded, Perhaps it would be more appropriate in a classified session.

U.S. officials have in the past raised concerns about the station, though by its stated purpose it serves the Chinese space agency as a relay to deep-space projects like the probe China landed on the far side of the Moon in 2019.

But Salazar said Argentine Vice President Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner sold her soul by allowing the Chinese space installation in the country.

Fernandez de Kirchner is a controversial figure in Argentina and in Latin American politics as a whole. She was president of the country from 2007 to 2015 before joining current President Alberto Fernandezs ticket in 2019 amid heavy criticism and allegations of corruption.

Fernandez de Kirchner and Fernandez are not related; Fernandez de Kirchner is currently appealing a six-year prison sentence she received in 2022 as part of a billion-dollar fraud case.

Despite the conviction, Fernandez de Kirchner is not serving her sentence because of immunity tied to her office.

Arguello panned Salazar for attacking Fernandez de Kirchner in her role as Argentinas vice president.

Offensive, insulting references to the highest authorities of a free and sovereign country since 1810 and a friend of the United States do not, under any circumstances, contribute to a better understanding and greater proximity; rather, quite the contrary, Arguello wrote.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to The Hill.
Chip manufacturer Arm has choosen to list in New York, sparking concerns London is losing its lustre. Photo: Mark Lennihan/AP

British microchip company Arm will float in New York rather than London this year, dealing a major blow to Rishi Sunaks ambitions to make the City the first choice for tech company flotations.

Rene Haas, Arms chief executive, said the decision to float its shares on Wall Street came despite talks with the UK government and Financial Conduct Authority (FCA).

Still, the decision is a blow to London, where Arm was listed for 18 years until it was bought by SoftBank (9984.T) in 2016 in a $32bn (26.6bn) deal that received the minimum level of scrutiny by the government, leading to criticism that it had allowed UK's biggest tech success to be bought by foreign investors.

The Cambridge-based Arm designs the chips that power most of the worlds smartphones. It is expected to be worth as much as $70bn (58bn) according to bankers pitching the company on the US float.

Victoria Scholar, head of investment at Interactive Investor, said the snub was a kick in the teeth for London.

Softbank-owned Arm said it is aiming for a US IPO this year, as expectations fade that the British chipmaker could be heading for a London-listing. This is a blow to the UK government and the City of London post Brexit as Arm pins its hopes on New York, where some of the worlds biggest tech companies have floated including Apple (AAPL) and Tesla (TSLA), she said.

Read more: FTSE 100: London Stock Exchange plans 750m share buyback from Refinitiv investors

"While the FTSE 100 (^FTSE) enjoyed relative resilience last year partly because of its lack of technology giants, allowing it to avoid the tech-wreck, this has also long been a criticism of the UK blue chip index which has struggled to attract key behemoths in the sector. There have also been some high profile disasters in UK tech with Deliveroos (ROO.L) IPO flop and THGs (THG.L) share price slide.

Arms abandonment of London is another kick in the teeth for the Square Miles attractiveness among international investors as a go-to destination for technology giants, she added.

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The companys boss has said that Arm planned a secondary UK listing at some point in the future and said that the company would continue to be headquartered in the UK.

In January, Rishi Sunak reportedly restarted talks with SoftBank to persuade it to list the computer chip maker in London.

Arm was put off by a rule that requires UK-listed companies to disclose all related-party transactions, potentially forcing it to report dealing with any other companies SoftBank has a stake in, according to the FT.

Fears for the future of the London stock market are mounting, with some questioning if Londons stock market is losing its lustre.

Peter Harrison, head of the fund manager Schroders (SDR.L) and one of the Citys most senior executives warned that the UKs failure to back risk takers means London is unable to compete with New York.

How do we create a system that is more willing to accept risk? Everything is about risk reduction. That has been the thing that has undermined growth, and importantly it has undermined returns [for investors], he told Financial News.

The listing plans come a day after building materials giant CRH (CRH) revealed it is planning to shift its main stock market listing from London to New York.

CRH, which is headquartered in Dublin and valued at more than 30bn, said: We have now come to the conclusion that a US primary listing would bring increased commercial, operational and acquisition opportunities for CRH.

"Its a move that seems to make sense for a company that does so much business stateside, but it hints at further dissatisfaction with Londons ability to cut it as a global financial superpower. This was coupled with the blow that the UK chip maker Arm wont opt for a dual UK/US listing, despite attempts by the PM to woo the company back home when it returns to public ownership, Danni Hewson, AJ Bell head of financial analysis, said.

So much for building back better, for a new post-Brexit era of prosperity, she added.

The Irish-based company has been listed in London since 2011.

Read more: FTSE 100: Taylor Wimpey warns of slowing housing demand as mortgage costs rise

UK-listed Paddy Power owner Flutter (FLTR.L) said in February that it was considering an additional listing in America and a report this week that oil giant Shell (SHEL.L) explored moving to the US before eventually deciding against.

A string of UK firms from used car dealer Cazoo (CZOO) to electric vehicle company Arrival (ARVL) have chosen to snub London and list in New York.

London Stock Exchange Group (LSEG.L) boss David Schwimmer said that, despite reforms to UK financial rules, there was no "silver bullet" to reverse the trend.

"Efforts to relax the listing rules to attract more companies to London come across as a bit desperate. It should be a badge of honour to list in the UK, but that reputation is dwindling fast. Overseas investors lost interest in the trading venue as soon as the UK voted in favour of Brexit, and valuations have got even cheaper. Thats hardly a good sales pitch to attract more big companies to the UK market, Russ Mould, investment director at AJ Bell, said.

There are plenty other companies in the FTSE 100 which do business in the US that could easily follow Ferguson (FERG) and CRH. Thats not a good look for the London Stock Exchange, he added.

Reforms have included allowing dual-class share structures as well as a cut in the minimum free float requirement for shares.

Arm said it would expand further in its home country by opening a new site in Bristol, with plans to maintain its headquarters, operations and material IP in Britain.

A government spokesperson said: The UK is taking forward ambitious reforms to the rules governing its capital markets, building on our continued success as Europes leading hub for investment, and the second largest globally.

We continue to attract some of the most innovative and largest companies in the world  and note Arms commitment to expanding its presence in the UK, providing a boost to growth, jobs and investment.

Watch: Arm snubs London to float on the New York Stock Exchange

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An arrest warrant has been issued for a Pittsburgh man for a shooting on the citys North Side.

PHOTOS: Police investigating after person shot on Pittsburghs North Side

Jermaine Lamont Colwell, 46, is facing several charges, including attempted criminal homicide, aggravated assault and gun violations, after a person was found Tuesday afternoon shot in the chest in the area of the Pennsylvania Avenue bridge.

PREVIOUS COVERAGE: 1 person shot in chest on Pittsburghs North Side

The victim was taken to a local hospital with life-threatening wounds for surgery, according to the complaint.

Police said video surveillance from the scene and witnesses connected Colwell to the crime, according to court documents.

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A Pierce County Superior Court judge on Thursday issued an arrest warrant for a Tacoma woman who has refused treatment for tuberculosis for more than a year.

Judge Philip Sorensen also upheld his earlier order requiring the woman to be confined in the Pierce County Jail or other qualifying facility for treatment and isolation until health officials determine she is safe to be discharged.

Respondents objections to the order of February 24, 2023 are noted, preserved, and are insufficient to alter the courts order, he wrote in Thursdays case update. The Pierce County Jail shall be authorized to transport (the patient) to an appropriate designated facility within Pierce County including, but not limited to Department of Corrections facilities. Such facility shall accept (the patient) upon initiation of request from Pierce County Jail.

Tacoma-Pierce County Health Department in a statement Thursday said, This patient is still refusing to isolate and get the treatment she needs to treat her tuberculosis. The civil arrest warrant ... will authorize law enforcement to detain her on or following Friday, March 3 and take her to a facility equipped for isolation, testing and treatment.

It added, We will continue to work through the court and to pursue all our options to protect the community and persuade the patient to voluntarily seek the life-saving treatment she needs.

Sorensen on Feb. 24 ordered the woman held in civil contempt after violating multiple orders seeking compliance with treatment and isolation required by the Tacoma-Pierce County Health Department. That order called for a warrant to be served Friday or anytime after that for her to receive treatment in the jail should she continue to refuse to comply.

The womans attorney filed a brief Wednesday seeking a court-appointed guardian for the woman. The brief also opposed treatment in jail and divulged details of the womans actions up to this point.

In Thursdays ruling, Sorensen wrote that a court visitor is appointed at public expense: Suzanne Thompson-Wininger.

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In a Thursday filing before the hearing, the health department defended its petition that the the woman should be held in contempt and receive treatment in jail. The health department noted that she had not attended any court hearings since August.

The womans name and date of birth have not been publicly released.

The filing from the womans attorney, Sarah Tofflemire, was in response to TPCHDS petition that led to Fridays order of civil contempt and for a warrant to be issued after further noncompliance.

Tofflemire suggested that the womans lack of acknowledging and understanding what was happening was a significant factor in her refusal to voluntarily seek treatment.

Tofflemires filing stated, She has not acknowledged the existence of her own medical condition. Because counsel is bound to represent the respondents stated interest, a guardian ad litem would be able to provide representation of her best interests, which are not currently clear.

A guardian ad litem is defined by Washington courts as an individual appointed by the court to represent the best interests of a child or incapacitated person involved in a case in Superior Court.

The filing added that when the respondent has joined proceedings, she has spoken out of turn with rapid, disorganized speech.

It noted, She has primarily focused on how she dislikes papers coming to her home, and not the import of the process in which she finds herself. She has repeatedly threatened suicide in relationship to papers being served upon her home.

Previously, portions of the cases details have been under seal to protect patient privacy, and neither Tofflemire nor TPCHD in the past answered questions from The News Tribune regarding the womans mental state.

This week, Tofflemires filing pushed back on the appropriateness of sending the woman to jail.

Though Pierce County Jail may have plans in place for the incidental individual who turns out to be infected after booking on an unrelated matter, this does not mean it is equipped to handle long-term inpatient care for persons solely committed for that purpose, the filing stated.

The filing also questioned whether there was adequate proof to ensure sufficient due process for involuntary detention and treatment?

In its filing, the health department called the defense insufficient to overcome this courts nondiscretionary duty to issue an an order to transport the individual to a designated facility for isolation, treatment, and care until such time as the local health officer or designee determines that the patients condition is such that it is safe for the patient to be discharged from the facility.

The health department added it was not opposed to the woman receiving an appointed guardian in future proceedings. But it pointed out the need for a guardian did not change the circumstances of the petition holding her in contempt of court and receiving treatment in jail as the result of continued noncompliance.

The health department stated in its filing that she had knowingly, willfully, and contemptuously violated this courts orders and listed the numerous court orders issued through 2022 supporting TPCHDs petitions.

It also rejected Tofflemires contention that treatment in jail is inappropriate at this point.

The local health officer, through TPCHD, has approved the Pierce County Jail as the appropriate facility via this petition requesting detention and treatment of respondent, according to the filing.

The health department noted the woman could have moved for the appointment of a guardian at any point since March 2022, when the attorney for respondent was first appointed. It added, To the point that respondents actions at previous hearings suggest she may need a guardian ad litem, TPCHD would note that respondent has not attended a hearing in this matter since August 2022.

As for the woman not fully comprehending the proceedings, the department stated it had provided respondent copies of all the orders in this matter in both English and her native language, a court certified interpreter has been at every hearing, and that native speakers have attended visits by TPCHD representatives and law enforcement.

In addition, at every hearing where respondent was in attendance, this Court has provided an interpreter who translated the proceedings for respondent in real time. Respondent has thus been fully aware of the courts orders and the rationale behind those orders.

Respondent has been given the opportunity to comply with this courts orders to isolate and quarantine in the comfort and privacy of her home for more than a year, it stated, and had repeatedly violated by leaving her home without seeking treatment for her tuberculosis.

It concluded that the only viable course of action to protect public health is to require respondent to undergo treatment at the Pierce County Jail.

TB case goes back more than a year

TPCHD went public with the TB case and womans lack of compliance in January of this year.

On Feb. 3, The News Tribune, citing court filings, reported the case started in January 2022 with an initial detention order for home isolation and treatment of TB. According to case filings, the woman started treatment but did not follow through with prescribed treatment.

The department repeatedly sought and received court orders for the woman to comply through the year. In March 2022, the court ordered an attorney to represent the woman, and entries noted a foreign language interpreter at proceedings. In January 2023 the health department filed another petition against the woman, citing further noncompliance with evidence of her as passenger in an auto accident and later seeking treatment at a local emergency department complaining of chest pains.

According to the petition, X-rays taken during the visit demonstrate that she does have tuberculosis and it is progressing. She also tested positive for COVID-19, the filing stated, which also strongly suggests that she is not isolating as per this courts order.

Left untreated, active TB can become more difficult and expensive to treat, evolving potentially into an antibiotic-resistant strain.

On Wednesday, TPCHD director Dr. Anthony Chen and Nigel Turner, division director of Communicable Disease Control for TPCHD, offered an update on the case to the Board of Health.

Chen told board members that most people willingly follow our guidance to recover from TB and prevent the spread to others. He added that this is a pretty rare instance. Ive not seen this since Ive been here.

Turner added that weve worked with Pierce County Jail staff to make sure that the person would be looked after by medical staff at the jail including the physician who provides oversight, and weve coordinated to make sure therell be continuity of care.

Turner in a health department release Tuesday stated that the department still was working to seek compliance but was closing in on our last option of jail.

Tofflemire, the womans attorney, has repeatedly declined requests for comment on the case.

On Wednesday she told The News Tribune via email, Because of the confidential nature of the many of the issues and on-going nature of the situation, I cannot make further comment at this time.

The next Superior Court review hearing in the case is scheduled for April 7.
TOPSHOT-PALESTINIAN-ISRAEL-CONFLICT

A Palestinian man stands amid torched cars at a scrapyard in a house in Huwara, in the occupied West Bank, on Feb. 27, 2023. Credit - Jaafar Ashtiyeh / AFP via Getty Images

2022 was the deadliest year in decades for Palestinians living under Israeli military occupation, in which some 146 people were killed by Israeli forces. This year is on track to be even deadlier. In January and February, at least 60 Palestinians were killed by Israeli forces or settlers in the occupied West Bank, according to the Israeli human rights organization BTselem. (At least 14 Israelis have been killed this year following attacks from Palestinians.) The latest death, on Thursday night, was of a 15-year-old Palestinian boy in the West Bank town of Azzun. The Israeli military alleges he was throwing fireworks at Israeli motorists; the Palestinian health ministry says he was shot in the back.

Analysts warn that the situation is a tinderboxmore so after this weeks deadly and destructive rampage on the town of Huwara in the West Bank, where Israeli settlers torched dozens of Palestinian homes and cars, in response to the killing of two Israelis on Feb. 26. An Israeli general, as well as observers within and beyond the country, have since described it as a pogrom. The kind of violence seen in Huwara is becoming more normalized, says Sally Abed, a Palestinian citizen of Israel and member of the national leadership at Standing Together, one of the largest Arab-Jewish grassroots movements in Israel who was among those blocked from visiting Huwara. Earlier this week, Israeli finance minister Bezalel Smotrich said that he believes Huwara should be wiped out not by settlers, but by the state.

While settlementswhich are illegal under international lawhave continued to expand under successive Israeli governments, it wasnt until the formation of its latest government under Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in December that Israeli settlers have received such explicit backing from the state. That is because this government, the most right-wing the country has ever known, is made up of some of the biggest proponents of Israeli settlement expansion in, and eventual annexation of, the West Bank.

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Israels current government includes Smotrich, himself an Israeli settler, and Itamar Ben-Gvir, the national security minister whose political background had excluded him from Israels mandatory military conscription (Ben-Gvir was once an active member of Kach, a since-outlawed extremist and anti-Arab party). While Ben-Gvir oversees the countrys policing, Smotrich was recently granted administrative authority over the West Banka move that the Israeli human rights lawyer Michael Sfard and others say is tantamount to de jure annexation, as it effectively transfers the control of occupied territory from Israeli military to civilian control. An editorial in Haaretz, Israels liberal newspaper of record, decried the decision for establishing a formal, full-fledged apartheid regime.

Experts and activists tell TIME that this political context is inextricably linked to the surge in deadly violence within Israel and the Palestinian territories. As Israel has ramped up the number of deadly military raids on Palestinian towns, the number of Palestinian attacks on Israelis has also risen. Meanwhile, settler violence against Palestinians continues to rise apace, with BTselem recording dozens of incidents in January alone. Dror Sadot, a spokesperson for the organization, says that the Israeli military rarely interferes in these attacks, as was the case in Huwara; in some cases, the military has aided the settlers in their attacks.

Read More: Settler Attacks in the West Bank Are On the Rise. Israels New Leaders May Make it Worse

The governments relative inaction on settler violence reinforces the notion that settler violence is state violence, says Sadot. They are part of a policy that is well-funded and well-backed by the state. This policy is meant to take over Palestinian land and where the government cant do this by official means, they do it by less official means, which is to back the settler violence.

Under Netanyahu, Israeli ministers are now doing so explicitly, sending the message to Israeli settlers that they can continue to act with the states blessing. They are completely emboldened by this government, says Mairav Zonszein, an Israel-based senior analyst at the International Crisis Group. They have the legitimacy that they didnt have before politically and that gives settlers a lot more audacity.

Absent a strong response from the Israeli government or its international allies, experts add that the violence is only bound to get worse. While Smotrichs comments about Huwara were roundly criticized by the U.S. and others, international attention has largely focused, they say, on Netanyahus proposed judicial reforms that are set to weaken checks and balances on the government.

The arsonists are running the fire station, says Yousef Munayyer, a nonresident fellow at the Arab Center in Washington, D.C. and an expert on Israeli and Palestinian affairs. We seem to be on the edge of something; it wouldnt take much to push the situation over that edge.
Large amounts of artillery and ammunition are Ukraine's primary need in the war.

Source: Interfax news outlet, citing President Volodymyr Zelenskyy during a press conference with his Latvian counterpart Egils Levits in the city of Lviv on 3 March; press service of the Office of the President

Quote: "Artillery is the No. 1 thing we need. Both [artillery] systems and ammunition, as well as shells in large quantities to stop Russia. Not to attack their territory, but to drive them out of ours."

Details: When asked how Ukraine could speed up the supply of weapons, Zelenskyy replied: "To speak publicly about what we lack."

He emphasised that states that help Ukraine may also publicly support the supply of weapons. In addition, Zelenskyy stressed that Ukraine would soon obtain a tank army.

Quote: "No matter what, we will get a tank army. I am absolutely sure of this. We can already see how our Armed Forces and our guys are training. Very soon the whole thing will be ready. However, at the same time, there is a corresponding deficit. Covering [with the help of partners  ed.] all these gaps, the constant deficit, is what can help us."

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Assemblyman Phil Ting (D-San Francisco) displays a long paper receipt as he discusses his bill to require businesses to offer electronic receipts in 2019 in Sacramento. Under his legislation, customers could receive a paper receipt on request. (Rich Pedroncelli / Associated Press)

More than three years after criticism from the paper industry and business groups torpedoed his bill to cut paper receipts, Assemblymember Phil Ting reintroduced his so-called Skip the Slip legislation Thursday, citing environmental and health benefits.

"It doesnt make sense to kill so many trees and produce billions [of] pounds of carbon emissions" when physical receipts are largely unwanted by consumers, the San Francisco lawmaker said.

Ting had introduced similar legislation in 2019, which initially passed the state Assembly despite concerns from business groups, including the California Chamber of Commerce, California Grocers Assn. and California Restaurant Assn., before falling short in the Senate.

The bill was watered down before ultimately being sidelined later in 2019. We are very disappointed, Ting said at the time, vowing to try again.

The new bill contains provisions to introduce fines totaling up to $300 per year for businesses that do not comply with the rules: Receipts would be given only upon request; they must not contain endocrine-disrupting chemicals; and they "cannot be longer than necessary."

A report from the Ecology Center in 2018 found that more than 90% of tested receipts contained either bisphenol A (BPA) or bisphenol S (BPS). Both can be absorbed by skin contact and lead to negative effects on "hormones, metabolism, and other bodily systems," the report says.

Nonprofit organization Green America estimates that "receipts use 3,680,000 trees and 10 billion gallons of water every year in the U.S." Additionally, 86% of Americans surveyed "would like retailers to offer digital receipts."

The Department of Justice estimated it would cost $717,000 to add staff to enforce the previous Skip the Slip bill.

Matt Sutton, a lobbyist with the California Restaurant Assn., told The Times in 2019 that the mandate would cost eateries about $35,000 if they did not have a point-of-sale system that could handle electronic receipts.

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The association did not immediately respond to a request for comment on whether many restaurants had moved to such systems in the years since.

Despite the failure of the 2019 bill, many retailers have taken steps to limit their receipt footprints. CVS, Whole Foods and Taco Bell and other stores have taken steps to shorten or eliminate paper receipts, according to Green America.

This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.
Attorney General Merrick Garland made an unannounced visit to Ukraine, where he reaffirmed the U.S. commitment to assist Ukrainian officials in pursuing war criminals.

Garland traveled to Lviv, Ukraine, Friday at the invitation of the Ukrainian prosecutor general, Justice Department officials said, adding that the trip was not previously disclosed because of "security" reasons.

Holding Russia accountable: "The Attorney General held several meetings and reaffirmed our determination to hold Russia accountable for crimes committed in its unjust and unprovoked invasion against its sovereign neighbor," Justice officials said.

Just over twelve months ago, invading Russian forces began committing atrocities at the largest scale in any armed conflict since the Second World War," Garland told international counterparts at the United for Justice Conference. "We are here today in Ukraine to speak clearly, and with one voice: the perpetrators of those crimes will not get away with them."

Garland said that the U.S., in partnership with Ukraine and the international community, also has opened criminal investigations into war crimes that may violate U.S. law.

"Although we are still building our cases, interviewing witnesses, and collecting evidence, we have already identified specific suspects. Our prosecutors are working day and night to bring them to justice as quickly as possible," Garland said.

In addition to other justice ministers, Garland also met with Ukrainian President Zelenskyy.

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Attorney General Merrick Garland testifies in front of the Senate Judiciary Committee on March 1, 2023 in Washington.

Garland told senators earlier this week that DOJ is helping Ukraine war crimes investigations

Earlier this week, Garland told the Senate Judiciary Committee that Justice Department officials have been actively supporting counterparts in Ukraine with investigations of suspected war crimes.

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Garland told lawmakers that U.S. forensic agents are on the ground now assisting Ukrainian investigators and he had met multiple times previously with Ukraines prosecutor general to discuss needed support.

Trump, Russia, Biden: The US has 3 special counsel investigations at once. What are they?

Garland called Yevgeny Prigozhin, founder of Russian mercenary unit Wagner Group, a 'war criminal'

Asked for his assessment of the so-called Wagner Group, a Russian mercenary unit operating within Ukraine, Garland did not hold back, especially describing the groups founder Yevgeny Prigozhin.

Mr. Prigozhin, who runs this thing, is in my opinion a war criminal, Garland told Sen. Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn. Maybe thats an inappropriate thing for me to say as a judge before getting all the evidence. But I think we have more than sufficient evidence for me to feel that way.

Sens. Blumenthal, Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., and Sheldon Whitehouse, D-R.I., have been leading an effort to formally declare the Wagner Group a foreign terrorist organization.

Ukraine children deported to Russia: Ukrainian children taken to Russia brings back fear, memories of a similar Nazi effort

Garland last visited Ukraine in June, when he announced a war crimes accountability team

Garland last traveled to Ukraine in June, when he announced the formation of a War Crimes Accountability Team within the Justice Department to provide legal counsel and expertise in evidence collection and forensics.

At that time, the attorney general named Eli Rosenbaum to lead the special unit who previously directed the department's Office of Special Investigations, primarily responsible for identifying, denaturalizing, and deporting Nazi war criminals.

"There is no hiding place for war criminals," Garland said then. Working alongside our domestic and international partners, the Justice Department will be relentless in our efforts to hold accountable every person complicit in the commission of war crimes, torture, and other grave violations during the unprovoked conflict in Ukraine."

US and Russia officials meet: Blinken, Lavrov meet for first time since Russia's invasion of Ukraine

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Merrick Garland visits Ukraine, vows to pursue Russian war criminals
Washington  Attorney General Merrick Garland made an unannounced visit to Ukraine on Friday, a Justice Department official said, his second trip to the country since Russia invaded more than a year ago.

Garland is the second U.S. Cabinet secretary to visit Ukraine this week, following Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen's travel on Monday. President Biden made his own trip to Kyiv to mark one year since Russia's invasion last week.

Garland attended a United for Justice Conference in Lviv alongside President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and international partners at the invitation of Ukrainian Prosecutor General Andriy Kostin, the Justice Department official said. While there, he reaffirmed the United States' determination to hold Russia accountable for crimes committed during the invasion, the official said.

"We are here today in Ukraine to speak clearly, and with one voice: the perpetrators of those crimes will not get away with them," Garland said in remarks. "In addition to our work in partnership with Ukraine and the international community, the United States has also opened criminal investigations into war crimes in Ukraine that may violate U.S. law. Although we are still building our cases, interviewing witnesses, and collecting evidence, we have already identified specific suspects. Our prosecutors are working day and night to bring them to justice as quickly as possible."

The trip follows a meeting last month between the prosecutor general and Garland in Washington, D.C. The Justice Department is assisting in the investigation of alleged war crimes committed by Russia, and has seized the property of Russian oligarchs who are subject to U.S. and European sanctions.

Attorney General Merrick Garland shakes hands with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy at the United for Justice conference in Lviv, Ukraine, on Friday, March 3, 2023. / Credit: Reuters/Ukrainian Presidential Press Service

"American and Ukrainian prosecutors are working together and working closer than ever before in our investigation into Russian war crimes," Garland said on Feb. 3. "We are working to identify not only individuals who carried out these attacks, but those who ordered them."

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Garland also said the Justice Department had powers authorized by Congress to prosecute suspected war criminals in the U.S., vowing that "Russian war criminals will find no refuge in the United States." The attorney general reiterated those sentiments when testifying before the Senate Judiciary Committee on Wednesday.

Yellen was in Ukraine earlier this week to underscore the U.S. commitment to the country and highlight economic assistance to Zelenskyy's government. During his visit, Mr. Biden made a surprise visit to the Ukrainian capital and walked the streets with Zelenskyy before giving a speech in Poland.

"Kyiv stands strong. Kyiv stands proud. It stands tall. And most important, it stands free," Mr. Biden said in Warsaw.

Robert Legare contributed to this report.

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SYDNEY (Reuters) - Australia's foreign minister said she raised Russia's invasion of Ukraine with her Chinese counterpart, telling reporters after their meeting that all countries want to see China "do the right thing" and not supply weapons to Russia.

Washington and its allies have said in recent weeks that China was considering providing weapons to Russia, which Beijing denies.

Australia's Foreign Minister Penny Wong said she raised Russia's conduct in her meeting with China's foreign minister Qin Gang on the sidelines of the G20 meeting in New Delhi.

Wong told reporters responsibility for what is occurring in Ukraine "lies at the feet of Russia", but the world looks to China for responsible leadership on Ukraine given its close relationship with Moscow.

"I would note that (Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy) himself has said he wants to believe that China will do the right thing and not supply weapons to Russia. And that is not only Australia's call, but the call of all countries," she said.

The United States is sounding out close allies about the possibility of imposing new sanctions on China if Beijing provides military support to Russia for the war, Reuters reported on Thursday, citing four U.S. officials and other sources.

A top Chinese diplomat in Australia published an opinion article in local media on Wednesday arguing NATO was the cause of the conflict, and though Russia was "encircled by Western countries" it hadn't been brought down by sanctions or defeated on the battlefield.

"Worryingly, the crisis has now turned into a confrontation between NATO and Russia," wrote Ruan Zongze, China's consul general in Queensland state, adding China would support Russia resolve the issue through negotiation.

(Reporting by Kirsty Needham)
Ukrainian officials are signaling a potential retreat from the embattled town of Bakhmut, which would give Russia a symbolic victory and deliver Moscow its largest advance in months but wouldnt significantly change the dynamic of the wider war, experts told The Hill.

A top Ukrainian presidential adviser hinted at a potential withdrawal on Tuesday, telling CNN that Kyiv was weighing the costs and benefits of holding the city.

So far theyve held the city, but if need be, they will strategically pull back because were not going to sacrifice all of our people just for nothing, said Alexander Rodnyansky.

That followed Ukrainian President Voldymyr Zelensky saying in mid-February that the battle for Bakhmut was becoming increasingly difficult amid a new Russian offensive and that Ukraine wouldnt pay any price to hold the city in the eastern Donetsk region.

Russia has shown a seemingly endless willingness to sacrifice waves of soldiers in a months-long push to seize Bakhmut, losing hundreds of soldiers per day during some of the worst fighting, many from the Wagner mercenary group led by oligarch Yevgeny Prigozhin.

There are no indications of a Ukrainian withdrawal yet, and its possible the public hints of a retreat are a strategic headfake from Kyiv, which is preparing for a counteroffensive.

Ukrainian Deputy Defense Minister Hanna Maliar announced this week reinforcements were being sent to Bakhmut but didnt say whether they would be used to provide cover for a retreat or bolster defenses.

Air Force Brig. Gen. Pat Ryder, the Pentagons press secretary, told reporters Thursday the U.S. continues to see intense fighting near Bakhmut.

Russian forces and Wagner [Group] mercenaries continue to press their attacks around Bakhmut, and Ukrainian forces continue to hold the line, Ryder said. It remains a very fluid situation.

Bakhmut has become a major focal point in the war for the last few months, with Russia making incremental gains despite paying a mounting human cost.

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Moscow was able to seize the salt mining town of Soledar through sheer force in January and has applied the same pummeling tactic to nearby Bakhmut. Signs now indicate that Russia is slowly encircling the Ukrainians holed up in the center of the city.

Alexander Downes, the co-director of the Institute for Security and Conflict Studies at George Washington University, said Ukraine may need to pull troops out before its too late.

The Ukrainians want to bloody the Russians as much as they can. And this is a good place to do it because the Russians are losing a lot of people trying to do this, Downes said.

But it only makes sense as long as you dont risk losing a large force, either through getting overrun or getting encircled, which is looking increasingly likely given that the Russians are making gains to the northwest.

In a Wednesday assessment, the Institute for the Study of War (ISW) said Russia has made gains not just to the north and west of Bakhmut but also in the southern outskirts of the city.

Russian military bloggers this week have also reported on advances in the city. Vladimir Romanov posted on Telegram that Wagner Group itself create[d] a threat to the encirclement of the city.

Russian diplomat Konstantin Gavrilov similarly told a Russian TV channel that forces are advancing in squares and the encirclement is closing.

Bakhmut will certainly be taken in the near future, Gavrilov said, according to Russian state news agency Tass.

Victory in Bakhmut would give Russia its largest advance since last summer and control over a key transport hub in Donetsk, one of two regions that make up the Donbas in eastern Ukraine, which Moscow is hoping to assert its control over in its fresh offensive.

In taking Bakhmut, Russia would be able to launch a push into the western Donetsk toward the cities of Sloviansk and Kramatorsk, but they would face long highways and heavily fortified Ukrainian lines in the effort.

Igor Girkin, a prominent Russian military blogger who has criticized the Kremlins struggles in Ukraine, said taking Bakhmut would give Russia absolutely nothing.

The enemy front will not be broken through and [Ukraine] will have reserves to restore the front line in new (also pre-prepared) positions, Girkin wrote in a Telegram post this week, also noting that ammunition stocks could soon be exhausted after the months-long assault on Bakhmut.

Michael OHanlon, a senior fellow and director of foreign policy at Brookings Institution, said Russia should not feel overly encouraged by taking one town, as it was not operationally significant.

But he said Russian President Vladimir Putin would be able to seize on the capture of Bakhmut to spin his broader storyline to continue the war effort after months of setbacks and signs the Russian army is on the verge of collapse.

Putin is probably anxious to change the narrative, OHanlon said.

He would love to have some real, accurate information around which to build his mythology, he added. The accurate information being that now hes got a city back that he didnt before.

A changing of the narrative could also hurt Ukraine, which relies heavily on western support for the war.

Its possible Kyiv has held back on retreating from Bakhmut thus far out of concern it could hamper international support, but one town in Donetsk is unlikely to change many minds, according to analysts.

The ISW also assessed this week that holding Bakhmut was a sound strategy and allowed Ukraine to inflict heavy losses as Russia spent significant resources, adding that Ukraines indication of a possible retreat could just serve as a signal to western allies that Kyiv could conduct a strategic withdrawal if needed.

The person likely to emerge most victorious from the battle for Bakhmut in the event of a Ukrainian withdrawal may be Prigozhin, whose fighters have led the assault on the town.

Prigozhin  who did not even acknowledge himself as the founder of Wagner Group until last year  has taken a more public role in recent months and is becoming more and more critical of Russian generals and the Ministry of Defense.

Sergey Radchenko, a professor at the Johns Hopkins University School of Advanced International Studies, said Prigozhin would come out on top if he is able to seize the city  even if it was at a horrendous cost.

He can say we have delivered the city for Russia and we have succeeded where the Russian military has failed, Radchenko said. It will certainly be a card in his hand as he continues to play this game against the Ministry.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to The Hill.
Oleksii Danilov, Secretary of Ukraine's National Security and Defence Council, has said that the situation on the Bakhmut front is very difficult, but under control.

Source: Danilov on the 24/7 joint national newscast

Quote: "Bakhmut has been a hot spot for four months. The situation is difficult, but we understand that this is our land, we have to defend it. The fiercest battles are there. The situation is extremely complex and difficult, but controlled.

Our defenders are doing everything possible and impossible to prevent the enemy from advancing."

Details: According to Danilov, Russia is losing a huge number of soldiers in Bakhmut every day.

Background:

Oleksii Danilov said that the Russian forces on the Bakhmut front are losing seven times more soldiers than the Ukrainian forces.

On 2 March, British Intelligence predicted that weather conditions will make moving around the city of Bakhmut more difficult, which will probably give Ukrainian defenders an advantage.

The chairman of the US Joint Chiefs of Staff, General Mark Milley, predicted in February that Ukrainian forces would not retreat from Bakhmut.

Journalists fight on their own frontline. Support Ukrainska Pravda or become our patron!
Bank of Montreal's (TSE:BMO) dividend will be increasing from last year's payment of the same period to CA$1.43 on 26th of May. This makes the dividend yield about the same as the industry average at 4.4%.

View our latest analysis for Bank of Montreal

Bank of Montreal's Dividend Forecasted To Be Well Covered By Earnings

We like a dividend to be consistent over the long term, so checking whether it is sustainable is important.

Bank of Montreal has established itself as a dividend paying company with over 10 years history of distributing earnings to shareholders. Based on Bank of Montreal's last earnings report, the payout ratio is at a decent 35%, meaning that the company is able to pay out its dividend with a bit of room to spare.

Looking forward, earnings per share is forecast to fall by 23.5% over the next 3 years. Fortunately, analysts forecast the future payout ratio to be 46% over the same time horizon, which is in the range that makes us comfortable with the sustainability of the dividend.

Bank of Montreal Has A Solid Track Record

The company has an extended history of paying stable dividends. The annual payment during the last 10 years was CA$2.80 in 2013, and the most recent fiscal year payment was CA$5.72. This means that it has been growing its distributions at 7.4% per annum over that time. The dividend has been growing very nicely for a number of years, and has given its shareholders some nice income in their portfolios.

The Dividend Looks Likely To Grow

The company's investors will be pleased to have been receiving dividend income for some time. Bank of Montreal has impressed us by growing EPS at 16% per year over the past five years. With a decent amount of growth and a low payout ratio, we think this bodes well for Bank of Montreal's prospects of growing its dividend payments in the future.

Bank of Montreal Looks Like A Great Dividend Stock

Overall, a dividend increase is always good, and we think that Bank of Montreal is a strong income stock thanks to its track record and growing earnings. The distributions are easily covered by earnings, and there is plenty of cash being generated as well. However, it is worth noting that the earnings are expected to fall over the next year, which may not change the long term outlook, but could affect the dividend payment in the next 12 months. All of these factors considered, we think this has solid potential as a dividend stock.

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Companies possessing a stable dividend policy will likely enjoy greater investor interest than those suffering from a more inconsistent approach. Meanwhile, despite the importance of dividend payments, they are not the only factors our readers should know when assessing a company. To that end, Bank of Montreal has 2 warning signs (and 1 which is a bit concerning) we think you should know about. Is Bank of Montreal not quite the opportunity you were looking for? Why not check out our selection of top 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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A banker stole over $2 million from his clients in New York City and could now face decades in prison, federal officials said.

The banker, a 32-year-old man, was arrested on March 1 in Brooklyn, according to a news release from the U.S. Attorneys Office for the Southern District of New York.

He is accused of abusing his position as a business relationship manager at a financial institution to steal millions from his clients, including elderly clients, U.S. Attorney Damian Williams said in the release.

An attorney for the former manager could not immediately be reached by McClatchy News.

His scheme involved secretly siphoning funds from at least five customer accounts between 2020 and 2022, officials said.

In one instance, he made an unauthorized $450,000 wire transfer from a 74-year-old clients account, officials said.

He also deposited stolen funds into client accounts in order to cover his tracks, according to officials.

While some of the stolen money was transferred into accounts associated with his girlfriend and mother, the majority was spent on securities, officials said.

He then lost most of the money he stole in the market through trading, officials said.

The racket was eventually uncovered by the bank after a concerned client asked to speak to a supervisor at a Brooklyn branch in July 2022.

The client, a 74-year-old woman, said she was worried about inconsistencies in her bank statements, according to officials. A statement provided to her by the manager reflected an account balance of about $900,000, but a statement mailed to her residence abroad revealed a balance of only $13,000.

Shortly thereafter, the manager accused in the scheme admitted to defrauding clients and was fired by the bank, officials said.

He now faces charges of bank fraud, embezzlement, money laundering and aggravated identity theft, which carry a combined maximum sentence of more than 80 years in prison if hes convicted, officials said.

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Businesswoman Barbara Corcoran has recalled her awkward first meeting with Shark Tank co-star and billionaire, Mark Cuban, while on set of the reality show.

The 73-year-old entrepreneur, who boasts one million followers on TikTok, shared with her followers on Thursday the most embarrassing moment she had while filming the ABC show. Get ready with me while I tell you my most embarrassing moment on Shark Tank, Corcoran began the candid video, as her makeup artist glammed her face.

The Corcoran Group founder recalled the incident took place when she was rushing to Sony Pictures Studios in Los Angeles, California to begin shooting her fourth season of Shark Tank  a popular reality show in which aspiring entrepreneurs pitch their products to a team of successful business titans in order to invest in their company.

When I jumped in the van, I see this guy sitting in the back seat and I was surprised because I always had the van to myself, said Corcoran, as her makeup artist contoured her face.

I had three big pieces of luggage so I decided to ask him: Hey, do you mind helping me put my luggage in the back of the van? she recalled, to which Cuban replied: Yes, maam.

When they arrived on the set, Corcoran pointed out her trailer and asked Cuban if he could bring her bags inside the trailer. He didnt mind, she noted. He just said: Yes, maam.

Two hours later, Corcoran walked onto the set of Shark Tank when she took her seat in the iconic Shark Tank chair, only to realise that the so-called bellboy was actually her new co-star.

I look at the guy next to me, and its the luggage guy sitting in the seat next to me, she told her TikTok followers. So I said to him: What are you doing here?

He said: Im Mark Cuban. Nice to meet you, she recalled.

Corcoran, who has a net worth of more than $100m, first made her fortune when she founded her own real estate firm  The Corcoran Group  in 1980. In 2001, she sold the company to National Realty Trust for $66m.

She then joined the reality series Shark Tank in 2009 as one of the shows original investors, and has since appeared in all 13 seasons. As of January 2023, Corcoran has made 130 deals with a total of $5,465,000 invested on the show.

Since then, Corcoran has gained renewed fame on TikTok, where she gives fans a glimpse into her career in real estate. Earlier this month, Corcoran went viral when she revealed how she made $1m in just one day.
Photo Illustration by Thomas Levinson/The Daily Beast/Reuters

For weeks, one Twitter Blue subscriber has repeatedly challenged Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida over the imprisonment of a U.S. military officer, firing off combative tweets and veiled threats demanding Japan return the soldier to American custody.

Political leaders deal with armies of social media critics all the time. But in this case, the Twitter Blue user telling Kishida to hand him over in the next seven hoursor face consequences from the U.S.was far from random.

It was Mike Lee, the senior Republican U.S. senator from Utah. More crucially, it was Lees quasi-alter ego: Based Mike Lee.

The popular slang term is often used to praise politicians who are seen as especially unfiltered in giving their opinions. With his dogged campaign to get Kishida to release Navy Lt. Ridge Alkoniswho is serving a three-year sentence in a Japanese prison for negligent driving in a fatal accidentLee may have lived up to his self-awarded branding.

Texts Show GOP Lawmakers, Including Sen. Mike Lee, Begged Trump White House for Fraud Proof Before Jan. 6

Many in Washingtonincluding President Joe Bidenstrongly believe that Alkonis should be transferred back to the U.S., and have raised serious concerns with the soldiers treatment by the Japanese justice system and Kishidas pace in responding.

But to some who have watched Lees moves closely, the senators approach has been more befuddling than based.

That includes one of his colleagues, Sen. Brian Schatz (D-HI), who sits on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.

The officer should be released, Schatz told The Daily Beast. But thats not the way we do diplomacy with our friends. The U.S.-Japan relationship remains the most important bilateral relationship that we have, bar none, and this is an immature way to try to get the result hes working for.

In the careful world of politics and diplomacy, it is highly unusual to see a prominent U.S. lawmaker speak to an allied foreign leader as if they were a character in a Liam Neeson hostage movie.

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On Tuesday, just before the deadline Lee gave Kishida to send Alkonis back, the senator tweeted a news article reporting that Japan wanted to purchase 400 Tomahawk missiles from the U.S.

We might need to reconsider this, said Lee, tagging Kishidas account. Also, youve got 24 hours, not 48. Hand him over. Now.

If you dont hand him over in the next seven hours, a series of conversations will begin tomorrow to inform Americans of how poorly youre treating our military personnel, Lee tweeted later. Not just Ridge Alkonis, but all 55,000 U.S. forces in Japan.

But to Alkonis family, who have been vocally pushing to bring Ridge home, Lees tactics have been welcome.

We have no concerns that Senator Lees tweets harm Ridges prospects for release, said Jon Franks, a spokesman for the family, who had been working with Lee.

Quite frankly, much of the criticism of the tweets has been motivated by animus toward Mike Lee than it is sincere concern for the alliance or Ridges prospects for release, said Franks, who noted he is a registered Democrat.

Japan Mulls Raising Age of Consent From 13 to 16

The Based Mike Lee account did get temporarily suspended from Twitter, sparking speculation that his tweets to Kishida were the reason. Later, Twitter CEO Elon Musk restored the account and said that someone had incorrectly flagged it as impersonation. (Which is not totally crazy, because it is based, Musk said.)

Indeed, Lees willingness to drop hot takes, and lob the occasional potshot at establishment Republicans like Sen. Mitch McConnell, has quickly made the senators personal accountwith 87,000 followersa favorite voice for the very online right.

But some warn that Lees aspirations for based-ness may not mix with this particular mission. If the goal is to say, We got him home, this doesnt seem to move closer to that goal, said Tobias Harris, a Japan expert at the German Marshall Fund think tank.

The trickiness rests in the complicated politics of the longstanding U.S. military presence in Japan, where there were roughly 55,000 American soldiers stationed last year.

Under the so-called Status of Forces Agreement signed by the two countries in 1960, U.S. service members stationed in Japan are only subject to the U.S. military justice system for crimes committed in the course of their official duties.

For any crimes alleged to be committed off-base or off-duty, U.S. personnel are subject to the Japanese justice system. Alkonis was on a day trip with his family near Mount Fuji when he lost control of the minivan he was driving and crashed into a roadside parking lot, killing two people.

The agreement has long been viewed unfavorably in Japan, with many citizens believing it is too protective of American servicemembersthough Japans defense forces enjoy generous agreements with overseas hosts.

Particularly in a moment of heated competition with China, the treaty provides a huge strategic benefit for the U.S., which keeps a massive military footprint in Japan at relatively low cost and with privileges afforded by few other allies.

Harris said that both Biden and Kishidas governments would likely prefer to go about securing Alkonis transfer quietly, because neither benefits from a conversation that could put the longstanding military forces agreement up for renegotiation.

Could John Fetterman Shitpost His Way to the Senate?

If there was a way to do it quietly, without fanfare, maybe something could get done, said Harris. It seems the more public it becomes, the harder it becomes to have quiet talks that result in a deal.

In response to questions, a Lee spokesperson referred The Daily Beast to the senators floor speech from Wednesday, in which he said Japan unjustly incarcerated Alkonis for too long and has slow-walked negotiations with the U.S.

Lee also argued Japans treatment of the Navy officer was not befitting of a close allyparticularly one, he repeatedly mentioned, that the U.S. spends heavily to help protect. And he made clear that he is not backing down on his confrontational approach.

The longer Ridge remains in Japanese custody, Lee said, the louder we will get.

A State Department spokesperson declined to comment on Lees tweets, but said that Secretary of State Antony Blinken has no higher priority than the safety and security of U.S. citizens overseas, including, of course, Americas servicemembers.

The case is tragic for all involved and we are working to find a compassionate resolution consistent with the rule of law in both countries, the spokesperson said. The Secretary has consistently raised the case with his Japanese counterparts in an effort to achieve that resolution."

In response to a request for comment, a spokesperson for the Japanese embassy in Washington said the matter should be handled appropriately by the judicial authorities in accordance with the law, and close consultations have been held between the two governments.

Initially, Alkonis case did not attract much attention in Japan or in the U.S.though it was closely followed by members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, of which Alkonis is a member. Lee, also a member, represents the state with the highest Mormon population.

In May 2021, Alkonis was stationed at the U.S. Navy base in Yokosuka, near Tokyo, when he was involved in the accident on Mount Fuji. Japanese authorities determined he fell asleep at the wheel, while U.S. Navy investigators claimed he lost consciousness due to altitude sickness. From the Senate floor, Lee alleged that after the accident, Alkonis was kept in solitary confinement and not given the opportunity to understand proceedings in English.

Utahs Mike Lee Ekes Out Re-Election Despite Jan. 6 Ties

In Japanese court, Alkonis pleaded guilty to negligent driving. He apologized to the victims family and raised $1.6 million for them, according to the New York Times. But the family insisted he had not done enough and hadnt acknowledged the severity of the accident. Alkonis was sentenced to three years in prison after losing an appeal.

Alkonis family has taken their case to top U.S. officialsincluding Biden himself. After the presidents State of the Union address last month, Alkonis wife spoke with him briefly; Lee said the president told her hed work to secure her husbands release.

U.S. officials, like Lee, argue that Japan gets a sweetheart deal through their longstanding bilateral agreement, but in Japan, theres long been frustration among the public around the American military presence.

Harris, of the German Marshall Fund, argued that if Alkonis case got more attention in Japan, it could raise pressure on Kishida not to cooperate with the U.S. on his transfer.

If this did raise more awareness of the case in Japan, itd make it that much harder for the Japanese government to make some agreement to transfer him to US custody, he said.

For now, that has not been the case: Harris said that Lees campaign against Kishida has gotten little press coverage in the country.

Maybe, he said, they thought it was some parody account.

Read more at The Daily Beast.

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Two explosions rocked Machulishchy airfield near Minsk on Feb. 26, destroying a Russian A-50 warning and control aircraft.

Belarus ups border security after explosions.

Belarusian dictator Alexander Lukashenko pays a state visit to Beijing, claiming that not a single issue in the world can be resolved without China.

Prosecutors order extensive prison sentences for several Belarusian opposition members, including exiled opposition leader Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya.

Lukashenko responds to a leaked document alleging that the Kremlin plans to take over Belarus by 2030.

Ukraine announces its withdrawal from several agreements on border checkpoints with Russia and Belarus amid Minsks ongoing role as a co-belligerent in Moscows full-scale war.

The number of Belarusians seeking refuge in the European Union hits a record high in 2022.

Lithuania seizes over 3,000 tonnes of sanctioned Belarusian fertilizers worth over $2.1 million.
Senator Bernie Sanders speaks at a book launch at The Royal Overseas League in London on Feb. 24, 2023. Credit - Elliott FranksEyevine/Redux

Bernie Sanders is here to answer a question nobody in this room was asking: Is it okay to be angry about capitalism?

Its late on a weeknight at The Anthem, a 3,000-seat concert hall on the trendy, upscale D.C. waterfront that recently hosted Bush and the Disco Biscuits. The bar is open, but the venues floor is full of orderly rows of chairs, the air is uncharacteristically free of pot smoke, and the merch tables feature no T-shirts or posters, only stacks of the 81-year-old left-wing senators latest book, Its OK to Be Angry About Capitalism. Still, to the overwhelmingly young crowd that has paid $55 to $95 per ticket, they might as well be seeing a rock starthe Mick Jagger of Medicare-for-All.

Callie Whicker, an 18-year-old student at American University, arrived an hour early and settled into her front-row seat, wearing a BERNIE sweatshirt and clutching a knit Bernie doll she got on Etsy. Hes her only source of hope in a coming-of-age that has otherwise been unrelentingly dark: For Gen Z, coming up through Covid and Trump, weve given up, she says. Everythings really bad. But knowing that there are people like him, people with decent hearts fighting for everybody, its so inspiring.

Whicker has pink-dyed hair and wears a mask. Her homemade earrings dangle the words GENDER IS A CONSTRUCT from each lobe. When I ask her if its okay to be angry about capitalism, she looks at me like I might have the wrong number of heads. Isnt it obvious? Oh yes, she says with conviction. Of course, always.

Sanderss previous books were titled Our Revolution and Where We Go From Herehopeful titles that looked to the future. The current one, with its combination of radicalism and neurosis, seems to signal a shift, not just in Sanders but in the ardent following hes built over the last eight years and two near-miss presidential primary campaigns. His young followers are angry, yes, but they need to be reassured that its okay; they want to be comforted, to be affirmed in their feelings.

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We are very, very screwed, says Farah T., a 30-year-old economist at the World Bank who declines to give her last name. Angry is a nice word. Its outrageous. Its fucked up. She paid $95 for her primo seat, which, yes, is capitalismbut why are people attacking Sanders for selling tickets when capitalism is responsible for so much worse? Sanders has been her lodestar for as long as shes been politically conscious. Yet things have only seemed to get worse and worse. He represents an America I would like to see, but probably never will, unfortunately, she says.

Sanders fans have long admired his consistency, the way hes been fighting for the same principles since he marched with Martin Luther King Jr. in the 1960s. But it has perhaps started to dawn on them that thats another way of saying he hasnt made much headway in all that time.

I first got involved in climate activism in eighth grade, says 19-year-old sociology student Jackie Wells. Nothing significant has happened since then, and Im going to another climate rally on Friday. Radical change is absolutely necessary, but I dont know if our generation is up to it. She worries that her peers are too complacent, too willing to mistake social-media posturing for activism. But Wells, who considers herself an anarcho-socialist, views the whole political system as a distracting spectacle. I havent posted, like, Im at the Bernie thing, because its kind of embarrassing to like a politician, she says.

Its not okay to not be angry about capitalism, says Nicole Wilder, a 26-year-old editorial assistant. If youre not angry, I think youre just not paying attention, or youre a selfish person. Older people, she says, shouldnt disdain young peoples idealism and fervor for change: Maybe thats because a lot of young people actually give a st about things other than themselves.

Read More: What Bernie Sanders Still Has To Prove.

Chelsea Ihnacik, a 38-year-old stay-at-home mom, has been organizing a new Democratic Socialists of America chapter in her rural southern Maryland town. She worries that a Democratic Party that snubs Sanders in favor of milquetoast centrists like Joe Biden is destined to continue losing white working-class voters to Trumpism. As much as Bernie woke us up to political engagement, the larger system is a monolith thats not moving, she says. Biden betrayed the rail workers and undermined the solidarity of the working class. Were going to lose those voters to fascism as a result.

When Sanders comes on, the lights go all the way down, and he stands at the front of the stage in his usual hunched posture, gesturing with his right hand as he holds the microphone with his left. His rap has many of the same themes I remember from his 2016 campaignthe evils of oligarchy and super PACs, the billionaires robbing us blind and never paying a price. But theres a new emphasis on capitalisms emotionally taxing nature. The bottom line, and we dont talk about this at all, is that the working class of this country is under enormous emotional stress, he says. And stress kills.

Read More: Where Wes Moore Comes From.

Gone, too, is Sanders onetime call for political revolution, perhaps because hes become more enmeshed in the system he once sought to overthrow. After 16 years in the Senate, Sanders status as the pied piper of the resurgent young left has earned him real credibilityand powerin Washington. This year, he became the chairman of the Health, Education, Labor and Pensions committee, a position he intends to make the most of, hauling in pharmaceutical CEOs to testify about high drug prices, holding hearings on the plight of the working class. Next Tuesday, he tells the crowd, he plans to have the committee vote to subpoena Starbucks CEO Howard Schultz for his efforts to suppress unionizationa move that, if successful, would be the committees first-ever subpoena of a witness, according to Punchbowl News.

The American people are standing up, and if I have anything to say about itand as chairman of the relevant committee, I do have something to say about itthis is just going to be the start, Sanders says to cheers. Audience members hold up their phones and record snippets of him speaking, like they would at a concert.

At the end, Sanders takes questions. The first one comes from a high schooler named Max who volunteered for his 2020 campaign. What is your advice to the young people in this progressive movement on how we can keep the momentum of the movement you helped start alive? Max wants to know.

Sanders looks out at the sea of eager faces, and I wonder if hes thinking of his legacythe ideals hes seeded that will surely outlive him, the fresh-faced students who will keep fighting these fights long after hes gone. People often ask the question, what keeps me going? he says, turning uncharacteristically sentimental. He recalls the millions of people hes met, the places hes been, the massive crowd of young people who turned out to see him as the sun set over a small town in rural California, hungry for a message of change.

So I want to say that, as somebody who gets around the country and has the opportunity to meet with so many people, I dont want you to become depressed about this country, Sanders says. There are millions of wonderful people who are trying to do the right thing. And our job is to educate and organize and create the kind of movement that will breed the kind of transformational change this country desperately needs.

The lights come back on and Sanders departs, trailed by a lengthy standing ovation. And then the next generation trickles out of the theater, out into the night, out into the despair of the broken world they cant escape.
President Joe Biden on Friday awarded the Medal of Honor to a Black Army Special Forces hero from the Vietnam War who has waited close to 60 years to receive the nation's top award for valor after the Army said the paperwork couldn't be found.

Then a 26-year-old captain, Paris Davis, now 83, led a company tearing through a larger enemy force, pushing the attack despite being shot, absorbing shrapnel and another bullet to get wounded comrades to safety, refusing to join them on the evacuation helicopter, choosing rather to stay and continue destroying the remaining adversaries.

PHOTO: President Joe Biden stands with Vietnam War veteran, Retired US Army Colonel Paris Davis, before awarding him the Medal of Honor, in the East Room of the White House in Washington, DC, on March 3, 2023. (ABC News)

At a White House ceremony, Biden called Davis "an incredible man."

Picking up the story, Biden continued, "And although the men who were with him in that June day immediately nominated Captain Davis to receive the Medal of Honor, somehow the paper -- the paperwork was never processed, not just once, but twice. But, you know what Captain Davis said after learning that he would finally receive the Medal of Honor? Quote, 'America was behind me.'"

A colonel by the time he retired from the Army, Davis' first name "Paris" is inspired by the mythological figure featured in Homer's epic war poem "The Iliad."

PHOTO: Col. Paris Davis speaks with ABC News on the day before his Medal of Honor ceremony. President Joe Biden is scheduled to award Davis with the Medal honor March 3, 2023. (ABC News)

In 1965, already having served in Korea and Vietnam, Davis was told by his company commander he was destined for the treacherous Binh Dinh province.

"He said that it was overrun by the Viet Cong. He thought through my training and the way that I handled myself that I could handle being in a situation where there were more enemies than there were friends," Davis told ABC News during an interview Thursday.

In the summer, Davis led three other Green Berets and what the Army calls "an inexperienced company of the 883rd South Vietnamese Regional Force" on an audacious raid against a North Vietnamese base.

PHOTO: Capt. Paris Davis, Vietnam, 1965. (Ron Deis)

Davis personally captured two enemy combatants.

"We caught the guards that were sleeping," Davis said. "They gave us some information -- exactly where the preponderance of the troops were."

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According to the Army, "he learned [from the captives] that a vastly larger enemy force was operating in the area."

Not that Davis was surprised, he said.

"We knew that we were going to run into a hornet's nest," he recalled.

Davis took this not as a warning to withdraw, but as an opportunity to attack. On the night of June 17, he readied his men for a surprise raid, and at dawn led them through what would stretch into a grinding 19-hour battle.

PHOTO: Davis leads assault in the early morning at Bong Song, clearing an enemy headquarters hut. He is wounded in the forearm. (Illustration by The Paris Davis Interactive Medal of Honor Story)

"Davis was wounded leading the initial assault, but continued moving forward, personally engaging the enemy in hand-to-hand combat and killing several enemy soldiers," the Army said in a release.

When the noncompliant enemy rallied with a counteroffensive, a bleeding Davis led a small team onward, destroying gun emplacements and earning more captives, the Army said.

He then consolidated his men to pull back and, while calling for artillery and aircraft attacks against the defenders, was hit by automatic weapons fire.

PHOTO: Reconstructed battle map of the battle of Bong Song, Vietnam, June 18, 1965. (The Paris Davis Interactive Medal of Honor Story)

Davis was wounded again when an enemy soldier "engaged him at close range with his rifle," the Army said. Davis tackled the enemy and "defeated" him -- as the Army euphemistically puts it -- with his bare hands.

Now injured several times over, Davis saw two American comrades seriously hurt, but across enemy lanes of fire.

"Davis made it to the first soldier under a hail of enemy fire and was shot once again. Despite his grievous wounds and with no regard for his own safety, Davis saved the soldier and returned him to the company's perimeter. Davis again broke cover, braving enemy fire, to retrieve the second soldier. Crawling nearly 150 yards and wounded by enemy grenade fragments, he rescued the soldier and returned him to the company perimeter," according to the Army.

At one point during the battle, Davis said he recalled a general observing the fight from a helicopter ordering him to leave before one of the wounded soldiers was flown out. He refused.

"He said, 'You know you're disobeying an order?' And I said, 'Yes, sir, I understand that. But I'm not leaving,'" Davis told ABC News.

PHOTO: As Billy Cole, Davis' commanding officer, arrives on the battlefield, Cole spots Davis carrying Waugh fireman-style. Noting Davis' wounds, Cole tells Davis to leave with the wounded. (Illustration by The Paris Davis Interactive Medal of Honor Story)

Davis described a war of words with the senior officer.

"The general said ... 'If I was down there, I'd probably kick your ass.' And I said, 'You know what, general, there's a lot of room down here.' And that was the end of the conversation. He never landed, and I never kicked his ass," Davis said.

ABC News asked Davis what would have happened had he obeyed.

"If we had obeyed that order, there would have been soldiers that would have been just mutilated, because there [were] no other free forces available," he said.

The Army credits Davis for having saved three men from enemy capture: Robert Brown, John Reinberg and Billy Waugh.

PHOTO: Capt. Paris Davis poses for an official U.S. Army service photo circa early 1960s. (U.S. Army photo)

For his actions, he was awarded the nation's third-highest military decoration, the Silver Star. But according to Davis, requests for his award to be upgraded to a Medal of Honor were inexplicably lost by the Army twice over the years.

Davis has speculated his race could have played a factor.

"I wish I could say that this story of Paris sacrifice on that day in 1965, was fully recognized and rewarded immediately," Biden said. "But sadly, we know they weren't. At the time Captain Davis returned from war, the country is still battling segregation. He returned from Vietnam to experience some of his fellow soldiers crossing to the other side of the street when they saw him in America."

Army officials said they cannot determine whether any records were lost, or under what circumstances.

"Due to lack of records, we cannot say for sure, but we are pleased that the president will soon bestow this overdue honor to Col. Paris Davis and his family," Army spokeswoman Madison Bonzo told ABC News on Wednesday.

PHOTO: Capt. Paris Davis is awarded a Silver Star on Dec. 15, 1965. Davis received the award for his actions during a battle in Bong Son, Republic of Vietnam, June 17-18, 1965 (U.S. Army photo)

Davis credits a group of friends and comrades for refusing to let the Army forget his case.

Davis, with his first name inspired by the ancients, alluded to Greek tragedy when explaining the resolution to his decades-long case.

"The soldiers that you served with, the soldiers you were in the war with, become that Greek chorus. They pick up the voice of saying 'We aren't gonna let this rest, we are going to keep after it until we get it done.' And that's the saving grace I'm so thankful for," he said.

Biden awards Medal of Honor to Black Vietnam War hero after paperwork 'lost' twice originally appeared on abcnews.go.com
President Biden on Friday awarded the nations highest award for military valor to a Vietnam veteran known for saving the lives of multiple soldiers and who was among the first Black Special Forces officers in the U.S. military.

During a ceremony at the White House, Biden presented the Medal of Honor to Col. Paris D. Davis, 83, whom the commander in chief praised as a true hero of our nation.

Paris helped write the history of our nation, Biden said, calling the war hero everything this medal means and everything our generation aspires to be.

You are everything our nation is at our best: brave and big hearted, determined and devoted, selfless and steadfast, the president added.

Biden then wrapped the Medal of Honor around the neck of Davis and shook hands with the smiling Green Beret.

Davis, of Cleveland, enlisted as an Army reserve armor officer in 1959 and graduated from both Airborne and Ranger schools in 1960.

He was then selected for an Airborne special forces group and served first in Korea before two deployments to Vietnam in 1962 and 1965.

During his second deployment to Vietnam, Davis was promoted to captain as a detachment commander with the 5th Special Forces Group.

He is best known for his heroism during a 19-hour battle in Vietnam. In June 1965, Davis led a team of South Vietnamese and four Green Berets to attack a North Vietcong base in the province of Bong Son.

After his team captured two enemy soldiers, he learned there was a larger force operating in the area and led his soldiers into battle at dawn.

Despite being wounded at least twice, Davis fought against enemy combatants, including in hand-to-hand combat, and managed to destroy several gun emplacements, capture enemy soldiers and prevent the capture of his own troops.

Davis then noticed two American soldiers were wounded, and he braved enemy fire to save both soldiers and bring them to cover  one at a time. He then called a helicopter evacuation to bring them back to base safely.

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For his actions, Davis earned the Silver Star, the Bronze Star Medal and the Purple Heart. Davis also saved the life of a soldier who was stuck in a burning fuel truck and won the Soldiers Medal.

Davis is one of only four service members in the history of the U.S. military to receive both the Medal of Honor and the Soldiers Medal.

During his remarks, Biden noted that Davis served during a time of segregation in America and never received the Medal of Honor despite being nominated. Davis told CBS News in 2021 race was a factor in the lost paperwork for his Medal of Honor nomination.

And yet, Biden said Davis never lost faith in his country.

He never stopped believing in the founding vision of our nation, Biden said. The vision Paris fought to defend fifty years ago  this vision for a more perfect union.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to The Hill.
President Biden on Thursday threw his support behind a bipartisan bill that would tighten federal oversight of trains carrying hazardous materials in the aftermath of a derailment in East Palestine, Ohio, that spilled toxic chemicals.

I applaud the bipartisan group of senators for proposing rail safety legislation that provides many of the solutions that my administration has been calling for, Biden said in a statement.

This legislation provides us with tools to hold companies accountable to prevent terrible tragedies like the Norfolk Southern derailment in East Palestine and to make those communities whole.

The Railway Safety Act of 2023 was cosponsored by Ohio Sens. Sherrod Brown (D) and J.D. Vance (R) and Pennsylvania Sens. John Fetterman (D) and Bob Casey (D). Sens. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) and Josh Hawley (R-Mo.) also cosponsored the measure.

Its still unclear if the bill would have enough support to overcome the 60 vote filibuster in the Senate, or if Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) would bring it up for a vote in the House.

The bill would introduce new safety requirements for trains carrying hazardous materials, such as the vinyl chloride carried by the derailed Norfolk Southern train. Going forward, trains would be required to submit a gas discharge plan for all such materials. Citing fear of an explosion, first responders in East Palestine conducted a controlled burn of the materials shortly after locals were evacuated.

The measure would also transfer oversight of railroads heat sensors from railways to the federal government, and it would add a requirement of at least a two-person crew per train, something unions have pushed for.

I encourage Republicans and Democrats alike to move quickly to advance these commonsense rail safety measures and send me a bill to sign into law, Biden said.

The president, who met with Senate Democrats earlier on Thursday, was asked after the meeting about any plans to visit East Palestine. He said he would at some point, and in the meantime argued the solutions to preventing future incidents would require bipartisan cooperation.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to The Hill.
(Bloomberg) -- President Joe Bidens sudden reversal on a rewrite of the criminal laws in the nations capital is an early sign that he  and his Democratic party  are accepting the uncomfortable reality that crime will be a big issue in the 2024 election cycle.

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Concerns about crime are spiking around the country  including in the cities that are strongholds for Democrats and calls for police reform  creating a tightrope for Biden to walk.

On Thursday, that delicate balance pushed the president to lean to the right. He told Democrats in a closed-door meeting that he would sign a Republican-led resolution to overturn a District of Columbia law that proponents say would modernize the citys byzantine criminal code. Critics said the law would reduce sentences for crimes like carjacking even as police report that the crime is spiking.

Just a month ago, the Biden administration said the measure was an affront to the districts home rule powers, leaving progressives within his own party shocked by Bidens capitulation.

This aint it, Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez said on Twitter.

But the fact that the citys resolution will even get to his desk shows Biden isnt alone among Democrats concerned by the political liability of crime.

Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot lost a re-election bid this week and her police chief resigned amid voter anger over the issue. At least three Democratic senators  Joe Manchin of West Virginia, Martin Heinrich of New Mexico and Bob Casey of Pennsylvania  are expected to vote for the measure next week. They join 31 House Democrats who supported the bill, most from competitive districts.

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Republicans who campaigned on crime last year  especially in New York state  gave the GOP some upset wins despite widely underperforming expectations. Among the beneficiaries: Representative George Santos, the now-embattled congressman facing an ethics investigation for a series of lies about his background who campaigned on a theme of backing the blue.

John McLaughlin, a GOP strategist, said voting for the new measure saved the Democrats some more damage, but they have a long way to go to stem the crime wave in many cities, counties and states.

But Insha Rahman, vice president of the Vera Institute for Justice, a criminal justice reform group, said Biden and the Democrats risk of learning the wrong lessons from last years elections.

The mistake that Democrats make is to give in to the lizard-brain instinct that President Biden reverted to yesterday, to double down on tough on crime, and make their rhetoric indistinguishable from Republicans, she said.

Pennsylvania Democrat John Fetterman won his US Senate race despite a barrage of crime ads from Republican Mehmet Oz last year by addressing the issue head-on and not apologizing for sentencing reform.

Its remarkable how much owning the issue, not being silent on it, and reminding people that we dont have to choose between safety and justice can make a difference, Rahman said.

Bidens complicated history with the crime issue goes back at least to 1994, when he sponsored the Violent Crime Control and Law Enforcement Act  a tough-on-crime measure that critics say resulted in a generation of mass incarceration for relatively low-level offenses.

Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, laying the groundwork for a likely bid for the Republican presidential nomination, has signaled that he intends to keep the crime issue front-and-center in 2024. In a series of appearances in the suburbs of New York, Philadelphia and Chicago, DeSantis lambasted what he called woke approaches to crime like cashless bail and defunding the police.

White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre, responding to Lightfoots defeat this week, insisted that the president has walked the walk on policing and wont take a back seat to Republicans on the issue.

Bidens approval rating stood at 42% in an Economist/YouGov poll last week, but approval of his handling of crime was at just 32%. For women, independents, and suburban and rural voters, his approval on crime was less than 30%.

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A Charlotte family gathered with lawyers and activists in Washington, D.C. Friday morning urging the State Department and the White House to either extradite or arrest a suspect in the case of Shanquella Robinsons death.

It was hard to miss the scene along Pennsylvania Avenue: news cameras, umbrellas, famed civil rights attorney Ben Crump and the cries of, No Justice, No Peace.

The 25-year-old Robinson, of Charlotte, died on Oct. 29, 2022, while vacationing with six others in Cabo San Lucas, Mexico. The friends say Robinson died of alcohol poisoning, but autopsy reports say she died from a broken neck and severed spinal cord.

And a video that surfaced after her death showed a woman the family says is Robinson being beaten by one of the women who traveled with Robinson to Mexico.

Mexican authorities have a warrant for a U.S. citizen on a charge of femicide, a Mexican-based charge that involves the murder of a female, according to previous information from the prosecutors office in Cabo. Both the FBI and authorities in Mexico are investigating the killing.

It has been 126 days since she died, Crump said. Thats 18 weeks. Video footage of her being beaten, literally, to death was released, on November 16 2022, 108 days ago  15 weeks and three days  and still with all this visual evidence, nobody has been arrested.

Crump said he, his law firm and the family would go to the State Department Friday afternoon to deliver documents proving that Mexican authorities finished their investigation, named one of Robinsons friends as her killer and that for anything more to happen the United States either needs to extradite the suspect back to Mexico or take over jurisdiction.

It is not right that the suspects and the people involved are sleeping comfortably in their own beds at night, Crump said. The only question is State Department, President Biden, what are you going to do to bring justice for this broken hearted family, especially this mother of Shanquella Robinson?

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Lawyer goes to Mexico

How Crump and the family has as much information as they do without the help of U.S. authorities was detailed in the news conference.

His law partner, Sue-Ann Robinson, who has no relationship to the victim, traveled to Mexico to learn what happened to the 25 year old.

She detailed her trip in front of the cameras and the crowd.

She went to the Attorney Generals office.

She went to the Mexican Red Cross.

She went to the doctor who treated Shanquella Robinson.

She retraced Shanquella Robinsons last steps.

Trying to find answers for this family was absolutely unreal, Sue-Ann Robinson said. Nobody should have to do that for something that is equal and fair. Theyre not asking for anything special. Theyre not asking for anything unique. Theyre asking for their government to intervene in a case and take jurisdiction for a crime that we all saw unfold on video.

Shanquella Robinson extradition delay

Both Crump, Robinson and other activists that had gathered with them Friday morning questioned whether U.S. authorities would take this case more seriously if Shanquella Robinson had been white.

They reminded their audience of cases like Natalie Holloway and Gabby Petito.

Petitos death in 2021 brought to light the attention that white females receive when they go missing or are murdered. The case received high levels of media and online attention when the van life social media influencer went missing in Wyoming, an area where many indigenous women are also missing but often arent talked about.

Sue-Ann Robinson said she was able to review packets of information from Mexican authorities and it was clear the United States authorities were the hold up in moving the case forward.

Robinson went to the United States consulate for help but she said she got very little information and at times felt impeded. She said she was told if she wanted more information to talk with the friends who traveled with Shanquella Robinson.

The level of disrespect to Shanquella Robinson even in death is unreal, Sue-Ann Robinson said.

She added that Mexican authorities told her that everything has been sent over to the United States through Interpol, an international organization that helps with the cooperation between law enforcement in other countries.

President Biden, the head of the Department of Justice, the State Department, youve all got calls from our office and weve got no answers, Robinson said. Youve got letters. Lets do what is right by Shanquella Robinson. And lets always do whats right by black women.

Crump said the family and the activists would meet with the State Department Friday and were working to meet with the White House. He said he doesnt plan to go away until justice for Shanquella Robinson is served.

It is not a hard, Crump said. Either extradite the killer, or take jurisdiction so you can prosecute the killer. It is that simple.
A lesion on President Bidens chest removed during last months annual physical exam was a basal cell carcinoma, and all cancerous tissue was successfully removed, his doctor said Friday.

Kevin OConnor, the presidents physician, wrote in a memo that a biopsy confirmed the small lesion was basal cell carcinoma, one of the most common types of skin cancer. The area was treated at the time of the biopsy and no further treatment is required, OConnor wrote.

The site of the biopsy has healed nicely and the President will continue dermatologic surveillance as part of his ongoing comprehensive healthcare, the doctor wrote.

The president previously had nonmelanoma skin cancers removed before he was elected to the White House. First lady Jill Biden earlier this year underwent Mohs surgery at Walter Reed Medical Center in Bethesda, Md., to remove two skin lesions that were later determined to have been basal cell carcinomas.

Basal cell carcinoma is the most common form of skin cancer, with more than 3 million cases diagnosed each year, according to the Skin Cancer Foundation. Because they grow slowly, they are typically treatable with minimal damage when caught early.

The cause of ending cancer has been personal for Biden, whose son Beau Biden died of brain cancer in 2015 at the age of 46. The president has talked about ending cancer throughout his campaign and presidency, saying it would be a priority for him.

Biden relaunched the Cancer Moonshot program in February 2021, with the goal to cut the cancer death rate in half over the next 25 years and improve the lives of caregivers and cancer survivors. Biden oversaw the original moonshot initiative during the final years of the Obama administration.

Biden had his annual physical exam at Walter Reed last month. OConnor wrote afterward that he remains a healthy, vigorous, 80-year-old male who is fit to carry out the duties of the presidency.

The presidents health is likely to be under close scrutiny over the next two years as he is expected to run for reelection. Biden would be 82 at the start of a second term if he were to win reelection, and Republicans have frequently questioned whether he is physically and mentally up to doing the job.

Updated at 3:42 p.m.

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President Joe Biden on Thursday praised bipartisan legislation that would strengthen safety rules governing railroads, following the fiery Ohio train derailment that left residents concerned about the air and water quality in the town of East Palestine.

The legislation was introduced by Ohio Sens. Sherrod Brown, a Democrat, and J.D. Vance, a Republican, and four other senators Wednesday. The Railway Safety Act would bolster a slew of railroad safety measures including raising fines for safety infractions, increasing inspections and imposing new requirements for trains carrying toxic or hazardous materials.

I applaud the bipartisan group of senators for proposing rail safety legislation that provides many of the solutions that my administration has been calling for, Biden said in a statement Thursday. This legislation provides us with tools to hold companies accountable to prevent terrible tragedies like the Norfolk Southern derailment in East Palestine and to make those communities whole.

Republicans have been critical of the White Houses response to the derailment, accusing the administration of moving too slowly. But the White House has repeatedly pushed back, noting that federal officials were at the site hours after the crash. Biden, who has been criticized for having yet to visit East Palestine, said on Thursday that he planned to travel there at some point.



Ive spoken with every official in Ohio, Democrat and Republican, on a continuous basis, as in Pennsylvania. I laid out a little bit in there what I think the answers are, and we put it together. And we will be implementing an awful lot to the legislation here. And I will be out there at some point, the president told reporters.
The Biden administration recently has laid out ambitious plans to use government money to spur at least two new large-scale clusters of semiconductor manufacturing and research in the years ahead.

In an interview this week, Deputy Secretary of Commerce Don Graves outlined his departments ambition for these projects. He said the application process for the money is designed to prod companies to express to us their vision for how we drive economic development, how we drive competitiveness, not just at a local level, not just at a state level, but at a regional level.

The funds come from about $53 billion put aside in the CHIPs and Science Act. The administration goal: achieving both a revitalization of the U.S. semiconductor industry as well as broader political and economic goals that officials say will produce hundred of thousands of jobs in the U.S.

One model? I look to our experience in rebuilding and bringing back from the edge of complete collapse the city of Detroit, Graves said, referencing his time during the Obama administration as the leader of the federal governments efforts after the city filed for Chapter 9 bankruptcy in 2013. He also mentioned a government-funded network of manufacturing innovation institutes called Manufacturing USA.

But the question that remains is whether its possible to achieve these goals all at once. Already, some industry voices have reportedly been grumbling about the many restrictions on the money with others pointing out that the most successful projects historically have had limited instead of broader objectives.

Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo speaks at the signing event for the CHIPS and Science Act of 2022 at the White House on August 9. (REUTERS/Evelyn Hockstein)

The new law has $39 billion earmarked for semiconductor manufacturers; the application process opened this past week. An additional $11 billion is set to go to companies as well as universities and others for chip research and design beginning later this year. The law also includes an investment tax credit of up to 25% towards a manufacturers capital expenditures.

We're already a hub

Another point made by those who have a stake: these hubs already exist. Thus, they hope the money from Washington will primarily service as an amplifiernot only focus on new development.

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For example: In a Yahoo Finance Live interview this week, Sen. Mark Kelly (D-AZ) noted we're already a hub for semiconductor manufacturing in the United States, this is just going to expand dramatically because of this legislation.

Intel (INTC) already has a strong presence in Kelly's state with 12,000 employees, and Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC) recently announced plans there as well. For Kelly, a key point of the money is to help develop other companies around Intel and TSMC to help supply the giant fabrication plants to come with equipment, raw materials, and innovation in the years ahead.

President Joe Biden walks with Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company CEO C. C. Wei and Chairman Mark Liu during a visit to TSMC's planned Semiconductor Fabrication Plant in Arizona in December (REUTERS/Jonathan Ernst)

It's a similar situation about 2,500 miles away in upstate New York. IBM (IBM) and Micron (MU) are two of the big companies there. There has been years of semiconductor development in the region, which is also seen as a frontrunner for government money.

But again, an official there is quick to point out that this area is far from starting from scratch with government money likely to boost what is already there. Today, I'm talking with you from Albany NanoTech, said Mukesh Khare, an IBM vice president, in an interview this week. Khare was also recently named to an Industrial Advisory Committee that is advising the Commerce department on the deployment of the law.

The Albany Nanotech Complex is a public private partnership that has been growing for decades and was completed in 2015 as a host for a range of companies focused on semiconductor research at the SUNY Polytechnic Institute.

Albanys existing cluster makes good business sense, said Khare, and currently serves the needs of companies who are here but expanding  with investment from places like CHIPS Act, the state, as well as private companies  will really have a multiplication effect.

The research facilties in New York could be paired with burgeoning manufacturing efforts. IBM recently announced a $20 billion manufacturing plan in nearby Poughkeepsie, N.Y. During an October visit, President Biden took credit for the expansion saying the CHIPs and Science act is a law thats going to build the future and a proud, proud legacy not only for IBM, but for the country.

In addition, Micron recently announced plans to invest up to $100 billion over the coming decades in Syracuse N.Y.

President Joe Biden participates in a tour of an IBM semiconductor facility with CEO Arvind Krishna in Poughkeepsie, New York in October. (REUTERS/Tom Brenner)

But Biden officials have repeatedly promised that no company or region is a shoo-in for the money. The way that we've structured this and what we've been conveying to potential applicants throughout this process is that their expectation shouldn't be that we're giving a nod to any one area just simply because it already has a fab, Deputy Secretary Graves said.

Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo added I expect there will be many disappointed companies" and that her primary lens here "is the achievement of our national security goals.

Aiming for a win-win situation

The clusters to come will need to strike a balance between the financial imperatives of the semi-conductor sector and the Biden administration's larger policy goals.

In addition to economic development, the Commerce Department has stressed that as a condition of applying for the money, companies will have to provide detailed financial information, not engage in stock buybacks with the money they getand provide detailed workforce development plans down to the level of the childcare facilities they will provide.

In a recent Yahoo Finance Live interview, Secretary Raimondo defended the restrictions and said that her goal is not to impose overly burdensome requirements. We want to work in partnership with these companies."

Advocates of the multi-pronged goals said that the incentives can be aligned so that its beneficial to both the private and public sectors. Speaking of the childcare provisions this week, Sen. Kelly argued This is a win-win situation, it helps families in Arizona and in other states that are going to have these companies there, but at the same time it helps the employer.

As for the timeline ahead, a Commerce official said the first awards will likely be for big fabrication plants - i.e., the anchors of the clusters to come. Deputy Secretary Graves said we're hopeful that we'll be able to make our first awards by the end of the year, but it's going to depend on whether we get these strong, strategic-thinking applications.

IBMs Khare added his praise of the governments rollout so far and notes that, of course, "we all want it to be much faster than where we are but, that said, it's a process and it needs to be fair and transparent and accountable so we are here to help.

Ben Werschkul is Washington correspondent for Yahoo Finance.

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President Biden on Friday hosted German Chancellor Olaf Scholz at the White House, where the two leaders tried to project a united front in support for Ukraine as it enters the second year of a war against invading Russian forces.

Scholz last visited the White House in February 2022, when Russia was amassing troops along the Ukrainian border. Fridays visit came after a year of war and as both leaders have sought to assure the Ukrainians and other allies that their respective governments will back Ukraine for as long as it takes to end the conflict.

I want to thank you, Olaf, for your strong and steady leadership. I mean that sincerely. Its made a world of difference, Biden said during an Oval Office meeting. You stepped up to provide critical military support. And I would argue, beyond the military support, the moral support youve given Ukrainians has been profound. Profound.

Scholz added that it was important for Germany and the United States to aid Ukraine and that we give the message that we will continue to do so as long as it takes.

That message echoed what Biden has said repeatedly during the past year, including during a trip to Kyiv last month to mark the anniversary of Russias invasion.

The two leaders did not respond to questions from reporters in the Oval Office, and they were not scheduled to hold a joint press conference that has typically accompanied foreign leader visits to the White House.

But continued support for Ukraine was likely to be at the top of the agenda for Biden and Scholz. The U.S. and Germany, along with other Group of Seven allies, have for the past year attempted to coordinate on imposing sanctions against Russia to squeeze the Kremlins war effort, as well as military and economic assistance for Ukraine.

Biden and Scholz were initially not on the same page earlier this year over whether to send tanks to Ukraine, with Germany reluctant to Leopard tanks unless the U.S. agreed to send Abrams tanks. Both countries eventually came to an agreement to provide the armored vehicles to Ukraine.

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As the war enters its second year, maintaining support will be a major test for both leaders, and the U.S. has warned that China is considering providing support to Russia in its war effort, though it has not yet done so.

Polls have shown softening support among Americans for providing additional aid to Ukraine, and U.S. officials have deferred to Ukrainians to map out what they would accept for terms of ending the war.

Fifty percent of respondents in a late February poll from Fox News said America should continue to back Ukraine through the end of the war, while another 46 percent said there should be a limited timeframe on U.S. support.

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Joe Biden

You stepped up and provided critical military support and you know, I would argue that beyond your military support, the moral support you gave to Ukrainians has been profound, CNN quotes Biden.

Read also: Biden rules out sending F-16s to Ukraine for now

And you've driven historic changes at home  increase in defense spending and diversifying away from Russian energy sources  I know that has not been easy, very difficult for you.

The two leaders agreed that the United States and Germany are in lockstep on security issues, working to make NATO stronger and more capable.

Read also: Germany will transfer two Skynex anti-air systems to Ukraine

In his turn, Scholz reiterated that Berlin will continue supporting Ukraine for as long as necessary.

Read also: At their latest meeting, Macron and Scholz urged Zelenskyy to negotiate with Russia

This is a very, very important year because of the very dangerous threat to peace that comes from Russia invading Ukraine, and it's really important that we acted together, that we organized in lockstep, and that we made it feasible that we can give the necessary support to Ukraine during all this time, the chancellor said.

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The people of D.C. demand and deserve better, Markus Batchelor, national political director at People For the American Way, told theGrio.

President Joe Biden shocked D.C. leaders and activists on Thursday in announcing that he would not veto a bill coming down from Congress that would overturn recently passed laws in D.C. regarding crime and voting.

The decision was a reversal of a previous White House statement that opposed the legislative package led by Republicans  and supported by some Democrats  that would disapprove of the District of Columbias revised criminal code and a law that allows noncitizens to vote in local elections.

President Joe Biden addresses the media after the Democrats senate luncheon in the U.S. Capitol on Thursday, March 2, 2023. (Tom Williams/CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty Images)

At conflict is Bidens record in support of D.C. becoming the nations 51st state and his decision not to safeguard D.C. laws that advocates say should not be decided by Congress because of home rule. They argue that the laws were passed by democratically elected D.C. officials and should be honored by lawmakers in Washington.

The president and congressional Democrats support for eventual #DCStatehood legislation rings hollow if they sacrifice the values that undergird the necessity for it. The people of D.C. demand and deserve better, Markus Batchelor, national political director at People For the American Way, told theGrio.

Advocates and D.C. officials relied on the presidents veto power to block Congress from overturning the contested D.C. laws. The two resolutions, which seem destined to head to Bidens desk, were already passed in the U.S. House of Representatives, with all Republicans and more than a dozen Democrats voting in favor. Republicans also have enough votes in the U.S. Senate after Democratic Senator Joe Manchin said he would vote to block the D.C. crime law.

Batchelor said the issue of Congress disapproving the D.C. laws is about the fundamental principle of democracy and racial justice, particularly in a city of 700,000 residents who are majority Black and brown.

President Biden summoned the support of the Congress and a global alliance to defend democracy and the will of free people abroad  and wont even raise his pen to defend them for those Americans closest to him, said Batchelor, referring to the unwavering support for Ukraine in its ongoing war against Russia.

Story continues

Black Voters Matter (BVM) and more than 50 civil rights, voter rights, and racial justice organizations hold the first-ever national rally in Washington, D.C., June 26, 2021, in support of D.C. statehood. (Photo by Astrid Riecken for The Washington Post via Getty Images)

[This] is an unprecedented assault on the local autonomy of D.C. residents to pass their own laws, and especially on common sense pieces of legislation.

D.C. leaders also pushed back against the core arguments against the D.C. crime law, which updated the districts criminal code to reflect what they say is fairer sentencing for those convicted of certain crimes.

Congressional Republicans criticisms of our Revised Criminal Code Act dont hold water, D.C. City Councilman Zachary Parker said in a statement to theGrio. This legislation makes modest, common-sense reforms to our more than 100-year-old criminal code.

However, Councilman Parker points out that the new criminal code also contains stricter penalties for some crimes than many of these same representatives own states.

A graphic provided by the councilmans office compares and contrasts some of the sentencing penalties under the Revised Criminal Code Act. For example, armed carjacking would carry a maximum penalty of 24 years in prison in D.C., while in Georgia, the maximum is 20 years, and in states like Alabama and Kentucky, there are no max penalty statutes.

The penalty for carjacking was an example used by White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre during Thursdays briefing to defend Bidens reversal on vetoing the congressional resolution.

He feels that we need to make sure that all communities, including  the folks who live in D.C., feel safe. And he feels that taking this action does exactly that, said the presidential spokesperson.

White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre answers questions during the daily press briefing at the White House on March 3, 2023, in Washington, D.C. Jean-Pierre answered a range of questions during the briefing. (Photo by Win McNamee/Getty Images)

Jean-Pierre also argued that the president opposed the city council overriding D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowsers veto of the criminal code law. However, despite opposing the law over safety concerns, Mayor Bowser sent a letter calling for Congress not to overturn the D.C. crime and voting laws.

To do so is no different than to deny us statehood and the same democracy cherished by all other tax-paying Americans, wrote Mayor Bowser. My concerns with the crime bill and my veto of it are better addressed locally, as they would be in every other locality in our great country, than by members of Congress who we did not elect and who do not represent us.

President Biden in a tweet said that despite his decision to allow Congress to block the D.C. laws, he supports D.C. statehood and home rule.

The movement for D.C. statehood gained momentum in 2021 when Democrats controlled both chambers of Congress. A bill that would make D.C. the 51st state of the United States passed in the House but was never brought up for a vote in the Senate, where Republicans wouldve certainly filibustered it.

Protesters, among them Kelsye Adams, DC Vote program director, rally at the U.S. Capitol in Washington, D.C., Jan. 6, 2023, to demand D.C. Statehood and voting rights protection. (Photo by Astrid Riecken For The Washington Post via Getty Images)

Batchelor, who sits on the board for the D.C. Statehood PAC, said he worries the Republican-led effort to disapprove of a D.C. law for the first time since 1991 signals the fight for statehood and home rule  which is enshrined in the District of Columbia Home Rule Act  will be an uphill battle.

If theyre empowered by the thought that they can, with Democrat support, overturn laws in the District of Columbia, theres no reason for them to think that they also cant threaten the whole thing  all of home rule [and] our elected government completely, he said.

We have to keep calling out violations to our local autonomy. And we have to pressure our friends in the White House, and in Congress to stand up for us so that when the time comes, the argument for D.C. statehood is very clear.

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President Joe Biden said Thursday he will visit East Palestine, Ohio, "at some point" as the area recovers from a train derailment that released toxic chemicals.

Biden was asked about if he had plans to visit as he was exiting a lunch with Senate Democrats flanked by Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer.

"I've spoken with every official in Ohio, Democrat and Republican, on a continuing basis, as in Pennsylvania," Biden told reporters. "I laid out a little bit in there what I think the answers are  and we will be implementing an awful lot to the legislation here."

"I will be out there at some point," he said, although he didn't elaborate on when.

PHOTO: President Joe Biden walks with Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer as he arrives to meet with Senate Democrats for a strategy session on his upcoming budget at the Capitol in Washington, March 2, 2023. (J. Scott Applewhite/AP)

MORE: Ohio governor on train derailment cleanup: 'We're not leaving'

Biden's been under political pressure from both Republicans and some Democrats to visit the site since a Norfolk Southern freight train carrying hazardous materials derailed on Feb. 3, prompting environmental and health concerns. Officials have said the air quality and water system is safe, but residents have said they're still concerned about the possible effects of the disaster.

His remark Thursday was his first indication that he plans to travel to the city. Asked last Friday if he had any plans to do so, he told reporters: "At this time, I'm not."

Biden demurred a few hours earlier Friday when pressed by ABCs David Muir on criticism from local officials that hadn't yet visited.

"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 told Muir in an exclusive interview from the White House as he defended the administration's response.

The president said he'd made it clear that "anything" officials needed would be provided to them. Last week, Biden ordered door-to-door visits from federal agencies to the families affected by the derailment.

Story continues

MORE: 'Anything they need is available," Biden tells ABC's Muir about East Palestine

PHOTO: U.S. President Joe Biden speaks to the news media after attending a closed Senate Democratic Caucus lunch at the U.S. Capitol in Washington, D.C., March 2, 2023. (Leah Millis/Reuters)

Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Michael Regan was the first Biden official to visit East Palestine in mid-February. Regan told GMA 3 the day after his visit that the city's air and water was safe.

Transportation Sec. Pete Buttigieg, who has been under fire from Republicans over the train derailment, visited the site for the first time on Feb. 23 -- 20 days after the crash. Buttigieg has warned Norfolk Southern to support East Palestine, and said he expects the industry to work with Congress to make safety and accountability improvements.

The CEO of Norfolk Southern, Alan Shaw, will testify before a Senate panel next week on the derailment.

Biden says he will visit East Palestine 'at some point' after toxic train derailment originally appeared on abcnews.go.com
President Biden is set to end the COVID-19 national and public health emergencies in May. AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin, Pool

The Senate voted to overturn a Labor Department measure allowing investment managers to make socially and environmentally conscious investing decisions.

Biden is likely to veto the decision.

The vote represents a growing Republican backlash against policies perceived as "woke."

Senate Republicans made strides this week in preventing what they call "woke" retirement plan investing for Americans.

But President Biden will likely use his executive power to veto it.

The Senate passed a resolution on Wednesday to overturn a Department of Labor rule enacted under President Biden that allows retirement plan managers to take environmental, social and corporate governance considerations (ESG) into account when investing Americans' retirement account dollars. It's a move Republicans say will prevent investors from forcing their ethical views on Americans.

"The Biden administration wants retirement plan managers to invest people's retirement funds based not on the best return for the money  nope  based on woke ideology," Sen. John Barrasso of Wyoming, said on Wednesday.

Many Democrats, like Sen. Elizabeth Warren, believe the opposite. "Republicans' hypocritical resolution to nullify @USDOL's ESG rule ties investors' hands & would force their extremist views on investors," she wrote on Twitter following the vote.

It's the latest back-and-forth in an ESG debate triggered by former President Donald Trump, who prohibited financial managers from making such considerations when he was in office. After Biden's Labor Department enacted the measure to reverse that policy, Senate Republicans stood with Trump this week, aided by two Democratic senators. However, the White House has said that Biden will use his first veto as president to protect ESG considerations.

But that will be far from the end of the issue. As CNBC's Brian Schwartz reported this week, Trump allies and wealthy donors have funded Republicans' fight against ESG investing. And the Democratic senators who defected for the vote  West Virginia's Joe Manchin and Montana's Jon Tester  are both running for re-election in 2024 in states with prominent fossil-fuel industries, as The New York Times noted on Thursday.

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Wall Street is also worried about an ESG backlash. A dozen major financial firms including Blackstone and BlackRock added language to their annual reports recently warning against anti-ESG pressure, Financial Times reported this week.

It's becoming a new partisan fight on the "woke" battleground that Republicans have been increasingly standing behind recently, attacking government policies and corporate decisions that they view as being too liberal.

As Insider's Juliana Kaplan and Ayelet Sheffey reported last week, congressional Republicans are also reportedly targeting $150 billion in cuts for "woke" spending on issues like education and healthcare. It's a familiar agenda under new terminology  the plan in question was modeled after proposals from Trump's former budget chief, eyeing funding levels similar to the Republican Study Committee's proposed 2023 budget from last year.

Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer argued in an op-ed for The Wall Street Journal this week that Republicans should get behind the principle of choice in a free-market economy, as well as the success of ESG factors for asset managers and financial institutions who have minimized risk and maximized their clients returns, he said. Schumer cited a recent McKinsey study that found that more than 90% of S&P 500 companies publish ESG reports.

He also pointed out that the rule lets investors and asset managers consider the financial risks posed by "increasingly volatile natural disasters, aging populations, and other threats," that the public may not consider.

"The present rule gives investment managers an option," Schumer wrote. "The Republican rule, on the other hand, ties investors' hands."

Read the original article on Business Insider
Biden (Copyright 2023 The Associated Press. All rights reserved)

The White House on Friday said a lesion removed from President Joe Bidens chest during his annual physical was a common type of skin cancer but stressed that he wont require further treatment.

In a memorandum released by the press office, Physician to the President Dr Kevin OConnor said a biopsy confirmed that the small lesion removed from Mr Biden was basal cell carcinoma.

All cancerous tissue was successfully removed. The area around thebiopsy site was treated presumptively withelectrodessication and curettage at the time ofbiopsy. No further treatment is required, he said.

Dr OConnor added that the site of the biopsy has healed nicely and said the President will continue dermatologic surveillance as part of his ongoing comprehensive healthcare.

The lesion now identified as skin cancer was removed when Mr Biden underwent his annual physical at Walter Reed National Military Medical Centre on 16 February.

At the time, Dr OConnor  a former US Army doctor who has treated Mr Biden since his time as vice president  said he remains a healthy, vigorous, 80-year-old male, who is fit to successfully execute the duties of the Presidency, to include those as Chief Executive, Head of State and Commander in Chief.

He said the lesion was discovered during a full-body skin exam on Mr Biden, who had several localised, non-melanoma skin cancers removed prior to the beginning of his term in the White House.
The Queen Invites The President Of The United States And The First Lady To Tea

Queen Elizabeth II and President Joe Biden at Windsor Castle on June 13, 2021 in Windsor, England. Credit - PoolSamir Hussein/WireImage via Getty Images

When King Charles III is formally crowned at Westminster Abbey on May 6, it is unlikely President Joe Biden will be in attendance, according to two people familiar with Bidens plans.

That does not feel like an event Joe Biden will attend, says a White House official, who requested anonymity to discuss the Presidents plans. The same official stressed that Bidens schedule for May had not yet been finalized.

Foreign governments have recently been notified of the crowns intent to invite foreign monarchs and other world leaders to attend Britains first coronation in 70 years, and formal invitations are set to be sent out in April, according to the Daily Mail. A spokesperson for the British Embassy in Washington wrote in an email to TIME that Buckingham Palace would release an update on who is confirmed to attend the coronation in due course.

Charles became King in September upon the death of his mother, Queen Elizabeth II. Biden and First Lady Jill Biden attended Queen Elizabeths funeral. Biden has often spoken of the tight bonds between the U.S. and Britain. And he was fond of Queen Elizabeth. After the two met in Windsor Castle in 2021, Biden said the Queens look and generosity reminded him of his own mother. When Biden spoke with King Charles to offer his condolences after the death of Queen Elizabeth, Biden conveyed his wish to continue a close relationship with the King, according to a White House description of the conversation.

But Biden has long held a personal discomfort with the British monarchy. He is vocal and proud about his Irish heritage on his mothers side, whose family he grew up with in Scranton, Pa., and who often expressed disdain for the monarchy that brutally colonized the island of Ireland for hundreds of years.

Shortly after election day in November 2020, a BBC reporter shouted out to Biden, A quick word for the BBC? Bidens reply: The BBC? Im Irish. Bidens predecessor, Donald Trump, had a bust of British Prime Minister Winston Churchill in the Oval Office. When Biden moved in, he didnt include Churchill in his redecoration of the iconic room.

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Biden recalled in his memoir, Promises to Keep, that the Finnegans, his mothers Irish-American relatives who he lived with for a period as a child, held on tight to Irish grudges. Biden remembered his Aunt Gertie telling him, Youre fathers not a bad man. Hes just English.

Biden also recalled in his memoir how his mother Catherine Jean Biden taught him that authority figures were no better then he was, just because of their position. In 1982, when he was preparing to meet Queen Elizabeth for the first time, she told him, Dont you bow down to her.

Queen Elizabeths coronation 70 years ago was a watershed moment in Britains history. Her death after a historic 70-year reign quickly drew speculation about the institutions future with Charles at the helm. Buckingham Palace is reportedly struggling to book A-list British entertainers for his coronation.

Read more: The Future of the British Monarchy Is More Uncertain Than Ever

Though he has not made a final decision, Biden is widely expected to run for re-election in 2024, though the timing of that announcement remains unclear.

If Biden ends up not attending Charles coronation in May, he wont be the first president to skip the crowning of a British monarch. President Dwight Eisenhower didnt attend the last coronation, 70 years ago, when Queen Elizabeth went through the solemn ceremony on June 2, 1953.

In his stead, Eisenhower sent a four-person delegation made up of luminaries of the time. That included prominent New York editor and writer Fleur Cowles; Omar Bradley, the chairman of the joint chiefs of staff who had commanded U.S. Army forces on D-Day and is namesake of the modern U.S. armored Bradley fighting vehicle; George Marshall, former secretary of State and the architect of the program to rebuild Europe after World War II known as the Marshall Plan; and Earl Warren, who would later become chief justice of the Supreme Court.

If the Queen considered Eisenhowers absence a snub, she didnt show it. Eisenhower hosted Queen Elizabeth at the White House for a state banquet in 1957. And in 1959, Queen Elizabeth brought Eisenhower to Balmoral Castle in Scotland. According to the National Archives, she made him drop scones from a family recipe. Eisenhower seems to have liked the dish, because the next year, the Queen included a copy of the recipe in a letter she wrote to him. On the recipe, the Queen wrote, enough for 16 people.
In its upcoming budget request for 2024, the Biden administration plans to ask Congress to provide $1.6 billion to clean up the massive fraud in Covid aid programs and to help prevent similar problems in the future.



While the more than $5 trillion in emergency spending Congress authorized in response to the Covid-19 crisis cushioned the economy from the initial shock of the pandemic and helped speed a historically rapid recovery, the relief programs funded by that tidal wave of cash were marred by high levels of fraudulent activity that siphoned off billions of dollars.



In a statement, the White House pinned the blame for the explosion of fraud in the Covid relief programs on a long history of weak controls on government spending, in addition to the need to get the aid out the door as quickly as possible at the time. Past underinvestment in basic government technology and the crush of demand during the pandemic, combined with ill-considered decisions to take down basic fraud controls at the onset of the pandemic led to a historic degree of outright fraud and identity theft of emergency benefits, the White House said.



Noting that the relief programs were essential, the White House called for a bipartisan response to punish those who engaged in major and systemic fraud against the American people during a time of national emergency, as well as an effort to protect government programs from fraud and identity theft in the future.



The use of false identities played a major role in many of the Covid-era scams, which focused on programs that provided aid to unemployed workers and to businesses facing an uncertain future.



According to one estimate, the federal government made at least $191 billion in wasteful payments to people claiming unemployment benefits using fake or stolen identities, a problem that was compounded by outdated technology used at the state level. The business aid programs were rife with fraud, as well, with the undersized Small Business Administration tasked with overseeing the disbursement of roughly $1 trillion as rapidly as possible, which led to billions of dollars in payments to ineligible firms as well as known fraudsters.



Spend to save: Speaking to reporters Thursday, White House American Rescue Plan coordinator Gene Sperling said he hopes that Congress sees the proposed spending as an investment that will more than pay for itself. Its just so clear and the evidence is so strong that a dollar smartly spent here will return to the taxpayers, or save, at least $10, Sperling said, referring to ongoing efforts that have recovered more than $200 million from fraudsters.



The request for funds will be part of the 2024 budget proposal, but the money would be spent over a period of years, Sperling said. The plan calls for spending $600 million on prosecuting those who committed fraud, an effort that would include the creation of 10 new strike forces at the Justice Department. Another $600 million would be used to invest in better prevention of identity theft and all forms of major fraud involving public benefit programs, the White House said. And $400 million would go toward providing aid for those who have been victims of identity theft.



Whatever the merits, the prospects for the proposal are poor. Congress rejected a plea last year from the White House to provide the Justice Department with more funds to pursue Covid aid fraud, and House Republicans appear to have no interest in increasing spending of any kind, even if that spending more or less pays for itself while providing stronger protections against fraud in the future, as the White House claims.

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A new proposal from President Joe Biden's administration to restrict access to asylum in the United States already faces an uncertain future.

It has received near-uniform opposition from immigration advocates and some Democrats, and legal groups who believe it violates asylum protections enshrined in U.S. law vowed to challenge the proposed rule in court.

Coupled with an aggressive messaging campaign from Republicans in the U.S. House of Representatives critical over his border security efforts, Biden is seemingly in a no-win situation over immigration and border enforcement as he eyes a second term as president.

The publication of the proposed asylum rule last week comes at a time when the Biden administration has succeeded in lowering migrant encounters along the U.S.-Mexico border month over month, as U.S. border officials prepare to do away with a controversial public health rule that has helped them manage migrant flows at the southern border for the past three years.

"It's the worst possible strategy when you're giving your opponents most of what they want, not getting any credit from them, not getting any credit from your own side," said David Bier, associate director for immigration studies at the libertarian Cato Institute.

"And nobody's happy because they're (the Biden administration) not doing anything that pleases anyone right now," he said. "It's not unexpected that they're in this position, given the stances that they're taking."

Bier appeared on Capitol Hill on Tuesday in the latest congressional hearing Republican leaders have held about the situation at the southern U.S. border since they regained the House majority after taking office in January. All five hearings have focused heavily on criticism of Biden and the Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas' handling of record number of migrant encounters and fentanyl seizures at the border.

"Make no mistake, this crisis is a direct result of Secretary Mayorkas' open border policies, policies he began implementing on day one," said U.S. Rep. Mark Green, R-Tenn., the chair for House Committee on Homeland Security.

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People wait in line to cross the U.S. Customs and Border Protection-Dennis DeConcini Port of Entry into the United States on Dec. 21, 2022, in Nogales, Sonora, Mexico. Title 42 was scheduled to end on Dec. 21, but was granted a stay by the U.S. Supreme Court.

What is the new proposed rule on asylum?

The proposed rule on asylum published Feb. 21 by the U.S. Departments of Justice and Homeland Security would make migrants ineligible to claim asylum in the United States if they don't apply for one of the legal pathways available and if they don't ask for protection in a country that they passed on the way to the U.S.

The rule is proposed to go into effect in May, but whether it will be implemented is an open question. It is certain to be challenged in court.

U.S. law specifies that migrants can claim asylum regardless of their legal status and how they arrive to the country. A similar rule that DHS issued under former President Donald Trump was struck down in court as unlawful.

"If the Biden administration goes through with its proposed asylum ban, we will sue, just as we successfully sued over the Trump asylum bans. The Biden administrations cosmetic changes cannot legally save it," said Lee Gelernt, the deputy director for the American Civil Liberties Union Immigrants' Rights Project.

Politics: Pete Buttigieg has become the GOP's favorite lightning rod for controversy. Why him?

The new regulations on asylum are proposed to take effect after May 11, when DHS has announced it will end the public health emergency over COVID-19 and the implementation of Title 42, a public health rule that both Biden and Trump used to turn away more than 2.6 million migrants at the U.S.-Mexico border since March 2020.

One of the legal pathways referenced in the asylum rule is a program DHS implemented in January that allows 30,000 migrants from four Latin American countries  Cuba, Haiti, Nicaragua and Venezuela  to apply for humanitarian parole each month. All other migrants from those four countries who do not apply for the parole program can be immediately expelled from the U.S. under Title 42.

After peaking in December, the number of migrants encountered from those four countries fell sharply, from 91,330 to 22,802 in January, according to CBP statistics.

Following procedural guidelines, the proposed rule now will be subject to public comment for 30 days. That has spurred migrant advocacy organizations and nonprofits to take action. They view Biden's plan as a near crackdown that would close off access to asylum to most migrants, especially those who may need it most.

A family from Michoacan, Mexico, stands in front of the Dennis DeConcini port of entry in Nogales, Sonora, before attending their appointment to request an exemption from Title 42 on Jan. 21, 2023.

'It is not about honoring the law,' one opponent says

More than 100 groups from around the country that form the Welcome With Dignity coalition signed on to a campaign and created a website to get as as many people to submit comments urging the Biden administration to backtrack on implementing the new guidelines.

"It's a mechanism to discourage people from coming to the border and not making asylum accessible to them. It is not about fixing the immigration system, and it is and it is not about honoring the law," said Gladis Molina Alt, the executive director for the Young Center for Immigrant Children's Rights. It is one of the more than 100 groups participating in the campaign to seek public input.

The CBP One app features for asylum seekers went live on Jan. 12

Advocates also have pointed out glitches and challenges with the Customs and Border Protection One App, a phone-based system that requires asylum seekers to make an appointment on the app to file a claim at a port of entry.

The latest quarterly report compiled by the Straus Center at the University of Texas at Austin in February described accessibility issues with the app, making it more difficult for people without a phone or strong internet access to make appointments.

The U.S. makes about 750 slots available each morning, but it's not nearly enough, most advocates agree.

Molina Alt said one of her main concerns are the unintended consequences the proposed asylum rule could have if it takes effect. She anticipates that it will lead to more family separations because parents would be barred from seeking asylum under the policy change, but any child who arrives in the U.S. alone cannot be turned away and is processed under separate guidelines specific to minors.

"That is going to force families to make that choice of if I want my children to be safe, well, then I'm going to have to let them go on their own to seek that protection on the other side of the border," she said. "While I, as a mother, I'm subjected to a different set of rules that doesn't allow me to to go over the border with my kids."

That has already been happening with Title 42, according to Molina Alt. The Young Center provides representation to unaccompanied and separated children around the U.S. The U.S. government had about 8,400 children in its custody as of Wednesday, according to the Department of Health and Human Services, which oversees the care of minors in government custody.

While those numbers are below the historic peaks in 2021 when DHS and HHS had to house minors at air bases and other large emergency spaces, Molina Alt said the system can get overburdened again because it takes longer to reunite minors with family or relatives if the parents are in another country.

Border news: House Republicans rip Biden on border security as Democrats sit out Arizona hearing

Bier with the Cato Institute said that the efficiency of the established legal pathways like the parole program for Venezuelans, Cubans, Haitians and Nicaraguans will also help determine how successful the effort to manage migration flows are at the southern border.

"If the processing times go up a lot, then people are not going to believe that this is real, and that there's a viable legal option for them," he said. "And they're going to start showing up at the border again."

Democrats in House, Senate also raise concerns

Biden has also received pushback against the proposed asylum rule from Democrats, who have long championed immigration reform and have prioritized lawful pathways for migration and citizenship. On Tuesday, Rep. Bennie Thompson, D-Miss., the ranking member on the Homeland Security committee, defended Biden's record on immigration. But even he cautioned against attempts to undermine asylum.

"Turning our backs on asylees would be turning our backs on who we are as a country," he said at the hearing. "It would also be bad for border security, since having a system for people to apply for asylum helps border management and allows law enforcement to focus on real border security threats."

Other Democrats, including New Jersey Sens. Bob Menendez and Cory Booker, New Mexico Sen. Ben Ray Lujan and California Sen. Alex Padilla, issued a joint statement saying they were "deeply disappointed" the Biden administration had moved through with the proposed rule despite voicing their opposition to the idea early on.

Michael Posner worked as an assistant secretary of state from 2009 to 2013 under former President Barack Obama. He helped codify into law the Refugee Act of 1980, which laid the groundwork for the current asylum system in the United States that allowed people to apply regardless of how they arrived in the country.

He said he believed the proposed asylum rule as written is far too sweeping and would undermine the protections in place for the past 40 years. The implications also could extend beyond the United States.

"We need to recognize also the rest of the world watches what we do here," Posner said. "And if the headline goes up in May, or whenever, the United States has basically shut down the asylum system, you can be sure that other countries are going to say, 'Oh yeah, they did that, we should do the same.'"

Have any news tips or story ideas about immigration in the Southwest? Reach the reporter at rafael.carranza@arizonarepublic.com, or follow him on Twitter at @RafaelCarranza.

This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: Biden caught in no-win situation on proposal restricting asylum access
Two bills looking to allow the Buckhead neighborhood to secede from the city of Atlanta and create a separate city of its own, have died in the Georgia Senate.

It failed by a 33-23 vote, with all Democrats in the chamber opposing the measure along with several GOP senators who helped cement its defeat. A vote on a separate cityhood proposal was still pending.

SB 114 fails with a vote of 23 to 33 #gapol #gasenate  Senate Press Office (@GASenatePress) March 2, 2023

Shortly after the vote, Atlanta Mayor Andre Dickens released a statement, saying:

Atlanta is one city, with one bright future.

I am thankful to the bipartisan majority of the Georgia Senate who voted to reject SB 114. I am grateful to the large number of Atlantansfrom parents to businesses to educational leaderswho stood up and spoke with a united voice for a united city.

When I came into office, I committed to building strong bonds across Atlanta, including in Buckhead, and with our states leaders. Weve delivered investments in public safety that have driven down crime, filled potholes and are moving Atlanta forward, together. But most importantly, we have listened to residents about their concerns and hopes, and we have responded.

To my fellow Atlantans: whether you support or oppose deannexation, I will continue working with you to improve our services, to invest in our communities and ensure a safe city for all. Atlanta is a group project, and we will work every day of the week with you, on your behalf, and hearing your voices.

The move also comes after Gov. Brian Kemps chief lawyer sent a memo to lawmakers Tuesday questioning many of the provisions of the controversial plan to transform Atlantas whitest and most affluent area into Buckhead City.

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Executive Counsel David Dove also challenged the legality of the plans of Buckhead City proponents to collect taxes for the Atlanta city school system and continue enrolling students in it even after leaving Atlanta.

How is this action constitutional given (1) Buckhead would lie outside the jurisdictional limits of Atlanta, (2) no referendum is proposed for residents to ratify such taxation, and (3) the Georgia Constitution fails to give any power to cities and counties to engage in the education of their residents outside of independent school districts? Dove wrote.

Supporters of the secession say Atlanta isnt doing enough to control crime and that Buckhead residents arent getting their tax moneys worth from municipal services.

TRENDING STORIES:

Kemp, a Republican, has forged a close relationship with current Atlanta Mayor Andre Dickens, a Democrat. Both Dickens and the citys business leaders are bitterly opposed to secession, along with Atlantas overwhelmingly Democratic legislative delegation.

Democrats say supporters of Buckhead City are a noisy minority of residents in the area. No Atlanta lawmakers are sponsoring the bills.

While the legislation was bottled up last year, new Republican Lt. Gov. Burt Jones supported it while serving as a state senator and has allowed the bills to move forward.

The Atlanta school system also urged supporters to lobby Jones and senators against the bill.

Formation of a City of Buckhead City would have a disastrous impact on the entire school district, the citys Board of Education wrote in a Wednesday statement.

The Associated Press contributed to this article.

RELATED NEWS:
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis Paul Hennessy/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images

A Florida senator filed a bill mandating that anyone blogging about DeSantis must register with the state.

S.B. 1316 mandates that bloggers must register within five days of their first post.

The proposed legislation has not been put to a vote yet, and it's unclear if DeSantis supports it.

A new bill introduced in Florida would require any blogger who writes about Gov. Ron DeSantis to register with the state.

The bill was introduced in the Florida Senate on February 28 by GOP lawmaker Jason Brodeur. S.B. 1316 would require any blogger who writes about DeSantis  and is paid for their work  to register with the state ethics commission or the Florida Office of Legislative Services. They must do so within five days of their first post.

Bloggers would also be required to register with the state if they write anything about Florida's lieutenant governor, a cabinet officer, or any member of the Florida legislature, per the bill.

S.B. 1316 would mandate that bloggers submit monthly reports about their work if they write about elected officials, including how much payment they received for their articles, rounded to the nearest $10, and the name of the "individual or entity" who paid them.

Writers who do not file their reports on time should be fined $25 a day, the bill suggests. A blogger can be fined a maximum of $2,500, the bill reads.

Brodeur's suggested law does not appear to apply to news organizations but instead would target individual bloggers who write about DeSantis and other officials.

The proposed legislation has not yet been put to a vote. It's unclear if DeSantis personally supports Brodeur's bill.

Brodeur told the website Florida Politics that he believes "paid bloggers are lobbyists who write instead of talk."

Ron Kuby, a lawyer in New York specializing in free speech, told NBC News that Brodeur's proposal would violate the First Amendment.

"We don't register journalists. People who write cannot be forced to register," Kuby told NBC News.

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The suggestion that more restrictions be placed on people writing about DeSantis stands in direct contrast to the governor's messaging that Florida should have as much freedom as possible. In July, Insider saw a fundraising page from DeSantis where he was selling a gold "Freedom Team Membership Card."

Representatives for Brodeur and DeSantis did not immediately respond to Insider's requests for comment.

The ACLU of Florida, the First Amendment Foundation, and the Marion B. Brechner First Amendment Project at the University of Florida did not immediately respond to Insider's requests for comment.

Read the original article on Business Insider
The incident Lt. Adam Robert was charged with dated to August

ASHEVILLE - A lieutenant with the Biltmore Forest Police Department turned himself in after he was charged with a child sex crime in South Carolina, law enforcement agencies have confirmed.

On Feb. 27, Lt. Adam Robert Cabe, 41, turned himself in to the Oconee County Sheriffs Office in South Carolina for a first-degree criminal sexual conduct with a minor charge, a felony, according to the Sheriffs Office.

Since Sept. 22, Cabe had worked at the Biltmore Forest Police Department, BFPD Chief Chris Beddingfield told the Citizen Times. Cabe is on unpaid suspension, the chief said.

Cabe made $70,000 a year in the position, and was responsible for scheduling, follow-up investigation, statistical data and equipment maintenance and certification, Beddington said. He also validated incident reports and traffic crash investigations for submission to the state.

The incident Cabe was charged with dated to August, according to an arrest warrant.

On Aug. 13, he engaged in sexual battery by digitally penetrating the  juvenile, who was less than 11 years of age at the time, the arrest warrant alleged. This incident occurred at Lake Keowee near High Falls County Park, Seneca, SC.

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A deputy from the Uniform Patrol Division spoke with a family member of the victim on October 10th of last year in regards to a report of inappropriate touching between Cabe and the victim, who is a child, a news release from the Oconee County Sheriffs Office said. The incident occurred in August of last year at the High Falls Campground on Lake Keowee.

The investigation was turned over to the Criminal Investigations Bureau, the news release continued. Due to evidence that was gathered during the investigation, it was determined that Cabe did inappropriately touch the child last August 13th.

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Master Deputy Jimmy Watt, a spokesperson for the Sheriffs Office, said that a judge has since denied Cabe bond at a hearing  meaning that Cabe is still in custody as of March 2.

Ryan Oehrli covers public safety, breaking news, courts and other beats for the Citizen Times. Comments? Questions? Tips? Send them to coehrli@citizentimes.com or 252-944-6816. Follow Oehrli on Twitter at @oehrli. Please support daily and enterprise journalism with a subscription to the Citizen Times.

This article originally appeared on Asheville Citizen Times: Biltmore Forest cop charged with child sex crime in South Carolina
A group of Black journalism students who got a taste of being a White House correspondent for a day said the dream opportunity gave them the knowledge and motivation to become successful reporters and tackle news across America.

Students representing 47 historically Black colleges and universities were invited to an exclusive White House news briefing last week with Vice President Kamala Harris.

The students, who attended both in person and virtually, questioned Harris and other White House officials about HBCU funding, policies to ensure international students at Black colleges arent left behind, and issues concerning their communities.

Kalia Qawiy, 23, an aspiring TV news anchor at Albany State University in Georgia, asked White House officials how could smaller Black universities remain relevant in the ever-changing college landscape.

She said the preparation that went into her question is what she believes will take her journalistic career to new heights down the road.

Kalia Qawiy. (Reginald Christian)

"I had to figure out how to present it," Qawiy said about the work she put into posing questions to high-ranking officials.

"Its very important for us to get our voices heard, said Qawiy, who took an interest in journalism because she enjoys getting information no one else has yet.

Kyla Hubbard, the editor-in-chief of her campus paper, The Famuan, at Florida A&M University, wanted to know what the White House could do to prevent Florida legislators from targeting diversity and inclusion funding at HBCUs.

Kyla Hubbard is a journalism student at Florida A&M University. (Sydney Rencher)

White House officials responded by stressing that Florida residents should always exercise their right to vote in local and state elections to ensure HBCUs get their fair share of state funding.

The Biden administration made a historic investment in HBCUs at the height of the Covid-19 pandemic through the American Rescue Plan and other pandemic relief funds, which provided nearly $3.7 billion to the schools. In announcing the funding in 2021, officials cited disparities in resources and opportunities and the challenges brought on by the pandemic.

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In addition, about $1.6 billion in debt relief went to 45 HBCUs in 2021, White House officials said.

The HBCU briefing was hosted by former Atlanta Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms, the White Houses senior adviser for public engagement. White House officials this week announced that Bottoms would be leaving her position and returning home to Atlanta.

Bottoms said on Twitter that her term ended in January 2022 but that he was asked to stay on longer.

Keisha Lance Bottoms and Vice President Kamala Harris during a press briefing HBCU student journalists at the White House. (Jordan B. Brown)

Harris and Bottoms graduated from HBCUs: Harris from Howard University and Bottoms from Florida A&M.

Some of the HBCUs that took part in the briefing were Miles College in Alabama, Norfolk State University in Virginia, Delaware State University, Langston University in Oklahoma and Wiley College in Texas.

As of 2021, there were 99 HBCUs in 19 states, Washington, D.C., and the U.S. Virgin Islands, according to the National Center for Education Statistics.

Seeing so many future Black journalists at the briefing made DMarius Jones, a senior at Alcorn State University in Mississippi, realize just how competitive the industry can be. The role of news reporters, he said, is more important than ever.

We need to dispel the rumors and inaccurate information, he said.

Darianna McGee (Darianna McGee )

Darianna McGee, a student at Lincoln University in Pennsylvania who wants to become a television producer, learned by watching the briefing online that reporters who asked direct questions got the best responses, which she plans to do once her career starts.

That way, youre less likely to get the runaround, she said.

This article was originally published on NBCNews.com
Photo: Mark Schiefelbein (AP)

Swedish multinational tech giant Ericsson pled guilty this week to bribery and agreed to pay the Department of Justice $206 million dollars. Federal prosecutors accused Ericsson of engaging in a long-running international corruption scheme that involved bribing government officials, falsifying records, and failing to put in place proper account controls. Ericsson had a chance to have those charges dropped under a deferred prosecution agreement but ultimately blew it by failing to provide evidence.

All told, Ericsson has spent well over $1 billion to settle criminal and civil bribery charges since 2019. When it comes to plain, old-fashioned corruption, Ericsson appears to have the edge over its larger international rivals.

Read more

What kind of corruption is Ericsson accused of?

In 2019, Ericsson entered a deferred prosecution agreement (DPA) with the DOJ after agreeing to pay $520 million following a criminal indictment accusing it of violating the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act. In a DPA, prosecutors can charge companies for crimes but agree to eventually drop those charges if certain conditions are met. In Ericssons case, the companys DPA required it to retain a compliance monitor for three years and fully cooperate with authorities.

But that didnt happen. Instead, DOJ prosecutors allege Ericsson breached that agreement by failing to truthfully disclose all factual information and evidence, related to its shady business in Djibouti and China. Similarly, Ericsson failed to disclose allegations of misconduct in Iraq that may have violated the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act.

When the Department afforded Ericsson the opportunity to enter into a DPA to resolve an investigation into serious FCPA violations, the company agreed to comply with all provisions of that agreement, DOJ Assistant Attorney General Kenneth Polite, Jr. said in a statement. Instead of honoring that commitment, Ericsson repeatedly failed to fully cooperate and failed to disclose evidence and allegations of misconduct in breach of the agreement.

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In a statement, Ericsson CEO Borje Ekholm said the most recent fine serves as a stark reminder of the companys historical misconduct.

Taking this step today means that the matter of the breaches is now resolved, Ekholm said. This allows us to focus on executing our strategy while driving continued cultural change across the company with integrity at the center of everything we do.

Prosecutors allege Ericsson engaged in the 16-year bribery and corruption schemes to solidify its presence as one of the worlds leading providers in 5G telecommunications equipment, particularly in developing nations. The company this week announced its laying off around 8,500 employees, or around 8% of its total workforce, over the next two years following slower than expected 5G rollouts in Q4 2022.



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(Bloomberg) -- US Secretary of State Antony Blinken and his Quad nation counterparts seemed to use a public appearance to reassure China the grouping was not a security union seeking to force countries in Asia to choose between them and Beijing.

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This is not a military grouping, its not that kind of alliance, Blinken said on Friday at a panel discussion in New Delhi, where he and the other Quad foreign ministers of Australia, Japan and India had gathered for a Group of 20 meeting. He added it was instead aimed at very practical projects to benefit the region.

Despite the softer stance at the public event, the groups joint statement, which did not mention China by name, still contained firm language aimed at Beijing.

The statement said it strongly opposes unilateral actions that seek to change the status quo or increase tensions in the South and East China Seas. The Quadrilateral Security Dialogue, as the discussions are formally known, also expressed serious concern about the militarization of regional islands and reefs  which were references to Chinese military activity in the region.

The Quad in recent years has been seen as a counter to Chinas assertiveness in the Indo-Pacific. Beijing has criticized the group as a clique that could stoke a new Cold War.

The statement mentioned the Quad stands for sustainable, transparent and fair lending and financing practices and freedom of navigation and overflight  echoing long-standing US criticism of Chinese foreign policy.

Japanese Foreign Minister Yoshimasa Hayashi followed Blinken in saying the group was not for security issues, nor military issues, and made one of the only direct references to China in the rare public appearance of all four Quad foreign ministers.

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As long as even China abides by the rules of the international norms and also acts under the international institutions, standards and rules, then this is not a conflicting issues between China and the Quad, Hayashi said.

Read: Japan Foreign Minister Set to Attend Quad Talks Hosted by India

Still, the foreign ministers spent much of the public discussion  which followed the G-20 meeting on Thursday  arguing the Quad was aimed more at practical solutions such as Covid-19 vaccine distribution in the region.

Indian Foreign Minister Subrahmanyam Jaishankar pointed to the groups origins in responding to the Indian Ocean tsunami in 2004. Australian Foreign Minister Penny Wong also said the group was focused on practical cooperation among members as they work on development initiatives in various countries across Asia.

Blinken, asked about whether the US had been distracted from priorities in Asia by Russias war in Ukraine, also stressed that Washington remained engaged in part through the Quad with other countries in the region.

Virtually none of the challenges that our people are facing, and that people around the world are facing, can be effectively dealt with by any one country acting alone  whether its the United States, whether its India, whether its Japan, whether its Australia, Blinken said.

Not only are we not distracted, on the contrary, were more deeply engaged than ever  and the Quad is one of the most critical vehicles for that engagement, he said.

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(Bloomberg) -- Secretary of State Antony Blinken pressed his Russian counterpart to end the invasion of Ukraine during a brief and unexpected encounter on the sidelines of a Group of 20 meeting in India, their first in-person encounter since the war began a year ago.

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The top US diplomat urged Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov to move toward a peace deal with Ukraine and advocated for a US citizen detained by Moscow, Blinken told reporters in New Delhi later Thursday.

I told the foreign minister what I and so many others said last week at the United Nations, and what so many G-20 foreign ministers said today: End this war of aggression, engage in meaningful diplomacy that can produce a just and durable peace, Blinken told reporters, referring to a UN vote condemning Russias invasion.

The circumstances of the meeting were unclear. During a stop in Tashkent on Wednesday, Blinken said he had no plans to meet Lavrov or Chinas foreign minister at the G-20. Yet Russias Foreign Ministry spokeswoman, Maria Zakharova, said Blinken approached Lavrov and we didnt push him away.

Lavrov disregarded in his usual manner what Blinken told him, Zakharova said in dismissive comments on state television. It doesnt deserve our attention. There was nothing interesting.

Blinken didnt respond to a question during his news conference about why he sought the meeting with Lavrov. Asked about why Blinken reached out, and why the outreach came after he said he had no plans to seek a meeting, State Department spokesperson Ned Price criticized Russia for trying to make some hay off the exchange and said we make no apologies about seizing an opportunity to deliver key messages to Russia that were in the US national interest.

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What is important for us to convey is that this was a brief encounter  this was not a protracted bilateral meeting or a protracted sit down between the two of them, Price told reporters in a Thursday briefing. What we want to make clear is precisely what the Secretary said, why he said it, and we make no apologies for that. Rather, we will continue to be relentless in raising these issues at every appropriate opportunity.

Blinken has previously avoided meetings with Lavrov, arguing that they wouldnt be productive so long as Russian President Vladimir Putin showed no signs of engaging in real discussions to end the war in Ukraine.

China Sanctions

In the meeting, Blinken said, he also raised the possibility of imposing sanctions on China if Beijing decides to provide Russia with military assistance for its war in Ukraine, adding that the issue came up on the sidelines of the G-20 foreign ministers meeting as well.

We have sanctions authorities of various kinds  that would certainly be one of the things we and others would look at, Blinken said. And I say others because this concern that China is considering providing lethal military assistance to Russia, this is a shared concern. And many other partners have raised this  and not just raised this with us, but its my understanding they raised it directly with China, including here today.

Blinken told Lavrov that the US and other international partners would support Ukraine for as long as it takes, a senior State Department official told reporters in an earlier phone briefing, speaking on condition of anonymity. The conversation lasted about 10 minutes, they said, adding that the US side didnt leave the meeting expecting any immediate changes in Russian policy.

The US framed the encounter as part of Blinkens larger push at the G-20 gathering to isolate Russia over its invasion. He raised the issue in repeated one-on-one meetings with other counterparts and urged other nations to support the US stance for the sake of international peace and stability.

But that call was ignored by some of the G-20 members including the host. Indias Prime Minister Narendra Modi urged diplomats to stay focused on other issues such as climate change and the global economy.

In addition to the war in Ukraine, Blinken pressed Lavrov for the release of detained US citizen Paul Whelan, the official said, and urged his counterpart to implement the New START treaty on limiting nuclear weapons stockpiles. Putin announced last month that Russia will suspend its observation of the treaty and wont allow the US and the North Atlantic Treaty Organization to inspect its nuclear facilities.

G-20 Top Diplomats Fail to Agree on Language on Russias War

Although Blinken and Lavrov have both attended international summits since the war, including the G-20 foreign ministers meeting last summer and at the United Nations General Assembly in September, the two men havent formally met since Russia launched its invasion of Ukraine.

Blinken and Lavrov had what the US diplomat called a frank and direct phone call in July 2022, as US diplomats tried to secure the release of Whelan and Brittney Griner, who were being held in Russia. Griner was later released in a prisoner swap that pardoned Viktor Bout, a notorious arms dealer.

--With assistance from Courtney McBride.

(Updates with State Department spokesman remarks in 6th paragraph)

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Samuel Adams Founder & Brewer Jim Koch Discusses the History of Samuel Adams, Boston Lager Remastered, and the Relentless Pursuit of Better Beer

New York, NY --News Direct-- YourUpdateTV

The beer that made Samuel Adamsjust got better. Driven by its relentless pursuit of better beer, Samuel Adams is remastering its flagship Boston Lager to match the preferences of todays beer lovers. Recently, Jim Koch, Founder and Brewer of Samuel Adams, participated in a nationwide satellite media tour to discuss the history of Samuel Adams and what led them to remaster the classic lager.

A video accompanying this announcement is available at: https://youtu.be/uB1TIHD2uh8

Samuel Adams Founder & Brewer Jim Koch Discusses the History of Samuel Adams, Boston Lager Remastered, and the Relentless Pursuit of Better Beer

For nearly 40 years, Boston Lager has been the flagship beer of Samuel Adams; it represents the heartbeat of the Samuel Adams brand and helped lead the American craft beer revolution, igniting a passion for full-flavored brews.

Since 1984, Samuel Adams Boston Lager has used the worlds finest hand-selected ingredients to create a perfectly balanced and complex original brew. So, why change a classic? The recipe hasnt changed. Boston Lager Remastered still uses Kochs great-great grandfathers mid-19th century original recipe but has evolved the process to reduce filtration, incorporating a traditional German practice of biological acidification while dropping the roughness from the husks of the barley. The result is a brighter, easier-drinking beer that leaves a little more sparkle in every glass.

Boston Lager Remastered is easier-drinking and more refreshing than ever before. Its classic complex-yet-balanced flavor profile features a backbone of caramel and toffee malt notes and a distinct noble hop character with hints of pine and citrus for a crisp finish.

Samuel Adams Boston Lager has used the worlds finest hand-selected ingredients to create a perfectly balanced and complex brew  and that has never changed. To this day, Jim still tastes each batch of Boston Lager to ensure it reaches the brands high-quality standards. When drinkers pick up a Boston Lager, they know theyre going to rediscover the elegance of lager and experience a rich, delicious full-flavored beer.

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Jim Koch says theres a perfect Boston Lager out there, Samuel Adams just hasnt made it yet. Until then, the brand will continue chasing perfection in a glass of beer.

For more information, visit samueladams.com

Jim Koch, Founder & Brewer of Samuel Adams

Jim Koch, founder and brewer of Samuel Adams, is passionate about brewing craft beer. As a sixth-generation brewer, beer runs in his blood but the brewing business was bleak when Jim wanted to start his brewery. He attended Harvard and earned an undergraduate degree and advanced degrees in Business and Law, taught adventure skills for Outward Bound and worked for Boston Consulting Group, counseling corporations while also learning from them.

In 1984, Jim decided to pursue his dream. Following family tradition, he brewed his great-great grandfathers lager recipe. Brewing the first batch in his kitchen, he named the beer Samuel Adams Boston Lager. Unbeknownst to Jim, Samuel Adams Boston Lager would soon become a catalyst of the American craft beer revolution and serve as the flagship brand in Boston Beer Companys portfolio which also includes Twisted Tea, Angry Orchard and Truly. In 2019, Dogfish Head Craft Brewery joined the Boston Beer Company, reinforcing Jim and the companys craft credentials and ongoing commitment to growing the category.

Jim relentlessly focuses on brewing the best craft beer possible with an obsessive eye on quality and flavor. Looking to push the brewing envelope, he pioneered the extreme beer movement, challenging drinker's perception of beer with complex, barrel-aged brews like Samuel Adams Triple Bock and Utopias, a beer of great unprecedented flavor and alcohol content. Over the past 38 years, Samuel Adams has become one of Americas largest craft breweries but still only accounts for a fraction of the category. As the industry evolves, beer remains the backbone of the Boston Beer Company, and Jim continues to pour the same passion and commitment into each innovation as he does Samuel Adams Boston Lager. Jim is also the author of the National Best-Selling book, Quench Your Own Thirst: Business Lessons Learned Over a Beer or Two.

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WEST PALM BEACH  A basketball coach, a grandfather, a teacher and a mother had to strike a balance between highlighting the good and the bad about the 17-year-old boy convicted of murder.

A lifetime of trauma made Xavier Lewis impulsive and reactive, they said, which is how he found himself here, in criminal court, in the first place. But he was smart, too, and a leader  capable of being rehabilitated.

His best chance at that was in prison, said Circuit Judge Cymonie Rowe. She sentenced the teen Wednesday to 40 years for killing 32-year-old Tiana Richardson in December 2020. The penalty was more than a decade longer than his public defender asked for and two decades fewer than the prosecutor did.

Neither reacted immediately. One of Lewis friends flashed four fingers at the others, his eyebrows raised. Forty? They nodded.

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Lewis called Richardson to his Boynton Beach neighborhood near Federal Highway and Gateway Boulevard to buy marijuana from her on Dec. 26, 2020. Gunfire cut the deal short and left Richardson dead behind the wheel, her girlfriend screaming and fleeing down the street while Lewis ran in the opposite direction  back to his home, where he stashed the gun in the garage.

Boynton Beach police arrested Lewis at Atlantic High School, where he was a freshman, two weeks later.

Im not a bad person, Lewis told the judge Wednesday, reading aloud from a letter his classmates at the jail helped him write. I just made a regrettable decision.

Xavier Lewis, who was found guilty of second-degree murder in a 2021 shooting in Boynton Beach, is seen during his sentencing hearing on Wednesday, March 1, 2023, in downtown West Palm Beach, FL.

Victim's family asked judge to sentence Xavier Lewis to life in prison

There was never a debate over whether Lewis, then 15, pulled the trigger. Ballistics evidence, witness testimony and the teen's own statements put him in the back seat of Richardson's car, firing once into her head, then again and again into her back. The question was why.

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Assistant Public Defender Renee Sihvola said Lewis pulled the trigger because he feared for his life  a fear she said stemmed from previous trauma and the presence of Richardson's own gun in the car. Assistant State Attorney Jo Wilensky said Lewis lured Richardson to his neighborhood intent on killing her.

Opening statements: Did teen fear for his life when he killed woman in 2020 fatal shooting?

Xavier Lewis, who was found guilty of second-degree murder in a 2021 shooting in Boynton Beach, is seen leaving the courtroom after the end of his sentencing hearing on Wednesday, March 1, 2023, in downtown West Palm Beach, FL.

Jurors rejected the self-defense theory, but they didnt believe Lewis planned to kill Richardson, either. They landed instead on second-degree murder with a firearm, sparing Lewis an automatic life sentence but leaving his fate up to the discretion of the judge.

Annie Richardson asked Rowe to issue the maximum penalty. Her daughter was easy-going and in the prime of her life, she said  the middle child of a large family, a self-taught mechanic, a soon-to-be homeowner, and now a gaping hole in their lives.

"His family can still talk to him, and get all the love and affection that I've been robbed of," Richardson said between tears. "I can't get that anymore."

Judge Cymonie Rowe of the 15th Circuit looks on at Renee Shivola, public defender for Xavier Lewis, who was found guilty of second-degree murder in a 2021 shooting in Boynton Beach, during Lewis' sentencing hearing on Wednesday, March 1, 2023, in downtown West Palm Beach, FL.

Public defender urged judge to be lenient in case of Xavier Lewis

Wilensky asked Rowe to sentence the teen to 60 years in prison  not life  to account for his youth and troubled upbringing. Sihvola called the recommendation a "de-facto life sentence."

She urged Rowe to sentence Lewis to 25 years instead, insisting that the emotional immaturity and lack of impulse control that drove his actions at 15 weren't permanent. A teacher from the jail testified that she'd watched Lewis grow as a person and a student during his two-year stint there.

Like the jury, Rowe's decision seemed to split the lawyers' wishes down the middle.

Rhondine Head, mother of Xavier Lewis, who was found guilty of second-degree murder in a 2021 shooting in Boynton Beach, speaks during a sentencing hearing for her son on Wednesday, March 1, 2023, in downtown West Palm Beach, FL.

Evidence of a troubled childhood, in addition to Lewis' age, intellectual capacity and mental and emotional health, persuaded her against sentencing him to life in prison, she said. Rowe added that she believes prison time will help rehabilitate the teen, "who seems to be doing well" while incarcerated.

Lewis' friends sent a chorus of "good lucks" his way as the bailiffs began to handcuff him. His grandmother, Lily Head, called out her grandson's name, just like she had when he'd been convicted. Her voice was weaker this time.

"Xavier," she said. "It's going to be all right."

Hannah Phillips is a journalist covering public safety and criminal justice at The Palm Beach Post. You can reach her at hphillips@pbpost.com.

This article originally appeared on Palm Beach Post: Xavier Lewis sentenced to 40 years in prison for Boynton Beach murder
On September 26th of 2022, the Bradford County Sheriffs Office received information about a deputy possibly committing a sexual battery while off duty.

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BCSO initiated an investigation by interviewing the female victim and other witnesses.

Detectives then interviewed Deputy Dalton Sumner, with his attorney present, and confirmed the victims account. Deputy Sumner has been placed on administrative leave without pay and the State Attorneys Office was consulted on the case.

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Upon completion of the investigation the case was formally presented to the State Attorney. They initiated the warrant process which culminated with Judge William E. Davis signing an arrest warrant for Sexual Battery on Victim 18 or Older With Special Circumstances on February 28th with a $200,000.00 bond.

BCSO worked with Sumners attorney to have him surrender at the jail. On March 1st, Dalton Sumner walked into the Union County Jail. He was processed, posted bond, and released.

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SAO PAULO (Reuters) - Brazil's central bank on Thursday approved Meta Platforms' payments launch for small and medium-sized business in Brazil via its messaging application WhatsApp, building on the app's existing local peer-to-peer payment system.

The approval comes as Meta seeks to use the Brazilian market as a key test space for business messaging, an area that has assumed greater urgency as Meta's core advertising business has stalled.

WhatsApp users in Brazil have been able to make payments between users through the application since 2021, but the new development clears the way for merchants to receive payments.

"Soon, WhatsApp users will be able to pay for products and services directly in a conversation with Mastercard and Visa debit and credit cards," Guilherme Horn, head of WhatsApp Latin America, said in a Linkedin post.

Shortly after the central bank's greenlight, Meta's chief executive Mark Zuckerberg said on his Instagram broadcast channel that "people will be able to pay small businesses right on WhatsApp".

"Excited to roll this out soon," he said.

(Reporting by Peter Frontini and Andre Romani; Editing by Sonali Paul)
By Marta Nogueira

RIO DE JANEIRO (Reuters) -Petrobras could face lawsuits for breach of contract after the company halted planned asset sales at the request of Brazilian leftist President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva's government, specialist lawyers said on Friday.

Petroleo Brasileiro SA, as the state-controlled company is formally known, was asked this week to halt for 90 days divestitures worth more than $2 billion, with the government saying it was reevaluating the country's national energy policy.

Lula appointee Petrobras Chief Executive Jean Paul Prates told reporters on Thursday "everything is halted for analysis." Petrobras has yet to formally confirm its decision to the government.

"There is no possibility of suspending signed contracts. There is no stipulation for that," Alexandre Calmon, lead partner of law firm Campos Mello Advogados' energy area, told Reuters.

"That would be a breach of contract," he said, adding if "Petrobras fails to do something that it is obligated to do, it can be held responsible."

The lawyer also explained that sale processes already signed but not concluded are not under the control of the oil company. There are clauses in the contract that must be fulfilled by all parties involved, Calmon said.

Petrobras declined to comment further.

Giovani Loss, a partner specializing in oil and gas at law firm Mattos Filho, also flagged the "potential for lawsuits against Petrobras for intentionally canceling signed transactions."

"Suspending the sales for political reasons leads to a discussion about breach of contract," he added, but noted that he could not "remember a similar situation in Brazil."

Deals yet to be completed include the sale of 22 assets to 3R Petroleum for $1.38 billion and the sale of the Norte Capixaba cluster to Seacrest for up to $544 million.

Brazil's mining and energy ministry and Seacrest - as well as BW Energy and Grepar, which also have contracts to buy assets from Petrobras - did not immediately respond to requests for comment. 3R Petroleum declined to comment.

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The sale halt marks a major shift from the stance taken by former President Jair Bolsonaro's administration, which oversaw a number of Petrobras assets sales, including oilfields and refineries.

"To be honest, what happened didn't surprise me because the Workers Party in its government program said that it was going to do exactly that, that it was going to cancel (the sales)," said Paulo Valois, partner at Schmidt Valois Advogados.

(Reporting by Marta Nogueira; Editing by Richard Chang)
MyPillow CEO Mike Lindell holds up one of his products during an interview with Kimberly Guilfoyle at CPAC 2023 (John Bowden)

Celebrities of Trumpworld descended upon Marylands National Harbor this week for a three-day bash in every sense of the word.

While celebrations of Donald Trump and a rallying cry for 2024 were clearly a central part of day one of the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC), they were far from the only emotions in the air.

There was also a deep anger  at the Democrats, for the policies of Joe Biden and liberals around the country; at the federal government, for bureaucracy that they argue caused America to suffer for two years while thousands died from the same deadly virus those same conservatives had minimised and dismissed; and at the mainstream news press, which they argued was nothing more but a tool of the Democratic Party. Related to that last category was frequent griping from many in attendance of the apparent blacklisting of election deniers by the biggest right-wing networks like Fox News and Newsmax.

Some, like podcaster and noted sidewalk-parker Sebastian Gorka were utterly hamfisted in their critiques. Mr Gorka was spotted yelling at The Bulwarks Tim Miller that he was f***ing fake news and should go to hell, before he told The Independents correspondent minutes later that he should get a real job.

Others were a bit more subtle, if only just. Newsmax CEO Chris Ruddy appeared onstage in front of CPACs main audience for an interview on Thursday afternoon and implied directly that the court overseeing Dominions suits against his company and Fox News was corrupt.

Dominion is suing Fox and Newsmax for repeating false conspiracy theories suggesting the company secretly switched votes from Trump to Biden in the 2020 election. (The media companies insist they did nothing wrong, citing their right to report Trumps phoney accusations under their first amendment rights.)

If we were not in a Delaware court  small state, liberal, Democratic state, the Biden familys close with everybody there  If we were in federal court, this thing would be on the way to being thrown out, Mr Ruddy insisted.

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Real Americas Voice host Grant Stinchfeld, formerly of Mr Ruddys lawsuit-target Newsmax, added that nothing matters unless we get election integrity under control.

Diehard Trump loyalists were treated like celebrities in the halls on Thursday, with throngs of people approaching various Trumpworld figures like Kimberly Guilfoyle and others to hand their various trinkets and pamphlets to large, suited body men while their intended recipients gave half-promises to look into whatever was being shoved their way.

One of those with the most star power was MyPillow CEO Mike Lindell, one of the top purveyors of conspiracies about the 2020 election that were lapped up by Trump lawyers Rudy Giuliani, Sidney Powell, and obviously the former president himself. Mr Lindell spoke to The Independent about the chilling effect that Dominion and Smartmatics lawsuits had on conservative networks that previously platformed his evidence-free claims about massive numbers of votes being supposedly flipped in Joe Bidens favour by these voting machines.

Once Smartmatic sued Fox News on February 4 of 2021, all the other media, conservative media, that would be Newsmax, Salem media, Fox News  none of them talk about things that matter, Mr Lindell complained, referring to the supposed need to get rid of the electronic voting machines.

Melt em down, make em into prison bars, he quipped, before adding that the US media was horrible.

Heres what it would be similar to, Mr Lindell went on. Lets say Im a weather channel. And I got orders in front of me: dont talk about hurricanes or tornadoes. Thats what Fox News, thats what Newsmax says.

Mr Lindell was a major player in the halls of day 1 at CPAC, and is slated to deliver a 10-minute address on the conventions final day. He was quickly hustled from interview to interview at various media setups outside of the main hall, including his own media venture Lindell TV, which had a place of prominence.

Some of those who were milling about the spacious Gaylord hotel, like Mr Ruddy on the main stage, argued that the conservative networks who platformed the increasingly bizarre theories about the 2020 election were merely reporting the claims being spread by Donald Trump and his team.

One of those was Jeffrey Lord, who told The Independent that he believed Fox News had a good argument before a judge.

The one thing that I think Fox has a good argument about is, its their job to report the news. And so they report the news and theyre being sued for defamation

I mean, you can like or not like what the news is. But its your job to report it, he said.

Of course some of those right-wing media personalities went a lot further than reporting on the outright lies about election workers and voting machines that Mr Trumps lawyers were happily spreading: some openly supported them.

Fox Corps founder Rupert Murdoch admitted as much in testimony in Dominions $1.6bn lawsuit against his company, revealed in recent weeks, explaining that Fox figures including Maria Bartiromo, Jeanine Pirro, Sean Hannity, and former host Loud Dobbs endorsed the never-proven (and in many cases, outright disproven) claims being thrust forward by the Trump team.

CPACs increasingly rightward tilt made for a somewhat disjointed scene on Thursday, where the gathering in the shadow of the nations capital took on a sort of even split between the kind of professionally-dressed suit-and-tie-wearing DC crowd and the almost trip to the circus vibe that is evident in every inch of the area surrounding a venue in the hours before Donald Trump is set to hold a rally. Where else can you find senators and members of the House, fresh off the Hill, mingling in legislative attire next to a man dressed in a brick-and-mortar build the wall suit, or a graying man with his custom-made Pepe Deluxe hat?

One of those senators who strode through the hall of Trump costumes and past a man wearing a tri-corner hat who carried a massive American flag was Senator Rick Scott, fresh off a failed leadership challenger to Minority Leader Mitch McConnell that was rewarded with his removal from the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation.

Mr Scott denied to The Independent that he was following the Dominion case as it progressed against Fox  as well as the embarrassing revelations about the networks hosts  while outlining his idea for what conservatives and right-leaning media should focus on ahead of 2024.

I think we have to focus on the issues that are great for Americans, he said. We have to focus on, how do we build a better economy? How do we make sure kids get a great education? How do we make sure people live in safe communities? If we do that, Republicans are doing the right thing. Thats what I think people care about.

What was clear no one seemed eager for, however, was the kind of mud-slinging primary that led to Donald Trump coming to power in the first place.

Trump fans who spoke to The Independent and other media outlets were hesitant to attack Floridas Ron DeSantis, who is seen as the unspoken main challenger to Mr Trumps bid for the GOPs 2024 nomination. Likewise, Mr DeSantiss supporters, at least those at CPAC, all seemed to be still on the Trump train as well.

Mr Stinchfeld, speaking in the afternoon, identified himself as firmly on Team Trump. But in a conversation about the 2024 primary, his most serious criticism for the star Florida governor  whom he called the best GOP governor in the nation  was that Mr DeSantis should wait a few years before pursuing his obvious national ambitions.

Conservative media, I think were doing a pretty good job. What I would like to see is [for us to] not attack each other, he said in an interview.

There is strength in numbers, every single conservative voice out there, we need each other, Mr Stinchfeld argued. And so you know, in conservative media, partnerships are great. Dont attack each other. Dont have infighting, and just push the truth.
OXON HILL, Md. (AP)  Republican businessman Perry Johnson has announced his long-shot bid for president.

Johnson, who tried to run for Michigan governor last year but was deemed by the states elections bureau to have filed thousands of fraudulent nominating signatures, announced his White House candidacy to a group of supporters on Thursday night, his campaign said. Hours earlier, he had spoken at the opening day of the annual Conservative Political Action Conference just outside Washington, D.C.

Johnson did not directly mention his presidential campaign when he spoke at the CPAC gathering in Oxon Hill, Maryland, where a handful of other candidates and potential contenders including former President Donald Trump are slated to speak Friday and Saturday.

Johnson spent money earlier this year to run an ad during the Super Bowl targeting voters in Iowa, the first state to vote on the GOP presidential field, touting his plan to cut federal spending by 2% every year.

The businessman earned a fortune starting Michigan-based Perry Johnson Registrars Inc., which certifies if businesses are meeting industrial standards. He was considered a top 2022 GOP candidate for Michigan governor before he and four other Republican hopefuls were disqualified because of invalid signatures.

Staffers at the state elections bureau said that Johnson turned in 13,800 valid signatures but that they tossed 9,393, including 6,983 they said were fraudulent. Johnson, who was willing to spend millions of dollars on his campaign for the governor's office, said his rights were violated during the process.
A stoic Buster Murdaugh kept his emotions close to his chest as he watched the moment his father Alex was convicted of killing his brother Paul and mother Maggie.

Buster, 26, looked on in Colleton County Courthouse in Walterboro, South Carolina, on Thursday evening as a jury handed down a verdict of guilty on all charges to his only living parent.

His father turned to him and mouthed its okay as the verdict was handed down.

It took less than three hours for the jury to reach a unanimous vote finding that Murdaugh, 52, shot dead Maggie and Paul at the affluent familys sprawling Moselle estate in Islandton, South Carolina, on 7 June 2021.

Paul was shot twice with a 12-gauge shotgun while he stood in the feed room of the dog kennels  the second shot to his head blowing his brain almost entirely out of his skull.

After killing Paul, prosecutors said Murdaugh then grabbed a .300 Blackout semiautomatic rifle and opened fire on Maggie as she tried to flee from her husband.

She was shot five times including twice in the head after she had fallen to her knees.

Buster  who has stood by his father throughout the trial and testified in his defence  gave little reaction as his fathers conviction was returned, before rubbing his eyes momentarily.

Throughout the six-week trial, Buster and his other family members have put on a united front in the courtroom in support of Murdaugh.

The only surviving son of Alex and Maggie also testified in his fathers defence that he had been destroyed and heartbroken in the aftermath of the deaths of his mother and brother.

Murdaugh also appeared emotionless as the guilty verdicts were read out to deafeningly silent court before he was led out in handcuffs.

The defence team made a last-ditch motion for a mistrial which was swiftly denied by the judge.

The case properly went to the jury, and the verdict was proper, he said.

The evidence of guilt is overwhelming, and I deny the motion.

Buster Murdaugh looks on as his father is convicted of killing his mother and brother (Law & Crime)

Sentencing has been scheduled for 9.30am on Friday morning,

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Murdaugh faces a mininum of 30 years and maximum of life in prison on each murder count.

The weapons charges carry a five year sentence, which can be served concurrently with the murder charges.

The jury reached its unanimous verdict after hearing almost six weeks of testimony and spending less than three hours deliberating on the case that has enthralled the country for almost two years.

In a dramatic two days in the courtroom, Murdaugh took the stand in his own defence and sought to convince jurors that he was not the family annihilator the prosecution painted him to be.

In a bombshell moment, he confessed that he had lied for the past 20 months about his alibi on the night of the murders.

He admitted for the first time that he was there at the kennels with the two victims that night  and that he had lied for 20 months to law enforcement officials investigating the case, his family members and close friends and colleagues.

Murdaugh made the sudden admission after jurors saw a damning cellphone video taken by Paul just minutes before he and his mother were killed.

The video, taken at 8.44pm, filmed a dog inside the kennels on the grounds of the Moselle estate.

Off-camera, three voices are heard: Paul, Maggie and Alex Murdaugh.

During dramatic testimony, multiple witnesses identified Murdaughs voice in the footage  before he then also confessed it was him.

Since the 7 June 2021 murders, he had claimed that he had never gone to the dog kennels with his wife and son that night.

He claimed that he had stayed at the family home, napped on the couch and then driven to visit his mother at his parents home in Almeda. When he drove home, he claimed he went down to the kennels, placing a dramatic 911 call claiming to have discovered the bodies of the two victims.

Buster, Maggie, Paul and Alex Murdaugh left to right (Maggie Murdaugh/Facebook)

Despite confessing to lying, Murdaugh continued to plead his innocence in Maggie and Pauls murders and broke down in tears on the stand speaking about them.

However, he also admitted to stealing millions of dollars from his law firm and to orchestrating a bizarre botched hitman plot three months after the murders.

He is awaiting separate trials in both of those cases.

Prosecutors said that Murdaugh killed his wife and son to distract from his string of financial crimes  at a time when his multi-million-dollar fraud scheme was on the brink of being exposed.

Jurors were told that on the day of the murders, Murdaugh was confronted by his law firm CFO about missing money that he had stolen.

Three days after the murders, a hearing was also slated to take place in a lawsuit over a fatal boat crash.

In February 2019, Paul had allegedly been drunk driving the family boat when it crashed, killing his 19-year-old friend Mallory Beach.

While Paul was facing felony charges over the crash, Murdaugh was being sued by the Beach family, and their attorney had filed a motion to compel to gain access to his finances.

Over four weeks and 61 witnesses, prosecutors laid out this alleged motive for the murders as well as presenting the bizarre hitman plot as part of his pattern of making himself a victim when accountability came knocking on his door.

On 4 September 2021  one day after he was ousted by his law firm for stealing funds  Murdaugh claimed he was the victim of a drive-by shooting.

He kept up the story for days, with jurors being shown a police sketch of an imaginary man he claimed ambushed him.

Days later, he confessed that he had orchestrated the plot claiming he had asked his alleged drug dealer and distant cousin Curtis Eddie Smith to shoot him in the head so his surviving son Buster would get a $12m life insurance windfall.

Beyond Murdaughs other crimes, the state also presented jurors with a trove of circumstantial evidence tying him to the murders and revealing how he manufactured an alibi and covered his tracks in the aftermath.

Prosecutors said that he killed Maggie and Paul with family guns, trying to throw investigators off the scent by using two different guns.

After carrying out the attack, they believe he changed out of his bloody clothing  with jurors seeing a Snapchat video taken by Paul showing Murdaugh in one outfit just one hour before the killings. In bodycam footage when the first officer arrived on the scene, he was in a new outfit.

He is also believed to have taken the guns to his parents home to hide them.

A blue raincoat was later found in his parents home covered in gunshot residue. The state claims Murdaugh used the coat to move and hide the firearms used in the slayings.

Throughout the defences case, they sought to paint Murdaugh as a flawed character and an opioid addict  but one who loved his family and could never have carried out the murders.

Among the 14 witnesses called to try to convince jurors of his innocence was Murdaughs surviving son Buster and brother John Marvin, who said that he was left heartbroken by the murders.

Murdaughs conviction marks the latest twist in the saga of the man who was once the powerful heir to a South Carolina legal dynasty.

His family had reigned over the local justice system for almost a century, with three generations of the family all serving as the solicitor in the 14th Judicial Circuit solicitors office.

Murdaugh continued with the family tradition working in the local prosecutors office and also at the law firm PMPED, which was founded by his grandfather.

The murders of Maggie and Paul shocked the Hampton County community but also brought to light a series of scandals surrounding Murdaugh.

As well as the boat crash case, the fraud scheme and the botched hitman plot, there are at least two other unexplained deaths with some tie to Murdaugh.

Days on from the murders, an investigation was reopened into the 2015 death of Stephen Smith, who was found dead in the middle of the road in Hampton County.

The openly gay 19-year-old had suffered blunt force trauma to the head and his death was officially ruled a hit-and-run. But the victims family have long doubted this version of events, with the Murdaugh name cropping up in several police tips and community rumours.

An investigation was also reopened into another mystery death connected to the Murdaugh family  that of their longtime housekeeper Gloria Satterfield.

She died in 2018 in a mystery trip and fall accident at the family home. Murdaugh then allegedly stole around $4m in a wrongful death settlement from her sons.

Murdaugh is now also facing around 100 charges over the multi-million-dollar fraud scheme and roadside shooting cases.
Key Insights

HGH Holdings' estimated fair value is S$0.014 based on 2 Stage Free Cash Flow to Equity

HGH Holdings' S$0.013 share price indicates it is trading at similar levels as its fair value estimate

Peers of HGH Holdings are currently trading on average at a 38% premium

Today we will run through one way of estimating the intrinsic value of HGH Holdings Ltd. (Catalist:5GZ) by taking the expected future cash flows and discounting them to their present value. We will use the Discounted Cash Flow (DCF) model on this occasion. Believe it or not, it's not too difficult to follow, as you'll see from our example!

We would caution that there are many ways of valuing a company and, like the DCF, each technique has advantages and disadvantages in certain scenarios. 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 HGH Holdings

What's The Estimated Valuation?

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. 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:

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10-year free cash flow (FCF) forecast

2023 2024 2025 2026 2027 2028 2029 2030 2031 2032 Levered FCF (SGD, Millions) S$1.76m S$1.80m S$1.85m S$1.89m S$1.94m S$1.98m S$2.02m S$2.06m S$2.10m S$2.14m Growth Rate Estimate Source Est @ 3.19% Est @ 2.81% Est @ 2.54% Est @ 2.36% Est @ 2.23% Est @ 2.14% Est @ 2.08% Est @ 2.03% Est @ 2.00% Est @ 1.98% Present Value (SGD, Millions) Discounted @ 9.0% S$1.6 S$1.5 S$1.4 S$1.3 S$1.3 S$1.2 S$1.1 S$1.0 S$1.0 S$0.9

("Est" = FCF growth rate estimated by Simply Wall St)

Present Value of 10-year Cash Flow (PVCF) = S$12m

We now need to calculate the Terminal Value, which accounts for all the future cash flows after this ten year period. The Gordon Growth formula is used to calculate Terminal Value at a future annual growth rate equal to the 5-year average of the 10-year government bond yield of 1.9%. We discount the terminal cash flows to today's value at a cost of equity of 9.0%.

Terminal Value (TV)= FCF 2032  (1 + g)  (r  g) = S$2.1m (1 + 1.9%)  (9.0% 1.9%) = S$31m

Present Value of Terminal Value (PVTV)= TV / (1 + r)10= S$31m ( 1 + 9.0%)10= S$13m

The total value, or equity value, is then the sum of the present value of the future cash flows, which in this case is S$26m. To get the intrinsic value per share, we divide this by the total number of shares outstanding. Compared to the current share price of S$0.01, the company appears about fair value at a 9.5% discount to where the stock price trades currently. Valuations are imprecise instruments though, rather like a telescope - move a few degrees and end up in a different galaxy. Do keep this in mind.

dcf

The Assumptions

Now the most important inputs to a discounted cash flow are the discount rate, and of course, the actual cash flows. Part of investing is coming up with your own evaluation of a company's future performance, so try the calculation yourself and check your own assumptions. The DCF also does not consider the possible cyclicality of an industry, or a company's future capital requirements, so it does not give a full picture of a company's potential performance. Given that we are looking at HGH Holdings as potential shareholders, the cost of equity is used as the discount rate, rather than the cost of capital (or weighted average cost of capital, WACC) which accounts for debt. In this calculation we've used 9.0%, which is based on a levered beta of 1.182. 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.

Moving On:

Valuation is only one side of the coin in terms of building your investment thesis, and it shouldn't be the only metric you look at when researching a company. The DCF model is not a perfect stock valuation tool. Rather it should be seen as a guide to "what assumptions need to be true for this stock to be under/overvalued?" For instance, if the terminal value growth rate is adjusted slightly, it can dramatically alter the overall result. For HGH Holdings, we've put together three additional elements you should further examine:

Risks: Every company has them, and we've spotted 3 warning signs for HGH Holdings (of which 1 is significant!) you should know about. 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! Other Top Analyst Picks: Interested to see what the analysts are thinking? Take a look at our interactive list of analysts' top stock picks to find out what they feel might have an attractive future outlook!

PS. Simply Wall St updates its DCF calculation for every Singaporean 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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A misconduct complaint has been filed against a federal judge in California after the 13-year-old daughter of a defendant was handcuffed in court as she cried in an attempt to scare her, court documents said.

Judge Roger Benitez (U.S. District Court for the Southern District of California)

U.S District Judge Roger Benitez of San Diego was conducting a hearing to revoke a supervised release on Feb. 13.

The defendant, who was finishing a prison sentence for drug charges, informed the judge that he was trying to leave the city to keep his daughter from people who may lead her into the same path I went down, according to court transcripts filed by the defendants lawyer.

You got cuffs? Benitez, a senior judge, asked a U.S. marshal, according to court documents.

Benitez then ordered the 13-year-old to leave the spectator area, approach the front of the courtroom and stand next to her fathers lawyer, the transcripts say.

He ordered the marshal to cuff her hands behind her back and instructed her to sit in a jury box for a few minutes, the documents say. She cried continuously, according to the court documents.

Benitez released her and had her uncuffed. He told that her she was an awfully cute young lady but that if she didnt stay away from drugs, she would wind up in cuffs and be right back there where I put you a minute ago, the documents says.

The incident sparked an inquiry by the chief judge for the Southern District of California, Dana Sabraw, who contacted the higher 9th Circuit Court about the allegations on Feb. 17.

The chief judge of the 9th Circuit, Mary Murguia, issued an order Tuesday confirming an investigation and saying she identified a misconduct complaint against Judge Benitez.

Benitez did not immediately respond to a request for comment Thursday.

Mayra Lopez, who represented the defendant, said in her court filing that it was the first time the mans daughter had attended his hearings and that Benitezs actions were psychologically damaging and harmful.

Psychologists have found that shackling is humiliating for young people who are more vulnerable to lasting harm from feeling humiliation and shame than adults Lopez said.

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Lopez did not immediately respond to a request for comment Thursday afternoon.

Michele McKenzie, who represents the teen and her mother, said: She is confused and embarrassed. Shes only 13.

I dont think theres any other way to read that experience other than an attempt to shame her and humiliate her into some sort of future action, she said. Theres so many ways, particularly when youre the one in the robe, to reach out to a member of the public, to reach out to a family member, to reach out to a child and say, I want good things for you, and thats not the way to do it. Youre showing your power by force. Thats just not acceptable.

McKenzie said the judge should issue a public apology or receive public censure.

Benitez sentenced the girls father to 10 months in prison for violating terms of his supervised release, but the man was resentenced to a term of time already served by a different judge, according to the San Diego Union Tribune.

Benitez was nominated to the bench in 2004 by President George W. Bush. His nomination was overwhelmingly opposed by a committee of the American Bar Association, which said other judges and lawyers described him as being arrogant, short-tempered and altogether lacking in people skills.

Benitez garnered scrutiny in 2021 when he stuck down Californias three-decade-old assault weapons ban and likened the AR-15 rifle, which has been wielded in some of the deadliest mass shootings in the U.S. in recent years, to a Swiss Army knife that could be used for both home and battle.

This article was originally published on NBCNews.com
Protesters rallied in November and voiced their opposition to California State University's plan to require four years of high school math for freshman admissions.

The U.S. Supreme Court conservative blocsskepticism toward President Bidens use of executive authority to eliminate more than $400 billion in student loan debt is no mere thought exercise in California. The economic future of millions of its residents may depend on it.

Among the estimated 40 million Americans who would benefit from the Biden administrations plan, California is home to far and away the largest number of beneficiaries of any single state  some 3.5 million, according to the White Houses figures.

The total includes 2.3 million residents who would qualify for the highest level of forgiveness, $20,000. Thats because they received Pell Grant federal loans, which generally go to lower income applicants. Others would be forgiven up to $10,000 in debt. In all cases, forgiveness would be applied only to individuals who earn less than $125,000 or to households under $250,000.

Considering that the debt relief could apply to almost 10% of the states population, its no wonder Californians generally approve of the idea. According to a statewide survey conducted by the Public Policy Institute of California last fall, 60% of adults favored eliminating college debt, while 68% thought tuition at public two- and four-year colleges should be free.

In truth, though, were just barely scratching the surface of the story. Student debt relief has significant economic implications, certainly, but there are other layers of impact there to be examined.

Debt forgiveness could end up being an equity issue, said Jacob Jackson, a research fellow at the PPICs Higher Education Center. In some ways, it already is.

Support for forgiving student debt varied by race in the PPICs survey, with white adults breaking 50-50 and Asian Americans slightly in favor. But among Latino and Black respondents, the support was overwhelming  76% and 73%, respectively.

There is life experience and real struggle behind those responses. Three-quarters of Black graduates from the California State University system and two-thirds of Black graduates from the UC system carried loan debt with them when they left college, according to the California Student Aid Commission.

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About half of Latino college students, meanwhile, receive a Pell Grant, which often doesnt have to be repaid. But because those grants have fallen so far behind the skyrocketing cost of a college education, many of those students also wind up applying for other financial assistance. Years of compounding interest later, theyre still digging out.

Thats a brief and quite incomplete explanation for how the U.S. came to sit with $1.6 trillion in student debt, an estimate delivered at the end of last year by the Federal Reserve Bank of New York. It is debt that is crippling some peoples attempts to build a life, escape lower income living or simply begin securing a future.

While white students hold 54% of all outstanding student loan debt in the country, Black college graduates on average owe $25,000 more than do white graduates, according to the Education Data Initiative. Four years after graduation, nearly half of Black students owe an average of 6% more than they borrowed.

The Biden plan wont come close to wiping that out  but it could provide a gateway to a better economic future for those who qualify. One of those people is Ambalika Williams, who spoke to Capital & Main by phone from the steps of the Supreme Court in Washington, D.C., on Tuesday.

As the justices inside bandied about concepts like separation of powers and cast doubt on Bidens authority to invoke debt relief, Williams was concluding an overnight vigil. Shed stood in rain and near-freezing temperatures for about 15 hours, waiting to receive a ticket for a seat at the proceedings.

In the end, Williams, an organizer for the student advocacy group Rise, handed her ticket to one of the 50 college students whom she had recruited to be there.

I just felt like I wanted the students who are in college right now to be the ones to see the actual arguments, she said.

Williams is 33. More than a decade after leaving the University of Texas with a degree in political science and $40,000 in loan debt, shes still trying to dig out financially. She was told she needed a college diploma to get ahead in life. Now she is trying to close out the final $10,000 of her loan repayment in order to get that life started.

Maybe a house. Maybe a family.

The clock is ticking on all that, Williams said. My dad is 63 and about to retire. Hes still paying off student loan debt.

The fate of the Biden administrations plan is unclear. In Tuesdays oral arguments, conservative justices loudly questioned whether the plan oversteps the authority granted by the Higher Education Relief Opportunities for Students Act of 2003 (the HEROES Act), which was invoked in the early stages of the pandemic to freeze borrower balances and pause repayments. That freeze, incidentally, came under former President Donald Trump.

Your view [is] that the president can act unilaterally, that there was no role for Congress to play in this  and  theres no role for us to play in this either, Chief Justice John Roberts told lawyers representing the administration, suggesting that perhaps the justices themselves should decide who has to pay what.

Student borrowers are waiting to learn when the pause on their debt will end. According to the U.S. Department of Education, if the Biden relief plan isnt in place and the case still isnt resolved by June 30, payments will resume 60 days after that date.

But with or without the blessing of the court, the movement to relieve the crushing debt felt by millions of Californians  and 40 million people across the country  is likely to continue. For last years midterm elections, Ambalika Williams said, her organization recruited more than half a million student voters to mobilize on the issue. They paid close attention to Bidens promise to wipe out student debt, she said, And were not done yet.

Seen is the University Village area of the University of Southern California in Los Angeles on March 12, 2019. The U.S. Department of Education will investigate the University of Southern California after a Jewish student claimed she resigned from student government because she endured harassment over her pro-Israel views.

This article originally appeared on Visalia Times-Delta: California Holds Its Breath as Supreme Court Weighs Student Loan Forgiveness
Residents of some California mountain towns have been cut off for days following historic levels of snowfall.

Repeated snow storms have impacted California this week from the northern stateline with Oregon to the US-Mexico border. As much as 10 feet of snow has fallen in high-elevation communities east of Los Angeles blocking roads, downing power lines and trapping some residents in their homes.

In the ski resort of Crestline, the roof of the only grocery store collapsed under the weight of snow. One man explained how he and his girlfriend had been forced to spend nearly a week paying for a hotel after their SUV was buried and they couldnt return home to San Bernardino, 45 minutes away.

We knew there was going to be a snowstorm, James Norton, 39, told The Associated Press. We didnt know it was going to be a disaster.

California Governor Gavin Newsom declared an emergency in 13 counties and had drafted in the National Guard to help.

Elderly and vulnerable people were being evacuated using snowcats and two shelters had been set up for residents in San Bernardino County.

Coordinated efforts were underway to get food, fuel, medication, baby formula and others supplies up to mountain residents as crews continued to remove snow and debris from roads, public officials said.

Emergency services were also battling through heavy drifts to respond to gas leaks and storm-related fires. Two house explosions were reported in the San Bernardino mountain towns of Rimforest and Lake Arrowhead, and believed to have been caused by the extreme conditions.

The San Bernardino County Office of Emergency Services is coordinating efforts to get food, fuel, supplies and services up to mountain residents as crews continue work to remove snow and debris from roadways stretching from Mt. Baldy to the eastern edge of the Big Bear Valley. pic.twitter.com/uZ9Kf5Hcsw  SBCounty (@SBCounty) March 3, 2023

Fire departments asked residents to dig out hydrants where possible to save them hunting around in the snow in the midst of an emergency.

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Avalanches and rockslides were reported following the heavy precipitation. The Mount Baldy snow area, close to Los Angeles, would remain closed until further notice due to avalanche danger, officials said.

Yosemite National Park was also closed indefinitely after record-breaking snowfall increased the risk of avalanches.

State officials urged residents to keep off mountain roads this weekend so first responders could get through.

Many roads remain closed and more than 51,000 customers were in blackout on Friday morning, according to utility tracker poweroutage.us.

Los Angeles International Airport had cancelled nine flights and was experiencing around 70 delays today. At San Franciscos major airport, 46 flights were delayed and eight had been cancelled.

But the snowstorms had one advantage for California  it made a dent in the states ongoing drought. Around half of the state is no longer in a state of drought, the US government monitor reported this week, but lack of groundwater will remain a problem.

.@SBCSDAviation conducted an assessment of the current conditions in our local mountains. This will help us assist @sbcounty Public Works & @SBCOUNTYFIRE with our ongoing relief response. For emergencies please call/text 9-1-1. Or call the hotline (909) 387-3911 for more info. pic.twitter.com/gKCFTIKS2W  San Bernardino County Sheriff (@sbcountysheriff) March 2, 2023

Dry and warmer weather with clear skies was forecast for Friday, according to the National Weather Services regional LA office. Some light rain and cloudy conditions will be possible on Saturday night or Sunday and temperatures will slowly get warmed at the beginning of the week.

But California was not out of the woods yet. Further north, the NWSs Sacramento office warned that another strong winter storm would bring more heavy snow to the mountains and foothills this weekend

A potent winter storm will also bring heavy snow and ice from the Upper Midwest through New England on Friday and Saturday, according to the NWS.

Severe thunderstorms were also threatening damaging winds and tornadoes over the Southeast and risk of flooding in the Ohio Valley.
Local California officials are pushing to name a Sacramento skatepark after Tyre Nichols, the 29-year-old Sacramento native who was fatally beaten by Memphis police in early January.

The Sacramento Parks and Community Enrichment Commission is set to vote on Thursday to refer the proposal to the city council for renaming the Regency Park skatepark as the Tyre Nichols Skate Park, according to ABC News.

Tyre Nichols has a strong connection to the skate park at Regency Park and spent numerous hours of his youth skating and building friendships there, a commission report said.

The tragedy of his death has elevated his name to national significance and as such underscores his connection and contribution to Sacramento, the community of North Natomas and Regency Park, it added.

In the wake of his death, Nichols friends and family have remembered him as an avid skateboarder. The Regency skatepark was also the site of a vigil for Nichols after his death, according to NPR.

Nichols was stopped by Memphis police on Jan. 7 on suspicion of reckless driving. During the traffic stop, he was severely beaten by the officers and died from his injuries three days later.

Five of the officers involved were fired and charged with second-degree murder for Nichols death. Two others have since been relieved of duty, and three Memphis Fire Department personnel were also fired for their failure to provide the 29-year-old with emergency care.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to The Hill.
Construction continues on a section of the Friant-Kern Canal damaged by subsidence, a sinking of the earth from groundwater removal, in Terra Bella. The canal flows 152 miles from Fresno to Bakersfield. (Brian van der Brug/Los Angeles Times)

California regulators have told local agencies in large portions of the San Joaquin Valley that their plans for combating overpumping of groundwater are inadequate, a step that clears the way for state intervention to curb chronic declines in water levels and prevent more wells from going dry.

The Department of Water Resources announced Thursday that officials have determined local groundwater plans are inadequate in areas of the San Joaquin Valley where heavy agricultural pumping has drawn down aquifer levels and left rural homeowners with dry taps.

The so-called groundwater sustainability plans are required under Californias 2014 Sustainable Groundwater Management Act, which aims to address widespread problems of groundwater depletion in many areas by 2040.

Its the first time California has declared local groundwater plans insufficient under the law, which now allows state regulators to step in and require stronger regulation.

The State Water Resources Control Board has the authority to hold hearings and consider whether to put the groundwater basins on probation. If the board deems an area probationary after holding a hearing, it has the power to require well owners to install meters, start reporting how much they are pumping, and begin paying fees to cover costs.

Declaring these local plans inadequate is an important step in implementing the states groundwater law, said Paul Gosselin, deputy director of the Department of Water Resources sustainable groundwater management office.

While the law puts local agencies in charge of dealing with problems of groundwater overdraft, it calls for state intervention as a backstop. The state water boards oversight is intended to help local agencies fix weaknesses in their plans and get on track toward curbing excessive pumping.

Our goal is for basins to resolve issues quickly, said Natalie Stork, a state water board official. We want to see all of these basins be successful, and a key part of that is continuing to move forward on plan implementation and fixing the issues that have been identified.

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In declaring the local plans inadequate, state officials cited weaknesses in how managers of local groundwater agencies plan to address chronic lowering of water levels and the likelihood of more household wells running dry.

They also pointed to flaws in how the agencies intend to address ongoing consequences of groundwater depletion, including worsening drinking water quality and the problem of sinking land as the ground collapses  which has already damaged canals and reduced their water-carrying capacity in parts of the valley.

The Department of Water Resources found the local plans inadequate in six subbasins: Chowchilla, Delta-Mendota, Kaweah, Tule, Tulare Lake and Kern, which cover large portions of valley farmland and where groundwater is considered to be in critical overdraft.

The department also endorsed plans for six other areas, from Paso Robles to Merced County. State officials said those local agencies will continue to address corrective actions in their plans.

Among those green-lighted plans was the Westside subbasin in Fresno and Kings counties, which includes farmlands supplied by Westlands Water District. Jose Gutierrez, the districts interim general manager, said the plan is a detailed blueprint for ensuring a sustainable water future for agriculture and residents.

Karla Nemeth, director of the Department of Water Resources, said local agencies have stepped up with dedication and progress in meeting critical milestones. She said the state is prioritizing efforts to safeguard drinking water, minimize land subsidence and protect groundwater for the future.

Implementation of these plans, which will require difficult adjustments as we go, will ultimately provide a safe and reliable groundwater supply for communities for generations to come, Nemeth said.

In January 2022, the department said the plans for these 12 areas were incomplete and told the local agencies to correct various deficiencies. State officials decided to accept or reject the plans after reviewing the agencies revisions.

Activists had recently called for state intervention in much of the San Joaquin Valley to strengthen regulation, clamp down on agricultural well-drilling and pumping, and protect drinking water supplies.

It's important that the state work very closely with locals to ensure that we are actually going to get put on a path toward sustainability, said Nataly Escobedo Garcia, a policy coordinator with the environmental justice group Leadership Counsel for Justice & Accountability.

Escobedo Garcia said the state water board should act quickly to start the process of fixing inadequate plans to protect water access for residents and prevent more wells from running dry.

Groundwater levels have declined across the Central Valley during the last three years of severe drought as supplies from rivers have diminished and as agriculture has depended more heavily on water pumped from wells. Scientists have found that in recent years the pace of groundwater depletion has accelerated as agricultural pumping has drawn down aquifer levels.

More than 1,400 dry household wells were reported in 2022, the highest number since the state started tracking reports of well failures in 2013.

So far this year, 83 dry wells have been reported to the state.

Even as this year has brought record-breaking snow and rain, the decades-long toll of depleted groundwater remains in the Central Valley.

Many of those with dry wells have been relying on water delivered by truck to household tanks while waiting for solutions.

The plans were rightly rejected by the state Department of Water Resources because, as now written, they would harm low-income people of color who rely on shallow wells, said Tien Tran, a policy advocate for Community Water Center.

I think this means that DWR is taking drinking water really seriously, and really thinking about how we can prioritize the human right to water, Tran said.

She and other environmental justice advocates also said they are disappointed that some plans were approved even though they have flaws in how they propose to safeguard drinking water and address the effects of climate change.

Escobedo Garcia said she hopes state officials will require meters on wells to measure pumping and get the best picture possible of who is doing the majority of the overpumping. She said they should also start charging pumping fees.

It's really, really important that we take a very critical look at what we're doing today to ensure that we actually will have a sustainable future, Escobedo Garcia said. It's about the long-term health of the entire San Joaquin Valley.

If the state water board puts a groundwater basin on probationary status, and if the deficiencies in the area's plan aren't addressed within a year, the board then could force stronger measures by adopting an interim plan to manage groundwater use.

Martha Curiel, a local water activist and former farmworker in Tulare County, said she agrees with the decision not to approve the local plan.

Many people who have private wells are being left without water, Curiel said. Water is life.

Nitrate-contaminated drinking water is also a problem in the area, and Curiel said the local plan should address these issues.

Gosselin said local agencies that are now under state intervention are still expected to continue implementing their plans while they take steps to bring their plans into compliance.

The agencies in charge of each critically overdrafted basin have received about $7.6 million over the last year to help implement their plans, Gosselin said.

A lot of them are doing incredible work that we want to see continue, he said.

This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.
Recent winter storms have provided a much-needed boost to California snowpack that is expected to help reinvigorate some of the states reservoirs, water officials said on Friday.

The total snow water equivalent  the amount of water stored in snowpack  is about 44.7 inches, or 190 percent of the average for this date, according to the California Department of Water Resources.

Thankfully the recent storms combined with the January atmospheric rivers have contributed to an above-average snowpack that will help fill some of the states reservoirs and maximize groundwater recharge efforts, Karla Nemeth, the departments director, said in a statement.

Nonetheless, Nemeth warned that the benefits vary on a regional basis and that the state is far from out of the woods at this point.

It will also take more than one good year to begin recovery of the states groundwater basins, she said.

Statewide snowpack has climbed to levels that are just below the record snow year of 1982-1983, according to the department.

With different areas showing more promising results than others, the Northern Sierra is currently at 136 percent of its April 1 average. The Southern Sierra, on the other hand, has reached 209 percent of its April average, the agency noted.

The Department of Water Resources said it is providing updated runoff forecasts to local water managers and is closely monitoring spring runoff scenarios and river flows to maximize the benefits from this years snowfall while balancing flood control needs.

Data to inform these forecasts comes from a variety of technologies, including Airborne Snow Observatory flights that use LiDAR laser imaging and spectrometer tools, according to the agency.

The recent storms over the past week broke a month-long dry spell in a dramatic way, Sean de Guzman, the departments snow surveys and water supply forecasting unit manager, said in a statement.

We are hopeful that we will see more cold storms to add to our snowpack for the next month and help set up a long, slow melt period into spring, de Guzman added.

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The U.S. Drought Monitor said Thursday that 49 percent of California was in drought conditions, down from virtually all of the state three months ago.

Clearly the amount of water thats fallen this year has greatly alleviated the drought, Daniel Swain, a climate scientist at the University of California-Los Angeles, told The Associated Press. It has not ended the drought completely, but were in a very different place than we were a year ago.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to The Hill.
Walgreens pharmacy, which has been the subject of boycott calls since it announced a new policy regarding abortion pills last week. Joe Raedle/Getty Images

Last month, 20 Republican attorneys general told Walgreens it could face legal action if it sold abortion pills in some states.

Walgreens told Politico it will not sell the pills in those states, which includes some where abortion is legal.

California said it will not renew a $54 million contract with the pharmacy as a result of the announcement.

California will not renew a multi-million dollar contract with Walgreens that expires next month over the pharmacy's decision not to sell abortion pills in certain states, including some in which the pills are still legal.

California Gov. Gavin Newsom announced Wednesday that the state will no longer work with Walgreens, and will find another pharmacy to provide certain prescription drugs to the state's prison system after the contract expires at the end of next month. The state has paid Walgreens about $54 million over the course of the contract, according to Newsom's statement.

"California will not stand by as corporations cave to extremists and cut off critical access to reproductive care and freedom," Newsom said in a statement. "California is on track to be the fourth largest economy in the world and we will leverage our market power to defend the right to choose."

Newsom tweeted a similar message earlier this week, and his office told Insider that the governor called for a review of the state's agreements with Walgreens.

A spokesperson for Walgreens told Insider via email that the company is disappointed in California's decision, and said the decision was made based on "false and misleading information."

"Walgreens is facing the same circumstances as all retail pharmacies, and no other pharmacies have said that they would approach this situation differently, so it's unclear where this contract would now be moved," the spokesperson told Insider. Our position has always been that, once we are certified by the FDA, Walgreens plans to dispense Mifepristone in any jurisdiction where it is legally permissible to do so, including the state of California. We will dispense this medication consistent with federal and state laws. Providing legally approved medications to patients is what pharmacies do, and is rooted in our commitment to the communities in which we operate."

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The phrases "Walgreens" and "#BoycottWalgreens" each trended on Twitter last Thursday night into Friday morning as discussion ensued and some users vowed to stop supporting the chain.

The decision, first reported by Politico last Thursday, comes after 20 Republican attorneys general last month wrote to Walgreens and several other pharmacies including CVS, Walmart, and Costco to point out laws that could be violated if the companies provided abortion pills through the mail.

A Walgreens spokesperson told Insider in a statement last week that it has responded to the states represented by the 20 AGs, and confirmed it will not distribute the abortion pill Mifepristone in any of those states. That group includes Alaska, Iowa, Kansas, and Montana, where the procedure and medications for abortions are largely still legal, Politico reported.

The FDA announced in January that retail pharmacies would be allowed to distribute the pills to those with a prescription; the pills previously were only accessible through doctors or mail-order pharmacies. At the time, Walgreens told Insider that it was working to become FDA-certified to sell abortion pills in the states where they are legal.

While the company wrote to the 20 attorneys general that it would not dispense the pills in their states, it has still not publicly confirmed which states the pills may be available in or whether that list is affected by the policy confirmed Thursday.

Some Twitter users voiced their support of the decision from Walgreens, but several high-profile commentators and Democrats voiced their displeasure with the policy.

"Women across the nation will be denied their right to access healthcare they are legally entitled to because of this awful corporate decision," Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker, the highest level elected official in the state where Walgreens is headquartered, tweeted. "@Walgreens must rethink this policy. To all the other pharmacy providers, we'll stand with you so you can provide this lifesaving care."

Ron Klain, a longtime aide to President Joe Biden who left his White House role as Biden's chief of staff earlier this year, cited Walgreen's slogan in his response: "Their slogan is 'Trusted since 1901' -- but if @Walgreens won't fill prescriptions for lawful, needed medicines, where is the "trust" in that?"

"Absolutely awful. This willful corporate choice will prevent so many women from choosing the healthcare they need and have a legal right to," Sen. Tammy Duckworth, Illinois, tweeted. "@Walgreens should reverse courseimmediately."

Responses to Politico's Alice Miranda Ollstein's original tweet announcing the news also are filled with hundreds of users saying they will "no longer be spending any money at Walgreens" or promising to "never step foot in a Walgreens again."

Mifepristone is currently the subject of multiple lawsuits, with a Texas judge expected to deliver a ruling in the coming weeks on a challenge from Republican attorneys general looking to overturn the FDA's decades-old approval of the pill. Several Democratic attorneys general filed an argument in the case last month that said banning the pill would lead to an "unprecedented spike" in maternal mortality.

Read the original article on Business Insider
By Prak Chan Thul

PHNOM PENH (Reuters) -Prominent Cambodian opposition figure Kem Sokha was sentenced on Friday to 27 years of house arrest after being found guilty of treason, in a case condemned by the United States as politically motivated.

Judge Koy Sao also told the court in the capital, Phnom Penh, that Kem Sokha would be barred from running for political office or voting in elections.

He was arrested in 2017 over accusations he was conspiring with the United States to overthrow self-styled strongman Hun Sen, who has ruled Cambodia for nearly four decades.

Kem Sokha, who headed the now-disbanded Cambodia National Rescue Party (CNRP), had denied the charges and Washington dismissed the allegations as "fabricated conspiracy theories".

His lawyer said Kem Sokha's legal team would appeal the verdict.

"He's in house arrest, all of his political and citizens' rights are completely stripped ... This is not justice," said Ang Udom, who said his client would only be allowed contact with family members.

There was tight security around the court, with hundreds of police officers deployed in trucks.

W. Patrick Murphy, the U.S. ambassador to Cambodia, said the case was a miscarriage of justice.

"We call on authorities to allow all Cambodians to enjoy ... universal human rights of peaceful assembly and free expression and to participate in building a truly democratic system," he told reporters outside the court.

The government, which has forged close ties with China, tends to dismiss U.S. criticism.

A government spokesperson declined to comment on the court case, referring questions to the judiciary.

The CNRP was banned ahead of a 2018 election that was swept by the Cambodian People's Party (CPP) of Prime Minister Hun Sen.

CNRP has since been decimated, with many of its members arrested or fleeing into exile in what activists say is a sweeping crackdown designed to thwart challenges to the CPP's power monopoly.

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Cambodia is due to hold elections in July, with the opposition launching the Candlelight Party last year, which largely regroups members of the CNRP.

Many media outlets critical of Hun Sen have also been shuttered and civil dissent crushed in recent years.

Last month, Hun Sen ordered the closure of the Voice of Democracy, one of the last independent Cambodian news organizations, saying it had attacked him and his son and hurt the country.

Hun Sen is expected to seek another five-year term in office in the July election, but he has previously offered support for his eldest son, Hun Manet, as a possible successor.

Human Rights Watch said the case against Kem Sokha was a "politically motivated ploy" by Hun Sen to sideline the opposition and stamp out democracy.

"Sending Kem Sokha to prison isnt just about destroying his political party, but about squashing any hope that there can be a genuine general election in July," said Phil Robertson, deputy Asia director at Human Rights Watch.

(Reporting by Prak Chan Thul; Writing by Ed Davies; Editing by Kanupriya Kapoor, Robert Birsel and Christina Fincher)
Matthew McConaughey's wife was on the Lufthansa flight that plunged 4,000 feet. David Livingston/Getty Images and Boris Roessler/picture alliance via Getty Images

Matthew McConaughey's wife Camila Alves McConaughey was on a flight to Frankfurt that plunged 4,000 feet.

She wrote in an Instagram post that "everything was flying everywhere."

The flight went through 90 minutes of severe turbulence, and was forced to land in Washington, D.C..

Matthew McConaughey's wife Camila Alves McConaughey was on the Lufthansa flight from Austin to Frankfurt that dove into a freefall mid-flight.

Alves McConaughey shared her experience being caught in severe turbulence via an Instagram post on Thursday. She posted a short clip of the cabin aisle, showing bread rolls, napkins, and cutlery strewn on the floor.

"On Flight last night, plane dropped almost 4000 feet, 7 people went to the hospital, Everything was flying everywhere. To respect the privacy of those around me that's all I am showing but the plane was a CHAOS," Alves McConaughey wrote on Instagram.

The model and founder of the lifestyle website "Woman of Today" said that she ended up checking into a Marriot hotel in Washington, D.C., for the night.

Flight 469 took off from Austin-Bergstrom International Airport in Texas at about 5 p.m. CST, according to flight tracker FlightRadar24.

In a statement to Insider's Matthew Loh, a Lufthansa spokesperson said the plane was hit by "brief severe turbulence" around 90 minutes after it took off from Austin. An unnamed passenger told NBC Washington that the pilot made an announcement after the sudden plunge, saying the plane had dropped about 4,000 feet.

The Lufthansa flight was forced to divert to Dulles International Airport. The plane landed in Washington, D.C., at around 9:10 p.m. EST, the Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority told Insider.

Seven people were injured and sent to hospital, reported CNN, citing a statement from Michael Cabbage, a spokesman for the Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority.

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An unnamed passenger told The Washington Post that food and people "went flying into the air, hitting and even damaging the ceiling of the plane," when the flight went into freefall.

Another passenger, Samantha Pinto, a University of Texas student, told The Post that she saw a baby fly right out of its bassinet.

Alves McConaughey's representatives declined to comment further on the matter, and directed Insider to her post on Instagram.

Read the original article on Insider
By Ismail Shakil

OTTAWA (Reuters) -Canadian Foreign Minister Melanie Joly told her Chinese counterpart that foreign interference will not be tolerated in Canada's internal affairs, amid calls for a broad public inquiry into China's alleged meddling in the past two elections.

"Canada will never tolerate any form of foreign interference in our democracy and internal affairs by China," Joly told China's foreign minister, Qin Gang, in their first-ever meeting, on the sidelines of the G20 summit in New Delhi, according to a statement on Friday.

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and Canada's top security officials acknowledge interference attempts by China, but they insist that election outcomes were not altered.

Canadian media have recently published detailed reports, citing anonymous intelligence sources, alleging schemes run by Beijing to interfere in Canada's last two elections. Trudeau and security officials have not confirmed the reports.

Earlier on Friday, Qin refuted allegations that Chinese embassies and consulates in Canada were trying to interfere in Canadian elections, saying the alleged interference was "completely false and nonsensical."

Ottawa's open accusations about covert Chinese schemes to meddle in Canadian affairs add another layer of complexity to strained diplomatic relations between the two countries.

Tensions between the countries soared in late 2018 when Canadian police detained an executive of the Chinese company Huawei Technologies Co, which was followed by Beijing's arrest of two Canadians on spying charges. All three were freed in 2021.

A Canadian parliamentary committee investigating election interference passed a non-binding a motion on Thursday calling on the federal government to set up a public inquiry, increasing pressure on Trudeau to back a broad probe. Two parliamentary committees are already conducting their own investigations.

Trudeau on Friday said Canada already had protocols to prevent foreign meddling, including an independent panel that has verified the integrity of the 2019 and 2021 elections.

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"We will be there to do whatever is necessary" to ensure the integrity of elections and to build confidence in the country's democracy, Trudeau told reporters in Winnipeg.

Canada's main opposition party slammed Trudeau for not endorsing a public inquiry, accusing him of trying to cover-up Chinese influence.

"Trudeau is showing nothing but contempt for parliament, and for our democracy, by stonewalling efforts to investigate foreign interference and by refusing to treat the issue with the seriousness it deserves," Conservative Party MP Michael Cooper said in a statement.

(Reporting by Ismail Shakil in Ottawa; Editing by Richard Chang, Steve Scherer and Leslie Adler)
President Joe Biden will require no further treatment after a lesion removed from his chest last month during an annual physical was identified as basal cell carcinoma, a common form of skin cancer, the White House physician said.

On Friday 3 March, Physician to the President Dr Kevin OConnor said in a memorandum released by the press office that a biopsy confirmed that the small lesion removed from President Bidens chest was basal cell carcinoma.

According to Dr OConnor, all cancerous tissue was successfully removed, and the president will not have to undergo further treatment.

In the letter released by the White House on Friday, the White House physician also noted that, unlike more aggressive forms of skin cancer, basal cell carcinoma lesions do not typically spread, and that the site of the biopsy has healed nicely.

Moving forward, Dr OConnor said the president will continue dermatologic surveillance as part of his ongoing comprehensive healthcare.

Here is what you need to know about the disease.

What is basal cell carcinoma?

Named after the cells from which the cancer develops, basal cell carcinoma is the most common form of skin cancer, with The Skin Cancer Foundation reporting that, in the US alone, an estimated 3.6 million cases are diagnosed each year.

Around three quarters of every case of non-melanoma skin cancers are basal cell, according to Cancer Research UK.

How does it develop?

The cancer forms in the basal cells, which are in the top layer of the skin, known as the epidermis, and mainly in areas that are often exposed to the sun, such as the nose.

Basal cell carcinoma often forms as a result of DNA damage from ultraviolet (UV) radiation, which can trigger changes to the cells and result in uncontrollable growth, according to The Skin Cancer Foundation.

Although the cancer is usually treatable, it can grow deep and injure nerves, blood vessels, and lead to disfigurement if left untreated, according to the American Academy of Dermatology Association (AAD).

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Is it different from melanoma?

Basal cell cancer is different from melanoma, which generally develops from abnormal moles.

Melanoma is a highly aggressive cancer that can spread to other parts of the body and can be fatal if not treated. However, unlike melanoma, most instances of basal cell carcinoma are curable and cause minimal damage when caught and treated early, according to The Skin Cancer Foundation.

What does it look like?

There are four forms of basal cell cancers: nodular, superficial, morphoeic and pigmented  each with their own characteristics.

Although the lesions can take on many forms, the Mayo Clinic notes that basal cell cancers will typically have one of the following characteristics, a shiny, skin-coloured bump that is translucent, a brown, black or blue lesion with a slightly raised, translucent border, a flat, scaly patch with a raised edge, or a white, waxy, scar-like lesion without a clearly defined border.

A crust can also form in the centre, or an ulcer can develop. If left untreated, this will get wider and deeper.

How is it treated?

The cancerous area can be cut out during surgery. When the cancer is relatively small, it can be done in a dermatologist office while the patient is awake. Techniques known as curettage and electrocautery may also be combined. During this process, a spoon-shaped blade removes the cancer and an electric needle takes away the skin around the wound.

Freezing is also another option, through a procedure called cryosurgery. According to the AAD, this invovles spraying an extremely cold substance, such as liquid nitrogen, on the BCC to destroy the tumour.

Photodynamic therapy, or light therapy, is also another option, while some patients may be treated with a topical medication that can be applied at home.

Who is most at risk?

Middle-aged and older people are most likely to be diagnosed with this form of cancer.

Additionally, the AAD notes that individuals with lighter skin, sun-sensitive skin, those with weakened immune systems, and those who have had skin cancer previously all have an increased risk of developing BCCs.

First Lady Jill Biden also had lesions of basal cell carcinoma removed recently, with Dr OConnor revealing in January that examinations found a lesion over Ms Bidens right eye and one on her chest were both confirmed to be basal cell carcinoma.
Detroit, MI --News Direct-- Canna Business Resources

Business owners are familiar with the ups and downs of cash flow. Its common for companies to borrow money for supplies, payroll and other business needs.

When cash flow is delayed, seasonal slow-downs occur or expansion is underway, businesses may need a boost.

Business owners in the cannabis industry face an uphill battle when it comes to securing traditional loans. The good news is that your company can find needed financing through cannabis lenders.

What are cannabis lenders, and why are they preferable to traditional lending institutions? What do you need to know before you take out a business loan?

What Is a Cannabis Lender?

Like traditional banks, cannabis lenders offer a range of financial resources, such as banking options, financing and processing solutions. The difference is that they cater specifically to the cannabis and CBD industries.

In the past, cannabis companies have had little option but to run cash businesses and turn to predatory private lenders offering unfavorable terms.

With increasing legalization and a growing market for cannabis goods, however, a new breed of lenders is bridging the gap by providing reliable funding and tools to help businesses increase efficiency and profit.

What Makes Cannabis Lenders a Better Choice than Banks for Financing?

Banks must comply with federal regulations and because cannabis has not been federally legalized, major banks wont provide services like loans. They dont want to wade through the risks and complexities, even for established businesses with proven profitability.

Cannabis business loans from dedicated lenders, on the other hand, come with a range of benefits. These lenders understand your industry, offer specific types of financing and provide a range of favorable options. They make it much easier for established businesses to secure needed funding.

5 Things Cannabis Business Owners Need to Know About Cannabis Lenders

Before you jump into a lending situation with the first company you come across, its important that you understand what lenders are looking for and what options are available to you.

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1. What Cannabis Lenders Look For

Like most lenders, cannabis lenders are looking for a safe and solid investment. At the end of the day, they want to work with reliable companies that pose minimal risks. In short, they want every assurance that theyll get their money back.

For this reason, they typically serve businesses that are already established and can provide a history of revenue. Theyll be interested in your industry experience and how long your current business has been operating. What you should look for is a lender that offers a range of options, including uncollateralized financing.

2. Multiple Lending Options Are Available

In addition to typical loans, cannabis financing from a reputable lender should include a number of options to fulfill different business needs. Youll want to look for institutions that offer lines of credit, working capital, accounts receivable invoice financing, real estate financing and equipment financing, as well as banking and processing solutions.

Every business is unique, and the right lender understands this. It will help you find the lending options that suit your particular needs and preferences so that you have the best opportunity to thrive.

3. Deep Understanding of the Marijuana Industry

Business owners often wear a lot of hats, but that doesnt necessarily mean you have the knowledge or experience to excel at every aspect of business management. You will have to rely on a range of other professionals to help you with everything from contracts to tax filings to financing.

Ideally, youll want to collaborate with professionals who understand your industry and your business.

Cannabis lenders necessarily have a deep understanding of the marijuana industry, which gives them the insight to offer products most suited to your operation. This is a major benefit when youre seeking financial assistance but are unsure of the best type of lending for your needs.

4. Tools and Resources Are Available

When traditional banking and lending options are unavailable to you, it can be difficult to see a path forward for your business. Cannabis lenders provide the tools and resources you need to survive, thrive and expand your business.

The right banking, processing and financing solutions can help you to better manage your operations, streamline cash flow and grow your company.

5. Flexible Financing Within the Cannabis Industry

Working with traditional banks as a cannabis company is a complicated and frustrating process. The cannabis industry operates in a sort of limbo position because of the legal framework surrounding it.

Dozens of states have legalized marijuana for medical or recreational purposes and others have decriminalized it. Hemp CBD is federally legal. However, cannabis, in general, remains illegal at the federal level.

Banking institutions face high risks and legal complexities in serving the cannabis industry, so by and large, they dont. To find flexible banking and lending options, cannabis companies must turn to a new class of lenders that focus specifically on cannabis clients.

Is Cannabis Lending Right for You?

If you are an established cannabis company searching for lending options that help you weather the ups and downs of cash flow or expand your operations, cannabis loans are the way to go. The right lender can provide financing resources designed specifically for your industry and the unique needs of your business.

Contact Details

Canna Business Resources

info@cannabusinessresources.com

Company Website

https://cannabusinessresources.com/

View source version on newsdirect.com: https://newsdirect.com/news/what-are-cannabis-lenders-and-how-do-they-support-business-owners-106075300
[Source]

A man from Hudson, Florida, has filed a federal suit against a Hernando County deputy, a Walmart loss prevention officer and Walmart itself for allegedly wrongfully arresting him after mistaking him for another Asian person.

The arrest, which was caught in a now-viral video, occurred at the Walmart Supercenter on Commercial Way in Spring Hill on Nov. 27. 2022.

According to reports, the incident began when the Walmart loss prevention officer called 911 to report an Asian male who allegedly trespassed into the store.

The employee identified the man as Cody Vondelinde to the Hernando County Sheriff's Office over the phone, saying, There's an Asian male in the store right now. His name is Cody Vondelinde. He trespassed from this store. He is not allowed to be here, and he also tends to be violent and carries weapons.

More from NextShark: Chinese tourist slammed online for crashing his drone into worlds 2nd tallest building

Shortly after, the Hudson County deputy arrived and arrested Tony Nguyen, who had been shopping with his girlfriend, Lauren Caldwell.

Caldwell filmed the encounter, which saw the deputy put her boyfriend in handcuffs and pull him out of the store and into a police vehicle.

More from NextShark: San Francisco man pistol-whipped during daylight robbery on New Year's Eve

Why are you pulling me? Im walking with you, Nguyen says in protest. You know Im disabled, right? I have back issues.

Nguyen was taken to jail, and it was only then when officers finally asked for his ID, according to the suit.

I was able to confirm your ID at the jail. Youre not the person he was looking for, a deputy reportedly told Nguyen. You have not been trespassed, and so I'm taking you back to your house. And for me personally, I apologize. Sometimes identities get mixed up.

More from NextShark: Pair charged with conspiracy for using investors' money for 'Chinese Disneyland' to fund Trump campaign

However, Nguyen said he was not immediately released. While on the police ride home, the sheriff allegedly kept him in handcuffs, pulled over and took his photos to confirm his identity yet again.

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Nguyen recalled the events in a fundraising campaign on GoFundMe:

I did think it was strange and illegal to have me handcuffed while sitting on the side of a street for 30 to 40 minutes after the fact he said he was taking me home, so that means I was being held against my will. So he then proceeds to open my door and says, I have to take pictures of you to confirm its you. He took pictures of my face, also had me lift my shirt to take pictures of my tattoos all on the side of a dark road. All this was taken through his iPhone. More from NextShark: Chinese official sparks ridicule for tweeting Taiwans many Chinese restaurants show island has always been a part of China

Nguyen said the sheriff then got a call and told him again that he was not the person they were looking for; however, to Nguyen's shock, he was returned to jail for supposedly violating a 2013 trespass.

The trespass warning issued at Walmart was still in effect after never having been rescinded by officials there, Hernando County Sheriffs Office told WFTS in January. Therefore, probable cause existed for the arrest of Tony Nguyen for the trespass in question. He was processed and charged accordingly.

Nguyen was trespassed in the same Walmart in 2013 for acting loopy after a dental procedure, according to Indisputable. However, that trespass supposedly lasted for only a year, and he has repeatedly shopped at the store since without issue.

Nguyens charges were later dropped. It is unclear how long he remained in custody.

Nguyen and his attorneys are now suing the Hernando County deputy, the Walmart loss prevention officer and Walmart for $10 million.

WTSP identified the deputy as Michael McNeeley and the Walmart employee as David Pettigrew.

This is a case of all Asians look alike because when Deputy McNeeley showed up, guess what he didn't do? He didn't identify Tony, Nguyens attorney said, according to WFTS.

Nguyen said the incident has made him fearful of being arrested again without cause. His vehicles now all have dash cams and he keeps his phone ready to record at all times.

The Hernando County Sheriff's Office said it does not comment on pending litigation, according to WTSP. Walmart, for its part, vowed to respond as appropriate in court once we are served.
By Bianca Flowers

(Reuters) - Caterpillar Inc workers are scheduled to vote on a tentative agreement with the construction and mining equipment maker on March 12, the United Auto Workers union told members on Thursday in a notice seen by Reuters.

The company said on Wednesday it had reached a six-year agreement with UAW members, warding off a strike at three central Illinois manufacturing facilities and a parts and distribution center in York, Pennsylvania.

Caterpillar outlined guaranteed wage increases and changes to parental leave and retirement benefits in the agreement, pending a ratification vote by employees.

The current agreement, which had been temporarily extended, lapsed at midnight on March 1.

Under the new contract, employees would receive a $6,000 bonus upon ratification. The company also detailed 27% combined wage increases and lump sums over the six-year period, and a bump in employer contributions to retirement plans.

Healthcare premiums were left unchanged. Workers have said the deal does not make up for years of wage freezes that have been absorbed by higher healthcare costs.

"What is already known about the terms of the UAW-Caterpillar deal indicates that it is another slap in the face and deserving of an overwhelming rejection," a committee of Caterpillar union workers said in a statement.

Caterpillar, which has been struggling with margin pressures as input costs keep rising, has more than 100,000 employees around the world. The contract covers about 7,000 employees.

The Irving, Texas-based company detailed a contingency plan on its website, saying it would operate facilities with management and contract workers if full-time employees were to strike. Manufacturing employers face a tight labor market, and workers at Caterpillar rivals Deere & Co and CNH Industrial NV have gone on strike in recent years.

"I'm sure CAT wants to avoid any extended strike similar to what (Deere) went through," said Mark Grywacheski, a partner at Quad Cities Investment Group, LLC.

(Reporting by Bianca Flowers; Editing by Richard Chang)
A Granite City teen who was charged as an adult has been convicted of first-degree murder and sentenced to 35 years in prison in connection with a fatal shooting in Venice.

Russean K. Hollis, 17, was charged in connection with the drive-by shooting death of Tashay Mathis, 42, on June 25, 2022. Hollis was 16 at the time, but charged as an adult.

Its disturbing to see young people engaging in any type of violence, let alone violence of this magnitude, Madison County States Attorney Tom Haine said. I hope this conviction and sentence send a message that offenders of any age who choose to take part in this type of activity will be held accountable in Madison County.

For the family and loved ones of Mr. Mathis, nothing can undo their suffering, but I hope the swift resolution of this case brings them a measure of closure.

The motive for the shooting was unclear.

Mathis was outside with a large group in the area of Sixth Street and Broadway when Hollis discharged his firearm in their direction, fatally striking Mathis.

Under Illinois law, any prison sentence above 40 years on a juvenile offender is considered a de facto life sentence, often serving as a legal cap to the total term that can be imposed.

Haine commended Illinois State Police, Venice Police, the United States Marshals Service and Assistant States Attorney Ryan Kemper of the Violent Crime Unit for their diligent work on the case.
Two Charlotte business owners, who bought and sold stolen phones, pleaded guilty to federal charges Thursday.

Hamzeh Jamal Alasfar, 31, and Tayseer Issam Alkhayyat, 35, owned multiple Charlotte businesses including Cellport International Inc. and D Town Wireless, according to a statement from the United States Attorneys office.

Court documents show that the pair used Cellport to sell and ship sold more than 20,000 new iPhones from January 2019-2020. Alasfar and Alkhayyat made more than $20 million in the scheme dating back to at least 2013, according to court documents.

The business owners purchased stolen and fraudulently obtained new Apple iPhones and other devices, and then sold the devices to buyers located in other states and foreign countries, including the United Arab Emirates and Hong Kong, according to a statement from the United States Attorneys office.

Alasfar and Alkhayyat each pleaded guilty to one count of interstate and foreign transportation of stolen property, which carries a maximum prison sentence of 10 years and a $250,000 fine, according to the U.S. Attorneys Office.

The two men are not in custody and are released until sentencing hearings.

Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police and the United States Secret Service investigated as part of a partnership the two organizations have to combat organized criminal groups operating in Charlotte, according to the U.S. Attorneys office.
It's almost hard to remember a time before people could turn to "Dr. Google" for medical advice. Some of the information was wrong. Much of it was terrifying. But it helped empower patients who could, for the first time, research their own symptoms and learn more about their conditions.

Now, ChatGPT and similar language processing tools promise to upend medical care again, providing patients with more data than a simple online search and explaining conditions and treatments in language nonexperts can understand.

For clinicians, these chatbots might provide a brainstorming tool, guard against mistakes and relieve some of the burden of filling out paperwork, which could alleviate burnout and allow more facetime with patients.

But  and it's a big "but"  the information these digital assistants provide might be more inaccurate and misleading than basic internet searches.

"I see no potential for it in medicine," said Emily Bender, a linguistics professor at the University of Washington. By their very design, these large-language technologies are inappropriate sources of medical information, she said.

Others argue that large language models could supplement, though not replace, primary care.

"A human in the loop is still very much needed," said Katie Link, a machine learning engineer at Hugging Face, a company that develops collaborative machine learning tools.

Link, who specializes in health care and biomedicine, thinks chatbots will be useful in medicine someday, but it isn't yet ready.

And whether this technology should be available to patients, as well as doctors and researchers, and how much it should be regulated remain open questions.

Regardless of the debate, there's little doubt such technologies are coming  and fast. ChatGPT launched its research preview on a Monday in December. By that Wednesday, it reportedly already had 1 million users. In February, both Microsoft and Google announced plans to include AI programs similar to ChatGPT in their search engines.

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"The idea that we would tell patients they shouldn't use these tools seems implausible. They're going to use these tools," said Dr. Ateev Mehrotra, a professor of health care policy at Harvard Medical School and a hospitalist at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center in Boston.

"The best thing we can do for patients and the general public is (say), 'hey, this may be a useful resource, it has a lot of useful information  but it often will make a mistake and don't act on this information only in your decision-making process,'" he said.

How ChatGPT it works

ChatGPT  the GPT stands for Generative Pre-trained Transformer  is an artificial intelligence platform from San Francisco-based startup OpenAI. The free online tool, trained on millions of pages of data from across the internet, generates responses to questions in a conversational tone.

Other chatbots offer similar approaches with updates coming all the time.

These text synthesis machines might be relatively safe to use for novice writers looking to get past initial writer's block, but they aren't appropriate for medical information, Bender said.

"It isn't a machine that knows things," she said. "All it knows is the information about the distribution of words."

Given a series of words, the models predict which words are likely to come next.

So, if someone asks "what's the best treatment for diabetes?" the technology might respond with the name of the diabetes drug "metformin"  not because it's necessarily the best but because it's a word that often appears alongside "diabetes treatment."

Such a calculation is not the same as a reasoned response, Bender said, and her concern is that people will take this "output as if it were information and make decisions based on that."

A Harvard dean: ChatGPT made up research claiming guns aren't harmful to kids. How far will we let AI go?

In this photo illustration, ChatGPT answers the query, "tell me about ChatGPT" on a laptop screen. Feb. 03, 2023

Bender also worries about the racism and other biases that may be embedded in the data these programs are based on. "Language models are very sensitive to this kind of pattern and very good at reproducing them," she said.

The way the models work also means they can't reveal their scientific sources  because they don't have any.

Modern medicine is based on academic literature, studies run by researchers published in peer-reviewed journals. Some chatbots are being trained on that body of literature. But others, like ChatGPT and public search engines, rely on large swaths of the internet, potentially including flagrantly wrong information and medical scams.

With today's search engines, users can decide whether to read or consider information based on its source: a random blog or the prestigious New England Journal of Medicine, for instance.

But with chatbot search engines, where there is no identifiable source, readers won't have any clues about whether the advice is legitimate. As of now, companies that make these large language models haven't publicly identified the sources they're using for training.

"Understanding where is the underlying information coming from is going to be really useful," Mehrotra said. "If you do have that, you're going to feel more confident."

Consider this: 'New frontier' in therapy helps 2 stroke patients move again  and gives hope for many more

Potential for doctors and patients

Mehrotra recently conducted an informal study that boosted his faith in these large language models.

He and his colleagues tested ChatGPT on a number of hypothetical vignettes  the type he's likely to ask first-year medical residents. It provided the correct diagnosis and appropriate triage recommendations about as well as doctors did and far better than the online symptom checkers that the team tested in previous research.

"If you gave me those answers, I'd give you a good grade in terms of your knowledge and how thoughtful you were," Mehrotra said.

But it also changed its answers somewhat depending on how the researchers worded the question, said co-author Ruth Hailu. It might list potential diagnoses in a different order or the tone of the response might change, she said.

Mehrotra, who recently saw a patient with a confusing spectrum of symptoms, said he could envision asking ChatGPT or a similar tool for possible diagnoses.

"Most of the time it probably won't give me a very useful answer," he said, "but if one out of 10 times it tells me something  'oh, I didn't think about that. That's a really intriguing idea!' Then maybe it can make me a better doctor."

It also has the potential to help patients. Hailu, a researcher who plans to go to medical school, said she found ChatGPT's answers clear and useful, even to someone without a medical degree.

"I think it's helpful if you might be confused about something your doctor said or want more information," she said.

ChatGPT might offer a less intimidating alternative to asking the "dumb" questions of a medical practitioner, Mehrotra said.

Dr. Robert Pearl, former CEO of Kaiser Permanente, a 10,000-physician health care organization, is excited about the potential for both doctors and patients.

"I am certain that five to 10 years from now, every physician will be using this technology," he said. If doctors use chatbots to empower their patients, "we can improve the health of this nation."

Learning from experience

The models chatbots are based on will continue to improve over time as they incorporate human feedback and "learn," Pearl said.

Just as he wouldn't trust a newly minted intern on their first day in the hospital to take care of him, programs like ChatGPT aren't yet ready to deliver medical advice. But as the algorithm processes information again and again, it will continue to improve, he said.

Plus the sheer volume of medical knowledge is better suited to technology than the human brain, said Pearl, noting that medical knowledge doubles every 72 days. "Whatever you know now is only half of what is known two to three months from now."

But keeping a chatbot on top of that changing information will be staggeringly expensive and energy intensive.

The training of GPT-3, which formed some of the basis for ChatGPT, consumed 1,287 megawatt hours of energy and led to emissions of more than 550 tons of carbon dioxide equivalent, roughly as much as three roundtrip flights between New York and San Francisco. According to EpochAI, a team of AI researchers, the cost of training an artificial intelligence model on increasingly large datasets will climb to about $500 million by 2030.

OpenAI has announced a paid version of ChatGPT. For $20 a month, subscribers will get access to the program even during peak use times, faster responses, and priority access to new features and improvements.

The current version of ChatGPT relies on data only through September 2021. Imagine if the COVID-19 pandemic had started before the cutoff date and how quickly the information would be out of date, said Dr. Isaac Kohane, chair of the department of biomedical informatics at Harvard Medical School and an expert in rare pediatric diseases at Boston Children's Hospital.

Kohane believes the best doctors will always have an edge over chatbots because they will stay on top of the latest findings and draw from years of experience.

But maybe it will bring up weaker practitioners. "We have no idea how bad the bottom 50% of medicine is," he said.

Dr. John Halamka, president of Mayo Clinic Platform, which offers digital products and data for the development of artificial intelligence programs, said he also sees potential for chatbots to help providers with rote tasks like drafting letters to insurance companies.

The technology won't replace doctors, he said, but "doctors who use AI will probably replace doctors who don't use AI."

What ChatGPT means for scientific research

As it currently stands, ChatGPT is not a good source of scientific information. Just ask pharmaceutical executive Wenda Gao, who used it recently to search for information about a gene involved in the immune system.

Gao asked for references to studies about the gene and ChatGPT offered three "very plausible" citations. But when Gao went to check those research papers for more details, he couldn't find them.

He turned back to ChatGPT. After first suggesting Gao had made a mistake, the program apologized and admitted the papers didn't exist.

Stunned, Gao repeated the exercise and got the same fake results, along with two completely different summaries of a fictional paper's findings.

"It looks so real," he said, adding that ChatGPT's results "should be fact-based, not fabricated by the program."

Again, this might improve in future versions of the technology. ChatGPT itself told Gao it would learn from these mistakes.

Microsoft, for instance, is developing a system for researchers called BioGPT that will focus on clinical research, not consumer health care, and it's trained on 15 million abstracts from studies.

Maybe that will be more reliable, Gao said.

Guardrails for medical chatbots

Halamka sees tremendous promise for chatbots and other AI technologies in health care but said they need "guardrails and guidelines" for use.

"I wouldn't release it without that oversight," he said.

Halamka is part of the Coalition for Health AI, a collaboration of 150 experts from academic institutions like his, government agencies and technology companies, to craft guidelines for using artificial intelligence algorithms in health care. "Enumerating the potholes in the road," as he put it.

U.S. Rep. Ted Lieu, a Democrat from California, filed legislation in late January (drafted using ChatGPT, of course) "to ensure that the development and deployment of AI is done in a way that is safe, ethical and respects the rights and privacy of all Americans, and that the benefits of AI are widely distributed and the risks are minimized."

Halamka said his first recommendation would be to require medical chatbots to disclose the sources they used for training. "Credible data sources curated by humans" should be the standard, he said.

Then, he wants to see ongoing monitoring of the performance of AI, perhaps via a nationwide registry, making public the good things that came from programs like ChatGPT as well as the bad.

Halamka said those improvements should let people enter a list of their symptoms into a program like ChatGPT and, if warranted, get automatically scheduled for an appointment, "as opposed to (telling them) 'go eat twice your body weight in garlic,' because that's what Reddit said will cure your ailments."

Contact Karen Weintraub at kweintraub@usatoday.com.

Health and patient safety coverage at USA TODAY is made possible in part by a grant from the Masimo Foundation for Ethics, Innovation and Competition in Healthcare. The Masimo Foundation does not provide editorial input.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: ChatGPT and medicine: How will it affect medical diagnosis, doctors?
Kadyrov in January 2022 and February 2023

Read also: Chechen warlord Kadyrov also wants to create his own private military company

The head of the government of the Chechen Republic of Ichkeria in exile, Akhmed Zakayev, said Kadyrov has serious problems with kidneys.

Some speculate that is why he did not attend Russian dictator Vladimir Putins address to the Federal Assembly on Feb. 21.

Bild also reported that the head doctor of the Burjeel Medical Centres Nephrology Department has recently arrived in Russia from the United Arab Emirates. Most likely, Kadyrov does not trust Russian doctors, the journalists said.

Earlier, Zakayev told Ukrainian TV channel Freedom that Kadyrov was sick and drug addicted as he had been taking energy pills for 15 years.

And today he (Kadyrov) has become completely dependent on these pills and is having some kind of drug addiction, Zakayev said.

Read also: Chechen warlord Kadyrov claims to possess Hitlers suicide weapon

He cannot control himself without them. And thats why there is such an assumption that hes sick and has been sent somewhere on vacation to have a rest, but for treatment to bring him to mind.

At the same time, journalist Jason Smart wrote on Twitter, citing a source in Russia, that Kadyrovs kidneys are failing.

Read also: Kadyrov refusing to join in Prigozhin's attacks on Russian defense ministry, ISW says

(Wagner Group PMC owner Yevgeny) Prigozhin wants to kill Kadyrov (and might), but another terrible sickness (aka Hepatitis C) might be behind Kadyrovs early expiration, Smart tweeted.

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Read the original article on The New Voice of Ukraine
A child dressed as Prince Harry for World Book Day on Thursday (2 March) has been ecstatic to see himself on television.

Following the release of the royals tell-all memoir in January, the three-year-old named Ellis, from Redhill, Surrey, was given a makeover to resemble the Duke of Sussex.

His mother, a makeup artist named Melissa Wright, said Spare was the only book her son wanted to portray this World Book Day.

Hes only three so he cant read but hes obsessed with being a prince, she told The Independent.

Wright that the teachers at her sons preschool found the costume really funny and that she cannot believe the reaction the photograph has received on social media.

His face has been shared all over the country, she said.

Explaining how the costume came to life, Wright said she used child-friendly face paint and a bit of hairspray since his hair is already slightly strawberry blonde.

He loved the beard so much, he didnt want to take it off at bathtime, she said.

This morning, he asked me if he was going as a prince again and I said no, youre Ellis today.

It comes as King Charles has reportedly asked Harry and Meghan to vacate their UK residence, Frogmore Cottage, which was handed to them by the late Queen after their marriage in 2018.

I didnt realise the timing, Wright said, referencing reports of Harry and Meghan being evicted from Frogmore Cottage. There has been some very mixed reactions [to the photograph].

Prince Harrys memoir Spare became the fastest-selling non-fiction book in the UK since records began in 1998, exceeding the number of copies sold the week after its publication date on 10 January.

The English-language edition of the memoir sold more than 1.4 million copies on its release day, the books publisher, Penguin Random House, announced in January.

Spare was originally leaked five days before its official release as it accidentally went on sale in Spain. People then obtained digital copies of the book and shared them via WhatsApp, as segments of the book went viral due to the shocking claims made by the duke about members of the royal family.
BEIJING (Reuters) - Activity in China's services sector expanded at the fastest pace in six months in February as the removal of tough COVID-19 restrictions revived customer demand, driving a solid increase in employment, a private sector survey showed on Friday.

The Caixin/S&P Global services purchasing managers' index (PMI) rose to 55.0 in February from 52.9 in January, a back-to-back monthly increase in activity after the government abruptly dismantled anti-virus measures in December.

The 50-point mark separates expansion and contraction in activity on a monthly basis.

The reading tallies with an official services PMI released on Wednesday, suggesting a robust recovery in the sector is well under way.

Service companies reported the strongest rise in new business since April 2021, while new export order growth accelerated to the highest in almost four years, the Caixin survey showed.

The improvement in market conditions also drove a strong increase in employment. Firms started to take on additional workers for the first time in four months and the rate of job creation was the sharpest since November 2020 as spending and travel got a boost.

China's human resources minister Wang Xiaoping said on Thursday that the country's job market was better than expected in January and February.

Commerce minister Wang Wentao also said on Thursday that the country's consumption has rebounded significantly this year, with major shopping areas and the catering sector surging remarkably.

Thanks to the COVID reopening, business confidence across China's services sector remained robust last month, though the degree of optimism slipped slightly from January's near 12-year highs.

"The economy has entered a post-COVID recovery, with services activity showing signs of a stronger recovery than the manufacturing sector," said Wang Zhe, an economist at Caixin Insight Group. "But the impact of the pandemic remains far-reaching."

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"In the near term, relevant policies should focus more on increasing household income and improving market expectations."

Caixin/S&P's composite PMI, which includes both manufacturing and services activity, rose to 54.2 in February from 51.1 a month earlier, marking the quickest expansion since June.

China is becoming increasingly ambitious with its 2023 economic growth target, aiming potentially as high as 6%, in a bid to boost investor and consumer confidence and build on a promising post-pandemic recovery, Reuters reported on Thursday, citing sources involved in policy discussions.

The final growth target will be announced on March 5, at the start of China's annual legislative meeting.

(Reporting by Ellen Zhang and Ryan Woo; Editing by Kim Coghill)
China International Holdings (SGX:BEH) Full Year 2022 Results

Key Financial Results

Revenue: CN103.6m (down 20% from FY 2021).

Net income: CN66.8m (up from CN54.5m loss in FY 2021).

Profit margin: 65% (up from net loss in FY 2021). The move to profitability was driven by lower expenses.

EPS: CN0.88 (up from CN0.74 loss in FY 2021).

All figures shown in the chart above are for the trailing 12 month (TTM) period

China International Holdings shares are down 11% from a week ago.

Risk Analysis

What about risks? Every company has them, and we've spotted 3 warning signs for China International Holdings you should know about.

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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China has a 'stunning lead' over the US in the research of 37 out of 44 of critical and emerging technologies, new study finds. Jason Lee / REUTERS

China leads the US in the research of 37 out of 44 key technologies tracked by an Australian think tank.

These critical and emerging technologies span a range of sectors including defense, space, and energy.

China's research lead in these sectors could have implications for democratic nations.

China has a "stunning lead" ahead of the US in high-impact research across critical and emerging technologies, according to Canberra-based independent think tank Australian Strategic Policy Institute, or ASPI.

The world's second-largest economy is leading the US in researching 37 out of 44 critical and emerging technologies across the defense, space, energy, and biotechnology sectors  including research of advanced aircraft engines, drones, and electric batteries  the ASPI said in its Thursday report. The US State Department partly funded the study.

The ASPI found that for a few fields, all of the world's top 10 research institutions are in China, and they collectively generate nine times more high-impact research papers than the second-ranked country  which is the US in many cases. In particular, China has the edge in defense and space-related technologies, the ASPI said.

"Western democracies are losing the global technological competition, including the race for scientific and research breakthroughs," the report, led by the institute's senior analyst Jamie Gaida, said.

The ASPI said China's lead is the product of "deliberate design and long-term policy planning" by President Xi Jinping's administration and those who came before him.

The report's authors warned that China's research dominance in strategic sectors could have adverse implications for democratic nations.

In the immediate term, the lead could allow China to "gain a stranglehold on the global supply of certain critical technologies." In the longer run, China's leading position could propel it to excel in almost all sectors, including technologies that don't exist yet, per the ASPI.

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"Unchecked, this could shift not just technological development and control but global power and influence to an authoritarian state where the development, testing and application of emerging, critical and military technologies isn't open and transparent and where it can't be scrutinized by independent civil society and media," the think-tank said.

The ASPI urges governments around the world to collaborate and invest more in research to catch up to China. It also recommended measures such as visa screening for visitors to research facilities to limit "illegal technology transfers" to China and said governments should consider "narrow limits" on the movements of researchers who are experts in strategic sectors.

"Recruiting personnel to lead research programs in, for example, defense-relevant technologies in adversarial states poses a clear threat to a country's national security," said the ASPI. It added that serious national-security risks need to be identified before movement restrictions are implemented as they need to be weighed against a person's right to freedom of movement.

Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson Mao Ning said at a scheduled press conference on Friday that her country's scientific and technological progress contribute to global technological advancement.

"We oppose hegemonism in science, decoupling, and breaking of industrial and supply chains," said Mao, according to an official transcript. "Politicizing scientific and technological issues, using them as weapons for ideological confrontation and patching up coteries harm the interests of the whole world."

Read the original article on Business Insider
(Bloomberg) -- China appears to be requiring foreign law professors to submit their syllabuses to ensure they are following a doctrine President Xi Jinping has been pressing across the nations society to cement his control.

Most Read from Bloomberg

James Zimmerman, a media lawyer with law firm Perkins Coie, posted a document on Twitter that he said law professors at a university in Beijing were required to fill out and submit to superiors before classes started.

The documents General Objectives is filled out for the educators, saying: Guided by Xi Jinping Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era, this course places a focus on every aspect of students morality education.

Read: Rise of Xi Thought Shows Long Future for One-Man Rule in China

It said that students will acquire knowledge and skills, adding: Besides, students will understand and practice the core values of Chinese socialism, and learn to combine personal fulfillment with social and national development.

Zimmerman confirmed to Bloomberg News that he posted the document, saying he got it from a foreign law professor in China. He declined to provide more information about its origins.

He said the syllabus requirement for the educators was first rumored in the fall, and the template I posted was recently circulated to the professors.

It wasnt immediately clear if the requirement also was being applied to professors in other subjects.

Perkins Coie, which is headquartered in Seattle, also provides legal services to Bloomberg LP.

Also: China Teaches School Children Do as President Xi Tells You

The document underscores how Xi has curtailed academic freedom over his decade in power  and how the problem will likely be exacerbated after he is named president for another five years at the annual National Peoples Congress meeting starting Sunday.

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Xi Thought is an esoteric concept the ruling Communist Party wrote into its five-year development blueprint in 2020. People including diplomats, executives and writers face pressure to incorporate the broad, often fuzzy tenets of the ideology into their policies and work.

The drive to intensify the study of Xi Thought even reaches Chinas youngsters. In 2021, the party said children in primary school and the first two years of secondary school should attend one class per week thats based on training materials derived from the ideology.

More: Xi Crackdowns Look to Whip Chinas Lying Flat Youth Into Shape

The project has been central to Xis effort to quiet opposition and elevate his political standing to the level of Mao Zedong, the founder of the Peoples Republic whose likeness appears over Tiananmen Square and is printed on the currency.

The Chinese government recently tightened rules covering legal education and research. Among the points addressed in a document published by the official Xinhua News Agency on Feb. 26 were requirements for law schools to use Xi Jinping Thought to guide studies.

In particular, teachers and students were asked to resolutely oppose and boycott wrongful Western ideas including constitutionalism, separation of powers and judicial independence.

That reiterated demands the government made in 2013, when the party circulated a list of seven taboo topics that are banned from discussion in classrooms, including freedom of speech, universal values, civil rights and past mistakes the party made.

Chinese lecturers at some universities are required to submit a list of textbooks they use for teaching. In certain instances, they are asked to swap a textbook imported from abroad for a domestically published one, or go through an approval process if there was no alternative.

Most Read from Bloomberg Businessweek

2023 Bloomberg L.P.
NEW YORK (AP)  During the height of the coronavirus pandemic in November 2020, when Vienna was shut down and people were allowed outside mainly to walk their dogs, Christian Thielemann was stopped by a police officer in the Heldenplatz.

What are you doing? he recalled the officer asking.

I said that I have something to conduct, recalled Thielemann, who was prepared to pull out a special permission slip.

No explanation was needed.

`Are you Mr. Thielemann? We come to your concerts.' the conductor remembered the officer telling him before adding; `Go!''

And so Thielemann proceeded to work on recording a cycle of 11 Bruckner symphonies being released through next year  the 200th anniversary of the composer's birth. Thielemann will conduct the Eighth Symphony at Carnegie Hall on Sunday and at Zellerbach Auditorium in Berkeley, California, on March 9 as part of the Vienna Philharmonics six-concert U.S. tour that opens Friday. The Ninth Symphony was released Friday by Sony Classical, joining Nos. 2, 3, 4, 5 and 8, with the others to follow.

Thielemann was home in Berlin, bored with nothing to do, when he received the invitation to record in Vienna. He arrived to desolation.

I was sometimes the only guest in the Sacher. Can you imagine? he said, referring to the famous 149-room hotel where the Sacher torte was invented in 1832.

Conditions for recording, however, were optimal. The Vienna Philharmonic supplies pit musicians to the Vienna State Opera, creating a hectic schedule, but the pandemic prompted the postponement of public performances.

We would have more rehearsals than ever. We could even go overtime, Thielemann recalled Thursday during a lunch at Carnegie.

Now 63, Thielemann trained as an assistant to Herbert von Karajan and Daniel Barenboim, worked in smaller German houses and became music director of Nuremberg's State Theater from 19881992.

Thielemann moved on to music director of the Deutsche Oper Berlin from 1997-2004 and of the Munich Philharmonic from 2004-11. He has been chief conductor of the Staatskapelle Dresden since 2012-13, a role scheduled to end after the 2023-24 season.

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Thielemann thought back to a review of his U.S. debut at the San Francisco Opera in 1991, leading Strauss Elektra.

Somebody wrote, hes only a kapellmeister, Thielemann said, using a German word for a musical leader sometimes used in a derogatory manner, which obviously meant boring, unsubtle conductor who has no inspiration.

We see that in a different way, he said. A kapellmeister is the same as a maestro, its only in German. It is somebody who has to be very aware of what happens in an orchestra.

Thielemann was 28 when he made his Vienna State Opera debut in 1987. He led his first Vienna Philharmonic performance in 2000. He conducted 154 Vienna Philharmonic concerts heading into the tour and will be on the podium of the famous New Years Day concert at the Musikverein for the second time in 2024.

He is a conductor who is really close to our orchestra because we are an opera orchestra, said violinist Daniel Froschauer, chairman of the self-governing musicians.

Thielemann has led a record 185 performances at the Richard Wagner Festival in Bayreuth, joining Felix Mottl as the only ones to conduct all 10 of the composers mature operas in the auditorium Wagner designed in Germany.

Usually in Bayreuth, tempi are swifter, he said. Dont exaggerate in Bayreuth because people will yawn.

Thielemann did not conduct in the U.S. from 2013 until last October, when he led Bruckners sprawling 80-minute Eighth with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra. The Vienna Philharmonic premiered the Eighth on Dec. 18, 1892, and will be playing it for the sixth time at Carnegie after performances with Karajan in 1959 and 1989, Karl Bohm in 1967, Georg Solti in 1993 and Bernard Haitink in 2002.

Theilemann realizes he will be measured against his heralded predecessors. He cautions score markings are a guide, not an absolute.

Dont forget that the orchestras were in Bruckners times weaker, he said. The violin players were not so good as they are now where everybody has also a very good instrument. And now we have different strengths we play with. The brass players are much more powerful because the instruments are better than in the time of Bruckner. So if Bruckner writes fortissimo, be very careful that you dont do too much.

Froschauer praises Thielemann for interacting with musicians, deferring in performance to the tempi of former concertmaster Rainer Kuchl.

This was to me was unbelievable, Froschauer said. This relationship: giving and taking.

Thielemann insists dour-faced, shouters like Arturo Toscanini and Fritz Reiner are long gone from podiums, that the fictional conductor portrayed by Cate Blanchett in the Oscar-nominated Tar could not exist in the 21st century.

One has to play the pingpong game, he said.

Thielemann has not delved as heavily into Mahler, saying: Im still looking for a right way.

When (Leonard) Bernstein discovered, rediscovered with the Vienna Philharmonic these pieces, he would overdo certain things because he was such an exuberant character. Thielemann said. The worst we can do is follow this path and try to be more Bernstein than he was.

His lesson when he teaches budding conductors is you have to begin early.

I know Karajan said also: `The first 20 times Beethoven 9, you can forget,'" Thielemann proclaimed. You have to make mistakes sometimes. If youre always successful, its very dangerous. Everybody says you are great, great, and then you dont have limits.
Cicely Simpson. Rural Cannon County Born. Educated in one of the smallest school districts in Tennessee. Lipscomb University graduate. Pepperdine University graduate with a law degree. And then. A woman. African American. Against all odds? Not if you are Cicely.

Cicely was raised by her parents James and Pat Simpson. She attributes her success in life to her strong faith in God and Jesus, and her parents, and though not realizing it, her fathers Marine background that brought the ability to discipline herself. Example: He made her take a factory job one summer during college, having to get up at 4 a.m. each day, driving an hour and a half to work, driving home, and then doing it all over the next morning. That work discipline has helped her through life. Pat strongly encouraged her, and told her in many instances, Pray about it.

Returning to Nashville and joining a Nashville law firm, doors of opportunity began to open for her. Congressman Jim Cooper, after his first election to represent the fifth district in Congress, asked her to be a legislative assistant for his work there. He taught her to be an equal. Ill call you Cicely if you will call me Jim. She also worked for Lincoln Davis. At some point, she also became a lawyer for Dunkin Donuts.

Some of her favorite quotes are: If they dont give you a seat at the table, bring a folding chair (Shirley Chisholm, first African American woman elected to Congress); a Peloton ad, wherein an instructor says, You didnt wake up this morning to be mediocre.

Chisholms statement has propelled Cicely to write Pull Up Your C.H.A.I.R, a 2022 new book printed by Forbes Books. The acronym stands for Champion Yourself, Honesty, Adaptability, Impact, and Regrets. It will not matter the color of your skin, every person who desires to do well in life should read this book. You will learn that you must take personal responsibility for your life, and not wait for some magical wand to be waved over you.

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Cicely was a part of the Alsup family life. She was a part of about eight young ladies who camped out in our living room, staying up late, and then sleeping late. On a visit I made to D.C., I called Cis and made arrangements to meet her for lunch. Pat told me that I was not to pay for lunch, that Cis would.

Read her book! Youll be blessed, encouraged, strengthened, and provided an excellent path forward.

Herb Alsup resides in Woodbury, Tennessee.

This article originally appeared on Nashville Tennessean: Opinion: How Cicely Simpson created her own seat at the table
USDC stablecoin issuer Circle Internet Financial said on Twitter Friday that it is withdrawing from certain services that involve California-based cryptocurrency bank Silvergate Capital Corp., adding itself to the growing list of companies distancing themselves from the financially troubled U.S. bank .

See related article: Silvergate probed by US prosecutors over FTX, Alameda accounts: Bloomberg

Silvergate said in a filing Wednesday that it is not able to meet the March 16 deadline to file its annual 10-K report, which shows the financial performance of a publicly traded company, to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, due to business and regulatory challenges.

A number of circumstances have occurred which will negatively impact the timing and the unaudited results previously reported in the Earnings Release, including the sale of additional investment securities beyond what was previously anticipated, the filing said, adding that Silvergate could become less than well-capitalized.

Following the announcement, Silvergate stock plunged 57.7% on Thursday and global cryptocurrency firms Crypto.com, Coinbase, Gemini, and Galaxy Digital all cut business ties with Silvergate as a banking partner.

The company posted a net loss of US$949 million for 2022, compared to a net income of US$75.5 million in the previous year, according to its earnings report released in January. The company attributed the losses to a crisis of confidence in the sector.
Shenzhou-15 taikonauts complete their second spacewalk

Xinhua) 08:29, March 03, 2023

This image captured at the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center in northwest China shows the Shenzhou-15 and Shenzhou-14 crew communicating after a historic gathering in space on Nov. 30, 2022. (Xinhua/Guo Zhongzheng)

BEIJING, March 2 (Xinhua) -- The Shenzhou-15 taikonauts on board the orbiting Chinese space station Tiangong recently completed their second spacewalk, according to the China Manned Space Agency (CMSA).

Fei Junlong and Zhang Lu, together with Deng Qingming who worked inside the space station to support his crewmates, collaborated to accomplish all of the set tasks. Fei and Zhang safely returned to the Wentian lab module.

The three-man crew have been living in orbit for three months since they entered the space station combination on Nov. 30, 2022.

The Shenzhou-15 mission wraps up the last stage of the space station construction and commences the first stage of its application and development.

They have completed various tasks, including two extravehicular activities, continuous maintenance of the manned environment, the assembling and testing of the scientific experiment cabinets of the Wentian and Mengtian lab modules, and sending cargo outboard.

The scientific experiment projects in the space station have been advanced as planned and have obtained initial results, according to the CMSA.

With the cooperation of ground researchers and astronauts, the experimental system in the Mengtian's combustion cabinet successfully performed its first in-orbit ignition test.

The test verified the functions of the combustion science experimental system of the space station and the accuracy and scientificity of the overall experimental process.

In addition, China's self-developed two-photon microscope successfully obtained the three-dimensional structural images of the astronauts' skin cells, providing a promising tool for the future health monitoring of astronauts in orbit.

The two-photon microscope was sent to China's space station last November onboard the Tianzhou-5 cargo craft.

More scientific experiments and extravehicular activities will be conducted during the Shenzhou-15 mission, according to the CMSA.

(Web editor: Zhang Kaiwei, Liang Jun)
Zendaya and Paul Mescal at the 29th Annual Screen Actors Guild Awards on February 26. Robert Gauthier/Getty Images.

Footage of Paul Mescal and Zendaya at the Screen Actor's Guild Awards is going hugely viral.

Fans believe that Zendaya snubbed Mescal's attempt to hold her hand during the ceremony.

This is not the first time theories about Zendaya's personal life have gone viral on TikTok.

Footage that appears to show Zendaya turning down Paul Mescal's attempt to hold her hand at the Screen Actor's Guild Awards is doing the rounds on TikTok  and fans are saying they think it proves the actor's loyalty to her boyfriend Tom Holland.

Mescal and Zendaya were co-presenting the award for Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor and were filmed walking up the steps to the stage together during the annual film and television award ceremony, which took place in Los Angeles, California, on February 26.

In the footage, Mescal appears to hold his hand out towards Zendaya to help her up the steps, at which point she looks away and holds out her elbow instead. Mescal then appears to consider holding her elbow with his hand to support her, but instead moves and allows her to walk up the steps unassisted.

Several users have reuploaded this short snippet of the footage onto TikTok, where it has gone hugely viral, receiving millions of cumulative views.

Users have been making jokes about the incident, saying Zendaya "swerved" or rejected Mescal's attempt at chivalry. One upload from February 28, which has 1.9 million views, showed the clip using audio from a sped-up version of Meghan Trainor's song "No," where the lyrics say, "I'm feeling untouchable, untouchable."

"She is just UNTOUCHABLE," a caption underneath the post read.

Some users said the clip appears to simply show a miscommunication between the pair, with Zendaya holding out her elbow in an attempt to link arms, instead of outrightly rejecting him.

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"Don't read into that, he was trying to be polite to help her up the stairs and she assumed he wanted to lock arms," wrote one user under a version of the clip that has 12 million views.

Others have said that they think Zendaya's actions were a deliberate move to display her loyalty towards Tom Holland, her long-term boyfriend.

"She said I got a husband!" one user joked. "Don't touch Tom's girl," another wrote.

Some TikTokers have compared the incident to a 2021 clip that also made the rounds on social media at the time, of Zendaya appearing to refuse the arm of her "Dune" co-star Timothee Chalamet at the film's Paris premiere.

"To all male actors in Hollywood: Don't offer your arm to Zendaya, she won't take it," one user wrote in an on-screen caption on a TikTok that compared footage from the two events.

Commenters have also been comparing the incident to another old but viral clip, this time of Holland, where the actor can be seen on a red carpet at Comic Con 2016, alongside some of his castmates from "Spider-Man: Homecoming" who were there to take part in a panel event about the film.

When one of his co-stars, Laura Harrier, appeared to try and link arms with Holland during an interview on the red carpet, the actor instead put his arm over her shoulder, and asked, "Where's Zendaya?"

At the time, users interpreted this as showing Holland's loyalty and fondness for Zendaya, even though the pair were not officially dating at the time, and many are now saying that the clip of Zendaya and Mescal "reminds" them of the similar incident involving Holland.

Zendaya and Holland appear to have tried to keep their relationship out of the public eye as much as possible. However, rumors about their personal lives often go immensely viral on social media.

In June 2022, Zendaya appeared to dispel a rumor that she was pregnant with Holland's child, which was circulating on TikTok. In February, Holland also shut down reports that he had purchased a home in London, England, with Zendaya.

The two Marvel stars were first linked after starring in the "Spider-Man" Marvel Cinematic Universe trilogy together. Last year, dating rumors surfaced after they were photographed kissing in a car.

Holland later told GQ that he and Zendaya felt "robbed" of their privacy by the photograph.

"One of the downsides of our fame is that privacy isn't really in our control anymore, and a moment that you think is between two people that love each other very much is now a moment that is shared with the entire world," Holland said.

Representatives for Zendaya, Tom Holland, and Paul Mescal did not immediately respond to Insider's request for comment.

For more stories like this, check out coverage from Insider's Digital Culture team here.

Read the original article on Insider
Russian troops blew up a key bridge connecting Donetsk Oblast's city of Bakhmut with the village of Khromove overnight, CNN reported on March 3, citing an unnamed official from the region's police and a soldier in Bakhmut.

The reportedly blown-up bridge is a vital artery for evacuating civilians and transporting supplies such as ammunition, according to CNN. It is also the last major supply route from Bakhmut to Chasiv Yar.

The news was also confirmed to CNN by a special forces soldier fighting in Bakhmut, who said the bridge had been hit with a Russian Iskander missile.

A photo appeared on social media allegedly showing the destruction, but it's impossible to verify where and when it was taken.

Police in the city of Konstantinyvka told CNN that local authorities would try to repair the bridge in the nearest future while Bakhmut could still be reached via dirt tracks and fields.

On the same day, the press service of Yevgeny Prigozhin, the founder of the Russian state-backed mercenary Wagner Group fighting against Ukraine, published his video address to President Volodymyr Zelensky on Telegram.

This video shows Prigozhin in military uniform standing on a building's roof next to alleged Ukrainian POWs with sounds of shelling in the background.

He said that Bakhmut was "practically surrounded" by Wagner forces and called on Zelensky to withdraw Ukrainian troops from the city.

The Ukrainian military's National Resistance Center called Prigozhin's address "a disinformation campaign designed to create panic among the population."

The center added that the video had been recorded in the nearby village of Paraskoviivka, the capture of which Russia reported in late February.

Ukraine continues to hold Bakhmut despite the seven-month-long Russian attempt to capture the city as Moscow tries to increase its grip over the entirety of the eastern Donetsk Oblast, around half of which it currently occupies.

On March 2, Eastern Operational Command spokesman Serhiy Cherevaty said that Ukraine's Armed Forces have the option to withdraw from Bakhmut, but such a decision will only be made if it is "absolutely necessary."
Pablo Escobar Hippos

Fernando Vergara/AP/Shutterstock

Colombia has announced a plan to transfer more than 70 hippos to India and Mexico in an effort to control their population. The animals are descendants of four African hippopotamuses illegally imported by the notorious drug lord Pablo Escobar in the 1980s.

According to USA Today, the so-called "cocaine hippos" have become an invasive species in the South American country, where more than 130 are now settled into a favorable habitat that stretches beyond Hacienda Napoles, Escobar's former estate, along the Magdalena River.

In the years since the animals  which have no natural predators in Colombia  were introduced by Escobar, they have damaged the ecosystem and continue to pose a threat to humans, the outlet said.

Hippos are aggressive, territorial animals that can weigh up to three tons and are among the world's most dangerous animals, per National Geographic. They are also responsible for an estimated 500 deaths around the world each year, NPR reported.

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Scientists have raised concerns that the hippos' insatiable appetite for vegetation is crowding out native animals, polluting soil and water, and threatening biodiversity, USA Today also noted.

Per CBS News, the Colombian government declared them a toxic invasive species in 2022. After being sued over its plan to sterilize or kill the animals, a federal court ruled that the hippos can be recognized as "interested persons" with legal rights in the U.S. The order, however, does not carry any significance in Colombia.

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Colombian officials now plan to lure the hippos with food into large, iron containers and transfer them by truck to the international airport in Rionegro, about 93 miles away.

"It is possible to do, we already have experience relocating hippos in zoos nationwide," David Echeverri Lopez, a spokesman for Cornare, the local environmental group leading the relocations, told CBS News.

Story continues

RELATED VIDEO: Alaska Woman Gets Kicked in the Head by a Moose While Walking Her Dog

From there, the hippos will then be flown to their new home countries.

Sixty will be sent to the Greens Zoological Rescue & Rehabilitation Kingdom in India, per USA Today.

The remaining 10 hippos will go to zoos and sanctuaries in Mexico, including the Ostok in Sinaloa, along the Gulf of California.
(Bloomberg) -- Colombian prosecutors said theyll interview President Gustavo Petros former daughter-in-law over her allegations that his son Nicolas took money from criminals.

Most Read from Bloomberg

Authorities had already opened an investigation into the presidents brother, Juan Fernando Petro, over alleged payments from cocaine traffickers who wish to negotiate with the government, the Attorney Generals office said in a statement Friday.

On Thursday, Petro himself called for a probe of his son and brother to determine possible responsibilities. Petro added that he trusted the pair would be able to prove their innocence.

Both men have denied any wrongdoing.

The allegations add to the wave of troubles that have hit Petro in recent days after he faced a cabinet rebellion over his health care bill, a court blocked his bid to cut electricity tariffs, and a group of 80 police and oil workers were kidnapped by protesters in southern Colombia. A poll published Wednesday showed his approval rating has fallen to 40%, the lowest since he took office in August.

Read more: Oil-Field Raiders Take 80 Hostages in Colombia Protest

The Attorney Generals office said in its statement that it has sent a team to Barranquilla, on Colombias Caribbean coast, to speak with Day Vasquez, Nicolas Petros ex-wife.

Semana magazine published an interview with Vasquez this week in which she accused her former husband of having received more than 1 billion pesos ($209,000) during last years presidential campaign. This included money from a former drug trafficker, who had been jailed in the US, as well as a businessman under investigation for ties to organized crime, Semana cited her as saying.

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Vasquez said Nicolas had kept the money for himself. Gustavo Petro hadnt known about the payments, and the money wasnt used to finance his campaign, she said, according to Semana.

Vasquez said Friday in a post on Twitter that she would hand over proof of her allegations to the authorities, and denied that she was motivated by vindictiveness against her former husband.

The Inspector Generals office, which investigates public officials, said Thursday that it had opened an investigation into Nicolas Petro, who currently sits on a regional parliament in Atlantico province on Colombias Caribbean coast.

Total Peace

Prosecutors said their investigation into Juan Fernando Petro, the presidents brother, is related to alleged payments from drug traffickers who wish take part in the governments Total Peace initiative.

The government is reaching out to criminal organizations in the hope that all of Colombias remaining illegal armed groups will lay down their arms in return for benefits. These include dissident guerrillas, who rejected the 2016 peace accord, as well as private armies in the service of cocaine traffickers.

Petro said Thursday that Peace Commissioner Danilo Rueda is the only government representative authorized to contact criminal organizations as part of his peace policy.

Last year, Noticias Caracol TV said that Juan Fernando Petro visited a prison in Bogota where he met with jailed former politicians. He said the visits were connected with work he was doing with human rights NGOs.

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BOGOTA, Colombia (AP)  Colombia is proposing transferring at least 70 hippopotamuses that live near Pablo Escobars former ranch - descendants of four imported from Africa illegally by the late drug lord in the 1980s  to India and Mexico as part of a plan to control their population.

The hippos, which are territorial and weigh up to 3 tons, have spread far beyond the Hacienda Napoles ranch, located 200 kilometer (124 mile) from Bogota along the Magdalena River. Environmental authorities estimate there are about 130 hippos in the area in Antioquia province and their population could reach 400 in eight years.

Escobars Hacienda Napoles  and the hippos  have become a sort of local tourist attraction in the years since the kingpin was killed by police in 1993. When his ranch was abandoned, the hippos survived and reproduced in local rivers and favorable climatic conditions.

Scientists warn the hippos do not have a natural predator in Colombia and are a potential problem for biodiversity since their feces change the composition of the rivers and could impact the habitat of manatees and capybaras. Last year, Colombias government declared them a toxic invasive species.

The plan to take them to India and Mexico has been forming for more than a year, said Lina Marcela de los Rios Morales, director of animal protection and welfare at Antioquias environment ministry.

The hippos would be lured with food into large, iron containers and transferred by truck to the international airport in the city of Rionegro, 150 kilometers away. From there, they would be flown to India and Mexico, where there are sanctuaries and zoos capable of taking in and caring for the animals.

It is possible to do, we already have experience relocating hippos in zoos nationwide, said David Echeverri Lopez, a spokesman for Cornare, the local environmental authority that would be in charge of the relocations.

The plan is to send 60 hippos to the Greens Zoological Rescue & Rehabilitation Kingdom in Gujarat, India, which De los Rios Morales said would cover the cost of the containers and airlift. Another 10 hippos would go to zoos and sanctuaries in Mexico such as the Ostok, located in Sinaloa.

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We work with Ernesto Zazueta, who is the president of sanctuaries and zoos in Mexico, who is the one who liaisons with different countries and manage their rescues, said the official.

The plan is to focus on the hippos living in the rivers surrounding the Hacienda Napoles ranch, not the ones inside the ranch because they are in a controlled environment and dont threaten the local ecosystem.

The relocations would help control the hippo population, and though the animals native habitat is Africa, it is more humane than the alternate proposal of exterminating them as an invasive species, said De los Rios Morales.

Ecuador, the Philippines and Botswana have also expressed their willingness to relocated Colombian hippos to their countries, according to the Antioquia Governors Office.
Hippos are seen swimming close to the Magdalena River in Doradal, Colombia Anadolu Agency / Contributor/Getty Images

Colombia is hoping to control a population of hippopotamuses that live near Pablo Escobar's former ranch by sending 70 of them to India and Mexico, The Associated Press reports Friday.

The animals, so-called "cocaine hippos," are "descendants of four imported from Africa illegally by the late drug lord in the 1980s," and "have spread far beyond the Hacienda Napoles ranch," AP writes. When the ranch was abandoned after Escobar's death, "the hippos survived and reproduced in local rivers and favorable climatic conditions." Environmental authorities say there are approximately 130 hippos in the area and estimate their population could rise to 400 in eight years. While the Colombian government declined to declare the hippos a toxic invasive species, scientists warn that they don't have natural predators in the area and could threaten biodiversity "since their feces change the composition of the rivers and could impact the habitat of manatees and capybaras."

Lina Marcela de los Rios Morales, director of animal protection and welfare at Antioquia's environment ministry, says that the plan to send them to sanctuaries or zoos in India and Mexico has been in the works for over a year. Colombia will send 60 hippos to the Greens Zoological Rescue & Rehabilitation Kingdom in Gujarat, India. The remaining ten will go to "zoos and sanctuaries in Mexico, such as the Ostok, located in Sinaloa," AP writes.

Authorities plan to lure the animals into large iron containers with food and then transfer them by truck to an airport in Rionegro, where they'll be flown to India and Mexico. "It is possible to do, we already have experience relocating hippos in zoos nationwide," David Echeverri Lopez, a spokesman for Cornare, the local environmental authority that would be in charge of the relocations, told AP.

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Columbia University announced that it no longer would require standardized tests including the SAT and ACT for incoming undergraduate students. The move makes Columbia the first Ivy League college to embrace the new approach.

We have designed our application to afford the greatest possible opportunity and flexibility for students to represent themselves fully and showcase their academic talents, interests and goals. Standardized testing is not a required component of our application, the school wrote in an announcement released Wednesday.

Although Columbia had dropped the requirement for 2020-2021 academic year applicants due to Covid-19  in line with other Ivy League schools such as Cornell, Harvard, Dartmouth, Brown, Princeton and the University of Pennsylvania  none of the schools had yet to make an official statement permanently embracing test-optional admissions.

The submission of test results will be viewed only as one additional piece of information among the many factors that we will consider in our continued practice of a holistic and contextual review process, the New Yorkbased school said.

There has been a growing movement across American higher education in recent years to remove standardized testing from the application process due to concerns that it might be undermining racial diversity.

The University of California system eliminated both the SAT and ACT tests from admissions decisions across its ten schools, including Berkeley, nearly two years ago.

Real inequities exist in American education, and they are reflected in every measure of academic achievement, including the SAT, a senior communications director for the College Board said in a statement to the New York Times back in 2021. The SAT itself is not a racist instrument. Every question is rigorously reviewed for evidence of bias and any question that could favor one group over another is discarded.

In a similar vein, the Supreme Court is currently hearing a case in which Asian-American applicants to Harvard College allege that they were unfairly discriminated against because subjective criteria were used in the decision-making process including attributes such as likability, courage, and kindness, the Times reported. The plaintiffs in Students for Fair Admissions v. President and Fellows of Harvard College believe that an emphasis on standardized tests would remove anti-Asian biases.

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Compared to last years enrollment, the number of students of color attending Columbia increased by 4 percent this year.

More from National Review
[Source]

Columbia University has scrapped its standardized testing requirement for undergraduate applicants, becoming the first Ivy League institution to indefinitely implement the change.

The university first dropped testing requirements in 2020-21 in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. At the time, other Ivy League schools such as Brown, Cornell, Dartmouth, Princeton and the University of Pennsylvania took the same step, but none appear to have made indefinite extensions.

Columbia is test-optional for applicants to Columbia College or Columbia Engineering, the New York City-based university announced on Wednesday. We have designed our application to afford the greatest possible opportunity and flexibility for students to represent themselves fully and showcase their academic talents, interests and goals.

According to the announcement, those who choose to submit their SAT or ACT scores will be subjected to Columbias existing testing policies; however, those who do not will not be at a disadvantage in the admission process.

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We will continue to evaluate all submitted information within an individualized application review process that considers the unique combination of circumstances shaping each applicant's journey. The rigor of a students curriculum, their academic achievement and their demonstrated intellectual curiosity will remain central to our review.

Standardized testing in both high school and undergraduate admissions has faced heightened backlash in recent years.

Critics believe requiring such tests produces student bodies that are less racially diverse, with white and Asian American applicants allegedly at an advantage.

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Such a state of racial homogeneity has triggered affirmative action policies, which may include the removal of testing requirements, among other measures. This, however, has been met with strong opposition by proponents of meritocracy, as exemplified in the ongoing high-profile cases of Student for Fair Admissions against Harvard University and the University of North Carolina.

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The College of William & Mary, based in Williamsburg, Virginia, also decided to indefinitely continue its test-optional approach.

The college cited its highly effective three-year pilot study as its basis for extending the policy.

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Associate Vice President for Enrollment and Dean of Admission Tim Wolfe said in a statement:

We want to empower students with more flexibility to demonstrate their talent when applying. Our admission process is comprehensive and multi-faceted. As we found through the pilot, we continue to enroll highly qualified students  with or without a standardized test score  capable of succeeding academically and in contributing to the William & Mary community.

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My Pillow Chief Executive Mike Lindell, seen speaking at the White House in March 2020, has used his fortune and celebrity to push false claims about election fraud since then-President Trump lost his reelection bid to Joe Biden. (Alex Brandon / Associated Press)

MyPillow guy Mike Lindell, known as much for his voter fraud conspiracy theories as for his two-for-one deals on bedding, has something to sell California.

It's a softer, gentler  and more dangerous  version of the "Big Lie" that fraud stole the 2020 presidential election from Donald Trump, and we need it about as much as his Giza Dreams bedsheets.

Lindell is pushing for U.S. elections to stop using any electronic voting and return to hand-counted paper ballots. And as my colleague Jessica Garrison reported this week, he has one California county ready to bite.

Lindell regularly talks about the dangers of electronic voting on his new social platform, Frank Speech, and anywhere else he can find people to listen. That includes this week at the influential Conservative Political Action Conference, where he announced his newest venture, the Election Crime Bureau (donations accepted), not to be confused with any actual government-related bureau.

"This is about showing we have a very broken system and we better fix it," he told me Thursday. "It's just about the machines, about getting rid of the computers, so we have elections we can trust. Whoever wins, wins."

Why use a system that people doubt if doubt undermines our elections? Seems reasonable to just go back to the old-fashioned way.

Big problem, simple solution  as long as we are OK with tossing out truth and allowing propaganda, lies and pillow sales to determine our public policies.

In case you need to hear it, here is what UCLA professor Richard L. Hasen, an internationally recognized expert in election law, told me about voting systems:

"Hand-counting of ballots is less accurate because humans make more mistakes than machines," Hasen said. "Scanned ballots are the gold standard."

I called Lindell about a situation in Shasta County, a Northern California hotbed of extremism that has emerged as a real-time example of how the far-right election fraud propaganda is proving a threat to our democracy.

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Shasta County, newly run by a majority of hard-right elected officials, this week formalized its plans to dump the county's contract with Dominion Voting Systems, one of the largest suppliers of voting machines and software in the U.S., over fears that the machines could be or had been hacked by nefarious actors, maybe Democrats, maybe the Chinese government. Who knows?

Within days that will leave the county with no legal voting system just one year before the presidential primary.

Never mind that a host of actual election and cybersecurity experts have repeatedly investigated and found baseless the claims by election deniers that Dominion's machines are corrupt tools that threw votes from Trump to Biden, or that voting machines in general are unsafe.

Dominion, in fact, is suing Fox News, accusing the conservative media giant of maliciously promoting false accusations about the company, and damaging its brand in the process, because it was good for ratings.

While that suit has received widespread attention, less well-known is that the company also has sued Lindell in a separate defamation case with similar allegations.

Lindell  one of the regular Fox guests who promoted those fraud theories  is adamant his debunked claims about 2020 will be proven true. I'll leave that to a judge to hash out.

What is more concerning is what it means when Lindell's shtick tumbles line for line from the mouth of a local government official who can affect the front lines of American voting.

At a Shasta County Board of Supervisors meeting this week, one of the hard-right members, Kevin Crye, surprised the audience and his colleagues by reading into record an email from Lindell, whom he said he had communicated with several times. In the email, Crye said, Lindell offered both help implementing a hand-count system and financial and legal aid should the county be sued (for what was not clear).

Turns out Lindell has just the hand-count system for Shasta, ready to go.

"There is room for no mistakes, zero mistakes," Lindell told me of his miraculous voting method, sounding a lot like Trump. "It's faster than anything you've ever seen. It's just so efficient."

Crye waved around a thick stack of papers at the meeting, describing them as a rundown of Lindell's voting method. He added that Lindell had promised to put money in an escrow account for the county, ensuring no tax dollars would be spent to implement it.

Crye did not say whether the plan came with discount codes for those infamous pillows, but he was quick to say he didn't agree with everything Lindell wrote to him, including that "everyone" is aware we need to get rid of electronic voting machines.

"I don't agree with that," Crye said. "I don't think everyone is aware."

Later, in a brief phone interview, Crye told me his motivation for dumping electronic voting was to increase trust in the system. If people don't believe electronic voting is safe, why use it? We came from hand counts, to hand counts we shall return.

Sound familiar?

Mary Rickert, a conservative Shasta board member who has come under attack from her now further-right colleagues, told me the meeting felt "chaotic" and "insane."

"We are going to lose this county. It is going to collapse," she said of this new leadership that seems to be dismantling government from the inside. "I am in a state of grief."

Shasta is a warning.

The normalization of voter fraud propaganda is seeping through the country, a dangerous turn from the screech-based conspiracies of 2020 precisely because it's toned down  and because it's coming from local community leaders, part of an organized tactic to transfer the energy of the lost presidential election onto city councils, school boards and boards of supervisors.

"It definitely gives more credence [to conspiracies] if your county officials believe the theories to the point of making decisions," Kathryn Olmsted told me. She is a history professor at UC Davis who specializes in conspiracy theories.

"Its truly frightening that they're making these major decisions without doing due diligence with the fact-checking, that they are making these decisions about elections based on these unsubstantiated conspiracy theories," she said.

Cathy Darling Allen, the Shasta County clerk and registrar of voters, was overruled when laying out her reasoned objections to canceling Dominion. She heard about Lindell's hand-counting plan just like everyone else, when Crye sprang it in the public meeting. She's been in charge of Shasta elections for 19 years and is respected around the state for her knowledge and integrity.

Since this county erupted in Big Lie mania after the 2020 election, Darling Allen has been the target of threats and harassment, including having documents delivered to her office accusing her of treason, described as a crime punishable by death. She's got a busy life outside of work  a husband who just had surgery, a 5-year-old granddaughter she is raising, but she increasingly feels like she and her staff are the last line of defense for voters in Shasta.

It's all the harder because there are a fair number of people in Shasta who probably believe Crye and his far-right colleagues are doing the righteous thing. After years of indoctrination from Fox, Lindell and a host of others, who can blame them?

"They're hearing news reports, and they're hearing from folks they trust, that there's a real substantial problem with the way those machines operate. I know that's not accurate, and I try to communicate that and explain how we can prove it's not accurate," Darling Allen said.

But she's come to see it as a losing battle.

On Tuesday, the Shasta County Board of Supervisors voted to spend the next 30 days exploring Lindell's hand-count option, along with other ways to do away with machines. Darling Allen doesn't know how Shasta voters will cast ballots in 2024, a crushing concern for someone who has dedicated her life to free and fair elections.

"Quite frankly," she said, "I will never be louder than a multinational media company, or a former president."

Or even a pillow guy.

This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.
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 visited the units defending the city of Bakhmut in the Donetsk Oblast on 3 March.

Source: press service of Ground Forces of Ukraine

Quote: "In Bakhmut, the commander heard the [subordinate] commanders' reports on the state of affairs in subordinate units, got acquainted with problematic issues related to improving the defence capability of our units on the front line."

Details: It is reported that the Russian invaders do not give up hope of capturing Bakhmut and continue to amass forces in an attempt to occupy the city.

The Russian invaders deployed the most trained units of the Wagner PMC and other regular units of the Russian army to capture the city. Intense fighting is taking place in and around the city itself.

The commander supported and encouraged the defenders with valuable gifts, letting them realise they are an example of perseverance, courage and heroism in the battles for Bakhmut.

Previously:

Syrskyi visited military units of the Defense Forces in Bakhmut and on the outskirts of February 25.

On 2 March, the UK Defence Ministry predicted deterioration of conditions for movement on the terrain in the area of Bakhmut, which is likely to give an advantage to the Ukrainian defenders.

In February, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, General Mark Milley, predicted that the Ukrainian forces would not retreat from Bakhmut.

Oleksii Danilov, Secretary of the National Security and Defence Council, stated that the occupiers are losing seven times more soldiers in Bakhmut than the Ukrainian forces.

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WASHINGTON  Congress biggest proponents of cryptocurrencies are pushing back against a Securities and Exchange Commission bulletin that would affect how banks and financial institutions account for digital assets.

House Financial Services Committee Chair Patrick McHenry, R-N.C., and Sen. Cynthia Lummis, R-Wyo., who are each working on legislation to regulate the cryptocurrency industry, said Thursday in a letter to the SEC that they have concerns about a Staff Accounting Bulletin known as SAB 121.

At issue is how crypto platforms calculate risk. Crypto platforms tend not to include customers crypto assets when they calculate how much risk their businesses face. SAB 121 in effective tells them they should include those customer assets in their risk analyses.

The SEC and lawmakers continue to wrestle with how to effectively regulate cryptocurrencies and other digital assets, a subject that has been made more urgent by the high-profile collapse of many major crypto platforms, including Celsius and FTX. Many customers have either lost money or have had their assets frozen as the platforms try to sort out their bankruptcies.

A recent decision in the Celsius bankruptcy, which classified all Celsius customers as unsecured creditors, and therefore at the back of the line to recover their assets, highlights the legal risk of effectively forcing customer custodial assets to be placed on balance sheet, McHenry and Lummis wrote.

In January, the Biden administration called on Congress to expand regulators powers to prevent misuses of customers assets  which hurt investors and distort prices  and to mitigate conflicts of interest.

The SEC, which is considered the most likely government entity to regulate digital assets, has been wrestling with questions such as whether cryptocurrencies should be considered securities. SEC Chair Gary Gensler has said he believes they are.

How the SEC regulates cryptocurrencies will have major consequences for customers and the many companies that have grown quickly in recent years around the crypto industry. The industry has also leaned into lobbying efforts.

Story continues

SAB 121, which the SECs Office of the Chief Accountant issued last March, represents the first time digital asset platforms are receiving instructions about how to account for the unstable values of cryptocurrencies.

Such bulletins from the SEC are relatively rare (only three have been issued since 2019), and they are issued by staff members to outline their views on how companies should handle certain accounting issues. In August, Gensler defended SAB 121 as being a standard part of SEC operations.

McHenry and Lummis are concerned it would create greater risks for consumers and increase compliance costs for financial institutions. Since the bulletin was issued, the SEC has received pushback from banks and cryptocurrency companies alike.

Since SAB 121 purports to require banks, credit unions and other financial institutions to effectively place digital assets on their balance sheets, it would trigger a massive capital charge. This in turn is likely to prevent these prudentially regulated entities from engaging in digital asset custody, they wrote.

In January, McHenry established the first congressional panel focused solely on cryptocurrency and digital assets. The Financial Services subcommittee on digital assets, financial technology and inclusion will be chaired by another leading House Republican on the issue, French Hill of Arkansas.

Lummis, who proposed expansive legislation in June to regulate the crypto industry with Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand, D-N.Y., plans to reintroduce the Responsible Financial Innovation Act in April, a spokesperson said.

This article was originally published on NBCNews.com
Californias biggest utility will be able to keep a disputed nuclear plant running while seeking official permission to extend the facilitys operations, a federal regulatory decided on Thursday.

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) granted an exemption on Thursday to Pacific Gas & Electricity that will allow the Diablo Canyon nuclear power plant to continue operating under its current licenses while the agency considers its renewal application.

While both Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) and state legislators have been advocating for the extension as a reliable source of energy to support Californias clean energy transition, environmental groups remain vocal in their opposition for the plans.

Located about 25 miles southwest of San Luis Obispo along Californias Central Coast, the Diablo Canyon first began operating in 1985.

PG&E announced plans in 2016 to retire the facility and decommission the reactors when the licenses expire. But after California enacted legislation this fall to continue operations, the utility moved to apply for a license renewal.

The licenses for Diablos two reactors are set to expire in November of 2024 and August 2025, respectively.

The NRC exemption enables those licenses to remain in effect while the regulator reviews the renewal application, assuming that PG&E submits its request by the end of the year, according to the regulator.

The exemption is authorized by law, will not present undue risk to the public health and safety, and is consistent with the common defense and security, a statement from the NRC said.

Diablo Canyons continued operation is in the public interest because of serious challenges to the reliability of Californias electricity grid, the regulator added.

Throughout the renewal process, the NRC said that it would maintain oversight to ensure continued safe operation. If the license renewal is granted, the regulator said it would authorize the continued operation of the facility for up to 20 years.

Story continues

PG&E will continue on the path to extend our operations beyond 2025, Paula Gerfen, senior vice president and chief nuclear officer for PG&E said in a statement.

That path, Gerfen continued, would aim to improve statewide electric system reliability and reduce greenhouse gas emissions.

We are committed to Californias clean energy future, she added.

The Diablo Canyon power plant  whose continued operations have garnered vehement opposition from environmental groups  gained a lifeline when lawmakers passed related legislation, S.B. 846, at the tail end of August.

The bill granted legislative approval for the operation of each unit through the end of October 2029 and 2030, respectively, pending license renewal by the NRC.

Earlier that month, Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) had proposed extending the plants shelf life, with a goal of maintaining a carbon-free, reliable power supply as the state shifts to renewables.

In a visit to the Diablo Canyon plant on Wednesday, Newsom emphasized the importance of the facility to Californias clean energy transition.

As we experienced during the record heat wave last September, climate change-driven extreme events are causing unprecedented stress on our power grid, Newsom said in a statement.

The Diablo Canyon Power Plant is important to support energy reliability as we accelerate progress towards achieving our clean energy and climate goals, the governor added.

The NRCs decision to grant the exemption on Thursday follows a determination from the California Energy Commission earlier this week that the state should keep the plant running through 2030 to support grid reliability.

Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D) expressed her support for the NRCs decision, stressing that the next few years are going to be critical for Californias energy transition.

Notably, Feinstein had changed course on the subject this past summer, explaining that while California is leading the way on renewables, we arent there yet.

This decision will allow Diablo Canyon to serve as a bridge to a clean-energy future, maintaining a reliable source of carbon-free power as we continue to invest in renewable energy, the senator said on Thursday.

Environmental activists, however, slammed the NRCs move as unprecedented in a collective statement.

The NRC has never approved an exemption for a license renewal that would enable a nuclear reactor to exceed its 40-year legal threshold without a comprehensive review, the groups said.

The NRC calls the exemption a mere administrative decision, as if it were choosing paper clip sizes, said Diane Curran, lead attorney for San Luis Obispo Mothers for Peace.

There is nothing administrative about allowing this aging reactor duo to continue running for days, months or years, when each day of operation poses the risk of an accident that could devastate the entire state and beyond, Curran added.

Ken Cook, president of the Environmental Working Group, said that public safety concerns were blatantly ignored by the NRC over what he described as a reckless decision to bend the law for PG&E.

A federal agency responsible for protecting public safety is now simply serving as the consigliere of the nuclear industry, Cook added.

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




A geologist points to an area for future development in Thacker Pass in this photo from 2018.

Construction began this week on a controversial lithium mine in Nevada after a federal appeals court denied an 11th-hour attempt to halt the project.



Read more

In a decision issued Wednesday, the 9th U.S. Circuit Court denied an appeal filed Monday by Western Watersheds Project, longtime opponents of the mine, that would have temporarily halted construction on the Thacker Pass mine in Nevada. In a press release, the projects owner, Canada-based Lithium Americas Corp, announced that it officially broke ground on Wednesday.

Why is lithium important?

The mine site covers one of the largest deposits of lithium in the U.S., and General Motors this year invested $650 million in the project, which will become North Americas biggest lithium mine. Lithium is a crucial component of electric vehicles and batteries; experts expect demand for the material to skyrocket in the coming decades as the world transitions to clean energy. The Biden administration has made expanding the domestic supply of clean energy minerals a priority.

But lithium and other clean energy materials come with a host of problems, including concerns around the environmental degradation that comes with mining as well as overseas supply chains rife with child and forced labor. An analysis released earlier this year calls some of these demand models into question, finding that centering public transit and smaller vehicles in the clean energy revolution could significantly reduce global reliance on these minerals.

Whats going on with Thacker Pass?

The Thacker Pass project has been mired in controversy for the past two years, since the federal government granted a permit for it to move forward. Some Native tribes in the area say the mine is situated on the site of a massacre of more than 30 members of the Paiute Tribe in 1865, making the land a sacred site.

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In January 2021, in the twilight of the Trump administration, the Bureau of Land Management fast-tracked final approval for the mine with a surprisingly short environmental impact statement, a move that critics say calls the environmental soundness of the permit into question. But in mid-February, a federal judge issued a ruling saying that the projects opponents had not yet proved that there were significant environmental issues with the permit, and it allowed construction to proceed while mandating portions of the permit be reviewed. The appeal denied this week was a last-ditch attempt to temporarily pause that decision.

This massive open pit mine has been fast-tracked from start to finish in defiance of environmental laws, all in the name of green energy, but its environmental impacts will be permanent and severe, Talasi Brooks, a lawyer for the Western Watersheds Project, said in a statement following Wednesdays decision.

Some of the opposition to the Thacker Pass project has itself been problematic. Last year, E&E issued a blockbuster report finding that one of the green groups helping organize opposition on the ground was extremely transphobic.

Lithium Americas Corp said this week that it expects the Thacker Pass mine to begin producing lithium in the second half of 2026.

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Mary Meisenzahl/Insider

For now, Costco is not raising the fee for members of its warehouse club, CFO Richard Galanti said Thursday.

The company last increased its fee in 2017 from $55 to $60 for a basic one-year membership.

More than 68 million households have paid memberships, netting the company over $4.2 billion last year.

At a time when everything seems to be getting more expensive, Costco's membership will stay the same  for now, at least.

The Issaquah, Washington, mega-retailer told investors Thursday that, for the time being, it would not raise the annual fee for its Gold Star membership from $60.

When asked about a fee hike, Chief Financial Officer Richard Galanti acknowledged that the pattern of prior hikes would lead to one "about now," but said no increases were imminent.

"It's a question of when, not if," he said. "We'll let you know."

The decision echoes CEO Craig Jelinek's words at January's annual meeting: "Right now is not the time to do it," he said. "That's not to say that at some point we won't, but at the moment, we have no plans to take up the fee."

Analysts have been anticipating a hike, noting that the last time the company raised its price was 2017.

Prior $5 increases have also followed a pattern that Chief Financial Officer Richard Galanti highlighted in December: "over the last 16 or so years, they averaged five years and seven months, and I know now that five years and seven months from June of 2017 is January of 2023."

Costco's $60 price is slightly higher than the other two leading warehouse clubs, Sam's Club and BJ's, who charge $50 and $55, respectively.

Still, the retailer has had no trouble getting people to sign up, reporting more than 1 million new memberships in the prior quarter, bringing the total to over 68 million. It also boasts a 93% renewal rate in the US and Canada, and the fees brought in more than $4.2 billion last year. Costco also placed highest among general merchandise retailers in the most recent American Customer Satisfaction Index rankings.

Story continues

Over 30 million households have Costco's $120 Executive Membership, and Galanti said Executive members represent nearly three-quarters of the company's total sales.

High gas prices last year led to a flurry of sign-ups, and Galanti said there's not a pressing need to increase the fee. He pointed to Costco's popular $4.99 rotisserie chicken as one way the company aims to reward members and drive sales.

"There's no analytical framework we use other than we feel very good about our member loyalty and our strength," Galanti said in December. "If we wanted to do it yesterday, we could. If we want to do it six months from now, we can. So we'll wait and see."

Read the original article on Business Insider
A stock image of a couple snorkeling in Hawaii. Getty Images

A couple sued a Hawaii snorkeling company for $5 million, saying they were abandoned in the ocean.

The lawsuit said the couple were left stranded during a snorkeling tour and feared they would drown.

The couple's lawyer told Insider there was a lack of organization and safety on the tour.

A California couple filed a $5 million lawsuit against a Hawaii tour company, saying they were abandoned in the ocean during a snorkeling excursion while on their honeymoon.

Elizabeth Webster and Alexander Burckle were honeymooning in Hawaii in September 2021 when they booked a snorkeling tour with Sail Maui. The pair, experienced snorkelers, purchased tickets for a snorkeling tour to Lanai, a small island near Maui.

The complaint says that after the vessel arrived at the snorkeling site, the captain told the group they'd have an hour to explore before moving to another location. Webster and Burckle allege in the lawsuit that they were given no advice about a specific return time, how to get back to the boat, or what explicitly to do in case of an emergency.

Jared A. Washkowitz, the couple's lawyer, told Insider the process was disorganized and the company "didn't give set boundaries for snorkeling." Washkowitz also said Sail Maui didn't identify a lifeguard for the expedition or ensure guests snorkelers used a buddy system while in the water.

At first, the couple was snorkeling in calm and clear waters, but the water became more turbulent, the lawsuit says. They tried to swim toward the boat, but it had already begun departing for the next location, the complaint says.

The lawsuit says that crew members performed three headcounts but that other passengers later said people were not made to sit or stay still for the roll call.

"Our facts show that they did a headcount, came up two short, then they did another headcount, came up two short," Washkowitz said. And on the third headcount, Washkowitz said, the crew counted a total including the missing two, reportedly the total number of guests, and left for the next location.

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"It was just too disorganized," Jessica Hebert, who was also on the tour, told Hawaii News Now. "Everybody kept moving, so they easily got missed."

Hebert, a member of the US Coast Guard, later connected the couple to a local unit, leading to a Coast Guard investigation that Washkowitz said found Sail Maui's ship negligent for not conducting a proper headcount.

Washkowitz also said the Coast Guard report included a statement from a passenger who reportedly told the crew two people were missing from the boat before the headcount. The crew member denied missing any passengers, Washkowitz said.

The couple's lawsuit alleges that after they realized the boat had left them, they continued to swim and make distress signals, eventually ending up in deep, turbulent water.

"Plaintiffs were beginning to panic and were struggling to swim in the ocean conditions," the lawsuit says. "They feared that drowning was imminent."

The complaint says they eventually reached the shore of Lanai and were "fatigued and dehydrated." Webster wrote "HELP" and "SOS" in the sand, but no boats came to their rescue.

Eventually, local residents found them, allowed them to use their phones, and gave them water, the complaint says.

The lawsuit says that when Webster called Sail Maui, it apparently hadn't noticed anyone had gone missing from the tour.

The complaint says that Sail Maui has since changed its protocol. Sail Maui did not immediately respond to Insider's request for comment.

The couple is seeking compensation for general damages for emotional distress. Washkowitz said Webster and Burckle are still processing the trauma of the incident and had been snorkeling and swimming for hours.

"They spent a lot of time in the water and if they weren't young, healthy people who were athletic," Washkowitz said, "they probably would've drowned."

Read the original article on Insider
A book. Illustrated | Gettyimages

It's fairly safe to assume that when a politician releases a memoir, they're not doing so simply to appease their inner sense of authorial merit. Rather, it's helpful to think of these forays into literature as being in service of a lawmaker's broader political aspirations, for which the visibility and financial benefits of high-profile authorship can be leveraged for future electoral gains. Former President Barack Obama launched his nascent political career after first publishing his memoir Dreams from My Father; Hillary Clinton's Hard Choices, an account of her time as secretary of state, preceded her 2016 presidential campaign; and Crippled America: How to Make America Great Again helped propel Donald Trump to the White House that same year. The list goes on.

Now joining the ranks of political memoirists is Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R), whose The Courage to Be Free: Florida's Blueprint for America's Revival was released Feb. 28 to financial  if not necessarily critical  acclaim. While DeSantis hasn't officially declared whether he plans to challenge Trump for the 2024 presidential nomination, the very fact that he has chosen this moment to not only publish his overtly political tome but accompany it with a national tour featuring multiple campaign-like stops strongly suggests that he will. And even if he doesn't, the book and national tour will, if nothing else, set up the basic framework of any future run.

Takeaways from The Courage to Be Free

Although the book contains a requisite amount of personal history and narrative, it is by no means a DeSantis autobiography. Instead, it largely "rehashes his contentious four years as governor and suggests he has laid a path for others to follow," CNN summarized after receiving an advance copy. Within those "contentious four years," DeSantis' ongoing feud with the Walt Disney Corporation represents a significant "demarcation line" in his political career, wherein Disney's decision to release a statement opposing the governor's so-called "Don't Say Gay" bill was a "microcosm of a greater struggle between the fight conservatives expect from GOP leaders and the instincts of Republicans not to meddle in the affairs of businesses," the outlet said.

The book also walks a fine line in terms of DeSantis' tenuous relationship with Trump, whom the governor has largely refrained from criticizing directly, despite the latter's more frontal attacks on the man he sees as a major potential threat to his return to the White House. To the extent that Trump is mentioned, "it's mostly in positive terms," The Washington Post noted, adding that DeSantis "finds common cause with Trump in labeling the media 'the enemy of the people,'" while celebrating a number of the former president's more concrete policy wins. But to the extent that DeSantis is using his book to make a case against Trump in any future run, CNN suggested it is done much more subtly than the straightforward name-calling preferred by the former president. Instead, DeSantis opts to juxtapose "his own record compelling Republican lawmakers in his state to act repeatedly in service of his agenda" against Trump's time in office with a GOP majority. "The implication," CNN said, "seems clear."

Aside from focusing his battles with Disney, DeSantis also makes a point of highlighting his coronavirus response as a major episode during his gubernatorial tenure. "When I announced Florida's back to school policy, perhaps because I did so during the height of the summer COVID-19 wave, there was substantial public opposition to my decision," he writes in the copy reviewed by CNN. "For all the controversy that swirled around my decision, and all the incoming fire I took by making it, there was never a doubt in my mind that keeping our schools open was right for our state."

What are the critics saying?

High-profile reviews of The Courage to Be Free have been noticeably downbeat about the book, with The Washington Post's Manuel Roig-Franzia calling it a "scorn-filled" preview of DeSantis' potential campaign. Noting that the governor is conspicuously magnanimous toward Trump, Roig-Franzia writes that "there are so many others to attack, foremost among them America's 'elites,' in all their various forms." By Roig-Franzia's count, "the word 'elite' gets used more than 20 times in the book's introduction, which is 12 pages long."

The New York Times' Jennifer Szalai picked up on a similar dissonance, calling the book the work of "someone who has expended a lot of effort studying which way the wind is blowing in the Republican Party and is learning how to comport himself accordingly." For as much as DeSantis peppers his work with various conservative shibboleths, "all the culture war Mad Libs can't distract from the dull coldness at this book's core." Ultimately, Szalai concluded, "The Courage to Be Free is courageously free of anything that resembles charisma, or a discernible sense of humor."

And in Politico, reviewer Gary Fineout noted that although some biographical omissions are to be expected in these types of political memoirs, "DeSantis' book stands out for the limited amount of personal information he gives readers, especially in the era of oversharing."

Not all critical reactions to the book have been quite so negative, however; the conservative National Review described the memoir as DeSantis "[taking] on GOP Establishment," while the further-right BizPacReview crowed over the fact that it "hit No. 1 on the Top 100 list of Amazon on the first day of its release," which "may be more than some of his critics can take."

What can the book tell us about 2024?

The Courage to Be Free has been widely taken as the opening salvo of an inevitable campaign for the GOP nomination  no matter how much the author himself may try to coyly downplay his intentions thereof. By publishing now, the book "provides DeSantis with an opportunity to tour multiple cities in Florida and as far away as California to boost book sales  and himself," Politico said, noting DeSantis' upcoming plans to tour "New Hampshire, Iowa, and Nevada, all early primary states."

Indeed, The Courage to Be Free seems designed to appeal to voters outside the insulated cocoon DeSantis has established for himself in Florida. "If part of the point of this book is to float a trial balloon for a presidential run, you can see the gears turning as he tries to make his message palatable for the national stage," the Times' Szalai suggested. "Take out the gauzy abstraction, the heartwarming cliches, and much of what DeSantis is describing in The Courage to Be Free is chilling  unfree and scary."

CNN's chief national affairs correspondent Jeff Zeleny called the book a "bumper sticker" for the governor's potential presidential run: "Make America Florida." After reading the memoir's closing lines on air, Zeleny concluded that DeSantis' ultimate purpose is to present a "calling card for a presidential race." In that, The Courage to Be Free may be less illustrative as an accurate slice of history, and instead should be seen as a forecast for what's to come.

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Consequences of the bombing of the TV tower in Kharkiv by russian pilot

The SBU said the convict was the deputy commander of a military unit of the 6th Army of the Air and Air Defense Forces of Russias Western Military District.

He crossed the state border of Ukraine in a Russian Su-34 combat aircraft and bombed a radio and television station in Kharkiv on March 6, 2022.

The investigation found that the pilot used eight FAB-500 aircraft bombs with a total weight of 2.5 tons of TNT equivalent to conduct the air attack.

Read also: Russian pilot who changed lives of Chernihiv residents

The pilot was shot down by the Ukrainian military immediately after he dropped the bombs. He was detained after ejecting and landing.

The court found him guilty under Part 2 of Article 28 and Part 1 of Article 438 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine (violation of the laws and customs of war).

The Prosecutor General's Office added that the court also satisfied the civil claims of the victims  three organizations  worth a total of more than UAH 1.1 million ($29,741).

Prosecutors proved that the Russian pilot had received a combat order to destroy a civilian object and did not refuse to execute it, knowing that it was a criminal act.

Read also: Captive Russian pilot, hired by Wagner, talks about his sorties in Ukraine

The agency noted that the Kharkiv radio and television station and the equipment located on it are a civilian facility that is not used for military purposes. The activities of the Kharkiv broadcaster are directly related exclusively to the provision of services that are important for the functioning of society and the safety of the civilian population.

The station provides telecommunication services, a warning system, and broadcasts television and radio programs.

As a result of the bombing, the TV tower sustained damage to its metal structure, which significantly reduced its load-bearing capacity and made further safe operation impossible.

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
REUTERS/Sarah Silbiger

Its time once again for the Mardi Gras for the Right, also known as the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC). The annual gathering has long been a riotous affair, but the bacchanalian revelry once belied a buttoned-down conservative class that ran the event.

These days, they let their freak flag fly. And no, Im not talking about dubious yarns of after-hours debaucherythough I am old enough to remember Steve Stockmans hot tub party (no, I wasnt there). Im talking instead about political statements that will be uttered on stage by credentialed speakers or on camera by attention-starved activists and attendees. I mean, the event just kicked off Thursday, and already, a video with a self-described Jan. 6 political prisoner is garnering buzz.

Bidens Befuddled Response to the Ohio Train Disaster Is Unacceptable

Those small potatoes will quickly be forgotten. Every CPAC has a narrative, but what will this year be? Attendance could be down. Thatd be embarrassing. Big names like Gov. Ron DeSantis are skipping this years event. Could it be that CPAC isnt as relevant as it used to be? What is more, this years meeting is taking place on the heels of allegations that the events organizer, Matt Schlapp, groped a Herschel Walker campaign aide.

Any of these stories could be the big one. But my moneys on another option: The Trumpification of CPAC.

Kellyanne Conway envisioned this future back in 2017, when she dubbed the event TPAC. Of course, back then, Trump was a newly-minted presidentnot a perpetual drag on the partys electoral prospects. The fact that CPAC is doubling down on Trumpism now tells you all you need to know about the direction of the movement and the party, not to mention their penchant for lost causes (one of the other big speakers this year will be election-denier Kari Lake).

This is not how it was supposed to go. Trust me, I know. Back in 2012, I was CPACs Blogger of the Year. I know what youre thinking: Whats a blogger? It doesnt matter. The point is that a mere eleven years ago, I wasnt just the kind of person that CPAC could tolerate, I was feted.

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What a long, strange trip its been.

CPAC and I were born the same year. In 1974, Ronald Reagan spoke at the very first CPAC gathering. He began by introducing three Vietnam P.O.W.s. One of them was, you guessed it, John McCain. (In 2019, the ghost of John McCain was attacked from the stage of CPAC.)

But even for those who arent huge McCain fans, the contrast is clear. My friend Craig Shirley, the acclaimed conservative historian, was recently quoted in The New York Times lamenting the conferences decline since the 70s. Its more of like a boat show, Shirley said.

I can think of other words besides boat. Ship might be closer.

Ron DeSantis Anti-Free Speech Crusade Would Cancel Fox News

CPAC was serious and wonky back in the Reagan era, but that started to change long before I attended the first of my many CPACs in 2000. By then, the hall was bustling with young college students who had presumably been bussed in by organizers and/or campaigns vying to win the presidential straw poll.

To be sure, there have always been eccentric attendees. A tongue-in-cheek essay I wrote for the Daily Caller in 2012 lamented the gadflies and time burglars who populate these events.

But there used to be a lot of intellectually stimulating things to do and see.

For example, CPAC long featured an annual conversation between legendary journalists Sam Donaldson and Bob Novak. There were other speakers like P.J. ORourke, George Will, and Charles Krauthammer, who addressed the crowd.

The modern equivalent is, apparently, Mike Lindell, Marjorie Taylor Greene, and Kimberly Guilfoyle.

The Real Reason Trump Is Calling DeSantis Meatball Ron

To be sure, CPAC speakers have long existed on a spectrum, somewhere between William F. Buckley and P.T. Barnum. But in the last dozen years, or so (coinciding, it seems, with the election of Barack Obamaand then exploding with Trumps election), it began skewing very heavily toward the Barnum end.

There are numerous warning signs along the way, but let me remind you of just a few:

In 2009, my friend and former boss Tucker Carlson was briefly booed at CPAC for praising The New York Times for accuracy.

In 2011, CPAC invited Donald Trumpwho was just a crazy celebrity touting birtherismto give a speech.

In what might be considered his political coming out (as a conservative) party, Trump was by far the best-received speaker and the audience lapped up his act, reported Maggie Haberman.

That same year, libertarian ex Rep. Ron Paul won the CPAC straw poll.

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None of these things, in and of themselves, were terribly surprising or noteworthy (the straw poll was always manipulated by campaigns, which is to say the results were far from organic or even scientific). Collectively, however, these developments now strike me as telling. They were harbingers of things to come.

My conclusion is this: If you want to know what the conservative movement will look like in five years, look at what todays CPAC hall is like.

That is a scary thought, because if that analysis turns out to be true, Donald Trump is the GOPs future. After all, hes their celebrated hero. And with Ron DeSantis presumably sitting this CPAC out, hes the only game in town.

Read more at The Daily Beast.

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Conservative Firebrand Rep. Matt Gaetz is calling for the abolishment of federal law enforcement agencies - including the FBI, the Department of Justice, and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives - if they don't change ways that have offended Republicans.

Speaking Friday at CPAC, an annual meeting of conservative activists, the Florida Republican slammed Washington as a "deeply corrupt place" that has resulted in "the weaponization of this government."

"Seems like every time I turn around, they engage in surveillance or list building or monitoring," he told the audience attending the conference at National Harbor, Maryland.

CPAC:Haley to speak to conservatives ahead of Trump; Marjorie Taylor Greene attacks trans rights

"I dont care if it takes every second of our time and every ounce of our energy," he said. "We either get this government back on our side or we defund and get rid of, abolish the FBI, the CDC, ATF, DOJ, every last one of them if they do not come to heel.

The CDC is the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

The audience, made up of far-right activists, loudly applauded Gaetz's condemnation, nearly drowning him out.

Gaetz, who serves on the House Judiciary Committee's weaponization subcommittee, made his threat while discussing efforts by a Republican congressional committee to target federal law enforcement. Democrats and others say the committee is a political attack on the Justice Department because of its investigations of former President Donald Trump.

Gaetz had been under a Justice Department sex trafficking investigation. But last month, the Justice Department formally decided not to charge Gaetz in connection to the investigation.

"I think vindication looks good on me!" Gaetz said at CPAC. The crowd roared in approval before Gaetz continued. "But there is no time to celebrate."

Who is at CPAC:Donald Trump and Nikki Haley will be there; Ron DeSantis and Mike Pence won't

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: CPAC 2023: Matt Gaetz says 'abolish' the FBI, DOJ, CDC
Donald Trump Jr. onstage at the Conservative Political Action Conference in National Harbor, Md., on Friday. (Kent Nishimura / Los Angeles Times)

When she walked onto the stage at the Conservative Political Action Conference, the room erupted in raucous applause.

It was Marjorie Taylor Greene, the congresswoman from Georgia known for her steadfast loyalty to former President Trump. For the next 10 minutes, she railed against Democratic lawmakers and transgender rights, warning that the left is coming for our children.

Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) is greeted by attendees at the Conservative Political Action Conference. (Kent Nishimura / Los Angeles Times)

Greenes warnings were echoed by other speakers, including the former presidents oldest son, Donald Trump Jr.

The focus on trans issues at the annual conference was an effort to rally conservatives around common interests. But in the run-up to the 2024 presidential election, the Republican Party is facing deep divisions. Uncertainty surrounding the outcome of the nominating process could imperil the partys chances of taking back the White House.

If Trump wins the nomination, will Republicans and conservative independents fall in line? If he loses, will he run as a third-party candidate and take his base with him?

In the immediate aftermath of the Jan. 6, 2021, insurrection, some within the GOP initially turned away from Trump. Two years later, its clear that Trump still has an iron grip on much of the party. But the former president still struggles to win over independent voters.

That dynamic has put the partys leadership in a bind. Many believe they cant win without Trump. But with him, the general election could prove an uphill battle.

Men carry American flags in a hall at the Conservative Political Action Conference. (Kent Nishimura / Los Angeles Times)

Trump has already announced his third bid for the White House. So far, only two other candidates have formally challenged Trump for the Republican nomination: former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley and biotech entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy.

Other potential candidates, including former Vice President Mike Pence and Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, have yet to announce bids.

Republican National Committee Chairwoman Ronna McDaniel has sought to exhibit party unity to voters by requiring primary candidates to back the partys nominee no matter the outcome. You want to make sure you have people on the debate stage who are running for president, McDaniel said Sunday on CNN. We dont want people who are running for book deals, or media contracts, or Cabinet positions.

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In a Wednesday radio interview, Haley, who served as Trumps U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, said she would commit to the pledge.

Any of our people will be better than [President] Biden every day of the week, Haley said. We need to remember what the overall good is. The overall good is to make sure we dont have a Democrat in power.

On Wednesday, Pence declined to say he would back a Trump nomination. Trump last month in a radio interview declined to promise to back the GOP nominee.

Representatives for Trump and Ramaswamy did not respond to a request for comment.

Experts say the purpose of the pledge is two-pronged. The first is to encourage anti-Trump candidates to back the former president during the general election should he win the nomination in order to present a united front. The second purpose is to encourage Trump not to cast doubt on the partys process if he loses.

Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) signs autographs at CPAC. (Kent Nishimura / Los Angeles Times)

If Trump loses, declares the primary process corrupt and refuses to concede, he could kneecap his party. There is a real concern that Trump might hurt a nominee if he loses by not endorsing and telling his voters to stay home, Republican strategist Alex Conant said. American presidential elections are so close that even if a small fraction of Trumps base stays home, Biden will win reelection.

He added: Its a real concern that a lot of Republicans have that Trump might not ever endorse someone who beats him in a primary simply because being a gracious loser is not something we normally associate with him.

If Trump wins the nomination, anti-Trump politicians such as former Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan and ex-Wyoming Rep. Liz Cheney, who may run for the White House, might refuse to back him, again signaling a lack of unity in the party.

It would be antithetical for them to back Trump, said Robert Stutzman, a Sacramento-based GOP strategist.

This moral stance would likely capture media attention, but it is unlikely to have a major impact on the election itself.

Recent national polling indicates that Trump is still a likely front-runner  even against DeSantis, considered the biggest threat to him winning the nomination. A February poll from Emerson College shows that Trump captures 55% of the vote in the 2024 primary. DeSantis is second with 25% and Pence third with just 8%.

Though polling indicates Trump is likely to emerge out of the primary, his race to the White House may still be uphill.

Donald Trump Jr. and Kimberly Guilfoyle hold hands onstage at the Conservative Political Action Conference. (Kent Nishimura / Los Angeles Times)

Trump cannot grow the base, Stutzman said. He is unlikely to be able to build a broad coalition.

Sarah Longwell, a Republican strategist and head of the anti-Trump Republican Accountability Project, said that with Trump in the picture, the RNC can never be in charge of the GOP.

This attempt to force cohesion with a wing of the party that would not honor the peaceful transfer of power is an inherent conflict, she said.

I wish them all the luck in the world, but trying to return us to a place where everyone will abide like they are on the same page is just a fantasy.

There is no way around Trump; you have to go through him, she said. Theres no pledge the RNC can make that will make change that dynamic.

She added: This is the price the RNC has to pay for becoming a wholly owned subsidiary of Donald Trump.

This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.
Photo: Contributed Kelowna-Lake Country MP Tracy Gray

One of the pieces of legislation Ive heard the most about from local residents is Bill C-11 that will change what Canadians will be able to view online.

Bill C-11 is the government's updating of the Broadcasting Act to provide the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) the power and authority to regulate online content platforms.

The stated reasoning behind the bill is to bring the CRTC into the 21st Century, while supporting Canadian artists and promoting the spread of Canadian content over that of international competition. While that may seem like a noble goal, there are reasons Canadian artists, legal experts, and digital content producers are speaking out against this bill.

There are profound questions about using CRTC bureaucrats as online regulators. Their mandate primarily is regulating radio, television and advertising. If this bill passes, they would also be tasked with regulating user content-generating websites, like YouTube, where users upload hundreds of thousands of hours of video content every minute.

Even assuming they could do it, the federal government should not be policing what will be defined as "Canadian content" when using social or digital media platforms.

Canadians are right to question an organization having power to censor or impose what content people can see online. A free and open Internet is the gold standard of open democratic nations around the world, all the while also having laws that protect against insinuating violence and hatred. The bottom line is what you can search for and see online will be different than what you will see after the CRTC puts their regulations in place and that will change online algorithms.

Without Bill C-11, Canadian artists are succeeding making their full-time living growing content on digital platforms with the support of fellow Canadians and viewers from around the world receiving billions of views.

Legendary Canadian author Margaret Atwood spoke out against C-11 because, as she put it, "bureaucrats shouldn't tell authors what to write." Canadian social media stars bringing their concerns to the federal government about their content being hidden because of C-11's regulations found themselves ignored.

After spending months studying Bill C-11, Canada's Senate sent back to Parliament a heavily amended version of the (proposed) legislation. The process is the government can decide what amendments it likes and will bring those to the House of Commons for debate.

Canada has already seen a sneak preview of the impacts the government's heavy-handed approach to digital regulation will cause for everyday people. Recently, Google announced that because of another overreaching online law, Bill C-18, it started a test run to temporarily limit access to news content (including Canadian news content) for some Canadian users of Google.

I hope Google will reverse course on this test as no Canadian should be denied the news on a platform they use daily.

The biggest advocates for C-18 to regulate online news content are legacy broadcast organizations who are being outcompeted by small independent media.

Recently, the CBCs president and CEO stated they are planning to shift services to digital, eventually ceasing traditional TV and radio broadcasting. There are likely many reasons for this, but one could be how Bill C-18 will force media organizations to negotiate with platforms such as Facebook and Google to pay them for posting online content and having it shared.

The biggest winners will be the largest of organizations, further affecting online algorithms pushing their content to the top and putting money in their bank accounts.

If you have any thoughts on these pieces of legislation, please reach out to me as I bring your voice to Ottawa.

Tracy Gray is the Conservative MP for Kelowna-Lake Country.

This article is written by or on behalf of an outsourced columnist and does not necessarily reflect the views of Castanet.
Crawley Magistrates Court

Criminals can be spared jail to avoid putting further pressure on overcrowded prisons that are almost full, senior judges have ruled.

The declaration that courts should take account of overcrowding when deciding whether to imprison convicted criminals came as the court of appeal quashed a six month jail sentence imposed on a man who assaulted an emergency worker.

It is the first time that judges have been advised to spare convicted offenders from jail because of prison overcrowding since the Covid pandemic in 2020 when prisons were locked down to stop the spread of the virus.

The Telegraph revealed earlier this week that prisoners may have to be released early, as the jail population has nearly hit its capacity. It is just 600 short of the maximum 85,000 that prisons can safely hold.

The Ministry of Justice is commissioning up to 400 police cells to take the overflow of prisoners under an emergency programme known as Operation Safeguarding.

Covid precedent cited

In the ruling on Thursday, Lord Justice Edis said courts should now have an awareness of the impact of the current prison population levels when sentencing offenders. He said that the starting point for courts to take account of prison overcrowding would be from the implementation of Operation Safeguard on February 20.

It will be a matter for Government to communicate to the courts when prison conditions have returned to a more normal state, he added.

This factor will principally apply to shorter sentences because a significant proportion of such sentences is likely to be served during the time when the prison population is very high. It will only apply to sentences passed during this time.

He cited a similar judgement during the Covid pandemic when judges ruled that, during such a crisis, it was an established principle that courts should take into account the likely impact of a custodial sentence on an offender and, where appropriate, on others as well.

Judges and magistrates could, and should, keep in mind that the impact of a custodial sentence was likely to be heavier during the current emergency than would otherwise be the case, said the judges.

Thursdays case, that led to the ruling, involved a prisoner who assaulted a warder by throwing boiling water from his mug onto his face after the officer failed to open his cell door.

It caused a burn the size of a hand on the face of the officer who said it felt like acid, as if his face was on fire, the court was told. It took him three weeks to recover including a week and a half off work.
Braintree Mayor Charles Kokoros has asked Clean Harbors to refrain from resuming regular operations at their site in the city due to critical outstanding issues after trailers filled with combustible materials caught fire last month.

City residents were told to stay in their homes with the windows closed after a blaze broke out at the Hill Avenue site on Feb. 16. Video form the scene showed raging flames devouring the trailers as firefighters worked to contain the fire.

The Massachusetts Environmental Protection Department allowed Clean Harbors to resume limited operations on Feb. 27, but Kokoros recently penned a letter to the environmental and industrial services company, urging them to stand down from becoming fully operational again.

The Town of Braintree strongly believes that Clean Harbors should not be allowed to resume regular operations until multiple critical outstanding issues are addressed, Kokoros wrote. The health and safety of the residents of Braintree are of the utmost importance to me.

Kokoros went on to demand that Clean Harbors eliminate the storage of hazardous materials in tractor-trailers on their site, as well as materials and debris from the fire.

The practice of storing flammable materials stacked within the warehouse must be addressed to facilitate improved fire suppression, and on-site fire suppression capabilities must be upgraded, Kokoros added.

Kokoros also requested that Clean Harbors install air-quality monitors and provide updates from readings to the city, in addition to neighborhood residents.

There were no reported injuries in the fire, but the potential exposure to toxic fumes during and after the blaze prompted widespread concern.

Dr. Anjan Devaraj, a pulmonary and critical care attending physician at Tufts Medical Center, told Boston 25 that the fire was extremely dangerous to local residents due the threat of harmful gases such as sulfur dioxide, nitrogen dioxide, phosgene, and hydrogen chloride.

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Hazmat teams and other public safety agencies were called to scene of the fire to mitigate those threats.

Local doctor explains health impacts of Clean Harbors fire in Braintree

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
A crowd laughed at Russia's top diplomat when he said the Ukraine war "was launched against us."

An audience member at India's G20 summit shouted, "Come on!" at Sergey Lavrov during the event.

He was answering a question about Russia's energy strategy moving forward.

Sergey Lavrov, Russia's top diplomat and a close ally of Russian President Vladimir Putin, said Thursday at a conference in India that the war in Ukraine "was launched against us," prompting the crowd to erupt into laughter.

Lavrov was a speaker at India's G20 Summit in New Delhi, leading a session that was part of a "Raisina Dialogue 2023" series. He was in discussion with Sunjoy Joshi, the chair of the Observer Research Foundation in India, and took questions from the audience.

One audience member asked Lavrov: "How the war has affected Russia's strategy on energy, and will it mark a privilege toward Asia? And if it does, how is India going to feature in it?"

"You know, the war, which we are trying to stop, which was launched against us, using the..." Lavrov began, before being cut off by loud laughter from the crowd.

"...The Ukrainian people, uh, of course, influenced..." Lavrov tried again, before being cut off by more laughter and a shout of, "Come on!" from the crowd.

He went on to say that the war has influenced the energy policy in Russia and that they "would not rely on any partners" going forward.

Contrary to Lavrov's claim, Russia launched an unprovoked invasion of Ukraine in February 2022 and sparked the largest military conflict in Europe since World War II.

The Kremlin has offered an array of justifications for the invasion, including the assertion that Ukraine is led by neo-Nazis. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy is Jewish and lost family during the Holocaust.

Russia has also blamed NATO, suggesting that the alliance's expansion provoked the conflict. But Ukraine is not a NATO member and was not on track to join the alliance when Russia invaded.

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Experts widely agree that Russian President Vladimir Putin ordered the invasion of Ukraine out of a desire to restore Russia as an imperial power. Putin, who once described the collapse of the Soviet Union as the "greatest geopolitical catastrophe" of the 20th century, has likened himself to Peter the Great while defending Russia's assault on Ukraine.

The Russian leader has falsely claimed that Ukraine is not a real country, offering a distorted view of history to vindicate Russia's brutal campaign to subjugate its next-door neighbor.

The Russian Empire controlled much of Ukraine before later making it part of the Soviet Union. But Ukrainians in 1991 overwhelmingly voted for independence from the USSR, making it clear that they did not want to be subservient to Moscow.

Russia has been condemned around the world for invading Ukraine, and faces widespread allegations of war crimes.

Read the original article on Business Insider
"Cult Mom" Lori Vallow and her husband, Chad Daybell, will be tried separately for the alleged murders of their children and Mr Daybell's former wife, a judge has ruled.

District Judge Steven Boyce made the ruling on Thursday, which will sever the defendants' cases, according to East Idaho News.

The couple was previously being tried together on multiple counts of first-degree murder and conspiracy to commit murder in the deaths of Ms Vallow's children, 7-year-old Joshua Vallow and 16-year-old Tylee Ryan, as well as the death of Mr Daybell's previous wife, Tammy Daybell.

The decision to separate the cases comes on the heels of new DNA testing, which included all parties allegedly involved with the crime. The test results were returned too close to the 3 April trial date for both the defence attorneys to adequately review. The proximity of the results to the trial date, along with Ms Vallow's refusal to waive her right to a speedy trial, forced Mr Boyce to separate the cases.

Mr Daybell's case will be rescheduled, but Ms Vallow's will continue as planned.

I have to balance these rights of these defendants in this case, Judge Boyce said. Severance is the only option I see.

He said that Mr Daybell's trial could be pushed back beyond six months.

The length of the delay, if I were to continue this, it would be up to Ada County and I dont believe it could be a short delay, he said. It would have to be more than six months additionally.

Both defendants have pleaded not guilty to all charges.

The new DNA testing resulted from hair being found at the crime scene. John Prior, Mr Daybell's attorney, said the discovery was important new evidence and insisted its inclusion in the case was vital to ensure a fair trial.

That evidence provides, at least from my perspective, an explanation potentially of where Mr. Daybell and I are going to go in this particular case, Mr Prior said. I need to have an opportunity to test that evidence.

Jim Archibald, Ms Vallow's attorney, agreed with Mr Prior's argument.

If my client waived her speedy trial, I would also be asking for extra time. But since she has held that right and held it close to her, he said. I have to respect that constitutional autonomy that she has.
Sebastian Chacon as Warren and Nabiyah Be as Simone in "Daisy Jones & The Six." Lacey Terrell/Prime Video

Amazon's "Daisy Jones & The Six" is adapted from a novel about musicians in the '70s.

Insider spoke with Sebastian Chacon and Nabiyah Be about inclusive changes to their characters.

Unlike in the book, Chacon's version of Warren is Latino, and Be's Simone is explicitly queer.

Noticeable changes in a book-to-screen adaptation can be tricky to pull off, particularly when the book is a beloved bestseller like "Daisy Jones & The Six."

But for stars Sebastian Chacon and Nabiyah Be, the show provided an opportunity to make the story more inclusive for Latino and queer fans.

"Daisy Jones & The Six" follows a fictional band as they chase fame and fortune, find both, then promptly fall apart. It was largely inspired by the Laurel Canyon era and the '70s rock scene in Los Angeles, which author Taylor Jenkins Reid has described as "dominated by white males."

Chacon plays Warren Rojas, The Six's exuberant drummer with an iconic mustache and a knack for staying drama-free. Be plays the powerful vocalist Simone Jackson, who is introduced as Daisy's best friend and becomes an early disco pioneer.

Chacon and Be opened up to Insider about the on-screen changes made to their characters, and why they were fully on board. (Warning: Minor spoilers ahead.)

The Six release an album titled "SevenEightNine." Lacey Terrell/Prime Video

In the book, Warren's last name is Rhodes and there's no indication that he's a Latino man. (It is implied that another character is Latina: Camila Dunne, nee Martinez, is the inspiration behind The Six's song "Senora.")

But when Chacon was cast, he had a conversation with the showrunners about changing Warren's last name to maintain some of his own heritage.

"I did a lot of research trying to see if there was a white, American band that had a Latin anything. And they don't. There's like, one or two  Slayer in the '80s had a Cuban drummer, New York Dolls had a Colombian drummer," he explained to Insider, referring to David Lombardo and Billy Murcia, respectively.

"But it's not common," he continued. "So I wanted that to be a part of it somehow and I didn't wanna necessarily erase this special thing."

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Chacon said he "threw out a bunch of last names" and Rojas is the one that stuck.

He also said he "peppered" his scenes with visual nods to the change: Warren wears merchandise from the Fania All-Stars, a supergroup of salsa musicians formed in the late '60s; he plays the drums with timbale sticks, which are traditionally used for percussion in Latin music, salsa, reggae, and mambo.

"I have some traditional Mexican fabrics and Aztec necklaces and Native American beads," he said of his on-screen style. "I'm like, 'How do I put that in as much as possible without making that his whole story?'"

Ayesha Harris as Bernie and Nabiyah Be as Simone in "Daisy Jones & The Six." Lacey Terrell/Prime Video

The changes to Be's character are far less subtle. Reid said Simone is "very loosely based on Donna Summer," a disco star who credited gay clubs with her early success.

"The face of rock 'n' roll was the white man and the face of disco was the Black woman," Be told Insider.

In the book, Simone's sexuality is unknown. Her scenes focus largely on her friendship with Daisy and her solo career in New York, but we know that she eventually gets married and has a daughter named Trina.

In the show, however, Simone's queerness is both explicit and essential to her arc; her move to New York is partially motivated by a queer love interest named Bernie (Ayesha Harris).

"I think it was a great addition because gay people created disco music," Be said. "It was part of the movement, it was part of why the music was so relevant. So making Simone a queer character and having her be the pioneer, the face, and one of the fundamental aspects of this genre coming to life, I thought was super important."

Although Simone is shy when it comes to expressing her sexuality in the open  and suffers a setback when her record label asks her to stay closeted  Be said that part of the story was equally important to include because it's true to life.

"That was happening to Black queer artists still, 'til not that long ago," she said, adding: "A lot of Simone's stories are real."

"Daisy Jones & The Six" is available to stream on Amazon Prime. Follow along with our coverage here.

Read the original article on Insider
Dan Walker has branded Piers Morgan bitter and a numptie after the TalkTV presenter accused him of milking his recent bike crash.

In February, former BBC Breakfast host Walker shared a picture of his bloodied face to Instagram, explaining that hed been hit by a car.

On Wednesday (1 March), Walker made his first public appearance since the accident at the RTS Television Journalism Awards, where he joked he was up to my eyeballs on painkillers.

He then proceeded to make a dig at Morgan  his long-standing rival  over his 2021 departure from Good Morning Britain.

Morgan didnt take kindly to the comments, tweeting on Thursday (2 March): If I were Dan Walker, and Id been kicked off Match of the Day & BBC Breakfast, then washed up on Channel 5 daytime, and only got press these days by falling off a bike, getting a few grazes, and milking it like Id survived a terror attack, Id be this bitter too.

What a laugh, Walker replied. Interesting idea of taking a lesson on bitterness from a fella who has written article after article attacking a woman who had one drink with him and thought he was a numptie.

Morgan has made repeated mention of the time he and Markle went for a drink in 2016 on the night before she met Prince Harry, with Morgan claiming Markle ghosted her after the interaction.

Walker sarcastically signed off his tweet: We missed you last night. You should have come.

What a laugh 



Interesting idea of taking a lesson on bitterness from a fella who has written article after article attacking a woman who had one drink with him & thought he was a numptie 



We missed you last night.

You should have come  https://t.co/A63DRJEErJ  Dan Walker (@mrdanwalker) March 2, 2023

In his speech at the event, hosted by the Royal Television Society, Walker referenced Morgans on-air argument with GMB weather presenter Alex Beresford in September 2021 about his ongoing criticism of Markle.

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Morgan left GMB following a backlash to the incident, moving to the newly formed channel TalkTV.

Joking about being dosed up on painkillers, Walker said that hed lost all my inhibitions, adding: To give you an idea of my mental state, let me put it this way: if a weather presenter were to question me in any way, shape, or form, Im liable to storm off stage in an enormous huff.

I might even go as far as to start a new TV channel based entirely on my ego, which no-one will watch, he continued.
To the annoyance of some shareholders, DataDot Technology Limited (ASX:DDT) shares are down a considerable 33% in the last month, which continues a horrid run for the company. The recent drop completes a disastrous twelve months for shareholders, who are sitting on a 60% loss during that time.

Although its price has dipped substantially, DataDot Technology's price-to-earnings (or "P/E") ratio of 22x might still make it look like a sell right now compared to the market in Australia, where around half of the companies have P/E ratios below 16x and even P/E's below 8x are quite common. Although, it's not wise to just take the P/E at face value as there may be an explanation why it's lofty.

DataDot Technology certainly has been doing a great job lately as it's been growing earnings at a really rapid pace. The P/E is probably high because investors think this strong earnings growth will be enough to outperform the broader market in the near future. You'd really hope so, otherwise you're paying a pretty hefty price for no particular reason.

Check out our latest analysis for DataDot Technology

pe

Want the full picture on earnings, revenue and cash flow for the company? Then our free report on DataDot Technology will help you shine a light on its historical performance.

Is There Enough Growth For DataDot Technology?

The only time you'd be truly comfortable seeing a P/E as high as DataDot Technology's is when the company's growth is on track to outshine the market.

Taking a look back first, we see that the company grew earnings per share by an impressive 431% last year. However, the latest three year period hasn't been as great in aggregate as it didn't manage to provide any growth at all. Accordingly, shareholders probably wouldn't have been overly satisfied with the unstable medium-term growth rates.

Weighing that recent medium-term earnings trajectory against the broader market's one-year forecast for expansion of 17% shows it's noticeably less attractive on an annualised basis.

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With this information, we find it concerning that DataDot Technology is trading at a P/E higher than the market. It seems most investors are ignoring the fairly limited recent growth rates and are hoping for a turnaround in the company's business prospects. Only the boldest would assume these prices are sustainable as a continuation of recent earnings trends is likely to weigh heavily on the share price eventually.

The Bottom Line On DataDot Technology's P/E

DataDot Technology's P/E hasn't come down all the way after its stock plunged. While the price-to-earnings ratio shouldn't be the defining factor in whether you buy a stock or not, it's quite a capable barometer of earnings expectations.

Our examination of DataDot Technology revealed its three-year earnings trends aren't impacting its high P/E anywhere near as much as we would have predicted, given they look worse than current market expectations. When we see weak earnings with slower than market growth, we suspect the share price is at risk of declining, sending the high P/E lower. Unless the recent medium-term conditions improve markedly, it's very challenging to accept these prices as being reasonable.

You need to take note of risks, for example - DataDot Technology has 4 warning signs (and 2 which shouldn't be ignored) we think you should know about.

If P/E ratios interest you, you may wish to see this free collection of other companies that have grown earnings strongly and trade on P/E's below 20x.

Have feedback on this article? Concerned about the content? Get in touch with us directly. Alternatively, email editorial-team (at) simplywallst.com.



This article by Simply Wall St is general in nature. We provide commentary based on historical data and analyst forecasts only using an unbiased methodology and our articles are not intended to be financial advice. It does not constitute a recommendation to buy or sell any stock, and does not take account of your objectives, or your financial situation. We aim to bring you long-term focused analysis driven by fundamental data. Note that our analysis may not factor in the latest price-sensitive company announcements or qualitative material. Simply Wall St has no position in any stocks mentioned.

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Alex Murdaugh, a once prominent Hampton-based attorney from a well-known politically connected family, is on trial in the deaths of his wife, Maggie, and son, Paul.

Murdaugh has pleaded not guilty. He faces a minimum sentence of 30 years for each murder charge up to life in prison without parole. The trial started Jan. 23 with jury selection, opening arguments and the initial round of witness testimony.

How to watch the Murdaugh double murder trial, who to follow from The State, Island Packet

12:27 p.m.  Griffin: Family still supports Alex

Defense attorney Jim Griffin said after six weeks of trial, Murdaughs family still supports him and is more convinced that Murdaugh did not kill Maggie and Paul.

Harpootlian told press the prosecution won the case the moment Judge Clifton Newman allowed the admission of financial evidence.

Harpootlian and Griffin said they will file an appeal at the U.S. Supreme Court level, if necessary.

We feel strongly that if we lose in the state courts, we will be successful at the federal level, Griffin said.

Alex Murdaughs defense attorneys, Dick Harpootlian, left, Jim Griffin, and Margaret Fox speak to reporters after the sentencing hearing Friday, March 3, 2023, outside of the Colleton County Courthouse in Walterboro, S.C.

12:20 p.m.  Murdaugh defense team holds press conference

Defense attorney Dick Harpootlian has begun his press conference.

He said he did not believe it was a mistake to place Murdaugh on the stand. He also indicated the defense team will not issue their own statement, but will take questions from the press.

When asked why the state hadnt sought the death penalty, Harpootlian said based on his experience defending and prosecuting such cases, circumstantial evidence is likely not enough for a jury to convict the accused.

He added there were still extensive issues with the prosecutions case, particularly the lack of physical evidence.

I think SLED needs to do some self-examination on their forensic processing, Harpootlian said.

Harpootlian said he expects to file an appeal notice in 10 days and still believes Murdaugh is innocent.

The admission of all the financial crime evidence (is the strongest grounds for appeal), defense attorney Jim Griffin said. That was being offered as motive for why he would go home and kill his wife and son, which is illogical and ludicrous.

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Griffin also took issue with the state offering financial evidence based on motive. In prosecutor John Meadors closing statement, he noted prosecutors didnt have to prove motive, only malice.

Griffin said that was contradictory to the earlier reasons to include the evidence, even if it is technically correct.

Alex Murdaughs defense attorneys, Dick Harpootlian, left, and Jim Griffin, speak to reporters after the sentencing hearing Friday, March 3, 2023, outside of the Colleton County Courthouse in Walterboro, S.C.

10:52 a.m.  Murdaugh defense team will speak at 11:45

Sources confirmed to The State court reporter John Monk defense attorneys Dick Harpootlian and Jim Griffin will hold a press conference at 11:45 a.m.

During Murdaughs sentencing, Judge Clifton Newman said he expects defense to appeal the Colleton County jurys guilty verdict.

10:45 a.m.  SLED chief holds press conference

SLED Chief Mark Keel is now addressing media outside the Colleton County courthouse.

For those of yall in the local media, you know I dont do very many press conferences. Ive been chief of SLED for 12 years, and Ive only done two, Keel said. But today its important for me to speak out. Its important because of the victims in this case. Its important because Maggie and Paul cannot.

The last time Keel spoke at a press conference, he said, was following Maggie and Paul Murdaughs deaths in June 2021.

Keel added there are no winners in the murder case, despite the state securing its guilty verdict.

He went on to praise the dedication and professionalism of SLEDs staff and investigators, who were continuously undercut by Murdaughs defense team for shortcomings in the murder investigation.

Alex Murdaugh has now rightfully been found guilty of murdering his wife Maggie, and his son, Paul, Keel said. This case serves notice to anyone who aided or assisted Alex Murdaugh in committing any crime, that justice will be served.

10:27 a.m.  Defense team will address media

Alex Murdaughs defense team announced Thursday evening they will speak to the press today about an hour after sentencing ended.

Prosecutors held their own press conference Thursday evening, praising the jurors for delivering justice and being a voice for Paul and Maggie Murdaugh.

10:15 a.m.  Court adjourned

For one of few times throughout the course of Alex Murdaughs murder trial, Judge Clifton Newman slammed his gavel and adjourned court for the final time.

Murdaugh was convicted of Maggie and Paul Murdaughs murders after maintaining he was never at the kennels where they died for over a year and a half. After being convicted and receiving two concurrent life sentences for the murders, he continued to proclaim his innocence.

Murdaugh still faces over 90 criminal charges for the financial schemes he confessed to during his testimony. Newman will oversee Murdaughs financial trial as well.

As spectators left the courtroom, the Murdaugh family exited, flanked by Colleton County deputies. None of the Murdaughs spoke with the media, but asked for prayers and privacy.

Alex Murdaugh was remanded to the state department of corrections for custody.

Alex Murdaugh is sentenced to two consecutive life sentences for the murder of his wife and son by Judge Clifton Newman at the Colleton County Courthouse on Friday, March 3, 2023. Joshua Boucher/The State/Pool

10:08 a.m.  Alex receives life sentence

Judge Clifton Newman has issued Murdaugh two life sentences for the murders of his wife and son, Maggie and Paul Murdaugh.

10:01 a.m.  Newman: I know that you have to see Maggie and Paul

During the sentencing of Alex Murdaugh, Judge Clifton Newman addressed Murdaugh directly.

I know that you have to see Paul and Maggie in the night time when you are attempting to go to sleep. Im sure that they come and visit you, Newman said. Im sure. Im sure they will continue to do so, and reflect on the last time they looked you in the eyes.

Murdaugh continued to proclaim his innocence after being convicted of the murders on Thursday.

I respect this court, but Im innocent. I would never, under any circumstances hurt my wife Maggie, I would never, under any circumstances, hurt my son Paul Paul, Murdaugh said.

Newman agreed, in a way, suggesting Murdaughs drug addiction may have altered him in the moment.

It might not have been you. It might have been the monster you become when you take 15, 20, 40, 60 opioid pills. Maybe you become a different person, Newman said.

9:55 a.m.  Judge prepares to sentence Alex

Judge Clifton Newman has begun addressing Murdaugh, explaining his rationale for his upcoming sentence in what he called one of the most troubling cases in state history.

You practiced law before me, and weve seen each other at various occasions throughout the years. It was especially heartbreaking for me to see you go in the media from being a grieving father who lost a wife and a son to being the person indicted and convicted of killing them, Newman said. I dont question the decision of the state not to pursue the death penalty, but as I sit here in the courtroom and look around at the portraits of court officials, ... and the century which your family served as prosecutors in this courtroom, handing many individuals death sentences, for probably lesser conduct.

Newman continued, asking Murdaugh about his history of lies, before the trial and potentially on the stand.

When will it end? Newman asked.

9:50 a.m.  Alex addresses the court

Murdaugh spoke for less than 10 seconds during his sentencing hearing, but continued to maintain his innocence in the deaths of his wife and son.

Im innocent. I would never hurt my wife Maggie, and I would never hurt my son Paul Paul. Thank you.

9:46 a.m.  State will not present victim impact statements

Lead prosecutor Creighton Waters said the state wont provide the court victim impact statements during Murdaughs sentencing.

Impact statements are often used to help the judge reach a sentencing decision.

Waters began by noting Murdaugh had no prior criminal record, but that he was cunning in his deceit of those close to him.

I want to offer my condolences to this family, Waters said, turning to the family members in the courtroom audience. But the reality remains that despite all this attention, this case is about Maggie Murdaugh and Paul Murdaugh, and Im so thankful the jurors gave them a voice.

Waters asked Judge Clifton Newman to sentence Murdaugh to the maximum for the murders, two consecutive life sentences.

Ive looked in his eyes, and he liked to stare me down as he walked past me in this trial. I saw the real Alex Murdaugh  a man like this man should never be allowed to be among free, law-abiding citizens again, Waters said.

9:30 a.m.  Judge to sentence Murdaugh after testimony

Judge Clifton Newman will sentence Murdaugh after his conviction on two counts of murder and two weapons charges.

A unanimous jury of 12 returned a guilty verdict on all counts Thursday night, after nearly three hours of deliberation.

Murdaugh is being held at the Colleton County jail. He arrived at the courthouse Friday in handcuffs, ankle chains, bright orange sliders and a tan prison jumpsuit, a striking contrast to the blazers and slacks hed worn to court throughout the trial.

State Attorney General Alan Wilson and lead prosecutor Creighton Waters spoke to reporters Thursday night, both reiterating that Murdaughs conviction means no one is above the law. Murdaugh is a former prominent Hampton-based attorney, who comes from a long line of solicitors.

Defense attorneys Dick Harpootlian and Jim Griffin are expected to speak to reporters some time after the sentencing.

One juror, Craig Moyer, has spoken out since the conviction. Moyer said he was guilty from the start.

He told credit ABC News Good Morning America that Murdaugh was a good liar, but not good enough.

Moyer told GMA that it was the video pulled from Pauls cellphone, showing Murdaugh at the dog kennels, that convinced him.
By Krishn Kaushik and Simon Lewis

NEW DELHI (Reuters) - Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov accused the United States of hypocrisy after U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said Russia cannot be allowed to wage war in Ukraine with impunity, during a security forum they attended in New Delhi on Friday.

The top diplomats from Moscow and Washington had both attended the Group of 20 foreign ministers gathering in the Indian capital earlier this week, and met in person for the first time since Russian forces invaded Ukraine a year ago.

"If we allow with impunity Russia to do what it's doing in Ukraine, then thats a message to would-be aggressors everywhere that they may be able to get away with it too," Blinken told the Raisina Dialogue strategic affairs forum.

Speaking at the same strategic affairs forum after Blinken, Lavrov said it was "double standards" to question Russia's action in Ukraine when the United States cited a "threat to its national interest" to justify military intervention in various parts of the world, including the war in Iraq, air strikes on Libya, and the bombing of Yugoslavia during the Kosovo conflict in 1999.

Lavrov also said the question of when Russia will negotiate an end to the war should be put to Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelensky.

"Everybody is asking when Russia is going to negotiate...the West is continuously saying that it is not time to negotiate yet because Ukraine must win in the battlefield before any negotiations," he said.

At the G20, the United States and its allies called on member countries to keep pressuring Russia to end the conflict, but the G20 was unable to agree on a joint statement on the war due to opposition from China and Russia, which calls its actions a "special military operation" aimed at removing what it says is a threat to its own security.

The Russian minister went on to accuse Washington of "trying to militarise" the Quadrilateral Security Dialogue, a partnership between the United States, Australia, India and Japan that focuses on strategic issues in the Indo-Pacific region.

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Earlier in the day Blinken had met with his counterparts from the Quad, as the grouping is informally called, and they issued a statement saying "the use or threat of use of nuclear weapons is inadmissible".

Late last month, Russian President Vladimir Putin suspended a landmark nuclear arms control treaty and threatened to resume nuclear tests.

During their brief exchange on the sidelines of the G20 meeting on Thursday, Blinken told Lavrov to end the war and urged Moscow to reverse its suspension of the New START (Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty) on nuclear weapons.

The Quad statement also took a barely disguised swipe at China by denouncing actions that increase tensions in the South China Sea, and the "militarisation" of disputed territories in the area.

China has denounced the Quad as a Cold War construct and a clique "targeting other countries".

(Additional reporting by Tanvi Mehta and Shilpa Jamkhandikar; Writing by Y.P. Rajesh; Editing by Simon Cameron-Moore)
Photo: The Canadian Press Prime Minister Justin Trudeau responds to questions about China's alleged election interference after a health-care funding announcement at Kwantlen Polytechnic University, in Langley, B.C., on Wednesday, March 1, 2023. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Darryl Dyck

The level of caution Canadian institutions must now take when dealing with China was not top of mind when the Pierre Elliott Trudeau Foundation accepted a pledge from a Chinese billionaire, says the former head of the charitable organization.

Morris Rosenberg was president and CEO of the Trudeau Foundation from 2014 to 2018, which is when the charity was given $200,000 by Zhang Bin, a political adviser to the Chinese government and head of the China Cultural Industry Association, and Niu Gensheng, a Chinese businessman and philanthropist.

The charity set up to honour the legacy of the former prime minister announced Wednesday it is returning the donation after the Globe and Mail alleged the gift was linked to a Chinese government plot to influence Justin Trudeau after he became Liberal leader.

"As an independent, non-partisan charity, ethics and integrity are among our core values and we cannot keep any donation that may have been sponsored by a foreign government and would not knowingly do so," Pascale Fournier, the current president and CEO of the Trudeau Foundation, said in a written statement.

Citing an unnamed national security source, the newspaper reported Zhang was instructed by Beijing to donate $1 million in honour of the elder Trudeau in 2014, two years before the $200,000 donation to the Trudeau Foundation was made.

The Canadian Press could not immediately reach Zhang regarding the allegations in the Globe and Mail, which said Tuesday he did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Niu also could not immediately be reached for comment.

A press release from the China Cultural Industry Association at the time of the 2016 donation says the money was given to honour Pierre Trudeau, who established diplomatic relations with the People's Republic of China in 1970. Three years later, he was the first Canadian prime minister to make an official visit to the country, where he met Mao Zedong.

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has said he stepped back from the Trudeau Foundation shortly after being elected. The charity has previously said his formal involvement ended in 2014, about a year after he was elected Liberal leader. He became the member of Parliament for the Montreal riding of Papineau in 2008.

Rosenberg, who said talks about the donation were already underway when he assumed his role at the Trudeau Foundation, recalls that at the time Canada had a more positive, hopeful and trusting relationship with China.

He said the situation has changed and Canadian institutions need to question China's motivations for entering into such relationships.

"It's a different environment today," Rosenberg said in an interview.

"I think more caution is being exercised by all Canadian institutions," he said. "But that wasn't the situation back in 2016."

Back then, Canada was exploring a free trade deal with China. Discussions were hampered by several issues, including the Trudeau government's opposition to an extradition deal, concerns over use of the death penalty and Beijing's international pursuit of so-called economic fugitives and other dissidents.

Canadian officials also had concerns with labour rights, the environment and role of Chinese state-owned enterprises in the global economy.

Guy Saint-Jacques, who was Canada's ambassador to China between 2012 and 2016, said when trade talks began in 2016 the prime minister's assessment of China was "outdated."

"I think naive is the right word," he said.

He said reports were sent back to Ottawa detailing how Xi Jinping's China was cracking down on political dissidents domestically and abroad, emboldening its stance on Tibet control and censoring criticism online.

"Despite all of this, it was like either (Trudeau) had not read these reports, or he was not aware of them, or he had dismissed them."

In 2018, China's ambassador to Canada attributed a stall in talks to Trudeau's efforts to entrench labour, gender, environment and governance issues in the negotiating framework. Still, there was optimism in Ottawa a deal could be reached.

"Trudeau thought that the Chinese were desperate at the time for that first (free trade agreement) with a G7 country and he thought he would get his way, but that was not based on good judgment," said Saint-Jacques.

It wasn't until December 2018, when Canadians Michael Spavor and Michael Kovrig were detained in China, that Canada changed course, he said.

The two men were arrested after Canadian officials detained Huawei executive Meng Wanzhou for allegedly violating American sanctions against Iran. The men who became known around the world as the "two Michaels" returned to Canada the same day Meng returned to China.

"It took the Meng Wanzhou crisis for Ottawa to finally understand that, oops, China is changing, this is not the China that we thought we were dealing with."

Recent media reports citing leaks from national security sources have alleged China tried to meddle in the 2019 and 2021 federal elections. That prompted new scrutiny of the Critical Election Incident Public Protocol, a panel that monitored foreign interference in those elections.

Rosenberg, who was tasked with authoring a report on the panel's work, concluded that it worked well overall in 2021. The panel did not feel that any foreign interference in the last two elections reached the threshold to alert Canadians.

The Conservatives have been raising Rosenberg's previous role at the Trudeau Foundation in arguing for a public inquiry, saying the $200,000 donation raises "serious questions" about his being "hand-picked" by the Liberal government to write the report.

In response, Rosenberg pointed to his long career as a public servant for both Conservative and Liberal governments, which included a three-year stint as deputy minister for foreign affairs under former prime minister Stephen Harper.

The $200,000 donation, which was part of a $1-million pledge that also included money for the Universite de Montreal, came under scrutiny soon after it was made in 2016.

That was in part because weeks before the donation became public, Zhang had attended a fundraising event at a private residence in Toronto.

The political controversy over the so-called cash-for-access events eventually led the Liberal party to bring in new transparency rules for fundraising.

Rosenberg said in the interview he was unaware that Trudeau would attend the 2016 fundraiser with Zhang.

"There was no co-ordination. This was a coincidence," he said.

Rosenberg also said he does not have a personal relationship with Zhang or Niu and thinks he met them "once, briefly" at a ceremony at the Universite de Montreal.
A new poll has found that a majority of voters in D.C. approve of the citys attempt to modernize its criminal code, despite President Biden and congressional Republicans disapproval.

Last April, the DC Justice Lab and FWD.us commissioned HIT Strategies to poll registered voters in Washington, D.C., about the citys Revised Criminal Code Act (RCCA) and found that 83 percent of registered voters surveyed supported the measure, with 86 percent of Black voters supporting it.

The RCCA would eliminate most mandatory sentences and lower penalties for a number of violent offenses, including carjackings and robberies. According to the poll, 72 percent of voters support eliminating life sentences and setting maximum sentences proportionate to the offense.

Seventy-seven percent also support eliminating mandatory minimum sentences in instances where judges could impose prison alternatives.

The bill would also expand the requirement for jury trials in most misdemeanor cases. Ninety-three percent of voters expressed support guaranteeing the right to a jury trial for offenses that carry jail or prison time.

When asked if they support a process for judicial review and resentencing on a case-by-case basis after a person has served at least 15 years in prison, 85 percent of voters expressed support.

The bill would also decriminalize panhandling and playing games in the street, which 73 percent of voters supported.

Mayor Muriel Bowser vetoed the measure when it came to her desk in January, saying the resolution sends the wrong message, but city council members overrode the veto.

Councilmember Trayon White (D-Ward 8) was the only member to uphold Bowsers veto, despite HIT Strategies polling finding that 84 percent of Ward 8 voters approve of the measure.

The GOP-controlled House passed legislation to undo aspects of the RCCA, and all 49 Republican senators are in support of the resolution. Meanwhile, Biden said Thursday he would sign the legislation if comes to his desk.

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I support D.C. Statehood and home-rule  but I dont support some of the changes D.C. Council put forward over the Mayors objections  such as lowering penalties for carjackings, Biden tweeted Thursday. If the Senate votes to overturn what D.C. Council did  Ill sign it.

But Terrance Woodbury, founding partner of HIT Strategies, says this could be a mistake on Bidens part. Nearly 80 percent of voters said they would be more likely to support a candidate who would vote for the RCCA.

Like a majority of Americans, District voters support a number of efforts to reimagine public safety; in this case, more than 8 in 10 support the revised criminal code, which modernizes the law and makes it fair, Woodbury said. Any Democrat who plans to overturn the will of voters on criminal justice reform must not be aware of the data and studies showing voters of across party lines are looking for real solutions over tough crime talk.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to The Hill.
A death investigation is ongoing after a man was found fatally shot Thursday night in Chester County, officials said.

Deputies found the man off Meadowbrook Road before 9 p.m., according to a statement from the office of Chester County Sheriff Max Dorsey.

The area is west of the city of Chester, south of S.C. 9.

Deputies found the victim after they responded to a report of shots fired. South Carolinas State Law Enforcement Division and Chester County Coroners Office went to the scene late Thursday, sheriff officials said.

The coroner has not yet identified the man who died.

No other information about the shooting was available as of Friday morning, said Londa Pringle, spokesperson for the sheriffs office.

Check back for updates on this developing story.
A man accused of attacking power substations on Christmas Day in Pierce County was ordered released to electronic monitoring Friday to pursue outside medical treatment.

Chief Magistrate Judge Richard Creatura told 40-year-old Jeremy Crahan at a hearing in U.S. District Court in Tacoma that hed be released to his father as soon as hes processed out of the federal detention facility.

Defense attorney Lance Hester filed a motion for his clients release Feb. 15. He told the court Friday that Crahans medical condition is serious and that hes faced problems such as deep vein thrombosis, cellulitis and sepsis.

He was hospitalized for five days at the end of January, Hester said, and staff at the hospital asked him to sign a living will.

He is suffering, the attorney told the court.

Thousands lost power Dec. 25 following the attacks on substations in South Hill, Elk Plain, Graham and Kapowsin. Matthew Greenwood, 32, also is accused in the attacks. Both Puyallup men were arrested Dec. 31 and booked into the Federal Detention Center at SeaTac, The News Tribune reported. Both were ordered held without bail. They could face up to 20 years on a charge of conspiracy to damage energy facilities, and Greenwood could face an additional 10 years on a charge of possessing unregistered firearms, The News Tribune reported.

Greenwood allegedly told investigators the attacks were to help cover up burglaries at local businesses, according to court records.

The motion for Crahans release said in part: Mr. Crahan reports that he became septic at a time shortly following our last hearing on this case. He was suffering the bloating and inflamed consequences of blood clotting, and his blood got infected.

After he returned to the federal detention facility from the hospital, the motion claims: He has reported that medical staff have taken the liberty to cut his antibiotic dosing in half, and have told him that it is because they have not refilled the prescription.

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Hester told the court that on a recent visit with Crahan at the federal detention facility he noticed discoloration on his clients legs. He also described trouble with his clients gait.

The shuffle was so slow and so deliberate, he told the court.

Hester told the court he doesnt believe Crahan is a flight risk.

He said he recognized that Crahan has a significant criminal history. The News Tribune reported the most recent of Crahans 12 felony convictions since 2005 was in 2016 in a residential burglary case.

Hester told the court his clients main objective is to manage his medical condition.

He is doing all he can to report these things to the medical professionals at the detention facility, Hester said.

His family would be able to help him arrange outside treatment, and he has medical insurance, the attorney said.

This isnt some sort of pipe dream of his, Hester told the court.

Hester also argued that his client has been so preoccupied with his medical condition that its been hard to connect with him about the legal issues in the case.

I think it would bring him some emotional relief, Hester said about his clients request for a medical release to electronic monitoring.

Assistant U.S. attorney Todd Greenberg told the court that its important to the government that Mr. Crahan gets appropriate medical care.

Greenberg also said the records the government has are not consistent with what were hearing. He said the records suggest Crahans condition has been improving with antibiotics and that hes scheduled for an infectious-disease consultation.

Crahans condition has been present for about a year in various forms and is undoubtedly a serious condition, the prosecutor said.

Greenberg argued nothing before the court showed the care hes been getting is untimely or inadequate.

This presents the court with an interesting problem, Creatura said.

He noted that federal pretrial services initially recommended that Crahan be released to electronic monitoring and has maintained that recommendation.

Creatura said when he previously declined to release Crahan pending a grand jury indictment, hed been concerned about his prior record, including his failure to show up to court and attempts to elude police. He also said the nature of the alleged offense made him worry that Crahan could be a danger to the community.

His medical situation was stable at the time, Creatura said.

I do believe that situation has changed, Creatura said. I can recognize that the availability of care when someone is in detention may not be at the highest level, especially when medical insurance allows someone to seek outside care.

He said the pretrial services conditions include electronic monitoring on the level of home detention, and that Crahan has to get permission from pretrial services when he needs to go out.

You need to comply carefully with those conditions, Creatura told him. Im ready to put you back in jail if I need to.
Marianne Williamsons run for president is being greeted with an eye roll among political strategists and met with radio silence within the White House and Democratic National Committee.

Williamson is set to become the first Democrat to challenge President Biden when she launches her 2024 campaign on Saturday in Washington, D.C. While a primary challenge to Biden was viewed as a possibility at certain low points for the White House last year, Democrats have largely fallen in line behind the president following a strong midterm showing.

That has made it unclear whether the party is really clamoring for someone to take on the incumbent despite polls that show voters arent that enthusiastic for a second Biden term.

The White House and Democratic National Committee separately declined to comment on Williamsons planned primary campaign and have not weighed in on her candidacy publicly. There does not appear to be much concern about it either among Democrats and Biden allies, many of whom do not view Williamson as a serious threat.

I hope and expect they will completely ignore it. She is not a credible candidate in any respect. She certainly isnt going to be challenging to win the nomination, said Matt Bennett, a co-founder of centrist think tank Third Way and veteran of past Democratic campaigns.

If thats the only primary challenge he faces, Joe Biden can rest very easy until the general election, Bennett added.

The specter of Biden facing a primary challenge, especially from someone to his left, has loomed since he first won the presidency in 2020 as a 78-year-old whod pitched himself as a bridge to the next generation of party leaders.

A stronger than expected midterm showing by Democrats, declining fears of a recession and a strong legislative track record have all contributed to the party accepting if not enthusiastically rallying behind a Biden re-election bid.

The president continues to reiterate his intentions to run but hasnt yet officially launched a 2024 campaign. First lady Jill Biden said last week it was essentially a matter of deciding when and where to make the announcement.

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Nonetheless, recent surveys dont always appear to be in Bidens favor.

An Associated Press poll released in early February found just 37 percent of Democrats said they wanted Biden to seek a second term, down from 52 percent last fall.

But an Emerson College survey released this week found 71 percent Democratic voters believe Biden should be the partys nominee in 2024, up from 58 percent last month.

That uncertainty among voters, paired with persistent concerns about Bidens age  he would be 82 at the start of a second term  has left the window open for someone to launch a primary challenge built around the idea of passing the torch to the next generation of Democrats.

Few believe that candidate is Williamson, however.

hi @ap marianne williamson is not a major democrat, thank you for your attention in this matter, Aaron Fritschner, an aide to Rep. Don Beyer (D-Va.), tweeted in response to an Associated Press post calling Williamson the first major Democrat to challenge Biden.

Williamson, 70, is a spiritual adviser and author who made appearances on The Oprah Winfrey Show. She ran for president in 2020 and polled in the single digits, dropping out of the Democratic primary before any votes were cast. Among her proposals was to form a Department of Peace.

In a Facebook post announcing her plans, Williamson argued she was well equipped to transform the countrys entrenched system of governance.

Some have already said of course, Well obviously she cant win. Or Well thats good; shell add to the conversation, Williamson wrote. But since the election of 2016 its odd for anyone to think they can know who can win the presidency. And Im not putting myself through this again just to add to the conversation. Im running for president to help bring an aberrational chapter of our history to a close, and to help bring forth a new beginning.

The Democrats who have long been viewed as perhaps the most formidable primary challengers to Biden have overwhelmingly lined up to voice support for the president should he seek re-election.

Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) has said he will back Biden if he runs in 2024. California Gov. Gavin Newsom (D), once viewed as a possible primary challenger, said last November he does not plan to run for president even if Biden opts against seeking another term. Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) declined to endorse Biden in advance of any possible primary out of respect for the process, though she has not indicated she would challenge him.

Strategists said there is still a chance another progressive like former House candidate Nina Turner could mount a primary challenge, but such a campaign would more likely be designed to criticize Biden than to actually win the partys nomination.

The only scenario where additional Democrats seem likely to jump into the fray is if Biden doesnt announce, strategists said.

The only kind of question there is does somebody declare from the far left who has a real presence, former Republican National Committee (RNC) spokesperson Doug Heye said, arguing that Williamson does not.

But otherwise theres not going to be anybody major stepping up. Theyre all looking at him, he added. If he said tomorrow, Im out, then all of a sudden youd see a lot of tire-spinning as campaigns are trying to get started overnight.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to The Hill.
WASHINGTON  After having helped President Joe Biden secure more than 100 judges, Democrats are hitting some turbulence in their push to reshape the courts.

With absences causing delays, a custom for home state senators threatening to keep seats open and storm clouds gathering over some of Bidens judicial picks, the next 100 will be tougher.

The Judiciary Committee, which advances nominees for full Senate confirmation, is hindered by a pivotal Democratic absence. Sen. Dianne Feinstein of California was hospitalized with a case of the shingles, prompting the committee to delay a scheduled Thursday meeting to advance judicial nominees; she said she hopes to return to Washington later this month. And the absence of Sen. John Fetterman of Pennsylvania, who is getting help for clinical depression, forced Vice President Kamala Harris to break ties for judges this week.

Democrats still aim to surpass former President Donald Trumps total of 234 judges, but even aside from absences, their well-oiled Senate confirmation machine may be showing signs of wear and tear.

The committee has no hearings scheduled to consider new judicial nominees in March. Some progressives lay the blame on the blue slip courtesy  which allows senators to block district court nominees in their home states  saying it may prevent Democrats from hitting their targets.

A spokesperson for Senate Judiciary Democrats said the Committee is exceeding the confirmation pace of both the Trump and Obama Administrations. The spokesperson noted that Judiciary Chair Dick Durbin of Illinois has pushed Republicans to be more cooperative and work with the administration on nominees.

'That concerns me greatly'

Meanwhile, a couple of Biden nominees already making their way through the confirmation gauntlet are under fire.

Charnelle Bjelkengren, a judge on the Spokane County Superior Court who Biden picked to be a district court judge in Washington state, was stumped when Sen. John Kennedy, R-La., asked her whats in Article II and Article V of the Constitution.

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That makes it challenging, said Sen. Joe Manchin, D-W.Va. Challenging for her.

That concerns me greatly, said Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine, a centrist who has voted for many Biden-nominated judges. I cant imagine a judge not knowing the basic articles of the Constitution. So I told my staff that we need to take a hard look at that nominee.

Judiciary Committee ranking member Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., said shell have a hard time getting confirmed.

Many Democrats dismissed Kennedys gotcha questions  some compare Bjelkengrens response to Supreme Court Justice Amy Coney Barretts struggling to name the five freedoms in the First Amendment at her 2020 confirmation hearing. But Republicans see an opening to undercut Democrats judicial picks more broadly, arguing that theyre overlooking qualifications.

Goodness gracious, said Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., adding: Is this the caliber of legal expert with which President Biden is filling the federal bench for lifetime appointments? Is the bar for merit and excellence really set this low?

Sen. Patty Murray, D-Wash., is standing by the nominee ahead of an expected committee vote on her candidacy and others next week.

In a statement, Murray said that Bjelkengren was recommended to her by a nonpartisan panel, that she has strong support in Washington and that she was rated qualified by the American Bar Association.

When we make these kinds of decisions its important to judge these candidates holistically  we need to look at the whole picture, Murray said. Im working to continue to build support for Judge Bjelkengren, and I hope my Republican colleagues will also support her.

'Doesn't deserve to be a judge'

The second nominee facing heat is Michael Delaney, a lawyer and former prosecutor nominated for the 1st Circuit Court of Appeals. He legally represented a New Hampshire school that was sued years ago by the family of a girl who alleged that she was sexually assaulted. The plaintiff, 16 at the time, claimed Delaney filed a threatening motion to expose her identity if she kept making statements about the school.

Recently, the plaintiff wrote an opinion piece in The Boston Globe arguing that Delaney doesnt deserve to be a judge and that supporting him amounts to approving of what Delaney and St. Pauls School put me and my family through. She added: Michael Delaneys nomination must be withdrawn and the White House needs to follow through on its pledge to support survivors.

McConnell has added his voice to the criticisms. In other words, Mr. Delaney tried to turn a teenage victims privacy into a hostage to help a prep school avoid accountability, he said, calling on senators to reject the nomination.

Biden has stuck with the nominations, and Democratic leaders have indicated they plan to move forward with both. Its not clear Bjelkengren and Delaney have the near-unanimous Democratic support they need to ensure confirmation.

Sen. Mazie Hirono, D-Hawaii, a Judiciary Committee member, said Democrats are still moving full speed ahead on judges.

Weve been having hearings on judges in a very rapid pace, which is how I like it, she said. I havent heard anything otherwise.

Republicans predict theyll run into trouble.

I think they do have some turbulence, said Kennedy, a member of the Judiciary Committee. And I think there are some of my Democratic colleagues that want to vote no, and theyre being beaten about the head and shoulders as we speak.

This article was originally published on NBCNews.com
[McCarthy] owes the American people an explanation, says Bennie Thompson, Jan. 6 Committee Chairman

Members of Congress and the media are up in arms with House Speaker Kevin McCarthy for granting Fox News host Tucker Carlson access to footage of the Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol attack.

According to CNN, attorney Charles Tobin sent a letter on behalf of several news outlets to House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, House Majority Leader Steve Scalise, and Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnel demanding that Congress grant several media outlets access to the Jan. 6 tapes.

FILE  Violent insurrectionists loyal to President Donald Trump stand outside the U.S. Capitol in Washington on Jan. 6, 2021. On Monday, Dec. 19, the House select committee investigating the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol will hold its final meeting. (AP Photo/Jose Luis Magana, File)

This week, McCarthy doubled down on his actions and stated that he will share the footage with the public very soon; however, he agreed to give Carlson exclusivity, the Associated Press reported.

During a press briefing on Wednesday, Jeffries told theGrio that McCarthys decision to share the footage was irresponsible.

House Democrats have been pretty clear that providing security footage in a manner that would jeopardize protocols, the safety, the well-being of everyone who serves in this Capitolis an irresponsible thing, he said.

In a public statement, Jan. 6 Committee Chairman Bennie Thompson (D-MS) said, [McCarthy] owes the American people an explanation.

Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-MD), a member of the Jan. 6 panel, condemned McCarthys actions in a tweet.

House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) answers questions during a press conference at the U.S. Capitol on July 29, 2022 in Washington, DC. During the press conference, McCarthy said he had no recollection of speaking with former White House aide Cassidy Hutchinson on January 6, 2020. (Photo by Win McNamee/Getty Images)

McCarthy gave 1/6 footage to propagandist Tucker Carlson to edit for his fake-news Patriot Purge dogma. But America knows Trumps mob assaulted Congress, chanted hang Mike Pence, and nearly toppled our election. Can Putins PR team work a Stalinist rewrite, he wrote.

The caption was accompanied by a snippet from Raskins appearance on an episode of MSNBCs The Reid Out hosted by Joy Reid.

In the video, he asserted that McCarthy released footage to Fox News to further perpetuate a conspiracy theory and spread disinformation and propaganda.

Raskin and many others are concerned that Carlson will skew the facts of the insurrection while broadcasting to his Fox News audience.

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On Wednesday, Jeffries told reporters that despite how the Fox News host may perceive the events that unfolded, the Jan. 6 Committee presented an incredibly comprehensive picture of what happened on Jan. 6.

Even more significantly the narrative of Jan. 6 was told through the lens of Donald Trumps closest allieswho revealed what happened in terms of leading up to the violent insurrection and also the failure of former President Trump to do anything meaningful to stop it, he recounted.

Regarding granting other media outlets access to Jan. 6 footage, Jeffries wants to err on the side of caution.

Chairman Bennie Thompson, D-Miss., speaks as the House select committee investigating the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol holds its final meeting on Capitol Hill in Washington, Monday, Dec. 19, 2022. From left, Rep. Stephanie Murphy, D-Fla., Rep. Pete Aguilar, D-Calif., Rep. Adam Schiff, D-Calif., Rep. Zoe Lofgren, D-Calif., Thompson, Vice Chair Liz Cheney, R-Wyo., Rep. Adam Kinzinger, R-Ill., Rep. Jamie Raskin, D-Md., and Rep. Elaine Luria, D-Va. (Al Drago/Pool Photo via AP)

He told theGrio, Well have to figure out an appropriate way to balance a set of interests in transparency around what happened during the violent insurrection, but in a way that does not irresponsibly jeopardize the security and safety of all who serve or visit the Capitol.

He added, The first step and the most important step is to make sure that the Capitol Police vet all of the security video that is being contemplated to present to the American people.

In his statement, Congressman Thompson said, Its hard to overstate the potential security risks if this material were to be used irresponsibly.

He continued, When the Select Committee obtained access to U.S. Capitol Police video footage, it was treated with great sensitivity given concerns about the security of lawmakers, staff, and the Capitol complex.

Thompson has requested that McCarthy provide Congress and the public with steps he has taken to address the significant security concerns at stake.

TheGrio is FREE on your TV via Apple TV, Amazon Fire, Roku and Android TV. Also, please download theGrio mobile apps today!

The post Democrats say McCarthys release of Jan. 6 footage poses a security threat to US Capitol appeared first on TheGrio.
President Joe Biden Jacquelyn Martin, Pool

Democrats are "disappointed" and angry with Biden's position on a GOP move to block a DC crime law.

Biden said Thursday he wouldn't veto the resolution.

"If the President supports DC statehood, he should govern like it," tweeted Rep. Alexandria Ocasio Cortez.

President Joe Biden's decision to allow Congress to overrule a DC crime law has riled House Democrats, the overwhelming majority of whom opposed the GOP-led measure as an attack on DC home rule.

"We should allow DC to conduct its own business," Rep. Jamaal Bowman of New York told Insider. "It's actually very infuriating that the President did that."

Biden tweeted his reasoning on Thursday, saying he supports DC statehood and home rule, but not the changes to the city's criminal code  such as lower penalties for carjackings  that the DC Council approved over the objections of Mayor Muriel Bowser. "If the Senate votes to overturn what D.C. Council did  I'll sign it," he added.

Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez called out Biden's decision, saying "This ain't it."

"If the President supports DC statehood, he should govern like it," she tweeted.

The GOP-led House passed the DC opposition measure 250-173 last month, with 31 Democrats supporting it. Biden's move potentially exposes 173 House Democrats to GOP attacks and gives political cover to Senate Democratic supporters of the measure when it comes up for a vote in the chamber, possibly next week.

Biden's position caught DC Del. Eleanor Homes Norton by surprise during a news conference Thursday. "This is news to me," she said, adding that she was "very disappointed."

Holmes Norton, following up with reporters on Friday, said that, given the rise in crime across the country and in DC, the issue posed a political problem for Democrats who lost their seats  and for Biden.

"I think it is all political," she said. "It comes at a time when crime is going up around the country, but I had hoped that he would stick to where he usually has been, which is to support home rule."

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The criminal code revisions include reducing maximum criminal penalties for certain offenses and allow more jury trials for misdemeanor offenses. Mayor Bowser urged the Senate to reject the opposition measure in order to support "the basic democratic principles of self-determination and local control."

The District tried to take an evidence-based approach to revising the criminal code, looking at what penalties were deterrents, she said. She thought Biden should have made his opinion on the matter known sooner.

The resolution's passage would mark the first time the federal government has voted to overrule DC legislation in decades and undermines the campaign for DC statehood. House Democratic Caucus chairman Pete Aguilar, speaking at a forum organized by Punchbowl News, called Biden's decision "disappointing."

As a former mayor of Redlands, California, he said, "I wouldn't want the federal government coming in and telling me what city ordinances to pass."

Bowman also questioned why the federal government is stepping on the District as it attempts to change an "antiquated policy" that he said was "very draconian and needed to be changed."

The issue also extends beyond home rule, he told Insider. Everyone wants strong law enforcement for violent crime, he said, but he argued that there could be other effective approaches for most other offenses.

"The issue of a more just justice system overall, is something that I'm very passionate about and I think we all should be focused on and passionate about," he said.

Asked about Biden's decision, Bowman said police unions are powerful. "And we are scared to death to be critical of law enforcement, and scared to death to be seen as weak and crime," he said.

Read the original article on Business Insider
Refugees board buses that will take them to a processing center after they arrive at Dulles International Airport after being evacuated from Kabul following the Taliban takeover of Afghanistan Aug. 27, 2021, in Dulles, Virginia.

Refugees board buses that will take them to a processing center after they arrive at Dulles International Airport after being evacuated from Kabul following the Taliban takeover of Afghanistan Aug. 27, 2021, in Dulles, Virginia.

Afghan evacuees who have been living in the United States since August 2021 will soon reach the end of their temporary two-year stay.

Unless Congress acts, they could be deported back to Afghanistan  where they would face the wrath of the Taliban.

The Afghan Adjustment Act, introduced last August by Sens. Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.) and Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.), would have established a pathway for permanent residence for Afghans in the U.S., but party leaders left it out of must-pass spending bills that seemed like its best chance at becoming law late last year.

If this bill had been brought to the floor, it would have passed. Safi Rauf, a U.S. war veteran and president of Human First Coalition, an organization lobbying for the bill, told HuffPost.

To win over Republican senators, Rauf traveled to red states in October and November with a group of other veterans. Republicans complained that evacuees had not been thoroughly vetted and posed security risks to the country. After additional vetting measures had been added to the bill, Republicans were mostly on board, Rauf said. Two additional Republicans  Sens. Jerry Moran (Kan.) and Roger Wicker (Miss.)  signed on as co-sponsors in December as a result of the changes.

Graham told HuffPost this week that the bill would be introduced again, but he hadnt yet discussed it with the other co-sponsors.

The bills supporters hope to have it reintroduced in the Senate and the House as soon as March. Rauf said that the bills passage is now less about security concerns and more a question of when and if party leaders feel like advancing the legislation.

Its just a matter of time, Rauf said. But he hopes that Congress will recognize the urgency of the situation this time because most of the evacuees temporary status will expire as early as August.

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Following the fall of Kabul amid the chaotic U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan in August 2021, the U.S. government used a policy known as humanitarian parole to bring Afghans who aided American forces and who feared Taliban retaliation onto American territory. But humanitarian parole does not provide a route to permanent residence.

For most Afghan evacuees, the expiration of parole would mean that they are at immediate risk of losing their work permit with no obvious way to extend it because they cannot change their status through established pathways like asylum quickly enough. In the long run, the worst-case scenario would be deportation back to Afghanistan.

The stakes are much higher than they were before, Rauf said.

According to unpublished DHS data reported by CBS News, only 4,775 applications from Afghan evacuees seeking asylum or a special visa status had been granted as of Feb. 12 compared to the approximately 80,000 Afghans who have resettled in the U.S. since August 2021.

The asylum route to legal permanent residency takes a long time because of the backlog of applications. Most applicants have not heard back in months after filing.

DHS data shows that, as of Feb. 12, more than 14,000 Afghans had filed for asylum, but only 1,175 of those requests had been approved, according to CBS News.

The process is also complicated and costly, as it requires legal services and there are not enough volunteer attorneys to help with the volume of cases. There is little assurance that all the asylum cases will be eventually approved because, according to Rauf, about half of the 80,000 evacuees could lack necessary documentation and thus be unable to adjust their status.

The situation is no better for Afghan evacuees who are eligible for a Special Immigrant Visa (SIV), which mostly comprises translators, interpreters and others who served in the American military. DHS has received 14,600 SIV applications from those already in the U.S., but only about 3,600 have been accepted thus far.

The Biden administration granted Afghan evacuees temporary protected status, which is given to individuals who cannot safely return to their home countries due to conflict. While that policy temporarily safeguards them from deportation, it does not automatically create a pathway to permanent residency in the U.S. Just over 1,000 Afghans were enrolled in the program as of early February.

The bottom line is we cant send them back, Rauf said, because the situation of Afghanistan gets worse every day.

A Human Rights Watch report reveals that despite the Talibans declaration of amnesty, the group has executed or forcibly disappeared more than 100 former members of the Afghan National Security Forces.

Arthur Delaney contributed reporting.
After a catastrophic 38-train car derailment in East Palestine, Ohio, some officials are raising concerns about a type of toxic substance that tends to stay in the environment.

Sherrod Brown and J.D. Vance, the U.S. senators from Ohio, sent a letter to the states environmental protection agency expressing concern that dioxins may have been released when some of the chemicals in the damaged railcars were deliberately burned for safety reasons. They joined residents of the small Midwestern town and environmentalists from around the U.S. calling for state and federal environmental agencies to test the soil near where the tanker cars tipped over.

On Thursday, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency ordered rail operator Norfolk Southern to begin testing for dioxins. Testing so far by the EPA for indicator chemicals has suggested theres a low chance that dioxins were released from the derailment, the agency said.

A look at dioxins, their potential harms and whether they may have been created by burning the vinyl chloride that was on the Norfolk Southern train:

HIGHLY TOXIC, PERSISENT COMPOUNDS

Dioxins refer to a group of toxic chemical compounds that can persist in the environment for long periods, according to the World Health Organization.

They are created through combustion and attach to dust particles, which is how they begin to circulate through an ecosystem.

Residents near the burn could have been exposed to dioxins in the air that landed on their skin or were breathed into their lungs, said Frederick Guengerich, a toxicologist at Vanderbilt University.

Skin exposure to high concentrations can cause whats known as chloracne  an intense skin inflammation, Guengerich said.

But the main pathway that dioxin gets into human bodies is not directly through something burning. Its through consumption of meat, dairy, fish and shellfish that have become contaminated. That contamination takes time.

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Thats why its important for the authorities to investigate this site now, said Ted Schettler, a physician with a public health degree who directs the Science and Environmental Health Network, a coalition of environmental organizations. Because its important to determine the extent to which dioxins are present in the soil and the surrounding area.

DOES BURNING VINYL CHLORIDE CREATE DIOXINS?

Linda Birnbaum, a leading dioxins researcher, toxicologist and former director of the National Institute for Environmental Health Sciences, said that burning vinyl chloride does create dioxins. Other experts agreed the accident could have created them.

The tremendous black plume seen at East Palestine suggests the combustion process left lots of complex carbon compounds behind, said Murray McBride, a Cornell University soil and crop scientist.

McBride said it will be hard to say for sure whether these compounds were released until testing is done where the train cars derailed.

Which is likely why residents, politicians, environmentalists and public health professionals are all calling for state and federal environmental agencies to conduct testing at the derailment site.

ROUTES TO THE ENVIRONMENT

Some level of dioxins are already in the environment  they can be created by certain industrial processes, or even by people burning trash in their backyards, McBride said.

Once released, dioxins can stick around in soil for decades. They can contaminate plants, including crops. They accumulate up the food chain in oils and other fats.

In East Palestine, its possible that soot particles from the plume carried dioxins onto nearby farms, where they could stick to the soil, McBride said.

If you have grazing animals out there in the field, they will pick up some of the dioxins from soil particles, he said. And so some of that gets into their bodies, and then that accumulates in fat tissue.

Eventually, those dioxins could make their way up the food chain to human consumers. Bioaccumulation means that more dioxin can get into humans than whats found in the environment after the crash.

Animals dont metabolize and get rid of dioxins like we do other chemicals, Schettler said, and dioxin is stored in the fat of animals that humans eat, like fish, and builds up over time, making the health effects worse.

SHOULD EAST PALESTINE RESIDENTS BE CONCERNED?

Birnbaum and Schettler agreed that residents have reason for concern about dioxins from this derailment.

Even though they are present in small amounts from other sources, the large amount of vinyl chloride burned off from the train cars could create more than usual, McBride said.

Thats my concern, that there could be an unusual concentration, he said. But again, Im waiting to see if these soils are analyzed.

It takes between seven and 11 years for dioxins to start to break down in the body of a person or animal. And dioxins have been linked with cancer, developmental problems in children and reproductive issues and infertility in adults, according to the National Institute for Environmental Health Sciences.

Still, Guengerich thought that other potential health risks from the derailment  such as concerns that exposure to the vinyl chloride itself could cause cancer  may be more pressing than the possible dioxins: I wouldnt put it at the highest level on my list, he said.

Dr. Maureen Lichtveld, dean of the University of Pittsburgh School of Public Health, agreed that vinyl chloride should be of more concern than dioxins for the public and said that even the mental health of a community rocked by the catastrophic derailment should be a higher public health priority than dioxin exposure.

As with many environmental exposures, it would be hard to prove any dioxin present came from the derailment. I think that it would be virtually impossible .... to attribute any presence of dioxin to this particular burn, she said.

But most experts thought it was important to test the soils for dioxins  even though that process can be difficult and costly.

The conditions are absolutely right for dioxins to have been formed, Schettler said. Its going to be terribly important to determine that from a public health perspective, and to reassure the community.

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A court on Friday sentenced Belarus top human rights advocate and one of the winners of the 2022 Nobel Peace Prize, to 10 years in prison.

The harsh punishment of Ales Bialiatski and three of his colleagues came in response to massive protests over a 2020 election that gave authoritarian President Alexander Lukashenko a new term in office.

Lukashenko, a longtime ally of Russian President Vladimir Putin who backed Putins invasion of Ukraine, has ruled the ex-Soviet country with an iron fist since 1994. More than 35,000 people were arrested, and thousands were beaten by police, in a brutal crackdown he unleashed on the protesters, the largest in the countrys history.

Belarus stands as an outlier in its support of the year-old Russian invasion, with other countries in the region not backing Moscow publicly.

Bialiatski and his cohorts at the Viasna human rights center he founded were convicted of financing actions violating public order and smuggling, Viasna reported Friday.

Valiantsin Stefanovich was given a nine-year sentence; Uladzimir Labkovicz seven years; and Dzmitry Salauyou was sentenced to eight years in prison in absentia.

During the trial, which took place behind closed doors, the 60-year-old Bialiatski and his colleagues were held in a caged enclosure in the courtroom. They have spent 21 months behind bars since the arrest.

In the photos from the courtroom released Friday by Belarus' state news agency Belta, Bialiatksi, clad in black clothes, looked wan, but calm.

Viasna said after the verdict that all four activists have maintained their innocence.

In his final address to the court, he urged the authorities to stop the civil war in Belarus. Bialiatski said it became obvious to him from the case files that the investigators were fulfilling the task they were given: to deprive Viasna human rights advocates of freedom at any cost, destroy Viasna and stop our work."

Exiled Belarusian opposition leader Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya denounced the court verdict on Friday as appalling. We must do everything to fight against this shameful injustice (and) free them, Tsikhaouskaya wrote in a tweet.

The sentence handed to Bialiatski and his colleagues elicited outrage in the West.

The Norwegian Helsinki Committee, a nongovernmental organization working to ensure that human rights are respected in practice, said that it was shocked by the cynicism behind the sentences that were just issued to our Belarusian friends in Minsk.

The trial shows how Lukashenkas regime punishes our colleagues, human rights defenders, for standing up against the oppression and injustice," Secretary General Berit Lindeman said in a statement.

German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock said in a tweet that the proceedings against the activists "were a farce.

The Minsk regime is fighting civil society with force and prison, she added. This is just as much a daily disgrace as Lukashenkos support for Putins war. We call for the end of political persecution and freedom for the more than 1,400 political prisoners.

Bialiatski is the fourth person in the 121-year history of the Nobel Prizes to receive the award while in prison or detention.
Key Insights

Digistar Corporation Berhad will host its Annual General Meeting on 10th of March

Total pay for CEO Wira Lee includes RM1.30m salary

The overall pay is 62% above the industry average

Digistar Corporation Berhad's three-year loss to shareholders was 7.2% while its EPS was down 5.4% over the past three years

Digistar Corporation Berhad (KLSE:DIGISTA) has not performed well recently and CEO Wira Lee will probably need to up their game. Shareholders will be interested in what the board will have to say about turning performance around at the next AGM on 10th of March. They will also get a chance to influence managerial decision-making through voting on resolutions such as executive remuneration, which may impact firm value in the future. From our analysis, we think CEO compensation may need a review in light of the recent performance.

View our latest analysis for Digistar Corporation Berhad

How Does Total Compensation For Wira Lee Compare With Other Companies In The Industry?

According to our data, Digistar Corporation Berhad has a market capitalization of RM36m, and paid its CEO total annual compensation worth RM1.3m over the year to September 2022. That's a notable increase of 33% on last year. Notably, the salary of RM1.3m is the entirety of the CEO compensation.

For comparison, other companies in the Malaysian IT industry with market capitalizations below RM894m, reported a median total CEO compensation of RM798k. Hence, we can conclude that Wira Lee is remunerated higher than the industry median.

Component 2022 2021 Proportion (2022) Salary RM1.3m RM972k 100% Other - - - Total Compensation RM1.3m RM972k 100%

On an industry level, roughly 84% of total compensation represents salary and 16% is other remuneration. At the company level, Digistar Corporation Berhad pays Wira Lee solely through a salary, preferring to go down a conventional route. If total compensation veers towards salary, it suggests that the variable portion - which is generally tied to performance, is lower.

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Digistar Corporation Berhad's Growth

Over the last three years, Digistar Corporation Berhad has shrunk its earnings per share by 5.4% per year. In the last year, its revenue is up 12%.

The decline in EPS is a bit concerning. There's no doubt that the silver lining is that revenue is up. But it isn't sufficiently fast growth to overlook the fact that EPS has gone backwards over three years. It's hard to argue the company is firing on all cylinders, so shareholders might be averse to high CEO remuneration. Although we don't have analyst forecasts, you might want to assess this data-rich visualization of earnings, revenue and cash flow.

Has Digistar Corporation Berhad Been A Good Investment?

With a three year total loss of 7.2% for the shareholders, Digistar Corporation Berhad would certainly have some dissatisfied shareholders. This suggests it would be unwise for the company to pay the CEO too generously.

To Conclude...

Digistar Corporation Berhad pays CEO compensation exclusively through a salary, with non-salary compensation completely ignored. Given that shareholders haven't seen any positive returns on their investment, not to mention the lack of earnings growth, this may suggest that few of them would be willing to award the CEO with a pay rise. At the upcoming AGM, management will get a chance to explain how they plan to get the business back on track and address the concerns from investors.

It is always advisable to analyse CEO pay, along with performing a thorough analysis of the company's key performance areas. In our study, we found 3 warning signs for Digistar Corporation Berhad you should be aware of, and 2 of them are a bit concerning.

Of course, you might find a fantastic investment by looking at a different set of stocks. So take a peek at this free list of interesting companies.

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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Neo-Nazis and a sex toy.

The leader of a neo-Nazi network whose members celebrate white supremacist violent extremism and uses Telegram as its primary form of communication has been unmasked as a California woman who once reviewed and sold dildos for a living.

The neo-Nazi propaganda outfit, Terrorgram Collective, uses the encrypted messaging app Telegram to promote far-right terror and celebrate those who commit violent acts, HuffPost reports.

The group was celebrated in the manifesto of a mass shooter who killed LGBTQ+ people outside a gay bar in Bratislava, Slovakia, last year. On October 12, 19-year-old Juraj Krajcik shot three people with a gun on which he had mounted a laser scope. Two victims died from their injuries.

According to HuffPost, that was the first time the far-right group received public acknowledgment in such a high-profile way.

Dallas Erin Humber, 33, a resident of Sacramento, is behind the hate, according to research by antifascist groups that HuffPost confirmed. The news organization explained Humber had become radicalized quickly but had become obsessed with white supremacy, intolerance, bigotry, and hate over a prolonged period since being a teen. She noticed the shooters obsession and literally gave her voice to his words.

This is kind of a huge deal, Humber says in a brief introduction to an audiobook her group made from the murderers online screed. [I]n case you havent heard, on October 12, 2022, St. Juraj Krajcik, Tarrants sixth disciple and Terrorgrams first saint, posted this manifesto online before opening fire on f****ts at an LGBT coffee shop in Bratislava, Slovakia.

Since about 2003, when she was 14 years old, Humber created an extensive digital footprint that included blog and social media accounts that increasingly depicted Nazi sympathizing content, from writings to self-created drawings and other art which celebrated the evils of the Holocaust.

We mourn St. Krajciks death, she continued, but his legacy is immortalized through words and action ... His manifesto is absolute fucking fire and I think youll really enjoy it. If youve been around here a while, it should resonate intensely with your very soul. So without further ado, lets get this party started, Terror Bros, HuffPost reports.

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Humber, allegedly a recovering methamphetamine addict, did not respond to the news organizations requests for comment, but she did block one of the reporters that reached out to her after reading the reporters text.



Despite having worked as an academic tutor and sold art at times, her current income is unclear. However, for some time, she worked as a dildo saleswoman and reviewed various sex toys, according to the report.

The Terrorgram Collective advocates the most extreme and explicit iteration of white supremacy as a central component of the international neo-Nazi accelerationist movement, advocating deadly violence and destruction to accelerate the collapse of society and create a world dominated by white people.

It creates propaganda that travels through the internet  audiobooks, videos, and memes  to inspire other radical far-right extremists to commit violent acts.

A former American neo-Nazi who spoke with the publication knows the groups tactics.

Shannon Foley Martinez says that white supremacist propagandists have used outfits like Terrorgram Collective to incite violence for years.

One of the mechanisms of creating martyrs is that it emboldens individuals to undertake actions that they otherwise might not, she said. In her opinion, its only a matter of time before the group inspires another acolyte to commit an act of violence.

The challenge in policing the type of speech Terrorgram Collective engages in is the protection afforded all Americans under the First Amendment.

In countries where speech is not guaranteed in such an absolute way, prosecuting somebody like Humber would be possible.

Earlier this year, a 19-year-old white supremacist was sentenced in the U.K. to 11 years in prison for making videos that influenced the Buffalo shooter and the man who shot five people at Club Q in Colorado Springs.

The British teenage right-wing extremist had made a video promoting the total extermination of sub-humans once and for all.

The antifascist researchers whose research unmasked Humber say her content is no less inspirational than the convicted teens materials. They hope exposing her will prevent her from inspiring any further mass shootings.
A Dilworth couple said their home was damaged due to a Charlotte Storm Water Services project and are suing the city and its contractors to pay for repairs.

Here is the whole crack along the whole side porch, said homeowner Ginny Hunt.

ALSO READ: City out $106M after losing, settling 2 lawsuits over Charlotte Water fees

Charlotte contractors started working on the second phase of the Myrtle/Morehead Storm Drainage Improvement Project in 2019.

The city believes the finished project will reduce flooding in Dilworth.

Hunt said after months into the construction she noticed cracks throughout her home near Templeton and Euclid avenues.

If you look closer, you would see the damage right here where this is all settled, she said. That, literally, was painted two weeks before they started the construction.

The foundation failed along the side of the house, and the side porch cracked, she said.

Hunt and her husband filed a complaint against the city and its contractors.

Theyre suing for at least $25,000.

We would like to have all of our expenses covered for repairs, Hunt said. Were probably halfway through the repairs at this point.

They have lost any value to the home due to the damage, she said.

Hunt said exterior repairs cost her more than $70,000.

Interior fixes havent started.

Hunt said she wants someone to take responsibility for years of financial and emotional stress.

I would say its been a little bit of an upheaval and a lot of anger. A lot of frustration, she said.

A spokesperson for the city of Charlotte said they could not comment, citing pending litigation.

The contractors did not respond to our request.

VIDEO: Final portion of barrier wall removed in South End water main project
Trump campaign attorney James Troupis speaks during a Senate Homeland Security & Governmental Affairs Committee hearing to discuss election security and the 2020 election process on Wednesday, Dec. 16, 2020, on Capitol Hill in Washington.

MADISON - The conservative majority of the Wisconsin Supreme Court has reappointed to a state judicial advisory panel a Dane County attorney involved in an unsuccessful effort to persuade former Vice President Mike Pence to usurp President Joe Biden's 2020 win by accepting slates of electors for Donald Trump.

Attorney Jim Troupis was reappointed to the state Judicial Conduct Advisory Committee by the court in a 4-3 decision, according to an order dated Thursday. The court's liberal minority opposed the move.

"Its unfortunate four of my colleagues have signed off on such a divisive pick," Justice Rebecca Dallet said in a statement.

"We dissented because Mr. Troupis is a partisan who appears often in court and was just before us in a widely-reported, highly controversial case, which resulted in an attempted weaponization of the disciplinary process against Justice Karofsky and me. One would think there would be less divisive leaders we could come together to agree to appoint to these roles."

Wisconsin Supreme Court Justice Rebecca Dallet listens to oral arguments during a case in 2019.

According to state courts officials, the committee was created to provide formal opinions and informal advice to judges and judicial officers governed by the state judicial code of conduct. Troupis' first three-year term on the committee expires Tuesday. He will serve a second term until March 7, 2026.

Troupis did not immediately respond to a request for comment Thursday. Chief Justice Annette Ziegler did not return a phone call.

Former justice calls Troupis' reappointment 'a terrible mistake'

Former Supreme Court Justice Janine Geske in an interview called the decision "a terrible mistake" because of Troupis' ties to such controversial partisan events, even though he is a "very competent" attorney and former judge. "The court ought to be doing everything it can to avoid appearing partisan," said Geske, now of the Marquette University Law School.

More:Wisconsin Republicans who posed as electors met in a 'secret location,' brought armed security with them, one member says

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Troupis, a former Dane County circuit judge, was hired by Trump's campaign to oversee recounts of ballots cast in Dane and Milwaukee counties after Trump's loss in 2020 and sought to overturn the result by throwing out hundreds of thousands of ballots including his own and his wifes. He was one of the first to learn of a scheme to put in place Republican electors in states where Trump was trying to overturn election results, receiving a memo on Nov. 18, 2020, outlining the strategy.

The memo arrived the same day Troupis filed paperwork on behalf of the Trump campaign to begin the ballot recounts in the liberal-leaning and populous counties. The U.S. Department of Justice in December subpoenaed communications from election officials in both counties between their offices and Trump and his allies, including Troupis.

Attorney heading up Trump campaign's Wisconsin recount effort is seeking to throw out his own vote

More:'These guys are up to no good': Wisconsin fake elector fretted plan would 'fail miserably'

U.S. Sen. Ron Johnson in June said he had coordinated with Troupis to pass along to Pence a document Troupis described as regarding "Wisconsin electors" on the morning of Jan. 6, 2021. A staff member of Pence's rejected the offer, according to evidence released last year by a U.S. House Committee investigating the attack on the U.S. Capitol that occurred the same day.

A state judicial oversight panel last fall tossed a 2021 complaint against liberal-leaning Supreme Court Justice Jill Karofsky over her questioning of Troupis as he represented Trump in a lawsuit seeking to overturn the results of Wisconsin's presidential election. The complaint also targeted Dallet but the commission did not pursue those allegations.

The Wisconsin Judicial Commission in November dismissed the complaint "with an expression of concern," which is not considered official discipline, over one comment Karofsky directed toward Troupis that the commission deemed to be sarcastic and another that accused Troupis of asking the court to overturn the election "so that your king can stay in power."

Molly Beck can be reached at molly.beck@jrn.com.

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This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Wisconsin Supreme Court reappoints Jim Troupis to judicial panel
A Texas doctor pressured his patients into getting unnecessary brain stimulation treatments, federal authorities said, then he billed Medicare for what were described as worthless services.

Now, Dr. Ashok Jain, 61, and the psychiatric companies he owned and operated have agreed to pay $3 million to settle claims of improperly billing Medicare, according to a March 3 news release from the U.S. Attorneys Office for the Southern District of Texas.

This office will actively pursue and prosecute those who take advantage of our aged population and those who seek psychiatric care and counseling, U.S. Attorney Alamdar S. Hamdani said in the release. It is particularly egregious when those citizens who seek care are given unnecessary treatment and not the treatment that would benefit them. Providers who participate in federally funded programs like Medicare have a responsibility to the public to provide legitimate, safe care and treatment.

The defense attorney representing Jain did not immediately respond to a request for comment from McClatchy News on March 3.

Authorities said an investigation into Jain and his companies  Psychiatric Solutions P.C., Longview Psychiatric Center PLLC and Longview Psychiatric Center LP  began when two of his clinic employees filed a whistleblower lawsuit in July 2021.

During their terms of employment, they allegedly witnessed patients being pressured to accept unnecessary medical treatments as well as the falsification of treatment records and billing Medicare for worthless services or services the clinic did not provide, officials said.

Investigators found that Jain ran the scheme from Jan. 1, 2015, through Dec. 31, 2021, according to the settlement agreement.

In the agreement, authorities said Jains clinics submitted claims for Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation procedures that were either not actually performed or unnecessary. He also billed Medicare for physician assessments even when he didnt see the patient, according to court records.

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Transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) is a noninvasive procedure that uses magnetic fields to stimulate nerve cells in the brain to improve symptoms of depression, according to the Mayo Clinic. TMS is typically used when other depression treatments havent been effective. This treatment for depression involves delivering repetitive magnetic pulses, so its called repetitive TMS or rTMS.

In the settlement, the people who filed the lawsuit on behalf of the U.S. will receive $300,000 from the recovery, according to the release.

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Doctor performs needless eye surgery that blinds patient, feds say. She will pay $1.8M

Dermatologist with forged degree stole thousands from patients, Louisiana cops say
Detroit, MI --News Direct-- Canna Business Resources

Nearly nine out of 10 Americans say marijuana should be legal for medical and recreational use, according to the Pew Research Center. Now that the cannabis industry has grown in acceptance, business owners need to secure cannabis real estate to operate.

At the same time, however, the lingering stigma makes it harder for business owners to obtain property. If youre hoping to open a cannabis business in your area, this guide can orient you to the options and challenges of marijuana real estate.

Types of Cannabis Real Estate

The cannabis industry is surprisingly diverse. Your real estate needs may vary based on the type of business youre operating.

1. Retail Space

Retail space is needed for those who sell marijuana directly. Like other retail businesses, these properties should be chosen based on traffic, visibility and ease of access to ensure success. Youll also want to ensure that your store layout is conducive to an enjoyable, frictionless customer experience.

2. Commercial Warehouses

Warehouses are storage and linking points in the cannabis supply chain, so they may be operated by retailers directly, as well as producers and distributors. Warehouses should be selected based on proximity to their final destination and the source of their contents.

3. Rural Farmland

Producers require sufficient acreage to grow marijuana. Because space is needed, this type of cannabis property will typically be found in rural locations, and buyers will need to ensure that the land offers good runoff, quality soil and favorable weather.

Using a greenhouse gives you added security and can be used to cultivate plants in virtually any climate.

4. Commercial Plants

Producers and distributors may rely on commercial plants to process marijuana crops and prepare them for final sale. These facilities commonly require sufficient square footage to handle inventory, personnel and equipment.

Challenges for Cannabis Businesses Seeking Quality Real Estate

Despite widespread acceptance of recreational marijuana, cannabis business owners still face significant hurdles when it comes to securing cannabis real estate. Here are some of the biggest challenges affecting the industry.

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Local Ordinances

Even though cannabis businesses are legal, some local communities prohibit cannabis businesses from operating.

For instance, 40% of Connecticut towns ban cannabis businesses, according to CT Insider. This factor forces business owners to pursue marijuana real estate in urban centers, which can raise prices and present stiff competition.

Financing Hurdles

Currently, most major banks and traditional financial institutions do not work with cannabis businesses. This issue can make it harder to obtain the financing needed to buy or lease a cannabis property in your community and may force you to rent a property until you build enough capital to fund your own real estate purchase.

Fortunately, some lenders specialize in cannabis business loans, though entrepreneurs may find themselves facing limited options compared to other types of business.

Strong Competition

Now that recreational marijuana is legal in at least 21 U.S. states, entrepreneurs are scrambling to get in on the action. But since cannabis businesses are often localized in urban centers because of local ordinances, cannabis business owners may face strong competition, making it harder to gain traction in a crowded marketplace.

Advantages of Diverse Real Estate Holdings for Cannabis Businesses

Diversification is a sound investment strategy regardless of whether youre talking about stocks, bonds or tangible assets, such as real estate property. Cannabis business owners can expect the following benefits when they pursue diverse real estate holdings  that is, owning multiple types of property.

Mitigates Risk

Having access to multiple properties can protect you from sudden economic changes. For instance, if youre renting a retail space, and the landlord increases the monthly fee, you can shift your business to an alternate location to trim expenses.

Presents Opportunity for Growth

Operating in multiple locations gives you added business opportunities and room to grow. You may discover that one location offers the physical space you need to introduce a new piece of equipment or product line.

Provides a Form of Passive Income

Renting out your real estate property gives you a source of passive income. For instance, you might consider renting a portion of your warehouse space to another business to keep costs down.

Considerations of Cannabis Real Estate

Cannabis business owners have some special considerations relating to their real estate.

Security

Cannabis properties  including warehouses and fields  require security to protect your money as well as your inventory. When selecting a property, ensure the building and area can be secured to protect your assets and employees.

Expansion Opportunities

A retail storefront in a crowded location might not provide the physical space you need if you plan on expanding soon. When possible, try to select properties that give you room to grow.

Ongoing Costs

If youre renting a property, you may face rising costs as landlords raise the cost of rent, which can put a damper on your cash flow and capacity for expansion. Even if you own the property, youll have to plan carefully to manage your tax liability, which will increase as your business grows.

Give Yourself Room to Grow

Choosing the right cannabis property is important since it affects business now and in the future. Thats why its important to select a property that fits your business goals and gives you room to expand your horizons as business improves.

Contact Details

Canna Business Resources

info@cannabusinessresources.com

Company Website

https://cannabusinessresources.com/

View source version on newsdirect.com: https://newsdirect.com/news/how-does-cannabis-real-estate-impact-local-cannabis-companies-708419268
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 as Peter Lynch said in One Up On Wall Street, 'Long shots almost never pay off.' 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 Memiontec Holdings (Catalist:TWL). 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 Memiontec Holdings

Memiontec Holdings' Improving Profits

Over the last three years, Memiontec Holdings has grown earnings per share (EPS) at as impressive rate from a relatively low point, resulting in a three year percentage growth rate that isn't particularly indicative of expected future performance. Thus, it makes sense to focus on more recent growth rates, instead. Outstandingly, Memiontec Holdings' EPS shot from S$0.0023 to S$0.0039, over the last year. It's not often a company can achieve year-on-year growth of 68%.

Top-line growth is a great indicator that growth is sustainable, and combined with a high earnings before interest and taxation (EBIT) margin, it's a great way for a company to maintain a competitive advantage in the market. Unfortunately, Memiontec Holdings' revenue dropped 6.3% last year, but the silver lining is that EBIT margins improved from 3.5% to 8.3%. While not disastrous, these figures could be better.

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 Memiontec Holdings is no giant, with a market capitalisation of S$132m, you should definitely check its cash and debt before getting too excited about its prospects.

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Are Memiontec Holdings Insiders Aligned With All Shareholders?

Theory would suggest that it's an encouraging sign to see high insider ownership of a company, since it ties company performance directly to the financial success of its management. So those who are interested in Memiontec Holdings will be delighted to know that insiders have shown their belief, holding a large proportion of the company's shares. To be exact, company insiders hold 74% of the company, so their decisions have a significant impact on their investments. This should be seen as a good thing, as it means insiders have a personal interest in delivering the best outcomes for shareholders. In terms of absolute value, insiders have S$97m invested in the business, at the current share price. So there's plenty there to keep them focused!

Is Memiontec Holdings Worth Keeping An Eye On?

Memiontec Holdings' earnings per share growth have been climbing higher at an appreciable rate. That EPS growth certainly is attention grabbing, and the large insider ownership only serves to further stoke our interest. At times fast EPS growth is a sign the business has reached an inflection point, so there's a potential opportunity to be had here. Based on the sum of its parts, we definitely think its worth watching Memiontec Holdings very closely. You still need to take note of risks, for example - Memiontec Holdings has 3 warning signs (and 2 which are potentially serious) we think you should know about.

Although Memiontec Holdings 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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The Justice Department declined an opportunity from a federal judge to take a position on whether abortion is still constitutionally protected under the 13th Amendment.

In an ongoing criminal case, U.S. District Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly last month asked the parties to provide briefing on whether the Supreme Court considered the entire Constitution in overturning Roe v. Wade last summer, or if it only rejected the right to abortion under the 14th Amendment.

The judges request came after anti-abortion activist Lauren Handy, who is charged with violating the Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances (FACE) Act by blocking access to an abortion clinic in Washington, D.C., contended her charges should be dropped because they were premised on abortion being a federally protected right.

The Department of Justice (DOJ) in a court filing on Friday argued that it can still enforce the FACE Act under Congresss broad power to regulate interstate commerce.

Prosecutors argued the judge as a result can deny Handys motion without deciding if abortion is still protected under the 13th Amendment, which abolished slavery and involuntary servitude, following the high courts landmark Dobbs v. Jackson Womens Health Organization decision.

The Court need not consider, let alone decide these issues to resolve the pending motion, as doing so is not necessary to answer the straightforward jurisdictional questions before the Court, DOJ wrote. Put simply, the Court need not reach whether the Thirteenth Amendment  or any other provision of the Constitution  protects a right to abortion or that Congress had authority under anything other than the Commerce Clause to enact the FACE Act.

Handy and nine others were charged with clinic access obstruction and conspiracy against rights prior to the Dobbs decision, and Handy in late January had asked the judge to dismiss the charges.

There is no longer a federal constitutional interest to protect, and Congress lacks jurisdiction. For the same reason, the Court here does likewise, Handys attorney wrote to Kollar-Kotelly, who was nominated by former President Clinton.

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Handys reply to DOJs argument is due by March 17.

The Hill has reached out to Handys attorney for comment.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to The Hill.
Photo: The Canadian Press

In the culmination of the once-prominent lawyers fall from grace, Alex Murdaugh was sentenced to life in prison without parole Friday after being convicted of murdering his wife and son.

Judge Clifton Newman asked Murdaugh if he had anything he wanted to say before sentencing him to two consecutive life terms, and the South Carolina attorney maintained his innocence.

As I tell you again, I respect this court. But I am innocent. I would never under any circumstances hurt my wife Maggie and I would never under any circumstances hurt my son Paul-Paul, Murdaugh responded.

And it might not have been you. It might have been the monster you become, when taking large amounts of opiates, Newman replied, noting Murdaugh's decades long addiction to painkillers.

Prosecutor Creighton Waters said none of the victims of the crime  members of Murdaughs family and the parents and relatives of his wife  wished to speak on behalf of the prosecution before sentencing.

The depravity, the callousness, the selfishness of these crimes are stunning. The lack of remorse and the effortless way in which he is, including here, sitting right over there in this witness stand  your honor, a man like that, a man like this man, should never be allowed to be among free, law abiding citizens, Waters said.

Prosecutors asked for a life sentence to hold Murdaugh responsible for what they say are decades of lying, stealing and using his family's considerable clout in their tiny county to his advantage. Any sentence would have no chance of parole.

As Murdaugh stood before the judge to learn his fate, he was in the same courtroom on the circuit where his father, grandfather and great-grandfather tried cases as the elected prosecutor for more than 80 years. His grandfathers portrait hung in the back of the room until the judge ordered it taken down for the trial.

Instead of the dress shirt and sport coat he wore through the six-week trial, the attorney who made millions suing big companies on behalf of people injured in wrecks arrived at court in a jail jumpsuit the day after he was convicted of two counts of murder.

The Colleton County jury deliberated for less than three hours before finding Murdaugh guilty of killing his 22-year-old son, Paul, with a shotgun and his 52-year-old wife, Maggie, with a rifle on June 7, 2021.

Juror Craig Moyer told ABC News that when deliberations began, the jury immediately took a poll that came back with nine guilty votes. It didn't take long to convince the other three.

The juror agreed with prosecutors that the key piece of evidence was a video locked on his sons cellphone for a year  video shot minutes before the killings at the same kennels near where the bodies would be found.

The voices of all three Murdaughs can be heard on the video, though Alex Murdaugh had insisted for 20 months that he hadn't been at the kennels that night. When he took the stand in his own defense, the first thing he did was admit he had lied to investigators about being at the kennels, saying he was paranoid of law enforcement because he was addicted to opioids and had pills in his pocket the night of the killings.

A good liar. But not good enough, Moyer said.

Prosecutors didnt have the weapons used to kill the Murdaughs or other direct evidence like confessions or blood spatter. But they had a mountain of circumstantial evidence, including the video putting Murdaugh at the scene of the killings five minutes before his wife and son stopped using their cellphones forever.

It's unclear who will speak at Friday's sentencing hearing. Murdaugh's surviving son, Buster, and one of his brothers testified for the defense and have been behind him every day of the trial.

Murdaugh's sister-in-law testified they were all close. Alex Murdaugh went on vacation with them in the months after the killings.

Through more than 75 witnesses and nearly 800 pieces of evidence, jurors heard about betrayed friends and clients, Murdaughs failed attempt to stage his own death in an insurance fraud scheme, a fatal boat crash in which his son was implicated, the housekeeper who died in a fall in the Murdaugh home and the grisly scene of the killings.

The now-disbarred attorney admitted stealing millions of dollars from the family firm and clients, saying he needed the money to fund his drug habit. Before he was charged with murder, Murdaugh was in jail awaiting trial on about 100 other charges ranging from insurance fraud to tax evasion.

When he took the stand last week, Murdaugh appeared to cry as he denied again and again that he killed his wife. But juror Moyer said he saw through yet another lie.

He never cried. All he did was blow snot," Moyer said. "No tears. I saw his eyes. I was this close to him.
Ian Flemings Bond novels are being rewritten for modern audiences (Getty)

If James Bond wants his licence to kill on screen renewed, changes may be in order. The days when 007 could casually hand a fistful of cash to an Indian man and tell him Thatll keep you in curry for a few weeks, as he did in 1983s Octopussy, are clearly over. Hes not going to get away with beating up women, either, as he does in any number of films from GoldenEye to From Russia with Love. Websites have compiled incriminating lists of Bonds crimes against political correctness  and the rap sheet is very long indeed.

Bonds producers are well aware that his behaviour in the Sixties and Seventies wont fly in the 2020s. It emerged this week that Ian Flemings Bond novels (like those of Roald Dahl) are already being reworked for modern readers. The Daily Telegraph reports that terms and attitudes which might be considered offensive today are being cut out of the text. Some racist language has been deleted.

If the books are being updated to reflect modern sensibilities, should the films get the same treatment? After all, the Bond production team has always insisted that the character portrayed on screen, whether played by Sean Connery, Pierce Brosnan or Daniel Craig, is very close to the quiet, hard, ruthless, sardonic, fatalistic secret agent dreamed up by Fleming one sunny morning in Jamaica in 1952.

Whatever flaws Bond has on the page, he shares in the film adaptations. Is it enough, then, to treat his more boorish behaviour in the same way we might treat the antics of a drunken uncle at a wedding, and ignore it? Or should we hold him to account for his historic delinquencies, and clean up the movies retrospectively?

There is a sense that both sides in this debate are getting into an unholy pickle. In recent days, Bond fans have been working themselves up into a rage over amendments to the novels that appear, actually, to have been made years ago. It has been widely reported, for example, that lines in Flemings 1954 novel Live and Let Die, describing patrons in a Harlem nightclub as grunting like pigs at a trough, have now been changed to the blander, less offensive: Bond could sense the electric tension in the room. In fact, in a 1987 paperback edition of the book, the pigs at a trough line had already vanished, and the electric tension sentence was in place even then.

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It is also apparent that amendments made by sensitivity readers to the odd phrase wont change the overall thrust of Flemings storytelling at all. Multiple references to the sweet tang of rape, as well as derogatory remarks about Asian people, are set to remain in the novels  which suggests that the latest edit was a bit of a half-baked job in the first place.

This summer marks 50 years since the release of the film adaptation of Live and Let Die (1973), Roger Moores debut as 007. Directed by the patrician white English filmmaker Guy Hamilton, it shamelessly filches ideas and motifs from Blaxploitation movies of the time, notably Shaft (1971). The villains are Black drug dealers led by Mr Big/Dr Kananga (Yaphet Kotto), one of the most powerful criminals in the world, cooking up a plot to flood the US with heroin. He also doubles as the Idi Amin-like dictator of a Caribbean island.

Almost all the Black characters are demonised or caricatured. The film opens at a funeral in New Orleans, where British MI6 agents are murdered by Dixieland-jazz-loving Black mourners and snake-wielding Voodoo witch doctors.

Early Bond-era movies, even the classics, are rife with equally troubling details. In some cases, small changes have been made to make similarly awkward and aggravating older pictures more palatable for modern audiences. For example, in some versions of 1955 British war film The Dam Busters, the racially offensive name of Wing Commander Guy Gibsons black Labrador, which is also the code for the secret RAF Bomber Command mission, is cut out. And in recent years, when The Dam Busters has been shown in its original form, viewers were given a warning that it contains a term theyre very likely to find offensive.

Jane Seymour and Roger Moore in the 1973 film Live and Let Die (Danjaq/Eon/Ua/Kobal/Shutterstock)

In other cases, films with similar sensitivity issues are shunted to the margins by broadcasters and distributors. A prime example is Gone with the Wind, which was briefly removed from HBO Max in 2020 and hasnt been shown on the BBC since 2007. This is a multi-Oscar-winning Hollywood classic, set during the American civil war.

Its world-famous; no one can forget Rhett Butler (Clark Gable) telling tearful Southern belle Scarlett OHara (Vivien Leigh): Frankly, my dear, I dont give a damn. That being said, the picture wouldnt be made today. There is simply no way to disguise the racist attitudes of its white Southern heroes, or to overlook the films denial of the horrors of slavery.

Its a film that glorifies a system of brutality. It is a film that really showcases a kind of racist ideology that was tied to the Confederate regime, film historian Jacqueline Stewart, a writer on Black cinema who provided a new introduction to the film after it was reinstated on HBO, told NPR. If you know that going in, you probably wont want to watch the movie.

This is the paradox. If you add introductions that contextualise a film, or provide trigger warnings, its as if youre holding it up with a pair of tongs. You may be trying to make it more watchable for contemporary audiences, but youre almost certainly putting them off.

When confronted with problematic, older pictures, the British Board of Film Classification (BBFC) tends to respond by changing its ratings. Once content is resubmitted to the BBFC, it is viewed against our current classification guidelines, a spokesperson told The Independent, explaining how the organisation is continually reviewing and reclassifying previously classified content to reflect current sensitivities. The BBFC cant ask the long-deceased DW Griffith to re-edit his racist 1916 civil war silent epic The Birth of a Nation, but it can slap a 15 certificate on it, instead of an all-ages U. This means viewers will immediately recognise that the film must have issues.

Audiences watching Bond adventures are surely savvy enough to see the racist and sexist parts for what they are

Fans of Bond and Dahl will likely be furious if, in the coming months, some jobsworth censor decides, say, to cut out the Oompa Loompas from Tim Burtons version of Charlie and the Chocolate Factory on the grounds that theyre too small and silly, or to edit From Russia with Love to replace Bonds martinis with non-alcoholic beverages. Everyone knows that Bond is a womaniser, a licensed killer with a healthy thirst, and that he likes gadgets and Aston Martins. Trying to sanitise him would be pointless. Nor does it make any sense to strip out the cruel surrealism that has always distinguished the best screen adaptations of Dahls stories.

It is possible, though, to respect the writers visions, enjoy the cinema versions of their works, and still question their worldviews. In the cases of both Bond and Dahl, the movies are full of such self-mocking, ironic [and very British] humour that its hard to take them too seriously anyway. The jokes keep the obnoxiousness at bay.

Sean Connery and Ursula Andress on the set of Dr No in 1962 (Danjaq/Eon/Ua/Kobal/Shutterstock)

Regardless, these films are far too popular to be hidden away like old Benny Hill comedies from the Seventies. Theyve remained in constant circulation since they first appeared in cinemas. I spoke recently with German filmmaker Nora Fingscheidt (director of Sandra Bullock vehicle The Unforgivable), whose fond memories of Goldfinger were shattered when she rewatched the film with her 10-year-old son. She was startled by the savage treatment of its female characters. From a gender perspective, thats almost unwatchable with a child, because you have to explain so much how society has changed, she concluded.

There is nothing quaint about misogyny, but Goldfinger is arch and cartoonish. Audiences watching Bond adventures are surely savvy enough to see the racist and sexist parts for what they are: a reflection of the era in which they were made. With or without the help of parents, kids would likely be able to see their absurdities for themselves, which is why the scissorhands should leave past versions of 007 well alone.

Thats not to say there isnt room for improvement. Daniel Craigs interpretation of Bond was notably far more nuanced and sensitive than that of his predecessors. It would be a major surprise if his successor isnt in a similar touchy feely groove, at least when he or she isnt busy killing enemy agents. In this ever-changing world in which were living, maybe Bond should be allowed to live twice.
Mayor of Detroit Mike Duggan addresses a question asked during a news conference inside the Durfee Innovation Society building in Detroit on Friday, Jan. 27, 2023.

Mayor Mike Duggan immediately prioritized pension payments during his 2024 fiscal year budget proposal presentation to City Council on Friday, along with housing demolition and property tax relief.

Detroit will begin making its first legacy pension payment, hindered by the city's bankruptcy, of $149 million in the next fiscal year, which runs from July 1 through June 30, 2024. To fund that payment, Duggan's $2.6-billion budget proposal calls for taking $57 million from the city's retiree fund, $73 million from the general fund and $19 million from the grand bargain.

"This is the year that was supposed to be financial doomsday that the financial analyst said would be the year of the fiscal cliff where the city of Detroit was going to be back in financial crisis," Duggan said. "The feared fiscal cliff is a hill. Its a steep hill and thats not easy to manage."

The city established the Retiree Protection Fund in 2017 in the wake of its bankruptcy and state takeover and put aside $473 million in the last eight years to partially fund pension payments. The city's court-approved bankruptcy Plan of Adjustment, Duggan said, allowed Detroit to pause pension payments to invest money into city services. Doubts ensued over whether the city would be prepared for the "legacy pension cliff" when it was required to resume payments.

"There were many experts throughout the country who said that when the city of Detroit had to make $100 million annual pension payments, that we would go back into bankruptcy," said Tanya Stoudemire, deputy chief financial officer. "We are far from going back into bankruptcy."

Duggan's proposed budget also calls for spending $13.3 million to demolish privately owned abandoned houses. In November 2020, voters passed Proposal N, a $250 million bond that covers the demolition or preservation of 16,000 vacant homes. Duggan said 7,000 houses currently remain, with plans to demolish 4,000 and sell 3,000 by the end of next year.

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"In the city, a large number of vacant houses are still owned by private citizens," Duggan said. "The city has never taken primary responsibility for demolishing private abandoned houses and it is challenging, legally, to use municipal bond money to spend money on an individual's private property."

The proposal also calls for $11 million to fund the Detroit Department of Transportation to offset lost fare revenue and to pay bus operators.

Also proposed: reducing property taxes by 1 mill this summer and 2 mills next summer, decreasing the tax rate from 9 to 7 mills. The reduction could save Detroiters $50 to $100 this year and $100 to $200 next year, Duggan said.

Various revenue streams helped the general fund's recurring budget grow by 14.3%, according to the chief financial officer. The total budget, which includes "one-time funds" or services funded by the last fiscal year's surplus, grew by 6.5%. City Council approved a surplus spending plan on Tuesday, which includes $86 million in neighborhood improvements and $70 million in the retiree protection plan.

More:Detroit City Council OKs $156.5M surplus spending, pay raises for elected officials

Income tax revenues have resulted in a budget surplus. Stoudemire said revenues were more than $250 million 10 years ago and by the 2024 fiscal year, the city will reach $313 million.

In his new budget plan, Duggan proposes using surplus funds for the following: $13.5 million on public safety equipment, $6 million on freeway cleanup, $5 million in alley cleanup, $2.6 million in vacant property maintenance, $2.4 million in commercial corridor cleanup, $2 million for parks and greenways, $1.8 million in an affordable housing development fund and $1.4 million for neighborhood planning studies.

The mayor sets the fiscal year budget, which the City Council amends as needed before adopting in April. Council has until April 10 to vote on the budget, which the mayor can veto by April 14, if applicable. Council can override his veto by April 18.

Dana Afana is the Detroit city hall reporter for the Free Press. Contact Dana: dafana@freepress.com or 313-635-3491. Follow her on Twitter: @DanaAfana

This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Mayor Duggan prioritizes retirees, housing, taxes in proposed budget
A truck turns down an alleyway on N. Market Street as dusk settles in on February 25, 2023 in East Palestine, Ohio.

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



Chris Laderer was 34 days into his tenure as chief of the volunteer fire department in Darlington, Pennsylvania, when the station received a call that a train had caught fire in the neighboring town of East Palestine, just over the state border in Ohio. Laderer assumed that an engine had overheated, but as the crew pulled out of the station he saw signs of something far more disastrous.

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We could see the glow and plume of smoke from our station, and were 4 miles from the scene, he recalled. We realized were getting something much bigger than what we anticipated.

When Laderers team arrived, alongside the fire departments from roughly 80 other towns across Pennsylvania, Ohio, and West Virginia, they found 38 cars of a 150-car train splayed along the tracks, with some emitting flames that smelled, as Laderer described it, of burning plastic. They would learn in the days that followed that 11 cars contained hazardous chemicals, including the highly toxic compounds vinyl chloride and butyl acrylate, which are used in the manufacturing of common plastics.

By Monday, three days after the February 3 derailment, the Norfolk Southern railroad company had sent in their own officials and contractors to perform a controlled burn-off of the vinyl chloride. The tactic was meant to prevent, as much as possible, more than 100,000 gallons of vinyl chloride from evaporating into the air and seeping into the soil and creek beds surrounding the train, although an as-yet-unknown quantity of it already had. (Either we were going to blow it up, or it blows up itself, Trent Conaway, the mayor of East Palestine, explained at a town hall the next week by way of illustrating a frustrating lack of options.)

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But the burn didnt go quite as planned. A towering, bulbous cloud of black smoke erupted from the train in the explosion and then spread over the surrounding area like a pool of oil, where it hung in the low atmosphere for hours and hours. Experts have attributed the smokes stubborn refusal to dissipate to a weather phenomenon called an inversion, where warm air that rises into the atmosphere after a sunny day traps the cold air coming off the ground as night falls. The smoke that was supposed to stay up started banking down a bit on the area, Laderer explained.

Jeremy Woods, a mechanic for the Darlington-based trucking company and repair shop Lync, described the scent that permeated the air all of Monday night as that of charred PVC pipe, but with a hint of chlorine that reminded him of the YMCA pool. Trisha Blinkiewicz, whose home sits about 4 miles east of the derailment, went to dinner in nearby Chippewa, Pennsylvania, on that same Monday evening. She found the town buried in a low-lying fog that felt thick on the skin, with a distinct, abrasive smell of burnt plastic.

The train that crashed in East Palestine derailed about 20 miles northeast of its destination of Conway, Pennsylvania, one of the industrial towns and small cities that line the Ohio River as it flows west from its mouth in Pittsburgh. The Upper Ohio River Valley  which stretches, roughly speaking, from that mouth down to where West Virginia meets the tip of Kentucky  has been the site of proliferating petrochemical development over the past decade, as oil and gas companies turn their attention away from fuel and toward a much richer prospect: plastics.

Ethane gas fracked from the Marcellus Shale, which extends across Pennsylvania into the eastern edge of Ohio and northern West Virginia, can be cracked into ethylene, a flammable gas critical to the production of plastics used for packaging, bottles, and electrical insulation, among other products. And all of the infrastructure that is required for every step of plastic production and transport  wells, pipelines, refineries, ports, plants  has spread like a spiders web over the region.

Read Next: The train derailment in Ohio was a disaster waiting to happen

The accelerating petrochemical development is simply the newest incarnation of industrial exploitation for a region that has been plagued by legacy pollution since the dawn of the Industrial Revolution. The pressing question is whether the people who have lived here for generations have hit their breaking point, and whether they feel empowered to demand more from the corporations that threaten their homes and the politicians that enable them.



Honestly, I never expected this big an incident to happen in my entire life, let alone my first month as fire chief, said Laderer. And Norfolk Southern are not telling us a lot, and theyve got me questioning things.





The unique Appalachian topography of the greater Ohio Valley tends to fortify the pollution created within it, as if the geology that had endowed the region with such bountiful fossil fuel and mineral reserves also cursed it to suffer more for them. Major industrial facilities and railroad hubs are usually established on the river, for ease of both transportation and waste disposal, and the emissions that they produce get trapped by the steep hillsides that frame the tributaries.

The Shell cracker plant, which began operations in the fall of 2022, is a sprawling behemoth on the edge of the Ohio River in Monaca, Pennsylvania, directly across the river from the derailed trains destination in Conway. The plant, which is widely considered to be a grim arbiter of future petrochemical development in the region, takes locally fracked gas and breaks it down at a molecular level to manufacture the ethylene nurdles  translucent plastic pellets the size of a grain of arborio rice  that make up many household and single-use plastics.



Residents of eastern Beaver County, which is quite rural, say that they have not personally felt the adverse effects of the Shell plant. They do not smell chemicals in the air or see nurdles floating in the creeks near their homes, unlike those who live downstream of the plant. They are more or less protected by the same topography that traps pollution around the facilities that create it, with a buffer of hills and hollers that rise and fall between their communities and the plant itself. But the derailment in East Palestine on February 3 brought the more disastrous consequences of plastic production far closer to home.

Ron Stidmon moved from New York City to Enon Valley, Pennsylvania, in 2003, seeking stillness and solitude after having lost several friends in the 9/11 attacks. Enon Valley, which sits a few miles northeast of East Palestine on the border between Beaver and Lawrence counties, is secluded and quiet, dotted with both Amish farms and sprawling properties. Stidmon bought a farm, unsuccessfully tried to make a lot of different crops work, and finally cracked the code of profitability with garlic. He has steadfastly committed to organic practices on his land for 20 years, to the extent where he grumbles when a neighbor burns a tire on an adjacent property.

When Norfolk Southern performed the controlled burn-off of vinyl chloride on February 6, Stidmon recalled, it looked like the end of the world with the smoke coming up. Hes now watching the wells and ponds on his property daily, with no other option than to simply wait for testing to learn if carcinogenic chemicals from the derailment have leached into the aquifer. Hes optimistic that his water supply will be spared of contamination, simply because hes upstream of the crash.

If we were a mile or so west, it would be completely different. If the winds had been blowing a different direction, it would have been different, he said. Its a matter of luck  has nothing to do with having a plan, or setting up that were safe.

Stidmon had been anticipating a disaster like this for years. In 2016, he was on the Darlington Townships Board of Supervisors, where he began to raise the issue of railroad safety. He was concerned by the sheer volume and frequency of trains routed along the track that wraps around Darlington, running north through the village of New Galilee, east across Enon Valley, and over the state border into East Palestine. According to Stidmon, he spent a year trying to get Norfolk Southern to simply provide the number of trains that came through in a day. When months went by and the company never answered, he and a few neighbors got together to stay up for 24-hour shifts, watch the tracks, and count. The figure at which they arrived was 60.

[Norfolk Southern] wont do anything to address the peoples concerns, to address legitimate problems. They have such a cavalier attitude: This is our track, our business. Its discomfiting to know that anything can happen, with practically no repercussions, said Stidmon. You can live your own life as clean as you want, but these guys can destroy everything youve done to keep it clean for yourself.

Jason Blinkiewicz owns the trucking company and repair shop Lync, which is located a little over a mile from the derailment. He lives in Enon Valley, where the railroad runs right in front of his house. (On the night of February 3, he and his wife, Trisha, found that the engine of the train that had crashed had cut and boogied to come sit on the tracks in their front yard.) He, like most of his neighbors and employees, doesnt trust Norfolk Southern and assurances from the Environmental Protection Agency that the air and water have been safe to breathe and drink. The borough of Enon Valley commissioned independent testing of wells and streams, and the community is awaiting results.

Its normalized to some degree because theres already low air quality in the area, Blinkiewicz said. The cracker plant is putting out volatile organic compounds, or whats the nuclear power plant doing, or how about the coal plant right behind it that they shut down not that long ago? What about the mills in Midland and the steel plant in Koppel?

But all of those facilities are far enough from Blinkiewiczs home and workplace that he hasnt felt their impacts nearly as acutely as those of the derailment. I think its the first time, in my 46 years on this planet, in this area, that it gives you an uneasy feeling about everything, he said.

And as much as it pains me to say, my trust has to lie in our government. Which is hard to do, right? But we have to rely on those government agencies to protect us. Thats what theyre there for.





On the night of February 15, East Palestine hosted a town hall at the local high school for residents to ask questions of both state and federal EPA officials. (Representatives from Norfolk Southern pulled out hours before the meeting due to the growing physical threat to their employees safety. Those threats have not been substantiated.) Volunteers with the East Liverpool, Ohio-based community group River Valley Organizing, were standing outside of the high schools front door passing out flyers for the groups own town hall to take place the following week.

Amanda Kiger, director of the group, is familiar with the pervasive distrust of government, regardless of political orientation, in the Ohio Valley region. It is hard to have faith in ones representatives with a centuries-long legacy of politicians whose loyalties have been bought by industry.

Historical pollution has been just layered on this region for so long, Kiger said several days later in an interview. Stoneware potteries, coal mines, and steel mills mostly died off to be replaced by refineries, hazardous waste incinerators, unconventional gas wells, and petrochemical facilities. And when you look at communities that are environmentally devastated, bad and polluting commerce attracts more bad and polluting commerce. They can go: We didnt do that, they did that, thats been there for years.

Two days before the town meeting, a week after the black cloud of burning vinyl chloride spread over East Palestine and its neighboring towns, residents around the Shell cracker plant about 20 miles southeast started to post reports of a large flame emitting from it.

The flame was evidence of a flare, which is a mechanism meant to regulate malfunctioning of the plants machinery by expelling excess hydrocarbons into the air. This flaring, while preventing a more disastrous outcome for the plant and its surroundings, pumps volatile organic compounds (VOCs) into the atmosphere. In just a few short months since being operational, Shell has already exceeded its annual allowance of VOC emissions as permitted under the Clean Air Act and the Pennsylvania Air Pollution Control Act. Thats in spite of the fact that the facility has the second-highest permit for VOC emissions in the state. In fact, the environmental organizations Clean Air Council and Environmental Integrity Project intend to sue Shell for the plants early violations.

Read Next: Amid hopes and fears, a plastics boom in Appalachia is on hold

Due to bureaucratic delays from both Shell (which is required to notify the community of flaring activity) and the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection, it can sometimes take as long as a month for residents of Monaca and the surrounding towns to learn that a plant malfunction happened. But the resident groups Beaver County Marcellus Awareness Community (BCMAC) and Eyes on Shell have asked local watchdogs to post whether theyve observed a flare or felt changes in the scent or feel of the air around the plant.

Anais Peterson, a volunteer with Eyes on Shell, notes that in the months prior to the Shell plants official opening in November, the group of concerned citizens that she helped convene would see about 40 attendees at their monthly meetings. By January of this year, several months and multiple flaring events into the plants operations, that number had tripled.

Sometimes the bad things that happen in the community are the moments you can bring folks together, said Kiger. And it takes the community coming together to push back on federal and state legislators.

But am I really sick and tired that my community is the casualty, and we have to be the message-bringers? Absolutely. Its getting overwhelming.

On the evening of February 23, dozens of residents from within several miles radius of East Palestine crowded into a small storefront on the towns commercial thoroughfare for River Valley Organizings town hall event, spilling out of the main room into the lobby and kitchen. A panel of independent experts in environmental cleanup and hazardous chemicals answered questions from the community. The atmosphere darkened as those in the room processed new information: that the EPA had not been testing air, water, or soil samples for dioxins, potential toxic byproducts of the vinyl chloride explosion that can persist in land and sediment for decades without proper cleanup.

As the evening went on, the questions grew more distressed: When I go home tonight, what is the first thing I can do to make sure the air is clean for my children to breathe? How can I protect my livestock and pets that roam land that might be contaminated with dioxins? Is my home ruined forever? And, above all: How do we make sure Norfolk Southern sees justice for what theyve done to us?

You would have tripped over your own shoes without a flashlight, the smoke was so thick  like being in a cave, said one resident of New Springfield, Ohio, a few miles northwest of the derailment, who expressed concern to the experts assembled that he couldnt safely grow produce and raise livestock on the land that had been contaminated by that smoke. Weve been pretty self-sufficient, and now were zero self-sufficient. What do you pay property taxes on 40 acres for if you cant grow a tomato?

One of the great, enduring appeals of rural American life is the dream of complete independence. You buy property, build a homestead, grow food, raise your family. Your children play in the creek in the summer and ride sleds down sloping white hills in the winter. But when one powerful corporations mishap puts all of that at risk, it becomes clear that a so-called independent existence is only protected through the strength of community.

I dont care if youre red or blue, I dont care if I beat you up in the bar 10 years ago, said Jamie Cozza, an organizer for River Valley Organizing and lifelong resident of East Palestine, before urging those gathered to contact every elected official in the region. We need to come together right now and use our voices, because no one else is going to fight for us.

This article originally appeared in Grist at https://grist.org/transportation/east-palestine-derailment-has-neighbor-towns-uneasy/. Grist is a nonprofit, independent media organization dedicated to telling stories of climate solutions and a just future. Learn more at Grist.org



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In this July 17, 2019, file photo, U.S. Customs and Border Protection officers at International Bridge 1 in Nuevo Laredo, Mexico, check the documents of migrants seeking asylum in the United States. (Associated Press)

The Biden administrations proposed rules for migrants applying for asylum would severely restrict people fleeing ravaged countries from seeking protection in the United States. The rules would limit who can apply for asylum by creating onerous requirements that would restrict eligibility at a time of historic global migration.

It's a misguided, inhumane attempt to deter migrants from arriving at the U.S.-Mexico border that will make it harder, if not impossible, for asylum seekers to exercise their right to show up at the border and apply for refuge.

The Department of Homeland Security and the Department of Justice issued the guidelines last week ahead of the potential end of the use of Title 42, a Trump-era public health order that allows U.S. border officials to expel most migrants seeking asylum. The COVID-19 public health order ends on May 11, and with it, possibly the Title 42-based policy, which cited the threat of coronavirus as a basis for not allowing entry to migrants. Biden sought to end that policy but was prevented from doing so primarily because of legal challenges by Republicans.

The administration's proposed rules would require migrants to first seek asylum in another country while en route to the United States, or to make an appointment via the CBPOne app , a U.S. government app that is riddled with problems. (It requires an appointment for each person, making it difficult for families, who then must decide to split up or wait indefinitely until securing slots for each family member.) Migrants who do not fulfill the conditions would be ineligible to apply for asylum in the U.S. The only exception would be for migrants who can show exceptional circumstances, such as a medical emergency or extreme and immediate threat to their life or safety, such as an imminent threat of rape, kidnapping, torture or murder. The guidelines are impractical for people fleeing persecution and effectively remove legal pathways for them to seek asylum.

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The Biden administration's proposed rules would switch one inhumane policy with another despite the president's promise to create a more orderly asylum process that wouldnt cause needless human suffering. The United States needs to control entry at its borders, but it should do so humanely.

Under international law, people have a right to seek asylum if they fear persecution or harm in their home country because of their race, religion, nationality, political opinion or membership in a particular social group. The entire process of applying for asylum is rigorous, and approval can take years due to backlogged immigration courts. In 2022, U.S. authorities granted less than 14% of asylum applications. Those who don't qualify for asylum can be deported.

The challenge for U.S. officials is to find a way to deal with an unprecedented number of migrants seeking asylum due to rising political and economic instability, particularly in undemocratic countries such as Venezuela, Haiti, Cuba and Nicaragua. Volatile conditions in those countries have driven migrants from their home, accounting for a large part of a historic 2.2 million border patrol encounters, defined as apprehensions or expulsions along the U.S.-Mexico border during fiscal year 2022. In comparison, Border Patrol had about 1.2 million encounters per year from fiscal years 1983 to 2006. These numbers decreased substantially between 2011-2018 to less than 400,000 encounters, partly as U.S. authorities increased border security.

Certainly, Bidens difficulty in dealing with security at the U.S.-Mexico border has been compounded by the surge of migrants. He inherited an immigration system hobbled by callous policies adopted during the Trump presidency that effectively shut the door to most asylum seekers and separated migrant children from their parents upon arrival in the United States, including Title 42. But he is now embracing a similar strategy of limiting eligibility with the proposed asylum rules. Its a plan that largely replicates an asylum ban imposed by the Trump administration that was struck down by the courts.

Biden officials perversely cite the new rules, which would take effect after a 30-day period of public comment and expire in two years, as a form of deterrence, noting that Border Patrol apprehensions dropped once migrants got word that Title 42 was in effect. They say that these policies protect migrants by removing the incentive to travel to the United States but this reasoning ignores the fact that migrants will continue to attempt near-impossible feats to seek safe shelter and jobs.

Biden faces severe political pressure to effectively deal with the historic number of migrants at the border. Ultimately, it is up to Congress to pass legislation to overhaul a crowded, inefficient immigration system. Meanwhile, he can help create a more orderly system to process asylum seekers by expanding the capacity of border authorities to process arriving migrants and of immigration courts to handle cases quickly. That would be a more humane way to fulfill the countrys legal obligation to asylum seekers than summarily expelling them from the country or refusing to hear their case.

This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.
Data privacy awareness boomed last June when the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade, limiting access to safe, legal abortion. Now, eight months later, privacy experts say not to let your guard down. Legislative bodies have made little progress on health data security.

We give up so much data each day that its easy to tune out. We blindly accept permissions or turn on location sharing, but that data can also be used by governing bodies to prosecute civilians or by attackers looking to extort individuals. Thats why, when SCOTUS declared access to abortion would no longer be a constitutional right, people began to scrutinize the amount of private health data they were sending to reproductive-health apps.

The burden is really on consumers to figure out how a company, an app, a website is going to collect and then potentially use and share their data, Andrew Crawford, senior counsel, privacy and data, at the Center for Democracy and Technology said.

There arent widespread industry standards or federal legislation to protect sensitive data, despite some increased regulatory action since last year. Even data that isnt considered personally identifiable or explicitly health related can still put people at risk. Location data, for example, can show if a patient traveled to receive an abortion, possibly putting them at risk of prosecution.

Companies see that as information they can use to make money, Jen Caltrider, lead at Mozillas consumer privacy organization Privacy Not Included, told Engadget. Research released by Caltriders team in August analyzed the security of 25 reproductive-health apps . Eighteen of them earned a privacy warning label for failing to meet privacy standards.

So, whats left for users of reproductive-health apps to do? The obvious advice is to carefully read the terms and conditions before signing up in order to better understand whats happening with their data. If you dont have a legal degree and an hour to spare, though, there are some basic rules to follow. Turning off data sharing that isnt necessary to the function of the app, using encrypted chats to talk about reproductive care, signing up for a trustworthy VPN and leaving your phone at home if youre accessing reproductive health care can all help protect your information, according to Crawford.

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While industry standards are still lacking, increased public scrutiny has led to some improvements. Some reproductive-health apps now store data locally as opposed to on a server, collect data anonymously so that it cannot be accessed by law enforcement or base operations in places like Europe that have stronger data privacy laws . We spoke with three popular apps that were given warning labels by Privacy Not Included last August to see whats changed since then.

Glows Eve reproductive-health app introduced an option to store data locally instead of on its server, among other security measures. Glow told Engadget that it doesn't sell data and employees are required to take privacy and security training.

A similar app, Flo Health, has introduced an anonymous mode and hired a new privacy exec since the report. The company told Engadget that it hopes to expand its anonymous mode features in the future with additions like the ability to stop receiving IP addresses completely.

Clue, another app that landed on the warning list, adheres to the stricter privacy laws of the European Union known as General Data Protection Regulation, co-CEO Carrie Walter told Engadget. She added that the company will never cooperate with a government authority to use peoples health data against them, and recommended users keep up with updates to its privacy policy for more information.

But there are no one-and-done solutions. With permissions changing frequently, people that use health apps are also signing up to consistently check their settings.

Apps change constantly, so keep doing your research, which is a burden to ask consumers, Caltrider said. Use anonymous modes, when they're available, store things locally, as much as you can. Don't share location if you can opt out of location sharing.
An investigation was underway after a 62-year-old El Dorado County resident was found dead Thursday in the snow near homes in the small town of Camino.

The body of Ronald Owen was found in the 4000 block of Escondito Court, according to Sgt. Alexander Sorey, a spokesman for the El Dorado County Sheriffs Office. The rural road sits among several homes a few miles south of Highway 50.

Deputies were called to the scene to conduct a death investigation. The deputies arrived and found Owens body on the ground in the snow near a vehicle along the street, Sorey said Friday in an email to The Sacramento Bee.

He said Owens cause of death was unknown and remained under investigation. The Sheriffs Office did not release any further details about the investigation.
Shareholder Trial Against Tesla And Elon Musk

Elon Musk in San Francisco, California, on Tuesday, Jan. 24, 2023. Credit - Marlena Sloss/Bloomberg via Getty Images

It was only a matter of time before the culture wars came to AI.

Since the release of ChatGPT in late 2022, Elon Musk has railed on Twitter against what he has called Woke AI. He has specifically criticized ChatGPTs developer, OpenAI, for the features designed to prevent the chatbot from parroting racism and sexism.

Now, the billionaire is courting AI researchers with a proposal to start a new AI company to rival the developer of ChatGPT, the tech news site The Information reported on Wednesday.

The danger of training AI to be wokein other words, lieis deadly, Musk tweeted in December.

Its true that large language models (LLMs)the tech that ChatGPT is based onhave difficulties telling the truth, often confidently asserting false information. But in his recent statements, Musk has appeared to conflate AIs truthfulness problem with the largely separate efforts inside AI companies to make their LLMs less racist and sexist.

The racism and sexism of unfiltered LLMs stems from the large quantities of internet data that the AIs were trained on. But a narrative appears to be developing in rightwing areas of the internetnow amplified by Muskthat racism and sexism are desirable features in AI, and that efforts to rid AIs of those biases are yet another form of censorship by powerful liberal forces. Influencers on the political right have drawn parallels between these efforts and the measures by social media companies to reduce hate speech and toxicity on their platforms.

If Musk does follow through with his rumored plans to start an AI company, it wouldnt be his first rodeo. He was a member of the founding team of OpenAI, established in 2015 as a rival to what Musk and his co-founders saw as a dangerous concentration of AI expertise in the hands of for-profit tech companies. OpenAI was founded as a nonprofit that aimed to make its research open and accessible to all. But when it started making progress with large language models it changed that approach, arguing that the technology was too dangerous to release publicly. Musk stepped away from OpenAI in 2018 amid what Musk later said were disagreements over its approach. OpenAI has since transitioned from a nonprofit to a for-profit company, arguing that selling its services is the only way to reach the scale necessary to cover the costs of developing cutting-edge AI.

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Musk has also voiced alarm at the fast-rising power of AI. I am a little worried about the AI stuff, Musk said at a Tesla investor event on Wednesday. I think its something we should be concerned about. [] Its quite a dangerous technology and I fear I may have done some things to accelerate it.

But if Musk believes his role in founding OpenAI has accelerated the development of dangerous technology, he does not appear to believe that starting another AI company would have the same effect. On Tuesday, ahead of the investor meeting, Musk tweeted a meme suggesting that BasedAIthe rumored name for his new venturewould sweep away both Woke AI and Closed AI. (The latter appears to refer to the practice by tech companies of keeping the most racist and sexist versions of AI chatbots away from public eyes.) The expression based originated in hip hop slang, where it is a term of respect that can signify that you believe a person is authentic to their true self. But it has since been co-opted by rightwing online communities, where it is used to praise people unafraid to voice controversial opinions.

Igor Babuschkin, a researcher who Musk reportedly approached about his plans to start a new AI company, told the Information that Musks objective isnt to build a chatbot with fewer safety features than ChatGPT: The goal is to improve the reasoning abilities and the factualness of these language models.

Still, some AI researchers who spoke with TIME for this article said they were worried that by talking about AI in the language of the social media culture wars, Musk could end up warping the dynamics of a field where cooperation is so crucialespecially as the technology becomes more powerful. By calling out measures that are put in place to protect users as [instead] part of a larger liberal conspiracy, Musk is undermining the work of actually making these products better and more useful, says Rumman Chowdhury, Twitters former AI ethics lead. What I find ironic about this tactic is, it serves nobody but himself and his cronies who believe in these more conservative tactics. There is very little to no tangible value to humanity writ large, and there is even no good business reason to be doing what hes doing. The intent behind it is purely ideological and political.

Other AI safety experts also questioned Musks apparent opposition to Closed AI. If anyone could make a nuclear weapon in their basement for $10,000let me just say Im glad we dont live in that world, says Michael Cohen, an AI safety researcher at the University of Oxfords Future of Humanity Institute. The idea that you can fix the dangers of uncontrolled AI by giving more people AI that they cannot control is ludicrous.

As with all things Elon Musk, take his supposed plans with a pinch of salt. Elon is a lot of bluster and posture, says Chowdhury, who briefly worked under the billionaire at Twitter before he fired her. The last thing we should be doing is assuming what he says is actually what is going to happen.
Embark Trucks, the autonomous trucking company that went public in 2021 via a merger with a special purpose acquisition company, is cutting 70% of its workforce and shutting down two offices. And the pain may not be over as CEO Alex Rodrigues noted in an email to employees that the remaining 30% of workers will focus on winding down operations.

The company said in a regulatory filing that about 230 employees were laid off Friday. A source familiar with the plan said the cuts were announced Friday morning. The layoffs are expected to occur in the first and second quarters.

"Unfortunately, after thoroughly evaluating all alternatives, we have been unable to identify a path forward for the business in its current form, Rodrigues wrote, later adding "Today, having exhausted all alternatives, we are taking the incredibly difficult step of laying off ~70% of the company, and shutting down our SoCal and Houston offices."

The layoffs come more than a month after banking advisory firm Evercore met with various AV companies to explore selling Embark's assets, according to one source.

A sale of assets appears to be the next order of business, according to a regulatory filing posted Friday and Rodrigues' email.

Embark's board approved Wednesday "a process to explore, review and evaluate a range of potential strategic alternatives available to the company," including alternative uses of its assets to commercialize its technology, additional sources of financing, as well as potential dissolution or liquidation of its assets.

"The boards decision comes following an extended evaluation by the company of alternative markets in which to commercialize its technology as well as an exploration, performed with the assistance of a financial advisor, of a potential sale of the company," the filling said.

Embark Trucks was founded in 2016 by CEO Alex Rodrigues and CTO Brandon Moak and quickly got the attention of investors. Rodrigues and Moak met while working on self-driving technology at the University of Waterloo, where both completed Mechatronics engineering degrees.

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By 2018, the startup had raised about $47 million. But it was the SPAC boom that really delivered the capital  at least for a short time. In 2021, agreed to merge with special purpose acquisition company Northern Genesis Acquisition Corp. II in a deal valued at $5.2 billion.

Today, Embark Trucks is running short on capital like other companies trying to develop and commercialize autonomous vehicle technology. The company's market capitalization is about $90 million; at the end of the third quarter, the most recent quarterly report the company has filed, it had about $190 million in cash and cash equivalents.

Story is developing ...
The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) is suing ExxonMobil over racial discrimination after multiple nooses were found at one of the companys facilities.

The EEOC said in a release on Friday that ExxonMobil violated federal law in not taking effective measures to prevent hangmans nooses from being displayed at its facility in Baton Rouge, La.

The lawsuit, which was filed Thursday, states that a Black employee at the chemical plant found a noose while working in January 2020 and reported it to the company. ExxonMobil was allegedly already aware of three other nooses that had been found at the Baton Rouge facility.

But the EEOC argues in its complaint that the company only investigated some of the incidents and did not take steps to stop the harassment from the nooses, allowing for a racially hostile environment for its employees. A fifth noose was reported to the company in December 2020, according to the release.

When employers become aware of racially offensive or threatening conduct in the workplace, they have a legal obligation to take prompt, remedial action aimed at stopping it, Rudy Sustaita, the regional attorney for the EEOCs Houston District Office, said in the release.

The EEOC alleges ExxonMobil violated Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, which bans discrimination based on race in the workplace.

A noose is a longstanding symbol of violence associated with the lynching of African Americans, said Elizabeth Owen, a senior trial attorney for the EEOCs New Orleans Field Office. Such symbols are inherently threatening and significantly alter the workplace environment for Black Americans.

The release states the agency filed the lawsuit after failing to reach a settlement with the company.

ExxonMobil told The Hill in a statement that it disagrees with the EEOCs allegations and findings, arguing that it encourages employees to report these types of claims and thoroughly investigated the allegations.

The symbols of hate are unacceptable, offensive, and in violation of our corporate policies, the company said. We have a zero tolerance policy of any form of harassment or discrimination in the workplace by or towards employees, contractors, suppliers or customers.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to The Hill.
Photo: CTV News

Police say they have rescued 64 Mexican nationals who were allegedly exploited through an international labour trafficking ring and abused while working in farms and warehouses across the Greater Toronto Area.

York Regional Police say seven alleged members of a criminal human trafficking organization are facing multiple charges.

Police say officers from York Region as well as the Canada Border Services Agency began investigating in November after receiving a tip.

Police say they learned traffickers had enticed workers to come to Canada with promises of a good job and a better life.

Investigators allege workers ended up living in deplorable conditions and were mistreated, abused and exploited for manual labour.

Police say the workers were compelled to work long hours for little pay, while their alleged exploiters reaped the benefits of their labour.

Police say they carried out search warrants in East Gwillimbury, Vaughan, Toronto and Mississauga.

York police Chief Jim MacSween says investigators were heartbroken when they saw the state of the workers' living and working conditions.
Rebel Wilson still loves Disneyland  even though they temporarily banned her from the premises.

The actress, 43, revealed in a clip from "The Daily Show" published Tuesday that the Southern California theme park banned her for a month for violating a rule regarding photo etiquette.

"I took a photo in a secret bathroom inside Disneyland, which is illegal at Disneyland, and I got officially banned for 30 days," she confessed.

Lucky for Wilson, however, Disneyland did offer to work the punishment around her schedule.

"They called me up and said, 'Rebel what 30 days do you not want to come to Disneyland because youre away filming a movie or something?' And I said, 'Aw, June would be fine,' " Wilson said.

Wilson joked she's not "obsessed with Disneyland."

Ramona Agruma and Rebel Wilson attend the Grand Reveal Weekend for Atlantis The Royal, Dubai's new ultra-luxury hotel on January 21, 2023 in Dubai, United Arab Emirates.

"Its just, I go there every weekend and like every important holiday and every important life event," she added.

This includes her engagement to fiancee Ramona Agruma, which Wilson announced on Instagram last month. According to the photos she shared, Wilson got down on one knee and proposed in front of Sleeping Beauty Castle inside the park.

"We said YES!" Wilson wrote alongside heart emojis and pictures of the couple in matching heart sweaters, showing off Agruma's diamond ring.

Rebel Wilson gets engaged to girlfriend Ramona Agruma in matching sweaters: 'We said YES!'

The couple's engagement news came eight months after the actress first debuted her relationship with the clothing brand founder in a selfie on Instagram.

"I thought I was searching for a Disney Prince," Wilson began in her June caption. "But maybe what I really needed all this time was a Disney Princess.

Here's an inside look at Disneyland's new Runaway Railway ride and Disney100 celebration

Contributing: Naledi Ushe, Hannah Yasharoff, Amy Haneline

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Rebel Wilson got banned from Disneyland for a month. Here's why
One month after the derailment of a train carrying hazardous chemicals in East Palestine, Ohio, the Environmental Protection Agency-led cleanup is underway  but officials in other states have questioned the waste disposal plans.

A number of hazardous chemicals were spilled in the derailment, most notably vinyl chloride, a carcinogenic compound used in production of plastics.

The EPA announced on Feb. 21 it would take over the cleanup process amid pressure on the Biden administration to take more forceful action following the initial Feb. 3 derailment.

The cleanup process will be largely driven by the level of contamination in soil and water that environmental samples show, said Mathy Stanislaus, executive director of The Environmental Collaboratory at Drexel University, who served as assistant administrator for the EPAs Office of Land & Emergency Management during the Obama administration.

Thats going to inform whether the cleanup of the soils or the water is going to be necessary and the extent of that cleanup, he said, adding that the timeline, too, will be heavily dependent on the results.

One tool that could significantly streamline that process is the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act, or Superfund law, which the EPA invoked in the case.

With that law invoked, Stanislaus said is that if there is some contamination but theres not immediate risk, it can be [decontaminated] over long periods of time.

While initial testing indicated air and water in the area is safe for residents, the longer-term cleanup process could involve any necessary decontamination of groundwater.

On Thursday the Biden administration expanded door-to-door health surveys across the state line to Pennsylvania, suggesting the administration could broaden the geographical range of its efforts. The state EPA is set to install water-monitoring wells that measure for groundwater contamination once any contaminated soil is cleared.

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The invocation of the Superfund law gives the EPA authority to both supervise the cleanup process and order Norfolk Southern, the railroad that operated the train, to cover the cost of the cleanup, said William Muno, former Superfund director for the EPAs Region 5, which includes East Palestine.

The use of the law does not make the town a Superfund site, a term for polluted locations requiring long-term agency presence, Muno explained.

[East Palestine] is currently the location of an environmental response to the train derailment, Muno told The Hill. Once the cleanup is done, generally things will get back to normal.

There certainly might be some long-term air and water monitoring that EPA and/or the railroad will be conducting under EPA direction, but that does not make East Palestine a Superfund site per se, he added.

Ultimately, however, any contaminated matter from the site has to go somewhere. On Sunday, EPA regional administrator Debra Shore announced that waste would be shipped beginning this week to sites in East Liverpool and Vickery, Ohio.

Earlier shipments had been conducted by Norfolk Southern without federal oversight, but as of Monday all waste disposal the railroad conducts will be subject to EPA approval amid confusion among states receiving waste.

Shore expressed hope Norfolk Southern could begin removing tracks over the next week but did not offer a concrete schedule.

Outside of the state, however, several shipments of waste were bound for disposal facilities in Michigan and Texas before EPA halted them, much to the chagrin of some officials and environmentalists who say they were not properly notified.

Several truckloads were initially sent to a hazardous waste facility in Romulus, Michigan. While the state Department of Environment, Great Lakes, and Energy (EGLE) said over the weekend that the EPA had halted the shipment, they believes some of it may already have been delivered.

An EGLE spokesperson confirmed to The Hill that despite the halt of further shipments, some contaminated liquids and soil have already been disposed of in a licensed deep injection well and hazardous waste landfill, respectively, in the state.

Lisa Wosniak, executive director of the Michigan League of Conservation Voters, called the delivery a terrible idea for a number of reasons.

First and foremost, Michigan decision makers were completely taken off guard by this plan, she told The Hill.

I have had an opportunity to speak not only to my congresswoman [Rep.] Debbie Dingell [D] multiple times, but also to top tier officials at our state agency, EGLE, who were taken by surprise at this, she added, explaining that some had learned only from Ohio state government press releases.

So transparency and disclosure, when were thinking about transporting any of these kinds of chemicals whether by train across states or shipping the waste after a hazardous spill like this is absolutely essential, she added.

Wozniak further argued that the state shouldnt be a dumping ground for toxic waste.

We should not as Michiganders be paying the price for you know, large corporations that are wanting to cut corners on safety which weve seen with Norfolk Southern, she said.

Dingell also expressed alarm about a planned delivery to a separate facility in Belleville, Mich., saying Friday We were not given a heads up on this reported action.

Texas officials, meanwhile, have taken umbrage at the shipment of water used to fight the fire to facilities in the Houston area.

On Saturday, Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee (D-Texas) tweeted that the process of dumping toxic waste in communities without prior notice to local cities and counties has got to stop, announcing shortly thereafter that the EPA had paused the shipment of waste to the Houston area.

Most recently, Putnam County, Indiana Commissioner David Berry said about 2,000 tons of butyl acrylate from the derailment will be shipped to a local hazardous waste landfill.

On Thursday. Sen. Mike Braun (R-Ind.) wrote to EPA Administrator Michael Regan asking for answers on why Indiana had been selected as a disposal site, noting that it is further from the facility than the Michigan facilities.

Muno argued that despite qualms about shipments of waste to other communities, the practice is highly regulated within the EPA to assure no further contamination occurs.

Under the EPAs so-called off-site rule, he said, if youre doing a cleanup such as the railroad spill in Ohio, that you can only send waste off-site to a facility that is legally permitted to accept the waste and is in compliance with that.

However, in July of last year, EGLE officials found the injection well in Romulus wasnot in compliance with environmental regulations, finding improper tank system requirements among other issues but determining in an October follow-up that the issues had been resolved.

In response, Wosniak said she certainly want[s] to trust the EPA.

I think theyre in a really tough spot where now they have to find an answer to a problem nobody wants this waste in their backyard, whether its contained in East Palestine or its shipped to Romulus or Texas or wherever, she said.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to The Hill.
EPA on Thursday ordered Norfolk Southern to begin testing for dioxins, a family of toxic chemicals that cause cancer and various other ailments, at the site of the East Palestine, Ohio, train crash.

The order followed weeks of complaints by local residents that EPA wasnt testing for dioxins, which can form when vinyl chloride is burned, as happened after the crash.

But EPA had held off on testing for them, arguing that because dioxins are ubiquitous in the environment from other widespread sources like burning fossil fuels, it may be hard to tell whether any contamination found at the site was present prior to the crash. Dioxin testing is also expensive, though EPA will require Norfolk Southern to pay.



In response to concerns shared with me by residents, EPA will require Norfolk Southern to sample directly for dioxins under the agencys oversight and direct the company to conduct immediate clean up if contaminants from the derailment are found at levels that jeopardize peoples health, Administrator Michael Regan said in a statement.

EPAs order also came the same day President Joe Biden said he will visit the stricken village at some point.

Because of dioxins ubiquity and the long time they last in the environment before breaking down, EPA said it ordered the railroad to conduct a study of dioxin levels in parts of East Palestine not affected by the derailment to compare to affected sites.

The agency said it is also reviewing Norfolk Southerns draft plan to use advanced laboratory technologies to identify a dioxin fingerprint when testing soil. If it can be developed, the agency said it may be able to tell if certain dioxins came from the crash or were already present.



However, in making the announcement, EPA also downplayed the risk. Agency testing for 19 indicator chemicals that can suggest whether dioxins were released has suggested a low probability for release of dioxin from this incident, EPA said in a press release.

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Ohio Sens. Democrat Sherrod Brown and Republican J.D. Vance in a letter last month urged EPA and state authorities to test for dioxins.

River Valley Organizing, a local nonprofit that has advocated for dioxin testing, praised EPAs order.

While this is a good first step, there is still so much more the East Palestine community needs from the Norfolk Southern, the EPA, and other state and federal agencies, RVO Co-Executive Director Amanda Kiger said in a statement. Folks need relocation and safe housing, independent testing they can trust, and ongoing medical monitoring  all paid for by Norfolk Southern.

She added they are urging EPA to stop sending contaminated soil to be burned at an incinerator in East Liverpool, Ohio, about 17 miles south of East Palestine.
In the weeks since the disastrous Norfolk Southern train derailment on Feb. 3 in East Palestine, Ohio, experts have sounded the alarm about the likelihood that dioxins  a family of extremely toxic compounds  were released into the environment when authorities intentionally burned onboard chemicals to prevent a potentially massive explosion.

In response to growing public pressure and concern, the Environmental Protection Agency announced Thursday that it will require Norfolk Southern to sample for this class of pollutants.

This action builds on EPAs bipartisan efforts alongside our local, state, and federal partners to earn the trust of this community and ensure all residents have the reassurances they need to feel safe at home once again, EPA Administrator Michael Regan said in a statement.

Many have celebrated the announcement as a step in the right direction.

This is why we organize, River Valley Organizing, an Ohio community nonprofit, wrote on Twitter. Coming together and demanding action is the only way we will create change and get what our community needs.

This is huge: because of community pressure and demands, the @EPA will now require Norfolk Southern to test for dioxins.



This is why we organize. Coming together and demanding action is the only way we will create change and get what our community needs. https://t.co/6F4gnPU0Sz  River Valley Organizing (@RiverValleyOrg) March 2, 2023

But others have serious concerns about letting Norfolk Southern, the company responsible for the environmental disaster, lead the search for dioxins  especially after Ohio officials relied on a railroad contractors flawed water sampling to initially declare the villages municipal water safe to drink, as HuffPost first reported.

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Sri Vedachalam, a water policy expert whose work includes public trust and communications, told HuffPost that although he could see a reason to involve Norfolk Southern in the dioxin testing because the company knows the chemicals and materials involved in the accident, the optics of trusting their process enough to hand over testing of a dangerous chemical are bad.

A fox guarding the henhouse! he said.

Ross Grooters, a longtime locomotive engineer and co-chair of Railroad Workers United, wrote on Twitter that dioxin testing needs to be completely independent of Norfolk Southern.

We cannot trust the railroad in this matter, especially after concerns have already been raised about sloppy water quality testing, Grooters wrote.

The optics of trusting their process enough to hand over testing of a dangerous chemical are bad.Sri Vedachalam, water policy expert

Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine (R) and the Ohio EPA have faced scrutiny over Norfolk Southerns involvement in testing the water in East Palestine  and state officials have given contradictory statements about what data it had when it declared the water safe to drink on Feb. 15.

The nearly 2-mile Norfolk Southern train was passing through East Palestine, a town of approximately 5,000 people on the Ohio-Pennsylvania border, when 38 cars careened off the tracks and caught fire. Of the 50 train cars that either derailed or were damaged in the resulting fire, 20 contained hazardous material. The primary concern has been the hundreds of thousands of pounds of vinyl chloride, a common organic chemical used in the production of plastics.

Vinyl chloride has itself been linked to several types of cancer. But it is what happens when vinyl chloride is burned, as it was three days after the train wreck, that has residents particularly terrified.

While the so-called controlled release may have prevented an explosion, it released black clouds of phosgene, hydrogen chloride and other gases into the air. Phosgene was used as a chemical weapon during World War I, and exposure to it can cause vomiting, eye irritation and difficulty breathing.

A black plume rises over East Palestine, Ohio, after authorities intentionally burn off vinyl chloride that was aboard the derailed Norfolk Southern train.

A black plume rises over East Palestine, Ohio, after authorities intentionally burn off vinyl chloride that was aboard the derailed Norfolk Southern train.

Then theres the threat of dioxins, which are known to form when chlorinated chemicals like vinyl chloride combust. Exposure to dioxins is linked to numerous serious and potentially deadly health problems, including cancer, developmental and reproductive problems, immune system damage and hormone disruption. The chemicals are whats known as persistent organic pollutants, meaning they take a long time to break down in the environment, and can accumulate in the food chain.

There is no question that dioxins were formed in the vinyl chloride fire, Stephen Lester, science director at the Virginia-based Center for Health, Environment and Justice, wrote in an opinion piece in The Guardian on Thursday. He argued the decision to burn off vinyl chloride should have immediately triggered widespread dioxin testing.

EPA officials initially resisted calls to look for this class of toxic chemicals. It would be hard to connect any dioxins detected in the community to the derailment, Debra Shore, the administrator of EPA Region 5, said Monday at a news conference.

We dont have baseline information for dioxins, Shore said. They are ubiquitous in the environment. They can be caused by wildfires, by backyard grilling, by a host of other normal activities in human life. Without that information, it would be hard to attribute any level to the derailment.

Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Michael Regan speaks during a news conference in East Palestine, Ohio, on Feb. 21, 2023.

Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Michael Regan speaks during a news conference in East Palestine, Ohio, on Feb. 21, 2023.

Experts have criticized EPAs explanation about the challenges of connecting any dioxin contamination to the derailment. Among other things, they pointed out that the most toxic dioxin  Tetrachlorodibenzodioxin, or TCDD  is covered under the Safe Drinking Water Act.

No matter the source, derailment or no derailment, #EastPalestineOH residents should be made aware of any dioxin in their drinking water, Nicole Karn, a chemist and associate professor at the Ohio State University, wrote in a post to Twitter.

Karn told HuffPost that any number of dioxins could have been produced during the incineration of chemicals on board the train.

To form dioxins you need a source of carbon and a source of chloride  both of which are in vinyl chloride, she said via email. I think we also need to consider that polyvinyl was listed on the cargo and was burned as well. I imagine that this is polyvinyl chloride (though cant be sure from just the list of cargo on the train). Certainly dioxins are a combustion product of PVC.

Tasking Norfolk Southern with conducting the dioxin testing is a bad decision in terms of public perception, even if the sampling proves to be scientifically sound, Karn said.

In its announcement Thursday, the EPA said that if unsafe levels of dioxins are detected in the area, it would disclose that to the public and order Norfolk Southern to immediately clean them up. It also is requiring the railroad to conduct a background study to determine how dioxin levels at the derailment site compare to nearby areas.

It is unclear how frequently testing will be conducted.

Toxic chemicals float on the surface of Leslie Run creek on Feb. 25, 2023, in East Palestine, Ohio.

Toxic chemicals float on the surface of Leslie Run creek on Feb. 25, 2023, in East Palestine, Ohio.

The EPA defended its decision to let Norfolk Southern lead the testing effort, noting that an order Regan signed last month gives the agency full oversight of the companys clean-up activities.

EPA will review every aspect of the plan to ensure that it is as protective as possible. If the companys plan does not meet EPAs stringent requirements, EPA will modify the plan  and these modifications then become an enforceable part of the order to ensure all work is done to the highest and most protective standards, an EPA spokesperson said in an email. If the company fails to complete any actions as ordered by EPA, the agency will immediately step in, conduct the necessary work, and then force Norfolk Southern to pay triple the cost.

Norfolk Southern did not immediately respond to HuffPosts request for comment.

In mid-February, two weeks after the derailment, Ohio Sens. Sherrod Brown (D) and J.D. Vance (R) wrote to the directors of the U.S. EPA and Ohio EPA to request immediate and long-term dioxin testing in and around the crash site.

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, the senators wrote.

In a response letter Thursday, Regan and Ohio EPA Director Anne Vogel detailed the new testing mandate for Norfolk Southern and noted that state and federal agencies have been sampling for so-called indicator chemicals that would signal a potential release of dioxins from the derailment.

To date, EPAs monitoring for indicator chemicals has suggested a low probability for release of dioxin from this incident, Regan and Vogel wrote.

Related...
The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) said on Thursday that it will require Norfolk Southern to test for dioxins in East Palestine, Ohio, in the wake of last months train derailment.

The railroad company will also be required to conduct a background study comparing dioxin levels in the eastern Ohio town to those in other areas, and the EPA will continue sampling for indicator chemicals, the agency noted.

Dioxins are persistent environmental pollutants with highly toxic potential, according to the World Health Organization.

While the EPA said on Thursday that its testing continues to suggest a low probability that dioxins were released from the incident, the burning of vinyl chloride  a toxic substance used in the manufacture of plastics  can create the pollutants, experts told The Associated Press.

After the East Palestine derailment, officials conducted a controlled release and burn-off of vinyl chloride from several cars, amid concerns about a potential explosion.

Ohio Sens. Sherrod Brown (D) and J.D. Vance (R) have previously expressed concerns to the state government and the federal EPA about dioxins.

Over the last few weeks, Ive sat with East Palestine residents and community leaders in their homes, businesses, churches, and schools, EPA Administrator Michael Regan said Thursday in a statement. Ive heard their fears and concerns directly, and Ive pledged that these experiences would inform EPAs ongoing response efforts.

Regan previously vowed that the agency would not second-guess anyones experience as it responded to the derailment.

In the face of heavy criticism over his administrations response to the incident, President Biden said on Thursday that he will visit East Palestine at some point.

Ive spoken with every official in Ohio, Democrat and Republican, on a continuing basis, as in Pennsylvania, Biden told reporters at the Capitol, adding, We will be implementing an awful lot through the legislation here, and I will be out there at some point.

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Biden also threw his support behind a bipartisan bill that would tighten federal oversight of trains carrying hazardous materials.

I applaud the bipartisan group of senators for proposing rail safety legislation that provides many of the solutions that my administration has been calling for, he said Thursday in a statement.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to The Hill.
DETROIT (AP)  A New Hampshire woman pleaded guilty in federal court Thursday to texting threats to a Detroit-area election official after a November 2020 meeting to certify local results in the presidential race.

Katelyn Jones, 25, formerly of Olivet, Michigan, and now living in Epping, New Hampshire, faces up to 10 years in federal prison. She is scheduled to be sentenced July 11, The Detroit News reported.

Katelyn Jones, 25, of Epping, pleaded guilty in federal court Thursday to texting threats to a Detroit-area election official in November 2020.

Jones targeted Monica Palmer, the Republican chairwoman of the Wayne County Board of Canvassers, and her family, investigators said.

Jones sent photos of a dead body and threatened Palmer on Nov. 18, 2020, the FBI said.

She apparently was upset that Palmer and another Republican on the four-member Board of Canvassers initially refused to certify Wayne Countys election results on Nov. 17, typically a routine step on the way to statewide certification.

They subsequently certified the totals in favor of Joe Biden after people watching the public meeting on video conference criticized them during a comment period.

This article originally appeared on Portsmouth Herald: Epping woman pleads guilty in Detroit-area election threats case
(Bloomberg) --

Most Read from Bloomberg

Turkeys opposition is in crisis over a failure to agree on a joint candidate to contest President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, hampering a rare chance to unseat the countrys longest-serving leader at elections in less than three months.

The infighting burst into the open on Friday when the opposition blocs second largest party Iyi slammed the rest of the group for submitting to personal ambitions of Kemal Kilicdaroglu, head of CHP party, who wants to run as the blocs candidate.

The alliance of six simply turned into a notary that approves one candidate, Iyi Party head Meral Aksener said in televised comments. The alliance ceased to be a platform of common sense where potential candidates can be debated.

Leaders of the sixparty opposition met on Thursday to break the impasse after months of internal conflict that prevented them from agreeing on a name. Aksener said she proposed Istanbul and Ankara mayors, but was rebuffed by the rest of the bloc, who insisted on Kilicdaroglu. It was the 12th time the leaders had came together, but their failure to reach an agreement has exposed them to frequent attacks from Erdogan.

While Aksener refrained from pulling out of the alliance, her public criticism of the and suggestions of alternative candidates make it increasingly likely that the anti-Erdogan camp will unravel.

The deepening crisis among opposition parties with less than three months left before the elections spurred a sharp drop in Turkish markets, with the benchmark stop index falling as much as 3.9% as Aksener spoke. The Borsa Istanbul 100 index was trading 2% lower as of 4:01 p.m. in Istanbul.

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The Turkish president accused opposition parties of being disorganized, telling the electorate that they remain too divided on important issues to run the country.

A day before the oppositions last summit, Erdogan called for presidential and parliamentary elections on May 14, quashing speculation the vote would be postponed following two deadly earthquakes.

May Elections

It will remain the toughest electoral race of Erdogans two decades in power. Hes stepped up a multi-billion-dollar reconstruction effort after last months disaster that leveled cities and killed more than 45,000 people, after the government faced sharp criticism for the initial quake response.

The opposition has failed to effectively communicate its policy on vital topics from the economy to international relations, said Bekir Agirdir, head of the Konda polling agency. It should have the upper hand due to the governments perceived bungled crisis response, but its missed the mark.

Its continued infighting over the candidate coupled with its failure to convey its main vision on critical matters are hampering its chances, said Agirdir, whose agency successfully predicted the margin of victory for local elections in 2019, when the oppositions Ekrem Imamoglu took Istanbul.

Surveys consistently show a decline in support for the opposition bloc, though the numbers remain too close to predict a winner. Early last year, more voters predicted the opposition would win. But sentiment has gradually changed in Erdogans favor in the last few months.

The Turkish president, who has assumed greater powers since 2018, remains Turkeys most popular politician even as his Justice and Development Party lost some support among poor Turks who had been among its most stalwart backers.

Turks are also dealing with the worst cost-of-living crisis in decades, which only looks set to get worse as the impact of the earthquakes filters through the economy.

To defeat Erdogan in the presidential race, opposition parties must rally behind a candidate that can lure support of the pro-Kurdish HDP which has emerged as kingmaker in past elections, though is now facing a potential ban because of alleged ties to separatist Kurdish militants.

Why Turkeys Next Election Is a Real Test for Erdogan: QuickTake

Voters appear split when it comes to the opposition. Less than half of the electorate is expected to vote in favor of Erdogans AK Party and nationalist allies, according to recent polling.

But those voting for the opposition are split mainly between the six parties and the pro-Kurdish HDP. That may allow Erdogan and his allies to divide and conquer at the polls.

(Updates with comments from opposition party on deepening crisis)

Most Read from Bloomberg Businessweek

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STOCKHOLM (AP)  Swedish telecom equipment maker Ericsson has agreed to plead guilty to U.S. foreign corruption violations and pay more than $206 million for breaking a deal with the Justice Department over charges of bribery and falsifying records in countries from China to Kuwait.

The U.S. Justice Department said the company, based in Stockholm, violated a 2019 agreement by failing to provide documents and information the agency needed for its investigation and to bring charges against individuals accused of misconduct.

Ericsson, which provides equipment for high-speed 5G wireless networks, used intermediaries to bribe government officials and manage illicit stashes of cash in Djibouti, China, Vietnam, Indonesia and Kuwait, prosecutors say.

The companys breach of its obligations ... indicate that Ericsson did not learn its lesson, and it is now facing a steep price for its continued missteps," U.S. Attorney Damian Williams for the Southern District of New York said in a prepared statement Thursday.

Ericsson was accused of drawing up fake contracts and invoices to pay third-party agents carrying out the bribes and then not properly accounting for the payments from 2000 to 2016.

CEO Borje Ekholm says Ericsson has made important changes and is committed to enforcing strict controls and improved oversight and ethics.

This resolution is a stark reminder of the historical misconduct" that led to the deal with the Justice Department, Ekholm said in a prepared statement. "We have learned from that, and we are on an important journey to transform our culture. To be a true industry leader, we must be a market and technology leader while also being a leader in how we conduct our business.

Facing a criminal indictment in New York over violations of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act, Ericsson in 2019 paid a $520 million penalty and agreed to have an independent compliance monitor for three years.

Now, the Justice Department says the company has failed to truthfully disclose" all information and evidence in the Djibouti and China cases and in other potential bribery or accounting violations. Ericsson also failed to turn over details in a 2019 Iraq internal investigation that has raised allegations of illegal business behavior, the agency said.

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As a result, Ericsson agreed to plead guilty to the charges put off by the 2019 deal: conspiracy to violate the foreign corruption law's anti-bribery and bookkeeping provisions.

Ericsson will pay $206.7 million, serve probation through June 2024 and keep the independent compliance monitor for another year.

It's the latest hit for the company, which said last week that it's cutting 8% of its global workforce as it looks to reduce costs.
The Office of Congressional Ethics (OCE) said Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) may have accepted impermissible gifts related to her attendance at the Met Gala in 2021, when she made headlines for wearing a white dress that said Tax the Rich in red letters on the back.

A June 2022 OCE report and materials released by the House Ethics Committee on Thursday show frustration from vendors about payments for hair and makeup services for the event being delayed for months, as well as payments for her Met Gala ensemble and other associated costs being paid months later.

In an interview with the OCE, Ocasio-Cortez said there was a ball that was dropped and that it was deeply regrettable that thousands of dollars worth of payments were delayed. She recalled following up with a campaign staffer several times about the need to pay for the services.

While the OCE board said in a report that Ocasio-Cortez appears to have paid for the rental value of the attire and goods and services that she and her now-fiance received in connection with the event after the OCE contacted her about the matter, it unanimously voted in June 2022 to refer the matter to the House Ethics Committee, saying the congresswoman may have violated House rules, standards of conduct and federal law.

The House Ethics Committee first revealed it was looking into Ocasio-Cortez in December, but did not specify what it was probing.

Ocasio-Cortezs legal counsel said in a letter to the Ethics Committee last week that the OCE did identify that there were delays in paying vendors for costs associated with the Congresswomans attendance at the Met Gala and that she finds the delays unacceptable.

However, while regrettable, this matter definitively does not rise to the level of a violation of House Rules or of federal law, said the letter from Ocasio-Cortezs legal counsel David Mitrani. Even after OCEs exhaustive review of the Congresswomans personal communications, there is no evidence that she ever intended to avoid these expenses. To the contrary, the record clearly shows that the Congresswoman always understood that she had to pay for these expenses personally  and she even worked with the undersigned counsel prior to the event to ensure that she complied with all applicable ethics rules.

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The committee released the OCE complaint and associated materials on Thursday, saying it is still reviewing the matter and the ethics referral. It noted that the fact of conducting a review does not mean any violation has occurred.

According to the report, Ocasio-Cortez contacted the OCE to say that she retained counsel to ensure she complied with all ethics rules, with multiple staffers echoing that they worked to ensure compliance. A determination was made that she would pay for the attire from her personal funds.

In addition to the handbag, shoes, jewelry and Tax the Rich dress that Ocasio-Cortez wore from designer Brother Vellies, the OCE said her now-fiance received a bowtie, and that Ocasio-Cortez also received transportation from her home to the Carlyle Hotel and access to a ready room there, hair and makeup services, and transportation to the Met Gala from the hotel.

The Met Gala took place in September 2021, but according to the report, payments for some services were not made for months.

Despite various efforts to address compliance concerns in advance of the Met Gala through counsel, and despite representations to the Committee regarding compliance with House rules, it appears several thousands of dollars worth of services may have remained unpaid absent the OCE initiating this review, the OCE report said.

A $477.73 payment for hair services was paid in February 2022 after the agency representing the stylist threatened to file a complaint over the unpaid bill. The campaign staff member tasked with paying the bill told the OCE that the bill fell off [her] radar and that Ocasio-Cotez was not aware of the companys payment demands.

An agency for a makeup stylist similarly sent emails to the campaign saying payment of $344.85 was EXTREMELY overdue. That bill was paid in March 2022. The campaign staffer told the OCE that other matters had taken precedence over the payments.

Invoices show that Brother Vellies invoices for the Met Gala gown, handbag, jewelry and shoe rental were revised from a total of $2,283.93 to $990.76 between Sept. 19 and Sept. 20, 2021. A campaign staffer said that she had contacted the designer to ensure the overall rental costs were correct, relaying prior discussions that the overall final rental bill would be around $1,000. Brother Vellies declined to cooperate with the OCE review to explain the price revision.

A campaign staffer did not pay the bill until March 2022, after the OCE had provided formal notice to Ocasio-Cortez of its review. The campaign staffer said she was waiting for a final invoice that she thought should have included costs of Ocasio-Cortezs use of space at the Carlyle Hotel and transportation.

After the OCE opened the review, Ocasio-Cortezs counsel contacted Brother Vellies to request an invoice for any additional unpaid goods and services. In April 2022, it sent an invoice for $5,579.99 for the hotel rooms, car service, shoes and the bow tie for Ocasio-Cortezs now-fiance. That was paid in May 2022.

Ocasio-Cortez told investigators that payments were made from her personal funds.

Ocasio-Cortezs office had nothing further to add following the release of the OCE report on Thursday, but a spokesperson said in December that the office was confident that this matter will be dismissed, and stressed her commitment to ethics and refusal to accept donations from lobbyists, corporations, and special interests.

Ocasio-Cortez is not the only member of the House to come under heat from ethics investigators after attending the Met Gala. Last year, the Ethics Committee revealed former Rep. Carolyn Maloney (D-N.Y.) may have improperly solicited an invitation to the Met Gala, which her legal counsel denied.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to The Hill.
Photo: Rob Kruyt, BIV. B.C. Supreme Court in Vancouver

A proposed class action lawsuit claims Home Depot of Canada Inc. violated customers privacy by sharing personal information with tech giant Meta Platforms Inc.



A notice of civil claim seeking certification as a class action was filed with the B.C. Supreme Court on Feb. 27, naming B.C. resident Lasse Hvitved as its lead plaintiff against Home Depot, whom he bought a shower head from last year.



According to the legal filings, Hvitved bought the shower head at a Vancouver Home Depot and opted to receive an electronic receipt by email.



Hvitved has had a Facebook account since at least 2018 when, according to the notice of civil claim, Home Depot began collecting customers personal information at store checkouts to issue electronic receipts.



What customers did not know was that their email address and other information about their purchase was shared with Meta, the company behind the Facebook social network, stated the legal filings.



The lawsuit claims Home Depot shared the personal information with Meta to determine how effective its online advertising was.



Hvitved claimed this was done through Facebooks offline conversions tool, through which Home Depot provided Meta email addresses and information about their purchases, including the date and time, the amount spent and the type of items bought.



The lawsuit claimed customers were not asked for consent to share that information and it was done without any notice to customers.



The lawsuit comes on the heels of an investigation by the Office of the Privacy Commissioner (OPC), which released its report on Jan. 26.



While Home Depot reportedly denied sharing information with Facebook in the past, it confirmed to the OPC that shared that data with the company.



The OPC found that Home Depot did not ensure valid consent to do so.



Even though our use of a Meta analytics tool involved the use of only non-sensitive information i.e., the department in which a purchase was made, as a precaution, we stopped using the tool once the Office of the Privacy Commissioner of Canada expressed concerns about it in October 2022, a spokesperson for Home Depot Canada told Global News in a January statement.



We value and respect the privacy of our customers and are committed to the responsible collection and use of information. Well continue to work closely with the Office of the Privacy Commissioner of Canada.



Home Depot has not filed a response to the proposed class-action lawsuit as of press time.
(Bloomberg) -- The European Union delayed a key vote on an effective ban on combustion-engine cars after Germany unexpectedly voiced last-minute objections amid concerns about how the blocs green plans will affect industry.

Most Read from Bloomberg

EU and German officials are in talks over how to reach a compromise over allowing the use of e-fuels in new cars after 2035, and there were signs from Berlin that a deal can still be reached that would allow the phase-out to go ahead.

European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen is set to meet German Chancellor Olaf Scholz on the sidelines of a German cabinet meeting on Sunday, when the topic will likely be discussed.

It is contradictory when the EU Commission calls for high climate protection targets on the one hand, but on the other hand makes it more difficult to achieve these targets through overambitious regulation, German Transport Minister Volker Wissing told lawmakers Friday in the lower house of parliament in Berlin, adding that its up to the EUs executive arm to come up with a viable solution.

EU ministers were scheduled to vote Tuesday in what was supposed to be a routine approval of a deal the bloc clinched last year to effectively ban new vehicles that run on fossil fuels beginning in 2035. But Daniel Holmberg, a spokesman for Sweden, which holds the EUs rotating presidency, confirmed the vote delay on Twitter and said diplomats will return to the issue in due time.

The delay reflects concern that Germany would have abstained  a move that could derail the blocs green plans, according to people familiar with the matter.

Some German officials have signaled that they think a deal is achievable that will preserve the broader ban.

Story continues

If the commission has a credible stance in conversations with the ministers and the German government, Im optimistic that a solution will be found, Sven Giegold, state secretary at Germanys Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Climate Action, said Thursday, adding that the negotiations are difficult.

Germany is seeking assurances that the European Commission, the EUs executive arm, will put forward provisions on how so-called e-fuels can be used in combustion engine cars after the 2035 cut-off. While the blocs executive branch is obliged to come up with a proposal after consulting with stakeholders, there is no set timeline for such a move, beyond a general review in 2026.

The last-minute hiccup is highly unusual in EU lawmaking, given the deal between the EUs 27 member states and parliament was struck in October last year and the upcoming vote is usually a formality. The EU is scrambling to come up with a solution that would assuage Germany, meaning a compromise is still likely, even if the final approval is delayed.

What Are E-Fuels and Can They Make Cars Run Cleaner?: QuickTake

The problem is that designing a carve-out for e-fuels, which are produced from renewable electricity, is likely to be technical, and there isnt much time to reach a deal before EU parliamentary elections next year. Its unclear exactly what assurances Germany is currently seeking.

Germanys objections were announced on Tuesday evening by Wissing. His pro-business party, the FDP, want a more flexible approach to some elements of Europes environmental program than other partners in the governing coalition. The FDP, which has suffered a series of setbacks in regional elections, is keen to be seen as a champion of technological choice as well as supporting German jobs.

For his part, Scholz sees synthetic fuels for cars as inefficient and is convinced that battery-driven e-cars will eventually prevail and dominate the market for consumer mobility, a person familiar with the matter said. His reasoning is that they are projected to be much cheaper in daily operating costs than cars driven on synthetic fuel, which require a lot of power in the production process, the person added.

Decarbonizing transport is seen as a key pillar of the blocs goals to cut emissions by 55% this decade on the way to climate neutrality by 2050, but there are concerns over the impact on the blocs dominant auto industry.

The worries over the transition to electric vehicles was made clear last month when Ford Motor Co. said it will cut about 3,800 jobs across Europe, with workers in Germany and the UK set to be the hardest hit.

Many doubt that e-fuels are the solution, given they are significantly more expensive than conventional fuel, and currently very scarce. They also argue that such fuels should be used in aviation, which is more difficult to reduce the decarbonize.

Wissing also said Friday that the blocs plan to impose so-called Euro-7 fuel standards by 2025  a move to reduce nitrous oxides and other emissions  should be re-examined as well.

Thats why its clear to me that we have to take another fundamental look at Euro-7, he said. The outcome must not jeopardize jobs, nor must mobility become a luxury good.

--With assistance from Petra Sorge, Michael Nienaber and Katharina Rosskopf.

(Updates with Wissing comments starting in fourth paragraph)

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Washington says China is considering supplying weapons to Russia

Supplying Moscow with weapons would absolutely be a red line, the source said.

Recent media reports suggested the United States is working with its allies to coordinate a response to China potentially helping Russias war effort.

Read also: After a spate of drone attacks, another air defense system spotted in Moscow

Earlier, the CIA said that China is considering supplying weapons to Russia, including ammunition, combat drones, and artillery.

Read also: Will Beijing provide military aid to Moscow and what can stop it  NV expert survey

At the same time, Ukrainian Military Intelligence chief Kyrylo Budanov said he doesnt think Beijing would ultimately directly assist Moscow with military aid.

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Read the original article on The New Voice of Ukraine
BUCHAREST (Reuters) - The European Union's top court will hear a case brought by a British-Romanian transgender man against Romanian authorities over their refusal to recognize his gender identity, Romanian LGBTQ rights organisation ACCEPT said on Friday.

The case, which raises questions about free movement and citizenship rights under EU law, was first raised in a Romanian court in 2021 and has now been referred to the European Union Court of Justice.

Arian Mirzarafie-Ahi moved to the United Kingdom in 2008 and obtained his British citizenship in 2016, which is also when he began his transition, said ACCEPT Romania, which is helping him with his case.

UK authorities gave him a gender recognition certificate while the country was still part of the European Union. In 2021, Romanian authorities refused to acknowledge his name and gender change, demanding he follow the lengthy national procedure.

"Arian's ability to travel freely in the EU, like any EU citizen, has been unjustifiably restricted, including his ability to visit family members in Romania, because his Romanian passport displays the wrong identity," ACCEPT said.

The organisation said the case could set a precedent for other transgender people whose gender recognition is not being acknowledged elsewhere in the EU, harming their ability to travel freely, reside, work, study or even vote across the EU.

"The Court will also have the opportunity to confirm that the rights that EU citizens lawfully acquired in the UK when it was still treated as a member state ... are portable when those citizens wish to exercise their free movement rights."

In 2021, the European Court of Human Rights ruled that Romania violated the rights of two transgender people by refusing to recognise their identity because they had not undergone gender reassignment surgery.

Socially conservative Romania decriminalised homosexuality in 2001, decades later than other parts of the European Union, but bars marriage and civil partnerships for same sex couples.

A blanket ban on gender identity studies was struck down by Romania's Constitutional Court in 2020.

(Reporting by Luiza Ilie; Editing by Toby Chopra)
Stephanie Hsu attends the 28th Annual Critics' Choice Awards in Los Angeles in January. John Sciulli/Getty Images for FIJI Water via Getty Images

Stephanie Hsu is nominated for an Oscar for her performance in "Everything Everywhere All at Once."

The actor revealed she had the film's directors make an announcement when they started filming.

"Hey everybody, this is Stephanie, she's gonna be kinda weird," Daniel Kwan and Daniel Scheinert said.

Because of its multiverse-hopping narrative, "Everything Everywhere All at Once" has to be one of the quirkier best picture nominees in Oscars history.

Stephanie Hsu, who portrayed the villain Jobu, proved one of the most memorable characters in the film, earning her an Oscar nomination. That's in large part because of Hsu's close collaboration with the film's directing duo, Daniel Kwan and Daniel Scheinert.

"We're all very weird, and I have no fear of being weird with them, and in fact, they kind of bring out more weird in me," Hsu said this week on "The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon," referring to Kwan and Scheinert. "So when we were kind of working on the role, we would really start to like, you know, get into it, and they would give me the direction a lot: 'Okay, now break the movie. Destroy the movie.'"

Hsu was "nervous" about acting "weird" in front of the cast and crew, however.

"The first day I got onto set, it was the hallway scene, the introduction of Jobu, wearing the Elvis suit, the 'schling schlings,' if you've seen the movie," she continued. "And all of a sudden I got so nervous because it was my first scene with Michelle Yeoh. And I had never worked with any of the crew. And so I was like, 'They're gonna think I'm the worst actor on earth. They're gonna think that I'm just being weird and completely unhinged for no reason.'"

To prevent that from happening, Hsu convinced Kwan and Scheinert to make an announcement to the crew on her behalf.

"Hey everybody, this is Stephanie, she's gonna be kinda weird," Kwan and Scheinert said. "But we told her to do that!"

Hsu's off-the-wall approach to portraying Jobu has paid off in spades. While the actor admitted that filming "Everywhere All at Once" was "the most special experience I've ever had, creatively, in my life," she may not have been prepared for the slew of award nominations that followed, including an Oscar nod for best actress in a supporting role.

Story continues

Before the Oscar nominations were announced, Hsu explained she watched the film one more time on a plane commuting to Sydney to shoot another film, "The Fall Guy," with Emily Blunt, Ryan Goslin, and Aaron Taylor-Johnson.

"Things have gotten shinier and shinier, and I wanted to have a moment where I got to watch the movie one more time to look back on that moment, of that seed of making, the heartbeat, this very special thing we made together," she said, adding that she "felt like one of those superfans of our own movie where they always say, 'The movie starts, and I start weeping.'"

"And that was me, I was so embarrassed," Hsu added. "I was like, I hope no one's seeing me cry at our own movie."

Read the original article on Insider
From the moment a white orb was spotted floating 60,000 feet over Montana, people on Twitter and cable news demanded the Biden administration shoot it down. When Biden did not, choosing instead to wait until the craft had descended to 50,000 feet over the coast of South Carolina before sending in an F-22 fighter jet, the forces of professional outrage sputtered themselves into an around-the-clock tantrum.

Leading the charge was Tucker Carlson, who spun the simple story of the big balloon into a convoluted yarn, alleging without evidence that the craft was allowed to fly over the United States because the Chinese government . . . did send cash to Joe Biden's crackhead son, and apparently to Joe Biden himself, and that paid off.

People with decades of experience in the stratosphere suggest a simpler reason why the Biden administration may have chosen to wait: Hitting anything that high up is really hard.

At 60,000 feet, its really tough for a fighter jet to shoot it down, said John Powell, founder and president of JP Aerospace, which has flown airships to the stratosphere for 37 years.

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.

The higher you go up, the harder it is to shoot down, said Kuan-Wei Chen, a professor of space law at Bond University in Australia. Thats why they had to use an F-22. Because the older-generation fighters cant fly that high.

The truth is, the stratosphere is a region where rules are malleable, weak and few.

And this incident points to the widening gulf between law and technology in the stratosphere. The 1944 Chicago Convention on International Civil Aviation holds that every nation has complete and exclusive sovereignty over the airspace above its territory.

The Outer Space Treaty of 1967 declares space open and free for exploration by all nations.

But where does sovereign airspace end, and space begin?

US President Joe Biden arrives at Hagerstown Regional Airport in Hagerstown, Maryland, on February 4, 2023. Biden on Saturday congratulated fighter pilots for taking down a Chinese spy balloon off the east coast after it spent several days flying over the US. "They successfully took it down. And I want to compliment our aviators who did it," Biden told reporters in Maryland.

Thats a gray area, said Steven Pifer, a senior fellow studying arms control and nonproliferation with the Brookings Institution who formerly served as President Bill Clintons ambassador to Ukraine. How high up does a countrys sovereignty go? Where does it become space? Thats a big question now.

Story continues

Unlike high-altitude aircraft, which emit a powerful blast of heat for missiles to chase, balloons and airships function at the same cold temperatures of the stratosphere. This makes them harder to shoot, said Bill Brown, an educator in Alabama who engineers both high-altitude balloons for students and missiles for the American military.

Lets say an F-22 can shoot down a balloon hovering at 70,000 feet. Thats 21 kilometers above the Earth. The Pentagon and NASA maintain that space begins far above that, at 50 kilometers. (Other nations disagree, placing the atmospheric border at the Karman Line, 100 kilometers up.) At minimum, then, the operators of high-altitude aircraft have 29 kilometers of free airspace in which to fly, unencumbered by the merciless vacuum of space above or the threat of missiles below.

So thats precisely where theyre heading.

The stratosphere is growing crowded, said Tom Karako, a senior fellow at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, regarded as the worlds best military think tank. Hobbyists, academics, private companies and militaries around the world are building a new generation of vehicles capable of flight at the highest altitudes of near-space.

And nobody can stop them.

Theres all this stuff going up there, Karako said.

More perspective:President Biden is dividing America with his hatred of balloons. Is nothing sacred?

The Party City International Space Station

Neumayer III is a German research station perched on the ice of Antarctica. In November, Todd McKinney traveled from his home in Huntsville, Alabama, to the Neumayer station, where he conducted a series of high-altitude experiments. His goal: Fly sensors 80,000 feet above Antarctica, testing the accuracy of scientific models for wind patterns across the continent.

His tools: Eight shiny little balloons. Have you ever walked into a Party City and noticed the helium balloons pinned against the ceiling?

Yup. That kind.

Party balloons are low weight, low cost. You can do a lot of flights and get a lot of great data back, said McKinney, a graduate student in atmospheric research at the University of Alabama, Huntsville. They made multiple circumnavigations of the southern hemisphere. Two of them are still up and reporting data. It was so cool to see the curvature of the earth from that height.

In this photo provided by Brian Branch, a large balloon drifts above the Kingstown, N.C. area, with an airplane and its contrail seen below it. The United States says it is a Chinese spy balloon moving east over America at an altitude of about 60,000 feet (18,600 meters), but China insists the balloon is just an errant civilian airship used mainly for meteorological research that went off course due to winds and has only limited self-steering capabilities.

McKinneys ballooning mentor is Bill Brown, who estimates hes flown 700 high-altitude missions. Most involve science experiments built by students in elementary, middle and high schools around the United States. Browns balloons have sent bananas and Moonpies to the edge of space. The bananas returned brown and mushy. The Moonpies came back half their original size, Brown said, but tasted twice as good.

After the air force shot down the Chinese spy balloon, its commanders went on a shooting frenzy. American fighter jets took out an unidentified object over northern Alaska, another over the Yukon, and a third above Lake Huron. Comparing the Pentagons descriptions of the Yukon incident with the flight paths of his own educational missions, Brown believes it's possible the air force sent a $143-million F-22 Raptor fighter jet to intercept a party balloon carrying a payload of science experiments designed by high school students in Minnesota.

It was a $100 science experiment on a $20 party balloon, Brown said. If thats what happened, its just nutty. Thats an unbelievable overreaction.

More from Maag:How can Paterson ever stop its endless murders and shootings?

Wide open

If it is proved that our nations leaders took their missile takedowns a little too far, perhaps its because they finally opened their eyes to the stratosphere and took a good look around. Normally, military and civilian radar and other sensory equipment is tuned to display only fast-moving aircraft like planes and helicopters, Brown said, while filtering out millions of smaller things that wander slowly across the sky.

After the Chinese spy balloon caused such intense outrage, however, the American military basically opened the filters, a U.S. official told The Washington Post. This may have caused all kinds of new and strange-looking things to appear, Brown said, possibly including birds, party balloons, or even experimental airships.

These types of experiments have been flying for years, Brown said of airship and balloon flights by his colleagues in the intersecting worlds of high-altitude academia and commerce. Normally their filters would filter all that out, because theres no payload that size that could be used as an attack weapon.

In the wide-open world of the stratosphere, Chinas surveillance balloon clearly violated the only rule that applies: If one country wishes to fly an aircraft over another, it must ask the other nations permission. (In practice even this simple rule functions more like a suggestion, since most slow-moving objects in the middle and upper strata of the stratosphere cant even be detected, let alone shot down.)

Years before the Chinese balloon incident, however, experts in air and space law suggested the stratosphere could use a few more rules. If two high-altitude balloons are about to collide, which has right of way? If one balloon is crewed and the other unmanned, how should they communicate? And what to do about airships, which  unlike balloons  can control their altitude and flight path, and are completely unregulated?

In normal civilian airspace, Chen said, the rules governing such interactions are written by the International Civil Aviation Organization, a unit of the United Nations.

In the stratosphere, no such rules exist.

What appears to be the Chinese spy balloon as it was shot down off the the SC coast.

Were seeing an increase in the number of balloons and other aircraft operating at that altitude, Chen said. Countries are beginning to say we need to be on the ball here, and start recognizing the potential security and strategic threats.

New Zealand enacted a law in 2017 requiring all parties to obtain a license before launching a high-altitude vehicle. After the spy balloon incident, Biden assigned national security adviser Jake Sullivan to lead a task force to create new rules for federal agencies responding to unidentified objects.

Sen. Mark Kelly, the Arizona Democrat, is a former astronaut and military pilot who once saw shiny party balloons from the cockpit of his Navy jet. Last month, Kelly announced he will introduce legislation that would require all weather and research balloons to carry transponders, communicating their position and purpose to air traffic controllers and the military.

I dont think we want to get into the business of launching AIM-9X [missiles]  at $400,000 a pop  at weather balloons, Kelly told the Associated Press.

Balloonists worry regulation will make research more difficult. Aerospace transponders would consume precious space and electricity aboard small academic balloons, which FAA rules prohibit from carrying payloads heavier than 12 pounds into lower commercial airspace, said Matthew Nelson, president of the Stratospheric Ballooning Association.

Im just hoping in a few weeks this blows over, said Nelson, an engineering professor at Iowa State University, said of the Chinese balloon hysteria.

Other stratospheric researchers fear the government might require them to obtain a permit for every flight, or impose other bureaucratic rules that will add cost and slowness to their work.

Weve had FAA regulations for decades, and there hasnt been a single balloon accident in known history, McKinney said. If we put more regulations on balloons, its going to hurt scientists and students for no good reason.

Heavy science: It floats

As it stands now, the low cost of high-altitude balloon flight is perhaps its greatest advantage. The Hadron Collider is one of the largest science experiments ever built. It consists of a tunnel 17 miles round, buried hundreds of feet below the Alps. Constructing it cost $17.4 billion. Its purpose: Recreate the conditions of the stratosphere, where intergalactic cosmic rays slam into the Earths atmosphere at nearly the speed of light.

Erick Agrimson, a physicist at Saint Catherine University in Saint Paul, Minnesota, conducts similar experiments for a few hundred bucks. Working with colleagues at the University of Minnesota, Agrimson tied 11-pound instruments to a flock of Hwoyee-brand weather balloons, currently on sale for $119.99.

You save $36.00! reads a current ad for the balloons on scientificsales.com.

The balloons were launched from the middle of Nebraska on Aug. 21, 2017. They climbed to the Regener-Pfotzer Maximum, where cosmic rays slam into earths atmosphere, creating a field of intense radiation. The zenith of each balloons flight was timed to coincide with a total solar eclipse.

Even as an eerie yellow darkness raced across the northern hemisphere, 20 miles below, Agrimsons sensors detected no decrease in solar radiation.

Unless you have a particle accelerator, this is really one of the only ways you can study that, Agrimson said.

Chinese spy balloon spotted in US airspace

Brian Rauch conducts similar experiments in Antarctica, except his sensor weighs three tons. It also has a cool name: The SuperTIGER-II. For decades, scientists have understood that the Earth, the solar system, and all the galaxies are comprised of gunk formed in the guts of stars. When stars go supernova and explode, that gunk emanates into the universe in the form of cosmic rays.

Are there other ways for intergalactic stuff to get here? In late 2021, Rauch connected a huge, milky white balloon to a sensor that resembled an upside-down shopping cart. The balloon circled Antarctica for 33 days, scooping up cosmic rays with heavier elements emanating from a new source: The slamming-together of stars, which physicists call a neutron star capture. Rauchs colleagues considered this result such a success, he won a coveted slot to place his next particle sensor on the International Space Station in 2026.

Where does all the material in our world come from? How is it made? said Rauch, a physics professor at Washington University in Saint Louis. Ballooning is relatively cheap access to near-space. So theres room for people to try new things.

More from Maag:Some riders throw money. Others throw orange soda. The kings of subway dance endure

Balloons for profit

Scientists think balloons can save a few bucks; entrepreneurs think balloons can make a few bucks. Two companies, Space Perspective of Florida and World View of Arizona, are competing to offer the first passenger trips to the stratosphere. Both are testing prototype balloons at around 100,000 feet, adding to the globes unregulated stratospheric clutter.

The balloons will carry heavy pressurized capsules with big windows, recliner chairs, telescopes, bathrooms, and room for up to eight passengers.

Space Perspective is accepting $1,000 as a deposit toward one of its first flights, which the company says may begin next year and cost $125,000 per traveler. World View charges $500 for a deposit and $50,000 per seat, making it the first bargain airline of the stratosphere. The company has received 1,250 deposits, CEO Ryan Hartman told the Washington Post, even though its first flight is not yet scheduled.

In the meantime, World View has entered the increasingly crowded field of remote sensing. Low-earth satellites whip through space at about 17,000 miles an hour. Planes run out of fuel; drone batteries die. World View and competitors including New Mexico-based Sceye promote high-altitude balloons as a compromise. World View claims its balloons can hover in place for 45 days, providing clear images of the ground down to 5 centimeters.

Imagine the precision  and drudgery  of surveilling a double-A battery from 13 miles up.

Possible uses include scanning power lines for maintenance problems, or helping farmers decide when to water their fields. But the bonanza may lie in telecom. Google, Lockheed Martin, Airbus and the Chinese military together invested hundreds of millions of dollars in balloons they hope will compete with satellites as the primary platform for internet service, said John Powell, who spent several years developing his own airship-based telecommunications platforms.

They all sunk tons of money into it, Powell said. They thought it would replace satellites and become the next trillion-dollar industry.

This spending spree is another reason experienced balloonists did not engage in Tucker Carlson-esque freakouts about Chinas spy balloon. Alphabet, Googles parent company, spent a decade on Loon, a subsidiary that tried to extend internet access to remote places around the world. Loons signature craft was a white superpressure balloon that stood nearly 200 feet tall and carried a payload the size of three buses. . .

. . . just like a certain infamous balloon from China, Brown said.

It is an exact copy of the Google Loon vehicle, said Powell, right down to the number of panels in its solar array.

After some early confusion, Pentagon officials came to agree the balloon was used for surveillance.

We are 100 percent clear about that," Brig. Gen. Pat Ryder said at a press conference.

Until the Biden administration releases more information about the aircrafts payload, however, many balloonists remain skeptical.

I dont think its a military vehicle, Powell said. My guess is that it was an experimental telecom vehicle that got away from them, and they were hoping no one would notice. But this is just my guess.

The threat has changed

The biggest contributor to the stratospheres worsening traffic jam is also the oldest. The National Weather Service began using balloons to capture atmospheric data in 1909. Modern weather trackers release nearly 900 balloons into the air twice a day, including 92 from the United States and its territories. The balloons carry small sensors called radiosondes, which measure air pressure, temperature, and humidity from the ground up to about 100,000 feet, where the balloons pop. The radiosondes return gently to Earth, suspended by cute orange parachutes.

Balloon launches are conducted every day, all around the United States, without a single issue, McKinney said. The weather forecasts you see on your phone? Those dont come from satellites. You can thank weather balloons for providing that data.

This photo provided by Jason Sellers shows U.S. Air Force fighter aircraft shooting down a suspected Chinese spy balloon off the Carolina coast on Saturday. (Jason Sellers via AP)

More government balloons may soon join them. In 2020 and 2021, the Pentagon spent $3.8 million to develop new balloons, according to Politico. That will increase to $27 million in 2023.

Military leaders expect those numbers to multiply. Since the Cold War, the United States and Canada have tuned their joint NORAD defense effort to watch for nuclear payloads riding aboard high-flying bombers and missiles, Tom Karako said. Now the Pentagon is increasingly concerned about the threat of low-altitude missiles carrying conventional, non-nuclear payloads, Karako said, especially since recent reports indicate China is beating the United States in the race to build supersonic aircraft.

Last summer, Karako and the Center for Strategic & International Studies published a report calling on NORAD to junk its Cold War defenses and start over. Current ground and satellite surveillance systems are too scattered and slow to detect low-altitude cruise missiles, Karako wrote. The study encouraged the American and Canadian militaries to spend at least $43 billion on unmanned, high-altitude vehicles  including drones, balloons and airships  to surveil the stratosphere. The Congressional Budget Office estimates a similar fleet may cost at least $60 billion.

The threat has changed. You see a lot of very high-altitude platforms proliferating among hobbyists and the academic world, and theres also a lot of military platforms that are proliferating, Karako said. Balloons are just one part of the spectrum.

The only thing that hasnt changed in the stratosphere is the law. In 1944, when the current rules were written in Chicago, the highest-flying American aircraft was the B-29 bomber, which topped out at around 30,000 feet. For nearly 70 years the law worked fine, primarily because few people had the power to test it, said David Rothwell, a professor of international law at Australian National University.

Today thats not the case. Elementary school students, university physicists and military contractors all possess vehicles to fly whatever they want to the cold lower lip of space.

Thats not necessarily a problem, people like Powell and McKinney said. But perhaps we should have a conversation about it, so the next incident of high-altitude intrigue doesnt devolve into weeks of high-volume cable news insanity.

Whats new is that, in this age of satellites, simple technology like a balloon can be used to penetrate our airspace, Chen said. Obviously we need more rules.

Christopher Maag is a columnist for the USA TODAY Network. To get unlimited access to his unique perspective on New Jerseys most interesting people and experiences, please subscribe or activate your digital account today.

Email: maag@northjersey.com

Twitter: @Chris_Maag

This article originally appeared on NorthJersey.com: Shooting down the Chinese spy balloon wasn't easy. Here is why
Nina Jankowicz, who helmed the Disinformation Governance Board at the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) last year, has decided to crowdfund a suit against Fox News for allegedly spreading malicious, reckless lies about her.

According to the Biden administration, the Board was created to combat false narratives around domestic terrorism and human trafficking along the border, but it was viewed by many to have a much broader brief to monitor and possibly curtail disfavored political speech. According to Jankowicz, Fox News is at least partially responsible for this perception and cut short her lifelong dream of serving the public.

After my position was announced, baseless claims that the board was an Orwellian Ministry of Truth and I was President Bidens chief censor spread, explained Jankowicz in a five-minute video appeal for funds replete with dramatic music.

Fox News launched overly personalized, false, and incendiary coverage of me, mainstreaming online conspiracy theories to tens of million of Americans, she added.

Fox News lied about me hundreds of times to tens of millions of people. Help me hold them accountable for the harm they do.https://t.co/m7O8m50OPmhttps://t.co/4K7RgedI90  Nina Jankowicz (@wiczipedia) March 2, 2023

Jankowicz had been working as a disinformation fellow for the Wilson Center until she began at DHS in March 2022. She would tender her resignation a couple months later.

At that point in May, DHS had decided to pause the Boards activities and was considering shutting the Board down altogether. The Department followed through in August, terminating its charter.

The Department will continue to address threat streams that undermine the security of our country consistent with the law, while upholding the privacy, civil rights, and civil liberties of the American people and promoting transparency in our work, read a DHS statement.

Story continues

In the video, Jankowicz narrated examples of damage Fox had done to her.

They lied and completely manufactured my past statements. They called me a liar. They called me crazy, explained Jankowicz. And they told their audience I was evil.

Jankowicz claimed she had received hundreds of violent threats and she had experienced thousands of instances of online harassment.

Fox News irrevocably changed my lifeIve lost something irreplaceable: peace with my son during his first year in the world, Jankowicz explained.

As soon as her role was announced, Jankowicz was harshly criticized for her record and online behavior, which included her vocal discrediting of the now-verified Hunter Biden laptop story.

Criticism continued through May when she resigned, and Jankowicz claimed Fox has mentioned in most weeks for the rest of 2022.

Fox cant keep getting away with targeting Americans for their hateful rhetoric and lies. Trying to silence professionals doing their jobs is not journalism. Its vigilantism. And thats ruining lives. So please donate what you can, Jankowicz concluded.

She is requesting $100,000.

The funds are not only for the defamation suit, but also for legal costs she claims are associated with Foxs behavior.

Jankowicz said she retained a lawyer in connection with an expected subpoena from Representative Jim Jordan, chair of the Subcommittee on the Weaponization of Federal Government. She claimed Jordan has lied about her and her body of work.

Jankowicz also said she had to hire an attorney to file a protective order against one of her harassers, and a separate counsel to defend her against what she calls frivolous, nonsensical lawsuits.

Jankowicz concluded by assuring donors that she will not waste, divert, or profit from your donations.

More from National Review
A Puyallup police officer who was fired this week after his arrest for allegedly raping a woman is connected to another reported sexual assault that occurred out of state, charging papers show.

Niamkey Ange Amichia, 32, is accused locally of raping a woman he met online on Oct. 7 of last year, according to charging papers for third-degree rape. The woman told Pierce County sheriffs deputies that he picked her up at her apartment north of Frederickson, drove her down the road, raped her and forced her out of his truck. She noted his license plate, called 911 and went to the hospital.

On Feb. 28, DNA from the womans exam came back as a match to specimens from an unsolved 2016 rape case in Connecticut, according to charging papers. Public records show Amichia previously worked in the state as an electrician before moving to King County in recent years.

The victim in the Connecticut case reported the suspect entered her residence in Waterbury claiming to be a police officer, bound her and raped her, according to the Pierce County charging papers. The suspect left behind a condom with his DNA. Connecticut court records indicate he has not been charged in the case.

Pierce County Superior Court Commissioner Craig Adams entered a not-guilty plea on Amichias behalf and set bail at $200,000 during his arraignment Friday afternoon. Amichia was represented by public defense attorney Corddaryl Woodford, who reserved argument on bail. Adams said Amichia might not qualify financially for public defense and set a mid-March hearing to evaluate his ability to pay for a private attorney.

Amichia appeared in court unshackled in a green nylon smock meant to prevent jail inmates from dying by suicide. He shook his head as he spoke with Woodford at points and held his face in his hand before corrections deputies led him out of the courtroom.

Niamkey Ange Amichia, 32, makes an initial appearance in Pierce County Superior Court on Friday, March 3, 2023, in Tacoma, Wash. Amichia, a former Puyallup police officer, is accused locally of raping a woman he met online on Oct. 7 of last year, according to charging papers for third-degree rape.

Deputy prosecutor Afton Gregson said Amichia is originally from South Africa and requested he relinquish his passport. Adams also ordered Amichia to surrender any weapons he owns.

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Amichia went through Washingtons Basic Law Enforcement Academy with the Bellevue Police Department in 2021 but was later let go because he couldnt pass internal training programs, according to spokesperson Meeghan Black. She said Amichia resigned in lieu of termination and did not know the specifics of his training issues.

The Puyallup Police Department hired Amichia in August and fired him upon his arrest this week, according to Police Chief Scott Engle. Engle said Amichia was still in training as of this week. He declined to comment further on the investigation.

Dispatch records show Amichia responded to his final call of the night for Puyallup police about two and a half hours before deputies responded to the rape report.

Sheriffs spokesman Sgt. Darren Moss said it was not immediately clear Amichia was a police officer when the rape was reported in October.

Charging papers show detectives did not immediately re-contact the victim because her voicemail inbox was full and she did not call back. Investigators formally interviewed her Tuesday, after the DNA results matching the Connecticut case came back.

If we dont have a cooperative victim, the prosecutor wont even look at the case, said Moss, who noted the sexual assault unit investigates two to three new cases per week. When the DNA came back in connection to a violent rape this week, the case became a priority.

Once we identified him and knew he was a police officer, it was extremely crucial to not have him on the street, Moss said.

The Sheriffs Department coordinated with Puyallup police to arrest Amichia as he was beginning a patrol shift Thursday night, according to Moss.

After interviewing the victim, detectives identified cell phone-location data that put Amichia in the area of the rape at the time it allegedly occurred. His trucks license plate also matched the one the victim took down at the scene.

The victim told deputies that Amichia agreed to pay her $400 for sex, but she declined to have sex without a condom, according to charging papers. She said Amichia demanded she have sex with him, and she complied out of fear of harm.

Amichia reportedly told the woman she was lucky he didnt decide to kill her as he forced her out of his truck, charging papers allege.

In interviews with the investigators after his arrest, Amichia admitted to paying women for sex outside his marriage but maintained he never forced himself upon someone, according to charging papers. Amichia said he had sex with the victim but was under the impression they were going on a date and did not agree to pay her.

Amichia said he didnt remember if he used a condom but generally relies on women to bring them during meet-ups, charging papers show. Text messages with the victim indicated he was responsible for bringing one.

When asked by detectives about the Connecticut rape, Amichia first replied, another prostitute, and claimed he couldnt remember back to 2016, according to charging papers.

Amichia later said he was role-playing as a police officer and did zip-tie the woman to have sex, according to charging papers.

DNA collected from Amichia during his arrest is pending analysis, charging papers show.

Court staff attempted to call Amichias wife at their home in Issaquah on Friday but no one picked up, according to court documents. Officials documented that Amichia required English interpreter services at some point while he was in custody.

Moss said the Sheriffs Department investigation remains active and urged potential victims to come forward.

Obviously we are going to keep looking at this, Moss said.
The seal of the United States Department of Justice.

NEW YORK  A former U.S. Army private from Louisville who was devoted to a violent extremist group seeking to erode or destroy Western civilization was sentenced to the maximum 45 years in prison Friday for plotting a murderous terrorist attack on his paratrooper unit.

Ethan Melzers hands trembled as the judge said he deserved the maximum because of the lasting harm he caused by sharing U.S. military secrets with other followers of a radical violent group known as the Order of Nine Angles, or 09A, and other terrorist groups.

U.S. District Judge Gregory H. Woods rejected the 24-year-olds claim to be a remorseful, reformed man, saying it was more likely he was playing another role in pursuit of leniency just as he had played soldier so he could conspire to try to murder fellow paratroopers.

Louisville crime news:Louisville man charged with shooting at now-Mayor Craig Greenberg to mount insanity defense

Melzers lawyers had asked that he get no more than 15 years behind bars. He pleaded guilty last June to trying to murder service members, supporting terrorists and illegally transmitting defense information.

I still regret everything I did, Melzer told the judge before his sentence was announced. He said he wished I could say Im sorry to my platoon and wanted to show he could still be a productive member of society.

Shackled at the ankles, Melzer was later escorted from the courtroom by deputy U.S. marshals.

Without a plea deal, Melzer could have faced a life prison term.

Calling Melzer a traitor, Assistant U.S. Attorney Matthew Hellman said his actions constituted one of the most stunning betrayals from within the ranks of the armed forces ... ever to be prosecuted in a federal court.

Capt. Joshua Kraus, a military intelligence officer, told the judge Melzer created a psychological cancer within his unit as the trust soldiers must put in their commanders and fellow service members was thrown into question with his May 30, 2020, arrest as his platoon was about to board buses to Italy.

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The unit was heading to a military base where they were to guard an isolated and sensitive military installation.

Kraus said information Melzer shared online with our sworn enemies will never be able to be recovered and has caused allies to doubt whether they can share sensitive information with the United States.

Our allies and enemies are very aware of this case, Kraus said.

CJNG cartel update:Cartel flooded coastal Oregon town with drugs, left grisly warning for those who might talk

Capt. Jacob Ferris, the former head of Melzers unit, said the platoon known as The Cowboys was riding high when they were chosen from among 20 platoons for their sensitive mission, only to find that one of their own had deceived and betrayed them and left them labeled as a platoon that had a terrorist.

He said Melzers fellow paratroopers in the 173rd Airborne Brigade Combat Team were left feeling angry as they contemplated that one of their own had planned to kill them.

He said the other soldiers faced questioning by investigators who wanted to know if they had seen signs that Melzer was betraying his oath to the United States, and it left them confronting what they might have missed.

One, Ferris said, told him: I feel like out of 35 people, one of us should have seen the signs.

Attorney Jonathan Marvinny, representing Melzer, requested leniency, saying his client had fallen beneath the spell of a ridiculous cult, and he urged the judge not to heed prosecutors who paint him as if hes a monster.

Kentucky lawyer kidnapping:A lawyer says she was kidnapped by her client. Her book may help overturn his conviction

Authorities said Melzer joined the military to infiltrate its ranks on behalf of a group espousing neo-Nazi, antisemitic and Satanic beliefs. They said the group tells members to subvert the military from within by infiltrating it to gain training, commit acts of violence and identify like-minded individuals.

Prosecutors said in court papers that Melzer planned to join co-conspirators he met online to carry out a jihadi attack that would cause a mass casualty event that would provoke the United States into engaging in a foreign war, causing mass bloodshed and terrible harm to the very country he had sworn to protect.

This article originally appeared on Louisville Courier Journal: Former U.S. soldier, Kentucky man shared intel with terrorist groups
ExxonMobil is being sued by the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, which claims the company failed to protect workers from racial harassment. Richard Drew/AP

ExxonMobil didn't protect workers from racial discrimination, a federal agency says in a new suit.

Five nooses were found at a Louisiana Exxon plant, the EEOC says in the lawsuit.

Exxon told Insider it disagrees with the EEOC's findings, and said it "thoroughly investigated."

ExxonMobil didn't protect a worker from racial harassment when the company failed to take measures to prevent nooses from being hung at a plant in Louisiana, a federal agency claimed in a lawsuit filed this week.

The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission said a Black employee at an ExxonMobil plant in Baton Rouge found and reported a noose hanging at his workstation in January 2020, the agency said in the lawsuit.

At the time the employee reported the noose, the company was aware of three prior incidents involving nooses at the facility, the EEOC said. In April 2016, the company was informed of a noose in the facility, and subsequently banned two contractors from the site following an investigation, according to the suit.

While the contractors were banned, the suit claims that ExxonMobil did not take other measures like counseling or policy changes. In a second incident in March 2019, another noose was identified and reported, the suit said.

A supervisor removed the noose, but didn't notify human resources, and no investigation took place, the suit claims. Following the March 2019 incident, yet another noose was reported in August 2019, but an investigation was unable to determine who was responsible, the suit says.

The suit says that the August 2019 investigation also led to other recommendations to "remedy harassment in the workplace," but not all of the measures were taken before a fourth noose was found in January 2020.

Milferd McGhee, a Black man who had worked at the facility since 2010, reported the fourth noose, which was hanging at his worksite, the EEOC said in its suit. McGhee reported the noose to his supervisor, and another investigation was unable to identify who installed the noose, the suit said.

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However, the suit claims, the investigation did lead to more recommendations, not all of which were followed before McGhee found a fifth noose in December 2020.

The EEOC said in its suit that ExxonMobil's lack of action constitutes a violation of McGhee's civil right to avoid being racially harassed at his place of work by failing to act on the measures recommended by the investigations.

"When employers become aware of racially offensive or threatening conduct in the workplace, they have a legal obligation to take prompt, remedial action aimed at stopping it," said Rudy Sustaita, regional attorney for the EEOC's Houston District Office.

An ExxonMobil spokesperson told Insider in a statement that the company disagrees with the EEOC's findings and the allegations made by the agency.

"We encourage employees to report claims like this, and we thoroughly investigated," the spokesperson said. "The symbols of hate are unacceptable, offensive, and in violation of our corporate policies. We have a zero tolerance policy of any form of harassment or discrimination in the workplace by or towards employees, contractors, suppliers or customers."

The lawsuit seeks compensation for McGhee's emotional damages, as well as punitive damages for "malicious and/or reckless conduct." It also seeks to order ExxonMobil to implement policies to ensure equal employment opportunities, among other policies to combat discrimination. It's filed in US District Court in Louisiana.

Read the original article on Business Insider
Photo: The Canadian Press An RCMP officer stands by as Prime Minister Justin Trudeau addresses new Canadians during a citizenship ceremony in Kelowna, B.C., Wednesday, Sept. 6, 2017. Trudeau says having an Indigenous person serve as the next RCMP commissioner is "an excellent idea." THE CANADIAN PRESS/Darryl Dyck

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau says having an Indigenous person serve as the next commissioner of the RCMP is "an excellent idea."

He made the comment in response to questions from reporters in Winnipeg today about a call from some First Nations leadership for the government to ensure the next top Mountie is Indigenous.

RCMP Commissioner Brenda Lucki is set to retire from her post this month, slightly before the end of her five-year term.

She was appointed in April 2018 and led the force during a chaotic few years that included the deadliest mass shooting in modern Canadian history, along with growing calls to defund the police and allegations of systemic racism in the force.

Trudeau says the next RCMP commissioner will be selected through an independent process and he did not commit to ensuring Lucki's successor is Indigenous.

He says bringing change to an institution like the RCMP "is not just about putting the right person at the top."
The claim: '15-minute city' planned in Ottawa will confine residents

A Jan. 19 Facebook post (direct link, archived link) features a screenshot of a tweet that includes a photo of a sign with the words "15-minute city" written on it.

"Ugh a sign at a construction site in downtown Ottawa," reads the tweet's caption.

"Ready to be confined within 15 minutes of your home? For the rest of your life?" reads the Facebook post's caption. "It's coming and only people who are dead on the inside will not understand."

The post was shared more than 60 times since it was posted. Other versions of the claim using the same image of the sign are circulating on Facebook and Twitter.

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Our rating: False

While Ottawa officials are planning to implement the "15-minute cities" concept in the city, the creator of the concept and city officials say it will not restrict the movements of citizens.

New reforms won't prevent Ottawans from leaving their neighborhoods

In November 2022, Ontario's Ministry of Municipal Affairs and Housing approved Ottawa's New Official Plan, which maps out a long-term development and infrastructure plan for the city.

Much of what the plan calls its "Five Big Moves" are based on the idea of 15-minute neighborhoods, which Ottawa officials describe as communities where most essential services citizens need are within a 15-minute walk.

But none of the new policies will limit residents' mobility throughout the city, according to David Wise, acting director of Economic Development and Long-Range Planning for the city.

Canada players wear "enough is enough" shirts during the national anthem before the match against Brazil at Geodis Park during the SheBelieves Cup on Feb. 19, 2023.

"The idea of 15-minute cities is not new and has nothing to do with banning or restricting movement," Wise said in an email. "It is about the idea of giving people the option to walk to meet their daily or weekly needs by allowing destinations to be closer together, and improving conditions to make the journey safer and more enjoyable."

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There is nothing in the text of the plan that suggests residents will be restricted to their neighborhoods.

The signage pictured in the post belongs to the Ottawa property development company Brigil, whose logo is visible in the post.

Sylvie Carbonneau, a spokesperson for Brigil, confirmed the sign pictured in the posts is located at one of the company's construction sites at 265 Catherine Street in Ottawa.

The idea for the upcoming housing and commercial development at the site is that "residents will be within a 15-minute walk from all services, which will be easily and safely accessible," Carbonneau told USA TODAY in an email.

While the team at Brigil was "deeply inspired" by the 15-minute neighborhoods concept, "it is not something that the council/local government has requested as a matter of policy," Carbonneau said.

This is not the first time social media users have misrepresented the aims of 15 and 20-minute city plans around the world.

Carlos Moreno, the creator of the "15-minute cities" concept, previously told USA TODAY the notion that 15-minute cities will restrict or confine residents to their neighborhoods is false.

Fact check: False claim '15-minute cities' are actually 'climate lockdowns'

Another iteration of the viral post claims residents will "own nothing" and that "climate checkpoints" will be introduced as a result of the 15-minute neighborhood policies.

But that's not true either, according to Wise and Liam Harrington, an assistant to Ottawa mayor Mark Sutcliffe.

The Ottawa New Official Plan does not include any policies that would restrict residents' possessions or create "climate checkpoints."

USA TODAY reached out to the social media users who shared the posts for comment. The Facebook user did not provide evidence for their claim.

Reuters also debunked this claim.

Our fact-check sources:

Thank you for supporting our journalism. You can subscribe to our print edition, ad-free app or electronic newspaper replica here.

Our fact-check work is supported in part by a grant from Facebook.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Fact check: False claim '15-minute' neighborhoods limit Ottawans' mobility
The claim: Supreme Court will consider case to reinstate Donald Trump

A Feb. 27 Instagram post (direct link, archived link) shows a screenshot of a recently deleted tweet about the Supreme Court.

"BREAKING: Supreme Court will consider case to reinstate Donald Trump and remove Joe Biden from office," the tweet reads.

The post's caption references the case Brunson v. Adams.

The post generated over 2,000 likes in less than a week and the original tweet accumulated over 70,000 likes. Similar posts have spread widely on Instagram.

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Our rating: False

The Supreme Court declined to hear the case in January and again on Feb. 21, before the post was shared. Numerous recounts and audits have affirmed that President Joe Biden won the 2020 election legitimately.

Supreme Court declined to hear Brunson v. Adams

There is no truth to the claim that the Supreme Court will consider the case Brunson v. Adams, according to Aziz Huq, a professor of law at the University of Chicago.

Brunson v. Adams was brought forth by three brothers who accused nearly 400 members of Congress, Biden, Vice President Kamala Harris, former Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi and former Vice President Mike Pence of failing to investigate baseless allegations that the 2020 election was rigged.

The plaintiffs also called for the removal of Biden and Harris from office. Trump was not specifically named in the lawsuit.

After an appellate court and district court dismissed the case in October 2022, the plaintiffs filed a petition for the Supreme Court to hear the case. The high court refused to hear the case in January and once again on Feb. 21 after a petition for rehearing was filed. This decision was made before the Instagram post was shared.

Fact check: False claim that Donald Trump can be reinstated by Moore v. Harper SCOTUS ruling

Numerous recounts, reviews and forensic audits have affirmed that the 2020 presidential election results are legitimate, as USA TODAY previously reported. Biden garnered 81 million popular votes compared to Trump's 74 million, as well as 306 electoral votes to Trump's 232.

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The Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency and other election officials also said in a statement that the 2020 election was the "most secure in American history," and there is "no evidence that any voting system deleted or lost votes, changed votes or was in any way compromised."

USA TODAY has debunked related claims about the 2020 election, including baseless assertions that the Pennsylvania Supreme Court ruled that the 2020 election was rigged and that Trump can be reinstated by the Supreme Court's Moore v. Harper ruling.

USA TODAY reached out to the social media users who shared the claim for comment.

The Associated Press, Check Your Fact and Reuters also debunked the claim.

Our fact-check sources:

Thank you for supporting our journalism. You can subscribe to our print edition, ad-free app or electronic newspaper replica here.

Our fact-check work is supported in part by a grant from Facebook.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Fact check: Supreme Court declined to hear Brunson v. Adams on Feb. 21
Cities where people can live a short walk from work, school and other daily essentials rather than braving traffic-clogged highways or long commutes: utopian ideal or dystopian nightmare?

In 2023, apparently, it depends on who you ask.

Some conservative commentators and conspiracy theorists are increasingly convinced the concept of a 15-minute city  an urban design principle recently embraced by cities ranging from Paris, France to Cleveland, Ohio  is the latest nefarious plot to curtail individual freedoms.

You wont be able to use your own car on certain roads and highways without the governments permission and consent, claimed one Instagram user in a recent video thats been liked more than 5,400 times. You will be constantly monitored by surveillance cameras to ensure that you dont leave your designated residential zone without first being authorized to do so.

But urban experts and city officials stress the idea has nothing to do with regulating peoples movements or taking away other freedoms. In some cases, they say, its being wrongly conflated with local plans to mitigate traffic-clogged roads.

Heres a closer look at the facts.

CLAIM: 15-minute cities are designed to restrict peoples movements, increase government surveillance and infringe on other individual rights.

THE FACTS: The urban planning concept is simply about building more compact, walkable communities where people are less reliant on cars.

The conspiracy theories took off late last year in the United Kingdom, as the concept was conflated with an effort to impose new traffic restrictions to ease congestion in and around the famous university community of Oxford.

The county government of Oxfordshire approved a system of traffic filters for six busy roads on which drivers will need a special permit to travel during daytime hours.

But Tony Ecclestone, spokesperson for the Oxford City Council, said the countys initiative is separate from the councils endorsement of the 15-minute cities concept, which is a key part of a city planning document its developing.

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He pointed to a fact sheet the county and city governments issued jointly in December to set the record straight.

The fact sheet states that the filters arent physical barriers that will confine people to their local area, but instead traffic cameras that will photograph the license plates of any non-compliant drivers, who could then be subject to a fine. Drivers will still be able to travel to any part of the city at any time, but may have to take a different route.

The 15-minute neighborhoods proposal, meanwhile, aims to ensure that every resident has all the essentials (shops, healthcare, parks) within a 15-minute walk of their home, the fact sheet says. The goal is to support and add services, not restrict them.

Urban planning experts credit Carlos Moreno, a professor at the University of Paris 1 Pantheon-Sorbonne, with popularizing the 15-minute city concept. Paris Mayor Anne Hidalgo has been one of its most visible proponents, making it a central tenet in her successful re-election campaign in 2020.

Dan Luscher, creator of The 15-Minute City, a blog devoted to the design concept, argues its first and foremost about choice, not coercion.

It is about creating neighborhoods and cities with urban amenities close at hand, and with convenient and safe options for getting around, he wrote in an email. It is about enabling people to get their needs met within their own neighborhood, not confining them to that neighborhood. It is about mobility, not lockdown.

Robert Steuteville, of the Congress for the New Urbanism, a D.C. nonprofit that advocates for walkable cities, agreed, adding the notion also isnt all that novel: most cities built before 1950, when highways and suburbs became dominant, were 15-minute cities.

The point is to provide more freedom of choice as to where a person can comfortably and affordably live in the city, not to prevent freedom of movement, Nate Storring, co-executive director of the Project for Public Spaces, a New York nonprofit advocating for better urban design, wrote in an email.

Conspiracy theorists are tapping into COVID-19 pandemic-era vitriol against lockdowns when they falsely portray the concept as a climate lockdown, notes Carlo Ratti, director of the Senseable City Laboratory at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

Theyre also drawing on far-right tropes about global-minded organizations pushing a socialist agenda and a  Great Reset  of society, he said. Indeed, a related conspiracy theory circulating online recently falsely claims the United Nations and the World Economic Forum will forcibly remove people living on polluted land and require them to live in smart cities.

Even for those unversed in the vocabulary of the alt-right, the notion of distant elites ripping apart ones way of life in order to conform to their notion of an optimal city can be a difficult one to stomach, Ratti wrote in an email.

In Cleveland, Mayor Justin Bibb hopes his northeast Ohio city can become the countrys first to implement the planning framework.

But theres been no talk of imposing new traffic regulations or restricting personal freedoms, confirms Marie Zickefoose, Bibbs spokesperson. City officials have so far conducted a land use study and are working on updating city policies to encourage a better mix of amenities along main commercial and transit corridors, she said.

The goal of the 15-minute city is to provide convenient and equitable access to necessities like healthcare, schools, grocery stores, jobs, and greenspace, Zickefoose wrote in an email. Our transportation system and neighborhood configurations currently provide this access to residents with cars, which leaves out almost a quarter of our residents. ___ This is part of APs effort to address widely shared misinformation, including work with outside companies and organizations to add factual context to misleading content that is circulating online. Learn more about fact-checking at AP.
(Reuters) - Following are some details about Ales Bialiatski, who was sentenced on Friday to 10 years in prison by a Belarusian court on charges of financing protests and smuggling money into Belarus. He denied the charges, which he and other human rights activists called politically motivated.

NOBEL PRIZE

Bialiatski, 60, won the 2022 Nobel Peace Prize together with Russian human rights organisation Memorial and Ukrainian human rights organisation Center for Civil Liberties. Fellow human rights campaigners portray him as a symbol of resistance to oppression in Belarus and globally.

RIGHTS AND PRO-DEMOCRACY ACTIVIST

Bialiatski started campaigning for Belarusian independence and democracy in the early 1980s, and organised anti-Soviet protests before the Soviet Union's collapse.

During mass opposition protests in 1996, he co-founded the Viasna human rights organisation with the aim of providing financial and legal assistance to political prisoners and their families. Viasna also documented abuses against and torture of political prisoners by the authorities. Belarus has dismissed the allegations.

PRISON

Bialiatski was imprisoned from 2011 to 2014 on a charge of tax evasion in the funding of Viasna, a charge he denied. He was arrested again in 2021 during a crackdown on anti-government protests that erupted after Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko was declared the winner of a presidential election in 2020. The opposition said the election was rigged, a charge the long-time leader denied.

TRIAL

Bialiatski and two others went on trial in January on charges of "smuggling by an organised group" and "financing of group actions grossly violating the public order". Amnesty International called it "a blatant act of injustice wherein the state is clearly seeking to enact revenge for their activism".

SCHOLAR

Bialiatski was born on Sept. 25, 1962 and graduated from Homiel State University in 1984 with a degree in Russian and Belarusian Philology. After initially working as a schoolteacher, he went on to become a scholar of Belarusian literature and museum director.

(Editing by Timothy Heritage and Frances Kerry)
Farmers in and around East Palestine have big questions about their livelihoods and the agricultural industry after the train derailment.

News Center 7s John Bedell asked Governor Mike DeWine on Friday about their questions.

DeWine spent part of his Friday in the Miami Valley. While he was here, News Center 7 asked him about the serious concerns farmers have about their soil, their crops, and their livestock after the toxic train derailment last month.

>> Railway Safety Act: How new proposed legislation aims to prevent train disasters like East Palestine

I have a part ownership in a farm, so Im concerned about that, said Eloise Harmon, of East Palestine. The soil at the farm, Can we plant? Can we not plant? Will anybody buy it, if we do plant?

News Center 7 took those concerns to DeWine.

Theres going to be soil testing. Anybody want soil testing, thats going to be provided. So its very important, the testing of the water continues, the testing of air continues, DeWine said. Were going to see the testing of the soil as well. So I understand peoples concerns. I think we see that. But, you know, if theyre seeing anything, the growth of the livestock, you know, part of agriculture obviously can become involved in that. We can get the state veterinary involved in that.

>>East Palestine derailment: Timeline of key events in toxic train disaster

News Center 7 also asked DeWine about farmers who say they have concerns about planting this spring in the soil.

We really can get the experts in. Going to have a meeting of farmers, you know, with AG experts from our different universities brought from the state and really to allow them to hear that concern. So its an understandable concern. Im not the expert. Were going to bring in the experts. Well put them together with the farmers, DeWine said.

As we reported earlier this week, both of Ohios senators have co-sponsored legislation aimed at preventing train derailments like the one that happened in East Palestine from happening again.




Emanuelle Vazquez sits with his defense attorneys, Tuesday, Feb. 28, 2023, during his first-degree murder trial in the death of his infant son.

A judge sentenced a father to life in prison plus 30 years for killing his infant son, who was not yet 3 months old when he suffered fatal injuries at their Deltona home. The father complained at his sentencing that he was innocent and the real killer remained free.

A jury of seven women and five men took a little more than an hour Thursday to find Emanuelle Vazquez, 33, guilty of first-degree felony murder and aggravated child abuse in the trial at the S. James Foxman Justice Center in Daytona Beach.

His son, Julius JJ Vazquez, was just shy of turning 3 months old when he died Nov. 15, 2018. At the time, Vazquez was living in Deltona; he was living in Orlando when he was arrested in 2020.

The trial:Father stands trial for murder in death of infant son in Deltona

Father arrested:Father arrested in 2018 homicide of Deltona infant

Spared death:Marcus Pinckney spared death sentence, will serve life in prison

Vazquez testified that he had taken his son outside to a swing in the yard at 2807 Grayton St. to try and calm him because the child was fussy. But Vazquez testified that after being on the swing for a short time his son went limp. Vazquez said he tried to revive the child by pouring water on his head with a hose. In the process, Vazquez said he dropped him.

He said he picked the child up and went back inside the house to tell his wife and they called 911. Vazquez did not initially tell investigators that he had dropped the child. During his testimony Vazquez tried to cast blame on his son's mothers ex-husband.

Circuit Judge Leah Case sentenced Vazquez to the mandatory life in prison on the first-degree felony murder charge. She then sentenced him to the maximum 30 years in prison on the aggravated child abuse charge. The judge said the 30-year sentence would be consecutive to the life sentence.

Case noted that Vazquez never mentioned during interviews with investigators after the childs death that the mothers ex-husband posed a threat to the children. Vazquez instead said the ex-husband was trustworthy and he had no problems with him.

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"Not once, not once did you talk about him ever being violent until you got on the stand today," Case said. "I did not find your testimony credible, reasonable or believable."

The judge noted that a medical expert had testified that the child had suffered injuries as if he had been flung off a speeding motorcycle in a crash. The childs liver was nearly cut in half and his spleen was lacerated. The child also suffered a brain injury. She said the credible medical evidence showed there was "no way" the injuries could have occurred without immediate major symptoms, including loss of consciousness.

Vazquez appeared to cry at times after the verdict, wiping at his eyes with tissue.

"Life is not fair in general, but one thing I can assure the court and everyone in here is that I never caused any harm to my son," said Vazquez, adding he was still grieving his son. "The one who actually did it gets away with it and is still out there in society while I've got to serve life for a crime I never committed. And I think the court was very unfair. It was not right for somebody that's innocent to be sentenced to prison for life over something that I never did."

Emanuelle Vazquez wipes his nose and appeared to cry after jurors on Thursday found him guilty of felony murder and aggravated child abuse in the death of his infant son.

Vazquezs mother, Lourdes Caballero, also spoke saying that while her son had made mistakes in life, he would have never harmed his son. She wept in the courtroom after the verdict and as her son was sentenced to life.

During closing arguments, Assistant State Attorney Andrew Urbanak, who prosecuted the case along with Assistant State Attorney Sarah Thomas, said that investigators don't know how Julius suffered the deadly injuries. Urbanak also said that he didn't believe Vazquez meant to kill Julius. But he added that intent was not needed to show first-degree felony murder. What was needed and what the jury found was that Vazquez also committed aggravated child abuse.

Emanuelle Vazquez testifies Thursday about using a water hose to place water on the head of his infant son, Julian "JJ" Vazquez. Vazquez was convicted of felony murder and sentence to life for his son's death.

Emanuelle Vazquez wipes his eye while testifying Thursday. Vazquez was convicted of first-degree felony murder and aggravated child abuse in the death of his infant son.

Assistant Public Defender John Selden, who represented Vazquez along with Assistant Public Defender James Smith, argued that prosecutors had not shown beyond a reasonable doubt that Vazquez was responsible for his son's injuries. He said Vazquez had cooperated with investigators from the Volusia County Sheriff's Office. Selden argued there was no proof that the injuries happened when the child was with Vazquez and they could have happened hours earlier.

Selden said that Vazquez and the mother, Stephanie Jones, had another child, a daughter, and there had been no problems involving her.

On the aggravated child abuse charge, Urbanak asked the judge to sentence Vazquez to the 30 years consecutive to the life sentence. Selden asked the judge to sentence him to 10 years concurrent.

Vazquez has a felony conviction in Orange County for cocaine and marijuana possession from 2016. He was also charged with delivery of cocaine in 2013 in Orange County, but adjudication was withheld in that case, meaning it was not considered a conviction on his record.

This article originally appeared on The Daytona Beach News-Journal: Deltona father sentenced to life plus 30 years in infant son's murder
This image from the FBI arrest affidavit identifies Olivia Pollock of Lakeland as taking part in the U.S. Capitol riot.

Olivia Pollock, a Lakeland resident scheduled to face trial Monday on charges related to the U.S. Capitol attack, has followed her brother in becoming a fugitive from federal authorities.

The U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia issued bench warrants Tuesday for both Pollock and Joseph Hutchinson III, a friend and former Lakeland resident also charged with felonies connected to the insurrection of Jan. 6, 2021.

The District Courts pretrial services division received notification on Monday that Pollock and Hutchinson had either tampered with or removed the ankle GPS monitors they were required to wear as part of their release on bond, said Joe Boland, supervisory special agent for the FBIs Lakeland office. Agents had not found either Hutchinson or Pollock as of Friday afternoon, Boland said.

They have not been located or arrested, Boland said Friday afternoon. At this point, we're still making efforts to try to locate them.

Joseph Hutchinson, in gray circle, is allegedly shown fighting with officers outside the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, in an image from a federal arrest affidavit. Jonathan Pollock is identified inside the green circle.

Judge denies motions to dismiss cases against Jan. 6 defendants from Polk County

Local Jan. 6 defendants seek to limit prosecutors' language, claim permission from Trump

Jan. 6 defendants from Polk County waive rights to jury trial

Pollocks younger brother, Jonathan Pollock, was indicted along with her and three others in June 2021 but was not at the family property in the Kathleen area when FBI agents arrived to arrest Olivia. Jonathan Pollock, 24, has remained a fugitive since then, and the FBI has offered a reward of up to $30,000 for information leading to his arrest.

Hutchinson now lives in Georgia, and his case was separated from those of Pollock and two co-defendants, Joshua Doolin of Polk City and Michael Perkins of Plant City, after he asked to represent himself at his trial.

Boland said that FBI agents have interviewed Olivia Pollocks family members, who live on a shared property near Lake Galloway. A sign posted on the family property since 2021 refers to those charged with Jan. 6 crimes as "political prisoners."

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Olivia Pollock, 32, is charged with assaulting law-enforcement officers, entering and remaining in restricted grounds, disrupting government activities and engaging in violence on the U.S. Capitol grounds.

Pollock and Perkins are accused of assaulting police officers outside the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, during a violent protest by supporters of former President Donald Trump objecting to the certification of the 2020 presidential election results. Doolin is charged with disorderly and disruptive conduct in a restricted building or grounds and theft of government property, among other alleged crimes.

Pollock was in the Lakeland area when the pre-trial services office detected that her GPS monitor had been tampered with, Boland said.

The bench warrants for Pollock and Hutchinson were unsealed during a court hearing Friday in Washington, D.C., Boland said. U.S. District Judge Carl Nichols is presiding over the trials of Olivia Pollock, Doolin and Perkins.

The trial, scheduled to begin Monday, will proceed as scheduled in case Pollock appears, Boland said. If she doesnt, the trials of Doolin and Perkins will begin Tuesday.

The defendants have waived their rights to a jury trial and will instead face a bench trial, with the verdict decided by Nichols.

Hutchinson, 26, is a friend of the Pollock family and previously worked in a Lakeland gun store operated by Gabriel Pollock, another sibling. Hutchinson moved to Georgia after his indictment in 2021. He has received permission several times to travel back to the Lakeland area for events, including Doolins wedding.

Boland asked that anyone who has information about the locations of either Pollock or Hutchinson contact the FBI at www.fbi.gov or call the Tampa office at 813-253-1000.

The Pollocks and Hutchinson are among seven current and former Polk County residents indicted on charges related to the U.S. Capitol attack.

Gary White can be reached at gary.white@theledger.com or 863-802-7518. Follow on Twitter @garywhite13.

Correction

An earlier version of this story said Joshua Doolin was the person identified in the green circle in the photo. That person is Jonathan Pollock.

This article originally appeared on The Ledger: Two of Lakeland's Jan. 6 defendants become fugitives days before trial
The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) had reportedly rejected a proposal by Elon Musks brain chip company Neuralink to begin testing its implants on humans.

Neuralink has been working on chips that can be implanted into the skull for the possibility of a computer-brain interface, some purposes of which could be to help restore vision in the blind and even help paralysed people walk again.

When Neuralink applied for human testing with the FDA in early 2022, the watchdog rejected the proposal and said there were dozens of issues the company must address, Reuters reported, citing current and former employees at the startup.

Concerns raised by the FDA included worries that Neuralink implants are powered by lithium batteries and fears that wires used in the implants may potentially migrate to different parts of the brain.

The FDA also reportedly raised concerns about whether the Neuralink implants could be removed without causing brain damage.

Employees cited by Reuters didnt share the FDA rejection paperwork from November 2022 due to legal implications.

Mr Musk had said in November last year that the company expected to begin clinical trials in humans in about six months.

Previously in 2021, replying to a Twitter user who claimed to be paralysed in a car accident, Mr Musk said Neuralink was in close communication with the FDA, adding that, if things go well, the company might be able to do initial human trials later this year.

Then he tweeted in November 2022 that he was confident the Neuralink device was ready for humans and said the timing for beginning trials in people was a function of working through the FDA approval process.

We want to be extremely careful and certain that it will work well before putting a device into a human but weve submitted I think most of our paperwork to the FDA and probably in about six months we should be able to upload Neuralink in a human, the multibillionaire had said at a much-awaited show and tell event.

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The company has so far unveiled the working of its technology in monkey models, including one demonstration of a nine-year-old macaque learning to play the 1970s video game classic Pong in return for a banana smoothie reward.

But following complaints by animal rights groups, including the Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine (PCRM), criticising the companys inadequate care of its research monkeys, Neuralink was also subjected to at least one US government probe over alleged mistreatment of its animals.

Citing public records, PCRM also pointed out that Neuralink transported contaminated devices removed from the brains of infected monkeys without safely packaging them.

In a blog post, Neuralink defended the use of monkeys in its research, adding that all novel medical devices and treatments must be tested on animals before they can be trialled on humans.

Nearly 1,500 monkeys, pigs and mice have been killed undergoing Neuralink testing since 2018, Reuters previously reported.

Neuralink doesnt appear to have the mindset and experience thats needed to get this to market anytime soon, Kip Ludwig, former programme director for neural engineering at the US National Institutes of Health, told Reuters.

Neuralink could not be immediately reached for comment by The Independent.
A Colerain Township man is facing federal sex trafficking charges after two 16-year-old girls missing from separate Indiana cities were recovered from his home, according to the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Southern District of Ohio.

Payton Jamar Brown, 26, is charged with sex trafficking of minors and sexually exploiting children, federal court records show.

On Oct. 27, investigators received a report from the safe harbor/human trafficking coordinator with the Hamilton County Juvenile Court after one of the girls was screened at the Hamilton County Juvenile Detention Center as a possible human trafficking victim, according to a criminal complaint.

The girl was identified as missing from Evansville, Indiana, the document states.

Two days prior, that juvenile and another girl, who was missing from Greenwood, Indiana, were recovered from Brown's home at the 3300 block of Niagara Street by Colerain Township police, a FBI special agent said in an affidavit.

Federal prosecutors say Brown met the first victim on the dating app 3Fun.

From June to October 2022, Brown posted photos of the teenager to a website to advertise sexual encounters and she had sex with numerous men for money, prosecutors said. That money was then given to Brown.

The girl even went on a trip with an older man to a motorcycle rally in South Dakota with the expectation that she'd be paid $2,000, the affidavit states. "When she told Brown (of the invitation), his response was, 'you gotta do it, its $2,000.'"

According to prosecutors, Brown also filmed sexual encounters with the girl and tried to sell the videos to others.

The affidavit says Brown and the teenager picked up one of her friends, identified in court documents as the second victim, from Indianapolis and returned to Brown's residence.

Colerain police took both juveniles to the detention center not long after, the document states. Court records do not indicate the second teenager was involved in any sexual activity.

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Court records show Brown was arrested on Feb. 24.

Prosecutors said Brown appeared in federal court in Cincinnati on Wednesday and was ordered to remain in custody pending trial.

Scott Croswell, Brown's attorney, said the case is being reviewed and Brown is anticipated to plead not guilty.

The sex trafficking charge carries a sentence of at least 10 years and up to life in prison, prosecutors say. Sexually exploiting children is punishable by a prison sentence of 15 to 30 years.

This article originally appeared on Cincinnati Enquirer: Feds: Colerain Township man accused of trafficking missing Indiana teen
A Carrollton drug dealer accused of capitalizing on the arrest of two prominent fentanyl traffickers in order to entice young buyers has been charged with a federal drug crime, the U.S. Attorneys Office announced Friday.

Donovan Jude Andrews, 20, was arrested in Carrollton on Wednesday. Hes charged via criminal complaint with conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute a controlled substance. He made his initial appearance before U.S. Magistrate Judge Rebecca Rutherford on Friday morning and was ordered detained pending trial.

According to court documents, in early February, Andrews commented on an Instagram post announcing the arrests of Luis Navarrete and Magaly Cano, the pair of traffickers who federal authorities say are tied to at least 10 overdoses of students in the Carrollton Farmers Branch School District.

Posting under the handle deegetbandz_3x, Andrews wrote that Navarrete and Cano took all the ATTENTION from law enforcement and divulged that he was selling M30 pills for $10 apiece, according to a news release from U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of Texas Leigha Simonton.

Andrews later shared an Instagram post announcing the overdose deaths of three children tied to Navarrete and Cano with the caption (expletive) em come get em, according to the release. Shortly afterward, a 14-year-old girl suffering from an apparent fentanyl overdose told police that she bought five M30 pills through Andrews Instagram account. She said she paid via a cash app and the dealer dropped the pills in her mailbox. Home surveillance video confirmed the delivery, federal authorities said.

Law enforcement officers watched Andrews home and saw him conduct hand-to-hand transactions on the street, according to the release. They also found an 18-year-old student at Hebron High School who said she bought pills from a man named Donovan who used the deegetbandz_3x Instagram handle.

In early March, law enforcement conducted a traffic stop on a Toyota Camry linked to Andrews, the release said. Andrews, who had a baggie of pills stashed inside in his sock, sat in the passenger seat next to a 17-year-old driver, authorities said. The 17-year-old, also a student at Hebron High, told law enforcement that he drove Andrews around in return for fentanyl pills.

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According to the complaint, law enforcement concluded that Andrews dealt fentanyl to minors knowing fully well that counterfeit M30 pills like the ones he was distributing were responsible for multiple overdoses and deaths.

Most of us recoiled in horror when we heard that nine Carrollton children suffered 10 fentanyl overdoses in the span of just six months. Mr. Andrews, on the other hand, allegedly seized on the situation as a marketing opportunity. Knowing full well that fentanyl was killing our kids, he allegedly attempted to convert survivors into customers, Simonton said. The Justice Department works tirelessly to investigate and prosecute fentanyl traffickers. But when we arrest one dealer, another inevitably pops up to take his place. We need the communitys help to educate our kids about the danger of fentanyl. One pill  or even half or a quarter of one pill  can kill.

If convicted, Andrews faces up to 20 years in federal prison.

The Drug Enforcement Administrations Dallas Field Division and the Carrollton Police Department conducted the investigation. Assistant U.S. Attorneys Rick Calvert and Phelesa Guy are prosecuting the case.

Fentanyl-laced pills often look similar to legitimate prescription pills like Oxycontin or Percocet but can pose significantly more danger, according to the Justice Department. On the street, these pills are often referred to as M30s (a reference to the markings on some of the pills), blues, perks, yerks, china girls or TNT. DEA research shows that six out of 10 pills laced with fentanyl contain a potentially lethal dose.

For resources, visit https://www.dea.gov/onepill.
The fiancee of murdered Florida reporter Dylan Lyons revealed she had his sperm collected hours after he was shot with the hopes of conceiving his child via in vitro fertilization.

Dylan and I wanted nothing more than to get married and have children, Casey Fite wrote on a GoFundMe page aimed at raising $50,000.

The night he passed away, I researched about harvesting his sperm. I called doctor after doctor until I found one who was able to perform the procedure within the 24-hour period.

Fite said the doctor was ultimately able to recover eight vials of sperm, which she hopes to use to have the baby we so desperately wanted to have together.

Lyons, a reporter for Spectrum News 13, was shot alongside his photographer, Jesse Walden, in Pine Hills on February 22. The pair were on Hialeah Street  reporting on the shooting death of 38-year-old Nathacha Augustin  when the suspected gunman, 19-year-old Keith Moses, opened fire on their vehicle.

From there, Moses burst into a nearby home, where he fatally shot 9-year-old Tyonna Major and wounded her mother.

The alleged shooter was arrested a short time later. He has only been charged in the death of Augustin, but authorities have said more charges are coming.

I couldnt have asked for a better partner in life, and I am forever heartbroken, Fite wrote.

Dylan would have been the best dad in the world, she concluded. Any contribution would be appreciated so we can still have our baby as I want to keep my Dylans legacy alive.

As of Friday afternoon, the fundraiser has raked in nearly $2,000 in contributions.
COPENHAGEN (Reuters) - Finland will allow transgender people to change their legal gender at their own request and without undergoing sterilisation, new legislation signed by the Finnish President confirmed on Friday.

The European Court of Human Rights ruled in 2017 that requiring sterilisation in order for individuals to change the sex on their birth certificate is a violation of human rights.

Finland's new law will enable people above the age of 18 to legally determine their gender through a self-declaration form, and is meant to reinforce the protection of the right to self-determination and to reduce discrimination, the ministry of social affairs and health said.

Medical examinations and sterilization will no longer be required to legally change one's gender, it added.

On Friday, Finnish President Sauli Niinisto ratified the new legislation which is will enter into force on April 3.

The Czech Republic, Latvia, and Romania currently require individuals to undergo sterilization before legally changing their gender, according to Transgender Europe (TGEU).

(Reporting by Louise Breusch Rasmussen, editing by Anne Kauranen and Christina Fincher)
An early morning fire at the Veterans United Home Loans Amphitheater in Virginia Beach has caused heavy damage and injured a firefighter, per the Virginia Beach Fire Department.

The fire damaged the production area near the loading docks, according to a fire department spokesperson. One firefighter sustained minor injuries and was transported to the hospital.

The call came in to the fire department at 1:37 a.m. and units were deployed at 1:40 a.m. The fire was put out by 2:50 a.m.

Two fire investigators are on the scene to determine the cause of the fire.

This comes near the start of the amphitheaters summer season, with concerts from Janet Jackson, Chris Stapleton and Fall Out Boy on the schedule. Its unclear how the fire will affect the venue.

The Virginia Beach Development Authority owns the amphitheater and it approved $1 million for repairs in November. Live Nation leases the amphitheater.

This is a developing story. Check pilotonline.com for updates.

Cianna Morales, 757-957-1304, cianna.morales@virginiamedia.com
JAKARTA, Indonesia (AP)  A large fire broke out at a fuel storage depot in Indonesias capital Friday, killing at least 17 people, injuring dozens of others and forcing the evacuation of thousands of nearby residents after spreading to their neighborhood, officials said.

The Plumpang fuel storage station, operated by state-run oil and gas company Pertamina, is near a densely populated area in the Tanah Merah neighborhood in North Jakarta. It supplies 25% of Indonesia's fuel needs.

At least 260 firefighters and 52 fire engines were struggling to contain the blaze in the nearby neighborhood, fire officials said.

Video of the fire broadcast on television showed hundreds of people in the community running in panic while thick plumes of black smoke and orange flames filled the sky and firefighters battled the blaze.

A preliminary investigation showed the fire broke out when a pipeline ruptured during heavy rain, possibly from a lightning strike, said Eko Kristiawan, Pertaminas area manager.

He said the fire would not disrupt the countrys fuel supply.

The acting Jakarta Governor Heru Budi Hartono, said about 600 displaced people were being taken to temporary shelters at several government offices and a sport stadium.

Satriadi Gunawan, who heads Jakartas fire and rescue department, said at least 17 people were dead, including two children, and 50 had been hospitalized, some with severe burns.

The fire caused several explosions and quickly spread to residential houses, Gunawan said.

Indonesias minister of State-Owned Enterprises, Erick Thohir, expressed condolences to the victims and their families and ordered Pertamina to thoroughly investigate the fire and focus on quickly assisting the community.

There must be an operational evaluation in the future. Ill continue to monitor this case, Thohir said in a video statement.

Fridays fire was the second large blaze at the Plumpang fuel depot. In 2014, a fire engulfed at least 40 nearby houses, but no casualties were reported.

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Fahmi Radhi, an energy analyst from Gajah Mada University, urged Pertamina and the government to immediately move the depot away from the nearby community settlements.

Pertamina has been negligent by not using international standard security systems, he said in an interview with KOMPAS TV. He said that since the 2014 fire there had been no efforts to put such a system in place and that regular inspections should be conducted to avoid future fires.

Pertaminas board of directors should be held responsible for this deadly fire by being dismissed immediately, Radhi said.

An oil spill in 2018 caused a fire that killed five people and sickened hundreds in the port city of Balikpapan. Authorities said it came from a broken pipe that Pertamina was using to transfer crude oil.

In March 2021, a fire at Cilacap gasoline storage facility at the largest oil refinery on the main island of Java prompted the evacuation of 80 nearby residents and injured at least 20 people. Cilacap is one of six Pertamina refineries with a processing capacity of 270,000 barrels a day. Eight months later, more than 900 people were evacuated after a fire broke out at the Pertamina Balongan Refinery in West Java province.

___

Associated Press writer Niniek Karmini contributed to this report.
A fisherman in a Sutter County river found the body of a Northern California woman who was reported missing four weeks ago and was the focus of multiple unsuccessful search efforts.

Marian Wilkinson, 52, of Yuba City was reported missing by her family on Feb. 1 after she failed to show up for work, the Yuba City Police Department said last month.

About 6 p.m. Wednesday, the fisherman found a body in the Feather River in the area of Shanghai Bend River Parkway, the Sutter County Sheriffs Office announced Friday afternoon in a news release. Authorities recovered the body of the woman and later identified her as Wilkinson.

Her death was being investigated by both agencies. The Sheriffs Office on Friday did not release any further details and its unclear how she died.

Last month, police said Wilkinson was last seen walking in nearby Marysville the afternoon of Jan. 29. Officers who responded to the initial missing persons report searched inside Wilkinsons home but did not find her, her cellphone or any signs of foul play. An attempted ping on Wilkinsons phone did not return a location.

Law enforcement officers and a volunteer group searched a levee on Feb. 8, with police using three drones in an effort to find Wilkinson. That same day, teams with the Yuba City Fire Department searched the Feather River.

The Police Department also said it has contacted businesses and residents nearby in hopes of finding security camera video to gain leads of Wilkinsons location. Wilkinsons family was cooperative with investigators, police said.
The scene of a shooting and what police said was an organized retail fraud outside the Ulta Beauty store at the Green Oak Village Place mall on Thursday, Jan. 12, 2023. Police said five suspects were in custody but that no one was injured.

BRIGHTON  Five women charged in connection with organized retail crime and police shooting at the Ulta Beauty store in Green Oak Township have been bound over to Livingston County Circuit Court, and now face additional charges.

On Jan. 15, Shanel Webster, 29, Tirezah Scott, 50, Joya Williams, 36, Laronda Chase, 25, and Kari Williams, 27, all were charged with multiple felonies. Each of the five waived scheduled preliminary exams in district court and was bound over on Feb. 21 for potential trial in circuit court. No further court dates are listed in online court records.

MORE: Suspects from Ulta theft identified and arraigned on charges

According to court records, Webster faces 15 charges, including armed robbery, assault with intent to do great bodily harm less than murder, conducting a criminal enterprises, two counts of organized retail crime, two counts of first-degree retail fraud, employer's failure to contribute to agreed benefit plan, fleeing a police officer in the third degree, uttering and publishing, assault with a dangerous weapon (felonious assault), malicious destruction of fire or police property and three counts of assaulting/resisting/obstructing a police officer.

Webster is being held in the Livingston County Jail in lieu of a $500,000 cash/surety bond.

Scott faces nine charges, including conducting criminal enterprises, two counts of organized retail crime, two counts of first-degree retail fraud, employer's failure to contribute to agreed benefit plan, two counts of assaulting/resisting/obstructing a police officer, deactivation and removal of theft detection device.

Scott initially faced five counts. She is being held in the Livingston County Jail in lieu of a $250,000 bond.

Joya Williams, Chase and Kari Williams each face six charges, including conducting criminal enterprises, two counts of organized retail crime, two counts of first-degree retail fraud and employer's failure to contribute to agreed benefit plan.

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Williams originally faced four counts. She remains jailed on a $100,000 bond. Chase and Williams both originally faced three counts. They have posted $100,000 bonds and are not currently in the Livingston County Jail.

MORE: 5 suspects in custody after robbery, police shoot at runaway vehicle at mall near Brighton

The incident began Jan. 12 when officers "responded to a report of four suspects, later determined to be five, who entered Ulta and were filling a bag with merchandise," at about 8 p.m., Green Oak police said in a press release at the time.

As officers arrived, one suspect fled on foot and was pursued by officers. Other suspects made it to two separate vehicles and began to drive away.

One vehicle was stopped in the parking lot by police.

While a trooper was attempting to arrest the woman who fled on foot, the second vehicle drove directly at the trooper, according to Michigan State Police. The trooper fired his weapon at the vehicle and the car was struck, but no one was injured.

Then, the vehicle was stopped in the parking lot after colliding with the back of the Men's Wearhouse store in the mall.

This article originally appeared on Livingston Daily: Charges added to Ulta Beauty suspects after exams waived
Photo Illustration by Elizabeth Brockway/The Daily Beast/Reuters

Florida state Sen. Jason Brodeur filed legislation this week that would effectively force any blogger that writes about Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, or any member of the Florida Cabinet or Legislature, to file registration paperwork with the stateor face fines.

This would effectively force independent journalists to go through a similar process as paid lobbyistswho are retained by corporations and other entities with the specific purpose of influencing lawmaking.

The legislation, Senate Bill 1316, is the latest apparent effort by DeSantis and his allies to stifle any sort of opposition within the state. Floridas GOP, which has grown accustomed to unchecked one-party rule, has long-sought to create a culture of conformity laced with fear around the state government.

Ron DeSantis Anti-Free Speech Crusade Would Cancel Fox News

Floridas 60-day legislative session kicks off on Tuesday, and this is one of a number of ludicrous and incredibly dangerous pieces of legislation that have been filed as the GOP enjoys a supermajority in both House and Senate for the first time in the states history.

Brodeur told Florida Politics that online bloggers are effectively professional electioneers.

If lobbyists have to register and report, why shouldnt paid bloggers? he asked.

This quote shows Brodeur has a very clear misunderstanding of the role of a free press and the First Amendment, but thats increasingly par for the senators course after a scandal-plagued tenure in the Legislature.

Ron DeSantis Anti-Free Speech Crusade Would Cancel Fox News

Last fall, while facing a difficult re-election campaign in an increasingly Democratic area of Central Florida, Brodeur, whose time in office has been embroiled in scandal, turned to attacking The Orlando Sentinel as a means to fundraise.

But this rhetoric doesnt come out of nowhere.

Under DeSantis, Florida has turned increasingly authoritarian while he openly touts freedom as his mantra. DeSantis has continuously pushed the envelope as to what he can get away with.

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In February, DeSantis became the latest Republican to mount an attack on defamation laws. DeSantis hosted a panel discussion on libel, which featured conservative legal minds who were clearly seeking novel ways to weaken the mainstream press.

The landmark 1964 decision in New York Times v Sullivan set the current high bar for public officials to sue the media, making it extremely difficult for them to win lawsuits. But Republicans in the Florida statehouse, led by Rep. Alex Andrade, also proposed a bill earlier this year to lower the bar on who is considered a public figureas well as a lowered bar on what qualifies as defamation in the first placeeffectively making it much easier for them to sue reporters.

With an increasingly gagged media, and fewer resources at major newspapers, DeSantis has been remarkably successful in avoiding the sort of scrutiny he would have had just a decade ago in the same office.

In many ways, despite his rhetoric, DeSantis recent behavior looks more Stalinist than anything else. He promotes one-party rule and authoritarian measures to crack down on dissentfor example, just this week Sen. Blaise Ingolia, a key DeSantis ally who is the former chair of the states Republican Party, filed legislation that would effectively eliminate the Florida Democratic Party.

It has been increasingly clear for a year or more that DeSantis looks abroad, to the likes of Hungarys Viktor Orban for inspiration. In Orban, we observe a right-wing figure who mixes ethnocentric and religious hues with strict authoritarianism and a crackdown on a free press.

Heres How Florida Could Become the Capital of Weaponized Libel Suits

This is precisely how Governor DeSantis is proceeding as he seeks to win the 2024 GOP Presidential nomination, wrestling it away from former President Trump, who, while sharing DeSantis authoritarian thirst, doesnt quite have the discipline or competence (or desire?) to go the full Orban route.

Ironically, beyond the Rupert Murodch owned-media entities, the narrative promoting DeSantis potential Presidential run is being largely fueled by a small set of GOP-leaning bloggers. These bloggers are the ones DeSantis uses frequently to break stories, shape narratives and get out his message. The websites include The Florida Standard, The Floridian and The Florida Voice, all entities with little or no long-term involvement in covering Florida government and elections. Most have popped up in recent years in conjunction with DeSantis rise to power. These entities would presumably be exempted from disclosure under Broduers legislation, because rather than acting as a watchdog they lavish praise on the governor.

Florida in 2023 has become a cultural battleground in addition to a laboratory for the GOP to implement a vision of authoritarian government previously unseen in this countryat least since Woodrow Wilsons crackdown on a free press during World War I. Its ironic that DeSantis, who fancies himself as a Constitutional scholar and a defender of Federalism, is likely to support something that very clearly will run afoul of the First Amendment.

But those of us who live in Florida and cover state government long ago learned that DeSantis, for all his purported ideological zeal, is a master of projection. This is likely just another example of DeSantis throwing red meat to his base, while achieving the goal of stifling dissent in the process. This will all be accomplished while he continues to tout himself as a champion of freedom, and promote the state as the free state of Florida.

Nothing could be further from the truth.

Read more at The Daily Beast.

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A bill proposed this week by a Republican state senator in Florida would require bloggers who write about Gov. Ron DeSantis (R-Fla.), his Cabinet officers and members of the Florida legislature to register with the state.

Bloggers who receive compensation for a given online post about an elected state officer would have to register with the Florida Office of Legislative Services or the Commission on Ethics  though the requirement would not extend to the websites of newspapers or similar sites.

If a blogger posts to a blog about an elected state officer and receives, or will receive, compensation for that post, the blogger must register with the appropriate office  within 5 days after the first 164 by the blogger which mentions an elected state officer, reads the bill, introduced by Republican state Sen. Jason Brodeur.

If additional posts about elected state officers were to be posted, the blogger would have to file monthly reports detailing where, when and by whom the post was published, plus the amount of compensation received. Failure to file reports could lead to fines.

The elected state officers covered by the proposed Information Dissemination bill are defined as the Governor, the Lieutenant Governor, a Cabinet officer, or any member of the Legislature.

A blog is defined in the bill as a website or webpage that hosts any blogger and is frequently updated with opinion, commentary, or business content and a blog post as an individual webpage on a blog which contains an article, a story, or a series of stories.

The Hill has reached out to the governors office for comment.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to The Hill.
IT helps legislators perform tasks better

By Cao Yin and Zhang Yi (China Daily) 08:33, March 03, 2023

Yuan Haibo, third from right, a deputy to the National People's Congress, visits a farm in Qujing, Yunnan province, on Feb 23 to find jobs for farmers. [Photo/Xinhua]

Soon after presenting suggestions on strengthening wetland protection to China's top legislative body in March last year, Fu Yuhang was invited to join an online chat group.

The group updates information on how government bodies handle proposals made by Fu, a deputy to the National People's Congress.

The chatroom, which is similar to a WeChat group, not only includes NPC deputies such as Fu, but also has officials from the NPC Standing Committee and those in charge of environmental protection from government agencies and judicial authorities.

"Joining the group enabled me to read reports provided by officials to see whether the environmental problems mentioned in my proposal had been solved. I could also contact them to exchange ideas about an issue online or by phoning them," said Fu, who is also an environmental engineer from Sichuan province.

She said that compared with offline meetings, which involve travel costs, the chat group has greatly improved communication efficiency and contributed to deputies' work.

Submitting motions and suggestions to the NPC, the country's top legislature, is a major task for deputies, who are elected by the people to represent the public's interests.

At the upcoming annual sessions of the NPC and the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference, China's top political advisory body, NPC deputies and members of the CPPCC National Committee will submit more motions and proposals. They will also make suggestions and give their opinions on issues concerning the nation's social and economic development.

In recent years, new technologies have helped NPC deputies and members of the CPPCC National Committee improve their work.

In February last year, the NPC Standing Committee's General Office launched an information platform to put all the steps involved in handling motions and proposals on the internet, including submissions, communication and feedback.

Introducing such a platform  the initiative of Yang Zhenwu, secretary-general of the NPC Standing Committee  had been in the works for a long time.

Yang said at the launch ceremony for the platform, "We'd like to optimize technologies to offer deputies comprehensive, accurate, convenient and efficient services to perform their duty."

(Web editor: Zhong Wenxing, Liang Jun)
A Republican state senator in Florida has introduced a bill that, if passed, would require bloggers who write about Gov. Ron DeSantis, his Cabinet or state legislators to register with the state.

Sen. Jason Brodeur's bill, titled "Information Dissemination," would also require bloggers to disclose who's paying them for their posts about certain elected officials and how much.

"If a blogger posts to a blog about an elected state officer and receives, or will receive, compensation for that post, the blogger must register" with the appropriate office within five days of the post, the legislation says.

It defines "elected state officer" as "the Governor, the Lieutenant Governor, a Cabinet officer, or any member of the Legislature."

Failing to register would result in a fine of $25 a day, and the penalty would be capped at $2,500 per posting, NBC affiliate WFLA of Tampa reported.

The bill says the bloggers' reports to the state "must include" the "individual or entity that compensated the blogger for the blog post, and "the amount of compensation received from the individual or entity."

The bill defines a blog as "a website or webpage that hosts any blogger and is frequently updated with opinion, commentary, or business content," but it says the "term does not include the website of a newspaper or other similar publication."

DeSantis's office said Friday it was reviewing the bill. "As usual, the governor will consider the merits of a bill in final form if and when it passes the legislature," said his press secretary, Bryan Griffin.

Brodeur did not respond to a request for comment late Thursday. He told the website Florida Politics, which first reported on the bill: Paid bloggers are lobbyists who write instead of talk. They both are professional electioneers. If lobbyists have to register and report, why shouldnt paid bloggers?

Story continues

Ron Kuby, a First Amendment lawyer in New York, said the law would not survive a court challenge if it is passed.

"It's hard to imagine a proposal that would be more violative of the First Amendment," Kuby said. "We don't register journalists. People who write cannot be forced to register."

This article was originally published on NBCNews.com
Photo Illustration by Luis G. Rendon/The Daily Beast/Reuters/Pixabay

Floridas new House Bill 991 proposes a laundry list of legal changes that would make it easier for plaintiffs to bring and win defamation cases. It would also weaponize the law to allow the powerful to silence their critics.

The bills sponsor makes no secret that the intended target of this bill is the news media. And given the widespread public dissatisfaction with the media, this bill promises to be popular, and easily spun by politicians as a way of making the media accountable.

But it isnt just irresponsible media actors that get hit with defamation actions. Whether were using Twitter, TikTok, Substack, or any other self-publishing platform, were all publishers now. That should make us all cautious about defamation law reforms that strongly tilt to one side.

Ron DeSantis Anti-Free Speech Crusade Would Cancel Fox News

A close look at the proposed bill shows that it is excessively lopsided in favor of plaintiffs.

H.B. 991 proposes to tinker with almost 60 years of Supreme Court precedent defining First Amendment constraints on state defamation law. Until the Supreme Courts 1964 decision in New York Times v. Sullivan, state defamation tilted heavily toward plaintiffs, with falsity and damages presumed and no requirement of fault.

During the civil rights movement, Southern officials developed a cynical strategy of deploying defamation liability to stifle coverage of the civil rights struggle. Outsider newspapers and television stations were faced with an eye-popping $300 millionalmost $3 billion todayin potential defamation liability.

Alabama juries and courts awarded the largest libel verdict in the states history against the Times. The papers supposed offense? Publishing a fundraising appeal that criticized Southern police for suppressing African American student protesters and arresting Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.

Alex Andrade and Mike Beltran, co-sponsors of HB 991. Composite by The Daily Beast/Florida House of Representatives

The story got minor details wrong. Yet, the Alabama Supreme Court affirmed the jurys finding that the police commissionerwho hadnt even been identified by name in the articlehad been defamed by inaccuracies regarding how many times Dr. King had been arrested (four rather than seven); where police had been positioned at a student protest; whether they padlocked a dining hall; and what song student protesters had sung (The Star Spangled Banner versus My Country Tis of Thee.)

Story continues

In Sullivan, the Supreme Court explained that the First Amendment prevents government officials from weaponizing defamation cases to silence their critics. It held that critics of government officials cant be held liable for defamation simply for publishing false and defamatory statements about themunless they knew or recklessly disregarded the falsity of the reputation-damaging facts they published.

Later cases extended this fault standard, known as actual malice, to public figures as wellpeople we might today call influencers. The Supreme Court drew a different line for defamation victims who are not as powerful, but are nonetheless involved in matters of public concern.

Ron DeSantis and the New Campus Free Speech Crisis

These special fault standards, along with other constitutionally based protections, represent the courts careful balancing of the important interests in reputation and free expression. States are free to provide more protection for free expression, but they arent free to provide less.

A number of the provisions in H.B. 991 seem to do just that. In practice, the bill seems custom-made to increase the legal and financial penalties for defamation defendants, while expanding the universe of possible claims that may be levied against an expanded cross-section of American media.

Not only does the statute impose limitations on judicial determination of a public figure, but it also redefines actual malice to require a factfinder to infer actual malice under a variety of circumstances. It treats the reporting of any statement by an anonymous source as presumptively false, and it awards plaintiffs attorneys fees when they prevail under the statutes relaxed standards.

H.B. 991 also provides an opportunity for plaintiffs lawyers to use the courts to intimidate defendants by layering multiple claims and forcing defendants to bear greater and greater legal expenses. For example, the new bill recognizes false light invasion of privacya tort that lets someone recover damages when the media mischaracterizes their identities or actions in an offensive way. The Florida Supreme Court has largely rejected this tort (as have many other states), in part because the vagueness of that standard will surely chill speech.

Some of the bills provisions are likely to be held unconstitutional under current law. The bills sponsor has denied that a central motivation for the bill is to encourage the Supreme Court to revisit the constitutional limits on defamation actions, but since Justices Clarence Thomas and Neil Gorsuch have expressed a desire to reconsider the doctrine, this bill might give the Supreme Court the vehicle it needs.

The Florida billand those who would radically tilt First Amendment protections against the media and other speakersignores the threat that weaponized defamation suits pose not just to the media, but to us all.

Citizens in a democracy should be free to share their viewseven if caustic and intemperateon matters that affect us all. When it comes to criticism of the powerful, James Madison (and the Sullivan court) were right that we need to allow some breathing space for free speech and press, because negligent errors are inevitable.

Florida and Texas Free Speech Social Media Laws Would Require Sites to Host Mass Shooting Videos

The actual malice standard does not eliminate media liability for false statements. Changes to defamation law should come through nuanced deliberation and careful analysis of costs and benefits.

To be sure, the internet and social media have changed public discourse, and not always for the better. Hyperbole and exaggeration diffuse into every facet of public life. Speakers take advantage of social media virality to pass on hyperpartisan conspiracist ideas untethered from facts. Instead of bringing us together, our communication spaces are exacerbating tribalism.

Such social fault lines can make it tempting to punish those with whom we disagree. But making it easier for plaintiffs to weaponize defamation law is not the answer.

Weaponized defamation actions are censorship, pure and simple. It was true when the Supreme Court decided Sullivan, and it is still true now.

Read more at The Daily Beast.

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A clam pulled out of Mission Creek, California (left), and a bowl of clam chowder soup. Carlos Avila Gonzalez/The San Francisco Chronicle via Getty Images; Gregory Rec/Portland Press Herald via Getty Images

Blaine Parker found a big clam on the Florida coast and wanted to turn it into clam chowder.

But Parker found out from a marine lab that it was more than 214 years old.

He named his new friend "Aber-clam Lincoln," after the president who was also born in 1809.

A Florida man and his family found a gigantic clam at Alligator Point, Florida. They were planning to cook it but realized it was more than 200 years old.

Blaine Parker told the Tallahassee Democrat that when he found the clam over Presidents' Day weekend, he thought it was just big enough for two servings of chowder.

"We were just going to eat it, but we thought about it a while and figured it was probably pretty special. So, we didn't want to kill it," Parker told the Tallahassee Democrat.

Parker, a member of the volunteer group AmeriCorps, ended up bringing the clam to the Gulf Specimen Marine Lab in Panacea, Florida. Parker is also a specimen collector for the lab, the Tallahassee Democrat reported.

The lab realized Parker's find was a six-inch, 2.6-pound clam, estimated to be more than 214 years old.

Realizing how old it was, Parker named the clam "Aber-clam Lincoln".

"Age can be calculated by the number of layers on the shell, with each layer representing a year; with this, Blaine counted 214 layers on Aber-clam Lincoln's shell, meaning this clam was born in 1809, the same year as Abraham Lincoln, hence its name!" the lab wrote in a February 21 post on Facebook.

The lab added that most ocean quahog clams weigh around half a pound. This makes Aber-clam Lincoln five times the weight of an average clam.

In 2006, scientists found a 507-year-old Quahog clam that they nicknamed "Ming"  after estimating that it was alive in 1499, during the Ming Dynasty in China.

The Tallahassee Democrat separately reported on February 28 that Parker had sent Aber-clam Lincoln back to his home under the sea. Parker released the clam back into the Gulf of Mexico about a week after he found it at Alligator Point, Florida.

The Gulf Specimen Marine Lab did not immediately respond to Insider's request for comment.

Read the original article on Insider
Photo Illustration by The Daily Beast / Reuters / Public Domain

A Florida prosecutor who found herself in Gov. Ron DeSantis crosshairs this week has fired back in an interview with The Daily Beast, fingering her local sheriff as among those who painted a target on her back months ago in the leadup to a ridiculous witch hunt by the states top lawmakers.

And she went a step further, accusing Orange County Sheriff John Minawith whom she closely worksof his own missteps during a previous case involving the alleged killer in what has now become a politically fraught murder probe.

Florida State Attorney Monique Worrell, the Orlando attorney tasked with prosecuting the killer in the shocking triple-murder of a 9-year-old girl, a 38-year-old woman and a local news reporter last week, emerged as the next Democratic prosecutor targeted by DeSantis after his office booted Hillsborough County State Attorney Andrew Warren earlier this year over his refusal to prosecute abortion patients. After a trial, a federal judge ruled Warrens ouster was unconstitutional but that there was nothing the judge could do to stop DeSantis crusade.

Last Wednesday, law enforcement arrested 19-year-old Keith Moses as the prime suspect in the appalling murders of TYonna Major, Natacha Augustin, and Spectrum News 13 reporter Dylan Lyons. According to prosecutors, Moses gunned down Augustin, before returning to the scene and firing into the crowd, killing Lyons and Major, and injuring another journalist and Majors mother.

Hes a Tyrant: Trumpers Fume After Being Booted From DeSantis Book Event

Days later, Sen. Rick Scott (R-FL) and DeSantis both piled on criticism of Worrells handling of Moses prior cases, many of which took place before her term. (Moses lengthy criminal history included gun charges, aggravated battery and assault with a deadly weapon, burglary and grand theft charges, Mina told reporters.)

I know the state attorney in Orlando thinks that you dont prosecute people, and thats the way that somehow you have better communities. That does not work, DeSantis told reporters on Monday.

Story continues

If the failures we suspect are confirmed, Gov. DeSantis would be right to remove her, Scott echoed in a tweet.

The governors general counsel, who oversaw the ousting of Warren, also sent a letter to Worrell demanding extensive information about Moses past and attacking her for what they claimed were her failures to keep him off the street.

Sheriff John Mina. Orange County Sheriffs Office

But Worrell told The Daily Beast on Friday that testimony during Warrens trial showed that Mina, who ran for sheriff as a Democrat, had long wanted Worrell out as well. He told investigators that Worrell was also a George Soros-funded prosecutor whos antagonistic to law enforcement who should also be removed, she told The Daily Beast.

Mina told investigators that to be a law enforcement sheriff in that area [Orlando] was very difficult, according to trial testimony reported by the Tampa Bay Times.

The reason that was given by the governors office at that time for not removing me is because they didnt have a reason, Worrell told The Daily Beast on Friday. Well, theyve been trying to find one ever since then.

According to Worrell, the letter from DeSantis office was nothing more than a factless fishing expedition. Moses sealed juvenile cases, she said, were handled by others, but not mishandled.

While it can certainly be criticized, its not something that is a basis of some sort of illegal activity on behalf of my office, she said.

DeSantis Says Hes Removing This State Attorney Over Crime. Thats a Big Lie.

Despite Mina complaining that Moses was never convicted for his acts as a juvenile, she said, no juvenile technically gets a conviction, and anyone speaking about a juveniles prior misdemeanors is violating Florida law.

And, as the Tampa Bay Times reported on Thursday, the sheriffs office has admitted it was they who failed to test DNA samples on a gun found in Moses only previous arrest as an adult.

The case eventually presented to her from that arrest, of 4.6 grams of marijuana possession, she could not prosecute, she said.

The mudslinging in a case of shared responsibility, she claimed, was a distraction.

The conversation needs to be around: what can we do to reduce the likelihood that this will ever happen again? she told The Daily Beast.

The Orange County Sheriffs Department did not respond to most of The Daily Beasts requests for comment about Worrells claims. However, a spokesperson said in a statement, The Sheriff is familiar with the restrictions related to release of juvenile information and is comfortable that the statements regarding the Defendant were appropriate.

In Worrells view, lawmakers have seized on the two tragic deaths to raise their own political profile and power against the will of the electorate.

Theres definitely a target across my back and it has nothing to do with anything that Ive done, but just simply with the fact that the governor wants full control over Florida politics and he doesnt respect the will of the electorate, Worrell told The Daily Beast.

Governor DeSantis and Senator Scott have come in and decided to politicize this by taking attacks against me, without even having the decency to reach out to the families and offer their condolences she later added. Its shameful.

The families of some of Moses alleged victims agreeeven while they call for the maximum sentence for their loved ones killer.

What DeSantis and Scott have done is intentionally tried to mislead and confuse the public so they dont have to deal with the real issue of gun violence and sane gun laws, said lawyer Mark NeJame, who represents the families of Major and Lyons.

NeJame declared that family members are disgusted and appalled by what he said was lawmakers running a smokescreen on the real issue at handtheir failure on gun control.

Its going to be the O.K. Corral on the streets, he told The Daily Beast, specifically calling out DeSantis push for open carry and stand your ground legislation.

NeJame noted he had a good working relationship with both Mina and Worrell.

Its clear that Monique Worrell is a political adversary of this power-hungry governor and Senator Scott, and what theyre doing is attempting to capitalize on the death of this child and this young reporter for their own political benefit.

Representatives of DeSantis did not immediately respond to requests for comment, and Scotts office did not comment on accusations that his public statements on the case were purely political.

Worrell said that she will continue to defend her attorneys in Orlando.

It is my responsibility to defend my team and explain to the community that the accusations against this office are not based in fact and to educate the community on all of the components that go into supporting incidents like what happened last week, she said.

Read more at The Daily Beast.

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Person typing on laptop. fizkes/Getty Images.

A Republican state senator in Florida has proposed a bill that would require paid bloggers who write about state legislators, Gov. Ron DeSantis (R), or his Cabinet to register with a state agency. Here's what you need to know about S.B. 1316, Florida's "Information Dissemination" bill.

What is in the proposed bill?

Introduced by state Sen. Jason Brodeur (R), the bill would require blog writers who are paid for online posts about an elected state official to register with the Florida Office of Legislative Services or the Commission on Ethics, "though the requirement would not extend to the websites of newspapers or similar sites," per The Hill. Such writers would also be required to disclose who is paying them for the posts and how much. If they fail to register, they could be fined $25 a day, with the penalty capped at $2,500 per post, NBC affiliate WFLA of Tampa reported.

"If a blogger posts to a blog about an elected state officer and receives, or will receive, compensation for that post, the blogger must register" with the appropriate office within five days of the post, per the proposed legislation. The bill defines "elected state officer" as "the governor, the lieutenant governor, a Cabinet officer, or any member of the Legislature."

Blogs are defined as "a website or webpage that hosts any blogger and is frequently updated with opinion, commentary, or business content," though the bill clarifies that the "term does not include the website of a newspaper or other similar publication."

"Paid bloggers are lobbyists who write instead of talk. They both are professional electioneers," Brodeur said, per Florida Politics. "If lobbyists have to register and report, why shouldn't paid bloggers?"

What are critics saying about the proposed bill?

While the governor has not confirmed whether he supports the bill, the "suggestion that more restrictions be placed on people writing about DeSantis stands in direct contrast to the governor's messaging that Florida should have as much freedom as possible," writes Insider.

Story continues

Ron Kuby, a First Amendment lawyer in New York, told NBC News that it is unlikely the law would survive a court challenge if passed. "It's hard to imagine a proposal that would be more violative of the First Amendment," Kuby said. "We don't register journalists. People who write cannot be forced to register."

"I'm all for shrugging off ridiculous bills that stand no realistic chance of success," MSNBC's Steve Benen says, "but given the state of Republican politics, it's become far more difficult to make such assessments reliably." Legislation like the proposed bill "serves as a timely reminder of how too many GOP officials have an unhealthy perspective as it relates to the First Amendment and a free press," he adds. "Let's also not brush past the astonishing fact that if this bill were to become law, blogs in Florida would face more state regulations than assault rifles." Benen compared the bill to a similar measure passed by Russian President Vladimir Putin in 2014 known as the "bloggers law," which requires "popular internet writers to follow rules normally reserved for larger media outlets," per The Verge.

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Pune, India - (NewMediaWire) - March 3, 2023 - "Footwear" Size, Scope, and Forecast 2023-2030 report has been added to the Market Research Archive of Absolute Reports. Industry experts and researchers have offered an authoritative and concise analysis of the Global Footwear with respect to various aspects such as growth factors, challenges, restraints, developments, trends, and opportunities for growth. This report will surely be a handy tool for market players to come up with effective strategies with the aim of strengthening their positions in the market.

What is the Footwear growth?

As one of the world's leading footwear manufacturers, Vietnam ranks second in the world in terms of leather and footwear exports after China. Vietnam exports more than 1 billion pairs of footwear of all kinds of to hundreds of countries around the world every year. In particular, Vietnam's footwear exports to the EU account for the largest proportion of the total exports. By the end of 2021, there are about 2,200 enterprises producing footwear in Vietnam, mainly concentrated in the area around Ho Chi Minh City.

According to Researchers, two giant brands in the global footwear industry, Nike and Adidas, have chosen Vietnam as their main production base. Part of the global footwear chain is gradually shifting from China to Vietnam due to its lower costs. Nike has more than 100 suppliers in Vietnam, with 96 factories concentrated in the southern region.

Nike's arch rival, Adidas, has also chosen Vietnam as its main production area. In its annual report (2020), Adidas suggested that in 2019, 98% of Adidas' footwear products were produced in the Asian region. Vietnam has become the largest sourcing country for Adidas, accounting for 42% of its total footwear production in 2020.

Get a Sample PDF of report - https://www.absolutereports.com/enquiry/request-sample/19819228



According to Researchers's analysis, due to the impact of COVID-19, Vietnam's footwear exports was USD16.75 billion in 2020, down 8.6% YOY. In 2020, Vietnam's footwear products were exported to more than 100 countries, with exports to 70 of these countries exceeding USD1 million in footwear production. In 2021, Vietnam's footwear exports have seen a resurgence in growth.

Story continues

There is a more important basis for the bullishness of Vietnam's footwear exports, that is, Vietnam has signed trade agreements helpful for exports with Europe and the United States. For example, in the EU-Vietnam Free Trade Agreement (EVFTA), Vietnam's footwear exports to the EU amount to about 40%. The Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP) has helped Vietnam's footwear exports to Canada and Mexico soar.

Vietnam has signed many agreements with developed countries that are conducive to promoting exports, but the strength of Vietnam's local footwear enterprises remains weak and the major market share of Vietnam's footwear industry is occupied by foreign companies. According to Researchers, Vietnam's footwear production and exports are expected to continue to grow in 2022-2030. For companies related to the international footwear industry chain, there are many investment opportunities in Vietnam's market in the coming years.

Browse Detailed TOC, Tables and Figures with Charts which is spread across 60 Pages that provides exclusive data, information, vital statistics, trends, and competitive landscape details in this niche sector.

Client Focus



1. Does this report consider the impact of COVID-19 and the Russia-Ukraine war on the Footwear?



Yes. As the COVID-19 and the Russia-Ukraine war are profoundly affecting the global supply chain relationship and raw material price system, we have definitely taken them into consideration throughout the research, in Chapters, we elaborate at full length on the impact of the pandemic and the war on the Footwear Industry.

Final Report will add the analysis of the impact of Russia-Ukraine War and COVID-19 on this Footwear Industry.

TO KNOW HOW COVID-19 PANDEMIC AND RUSSIA UKRAINE WAR WILL IMPACT THIS MARKET - REQUEST SAMPLE

This report provides a pin-point analysis of changing dynamics and emerging trends in the Global Footwear. Additionally, it provides a futuristic perspective on various factors that are likely to fuel the growth of the Global Footwear in the coming years. Further, the authors of the report have shed light on the factors that may hinder the growth of the Global Footwear.

Footwear - Competitive and Segmentation Analysis:

2. How do you determine the list of the key players included in the report?



With the aim of clearly revealing the competitive situation of the industry, we concretely analyze not only the leading enterprises that have a voice on a global scale, but also the regional small and medium-sized companies that play key roles and have plenty of potential growth.

Top Key Players of the Global Footwear

1 Nike

2 Adidas

3 BINH TIEN IMEX CORP., PTE., LTD.

4 Vinagiay Corporation

5 AN BA LEATHER FOOTWEAR ONE MEMBER CO., LTD

6 Saigeon Footwear Joint Stock Company

7 Vinh Long Footwear Co.

8 Sahara International Corporation

9 Golden Star Company Limited

10 Mai Nguyen Fashions Joint Stock Company

Short Description About Footwear:

The Global Footwear is anticipated to rise at a considerable rate during the forecast period, between 2023 and 2030. In 2023, the market is growing at a steady rate and with the rising adoption of strategies by key players, the market is expected to rise over the projected horizon.

This report studies the Footwear, covering market size for segment by type, by application, by sales channel (Direct Channel, Distribution Channel), and by region (North America, Europe, Asia-Pacific, South America and Middle East & Africa).

This report provides detailed historical analysis of global market for Footwear from 2015-2020, and provides extensive market forecasts from 2023-2030 by region/country and subsectors. It covers the sales/revenue/value, gross margin, historical growth and future perspectives in the Footwear.

Moreover, the impact of COVID-19 is also concerned. Since outbreak in December 2019, the COVID-19 virus has spread to all around the world and caused huge losses of lives and economy, and the global manufacturing, tourism and financial markets have been hit hard, while the online market/industry increase. Fortunately, with the development of vaccine and other effort by global governments and organizations, the negative impact of COVID-19 is expected to subside and the global economy is expected to recover.

This research covers COVID-19 impacts on the upstream, midstream and downstream industries. Moreover, this research provides an in-depth market evaluation by highlighting information on various aspects covering market dynamics like drivers, barriers, opportunities, threats, and industry news & trends. In the end, this report also provides in-depth analysis and professional advices on how to face the post COIVD-19 period.

The research methodology used to estimate and forecast this market begins by capturing the revenues of the key players and their shares in the market. Various secondary sources such as press releases, annual reports, non-profit organizations, industry associations, governmental agencies and customs data, have been used to identify and collect information useful for this extensive commercial study of the market. Calculations based on this led to the overall market size. After arriving at the overall market size, the total market has been split into several segments and sub-segments, which have then been verified through primary research by conducting extensive interviews with industry experts such as CEOs, VPs, directors, and executives. The data triangulation and market breakdown procedures have been employed to complete the overall market engineering process and arrive at the exact statistics for all segments and sub-segments.

Get a Sample Copy of the Footwear Report 2023

3. What are your main data sources?



Both Primary and Secondary data sources are being used while compiling the report.



Primary sources include extensive interviews of key opinion leaders and industry experts (such as experienced front-line staff, directors, CEOs, and marketing executives), downstream distributors, as well as end-users.Secondary sources include the research of the annual and financial reports of the top companies, public files, new journals, etc. We also cooperate with some third-party databases.

Geographically, the detailed analysis of consumption, revenue, market share and growth rate, historical data and forecast (2023-2030) of the following regions are covered in Chapter 4 and Chapter 7:

North America (United States, Canada and Mexico)

Europe (Germany, UK, France, Italy, Russia and Turkey etc.)

Asia-Pacific (China, Japan, Korea, India, Australia, Indonesia, Thailand, Philippines, Malaysia and Vietnam)

South America (Brazil, Argentina, Columbia etc.)

Middle East and Africa (Saudi Arabia, UAE, Egypt, Nigeria and South Africa

Please find a more complete list of data sources in Chapters

1.To study and analyze the global Footwear consumption (value) by key regions/countries, product type and application

2.To understand the structure of Footwear by identifying its various sub segments.

3.Focuses on the key global Footwear manufacturers, to define, describe and analyze the value, market share, market competition landscape, Porter's five forces analysis, SWOT analysis and development plans in next few years.

4.To analyze the Footwear with respect to individual growth trends, future prospects, and their contribution to the total market.

5.To share detailed information about the key factors influencing the growth of the market (growth potential, opportunities, drivers, industry-specific challenges and risks).

6.To project the consumption of Footwear submarkets, with respect to key regions (along with their respective key countries).

7.To analyze competitive developments such as expansions, agreements, new product launches, and acquisitions in the market.

8.To strategically profile the key players and comprehensively analyze their growth strategies.

Customization of the Report

4. Can I modify the scope of the report and customize it to suit my requirements?



Yes. Customized requirements of multi-dimensional, deep-level and high-quality can help our customers precisely grasp market opportunities, effortlessly confront market challenges, properly formulate market strategies and act promptly, thus to win them sufficient time and space for market competition.

Inquire more and share questions if any before the purchase on this report at - https://www.absolutereports.com/enquiry/pre-order-enquiry/19819228

Detailed TOC of Footwear Market Insights and Forecast to 2030

1 Overview of Vietnam

1.1 Geographical Situation

1.2 Demographic Structure of Vietnam

1.3 Economy of Vietnam

1.4 Minimum Wage in Vietnam, 2011-2021

1.5 Impact of COVID-19 on the Footwear Industry in Vietnam

2 Development Environment of Vietnam's Footwear Industry

2.1 Brief History of Vietnam's Footwear Industry

2.2 Types of Vietnam's Footwear industry

2.3 Policy Environment of Vietnam's Footwear Industry

3 Supply and Demand Situation of Vietnam's Footwear Industry

3.1 Supply Situation

3.2 Demand Situation

4 Import and Export Situation of Vietnam's Footwear Industry

4.1 Import Situation

4.1.1 Import Volume and Import Value

4.1.2 Main Import Sources

4.2 Export Situation

4.2.1 Export Volume and Value

4.2.2 Main Export Destinations

5 Market Competition in Vietnam's Footwear Industry

5.1 Barriers to Entry in Vietnam's Footwear Industry

5.1.1 Brand barrier

5.1.2 Quality Barrier

5.1.3 Capital Barrier

5.2 Competitive Structure of Vietnam's Footwear Industry

5.2.1 Bargaining Power of Footwear Suppliers

5.2.2 Bargaining Power of Consumers

5.2.3 Competition in Vietnam's Footwear Industry

5.2.4 Potential Entrants in the Footwear Industry

5.2.5 Substitutes for the Footwear Industry

6 Analysis of Major Footwear Brand Companies in Vietnam

6.1 Nike

6.1.1 Development History of Nike

6.1.2 Nike's Main Products

6.1.3 Nike's Operation Model

6.2 Adidas

6.2.1 Development History of Adidas

6.2.2 Adidas' Main products

6.2.3 Adidas' Operation Model

6.3 BINH TIEN IMEX CORP., PTE., LTD.

6.3.1 Development History of BINH TIEN IMEX CORP., PTE., LTD.

6.3.2 BINH TIEN IMEX CORP., PTE., LTD.'s Main Products

6.3.3 BINH TIEN IMEX CORP., PTE., LTD.'s Operation Model

6.4 Vinagiay Corporation

6.4.1 Development History of VINAGIAY CORPORATION

6.4.2 Main Products of VINAGIAY CORPORATION

6.4.3 Operating model of VINAGIAY CORPORATION

6.5 AN BA LEATHER FOOTWEAR ONE MEMBER CO., LTD

6.5.1 Development History of AN BA LEATHER FOOTWEAR ONE MEMBER CO., LTD

6.5.2 Main products of AN BA LEATHER FOOTWEAR ONE MEMBER CO.

6.5.3 Operating Model of AN BA LEATHER FOOTWEAR ONE MEMBER CO.

6.6 Saigeon Footwear Joint Stock Company

6.7 Vinh Long Footwear Co.

6.8 Sahara International Corporation

6.9 Golden Star Company Limited

6.10 Mai Nguyen Fashions Joint Stock Company

7 Outlook on Vietnam's Footwear Industry, 2021-2030

7.1 Analysis of Vietnam's Footwear Industry Development Factors

7.1.1 Drivers and Development Opportunities for Vietnam's Footwear Industry

7.1.2 Threats and Challenges Facing Vietnam's Footwear Industry

7.2 Forecast on Vietnam's Footwear Industry Supply

7.3 Forecast on Vietnam's Footwear Industry Market Demand

7.4 Forecast on Import and Export of Vietnam's Footwear Industry

Selected Charts:

Chart Total Population of Vietnam, 2006-2021

Chart Vietnam's GDP Per Capita, 2011-2021

Chart Relevant Policies of Footwear Industry Issued by the Vietnamese Government, 2008-2021

Chart Vietnam's Footwear Production, 2016-2021

Chart Domestic Footwear Consumption in Vietnam, 2010-2021

Chart Import Volume of Footwear Industry in Vietnam, 2018-2021

Chart Import Value of Footwear Industry in Vietnam, 2018-2021

Chart Import Sources and Import Value of Footwear Industry in Vietnam, 2018-2021

Chart Vietnam's Footwear Exports, 2005-2021

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Chart Forecast on Vietnam's Footwear Production, 2022-2030

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By Rozanna Latiff

KUALA LUMPUR (Reuters) - A Malaysian court on Friday acquitted jailed former Prime Minister Najib Razak of audit tampering in one of the many cases he faces over a multi-billion corruption scandal at state fund 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB).

The acquittal comes amid renewed scrutiny on government graft under Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim, whose administration had to partner with Najib's corruption-tainted party to form a government late last year.

It also comes ahead of a decision due this month by Malaysia's top court on Najib's bid for a judicial review of his conviction and 12-year jail sentence in a separate case for illegally receiving funds from a 1MDB unit.

Applications for judicial reviews, which come after all other legal appeals have been exhausted, have rarely been successful in Malaysia.

Friday's acquittal was on a charge of abusing his position as prime minister to amend a government audit into 1MDB. The fund's former chief executive Arul Kandasamy was charged with abetting Najib and was also cleared and both had pleaded not guilty.

The Kuala Lumpur High Court on Friday ruled that the prosecution had failed to establish a case against them, their lawyers told reporters.

"(The court) found that there was no element of gratification... absolutely no element of corruption in Najib's role in these charges," Najib's lawyer Shafee Abdullah said.

The Attorney-General's Office did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Najib faces three more cases related to corruption at various government entities and 1MDB, a fund he co-founded in 2009. Some of those charges accuse him of receiving funds illegally from those entities into his bank accounts.

Najib has pleaded not guilty to all those charges.

An estimated $4.5 billion was allegedly misappropriated from 1MDB by high-level officials of the fund and their associates between 2009 and 2014, the U.S. Justice Department has alleged.

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Shafee described the charges against Najib, who has been in prison since August last year, as "politically charged" and expressed hope that Malaysia's highest court would rule in favour of the judicial review request this month.

"We hope this is the beginning of many good things to come," Shafee said.

(Reporting by Rozanna Latiff; Editing by Ed Davies, Martin Petty)
In what has become a near-weekly routine, former Trump attorney and fixer Michael Cohen met with Manhattan prosecutors Friday amid their investigation of former President Donald Trump.

But unlike his many previous meetings, this time Cohen was there to prepare for a possible appearance before a grand jury examining allegations related to alleged "hush money" payments to adult film actress Stormy Daniels during Trump's 2016 presidential campaign.

"I look forward to speaking and being presented before the grand jury. I have some more work to do today, but I suspect it'll be very soon," Cohen said, adding that he's met with prosecutors 18 times.

Cohen's attorney Lanny Davis described Cohen as "the key" to the case.

"There's no doubt with the way they're going about this, in a very meticulous fashion, with Michael Cohen as the principal witness here, is to be very detailed and surround everything Michael says with lots of documents," Davis said.

Michael Cohen, a former attorney for Donald Trump, arrives for a meeting with Manhattan prosecutors on Friday, March 3, 2022. / Credit: CBS News

No former president in American history has been charged with a crime.

The Manhattan D.A. first investigated the alleged payment in 2018 before broadening the probe into Trump's finances, but has returned its focus to the $130,000 wire on several occasions.

Former Special Assistant District Attorney Mark Pomerantz wrote in his recently published book on the investigation that inside the office, the alleged payment became known as the "zombie" case, because, though it was "very strong," it repeatedly returned "to the grave" only to be revived again.

Earlier this week, the New York Times reported that former senior counselor to the president Kellyanne Conway was interviewed by the grand jury.

Cohen wrote in his 2020 memoir "Disloyal," that on Oct. 27, 2016, he attempted to call Trump to confirm that he had made the payment to Daniels in exchange for her silence about an affair she claimed to have with Trump.

But Cohen wrote that Trump didn't take his call, "obviously a very bad sign, in hindsight." Instead, he wrote that Conway called him back, and "said she'd pass along the good news."

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A spokesperson for Manhattan D.A. Alvin Bragg declined to comment Friday. Bragg declined to discuss both Daniels and Cohen during a January interview with CBS News.

"I'm not going to confirm or deny any of the threads that we may be looking at. It's just important for any charges we may bring for me not to talk about them at this time," Bragg said.

Two Trump Organization companies and former chief financial officer Allen Weisselberg were indicted in July 2021 in a tax fraud case stemming from the D.A.'s investigation into Trump's finances.

Trump was not personally charged and has denied wrongdoing.

The Trump Organization companies were sentenced to pay a combined $1.6 million penalty after a December conviction on 17 criminal counts related to tax fraud. Weisselberg entered a guilty plea and was sentenced to five months in jail.

Cohen did not say Friday if he has been formally subpoenaed by the grand jury.

Cohen himself pleaded guilty to tax evasion and campaign finance charges in 2018 related to the payments to Daniels and was sentenced to three years in federal prison. He was released to home confinement at the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic though he was returned to custody for 16 days in July 2020 and finished serving his sentence a few months later in November from home.

A lawsuit seeking information about Cohen's brief return to prison has stalled because the FBI has refused to turn over any of the approximately 47,000 documents related to his second confinement. Cohen said in a Thursday interview with CBS News that he believes the documents will show he was targeted by the Justice Department.

"Why in the world would the government provide a single document when the document would demonstrate their complicity and participation in the weaponization of the Justice Department against a U.S. citizen?" Cohen said.

Trump and his attorneys have repeatedly criticized investigators and prosecutors for using Cohen's testimony, noting his conviction and time in prison, but efforts to prevent them from using evidence from Cohen have so far failed. In a parallel civil investigation operated by the New York attorney general's office, three state and federal courts have ruled the probe began appropriately, after March 2019 congressional testimony given by Cohen raised questions about potential fraud.

That case led to a lawsuit in which New York is seeking $250 million from the Trump Organization, as well as several sanctions against the company, Trump, and three of his children.

The latest developments in the Manhattan D.A.'s investigation come as Trump is facing legal scrutiny on multiple fronts. A special grand jury in Fulton County, Georgia, completed its seven-month inquiry into Trump's activities following the 2020 election, delivering to the district attorney there in January a lengthy report, the majority of which remains under wraps.

In Washington, D.C., a special counsel is reviewing Trump's handling of sensitive government documents found at his Mar-a-Lago home and possible obstruction of efforts to retrieve them, as well as efforts to interfere with the lawful transfer of power following the 2020 presidential election or the certification of the Electoral College vote held at the Capitol on January 6, 2021.

Trump has repeatedly decried all three investigations, calling them a "witch hunt," and claiming that prosecutors were determined to indict him out of political animus.

Trump arrives in New York ahead of expected Tuesday arraignment

Former President Donald Trump arrives in New York City ahead of arraignment

Interest rates on car loans spike in March
Alexander Kamyshin

Kamyshin announced that he was stepping down as board chairman for Ukrzaliznytsia on Feb. 27.

Read also: Ukrzaliznytsia agrees on two-year postponement of Eurobond payments

Read also: Traitor at Ukrzaliznytsia exposed after collaborating with FSB and adjusting strikes on Kyiv

According to Kamyshin, Deputy Prime Minister Oleksandr Kubrakov wants him to head the office for Ukrzaliznytsias European integration.

Yevhen Lyashchenko was named acting chair of Ukrzaliznytsia.

Kamyshin has earned widespread praise for his management of Ukrzaliznytsia in wartime, with the rail company organizing the mass evacuation of millions of Ukrainians from frontline areas to the west of the country.

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Read the original article on The New Voice of Ukraine
Horse racing is all about the Triple Crown, three races for 3-year-olds held over a five-week period. The vast majority of trainers never get there, but it doesnt keep them from trying.

Ed Moger Jr., 67, has been a trainer for more than four decades. Hes had more than 15,000 starts and is approaching 2,000 winners. His horses have won more than $36 million. But hes never started a horse in either the Kentucky Derby, Preakness Stakes or Belmont Stakes.

Until this year.

His horse, Chase the Chaos, got an all-expenses paid trip to the Preakness last month by winning the El Camino Real Derby at Golden Gate Fields. He also received 10 Kentucky Derby qualifying points by winning the race. Not that hes getting greedy, but now hes thinking about, just maybe, qualifying for the best known horse race in the world.

Ive never had a horse come this close, said Moger, who started training in 1976. Im just one race away.

Chase the Chaos will be one of 10 horses expected to go to post Saturday in the Grade 2 $400,000 San Felipe Stakes at Santa Anita Park, with the winner gaining 50 Derby qualifying points and a virtually assured spot in the Kentucky Derby. Second place is worth 20 points and, if you have another 10 points in the bank, you are right on the bubble to qualify for the field.

Moger is content no matter how Chase the Chaos does Saturday. He wont be chasing more Derby points.

In the back of my mind, after this race, Ill likely just wait for the Derby or Preakness before running him again, Moger said. I just need to find out where were at against better horses.

The San Felipe is one of four graded stakes on Saturdays 12-race card. The headliner, at least historically, is the Santa Anita Handicap, known better as the Big Cap. It was the first $1-million race in the country, but being sandwiched between the $20-million Saudi Cup and $12-million Dubai World Cup has lessened the quality of the field and its purse has shrunk to $500,000.

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And Moger has a horse entered there, too. Stilleto Boy has made a career out of running second and third behind some of the best older horses in the country, including the retired Flightline and Country Grammer. He finished third the last two years in the Pegasus World Cup and hes still looking for his first Grade 1 win.

Stilleto Boy came to Mogers barn when his brother, Steve, bought the horse for $420,000.

He didnt even ask me, because he knew I would tell him no, Ed said about buying the horse. I thought he spent too much money. But, things have worked out. Hes doing great.

Moger says Stilleto Boy is easily the best horse he has trained.

Moger is not that well known in Southern California because he trains in Northern California, although he does bring a string of horses to Del Mar each summer. He currently has 38 horses in his barn.

Moger is also a board member of the Thoroughbred Owners of California.

Ed is a longtime and valued board member from the north, said Gary Fenton, chairman of the TOC. He gives his time and is always there for the TOC on anything north or south related.

To see him take a horse and move it outside the California comfort zone is exciting to see. It means you know hes got a horse of quality.

Fenton said he believes that Moger has been flying a little under the radar.

The Jonathon Wongs and Jerry Hollendorfers seemed to overshadow him [in Northern California], Fenton said. They were the ones that got the headlines. Ed has always had a big string but never seemed to get the attention he deserved.

A win in either the San Felipe or Santa Anita Handicap certainly would shrink any shadow over Moger but it is unlikely to change him.

Stiletto Boy (11), trained by Ed Moger Jr., finished second in the Pegasus World Cup at Gulfstream Park in Florida in January and will be looking for his first Grade I stakes win Saturday in the Big 'Cap at Santa Anita (Lynne Sladky / Associated Press)

I wanted to win races, Moger explained as to why he got into racing. I enjoyed it and I worked hard. I was the groom and trainer for every horse for the first 15 years.

On Thursday, he was the one who drove Chase the Chaos and Stilleto Boy to Santa Anita from Golden Gate Fields.

Asked when he thought he had made it as a trainer, Moger was not boastful.

Never, Moger said. When you train horses you never think youve made it. There are just too many ups and downs. Sure, I wanted to have better horses, but its not easy. Its not just having the money [to buy them]; you also need a lot of luck.

He will need some of that luck Saturday with Chase the Chaos at 12-1 on the morning line behind favorite National Treasure at 3-1. National Treasure is one of four horses formerly trained by Bob Baffert who have moved to the barn of Tim Yakteen in order to be eligible to receive Derby qualifying points.

Stilleto Boy is seen as having a better chance to win his race, given morning line odds of 5-1, just off the 7-2 line given to the favorite Defunded. There are 11 starters in the Big Cap.

Moger does have one advantage over all the Southern California-based trainers and horses. He has been able to train at Golden Gate while rain closed Santa Anita to workouts for almost a week.

Should Chase the Chaos do the improbable and win the San Felipe and qualify for the Kentucky Derby, Moger will have to brush up on what Derby week in Louisville is all about.

He only has been to one Kentucky Derby, as a spectator in 1990, when it was won by Unbridled. But, its a pretty good bet he would find it well worth the wait.

This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.
(Bloomberg) -- Ro Khanna was first elected as a whiz kid evangelist for Silicon Valley, the heart of his congressional district and home to Apple, Cisco and Intels headquarters. Today, though, the Californian's stumping for a different crowd.

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The average voter in Ohio might have no idea who he is  hes working on that  but Khannas angling to be the Democratic Partys forward-facing industrialist, revitalizing manufacturing across forgotten swaths of the heartland all with an eye towards higher office.

With the public souring on Big Tech and President Joe Biden popularizing a "Made in America" agenda, Khanna is seizing on last years Chips Act, a massive bipartisan achievement that dedicates around $50 billion to making computer chips at home to reverse decades of production in Asia. The Bernie Sanders acolyte wants to replicate that formula in sectors like textiles, steel and offshore wind, pitching a "new economic patriotism" that he estimates will cost $2 trillion over 10 years.

Turning a bumper-sticker slogan into actual policy from a divided Congress may prove to be a near-impossible task. And yet Khanna, despite acknowledging that he lacks buy-in from his colleagues, seems undeterred. His visits to the Rust Belt  as one of the wealthiest House members representing its wealthiest constituency  have been met with a skeptical, but curious, enthusiasm.

That could put him in a pretty good position to, say, run for president  but for the fact that Biden, 80, seems headed into 2024 eager for reelection, leaving Khanna, 46, among a crowd of young Democrats who will have to wait. Hell make a decision on Californias open Senate seat by April. As for 2028, Khanna isnt shy. They say Bill Clinton showed up in New Hampshire in 1980, he said. Khanna showed up in 2018.

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In the meantime, hes sticking to an idea that could distinguish him as Democrats look to their bench to define the future of the party. And he hasnt hesitated to challenge party  and Washington  orthodoxy, opposing a bipartisan tech antitrust bill along with several other California Democrats and planning a visit to China after touring Taiwan when no other lawmakers are publicly entertaining such a sensitive venture.

But on Capitol Hill, Khanna doesnt yet have Democratic allies on board with his moon-shot initiative, let alone Republicans. A key GOP counterpart on the Chips Act, Senator Todd Young of Indiana, is wary of moving too quickly to duplicate a framework thats only just being rolled out. A main industrialist of Khannas own party, Ohio Senator Sherrod Brown, hadnt heard of Khannas plan, dubbed a national economic development council, when asked about it last month. Thats because Khanna was focused on courting a Republican co-sponsor in Florida Senator Marco Rubio, whos open only to a spending target a hundred times smaller.

Khannas friends praise his pursuit of bipartisanship. But it doesnt help garner the overwhelming margins that he acknowledged in an interview Democrats would need to pass his legislative agenda.

Still, he will continue to fight for it, Khanna said, because the nation faces a challenge similar to World War II in the rise of China and therefore demands a response similar to Franklin D. Roosevelts. We need to have the same urgency, the same scale, to build this production base.

And so a decade since his first serious run for Congress, Khanna finds himself a dutiful Biden surrogate with a healthy resume of factory town visits; a regular Fox News presence whose colleagues see in him a reasonable, if idealistic, partner; and the darling of Sanders 2020 veterans who want to mold him into the next progressive torchbearer.

Policy Inclinations

Californias 17th District is best explained via superlatives. It's the richest in the country  the median household income was $157,049 in 2021  and straddles tech-heavy Santa Clara and Alameda counties. Nearly half of its population was born outside the US; more than three-fifths of households primarily speak a language other than English. Its the only Asian-majority district outside of Hawaii.

As a son of Indian immigrants, and a former Stanford economics lecturer and technology lawyer, Khannas a fitting representative. He grew up on a mixed-income street in Bucks County, Pennsylvania, with a chemical engineer for a father and substitute teacher for a mother. His political idealism, he said, comes from his late grandfather, an Indian freedom fighter; his economic ideas, from his childhood, Gandhian philosophy, and a conversation with former Intel CEO Andy Grove that also inspired his first book. At a recent town hall in his district, Khanna took a question from a boy who couldnt have been much older than he was when he wrote an editorial questioning US motives in the first Gulf War: I thought you were gonna announce your candidacy, Khanna joked. Reminds me of what I was like at your age.

If Bucks County gave Khanna his policy inclinations, the University of Chicago gave him his political edge. Khannas first campaign experience was a certain civil rights attorneys 1996 contest for the Illinois State Senate. Years later, after graduating from Yale Law and flailing through a protest bid for the House in 2004, Khanna served in Barack Obamas Commerce Department and on his White House Business Council.

Khanna modeled his second campaign on Obama-style coalition politics and staffed it with Obama veterans. But publishing Entrepreneurial Nation: Why Manufacturing is Still Key to America's Future and getting endorsements from bigwigs like Sheryl Sandberg and John Doerr failed to win over the people for whom Silicon Valley was not a tech utopia, and instead just where they happened to live. He talked about his vision, said Linda Sell, a longtime campaign volunteer and recently elected Sunnyvale City Council member. But people are back at: Im worried about my jobs, Im worried about the kids education.

From 2013: Ro Khanna, Silicon Valley's Wannabe Obama

After his 2014 defeat, Khanna adapted. The first issue on his campaign website, Growing our Economy and Promoting Entrepreneurship, became Building a Strong 21st Century Economy. A grassroots political strategist, according to Sell, advised Khanna to become a Target political candidate who could relate to the challenges facing everyday big-box shoppers. His national pitch, said friend and Fremont, California, community advocate Yogi Chugh, began to include local issues.

Now, four landslide victories later, Khanna is the tech and Indian-American communities informal ambassador to Trump Country. His home district likes the idea that we could be a model, said Deepa Sharma, who chairs the California Democratic Partys Asian Pacific Islander Caucus. And in places like Youngstown, Ohio, someone like Khanna is very, very well received, said Tim Ryan, the former congressman who took Khanna on one of his first Midwest tours. As for whether Silicon Valley is a liability, Ryan said, people don't pay it any mind: They want to know if you care about them.

Proof of Concept

Americans used to produce almost two-fifths of the tiny semiconductors that power smartphones and refrigerators and cars, Biden said at his State of the Union address last month; now, that number is only 10%. Then, to applause, the president touted the Chips Act, which allocates a total of $280 billion to bring production home.

Sitting in his Capitol Hill office a few days later, Khanna was pleased. He just wants to go further. A national economic development council would come up with the specifics, he said, but $2 trillion would provide bandwidth to clone the Chips Act across the US economy. To get there, though, he needs to rally members of his party and to negotiate with Republicans such as his co-sponsor, Rubio, who wants only $20 billion.

Meanwhile, Khanna is honing his pitch, stressing that the proof of concept already exists  in the many countries with sweeping subsidies of their own, and in the US itself: This is how Hamilton built America, one of four times he referenced the Founding Father over the course of an hour. This is how FDR built America. (One of six.)

Still, many members of Congress, and voters in their districts, are wary of government intervention. Everything from federal subsidies to state-matched seed funding could come with so many bureaucratic hurdles, few people may be able to take advantage, said Scott Shane, an economics professor and managing director of Midwest venture fund Comeback Capital, who met Khanna years ago in Youngstown. I really admire the spirit of the concept, he said, but I don't think that at a practical level its possible.

National Appeal

But some 2,500 miles west, the move fast and break things crowd cant get enough. Over the course of five campaigns since 2014, Khannas received more than $100,000 in individual donations from top executives at Meta, Apple and Alphabet, Googles parent company, according to federal filings. Google workers contributed more to his 2022 war chest than employees of any other company by multiple orders of magnitude, according to OpenSecrets, and he received more internet industry and VC funding than any other House candidate. Khanna signed a no-PAC pledge and still raised nearly twice as much as the average House member in 2022, when he was running for a seat where he faced no serious competition.

I say tax the billionaires, Khanna said. And billionaires in my district, they keep sending me back to Congress.

Hes used that money to lay what appears to be the groundwork for a future presidential bid, shelling out tens of thousands of dollars to consultants with ties to New Hampshire and Iowa, at the time the first two states of the Democratic primary calendar. Hes toured the Midwest and South, visiting cities with little political appeal and others clearly chosen to raise his profile. Over the past several years, hes cultivated relationships with organizers from Bernie Sanders 2020 campaign, of which he was co-chair.

If you, representing Silicon Valley, can come to Iowa and be successful, there's something there, said Stacey Walker of Iowa-based Sage Strategies, a Sanders veteran who Khannas campaign paid $8,000 last year to connect him with labor leaders across the state. They didnt explicitly talk national races, Walker said  but the information we were providing would be very, very helpful to anyone that, at that time, was thinking about running for president.

Khanna said he will back Biden if he runs in 2024. Asked to describe what a Khanna administration would look like, he responded by explaining what a progressive successor to Biden would do. Then he described what hes done.

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NEW DELHI (Reuters) - The Group of 20 (G20) is no longer an economic forum and has become a platform to discuss geopolitical issues, the European Union's foreign policy chief, Josep Borrell, said on Friday.

The Russia-Ukraine war has dominated two recent meetings of G20 foreign and finance ministers in India, the current president of the bloc.

(Reporting by Krishn Kaushik, writing by Sudipto Ganguly in Mumbai; Editing by Krishna N. Das)
A Georgia family is looking for a dog who state rescue officials say was given away as a stray.

According to a Facebook post from Dublin Laurens County Humane Society, Bee the Bulldog was stolen on Wednesday between 12:30 p.m. and 1:30 p.m.

[DOWNLOAD: Free WSB-TV News app for alerts as news breaks]

It is unclear how Bee was stolen from her family.

Georgia Canine Rescue and Rehabilitation Inc. said that Bee was picked up as a stray and was dropped off somewhere in the area of Hollingsworth and Vose in Hawkinsville.

One of her owners, Kyle Osborne, posted on Facebook that a witness told him that she was seen being given to a female truck driver on Thursday. The driver works for a company based in Savannah.

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After that truck driver was tracked down, Bees family was told she was given to another truck driver; however, it is unclear where the driver was headed.

My dog could be anywhere in the country by now, Osborne wrote on Facebook.

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It is unclear why Bee was given to the other truck driver.

Anyone with information regarding Bees whereabouts is asked to call the Bleckley County Sheriffs Office at 478-934-4545.

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Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-Fla.) gave an enthusiastic endorsement on Friday at the annual Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) to a potential Republican presidential ticket with former President Trump and Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R).

I think that a Trump-DeSantis ticket would be terrific, Gaetz told The Hill in a brief interview.

Gaetz said he is supporting Trump as his presidential pick for the Republican primary, saying he believed the former president has a special magic, an energy, a coalition that excites people and welcomes people in.

He said he liked DeSantis, noting he served as a chairman on the Florida governors transition team in 2018. I think very highly of him, Gaetz said, adding that selfishly, I want him to stay my governor for the full eight years that Floridians elected him for.

But Gaetzs remarks suggest that Republicans who support the former president as their Republican presidential nominee could be open to seeing DeSantis involved on the ticket. The Florida congressman also said hed also support Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) as another running mate choice.

I think were going to win, but we wont win by running the same campaign we did in 2016 or 2020. In 2024, people are facing challenges that they werent facing because of the failures of this administration, Gaetz said of Trumps candidacy. So, itll require a different campaign but I think ultimately itll be successful.

Gaetzs remarks come as many of the conferences speakers are supportive or aligned with the former president. Many of CPACs attendees have also vocalized support for a Trump 2024 bid.

Meanwhile, former U.S. Ambassador to the U.N. Nikki Haley, who announced her White House bid last month, is scheduled to speak later Friday at CPAC in addition to widely floated GOP contender former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo. Trump is slated to speak Saturday.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to The Hill.
Attorney General Merrick Garland reaffirmed the U.S. commitment to hold Russia accountable for war crimes it has committed in an unannounced visit to Ukraine on Friday.

Garland met with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and law enforcement officials in the western city of Lviv while at the United for Justice Conference, according to a readout of his visit from the Department of Justice.

Garland said at an address that the conferences mission is to hold Russian leaders accountable for the actions its military has taken during the war in Ukraine, according to the readout.

It said Garland reaffirmed our determination to hold Russia accountable for crimes committed in its unjust and unprovoked invasion of Ukraine. Garlands visit was reportedly not announced publicly in advance for security purposes.

Just over 12 months ago, invading Russian forces began committing atrocities at the largest scale in any armed conflict since the Second World War, Garland said at the conferences opening session. We are here today in Ukraine to speak clearly, and with one voice: the perpetrators of those crimes will not get away with them.

The readout states that Garlands presence at the conference is symbolic and strategic to push forward the work of the Justice Departments War Crimes Accountability Team. He also met with other top officials such as Ukrainian Prosecutor General Andriy Kostin, Polish Justice Minister Zbigniew Ziobro and U.S. Ambassador to Ukraine Bridget Brink to discuss increasing cooperation to address to Russian war crimes and illegal financing.

Garland is the latest top U.S. official to visit Ukraine as the war enters its second year. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen met with Zelensky during a trip earlier this week to pledge continued economic assistance to Ukraine.

President Biden made a surprise trip to Ukraine late last month, shortly before the anniversary of Russias full-scale invasion of the country. During the visit, he vowed to stand by Ukraine for as long as is necessary to turn back Russian forces from captured territory.

Story continues

Garland also previously visited Ukraine in June to discuss the prosecution of Russian war crimes.

Russian soldiers have been documented committing many war crimes, including rape, torture and summary executions, during the conflict. The United States officially declared last month that Russia had committed crimes against humanity in the war.

At least 20 torture chambers, which were funded by the Kremlin, were found in the Ukrainian city of Kherson after a Ukrainian counteroffensive freed the region late last year, according to a report released this week.

This story was updated at 6:59 p.m.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to The Hill.
LAFAYETTE, Ind.  Jermaine Garnes sat emotionless as he was sentenced to 65 years behind bars for the murder of 3-year-old Zeus Cox.

Why? I dont know. I dont know why it happened, Judge Randy Williams, Tippecanoe County Superior Court 1, rhetorically asked Garnes during the sentencing hearing on Friday.

Jermaine Garnes walks into the Tippecanoe Superior 1 courtroom to receive his sentencing regarding the murder of his girlfriend's 3-year-old son, on Friday, March 3, 2023, in Lafayette, Ind.

I just know it did happen.

It would be nice if this was the last time this happened.

Garnes was convicted of murdering his girlfriend's nonverbal and autistic 3-year-old son, Zeus Cox, on the night of July 4, 2021.

Crystal Cox was sentenced in June 2022 to 53 years in prison, followed by two years of probation, for her involvement with the murder of Zeus.

During his trial, the prosecution detailed that Garnes repeatedly punched the 3-year-old, inflicting painful injuries on the boy, and leaving him with a ruptured kidney, four ruptures in his small intestines and two broken ribs.

What did it sound like? Did it sound like someone punching a heavy bag? Williams continued.

Williams spoke of the horrific nature of the case and expressed how this was one of the most violent he has seen.

One of the duties we have as adults is to protect our children, Williams said. Especially when they have needs who else can they rely on?

During the hearing, Williams expressed how Garnes' actions didnt only result in the death of Zeus, Zeus being taken away from his family forever, but also how his actions have victimized his own son.

Family members of Zeus Cox wore sweaters that were imprinted with photos of him on the day of Jermaine Garnes sentencing hearing in the Tippecanoe Superior 1 court, on Friday, March 3, 2023, in Lafayette, Ind.

During the trial, Garnes' son was brought into court to testify against his father twice.

At the time of the murder, his son was 9 and testified that he witnessed the attack on Zeus.

Mr. Garnes, I think of your son that came in twice. Came in twice to testify,

Your son coming in here stoned-faced.

You think because of his age hes going to forget that? Youre wrong.

Before the end of the hearing, Williams asked Zeus's family members what his birthday was.

April 25.

In April, Zeus would have turned 5 years old.

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We dont know the joy he will have brought to his family members, he said.

We wont know because of you.

In January, jurors found Garnes guilty of murder; guilty of neglect of a child resulting in death; guilty of aggravated battery resulting in death; and guilty of battery of a person younger than 14 resulting in death.

Garnes was only sentenced on the murder conviction, and the other charges were vacated.

Williams sentenced Garnes to the maximum amount for murder under Indiana law.

Garnes was ordered to serve 64 years in the Indiana Department of Correction facility, and one year on supervised probation.

After Garnes was taken away by the bailiffs, members of Zeus family went up to the prosecutor team, hugged and thanked them for putting Garnes behind bars for the next six decades.

Garnes planned on filing an appeal regarding his case after he was sentenced.

After the sentencing hearing, Tippecanoe County Prosecutor Pat Harrington spoke with reporters about the case.

Honestly, it shows you the nature of this case and the fact that the maximum sentence is 65 years, and the court gave that. It shows the violence in this case, Harrington said.

You know, we in our community wonder, where is evil and how much evil is there. And in my tenure as a prosecutor, this is one of the worse cases. This child was 3 years old, was autistic, was nonverbal, could not cry out for help or anything.

This did not occur in one incident and to have his sibling, an older child, witnessed this horrific beating of a child. I dont know what else  how much more evil you can have in a case.

Cynthia Emery, Zeus' aunt, and Madison Cox, Zeus older cousin, spoke to journalist after Jermaine Garnes was sentenced to spend 65 years in prison for the murder of his girlfriend's 3-year-old son, on Friday, March 3, 2023, in Lafayette, Ind.

With both Jermaine Garnes and Crystal Cox imprisoned for the murder of Zeus, members of the family were willing to speak to reporters.

One of the first things Madison Cox, Zeus older cousin, spoke about was the love that she held for Zeus.

He was like a little brother to me. He was my everything. If I was having a bad day, I would come home, and he would be waiting for me. He would be waiting for the bus and he would come up run in my arms, said Madison.

He was just my everything, and now thats been taken away.

Madison wished she could have defended Zeus that day.

She shared memories of Zeus, how he was a cheerful little boy who could light any room that he entered. She shared moments of when he would act like any crazy little boy, running up the stairs just to throw his cup and watch it roll down the stairs.

He was just the most lovable little boy. Im going to miss his hug and his kisses, Madison Cox said as tears began to run down her face.

Members of the family shared their feelings on how they believe the Indiana Department of Child Services failed Zeus.

I think they failed him big time. They were the ones that let Crystal take him back into custody and we noticed the abuse right away," Madison Cox said. "He would come home with bruises on him.

She would come home smelling like pot, and she would be like, 'Oh, (Zeus) fell in the bathtub,' or he fell off his bike. And thats clearly not accurate.

Cynthia Emery, Zeus' aunt, said family had tried to convince DCS not to allow Zeus to go back his mother. The family had evidence that she said they could provide to DCS, but ultimately, Zeus was returned to Crystal.

I had mentioned to Child Protective Service that I felt within the two weeks that Zeus may end up, that something may end up happening to him. And I hate the fact that it was actually true. I looked at the CPS worker and said that I give it two weeks. And hell either be in the hospital or dead, Emery said.

Overall, Zeus family was happy with the sentence that Garnes had received from the court.

I like it (the sentence of Garnes). I think its good. He's 30-something years old, so hes going to be old when he gets out. And from what I heard, hes not doing good in jail or prison. Hes already gotten into fights and stuff. And hes going to find someone thats going to beat his a**, Madison said.

If someone else doesnt do it, then I just want to do it.

Noe Padilla is a reporter for the Journal & Courier. Email him at Npadilla@jconline.com and follow him on Twitter at 1NoePadilla.

This article originally appeared on Lafayette Journal & Courier: Garnes receives 65 years for murder of girlfriend's 3-year-old
General Electric Company (NYSE: GE) revealed on Thursday its plan to invest more than $450 million in its manufacturing facilities in the U.S. in 2023.

GE intends to purchase cutting-edge equipment and make upgrades for a strong future. The company also plans to hire more than 1,700 employees for open external positions with GE Aerospace and its energy businesses (GE Vernova).

GE Aerospace expects to invest more than $335 million across its U.S. facilities, and GE Vernova anticipates investing upwards of $117 million in its U.S. energy facilities.

"These investments will ensure our employees and facilities are ready to support U.S. energy independence and sustainability goals, while positioning the company for long-term stability and success," commented GE Vernova CEO Scott Strazik.

Also Read: Analyst Initiates Coverage of GE Healthcare, Says' Path To Greatness Well-Paved'

The company stated that the continued investment would help its aerospace and energy businesses as they move toward launching two independent industry leaders, allowing each company to drive deeper operational focus, financial flexibility, and continued innovation.

Price Action: GE shares are trading down 0.43% at $85.35 on the last check Friday.

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Walgreens on Thursday said it wont sell an abortion pill by mail in 20 conservative-led states.

The statement comes after attorneys general in 20 states last month warned Walgreens and CVS that they could face legal consequences if they sell abortion pills by mail in those states.

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Walgreens spokesperson Fraser Engerman confirmed that the company sent a response to each of the attorneys general saying that it will not dispense mifepristone in their states.

[ Walgreens to sell off Deerfield buildings, shrinking its HQ yet again as more employees work from home ]

Nineteen U.S. states have imposed restrictions on abortion pills, but theres a court battle over whether they have the power to do so in defiance of U.S. Food and Drug Administration policy. A physician and a company that makes the pill mifepristone filed separate lawsuits earlier this year seeking to strike down bans in North Carolina and West Virginia.

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The FDA for more than 20 years limited dispensing of the drug to a subset of specialty offices and clinics because of safety concerns. But it eased restrictions since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic by eliminating the in-person requirement for the pill and allowing brick-and-mortar pharmacies to dispense it. At least one lawsuit filed by abortion opponents argues that the FDA has overstepped its authority in approving the abortion drugs.

Engerman said the company is not currently dispensing mifepristone, although it is working to become eligible through an FDA-mandated certification process. That process requires pharmacies to meet specific standards in shipping, tracking and confidentially storing drug prescribing records.

He said the company will dispense only in those jurisdictions where it is legal to do so if we are certified.
A Monroe County sheriffs deputy was sent to handle what was described as an animal complaint one day a couple of months back.

A dispatcher informed the deputy that someones dog had killed a neighbors cat.

A report of the incident went on to say that while it was not the first time the dog had been aggressive, it was the fist time it has killed something.

When the deputy arrived in a neighborhood below Johnstonville Road just west of Interstate 75, the cats owner said a neighbors dog, according to the write-up, had been aggressing on one of his cats and killed it.

The cats name was not noted in the report, nor was the dogs, but the dogs owner was said to have tried to stop the dogs attack but was unable to.

The dogs owner said she had let the dog outside to go to the bathroom when he roamed off. She was cited for a leash law violation.

Dispatches: A Macon man was charged with trespassing after he allegedly refused to leave the Fast Fuel mart at Riverside Drive and Ingleside Avenue on Feb. 22. According to an arrest warrant, the man, 50, was harassing customers and asking them to buy him a beer. . . . The same day, a 42-year-old woman from Cleveland, Ohio, was caught outside a south Macon Kroger and accused of shoplifting an item from Bill Hardin Music on Chambers Road. The item, reportedly found in her automobile, was a violin, its value unknown. . . . The reason why was not noted, but according to a recent arrest warrant, a 25-year-old Macon woman was being sought for hurling a brick at her mothers truck. The warrant further mentioned that the young woman also tried to pull her mothers mail box out of the ground.
Angela Merkel is criticized for blocking Ukraine's entry into NATO

Strack-Zimmermann recalled that back in 2008, when many NATO member states were advocating for Ukraine's early membership, Germany and France remained opposed out of respect for Russia's position.

Read also: Hungarys Orban pushes for US-Russia talks on Ukraine, praises Merkel

She said the fact that Ukrainians did not join NATO "was a big mistake made by the French and Angela Merkel at that time."

The German official also said that following Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine, Berlin should have sided with Kyiv and supported it with weapons, but "the history of Angela Merkel has to be rewritten, especially the history of the last few years and the complete miscalculations.

Read also: Sending German tanks to war for first time in 78 years, Scholz asks Germans to trust him

She said she does not believe Russias war on Ukraine will last as long as the 20th Centurys World Wars.

This war will definitely not last four or five years, she said.

Russias war against Ukraine started in February 2014, with its initial invasions of first Ukraines Crimean peninsula, and then parts of Ukraines Luhansk and Donetsk Oblasts. The war has already lasted over nine years.

Strack-Zimmermann said that Russian dictator Vladimir Putin had not counted on their being broad and sustained support for Ukraine.

At the Bucharest NATO summit in 2008, Germany and France blocked a NATO membership action plan for Ukraine and Georgia. Merkel and then-French President Nicolas Sarkozy opposed it out of respect for Russia and fear of escalation by Moscow.

Six months later, in August 2008, Russia invaded Georgia.

Read also: German ex-chancellor Merkel says she doesnt think her government didnt do enough to stop Russian aggression

Merkel doubled-down on her decision to block Ukraine from NATO  even after Russia began its full-scale invasion in February 2022  when responding to accusations made by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy after the massacre of civilians by Russian soldiers in Kyiv Oblast.

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Merkel also stated that she does not blame herself for not trying hard enough to prevent Russian aggression against Ukraine.

The former German chancellor has also stated that she does not regret her government's decision to buy large quantities of natural gas from Russia, which effectively made Germany energy dependent on Moscow.

When asked about the Minsk agreements, Merkel said that it allowed Ukraine to buy time, but admitted that she could no longer influence Putin by the end of her term.

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
By John Revill and Sabine Siebold

ZURICH/BERLIN (Reuters) -Germany has asked Switzerland to sell it some of its mothballed Leopard 2 tanks, the Swiss and German governments said on Friday, in a deal that could allow Western countries to increase military aid to Ukraine.

Germany wants Switzerland to sell some of the tanks back to arms maker Rheinmetall, which would allow the company to backfill gaps in the armaments of European Union and NATO members.

Germany, Poland, Portugal, Finland and Sweden are among countries sending Leopard tanks to help Ukraine defend itself against Russian attack, creating gaps in their own arsenals.

German Defence Minister Boris Pistorius and Economics Minister Robert Habeck informed Swiss Defence Minister Viola Amherd about the project in a letter dated Feb. 23, the defence ministries in Bern and Berlin told Reuters on Friday.

The story was first reported by Swiss newspaper Blick.

In the letter seen by Reuters, the German government said it would be very grateful if Switzerland could approve the purchase of mothballed Leopard 2 tanks by Rheinmetall, as it had done in the past, if those tanks were not intended to be put into operation again.

"The tanks will not be sold on to Ukraine. We guarantee that they will remain in Germany or with our partners in NATO and the EU, to plug gaps that have emerged through the transfer of Leopard 2 tanks and to improve the supply with spare parts in general," the letter said.

It did not detail how many tanks Berlin was aiming for but it acknowledged that the German government was aware "that there is a discussion in Switzerland, too, about the consequences (of Russia's war in Ukraine) for its national defence".

Under its neutrality laws and a separate arms embargo, Switzerland is prohibited from sending weapons directly to Ukraine.

Swiss Defence Minister Viola Amherd replied in a letter on March 1 that a possible sale of part of the Swiss tank fleet would require the Swiss parliament formally declare the mothballed tanks to be out of service, the VBS said.

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"Discussions on this issue are currently under way in parliament," the VBS spokesman added.

The Swiss military currently has 134 Leopard 2 tanks in service and a further 96 in storage. The government did not say how many Germany had requested to buy, but the VSB spokesman said the army had said it would be possible to dispense with a limited number of tanks.

No information was given when the Swiss parliament could decide on the issue, although the government said it would comment further on Monday.

Bern has previously blocked requests from Germany, Spain and Denmark to allow Swiss-made munitions they have previously bought to be re-exported to Ukraine.

But the issue is becoming increasingly divisive in Switzerland, with a pro-Ukraine shift in the public and political mood putting pressure on the government to end a ban on exports of Swiss weapons to war zones.

Calls from Switzerland's European neighbours to allow such transfers to Kyiv have grown louder, and parliament's two security committees have recommended that the rules be eased.

(Reporting by John Revill and Sabine Siebold; editing by John Stonestreet and Christina Fincher)
BERLIN (Reuters) - Reports of poison attacks on school girls in Iran are shocking and must be investigated fully, German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock said on Friday, joining the United States in expressing her concern.

Hundreds of Iranian girls in different schools have suffered "mild poison" attacks over recent months, according to the country's health minister, with some politicians suggesting they could have been targeted by religious groups opposed to girls' education.

"Girls must be able to go to school without fear," Baerbock said on Twitter. "This is nothing less than their human right. All cases must be fully investigated."

(Writing by Paul Carrel, Editing by Rachel More)
BERLIN (AP)  Germany wants to buy mothballed Leopard 2 battle tanks from Switzerland to replace tanks that Berlin and its Western allies are sending to Ukraine, the Swiss government said Friday.

The Swiss Defense Ministry said that Germany's defense and economy ministers wrote on Feb. 23 to Swiss Defense Minister Viola Amherd, setting out German manufacturer Rheinmetall's interest in buying Leopard 2 tanks that the Swiss army doesn't plan to put back into service.

They assured Amherd that the tanks, if bought, wouldn't be sent to Ukraine and would be used by Germany or its NATO and European partners to fill the gaps in their own stocks created by their donations of tanks to Kyiv and to improve the availability of replacement parts.

That's an issue because Switzerland has a long tradition of neutrality. Germany so far has been unable to persuade the Swiss to provide supplies from their stockpile of ammunition for Gepard self-propelled anti-aircraft guns that Berlin provided to Ukraine.

The ministry, in an emailed response to a query after Swiss daily Blick reported on the request, didn't specify how many tanks Germany would like to buy. Switzerland has 230 of the German-made Leopard 2 tanks, 96 of which aren't in operation, according to German news agency dpa.

Amherd this week responded to the German government that any sale would require a decision by the Swiss parliament to declare the tanks officially removed from service, and that while there are discussions in parliament, no such decision has yet been made.

Her ministry said that the army has determined that in principle it would be possible to do without a limited number of battle tanks.

Germany is providing 18 of its own military's Leopard 2 tanks to Ukraine, and they are expected to be delivered later this month. Together with tanks provided by Sweden and Portugal, they will make up a battalion. Poland and other countries also are providing Leopard 2 tanks.

Germany's defense minister has pushed for the tanks to be replaced as quickly as possible.
Pop culture aficionados are well aware of the recent developments with the Selena Gomez and Hailey Bieber drama. For those in need of a refresher, TikTok influencers Kyla Zhao (@kylazingaround) and Cami Twomey (@cami.twomeyy) made comprehensive videos explaining it all.

A new TikTok trend has emerged as a result. TikTok users who empathize with the Rare Beauty founder have recorded their boyfriends following Selena Gomez on Instagram as a show of support.

In a video posted by Maria Santiago (@ma_santi), her boyfriend shows hes #TeamSelena. The seven-second clip has since received more than 6 million views and 1.1 million likes.

Yall got the boys involved

My bf was already following Selena Gomez and Im not even mad about that, wrote @itssmetanya.

yk its a different level of drama when the boys finally decided to jump in, wrote @thatnycmissy_.

Yall got the boys involved, laughed @anahivz1.

Chloe, a Canadian TikTok influencer (@chlogeddes) got her boyfriend to do the same.

The way I did this too, wrote @ellie_raee.

bout to download insta just to follow Selena, said @oliviarose4089.

Doing Gods Work, wrote @ngawikiharrison4.

Ian of @ianandmariah also followed Selena as a sign of camaraderie.

AS HE SHOULD, said @parisss0601.

Thats a keeper!!! commented @wallflowersoph.

you teaching him right, wrote @camilaotero40.

I dont even wear makeup but for her yes

Influencer Julie B (@julieandcorey) took things one step further: She bought Rare Beauty products using her boyfriends credit card.

Dang you took it to the next level, wrote @rachaelbusch430.

NEW LEVEL UNLOCKED, said @pointzero.id.

I dont even wear makeup but for her yes, said @arianna_es.

At the time of reporting, Selena Gomez has 392 million Instagram followers. Perhaps significant others have helped Selena uphold her position as the most followed person on Instagram.

In The Know is now available on Apple News  follow us here!

The post Girlfriends get their boyfriends to follow Selena Gomez on Instagram: Yall got the boys involved appeared first on In The Know.

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This Australian teenager deliberately breaks [her] all-girls private school's dress code as an experiment

Woman learns someone is illegally renting out her dad's house: 'This should be a Netflix documentary'

This $30 tumbler is a cheaper dupe for the viral Stanley cup and it keeps drinks colder for much longer

Heres what's inside the 6-figure Oscars gift bags going to nominees like Austin Butler, Ana de Armas and Cate Blanchett
EVELYN HOCKSTEIN

Rep. James Comer (R-KY), the new House Oversight Committee Chairman who lamented this week that President Joe Bidens dead son was never prosecuted in a long-settled campaign financing case, has now tried to claim he said no such thing.

In an appearance on former Fox Business host Lou Dobbs podcast on Tuesday, Comer bemoaned that U.S. Attorney for the District of Delaware David Weiss, a Trump-era appointee, never indicted Beau Biden in a campaign financing scandal in which Biden was cleared of wrongdoing.

That scandal involved contributions made by Delaware liquor executive Christopher Tigani during the 2000s, including to Joe Bidens unsuccessful 2008 presidential campaign. But Beau Biden, the former Delaware attorney general who died of a brain tumor in 2015, recused himself from a state probe into the matter, and an independent special prosecutor found that the Bidens, among other lawmakers, had unknowingly received straw donations. Tigani was eventually convicted.

This U.S. attorney had had an opportunity to go after the Bidens years ago, Comer huffed to Dobbs, after insinuating that Weiss was overly sympathetic to the entire Biden family. In fact, it was Beau Biden, the presidents other son, that was involved in some campaign donations from a person that got indicted, as well as Joe Biden was involved in some of these campaign donations when he was a senator, and then when he ran for president against Obama.

He continued: But nothing ever happened. So I dont know much about this U.S. attorney other than hes had an opportunity to investigate the Bidens before and he chose not to. We all know that hes just been silent for a long time.

House Oversight Chair Laments That Joe Bidens Dead Son Was Never Prosecuted

But when Comer was cornered by a reporter from The Independent at the Conservative Political Action Conference on Friday, he angrily denied making the comment at all, claiming he was simply pointing out that Weiss had an opportunity to look into Joe Biden for campaign contributions and that Beau was attorney general at the time.

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You need to watch the tape, that is a liethe White House said that, that is not true, he told The Independent.

I just said he was attorney general during a case ... Lou Dobbs asked about the attorney, the U.S. Attorney in Delaware. And I said, all we know is ... there was one opportunity... he had an opportunity to look into Joe Biden for campaign contributions. He didnt, [and] the person that made the contributions was sent to jail, Beau Biden was attorney general at the time, and nothing happened. I never said anything negative about Joe Biden, and I never said Joe Biden should be indicted, which is what the White House saidthats a complete lie.

In fact, the White House said Wednesday that Comers invocation of the presidents dead son was completely inappropriate and ugly.

When The Independent pointed out that Beau recused himself from any involvement in the Tigani matter, and was cleared of wrongdoing, Comer shot back, So whats your point?

Despite claiming hes not interested in digging into any Bidens but the president, Comer has obsessed over the presidents other son, Hunter Biden, who has also been in Weiss crosshairs since 2018. Weiss is reportedly looking into Hunter Bidens tax affairs and is close to wrapping up the case.

Read more at The Daily Beast.

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CHEYENNE, Wyo. (AP)  Switching political parties to be able to choose the primary in which a voter wants to cast a ballot is an old Wyoming tradition, one that has faced growing scrutiny as the state's Democrats increasingly struggle to field strong candidates and Republican primaries often all but decide who eventually wins office.

At least some Democrats in this GOP-dominated state haven't been shy about changing party affiliation just to vote in Republican primaries, including the blockbuster U.S. House race featuring Rep. Liz Cheney's loss to Cheyenne attorney Harriet Hageman last summer.

Amid GOP grumbling about crossover voting, switching parties ahead of primaries in Wyoming will now get a lot more difficult. Republican Gov. Mark Gordon allowed a bill curtailing the practice to take effect Friday without his signature.

The bill has flaws that may confuse voters but they aren't serious enough to warrant a veto, Gordon said in a letter to lawmakers.

But Republicans overwhelming voter registration advantage in Wyoming stands to make the laws changes more academic than real, Gordon wrote.

I urge voters to learn about these changes, he wrote.

Wyoming voters had been able to register to vote and declare party affiliation at the polls or up to two weeks before primary day. The new law prohibits changing party affiliation for almost three months before primary day in August.

Crossover voting in Wyoming got fresh attention ahead of the 2022 primary as former President Donald Trump and allies sought to discourage the states dwindling number of Democrats from voting for Cheney as she courted their votes.

It makes total sense that only Democrats vote in the Democrat primary and only Republicans vote in the Republican primary, Trump said in a statement endorsing a similar bill last year that failed.

Access to voting in primaries varies widely across the country, ranging from 20 states where any voter may choose candidates from any party to nine states where only voters registered with a party can vote for that partys candidates. The rest fall in between with a variety of rules, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures.

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In Wyoming, Trump's concerns about the Cheney race turned out to be overblown. Cheney, who stoked Trump's ire by voting to impeach him for the Jan. 6, 2021, violence at the U.S. Capitol and by leading the House investigation into the insurrection, lost by 37 points, enough that even all the Democrats in Wyoming couldn't have helped her win.

Wyoming secretary of state figures suggest crossover voting occurred. Democratic registration fell from about 46,000 in January 2022, to 36,000 on primary day, Aug. 16, bottoming out post-primary at 30,000 in September  a modern-day low.

Republican registration, meanwhile, climbed from about 196,000 in January 2022, to 215,000 on primary day and 235,000 in September. Republican registration previously peaked at 209,000 after the 2020 election.

Cheney's losing margin of almost 64,000 votes, however, far exceeded Wyoming's Democratic registration at any given time in the past decade.

Fears among Wyoming Republicans have nevertheless been growing that Democrats in disguise are watering down conservative values among leading GOP candidates at all levels.

Crossover voting has undermined the sanctity of Wyoming's primary process, Republican Secretary of State Chuck Gray said in a statement after the bill cleared the House.

A former state legislator, Gray ran for the state's top election oversight job last year on the debunked claim that widespread voter fraud cost Trump the 2020 election. Gray won a three-way GOP primary with 44%.

The Wyoming Republican Party, which censured Cheney for opposing Trump and voted to no longer recognize her as a Republican, has supported the change as a top priority.

Political parties should be able to select their own candidates free of interference and manipulation by outside entities, a state party resolution stated last fall.

The bill had far from unanimous support, however, even in a Wyoming Legislature more dominated by Republicans than at any time since 1920. Just seven of 93 state legislators are Democrats.

At one point, the bill failed on a 3-1 committee vote but was resurrected under a rule allowing reconsideration by the Senate, which passed the bill 19-11 on Feb. 24. Opponents included the chamber's two Democrats and several Republicans who said GOP dominance in Wyoming is already almost absolute.

By all accounts, we are becoming more polarized. And when you become more polarized, you want absolute control. That's what this bill does," Republican Sen. Cale Case said in debate on the Senate floor.

Case sought to change the bill to reduce the blackout period for changing parties to 45 days before the primary. His proposal failed and the bill as passed would have barred party registration changes after the candidate filing deadline on the last Friday in May until primary day for both parties on the third Tuesday in August.

Some lawmakers pointed out that other states, such as New York, have more restrictive party registration rules than Wyoming.

We're making it sound like we're just going to be this draconian island in the middle of this country that has this horrible closed primary system. And that's not the case. We're still relatively an open primary state, Republican Sen. Bo Biteman said.

Before last year, Republican mega-donor Foster Friess claimed after his unsuccessful run for Wyoming governor in 2018 that he could have won if Democrats hadn't switched to vote for Gordon. Some observers, including University of Wyoming data analyst Brian Harnisch, doubted the claim and the issue has faded as a major concern in the governor's race.

Gordon received 59% in a four-way Republican primary last year and won a second term with 76% of the vote.
Governor Maura Healey says work is being done to try to get Brockton Hospital back open after a fire forced it to close about three weeks ago.

This hospital will reopen, it must reopen, we hope to have it reopened starting in about three months, said Gov. Maura Healey. Its certainly making sure we have people available to do the work as well as the resources to be able to do it, that also includes the physical plan, making sure this gets built out, working through licensing and permitting getting things online.

While the hospital remains closed, other healthcare facilities in Brockton are feeling the extra burden.

Its been a tremendous challenge, said Maria Celli, Deputy CEO of Brockton Neighborhood Health Center.

Celli says Good Samaritan Medical Center nearby has been crippled with the increase in patients after losing the emergency department at Brockton Hospital, so a lot of them will head to the health center instead.

Those patients will go wait for some time and then come here, where well do everything we can to triage and assist but in some cases, they still have to go to the emergency room, said Celli.

While this health center is trying to fill the gaps, its also opening a new pharmacy to decrease wait times for patients in this area.

Honestly its essential for us to be able to have a pharmacy of this size and magnitude to serve the 37,000 or so patients that we serve on a yearly basis, said Celli.

Even with new programs in the works, healthcare workers are still hopeful Brockton Hospital will reopen soon.

Right now, its out of commission for a little bit, others have stepped in, and our job is to work to make sure this gets back online as quickly as possible and the state will be there to support, said Gov. Healey.

This is a developing story. Check back for updates as more information becomes available.

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Its Thursday, Chicago.

Hopefully, you got outside and enjoyed the sun yesterday. With cloudy skies and snow on the forecast, March is coming in like a lion, and thats reason enough to trek out to Schaumburg to slurp on hearty Jiro-style ramen at Chicago Ramen Annex to warm up your soul.

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More indoor activities to stay entertained during the dreary weather include the premiere of Creed III, a new exhibition at the Art Institute celebrating the surrealist work of Salvador Dali and the stunningly heartfelt production of Once at Writers Theatre.

Plus, its now Womens History Month. Read about how one Northwestern professor is making waves for her analysis of horror movies, and how a Logan Square chef is commemorating the month here.

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Enjoy the weekend, well see you here next week.

 Lauryn Azu, deputy senior editor

Dana Saleh Omar and cast in the musical "Once" at Writers Theatre in Glencoe. (Michael Brosilow / HANDOUT)

Once, the Broadway musical now playing at Writers Theatre in Glencoe, makes a strong case for being the best show this particular company ever has produced, Chris Jones writes in a glowing review. He praises the ensemble as uniformly terrific and how director Katie Spelman has a well-thought-out idea for every moment in this show. Read the rest of his review here.

The Jiro style ramen dish includes a thick broth with slices of port, noodles, a hard boiled egg, cabbage, and spinach at his new restaurant, Chicago Ramen Annex, on Friday, February 3, 2023, in Schaumburg.(Stacey Wescott/Chicago Tribune) (Stacey Wescott / Chicago Tribune)

While ramen isnt the easiest dish to eat when its 90 degrees out, during a breezy, rainy March in Chicagoland, its a no-brainer. And a strip mall in suburban Schaumburg has some of the regions best, writes critic Nick Kindelsperger. Read his take on the latest project from chef Kenta Ikehata here.

From left: Sebastian Chacon (Warren Rojas), Will Harrison (Graham Dunne), Josh Whitehouse (Eddie Roundtree) Suki Waterhouse (Karen Sirko), Sam Claflin (Billy Dunne) in Daisy Jones & The Six. (Lacey Terrell/Amazon Prime)

For fans of 70s rock bands like Fleetwood Mac, Daisy Jones & The Six is a new 10-part Amazon Prime adaptation of a 2019 novel that starts streaming this weekend.

Created by the screenwriting team of Scott Neustadter and Michael H. Weber (whose credits include (500) Days of Summer), the series falls into a number of expected traps, critic Nina Metz writes. But musically, the show works well. Read more here.

Cook Itzel Hernandez, left, and Diana Davila, chef/owner of Mi Tocaya do some kitchen prep work Tuesday, Sept. 21, 2021. (Jose M. Osorio / Chicago Tribune)

Award-winning chef and owner Diana Davila will host Mi Tocayas Birthday Taquiza on March 16. Davila and her team will be joined by a host of female chefs and taqueras, and the event also honors Womens History Month. Read more from Louisa Chu here.

Michael B. Jordan, left, and Jonathan Majors in "Creed III." (Eli Ade/Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios Inc./TNS)

Eat. Watch. Do. Weekly What to eat. What to watch. What you need to live your best life ... now. By submitting your email to receive this newsletter, you agree to our Subscriber Terms & Conditions and Privacy Policy >

Out this weekend in theaters is Creed III, the ninth movie in the Rocky franchise. The movie showcases Jonathan Majors and Michael B. Jordan as genuine, ambitious actors, and is a notable improvement from Creed II, writes Michael Phillips. Read the rest of his review here.

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Rending of The Oakville Grill & Cellar. (Lettuce Entertain You)

For those who want to feel as if theyre touring the vineyards of Napa Valley in the middle of Chicago, Lettuce Entertain You is introducing an enticing concept. Its new restaurant, The Oakville Grill & Cellar, opens in Fulton Market this spring and was conceived to feel like being on a wine tour. Read more here.

Robin Means Coleman is a Northwestern vice president and association provost of diversity. (E. Jason Wambsgans / Chicago Tribune)

After studying agriculture in graduate school, Robin Means Coleman embraced her love for horror movies instead. Today shes our preeminent scholar on Black representation in horror movies, writes Chris Borrelli. Her new book with journalist Mark H. Harris, The Black Guy Dies First: Black Horror Cinema, From Fodder to Oscar, explores this history with a touch of humor. Read more here.

The Cauldron first opened up in London back in 2017. - Original Credit: Matthew Cortland (HANDOUT)

Who says muggles cant practice magic? At The Cauldron, opening in May in Wicker Park, youll be able to put your wizarding skills to the test at a potion-making class, and dine on magical interactive food and drink in their restaurant or speakeasy-style bar. Read all about it here.

People look at Salvador Dalis "Apparition of Face and Fruit Dish on a Beach" while visiting the Salvador Dali: The Image Disappears exhibit at the Art Institute of Chicago on Feb. 22, 2023. (Armando L. Sanchez / Chicago Tribune)

The Art Institutes new exhibit Salvador Dali: The Image Disappears celebrates the work of the Spanish artist best known for his part in the Surrealist movement, in a time where almost everything seems surreal.

Perhaps because, after a century among us, surrealism has evolved into a catchall, removed from its political origins, less a movement than an adjective, a go-to description for any break from the usual, writes Chris Borrelli. Read about Chicagos role in the artistic movement and its contemporary reiterations here.

Cherry blossoms are visible along Hains Point in Washington on Feb. 27, 2023. (Andrew Harnik/AP)

Unusually warmer weather means Washington, D.C.s iconic cherry blossoms are appearing early this year. Officials announced this week that 3,700 cherry blossom trees would reach peak bloom this year from March 22-25. Read about what this could mean for the trees here.
State schools Superintendent Ryan Walters leads a meeting Feb. 23 of the Oklahoma State Board of Education in Oklahoma City.

After being absent for the first two months of her tenure, a new member of the Oklahoma State Board of Education will be replaced with another appointee.

Marla Hill resigned on Tuesday from her seat on the state's top school board representing Congressional District 3.

"The demands of my mothers health needs require constant care," Hill wrote in an email to the governor's office. "Thank you for your understanding. I pray for the children and State of Oklahoma to flourish."

Gov. Kevin Stitt announced on Thursday that Katie Quebedeaux, of Guymon, will succeed Hill. Quebedeaux is the director of administration and marketing at Faith Learning Center, a child care center in Guymon. She taught for five years at Northridge Christian School.

More:Oklahoma Gov. Kevin Stitt shakes up Board of Education, replaces 4 of 6 members

"I am honored to accept this appointment and eager to work with my fellow Oklahomans to ensure every student in our state has access to a quality education that fosters intellectual curiosity and a life-long love of learning," Quebedeaux said in a statement.

The governor chose Hill, a home-schooling parent and business owner, for the position in January, but she didn't attend either of the two board meetings that took place since her appointment. She was never sworn into office as a result.

State Election Board records show Hill is registered to vote in Kingfisher County, where she and her husband own The Cedar Gate, a rustic venue and shooting center.

However, Oklahoma County property records show the Hills own a $1.3 million home in Edmond outside of Congressional District 3.

I appreciate Marlas willingness to serve the state and wish her nothing but the best, Stitt said in a statement.

Gov. Kevin Stitt

Hill did not immediately return a request for comment Thursday evening.

State schools Superintendent Ryan Walters said after the board's most recent meeting Feb. 23 that he didn't know the reason she didn't attend.

More:Gov. Stitt replaced education board members before terms ended; changes draw criticism

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Hill sought out a position on the state Board of Education after taking an interest in "the fast pace of bold Marxist ideologies prevalent in the public schools," according to the Oklahoma State Department of Education website.

"She began to study the methods of this advance and how America went from teaching the American dream of accepting responsibility, work hard, dream big and take a risk to that of a timid, fear-based, victim mentality that chooses entitlements over creativity and ingenuity," the website states in Hill's biographical information.

Quebedeaux's appointment is pending state Senate confirmation.

She earned a bachelor's degree in 2009 from Oklahoma Panhandle State University and received a child development associate degree in 2018 from Northern Oklahoma College.

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

This article originally appeared on Oklahoman: Oklahoma State Board of Education member replaced after absence
Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) targeted Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky during her speech to the annual Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC), saying he should leave his hands off of our sons and daughters over the Russian invasion in Ukraine.

Greene has been an outspoken critic of U.S. support for Ukraine, which has been supported by a majority of Democrats and Republicans.

Her remarks appeared to reference comments Zelensky made late last month in which he said that if Ukraine lost its war with Russia, it could lead Moscow to invade other former Soviet states that are now members of NATO  such as the Baltic countries. Ukraine is not a NATO member.

Zelensky said such a situation  Russian invading a NATO member  would lead the U.S. to send forces to those countries.

Greene on Friday told the CPAC crowd that she was still committed to saying no money to Ukraine, and that country needs to find peace, not war.

And while I will look at a camera and directly tell Zelensky, youd better leave your hands off of our sons and daughters because theyre not dying over there, she continued.

There are no U.S. troops in Ukraine, and the White House is opposed to sending U.S. troops to Ukraine, as are most members of both political parties.

Zelenskys remarks came near the one-year anniversary of Russias invasion.

If it happens so that Ukraine, due to various opinions and weakening [and] depleting of assistance, loses, Russia is going to enter Baltic states  NATO-member states  and then the U.S. will have to send their sons and daughters exactly the same way as we are sending their sons and daughters to war and they will have to fight because its NATO that were talking about and they will be dying  God forbid, because its a horrible thing, Zelensky said at the time.

His statement was in response to a question about polling that showed more people in the U.S. were worried the nation was offering too much support for Ukraine.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to The Hill.
Hamtramck city council has approved a proclamation expressing support for Palestinians and opposing military aid to "all repressive governments."

The proclamation did not mention Israel, but appeared to criticize the country, drawing criticism from some residents and support from others during a council meeting Feb. 28, when the proclamation was approved. It's the latest council move that has drawn intense debate in a city with changing demographics. It was signed by Mayor Amer Ghalib and five of six city council members; the one member who did not sign it, Amanda Jaczkowski, announced last week she is resigning and her resignation was accepted by the council during the meeting.

The impetus for the resolution originally came from a pair of Ann Arbor activists who have tried unsuccessfully over the years to convince Ann Arbor and Dearborn to pass resolutions criticizing Israel.

Hamtramck has one of the highest poverty rates among cities in Michigan, which was noted in the proclamation.

"The City of Hamtramck believes that the Palestinian People should enjoy the right of self-determination that comes with having a free, peaceful and secure homeland of their own; and ... the City of Hamtramck stands against occupation of any country and supports the right of every occupied nation to gain freedom, sovereignty and independence," the proclamation read. "U.S. military aid to foreign governments has enriched defense contractors at the expense of struggling cities like Hamtramck while threatening the safety and security of the people in the region and elsewhere."

Hamtramck City Hall and Police Department in Hamtramck on August 25, 2021.

The proclamation concluded by stating "that the Mayor and Council of the City of Hamtramck oppose military aid to all repressive governments around the world."

Ghalib read the proclamation during the meeting and explained why he supports it, acknowledging that some were concerned.

"There was a lot of tension around this," Ghalib said. "I keep getting calls from members of the community to explain, thinking that we are doing stuff that are unnecessary."

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He said that Hamtramck has issued previous proclamations in support of other groups. In 2020, Hamtramck passed a resolution slamming India for its treatment of Muslims.

"We have done proclamations before for Ukraine ... for Poland, for Yemen, for Bangladesh," Ghalib said. "And this is for Palestine. ... Three things we cannot bargain about ... faith, family, and freedom. ... We support the freedom of every nation to live free of occupation and free of repression and persecution."

There was no formal vote since proclamations don't require one, said City Clerk Rana Faraj. No council member objected to the resolution at the meeting.

Carrie Beth Lasley, a Hamtramck resident and former city councilwoman, blasted the resolution, saying it was part of a pattern of missteps by the council that feeds into stereotypes of Muslims wanting to establish sharia, or Islamic law. Faraj read Lasley's comments, which were submitted in writing.

Lasley suggested the proclamation was introduced by an anti-Semite and that the council is "acting exactly how Islamophobes have said the first majority-Muslim council would act," making it seem like Hamtramck residents are "petty, hateful people."

"You're all playing right into the stereotype," Lasley said.

The proclamation came during an intense round of Israeli-Palestinian violence. More than 60 Palestinians and 14 Israelis have been killed this year, according to the Associated Press.

More:Hamtramck council approves Islamic animal sacrifices at home

More:Hamtramck's all-Muslim City Council condemns antisemitism

The debate over the proclamation touched upon some tensions in Hamtramck over the past year on LGBTQ issues, religious animal sacrifices and bars as the city's demographics change to a population with more Muslim residents.

There is strong support for Palestinians among many in Hamtramck, which has one of the highest percentages of residents of Arab and Bangladeshi descent among cities in the U.S. The mayor and all of its city council members are Muslim, believed to be the only city in U.S. history with an all-Muslim council. The city has the highest percentage of immigrants among cities in Michigan. During the meeting, most of the residents and others who spoke about the proclamation expressed support for it and criticized Israel.

Metro Detroit communities have, over the years, weighed in on foreign policy topics, but in some cases, have resisted attempts to weigh in on matters over which some say they have no jurisdiction. In January 2009, the Dearborn city council voted 6-0 on a resolution after war between Israel and Palestinian forces that mourned the loss of life, called for U.S. intervention and an end to the blockade on Gaza. In 2014, Dearborn City Council President Susan Dabaja, the first Arab American to lead the council, pushed back against attempts by activists from Ann Arbor to pass a Dearborn resolution criticizing Israel.

The activists from Ann Arbor who were at the Dearborn meeting in 2014, Blaine Coleman and Mozhgan Savabieasfahani, were at the Hamtramck council meeting urging passage of the proclamation.

Ghalib told the Free Press that idea for the resolution originally came from Coleman and his associates.

Coleman said he and Savabieasfahani "proposed a simple seven-word resolution to Hamtramck City Council which we have also proposed to Ann Arbor City Council for many years: 'We are against military aid to Israel.'"

Hamtramck mayoral candidate Amer Ghalib delivers a victory speech during a campaign party on Nov. 2, 2021, at the Yemani American Leadership Association in Hamtramck.

Ann Arbor Council has rejected Coleman's anti-Israel resolution in previous years.

Ghalib told the Free Press by email that "Blaine and his people have been advocating and requesting that for months. They finally came to the council meetings a few times. A councilman volunteered to bring a resolution with that idea. It mentioned Israel by name. Another council person opposed that. We tried to compromise with removing names and generalizing the idea to include all repressive governments and occupying forces around the world."

Ghalib added that Hamtramck "passed one for Ukraine last year and we are not afraid of voicing our support for freedom, peace, sovereignty and independence of every nation around the world."

Coleman and Savabieasfahani spoke at the Dearborn city council meeting, urging them to pass a similar resolution opposing military aid to Israel. Councilmembers did not comment on it during the meeting after they spoke and don't appear to have a resolution planned.

A leader with a Jewish group in metro Detroit said it will continue to work with Hamtramck on other issues and believes the proclamation does not refer to Israel since Israel is not a repressive nation.

"While many may see this resolution as targeting Israel, I am glad Israel is not specifically mentioned," Rabbi Asher Lopatin, executive director of the Jewish Community Relations Council of metro Detroit/American Jewish Committee told the Free Press by email. "Israel is certainly not a repressive government. The situation in the West Bank is one of disputed territory that needs to be resolved by the Palestinians and the Israelis. Since 1967, Israel has struggled for a peaceful and equitable solution on this territory. And many Jews ... can agree that the Palestinians should have a right to nationhood."

Lopatin added that Israel should not be held to a double standard.

"I am glad that the resolution mentions 'all repressive governments' rather than singling out ... any one nation," he said.

Speakers at the council meeting who support the proclamation expressed different views of Israel, calling it racist and an apartheid state. One speaker, Nasr Hussain, lamented that the proclamation did not mention Israel specifically. Hussain also noted Hamtramck's sizable Bangladeshi American population, comparing Israel to Pakistan, which used to occupy the area that is now Bangladesh.

Hamtramck City Council and Mayor Amer Ghalib, on Jan. 10, 2023, voting to allow animal sacrifices for religious reasons.

"Nobody hates occupation more than Bengalis with Pakistan occupying Bengal" before Bangladesh became a free country in 1971, Hussain said.

Bill Meyer, an activist in Hamtramck, also spoke in favor of the proclamation, saying that criticizing Israel is not antisemitic.

"Supporting Palestinians does not mean you're antisemitic," Meyer said.

The debate over the Hamtramck proclamation is the latest local controversy in Michigan over the Middle East dispute. In January, a group of protesters on the campus of the University of Michigan-Ann Arbor who demonstrated in support of Palestinians during a visit by Vice President Kamala Harris drew criticism from Jonathan Greenblatt, CEO of the Anti-Defamation League, the nation's largest Jewish civil rights group, because they chanted in support of "intifada," an Arabic word that means "shaking off." The word has also been used to refer to armed uprisings against Israeli occupation of the West Bank and Gaza. UM spokesman Rick Fitzgerald told the Free Press the university is reviewing the matter.

In January 2022, Hamtramck's council passed a resolution condemning antisemitism shortly after the all-Muslim council took office. At the time, Lopatin and the American Jewish Committee hailed the move as a positive step for Jewish-Muslim relations in metro Detroit. Lopatin and other Jewish leaders then went to Hamtramck to meet with Ghalib and Jaczkowski.

Lopatin said this week that "while certainly we can disagree on the Middle East, that should not stop us from working together in areas that we agree upon locally."

The January 2022 resolution condemning antisemitism was introduced by Jaczkowski, a Polish American convert to Islam and the only woman on the council. In a Facebook post, she said she resigned for health reasons. In a statement from her that was read at the meeting, she said: "I dont want anyone to take my resignation as a reason to blame others, fight, or walk away from Hamtramck. In fact, I encourage the opposite. Attend more meetings. Join a commission. Educate yourself on the political process, public policy, and more."

In another proclamation approved Feb. 28 by the Hamtramck council celebrating women's history month, her name was on the proclamation. Jaczkowski has at times disagreed with members of the council who are more conservative, but her colleagues and Ghalib praised her at the meeting.

"We always had some disagreements," but they were minor, Ghalib said. He said Jaczkowski leaving is "a big loss."

Contact Niraj Warikoo: nwarikoo@freepress.com or Twitter @nwarikoo

This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Hamtramck city council approves proclamation supporting Palestinians
The Hanover Insurance Group, Inc. (NYSE:THG) has announced that it will be increasing its dividend from last year's comparable payment on the 31st of March to $0.81. Based on this payment, the dividend yield for the company will be 2.3%, which is fairly typical for the industry.

Check out our latest analysis for Hanover Insurance Group

Hanover Insurance Group's Earnings Easily Cover The Distributions

While it is always good to see a solid dividend yield, we should also consider whether the payment is feasible. Before this announcement, Hanover Insurance Group was paying out 93% of earnings, but a comparatively small 16% of free cash flows. This leaves plenty of cash for reinvestment into the business.

Analysts expect a massive rise in earnings per share in the next year. Assuming the dividend continues along recent trends, we estimate that the payout ratio could reach 33%, which is in a comfortable range for us.

Hanover Insurance Group Has A Solid Track Record

Even over a long history of paying dividends, the company's distributions have been remarkably stable. Since 2013, the annual payment back then was $1.20, compared to the most recent full-year payment of $3.24. This means that it has been growing its distributions at 10% per annum over that time. We can see that payments have shown some very nice upward momentum without faltering, which provides some reassurance that future payments will also be reliable.

Dividend Growth May Be Hard To Come By

Some investors will be chomping at the bit to buy some of the company's stock based on its dividend history. Unfortunately things aren't as good as they seem. It's not great to see that Hanover Insurance Group's earnings per share has fallen at approximately 8.4% per year over the past five years. If earnings continue declining, the company may have to make the difficult choice of reducing the dividend or even stopping it completely - the opposite of dividend growth. However, the next year is actually looking up, with earnings set to rise. We would just wait until it becomes a pattern before getting too excited.

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In Summary

Overall, this is probably not a great income stock, even though the dividend is being raised at the moment. The company has been bring in plenty of cash to cover the dividend, but we don't necessarily think that makes it a great dividend stock. We would probably look elsewhere for an income investment.

Market movements attest to how highly valued a consistent dividend policy is compared to one which is more unpredictable. At the same time, there are other factors our readers should be conscious of before pouring capital into a stock. As an example, we've identified 2 warning signs for Hanover Insurance Group that you should be aware of before investing. 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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Mililani High School had one chefs knife in its kitchen before joining the Aina Pono Farm to School program in 2018.

The 2,000 daily meals made for the school complex were mainly made with food from cans hailing from the continental U.S.

Some of it looked a lot like dog food, assistant principal Andrea Moore said in an interview. And thats just shameful, to tell you the truth.

Upon joining the Aina Pono initiative, the school upgraded its kitchen, trained its staff and started cooking from scratch, feeding its own students as well as Mililani Uka Elementary and Mililani Waena Elementary.

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It still does, using as many local ingredients as possible.

Mililani High School is the DOEs second largest food production site, but despite its apparent success, the department is focused on centralizing food operations, arguing that the current model is ineffective when it comes to getting local food into schools.

The DOE is under a time crunch to spend 30% of its annual food budget on local produce by 2030, though the farm to school initiative has been in development for years.

The department sees several hurdles: It needs a consistent supply of local food, which it says farmers cannot meet. It needs to assure food safety, which many farmers cannot do. It needs food service staff, which it predicts will be down by 30% in the next five years.

But evidence of these concerns is lacking, according to farm to school advocates, and a detailed plan to implement the central kitchen model has yet to be shared by the DOE.

The $35 million centralized kitchen on Oahu is being built in Wahiawa. There would be one on each island and potentially two on the Big Island, costing a minimum of $15 million each.

The DOEs assistant superintendent for Office of Facilities and Operations, Randall Tanaka, says all the other details are in development.

I dont have a plan. What I have is a road map: This is where we are, this is where we need to be, Tanaka said in an interview. And Im going to fill in the blanks as I continue to research and get things in there.

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In recent testimony, Tanaka told the House Finance Committee that Oahus centralized kitchen would be operational in two and a half years.

The DOEs track record in managing its school food program is driving much of the current concern, having missed out on more than $200 million in federal funding since 2000, and it has struggled to track school food spending effectively, which it is now trying to address.

Delegating Kitchen Tasks

Rep. Amy Perruso has introduced a suite of bills aimed at addressing the longstanding issues within the DOEs food system, including House Bill 248, which would empower school complex area superintendents to take more ownership of their schools meal programs and local food purchases.

Just under 200 Hawaii schools have kitchens, though some need to be renovated or retrofitted to allow for cooking from scratch, which advocates of farm to school food programs generally prefer.

The package of bills aim to build on the Aina Pono Farm to School program, which Mililani High School was part of, by renovating existing infrastructure, among other things.

We have the data, we know it works. We know what the next steps need to be, Perruso said. Thats renovating our school production kitchens that already exist  193 of them.

The DOE requested the $35 million for the proposed Wahiawa facility last year but former Gov. David Ige did not release the funds, which Perruso says was wise because it is an unproven concept.

Many of the 40-odd organizations already part of the Hawaii Farm to School Hui agree.

Tanaka says it will cost billions to do the work Perruso and advocates are seeking.

Best case scenario, were going to spend $10 million for each kitchen to repair, which is like $2.5 billion versus a centralized kitchen (on Oahu), which will run us from $35 to $45 million, Tanaka said.

But in 2020 an assessment found it would cost a little under $800,000 to bring 11 Kauai public schools kitchens up to standard.

Tanaka says his $10 million-per kitchen figure is an estimate based on needed equipment and electrical upgrades.

Ulupono Initiative, which was a key supporter of the Aina Pono program, has raised concerns about how the DOE manages its cafeterias and the information about the food they use.

We encourage Hawaii DOE leadership to develop a clear strategic plan to meet its farm to school goals, including exactly how its proposed centralized kitchen strategy will avoid putting local agriculture producers at a disadvantage, said Jesse Cooke, vice president of investments and analytics.

Getting Local

Tanaka has regularly raised concerns that Hawaiis farmers cannot produce enough to fulfill DOEs $45 million annual shopping list, saying that Hawaiis farmers are unable to provide the consistency of products that DOE requires for cyclical menu planning.

While that may be the case, the DOE only needs 30% of its food to be local. Last year, 6.2% of its food was local  1.9% on local fruits and vegetables and the rest on ground beef.

Hawaiis vegetable crops were worth $73 million in 2022, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

Some producers have expressed frustrations trying to work with DOE, which many say could be addressed by decentralizing school meals.

Food hubs have been identified as a potential conduit for small farms produce, to provide more assurance to both producers and DOEs kitchens.

One such hub is Hawaii Ulu Cooperative, which signed on in 2018, first as a harvest of the month special, and later as a regular on school menus until its contract was nixed in 2020.

The cooperative supplied almost 100,000 pounds of pre-prepared frozen breadfruit, papaya, sweet potatoes and bananas worth a total of $380,000.

The cooperative has expanded exponentially since losing its contract with DOE.

Cooperative general manager Dana Shapiro says the power of achieving a contract with DOE means farms can expand and invest in their operations, as they did.

Shapiro keeps reaching out to the DOE because she wants children to learn about the states staple crops and the value of them, to create a more sustainable future food system.

Its so frustrating, Shapiro says. We dont need the DOE. Weve moved on. The reality is that we have a much more robust and diversified customer base without them.

Tanaka says he wants to reengage the food hubs.

The farm to school coordinator role would have been responsible for such relationships, though the role has not been filled since 2020.

School Meals Become Political

Tanaka says its not just up to DOE to help farmers become profitable  they need a bigger market akin to New Zealands export dependent agricultural industry.

For some reason (Tanaka) gets into ideas and arguments of why farmers should export their food, said Saleh Azizi, Hawaii Food Hub Hui coordinator.

Thats really a strange thing for him to get into when the only reason theyre being approached by local food (producers) is so that they might buy a little bit more local food, Azizi said.

But Tanaka says the pushback is purely political.

If I say left or if a senator says left, the other persons going to say right, Tanaka said.

Perruso agrees the process is politicized, but that the centralization idea is vague and an idea of a few people in positions of power.

Meanwhile, Mililani High School continues to follow their training that came with the Aina Pono program by purchasing as much produce as they can locally, through DOE-approved local suppliers.

If the centralized model goes forward as it is currently being floated by DOE, assistant principal Moore says Mililani could go out on its own.

Moore says following that model would mean the work the school has been doing since 2018 has been for nothing and the quality of food would go down.

We do have the ability to go autonomous. Were a big enough school with a big enough budget, Moore says.

Hawaii Grown is funded in part by grants from the Ulupono Fund at the Hawaii Community Foundation, the Marisla Fund at the Hawaii Community Foundation, and the Frost Family Foundation.

Civil Beats education reporting is supported by a grant from Chamberlin Family Philanthropy.
The main point of investing for the long term is to make money. Better yet, you'd like to see the share price move up more than the market average. Unfortunately for shareholders, while the Hawaiian Electric Industries, Inc. (NYSE:HE) share price is up 20% in the last five years, that's less than the market return. The last year has been disappointing, with the stock price down 4.7% in that time.

So let's assess the underlying fundamentals over the last 5 years and see if they've moved in lock-step with shareholder returns.

Check out our latest analysis for Hawaiian Electric Industries

While the efficient markets hypothesis continues to be taught by some, it has been proven that markets are over-reactive dynamic systems, and investors are not always rational. One flawed but reasonable way to assess how sentiment around a company has changed is to compare the earnings per share (EPS) with the share price.

During five years of share price growth, Hawaiian Electric Industries achieved compound earnings per share (EPS) growth of 7.7% per year. This EPS growth is higher than the 4% average annual increase in the share price. So one could conclude that the broader market has become more cautious towards the stock.

The graphic below depicts how EPS has changed over time (unveil the exact values by clicking on the image).

It's probably worth noting that the CEO is paid less than the median at similar sized companies. It's always worth keeping an eye on CEO pay, but a more important question is whether the company will grow earnings throughout the years. Dive deeper into the earnings by checking this interactive graph of Hawaiian Electric Industries' earnings, revenue and cash flow.

What About Dividends?

It is important to consider the total shareholder return, as well as the share price return, for any given stock. 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. It's fair to say that the TSR gives a more complete picture for stocks that pay a dividend. We note that for Hawaiian Electric Industries the TSR over the last 5 years was 42%, which is better than the share price return mentioned above. The dividends paid by the company have thusly boosted the total shareholder return.

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A Different Perspective

Although it hurts that Hawaiian Electric Industries returned a loss of 1.4% in the last twelve months, the broader market was actually worse, returning a loss of 7.7%. Of course, the long term returns are far more important and the good news is that over five years, the stock has returned 7% for each year. In the best case scenario the last year is just a temporary blip on the journey to a brighter future. I find it very interesting to look at share price over the long term as a proxy for business performance. But to truly gain insight, we need to consider other information, too. Consider for instance, the ever-present spectre of investment risk. We've identified 2 warning signs with Hawaiian Electric Industries (at least 1 which is a bit concerning) , and understanding them should be part of your investment process.

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.

Join A Paid User Research Session

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Deborah Lee Atrops disappeared after never picking up her daughter from her estranged husbands home in 1988, authorities in Oregon said.

Her body was then found in her car trunk, but investigators never arrested anyone in her death until 35 years later.

On Thursday, March 2, her estranged husband was arrested on a second-degree murder charge, the Washington County Sheriffs Office said in a news release.

He had initially reported her missing after she failed to return from her hair appointment to pick up their adopted 8-month-old daughter from his Sherwood home on Nov. 29, 1988, deputies said.

When he didnt hear from her, he called her acquaintances and family, deputies said. Then he contacted the Tigard Police Department to make a missing person report.

An official missing person report was made Nov. 30 by the Washington County Sheriffs Office, deputies said.

Suspicious vehicle found in Beaverton

On Dec. 1, a city employee reported a suspicious vehicle parked at a dead end in Beaverton, deputies said.

The keys were left on the drivers seat of the 1988 black Honda Accord, and authorities said the car had been parked there since Nov. 30.

Investigators found her body in the trunk of the car, deputies said.

Atrops, 30, had been physically assaulted and strangled to death, authorities said. Her death was ruled a homicide.

But Deborah Atrops case eventually went cold, authorities said.

Case gets a new look

The case was reopened in 2021 after the Washington County District Attorneys Office got a federal grant called Prosecuting Cold Cases Using DNA.

Witnesses were re-interviewed and forensic evidence was reexamined. The prosecutors brought the case to a Washington County grand Jury on Feb. 28 of this year.

Robert Atrops was indicted on a second-degree murder charge by the jury, and he was arrested on Thursday, March 2, in the killing of Deborah Atrops.

If you are experiencing domestic violence and need someone to talk to, call the National Domestic Violence Hotline for support at 1-800-799-7233 or text START to 88788.

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Five months after her 8-year-old son went through an active shooter drill at school, one mom made a horrifying discovery: Her child thought it was real.

Donna Provencher, 37, says her son's school district informed parents that students would participate in an active shooter drill "within a general timeframe."

The email came four months after the shooting at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas, where 19 fourth graders and two teachers were killed.

"I told him that if such a thing were to happen, it was pretend  it was not real," Provencher, who lives 70 miles away from Uvalde, tells TODAY.com. "Clearly, he either forgot or it didn't register."

Last week, as Provencher was folding laundry, she says her son said: 'Do you remember when the shooter came into my school, like at Uvalde?'"

"My heart stopped," the mom of three says. "He said: 'We had to curl up on the ground. We had to be very quiet. We were told we could be in danger, that someone could come in the room and hurt us and if they did we should play dead."

After processing what her son was saying, Provencher told her son that what he experienced wasn't real  it was just a drill.

"He looked at me aghast and said: 'That was a drill? I thought we were going to die,'" she adds. "It was one of those parenting moments where I didn't know what to say. I wasn't any better equipped to handle the situation than he was."

"Don't you remember when the shooter came to my school, like at Uvalde?



My face went white and I stopped folding laundry. What are you talking about? I asked my eight-year-old. (1/5)  Donna Provencher (@DonnaProvencher) February 21, 2023

'He refused to sleep anywhere but in my bed'

Provencher says she's horrified that her son believed he almost died, yet didn't say anything about it for five months. Looking back, she says she recalls a "really inexplicable increase in acting out" at the time of the drill.

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"Acting out at school and night terrors, bedwetting incidents and chronic insomnia," she says. "He refused to sleep anywhere but my bed."

Provencher reached out to her the school's principal in emails shared with TODAY.com. The principal confirmed the time of the drill and gave details about how the drill was conducted, adding that the school would "reach out to let you know when we do schedule" another drill.

TODAY.com reached out to the child's school district for comment, but did not hear back at the time of publication.

Dr. Jill M. Emanuele, vice president of clinical training at the Child Mind Institute, tells TODAY.com that if a child believes something traumatic happened to them, their mental and emotional health can be impacted just as if the event was real.

"Let's be super clear about what trauma is: It's the reaction to either an actual or perceived threat," Emanuele explains. "Certainly a child who perceives a threat could go on to develop a reaction or a mental health disorder."

One small 2021 study of 35 people who either participated in or had a child participate in at least one school shooting drill between 2018-2019 found that participants experienced a 42% increase in stress and anxiety and a 39% increase in depression after a drill was conducted. The increase lasted at least 90 days, spanning across different school districts and drill tactics.

In 2020, the American Federation of Teachers and National Education Association partnered with Everytown for Gun Safety, an advocacy group, in calling for an end to school shooting drills, saying they "terrify students, leaving them unable to concentrate in the classroom and unable to sleep at night."

'Leaving the most vulnerable among us behind'

Provencher says her son is "neurodivergent with diagnosed ADHD and clinical anxiety disorder, currently going through the evaluation process for autism."

She says his experience highlights the "intersection between school safety and disability rights."

"These drills can be damaging and traumatic for all kids, of course, but particularly those who exist outside our neat little taxonomical boxes," Provencher says. "If we're going to have these drills in the first place, we need to (conduct them) so we're not leaving the most vulnerable among us behind."

Maggie Moroff, senior special education policy coordinator for Advocates for Children of New York, says open communication between parents and school staff is vital, particularly for students who are neurodivergent or have disabilities.

"It's easy to forget that the drills have real impact on the students," Moroff tells TODAY.com. "There needs to be more conversation, more dialogue, more understanding before and after that potential impact."

How to talk to kids about shooting drills

Provencher was in high school when the Columbine school shooting happened, so she's dealt with the reality of school shootings for years, but she's not used to handling them as a parent.

"It's really uncharted territory for all of us," she adds. "I do think it's incredibly important to be candid with our children in an age-appropriate way."

Dr. Valentina Stoycheva, a clinical psychologist and co-founder and director of Stress and Trauma Evaluation and Psychological Services in New York, agrees.

"It is important to discuss in developmentally appropriate ways the purpose of drills, different types and protocols," Stoycheva tells TODAY.com. "Unpredictability can negatively impact kids."

In addition to consistently reminding children that a drill is not real, Emanuele says parents must "really be in touch with their own anxiety" before having a conversation with their child.

She says that it's also helpful to ask questions.

"You sit down with your child and go: 'I heard that you're having an active shooter drill, do you know what that is?' Start asking questions, rather than lecturing," she says.

Emanuele adds that parents can also use stories like Provencher's to start a conversation.

"You can say: 'I heard this story about a kid who got upset about an active shooter drill,'" she says. "'I'd like to understand what it's like for you.'"

Related video:

This article was originally published on TODAY.com
The death of the ATM is juxtaposed by the rise in contactless credit card payments and money transfer apps like Venmo and a coin shortage running parallel to the covid-19 pandemic.

It would appear that the days of crisp dollar bills and shiny pennies are falling behind us. The number of ATMs in the U.S. is reportedly on the decline as we move to a society hellbent on credit cards, mobile payments, and tap-to-pay.



A new report from The Wall Street Journal, which cites data from the research firm Euromonitor International, indicates that the presence of ATMs peaked in 2019 at 470,000 machines across the countrya figure that has now been reduced to 451,500 units at the end of 2022. The drop in ATMs is likely a vestige of covid-19 shaping our society, where, during the height of the pandemic, customers moved to digital payments and credit cards only to never return back to cash.

Read more

There was that scare that the virus was transmitted by paper, plus the trend of just buying everything online, said Kendrick Sands, a Chicago-based Euromonitor International research manager, to the Journal. That dealt almost a death blow to cash, especially for younger people.

There have been a number of fronts in the financial push to digitalall of which have encouraged people away from cash and most of which were born out of the covid-19 pandemic. Contactless credit cards have gotten noticeably popular in recent years, allowing credit card payments to move away from chips and swipes, and towards simple taps which take less time, require less touching, and are reportedly more secure for customers. Contactless payments are so en vogue that even ATMs themselves have touch points to access your account via your card or phone.

Apps like Venmo, Splitwise, and PayPal, similarly, do not require a physical transfer of fundsresulting in less germ transfer and fewer ATM trips. Venmo (which is owned by PayPal) reportedly has 90 million U.S.-based accounts and grew 50% in Q2 2022, according to a product report from the company. While Venmo has been commonplace for consumers, it is now becoming even more commonplace with businesses as a point-of-sale system or as an official form of payment. Its also increasingly common among workers (hair stylists, massage therapists, etc) who use money transfer apps for tips.

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A secondary threat to cash payments was the seemingly never-ending coin shortage, which plagued the country shortly after the onset of the covid-19 pandemic. The U.S. Federal Reserve System says that the country has an adequate amount of coins in circulation, but that rate of circulation was disrupted by the pandemic as businesses and banks closed and people stayed home more than usual. According to the Federal Reserve Systems website:

As a first step, a temporary cap was imposed in June 2020 on the orders depository institutions place for coins with the Federal Reserve to ensure that the supply was fairly distributed. Because coin circulation patterns have not fully returned to pre-pandemic levels, caps were reinstated in May 2021.

The banking industry says that digital payments dont tell the full story of the increasing disappearance of the countrys ATMs. The ATM Industry Associationss executive director David Tente told The Wall Street Journal that ATM crime has been playing a huge role in the reduction in ATMs. Tente also reportedly pushed back on the declining figures presented by Euromonitor International, claiming that cash was still important for purchases, albeit in a reduced capacity.

[Cash] is still the payment method of choice for in-person transactions of $25 or less, Tente told the Journal. He added: Right now the biggest threat to the industry is not electronic payments, but ATM crime.

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Hershey is facing calls for a boycott over its International Womens' Day campaign. Angus Mordant/Bloomberg/Getty Images

Hershey says it stands by its International Women's Day campaign featuring a trans woman.

The campaign featured Fae Johnstone, a trans woman, on chocolate-bar wrappers.

The campaign triggered conservatives on social media who are calling for a boycott of the company.

Chocolate company Hershey said it stands by its International Women's Day campaign featuring a trans woman following social media calls to boycott the company over the move.

"We value togetherness and recognize the strength created by diversity," a Hershey spokesperson told Bloomberg. "Over the past three years, our Women's History Month programming has been an inclusive celebration of women and their impact. We appreciate the countless people and meaningful partnerships behind these efforts."

As part of its Her for She campaign, Hershey is featuring Fae Johnstone, a trans-rights activist, on limited-edition chocolate bar wrappers in Canada. Johnstone is featured alongside four other Canadian women who are activists in their respective fields.

On Wednesday, Johnstone tweeted about the partnership, writing that she grew up with few trans role models and hopes the campaign "shows trans girls they can dream big and change the world too."

Her tweets were met with praise and support from some, but also with criticism from conservatives and calls to boycott Hershey.

Johnstone responded to the backlash, saying the negative reaction "shows just how far we still have to go in the fight for feminist liberation and trans rights."

Hershey did not immediately respond to Insider's request for comment sent outside regular business hours. The company's share price closed 0.7% higher at $238.40 on Thursday.

The controversy over Hershey's campaign followed another fracas at M&Ms. In 2022, M&Ms rebranded the appearance of its "spokescandies" mascots by replacing the shoes of both the brown and green female M&M's. In particular, the high-heeled boots on the green M&Ms were replaced with sneakers.

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The changes irked conservatives like Fox News host Tucker Carlson, who said the female M&Ms were now "less sexy" with their new footwear.

M&Ms said in January 2023 that the company was taking "an indefinite pause from the spokescandies" as it didn't want to polarize people.

Read the original article on Business Insider
Mayor William Hale Thompson casts his vote at the polls on Election Day in an undated photo. (Chicago Tribune historical photo)

We love mayoral elections so much, Chicago, that were getting two this year.

But how much do you really know about how weve chosen our citys leader for almost the past two centuries?

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[ Vintage Chicago Tribune: Revisiting Election Day in the city  including Dewey Defeats Truman ]

You probably recall that Chicagos first Black mayor was Harold Washington, and its first female mayor was Jane Byrne. Outgoing Mayor Lori Lightfoot is the citys first Black woman and openly gay mayor.

Harold Washington is surrounded by supporters as he campaigns on April 6, 1983, at the corner of 63rd and Halsted streets in Chicago. (Frank Hanes/Chicago Tribune)

[ Vintage Chicago Tribune: Remembering Mayor Harold Washington, 35 years after his death ]

[ Vintage Chicago Tribune: Your favorite groundbreaking Chicago women ]

Yet, there are so many more quirky things about how and when Chicago elects a mayor that it seems like a good overview is in order.

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My former colleagues Mark Jacob and Stephan Benzkofer wrote about this in their book, 10 Things You Might Not Know About Nearly Everything.

But even history cant foreshadow what steps need to be taken to address the citys problems. Lets hope the citys next mayor  No. 57  has the answers.

How you can support this newsletter

Become a Tribune subscriber: its just $12 for a 1 year digital subscription. Follow us on Instagram: @vintagetribune. And, catch me Monday mornings on WLS-AMs The Steve Cochran Show for a look at This week in Chicago history.

Thanks for reading!

 Kori Rumore, visual reporter

Chicago history | More newsletters | Puzzles & Games | Todays eNewspaper edition

Who was Chicagos first mayor?

William B. Ogden, who had already made a mark on Chicago history by serving as the city's first mayor, led the entrepreneurs who founded the Galena & Chicago Union Railroad. (John Carbutt / Chicago History Museum)

William Butler Ogden, a real estate and railroad mogul from New York, arrived in Chicago in 1835. Shortly after the city was incorporated in 1837, Ogden defeated John Harris Kinzie to become mayor. He served for 10 months and refused to run for re-election.

The home of his brother, Mahlon D. Ogden, withstood the Great Chicago Fire in 1871, but was demolished to make way for the Newberry Library in 1892. Read more.

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The Newberry: The house that survived the Great Chicago Fire

Have any mayoral candidates backed out just before Election Day?

The assassination of the 16th President of the United States, Abraham Lincoln, by actor John Wilkes Booth at Ford's Theatre, Washington DC on April 14, 1865. (Hulton Archive / Getty Images)

Four days before Chicagos 1865 mayoral election, Republican President Abraham Lincoln was assassinated. Realizing that the distraught publics sentiment was with Republican mayoral candidate John Rice, Democratic candidate Leonard Rothgerber withdrew, saying the nation must stand united. Rice was nice enough to pay Rothgerbers campaign expenses. Read more.

How often have mayoral elections taken place throughout the citys history?

Society members Mrs. Frank Loesch, from left, Kathyrn McGovern, Helen Tieckman, Mrs. Stanley McCormick and Mrs. Hammond voted at the Drake Hotel during a heated aldermanic race on April 2, 1929. (Chicago Tribune historical photo)

If you hate election season, thank your lucky stars you didnt live in Chicago in the mid-1800s, when residents went to the polls every year to vote for mayor. The term was doubled to two years in 1863, and doubled again to four in 1907. Read more.

Who was the first Chicago mayor elected to a four-year term?

Former Mayor Fred A. Busse, left, is about to step into an automobile for a 1,000 mile tour in 1907. (Howe & Arthur)

Saloonkeeper Fred A. Busse, who took office in 1907, served the first four-year term.

Busses election inspired a group of 40 men to ask him to help form a dining and political group called the Fat Mens Club. Former state Sen. Thomas J. Dawson predicted that Busse would be the best mayor Chicago has ever had. The reason: Take a fat man and he feels so good and joyful with himself and all the world that he just cant keep from doing the right thing at all times. Nothing much came of the club idea, and Busses single term in office was not particularly weighty. Read more.

Where else but Chicago could a nickname like Decent Dever be the kiss of political death for a mayor?

Chicago Mayor William Dever, right, shakes the hand of racer Carl Stockholm at the six-day bicycle races that started on March 20, 1927, at the Dexter Park Pavilion in Chicago. (Chicago Herald and Examiner)

William Dever, who was elected mayor 100 years ago, was a reformer with impeccable working-class credentials. Seeking reelection four years later, however, he found himself on the defensive. Read more.

Who was the last Republican elected mayor?

Mayor William Hale Thompson, with the Chicago Evening American at City hall, shows Thompson wins by 60,000 votes, in the Republican mayoral primary against Judge Lyle in February 1931. Mayor Thompson would go on to lose to Democrat Anton Cermak. (Chiacgo Evening American)

Vintage Chicago Tribune Weekly The Vintage Tribune newsletter is a deep dive into the Chicago Tribune's archives featuring photos and stories about the people, places and events that shape the city's past, present and future. By submitting your email to receive this newsletter, you agree to our Subscriber Terms & Conditions and Privacy Policy >

Over three terms as Chicago mayor from 1915 to 1923 and 1927 to 1931, William Hale Big Bill Thompson maintained a swagger that secured his spot in history as possibly the citys most colorful mayor. Read more.

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Photo gallery: Big Bill Thompson: Chicagos most notorious mayor

Big Bill Thompson: Chicagos most notorious mayor Rick Kogan: Filling Big Bills britches

Who was the first mayor elected in the still-uninterrupted run of Democratic Party control of City Hall?

Mayor Anton Cermak, circa 1931. (Chicago American)

Thompson was defeated in 1931 by Anton Cermak, the first foreign-born mayor of Chicago who once sold firewood out of a wagon then worked his way up the political ranks. Cermak is credited with creating the Democratic machine that has chugged along for the past 92 years. Read more.

Photo gallery: Chicagos Mayor Anton Cermak and the assassination attempt that did him in

Chicagos Mayor Anton Cermak and the assassination attempt that did him in Tell Chicago Ill pull through

Why is Chicagos mayoral election in February?

Workers in the election commissioner's office in February 1939 prepared for a mayoral primary in the days before electronic voting. (Chicago Tribune archive)

When viable Republican mayoral candidates  including one whose side job was Spanky the Clown  became almost unheard of in Chicago in the 1990s, the party primaries were replaced with the nonpartisan elections we have today. Read more.

Campaigning in 1979 as Spanky the Clown, Ray Wardingley ran for the Republican nomination for mayor of Chicago and got 2,877 votes. He lost big, and, as intended, everybody laughed.

How many runoff elections have been necessary to pick Chicagos mayor?

Supporters of Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel attend a "watch party" at Lizzie McNeill's bar and restaurant in Chicago as Emanuel and mayoral challenger Jesus Garcia debate each other on March 16, 2015, in advance of a runoff election. (Terrence Antonio James / Chicago Tribune)

Lawmakers decided in 1996, that a runoff would take place if no candidate could reach a majority  50 percent  of the vote. The measure wasnt necessary until almost two decades later when then-Cook County Commissioner Jesus Chuy Garcia forced a runoff against incumbent Mayor Rahm Emanuel. Read more.

From April 16, 2015: Emanuel, allies spent at least $22.8 million to win

When will Chicago vote in the citys second runoff election for mayor?

Katherine Fraser votes as her daughter Ainsley looks around the polling location inside Silvies Bar on Feb. 28, 2023 in North Center. (Shanna Madison / Chicago Tribune)

Plan to be back at the polls on April 4 to choose either Brandon Johnson, a Cook County commissioner and organizer with the Chicago Teachers Union, or Paul Vallas, former Chicago Public Schools CEO. Read more.

Join our Chicagoland history Facebook group and follow us on Instagram for more from Chicagos past.

Have an idea for Vintage Chicago Tribune? Share it with Ron Grossman and Marianne Mather at rgrossman@chicagotribune.com and mmather@chicagotribune.com.
HOLLAND  The suspect in a fatal shooting Friday morning in Holland has been taken into custody.

Around 3:15 a.m. March 3, officers with the Holland Department of Public Safety were sent to an apartment on Abbey Court near Stratford Way for a shooting.

Upon arrival, officers found the victim in a car in the parking lot with multiple gunshot wounds, HDPS said. Paramedics and EMTs were brought in, but the victim was deceased.

Ottawa County Sheriffs Office deputies and a Michigan State Police trooper assisted in creating and maintaining a perimeter around the area. HDPS K-9 teams and a drone were used to search the area with the HDPS tactical team and a tactical team, drone and K-9 from OCSO.

A call to dispatch alerted officers to a suspicious person nearby matching the description of the subject. Officers located the suspect in the area of 12th Street and Dartmouth Avenue and took him into custody without incident at 8:25 a.m.

The man is described as Black, 5 feet 8 inches tall and was wearing a dark-colored hoodie and bike sweatpants or joggers.

Its unclear what led up to the shooting, but HDPS Captain Keith Mulder said police believe it was not a random shooting and that the suspect was known to the victim. Neither the victim or the suspect live in the apartment complex where the incident took place.

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Holland police issued a request to those in the area to shelter in place Friday morning while officers searched for the suspect.

Nearby Holland Heights Elementary began the day in a two-hour delay in response to HDPS's shelter in place request. The school was eventually closed for the day due to Incident.

This article originally appeared on The Holland Sentinel: Suspect in custody after fatal shooting in Holland Friday morning
It was a relief to learn that Fresno police and FBI agents teamed up to arrest five people as suspects in a series of bombings in the city.

As Bee staff writer Jim Guy reported, a task force of local police and FBI agents also seized bomb-making components, firearms and methamphetamine.

But it was troubling to see Nazi and white supremacist paraphernalia in the evidence taken from the suspects. According to an analysis by the Center for Strategic and International Studies, white supremacists represent the most significant terrorist threat in America today. It is unnerving to think a terrorist-threat reality is in Fresno.

According to police, a series of seven pipe bombings began in Fresno on Dec. 13 when a car exploded at 5674 E. Clinton Ave. Four more bombings occurred in January, three involving cars and one a mailbox. Two more cars were targeted in February, including a vehicle used by the Fresno County Probation Department.

The video of that moment is straight out of Hollywood: a car pulls up behind the probation vehicle, someone throws a lit object under the official car, and it explodes and bursts into an enormous ball of flames. A few minutes later Fresno firefighters arrive to douse the fire.

Police Chief Paco Balderrama believes investigators have a solid case on some very dangerous people, he said. The fact that they targeted a law enforcement vehicle was very concerning to me.

Far-right terrorism

Much about the suspects and what they intended to do has yet to be revealed by the authorities. Was it their intention to start bombing law enforcement vehicles, and the Probation Department car was the first one?

Balderrama said at a news conference that it was clear the suspects were improving their bombing proficiency as the incidents continued.

Among those arrested was Scott Anderson, 44 years old. He is suspected of being the bomber. Another suspect, 56-year-old Frank Rocha, allegedly had bomb-making materials in his possession.

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Balderrama said investigators discovered a link between Anderson and a white supremacist group. People with supremacist beliefs or adherence to Nazi principles comprise a terrorism trend rising in the nation for years now.

According to the analysis by the Center for Strategic and International Studies, far-right terrorism has significantly outpaced terrorism from other types of perpetrators, including from far-left networks and individuals inspired by the Islamic State and al-Qaeda.

Right-wing attacks and plots account for the majority of all terrorist incidents in the United States since 1994, and the total number of right-wing attacks and plots has grown significantly during the past six years. Right-wing extremists perpetrated two-thirds of the attacks and plots in the United States in 2019 and over 90 percent between January 1 and May 8, 2020.

Bombings not publicized

Another question: Why didnt Fresno police say anything about the bombings until now? The departments social media accounts are regularly updated with newsworthy arrests.

Lt. William Dooley, police department spokesman, gave The Bee Editorial Board this explanation:

At first, the bombings seemed more like arsons. It was only after we identified who the suspect was that we were able to piece it all together and see the depth of the individuals involvement, Dooley said in an email.

We secured a warrant as soon as we were able to and began our efforts to take him into custody. Could we have alerted our community at this point? Absolutely. But, to do so increased a greater risk to the community. We did not know if he was just doing this to simply blow up objects, or was he practicing and preparing for something bigger.

Publicizing who investigators were looking for would have tipped off Anderson and likely would have made capturing him more difficult, with the added worry of putting the public at risk in any take down.

As it was, Anderson and Rocha fled to Temecula after the probation car went up in flames, and were caught by Riverside County sheriffs deputies.

Thankfully, no one was hurt or killed in the local bombings. But the incidents and arrests make clear that Fresno is not exempt from the specter of home-grown terrorism.
By Paul Lienert

MARYSVILLE, Ohio (Reuters) - Honda Motor Co is moving rapidly to catch up with electric-vehicle competitors in global markets, but the company's top executive said combustion engines could last through 2040 and beyond.

Regarding the Japanese automaker's accelerating transition to EVs, Chief Executive Toshihiro Mibe said, Ive been in the engine development business for more than 30 years, so personally its a little threatening. But I have to separate my own feelings from what is best for the business.

That includes the establishment next month of a standalone business unit to oversee development of Honda's EV and battery business, which eventually could include an investment in charging stations, similar to Tesla Inc's Supercharger network, Mibe said in Marysville, Ohio, at the hub of the companys U.S. operations.

"The charging infrastructure is not at a place that it needs to be for our customers, he said.

Mibe added that Honda is running feasibility studies on everything from chargers and advanced batteries to aerial vehicles and rockets, as well as new low-carbon e-fuels that could help keep combustion engines around - in performance cars, big trucks and airplanes - for another decade or two.

But Mibe added, as we move toward carbon neutrality, we are focused on electrification and fuel cells - those are the two core components of future mobility.

Honda has been slow to follow larger rivals, from Volkswagen AG to General Motors Co, in committing billions of dollars to developing and building EVs and batteries. Now it plans to invest at least $40 billion through 2030, with the goal of pushing hybrid and fully electric vehicles to 40% of its sales by decade's end.

Those investments include a $3.5 billion joint venture to build batteries with LG Energy Solution in nearby Jeffersonville, Ohio, starting in 2025, for use in Hondas future EV factories in North America.

Before then, Honda in 2024 will get two new electric SUVs, the Honda Prologue and the Acura ZDX, from GMs Spring Hills factory in Tennessee.

Mibe confirmed that Honda is developing its own EV architectures, the first of which will arrive in the U.S. in 2026, as well as advanced batteries of its own design for some of those future models.

(Reporting by Paul Lienert in Marysville, Ohio; Editing by Matthew Lewis)
A couple on their honeymoon in Maui, Hawaii, had to swim back to shore after they say they were abandoned in the ocean by a snorkel tour boat, according to a lawsuit.

The couple, from Alameda County, California, took a snorkel tour with Sail Maui on Sept. 23, 2021, that was scheduled to bring snorkelers along the Lanai Coast, according to the lawsuit, which was filed on Feb. 21.

The boat left Lahaina Harbor in Maui at 10 a.m., the lawsuit says. Around 40 minutes later, the group arrived at the snorkel location, where the captain gave a safety briefing.

The captain did not mention that snorkelers would have to return at a specific time, the lawsuit says.

The couple got in the water at about 10:50 a.m. and swam into the current, as instructed, for around an hour, the lawsuit says. Snorkelers were returning to the boat at different times.

At about 12:05 p.m., the couple was swimming back toward the boat but seemingly getting no closer, the lawsuit says. At about 12:20 p.m., the pair noticed the boat was getting farther away and began signaling distress.

One of the passengers on the boat later told the Coast Guard that she tried to tell a crew member that two people were still in the water, but the crew member assured her they had been accounted for, the lawsuit says.

At about 12:30 p.m., the vessel headed to the second snorkeling site leaving (the couple) behind in the open ocean, the lawsuit says.

Don Prestage, president of Sail Maui, told McClatchy News that the company could not comment on the pending litigation.

The couple was about half a mile from shore, and the surf was about 6-8 feet, the lawsuit says.

They were beginning to panic and were struggling to swim in the ocean conditions, the lawsuit says. They feared that drowning was imminent.

They decided to swim to shore, even though the captain had warned them there were shallow reefs in the area, the lawsuit says.

At 12:40 p.m., they began swimming as hard as they could and reached shore about 20 minutes later fatigued and dehydrated, the lawsuit says.

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Once they reached the beach, they waited about 10 minutes before a truck drove by, noticed the couple in distress and helped them, the lawsuit says.

The couple returned to California on Sept. 26, 2021, the lawsuit says.

A Coast Guard investigation later found that the vessel master did not ensure a proper head count and verification of passengers before departing the snorkeling site, the lawsuit says.

The couple is seeking damages in excess of $75,000, according to the lawsuit.

Alameda County is in Northern California and is home to Oakland.

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Scientist examining set of petri dishes in microbiology lab

The Windsor Framework may have just fired the starting gun on the process of fixing Brexit for the longer term. While the DUP pores over the details, the science community is waiting to see what happens next with the UKs participation in the worlds largest research endeavour, the 95.5 billion EU science programme called Horizon Europe.

Horizon might be the most important scientific research partnership nobody outside of academia has heard of. Our involvement in it is critical, however. To associate or not. For six years and counting thats been the question. Its high time we alighted on an answer.

Horizon was never intended to be an EU-specific thing. In one way or another, Iceland and Israel, Norway and New Zealand, and Turkey and Tunisia, are all already part of Horizon, as is Ukraine. The real question is not whether the verdict on association (full participation) will be a victory for Leavers or for Remainers. Rather, what we need to know is: what would an expanded global approach to science in the UK look like, and where exactly does Horizon fit? We should be proud to invest billions of pounds in science every year. But voters deserve to know what is the strategy for international collaboration that will maximise the return. Such a strategy is not to be found in picking over the bones of the referendum.

If the Windsor Framework heralds a new era of more constructive ties with Brussels, then a sensible conversation about the UK re-joining of Horizon is surely to be had. Ursula von der Leyen suggested as much when she linked progress on the Protocol to a potential agreement for the UK on Horizon.

I say re-joining, but we never quite left. After 2016, our continuing participation was sensibly underwritten by the UK government; researchers could apply for flagship Horizon grants, and, if successful, the Treasury would foot the bill. But confidence to apply rapidly waned. That confidence would be given a vaccine-like shot in the arm if, as part of renewed co-operation, Horizons doors were fully opened to UK researchers.

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What do we stand to lose if we dont sort this out? Not just the large-scale R&D funding we secured competitively through Horizon, though that is important. Access to critical research facilities, our place in established international networks, the attraction and retention of the brightest minds  all of these things are put in serious jeopardy once you decouple from Horizon.

To run a domestic alternative would also likely be much more expensive. I was once responsible, as executive chairman of a UK research council, for planning for such an alternative. If value for the UK taxpayer is a key consideration, the labour and cost involved do not make sense.

Scientists work across borders; they have no choice if they are to push forward the frontiers of knowledge and to turn that knowledge to the benefit of society. The pandemic was a global crisis which demanded a global response. That response came in the form of vaccines whose development relied on the exchange of people and ideas around the world.

A mutually beneficial Horizon association is a necessary step towards a truly global approach to science. But the necessity to work across borders is not confined to Europe. The ability to tackle global challenges like health, energy and the environment requires us to build global partnerships, partly through Horizon but through other interventions, too.

We have a once-in-a-generation opportunity to think through how we maximise the global footprint of UK science. That means thinking bilaterally as well as multilaterally. Working out which nations in the developed world we most want to collaborate with, on what we want to collaborate, and targeting funding accordingly. The science superpower of the United States is critical in this regard. It means making our universities highly attractive places for talented researchers from overseas. An efficient visa regime and incentives to mobility are key considerations.

And it means taking seriously our responsibility to help developing countries to develop their science, so that their researchers can collaborate with ours more frequently and on a more equal footing.

While it is true that the drivers for collaboration have to be anchored firmly in scientific excellence, we should not be blind to the wider diplomatic benefits of an expanded global approach. The UK is a sought-after partner, and Horizon is a vital gateway to international collaboration, even if it is not the totality of it.

A potential agreement for the UK on Horizon should be coupled to a suite of interventions which grow the global influence of UK science, and thereby grow the influence of the UK full-stop. If Rishi Sunak can pull this off, he will surely have secured a political triumph.

Andrew Thompson is a professor of global history at the University of Oxford. He is a former executive chairman of a UK research council
Midwife Olukemi Akinmeji was discriminated against while working at William Harvey Hospital in Ashford, Kent, a tribunal found. (AFP via Getty Images)

Hospital staff were told to "check your bags" on a Black midwife's last day at work, an employment tribunal has heard.

Olukemi Akinmeji, who worked as a midwife at William Harvey Hospital in Ashford, Kent, has successfully sued East Kent Hospitals University NHS Trust for discrimination and victimisation.

The tribunal in Ashford was told she was faced with a "toxic" work environment and that her colleagues "ganged up" on her.

In a leaving speech on Ms Akinmeji's final day, shift co-ordinator Kathy Carr told gathered staff: "It's Kemi's last day, everyone check your bags."

The tribunal heard how Carr then repeated this in the hallway. She had previously put up a poster in a changing room in response to actual thefts.

Carr claimed the comment was "light-hearted" but Ms Akinmeji said: "I do not see what was funny in being portrayed as a thief in front of my colleagues, patients and family members."

Ms Akinmeji told the tribunal she was mistreated at work because she is Black.

She started working at the hospital in March 2018 and handed in her notice on 9 December 2019.

On her last day, 25 January 2020, hospital staff were told by Carr to "check your bags".

The tribunal heard that Carr realised this "wasn't appropriate in front of colleagues" and it was a "joke in bad taste".

Carr said she was "embarrassed" as she had only just found out Ms Akinmeji was leaving and wanted to say something "light-hearted".

Carr said the "trigger" for her comment was a poster in the changing room she had put up in response to actual thefts.

In an exit statement to her employers, Ms Akinmeji submitted a complaint about the incident.

If the trust have zero tolerance to racism then it should act appropriately," she said.

My complaint against Kathy Carr is however a formal complaint because she never was a friend nor joked with me.

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Read more: Vulnerable woman died of hypothermia alone in freezing cold council home

Olukemi Akinmeji worked as a midwife at William Harvey Hospital in Ashford, Kent. (PA Images via Getty Images)

Yes, I have had a few sarcastic remarks from her but I do not see what was funny in being portrayed as a thief in front of my colleagues, patients and family members.

Even if I overlook everything else, I do not intend to overlook being embarrassed so [publicly] with a false and baseless spiteful remark. The fact that Carr acts freely in such a manner goes without saying how she treats ethnic minorities."

In a response, the trust said: Kathy has since attended unconscious bias training  as a result, she has again reflected on her comment and realises how inappropriate it was and insensitive to make such a comment, particularly in front of colleagues and she is sorry for this.

She has stated she will not do so again, and is now very much aware of the expectation of management in relation to her behaviour and the consequences.

However, the tribunal heard that Carr had not attended the training course.

The panel concluded that Ms Akinmeji was working in a "toxic and difficult" environment in which she and her colleagues were shouted at and sworn at.

Although it dismissed many of her racism claims, the tribunal concluded she had been discriminated against by the bags remark.

Employment judge Anna Corrigan said: "The evidence shows that [Ms Akinmeji] was a subject of discussion by the group of midwives concerned, which had generated a shared negative attitude towards [her] and some hostility which she picked up on in their behaviour towards her.

We find they thereby 'ganged up' against [her] and this suggests there was bullying of [her] by this group of midwives.

Regarding the bags comment, she said: This was an extremely offensive comment in the context of a Black colleague leaving the workplace and the knowledge that there had been actual thefts from staff.

The implication is clearly that colleagues should take care of their things as [Ms Akinmeji] might be going to steal from colleagues on her last day."
BALTIMORE  Republicans have misplaced priorities when it comes to education, as the GOP seizes on what they see as a winning issue ahead of next years election, according to one House Democrat.

Republicans for months have leaned into issues like parental rights and school curriculums, making strikes to brand the Democratic Party as one that does not believe parents should have control over what their children learn in the classroom.

The GOP conversation has also included talk about how LGBTQ identity and Black history should be taught in schools.

Democrats, however, are going on the offensive, arguing that Republicans have their priorities wrong when it comes to what Americans are most concerned about on the topic of education.

Fundamentally you get a sense, again, from the House Republican agenda that they put forward over the course of the last several months, that this misplaced priorities, said Rep. Joe Neguse (D-Colo.), the chair of the House Democratic Policy and Communications Committee (DPCC), when asked about how Democrats plan to message against the GOP position on education.

Neguse said the parents hes spoken to in Colorado are concerned about affordable childcare, how to improve the pipeline into higher education, better supporting apprenticeship programs and making sure that schools are adequately funded to help reduce class sizes and increase engagement.

Unfortunately all of them, every single priority I just mentioned, is missing from the so-called agenda, education agenda that House Republicans put forward, Neguse added. So that again gives you a clear sense of the contrast.

Pressed on what the Democratic message will be in response to GOP arguments on education, Neguse responded I think our response is rooted in common sense.

The comments came during a press conference at the House Democrats annual issues conference in Baltimore. Lawmakers gathered together to plot their strategy to winning back the House majority in 2024  an election cycle when education will likely emerge as a top issue.

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Republicans saw success with an education-heavy platform in November 2021 when Gov. Glenn Youngkin (R) won the top job in Virginia, becoming the first GOP candidate since 2009 to clinch a victory in a statewide election in the Old Dominion.

Youngkin discussed education on the campaign trail, arguing that parents should have a say over their childrens curriculum and not school boards. Since then, Republicans nationwide have leaned into the issue.

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) rejected a new Advanced Placement African American Studies course in January, arguing that the content of the curriculum is inexplicably contrary to Florida law and significantly lacks educational value.

Former President Trump also released an education platform that aims to slash funding for programs related to critical race theory, gender ideology, or other inappropriate racial, sexual, or political content onto our children.

And on Capitol Hill, Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) reintroduced the Parents Bill of Rights this week, which would mandate that school districts post their curriculum publicly, host in-person meetings with parents and inform parents when situations involving violence or assault occur at school.

Democrats rejected the notion that they do not value parental involvement in education.

I think parents should have a key role. I think thats something that is shared by most members of our caucus, I suspect every member of our caucus, Neguse said. Because again, most of us are parents, many of us are parents and so we live this every day.



We care deeply, of course, and are heavily invested in showing as parents that were involved in the education of our children. How could we not? he continued.



Rep. Veronica Escobar (D-Texas) echoed those sentiments, saying House Democrats are firm believers in public education and parents having a role.

We believe that parents do have a role in making sure that their children are getting the kind of quality education that will keep us competitive going forward in the future, said Rep. Veronica Escobar (D-Texas), a co-chair of the DPCC.

She continued, drawing what she described as a sharp contrast between what Republicans and Democrats seek to accomplish on the issue of education.

The difference is, though, and where we have to make sure that we draw the sharp contrast, is what we have on the other side of the aisle are extreme Republicans wanting to ban books, wanting to ban access to historical context that is important to understanding our country and important for a robust education, she said.

And so weve got to make sure that we are in on those conversation in our communities, listening to our communities, listening to those parents, but also drawing that contrast between what we would like to do, which is create highly educated, competitive workforce, versus what our extreme colleagues are trying to do, which is essentially limit access to education for many of our kids, she added.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to The Hill.
A 15-year-old stands with her mother while the two make a payment in late 2021 on a $450 ticket the student was issued for disorderly conduct in McHenry. (Armando L. Sanchez/Chicago Tribune)

A new bill in the Illinois House aims to stop schools from working with police to issue students tickets for minor misbehavior, a harmful and sometimes costly practice that many districts have continued despite pleas to stop from the states top education officials.

An investigation by ProPublica and the Chicago Tribune revealed last year that school-based ticketing was rampant across Illinois, with police writing citations that can result in a fine of up to $750 for conduct once handled by the principals office.

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A 2015 Illinois law prohibits schools from fining students as a form of discipline; school officials instead have been referring students to police, who then ticket the students for fighting, littering, theft, possessing vaping devices and other violations of local ordinances.

The new legislation, introduced last month, would amend the states school code to make it illegal for school personnel to involve police to issue students citations for incidents that can be addressed through a schools disciplinary process.

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We have to close that loophole and end school-based ticketing, said Rep. La Shawn Ford, a Democrat from Chicago who is sponsoring the legislation. There is no place for this type of system to be in our schools.

This investigation is a collaboration between ProPublica and the Chicago Tribune. Subscribe to the Chicago Tribune

Fords legislation deals only with school tickets, which are issued for civil violations of local laws and often are adjudicated in administrative hearings. The bill is not intended to stop police from arresting students for crimes. It would also not prevent schools from seeking restitution from students for lost, stolen or damaged property.

After the Tribune and ProPublica began publishing the investigative series The Price Kids Pay in April 2022, then-state education Superintendent Carmen Ayala urged schools to stop working with police to ticket students and consider both the cost and the consequences of these fines.

The investigation documented about 12,000 tickets written to students over three school years and also found that, in places where information was available on the race of ticketed students, Black students were twice as likely to be ticketed as their white peers.

[ Have police issued tickets to students in your school district? Find out here ]

Some school districts heeded Ayalas plea or scaled back on ticketing, but new reporting shows that many others have continued the practice into this school year.

Over the last seven weeks, ProPublica and the Tribune sought new ticketing records for roughly 60 Illinois schools in districts that had some of the highest numbers of citations in previous years. Reporters have been able to obtain ticket records in 37 of those schools so far and found that students in 26  or 70%  of them have been ticketed this school year, though some districts have scaled back the practice.

Ticketing has continued even in District U-46, the states second-largest district, where then-Superintendent Tony Sanders had been shocked to learn of the practice and told his administrators and police working in district schools to stop ticketing students. At the same time, he tweaked the student code of conduct to limit when schools should involve police in student incidents.

Sanders, who took over last week as the new state superintendent, said Wednesday he was appalled and saddened to learn that students are still being cited by school-based police, known as resource officers, in some of the districts schools.

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At South Elgin High School in U-46, students have not received any tickets this year, compared with 83 last school year. But police have ticketed students at the districts Bartlett High School, most often for fighting and possession of cannabis, with fines between $50 and $250. At the two U-46 high schools in the city of Elgin, students have been ticketed, but city officials initially assigned them to counseling or another community program instead of a fine.

I tried to do it by saying, Effective immediately, were not doing it any longer. That clearly didnt work, Sanders said in an interview. I think legislation is needed. I think professional development for staff in schools and school resource officers is needed. You cant just say, No more ticketing, and have that be effective.

The Illinois State Board of Education supports Fords legislation, Sanders said, and is helping shape the language of the final bill.

U-46 district spokesperson Tara Burghart said administrators have been told they cannot sign tickets as complainants. She said the schools dont decide whether to ticket and fine students; the police and municipalities do.

Ticketing students is also still routine at McHenry Community High School in McHenry, Stagg High School in Palos Hills and Plainfield South High School on the border of Plainfield and Joliet, for example. At Stagg, police have written students more tickets so far this school year than they did in all of the 2021-22 school year. Most of the tickets were for tobacco vaping devices or for cannabis, records show.

Police have written students at Stagg High School in Palos Hills more tickets so far this school year than they did in all of the 2021-22 school year. (Brian Cassella / Chicago Tribune)

A spokesperson for Consolidated High School District 230, which includes Stagg, said the district believes that school officials are obligated to inform local police when a city ordinance is violated.

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If a student is smoking or vaping while at school, they are still breaking the law and there are consequences to those actions. Smoking at school does not preclude police from enforcing the law, spokesperson Jennifer Waterman wrote in an email. We take all offenses seriously. We want our halls to be clean, safe and secure.

In East Peoria Community High School District 309, where students this year have continued to get tickets for theft, for fighting and for possession of cannabis and vape materials, Superintendent Marjorie Greuter said the school still refers students to police for tickets so the school doesnt become a place where young people can break the law without consequences.

This would, in effect, make the school a safe zone for breaking an ordinance, she said.

East Peoria police records show that officers ticket young people at the high school more than anywhere else in the city.







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At schools throughout the state, students and their families have continued to pay a high price. McHenry High School students have been issued more than 50 tickets so far this school year, and the city has imposed at least $7,500 in fines and fees, records show. High school students in Oswego got more than 40 tickets totaling over $7,000. At Jacobs High School in Algonquin, police have written 28 tickets at $100 each, police records show. In all, at 11 high schools in McHenry, Palos Hills, Oswego, Algonquin and Plainfield, the fines for about 250 tickets totaled more than $36,000. (Oswego, McHenry, Algonquin and Plainfield school officials did not respond to requests for comment.)

It is not an effective tool when you write these tickets. Children are children. They dont pay. It drives the parents deeper in debt and causes them to be responsible. It is just a total economic injustice, Ford said.

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Ayala similarly said in her letter to school officials last April that issuing tickets does not lead to positive changes in behavior. There is no evidence that tickets lead to fewer fights or less vaping, she wrote.

The steep costs associated with ticketing drew the attention of Debt Free Justice Illinois, a coalition of advocacy groups working to end fines and fees for youths in the justice system. That group is behind efforts to change Illinois law in response to the Chicago Tribune-ProPublica investigation.

Theres an increasing recognition of the financial penalties that go along with this and the impact of those financial penalties, said Lisa Jacobs, an associate director with the legislation and policy clinic at Loyola University Chicago School of Law. Jacobs has been working with the coalition.

Some communities have scaled back how often students were ticketed and for what reasons. Last school year, for example, police in Woodstock, northwest of Chicago, wrote 87 tickets to students in Woodstock Community Unit School District 200, mostly for tobacco and cannabis possession. This school year, they have issued 10 tickets, all but one for fights, police records show.

Officials with Bloom Township High School District 206 said last spring that they would end the practice of ticketing. Records show no citations issued to Bloom Trail High School students this school year. (Armando L. Sanchez/Chicago Tribune)

In some places, such as Bloom Township High School District 206 in the suburbs south of Chicago and Naperville Community Unit School District 203 in the western suburbs, records from the districts and police show no citations issued to students this school year. Last school year, police issued nearly 60 tickets to Bloom Trail students and about 30 tickets to Naperville high school students, records show.

Bloom officials said last spring that they would end the practice of ticketing, while Naperville police said they have shifted to less punitive forms of discipline.

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While our emphasis was never solely on citations, our policy now focuses even more closely on restorative justice measures, which is likely responsible for the decrease in tickets, Naperville Police Chief Jason Arres wrote in a statement. He said police department rules call for fair and consistent handling of incidents involving young people, and we will remain committed to that moving forward.

Naperville, however, has continued to prosecute a former Naperville North student who received a citation for theft in 2019 after she said she mistakenly took another students AirPods. Now a college student, Amara Harris has maintained her innocence and has refused to pay a fine. Her case is expected to go to trial this year.

Amara Harris, now a college student, is still fighting a theft citation she got in high school in 2019. She says she was wrongly accused of stealing another student's AirPods. (Armando L. Sanchez/Chicago Tribune)

Illinois Senate Majority Leader Kimberly Lightford, a Democrat from suburban Maywood, said she supports Fords legislation. Lightford was the chief sponsor of the 2015 law, known as Senate Bill 100, that broadly overhauled school discipline in the state, including a ban on fining students as punishment.

Lightford lamented that some school districts have found ways to get around the 2015 law, which did not penalize school districts for noncompliance.

School districts have to be accountable for laws that we pass that they do not implement, Lightford said.

Fords new bill, however, includes no oversight or enforcement measures for any districts that continue having students ticketed at school.

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This story is a collaboration between the Tribune and ProPublica. Students from Northwestern Universitys Medill School of Journalism contributed to this reporting by filing public records requests.






House Democrats were infuriated and taken aback by President Bidens announcement on Thursday that he will sign a resolution to nix the District of Columbias crime bill.

The crime bill has come under heavy criticism from Republicans and centrist Democrats. But last month, 173 House Democrats voted along with what they thought was the White Houses stance that Biden would veto the resolution in an attempt to stand up for the Districts home rule.

Instead, Biden made the revelation to Senate Democrats during lunch on Thursday and, in the process, angered their colleagues across the Capitol complex.

The White House f***** this up royally, one House Democrat told The Hill via text message, noting the White House issued a Statement of Administration Policy opposing the resolution and backing D.C., and that House Democratic leadership told lawmakers that Biden was prepared to veto the measure.

The declaration from the Office of Management and Budget called on Congress to respect the District of Columbias autonomy to govern its own local affairs.

So a lot of us who are allies voted no in order to support what the White House wanted. And now we are being hung out to dry, the lawmaker continued. F****** AMATEUR HOUR. HEADS SHOULD ROLL OVER AT THE WHITE HOUSE OVER THIS.

The House Democrat added multiple other lawmakers were EXTREMELY pissed about the situation.

Rep. Pete Aguilar (Calif.), the No. 3 House Democrat, issued a rare rebuke of the White House during a Punchbowl News event at the caucuss retreat in Baltimore, saying that Bidens move was disappointing.

Its disappointing for me and anybody who believes in home rule, honestly. Im a former mayor of a city of 70,000 and I wouldnt want the federal government coming in and telling me what city ordinances to pass.  So I think its disappointing in that context, Aguilar said.

I voted against it, but I understand and respect the presidents position here, Aguilar, the former mayor of Redlands, Calif., continued. Well see, the Senate has to pass that, and I know that theyve said they have the votes but all of those things have to happen. But its disappointing for those of us who believe in home rule.

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An aide to a House Democrat who opposed the measure texted that the caucus is a little shocked by the move.

The crime bill passed the D.C. City Council unanimously in January. After Washington D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser (D) vetoed it, the city council overrode it 12-1. Among other things, the bill would eliminate most mandatory sentences and lower penalties for a number of violent offenses, including carjackings and robberies. It would also expand the requirement for jury trials in most misdemeanor cases.

In a tweet, Biden specifically mentioned the issue of carjackings. As of Thursday, there have been 94 carjackings in D.C. in 2023 alone.

One thing that the president believes in is making sure that the streets in America and communities across the country are safe, that includes in D.C. That does not change, White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre told reporters on Thursday.

When it comes to what this proposal brings forth, which is really lowering penalties for car-jacking, he doesnt believe thats going to keep our communities safe, she added.

Nevertheless, the move still left Democrats with a sour taste in their mouths.

Today has been a sad day for D.C. home rule and D.C. residents right to self-governance, Del. Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-D.C.) said in a statement. We had hoped that with more Senate support, we would have been able to ensure that neither disapproval resolution pending before the Senate would reach the presidents desk, but with the nationwide increase in crime, most senators do not want to be seen as supporting criminal justice reform.

Holmes Norton added that she will still try to convince Biden that absent a veto, the resolution would empower the paternalistic, anti-democratic Republican opposition to the principle of local control over local affairs.

Sens. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.) and Bob Casey (D-Pa.), both of whom are up for reelection in 2024, have said in recent days they plan to side with Republicans on the resolution, giving those backing it enough daylight to put it over the finish line even with the hospitalizations of Sens. John Fetterman (D-Pa.) and Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.).

The news is also expected to push more Democrats to side with Biden and the centrists.

Im reviewing the actual provisions of the D.C. crime bill, talking to colleagues. And the president obviously said he will not veto the measure, which I think may weigh with my colleagues, Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.) told reporters.

Sen. Jon Tester (D-Mont.), who is also up for reelection in 2024, told reporters following Bidens news that he still is undecided on the resolution and has not been briefed on it yet.

From a political standpoint, Bidens decision to block the D.C. crime bill could come back to haunt the House Democrats who opposed the disapproval resolution. Some Republicans are already characterizing the revised code as soft-on-crime, which they could eventually extend to those 173 liberal lawmakers.

By rejecting D.C.s law, President Biden acknowledged the basic fact that soft-on-crime policies endanger the public, Sen. Tom Cotton (R-Ark.) wrote on Twitter.

Democrats are already worrying that they played into the GOPs hands.

Frankly, its a clear signal to those criticizing POTUS on being soft on crime amid the increased focus on the issue going into 2024  and on the heels of Lightfoots ouster, the aide said, referring to the Chicago mayors re-election defeat this week.

Aguilar, for his part, brushed off that notion on Thursday, pointing to legislation the caucus has passed and efforts it backed that support public safety.

Democrats believe in strong public safety, he said. Thats what were demonstrating in our bills and demonstrated time and time again.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to The Hill.
Rep. Mark Green (R-Tenn.), a physician, dubiously claimed at the Conservative Political Action Conference Thursday that touching fentanyl on a dollar bill can kill you. (Watch the video below.)

That prompted a diagnosis of idiocy on Twitter.

Every American in our country is at risk for this, Green told the D.C.-area CPAC gathering in discussing the opioid crisis. You pick up a dollar thats got fentanyl on it and youre dead.

touching a dollar bill with fentanyl on it and dying is not a thing that happens, despite what Rep. Mark Green would have you believe pic.twitter.com/XglGXYSjVO  Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) March 2, 2023

The claim about casual fatal contact with the synthetic opioid has been making the rounds and has been dismissed as a myth.

You cant overdose on fentanyl by touching a doorknob or dollar bill, said Daniel Colby, co-medical director at UC-Davis Healths Department of Emergency Medicine.

The notion also got fact-checked by the Poynter Institutes PolitiFact, which concluded: Its physically impossible to overdose from touching a dollar bill laced with fentanyl.

In Greens home state, a woman claims to have overdosed on fentanyl by picking up a dollar bill at a Nashville McDonalds last summer. But that anecdote proved highly suspect, the fact-checking site Snopes wrote.

The risk of significant fentanyl exposure through skin contact is extremely low, Dr. Todd Korthuis, professor of medicine at Oregon Health and Science University, told Snopes. Its important to correct this widely circulated myth.

Some Twitter users prescribed a reality check for Green, a far-right ideologue with a history of homophobic comments who has been attempting to blame U.S. border policy for fentanyls spread:

This guy is a physician! I hate it here pic.twitter.com/cnNACYUUFq  Ryan Marino, MD (@RyanMarino) March 3, 2023

Idiocy   RC (@RCinNC1) March 3, 2023

So, why isnt every stripper in America dead?  William Buecker (@wcbuecker) March 3, 2023

I am amazed at how any Republican can win an election anymore.  Brian  (@80skidbrian) March 3, 2023

So ridiculous   Nurse Robin (@devaney_robin) March 3, 2023

Related...
House Republicans at the Conservative Political Action Conference declined to defend  or condemn  Oversight Committee chairman James Comer after the Kentucky Republican drew outrage from the White House and veterans groups for expressing disappointment because Beau Biden, the late Delaware attorney general and son of President Joe Biden, never faced criminal charges over a Delaware political scandal in which he was found to have done nothing wrong.

Earlier in the week, Mr Comer attacked the presidents late son, who died from the effects of a brain tumor in 2015, on a podcast hosted by disgraced ex-Fox News host Lou Dobbs.

Mr Comers attack cited a campaign finance scandal centered around a powerful Delaware beverage distributor, Christopher Tigani.

Tigani, who was a donor to then-senator Joe Bidens 2008 presidential campaign, was sentenced in 2012 for illegally funneling contributions to campaigns. The investigation which led to his incarceration was led by David Weiss, a veteran prosecutor who former president Donald Trump appointed as the US Attorney for Delaware in 2018.

Mr Weiss, who is also investigating the presidents surviving son, Hunter Biden, has been allowed to remain on the job by the elder Mr Biden in order to avoid the appearance of any political influence on the ongoing probe.

According to The Washington Post, that probe has developed evidence that could result in an indictment for the younger Mr Biden, but thus far he has not faced any charges.

Mr Comer implied that Mr Weiss failure to charge Beau Biden for any crime arising from Tiganis illegal campaign donations indicates impropriety on the part of the prosecutor.

This U.S. attorney had had dealing, had an opportunity to go after the Bidens years ago. In fact, it was Beau Biden, the presidents other son, that was involved in some campaign donations from a person that got indicted as well, he said But, you know, nothing ever happened. So I dont know much about this U.S. attorney [Weiss] other than hes had an opportunity to investigate the Bidens before and he chose not to. We all know that hes just been silent for a long time.

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In fact, Beau Biden recused himself from any part in investigating Tigani and named a special prosecutor who found that neither Beau Biden nor Joe Biden had committed any crimes, nor had they been aware of the illegal campaign donations.

Jill-Biden Biography Excerpt (AP2006)

Mr Comers remarks drew a strong rebuke from outgoing White House Communications Director Kate Bedingfield, who called them appalling.

Its despicable. And frankly it says quite a lot  none of it good  about Jim Comer, she said during an appearance on MSNBC on Wednesday.

But Mr Comers fellow Republicans werent so eager to speak on his behalf when approached by The Independent on Thursday.

Despite the significant media attention on the incendiary comments, none would admit to having heard them or seen coverage of them.

I haven't seen the remarks so I'm probably not going to comment, said Representative Matt Gaetz of Florida.

His Sunshine State colleague, freshman Representative Kat Cammack, also told The Independent she had neither seen nor heard the Oversight Committee chairs comments about the presidents late son.

A third, Representative Ralph Norman of Oklahoma, initially told The Independent he was unaware of any comments about Beau Biden by Mr Comer.

When the matter was explained to him, he still declined to weigh in on his colleagues remarks.

You'll have to ask James Comer on what context he made that, he said. That's what you need to do  get him and let him explain it.

Ian Sams, a spokesperson for the White House Counsels Office, slammed the GOP representatives refusal to call out the Kentucky congressmans attack on the presidents late son in a statement to The Independent.

Personal attacks on the presidents deceased son are appalling and deserve to be condemned by any leader with decency, he said.

Mr Comer is set to speak at CPAC on Friday.
WASHINGTON  Rep. Angie Craig was walking through the lobby of her apartment building in downtown Washington, D.C., when she noticed a man in the midst of a mental health crisis. She walked past him and entered an elevator. The man followed her, proceeding to assault the 51-year old Democratic congresswoman from Minnesota.

Craig fought off her attacker by pouring hot coffee on him. Police officers promptly arrived and arrested the 26-year-old suspect, who had 25 outstanding warrants.

Several days later, Craig became one of 31 Democrats in the House of Representatives to vote against a congressional bill that would allow Washington, D.C. to revise its criminal code, which the district cannot do without approval from Capitol Hill. The revisions were supposed to end mandatory minimum sentences, lower the maximum number of years people can be sentenced for certain crimes and bring back jury trials for suspects in misdemeanor cases.

Rep. Angie Craig, D-Minn. (Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images)

Democrats usually support such policies  but not this time. The defections to the GOP side were an astonishing development at a time of stark partisan divisions on social issues like policing and education.

An even bigger surprise came on Thursday, when President Biden indicated that he would not support the revisions to D.C.s criminal code, which the Senate is preparing to consider. Democrats there have a narrow majority, but at least one of them  Joe Manchin of West Virginia  had been expected to endorse the Republican proposal blocking the revisions.

Still, criminal justice reformers expected that Biden would veto the congressional measure, allowing D.C.s revisions to stand.

They discovered they were wrong on Thursday afternoon. Biden first told Democratic Senators during a Capitol Hill luncheon that he would not stand in their way if they wanted to break with the party line and vote with Republicans, The New York Times reported.

Later in the day, Biden made his decision public, writing in a tweet that while he believes in D.C. statehood and home rule, he doesnt support some of the changes D.C. Council put forward over the Mayors objections  such as lowering penalties for carjackings.

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If the Senate votes to overturn what D.C. Council did  Ill sign it, the president said, reversing his administrations earlier support.

I support D.C. Statehood and home-rule  but I dont support some of the changes D.C. Council put forward over the Mayors objections  such as lowering penalties for carjackings.



If the Senate votes to overturn what D.C. Council did  Ill sign it.  President Biden (@POTUS) March 2, 2023

White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said that he also does not support another city council bill, which would allow people who weren't citizens to participate in Washington's elections.

The decision hes making is for the people of D.C., she said, pointing out that D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser. doesnt support the new revisions.

Lawmakers representing Washington were dismayed by Bidens announcement and his undoing of their efforts. Democrats had betrayed them, some said. "We need their reaffirmation that the more that 600,000 residents who call DC home have a right to local self-governance," councilman Zachary Parker wrote on Twitter.

Others took issue with what they described as a lack of clarity over where the White House stood.

"The White House f***** this up royally, complained one Democratic lawmaker to The Hill, pointing to a shifting stance that caught many members of both party unawares.

A directive issued last month known as a Statement of Administration Policy indicated White House support for the criminal code revisions. "Congress should respect the District of Columbias autonomy to govern its own local affairs," the document said.

On Thursday, the White House defended its about-face.

"He doesn't believe that's going to keep our communities safe," Jean-Pierre said of how the president had come to view the proposed revisions.

Gun violence has jumped by 40% in D.C. since 2017. City officials fear that their efforts at making the district safe are being undone. Many other U.S. cities are suffering the same plight after overseeing historic drops in violent crime in the new centurys first two decades.

A demonstrator wears a protective face mask reading "Defund Police" during events to mark Juneteenth, which commemorates the end of slavery in Texas, two years after the 1863 Emancipation Proclamation freed slaves elsewhere in the United States, amid nationwide protests against racial inequality, in Washington, D.C., U.S., June 19, 2020. REUTERS/Jonathan Ernst

Fears over crime handed Chicagos incumbent Mayor Lori Lightfoot a resounding defeat in that citys Democratic primary earlier this week, with pro-police centrist Paul Vallas emerging as the top vote getter.

There are political considerations for Biden, too, especially as he prepares to announce that he will seek a second term in the White House. One of the likely contenders for the Republican presidential nomination is Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, who recently spoke to law enforcement groups in Democratic states, where he engaged in hard-edged and hyperbolic rhetoric.

Former President Donald Trump, who has already announced that he is running for the presidency, charged last month that the Biden administration does little to curb crime across the country. Crime rose during Trumps term, too, though both in his case and Bidens, factors well outside presidential controlsuch as a global pandemic  were partly responsible.

Still, Bidens announcement that he would not veto the Republican-led effort to block the criminal code revisions could blunt soft-on-crime attacks by DeSantis, Trump and other Republicans.

His decision came as Republicans were in the midst of turning the districts attempt at criminal justice reform into a national issue, reviving relentless attacks they made in the run-up to the 2022 congressional midterms, with limited success.

This time, GOP legislators cast themselves as sober custodians of a capital city given over to dangerous progressive ideas on public safety.

To a unique degree, unlike any other city in America, Washington D.C., issues are national issues. The District of Columbia doesnt belong to a handful of local politicians, it belongs to more than 330 million American citizens, Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, the Republican leader in the Senate, said at a hearing earlier this week.

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell at the Capitol on Tuesday. (Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images)

The people need their government to function in safety, McConnell continued. Families and school groups need to be able to come tour their own capital, which their own tax dollars help finance, in peace of body and peace of mind.

They perhaps did not expect Biden to side with them. By doing so, he harkened back to his image as the law-and-order senator who helped pass the 1994 crime bill. He has since embraced criminal justice reform.

Yet not even a president is free of constraining political realities  his own, of course, but also those of the legislators who often have to answer for his choices in their own election campaigns, on which 23 Senate Democrats are about to embark, along with the entire House.

Democrats control the Senate, but only narrowly. The measure introduced by Sen. Bill Hagerty, R-Tenn., last month would undo the criminal code revisions that the House had already rejected. Because of how Hagerty introduced his proposal, it required only a simple majority to pass.

Manchins support greatly bolstered the bills prospects. I think a number of Democrats are looking at this very hard, Hagerty told reporters earlier this week. Now that Biden has taken the danger of a veto off the table, other moderate Democrats are all but certain to join Manchin on the GOP side.

A Blue Lives matter flag and a flag for U.S. President Donald Trump blow in the wind outside a merchandise tent in Cortland, Ohio, U.S., October 2, 2020. Picture taken October 2, 2020. REUTERS/Shannon Stapleton

Biden signing the measure would put an end to a protracted and involved effort at criminal justice reform that Washington undertook in 2006.

If crime is a complex issue to begin with, it is especially so in the District of Columbia. Here, local and federal jurisdiction intersect and clash in ways that have no analog elsewhere in the country. In most cases, state and local governments make most decisions about how police departments and courts operate.

According to the Constitution, Congress exercises final say over all District of Columbia legislation. Today, many see that stipulation as nothing more than a racist vestige, rooted in the fear of giving home rule to what was, until very recently, a majority Black city.

Democrats support making Washington the nations 51st state  and, as a rule, never meddle in the districts own affairs. Last months House vote reflected persistent anxiety that public safety remains a political vulnerability, transcending even long-held party principles.

I think we ought to be looking at ways to make the world safer for our constituents, not less safe, Rep. Mike Thompson of California recently told The New York Times. He was one of the 31 Democrats who voted in the House against the criminal code updates.

The Capitol shortly before the inauguration of President Biden. (Olivier Douliery/AFP via Getty Images)

The revisions to the crime bill stem from vagaries and inconsistencies in the districts criminal code, which dates back to 1901. The revisions now under Senate consideration  formally known as the Revised Criminal Code Act  originate in a 1962 document meant to modernize criminal justice statutes known as the Model Penal Code.

Its recommendations have been adapted by 29 states.

The D.C. revisions tried to embrace the closely related imperatives of equity and clarity. Mandatory minimum sentencing policies tend to result in longer sentences for Black defendants.

But above all, say those who worked on the revisions, there was a need to prune and weed a legal code now more than a century old. It is going to significantly increase the accessibility and the clarity of the code, explained Jinwoo Park, who headed the commission tasked with revising the code.

For example, the bill reduced the maximum sentence for robbery from 45 years to 20.

This could be  and has been  seen as a sign of newfound and perhaps misguided leniency, especially at a time when property crime is rising in Washington. But judges in the District of Columbia were handing out a maximum sentence of 18 years for robbery, meaning that even the downward revision of the code would remain more harsh (if to a much lesser extent) than the punishment actually meted out in the districts courts.

Getty Images

The revisions were meant to ensure that each offense is defined so that courts, prosecutors, and defendants know what is (and what isnt) criminal conduct, legal analyst Mark Joseph Stern of Slate wrote in his extensive examination of the proposed changes.

Critics seized on a suggested change to sentencing for carjacking, a crime that has plagued Washington and other major cities. If the revisions were to pass, the maximum sentence for carjacking would drop from 40 years to 24.

Supporters of the revised bill pointed to the fact that most people convicted of carjacking in the District of Columbia went to prison for 15 years, meaning that  as with robbery  the criminal code would not actually lead to lesser penalties.

But as U.S. Attorney Matthew Graves argued in an October letter to the city council, sentencing guidelines also have a symbolic value, indicating to prosecutors, judges and juries how seriously society takes certain crimes.

A statutory maximum does not represent the communitys and legislatures sense of what the minimum amount, or even average amount, of punishment for a crime should entail, Graves wrote.

A woman reacts after the verdict in the trial of former Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin, found guilty of the death of George Floyd, at BLM Plaza in Washington, D.C., U.S., April 20, 2021. REUTERS/Evelyn Hockstein REFILE - CORRECTING GENDER OF PERSON PICTURED

Rather, he continued, a statutory maximum  by definition  reflects the communitys and legislature's belief as to what the sentence should be for committing the worst possible version of that offense, including when the person has a substantial criminal history. Crimes that are not the worst possible version of the offense or that are committed by individuals who lack a significant criminal history may be sentenced below the statutory maximum.

Graves also took issue with a proposed revision that, if implemented, would allow most suspects in misdemeanor crimes to have a jury trial  a right guaranteed by the Sixth Amendment but done away with in the district after passage of 1994s Misdemeanor Streamlining Act, which was intended to allow judges to focus on more serious cases.

Suspects convicted of their crimes could receive a maximum sentence of 180 days in jail. A rollback of the 1994 law, Graves wrote, cannot be executed in this jurisdiction in a way that does not greatly increase the time between when a crime is charged and when a trial occurs. The well-intentioned attempt to broaden access to courts would, he argued, make the courts inoperable.

A police officer secures the area near Connecticut Avenue after an alleged shooting in Washington, D.C., April 22. (Brendan Smialowski/AFP via Getty Images)

Supporters of the revisions pointed out that the new code would not be implemented until late 2025, giving the districts various criminal justice institutions plenty of time to prepare. They also lamented the seemingly intentional conflation of the revisions with progressive priorities that have nothing to do with their own work.

There wasn't a mandate to decarcerate en masse. There wasnt a mandate to write something that was perfectly racially equitable, said Patrice Sulton of the DC Justice Lab, speaking at the same symposium as Park. This was really about the logic, the functionality, and the overall fairness of the code from the perspective of as many stakeholders as possible.

Fox News predictably lambasted the revisions, but so did the Washington Post, which warned in an editorial that Washington could become a more dangerous city if the revisions passed.

The City Council did not heed such warnings and unanimously passed the revisions in November. Bowser vetoed the revisions, but the council overrode her veto, this time with a single dissenting vote.

DC Police Chief Robert Contee looks on as U.S. Deputy Attorney General Lisa Monaco (not pictured) tours an ATF crime gun intelligence mobile command center (MCC), which provides investigators with ballistic processing at crime scenes, after the announcement of the launch of the Justice Department's five cross-jurisdictional gun trafficking strike forces at the ATF in Washington, DC, U.S., July 22, 2021. (Jim Lo Scalzo/Pool via Reuters)

Then the controversy to Congress, where it erupted into a national issue. But with Biden coming out in favor of the measure, it will likely lose the political potency Republicans had found useful in recent weeks.

Meanwhile, crime continues to surge throughout the district, flummoxing criminologists, terrifying residents and presenting criminal justice advocates with a conundrum that, thus far, has been difficult to resolve.

There is no magic formula, no valid unifying theory of crime, a seemingly exasperated Robert J. Contee III, told the City Council in virtual testimony late last month.

The following weekend, five people were killed in Washington.
JERUSALEM (Reuters) - Hungarian President Katalin Novak said on Friday that no decision had yet been made on whether Budapest would move its embassy in Israel to Jerusalem next month despite an Israeli newspaper report that it would do so next month.

The Times of Israel said on Friday that the move would take place in an act of support by Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban for Israeli leader Benjamin Netanyahu.

It would make Hungary the first European Union country to open an embassy in Jerusalem, which Israel claims as its capital but which is not recognized as such by most countries and whose status under international law is disputed pending a resolution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

"I also read news in the press," Novak said during a news conference while visiting Prague. "In Hungary, a decision so far has not been made on moving our embassy in Israel."

Hungarian Foreign Ministry spokesman Mate Paczolay also did not confirm the report but said the ministry would provide updates on any changes to the embassy in all cases.

"We have already moved the commercial department of our Israeli Embassy to Jerusalem years ago," he said.

An Israeli foreign ministry spokesman declined to comment.

Netanyahu, who returned to power in November, has enjoyed strong support over the years from Hungary's Orban, an important ally who has been ready to block EU statements or actions critical of Israel in the past.

Orban congratulated him after his election, saying: "In difficult times, strong leaders are needed."

The two have also found common cause on the issue of Hungarian-born George Soros and his support for non-governmental organizations that have criticized their governments policies.

The Israeli parliament passed a law in 1980 declaring the "complete and united" city of Jerusalem to be the capital of Israel. The United Nations regards East Jerusalem as occupied, and the city's status as disputed until resolved by negotiations between Israel and the Palestinians, who want East Jerusalem as the capital of a future Palestinian state.

Under former President Donald Trump, the United States moved its embassy in Israel to Jerusalem in 2018 but only a handful of other countries have done the same.

(Reporting by James Mackenzie and Gergely Szakacs in Budapest, additional reporting by Jan Lopatka in Prague; Editing by Frances Kerry)
(Editors note: This story has been updated to reflect a change in a key fact involving the high-speed chase.)

The husband of a Hilton Head native and former art teacher has filed a lawsuit claiming that police caused her 2021 death in a Spartanburg County high-speed chase.

Jessica Hipp-Mercer Munyon, 36, died in February 2021 when she was caught in the middle of a chase in which a man who was trying to get away from police crashed into her vehicle in Spartanburg County. That day, Munyon was on her way to pick up her then 6-year-old daughter from school, according to previous reporting by the Island Packet and Beaufort Gazette.

In the lawsuit, lawyers representing Munyons husband, Michael Munyon, said police created an emergency from what was originally a minor traffic offense.

It was not a matter of if, but when, this high-speed vehicle pursuit would end in tragedy due to their reckless indifference and disregard for the safety of others, Munyons lawyers said in the lawsuit, filed Feb. 10. That moment came when Barron [the driver], with Defendants employees in active pursuit, was driving 90 mph in a 40-mph zone on East Blackstock Road and collided with Jessicas vehicle.

On the day of the crash, officers from two different police departments, including a Spartanburg County Sheriffs Office deputy, were chasing a car driven by Andres Antonio Barron, 30, of Campobello, South Carolina. Barron was allegedly weaving in and out of traffic and police continued their pursuit because of Barrons reckless driving and excessive speed, according to reporting from a local news outlet.

Christy Fargnoli and Samuel Clawson, the attorneys representing Munyons husband in the lawsuit, declined a request for comment from the Island Packet and Beaufort Gazette.

The South Carolina Department of Public Safety, the Highway Patrol and the Spartanburg County Sheriffs Office are all named as defendants in the lawsuit.

Kyle McGahee, a South Carolina Department of Public Safety spokesperson, said the department does not comment on pending litigation.

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A representative from SCHP could not immediately be reached for comment.

Lt. Kevin Bobo, a spokesman for the Spartanburg County Sheriffs Office, declined a request for comment due to pending litigation.

Barron was charged with her death eight days later. At that time, his charges included reckless homicide, failure to stop for blue lights resulting in death, driving under suspension, failure to return drivers license after notice of suspension, operating a vehicle that was not registered and licensed, and use of an incorrect license plate on the vehicle, according to a S.C. Law Enforcement Division news release.

Barron was not listed as a defendant in the lawsuit and his criminal case is still pending. His defense attorney, Stephen Denton, could not immediately be reached for comment.

The South Carolina Whitmore School, where Munyon had worked since at least 2016, renamed a scholarship after her to honor her and her incredible impact on students lives following her death.

On Hilton Head, she was remembered by friends and family as an artistic soul and a beacon of light, according to previous reporting.

Munyons mother, Terry Hipp, told the Island Packet and Beaufort Gazette that working from home was something her daughter truly enjoyed as it allowed her to have more time to spend with her own daughter, Leah.

I hope shell be remembered as a smart, funny young lady with a wicked sense of humor who loved her family, Hipp said.
The EU continues to discuss the creation of a so-called "hybrid tribunal" that could bring Russia to justice for committing the crime of aggression, despite the protests of Ukraine.

Source: Didier Reynders, European Commissioner for Justice, during a conversation with journalists in Lviv on the sidelines of the United for Justice conference, answering questions from European Pravda.

Reynders made it clear that the discussion of the creation of a so-called "hybrid tribunal" was not removed from the agenda, although the Ukrainian side did not accept such an option.

"I am very open to creating a special tribunal, organising the trial. But we must be sure that we have the support of a large part of the international community. I knew from the very beginning that Ukraine's first idea was to create a special tribunal, which means making an international agreement, which will take some time," Reynders explained.

The European commissioner stressed that the European Commission is "very open" to supporting the creation of a special tribunal, which Ukraine wants. "But we must convince others, and we are not there yet," he added, noting that it is necessary to convince not only EU members but also states outside its borders.

"That's why we [are working  ed.] with different options  a special tribunal or a hybrid tribunal, a lot of complex mixed decisions," Reynders said.

As reported, the Office of President Zelenskyy publicly declared the unacceptability of the idea of creating a so-called "hybrid tribunal" as a tool for investigating the crime of aggression of the Russian Federation.

Andriy Yermak, Head of the Office of the President of Ukraine, explained that the "hybrid tribunal" does not guarantee that it will lead to the lifting of immunity from Putin, Lavrov and Mishustin.

In winter, Annalena Baerbock, German Minister of Foreign Affairs, supported the creation of a tribunal based on Ukrainian legislation in the Hague, that is, a "hybrid tribunal", but faced resistance to this idea in the EU.

Journalists fight on their own frontline. Support Ukrainska Pravda or become our patron!
Pune, India - (NewMediaWire) - March 3, 2023 - "Hydrogen Manufacturing and Hydrogen Refueling Station" Size, Scope, and Forecast 2023-2030 report has been added to the Market Research Archive of Absolute Reports. Industry experts and researchers have offered an authoritative and concise analysis of the Global Hydrogen Manufacturing and Hydrogen Refueling Station with respect to various aspects such as growth factors, challenges, restraints, developments, trends, and opportunities for growth. This report will surely be a handy tool for market players to come up with effective strategies with the aim of strengthening their positions in the market.

What is the Hydrogen Manufacturing and Hydrogen Refueling Station growth?

A fuel cell electric vehicle (FCEV) is a non-polluting vehicle that is powered by electricity generated from the vehicle's stored high-pressure hydrogen and ambient air. These vehicles use hydrogen as an energy source and generate electricity from a fuel cell system. This technology has the potential to be applied across the industry because of the unlimited storage of hydrogen as a fuel on the earth and the eco-friendly nature of the energy production process.

The biggest advantage of FCEVs over pure electric and plug-in hybrid vehicles is that hydrogen refueling usually takes only 3 minutes and the range can easily reach over 600 km. At the same time, hydrogen energy has the advantages of abundant sources, wide range of uses, high calorific value, light total weight and environmental virtues, etc., but is currently subject to greater infrastructure constraints.

In addition, the FCEV policy is favorable in the long term, and the scale of FCEV is accelerating. With the launch of FCEV demonstration and point evaluation, the total subsidy scale of fuel cell industry has saw a significant increase. With the demonstrative city point and subsidy, the total subsidy amount of Chinese government will exceed CNY 4 billion (USD 620 million) per year with reference to the existing range of subsidized cities, and the industry scale will also increase significantly, driving the whole scale of industry chain to 10,000 units.

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In China, local auto manufacturers have been launching FCEVs in succession. Among them, SAIC Group presented early in the field of hydrogen fuel cells, launching Rongwei 950 fuel cell passenger car in 2016, which stands for the first fuel cell passenger car to complete the announcement, sales and licensing in China. Great Wall Motor's first fuel cell vehicle type based on an exclusive platform was scheduled to be demonstrated in 2020. Geely Automobile, for its part, will launch a mass-production model with hydrogen fuel cells in 2025.

In 2020, global sales of FCEVs amounted to a total of 9,006, down 9.1% YOY. The sales of the U.S. and China witnessed approximately 50% decrease, only 937 (down 55% YOY) and 1177(down 57% YOY) respectively. Unlike the U.S., which was disturbed by the epidemic, China's downturn in sales was mainly due to the shift in government subsidies and the development of demonstration city clusters.

In terms of hydrogen refueling stations, there were 553 hydrogen refueling stations worldwide by the end of 2020, including 107 new stations compared to 2019. 515 stations are open for service to the public and the rest are used for buses or within enterprises, etc., and are not open to the public. Among them, Asia accounts for 49.73% of the world's hydrogen refueling stations with 275 stations, followed by Europe with 36.16% of hydrogen refueling stations, reaching 200 stations. There are 6 countries with more than 30 hydrogen refueling stations in the world, among which Japan has the largest number of hydrogen refueling stations with 142 stations, followed by Germany with 100 stations and China with 69 stations. The total number of hydrogen refueling stations in Japan, Germany and China is 311, accounting for 62% of the world, and these three countries are in the absolute leading position in hydrogen energy development. By the end of 2020, 80 hydrogen refueling stations had been put into operation in China, and these stations are mainly concentrated in Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei, Yangtze River Delta and Pearl River Delta regions. It is expected that 1,000 stations will be built by 2030. By the end of 2020, China had more than 7,000 FCEVs, making it the country with the largest number of fuel cell commercial vehicles in the world, which were mainly used in the Yangtze River Delta, Pearl River Delta and Beijing-Tianjin regions.

With the guidance of policy and market, China's hydrogen and fuel cell vehicles will be on the fast track. It is expected that by 2025, the number of fuel cell vehicles in China will reach 100,000. With reference to the development process of new energy vehicles, fuel cell vehicles will form a good industrial chain after the implementation of the "demonstrative application" policy, and are expected to see an explosion of production and sales around 2025.

Browse Detailed TOC, Tables and Figures with Charts which is spread across 60 Pages that provides exclusive data, information, vital statistics, trends, and competitive landscape details in this niche sector.

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1. Does this report consider the impact of COVID-19 and the Russia-Ukraine war on the Hydrogen Manufacturing and Hydrogen Refueling Station?



Yes. As the COVID-19 and the Russia-Ukraine war are profoundly affecting the global supply chain relationship and raw material price system, we have definitely taken them into consideration throughout the research, in Chapters, we elaborate at full length on the impact of the pandemic and the war on the Hydrogen Manufacturing and Hydrogen Refueling Station Industry.

Final Report will add the analysis of the impact of Russia-Ukraine War and COVID-19 on this Hydrogen Manufacturing and Hydrogen Refueling Station Industry.

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This report provides a pin-point analysis of changing dynamics and emerging trends in the Global Hydrogen Manufacturing and Hydrogen Refueling Station. Additionally, it provides a futuristic perspective on various factors that are likely to fuel the growth of the Global Hydrogen Manufacturing and Hydrogen Refueling Station in the coming years. Further, the authors of the report have shed light on the factors that may hinder the growth of the Global Hydrogen Manufacturing and Hydrogen Refueling Station.

Hydrogen Manufacturing and Hydrogen Refueling Station - Competitive and Segmentation Analysis:

2. How do you determine the list of the key players included in the report?



With the aim of clearly revealing the competitive situation of the industry, we concretely analyze not only the leading enterprises that have a voice on a global scale, but also the regional small and medium-sized companies that play key roles and have plenty of potential growth.

Top Key Players of the Global Hydrogen Manufacturing and Hydrogen Refueling Station

1 Shanghai Hyfun Energy Technology Co., Ltd.

2 Shanghai Sunwise Energy Systems Co., Ltd

3 Zhangjiagang Furui Hydrogen Power Equipment Co., Ltd.

4 Beijing PERIC Hydrogen Technologies Co., Ltd

5 Beijing Hydrosys Technology, Co., Ltd

Short Description About Hydrogen Manufacturing and Hydrogen Refueling Station:

The Global Hydrogen Manufacturing and Hydrogen Refueling Station is anticipated to rise at a considerable rate during the forecast period, between 2023 and 2030. In 2023, the market is growing at a steady rate and with the rising adoption of strategies by key players, the market is expected to rise over the projected horizon.

This report studies the Hydrogen Manufacturing and Hydrogen Refueling Station, covering market size for segment by type, by application, by sales channel (Direct Channel, Distribution Channel), and by region (North America, Europe, Asia-Pacific, South America and Middle East & Africa).

This report provides detailed historical analysis of global market for Hydrogen Manufacturing and Hydrogen Refueling Station from 2015-2020, and provides extensive market forecasts from 2023-2030 by region/country and subsectors. It covers the sales/revenue/value, gross margin, historical growth and future perspectives in the Hydrogen Manufacturing and Hydrogen Refueling Station.

Moreover, the impact of COVID-19 is also concerned. Since outbreak in December 2019, the COVID-19 virus has spread to all around the world and caused huge losses of lives and economy, and the global manufacturing, tourism and financial markets have been hit hard, while the online market/industry increase. Fortunately, with the development of vaccine and other effort by global governments and organizations, the negative impact of COVID-19 is expected to subside and the global economy is expected to recover.

This research covers COVID-19 impacts on the upstream, midstream and downstream industries. Moreover, this research provides an in-depth market evaluation by highlighting information on various aspects covering market dynamics like drivers, barriers, opportunities, threats, and industry news & trends. In the end, this report also provides in-depth analysis and professional advices on how to face the post COIVD-19 period.

The research methodology used to estimate and forecast this market begins by capturing the revenues of the key players and their shares in the market. Various secondary sources such as press releases, annual reports, non-profit organizations, industry associations, governmental agencies and customs data, have been used to identify and collect information useful for this extensive commercial study of the market. Calculations based on this led to the overall market size. After arriving at the overall market size, the total market has been split into several segments and sub-segments, which have then been verified through primary research by conducting extensive interviews with industry experts such as CEOs, VPs, directors, and executives. The data triangulation and market breakdown procedures have been employed to complete the overall market engineering process and arrive at the exact statistics for all segments and sub-segments.

Get a Sample Copy of the Hydrogen Manufacturing and Hydrogen Refueling Station Report 2023

3. What are your main data sources?



Both Primary and Secondary data sources are being used while compiling the report.



Primary sources include extensive interviews of key opinion leaders and industry experts (such as experienced front-line staff, directors, CEOs, and marketing executives), downstream distributors, as well as end-users.Secondary sources include the research of the annual and financial reports of the top companies, public files, new journals, etc. We also cooperate with some third-party databases.

Geographically, the detailed analysis of consumption, revenue, market share and growth rate, historical data and forecast (2023-2030) of the following regions are covered in Chapter 4 and Chapter 7:

North America (United States, Canada and Mexico)

Europe (Germany, UK, France, Italy, Russia and Turkey etc.)

Asia-Pacific (China, Japan, Korea, India, Australia, Indonesia, Thailand, Philippines, Malaysia and Vietnam)

South America (Brazil, Argentina, Columbia etc.)

Middle East and Africa (Saudi Arabia, UAE, Egypt, Nigeria and South Africa

Please find a more complete list of data sources in Chapters

1.To study and analyze the global Hydrogen Manufacturing and Hydrogen Refueling Station consumption (value) by key regions/countries, product type and application

2.To understand the structure of Hydrogen Manufacturing and Hydrogen Refueling Station by identifying its various sub segments.

3.Focuses on the key global Hydrogen Manufacturing and Hydrogen Refueling Station manufacturers, to define, describe and analyze the value, market share, market competition landscape, Porter's five forces analysis, SWOT analysis and development plans in next few years.

4.To analyze the Hydrogen Manufacturing and Hydrogen Refueling Station with respect to individual growth trends, future prospects, and their contribution to the total market.

5.To share detailed information about the key factors influencing the growth of the market (growth potential, opportunities, drivers, industry-specific challenges and risks).

6.To project the consumption of Hydrogen Manufacturing and Hydrogen Refueling Station submarkets, with respect to key regions (along with their respective key countries).

7.To analyze competitive developments such as expansions, agreements, new product launches, and acquisitions in the market.

8.To strategically profile the key players and comprehensively analyze their growth strategies.

Customization of the Report

4. Can I modify the scope of the report and customize it to suit my requirements?



Yes. Customized requirements of multi-dimensional, deep-level and high-quality can help our customers precisely grasp market opportunities, effortlessly confront market challenges, properly formulate market strategies and act promptly, thus to win them sufficient time and space for market competition.

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Detailed TOC of Hydrogen Manufacturing and Hydrogen Refueling Station Market Insights and Forecast to 2030

1 Overview of the Hydrogen Manufacturing and Refueling Station Industry

1.1 Hydrogen Production Methods

1.2 Hydrogen Storage and Transportation

2 Overview of Global Hydrogen Refueling Stations Industry

2.1 Overview of the Global Hydrogen Refueling Station Industry

2.2 Hydrogen Refueling Station Construction Plans in Some Developed Countries

2.2.1 Japan

2.2.2 United States

2.2.3 South Korea

2.2.4 France

2.2.5 Germany

2.2 Overview of Hydrogen Refueling Station Industry in China

2.3 Hydrogenation Equipment Industry

2.3.1 Equipment Classification

2.3.2 Hydrogen Compressor

2.3.3 Hydrogen Storage Bottle

2.3.4 Filling Equipment

2.4 Impact of COVID-19 on the Hydrogen Manufacturing and Refueling Station Industry

3 Overview of the Fuel Vehicle Industry

3.1 Overview of Global Fuel Vehicle Industry

3.1.1 Production

3.1.2 Downstream Market Demand

3.2 Overview of Fuel Vehicle Industry in China

4 Analysis on Major Hydrogen Fueling Station Operators in China

4.1 Shanghai Hyfun Energy Technology Co., Ltd.

4.1.1 Company Overview

4.1.2 Hydrogen Refueling Station Operation Status

4.2 Shanghai Sunwise Energy Systems Co., Ltd

4.3 Zhangjiagang Furui Hydrogen Power Equipment Co., Ltd.

4.4 Beijing PERIC Hydrogen Technologies Co., Ltd

4.5 Beijing Hydrosys Technology, Co., Ltd

5 Forecast on Global and Chinese Hydrogen Filling Station Industry, 2022-2030

5.1 Influencing Factors of Global and Chinese Hydrogen Refueling Station Development

5.1.1 Drivers and Market Opportunities

5.1.2 Threats and Challenges

5.2 Forecast on Global and Chinese Hydrogen Fueling Stations Supply, 2022-2030

5.3 Forecast on Global and Chinese Hydrogen Manufacturing and Hydrogen Refueling Stations Downstream Demand, 2022-2030

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Britain's King Charles III and Camilla, Queen Consort, walkabout to meet members of the public following a ceremony at Micklegate Bar, in York, England on Nov. 9, 2022. (James Glossop/AP)

King Charles III will travel to France and Germany for his first state visits since becoming monarch, Buckingham Palace said Friday, underscoring Britains efforts to build bridges with its European neighbors following years of strained relations caused by Brexit.

Charles and Camilla, the queen consort, are set to visit the European Unions two biggest countries March 26-31, hosted by Presidents Emmanuel Macron of France and Frank-Walter Steinmeier of Germany, the palace announced.

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The visit will celebrate the U.K.s relationship with France and Germany, marking our shared histories, culture and values, the palace said. It is also a chance to look forwards and show the many ways our countries are working in partnership, whether that be to tackle climate change; respond to the conflict in Ukraine; seize trade and investment opportunities or share the best of our arts and culture.

Highlighting the significance of the trip is the fact that it will be the first state visit by a British monarch since 2015; the late Queen Elizabeth II, Charles mother, stopped traveling abroad in her later years.

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The announcement came just days after Charles met with European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen at Windsor Castle and British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak announced a breakthrough in talks to resolve the dispute over post-Brexit trading arrangements for Northern Ireland.

Sunak will be anxious to use the soft power of the monarchy to highlight the thaw in relations between the U.K. and the EU, which have been strained by Britains decision to leave the bloc.

The trip to France and Germany is being made at the request of the British government and at the invitations of the two governments, the palace said.

The royals will travel first to France, where they will be greeted by Macron and take part in a ceremony of remembrance at the Arc de Triomphe in Paris. Charles will later meet with members of the National Assembly and Senate and attend a state banquet at the Chateau de Versailles.

The French leg of the trip will also include traveling to Bordeaux, which is home to a large British community. The royal couple plan to visit an organic vineyard and one of the areas devastated by wildfires last summer.

Charles and Camilla are scheduled to travel to Germany on March 29, where they will be greeted by Steinmeier and Charles plans to address the Bundestag, Germanys parliament. Steinmeier will also host a state banquet for the royal couple.

Charles will also meet with Ukrainian refugees in Germany, visit a joint U.K.-German military unit and travel to Hamburg, where he will visit sustainable energy projects.

While Britains royals have ceded most of their powers to the nations elected leaders, the aura of the monarchy and the pomp and ceremony of royal visits are still seen as a way to burnish the U.K.s image and bolster ties with nations around the globe.

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This role was epitomized by Elizabeth, who made 121 state visits during her 70-year reign, leading royal historian Robert Hardman to dub her Queen of the World.

When Charles met with von der Leyen on Monday, Buckingham Palace was quick to stress that he was working in concert with the government.

The king is pleased to meet any world leader, if they are visiting Britain, and it is the governments advice that he should do so, the palace said before that meeting.

The French leg of the trip may have a particular significance for Charles, who is said to have formed a close relationship with Macron because of the two mens shared focus on protecting the environment and fighting climate change.

Mutual respect also was expressed by Germanys president. In a video message, Steinmeier said he last met Charles at Elizabeths funeral and invited him to visit Germany as king. He said that Charles decision to visit half a year later shows how much the king values the friendship between Germans and Britons.

The German president said Charles decision to travel to Germany and France is also an important European gesture.

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I would like to say to him, but of course also to all Britons: We in Germany, we in Europe, want close and friendly relations with the United Kingdom after Brexit as well, Steinmeier said.

In November, South African President Cyril Ramaphosa made the first state visit to Britain of Charles reign. But the visit had been in the works before the late queens death.
By Saurabh Sharma and Sakshi Dayal

NEW DELHI (Reuters) -Indian police on Friday arrested three employees of a pharmaceutical firm whose cough syrups were linked to the deaths of 19 children in Uzbekistan, a police officer said, as the country looks to recover from recent setbacks to the industry.

The arrests were made after tests by an Indian government laboratory found 22 drug samples of Marion Biotech Pvt Ltd, based near New Delhi, "adulterated and spurious," according to a police document seen by Reuters.

Police said they arrested Marion's head of operations and two chemists on the basis of a complaint received by an inspector of the Central Drugs Standard Control Organisation (CDSCO), which investigated the company three times in December and once in January.

"The adulterated and spurious drugs can cause grievous hurt to the public and it is suspected that related material/records may be disposed of," CDSCO drug inspector Asheesh Kaundal said in his complaint.

Two Marion directors were "out of the country and will be arrested as soon as they land in India," senior police official Ram Badan Singh told Reuters.

The company did not answer calls from Reuters and did not immediately respond to an email seeking comment.

Uzbekistan in December said the children died after consuming Marion's cough syrups. India suspended Marion's production soon after.

Analysis by Uzbekistan's health ministry showed the syrups, Ambronol and DOK-1 Max, contained a toxin, ethylene glycol. The syrups were administered in doses higher than the standard for children, either by their parents, who mistook it for an anti-cold remedy, or on the advice of pharmacists, according to the analysis.

The same toxin was found in cough syrups exported to Gambia by another Indian company, Maiden Pharmaceuticals.

India in October suspended production at Maiden for violations of manufacturing standards after the World Health Organization said four of its cough syrups may have killed dozens of children in Gambia.

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The company has denied that its drugs were at fault for the deaths in Gambia and tests by an Indian government laboratory found there were no toxins in them.

An Indian court last month sentenced two Maiden executives to two and a half years in jail for exporting shoddy drugs to Vietnam a decade ago.

The deaths in Gambia and Uzbekistan have dented the image of the $41 billion pharmaceutical industry in India, which is known as the "pharmacy of the world."

(Reporting by Sakshi Dayal and Saurabh Sharma; Editing by Krishna N. Das and Mark Porter)
By Ananda Teresia and Stanley Widianto

JAKARTA (Reuters) - Indonesia's judicial oversight body on Friday said it would summon judges from a district court to explain what it called a "controversial" ruling that effectively ordered a delay in 2024 presidential and general elections.

Handling a lawsuit from an obscure party called Prima, whose election registration was denied, the Central Jakarta district court on Thursday ruled the election commission (KPU) must halt all of its election preparations for more than two years.

The decision, which would push back national polls until 2025 at the earliest, has drawn widespread criticism and questions about the court's authority and why it deemed all election processes must be stopped.

"If there are strong suspicions that there was a foul play from the part of the judges, then the commission will probe said judges," said Miko Ginting, a spokesperson for Indonesia's Judicial Commission.

The full ruling by the court had yet to be published on Friday but a copy seen by Reuters showed judges deemed that after the party's registration was rejected, it was unfairly denied the chance to submit the required documents, due partly to glitches with KPU's software.

It also said an administrative court had declined to take up the case and the district court's decision was intended to "restore justice and prevent as early as possible other events of errors, inaccuracies, unprofessionalism" by the KPU.

Law experts have criticised the judges for ordering a delay instead of ruling on the verification process. The court spokesperson Zulkifly Atjo said the ruling was the judges' prerogative.

KPU said it would appeal and forge ahead with organising the polls.

RISK OF UNCERTAINTY

The ruling has revived a debate regarding President Joko Widodo's tenure, where some senior political figures openly back the idea of him staying beyond his second term, which ends next year, while others warn that would roll back two decades of hard-won democratic reforms.

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Indonesia's constitution limits a president to two terms and the Constitutional Court made clear in a ruling on another case on Tuesday that there could be no extension beyond that.

"If the discourse comes back to surface, it will create more uncertainties around the elections," said Arya Fernandes, an analyst at Indonesia's Centre for Strategic and International Studies, adding it would also create an unstable investment climate.

Jokowi, as the incumbent is popularly known, has previously said he rejects the idea of extending his time in office.

Jaleswari Pramodhawardani, a senior official at the office of Jokowi's chief of staff, on Friday called for calm and said the government "is still committed" to hold elections in February next year.

Multiple surveys have showed most Indonesians are against extending Jokowi's term.

Jokowi's ruling party and the country's chief security minister have opposed Thursday's decision, saying a district court has no authority to decide election issues, echoing concerns from law experts.

Said Iqbal, chairman of the Labour Party, said workers would protest the decision as it goes against the Constitutional Court's ruling that a sitting president's tenure could not be extended beyond the existing limit.

(Reporting by Ananda Teresia and Gayatri Suroyo; Writing by Stanley Widianto; Editing by Kanupriya Kapoor, Martin Petty)
Key Insights

Using the 2 Stage Free Cash Flow to Equity, Bumitama Agri fair value estimate is S$1.22

Bumitama Agri is estimated to be 50% undervalued based on current share price of S$0.61

The Rp0.77 analyst price target for P8Z is 37% less than our estimate of fair value

Today we will run through one way of estimating the intrinsic value of Bumitama Agri Ltd. (SGX:P8Z) by estimating the company's future cash flows and discounting them to their present value. This will be done using the Discounted Cash Flow (DCF) model. It may sound complicated, but actually it is quite simple!

Remember though, that there are many ways to estimate a company's value, and a DCF is just one method. If you want to learn more about discounted cash flow, the rationale behind this calculation can be read in detail in the Simply Wall St analysis model.

Check out our latest analysis for Bumitama Agri

Is Bumitama Agri Fairly Valued?

We use what is known as a 2-stage model, which simply means we have two different periods of growth rates for the company's cash flows. Generally the first stage is higher growth, and the second stage is a lower growth phase. To begin with, we have to get estimates of the next ten years of cash flows. Where possible we use analyst estimates, but when these aren't available we extrapolate the previous free cash flow (FCF) from the last estimate or reported value. We assume companies with shrinking free cash flow will slow their rate of shrinkage, and that companies with growing free cash flow will see their growth rate slow, over this period. We do this to reflect that growth tends to slow more in the early years than it does in later years.

Generally we assume that a dollar today is more valuable than a dollar in the future, and so the sum of these future cash flows is then discounted to today's value:

10-year free cash flow (FCF) forecast

2023 2024 2025 2026 2027 2028 2029 2030 2031 2032 Levered FCF (IDR, Millions) Rp3.15t Rp1.85t Rp2.00t Rp1.92t Rp1.88t Rp1.87t Rp1.86t Rp1.87t Rp1.89t Rp1.92t Growth Rate Estimate Source Analyst x1 Analyst x1 Analyst x1 Est @ -3.92% Est @ -2.16% Est @ -0.94% Est @ -0.08% Est @ 0.53% Est @ 0.95% Est @ 1.24% Present Value (IDR, Millions) Discounted @ 9.3% Rp2.88m Rp1.55m Rp1.53m Rp1.35m Rp1.21m Rp1.09m Rp999.5k Rp919.1k Rp848.8k Rp786.1k

("Est" = FCF growth rate estimated by Simply Wall St)

Present Value of 10-year Cash Flow (PVCF) = Rp13t

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We now need to calculate the Terminal Value, which accounts for all the future cash flows after this ten year period. The Gordon Growth formula is used to calculate Terminal Value at a future annual growth rate equal to the 5-year average of the 10-year government bond yield of 1.9%. We discount the terminal cash flows to today's value at a cost of equity of 9.3%.

Terminal Value (TV)= FCF 2032  (1 + g)  (r  g) = Rp1.9t (1 + 1.9%)  (9.3% 1.9%) = Rp26t

Present Value of Terminal Value (PVTV)= TV / (1 + r)10= Rp26t ( 1 + 9.3%)10= Rp11t

The total value, or equity value, is then the sum of the present value of the future cash flows, which in this case is Rp24t. In the final step we divide the equity value by the number of shares outstanding. Relative to the current share price of S$0.6, the company appears quite good value at a 50% discount to where the stock price trades currently. The assumptions in any calculation have a big impact on the valuation, so it is better to view this as a rough estimate, not precise down to the last cent.

dcf

Important Assumptions

Now the most important inputs to a discounted cash flow are the discount rate, and of course, the actual cash flows. 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 Bumitama Agri 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 9.3%, which is based on a levered beta of 0.800. 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 Bumitama Agri

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.

Dividend is in the top 25% of dividend payers in the market.

Weakness

No major weaknesses identified for P8Z.

Opportunity

Good value based on P/E ratio and estimated fair value.

Threat

Annual earnings are forecast to decline for the next 3 years.

Moving On:

Although the valuation of a company is important, it is only one of many factors that you need to assess for a company. It's not possible to obtain a foolproof valuation with a DCF model. Preferably you'd apply different cases and assumptions and see how they would impact the company's valuation. For example, changes in the company's cost of equity or the risk free rate can significantly impact the valuation. What is the reason for the share price sitting below the intrinsic value? For Bumitama Agri, we've compiled three essential items you should look at:

Risks: For instance, we've identified 2 warning signs for Bumitama Agri (1 is concerning) you should be aware of. Future Earnings: How does P8Z'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 Singaporean 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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While educators around the country are wrestling with ethical concerns posed by new artificial intelligence chatbots, Iowas public universities are looking to use the advancements in the classroom.

ChatGPT is a natural language processing artificial intelligence (AI) technology tool, developed by OpenAI, that generates human-like conversations. The program other bots are currently expanding, although their software is not yet perfect. They do, however, offer unique experiences to students, Iowa educators say.

AI has been around for decades, but the recent developments of more advanced AI have created new questions for higher education.

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Carl Follmer, University of Iowa instructor and interim director of the Frank Business Communications Center, has been aware of ChatGPT and its potential impacts on the Tippie College of Business since November 2022. After learning about the software for months, he said it is being integrated into classrooms this spring.

My overall interpretation of ChatGPT and AI chatbots is that they seem helpful in terms of generating text, but theyre lousy in terms of writing for humans, he said. Were going to be teaching our students how to harness ChatGPT as a tool to create raw language and then adapt it, optimize it, and infuse it with content that humans need to get the meaning out of it.

He said the best way to use this emerging artificial intelligence is to get the bare bones of business communications from the site and then edit the text. The only way to use ChatGPT successfully is to optimize its potential, Follmer said.

Related: As OpenAIs ChatGPT Scores a C+ at Law School, Educators Wonder Whats Next

Iowa State University is also embracing the new technology while remaining wary of its shortfalls. Associate Provost Ann Marie VanDerZanden said its important at an institution of science and technology to help students learn about artificial intelligence and how to use it responsibly in whatever form it comes in.

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Were really diving in to understand what are the benefits of (AI) from a developmental writing standpoint and what are the limitations, VanDerZanden said. Its something that will continue to grow and faculty have started to think about how they can leverage tools like this to help their students learn and expand in their disciplinary content.

Concerns about academic integrity

The University of Northern Iowas Deans Council met on Feb. 20 to discuss chatbots and the growth of AI. Pete Moris, the universitys director of university relations, said the dialogue about new opportunities for ChatGPT is present on campus,

We are continuing to find ways to embrace this type of technology at UNI, while maintaining our high standards of academic integrity, he said in an email.

VanDerZanden said AI chatbots are on her universitys radar regarding academic integrity. Earlier this year, ISU had a task force draft statements to put in syllabi regarding where ChatGPT and other generators can and cannot be used in the classroom space.

While there are some concerns, she said there is also space for students to learn while the AI is still getting better.

Cheating has been around forever, she said. It isnt a result of this tool becoming widely available  The other part, I think, thats important to consider is the tool is only at a certain level of effectiveness. It may generate content, but theres no guarantee that content is correct. And thats really the space within higher ed where we can do the work and help our students understand its a tool that isnt perfect.

While faculty members continue to learn new ways to use the technology at ISU, VanDerZanden said some of the responsibility falls on the students to ask questions about AI and to be honest.

From the student standpoint, you dont know how the program will be implemented in any given class, she said. Theres some responsibility on the student to make sure they are clear on the uses and to ask those clarifying questions if theyre uncertain.

VanDerZanden said ISU is focused on showing students the opportunities and the drawbacks of the technology while ensuring academic integrity is upheld.

UNI is also working to clarify rules regarding ChatGPT and chatbots.

There has been a working group composed of members of our Information Technology team and members of our faculty working to develop language and guidance for our campus community relative to these topics, Moris said.  This is an evolving topic and we hope to have more information to share in the near future regarding AI and ChatGPT at UNI.

UI also has some concerns about dishonesty in course work and has generated a guide for teaching with artificial intelligence tools. Follmer said it is a concern for him and his colleagues, but academic dishonesty is broader than some may understand.

Cheaters are going to cheat, thats the realist aspect, he said. And well never be able to stop it completely unless we get everyone in a room with no screens to test them using pens and paper. Even if ChatGPT goes behind a paywall, there will be others like it. They may not be as good as that particular program, but maybe students are okay with that. But, as with all forms of cheating, we just dont want to make it too easy.

AI-generated work is recognizable

UI Professor Patrick Fan, the Henry B. Tippie Excellence Chair in Business Analytics, is an expert in AI. He said its somewhat easy to know what AI-generated work looks like.

I think the cognitive capabilities of the model (ChatGPT) are super, super powerful, but a lot of the time you can distinguish between the outputs produced by the AI versus a human being, he said.  There are some tools out there, like ChatZero, that instructors can use to check if what is submitted was done by robots or by a person. It may not detect all of them, but it shows most of them. As you have more experience with it, you will notice patterns and once you are trained on that you can distinguish it more easily.

ChatZero is a tool developed by a Princeton University student and OpenAI to detect AI-written texts. According to TechCrunch, Turnitin is also looking to create AI-checking software. Turnitin is a online tool used by many education systems to detect plagiarism.

Potential positives of advancing AI in the classroom

An unintended and positive consequence of the system, Follmer said, is for professors to come up with more creative assignments and develop stronger rubrics. He said faculty members need to be nimble and curious as they deal with the repercussions of technological advancements like this.

At Tippie, were teaching with the future in mind, so, were going to need to have really specific prompts and rubrics that emphasize other things than just structure, he said. Elements like tone and audience analysis are needed. I dont know if thats going to last forever, but that buys us enough time to be able to figure out how to adapt to the next change. Something as simple as writing a five-paragraph essay about the ethics of euthanasia? Thats pretty much dead.

Related: Rethinking College Admissions and Applications with an Eye on AI

Fan said the focus now, for him and other faculty members who are introducing these technologies to their students, is to remain curious and find ways to showcase these new opportunities while being cautious.

We have to be open minded and we have to be more receptive to this technology, Fan said. But we also need to be cautious about potential bias, hatred, or risk produced in (AI-generated) content. We need to do the due diligence to know the limitations and criticize the tools as they are improving. Knowing what theyre capable of will make them a positive classroom assistant.

Iowa Capital Dispatch is part of States Newsroom, a network of news bureaus supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Iowa Capital Dispatch maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Kathie Obradovich for questions: info@iowacapitaldispatch.com. Follow Iowa Capital Dispatch on Facebook and Twitter.
does ira contribution reduce agi

The link between IRA contributions and your adjusted gross income (AGI) can get complicated because not all contributions to IRAs lower your AGI. Generally, this is one of those situations where youll be pleased to file a tax return with a smaller AGI because those IRA contributions will go to your retirement while also reducing your tax bill. If youre looking for smarter tax strategies to help you with your investments and long-term retirement planning, consider working with a financial advisor.

When Do IRA Contributions Lower an AGI

Contributions to an IRA can shrink your AGI if they are going to a traditional IRA. They will not lower your adjusted gross income if they are invested into a Roth IRA. The main distinction between a traditional and Roth IRA is in how each entity is taxed. A little history may help in understanding how a traditional IRA and a Roth IRA came to be taxed differently. Traditional IRAs are called traditional IRAs simply because they have been around longer than Roth IRAs. Traditional IRAs first came into existence in the 1970s; Roth IRAs were first introduced in 1997.

Although everybody refers to an IRA as an individual retirement account, it actually stands for an individual retirement arrangement. These IRAs were created when the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 was passed by Congress. When the Roth IRA was introduced in Congress over two decades later, its big selling point was that, unlike a traditional IRA, the investment could grow over the decades, tax-free.

The reason Congress became involved in individual retirement arrangements was to give freelance workers and employees at companies that didnt offer pension plans, a way to save for retirement. The IRAs may have been more popular than Congress intended. It has been theorized that the popularity of IRAs, not to mention 401(k) plans, has given corporations less incentive over the years to offer pension plans.

How Taxes Factor Into a Traditional IRA

does ira contribution reduce agi

As for how the two individual retirement accounts or arrangements are different when it comes to taxes, it works this way for a traditional IRA: when you put money toward a traditional IRA, those contributions will lower your adjusted gross income. In 2023, the maximum contribution will be $6,500 (although people 50 and up can do a $1,000 catch-up contribution).

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So lets say you plan to put $4,000 into your IRA in 2023, but near the end of the year, you decide to add another $2,500. Because of that decision to max out your contributions, your adjusted gross income will be $6,500 less than what it otherwise would have been  and youll be taxed on your adjusted gross income and not the $6,500 you put into the traditional IRA.

So if you put $6,500 into your traditional IRA in 2023 and you earn $100,000 in revenue the same year, your adjusted gross income will be $93,500. Thats the amount of revenue youll be taxed on. The IRS refers to this as modified adjusted gross income (MAGI).

Of course, it isnt as if the Internal Revenue Service will never see that $6,500. When you eventually take money out of a traditional IRA to fund your retirement, the IRS will take its share of what you withdraw. But for all of those working years in which youre funding your traditional IRA, youre getting a smaller tax bill, which translates into more purchasing power and more money that you can put away into your retirement.

How Taxes Factor into a Roth IRA

Your adjusted gross income is not lowered if you contribute money to a Roth IRA. So if you put $6,500 into your Roth IRA in 2023 and you earn $100,000 in revenue the same year, your adjusted gross income will be $100,000. Thats what youll be taxed on.

But what many financial advisors and investors like about a Roth IRA is that once the money is in the account, your investment will grow without taxes ever touching the money. The earnings grow tax-free and qualified withdrawals are free and clear of taxes and penalties.

The Bottom Line

does ira contribution reduce agi

Whether you prefer a traditional IRA or a Roth IRA is more a matter of preference and perhaps a topic to discuss with a financial advisor; theyre both excellent financial vehicles for funding retirement. Its important to fund your IRA, whether its a traditional or Roth, as much as possible. If you can max out your contributions, that should be the goal. If you happen to have a traditional IRA and your adjustable gross income is lowered, thats simply icing on the cake.

Tips for Retirement Planning

When making retirement plans it is important to think through not just what assets you want in your portfolio but also how your investments might impact your taxes. A financial advisor can help you figure out both through the creation of a long-term retirement plan. If you dont have a financial advisor, finding one doesnt have to be hard. SmartAssets free tool matches you with up to three vetted financial advisors who serve your area, and you can interview your advisor matches at no cost to decide which one is right for you. If youre ready to find an advisor who can help you achieve your financial goals, get started now.

If youre looking to save for retirement you should know where you stand at all times. Consider using SmartAssets free retirement calculator to help you see if youre on track for the retirement you picture.

Photo credit: iStock.com/evgenyatamanenko, iStock.com/AndreyPopov, iStock.com/AndreyPopov

The post Do IRA Contributions Lower Your AGI? appeared first on SmartAsset Blog.
By Alvise Armellini

ROME (Reuters) -Top mafia boss Matteo Messina Denaro was captured thanks in part to a hand-written note found hidden in his older sister's house, judicial documents show, after police arrested the woman on Friday.

Rosalia (Rosetta) Messina Denaro, 67, was detained in Sicily on mafia membership charges, Carabinieri police said, releasing a 57-page arrest warrant.

Her brother, Matteo Messina Denaro, 60, was Italy's most wanted man until his arrest on Jan. 16, after 30 years on the run. He was caught in Palermo, outside a private clinic for cancer patients.

A month earlier, police had found the note inside the leg of an aluminium chair in Rosalia's home in the western Sicilian town of Castelvetrano, the arrest warrant said.

Officers had stumbled on it during a covert operation to plant listening and video recording devices, one of which was meant to go inside the chair.

Police photographed the note, which initially seemed an unintelligible jumble of words, signs and letters, and replaced it where they found it. Analysis showed it chronicled a man's struggle with colon cancer.

Italian authorities had already said that Messina Denaro was snared by his failing health, but on Friday they revealed the source of the key tip.

The "historic result of the capture ... originated from a note, imprudently kept, albeit hidden, by Rosetta," a judge wrote in the warrant.

Police presumed that the note referred to a relative, and focused on Matteo after verifying that no other family member had similar cancer problems.

Matteo Messina Denaro used a fake identity, but police unmasked him after discovering that the man whose identity he stole was not in hospital when records suggested he should have been there.

The mobster has been convicted for a long list of crimes, including the killings of top prosecutors Giovanni Falcone and Paolo Borsellino and of a teenage boy whose body was dissolved in acid.

'BIG STRAWBERRY'

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While on the run, Messina Denaro followed mafia tradition in communicating with relatives and affiliates via "pizzini", small pieces of paper sometimes written in code.

His sister was one of the people who handled the "pizzini", but did not follow her brother's recommendation to burn them after use, police said.

They allege she had a major role in her mafia family, acting as treasurer, and said she communicated with Messina Denaro using the code name "Fragolone", or "big strawberry."

Her home was decorated with a large portrait painting of her fugitive brother, showing him wearing sunglasses and a crown, a police video showed.

Rosalia's husband, Filippo Guttadauro, is another convicted Sicilian mobster, while her daughter Lorenza is Matteo Messina Denaro's defence lawyer.

The warrant described her as a woman with "origins and traditions all inspired by an orthodox and rock-hard mafia culture".

(Reporting by Alvise Armellini, editing by Angus MacSwan)
A 47-year-old man was found guilty Thursday by a Jackson County jury for a triple murder that occurred in Kansas Citys Oak Park neighborhood.

Victor S. Sykes, of Kansas City, was convicted on three counts of first-degree murder and three other felony counts of armed criminal action. He and Lynnsey D. Jones, identified as his girlfriend by authorities, stood trial separately in the killings of Larry Barnes, 40; Brandy Jones, 38; and Larona Jones, 42.

On Oct. 17, 2019, Kansas City patrol officers responded to the 4500 block of Benton Boulevard after they heard gunfire coming from the area, according to court documents,

As the officers arrived, Jones was seen holding a rifle and detained. Sykes allegedly ran from the area and was apprehended a short distance away.

Barnes was found dead on the ground in the 4500 block of Benton. Responding officers then noticed a door ajar at a home, leading them to find the other two victims shot. Both were also pronounced dead at the scene.

During her initial police interview, Lynnsey Jones said she was buying drugs in the 4500 block of Benton and witnessed Sykes get into a fight with one of the gunshot victims. After learning Sykes was arrested, she said the rifle was hers and that she shot all three people, offering as a reason: Because Im a bad person.

Sykes denied involvement in the shooting when questioned by police.

At the time of the shooting, Sykes was on parole for a separate killing that occurred in Wyandotte County in 1992. He had been convicted of murder in 1993, ordered to incarceration in the Kansas Department of Corrections and granted out-of-state parole in October 2018.

Under Missouri law, each first-degree murder conviction carries a mandatory minimum sentence of life in prison without the possibility of parole.

In December 2021, Lynnsey Jones, 38, was convicted of three first-degree murder charges and received three life sentences plus 30 years.

Sykes is scheduled to be sentenced April 4.
KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia (AP)  Malaysian former Prime Minister Najib Razak was acquitted Friday in the latest trial in response to the multibillion-dollar looting of the 1Malaysia Development Berhad state fund.

Najib, who is serving a 12-year prison term after losing the final appeal in his first of several corruption trials linked to the 1MDB scandal, was found not guilty on the charge of tampering with an audit report to cover up wrongdoings.

Defense lawyer Mohamad Shafee Abdullah said the High Court ruled that prosecutors did not have sufficient evidence to prove Najib guilty of abusing his position as Prime Minister and Finance Minister to order amendments to the 1MDB audit report in 2016 before it was presented to Parliament.

My client is very grateful to Allah for the decision today because it really uplifted his spirit and the desire to fight for his innocence, Shafee said Friday at a news conference.

The 1MDB development fund was set up months after Najib became prime minister in 2009. Investigators allege more than $4.5 billion was stolen from the fund and laundered by Najibs associates through layers of bank accounts in the United States and other countries to finance Hollywood films and extravagant purchases that included hotels, a luxury yacht, art and jewelry. More than $700 million landed in Najibs bank accounts.

He and his wife, Rosmah Mansor, were hit with multiple graft charges after the saga led to his ruling coalitions shocking defeat in 2018 general elections. Rosmah was sentenced in 2022 to 10 years in prison and a record fine of 970 million ringgit ($217 million) for corruption over a solar energy project and is out on bail pending an appeal.

Shafee said financer Low Taek Jho  believed to be the mastermind of the scandal  remained at large.

Former 1MDB CEO Arul Kanda Kandasamy, who was jointly charged with abetting Najib and appeared as a prosecution witness during the trial, was also acquitted by the court Friday.

Shafee has maintained that charges against Najib were politically motivated. Najib is seeking a review of the top court's decision in August to reject his final appeal and is hoping for a favorable outcome later this month, he added.
In an era when crime issues are often played for partisan advantage, its rare to see Republicans and Democrats come together in the cause of keeping innocent people out of prison. That just happened in the Kansas House. Soon, we hope, the state Senate will repeat the accomplishment.

State House legislators last week overwhelmingly passed a bill that would require Kansas prosecutors to disclose information to defendants about so-called jailhouse informants. Those are folks who sometimes testify against defendants at criminal trials  usually with information obtained while both the witness and defendant were imprisoned together, and generally with the expectation the informant will see his or her own punishment reduced.

Jailhouse informants have obvious incentives to testify. And sometimes those incentives lead them to stretch the truth, or even lie outright.

Thats what happened to Olin Pete Coones Jr., for whom the new bill is named. Coones, a retired mail carrier and father of five, spent 12 years in prison after being wrongfully convicted of murder following the 2008 deaths of Kathleen and Carl Schroll in Wyandotte County. Prosecutors produced no physical evidence or witnesses tying Coones to the deaths. But they did offer the testimony of a jailhouse informant who had a history of mental illness and dishonesty  and who testified that Coones had confessed the crimes to him in the cell they shared while awaiting trial.

A dozen years later, authorities determined that Kathleen Schroll actually had committed a murder-suicide  and that Coones had been railroaded by the prosecution. He was exonerated and released from prison at the end of 2020. Just three months later, he died of cancer at age 64.

Before he died, though, Coones called on lawmakers to make the informant process more transparent. The Kansas House bill would do that by requiring prosecutors to disclose the agreements they make with informants, as well as informants criminal history  and their history of acting as informants in other cases. Testimony from informants wouldnt be prohibited, but defendants and juries would have a better picture of why and how those informants ended up on the stand.

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The bill is just saying we think only reliable testimony should be used to convict people, said Tricia Rojo Bushnell, executive director of the Midwest Innocence Project.

What might be most remarkable about the bill, though, is the support it has received from a wide array of advocacy organizations. The Midwest Innocence Project and the Kansas Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers are both backing it, as might be expected, but so is the conservative Americans for Prosperity and a victims advocacy organization, the Kansas Coalition Against Sexual and Domestic Violence.

Its just generally considered noncontroversial to believe innocent people shouldnt be in prison, Bushnell said. Its pretty easy for people to want to come to that table.

That broad backing produced overwhelming support in the Kansas House, which voted 117-4 in favor. The bill now goes to the state Senate.

Unfortunately, final passage is far from assured. Last year, a similar bill passed the Kansas House with unanimous backing  only to die in the Legislatures upper chamber. Advocates arent quite sure what will happen this time around.

What weve seen is that the will to pass this continues in the House, Bushnell said. Were hopeful the Senate will take it up and hear it.

We share that hope  and find it unlikely that Coones is the only Kansan wrongly imprisoned using the testimony of a jailhouse informant. The Stars Luke Nozicka reported that it has happened at least 10 times in Missouri in recent years, including with the recently-released Lamar Johnson. And a recent study by the University of Notre Dame uncovered more than 200 such wrongful convictions across the country.

Regardless of their obvious conflicts of interest, jailhouse informants are extremely effective in persuading jurors to convict, the study found.

The Kansas bill would simply arm defendants with knowledge of those conflicts. Pete Coones and his family cant ever recover the 12 years he spent in prison. But its not too late to better ensure justice for future defendants.
Linda Brito, with microphone, senior organizer for the United Workers Center, and Nicole Hallett, right, an attorney for the Immigrant Rights Clinic at the University of Chicago, answer questions at a news conference in Chicago on March 2, 2023, about a lawsuit filed by Norberto Navarro against Will County. (Vincent D. Johnson / Chicago Tribune)

Immigrants advocates and supporters rallied together in Chicagos Southeast Side in support of Norberto Navarro on Thursday morning when his lawyer filed a lawsuit against Will County saying the county violated Navarros civil rights when he was detained for two months last year.

For the past year, leaders from the United Workers Center, also known as CTU from its Spanish translation, have been spreading the word about Navarros incarceration, and they organized Thursdays rally, which was also attended by his mother and supporters from the Illinois Coalition of Immigrant and Refugee Rights. Everybody who supported Navarro during his detainment was there, except for Navarro himself, who watched from a car in the alley.

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Navarro, a 31-year-old from Calumet City, declined to have his picture taken by the media or to be interviewed on camera, citing his uneasiness with having his image published. He later told the Tribune that he was diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder after he was released from the detention facility a year ago.

He said his PTSD hit him after he was the sole witness to a 2017 car crash that killed a pregnant mother and her three young sons in Bleecher, and that the time he spent in detainment only exacerbated it. He said the stress he feels has affected his day-to-day life.

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Anything triggers you, he said.

Two years after witnessing the horrific Beecher accident, Navarro was taken into federal custody on a drug charge and served a sentence of 40 months in prison. Navarro, who had a green card since he was a child, his advocates have said, was under the threat of deportation by Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

Attorney Nicole Hallett, of the Immigrant Rights Clinic at the University of Chicago, speaks at a news conference in Chicago about a lawsuit filed by Norberto Navarro against Will County on March 2, 2023. (Vincent D. Johnson / Chicago Tribune)

Instead, in January 2022, he was detained by Will County under a material witness bond for two months until he testified as a witness in the criminal trial resulting from the car crash.

At the time, Navarros advocates argued that he had already served his sentence of 40 months in a federal custody for the drug charge and that he should not have been jailed after ICE transferred him to Will County.

Navarro said Thursday that his detainment at the Will County Adult Detention Facility was done for no reason and was wrong. He recounts having to stay in a small cell with a roommate for 22 hours a day during his 61-day detainment. He said he also had to wear a band that identified him as a misdemeanor offender.

They locked me up for no reason and treated me worse than the guy they were prosecuting, Navarro said.

Sean Woulfe, the man who caused the car crash, was given a $250,000 bond. Navarros bond was set at $1 million.

Navarro says his lawsuit is to prevent others from having to go through the same experience. We are doing this for everyone, he said. The lawsuit seeks compensation for his damages, but his lawyer did not give a figure at the rally.

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Navarros lawsuit says Will County broke Illinois law when he was moved from ICE custody to custody in Will County. The lawsuit states that the county was working with ICE  which the county denies  and it provided emails sent between ICE and Will County. One email says Will County might not be able to return Navarro to ICE because sanctuary nonsense laws have passed (in Illinois).

Linda Brito, senior organizer for the United Workers Center, speaks at a news conference in Chicago about a lawsuit filed by Norberto Navarro against Will County on March 2, 2023. (Vincent D. Johnson / Chicago Tribune)

The lawsuit alleges that Will County did not have a right to hold him, and that there was no charge filed against him. It also talks about his experience while in detainment, where he spent nearly $1,000 on commissary expenses and phone calls to his family.

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At the rally, Navarros lawyer Nicole Hallett, the director of the immigrant rights clinic at the University of Chicago, said, We hope that this lawsuit will send a clear message to Will County and every other county in the state that they wont get away with flagrantly violating the law.

Hallett said she took the case pro bono after hearing from the United Workers Center that Navarro was in custody. The groups senior organizer, Linda Brito, said the centers community is why Navarro is no longer in custody.

It wasnt Illinois government agencies, or law enforcement agencies that freed (Navarro). It was our community, Brito said. These Illinois law enforcement agencies need to follow community because it is important that we send this message that they will protect the immigrant community.

Will County States Attorney James Glasgow put out a statement on March 22, 2022, a day before Navarro testified in the trial and his subsequent release date, saying that his office put in the paperwork to award Navarro, a permanent resident, a U-Visa because he had a harrowing experience as being a witness to the 2017 car crash.

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Hallett confirmed that, but said the visa, like Navarros release, only came from public pressure, including interference from Illinois Attorney General Kwame Raoul.

Navarro was in the process of deportation in 2021 and was set to go to court for it. He was set to be released from a New Mexico detention facility after serving time for a drug related offense. One day before his release, Will County was able to transfer Navarro to its custody.

Will County officials said they had no further comments on the lawsuit.
TOKYO (Reuters) - Japan's space agency said it plans to launch what would be its first new medium-lift rocket in three decades on March 6, more than two weeks after the initially scheduled launch was aborted.

The final decision will be made taking into account weather conditions, the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) said on Friday.

JAXA on Feb. 17 suspended the launch of the H3 rocket, built by Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, moments before the planned lift-off because its secondary booster engines failed to ignite.

Japan built the H3 to enhance its independent access to space and boost its chances of capturing a bigger share of the global launch market from rivals.

(Reporting by Kantaro Komiya and Miho Uranaka; Editing by Himani Sarkar and Christian Schmollinger)
Jeremy Vine appeared on Ken Bruces last ever BBC Radio 2 show to tell the presenter how much he will miss working with him.

The exchange came as part of an emotional final episode for Bruce, with a host of fans calling in with heartfelt messages for the outgoing presenter.

I was working it out, and you and I talk for three minutes a day So thats 10 hours a year, meaning over 20 years its 200 hours I havent been paid, Vine joked.

Youre saving the BBC a lot of money there somehow it feels longer! Bruce replied.

Bruce has hosted Radio 2s mid-morning show for 31 years, and has been with the BBC since 1977.

He is set to move to commercial station Greatest Hits Radio, with a new show launching on 3 April.

During the show, Vine addressed his friend in earnest. Ill miss you so much, youre always ahead of me on every story, he said. Am I allowed to say Ive worked with some great people and youre the best?

I know you dont like praise, but youre the most generous, intelligent, talented colleague.

Bruce on BBC Radio 2 (BBC)

We Scots, Glaswegians particularly, dont take praise, Bruce replied, though he also added that he would miss these chats immensely.

Vine also said: For us, at Radio 2, youre the presenter we all want to be like.

In February, Bruce said that BBC bosses had asked him to leave early, instead of continuing until the end of March, when his contract ends.

Reports have suggested that this decision was made in an effort to stop him from publicising his new Greatest Hits show on Radio 2.
WASHINGTON  President Joe Biden said Thursday he will sign a Republican-backed resolution that would override the District of Columbia's controversial new rewrite of its criminal sentencing laws despite his administration's initial opposition to congressional intervention.

His signature would allow Congress to overturn a D.C. bill for the first time in 30 years, marking a rare moment of Biden clashing with local leaders of the nation's capital he backs making the 51st state.

"I support D.C. statehood and home-rule," Biden said in a statement, "but I dont support some of the changes D.C. Council put forward over the mayors objections  such as lowering penalties for carjackings. If the Senate votes to overturn what D.C. Council did  Ill sign it."

Inside the D.C. criminal code fight

The D.C. City Council late last year approved a new local criminal code that includes the elimination of mandatory minimum sentences for many crimes and the reduction of maximum sentences for crimes such as robbery and burglary.

The council, which leans strongly to the left, overrode a veto from D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser, a Democrat and Biden ally, who raised concerns about lighter sentences for crimes.

The local ordinance's passage followed two decades of efforts to redo D.C.'s crime laws. It faced immediate criticism from Republicans, who have hammered Democrats as soft on crime in recent years. Washington had its highest number of murders in 2022 in nearly 20 years.

Legislation to overturn D.C.'s crime law passed the House last month, with 31 Democrats joining Republicans. It's expected to have bipartisan support in the Senate. A Senate vote could happen as early as next week. The U.S. Constitution grants Congress the power to overturn local D.C. legislation.

The White House Office of Management said it opposed the resolution in a Feb. 6 official statement of administration policy, saying "Congress should respect the District of Columbias autonomy to govern its own local affairs."

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President Joe Biden talks to reporters after a lunch with Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., and Senate Democrats about his upcoming budget and political agenda, at the Capitol in Washington, Thursday, March 2, 2023. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite) ORG XMIT: DCSA121

Biden faced a major political dilemma

Biden faced a major political dilemma whether to let the resolution become law or vetoing it and opening himself up to criticism as soft on crime during the 2024 presidential election.

He opted against the latter.

Biden has worked to distance himself from the "defund the police" mantra of the left. It's not hard to imagine the Republican ads next year accusing Biden of reducing sentences for criminals if he had pulled out the veto pen.

More: What would statehood for Washington, DC mean  and could it finally happen?

Still, you can bet Biden won't have a public bill-signing ceremony for this one.

His signature won't sit well with many in the left-leaning capital who have backed the president. Even Bowser, who opposed the council's criminal law revisions, asked Congress to let local leaders deal with the issue.

Nor will Biden's decision please many activists who have pushed Biden to pass policing and other criminal justice reforms.

What they're saying

White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre tried to walk a fine line on the issue as she was pressed by reporters Thursday, saying Biden believes every city "has the right to self-government" but also wants to keep communities safe.

"This is different," Jean-Pierre said. "The D.C. Council put changes forward over the mayor's objections, and the president doesn't support changes like lowering penalties for carjacking."

Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., criticized Biden's move in a tweet. "This aint it. DC has a right to govern itself, like any other state or municipality. If the president supports DC statehood, he should govern like it."

Tennessee Sen. Bill Hagerty, a Republican sponsor of the resolution, was pleased with Biden's decision. "I hope these reports are true and that President Biden is no longer threatening to veto my commonsense resolution to block the soft-on-crime DC Crime Bill. Reducing violent crime should not be controversial."

Contributing: Associated Press

Reach Joey Garrison on Twitter @joeygarrison.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Biden says he'll sign bill blocking D.C. criminal law overhaul
President Joe Biden on Thursday said hell travel to East Palestine, Ohio, at some point as residents continue pressing health and safety fears following the fiery derailment of a train carrying toxic chemicals last month.

After attending a Senate Democratic luncheon at the U.S. Capitol, Biden told reporters hes been in touch with officials responding to the crisis in the town near the Ohio-Pennsylvania border.

Ive spoken with every official in Ohio, Democrat and Republican, on a continuous basis, as in Pennsylvania, Biden said. I laid out a little bit in there what I think the answers are, and we put it together. And we will be implementing an awful lot to the legislation here.

And I will be out there at some point, he added.

Last week, Biden had told reporters he had no plans to visit East Palestine at this moment.

White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre shared no further details during Thursdays briefing.

Ohios two senators, Sherrod Brown (D) and J.D. Vance (R), along with Sens. Bob Casey (D-Pa.), John Fetterman (D-Pa.), Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) and Josh Hawley (R-Mo.), on Wednesday introduced legislation that includes new safety rules for railway companies to help prevent future train disasters.

Through this legislation, Congress has a real opportunity to ensure that what happened in East Palestine will never happen again, Vance said. We owe every American the peace of mind that their community is protected from a catastrophe of this kind.

Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg became the highest administration official to visit East Palestine last week. He urged any national political figure who has decided to get involved in the plight of East Palestine to work with his department to prevent future accidents.

Republicans, as well as Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.), have seized on the train derailment to criticize Buttigieg for visiting 20 days after the wreck.

Sen. Joe Manchin sharply criticized Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg over his handling of the Ohio rail disaster, telling me: "I think that basically Pete is not getting high grades right now."



Manchin would not say if he has confidence in Buttigeg: "I have concerns"  Manu Raju (@mkraju) March 2, 2023

Former President Donald Trump also visited the site of the derailment last week, alongside Vance, as he campaigns for the White House in 2024.

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In an interview with ABCs David Muir last month, Biden defended his administrations handling of the disaster.

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, he said.

Meanwhile, East Palestine residents on Thursday said theyre still experiencing health issues during a town hall with officials from the Environmental Protection Agency and a lone representative of Norfolk Southern.

The Norfolk Southern train that derailed and caught fire on Feb. 3 was carrying toxic and flammable materials, including hundreds of thousands of pounds of vinyl chloride, a component of plastics that has been linked to cancer.

Alan Shaw, the CEO of Norfolk Southern, is due to appear before the Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works next week.

Related...
Jon Rahm started his round strong at the Arnold Palmer Invitational at Bay Hill on Thursday, before ending it even stronger  closing eagle-birdie-birdie for a 7-under 65 and a two-shot lead (Phelan M Ebenhack/AP) (AP)

Jon Rahm started his round strong at the Arnold Palmer Invitational at Bay Hill on Thursday, before ending it even stronger  closing eagle-birdie-birdie for a seven-under 65 and a two-shot lead.

Rahm already has three PGA Tour wins this year and has won five of his last nine tournaments.

Chris Kirk, Cameron Young and Kurt Kitayama were two back, while the group three behind included defending champion Scottie Scheffler, Jordan Spieth and Bay Hill newcomer Patrick Cantlay.

Rahm opened with three straight birdies but managed to hold steady the rest of the way until he could get ahead of Kirk and Young.

The Spaniard hit only eight fairways and was twice blocked by trees  one time escaping with par with a 30-foot putt on the 15th hole.

He then hit five-iron to 25 feet on the fringe at the par-five 16th and holed it for eagle. On the par-three 17th, he hammered a seven-iron that cleared the bunker and landed in just the right spot to roll out to two feet.

On the closing hole, Rahm hit a soft nine-iron to a front pin that settled about six feet away.

Kirk, fresh from winning the Honda Classic on Sunday which was his first PGA Tour win in almost eight years after a four-year battle with alcoholism, carried on that momentum to seven birdies for a 67 during the morning round.

While Young also had a 67 in morning conditions.

They were joined by Kurt Kitayama, who had a chance to challenge Rahm until dropping his lone shot on his final hole at number nine.

The group at 68 included defending champion Scottie Scheffler, Jordan Spieth, Xander Schauffele and Patrick Cantlay, all among the top 20 in the world.

Northern Irishman Rory McIlroy was over par from his opening hole and scratched out a 73, including a double bogey on the par-five sixth hole when he drove into the water.
Apple

It says a lot when Jon Stewart, whos made a career of calling the media and politicians on their bullshit, says hes found hypocrisy of the highest order. Those are, however, Stewarts parting words after a typically heated debate with Oklahoma State Senator Nathan Dahm during Fridays The Problem with Jon Stewart.

Each weeks episode of Stewarts Apple TV+ series zeroes in on one issue, and this week Stewart chose to tackle gun reform, a subject hes previously discussed numerous times on The Daily Show and elsewhere.

The comedian was in peak form Friday as he needled Dahm about his support of legislation that loosens gun restrictions. You're saying more guns makes us more safe, Stewart said early on. So when? Weve got 4 million guns in the country. We had an increase and gun deaths went up. So when, exactly, does this curve hit that takes it down? Would a billion guns do it?

During his Daily Show run, Stewart made debates like these his bread and butter, and not much has changed since his move to Apple, where he recently grilled Arizonas attorney general about Donald Trumps claims that the 2020 presidential election was stolen. Throughout their discussion, Stewart pushed Dahm to explain how removing regulations on gun purchases makes anyone safer.

Youre bringing chaos to order, Stewart said at one point. We have 50,000 gun-related deaths. Thats not a subjective opinion. Thats dead people. When Dahm argues that laws requiring people to register their guns infringe on ones right to bear arms, Stewart cant help himself: Is voting a right? he asks, before pausing for effect and adding, ...do you have to do anything to do it?

Jon Stewart Atones for His Own Sh*tty Anti-Trans Jokes

Toward the end of the conversation, Stewart pivots to a seemingly unrelated topicthe rights obsession with keeping drag performers away from children. (Last fall, the comedian apologized for the shitty anti-trans jokes hes told in the past.) What, exactly, is Dahm protecting, he wondered aloud, when theres a far more obvious threat to children across America?

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What is the leading cause of death of children in this country? Stewart asked Dahm directly. And Im going to give you a hint, its not drag show readings.

The answer, as Dahm and Stewart both know, is firearms.

And what you're telling me is, you don't mind infringing free speech to protect children from this amorphous thing that you think of, Stewart told his guest, but when it comes to children that have died, you don't give a flying fuck to stop that.

As he put it at another point during their discussion, You want to say Im a Second Amendment purist and Im making it safer. You're not. Youre making it more chaotic, and thats not a matter of opinion. Thats the truth.

For more, listen and subscribe to The Last Laugh podcast.

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Officers walk outside Blake-Lamb Funeral Home in Oak Lawn on March 8, 2023, while attending a visitation for Chicago police Officer Andres Mauricio Vasquez Lasso. (Armando L. Sanchez / Chicago Tribune)

Late in the afternoon Wednesday, Steven Montano, 18, threatened to get his gun while arguing with his girlfriend, then grabbed her phone to stop her from calling 911, prosecutors alleged Friday.

The altercation spilled outside and an emergency dispatcher sent at least four officers to the domestic incident, an emergency call often fraught with risk to responding officers, victims and bystanders. The violent encounter set off a chase that ended with the fatal shooting of Officer Andres Mauricio Vasquez Lasso while children at a nearby playground took cover under a slide, prosecutors said.

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Cook County prosecutors laid out the case against Montano during a bond hearing, alleging he shot and killed Vasquez Lasso after threatening his girlfriend. A judge ordered Montano held without bond.

This case from start to finish, it begins with violence and ends with violence, Cook County Judge Mary Marubio said.

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Montano, who remains hospitalized, was charged Thursday with first-degree murder, two gun-related felonies and misdemeanor counts of interfering with a report of domestic violence and assault. Marubio issued the no-bond order at a hearing attended by a number of uniformed Chicago police officers who filled the gallery and lined the walls.

Montano was living with his 37-year-old girlfriend in the 5200 block of South Spaulding Avenue, Assistant States Attorney Anne McCord said in a proffer to the court. When the two began arguing, Montano charged at her with his hands out, causing her to step away to avoid being hit, McCord said.

The girlfriend left the home through a side door and called 911 after Montano said he would get his gun, prosecutors said. Montano followed her and grabbed the phone, hung up and threw it, according to McCord. The girlfriend went back inside.

Two officers arrived on scene, approached Montanos residence and heard a noise from the gangway, the proffer said. Montano jumped out of a window and ran into an alley. An officer saw something in his hand and believed it to be a gun, prosecutors said.

Montano came across neighbors, inserted a magazine into the gun and asked the neighbors if they would hide the gun in the garage, McCord alleged. The neighbors said no and Montano ran into the backyard, she said.

Montano ran past Sawyer Elementary School, and was spotted by Vasquez Lasso and his partner, who arrived in uniform in a marked squad car. Vasquez Lasso ran after him, McCord said.

Montano ran into a fenced-in area with a playground followed by Vasquez Lasso, McCord said. Montano turned toward the officer, she said. Both fired their guns, and Vasquez Lasso hit Montano in the mouth area. Montano shot Vasquez Lasso in the head, arm and leg, McCord said.

Children and other people on the playground took cover, she said.

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Vasquez Lassos partner approached Montano, who did not comply with orders and tried to walk away, despite the gunshot, the proffer said. He was Tased and handcuffed.

Vasquez Lasso was rushed to Mount Sinai Hospital where he died, authorities said. The shooting was captured on Vasquez Lassos body camera, prosecutors said.

Julie Koehler, an assistant public defender representing Montano, said no one from the office had been able to meet with him.

The officers slaying was a reminder of the volatility that can come with domestic violence-related 911 calls, and advocates called for more community resources to address the problem.

Its disappointing to see something like this happen, because your heart breaks, because it was so preventable, and we need more resources in communities so that survivors are calling earlier in the cycle of violence and not waiting until violence escalates, or until theyre threatened by a gun to reach out for help to law enforcement, said Amanda Pyron, executive director of The Network: Advocating Against Domestic Violence.

Domestic calls are often only placed when things have become physically violent or when the victim is under a high degree of threat, Pyron said, so the person who is perpetrating the violence can be volatile because theyre seeking to maintain control of the situation.

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We want to make sure that survivors who may be impacted by gun violence or gun-involved domestic violence are reaching out really early for safety planning and support, Pyron said. And that officers are trained in ... how to work in these cases, because oftentimes, officers are making repeated visits to a home, and not sure what theyre going into each time.

Those who may be in a domestic violence situation and want to speak to an advocate for help, safety, planning or more, can call the Illinois Domestic Violence Hotline at 1-877-863-6338.

Montano is scheduled to appear in court on March 22.

A police officer salutes as the ambulance carrying the body of slain Officer Andres Mauricio Vasquez Lasso drives past in a procession of police vehicles at Western and Ogden avenues on March 3, 2023. (Antonio Perez / Chicago Tribune)

Adriana Martinez places blue flowers on a memorial for slain Chicago police Officer Andres Mauricio Vasquez Lasso along the 5200 block of South Spaulding Avenue on March 3, 2023. (Stacey Wescott / Chicago Tribune)

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 >

Several hundred people, mostly Chicago police officers, gathered Thursday night at Hale Park on the Southwest Side for a vigil for the fallen officer, with Vasquez Lassos widow in attendance. Earlier in the day, community members gathered at the crime scene to pay respects, and lawmakers in Springfield held a moment of silence.

Montano was arrested last year and charged with a misdemeanor count of resisting a peace officer. Prosecutors alleged he ran after officers investigating a shooting stopped the car he was in. Witnesses of the shooting had described the car and its license plate to police.

Police eventually curbed the car, and the suspect and two others ran away, the report alleged. All three were taken into custody and officers recovered two guns in the vicinity, a police report said.

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Prosecutors later dismissed the charge, as they offered him community service as an alternative to traditional prosecution, according to a statement from a spokesperson for Cook County States Attorney Kim Foxx. The statement said the facts of the case did not support a gun charge.

mabuckley@chicagotribune.com

pfry@chicagotribune.com
A Cantonment man was unsuccessful in convincing a judge that he acted in self-defense when he shot and killed another man at a gas station last year.

Charles Tyree Moore II is facing a count of second-degree murder in the fatal shooting of 36-year-old Durrell Palmer at a Circle K on May 23, 2022.

In court Thursday, Moore's defense attorney Craig Brown argued before Circuit Judge John Simon that his client's case should be dismissed based on Floridas Stand Your Ground Law.

Simon disagreed.

The defendant has no duty to retreat based on our stand your ground law; however, in this case it is relevant that (Moore) testified he was in fear of this man (and) had done things to change his routine, yet when the alleged victim pulls into the parking lot, (Moore) is the one that walks toward the car, Simon said just before announcing his decision. That tells the court that he was not in fear at that time and engaged in a conversation with the alleged victim in the case.

Charles Tyree Moore, III, appears before Circuit Judge John Simon for a stand-your-ground hearing on Thursday, March 2, 2023. Moore is accused of May 2022 killing Durrell Palmer.

Palmer's death:One dead, one in custody following shooting at Circle K in Gonzalez area

Moore charged:Man charged with second-degree murder for Circle K shooting Monday over social media feud

Prior to Palmers death on May 23, Palmer made various threats against Moores life on social media posts in April 2022, according to the attorneys. Moore testified that he believed Palmer thought he was having an affair with Palmers wife.

Look man, I dont have any problem with you or your wife, Moore recalled telling Palmer. I never met (his) wife, we never had sex. She gave me her phone number, but I never used her phone number.

Moore also said Palmer threatened to find him and his children and said he would blow his head off.

The situation came to a head on May 23, 2022, when Palmer drove into the Circle K gas station while Moore was filling his car with gas after taking his daughter to school.

Surveillance from Circle K presented by the attorneys show Palmer and Moore having a discussion at pump 20 just after 7 a.m. Witnesses described the conversation as heated.

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After a roughly six-minute conversation, the video shows Moore reaching to his waist, pulling out a gun and firing four shots. Escambia County Sheriffs Office Investigator Lionel Martinez confirmed there were four defects in Palmers body.

Defense Attorney Craig Brown strategizes with client Charles Tyree Moore, III, during a stand-your-ground hearing before Circuit Judge John Simon on Thursday, March 2, 2023. Moore is accused of May 2022 killing Durrell Palmer.

In case you missed it:Who was Durrell Palmer? A slain Pensacola activist who wanted more for his community

Photos of the crime scene show that Palmer also had a loaded gun, but it was located in the center console of his truck.

After the shooting, Moore drove away from the scene and called 911, giving authorities his location and turning himself in.

Many community members expressed shock at Palmer's death, and described him and an community advocate and organizer who orchestrated projects like Thanksgiving turkey giveaways, Easter egg hunts, job fairs and the Black Lives Matter mural stretched across A Street in Pensacola.

Simon, after hearing Moore's version of events Thursday, noted the only thing substantiating the defendants testimony is the defendants testimony himself. He then denied the motion to dismiss the case.

It is true that on self-defense, a person is entitled to use that force that is reasonable to prevent imminent harm, Simon said during the hearing. In this case, the force used by the defendant was unreasonable given what the video shows and what the witnesses have indicated in the case.

The court finds that the motion  the stand your ground motion  should be denied, that the state has proven by clear and convincing evidence that the motion should be denied, Simon added, and I make those findings and make that ruling.

Moore's next scheduled court date is May 23, according to court records.

This article originally appeared on Pensacola News Journal: Judge denies 'stand your ground' defense in Durrell Palmer shooting
A federal judge on Friday delayed ruling on a Topeka mans request to release video in his Capitol riot case that he says shows undercover Metropolitan Police officers inciting protesters on Jan. 6.

U.S. District Judge Rudolph Contreras said that before ruling on defendant William Popes request, he wanted to know more about news reports this week that House Speaker Kevin McCarthy plans to make more than 40,000 hours of Capitol security footage available to the broader public and to lawyers of defendants charged in connection with the insurrection.

The debate over the release of security footage from Jan. 6 intensified last month when McCarthy faced criticism for granting Fox News host Tucker Carlson exclusive access to view the videos. On Tuesday, the speaker said he would provide access to others as well.

Id like to hear more from the government on what Im reading in the papers about production of the CCTV (closed circuit television) video to Tucker Carlson and, after a point of exclusivity, to other news outlets, Contreras said during Popes hearing, held via video conference in U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia.

Contreras said it also appeared that disclosures were being made to defendants on a case-by-case basis.

I dont know what case-by-case basis means and why the speaker gets to choose which defendants get to see what, Contreras said. I know that the Capitol Police is not the speakers office. But it seems from what Im reading in the papers that the Capitol Police has been involved in those discussions.

The judge said he wanted a sworn declaration from the Capitol Police within two weeks as to exactly what all those things mean and whether theres been any restrictions whatsoever as to what the press can do with those CCTV videos once they receive them.

From what I read, Tucker Carlson seems to think he has unfettered discretion what he can do with those videosThis circuit has said you have to guard privileges like crown jewels. If the press is given unfettered access to these videos, they dont seem to be treating these things like crown jewels.

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Contreras set Popes next hearing for April 3.

Pope faces eight charges in the Capitol riot, including civil disorder and obstruction of an official proceeding  both felonies  as well as disorderly conduct in a Capitol building and impeding passage through a Capitol building or grounds. One count involves allegedly trying to force open a door inside House Speaker Nancy Pelosis office suite.

Pope is acting as his own attorney in his case and has filed a series of motions asking Contreras to compel the government to provide him unrestricted access to discovery material he says he is entitled to have.

The government is violating his rights, Pope argues, by failing to give him full access to the material and release documents deemed sensitive and highly sensitive that he says show police encouraging protesters to breach the Capitol on Jan. 6. Pope said that attorneys representing Jan. 6 defendants are given full access to the discovery databases in order to prepare a defense, and that same access should be available to defendants acting as their own attorneys.

Popes ongoing battle for the discovery material has been widely discussed in right-wing circles, and even as his case winds through federal court, he posts continual updates on social media. His Twitter post about undercover MPD officers got thousands of retweets.

During Fridays hearing, Contreras told Assistant U.S. Attorney Kelly Moran that the governments argument against releasing the Metropolitan Police videos to Pope was vague. Moran told the judge that the government didnt believe the videos were relevant to Popes criminal case.

Mr. Pope candidly says that he wants to share this information with the public and wants to use media in this case, Moran said. And one of the reasons we have a protective order in place is to protect the integrity of the judicial process.

But Contreras said that discovery typically is not subject to a protective order unless theres a special reason. And Im not hearing a particularly special reason, he said.

Moran said the governments concern is that wide release of the material could be a safety issue for the officers involved.

And it also could have great relevance to the cases of those individuals who did directly interact with the individuals in the crowd who were filming on that GoPro video, she said. So its more a matter of trying to protect the sanctity of other cases, as well as the physical safety of the officers who were participating in filming on this GoPro video.

Contreras said he was sensitive to the concern that it could put the officers at risk but said the governments filing didnt provide much legal or factual support for its argument. He added that many defendants use the press for their own purposes, particularly in high-profile cases.

And I didnt see anything in your pleading that prevents him (Pope) from doing that under the law, he said. So under the protective order, I believe its your burden, and Im not sure youre there.

Pope told Contreras that the day after the Capitol riot, the Justice Department rushed to do a press conference and taint the reputations and inflame public perception of everyone who came to Washington, D.C., that day.

They have been using the press for two years to try to taint and poison the jury pool, he said. And I have the right to use my First Amendment rights to defend myself.

He said he wasnt out to hurt any officers.

But the public deserves to know what happened on January 6, and at every trial, we got a montage video of how they say events unfolded, he said. And defendants should have a right to present a similar video showing how events unfolded, including how events unfolded by the influence of police that day. So this video should be public.

Pope also complained that the government hadnt responded to any of his emails since the last court hearing.

Contreras addressed Moran: I need you to communicate with Mr. William Pope. But your pleading from last night is dripping with annoyance. You may very well be annoyed with Mr. William Pope, but hes who you have to deal with. So I need you to deal with him professionally, as you would with counsel.

The judge was referring to the governments court filing late Thursday in which it said that Pope continues to tug at an imaginary rope, hoping to unfurl a grand conspiracy that does not exist.

In his efforts to prove his vague theories of undercover provocateurs, the government said, Pope completely misses the forest for the trees: such theories do not absolve him of the crimes he committed.

Pope also filed a document with the court on Thursday. He said that throughout his case, my prosecutors have behaved like rabid outlaws rushing the city jail in a western movie, whooping and hollering for this court to violate my Constitutional rights and to rush me to the nearest tree with a noose around my neck.
Funny how ex-South Carolina lawyer Alex Murdaugh cried his little eyes out on the witness stand when he thought it could help him, but showed no trace of human feeling when he was found guilty on Thursday of murdering his wife Maggie and son Paul at one of his Lowcountry estates in June of 2021.

Much of the country has been consumed by this Succession-level story of the old money, Old South patriarch who was both a prosecutor and such a psychopath that he whacked two members of his own family, supposedly to deflect attention from his many financial crimes.

Opinion

Lots of commentators thought he might walk because that motive was so murky and illogical, but since when did any reason to commit murder make rational sense? If I know a single person whos been following this morality tale and yet remained unconvinced of Murdaughs guilt, Im not aware of it.

Three things did this man in despite all of his privilege: First, local journalism from our small but mighty McClatchy sister paper, Hilton Heads The Island Packet, without which charges might never have been brought.

At trial, the same Big Tech that is hurting local journalism played a major role. Because even a practiced liar like Murdaugh couldnt explain away proof like the cellphone video that placed him at the scene of the murders. Or the phone data that showed hed walked so many steps during the same four-minute period when his wife and son had to have died, and when hed said he had been napping in the house.

Murdaughs own hubris in believing he could talk his way out of trouble by taking the stand must have made the jurys work easier, too.

But the true surprise wasnt the guilty verdicts that followed his six-week trial in Colleton County. Instead, it was the truth spoken by Judge Clifton Newman at the Friday hearing where he sentenced Murdaugh to life in prison without possibility of parole.

Newman suggested that some might ask why this wasnt a death penalty case. But then, the judge supplied a good answer to that question.

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I dont question at all the decision of the state not to proceed (with) the death penalty, Newman said. But as I sit here in this courtroom and look around (at) the many portraits of judges and other court officials and reflect on the fact that over the past century your family, including you, have been prosecuting people here in this courtroom, the judge went on, he couldnt help noting that many of those prosecuted by Murdaughs have received a death penalty probably for lesser conduct.

Amen, Your Honor.

Our system was designed by those with means and influence, and without question favors them, too. Which is why, as the death penalty opponent Sister Helen Prejean has often said, there are no millionaires on death row.

There are many reasons to oppose the death penalty in all cases: Its administered unfairly. As a result, we often get it wrong. Killings by the state are costly and have no value as a deterrent, but do successfully degrade us all. They keep us no safer, but only satisfy the blood lust that must have inspired a Tennessee lawmaker to just this week propose a return to hanging by tree, aka lynchings, as a method of execution.

Perhaps inadvertently, Judge Newman suggested that one more good reason to oppose the death penalty is that life in prison can be a far harsher punishment than execution.

I know you have to see Paul and Maggie during the night times when youre attempting to go to sleep, he told Murdaugh. Im sure they come and visit you. Im sure.

Every day and every night, the man in the brown jumpsuit and handcuffs replied. That, too, might be a lie right now. But at 54, Murdaugh will presumably have plenty of time for the judges prediction to become a reality.

And they will continue to do so and look you in the eye, Newman told him.

When the privileged are treated just as anyone else would be after committing horrible crimes, then we all feel at least a little bit proud that justice has been served, and thats what happened here.

But if the powerless ever received the same legal protections as those who can afford a large and illustrious team of defense lawyers, only then would we have a system that lives up to its promise that were all equal under the law.
House Judiciary Democrats claimed Friday that three witnesses who have spoken to Republicans as part of the GOP investigation into politicization at the FBI have offered no evidence of wrongdoing by the law enforcement agency.

They also said the witnesses were connected to committee Republicans through people with deep ties to former President Trump.

Republicans have asserted that theyve spoken to dozens and dozens of whistleblowers as part of their probe, but the committee Democrats said the trio of witnesses it had identified had little firsthand knowledge about the FBI and were instead advancing conspiracy theories.

The three individuals we have met are not, in fact, whistleblowers. These individuals, who put forward a wide range of conspiracy theories, did not present actual evidence of any wrongdoing at the Department of Justice or the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the committee Democrats wrote in a more than 300-page report released Friday.

Republicans say their committee members have spoken with more individuals, including those who reached out previously, but Democrats have access to the three formal interviews conducted since the GOP won power.

These interviews also reveal the active engagement and orchestration of disturbing outside influence on the witnesses and, potentially, the Republican members of the Select Subcommittee. A network of organizations, led by former Trump administration officials like Kash Patel and Russell Vought, appears to have identified these witnesses, provided them with financial compensation, and found them employment after they left the FBI, they added.

Patel, a former top Department of Defense official who is a surrogate for Trumps 2024 presidential campaign, has been a chief voice in asserting that Trump declassified the documents found at Mar-a-Lago. Trumps attorneys, however, have not made this claim in court.

Vought was director of the Office of Management and Budget during the Trump administration. He has since founded the Center for Renewing America, a think tank that advocates for Trump-like policy preferences. He was also a notable critic of now-House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) during the Speakership election saga.

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Its unusual for a committee to reveal the substance of private, transcribed interviews, something Democrats acknowledge by saying it is not a tactic they would use in the ordinary course of business.

The decision to do so drew fire from Republicans on the panel.

It is beyond disappointing, but sadly not surprising, that Democrats would leak cherry-picked excerpts of testimony to attack the brave whistleblowers who risked their careers to speak out on abuses at the Justice Department and FBI. These same Democrats vowed to fight our oversight tooth and nail, and they are willing to undermine the work of the Congress to achieve their partisan goals, Russell Dye, spokesman for Chair Jim Jordan (R-Ohio), said in a statement.

Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-Fla.), a member of the House Judiciary Committee, accused Democrats of obstructing the GOP investigation in a speech at CPAC on Friday.

If the Democrats are going to obstruct our investigation, then I am calling to remove the Democrats from our investigation, Gaetz said. They shouldnt be allowed to sit in the depositions and hear the evidence if they are going to use that to try to get in the way of thorough, rigorous oversight.

The three men who have sat down with the committee include George Hill, a retired FBI supervisory intelligence analyst from the FBIs Boston Field Office; Garret OBoyle, a suspended FBI special agent from the Wichita Resident Agency in Kansas; and Stephen Friend, a former special agent with the FBIs Daytona Beach Resident Agency.

Each endorses an alarming series of conspiracy theories related to the January 6 Capitol attack, the COVID vaccine, and the validity of the 2020 election. One has called repeatedly for the dismantling of the FBI. Another suggested that it would be better for Americans to die than to have any kind of domestic intelligence program, the report states.

Hill has already appeared publicly before the committee in the first meeting of its subcommittee on weaponization of the federal government.

Hill made multiple statements regarding the FBIs handling of January 6-related investigations, but on cross-examination admitted that he did not in fact have personal firsthand knowledge of the matters he was describing, the report states.

Hill has promoted a number of conspiracy theories about the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol, but his work on such cases while an FBI employee appears to be limited. He did not directly work on any cases related to the attack, and those he supervised supported other agents in what he said were less than a dozen cases.

Committee Democrats also took issue with Friends ties with Trump-aligned outsiders.

Friend said in a transcribed interview that Patels organization gifted him $5,000 around November 2022 and then put him in touch with the Center for Renewing America, where he is now a fellow on domestic intelligence and security.

Patel is also a senior fellow for national security at the Center for Renewing America, Voughts organization that is closely partnered with the Conservative Partnership Institute (CPI), whose top officials include former Trump Chief of Staff Mark Meadows. CPI noted in its annual report that the Center for Renewing America was the first to publicly call on House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy to set up a modern-day Church Committee to investigate systemic corruption at the FBI and ultimately break it up.

Democrats raised issue with Friend having a monetary incentive to continue pursuing his claims.

Rachel Semmel, communications director at Center for Renewing America, pushed back on the Democrats report in a statement.

The media is coordinating with the Left on the next phase of protecting weaponized government: discredit the brave ones who have come forward to blow the whistle on a security state that is weaponized against the American people, instead of protecting them, Semmel said.

Steve Friend bravely blew the whistle on FBI overreach and is devoted to ending the abuses of federal law enforcement; we are proud to have him working with us at Center for Renewing America.

Democrats say OBoyle refused to provide them with documents dealing with the suspension of his security clearance and note that he never took his complaints to any Justice Department or FBI offices tasked with evaluating employee claims.

But they say he provided little information to back his assertion that agents were pressured to open Jan. 6 cases, disclosing an excerpt in which he said he closed a case after determining there was insufficient evidence.

The two sides also quibbled over whether the men should be considered whistleblowers, a term used to describe those who reveal wrongdoing but that also conveys a status with certain legal protections against retribution once someone has made a report to the Office of Special Counsel.

The individuals who have appeared before the Committee so far are witnesses, not whistleblowers, Democrats say in their report, deeming that each was simply relaying their opinion rather than offering any evidence of malfeasance.

Republicans argue they are just getting started kicking off transcribed interviews with a multitude of people with whom theyve already communicated.

We have dozens and dozens of whistleblowers who have talked to our committee. We look forward to welcoming them in for a transcribed interview if and when they are ready to tell their story. We hope that Democrat leaks do not chill their bravery to speak to Congress about what these whistleblowers see as wrongdoing within the Department of Justice and FBI, Dye said.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to The Hill.
Alex Murdaugh talks to Dick Harpootlian, his lawyer, during his trial. Grace Beahm Alford/The State via AP

On Thursday, a jury found Alex Murdaugh guilty of two counts of murder.

His wife and son were found dead in June 2021 from bullet wounds at the family's hunting compound.

Here are the nine biggest moments from the trial.

Alex Murdaugh, a disbarred attorney whose family includes a long lineage of influential South Carolina prosecutors, was found guilty of murdering his wife and son on Thursday.

After less than three hours of deliberation, jurors at the Colleton County Courthouse unanimously found Murdaugh guilty of two counts of murder and two counts of possession of a weapon.

Murdaugh faces a minimum of 30 years in prison for murder and an additional five years for each weapons possession charge. He will receive his sentencing on Friday morning.

The trial lasted less than two months, but the Murdaugh murders captivated a global audience, spawning its own Netflix true-crime docuseries.

Here are nine key takeaways from the trial:

The jury reached a guilty verdict on Thursday.

Murdaugh in the Colleton County Courthouse on March 2, 2023. Andrew J. Whitaker/The Post And Courier via AP

The six-week trial came to a close with a speedy verdict on Thursday.

After about two and a half hours of deliberation, the jury found Murdaugh guilty of two counts of murder and two counts of possession of a weapon.

Murdaugh remained mostly blank-faced as the verdict was announced.

His oldest son, Buster, who testified for the defense in February and was in attendance on Thursday, also remained emotionless.

Alex Murdaugh choked up during opening statements.

Alex Murdaugh crying after seeing his family during opening statements in his murder trial in South Carolina. Grace Beahm Alford/The Post and Courier via AP, Pool

Murdaugh is accused of gunning down his wife, Maggie Murdaugh, and youngest son, Paul Murdaugh, on June 7, 2021, at the family's hunting compound in Islandton, South Carolina.

He first got emotional on January 25 when he noticed his surviving son, Buster, in the courtroom at the start of proceedings.

Alex Murdaugh maintained his innocence throughout the trial, but he admitted at one point to lying to investigators about his whereabouts the night his wife and son were killed.

Five months after the killings, Murdaugh was indicted on 27 charges of embezzlement over accusations that he lied to and stole money from clients of his family law firm.

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A year after the killings, Murdaugh was arrested on suspicion of murdering his wife and son.

While there wasn't any direct evidence tying Murdaugh to the killings, prosecutors said he had a motive to kill the pair: covering up his financial misdeeds.

Prosecutors played a video clip that cast doubt on Murdaugh's alibi.

This was perhaps the strongest piece of evidence that the prosecution showed the jury.

According to the timeline Murdaugh initially gave police, he last saw his wife and son at dinner, after which they went their separate ways  Murdaugh to spend time with his mother and Maggie and Paul to the dog kennels at Moselle, the family compound where they were later found dead.

But prosecutors showed the jury a video that called into question Murdaugh's alibi, which was that he was with his mother when his family members were killed.

Just five minutes before the mother's and son's phones locked for the last time, Paul Murdaugh recorded a video in which three voices can be heard  including his father's.

Murdaugh admitted on the stand that he lied to police about his whereabouts the night of the killings.

Murdaugh testifies during his murder trial at South Carolina's Colleton County Courthouse. Grace Beahm Alford/The Post And Courier via AP, Pool

Murdaugh decided to testify in his own defense, something not especially common in murder trials.

He maintained he didn't kill his wife and son but said he lied to police about his whereabouts the night they were shot to death because his addiction to prescription painkillers made him paranoid.

Murdaugh previously told police he went to spend time with his mother after having dinner with Maggie and Paul. When he returned to the hunting compound, he said he found them dead.

But during the trial, Murdaugh changed his story, saying he accompanied his wife and son after dinner to the family's hunting compound briefly, before going to see his mom.

Murdaugh also admitted to stealing from clients for years to feed his prescription-painkiller addiction.

Prosecutors played video of Murdaugh that they said contained an early admission of guilt.

The video in question was of a police interview with Murdaugh three days after the killings.

In it, prosecutors said, Murdaugh can be heard saying, "I did him so bad," speaking about his son Paul.

Defense attorneys said he was misquoted.

During cross-examination, Murdaugh's attorneys suggested that he actually said, "They did him so bad."

At the time of his death, Paul Murdaugh was facing manslaughter charges related to a boat crash in February 2019 that led to the death of a teen girl. The crash is one of the first things Alex Murdaugh brought up to police after he reported the deaths of his wife and son.

"He's been threatened for months and months and months," Murdaugh told a 911 operator.

Murdaugh's surviving son, Buster, testified in his father's defense, saying his dad was "destroyed" and "heartbroken" after the deaths of Maggie and Paul.

Buster Murdaugh testifies during his father's trial. Grace Beahm Alford/The Post And Courier via AP, Pool

Before the trial, it was somewhat unclear what the relationship between the father and son was like. Buster had not previously attended any of his father's court dates, Greg Adaline, a reporter with the NBC affiliate WIS, reported.

During his testimony, he also spoke about his father sounding "normal" on a phone call the night of the killings, which prosecutors said came 20 minutes after the shootings.

He described his father being in a state of shock after the killings.

"I walked in the door and saw him and gave him a hug and  [he was] just broken down" and barely able to talk, the younger Murdaugh said, according to the New York Post.

In bizarre moment, one of Murdaugh's attorneys, Dick Harpootlian, pointed an assault rifle at the prosecutors table and said "tempting."

The defense attorney Dick Harpootlian holds Buster Murdaugh's .300 Blackout rifle, similar to the gun used to kill Maggie Murdaugh. Jeff Blake/The State via AP, Pool

Harpootlian was holding the firearm to show the jury the shooter's stance when they killed Maggie Murdaugh, to back his argument that her husband was too tall to be the killer.

His "tempting" remark elicited laughter from the courtroom, according to the New York Post.

After the laughter subsided, Harpootlian expressed concern that he didn't know how to demonstrate the stance without pointing the gun at someone.

"I don't know how I can do this so I'm not pointing at somebody," he said.

On Wednesday, the jury visited the Murdaugh family's hunting property where Maggie and Paul were found dead.

The gates near the Murdaugh home in Islandton, South Carolina, on September 20, 2021. Jeffrey Collins/AP

Jurors spent about an hour walking around the property and were not allowed to talk to lawyers for the prosecution or the defense, The New York Times reported.

A single pool reporter accompanied the jury around the property, saying the jurors spent much of their time at the kennels and shed where Maggie and Paul Murdaugh were found dead, according to the NBC and CW Plus affiliate WCBD.

"One juror was standing in the feed-room door, glancing up at the doorway that has been the subject of so much wrenching testimony," the pool reporter wrote.

It is somewhat uncommon for jurors to visit crime scenes in the course of a trial, but they have in other high-profile cases, like the O.J. Simpson trial and the trial of the Florida school shooter Nikolas Cruz, according to The Associated Press.

Alex Murdaugh's attorney Harpootlian proposed the idea, according to WCBD, asking the judge to ask the jury whether they wanted to visit the crime scene.

Harpootlian said he wanted the jury to get a better idea of where the bodies were found relative to the kennels, the BBC reported.

"You just can't really appreciate the spatial issues without really seeing them," Harpootlian said Monday.

The prosecution was against the idea, saying the look of the property had changed since 2021, with trees growing taller and thicker, CNN reported. But the judge allowed the visit.

In the final moments of the trial, Judge Clifton Newman dismissed a juror for violating trial rules and speaking about the case with three people.

"The juror has had contact or discussions concerning the case with at least three individuals, though it does not appear the discussion was that extensive," Newman said.

Newman said the juror and the three people she spoke with were interviewed. He said the juror offered her opinion on evidence presented at the trial.

Before the juror was officially dismissed Thursday morning, Harpootlian made a point to add on the record that two of the people who interviewed the juror were South Carolina Law Enforcement Division agents. He said one of the agents was a witness in the trial and the other was listed as being one of the investigating officers in the killings.

One of the defense's main strategies throughout the trial was to point out missteps by investigators to throw into question the quality of their investigation.

"SLED has made another bad judgment in this case," Harpootlian said Thursday. "This is just a continuum of a calamity of errors."

Correction: March 2, 2023  An earlier version of this story incorrectly stated Buster Murdaugh's role in the trial. He testified in his father's defense.

Read the original article on Insider
Jackson County prosecutors announced Thursday that an 18-year-old held in detention for nearly one year was certified to stand trial as an adult in the fatal shooting of another teen that unfolded on Kansas Citys East Side.

Shyrone H. Daniels, of Kansas City, faces one count of second-degree murder and one count of armed criminal action in Jackson County Circuit Court. He is accused of killing 17-year-old Desmond Matthews at a gas station in January 2022.

Daniels, who was also 17 at the time of the shooting, was arrested in March 2022 and ordered held in Jackson County Juvenile Detention. On Wednesday, Daniels case was dismissed from juvenile court. He was being held without bond in Jackson County jail.

According to a probable cause affidavit made by a Kansas City homicide detective, the shooting occurred at the BP gas station at 3027 Van Brunt Boulevard shortly after 6 p.m. on Jan. 27, 2022.

Responding police officers found Matthews inside a silver Dodge Charger with a gunshot wound to his neck. He was treated on scene but declared dead once emergency medical personnel arrived.

Right before the shooting, surveillance video from the gas station showed Matthews enter the store and pick items for purchase as two people, including Daniels, walked inside.

There was a confrontation between Matthews and Daniels in one of the aisles, according to court documents, before Matthews passed him and walked toward the cash register. Thats when Daniels allegedly pulled a gun from his sweatshirt pocket and pointed it at Matthews.

Video shows Matthews being shot in the neck and upper back as he runs out through the north-facing exit. He returned fire with a gun toward the stores front door while running away, according to charging documents.

Detectives were led to Daniels as a suspect based on video surveillance from the store as well as eyewitnesses. One witness told investigators that Daniels referred to the victim by the nickname Dezo and said Matthews was having problems with him.

Online court records listed no defense attorney for Daniels as of Thursday.
London, United Kingdom --News Direct-- Kavango Resources PLC

(Click the url above if you don't see a NextGen Newswire video)

Botswana focussed metals exploration company Kavango Resources plc (LSE:KAV) ("Kavango") is pleased to announce an operational update for its Kalahari Suture Zone North ("KSZ North") project.

STRATEGIC REVIEW

- Kavango has prioritized the cluster of three identified "B Conductors" (>>> announced 11 July 2022) on the KSZ North Project for drill testing.

- The B1 Conductor ("B1") was recently remodelled with a conductance of 28,700 Siemens using Downhole Electromagnetic ("DHEM") survey data. This is well into the range accepted by nickel-copper specialised geophysicists for pyrrhotite bearing massive sulphides.

- New Controlled Source AudioMagnetotelluric ("CSAMT") data suggests that B1 lies at a lithological boundary in Karoo sediments within mudstones and gabbro sills. Kavango believes these gabbro intrusive sills could host massive sulphides if sulphur saturation has occurred.

The B3 and B4 conductors ("B3" and "B4") have been modelled at 4,100 and 2,760 Siemens respectively. These are also in the range of possible massive sulphides.

DRILLING PARAMETERS

- Kavango intends to drill test the B Conductors and the KSZ North geology host environment at the same time, along with the geochemistry of the gabbro intrusions at/near the conductors.

- On the suggestion of a senior external advisor, the Company will also test the chemistry of historically intersected coaly sediments to determine if they represent a viable sulphur source for the system. This was postulated by Holwell and Blanks in 2020, who endorsed the KSZ North program and proposed that Karoo intrusive gabbros could undergo sulphur saturation to form massive sulphide deposits.

- Kavango believes that drilling the B Conductors could validate its entire KSZ North exploration program.

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Jeremy S. Brett, Executive Director at Kavango Resources and Senior Geophysical Consultant through Jeremy S. Brett International Consulting Ltd , commented:

"The B1, B3 and B4 cluster of conductors is significant and drill ready. The high conductance of the B1 conductor modelled from the Downhole Electromagnetic data is considered by nickel-copper geophysicists to be typical of massive sulphides with pyrrhotite, which in turn can be associated with nickel mineralization. Conductance is one of the most powerful discrimination factors in nickel copper exploration.

I feel that most exploration companies exploring for nickel and copper would want a target with a conductance as high as the B1 conductor. These are also critical targets to the entire KSZ project.

Success in drilling these could confirm the presence of not only massive sulphides, but also confirm the ore deposit model proposed by Kavango and our senior advisors. This would open up the rest of the KSZ Project for intense exploration using more Time Domain Electromagnetics. The only one remaining step is to drill and find out the cause of these conductors."

Further details

Kavango considers the KSZ North to be an advanced and high potential exploration project. The B Conductors are located at the north edge of the Great Red Spot intrusive, which was probably structurally favourable for intrusive Karoo gabbro feeders and sills that could have undergone sulphur saturation and sulphide immiscibility (per Holwell and Blanks, 2020). The Great Red Spot itself sits at the nexus of seven regional scale structures. This context is viewed as a prime location for potential ore deposits (q.v. Graham Begg, 2010).

Kavango identified B1 from Surface Time Domain Electromagnetic ("TDEM") surveying and drill tested it in early 2022 with hole KSZDD002 ( announced >>> 28 February 2022 ). Downhole Electromagnetics ("DHEM") showed that the hole had narrowly missed the conductor and that it remained untested. This is not uncommon in nickel/copper exploration.

Surface TDEM surveys were expanded in 2022 to cover the B1 conductor area thoroughly for improved resolution. The new data allowed the B1 conductor to be remodelled by a leading TDEM specialist in Australia at 12,840 Siemens, which itself is well into a range for massive sulphides.

The DHEM data for B1 was also remodelled, resulting in a higher resolution on the conductor geometry and a higher conductance of 28,700 Siemens. Conductances of this magnitude are possible to resolve using DHEM since the EM sensor is closer to the causative body than with surface TDEM. Kavango is now confident that it can intersect the B1 target via drilling.

Kavango believes that B1's conductivity could result from the presence of pyrrhotite content. Pyrrhotite is very highly conductive and often associated with the nickel-bearing mineral pentlandite in nickel/copper/platinum group element massive sulphide bodies.

Following remodelling, the new model plate for B1 now has a more discrete dimension of 255 x 440 metres using Surface TDEM, and 150 x 475 metres using DHEM data. These conform to a typical size range for massive sulphide bodies.

Kavango recently calculated the probable conductive responses of geological features other than potential massive sulphides in the Karoo in the B Conductor area, using physical properties collected from Kavango drill core. These included fossiliferous saline aquifers, coal, and coaly sediments. All calculations fell short of the range for massive sulphide bodies, this is a positive pre-drilling indicator, suggesting a low probability of these formational conductors being responsible for the B Conductors.

Under Kavango's target ranking system in the KSZ, B1 represents a high priority drill target that should be drill tested using 2 holes plus DHEM.

While testing B1 with "out of loop surveys" for improved insight into its geometry, Kavango identified two new conductors that it named B3 and B4.

Kavango has modelled B3 and B4 at 4,100 and 2,760 Siemens respectively, and as much larger spatially than B1. Kavango has upgraded them as priority drill targets due to their proximity to B1. The Company believes they could be larger but thinner massive sulphides zones at the bases of gabbro intrusive sills. These targets will require a minimum of one hole each plus DHEM for future guidance.

Further information in respect of the Company and its business interests is provided on the Company's website at www.kavangoresources.com and on Twitter at #KAV.

Note to Editors:

THE KALAHARI SUTURE ZONE

Kavango's 100% subsidiary in Botswana, Kavango Minerals (Pty) Ltd, is the holder of 16 prospecting licences covering 8,831.1km2 of ground, including 14 licences over a significant portion of the 450km long KSZ magnetic anomaly in the southwest of the country along which Kavango is exploring for Ni-Cu-PGE rich sulphide ore bodies. This large area, which is entirely covered by Cretaceous and post-Cretaceous Kalahari Sediments, has not previously been explored using modern techniques.

The area covered by Kavango's KSZ licences displays a geological setting with distinct similarities to that hosting World Class magmatic sulphide deposits such as those at Norilsk, Siberia (D. Holwell and D. Blanks, 2020).

KSZ DEFINITIONS

Chalcopyrite : A copper rich sulphide mineral (CuFeS2), widely occurring in magmatic sulphide ore bodies.

EM Conductors: Bodies of highly conductive minerals such as graphite, magnetite and metal sulphides conduct electricity very effectively, provided the mineral grains are in contact with each other. These respond to electromagnetic ("EM") surveys as conductors.

Gabbro/gabbroic: A coarse grained, medium to dark coloured rock, formed from the intrusion of mantle derived molten magma into the earth's crust. Gabbroic rocks (or "gabbros") are formed as the molten magma crystallizes and cools.

Gabbroic sills: Relatively thin, planar, horizontal bodies of solidified gabbroic magma that intruded into layers of sedimentary rock whilst still molten.

Karoo: The Karoo System covers 1.5 million km2 of the semi-desert region of Southern Africa. Rocks in this system formed 180-310 million years ago.

Massive Sulphide: When mineralization consists almost entirely of sulphides it is termed "massive". When these sulphides are in high enough concentration and the mineral grains are in electrical contact, they become electromagnetic conductors and detectable via TDEM surveys.

Metal/Magmatic sulphide: Deposits of sulphide mineral concentrations in mafic and ultramafic rocks, derived from immiscible sulphide liquids. To view a video of how metal/magmatic sulphides form please visit -

https://twitter.com/KavangoRes/status/1316004057895645186?s=20

Norilsk Model: An ore deposit model pertaining to the Norilsk mining camp in Siberia, also referred to as the Talnakh and Kharaelakh Ni-Cu-PGE Deposits. Norilsk is located 2,800km northeast of Moscow and accounts for 90% of Russia's nickel reserves, 55% of its copper and virtually all of its PGMs. Kavango's licenses in the KSZ display a geological setting with distinct geological similarities to the magmatic sulphide deposits at Norilsk.

Major Ni-Cu-PGE sulphide camps are associated with rifted environments along craton margins, where voluminous mafic-ultramafic magmas ('large igneous provinces') derived from mantle plumes were channeled up through lithospheric fault systems and emplaced into sedimentary basins that contain abundant sulphur-bearing country rocks. (D. Holwell and D. Blanks, 2020)

Magma plumbing systems that lie beneath food basalts are a key feature of these deposits, especially when they intersect Siberian type traps. Magma that intrudes into sedimentary basins digests coal as a sulphur source, triggering sulphur saturation, sulphide immiscibility and ore deposit formation. These sedimentary basins tend to be erosionally preserved.

Pegmatitic : Pegmatites are very coarse grained igneous rocks having grain sizes in excess of 3cm. Pegmatites are thought to form as a result of very slow crystallisation and may contain exotic minerals from a volatile-rich melt.

Sulphide mineralisation: If there is sufficient sulphur in the molten magma, it will tend to combine with metals (Cu, Zn, Ni, Co, Pb, PGEs etc.) to form metal sulphide complexes, which may coalesce to form massive sulphide deposits. If the melt is sulphide poor, the metals will be taken up into the silicate minerals that form as the magma cools and will not usually form economic deposits.

This Presentation contains forward-looking statements which are identified by words such as may, could, believes, estimates, targets, expects, intends and other variations of such words that Involve risks and uncertainties. The forward-looking statements include statements regarding the future development of the KSZ project, including cost and timing estimates.

These statements are based on an assessment of present economic and operating conditions, and on a number of assumptions regarding future events and actions that, at the date of this Presentation, are expected to take place.

Such forward-looking statements are not guarantees of future performance and involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties, assumptions and other important factors, many of which are beyond the control of the Company. Actual results and developments may differ materially from those expressed or implied in such statements because of a number of factors, including uncertainty in estimating mineral resources due to the preliminary stage of the Companys assessment of its projects, actual demand, price fluctuations, the ability to produce and transport products profitably, fluctuations in foreign currency exchange rates, operational problems, political risks, economic and financial market conditions in various countries and regions, industry competitors and activities by governmental authorities such as changes in taxation or regulation. The Company cannot and does not give any assurance that the results, performance or achievements expressed or implied by the forward-looking statements contained in this Presentation will actually occur and investors are cautioned not to place undue reliance on these forward-looking statements. The Company does not intend to update or revise forward-looking statements, or to publish prospective financial information in the future, regardless of whether new information, future events or any other factors affect the information contained in this Presentation, except where required by law. These forward-looking statements are subject to various risk factors that could cause the Companys actual results to differ materially from the results expressed or anticipated in these statements.

Contact Details

Ben Turney

+1 207-374-2212

bturney@kavangoresources.com

Company Website

https://www.kavangoresources.com/

View source version on newsdirect.com: https://newsdirect.com/news/kavango-prioritises-drilling-of-b-conductors-in-the-ksz-north-478802697
Ke Huy Quan has revealed just how impactful Everything Everywhere All At Once has been on his career.

Since the Oscar-nominated films release, the Vietnamese actor has experienced a tremendous Hollywood comeback.

However, before the multiverse dramas theatrical release in March 2022, which was delayed by Covid for two years after they wrapped filming in March 2020, Quan said nobody would hire him.

During a recent appearance on The Late Late Show with James Corden, the 51-year-old former child actor explained that after they filmed the movie, he was auditioning for several roles but could not get a single job.

This is 2021, and I was so nervous. I was about to lose my health insurance, Quan said. So I called my agent and I said, Can you please get me anything? It doesnt matter, I just need one job to make the minimum requirement so I can qualify for health insurance the following year.

He reiterated that he couldnt get one single job before confirming that sure enough, 2021 came and went [and I] lost my health insurance.

I called my producer, whos seen the [Everything Everywhere]  I havent seen a single footage at this point, Quan continued, and said, Can you please tell me one thing? Am I good in the movie?

When his producer questioned why he would ask such a stupid question, the actor said: Well, nobody wants to hire me.

Quan recalled the producer telling him to be patient and just wait.

And then of course, the movie came out in March of last year, and my life has changed.

Everything Everywhere All At Once has earned 11 nods, including Best Picture, at the 2023 Academy Awards, making it the most nominated film of the year.

Quan is also competing for the Oscar for Best Supporting Actor, the category he won at this years Golden Globes, SAG Awards and Critics Choice Awards.
Kelly Ripa, Mark Consuelos

Cindy Ord/Getty; Kelly Ripa/Instagram

Kelly Ripa is reminiscing about an Italian getaway long ago!

The Live with Kelly and Ryan host, 52, shared a sweet throwback photo on Thursday featuring her husband Mark Consuelos and son Michael in Italy. She captioned the Instagram post: "#tbt Italian holiday  @michael.consuelos atop @instasuelos circa 1998 #daddy"

In the comments section, users couldn't help but point out the resemblance between Mark, now 51, and his son, now 25, who is also an actor.

"Michael looks so much like his daddy! And I think Joaquin looks like you, Kelly," one user wrote, referring to the couple's 20-year-old son. Another added, "Omg. Mark is Michael. Michael is Mark."

Ripa and Mark also share daughter Lola, 21.

RELATED: Mark Consuelos Excited for 'Amazing' Co-Hosting Gig with Wife Kelly Ripa but Says He Has 'Big Shoes to Fill'

The married couple of 26 years, who met during an audition for All My Children in 1995, revealed they'll officially be co-hosts on Live with Kelly and Ryan after Ryan Seacrest announced his departure from the show in February.

After sharing the big news, the Riverdale actor took to Instagram to react to his new co-hosting gig. He started out by congratulating Seacrest on his "next chapter," but quickly turned the spotlight on his wife in the funny caption.

kelly ripa, Mark Consuelos, ryan seacrest

Kelly Ripa/Instagram

"@kellyripa my ride or die. This is going to be amazing! I can't believe after all these years of listening to you talk for free, I found a way to get paid for it. Is this a great country or what? " he wrote.

Meanwhile, Ripa also shared her commentary on their upcoming partnership via Instagram: "@instasuelos welcome home, or to the contractual obligation phase of our relationship," she joked.

RELATED: Kelly Ripa and Mark Consuelos Say Daughter Lola Has Moved Home  And Warn Her It's 'Freaky Week'

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https://www.instagram.com/p/Cmkhxppr5gt/. Kelly Ripa /Instagram

Kelly Ripa/Instagram

While Mark is now getting a permanent hosting spot on the show, this is not the first time he went live with Kelly.

In January, the actor temporarily filled Seacrest's position and revealed some hilarious details about the couple's current living situation.

"We got away this week, which was great. But Lola Consuelos, our daughter, came home  what was it last week? A week and a half ago? From London, and she's so excited to be living with us again because it's her last semester in college," Mark shared.

He continued, "She's not going to go back to her apartment, she's staying with us. And you know what she does now? The door's closed in our bedroom, no knock, she just walks in and says, 'Hey girls!'"

After telling his daughter that she's "gotta knock," Ripa added: "Because at this point, anything you walk in on is your problem."
Bomb-making materials allegedly found in the apartment of Highland Park massacre suspect Robert Crimo III, include this jug with ammunition. (U.S. District Court records)

A federal search warrant unsealed Thursday alleges bomb-making materials were found in the apartment of Highland Park massacre suspect Robert Crimo III, who allegedly told authorities in an interview hed contemplated bringing improvised explosive devices to the Fourth of July parade route but decided they were too heavy.

If everything lined up correctly then I would use it, but it didnt, Crimo allegedly told investigators who questioned him about the explosive materials in a recorded interview on July 5.

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The new details were contained in an FBI affidavit to search emails connected to Crimo as well as a computer hard drive found in the wake of the Fourth of July parade attack that killed seven people and wounded dozens more.

According to the documents, which were unsealed at the request of federal prosecutors Thursday, investigators who searched the Highwood home where Crimo lived with his uncle discovered a remote initiator, jugs with ammunition and boxes of Tannerite, a commercial component used for exploding targets.

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In an upstairs bedroom, agents also found electrical components, a timer and electric matches, according to the affidavit. Invoices found on Crimos phone indicated Crimo had ordered a 10-pound shipment of Tannerite from Oregon about a month before the attack, the affidavit alleged.

Crimo allegedly told agents the explosive devices were too heavy to carry to the parade, but he considered using them if the opportunity arose, according to the affidavit.

Later in the interviews, Crimo allegedly told investigators the bomb components could have been used for an incident, it could have been used but it wasnt, according to the affidavit.

It could have been planted if it worked, in theory it could have been planted ... somewhere where it could cause harm, the affidavit quoted Crimo as saying. If it worked, I might have planted it early, or I might have just sat down, left the bag there, and walked away.

Bomb-making materials allegedly found in the apartment of Highland Park massacre suspect Robert Crimo III, including this remote initiator. (U.S. District Court records)

Bomb-making materials allegedly found in the apartment of Highland Park massacre suspect Robert Crimo III, include boxes of Tannerite, a commercial component used for exploding targets. (U.S. District Court records)

The affidavit also alleged Crimo admitted hed made electrical circuits in the past and he had the idea in my mind that it could be used for nefarious reasons.

Crimo allegedly told investigators that once hed loaded all the Tannerite into the jugs, they would have weighed at least 20 pounds which would be too much because he was also carrying his rifle.

When agents pressed him on whether he would have actually used the IEDs in the Highland Park attack, Crimo allegedly responded, For this one, no, I had just, you know, possibly if the situations were to line up correctly, maybe.

The affidavit also said Crimo seemed to waffle on his intent for the explosives. At one point, he said he probably would not have followed through because the materials were unstable, according to the affidavit. Later, though, he said he wanted them to work so he purchased commercially available Tannerite rather than using an alternative source of ammonium nitrate.

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Crimo said hed prepared the bomb components a couple of months before the attack and kept it locked up so family members would not get hurt and because it looked nefarious, the affidavit stated.

I was either going to rip it up and throw it away or use it but, it, the situation didnt arise for it to be used, Crimo was quoted in the affidavit as saying.

Crimo, 22, is accused of opening fire on the assembled crowd on July 4, 2022, with an assault rifle from the roof of a downtown store. Investigators say he was caught on a surveillance camera dropping a high-powered semi-automatic rifle out of his bag, which was recovered near the scene with his fingerprints and DNA on it.

After the shooting, the warrant stated, Crimo walked first to his mothers house nearby in Highland Park, then drove to his fathers home. He then drove to the Madison, Wisconsin, area, and buried his phone there, but investigators traced and recovered it.

Crimo was arrested the evening of July 4 after driving back to near North Chicago. Investigators said he admitted to the shooting during questioning after his arrest. He has since pleaded not guilty to seven murder charges among more than 100 felony counts and is awaiting trial.

No federal charges have been filed as part of the investigation.

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Crimos court-appointed attorney in the murder case could not immediately be reached for comment.

Crimos father, Robert Crimo Jr., was charged with reckless conduct in connection with his sons case. Lake County authorities allege it was reckless for the father to vouch for his then-underaged son in 2019 on state forms that allowed the son to purchase guns.

The federal warrants also revealed a number of other details from the investigation. Among them: Investigators also found a destroyed MacBook with the phrase Are you awake on its cover. Crimo III, who sometimes went by the moniker Awake the Rapper, had Awake tattooed on his face, told investigators that he committed the shooting to wake people up.

In a video posted online that was attributable to Crimo III, the affidavit stated, is a drawing of someone pointing a rifle at others, one of whom is lying on the ground, the affidavit stated. Investigators were also looking into potential co-conspirators in the massacre, noting that Crimo said he traveled the country in previous years and stayed with people he met in an online forum.

Authorities at the time said they were investigating potential motives for the shooting, including targeting particular groups.

jmeisner@chicagotribune.com

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rmccoppin@chicagotribune.com
Ken Bruce aired his last ever BBC Radio 2 show today, Friday 3 March, after 31 years of presenting the stations mid-morning programme.

Bruce, 72, has been with the BBC since 1977 when he started out as a presenter on Radio Scotland.

While introducing his final show on Radio 2 this morning, he told listeners not to look for any hidden agendas in his music choices, assuring them: Theyre just good songs. Enjoy!

The DJ is moving over to commercial station Greatest Hits Radio, where he will begin broadcasting on 3 April.

In February, Bruce claimed that BBC bosses had decided they wanted him to leave early, instead of fulfilling his contract to the end of March.

Reports followed that he was axed early by the BBC in efforts to prevent him from promoting his new Greatest Hits show.

Find out everything that happened on Bruces final Radio 2 show below...

Key points

Ken Bruce axed early by BBC to prevent him promoting his new Greatest Hits show

Ken Bruce tells listeners there is no hidden agenda in todays music choices

Ken Bruce says early BBC exit seems a shame

Zoe Ball hands over to Ken Bruce for his final show

09:32 , Ellie Harrison

You are very loved, Ball told Bruce as her show drew to a close this morning. He was met with a round of applause by those in the studio. Lots of lovely music on this programme, he said, introducing his show with Can You Feel It by The Jacksons. Dont go looking for any secret messages or hidden agendas behind them. Theyre just good songs. Enjoy!

Ken Bruce says early BBC exit seems a shame

09:43 , Ellie Harrison

He told BBC Radio 4s Today programme this morning: Its entirely within the BBCs right to ask me to step away a little early.

But for the sake of 17 days, which was all that was remaining [on my contract], it seems a shame.

Bruce was originally due to complete his Radio 2 contract on 24 March, but the BBC had asked him to host the last edition of his weekday mid-morning show on Friday instead.

Story continues

Why did the BBC ask Ken Bruce to leave three weeks early?

09:59 , Ellie Harrison

Insiders have claimed that Bruces contract with BBC Radio 2 was axed early in efforts to scupper promotion for his new show at Greatest Hits Radio.

Read the full story here...

Ken Bruce axed early by BBC to prevent him promoting new show, say insiders

Why today is a sad day for Radio 2 listeners

10:11 , Ellie Harrison

In a tribute to Ken Bruce for The Independent in which she describes the broadcasters presenting style as like an arm around the shoulder, Helen Brown writes: To hear that he had decided to leave (to be replaced by the younger, shinier-toothed Vernon Kay) came as a shock.

The mood curdled when it transpired Radio 2 bosses had refused to let him work out his contract, insisting he get his slippers out from under the desk by lunchtime today.

Read the article in full below...

Ken Bruces departure signals the start of an era Radio 2 listeners never wanted

Ken Bruce jokingly tells off listener for not particularly nice message

10:31 , Ellie Harrison

People are sending in nice things today but some people arent sending particularly nice things, Bruce said, laughing. Sean from Buxton has said, Dont forget, Ken, to sew some kippers into the lining of the studio curtains before you go. Well, thats not a very nice thing. I wouldnt do a thing like that in this studio.

Last ever Popmaster quiz on Radio 2 is underway

10:35 , Ellie Harrison

Ken Bruce has been one of Radio 2s best-loved hosts, in part thanks to PopMaster, a game that tests listeners pop knowledge.

The DJ introduced the quiz in 1998, and the last one to ever on Radio 2 is currently underway.

Listeners calling in to play the quiz have said emotional thank yous to the presenter for his warm company, humour and kindness, all of which have provided a soundtrack to their lives.

Bruce is taking the quiz with him to Greatest Hits Radio.

Rob Brydon brings back his brilliant Ken Bruce impression

11:27 , Ellie Harrison

Comedian Rob Brydon has stood in for Ken Bruce many times on his radio show and once even impersonated him for an entire two-and-a-half hours on air.

In a pre-recorded message played for Bruce as a surprise on his last Radio 2 show this morning, Brydon said: Hi Ken, its Rob Brydon. Sending you my best wishes and congratulations as you start on this new chapter, and also to say thank you for letting me be you that day on April Fools Day some years ago.

Doing his best Bruce impression, Brydon continued: Because it really was a lot of fun indeed, and I hope we get to do it again some day.

Jeremy Vine calls Ken Bruce best person hes ever worked with

11:41 , Ellie Harrison

Jeremy Vine came on Ken Bruces final show to tell him how much hed miss him. Here are the highlights from their exchange:

Vine: I was working it out, and you and I talk for three minutes a day So thats 10 hours a year meaning over 20 years its 200 hours I havent been paid.

Bruce: Youre saving the BBC a lot of money there somehow it feels longer!

Vine: Ill miss you so much, youre always ahead of me on every story am I allowed to say Ive worked with some great people and youre the best? I know you dont like praise, but youre the most generous, intelligent, talented colleague.

Bruce: We Scots, Glaswegians particularly, dont take praise.

Vine: For us, at Radio 2, youre the presenter we all want to be like.

Bruce: I will miss these chats immensely.

Jeremy Vine (DANIEL LEAL-OLIVAS/AFP via Getty Images)

Ken Bruce opens gift from production team

11:57 , Ellie Harrison

There was a lot of loud rustling on the airwaves as Ken Bruce opened his present from the production team. To say goodbye to Bruce on his last show on the station, they had given him a framed picture of the whole team together, a PopMaster t-shirt and a card. There might have been other gifts but, in typical Bruce fashion, the presenter hurried through any praise, said a big thank you, and whacked on My Love by Petula Clark.

Ken Bruces last song on Radio 2 is...

12:00 , Ellie Harrison

The 1969 track The End by The Beatles.

Ken Bruces final words on Radio 2

12:12 , Ellie Harrison

Introducing his last songs, Ken Bruce told listeners: Ive come to my last link, as we say on radio. A lot of people would say, Write down a big speech and deliver it, but thats not the sort of thing I do.

I do really want to say thank you to anybody who has contributed in any small way to this programme, particularly the listeners. I couldnt do it without the listeners who contribute and complete the dialogue. We talk to each other on a daily basis, and I hope maybe some time in the future we may be able to continue doing that...

Thank you, particularly, to the members of the Ken Bruce Preservation Society, who sent in a lovely bottle of a certain Irish cream liquour, which I thought about drinking after song nine of the show today...

Thanks to all whove sent any kind of message of congratulations or good riddance...

I would like to say thank you, particularly, to Phil McGarvey and Janine Maya-Smith. They are the only two in the production team, what a fabulous team they have been.

And to the BBC, Ive been here for a long time and apart from the occasional vagary it is still the finest broadcasting organisation in the world.

Ken Bruce says Vernon Kay doesnt need my advice taking over Radio 2 slot

13:41 , Isobel Lewis

Talking to journalists outside his last Radio 2 show, Bruce was asked if he had any advice for incoming show host Vernon Kay.

Vernon doesnt need my advice, he replied. Hes a great guy. I wish him all the very best.

Kay will take over the mid-morning show in May.

Lorraine Kelly calls Ken Bruce a class act'

13:57 , Isobel Lewis

Lorraine Kelly has also shared her verdict on Ken Bruces last ever show...
A detention centre in the city of Kherson was guarded by life-sentenced convicts during the Russian occupation.

Source: Olena Vysotska, Deputy Minister of Justice of Ukraine, in an interview with Ukrinform news agency

Quote: "By the way, when we regained control over the Kherson detention centre, it turned out that it had been guarded by life-sentenced convicts who had arranged everything by themselves.

They explained this decision by their desire to continue their lives in Ukraine and did not want to worsen their legal situation, so they did not surrender to the enemy and are looking forward to a review of their sentences. This deserves respect and attention from society."

Details: She said that Ukraine lost control over 11 correctional facilities and 3,000 people, who had been held there, in the first days of the war.

However, four institutions were liberated in Kherson Oblast, including a pre-trial detention centre and three penal colonies.

Vysotska also said that all of the convicts released by the invaders during their retreat came back to the Kherson detention centre.

Quote: "Everyone is back! One may call me naive if I say that everyone has come back. However, we understand that it is not easy to live in a recently liberated city with a lot of troops, checkpoints, and no power supply. So, of course, I understand that sometimes the convicts come back because they could not leave or hide.

Our military and police helped us identify some of those [convicts] at the checkpoints, and they were identified using the Register of Convicts and Prisoners."

Details: As she states, the detainees of the Kherson detention centre, along with the above-mentioned life sentenced convicts, have been moved to institutions in the cities of Mykolaiv and Odesa, "as it is still not safe in Kherson."

Background:

In early December 2022, Russian forces hit the building of Kherson pre-trial detention centre during their bombardment of the city of Kherson, injuring the institution's staff.

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






Kim Kardashian at the Dolce & Gabbana Store on February 25, 2023 in Milan, Italy. MEGA/GC Images

The US accused Malaysian fugitive Jho Low of siphoning $4.5 billion from a government investment fund.

FBI agents talked to A-listers in Low's orbit, including Kim Kardashian, to extract information about the fugitive.

Kardashian once played an early morning game of baccarat and won $350,000 worth of chips.

Kim Kardashian once struck big after gambling with Jho Low, the Malaysian financier and wanted fugitive who is accused of siphoning $4.5 billion from a foreign government investment fund.

US prosecutors alleged that Low had stolen at least $4.5 billion from 1 Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB), which was founded and led by former prime minister Najib Razak. Razak was sentenced to 12 years in prison on July 2020 for his conviction related to the 1MDB scandal.

Meanwhile, the Justice Department indicted Low in 2018 for conspiring to launder billions of dollars stolen from the development fund and paying out hundreds of millions of dollars in bribes. Since then, Low has remained a fugitive and is believed to be living in China, The New York Times reported.

A law firm representing Low did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

In February 2019, FBI agents interviewed the reality TV star and businesswoman as part of their investigation into Low, according to documents obtained and published by Bloomberg.

During her interview, Kardashian told investigators that she was first introduced to Low in 2009 and met him about six times overall, including two instances when she gambled with him.

Kardashian's first time gambling with Low was in Las Vegas. She was already in town hosting a party, per the documents, and decided to spend time with Low and his entourage of approximately 10 to 12 people.

According to the FBI's account of the interview, a friend told Kardashian "that Low was notorious for gambling and giving a lot of money away to people."

After having dinner and going to a club, Kardashian joined Low and his entourage in a private room of the casino to play baccarat  a card game where players typically bet on two hands  around 3 a.m. local time, according to records.

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Around 5 a.m., Kardashian was prepared to leave but her acquaintance told her to "drink some coffee and stick around a little longer," the documents stated.

"[Redacted name] had heard stories of Low giving people chips at the end of the night when gambling," the FBI wrote. "Kardashian stayed and ended winning big on one game."

Kardashian told investigators that her security guard advised her to give back the chips to Low since it was not her money. When she attempted to return the chips, Low told Kardashian to keep her winnings, according to the interview record.

When she went to the casino counter to cash out the chips, Kardashian went through an unusual money-transfer process, according to the documents.

The Skims founder was told she had about $350,000 in chips and was given a "trash bag full of one hundred dollar bills estimated to be worth $250,000," the FBI recalled being told, per the documents.

Kardashian later stowed the trash bag in her carry-on bag during a Southwest Airline flight back to Los Angeles, the documents stated.

The rest of Kardashian's winnings would be cashed out later on by another undisclosed acquaintance, according to the documents. She was again handed a trash bag full of cash, the FBI was told, according to the documents obtained by Bloomberg.

Kardashian would win another $100,000 the second time she gambled with Low, according to the documents.

Kardashian's spokesperson did not respond to a request for comment.

The disgraced Malaysian financier's lavish spending and orbit of A-list celebrities and politicians are well known.

Actor Leonardo DiCaprio was also interviewed by FBI agents for his connection to Low, Bloomberg reported.

In 2019, Low and his family agreed to forfeit more than $700 million worth of assets that were believed to be purchased with stolen money, including five luxury homes and a private jet.

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LONDON (AP)  King Charles III will travel to France and Germany for his first state visits since becoming monarch, Buckingham Palace said Friday, underscoring Britains efforts to build bridges with its European neighbors following years of strained relations caused by Brexit.

Charles and Camilla, the queen consort, are set to visit the European Unions two biggest countries March 26-31, hosted by Presidents Emmanuel Macron of France and Frank-Walter Steinmeier of Germany, the palace announced.

The visit will celebrate the U.K.s relationship with France and Germany, marking our shared histories, culture and values,'' the palace said. It is also a chance to look forwards and show the many ways our countries are working in partnership, whether that be to tackle climate change; respond to the conflict in Ukraine; seize trade and investment opportunities or share the best of our arts and culture.''

Highlighting the significance of the trip is the fact that it will be the first state visit by a British monarch since 2015; the late Queen Elizabeth II, Charles' mother, stopped traveling abroad in her later years.

The announcement came just days after Charles met with European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen at Windsor Castle and British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak announced a breakthrough in talks to resolve the dispute over post-Brexit trading arrangements for Northern Ireland.

Sunak will be anxious to use the soft power of the monarchy to highlight the thaw in relations between the U.K. and the EU, which have been strained by Britains decision to leave the bloc.

The trip to France and Germany is being made at the request of the British government and at the invitations of the two governments, the palace said.

The royals will travel first to France, where they will be greeted by Macron and take part in a ceremony of remembrance at the Arc de Triomphe in Paris. Charles will later meet with members of the National Assembly and Senate and attend a state banquet at the Chateau de Versailles.

Story continues

The French leg of the trip will also include traveling to Bordeaux, which is home to a large British community. The royal couple plan to visit an organic vineyard and one of the areas devastated by wildfires last summer.

Charles and Camilla are scheduled to travel to Germany on March 29, where they will be greeted by Steinmeier and Charles plans to address the Bundestag, Germanys parliament. Steinmeier will also host a state banquet for the royal couple.

Charles will also meet with Ukrainian refugees in Germany, visit a joint U.K.-German military unit and travel to Hamburg, where he will visit sustainable energy projects.

While Britains royals have ceded most of their powers to the nations elected leaders, the aura of the monarchy and the pomp and ceremony of royal visits are still seen as a way to burnish the U.K.s image and bolster ties with nations around the globe.

This role was epitomized by Elizabeth, who made 121 state visits during her 70-year reign, leading royal historian Robert Hardman to dub her Queen of the World.

When Charles met with von der Leyen on Monday, Buckingham Palace was quick to stress that he was working in concert with the government.

The king is pleased to meet any world leader, if they are visiting Britain, and it is the governments advice that he should do so, the palace said before that meeting.

The French leg of the trip may have a particular significance for Charles, who is said to have formed a close relationship with Macron because of the two mens shared focus on protecting the environment and fighting climate change.

Mutual respect also was expressed by Germany's president. In a video message, Steinmeier said he last met Charles at Elizabeths funeral and invited him to visit Germany as king. He said that Charles' decision to visit half a year later shows how much the king values the friendship between Germans and Britons.

The German president said Charles decision to travel to Germany and France is also an important European gesture.

I would like to say to him, but of course also to all Britons: We in Germany, we in Europe, want close and friendly relations with the United Kingdom after Brexit as well, Steinmeier said.

In November, South African President Cyril Ramaphosa made the first state visit to Britain of Charles' reign. But the visit had been in the works before the late queen's death.

___

Associated Press Writer Geir Moulson in Berlin contributed.
King Charles and Camilla, Queen Consort, walkabout to meet members of the public following a ceremony at Micklegate Bar, in York, England Nov. 9, 2022.

King Charles and Camilla, Queen Consort, walkabout to meet members of the public following a ceremony at Micklegate Bar, in York, England Nov. 9, 2022.

LONDON (AP)  King Charles III will travel to France and Germany for his first state visits since becoming monarch, Buckingham Palace said Friday, underscoring Britains efforts to build bridges with its European neighbors following years of strained relations caused by Brexit.

Charles and Camilla, the queen consort, are set to visit the European Unions two biggest countries March 26-31, hosted by Presidents Emmanuel Macron of France and Frank-Walter Steinmeier of Germany, the palace announced.

The visit will celebrate the U.K.s relationship with France and Germany, marking our shared histories, culture and values, the palace said. It is also a chance to look forwards and show the many ways our countries are working in partnership, whether that be to tackle climate change; respond to the conflict in Ukraine; seize trade and investment opportunities or share the best of our arts and culture.

Highlighting the significance of the trip is the fact that it will be the first state visit by a British monarch since 2015; the late Queen Elizabeth II, Charles mother, stopped traveling abroad in her later years.

The announcement came just days after Charles met with European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen at Windsor Castle and British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak announced a breakthrough in talks to resolve the dispute over post-Brexit trading arrangements for Northern Ireland.

Sunak will be anxious to use the soft power of the monarchy to highlight the thaw in relations between the U.K. and the EU, which have been strained by Britains decision to leave the bloc.

The trip to France and Germany is being made at the request of the British government and at the invitations of the two governments, the palace said.

The royals will travel first to France, where they will be greeted by Macron and take part in a ceremony of remembrance at the Arc de Triomphe in Paris. Charles will later meet with members of the National Assembly and Senate and attend a state banquet at the Chateau de Versailles.

Story continues

The French leg of the trip will also include traveling to Bordeaux, which is home to a large British community. The royal couple plan to visit an organic vineyard and one of the areas devastated by wildfires last summer.

Charles and Camilla are scheduled to travel to Germany on March 29, where they will be greeted by Steinmeier and Charles plans to address the Bundestag, Germanys parliament. Steinmeier will also host a state banquet for the royal couple.

Charles will also meet with Ukrainian refugees in Germany, visit a joint U.K.-German military unit and travel to Hamburg, where he will visit sustainable energy projects.

While Britains royals have ceded most of their powers to the nations elected leaders, the aura of the monarchy and the pomp and ceremony of royal visits are still seen as a way to burnish the U.K.s image and bolster ties with nations around the globe.

This role was epitomized by Elizabeth, who made 121 state visits during her 70-year reign, leading royal historian Robert Hardman to dub her Queen of the World.

When Charles met with von der Leyen on Monday, Buckingham Palace was quick to stress that he was working in concert with the government.

The king is pleased to meet any world leader, if they are visiting Britain, and it is the governments advice that he should do so, the palace said before that meeting.

The French leg of the trip may have a particular significance for Charles, who is said to have formed a close relationship with Macron because of the two mens shared focus on protecting the environment and fighting climate change.

Mutual respect also was expressed by Germanys president. In a video message, Steinmeier said he last met Charles at Elizabeths funeral and invited him to visit Germany as king. He said that Charles decision to visit half a year later shows how much the king values the friendship between Germans and Britons.

The German president said Charles decision to travel to Germany and France is also an important European gesture.

I would like to say to him, but of course also to all Britons: We in Germany, we in Europe, want close and friendly relations with the United Kingdom after Brexit as well, Steinmeier said.

In November, South African President Cyril Ramaphosa made the first state visit to Britain of Charles reign. But the visit had been in the works before the late queens death.

Associated Press Writer Geir Moulson in Berlin contributed.

Related...
King Charles III and Queen Camilla's coronation oil has been consecrated in Jerusalem.

Buckingham Palace confirmed Friday that the Chrism oil that will be used to anoint the King, 74, and Queen Consort, 75, on May 6 was consecrated this morning at The Church of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem.

The official oil was made with olives harvested from local groves including on the Mount of Olives, at the Monastery of the Ascension and the Monastery of Mary Magdalene, where King Charles' grandmother, Prince Philip's mother Princess Alice, is buried. The olives were pressed near Bethlehem, and the oil was perfumed with scents of sesame, rose, jasmine, cinnamon, neroli, benzoin, amber and orange blossom.

Charles and Camilla's Chrism oil is inspired by the one used to anoint Queen Elizabeth II at her coronation in 1953, from a formula used for centuries.

2nd June 1953: The canopy is placed over the Queen for the anointing ceremony during her coronation.

Keystone/Getty Images

RELATED: Charles and Camilla Announce the Destination of Their First Royal Tour as King and Queen

Like Queen Elizabeth before them, Charles and Camilla will be anointed by the Archbishop of Canterbury during their crowning ceremony on May 6. In a statement, Justin Welby, the current Archbishop of Canterbury, thanked the Patriarch of Jerusalem, His Beatitude Patriarch Theophilos III, and the Anglican Archbishop in Jerusalem, The Most Reverend Hosam Naoum, for blessing the oil, and pointed to the royal family's connection to the area.

Princess Alice and her family fled Greece in 1922 amid a military uprising, and she became deeply religious a few years after the monarchy dissolved. She converted to the Greek Orthodox Church, helped save a Jewish family during the Holocaust and founded a nursing order of nuns in 1949. Before her death, Princess Alice asked to be buried in Jerusalem, and she was inducted into Righteous Among the Nations in 1993.

"I am honoured and grateful that His Beatitude Patriarch Theophilos III and Archbishop Hosam Naoum have consecrated the oil that will be used to anoint His Majesty The King. I want to thank especially His Beatitude for providing this Coronation Oil, which reflects The King's personal family connection with the Holy Land and his great care for its peoples," Welby said. "I am also delighted that the Anglican Archbishop in Jerusalem shared in the consecration of the oil."

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Kind Charles III's Coronation Oil I

Patriarchate of Jerusalem/Buckingham Palace via Getty

RELATED: King Charles III's Coronation: Everything to Know About the Ceremony and Celebration

"Since beginning the planning for the Coronation, my desire has been for a new Coronation Oil to be produced using olive oil from the Mount of Olives. This demonstrates the deep historic link between the Coronation, the Bible and the Holy Land," he continued. "From ancient kings through to the present day, monarchs have been anointed with oil from this sacred place. As we prepare to anoint The King and The Queen Consort, I pray that they would be guided and strengthened by the Holy Spirit."

Prince Charles, Prince of Wales and Camilla, Duchess of Cornwall sit during State Opening of Parliament in the House of Lords at the Palace of Westminster on May 18, 2016 in London, England. The State Opening of Parliament is the formal start of the parliamentary year. This year's Queen's Speech, setting out the government's agenda for the coming session, is expected to outline policy on prison reform, tuition fee rises and reveal the potential site of a UK spaceport.

Arthur Edwards - WPA Pool/Getty

According to the Fellowship of Israel Related Ministries, the Bible states that Jesus ascended into heaven from the Mount of Olives. Today, the site is considered sacred by many faiths.

One month after Queen Elizabeth's death in September, Buckingham Palace announced that the coronation of King Charles and Queen Camilla would take place on the first Saturday in May  an earlier date than speculated.

King Charles III and Camilla, Queen Consort during the State Banquet at Buckingham Palace on November 22, 2022 in London, England. This is the first state visit hosted by the UK with King Charles III as monarch, and the first state visit here by a South African leader since 2010.

Chris Jackson/Getty King Charles and Queen Camilla

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"Buckingham Palace is pleased to announce that the Coronation of His Majesty The King will take place on Saturday 6th May, 2023. The Coronation Ceremony will take place at Westminster Abbey, London, and will be conducted by the Archbishop of Canterbury," courtiers confirmed.

"The Ceremony will see His Majesty King Charles III crowned alongside The Queen Consort. The Coronation will reflect the monarch's role today and look towards the future, while being rooted in longstanding traditions and pageantry," they added.

With just two months to go until the crowning ceremony, the palace has increasingly released details about the big day, from the crowns that the royal couple will wear to the music that will play.
Welcome to a Very Special Sick and Shut Down List.

Its come to our attention that the Florida Department of Business and Professional Regulation inspectors visiting Miami-Dade restaurants might be a tad laissez-faire compared to their counterparts in Broward and Palm Beach. Inspections that result in shut-down failures in South Floridas northern counties seem to get warnings or Administrative complaint recommended in Miami-Dade.

We shant hypothesize on why this is the case. But in a nod to fairness upon seeing another week of no Miami-Dade restaurants failing inspection and a desire by Miami Herald readers to see more Miami-Dade restaurants, this weeks roll call of restaurants is a Miami-Dade-only Sick and Not Shut Down List.

Restaurants made this list with any of the following: 10 or more total violations; living violations; Stop Sales; handwashing issues; or a final inspection rank of administrative complaint (usually means youve got an expired license).

As always, what follows comes from Florida Department of Business and Professional Regulation restaurant inspections. We dont do the inspecting. We dont control who gets inspected. We dont control how strictly the inspector inspects. This list is entirely reactive. If you see a problem and want a place inspected, contact the DBPR. Do not email us with you should check out...

We dont include all violations. Some violations get corrected immediately after the inspector points them out. But in those situations, ask yourself, why did the violations exist in the first place? And, how long would they have remained if not for the inspection?

In alphabetical order...

Brickell City Pizza, 75 SE Sixth St., Miami: 12 total violations, one High Priority violation.

Every time a pizza place comes up short, a part of every good person dies a little.

The can opener was a food-contact surface soiled with food debris, mold-like substance or slime.

The cutting board has cut marks and is no longer cleanable. Youll see this often in the coming inspections.

Story continues

Wet wiping cloth not stored in sanitizing solution between uses. Bet you didnt know that was required.

Drain cover(s) missing. Under the three-compartment sink. This is Florida  you know what kind of beasts can come up out of those drains?

Cafe Ruyi, 5300 NW Seventh Ave., Miami: Administrative complaint recommended, nine total violations, two High Priority violations.

Ah, our bete noire, In-use knife/knives stored in cracks between pieces of equipment, this one being a knife stored between prep tables.

A cutting board wasnt cleanable (told you).

And, they were thawing shrimp in standing water under the prep table. Though the refrigerator/cooler is best for thawing shrimp, strong-running cold water on them continuously gets the job done quickly and with reasonable safety.

Cerro Negro, 9613 W. Flagler St., West Miami-Dade: 20 total violations, three High Priority violations.

The dishmachines sanitizer wasnt strong enough. Accumulation of debris inside the warewashing machine.

The front counter hot holding unit wasnt working.

Neither the chicken-portioned soup in the walk-in cooler nor the beef soup in the walk-in freezer were covered. Somebody needs to hold a big Tupperware party for South Florida restaurants.

They thawed fish by putting it in water on the prep table and raw, frozen chicken just sitting it on the prep table. Get your barf bag ready.

Corner Club Alma Rosa, 1250 S. Miami Ave., Miami: 20 total violations, one High Priority violation.

The bar dishwashers chlorine sanitizer measured 0.0 parts per million.

They moved a handwashing sink from the food prep and dishwashing areas and had no soap at another handwashing sink.

No container installed for catching grease from hood drip tray.

Dannys Sub & Pizza, 20505 S. Dixie Hwy., Cutler Bay: Stop Sales came down on beef and cheese sandwiches that were in the reach-in cooler but still too warm after more than four hours.

The hot water at the three-compartment sink and handwashing sink reached only 72 and 73 degrees.

Nonfood-grade basting brush used in food.

Deco Sandwiches and Burger, 1361 Washington Ave., Miami Beach: 15 total violations, two High Priority violations.

The restroom didnt have any way to dry your hands after you and employees (hopefully) washed them. Then again, the handwashing sink next to the three-compartment sink didnt have soap.

Dr. Smood Brickell, 701 S. Miami Ave., Miami: Administrative complaint recommended, six total violations, one High Priority violation.

This healthy food joint had a license that expired in October and a wet wiping cloth not put in a sanitizing solution between uses.

Drinks on Me, 6118 NW Seventh Ave., Miami: Administrative complaint recommended, three total violations, one High Priority violation.

No way to dry hands in this food truck that had an expired license.

502 El Canche, 13766 SW 84th St., Kendall: This food truck had a cutting board that wasnt just dirty, but soiled with a black substance and an uncleanable knife block in use to store knives.

Also, no way to dry your hands at the handwashing sink.

Fresh and Nice Jamaican Cuisine, 817 NW 54th St., Miami: 12 total violations, five High Priority violations.

Fresh and Nice has been working without a license since December.

Stop Sales ended the day for the oxtail (109 degrees) and chicken (89 degrees). Both had been in the steamer since around 10 a.m., but they remained in the food safety Mad Max land not below 41 degrees and not above 135 degrees.

Handwashing sinks needed methods to try hands.

One live roach moseyed across the kitchen floor.

La Paradita Taqueria, 178 NE Eighth St., Homestead: 15 total violations, five High Priority violations.

There was no record for when the ice machines water filter was changed. The bigger problem was the broken water heater. So, no hot water at the three-compartment sink.

It probably didnt matter that one handwashing sink held a condiment container and a purse.

Observed bread inside of non-food grade bags at reach in cooler.

Las Cuatro Esquinas Cafetera, 1001 E. 27th St., Hialeah: 12 total violations, one High Priority violation.

Another nonfood-grade basting brush used in food.

Food-contact surface soiled with food debris, mold-like substance or slime. What surfaces? ... soiled cutting board in kitchen area. Also, a slicer.

Reach-in cooler interior/shelves have an accumulation of soil residues.

Love Fries Doral, 7586 NW 104th Ave., Doral: Administrative complaint recommended, 16 total violations, four High Priority violations.

Their license expired in October. The ribs werent expired, but got hit with a Stop Sale for being too warm despite a sleepover in the walk-in cooler.

Insect control devices installed over food preparation area.

No paper towels or mechanical hand drying device provided at handwash sink. And, the water didnt get hot enough, barely up to room temperature.

Moon Thai & Japanese, 16311 SW 88th St., West Kendall: 18 total violations, four High Priority violations.

Another one of these...in-use knife/knives stored in cracks between pieces of equipment ... knife stored between reach-in coolers at cook line.

The soda gun holster was soiled with a slimy substance and not draining properly at the bar area.

There was a handwashing sink in the bar area. Wouldve been nice if there had been soap or a way to dry hands also.

The inspector fired Stop Sales at the raw tuna stored inside reduced oxygen packaging in the reach-in cooler and the malangas with a mold-like substance.

Miami River Cafe, 350 NW Eighth Ave., Miami: Administrative complaint, 10 total violations, one High Priority violation.

No way to wash your hands  no soap  at the front counter handwashing sink.

Raw beef thawed on a prep table inside plastic containers.

Cutting board has cut marks and is no longer cleanable.

1977 Argentinian Grill, 6565 Collins Ave., Miami Beach: Administrative complaint recommended, nine total violations, two High Priority violations.

Along with an expired license, there was commercially-processed reduced oxygen-packaged fish bearing a label indicating that it is to remain frozen until time of use. But the tuna was already thawed inside the walk-in cooler. Theres a reason its supposed to stay frozen.

Patagonia Nahuen, 16850 Collins Ave., Sunny Isles Beach: The employee handwashing sink didnt have a blower, paper towels, soap or hot water.

Pinolandia, 119 NW 12th Ave., Miami: 13 total violations, two High Priority violations.

In the employee restroom, the inspector was Unable to check the water. No running water when opening the faucet.

No water there, no way to get rid of water at the kitchen handwashing sink.

Hope you dont eat anything that was chopped or sliced. Uncleanable knife block in use to store knives, and Cutting board has cut marks and is no longer cleanable.

Raspaos, 18640 NW 67th Ave., North Miami-Dade: The inspector dropped Stop Sales on steak, poultry and smashed beans, none of which were kept properly cooled for safe keeping. When the inspector returned the following day, the next days batch of smashed beans met the same fate for the same reason.

Simon Cafeteria, 1001 E. 52nd St., Hialeah: 15 total violations.

In the reach-in cooler, observed beans and cooked pasta containers not covered.

The hot water at the three-compartment sink didnt get hot enough. The kitchen area handwashing sink didnt have paper towels or a blower.

Ceiling/ceiling tiles/vents soiled with accumulated food debris, grease, dust, or a mold-like substance.

Smoothie Spot Tamiami, 12932 SW 120th St., Kendall: 10 total violations, two High Priority violations.

Raw beef was stored in a white garbage bag (not food grade material).

No soap at the front counter handwashing sink.

Sushi Sake, 14649 SW 104th St., South Miami-Dade: Administrative complaint, 12 total violations, three High Priority violations.

Single-service articles stored on a soiled surface ... single serve chop sticks stored on the dry storage floor. Next visit, forks, please.

interior of microwave oven soiled with accumulation encrusted food debris.

The area above the ice machine, warewashing area and kitchen was soiled with an accumulation of dust.

Terras, 528 SW Ninth Ave., Miami: Administrative complaint recommended, five total violations, one High Priority violation.

An expired license, a buildup of food debris/soil residue on equipment door handles and an accumulation of debris on exterior of warewashing machine.
Felt stomach illustration. Carol Yepes / Getty Images.

Move over, COVID-19  there's a new winter virus in town. Here's everything you need to know about norovirus, the highly contagious (but rarely fatal) stomach bug that's seemingly picking up steam nationwide:

What is norovirus?

Norovirus  perhaps more colloquially known by the misnomer "stomach flu"  is a common but cumbersome virus that causes intense vomiting, diarrhea, nausea, and stomach pain, per the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. You can contract norovirus by eating contaminated food or drink ("contaminated" meaning covered in microscopic norovirus droplets shed by an infected person, or grown or harvested with water spoiled by the feces or vomit of an infected person), touching a contaminated surface then putting your fingers in your mouth, or having direct contact with someone who is infected. Given its high degree of transmissibility, it's also most common in group settings, like cruise ships, weddings, restaurants, hospitals, and long-term care facilities, Time adds.

Norovirus patients are most contagious while showing symptoms and in the first few days of their recovery, though "studies have shown that you can still spread norovirus for two weeks or more after you feel better," per the CDC. Symptoms typically appear 12 to 48 hours following exposure and last for 1 to 3 days.

Norovirus is not usually fatal, though vulnerable populations  like the very young and the elderly  should keep an eye out for dehydration, which can be life-threatening. Symptoms of dehydration include fatigue, dizziness, dry mouth and throat, and decreased urination, per the Mayo Clinic.

Where is norovirus spiking?

Seemingly New York City, for one. Indeed, vomiting and diarrhea-related trips to local emergency rooms have jumped significantly between December and mid-February, and "the most likely culprit is norovirus," The Gothamist reports per data from the NYC Health Department. It's hard to know for sure, though, since norovirus surveillance is generally pretty lacking.

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But the illness looks to be spreading in other parts of the country, too, particularly the Midwest; As of Feb. 4, the region was experiencing a testing positivity of 19.48 percent, per the New York Post. And once a "norovirus transmission chain begins, it can be very difficult to break," Katherine Wu writes for The Atlantic. "Sometimes people vomit with such force that the virus gets aerosolized." And toilets, "especially lidless ones, can send out plumes of infection like an Air Wick from hell."

Why is it spiking?

Much like the recent rise in RSV cases, the spike in norovirus infections is likely rooted in the easing of pandemic restrictions. "Prevention measures implemented during the COVID-19 pandemic were likely effective in preventing norovirus outbreaks," the CDC's Marisa Lubeck told Nexstar, per The Hill. But as those restrictions have relaxed, "the number of norovirus outbreaks has returned to levels similar to pre-pandemic years." Norovirus is also a seasonal bug, and is generally most prevalent between the months of November and April.

Should I be worried?

After COVID-19, it's understandable if you're frightened to hear of another rapidly-spreading illness. But don't panic  though norovirus is, of course, "seriously gross and frustratingly hardy," it's "more a nauseating nuisance than a public-health crisis," Wu says. Further, case numbers aren't looking too wild yet, adds Vox's Keren Landman. It's definitely possible those measures continue to rise, but don't expect a repeat of March 2020 either way.

So how can I protect myself and others?

First and foremost, wash your hands. Diligently scrub with soap and water after "using the toilet or handling diapers," before administering medicine, and before eating or preparing food. Hand sanitizer does not work well against norovirus, so stick to the sink. If someone in your household is vomiting or has diarrhea, grab some rubber gloves and "thoroughly clean and disinfect the entire area immediately" using a bleach-based cleaner, the CDC notes. You might also opt for masking to add an extra layer of protection.

If you contract norovirus yourself, do not prepare food for anyone else and continue to isolate until at least two days after your symptoms stop. You should not go to work, nor should you send a recovering child to daycare or school. Drink plenty of water and electrolyte beverages to prevent dehydration, and maybe stick to toast and other bland foods.

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The court-appointed public defender for Bryan Kohberger asserted she does not have a conflict of interest representing the University of Idaho homicide suspect after previously acting as attorney for a parent to one of the four stabbing victims, according to a newly unsealed legal filing.

Anne Taylor, chief of the Kootenai County Public Defenders Office since 2017, told Latah County Court Judge Megan Marshall in a closed-door hearing Jan. 27 that she never met or provided any legal advice to her former client of about three months, the court record showed. Taylor also said she talked with Latah County Prosecutor Bill Thompson and Ashley Jennings, the offices senior deputy prosecutor, about the details of the situation.

Marshall directly asked Kohberger if he wished to continue with Taylor as his defense attorney, according to the court record, which included minutes from the hearing.

Given the information he has heard and the conversations he has had with Ms. Taylor, the minutes read, he feels comfortable proceeding with her as his counsel.

The hearing was held after the Idaho Statesman was first to report four days earlier that Taylors past representation of the victims parent raised conflict-of-interest questions with legal experts. An active court-issued gag order in the case prohibits Taylor from sharing information publicly outside of court filings, and neither she nor her office responded to prior Statesman requests seeking comment.

Taylor was appointed to Kohbergers case when he was arrested in Pennsylvania on Dec. 30. She formally withdrew as the active attorney on a misdemeanor charge for her other client on Jan. 5  the date of Kohbergers first appearance in Idaho court.

Kohberger, 28, is charged with four counts of first-degree murder and one count of felony burglary in the November homicides in Moscow. The four victims were U of I seniors Madison Mogen, 21, and Kaylee Goncalves, 21; junior Xana Kernodle, 20; and freshman Ethan Chapin, 20.

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Prosecutors in the case have yet to say whether they will seek the death penalty for Kohberger if he is convicted. Taylor is one of just 13 public defenders in Idaho approved by the states public defense commission to lead a capital punishment case, and the only one located in North Idaho.

Anne Taylor, right, chief of the Kootenai County Public Defenders Office, represents Bryan Kohberger, the suspect in the November Moscow quadruple homicide. She addresses the court during Kohbergers initial Idaho hearing on Jan. 5 in Moscow.

Another public defender in Taylors office also represented the same victims parent in a separate case with two felony charges filed after the homicides at a rental home just off the U of I campus. Taylors office conflicted out of that case on Jan. 5 as well, and another criminal defense attorney in Kootenai County unrelated to the local public defenders office stepped in for both cases, court records showed.

The Statesman has chosen not to name the parent previously represented by Taylor and her office.

Appearing at the Jan. 27 court hearing to discuss Taylors potential conflict, held via the Zoom video conferencing platform, were Marshall and her clerk, Taylor and Kohberger from the defense and Jennings from the prosecution. No others were permitted to attend.

In light of the development, Marshall decided it was prudent to hold the hearing to ensure the defendant is fully advised of his right to counsel and any potential conflict Ms. Taylor may have, the unsealed record read. A Latah County clerk provided no comment when previously asked by the Statesman, days ahead of the hearing, if Marshall was aware of Taylors prior representation of the victims parent.

Generally, the court leaves the issue of a conflict and the decision if it is necessary to withdraw to each attorney on a case-by-case basis, offering the attorney time to discuss the issue with their client, according to the document.

Anytime a former client is involved in a current representation, a lawyer should evaluate any potential conflicts, Brad Andrews, former counsel for the Idaho State Bar, previously told Statesman in an interview. Conflicts are very factually based, and so the lawyer decides whether the lawyer has a conflict.

Victims family asked judge to unseal record

At the hearing, Taylor reported consulting on the matter of a possible conflict with the State Bars current counsel, whom assists attorneys in deciding if one may exist. Taylor said that person then consulted two others, whose names were redacted from the document, and neither felt there was a conflict, so long as the defendant is comfortable with her remaining his attorney, she said.

Joe Pirtle, the State Bars counsel, declined to comment when asked by the Statesman to confirm if Taylor contacted the office about the Kohberger case and her possible conflict. Any such conversations are confidential, he said.

The hearings occurrence became public after Shanon Gray, attorney for the Goncalves family, filed a motion Feb. 27 asking that the court unseal the record concerning conflict issues for Kohbergers public defender. In his support memo, Gray said he and the Goncalves family found out about the hearing Feb. 8 during a meeting with Thompsons office.

It appears the only testimony given at the hearing was Ms. Taylors, Gray wrote. Additionally, the Latah County Prosecutors Office failed to do any due diligence prior to the hearing regarding any conflicts and failed to inquire or object at the time of the hearing to clarify or identify any actual or potential conflicts.

The proper remedy for the court if they believed that protected information had been provided would have been to redact that information and then provide the full record to the public.

The Goncalves family, which started a public Facebook page to provide supporters with updates, has continued to promote an online petition on Change.org that seeks to remove Taylor as the attorney for their daughters alleged killer over a perceived conflict. The petition has about 9,500 signatures.

Public defender Anne Taylor, who represents University of Idaho homicide suspect Bryan Kohberger, speaks during a status hearing in Latah County Court on Thursday, Jan. 12, 2023.

In response to Grays filing, Marshall weighed the interests in privacy and public disclosure, she wrote on Wednesday, and unsealed the record. Her decision and the hearings minutes posted to the Idaho courts website later that afternoon.

Kohbergers preliminary hearing is scheduled to begin June 26, with Taylor expected to be there leading his defense.
Chinese modernization makes broader prospects for common development of mankind

08:47, March 03, 2023 By He Yin ( People's Daily

The governance of a country starts with the needs of the people.

Chinese modernization is the modernization of common prosperity for all. Achieving common prosperity for all is one of the essential requirements of Chinese modernization, as well as a hallmark that distinguishes Chinese modernization from Western modernization.

Chinese modernization remains committed to the principle that development should serve the people, depend on the people, with its benefits shared by the people. It provides a Chinese solution for tackling polarization and other challenges in modernization.

To strive for a good life for the people and achieve common prosperity for all is an abiding commitment of the Communist Party of China (CPC).

Photo taken on Feb. 24, 2023 shows a lively night market in Sucheng district, Suqian, east China's Jiangsu province. (People's Daily Online/Chen Shaoshuai)

The CPC has promoted coordinated development across regions, adopted effective measures to improve people's wellbeing, won the battle against extreme poverty and built a moderately prosperous society in all respects. These efforts have created conditions conducive to bringing about common prosperity.

As the world's largest developing country, China has met the poverty eradication target set in the United Nations 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development ten years ahead of schedule. It has set an example and made significant contributions to the cause of global poverty reduction.

For China, a huge country with more than 1.4 billion people, to achieve common prosperity for all is a long-term, complex and onerous task. The country will continue commitment to its people-centered philosophy of development and promote common prosperity through high-quality development.

So far, China has formulated a whole set of ideas, institutions and policies to promote common prosperity for all. It is confident in ensuring that its people share more fully and fairly in the gains of modernization.

Shakeel Ahmad Ramay, director of the China Study Center at the Sustainable Development Policy Institute of Pakistan, said that promoting common prosperity, creating more opportunities for more people to become better-off and making every effort worthwhile will further activate the productivity and creativity of the Chinese society.

Photo taken on Feb. 26, 2023 shows blireana blossoming near an interchange in Nan'an district, southwest China's Chongqing municipality. (People's Daily Online/Guo Xu)

Common prosperity is a challenging task in the development of human civilization. While pursuing modernization, some countries have encountered severe economic polarization and collapse of the middle class, which led to social divide, political polarization and rampant populism; some failed in economic transition and came to stagnation, troubled by the middle-income trap.

China takes meeting the people's aspirations for a better life as an immutable goal of its modernization drive. It will endeavor to maintain and promote social fairness and justice, bring prosperity to all, and prevent polarization.

"The common prosperity we have in mind aims to better meet people's needs for a better life. It aims to achieve, over time, overall prosperity and prosperity for all. We will leverage the role of both the market and the government and ensure both performance and fairness. We will make the pie bigger and share it fairly, and build an olive-shaped structure of income distribution," said Chinese President Xi Jinping in a written speech delivered at the APEC CEO Summit last year.

More and more international personages have come to realize that as economic globalization encounters headwinds and Western modernization sees a bottleneck, Chinese modernization focuses on benefiting the people and is committed to social equity. It has blazed a new trail of modernization.

China's efforts to achieve common prosperity for all mark the beginning of the country's endeavor to reach the greater goal of building a community with a shared future for mankind, said Paul Zilungisele Tembe, senior researcher with the Thabo Mbeki African Leadership Institute under the University of South Africa.

Children fly kites on a square in Tongdao Dong autonomous county, central China's Hunan province, Feb. 19, 2023. (People's Daily Online/Su Yongzhu)

China always believes that only when countries develop together can there be true development; only when countries prosper together can there be true prosperity.

While pursuing its own development, China is constantly working for the common prosperity of the world with concrete actions.

So far, China has signed Belt and Road cooperation documents with 151 countries and 32 international organizations. The high-quality development of the Belt and Road Initiative is bringing tangible benefits to the people in participating countries.

To make global development more balanced, China proposed the Global Development Initiative, which has been supported by over 100 countries and international organizations.

On its way to modernization, China stands ready to provide more resources for global development cooperation and work with all other parties to build a global community of development, so as to make broader prospects for the common development of mankind.

Achieving common prosperity involves a long historical process and calls for perseverance. On a new journey, China will strive to achieve shared prosperity for everyone, which will surely provide new development opportunities for the rest of the world and see that the gains of development benefit all peoples in a fair way.

(Web editor: Chang Sha, Du Mingming)
Police work the scene where an officer and a robbery suspect were shot Dec. 8, 2022, in Lombard. (James C. Svehla/for the Chicago Tribune)

A prosecutor said Thursday that no charges will be filed against a suburban Chicago police detective who shot and killed a robbery suspect who had wounded him in a shootout.

Lombard Detective Ryan Postel was legally justified in shooting suspect Pierre Thompson while investigating the robbery at a retail store on Dec. 8, DuPage County States Attorney Robert Berlin announced.

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Thompson was shot in the right chest, the upper left arm and in the right back, Berlin said.

While reponding, Postal yelled hands at Thompson to get him to show his hands, but Thompson raised a pistol, fired six shots at Postal and his partner and continued to run, Berlin said. Postal then opened his door and returned fire while yelling he had been shot. Postal was struck in his right leg and had surgery for his injuries.

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Lombard is about 20 miles (32 kilometers) west of Chicago.
SEOUL, South Korea (AP)  The South Korean and U.S. militaries announced Friday they will hold their biggest joint field exercises in five years later this month, as the U.S. flew a long-range B-1B bomber to the Korean Peninsula in a show of force against North Korea.

The North has threatened to take unprecedently strong action against such exercises. Its likely that it will respond to the upcoming training with missile tests because it views it as an invasion rehearsal.

In a joint news conference, the South Korean and U.S. militaries said they will conduct the Freedom Shield exercise, a computer-simulated command post training, from March 13 to 23 to strengthen their defense and response capabilities, and separate large-scale joint field training exercises called Warrior Shield FTX.

Col. Isaac L. Taylor, a spokesperson for the U.S. military, said the field training will include a combined amphibious drill and that their size would return to the scale of the allies earlier biggest springtime field exercises called Foal Eagle.

The two countries last conducted Foal Eagle in 2018. They then canceled or downsized some combined drills to support now-stalled diplomacy with North Korea and guard against the COVID-19 pandemic. Recently, however, the two countries have been expanding their joint military exercises in the face of an evolving North Korean nuclear threat.

Friday's deployment of a U.S. B-1B was the aircraft's first such flyover in joint aerial training with South Korean warplanes since Feb. 19. North Korea is highly sensitive to the deployment of B-1Bs, which are capable of carrying a large conventional weapons payload. It responded to the previous flights of multiple B-1Bs by test-launching two short-range missiles the next day.

South Koreas Defense Ministry said the use of a B-1B demonstrated the U.S. determination and ability to use the full range of its military capabilities, including nuclear, to defend its allies.

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North Korea test-fired more than 70 missiles last year, the most ever in a single year, and several more this year. Many of the missiles were nuclear-capable weapons designed to strike the U.S. mainland and South Korea.

North Korea has also threatened to use its nuclear weapons preemptively in potential conflicts with the United States and South Korea. The U.S. military has warned it that the use of nuclear weapons will result in the end of that regime.

In January, Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said the U.S. would also increase its deployment of advanced weapons such as fighter jets and bombers to the Korean Peninsula.

Last month, North Koreas Foreign Ministry warned that the U.S. and South Korea would face unprecedentedly persistent and strong counteractions if they carry out planned military drills this year that the North regards as preparations for an aggression war.

Later, Senior North Korean Foreign Ministry official Kwon Jong Gun said the only way to reduce military tensions on the Korean Peninsula is for the United States to reverse its plans to deploy strategic assets in South Korea and halt joint drills with the South. He said if the United States continues its hostile and provocative practices against North Korea, it can be regarded as a declaration of war.

North Korea has previously issued similar rhetoric in times of animosity with the United States and South Korea.
Kourtney Kardashian has dismissed pregnancy speculation once again by sharing the effects undergoing in vitro fertilisation (IVF) has had on her body.

The Poosh founder, 43, took to Instagram on 2 March to share behind-the-scenes photos from a recent campaign for her vitamin and supplement line, Lemme. In the since-deleted slideshow, Kardashian is seen wearing an all-yellow cropped cardigan and high-waisted pants while posing with the latest product from her vitamin brand.

However, one Instagram user asked in the comments section of the post: Is she pregnant

Kardashian decided to respond to the body-shamer by opening up about her IVF journey. "the after affects [sic] of IVF (I only acknowledge this comment bc I do think its important to know how IVF affects womens bodies and its not spoken about much) ... also are we still asking women if theyre pregnant? she commented, in a screenshot captured by Comments By Celebs.

Many fans praised the mother of three for her candid response.

Having gone through IVF and all the body changes etc, its so upsetting when people ask if youre pregnant when youve just gained weight from the fertility meds, wrote one Instagram user. I know a lot of people think its natural or ok to ask but maybe we should make it not ok.

Amen. I believe the rule is unless you see a baby exiting a woman. Do not ask if she is pregnant, said someone else.

NO we are not still asking women if theyre pregnant, especially someone who is or has been openly going through IFV, said a third user, while another wrote: Normalise not commenting on peoples bodies, for any reason, ever.

This isnt the first time Kourtney Kardashian has been forced to shut down pregnancy speculation. The reality star, who documented her fertility journey with husband Travis Barker on season one of Hulus The Kardashians, responded to body-shamers last September after she posted pictures of herself posing in lingerie to Instagram.

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In one of the images, Kardashian appeared to place her hand on her stomach, leading some followers to believe the hand placement was a subtle pregnancy announcement. Wait a minute did I miss that shes pregnant, one user commented.

Nope, but youre missing a womans body, Kardashian replied.

She denied pregnancy claims again in August 2021, when one Instagram user commented on her post: SHES PREGNANT

The Kardashians star replied: Im a woman with a BODY.

Kourtney Kardashian and her husband, Blink-182 drummer Travis Barker, have been open about their journey with infertility. Since before the pair were married in May 2022, Kardashian and Barker have been trying to have a baby.

During an episode of season one of The Kardashians, the entrepreneur was seen speaking to her mother, Kris Jenner, about all the complications surrounding her IVF journey. Travis and I want to have a baby and so my doctor took us down this road of doing IVF and it hasnt been the most amazing experience, she explained.

Every single person on social media is always like: Kourtneys pregnant, Kourtneys pregnant, Kourtneys gained so much weight, Kardashian continued. Im like, its so rude to comment on people when you have no idea what theyre actually going through.

The medication that theyve been giving me, they put me into menopause, she added.

Based off of what? A drug? Jenner asked.

Yes, said Kardashian, before revealing that the medication basically put me into depression.

Since then, she has revealed that the couple have taken a break from IVF treatments. We started an IVF journey, but I stopped. It was a lot. I took a break to just focus on our wedding and getting married, Kardashian told WSJ Magazine in September 2022.

Kardashian and Barker were married in May last year during a lavish wedding ceremony in Portofino, Italy. The reality star shares three children with her former partner, Scott Disick  Mason, 13, Penelope, 10, and Reign, eight. Meanwhile, Barker shares two children with ex-wife Shanna Moakler  Landon, 19, and Alabama, 17  and is the adoptive father of Moakers oldest daughter, Atiana De La Hoya.
The Kremlin accused a Ukrainian sabotage and reconnaissance group of conducting a border incursion in Bryansk Oblast, Russia on 2 March. The incident generated a wave of discontent among Russian officials and ultranationalist groups.

Source: Institute for the Study of War report from 2 March 2023

Details: The ISW described the responses to the incident of various Russian government officials and military bloggers.

Kremlin Spokesperson Dmitry Peskov refused to comment on questions regarding any change of the "special military operation" status to "war" because of the incident.

Wagner Group financier Yevgeny Prigozhin sarcastically observed that Russia had been allowing Ukraine to violate its "red lines".

Russian officials such as Crimean occupation head Sergey Aksyonov and Chechen leader Ramzan Kadyrov called on the Kremlin to expand security measures and conduct retaliatory operations. Kadyrov, for example, called on the Kremlin to target civilians to punish the perpetrators of this incident, effectively calling for Russia to conduct war crimes.

Kremlin-affiliated military bloggers and former proxy officials also called on the Kremlin to designate the Ukrainian Armed Forces and the Russian Volunteer Corps as terrorist organisations, and compared the incident to the Beslan school siege in North Ossetia in 2004.

Russian military bloggers also called on the Kremlin to use this incident to form a Supreme High Command to undertake all political, military, and economic decisions to ensure that Russia wins the war. Other military bloggers also linked the incident to recent Putin statements that the FSB needs to strengthen border protection and advocated for more resources for border units. Some military bloggers called on Russia to form assassination squads to kill Ukrainian officials and form exclusion zones at the border.

The ISW believes that these responses to the Bryansk incident indicate that the Kremlin is incapable of satisfying the demands of Russian ultranationalist groups.

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Quote from the ISW: "These responses indicate that the ultranationalist community is largely dissatisfied with numerous aspects of the Kremlins inability to fully commit to its own false rhetoric that Russia is fighting an "existential war" in Ukraine.

The Kremlin does not have the capacity to satisfy all of these ultranationalists demands and may seize this opportunity to introduce additional security provisions in Russia that would benefit Putin without committing Russia to a higher risk or domestic unrest  such as declaring war."

Background:

On the morning of 2 March, the governor of Bryansk Oblast (Russia), which borders Ukraine, claimed that a Ukrainian sabotage and reconnaissance group (SRG) infiltrated the oblast, took civilians hostage and fired at a car.

The Russian propaganda media quickly latched onto this information, but different sources are sharing contradictory information. There were rumours that Putin would hold an emergency meeting of his Security Council, but his press service denied this.

At the same time, Ukraines border guards said that they controlled the situation on the border with Russia and that the allegations that a "Ukrainian reconnaissance and sabotage group" was operating in the Russian Federation was an informational provocation by the aggressor country.

Later, the Russian Volunteer Corps declared that it was not a "Ukrainian reconnaissance and sabotage group", but their soldiers who entered the territory of the Russian Federation on 2 March to show that free Russian people can fight against Putin's regime with weapons in their hands.

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The Kyiv Independent's investigative reporters Anna Myroniuk and Alexander Khrebet received the #AllForJan Award in Warsaw on March 2 for their investigation into alleged leadership misconduct in the Ukrainian army's International Legion.

The International Legion was established following the full-scale Russian invasion for foreigners who wanted to help defend Ukraine.

The legionnaires interviewed for the investigation spoke of light weapons misappropriation and physical threats toward soldiers. After failing to get a response from Ukrainian law enforcement, the parliament, and President Volodymyr Zelenskys Office, they reached out to journalists as a last resort.

The #AllforJan Award was established in 2020 and "recognizes best media coverage, exceptional and courageous reporting with a great impact on society, and innovative ways of bringing the story to the public." It was named after Slovakian investigative reporter Jan Kuciak who was assassinated in 2018. Kuciak covered the corrupt activity of businessmen and their connections to top-level politicians in Slovakia.

As the #AllforJan Award committee stated, the Kyiv Independent was the first Ukrainian media outlet to break the story despite the sensitivity of the topic during Russia's all-out war.
By Steve Gorman

(Reuters) -A SpaceX Crew Dragon capsule arrived safely at the International Space Station (ISS) after a brief delay early on Friday, carrying two U.S. astronauts, a Russian cosmonaut and a United Arab Emirates astronaut on a six-month science mission.

The autonomously flying spacecraft dubbed Endeavour docked with the space station shortly after 1:40 a.m. EST (0640 GMT) on Friday, about 25 hours after launching from NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Florida.

The coupling was confirmed as the ISS and capsule flew in tandem at 17,500 miles per hour (28,164 kph) about 250 miles (420km) above Earth across the coast of East Africa, according to a live NASA webcast of the rendezvous.

Docking maneuvers fell behind schedule as the Crew Dragon was making its final approach to the station.

SpaceX ground control teams paused the capsule 65 feet (20 metres) from the ISS for 23 minutes while they verified that all 12 latching hooks used to secure the capsule to the docking port were properly deployed, despite a faulty sensor showing a possible malfunction.

The issue was finally resolved after a software override activated by ground teams.

On arrival, the crew went about conducting a standard series of leak checks and pressurizing the passageway between the capsule and the ISS before hatches to the station's interior could be opened, a process expected to take about two hours.

Once aboard, the four-member team faces a busy workload of more than 200 experiments and technology demonstrations, ranging from studies of human cell growth in space to controlling combustible materials in microgravity.

Some of the research will help pave the way for future long-duration human expeditions to the Moon and beyond under NASA's Artemis program, its successor to Apollo, the U.S. space agency said.

The ISS crew also is responsible for performing maintenance and repairs aboard the station, and to prepare for the arrival and departure of other astronauts and cargo payloads.

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Designated Crew 6, the mission marks the sixth long-duration ISS team that SpaceX has flown for NASA since the private rocket venture founded by billionaire Elon Musk began sending American astronauts to orbit in May 2020. Musk is CEO of electric car maker Tesla and social media platform Twitter.

The latest crew was led by Stephen Bowen, 59, a onetime U.S. Navy submarine officer who has logged more than 40 days in orbit as a veteran of three Space Shuttle flights and seven spacewalks. Fellow NASA astronaut Warren "Woody" Hoburg, 37, an electrical engineer, computer science expert and commercial aviator designated, was making his first spaceflight.

The Crew 6 mission also was notable for its inclusion of UAE astronaut Sultan Alneyadi, 41, the second person from his country to fly to space and the first to launch from U.S. soil as part of a long-duration space station team.

Rounding out the four-man Crew 6 was Russian cosmonaut Andrey Fedyaev, 42, who like Alneyadi is an engineer and spaceflight rookie.

(Reporting by Steve Gorman in Los Angeles. Editing by Gerry Doyle)
Julia Bacha and cinematographer Amber Fares interviewing ACLU lawyers outside the courtroom in Austin, Texas Credit - Courtesy Just Vision

Palestinian American Bahia Amawi, a pediatric speech pathologist, lost her job with Austin, TX public schools after refusing to pledge that she would not boycott Israel. Mik Jordahl, a lawyer for Arizonas prison system, lost his, too, after refusing to sign a contract that he would not boycott the country. And Arkansas journalist Alan Leveritt resisted pressure to renounce boycotts of Israeljeopardizing crucial advertising money for his newspaper from the U.S. state.

Director Julia Bachas documentary Boycott follows the stories of these three diverse individuals to examine how U.S. laws punishing political boycotts have spread across the U.S. All three individuals sued their respective states over the restrictions.

The documentary notes that between 2015 and 2021, 33 U.S. states passed legislation or executive orders that allows for punishing individuals or companies that express support for boycotting Israel. In a majority of the states, that applies not only to Israel, but settlements in the Occupied West Bank that are considered illegal under international law.

Calls to boycott Israel have grown in recent years amid concern about its treatment of Palestinians. The Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions movementwhich was formally launched in 2005 by a coalition of about 170 Palestinian grassroots and civil society groupstargets international companies they say are engaged in violations of Palestinian human rights. The movement says it draws its inspiration from boycotts of South Africa during apartheid.

Leading Palestinian, Israeli, and international rights groupsincluding Human Rights Watch, Amnesty International, and BTselemhave called the situation in the Occupied West Bank apartheid, which a U.N. expert echoed last year.

In the U.S., rights groups have warned that the anti-boycott legislation chills free speech and sets a precedent for cracking down on other political boycotts. The powerful right-wing American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) is now pushing states to adopt legislation that would apply to political boycotts covering the fossil fuel, big agriculture, and gun industries, The Guardian reported in November. The Eliminate Boycotts Act has its roots in legislation in more than 30 states that block boycotts of Israel, the newspaper added.

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TIME spoke with Bacha about why the documentary is relevant in light of escalating violence in the West Bank; how these laws are enforced; and the latest on activists fight against anti-boycott bills in state legislatures.

[Boycott was released March 1 on Amazon Prime, Google Play, Apple TV, and Vimeo. This interview has been edited for length and clarity.]

TIME: Why do you think Boycott is important viewing for Americans?

Bacha: Americans are increasingly understanding the situation on the ground in Israel and Palestine and want to be able to take action. A 2022 Gallup poll showed a major increase in the number of Democrats wanting to express solidarity with Palestinians over the last two decades.

That has caused a shift in strategy in the U.S. and Europe. It used to be that the Israel lobby was winning the debate in America, but thats no longer the case. When you cant win the debate anymore, you need to suppress the debate and you dont want that conversation to even start in the first place.

These anti-boycott laws that are spreading here in America are an attempt to stifle support when Americans are increasingly aware of the increased violence that Palestinians are facing on a daily basis. As things continue to deteriorate even further in Israel and Palestine, there will be a desire internationally to join in solidarity with the Palestinian people. That is the trend. That is what weve seen in other cases, like in South Africa.

Bahia Amawi, 2nd from left, with her children and husband as seen in Boycott. Courtesy Just Vision

You have previously worked on documentaries about Palestinian and Israeli life. Why did you decide to focus on anti-boycott laws in the U.S.?

This is our first documentary in the U.S. In 2015, Israel enacted a law punishing Israelis calling for a boycott of the country. That became an inspiration across Europe and the U.S. and we understood that until these measures faced public scrutiny, they would continue to spread.

In most of America today, if you want to keep your public contract, you need to sign a pledge promising that youre not going to boycott Israel. That is a pretty significant addition to your commitments to your employer that have absolutely nothing to do with your professional responsibilities. This is a foreign policy matternow introduced as a condition for employment. Some observers have called this a new McCarthy era where your political viewpoint about Israel and Palestine is monitored. When we saw that there were Americans from different political backgrounds who are challenging these bills, we felt there was a compelling narrative thread to follow.

What do we know about how these laws are enforced?

The only way that you can actually enforce this law is by monitoring speechby going to peoples social media and seeing if they are calling for a boycott, seeing what organizations they are members of, and observing whether they are going to pro-Palestinian protests. So youre talking about a pretty significant surveillance system that needs to be imposed on millions of Americans who hold government contracts, including those on the county and municipal level. In its full form, the laws are pretty terrifying.

But in its practical form, its more like what was faced by newspaper editor Alan Leveritt. If the government doesnt like you, it is more likely that the law will be enforced against you. [The Arkansas Times is a liberal newspaper in a conservative, southern state.] Its a way of punishing political opponents.

After Alan refused to sign the pledge that his newspaper would not boycott Israel, the state stopped advertising in his newspaper.

Alan Leveritt, publisher of the Arkansas Times, sitting in a staff meeting. Courtesy Just Vision

Has anything major changed since the films production wrapped up that is important to know regarding these anti-boycott bills?

We always wondered whether these bills could become templates for attacking boycotts in other issue areas. That has started happening for those with public contracts in many states who may want to boycott the fossil fuel and firearms industries, as well as those related to racial equality and rights for transgender people and reproductive rights.

Republicans are really using the anti-boycott bills as a centerpiece of their culture wars. The language in these bills is often the same. And state lawmakers have publicly spoken about where they got their inspiration from.

When it comes to the lobbying process for the anti-boycott bills regarding Israel, who has been most influential?

One player that Americans are beginning to become aware about is ALEC. They have been incredibly successful at passing cookie cutter bills across state lines. ALEC is an evangelical organization and many of its members push very socially conservative ideas. ALEC helped the anti-boycott bills targeting Palestinian human rights to spread quickly across the country with little scrutiny or debate.

What made you focus on the three characters at the center of the story?

We chose to focus on Bahia, Mik, and Alan because it helped you see the diversity of individuals affected by the anti-boycott laws.

Mik Jordahl and son at the US-Mexico border. Courtesy Just Vision

Bahia is Palestinian American; she has family in the West Bank. This Sunday, when settlers went on a rampage in Huwara, she was scared for her family. If this was happening two years ago while she still worked in the Texas school system, she would have been scared to speak about it because she could have been violating a contractwhich prevents her from being able to express solidarity with her own family in the West Bank.

We also have Mik Jordahl, the lawyer in Arizona. He hadnt been particularly active with pro-Palestinian politics. He visited the West Bank with his son and once he saw what was happening, he decided that he didnt want his money to go toward companies that were benefiting from the oppression of the Palestinian people.

Alan Leveritt symbolizes what I think is probably where the vast majority of Americans are today. They might not be very involved or feel that they know much about Israel and Palestine. Its not a priority. He has a local newspaper that covers Arkansas stories. Thats his focus. And then this bill appeared. Hes not boycotting Israel but he knew right away that this was a complete violation of the freedom of the press.

Theres a scene in Boycott where you capture a top Arkansas Democrat explaining that he voted for an anti-boycott law because he didnt know much about it, and in hindsight that he would have voted against it. Can you tell us more?

Our research underscores that moment as pretty typical. For many lawmakers, including Democrats, they were presented with a bill introduced to them as pro-Israel and they just signed it.

This isnt just about the Palestinian movement, right? This is about the First Amendment. This idea that they can just pass bills challenging something so fundamental to the identity of Americathe First Amendment, freedom of speechshows that there really needs to be broader accountability.
The countrys second-largest pharmacy chain said it will not dispense abortion pills in several states  including some without current restrictions  after coming under pressure from state officials and anti-abortion advocates.

Supporters of abortion rights say the move by Walgreens isnt a surprise, but it shows the complicated situation facing states, patients, pharmacies and pharmacists since the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade last summer.

The decision from Walgreens comes after 20 Republican state attorneys general in a letter last month warned of legal consequences if the company started distributing the drug.

A Walgreens spokesman said the company has responded to each attorney general who signed the letter, telling them the company will not dispense mifepristone  a medication used to end pregnancy  in its brick-and-mortar pharmacies and will not mail it to those states.

Among them were four states  Alaska, Iowa, Kansas and Montana  where medication abortion remains legal due to court challenges.

In Kansas, for example, voters said the right to an abortion is protected by the state constitution. A state law prohibited anyone except a physician from dispensing mifepristone, but it has since been blocked in court.

Abortion is also legal in Montana, and the states requirement for a patient to have an in-person visit with a physician before being prescribed mifepristone is being challenged.

But Walgreens will refrain from dispensing the drug in those states, citing the complex legal situation.

This is a significant victory for the pro-life cause and for womens health, Kansas Attorney General Kris Kobach (R) said in a statement. The dispensing of these pills without a supervising physician present would expose women to complications and potentially to coercion as well. Im grateful Walgreens has responded quickly and reasonably and intends to fully comply with the law.

After the Biden administration in January moved to allow retail pharmacies to dispense mifepristone, Walgreens said it planned to seek the federal certification to do so  but only in the states where it is legal.

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Walgreens spokesman Fraser Engerman said the company will distribute mifepristone only in those jurisdictions where it is legal and operationally feasible.

Walgreens has no plans to use its mail order pharmacy business to dispense mifepristone.

At this time, we are working through the certification process, which includes the evaluation of our pharmacy network to determine where we will dispense Mifepristone and training protocols and updates for our pharmacists, Walgreens wrote in its response to Kobach.

Walgreens does not intend to dispense Mifepristone within your state and does not intend to ship Mifepristone into your state from any of our pharmacies. If this approach changes, we will be sure to notify you.

Medication abortion is the nations most common method for ending a pregnancy, and mifepristone has been approved by the Food and Drug Administration as safe and effective for more than 20 years.

Even so, the availability of medication abortion today depends on state laws. Ever since the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade, an increasing number of states have restricted abortion completely or enacted barriers to medication abortion.

In addition, a looming decision by a federal judge in Texas could undo mifepristones approval and result in it being taken off the market. A decision in that case is expected any day.

Kirsten Moore, executive director of the Expanding Medication Abortion Access Project, said the Walgreens decision is disappointing and will hurt patients in the states where abortion is still legal.

Still, she said she understands the companys position. Until theres a national legislative fix clarifying the right to mifepristone, there will be too much uncertainty, she said.

These companies are in a place right now where they can legitimately  say, there is a lot of chaos out here, were going to take a beat and see how things shake out for the foreseeable future before we spend any of our corporate resources certifying for something that might or might not be available, that might be pulled off the market in a weeks time, Moore said.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to The Hill.
Key Insights

Using the 2 Stage Free Cash Flow to Equity, Lendlease Group fair value estimate is AU$11.63

Lendlease Group is estimated to be 36% undervalued based on current share price of AU$7.41

Our fair value estimate is 14% lower than Lendlease Group's analyst price target of AU$9.96

In this article we are going to estimate the intrinsic value of Lendlease Group (ASX:LLC) by estimating the company's future cash flows and discounting them to their present value. The Discounted Cash Flow (DCF) model is the tool we will apply to do this. Models like these may appear beyond the comprehension of a lay person, but they're fairly easy to follow.

Companies can be valued in a lot of ways, so we would point out that a DCF is not perfect for every situation. Anyone interested in learning a bit more about intrinsic value should have a read of the Simply Wall St analysis model.

View our latest analysis for Lendlease Group

The Calculation

We're using the 2-stage growth model, which simply means we take in account two stages of company's growth. In the initial period the company may have a higher growth rate and the second stage is usually assumed to have a stable growth rate. In the first stage we need to estimate the cash flows to the business over the next ten years. Where possible we use analyst estimates, but when these aren't available we extrapolate the previous free cash flow (FCF) from the last estimate or reported value. We assume companies with shrinking free cash flow will slow their rate of shrinkage, and that companies with growing free cash flow will see their growth rate slow, over this period. We do this to reflect that growth tends to slow more in the early years than it does in later years.

A DCF is all about the idea that a dollar in the future is less valuable than a dollar today, so we discount the value of these future cash flows to their estimated value in today's dollars:

10-year free cash flow (FCF) forecast

2023 2024 2025 2026 2027 2028 2029 2030 2031 2032 Levered FCF (A$, Millions) AU$58.0m AU$220.1m AU$279.8m AU$602.9m AU$697.9m AU$767.6m AU$825.6m AU$874.2m AU$915.2m AU$950.5m Growth Rate Estimate Source Analyst x1 Analyst x3 Analyst x3 Analyst x1 Analyst x1 Est @ 9.98% Est @ 7.57% Est @ 5.88% Est @ 4.69% Est @ 3.86% Present Value (A$, Millions) Discounted @ 10.0% AU$52.7 AU$182 AU$210 AU$412 AU$433 AU$433 AU$424 AU$408 AU$388 AU$367

("Est" = FCF growth rate estimated by Simply Wall St)

Present Value of 10-year Cash Flow (PVCF) = AU$3.3b

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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 (1.9%) 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 10.0%.

Terminal Value (TV)= FCF 2032  (1 + g)  (r  g) = AU$951m (1 + 1.9%)  (10.0% 1.9%) = AU$12b

Present Value of Terminal Value (PVTV)= TV / (1 + r)10= AU$12b ( 1 + 10.0%)10= AU$4.6b

The total value, or equity value, is then the sum of the present value of the future cash flows, which in this case is AU$7.9b. The last step is to then divide the equity value by the number of shares outstanding. Relative to the current share price of AU$7.4, the company appears quite good value at a 36% discount to where the stock price trades currently. Valuations are imprecise instruments though, rather like a telescope - move a few degrees and end up in a different galaxy. Do keep this in mind.

dcf

The Assumptions

We would point out that the most important inputs to a discounted cash flow are the discount rate and of course the actual cash flows. You don't have to agree with these inputs, I recommend redoing the calculations yourself and playing with them. The DCF also does not consider the possible cyclicality of an industry, or a company's future capital requirements, so it does not give a full picture of a company's potential performance. Given that we are looking at Lendlease Group as potential shareholders, the cost of equity is used as the discount rate, rather than the cost of capital (or weighted average cost of capital, WACC) which accounts for debt. In this calculation we've used 10.0%, which is based on a levered beta of 1.358. 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 Lendlease Group

Strength

Debt is well covered by .

Weakness

Interest payments on debt are not well covered.

Dividend is low compared to the top 25% of dividend payers in the Real Estate market.

Opportunity

Annual earnings are forecast to grow faster than the Australian market.

Good value based on P/S ratio and estimated fair value.

Threat

Debt is not well covered by operating cash flow.

Dividends are not covered by earnings.

Revenue is forecast to grow slower than 20% per year.

Looking Ahead:

Although the valuation of a company is important, it is only one of many factors that you need to assess for a company. DCF models are not the be-all and end-all of investment valuation. 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. For instance, if the terminal value growth rate is adjusted slightly, it can dramatically alter the overall result. What is the reason for the share price sitting below the intrinsic value? For Lendlease Group, there are three further items you should consider:

Risks: Every company has them, and we've spotted 1 warning sign for Lendlease Group you should know about. Management:Have insiders been ramping up their shares to take advantage of the market's sentiment for LLC's future outlook? Check out our management and board analysis with insights on CEO compensation and governance factors. 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. The Simply Wall St app conducts a discounted cash flow valuation for every stock on the ASX every day. If you want to find the calculation for other stocks just search here.

Have feedback on this article? Concerned about the content? Get in touch with us directly. Alternatively, email editorial-team (at) simplywallst.com.



This article by Simply Wall St is general in nature. We provide commentary based on historical data and analyst forecasts only using an unbiased methodology and our articles are not intended to be financial advice. It does not constitute a recommendation to buy or sell any stock, and does not take account of your objectives, or your financial situation. We aim to bring you long-term focused analysis driven by fundamental data. Note that our analysis may not factor in the latest price-sensitive company announcements or qualitative material. Simply Wall St has no position in any stocks mentioned.

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The FBI questioned Leonardo DiCaprio in 2018 about his relationship with fugitive businessman Jho Low, according to newly revealed documents.

Low has been accused by international authorities of stealing billions from a sovereign wealth fund known as the 1Malaysia Development Berhad, or 1MDB. In previously unreported documents revealed by Bloomberg on Thursday, DiCaprio shared that he met Low in a nightclub in 2010 and the two became friends.

Low not only showered the actor with gifts  including a first edition of The Great Gatsby and the Oscar that Marlon Brando won for On the Waterfront  but partied with him and financed his film The Wolf of Wall Street. They even met each others mothers.

I was working for him, and that business also translates into being social, DiCaprio told a grand jury, according to Bloomberg. And so we saw each other more, and there was more interaction.

Low was hit with an Interpol notice for his arrest in 2016 and is believed to be hiding out in China. Former Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak was convicted of money laundering and abuse of power as part of the 1MDB scheme in 2018.

DiCaprio wasnt the only celebrity with whom Low developed a relationship. Kim Kardashian reportedly told the FBI in 2019 that Low gave her then-fiance Kris Humphries $100,000 for fireworks for their 2011 wedding. He also briefly dated supermodel Miranda Kerr.

Low showered DiCaprio with gifts and financed his 2013 film

Low showered DiCaprio with gifts and financed his 2013 film "The Wolf of Wall Street."

These relationships were revealed as part of a separate case against rapper Prakazrel Pras Michel, who is accused of directing foreign financing into Barack Obamas 2012 presidential campaign and lobbying on behalf of Low and the Chinese government.

Low referred to DiCaprio as L-Dizzle, according to messages revealed in the FBI documents. They discussed a $1 billion fund for future projects, as well as an environmentally friendly Belize resort and a Warner Bros. theme park in Asia featuring rides based on DiCaprios films.

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DiCaprio, who told the FBI that he wasnt sure how Low made his fortune, said that his publicist Shawn Sachs had hired someone to vet the businessman. DiCaprio said he didnt thoroughly read the background check before starting their many dealings together.

Usually, DiCaprio relies on his reps to read the reports and give him an okay to continue to work with someone, wrote FBI agents in the documents obtained by Bloomberg. In this case, his reps gave him the green light to continue to work with Low.

Sachs did not immediately respond to a request for comment, nor did a manager for DiCaprio.

DiCaprio said he started to distance himself from Low when news of his alleged crimes emerged in 2015. The FBI wrote that DiCaprio was also embarrassed after Low promised to donate a Roy Lichtenstein piece to his foundation and it never materialized.

DiCaprios attorneys met with the FBI in 2017 after prosecutors filed a forfeiture action against Lows assets  which included the rights to The Wolf of Wall Street  to hand over the gifts the actor had received. Their relationship has since come to an end.

Related...
Amid unfounded claims of voter fraud, the Shasta County Board of Supervisors has canceled its contract with Dominion Voting Systems. (Anita Chabria)

To the editor: In your article on Shasta County moving to remove Dominion voting machines, you use the phrase "unproven voter fraud claims." Given the repeated recounts, testimony by election officials, court cases and even the derision of Fox personalities who then would go on air and lend support to the claims, I think it is well past time to call those claims what they are. They are not "unproven," which seems to imply we just haven't quite found that proof yet, but "disproven" or "false," for which we have a preponderance of evidence, while the "unproven" camp has none. Word choice is important, and it is time for our leading papers to label this accurately.

Melissa Walsh, West Hills

..

To the editor: We often hear less-populated rural counties in Northern California complain that they dont have a voice in Sacramento. After reading that one of Shasta Countys supervisors is seeking voting policy advice from conspiracy-theorist and pillow manufacturer Mike Lindell, all I can say is  thats not going to help your cause.

Kendall Wolf, Encino

..

To the editor: It appears likely that the Dominion voting machine company will win its $1.6-billion court case against Fox News. Wouldn't it be nice if Dominion agreed to accept a judgment of one dollar  if Fox News would simply eliminate the misleading word news" in its title? I mean, its just one word, isn't it?

Steve Arvin, Los Angeles

..

To the editor: I could not help but note the juxtaposition of two L.A. Times articles in the March 2 paper. What do both of these stories tell us about America, and in turn, the developments in Spain? Well, clearly one nation is evolving into a healthy, vibrant democratic society, while the other is devolving into a deeply regressive, and some might say repressive, one. The attack on the integrity of the electoral process, which necessarily leads to voter suppression, coupled with the attack on a woman's bodily autonomy, is a sure indicator that freedom here is threatened.

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In 2023, one can look to Spain as a role model on how representative democracies should function. Tragically, America has abandoned its preeminence in that department.

Bob Teigan, Santa Susana

This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.
Area residents and high school students prepare to leave Hinsdale South High School in Darien after the District 86 Board of Education upheld its mask requirement in schools on Feb. 10, 2022. (John J. Kim / Chicago Tribune)

Unruly public behavior at school board meetings is among the key issues highlighted in newly released polling data from the fifth annual State of Education Report released Thursday by the Illinois Education Association.

Fake news and disinformation are fueling fears, and thats pitting school communities against one another, often over something that isnt even true, IEA President Kathi Griffin said.

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School board members in Illinois serve without pay, Griffin said, and they did not sign up to be berated in an environment that theyre trying to improve.

To have people oftentimes from outside the community come in and disrupt the meetings in a way that does not allow our school boards to be able to do the job they were elected to do  its vitriolic, Griffin said. I am pleased that at least 66% (of poll respondents) say thats not how school boards should be run.

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One in 5 Illinois residents said there has been fighting, yelling or contention at their local school board meetings, according to data collected between Jan. 19 and Jan. 24 by pollsters Jill Normington of Normington-Petts, a Democrat, and former Illinois GOP chairman Pat Brady of Next Generation Strategies.

Of 1,000 residents surveyed, 44% said they have heard about the fighting, yelling or contention at school board meetings, and 66% said they dont approve of that behavior at the meetings.

Linda Burke, a longtime resident of Hinsdale High School District 86, where there have been several heated board meetings on topics such as critical race theory and diversity, equity and inclusion, said theres a fine line between disagreeing with someone and disrespecting them.

Im not bothered by individual public commenters, but I am bothered anytime there is a crowd of people yelling when others have the floor, said Burke, who frequently attends the meetings held on the second Thursday of each month. That impresses me as the behavior of a mob and interrupting speakers with shouts and catcalls and insults. And this has happened at D86.

During Thursdays virtual news conference announcing the data, Griffin also spoke about poll takers concerns regarding shortages of teachers and education support staff, with survey results showing 81% of respondents saying students will perform at a worse level as a result of the deficit.

It is at a crisis level, and it is only making jobs in public education more difficult, Griffin said. Educators continue to work tirelessly with the goal of success, both academically and social-emotionally, for each of their students. The educator shortage has caused this goal to be difficult to attain as we continue to recover from the many issues the pandemic has caused.

The IEA poll also asked about critical race theory, with 50% of the residents surveyed opposing a law that bans teaching the conceptual framework that considers the impact of historical laws and social structure on present-day racial inequalities.

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Griffin said part of what feeds the commotion surrounding CRT in schools is a lack of information  50% of the 1,000 people surveyed said teaching CRT should be banned, even though it hasnt actually been taught.

When people say, We should not teach CRT my first question is, What do you think CRT is? Griffin said. Because I know critical race theory is a theory that is taught at a graduate level in college. We do not teach theories in our pre-K-12 system. Its really important that people are asked that question.

Of the respondents in the survey, 62% were white, 15% were Black, 15% were Hispanic and 5% were Asian.

Another question on the IEA poll was whether people support students being taught about slavery and racism as part of American history.

Oftentimes people think if you are teaching about racism, you are telling people that they are racist, which is not true. What you are sharing is our history, Griffin said. Learning what has happened in the past and the errors that were made will allow us to not make those errors in the future  knowledge is so powerful.

The results showed that 77% of respondents favored teaching about slavery in the U.S. and its impacts while 72% favored teaching about racism.

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What politician gets 72% on anything right? I was pleased to see the results for that question, Griffin said.

Griffin noted that the IEA was not just focusing on people who have children in schools but surveyed a diverse set of residents.

Briana Bill, a La Grange resident who lives in Lyons Township High School District 204, said she doesnt have children in the school system. But in the last two years, shes heard more about school board issues than she has since moving to La Grange in 1996.

I learned that board meetings are aired on Facebook, so I got on a couple, Bill said. They were loud and there were people standing in the back  groups that looked, I thought, a bit threatening for La Grange, at least.

Bill, now retired, ran public meetings when she worked for the local Environmental Protection Agency.

I was the guy at the front that got yelled at, she said with a laugh. Its just so not cool. We have to find ways of getting community input that doesnt result in yelling. Its usually not very effective. And based on my experience, people who are mad about something are the ones that (attend).

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Bill said she felt compelled to get informed ahead of the April 4 school board elections because the stakes are higher.

School board members can potentially become representatives and senators at the state or the federal level and we need a good candidate pool to pick from when were looking at those positions, she said.

Thomas Bertrand, executive director of the Illinois Association of School Boards, said the pandemic launched a lot of tense school board conversations about masking and COVID-19 restrictions.

Bertrand said some pockets of the state saw more combative meetings than others on a variety of hot-button topics, which derailed actual efforts to improve school districts.

I think sometimes people feel frustrated that they arent being heard and, frankly, the local school board meeting is one place you can be heard, he said. You might not feel like you can be heard in Washington, you might not feel like you can be heard in Springfield  but you may feel like you can be heard locally.

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zsyed@chicagotribune.com
Progressives have turned their fire toward President Biden for siding with Republicans on a District of Columbia crime bill that overturns its governing bodys legislation.

Liberal lawmakers and activists were fuming on Friday over what they see as the presidents disregard for the citys autonomy after they say he promised not to veto a resolution that would alter the criminal code.

They argue Bidens engaging in doublespeak  offering support for statehood on paper while also working against an elected bodys governing abilities  and are concerned that hes jeopardizing the interests of hundreds of thousands of residents.

This aint it. DC has a right to govern itself, like any other state or municipality. If the President supports DC statehood, he should govern like it, Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) wrote in a tweet, siding with advocates who have been encouraging Biden to use the bully pulpit to press the issue more strongly.

Plenty of places pass laws the President may disagree with, she continued. He should respect the peoples gov of DC just as he does elsewhere.

Rep. Pramila Jayapal (D-Wash.), who heads the Progressive Caucus in the House, said she was deeply disappointed with the position Biden abruptly announced on Thursday, offering a rare and strongly-worded public rebuke of the president.

This is simple: The District of Columbia must be allowed to govern itself, Jayapal wrote in a statement on behalf of the caucus. Democrats commitment to home rule should apply regardless of the substance of the local legislation.

Both House liberals views echo those who say the president wasnt right to meddle in the city councils measure when, on Thursday, Biden said he would sign off on a potential Senate vote that would theoretically cancel out the city councils move.

Taking to Twitter, Biden tried to spell out in simple terms what many residents agree are both nuanced and politically-charged issues: statehood and, more broadly, crime. He alluded to the national aspect of the latter by mentioning carjackings, a term that causes a visceral reaction for some voters across the country.

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I support D.C. Statehood and home-rule  but I dont support some of the changes D.C. Council put forward over the Mayors objections  such as lowering penalties for carjackings, Biden tweeted. If the Senate votes to overturn what D.C. Council did  Ill sign it.

Old school Biden

For all the outrage escalating among progressives on Capitol Hill, activists were arguably even more spirited in their opposition. For years, many had been pushing the president and fellow Democrats to go to bat against Republicans over statehood, and while the GOP House and moderates in the Democratic-controlled Senate make that an unlikely prospect, they continue to rally for it. Some reiterated the fact that Biden said he supports the issue.

I dont think he should insert himself here, said Chaz Beasley (D), a former state representative from North Carolina whos advocated for progressive issues.

I dont think theres any need for any level of D.C. politician at the Capitol building or at the White House to say were going to step in here, he said. Let the D.C. voters decide.

Bidens decision was particularly startling to progressives who see him as making strides in other areas to adapt to the changing political climate and preferences of many in his party.

One progressive communications strategist suggested that despite the apparent evolution on other topics, the impulse to side with the GOP was reminiscent of old school Biden, referencing the presidents former harder-line approach to crime.

Biden has caught heat from his partys left flank for his Senate leadership on a 1990s-era crime bill, which Democrats including Biden himself later said had problematic elements. He also made an effort to fully detach from the defund movement around police reform and has said explicitly that he does not support that view, putting him at times at odds with the activist side of his party.

Prominent progressives, for the most part, have backed away from much of that rhetoric, mindful not to reignite what led to a debate over down ballot losses in recent midterm cycles. And lawmakers airing frustrations were careful to make the subject more about home rule and statehood rather than explicitly discussing violent crime or other areas like sentencing penalties.

I feel like people now, in DC, are a little pissed, the progressive strategist said. Its anti-democratic, it really is.

Some Democrats back Bidens move

But while some of the most outspoken liberals in and out of Congress were quick to admonish the president, other Democrats offered quiet support of Bidens decision.

Among Bidens defenders, theres a strong belief that he needs to do everything he can to fend off the GOPs expected onslaught of crime attacks, and that appearing too tolerant or forgiving around offenses right before the 2024 campaign launch isnt wise.

I think the president did the right thing here, said Douglas Wilson, a Democratic operative. It would successfully be able to paint the president, as well as every Democrat down the ticket, as soft on crime.

Biden is preparing to launch another White House campaign against a Republican Party eager to make it a signature issue for another cycle, and some Democrats point to recent losses within their party as signs that a stronger approach is needed.

Democrats lost House seats in the November midterms in areas of blue New York, and more recently, Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot, also a Democrat, lost her reelection campaign, in part, over her handling of the issue in her city.

We have to have a balance here, Wilson said. We have to remember the Republicans are masterful at what I call simplicity politics. Theyre able to take an issue like crime and say hey, Democrats control a majority of major cities in this country, and in those cities we have crime going up.

And then youre going to have the president veto this bill? It would have destroyed us in 2024, he said.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to The Hill.
This historic district in Pennsylvania was once the hub for the Moravian Church in America.

Paul S. Bartholomew

The early Moravians were adventurers, and by some accounts, the worlds first feminists. They left Europe for America in the 18th century and brought their faith, which welcomed people of all backgrounds and gave women and men equal rights (two things that were unheard of at the time), along with them.

The hub for the Moravian Churchs work in the Americas was Bethlehem, Pennsylvania. The historic site, which is now called Historic Moravian Bethlehem District, encompasses the communitys oldest surviving buildings and preserves what was once the center of Moravian religious activity. The district, which was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 2012, is now being nominated for the UNESCO World Heritage List.

Paul S. Bartholomew

Bethlehem became the religious and administrative center of Moravian activities in North America. It consists of religious, domestic, and industrial components, showing the full scope of Moravian community life in a North American context, reported a National Park Service press release posted on Feb. 17, 2023.

The nomination, which was recently submitted by the National Park Service, will be considered by the UNESCO World Heritage Committee in the summer of 2024. The nomination is unique in that it includes two other historic Moravian settlements: Herrnhut in Germany and Gracehill in Northern Ireland. If approved by the committee, the three sites will join a Moravian settlement in Denmark (which is already a World Heritage Site) to form a single UNESCO listing for the Moravian Church Settlements.

Paul S. Bartholomew

These settlements, which showcase the spread of the Movarian Church in the 18th century, also protect the Moravian's historic buildings  many of which are still being used for their original purpose. In the Historic Moravian Bethlehem District, there are more original structures than Colonial Williamsburg and the districts 1741 community house is believed to be the largest 18th-century log structure in continuous use in the United States.

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The entire district, which spans around 14 acres in the city of Bethlehem, is a true reflection of the 18th century community. According to the Historic Bethlehem Museum & Sites, Today, a Moravian from the mid-1700s would feel at home walking the streets of Historic Moravian Bethlehem.

Courtesy of Historic Hotel Bethlehem

If approved and added to the list of UNESCO World Heritage Sites, the Moravian Church Settlements would join iconic destinations like the Taj Mahal in India and the Galapagos Islands in Ecuador. And the Historic Moravian Bethlehem District would join the small, exclusive list of just 24 World Heritage Sites in the U.S.  a list that includes the Grand Canyon and the Statue of Liberty.

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Read the original article on Travel & Leisure.
wes borland suit dismissed - Credit: Scott Dudelson/Getty Images

A judge has dismissed Limp Bizkit guitarist Wes Borlands request to sanction his ex-wife, Carre Kwong Callaway over opinions expressed in an album review, as well as an interview she gave to Bandcamp Daily.

In January, a judge heard Borlands claims that Callaway, a musician who records as Queen Kwong, violated an anti-defamation clause in their divorce agreement by describing how a song on her recent Couples Only album referenced the grief she felt for a cat that had died after Borland made her leave the marital home within three days with the rescue animal. Borland, who also fronts his own band, Big Dumb Face, also objected to a Flood magazine review that suggested one song, Emdr Atm, could have been about his alleged gaslighting of her. The statements, he claimed, damaged the public image and reputation of the Break Stuff and Nookie songwriter.

More from Rolling Stone

Shed been living with him in Detroit, with a whole host of cats theyd rescued, only to be forced out of the house theyd made their home, the review said. She was given three days to move out, to rehouse all the cats, to say goodbye to a life and a marriage and a husband she thought she knew. She was also ostracized by those in the music industry who felt they stood more to gain by being friends with Borland than with her.

The court does not find that [Callaway] made any defamatory statements regarding [Borland], Judge Helal A. Farhat of the Third Judicial Circuit, Family Division, in Wayne County in Michigan said in the ruling. In the Bandcamp Daily article, [Callaway] expressed her opinions, frustrations, and the struggles of her divorce from [Borland]. Ms. Callaway did not specifically indicate that [Borland] was the cause of her being broke and homeless. All other statements referenced in [Borlands] motion are either [Callaways] reflection of her feelings or insinuations made by authors. Statement [sic] that simply do not rise to the level of being defamatory. As to the Flood magazine article, same was imply an assessment of [Callaways] music and the authors conclusionary statements based on the original Bandcamp article interview.

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Borland had asked the judge to punish Callaway by fining her $5,000 and making her pay costs and attorney fees for the motion. This action is simply a tactic to bully, intimidate, and silence me, Callaway said of the motion at the time. This is an attempt to financially ruin me, exhaust my physical well-being and denigrate my credibility with the explicit intent of causing harm to my career.

Callaway now tells Rolling Stone she hopes she can get back to talking about her Couples Only album and that the ruling sends a message to Borland and others filing what she calls frivolous motions.

I made a record that Im very proud of, she says. Its painfully real and honest, and I think that was enough to cause Wes discomfort and displeasure. As a result, he attempted to weaponize my records lyrics and press coverage against me in a frivolous legal action. This was an act of intimidation via a court system with the intent of disrupting my career and shutting me up. Which, unfortunately, is a common bullying tactic used by people in positions of power to evade accountability and intimidate women into silence.

Though it was an emotionally and financially exhaustive battle, Im glad I chose to fight it, she continues. The judge made the right decision and freedom of speech and art prevailed. Im relieved to be walking away with my voice and I hope this outcome will deter similar attacks against women and artists in the future.

Borlands lawyer did not return Rolling Stones request for comment.

A few years after Queen Kwong first attracted indie-rock fans as an opening act for Nine Inch Nails and the release of her debut, Bad Lieutenant, Callaway married Borland in 2016, and the couple lived in Detroit. They divorced three years later, with Borland briefly becoming a member of Queen Kwongs touring group. In a 2017 NME interview, he claimed his presence in the band was harmful to Callaways career. [Being in Limp Bizkit has] definitely been destructive to my wifes indie band, Queen Kwong, he said. Having me associated with it has cost her.

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The Little Wagnerite youth club has been opened in Saint Petersburg. The building operates on a base of the Wagner Group PMC, which is orchestrated by Yevgeny Prigozhin, a Russian businessman.

Source: The Bumaga (Paper) media outlet from Saint Petersburg

Details: The club was opened in early 2023, and its first meeting was held on 29 January. There were only a little more than 10 people there.

Members of parliament and law enforcement officers come to these meetings with children, and they offer the children to play a military UAV simulator. Organisers of this club have a goal to "instil love to the motherland" to pupils and students.

Quote: "MPs of the State Duma [the lower house of the Russian parliament  ed.]  Vasily Vlasov and Maria Butina, pro-governmental blogger Vitaly Veresk who held lectures about tuning of arms on the base of the Wagner Group Centre, and blogger Yury Podolyaka have visited the Little Wagnerite centre for over a month."

More details: Viktor Shmarkovsky, a Special Forces soldier, was present at another meeting. He was introduced as the head of the KUOS-Vympel foundation for state security special forces veterans. This organisation considers itself a successor of a department of the KGB.

Shmarkovsky has said that he "radiated delta waves", and his brain was capable of surviving any hit "because of liquid gathered in certain zones". He has added that he was "a child of the first nuclear bomb".

Alexander Tronin, an organiser of the project, has stated that currently, about 60 people are members of the youth club.

Background:

In November 2022, the Wagner Group Centre related to Yevgeny Prigozhin, Russian businessman who is also known as "Putins chef", was opened in Saint Petersburg.

On 6 February 2023, the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine recognised the Wagner Group as an international criminal organisation.

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






Striking members of the National Education Union (NEU) South East Region - Andrew Matthews/PA Wire

Were teachers really looking for an excuse to avoid having to teach during the pandemic? That was apparently the view of former education secretary Sir Gavin Williamson back in May 2020 when he was trying to reopen schools  one of the many revelations in the Lockdown Files released by this paper so far.

For plenty of individual teachers, the accusation doesnt wash. Many of them understood right away the disastrous consequences that would come from closing classrooms: lost learning, failures in safe-guarding and, in the worst cases, children falling off the school register completely.

But in fairness to Williamson, his criticism didnt seem to concern teachers, but the unions that claim to represent them. And from the start it was clear that, to them, pupils were a secondary concern.

Theres little denying that Williamson was negotiating with union representatives who were intent on doing all they could to keep their members out of the workplace.

Unions fought the return to the classroom at every single juncture. Despite schools effectively being closed for months at the start of the pandemic, they labelled proposals to reopen them in June 2020 as reckless (Covid cases were plummeting at the time).

The National Education Union created an escalation app in November 2020 in an attempt to organise strikes, as it aimed to shut down schools in the second lockdown.

Then in the lead-up to the third lockdown  the longest Britain would experience  the unions were adamant once again that in the name of public health teachers could not return to the classroom.

This battle was eventually lost by Williamson and won by the unions. Even a year later, there was an active push for early dismissal and delayed school returns due to the Omicron variant.

Former Education Secretary Gavin Williamson - John Sibley - WPA Pool/Getty Images

Experiencing this pushback first-hand, Williamson will have clocked early on the importance of keeping schools open: not just because of the horrible implications for children, but because once teachers went home, he knew how difficult it would be to bring them back to the classroom.

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And sadly, the consequences of allowing core services like teaching to be watered down or cancelled all together have not been contained to lockdowns. The shutdown mentality lives on as we go about normal life.

Suspending education at any time should be considered a huge upset, only done as a last resort. Yet the idea that childrens learning can simply be put on hold appears to have become normalised.

This weeks strike action from the NEU is not a stand-alone walkout, but one of seven voted on by members across England and Wales, affecting schools up to four times each this winter.

The complacent assumption is that working parents can learn to live with this. After all, they did it in lockdown to combat a pandemic, so they can do it when the unions are demanding changes to their members contracts.

This is not just naive, but throws up, once again, the blind spots that were on show during the pandemic: middle class perspectives that fail to acknowledge the parents who cannot work from home to look after their off-school children.

Many do actually need to show up to their workplace to bring in their days wages. Unfortunately, these people are still being overlooked.

The received wisdom goes: if the lockdown button could be so easily pushed to send people home for months on end, why cant parents play teacher again for just a few days? Forget that it might not have been easy or pleasant  it was doable. So why not push that button a few more times?

Of course for many parents, it wasnt doable. Income was lost, their childrens educational experience fell short. Some 93,000 pupils have gone missing altogether.

The former education secretary was mocked by his fellow ministers for wanting to see schools reopened. But Williamson, it turns out, was correct in his assessment, and now we are going to spend years discovering the harrowing effects that lockdowns had on kids.

Yet at a time when we should be desperately playing catch-up on what was lost, the unions risk causing further pain. The biggest impact of these strikes  regardless of whats negotiated between union representatives and government ministers  could be a further widening of educational attainment gaps.

This is not uniquely an issue for the education sector. Lockdowns have convinced plenty of professional groups that its ok to put core services on hold.

Those assumptions about spare rooms and home offices apply to the transport sector, as well, where unions keep turning down comparatively generous pay offers, and simply cancel train services instead.

It was a separate, yet equally painful battle to get GPs to return to face-to-face appointments as restrictions eased. The effective suspension of so much non-Covid medical care at the height of the pandemic has seen NHS waiting lists soar to 7.2 million in England alone.

Yet medical staff and ambulance drivers are repeatedly walking out of work to demand more pay, as local trusts encourage patients to keep their distance from the health service once again.

Indeed its difficult to see how this winter of discontent could have been conducted so confidently by the unions without the lockdowns that preceded it.

The terrible disruption that has been caused to childrens learning (and their parents lives), to commuters and to patients waiting for treatment should be a national scandal. Instead, too many people just shrug their shoulders and attempt to put up with it.

Its one of the most important revelations of the Lockdown Files to date: we can now see, in their own words, how ministers appeared to be crafting lockdown policy with politics, rather than people, in mind.

How can anyone be surprised that 18 months on, other groups are using that playbook, requiring people to stay home, and away, in the name of todays political battles? The sacrifices continue  childrens education included.
The "Love Is Blind" star shares how opening up about body image changed her family's dynamic. (Photo: Getty Images; designed by Yahoo Life)

It Figures is Yahoo Life's body image series, delving into the journeys of influential and inspiring figures as they explore what body confidence, body neutrality and self-love mean to them.

Deepti Vempati is a few years out from gaining overnight fame as one of Netflix's breakout stars from Season 2 of the dating show Love Is Blind. She still calls the experience "the biggest test of my life."

While the risk that is joining a reality television show with a premise to fall in love and get engaged to a stranger before even seeing them face-to-face is evident, Vempati tells Yahoo Life that the challenge wasn't in finding a happily ever after with a partner (she ended up walking away from short-term fiance Abhishek "Shake" Chatterjee at the altar). Instead, she was faced with the task of finding love within herself in a way that drastically changed her life and even her family.

"It was a tough thing to go on the show, especially coming from the culture that I came from where you tend to keep your intimate thoughts to yourself," she says of being born in Hyderabad, India, and raised within a South Asian household even after moving to Bloomington, Ill. "So talking about everything that you're going through, your past life, your emotions, really putting your body out there and being vulnerable, that was extremely hard. But I realized I needed to do it."

Keeping things to herself, especially when it came to hardships and struggles, was something Vempati says she became good at as a young girl. "I used to live this double life, being this perfect version of myself with my family, and then who I truly was and what I was going through," she says.

What she was going through was a difficult relationship with her body that ultimately led to an eating disorder. Unfortunately, she didn't see her family members as safe spaces during that time, so she struggled in silence.

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"We don't really talk about sensitive things or intimate things. So it was hard for me to go to my family and be like, 'Hey, I'm not feeling good about myself,'" she recalls. "Even with exercise and eating, I feel like I didn't develop a good relationship with any of those things. I didn't know how to handle it because of the fact that we weren't able to talk about it in our household."

The little discussion they did have about beauty standards made Vempati feel even worse, as she dealt with insecurities about her skin tone because of colorism in India. "If you're fair-skinned, that means that you're more beautiful. I naturally had darker skin and I liked being outside," she explains. "It was like, 'This is what you need to do to become fair, you need to stay out of the sun, you need to do these types of creams.'"

The dichotomy between her two cultures in Bloomington  living in a South Asian home while attending a primarily white school  highlighted Vempati's insecurities and contributed to unhealthy behaviors that she says aligned with bulimia and anorexia. It wasn't until her sister found out about Vempati's eating disorder that she was made to confront it.

She did so by turning to self-care practices.

"Even though I didn't get professional help, I think a lot of the tools that I use, like journaling and meditation and exercise really helped pull me out of it. And when I started to see how I felt when I did those things, I think that's when I realized, 'OK, this is the journey that I need to go on, and to make myself feel better and to love myself more,'" she says.

Things in Vempati's life started to change  one of which was her appearance, as her appreciation for movement and food evolved. Although she discussed the resulting weight loss on the show, she explains that the journey had to do with so much more.

"I had worked on myself so much up until that point for Love Is Blind. It wasn't just looking physically fit because even at my most physical fit, I had lots of body dysmorphia and negative thoughts about myself," she says. "But I was at a place where I had built myself up to be this confident, strong person and I needed to be able to put myself out there vulnerably to see more growth in myself."

The experience itself allowed Vempati to explore that vulnerability. But it also challenged her to use the tools she had developed to stay strong amid body-shaming from both the internet and her partner on the show that she saw as it aired. "Are you going to let the opinions of other people kind of dictate how you feel about yourself? Or are you going to have that self confidence within yourself to shine?" she recalls thinking.

Most importantly, she had the support of family and friends who were learning of her struggles for the very first time.

"Honestly, it has helped my conversations with my family so much. And it really impacted them when I wrote my book and wrote about all the eating disorders and all of the things that I went through mentally, and it really made them sad that I couldn't come to them," she says. "They've seen the show, they've read the book and we're able to have more honest conversations where nothing is off the table. We're able to talk about intimacy, we're able to talk about body image issues."

Vempati has also witnessed her mom in particular gaining an awareness of and empathy toward body insecurities that she hadn't had the opportunity to explore before.

"It has changed the way my mom communicates with me in certain aspects. Instead of being very direct with me, she'll be very careful of how she words things. I think that's made such a good impact and has made our relationship so much better," Vempati says. "It's amazing for somebody coming from that culture and being so deeply rooted in it to come here and to change the way they talk and the way they look at these hard conversations. It's been a way for her to also put her walls down and so it's really, really helped us."

Now, through more conversations about body image, colorism and representation  one of which she'll be having at The BodCon 2023 on Sunday, March 5  Vempati hopes to empower more people by being authentically herself.

"I'm hoping to just show up authentically and to keep sharing my life so that people can see that you can look like me  you can be curvier, you can have darker skin, you can be whoever and embrace your uniqueness," she says. "I just am feeling so much more confident and strong with who I am. And that's not just just because of the way I look. It's how I feel when I look at myself."

If you or someone you know is struggling with an eating disorder, call the National Eating Disorders Association hotline at 1-800-931-2237.

Wellness, parenting, body image and more: Get to know the who behind the hoo with Yahoo Lifes newsletter. Sign up here.
(Bloomberg) -- Former South Carolina Governor Nikki Haley was met with chants of We love Trump and other jeers from supporters of the former president after she finished her speech to a gathering of influential conservatives.

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Haley, the first major candidate to officially challenge Donald Trump for the 2024 Republican presidential nomination, was berated by hecklers Friday as she exited the Conservative Political Action Conference outside Washington.

The episode demonstrates Trumps passionate following among some conservatives, despite questions about whether enthusiasm for the former president is fading as polls indicate that many Republican voters want an alternative.

Read more: Trump Fatigue Seeps Into Right-Wing Forum That Fed MAGA Fervor

A former UN ambassador under Trump, Haley, 51, got a warm welcome from the CPAC crowd as she began her remarks. She focused her speech mostly on criticizing President Joe Biden and socialist Democrats  as well as the threat posed by China  and drew no direct contrasts with Trump.

She did indirectly jab the former president by pointing out that Republicans have lost the popular vote in seven of the last eight presidential elections and by calling for a mental competency test for all politicians over 75 years old  which would apply to Trump, 76.

Our cause is right, but we have failed to win the confidence of a majority of Americans, Haley said. That ends now. If youre tired of losing, put your trust in a new generation.

Former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and Ohio biotech entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy were among those scheduled to speak Friday. Trump  who credits CPAC with helping to launch his political career  is scheduled to address the crowd Saturday evening.

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Pompeo avoided drawing direct contrasts with Trump other than to point out that the former president added $8 trillion to the US debt that now stands at $31 trillion, which he said is deeply unconservative and indecent and cant continue.

The former secretary of state did note that Republicans have had disappointing results in the last three federal elections and appeared to allude to Trumps character  and tease his own White House run  when he said people who claim to be conservative excuse hypocrisy by saying voters elect a president, not a Sunday school teacher.

Thats true, but having taught Sunday school, maybe we could get both, Pompeo said in his speech. Its time for us to make sure were living out these very things were asking others to do.

--With assistance from Mark Niquette.

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The Lubbock County Courthouse.

Sexual abuse often happens behind closed doors where the only witnesses are the abusers and their victims. These crimes seldom leave physical scars and even less physical evidence, which makes prosecuting them a challenge.

And while Texas law allows jurors to convict a defendant based on the testimony of one witness, it's still an enormous request to ask a jury to convict someone based on the testimony of a single witness.

"That's what makes them so hard is that these types of crimes happen behind closed doors when victims are at their most vulnerable," said Courtney Boyd a prosecutor with the Lubbock County District Attorney's Office. "I feel like it's just getting harder and harder to for jurors to care about cases where it does solely rely on one person saying it happened. And that is the reality of these (child) sex cases is that it's a child behind closed doors where it ends up being their word versus sometimes nothing on the other side but having (jurors) to believe them beyond a reasonable doubt."

On Feb. 22, a case that a defense attorney described to jurors as a situation of "he said, she said" resulted in the conviction and sentence of a Lubbock musician accused of inappropriately touching two family members in 2017 and 2018.

Charles Sanchez, 37, wept after jurors returned guilty verdicts on a three-count indictment charging him with indecency with a child by sexual contact involving a child younger than 14 years old, indecency with a child by sexual contact involving a child younger than 17 years old and indecency by exposure. He faced up to 20 years in prison, though he was also eligible for probation.

Charles Sanchez

Sanchez, who gained local celebrity status under the name DJ Sancho, was sentenced the next day to two years in prison, followed by 10 years of probation. If he violates the condition of his probation, he faces up to five years in prison.

He will also have to register as a sex offender for life and can potentially face felony charges if he does not obey the state's rules that restrict for registered sex offenders.

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Sanchez had been on bond since Oct. 13, 2019, two days after he surrendered to the Lubbock County Detention Center after a warrant for his arrest was issued. The case stemmed from a Lubbock police investigation that began after one of the girls told a friend that Sanchez touched her inappropriately. The friend told her mother who called child protective services.

Once the investigation began, the girl's older sister also made an outcry that Sanchez also touched her inappropriately.

Prosecutor Austin Sanford told jurors in his opening statement the case rested on the credibility of the girls, who he expected to be attacked during their testimony.

Defense attorney Ben Garcia told jurors that the girls' statements were inconsistent. However, he told jurors that around the time of the outcries, his client struggled with alcoholism and while drunk would often undress and fall asleep.

Garcia declined to comment after the trial.

He told jurors his client admitted to providing alcohol to one of the girls when she was 12 years old. However, he said his client was known in his family for engaging in horseplay and may have touched one of the girls inappropriately while engaging in horseplay.

He argued that his client was improperly charged in the case saying Sanchez should have faced counts of contributing to the delinquency of a minor and assault.

During the trial, one of the girls, now 22, told jurors that in April 2017 she was 16 when she was sent home sick after ingesting a pill a friend offered her.

She told jurors her mother was out of town and Sanchez fetched her and took her home. She said she was upset and lying on her bed crying when Sanchez entered her room and began rubbing her back. However, Sanchez continued to move his hand lower on her body until he touched her genitals.

"I was in shock and disbelief that something like that (happened)," she said.

She said she overcame her shock and told Sanchez to leave.

However, the investigation didn't begin until a year later when the girl's younger sister told a friend that Sanchez touched her inappropriately and exposed himself to her. The friend told her mother who called child protective services.

The younger sister, who was told jurors that in March 2018 when she was about 12, Sanchez came home drunk and pressured her to drink alcohol. She said he gave her tequila and she became drunk.

She said she got in bed and Sanchez reportedly got into her bed with her and asked her to take off her bra. She said she told Sanchez to stop and he left the room.

However, she said Sanchez called her downstairs and she said he was in his underwear. She said he exposed his genitals to her, asked to have sex with her and groped her chest. She said she went back to her room, the warrant states.

Neither girl witnessed the other's abuse and only testified about their own abuse.

Sanchez also testified at the trial, denying what happened with the older girl, saying he was baffled by the girls' testimony.

"I have no clue (where the allegations came from)," he said. "I was hit sideways ... It was twilight zone. It was beyond me."

However he admitted to giving the younger girl alcohol and said he "flicked" the girl's chest as a form of horseplay, not to satisfy a sexual desire.

Sanchez said he has worked as a DJ around teenagers for decades and was often hired to entertain at parties including quinceaneras, a celebration in the Hispanic community of a girl's 15th birthday, which is considered the beginning of womanhood.

He said in his time working as an entertainer, he'd never been accused of being inappropriate with children.

"I love working with children," he said.

However, jurors also heard from a family counselor who initially worked with Sanchez and his wife in the beginning of 2018 as the couple struggled with trust issues. However, the counselor began seeing the girls when the investigation began.

Around that time, the Sylvia Trevino told jurors that Sanchez sent her an email saying he'd made bad choices while drinking and admitted to asking the younger girl to drink with him but doesn't remember anything else.

Prosecutors also read a letter Sanchez wrote asking the younger sister to forgive him for that night.

Prosecutors told jurors in their closing arguments in the guilt-innocence phase of the trial that the girls' had no motive to make their allegations, saying it resulted in a rift in their family and a rejection from a significant family member.

Jurors spent about 50 minutes in deliberation before finding Sanchez guilty of all three counts.

Boyd told jurors in her closing argument for the punishment phase of the trial that they needed to hand down a sentence that holds Sanchez accountable for his actions. She said throughout the trial, Sanchez never took responsibility for his actions.

Garcia told jurors that two years in prison was an adequate punishment for his client's crime. He said his client has worked on his sobriety and Garcia told jurors he was confident that Sanchez will never find himself in the same situation again.

Boyd said after the trial that all the girls wanted the last five years was for Sanchez to take responsibility for his actions and admit what he did to them. She said they never wanted sought the maximum sentence. What they did want was for Sanchez be listed on the states' sex offender registry.

"This was a victim-driven prosecution," she said. "I met with these girls for five years since this prosecution was born and that is what they cared about... the girls were never out for blood and wanting to send him away for a really, really, long time."

She said she was proud of the girls' bravery through the case, saying they were satisfied with the outcome of the case and hopes that it encourages victims in similar situations to come forward.

"We were happy," she said. "'Cause basically this means we get to keep our eyes on him for 12 years is how we feel about it."

This article originally appeared on Lubbock Avalanche-Journal: He-said-she-said indecency case results in Lubbock DJ's conviction
Prime Minister Rishi Sunak (L) and European Commission chief Ursula von der Leyen shake hands during a joint press conference - DAN KITWOOD/AFP

During the week The Telegraph revealed a tranche of leaked WhatsApp messages indicating Matt Hancock rejected expert advice on care home testing at the height of the pandemic, and Rishi Sunak agreed the Windsor Framework Brexit deal with the EU.

Meanwhile, King Charles caused waves with his decision to meet with EU chief Ursula von der Leyen and his move to evict the Duke and Duchess of Sussex from Frogmore Cottage.

Read on to see how Telegraph readers contributed to the conversation in the comments section, Letters pages and via the Front Page newsletter.

Windsor Framework Brexit deal

Prime Minister Rishi Sunak and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen agreed a breakthrough deal to improve post-Brexit border arrangements in Northern Ireland on Monday, calling it the Windsor Framework.

Readers were divided over the fresh Brexit deal - some see it as a huge step forward in resolving the majority of problems in Northern Ireland. Others, however, joined the likes of Nigel Farage in sharing their scepticism and continue to question the ECJs rule over parts of the UK.

King Charles meets Ursula von der Leyen

Readers debated whether it was appropriate for King Charles to meet with Ursula von der Leyen, president of the European Commission, after the Windsor Framework Brexit deal was announced. Many joined Sammy Wilson, the DUPs Brexit spokesman, in accusing King Charles of politicising the Monarchy, while others thought it perfectly reasonable for the King to meet a visiting dignitary.

Sussexes evicted from Frogmore Cottage

The King asked the Duke and Duchess of Sussex to move out of Frogmore Cottage to allow Prince Andrew to move in.

Readers unanimously support King Charless decision, suggesting the couple should no longer receive the perk as they are no longer working royals.

What do you make of this week's news? Join the conversation in the comments section
Miquel Lewis, acting director of Cook County Juvenile Probation and Court Services, speaks to a group of probation officers during a tour last year. Lewis has been appointed by outgoing Mayor Lori Lightfoot to the Chicago Board of Education. (Chris Sweda / Chicago Tribune)

As voters prepare to choose either former Chicago Public Schools CEO Paul Vallas or Chicago Teachers Union organizer and Cook County Commissioner Brandon Johnson to be the next mayor of Chicago, Mayor Lori Lightfoot announced a new appointment to the Board of Education Friday.

A few days after failing to advance to the April 4 runoff, Lightfoot said she was thrilled to appoint Miquel Lewis, former chair of the Noble Network of Charter Schools and acting director of Cook Countys juvenile probation services, to the board overseeing Chicago Public Schools.

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Lightfoots most recent board appointments in July sparked controversy because of the ousting of a board member critical of plans to build a new $120 million high school that some community groups opposed.

But none of Lightfoots appointees may last long, if the next mayor follows suit. Three days after her May 2019 inauguration, Lightfoot announced a complete overhaul of the seven-member board was to come.

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Regardless, Lewis said in a news release he was honored by the opportunity to serve the students and the City of Chicago and hoped to center students emotional wellbeing and academic success. Lewis currently serves on the Supreme Court Advisory Board and Illinois Probation and Court Services Board and has a doctoral degree in clinical psychology. Lightfoot praised his experience as a great asset.

Whoever runs City Hall after Lightfoot will initially retain the power to appoint all seven members of the board overseeing Chicago Public Schools  until 2025, when the group will triple in size, as a board of 21 elected and appointed members. Voters will then choose the first fully elected school board in 2026, under a measure Gov. J.B. Pritzker signed into law in 2021.

The state legislation approving the transition came as rebuke to Lightfoot, who endorsed an elected school board on the campaign trail  and then backtracked, pushing for a hybrid panel instead.

If Vallas becomes mayor, he said he would not hesitate to get involved in school board elections to support and oppose candidates. Im not afraid of more democracy, and if youre going to have an elected school board, then its important for the mayor to get engaged in school board elections if they want to have influence, he said at a January forum.

The Chicago Teachers Union, which has donated around $1 million to Johnsons campaign, long pushed for the elected school board, applauding the bill signing in 2021. Students, families and educators will now have the voice they have long been denied for a quarter of a century by failed mayoral control of our schools, a union statement said. Chicago will finally have an elected board accountable to the people our schools serve, as it should be.

A former teacher and paid staffer for the union, Johnson told the Chicago Defender in January, The mayor isnt going to have absolute control over public school anymore. I fully support a fully elected school board.
(Bloomberg) -- Former Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak scored a rare legal victory Friday as the countrys high court freed him from one of his cases involving troubled state fund 1MDB.

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Justice Mohamed Zaini Mazlan ruled that the prosecution had failed to adduce credible evidence that warrants a conviction for Najib in his corruption trial related to the audit report of 1MDB.

Najib was charged in 2018 of abusing his position to order amendments to the governments audit report of 1Malaysia Development Bhd to protect himself from criminal, civil or regulatory action. These include erasing the presence of fugitive businessman Low Taek Jho, or Jho Low, at a 1MDB board meeting.

There was no evidence to show that the auditor general was forced to attend the meetings or make changes to the audit report, Mohamed Zaini said in his judgement. As for the gratification that was alleged to have sought, I agree that there was no causal link between the amendments made and the gratification alleged.

The audit case was among the multiple trials that Najib faces in relation to 1MDB, which became the focus of a scandal that spawned probes in Asia, the US and Europe. He is now serving a 12-year prison sentence for a separate corruption conviction linked to 1MDBs former unit SRC International.

Malaysias high court on Friday also granted an acquittal to former 1MDB President Arul Kandasamy for charges of abetting Najib in altering the audit report.

Both had previously pleaded not guilty and were released on a 500,000 ringgit bail each. The prosecution closed its case in September last year after calling more than a dozen witnesses  including Arul  to testify, according to local media. If convicted, they would have each had to face up to 20 years jail and a fine.

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READ: How Malaysias 1MDB Scandal Shook the Financial World: QuickTake

(Updates with additional details throughout.)

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MANILA (Reuters) - Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim said during a visit to the Philippines that the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) must prove it is "relevant" in helping to resolve the crisis in Myanmar.

In a pre-recorded interview with Philippine news channel ANC aired on Friday, Anwar said that ASEAN, which is leading diplomatic efforts to bring peace, needed to be more assertive and noted that his country was shouldering 200,000 displaced people from Myanmar.

"We can't see this as a purely internal issue, so I have appealed to friends in ASEAN to say, look we have to be tougher," Anwar said. "If necessary engage with the armed forces of this country because sometimes the military junta do not understand the civilian narrative."

Myanmar has been beset by social, political and economic chaos since its military overthrew an elected government in 2021.

Human rights groups and the United Nations have accused Myanmar's military of carrying out atrocities as part of a crackdown on its opponents. The junta labels its opponents "terrorists" seeking to destroy the country.

"The atrocities, we cannot condone," Anwar said. "We have to find an amicable solution which is difficult. We have tried all. ASEAN has to prove it is relevant and able to ease some of problems."

Some members of ASEAN, which has a long-held principle of staying out of its members' sovereign affairs, have grown increasingly frustrated at the junta's failure to honour a peace plan agreed with the generals shortly after the coup.

While the 10-member bloc has barred Myanmar's generals from attending its high-level meetings, Malaysia, a vocal critic of the junta, has called for tougher action. Myanmar's military rulers have reacted angrily to what they call interference by ASEAN members

(Reporting by Karen Lema; Editing by Himani Sarkar and Ed Davies)
The Richland County Coroner's Office has identified the 26-year-old male who died after a shooting late Thursday night inside the M&S Drive-Thru as Devonte Jacocks of Mansfield.

The deceased was a 2015 graduate of Mansfield Senior High School.

A man who called 911 after 11 p.m. said he needed to "report a murder," according to a recording from the City of Mansfield Communications Center.

"Who was hurt?" said the dispatcher.

"A customer," the caller said. "Somebody just came in and shot him."

Mansfield police are investigating a homicide at M&S Drive Thru, 753 Springmill St., Thursday night. Two others suffered gunshot wounds.

"A customer was shot? Is he breathing at all?" the dispatcher said.

"No he's dead," the caller said.

"Where was he shot?" the dispatcher asked.

"In the head," the caller said, adding the victim has a pulse.

The caller said a male suspect wearing all black and a mask entered the business, at 753 Springmill St., and shot three people. He said he did not know if the suspect left in a vehicle but said everything was recorded on video, according to the 911 call, obtained by the News Journal through a public records request.

Upon officers arrival, Jacocks was found and transported to OhioHealth Mansfield Hospital, where he was pronounced dead, according to police and the Richland County Coroner's Office.

Another 26-year-old male who had been shot in the calf and also was transported to OhioHealth Mansfield, according to Mansfield police Chief Keith Porch.

While officers were investigating the shooting, a 24-year-old female victim who had been shot in the foot arrived at the hospital. Police determined that the woman had been at the M&S Drive-Thru when the two males were shot but she fled before officers arrived, Porch said in a news release issued Friday morning.

Police are searching for this suspect, shown entering the M&S Drive-Thru moments before three people were shot, one fatally, on Thursday night.

Major Crimes detectives are working to determine who is responsible for the shootings. As of 3:40 p.m. Friday, a shooter was not in custody, Porch said.

The Richland County Coroners Office is sending Jacocks' body to the Montgomery County Medical Examiner's Office for an autopsy. Once additional details are known they will be released at that time, police said.

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Police did not identify the two other shooting victims.

Victim's grandfather was shot, killed at drive-thru in March 1999

Jacocks' grandfather, Clarence Jacocks Jr., 49, was shot and killed at Papa Johnny's Drive-Thru on March 12, 1999 where he was working on the city's north end.

Clarence Jacocks Jr. was a former history teacher in the Mansfield City School System and a former employee of Copperweld in Shelby. He was a 1967 graduate of Mansfield Senior High School and Wilberforce University where he was a member of the Phi Beta Sigma Fraternity.

All three men involved in the 1999 shooting and robbery received life in prison.

Retired Mansfield police Detective Frank Parrella solved the case, according to News Journal archives.

Parrella said Lawrence Holder, the man ultimately convicted of firing the shot that killed Clarence Jacocks on March 12 at the Bowman Street business, was in Fulton County Jail in Georgia under an assumed name. A routine fingerprint check by the FBI revealed that Charles Hatchett actually was Lawrence Holder. Renardo Minor and Ronald Leaks were sentenced to 33 years to life in prison for aiding and abetting aggravated robbery and aggravated murder.

A break happened in the case when a fingerprint was gotten off a cash register key. Police located the rental business in Atlanta where the suspected had rented a car.

Anyone with information about the Thursday night shootings is encouraged to call Major Crimes Detective Ronee Swisher at 419-755-9432.

The homicide is the second in Richland County this year.

More:Suspect arrested in Jan. 3 shooting death at Quality Inn

Monteles Holland, 31, of Ontario, was arrested in Columbus for the Jan. 3 aggravated murder of Nayshawn Lovett, 16, of Mansfield, at the Quality Inn, 500 N. Trimble Road.

lwhitmir@gannett.com

419-521-7223

Twitter: @LWhitmir

This article originally appeared on Mansfield News Journal: Three people shot, one dies, at M&S Drive-Thru on Springmill Steeet
A man is accused of killing a woman he had just met, then dumping her body alongside a lake a day later, Oklahoma cops say.

More than a week after the body of Charissia Dawn Akers was discovered at Lake Thunderbird in Norman, a 30-year-old man confessed to killing the mother of three, according to the Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigation.

Austin Blake Godwin is charged with first-degree murder and unlawful possession of a body in her death.

Authorities said Godwin went to the Norman Police Department on Feb. 21  eight days after Akers body was discovered  and told cops he wanted to confess to the killing.

Godwin was driving home on Feb. 12 when he saw Akers walking down the street near his apartment, the affidavit states.

For unknown reasons, Akers got into Godwins vehicle. Cleveland County District Attorney Greg Mashburn noted to KFOR that they were strangers before the encounter.

The 29-year-old woman took a shower at Godwins apartment and was wearing a towel when she came out of his bathroom, according to the affidavit. Godwin told authorities he tried to have sex with Akers, but she refused.

Godwin said he grew frustrated and grabbed a rope, per the affidavit. He put the rope around the mothers neck, strangling her, police said. He strangled her for about four minutes until she was unconscious, and then continued for another minute, according to the affidavit.

(Akers) last words were about her children, police said, according to Godwins interview.

The next morning, Godwin purchased a large tote at Walmart, authorities said. He went home and wrapped Akers in blankets, putting her body inside the tote, the affidavit states.

Knowing the area around Lake Thunderbird was secluded, he traveled there and dumped Akers body near bushes.

Godwin wanted (Akers) to have a view of the lake, police said.

Two bicyclists discovered the tote and the womans body inside it later that day, according to the bureau of investigation. In a news release on Feb. 14, authorities called her death suspicious.

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Mashburn told KFOR the case is very unusual.

What you usually dont see in homicide cases are stranger murders, he said, per KFOR. Usually the parties know each other, have a relationship of some sort. The fact that the body of this young lady was put in totes and placed into a rural area also makes it very unusual. All of those things kind of makes this case stand out a little bit.

Akers, according to an online obituary, was a 29-year-old mother of three and an avid supporter of child trafficking awareness.

Charissia loved and cared for many friends and family in her life and will be dearly missed, the obituary said.

Mom, girl found shot dead inside home after man calls 911 about chest pains, cops say

Mom strangled to death with pantyhose, officials say. Decades later, jury convicts man

I think they shot my mommy. 9-year-old finds her moms body, Indiana family says
A Kansas City man whose body was found inside the home where three KCPD officers were shot and wounded on Tuesday night died by suicide, according to the Missouri State Highway Patrol.

Matthew L. Carrell, 62, was found dead by tactical teams with MSHP and the FBI on Wednesday afternoon inside a home in the 2300 block of Blue Ridge Boulevard. The discovery ended an 18-hour police standoff, which began after an attempted execution of a search warrant there ended in gunfire.

Authorities said Kansas City police officers were executing the search warrant on behalf of a Jackson County task force. As they entered the home, the officers were fired upon and then returned fire.

Police backed away from the property after the shooting unfolded. The three police officers struck were taken to the hospital with injuries that were determined to be non-life-threatening.

On Thursday, Sgt. Andy Bell, a patrol spokesman, said MSHP investigators, the Jackson County Prosecutors Office and the Jackson County Medical Examiners Office had concluded Carrell died of a self-inflicted gunshot wound.

Bell said investigators were still going through evidence, including video recordings, earlier Thursday to determine all that occurred inside the house when the police officers made entry and fired their service weapons.

Since 2020, the patrol has investigated use of force cases involving Kansas City police.

According to court documents filed in Jackson County on Thursday, Carrell was the target of an interstate drug trafficking investigation led by the Jackson County Drug Task Force.

Members of the task force were conducting surveillance Tuesday on a known illegal narcotics distributor when they sought initial federal search warrants for the house and a vehicle on the property.

The Kansas City Missouri Tactical Response Team, with KCPD, was called in to serve that warrant as part of an attempt to seize any evidence in the furtherance of narcotics trafficking.

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Around 9:30 p.m. Tuesday, a contact officer knocked and announced twice to occupants of the house that a search would be conducted. After a battering ram broke down the front door, gunfire emanated from the home striking an officer, according to the court documents.

Officers returned fire as two other officers were also shot, authorities said.

During the hours-long standoff, which was handled at different times by Independence police and the Missouri State Highway Patrol, two men left the house voluntarily and surrendered to police.

One was Jimmie R. Lewis Jr., 50, a second target of the Jackson County Drug Task Forces federal investigation. On Wednesday, federal prosecutors brought charges against Lewis stemming from a November 2021 arrest in which he was accused of possessing 400 grams of methamphetamine and a firearm.

Lewis is now charged with distribution-level drug possession and two gun crimes. In a motion seeking Lewis be held without bail before trial, federal prosecutors on Wednesday said he is a suspected high-level member of a drug trafficking organization.

The other man who left the house voluntarily was identified by police as a handyman who was determined not to be involved in the assault, according to court documents. He allegedly gave an initial statement to investigators identifying Carrell as a possible suspect in the shooting of the officers.

On Wednesday, tactical teams found an uninjured woman inside the house after they made entry the second time. She was taken into police custody to be interviewed by investigators.

Over the course of the overnight standoff, police used robots and spoke through a loudspeaker as they attempted to have any remaining occupants come outside. Streets remained blocked off in Kansas City and the bordering communities of Blue Summit and Independence into Wednesday afternoon.

The Stars Glenn E. Rice, Luke Nozicka, Robert A. Cronkleton and Katie Moore contributed to this report.
A Washington state man died from suicide after he was interviewed by investigators over his wifes mysterious death 40 years ago.

The Washington County Sheriffs Office says that in January 1983 Randal Randy McEvers, called 911 to report that his wife, Nancy McEvers, had killed herself.

The 28-year-old, who had a one-year-old son, suffered a gunshot wound to the head and was pronounced dead at the hospital, says the agency.

Nancy McEvers (WCSO)

Mr McEvers reportedly told investigators different versions of what had happened, and the autopsy and forensic evidence concluded that the gunshot wound was not self-inflicted.

The case was suspended in August 1983 after Mr McEvers stopped cooperating with investigators and they ran out of leads.

But 39 years later the sheriffs office reopened the cold case and developed a string of new leads to pursue.

The sheriffs office says that its forensic team and the Oregon State Police Crime Lab confirmed that the original ruling that it was not a suicide was accurate. Investigators also spoke to 20 people, including now 70-year-old Mr McEvers in January.

After the interview with him, the case was referred to the Washington County District Attorneys Office for review. But officials say that before the DA had a chance to carry out that review, Mr McEvers killed himself.

The 40-year-old cold case into the death of Nancy McEvers is now closed, the sheriffs office said in a statement.

Nancy is survived by her son, two sisters and her mother.
As a father and son were boating on a California river in search of driftwood 25 years ago, they spotted something in the water.

They found what they believed to be human remains, the Humboldt County Sheriffs Office said in a March 2 news release.

The sheriffs office said it recovered the body, but despite decades of investigation, the mans identity would remain a mystery.

Twenty-five years after he was found in the Eel River near Cock Robin Island, however, the man has regained his name  Jeffery Todd Sydow, the sheriffs office said.

When his body was found in March 1998, he had no identification on him, the sheriffs office said. He was partially clothed and in advanced stages of decomposition.

An autopsy showed that the mans body had likely been in the water for a month and that his cause of death was possible drowning, deputies said.

The mans description did not match any reported missing persons from Northern California, the sheriffs office said.

The California Department of Justice did recover one latent fingerprint, the sheriffs office said. However, when it was run through the Automated Latent Print System, there were no matches.

A dentist also did a forensic dental examination, according to deputies.

Though a DNA sample was obtained, it never matched any profiles in the California Missing Persons DNA Database or in a national DNA index system, the sheriffs office said.

In December, the sheriffs office said it partnered with Othram, a forensic genealogy company, to see if advanced forensic DNA testing could be used to identify the man.

A DNA sample from the remains was sent to Othram, which used forensic genome sequencing to build a comprehensive DNA profile for the man, the sheriffs office said. From there, the company turned to forensic genetic genealogy for leads.

Genetic genealogy uses DNA testing coupled with traditional genealogical methods to create family history profiles, according to the Library of Congress. With genealogical DNA testing, researchers can determine if and how people are biologically related.

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In mid-February, Othram determined the DNA might belong to Sydow, who was born in 1963, and that he had several relatives, including a possible sister in Missouri, the sheriffs office said.

After speaking with the potential sister, the woman confirmed she had a brother named Jeffery Todd Sydow, deputies said.

The woman told detectives her brother stopped speaking with his family for unknown reasons, the sheriffs office said. Though the sister tried to reach out to Sydow, she could not find him.

Sydows family, who last spoke with him in the mid-1990s, was unsure if he intentionally lost contact with them, so they never reported him missing, deputies said.

Sydows fingerprint was also a match for the one latent print found decades ago, the sheriffs office said.

His family is now making arrangements to have his remains released for burial with other deceased family members, the sheriffs office said.

The sheriffs office asked for anyone with information about Sydows activities or whereabouts before his death to call investigator Mike Fridley at 707-441-3024.

Lady in the fridge was a mystery for 27 years. Body now identified as California mom

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The "disgusting sight" that the man was referring to on his Facebook post. (PHOTO: Facebook/Mavi Singh Pannu)

SINGAPORE  A man was horrified after being greeted with a mouldy sight in the cream cheese spread which he had bought for his child.

In a Facebook post on Friday (3 March), Mavi Singh Pannu said he had purchased the Philadelphia Soft Cream Cheese spread from Admiralty Drive's Giant supermarket outlet on Thursday.

He pointed out that the product was supposed to be cheese, but he spotted the "disgusting sight" of a brownish patch of mouldy cheese when he opened it.

"Luckily, my kid didn't eat it...What if someone else's kid eats this?" he wrote in his Facebook post.

According to the receipt he posted online, the cream cheese product in question is retailed for $7.10.

Mavi Singh Pannu shared on Facebook on Friday that he had purchased the Philadelphia Soft Cream Cheese spread from Blk 468B Admiralty Drive's Giant outlet on Thursday. (PHOTO: FB/Mavi Singh Pannu)

Investigations started on mouldy cheese issue

A spokesperson for DFI, which operates the Giant supermarket chain, told Yahoo News Singapore it is aware of the issue, and has started an investigation with its suppliers.

"The product in question is a pre-packaged and sealed item, and we are currently working closely with our supplier to identify the root cause," the spokesperson said.

"We have not received any other complaints for this product. Nonetheless, we take this incident very seriously and have stepped up our checks on our products to ensure that they are safe, fresh and of the high quality that our customers expect.

"We would like to express our apologies to this customer for their experience, and have since reached out to offer additional support."

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

You can also follow us on Facebook, Instagram, TikTok and Twitter. Also check out our Southeast Asia, Food, and Gaming channels on YouTube.
A Columbus police cruiser

A 23-year-old man died in the early hours of Friday morning after Columbus police said he was shot at a gas station on the city's Southeast Side near U.S. Route 33.

Columbus police identified the victim as Jared B. Porter, who according to public records was living in Circleville as recently as 2021.

Police were called to the reported shooting at 4:22 a.m. at the Sheetz gas station at 3999 S. Hamilton Road near Groveport, where inside they found the wounded man, since identified as Porter.

Porter was taken to an area hospital in critical condition and was pronounced dead at 5:41 a.m., police said.

Homicide detectives are investigating the shooting and have not yet determined a suspect or motive, according to police.

Anyone with information can call the Columbus Police Homicide Unit at 614-645-4730 or Central Ohio Crime Stoppers at 614-461-8477.

elagatta@dispatch.com

@EricLagatta

This article originally appeared on The Columbus Dispatch: Man killed in shooting at Columbus Southeast Side Sheetz gas station
Michael Ortiz with his mother, Betty Ortiz Marta Lavandier / AP

A man who was paralyzed after being shot by a police officer who had mistaken his gun for a Taser has filed a lawsuit.

Michael Ortiz, 43, was shot July 3, 2021, by a police officer at his mothers home in Hollywood, Florida. According to his lawsuit, which was filed on Tuesday, he called 911 while he was having a mental health emergency and chest pains.

Michael Ortiz needed a helping hand and what he got was a bullet to the back, his attorney Ben Crump said at a news conference on Wednesday. How can police officers make a mistake between a Taser and a gun?

After his 911 call, Hollywood Fire and Rescue paramedics arrived at the scene as Ortiz was coming out of the shower, naked and acting erratically because he was still mentally unstable, the lawsuits complaint said.

The paramedics placed Ortiz on the ground, and Hollywood police officers Henry Andrews, Diante Roots, and Jhonny Jimenez arrived at the scene. According to the complaint, Ortiz was not a physical threat to the safety of any officers or himself during his episode; however, Roots tased Ortiz.

Handcuffed and still naked on the floor with Taser prongs inside him, Ortiz regained consciousness and became alarmed, the complaint said. Andrews then reached for his gun and shot Ortiz in the back, the complaint said.

When Plaintiff was shot, he was in handcuffs and did not pose a threat of serious physical harm or risk of flight. Further, because Michael was naked, no officer could have reasonably believed that Plaintiff had any concealed weapons on his person, the complaint read.

The Hollywood police and fire departments did not respond to questions from BuzzFeed News on Thursday. Last year, the Hollywood Police Department told the Associated Press that Andrews had intended to pull out his Taser.

While the investigation is still active and ongoing, an initial review suggests the officer intended to deploy his taser, but instead discharged his firearm, the statement read.

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At the news conference on Wednesday, Ortiz said his and his mothers lives changed after he was shot. Ortiz is now paralyzed from the chest down and will need to be taken care of for the rest of his life. Attorney Hunter Shkolnik said Ortiz owes millions in medical bills.

In September 2022, Andrews was charged with a misdemeanor count of culpable negligence. The Florida Department of Law Enforcement told BuzzFeed News the case is still active.

The officer is just getting a slap on the wrist and you compare that to what Michael Ortiz is having to live with and you say, how is that fair? Crump said.

The attorney representing the officer in his criminal case told the AP that another lawyer will represent Andrews in the new civil case, but his client had no intent to harm Ortiz.

In responding to a difficult and chaotic situation, Officer Andrews intended to deploy his taser and mistakenly discharged his firearm, attorney Jeremy Kroll told the AP. There was absolutely no intent to harm in this case. He and his family continue to have Mr. Ortiz in their thoughts and prayers.

More on this
A man jogs as small waves break along Lake Michigan at Ohio Street Beach in Chicago, March 2, 2023. (Antonio Perez / Chicago Tribune)

In an ordinary Chicago winter, ice fishermen would still be scampering out onto the frozen stretches of Lake Michigan, toting fishing rods, drills  even pop-up shelters.

Swimmers in sleek wet suits would be spicing up their already bracing morning workouts by climbing on icebergs or posing on clear-as-glass ice sheets.

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But this is no ordinary winter.

Due to naturally occurring climate patterns as well as climate change, ice coverage on the Great Lakes reached a record low in mid-February, with only 7% of the five lakes surface covered, rather than the expected 35% to 40%, according to Jia Wang, an ice climatologist at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administrations Great Lakes Environmental Research Laboratory.

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Thats the lowest ice coverage for the date of Feb. 13 since 1973, when the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration began keeping records.

The significance of this is long-lived, I believe, said Wang. Almost the entire ice season this year, the lake was wide open, except for a little bit along the coast. The impact will be, we will have a warmer spring and warmer summer and even warmer fall  and that will delay ice formation in the coming winter.

[ Chicago weather: Weather experts says winter is over. These were its warmest, coldest and snowiest days. ]

Climate change played a role in the low ice coverage, Wang said, but in this case, naturally occurring surface temperature patterns on the Atlantic and Pacific oceans had an effect that was several times more powerful than warming caused by humans.

These patterns can alter the path of winds blowing in from the west, bringing the Great Lakes either relatively warm winter air from the western United States, or cold air from the Arctic.

Illinois State Climatologist Trent Ford said he didnt disagree with Wangs assessment that patterns of climate variability are playing the lead role in low ice cover. But he emphasized that, due to climate change, these natural patterns are working in a world with warmer baseline temperatures.

According to NOAA, the average January temperature across the contiguous United States was 35.2 degrees, more than 5 degrees above average and the sixth-warmest January on record.

Ford said that major climate assessments have found that warmer winters may lead to lower ice cover on the Great Lakes.

A previous study co-authored by Wang found that Great Lakes ice cover decreased by 71% between 1973 and 2010.

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A view of North DuSable Lake Shore Drive and the open water on Lake Michigan on Jan. 31, 2023, from 875 N. Michigan Ave., the building formerly known as the John Hancock Center. (Brian Cassella / Chicago Tribune)

Low ice cover causes higher waves and shoreline erosion, including the loss of beaches. Without ice to protect them from winter waves, juvenile fish in coastal waters are less likely to survive, Wang said.

In Lake Michigan, warmer waters benefit the invasive quagga mussel thats already harming native mussels and fish, clogging water intakes and damaging docks and boats.

[ An estimated 300 trillion invasive mussels blanket Lake Michigan. Eradication may be impossible, but small-scale removal efforts could be the answer. ]

And there are more immediate effects. Chicago Fishing School founder and guide Johnny Wilkins said he only went ice fishing twice this season on the Chicago harbors of Lake Michigan, as opposed to his usual six to eight times.

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 >

This (year) is definitely a stinker for ice, said Wilkins. I had to cancel trips. Im not going to take people out when its not safe.

Maximum Great Lakes ice coverage is typically seen between mid-February and early March.

Steve Hernan of Evanston, who swims in Lake Michigan year-round, said that this season hes wearing a wet suit with short sleeves and shorts, as opposed to last years full-length suit. Its easier to move his arms and legs, he said, but hes missing the ice formations of a typical winter.

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Normally at this time of year, he and friends at Open Water Chicago, an outdoor fitness group that swims near North Avenue Beach, enjoy climbing Lake Michigan icebergs or swimming out to giant ice sheets.

If the low ice cover continues, he said with a laugh, he may have to move to northern Wisconsin.

There are some things that are deal-breakers, right? And thats one of them, he said. Gotta be able to climb on ice at some point during the year.

nschoenberg@chicagotribune.com
Stefan Niels Weiste Kirkeby, 59, of San Rafael, pleaded guilty to domestic violence, U.S. Attorney Phillip Talbert announced.

On Aug. 4, Kirkeby and his wife got into an argument that had to be stopped by park visitors because of the yelling and "threats of harm being made by Kirkeby," according to court documents. The victim reported she was grabbed by her wrist by Kirkeby and the couple fell to the ground during the confrontation.

Kirkeby threatened to kill her then kill himself during the altercation, according to witnesses. The victim suffered bruising, pain to her wrist, and scratches, federal prosecutors said.

The DOJ prosecuted the case because the crime was committed on federal land. This case was investigated by National Park Service with help from the FBI. Kirkeby pleaded to the charges before the case made it to trial.

The Northern California man is scheduled to be sentenced on June 26. He faces a maximum penalty of five years in prison and a $250,000 fine. Because of his plea deal, the punishment will be based on his criminal past and willingness to avoid trial.

This article originally appeared on Visalia Times-Delta: Man pleads guilty to domestic violence in Yosemite
Michael Ortiz listens during a news conference regarding a lawsuit against a police officer Wednesday, March 1, 2023, in Fort Lauderdale, Fla. Ortiz is suing after being paralyzed by a Hollywood, Fla., police officer who mistook his handgun for a taser and shot him in the back. Marta Lavandier/Associated Press

A Florida man is suing the city of Hollywood after a local cop shot him with a gun instead of a Taser.

Michael Ortiz, 43, called 911 while suffering a mental health episode, his lawsuit said.

Police tased Ortiz while he was subdued and shot him in the back with a firearm, per the complaint.

A Florida man who was paralyzed after an officer mistakenly shot him with a gun instead of a Taser is now suing the city of Hollywood and its fire rescue and police departments.

Michael Ortiz, 43, was shot in the back on July 3, 2021, after officers restrained him with handcuffs at his mother's apartment, according to the complaint filed Tuesday in the US District Court for the Southern District of Florida.

Ortiz called 911 after experiencing a mental breakdown and chest pains, and was speaking incoherently and acting erratically when Hollywood Fire and Rescue personnel arrived, said the complaint, seen by Insider.

He was taking a shower when first responders showed up, and answered the door naked, per the lawsuit.

Fire rescue personnel "gained control of Michael by placing him on the ground," and three police officers arrived at the scene shortly, the complaint said.

Ortiz was screaming and flailing while this happened, but the officers managed to restrain him, the lawsuit said.

Then one of the police officers shot Ortiz with a Taser. The cops placed him in handcuffs and dragged him to the apartment elevator, according to the complaint.

As he started to rouse from the shock of the Taser shot, Ortiz "became alarmed as he was still naked, in handcuffs, and on the ground," per the complaint.

The same officer tried to shoot Ortiz again with a Taser, and that was when a second officer grabbed his service firearm, placed it on Ortiz's back, and shot him, the lawsuit said.

The Hollywood Police Department said in a February 2022 review that the officer who shot Ortiz had "intended to deploy his Taser, but instead discharged his firearm."

Ortiz was neither committing a crime nor posing a threat to the officers when he was shot, said the lawsuit. He was paralyzed from the waist down after the incident, and must now use a wheelchair.

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Hunter Shkolnik, a lawyer for Ortiz, said in a Wednesday press conference that Ortiz also owes $3 million in medical bills because of the incident, and that the hospital asks him "weekly" for payment.

Ortiz's complaint names the three police officers, the City of Hollywood, the Hollywood Police Department, and the Hollywood Fire Rescue and Beach Safety Department as defendants.

It accuses the three officers of using excessive force, failing to intervene in the shooting, and said the two officers who tased and shot Ortiz committed battery and assault.

The lawsuit also accused local authorities of failing to train their officers to handle mental health cases, condoning excessive force through their policies, and negligence.

"Michael Ortiz needed a helping hand, but what he got was a bullet to the back," said civil rights attorney Ben Crump, who is representing Ortiz.

Crump said the incident involving Ortiz would never have happened if officers had followed their training, and accused the three policemen of being "reckless."

Lawyers for Ortiz did not immediately respond to Insider's request for comment. After-hours calls to the press department of the City of Hollywood were not answered.

Read the original article on Insider
Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.) on Thursday emphasized that hes not going to discuss cutting Social Security and Medicare but suggested that Congress may have to look at whether there is a better program to use to make the benefits sustainable for future generations.

Is there a better program? Manchin said in an interview with Fox Business. Is there a better way younger people can invest and have something for retirement? I dont know.

Only thing Im telling you Im not going to discuss is cutting Social Security and Medicare for those people that are receiving and have been depending on it, that have worked hard and earned it, he added. Now with that, you have to look at everything. How do you sustain what you have?

Manchin noted that if Congress doesnt do anything to make the entitlement programs solvent, and they sit back with our hands in our pockets and say we cant get involved, recipients will face automatic cuts.

Social Security is set to start running a shortfall in 2032, which could result in a more than 20 percent reduction in benefits, according to updated estimates from the Congressional Budget Office. The Medicare trustees suggested last year that the programs trust fund will remain solvent through 2028.

Amid Republican efforts to tie spending cuts to an increase in the debt ceiling, there have been some proposals that Social Security and Medicare cuts could be on the table in the future. However, amid swift blowback, GOP lawmakers have largely scrapped any ideas to tie cuts to the debt ceiling negotiations.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to The Hill.
The pockmarked Nevada Testing Site, strewn with craters from all the nuclear weapons tests that took place there. NNSA

Robert Brownlee was on the Operation Plumbbob team that launched an object in space before Sputnik.

They put a manhole cover above a nuke underground, and the explosion shot the iron cap into space.

The fastest human-made object was part of the US government's nuclear testing in the 1950s.

When I first saw this story on an old Quora thread, I didn't believe it.

Pedestrians walk past a manhole cover that wasn't shot into space in Berkeley, California, on July 18, 2019. AP/Jeff Chiu

How could an iron manhole cover be the fastest human-made object ever launched?

I honestly pictured something akin to the exploding manhole covers that terrify NYC residents:

It wasn't like that. This manhole cover was shot into space with a nuclear bomb.

Robert Brownlee, an astrophysicist who designed the nuclear test in question, told Insider the unbelievable story in 2016, before he died at the age of 94 in 2018.

Brownlee refuted the non-believers and asserted that yes, it likely was the fastest object that humankind ever launched.

Here's how Brownlee says history was made.

From 1945 until 1992, the US detonated 1,054 nuclear bombs in tests.

DOE

By the 1950s, the US government and the public were concerned with the radiation that nuclear bombs could release into the atmosphere.

The last US nuclear bomb to be tested, nicknamed "The Divider," being loaded underground for detonation on September 23, 1992. LANL

By 1962, the US was conducting every nuclear test underground.

But the very first underground nuclear tests were a bit of an experiment  nobody knew exactly what might happen.

The mushroom cloud from the Uncle test at the Nevada Test Site on November 29, 1951, reached 11,500 feet. Department of Energy

The first one, nicknamed "Uncle," exploded beneath the Nevada Test Site on November 29, 1951.

Uncle was a code for "underground."

It was only buried 17 feet, but the top of the bomb's mushroom cloud exploded 11,500 feet into the sky.

The underground nuclear tests we're interested in were nicknamed "Pascal," during Operation Plumbbob in 1957.

Sadly, no images are left from the Pascal experiments. All that's left are government documents like this one. NNSA

Brownlee said he designed the Pascal-A test as the first that aimed to contain nuclear fallout. The bomb was placed at the bottom of a hollow column  3 feet wide and 485 feet deep  with a 4-inch-thick iron cap on top.

The test was conducted on the night of July 26, 1957, so the explosion coming out of the column looked like a Roman candle.

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Brownlee said the iron cap in Pascal-A exploded off the top of the tube "like a bat much hotter than hell."

Brownlee wanted to measure how fast the iron cap flew off the column, so he designed a second experiment, Pascal-B, and got an incredible calculation.

Herbert Grier, director of timing and firing, seated at the firing console in control room during an Operation Plumbbob test. NNSA

Brownlee replicated the first experiment, but the column in Pascal-B was deeper at 500 feet. They also recorded the experiment with a camera that shot one frame per millisecond.

On August 27, 1957, the "manhole cover" cap flew off the column with the force of the nuclear explosion. The iron cover was only partially visible in one frame, Brownlee said.

When he used this information to find out how fast the cap was going, Brownlee calculated it was traveling at five times the escape velocity of the Earth  or about 125,000 miles per hour.

"The pressure at the top of that pipe was enormous," he told Insider in 2016. "The first thing that you get is a flash of light coming from the device at the bottom of the empty pipe, and that flash is tremendously hot. That flash that comes is more than 1 million times brighter than the sun. So for it to blow off was, if I may say so, inevitable."

Pascal-B's estimated iron cover speed dwarfs the 36,373 mph that the New Horizons spacecraft  which many have called the fastest object launched by humankind  eventually reached while traveling toward Pluto.

An artist's rendering of the New Horizons spacecraft approaching Pluto. NASA

Brownlee said he expected the manhole cover to fall back to Earth, but they never found it. He concluded it was going too fast to burn up before reaching outer space.

WT1190F, a hollow seven-foot piece of space junk, seen burning up as it re-entered the Earth's atmosphere on November 13, 2015. IAC/UAE/NASA/ESA

"After I was in the business and did my own missile launches," he told Insider in 2016, "I realized that that piece of iron didn't have time to burn all the way up [in the atmosphere]."

Mere months after the Pascal tests, October 4, 1957, the Soviet Union launched Sputnik, the world's first artificial satellite. While the USSR was the first to launch a satellite, Brownlee was probably the first to launch an object into space.

On Oct. 4, 1957, Sputnik 1 successfully launched and entered Earth's orbit. NASA/Asif A. Siddiqi

Since it was going so fast, Brownlee said he thinks the cap likely didn't get caught in the Earth's orbit as a satellite like Sputnik and instead shot off into outer space.

Some people have doubted the incredible manhole cover story over the years. But Brownlee, with first-hand knowledge of the test, said he knows the truth.

"From my point," he told Insider in 2016, "it sure happened."

So the next time you look up at the stars, remember Brownlee's story. Somewhere out there, a manhole cover launched by a nuclear bomb is probably speeding away from Earth at about 125,000 mph.

Bryan Allen/Getty Images

This story has been updated.

Read the original article on Business Insider
(Bloomberg) -- Its been more than three decades since the Philippines ordered US troops to withdraw from their sprawling military bases in the country, ending an era that hearkened back to Americas colonial days.

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Now the man overseeing the Subic Bay Metropolitan Authority  once home to the USs biggest naval base in Asia  wants them back.

A recently revived defense agreement between the US and the Philippines could be a welcome development for us if American forces return to Subic Bay, said Rolen Paulino, the authoritys chairman, in an interview. When they come here they spend money, go to hotels, go to restaurants  plus tourists.

Paulino isnt alone. Beyond the local economic benefits, the Philippines strategic location means that a renewed US presence would be a huge asset to Washington in case of a conflict over Taiwan.

In contrast to earlier decades, when the US-Philippine alliance was seen as skewed toward Washington, now Manila has security concerns of its own.

President Ferdinand Marcos Jr.s government is looking to counter a record number of Chinese incursions in the disputed South China Sea that have seen Filipino fishing ships harassed or driven away from traditional waters. Public outcry erupted last month when a Chinese coast guard vessel aimed a laser at a Philippine ship.

Marcos was blunt in telling the armed forces this week that their mission has changed, and put US-China tensions as the reason why.

There was a time where we did not have to worry about these threats and the intensification of the competition between the superpowers, Marcos said Feb. 27. Now things have begun to change and we must adjust accordingly.

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So far, public sentiment appears to be on the side of stronger US ties.

In a survey published Feb. 9 by the ASEAN Studies Centre at the ISEAS-Yusof Ishak Institute in Singapore, nearly 79% of Filipinos said if Southeast Asia were forced to choose between the US and China, they would choose the former.

Marcos isnt just looking for US support: hes turning to regional allies as well. He said hed be open to a reciprocal military access agreement with Japan if it would protect the countrys fishermen and its maritime territory, and last month the Philippines said its considering joint patrols with Australia.

The Philippines straddles a crucial location in the Pacific, and we have seaboards to the north, south, east and west, Defense Secretary Carlito Galvez Jr. said in a statement Thursday. All of these must be monitored and protected.

But while US-China tensions are driving the rapprochement, Americas complicated past with the Philippines, and fears that embracing Washington will drag Manila into any future conflict with China, are giving some communities pause.

They are not welcome, said Manuel Mamba, governor of Cagayan province, which hosts one of the facilities US troops might soon have access to. China has been good to us. I dont see any threat coming from them and my province is one of the nearest to them.

That kind of pushback may be why US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin and Galvez stopped short of disclosing where US troops would be working when they agreed last month to expand the Enhanced Defense Cooperation Agreement. Thats a 2014 accord that was shelved under former President Rodrigo Duterte.

The EDCA deal allows the US to rotate troops for prolonged stays as well as build and operate facilities at designated sites, most of which are expected to be in the countrys north, closer to Taiwan, or along the South China Sea.

Austin hailed the agreement as a really big deal, and it was seen as more evidence that Washingtons long-promised pivot to Asia is finally underway.

But in a joint briefing with Austin, Galvez was careful to refer to the four unnamed locations US forces would go to under the agreement as EDCA sites, not bases, and stressed that the deal was still contingent on consultations with local authorities. President Marcos later said Subic Bay isnt on the list of sites being considered, after a Philippine defense official said it was last year.

The EDCA expansion is heavy on the hype, but wanting on the substance, said Rommel Ong, a retired rear admiral in the Philippine Navy who is now a professor at Ateneo de Manila Universitys School of Government.

Governor Mamba says he believes hosting American troops would be a security risk for his province, located about 300 kilometers (200 miles) from Taiwan at the northern tip of Luzon island. He also fears it would torpedo a $7 billion Chinese infrastructure package he said could transform the otherwise sleepy province.

In other communities, stories about mistreatment by visiting US troops in the past still resonate. The killing of a transgender Filipino in Subic Bay in 2014 by a US Marine on leave from a visiting warship sparked outrage and a renewed clamor for a review of the Philippines military commitments.

Local opposition probably is a concern, certainly, said Carl Schuster, a former operations director at U.S. Pacific Commands Joint Intelligence Center. The US Navy was not very popular there.

And then theres the fear of getting pulled too deep into a US-China conflict. That was behind the objections raised by President Marcoss sister, Senator Imee Marcos. The senator, who chairs the foreign relations committee and is known for her political independence, grilled Defense Secretary Galvez at a hearing on Wednesday.

We are not volunteering to fight wars that are not our own, the senator said. The presidents office didnt immediately respond to a request for comment on the remarks.

Within Southeast Asia, not all leaders are comfortable with the US embrace. Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim says welcoming military forces is the wrong approach to deescalating tensions.

It would be disconcerting if any force, East or West, starts showing military might or presence within Asean, Anwar said in an interview with ABS-CBN News Channel in the Philippines broadcast on Friday.

Its all evidence of how President Marcos has to navigate the US-China relationship carefully. Like other regional leaders, he has an interest in maintaining ties with Beijing, his countrys top trading partner. In January, Marcos visited President Xi Jinping, with the two sides agreeing to resume talks on joint oil and gas exploration in the South China Sea.

In the end, however, Marcos appears more open to the US than many experts expected. The presidents remarks ruling out Subic Bay from the list of places expected to welcome more US troops may be more symbolic than substantive. US Navy ships still call there and American troops flow in for the annual Balikatan military exercises.

Paulino  the Subic Bay authoritys director  said its time to move on. The area he oversees could benefit from more investment. The now-private shipyards struggle to find commissions renovating yachts, and limited tourism appeal has forced the local airport  built in the shape of an aircraft carrier  to darken its halls.

Sitting in his offices overlooking the bay, Paulino said he told US Ambassador MaryKay L. Carlson late last year that negative feelings about the American presence are in the past.

I told her that theres no such thing here; no resentment, nothing whatsoever, he said.

--With assistance from Rebecca Choong Wilkins, Andreo Calonzo and Manolo Serapio Jr..

(Adds defense ministers comments.)

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Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene went on a transphobic rant at the Conservative Political Action Conference in Maryland as she accused transgender activists of targeting children.

Ms Greene spoke on the second day of CPAC, criticising LGBT+ activists and claiming that providing gender-affirming care has become incredibly profitable.

We have a responsibility that is to be the party that protects our children, she said.

They tell us the most incredible lie that children can actually change their gender before they've even grown up, before they even finish puberty, before they've developed into an adult, before they're old enough to vote.

Anti-trans rhetoric has dominated much of the conference. Immediately after Ms Greenes speech, the conference hosted a discussion featuring Chloe Cole, who said she detransitioned after initially having gender dysphoria, and Riley Gaines, who said she lost her opportunities in swimming after she tied with Lia Thomas, a transgender college swimmer.

Similarly, on the first full day of the conference, Senator Marsha Blackburn of Tennessee spoke in a Q&A with Sara Carter and celebrated the fact she was on the panel with two powerful women who can define the word 'woman, a reference to her asking Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson what is a woman during the latters Supreme Court confirmation hearing.

Ms Greene said that transgender activists were targeting children who were vulnerable.

Many of these victims have diagnoses of autism, of mental illness, they have depression, they have anxiety, they have psychosis, she said, noting how some were in foster care.

And these victims come in thinking they're going to find happiness and theyre going to find security in their identity because they think they can change their gender these boys think they can become girls use girls if they can become boys, but she want to hear what's happening to them, she said.

Marjorie Taylor Greene's CPAC speech is pure transphobia pic.twitter.com/1EwPZR1TqG  Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) March 3, 2023

CPAC attendees also got on their feet when she spoke about her legislation that would make it a felony to perform gender-affirming care to people under the age of 18. She also noted how many of her political opponents support her idea.

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People like Bill Maher agree with me on this issue, even though he attacks me, she said of the late-night comedian. Theres independents, Democrats, Republicans all over America that agee that we need to let kids be kids.

Ms Greenes legislation comes as many states have banned gender-affirming care. This week, Mississippi Governor Tate Reeves signed legislation to ban gender-affirming care for minors.

The congresswoman also repeated a debunked claim that Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said that American men and women would need to fight in the countrys war against Russia.

Gender-affirming care can span several kinds of treatments, including puberty blockers, hormone therapy and social transitioning support. Care standards from the World Professional Association for Transgender Health and other leading medical groups do not recommend that affirming surgeries be performed on minors, and the American Medical Association, American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, the American Academy of Pediatrics and the American Academy of Family Physicians, among others, have established clear clinical guidelines for treating young trans people.

But legislation restricting such care is supported and in many cases drafted by influential right-wing legal groups, conservative Christian organisations and fringe medical groups that have aligned with right-wing public officials to advance their agenda.

Among them are the Alliance for Defending Freedom, which has been at the centre of high-profile legal manoeuvres to criminalise LGBT+ people and abortion care, and the American College of Pediatricians. Both are characterised by the Southern Poverty Law Center as hate groups.

The American Academy of Pediatrics, meanwhile, is the nations largest professional association of pediatricians. The group recommends a gender-affirming and nonjudgmental approach that helps children feel safe in a society that too often marginalizes or stigmatizes those seen as different.

The gender-affirming model strengthens family resiliency and takes the emphasis off heightened concerns over gender while allowing children the freedom to focus on academics, relationship-building and other typical developmental tasks, according to the organisation.
Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) on Friday said she will reintroduce legislation she sponsored during the last Congress to criminalize the provision of gender-affirming health care to minors, accusing Democrats who support such care of coming for our children.

It couldnt pass last Congress because, like I said, Nancy Pelosi was the Speaker of the House, and she doesnt believe in gender at all. But we have a new Speaker in our Republican majority in the House of Representatives, and Im going to be introducing my bill  that will make it a felony to perform anything to do with gender-affirming care, Greene said Friday at the 2023 Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) in Maryland, eliciting cheers and applause from conference attendees.

Greenes bill, the Protect Childrens Innocence Act, outlaws more than a dozen medical interventions and procedures that are used to treat gender dysphoria in transgender youths, including puberty blockers, hormone therapy and certain surgeries done for the purpose of changing the body of such individual to correspond to a sex that differs from their biological sex.

Gender-affirming health care  for both transgender youths and adults  is considered safe, effective and medically necessary by most major medical associations. The only acceptable form of gender-affirming care for transgender minors who have not yet started puberty is social transition, which can include using a different name or pronouns or wearing gender-affirming clothing, according to guidelines set by the World Professional Association for Transgender Health and the Endocrine Society.

Greenes bill, first introduced in August, would also prohibit the use of federal funds for gender-affirming health care, including in Affordable Care Act plans. The proposed legislation would also hand down harsh penalties to health care providers who continue to treat transgender minors, including 10 to 25 years in prison and fines totaling up to $250,000.

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I dont know about you, Greene said Friday, but when it comes to kids, I think the Republican Party has a duty. We have a responsibility, and that is to be the party that protects children.

Greene said CPAC and its embattled chairman, Matt Schlapp, have endorsed the bill in the current Congress. It will be introduced next week, she said.

While Greenes legislation is the first of its kind at the federal level, at least two dozen states are pursuing similar measures with more than 100 state bills introduced this year targeting transgender health care, according to the American Civil Liberties Union.

On Thursday, Tennessee became the eighth state in the nation to ban gender-affirming care for youth and the fourth to do so this year. Mississippi Gov. Tate Reeves (R) signed a similar ban into law on Wednesday.

LGBTQ advocacy and civil rights groups, including the ACLU, have filed federal lawsuits against gender-affirming health care bans in Arkansas, Alabama, Florida and elsewhere.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to The Hill.
Marrakech International Storytelling Festival

The Marrakech International Storytelling Festival highlighted something that embodies the essence of who we are as people: storytelling.

As a child, I learned much about my Trinidadian heritage through the stories of our history and culture that was passed down for generations. Growing up in North Carolina as a first-generation American, I was exposed to what it means to be Black in America through stories about love, triumph, heartache and tenacity.

Ive always valued storytelling, but I must admit that as a millennial, I lost my appreciation for the art of storytelling and traded it in for the quick dopamine hit that social media gave me. It wasnt until this year, when I attended the second Marrakech International Storytelling Festival, that my appreciation for storytelling was revived.

Held in Moroccos vibrant city of Marrakech from Feb. 12 to Feb. 19, the festivals theme, Ancestral Voices, amplified the power of human connection and the healing of storytelling.

Ancestral Voices at the Marrakech International Storytelling Festival

Marrakech International Storytelling Festival

Baden Prince Jnr., an Antigua-born, London-based storyteller, traveled to Marrakech for his second year in a row. He met up with a community of storytellers he interacted with during the pandemic through the virtual World Storytelling Cafe.

When I heard there was going to be a festival in person, I was one of the first to book a ticket to come, Prince Jnr. said. I came last year, but last year was nothing compared to this year. This year is nearly three times the size, and Marrakech is fully open now. Last year, there were about thirty of us, with most of us being from Britain.

Marrakech, A Storytellers Paradise

The city of Marrakech transformed into a storytellers paradise.

On any given day during the festival, you could listen to stories being told in public spaces, museums, riads, cafes, restaurants and more. You could spot storytellers by their colorful garments with each piece of clothing chronicling the persons lived experiences and culture.

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One storyteller that particularly stood out to me was Baba-C. I first spotted Baba-C while he was eating dinner with glowing chopsticks in hand. After walking up to him, I selfishly asked him where I could get similar chopsticks. Id never seen such dope chopsticks before and needed to purchase a pair. He informed me that his granddaughter got them for him from Amazon.

When he spoke, I heard an American accent. Soon, I learned that Baba-C traveled to the festival from the nations capital, Washington, D.C. I was entranced by Baba-Cs powerful energy the longer we talked, and I quickly learned that I wasnt the only one. His stardom rose among the storytellers and attendees throughout the week. In every room he entered, people would start cheering his name.

As we all gathered for a final dinner and storytelling on the last night of the festival, Baba-C stood up to share his reflections. Before he could utter a word, the crowd of storytellers and attendees began shouting his name with excitement, love and admiration. It was a true testament to how the week had been. People werent shy to give others their flowers in the moment.

The crowd was a storytellers dream, and the city was a storytellers paradise. It was where they could share their experiences unapologetically and receive respect and love in return.

Baba-C at the Marrakech International Storytelling Festival

Marrakech, A Crossroad for Africa

Marrakech is a good crossroad for Africa, Baba-C told me when I asked him how he arrived at the festival. Its a good crossroad for people to come and visit and experience a different culture. It was Marrakech at the right time and the right place.

Moroccans are very warm and welcoming people. I was treated kindly in every restaurant, cafe and store that I entered. Even in the bustling Medina, where the vendors main goal is to sell to tourists like myself, I was approached with love and kindness. It made me slow down, take in what I was experiencing and appreciate connecting with the locals.

I met an owner of a rug shop in the Medina who invited me to his shop for traditional tea and spoke to me about his journey to owning his own Moroccan rug business.

A few locals attended the Marrakech International Storytelling Festival, and they proudly spoke Arabic while telling stories of their culture and country. It showed me that although we speak different languages, storytelling is universally understood through our movements and expressions.

Marrakech International Storytelling Festival Formed Long-lasting Connections

Prince Jnr. and Baba-C developed a relationship during the pandemic because of the virtual World Storytelling Cafe, and they met in person for the second year in a row.

Seeing two Black men from different cultural backgrounds unite in a foreign city over their mutual love of storytelling was beautiful. They initially connected virtually, seeing each other from screens and separated by continents. For them, meeting in person is like a family reunion. They felt as though they knew each other for years.

Although they were born in different countries  Baba-C as a Black American and Prince Jnr. as a Black Caribbean  and grew up in different cultures, they were cut from the same cloth.

Stories Bring Us Together; My Reflections on the Festival

During a welcome ceremony, Baba-C proudly stood up and addressed the crowd.

Ive made some wonderful friends. Ive been exposed to different type of stories. Ive made some wonderful connections, he said. Stories bring us together. If you really want to learn about a person [and about] people and their culture, sit down at a table full of good food and share a story. Thats the impact that this has had on me.

Storytellers at the Marrakech International Storytelling Festival

I couldnt agree with him more.

Baba-C, Prince Jnr., and I are from two different generations, but that didnt stop us from connecting on the principle of storytelling being at the root of everything. I traveled thousands of miles across the Atlantic Ocean without knowing what to expect from a storytelling festival.

While I was on my flight home, I had the time to reflect on my experience. I realized I left with a yearning to help preserve the art of storytelling and the desire to pass down stories to my unborn kids that will teach them about my upbringing as a Trinidadian-American in the south.

Prince Jnr. sums up my feelings on storytelling and the Marrakech International Storytelling Festival best.

It puts storytelling back on the map, where it belongs, he said. It never really went away. It just went underground and quiet for a while. Storytelling is the oldest spoken word art form. Its a cultural tradition that is shared by communities all over the world. Storytelling is vital. Its what connects people.

Learn more about the Marrakech International Storytelling Festival here.
High public concern about crime has prompted Maryland Republican lawmakers to pitch a package of bills in this General Assembly session to attack juvenile crime, gun crimes and violent offenders.

The General Assemblys Joint Republican Caucus Thursday shared details about their priority crime package, emphasizing what they said is a continuing rise in juvenile crime.

House Minority Whip Jesse Pippy, R-Frederick, said Baltimore City has experienced more than 300 homicides each year for the last eight consecutive years.

Sen. William Folden, R-Frederick, at the lectern, speaks on Republican legislation intended to reduce crime on March 2, 2023, at a news conference in Annapolis.

The top issue Marylanders are most concerned about is the violent crime crisis, Pippy said. It should be a top priority for every legislator.

Holding juveniles accountable for gun crimes, but not necessarily in jail

Del. Nic Kipke, R-Anne Arundel, sponsored the Juvenile Gun Offenses Accountability Act, HB753, which would make adjustments to last years juvenile justice reforms to allow some minors to be charged with gun crimes.

Under current law, minors under age 13 can only be prosecuted for violent crimes. As a result, a 12-year-old boy did not face consequences when he brought a gun to school in Anne Arundel County earlier this year, lawmakers said.

GOP EDUCATION PLAN:Should Maryland keep publicly funding private school scholarships? GOP lawmakers say yes

HB 753 would grant jurisdiction to the juvenile court over minors between ages 10 and 12 who are alleged to commit offenses involving firearms. This could include ordering behavioral therapy or detainment.

We cannot expect young people to fully understand the impact of crimes that they might commit if we do not hold them accountable, Kipke said. Holding them accountable does not just mean throwing a kid in jail.

Lawmaker's husband robbed at gunpoint; suspect shouldn't have had weapon

Del. Rachel Munoz, R-Anne Arundel, has a personal and professional interest in tightening up gun laws. She said during the news conference that a constituent reached out to her before the legislative session began about sponsoring a bill to make firearm theft a felony.

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That prompted her introduction of HB 750, the Gun Theft Felony Act. At the time, she said she had no idea how difficult the legislation would become for her.

Last month, Munozs husband was robbed at gunpoint at the West Annapolis pharmacy where he works. A suspect was later charged, but the terrorized family still has no idea how the suspect, who had an extensive criminal history, obtained the weapon.

MD. HOUSING PLANS:With Salisbury's Jake Day confirmed for cabinet, whats next for housing statewide?

Although Munozs husband and colleagues were not harmed in the incident, it sparked rage for Munoz.

This happens to Maryland families every single day, Munoz said. I didnt have to tell our five children their father wasnt coming home, but so many other people have to tell that story.

Using firearm in a violent crime would become felony in bipartisan bill

Senate Republicans are also working to get SB744, the Violent Firearms Offender Act, into law. Previous versions of this bill passed the Senate in 2021 and 2020, but failed to make their way out of the House of Delegates.

This year, the legislation has bipartisan co-sponsors and would upgrade using a firearm in a violent crime from a misdemeanor to a felony.

It would also remove the drug dealer loophole whereby drug dealers  or those posing as them  receive a lighter sentence than others convicted of the same offense. The bill reclassifies drug dealing as a violent crime, and therefore makes using a firearm in conjunction with drug dealing subject to a felony, rather than a misdemeanor.

SB744 targets repeat violent offenders and gives prosecutors tools to hold them accountable, according to Sen. William Folden, R-Frederick.

Right now, criminals in some jurisdictions are not fearing any consequences, Folden said. It is time to refocus our efforts on protecting our citizens and restoring the victims faith in the process.

Bipartisan support in Maryland General Assembly for crime bills

Senate Minority Whip Justin Ready, R-Frederick and Carroll, emphasized the importance of bipartisan support for the package.

He said the Republican lawmakers have prioritized addressing violent crime for years, but legislation targeting repeat offenders typically dies.

We are really imploring our colleagues in the supermajority Democratic side of things in both the House and Senate to join us, Ready said.

This article originally appeared on The Herald-Mail: Maryland Republicans prioritize violent crime legislation
A statewide organization is helping families and kids who are struggling with mental health issues by providing resources and support through education, advocacy and partnership.

Boston 25 Gets Real: 3 ways parents can help with kids mental health

One of the toughest challenges for parents of kids who are struggling with mental health issues is how and where to find help.

But Parent/Professional Advocacy League says it can help.

Its an organization that has been teaching parents how to navigate the mental health system for more than three decades. It works by pairing them with parents who have similar lived experiences.

PPAL is the only Massachusetts organization whose work focuses solely on the interests of families whose children have mental health needs, the organization writes on their website.

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
Gasoline with higher blends of ethanol could be sold year-round in eight Midwestern states beginning in 2024 under a rule proposed Wednesday by the Environmental Protection Agency.

The proposed rule is a victory for the biofuels industry, which for years has pushed to allow sales of gasoline blended with 15% ethanol during the summer, which hasnt been allowed because of concerns that it would worsen smog during hot weather. The industry and members of Congress welcomed the EPAs proposal, which had been requested by governors in the eight states. But they questioned why the new rules couldnt begin this summer.

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Under the proposal, the higher blends could be sold during the summer in Iowa, Illinois, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, Ohio, South Dakota and Wisconsin. Most gasoline sold in the U.S. is now blended with 10% ethanol, which is allowed throughout the year.

The issue is especially important in those Midwest states because farmers there grow the bulk of the nations corn, and nearly 40% of that crop is used to produce ethanol. As more ethanol goes into gas tanks, demand for corn should increase and prices for the commodity paid to farmers should also rise.

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The American Coalition for Ethanol said in a statement that the group appreciated the EPAs proposal but argued there was no reason to wait until 2024 . The group accused the agency of delaying the action because of pressure from the petroleum industry.

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The administration appears to be caving to refiner crocodile tears by kicking the can to 2024 instead, the coalition said. This delay means consumers in conventional gasoline areas of the country will be forced to pay more at the pump this year and retailers who want to offer lower cost E15 to their customers will be penalized.

The group urged the EPA to allow the change to take effect in 2023 for the eight Midwestern states and for the Biden administration to allow the expanded ethanol sales in other regions of the country.

The EPA responded that there wasnt time to change the fuel supply for this summer.

There is simply not enough lead time prior to the summer of 2023. The fuel production and distribution system would have already had to begin making the transition to provide a new lower volatility gasoline by now in order to meet a May 1, 2023, standard at the gasoline terminals, the EPA said in a statement. Were EPA to propose a summer 2023 effective date, it could lead to supply disruption.

The American Fuel & Petrochemical Manufacturers industry group said the EPA was right to delay new rules until 2024 because summer gasoline production is already underway. Even with more lead time, the organization predicted that creating a special blend for the Midwestern states would increase costs and could lead to tighter fuel supplies in the region because not all refiners, pipelines and terminals are ready to handle the different blend.

Fuel manufacturers and regional pipeline and terminal operators have made clear to the Biden administration and the eight petitioning states that the push to outlaw the current blend of summertime gasoline and replace it with a boutique blend is going to impose major costs on the Midwests fuel supply chain and consumers  ranging from $500-$800 million per year, and potentially higher if unforeseen interruptions occur, the organization said in a statement.

The EPA said it would hold a hearing on the proposed rule in late March or early April.
Olin Business School

Michael Mazzeo will become the new dean of the Olin Business School at Washington University (Photo credit: Doug Birkenheuer/WUSTL

After a six-month search, Washington University today (March 3) found a new dean for Olin Business School at nearby Northwestern Universitys Kellogg School of Business.

Michael Mazzeo, a master teacher who has won numerous awards for his classroom prowess over nearly a quarter of a century at Kellogg, will move to St. Louis as Olins new dean on Jan. 1 of 2024. He succeeds Anjan V. Thakor who has served as interim dean since July when Mark P. Taylor stepped down from the job.

Mazzeo, 52, will be joining a business school, with a $190 million annual budget, that has been steadily rising in rankings thanks to a new vision and four-pillar strategy focused on innovation, data, values and experiential learning, a new and more global MBA curriculum and technology advances to enhance remote learning by former Dean Taylor. The schools full-time MBA program now ranks among the Top 25 in the U.S., earning the 23rd spot in Poets&Quants 2022-2023 ranking, up from 29 a year earlier.

OLIN BUSINESS SCHOOL WILL HAVE AS ITS NEW DEAN A MASTER MBA TEACHER

A long-time professor of strategy, Mazzeo brings significant administrative experience to the job. He was the senior associate dean of curriculum and teaching at Kellogg from 2017-2020 and faculty director of the schools evening and weekend MBA and masters in management studies programs. Mazzeo also was the point person on the Kellogg team who responded to the academic disruption caused by COVID-19 and brought lessons from that experience to innovation in the schools working professional degree programs.

Mazzeo is known as one of Kelloggs most outstanding MBA teachers. A three-time recipient of the Chairs Core Course Teaching Award, he also won three Best Elective teaching awards in the MBA and executive MBA programs. But he also has delivered outside the classroom. Mazzeo teamed up with fellow business professors Paul Oyer, of Stanford University, and Scott Schaefer, of the University of Utah, in 2010 to launch Roadside MBA. Over the last 12 years, they have visited more than 250 small and medium-sized businesses in more than 30 states and 12 countries in search of stories that illustrate important ideas taught in leading MBA programs. That initiative led to the publication of a book in 2014: Roadside MBA: Backroad Lessons for Entrepreneurs, Executives and Small Business Owners.

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Its an honor to be named the next dean of Olin Business School, a place known for its values-based and data-driven approach to educating leaders, Mazzeo said in a statement. WashU is a world-class institution on a path toward even greater distinction as a global leader in higher education. Im excited for the opportunity to work closely with students, faculty and staff to build upon Olins proud tradition of excellence.

MIKE STOOD OUT AS AN IMPRESSIVE CANDIDATE FROM THE BEGINNING

I am thrilled that Mike Mazzeo accepted our offer to be the next dean of the Olin Business School, WashU Chancellor Andrew D. Martin added in a statement announcing the appointment. Mike stood out as an impressive candidate from the beginning of the search process. Were fortunate to have found such a talented leader and scholar to assume this role and build upon Olins global reputation as a leader in business education and scholarship.

Anastasia Crosswhite, Donald A. Snead, and Ponneh Varho of the executive search firm of SpencerStuart assisted in the recruitment, along with an 11-member search committee that published a 12-page profile for the job.

I also want to take this opportunity to recognize and express my gratitude to Anjan Thakor for his service as interim dean. He has been a strong and steady presence during the past seven months and has been invaluable in ensuring a seamless transition for the Olin community. Im especially grateful to Dean Thakor for continuing to serve in this interim role through the end of the calendar year.

THE NEW OLIN BUSINESS SCHOOL DEAN SPENT NEARLY A QUARTER OF A CENTURY AT KELLOGG

Mazzeo joined Kelloggs strategy department as an assistant professor in 1998 after graduating from Stanford University with a doctorate in economics. He also earned his bachelors degree in economics and urban studies at Stanford in 1991. Mazzeos research focuses on empirical industrial organization, in particular developing new statistical methodologies for examining the relationship between product differentiation strategies and market competition. His work spans a variety of industries including airlines, banking, health care, lodging, retail and telecommunications.

He got his first taste of administrative work in 2017 when Mazzeo became senior associate dean for curriculum and teaching. In 2021, he was named faculty director of the schools evening and weekend MBA and MiM programs. In these roles, Mazzeo facilitated the creation of new curricular pathways to meet the evolving needs of students in areas such as technology management; diversity, equity and inclusion; and sustainability. He oversaw an innovative data analytics unit that provided insights everywhere from faculty hiring to reputation to student career outcomes.

Its fitting that Mike is a professor of strategy as what struck me during our conversations was his bold, strategic thinking, as well as his commitment to using data to identify and advance opportunities for improvements, said Beverly Wendland, provost and executive vice chancellor for academic affairs, in the announcement.

DAD TO A FIRST YEAR STUDENT AT NYU

The breadth and depth of his experience at Kellogg prepares him well for this role, and were fortunate to have such a tested leader. Olin is a strong asset for WashU, and I know that the university as a whole will be stronger as a result of Mikes deanship.

Father of a first-year student at New York University, Mazzeo volunteers his time as a member of the board of directors of Howard Brown Health, the largest LGBTQ-affirming healthcare organization in the Midwest.

Olin awards more than 1,300 degrees annually in programs taught by 134 fulltime faculty members with respective increases of 45% and 58% over the past decade. Once comprised mainly of undergraduate and fulltime MBA students, the school now offers a full range of academic programs: an elite undergraduate program; various specialized masters programs (on campus and online); fulltime, parttime, online, and executive MBA programs; a Ph.D. program; a DBA program for senior executives, undergraduate and graduate degrees in entrepreneurship, and customized executive education offerings.

DONT MISS: MBA PROGRAM OF THE YEAR IN 2020: WASHUS REVAMPED GLOBAL MBA or MEET WASHINGTON UNIVERSITYS OLIN MBA CLASS OF 2023

The post Master Kellogg Teacher Gains Deanship At WashUs Olin School appeared first on Poets&Quants.
Key Insights

The projected fair value for Mastercard is US$294 based on 2 Stage Free Cash Flow to Equity

Mastercard is estimated to be 21% overvalued based on current share price of US$356

Our fair value estimate is 44% higher than Mastercard's analyst price target of US$424

How far off is Mastercard Incorporated (NYSE:MA) from its intrinsic value? Using the most recent financial data, we'll take a look at whether the stock is fairly priced by taking the expected future cash flows and discounting them to their present 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.

We would caution that there are many ways of valuing a company and, like the DCF, each technique has advantages and disadvantages in certain scenarios. If you want to learn more about discounted cash flow, the rationale behind this calculation can be read in detail in the Simply Wall St analysis model.

Check out our latest analysis for Mastercard

Step By Step Through The Calculation

We use what is known as a 2-stage model, which simply means we have two different periods of growth rates for the company's cash flows. Generally the first stage is higher growth, and the second stage is a lower growth phase. To start off with, we need to estimate the next ten years of cash flows. Where possible we use analyst estimates, but when these aren't available we extrapolate the previous free cash flow (FCF) from the last estimate or reported value. We assume companies with shrinking free cash flow will slow their rate of shrinkage, and that companies with growing free cash flow will see their growth rate slow, over this period. We do this to reflect that growth tends to slow more in the early years than it does in later years.

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:

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10-year free cash flow (FCF) forecast

2023 2024 2025 2026 2027 2028 2029 2030 2031 2032 Levered FCF ($, Millions) US$11.2b US$13.6b US$15.2b US$16.8b US$18.0b US$19.0b US$19.8b US$20.5b US$21.2b US$21.8b Growth Rate Estimate Source Analyst x7 Analyst x7 Analyst x4 Analyst x1 Est @ 6.94% Est @ 5.48% Est @ 4.46% Est @ 3.74% Est @ 3.24% Est @ 2.89% Present Value ($, Millions) Discounted @ 8.2% US$10.4k US$11.6k US$12.0k US$12.3k US$12.1k US$11.8k US$11.4k US$11.0k US$10.5k US$10.0k

("Est" = FCF growth rate estimated by Simply Wall St)

Present Value of 10-year Cash Flow (PVCF) = US$113b

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 (2.1%) 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 8.2%.

Terminal Value (TV)= FCF 2032  (1 + g)  (r  g) = US$22b (1 + 2.1%)  (8.2% 2.1%) = US$366b

Present Value of Terminal Value (PVTV)= TV / (1 + r)10= US$366b ( 1 + 8.2%)10= US$167b

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 US$280b. In the final step we divide the equity value by the number of shares outstanding. Compared to the current share price of US$356, the company appears slightly overvalued at the time of writing. Remember though, that this is just an approximate valuation, and like any complex formula - garbage in, garbage out.

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 Mastercard as potential shareholders, the cost of equity is used as the discount rate, rather than the cost of capital (or weighted average cost of capital, WACC) which accounts for debt. In this calculation we've used 8.2%, which is based on a levered beta of 1.025. 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 Mastercard

Strength

Earnings growth over the past year exceeded the industry.

Debt is well covered by earnings and cashflows.

Weakness

Earnings growth over the past year is below its 5-year average.

Dividend is low compared to the top 25% of dividend payers in the IT market.

Opportunity

Annual revenue is forecast to grow faster than the American market.

Good value based on P/E ratio compared to estimated Fair P/E ratio.

Threat

Annual earnings are forecast to grow slower than the American market.

Moving On:

Whilst important, the DCF calculation 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 instance, if the terminal value growth rate is adjusted slightly, it can dramatically alter the overall result. Why is the intrinsic value lower than the current share price? For Mastercard, there are three pertinent factors you should further research:

Risks: Every company has them, and we've spotted 1 warning sign for Mastercard you should know about. Future Earnings: How does MA'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 NYSE every day. If you want to find the calculation for other stocks just search here.

Have feedback on this article? Concerned about the content? Get in touch with us directly. Alternatively, email editorial-team (at) simplywallst.com.



This article by Simply Wall St is general in nature. We provide commentary based on historical data and analyst forecasts only using an unbiased methodology and our articles are not intended to be financial advice. It does not constitute a recommendation to buy or sell any stock, and does not take account of your objectives, or your financial situation. We aim to bring you long-term focused analysis driven by fundamental data. Note that our analysis may not factor in the latest price-sensitive company announcements or qualitative material. Simply Wall St has no position in any stocks mentioned.

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Congressman Matt Gaetz appeared onstage for day 2 of Trumpworlds CPAC bash in Washington DC, and took the opportunity to deliver a rambling tirade against Democrats that began with him celebrating his own political survival.

The Florida Republican found himself at the centre of an investigation headed by the Department of Justice into his alleged travels with a teenage girl for the purposes of sex while she was underage. Mr Gaetz has vehemently denied the charges, but his longtime associate Joel Greenberg would end up swallowed up by the investigation anyway and sentenced to a lengthy prison term after supposedly cooperating for months with prosecutors.

Many expected charges to be filed against the congressman, but news reports in recent weeks have indicated that no charges are coming.

Vindication looks pretty good on me, a confident Mr Gaetz extolled to CPAC attendees from the main stage on Friday.

He quickly moved on from that topic to his various complaints about the Democratic Party, which culminated in his outraged accusation that Democrats were trying to discredit a witness brought forward by Republicans on the House Oversight Committee.

The congressmans complains centred around media reports which tore apart the credibility of FBI officials, one of whom is currently suspended, whom Republicans summoned to testify before the committee on the issue of politicisation at the Department of Justice.

While Democrats on the panel said in a statement that none of the GOP witnesses had actually alleged any specific wrongdoing, they went on to trash the believability of the assembed witnesses and pointed out that the group was actually funded and in some cases, employed, by a network of Trump administration appointees and allies who had organised the entire effort.

Mr Gaetz fumed at this revelation, which he played off as a charitable effort to help poor, underprivileged former federal agents with a few thousand dollars here and there to buy a winter coat or address other needs.

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[I]f the Democrats are going to obstruct our investigation, they shouldnt be allowed to sit in the depositions and hear the evidence, he argued, adding that he believed his political rivals were obstucting rigorous oversight.

The congressman went on to essentially admit that such a plan was patently unconstitutional, and would lead to a total breakdown of the US Congress as the minority party would lose essentially all rights to participate in governance.

I think that means a fundamental reshaping of this government, he said. A reshaping of this town.

His outlandish prescription for the US Congress comes as one of his allies, Marjorie Taylor Greene, has suggested the concept of a national divorce in various interviews, a theme echoed on the shirts and signs of many this week at CPACs gathering in National Harbor.

Theres no mechanism in the US Constitution that would allow for a so-called national divorce or the stripping of minority party rights from the US House of Representatives.
"I was told plane dropped almost 4000 feet, 7 people went to the hospital," Alves wrote on Instagram of a video capturing the aftermath.

Rick Kern/Getty Images

After experiencing severe turbulence on her flight this week, Matthew McConaughey's wife Camila Alves took to Instagram to recount the frightening ordeal.

"I was told plane dropped almost 4000 feet, 7 people went to the hospital," she wrote on Instagram of a video capturing the aftermath. "Everything was flying everywhere."



The Lufthansa flight, which was headed from Austin, Texas to Frankfurt, Germany was diverted to Washington Dulles International Airport on Wednesday when it hit significant turbulence at an altitude of 37,000 feet, The Associated Press reported.

The AP also confirmed Alves' account that seven people on board were injured and taken to area hospitals.

To respect the privacy of those around me thats all I am showing but the plane was a CHAOS And the turbulence [kept] on coming " she wrote in her post alongside a video captioning the frightening scene. "Thank God everyone was safe and ok.

Alves McConaughey said after the plane touched down, she and Matthew McConaughey headed to a Marriott hotel by the airport to spend the night and made it to the bar with 1 minute before closing, thanking the hotel staff.

On Thursday, she boarded a new flight, posting on her Instagram stories that the pilot announced more turbulence was expected on that flight.

Wednesdays Lufthansa flight hit severe clear-air turbulence about 90 minutes after takeoff, the AP noted.

The safety and well-being of passengers and crew members is Lufthansas top priority at all times, the airline told the wire service in a statement.

Clear-air turbulence is turbulence that is not associated with cumuliform clouds, according to the National Weather Service. It usually occurs in patches and above 15,000 feet, and is most common during winter.

Turbulence is scary, but planes are designed to withstand huge amounts of it.

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Read the original article on Travel & Leisure.
Camila Alves and Matthew McConaughey Rick Kern/WireImage

Actor Matthew McConaughey and his wife, Camila Alves McConaughey, were on the recent Lufthansa flight that had to make an emergency landing due to severe turbulence, and the latter is opening up about the "chaos" on board.

On Instagram, Alves McConaughey revealed that she and her husband were on the flight that "you are seeing on the news today," telling followers she "was told [the] plane dropped almost 4,000 feet" and that "7 people went to the hospital." The model also shared a video taken from the fight, which showed food spilled into the aisle.

"Everything was flying everywhere," she wrote. "To respect the privacy of those around me that's all I am showing but the plane was a CHAOS And the turbulence [kept] on coming."

In a statement to CNN, the airline confirmed that Lufthansa Flight 469, which was traveling from Texas to Germany, experienced "clear air turbulence, which can occur without visible weather phenomena or advance warning," about 90 minutes after takeoff. The airline added that the "affected passengers were given initial care on board by the flight attendants trained for such cases." Due to the extreme turbulence, the flight was diverted to Virginia.

Alves McConaughey thanked "God everyone was safe and ok" in her Instagram post, adding that she and McConaughey "made it to the bar with 1 minute before closing  slept well, getting on [a] new flight today."

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After blowing the answer to a question about the U.S. nuclear triad in the first week of his 2024 presidential campaign, political novice and bio-tech multi-millionaire Vivek Ramaswamy plans to sit down for weekly policy briefings  and turn them into campaign podcasts.

"I did not know what the nuclear triad was," Ramaswamy admitted to CBS News chief Washington correspondent Major Garrett on this week's episode of "The Takeout." "But you know what? I'm a fast study and that's what I've said all along."

FILE: Vivek Ramaswamy, chairman and founder of Montes Archimedes Acquisition Corp., speaks during CPAC in Dallas, Texas, on Aug. 5, 2022. / Credit: Bloomberg, via Getty Images

Radio host Hugh Hewitt stumped Ramaswamy during an interview in late February with a question about the U.S. nuclear arsenal  made up of land, sea, and air delivery methods and referred to as the "nuclear triad."

Asked if he was familiar with the nuclear triad, Ramaswamy responded, "Yeah, you're talking about our new axis of sort of evil here?" After Hewitt clarified he meant the three-pronged U.S. nuclear deterrent, Ramaswamy said, "I have to admit, I'm not familiar with that."

The episode recalled a moment during a 2015 presidential debate hosted by Hewitt, when then-candidate Donald Trump also appeared not to know what the nuclear triad was and instead gave his views on who should be trusted with nuclear weapons.

Ramaswamy told Garrett that beginning in March, his presidential campaign would start to tape briefings he receives on policies and issues he feels are necessary to be prepared for the presidency and would release them as podcast episodes. "There's a lot I have to learn, that every one of us has to learn," Ramaswamy said. "Nobody's born qualified, or even today qualified, to be president of the United States. That learning process is probably the most important part, and I want everyone to see how I learn and to learn with me."

The 37-year-old Republican presidential candidate, who confirmed he has a net worth of approximately $600 million, told Garrett that he intends to self-finance his campaign. He promised transparency and said he plans to release his tax returns and health records, should he win the nomination.

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"I believe those are basic table stakes," he said.

Former President Donald Trump's tax returns were only released last December after a battle that went all the way to the Supreme Court.

When the Republican presidential debates begin later this year, Ramaswamy said he expects to be on stage. He urged the Republican National Committee to be transparent about the requirements to qualify. "If I have one piece of advice to them, make those criteria clear," he said of the RNC.

He has pledged to support the candidate who becomes the Republican nominee. "I've been clear that I'm not I'm not a party man. I could care less for the Republican Party apparatus," Ramaswamy told Garrett. "But you know what? For the sake of the country, I absolutely will say that I will support the ultimate nominee."

The author of several books, Ramaswamy's latest, "Woke, Inc.: Inside Corporate America's Social Justice Scam," takes on hot-button issues for conservatives such as "wokeism," "climateism," virtue-signaling, and gender ideology.

Ramaswamy called presidential opponent Governor Ron DeSantis "one of the best foot soldiers" in the battle of anti-wokeism, but he argues he is better equipped to address the "root cause" of the "symptom" of wokeism  a "deeper void of national identity."

While he acknowledges the realities of the pandemic and climate change, he opposes what he views as the extreme reactions to these problems.

"When I talk about climateism and Covidism, I'm not denying the reality of the underlying reality of COVID. I'm not denying the reality of the underlying reality that global surface temperatures are going up and in part due to human activity. But what I'm denying here and rejecting is the religious fanaticism to say that that needs to be the end all, be all purpose of human action, when in fact the end all be all purpose of human action should actually be human flourishing itself," Ramaswamy said.

In the spirit of transparency, Ramaswamy disclosed that he is fully vaccinated against COVID-19, and has received his booster shot. "I'm not afraid to say itAnd I'll challenge every other presidential candidate on the Republican stage to be open about that, too."

But he does not believe that vaccination status should be used to divide Americans. Ramaswamy also made clear he opposes Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene's calls for a "national divorce" between red states and blue states.

"I bluntly disagree with her. I think it is the wrong way to go," Ramaswamy said.

"But for me, it was a wakeup call and a reminder for why I'm doing what I'm doing in this run for president. We've celebrated our diversity and our differences so much that we forgot what unifies us across those differences, the ideals that set this nation into motion," Ramaswamy told Garrett.

"That's what I think the conservative movement needs to embrace as its agenda to lead with thatto now rise to the occasion, to actually rediscover that common thread that binds us together across our capital D Diversity. I say our diversity is not our strength. Our strength is what unifies us across our diversity. And I'm leading the way to help rediscover those values."

Executive producer: Arden Farhi

Producers: Jamie Benson, Jacob Rosen, Sara Cook and Eleanor Watson

CBSN Production: Eric Soussanin

Show email: TakeoutPodcast@cbsnews.com

Twitter: @TakeoutPodcast

Instagram: @TakeoutPodcast

Facebook: Facebook.com/TakeoutPodcast

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(Bloomberg) -- US Senator Robert Menendez urged President Joe Biden to nominate a Latino to a vacancy on the Federal Reserve Board of Governors, according to an aide to the senator.

Most Read from Bloomberg

Menendez spoke to Biden Thursday following a lunch at the Capitol in Washington. The senator, a New Jersey Democrat, has repeatedly called for a Latino to be appointed to a leadership position at the Fed, including in a letter last month he and most of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus sent to Biden. In its 109 year history, the central bank has never had a Latino leader.

A spot on the seven-member Fed Board opened up last month when Vice Chair Lael Brainard resigned. Biden has appointed her to lead the National Economic Council.

Biden spoke briefly with Menendez, according to the aide. Menendez told Biden he has put forward names of qualified Latino candidates but that his ultimate goal is for a Latino to be confirmed, regardless of whether its someone he suggested or another person the White House is considering.

So far, none of the people that have emerged as top contenders are Latino.

A White House official said a diverse pool of candidates is being considered, including Latino people.

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2023 Bloomberg L.P.
Voters on Tuesday selected two candidates whose disagreements on the issues could not be sharper. There is potential for a battle of ideas over the next few weeks between Paul Vallas and Brandon Johnson that augurs well for a city that needs answers.

Mayor Lori Lightfoot had her ideas too. Plus a mayoral record to run on. But voters rejected her Tuesday, and as Johnson and Vallas launch into a campaign that concludes with the April 4 runoff, we would do well to learn a lesson from Lightfoot: Ideas are only the start. Just as important are the ability and temperament to govern.

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The two finalists clearly are ready to play hardball, not beanbag, over the next four weeks. Were about to get real, Johnson told jubilant supporters Tuesday night, as he launched into an indictment of Vallas track record. His opponent resumed campaigning Wednesday by responding in kind.

If thats the way this contest plays out  and if Vallas and Johnson can stick to the issues  Chicago will be better for it.

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Consider their contrasting approaches to policing.

Vallas offers a law-and-order approach that would start with filling some 1,500 vacant Chicago Police Department jobs and implement true community policing. Tuesdays top vote-getter, he is backed by the Fraternal Order of Police and its president, John Catanzara, an acolyte of Donald Trump.

Johnson, who placed a respectable but distant second to Vallas on Tuesday, once talked about defunding the police. He has amended that now to propose redirecting money from cops on the streets toward addressing the inputs of crime, such as social and economic inequities and mental health disorders. He would stop using CPDs ShotSpotter technology, which is prone to false alarms that send swarms of cops into poor neighborhoods, prompting anger and charges of inequity among residents.

Go up and down the list of the citys major concerns, and the contrasts continue. Education, economic inequities, taxes: You name it, and they disagree on how to approach it.

Johnson is backed by the Chicago Teachers Union; Vallas, a former Chicago Public Schools CEO, believes in school vouchers and charter schools, which CTU abhors. On economics, Vallas talks about creating a community investment authority and a city-run land bank. Johnson would tax his way toward funding more equitable policies: an employers head tax and a commuter tax. He proposes $800 million in new taxes altogether.

Oh yes, its worth noting too: Johnson, a Cook County commissioner, is Black. Vallas is white. Racial tribalism still factors strongly in the citys politics and in the governing of this city.

Four years ago, Lightfoot laid out her own policy agenda. Voters embraced it, and her reformist ideals, and propelled her into office. And make no mistake: Despite her deficiencies as a leader, Lightfoot got a lot done.

Structurally improving the citys finances, directing more than $1 billion in new investment toward the South and West sides, effectively fighting the COVID-19 pandemic and launching major new projects such as a downtown casino and an expanded OHare International Airport: Lightfoot made progress. Even the schools improved, though not without difficulty. The city is better for her time in office.

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On only one major issue  the rise in violent crime in neighborhoods across the city  did Lightfoot seem completely stymied. The resignation of police Superintendent David Brown on Wednesday, the day after the election, marked his final gasp of exasperated ineptitude.

But Lightfoot will be a one-term mayor, Chicagos first in four decades, in part because in her time as mayor, she consistently revealed a temperament that exposed an inability to govern. Although she often was able to persist and grind her way to success, she found ways to be her own worst enemy. And that tendency was a key factor that helped cost her the job.

Lightfoots impatience, foul language and temper, lack of gratitude toward political allies and community supporters, and a seeming delight in political enmity ultimately left her isolated and ineffective as a leader. A series of broken campaign promises alienated progressives in particular, a much-needed voting bloc for Lightfoots reelection hopes.

Its telling that at least seven aldermen who had served as Lightfoots City Council leadership team endorsed someone else among the field of nine candidates. None of the four people Lightfoot appointed to fill open council seats in the last year endorsed her. As at least a dozen aldermen called it quits ahead of this years election, some made clear that the acrimony that brewed in City Hall during her tenure was a factor.

Lightfoot also shed large blocs of voters. After winning all 50 wards in the 2019 runoff against a seasoned politician, Cook County Board President Toni Preckwinkle, Lightfoot on Tuesday won only 16. All were on the South and West sides, and only two  the 29th and 37th Wards on the West Side  have neighborhoods north of North Avenue.

The lakefront wards that had catapulted Lightfoot into the runoff against Preckwinkle in 2019 threw their support toward Vallas and Johnson instead.

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There is a lesson here for Vallas and Johnson, as well as the voters who will choose between them next month. To earn the job, one of the candidates will need to muster the ideas and political skill to win with voters. To hold on to it, the new mayor must also find a winning way of governing.

David Greising is president and CEO of the Better Government Association.

Submit a letter, of no more than 400 words, to the editor here or email letters@chicagotribune.com.
Republicans and conspiracy theorists arent the only ones who love Twitter CEO Elon Musk. So do mens rights activists in India.

SIFF

On Sunday, about 200 men from an organization called the Save Indian Family Foundation (SIFF)  a self-proclaimed mens rights group that claims Indian laws are biased in favor of women and are used to exploit men  gathered in Bangalore and literally worshipped a large picture of Musk, one of the worlds richest men.

Musks picture was emblazoned with the words Men Have A Right To Peaceful Existence.

SIFF

The group, which describes feminists as intellectually challenged with very less academic grounding and ungrateful people on its website, claimed that it was worshipping Musk for firing Twitters previous woke admins who restricted its tweets.

Full video of the actual puja (worship) of Elon Musk at Bangalore, India.Men's Activists of SIFF used to be often shadow banned from twitter by previous woke admins of the company.After Elon Musk fired them, the MRAs have got back their right to free speech.Elon Musk Puja 05:26 PM - 27 Feb 2023

Its a big relief that Elon Musk is standing up for free speech and removing censorship, Anil Murty, a cofounder of SIFF, told BuzzFeed News. (He declined to provide evidence that the groups tweets were shadowbanned before Musk bought Twitter.)

Musk, who has fired over 70% of the company's employees (including content moderators) since he took over, became a right-wing darling for reinstating more than 15,000 accounts, including those of Donald Trump and far-right voices like Steve Bannon and MyPillow CEO Mike Lindell. But hes also banned people critical of him, including journalists, some of whom still remain locked out.

Murty said that he is grateful for Musks small contribution to SIFF's cause. Thanks to Musks overhaul of Twitters verification policy, Murty was finally able to pay to get the SIFF account verified, he said. Earlier, verification was discriminatory, Murty said. Now its more fair.

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At the groups event, members prayed Hindu-style, bowing their heads before Musks picture and touching the ground in reverence as the sounds of conches and temple bells filled the air. Here's a video of what went down.

The men also chanted their own versions of Sanskrit mantras, loosely translated to Salutations to Elon Musk, Salutations to Twitter, and Salutations to evicting feminists from the platform.

The mantras are:Ohm Elon Muskaya NamahOhm Twitereshwaraya NamahOhm Feminist Evictoraya NamahFeminist Evictoraya NamahOhm Twitter Cleaneraya NamahTwitter Cleaneraya NamahOhm Twitter DeFeministaraya NamahTwitter DeFinistaraya Namah 06:17 PM - 27 Feb 2023

Groups like these hijack the notion of rights and are actually about saving patriarchal privilege more than anything, Kavita Krishnan, a womens rights activist based in India, told BuzzFeed News. Unfortunately, with his actions so far, Musk is sending a signal to these kinds of people that its open season on Twitter for them.

On Twitter, many criticized the groups tweet about the event, calling it cringe and embarrassing.

This is why your wives left you: https://t.co/8tzVK9f42n 02:28 PM - 02 Mar 2023

Cringe..there is no other word for it.. it's embarassing https://t.co/VkPJ3TQNCN 01:32 PM - 01 Mar 2023

When asked about the backlash, Murty said he was glad people seemed to be paying attention. Worshipping Musk was like our version of performing The Vagina Monologues, he said.

More on this
Andrew Bosworth, Meta's chief technology officer, reportedly told employees the company is not making a second Quest Pro headset. Christian Charisius/picture alliance via Getty Images

Meta's chief technology officer reportedly told employees it's not making a second Quest Pro headset.

The $1,499 Quest Pro headset has received poor reviews and sales, and was costly for Meta to make.

However, Meta is reportedly still moving forward with other headsets and smart glasses into 2027.

Meta's chief technology officer reportedly told employees the company is not planning to make a second Quest Pro headset.

Andrew 'Boz' Bosworth announced Meta's decision to not continue with its planned second-generation Quest Pro virtual-reality headset at the company's road map presentation, Alex Heath of The Verge reported in his Command Line newsletter.

The company's $1,499 Quest Pro has received mixed to poor reviews and disappointing sales, and was costly for Meta to develop along with its other headsets. The company's Reality Labs division saw a $13.7 billion loss in 2022, according to its fourth-quarter financial results. However, Meta's Quest 2, which is more affordable than the Quest Pro, has done "quite well," according to CEO Mark Zuckerberg.

Heath reported earlier this week that the internal Meta presentation shows the company plans to continue developing three more Quest headsets over the next four years, with a Quest 3 headset set to release later this year. The headset is expected to be thinner but more powerful and expensive than the Quest 2.

Meta also just announced it's cutting the price of its Quest 2 and Quest Pro devices. The Quest Pro is getting a $500 chop, while the 256 GB Quest 2, which is originally $499.99, is being cut to $429.99.

The company also reportedly plans to continue developing its AR glasses with controllers that users can wear on their wrists. Alex Himel, Meta's vice president for AR, announced a second generation of smart glasses that Meta released in collaboration with Ray-Ban's parent company Luxottica, are coming this fall. Himel said a third generation of the smart glasses will come out in 2025 with a "viewfinder" to see new text messages, scan QR codes, and translate languages. Himel also confirmed Meta is developing a smartwatch to pair with the glasses, Heath reported.

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Meta did not immediately respond to Insider's request for comment and confirmation of the company's future plans.

Despite Zuckerberg saying Meta is focusing on "efficiency" during the company's fourth-quarter earnings call with Wall Street analysts in February, Meta CFO Susan Li said that the company is committed to its investment in Reality Labs, and will continue to see losses in that division this year.

However Zuckerberg said Reality Labs will still be subject to the company's plans to be more efficient.

"We're looking at the signals and learning what makes sense to do going forward," Zuckerberg said. "We're constantly shifting how we execute. Other things like flattening the org structure, those are going to affect the whole company, both in Reality Labs and Family of Apps. We want the work to be more efficient."

Meta's costly push to develop its virtual and augmented reality hardware is in an effort to reach its goals of making the metaverse the "future of the internet."

"I think people are going to look back decades from now and talk about the importance of the work that was done here," Zuckerberg has said.

Read the original article on Business Insider
MEXICO CITY (AP)  Mexico is seeking to avoid potential trade sanctions this week for failing to stop the near-extinction of the vaquita, the worlds smallest porpoise and most endangered marine mammal.

Studies estimate there may be as few as eight vaquitas remaining in the Gulf of California, the only place they exist and where they often become entangled in illegal gill nets and drown.

The government submitted a protection plan this week to the international wildlife body known as CITES, which had rejected an earlier version. It lists establishing alternative fishing techniques to gillnet fishing as one its top priorities.

In reality, the governments protection efforts have been uneven.

The administration of President Andres Manuel Lopez has largely refused to spend money to compensate fishermen for staying out of the vaquita refuge and to stop using gill nets. The nets are set illegally to catch totoaba, a fish whose swim bladders are a delicacy in China worth thousands of dollars per pound.

The activist group Sea Shepherd, which has joined the Mexican Navy in patrols to deter the fishermen and to help destroy gill nets, says the efforts have successfully reduced the gillnet fishing.

But the Mexican government has not spent the money needed to train and compensate fishermen for using alternate fishing techniques such as nets or lines that wont trap vaquitas.

What is needed is fewer plans and bureaucracy, and more concrete actions in the vaquitas habitat, said Alex Olivera, the Mexico representative for the Center for Biological Diversity.

Olivera noted that CITES, Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora, could recommend trade sanctions if Mexico doesnt take reasonable action.

There is no alternative fishing gear being offered, said Lorenzo Rojas, a marine biologist who has headed the international committee to save the vaquita. The fisheries authorities have been notable for their absence, leaving the effort to change practices up to civic groups and fishermen.

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The Mexican government banned the use of gill nets in the area in 2017, with the understanding it would provide support payments and training on using less dangerous fishing methods.

Sea Shepherd has for years posted ships in the Gulf of California to try to discourage the illegal fishing and remove abandoned ghost nets that keep trapping vaquitas.

Sea Shepherd says its joint efforts with the Mexican Navy  which have sunk about 193 concrete blocks onto the bottom of the Gulf to snag illegal nets in the reserve area  has resulted in a 79% reduction in the amount of time small boats spent illegally fishing in the protected area.

It dropped from 449 hours between Oct. 10 and Dec. 5 2021, to 164 hours in the same period of 2022.

But thats still a lot of fishing time spent in an area thats supposed to be totally off-limits.

We have to do better, said Pritam Singh, the Sea Shepherd chairman.

A fisheries trade magazine, Notipesca, has reported that the Mexican government plans to fund a study examining teeth of vaquitas gathered in the past in hopes of proving they once lived in an estuary habitat fed by the Colorado River containing a mix of salt and freshwater.

Little freshwater comes down to the Mexican waters since the United States began building dams on the river the 1930s. According to one theory, the United States  not Mexico  would be responsible for the vaquitas decline, by cutting off the flow.

However, experts note that vaquitas found dead typically have died by drowning in nets, not from malnourishment or other causes.

In 2020, the Mexican government publicized efforts to crack down on what it called The Cartel of the Sea, arresting a fisherman named Sunshine Rodriguez and accusing him of being the leader of an a crime ring that trafficked in totoaba swim bladders.

But prosecutors lacked evidence, and Rodriguez  who denied trading in fish swim bladders  was acquitted of the charges against him in February after spending 2 years and 3 months locked up.

The time awaiting trial did have one effect: Rodriguez now says Im not going to be involved in the negotiations between fishermen and the government, adding Sunshine Rodriguez is standing down.
Two students were granted $3,500 to buy an apparatus that would dispense over-the-counter emergency contraception at Miami University in Oxford, Ohio.

>> TRENDING: Suspect in Hamilton County Amber Alert case still in area, police chief says

A growing number of universities across the country began to provide students the means of obtaining emergency contraception. Higher education institutions like Boston University, Cornell University, and George Washington University created methods for their students to receive emergency contraception on campus.

Clara Hemrick and Ryan Parker, both sophomores at Miami University, saw the growing availability of emergency contraception at various campuses and wanted to bring the same convenience to students at their school, hopefully at an affordable price.

Conventional stores that carry the over-the-counter contraceptive pills are normally open a set number of hours, but with with this were hoping to get it someplace with 24-hour access, Parker said.

Conventional stores also charge approximately $50 for the medication, which can be costly for some students, Hemrick referenced. If a college student is unable to afford buying Plan B, theyre not going to be able to afford raising a child.

To enact their vision of a student body with more reproductive choice and reproductive freedom, the two students spoke with Assistant Vice President for Student Life Steve Large, Hemrick said. And, he was super in favor of it, Parker added.

Even though its an over-the-counter medication, it might not physically be on the shelf, Large stated in a statement. Shoppers may need to ask a store clerk for assistance, which can be intimidating.

Hemrick and Parker have already received a $3,500 funding to purchase a machine that would vend emergency contraception like Plan B. They looked to a machine similar to the one at Boston University.

Currently, the university is working with the students to set an installation plan for the machine, Hemrick and Parker stated.

Once installed, Miami University will be the first college in Ohio to offer emergency contraception on campus. However, Ohio State Universitys student government also hopes to add a machine to their campus, Parker said.
Michael van Gerwen beat Dave Chisnall at the UK Open (Kieran Cleeves/PDC/PA)

Michael van Gerwen edged a tense battle with Dave Chisnall to progress in the UK Open.

The Dutchman, who was victorious on night five of the Premier League in Exeter on Thursday, won his fourth-round match 10-8 at Minehead Butlins.

Van Gerwen, a three-time champion, looked to be racing to victory as he led 9-5 before Chisnall, who won in the European Tour in Germany last week, reeled off three successive legs and had the throw.

Happy to come through that one, Dave is a tough opponent and showed that again tonight. This is one of the hardest days on the calendar but now I can settle into the tournament. Thank you for all the support  pic.twitter.com/lNfijeEHBM  Michael Van Gerwen (@MvG180) March 3, 2023

But Van Gerwen hit back to get over the line without the need for a deciding leg.

He posted on social media afterwards: Happy to come through that one, Dave is a tough opponent and showed that again tonight.

This is one of the hardest days on the calendar but now I can settle into the tournament.

A host of top players did go the distance in an action-packed opening night.

WRIGHT SNEAKS PAST BUNTING!!



Another incredible game to finish the action on Stage Two as Peter Wright comes from behind to beat Stephen Bunting 10-9 and reach the Fifth Round.



 https://t.co/eFGXm8aAxH

 https://t.co/nhpeQJ7Glj pic.twitter.com/a5eyqvekoc  PDC Darts (@OfficialPDC) March 3, 2023

Peter Wright, the 2017 champion, won an enthralling contest with Stephen Bunting 10-9, Rob Cross came from behind on several occasions to beat Raymond van Barneveld in the deciding leg, while Nathan Aspinall was also up against it for the majority of his 10-9 win over Alan Soutar.

Story continues

World number seven Jonny Clayton won a thrilling last-leg battle with Ross Smith and world number five Luke Humphries beat Damon Heta in similar fashion.

World champion Michael Smith eased past Ian White 10-4, Gerwyn Price brushed aside Thomas Banks 10-3 and defending champion Danny Noppert saw off Jim Williams 10-8.

Three-time champion James Wade headed home, though, after he lost 10-8 to Gary Anderson.
A Russian MiG-31K interceptor jet took to the air in Belarus on Friday without the A-50U airborne early warning and control aircraft (AEWC), even though the authorities claimed that the radar aircraft was "fine".

Source: independent Belarusian military monitoring media outlet Belaruski Hajun

Quote: "The MiG-31K of the Russian Aerospace Forces took to the air from the Machulishchy airbase at 09:00 and landed at 11:01. It was followed by an escort fighter from the Baranavichy air base.

Yet since it was not followed by the A-50U AWACS, the likelihood of supersonic aero ballistic missiles Kinzhal being launched from the MiG-31K decreased."

Details: The A-50U aircraft is used for "scanning" the North of Ukraine, which allows Russians to detect the Ukrainian air defence systems and aircrafts in the air for further launch of missiles, bypassing the Ukrainian air defence.

Background:

On the morning of 26 February, the BYPOL initiative reported explosions at the Machulishchy airbase in Minsk Oblast in Belarus. There was information about a damaged Russian AWACS aircraft.

Alexander Azarov, Head of the BYPOL initiative, said that Belarusian partisans were behind it. As he stated, the participants of the alleged sabotage in Machulishchy left Belarus and are now safe.

Later, media sources published satellite images of the aircraft before and after the incident.

Journalists compared the images and came to the conclusion that there were dark spots on its wings after the incident. At the same time, it was not possible to confirm the damage to the aircraft, because the spots can be just a visual effect caused, for example, by snow cover on the wings.

On 1 March, Belarusian Defence Ministry published a video of an allegedly unharmed A-50 aircraft at Machulishchy airfield, moving along on the runway at night.

Partisans, in their turn, published a video shot by the drone which landed on a radar station of this aircraft with no obstacles despite the Belarusian authorities claims that the airbase was guarded.

On 2 March, monitoring groups reported that the Russian A-50 airborne early warning and control aircraft, which was damaged as a result of a drone attack, flew from Belarus to Russia for repairs.

The administration of Alexander Lukashenko, self-proclaimed President of Belarus, denied this statement.

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






MyPillow CEO Mike Lindell at CPAC 2023. Lev Radin/Pacific Press/LightRocket via Getty Images

Mike Lindell tore into Gov. Ron DeSantis at CPAC, calling him a "Trojan Horse" for the left.

He also accused the media of "covering up" for DeSantis.

Lindell in December also baselessly questioned if DeSantis was legitimately elected in 2022.

MyPillow CEO Mike Lindell tore into Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis at the Conservative Political Action Conference, or CPAC, on Tuesday.

"Now I'll tell you what Ron DeSantis is, and he's got money behind him, did he do anything for Disney? Remember that was the big thing, you're gonna go after Disney," began Lindell. "He did nothing!"

Lindell went on to accuse the media  without substantiation  of "covering up for Ron DeSantis."

"He is a Trojan Horse, he is the Trojan Horse," Lindell shouted. "Do not believe anything you're reading by the media about Ron DeSantis."

Lindell was then asked if he is backing former President Donald Trump in 2024. The pillow CEO scoffed at the question.

"Hah! Seriously? Am I backing Donald Trump in 2024?" Lindell said, laughing.

The Jewish Voice (@JewishVoice) March 2, 2023

It's unclear why Lindell does not approve of DeSantis' fight against Disney. DeSantis in February had a major legislative win in Florida  he abolished Walt Disney World's special authority and stripped the company of its self-governing status starting June 2022.

"Today, the corporate kingdom finally comes to an end," DeSantis said during a press conference on Monday, Insider's Kimberly Leonard reported. "There's a new sheriff in town, and accountability will be the order of the day."

Lindell is a staunch Trump ally. In February, Lindell told late-night show host Jimmy Kimmel that he has spent $40 million pushing Trump's unsubstantiated claims of voter fraud. This amounts to four-fifths of Lindell's estimated $50 million net worth.

This isn't the first time Lindell has targeted DeSantis. In December, he baselessly questioned whether DeSantis had legitimately won his election in 2022.

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And Lindell isn't the first of the right-wing fringe to fall into attack formation against DeSantis. In October, Roger Stone, another staunch Trump ally, cautioned DeSantis that it would be "ingratitude and treachery" to run against Trump in 2024.

DeSantis has not announced a presidential run yet.

Trump, meanwhile, has not let up on his attacks against DeSantis. He has written numerous angry Truth Social posts about DeSantis, branded him "average" and "very disloyal," and taken credit for getting DeSantis elected governor.

Lindell and representatives for DeSantis did not immediately respond to Insider's requests for comment

Read the original article on Business Insider
My Pillow CEO Mike Lindell, an ally of former President Trump, accused Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) on Thursday of being a Trojan horse, calling into question the governors conservative credentials.

The media is covering up for Ron DeSantis, Lindell asserted while speaking on the convention center floor of the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) in a video shared online. He is a Trojan Horse; he is the Trojan Horse. Do not believe anything youre reading by the media about Ron DeSantis.

Lindell pointed to DeSantiss battle with Disney, which ignited after the company pushed back on the states Parental Rights in Education law. The law, which became known to critics as the Dont Say Gay law, limited instruction on sexual orientation and gender identity in elementary schools.

Now Ill tell you what: Ron DeSantis  and hes got money behind him  did he do anything for Disney? Remember that was the big thing, youre gonna go after Disney, Lindell said. He did nothing, they got everything they wanted, everything.

DeSantis has long battled Disney and on Monday signed a bill ending Walt Disney Worlds self-governing status and establishing a new state-controlled district, giving the governor more power over the area. The company has maintained control over the Reedy Creek Improvement District since the late 1960s.

Lindells criticisms of DeSantis echo those voiced by Trump, who has previously labeled the Florida governor a RINO, or Republican in Name Only. The former president has also attacked DeSantiss COVID-19 response, taking aim at his decision to institute a lockdown and his support for vaccines.

The My Pillow executive has been a staunch backer of Trump and repeatedly pushed false claims about widespread fraud in the 2020 election.

DeSantis has not yet announced a decision on whether hell run for president in 2024, but he is viewed as Trumps biggest competition for the Republican nomination.

Story continues

The Florida governor is notably absent from this weekends CPAC, instead opting for a jam-packed travel schedule to promote his new book and attend several GOP dinners. He is also set to make an appearance at the Club for Growths annual donor retreat.

Trump is slated to speak at CPAC on Saturday night, while former South Carolina governor and 2024 presidential candidate Nikki Haley (R) will speak on Friday. Former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, who is also mulling a 2024 bid, will also speak at the event.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to The Hill.
As Russias war against Ukraine grinds into its second ghastly year, I have gotten an upfront view on its impact on the lives of numerous ordinary people from both countries.

My fascination with Russia dates to my teen years when I became an ardent fan of the great Russian novelists including Fyodor Dostoyevsky, Ivan Turgenev and Mikhail Bulgakov. Though I began traveling in Eastern Europe in the 1980s, it seemed an impossible dream I would ever get into Russia or other parts of the Soviet Union. Following the collapse of the Soviet empire in 1991, that dream quickly became a reality in 1992 when my job at Chicagos City Hall netted me an invitation from Moscow city government to visit as part of an exchange program for municipal government finance officials.

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My trip to Moscow and St. Petersburg was a potent eye-opener plainly showing what 68-plus years of communist rule had wrought in these imposing but bedraggled cities. A year into Russias abrupt shift to capitalism, private enterprise was still scant and local governments were desperately trying to piece together coherent, market-based tax and regulatory policies. Nevertheless, I was inspired to try to work with ordinary Russians in any way I could to help them build a free and fair society.

Beginning in 1998, I began serving as a regular host in Chicago for citizens from developing democracies around the world, including many from Russia and Ukraine. Since then, more than 15 Russians and Ukrainians spent upward of a month in my home as part of their cultural exchange programs. These programs were backed by the U.S. State Departments Community Connections program and locally facilitated by Chicago-based nonprofits Citizen Bridges International and World Chicago.

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Through these and other programs, I developed many new and long-lasting Russian and Ukrainian friends. Through the lens of these friendships, I have seen the hopes and dreams of many of my Russian friends go up in smoke in the past year. Most dramatically affected was Yuliy, a young Russian surgeon who was on the cusp of starting a new life in America when Vladimir Putins invasion last year abruptly changed his plans. The war has produced a de facto new Iron Curtain for Russians. And while he might have been able to flee as so many hundreds of thousands of his fellow countrymen had, the prospect of forever being cut off from family back home ultimately became a deal breaker for his dream of a new life in America.

For years, I stayed in touch with many of my former Russian houseguests through email and social media. Several of my friends warmly received me when I made a second trip to Russia in 2005. The passage of 13 years had allowed for a startling economic transformation of Moscow and St. Petersburg; both had shed their gray Soviet pasts to become vibrant, modern European cities. It filled me with hope for the countrys future.

Still, a fear that all this progress might be masking intractable dark impulses of the old Russia was palpable. One of my Russian hosts, Shamil, a former nuclear physicist in Soviet times, presciently warned that the then-seemingly reformist Putin was really an unapologetic dictator just waiting to happen.

During a pleasant afternoon visit to a Moscow park, my conversation with Shamil turned to Ukraines recent Orange Revolution when massive Ukrainian demonstrations upended Moscow-backed political corruption and domination. Soon, a sizable gathering of curious eavesdroppers joined in the conversation, largely expressing delight at Ukrainians moxie at pushing back against their would-be oppressors. The crowd made Shamil uneasy, and he insisted that we get away from the park quickly as he recognized an old KGB apparatchik lurking about. After Russias 2014 annexation of Crimea, most of my Russian friends, including Shamil, stopped responding to emails and other communications  perhaps worried that Big Brother might be watching.

[ Kerry Kennedy and Dick Durbin: Hold Russia accountable for the crime of aggression in Ukraine ]

In November 2019, I helped host a group of Russian arts journalists as part of an exchange program in Chicago. They spoke of the constant fear they lived under as their relatively apolitical work was still a source of constant warnings from the Russian government to not spread unpatriotic thoughts. I later learned that upon their return home, the group was ambushed at the airport by members of Putin-friendly media who demanded to know why any Russian would ever visit America. The storm clouds were darkening. Following Russias full-out Ukraine invasion a year ago, even those who had maintained a Facebook presence went silent.

Meanwhile, communications with my Ukrainian friends continue, providing direct and heartbreaking accounts of the heartless assault on Kyiv and the rest of the country. Some families have suffered war deaths. Other families have become refugees.

While the suffering of my Ukrainian friends is clearly visible, I fear that the silence of my former Russian friends may be hiding private tortures of another kind.

John Holden is a lifelong Chicago resident and writer.

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Submit a letter, of no more than 400 words, to the editor here or email letters@chicagotribune.com.
A Columbus police cruiser

A 15-year-old boy was in stable condition Friday after he was rushed to an area hospital in critical condition Thursday evening when he was shot at Wedgewood Village Apartments in the Hilltop.

The shooting occurred shortly after 5:30 p.m. at the playground in the 700 block of Wedgewood Drive. The youth was taken to Nationwide Childrens Hospital in critical condition, but his status has since been upgraded, according to police.

Gun violence has plagued Wedgewood, the Hilltop apartment complex where 13-year-old Sinzae Reed was fatally shot in October.

On Feb. 13, Columbus City Council approved $44,800 in funding to install a new ShotSpotter gunfire detector to cover the area around the Wedgewood Village Apartments. ShotSpotter detectors alert authorities when shots are fired and speed up police response to gunfire.

More:Columbus City Council to consider adding ShotSpotter detection for Wedgewood Apartments

The Dispatch looked at gun violence at the Wedgewood complex in a story in January, reporting that calls to Columbus police about shots fired at the complex have increased 57% since 2019, and the number of reports about a person with a firearm have increased by 143% over the same time period.

Eight homicides have taken place at Wedgewood and shootings have nearly quadrupled since 2019, with 21 shootings reported there in 2022.

mhenry@dispatch.com

@megankhenry

This article originally appeared on The Columbus Dispatch: Columbus teen boy now stable after shooting at Wedgewood playground
SEATTLE  For nearly two decades, one of the countrys most prolific serial murderers haunted the Pacific Northwest as a faceless specter of death, known only by his notorious nickname: the Green River Killer.

Even though a massive team of investigators had been assembled to track him down, the killers identity remained a mystery during the 1980s and 90s, while dozens of girls and women disappeared from the streets around Seattle, only to turn up in wooded dumpsites months or years later as corpses or bones.

Then, in late 2001, long after the case had turned cold and the killings seemed to have stopped, officials announced the arrest of a commercial truck painter named Gary Ridgway. They credited the big break in the case  what they said had singled out Ridgway from a pool of 1,300 possible suspects  to advances in DNA fingerprinting techniques that didnt exist at the peak of the killings.

But an NBC News investigation shows the long-told narrative that forensic science had to catch up with the Green River Killer is false.

Nearly 20 years before Ridgway was arrested, the Washington State Patrol Crime Laboratory overlooked key microscopic evidence found on the clothing of his very first victim  and of seven others who followed  according to interviews and a review of thousands of pages of documents obtained through public records requests. The tiny spheres of a unique industrial spray paint linking Ridgway to their murders could have been detected back in the 1980s, forensic scientists involved in the case recently acknowledged, possibly preventing at least some of his 49 confirmed killings.

Even some longtime investigators assigned to the case said in interviews that until now, they had been in the dark about the missed opportunity to catch the killer sooner.

Im appalled I didnt know that that was even possible, said Frank Adamson, a retired King County sheriffs commander who supervised the Green River Task Force in the mid-1980s. It would have been nice if we couldve saved a life or two  or all of them.

Story continues

Gary Ridgway prepares to leave the courtroom after sentencing in Seattle in 2003. At right, members of the Green River task force comb a hillside near Kent, Wash., where Ridgway said he left a body. (Josh Trujillo / Pool via Getty Images; Elaine Thompson / AP)

Only after the DNA match that led to Ridgways arrest did a renowned trace evidence expert, brought in to help with the case, find the overlooked clues in 2003. The spray paint found on the victims clothing wasnt sold to the public, and it was used only in the Seattle area on a wide scale in the early 1980s by Kenworth Truck Co., where Ridgway worked.

Authorities hailed the discovery publicly as another scientific breakthrough. It pressured Ridgway into confessing to 48 murders and leading detectives to four previously undiscovered bodies in exchange for sparing him the death penalty.

But in a recent interview, the trace evidence expert, Skip Palenik, said he could have done the same analysis, with the use of an infrared microscope, back in the 1980s. And he almost had the chance, he said.

Palenik said that in 1985, when he visited the Washington crime lab to train staff members in discovering microscopic trace evidence, the director said hed bring him into the case if investigators identified a suspect.

But Palenik said the director never called. Seventeen years later, he said, I get a phone call saying they want us to look at this case. And we ended up finding information that we could have found back then.

Skip Palenik is reflected in a display case of microscopes at Microtrace LLC in Elgin, Ill. (Taylor Glascock for NBC News)

Jeff Baird, the retired King County senior deputy prosecutor who led the prosecution of Ridgway and ultimately brought Palenik into the case, said in a recent interview hed never heard about Paleniks visit to the crime lab in the 1980s or knew the paint spheres couldve been found then.

Its very conceivable that if those things had been more carefully examined at the time, the investigation would have taken an earlier, more productive turn that pointed directly to Ridgway, Baird said.

Asked about the overlooked evidence, a spokesperson for the Washington State Patrol Crime Lab said in an email that with so much time having passed, we are reluctant to speculate on the mindsets and specific investigative strategies of past forensic leaders from so many years ago.

Chesterene Cwiklik, the scientist who supervised the labs trace evidence work at the time, acknowledged in a recent interview, We never looked at those really fine particles that Skip did.

Sisters of Patricia Yellow Robe, Ridgways last known victim, said the revelations are upsetting but mean little now.

If this wouldve been presented to us at a different time, there probably would be outrage, Rona Yellow Robe said. But theres been a lot of time and space and healing that I wouldnt want to give up to something that I cant control.

LuAnna Yellow Robe, left, and her sister Rona Walsh address Gary Ridgway in court in Seattle in 2003. (Elaine Thompson / Pool via Getty Images)

1982-86: A decision about evidence

In July 1982, the body of Ridgways first known victim was pulled from the Green River in suburban Seattle, a pair of blue jeans knotted around her neck.

Embedded in the denim used to strangle 16-year-old runaway Wendy Lee Coffield were the tiny spheres of spray paint that would take more than two decades to detect.

After four more bodies were found dumped in and along the Green River within a month, the King County sheriff assembled a task force to track down a serial killer.

The killer kept preying on vulnerable women and girls, many of whom were runaways or had been involved in street prostitution, leaving the bodies in remote, wooded stretches. Investigators compiled a list of hundreds of potential suspects and amassed a mountain of evidence from the dumpsites, turning much of the material over to state forensic scientists for analysis.

Ridgway first came to the task forces attention in 1983, when 18-year-old Marie Malvar disappeared after she got into a pickup truck with a man on Pacific Highway South. Her boyfriend and pimp later spotted what he thought was the same truck in front of Ridgways house and reported it to police.

Ridgway told a detective he knew nothing about Malvars disappearance, but he kept resurfacing in tips and brushes with sex workers over the next several months. He voluntarily spoke with detectives and acknowledged hed been arrested before for soliciting a prostitute. He said hed continued to routinely pick up girls working the street and had even encountered two of the killers presumed victims. But he denied having harmed them. In 1984, he agreed to take a lie detector test  and passed.

By then, the killer had left behind key microscopic evidence that could have helped unmask his identity, records and interviews show. Along with the jeans used to strangle Coffield, the paint spheres were trapped in the weaves of fabric eventually found with seven other bodies and bones, records show. A purple shirt. A pair of jeans. A black knit sweater.

Gary Leon Ridgway (King County Sheriff's Department, via AP)

But with the volumes of evidence, the staffing constraints and the workload of other cases statewide, crime lab officials had to choose what evidence to analyze, said Cwiklik, the labs trace evidence supervisor at the time.

They opted to focus on analyzing hairs and fibers, which usually would have been the most fruitful, Cwiklik said in a recent interview.

The analysts assigned to the case actually did an amazing job of sorting, analyzing and comparing thousands of individual hairs, fibers and chunks of paint and other collected debris, she said.

But focusing analysis on hairs and fibers meant the lab basically ignored smaller particles and dust on clothing and other items, Cwiklik said.

In early 1985, Ridgway drew suspicion again after another woman reported that a man who showed her his Kenworth employee identification card tried to strangle her after he had paid for sex in 1982. When a detective questioned him, Ridgway claimed he choked the woman only after she bit him. The woman declined to press charges, according to the detectives report.

The same year, Palenik, the renowned trace evidence expert, learned about the case. Palenik, then a senior researcher at the Chicago-based McCrone Research Institute  a leader in microanalysis  taught workshops around the country. Hed just finished teaching a basic forensic microscopy course at the crime lab in Seattle when George Ishii, then the director, told him about the Green River murders, Palenik said in a recent interview.

Before he left town, Palenik said, Ishii vowed to seek his help if a suspect emerged. But he never heard about the case again from Ishii, who died in 2013. Ridgway is known to have killed at least four women after 1985, when Palenik visited Seattle.

Microscopic slides of various materials sit on the desk of Skip Palenik at Microtrace in Elgin, Ill. (Taylor Glascock for NBC News)

Imagine in 85, after I was out there, if George sent this stuff back to us, wed find and identify the spheres as this unusual urethane paint, Palenik said. And then when they bring in a suspect and its Gary Ridgway  well, where does he work? He works at a place where he sprays the very same unusual paint on trucks all day.

But without that forensic testing, Ridgway slipped through investigators grasp and kept killing.

1987-90: We should have done it

By 1987, Ridgways penchant for prostitutes and past brushes with known victims and other tips were enough to help investigators get a warrant to search his home, vehicles and workplace.

In an affidavit, investigators wrote that they wanted to compare trace evidence collected from various dumpsites that might be tied to Ridgway, including green polyester carpet fibers and aluminum fragments.

But the hair, fibers, clothing and other evidence that were seized didnt definitively tie Ridgway to any victims, and he slipped back into the slush pile of suspects as the decade ended.

In hindsight, Cwiklik said, the crime lab should have shifted its focus from hairs and fibers and turned to analyzing smaller particles in the trace evidence recovered from the dumpsites.

By 1990, Cwiklik said, the crime lab was using an infrared microscope, capable of detecting finer details than an optical microscope. For years, the lab also had been using techniques to capture smaller fractions of trace evidence that could have helped to detect the paint spheres, she said. But it still would have needed an outside specialist, like Palenik, to identify and trace them back to their source, she said.

Really, we were capable of finding these things, but we didnt because we didnt look at the small, small fractions, she said. It always bugged me that we didnt do that, but it would have been hard to argue that we should prioritize that.

But later on, when nothing was fruitful, she said, we should have done it.

King County Prosecutor's Office via Getty Images) (King County Prosecutor's Office via Getty Images)

1990s: A rejected request

By the early 1990s, when a new wave of bodies and bones were found, the Green River Task Force had already disbanded. But a smaller group of detectives who feared the killer was still at work quietly kept the probe alive. They focused on a prime suspect: Ridgway.

In November 1992, detectives formally requested that the crime lab compare hairs collected from Ridgway to those recovered from the new wave of victims, according to a detectives memo to the lab obtained through a public records request. But officials for the crime lab, which by then had spent years futilely analyzing hairs and fibers in the case, rejected the request as a pointless endeavor, retired King County sheriffs Detective Tom Jensen said.

Jensen, who dedicated most of his career to the case, was stunned to learn recently from an NBC News reporter that the capability to detect the paint spheres that linked Ridgway to some of the victims had existed years earlier.

He couldnt recall lab officials ever having mentioned to detectives that smaller particles of trace evidence hadnt been analyzed, he said.

I should think we would have done the testing if we knew about it, Jensen said. We were doing everything we could to come up with a shred of evidence.

As the 90s wore on, Jensen was left to investigate the Green River murders on his own as leads dried up.

Jensens list of the killers suspected victims grew to nearly 90, including dozens of homeless or drug-addicted girls and women whod disappeared or were dumped in remote places across western Washington.

Near the end of the decade, the killings seemed to stop. But they hadnt.

When Patricia Yellow Robes body was found in bushes outside a wrecking yard south of Seattle in 1998, she wasnt considered a victim of the killer. The medical examiner ruled her death an accidental overdose.

Yellow Robe grew up in Montana as the oldest of nine siblings in a family splintered by alcoholism. By 38, shed been in and out of rehab and had suffered chronic health problems. She spent her last days couch-surfing and frequenting dive bars, police records show.

Patricia Yellow Robe. (Courtesy LuAnna Yellow Robe)

After Yellow Robes sisters viewed her body at the funeral home, they had doubts about how she died. She looked beat up, Rona Yellow Robe recalled, noting a bruise on her face. A deputy discounted it at the time, telling Rona the bruise was most likely a byproduct of her sisters lifestyle, she said.

2000s: Catching the killer

By 2001, improvements in DNA science allowed the crime lab to better analyze small and degraded genetic samples. That prompted Jensen to submit evidence collected from several victims bodies, along with a piece of gauze Ridgway had chewed on when the warrant was served in 1987.

With the new technology, scientists were finally able to match DNA from Ridgways saliva to sperm recovered from two victims found in the river in 1982 and another victim from a dumpsite in 1983.

Based on the results, Ridgway was arrested and charged with the aggravated murders of all three victims, as well as another found just feet away from the two in the river. He pleaded not guilty, claiming through his lawyers that hed dated  but hadnt killed  the victims linked to him based on his DNA.

As he prepared to put Ridgway on trial, Baird, King Countys lead criminal prosecutor on the case, enlisted several outside forensic labs in 2002 to help examine the mass of evidence in the case. By chance, Baird said, he stumbled" on Palenik, who by then was running his own lab, Microtrace, which had worked on high-profile cases, including the Unabomber investigation and the Atlanta child murders.

Family members of victims confronted Gary Ridgway in court in 2003. From top right, Virginia Graham, sister of Debra Estes, Jose Malvar Jr., brother of Marie Malvar, and Carol Estes, mother of Debra Estes. (Pool via Getty Images; EPA)

For the next several months, Microtrace analyzed paint gathered from Ridgways home, workplace and vehicles to create a reference library and then compared it with paint fragments collected in or around the dumpsites where victims were found. Nothing matched.

So Palenik decided to change tactics: vacuuming the dust from the suspect's and the victims clothing and analyzing the tiny particles under a microscope equipped with an infrared device used to detect colors and compositions of substances.

Since the late 1970s, Palenik had been routinely using the vacuuming process with such infrared instruments to find and identify tiny particles that helped investigators crack cases, he said. In 2003, he used the same techniques with modern versions of the tools when he analyzed Ridgways clothes and items found with 13 Green River victims.

After having vacuumed the clothing, he plucked the tiny particles captured in special vacuum filters and then used an infrared spectrometer to identify them as unusual multicolor paint spheres. He found the spheres on Ridgways clothes and clothing from five of the victims. They matched.

Palenik soon determined the glossy acrylic urethane spheres were air-dried droplets of a distinct commercial automotive spray paint, made by DuPont and called Imron.

Paint spheres discovered in the clothing of some of Ridgway's victims. (Microtrace LLC)

Chemists for the company later informed Palenik that DuPont had patented the high-end, specialty product and believed no one else in the world was making paint with Imrons unique composition or pigments.

Some of the victims clothing had dozens and dozens of these spray-paint spheres in blue, green, red, orange and white, Palenik said. And thats just not normal. It indicated the spheres came from a source that widely used DuPont Imron and in various colors, he said.

The paint wasnt sold to the public in 1982, and Kenworth, where Ridgway worked, was the only place in the Seattle area using this spray paint on a large scale in the early 1980s, he said.

After Palenik informed Baird about his findings, prosecutors charged Ridgway with three more murders, catching his defense team off-guard.

One of his lawyers, Mark Prothero, later wrote in a book that even though his team downplayed the paint spheres, the prosecutors couldnt have found anything much worse for our client, short of a Polaroid picture of him strangling a woman.

Baird recently described Paleniks findings as pivotal. The paint spheres were very, very powerful evidence that, to Baird, was in many ways better than DNA because it was not an arcane or highly technical forensic science but nevertheless very convincing on a gut level, he said.

These women were not employed at a paint store or involved in spray-painting activities, so the common thread was someone who was directly linked to Kenworth, he said. Its just much more instinctive and accessible to a juror to make that connection. Its just common sense.

Skip Palenik in his office at Microtrace in Elgin, Ill. (Taylor Glascock for NBC News)

Soon after the additional charges were filed, defense lawyers approached prosecutors with a proposal. Ridgway would agree to confess to as many killings as he could remember having committed in King County and secretly help investigators find more victims if prosecutors spared him a death sentence.

Palenik said Baird called and confided: You cant tell anyone about this, but what if I told you that based on your report, Ridgway confessed to being the Green River Killer?

Gary Leon Ridgeway (King County Prosecutor's Office via Getty Images)

Over the next five months, Ridgway detailed his slayings and led detectives to the remains of four victims, including Malvar, the teenager whose disappearance in 1983 first alerted police to him. After a detective sent Palenik more clothing items, he found the paint spheres tied to three more victims, bringing the total to eight.

Ridgway told detectives that paint sometimes covered his face and work clothes when he sprayed it on the cabs of semi-trucks at Kenworth. He often went patrolling for sex workers right after work, he said.

Sometimes, hed gone to lengths to evade detection, including clipping the fingernails of victims who had scratched him before he dumped their bodies. But he left behind some of his victims clothing, discarded at dumpsites or wrapped like ligatures around their necks. They were just rags to me, he told detectives. Just rags.

In November 2003, King County Prosecutor Norm Maleng announced the plea deal that sent Ridgway to the Washington State Penitentiary in Walla Walla, where he is serving 49 life sentences. (Ridgway, 74, didnt respond to an interview request sent in a letter to him in prison.)

Without the deal, more than 40 of Ridgways murders most likely would have gone unsolved, Maleng said.

Among them was the murder of Yellow Robe, the last woman Ridgway said he could remember having killed.

2023: Learning the full truth

Patricia Yellow Robes sisters had mourned her loss back in 1998, when they were told shed overdosed.

But they still privately questioned how Trisha  the family peacemaker who had aspired to be a seamstress, sang Supremes songs off-key and snorted when she laughed  really died.

They finally learned the truth from a newspaper reporters phone call in late 2003.

At first, LuAnna Yellow Robe said, she thought the caller had dialed the wrong number. Trisha died of an overdose five years earlier, she told him.

Until that day, prosecutors had kept the details of Ridgways confession secret even from her, a paralegal in their office.

The truth was her sister was strangled and was counted as the last of Ridgways victims.

When her anger and shock wore off, her familys doubts about Trishas death finally made sense, LuAnna said.

Patricia Yellow Robe's sister, LuAnna, left, and Rona. (Jovelle Tamayo for NBC News)

After Ridgway confessed, the medical examiners office acknowledged that, despite toxicology results that detected large amounts of opiates and alcohol in her bloodstream, it may have missed signs that Trisha had been strangled.

She wanted us to know the truth, Rona Yellow Robe said, and Im glad I know it.

That truth, LuAnna and Rona recently learned from an NBC News reporter, now includes another detail: about the tiny, overlooked evidence that could have tied a killer to his crimes long before he ever murdered their sister.

Does it make me angry? LuAnna asked. Its too bad they didnt do what they should have done. But being angry now wont bring my sister back.

This article was originally published on NBCNews.com
A 16-year-old girl missing from her Indiana home for several months was being sex trafficked by a man she met on a dating app, federal authorities say.

The Evansville, Indiana, girl and her friend from Greenwood, Indiana, were found at the mans Ohio house in October, court documents show. The 26-year-old man, identified as Payton Jamar Brown, now faces federal charges of sex trafficking of minors and sexually exploiting children, according to the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Ohio.

Brown is expected to plead not guilty, his attorney told The Cincinnati Enquirer.

During an interview with investigators in November, the 16-year-old said she had met Brown on the dating app 3Fun. He took her to Kings Island amusement park in Mason, Ohio, and they began a sexual relationship after she said she did not want to return to her home, federal authorities said.

She said at one point Brown cheated on her. To retaliate, she sent Facebook messages asking for a ride away from his home in exchange for marijuana that Brown had been growing, according to the complaint.

A Facebook user agreed to the arrangement, but the driver left with 5 pounds of marijuana before the 16-year-old could get in the car, prosecutors say. Brown told the girl he was not angry and offered a way for him to pay her back.

He told her the marijuana that was taken was around $3,000, and because he was out money, he asked if she would be willing to go on dates with men for money, according to the complaint.

She agreed, and naked photos of the 16-year-old were put on an escort website, investigators said.

From July to October, the 16-year-old had sex with about 45 men for money, she told authorities. Some of the sexual encounters were filmed, and she used SnapChat to sell the pictures and video, according to prosecutors.

What she described as the worst part, prosecutors said, was traveling with one of the men to the Sturgis Motorcycle Rally in South Dakota.

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You gotta do it, its $2,000, Brown told the girl, according to the complaint.

Another man wanted her to be his sugar baby, according to the complaint.

She later asked Brown if they could pick up one of her friends in Indianapolis. After picking up the other 16-year-old and returning to Browns home in Ohio, the girls were safely recovered by officers with the Colerain Police Department, prosecutors said.

Its unclear if the second girl was also being trafficked.

Brown was arrested Friday, Feb. 24, in Cincinnati, court records show.

Missing 17-year-old found with suspected traffickers during traffic stop, TN cops say

Missing teen found in closet of MI home over a year after disappearance, officials say

Trafficked nanny was paid $40 a month, forced to live in storage room, CA officials say
A Tesla logo. Michael Macor/The San Francisco Chronicle via Getty Images

Like the rest of the US, Mississippi has laws that restrict car dealerships from selling directly to consumers.

But Tesla has skirted those regulations by calling its lone location in the state a "store" instead of a "dealership."

A new law that closes the loophole was passed by Mississippi Gov. Tate Reeves Tuesday.

A Mississippi Tesla store gets to play by different rules than its counterparts in the traditional auto dealership industry. But a new state law is set to level the playing field.

Mississippi Gov. Tate Reeves signed a bill Tuesday that would force electric vehicle manufacturers to enter into franchise agreements in order to sell cars at brick-and-mortar stores, the Associated Press reported. The law will place EV companies under the same regulations as traditional carmakers.

Tesla currently has one store operating in the state, which has skirted regulations that face traditional car manufacturers by classifying itself as a "store" and not a "dealership," the AP reported.

"Almost 200 small businesses in communities across our state are seeking assurances that big manufacturers can't just destroy their businesses. That's fair!" Reeves wrote in a tweet Tuesday.

According to State Sen. Daniel Sparks, the law would not force the closure of the existing Tesla store in Mississippi  instead, the store would be grandfathered in under the law, but others like it would be prevented from opening, per the AP.

"We're saying if you choose to have a brick-and-mortar dealership, you have to follow the same laws that everyone else has to follow," Sparks said, per the Associated Press. "Please don't tell me Tesla's car doesn't identify as a car."

In a Twitter thread, Reeves seemed to agree.

"I also recognize that innovation in this industry is inevitable. And with innovation comes new companies with new business models," the governor wrote. "I am committed to find long-term solutionsin an ever changing market. I look forward to working with all parties going forward to do just that."

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Governor Tate Reeves (@tatereeves) March 14, 2023

Opponents of the Mississippi bill have said it impedes the free market by imposing a regulation on Tesla and other EV manufacturers, while proponents argue the bill would level the playing field.

State Sen. Joey Fillingane said the bill could discourage EV companies from conducting business in Mississippi, warning that it could harm opportunity in the state.

"Maybe we just like being last all the time. Maybe it's a badge of honor  we're the last ones to change," Fillingane said, per AP. "If we're not careful ... we could deprive our citizens of opportunities they really ought not to be deprived of."

Read the original article on Business Insider
Moises Caicedo has signed a new long-term deal at Brighton (Zac Goodwin/PA) (PA Wire)

Ecuador midfielder Moises Caicedo has signed a new Brighton contract until 2027.

The Seagulls also have an option for an extra year on Caicedo, who has made a big impact at the Amex Stadium since making his Premier League debut last April.

Brighton boss Roberto De Zerbi told the club website: This is a fantastic news for the club, our fans, for me and most importantly for Moises.

Moises Caicedo has committed his long-term future to the Albion by agreeing a new contract that runs until 2027, with a club option for an extra year. 



 @FirstTouchGames // #BHAFC   Brighton & Hove Albion (@OfficialBHAFC) March 3, 2023

It will make us stronger as we move forward towards our targets on the pitch.

Caicedo joined Brighton from Ecuadorian club from Independiente del Valle in February 2021.

The 21-year-old was the subject of two bids from Arsenal in the January transfer window, while Chelsea were also reportedly interested.

Caicedo told Brighton that he wished to leave in an open letter posted on social media, but he remained on the south coast and has now made 29 Premier League appearances for the Seagulls.
If youre in your 60s or 70s and have no immediate plans to retire, youre by no means alone. In fact, youre in pretty good company.

At 92, Warren Buffett is still regarded as one of the most brilliant brains in the world of finance. At 85, Jane Fonda is as prolific as ever as an actress and activist. Bob Iger just reprised his role as the CEO of Disney at the age of 72. And Jamie Lee Curtis has never been more in-demand: Im 64 years old and this is just amazing she said during a recent acceptance speech at the Screen Actors Guild Awards.

As for the rest of us mere mortals, there are countless individuals who are actively engaged with their careers later in life. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the percentage of workers ages 65-plus has been steadily increasing.

In 2026, the percentage of workers aged 65 to 74 is projected to be more than 30%, up from 17.5% in 1996. And among workers ages 75-plus, that rate is expected to be almost 11% in 2026, a notable jump from 4.7% in 1996.

Working past retirement

So, why are so many working far past the typical retirement age? Unlike the Buffetts and Fondas of the world, the motivation, it would seem, is mostly money.

According to a recent study published by the nonprofit Easterseals and Voya Cares, a whopping 92% of respondents said they needed or wanted more money for retirement. Only 22% said they strongly agreed that they were confident that they had enough money to live comfortably in retirement, while 60% percent said they had less than $500,000 in retirement savings.

Aside from financial concerns, 60% of respondents said they worked because they were still healthy and able, 58% were doing so to keep their minds active, and 56% were doing so because work gave them a sense of purpose.

Many benefits

Of course, for employers, an older workforce brings with it lots of potential benefits, even if agism is widespread in the workplace and the job market. Research has shown, time and time again, that older workers provide knowledge, experience and expertise. Older, more tenured people are more successful entrepreneurs, and those over the age of 40 are three times more likely to create successful companies than their more youthful counterparts.

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Whats more, contrary to the common misconception that experienced workers are less productive and add less value to the workplace, older workers, in fact, reduce costs for employers and add value in ways other workers do not.

For example, during the Covid-19 pandemic, tens of thousands of retired health care professionals returned to work in understaffed hospitals. Their value can also be seen in employment consulting firm Mercers research, which has found that older workers bring an extra level of emotional intelligence to the workplace; and have lower turnover rates on teams they supervise.

Its no wonder a growing number of companiesmore than 1,000 employers nationwidehave signed the AARP Employer Pledge to promote equal opportunity for all workers, regardless of age. Theyre finally beginning to realize that hiring and retaining older workers makes financial sense.

If it also makes financial sense for you to postpone your retirement, youve come to the right place. Research shows job seekers like you are looking for roles across financial services, manufacturing industries, and retail, the most.

If youre looking for a new role or a career change, here are three great companies to work for. Check out these roles and apply today to find a job that appreciates your experience and expertise. Discover many more roles on The Hill Jobs Board too.

Product Manager, Individualized Therapy Manufacturing, Genentech, San Francisco

Roche fosters a diversity of scientific approaches and embraces innovative ideas. Combining that with the seamless integration of its capabilities in Roche Pharma and Roche Diagnostics, it is uniquely positioned to achieve medical breakthroughs for patients and society. Its currently looking for a Product Manager who will oversee product vision, strategy, roadmap and end-to-end product lifecycle. In the role, youll promote a strong focus on Product Management and youll lead, manage and mobilize agile product teams. Of interest? Youll find more information here.

Associate Banker, Huntington Main, JPMorgan Chase Bank, N.A.

Unlike a traditional bank teller role, JPMorgan Chase Banks Associate Bankers contribute significantly to the success of the branch by delivering exceptional customer experiences, fostering long-lasting relationships, and introducing customers to its licensed bankers. To be successful in this part-time Associate Banker role, youll have the ability to make personal connections, engage customers, and remain courteous and professional in a team environment, be professional, thorough, and organized with follow-up skills, and have a strong desire and ability to influence, educate, and connect customers to technology. If this sounds like you, apply for the role here.

Receiving Support Captain, Macys, Fairview

In the last number of years, Macys has prioritized its investment in its employees, creating equitable pathways to training opportunities across all generations. Employee benefits include tuition reimbursement; medical, dental and vision benefits; and retirement savings options. Its currently looking for a Receiving Support Captain; an elevated hourly colleague who supports sales and support functions within the four walls of the store, providing override capability, driving business effectiveness, and focused on assigned tasks as defined by the STM/PL. In this role, you will be responsible for prioritizing the customer experience through active supervision and enhancing the service culture. Find out more about this great role here.

For more exciting opportunities at any age, visit The Hill Jobs Board today

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to The Hill.
A Monroe police officer and the driver of another vehicle were both injured in a crash Monday night.

The crash happened at about 11:30 p.m. at the intersection of North Monroe Street and West Elm Avenue, a news release from the Monroe Public Safety Department said. Preliminary investigation showed the fully marked patrol vehicle was traveling southbound through the intersection when a white SUV turned left in front of of the patrol vehicle. The officer involved in the crash was not involved in a vehicle pursuit.

The driver of the white SUV was transferred to a local hospital for treatment of injuries, the release said. The police officer involved also was transported to a local hospital for treatment of minor injuries and then released.

"Thank you to the fire personnel from the Monroe Public Safety Department and Monroe Community Ambulance who assisted at the scene," the release said.

Following department policy, when a Monroe police officer is involved in what may be a serious accident, an outside agency is called in to investigate, the release said. The Michigan State Police were called to assist in the investigation. Drugs or alcohol do not appear to be factors in this incident.

"Moving forward, continued investigation into this incident will be conducted by the Michigan State Police, to which the Monroe Police Department will cooperate fully," the release said.

Any updates will be released by the Michigan State Police, the release said.

"We appreciate the publics patience and support as those involved recover from their injuries," the release said.

This article originally appeared on The Monroe News: Monroe police officer involved in traffic crash Feb. 27
Many investors are still learning about the various metrics that can be useful when analysing a stock. This article is for those who would like to learn about Return On Equity (ROE). We'll use ROE to examine Mooreast Holdings Ltd. (Catalist:1V3), by way of a worked example.

Return on Equity or ROE is a test of how effectively a company is growing its value and managing investors money. In other words, it is a profitability ratio which measures the rate of return on the capital provided by the company's shareholders.

View our latest analysis for Mooreast Holdings

How Is ROE Calculated?

Return on equity can be calculated by using the formula:

Return on Equity = Net Profit (from continuing operations)  Shareholders' Equity

So, based on the above formula, the ROE for Mooreast Holdings is:

5.9% = S$1.4m  S$23m (Based on the trailing twelve months to December 2022).

The 'return' is the yearly profit. One way to conceptualize this is that for each SGD1 of shareholders' capital it has, the company made SGD0.06 in profit.

Does Mooreast Holdings Have A Good ROE?

One simple way to determine if a company has a good return on equity is to compare it to the average for its industry. The limitation of this approach is that some companies are quite different from others, even within the same industry classification. As shown in the graphic below, Mooreast Holdings has a lower ROE than the average (9.1%) in the Machinery industry classification.

roe

Unfortunately, that's sub-optimal. That being said, a low ROE is not always a bad thing, especially if the company has low leverage as this still leaves room for improvement if the company were to take on more debt. When a company has low ROE but high debt levels, we would be cautious as the risk involved is too high. You can see the 5 risks we have identified for Mooreast Holdings by visiting our risks dashboard for free on our platform here.

Why You Should Consider Debt When Looking At ROE

Virtually all companies need money to invest in the business, to grow profits. That cash can come from issuing shares, retained earnings, or debt. In the first and second cases, the ROE will reflect this use of cash for investment in the business. In the latter case, the debt required for growth will boost returns, but will not impact the shareholders' equity. In this manner the use of debt will boost ROE, even though the core economics of the business stay the same.

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Combining Mooreast Holdings' Debt And Its 5.9% Return On Equity

Mooreast Holdings does use a high amount of debt to increase returns. It has a debt to equity ratio of 1.34. With a fairly low ROE, and significant use of debt, it's hard to get excited about this business at the moment. Debt does bring extra risk, so it's only really worthwhile when a company generates some decent returns from it.

Summary

Return on equity is one way we can compare its business quality of different companies. In our books, the highest quality companies have high return on equity, despite low debt. All else being equal, a higher ROE is better.

But when a business is high quality, the market often bids it up to a price that reflects this. The rate at which profits are likely to grow, relative to the expectations of profit growth reflected in the current price, must be considered, too. So I think it may be worth checking this free this detailed graph of past earnings, revenue and cash flow.

But note: Mooreast Holdings may not be the best stock to buy. So take a peek at this free list of interesting companies with high ROE and low debt.

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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While shes now a proud parent of quintuplets, having five children wasnt exactly the plan for Mississippi mother Haylee Ladner. In fact, before welcoming the children earlier this month with her husband Shawn, she thought their family would only be expanding by two babies: twins.

On 16 February, the Ladner family were introduced to their five children, which included four identical girls and one boy, at the Wiser Hospital for Women and Infants at the University of Mississippi Medical Center (UMMC). As reported by the hospital last month, all babies were delivered by Caesarean section, between 9.19am and 9.23am.

Speaking to The Independent, Ladner recalled how, before getting pregnant with her babies, she and Shawn struggled with conceiving a child, which led them to seek a fertility treatment: Intrauterine Insemination (IUI). The procedure is a type of artificial insemination, where sperm is placed directly into the uterus as the ovary releases one or more eggs to be fertilised, according to the Mayo Clinic.

While undergoing IUI, Ladner worked closely with her fertility doctors, using an internal ultrasound to determine how many mature eggs she would ovulate in a cycle, and the time of ovulation. In her case, she had two mature follicles, which were the two eggs she ovulated during that cycle.

After a few weeks, Ladner learned she was pregnant, at which point she visited her doctor to test her levels of Human chorionic gonadotropin, a hormone produced by the placenta during pregnancy, per Cleveland Clinic. When she saw how elevated her numbers were during the appointment, she assumed she was going to be a mother of two.

Typically, HCG numbers double every 48 hours and you have to repeat blood work to ensure that the numbers are increasing correctly indicating the beginnings of a healthy pregnancy, she explained. My numbers were extremely high at the first HCG draw that they did not ask me to repeat bloodwork. They were in about the 2,000s when I was barely four weeks pregnant. Because of this, my husband and I assumed we could be having twins.

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While HCG levels can vary throughout a pregnancy, they can be anywhere between 200 to 7,000 for a women carrying twins after the first five weeks since the last menstrual cycle, according to Healthline.

It wasnt until Ladner was in her seventh week of pregnancy that she learned how many children she was actually having. The realisation occurred during an ultrasound, after she saw two gestational sacs - fluid-filled structures that surround an embryo at the start of a pregnancy - on the screen.

I immediately react and say: Oh its twins! she recalled. At this point, my fertility doctor says: Ive never seen this before, and then proceeds to tell us that he sees five babies. Four in one sac, and one in the other. No one, not even my doctor suspected that this could have ever happened.

During Thanksgiving, the soon-to-be parents of five threw a gender reveal. However, according to Ladner, before learning the babies sex, she and her husband had very different ideas about what to expect.

I was actually really shocked to find out we were having four girls and a boy, I thought it would be the opposite, she said. My husband wasnt though! He said he had a feeling that it would be four girls and a boy. We were happy either way!

She also detailed how the two eggs during her IUI cycle ultimately led her to her identical daughters and one son. It just so happens that one of the eggs that ovulated divided four times, making the identical quadruplets, and the other egg fertilised as well, creating a singleton, she said. This is extremely rare because, again, I only had two eggs that I ovulated.

During a press conference at UMMC last month, Dr Rachael Morris, an associate professor of maternal foetal medicine who helped deliver Ladners babies, emphasised how rare the pregnancy was.

Reports of spontaneous quintuplets vary but are about one in 60 million. There are very few reports of identical quadruplets in the literature to date. Reported incidence is one in 10 to 15 million pregnancies. There is only one other report of this combination in the literature from 2018, she said, as reported by UMMC.

Ladners first daughter, Adalyn Elizabeth, was born at 9.19am, followed by her three sisters, Everleigh Rose, Malley Kate, and Magnolia Mae, and finally, her little brother, Jake Easton.

Dr Mobolaji Famuyide, chief of the division of newborn medicine and a member of Ladners care team at the hospital, also acknowledged how doctors paid close attention to the pregnancy, with Ladner admitted to the hospital on 11 January.

A daily schedule was 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 2am, she recalled. There were five warmers and two rooms ready for the babies, and several neonatologists, neonatal nurse practitioners, fellows, nurses and respiratory therapists ready every day. We were ready for weeks for this birth.

Speaking to The Independent, Ladner said that she and Shawn havent taken their children home from the hospital quite yet, as the babies are currently in the NICU. However, the couple said they are very grateful for how well their babies are doing, and for the support system they had along the way.

The plan is to take it one day at a time, but the babies are all doing absolutely wonderful and are all doing better than anyone could have ever asked for, she added. I believe with all of my heart that these babies are miracles from God given to us. We have been through so much, and we could not have made it this far without a lot of prayer and a lot of support from our amazing medical team that we have had.
An airport surveillance camera image released in an FBI affidavit shows suspect Marc Muffley at Lehigh Valley International Airport in Allentown, Pennsylvania, on Feb. 27, 2023. Muffley was arrested after an explosive was found in a bag checked onto a Florida-bound flight, federal authorities said. (FBI)

Late last month, the Transportation Security Administration found a live explosive device in a checked bag month at Lehigh Valley International Airport in Pennsylvania. TSA officers took the appropriate actions and confirmed the find. Airport surveillance camera footage helped authorities identify a suspect, and the FBI made an arrest.

There are lessons to be learned from this incident.

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As much as the TSA touts stopping firearms from getting onto airplanes, explosives are a more dangerous threat to the air system. That is why travelers are limited to 3-ounce liquids, aerosols, gels, creams and pastes in their carry-on bags.

With improvised explosive devices, numerous factors can mask what the item is and make it easy to miss. In the Pennsylvania case, the explosive appeared somewhat simple, making it possible to detect. TSA screeners were on target with their attention.

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Of critical importance, the person now in custody was known to local law enforcement. Such individuals should be given extra security screening  of their person, carry-on bags and checked luggage. This is the foundation of risk-based security, which aligns security resources with security risk.

If a person is known to local law enforcement, this should flag them for additional attention at airports. Fortunately, most people do not carry such a record. However, the few who do demand extra screening. In this case, the persons checked bags needed extra attention, and fortunately, such attention prevented the likelihood of an air system incident.

So how can the TSA effectively concentrate its attention on the right people?

The TSA Precheck program is designed for this purpose. When people subject themselves to the requisite background check, they become a known traveler to the TSA. And known travelers pose significantly lower risk to the air system.

This means that offering Precheck at no cost to anyone willing to undergo the background check should be a top priority for the TSA. The expense of offering Precheck for free would be recouped by the cost savings at airport security checkpoints in personnel and security equipment.

Passengers walk through the entrance of a TSA Precheck lane in Terminal 1 at O'Hare International Airport in 2017. (Armando L. Sanchez / Chicago Tribune)

Anytime the TSA uses security resources and places excessive attention on a TSA Precheck-vetted passenger, the agency is making two mistakes that effectively make the air system riskier.

First, the security resources and attention are being squandered, as the benefits accrued from such security are dwarfed by the costs.

Second, attention placed on vetted passengers is not being used on nonvetted passengers.

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Most people believe that the TSA has access to an unlimited amount of security resources to protect the air system. Overallocating security resources to Precheck passenger appears benign. But choices must be made on how to use security resources. When security resources are inefficiently directed, the security of the air system is marginally compromised.

Technology can support and enhance human judgment, but it can never replace it. And the best way to optimize the judgment of people is to minimize distractions that can lead to human error.

The good news is most passengers pose little risk to the air system. Yet finding the few who do is akin to finding needles in a haystack. The best approach that the TSA can take is parsing the haystack so that known travelers are partitioned away from unknown risks. Then the TSA can use its limited resources to focus on these risks.

As authorities learn more about the suspect in the Pennsylvania case, the hope is that this person acted as a lone wolf. This information will reaffirm TSAs mission and the benefits of risk-based security. Any other approach to security is not only wasteful, but it also makes the entire air system less secure for all.

Sheldon Jacobson is a professor of computer science at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. He applies his expertise in data-driven risk-based decision-making to evaluate and inform public policy. He has studied aviation security for more than 25 years, providing the technical foundations for risk-based security and TSA Precheck.

Submit a letter, of no more than 400 words, to the editor here or email letters@chicagotribune.com.
By Nathan Layne

(Reuters) -Richard "Alex" Murdaugh, the disgraced lawyer and member of a powerful South Carolina family, was sentenced to life on Friday for killing his wife and son in what prosecutors said was an attempt to hide his drug addiction and theft of millions of dollars.

Murdaugh, 54, was found guilty on Thursday on two counts of gunning down his wife Maggie, 52, and youngest son, Paul, 22, on their family estate on June 7, 2021. The jury took only three hours to reach their decision after a five-week trial.

At a hearing on Friday, Circuit Court Judge Clifton Newman sentenced Murdaugh to prison for the remainder of his life, with terms for both murders to run consecutively. It was the sentence requested by prosecutors, who did not seek the death penalty.

Murdaugh's lawyers said they would appeal his conviction.

The scion of an influential legal family in an area west of Charleston, Murdaugh had faced a minimum of 30 years in prison for each of the two counts of murder under South Carolina law, as well as up to 10 years for two related firearms charges.

The case has drawn intense media coverage given the family's political power in and around Colleton County, where the trial took place. For decades until 2006, family members served as the leading prosecutor in the area, and Murdaugh was a prominent personal injury attorney in the state.

Newman criticized what he described as Murdaugh's "duplicitous conduct" throughout the trial, and said his actions were especially troubling given that the Murdaugh family had "controlled justice in this community for over a century."

The judge said he did not question the state's decision not to seek the death penalty, but he noted that Murdaugh family members had "been prosecuting people here in this courtroom and many have received the death penalty, probably for lesser conduct."

The judge also referenced Murdaugh's addiction to opioids, which his defense attorneys sought to use as an excuse for his behavior, including his lying to investigators about his whereabouts on the night of the killings.

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"I know you have to see Paul and Maggie during the nighttime when you attempt to go to sleep," Newman said. "It might not have been you (who killed them). It might have been the monster you become."

Murdaugh, dressed in prison garb, professed his innocence again on Friday.

"I'm innocent. I would never hurt my wife Maggie and I would never hurt my son, Paw Paw," he said, using a nickname for Paul, minutes before the judge delivered his sentence and he was escorted from the courtroom in handcuffs.

Throughout the trial, prosecutors portrayed Murdaugh as a serial liar and argued that only he had the means and the opportunity to commit the murders. Prosecutors said he fatally shot his wife and son to distract from an array of financial misdeeds, including the theft of millions of dollars from his law partners and clients -- money used to feed a years-long addiction to opioids and support an expensive lifestyle.

For their part, Murdaugh's lawyers tried to paint their client as a loving family man who, while facing financial difficulties and suffering from a drug addiction that led him to lie and steal, would never harm his wife and child.

They floated alternative theories, with Murdaugh testifying last week that he believed someone angry over a deadly 2019 boating accident involving Paul likely sought revenge on his son.

Murdaugh plans to appeal the verdict all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court, his lawyers said on Friday, arguing that the judge's decision to allow testimony about all Murdaugh's financial misdeeds unfairly undermined his credibility with the jury.

"They would never, ever, ever acquit him after that," Dick Harpootlian told a news conference.

Among the prosecution's strongest evidence was Murdaugh's admission that he had lied about his alibi, telling investigators he wasn't at the dog kennels where the murders took place on the family estate. Murdaugh changed his account after the jury listened to audio evidence placing him at the crime scene minutes before the murders occurred.

The judge spoke about what may have been running through Murdaugh's mind on June 7, 2021, as he confronted a "looming storm" that included his father on his death bed and Paul facing charges in the death of 19-year-old killed in the 2019 boat crash. Murdaugh was facing a $10 million wrongful death lawsuit stemming from that accident, with a critical hearing scheduled for just days after the killings.

"There had to be quite a bit going through your mind," Newman said, and yet he noted that Murdaugh had testified to that day being like any other, that he had been enjoying life with his wife and son. "Not credible, not believable," the judge said.

(Reporting by Nathan Layne in Wilton, Connecticut and Brendan O'Brien in Chicago; Editing by Kim Coghill and Daniel Wallis)
The judge who sentenced Alex Murdaugh on Friday to life in prison for killing his wife and son has earned attention and plaudits for his even-handed demeanor throughout the trial and for his dressing-down of the once-prominent lawyer just before he sent him to prison.

Judge Clifton Newman, a South Carolina native who attended racially segregated schools in the 1950s and 1960s, addressed Murdaugh directly during roughly 20 minutes of comments that ranged from invoking the memories of the defendant's slain son Paul and wife Maggie to lamenting what he described as attacks on the credibility of the state's justice system during the trial. He noted that Murdaugh came from a prominent family of lawyers in the area and that a portrait of his grandfather, a former prosecutor, once hung in the courthouse where he was tried  until Newman had it removed to promote a fair trial.

Among the most poignant moments came when Newman spoke to Murdaugh about his wife and son. Referring to the shooting deaths and lies Murdaugh admitted telling throughout the investigation, the judge said: Within your own soul, you have to deal with that. And I know you have to see Paul and Maggie during the night time when youre attempting to go to sleep and Im sure they come and visit you.

All day, and every night, said Murdaugh, who maintained his innocence during the sentencing hearing.

And they will continue to do so and reflect on the last time they looked you in the eyes, the judge then replied.

The judge also remarked on how the case was an assault on the integrity of the judicial system in our state, referring to the prominent position that Murdaughs family held as longtime prosecutors in the area  along with the defense teams efforts to impugn investigative methods throughout the trial.

As a member of the legal community -- and a well-known member of the legal community -- you practiced law before me, and weve seen each other at various occasions throughout the years, he said.

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Newmans 40-year-old son, Brian, died just weeks before the Murdaugh trial would pull Newman away from his home for more than a month. Brian Newman, a former Columbia city councilman, died of a cardiac issue, according to The State newspaper in Columbia.

On Friday, as the judge handed down Murdaughs sentence for killing his own son, he added a small extra touch.

For the murder of Paul Murdaugh, whom you probably loved so much, I sentence you to prison for murdering him for the rest of your natural life, Newman said.

Newman was born in 1951 in South Carolina's rural Williamsburg County and grew up there attending racially segregated schools, The Post and Courier reported in a profile of the judge last year.

Newman was the first person in his family to be born in a hospital. When he was 3 years old, his mother moved to New York to take a job as a domestic worker for a Columbia University professor's family, leaving him in the care of grandparents and an aunt.

Newman graduated from high school as his class valedictorian in 1969, a year before his local school district desegregated. In high school, he played the role of a lawyer from New York City in a play based on a landmark 1954 U.S. Supreme Court school desegregation case, an experience that helped propel him into a career in the law.

To come from a rural community, a farming community, and to go from that scenario to playing the role of a lawyer was quite inspiring, Newman told the American Bar Association in 2017.

After earning an undergraduate degree from Cleveland State University and graduating from Cleveland-Marshall College of Law, Newman began practicing law in Cleveland. He returned to South Carolina in 1982 and started a private law practice.

Newman served as a defense attorney, a civil practitioner and a prosecutor before 2000, when the state General Assembly elected him to serve as a Circuit Court judge.

Ive run the gamut, as far as handling all aspects of the law, Newman told the ABA.

Newman was assigned to the 2016 trial of Michael Slager, a white former police officer who fatally shot Walter Scott, an unarmed Black man, in the back after a traffic stop.

In 2021, the chief justice of South Carolina's Supreme Court appointed Newman to handle the criminal matters involving Murdaugh.
Ex Barclays chief Antony Jenkins says digital transformation is "absolutely critical if banks want to stay relevant and compete effectively".

Antony Jenkins is the former group chief executive of Barclays, following a three-year stint as its CEO and three years as Barclaycard CEO. He also spent 16 years at Citigroup as EVP.

Jenkins, 61, founded 10x Banking in 2016, his venture dedicated to shaping the corporate bank of the future, fuelled by digital transformation.

When I first started in banking at Londons South Kensington branch of Barclays Bank, my first boss really was the customer.

This is important for me as I learned a lot. It was 1983 and as a graduate trainee the first port of call was being sent to a local branch. In those days they were fully serviced for the local community, from well-heeled customers to local hair salons, solicitors, waiters, hotel staff and architects. It was end-to-end full service and a complete business unit  all paper based  with 30 staff working there.

Read More: Sally Walker, Britain's spy chief on her first boss

I didnt know anything about Barclays products, but with the customers there were also quite a lot of wealthy people and tourists. We would store wills, we would put money on deposit, buy and sell stocks, foreign exchange and open bank accounts for students. It was a varied exposure for day-to-day financial services.

There were several things that also struck me about my experiences.

When people came in with a financial problem, it was often something that was making them anxious or they felt intimidated as it affected their money. How people connect to their money was inherently a difficult experience.

10x Banking is a fintech startup which aims to help banks manage their transition to digital services.

What I learnt was that banking is about customers; it sounds obvious but most of the banking industry doesn't think like that. They think about selling products. We had a 300-page paper manual with every product a customer could get from a branch and where I would go to find the answer. I recognised that if you could solve the problem when they were in the branch, you could really make them happy and take a burden off them.

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The other thing I realised was that if you could do it in a way that made the customer's life easier, it would be a good thing for the bank and the customer, who would be more loyal over time. Years later, when I was at Barclays, we did a survey of our 1,500 branch network and found that the best customer satisfaction had the highest level of colleague engagement and profitability.

Operational excellence was an aspect that has also stayed with me. Everything in the branch had to be reconciled at the end of the day  the tech was horrible and we might have had a fax machine at best  and nobody went home until it did. It was very diverse in what you got to see in that early exposure of the front-facing part of banking.

When I returned in 2006 to Barclays, I had various jobs which included running the retail bank. They were going to close the South Kensington branch, knew that I had started my career there and so invited me to the closing party. What they didnt know was that it was the night before I was appointed the group chief executive. There was a strange circularity to it all.

Ex Barclays chief Antony Jenkins founded 10x Banking in 2016.

When the South Kensington branch closed, staffing had gone down to eight people; massive deskilling of the whole industry without any uplift in customer service. The banks have, however, done a good job at innovating. Weve seen the growth of internet and mobile banking, contactless payment for low value transitions but with the decline of branch networks.

Read More: Martin Warner, 'UK's Elon Musk', on his business career

When I set up 10x, I wanted to use modern technology to create a platform which would actually deliver the customer service that I believed the customer deserved. Thats where the threads of 40 years ago really come up to what I am doing today.

Back then they were real life issues when you were sitting across from somebody and dealing face-to-face with a customer. That my first boss experience has stayed with me for my whole career.

I think the industry has today lost sight of the fact that we are here to serve customers. Its not true everywhere, but if you asked people about their bank or credit card company today, most will say they are probably the same.

There is no substitute for a 22-year-old facing a customer across the counter who had a real problem  a lost cheque book or money issues  and it was up to me to solve it as quickly and comprehensively as possible. That is the job of banks and I think sometimes the industry forgets that.

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GENEVA (Reuters) - A report published by the United Nations on Friday accused Myanmar's military of creating "a perpetual human rights crisis" in the southeast Asian country and called for an immediate end to violence there.

Since a junta seized power two years ago, Myanmar has been plunged into chaos, with a resistance movement fighting the military on multiple fronts after a bloody crackdown on opponents that saw Western countries re-impose sanctions.

The report, which documents alleged human rights violations between Feb. 1, 2022, and Jan. 31, 2023, found that violence had intensified in northwestern and southeastern Myanmar due to the military's "indiscriminate air strikes and artillery shelling, mass burnings of villages to displace civilian populations, and denial of humanitarian access."

The tactic used by the military, the report said, was designed to cut off non-state armed groups from access to food, finances, intelligence and recruits.

"The military, emboldened by continuous and absolute impunity, has consistently shown disregard for international obligations and principles," the U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights, Volker Turk, said in a statement.

"Urgent, concrete action is needed to end this festering catastrophe."

Myanmar authorities did not immediately respond to Reuters calls and an email seeking comment.

The junta has previously said it has a duty to ensure peace and security and denied atrocities have taken place, saying it is carrying out a legitimate campaign against terrorists.

James Rodehaver, chief of the U.N. Human Rights Office's Myanmar team, said that armed clashes were occurring in about 77% of the country.

"There has never been a time and a situation in which a crisis in Myanmar has reached this far, this wide throughout the country," he told a briefing in Geneva.

In its recommendations, the report called on authorities in Myanmar to end the violence and stop persecuting opponents.

"Military operations must stop to provide room for dialogue that could end this crisis," the report said.

(Reporting by Gabrielle Tetrault-Farber; Editing by and Alex Richardson)
After eight days of searching rainforests in Madagascar, a researcher stood along a rushing river. Scanning the lush vegetation, something caught his eye.

Two teams of scientists embarked on expeditions into the rainforests on the northeastern coast of Madagascar. Both teams were looking for the same thing: the elusive dusky tetraka.

A small olive and yellow-throated bird, the dusky tetraka is native to the island off the east coast of Africa, the only place it is known to be found, The Peregrine Fund said in a Wednesday, March 1, news release.

The bird has a warbler-like song and hops along the ground.

There had not been a recorded sighting of the mysterious dusky tetraka in 24 years, wildlife researchers said. The two expeditions were hoping to find the lost songbird.

A close-up photo of the dusky tetraka.

An expedition led by Armand Benjara and Yverlin Pruvot of The Peregrine Funds Madagascar Program searched for the bird along the Masoala peninsula.

Lily-Arison Rene de Roland led another expedition with John C. Mittermeier of the American Bird Conservancy to the rainforest around Andapa, the dusky tetrakas last known location. The team drove over 40 hours and hiked into the mountains.

They unsuccessfully searched the area for a week. On their eighth day, Mittermeier was near a rocky river when he spotted a bird hopping around in dense undergrowth near the river, the release said.

Mittermeier snapped a picture of the bird and showed it to the team. Everyone agreed. The creature looked like the evasive songbird.

Returning to the area near the river the next day, the team captured a dusky tetraka, wildlife experts said. They measured the songbird and released it unharmed.

Researcher Lily-Arison Rene de Roland with the songbird.

The expedition into the Masoala peninsula was also successful.

Seeing the bird for the first time was truly a surprise, Benjara said in the news release. Our entire team was extremely happy and excited.

The location of the songbirds rediscovery may help explain its ability to elude researchers, Mittermeier said in the release.

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If the birds prefer being near rivers, researchers might have struggled to find them because they couldnt hear their calls.

Birding in tropical forests is all about listening for bird calls, he said, and so you naturally tend to avoid spending time next to rushing rivers where you cant hear anything.

Christina Biggs of Re:wild told the American Bird Conservancy that due to the changed landscape and its cryptic nature, the searchers had to employ some resourceful detective work and impressive persistence to make the eventual rediscovery.

Were thrilled and relieved to know that this little bird is still singing in the forests of Madagascar, Biggs said.

Despite the recent sightings, little is known about the dusky tetraka, wildlife experts said. The songbird is likely a threatened species, but researchers dont have enough information to know for sure.

Hoping to find out more about the mysterious creature, researchers have planned multiple future expeditions to study the species, Rene de Roland said in the release.

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Britain Sotheby's Auction (Copyright 2023 The Associated Press. All rights reserved)

A Wassily Kandinsky painting that was stolen by the Nazis from a Jewish Holocaust victim has sold at auction for a record 37.2m.

Murnau mit Kirche II (Murnau with Church II) was sold by Sothebys in London on Wednesday (1 March) evening.

The painting was owned by German Jewish art collectors Johanna Margarete Stern and Siegbert Samuel Stern. Johanna was arrested by the Nazis in Amsterdam and died in the Auschwitz concentration camp in 1944.

The Van Abbemuseum in Eindhoven returned the painting to Sterns descendants last year following a legal battle over its ownership.

Completed in 1910, the brightly coloured landscape of a Bavarian village foreshadows the bold abstract imagery of Kandinskys later work.

The Van Abbemuseum in Eindhoven returned the painting last year to the descendants of German Jewish art collectors Johanna Margarete Stern and Siegbert Samuel Stern.

Siegbert Stern died in 1935, and Johanna fled Nazi Germany for Amsterdam, where she was forced to sell much of her collection. She was arrested after the Nazis occupied the Netherlands and died in the Auschwitz concentration camp in 1944.

Sothebys said proceeds from the sale will be shared between 13 surviving Stern heirs and will also fund further research into the fate of the familys collection.

In 2013, Dutch museums identified 139 artworks as Nazi loot, including paintings from masters such as Kandinsky, Henri Matisse and Paul Klee.

In 2021, the municipality of Amsterdam agreed to return another Kandinsky work, Painting With Houses, to the heirs of the Jewish family that originally owned it. The city bought it at auction in 1940 and it had hung in the Stedelijk Museum.

Lucian Simmons, Sothebys worldwide head of restitution, noted that this year marks the 25th anniversary of a 1998 international conference on looted art in Washington that found previous attempts to return looted art didnt go far enough.

Since then, Sothebys restitution department has worked with many heirs and families to reunite them with their stolen property and, at the same time, to help retell their stories and celebrate their lives, Simmons said.

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Another restituted work, Edvard Munchs Dance on the Beach, sold at the same Sothebys auction for 16.9 million pounds ($20.5).

The vast painting, one of several designed for theatre impresario Max Reinhardt, was bought in the 1930s by Norwegian ship owner Thomas Olsen after its Jewish owner, Curt Glaser, was forced to flee Nazi Germany.

Olsen hid his large collection of Munch works  including a version of his most famous painting, The Scream  during the Nazi occupation of Norway during World War II.

Sothebys said the painting had been sold subject to an agreement between the Olsen and Glaser families.

This article includes AP reporting
[Source]

A24 auctioned off several iconic Everything Everything All at Once props and costumes and raised hundreds of thousands of dollars to donate to charity in the process.

The New York-based film studio organized three different auctions themed after different aspects of its award-winning film.

Each auction had a charity tied to it: the In Another Life auction supported the Transgender Law Center; the Mementos from the Multiverse auction supported the Asian Mental Health Project; and the Laundry and Taxes auction supported the Laundry Workers Center.

Out of the 43 items auctioned off for a total of $559,475 on Thursday, the animatronic raccoon puppet used for the character Raccacoonie received the highest bid.

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Five people bid on the iconic character. The eventual winner bid $90,000.

In "Everything Everywhere All at Once," Raccacoonie serves as a nod to the beloved 2007 Pixar movie Ratatouille and controls actor Harry Shum Jr., who plays the character Chad.

Deirdre Beaubeirdres Auditor of the Month trophy received the second highest bid at $60,000, with eight people having attempted to own the interestingly shaped item.

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Other notable objects that were auctioned off include Evelyn's Hot Dog Hands ($55,000), Waymonds Fanny Pack ($48,000) and the Rockverse Rock ($13,200).

The official Laundry Delivery RV of the Wang family was notably auctioned off for just $11,000. A24 wrote that the vehicle needs new transmission, engine, tires and serious TLC on the interior and is currently not street legal.

Commenting on the success of the recent auctions, Jason Kisvarday, the film's production designer, was surprised by how many people supported the event.

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Theres usually not a lot of demand or interest in these types of things after the movie comes out, Kisvarday told The New York Times.

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He also commented on the Rockverse Rock, saying, Its not because its a rock, its because of how many people saw the rock, are excited about this rock, and it means something to them.

The rock was one of 10 "neat and interesting" rocks purchased from a stone supplier in Pasadena, California, for the movie, according to Kisvarday. Its googly eyes were purchased from Amazon.

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First announced in late February, all three auctions ran from Feb. 23 to March 2.

Head over to the A24 auction website for the full list of sold Everything Everywhere All at Once props and costumes.
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Airbnb hosts in Oregon are warning of a new scam.

Scammers rent a property on Airbnb then pose as a real estate agent and list the unit for sale, often at a very low price, and often saying they will only accept a cash offer from first-time homebuyers.

A spokesperson for Airbnb called such scams rare, but said there is an investigation.

PORTLAND, Ore. (KOIN)  Airbnb hosts in Oregon are warning of a new scam, saying that some guests could be using local Airbnb properties to take advantage of first-time homebuyers.

I never realized that there could be any fraud scheme that would represent a home for sale, said Melissa, a new host on Airbnb who is renting her home in Northeast Portland to travelers.

I received a Facebook message request from a Good Samaritan in Happy Valley, Melissa said. Her name is Kellie, and she let me know that she saw that my home was listed for sale.

Melissa searched her home address and found out it was listed on the site For Sale By Owner for half of what her house is really worth, available in cash to first-time homebuyers only.

I got really scared because I had no idea who had posted it, Melissa said.

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Luckily, the woman who manages the property for Melissa noticed that something was fishy with her most recent Airbnb guest.

When she showed up, she didnt have any luggage, went into the property, was in there for a very short period of time, and then people started to show up and walked into the home, said the property manager.

Then Melissa checked the surveillance footage for herself, only to find out that the guest was impersonating a real estate agent.

I saw the guest had checked in at 3:03 p.m. and then shortly after, there was a really nice family that came to the home at 3:44 p.m., and when I listened to the audio, I realized that the guest was impersonating a realtor, a real estate agent, and that the family was there to view the home, said Melissa.

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Home surveillance also captured the Airbnb guest inviting another mother with a baby inside, presumably for a viewing, soon after the first family left.

Meanwhile, Kellie Roth-Sarmiento, the same good Samaritan who tipped off Melissa to this issue, connected her with another host, Greg, also in Northeast Portland, whose Airbnb was fraudulently up for sale, too.

It ironically ended up being with this same fraudster, Melissa said. She had booked his home the day after my home, and she showed his home on two different occasions to two separate families. So I would say for hosts, really ensure that you have a ring camera.

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Melissas property manager said the homes were being listed for ridiculous prices.

They will put these houses on the market in a very unrealistic price and list them for sale by owner, the property manager said. No real estate agents are involved and they are scamming people for money and then theyre gone.

The fraudsters were also likely preying on vulnerable first-time homebuyers who may not have known anything was amiss.

We have to stop the scam artists so that theyre not able to continue scamming people for cash who are hardworking people, said the property manager.

A spokesperson for Airbnb called such scams rare, but did confirm the alleged fraudsters account has been suspended amid an investigation.

The Portland Police Bureau added that theyve received reports of similar scams, but theyre not aware of such schemes being widespread at this time.

CrimeDex, which is an info-sharing site PPB uses, recorded one recent instance of a group from NYC posting fake Airbnb for sale listings and operating in multiple states.

The FTCs Consumer Sentinel Network reports 183 complaints within the last year related to Airbnb and business imposters. However, only around half concern a similar scam to the ones reported in Northeast Portland.

New homebuyers concerned about being scammed are urged to protect themselves. Officials urge home-seekers to never write a personal check to an individual buyer, but to rather use a title company or an agent. Also, when houses are in great condition and listed for well below market value of the surrounding homes, thats a major red flag.

The local hosts in Northeast Portland suggest that Airbnb hosts be on alert and regularly check online to see if their properties are being posted fraudulently for sale on any sites like For Sale By Owner, Redfin or Zillow.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to The Hill.
A new Senate bill aims to expand protections for Americans' health and location data. It follows concerns that such information could be used to identify individuals seeking reproductive health care services after the Supreme Court overturned the constitutional right to abortion last year.

The Upholding Protections for Health and Online Location Data (UPHOLD) Privacy Act seeks to block companies from selling personally identifiable health data for advertising purposes and ban data brokers from buying and selling precise location data. Moreover, the proposed legislation would afford consumers more access to and ownership over their health data. It would also place more restrictions on companies use of personal health data without the explicit consent of a user.

The bill aims to prohibit the use of personally identifiable health data from any source for advertising. This includes data from users themselves, medical centers, fitness trackers and browser histories. The UPHOLD Privacy Act's restrictions wouldn't apply to public health campaigns.

The legislation was introduced by Democratic Sens. Amy Klobuchar, Elizabeth Warren and Mazie Hirono. With Republicans working to ban and criminalize reproductive health care nationwide, its critical we safeguard the reproductive data privacy of everyone in our country, Hirono said in a statement. Everyone should be able to trust that personal data about their bodies and their health care will be protected. By restricting the sale and use of personally identifiable health data, this bill will give patients and providers the peace of mind that their private information is secure.

Since the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade last June, legislators have not made much headway toward protecting consumer health data. Period-tracking apps have given some particular cause for concern. Developers of some of these apps have since introduced features and policies to help protect their users' data.
Suspect Arrested For The Murders Of Four University Of Idaho Students

Objects left for a makeshift memorial sit at the site of a quadruple murder on in Moscow, Idaho, on January 3, 2023. Credit - David RyderGetty Images

Pennsylvania search warrant documents unsealed this week revealed that authorities seized weapons and other items in a December raid of Idaho murder suspect Bryan Kohbergers parents home. Kohberger is accused of killing four University of Idaho students in November.

Pennsylvania State Police and FBI arrested Kohberger in the early morning hours of Dec. 30 at his family home in the Pocono Mountains, nearly seven weeks after four students were stabbed to death on Nov. 13 in their off-campus home in the sleepy college town of Moscow, Idaho. The unsealed court records, which were released Tuesday, show that law enforcement discovered and confiscated knives, a gun and black clothing, medical-style gloves and masksamong other itemsback in December.

The victims roommate, who was in the Moscow home at the time of the murders, described the suspect as clad in black clothing and a mask that covered the persons mouth and nose, according to court documents.

Investigators also seized, searched and later dismantled a 2015 white Hyundai Elantra that Kohberger sometimes drove. Authorities said the car matched the vehicle seen in surveillance footage close to the home where murders took place, and used the footage to connect Kohberger to the murders.

Authorities also retrieved DNA swabs from Kohberger on the day of the search, according to court documents. An earlier released affidavit also said that law enforcement found a leather knife sheath at the crime scene that had Kohbergers DNA on it.

Kohberger, 28, was a criminal justice PhD student at Washington State University, about eight miles from Moscow. He faces four counts of first-degree murder in the killings of Ethan Chapin, 20, Kaylee Goncalves, 21, Xana Kernodle, 20, and Madison Mogen, 21.

The violent deaths in Moscow shocked the community and sent waves of panic as the search for the suspect ensued for almost a month and a half after the murders. It was announced this week that the home where the students were killed will be demolished.

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The owner of the Moscow home offered to give the property to the University of Idaho and the school accepted.

This is a healing step and removes the physical structure where the crime that shook our community was committed, University President Scott Green said in a memo.

A motive for the crimes has not been revealed. Kohberger has not entered a plea yet and is being held without bail in Latah County Jail in Idaho. A preliminary probable cause hearing is scheduled to begin on June 26.
The day the Ukrainian Parliament declared independence on Aug. 24, 1991, I witnessed the historical moment from the gallery with my wife and a group of Western expatriates. Below us, amid rapturous applause, a huge Ukrainian flag was carried into the hall on the shoulders of many of Ukraines founding fathers. In a poignant instance of historical revenge, they draped the flag on the dais under a large statute of Vladimir Lenin and bellowed out Chervona Kalyna, the song that has since become the unofficial Ukrainian anthem of resistance during the countrys current war with Russia.

Up in the balcony, marveling at what was unfurling, we hugged one another and shed tears of joy. I thought of my parents, who had fled Ukraine and the tyranny of communism during World War II and settled in the Detroit area. We were experiencing a miracle about which they could have only dreamed.

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But unlike Ukraines Warsaw Pact neighbors, which began the painful transition from communism to capitalism and became nascent  though often struggling  democracies seeking to join the European family, Ukraine faced a far more difficult task. As an adviser working in Ukraines new parliament, I had a front-row seat, and it was not a pretty sight.

History had sewn deep divisions among Ukrainians: those who spoke Russian versus those who spoke Ukrainian; Catholic versus Orthodox; and descendants of Austro-Hungarian and Polish rule in the West versus those who had for decades endured Russian hegemony and Soviet terror. While the country was undertaking arduous economic reforms, it also had to resolve linguistic, religious and regional tensions and put in place the basic structures of a functioning state.

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Moreover, oligarchs, who showed great ingenuity in stealing state assets, seized control of the economy, undermining effective reform and development. Post-Soviet apparatchiks under President Leonid Kuchma (1994-2005) dominated the corruption-ridden government. Freedom of the press was curtailed. In 2000, the decapitation of the crusading journalist Georgiy Gongadze horrified the nation.

Consequently, the early post-independence months of euphoria quickly dissipated.

And then, in late 2004, Ukraine took the next historic steps on its journey of building a nation, first with the Orange Revolution, which rejected a Soviet-style rigged election, and then with the Maidan Revolution of 2014, which toppled the pro-Russian government that was blocking efforts to put Ukraine on a course toward Europe.

Despite the progress, opinion polls and voting patterns still reflected deep divisions along regional and generational lines, as well as on pro-European or pro-Russian orientation.

And then, in March 2014, Vladimir Putin annexed Crimea, and Russian proxies started a war in Ukraines eastern provinces. One year ago, Putin launched an unprovoked, full-scale invasion.

As Putin continues his systematic destruction of the country, especially the largely Russian-speaking cities such as Kharkiv, Chernihiv, Mariupol and others, the linguistic, religious and cultural differences that used to divide Ukraine have largely disappeared. Ukrainians are now being brought together by the common cause of defeating their invader. Moreover, Putins war has inadvertently put Ukraine on the map, turning President Volodymyr Zelenskyy into a Churchillian wartime leader.

The irony is not lost. Josef Stalin, who perpetrated the Holodomor, the Great Famine of 1932-33 that killed millions of Ukrainians, shaped the modern-day borders of Ukraine through a series of territorial consolidation. And now Putin, a denier of the very existence of the Ukrainian people and language, has arguably done more than any figure in history to create a unified Ukrainian nation and flush out the fifth column of pro-Russian collaborators and sympathizers who have hampered the countrys alignment with Europe.

Completing the countrys final journey to nationhood requires two steps.

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First, before the invasion, corruption still plagued Ukrainian society. The oligarchs held sway over the economy and the countrys judicial system was in dire need of reform. As a result of the war, Ukrainian society will not tolerate a return to the past, nor will its Western partners. However, the corrupt vultures will likely rise again and try to feast off the spoils.

It is not too early for Ukraines allies to begin planning a postwar policy that will aggressively leverage the billions of dollars in reconstruction aid to mandate the rooting out of pervasive corruption, an overhaul of the legal system and the elimination of oligarchy. Without these changes, reconstruction will fail.

[ Christopher Hartwell: Ukraine has the means to strengthen an economy battered by war with Russia ]

Second, Ukraine needs to have a realistic prospect of joining the European Union on an accelerated timeline. This step will incentivize the needed reforms and help shape a nation that not only aspires to, but also puts into practice, Western values and norms.

In 1991, swept up in the heady euphoria and idealism of the moment, I naively assumed that Ukraines time as a country had come. It has taken another 32 years for the country to be on the cusp of finally reaching that goal.

In the future, as the people of Ukraine reorganize, rebuild and reform their nation, they will not only need continued Western military support but also a real chance to join the EU  along with some tough love to ensure that they take the final, crucial steps needed to realize their dream.

John Hewko is CEO of the Evanston-based Rotary International. Hewko advised the Ukrainian Parliament in the early 1990s and assisted a working group that prepared the initial draft of Ukraines post-Soviet constitution.

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The actual day of the 2023 NHL Trade Deadline was painfully slow, but this year, it was for a good reason. Ahead of Friday, NHL GMs absolutely feasted  especially those out East  gorging on big names and setting the stage for an epic postseason.

Its to such an extreme that its wiser to note not just the winners and losers, but how much the winners won.

For a full list of 2023 deadline moves, check out the trade tracker.

Biggest winners

These teams explain why the phrase arms race got thrown around, or why people raised their eyebrows about aggressive rebuilds.

Boston Bruins

Remember when already-godlike villain Thanos became almost invincible once he completed the infinity gauntlet full of MacGuffins? The Bruins feel like the hockey answer to Thanos adding another gauntlet, or maybe becoming like Mortal Kombats Goro by suddenly sprouting out four of them. By adding Dmitry Orlov and Tyler Bertuzzi, the Bruins became the NHLs answer to a cheat code  it looks like the Cup is Boston's to lose at this point.

Just like most of the games they've played this season, the Bruins won the NHL trade deadline. (Getty)

New Jersey Devils

In my opinion, Timo Meier was by far the best player available at the trade deadline, particularly since he isnt just a rental. It would have been even better if this move came with an extension, but the Devils upgraded what was already a potent attack with a versatile, physical, talented scorer.

Nashville Predators

Who pulled the strings to land such an incredible haul for Tanner Jeannot, and embrace the rebuild fully? Ultimately, it doesnt really matter. The Predators needed to pull off the Band-Aid, and by going for it, they made out like bandits.

Biggest losers

Whats worse than arranging the deck chairs on the Titanic? Maybe its making sure that the next ship sinks, too.

Pittsburgh Penguins

Ron Hextalls moves make you wonder if his software needs to be updated. Trading for Mikael Granlund  in 2023? In many cases when a team makes a bad move, you can at least understand the plan they failed to execute upon. Granlund really doesnt solve any of the Penguins problems, and he makes some of them worse, as the Penguins lined up salary cap space just to waste it. Brutal.

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Vancouver Canucks

Self-awareness is an underrated trait in team-building, and the Canucks are in denial about who they are. Burning much of the polarizing return from the Bo Horvat trade on Filip Hronek only cements the feeling that theyre clueless.

More winners

When the playoffs start, they might wish they aced the test instead of getting a B+. These teams still graded out nicely, though.

New York Rangers

Nostalgic types would rank the Rangers among the biggest winners of all. In 2023, Vladimir Tarasenko and Patrick Kane sport warts you cant totally hide. That said, it makes sense for the Rangers to go for it, and despite the advances of age and injuries, those players still possess plenty of skill. Its not tough to imagine it all coming together for a big run.

Toronto Maple Leafs

Considering the slew of moves the Maple Leafs made, youre not necessarily going to agree with every step. Nonetheless, Ryan OReilly releases some pressure on top players such as Auston Matthews, while underrated Jake McCabe makes an already solid defense corps that much deeper  as do Luke Schenn and Erik Gustafsson.

Edmonton Oilers

Mattias Ekholm isnt the sexiest addition possible, but hes a massive upgrade for an Oilers team that struggles at 5-on-5. Add in solid support with the Nick Bjugstad deal and the Oilers rank among the most successful West teams at the trade deadline.

Ottawa Senators

Eventually, the Sens should probably try to balance their defense out, as Jakob Chychrun leaves them looking a bit overloaded on left-handed blueliners. That can be addressed down the line though, as getting a very good (and young) player is fruitful for the present and the future.

Detroit Red Wings

In the big picture, attach a to be continued here. The grade will change if the Red Wings turn those picks into quality roster players, or at least nail the selections. Either way, it was crucial to get something for Tyler Bertuzzi and hopefully a change of scenery benefits Jakub Vrana. Really, though, the most important move this week wasnt even a trade: Detroit finally extended captain Dylan Larkin.

St. Louis Blues

The Blues arent retooling in the most tantalizing way possible, but there are scenarios where they get little-to-nothing for Ryan OReilly and/or Vladimir Tarasenko. This could echo times when they walked away from the likes of David Backes and Kevin Shattenkirk.

Washington Capitals

Like the Blues, you can quibble with specific returns here and there, but overall some nice retool on the fly business.

Half measures

Context matters. Some teams got better or kept their rebuilds moving, yet they might regret bunting instead of swinging for the fences.

Winnipeg Jets

Nino Niederreiter is a nice addition for a nifty price. In a wide-open West (and with Winnipeg sometimes better off trying to improve with trades rather than free agency), could Kevin Cheveldayoff have accomplished more, though? For better or worse, you could say similar things about plenty of West contenders.

Dallas Stars

Sneakily, the Stars have a real shot to make some noise, and they decided to keep flying under the radar with small tweaks in Evgenii Dadonov and Max Domi. Oh well.

Colorado Avalanche

Lars Eller can help, depending on how much gas he has left in the tank. A Jack Johnson reunion pushes nostalgia to the extreme, though.

Carolina Hurricanes

The Hurricanes did Hurricanes things, so theyll be a bit better after the smoke clears. Maybe Carolina finally breaks free, but youd like to see more urgency for a team that keeps knocking on the door.

(Theyre extremely good anyway, though.)

Chicago Blackhawks

They faced some tough breaks with Patrick Kane laser-focused on the Rangers and Jonathan Toews not being tradeable. Getting something for Max Domi is better than nothing, too. Still, Chicago wanted to make better progress in its aggressive rebuild.

Columbus Blue Jackets

Columbus showed creativity when a better haul for Vladislav Gavrikov fell through to get a first-rounder as part of the Joonas Korpisalo trade. That said, its unclear if Columbus is headed in a great direction, which isnt ideal since theyre sneaky-expensive for being such a bad team.

More losers

Teams ranging closer to disappointments than disasters.

Tampa Bay Lightning

Sure, the Lightning are smart, and theyll probably get the most out of Tanner Jeannot. None of that changes my opinion that they paid way way way too much for a marginal player, though.

Los Angeles Kings

The Kings really need help in net, and while Joonas Korpisalo isnt as much of an upgrade as some playoff performances might make some think, hes been good this season (and the Kings group has been atrocious). Honestly, that makes overpaying for Vladislav Gavrikov easier to stomach, but this Kings team should feel regret for not going after someone bigger like Chychrun.

Arizona Coyotes

Getting a Chychrun trade done is a relief, but thats a disappointing return. Most of all, the deadline really throws the amateur hour elements of this franchise in starker relief. Would landing Connor Bedard stop this franchise from being a farce, and when?

San Jose Sharks

Theyre a bit like if the Canucks were in a market where theres a greater risk of irrelevance than outrage.

Buffalo Sabres

This team is on an upward swing, but they wouldve been better off saving their cap space instead of settling on Jordan Greenway (or going for a bolder upgrade).

Montreal Canadiens

Is anyone else concerned about the direction of this franchise? If there was any chance to trade problem contracts such as Josh Anderson or especially Joel Edmundson, and they didnt do it, then thats very disconcerting.

New York Islanders

Your mileage will vary if you love the Bo Horvat trade. The price was fine, but selling off more high picks doesnt feel ideal for an aging team not guaranteed to make the playoffs.

Vegas Golden Knights

This franchises love of big-name gambles sometimes feels about as nuanced as a GM mode of a video game. They might be alarmed to realize that Jonathan Quick isnt an 83 any longer.

Minnesota Wild

Talk about quantity over quality. Yes, this team faces serious salary cap headaches, but they arent inspiring confidence that theyll wade out of the mushy middle anytime soon.

Is this thing on?

Sometimes, it makes sense to do nothing. Other times, youre worried if the machine got unplugged.

Anaheim Ducks

Technically they traded John Klingberg, but a lot of meh and mostly nothing with the Ducks.

Calgary Flames

This team is in a puzzling place, and apparently management agrees.

Florida Panthers

Much like their offseason trade partners in Calgary, the Panthers might just be stuck, and a lack of clarity doesnt feel great.

Philadelphia Flyers

Unfortunately they cant trade for an actual coherent plan at the deadline.

Seattle Kraken

Do mythical sea creatures sleep? Sure seems like it.
Chinese President Xi Jinping in 2020. (Zhang Ling / Xinhua via Associated Press )

When I write critical columns about U.S. policies and politics, I occasionally strike a nerve and get enraged letters from readers denouncing me as a traitor or suggesting I am providing grist for our nations enemies.

Ive been told, for instance, that I should move to China because Im anti-American. And when I raised the possibility of negotiations to end the war in Ukraine, I was accused of being Vladimir Putins lapdog.

Ive never taken such accusations seriously because, while I'm sure I write things that many readers disagree with, I know I'm not a shill or an apologist or a propagandist for America's adversaries.

So I must admit I was taken aback when I learned, just a few weeks ago, that one of my columns had become the subject of an article on the website of China's official Xinhua News Agency, a huge news-organization-cum-propaganda site that publishes articles in Chinese, English and other languages for consumption by millions of people around the world.

The Chinese government was using my column, which admittedly painted a grim, depressing picture of present-day American politics, as part of its ongoing efforts to convince its readers that the United States is less stable, democratic and egalitarian than they might think, and that it is in fact in a state of malaise, chaos and incipient crisis.

Its true that my column talked about dangerous partisanship and a culture of extreme political polarization in the U.S. Xinhua paraphrased my fear of "dysfunctional government" accurately.

Yet somehow my words took on a harsher tone when I read them on a site dedicated to making the United States look bad. L.A. Times columnist bashes fight between U.S. Democrats and Republicans, was the headline.

I stand by my critique of D.C. politics, but now it was set in a different and far more hostile context. Here were some of the other headlines on the site: U.S. sanctions deprive Iranians of breathing fresh air under severe pollution: experts. China urges U.S. to abandon hegemony, bullying. World Insights: Washington has money for wars overseas but not for railways at home  critics. Miracle needed for U.S. to avert recession: American economist.

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The site carries endless stories on racism in America, police shootings, heat-related deaths, power outages and environmental disasters.

On the other hand, Xinhuas stories about China have, shall we say, a different tone: Farmers benefit from tea industry in Puan county in SW China. Tourists have fun at Harbin Songhua river and ice snow carnival.

And my personal favorite: Xi tells party cadres to make every possible effort to ensure people's happy lives.

The Xinhua News Agency is not some inconsequential, marginal effort. It is nearly 100 years old, has more than 180 bureaus globally. Its one-sided, agenda-driven version of the world reaches an audience that could soon match that of the Associated Press or the BBC, according to Joshua Kurlantzick in Foreign Policy. The press freedom advocacy group Reporters Without Borders called Xinhua The Worlds Biggest Propaganda Agency.

China is hardly the first or only government to distort or manipulate the news for its own benefit. Propaganda is at least as old as the Roman civil wars. It was honed by, among many others, Genghis Khan and his Mongol Empire in the 13th century, the British Empire in India in the 19th century and Nazi Propaganda Minister Joseph Goebbels in the mid-20th century.

The U.S. does it too. Just one of many examples of American propaganda is Radio Free Europe, a government-funded news organization created during the Cold War to sell America and American values to people behind the so-called Iron Curtain.

But Chinese propaganda is the big new thing today. Last month, the Economist magazine estimated that Chinese President Xi Jinping spends $7 billion to $10 billion to tell Chinas story well.

And apparently it works. The Economist pointed to a recent study in which scholars from Yale, Harvard and the University of Groningen in the Netherlands showed 6,000 people in 19 countries Chinese propaganda and messaging from the American government. In advance and afterward, they were asked about the two countries political models. By the end of the study, a majority said they preferred Chinas form of government to that of the United States. The messaging had convinced them that China, while not necessarily more democratic, delivers growth, stability and competent leadership.

And now my article is a part of that messaging.

Thats certainly disconcerting. But what can I do about it?

I suppose I could vow to be less negative about U.S. policy, because, well, politics stops at the waters edge and all that. But that would be foolish.

Let the Chinese do what they want with my articles. I still believe that in the long run, free debate leads to a stronger and healthier country.

In China, according to Human Rights Watch's 2022 report, free expression is severely limited. The government censors news, punishes dissenters and propagates disinformation. People have been harassed, detained or prosecuted for their online posts and private chat messages critical of the government. They've been slapped with spurious charges of provoking trouble and insulting the countrys leaders. Increasingly, Chinese citizens have been punished for speech deemed unpatriotic.

You don't see that mentioned on the Xinhua site.

Ive criticized the U.S. government plenty during my four decades in journalism, but Ive never faced intimidation or censorship or the possibility of official punishment.

Suppression of speech empowers dictators. Free debate allows citizens in a democracy to make informed decisions about the way they are governed.

No system is perfect, but if I have to choose, Ill take the latter, thanks. And as for being a tool of Chinese propaganda, I'll roll with it.

@Nick_Goldberg

This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.
Former UK Independence Party MEP Nigel Farage on Friday weighed in former UK Prime Minister Boris Johnsons vulgar f*** the Americans outburst last month in comments to The Independent linking the ex-PMs incendiary remarks to the Biden administration stance on Northern Ireland.

In a brief interview on the sidelines of the Conservative Political Action Conference in Maryland, Mr Farage admitted that such a remark would be typical of Mr Johnson and slammed the current US government for not taking sides in the dispute between the UK and EU.

He may well have said that, but thats just Boris being Boris, he said, adding that the Biden administration  which has held off on negotiating a bilateral trade agreement with the UK while the Northern Ireland issue remained unresolved  hasnt exactly been friendly to the UK.

Mr Farage also said the recently announced Northern Ireland customs deal between the UK and European Union has been oversold by British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak.

He's tried to say it means we've got we've got the freedom over VAT and all goods between the mainland and Northern Ireland can now can now go without checks, and it's just not true, he said when approached by The Independent at the Conservative Political Action Conference in Maryland.

The ex-Brexit Party leader turned GB News anchor conceded that the deal results in fewer checks of goods moving between Northern Ireland and Great Britain, and he noted that it is now possible to now sell sausages from one part of the United Kingdom to another while mocking the idea that the intra-market sausage trade is something to be celebrated.

He added that under the agreement, Northern Ireland will remain still to a very large degree under the European Court of Justice, under European law.

I think ... the initial joy with which it was met is unraveling as we begin to learn more detail, he said.

Asked how hed resolve Northern Irelands status and relationship with the EU single market  a relationship that is necessary to avoid a hard border on the island and preserve the Good Friday accords  he suggested establishing a bespoke tribunal to settle trade disputes between the UK and EU over Northern Ireland goods.

I do understand that I'm trade that needs to be some kind of compromise because of the complexity of that. border between Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland  each has a different political union, different currency, all of those things. That's fine, he said. And I don't mind if we have to have a court, a dispute mechanism, but it cannot be the European Court of Justice because that is the embodiment of the power of the EU.

I accept Northern Ireland's very complicated  Ireland's always been complicated. I'm all for compromise, but you can't compromise if you if you accept that a foreign court has jurisdiction over your party or country, he added.
(Bloomberg) -- Nigerias top court ordered the central bank to halt its removal of old high-denomination banknotes from circulation, a move thats created an acute cash shortage in Africas largest economy.

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The Supreme Court decided Friday that the Central Bank of Nigerias plan to discontinue the use of old bills by Feb. 10 was unconstitutional. The judges ruled that the notes should remain in circulation until the end of the year, Nasir El-Rufai, one of the state governors that brought the suit, told reporters afterwards.

The yield on Nigerias 2032 dollar bonds fell 16 basis points to 12.47% earlier Friday and the notes retained their gains after the ruling was announced.

The central banks project to replace 200, 500 and 1,000 naira notes that started on Dec. 15 has disrupted everyday life in Africas most populous nation, where only 60% of households have access to a bank account, because of a shortage of new bills.

Snaking queues are now a common sight outside ATMs and bank branches, while common tasks such as riding the bus or buying food have become an ordeal.

Private-sector activity last month contracted for the first time in almost three years as companies reduced output and cut jobs because of the scarcity.

Spokesmen for the central bank and attorney general did not respond to a request for comment on the judgment.

The central banks implementation of the measures has come under significant scrutiny, said Joseph Nnanna, chief economist at the Development Bank of Nigeria Plc. The courts decision could open a slippery slope which will erode the apex banks independence, he said.

The lawsuit initially brought by the governments of Kaduna, Kogi and Zamfara  all controlled by the ruling All Progressives Congress  has been adjourned several times since it was filed a month ago, most recently on Feb. 22.

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At least 10 other states, most of them also run by President Muhammadu Buharis party, have joined the suit or filed their own cases, pitching the governors against the outgoing head of state, who backed the policy.

In their initial suit, the three APC governors said their states were on the verge of anarchy due to the untold financial, economic and social hardship triggered by the central banks rushed program.

Buhari on Feb. 16 agreed to allow 200 naira bills to re-enter circulation for two extra months but resisted pressure to extend the deadline for the 500 and 1,000 naira notes beyond Feb. 10.

The governors said this concession was insufficient and censured the president for ignoring an injunction from the court barring the removal of the notes until the resolution of the case.

Buhari is due to step down in May and be replaced by the APCs Bola Tinubu, who was declared the winner of Nigerias Feb. 25 presidential election. Tinubus backers argued before the vote that disruptions caused by the policy were damaging their electoral prospects. The results of the presidential race are being contested.

This decision today has laid a solid foundation for our incoming president, Yahaya Bello, the governor of Kogi state, said after the ruling. If necessary, the governors said they will return to court to seek an extension of the new Dec. 31 deadline.

--With assistance from Anthony Osae-Brown and Robert Brand.

(Updated with governors comments in second and twelfth paragraphs)

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A Nixa teenager was charged with murder Wednesday after prosecutors say he fled from law enforcement at speeds over 100 mph and caused a crash that killed a 9-year-old boy.

Zachary Fargo, 17, was charged with second-degree murder and three other felonies in the July crash that resulted in the death of Nixa fourth-grader Alex Finley and injuries to three others.

Fargo was charged under Missouri's felony murder rule, meaning prosecutors don't have to prove that he intended to kill anyone, only that he committed a felony and someone died as a result. In this case, the underlying felony is resisting arrest by fleeing.

The Christian County Sheriff's Office says it tried to pull over Fargo for driving erratically at about 9 p.m. on July 13, but he fled and a pursuit was initiated.

Court documents say Fargo ran a red light at Highway 160 and Northview Road and struck a minivan, seriously injuring two occupants and killing Alex.

More:Nixa fourth-grader identified as victim in fatal crash that left 4 others injured

Investigators with the Missouri State Highway Patrol reviewed the event data recorder from Fargo's car and determined he was going 117 mph at the time of the crash, according to court documents.

Fargo did not appear on the Christian County Jail roster as of Thursday afternoon. He also did not have an attorney listed as representing him.

This article originally appeared on Springfield News-Leader: Nixa teen charged with murder in crash that resulted in death of child
PATERSON  In barely 36 hours, authorities tracked down a man they say shot and injured a New Jersey State Police officer in Paterson and arrested him on attempted murder charges in South Carolina on Friday afternoon.

The suspect, Jocquise Timmons of Paterson, allegedly stepped out from behind a parked vehicle, assumed a shooting stance, and opened fire on two unmarked vehicles driven by troopers early Thursday morning near the corner of 9th Avenue and East 26th Street, said Attorney General Matthew Platkin.

At the time of the shooting, the troopers were following another vehicle they believed to be involved in a break-in at a nearby house, Platkin said. One trooper suffered a nonfatal wound to the leg, and he is expected to make a full recovery, the attorney general said.

Police at the scene where a New Jersey State Trooper was shot on Ninth Avenue near E29th Street in Paterson around 1 a.m. on March 2, 2023.

Timmons, who was born in 1994, has been charged with two counts of attempted murder and four counts of aggravated assault. Authorities have not explained the aggravated assault charges. Timmons previously was convicted on drug dealing charges, according to state court records.

Officials have not released the troopers name. Rep. Bill Pascrell Jr. said the wounded trooper is the father of a 1-year-old child.

The trooper in the other vehicle that was fired upon was not injured, Platkin said.

Platkin said investigators have recovered the gun from the shooting and that theres no evidence of any other weapons being involved. But numerous questions remain unanswered about the incident.

One of our @NJSP troopers was shot and wounded in the leg in Paterson early this morning.



We will ensure that all those responsible for this violent and heinous act are caught and brought to justice. pic.twitter.com/nqcIag7BPZ  Governor Phil Murphy (@GovMurphy) March 2, 2023

Authorities have not revealed why State Police officers in unmarked vehicles would be investigating a low-level crime like a house burglary. Officials also have not said whether the gunman knew police officers were driving the vehicles that he shot at. Nor have they said if there are other suspects.

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None of the troopers at the scene fired their guns, Platkin said.

In the immediate aftermath of the incident, law enforcement officials said they were looking for multiple people connected to the crime and police officers swarmed the neighborhood where the shooting happened.

Platkin said that when he visited the wounded trooper at St. Josephs University Medical Center, the officers brushed aside questions about his own health and wanted to talk about another case and saving lives.

The New Jersey trooper who was shot yesterday in Paterson is in great spirits, Platkin said. Were not releasing his name at this time out of concern for his safety.

Platkin said the trooper was expected to be released from the hospital soon. Its a small miracle, he added.

The complaints filed by the New Jersey State police said Timmons and another man, identified as John John, tried to get inside a house on East 26th Street at 10:54 p.m. on Wednesday night. The two men  wearing masks and gloves  were recorded by a doorbell camera trying to get inside the front door, the complaint said.

When they couldnt get in the front door, the two of them tried getting inside a side door, before leaving, the complaint said.

Later in the night, state police conducted surveillance of the house and one unmarked vehicle began following a blue Odyssey, the complaint said. The trooper who was wounded and another state police officer were joining the pursuit in separate vehicles when they were ambushed by Timmons, police said.

Investigators found ballistics evidence of nine shots being fired and five bullet holes in the two vehicles, authorities said.

The blue van later was found abandoned near East 29th Street and Park Avenue, the complaint said. Surveillance video show three people flee the van. Timmons and John John escaped while the third person, identified as a confidential witness, was captured soon afterward, police said.

Earlier:State trooper shot in leg in Paterson, one suspect in custody as police seek others

On the surface, the area of Paterson where the trooper was shot doesnt look like other places in the city where gunfire is commonplace. The single-family homes with well-tended lawns stand in stark contrast to Patersons most-troubled neighborhoods.

But dont be fooled by appearances. The shooting happened in a part of Paterson very familiar to the State Police and the Attorney Generals detectives who investigate gangs. A block away from the shooting is 10th Avenue, a thoroughfare notorious for open-air drug dealing.

Back in 2019, state law enforcement officials conducted a five-month probe targeting the Bloods-affiliated So Icy Boys gang, which authorities said was based at the corner of 10th Avenue and East 28th Street.

That crackdown resulted in nine arrests and afterward, gang activity in the area declined for a little while, according to residents and public officials. But the problems are back on the upswing. Just three weeks ago, two people suffered nonfatal gunshot wounds in a shooting at the corner of 10th Avenue and East 23rd Street.

Authorities have not indicated whether Thursdays shooting was connected to the gangs in the area.

Retired pastor John Algera, who has served many years with Patersons Cease-Fire antiviolence community group, lives less than two block from the shooting scene.

In the summer, when we have the windows open, we often hear shots, said Algera. But weve never been afraid to walk in our neighborhood. Weve lived here 45 years and Ive never felt unsafe in my neighborhood.

Algera said he was offended by the crime.

It makes people want to move out of our city, he said.

The shooting also happened near the home of Pascrell, a former mayor of Paterson.

When something hits your neighborhood, its a little different from reading about it in the newspaper, Pascrell said. That trooper was trying to help us and he got shot.

The congressman bemoaned the widespread availability of guns.

Everybody has a gun, you cant even keep track of them, he said.

Mayor Andre Sayegh said he also visited the injured trooper in the hospital and told him he was a hero. The mayor said despite the trooper shooting, Paterson is making improvements in public safety.

The city had record numbers of homicides in 2020 and 2021.

Last year we saw double digit decreases in shootings and homicides, Saygh said. In the first two months this year we have also seen double digit decreases in shootings and homicides. We are making progress and having our state troopers helps to drive down gun violence.

Joe Malinconico is editor of Paterson Press. Email: editor@patersonpress.com

Nicholas Katzban is a staff writer for NorthJersey.com and the USA TODAY Network New Jersey. Email: katzban@northjersey.com

This article originally appeared on NorthJersey.com: Paterson state trooper shot: Man arrested in South Carolina, charged
The prosecutors who delivered a guilty verdict in Alex Murdaughs double-murder trial exulted in their victory Thursday night, after the disgraced Lowcountry attorney was convicted in a Colleton County courtroom of murdering his wife and son.

South Carolina Attorney General Alan Wilson said the large prosecution team had lived in college dorm-like conditions in Walterboro throughout the trial, getting on each others nerves at times.

But it was all worth it because we got to bring justice and be a voice for Maggie and Paul Murdaugh, Wilson said.

Wilson praised the people of Walterboro, the small Lowcountry town that has had national and international attention thrust upon them. Many of those local residents were encouraging and supportive whenever they interacted with the prosecutors around town, he said.

You dont know how good that feels when youre under an incredible amount of stress, an incredible amount of scrutiny, Wilson said.

South Carolinas justice system withstood doubts that it could deliver a fair verdict, as Wilson noted that the verdict proved no one is above the law.

Thanking lead prosecutor Creighton Waters for his work on the case, Wilson noted that TV personality Nancy Grace had called Waters pale and gaunt.

Thats because he hasnt been eating or sleeping, Wilson said.

Waters thanked the jury for delivering a guilty verdict, saying he knew they would see through the one last con Alex Murdaugh was trying to pull, and they did.

It doesnt matter who your family is, it doesnt how much money people think you have, it doesnt matter how prominent you are, Waters said. If you break the law, if you do wrong, if you commit murder, the state of South Carolina will hold you accountable.

After a six-week trial at the Colleton County Courthouse, Murdaugh, 54, was convicted Thursday of murdering his wife, Maggie, and son, Paul. The disgraced Lowcountry attorney had already been disbarred, fired from his job, and faces close to 100 separate charges of theft and financial crimes in a separate trial. Now he has two murder convictions on his record as well.

Sentencing of Murdaugh will take place at 9:30 a.m. Friday. He faces life in prison.
Daryl stands next to a horse and buggy on a French street.

The Walking Dead spin-off Daryl Dixon begins in a rather unexpected way: Daryl, who was very much in America the last time we saw him on TWD proper, washing ashore on the coast of France without any idea of how he got there. Its a bananas premise, but its also an incredibly intriguing onehow on Earth could he get there and not remember? Who transported him, and why? Unfortunately, I would be shocked if Daryl Dixon had answers to either question.

Its a problem other shows have had before: they want to shock and surprise the audience by giving them something so mysterious theyre compelled to keep watching to find out the answers. Many times, however, these shows come up with the audacious result first, hoping theyll eventually figure out a backstory that can retroactively make that result make sense. However, working backward is much more difficult than the other way around. The wilder the idea, the harder it gets. Call it the Lost conundrum. (Remember the Frozen Donkey Wheel?)

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And Daryl somehow arriving in France, without any idea how he got there, with zero recollection of being abducted or sailing across the Atlantic Ocean, during the zombie apocalypse, is a wild premise. I would be absolutely delighted to be wrong and discover that the shows writers have a perfect answer, one that will make total sense, explain everything, and be utterly satisfying. But that is not a level of skill that the Walking Dead has ever really achieved, and certainly not to such an extreme degree as this.

Seriously, think of the massive amount of suspension of belief youre going to need to maintain until the show reveals this mystery. Ill buy that someone snuck up behind the very competent Daryl and rendered him unconscious, sure. But who would possibly spend the resources to send Darylor anyoneto France? And how? It simply cannot be by plane, because Daryl somehow ends up in the ocean. He must have been transported by a ship, which feels almost as unreasonable. The amount of gas necessary to send a ship across the Atlantic Ocean is immense, and that fuel would surely be in short supply during, you know, the zombie friggin apocalypse. And even that would take days; if the mysterious entity/organization used a sailboat, it could take more than a weeka week where Daryl would need to somehow be kept unconscious, which would surely require and consume a great deal of medical supplies that could also be immensely better used. Either way, I think Daryl has to have been loaded up with some kind of drugs, because hed need to be groggy enough to completely forget how he somehow escapes the ship by jumping into the ocean, and only regain awareness once hes washed ashore.

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Whatever the answers end up being, its going to take a great deal to explain how Daryl wakes up on a French beach with absolutely zero memory of how he arrived there, and its going to take even more to have a satisfying explanation. Again, I simply do not believe the makers of The Walking Dead can pull this off. It was a show where a zombie could fall down a flight of stairs in a room where multiple people were sleeping, yet none of them woke up. It was a show where a house full of adults could turn into feral animals who also lost the ability to speak in little more than a decade. It was a show where people acted like idiots all the time.

Again, I would love to be proven wrong. But in the very first scene, Daryl Dixon will have immediately set a very, very high hurdle for itself to, uh, hurdle. I suspect its far more likely the show will run directly into it, trip, and then try to pretend everythings fine.





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Willem Dafoe expressed interest in 2022 about playing a Joker imposter alongside Joaquin Phoenix's version of the character. Dia Dipasupil/Getty Images, Warner Bros.

Willem Dafoe hasn't heard from "Joker 2" director Todd Phillips about appearing in the sequel.

The actor previously expressed interest in playing a "Joker imposter" to GQ opposite Joaquin Phoenix.

Dafoe told Insider playing the Batman villain has "never" been on the table.

Willem Dafoe likely isn't going to appear alongside Joaquin Phoenix in next year's "Joker 2" despite fantasizing about playing a version of the DC villain.

When recently asked by Insider if he's heard from director Todd Phillips at all about the sequel, Dafoe gave a succinct: "No, ma'am."

Dafoe previously expressed interest in playing a "Joker imposter" opposite Phoenix's version of the Clown Prince of Crime to GQ. Production is currently underway on the sequel to 2019's billion-dollar "Joker" film.

During an interview for his upcoming film "Inside" on Wednesday, Dafoe told Insider playing the popular Batman villain was "never on the table" over the years.

"I think many, many years ago when they were first doing 'Batman,' there was some talk about me being involved, but that never came to me. I only heard about it in retrospect," Dafoe added of the 1989 Tim Burton-directed film starring Michael Keaton.

In 2018, Dafoe told The Hollywood Reporter "Batman" screenwriter Sam Hamm thought he was physically perfect to play the Joker based on his appearance, but he was never formally contacted about the role.

Instead, Jack Nicholson played the iconic DC villain. A total of seven actors have played the character in live-action.

Still, fan art of Dafoe as the Clown Prince of Crime has circulated online for years.

Willem Dafoe reacts to seeing fan art of himself as Joker. Insider

During an appearance on "The Tonight Show starring Jimmy Fallon" Tuesday, Dafoe suggested the host "talk to Warner Bros." if he wants to see him in the role.

Dafoe's acting career spans more than 40 years in which he's played both heroes and villains, characters in Marvel and DC, and in films large ("John Wick") and small. There's not much the actor hasn't done.

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When Insider asked Dafoe if there's a role he hasn't had yet that he still hopes to play, he said he doesn't think of roles in terms of characters.

"You don't know what a character is until you get there," Dafoe told Insider, adding, "The character is made out of the situation and the situation is made out of people and places. And so it's hard to imagine. It's like  What I need, I can't imagine. And if I know what I need, I don't really need it."

But, for now, Dafoe added he has other items on his plate, including next month's Focus Feature's release, "Inside."

The psychological thriller features Dafoe as a thief whose art heist goes awry when he gets locked in an upscale penthouse. Low on food and supplies, he has to use his wit and remaining strength to try and find a way out as he slowly descends into madness.

"Inside" is in theaters on March 17.

Read the original article on Insider
A court in Minsk, Belarus, has sentenced Nobel laureate and political prisoner Ales Bialiatski to 10 years in prison, while three other human rights activists received from seven to nine years in prison.

Source: Viasna Human Rights Centre

Quote from Viasna: "Judge Maryna Zapasnik passed the following sentences to the Viasna leaders:

Ales Bialiatski, Viasna Chair and Nobel Peace Prize laureate, received 10 years in a high-security penal colony

Valiantsin Stefanovic, Viasna Deputy Chair and Vice President of FIDH, received nine years in a high-security penal colony

Uladzimir Labkovich, Human Rights Defenders for Free Elections campaign coordinator, received seven years in a high-security penal colony."

Details: The court also sentenced human rights defender Zmitser Salauyou to eight years in a penal colony in absentia.

The human rights defenders were charged under Article 228.4 (smuggling by an organised group) and Article 342.2 of the Criminal Code (financing of group actions that grossly violate public order).

According to the prosecution, the human rights defenders, "acting as part of an organised group from 4 April 2016 to 14 July 2021, in order to use the money received from various structures and funds in Belarus for illegal activities and financing of the Viasna Centre and other organisations, cashed out money received from various structures and funds to the bank accounts of a foreign organisation under their control".

According to the case file, the convicts "in the above-mentioned composition and with other persons prepared citizens to participate in group actions that grossly violated public order, as well as provided funding and material support for such actions under the guise of human rights and charitable activities, including on behalf of the Viasna Human Rights Center, an unregistered BY_HELP foundation, in the period from May 2020 to 14 July 2021".

In particular, the human rights defenders are accused of paying fines, paying food bills in detention centres, and paying for the work of lawyers.

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Uladzimir Labkovich

Photo: Viasna

Bialiatski, Stefanovic and Labkovich pleaded not guilty.

It is reported that at the trial, the judge did not satisfy any of the requests (for the trial to be held in Belarusian, for the removal of handcuffs, for time to familiarise themselves with the case, etc.).

Valiantsin Stefanovic

Photo: Viasna

Bialiatski called the case against the human rights activists political persecution.

On the eve of the verdict, international human rights organisations issued a statement and reiterated their calls for the release of the human rights defenders and the dropping of all charges against them.

On the evening of 2 March, solidarity rallies were held in the Polish cities of Warsaw and Gdansk in support of the Viasna activists.

The Viasna human rights defenders have been detained since 14 July 2021.

Ales Bialiatski is a Belarusian human rights activist and head of Viasna. Amnesty International recognised him as a prisoner of conscience. In 2022, Bialiatski won the Nobel Peace Prize.

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

Man-made disasters come with an inevitable question. What preventable mistakes, what selfish neglect or lack of oversight, helped set the table for this catastrophe?

Thats certainly the case with the derailment of a train carrying toxic chemicals in eastern Ohio that turned the small town of East Palestine into a knot of dread.

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The Feb. 3 derailment ignited a fire that sent massive plumes of smoke into the air. Residents were forced to evacuate, and later authorities channeled hazardous chemicals from the tankers to a trench, where the toxic fumes were burned off into the air in a controlled release.

Residents of East Palestine are trying to get back to normal, while at the same time worrying about long-term fallout. Theyre wondering whether their drinking water is safe, or whether the areas soil and waterways have been permanently contaminated.

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In Illinois, a separate follow-up question is worth asking. Could such a devastating disaster happen here?

The short answer is yes, though whats maddening is that it doesnt have to be this way.

Illinois is uniquely vulnerable in part because of the sheer volume of freight rail traffic that moves through the state every day, particularly through the Chicago region. Chicago is the nations preeminent rail hub, with as many as 1,300 freight and passenger trains moving through the city each day. One out of every four freight trains in America passes through Chicago.

That volume could expand with the proposed merger of the Canadian Pacific and Kansas City Southern railroads, which would create the only railroad linking Canada, Mexico and the U.S. mayors of several northwest suburbs potentially affected by the merger say the deal would ratchet up freight rail traffic by 300% on Metras Milwaukee West line.

The amount of hazardous materials transported via rail Illinois is considerable  in 2019, nearly 10 million tons of hazardous materials were moved on Illinois rail lines. Notably, the Norfolk Southern freight train carrying vinyl chloride and other hazardous materials that derailed in eastern Ohio began its journey in downstate Madison.

How often do derailments involving toxic chemicals occur? More often than youd think. The Hill, a media company that focuses on Washington politics, recently analyzed Federal Railroad Administration data and reported that 106 derailments involving hazardous materials have occurred on U.S. rail tracks since 2015. Last year, the railway agency documented 10 derailments involving hazardous materials across the country.

The risk is real, which would suggest a glaring need to maximize safeguards for the transport of toxic chemicals via rail, as well as the need for the rail industry to embrace and implement those safeguards. Unfortunately, that hasnt been the case.

For years, railroad industry leaders have lobbied to stymie regulations aimed at improving freight train safety, particularly tougher rules on the rail shipment of hazardous materials. According to Bloomberg, one federal proposal that the rail industry fought was the use of electronically controlled pneumatic braking systems that would bring freight trains to a quick, safe stop by applying brakes across the span of the train, rather than each car individually.

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Despite rail industry lobbying, the Obama administration enacted the brake mandates in 2015. When Donald Trump took over the White House, railroad industry leaders renewed their opposition to the new brake rules, and Trump later rescinded the brake mandates. The rail industry also persuaded the federal government to delay until 2029 the phase-in of safer tank cars for hazardous materials transport, a change from the original 2025 phase-in date.

The last thing this countrys economy needs is overregulation. But what the railroad industry has been resisting through the years isnt overregulation, its common sense rule-making that safeguards communities along rail lines, rail workers, and the industry as a whole. The alternative is a status quo in which another hazardous materials derailment devastates a community, and railroad executives find themselves again having to react to a horrific disaster and defend their actions.

No community in the U.S.  no community in the Chicago area or the rest of Illinois  should have to endure what East Palestine has endured.

No one is asking the railroad industry to acquiesce to burdensome rules with dubious potential for enhancing safety. But smart, well-researched regulation that significantly safeguards the movement by rail of toxic chemicals across the country is something rail companies should embrace, rather than resist.

Join the discussion on Twitter @chitribopinions and on Facebook.

Submit a letter, of no more than 400 words, to the editor here or email letters@chicagotribune.com.
Norfolk Southern's CEO did not attend an East Palestine, Ohio, town hall meeting where concerned residents detailed their health symptoms and grilled officials on why they have not been relocated away from the derailment site.

Darrell Wilson, assistant vice president of government relations for Norfolk Southern, joined several other federal and local officials for Thursday's meeting.

"We are sorry. We're sorry for what happened," Wilson said before the crowd began yelling questions at him.

"You need to get some of our people out of here today!" one resident screamed. "Whats happened here is not right, people are suffering!"

Wilson attempted to explain Norfolk Southern's recovery and cleanup plan following the Feb. 3 derailment, but he was bombarded with questions.

Another resident asked the officials not to dismiss people who have health concerns.

"The chemicals in the atmosphere could be affecting people differently so people that have symptoms they shouldn't be dismissed, they should be looked at and they shouldn't be here. I want to know why we were allowed to come home and why we haven't been removed from here," the resident said. "Just out of an abundance of caution. ... What happened is not right."

It's not clear if Norfolk Southern CEO Alan Shaw was expected to be at Thursday's meeting. Shaw has been asked to testify under oath in a coming hearing hosted by the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee to talk about the derailment.

The company did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Friday.

The 150-car Norfolk Southern Railway train was traveling from Madison, Illinois, to Conway, Pennsylvania, when it crashed in East Palestine, a small community near the Pennsylvania border, on Feb. 3.

Erin Brockovich speaks at the East Palestine Justice Town Hall Meeting at the Columbiana Cultural Collective in East Palestine, Ohio on March 2, 2023. (mpi34/MediaPunch/IPx)

A report by the National Transportation Safety Board said that a defect detector built into the railway transmitted an alarm message to the trains crew after it recorded that the temperature of a wheel bearing on the 23rd car was 253 degrees hotter than the air temperature. Anything over 170 degrees requires the engineer to stop the train, according to the railroad companys policies.

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The engineer hit the brakes, but before the train came to a halt, the 23rd car derailed, taking other cars with it, and an automatic emergency break kicked in. The report said the crew then observed fire and smoke and notified the Cleveland East dispatcher of a possible derailment.

The 9,300-foot train was carrying dangerous chemicals when it derailed. Five toxic chemicals have been identified around the site of the crash, including butyl acrylate, isobutylene, ethylene glycol and ethylhexyl acrylate, and vinyl chloride, a known carcinogen. Some chemicals were burned in a controlled release in the aftermath of the disaster to avoid a possible explosion.

Since the crash, many residents in East Palestine have expressed concern over possible health issues. Earlier this week, the presidents of U.S. railroad unions told Biden administration officials that rail workers working at the derailment site had fallen ill.

A number of lawsuits against Norfolk Southern have been filed, and state officials have reported many thousands of dead fish in nearby streams.

NTSB officials have said that there were no signs a track defect or crew member error contributed to the crash. But Chairperson Jennifer Homendy previously told NBC News that the disaster was 100% preventable.

Norfolk Southern previously said in a statement that it is cooperating with the investigation.

This article was originally published on NBCNews.com
A roundup of some of the most popular but completely untrue stories and visuals of the week. None of these are legit, even though they were shared widely on social media. The Associated Press checked them out. Here are the facts:

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Yes, you are legally required to pay your taxes

CLAIM: There are no laws requiring people to pay their taxes.

THE FACTS: Title 26 of the U.S. Code requires individuals to pay income taxes. Faulty legal arguments claiming theres no such law have been around for decades but have not been successful in court. With Aprils federal income tax deadline approaching, social media users are sharing a short video compiling interviews from a number of purported experts, including a tax lawyer, a tax advisor and a former IRS agent  all of whom claim they discovered through their own research that Americans arent obligated to pay income taxes because it isnt spelled out in law. But federal officials and tax experts dismiss the arguments as frivolous and say the law is clear. Raphael Tulino, a spokesperson for the IRS, directed the AP to a website it maintains to address many of the common claims made by those opposed to following tax laws. The requirement to pay taxes is not voluntary, the IRS response on the website reads. Section 1 of the Internal Revenue Code clearly imposes a tax on the taxable income of individuals, estates, and trusts, as determined by the tables set forth in that section." The IRS also notes that the obligation to pay income taxes is described in section 6151, which requires taxpayers to submit payment with their tax returns. Jonathan Siegel, a professor at George Washington Universitys law school agreed with the agencys assessment. No, there isnt even a grain of truth to the theories in the video, nor does it contain any new or surprising arguments, he wrote in an email, directing the AP to his personal website breaking down income tax myths. Federal tax laws are contained in the Internal Revenue Code, also known as Title 26 of the United States Code, Siegel explains on his website. The U.S. Code is the compilation of all the laws passed by Congress. Garrett Watson, a senior policy analyst at the Tax Foundation, a nonpartisan tax policy research group in Washington, said tax protesters continue to misinterpret the IRS use of the phrase voluntary compliance as meaning paying taxes and filing tax returns isnt legally required. But the term refers to the notion that individuals are responsible for determining and paying the correct amount of tax and filling out the necessary forms, rather than the government determining the tax for them. Watson also noted that legal arguments against paying taxes have been around for decades but have seen little success in courts. In fact, one of the people featured in a widely circulating version of the social media video is Sherry Jackson, a former IRS employee and tax preparer who was convicted of willfully and intentionally failing to file tax returns.

 Associated Press writer Philip Marcelo in New York contributed this report.

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US has provided money, not just equipment, to Ukraine

CLAIM: The U.S. is not providing cash to Ukraine; it only supports the country through donated military equipment.

THE FACTS: While the U.S. is indeed providing weapons and equipment to Ukraine, it has also provided billions in financial assistance to the country following Russias invasion. Former Congressman Adam Kinzinger, a Republican from Illinois, made the inaccurate suggestion recently while taking aim at Republican Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, who has been critical of U.S. aid to Ukraine. People like MTG in re: #Ukraine. The aid is not pallets of cash. Its in the form of military equipment, assigned a value, that is donated, Kinzinger wrote in a tweet. That equipment is usually older and would be replaced in the next few years anyway, at a cost. Im sure she doesnt understand this. But while the U.S. has indeed sent Bradley vehicles, ammunition, weapons and other equipment to Ukraine during its war with Russia, the support doesnt stop there. Were not providing only military assistance, Tom Graham, a distinguished fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations with expertise on U.S. foreign policy and Ukraine, told the AP. We are obviously providing financial assistance  budgetary support  and theres humanitarian assistance as well. Between January 2022 and January 2023, the U.S. committed more than $26 billion to Ukraine in financial assistance, according to data compiled by the Ukraine Support Tracker at the Kiel Institute for the World Economy, a German think tank. Thats about a third of the roughly $77 billion in total aid noted by Kiel, including humanitarian and military assistance, pledged by the U.S. government. The numbers represent money promised, not entirely distributed. Another tally from the nonpartisan Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget places the total amount of aid approved by Congress in 2022 for supporting the Ukrainian government and allies at about $113 billion. That includes about $27 billion in economic support funds, $7.9 billion for international disaster assistance and $6.6 billion to support and relocate refugees. The U.S. Agency for International Development has in releases and a report to Congress outlined how budgetary support to the Ukrainian government has been used. Some of the funding has been spent, for example, on social assistance payments and salaries for health care workers, first responders and educators. It also helps cover pensions and support Ukrainians displaced by the war. Still, the largest bucket of overall U.S. aid committed to Ukraine  more than $46 billion, according to Kiels tracker  is military support. Members of Congress have questioned how closely the U.S. is tracking its aid to Ukraine to ensure that it is not subject to fraud or ending up in the wrong hands. The Pentagons inspector general told lawmakers at a Tuesday hearing that his office has found no evidence of such corruption or wrongdoing, but cautioned that investigations are only in their early stages. An AP inquiry to Kinzinger through his group, Country First, was not returned.

 Associated Press writer Angelo Fichera in Philadelphia contributed this report.

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WHO pandemic treaty draft doesnt sign over US sovereignty

CLAIM: A legally-binding World Health Organization pandemic treaty will give the organization the authority to control U.S. policies during a pandemic, including those on vaccines, lockdowns, school closures and more.

THE FACTS: The voluntary treaty, which is in draft form and still far from ratification, does not overrule any nations ability to pass individual pandemic-related policies. As the WHO met Monday to discuss the first draft of the treaty, social media users misrepresented the scope of the document to suggest signing onto it would cede U.S. rights to the international body. Biden is about to give the China-controlled W.H.O. power to control the United States. This will cover lockdowns, supply chains, surveillance, and false news, claimed one Instagram post referring to the treaty draft. But this interpretation of what the treaty would do is incorrect, multiple experts agree. These claims are utterly false, said Lawrence Gostin, a Georgetown University law professor and director of the universitys WHO Collaborating Center on National and Global Health Law. Hes been involved in the treatys draft process. The United States retains sovereignty to set its own domestic public health policies, he added. The zero draft is designed to protect the world from future pandemics, according to the WHO. The text lays out a vision for building greater equity and effectiveness in pandemic prevention, preparedness and response across the globe through international cooperation. It encourages parties to develop a mechanism to ensure equitable allocation of pandemic-related products such as vaccines and tests while committing to quick and transparent reporting of clinical research and trial results, sharing of information on emerging health threats and recognition of WHO as the coordination authority on international health work. However, it does not overrule any nations individual health or domestic policies, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services confirmed in a statement to the AP. It is false to claim that the World Health Organization has now, or will have by virtue of these activities, any authority to direct U.S. health policy or national health emergency response actions, the agency wrote. The WHO has no such enforcement mechanisms, and its non-binding recommendations to member states are just that: non-binding. In fact, a section of the draft labeled Sovereignty clearly says that states have the sovereign right to determine and manage their approach to public health," pursuant to their own policies and legislation. Nowhere in the 30-page document are the words lockdown, closures, contact tracing or online speech mentioned, nor are mentions of specific citizen surveillance systems. Further, while the treaty, if ratified, would be considered a legally-binding document, the WHO has no enforcement power, said Dr. David Freedman, professor emeritus of infectious diseases at the University of Alabama at Birmingham.

 Associated Press writer Sophia Tulp in New York contributed this report.

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Manufacturers need FDAs approval to alter COVID-19 vaccines

CLAIM: Up to 49% of the ingredients in COVID-19 vaccines can be changed without the approval of the Federal Drug Administration because they are still manufactured under emergency use authorization.

THE FACTS: As part of the emergency use authorization process for vaccines, the FDA stipulates in letters to manufacturers that no changes can be made to the description of the product or manufacturing process without notifying and gaining approval from the FDA. The erroneous claims spread online following an early February episode of an online program hosted by political commentator Rochelle Silk Richardson, Dr. Sherri Tenpenny, who has been critical of vaccines, stated that emergency use authorizations let drug manufacturers change up to half of the ingredients in COVID-19 vaccines without approval. Neither Richardson nor Tenpenny responded to emails from the AP. An emergency use authorization, or EUA, allows for the use of unapproved medical products, or unapproved uses of approved medical products, during public health crises. The first two doses of Pfizer and Modernas COVID-19 vaccines are no longer under EUAs for certain age groups, having been approved by the FDA. EUAs still apply to COVID-19 vaccines produced by Johnson & Johnson and Novavax. But even if a vaccine is available only under an EUA, manufacturers must receive FDA approval before making changes to the product. The information circulating on social media that asserts manufacturers of COVID-19 vaccines can change up to 49% of the ingredients in their products without FDA approval is completely false, FDA spokesperson Abby Capobianco wrote in an email to the AP. No changes can be made to COVID-19 vaccines used under Emergency Use Authorization (EUA) without prior evaluation and authorization from FDA. As stipulated in the U.S. Codes Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act, EUAs come with certain conditions. Vaccine manufacturers are issued a letter of authorization upon receiving an EUA that details the process for making changes to their product. In this case of COVID-19 vaccines, it states: No changes will be implemented to the description of the product, manufacturing process, facilities, or equipment without notification to and concurrence by the FDA. Letters containing this language that were issued to Pfizer, Moderna, Johnson & Johnson and Novavax for their COVID-19 vaccines are publicly available on the FDAs website. Aaron Lottes, an associate professor of engineering practice at Purdue University who researches regulatory science, confirmed that these requirements mean that the COVID-19 vaccines, even those available under an EUA, cannot be adjusted at will.

 Associated Press writer Melissa Goldin in New York contributed this report.

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Find AP Fact Checks here: https://apnews.com/APFactCheck

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Follow @APFactCheck on Twitter: https://twitter.com/APFactCheck
Russian Volunteer Corps (RVC) fighters in front of a building in Russia

Read also: Drones damage Russian security observation tower in Bryansk Oblast, media report

On March 2, Russian authorities reported an alleged shootout with people in military uniforms and yellow armbands (yellow armbands are often used by Ukrainian forces to distinguish their troops on the battlefield). Russias propaganda media dwelled on this event, reporting on the capture of hostages and saying that some had been killed.

Later, a video appeared, in which, in front of a paramedic station located in Bryansk Oblast, two soldiers  commander of the Russian Volunteer Corps (RDK), Denis Rex, and another soldier named Alexander Fortuna  announced that they had crossed the Russian border. Meanwhile, the RDK is fighting on the side of Ukraine.

In their address, the volunteers said that they do not fight civilians, do not kill the unarmed, but call on ordinary Russian citizens to understand that they are not slaves and to oppose the regime of Russian dictator Vladimir Putin.

In one of the videos shared by RDK, shooting can be heard in the background.

Read also: Russia reports drone attack on fuel tanks in Bryansk Oblast

NV asked RDK soldier Ilya Bogdanov for a comment, but he declined, referring us to the official RDK Telegram channel. He did confirm, however, that there were representatives of his unit on the territory of the Russian Federation and asked to wait for an official report.

In a previous conversation with NV, RDK fighters announced plans for military operations on the territory of the Russian Federation. They believe that it will not be possible for the Armed Forces of Ukraine to cross into Russian territory, so plan to take that role on themselves.

Read also: Vast majority of global corporations continue operations in Russia, says President's Office

In this way, they hope, a hybrid war will begin in the Russian Federation  similar what happened in Ukraine in 2014, when Russia invaded Donbas. The RDK expects to grow in numbers, as it plans to also enter Kursk, Belgorod, and other neighboring oblasts of the Russian Federation.

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The RDK understands that such a relatively small-scale activity will not make huge waves in the international community. The group figures that in response to the question "Russia was attacked?", the only logical answer could be  No, its the Russians, Russians are fighting Russians, it's their right to self-determination.

Read also: No evidence Putin is ready for negotiations, Secretary Blinken says

This is how the RDK plans to attract many more Russian citizens who are dissatisfied with Putin and are ready to take military action. This is how, they say, a confrontation within the Russian Federation will begin.

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
An Ohio man is facing federal sex trafficking charges after two 16-year-old girls missing from separate Indiana cities were recovered from his home, according to the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Southern District of Ohio.

Payton Jamar Brown, 26, is charged with sex trafficking of minors and sexually exploiting children, federal court records show.

On Oct. 27, investigators received a report from the safe harbor/human trafficking coordinator with the Hamilton County Juvenile Court after one of the girls was screened at the Hamilton County Juvenile Detention Center as a possible human trafficking victim, according to a criminal complaint.

The girl was identified as missing from Evansville, Indiana, the document states.

Two days prior, that juvenile and another girl, who was missing from Greenwood, were recovered from Brown's home at the 3300 block of Niagara Street by Colerain Township police, an FBI special agent said in an affidavit.

Federal prosecutors say Brown met the first victim on a dating app.

From June to October 2022, Brown posted photos of the teenager to a website to advertise sexual encounters and she had sex with numerous men for money, prosecutors said. That money was then given to Brown.

The girl even went on a trip with an older man to a motorcycle rally in South Dakota with the expectation that she'd be paid $2,000, the affidavit states. "When she told Brown (of the invitation), his response was, 'you gotta do it, its $2,000.'"

Court records: Man filmed sexual encounters with teen

According to prosecutors, Brown also filmed sexual encounters with the girl and tried to sell the videos to others.

The affidavit says Brown and the teenager picked up one of her friends, identified in court documents as the second victim, from Indianapolis and returned to Brown's residence.

Colerain police took both juveniles to the detention center not long after, the document states. Court records do not indicate the second teenager was involved in any sexual activity.

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Crime:Jodessa Cooper's family 'devastated' after prosecutor declines charges against boyfriend

Court records show Brown was arrested Feb. 24.

Payton Jamar Brown ordered to remain in custody pending trial

Prosecutors said Brown appeared in federal court in Cincinnati on Wednesday and was ordered to remain in custody pending trial.

Scott Croswell, Brown's attorney, said the case is being reviewed and Brown is anticipated to plead not guilty.

The sex trafficking charge carries a sentence of at least 10 years and up to life in prison, prosecutors say. Sexually exploiting children is punishable by a prison sentence of 15 to 30 years.

This article originally appeared on Cincinnati Enquirer: Feds: Ohio man accused of trafficking after missing Indiana teens found
Proposals to eliminate the state sales tax on groceries and cut individual income taxes advanced to the full House on Thursday, as lawmakers took an early and bipartisan step toward giving a break to Oklahoma consumers hit hard by inflation.

The House Appropriations and Budget Committee unanimously approved a bill to eliminate the state portion of the sales tax on groceries, which would effectively cut the cost of food and food ingredients at Oklahoma stores by 4.5%.

The panel also cleared two separate proposals for reducing personal income tax rates  one that would cut the top rate by one-quarter of a percentage point and another that would cut the top rate by one-half of a percentage point. Both would lead to modest savings for middle income earners. Most Democrats voted against the income tax proposals.

More:What three taxes does Oklahoma Gov. Kevin Stitt want to cut? Here's what to know

The three tax bills were authored by House Speaker Charles McCall, R-Atoka, and will serve as vehicles for negotiations with the Senate and Gov. Kevin Stitt. The governor strongly favors eliminating the state sales tax on groceries  which would still leave locally levied sales taxes on food and food ingredients  while Senate President Pro Tem Greg Treat, R-Oklahoma City, has not committed to specific tax cuts.

McCall said Thursday, "The House is once again leading the conversation when it comes to passing meaningful inflation relief for the citizens of Oklahoma.

Oklahoma House Speaker Charles McCall, shown here in the House chamber on Feb. 6, is the author of bills that advanced Thursday to eliminate the state sales tax on groceries and reduce personal income tax rates.

Last session, and again during a special session, the House passed multiple tax relief bills that could have accomplished this important task. We have again provided a number of bills that would allow Oklahomans to receive this much-needed relief and are currently engaged in talks with our colleagues in the Senate on tax reform. The House is hopeful that the Senate will advance one or more of these bills to the governors desk.

Democratic leaders have endorsed eliminating the state sales tax on groceries, but have cautioned against other tax cuts and prefer to use available revenue to boost spending on education and other state services.

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The proposed grocery and income tax cuts would reduce state revenue by up to $552 million in the next fiscal year, depending on the size of the income tax rate cut.

More:Once an oasis in a food desert, prices are driving away customers Homeland sought to serve

That cut in revenue would come on top of the estimated reduction of $300 million a year from proposed refundable tax credits for parents who educate their children at home or send their kids to private schools. The House has approved those credits, but the Senate has not considered them.

In his address to the Legislature last month, the governor cited the states $1.8 billion surplus and $4 billion savings account and called for eliminating the state sales tax on groceries and reducing the top personal income tax rate from 4.75% to 3.99%.

Neither of the income tax bills cleared on Thursday would reduce the rate that far. One would reduce it to 4.5% and the other would reduce it to 4.25%.

Currently a married couple filing jointly with taxable income above $12,201 pays $224.50 and, then, 4.75% on the income above $12,200.

Under the proposal to reduce the rate by half a percentage point, the couple would pay $168.50 and 4.25% on the income over $12,200. On $50,000 of additional income, the savings would be $250.

Under the proposal to reduce the rate by one-quarter of a percentage point, the couple would pay $194 and 4.5% on the income over $12,200. On $50,000 of additional income, the savings would be $125.

This article originally appeared on Oklahoman: Oklahoma House panel OKs bills to slash grocery, income taxes
OKLAHOMA CITY  Damon Devereaux, the sheriff of Logan County, just north of Oklahoma City, recalls when his deputies stopped a truck carrying 17 pounds of marijuana.

Neither the driver nor the passenger had a drivers license or a license to transport medical marijuana, but Devereaux said they did have a spiral-bound notebook listing cash sales. The sheriff said the operation appeared to be obviously illegal, and deputies arrested them.

But when the pair went before a judge, their lawyer told the district attorney that medical marijuana regulations didnt actually require licenses for transporters.

She goes, Wow, youre right, Devereaux said. So we had to give 17 pounds of marijuana back.

That regulation has since been changed. But Devereaux, who is part of the legalization opposition group Protect Our Kids No 820, said it is emblematic of some of the problems he and his fellow law enforcement offices have faced since Oklahoma approved medical marijuana in a statewide vote in 2018.

The approval set off a boom, and almost 400,000 of the states 4 million residents now have medical marijuana cards. The state is home to almost three times as many dispensaries as fully weed-legal California, where the population is 10 times that of Oklahoma.

Once-In-A-Generation Opportunity

Access to marijuana in the state could increase soon, as voters are set to decide a full legalization referendum on Tuesday. Pollster Pat McFerron, whos affiliated with Protect Our Kids No 820, said opposition to legalization led by a few percentage points, 49% to 46%, in early January, with only a sliver of Oklahomans undecided.

Legalization proponents say it would provide a tax windfall for the state and a sensible regulation regime. The proposal would set a 15% tax on cannabis sales, with proceeds to go to schools, treatment programs, and state and local governments. It would also allow for expungement of low-level marijuana convictions and require product safety regulations on testing, packaging and labeling of products.

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Yes on 820, a pro-legalization group, commissioned a study that found legalization would provide $821 million over five years in revenue from recreational and medical weed sales after legalization.

We have a once-in-a-generation opportunity to bolster economic investment across the state and make major investments into education, health care and other priorities, said Mike Ervin, a board member for the Oklahoma Cannabis Industry Association.

But critics are skeptical that the benefits of legalization would outweigh potential problems, especially as access to medical marijuana has increased, outpacing regulations to keep the industry in check.

Last year, the state legislature overwhelmingly passed a bill putting in place a two-year moratorium on new dispensary and farm licenses, and both candidates in the governors race cited the need for increased regulation.

Its the wild, wild West with medical marijuana, said Democratic candidate Joy Hofmeister in an October debate.

A rejection of State Question 820 would mark a sharp turnabout for Oklahoma, which in 2018 enthusiastically joined what are now 38 states and the District of Columbia in legalizing marijuana for medical use.

Its the wild, wild West with medical marijuana.Joy Hofmeister, 2022 Democratic candidate for Oklahoma governor

Not only did medical marijuana pass 57% to 43%, it won 36 of the states 77 counties, not just the three urban ones.

But McFerrons data showed an erosion of support among all age groups for recreational marijuana compared with the medical marijuana effort at the same stage. Voters ages 45 to 54 and those 55 to 64 were statistically tied in January after solidly supporting the 2018 initiative.

Potentially more worrisome for legalization advocates is the decline in support from older voters, who could tip the scales in a low-turnout election. For those ages 65 to 74, only 39% supported legalization, compared with 58% for medical marijuana in 2018. For voters 75 and older, support dropped to 28%, down from 36% in 2018.

The perception that the growth of the marijuana industry has been linked to an increase of crime in Oklahoma could contribute to voters worries about legalization, as could concerns over the environmental impact of marijuana as a large cash crop.

Kingfisher County Killings

Although there is no evidence that the medical marijuana industry has led to a significant increase in crime in Oklahoma, some point to a case in Kingfisher County as an example of what could happen if legalization is passed.

On Nov. 20, sheriffs deputies were called out to a marijuana grow farm near Hennessey, about an hours drive northwest of Oklahoma City. But instead of the hostage situation they were expecting, they found four Chinese nationals, three men and one woman, shot to death and another wounded.

The alleged shooter, 45-year-old Wu Chen, was arrested in Miami and has been held without bail since. In their application to keep him in jail, prosecutors claim he demanded $300,000 from workers on the farm as a return on his investment and shot the four in a matter of minutes when they didnt comply.

The brutality of the Kingfisher killings shocked many, and politically the case involves several issues that law enforcement departments have worried would accompany the proliferation of farms  violence, trafficking in illegal immigrants and fraudulent business owners.

The four people who were killed are believed to have entered the U.S. illegally, according to a report in the South China Morning Post. The license for the farm itself is alleged to have been obtained through a straw owner, who is accused by the Kingfisher County district attorney of having been paid $2,000 a month by another Chinese national to satisfy state ownership requirements.

Oklahoma is an attractive location for marijuana businesses because of its low barriers to entry and low operating costs, said Mark Woodward, a spokesperson for the Oklahoma Bureau of Narcotics.

Its because of a combination of our land, our law, our license. All those perfect storms that just made it advantageous not only for legitimate businesses to try to make it a go but also for the criminals to come and hide, Woodward said.

A license that can be used to both open a dispensary and set up a farm costs about $3,000. In neighboring Arkansas, the dispensary license fee is $15,000 and licensees are required to have a performance bond of $100,000. In Colorado, medical marijuana dispensary licenses go for $6,000 to $14,000.

MJBizDaily, an industry website, has called Oklahoma the most liberal medical marijuana market in the country, citing both the low barriers to entry and the loose restrictions on use.

A medical marijuana dispensary sits next to a liquor store in Oklahoma City in July 2021. As of early February 2023, Oklahoma had more than 2,800 licensed dispensaries.

A medical marijuana dispensary sits next to a liquor store in Oklahoma City in July 2021. As of early February 2023, Oklahoma had more than 2,800 licensed dispensaries.

In Oklahoma, a resident can have up to 3 ounces of marijuana on them and up to 8 ounces in their residence as well as up to six mature plants and six seedling plants, 1 ounce of concentrate, 72 ounces of edibles and also up to 72 ounces of topical marijuana.

In most states that have recreational [marijuana], that type of weight is a felony, Devereaux said.

To meet demand, Oklahoma has the most dispensaries of any state in the country, by MJBizDailys account. Oklahoma had 2,880 licensed dispensaries as of early February, according to the Oklahoma Medical Marijuana Authority. California listed 398 fully licensed retailers and 701 provisional licensees.

To supply all those dispensaries, Oklahoma has licensed 7,088 farms, only about 500 less than California. Of those, Woodward said, about 2,000 are under investigation for obtaining their license by fraud, potentially with the intent of selling their products out of state illegally.

Weve got partners in law enforcement on the East Coast who say Oklahomas their No. 1 supplier now of black market marijuana, Woodward said.

Thirsty Plants, Aging Infrastructure

For a state where the landscape still bears the scars of the Dust Bowl, water is a vital resource. And when it comes to water, thirsty weed plants and aging rural water systems are a bad mix.

As both legal and illegal pot farms have flourished, so have the demands placed on local water systems built mainly for residential use.

A typical household can use anywhere from 4,000 to 14,000 gallons of water a month, but grow operations can use anywhere from 75,000 to 200,000 gallons a month, depending on the type of irrigation used, said Brandon Bowman, state programs director for the Oklahoma Rural Water Association.

Its just a sudden massive increase in usage and a change from what was residential usage to suddenly high-volume commercial usage that the infrastructure and the water system was not designed to handle in a lot of situations, he said.

For systems stretched by the new customers, neighbors of marijuana farms can see their water pressure fall or even fail completely. Bowman said the western side of the state, where most water comes from groundwater instead of natural and man-made lakes, has more to worry about.

I have not heard of a system exhausting their supply, but its something everyones thinking about, he said.

Medical-Rec

For 24-year-old Talon Hull, medical marijuana has meant a thriving small business. His medical marijuana outlet, Sage Wellness, is located in an artsy Oklahoma City neighborhood, and its interior looks like a cross between an Apple Store and an upscale coffee shop.

But even he said the industry could use some additional regulation.

I think that its, just with any business, youve got to do it the right way, he said.

Hull said he began thinking about getting into the weed business even before medical marijuana had been legalized in Oklahoma. He studied the issue in high school and saw how Oregon handled it. He started his store with cannabidiol (CBD) products, changing over to offer medical marijuana in 2018.

Oklahoma, he said, has become a de facto recreational marijuana state, a medical-rec state.

I mean, you can get 3 ounces a day, 72 ounces of edibles and an ounce of concentrate. So theres no way that somebody can consume that amount of cannabis in one day, you know?

Though he said he hoped recreational marijuana would pass, he was not sure it would make much difference given regulation was still so loose.

The cannabis industry changed my familys life.Talon Hull, owner of Sage Wellness, a marijuana dispensary

Shops like Hulls are what pro-marijuana advocates see as part of a booming marijuana economy thats possible if legalization wins. And Hull is grateful for what medical marijuana has provided for him.

We grew up in the same rental property that my mom had been renting from landlords for 18 years. She just moved out last year, he said.

The cannabis industry changed my familys life.

Devereaux, the Logan County sheriff, is of two minds. While not happy at the prospect of more marijuana-related businesses, he also said full legalization may be a practical choice to make illegal growing less profitable.

We cant put the cat back in the bag right now, I guess. Its too big. Its gotten too big to try to control now, he said.

It kind of comes down to, I think, we were sold a Trojan horse, and now were stuck dealing with it.

Related...
It could also affect the price of your next Starbucks order!

Valentyn Volkov/Getty Images

Whether you make your own salad dressing, dip bread, or enjoy pastaolive oil is liquid gold. Many of us probably can't get through a week or even a day without consuming it. But unfortunately, just like most pantry staples, whether you prefer extra virgin, organic, or conventional olive oilits about to become more expensive. Here's why olive oil prices are expected to rise in 2023.



Related:12 Winter Salad Recipes Featuring In-Season Produce

Valentyn Volkov/Getty Images

Why Olive Oil Prices Are Increasing

There are several reasons why the price of olive oil is about to go up. If you havent been following the news, during the summer of 2022, droughts and heatwaves hit several olive oil-producing regions across Europe. This led to a suboptimal harvest season. A lower supply ultimately means a higher cost.



Another reason why the price of olive oil is rising is that, in addition to smaller harvests in Spain (which produces approximately half of the worlds olive oil) and Italy, there has been a decrease in the supply of sunflower oil, due to the war in Ukraine. It turns out that Ukraine produces half the worlds sunflower oil supply. So the price of all vegetable oils will continue to rise.



Lastly, it doesnt look like this summers harvest will be much better.

The changing climate is absolutely going to result in the volatility of olive production," Casey Corn, olive researcher and culinary consultant, told Food & Wine. With uncertain temperature patterns and weather events increasing in intensity, our crops aren't facing the same predictable environments that we've built infrastructure and businesses around.

Considering that the average price of Italian virgin olive oil has already increased by 27 percent in the past two years, the situation doesnt look like its going to improve anytime soon.

Could This Impact the Price of Your Starbucks Order?

If youre wondering how the price of olive oil and your next trip to Starbucks could be relatedit depends on what your order is. If youre into the new Starbucks Oleato latte, you're probably going to end up paying extra.

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If you have heard of this new drink yet, it's because the Oleato was recently launched in Italy. Unlike the famed Pumpkin Spice Latte, which doesn't contain any pumpkin, the Oleato actually includes a spoonful of real olive oil.

While this adds 120 calories to each cup, it also adds extra nutrients, including a healthy dose of antioxidants, as well as vitamin E and vitamin K.

Starbucks also plans to launch an Oleato Ice-Shaken Espresso, which is made with oat milk, hazelnut flavor, and olive oil. Theres also an Oleato Golden Foam cold brew made with sweet milk foam on the way. This treat contains two servings of the delicious liquid gold.

Related:5 Hacks to Save Money on Your Favorite Starbucks Drinks

Dont live in Italy? Dont worry, youll be able to try an Oleato soon enough. Starbucks plans to roll out versions of these drinks in Southern California this spring. An announcement about a nationwide launch is also coming soon.

But dont be surprised if your new favorite Starbucks fix ends up being a bit more of a splurge than your current Starbucks order.

For more Real Simple news, make sure to sign up for our newsletter!

Read the original article on Real Simple.
omakase

Omakase, a Japanese culinary experience, is the latest foodie trend to hit the scene. The dining style translates to I leave it up to you, meaning leaving the meal totally up to the chef. With Omakase, you dont have to spend time deciding what to order at a restaurant. This experience is completely life-changing, and it is great for indecisive diners who love trying multiple flavors and want a culinary expert to lead the way.

At an Omakase experience, the chef curates the menu using the finest ingredients, while you enjoy an exceptional meal in an intimate setting. In general, you should budget to spend between $100 to $300 per person at an Omakase experience. Whether youre taking yourself out on a date or gathering with family and friends for a celebration, Omakase is a great way to celebrate through fine dining.

If you are looking to try Omakase, Travel Noire gathered eight omakase experiences around the U.S.

Related: HAGS, A New Queer Fine Dining Experience In NYC

Saishin  New York City

Located on the Gansevoort Meatpacking Hotel roof, a 12-course meal will cost about $135 and a 15-course meal $175. The quartz Omakase bar seats 16 guests. The restaurant honors traditional Japanese Cuisine and prides itself on mindful sourcing, quality and seasonal ingredients.

Mujo  Atlantas Only Omakase Spot

This restaurant is the only place in the A where you can find Omakase. Costing $225 per person, the chef uses seasonal ingredients and fresh fish flown in straight from Japan. The restaurant honors the tradition of Edomae sushi.

Hiroki  Philadelphia

Head to the Fishtown neighborhood of Philly for this Omakase concept. Chef Hiroki Fujiyama was inspired by his hometown Kyoto when putting together this menu. Omakase at Hiroki costs $155 per person.

Akikos  San Franciscos Family-owned Omakase Spot

This downtown San Francisco spot is family-owned and operated. Only the finest local and seasonal fresh fish are used and arrive daily from Japans Tsukiji Fish Market. The menu changes daily to ensure that all ingredients are fresh.

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Blue Ribbon  Boston

Located at Kenmore Squares Hotel, this menu is crafted by Master Sushi Chef Yoshi Ueki. Fish is flown in daily from the Pacific Ocean, the Sea of Japan and local New England waters. This experience starts at $150 per person.

Uchi  Austin, Aspen, Dallas, Denver, Houston and Miami

Originally opened in Austin in 2003, Uchi has grown to have homes in Dallas, Denver, Houston and Miami. From Dec. 14th to Dec. 17, there will be a popup at Hotel Jerome in Aspen, Colorado, and theres even a vegetarian-tasting menu!

Sushi Sho  Waikiki Beach, Oahu

When youre in Oahu, Hawaii, you have to dine at Sushi Sho. Make sure to make reservations months prior because this place is always booked.

Located at the Ritz-Carlton Residences, this Omakase experience pairs different types of seasoned rice with over 40 varieties of fresh fish. This experience will cost about $300 per person.

Soko  Los Angeless Omakase Spot

Take a trip to Fairmont Miramar Hotel & Bungalows in Los Angeles for an oceanfront Omakase experience. The menu includes fresh red snapper, tuna, yellowtail and more. This Omakase experience will cost you $185, and its totally worth it.

Related: Louis Vuitton Opens A Fine-Dining Vegetarian Pop-Up In Seoul
Photo Illustration by Elizabeth Brockway/The Daily Beast

Its pretty simple what word Fox News needs to drop after recent revelations made public thanks to a $1 billion defamation lawsuit by Dominion Voting Systems against the network.

According to host Danielle Moodie on this weeks episode of The New Abnormal, the channelwhich she dubs the biggest threat to democracyshould simply remove the word News from its name.

The problem that we have is that they put in their name news, right? We continue to refer to them as Fox News  when we need to just refer to them as Fox, we need to drop the news entity off it because were reinforcing a lie, and were reinforcing this level of credibility that they have long since lost.

The problem that we have is that if we do not attack dangerous media, and then we allow ourselves to sit back as the right turns media into the enemy of the state, were in an even more dangerous situation because people dont know where theyre supposed to be getting their information from. But if we can reinforce the truth, which is that Fox is just Fox and has nothing to do with news and that their attacks on the media are actually attacks on our constitutional right to have freedom of speech and freedom of the press, then we can have these larger conversations and people can start to see what is really at play here.

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

Then, NPR media correspondent David Folkenflik also joins the show to discuss the findings along with Rupert Murdochs recent deposition and the possible repercussions it could have for Fox News going forward.

This is huge. This is a defining moment for Fox News. I think it will require revisions of all the tributes, and for that matter, obituaries, written after Rupert Murdoch dies. I think hes upset that this is something he has to deal with. You know, this is an incredible interruption, as we saw from his own exchanges, as captured by Dominions attorneys.

Story continues

Tucker Carlson Thinks Ohio Train Tracks Are Anti-White

Plus! MSNBCs Ayman Mohyeldin discusses the recent happenings in Tunisia after President Kais Saieds comments targeting African immigrants have seemingly turned the country on its head.

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

Read more at The Daily Beast.

Get the Daily Beast's biggest scoops and scandals delivered right to your inbox. Sign up now.

Stay informed and gain unlimited access to the Daily Beast's unmatched reporting. Subscribe now.
Xi's focus sheds light on top agenda at two sessions

By Wang Cong (Global Times) 08:53, March 03, 2023

Boosting confidence in economic development remains key

Two Sessions Photo:Xinhua

As China prepares to kick off its annual two sessions on Saturday, what can be expected from one of China's most important political and economic events of the year? President Xi Jinping's remarks made at various top meetings over the past three months or so offer the clearest picture of what will top the agenda.

From the Central Economic Work Conference held in mid-December 2022 to the consultative meeting held by the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee on Tuesday, Xi, also general secretary of the CPC Central Committee, has repeatedly stressed the importance of boosting economic development, accelerating the establishment of a new development pattern and advancing Chinese modernization.

In his remarks, Xi also addressed major issues for the country's economic work and called for various policy measures and reforms to ensure long-term, high-quality development.

In line with the top leader's focus, tackling various major issues facing the Chinese economy and ensuring both development and security through various policies and reforms will be key for this year's two sessions, according to national lawmakers and political advisors, economists and multinationals.

The 14th National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC), China's top advisory body, will start its first session on Saturday, and the 14th National People's Congress (NPC), the national legislature, will open its first annual session on Sunday. They are collectively known as the two sessions, during which Chinese officials and representatives of Chinese people of all walks of life usually set out economic and social development goals and plans to achieve them, among other tasks.

Important task

One of the most closely watched items on the agenda for this year's two sessions are the election of leading officials at state institutions.

Speaking at the consultative meeting on Tuesday, Xi said that the election of new leading officials of state institutions and the new leadership of the CPPCC National Committee is an important task of the 2023 edition of the two sessions, and is also an important issue that concerns the overall situation, according to Xinhua.

Also, part of a plan for deepening the reform of the Party and state institutions, which was reviewed and adopted at the second plenary session of the 20th CPC Central Committee that concluded on Tuesday, will also be submitted to the first session of the 14th NPC for deliberation, Xinhua reported.

In general, the reform of the Party and state institutions this time, highlighting key industries and fields, is more targeted and intensified, covering many areas and involving a wide range of interests, Xi said. It focuses on resolving challenging issues that are of great significance and of great concern to society, and will have an important impact on economic and social development, the President said, according to Xinhua.

As Xi has repeatedly stressed in various meetings, development remains the top priority for the CPC and will remain at the top of the agenda for this year's two sessions.

During the Central Economic Work Conference held in December, Xi reiterated that development should continue to be the CPC's top priority in governing and rejuvenating China. At the meeting, which had set economic policy priorities for 2023, Xi also addressed major issues pertaining to the country's current economic work.

Xi pointed out that the economic work for 2023 is complicated, and it is necessary to bear in mind the overall strategic picture, focus on major problems and start with improving public expectations and boosting confidence in development, according to Xinhua.

Xi stressed efforts in five areas: expanding domestic demand, building a modern industrial system, deepening reforms of state-owned enterprises and improving the development environment for the private sector, increasing foreign investment, and preventing and defusing major economic and financial risks.

The calls made at the Central Economic Work Conference "have made DSM full of confidence in the long-term, high-quality development of the Chinese market and offered strong impetus for DSM's long-term development in China," Zhou Tao, president of DSM China, told the Global Times.

DSM is a Netherlands-based multinational in the health, nutrition and bioscience fields.

The two sessions offer a crucial window for multinationals and the world to grasp the top policy priorities in the world's second-largest economy, a bright spot in a grim global economic outlook this year.

Zhou said that restoring and expanding consumption, promoting high-level opening-up to the outside world, and promoting low-carbon industrial transformation will also become hot topics at this year's two sessions.

"Looking forward to 2023, which has already started, development is still the top priority," Zhang Xiaoyu, CEO of AIA Life Insurance, told the Global Times. He added that a series of major measures in the areas of expanding opening-up, supporting foreign businesses, and promoting stable, sound economic operations have lifted confidence.

Boosting confidence

Given the top Chinese leadership's emphasis on lifting expectations and boosting confidence, higher economic goals and greater policy efforts are widely expected at this year's two sessions.

"One of the most closely watched items is how China will set its growth target and relevant policies," Guan Tao, global chief economist at BOC International under Bank of China, told the Global Times on Thursday, noting that a "more active tone" is expected this year given the fast economic recovery so far in 2023.

GDP growth targets and other economic goals will be included in the Government Work Report, which will be delivered at the opening of this year's session of the National People's Congres, but many have been speculating about a higher GDP growth target this year. Reuters, for example, reported that China may aim for up to 6 percent in growth in 2023. Meanwhile, some Chinese economists expect a target of above 5 percent, noting that while growth is expected to pick up, officials may also leave some room to tackle external risks and other issues amid global turbulence.

In addition to boosting growth, China's top leadership has also been stressing the need to prevent and defuse financial risks and bolster China's technological self-reliance and strength, amid growing external risks, particularly from the US' relentless push for a so-called economic and technological decoupling.

Tackling the foreign "stranglehold" on certain technologies will also become a top topic at the two sessions, with some NPC deputies and CPPCC national committee members making related suggestions and proposals. For example, Zhong Zheng, an NPC deputy and CFO at Midea Group, suggested ways to solve the "stranglehold" issue in core components of industrial robots, according to her suggestions shared with the Global Times.

Also, in the face of a global economic downturn and turbulent geo-economic situation, another key task for this year's two sessions is conveying confidence to the market through supportive measures in areas such as foreign investment and the private sector, some NPC deputies and CPPCC national committee members said.

(Web editor: Zhong Wenxing, Liang Jun)
In an election year that has seen upheaval on the Chicago City Council with retirements and aldermen running for other offices, voters still heavily backed their current aldermen in Februarys municipal election, with incumbents winning 31 of the 50 races outright.

Not all those races were easily won. In 22 contested races, incumbent City Council members faced challengers hoping to unseat them, but most of the sitting aldermen who chose to run for another term were able to protect their places at City Hall with over 50% of the vote in their wards.

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In only one race  in the 12th Ward  the incumbent lost in the first round of voting. In that ward, community activist Julia Ramirez beat newly appointed Ald. Anabel Abarca with 57% of the vote, according to official vote totals released Wednesday.

[ View all 2023 Chicago election results here. ]

But in four other wards, come May there will be a new alderman. In the 14th, 26th, 34th and 44th wards, candidates Jeylu Gutierrez, Jessica Jessie Fuentes, Bill Conway and Bennett Lawson won after longtime incumbents announced they would not run for reelection. In total, there were 12 seats up for grabs where the incumbent council member chose not to seek another term.

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[ Feb. 28 election results certified: Which Chicago mayoral candidate received the most votes in your ward? ]

Still, 14 races have yet to be decided, as no one candidate received a majority of the vote in their ward. Six of those races involve incumbents  in the 11th, 24th, 29th, 36th, 43rd and 45th wards. All of those incumbents came out of the first round as the top vote-getters but didnt pass the 50% threshold. The remaining eight ward races are guaranteed to be represented by a new alderman after the sitting council member retired or sought higher office.

The winners of those 14 undecided races will be determined in the April 4 runoff election.

[ What is a runoff election and why does Chicago have one? ]

Search by ward to see the winner of each City Council race. Click More about this race in the pop-up box for more detailed results on that contest.
Media mogul Oprah Winfrey has reportedly added a massive new plot of land to her already-impressive collection of property. Oprah has a real estate portfolio across the country, from her Montecito estate to her homes in Chicago, Colorado and morebut Maui in particular has long captured the entrepreneurs heart, and shes doubling down on her investments in the area with a huge new purchase on the Hawaiian island.

According to a sales deed obtained by KITV4, Oprah has just purchased a whopping 870 acres of land in Kula, the central part of Maui, to the tune of nearly $6.6 million. The land was purchased from Ulupalakua Ranch, KITV4 reports.

More from Robb Report

Prior to this latest purchase, Oprah already owned more than 100 acres in the Kula areaand in fact, was already one of the largest landowners on the island. Over the past two decades, the TV host has invested millions of dollars in buying and developing land in various parts of the island, including one purchase of 60 acres in the Hana area, over 100 acres of undeveloped land on the eastern coast and 163 acres in the Kula area where shes just added another 870 acres to her portfolio. Her current property in Kula is is home to a large farmhouse, her primary Maui residence, which Dirt reports is a former equestrian ranch featuring 4,300 square feet, three bedrooms, and three and a half bathrooms.

The mogul has also been busily developing the farmland surrounding her Maui home to grow fresh fruits, vegetables and flowers. In 2019, she gave a peek at the expansive ranch with an ATV tour published on O Magazine, showcasing the rich soil and the wide array of produce she and her friend and personal trainer Bob Greene, have been able to grow on the land. Its possible that she hopes to do more of the same with this new purchase of an additional 870 acres nearby.

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While Oprah is the biggest landowner in Maui among the celeb set, the island is no stranger to homes owned by A-listers. Clint Eastwood, Steven Tyler, Owen Wilson, Mick Fleetwood and Woody Harrelson all own Maui properties too, whichwhile significantly less sprawling than Oprahs plots of landare all stunning in their own right.

Neither Oprah nor Ulupalakua have yet responded to the KITV4s requests for comment about this latest purchase, so it remains to be seen exactly what the moguls plans might be.

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Click here to read the full article.
Florida has the 19th highest rate of gun violence in the nation, a number that has gotten worse since 2010.

Data shows much of the violent crime is being committed by 17 to 25-year-olds.

Recently, both the Orlando police chief and the Orange County sheriff said that the biggest issues is repeat offenders and this revolving door.

Victims like Fernando Washington are asking for the violence to stop. His mom, Angela Washington, was killed by bullet that were meant for someone else last month.

Read: Forever broken: Families of Dylan Lyons, TYonna Major bond over loss, call for change

He pleaded with the community in an interview with Channel 9 saying, Its got to stop. Its got to stop. We have to do something other than talk about it.

But it hasnt stopped. In fact, in Orlando and Orange County there have already been 15 homicides this year.

While Orange County Sheriff John Mina said there is a piece of the puzzle still missing, which is the piece that comes after his deputies make an arrest.

Read: Fundraisers created to support families of slain reporter Dylan Lyons, 9-year-old Tyonna Major

Youve seen us engage with this community probably more than any other agency in the state of Florida, Mina said. We have a number of community programs. We attend hundreds of community meetings every year. We engage and build trust with our youth in a constant state. And so Im all for other systems that other areas have done, like, you know, violence interrupters or Credible Messengers. Yeah, bring them in, bring them into the community. But again, a huge part of preventing gun violence is enforcing the law, the laws that we have on the books and incarceration, thats just part of it.

The sheriff has been critical of State Attorney Monique Worrell and her office for months saying too many repeat offenders are still on the streets. Worrell defended her office saying prosecutors are doing their jobs, but admits they are dealing with staffing issues, saying, Im currently running at a deficit of 38 vacancies in my office. But were still being criticized for not doing our jobs.

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Read: Deputies release minute-by-minute timeline of shootings that killed woman, reporter & girl

Meanwhile, for Orlando police, Chief Eric Smith said his officers are out there everyday pulling hundreds of guns of the street, adding up to 500 in just five months. Cut he too believes community engagement and criminal arrests only go so far. We asked him what the solutions could be.

I think the biggest solution is, and its just my opinion, is there has to be, we have to hold people accountable, Smith said.

Worrells office provided Channel 9 with the following statement:

There is a much different standard between simply making an arrest and what is ultimately required to try a case and obtain a conviction. An officer or deputy only needs probable cause to make an arrest. They are simply acknowledging that a crime probably occurred and the individual who theyve arrested probably committed that crime. It is the job of prosecutors to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that the crime was indeed committed, and that the individual arrested for the crime actually committed it.

In order to convict, we must have evidence and often this evidence comes in the form of witness testimony. What we have often seen in cases of gun violence is that as we are preparing to proceed with a criminal case, many witnesses are no longer willing to cooperate with the prosecution, which makes it impossible to prove the case.

In an effort to address the increase in violent crime being committed by children, State Attorney Worrell has introduced a legislative proposal to overhaul our juvenile justice system. Currently, the Florida Department of Juvenile Justices system is not equipped to address the level of violent crime being committed by young people today. When a case is resolved in the juvenile justice system, jurisdiction is relinquished to the DJJ. This means that judges and prosecutors do not have control over the length of time offending juveniles remain in a program. The current system only allows for those under 19 to remain in programs for a maximum of three years and rarely are they kept that long.

The proposal set forth by State Attorney Worrell would change that timeframe, provide stronger penalties, and allow for more influence by judges and prosecutors.

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.
This is our biweekly briefing on the pandemic, vetted by John Bailey. See the full archive.

The Other Long COVID: What Will the Pandemic Do to Kids Futures?

Via Vox

By March 25, every public school building in the country had been closed, taking more than 50 million students out of the classroom.

What this means is that paradoxically, the age group that was most resistant to the virus itself may be the group that pays the biggest price over the longest term. Call it the other long COVID  and its something the U.S. is only beginning to grapple with.

One survey found that on average, children missed 26 days worth of school through the first half of the 2021-22 school year, while a New York Times survey found that in January 2022, in the midst of the Omicron outbreak, a majority of students were at home for at least three days, while almost one in 10 were out for half the month or more.

 Learning loss may be the term experts agreed on when describing the effect of pandemic school disruptions, but for the most part, students didnt suddenly lose what they had already achieved before the pandemic.

Rather, they lost the opportunity and the time to build on what they knew. And while that may have been a temporary hindrance for high-achieving students who had the support at home to catch up, it was nothing short of catastrophic for marginalized students of color who before the pandemic might have had the resources of their school, and little else.

An estimated 1 million students didnt just experience learning loss; they lost school altogether, dropping out or disappearing, an outcome disproportionately seen among Black and Hispanic students. They were also more likely to be among the growing number of students who postponed or canceled college enrollment during the pandemic, which cuts them off from what is still one of the surest paths to the middle class.

The Big Three

Reporting by EdWeek shows the importance of connecting tutoring to curriculum. (Allison Shelley/The Verbatim Agency for EDUimages)

Why Connecting Tutoring to Curriculum Could Make it More Effective

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Via EdWeek

Experts say that purposefully aligning tutoring to curriculum content  helps kids get the support they need to be successful in class.

Even so, accomplishing this kind of alignment is complex and time-consuming. And it can fall low on the priority list for districts that are struggling with more basic challenges, like hiring staff or retooling the master schedule to support tutoring.

Only one in 10 students actually get this [high-impact] tutoring, though, according to recent federal data.

And much of schools energy right now is focused on program logistics  even though most district leaders understand that aligning tutoring to classroom instruction should be their ultimate goal, one expert said.

Do Masks Work? A Look at the Research

Via Katelyn Jetelina and Kristen Panthagani

But how much do masks reduce transmission? Studies have attempted to answer this: Mask wearing corresponded to a 19% decrease in the R(0) in one study. In other words, masks helped reduce transmission. In Bangladesh, villages were randomized to be provided free masks. Villages that got the intervention had more than double the mask usage than villages that didnt (13% vs. 42%). This resulted in a 9% reduction in cases in the mask-wearing villages. In the U.S., a 10% increase in mask wearing was associated with greater control of transmission. In Germany, mask mandates reduced spread by 45%.

These studies found a huge range (9%-45%) and reflect vastly different settings and cultures. We need more studies.

If we just look at the mask studies, the [recent] Cochrane review included 12 studies. But the details matter, and the studies have limitations. For example, the review includes studies about influenza, which is less contagious than COVID-19.

The bottom line: The scientific arc of mask discovery is ongoing. Science is always evolving. Do not let anyone convince you of a one word answer to the question: Do masks work? It depends.

More via The Conversation: Yes, masks reduce the risk of spreading COVID, despite a review saying they dont

A bar graph showing Amplify data over time. The percentage of students in grades kindergarten through third is growing but does not yet match pre-pandemic levels.

Despite K-2 Reading Gains, Results Flat for 3rd Grade COVID Kids

Via the 74

The percentage of third graders on track in reading hasnt budged since this time last year, according to a new analysis from Amplify.

The tests administrators are interpreting the flatline at 54% as good news. Paul Gazzerro, director of data analysis at curriculum provider Amplify, said its likely that third graders would have fallen even further behind without efforts like tutoring and additional group instruction.

It looks as if nothing happened, but the reality is I wouldve suspected that things couldve gotten worse, he said. These are students in many cases that are missing very tangible skills. They may even be grade levels behind.

COVID-19 Research

Previous COVID-19 May Slash Severe Illness at Reinfection by 89%

CIDRAP on a new meta-analysis

Our meta-analyses showed that protection from past infection and any symptomatic disease was high for ancestral, Alpha, Beta and Delta variants, but was substantially lower for the Omicron BA.1 variant.

 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, senior author Stephen Lim, P.h.D, of the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation (IHME) at the University of Washington, said in a Lancet news release.

Lab Leak Most Likely Caused Pandemic, Energy Dept. Says

Via The New York Times and The Wall Street Journal

New intelligence has prompted the Energy Department to conclude that an accidental laboratory leak in China most likely caused the coronavirus pandemic, though U.S. spy agencies remain divided over the origins of the virus, American officials said on Sunday. Some officials briefed on the intelligence said that it was relatively weak and that the Energy Departments conclusion was made with low confidence.  While the department shared the information with other agencies, none of them changed their conclusions, officials said.

 The intelligence community and the rest of the government is still looking at this, National Security Council spokesperson John Kirby said. Theres not been a definitive conclusion, so its difficult for me to say  nor should I feel like I should have to defend press reporting about a possible preliminary indication here. What the president wants is facts. 

Katelyn Jetelina: Underlying all of this is that there is the possibility of a lab leak, and a possibility of a natural spillover, and a possibility of intentional lab leaks. We need to address all of these to ensure a safer future. Im afraid were losing sight of this.

City & State News

Tennessee: 2022 Tennessee Educator Survey

8 out of 10 teachers believed that the tutoring their students had received is associated with improved academic performance in their classroom.

Over 20% of teachers reported that they do not have access to training or resources to help students with mental health issues or trauma.

53% said adapting to quarantines was a challenge.

Arizona: New school spending dashboard

California: State Supreme Court deals another defeat to San Diego Unifieds student COVID-19 vaccine mandate.

Michigan: Federal COVID relief aid to schools will dry up soon. Are districts ready?

Viewpoints and Analyses

Summer School Can Help with Pandemic Learning Loss

Wall Street Journal op-ed by Michael Bloomberg

Last year, when it became clear that a nationwide expansion of summer school would not be happening, I led a group of philanthropists in creating Summer Boost in New York City.

More than 16,000 students from 224 schools participated. At the end of the summer, we tested students to assess their progress, and the results were encouraging.

The percentage of students who met grade-level standards in math nearly doubled  and in English, it more than doubled. The share of students scoring below the most basic levels of proficiency fell by nearly half. By the end of the summer session, many students had caught up and were back on track for success. But in much of the country, students didnt spend any of their summer vacations in classrooms.

Because of the strong results we have decided to run the program again this summer  and expand it to charter schools in seven other cities: Baltimore; Birmingham, Alabama; Indianapolis; Memphis and Nashville, Tennessee; San Antonio; and Washington.

Top Priorities for 39 Governors in 2023

Analysis by FutureEd via The 74

The COVID pandemic  the topic that has dominated education conversations for the past three years  is largely missing from the State of the State addresses that governors are delivering to their legislatures this winter.

An analysis of 39 State of the State speeches found that despite the academic gaps exposed in last years National Assessment for Educational Progress scores, there was surprisingly little talk of learning loss and efforts to catch students up. There was also little explicit culture war rhetoric around teaching racial history or banning books  and more lofty talk about the value of education.

Some of the most common education topics were teacher pay, school choice, curriculum and instruction, higher education, workforce development, early education and mental health.

 And on a Reflective Note

Trey Louis Sings Stone by Whiskey Myers: Trey from the Fe suffered a school shooting in May 2018, during which he lost eight of his friends and two of his teachers.

Grin and Bear It: Colorado wildlife camera captures hundreds of adorable bear selfies.

Boulders Open Space and Mountain Parks team set out to track animals that live in the area using motion-capture cameras  but they were surprised to find that of 580 images captured by one camera, around 400 were of the same bear.

For even more COVID policy and education news, subscribe to John Baileys daily briefing via Substack.

Disclosure: John Bailey is an adviser to the Walton Family Foundation, which provides financial support to The 74.
Over four million gallons of liquid wastewater and 1,400 tons of solid waste were removed from the Ohio train derailment site and a nearby town in East Palestine, according to an update release from the Ohio Governors Office.

>> Railway Safety Act: How new proposed legislation aims to prevent train disasters like East Palestine

News Center 7 previously reported about a month ago, on February 3, that a Norfolk Southern train derailed in northeast Ohio, near the Ohio-Pennsylvania border. The approximate 50-car freight train crashed, causing a days-long fire that required a controlled burn to prevent the carriages highly toxic and extremely combustible waste product from blowing up and sending metal shrapnel miles away. Authorities handling the crisis evacuated the nearby town of East Palestine as a precautionary measure.

Crews then commenced the controlled release that created a black cloud of smoke emanating from the crash site as well as a massive explosion.

Following the controlled release and the evacuation lift, residents who returned home found their environment and some of their water supply tainted. In addition, some resident began to experience adverse health conditions thought to be associated with their exposure to the chemicals. Symptoms included rashes, headaches, sore throats, and nausea. There were also growing concerns for pregnant women.

Since then, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and East Palestines municipal water works department worked to cleanup the disaster site and the nearby town of toxins, especially dioxins. The EPA further required Norfolk Southern to begin sampling directly for dioxins.

So far, the test results showed no detectable contaminants in the drinking water, a spokesperson for the governors office said.

To obtain the clean drinking water, 4.19 million gallons of wastewater were removed from East Palestine, according to the Ohio EPA.

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The wastewater was shipped to Vickery, Ohio; Deer Park, Texas; and Romulus, Michigan; for disposal by deep well injection, a liquid waste technology that prevented the migration of contaminants into drinkable and publicly used water.

Additionally, 1,400 tons of solid waste were removed from the derailment site, the Ohio EPA reported.

510 tons were hauled to Grafton, Ohio, and East Liverpool, Ohio, for incineration. While, 880 tons were shipped to Belleville, Michigan, and North Roachdale, Indiana, to be placed into landfills.

For more information about the status of these tests into the local drinking water, you can visit Columbiana County Health Departments website.




HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP)  A Pennsylvania state representative accused of sexual harassment said Friday he is not resigning but has stepped down from the Judiciary Committee and plans to enter inpatient treatment of some kind.

In a letter to House Democratic leaders, Rep. Mike Zabel of Delaware County said he was very mindful of and saddened by the sensitive and disturbing allegations against me."

A union lobbyist said this week that Zabel sexually harassed her four years ago. She had told the story without naming him in January during a public hearing by a bipartisan committee considering rules changes.

Andi Perez said Zabel had caressed her leg while they were discussing legislation outside the Capitol and that he did not stop when she moved away from him.

Perez's union said in response that Zabel should resign. We hope he gets the help he feels he needs, but he is correct  his behavior has no place in the Legislature and he should no longer be a member" of the Pennsylvania House of Representatives, according to the statement by the SEIU Pennsylvania State Council.

Zabel, a Democrat first elected in 2018, did not respond to requests for comment Friday, but his letter to Democratic leaders referred to an unspecified illness, saying he wanted to focus on recovery.

My illness has caused some behavior that I regret, and I agree that additional intervention is necessary for me to fully recover, Zabel wrote. I am in the process of securing additional intensive treatment, beyond the outpatient treatment I have been receiving, and am currently working with my health care providers and my family to identify an appropriate inpatient program which I will be entering as soon as possible."

Zabel wrote that he intends to cooperate fully with the House Ethics Committee in considering any allegations against me" and apologized for putting fellow House Democrats in a difficult position.

Democratic leadership released Zabel's letter to reporters along with their own statement saying we agree that it is appropriate for him to take a step back from his work and focus on the challenges before him.

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House Republican leaders maintain Zabel should resign.

While it is appropriate for Rep. Zabel to seek treatment and whatever medical attention he needs, it does not eliminate the culpability for his actions. At this point, we have only seen obfuscation, not accountability, from a Democratic caucus that has known about this conduct for years," said House GOP spokesman Jason Gottesman.

Perez was unable four years ago to file a complaint with the House Ethics Committee because such complaints could only be made by the chambers employees, representatives and officers. Zabel voted with all his fellow Democrats this week for a package of 2023-24 session chamber rules that, among other things, greatly expands who can file those complaints.

The Associated Press generally does not identify people who say they have been sexually assaulted or subjected to extreme abuse. Decisions on whether to identify those who say they have been subjected to other forms of sexual misconduct are made on a case-by-case basis, and Perez has spoken in public about it.

The AP found that since 2017, at least 120 state lawmakers in 41 states have faced public allegations of sexual misconduct or harassment. Most of the allegations have been made after the #MeToo movement sparked a public reckoning for people in power accused of sexual wrongdoing.
Move over Cocaine Bear, 'Cocaine Hippos' are taking over the spotlight in one South American country.

Colombia wants to move about 70 hippopotamuses that live near Pablo Escobar's former ranch to two other countries as part of a plan to control their booming population.

The animals, descendants of four imported illegally from Africa by the late drug lord in the 1980s  have spread far beyond the Hacienda Napoles ranch, about 125 miles from Bogota along the Magdalena River.

Escobar's ranch and so-called "cocaine hippos" have become a tourist attractions in the years since the kingpin was killed by police in December 1993. When his ranch was abandoned, the hippos survived and reproduced in local rivers and favorable climatic conditions.

Environmental authorities estimate there are some 130 hippos in the area in Antioquia province and their population could reach 400 in within the next decade.

Bald eagle killing: Two men shoot and kill bald eagle with plans to eat it, face criminals charges in Nebraska

This undated file photo shows Pablo Escobar, head of the Medellin drug cartel. Escobar was killed on Dec. 2, 1993 in Medellin by members of a 3,000-man police and army force that had been looking for him since his escape from prison 16 months before.

Feces in the water

Hippos are territorial, weigh up to three tons, and are one of the most aggressive animals on Earth, according to National Geographic. They can snap a canoe in half with their powerful jaws, and they kill about 500 people in Africa each year.

The herbivore mammals do not have a natural predator and scientists say they are a potential problem for biodiversity since their feces change the composition of the rivers. They also say and could impact the habitat of animals there like manatees.

Hippo swallows toddler: 2-year-old boy swallowed by hippo, man stones animal to save boy's life, police say

Hippos float in water at Hacienda Napoles Park, once the private estate of drug kingpin Pablo Escobar who imported three female hippos and one male decades ago in Puerto Triunfo, Colombia, Feb. 4, 2021. Colombia intends to undertake the task of trying to transfer to India and Mexico at least 70 hippos that live in the surroundings of the park as a measure to control its population.

If all goes as planned the hippos would be transported to Mexico and India.

The idea to move them out has been forming for more than a year, said Lina Marcela de los Rios Morales, director of animal protection and welfare at Antioquias environment ministry. The plan is to focus on the hippos living in rivers surrounding the ranch, not those inside the ranch because they are in a controlled environment there.

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Ecuador, the Philippines and Botswana have also expressed interest in relocating the hippos to their countries, the Antioquia Governors Office reported.

How will they move the hippos?

Here's how officials plan to move the animals.

They will be lured with food into large, iron containers and transferred by truck to the international airport in the city of Rionegro, about 90 miles away.

From there, they are flown to India and Mexico.

60 hippos go the Greens Zoological Rescue & Rehabilitation Kingdom in Gujarat, India, along the country's western coast and Arabian Sea.

10 hippos go to zoos and sanctuaries in Mexico including the Ostok in Sinaloa, along the Gulf of California.

The relocations, De los Rios Morales, said would help control the hippo population, and though the animals native habitat is Africa, it is more humane than the alternate proposal of exterminating them as an invasive species,

Contributing Astrid Suarez with the Associated Press. Natalie Neysa Alund covers trending news for USA TODAY. Reach her at nalund@usatoday.com and follow her on Twitter @nataliealund.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Colombia wants to move some 70 hippos to Mexico and India.
A man who was paralyzed in 2021 when a Florida police officer shot him in the back with his service weapon instead of a stun gun has filed a federal lawsuit alleging excessive force and negligence.

Michael Ortiz, 43, was paralyzed from the waist down after he called 911 while he was experiencing a mental health crisis on July 3, 2021, according to the lawsuit, filed Tuesday in U.S. District Court for Southern Florida.

Image: Michael Ortiz (Marta Lavandier / AP)

Fire personnel arrived and found Ortiz naked after he had taken a shower to try to calm down, the suit says.

Ortiz acted with erratic behavior and spoke incoherent and confusing words in Spanish, the lawsuit says.

Three Hollywood police officers also responded. They had physical control of Ortiz, the lawsuit says. One used a stun gun at least twice, and a second officer shot Ortiz, who was handcuffed, in the back, it says.

Ortiz was not committing a crime when he was shot with a stun gun and then a service weapon, the lawsuit says.

Hollywood police said in February 2022 that a review had determined the officer who opened fire intended to use his stun gun but shot his gun instead.

The department recognizes this is an unfortunate incident and is doing what it can to make sure this doesnt happen again, police said in a statement at the time.

Ortiz's lawsuit says that because he was naked and unarmed, he did not reasonably pose a threat.

Michael Ortiz needed a helping hand, but what he got was a bullet in the back, attorney Ben Crump said at a news conference Wednesday, according to NBC Miami.

The lawsuit names as defendants the city of Hollywood, its police and fire departments and Officers Henry Andrews, Jhonny Jimenez and Diante Roots.

It accuses Andrews of shooting Ortiz in the back and says Roots used a stun gun on him.

A Hollywood police spokesperson declined to comment Thursday on the suit or the incident. The spokesperson said that Andrews is assigned to desk duty and that Roots and Jimenez remain with the department.

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A fire spokesperson also declined comment Thursday.

None of the officers named as defendants could be reached for comment Thursday afternoon.

The lawsuit also alleges poor training and failure to intervene.

The City of Hollywood Defendants have failed to properly train officers to identify persons who may be afflicted by a mental health crisis, and to properly take actions to deescalate potentially volatile encounters with persons in the public, the suit says.

The police department said in a statement after the shooting Ortiz called 911 reporting chest pains, made suicidal comments and indicated he had taken narcotics.

Officials have said Ortiz emerged from a sixth-floor apartment naked, combative with the paramedics and visibly agitated." Police have said Ortiz told them he planned to jump from a balcony.

Ortiz, who is in a wheelchair, said Wednesday that his mother is his caretaker and that he feels like an infant because of his physical state, according to NBC Miami.

My mom is taking care of her son who is more than 40 years old, and shes treating me like Im 6 months old, changing diapers, he said.

This article was originally published on NBCNews.com
Paramount Global has agreed to settle a shareholder lawsuit that claimed that the 2019 CBS-Viacom merger was unfair for shareholders.

According to a securities filing Friday, Paramount will pay the shareholders $122.5 million to settle the claims, subject to a long-form settlement agreement and approval by Delawares Chancery Court.

More from The Hollywood Reporter

The California Public Employees Retirement System (CalPERS) was lead plaintiff in the litigation, which also named Shari Redstone and the Redstone familys National Amusements as defendants. Paramount CEO Bob Bakish was also a defendant, but was removed from the suit in Dec. 2020.

Indeed, Redstone was at the center of the suit, which claimed that Viacoms board accepted a lower price for the merger in order to secure Redstones governance priorities (namely that the company would be led by Bakish and much of his executive team).

Plaintiffs allege that the willingness of the fiduciaries who served on Viacoms transaction committee to allow Ms. Redstone to dominate their decision-making rendered them servile tools in Ms. Redstones relentless pursuit of a Viacom/CBS combination to advance her interests, Vice Chancellor Joseph Slights wrote in a Dec. 2020 decision allowing the litigation to proceed.

Slights added in another decision a month later that the claims allow a reasonable inference that CBSs acquisition of Viacom was motivated not only by Ms. Redstones concerns about Viacoms viability as a going concern, but also her desire to shop NAI following their consolidation.

Redstone, of course, pushed for the merger of the companies that her father, the tycoon Sumner Redstone, had built over decades. Sumner Redstone died in Aug. 2020 at age 97.

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The CBS-Viacom merger created a new company, led by Bakish, called ViacomCBS, with Redstone serving as non-executive chairman. The company renamed itself Paramount Global last year.

Paramount also notes that it is also in litigation with some of its insurers, and adds that pending recovery of any such insurance proceeds, the Company will advance funds for the settlement when they become due.

The CBS-Viacom merger, Shari Redstones relationship to her father, and her effort to reunite the companies, is a centerpiece of a new business book called Unscripted: The Epic Battle for a Media Empire and the Redstone Family Legacy, by James B. Stewart and Rachel Abrams.

All children feel the need to prove themselves. But she was really under a burden here, Stewart told The Hollywood Reporter in February. I think one of the most poignant scenes in the book is at the end. Shari loved her father and desperately wanted his recognition and approval. Theres a poignant scene at the end where, after his funeral, she goes to her fathers closest confidant, an old friend and business colleague, and asks him, essentially, Do you think he loved me? I mean, Im telling you, it almost makes me cry. Its so sad that she had to ask that.

Click here to read the full article.
Stacy Davis Gates, center, president of the Chicago Teachers Union, stands among the supporters of Brandon Johnson as he announces his candidacy for mayor at Seward Park on Oct. 27, 2022. (Stacey Wescott / Chicago Tribune)

Unions, super PACs and political organizations that threw their money and support behind slates of Chicago City Council candidates are tallying their batting averages for the first round of voting and figuring out their game plans for the April 4 runoffs.

The stakes are high, as the cash and manpower these groups can bestow could help swing many of the 14 remaining head-to-head contests in which they opt to get involved.

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[ Who was elected alderman in each ward, and which wards will be decided in April ]

But Tuesdays results show once again that even powerful, wealthy groups like the Chicago Teachers Union and Get Stuff Done, a political action committee funded by pro-business allies of former Mayor Rahm Emanuel, are hardly infallible when it comes to championing political hopefuls.

The CTU saw its big bet on mayoral candidate Brandon Johnson pay off, as he advanced to a runoff against Paul Vallas.

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The union also endorsed 17 City Council candidates. Five incumbents backed by CTU won outright, while one incumbent and five candidates in open seats made the runoff.

Another six CTU-backed candidates lost Tuesday, according to unofficial results. Overall, the teachers union spent more than $1 million, but much of it went to Johnson. Some of the aldermanic candidates the union endorsed didnt get any money from it in the first round.

Teachers union President Stacy Davis Gates traced the unions successes Tuesday, from Johnson on down the ticket, to her late predecessor Karen Lewis proclaiming their plan to transform the political landscape in this city after Emanuel closed 50 public schools in 2013.

Ten years later, here we are, Davis Gates said.

She pointed to public school teacher Lori Torres Whitts aldermanic campaign in the Northwest Side 36th Ward  where Torres Whitt came in second to incumbent Ald. Gilbert Villegas and will face him in the second round  as the kind of campaign the union can now support with money and manpower.

Torres Whitt got about $70,000 from the teachers union political action committee in the run-up to the Tuesday election. As the CTU tries to get Johnson elected mayor, Davis Gates wouldnt say how much more money Torres Whitt and other favored aldermanic candidates can expect in the next month.

But Davis Gates said members are ready to try to get Torres Whitt  who sits on the CTU executive board  to the City Council.

The CTU-founded and -funded United Working Families political organization also endorsed Torres Whitt, and saw 13 aldermanic candidates they endorsed either win or make the runoff, against six losses. Two outright winners are new faces: Jessie Fuentes in the 26th, and Julia Ramirez in the 12th. UWF, too, spent more helping Johnson than aldermanic candidates.

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The Chicago Chapter of the Democratic Socialists of America saw six of its candidates win or make it to runoffs. Most were incumbents.

In all the cases, we were up against much more money  outside money and donations  and our typical counter to that is to connect with people, canvass, phone bank, text bank, said CDSA co-chair Steve Weishampel. We have volunteer power that they dont and they have money we never will. We know that isnt always going to work; it isnt always going to win.

The progressive teachers union ended up with a better winning percentage than the conservative Fraternal Order of Police, but the police union saw more of its endorsees advance with wins or make it to the runoff.

The FOP endorsed Vallas, giving them a top-of-the-ticket win as he too made the mayoral runoff. It also backed a whopping 26 aldermanic candidates, including two people running in the crowded Far Southeast Side 10th Ward race.

The FOP saw eight incumbents they endorsed win outright, and one more incumbent, Northwest Side Ald. James Gardiner, 45th, appears headed for the runoff, according to unofficial results. FOP-endorsed Bennett Lawson ran unopposed in the open 44th Ward, and two other aldermanic hopefuls backed by the union made the runoff.

Meanwhile, 13 other candidates the police organization threw its weight behind lost on Tuesday.

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Get Stuff Done, a Super PAC backed by Emanuel allies and several Chicago business leaders, spent more than $1 million in the first round of aldermanic elections, according to state records. The group, which sought to help pragmatic Obama Democrats, had successes defending several moderate incumbents.

Overall, it had 11 outright wins Tuesday and saw three candidates it backed head to runoffs, while two lost.

In more hotly contested wards, including ones where Lightfoot appointees battled to hold on to seats, Get Stuff Done-supported candidates  Ald. Nicole Lee, 11th, and Monique Scott, 24th  made runoffs. Newly appointed Ald. Anabel Abarca, 12th, however, was defeated Tuesday. Newcomer Jeylu Gutierrez also won in the Southwest Side 14th Ward.

Spokesman Ron Holmes considered the night a success. The voters of Chicago have sent a clear message that they want a City Council that gets stuff done, he said. " ... In the coming weeks, well be partnering with neighbors in wards across the city to help them elect champions that will deliver on their behalf.

The Illinois Realtors Fund, whose donors are real estate professionals from around the state, spent roughly $670,000 in the campaigns first round defending a similar cohort of successful incumbents to the Get Stuff Done PAC.

It enjoyed 10 outright wins Tuesday, with six aldermanic runoffs and three losses.

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The Realtors chief concerns are rising property taxes, a boost in the real estate transfer tax and any organizing to lift the state ban on rent control.

The group also backed a number of candidates who were forced into April runoffs, including Lee, Scott, Villegas, Jessica Gutierrez in the 30th, Timmy Knudsen in the 43rd and Kim Walz in the 46th.

But the two candidates with direct work in the industry  real estate attorney Ebony Lucas in the 4th and Andre Peloquin in the 48th  both failed to reach the runoffs in their wards, which were among the citys most crowded open races

Illinois Realtors transferred an additional $500,000 into the organizations super PAC the day after the election, potentially to become involved in support of a mayoral candidate.

We have engaged in conversations with both mayoral candidates regarding their views on improving Chicago, its communities and creating more available and (affordable) housing. We will do an analysis and make a decision soon, spokesman Anthony Hebron said.

The Illinois Network of Charter Schools Action Independent Committee, a super PAC thats received a bulk of its funding from the heirs to the Walmart fortune, similarly backed a handful of winning incumbents.

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Three charter committee candidates won outright Tuesday, while two made runoffs.

INCS President and CEO Andrew Broy, who is also treasurer of the super PAC, said the group would decide soon how involved to get in the mayoral face-off.

While Vallas is clearly better on charters, on a range of public issues we care about, our work will be determining how we can add value on the independent side using our membership base, charter households, he said.

Donors who were reluctant to go after an incumbent mayor will be likelier to get off the sidelines in the runoff, Broy predicted.

I think the tax policies and proposals by Brandon Johnson will energize some people who think thats not good for the city, he said. There will be substantial resources flowing to Paul Vallas because of that.
An engineer displays devices developed by the Israeli firm Cellebrite in 2016. It takes only a few seconds for an employee of Cellebrite, one of the world's leading hacking companies, to take a locked smartphone and pull the data from it. (Jack Guez/ AFP via Getty Images)

For years, a locked cellphone belonging to the suspect in a Pasadena homicide sat in an evidence room as investigators sought a way to get around the device's security measures.

Police might have finally caught a break.

Israeli mobile forensics firm Cellebrite has released a software update with a "Lock Bypass" feature that could allow police to access the suspect's locked Samsung g550t phone and retrieve any evidence about the December 2015 slaying, according to a recently filed search warrant application.

As smartphones have become ubiquitous, law enforcement agencies across the U.S. have recognized their potential usefulness in criminal investigations  a vast trove of personal information about whom the users communicate with, where they shop and where they travel.

But police departments' attempts to access phones have often put them at odds with companies such as Apple and Samsung, which market their devices' built-in security and privacy to digital-savvy users.

It's not clear from the warrant in the Pasadena case if investigators were able to bypass the phone's passcode lock using the Cellebrite program or what, if any, data they extracted. But in an affidavit supporting the warrant, a Pasadena homicide detective wrote that he learned about the update in mid-January from a computer forensic examiner assigned to the Verdugo Regional Crime Laboratory.

"In January 2023, the Cellebrite program successfully bypassed the lock on a Samsung cellular telephone, for an unrelated investigation, with the new software update," said the warrant, which seeks records from a month before the incident through Nov. 18, 2015, the date of the suspect's arrest. "This search warrant seeks permission to search and seize records that may be found on [the suspect's] cellular telephone in whatever form they are found as it relates to this homicide investigation."

The simmering debate over cellphone privacy first spilled into the mainstream in 2016 after a mass shooting in San Bernardino.

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At the time, Apple was resisting the FBI's demands that it help unlock the iPhone 5C belonging to the shooter, Syed Rizwan Farook, setting off a contentious legal battle that was closely watched by privacy rights advocates and civil libertarians. Federal authorities eventually found another method for unlocking the phone, without Apple's help. Farook and his 27-year-old wife and accomplice, Tashfeen Malik, were both killed in a gun battle with police after the shooting.

Phone infiltration technology has advanced at such lightning speed in the years since that today thousands of local police agencies have acquired the tools or have access to them through state and federal agencies, said Riana Pfefferkorn, a research scholar for Stanford's Center for Internet and Society.

A 2020 study by the nonprofit Upturn found that at least 2,000 law enforcement agencies in all 50 states possess the technology to get into and extract data from locked phones.

Even as phone companies have tried to stay one step ahead with newer and more advanced operating systems, the Pasadena case underscores the lengths to which law enforcement will go to catch up, Pfefferkorn said.

Theres just perennially a cat-and-mouse game between the people who make cellphones and the people who make digital forensic devices," she said. "People still have a need for privacy, and there's still a possibility for the misuse of this kind of technology in the hands of police."

The Samsung phone at the center of the Pasadena case belongs to a 44-year-old man who police have long suspected of pulling the trigger in the Dec. 18, 2015, fatal shooting of Robert Calderon. Relatives and police say Calderon, a 27-year-old apprentice electrician from Altadena, had dropped his mother off at an office holiday party and gotten together with friends before he was gunned down.

Investigators found a trail of blood starting at the center of the street to the grassy strip between the curb and sidewalk, where Calderon collapsed. But in the months that followed the trail went cold, hampered by witnesses' reluctance to speak with police.

Detectives eventually developed a suspect, who they said had been seen arguing with Calderon inside a parked vehicle moments before the shooting. After his arrest in 2018, they seized his phone and obtained a search warrant to "forensically process" it with an earlier version of the Cellebrite software, the warrant said. But that attempt yielded only "a limited extraction of the data from the cellular telephone due to a lock that required a passcode," it said.

Police turned the case over to the Los Angeles County district attorney's office, but prosecutors declined to file charges due to insufficient evidence, according to the warrant.

Police said they hope the latest version of Cellebrite will help them establish the suspect's "ownership" of the phone. The department declined to comment, citing the ongoing investigation.

Founded in 1999, Cellebrite produces mobile extraction software and data extraction devices that many law enforcement agencies use. It continues to roll out new products, including one named Pathfinder, which uses artificial intelligence to filter and analyze vast amounts of data.

The company has in recent years sought to push back on what it's called unfair media coverage, writing on its website that it doesn't sell its products to an agency without first researching them thoroughly.

"Before we even consider granting a customer access to our technology, we examine its recent and long-term human rights record and look at any other factors that we consider restrictive," the company's website says. "Our sales decisions are also guided by strict internal parameters, which consider a potential customers human rights record and anti-corruption policies and reflect the input of our Executive Team, Compliance Officer, and Ethics & Integrity Committee."

The company didn't respond to an email Thursday.

The LAPD has been a Cellebrite customer for years, department observers and documents say. In its 2023-24 budget proposal, the department wrote that its Technical Investigations Division was using a software called Cellebrite Premium, which expands its "access to data on locked mobile devices, provides investigative leads for officers, and preserves evidence."

An email to the head of the division went unreturned on Thursday.

Pfefferkorn, the Stanford researcher, said that even non-lawbreakers should be wary of these recent technological advancements and take steps to secure their mobile devices against both malicious attacks and potential hacks.

This, she said, is particularly true "if you're going out to a protest, if you're going to a political meeting or some other place where there might be a heightened risk of being arrested or having your phone seized.

Times staff writer Richard Winton contributed to this report.

This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.
A jury found Dr. Saad Saad not guilty on all counts, rejecting the states arguments in a trial that accused the long-time pediatrician of molesting a patient several years ago while she was a minor.

Saad, 77, was acquitted after being charged with criminal sexual contact and endangering the welfare of a child while practicing as a pediatrician for 50 years on the Jersey Shore.

His accuser, now 23, testified Tuesday that Saad grabbed her breast while helping her onto the examination table during the January 2015 post-operative visit, when she was 14 years old.

She also testified that Saad moved her brassiere away and looked down her shirt at her breasts during that examination, and that Saad hugged her and grabbed her breast a second time as she was walking down the hallway of the medical office after the examination.

In their closing statements, the defense asserted that there were too many holes of reasonable doubt in the states case.

If all you can get to is 'maybe it happened, maybe it didnt  that equals reasonable doubt and that equals not guilty, Michael Pappa, one of Saad's defense attorneys, told the jury.

Saad, who testified on Wednesday, maintained that he was innocent.

Dr. Saad Saad walks with his attorney Michael Pappa after he was found not guilty Friday, March 3, 2023 of molesting a patient. The trial was held before Superior Court Judge Richard W. English at the Monmouth County Courthouse in Freehold.

"In 50 years, I never, ever intentionally offended a child," he said on the stand. "This is not my nature.''

The day after, Lucy Perez, a medical assistant that was in the room at the time of the alleged molestation, also testified to Saad's innocence.

"If I'd ever seen anything like that, I would directly report it to my manager, Perez said, referring to the office manager at Saad's medical office.

Pappa also said that the investigation in this case was less than complete by the prosecutors office, and that the state failed to find an eyewitness to the alleged incidents.

Getting to the truth was not a priority in this investigation, he said of the prosecution. Its just a pure credibility case.

He went on to say that he doesnt know if theres anything in the case that corroborates the victim or her mothers testimonies.

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Dr. Saad Saad smiles as he leaves the courtroom with his attorney Michael Pappa after he was found not guilty Friday, March 3, 2023 of molesting a patient. The trial was held before Superior Court Judge Richard W. English at the Monmouth County Courthouse in Freehold.

The stories are just not plausible, he said.

During the victims testimony, she said that in an exam room Saad grabbed her breast for 10 seconds while both her mother and a medical assistant, Lucy Perez, were in the room.

The defense said that it didn't make sense that both eyewitnesses stood there and did nothing.

Thomas Fichter, assistant Monmouth County prosecutor, said that the victim's mother was confused and shocked by what she saw, and also gave Saad the benefit of the doubt in the moment because he was a doctor.

The victim also testified that she doesnt remember Perez being in the room with her or nurses at the station near where she was allegedly groped a second time.

Pappa blames selective recollection.

Theres this saying, You dont need a good memory when youre telling the truth, he said.

Meanwhile, Fichter stated that the alleged second groping was telling.

"The actions in this case show the intent," he said. "He went back for seconds."

While on the stand, the victim gave several reasons why she was afraid to report the incidents, including that it was partially because she was worried shed be blamed for what happened. Pappa countered that her reasoning didnt make sense, given her status as a patient and her young age at the time.

Fichter said that the accuser was just a child at the time, and it made sense that she was concerned that her word might not hold up against a doctor's. But after a few years of therapy, she was ready to come forward.

Dr. Saad Saad, accused of molesting a patient, is shown during his trial before Superior Court Judge Richard W. English at the Monmouth County Courthouse in Freehold Tuesday, February 28, 2023. He is charged with touching a 14-year-olds breasts at his Eatontown medical practice.

Her mother also testified that, after seeing the incident where Saad allegedly grabbed her daughters breast, she was hesitant to report the incident because her other daughters experience with the justice system after a sexual assault went poorly.

Pappa argued that there were several routes the family could have taken to report the incident that would not have exposed them to the public.

What reasonably responsible parent would sit back and let this happen if it really happened? he asked.

Pappa also reminded the jurors that the victim admitted that a previous civil complaint contained false allegations against Saad, including that Saad battered and restrained her, and also inappropriately touched her much earlier than she was alleging in the criminal case.

A civil case is about money," Pappa said. "You're looking for a money reward."

Fichter, on re-direct, asked if she ever had the opportunity to review the complaint, to which she said "no."

Fichter doesn't believe the victim was financially motivated, and asked the jurors if the family seemed like the kind of people to run a money scheme.

"For someone who was looking for a payday ... for someone who was so desperate to cash in on her misfortune, it took her [a long time] to file," he said.

Saad was also handicapped in this case, the defense said, because he didn't have a specific recollection of the victim due to the time delay, but he chose to take the stand anyway.

"No one in their right mind would take the stand and look forward to being cross-examined by Mr. Fichter," Pappa said, while acknowledging that Fichter is a talented assistant prosecutor.

Dr. Saad Saad shares a hug with a member of his defense team Friday, March 3, 2023, after he was found not guilty of molesting a patient. The trial was held before Superior Court Judge Richard W. English at the Monmouth County Courthouse in Freehold.

But the cross-examination during Saad's testimony was ineffective, for no reason other than that the witness was telling the truth, he said.

Fichter asked the jury if they believed that Saad really doesn't remember the victim, or if he just doesn't want to.

Perez - whom Pappa reminded the jury came from Mississippi voluntarily for the trial - said she would have reported an inappropriate incident had she witnessed one.

Then, Pappa suggested that jurors would have to believe that Perez committed the crime of perjury if they wanted to find Saad guilty.

"She is a wholesome person," he said of Perez, a medical assistant who also expressed interest in being a volunteer firefighter in the future. "Lying is just not in her DNA."

Fichter stated in his closing statement that he does not believe that Perez was lying, but asked the jury if it was possible that she looked away or was distracted while in the room with Saad.

Lastly, Pappa asked the jury to use common sense to think about the accusation that Saad would inappropriately touch a patient in front of two witnesses.

"It makes zero sense, and when things don't make sense, they're probably not so," said Pappa.

Pappa told the jury that he feels a deep sense of responsibility to defend Saad properly, maintaining that there were too many holes of reasonable doubt and that Saad was innocent. He also said he understood that the prosecution is usually the favored side in these cases.

"Sometimes doing justice means taking the unpopular side," he said.

But in his closing statements, Fichter said that it's hard to believe that Saad - who said in his testimony that he doesn't remember any of his patients or make any mistakes - has never had a slip up or reason to apologize in his whole career.

"To him, these children are patients, objects to be diagnosed, bodies to be touched," he said.

Fichter also stated that the medical records that the defense witnesses relied on, rather than personal recollections, were incomplete, including one record that suggested, due to its incompleteness, that the victim underwent hernia surgery without anesthesia.

Many of the defense witnesses were also long-time colleagues of Saad, who brought in business to the practice and therefore supported their livelihoods, he said.

"Who wants to believe something like this could happen?" Fichter asked.

Fichter doesn't believe the colleagues would want to believe it, and neither would the victim's mother who was in shock, leading her not to report it.

The accuser in this case is one of four former patients who came forward with molestation allegations against Saad. Each case is being tried separately. The current case is Saad's second trial. In the first case, Saad was acquitted in 2021. Charges are pending in the two other cases.

"I'm extremely pleased for Dr. Saad and his family, and we thank the jury for their consideration and their service,'' Pappa said following the verdict.He said Saad would decline to comment."I just know he's very grateful to the jury,'' Pappa said.Fichter did not comment.

Jenna Calderon covers breaking news and cold cases in Monmouth and Ocean counties. Before coming to the Press, she covered The Queen City for Cincinnati Magazine in Ohio. Contact her at 330-590-3903; jcalderon@gannettnj.com

This article originally appeared on Asbury Park Press: Eatontown NJ surgeon Saad found not guilty of molestation
Daniel Ellsberg, one of the most significant anti-war whistleblowers in American history, revealed Thursday that hes been diagnosed with terminal cancer and has about six months to live.

Ellsberg  who rose to prominence after leaking the Pentagon Papers to the media in 1971, revealing that multiple U.S. presidents had systematically lied to Congress and the American people about the circumstances around the Vietnam War  shared his inoperable pancreatic cancer diagnosis in a lengthy letter on Twitter.

I wrote this letter recently to my friends in the antiwar and anti-nuclear movements. I see its being circulated, so Ive decided to share it here. For all of you working on these issues, thank you, and please keep going! pic.twitter.com/8BIerLHD2U  Daniel Ellsberg (@DanielEllsberg) March 2, 2023

The soon-to-be 92-year-old also reflected on his role in the historic leak, saying that when he clandestinely made copies of the Defense Departments documents, he had every reason to think I would be spending the rest of my life behind bars. Though he was charged under the Espionage Act and faced a potential 115 years behind bars for his actions, he was ultimately spared from any punishment because of governmental misconduct and illegal evidence-gathering.

I was able to devote those years to doing everything I could think of to alert the world to the perils of nuclear war and wrongful interventions: lobbying, lecturing, writing and joining with others in acts of protest and non-violent resistance, he wrote, making a nod to his activism against the Iraq War, U.S. military action against Iran and, most recently, U.S. involvement in the Russia-Ukraine conflict.

Theres tons more to say about Ukraine and nuclear policy, of course, and youll be hearing from me as long as Im here, he vowed.

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Ellsberg was once a staunch supporter of American military intervention in Vietnam, leading him to work in the Pentagon in 1964 under Secretary of Defense Robert McNamara. He also represented the State Department on trips to the country for several years. Later, while working as an analyst at the defense think tank the RAND Corporation, he helped work on a highly classified, McNamara-commissioned study on U.S. conduct in Vietnam  a set of documents that would eventually come to be known as the Pentagon Papers.

As I look back on the last sixty years of my life, I think there is no greater cause to which I could have dedicated my efforts, Ellsberg said.

As I look back on the last sixty years of my life, I think there is no greater cause to which I could have dedicated my efforts, Ellsberg said.

But by the late 1960s, Ellsberg began mingling with anti-war activists and felt a shift in his worldview as he processed how many American soldiers were dying each year. So in 1969, after leaving RAND, he and another former employee secretly photocopied top-secret documents showing that U.S. authorities had known for a long time that the U.S. had no chance of winning in Vietnam.

After failing to get any war opponents in Congress to release the documents on the Senate floor, Ellsberg shared the papers with The New York Times, which published nine excerpts from them over the course of 15 days in 1971. Forty years later, in 2011, the government officially declassified them and released them to the public.

As I look back on the last sixty years of my life, Ellsberg said Thursday, I think there is no greater cause to which I could have dedicated my efforts.

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DARPA

The U.S. government wants to help special operations forces by building a new type of high-speed aircraft that doesnt need a runway.



The Pentagons Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) announced on Wednesday that its working with the Special Operations Command on the Speed and Runway Independent Technologies, or SPRINT, program. The project could meet a growing demand for aircraft that can land on unprepared surfaces.

DARPA director Stefanie Tompkins said the new aircraft could be used for combat medical evacuations or aid soldiers trying to get into remote locations. The details of the program are hazy, as youd expect from a secrecy-shrouded agency like DARPA. Still, a rendering of the proposed mysterious aircraft lacks helicopter rotors, and the emphasis is on speed.

Joining the VTOL Crowd

If the DARPA project succeeds, the new craft could join the Bell Boeing V-22 Osprey as a solution for troops trying to get into rugged terrain quickly. The Osprey, a tiltrotor military aircraft with both vertical takeoff and landing (VTOL) and short takeoff and landing (STOL) capabilities, has become the vehicle of choice for many U.S. special operators and regular forces.

But the Osprey has had a troubled service record. First flown in 1989, the V-22 has had 13 hull loss accidents, resulting in 51 fatalities. Recently, the Osprey fleet was grounded due to issues with the aircrafts clutch, which has been found to occasionally disengage during landing, leading to the potential for accidents.

Despite its problems, the V-22 has filled a critical niche. Using its prop rotor blades, the Osprey can take off and land in tight spaces or without a runway like a helicopter. Once off the ground, the rotors can rotate forward for horizontal flight, converting the V-22 to a more fuel-efficient, higher-speed turboprop aircraft.

No Runway Necessary

Drones could be part of the solution to finding landing spots without runways. BAE Systems recently showed off its new unmanned VTOL. The Strix can fit in a standard shipping container and carry various weapons, including the AGM-114 Hellfire.

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Future wars might demand more aircraft that can land in places that dont have runways. A RAND Corporation report predicted that if China attacked Taiwan, the conflict could begin with the destruction of airfields.

Taiwan might already be battle-testing its own VTOL drones. The countrys Revolver 860 VTOL drones were reportedly sold to Poland and transferred to Ukraine. A recent social media post showed the Revolver dropping mortar shells on Russian troops.



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Long COVID illness

Protestors march outside the White House to call attention to those suffering from Long COVID and ME/CFS on Sept. 19th, 2022. Credit - Nathan Posner/Anadolu AgencyGetty Images

In a new study published in JAMA Health Forum, people with Long COVID had an increased risk of dying during the study period and developing serious health problems compared to people who never had COVID-19.

Long COVID is an umbrella term for health issues that emerge during or after a case of COVID-19 and last weeks, months, or longer. Some symptomslike fatigue, cognitive dysfunction, and chronic painaffect patients daily lives, while otherslike organ damagelinger beneath the surface, potentially causing serious illness later on. The new study looks at the latter.

The researchers drew from a database that includes health-record data for millions of people in the U.S. covered by 14 commercial insurance plans. Using those records, they examined a group of about 13,500 U.S. adults who were diagnosed with COVID-19 from April to July 2020 and went on to develop Long COVID. Almost 27,000 adults who had no COVID-19 diagnosis during the study period but were similarly matched in terms of demographics and pre-pandemic health status served as a control group. (The rate of preexisting conditions was fairly high among both groups, the authors note, but they accounted for overall health in their analysis.)

In the year after their COVID-19 diagnoses, people with Long COVID were significantly more likely to seek care for health problems including irregular heartbeats, blood clots, strokes, heart disease, heart failure, and respiratory disease, compared to the control group. Irregular heartbeats and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) were the most commonly treated conditions among people with Long COVID, with about 30% of the group seeking care for each. Only 12.5% and 16.5% of controls, meanwhile, sought care for irregular heartbeats and COPD, respectively.



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Read More: How COVID-19 Changes the HeartEven After the Virus Is Gone

People who were hospitalized with COVID-19 when they first got sick were especially likely to later have health problems. Among that group, more than half got treatment for irregular heartbeats, more than 40% got treatment for COPD, and almost 30% got treatment for heart disease.

More people with Long COVID also died during the follow-up period: almost 3% of the people with Long COVID died in the year after their initial COVID-19 cases, compared to just over 1% of the people who hadnt been diagnosed with COVID-19.

There are a few caveats to the research. First, health records arent a perfect data source because they only include people who sought medical care, which excludes people who either didnt have access or were well enough to manage their symptoms at home; health records also may not reflect every symptom someone experiences. Second, the study looked at people who got COVID-19 in 2020, before vaccines were available. While vaccines do not entirely prevent Long COVID, they reduce the risk of developing it. Finally, its possible that some people in the control group had COVID-19 and didnt know it.

Even with those caveats, the study adds more support to an increasingly solid conclusion: COVID-19 leaves its mark on the body in myriad ways, some of which last far longerand are more seriousthan a few days of flu-like symptoms.
Labor Force

The Perks Workers Want Also Make Them More Productive

Now if only corporations would listen 

By Monica Potts

Mar. 3, 2023, at 6:00 AM

NEWWORK-43

Three years after the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, remote and hybrid work are as popular as ever. Only 6 percent of employees able to do their jobs remotely want to return to the office full time, according to a Gallup survey published in August. The vast majority of remote-capable workers1 want to spend at least some of their workdays at home. When theyre forced to return to an office, theyre more likely to become burned out and to express intent to leave, according to Gallup.

But thats not all. The pandemic, combined with a strong labor market where workers have persistent power to demand the kinds of work cultures they want, means even more changes could be coming. After years of advocacy, many U.S. states are moving towards mandatory, paid family and sick leave for all workers. Meanwhile, companies are flirting with a four-day workweek in pilot programs worldwide, including in the U.S.

Policies like these have conventionally been seen as good for workers personal lives but bad for business. But thanks to the massive, sudden changes brought on by the pandemic, we now have more data than ever, and it shows that assumption is mostly wrong. Overall, policies that are good for employees personal lives are, when enacted correctly, good for their work lives, too. In fact, they seem to be good for everyone. The only question is whether well start to see more companies adopt them.

Working from Home

Before the pandemic, just under 6 percent of employees were primarily working from home, but that had tripled to nearly 18 percent by the end of 2021, the most recent year available, according to U.S. Census Bureau estimates. While its still a minority of Americans overall, the shift to working from home is concentrated among certain kinds of workers  especially those who once filled downtown offices in cities on the coasts. In general, employees think theyre more productive when they work from home, while managers suspect that theyre not.

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Economists have been trying out whos right, using a couple different measures. A Harvard Business Review study found in August 2020 that working from home lets knowledge workers concentrate on tasks they think are important and want to do, and less time getting pulled into irrelevant meetings or working on someone elses project.2 But when worker output can be measured, thats even more helpful. The federal agency that reviews patent applications already measured worker productivity based on a metric that included actions completed in a specific period of time. A study in the Strategic Management Journal found before the pandemic that workers ability to work from anywhere increased productivity by 4.4 percent.

Part of that may simply be that workers are spending more time completing tasks when they would otherwise be commuting: A National Bureau of Economic Research working paper found that employees were working 48.5 more minutes a day during lockdowns in 2020. Another NBER working paper found that workers devote about 40 percent of the time they saved from not commuting to their jobs. Anecdotally, some workers worry they shouldnt take a sick day for minor illnesses while working from home.

In fact, working from home could turn out to be better for the company than it is for the workers  or, at least, the situation is more complicated than it may appear on the surface. Workers are generally happier working remotely and report higher productivity and better work-life balance, unless their work creeps into off hours, according to the School of Industrial and Labor Relations at Cornell University. It found that working from home outside of normal work hours is associated with worse psychological outcomes and family conflict.

Working from home instead of an office has other downsides: some people do miss face time with their coworkers and meetings can take a little longer to organize and set up, which is part of the reason hybrid models with some in-office workdays are emerging as the most popular. But all of those problems cry out for the need for new management styles to set boundaries around the workday and let go of some old ideas about face time.

Instead of addressing those problems, many managers have been reluctant to believe the positives of working from home and major companies have persisted in return-to-office policies. The drive seems largely driven by managers who are struggling to the new work environment as well: In the beginning of the pandemic, 40 percent lacked confidence they could manage their employees remotely, according to another study from the Harvard Business Review, though some managers have adjusted better than others.

Four-day workweeks

A pilot program introducing the U.K. to a 32-hour workweek wrapped up last month. Sixty-one participating companies spent six months experimenting with a four-day workweek. All but five will continue it into the future. Surveys taken after the pilot found employees were less stressed, slept better and were better able to maintain work-life balance, according to reporting from The Guardian. The surveys also found that sick days fell by two-thirds, and turnover fell by more than half. Overall, the companies reported no drop in productivity, and even an increase in some cases.

Even before and then throughout the pandemic, some firms around the world began experimenting with shorter workweeks. In these four-day pilot programs, employees keep their pay and pledge to keep their productivity up to what it had been before the trial. Theyve found, in general, that workers are happier, less stressed and also get at least the same amount of work done as they did working five days.

Companies in Iceland, Belgium, Spain, Japan and New Zealand are experimenting with shorter work weeks, and 38 companies in the U.S. and Canada are undergoing a similar trial. This year, Maryland is considering legislation that would encourage employers to experiment with a four-day workweek. Fifty-nine percent of Americans support the idea.

Other than the recent trial in the U.K., most of the reported benefits of the four-day workweek come from anecdotes. Managers have reported some challenges as they figure out how to meet client demand in the new environment. But so far the four-day workweek trials have been voluntary, which might mean the companies that choose to do them are more motivated to solve these problems than they would be if the change were forced. An advocacy group pushing the pilots, 4 Day Week Global, argues that the change is possible when managers measure results instead of simply hours worked.

The five-day workweek in the U.S. is, after all, a relic of a decades-old law that sought to balance worker and employer needs in a completely different cultural and economic context. It was instituted after an era of rapid industrialization, during which factories had demanded much longer days and weeks from their employees. In response, labor organizations around the globe demanded new laws to protect workers. Maybe those limits are simply an outdated relic of that time.

Paid Leave

Theres no federal law in the U.S. mandating that employers provide paid sick leave for their employees. Nearly a quarter of workers  especially low-income workers, often in the kinds of service jobs deemed essential during the pandemic  cant call in sick when they get a cold or their child is sent home from school with a fever. Under certain conditions, workers are entitled to periods of unpaid leave, but the fact that its unpaid can make it a burden to use.

This changed briefly during the pandemic, when federal law dictated that employers provide up to two weeks of paid leave for their workers affected by the coronavirus. That expired at the end of 2020.

The benefits of paid sick leave became clear when the U.S. was trying to stop the spread of a deadly virus. But advocates had been pushing for mandated paid sick leave long before. For the past decade, states have been moving to fill in the gap, and today 17 states have mandatory paid sick leave, as well as a handful of counties and cities including Washington, D.C. This year, at least five states are considering such bills.

Its not surprising that paid sick leave is better for workers who have access to it. A study in Health Affairs found that state-mandated sick pay led to a 5.6 percent reduction in emergency room visits, indicating that workers able to take paid sick leave were able to deal with health problems before they worsened. And a study from Drexel University also found that paid sick leave mandates led to a 6 percent increase in productivity.

Eleven states require employers to provide paid family and medical leave for longer periods, although not all of those laws have been enacted yet. At least five more states have introduced similar laws or pilot programs this year. These kinds of laws are popular: Eighty-five percent of Americans say workers should have access to paid leave for their own health problems. A 2021 analysis of New Yorks paid leave law found that employers werent hurt by the mandate, and actually found it easier to plan for employees long absences.

Employers seem to understand that many of these benefits are good, since they have long often offered things like flexible work and paid leave as benefits to employees to try to recruit top talent. But that leaves many more workers out. When employers have decided to require return to office, theyve often framed remote work as phoning it in or said that in-person work is good for company culture without offering much evidence. When it comes to a shorter workweek and paid leave, many businesses object to the up-front costs, even if they benefit later from worker retention. So far, the evidence of all the potential benefits hasnt been enough for employers to invest widely in new work cultures.
(Bloomberg) -- A top Philippine defense official said a plan to give the US more access to military bases would boost the Southeast Asian countrys defense capabilities against threats to its security as geopolitical tensions simmer.

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Defense Secretary Carlito Galvez Jr. said the projects with the US under the Enhanced Defense Cooperation Agreement, or EDCA, and other similar partnerships are not intended for aggression.

We are not preparing for war, rather we are aiming to develop our defense capabilities against eventualities and threats to our security, Galvez said in a statement late Thursday. The geopolitical situation is becoming more precarious by the day, he said.

The Philippines last month gave the US access to four more military bases under EDCA, bringing the total to nine. The 2014 pact allows the US to rotate its troops for prolonged stays as well as build and operate facilities on Philippine bases.

US Troop Expansion Near Taiwan Revives Old Debate in Philippines

The country is shifting its focus towards territorial defense particularly in the South China Sea, Galvez said, amid growing tensions with China. The US and the Philippines have agreed to resume joint patrols in the South China Sea, with Manila last month protesting Beijings move to aim what it claimed to be a military-grade laser at a Philippine ship.

Our previous engagements and exercises with our partners used to focus on internal security operations. Now, we are eyeing to strengthen our abilities to respond to external threats that may arise along our border-areas, he said.

Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim, who was on a two-day visit to Manila this week, warned that US military presence in the South China Sea would escalate tensions between China and other claimants in the disputed waters.

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Some lawmakers, including Senator Imee Marcos, the Philippine presidents sister, said the move to allow American troops in more local sites is geared at bolstering the US possible defense of Taiwan instead of the Philippines.

Galvez said while he understands the apprehension of some politicians about EDCA we must consider the volatile situation in which we operate and not view our country in isolation.

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MANILA (Reuters) - Environment and disaster authorities in the Philippines rushed to contain an oil spill on Friday from a sunken fuel tanker that has reached coastal towns on a large central island, warning of dangers to marine ecosystems if more oil leaks.

The tanker, MT Princess Empress, was still missing on Friday after sinking en route to Iloilo province carrying about 800,000 litres (211,338 gallons) of industrial fuel oil.

The vessel encountered engine trouble on Tuesday due to overheating and drifted due to rough sea conditions, according to the coast guard. It was not immediately clear what caused it to sink but all 20 crew were rescued before it went down.

Carlos Primo David, undersecretary at the environment ministry, said it was crucial authorities find the tanker soon as there could still be a large volume of oil inside.

"If we can recover it that will help us a lot in containing the spill," he said in a media briefing.

"Bear in mind that the cleanup will be more difficult if more oil reaches coastal areas."

Environment Secretary Maria Antonia Yulo Loyzaga said a rapid assessment was being undertaken of coastal and marine habitats that could be impacted.

At risk of damage was approximately 591 hectares of coral reefs, 1,626 hectares of mangroves and 362 hectares of seagrass, the ministry said.

"The possible contamination might actually affect the viability of these systems," Loyzaga warned in a recorded message on Thursday.

The disaster agency in a statement said the oil spill had reached coastal areas of several municipalities in Oriental Mindoro, the eastern half of Mindoro island.

Advocacy group Earth Island Institute PH called it "a potential environmental disaster", likening it to a 2006 incident when a tanker carrying 2.1 million litres of bunker fuel ran aground in central Philippines.

(Reporting by Enrico Dela Cruz; Editing by Martin Petty)
Mayor-elect Brandon Johnson greets his supporters during his election victory celebration at the Marriott Marquis Chicago hotel on April 4, 2023. (Armando L. Sanchez / Chicago Tribune)

Two days after voters declared them finalists to become Chicagos next mayor, Brandon Johnson raised issues with Paul Vallas past remarks where he said critical race theory in schools was harming families and taking emphasis off more important subjects.

Vallas, a former Chicago Public Schools CEO, and Johnson, a Cook County commissioner and an organizer for the Chicago Teachers Union, have feuded over their stark differences on crime and public education. But the latest controversy highlights that race will play a role in the face-off between them.

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Since he declared victory Tuesday for the April 4 runoff election, Johnson has gone on the offensive against Vallas in an attempt to define him as an ineffective leader who wont represent Chicagos minority community. Vallas, meanwhile, has been working to build support from Black political leaders, including unveiling an endorsement Thursday from former Illinois Secretary of State Jesse White, one of the most popular Black politicians in Illinois history.

Johnsons campaign issued a news release Thursday that criticized Vallas for comments he made in 2021 that include saying critical race theory is giving people an excuse for bad behavior. Vallas would not address those comments during a news conference but suggested Johnson was dredging up that issue because he lacks substance.

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While his campaign statement accused Vallas of having Racist Beliefs About Black Families and Teaching Black History in CPS, the candidate was less forceful during Thursdays appearances on the campaign trail.

Responding to a question asking him to expand on which comments were racist, Johnson said: This is really not about -isms in this moment. This is about having a public education system that is committed to educating the wholeness of child.

Chicago mayoral candidate Brandon Johnson takes a photo with Barbara Hudson and her dog Buddy after visiting with seniors at the Paul G. Stewart Apartments on the South Side on March 2, 2023. (Terrence Antonio James / Chicago Tribune)

Then he paraphrased a quote from civil rights activist W.E.B. Du Bois, a quote the candidate has employed often.

Public education at the expense of the state, after all, is a Negro idea, Johnson said. Those are the words of W.E.B. Du Bois. But I would imagine that in Paul Vallas Chicago, he wouldnt want people to know that.

Vallas comments on critical race theory came from a November 2021 podcast episode from the conservative Wirepoints news outlet. Midway through an interview, the host, Mark Glennon, asks Vallas to talk about critical race theory  or call it whatever you want, woke-ism, anti-racism.

Vallas responds by summing up that CPS did teach African-American history year-round, but No. 1: When it distracts from quality instruction in the core subject areas  which it is, because we seem to be too preoccupied, too much focusing on those things rather than focusing on a core curriculum  our standards suffer and damage is done.

Then Vallas decried unspecified curricula that are divisive and that further undermines the relationship of children with their parents.

Former Secretary of State Jesse White, left, shakes hands with mayoral candidate Paul Vallas after announcing his endorsement for Vallas, March 2, 2023, in Chicago. (John J. Kim / Chicago Tribune)

For white parents, I mean, how are you going to discipline your child when your child comes home and your child has basically been told that their generation  their race, their parents, their grandparents  they have discriminated against others, and they have somehow victimized another persons race? Vallas said.

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Glennon then muses, I often wonder, if youre a Black kid, why wouldnt you become a criminal if youre hearing this stuff in school?  That makes it pretty easy to justify pretty bad conduct, in my opinion.

Youre absolutely right, Vallas responded. But what youre also doing, youre giving people an excuse for bad behavior. Youre almost justifying, Vallas said before comparing that to the attitude in Cook County States Attorney Kim Foxxs office.  ... So youre right, youre absolutely right. I mean, why, I mean, wheres the accountability? You know, youre a victim. Whats happening is it becomes a justification for everything. And I think thats a very dangerous thing.

At an unrelated news conference, Vallas declined to address his 2021 comments on the podcast and insisted that the bottom line is, I think my record of serving minority communities in four different cities is clear.

I have no response to Brandon Johnson, and hes going to have his own record to explain or lack of record to explain, Vallas said. Brandon is going to attack because, you know, he cant offer anything of substance so Im going to continue to run an issue-oriented campaign.

Vallas went on to say he has built schools that taught African American history year-round and allowed CPS local school councils to have their campuses develop even more Afrocentric curriculums.

I mean, at the end of the day, my record speaks for itself, Vallas said.

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White also defended Vallas.

Well, first of all, Ive done this job, as I indicated before, for over 40 years, and so Im speaking on behalf of myself and not taking the consideration, the opinion, of someone else, White said. I make no apologies for my endorsement.

ayin@chicagotribune.com
(Bloomberg) -- There may be a new ringtone in your life  the urgent chime of a company-issued cell phone.

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In a throwback to the BlackBerry era, telecom-service providers are seeing strong growth from companies handing out phones to employees. The phenomenon, which started during the pandemic, picked up recently thanks to new compliance policies around the use of WhatsApp and TikTok. Its provided a tailwind for subscriber gains at AT&T Inc., Chief Financial Officer Pascal Desroches said at a conference this week.

At the same event, T-Mobile US Inc. Chief Financial Officer Peter Osvaldik said his companys corporate customer count grew every quarter in 2022.

The phones are more than just a corporate perk, said Gartner Inc. analyst Lisa Pierce. Its also about control  a means of restricting or blocking applications and keeping corporate data secure, she said.

Businesses, especially those in finance, have grown concerned about the security of their data, and the Securities and Exchange Commission and the Commodity Futures Trading Commission have stepped up their scrutiny over unauthorized private communication on applications such as WhatsApp and through personal email.

Late last year, Congress, along with several states, banned China-owned TikTok from government employees devices over national security concerns. This puts organizations in the position of either requiring their workers to remove apps from personal phones, or offering a secure second device.

It seems like everyone has two phones now  partly due to the industry we are in and the need for privacy and security, said Benjamin Bielawski, an analyst with Duff & Phelps Investment Management Co. in Chicago.

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That second device helps explain how wireless carriers keep racking up millions of new subscribers long after the time when the mobile market passed saturation, with nearly every adult in the US owning at least one phone.

App Clampdown

With TikTok addiction being a concern, and GroupMe, WhatsApp and Twitter holding a firm grip on our screen time, theres a potential conflict between work and personal life being conducted on the same device.

Thats why Vincent Powell, a San Francisco Bay-area account manager, has two phones, even though he occasionally gets puzzled looks from people as he takes out the second device to field emails and texts from clients.

I like having my personal life more or less on one, and business on the other, he said.

Powells dual device situation might not be so rare in the near future.

Neither AT&T nor T-Mobile disclose business-phone subscriber numbers. Verizon Communications Inc. and Charter Communications Inc. are the only two large carriers that break out the gains in work phone sales. Both saw more than 50% growth in business-phone customers last year.

Verizon on Friday promoted Sowmyanarayan Sampath, who previously ran the companys business group, to lead its consumer unit, the wireless giants largest division.

The resurgence comes more than a decade after the need for work-dedicated devices started to fade. Once phones got smarter and new applications could cordon off work and play activities, having a second device was an unnecessary cost for big companies. The domination of Apple Inc. and Samsung Electronics Co. has made it once again easier for companies to choose a device for their workers, said Maribel Lopez, an analyst with Lopez Research.

Its no longer BlackBerry at this point, she said. But it feels like old school days.

(Updates with Verizon management changes in third-to-last paragraph. The name of Duff & Phelps was corrected in an earlier version of this story.)

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Rebel Wilson says a selfie in a "secret" Disneyland bathroom resulted in a month-long ban from the amusement park. (Scott Garfitt / Invision / Associated Press)

Disneyland enthusiast Rebel Wilson said she recently landed in some hot water with the house of mouse.

Appearing on Tuesday's episode of "The Daily Show," Wilson told guest host Hasan Minhaj that she "did get banned from Disneyland for 30 days.

"I took a photo in a secret bathroom inside Disneyland, which is illegal at Disneyland," she said. She didn't reveal exactly when or where the illicit photo was taken.

She continued: "They called me up and said, 'Rebel, what 30 days do you not wanna come to Disneyland because you're away filming a movie or something? And I said June would be fine."

Representatives for Disneyland did not immediately respond to The Times' request for confirmation Friday.

Minhaj riffed on Wilson's alleged ban, joking that Disneyland has "Met Gala rules."

Elsewhere in the interview the Fluid dating app creator said she's not exactly "obsessed with Disneyland," but she does "go there every weekend," and for "every important holiday and every important life event."

Just last month Wilson and Ramona Agruma celebrated their engagement at Disneyland.

We said YES! , Wilson wrote on Instagram last week. She also thanked Tiffany & Co., Disney chief executive Bob Iger and Disney Weddings for coordinating the special moment. In one picture, Wilson and Agruma shared a kiss and showed off their rings. In another, they both knelt on flower petals in front of Cinderella's castle.

When Wilson came out in June 2022, she called Agruma her "Disney Princess," noting that it wasn't a "Disney Prince" she wanted after all.

On "The Daily Show," Wilson also told Minhaj about gangs of Disneyland adults, the benefits of Disney's exclusive Club 33 and her new dating app.

"So I wanted to create a dating app where you don't have to label yourself, so it's love without labels," she said. "To me it's really important because I think sexuality is so much more nuanced and complex than just labeling yourself, like you're a can of food or something."

This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.
Police officers and volunteers came under fire in Kherson Oblast on March 3, the Kherson Oblast police reported.

According to the report, police officers were responding to a call in Zmiivka, a village located along the Dnipro River. The volunteers were heading to evacuate a senior citizen and were transporting humanitarian aid.

The police car was "riddled with shrapnel," and "only a pile of metal remained" of the volunteer car, the police said.

Three civilians and two police officers sustained injuries as a result of the attack, but the Ukrainian military provided assistance and transported those with severe injuries to the hospital.

The liberated areas of Kherson Oblast are frequently targeted by Russian forces, posing a constant risk to police officers and aid workers as they respond to emergency calls, transport the wounded, evacuate civilians, distribute humanitarian aid, and carry out their duties at checkpoints.
A police car and a car with volunteers from the city of Kryvyi Rih have been shelled by Russians in the village of Zmiivka in the Beryslav district, Kherson Oblast.

Source: Kherson Oblast Police on Facebook

Quote: "After responding to a call, police and a car with volunteers from Kryvyi Rih were attacked by Russians. A service police car was hit with shell fragments and took mechanical damage, and only a pile of metal was left from the volunteers car."

Details: The investigative operative police group was going to a call, and the volunteers were heading to a village in order to evacuate a senior woman and deliver humanitarian aid.

The police remarks that their service car was struck with a shell; three civilians and two policemen got injured.

PHOTO from POLICE

Soldiers of the Armed Forces of Ukraine were first to help the injured. They took the heavily injured volunteers to the hospital.

Policemen got to the hospital on their own. They were diagnosed with shell shock and brain contusion.

The Kherson Oblast Police opened a criminal proceeding under Article 438 (breaking the laws and customs of war) of the Criminal Code of Ukraine.

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Troy police have released details about their efforts to search for a 53-year-old man reported missing in April, who was found dead in his home seven months later.

Richard J. Maedge died by suicide in a hidden closet in his Troy home, according to authorities. He was found by his wife of 19 years, Jennifer Maedge, as she was looking for Christmas decorations in December.

Maedges sister Marilyn Toliver has repeatedly criticized police for not searching harder and finding him sooner.

Jennifer Maedge has praised the police investigation and said she wants to move on and grieve her husbands death.

Troy Police Chief Brent Shownes provided a statement Friday in response to the BNDs request for an interview. In it, the chief outlined the steps investigators took to search for Richard Maedge, including the following:
OKLAHOMA CITY (KFOR)  An employee at a Hobby Lobby distribution center in central Oklahoma shot and killed a 69-year-old manager Wednesday, according to police.

Emergency crews responded around 5 p.m. after calls came in reporting a shooting at the facility, located near S.W. 44th and Council Rd.

When officers arrived at the scene, they found one person dead. Police subsequently identified the victim as Douglas Smith.

Police said that the employee, identified as 32-year-old Domonique Thompson, was having a disagreement with Smith, the manager.

Bill to make daylight saving time permanent reintroduced in Congress

At one point, Thompson allegedly took out a weapon and fatally shot Smith before fleeing in a red Dodge Charger.

Around 7 p.m., authorities spotted the vehicle in Payne County and attempted to pull the driver over. However, the driver refused to stop and led them on a chase.

Trooper Eric Foster, with the Oklahoma Highway Patrol, confirmed to KFOR that the Dodge Chargers license plate matched the one seen leaving the distribution center. The suspects description matched as well.

Eventually, the chase came to an end along Hwy 33, just northwest of Cashion, when the driver lost control of the vehicle and crashed.

Police officials said Thompson refused to surrender peacefully and a standoff ensued, prompting law enforcement officers from nearly a dozen different agencies to respond to the scene.

Officials with the Oklahoma City Police Department said Thompson died during the standoff, but did not immediately provide further details.

Today, our Hobby Lobby family mourns the loss of a valued and respected employee, Doug Smith, to a senseless and devastating act of violence, David Green, Hobby Lobby Founder and CEO, told KFOR in a statement. Our hearts are broken. We ask everyone to pray for the family, friends and co-workers of Doug, along with the first responders who quickly acted to protect our employees and secure our facility.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to The Hill.
A 33-year-old man has been charged following a hit-and-run crash on Black River Boulevard.

Around noon Wednesday, Rome Police Department responded to the 1600 block, where a pedestrian had been struck by a silver SUV while crossing the street.

The victim, a 24-year-old man whose name police have not released, suffered serious injuries and was taken to the hospital after the crash. He was in stable condition Friday, police said, and was being treated for non-life-threatening injuries.

The driver of the SUV, later determined to be Matthew J. Rivera, immediately left the scene of the crash, police said. A section of Black River Boulevard surrounding the site was closed off as investigators and members of RPD's Accident Reconstruction Unit collected evidence. Rivera's vehicle was found by police Thursday on the 800 block of West Liberty Street.

Rivera was taken into custody Thursday on an unrelated charge of leaving the scene of a property damage accident that occurred in September of 2022.

During the investigation into the crash, policed confirmed that Rivera was the driver of the vehicle involved in Wednesday's hit-and-run crash. He has since been issued an appearance ticket to Rome City Court for leaving the scene of a personal injury accident, failure to yield to a pedestrian in a crosswalk and unlicensed operator.

This article originally appeared on Times Telegram: Black River Blvd hit-and-run crash: Pedestrian injured, driver charged
Police believe there may be more victims involved in a human trafficking case that resulted in three Longs residents being arrested.

The charges stem from what appears to be two victims, including one under the age of 18.

Brittany Marquita Rutledge Jackson, 25, and Lashon Alvin Ladson, 37, were charged with trafficking in persons Feb. 24 and booked into the J. Reuben Long Detention Center, according to SLED.

Those charges stem from a victim who was over the age of 18 and homeless, according to the South Carolina Law Enforcement Division.

Jackson apparently knew the victim was addicted to narcotics and subjected the victim to a human trafficking scheme for compensation in August, according to SLED.

Jackson allegedly bought a hotel room at the Comfort Suites Hotel, 710 Frontage Road E, and posted commercial sex ads of the victim in various stages of nudity. Ladson allegedly provided narcotics to the victim, according to SLED. Both Jackson and Ladson benefited from the human trafficking by taking all of the proceeds, SLED said.

In October, both Jackson and Ladson, along with Kwame Vereen, 33, were charged with trafficking in persons under the age of 18, according to SLED.

Vereen and Ladson are accused of engaging in sexual battery of a victim while being human trafficked at the hotel between Sept. 13 and 15.

Vereen was charged with criminal sexual conduct and trafficking in persons under the age of 18 and booked into the J. Reuben Long Detention Center on Oct. 13. He was arrested by the Horry County Sheriffs Office.

Ladson was arrested by Myrtle Beach Police Department in September and booked into the detention center for drug charges, contributing to the delinquency of a minor, unlawful to hire person under 18 to violate obscenity statutes, first degree criminal sexual conduct and trafficking in persons.

A Myrtle Beach Police report said that officers responded to the Comfort Suites Hotel on Sept. 15 to assist another law enforcement agency with the recovery of a missing person. The person was located and turned over to the Department of Social Services.

Jackson apparently knew the victim was under the age of 18 and continued to subject the victim to a trafficking scheme that she participated in, the report said.

SLED agents worked with investigators from Horry County Police Department, Horry County Sheriffs Office, Myrtle Beach Police Department, Williamsburg County Sheriffs Office and Homeland Security Investigations, as well as multidisciplinary team partners from the South Carolina Department of Social Services, the Dorchester Child Advocacy Center and the Julie Valentine Center.
PORTSMOUTH  Ten days after launching an investigation into 17 incidents of hateful graffiti at businesses, homes and houses of worship around downtown Portsmouth, city police are probing a new slate of offensive graffiti found Friday morning.

The Portsmouth Police Department was notified Friday around 9 a.m. of previously unseen hateful graffiti, which appears to be fresh, located on a Market Street pedestrian bridge that was found by a morning walker.

New hateful graffiti was found on a pedestrian bridge in Portsmouth on Friday, March 3, 2023, days after numerous downtown buildings and places of worship were targeted with similar vandalism.

The new graffiti, which police noted in a news release consists of anti-Semitic and white supremacist rhetoric, was spray painted on a bridge near Alumni-Wentworth Field.

Images of the graffiti provided by the department show the Star of David spray painted in red, followed by a derogatory term for Jewish people and an X next to it followed by the phrase White Lives Matter.

New hateful graffiti was found on a pedestrian bridge in Portsmouth on Friday, March 3, 2023, days after numerous downtown buildings and places of worship were targeted with similar vandalism. This map provided by Portsmouth police shows the area of the bridge where the latest hateful graffiti was located.

Detective Sgt. Kevin McCarthy, lead investigator on the recent slew of hateful graffiti spray painted on downtown area buildings and places of worship the morning of Feb. 21, stated that the Market Street discovery is now being lumped into the larger ongoing investigation.

It was discovered by a walker today and it looks like it may have been there for a little while unnoticed, McCarthy said Friday afternoon.

Police are uncertain whether the pedestrian bridge markings are tied to the downtown area vandalism, an incident which saw the Temple Israel, as well as a number of popular businesses, including Assistant Mayor Joanna Kelleys Cup of Joe Cafe & Bar, spray painted with swastikas and other symbols.

New hateful graffiti was found on a pedestrian bridge in Portsmouth on Friday, March 3, 2023, days after numerous downtown buildings and places of worship were targeted with similar vandalism.

The Portsmouth Police Department would like to speak with anyone who has utilized the footbridge to develop the best information on when this tagging may have occurred, the department wrote in a news release on Friday.

Earlier this week, McCarthy reported that police believe the extensive downtown incident was carried out by one person. With hundreds of gigabytes of video surveillance provided by the public, McCarthy shared police, in tandem with the Federal Bureau of Investigation, are working through investigative leads and have multiple persons of interest, though one main suspect has emerged.

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New hateful graffiti was found on a pedestrian bridge in Portsmouth on Friday, March 3, 2023, days after numerous downtown buildings and places of worship were targeted with similar vandalism.

The primary suspect, though not yet positively identified by police, was caught on surveillance footage across downtown wearing a face covering, a red hooded sweatshirt, khaki pants, white shoes and orange-rimmed glasses the morning of Feb. 21.

The New Hampshire Attorney Generals Office is also investigating the Port City incident.

Were continuing to get more video surveillance and I thank people for engaging with our canvassing that went on the other day with the FBI, McCarthy said Friday.

Previous story:'Love Blooms' in Portsmouth after hateful graffiti

The latest instance of hateful vandalism to pop up in the city follows months of local provocation and incidents involving the Nationalist Social Club.

The Anti-Defamation League notes the group was founded in late December 2019 by a handful of neo-Nazis in eastern Massachusetts.

New hateful graffiti was found on a pedestrian bridge in Portsmouth on Friday, March 3, 2023, days after numerous downtown buildings and places of worship were targeted with similar vandalism.

The hate group also known as NSC-131 has increased its Seacoast presence recently, protesting a drag story hour outside the Seacoast Repertory Theatre in December 2021, leaving recruitment materials around the region, and standing outside the Kittery Trading Post last year with an offensive sign also espousing white supremacy.

In January, the Attorney Generals Office announced the neo-Nazi groups founder and another member had been charged with violating the New Hampshire Civil Rights Act stemming from an incident last year in which group members hung a racist banner over Route 1 in Portsmouth reading Keep New England White.

Police have not concluded whether the recent graffiti incidents are tied to the neo-Nazi group.

Members of the public with information about the pedestrian bridge graffiti and the recent barrage of downtown vandalism are asked to contact McCarthy at (603) 610-7656. Informants can remain anonymous by contacting the Seacoast Crime Stoppers at (603) 431-1199 or 1-207-439-1199, or via their website: www.seacoastcrimestoppers.com.

This article originally appeared on Portsmouth Herald: Portsmouth NH police open probe into new racist, anti-Semitic graffiti
A Somerville man is facing charges after allegedly crashing a stolen car while attempting to drive away from police.

Cambridge Police say the 35-year-old man, who was not identified, was driving the car down the wrong way on Technology Square in Cambridge overnight. When the driver saw police on the one-way road, he turned his lights off, conducted a u-turn and drove off.

Overnight, officers witnessed a male driving a car the wrong way on Technology Square in #CambMA - a one-way road. When the driver saw police, he turned his vehicle headlights and rear lights off, conducted a u-turn, and drove off. 1/3 pic.twitter.com/1mK3i8lalT  Cambridge Police (@CambridgePolice) March 3, 2023

Officers then tailed the vehicle and quickly confirmed that the vehicle was stolen. Police say the driver attempted to speed away before crashing into a pole on Bishop Allen Drive while attempting a turn. The suspect ran out of the car but was quickly taken into custody.

The Somerville man is facing charges of receiving a stolen motor vehicle, failure to stop before police, reckless operation of a motor vehicle, and a motor vehicle lights violation.

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An Aurora man has been sentenced to seven years in prison after pleading guilty to driving under the influence in connection with a crash that seriously injured a passenger in his vehicle in October 2021, officials said.

Daniel Mayen, 29, of the 300 block of Hankes Avenue, was driving around 10:40 a.m. on Mitchell Road in Aurora when his vehicle crossed the center line into oncoming traffic and struck a car head-on, according to a news release from the Kane County States Attorneys Office.

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The passenger in his vehicle was hospitalized with serious injuries, prosecutors said. Mayens blood-alcohol level at the time of the crash was .257, officials said, more than three times the legal limit of .08.

Mayen was on probation at the time of the crash after pleading guilty in March 2021 to possession of a controlled substance with intent to deliver, prosecutors said. A Kane County judge resentenced Mayen in that case to seven years in prison.

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Mayen will serve both sentences concurrently. In accordance with Illinois law, Mayen must serve at least 85% of the DUI sentence.

mejones@chicagotribune.com
WARSAW (Reuters) - An opposition-linked Polish mayor had his phone hacked using Pegasus spyware, Gazeta Wyborcza daily reported on Friday, amid allegations that the country's special services have used the technology against government opponents.

Reports in 2021 by the Associated Press that the software, developed by Israel-based NSO Group was used to hack the phones of government critics, including a senator for the largest opposition party, have drawn accusations that security services are eroding democratic norms.

Gazeta Wyborcza, a liberal daily which is highly critical of ruling nationalists Law and Justice (PiS), reported that the phone of Jacek Karnowski, mayor of the Baltic seaside resort of Sopot, was hacked in 2018-2019, when he was working on the opposition's campaign for elections to the upper house of parliament, the Senate.

It said that his number appeared on a list that it had access to as part of the investigative journalism initiative the Pegasus Project.

"We will not allow the PiS machine to further destroy democracy, lead Poland to the East and sovietise our country," Karnowski said in a statement sent to Reuters. "The politicians who inspired and commissioned these activities belong in prison."

Polish government spokesman Piotr Muller told private broadcaster RMF FM that he did not know about actions taken by special services concerning specific individuals, but that no laws had been broken.

"No actions that would break legal regulations took place," he said. "I was assured of this by the services."

A spokesman for the Polish security services could not immediately be reached for comment.

Senior figures in the PiS government have previously confirmed that it bought the sophisticated spyware, but denied that it had been used against political opponents.

Israel has come under global pressure over allegations that Pegasus has been abused by some foreign client governments to spy on human rights activists, journalists and politicians.

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NSO has said it cannot confirm or deny any existing or potential customers for Pegasus. It said it does not operate the system once sold to its governmental customers nor is it involved in any way in the system's operation.

(This story has been refiled to remove incorrect byline)

(Reporting by Alan Charlish and Pawel Florkiewicz; Editing by Toby Chopra)
Oleksandr Mamai

Read also: Court rejects prosecutors request to arrest Poltava Mayor Mamai

The court found Mamai guilty of embezzlement of state property and falsifying official documents, resulting in the local budget suffered losses of more than UAH 570,000 ($15,587).

According to the investigation, the mayor conspired with employees of the Institute of City Development and employed two people who actually did not work there, but rather for the mayor and his close entourage. In order to pay their salaries, the organization entered inaccurate data in their internal paperwork.

SAPO noted that the mayor had compensated the financial damage he has done, admitted his guilt, and sincerely repents. Therefore, the court sentenced him to five years of imprisonment with a ban from holding certain positions for one year, and suspended his sentence with a probationary period of one year.

Read also: Anti-graft agency appeals against court ruling to release ex-Naftogaz head Kobolyev

According to the agreement, the mayor undertakes to transfer UAH 2 million ($54,692) to the United24 Fund for the Army of Drones joint project of Ukraines General Staff, the State Special Communications Service and the Ministry of Digital Transformation, the prosecutors said.

Other defendants in the case, namely two executors and two accomplices in embezzlement, also pled guilty and signed an agreement with the prosecutor. They received five years of imprisonment with a probationary period of one year. The verdict can be appealed in the HACCs Chamber of Appeals within 30 days.

Read also: Ukraine appeals for transfer of ex-Georgian president Saakashvili for treatment

Meanwhile, the Anti-Corruption Action Center wrote on Telegram that if the appeal does not overturn the sentence, Mamai will lose his mayoral post before his term expires.

Read also: Shahed drones hit house, infrastructure object in Poltava Oblast

On Dec. 29, 2022, Poltava Mayor Mamai was charged with unauthorized disclosure of information about the Ukraines Armed Forces and weapons sent to Ukraine by Kyivs international partners.

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Read the original article on The New Voice of Ukraine
OXON HILL, Md. (AP)  Two leading Republicans took veiled jabs at former President Donald Trump at an annual gathering of conservatives Friday, knocking celebrity leaders not in tune with reality while noting winnable elections that had been lost as they urged a party course correction ahead of the 2024 presidential contest.

But their refusal to call him out by name underscored the risks faced by potential and declared challengers worried about alienating Trumps loyal base.

In their remarks, former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and former United Nations Ambassador Nikki Haley  both of whom served in the Trump administration  offered a snapshot of how the former president's declared and potential 2024 opponents are trying to delicately navigate his dominant role in the party while looking for ways to differentiate themselves in what could be a nasty and crowded primary contest.

We cant become the left, following celebrity leaders with their own brand of identity politics, those with fragile egos who refuse to acknowledge reality, Pompeo said in an afternoon speech at the Conservative Political Action Conference.

Haley, who launched her campaign last month, hit on similar themes, noting the party has lost the popular vote in seven of the last eight presidential elections.

Our cause is right but we have failed to win the confidence of a majority of Americans. That ends now. If youre tired of losing, put your trust in a new generation. And if you want to win  not just as a party, but as a country  then stand with me, Haley said.

While she received polite applause throughout her speech, several attendees chanted Trump! Trump! Trump! as she walked through the venue.

It was a sign of the dissonance at the event as potential and declared challengers tried to make inroads at a gathering that has become closely aligned with the former president. While other declared and likely candidates were offered speaking slots, Trump has been given top billing as the Saturday evening headliner, and his son Donald Trump Jr. has been mobbed throughout the conference by excited fans.

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Haley and Pompeo were among a handful of announced or potential Republican presidential candidates who attended the CPAC event, which was once a must-stop for GOP hopefuls but has been less of a draw this year.

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, former Vice President Mike Pence and Sen. Tim Scott of South Carolina skipped the event this year as its been dimmed by controversy and its overt homage to Trump.

Like Haley, Pompeo noted recent Republican losses over the years and blamed the party for its shortcomings.

We lost race after winnable race. Its because voters didnt trust us to do any better than the tax-and-spend liberals, he said, echoing a criticism raised by some attendees. Every recent administration, Republican and Democrat alike, added trillions in dollars to our debt. That is deeply unconservative.

More broadly, he said that voters had lost trust in conservative ideas.

Losing is bad because losing is bad. But the principles that we stand for are whats really at risk. And its not a political problem. The problem is that the losses are a symptom of something much bigger. Its a crisis in conservatism, he said. Weve lost confidence that we are right.

In an interview before his speech, Pompeo told The Associated Press that he had chosen to attend this year's event because it's "a great group of people who represent a broad swath of our party.

He brushed aside the significance of Saturday's straw poll of CPAC attendees on their 2024 presidential preference, an unscientific survey that Trump is expected to win, while noting that the election is more than a year and a half away.

Theres a long way to go. Theres lots of ground to cover and I think everyone who decides to get in the race will have a lot of opportunity in the fall to make their case, Pompeo said. Ive been in straw polls. Ive done great. Ive done less great. I dont think it says a whole lot about how this will end."

Pompeo, one of a long list of potential candidates, said he is still mulling a decision about whether to challenge his former boss for the nomination.

Still working our way through, figuring it out, he said, adding that he and his family were now within a couple months of a decision. In the meantime, were doing all the things one would do to be prepared to make the case to the American people, Pompeo said.

Pompeo also said without hesitation that he will support the eventual Republican nominee, quipping, It seems unlikely that President Biden would be someone I could get behind."

That stands in contrast to Pence, who declined to say Thursday whether he would back his former boss if Trump ends up the party's pick in 2024.

I think well have better choices, Pence told The Associated Press in an interview in South Carolina. Im persuaded that no one could have defeated Hillary Clinton in 2016 except Donald Trump, but I think we live in a different time and it calls for different leadership.

The Republican National Committee is planning to block candidates from its primary debates if they do not sign a pledge to support the GOPs ultimate presidential nominee, setting up a potential clash with candidates including Trump, who has raised the possibility of leaving the Republican Party and launching an independent candidacy if he does not win the GOP nomination outright.

Vivek Ramaswamy, a tech entrepreneur and author of the book Woke, Inc. who is also running for president, addressed the convention Friday and told the AP later in an interview that he saw himself as a successor to Trump.

Im building on the foundation he laid, Ramaswamy said, adding that hed focus more on ending affirmative action and climate change mitigation than the former president. He also said he would support the eventual GOP nominee if everybody else makes that commitment.

While the Trump faithful gathered in Maryland, the influential anti-tax group Club For Growth, which has clashed with Trump, held a competing event in Florida where DeSantis and others were invited but Trump was not  a sharp illustration of some in the partys conservative flank seeking a new direction.

David McIntosh, Club For Growths president, said in an interview Friday that DeSantis, who kicked off the groups donor summit with a Thursday night speech, did not say whether he was going to run for president and instead focused his remarks on policy issues.

He talked a lot about his win in the last election but did not indicate anything one way or another about a presidential run, McIntosh said.

He said DeSantis was enthusiastically received by a crowd of about 150 people and spoke about his record in Florida and his vision of governing in the state.

McIntosh said Pence, also at the event, did not indicate when he might make a decision on whether to seek the presidency. Haley, Scott and Ramaswamy were also slated to speak in Florida.

___

Associated Press writer Nicholas Riccardi contributed to this report.
Former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, whos weighing a 2024 presidential run, took a swipe at his former boss on Friday over adding nearly $8 trillion to the national debt.

I stare today at $31 trillion in debt and tell my son, Make sure you work hard, because Social Security may just not be there for you, Pompeo said during the annual Conservative Political Action Conference.

Every recent administration, Republican and Democrat alike, added trillions in dollars to our debt. That is deeply unconservative. [The] Trump administration, the administration I served, added $8 trillion in new debt. This is indecent and cant continue. Earning back that trust will be hard work, it wont just be a campaign speech, he continued.

Under the Trump administration, the U.S. saw a nearly $7.8 trillion rise in the countrys national debt, according to The Washington Post.

Pompeos remarks come after Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen in January told Congress that the U.S. government would start using extraordinary measures as the national debt has approached over $31.4 trillion.

The nonpartisan think tank Bipartisan Policy Center and Yellen have both said that Congress needs to address the national debt limit, or the U.S. could default on its debt as early as June. However, no deal has been reached by Congress.

Pompeo has not been shy at taking implied jabs at the former president, with several of those coming shortly after the November midterms after many of Trumps endorsees lost their races.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to The Hill.
By Catarina Demony and Miguel Pereira

FATIMA, Portugal (Reuters) - Portugal's Catholic Church announced a handful of steps on Friday to tackle child sexual abuse within the Church - but it said suspected priests still in active roles would not be suspended unless the facts against them were clearly established.

The head of Portugal's Bishops' Conference (CEP), Jose Ornelas, also said that the Church would not pay reparations to victims.

The CEP met on Friday to discuss ways to tackle the issue after a report last month said at least 4,815 children were sexually abused by members of the Roman Catholic Church in Portugal - mostly priests - over 70 years.

That report by a Church-funded, one-year commission added that its findings were the "tip of the iceberg", and commission head Pedro Strecht said more than 100 priests suspected of child sexual abuse remained active in Church roles.

Ornelas - who is himself being investigated by public prosecutors for covering up sex abuse at an orphanage in Mozambique in 2011 but denies any wrongdoing - told Friday's news conference that "nobody was guilty" until a court said so.

The Church said it had received the list of alleged abusers and would use that to investigate the matter.

"We have to find these cases and really establish the truth of the facts (but) only with the list of names... It's very difficult," Ornelas said.

"I cannot remove someone from the ministry just because a person said 'This man abused someone'," he said.

CEP spokesperson Manuel Barbosa said there would be "zero tolerance" for abusers and those who covered up abuse.

Among the measures the CEP agreed on, Barbosa said the Church would offer "spiritual, psychological and psychiatric" support to victims and honour them with a memorial to be unveiled at this year's World Youth Day, set to take place in Lisbon this summer.

"It is with pain that we once again apologise to all victims of sexual abuse," Barbosa said. "We also reaffirm our firm intention to do everything possible to ensure that abuses do not happen again."

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Barbosa said a group, also backed by the Church, would be created to continue to listen to the victims of abuse.

Keith Porteous Wood, president of Britain's National Secular Society and a long-time advocate for victims of clerical abuse, told Reuters that commissions financed by the Church faced "obstructions".

"Investigating 70 years in one year is just unrealistic, and you can't help but wonder whether that imposition... was actually an attempt to ensure as little as possible was reported," Wood said.

Wood said a new commission, preferably led by state judges, should be set up.

(Reporting by Catarina Demony and Miguel Pereira, Editing by Hugh Lawson)
Goodluz / Getty Images/iStockphoto

A major worry surrounding the current debt-ceiling crisis is how Social Security payments will be made should the ceiling not be raised. While some warn that payments would be jeopardized, a law dating back more than a quarter-century could protect Social Security benefits.

Discover: 7 Ways Baby Boomers Are Wasting Money in Retirement  and How To Stop It

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The law, signed in 1996, provides an escape clause from the debt limit that lets the U.S. Treasury Department pay Social Security and Medicare benefits even if there is a delay in raising the debt ceiling, the Roll Call legislative news site reported.

Under the law, Social Security and Medicare trust funds can be drawn down to keep benefits flowing until the debt limit is raised. The law also prohibits those funds from being used to pay for any other government programs.

That option is not a sure thing this year, however. Under an administrative policy change that went into effect a year later, in 1997, the Social Security Administration no longer pays out all benefits at the beginning of each month. Instead, they are paid out based on each beneficiarys date of birth, according to Steve Robinson, chief economist for the Concord Coalition, a nonpartisan advocacy group that promotes responsible fiscal policy.

The reason this is a problem gets complicated. In a Feb. 27 paper on the Concord Coalition website, Robinson wrote that read in combination, these two changes could have the unintended effect of funding the rest of the government until the Social Security trust funds are exhausted should Congress fail to increase the debt limit after other extraordinary measures have been exhausted.

As Robinson noted, the current Social Security trust fund balance  $2.8 trillion  is big enough to ensure the payment of Social Security benefits and other government programs for a considerable period without increasing the debt limit.

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The 1996 law could still work as a safeguard for Social Security, but the surest way to keep Social Security payments flowing is for Congress to raise the debt limit. If that doesnt happen, advocates for the retirement program fear the worst.

A default on government obligations could be devastating for the 65 million older Americans on Social Security, according to a January blog from the National Committee to Preserve Social Security and Medicare.

Absent the legal authority to borrow beyond the current debt ceiling, Social Security  and other payments may not be made on time and in full unless Congress approves an increase in the debt limit, the blog said. Even a short delay in the payment of Social Security benefits would be a burden for the millions of Americans who rely on their earned benefits to pay for out-of-pocket health care expenses, food, rent and utilities.

But others downplay the threat. Among them is U.S. Rep. Jason Smith (R-Mo.), chairman of the House Ways & Means Committee, which has jurisdiction over the debt ceiling, Social Security and Medicare.

Take Our Poll: Are You Concerned the US Debt Ceiling Issue Will Endanger Social Security?

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In a March 1 column for CNBC, Smith wrote that Democrats in Congress are trying to scuttle the very notion of bipartisan negotiations by drumming up fake threats to Medicare and Social Security  No debt ceiling legislation that passes through my committee will include cuts to these vital programs. Period.

This article has been updated for clarity.

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This article originally appeared on GOBankingRates.com: Potential Workaround Could Keep Social Security Checks Flowing If Debt Limit Reached  But Theres a Hitch
Yevhen Prigozhin simulates his stay in Bakhmut

In the video, Prigozhin says that his mercenaries allegedly encircled Bakhmut, but the National Resistance Center (CNS) confirmed the video was not filmed in Bahkmut, as his guards do not allow him to travel there.

Read also: Wagner CEO Prigozhin is a war criminal, US Attorney General says

CNS

Through an analysis of the landscape, CNS confirmed that the video was shot in the village of Paraskoviivka, which was captured by the Russians on Feb. 20, and which is about 7 kilometers from Bakhmut.

CNS

Read also: Photographers show daily life of Ukrainian troops near Bakhmut

"Prigozhin's video is provocative and is a part of a disinformation campaign against Ukrainians aimed to spread panic and provoke the top military and political leadership," CNS said.

It is not the first time that Prigozhin has pretended to be at the front line while actually staying deep within the occupied area. In January, he presented a photo of himself from a cave in Volodymyrivka, pretending it was the salt mines of Soledar, while the battle was still raging in the city.

The fierce fighting for Bakhmut continues with the Ukrainian army defending a massive Russian push for the city for several months.

Deputy Defense Minister Hanna Malyar reported new reinforcements were sent to Bakhmut on Feb. 28. She emphasized that the defense of the city was a military, not political decision.

On March 1, Ukraines Operational Command East spokesman Serhii Cherevatyi said the withdrawal of the Ukrainian troops from Bakhmut has not been decided.

On March 2, Cherevatyi said that the Ukrainian defenders were heroically defending the city and exhausting Russian troops in Bakhmut in order to prepare for better-equipped Ukrainian reserves to push the enemy back.

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Read the original article on The New Voice of Ukraine
Photo Illustration by Thomas Levinson/The Daily Beast/Reuters

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The decision by King Charles to evict Harry and Meghan from Frogmore Cottage and to move Prince Andrew in was taken in partnership with Prince William, a source has told The Daily Beast.

The source, a friend of King Charles and Camilla and the wider family, told The Daily Beast: Charles is not making these decisions in isolation. He has the support of his son and heir and is working in partnership with him. They are a unit and are closer than ever.

The decision to evict Harry and Meghan from Frogmore Cottage has also brought into sharper focus the uncertainty around their attendance at Charles coronation, due to take place in just over two months.

Harry and Meghan: Yes, We Are Getting The Boot From Frogmore Cottage

The Daily Beast understands that Harry and Meghan will still be invited to the coronation, and that the family and officials are still acting under the assumption they will be there.

But Harry suggested in an interview to promote his book that he would only attend if he received an apology for the way he says he and Meghan were treated by the family. Friends of the royals have scoffed at this suggestion, saying the royals firmly believe they have nothing to apologize for.

The friend reiterated this, saying: It is clearly entirely up to them if they accept the invite. Plans are being made on the basis that they will.

Asked where the Sussexes would stay if they did come, given that their home is being packed up and has to be surrendered immediately after the Coronation, and is thus unlikely to be fit for habitation, the friend said that secure arrangements for the couple would of course be made if they chose to come.

There is no doubt, however, that the revelation that the couple are effectively being expelled from the U.K. royal estate (they could of course buy a property in the U.K. as private individuals if they so desired, but it wouldnt be slap-bang in the middle of Windsor Great Park) puts the issue of their coronation attendance in a very different light.

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Another source, an old friend of both William and Harry, who is no longer in contact with Harry, told The Daily Beast: William wont shed a tear if Harry doesnt make it. He feels utterly betrayed by Harry. Relations have never been this bad, and he hates him for what he has done to the family in the books and interviews. He will support whatever decision his dad makes but its no secret he would prefer it if he wasnt there, or, indeed, never stepped foot in England again.

Asked if comments made by King Charles in his accession address in which he said he wished to express his love for Harry and Meghan as they continue to build their lives overseas could now be seen as an order to the couple to avoid the U.K., the friend said: Youd think they would take the hint by now.

Britain's William, Prince of Wales, Catherine, Princess of Wales, Prince Harry and Meghan, the Duchess of Sussex walk outside Windsor Castle, following the passing of Britain's Queen Elizabeth, in Windsor, Britain, September 10, 2022. Peter Nicholls via Reuters

The friend said they had no idea if William and Kate would eventually move into Royal Lodge, as has been rumored in some quarters, although a palace source told The Daily Beast that William and Kate are very happy in their present accommodation, Adelaide Cottage, a four-bedroom home on the Windsor Estate. There has also been speculation that the Waleses could move into Windsor Castle itself.

Regardless of whether or not it eventually impacts the Waleses, the move by Charles to boot the Sussexes out of Frogmore Cottage has undoubtedly come as a huge blow to the couple, who made an official comment confirming they had been requested to vacate the property just hours after the reporter Omid Scobie, Harry and Meghans biographer, who is known to have excellent contacts within the Sussex organization and has at times acted as a quasi-spokesman for the couple, wrote in a Yahoo! article that the couple were appalled by the move to kick them out of the property.

It all feels very final and like a cruel punishment, a friend of the couple told Scobie. Its like [the family] want to cut them out of the picture for good.

The source, who, given Scobies close relationship with the Sussexes is likely to have given an accurate reflection of the couples state of mind, added: This is not just some random rental they keep for convenience. Every drawer is full, every closet is packed Its a real family home.

Buckingham Palace has declined to comment on the story to The Daily Beast or other media outlets, with insiders seeking to cast it as an internal family matter. Prince Williams office said they did not wish to comment, and the Sussex camp did not return emails seeking further comment.

However, The Daily Beast understands the king is acutely concerned about appearances of extravagance while a cost-of-living crisis batters Britain.

A friend of the kings this week told The Daily Beast: Charles has made it quite clear he wants to reduce the size of the royal estate. Its not a good look for a house to be sitting empty, so it can accommodate Harry and Meghan once in a blue moon.

The dramatic move by Charles to cut off his son from his U.K. abode will go a long way to dispel the perception that Charles was being weak or indulgent in reference to Harry. To make the gist even more pointed, it is said that Charles began proceedings against the couple the day after Harrys memoir Spare was published.

This decision will be a catalyst for collapse, hastening what looks like a now inevitable total dissolution of cordial relations between the two sides.

Then-Prince Charles and his sons Prince William and Prince Harry pose for photographs in Klosters, March 31, 2005. Ruben Sprich via Reuters

As a source told The Sun: Charles wanted to start after his coronation with the issues of Harry and Meghan and Andrew put to bed. The situation has dragged on far too long and he wanted to act decisively and quickly.

The royals have always preferred speaking with actions rather than words.

With this action, Charles is letting Harry, and the world, know that for whatever reasonbe it a lack of trust, a fear of effectively having a hostile chronicler living in the heart of the royal estate, or simply a matter of money as some in his camp have already claimedhe simply doesnt want Harry around any more.

By anyones standards, reaching the point where you kick your own child off the family land is a significant milestone. But it is an apt marker of the astonishing extent of the bitterness that has paved the road of resentment and division that Harry and his family continue to travel.

Read more at The Daily Beast.

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Chris Pitlik, band director at Shepard High School in Palos Heights, stands with his family after receiving the Lifetime Achievement award from the Midwest Music Festival in Lemont, which the longest running concert band festival in Illinois, according to its website. (School District 218)

Chris Pitlik has instilled his love for music in thousands of his students over the years at Shepard High School in Palos Heights, including some who credit him with their success in music careers and in life in general long after they left the Shepard band room.

Pitlik recently earned a Lifetime Achievement Award from the Midwest Music Festival late last month at the event at Lemont High School.

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Former student Bob Potsic, who now sings with the Chicago Symphony Chorus, said the award is well-deserved. Potsic gave up playing trombone at one point in high school to play sports, and when he asked to rejoin band was surprised at his welcome back.

He gave me a chance and showed me, like, yes you can do this, said Potsic, who played bass for the jazz band but wasnt then adept at reading music. It was a place where you could feel safe to be and make mistakes and learn from the mistakes. Hes the kind of teacher who pushes you really hard but also knows how to be kind and fun at the same time.

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The Midwest Music Festival honored Shepard High School band director Chris Pitlik with its Lifetime Achievement Award at the festival last weekend. (School District 218)

And hes always there to help students, even staying after school when needed, said Potsic, who went on to become a music instructor for 13 years at Andrew High School in Tinley Park and Sandburg High School in Orland Park. He now works in marketing and customer experience with Peterson Strobe Tuners, which makes equipment for professional musicians and student programs.

At the festival Feb. 24 and 25, the Shepard Wind Symphony performance earned the highest possible ratings from all three adjudicators. Pitlik received the award at the festival to the applause of his students and their parents and members of his family.

They were cheering like crazy, said Pitlik, a Shepard graduate who grew up in Alsip. To do it in front of the parents and my own students was kind of a nice thing to do, as well.

Pitliks extended music family was there too. Festival coordinator Mike Madonia is an old acquaintance who used to perform at concerts with Pitliks father. Pitlik said Madonia had watched him over the course of his whole career. Also on hand as a festival clinician was Stephen Steele, one of Pitliks teachers when he was a graduate student in music performance at Illinois State University.

It was cool to have basically three generations on stage at the same time, Pitlik said.

Pitlik credits students and parents for his longevity behind the directors podium at Shepard.

I really like the kids, he said. I like their work ethic, their kindness. They want to succeed and they work hard.

And their parents support of the band program makes a huge difference, he added.

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The Wind Symphony from Shepard High School, under the direction of Chris Pitlik, earned the highest possible from all three adjudicators at the Midwest Music Festival late last month, where Pitlick also was presented with a Lifetime Achievement award. (School District 218)

The driving force behind it all, Pitlik said, is a love of music.

I just try to have my passion for music come to the forefront, he said. I want my kids to have good, positive experiences, like I had going through school. I want them to love music the same way I love music.

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That passion has paid off in a slew of awards from contests that highlight his bands successes.

Next up, the Shepard band and choir will travel in May to a clinic at Bowling Green State University in Ohio, tour the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in Cleveland and then head to New York City to perform on the flight deck of the USS Intrepid aircraft carrier.

Shepard senior Gigi Carmenaty, leader of the bands percussion section, cant say enough about her band director.

Hes definitely helped me and not just with music, said Carmenaty, who has been playing since the fifth grade. I probably would not be the person I am without him. Hes gotten me into a bunch of leadership roles. Hes just helped me kind of find out who I am as a person and kind of guided me in the right direction.

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Though Carmenaty hopes to work in medical pediatric physical therapy after college, she said music would remain an important part of her life.

Hes very into it and I really like that, said Carmenaty. I can depend on him all the time for anything.

Janice Neumann is a freelance reporter for the Daily Southtown.
New York police officers arrest protesters after a citywide 8 p.m. curfew in the Bronx on June 4, 2020. The city has agreed to pay millions to protesters who were boxed in, pepper-sprayed and arrested by police that night. (David Dee Delgado / Getty Images)

New York City has agreed to pay at least $21,500 each to individuals who say they were boxed in, pepper-sprayed and arrested by police in the Bronx during social justice protests in the summer of 2020.

The proposed settlement with potentially more than 300 demonstrators would cost the city millions of dollars, marking one of the highest per-person payouts in a class-action settlement over mass arrests in U.S. history, according to the lawyers who brought the suit.

A judge must approve the proposal, filed late Tuesday in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York.

The settlement is significant not only because of the size of the payout but also because it is being awarded to those whose 1st Amendment rights were violated, said Rachel Moran, founder of the Criminal and Juvenile Defense Clinic at the University of St. Thomas School of Law in Minneapolis.

It's large numbers of people who were not brutally injured, but who were peacefully protesting, and the police just illegally shut down those protests, Moran said.

According to the lawsuit, about 320 demonstrators had gathered on the night of June 4, 2020, in Mott Haven, a low-income neighborhood of mostly Black and brown residents, as racial justice protests swept the country after the killing of George Floyd by Minneapolis police.

As protesters peacefully marched through the neighborhood, police encircled and trapped the crowd by forming walls to block off both ends of a street, a tactic known as kettling." According to the lawsuit, the crowd was boxed in before the citys 8 p.m. curfew, which had been imposed several days earlier.

The lawsuit alleged that minutes after curfew began, police began to attack the crowd using batons, shields and pepper spray before arresting 312 people. Charges against everyone were dismissed by the Bronx district attorney's office.

Demonstrators were handcuffed with zip ties that often cut off their circulation and were detained for hours, the lawsuit said.

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A day after the mass arrests in Mott Haven, then-Police Commissioner Dermot Shea praised the operation and said it was executed nearly flawlessly, according to the lawsuit. Then-Mayor Bill de Blasio also defended kettling, with both leaders saying the tactic was necessary to fend off burglaries and chaos taking place in some Manhattan neighborhoods.

Among the demonstrators kettled in Mott Haven was Henry Wood, one of five plaintiffs named in the suit.

The violence unleashed upon us that night was intentional, unwarranted, and will be with me for the rest of my life. What the NYPD did, aided by the political powers of New York City, was an extreme abuse of power, Wood said in a statement. While I am relieved that we have been able to secure some monetary restitution for those of us brutalized by the NYPD that night, nothing will change what happened to us and so many others suffering under the boot of the police in America.

In a statement, the New York Police Department said that it had "re-envisioned" much of its policies and training for policing mass demonstrations after an internal review and investigations by three outside agencies, adding that it "remains committed to continually improving its practices in every way possible."

The 2020 demonstrations came during a challenging moment for the department as officers who themselves were suffering under the strains of a global pandemic did their utmost to help facilitate peoples rights to peaceful expression all while addressing acts of lawlessness including wide-scale rioting, mass chaos, violence, and destruction," the NYPD said.

The proposed settlement was filed on the eve of a New York City Council oversight hearing on the NYPD's Strategic Response Group, a crowd-control unit whose officers were involved in multiple clashes during the 2020 protests. The Police Department did not show up to the hearing.

Under the terms of the proposal, Mott Haven protesters who have not individually settled with the city and submit a claim form should receive payment by the end of the year. Some are eligible for an additional $2,500, the law firm said. Attorneys expect a judge to grant preliminary approval to the settlement in the coming days before final approval in October.

We feel very confident that the court is going to approve the settlement because it adequately recognizes the harm that these protesters face, said attorney Ali Frick.

The lawsuit in New York is one of a number of cases across the country, including in Seattle, Denver, Columbus, Ohio; Louisville, Ky.; Austin, Texas; Portland, Ore.; and other cities, where racial justice protests throughout the summer of 2020 escalated into clashes between police and crowds. Though the demonstrations were largely peaceful, leaders often pointed to incidents of unrest, burglary and vandalism to defend law enforcement agencies that were increasingly using violence against protesters.

A federal case is underway in Los Angeles, where a man and his legal team have gone to great lengths to prove allegations that an LAPD police officer had unjustly shot him in the face with a hard-foam projectile at a 2020 protest.

According to data provided to The Times, Los Angeles Police Department investigators have rejected all but about 2% of misconduct allegations out of the hundreds leveled against officers during and after the protests.

A half-dozen civil claims against Los Angeles officers have been settled before trial  costing taxpayers nearly $1.7 million to date  but always without admission of guilt or wrongdoing. A class-action lawsuit brought by Black Lives Matter Los Angeles and others remains pending, focusing more on the culpability of the city and the LAPD than on individual officers.

Times staff writer Kevin Rector contributed to this report.

This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.
France PSG Hakimi Investigation (Copyright 2023 The Associated Press. All rights reserved)

Paris Saint-Germain defender Achraf Hakimi has been indicted on rape charges, French prosecutors said Friday.

The prosecutors office in the Paris suburb of Nanterre said Hakimi was questioned on Thursday by investigators probing rape allegations. He was then indicted by an investigating judge and placed under judicial supervision.

Hakimis lawyer, Fanny Colin, said the player strongly denied accusations made against him, in a written message to The Associated Press.

Colin said her client being indicted is an obligatory step for any person being accused of rape and will allow Hakimi to defend himself by giving him access to the case. Colin also said that some elements collected by the judicial police show, according to her, that Hakimi in this case has been subjected to a racketeering attempt.

The Morocco national team player has been prohibited from contacting the alleged victim, a 24-year-old woman who says she was raped by Hakimi on Saturday at his home in a Paris suburb. Hakimi is allowed to leave French territory, prosecutors said.

The Spanish-born Hakimi is a defender who helped Morocco make World Cup history last year by becoming the first African team to reach the tournaments semifinals. He was seen training with PSG on Friday.

Prosecutors opened their preliminary investigation on Monday.

Hakimi returned to training with PSG on Friday after a minor hamstring issue, and he could be in the teams squad to play Bayern Munich on Wednesday in the Champions League.

PSG is scheduled to play Nantes at home on Saturday in the French league.

At a news conference on Friday, PSG coach Christophe Galtier said he would answer no questions of a non-sporting nature (relating to) Achraf Hakimi.

Galtier said he hoped Hakimi could train with the rest of the team to be available to play against Bayern Munich on Wednesday in the second leg of the round of 16.

The players were hard-working and serious, Galtier said when asked what the mood was like at training given the case.

Hakimi appeared on stage at the FIFA Awards in Paris on Monday. He was honored as part of the player-voted mens all-star team and was greeted by brief, loud applause when introduced.
A Hong Kong-based publisher who was arrested while preparing to release an unauthorized biography of Chinese leader Xi Jinping has been freed after serving a 10-year sentence in a south China prison.

The respected San Francisco-based rights monitoring group Dui Hua reported Thursday that Yao Wentian, 83, was released Feb. 26 and returned to his family in Hong Kong the next day.

Yao was arrested in October 2013 and served his entire sentence apart from an eight-month term reduction in Dongguan prison near the border with the semi-autonomous Chinese city. He had repeatedly been denied appeals for medical release filed by Dui Hua, but had been moved to the prison's medical facility and was allowed monthly visits from his wife, the group said in a news release.

Yao had been sentenced to 10 years and fined for smuggling common goods after he brought construction materials into China to help a friend who was refurbishing his apartment, Dui Hua said. He was accused of failing to declare the value of the goods at customs, not normally a crime punished with such a harsh sentence.

Yao's publishing of sensitive books was almost certainly the reason for his imprisonment, Dui Hua said. Reports at the time said police and customs agents appeared to have been laying in wait for Yao as he crossed the border into China with several cans of paint for a longtime friend.

An officer who answered the phone at Dongguan Prison said she was unable to provide any information about past or current prisoners and refused to confirm whether Yao had served his sentence there.

Yao could not immediately be reached for contact, and his former lawyer, Mo Shaoping, said he had had no contact with Yao and his family since his trial.

Yao's son, Yao Yongzhan, had been arrested as a student leader in Shanghai during the 1989 pro-democracy movement centered on Beijing's Tiananmen Square. He was released through Dui Hua's intervention and is now a U.S. citizen.

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Yao founded Morning Bell Press in 2006 and built a reputation publishing works by Chinese dissidents, liberal intellectuals, exiled scholars and officials ousted for political reasons.

The book that apparently sparked his arrest was Godfather of China: Xi Jinping, by veteran dissident writer Yu Jie, who fled to the U.S. in 2010 after alleged torture and harassment over his criticisms of the regime. Another book published by Morning Bell, Hu Jintao: Harmony King, about Xi's predecessor as president and Communist Party leader, had also drawn criticism from the authorities.

Yaos arrest was followed by the roundup of several other independent Hong Kong publishers, raising deep fears over Chinas trampling of the citys civil liberties that exploded into months of anti-government demonstrations in 2019.

After crushing the protests and postponing elections for the citys Legislative Council, China began a roundup of opposition figures, charging many of them under a sweeping National Security Law imposed on Hong Kong by Chinas rubber-stamp legislature, the National Peoples Congress.

In the years since Yao's arrest, Xi has eliminated all political opposition  both within the party and in dissident circles  in both mainland China and Hong Kong, eliminated term limits to make him effectively ruler-for-life and packed the party's all-powerful Politburo Standing Committee with loyal allies from earlier in his career.

He is set to be named to a third five-year term as president at the legislature's annual meeting opening Sunday.

The arrests of the Hong Kong publishers, many of them associated with once-famed Causeway Bay Books, effectively ended the publication of sometimes gossipy tell-alls about Chinese politicians that had been hugely popular, especially among visitors from mainland China, where such books are banned.

Hong Kong's publishing industry is now almost entirely under party control and the last pro-democracy newspaper, Apple Daily, was shuttered after it was raided by police and its founder, 75-year-old Jimmy Lai, imprisoned. Lai now faces collusion charges that could result in a life sentence.

Among Hong Kong publishers still detained is Gui Minhai, a naturalized Swedish citizen who was abducted from his vacation home in Thailand in 2015, apparently by Chinese agents, only to turn up months later on Chinese television confessing to his part in a deadly traffic accident.

He was rearrested while traveling by train to Beijing in the company of two Swedish diplomats and in 2020 was sentenced to 10 years in prison for illegally providing intelligence overseas."
Russian President Vladimir Putin has suggested discussing anti-terrorism security during an operational meeting with the Security Council of the Russian Federation.

Source: Kremlin-aligned news outlet RIA Novosti, citing Putin

Details: Putin said that on 3 February there was only one question, "but of great importance," regarding the measures of anti-terrorist protection of facilities run by law enforcement agencies.

The Minister of Internal Affairs should file a report on this topic.

Background:

On the morning of 2 March 2023, the governor of Russia's Bryansk Oblast that borders Ukraine, reported that a Ukrainian sabotage and reconnaissance group allegedly had entered the region, took local civilians hostage and shot at a car.

This information was quickly spread by propaganda media outlets, but controversial details had been posted then. Amidst this, rumours surfaced that Putin would hold an emergency meeting of his Security Council, but his press service denied this.

At the same time, the State Border Guard Service of Ukraine reported that the situation on the border with Russia was under control, and the information suggesting that there is some "Ukrainian reconnaissance and sabotage group" on the territory of the Russian Federation was an information provocation of the aggressor country.

Later, the so-called Russian Volunteer Corps declared that it was not a "Ukrainian reconnaissance and sabotage group", but their soldiers who entered the territory of the Russian Federation on 2 March to show that free Russian people with weapons in their hands can fight against Putin's regime.

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Putin convenes Security Council after events in Bryansk region

The agenda was focused on discussing "counter-terrorist protection of facilities."

Among other officials, the Interior Minister was scheduled to report to the council.

Read also: No evidence Putin is ready for negotiations, Secretary Blinken says

Putin recently called incidents in Bryansk Oblast a "terrorist attack" committed by "neo-Nazis and their rulers."

Russian media claimed on March 2 that a group of Ukrainian saboteurs had crossed the border into Bryansk Oblast (which borders Ukraine and Belarus), engaged in firefights, took several people hostage, and inflicted civilian casualties.

Read also: Canada sanctions Russian propagandists, singers, actors, musicians, and Wagner Group media

Furthermore, Russian propagandists spread false reports about an attack on a school bus, as well as the injury and even killing of a girl, only to deny this information later.

Read also: Russia developing new type of military operation, says Russian Defense Ministry

Ukrainian officials quickly dismissed the reports as a Russian false flag. A group called Russian Volunteer Corps (RDK) later announced on its official Telegram channel that a group of its fighters had indeed crossed the Russian border, though denied targeting any civilians or taking hostages.

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Read the original article on The New Voice of Ukraine
(Bloomberg) -- Russian President Vladimir Putin signed a decree Friday laying out new rules for tightening control of companies that fail to fulfill defense contracts in the event martial law is imposed, the latest step in the Kremlins preparations for militarizing the economy as its invasion of Ukraine stretches into a second year.

Most Read from Bloomberg

Under the decree, the state would get the power to take over firms that fail to meet their obligations under military contracts during the period of martial law, suspending the rights of owners and shareholders. A government working group is to be set up on the operations of arms companies under martial law, according to the order, the text of which was published Friday.

The Kremlin has imposed martial law in the regions of Ukraine its forces currently occupy, except Crimea. Officials have said there are no plans at present to enact it more widely despite periodic calls over the last year to do so.

Russia Tycoons Fear Tightening Kremlin Squeeze as War Drags On

After the start of the invasion last year, Russia pushed through legal changes giving the government broad powers to control companies behavior if needed, mandating what to produce and at what price. It hasnt yet used that widely, however.

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King George VI (1895 - 1952) and Queen Elizabeth (1900 - 2002) unveil the VillersABretonneux Australian National Memorial in the Somme

Putins renewed invasion of Ukraine passed its first anniversary last month with little sign of ending. A further grim milestone will soon be reached. Since February 24 2022, Russia has lost almost one million young males to the war, through both inordinately high battlefield casualty rates, and from the hundreds of thousands of young Russians who have fled forced conscription into the Russian armed forces.

The scale of the Russian battlefield casualties are wholly out of line with modern Western military expectations. The West places a premium on short, decisive war-fighting, taking great care to minimise losses. Russian military strategy, in contrast, is still largely governed by Soviet-era doctrines of human wave-style assaults with massed infantry and artillery overwhelming the opposing forces defences.

These crude tactics have evolved recently in Bakhmut to become an even blunter instrument. New Russian assault units have been created to overpower Ukrainian defences. Their new assaults have started, and are largely underwhelming. Scattered too thinly, the lack of a Russian concentration of force  in addition to superior western military equipment joining the fight over the coming weeks and months  will lead to even higher Russian casualties.

Russia began the war with approximately 150,000 men. Current estimates of Russian losses are almost 200,000 killed, wounded, and missing; an initial force turnover of 130 per cent within twelve months.

During the first few weeks of the renewed Russian offensives, between 800 and 1,000 Russians have been killed and wounded each day. Some days casualties have nudged over the 1,000 mark. Thats well in excess of 20,000 per month. To put these figures into context, these daily rates exceed even those sustained in proportion to the numbers fighting during the battle of the Somme in 1916.

Russia can only sustain these numbers if they recruit more fighting men. There are rumours of a further round of forced conscriptions to bring an additional 500,000 to the front. Putin already agreed to raise the age of conscription from 27 to 30 last year.

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Russia mobilised up to 300,000 conscripts by last autumn, and many of those will now have replenished the depleted Russian ranks. However, it is estimated that up to 700,000 Russian males fled Russia to avoid the drafts last year, terrified of being sent into Putins meatgrinder in eastern Ukraine. This takes the figure to almost one million young Russian males lost as a direct consequence of Putins ill-conceived war.

As of January 2022, one month before the war, Russia had seven and a half million fighting age males able to be conscripted. In just twelve months that figure has shrunk to six and a half million. If the war continues at present rates there wont be much of a young male Russian society left.

Robert Clark is the Director of the Defence and Security Unit at Civitas. He previously served in the British military
Russian servicemen take part in military exercises at the Uspenovskyi training ground outside the city of Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk, Russia, on September 4, 2022. Kirill Kudryavtsev/AFP via Getty Images

Several so-called "elite" Russian units have suffered heavy casualties on the battlefield in Ukraine.

Military experts told Insider that these losses are a huge blow to Moscow's combat capabilities.

It also highlights an overdependence on these units to perform difficult tasks and missions.

The Russian military has lost many of its best-trained and most-skilled soldiers in Ukraine, where casualties continue to mount after more than a year of fighting, and it is having a crippling effect on the combat power of Moscow's forces.

Multiple units long considered to be "elite" forces within the Russian military have suffered serious losses during the conflict as these forces are continually recommitted to the fight, often to carry out tasks inconsistent with their purpose.

These losses are a huge blow to Moscow's combat capabilities and highlight Russia's overdependence on these units, which have been tasked with missions that they weren't meant to carry out and are largely incapable of doing, military experts told Insider.

Britain's defense ministry shared in a late-February intelligence update that elements of Russia's 155th Naval Infantry Brigade, considered to be an elite infantry unit in the armed forces, suffered substantial casualties in recent fighting near the eastern city of Vuhledar  one of several fronts in Ukraine where Moscow is executing an offensive.

The 155th has already been forced to restaff several times, and its capabilities have been severely degraded by the fact that more-skilled fighters who were killed or wounded in combat have been replaced with inexperienced and newly mobilized soldiers.

The 155th is only the latest so-called "elite" Russian unit to face serious setbacks on the battlefield. Within the first few weeks of Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine, an elite airborne force known as the VDV took heavy losses at the center of Moscow's offensive. And months later, the commandos of the GRU's 3rd Guards Spetsnaz Brigade, some of the most skilled troops that Moscow has, suffered causalities during fighting in the eastern Ukrainian city of Lyman.

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An abandoned Russian military tank left in the Ukrainian city of Balakliia after Russian Forces withdrew from the Kharkiv region on September 15, 2022. Metin Aktas/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images

Another so-called elite Russian military unit, the 200th Separate Motor Rifle Brigade, faced so many losses in Ukraine that it was essentially wiped out and may take years to rebuild. Meanwhile, Moscow's storied 1st Guards Tank Army has been beaten in battle by Kyiv's forces on multiple occasions, limiting its future effectiveness.

An overreliance on well-trained units

All the setbacks that Russia's top units have faced in Ukraine are adding up. Beyond affecting their reputations, these losses create serious problems for Russia.

"I think it impacts the combat capability a lotthese units were better trained and better equipped," Jeffrey Edmonds, a Russia expert at the Center for Naval Analyses and former CIA military analyst, told Insider. "They've been decimated. So I think it's much more of a blow to Russia's ground force's combat power than it is to their reputations."

Russia loses critical equipment, leadership, and experience when these units endure battlefield losses. And at this point, Edmonds said, there's enough evidence to point to the fact that Russia's military was not as well trained at a tactical level as many anticipated.

"Calling them elite  it's clear they were not as well trained as they could have been, but a lot of those guys were wiped out in the first couple weeks," he said. "I mean, they've lost a lot since then  even more. But the initial shock of that was pretty severe."

Russian soldiers in St. Petersburg on August 25, 2022. Photo by OLGA MALTSEVA/AFP via Getty Images

The failures of these better-trained units underscores a huge problem for the Russian military, in that Moscow has relied on these fighters to carry out specific tasks that they can't do, Marina Miron, a postdoctoral researcher at King's College London's Department of War Studies, told Insider.

These units have lacked the necessary logistical infrastructure, manpower, capabilities, and overall support to required to be successful, she said.

"The problem here is that they're asked to do something which is, let's say, above their pay grade," Miron said. "So essentially, it's a kind of military strategic problem because you are using your elite units for a task where it's very unlikely that there will be enough capability to solve this task, and you are still sending them."

Britain's defense ministry said the 155th Naval Infantry Brigade has been at the front of some of Russia's most "costly" offensives and has been tasked with undertaking some of the most difficult tactical missions throughout the war. As a regular presence on the front lines, this unit has suffered very high casualties.

'A much-less capable force'

Miron said this strategy appears to be evident in the Wagner Group, a Kremlin-linked mercenary organization that has played a key role in fighting around the eastern Ukrainian city of Bakhmut. Tens of thousands of Wagner fighters  including recruited prisoners  have been sent to wage war in Ukraine, where they have been rushed to the front lines to absorb heavy Ukrainian fire alongside newly mobilized Russian troops.

Wagner is playing the "same role" in that its fighters are faced with solving "those dirty tasks on the battlefield that nobody wants to do" because it can expend people, Miron said, calling these forces "basically cannon fodder to send to the front lines."

Ukrainian soldiers scavenge an abandoned Russian T-90A tank in Kyrylivka, in the recently retaken area near Kharkiv, on September 30, 2022. YASUYOSHI CHIBA/AFP via Getty Images

And like the regular Russian military, Wagner has also suffered extremely high causalities  Western intelligence estimates that up to 200,000 Russian-linked forces have been killed or wounded on the battlefield.

"I think it's not the fault of the unit itself, but of those who are in higher military echelons who are making those decisions," Miron added. Russia's military leadership has at times faced criticism and even domestic outrage over its decision-making.

Going forward, Edmonds said, it will be difficult for Russia to create well-trained units because it does not have the time or infrastructure in place  traditionally, Russian soldiers are trained once they get to their units.

"If your unit is in Ukraine, your expectation of training is probably pretty low," he said. "You're just going to be deployed into combat with very little experience, and most of the people that had experience are dead. So it just, in general, makes it a much-less capable force."

Colin Kahl, the under secretary of defense for policy at the Pentagon, said this week that "Russia has lost," arguing that it "will emerge from this conflict a shattered military power."

Read the original article on Business Insider
A day after the Nashville District Attorney's Office released surveillance footage of Shelby County corrections officers chasing, punching, kicking and kneeling on the back of a naked inmate who had escaped his cell, questions about the incident remain unanswered on Friday.

Surveillance footage, released Thursday afternoon, showed officers at the Shelby County Jail opening cell doors and giving the people inside what appeared to be boxed meals. When they reached Gershun Freeman's cell, he ran at the officers  biting one of them, according to the Shelby County Sheriff's Office  and other officers rushed into the corridor and appear to punch, kick, pepper spray and hit Freeman with the canister of pepper spray.

Freeman eventually escaped the group of about 10 officers before running up an escalator, where an officer pushed him to a wall. That officer was later joined by others, who brought Freeman to the ground and attempted to handcuff him.

After Freeman was handcuffed, an officer kneeled on his back for nearly six minutes. Medical staff eventually arrived and began performing CPR, but Freeman was declared dead in the jail at the age of 33.

An autopsy report indicated Freeman suffered from psychosis and was also recovering from a stab wound on his back before the altercation with corrections officers. The cause of death was listed as homicide, though the report said that "is not meant to definitively indicate criminal intent.

Keith Taylor is an adjunct assistant professor at the John Jay College of Criminal Justice and former assistant commissioner for the New York Department of Correction.

After seeing the footage, Keith Taylor  an adjunct assistant professor at John Jay College of Criminal Justice and a former New York City Department of Correction assistant commissioner  said one of the pivotal questions to be asked going forward is why Freeman was in a cell instead of receiving psychiatric and medical assistance.

"Usually the way that prisoners are determined to placed in housing  that classification system considers their prior actions or experiences with the criminal justice system, their mental health, their physical condition," Taylor said. "My immediate question when looking at that situation is, if this individual was a serious threat to himself or others, would it not be appropriate to have him receiving medical treatment, or psychiatric treatment?"

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Friday morning, Taylor spoke with a CA reporter about some of the best practices for corrections officers to employ when someone has been jailed and experiences a mental health crisis. He pointed to a number of areas for concern in the video, but also acknowledged Freeman was "clearly not complying" with officers and was "willing and able to attack" the officers, despite his vulnerable mental and physical state.

Among the concerns for Taylor is when an officer could be seen kneeling on Freeman's back for almost six minutes after he had been handcuffed, but even that moment is shaded in the nuance of correctional officer policy.

"When [Freeman] suddenly did stop [moving], and they were able to get him on the ground and start that process for cuffing him and securing him until medical arrives, the amount of time that corrections officer is on his back is a concern," he said. "Given what we know about positional asphyxiation, looking at what this agency's direction and guidance to prevent asphyxiation is will be really important."

According to Taylor, although kneeling on someone's back is generally not viewed as a best practice, if it is part of the allowed techniques for jailers in Shelby County, then the corrections officers were following protocol. Taylor added that the expectations for how corrections officers use force is different from expectations placed upon police officers.

"That's why this investigation is really important to look at getting as much information as possible into the process and policies for how individuals are handled in these types of difficult situations," Taylor said. "The person kneeling on the back of this individual might have been conducting a sanctioned way of dealing with volatile inmates  if that's what the policies are  though that might not necessarily be best practices."

A screenshot from surveillance footage at 201 Poplar shows two correctional officers kneeling on Gershun Freeman's back. One officer would keep his knee on Freeman's back for almost six minutes.

The Shelby County Sheriff's Office, which operates the jail, does not publicly provide its policy handbook online and SCSO declined to provide a copy when a CA reporter requested one Friday. A public records request was later put in for a copy, but that request was not fulfilled at the time of publication.

Shelby County Sheriff Floyd Bonner, who is also a Memphis mayoral candidate, was not available Friday to speak about SCSO and jail policies, but his office told a Commercial Appeal reporter he would be open to an interview next week.

In a response to the surveillance footage's release, Bonner released a written statement on Thursday, saying he plans to wait for additional information from the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation and Nashville DA's office  which was assigned the case by the Shelby County District Attorney's Office to avoid conflicts of interest  before "taking further administrative action."

"According to the Medical Examiner, Mr. Gershun Freeman suffered from psychosis and cardiovascular disease and died of a heart attack while being restrained," Bonner said in the Thursday statement. "It is unfortunate that parts of the video are being shown out of context because the full video does show the erratic and violent behavior that led to the need to restrain Mr. Freeman. These corrections officers deserve a fair review of this case, and I will wait for additional information from the TBI and the investigating DA before taking further administrative action."

SCSO did not elaborate on any administrative actions that have already been taken.

Freeman was arrested Oct. 1, 2022, after he was accused of attacking, threatening and kidnapping his girlfriend. The kidnapping charge came from the woman telling investigators that Freeman forced her into a car at his home and then drove her to another location, where she was set free.

Memphis attorneys Jake Brown, Brice Timmons and civil rights attorney Ben Crump have been investigating Freeman's death on behalf of his family, but have not filed any lawsuits.

Brown, Crump and Timmons issued a joint statement Thursday, pointing to Freeman's death as another example of "brutality in the Memphis and Shelby County criminal justice systems."

"The newly released footage is visual evidence that at least 10 officers brutalized and beat Gershun to death, when he was naked and clearly suffering from a mental health crisis," the statement said. "Gershuns family thanks District Attorney Glenn Funks office for their transparency in this, and we are confident that their office will bring these officers to justice on the criminal side.

Lucas Finton is a news reporter with The Commercial Appeal. He can be reached at Lucas.Finton@commercialappeal.com and followed on Twitter @LucasFinton.

This article originally appeared on Memphis Commercial Appeal: Inmate's death after fight with jailers leaves unanswered questions
College of Lake County students will be paying approximately 7% more in tuition and fees when classes start for the fall semester in August after two consecutive school years of only minimal changes.

The schools Board of Trustees voted 4-1, with two abstentions, in favor of the increase during a regularly scheduled meeting Tuesday at the Grayslake campus to help the school deal with rising costs and a $3 million projected budget deficit.

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Cost of tuition and comprehensive fees will go from $150 per credit hour to $160.50 for in-district students, according to official documents. A full-time student taking 15 credit hours will now pay $2,407.50 rather than $2,250, making the annual cost $4,815.

College CFO Kevin Appleton said in an email after the meeting a part-time student taking six hours of classes will now pay $936 for a semester, rather than $900. Lindsey Nemcek, the schools public relations manager, said most students are part-time.

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Students who live outside the Lake County district will be charged $352.57 per credit hour when the next semester arrives rather than $329.50 they paid this semester. Nemcek said out of district students pay local tuition and fees if their home school does not offer the course they are taking.

College President Lori Suddick said at the meeting the increase in the consumer price index over the past two years is at a 20% high  7% last year, and 6% this term  making the bump necessary as costs continue to escalate.

Weve held it relatively flat through the course of the pandemic, Suddick said. Its not uncommon through the history of the college there are moments of time given these economic shifts that we have to do an adjustment at a larger level than otherwise.

Suddick said the school receives revenue from the state, property taxes and tuition. Real estate tax increases are limited by law to the lesser of the CPI increase or 5%. The rising cost of utilities, materials, supplies, technologies, vendor contracts, food and travel are all higher

All of those things are impacting the colleges budget, she said.

Despite the increased tuition and fees, Suddick said as the administration and board continue to work on the budget for the 2024 fiscal year starting July 1, other adjustments must be made to balance the spending plan.

Even with the passage of these increases in fees, we are sitting with a $3 million budget gap which well need to address, she said.

Appleton said in the email increases in federal and state student financial aid like Pell or MAP (Monetary Assistance Program) grants for those who qualify will likely offset the cost of the increase.

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For those students who qualify, (the grants) would cover these costs and still provide these students a refund, Appleton said.

Along with the state and federal grants, Appleton said a variety of opportunities continue to exist for students who need to find ways to finance their education at the college, like scholarships and jobs.

CLC provides our students and community with improving technology and increasing student support, including student employment opportunities and emergency scholarships to help with unexpected expenses, he said.

After Suddick explained the reason for the tuition hike to the trustees, there was no debate among them except for Trustee Gerri Songer who cast the lone no vote.

I think its too much, nay, Songer said.

Trustees Amanda Howland, Julie Shroka, Torrie Newsome and Paul Virgilio voted for the hike, while trustees Matthew Stanton and Robert Tomei abstained.
TikTok

A white woman who was captured in a viral video spewing angry anti-immigrant, anti-Spanish bile in a Philadelphia-area pizzeria has been charged with ethnic intimidation and harassment.

A video, originally uploaded to TikTok by @kellyflores765, received millions of views online after being reshared by multiple users.

In the clip, a white woman, identified by local authorities on Friday as Rita Bellew, stands at the counter at Amys Pizzeria speaking with Omar Quinonez, one of the owners, after apparently being triggered by a TV playing a show in Spanish.

You wanna have Spanish on your TV? she says, after detailing her familys alleged history in America. Youre not American, dude. I will look you the fuck up and get you the fuck out of our town.

Then, she demands a refund instead of taking her food.

Im not giving my money to some illegal immigrant, Bellew says disgustingly. Youre in America. Youre supposed to learn English.

Crazy freakout at Amy's Pizzeria in Pennsylvania because their TV was in Spanish.



We got to be careful though she has 4,000 followers  pic.twitter.com/QntjWl8GMH  ChudsOfTikTok (@ChudsOfTikTok) February 24, 2023

Bellew claims that having Spanish on the television is an insult to America before saying that her father was a World War II veteran and bashing Quinonez for supposedly lacking respect and being an ignoramus.

Bellew tells Quinonez that shes going to check the change he gives back to her, implying that she didnt trust him. Then, she gets into an argument with the woman filming the incident, despite telling Quinonez that she could have him deported.

This is our first Karen! the woman filming shouts to other employees and customers.

Man Yells White Power While Firing Gun Outside Florida Bar, Cops Say

On Friday, Montgomery County District Attorney Kevin Steele and Hatboro Police Chief James Gardner said they had charged Bellew, 55, for the Feb. 23 disturbance. In a press release, police said they were called to de-escalate the ordeal that involved a profane, racially fueled tirade.

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Quinonez and his wife and shop co-owner Kelyn Flores, who are Latino, told WHYY Philadelphia that business has only increased since the incident with Bellew went viral.

During a Hatboro council meeting Feb. 27, Hatboro Mayor Tim Schultz said hate has no place in his town, according to Patch.

As Mayor, representing the Borough of Hatboro, I am proud to live and work in a place where inclusivity is a top priority to its leadership, he said.

Bellew did not immediately return The Daily Beasts request for comment Friday.

Read more at The Daily Beast.

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A Rapid City man convicted for murdering his wife and mother-in-law in 1983 has been granted a new trial based on DNA testing, according to a memorandum signed by Seventh Judicial Circuit Court Judge Matt Brown.

George Luna, then-35, was convicted in 1984 of two counts of first-degree murder in the death of his estranged wife Lynn Luna and mother-in-law, Helen Thomas.

Luna was sentenced to two mandatory life sentences without parole. Since his conviction, Luna, who is now in his mid-70s, has been at the South Dakota Penitentiary in Sioux Falls. Since the murders, Luna has maintained his innocence throughout the process.

In a memorandum decision signed Feb. 28, Brown granted the motion for a new trial, but denied a subsequent writ of habitus corpus.

More: National healthcare union opposes Sanford-Fairview merger, calls South Dakota AG to action

What changed in George Luna's case?

At the scene of the crime, Lynn Luna was clutching hair in her hands.

In 1983, they didn't have DNA testing, according to John Murphy, an attorney who represents George Luna.

But, Luna and his lawyers argue that in 2016, the Minnesota Innocence Project performed DNA testing on the hair that could've belonged to another suspect in the case and not George Luna. In 2020, George Luna was granted a civil habeas corpus trial, according to the Associated Press.

Investigators kept the hairs found on scene. Murphy said those hairs were just the hair shafts, which dont have a complete nuclear DNA profile, but, enough for a mtDNA, or mitochondrial DNA, analysis.

mtDNA is different from nuclear DNA. mtDNA is circular, meaning it is only inherited from maternal lineage. Nuclear DNA is inherited from all ancestors.

Whoevers hairs they were, they had to be related through the mothers bloodline to Lynn Luna  but what it could also tell us was that those hairs definitely werent George. He was completely excluded, Murphy said. So thats where mtDNA comes in, its very helpful. It completely excludes a person, it doesnt necessarily identify another person.

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In the memorandum decision, it was indicated that the likelihood of an acquittal in a new trial would largely depend on whether Luna would be permitted to present evidence of a third-party perpetrator.

The court has also considered DNA testing conducted on other items from the scene, and the lab has identified six DNA profiles on five items. Those profiles were attributed to female contributors, with five of them attributed to the same female, court documents say.

Because those DNA profiles collected from the victims had decayed from improper preservation, its unknown whether that DNA was contributed by one of the victims or by another person.

More: 12 tons of sand, 12-hour shifts: What it takes to clear Sioux Falls' snowy streets

What happens next?

Court documents go on to say that DNA belonging to an unknown contributor has been discovered and its possible that the contributor was a female assailant.

"Yet, given the Supreme Court's prior consideration of the case and lack of female suspects, it is unlikely that the petitioner would be able to make such an argument in a new trial," court documents read.

Murphy credited the work of his DNA expert Adrienne Barranco, a senior DNA analyst with Bode Cellmark Forensics, investigators and prosecutors in the case.

The prosecutor in this case is really a rarity in that she never stood in the way. I follow these DNA cases across the country, and you often hear or read about prosecutors that at every step of the way are trying to thwart the investigation, Murphy said. ... Not only did the prosecutor not get in our way, but at every juncture she facilitated so that like my investigator and her investigator went out to the state crime lab to look through boxes.

"They went down to Rapid City (to see) evidence and look through tons of materials that have been sitting around for 40 years, trying to cooperatively find material, so that we could determine whether or not there was nuclear DNA that could conclusively prove that George was innocent," Murphy added.

Now, the case is awaiting an amended order. Once that happens, there will be a scheduled status hearing to set out next steps to get a jury trial date and so forth.

South Dakota has never had someone exonerated due to DNA evidence, according to the National Registry of Exonerations.

More: Sioux Falls roommates charged with raping 13-year-old girl, court documents show

This article originally appeared on Sioux Falls Argus Leader: George Luna granted new trial in South Dakota after DNA testing
A woman was arrested on Thursday for calling in a bomb threat to the Chewy factory in Salisbury, according to a release from the Rowan County Sheriffs Office.

Deputies said a call was made to the Human Resources department around 1:55 p.m. on Dec. 15 at the Chewy Warehouse on the 200 block of Front Creek Road, outside of Salisbury. Staff said a woman had called threatening to blow the place up and then hung up the phone.

The sheriffs office evacuated the building and searched the factory for explosives, but nothing was found.

ALSO READ: Student identified in connection with bomb threats made at local schools this week

Detectives working with the sheriffs office traced the phone call, leading them to Demetrius Dennelle Cannon from Granite Quarry and a Chewy employee.

Deputies went to Cannons home after she didnt show up for her shift at the factory and questioned her; Cannon denied making the threat.

According to the sheriffs office, investigators took her phone and other devices, searched through them, and confirmed that Cannon did make the call.

On Jan. 26, investigators got warrants for Cannons arrest for making a false bomb report and communicating threats. According to the release, deputies could not find Cannon, and she was only brought into custody after being pulled over by the Granite Quarry Police Department.

The sheriffs office said Cannon was given a $5,000 secured bond, posted it and has been released from jail.

(WATCH BELOW: Grover man pleads guilty to Capitol Hill bomb threat)




Rebel Wilson said she was banned from Disneyland on "The Daily Show." Comedy Central

Rebel Wilson said she has been banned from Disneyland for 30 days.

During an appearance on "The Daily Show," Wilson said she was banned after taking a bathroom selfie.

Wilson said Disney asked her which 30 days she didn't want to come to the park.

Rebel Wilson says she was once banned from the happiest place on Earth for taking a selfie.

"I took a photo in a secret bathroom inside Disneyland, which is illegal at Disneyland, and I got officially banned for 30 days," Wilson recently told Hasan Minhaj during an appearance on "The Daily Show" of the California theme park.

The "Pitch Perfect" star didn't share where she took the photo in the park.

Wilson said it wasn't an immediate ban, saying they seemed pretty chill about it. She said someone even reached out to her to accommodate her schedule.

"They called me up and said, 'Rebel, what 30 days do you not want to come to Disneyland because you're away filming a movie or something? And I said, 'Oh, June would be fine,'" Wilson added.

"That's how I know you're a celebrity," Minhaj responded, joking that Disneyland has Met Gala rules.

"They're like, 'No photos here,' but then you break it and then they're like, 'Look, we have to punish you, but looking at your Google calendar, what month works for you?'" he said.

Last month, Wilson became engaged at Disneyland to Australian actor and girlfriend Tamona Agruma.

Wilson first revealed their relationship in June 2022. The couple welcomed a daughter, Royce, via surrogate, in November.

You can watch Wilson discuss her Disney ban at the 2:48 mark below.

A Disney parks representative has not responded to Insider's request for comment.

Read the original article on Insider
(Mark Pernice / For The Times)

Sometimes Rabbi Joshua Franklin knows exactly what he wants to talk about in his weekly Shabbat sermons  other times, not so much. It was on one of those not-so-much days on a cold afternoon in late December that the spiritual leader of the Jewish Center of the Hamptons decided to turn to artificial intelligence.

Franklin, 38, who has dark wavy hair and a friendly vibe, knew that OpenAIs new ChatGPT program could write sonnets in the style of Shakespeare and songs in the style of Taylor Swift. Now, he wondered if it could write a sermon in the style of a rabbi.

So he gave it a prompt: Write a sermon, in the voice of a rabbi, about 1,000 words, connecting the Torah portion this week with the idea of intimacy and vulnerability, quoting Brene Brown  the bestselling author and researcher known for her work on vulnerability, shame and empathy.

The result, which he shared that evening in the synagogue's modern blond wood sanctuary and later posted on Vimeo , was a coherent if repetitive talk that many in his congregation guessed had been crafted by famous rabbis.

Youre clapping, Franklin said after revealing that the sermon hed just delivered was composed by a computer. Im terrified.

As experiments like Franklin's and the recent unsettling conversation between a tech columnist and Microsoft's new chatbot demonstrate just how eerily human-like some AI programs have become, religious thinkers and institutions are increasingly wading into the conversation around the ethical uses of a rapidly expanding technology that might one day develop a consciousness of its own  at least according to its Silicon Valley apostles. Calling upon a wide range of myths from Icarus to the Tower of Babel to the tale of the genie who can grant all our wishes with disastrous results, they are sounding an ancient warning about what happens when humans try to play God.

Before delivering the sermon ChatGPT had written, Rabbi Franklin told his congregation that what he was about to read had been plagiarized.

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Friends, he began, reading from the AI-scripted sermon, as we gather today to study the Torah portion of the week, Vayigash , let us consider the importance of developing intimacy in our relationship with others.

The robotic sermon went on to relate the story of when Joseph, the son of Jacob, was reunited with his brothers after many years. Although they had betrayed him in the past, Joseph greeted them with warmth and love.

By approaching them with openness and vulnerability hes able to heal old wounds and create deeper, more meaningful bonds with his siblings, Franklin read. This is a powerful lesson for all of us.

It was an adequate sermon, but not the one Franklin would have penned. "What was missed was the idea of how we find God in meaningful encounters with others," he said later. "How community and relationship creates God in our lives." In other words, a sense that the sermon had sprung from the lived experience of a yearning, questing, suffering human being rather than an algorithmic formula.

Its possible that spiritual leaders may one day be replaced by robots as AI continues to improve (anything is possible).

But most theologians say other ethical concerns relating to AI are more pressing. They worry about growing financial inequality as automation eliminates thousands of jobs, and they questionour ability to exercise free will as we increasingly rely on computer algorithms to make decisions for us in medicine, education, the judicial system and even how we drive our cars and what we watch on TV.

On a more existential level, the better AI becomes at mimicking human intelligence, the more it will call into question our understanding of sentience, consciousness, and what it means to be human. Do we want AI-driven robots to become our servants? Will they have feelings? And are we obliged to treat them as if they did?

These ethical dilemmas may feel new, but at their core they represent issues that faith traditions such as Judaism, Islam and Christianity have grappled with for millennia, religious leaders say.

Though religious institutions have not always behaved ethically in the past, they have centuries of experience parsing moral conundrums through the lens of their own belief systems, said the Rev. James Keenan, a Catholic theologian at Boston College.

There are certain ways you can say all these great traditions are problematic, but they also have their insights and wisdom, he said. They have a history behind them that is worth tapping into.

Since the earliest days of AI research in the 1950s, the desire to create a human-like intelligence has been compared to the legend of the golem, a mythical creature from Jewish folklore, created by powerful rabbis from mud and magic to do its masters bidding. The most famous golem is the one allegedly made by the 16th century Rabbi Judah Low ben Bezulel of Prague to protect the Jewish people from antisemitic attacks. The golem also served as an inspiration for Mary Shelleys Frankenstein.

For centuries, the idea of an animate creature made by man and lacking a divine spark or a soul has been part of the Jewish imagination. Rabbis have argued over whether a golem can be considered a person, if it could be counted in a minyan (the quorum of 10 men required for traditional Jewish public prayer), if it could be killed, and how it should be treated.

From these rabbinic discussions, an ethical stance on artificial intelligence emerged long before computers were invented, said Nachson Goltz, a law professor at Edith Cowan University in Australia who has written about the Jewish perspective on AI . While it is considered permissible to create artificial entities to assist us in our tasks, we must remember our responsibility to keep control over them, and not the other way around, he wrote.

Rabbi Eliezer Simcha Weiss, a member of the Chief Rabbinate Council of Israel, echoed this idea in a recent speech. In every story of the golem, the golem is finally destroyed or dismantled, he said. In other words, the lesson the rabbis are teaching is that anything man makes has to be controlled by man.

The rabbis also concluded that while a golem could not be considered a full person, it was still important to treat it with respect.

The way we treat these things impacts us, Goltz said. The way we treat them determines the development of our own characters and sets the future course of our own exercise of moral agency.

(Mark Pernice / For The Times)

Another cautionary tale from Jewish and Muslim folklore revolves around the djinn, a nonhuman entity made of smokeless fire that can occasionally be bound by humans and chained to their will. This is the origin of the story of the genie who can grant us anything we want, but cannot be put back in the bottle.

The stories of the genie are an example of what happens when you ask a nonhuman to grant human wishes, said Damien Williams, a professor of philosophy and data science at the University of North Carolina in Charlotte. What comes out the other side seems shocking and punitive, but if you actually trace it back, they are simply granting those desires to the fullest extent of their logical implications."

Islam provides another ethical lens through which to look at AI development. A legal maxim of Islamic jurisprudence states that repelling harm always has priority over the procurement of benefits. From this point of view, a technology that helps some people but puts others out of a job would be deemed unethical.

Most of these technologies are being designed and deployed in many cases for the sake of it, and the harms that accrue are sometimes probabilistic, said Junaid Qadir, a professor of electrical engineering at Qatar University who organized a conference on Islamic Ethics and AI. We don't know what it will be, technology has its own unintended effects.

Overall, Islamic tradition encourages a cautious approach to new technology and its uses, said Aasim Padela, a professor of emergency medicine and bioethics at the Medical College of Wisconsin.

Things that try to make you rival God are not thought of as a purpose to pursue, he said. Trying to seek immortality through a brain transfer, or to make a better body then the one youve got, those impulses are to be checked. Immortality is in the afterlife, not here.

"The Rule of St. Benedict," a book written in the sixth century as a guide to monastic life, offers an answer to questions about how we can ethically interact with AI, both now and in the future when we might encounter robots with human features, said Noreen Herzfeld, a professor of theology and computer science at St. John's University and the College of St. Benedict in Minnesota.

In the section of the book addressing the cellarer  the person in charge of the monastery's provisions  St. Benedict tells the cellarer to treat everyone who comes to him with a kind word, and to treat all the inanimate objects in his storehouse "as if they were consecrated vessels of the altar."

"To me that is something we can apply to AI," Herzfeld said. "People always come first, but we must treat AI with respect, with care, because all earthly things should be treated with respect. The way you treat things is part of what informs your own character, and informs how you treat the Earth and other human beings. "

The Catholic Church has been especially vocal in the push for an ethics of AI that benefits humanity, centers human dignity and does not have as its sole goal greater profit or the gradual replacement of people in the workplace.

Indeed, if technological progress increases inequality, it is not true progress, Pope Francis said in a November 2020 video announcing his prayer intention that robotics and artificial intelligence may always serve humankind.

The Vaticans goal is not to slow down the development of artificial intelligence, but the church does believe caution is essential, said Paolo Benanti, a Franciscan monk and one of the popes chief advisors on new technology.

On the one hand we do not want to limit any of the transformative impulses that can lead to great results for humanity; on the other hand, we know that all transformations need to have a direction, he wrote in an email. We have to be aware that if AI is not well managed, it could lead to dangerous or undesirable transformations.

To that end, Vatican leaders helped craft the Rome Call for AI Ethics , a pledge first signed in 2020 by representatives of the Pontifical Academy for Life, IBM, Microsoft and the Italian Ministry of Innovation among others to champion the creation of AI technologies that are transparent, inclusive and impartial. On Jan. 10, leaders from Jewish and Islamic communities gathered at the Vatican to add their signatures as well.

Asking technology companies to prioritize humanitarian goals rather than corporate interests may feel like an unlikely proposition, but the influence of the religious hierarchy on AI ethics shouldnt be underestimated, said Beth Singler, a professor of digital religions at the University of Zurich.

It can help the masses of believers to think critically and use their voices, she said. The more the conversation is had by significant charismatic voices like the pope, it will only increase the possibility that people can, from a grassroots level, appreciate whats going on and do something about it.

Benanti agreed.

The billions of believers who inhabit the planet can be a tremendous force for turning these values into something concrete in the development and application of AI, he said.

As for Franklin, the rabbi in the Hamptons, he said that his experiment with ChatGPT has ultimately left him feeling that the rise of AI could have an upside for humanity.

Though artificial intelligence may be able to mimic our words, and even read our emotions, what it lacks is the ability to feel our emotions, understand our pain on a physical level, and connect deeply with others, he said.

Compassion, love, empathy, thats what we do best, he said. I think that ChatGPT will force us to hone those skills and become, God willing, more human."

This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.
North America's Great Lakes. NASA

Two banned insecticides known to linger in the atmosphere have been all but eliminated from North Americas Great Lakes region, a study finds.

For once we can report something positive, Marta Venier, an environmental chemist at Indiana University and coauthor of the study, told Environmental Health News. A few of the chemicals weve been measuring for a long time are well underway to being eliminated from the atmosphere.

Scientists analyzed data from a U.S.-Canadian monitoring program that has tracked atmospheric concentrations of insecticides at several sites in the Great Lakes region. Measurements, taken every 12 days, date back to the early 1990s. Three of the insecticides studied  DDT, chlordane, and hexachlorobenzene  have persisted in the atmosphere, while two others  lindane and endosulfan  have nearly vanished. The findings were published in the journal Environmental Science and Technology.

In 2006, the EPA banned the agricultural use of lindane, which has been linked to anemia, lung cancer, and lymphoma. And in 2010, the agency began to phase out the use of endosulfan, which experts say may damage the liver and kidneys, and can, with repeated exposure, impact the brain, causing convulsions and loss of coordination.

Despite the fact that it took a very long time, all of the measures that have been enacted have worked, Venier said.

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Photo Illustration by Elizabeth Brockway/The Daily Beast

When President Joe Biden called out Republicans recently during his State of the Union for trying to cut Social Security, GOP lawmakers were so offended they literally booed and jeered the president, challenging him to name a single Republican who was targeting Social Security.

Even when the White House later enumerated many such Republicans, the GOP made a big show that Biden was unduly vilifying Republicans for proposals coming from an unserious corner of their party.

But less than a month later, lawmakers from both sides of the aisle are suddenly having very serious conversations that would, in fact, cut Social Securitywith a bipartisan group of senators quietly looking at raising the target retirement age for most Americans from 67 to 70.

Biden Trolls Republicans on Social Security After Rick Scott Puts His Foot in It

While lawmakers caution everything is preliminary, the mere idea of raising the retirement age is already sounding alarms in the Capitol.

The news, which was first reported by Semafor, comes amid heightening tensions over Social Security, as Republicans seek ways to cut government spending.

After a forceful pushback to the idea that the GOP was sizing up Social Security for a trim, it seemed like the sacred entitlement of the New Deal was on surer political footing than at any point in the last few decades. Sen. Rick Scott (R-FL), the modern-day boogeyman of Social Security, even amended his controversial plan to rescue America to exclude Social Security (and Medicare) from a proposal to sunset all federal legislation and require it to be re-passed.

But the problem for Social Security is that the political reality is running up against a practical reality: Without some sort of Social Security reform, the program is currently slated to hit a cliff in coming years. Members of Congress acknowledge the need to address the issue, but theres a reason why Social Security is called the third rail of politics.

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The reported mention of increasing the retirement age is an example why.

Even though members of the working discussions are urging people not to panic, senators are now desperately trying to downplay the prospect of changes.

Sen. Tim Kaine (D-VA) described the talks as a problem solving discussion and dubbed them as very preliminary, noting theyre yet to be socialized with the broader Senate. He said any member is welcome to join in.

To him, the primary gist of the talks, which are being led by Sens. Bill Cassidy (R-LA) and Angus King (I-ME), is about considering a new sort of fund to support retirement savings. When asked about news of the retirement age being part of the negotiations, Kaine brushed the idea aside.

People immediately rushed to that or they rushed to the tax thing. The real origin of the discussion is this new idea, he said, referring to the fund. So, every idea that anybody's ever thought of, yes, has been mentioned. But the purpose of the discussion is this new idea.

Is Mike Pence Suggesting We Get Rid of Social Security?

This new idea, according to news reports, is to create a sovereign-wealth fund stocked with $1.5 trillion in borrowed money. If the fund failed to generate an 8 percent return, according to Semafor, the maximum taxable income for Social Securitycurrently capped out around $160,000 a yearand the payroll tax rate would automatically be increased.

Sen. John Cornyn (R-TX) echoed Kaines sentiment. He described the talks as very up in the air, and suggested any sort of policy changes could be fine tuned. When asked about discussions over the retirement age, he was evasive. Theyve just presented a multitude of options and all of them can be dialed, he said.

But thats pretty irrelevant unless we have the political will to do what we need to do to save Social Security. So there have been no agreements, no commitments, just mainly listening, Cornyn added.

Its unclear how many senators are currently taking part in the working group, but the existence of any working group at all runs contrary to the platitudes Biden just recently laid out. During his State of the Union, Biden said Social Security and Medicare should be off the books. And he further elaborated by saying the way to pay for both programs was by making sure the wealthy and big corporations pay their fair share in taxes.

That proposal would also come at a political cost, as the 2017 tax reform that Republicans passed under President Donald Trump cut taxes for the wealthy and big corporationsand theres little reason to believe either party is all that serious about raising taxes. Theres even less reason to believe itd happen under the type of bitterly divided government we have now.

But as some politicians have continued to point out, Social Security faces a number of challenges. When the program was enacted in 1935, there were 45 workers for every beneficiary. Now there is only a 3-to-1 ratio, with that number projected to go to 2-to-1 by 2034.

To be sure, proponents of Social Security point out that the program isnt actually going bankrupt. And the choice to not pay Social Security is just as political of a decision as any other government spending decisiononly Social Security is supposed to be insulated from those annual spending choices of Congress.

Still, if the retirement age provision were to make it through the working group, its guaranteed to cause an uproar among congressional Democrats.

Sen. Sherrod Brown (D-OH), whos up for a tough re-election next year, told The Daily Beast that Republicans dont negotiate in good faith here, and that increasing the retirement age would equate to a cut in Social Security. He pointed toward past suggestions by Republicans to privatize the program, which Democrats have remained adamantly against.

The Wall Street Journal and these newspaper publishers that weigh in on this, or the right-wing think tanks that weigh in, and they can work til theyreIm 70they can work til theyre 70, because they got these inside jobs. But a whole lot of Americans can barely work to 60 or 65, Brown said.

Liar! Bullshit!: GOP Slaps Away Bidens Bipartisan Olive Branch

Much of the Democratic resistance to changing the retirement age predates news of the idea coming up in reform talks. Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) tweeted last month that every time she hears someone suggest raising the Social Security retirement age, I think, theres someone who didnt work construction all their life. Who didnt carry little kids around as a preschool teacher. Who didnt help patients in and out of beds as a nurse.

For others, it was a much simpler answer. Asked on Thursday if hed consider increasing the retirement age as part of Social Security reform, Sen. Raphael Warnock (D-GA) had a one-word response: No.

A common sentiment among senators, including those in and outside of the group, is that nothing is going to get done in the Senate alone. Members expressed a need for collaboration with the White House in order to make sure any deal on Social Security has support from the administration.

Unless theres a pathway to actually get the bipartisan political support and the presidents signature, then its all for [nothing], Cornyn said.

Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-IA) was doubtful actual solutions would come out of the group unless the president got involved.

Even if its a good bipartisan group with well intention, nothing is going to happen until you get the White House involved, Grassley said.

Asked about the idea of raising the retirement age in particular, Grassley gave a characteristically Grassley answer, stopping mid-walk to explain why he wont speak on any specifics.

I never give a substantive answer to Social Security because nothing you're asking me is ever going to happen unless we get a Reagan-ONeill like they did in 1983, Grassley said, referring to a deal on Social Security between President Ronald Reagan and then Speaker Tip O'Neill. (Grassley later suggested The Daily Beast reporter he was speaking with would be too young to know any of this).

Remember, they reformed Social Security. It was busted then, and because of that work, its been good for the next 60 years up to 2033. So dont ask me about this or that. Youve got to have people sit down and put everything on the table and work something out, he said.

Read more at The Daily Beast.

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Summit County Juvenile Court will hang a banner this month in honor of retired Ohio Supreme Court Chief Justice Maureen OConnor.

Maureen O'Connor

The court has a tradition of recognizing people who have had a positive impact on Summit County history during Black History and Womens History Months.

OConnor, a Summit County native, was a Summit County Common Pleas judge, Summit County prosecutor, and Ohio lieutenant governor. She was elected to the Ohio Supreme Court in 2002.

OConnor won reelection to the court in 2008 and 2010, and then became the first female chief justice in Ohio history. She retired in 2022.

Chief Justice OConnors performance on the Ohio Supreme Court was marked by innovation, courage and devotion to justice for all, Summit County Juvenile Judge Linda Tucci Teodosio said in a news release. I cant think of a more deserving person to be recognized.

OConnors banner, which will be displayed in the first floor of the juvenile court center at 650 Dan St., will be unveiled at 4:30 p.m. Tuesday, March 14. Afterward, a reception with refreshments will be held.

This article originally appeared on Akron Beacon Journal: Retired chief justice to be recongized with banner at Summit court
A Zion police officer was recently injured trying to subdue a man who attempted to flee after officers found an illegally possessed gun in his car.

Police stopped Malcom Adams, 29, of Zion, for a registration violation Tuesday in the 2300 block of Galilee. During the stop officers found Adams in illegal possession of a handgun, and he was handcuffed, authorities said.

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ZPD said he tried to run, and he and an officer fell to the ground after becoming entangled. The officer suffered a serious head injury that required an overnight hospital stay, police said.

Adams, who has a previous felony conviction, was charged with unlawful use of a weapon and aggravated fleeing, along with numerous traffic offenses. He was being held at the Lake County jail in lieu of $400,000 bail.

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Stolen car crash

Car thieves driving from police crashed into another vehicle early Wednesday, injuring its occupants, the Lake County sheriffs office reported.

The incident began at about 4:30 a.m. when Mundelein police issued an alert for a stolen Cadillac XT5 seen near the Illinois Route 45 and Route 120 intersection in Grayslake.

A sheriffs detective was in the area and was searching when he was passed by the Cadillac and a Nissan SUV that were traveling in excess of 100 mph eastbound on Route 120.

The detective activated his emergency lights and siren, but the vehicles continued east at a high rate of speed. The officer followed and as he approached the Greenleaf Street off-ramp, he saw that the Nissan had collided with a BMW X5.

The officer stopped to check on the BMW passengers, whom police said suffered minor injuries. They told police four people had run from the Nissan after the accident.

A police canine tracked them to a nearby parking lot, where police think they were picked up by another vehicle. The stolen Cadillac was later found abandoned in the 1700 block of McAree Drive in Waukegan.

The incident remains under investigation by police.

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Guilty verdict

A Waukegan man is facing the possibility of decades behind bars after recently being found guilty at trial for sex crimes committed against a child.

A Lake County jury retuned guilty verdicts in late February against Jorge Hernandez-Chirinos, 45, for predatory criminal sexual assault of a child and aggravated criminal sexual abuse, authorities said.

He was charged in 2022 after an investigation by Waukegan police and the Lake County Childrens Advocacy Center.

Lake County News Sun Twice-weekly News updates from Lake County delivered every Monday and Wednesday By submitting your email to receive this newsletter, you agree to our Subscriber Terms & Conditions and Privacy Policy >

At the trial, which began Feb. 21 and lasted four days, jurors heard from multiple witnesses including the victim, who testified that Hernandez-Chirinos had repeatedly assaulted her over a four-year period.

He is facing a prison term ranging from 15 to 127 years. Judge George Strickland is scheduled to sentence Hernandez-Chirinos on April 6. He has been held in lieu of $1 million bail since his arrest, and the judge revoked bond after the verdict.

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Our outstanding investigators, victim advocates, and prosecutors strive daily to protect children. Lake County States Attorney Eric Rinehart said. We appreciate the jurys work ... on a heart-wrenching case. Without our strong partnership with law enforcement and the bravery of this survivor, this offender may have harmed others. We will continue to ensure that the survivor receives the support she needs,

Heroin warning

Zion police said they have noted a rise in heroin-related overdose deaths in the past several weeks, and they are warning the public.

It is apparent that there is increased lethality in whatever current compound is going around and typical treatment of overdose has been ineffective in these cases, ZPD said in a Thursday social media post. This should be of grave concern if you use heroin or know someone that is struggling with addiction and heroin use.

Visit the ZPD Facebook page for links to information and services available for heroin addicts.
Reality TV star Stephen Bear has been given a prison sentence for sharing a video of him having sex with his ex-girlfriend Georgia Harrison on the subscriber-based website OnlyFans. Harrison claims that she did not consent to him sharing this video on the internet or with anyone.

On Friday (3 March), the Celebrity Big Brother winner was sentenced and jailed for 21 months after he shared a video that captured Bear and Harrison having sex on CCTV cameras in Bears garden on 2 August, 2020.

The prosecution told an earlier trial that the sex at Bears home in Loughton, Essex, was consensual but that Harrison, who has waived her right to anonymity, did not know they were being recorded.

After Bear shared the video on his OnlyFans account, he made more than 2,000 from posting the footage, the court heard on Friday.

Harrison said that when Bear originally showed her the footage, she told him never to send it to anyone and made it plain how upset she would be if he did, the prosecutor said.

Bear, who has also appeared on Ex On The Beach, had denied all charges and claimed at trial that he deleted the footage that day and had shared it with no one other than Harrison.

After Bear was found guilty last year, Harrison says she is a victim of revenge porn and hopes that her speaking out will give others the courage to seek justice and show them that they have absolutely nothing to be ashamed of.

As Bears sentence is announced, what is revenge porn, and what are the laws surrounding it?

Stephen Bear at his sentencing on 3 March 2023 (Getty Images)

What is revenge porn?

Revenge porn is the act of sharing sexually explicit images or videos of a person without that persons consent. In many cases, the images are acquired by a partner while in a relationship and then distributed without consent after a breakup, hence the name revenge. It is a criminal offence.

The private images are often shared using either social media websites such as Twitter, Facebook and YouTube, or uploaded to a range of porn websites that encourage public contributions.

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Is revenge porn illegal?

In 2015, a new criminal offence to tackle Revenge Porn was introduced in England and Wales as part of the Criminal Justice and Courts Bill.

Before the new ruling came into effect, the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) prosecutes cases around revenge porn using a range of existing laws. Sending explicit or nude images of this kind may, depending on the circumstances, be an offence under the Communications Act 2003 or the Malicious Communications Act 1988.

The 2015 offence applies both online and offline and to images which are shared electronically or in a more traditional way. So, it includes uploading material on the internet, sharing by text and e-mail, or showing someone a physical or electronic image.

It criminalises the sharing of private, sexual photographs or films. Sexual material not only covers images that show genitals but anything that a reasonable person would consider to be sexual, according to UK Governments statement on the law. This means that revenge porn could include a picture of someone who is engaged in sexual behaviour or posing in a sexually provocative way.

What is the maximum sentencing for revenge porn in England and Wales?

A person found guilty of the crime could face a sentence of up to two years in prison.

If you or someone you know has been the victim of revenge porn, you can contact the National Revenge Porn Helpline by emailing help@revengepornhelpline.org.uk.
(Bloomberg) -- President Joe Biden said hed sign Republican legislation barring the government in Washington, DC, from making changes to its own criminal code, reversing his earlier position in a move that will surely anger statehood advocates and others in the heavily Democratic city.

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At least three Democrats  Joe Manchin of West Virginia, Martin Heinrich of New Mexico and Bob Casey of Pennsylvania  are joining with all Senate Republicans in backing the resolution, giving it enough support to clear in a Senate vote that could come as early as next week.

He said that very clearly and, we heard it very loud and clear, Manchin said of Bidens announcement Thursday during a closed-door meeting with Democrats on Capitol Hill that he wont attempt to block the measure. And I clapped very loudly because I feel the same.

Washingtons crime bill reduces penalties for a variety of offenses, including carjackings, at a time when crime in the city is soaring. But the GOP effort poses a test for Biden and congressional Democrats, who are wary of interfering in the Democrat-dominated citys affairs.

And moderate Democrats running for reelection are in the tough spot of either scrapping a controversial law reducing many sentences before their 2024 campaigns or standing up for the Districts ability to govern itself.

If the Senate votes to overturn what D.C. Council did  Ill sign it, Biden tweeted after the meeting.

The White House last month opposed the Republican bill, saying that Congress should respect the District of Columbias autonomy to govern its own local affairs.

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White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre struggled to explain the presidents change of heart, and what criteria he would use to evaluate congressional efforts to overturn DC laws in the future. She declined to say what Biden considered a reasonable mandatory minimum for carjacking offenses was, broadly arguing the president was making a one-time decision based on what he saw as the best interests of Washingtonians.

The decision hes making, hes making for the people of D.C., Jean-Pierre said.

The change of course unfolds as the national discourse around crime continues to intensify. A potential harbinger for Biden and Democrats occurred this week as Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot became the citys first mayor to lose reelection since 1983. The citys crime rate factored heavily into the contest, portending that the issue could remain salient heading into 2024 races.

The GOP-led House already has approved the measure rescinding the citys criminal code changes. In the Senate, where Democrats have a one-vote majority, the resolution needs only 51 votes to clear, so Bidens decision means the sentencing code changes wont go forward.

The District of Columbia law eliminates most mandatory minimum sentences and reduces the maximum penalties for robberies, carjackings and burglaries, among other offenses.

Mayor Muriel Bowser vetoed the crime bill, and the city council overrode her on a 12-1 vote in January. Nonetheless, the mayor has resisted Congress weighing in on the local matter. Washington is a federal district and does not have voting congressional representation.

The insult of limited Home Rule is that the 700,000 DC residents and taxpaying Americans, and their duly elected officials, must endure the review and oversight of our laws by officials not elected to represent our interests or values, Bowser wrote in a Feb. 23 letter to Senate leaders.

DC Delegate Eleanor Holmes Norton told reporters at a meeting of House Democrats in Baltimore that shes very disappointed he wont veto the measure.

Two things could exist at the same time, Jean-Pierre said when asked how the president could overturn changes to D.C.s criminal code if he believes in statehood and home rule.

The president still thinks that DC should become the 51st state, Jean-Pierre said, adding, he feels as president, he has the obligation as well to keep Americas cities safe, to keep communities safe, and this is way to do that.

Asked if the president was establishing a new principle by which he would make exceptions to his belief in home rule for policies he does not like, Jean-Pierre said, I dont think its every piece of legislation. This is going to come to his desk, and he has a decision to make for the people of DC

Senator Chris Van Hollen, a Maryland Democrat, said that while he disagrees with the citys actions, Congress shouldnt substitute its judgment for that of local officials.

I respect the process and the right of the people of the District of Columbia for self determination, Van Hollen said.

But Heinrich said its important to step in at this time with crime rates so high.

This is about getting it right, he said. We all realize there is a very serious crime issue.

--With assistance from Erik Wasson, Tatyana Monnay, Steven T. Dennis, Zach C. Cohen, Jarrell Dillard and Jordan Fabian.

(Updates with Jean-Pierre comments, starting in eighth paragraph.)

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Photo Illustration by Thomas Levinson/The Daily Beast/RLJE Films

For decades, the Children of the Corn franchise has bounded through its ups, its downs, and some surprising guest starsbut if theres one thing you can often rely on, its an excellent performance from a kid on the edge.

The latest remakestranded in limbo for the past couple years after filming in Australia in 2020 during the early days of the COVID-19 pandemicdelivers on that promise with a wink and a sunflower ring. The 14-year-old Canadian actress Kate Moyer is a delight as she gleefully mows down every adult in sight. Unfortunately, she and co-star Elena Kampouris (My Big Fat Greek Wedding 2) are two of the few sweet kernels in a strained franchise extension thats otherwise kind of moldy.

The first Children of the Corn adaptation, which debuted in 1984, introduced viewers to the small corn-farming town of Gatlin, Nebraskawhere a bunch of kids had recently decided to murder all of their elders. Since then, Stephen Kings short story has stretched into an 11-film franchise with such illustrious guest stars as Naomi Watts, Eva Mendes, and David Carradine. (Dont remember them? You should have stuck around for installments 4 and 5!)

This new film does not connect to any of that prior lore. Instead, we get a convoluted origin story for our new problem child, whose vengeance is somehow even sillier than all of those who came before her.

RLJE Films

Children of the Corn (2023) opens on a baffling mass murder in a childrens home, where farmers gassed 15 orphaned children to death in order to catch one teen murderer. (Why? We never find out.) Four days after the massacre, the 12-year-old Edenwho escaped the killing and ran into the cornemerges from the rows visibly changed. Shes obsessed with the Red Queen from Alice in Wonderland now (for some reason), and she has the Kool Aid wig to back it up. Things only get stranger from there.

Moyer, who made her screen debut in 2017s It, sells the hell out of her role. Her sighs telegraph a specific kind of tween exasperation, and shes got performative boredom on lock. As Eden dances on old cars in her signature cowboy boots, it almost feels like watching the dark twin of a Taylor Swift video. It doesnt hurt that the movie around her is almost resolute in its goofinesseven (or perhaps especially) as it grasps at corn stalks for resonance.

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As far as killer-kid origin stories go, surviving a massacre of ones fellow orphans is pretty solid. Throw in some careless use of pesticides by the grown-ups, which ravages the corn that saved Edens life with fungus, and she and most of her fellow kiddos are ready to kill everyone over 18 in town. Well, almost everyone.

Is the Unrated M3GAN Cut as Wild and Raunchy as We Hoped?

While the original screen adaptation of Stephen Kings short story wisely does not show us what it looked like when its child antagonists killed all the adults in town, this one goes all-in on the idea. And then theres the films gesture at a message: As we learn early on, the adults have carelessly killed their crops with chemicals with no concerns about the consequences. One might think were in for some thin but prescient climate commentary, but nope! Instead, we get an exquisitely bizarre scene in which Eden has her child henchmen paint the rotting corn roots with blood. Extracurriculars are important!

Laying witness to all this is the horrified Boleyn Williams, who quickly becomes the one girl left in town who hasnt fallen behind Eden and our supernatural villain, He Who Walks Behind the Rows. (In this adaptation, the often unseen supernatural force is actually an embodied monster made of corn stalks.)

Actress Elena Kampouris makes Boleyns panic palpable with a tearful resignation that almost makes the proceedings feel believable. Moyer, meanwhile, keeps things campier. Sometimes, this contrast produces a gratifying tension; in other moments, like the films bonkers final act, they begin to clash. And at no point do we get any explanation for the name Boleynperhaps an off with their heads reference to call back Edens obsession with the Red Queen, whose farcical trials she even re-enacts.

RLJE Films

Speaking of clashingperhaps the biggest sin of this film is its Puritan lack of style. The original Children of the Corn featured some looks well never forgetlike Isaacs ridiculous hat and Malachais ironic shaggy hair. (I can practically hear him yelling Outlander! now.)

What is this new Children of the Corn giving us, aesthetically? Theres some flair to Edens costume design; evil girls and poofy sleeves are always a delightful combination, and that sunflower ring would be blowing up on Etsy if this movie were a viral Netflix hit. Beyond that, however, everything feels a little bland. The visuals are crisp, but too often there is little to see.

As always, there are some genuinely gratifying kills in this new Children of the Cornincluding one particularly harrowing eye-related scene that somehow outdoes Pedro Pascals brutal Game of Thrones demise. Alas, the truth now is the same as it has been for more than a decade: This franchise peaked with its first two installments, and after Children of the Corn III: Urban Harvest, return trips to Gatlin are best scheduled only for the extremely devoted.

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(Reuters) - Ripple Labs Inc said in court papers Friday that a recent U.S. Supreme Court decision supports one of its key defenses in the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission's case over the cryptocurrency XRP.

The San Francisco-based blockchain payments company said the ruling on Tuesday limiting the government's ability to levy penalties on U.S. taxpayers who fail to report foreign bank accounts emphasized that federal laws must give "fair warning" of what they prohibit.

Ripple asked U.S. District Judge Analisa Torres to consider the decision when she rules in the SEC's case accusing the company and its current and former chief executives of conducting a $1.3 billion unregistered securities offering by selling XRP, which Ripple's founders created in 2012.

Ripple and the executives have denied the allegations, and the company has argued that XRP has traded and been used as a digital currency.

The SEC has asked Torres to decide that Ripple had fair notice that XRP was a security under U.S. law. Ripple and the executives have said the question of whether or not the law was vague should go to trial.

Torres may decide a trial is unnecessary to determine whether XRP was a security, or narrow the issues that go before a jury.

A ruling in the case could further define what digital assets are considered securities in the U.S.

The case is SEC v. Ripple Labs Inc, U.S. District Court, Southern District of New York, No. 20-CV-10832.

(This story has been corrected to fix a typo in paragraph 6)

(Reporting by Jody Godoy in New York)
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis Paul Hennessy/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images

Ron DeSantis got irate with a reporter from The Times of London.

He was challenged over how his Ukraine policy would differ from President Joe Biden's.

DeSantis is rumored to be considering a 2024 presidential bid.

Ron DeSantis lost his cool with a reporter when challenged over how his policy on the war in Ukraine would differ from President Joe Biden's, amid speculation the Florida governor is poised to launch a 2024 presidential bid.

DeSantis was profiled Thursday by The Times of London, which was granted a relatively rare level of access to the Republican rising star. The Times is owned by Rupert Murdoch, whose Fox News network frequently interviews DeSantis.

David Charter, a US Editor at The Times, wrote that DeSantis showed a "flash of temper" when asked about Ukraine.

"I ask about Ukraine and he says that 'there's a critique of Biden, and I think I'm sympathetic to it in the sense that, is our policy just do whatever Zelensky wants? Or do we have a concrete idea of what we're trying to achieve exactly?'" Charter wrote.

"When I ask him how it should be handled differently, he refers to Biden being 'weak on the world stage' and failing at deterrence, but as that is not answering how it should be handled now, I ask again. DeSantis does not have anything to add: 'Perhaps you should cover some other ground? I think I've said enough.'"

In a recent appearance on Fox News, DeSantis criticized Biden after the president made a surprise visit to Kyiv to underline the US' support for Ukraine in battling Russia's unprovoked invasion.

DeSantis in the interview questioned whether Russia, which has menaced the West with nuclear weapons, posed a threat to NATO, and said China was a greater concern.

Some Republican lawmakers on the hard right of the party are stirring opposition to the Biden administration's Ukraine policy, saying that the president should be more focused on events at home.

Both DeSantis and former President Donald Trump have echoed those criticisms, but neither has spoken in much detail about how their policy would differ from Biden's.

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Trump has said he would bring the countries to the negotiating table but has not said how or what the conditions for an effective peace agreement might look like. Like other Republicans, he has called for aid to Ukraine to be cut.

Biden has pledged open-ended support for Ukraine in battling the Russian invasion but could face obstacles in getting new aid packages through Congress amid opposition in the Republican-controlled House.

Read the original article on Business Insider
The Missouri Attorney General's Office announced Friday a contractor is facing criminal charges in Greene County for allegedly defrauding two-dozen customers, most of them elderly.

Glenn M. Jessen, 53, was charged with 24 counts of deceptive business practices related to his operation of Midwest Roofing Commercial & Residential, Inc., and Overland Roof Exchange, Inc., according to a news release from the Missouri Attorney General's Office.

The release says Jessen's businesses would take upfront payments from customers to repair their roofs, gutters or siding but then they either didn't complete the work or never even started it. The consumers combined losses totaled $148,336.44.

Consumers who believe they may have been scammed by a contractor should file a complaint with the Missouri Attorney Generals Office by calling the Consumer Protection hotline at 800-392-8222 or by submitting a complaint online at ago.mo.gov.

As Attorney General, I will uphold the laws as written and defend innocent Missourians from being ripped off, said Attorney General Bailey, in a news release. Im proud of the work done by our Consumer Protection Unit every day to protect Missourians, and we will continue to use every tool at our disposal power to safeguard against deceptive business practices.An attempt to reach Jessen's companies using contact information on the Better Business Bureau website was not successful.

Editor's note: The companies listed in this article are not affiliated with Midwest Roofing located in Eldon and Springfield, nor Midwest Roofing and Supply in Springfield.

This article originally appeared on Springfield News-Leader: Missouri AG accuses contractor of bilking elderly customers
A general photo of Walkers shortbread - Jeff J Mitchell/Getty Images

The Kings shortbread maker is preparing to go vegan.

Walkers Shortbread, the 125 year-old Scottish biscuit maker and royal warrant holder, is exploring how to create a vegan version of its best-selling product in an effort to broaden its appeal.

Managing director Nicky Walker, who is a fourth-generation member of the business founding family, said: Vegan is very much something were looking at right now.

We like our product to be globally accepted, whether that means kosher, organic, gluten-free we want to have our product enjoyed by as many different factions as possible.

Founded in 1898 by Joseph Walker, Walkers shortbread is one of Scotlands best-known brands and is known for the red and black tartan on its packaging.

Walkers was granted a royal warrant to supply the late Queen Elizabeth II with shortbread in 2017. Prior to that it held a warrant for the supply of oat cakes to the late Queen Mother and the royal household.

The business makes a range of biscuits, cakes and oatcakes but is most associated with its all-butter shortbread.

Mr Walker said vegan shortbread would help the Speyside-headquartered company move with the times.

If theres an opportunity to develop the brand for certain consumers, it would be foolish not to regard and consider that, he said.

Employees work in the Walkers shortbread factory - Jeff J Mitchell/Getty Images

Developing a vegan alternative would involve finding a non-dairy alternative to butter for its shortbread.

Mr Walker said: Our company's reputation has been built on using the finest ingredients possible. We would never compromise on that, weve got to get the very best we can.

The company sells its products across the world in markets such as the USA, Canada, Australia and China.

Walkers recently cut back on the number of products it makes in a bid to make the business more efficient in the wake of Covid and staff shortages the company blamed on Brexit.

Mr Walker said: We had to build the business back up sustainably in a fashion that will hold us for the next 125 years.

He said the company was now trading above pre-Covid levels.
A prayer on the wall of one of the torture chambers

Wayne Jordash, head of the Mobile Justice Team, a collective of international investigators supporting Ukraines Office of the Prosecutor General, told CNN that his group had recently been working in the city of Kherson.

Kherson was the only regional center Russian troops had managed to capture and occupy for several months before being forced to withdraw in early November after a months-long offensive by Ukrainian forces.

Read also: Russia launches almost 40 attacks on Kherson Oblast in past day, killing three and injuring four

Ombudsman Dmytro Lubinets published a photo from one of the torture chambers in the liberated Kharkiv Oblast DMYTRO LUBINETS

These detention centers are linked, they follow a very similar, if not identical way of behaving, Jordash said.

Russian forces followed a very specific blueprint in several occupied areas, with clear patterns that point to an overarching plan of Moscows occupation of Ukraine.

Read also: Day 39 of Putin's war. Horrific details emerge of Russian army's massacre of Ukrainian civilians in Bucha, near Kyiv. Airstrikes on Odesa

After the liberation of Kyiv Oblast, corpses of local people were found there lying on the roads and streets. Many were shot  they were found with their hands tied. RONALDO SCHEMIDT/AFP VIA GETTY IMAGES

The first stage, essentially, is to detain and, in many instances, kill a category of people labelled as leaders, i.e. those who could physically resist the occupation, but also those who could culturally resist it, Jordash said.

The second stage is a sort of filtration process where the population that remains outside of the detention centers is subject to constant monitoring and filtration so that anyone whos suspected of being involved with leaders or been involved with organizing any type of resistance is also then identified and either deported to Russia or detained in the detention centers and tortured.

These methods were employed not only in Kherson but also in other areas occupied by Russian forces, such as the Kyiv suburbs of Bucha and Borodyanka. The lengthy occupation of Kherson allowed Russian forces to go even further, Jordash added.

Read also: Bodies of 27 people killed during occupation found in Mykolaiv Oblast

Rows of new graves in Irpen after liberation from occupation JOHN MOORE/GETTY IMAGES

The third stage (is) the extinguishing of permanent identity, he said.

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This can include removing the Ukrainian curriculum from schools, and confiscating objects considered to be pro-Ukrainian such as flags or t-shirts in the countrys colors. Essentially the population (is) locked down so that all traces of Ukrainian identity can be removed.

Read also: Russians shell two settlements in Kherson Oblast, three wounded, including one-year-old child

Ukrainian and International investigators also said they discovered financial links connecting these detention centers to the Russian state.

Those detention centers have financial links to the Russian state, Jordash said, citing documents uncovered by the investigators.

These financial documents, they show that the civilian administration is being financed from Russia and the civilian administration is financing the detention centers, so you have very clear patterns and very clear links.

CNN journalists noted they have not been able to independently review the documents cited by the investigation.

They also reached out to the Russian government for comment on the accusations, but have not heard back.

Jordash explained that these are the investigations preliminary findings, noting that more evidence of Russian war crimes is still being uncovered and processed.

The newly-released findings are a helpful indicator of what is happening in the territories currently occupied by Russia, or of what would happen should Moscow succeed in taking over Ukraine.

For me, what is interesting about Kherson is you really see the microcosm of the overall criminal plan, what would have happened to (the rest of) Ukraine, he asked.

Whats horrifying, as much as the torture, is the thought of what would have happened, had Russia managed to be successful in its occupation of vast areas of Ukraine.

For Jordash, a larger Russian occupation would have led to an unprecedented number of detentions, as well as cases of torture and killings.

After the liberation of the occupied territories, the Ukrainian authorities discovered numerous mass graves and evidence that the local population was tortured.

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
Russian warships

Natalia Humeniuk, Head of the Joint Coordination Press Center of the Southern Defense Forces of Ukraine, said the number of missile-carrying Russian warships had dropped to three.

Currently, the (enemy) naval group in the Black Sea consists of 15 warships, with three missile carriers, including one surface vessel and two submarines, she said.

The number of missile carriers has decreased, but the threat remains. As of now, we can say the probable maximum salvo is 16 Kalibr (cruise) missiles.

Read also: Russian invaders changing tactics in missile attacks, says NSDC head

Humeniuk added that the presence of missile carriers in the Black Sea on active duty is an immediate threat, as the missiles can be launched at any moment, and they (the Russians) are ready to use them.

The most recent massive Russian missile attack on Ukraine took place on Feb. 16. Then, the Russian military launched 36 missiles, including Kalibr cruise missiles, from warships and strategic bombers.

Ukrainian air defense forces shot down 16 of the 36 missiles that the Russians fired.

Since Feb. 16, Russia has mainly used Iranian-made Shahed flying bombs in its attacks, as well as targeting cities and towns in all regions of Ukraine with missiles.

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
Brian Horner, who teaches fourth and fifth grade at Meadow Glens Elementary School in Naperville, will learn in the spring if he's the winner of a Golden Apple Award for Excellence in Teaching. (Naperville School District / HANDOUT)

Brian Horner, a fourth- and fifth-grade teacher at Meadow Glens Elementary School in Naperville, is one of 30 Illinois finalists for the Golden Apple Award for Excellence in Teaching, the Golden Apple Foundation announced Thursday.

Different grade levels are highlighted annually, with this years finalists chosen from among those who teach in fourth through eighth grade, officials for the nonprofit foundation said.

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The award recognizes outstanding educators who make lasting and positive impacts on their students lives and in their schools. Ten award recipients will be selected from among the finalists this spring.

Horner, who teaches gifted students in Naperville School District 203, said his goal is to make his classroom feel like a family where students are safe from ridicule or bullying. The community they build helps them trust one another, he said.

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I cant tell you how much I care about them, said Horner, a Plainfield resident. We always talk about being a class family. They are my family away from my own family. We discuss endlessly that who they are matters and where they are going matters.

Now in his 24th year as an educator, Horner teaches all subjects except physical education, art and music. He encourages students to share their perspectives and culture and focuses on team-building, what empathy looks like and what it means to be a good friend, he said.

The students talk about what they have in common and what they and their families values, which is key to a student-empowered classroom rather than one centered on the teacher, Horner said. Its something he learned when attending an Illinois Gifted Conference.

Teaching curriculum is one part of being a teacher, but it isnt the only thing, he said.

Ive always been sort of intrigued by ideas and concepts which transcend the physical box of a classroom, Horner said. Straight up facts in and of themselves as they relate to learning are actually fairly uninteresting to me.

Im more interested in things that endure  in empowering our kids in terms of personal ownership of their thinking and who they will eventually become. Thats why I try to make the teaching of thinking itself as a central focus in my class.

He loves seeing his students grow, he said, and at the end of the day, everything I do is for the kids.

Curriculum will be ever-changing, Horner said. But what will never change is the need to foster persistence, creativity, empathy and generate a perpetual wonderment and awe for everything we see. And, of course, finding humor in the smallest recesses of the world.

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Horner, who is married with three children, said being named a finalist for the Golden Apple award is humbling. He said he hopes his students recall their time with him as valuable and memorable.

When his students feel safe and comfortable in the classroom community theyve created, they become fearless intellectual warriors, he said.

Golden Apple accepts nominations each year, with nominees asked to complete an application that is reviewed and scored by the selection committee.

Mr. Horner is dedicated in building students who are eternal learners, an imperative skill to face the real world, said nominator Renuga Balakrishnan, who is a mother of a student at the school. He is also not afraid to challenge the kids both academically and interpersonally, key to building resilience.

Alan Mather, president of Golden Apple, said the impact of a great teacher reaches beyond the classroom.

Their dedication to providing an engaging, high-quality learning experience for their students and commitment to creating positive outcomes in their school communities is impressive, Mather said. We are proud to highlight their important work and to honor them as finalists of the 2023 Golden Apple Award for Excellence in Teaching.

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More than 500 teachers were nominated for a Golden Apple Award. Nominations were submitted by students, former students, parents, colleagues and school administrators, Mather said.

In the next few weeks, the finalists will be visited and evaluated by a selection committee.

In the spring, the 10 award recipients will be notified by surprise visits to their classrooms. Each will receive a $5,000 cash award as well as the opportunity to take coursework at Northwestern University.

Mather said that one of Horners attributes is he makes students who have different backgrounds and experiences feel honored and special. Horner really gets to know his students, he said.

He makes them feel like they are seen, Mather said.

Michelle Mullins is a freelance reporter for the Naperville Sun.
Russia has launched a Kalibr missile in the Sea of Japan, hitting a dummy target almost 650 miles away, the countrys defence ministry said on Friday (3 March).

The missile is the same kind Vladimir Putins troops are have launched from ships and submarines in the Black Sea in their invasion of Ukraine, previously attacking multiple targets including power stations.

Footage released by the defence ministry shows the missile emerging from under the sea and hitting a target in Russias Khabarovsk region.

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By Krishn Kaushik and Simon Lewis

NEW DELHI (Reuters) - Russia cannot be allowed to wage war with impunity, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said on Friday after meeting his counterparts from India, Japan and Australia in New Delhi.

The so-called Quad group, in a statement issued after the meeting, also said that the use, or threat of use, of nuclear weapons in Ukraine was "inadmissible".

Late last month, Russian President Vladimir Putin suspended a landmark nuclear arms control treaty and threatened to resume nuclear tests.

"If we allow with impunity Russia to do what it's doing in Ukraine, then thats a message to would-be aggressors everywhere that they may be able to get away with it too," Blinken told a forum in India which was also attended by the Quad ministers.

Blinken met with counterparts from the Quad group on the sidelines of a G20 meeting in New Delhi, where ministers had traded blame over the conflict.

A day earlier in New Delhi, Blinken met Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov for the first time since the conflict in Ukraine began just over a year ago. During the brief encounter, Blinken urged Moscow to end the war and reverse its suspension of the New START nuclear treaty, a senior U.S. official said.

The Russian foreign ministry said Lavrov and Blinken spoke for less than 10 minutes and did not engage in any negotiations, Russian news agencies reported.

At the G20, the United States and its allies called on member countries to keep pressuring Russia to end the conflict, but the G20 was unable to agree a joint statement on the war due to opposition from Russia, which calls its actions a "special military operation", and China.

On Friday, European Union Foreign Policy Chief Josep Borrell urged the global community to work together. "Everybody who is abstaining in several different regions, they have to understand that we are facing something that breaks the possibility of having a world consensus," he said.

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In their statement, the Quad ministers also took a barely disguised swipe at China by denouncing actions that increase tensions in the South China Sea, and the "militarisation" of disputed territories in the area.

China has denounced the Quad as a Cold War construct and a clique "targeting other countries". The group's title is the Quadrilateral Security Dialogue, focused on strategic issues in the Indo-Pacific region.

(This story has been corrected to fix attribution to Blinken in the headline, lead paragraph and attributes to Quad statement in paragraph 2)

(Additional reporting by Tanvi Mehta and Shilpa Jamkhandikar; Writing by Miral Fahmy; Editing by Simon Cameron-Moore)
This image provided by the Ukrainian Armed Forces and taken in February 2023 shows damaged Russian tanks in a field after an attack on Vuhledar, Ukraine Ukrainian Armed Forces via AP, File

Russia lost 130 tanks during three weeks of fighting near Vuhledar, per Ukrainian officials.

The country repeated prior tactical errors that previously lost them scores of critical vehicles.

An expert of US-Soviet relations told Insider that Russia's newest offensive is "half-baked."

The largest tank battle of the Russia-Ukraine war thus far proved to be yet another humbling misstep for Russia,

Ukrainian military officials this week said that Russia lost at least 130 armored vehicles during the fighting outside the coal-mining town of Vuhledar earlier this year, according to The New York Times.

The battle saw Russia rely on an early tank tactic  one that failed the country in Bucha last year  by sending military vehicle columns straight into enemy territory where an ambush awaited.

"It is striking that they're repeating a mistake which I would have thought was an extremely painful one from which they would learn during the early days of the war," said Simon Miles, an assistant professor at Duke University's Sanford School of Public Policy and a historian of the Soviet Union and US-Soviet relations.

Photos and video from the three-week tank battle outside Vuhledar in the Donetsk region, where Russia launched its most recent offensive in January, show armored vehicles fighting against one another and being blown to pieces.

Blunders in Bucha

As Ukraine and Russia both prepared to launch new offensives in recent months, tanks  a long-important status symbol of Russia's military  might have become increasingly important, both symbolically and strategically. Russia tapped Cold War-era military vehicles for its offensive, according to The Times, in stark contrast to Ukraine, which is awaiting Western tanks from far-away allies that are expected to arrive on the battlefield in the coming months.

But long before the staggering losses in Vuhledar, Russia's tank failures were evident just weeks into the war. The country's attacks on Bucha, a suburb of Ukraine's capital city, failed to capture Kyiv and secure Putin a quick victory.

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In what grew to be a 35-mile line of armored vehicles outside Bucha in February 2022, more than 100 Russian military vehicles descended upon the town, which was the site of mass killings and several alleged atrocities over the course of a month early in the war.

The apparent convoy, which Ukrainian armed forces later said was actually 10 separate tactical battalion units belonging to Russia, according to the BBC, ultimately failed to capture Kyiv after a chaotic traffic jam forced troops to retreat.

Tactical and military experts told the outlet that Russia's initial plan relied on secrecy and speed, but Russian President Vladimir Putin's efforts to keep his schemes concealed would prove costly: Last-minute orders meant troops were left without adequate communication technology and ill-equipped to handle the cold weather. The long line of tanks drove straight into the sludge of Bucha, unable to move forward and forced to divert to clearer roads, where, with little communication between the battalions, a traffic jam ensued, according to the BBC.

At its peak, the column outside Bucha was 35 miles long with as many as 1,000 tanks, 2,400 mechanized infantry vehicles, and 10,000 personnel, the outlet reported. Ukraine found early success in blowing up bridges and dams in front of the convoy, according to the BBC, forcing the Russians to aimlessly reroute.

Russian troops, along with their tanks, began to withdraw in late March. Soon after, Ukraine defeated two of the biggest battalions present near Hostomel airport and another 370 tented army trucks were destroyed by artillery, the outlet reported, amounting to stunning early losses for Russia.

Soldiers walk amid destroyed Russian tanks in Bucha, in the outskirts of Kyiv, Ukraine, April 3, 2022. AP Photo/Rodrigo Abd, File

Lessons not learned

The battle of Vuhledar has proven similarly unsuccessful for Russia, which once again sent in columns of tanks upon which Ukrainian troops fired at a distance, hiding out of sight of the long convoy, The Times reported this week. Just like in Bucha, Russia failed to capture its intended target in Vuhledar, making the same mistake that already cost them scores of tanks a year ago.

It's one of the more egregious errors in what Miles called the "half-baked" Russian offensive playing out in Vuhledar and Ukraine's east. He said the missteps were due to Putin's growing impatience, suggesting that the Russian president fired his top general, Sergei Surovikin, in mid-January because he didn't agree with the military leader's plan, which would have seen Russia go on the defense while Ukraine launched its offensive, waiting for the second tranche of mobilized Russians to arrive on the battlefield, who are ostensibly better trained than their predecessors.

Instead, the Russians continue to make the very mistake Surovikin seemed to hope Ukraine might make: launching a premature offensive without the reserves to see it through.

The Ukrainians, meanwhile, are in a better position to absorb Russia's attacks and launch a counteroffensive, especially with the promise of more Western weapons on the way.

"I think Putin's impatience is going to cost them a lot," Miles said. "At least in terms of opportunity-cost, because the offensive is so under-prepared that they won't be able to meaningfully exploit against, or because they will be much more susceptible to the Ukrainians'."

Read the original article on Business Insider
Yuri Ihnat

In attacking our critical infrastructure, the enemy has expended much of its (long-range) missile arsenal, said Ihnat.

Read also: Russian missile attack on Zaporizhzhya kills at least 3 civilians, injures six

By now, they are grappling with a certain shortage of Kalibr and Kh-101 cruise missiles, as well as Iskander ballistic missiles. So, they have very little of these long-range precision weapons left.

The official also commented on a Russian AWACS plane recently getting damaged at a military airfield in Belarus.

Read also: Air Forces Ihnat explains why there was no missile attack on Feb. 24

Naturally, thats good news for us; (besides, our) Air Force continues to successfully shoot down Russian combat aircraft  todays downing of an enemy Su-34 jet is an example of that, Ihnat concluded.

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
MOSCOW (Reuters) - Russia said on Friday it would take measures to prevent new border incursions, a day after accusing Ukraine-backed nationalists of killing two people in a cross-border raid in southern Russia.

President Vladimir Putin said on Thursday Russia had been hit by a "terrorist attack" in the southern Bryansk region bordering Ukraine, and vowed to crush what he said was a Ukrainian sabotage group that had fired at civilians.

A Ukrainian presidential adviser accused Russia of staging the incident as a false "provocation" to justify aggression against Ukraine.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters on Friday that additional measures were being taken to protect the border.

"Of course, yesterday's terrorist attack will be investigated and measures will be taken to prevent similar events in the future," he said.

The FSB security service released video and photos of Thursday's incident showing two shot-up cars with their drivers slumped dead inside.

Putin was due to hold a regular meeting of his Security Council later on Friday.

(Reporting by Reuters; Editing by Andrew Osborn)
Marko Djurica/Reuters

GAROUA-BOULAI, CameroonKolimba* and Bissafi* were with about a dozen of their colleagues from the Forces Armees Centrafricaines (FACA), the armed forces of the Central African Republic (CAR), at a military base in the northeastern town of Beloko when armed men attacked around 5 a.m. on Jan. 21.

The attackers, from the Coalition of Patriots for Change (CPC)a fusion of major rebel groups in CARdestroyed dozens of vehicles, burned fuel stocks and razed a nearby customs office, which is on the border with Cameroon. Two mercenaries from the Russian Wagner Group deployed to CAR and at least two other civilians were killed in the incident. The local soldiers, including Kolimba and Bissafi, were lucky to escape death, simply because they hid themselves rather than take on the militants.

If we [FACA] decided to engage them in a gun battle, we would have been dead because they were more in number and better armed than us, Kolimba told The Daily Beast. The Russians who decided to take on the rebels were killed.

In recent weeks, the CPC has stepped up its attacks on the Wagner Group and FACA, targeting Russian paramilitaries and Central African soldiers stationed in communities on the border with Cameroon and Chad.

Formed in December 2020 by six armed opposition groups that sought to disrupt the 202021 Central African general election, the CPC has gone ahead to seize a number of major towns, and even got close to capturing the capital, Bangui. But the group's advance stalled after government forces, backed by Wagner Group, mounted a counteroffensive. Despite being unable to overcome the armed forces protecting the seat of government, the CPC remains a threat to FACA and Wagner troops in other parts of the country.

Russias Shadow Army Accused in Mysterious Teen Abductions

Kolimba and Bissafi, who said he was almost killed in Beloko after rebels opened fire at the vehicle he was in, were happy they survived one hellbut the two men had no idea another one soon awaited them.

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In the evening of Jan. 28, about a dozen Russian Wagner mercenaries, seeking to avenge the killing of their colleagues, allegedly ordered Kolimba and Bissafi to accompany them to the nearby Pendere village, where they believed CPC rebels were taking refuge, according to the two FACA soldiers. Once they arrived in Pendere, they said, the Russians began to burn down houses, shoot sporadically, and vandalize shops and storehouses.

Several people were killed [by the Russians], said Bissafi. "They were slaughtering people like animals."

Yassan Ndokomandji, a local hunter in Pendere, told The Daily Beast that he counted up to a dozen dead bodies littered on the streets after the incident had occurred. The victims were men, women, and children, he said.

At the heart of the village, the Wagner mercenaries manhandled a local Pendere chief, according to Kolimba and Bissafi, who said the chief was pushed to the ground before having his hands and feet tied with a CAR national flag.

Somehow, the chief untied himself while no one was watching and ran into a nearby bush, said Kolimba. When the Russians sighted him from afar running into the bush, they fired at him but the bullets missed him.

Confronting Wagner

According to Kolimba and Bissafi, the Russians then stormed a compound and marched men and womenwho were separated from their childrenout of their homes to a number of waiting pickup vehicles packed outside.

We felt for the children who were crying when their parents were forced out of their homes, so we summoned up the courage to plead with the Russians to let the men and women go, said Bissafi. Unfortunately, that was when our problems began.

Rather than listen to the plea of the local soldiers, Kolimba and Bissafi said the Wagner mercenaries turned around and accused the two men of working as spies for the rebels. Six Wagner mercenaries, they said, marched them to a nearby bush, beat them up and tied them to a tree. Hours later, under the cover of darkness, the Russians allegedly returnedand raped them.

We tried to plead for mercy but they covered our mouths with duct tape so that we wouldn't be able to talk, said Bissafi. It was a painful act I've never experienced before.

The Russians, the soldiers said, molested them for roughly half an hour, after which the Wagner mercenaries left their victims tied to the tree, with their mouths still covered with duct tape. The following morning, a hunter who was passing by saw us in our terrible situation and rescued us, said Bissafi.

In the last decade, abuses by armed actors have become common in CAR, which has been marked by instability and authoritarian rule since it gained independence from France in 1960. Following a coup in 2013, state institutions collapsed, and a civil war running along ethnic and religious divides broke out. The elections in 2016, which led to the emergence of President Faustin-Archange Touadera, signaled a milestone in efforts to rebuild state institutions, but all attempts to address the fundamental problems in CAR have failed, and the country's leaders have continued to exploit the conflict for selfish political and economic gain.

The Wagner Group, which landed in the country in 2018 to help the government fight armed rebels, have contributed in plundering the nation's resources and committing grave human rights abuses.

Survivors Say Putins Private Army Filmed Sex Assault Victims Stripped Naked

After the incident in Pendere, Kolimba and Bissafi fled to Cameroon where they now live. Their military careers, for now, have been halted. Our safety is whats important for now, said Kolimba. We fear that we may get killed if we return [to CAR].

It isn't the first time Wagner mercenaries would be accused of raping male FACA personnel. Roughly a month ago, Corbeau News Centrafrique, one of CARs best-known independent news outlets, reported that a group of Russian paramilitaries sodomized a CAR soldier in the central town of Digui in early January. The incident, according to the outlet, provoked the victims colleagues and triggered a violent clash between CAR soldiers and Wagner mercenaries, leading to the death of three Russians and four FACA soldiers.

Weve heard rumors in the past about the Russians raping FACA soldiers but we didnt really believe them at the time, said Kolimba. It was when they assaulted us that it dawned on us that what we heard in the past might have been true.

The Daily Beast reached out to Wagner boss Yevgeny Prigozhin for comments, but emails sent to Concord Management, a company majority-owned by Prigozhin, went unanswered.

There have been other reports of Russian-linked forces raping men and boys living in conflict zones. Last May, the United Nations said it had received reports about sexual violence cases against men and boys in Ukraine but feared such cases may be more common than has been officially reported because its often even harder for men and boys to report the crime.

The victims in CAR said they spoke out in the hopes that it would motivate other victims to speak out. All they want is to bring an end to the excesses of the Wagner Group.

If we dont expose these Russians, more people would fall victims, said Bissafi. Now that weve spoken out, other soldiers would be extremely careful when dealing with them.

*The names of these sources have been changed for fear of retribution.

Read more at The Daily Beast.

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A 73-year-old man was killed in his yard by a Russian shell during an attack on Sumy Oblast on March 3, the General Prosecutor's Office reported.

The man was killed in the village of Starykove in the Shostkynskyi district of the oblast, located right on the border with Russia's western Kursk Oblast.

Sumy Oblast has been subject to increased Russian attacks recently, with over 170 strikes recorded just on March 2.

The Sumy Oblast military administration reported that Russia attacked 10 communities in Sumy Oblast yesterday. No casualties were reported, but the attacks resulted in damage to numerous homes.

Since the Ukrainian military liberated Sumy Oblast in April 2022, it has been subjected to continuous shelling by Russian forces.
Russian attacks were reported in Donetsk, Kherson, Kharkiv, Sumy, Mykolaiv, Chernihiv, Zaporizhzhia, Dnipropetrovsk, and Luhansk oblasts in the east, south, and north of Ukraine.

According to local authorities, five people were killed, and 25 were wounded in the past 24 hours.

Russian attacks killed two civilians in Velyka Novosilka and injured five more in other settlements of Donetsk Oblast, Governor Pavlo Kyrylenko reported.

Russia hit 17 settlements in the region, damaging and destroying multiple houses and high-rises, according to Kyrylenko.

Russian troops struck Kherson Oblast 65 times, killing one person and injuring 17, Kherson Oblast Military Administration said on the morning of March 3.

Later the same day, the administration reported another Russian attack on Kherson, wounding a woman, as well as strikes on the villages of Tomaryne and Kozatske in Kherson Oblast that killed one man and injured two more.

Russian troops hit three districts in Kharkiv Oblast with artillery and mortars, killing a 73-year-old woman in the village of Podoly, said Oleh Syniehubov, the oblast governor.

The attacks also damaged an administrative building, a health care facility, an agricultural enterprise, and a granary in Kupiansk, according to Syniehubov.

In Dnipropetrovsk Oblast, Russian forces shelled the district of Nikopol two times overnight, according to Governor Serhii Lysak. No casualties or damages were reported.

Zaporizhzhia regional state administration reported that civilian infrastructure in 16 settlements in Zaporizhzhia Oblast was under Russian fire. Local authorities received 29 reports about damage to citizens' households and infrastructure sites due to Russian attacks.

Russian troops struck the Ochakiv community on the Black Sea coast in Mykolaiv Oblast several times on March 2-3, according to Vitalii Kim, the oblast governor.

The attacks damaged a healthcare facility and a kindergarten, but there were no casualties, Kim said.

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Overnight Russian troops used artillery, mortars, and MLRS to attack Znob-Novhorodske and Myropillia communities in Sumy Oblast bordering Russia 74 times, the regional military administration reported. The attacks damaged five houses, a shop, and a power line, it added.

Earlier on March 2, Russia fired at ten communities in Sumy Oblast, damaging multiple homes, according to the administration.

Russia also struck Makiivka and Kreminna in Luhansk Oblast with artillery, the regional state administration wrote. It didn't provide information on casualties or damage.

Russian troops hit four settlements in In Chernihiv Oblast over the past 24 hours, according to the General Staff of Ukraine's Armed Forces. It didn't provide information on casualties or damage.
FADEL SENNA - Getty Images

Russias military faced another setback on Thursday when a cargo transport plane exploded during a test, killing one person and injuring several others.

When the incident occurred, the new Il-76 Candid cargo plane was inside a hangar at the Aviastar factory in Ulyanovsk. It was undergoing pressure tests on the fuselage compartment.

At one of the assembly stages, the hermetic seal of the fuselage is checked by pumping excess pressure into the compartments, said the planes manufacturer, United Aircraft Corporation (UAC), in a statement. During these tests, a tragic incident occurred.

The IL-76MD-90A is made by Ilyushin Aviation Complex, a subsidiary of UAC. The plane is designed to transport military equipment, armed personnel, and large vehicles.

The IL-76MD-90A is an upgraded version of the iconic, Soviet-designed Il-76, one of the biggest planes in the world. Its got an improved wing structure and glass cockpit. The PS-90A-76 turbofan engines boost performance and payload while offering a more extended flight range and slashing fuel consumption.

Russia hopes to sell the new cargo plane to the Indian Air Force. India owns older models of the Il-76, which have been plagued by maintenance issues.

The Il-76 that was recently destroyed may be another sign of the challenges Russia is facing in the air war in Ukraine. Early in the war, an Ilyushin Il-76 crashed near the city of Ryazan while attempting an emergency landing during a training flight.

Bad Times for Russian Aircraft

Russias air force has had a challenging year since the invasion of Ukraine began. A recent report claims that Russia has accidentally shot down several of its own fighter jets. U.S. officials are also quoted as saying Russia is struggling to find enough pilots.

Ukraine has been using a potent mix of Western and old Soviet air defense equipment to keep Russian aircraft at bay. Kyiv claims it has destroyed 300 Russian fixed-wing aircraft and 288 helicopters.

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To evade Ukrainian air defenses, Russia has been forced to launch missile attacks while still over its own airspace. And Russian bombs and missiles have been supplemented by Iranian-made Shahed drones.

Russias Still Mighty Air Force

Despite the friendly fire incidents, Russia still wields an immense amount of airpower. The country has a mix of fighters, bombers, and attack helicopters, some left over from the former Soviet Union. In fact, Russian aircraft are still challenging American borders. The U.S. recently intercepted Russian aircraft flying off Alaska in international airspace as they approached an identification zone for two straight days.

American officials are trying to figure out ways to blunt Russian aerial attacks on Ukraine. After months of debate, the Biden administration is planning to send its advanced Patriot missile air defense system to Ukraine.



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Sergey Lavrov, Minister of Foreign Affairs of Russia, was ridiculed during his speech in India when he claimed that Russia wants to stop the war in Ukraine.

Source: European Pravda

Lavrov made a speech at a separate panel within the framework of Raisina Dialogue, the main Indian conference for geopolitics and geoeconomics. The video of Lavrov's speech was published by an Indian media outlet Firstpost. At the conference, Lavrov was asked how the invasion of Ukraine affected the Russian energy sector.

"The war, which we are trying to stop, and which was launched against us using Ukrainian people," the public laughed after this phrase but Lavrov continued after a brief pause: "of course, it influenced the policy of Russia, including energy policy. And the blunt way to describe what changed [is that] we would not anymore rely on any partners in the West."

"We would not allow them to blow [up] the pipelines again," he added, hinting at the explosions at the Nord Stream pipelines.

Oleh Nikolenko, spokesperson of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine, published a video on his Facebook page and added the following caption: "The Russian artificial intelligence for parallel import made a speech at a G20 event in India".

As it was reported, the Ministers of Foreign Affairs of the G20 states were not able to agree on a final joint declaration at the meeting in India due to a debate concerning the war in Ukraine.

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Denny Stone helps students cross the street near Longfellow Elementary School in Buffalo Grove in August 2015. The city of Park Ridge has decided to outsource crossing guards and is asking the school districts and private schools to pay more for them, but the private schools say they can't afford the city's requested contribution. (Brian O'Mahoney / Pioneer Press)

Park Ridge aldermen reconsidered the question of how to pay for school crossing guards at a Feb. 21 Committee of the Whole meeting now that three area private schools have said they will contribute some, but not all, of the money the city requested of them to pay crossing guards.

In February 2022, the city opted to hire crossing guards from a private company, Andy Frain, saying that using police officers for school crossings was too expensive.

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The two public school districts, Park Ridge-Niles Community Consolidated School District 64 and Maine Township High School District 207, have both approved intergovernmental agreements to pay for some of that cost: $99,890 and $11,018 respectively for the next two years.

Mary, Seat of Wisdom and St. Paul of the Cross schools have each offered $4,000 for their contributions while St. Andrews Lutheran School has declined participation.

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Park Ridge is requesting a total of $157,732 from the three private schools, District 64 and District 207. It will pay $146,715, about half of the overall cost, from its own coffers for upcoming two school years.

The city had asked Mary, Seat of Wisdom, to pay $19,281, St. Paul of the Cross School pay $22,035 and St. Andrews School to pay $5,509 each year for the coming two school years to help the city fund crossing guards. None of the three private schools have historically paid to have guards placed at corners. The public school districts have historically contributed to the cost of crossing guards.

St. Paul of the Cross school board president Siobhan Haugh told the council that if an offer was not made, that is because they did not have the money to pay for it.

We did what we thought we could afford, and we have never contributed before, and so in November, to have a conversation saying you have to pay $22,000 came out of nowhere for us.

Haugh also pointed out that she still pays property taxes that help fund the city and the two public school districts contribution to the program.

St. Andrews Lead Pastor Matt Hoffmann told aldermen point-blank that the school was not able to pay what the city had requested.

We just dont have the funds, he said. I wish we did its just not that easy and thats why were not able to pay. We care about our kids and whatever you decide is fine, well make sure our kids are safe.

City Manager Joe Gilmore said staff had brought the matter before aldermen in search of further guidance after receiving responses from the schools and school districts.

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It pretty much revolves around the private schools since the public school approach we previewed came to pass, he said.

Council members then found themselves debating whose responsibility it was to provide public safety, whether that responsibility differed for public versus private schools and how far they might be willing to go to ensure that the costs of the crossing guards are shared.

Mayor Marty Maloney said he had discussed the issue with a member of District 64s Board of Education, who took the position that it was the citys job to fund public safety and concluded it was fair for the city to ask schools and school districts to share the cost of the crossing guard program.

Ive been giving that [discussion] a lot of thought, he said. If we are responsible for public safety and we dont charge the schools in a cost-sharing manner is it fair to pass that along to a resident? I think it is fair that were asking for a cost-sharing agreement.

6th Ward Ald. Rick Biagi said he felt council members needed to decide whether they were willing to take crossing guards away from corners in the event that schools couldnt or wouldnt make the requested payment.

Are we prepared to pull crossing guards if we dont believe that a school is contributing to the level we want them to be, whatever that level is? he asked.

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5th Ward Ald. Charlie Melidosian said the discussion was an awkward topic.

Everyone wants [the] safety of our community and especially our children, but I question the use of tax dollars, public safety resources on private schools, he said.

I dont think theres a good solution, Melidosian continued. I just come back to, weve got to do it.

He thanked the school representatives for attending the meeting and telling aldermen what they could or could not afford.

You showing up tonight is better than just us looking at a memo and saying we decline, he said.

Gilmore said staff would bring the issue back to aldermen in two to four weeks for further discussion.
(Reuters) -Yevgeny Prigozhin, founder of Russia's Wagner mercenary force, said in a video published on Friday that the Ukrainian city of Bakhmut was "practically surrounded" by his forces and that Kyiv's forces had only one road left out.

Prigozhin's men have spearheaded the assault in eastern Ukraine for months. Moscow regards Bakhmut, which it calls by its Soviet-era name of Artyomovsk, as a useful stepping stone to seize bigger cities like Kramatorsk and Sloviansk.

Prigozhin, wearing a military uniform in the video, called on Ukrainian President Volodymr Zelenskiy to withdraw his forces from the small city.

"Units of the private military company Wagner have practically surrounded Bakhmut. Only one road is left (open to Ukrainian forces) The pincers are getting tighter," said Prigozhin.

Reuters geolocated the video to the village of Paraskoviivka, 4.3 miles (7 km) north of the centre of Bakhmut. Prigozhin announced the capture of Paraskoviivka on Feb. 17.

Prigozhin said his forces were increasingly fighting against old men and children rather than the professional Ukrainian army.

The video then showed what looked like three captured Ukrainians - an older man and two young boys - who looked frightened and asked to be allowed to go home. They looked to be speaking under extreme stress.

Prigozhin on Thursday released another video showing his fighters inside Bakhmut. Reuters geolocated the footage to the east of Bakhmut, around 1.2 miles (2 km) from the city centre.

(Reporting by ReutersWriting by Andrew OsbornEditing by Mark Trevelyan)
Rescuers continue to clear debris at the site of a rocket impact on a five-story building in Zaporizhzhya

Rescuers said they managed to uncover four bodies, and found pieces of others that have yet to be identified.

Ten people remain missing. Eight residents were injured as a result of the attack.

Russian missiles launched from a S-300 air defense system struck a five-story residential building in Zaporizhzhya in the early hours of March 2, destroying more than 10 apartments.

Read also: Russian missile strike on Zaporizhzhya kills 3, wounds 7

Earlier, four people were reported dead.

Rescuers have been clearing the rubble of the building for more than a day.

Russian invasion forces regularly strike civilian targets in Ukraine. In one of the worst such atrocities, a Russian Kh-22 anti-ship missile, which carries a one-ton high-explosive warhead, hit a nine-story apartment block in Dnipro on Jan. 14, killing 46 civilians and injuring 80.

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Read the original article on The New Voice of Ukraine
Alexander Khinshtein, a member of the State Duma of the Russian Federal Assembly [the lower chamber of the Russian parliament - ed.], has said that a vehicle belonging to the National Guard of Russia exploded after triggering a mine near the village of Sushany in Bryansk Oblast, Russia. The guards were allegedly searching for the "Ukrainian sabotage and reconnaissance group".

Source: Khinshtein on Telegram

Quote from Khinshtein: "A National Guard of Russia vehicle exploded after triggering a mine near the village of Sushany. Four National Guard personnel (three from the Bryansk Special Rapid Response Unit, a unit commander and two rank-and-file guardsmen; and one demolitions expert of the Special Rapid Response Unit) sustained minor shrapnel wounds. Their lives and health are beyond any threat now."

Details: Khinshtein shared a photo of the mine which he claimed was found near the site of the incident.

Russia claimed to have "forced out" the elusive "Ukrainian sabotage and reconnaissance group" even as the Russian Volunteer Corps has claimed responsibility for the actions attributed to the Ukrainian group.

Background:

On the morning of 2 March, the governor of Bryansk Oblast (Russia), which borders Ukraine, claimed that a Ukrainian sabotage and reconnaissance group (SRG) infiltrated the oblast, took civilians hostage and fired at a car.

The Russian propaganda media quickly latched onto this information, but different sources are sharing contradictory information. There were rumours that Putin would hold an emergency meeting of his Security Council, but his press service denied this.

At the same time, Ukraines border guards said that they controlled the situation on the border with Russia and that the allegations that a "Ukrainian reconnaissance and sabotage group" was operating in the Russian Federation was merely an informational provocation by the aggressor country.

Later, the Russian Volunteer Corps declared that it was not a "Ukrainian reconnaissance and sabotage group", but their soldiers who entered the territory of the Russian Federation on 2 March to show that free Russian people can fight against Putin's regime with weapons in their hands.

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A Russian pilot who bombed the Kharkiv TV tower has been sentenced to 12 years in prison.

Source: Security Service of Ukraine (SSU); Office of the Prosecutor General of Ukraine

Quote from SSU: "The offender is the deputy commander of a military unit belonging to the 6th Air and Air Defence Army of the Western Military District of the Russian armed forces.

On 6 March last year, he flew a Russian combat plant over the state border of Ukraine and bombed a radio and television station in Kharkiv.

It is established that the enemy used eight FAB-500 aircraft bombs, weighing 2.5 tonnes in TNT equivalent, to conduct an air attack.

The pilot was shot down by Ukrainian defenders right after he dropped the bombs. After ejecting and landing, he was arrested."

Details: Based on the evidence collected by SSU investigators, the court found him guilty of violating the laws and customs of war.

The defendant was sentenced to 12 years in prison.

The court also satisfied the civil claims of the victims, three companies, totalling more than UAH 1.1 million (US$29,740.91), the Prosecutor Generals Office notes.

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Russians launched 30 air and 6 missile attacks, as well as over 20 attacks using multiple-launch rocket systems during 3 March.

Source: General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine on Facebook, information as of 18:00 on 3 March

Details: The General Staff noted that Russian forces are focusing their main efforts on conducting offensive operations on the Kupiansk, Lyman, Bakhmut, Avdiivka and Shakhtarsk fronts.

Quote: "On the Kupiansk and Lyman fronts, Russian forces continued to conduct offensive operations in the vicinity of Bilohorivka (Luhansk Oblast) and Spirne (Donetsk Oblast), they were unsuccessful.

On the Bakhmut front, the enemy does not stop trying to surround the city of Bakhmut. During the day, our defenders repelled numerous attacks in the areas of Vasiukivka, Dubovo-Vasylivka and Bakhmut (Donetsk Oblast)...

On the Avdiivka and Shakhtarsk fronts, the enemy unsuccessfully attacked the positions of our troops near the areas of Krasnohorivka, Kamianka, Avdiivka, Marinka and Pobieda

Russian forces are on the defensive on the Zaporizhzhia and Kherson fronts, trying to improve their tactical position for offensive operations."

Details: The General Staff also reported that Ukrainian Air Forces carried out five strikes on the areas of concentration of Russian troops and equipment during the day. The defenders also shot down a Russian Su-34 aircraft and a ZALA-type UAV.

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Russians were not ready for this

Read also: Russian Defense Ministry says closure of airspace over St. Petersburg was training exercise

Later, eyewitnesses began posting videos of a fire apparently near where the explosion occurred.

The powerful blast, which happened at 21:46 local time on March 2, was also recorded by several nearby surveillance cameras.

Russian authorities have denied that any incident took place, while local residents were in a state of panic.

monmarancy/Twitter

monmarancy/Twitter

Zaratus53061801/Twitter

Zaratus53061801/Twitter

Russian media said variously that a drone had exploded in the air, the cause of the explosion was unknown, or that the blast had been the sound of a MiG fighter jet breaking the sound barrier over the town.

Read also: After a spate of drone attacks, another air defense system spotted in Moscow

Meanwhile, Ukrainians online noted the irony of having Russian citizens  living only about 100 kilometers from the Kremlin  wake up to the sound of explosions.

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Read the original article on The New Voice of Ukraine
The Russian invaders have changed their tactics of fighting around Bakhmut, focusing their efforts on squeezing the Defence Forces out of the city and temporarily abandoning attempts to encircle it.

Source: Institute for the Study of War (ISW)

Quote: "Russian forces appear to have temporarily scaled back efforts to encircle Bakhmut from the southwest as well as from the northeast and may instead be focusing on pressuring Ukrainian forces to withdraw from the city by concentrating on the northeastern offensive."

Details: Now the Russians are likely putting pressure on the Defence Forces in Bakhmut to retreat through the T0504 Highway. This, analysts suggest, will reduce the efforts of the invaders to encircle the city.

"The double envelopment of Bakhmut would likely require further manpower and equipment commitments and Russian forces may intend to avoid the further costs of a potential encirclement," the ISW report says.

Background:

On 2 March, British intelligence predicted the weather would worsen for moving around the city of Bakhmut, which would probably give an advantage to Ukrainian defenders.

In February, General Mark Milley, Chairman of the US Joint Chiefs of Staff, predicted that the Ukrainian forces would not retreat from Bakhmut. Oleksii Danilov, the Secretary of National Security and Defence Council of Ukraine, stated that the Russians were losing seven times more soldiers than the Ukrainian side on the Bakhmut front.

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A Sacramento police officer faces a misdemeanor charge of vehicular manslaughter stemming from a deadly October crash in which a motorcyclist slammed into a patrol vehicle making a U-turn without its emergency lights or siren on.

A Sacramento Superior Court judge on Wednesday issued an arrest warrant for Officer Benjamin Jillson in connection with the death of 61-year-old motorcyclist Denzil Ollen Broadhurst, the Sacramento Police Department announced Thursday afternoon in a news release.

Police said the officer turned himself in at the Sacramento County Sheriffs Office, where he was booked and released. Jillson has worked for the Police Department for more than two years. Police said Jillson has been placed on administrative leave and his peace officer powers suspended.

The death of Mr. Broadhurst is a tragedy, Sacramento Police Chief Kathy Lester said in a news release, and my heart goes out to his friends and family on a devastating loss.

The department on Thursday released video of the fatal crash, which occurred shortly after 8 p.m. Oct. 31 in the area of Bell Avenue and May Street in Sacramentos Robla neighborhood. Police released an edited video with narration, body-worn camera video and video from a nearby security camera.

Dashboard camera didnt capture the crash

Sgt. Zach Eaton, a Police Department spokesman, said in the video that the patrol vehicles dashboard camera did not capture the vehicle crash. The dashboard camera video was not released Thursday.

The nearby security camera video captured a portion of the crash as the motorcycle smashed into the patrol vehicles passenger-side rear door.

That October night, the officer was driving a marked police vehicle when he received a call of a reported kidnapping that had occurred within the previous 15 minutes a few miles south in the 900 block of Eleanor Avenue.

Jillson began driving to the location of the reported kidnapping and made a U-Turn in the patrol vehicle near Bell Avenue and May Street. The security camera shows Broadhurst, driving in the opposite direction down the residential street, crash into the patrol vehicle as it made the U-turn.

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Police said the patrol vehicles emergency lights and siren were not on when the crash occurred.

After the crash, the officer got out of his patrol vehicle and turned on his body-worn camera as he approached Broadhurst, who lay on the ground injured. Jillson radioed dispatchers, reporting the crash and asking for medics from the Sacramento Fire Department.

The body-camera video shows the officer asking Broadhurst to remain still as he tried to examine the motorcyclist for any apparent injuries.

Sir? Sir, can you hear me, the officer asked Broadhurst, who was wearing a helmet and clothing with reflective strips. Sir, can you tell me your name?

Broadhurst doesnt appear to respond to the officers questions in the video. He continues to remain motionless on the street. The officer then requests at least one more patrol unit to help close the road to traffic.

Sir, stay with me, alright, Jillson told the motorcyclist. Can you blink? Can you blink your eyes?

As the officer opened the motorcyclists jacket to look for injuries, a passerby walked up. Jillson asked the passerby if he saw what happened. The passerby said he did see what happened, so the officer asked them to stick around and wait to give a statement to other officers.

I feel a pulse. Weve got a pulse, the officer said. Just trying not to move him.

Video shows damage to patrol car

At that moment, it appears that Jillson walked away from the injured motorcyclist and went to the patrol vehicle to turn on his emergency lights as sirens from other patrol vehicles could be heard approaching the crash site.

Two other officers arrived, and Jillson told them about the witness at the scene and the motorcyclists condition. The officers then told Jillson to wait in his patrol vehicle as they took over providing immediate care to Broadhurst.

The video shows Jillson walk over to the patrol vehicle, and the rear passenger-side door was smashed in from the impact of the crash.

Detectives from the departments Major Collision Investigations Unit and crime scene investigators responded to the scene and began conducting an investigation.

Based on the investigation findings, the Police Department determined the facts supported a misdemeanor charge of vehicular manslaughter. The Sacramento County District Attorneys Office reviewed the investigation and concurred with those findings.

An investigation by The Sacramento Bee published Oct. 29 revealed dangerous police chases were on the rise in California, especially in Sacramento. The investigation found that Sacramento police had the highest vehicle pursuit rate in the state.

In December, the Police Department announced a department wide Traffic Safety Stay initiative, which created a Safety Management Team tasked with reviewing data, training, best practices, policy, and department culture related to driving.

Police said officers and their managers continue to have conversations about traffic safety and trends, and the department asked the citys Risk Management department for input on current police practices.
By Victoria Klesty and Nora Buli

OSLO (Reuters) - Hundreds of Indigenous and environmental campaigners, including Greta Thunberg, blocked the main road to Norway's royal palace on Friday as they ended their nine-day protest to tear down wind turbines built on reindeer pastures used by Sami herders.

Demonstrators had urged government action after Norway's supreme court ruled in 2021 that 151 turbines erected at Fosen in central Norway violated Sami rights under international conventions, but remained in operation 17 months later.

Saying that a transition to green energy should not come at the expense of Indigenous rights, protesters blocked access to several ministries, putting the centre-left minority government in crisis mode.

On Thursday the government apologised to Sami groups for the construction of the turbines, part of a complex that is Europe's largest onshore wind farm, calling it a "human rights violation", while also urging a solution allowing power output.

"It's good to get an apology but that doesn't in itself give our animals any more grazing lands," Terje Haugen, one of the affected reindeer herders, told reporters after meeting the prime minister on Friday.

While hundreds protested in front of the royal palace, as ministers met King Harald for their weekly cabinet meeting, hundreds more demonstrated in front of parliament, waving Sami flags and some wearing their traditional gakti inside out in protest.

"We have made the government take responsibility for the ongoing violations of human rights and apologise," Sami artist and campaigner Ella Marie Haetta Isaksen told Reuters.

"I hope the government will learn from this and that we can get guarantees that it will never happen again."

The supreme court ruling in the Fosen case affects other projects under development - be it mines, power lines or wind farms - as vast swathes of territory are used by Sami herders as reindeer pastures, particularly in central and northern Norway.

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"This case is bigger than just Fosen," Christian Rynning-Toennesen, the head of utility Statkraft and the operator of one of the affected wind farms, told reporters on Thursday.

"What kind of process should one have for all of these areas? So it's very important to get some precise agreements on what kind of rules should apply."

(Writing by Gwladys Fouche; Editing by Chizu Nomiyama)
Sarah Ferguson has claimed that Queen Elizabeth II was very relieved to have her help with Prince Andrew as the disgraced royal navigated his sex abuse scandal.

The Duchess of York, who was married to the Duke of York from 1986 to 1996, opened up about her relationship with her ex-husband, and how the late monarch felt about her continued support, during an interview with The Telegraph.

According to Ferguson, who shares daughters Princess Eugenie and Princess Beatrice with Prince Andrew, the Queen knew that she would always be there for her son, which made her relationship with her former daughter-in-law only grow closer.

She knew. I will always be there. Always. Because I love her, Ferguson said of her dedication to the late Queen, and her unwavering support for her ex-husband.

The duchess also spoke of her gratitude to have had even a minute of HMs time, before claiming that the late ruler was also grateful for her.

Because also, during the last three years, her poor son [Prince Andrew] has been going through such a tumultuous time, and I think HM was very relieved I could help her with him, so we became even closer, then, Ferguson said.

But Ive always admired and adored her. Really, she was more of a mother to me than my mother, she added.

In addition to her commitment to the Queen, Fergusons support for her ex-husband is born out of a desire to protect her family from harm.

When asked whether the last three years have made her family closer, the duchess offered a scenario to compare, with Ferguson asking the interviewer how shed feel if her daughter fell over at school.

You want to say: Get up, come on, its fine! You dont want her to be hurting. And I think its really sad to see what Andrew has been through, she said.

During the interview, Ferguson, who still lives at Royal Lodge with her ex-husband when in the UK, also spoke candidly about their divorce and their relationship now.

According to the A Most Intriguing Lady author, she and the royal have an amazing mutual understanding of one another, which she said has always been a characteristic of their relationship.

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Also, we both hate confrontation, she added.

Ferguson, who then reflected on the years of criticism she faced at the hands of the British tabloids, also discussed the importance of perception, and how it applies to her ex-husband.

According to the duchess, in the past, when Andrew went through a hard time, she used to be able to throw it to The Boss, an option that is no longer possible after the Queens death in September 2022.

Perception is so important. It can make or break someone. And Im living with someone - at least when Im in England and lucky enough to be a guest at Royal Lodge - and I see what that perception has done to a very kind man. I really mean that, she said.

The duchess did not comment on reports that Prince Andrew has been offered Prince Harry and Meghan Markles UK home Frogmore Cottage amid rumours he is set to be forced out of Royal Lodge, which he has occupied since 2003.

This is not the first time that the Duchess of York has openly defended her ex-husband, as she previously revealed that, if she could go back in time, she would still marry the Duke of York.

Oh, yes. Hes a very good and kind man. Hes a good man, she said during a June 2022 interview with Mariella Frostrup on Times Radio, before adding: And, you know, I will stand very firmly by Andrew... a very good and kind man and thats what I believe.

Andrew stepped down as a working royal over his association to pedophile Jeffrey Epstein. Last year, he reached a multi-million dollar settlement with Virginia Giuffre, who accused him of sexually abusing her while she was underage. Andrew has repeatedly denied the allegations.
Carley Jansky was sworn in by Crown Point Clerk-Treasurer David Benson as the newest Crown Point Fire Rescue firefighter/paramedic during the Board of Public Works and Safety Meeting on Thursday. She is Crown Point Fire Rescues second career female firefighter. - Original Credit: Photo courtesy of Crown Point (Photo courtesy of Crown Point / HANDOUT)

Crown Point has added to its public safety ranks with the hiring of a new police officer and the second female firefighter in the citys history.

Joining Crown Point Fire Rescue as a firefighter/paramedic is Carley Jansky, who grew up in Schererville where her grandfather was a volunteer firefighter for 31 years.

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Jansky is a 2018 graduate of Lake Central High School, where she earned an EMT certificate, according to a news release from the city. She previously served the Lake Hills Fire Department for four years while earning her state firefighter certifications.

In 2021, Jansky graduated from the Franciscan Health Paramedic Academy, and she has been working as a part-time paramedic for Crown Point Fire Rescue for the past three years.

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Jansky, who will wear badge No. 72, is assigned to work under the supervision of Battalion Chief Joe Ferrantella. She is the fifth firefighter hired under Mayor Peter D. Land, filling a vacancy created by a retirement.

As we were looking to expand our Crown Point Fire family, it made perfect sense to have Carley join us full time, Crown Point Fire Chief Mark Baumgarnder Jr. said. Carley has proven to be an invaluable member of our team over the past three years, and she will continue to serve the Crown Point community well.

Crown Points newest police officer is Rogelio Chavez Jr., who was sworn in by Clerk-Treasurer David Benson on Wednesday. Chavez joins the Crown Point Police Department after serving overseas with the United States Army. Chavez served in Kuwait, Iraq, Syria and Jordan. - Original Credit: Photo courtesy of Crown Point (Photo courtesy of Crown Point / HANDOUT)

Crown Points newest police officer is Rogelio Chavez Jr., who will wear badge No. 124. Also filling a vacancy caused by a retirement this year, Chavez joins the Crown Point Police Department after serving overseas with the United States Army. Chavez served in Kuwait, Iraq, Syria and Jordan, according to a statement from the city. He attended the University of Iowa before his military deployment.

Chavez is a 2018 graduate of TF South High School in Lansing, Illinois. While in high school, Chavez competed in track and cross country and volunteered with Best Buddies, a program that creates one-on-one friendships with students who have special abilities.

In his free time, Chavez volunteers at his church and works with his father at their family-owned business.

With Chavez, the Crown Point Police Department now has 49 full-time police officers.

The Crown Point Police Department is excited to welcome another new officer to our ranks, Crown Point Police Chief Ryan Patrick said. Rogelio is dedicated to serving his country and our community. He is going to be a great addition to the Crown Point Police family.

Both Chavez and Jansky were officially sworn in on March 1 at Crown Point City Hall by Clerk-Treasurer David Benson.

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Jim Masters is freelance reporter for the Post-Tribune.
Sarah Ferguson has reflected on marrying into the royal family, and how much she loved being a princess.

The 63-year-old spoke candidly about her relationship with ex-husband Prince Andrew, who she was married to from 1986 to 1996, and her experiences as a working royal during a recent interview with The Telegraph. According to the Duchess of York, through her marriage, she had the opportunity to fulfill her childhood dreams of being a princess.

Remember that the dream of every little girl is to be a princess, and I was a princess. And I loved every minute of it, Ferguson recalled.

The author, who shares daughters Princess Eugenie and Princess Beatrice with her ex, was then asked about her 1996 interview with Oprah Winfrey, when she said that royal life was not a fairy tale. In response, the duchess explained why shed felt the way she had, and how her perspective had been influenced by the late Queen Elizabeth II, who died in September.

The thing is, I had the great honour of being the Queens daughter-in-law, and therefore I couldnt not see every single second as a great learning curve, she explained.

She was then asked how she felt about her specific duties, such as getting dressed up for royal events and attending the functions. In response, Ferguson said that she loved both of those things.

Listen, if every little girls dream is to be a princess, then your job is to uphold that dream. So I dont ever want to let it down, she said.

Ferguson went on to speak positively about the royal family, and of the ways she plans to honour her former mother-in-law, whose dogs she adopted.

Its unbelievably important to uphold Her Majestys legacy, she said. And although Im not a member of the royal family any more, my values are what I believe is right  and thats what they uphold.

According to the duchess, she also passes these values onto her daughters, with Ferguson telling the outlet that she always tells Eugenie and Beatrice: Even when youre just walking out of your own front door, always smile. Uphold all that. No one wants to see a grumpy princess.

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During the interview, the duchess also opened up about her amicable split from the disgraced royal, and where they stand now.

I think we have an amazing mutual understanding of one another, she said of the Duke of York. Weve always been like that. Also, we both hate confrontation.

She also discussed the importance of perception and how it could be applied to her ex, after acknowledging that when he went through a hard time, she used to be able to turn to the Queen.

It can make or break someone. And Im living with someone - at least when Im in England and lucky enough to be a guest at Royal Lodge - and I see what that perception has done to a very kind man, she said. I really mean that.

She spoke about her ongoing support for Andrew, with the duchess revealing that the Queen was very relieved to have her help as they navigated his sex abuse scandal.

Andrew stepped down as a working royal over his association to pedophile Jeffrey Epstein in May 2020. Last year, he reached a a settlement with Virginia Giuffre, who accused him of sexually abusing her while she was underage. Andrew has denied the allegations on multiple occasions.

This is not the first time Ferguson has opened up about her relationships with the royal family, and specifically the Queen. During an interview with People earlier this week, she described how compassionate the monarch was and how the late ruler was so brilliant at putting others at ease.

She had the most incredible faith of any single person Ive ever met, the A Most Intriguing Lady author explained. She just knew what to do. She knew how to make people feel good. She never took it onboard as about her. Its about the monarchy, about making someone feel good. She was my total idol.
Sarah Michelle Gellar starred as Buffy for several years. (Fox)

Sarah Michelle Gellar amused her Instagram followers by sharing a video of a fan claiming that Buffy saved his family.

The man said in a TikTok that his love of the show meant he survived a tornado and was able to rescue his family too.

In the clip, a younger man is seen asking his dad to remind him of how "Buffy The Vampire Slayer saved all of our lives".

Read more: Sarah Michelle Gellar suggests that Buffy had an extremely toxic male set

The father then explained: "Well the series finale was coming on and I wasn't going to miss it. Sirens going off, f****** tornado, blah blah blah.

"But your Mama was so scared, she got all you kids and all the neighbours and went down in the storm cellar.

"So I sat there and I said, 'F*** it I'm watching Buffy'."

He said he watched the episode and after it was finished he went to find his family.

"I'm looking for you all and you all are nowhere around," he said.

"So I go out back and hear you all in the storm cellar screaming for somebody to let you out.

"A big old oak tree had fallen over on top of the door and trapped you all inside. So if I had been inside that cellar with you, we'd all have been dead."

The man reckoned Buffy saved him from a tornado. (Reuters)

His son then chimed in: "So literally we all owe our lives to Sarah Michelle Gellar."

He then thanked the actor for everything she did, but she shared the clip and wrote: "You dont owe me anything."

Fans loved the story, posting messages on social media about how many times Buffy did save the world in the programme.

"'F*** it I'm watching Buffy' is my life motto," said one fan.

Sarah Michelle Gellar with Buffy co-star Anthony Head. (LMKMEDIA)

"Not all heroes wear capes... but they do carry stakes," posted another.

One fan shared: "Not nearly as dramatic as this but my mom chose to watch a Buffy RERUN instead of taking cover during a tornado."

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Read more: Selma Blair and Sarah Michelle Gellar re-enact famous Cruel Intentions kiss

Gellar played Buffy Summers on the supernatural drama from 1997 to 2003, starring in seven series. The series also starred Nicholas Brendon, Alyson Hannigan and Anthony Head.

Watch: Sarah Michelle Gellar Shared A Buffy Throwback Photo With Pedro Pascal, And He Had The Best Reaction
Former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin at the Conservative Political Action Conference on March 2, 2023. Brendan Smialowski / AFP via Getty Images

Sarah Palin came all the way to CPAC in Maryland to speak out against ranked-choice voting.

The system lets voters rank multiple candidates and is designed to ensure that winners have majority support.

But Alaska elected a Democrat in part due to the system, and now conservatives want to get rid of it.

NATIONAL HARBOR, Maryland  Among the far-right conservative influencers, politicians, and personalities at the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) this year was former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin, the one-time Republican vice-presidential candidate who recently lost a House race to Democratic Rep. Mary Peltola.

Palin, despite her lasting impact on American politics, did not have a formal speaking slot at the conference.

But she could be seen wandering the halls on Thursday, pausing for selfies and taking time to speak at media booths set up along the sides of the main conference hall.

As it turned out, Palin had traveled all the way to the conference to help promote a nascent effort in Alaska to repeal the state's ranked-choice voting system, which was first used for federal elections last year.

Palin speaks at a "New Federal State of China" media booth at CPAC on March 3, 2023. Bryan Metzger/Insider

Art Mathias, the leader of a group called "Alaskans for Honest Elections," told Insider at CPAC that Palin "would have easily won" her election had the system not been implemented. Palin, he said, serves as the group's national spokesperson.

Alaskans for Honest Elections is seeking to undo the new system, and must gather tens of thousands of signatures across the state to put the ballot measure before Alaska's electorate.

So then what's Mathias doing at CPAC, thousands of miles from Alaska?

"Raising money, making contacts, letting people know," said Mathias. "Alaska is the epicenter for this. If we kill it in Alaska, we kill it in America."

'We need our parties'

Ranked choice voting allows voters to rank multiple candidates for office, creating a system in which voters can choose not just their first choice for the job, but several other candidates who they'd like to see win.

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After the initial results come in, candidates who received the lowest number of votes are sequentially eliminated and their votes are redistributed to other candidates based on voters' rankings. This continues until a candidate exceeds 50% of the vote.

Proponents argue that the system leads to less divisive elections  owing to the imperative to seek second, third, and fourth votes among other candidates' supporters  and ensures that the winner of the election has the support of the majority of the electorate.

Alaskans for Honest Elections had a booth at CPAC this year. Bryan Metzger/Insider

In theory, the system doesn't necessarily favor one party over the other.

But in practice, Republicans have seen their chances thwarted by ranked-choice voting systems in both Alaska and Maine, spurring opposition.

Mathias characterized Alaska's system  which includes both ranked-choice voting and a non-partisan primary  as an effort backed by out-of-state interests and allies of Republican Sen. Lisa Murkowski, who has historically angered the Republican base, in order to avoid the "healthy" process of party primaries.

"We need our parties to vet candidates so we know who they really are," said Mathias.

Mathias also flipped proponents' argument on its head, arguing that ranked-choice voting actually increases divisiveness. He cited infighting between the two Republican candidates  Palin and fellow GOP candidate Nick Begich  that allowed Democratic Rep. Mary Peltola to prevail in both the special election in August and the general election in November.

A group called "StopRCV" also had a table at CPAC this year. Bryan Metzger/Insider

Conservatives in Washington have begun mobilizing against ranked-choice voting as well, with Republicans in Congress criticizing the system.

As recently as January, House Speaker Kevin McCarthy trashed the system during a podcast appearance with Donald Trump Jr.

"Someone could get the most votes, and not win!" said McCarthy. "So if you come in 3rd, you win. What? 'I got a lot of second votes, I got a lot of 3rd vote  what does that mean?'"

At CPAC, just steps away from Alaskans for Honest Elections' booth, another group opposed to ranked-choice voting, "StopRCV.com" had set up its own table  complete with sunglasses, stickers, stress balls, and literature to hand out to curious CPAC attendees.

Backed by Heritage Action and Save our States  a group dedicated to defending the legitimacy of the Electoral College  StopRCV is an effort to educate conservatives about the "dangers" of ranked-choice voting.

In arguing against the system, both StopRCV and Alaskans for Honest Elections have focused on the supposed complexity of ranked-choice voting  along with the fact that voters who don't rank every candidate are at risk of having their ballots disregarded if the few candidates they rank are eliminated.

"That's not a democracy. That's not how a republic should work, is throwing your ballot in the trash," said Lindsey McSparrin, a volunteer with StopRCV.

Read the original article on Business Insider
SBU detains Moscow church priest

The archpriest of the Russian-controlled church collected information about the deployment of Defense Forces in the region at the behest of the enemy, the agency said.

Read also: Representative of Moscow Patriarchate is detained due to calls for capture of Kyiv

"First of all, he tried to identify the locations of command posts and warehouses with artillery weapons of the Armed Forces," the SBU said.

To do this, he travelled around the border area and covertly took photos and videos of Ukrainian facilities.

The agency said that Russian forces used the intelligence to conduct targeted missile and massive artillery strikes on the region, as well as to carry out sabotage attacks.

The Russian agent also collected the personal data of local government officials and law enforcement officers.

"SBU officers detained the offender as he attempted to transfer classified information about officials of local military administrations to the aggressor," said the SBU.

Read also: Russians attack towns and villages in Sumy Oblast with mortars

Read also: Ministry of Culture recommends not renewing Moscow Patriarchate churchs lease for two churches in Kyiv-Pechersk Lavra

The archpriest was recruited by a member of the FSB department in Bryansk Oblast in September 2022.

He came to the attention of the Russian secret service because of his pro-Kremlin views, which he often shared with others.

He used anonymous messengers to communicate with the invaders, and transmitted the information he collected through text messages and geo-referenced media files.

After searching the suspects residence and church, law enforcement found cell phones with evidence of correspondence with the FSB and pro-Russian literature.

Currently, SBU investigators have served the suspect with a notice of suspicion under Part 2 of Article 111 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine (high treason committed under martial law).

The issue of choosing a pre-trial restriction in the form of detention has yet to be decided.

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The operation was conducted by the SBU office in Sumy Oblast under the supervision of the Regional Prosecutor's Office.

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
German Chancellor Olaf Scholz met with U.S. President Joe Biden in Washington, D.C. on March 3 to primarily discuss the war in Ukraine, Reuters reported.

According to Reuters, Biden thanked Scholz for Germany's continued support of Ukraine. Scholz reiterated that it was important to continue supporting Ukraine "as long as it takes and as long as is necessary."

On March 1, Scholz announced that Germany would provide more ammunition and weapons repairs for Ukraine. Additionally, Germany has pledged a total of 18 Leopard 2A6 tanks from its arsenal to Ukraine.

Scholz's visit coincided with the U.S.'s announcement of $400 million in additional military aid to Ukraine on March 3.

The military aid bundle includes additional ammunition for HIMARS and howitzers supplied by the U.S, along with ammunition for Armored Vehicle Launched Bridges, Bradley Infantry Fighting Vehicles, demolitions munitions and equipment, as well as other support, training, and maintenance supplies.

Both Biden and Scholz have publicly warned China against providing weapons to Russia. According to Reuters, Scholz addressed the concerns over China in a speech to the German parliament on March 2.

"My message to Beijing is clear: use your influence in Moscow to urge the withdrawal of Russian troops," Scholz said. "And don't deliver any weapons to the aggressor Russia."

Several U.S. officials have made public statements within the last month indicating that China was contemplating providing Russia with weapons.

On Feb. 19th, Reuters reported that U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken cautioned Chinese diplomat Wang Yi that such an action could severely impact the relationship between the two countries. Then, on February 24th, CIA Director Bill Burns confirmed during an interview that China was exploring the possibility of sending lethal aid to Russia.

According to anonymous sources and four unnamed U.S. officials, Reuters has reported that the United States is in talks with its closest allies to potentially organize sanctions against China if the country provides Russia with lethal support for their ongoing conflict in Ukraine.
With possible severe storms headed into North Georgia, several school districts are dismissing early Friday or have announced they will be having digital learning days.

[LIVE UPDATES: Tornado watch issued for parts of north Georgia]

Here is our latest list of delays and closures:

Carroll County Schools: All evening activities and events are canceled for today due to the potential for severe weather conditions. After-school care will continue as previously scheduled.

Catoosa County Schools: All schools are closed Friday.

Due to the threat of severe weather, CCPS will be closed on Friday, March 3rd 2023. #ECEDWE pic.twitter.com/kOomh2xzIN  Catoosa County Public Schools (@CatoosaSchools) March 3, 2023

Dade County Schools: All schools closed Friday.

Fannin County Schools: All schools on a virtual learning day. 12-month personnel should report. All extracurricular activities are canceled today.

Gilmer County Schools: All schools will be released 3 hours early from their normal dismissal times.

Gordon County Schools: Elementary Schools will dismiss at 12:30 p.m. Middle and high Schools will dismiss at 1:30 p.m. Aftercare will operate as normal. Schools will communicate individually about the status of any other after-school activities.

[DOWNLOAD: Free WSB-TV News app for alerts as news breaks]

Murray County Schools: PVIS and Murray County Pre-K will dismiss at 10:30 a.m. All other schools will dismiss at 10:45 a.m.

Pickens County Schools: All schools release students 3 hours early.

Polk County Schools: Middle and high school students at 11:30 a.m. Elementary schools will not be dismissed until 12:30 p.m. All afternoon extracurricular activities and after-school programs are canceled.

Troup County Schools: Elementary schools will dismiss at 12:20 p.m. Middle and high Schools will dismiss 2 hours early. All elementary extracurricular activities and ACE programs will be canceled. All after-school activities at the secondary level will be up to the individual schools and principals as they monitor weather conditions.

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Whitfield County Schools: All schools and administrative offices closed Friday.

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Protesters in Haymarket hold a banner showing children who

Protesters hold a banner showing children they say have been killed by the regime in Iran during a demonstration in London on February 25. Credit - Vuk Valcic/SOPA ImagesLightRocket/Getty Images

Since November, thousands of Iranian students, the majority being girls, have been attacked with toxic gas in schools in cities like Qom and Tehran, with at least one girl allegedly having died as a result. Activists say the poisonous attacks have been deliberately carried out by hardline religious groups opposed to girls education in an attempt to force schools to shut.

BBC Research suggests that as of Sunday, at least 830 students had been victims of the poisonous attacks, while a Member of Parliament in Qom put the figure at 1,200 in Qom and Borujerd alone. Students in at least 26 schools across five cities have become targets, according to local media and activists.

The attacks follow months-long mass protests against the clerical Iranian regime, led by Iranian women and girls, that erupted after the death of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini, who died in the custody of the morality police over improper hijab.

The first attack took place in the religious city of Qom on November 30, with 18 students from the Nour Technical School taken to hospital. Many of the poisoned have suffered respiratory problems, nausea, dizziness, and fatigue, with social media posts showing some girls being hospitalized.

The Center for Human Rights in Iran has also alleged that at least one girl, 11-year-old Fatemeh Rezaei, died as a result of the attacks. Iranian journalist and childrens rights activist Hedie Kimiaee tweeted on Feb. 27 that Rezaei had died of gas poisoning at a school in Qom and that the Iranian authorities were trying to suppress information about the case.

Read More: Hundreds of Schoolgirls in Iran Have Been Targeted by Poison Attacks. Heres What to Know

Even though this student had no prior illness, the authorities are trying to write a false medical report saying she had a long history of illness, Kimiaee wrote. Qoms prosecutor has also warned the family not to talk to the media [and told them to] bury Fatemeh without notice.

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Iranian authorities staunchly denied reports that Rezaeis death was linked to the poisonings, according to the Washington, D.C.-based Iran International news channel.

A demonstrator makes the victory sign during a protest for Mahsa Amini, a woman who died after being arrested by the Islamic republic's "morality police", in Tehran on September 19, 2022. AFPGetty Images

Despite the outrage from Iranian citizens, authorities have so far responded with contradictory explanations and appeared to downplay their seriousness, Human Rights Watch stated.

Earlier this week, at a cabinet meeting in the capital of Tehran, Irans President Ebrahim Raisi instructed the Interior Minister Ahmad Vahidi to find the cause of the mysterious poisoning as quickly as possible. He urged the Ministries of Health and Information to provide assistance in investigating the matter. However, he attributed the symptoms to stress and anxiety over exams and accused international media outlets of taking advantage of the situation to cause public alarm.

At a news conference on Sunday, Deputy Health Minister Younes Panahi also acknowledged that the attacks may have been intended to prevent girls from going to school, according to Iranian state broadcaster IRIB. What is clear is that both in Qom and Borujerd, it is a deliberate issue, he said. He continued, some people wanted all schools to be closed, especially girls schools. However, Panahi later said his statement had been misunderstood.

The attacks have caused many panic-stricken students to stay home. According to local reports, fearful parents have begun pulling their children out of class as a precautionary measure, while many are gathering outside schools to protest. According to a BBC report, in one viral video, a father is seen shouting outside the Qom governors office, You are obliged to ensure my childrens safety! I have two daughters and all I can do is not let them go to school. In another video, worried and angry parents are seen demanding action in front of Yarjani Primary School in Narmak.

On March 1, the Iranian Teachers Trade Association issued a statement calling on Irans Supreme Leader and senior officials to condemn the attacks and protect students. It is necessary for the responsible institutions to immediately implement several measures without wasting more time, it said. It further asked the judicial authorities and the education minister to explain how they would be investigating the attacks.

We need the international community to condemn this biological attack immediately and take strong action, Masih Alinejad, a notable Iranian journalist and activist, posted on Twitter.
By Mike Scarcella

(Reuters) - Urban scooter company Lime sued Hertz Corp on Thursday alleging unfair competition and accusing the rental car giant of improperly hiring the startup's senior engineers.

San Francisco-based Neutron Holdings Inc, which does business as Lime, filed the lawsuit in California federal court seeking unspecified monetary damages and an injunction "to recover and protect its trade secrets."

It also named Charlie Fang, who previously was Lime's head of engineering, and another engineer as defendants. Lime claimed that Fang, who joined Hertz last year as a senior vice president, violated his employment agreement to not solicit former colleagues after leaving the company.

Hertz said in a statement it "vehemently disagrees with the claims made in the lawsuit." Fang did not immediately respond to a message seeking comment.

The loss of engineers has "significantly harmed" Lime, which provides short-term e-bike and scooter rentals in about 30 countries. The company said in the lawsuit it now faces "staff shortages, recruiting costs, and critical project delays."

Hertz sought to "capitalize" on Fang and his team's knowledge of building "back-end infrastructure for ride-sharing and consumer facing apps so that it could gain a competitive advantage over other companies," according to the complaint.

Hertz Corp, which operates the Hertz, Dollar and Thrifty vehicle rental brands, is a subsidiary of Hertz Global Holdings Inc.

Lime's former head of supply engineering, Kai Cong, was also named a defendant. Cong, now at Hertz, did not immediately respond on Friday to a message seeking comment.

The lawsuit claimed Cong improperly downloaded confidential Lime files before his departure in December.

A representative from Lime did not immediately respond to a message seeking comment.

Hertz has disputed that the non-solicitation agreements at issue in the case are enforceable, the lawsuit said.

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The case is Neutron Holdings Inc v Hertz Corp et al, U.S. District Court, Northern District of California, No. 3:23-cv-00934.

For plaintiff: Melvin Felton and Stephanie Jones-Nojima of Sanders Roberts

For defendants: No appearance yet

Read more:

India's auto show set to feature electric cars, scooters

Dott to roll out e-scooter expansion with extra $70 million funding

After Wild West start, scooter providers chase scale to survive

E-scooter startup Lime raises $523 mln, eyes going public in 2022

(Edited by Leigh Jones and Josie Kao)
By Joyce Zhou and Jessie Pang

HONG KONG (Reuters) -About 170 people were evacuated from a Hong Kong shopping area after a fire broke out in a skyscraper late on Thursday night, the government said.

Firefighters battled the blaze at a redevelopment project in the Tsim Sha Tsui district throughout the early hours of Friday, the flames visible from the other side of Victoria Harbour.

Several upper floors of the building were engulfed in fire, according to Reuters witnesses, and blazing falling debris, including bamboo scaffolding, sparked smaller fires in adjacent structures.

Keung Sai-ming, Hong Kong's deputy chief fire officer, told reporters that 250 firefighters and rescue workers battled the blaze for the entire night before it was extinguished around 8 a.m. (0000 GMT) local time.

He said the cause of the fire was being investigated.

The building is a 42-storey project by the Empire Group to house the city's Mariners Club and a hotel, according to the companys website.

The Mariners Club opened in 1967 to provide affordable accommodation to seafarers, and was popular among maritime workers passing through Hong Kong.

The Empire Group did not immediately respond to a Reuters request for comment.

(Reporting by Joyce Zhou and Jessie Pang; Editing by James Pomfret, Stephen Coates and Gerry Doyle)
Photo Illustration by Luis G. Rendon/The Daily Beast/Pixabay

A recidivist seafood swindler who once posed as a phony cruise line executive to pull off a six-figure shrimp scam is once again in hot water over a brazen shellfish caper in which he allegedly made off with hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of king and snow crab.

David Subil, 51, was arrested following a manhunt that spanned multiple states and ended with a complex sting operation, according to a criminal complaint unsealed Thursday and obtained by The Daily Beast. He has stolen millions of dollars of food over the course of his extensive criminal career, and was accused as a teen of attempting to kill a Florida police officer, court records show. That charge was ultimately dropped.

Subil now stands accused of interstate transportation of stolen property, as well as conspiracy, and faces decades in prison if convicted. Reached on Friday by The Daily Beast, Subils lawyer, David Fernandez, declined to comment.

Like many modern frauds, it all began with an email.

On Jan. 3, 2023, Alexander Gorelik, the owner of a wholesale seafood distribution company in San Francisco, was contacted by a man who introduced himself as Christopher Delgado, a buyer from the venerable Safeway supermarket chain. A couple of weeks after Safeway invoice and billing supervisor Jennifer Zavala helped Gorelik set up a vendor account, Delgado sent Gorelick a purchase order for $432,000 worth of Russian king crab, according to the complaint.

The order was sent via business management software, and since everything appeared legit, Gorelik authorized the crab to be released from a cold storage facility he contracted with in Stanwood, Washington.

David Subil. Photo Illustration by Luis G. Rendon/The Daily Beast/Pixabay/U.S. District Court

On Jan. 18, trucker Juan Sanchez picked up the order300 cases of 6/9 count red king crab and 300 cases of 4/7 count king crabin a 26-foot refrigerated box truck from cold storage.

This was followed by a second purchase order from Delgado, who asked Gorelik to ship him another $300,000 worth of king crab. The shipment, which Sanchez collected from the same cold storage facility on Jan. 20, contained 360 cases of king crab legs and claws, 40 cases of opilio snow crab, and 240 cases of 6/9 count red king crab legs and claws, according to the complaint.

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But after the second load of crab went out, Gorelik realized he had overcharged Delgado and Safeway. He tried to reach Delgado by phone to fix the error, but none of the numbers he had provided to Gorelik were correct. The toll-free number in Delgados email signature wasnt his either, and a cell number he had given Gorelik was also fake. The same thing happened when Gorelik tried to reach Zavala at the toll-free number at the bottom of her emails, as well as when he tried Bridget Wood, another Safeway employee with whom he had been communicating.

At a crossroads, Gorelik called the director of seafood at Albertsons, Safeways parent company, who informed him that Delgado, Zavala, and Wood didnt exist. The purchase orders were fake, and Goreliks company was not set up as a vendor for either Safeway or Albertsons.

On Jan. 23, Linda Boggs, the vice-president of the cold storage facility, contacted the Snohomish County Sheriffs Office, which sent a deputy to investigate. The deputy reviewed the facilitys sign-in log in addition to security footage of both of Sanchezs pickups, which revealed the white truck he used had been rented from Ryder.

That very same day, Gorelik called the Snohomish deputy with urgent news: Delgado had contacted him to buy a third truckload of crab. On Jan. 24, Gorelick sent the deputy Delgados purchase order for 12,000 pounds of king crab, worth $432,000. The Snohomish Sheriffs Office then contacted the Blaine, Washington office of Homeland Security Investigations (HSI), the Department of Homeland Securitys investigative arm, and the feds quickly signed onto the case.

This time, Gorelik worked with North Star Cold Storage to put product of lesser value in boxes labeled as the product ordered, the complaint states. And thus, the trap was set. (Gorelik and Boggs declined to comment on the case.)

Delgado scheduled a pickup for Jan. 25 at 8 a.m., according to the complaint. Little did he know that Snohomish deputies had set up unmarked cars to follow the truck after it left with its expensive load of crab.

That morning, members of the Snohomish Violent Offender Task Force positioned themselves around the cold storage facility as Sanchez, Delgados driver, arrived in a white tractor-trailer. The Florida tag on the trailer, QA84KI, had an extra number 4 attached, which appeared to be a house number affixed to the plate, the complaint states.

The altered license plate. Photo Illustration by Luis G. Rendon/The Daily Beast/Pixabay/U.S. District Court

The surveillance team followed the truck south for about an hour, the 4 falling off the trailers license plate along the way. The Snohomish deputy contacted the Washington State Patrol to pull over the truck, which bore an invalid DOT registration number, for a commercial vehicle inspection. At a nearby weigh station, Sanchez handed over a bogus bill of lading to the trooper, which listed the total weight of the shipment as a mere 1/10 of the actual 12,000 pounds of crab, according to the complaint.

After the truck left the weigh station, the Snohomish surveillance team pulled the truck over again. One of the deputies put Sanchez in handcuffs, informing him he was being arrested on suspicion of forgery and possession of a fraudulent bill of lading, the complaint states.

But while Sanchez refused to speak to police, his passenger, identified only as A.C. in the complaint, decided to talk.

A.C. told officers that he was out of money, and badly needed work, according to the complaint. Sanchez had arranged the job, and the two were delivering the truckload of crab to Portland, Oregon, he said.

Sanchez told the police that he was willing to release the truck to A.C., who was not under arrest, so he could continue on and make the delivery. But the lead Snohomish deputy informed A.C. that law enforcement had covertly switched out the load before he and Sanchez arrived at the cold storage facility, and that the product in the back of the trailer was not actually crab and was unsellable, the complaint states. In the meantime, Sanchez was booked into the Snohomish County Jail. He bailed out a few hours later and disappeared, according to the complaint, which notes, [I]t is unknown where Sanchez traveled to after he was released from police custody.

A few days later, Delgado was back at it, seemingly unperturbed by the last order not making it. He called Gorelik to place yet another order, his fourth, for $420,000 worth of crab. But at the behest of law enforcement, which needed time to procure the necessary warrants, Gorelik told Delgado that there had been a production snag and the crab wouldnt be ready for pickup until Feb. 3. (None of the previous three shipments had yet been paid for, according to the complaint.) When the day arrived, Delgado called North Star Cold Storage and canceled, saying he was having problems with his truck.

By this time, investigators had learned from Ryder that the white truck Sanchez used to pick up the first two orders from cold storage had been rented by an individual named David Subil, the complaint states. The crab from those shipments had turned up in Florida, and the buyer, who said he did not know the shellfish had been stolen, showed police an invoice signed by a David. He also handed over Davids business card, which included two phone numbers but no last name. The buyer gave cops a receipt showing he had wired $145,000 to Davids company, Global Supply P&P, for the pilfered crab.

Subil seen on security video after selling a load of allegedly stolen crab to a Florida buyer. Photo Illustration by Luis G. Rendon/The Daily Beast/Pixabay/U.S. District Court

As it turned out, Global Supply P&P was an active Florida company, and had been registered by one David Subil, according to the complaint. Subil was also the registrant of a second company, Surf & Turf 2 You Corp., which, like Global Supply P&P, had a listed address that traced back to a UPS Store in Miami.

David Subil has a long criminal history, including, but not limited to, Grand Theft of the 2nd Degree, Grand Theft 3rd Degree and Fraud-Swindle, the complaint goes on. An online search reveals that in two prior instances, he has purchased seafood and meat with counterfeit checks.

Delgado, investigators now realized, was in fact Subil, who also emailed Gorelik as Jennifer Zavala and Bridget Wood, according to the complaint.

On Feb. 8, Subil, as Delgado, arranged for a fourth shipment of crab to be picked up from cold storage. However, cops once again replaced what Subil thought would be crab with worthless filler and hid a GPS tracker in one of the pallets. From the warehouse, the truck made its way to Portland, and, eight days later, arrived in Miami, the complaint states. On Feb. 18, the GPS tracker pinged from a Florida junkyard, where a local HSI task force officer snapped a photo of the boxes Subil was told contained king crab, dumped as trash.

That same day, HSI agents were notified that Subil had booked a one-way ticket from Miami International Airport to Medellin, Colombia, departing Feb. 19.

According to CBP records, Subil has no international travel in the last five years, the complaint states. Subil has no known connection to Columbia [sic]. Based on my experience and the recent activity in this case, I believe this last-minute travel was booked in order to flee the country from potential prosecution.

Subil was arrested on Feb. 21.

This is not, by any stretch, Subils first rodeo. A career criminal and con artist, Subil has convictions dating back to the 1990s when he was still a teen.

At the age of 19, Subil and another man led police on a six-mile car chase, with Subil at one point attempting to run over an officer, according to the Miami Herald. He was later convicted of assaulting a police officer and resisting arrest, according to court records.

Five years later, Subil was arrested again for an elaborate fraud scheme involving the use of counterfeit checks to purchase more than $200,000 worth of cellphones.

After another fraud conviction in 2002, Subil conned a Detroit-based company out of $450,000 worth of meat, according to The Times of Northwest Indiana. After a stint at the Porter County Jail in Valparaiso, Indiana, Subil, who is Jewish, sued the lockup, alleging the facility refused to serve him kosher meals, forced him to work on the Sabbath, and wouldnt allow him to have a yarmulke or pray using tefillin. (U.S. District Court Judge Phillip Simon later ruled that Subils rights had not in fact been violated because the tefillin could be used as a weapon.)

A string of other food-related scams followed. In 2006, Subil was ordered by a federal court to reimburse a dozen different companies for some $500,000 in stolen food. In 2013, Subil, using the aliases Rick Stevenson and Rick Acosta, masqueraded as a seafood buyer for a nonexistent cruise line, and was arrested and charged with a litany of crimes, including six counts of wire fraud and two counts of bank fraud, for trying to make off with $60,000 worth of shrimp from a Fort Myers-based wholesaler, according to the Florida Department of Law Enforcement.

In 2019, while in prison serving time for those charges, Subil wrote a food-related short story that was published in a book of prison writing, Dont Shake The Spoon. In it, he describes an interaction in the prison canteen between the narrator and an older prisoner who uses a walker.

The narrator sits down with the old man and asks how hes doing. (In prison society, Subil writes, men choose between basic human courtesy and not looking soft.) When the narrator asks the old man how hes doing, the old man berates him for not attending Jewish religious services, but the narrator says hes not a congregator.

You know, Pop, the narrator tells the old man, Id love to be drinking champagne right now, maybe by the pool at the Ritz, looking out at the ocean, watching the cruise ships head out.

Subil remains detained on the new crab charges. If convicted at trial, he faces a combined maximum of 25 years in federal prison.

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China urges severe penalty in certain non-severe injury cases

Xinhua) 09:08, March 03, 2023

BEIJING, March 2 (Xinhua) -- The Supreme People's Procuratorate (SPP) of China has urged severe punishment for suspects involved in cases that inflict non-severe injuries on minors, the elderly, pregnant women, disabled people and medical personnel.

Suspects in non-severe injury cases who are involved with criminal gangs, hire someone else to inflict harm, or hurt multiple individuals or others on multiple occasions, should also receive severe punishment in accordance with the law, said a guideline jointly released by the SPP and the Ministry of Public Security on non-severe injury cases.

According to the document, cases that involve particularly vile intentions and flagrant circumstances and seriously affect the people's sense of security, should be handled with firmer hands.

Chinese procuratorates handled over 70,000 cases involving non-severe injuries in 2022, most of which were triggered by disputes among married couples, family members and neighbors.

According to the country's Criminal Law, whoever intentionally inflicts a non-severe injury upon another person shall be sentenced to fixed-term imprisonment of not more than three years, criminal detention or public surveillance.

In China, bodily injuries are classified as severe injuries, minor injuries and slight injuries.

(Web editor: Zhang Kaiwei, Liang Jun)
A jury found a Schererville man guilty Friday of beating his girlfriend to death.

Paul Jarosik, 38, was charged in the April 2, 2020 murder of Michelle Brown, 46. The trial was held before Lake Superior Judge Samuel Cappas in Crown Point.

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He faces 45 to 65 years. His sentencing is scheduled in April. The jury deliberated for a couple of hours before rendering a verdict.

Deputy Prosecuting Attorney Infinity Westberg alleged in closing arguments that Jarosik beat Brown several times in the past. Jarosik was mad she wasnt paying rent, she said. Evidence suggested he kicked her repeatedly and Brown died instantly from brain damage she suffered.

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He went to work, came home from his shift, then called 911. He sent texts, then read the later ones on her phone to falsely show she was still alive, they said.

His defense lawyer Herb Shaps argued the evidence showed Jarosik was at work in the timeframe Brown died.

Schererville Police arrived just after 1 p.m. April 2, 2020, to the couples apartment on the 2100 block of Meadow Lane. Brown was on the floor as Jarosik was trying to perform CPR with help from 911 dispatchers.

She was stiff and cold to the touch with a bump on her forehead and leg bruises, according to court records. Her upper jaw and limbs showed signs of rigor mortis, according to court records.

Halfway through her autopsy, a forensic pathologist found multiple signs of abuse and internal injuries, including fresh blows to the head and internal injuries on her right torso, according to the affidavit. Her death was ruled a homicide due to a massive head injury from a blunt force trauma to the head.

Jarosik gave coworkers different stories, saying she was diabetic and died in her sleep, or had high blood pressure, or bumped her head, according to court documents.

Its not some stranger, Westberg said in closing arguments Friday. Brown had the kind of head wounds and internal injuries an intimate partner would inflict, she said. Once Brown was dead, Jarosik looked through Browns cell phone for what she told people about her past injuries to get his story straight.

He had to get ahead of it, she said.

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Jarosik was the one who was last seen with her and had everything to gain by lying to police about how she died, the prosecutor said.

On the 911 call he made just after 1 p.m. April 2, Jarosik was calm, like he was ordering a pizza.

The couple had a controlling and volatile relationship. One recording appeared to show Jarosik telling Brown to jump off an (expletive) bridge because no one would miss you.

Neighbors reported repeated fights. One spotted Brown doing laundry with a limp and bruises. Police records showed multiple calls for domestic disturbances. Court records show friends and family told police Brown said Jarosik beat her. She confided in one witness that if she died, Paul did it, records show.

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Shaps retorted the states argument.

This is a case of nos, he said.

Jarosik was not at home after leaving at 3:30 a.m. for his job at Sams Club.

That is very, very important, he said. No speculation, no theory is evidence in a case, he said.

Jarosik testified Thursday that he was broken-hearted after Browns death, according to lawyers. On Friday, prosecutors played his police interview they said contradicted many of the details he gave. Why did prosecutors wait so long in the trial to play it, Shaps asked.

No, Paul doesnt know (what happened to Brown), he said. The state doesnt know, either. They can only speculate.

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There was no proof she was dead before his 4 a.m April 2 shift, the lawyer said. If her death was instantaneous, he would have had to be there. Brown had a fatty liver and alcohol in her system that didnt cause her death, but was a contributing factor, the lawyer said. If he had beat her, he would have had wounds on his hands, he said.

This isnt a drama. This isnt a play, he told jurors. This is real life.

Westberg later said in court that prosecutors felt he was lying to police and had no obligation to show the interview in court to prove the case.

Lake County Coroners Office forensic pathologist Dr. Zhou Wang testified Thursday Brown died  probably instantly  from a serious injury to her brain stem. Her brain didnt show normal signs of healing, which led him to conclude she died shortly afterwards.

Her body had visible bruising around her eye and on her left buttock, but her autopsy revealed extensive internal injuries with deep contusions on her right torso. It was unlikely an actual weapon like a pipe or tool was used, because there werent any imprints. It is possible she was beaten, he said.

She had alcohol in her system, but it wasnt enough to kill her. Her BAC was .169, or twice the legal limit, according to court records. She also had no signs of diabetes or high blood pressure.

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Browns family traveled from out of state for the trial. She could fill a room with a laugh, her sister Evette Beckman said on a court break.

They described Brown lovingly as loud and very extra. She kept the family connected and could be counted on to call at the worst possible times, Beckman said.

Id do anything (now) for a stupid phone call in the middle of the day, she said.

Originally from Kansas, Brown loved fixing hair for at least 20 years. She could dye hair in every color in the book and once had her hair dyed green and yellow for her sons high school colors.

She had two sons, in their 20s, and loved her nephews and niece.

Shes missing a lot with these kids, the next generation growing up, Beckman said.

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Brown moved to the area around 2014 after a divorce. A hairdresser friend lived here. She had her problems like anyone else, but never met a stranger and was a kind soul, Beckman said.

She didnt deserve what he did, she said.

After the verdict, Beckman said the family was relieved and thrilled. Her sister was such a beautiful person.

At the same time, its a devastating reason, she said. Im glad he wasnt able to fool others.

She and her mom planned to visit Brown in March 2020, but COVID hit. She never met Jarosik and he told her over Facebook that her sister had died.

Beckman said her mom died this May before she was able to see the verdict.

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I hope my sister has peace now, Beckman said.
Seattle City Councilmember Kshama Sawant is launching a campaign Saturday that calls for a new worker-centered political party.

Joined by political organization Socialist Alternative and others, Sawant is launching the Workers Strike Back campaign. Theyll hold rallies this weekend in nine cities across the country, including in Rust Belt states Illinois, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin.

The campaigns platform includes support for a $25 an hour starting wage, unionizing all workplaces, Medicare for All owned and democratically run by working people and a new, multiracial, working-class party[.]

Sawant, in office since 2014, announced in January shell focus on this movement instead of seeking reelection. The councilmember recently made headlines after Seattle became the first city to ban discrimination based on caste thanks to an ordinance she sponsored.

In an op-ed, Sawant said several self-described democratic socialists in office have failed to stand up to the political establishment.

We saw the historic and shameful betrayal of railroad workers by members of the Congressional Progressive Caucus, including caucus chair Pramila Jayapal and self-proclaimed democratic-socialist Squad members such as AOC [Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez], Sawant said, in reference to last years potential strike by U.S. railroad workers.

In the fall, four of 12 rail unions refused to ratify a contract that didnt include paid sick days. At President Bidens urging, Congress passed a labor deal  which did not include sick days  via resolution to avert a strike. Then-House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) held a separate vote after to give rail workers seven paid sick days. The House passed that resolution, and the Senate voted it down. Reps. Jayapal (D-Wash.) and Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) voted for both measures.

The two lawmakers and dozens of other Democrats then signed a letter asking Biden to guarantee sick days using executive action. The letter said Bidens labor deal prevented a lockout that would have caused severe damage to the economy during the busy holiday season and was better than what the rail industry offered but that its exclusion of paid sick days is unacceptable and must be rectified. To date, Biden has not taken such action.

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Many progressives elected in recent years have focused on pulling the Democratic Party left from within. Since Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) 2016 Democratic presidential bid, support for a $15 minimum wage and expanding government health care programs to some extent have become more mainstream in the party.

Some in the party have blamed a leftward shift, including use of the term socialism, for election losses in recent years. Sawant argues the party is moving further and further right in their loyal support of the corporate elite, creating an opportunity for Republicans to seize the mantle as the party supporting workers.

It is deeply unfortunate that it was the right-wing Freedom Caucus who demonstrated how to use leverage to force establishment concessions, rather than the Squad, Sawant says in the op-ed. With a continued failure of any real leadership on the left, the House Speakership fight revealed just how quickly and dangerously the right wing current can fill the void. It is a frightening flashback to how Trump won his election in the first place.

In 2016s presidential race, Donald Trump won several Rust Belt states that had supported former President Barack Obama in previous cycles (Michigan, Ohio, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin). Biden won a few back in 2020 by small margins. Hes framed his economic agenda as a blue collar blueprint throughout his term.

In a Gallup poll from September, 56 percent said the major parties do such a poor job that a third major party is needed. Combined 2021-2022 data showed 74 percent of independents (including both right- and left-leaners), 60 percent of moderate/liberal Republicans and 51 percent of liberal Democrats supported a third major party. Appetite was lower among conservative Republicans and moderate/conservative Democrats.

A Pew survey from last summer showed support for more political parties to choose from was highest among independents and Democrats.

Minor party and independent candidates have achieved relatively few electoral victories in the U.S., something thats been attributed to several factors, including a winner-take-all over a proportional representation system for many offices.

We want to build a bigger movement than just those who are socialists, Elan Axelbank, a labor organizer with Socialist Alternative who is involved in the Workers Strike Back movement, told The Hill. We want to see the building of a broad political party that can challenge both the Democrats and the Republicans[.]

Sawants city council term ends in December.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to The Hill.
Last week, Seattle police arrested multiple suspected drug dealers to help alleviate drug activity in downtown Seattle, according to the Seattle Police Department.

At about noon on Feb. 22, officers arrested a man in the 300 block of Bell Street.

Police saw the man selling suspected cocaine to another man for cash.

The 27-year-old was arrested and searched, and officers found additional drugs and cash.

At about 2:30 p.m. on the same day, officers saw a second man selling what appeared to be fentanyl pills in the 1400 block of 3rd Avenue.

When officers approached the 33-year-old man, he ran.

After a short chase, the man was taken into custody, and officers found crack cocaine, methamphetamines, fentanyl pills and cash.

He was arrested for possession of narcotics with intent to distribute and a felony warrant. Charges for obstruction were also requested.

At about 1:30 p.m. on Feb. 25, officers saw a man involved in drug activity near 3rd Avenue and Yesler Way.

When the man exited from a car to complete his drug transaction, he was arrested.

The 24-year-old man was searched, and officers found crack cocaine and cash.

He was arrested for possession of narcotics with intent to distribute.

All three men were booked into the King County Jail.
(Jam Press/@beppewrld)

Fiorentinos parents immigrated to Switzerland when he was just a child, hoping to escape the organised crime that plagued their native country, Sicily  where the mafia is believed to have originated.

Due to his parents upbringing, the 26-year-old claims he is forced to keep the true size of his bank balance a secret, for fears of how his family would react.

To my parents, my wealth is incomprehensible, Giuseppe (@beppewrld), who made his fortune through e-commerce, told JamPrime.com.

I cant tell them the truth because they would never understand  theyve never heard of reselling goods for profit.

They know me and know that Im a good human being, but would instantly believe that I was doing some kind of criminal activity.

Ive got a diamond watch worth 27,000 and I never wear it around them, because to my parents its a sign that Im up to no good.

Southern Italy is very poor and most of the people with money there are in the Mafia.

If you go around flaunting your wealth with designer clothes, luxury watches and high-end cars, then everyone knows that youre part of a gang.

Nothing has to be said  its just a fact.

 I cant share this side of my life with some of my Italian family members, because Im scared theyd disown me.

No matter how hard I tried to convince them that I am an entrepreneur who has made his money through blood, sweat, and tears, theyd still think I was in the mafia.

Giuseppe, who has almost 50,000 followers on Instagram launched his business, 3CC Group AG, a firm that trains others in the skills of e-commerce, currently makes $100,000 a month.

With a love of luxury cars and designer goods, hes not shy about splashing his cash, buying a $150,000 McLaren 570S and a $100,000 Mercedes AMG GLC.

Aside from the cards, the young millionaire also likes to jet off on expensive holidays whenever he can, having recently popped over to Dubai, South Africa, and Egypt.

Giuseppe even jetted off to London recently just to pick up a new Rolex and then return to Zurich, where hes based.

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Unfortunately, however, he isnt able to share as much of his money with his family.

As most of them are older and dont use the internet, he isnt worried about them reading up on his success online.

Giuseppe said: I interned at a Swiss bank when I was 16 years old and was offered a job afterward, my parents think I still work there now.

Ive always wanted to be rich but never knew how to do it I stumbled across e-commerce.

I started out selling small clothes online but then expanded into bigger goods.

When I turned 23 quit my job at the bank and havent looked back since.
Oleksii Danilov, Secretary of the National Security and Defence Council of Ukraine, has said that the Russian Federation will soon flake like an overripe Kherson watermelon. Danilov also reminded the Russian dictator of his words regarding Crimea from 2014 about military auctions where "you can buy everything you need".

Source: Danilov on the 24/7 national joint newscast

Details: Firstly, Danilov reminded Putin of his words at the beginning of the Russian-Ukrainian war in 2014.

Then Putin said that there allegedly are no Russian military in Crimea, and uniforms and other things can be bought at any military store.

In 2023, Danilov predicts that now military traders will work in the Russian Federation, and in the near future  in the Caucasus.

Commenting on the recent events in Russia's Bryansk Oblast and possible future similar incidents, Danilov said that the network of military sales is very developed on the territory of the Russian Federation.

Quote: "In the near future, we will see a lot of diversity in the use of products of military sales on the territory of the Russian Federation.

You will see, it will be an avalanche that will be impossible to stop...

In the near future, the military sales will definitely be in the Caucasus. There will be a lot of branches of military sales there: they will be in Chechnya, Ichkeria, Dagestan, and Ingushetia. They will be in a huge amount of cities and regions of the Caucasus.

And the fact that Putin cancelled a visit somewhere in those areas is a scare from the fact that actions related to Russian military sales could take place there."

Details: Danilov also believes that Russia's collapse is inevitable, and it will happen in our lifetime.

According to him, citizens of Russia, who have the right to do whatever they consider necessary on the territory of the Russian Federation, were acting in Bryansk Oblast.

Quote: "It will happen in the near future. It will happen in our lifetime, and the collapse of Russia is inevitable. And I have repeatedly said that the West should prepare for this...

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The West must prepare for Russia's flaking. Itll flake like our overripe Kherson watermelon, and it will happen in the near future, and it will start from the Caucasus."

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






Sen. Tommy Tuberville (R-Ala.) on Thursday claimed President Biden and Democrats want one gender in society during an appearance at the Conservative Political Action Conference.

The comments came during a conversation with former Attorney General Matthew Whitaker, in which Tuberville was asked how Republicans in Congress are responding to the current administration.

Well, every day, its something new, the senator replied. Theyre coming after family. They want to divide family. They dont want any gender. They want one gender. They want to attack everything that weve done over the years and go by their ideology.

Pushing back at Democrats for coming after family values, he claimed that progressives know that if they can get to our young kids, it could change everything in a short period of time.

Tuberville encouraged parents to get more involved in their childrens schools, either running for the school board or becoming a substitute teacher in the classroom.

Folks, were in trouble, the Alabama senator said. Our country is in trouble, and it starts with education. Until we start recognizing what the left is doing  trying to change family, trying to change things that are our moral values, weve got no chance.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to The Hill.
Seth Meyers has reminded Kellyanne Conway of all the times she lied to the American people while supposedly representing them.

The former White House counselor for Donald Trump went on Fox News, of all networks, to complain Wednesday about media dishonesty.

I want you to ask yourself how many times youve been lied to, not just by this government, but how many times you were lied to by the people whose job it is to tell you the truth in the media, she told Sean Hannity.

Meyers noted that Conway, who famously defended a Trump administration lie as alternative facts, was the embodiment of her complaint.

Ill count all the times the government lied to me, he told Late Night viewers Thursday, before rattling off some of Conways most famous fibs. There was that time they claimed the inauguration was the biggest ever. There was that time they said a bunch of people died at the Bowling Green massacre, which is not a thing. There was the time they said the president didnt know about hush money payments even though he wrote the check himself. Oh, there was that time in March 2020 when a government official told us the coronavirus was being contained.

Watch below.

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Amazon is closing eight cashier-less stores

Amazon is closing eight of its Amazon Go stores including two in New York City, effective early this Spring. The company confirmed the closures in an email to Gizmodo but clarified the only stores affected were those that had minimal impact on customers.

An Amazon spokesperson said in an emailed statement to Gizmodo, Like any physical retailer, we periodically assess our portfolio of stores and make optimization decisions along the way. In this case, weve decided to close a small number of Amazon Go stores in Seattle, New York City, and San Francisco.

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The spokesperson was not able to provide additional information or specifics regarding what factors attributed to those stores being closed, saying only that it is a typical business practice to open and close stores after assessing their success.

The closures, which were first reported by Geekwire, include the location at the cross-section of Maiden Lane and Pearl, and the store on Park Ave South in New York City as well as two in Seattle, and four in San Francisco. The company said in an email to Gizmodo that the Seattle stores have been temporarily closed for some time, adding now that theyre being closed permanently, it will have little to no impact on Amazons local customers.

Despite the recent closures, Amazon says it is continuing to open stores around the country including its new location in Puyallup, Washington, and is working to identify other job opportunities within the company within other local Amazon Go stores and Amazon Operations sites such as some fulfillment centers. The Amazon Go stores are scheduled to close on April 1 but will continue normal operations until then, the company told Gizmodo.

We remain committed to the Amazon Go format, operate more than 20 Amazon Go stores across the U.S., and will continue to learn which locations and features resonate most with customers as we keep evolving our Amazon Go stores, the spokesperson said.

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The closures come as Amazon paused the second phase of construction on its new headquarters in Arlington, Virginia. Zach Goldsztejn, an Amazon spokesperson, said in an email to Gizmodo that the pause in construction was not indicative of the recent reports of Amazons global mass layoffs. He clarified that the pause resulted from phase ones completion which created enough office space for the 8,000 local employees the company had already hired.

Updated 3/3/2023 at 5:00 p.m ET: added additional context from Amazon.

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Across western Washington, some school districts are starting to take steps to cut down on costs, and for many this means layoffs and school closures.

I mean, it is a concern. I would love to see smaller class sizes and more staff, not the opposite, said Kindel Surek, a mom of a student in the Everett School District.

On Tuesday, the school board there voted unanimously in favor of a plan that would cut about 140 positions. Those positions include teachers from the elementary to high school level.

I mean, it makes me nervous, Leann, a mom of two students in the district, said. I think they should keep the teachers. And I mean this is, these are our future right here.

The district said its facing a $28 million deficit that it needs to make up for.

Its surprising considering the growth, at least in our area, of the school district. At least it seems like were already overcrowded and classes are large, and Im just curious how thats going to work, Surek said.

Unfortunately, cuts like this are happening region-wide. Seattle Public Schools notified more than 30 staff members that their positions could be eliminated next year. In the Bellevue School District theres an ongoing fight between the district and families over the closure of three schools. The interim superintendent is advising the district close three schools primarily because of low enrollment.

According to the Everett School District, the cuts are necessary because they are expecting expenses of $28 million will be greater than their revenue. Some factors are yet to be determined so we do not have an exact number at this time. The reasons why this is happening is outlined on our budget page. It comes down to increased costs of materials and services, increased staffing costs, the state not covering all basic education costs and unpredictable funding over time.

When asked if 142 people will lose their jobs, a representative said, There will not be 142 people losing their jobs. There will also be a reduction in operational expenses, but since the majority of school district expenses are staffing, there must be staffing reductions in order to meet the $28 million. We are moving forward with the reduction plan now, but know the budget numbers will be more solidified after the Legislature comes out with IPD (cost of living) at the end of the session, as well as any additional funding from the legislature. We will not know the exact special services funding from the state and the levy distribution (based on CPI) until August. So, the plan is a little fluid and therefore an exact number of positions lost cannot be specified at this time. We do believe the majority of reductions will happen through attrition (resignations and retirements) and not filling currently open positions.

They also added that students would not be impacted, as well as class sizes.
Severe weather has made its way out of much of metro Atlanta and north Georgia.

Severe Weather Team 2 tracked the storms LIVE on Channel 2 Action News for hours on Friday afternoon.

The storm sparked several tornado warnings and several severe thunderstorms as they moved across the state. There were numerous reports of damaged across a wide swath of North Georgia.

A tornado watch is in effect for much of north Georgia until 8 p.m.

A tornado watch means conditions are favorable for tornadoes to form. A tornado warning means a tornado has been spotted or indicated by radar and you should take cover immediately.

[DOWNLOAD: Severe Weather Team 2 Weather App for storm alerts in your neighborhood]

Heres what to know for Friday.

Risk of thunderstorms moving into west Georgia early afternoon.

Wind gusts up to 45 mph in metro Atlanta

Areas of northwest Georgia may see wind gusts up to 50 mph

There is a wind advisory in effect from 7 a.m. to 11 p.m. Friday

[INTERACTIVE RADAR: StormTracker 2HD]
Wang Junzi just returned a few days ago from a porcelain exchange meeting in Japan. "I shared our Ru porcelain culture with artists from abroad and also got a better look at what has recently been going on with porcelain development," says Wang, who is from Qingliangsi village, Baofeng county, Pingdingshan city, Central China's Henan province.

He believes that these exchanges will help Ru porcelain thrive. Ru is one of the top five porcelains in China. It gets its name from the location in which it has been made: Ruzhou in Henan.

As life has returned to normal after the pandemic policy was relaxed, so has Wang's trade.

"I receive thousands of orders for Ru porcelain now," Wang says.

The man, who is in his 60s, spends most of his time around the kiln and is teaching his disciples to grasp the finesse required to produce impeccable porcelain works so they can carry forward the Ru porcelain firing craft, which was listed a national intangible cultural heritage by the State Council in 2011.

The Ru porcelain ware was first produced for the Song Dynasty (960-1279) imperial court for a brief period around 1100 and features a distinctive pale blue glaze. It can be found in dishes, small vases and incense burners, among other goods.

Fewer than 100 complete original pieces have been found intact.

In the 1950s, archaeologists discovered a kiln site in Qingliangsi. Shards resembling Ru ware were found there in 1977.

In 1986, porcelain experts from the Shanghai Museum conducted two surveys on the site. They collected more than 40 porcelain specimens and kiln items and confirmed Qingliangsi as home to official Ru porcelain kilns.

This led to extensive investigations at Qingliangsi between 1987 and 2002 by the Henan Provincial Institute of Cultural Heritage and Archaeology, revealing a complex of workshops that still contained the remnants of production.

Inheriting a legacy

Wang was on the scene when the big ancient kiln site was unearthed and was stunned by the large quantity of porcelain shards. "Most of them had an azure glaze," he recalls.

Driven by his fascination with porcelain, he viewed the archaeologists as teachers and voluntarily helped with their work.

"In my childhood, children in the village used to dig into the ground in search of porcelain shards for fun," Wang says, adding that he took some home in the 1970s.

He would carefully listen to what the experts said about these precious artifacts and study their characteristics. He would also pick up discarded items, such as agate beads and cow bones. He wouldn't even miss the seemingly ordinary clays from the archaeological site.

"I tried to sift through them and figure out their relationship with porcelain wares, such as how they influenced their glaze color," he says.

After the first archaeological team left, Wang stayed behind and kept going around the neighborhood. That was when he realized a part of him had left with the team.

The excavated porcelain and experts' explanations fueled his curiosity toward Ru porcelain wares, a treasure in his very own neighborhood. He was motivated to come up with an ambitious plan: creating porcelain items that shine with the same stunning color as their ancient predecessors.

In 1987, Wang began learning the art of porcelain-making from experienced artisans at the county's purple clay factory. He started with material selection and went on to study kneading, shaping, glazing and firing skills, which laid a solid foundation for his craftsmanship before he got started on learning to make Ru porcelain.

"I believed that since the Ru porcelain kiln site sits at Qingliangsi, most of the raw materials must be nearby," he says. "So, I rode my motorcycle, with plenty of food packed, to search everywhere, and I traveled across mountains in a radius of about 200 kilometers."

Wang climbed the mountains to collect the materials, even injuring his waist and legs in the process. The raw materials for firing Ru porcelain, including gangue and glaze, were all sourced from these trips to the local mountains.

He then carried miscellaneous specimens to research facilities in Zhengzhou, capital of Henan province, and Beijing for analysis. From the data, Wang started to sort out possible methods for creating the special glazed porcelain.

After collecting enough information, Wang started to try his hand in firing Ru porcelain in his homebuilt kiln in 1998.

He experimented with more than 400 types of raw materials, making a record of each of the thousands of firing sessions and setbacks, eventually overcoming various challenges, such as combining the sky blue glaze with the porcelain body in 2000.

Wang still remembers his excitement on seeing his first successful work, a meter-long, azure-glazed implement for rinsing brushes.

"It was like seeing my newborn son," he says.

Student becomes teacher

The initial success impelled Wang to make his work more delicate, and it began to verge on that created by ancient craftsmen.

He went on to explore approaches to restoring other glaze colors, such as bluish white and pinkish blue.

In recent years, Wang has delivered Ru porcelain works in more than 50 classic forms, including string-patterned zun (vessels) and narcissus-shaped pots, as well as more than 70 novel wares in the shape of auspicious items and animals, such as the dragon turtle.

His works have made their way to various exhibitions at home and abroad, such as the Chinese traditional craft invitational exhibition held by the Ministry of Culture and Tourism and the Shanghai government last year.

It didn't take long before his products were being sought after.

"I didn't think of making a business out of it at the beginning. It was just out of pure interest," he says, adding that the positive market feedback and recognition from people in the industry have given him motivation to carry on.

The increased business has allowed Wang to take on apprentices since 2002. He established a Ru porcelain research institute and an industry association in the village in 2005 to boost research and standardize inheritance of the ancient craft.

His three sons are also engaged in various porcelain businesses under his influence.

"My father was obsessed with Ru porcelain firing and he asked us to help when he conducted experiments almost every day," his eldest son Wang Xiaolei says.

"It was annoying at first, but gradually we saw the beauty of the craft as he pushed us to immerse ourselves in the field," he adds.

Many of Wang Junzi's apprentices now have their own kilns and are engaging in Ru porcelain production.

Shang Liuqun, a villager from Qingliangsi, has evolved into a Ru porcelain master and runs his own porcelain company, under Wang Junzi's guidance.

"He helped me to work out the glaze shrinking problems that had persisted in my firing of the traditional narcissus-shaped pot," Shang says.

Wang Junzi was named an inheritor of national intangible cultural heritage for his skill in firing Ru porcelain by the Ministry of Culture and Tourism in 2018.

The title has granted him a strong sense of obligation to pass Ru porcelain craftsmanship onto more people.

He has provided his decades of trial-firing data from Ru kilns to various scientific research departments and wrote a book on them. He has also summarized a catchy rhyme that reflects the characteristics of Ru kilns in layman's terms, which has enabled more people to appreciate the charm and culture behind this ancient porcelain.

In addition, Wang Junzi has also held cultural exchange activities with primary and middle schools, arranging for students to visit his facility to observe the production process.

Under his leadership, more than 100 households in the village are now firing porcelain.

When asked if he worried about potential competition, Wang Junzi says the more people who make it, the better.

"It would be good for the overall development of Ru porcelain," he says.

Wang Junzi has also called for orderly and legal clay digging to protect raw materials.

Local authorities have put a premium on Ru porcelain development in recent years.

Baofeng county has earmarked 10 million yuan ($1.44 million) every year as a porcelain industry development fund and invested more than 1.5 million yuan improving conditions at 40 porcelain inheritance sites.

"With the increasing support from the government and rising public appreciation, now it is the best time for the development of Ru porcelain," Wang Junzi says.

"I will keep carrying on the Ru porcelain technique and strive to help the porcelain industry in Baofeng get bigger and stronger."
Photo Illustration by Luis G. Rendon/The Daily Beast/Reuters/Pixabay/Wikimedia Commons

Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya, the opposition leader of Belarus, is set to visit Washington, D.C. in coordination with the State Department later this month, three sources familiar with the trip tell The Daily Beast.

The visit of the former Soviet republics opposition leader is still in the planning stages, but is slated for the week of March 21 and is set to include meetings with Congress and the State Department, two Tsikhanouskaya advisers and a Democratic Senate aide told The Daily Beast.The visit is slated to last between the 21-27, and could be extended, Valery Kavaleuski, a foreign affairs representative for Belarus opposition, told The Daily Beast.

The planning of the trip comes as Belarusian opposition and activists have been ratcheting up their pressure campaign against Russian President Vladimir Putin and Belarusian leader Alexander Lukashenkoalso known as Europes last dictatorand the use of Belarusian territory as a staging ground for the war in Ukraine, despite domestic disapproval of the war.

Belarusian activists have been working to thwart Russias aggression since the early days of the conflict. But now that Lukashenko is doubling down in his willingness to let Putin barrel in, Belarusian saboteurs are recognizing Putins use of Belarus as a kind of hybrid occupation, and last week successfully attacked a Russian surveillance aircraft with a drone in an airfield in Belarus as part of an effort to escalate their operations.

The Belarusian partisan group that claimed responsibility for the attack, BYPOL, works with Tsikhanouskayas office. An adviser for the Belarusian opposition told The Daily Beast this week that the drone attack was considered a big victory that is part of a larger civil resistance plan, warning that there are many other plans to come. The hope, he explained, is that they can make Putin second-guess his strategy of using Belarus as a launchpad for war.

Putin Warned of More Mystery Attacks After Russian Plane Explosion

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Tsikhanouskaya has been laying the groundwork to ratchet up a pressure campaign against Lukashenko ever since she opposed him in the 2020 Belarusian presidential election. Lukashenko claimed the contest as a victory, although the results of the election have faced widespread allegations of vote-rigging.

Tsikhanouskayas trip to Washington will primarily be aimed at shoring up support for preserving Belarusian independence and restoring democracy in Belarustasks which have become increasingly fraught as Lukashenko has let Putin ride roughshod over any resistance in Belarus to the war in Ukraine, Kavaleuski said. Part of that conversation will include a discussion of whether it will be possible to de-recognize Lukashenko as the leader of Belarus, Kavaleuski said.

Our task is complicated by the fact that Lukashenkos regime has dragged our country into the aggression against Ukraine, and our country now, under Lukashenko, is a material contributor to this war, Kavaleuski told The Daily Beast. But it not only threatens Ukraine and violates territorial integrity and sovereignty of Ukraine. It also creates a significant threat to our own independence. And this is the main driver for foreign policy at this point we have to preserve the independence of the country.

Game plan

According to Tsikhanouskayas team, the trip is also set to include engagements with the Belarusian diaspora surrounding Belarus Freedom Day, a day celebrating Belarus proclamation of the Belarusian Peoples Republic in 1918, on March 25. Opposition leaders have previously rallied supporters to demonstrate against Lukashenko and pressure him to resign around this day.

Tsikhanouskaya previously visited the Biden administration in 2021 to try and crank up pressure against Lukashenko. During that trip, she met with President Joe Biden, Secretary of State Tony Blinken, Bidens National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan, and several other U.S. officials.

Meetings for the trip slated for this month are not confirmed yet, although a meeting with the White House is under discussion, Kavaleuski said. A meeting may also take place with Blinken, Tsikhanouskayas camp said, although that isnt confirmed yet either.

A State Department spokesperson confirmed the trip.

The Department looks forward to welcoming Svyatlana Tsikhanouskaya and representatives of the Belarusian democratic forces and civil society to the United States later this month, the spokesperson said, adding the visit emphasizes the United States enduring support for a democratic, independent, and sovereign Belarus, and will be an opportunity for U.S. and Belarusian democratic leaders to discuss ongoing U.S. efforts to hold the Lukashenka regime accountable for continued repression as well as its complicity in Russias war against Ukraine.

Belarusian opposition leader Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya delivers a speech at the European Parliament in Strasbourg, France, Nov. 24, 2021. Julien Warnand/Pool via Reuters

The Biden Administration remains supportive of Tsikhanouskayas efforts to shore up support for independence, a Biden administration official told The Daily Beast.

We continue to support Belarus courageous democratic forces, led by Sviatlana Tskihanouskaya, and structures such as the United Transition Cabinet and Coordination Council, which seek to advance the democratic aspirations of the Belarusian people towards a democratic, sovereign, and prosperous future, the official said.

While the White House doesnt yet have meetings to announce and nothing is set in stone, senior White House officials are interested in meeting with Tsikhanouskaya on the upcoming trip, The Daily Beast has learned.

As a part of Tsikhanouskayas campaign against Lukashenko, she is also intent on rallying support for the establishment of an international coalition for democratic and independent Belarus, and is keen to discuss political-military issues, including further responses to Russias use of Belarus for the war against Ukraine, Kavaleuski said.

The urgency of that task grows by the day as Russia and Belarus coordinate joint military groupings in Belarus and run combat readiness drills in preparation for possible military action.

We need to work on the steps to thwart these kinds of movements, Kavaleuski said. Until now, there hasn't been much of an international response to the activities of Russians on Belarusian soil and we need to make sure that this is assessed adequately. And the response to such hostile actions of Russians on our territory is that it must stop.

Shadow Government in Putins Own Backyard Plots Against Him

Tsikhanouskaya will also likely be making the rounds through the halls of Congress to galvanize support, sources say.

Ive had the privilege of meeting with Ms. Tsikhanouskaya on a number of occasions and look forward to again welcoming her back to Washington, Sen. Jeanne Shaheen (D-NH), one of co-chairs and co-founders of the Free Belarus Caucus, told The Daily Beast.

Sviatlana Tsikhanouskayas leadership and influence have never been as important for Belarusian citizens as they are today with [Lukashenko] cozying up to Putin and endorsing Russias barbaric assault on Ukraine, said Shaheen, Chair of the Senate Foreign Relations Subcommittee on Europe and Regional Security Cooperation.

The trip is aimed at getting to the top of the pile in Washington, D.C., Franak Viacorka, the chief political adviser to Tsikhanouskaya, told The Daily Beast. This visit is important for us to get Belarus back on the agenda of the U.S. stakeholders and decision-makers. The meetings in Congress are very important because Congress decides on help on Ukraine and help to Belarus, he said. Support for Belarus and democratic resistanceits a must right now.

Dangerous bond

While the war in Ukraine has added urgency to Tsikhanouskayas efforts to build ties with other world leaders, other concerns are bubbling up behind the scenes. The trip comes as advisers in Belarus opposition have grown concerned that Russia may view Belarus as a target, much like Ukraine.

Belarus and Russia have built a so-called union state relationship over the years that links together their societies, from their militaries to their banking sectors. And while Lukashenko has, in some ways, sought to maintain an element of independence from Putin, Lukashenko watchers have suggested that he may have lost all ability to act without influence from Putin in recent months, raising serious questions about the future of Belarus.

Posters at an event where Belarus opposition leader Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya spoke to Belarusian diaspora, in London, Aug. 3, 2021. Reuters/Peter Nicholls

As Lukashenkos power dwindles, the opposition told The Daily Beast it harbors concerns that Russia may seek to take over Belarus to gain better access to Latvia, Lithuania, and Poland. A recently leaked document from the Kremlins Directorate for Cross-Border Cooperation outlined plans in 2021 to annex Belarus by 2030.

In an attempt to prepare for a future without Lukashenko in complete control, the Belarusian opposition proposed to form an alliance with Ukraine for joint action last year, as The Daily Beast reported.

Concern is growing in Congress that Lukashenko has totally given up power to Putin, too.

In the last year, the world has seen Lukashenkos complete capitulation to his puppet master Putin amid his outrageous war against Ukraine, Sen. Dick Durbin (D-IL), a member of the Free Belarus Caucus, told The Daily Beast.

The Belarusian people have suffered under Lukashenkos tyrannical rule for far too long. I can recall visiting Minsk in early 2011 and meeting with the distraught families of candidates whod had the temerity to compete against Lukashenko in the recent presidential electiononly to find themselves thrown in a Belarusian gulag. Ten years later we saw another stolen election, Durbin said.

The Biden administration could be doing more on Belarus, according to some. Sen. Tim Kaine (D-VA), a member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee and of the Free Belarus Caucus, called on the Biden Administration to appoint an official charged with Belarus issues moving forward.

The United States and the international community should continue working closely to hold Lukashenkos authoritarian regime accountable while supporting Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya and other opposition members. Secretary Blinken should also appoint a Special Envoy to Belarus as a clear demonstration of our support for the Belarusian people, Kaine said.

In the coming weeks, Shaheen said they will likely be ironing out a few crucial issues when it comes to Belarus, namely pushing back on Russian aggression, combating the rise of authoritarianism in Eastern Europe, and supporting pro-democracy movements.

We cannot forget Belarus, and the pro-democratic aspirations of Belarusians, amid Putins illegal war in Ukraine, Shaheen said. Lukashenko is not a leader for Belarusianshes no more than a puppet for Putin.

Read more at The Daily Beast.

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Gov. Josh Shapiro will propose a three-year incentive of up to $2,500 a year for newly certified teachers, police officers and nurses in Pennsylvania when the Democrat unveils his budget plan on Tuesday, administration officials said.

The incentive is a tax credit designed to help address complaints from school boards, police departments and hospitals about the difficulty in filling critical positions in public safety, health and education, administration officials said.

It also is in line with one of Shapiros campaign trail promises to help police departments recruit 2,000 more police officers.

Much of Shapiros forthcoming budget proposal remains under wraps, and any new tax credit will require approval from the politically divided Legislature.

Under the proposal, the tax credit would apply to new certifications issued starting in 2023, and could be included on a newly certified workers tax return starting in 2024. The state would mail a check back to someone whose certification qualifies, administration officials said.

Those eligible could receive the tax credit each year for the first three years after they get the certification from the state.

People who newly move to Pennsylvania with a state-recognized credential in one of those three fields also would be eligible for it, administration officials said.

The amount of the tax credit would be on a sliding scale, depending on how much someone earned, administration officials said.

They estimated that it could cost the state almost $25 million, based on the three-year average of nearly 15,000 people a year getting certified in the eligible three professions. The state is currently operating on a $42.8 billion budget, and has about $11 billion in surplus cash in the bank, giving Shapiro a cushion to propose new spending priorities.

Police departments have seen applications drop dramatically over the past few years, Shapiro has said. The commission that oversees the training and certification of municipal police officers found more than 1,200 officer vacancies in a survey of just one-third of the states accredited law enforcement agencies last year.

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The states largest teachers union, the Pennsylvania State Education Association, has blamed a shortage of teachers on a steep drop in the number of college graduates entering the profession. It has asked the state to fund a plan to set minimum salaries at $60,000 a year for teachers, school counselors and nurses.

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Shark Tank investor Kevin OLeary accused Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) of being great at killing jobs on Friday and making New York City uninvestable.

Shes great at killing jobs. She kills jobs by the thousands, OLeary said during an interview on CNN This Morning.

He also blamed politicians for making New York City uninvestable, claiming Ocasio-Cortez actually planned to sue Amazon if they created jobs. OLeary was referring to the companys decision last summer to cancel its planned warehouse in Newark, N.J.

Sorry. Dont shoot the messenger; just telling you how it is, he said, adding that he would debate New York officials any time of the day.

OLeary received pushback from the hosts after those comments, with co-anchor Poppy Harlow saying that he wasnt giving the full story.

Theres a little more to it, but lets not re-litigate that Harlow said, with co-host Don Lemon chiming in after.

He is saying what a lot of people are saying especially what happened after the Amazon thing here in New York, Lemon added.

OLeary also mentioned earlier in the interview that hes no longer investing in states such as New York, Massachusetts, New Jersey or California.

I dont put companies here in New York anymore or in Massachusetts or in New Jersey or in California. Those states are uninvestable, he claimed. The policy here is insane. The taxes are too high.

Instead, OLeary added, we put them in Fargo, North Dakota, because 40 percent of the people work elsewhere, including Boston.

He said bigger cities tend to punish people who are successful with higher taxes.

While he blamed Ocasio-Cortez and other politicians for regulations in most cities, he insisted that remote work has made a major difference among companies and the economy after the pandemic.

Story continues

OLeary explained that theres a new generation that has no intention of ever working in an office post-pandemic  and thats an important piece to remember when trying to be competitive in the workplace market. But, he said, it hasnt changed productivity.

I found that it hasnt changed anything because they dont know anything else. Some of them just got out of college and started working out of their homes. Theyve never worked in an office, OLeary said. Basically what it changes is [a companys] project management.

He explained that companies now have to give deadlines and worry less about their employees working 9-5.

You say to somebody Look, youve got gotta get this done by next Friday at noon, you dont really care when they do it, and theyre not working 9-5, as long as it gets done, OLeary said. So it changes the way you manage these companies  However, its probably less private time on weekends.

I call my employees 24/7. Thats the deal. If you dont work in the office, I can call you at 2 in the morning, he added.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to The Hill.
trans bathroom UK - Credit: Vladimir Vladimirov/Getty Images

Ill wipe my hands on my penis.

Essayist and activist Sophie McAllister is confident shed never uttered those words before this week. Now, she tells Rolling Stone, she must have said them over a hundred times, thanks to a quick encounter in a London pub, which she believes made her the unwilling target of a Daily Mail article.

More from Rolling Stone

In a bitter case of irony, the only reason Sophie, who asked to be referred to by her first name in this story, went into the Marquis of Granby Pub on a February evening was for safety. She and eight other friends had attended a vigil for 16-year-old transgender girl Brianna Ghey, who had been killed earlier that month, and wanted to make sure they didnt run into any problems on the way home.

We went to regroup and make sure that we stayed together before traveling home because of the risk of attacks from bigots, Sophie says, noting that she doesnt even drink. Its a big concern that were going to be targeted by people who want to do us harm.

Sophie McAllister, 26

While at the pub, Sophie used the restroom and made awkward small talk with a woman in the cramped space. Towards the end, I was trying to use the hand dryer. It was terrible and she was like Well have to shake, Sophie says. I said Oh, Ill just wipe my hands on my jeans and I left.

But on Feb. 25, the U.K.s Daily Mail published an online article from local politician Ruby Sampson titled How a friendly chat in the ladies of a London pub turned menacing and plunged a Tory councillor, 22, into the clash between trans rights and womens safety. In the piece, Sampson writes about an encounter she had with a trans woman in the womens room at a London pub. She said she was proud of herself for not treating the clearly trans woman any differently. Sampson writes that she and the woman talked about how dreadful the hand dryer was  with Sampson saying they would simply have to shake their hands dry  she alleges the woman turned to her and said, Ill just wipe my hands on my penis. Sampson wrote that she was shocked, and considered the phrase a threat  one that made her feel so unsafe she couldnt bear the thought of going to the bathroom at that bar alone ever again.

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The article, and its underlying assumptions, dont exist in a bubble. Rather, it is just one example of how rampant anti-transgender rhetoric is becoming in the U.K. These trans-exclusionary radical feminists, or TERFS, as critics call them, have spent the past two years holding rallies, pushing for legislation, and stoking anti-transgender sentiments  all under the guise of excluding trans people from single-sex spaces. Harry Potter author J.K. Rowling has received major backlash for being a prominent face of this movement, which she says is about womens safety rather than transphobia. But the trans community and its allies have accused Rowling and British politicians like Kemi Badenoch and Rosie Duffield of painting a target on trans backs. And on Feb. 11, when Ghey was found fatally stabbed to death in a park in Cheshire, England, the death of the transgender girl quickly became a rallying point for trans women.

After the article came out, Sophie says, she and her friends thought it was funny. The phrase Ill wipe my hands on my penis sounded absolutely absurd, and they assumed the woman was simply making up the entire interaction in order to write more anti-trans articles. Until they realized the woman was talking about the same bar they went to. On the same night. At the same time.

We all had a laugh about it, she says. And then we slowly realized that the story which was obviously ridiculous to everyone whos read it  it was about me.

Sophie tells Rolling Stone she cant be 100 percent certain shes the woman Sampson is referring to in the article, but a plethora of similarities line up, including the pub, the night, the upstairs event referenced in Sampsons article, their conversation, and of course, the description of herself. The Daily Mail article uses what Sophie calls an absurd, nonsensical lie to make the case for more single-sex spaces in England. But in its descriptions of the encounter and Sophie  whom the author describes as towering, big-shouldered, and deep-voiced  the short writeup says that sharing bathrooms with trans women puts cis women in danger, and uses rhetoric that suggests Sophie is a predator for her supposed penis comments. Sampson did not respond to Rolling Stones requests for comment, but has been active on Twitter liking and responding to comments praising her for her strength and bravery in speaking out. She has not acknowledged a thread Sophie posted alleging that the conversation hadnt happened as Sampson wrote.

It was funny for a couple of days, Sophie says. And then it kind of hit me. I feel a little less safe using public bathrooms. We all feel less safe when we see these articles. As a trans person, it makes me quite terrified. And as a sexual assault survivor myself, it makes me disgusted that people like me are constantly and frequently painted as sexual predators based on nothing.

Sophie came out as trans in the summer of 2020, an experience she calls initially lonely due to the pandemic. But while she was supported and welcomed by her trans friends, the danger that trans individuals can face made her nervous to be so public about it. And in the days since the story was published, the incident has also compounded Sophies already frustrated feelings towards outlets helping to spread anti-trans messages.

Trans people dont like to speak to journalists, because journalists are complicit in the machine that is most directly getting us killed. Journalists dont listen to us when we say that we are experiencing a genocide, Sophie says. Theres a reason that the number of hate crimes against us has [increased]. Its not out of nowhere. Its people publishing articles that insinuate that we are sexual predators, which encourages people to attack us.

She points to the recent death of Ghey as just one example. Reports in the British media, from several major outlets, either omitted Gheys trans identity, or used her deadname  an act that has incensed the transgender community, and sparked several nationwide rallies, like the one Sophie attended that night. Sophie tells Rolling Stone that as long as the British press continues to publish articles that fearmonger and promote insidious rhetoric around trans issues, theyre complicit in the deaths of trans people.

Within the community, theres a lot of feeling that we have to do more. We are going to do more to make people take us seriously and make it so they cant ignore whats being done to us, Sophie says. And I hope that every journalist at one of these outlets, every time they lock eyes with a child for the rest of their lives, they see Brianna Ghey. I hope they can one day understand the guilt that they bear. And seeing them go on to take away her dignity even in death  Its despicable.

While the Daily Mail article has made Sophie fear for her safety, she says she finds hope in the support of her friends and community. Fighting for your existence is exhausting, Sophie tells Rolling Stone. Its why she hopes that cisgender people will help take up the mantle, not just to make trans women like herself feel safer about simply using a pub bathroom  but to hopefully save lives.

When we chant Show me what community looks like, the crowd responds This is what community looks like. Community helps enormously, she says. We wont have to fight if cis people [help]. Its entirely in [their] hands. I am entirely confident that we can live in a world where we get to live the way that we want. But I have to try not to think too hard about how many people will die before that happens.

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Auriol Grey has been sentenced to three years in prison. (PA)

Campaigners and friends have reacted with shock and anger at the prison sentence handed to a disabled woman after she was found guilty of manslaughter.

Auriol Grey, 49, was found guilty after she shouted at retired midwife Celia Ward, 77, to "get off the f****** pavement" in Huntingdon, Cambridgeshire, causing her to fall into the road and get struck by a car.

Ward was pronounced dead at the scene on 20 October 2020.

Grey has cerebral palsy, is partially blind, suffers from cognitive issues and has been living in shelter accommodation for most of her life.

During sentencing, Judge Sean Enright said: "These actions are not explained by disability."

A close friend of Grey living at her sheltered accommodation expressed his shock at the news that she had been jailed for three years.

Screengrab taken from CCTV showing Auriol Grey walking on the pavement before causing Celia Ward to fall into the path oncoming vehicle. (PA)

Auriol Grey was jailed for manslaughter after she gestured in a hostile and aggressive way towards retired midwife Celia Ward, who then veered into the road in Huntingdon, Cambridgeshire. (SWNS)

Read more: Former estate agent broke into Subway and bit a police officer just 24 hours after being spared jail

The man in his 40s, who asked not to be named, said he had lived in the same building as Auriol for the last 15 years.

The building is run by the Papworth Trust and provides help and support for around 20 residents, many of whom have special needs.

The man said: "This is wrong. Auriol is a lovely person. She is always happy and smiling.

"She does have a temper, but she is not a violent person. I have never seen her be violent.

"She's had arguments with her boyfriend, but she doesn't hit people or get aggressive.

"She will not cope with prison. She needs a familiar environment and there will be violent criminals around her.

Auriol Grey arriving at Peterborough Crown Court. (PA)

Read more: TikToker who filmed Nicola Bulleys body being removed from river is targeted by angry locals

"I'm shocked. I can't believe that she was charged with manslaughter. They should have considered her conditions.

"I think it is wrong and I am worried about her."

Fazilet Hadi, Head of Policy at Disability Rights UK, told the MailOnline that the sentence was "extremely harsh."

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Hadi said: "'This was a really tragic incident, where Celia lost her life, and I feel sadness and sympathy for all involved. The sentence given to Auriol does seem extremely harsh."

"With the number of cyclists increasing, we need proper separation of pedestrians, cyclists and cars, so that we can all keep each other safe. Government and councils need to review guidance, to ensure safe streets."

Grey's lawyers have launched an appeal against her sentence.

There are fears that she will lose her place at her accommodation if she spends years in prison, which will leave her homeless after her sentence is completed.

The Papworth Trust have been contacted for comment.
Story at a glance

Scammers use a variety of tactics to trick users into giving up personal information like passwords and Social Security numbers.

After that, they could use that information to gain access to your accounts or they could even sell your information to someone else.

If you think a message is real but arent sure, contact the specific company by using a phone number from an official website that you know is real.

DENVER (KDVR)  Scammers are getting more advanced every day. From a simple text that says, track your package with this link, to a message that promises to help pay off loans or give you a coupon code, there are a variety of tactics used.

But how can you tell if its a scam text? And is there a way to stop the fake messages?

How to recognize a scam text

It can be difficult sometimes to recognize a spam message. According to the Federal Trade Commission, scammers will send fake text messages to try and trick you into giving them personal information, like a password, account number, or Social Security number.

After that, they could use that information to gain access to your accounts or they could even sell your information to someone else.

Odometer rolled back 100,000 miles then sold to customer

These are some ways scammers might try to get your information, according to the FTC:

They might try to say theyve noticed suspicious activity on your account

Claim theres a problem with your payment information

Send you a fake invoice and tell you to contact them if you didnt authorize the purchase

Send you a package delivery notification

Promise free prizes, gift cards, or coupons

Offer you a low or no interest credit card

Promise to help you pay off your student loans

If you think a message is real but arent sure, contact the specific company by using a phone number from an official website that you know is real.

What should you do if you get a scam text?

Here is what you should do if you get a scam text:

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Copy the message, without clicking on a link, and forward it to 7726 (SPAM). This helps your wireless provider spot and block similar messages in the future.

Report it on the messaging app you use. Look for the option to report junk or spam. How to report spam or junk in the Messages app How to report spam on an Android phone

Report it to the FTC at ReportFraud.ftc.gov.

Can you stop the fake texts?

The Federal Communication Commission says that rules ban text messages sent to a mobile phone using an auto-dialer, unless you previously gave consent to receive the message or the message is sent for emergency purposes.

Here is what the FCC said to do to try and stop these spam messages from happening:

Do not respond to unwanted texts from questionable sources. Several mobile service providers allow you to block the sender by forwarding unwanted texts to 7726 (or SPAM).

Be careful about giving out your mobile phone number or any other personal information.

Read through commercial web forms and check for a privacy policy when submitting your mobile phone number to any customer website. You should be able to opt out of receiving texts  but you may have to check or uncheck a preselected box to do so.

Find out if any company you do business with has a policy that allows it to sell or share your information.

Check with your cell service provider to see your options for block spam callers or spam texts

The FCC proposed new rules last week that would require mobile wireless providers to block messages from numbers that appear to be scam-related. Examples include mobile numbers that are invalid, unallocated, unused or have been blocked by the user.

Such rules are already in place for voice calls, according to the FCC.

Text messaging is among our most popular forms of communication, quickly connecting people to friends and family, businesses to customers, and governments to constituents, the FCC proposal reads. But with that popularity comes risk. While unwanted text messages present similar problems as unwanted calls  they invade consumer privacy and are vehicles for consumer fraud and identity theft  they also present harms beyond robocalls that can exacerbate the problem of such scams.

Along with the FCC recommendations, there are a number of apps such as Nomorobo, Hiya, and Robokiller that purport to wipe out scam texts and calls.

What is Smishing?

One of the scams hitting many cell phones is a form of phishing that is called, smishing.

The text might say, Jonathan, urgent notice for your USPS package 97OR442 Available for pick 8:55 a.m. Click this link.

Even if you are expecting a package, you shouldnt click the link.

USPS will not send customers text messages or e-mails without a customer first requesting the service with a tracking number, and it will not contain a link. So, if you did not initiate the tracking request for a specific package directly from USPS and it contains a link: dont click the link, the United States Postal Inspection Service said.

If you get a package scam text, here is how you can report it:

Without clicking on the web link, copy the body of the suspicious text message and paste into a new email.

Provide your name in the email, and also attach a screenshot of the text message showing the phone number of the sender and the date sent.

Include any relevant details in your email, for example: if you clicked the link, if you lost money, if you provided any personal information, or if you experienced any impacts to your credit or person.

The Postal Inspection Service will contact you if more information is needed.

If you have not done so yet, make sure your phone is on the Do Not Call list.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to The Hill.
(Bloomberg) -- The estranged younger brother of Singapore Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong is considering a run for the largely ceremonial role of president this year, a sign that an ongoing family feud could start to overshadow the city-states politics.

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Lee Hsien Yang, 65, spoke about his plans to Bloomberg News after the government revealed an ongoing police investigation against him and his wife over the handling of the last will of his father Lee Kuan Yew, who founded modern Singapore.

There is a view that depending on who they float, if I were to run they would be in serious trouble and could lose, Lee Hsien Yang said by phone, referring to the ruling Peoples Action Party headed by his brother. A lot of people have come to me. They really want me to run. Its something I would consider.

The Prime Ministers Office didnt immediately comment. The government has said the police investigation was an opportunity for Lee Hsien Yang and his wife Lee Suet Fern to vindicate themselves and their refusal to participate raises questions.

A former chief executive of Singtel, Lee Hsien Yang has lived in self-imposed exile in Europe for months along with his wife. He declined to say where they were residing. With the ongoing probe, Lee Hsien Yang said he was unsure what the chances are that I will return to Singapore in the foreseeable future.

While the prime minister runs the government in Singapore, the presidency holds some powers such as the right to veto spending bills or government requests to draw on past reserves, which was done to help shore up the budget during the pandemic. The president also must sign off on civil service appointments.

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Although candidates for the presidential race are supposed to be non-partisan under Singapores constitution, the current president was a former senior official of the PAP, which has ruled Singapore since independence in 1965. The vote will give an indicator of the national mood ahead of a general election that must be called by November 2025, with the PAP seeking to win over younger voters facing rising living costs after suffering its worst-ever showing in the 2020 election.

The next national vote will also likely mark the end of Lee Hsien Loongs roughly two decades in power. Deputy Prime Minister Lawrence Wong has been tapped to take the reins after another deputy, Heng Swee Keat, stepped aside as heir apparent in April 2021.

Discord among the Lee siblings has simmered for years since the patriarchs death in 2015. It largely centers on whether a colonial-era bungalow near the glitzy shopping district where Lee Kuan Yew lived for most of his 91 years should be demolished.

Lee Hsien Loong, 71, has in the past expressed disappointment that his younger brother and sister Lee Wei Ling have publicized private family matters.

Lee Hsien Yangs path to presidency will be difficult. He has to meet requirements set by the Presidential Elections Committee, which is stacked mostly with government officials, in order to qualify as a candidate. Critics have said in the past the committee has too much discretionary power to decide whether candidates are fit to run.

His wife Lee Suet Fern was suspended for 15 months from practicing law in 2020. She said at the time she disagreed with the punishment for professional misconduct in her handling of the will. Their son Li Sheng Wu was fined the same year for a private Facebook post that criticized the government over its handling of the matter.

This is not the first time Lee Hsien Yang has mulled running for public office. In 2020, he joined the opposition Progress Singapore Party and briefly flirted with the idea of competing against his brother in elections in what critics called a stunt to raise the profile of the opposition. Lee Hsien Yang said in a Facebook post then that he backed down as Singapore doesnt need another Lee.

He was still front and center of his partys election campaign that yielded no outright electoral victories though a rule that mandates opposition representation in parliament awarded it two non-constituency seats. The PAP by contrast won 89% of the seats up for grabs but it was the worst showing for the ruling party as the opposition Workers Party made significant headway.

(Updates with 2020 election showing of Lee Hsien Yangs party)

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Minister for Health Ong Ye Kung speaking in parliament (left) and patients seated in polyclinic (Photos: MCI/Youtube and Getty Images)

SINGAPORE  Singapore residents can receive 3,000 health points upon enrolling under the Healthier SG national programme and completing their first health consultation.

These health points will be deposited onto the Healthy 365 app, and can be exchanged for $20 worth of TransitLink credits or vouchers from merchants such as NTUC FairPrice.

This was announced by Health Minister Ong Ye Kung in Parliament on Friday (3 March), during his ministry's Committee of Supply debate.

Health points can also be earned by users when they participate in activities conducted by community organisations. Ong said that more of such activities will be held near homes.

Pre-enrolment for the voluntary Healthier SG programme will start in May for those aged 40 and above and are currently seeing a Healthier SG-registered general practitioner (GP) regularly. The clinics will encourage their regular patients with chronic conditions to pre-enrol onsite.

However, the Healthier SG benefits - which include free health screenings and vaccinations for Singapore citizens - will start only in July, when text messages for enrolment will also be sent out.

Patients with chronic illnesses to receive more financial aid

Ong also announced more financial support for Singaporeans with chronic illnesses, under the Community Health Assist Scheme (CHAS).

These patients will be able to receive subsidies of up to 87.5 per cent for an approved selection of medications, with no dollar cap. As such, prices of medications at GP clinics under Healthier SG will be comparable to those available at polyclinics.

Patients under the chronic tier will also receive adjusted dollar-based subsidies of up to $360 per year for other chronic care components, such as consultation and laboratory tests.

There are 23 chronic diseases that are covered under the subsidies, including diabetes, hypertension and major depression.

Removal of cash co-payment with Medisave for chronic treatment

Ong added that cash co-payment when using MediSave for chronic treatment will be removed. Patients can use MediSave to fully pay their bills, up to the withdrawal limit. This will be effective from early next year.

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As such, residents who have any diseases under Chronic Disease Management Programme (CDMP) will no longer have to co-pay 15 per cent of their medical bills in cash and can use MediSave to pay in full for treatments.

The MediSave usage will still be subject to the withdrawal limit of up to $700 per patient each year for chronic patients, and up to $500 per patient yearly for non-chronic patients.

10 new polyclinics to open from 2023 to 2030

In effort to meet rising healthcare needs, 10 new polyclinics will open in Singapore by 2030.

Two polyclinics, one in Sembawang and another in Tampines North, are scheduled to open this year. Four more polyclinics, located in Kaki Bukit, Khatib, Serangoon and Tengah, are scheduled to be completed by 2026.

An additional four in Bidadari, Bishan, Taman Jurong and Yew Tee are scheduled to be completed by 2030. This will bring the number of polyclinics up from 23 to 32.

Six existing polyclinics in Bukit Merah, Clementi, Jurong, Outram, Pasir Ris and Queenstown are also scheduled to be redeveloped by 2030. The Bukit Merah and Outram polyclinics will be combine into one after the redevelopment.

"We need to have adequate hospital capacity. But we should not overbuild or worse, think that the solution to future challenges of healthcare lies only in infrastructure and number of beds. Ultimately, with an ageing population, we need to become healthier," said Ong.

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ITV1s Loose Women launches Body Stories Celebrating Every Bodycampaign, featuring Carol McGiffin, Dame Kelly Holmes, Gloria Hunniford OBE, Judi Love, Katie Piper OBE and Sophie Morgan (SWNS)

A study of 2,000 female adults found despite 42 per cent believing body diversity has improved in the past five years, they feel there is still a long way to go.

Sadly, three quarters avoid looking in the mirror because of how it makes them feel about their body.

As a result, 78 per cent believe its important to see relatable body types in the media to normalise differences and encourage acceptance (both 65 per cent).

The research was commissioned to launch ITV1s Loose Women Body Stories campaign, to mark International Womens Day.

Ahead of a special Body Stories episode airing on 8th March at 12:30pm on ITV1 and ITVX, editor of Loose Women, Sally Shelford, said: "Loose Womens Body Stories campaign was originally launched in 2017 to inspire and promote body confidence for all of our viewers.

We are so proud that it is returning for International Womens Day with a powerful, joyful shoot and an equally powerful message on the importance of celebrating and seeing body diversity."

The findings also revealed 57 per cent have no body confidence - but 23 per cent would feel better about themselves if they saw people they identify with in the media.

Similarly, 76 per cent want to see more diversity reflected in high street fashion brands.

Three quarters have avoided wearing certain clothing to prevent showing off their body, including bikinis (63 per cent), crop tops (58 per cent) and short skirts (49 per cent).

While 65 per cent admitted a lack of body confidence has stopped them from doing things theyd like to, such as having their photo taken (70 per cent), going swimming (58 per cent) and wearing activewear (39 per cent).

With 24 per cent blaming a general lack of confidence in themselves and 18 per cent putting it down to feeling insecure about their body.

Many have missed or cancelled events, including birthday celebrations (26 per cent) and dates (18 per cent), due to feeling insecure about their body (18 per cent) and struggling to find anything to wear to suit their shape or size (17 per cent).

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When it comes to social media, 37 per cent said it has a negative impact on how they feel - compared to just four per cent who claim its positive  and feel unconfident (32 per cent), annoyed (18 per cent) and ashamed (14 per cent) when they see unrealistic and filtered images of others.

Contrastingly, those polled via OnePoll feel encouraged (26 per cent), assured (20 per cent), and happy (18 per cent) when they do see their body type represented in the media.

This years Loose Women Body Stories campaign, Celebrating Every Body, sees a host of Loose Women panelists, including Carol McGiffin, Dame Kelly Holmes, Gloria Hunniford OBE, Judi Love, Katie Piper OBE, and Sophie Morgan, take part in an inspiring Body Stories photo shoot for the first time, as well as candidly share their own body stories - in a bid to help viewers feel seen and represented.
Shanghai Culture Square theater announced the launch of a new musical center and its first foreign musical production in three years at the opening of this year's Shanghai International Musical Festival on Monday.



Fei Yuanhong, deputy general manager of the theater, says French musical Romeo and Juliet by Gerard Presgurvic will be shown at Shanghai Culture Square in May. Now that China's communication with the international musical theater sector has resumed, the Shanghai theater has pledged to present major foreign shows without compromising its support for original Chinese productions.

Located at Gate No 4 of Shanghai Culture Square, the new musical center is an underground area of the theater, with refurbished offices, rehearsal rooms, a recording studio and conference halls.

Zhang Jie, general manager of the theater, says the center will be "an incubation and creative center, a performance venue for experimental productions, an information center about musicals and a place for musical and theater lovers to meet up".

The gate used to be the backstage door of the theater where fans would wait for performers to emerge after shows to request autographs.

"We hope after the opening of the new center this backstage-door experience will be reserved for musical lovers," says Tang Yuze, a musical lover, and one of the actors for the first two immersive theater productions presented in the new space since Saturday.

The Smile off Your Face and A Game of You are one-on-one theater experiences produced by Ghent-based theater collective Ontroerend Goed from Belgium.

Both shows were adapted into Chinese and produced by Shanghai-based Tempest Projects and Fairchild Theater Production.

Weng Shihui, producer of the Chinese shows, says A Game of You is a"30-minute participatory experience blending theater and game "and "a psychological game of manipulation, ego, judgment and self-conscience", while during The Smile off Your Face, members of the audience are blindfolded and taken individually to a room after being put in a wheelchair. In the room, their replies to questions form part of the play.

With no stage or light, the experience is a "message of imagination and aromatherapy, and deconstruction of theater".

Weng says the pandemic made theater producers in China turn to small-scale shows for better control of the risk against investment.

Tang says he has noticed small immersive theater productions sprouting around Shanghai.

Another actor featured in the two shows is Xu Rui, who is also a theater director. She says the performance brought her unprecedentedly close to the audience and allowed her to observe their response to her every move.

"This experience has helped me to break away from my preconceived ideas about theater, and gave me confidence that audiences in China are ready for more cutting-edge contemporary theater experiences. We, theater workers, should be better prepared," she says.

The venue plans to present thousands of shows of A Game of You and The Smile off Your Face in the coming four months, Weng says.

This is the fifth year that the theater is hosting the annual musical festival since the Show Life project, initiated by the city's Huangpu district's government, which started to sponsor the festival in 2018, Zhang says.

This year, the festival consists of six Chinese musicals showing at the venue's main theater from February to May. Among them is a musical rendering of Hamlet in Chinese by Shanghai-based director Xu Jun.

One popular event at the festival is the musical singing competition that has been held since 2019. More than 1,900 people in China participated in the competition for the past two sessions, and 22 award-winners have turned into professional musical performers.

In May, an international forum on musical theater will be held as the closing event of the festival. During the forum, industry insiders will discuss the rebooting of the market and further international communication.

Last year, the Shanghai Culture Square presented 115 shows in its main theater, 74 percent of which were musical theater productions. It also held 94 shows for six of its own productions in 14 Chinese cities, Zhang says.
Six Su-34 fighters disappeared from the airfield in Yeysk

Satellite images provided by Planet.com confirmed that most Su-34 fighter jets normally based at the airfield were absent on March 2.

Read also: Russian fighter jet crashes into apartment building in Yeysk, Russia

Several explosions, followed by visible columns of smoke, could be heard next to the Yeysk airfield on Feb. 28, reported local news outlet News Yeysk.

Yeysk regional governor Roman Bublik subsequently claimed that military tactical exercises are being conducted in the region.

Later, images were published showing the extent of the damage, including a fire on the air defense training ground located to the west of the airfield.

Yeysk is located 70 kilometers across the Sea of Azov from the Ukrainian port city of Mariupol, which is currently under Russian occupation.

Read also: National Guard downs Russian Su-25 near Bakhmut

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Read the original article on The New Voice of Ukraine
Six fighter-bombers have disappeared at Russian airfield in the city of Yeysk after the fire and a supposed UAV attack on 28 February.

Source: Russian service Radio Liberty, posting pictures from Planet.com taken on 2 March

Details: The disappearance of fighter jets took place after the fire near the airfield that locals observed on the evening of 28 February.

Earlier, Ukrainian service of Radio Libertys investigative project Skhemy (Schemes) drew attention to the fact that recent images of the surrounding area showed burnt-out fields.

They are located on the premises of the 726th Air Defence Training Centre. According to one avenue of investigation, the fire could have been caused by a Ukrainian drone crash.

Background:



On 28 February, Russian Telegram channels reported that "unknown drones" had attacked an airfield in Yeysk, Russia.

Local authorities claimed it was a "military tactical drill."

On 2 March, Skhemy project published Planet Labs satellite images, documenting the aftermath of a fire on the territory of an air defence training ground located west of the airfield in the city of Yeysk, Krasnodar Territory of the Russian Federation.

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










A staff runs to fix the door after the boy intentionally prevented the platform doors from closing at Jurong East MRT station. (PHOTO: IG Screenshots/@sgfollowsall)

SINGAPORE  Train operator SMRT has lodged a police report after a young boy deliberately prevented a platform screen door from closing, allegedly causing a train delay on Tuesday (28 February).

SMRT Trains president Lam Sheau Kai told Yahoo News Singapore that a commuter deliberately prevented the platform screen door at Jurong East MRT station from closing around 5pm on Tuesday.

He noted that SMRT takes such behaviour very seriously, since not only is it dangerous for the individual involved, but it could also cause delays in train service, affecting many commuters.

"For the safety of everyone, all commuters are advised not to obstruct the doors when the doors are closing. We have reported this matter to the police," he added.

Forced platform doors open with object

An uploaded YouTube video, which has since been removed, showed a boy forcing the platform screen doors open, by inserting what looked like a metal flask between them to prevent them from closing.

During the two-minute video, the affected door stayed shut while the ones beside it opened for commuters to enter. The boy was also heard saying he believed the train service had been interrupted.

Before the affected train moved off, an SMRT staff was seen running towards a control panel to repair the issue. The boy was heard saying "this is so cool" as he continued filming the SMRT staff.

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Federal Reserve Governor Christopher Waller was supposed to give his remarks, but the Zoom call was infiltrated by a participant displaying pornographic photos. Sarah Silbiger/Getty Images

A Zoom call with the Federal Reserve was interrupted by a participant who displayed porn images.

The 220-person call was meant to feature Federal Reserve Governor Christopher Waller's remarks.

The pornographic images started appearing minutes before the event was to start, per Reuters.

A Zoom conference with the Federal Reserve had to be shut down on Thursday after a participant began displaying porn images on the call, per multiple media reports.

Federal Reserve Governor Christopher Waller was supposed to be delivering remarks on the state of the economy in an online event hosted by the Mid-Size Bank Coalition of America, or MBCA, according to the Federal Reserve website.

But minutes before the event was to kick off, one of its participants started displaying pornographic images on the call, according to Reuters. A reporter from the outlet was present at the meeting.

The participant's listed name on the Zoom call was "Dan," Reuters reported, but no further details identifying this person have been made public.

Brent Tjarks, the executive director of the MBCA, told Reuters that he wasn't sure exactly what happened, but he suspected the call's forced-mute function for viewers wasn't set correctly.

The outlet wrote that microphones and video inputs weren't muted before the event began, and that more than 220 people were on the call before it was shut down.

Tjarks said the MBCA canceled the call after discussing with the Federal Reserve, per Reuters.

He called the event the "victim of a teleconferencing or Zoom hijacking," according to Bloomberg.

"We are working with Zoom and information technology support to ensure this deeply regrettable incident never happens again," he told the outlet.

The Federal Reserve told Bloomberg that the call had been terminated due to "technical difficulties" and that the event was canceled.

The Federal Reserve and MBCA did not immediately respond to Insider's requests for comment.

A Zoom spokesperson told Insider in an email that the company is "deeply upset" to hear of disruptions like Thursday's and "strongly condemns such behavior."

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"We take meeting disruptions extremely seriously and, where appropriate, we work closely with law enforcement authorities," the spokesperson said.

"Zoom-bombing," where pranksters infiltrate video calls to troll participants, emerged as the COVID-19 pandemic began and as Zoom rose to become the default conferencing platform for businesses and schools.

The spate of unwanted intrusions prompted Zoom to bolster its security practices with features like alerting users when meeting hosts use third-party apps, end-to-end encryption, and an overhaul of how tightly and precisely meeting hosts can control their calls.

Read the original article on Insider
A South Carolina State University student was shot on campus early Friday morning, causing the campus to be locked down for about an hour.

The male student, who was not identified, was treated for a non-life threatening injury at a local hospital, the school said in a news release.

The South Carolina Law Enforcement Division is investigating the shooting, which took place about 12:30 a.m. at the Hugine Suites, a student dorm at S.C. State.

SLED did not immediately return requests for comment.

Orangeburg police, the Orangeburg County Sheriffs Department and South Carolina state troopers also responded to the scene.

The campus was placed on lockdown while police looked for a suspect. That lockdown was lifted about 1:25 a.m. after police determined there was no threat to the campus community, according to a news release.

It was not immediately clear if a suspect was in custody.
A woman in South Carolina has been arrested and charged for allegedly trying to induce her own abortion using medication.

The woman was reported by staff at a hospital in Greenville, South Carolina, after visiting a hospital in October 2021 with labor pains. Ultimately, she delivered a stillborn fetus at about 25 weeks and four days of pregnancy. In an incident report, staff claimed the woman had admitted to having taken abortion pills in an attempt to end her pregnancy.

The incident took place in 2021, before the constitutional right to abortion was overturned in June 2022. But a warrant was subsequently issued for the womans arrest in 2022, and she was arrested in February 2023, Sgt Jonathan Bragg, of the Greenville police department confirmed.

South Carolina is one of just three states, alongside Nevada and Oklahoma, that explicitly criminalizes self-managed abortion. The state was also the first to bring charges on behalf of a fetus successfully against a pregnant person. In 1997, Cornelia Whitner was found guilty for criminal child neglect, after taking crack cocaine during the third trimester of her pregnancy.

Its one of the states that really leads the country in pregnancy-related criminalization, said Dana Sussman, of the non-profit Pregnancy Justice.

Broadly speaking, anti-abortion laws are written to exempt pregnant people from prosecution for seeking abortion care, though there are signs this is beginning to change, with some lawmakers recently introducing bills to bring charges against people who seek abortions.

The rights and humanity of pregnant people have been at risk for some time, even before Dobbs  and now its just even more critical for us to be vigilant in defending the rights of pregnant people in a country that has decided that fertilized eggs, embryos and fetuses deserve more protection than the pregnant people who have full constitutional rights, said Sussman. These types of [arrests], while quite rare, create a culture of fear and uncertainty that can have drastic ripple effects.

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Local abortion funds have also raised concern over the incident.

We support and endorse folks accessing [safe] abortion care if that feels right for them. The salient point for us for this case is: was this person choosing to allegedly self-manage because they didnt feel like they had access to different kinds of abortion care? said a spokesperson for the Carolina Abortion fund, adding: Criminalising pregnancy outcomes generally is very, very dangerous for everyone.

After the constitutional right to abortion was overturned by the supreme court in 2022, a six-week abortion ban quickly came into effect in South Carolina, but was blocked by a court in August. Earlier this year, the state supreme court found the states ban unconstitutional, and lawmakers are currently in talks to pass a new one. Abortion currently remains legal in the state up to 20 weeks of pregnancy.

The Greenville police department confirmed that the woman was arrested and subsequently released the next day after making $2,500 bail. She awaits trial.
Conditions in the San Bernardino mountains were grim during the historic storm that left Californians in emergency mode. NBC Los An

A grocery store in San Bernardino was forced to shutter its doors after a snowstorm caused the roof to collapse, reports say.

The store addressed inquiries about food involved in the incident in a statement on Thursday.

The historic storm damaged thousands of properties and structures in Southern California.

A Los Angeles-area grocery store is picking up the pieces after a historic winter storm in Southern California caused its roof to collapse.

Goodwin and Sons Market  located in Crestline, California, about 73 miles east of Los Angeles in the San Bernardino Mountains  was one of several structures damaged from rain and snowstorms that pummeled the region this week. The grocery store's roof buckled under the weight of two feet of snow, a local NBC station reported on Thursday.

Although no injuries were reported, videos of the market show nearly the entire roof of the structure caved in. In a statement shared on Facebook, Goodwin and Sons Market told Crestline residents that the store is too dangerous to enter.

"Many people have questions about the food at the store. We need to make it very clear that it is absolutely unsafe at this time to access the food in the store. It is currently RED TAGGED," the statement read.

One Crestline resident told CBS that the community was rallying together to keep everyone fed as food becomes increasingly scarce. Another grocery store less than 10 miles away also had its food red-tagged as unsafe by authorities, CBS reported.

"Our only source of food was Goodwins Market, whose roof collapsed," Crestline resident Greg Plooy told CBS. "So now, we can't walk to get food for ourselves, or seniors and short-term renters who have no food. We are pooling our food to keep them fed."

In an earlier statement, the store reported the collapse occurred Tuesday morning as David Goodwin, employees, and a building inspector looked on from outside.

"After a few tears were shed and few moments to process the store that their father and grandfather built, they stood up dusted off and started making calls to the insurance adjuster and contractor to get the ball rolling on the repairs," the Facebook post read.

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The announcement garnered nearly 300 comments from the community as they mourned the loss and recalled fond memories of the family-owned establishment.

"You have provided so many jobs and have really loved our community. This is heartbreaking, I pray for the Goodwin family, and the employees that will be affected by this," one user commented. "Thank you for all you have given us over the years. This town owes you a lot of gratitude."

California Gov. Gavin Newsom issued a state of emergency in San Bernardino and 12 other counties in the state on Wednesday. Last week, California residents reported rain and snowstorms that left about 85,000 homes and businesses in Los Angeles without power.

Read the original article on Business Insider
A day after launch from the Kennedy Space Center, a Crew Dragon spacecraft docked at the International Space Station early Friday, bringing two NASA astronauts, a Russian cosmonaut and a United Arab Emirates astronaut to the outpost for a six-month stay.

With Crew-6 commander Stephen Bowen and pilot Woody Hoburg monitoring computer displays, flanked on the right by cosmonaut Andrey Fedyaev and on the left by Sultan Alneyadi, the Crew Dragon engaged the docking mechanism of the forward Harmony module's space-facing port at 1:40 a.m. EST.

The Crew Dragon ferry ship (center top), carrying a four-man crew, flew itself to an automated docking at the International Space Station early Friday after a 25-hour rendezvous / Credit: NASA TV

The docking came a bit later than planned while SpaceX engineers developed and tested a software patch to work around a faulty sensor on one of the 12 hooks needed to lock the Crew Dragon in place.

"After a brief scenic detour, welcome to the International Space Station," David Hwang, a crew communicator in SpaceX mission control, radioed from Hawthorne, California.

"We're happy to be here," replied Bowen, veteran of three space shuttle missions.

Moments later, all 12 hooks retracted as expected to firmly lock the Crew Dragon in place, kicking off leak checks to verify an airtight structural seal.

Hatches were opened about two hours after docking and the crew finally floated into the space station and welcomed aboard by Crew-5 commander Nicole Mann, Josh Cassada, Koichi Wakata and cosmonaut Anna Kikina, along with Soyuz MS-22/23 fliers Sergey Prokopyev, Dmitri Petelin and NASA astronaut Frank Rubio

The five-man two-woman space station crew welcomed the four Crew Dragon fliers aboard with smiles, hugs and laughter before a brief welcome-aboard ceremony. / Credit: NASA TV

"Hello, everybody. I'm so glad (we're) here (with) our friends," station commander Prokopyev, speaking English, said in a welcome ceremony. "This is amazing to see your smiles here, and we're looking forward to work together. And Steve, Sultan, Andrey, Woody, my congratulations for join(ing) us."

He also congratulated the Crew Dragon's three rookie fliers.

"This is an important part of your life," he said. "Andrey became cosmonaut, Woody and Sultan astronauts. So they're real astronauts now! I wish you good wellness here and a happy flight. Looking forward to work together."

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Said Bowen: "I'm looking forward to spending the next six months working on board and sending Crew-5 home for a well-deserved rest after some hard work."

Crew-6 is replacing Mann, Cassada, Wakata and Kikina, who launched to the station last October. They'll spend about five days familiarizing their replacements with the intricacies of station operations before strapping into their own Crew Dragon, undocking and returning to Earth around March 9 to close out a 154-day mission.

The SpaceX Crew Dragon

"Excited to get you guys on board, and not just because we get to go home after that," Cassada radioed the Crew-6 Dragon during the final stages of the rendezvous.

"We agree, we'll be happy to send you home," Bowen replied. "And look forward to seeing you this afternoon, this morning, this evening, whatever it happens to be."

Prokopyev, Petelin and Rubio were launched to the lab last September and originally planned to fly home later this month.

But their Soyuz MS-22 ferry ship was crippled December 14 when a presumed micrometeoroid ruptured a coolant line. They'll now ride a replacement Soyuz back to Earth. But to get the crew rotation schedule back on track, the trio will have to spend an additional six months in space, coming home this fall after a full year in orbit.

Deadly storm which slammed southern states to bring snow to Northeast

Iowa cemetery takes out personal ad for goose whose mate died

SpaceX capsule carrying 4 astronauts docks at International Space Station
Capt. Angela Walton answers questions in 2022 from members of the Civilian Oversight Commission about allegations of violent gangs in the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department. (Carolyn Cole / Los Angeles Times)

After dozens of interviews and seven public hearings, the Civilian Oversight Commissions special counsel has released a 70-page report condemning the cancer of violent deputy gangs and urging Los Angeles County Sheriff Robert Luna to create a policy officially banning the secretive groups.

They create rituals that valorize violence, such as recording all deputy-involved shootings in an official book, celebrating with shooting parties, and authorizing deputies who have shot a community member to add embellishments to their common gang tattoos, the special counsel team wrote this week.

The Sheriffs Department has long faced allegations about violent groups of inked deputies who run roughshod over certain stations, and the new report not only bolsters some of the most troubling claims about them but calls out those who could have done more to solve the problem  including the deputies union, county counsel and the district attorneys office.

While the union  formally known as the Assn. for Los Angeles Deputy Sheriffs  has created obstacles to the special counsels investigation, the report alleges that county counsel has not provided meaningful assistance in eliminating the problematic groups, and the district attorneys office has failed to require the department to disclose the names of known gang members who testify as witnesses in criminal trials.

The county counsel, district attorney's office and deputy's union all disputed the report's findings.

Dawyn R. Harrison is county counsel and, in that capacity, advises the Board of Supervisors and other Los Angeles County entities. She said her office supports the Special Counsels general conclusions that LASD deputy gangs have been responsible for undermining the discipline, morale and safety of the Department and the public.

But she said the "accusation that the County Counsels Office somehow provided cover for LASD deputy gangs is not accurate.

Specifically, Harrison said county counsel helped enforce oversight commission subpoenas, asking a court to make the former sheriff allow the Inspector General access to department databases and creating a new division devoted entirely to law enforcement transparency, among other things.

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Tiffiny Blacknell, spokeswoman for the District Attorney's Office, said in an emailed statement that her office "takes seriously" allegations about the groups.

We appreciate the report as it is well taken, Blacknell said. We concur with the recommendation that LASD implement a procedure for notifying the D.A. if they have information that a deputy testifying as a witness participates [as] a member of a deputy gang.

Richard Pippin, the unions vice president, said in a statement that we do not agree with the commissions mischaracterization of ALADS position on these issues, adding that the organization does not condone behavior that is unlawful or intentionally violates the standards of modern professional policing.

He also said that the union has a legal obligation to defend and represent its members, but that the organization still believes there is a way to work together to achieve common objectives without infringing on anyones rights.

In addition to urging a new anti-gang policy and the creation of an improved reporting process to notify prosecutors, the report outlines more than two dozen other recommendations to tackle the long-standing problem, including firing captains who wont support anti-gang policies and requiring deputies to hide any gang-related tattoos at work.

Luna did not immediately commit to following any of the recommendations, but in a statement Thursday he highlighted the changes hes already made, such as creating a new office to eradicate deputy gangs.

I was elected to bring new leadership and accountability to this department, he wrote. We look forward to working with the Civilian Oversight Commission and Inspector General on this in the future.

Many of the findings outlined in the report are not new, but the detailed account adds to the growing understanding of how deputy subgroups operate and how they affect the department.

The report found that at least half a dozen gangs or cliques are still active, including the Executioners, the Banditos, the Regulators, the Spartans, the Gladiators, the Cowboys and the Reapers  and new groups may be forming as some members retire. And, the report noted, there is some evidence indicating that deputy cliques are re-emerging in the Los Angeles County jails as the 4000 Boys.

The report comes almost a year after the Civilian Oversight Commission officially launched the independent investigation into deputy gangs. The aims were to figure out which groups still existed within the department, assess whether existing department policies had been effective in combating them and make recommendations on how to root them out.

The sheriff has repeatedly challenged anyone to come up with the evidence of deputy gangs, and our intention is to conduct a completely independent investigation, Sean Kennedy, the commissions chair, told



The Times last year, referencing then-Sheriff Alex Villanueva. This issue has been languishing for over 50 years.

The former sheriff repeatedly downplayed or denied the existence of gangs within the department, and when the independent investigation was announced  in the lead-up to the 2022 primary election  he called it a fishing expedition and political theater.

The whole investigation, just like the fake courtroom, was a sham from the start, Villanueva told the Times in an email. He dismissed the dozens of witnesses, saying many were either anonymous or people who are suing the department.

Now Sheriff Luna has to pretend to eradicate phantom deputy gang members who don't exist, he added.

The deputy groups have been the subject of repeated inquiries, reports and lawsuits. More than a decade ago, the Board of Supervisors created the Citizens Commission on Jail Violence to investigate long-standing allegations of deputies abusing and beating inmates inside the countys jails.

After the panel identified deputy groups as one of the contributors to the persistent abuse behind bars, the county created the current oversight commission in 2016  on the heels of multiple federal indictments of deputies and the former sheriff, Lee Baca.

In 2021, the county commissioned an independent study by Rand Corp., which found that more than 15% of deputies and supervisors who responded to an anonymous survey had been invited to join a gang in the last five years.

And last year  the same week the oversight commission announced the special counsels inquiry  Inspector General Max Huntsman penned a letter telling the former sheriff that his investigators had identified more than 40 suspected gang members in the Sheriffs Department, including 30 alleged Executioners and 11 alleged Banditos.

Given the long history of troubling allegations, attorney Vincent Miller  who represents several current and former deputies suing the department  said the new report is long overdue.

My clients were pleased to see that the COC has confirmed what they and other whistleblowers told the county almost five years ago," he said.

The county has spent millions of dollars of taxpayer money to pay outside lawyers to defend the very conduct the COC report highlights," Miller added. "My clients should have been treated as heroes, as they risked their careers and their safety as they sought to bring the Banditos issue to light.

This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.
In the spring of 2020, eight universities at the two ends of the Eurasian region, in Greece and China, launched a common mission to establish the Center of Chinese and Greek Ancient Civilizations.

Last week, the center was officially inaugurated in Athens after three years of efforts, despite the difficulties resulting from the COVID-19 pandemic.

For Stelios Virvidakis, a professor at the University of Athens, it was a particular honor to receive congratulations from President Xi Jinping after he and four other Greek scholars introduced the preparatory work to Xi in a recent letter.

"We know that President Xi must be very busy and we couldn't be sure that he would find the time to send us a reply. It showed that he recognized the importance of the values we wanted to promote," he told China Daily.

In his reply, Xi underlined the importance of deeply understanding the age-old origins and rich content of different civilizations and allowing the essence of all civilizations to benefit the present generation and all mankind.

"We share the (Chinese) president's conviction that the legacy of both civilizations can once more provide spiritual guidance helping us deal with the serious problems humanity is facing," Virvidakis said.

Pantelis Golitsis, an assistant professor at Aristotle University of Thessaloniki and one of the authors of the letter to Xi, said he was grateful to the president for his generous support for the scientific activities of the center.

"I completely share his vision about the importance of mutual learning among civilizations, which drives human prosperity and global peace," he said, adding that Greece and China have a lot to learn from each other.

The center was the outcome of the consensus reached by Chinese and Greek leaders during Xi's state visit to the European country in 2019.

After visiting the Acropolis Museum accompanied by then Greek president Prokopis Pavlopoulos, Xi said the tour left him with a beautiful and memorable impression, and deepened his understanding of ancient Greek civilization. He said he felt the impact of history and further realized that China and Greece, as two ancient civilizations, have much in common.

After the visit, the two sides started to build a center dedicated to what the two leaders proposed.

George Papandreou, who served as Greek prime minister from 2009 to 2011, has met Xi many times. He told reporters in a recent interview that in his eyes, Xi is a leader who has a good understanding of the essence and mission of civilization.

"In both the Chinese civilization and Greek civilization, we have concepts which provide us with guidelines to more harmonious cooperation in our world," he said, noting that, through their exchanges, the two countries could set an example of equal dialogue between civilizations.

According to Virvidakis, the Center of Chinese and Greek Ancient Civilizations will implement a series of projects this year, including academic exchanges, joint workshops and education programs, and summer and winter schools for students, as well as a major conference on issues related to the study of the two philosophical traditions.

"Thus, exchanges between academics, researchers and scholars in the two countries will soon multiply and they may also be joined by writers and artists," he said.

In a speech delivered in 2014 at the headquarters of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization, Xi for the first time elaborated on his view that civilizations will become richer and more colorful with exchanges and mutual learning, thus providing an important drive for human progress and global peace and development.

He later stressed on different occasions that closer people-to-people exchanges and mutual learning of civilizations are a sure way to eliminate estrangement and misunderstanding and promote mutual understanding among nations.

Over the years, various types of exchange activities between Chinese and foreign civilizations have taken place in different places across the world.

In the Belgian city of Ghent, musical pieces by Belgian composer Johan Famaey were performed and sung in Chinese by Belgian artists to celebrate the Chinese New Year in February.

In Siem Reap province of Cambodia, Chinese and Cambodian experts are working together to restore the Royal Palace of the Angkor Thom after successfully restoring the Chau Say Tevoda temple and the Ta Keo temple at Angkor Wat.

In Saudi Arabia, an ancient and prosperous seaport, known as al Serrian, was unveiled in 2018 thanks to a joint Chinese-Saudi archaeological team's discovery of more than 100 ancient tombs and dozens of cultural relics.

In Iran, a total of 100 scholarships will be provided by the Chinese government to Chinese-language teachers there over the next five years as agreed upon by the two sides during Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi's recent visit to China.

"Mutual learning and exchanges among different civilizations can help dispel misgivings and enhance mutual trust, thus laying a solid cornerstone for the stable development of state-to-state relations," said Qian Yingchao, a professor of Greek studies at Beijing Foreign Studies University.

Virvidakis, from the University of Athens, said that exchanges of intellectuals, academics and scholars could also provide a basis for developing friendship among people who speak different languages and have their own particular historical experiences and cultural legacies.

He noted that what is most important is the possibility of highlighting shared and similar values that reveal the common core of humanity.

Wang Yong, the Chinese secretary-general of the newly established center and an associate professor at Southwest University in Chongqing, said that the best approach to furthering the mutual understanding between China and the rest of the world is to promote exchanges among different civilizations.




The author spent a day at Virgin Voyages' beach club in the Bahamas. Lori A. May

I went on a 5-night cruise from Miami to the Caribbean on adults-only Virgin Voyages.

Virgin cruises from Miami include private access to The Beach Club at Bimini in the Bahamas.

My day at the beach retreat was one of my favorite parts of my cruise. Here's a closer look around.

I've sailed on most mainstream cruises to the Caribbean, which typically includes a private island stop in the Bahamas. Virgin Voyages docked at an exclusive beach club instead, and I thought it blew the private islands away.

The author went on her first adults-only cruise with Virgin Voyages and loved having free access to The Beach Club at Bimini. Lori A. May

As a seasoned cruiser with more than 100 weeks spent on ships, I've visited several private islands in the Bahamas managed by cruise lines like Carnival, Holland America, and Norwegian Cruise Line.

These private islands feel like a remote paradise, but in my experience, they're typically just a beach to hang out at for the day. I've only seen pools at these private port stops at Royal Caribbean's Perfect Day at CocoCay.

So when I booked my first ever adults-only cruise on Virgin Voyages' Scarlet Lady, I was excited to learn that for one port stop, guests would have free access for the day to The Beach Club at Bimini, a sleek beachfront club with two sprawling resort pools.

Visiting this exclusive beach club was a highlight of my roundtrip Miami sailing onboard Virgin's Scarlet Lady. I loved the relaxed vibe, beachfront amenities, and the welcoming warm water of two huge resort pools flanked by a beautiful beach.

Here's a closer look around The Beach Club at Bimini, including why it impressed me so much, it inspired me to book back-to-back sailings with Virgin Voyages.

The Beach Club at Bimini in the Bahamas is a private resort that provides exclusive access to a limited group of guests.

The Beach Club at Bimini is on most Caribbean itineraries with Virgin Voyages. Lori A. May

Unlike Royal Caribbean's CocoCay and other private cruise line islands, the island of Bimini is not owned or operated by Virgin Voyages.

It's an inhabited Bahamian island with its own residents, businesses, and guest accommodations. This also excited me because it meant I'd have the option to explore the local community in addition to relaxing by the pool or beach, if I wanted.

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The Beach Club at Bimini is a port stop on many Virgin Voyages Caribbean sailings, and it's actually a standalone private resort property that covers 4.5 acres of land and is only open to select guests.

The Beach Club at Bimini is managed through a partnership between Virgin Voyages cruise line and a Bahamian hotel, Resorts World Bimini.

The Beach Club at Bimini is managed through a partnership between Virgin Voyages and Resorts World Bimini. Lori A. May

Also unlike the typical cruise private island I've experienced, the facilities at The Beach Club at Bimini are shared. It's managed in partnership between Virgin Voyages and Resorts World Bimini, a local hotel that is located a short distance away.

When a Virgin Voyages ship is docked in Bimini, Virgin Voyages guests have exclusive free access to use the beach club. Resorts World hotel guests may only access the club when the cruise port is empty. Resorts World is not attached or located on property either; hotel guests must take a shuttle to the club.

Additionally, when Virgin Voyages isn't in port, other cruise line passengers visiting for the day may book and pay for day passes to use the beach club alongside Resorts World guests. Cruise Radio reports that Carnival guests have been able to book a day pass for $39.99, or $99.99 for a day pass with open bar included.

I also found it interesting to learn that Resorts World hotel guests who visit on other days will not see the same Virgin Voyages branding, food, and decor, according to Cruise Critic.

Since Virgin Voyages has first dibs on the swanky beachside paradise, it felt sparsely populated and I never felt crowded by others.

The Beach Club at Bimini can accommodate up to 2,000 guests across 4.5 acres. Lori A. May

With only Virgin Voyages passengers having access the day I visited, the beach club felt like a remote island oasis, even if it technically wasn't one. Having this free, exclusive club quickly became one of my favorite perks of sailing on Virgin Voyages.

When we first arrived, I thought the beach club seemed massive, and I was delighted to see so many different areas to explore.

I learned that the club can accommodate up to 2,000 guests according to Resorts World Bimini. Yet it felt so manageable to navigate. I saw a map detailing all the different areas, which helped me feel situated, and I appreciated that it clearly identified the quickest routes to the water, which was where I wanted to go first.

I was immediately drawn to the beachfront section of the club.

The author enjoys the private beach at The Beach Club at Bimini. Lori A. May

My first stop was the sugar sand beach so I could dip my toes in the bright blue Caribbean water.

On my way, I noticed most people gravitated toward the stylish loungers and cabanas, whereas there weren't many people strolling along the shallow surf.

I dipped my toes in the water and loved the warm welcoming waves.

I saw more than enough loungers and beachfront seating for anyone who wanted a spot in the sun or shade.

Loungers and seating on the beach. Lori A. May

I loved that there were so many free lounging areas along the beach. On other cruise line private islands I've visited, I've seen limited seating, which made it feel more crowded, in my opinion.

But here, I thought anyone who wanted a cozy spot could easily find a spot in either sun or shade.

Most every daybed, lounger, and small cabana along the waterfront was free and first-come, first-served, and I never saw them used to capacity.

Premium cabanas were available to rent for the day, though they didn't seem necessary to me.

Cabana rentals near the pool came with a premium price tag. Lori A. May

Premium cabanas were also available to rent for the day, which Cruise Critic says cost around $350, regardless of how many guests use it.

These cabana rentals include shaded day beds and sun loungers, dedicated wait staff, and coolers to keep beverages chilled. The rate also includes $100 in alcohol according to the same source, which I thought was a good value for friends traveling together and splitting the bill.

However, with so many free lounging spaces available, I didn't see the need to rent one. I preferred the pool or beachside lounge chairs where I could easily keep my beach bag within reach while I dipped into the pool or ocean.

After the beach, I spent time in the pools. I thought they were so inviting and I had plenty of space to relax.

The author enjoying the pools at The Beach Club at Bimini. Lori A. May

The Beach Club at Bimini has two huge resort-style pools that appeared nearly identical to me. I thought the water was just the right temperature for enjoying a refreshing dip in the hot sun.

The two pools are located side by side, in the center of the club property. Their large, sprawling sizes meant I never felt crowded by other guests. I also liked that both pools were positioned just a few feet from the beach so I could easily hop back and forth.

I thought the pools had an upscale party vibe, with one featuring an all-day DJ. However, it still felt relaxing, and the DJ music, while audible from both pools, was never overpowering.

All around the pool deck and within the water, I noticed dozens of floaties for guests to use at no extra charge.

Virgin Voyages guests may use pool floaties for free at The Beach Club. Lori A. May

I really liked how many pool floats were available for guests to use.

In my experience at other cruise port stops, this was something guests would need to pack or purchase.

However, at the beach club, I saw dozens of floaties available for free on a first-come, first-served basis. I always saw some available, from tropical-themed circular floats to rainbow and unicorn-shaped floats, and larger options that could accommodate two people.

I typically enjoy the use of a lounger, but I found myself floating on a palm tree-shaped pool floatie just because I could.

Since all dining onboard a Virgin Voyages cruise is included within the fare, it was no surprise to see a free lunch served at the beach club.

The Beach Club at Bimini serves a free lunch for Virgin Voyages cruise guests. Lori A. May

One of the things I loved about my first sailing on Virgin Voyages was all the free specialty dining options included in the base cruise fare.

Virgin Voyages has a mostly all-inclusive approach to sailing, so I wasn't surprised to see a free lunch included at the beach club.

Just like on the ship, there was no buffet. Instead, I noticed a nice variety of food options ranging from from curry jerk chicken and roasted corn to fresh salads and vegetarian options. To order, guests walked up to a casual lunch counter and requested the items they'd like, which were then served to them on a plate by the crew. I liked my meal and thought it was consistent with what I experienced onboard.

And, just like on the ship, Virgin Voyages passengers could drink unlimited soda and water. I counted six bars where it was possible to purchase beer, wine, and cocktails, which could either be charged back to a room tab for solo drinks, or consumed as part of a pre-purchased drink package.

I didn't have a package, and am not a big drinker, so I stuck to the free options.

Even though it wasn't a private island, I loved the beach club. I thought it was one of the best perks of my Virgin Voyages cruise. I enjoyed it so much, I stayed on the ship for a back-to-back sailing just so I could go back.

The author enjoying a day at Virgin Voyages beach club in the Bahamas. Lori A. May

I loved my day at The Beach Club at Bimini.

In fact, I loved it so much, that it inspired me to take advantage of an onboard sales promotion to book a back-to-back sailing on Scarlet Lady so I could visit this beachy paradise twice in a row.

On my second visit, I went straight to my favorite spots at the pools and enjoyed another beautiful day in the sun.

As relaxing as my first visit was, I thought the second time at the beach club was even better because I already knew my way around. I felt like I could just kick back and enjoy my port day to the fullest.

Even after visiting twice, I can't wait to return to the Beach Club at Bimini.

The author can't wait to return for a third time to the beach club. Lori A. May

Since other cruise line guests have to pay to use this space, and hotel guests aren't allowed access when Virgin Voyages passengers are using it, I found the Beach Club at Bimini to be an exclusive and valuable perk.

While it's a massive space meant to accommodate up to 2,000 people, it never felt crowded. Rather, I felt like I had so much personal space at both the pool and beach and loved the relaxed vibe.

I cannot wait to visit again on my next Virgin Voyages cruise.

Read the original article on Insider
When Dr. James Downing, president and CEO of St. Jude Children's Research Hospital, thinks about how to communicate the mission of the hospital, two stories come to mind.

The first is of a constantly smiling 12-year-old girl who died of osteosarcoma and asked her parents to have St. Jude study her tumors after her death so other children wouldn't go through what she did. The second was of a doctor in Nicaragua whose desire to do all he could in the 1980s to help sick children in a nation experiencing civil war led to a partnership that spawned St. Jude Global.

That boils down to a few central questions.

"How do we cure the incurable? How do we treat the untreatable?" Downing said.

St. Jude CEO Dr. James Downing speaks during the opening of the new Family Commons at St. Jude Children's Research Hospital in Memphis on Monday, Jan. 23, 2023.

The hospital is in the midst of a $12.9 billion expansion that includes adding to the Memphis campus and hiring about 2,300 new employees. The continued expansion is all part of St. Jude's mission that no child should die when their life is just beginning.

Downing's comments came at a Thursday luncheon where he received the Communicator of the Year award for 2022 from the Memphis chapter of the Public Relations Society of America. He was presented the award for his communication efforts around the campus's massive expansion plans and other St. Jude initiatives.

St. Jude expansion:St. Jude to invest additional $1.4 billion in multi-year expansion, add 900 more jobs

St. Jude in Memphis:$50 million 'whimsy and wonder': St. Jude's Family Commons to transform patient experience

Denzel Alexander, a University of Memphis graduate student and social media manager at KQ Communications, was also honored Thursday as the 2022 Student Communicator of the Year.

Downing said an award for communications was a strange one for him to receive. He described himself as the kid in high school who got panic attacks at the thought of public speaking and became a scientist so he could be left alone in the lab.

"Over the years in developing leadership roles, I began to realize how important communication is. How it is at the essence of what any leader does," he said. "To actually achieve the goals that are laid out requires communicating that vision to every single employee at St. Jude. It doesn't matter whether they're the physicians or scientists or nurses... or that incredible workforce that actually keeps the place running clean and safe for our patients. Each and every one has to understand what we're doing and what role they play."

Corinne S Kennedy covers healthcare, economic development and real estate for The Commercial Appeal. She can be reached via email at Corinne.Kennedy@CommercialAppeal.com

This article originally appeared on Memphis Commercial Appeal: St. Jude's Dr. Downing receives PRSA's Communicator of the Year award
Austin Locke was halfway through his shift at the New York City Starbucks where hed worked for three years when his supervisor ordered him into the back room. The store manager and the district manager were there too, and they had a piece of paper for him: he was fired.

Are you sure want to do this? Locke asked them repeatedly. He knew that what they were about to do was illegal.

It didnt seem like a coincidence that just five days earlier, Locke had helped organize a successful vote to unionize the coffee shop, joining hundreds of other shops in a growing national movement called Starbucks Workers United. And Starbucks has been known for retaliating against those involved.

But the Seattle-based coffee company said Locke was fired for forgetting to sign a log after getting his temperature checked for Covid  something that many other workers regularly forgot as well. The company also accused the 28-year-old of making a false report about a supervisor physically pushing to keep him out of a meeting  an incident caught on security footage that Starbucks refused to look at.

Locke was fired last July and if it had happened in another American city, theres a chance that would have been the end of it. Most employment in the US operates according to a nightmarish legal doctrine called at-will, meaning companies can fire you over almost anything. While its illegal to fire someone for organizing a union, or over characteristics such as race, gender or disability, a boss can legally justify axing you for just about any other reason  maybe they dont like your haircut or your music taste, or they think you laugh too loud. And if you think your firing may have broken the law, the burden is on you to provide the evidence  often something you dont have access to.

If that sounds barbaric, thats because it is. The United States is one of just a few places where at-will is the norm; virtually every other country requires employers to provide some form of cause to terminate someone after a probation period. What few Americans know is that at-will employment is rooted in slavery: after emancipation, railroad bosses who had profited from forced labor argued that if workers now had the right to quit, then bosses should have the right to fire  a way to keep workers fearful and in line. Unfortunately, judges agreed, and a century and a half later, the doctrine remains the default form of employment here. That doesnt mean its popular: a 2020 survey found that 68% of Americans disagreed that an employer should be able to fire you for any reason.

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Related: Starbucks condemned for intimidation of US union organizers

Irene Tung, a policy analyst at the National Employment Law Project (NELP), says her research has found the at-will system creates pressure for US workers to accept poor working conditions to avoid being fired, and keeps the power balance in favor of the employer. It drives down the quality of life for all workers, even those who arent fired. At the height of the pandemic, a serious movement emerged to question it. So many workers were experiencing retaliation for speaking up with concerns about Covid in their workplaces, and then really finding out that the protections for speaking out in the workplace are very, very weak.

In 2021, the NELP and labor organizations like the Service Employees International Union (SEIU) helped pass a law in New York City overturning at-will employment for fast-food workers  what Tung calls a monumental shift. The provision is called just cause and requires any boss firing a fast-food worker in New York City to provide a valid reason  such as poor performance or misconduct  only after giving the worker multiple warnings and enough time to correct the issue, a system called progressive discipline. Any fast-food worker found to have been fired without just cause must be reinstated to their position, with back pay.

Locke just became the first worker in New York City to experience that. The day after his firing, he filed a complaint with the city against Starbucks for sacking him without just cause. The form was very simple to fill out, Locke says  and he almost immediately heard back from New Yorks department of consumer and worker protection saying it would take his case. Over the next few months, he worked with the agencys lawyers, who were able to subpoena Starbucks for the security footage and prove that Lockes supervisor had indeed pushed him.

Last week, after nearly seven months of waiting, Locke finally got the good news: Starbucks had agreed to settle. He would get his job back along with back pay and damages, equalling about $17,000 before tax. Starbucks also agreed to pay $3,500 in civil penalties, and to abide by the just cause law. But the coffee giant did not admit any wrongdoing in the settlement. While we continue to disagree with the citys interpretation of what constitutes egregious misconduct under the Just Cause law, we have agreed to reinstate Mr Locke and reduce his corrective action to a written warning for violation of health and safety protocols, said a Starbucks spokesperson, Andrew Trull, in an emailed statement.

Related: Old-school union busting: how US corporations are quashing the new wave of organizing

Locke had also filed a complaint with the National Labor Relations Board, alleging that Starbucks illegally retaliated against him for his involvement with the union  he dropped that suit as part of his settlement. But on Wednesday, a federal judge ruled that Starbucks had committed egregious violations of federal labor law in firing other Starbucks workers at locations in upstate New York. After that ruling, Senator Bernie Sanders scheduled a vote to subpoena the Starbucks CEO, Howard Schultz, to hold Starbucks and Mr Schultz accountable.

In New York City, Lockes victory has invigorated other Starbucks employees, including 19-year-old Riley Feel and 26-year-old Crys Mathieu. Both are working with SEIU to try to unionize their shops in lower Manhattan, and last week each filed a complaint against Starbucks for violating another part of the just cause law that gives workers the right to consistent hours. If Starbucks retaliates against them, theyre hoping theyll be protected like Locke was. DCWP gave him the full back pay, which is not something weve seen before. Its awesome to know that thats possible, Feel says.

Labor advocates next goal is to pass an even broader bill called the secure jobs act, which would extend just cause protections to nearly all private sector workers in the city (and ban employers from using invasive electronic surveillance to discipline workers). Tung, who is involved in the effort, hopes to see laws like these spread across the United States. Its long overdue that this country joins the rest of the world, she says.

On Monday, Locke donned his green apron and strode back into the store. Hes happy to see his co-workers again, and with a union behind him, hes feeling relaxed and secure. But hes still working for the same managers. I can tell its awkward for them, he says.

Theres been so many times when theyve been having problems with my numbers in the system, he says. And Ive had to hold back my tongue from saying: Oh, I guess that wouldnt have happened if you hadnt fired me.
Federal labor officials filed yet another complaint against Starbucks and CEO Howard Schultz on Thursday, accusing the coffee chains co-founder of breaking the law through collaboration sessions he held with baristas.

A Seattle-based regional director for the National Labor Relations Board said in the complaint that the sessions held by Schultz and other high-level Starbucks officers were meant to solicit grievances from workers and make promises in exchange for the workers not unionizing. Doing so is illegal under federal labor law.

Starbucks had billed the collaboration chats as intimate, honest and authentic conversations among partners from all levels of the company.

The complaint also alleges Starbucks violated the law when it created a new three-store heritage district in the companys hometown of Seattle, requiring workers at those stores to reapply for the same positions.

The regional director said nearly half the employees were not rehired at their previous locations, including the majority at the companys First Avenue and Pike Street shop, where employees were trying to unionize. Newly hired workers received raises and new benefits, while those who were transferred did not, according to the complaint.

Ronald K. Hooks, the NLRB regional director, alleged that Starbucks undertook such changes because the workers had exercised their collective bargaining rights, and because the company wanted to discourage employees from engaging in such activities in the future.

Hooks said Starbucks should have to offer raises to the workers who were not rehired at their previous stores and send them letters of apology. Notably, he also said Starbucks should have to disband the heritage district and restore those locations to their status quo operations.

Starbucks said in a statement that the complaint has no merit and the proposed remedies would undermine our ability to make lawful and appropriate business decisions  an apparent reference to Hooks recommendation that the heritage district be unwound.

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Our long and rich history of collaborating with and listening to our partners is core to our culture, and we look forward to defending our partner engagement efforts and lawful business decisions, the company said.

Mr. Schultz has made it clear that he is the driving force of labor policy at Starbucks.Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) in a letter to Starbucks

In addition to the new complaint, Schultz is also dealing with a possible subpoena to appear in Congress and answer questions related to Starbucks efforts to stop unionization activities. Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), chair of the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions, announced earlier this week that he planned to hold a vote among his colleagues next week to determine whether the subpoena should be issued.

Starbucks has said Schultz should not appear before the committee and has offered to send other executives in his place, a proposal that did not satisfy Sanders. The senator said Thursday he was concerned Schultz would continue to defy a request made by lawmakers.

Mr. Schultz has made it clear that he is the driving force of labor policy at Starbucks, Sanders said in a letter.

Howard Schultz faces a possible subpoena and numerous complaints brought against Starbucks by the NLRB.

Howard Schultz faces a possible subpoena and numerous complaints brought against Starbucks by the NLRB.

The new complaint is one of more than 70 that board officials have brought against Starbucks accusing the company of firing workers, closing stores and making promises, all in an effort to stymie a national organizing campaign by Workers United. The group has successfully organized nearly 300 stores since late 2021.

The new complaint out of Seattle is one of a handful directly implicating Schultz, the companys co-founder and best known face.

Labor board officials pursue such complaints against an employer when theyve investigated allegations by a worker or union and found merit in them. The next step would be to hold a hearing before an administrative law judge, who would issue a decision that could then be reviewed by the NLRBs five-member board in Washington.

Just this week, an administrative law judge ruled that Starbucks committed egregious and widespread misconduct.

If the judge and board find that Starbucks broke the law, the company could be forced to make workers whole for wages they missed out on and other losses. But the process typically takes years to play out, with numerous opportunities for appeal.

Starbucks has denied breaking the law and maintains it has run a clean campaign against the union. But the many complaints brought against the company are finally starting to result in official findings by NLRB judges.

Just this week, an administrative law judge ruled that Starbucks committed egregious and widespread misconduct, including firing union supporters, at stores in western New York, where the union campaign began.

Unlike with complaints brought by regional directors, it is much harder for Starbucks to dismiss such decisions as mere allegations: judges hold hearings and listen to testimony from both sides to determine whether an employer broke the law.

Starbucks said it was considering all options to obtain further legal review of the case.

This story has been updated with comment from Starbucks.

Related...
By Arshreet Singh and David Shepardson

WASHINGTON (Reuters) -U.S. Senator Bernie Sanders on Thursday refused to back down on calls to make Starbucks Corp interim Chief Executive Officer Howard Schultz, who is stepping down this month, testify at a hearing on the company's compliance with labor law.

Starbucks reiterated on Thursday it has no plans to send Schultz to a U.S. Senate committee hearing set for March 9.

In response, Sanders, chairman of the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee's chairman, said he was "shocked and deeply concerned that Howard Schultz would continue to defy a request made by a majority of members on the Senate HELP Committee."

He said a vote will go ahead on March 8 on whether to issue a subpoena for Schultz to appear.

"Let's be clear. Howard Schultz is the founder of Starbucks, he is the CEO of Starbucks, he is the spokesperson of Starbucks, and he will continue to be on the Board of Directors at Starbucks well into the future," Sanders said in a letter Thursday to Starbucks.

"Mr. Schultz has made it clear that he is the driving force of labor policy at Starbucks," the Democrat senator said.

Starbucks noted Schultz is stepping down as CEO later this month and said he was not the right witness.

It maintained that its Chief Communications and Public Affairs Officer AJ Jones was best positioned to address the workforce matters raised by members of the committee.

The company has also offered to send May Jensen, vice president for partner and labor relations, and Zabrina Jenkins, acting executive vice president and general counsel.

Democrat lawmakers accuse Starbucks of not engaging in fair negotiations with employees who are joining labor unions. The coffee company has rejected the claims and said it values its workers' right to participate in legal union-related endeavors.

The company said in its letter on Thursday it "has an unmatched history as a model employer."

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Employees at more than 280 out of its roughly 9,000 company-operated U.S. locations have voted to join a labor union since 2021. The union is seeking better pay and benefits, improved health and safety conditions and protections against unfair dismissal and discipline.

The Senate committee will also vote on authorizing the panel to investigate labor law violations by major corporations.

(Reporting by Arshreet Singh and David Shepardson; Editing by Krishna Chandra Eluri and Sonali Paul)
2:23 p.m. update: The missing hiker has been found safe.

UPDATE-The missing hiker has been located, safe and without injury, in Concord. All units are clear. Thank you to all who read and shared the initial alert. https://t.co/284pvCgHtA  Mass State Police (@MassStatePolice) March 3, 2023

State and local police are searching for a woman in her 70s that never returned from her hike in Walden Woods.

Massachusetts State, Lincoln and Concord Police are combing the forested area on the Lincoln-Concord Line.

MSP, @LincolnMAPolice & @ConcordMAPD searching for woman missing from hike in Walden Woods on Lincoln-Concord line. Last known location was Mariana Terrace area. She is white, in her 70s & wearing red jacket, yellow pants, and is w/a yellow Labrador retriever. Call 911 if seen.  Mass State Police (@MassStatePolice) March 3, 2023

The woman is described as white and is wearing a red jacket and pants. Police say she was last spotted with a yellow Labrador Retriever in the area of Mariana Terrance.

Anyone that sees her is asked to call 911.

This is a developing story. Check back for updates as more information becomes available.

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Police officers from Hudson and Mendon are among the most recent to be suspended by the state agency tasked with regulating law enforcement.

The state's Peace Officers Standards and Training (POST) Commission announced Wednesday that Hudson Police Officer Kevin Johnson, Mendon Police Officer Sean Malone and retired Rowley Police Officer Perry Collins have been suspended. Each is facing criminal charges.

The POST Commission, which was created as part of police reform law in 2020 and has the power to suspend officers, would not say what the officers were suspended for except to say they were required by statute to suspended officers who were either charged, arrested or indicted for a felony.

What is Johnson accused of doing?

Johnson was arrested on Oct. 2 and charged with two counts of domestic assault and battery and one count each of assault and battery with a dangerous weapon and assault and battery.

He was arraigned Oct. 3 in Marlborough District Court and the case was transferred to Worcester District Court.

Hudson Police Officer Kevin Johnson (center), is currently suspended while he's been charged with domestic violence charges. Here, Johnson is pictured receiving the Hudson Police Department's Life Saving Award during the department's award ceremony.

The Middlesex District Attorney's Office issued a notice called "Commonwealth's Notice Regarding a Potential Commonwealth Witness," so the information would be available to the court if Johnson were to be called to testify during a grand jury.

According to the notice, Johnson was placed on paid administrative leave on the day of his arrest. The case remains open.

More:State moves to get a handle on police misconduct. What does it look like in your town?

Hudson Police Chief Richard DiPersio said Hudson police arrested Johnson for the off-duty incident on Oct. 2 and he remains on paid administrative leave.

According to the Hudson Police Department Facebook page, Johnson joined the department in 2016. In 2018, he became part of the Central Massachusetts Law Enforcement Council's SWAT team.

Last year, during the Hudson Police Department's first Employee Awards Ceremony, Johnson was presented the Life Saving Award "for selfless service, with dedication and courage, that saved another human life."

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What is Malone accused of doing?

Details about what Malone is charged with and where the alleged incident took place were not available. According to the Worcester District Attorney's Office, Malone is not facing criminal charges in Worcester County, where Mendon is located.

Mendon Police Officer Sean Malone

Mendon Police Chief David Kurczy said he could not comment on the case.

"Officer Sean Malone is currently on unpaid administrative leave," he said. "I am not able to comment currently as this matter is still ongoing."

According to a Mendon Police Department Facebook post, Malone joined the department in March 2021 after graduating from Fitchburg State University with a degree in criminal justice.

Norman Miller can be reached at 508-626-3823 or nmiller@wickedlocal.com. For up-to-date public safety news, follow him on Twitter @Norman_MillerMW or on Facebook at facebook.com/NormanMillerCrime.

This article originally appeared on MetroWest Daily News: Criminal charges lead to Hudson, Mendon police officers' suspensions
Massachusetts and Oregon residents will pay the largest share of their income in taxes this spring, according to a new study from the personal finance site FinanceBuzz.

The average American will pay 19.68 percent of their income in taxes this year, but residents in 24 states face a tax burden that is higher than the national average, the study found.

Massachusetts residents filing as individuals can expect to pay 24.07 percent of their income in taxes this year, while couples filing jointly will pay 23.47 percent.

This steep tax burden is in part due to the Bay State having the highest individual median income in the country  $72,321.

This puts many Massachusetts residents into higher tax brackets where more significant portions of their income are taxed at higher rates, the study states.

Meanwhile, Floridians and Tennesseans will pay the smallest percentage of their income in taxes this year, with residents in both states who file as individuals set to part with 15.67 percent of their 2022 income in taxes.

Florida and Tennessee residents lower tax burdens are due in part to neither state charging state-level income tax, the study noted.

There are at least seven states in the U.S. that do not have state-level income tax, including Florida and Tennessee. But those states usually make up for lack of individual income tax by charging higher property or sales tax.

Here are the 10 states where people will pay the highest share of their income in taxes:

Massachusetts (24.07%) Oregon (23.48%) Connecticut (23.37%) Maryland (22.85%) New York (22.70%) Hawaii (22.66%) Virginia (22.20%) New Jersey (22.10%) Minnesota (21.94%) Illinois (21.50%)

Here are the states where people will pay the smallest share of their income in taxes:

Florida (15.67%) Tennessee (15.67%) South Dakota (15.80%) Nevada (15.93%) Wyoming (15.99%) Texas (16.01%) North Dakota (16.71%) Alaska (17.10%) New Hampshire (17.51%) Arizona (18.01%)

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to The Hill.
Steve Bannon, the former White House chief strategist under the Trump administration, tore into Fox News and the Murdoch family on Friday afternoon over the networks coverage of former President Trump, who is mounting a second bid for the presidency.

Note to Fox News senior management: When Donald J. Trump talks, its newsworthy, Bannon said during a fiery speech at the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC), blasting Rupert Murdoch, the owner and co-chairman of Fox Corp, saying, Youve disrespected Donald Trump for long enough.

Bannon, an icon in the conservative media ecosystem who has been hosting his popular War Room podcast from CPAC this week, blasted Fox for cutting away from Trumps speech announcing his candidacy for president last November and what he said was a lack of coverage of his recent visit to East Palestine, Ohio.

Is there really that much going on at two in the afternoon on Fox News that you cant cover him live, Bannon said. They dont respect you, read the depositions. They have a fear, a loathing and a contempt for you.

Trumps former top aide was referencing recent court filings from a deposition of Murdoch and other top Fox executives as part of a defamation lawsuit the outlet is facing from Dominion Voting Systems.

The filings show Murdoch and other leaders at Fox casting doubt on Trumps false claims of a stolen election and worrying how fact-checking those claims might upset the conservative media giants massive audience.

The filing also shows that Murdoch testified that he had probably told Fox News to close off certain guests from being on air completely, including the Trump advisor, Bannon because Rupert see[s] him as a fringe character.

While some of the top Fox News hosts remain supportive of Trump, the networks news segments about the former president have grown increasingly cool in recent months.

Trump himself has relentlessly attacked the cable news giant over what he says is overly positive coverage of Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, who is widely expected to announce a bid for the Republican nomination for president, challenging Trump in 2024.

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Bannon also argued that former House Speaker Paul Ryan (R-Wis.)  who is quoted in other depositions warning the Murdochs that Trumps rhetoric could be damaging to the country  should be removed from the board of Fox Corp.

The Murdochs immediately have to start covering President Trump. No special deals, just cover the man, ask the tough questions, Bannon said. But we need to hear the voice of Donald J. Trump.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to The Hill.
Photo taken on July 31, 2021 shows the statues on the square of Hong Kong Exchanges and Clearing Limited (HKEX) in south China's Hong Kong. [Photo/Xinhua]



Hong Kong Exchanges and Clearing Limited (HKEX) announced on Thursday that it will open an office in London in the first half of 2023 to further expand the group's international reach, promoting greater global connectivity and facilitating opportunities for HKEX's customers and issuers around the world.

The new office will promote the attractiveness of HKEX's international equities franchise, its exclusive connectivity with Chinese mainland's capital markets and its rapidly expanding derivatives product suite, the HKEX said in a statement.

The new office will also provide the group's European clients with on-the-ground expertise and insight on Hong Kong's capital market opportunities and innovations.

The opening of the London office will make it easier for the HKEX to connect with investors and other market participants during the European working day and enable the group to build stronger ties with its clients throughout the region, the statement said.

The office will complement HKEX's existing international reach from its offices in Beijing, New York, Shanghai and Singapore.

"We are delighted to be opening HKEX's first European office in London, one of the world's most dynamic and vibrant financial, business and cultural cities," said HKEX Chief Executive Officer Nicolas Aguzin.

Aguzin said that HKEX has strong ties with the financial community in London through the London Metal Exchange, and the new office will further strengthen HKEX's commitment to supporting the ambitions of its broad range of customers around the world.

HKEX subsidiaries, the Stock Exchange of Hong Kong Limited and the Hong Kong Futures Exchange Limited, this week were each confirmed as Recognized Overseas Investment Exchanges by the Financial Conduct Authority, a British financial regulatory body. The preparatory work to open their London offices is also ongoing.
By Sharon Bernstein

SACRAMENTO, Calif. (Reuters) -Record rain and snowfall in recent weeks has eased half of California out of a persistent drought and bolstered the store of mountain snow that the state relies on to provide water during the warm, dry spring and summer.

Statewide on Friday there was nearly twice as much snow in the Sierra Nevada Mountains as is typical for March 3, the California Department of Water Resources said. The snow also was dense and wet, meaning that it held nearly 170% of the typical amount of water for this time of year, the agency said.

The snowpack is considered California's largest reservoir, and is vital to fill streams and lakes as it slowly melts.

"We could not be more fortunate to have this kind of precipitation after three very punishing years of dry and drought conditions," said Department of Water Resources Director Karla Nemeth.

The record precipitation and accompanying powerful storms in December and February have also dramatically lessened California's ongoing drought, a team of U.S. government agencies said this week.

The U.S. Drought Monitor map released Thursday by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and cooperating agencies showed that 17% of California was not experiencing any sort of abnormal dryness, while another third was dry but no longer officially in a state of drought.

By contrast, just three months ago the entire state was considered to be experiencing drought conditions. California has cycled through four periods of drought since 2000, making less water available to irrigate crops and sustain wildlife along with meeting the needs of the state's 40 million residents.

(Reporting by Sharon Bernstein; Editing by Leslie Adler and Aurora Ellis)
Allianz Malaysia Berhad's (KLSE:ALLIANZ) price-to-earnings (or "P/E") ratio of 8.3x might make it look like a buy right now compared to the market in Malaysia, where around half of the companies have P/E ratios above 14x and even P/E's above 26x are quite common. Although, it's not wise to just take the P/E at face value as there may be an explanation why it's limited.

Allianz Malaysia Berhad hasn't been tracking well recently as its declining earnings compare poorly to other companies, which have seen some growth on average. It seems that many are expecting the dour earnings performance to persist, which has repressed the P/E. If this is the case, then existing shareholders will probably struggle to get excited about the future direction of the share price.

Check out our latest analysis for Allianz Malaysia Berhad

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Keen to find out how analysts think Allianz Malaysia Berhad's future stacks up against the industry? In that case, our free report is a great place to start.

How Is Allianz Malaysia Berhad's Growth Trending?

There's an inherent assumption that a company should underperform the market for P/E ratios like Allianz Malaysia Berhad's to be considered reasonable.

Retrospectively, the last year delivered a frustrating 14% decrease to the company's bottom line. The last three years don't look nice either as the company has shrunk EPS by 17% in aggregate. Therefore, it's fair to say the earnings growth recently has been undesirable for the company.

Looking ahead now, EPS is anticipated to climb by 7.9% each year during the coming three years according to the five analysts following the company. With the market predicted to deliver 9.2% growth per annum, the company is positioned for a comparable earnings result.

In light of this, it's peculiar that Allianz Malaysia Berhad's P/E sits below the majority of other companies. Apparently some shareholders are doubtful of the forecasts and have been accepting lower selling prices.

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What We Can Learn From Allianz Malaysia Berhad's P/E?

It's argued the price-to-earnings ratio is an inferior measure of value within certain industries, but it can be a powerful business sentiment indicator.

Our examination of Allianz Malaysia Berhad's analyst forecasts revealed that its market-matching earnings outlook isn't contributing to its P/E as much as we would have predicted. When we see an average earnings outlook with market-like growth, we assume potential risks are what might be placing pressure on the P/E ratio. At least the risk of a price drop looks to be subdued, but investors seem to think future earnings could see some volatility.

Don't forget that there may be other risks. For instance, we've identified 1 warning sign for Allianz Malaysia Berhad that you should be aware of.

If you're unsure about the strength of Allianz Malaysia Berhad's business, why not explore our interactive list of stocks with solid business fundamentals for some other companies you may have missed.

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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A church leader in South Carolina is accused of touching at least 10 teenage girls without their consent.

The student ministry leader, who had worked at Seacoast Church, now faces multiple counts of assault, according to the North Charleston Police Department. Officers in a March 3 news release didnt list attorney information for the man, identified as 26-year-old Vernon Tyrell Willis.

In response to a request for comment, Seacoast Church told McClatchy News it received a report in December that a staff member was having inappropriate interactions with a minor on its North Charleston campus.

We immediately placed that employee on leave and barred the employee from campus while we investigated the report, the church wrote in an emailed statement. We concluded that the employee had clearly violated our code of conduct. The employee was terminated in less than 48 hours.

As a place of worship and a home to so many families in the community, Seacoast Church is heartbroken by a former employees inexcusable and indefensible actions.

The church said it shared its findings with law enforcement officials. In its investigation, the North Charleston Police Department said it identified 10 victims between 13 and 16 years old.

Now, the church is asking anyone with allegations to come forward to police at 843-740-2852 or contact Seacoast Church via email at margaretlittle@seacoast.org.

We are grateful for the young women who shared their story, which allowed us to put an end to this behavior and want to thank these students and their families for being brave and coming forward, the church said, adding that its helped the affected families find counseling and other resources.

We will continue ongoing work to ensure all students can worship freely in safe and protected spaces, officials wrote in their statement. As leaders, we are grieved over the actions of a former staff member.

Officers said Willis worked at the churchs Dream Center, which describes itself as a place dedicated to providing resources and opportunities to low income, homeless and under-served individuals and families. It offers a food pantry, medical clinics and other services to help people become self-sufficient, the church said on its website.

Story continues

Willis turned himself in on March 3, police said. He was charged with 13 counts of second-degree assault and battery and taken to the Charleston County jail.

The North Charleston Police Department didnt share additional details about the case with McClatchy News on March 3, citing an ongoing investigation.

School officer spent time in hotel with teen, had explicit photos on phone, SC cops say

Former pastor in Georgia accused of sexually assaulting girl on Africa trip, feds say
Students sit their exams - Gareth Fuller / PA

GCSE and A-Level students would be allowed to use ChatGPT in coursework under plans being discussed in Whitehall.

Test-setters are in talks with the Government to draw up guidelines for the use of artificial intelligence (AI) ahead of this summer's assessments.

It comes amid fears that students could use popular new chatbots such as ChatGPT to write essays.

Pearson, the UKs biggest qualifications group, is among organisations calling for clarity from ministers over Britains approach to the new technology.

Andy Bird, chief executive of Pearson, said: Were in close consultation with the Department for Education in terms of forming policy and I think you can expect word from the department in the future around creating standards around that.

The Joint Council for Qualifications, which represents the UKs eight biggest exam boards, is expected to set out a view on what should happen shortly. However, it will be up to regulator Ofqual to determine the rules.

The International Baccalaureate (IB), which offers an alternative to A-Level, has already said that students will be allowed to use ChatGPT to help write essays as long as they clearly credit the computer program when using its responses.

In contrast, Oxford and Cambridge universities have both banned the use of AI in coursework and exams due to plagiarism fears.

Schools and colleges are calling for clear rules and guidance from the Government to avoid confusion in this years exams.

Pearson, which owns Edexcel and awards GCSEs, A-Levels and BTECs, is said to be keen to embrace the new technology.

A source close to the company questioned how realistic an outright ban would be and described the IBs approach as a sensible halfway house.

Researchers in the US have successfully passed prestigious legal and medical exams using ChatGPT, fuelling fears about cheating.

Schools have also been considering whether to change homework activities to prevent children from cheating. The head of Alleyns, a private school in south London, has warned the chatbot threatens to make traditional after-school essays obsolete.

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But some academics have argued against a ban on the technology, saying it could be positive for students if used responsibly.

Russell Group universities including Warwick have allowed students to continue using ChatGPT to lever and learn from.

Pearson already uses AI to detect cheating in its exams, with the technology used to flag inconsistencies in answers for human markers to review.

It has also started publishing textbooks on the use of AI in areas such as marketing and medicine.

Mr Bird added: We want to take a very responsible approach to this, a very thoughtful approach.

Were already looking beyond ChatGPT-3 into the opportunities that future generations of generative AI are going to provide us as a company.

It comes amid calls for Britain to build a sovereign AI bot that could be used in the NHS, in Whitehall and by intelligence services to reduce reliance on overseas tech giants such as Microsoft.

The Alan Turing Institute, Britains national AI agency, has backed the move alongside former Prime Minister Sir Tony Blair and members of the Governments Artificial Intelligence Council.

An Ofqual spokesman said: We are working with exam boards, the Department for Education and others in the education sector on the need for guidance on use of artificial intelligence.

The guidance will be about making sure that schools, colleges and students understand that artificial intelligence tools must not be used to cheat, in particular to generate work that students then pass off as their own.

Cheating is unacceptable and the sanctions are serious, including being disqualified from a qualification. It will be published this term.
A series of suicide attempts reported by detainees and officials at a single New Mexico immigration detention facility are underscoring concerns about mental health treatment outcomes in the system.

Brazilian national Kelsey Vial killed himself at the Torrance County Detention Facility in Estancia, N.M., on Aug. 24, according to the official Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) detainee death report.

Vials death came a month before a Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Office of Internal Investigations (OIG) report recommended the facilitys closure due to poor conditions.

In a complaint to federal oversight agencies, advocates with Innovation Law Lab detailed another suicide attempt at the facility on Nov. 30 based on former detainee Rafael Oliveira do Nascimentos personal account.

Oliveira do Nascimento, also a Brazilian national, has since been released from immigration detention.

F., another detainee at Torrance, which currently holds around 400 people, told The Hill he attempted suicide last month but was stopped by his fellow inmates as he climbed over a railing to jump off a ledge.

F., whose name is being withheld at his request to avoid affecting his immigration process, said the facilitys response to his attempt was to put him in isolation.

When I was in the cell I told them, Why wont you turn off the lights? That they were treating me worse than el Chapo. Why wont you turn off the lights? and they would leave them on. Why wont you turn off the lights?'

Mental care in detention environments

Craig Haney, a social psychologist and an expert on the impacts of isolation in detention, said American prisons and detention centers often use isolation as a response to inmate depression, self-harm and suicide attempts.

This is a way to solve a short-term problem: What do we do with this mentally ill detainee? But in a way that is very likely to be damaging to [detainees] in the long run. And thats just not an equation that [detention centers] pay much attention to, Haney said.

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Ryan Gustin, a spokesman for CoreCivic, the private company that operates the Torrance facility for ICE, pushed back against F.s claim.

The safety of those entrusted to our care at [Torrance] is our number one priority. If a detainee exhibits or expresses self-harm or suicidal ideations, they are not met with punitive measures, rather they are provided with a high-level of appropriate medical and mental health care, Gustin said.

This includes transitioning the detainee to a cell designed with safety in mind. A thorough mental health and physical assessment is performed by our medical staff, and staff can intensively monitor the individual to ensure their safety. The individual would continue to receive monitoring and assessment no longer than necessary to mitigate the risk of imminent self-harm, added Gustin, noting that CoreCivic uses neither the term nor the practice of solitary confinement.

Still, Vials death and the two other suicide attempts marked a turn for the worse for ICE detention generally after the agency reported no detainee suicide deaths in fiscal 2021.

That decrease followed a grim fiscal 2020, when six people died by suicide in immigration detention. In fiscal 2019, ICE registered two deaths by suicide, as well as one in fiscal 2018.

According to a 2021 study published in AIMS Public Health, a journal for peer-reviewed papers, the overall suicide rate per every 100,000 people admitted into ICE detention was 0.3 from 2010 to 2019. In 2020, that rate skyrocketed to 3.4 suicides per 100,000 admissions.

That study, authored by academics from Harvard and Stanford universities, theorized that a possible cause for the spike was increasing lapses in mental health care in ICE detention, based on a 2020 congressional report that found major issues in mental health care inside detention centers which may result from chronic staffing shortages, as vacancy rates of 3750% for psychiatrists and social workers have been previously reported in immigration detention.

Though Septembers OIG report praised the quality of health care at Torrance, it found understaffing in the medical office was causing an array of problems.

In addition to several staff expressing that the low staffing levels were problematic, we observed empty watch rooms and understaffed medical units. Our medical contractors concluded that these medical unit vacancies impacted the level of care detainees received for suicide watch, dental care, and chronic care, wrote the OIG.

And despite the OIGs praise, detainees report bleak consequences of seeking mental health care for depression, thoughts of self-harm or suicidal ideation.

W., another detainee at Torrance whose name is being withheld to avoid affecting his immigration case, relayed a harrowing experience after seeking medical help for thoughts of self-harm.

They put me in a cold room, they took all my clothes, they only gave me a little robe and I lasted Friday, Saturday, Sunday and Monday. Four, five days there. Then they took me out of there, put me for a week in a room, in a tank by myself stuck there. I would send letters [asking] them to let me out of there, to transfer me with more people, but they didnt want to. It was no and all no, that they couldnt do anything for me and things like that.

I didnt have anything to do but to cry and read the word of God and so on. And it was all very, very sad.

While conditions like those described by W. appear cruel, they may adhere to ICEs suicide prevention procedures.

W.s little robe, for instance, was likely a suicide smock, a tool prescribed by ICEs National Detention Standards manual that can be used, with or without underwear, if a medical professional determines a detainee could use regular clothing to attempt acts of self-harm.

ICEs manual describes in detail suicide-resistant cells, prohibits excessive deprivations for detainees in those cells, and mandates one-to-one observation and a medical treatment plan.

Advocates, however, say the ICE manuals regulations are often not followed.

According to a November report by Humanitarian Outreach for Migrant Emotional Health, (H.O.M.E.), which reviewed the health care records of seven Torrance detainees, the files lacked detailed descriptions of symptoms, wellness goals, treatment plans and psychotherapy notes for interactions between patients and caregivers.

The most striking feature of these records was their sparsity, wrote Jenifer Wolf-Williams and Judy Iwens Eidelson, executive director and clinical adviser at H.O.M.E, respectively.

CoreCivic says its medical staff follows ICE regulations, earning Torrances health services accreditation from the National Commission on Correctional Health Care (NCCHC), an independent agency supported by an assortment of medical, law enforcement and corrections associations.

All detainees have daily access to sign up for medical care, including mental health services. Our clinic is staffed with licensed, credentialed doctors, nurses and mental health professionals who contractually meet the highest standards of care as verified by multiple audits and inspections, Gustin said.

Whether or not regulations are consistently followed in dealing with depressed or at-risk detainees, they say a perception of punitive treatment has created a culture of distrust at Torrance.

Critically important symptom

Another detainee, B., told The Hill that veteran detainees will advise newcomers not to seek institutional help for depression, thoughts of self-harm or suicidal ideation or risk being put into the cold rooms or torture rooms.

B. has since been deported, according to advocates  his name was withheld for fear of persecution in his home country.

Without exception, when a detained migrant disclosed suicidal thoughts to a H.O.M.E. evaluator, they also noted their unwillingness to discuss these thoughts with [Torrance] staff, including internal healthcare professionals, reads the H.O.M.E. report.

Their consistent reason for hiding this critically important symptom was fear of the inevitable detention center response: solitary confinement and its associated humiliations.

Reached for comment, Jenny Burke, a spokesperson for ICE, said first-hand accounts can provide an unreliable metric to measure whether protocol is being followed.

But Burke said ICE is committed to ensuring that all those in its custody reside in safe, secure, and humane environments under appropriate conditions of confinement.

There are multiple avenues available for detainees to report allegations of substandard care or misconduct  all allegations are taken seriously as agency personnel are held to the highest standards of professional and ethical behavior. When a complaint is received, it is investigated thoroughly to ensure comprehensive standards and policies are strictly maintained and enforced, she said.

In late February, a coalition of human rights advocates led by Innovation Law Lab, New Mexico Immigrant Law Center, Las Americas Immigrant Advocacy Center and the Santa Fe Dreamers Project delivered a letter and a report to officials within DHS, detailing the conditions described to them in conversations with more than 100 detainees at Torrance.

That report details the accounts of at least 50 men who said they had been put in the torture rooms, and, upon exit, isolated from their previous acquaintances and friends.

Isolation can be devastating for any individual in such a setting, but for those experiencing a mental illness, it often aggravates their existing conditions.

It is an extra layer, and it could not be more inappropriate, Haney said.

In a mental hospital, for example, people are not in isolation. In fact, quite the opposite.  One of the things you do as a form of treatment for having mental health problems is engage in various forms of socialization.

Loss of self

Haney added that isolation can cause or aggravate depression and lead to anxiety in detainees, including social anxiety that can make it hard for formerly isolated individuals to interact with other people, even years after the fact.

A third effect is a loss of self, which Haney compared to an experience many people had while living in lockdown during the pandemic.

And what happens is, it destabilizes peoples identity. They cant ground themselves and their feelings in their connectedness to other people and in the reactions that other people have to them. And it loosens peoples grip on reality. Even normal healthy people will report that they begin to wonder who they are, Haney said.

The effects of detention and isolation are also aggravated by the uncertainty faced by non-criminal immigration detainees, according to advocates and mental health experts.

A majority of ICE detainees nationwide are not charged with a crime and do not have a criminal record, and detention times for immigration proceedings are indeterminate  detainees can remain in ICE facilities for days or years.

That uncertainty and last-minute changes to deportation plans or transfers between different detention facilities often take a toll on detainees mental health.

Advocates say those stress factors have existed for decades  essentially, that they are a feature, not a bug, of U.S. immigration policy.

Its part of an overall framework of U.S. immigration policy that is oriented around policies that are cruel and intended to, quote, unquote, deter future migration, said Heidi Altman, director of policy at the National Immigrant Justice Center.

You cannot speak to one person who has gone through immigration detention, but doesnt have the scars of dehumanizing treatment, of having been harassed by guards, of having been strip searched, of having been thrown in solitary because of their mental illness. The list goes on.

Updated at 11:44 a.m.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to The Hill.
WASHINGTON  The Supreme Court on Thursday sought additional briefings in a major elections case from North Carolina, signaling it could sidestep a ruling on a broad theory that could upend election law nationwide.

The brief court order asked the parties involved to file new court papers on the impact of recent actions by the North Carolina Supreme Court.

The case before the justices, argued in December, concerns whether the North Carolina Supreme Court had the authority last year to throw out Republican-drawn congressional districts.

Since then, the North Carolina Supreme Court has flipped from Democratic to Republican control and the new majority has moved to revisit some of the earlier rulings. Most notably, the state court last month said it would reconsider whether the Republican-drawn districts were unlawful along with another case concerning voter ID. Oral arguments in the North Carolina court are scheduled for March 14.

Thursday's order asked North Carolina Republicans, groups that challenged the maps, and the Biden administration to weigh in by March 20 on what effect the state court's actions should have on the Supreme Court's consideration of the dispute. The justices could potentially conclude that the subsequent developments in North Carolina means the case before them is now moot, meaning no decision is necessary.

The appeal brought by North Carolina Republicans led by Tim Moore, the speaker of the state House of Representatives, asked the U.S. Supreme Court, which has a 6-3 conservative majority, to embrace an obscure legal argument called the independent state legislature theory, which could strip state courts of the power to strike down certain election laws enacted by state legislatures.

The independent state legislature argument hinges on language in the Constitution that says election rules shall be prescribed in each state by the legislature thereof.

Supporters of the theory, which has never been endorsed by the Supreme Court, say the language supports the notion that, when it comes to federal election rules, legislatures have ultimate power under state law, potentially irrespective of potential constraints imposed by state constitutions.

In the ruling last year, the state court ruled that the 14 congressional districts  which Republicans drew to maximize the influence of Republican voters in a state strongly contested by both main parties  were unlawful partisan gerrymanders.

This article was originally published on NBCNews.com
More than 35 years after the world's worst nuclear accident, the dogs of Chernobyl roam among decaying, abandoned buildings in and around the closed plant  somehow still able to find food, breed and survive.

Scientists hope that studying these dogs can teach humans new tricks about how to live in the harshest, most degraded environments, too.

They published the first of what they hope will be many genetics studies on Friday in the journal Science Advances, focusing on 302 free-roaming dogs living in an officially designated exclusion zone around the disaster site. They identified populations whose differing levels of radiation exposure may have made them genetically distinct from one another and other dogs worldwide.

We've had this golden opportunity to lay the groundwork for answering a crucial question: How do you survive in a hostile environment like this for 15 generations? said geneticist Elaine Ostrander of the National Human Genome Research Institute, one of the studys many authors.

Fellow author Tim Mousseau, professor of biological sciences at the University of South Carolina, said the dogs provide an incredible tool to look at the impacts of this kind of a setting on mammals overall.

Chernobyls environment is singularly brutal. On April 26, 1986, an explosion and fire at the Ukraine power plant caused radioactive fallout to spew into the atmosphere. Thirty workers were killed in the immediate aftermath while the long-term death toll from radiation poisoning is estimated to eventually number in the thousands.

Researchers say most of the dogs they are studying appear to be descendants of pets that residents were forced to leave behind when they evacuated the area.

Mousseau has been working in the Chernobyl region since the late 1990s and began collecting blood from the dogs around 2017. Some of the dogs live in the power plant, a dystopian, industrial setting. Others are about 9 miles (15 kilometers) or 28 miles (45 kilometers) away.

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At first, Ostrander said, they thought the dogs might have intermingled so much over time that theyd be much the same. But through DNA, they could readily identify dogs living in areas of high, low and medium levels of radiation exposure.

That was a huge milestone for us," said Ostrander. And whats surprising is we can even identify families  about 15 different ones.

Now researchers can begin to look for alterations in the DNA.

We can compare them and we can say: OK, whats different, whats changed, whats mutated, whats evolved, what helps you, what hurts you at the DNA level? Ostrander said. This will involve separating non-consequential DNA changes from purposeful ones.

Scientists said the research could have wide applications, providing insights about how animals and humans can live now and in the future in regions of the world under continuous environmental assault  and in the high-radiation environment of space.

Dr. Kari Ekenstedt, a veterinarian who teaches at Purdue University and was not involved in the study, said it's a first step toward answering important questions about how constant exposure to higher levels of radiation affects large mammals. For example, she said, Is it going to be changing their genomes at a rapid rate?

Researchers have already started on the follow-up research, which will mean more time with the dogs at the site about 60 miles (100 kilometers) from Kyiv. Mousseau said he and his colleagues were there most recently last October and didnt see any war-related activity. Mousseau said the team has grown close to some dogs, naming one Prancer because she excitedly prances around when she sees people.

Even though theyre wild, they still very much enjoy human interaction," he said, Especially when theres food involved. ___

The Associated Press Health and Science Department receives support from the Howard Hughes Medical Institutes Science and Educational Media Group. The AP is solely responsible for all content.
Attorney Ben Crump's speaks at the Shanquella Robinson news conference in Washington, D.C. on March 3, 2023. WUSA9

On Friday, attorneys representing the family of Shanquella Robinson called for "diplomatic intervention" in the ongoing case.

Shanquella Robinson was found dead in October 2022 after attending a trip to Mexico with friends.

Despite significant evidence, an autopsy report, and a video showing Robinson attacked, no arrests have been made.

On Friday, attorneys Ben Crump and Sue-Ann Robinson (no relation to Shanquella Robinson) of Frontline Law held a press conference in Washington, D.C. demanding diplomatic intervention by President Biden and the US Department of State in the death investigation of Shanquella Robinson. They were joined by Tamika Mallory, co-founder of Until Freedom; Akosua Ali, NAACP President of the D.C. Branch; and the family of Shanquella Robinson.

Robinson was 25 years old when she was found dead in San Jose del Cabo, Mexico during a group vacation. The party reportedly blamed alcohol poisoning, but an autopsy later revealed that Robinson had suffered trauma to her neck and spine.

A viral video showed Shanquella being severely beaten by a woman in the group at the resort where they were staying. The group of six, referred to as Cabo 6 in the press conference, was allowed to return to the US days following Shanquella's death with no arrestsmade four months into the ongoing investigation.

"Mexican authorities have confirmed that they have completed their investigations. We've had the opportunity to review some of the package and it has been sent [to US officials]," attorney Sue Ann Robinson said during the conference. "The ball is clearly in the United States court. The State Department, the Department of Justice, the ball is in your court."

Sue-Ann Robinson recently traveled to Mexico where she visited the resort and met with authorities to discuss the case.

According to Mexican prosecutors, one of Robinson's friends was the direct aggressor of her death and an arrest warrant has been issued. Last month, Mexican Attorney General Daniel De La Rosa Anaya said his office is working with the US government to extradite the unnamed individual, WBTV reported.

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"There's six people who were there who know the answers, and they need to be present somewhere where they are being asked and demanded of the truth," said Mallory at the press conference. "We saw an attack. It'd be one thing if you did not see a video, and perhaps we could come up with some other explanation for what happened to her. But in this case, what we see is very clear."

Mallory then called on journalists to label the beating as an attack. "I want to correct something that has been said and I am asking every single person from the media to be careful about the narrative. There was an attack against one person. We did not see a fight."

"The question that I have for the head of the United States State Department, what would you do if it was your child? What would you wanna see happen in this country?" asked Mallory.

Read the original article on Insider
Federal authorities said in court Thursday that a Pennsylvania man was aware he had a prohibited explosive in a suitcase that he checked at an airport this week.

Marc Muffley, 40, faces federal charges after officials found an explosive Monday at Lehigh Valley International Airport, authorities said. He was arrested Monday night at his home in Lansford hours after the incident, the FBI said.

Muffley appeared in court Thursday afternoon by video from the Lehigh County Jail, wearing a navy inmate uniform.

Marc Muffley. (U.S. District Court, Eastern District of Pennsylvania)

The hearing began with federal prosecutor Sherri Stephan reading the charges: possession of an explosive and attempting to place it on a plane.

FBI Special Agent Eddie Garcia, the arresting officer and the person who interviewed Muffley, told Stephan that he was called to the airport Monday and arrived with his partner and two bomb technicians, who arrested Muffley after they found an explosive.

Garcia said Muffley was aware of the explosives, lithium battery and butane lighter in his bag, and he knew they were prohibited except for the lighter, adding, He knew it was in his bag and was not allowed.

Muffleys attorney, Jonathan McDonald, asked Garcia whether what was found was a manufactured firework, to which Garcia responded, Maybe. Garcia said that he recorded the interview and that it was he who used the word explosive, not Muffley.

Stephan went on to say Muffley had created a very dangerous situation when he checked in very curious things, including an explosive device that technicians said had two fuses. Muffley checked the bag intending to place it on the plane to Orlando, Florida, authorities have said.

Marc Muffley with luggage. (U.S. District Court, Eastern District of Pennsylvania)

McDonald said that there was no lab report and contended that it was just an opinion that the device was an explosive, saying it was instead just a firework in a bag.

McDonald said that the commercial-grade firework was not an explosive like dynamite, a bomb or a Molotov cocktail and that it did not meet the definition of an explosive.

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Prosecutors argued that Muffley was a flight risk and a danger to the community, because he had previous arrests and convictions and fled the airport to a nearby park and called his girlfriend, who had just dropped him off, to pick him up.

Court documents in Pennsylvania show he has a record of relatively minor offenses, including theft and assault.

McDonald asked for pretrial release, saying that Muffley was not a flight risk and had ties to the community and that he could wear an ankle bracelet.

U.S. Magistrate Judge Pamela Carlos sided with the prosecution and ordered Muffley to be remanded and detained by U.S. marshals until further proceedings.

In a criminal complaint, prosecutors said the Transportation Security Administration at the airport contacted the FBI on Monday after TSA officials believed they had found an explosive in a suitcase that Muffley checked on a flight bound for Orlando Sanford International Airport in Florida.

The complaint said authorities found a circular compound, approximately three inches in diameter, wrapped in a wax-like paper and clear plastic wrap hidden in the lining of the baggage, among other items.

A bomb technician inspected the circular compound and found it contained a granular type of powder concealed within the wax paper and plastic wrap, according to the complaint.

The complaint said that based on the technicians training, this granular type of powder is consistent with a commercial grade firework, adding, This granular powder is suspected to be a mixture of flash powder and the dark granulars that are used in commercial grade fireworks.

There were two fuses on the compound, according to the FBI affidavit. One was a quick fuse and appeared to have been on it when it was initially manufactured, and the other was a hobby fuse that appeared to have been added later, the affidavit said.

Also in the bag were a can of butane, a lighter, a pipe with white powder residue, a wireless drill and two electrical outlets taped together, it said.

Federal authorities said in the complaint that both the black powder and flash powder are susceptible to ignite from heat and friction and posed a significant risk to the aircraft and passengers.

This article was originally published on NBCNews.com
Inquam Photos/Octav Ganea via Reuters

Andrew Tate, the violent, high-profile, virulently misogynistic pro-Trump social media influencer currently imprisoned and under investigation by Romanian authorities due to allegations of organized crime, rape and operating a human trafficking ring, told the Daily Mail through a spokesperson on Friday that he has a dark spot on his lung thats most likely a tumor, and that these alleged health woes must not be taken lightly.

Doctors caring for Tate, whose most recent appeal to be released from prison was rejected only days ago, are now requesting that he be released from prison in Romania and repatriated to the United Arab Emirates; Tates doctors are based in both Romania and Dubai.

On Friday, the Romanian news site Spy News published documents that the outlet claims are Tates leaked medical records. One of these documents was supposedly signed on Feb. 23, and the other, which was supposedly signed off by a doctor five days after Tate was arrested in Romania in December, notes the discovery of a sizable space-occupying lesion in the upper lobe of the influencers right lung. Its unclear whether these documents are authentic.

Tate, a former professional kickboxer, attained widespread social media fame via insistent, TikTok-centric dissemination of regressive, sexist content, leading him to be dubbed the king of toxic masculinity.

Tate also appeared on Big Brother in 2016, before being removed from the cast within a week after video emerged of him beating his ex-girlfriend with a belt.

The webcam company Tate co-founded with his brother Tristan is at the center of the human trafficking investigation: Tate, Tristan and two other suspects are accused of having created an organized crime group with the purpose of recruiting, housing and exploiting women by forcing them to create pornographic content meant to be seen on specialized websites for a cost, the Directorate for Investigating Organised Crime and Terrorism said in a statement in December.

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As of 2023, Tate is being investigated for two counts of rape. In 2015, Tate was arrested in the UK following a separate allegation of rape, though the Crown Prosecution Service eventually declined to pursue charges, Vice reported in January.

According to Vice, the woman who accused Tate of raping her in 2015 provided a text message exchange with the influencer to police in which Tate had written: I love raping you.

Read more at The Daily Beast.

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A Chinese mainland spokesperson on Thursday expressed firm opposition to the United States' arms sales to China's Taiwan region.

The move by the United States seriously violates the one-China principle and the three China-U.S. joint communiques, particularly the August 17 Communique, said Ma Xiaoguang, a spokesperson for the State Council Taiwan Affairs Office, in response to a press inquiry on the decision of the United States to sell arms to Taiwan.

The move connives at and supports separatists seeking "Taiwan independence," and undermines peace and stability across the Taiwan Strait, Ma added.

"We urge the United States to abide by the one-China principle and the three China-U.S. joint communiques, and to cease arms sales to and military contact with Taiwan," Ma said.

Ma also warned Taiwan's Democratic Progressive Party authorities that any attempt to use force to resist reunification or collude with external forces to seek "Taiwan independence" is doomed to fail.
Calling him extremely dangerous, a Whatcom County prosecutor painted a picture in court Thursday afternoon of the man accused in the 1987 disappearance and alleged murder of a 29-year-old Bellingham woman.

As the prosecutor spoke, the womans daughter sat in a front row court pew holding two framed photographs of her mother, Wendy L. Aughe. The daughter was 8 years old when Aughe disappeared nearly 36 years ago.

Chief Criminal Deputy Prosecuting Attorney Erik Sigmar asked a Whatcom County Court Commissioner to set bail extremely high for Darren Dee ONeall at ONealls first court appearance Thursday, March 2.

ONeall, 63, was charged Oct. 11, 2022, in Whatcom County Superior Court with one count of second-degree murder for Aughes death in 1987.

He was extradited Wednesday, March 1, to Whatcom County from the Two Rivers Correctional Institute in Umatilla, Oregon, where he was incarcerated, according to court and jail records.

Aughe was last seen on April 25, 1987, after she went on a date with a man, later identified as ONeall, whom she had met earlier that day, The Bellingham Herald previously reported.

Aughe is presumed dead, and her body has never been found.

DNA profiles were created by the Washington State Patrol Crime Laboratory for both Aughe and ONeall from evidence taken from Aughes home and items found in the trunk of Aughes stolen car.

In July 2021, cheek swabs were taken from ONeall. A month later, the crime lab determined the swabs matched the DNA profiles created for ONeall from the evidence taken from Aughes home and car, court records state.

ONeall, who is a suspected serial killer and spent time as one of the FBIs most wanted, has been wanted for questioning in Aughes disappearance since at least 1988.

Extraordinary bail

Sigmar spent nearly two minutes detailing ONealls past criminal history during his first court appearance Thursday.

Sigmar said ONeall was charged with robbery in 1985 and sexual assault in 1986 in Colorado, but was unsure whether those charges were still outstanding.

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ONeall was arrested in Florida in December 1987 on a stolen car warrant out of Louisiana, according to the Associated Press. He was then extradited to Washington state to face murder charges for the 1987 death of Robin P. Smith, a 21-year-old Pierce County woman.

ONeall was convicted of first-degree murder and possession of stolen property in the Pierce County case in February 1989 under circumstances similar to Aughes case, Sigmar said.

He was then convicted of second-degree theft in April 1989 in Whatcom County for stealing Aughes car.

A little more than a year later, in August 1990, ONeall was convicted for kidnapping and repeatedly sexually assaulting a 14-year-old Portland girl in 1987. ONeall was sentenced to 135 years in prison for the case, but was expected to be eligible for parole May 2033, according to court records.

ONeall is also a suspect in other violent crimes and murders across the United States, and was the subject of an FBI task force at one time, Sigmar said.

He requested the court set ONealls bail at $10 million or more, to ensure he cannot possibly be released or escape.

Aughes daughter declined to speak at ONealls first appearance, but Sigmar said she was present in court to see justice for her mothers death, and that she supported the bail request. As Sigmar spoke, Aughes daughter nodded along in agreement.

ONeall, who appeared on a television screen from the Whatcom County Jail, stood expressionless as Sigmar made his arguments.

Whatcom County Superior Court Commissioner Ann Vetter-Hansen set ONealls bail at $10 million  one of the highest bails set in Whatcom County in recent memory.

ONeall will remain in custody at the Whatcom County Jail.

His arraignment is scheduled for March 10.
By Yimou Lee

TAIPEI (Reuters) -Taiwan's government believes China is set to renew a charm offensive targeting "opinion leaders" to win hearts and minds as the island gears up for a presidential election in less than a year, a security agency said in an internal report.

China, which views democratically governed Taiwan as its own, has long taken a carrot and stick approach to the island, threatening it with the prospect of military action while reaching out to those it believes are amenable to Beijing's point of view.

As Taipei and Beijing gradually resume travel links halted by the COVID-19 pandemic, Taiwan security officials expect China to relaunch an influence campaign that in the past included all-expenses-paid trips to China for Taiwan politicians.

From this month, the campaign will focus on invitations for "opinion leaders" to visit China, a Taiwan security agency looking into Chinese activities on the island said in the classified report, a copy of which was reviewed by Reuters.

"The Chinese Communist Party is developing its exchange programmes with Taiwan for the year. Various Taiwan-related agencies will gradually resume their invitations to Taiwan people on all levels to visit the mainland," the agency said in the February report, citing intelligence information.

With Taiwan's presidential vote due in January next year, officials worry that Beijing could try to stir animosity towards the government of President Tsai Ing-wen.

China refuses to talk to the government, believing Tsai is a separatist for refusing to accept Beijing's long-standing position that China and Taiwan both belong to "one China".

Tsai rejects China's territorial claims and says only the island's 23 million people can decide their future, though she has repeatedly offered talks with Beijing.

China, which has never renounced the use of force to gain control of what it calls its "sacred" territory, has over recent years ramped up pressure on Taiwan to accept Chinese sovereignty, including the staging of regular military exercises near the island.

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Beijing is expected to try to use its campaign to sway the public to support political parties that are more open to "reunification", or at least to building closer ties.

"They might want Taiwanese to support certain political parties who support closer economic ties with the mainland," a Taiwan security official investigating the matter told Reuters.

The official, who declined to be identified, said China could invite a range of people beyond political and business leaders in the hope of quietly promoting its political ideology.

"The exchange programmes may come in the name of sports, culture or commerce, but what we are worried about is what's being said privately," the official said.

'WINDOW OF OPPORTUNITY'

The report did not single out an individuals or parties that Taiwan believes could be targeted in the campaign but Beijing has long-standing contacts with the main opposition party, the Kuomintang or KMT, which traditionally favours close ties with China, but strongly denies being pro-Beijing.

The deputy KMT chairman visited Beijing last month for meetings with top Chinese officials, a trip the KMT said would "effectively deescalate tensions" and improve communications.

Also last month, a group of Chinese officials made their first visit to Taiwan in three years to attend a cultural event in the capital, Taipei. The mayor, a senior KMT member, welcomed them.

The KMT said the government had approved the officials' visit and had been calling for efforts to "break the ice" with Beijing. The KMT also rejected any notion that the opposition was the target of China's effort.

"Why only say that this is Beijing's unilateral 'charm offensive' targeting opposition parties?," the KMT said in a statement to Reuters. "Even the United States encourages exchanges across the Taiwan Strait and peaceful dialogue."

It said the ruling party had failed to take the initiative in reducing tension and improving communication, leaving it to the KMT to do so.

Taiwan's China policy making Mainland Affairs Council declined to comment. China's Taiwan Affairs Office did not respond to a request for comment.

Taiwan security agencies were closely monitoring various Chinese groups on the island, including China's quasi-government organisations responsible for issues from trade to tourism, as well as Chinese students, the report said.

A second senior Taiwan security official said the island should be "on high alert" for efforts by China to press its message on reunification.

"They are looking for a window of opportunity to bypass theTaiwan authorities," the official said.

(Reporting By Yimou Lee; Additional reporting by Beijing newsroom; Editing by Robert Birsel)
Oklahoma Gov. Kevin Stitt signs the LEAD Act on Thursday in the Blue Room at the Capitol with members of the House and Senate behind him: From left, Sen. Chuck Hall, Sen. Roger Thompson, Speaker Pro Tempore Rep. Kyle Hilbert, Rep. Ryan Martinez and Rep. Kevin Wallace.

Gov. Kevin Stitt has signed a bill offering hundreds of millions of dollars in tax incentives for a company code-named "Project Connect" to build a manufacturing facility in northeastern Oklahoma.

That company is likely German automaker Volkswagen, according to media reports, but its identity is being kept a secret during negotiations with the Oklahoma Department of Commerce.

Volkswagen company executives are scheduled to meet on Friday to discuss plans for a new U.S. manufacturing plant, according to Reuters, although it's not clear whether that includes Oklahoma or "Project Connect." The plant at the center of Volkswagen's meeting will reportedly be involved in production of the Scout, an off-road electric vehicle.

The bill Stitt signed Thursday afternoon was given final approval by lawmakers just hours earlier. It modifies legislation first adopted last year that was linked to nearly $700 million in capital investment rebates set aside for a different recruitment effort last year. The company receiving these incentives would be allowed to claim an annual rebate on qualified capital expenditures.

To claim the rebates, "Project Connect" would have to spend at least $3.6 billion on its Oklahoma project to be eligible for financial incentives. Additionally, the company would need to hit hiring benchmarks beginning with at least 500 full-time workers in its first year and ramping up to 3,500 full-time staff by years four and five.

If "Project Connect" fails to ink a deal with the Oklahoma Department of Commerce by April 15, the incentives in the bill Stitt signed would expire and the money would be returned to the state's General Revenue Fund.

State Rep. Ryan Martinez, R-Edmond, said Thursday that the average salary for new employees hired by the company would be about $75,000 a year. As vice-chair of the House Appropriations and Budget Committee, Martinez has helped shepherd the bill through the legislature.

Oklahoma Gov. Kevin Stitt signs the LEAD Act on Thursday in the Blue Room at the Capitol.

The legislation signed by the governor Thursday reduced the ultimate number of employees required to qualify from 4,000 to 3,500.

The original version of the LEAD Act was signed by the governor less than a year ago as Oklahoma tried to recruit Panasonic to the Mid-America Industrial Park in Pryor. Panasonic ultimately chose to build its battery manufacturing plant in Kansas.

This article originally appeared on Oklahoman: Stitt OKs incentives for company identified only as "Project Connect"
Many investors are still learning about the various metrics that can be useful when analysing a stock. This article is for those who would like to learn about Return On Equity (ROE). We'll use ROE to examine Tenet Healthcare Corporation (NYSE:THC), by way of a worked example.

Return on Equity or ROE is a test of how effectively a company is growing its value and managing investors money. In short, ROE shows the profit each dollar generates with respect to its shareholder investments.

See our latest analysis for Tenet Healthcare

How Do You Calculate Return On Equity?

The formula for ROE is:

Return on Equity = Net Profit (from continuing operations)  Shareholders' Equity

So, based on the above formula, the ROE for Tenet Healthcare is:

22% = US$1.0b  US$4.6b (Based on the trailing twelve months to December 2022).

The 'return' is the yearly profit. Another way to think of that is that for every $1 worth of equity, the company was able to earn $0.22 in profit.

Does Tenet Healthcare Have A Good Return On Equity?

One simple way to determine if a company has a good return on equity is to compare it to the average for its industry. The limitation of this approach is that some companies are quite different from others, even within the same industry classification. Pleasingly, Tenet Healthcare has a superior ROE than the average (11%) in the Healthcare industry.

roe

That is a good sign. Bear in mind, a high ROE doesn't always mean superior financial performance. Aside from changes in net income, a high ROE can also be the outcome of high debt relative to equity, which indicates risk. To know the 4 risks we have identified for Tenet Healthcare visit our risks dashboard for free.

How Does Debt Impact ROE?

Virtually all companies need money to invest in the business, to grow profits. The cash for investment can come from prior year profits (retained earnings), issuing new shares, or borrowing. In the case of the first and second options, the ROE will reflect this use of cash, for growth. In the latter case, the debt required for growth will boost returns, but will not impact the shareholders' equity. Thus the use of debt can improve ROE, albeit along with extra risk in the case of stormy weather, metaphorically speaking.

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Tenet Healthcare's Debt And Its 22% ROE

It seems that Tenet Healthcare uses a huge volume of debt to fund the business, since it has an extremely high debt to equity ratio of 3.22. Its ROE is pretty good, but given the impact of the debt, we're less than enthused, overall.

Summary

Return on equity is one way we can compare its business quality of different companies. A company that can achieve a high return on equity without debt could be considered a high quality business. If two companies have the same ROE, then I would generally prefer the one with less debt.

But when a business is high quality, the market often bids it up to a price that reflects this. Profit growth rates, versus the expectations reflected in the price of the stock, are a particularly important to consider. So you might want to check this FREE visualization of analyst forecasts for the company.

Of course Tenet Healthcare may not be the best stock to buy. So you may wish to see this free collection of other companies that have high ROE and low debt.

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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Members of the Tennessee House of Representatives during a legislative session Nashville, Tennessee, on January 12, 2021. Mark Humphrey/AP Images

Tennessee lawmakers discussed a bill that would allow inmates to be executed by firing squad.

During the meeting, Rep. Paul Sherrell suggested lynching as another possible execution method.

After severe backlash, Sherrell apologized and said he "used very poor judgment."

A Tennessee lawmaker issued a public apology on Wednesday after he suggested "hanging by a tree" as a method of execution, Nashville Tennessean reported.

In a statement, State Rep. Paul Sherrell, from Sparta, said his "exaggerated comments were intended to convey my belief that for the cruelest and most heinous crimes, a just society requires the death penalty in kind," the outlet reported.

"Although a victim's family cannot be restored when an execution is carried out, a lesser punishment undermines the value we place on protecting life. My intention was to express my support of families who often wait decades for justice. I sincerely apologize to anyone who may have been hurt or offended," the statement said.

Sherrell made the comment during a House Criminal Justice Committee meeting on Tuesday as lawmakers were debating an amendment to a bill that would allow death row inmates to be executed by firing squad  a method currently not allowed in the state.

"I was just wondering, could I put an amendment on that that would include hanging by a tree, also," Sherrell asked, according to Nashville Tennessean. He also offered to co-sponsor the state bill.

His comments sparked immense backlash. Ben Crump, a civil rights attorney known for representing the families of George Floyd and Tyre Nichols, tweeted on Thursday: "This is UNREAL!  How in 2023 can a government official have such a grotesque suggestion leave his mouth?!"

Sherrell did not immediately respond to Insider's request for comment.

A independent report published late last year found failures in how the state's death row prisoners were executed by lethal injection.

Several of the state's representatives said this week that they believed firing squad would be the most humane way to be executed. The bill was moved forward to the Finance Committee, CBS News reported.

Read the original article on Business Insider
Tesla CEO Elon Musk Suzanne Cordeiro/AFP via Getty Images

Ross Gerber praised Tesla's battery advances after touring the Austin Gigafactory this week.

In particular, he noted the footprint for production of the 4680 battery has come down in size considerably.

"So the 4680 cell is probably one of the most important technological advances in modern history," Gerber told CNBC.

Tesla investor Ross Gerber took time to praise the electric vehicle maker for what he saw as powerful production advances.

After taking a tour of the company's Gigafactory in Austin, Texas, he tweeted that what he saw was "pretty insane."

In particular, he noted the footprint for production of the 4680 battery has come down in size considerably, allowing Tesla to scale up faster and more easily. With 4680 technology, Tesla will dominate cell production and batteries, he predicted.

In a CNBC interview, Gerber expanded on his observations, saying that battery production is the key to the success of alternative energy and EV transportation.

"So the 4680 cell is probably one of the most important technological advances in modern history," he said . "When they achieve this, which hopefully will be very soon, it's gonna bring Tesla up to the next level."

The batteries are meant help Tesla meet its goal of lowering manufacturing costs and raising the affordability of its vehicles. While the battery's use has already been announced in its Model Y vehicles, Tesla's current challenge is scaling up production.

Gerber's praise of Tesla's battery production advances comes after he briefly pursued a seat on the company's board, citing concerns about CEO Elon Musk's leadership and help the company "grow up."

But Gerber dropped his bid in late February after determining that shareholder concerns had been resolved. As of December 31, Gerber's firm, Gerber Kawasaki, owned 440,000 shares in the EV maker.

Read the original article on Business Insider
By Daina Beth Solomon

MEXICO CITY (Reuters) - Tesla Inc's planned factory in Mexico's northern border state of Nuevo Leon will be built on a site spanning several thousand acres, almost twice the size of its factory site in Texas, with construction slated to start in three months, a Mexican official said on Thursday.

Jesus Nava, the mayor of Santa Catarina in the state of Nuevo Leon, said in an interview that Tesla is purchasing the site from private owners. He said the land spans nearly 4,200 acres in an industrial zone, more than double the size of Mexico City's international airport.

Tesla's factory in Austin, Texas - one of three existing Tesla vehicle plants - sits on 2,500 acres, according to Tesla's website.

Nava said Tesla will reveal what vehicles it will produce at the Nuevo Leon factory when it breaks ground, which it plans to do in three months.

Tesla Chief Executive Elon Musk announced the project on Wednesday, one day after Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador said Tesla would build an assembly plant in northern Mexico. Tesla did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Nava's remarks on Thursday.

Tesla will initially spend about $5 billion and hire some 5,000 people, but will ultimately pour a total of $10 billion into the project with up to 10,000 workers, Nava added.

"This will bring a great economic spillover," Nava said, noting that auto industry suppliers have already been expanding their presence in the area, which has ample industrial space.

Mexico's government has said the plant will be the world's largest electric vehicle factory.

The location in the Santa Catarina municipality near Monterrey, one of Mexico's biggest cities, will put production just a few hours south of the U.S.-Mexico border.

A senior Mexican official has said the "gigafactory" will produce about 1 million vehicles a year, which would represent a third of Tesla's global capacity.

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Nava said the long-speculated deal in Nuevo Leon state had never been at risk of falling through, even when Lopez Obrador had said he would withhold permits if not enough water was available in the arid region, which last year was hit by severe drought.

"It was never at risk ... it added an extra factor for executives when making a decision," Nava said.

Tesla uses recycled water, and such companies typically use minimal liters of water per second, he added.

(Reporting by Daina Beth Solomon; Editing by Leslie Adler)
(Bloomberg) -- A Texas lawmaker is seeking to broaden the fight against ESG policies by imposing further limits on the types of investments state pension managers can make and restricting shareholder proposals that would dictate insurance companies business with oil and gas firms.

Most Read from Bloomberg

Senator Bryan Hughes, a Republican, filed a bill this week that would allow pensions that manage billions of dollars for state employees to work with external asset managers only if those companies agree to make investment decisions based solely on financial factors. In addition, the legislation applies to proxy advisers that give recommendations on shareholder votes for the pensions.

In a separate bill, Hughes also sought to expand the anti-ESG push to the insurance industry by going after shareholder proposals that limit business with fossil-fuel producers. He sent letters to major insurers, including Berkshire Hathaway Specialty Insurance Co., Progressive Corp., and Allstate Corp., with questions about proposals related to the energy industry, according to a copy seen by Bloomberg News.

Insurance companies are being targeted by activist investors and by firms who buy stock, take positions in insurance companies and try to push them in a certain political position, Hughes said in an interview this week. Just like cutting off financing shuts down a business, cutting off insurance does as well.

Spokespeople from Berkshire Hathaway, Progressive and Allstate didnt reply to emails seeking comment.

Its all part of a push by the Texas GOP to crack down on money managers that consider goals like reducing carbon emissions in addition to financial factors when making investment decisions, which some view as a threat to the states oil and gas industry. A Texas law passed in 2021 already requires public pensions to divest from financial companies that have been labeled as boycotting fossil fuels, but some conservative activists say they havent done enough to end ties with the firms, which include BlackRock Inc. and UBS Group AG.

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For example, the Teacher Retirement System of Texas still held more than $4 billion of funds managed by Blackrock as of last month.

In December, Hughes organized a Senate hearing in East Texas at which lawmakers grilled officials from companies including BlackRock and State Street Corp. on whether their environmental, social and governance policies are hampering state pension investments and damaging the Texas economy.

For their part, financial companies say ESG investing is a framework that helps money managers weigh the merits of investments on the basis of criteria that go beyond profit. For example, a portfolio manager may decide not to buy shares in an oil producer if she thinks theres significant risk of climate-related restrictions hampering the business in the years to come.

The pension bill filed Thursday would require public retirement funds to submit a detailed report to the State Pension Review Board every year outlining their business relationships with asset managers and consulting firms that provide investment services.

The insurance bill filed last month would prohibit insurers from acting on shareholder proposals that seek to put limits on insuring risks related to fossil fuels, require an insurer to reduce or track greenhouse gas emissions or prohibit insuring an entity involved in otherwise legal activity for the purpose of achieving environmental, social or political goals, or including such proposals in proxy statements.

Separately, Texas Comptroller Glenn Hegar is preparing to expand a blacklist of companies that boycott fossil fuels, limiting their business with government entities. The Attorney Generals office also maintains a list of financial companies banned from doing business with Texas because they allegedly discriminate against the firearms industry.

--With assistance from Danielle Moran and Max Reyes.

Most Read from Bloomberg Businessweek

2023 Bloomberg L.P.
[Source]

Over 100 Texans testified before the Texas Senate on Thursday against Bill 147, which originally sought to prevent Chinese, North Korean, Iranian and Russian citizens from buying property in the state.

State Senator Lois Kolkhorst, who filed the proposed legislation in November 2022, made several revisions to the bill prior to the hearing so that it would only apply to foreign governments and not individuals. It also now specifies that those who are already U.S. citizens or have dual citizenship are exempt from the bill.

Kolkhorst said she made changes to the bill in a bid to make it crystal clear that dual citizens and legal permanent residents are able to purchase property. In fact, anyone fleeing these authoritarian regimes will be able to purchase a home.

The bill's author previously stated that her proposal was in response to attempts by Chinese nationals with connections to the communist regime to purchase land in the state. She claimed it is necessary for national security and would not impact legal residents or green card holders.

More from NextShark: Survey: Asian American approval of Biden plummets despite White House efforts

Her revisions were made after the bill was heavily criticized by the Asian American community in the state, with several rights groups conducting protests in different cities to block its passing.

On Thursday, Kolkhorst testified before the Committee on State Affairs, stating that she "rejects any notion that SB 147 is a racist bill."

"I come before you as a liberty-lover and someone that wants to protect our food security, our mineral security, and the future of our great state," Kolkhorst said.

More from NextShark: Billionaire investor Chamath Palihapitiya says 'nobody cares' about Uyghurs in China

The State Affairs Committee also heard testimonies from Asian American Texas residents who denounced the bill as discriminatory as it targets specific communities. Those who testified, many of whom have been living and working in Texas for years on employment visas, argued that the bill violates the property rights guaranteed in the U.S. Constitution.

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While some thanked Kolkhorst for her changes to the bill, others urged her to make further revisions as those on employment visas would still be barred from buying a home under the modified bill.

The hearing, which lasted for hours, also saw many lamenting the direct effects the legislation would have on themselves and their families.

More from NextShark: NY governor Kathy Hochul says racism is a public health crisis after signing 6 anti-hate legislations

Some speakers expressed fears that the bill would fuel anti-Asian hate incidents and crimes, which have plagued the community since the height of the coronavirus pandemic. For them, it is a reminder of the country's dark periods of Asian American discrimination.

According to some speakers, it took them years to obtain green cards or become citizens because of extensive backlogs and long wait times.

Wei Li, a college professor who has lived in the U.S. for 17 years and is eligible to apply for citizenship later this month, spoke emotionally about how the bill is a slight to himself and his children.

More from NextShark: New York Democrats cite residency issues in push to block Asian Republican elected to state assembly

"It scoffs at me: 'Sorry, youre not Texan. People like you would not even deserve to own a home,'" he said through tears, adding that he is raising "four young Texans, proudly."
Artificial general intelligence will become a reality in the coming years, said the Chinese research team behind MOSS, China's first publicly unveiled ChatGPT-like model.

Named after the intelligent quantum computer that controls the space station in the popular Chinese sci-fi film The Wandering Earth II, MOSS is a conversational large-scale language model developed by a research team from Fudan University.

Since it was made available for public testing on Feb 20, the ChatGPT-like chatbot has aroused excitement from all walks of life, trending on various Chinese social media such as Sina Weibo.

While it is still undergoing intensive internal testing and optimization, the expectation for the chatbot's debut was raised even higher when Qiu Xipeng, a professor from Fudan's School of Computer Science who leads the research team, announced the team's plan to make it open source by the end of March.

Many have wondered if MOSS will make the science fiction character in the movie a reality.

"I'm very optimistic," Qiu said. "MOSS is at the forefront of the most cutting-edge exploration in the field of natural language processing and even the field of AGI.

"We look forward to using MOSS as a pedestal leading to AGI, which will not be very far from science fiction. It will become a reality maybe in five to 10 years. By that time, we will accept AGI as we accept search engines now."

AGI, also known as strong AI or deep AI, refers to machine intelligence that can solve problems as well as a human.

Qiu and his team of eight Fudan students set out to develop MOSS at the end of last year.

Although the scale of MOSS is an order of magnitude smaller than that of ChatGPT, and its coverage of factual problems is not comprehensive enough, its logical ability is "not bad", the team said.

Sun Tianxiang, a doctoral student in the School of Computer Science who is a key member of the research team, recalled a moment of excitement in the development of MOSS on Jan 19. Sun was then experimenting with the model. He entered a question in Chinese and MOSS answered, not in Chinese, but in English, correctly, "like a person who can't speak but understands Chinese," Sun said.

At that time, the version of MOSS was still very elementary with its Chinese corpus accounting for less than 0.1 percent of all training data, Sun explained.

Qiu, an expert with years of experience in the research of machine learning and natural language processing, was as surprised.

"It's amazing, we haven't taught it machine translation," he said, adding that he was so excited by the potential shown by MOSS that he lost sleep that night.

Qiu compared MOSS to a "smart kid". "Even though it is not good at writing poems, solving problems or many specific things, it has shown the potential to become an AGI framework."

Qiu also had his 6-year-old daughter chat with MOSS, and found that the child could happily talk to MOSS for a long time.

"We developed the MOSS model to explore and verify the technical route of ChatGPT to prove that we are not behind foreign countries in terms of technical implementation," Qiu said.

"Yet when we develop the MOSS model, we are not limited to pursuing a model with similar capabilities to ChatGPT."

Once made open source, MOSS can be deployed by small and medium-sized enterprises to develop various vertical products, such as smart customer service, smart home devices and AI lawyers, Qiu said.

He said he is very optimistic and believes that in the near future, large-scale language models such as MOSS will become as common as search engines, providing benefits in all aspects of people's lives.

"Maybe the industry will pay more attention to its initial performance. We pay more attention to its next-generation development, that is, how to realize AGI," Qiu said.

"From an academic point of view, only if we look farther ahead than OpenAI can we finally achieve transcendence. We firmly believe that academia has a lot to offer in this field."
Days after Thanksgiving, an incarcerated man at the Dallas County Jail collapsed as he waited for breakfast. As he fell, he hit his chin and broke his ankle. When he woke up, he was on a gurney being rushed to the Parkland Hospital emergency room.

He was confused about why his body suddenly gave out, but blood and urine tests uncovered that he was erroneously prescribed a medication that significantly lowered his blood pressure, causing him to faint.

I have never had any physical problems requiring any medication, he wrote in a letter to the Texas Commission of Jail Standards, which was obtained by the Star-Telegram.

His case is not unusual in Texas, according to advocates across the state.

The No. 1 complaint received about state jails by inmates and their families is that incarcerated people are not given the medications they were prescribed prior to being detained, said Krish Gundu, executive director of the Texas Jail Project. The nonprofit advocacy group based near Houston works to ensure incarcerated Texans are being cared for properly.

The second most common complaint is that incarcerated people were prescribed the wrong medication once they were in jail. They were either given different psychiatric medications or  like the Dallas County man  were given medications they hadnt previously taken.

These complaints are sent to and investigated by the Texas Commission on Jail Standards. Often, the commission closes the complaints by saying it will not go against the recommendations of medical professionals who treat inmates in jails.

The Dallas mans complaint hasnt been resolved by the commission yet. He has since been released from the Dallas County Jail, but his story is a striking example of what can happen when proper medications are not given. Hes also one of the lucky ones  some people end up dead.

The full scope of how many people are injured or die in Texas jails because of these problems will likely never be known, Gundu said.

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How many of those deaths that are listed as natural turned out to be people who didnt get their medication? Gundu said. If they were not incarcerated and they were taking their medications, would they still be alive?

The issue isnt limited to the Dallas County Jail. The system is convoluted between jails, hospitals, county mental health services and other players, making it difficult to determine who is at fault when someone isnt properly medicated. But, according to advocates, this problem can be fixed.

I think, by and large, this issue comes down to resources and funding, said Greg Hansch, executive director of the National Alliance on Mental Illness Texas. I believe that there needs to be funding made available to county jails, to ensure that people are getting the right medications, and that may be through a group purchasing agreement, or giving them access to the same prescription drug formulary that is made available in state hospitals.

Sometimes, it leads to death

Javonte Myers started having seizures when he was 18.

His mom, Sondrea Miller, estimated hed gone to a hospital at least a dozen times. Despite his hospitalizations, Myers knew how to handle his disorder. He took his medications and managed the best he could while he bounced from couch to couch because he didnt have a permanent home.

Ten years after his diagnosis, a seizure killed Myers in a Tarrant County jail cell on June 19, 2020. Three days earlier, jail officials had taken him to JPS Hospital because of another episode, his family said. Records from Myers intake show that jailers knew about his seizure and mental health disorders.

Why couldnt they have left him in the hospital? Or let him go? Paul Miller, his step-father, said after Myers death. Myers had been arrested on a charge of criminal trespass, often used against people experiencing homelessness.

His parents feared Myers didnt get his medicine and that he wasnt checked on frequently enough. Their fears were confirmed a year later when the Texas Rangers released an investigation that revealed two jailers lied 20 times about checking on Myers. The jailers were criminally charged.

Myers death is an example of how these cases can be under-reported, because his was classified as natural causes due to a seizure disorder. That determination doesnt leave room for causation  whether someone had a disorder that was previously managed with medications that they were not given in jail.

And some deaths dont receive such a thorough investigation Myers did.

Jail staff act as gatekeepers to medical care, and their first response to any request for medical care is to allege that the incarcerated person is faking it and to keep denying until sometimes its too late, Gundu said.

Tarrant County in-custody death reports for seven additional natural deaths in 2020 do not mention whether the deceased was receiving medication before or during their stay at the jail. Of the deaths, three were people under the age of 40 who died of a heart condition.

Since 2019, at least 41 deaths at the Tarrant County Jail where an autopsy was performed have been attributed to natural causes, two of them related to COVID-19. (Most known COVID cases never went before a medical examiner.) The cause of about a dozen other deaths have not yet been determined.

In Dallas County, 55 incarcerated people have died of natural causes in that time, according to state data.

Hansch, the executive director of the National Alliance on Mental Illness Texas, agrees that the number of natural deaths related to mismanaged medications is undercounted. But he would go as far as extending that to suicides  18 have been reported in the Dallas and Tarrant jails combined since 2019.

There have been some very high profile suicides in Texas jails, he said. I think it is entirely within the realm of possibility that some of those suicides may have been prevented if people had been receiving appropriate mental health services, including but but not limited to mental health medication. So how big of a problem this is isnt clear.

Dr. Eli Shupe, an assistant professor in the Department of Philosophy and Humanities at the University of Texas at Arlington, toured the Tarrant County Jail on Dec. 20 with other members of the Fort Worth Friends Meeting.

Shupe is a biomedical ethicist and was particularly interested in inmate care. She said she was impressed by the number of dialysis machines she saw at the jail but was concerned about lack of access to some other interventions.

It sounds like there are a lot of medications that they wont dispose to prisoners, and if youre taking those medications and you end up in Tarrant County Jail, youre just going to withdraw, she said.

As the group walked through a section of the jail that housed women, Shupe said, she could hear at least one woman yell, Theyre not giving us our medications.

Shupe said that when she pressed jail officials about their medication and detox policies, I was just told that JPS has all of that and I would have to make a public information request.

Who is responsible?

Stacey Gordon-Johnson testified in front of the Texas Commission on Jail Standards that she didnt receive her medications during the 10 days she spent at the Tarrant County Jail in July.

When asked about the allegation, a jail spokesperson referred the Star-Telegram to JPS, stating, all medications are distributed by John Peter Smith Hospital staff who work in our jail 24/7.

A hospital spokesperson sent the reporter a statement that said, JPS Health Network provides health care for inmates at the Tarrant County Jail and the procedure includes a health screening when individuals arrive at the facility. Due to patient privacy rules, JPS cannot comment on individual medical cases.

Recently, a JPS spokesperson said All inmates upon arrival to the jail are screened by an RN and evaluated for any medical conditions present upon arrival. Although inmates may bring in outside prescribed medications, the staff may only administer those medications that are prescribed for administration by the jail clinical providers.

When jails are confronted with questions about the health care they provide to inmates, they routinely refer to the local hospital  including when Houston reporters questioned why a 28-year-old man died of diabetic ketoacidosis five days after he was booked into the Harris County Jail.

Yet hospitals wont release detailed information, citing that they cannot disclose personal information about patients.

Hansch argues that everyone is responsible for inmate care.

We have a patchwork of different actors in this system, he said. We have community mental health providers, we have state hospitals, we have sheriffs administering county jails, and we have the state criminal justice agency, so I think that the bug gets passed around when it comes to who to blame or to point the finger at. I think its the collective systems responsibility.

That type of set-up makes it difficult for families to hold one particular agency or group responsible for their loved ones care. Gundu said theres already no recourse for families because the state commission on jail standards has no teeth to enforce any of their minimum standards.

Once irreparable harm has been done, all the agency can do is find the jail non-compliant, but often even that is an impossible challenge when a privatized medical provider in the jail decides to cut corners on prescription meds or essential lab work, tests and procedures, Gundu said.

The Texas Commission on Jail Standards did not respond to requests for an interview.

The patchwork system can also make it difficult to affect change.

Rich Forbus, vice president of program development for the National Commission on Correctional Health Care, said jails should establish best practices that match clinic regulations set by the American Medical Association.

The NCCHC is an accreditation agency that ensures jails are operating their medical and mental health services within constitutionally accepted standards.

Tarrant County is not an accredited jail with the NCCHC. The majority of Texas jails arent, because they are regulated by the Texas Commission on Jail Standards, Forbus said. Of the 240 county jails in the state, only five counties are accredited through the NCCHC. The group doesnt identify those jails without permission.

In 2022, the Tarrant County Jail hired a nurse liaison who advocates for inmates and serves as a liaison between the medical provider, John Peter Smith Hospital, and the Sheriffs Office, spokesperson Robbie Hoy wrote in an email.

The liaison does not administer medications, and jail officials didnt respond to a request to interview her.
A new Texas House bill that provides property tax relief based on the size of a family excludes LGBTQ couples and divorced parents with children, among other parties, from getting the tax advantage.

Texas House Bill 2889, introduced this week by state Rep. Bryan Slaton (R), would supply a homestead tax credit to certain married couples in the state with either biological or adopted children of any age.

Qualifying couples under the bill are entitled to annual tax relief corresponding to the size of their family, with four children equal to a possible 40 percent property tax reduction. Couples with 10 or more children may pay no property tax at all, according to the bill.

But the GOP-backed legislation does not propose granting tax relief to all Texas families, and only couples in heterosexual marriages are entitled to benefits. Couples with at least one partner who has been divorced are also ineligible. Couples who had or adopted children before they were married also cant use those children to improve their tax liability.

Supporting Texas means supporting Texas families, Slaton wrote this week on social media. Families are the building blocks of society. We must support families by making it easier for them to have and raise kids.

With HB 2889, Texas will start saying: Get married, stay married, and be fruitful and multiply, Slaton added, a reference to a Christian sermon on marriage.

In a news release this week, Slaton said his bill intends to lift the states falling birth rate by establishing financial incentives for child-rearing. The proposed law is inspired by policies enacted in Poland and Hungary, he said.

Slaton did not directly acknowledge that his bill makes sure to exclude same-sex couples and those who have been divorced and remarried, which the Bible considers to be sins. During this legislative session, Slaton has also introduced bills to bar minors from attending drag performances and classify gender-affirming health care for transgender youth as child abuse under state law.

In June, the Texas Republican Party adopted a platform recognizing homosexuality as an abnormal lifestyle choice and opposing all efforts to validate transgender identity.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to The Hill.
Photo: Tamir Kalifa (Getty Images)

Republicans in Texas are really escalating their assault on abortion access and finding new ways to go after people who dont want to be pregnant. State Rep. Drew Spring (R) proposed a bill Thursday that would make it a felony for credit card companies to process a transaction for abortion pills sales. On top of that, the proposed law would allow any citizen to sue a credit card company for allowing that sale to happen.

If youre confused as to how someone (a person as in the bills language, not law enforcement) would find out that someone else has used a credit card to purchase abortion pills in an illegal fashion (its not illegal right now), youre comprehension is great! It is confusing and makes no tesense. But since the Supreme Court allowed the citizen civil lawsuits to go into effect with S.B. 8 (remember those $10,000 civil suits?), it seems like civil lawsuits among citizens is the trendy way to enforce laws these days.

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This isnt even the first bill this week in Texas that is trying to monitor abortion seekers. On Tuesday, state Rep. Steve Toth introduced a bill that says internet service providers shall make every reasonable and technologically feasible effort to block Internet access to information or material intended to assist or facilitate efforts to obtain an elective abortion or an abortion-inducing drug.

Among the sites that Toth wants blocked are telehealth sites that dont send abortion pills to Texas as well as Plan C (which supplies information) and Aid Access (which will supply you with abortion pills).

This bill also uses the citizen civil lawsuit framework. The proposed language wants to criminalize abortion funds for helping people leave the state of Texas, even if the abortion is performed in a state where its legal. This is particularly egregious because on Feb. 24, a federal ruling issued by U.S. District Judge Robert Pitman found that abortion funds can provide financial support to people seeking abortions outside of the state. No extremist, anti-abortion politician should be able to prevent Texans from leaving the state to seek abortion care. All Texans deserve the right to control their reproductive lives and futures, said the plantiffs. Texans should be able to access abortion care in their own communities when they need it without delay, and were looking forward to supporting Texans who are forced to leave the state to access abortion.

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Conservatives have waged a similar war over the past few years against credit card companies who worked with sex workers (worked in the sense that sex workers used credit card companies and payment systems like Square, Stripe and Apple Pay to perform transactions with clients). The pressure campaign against Mastercard was effective: The company instituted new policies requiring pre-approval of all content before publication. Seems reasonable but in practice, it would be impossible. As the ACLU put it: To take one example, a site like OnlyFans has one million content creators. If each of them uploaded one video in a given day, under Mastercards policy, OnlyFans would have to review each video before its published to determine whether it complies, ACLU Trans Justice campaign manager LaLa B Holston-Zannell wrote in 2021.

The bigger point of all these bills is just to scare people by getting them caught up in the legal system. Its about making people too afraid to seek out abortion care and making companies too afraid to help them. And the clip at which Texas, in particular, is coming up with new ways to do this is honestly terrifying.

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Jeff Bridges in 1998's The Big Lebowski. (LMK/Alamy)

We all know that the Dude abides  but did you know that he also inspired his own religion? Twenty-five years ago this week, the Coen Brothers released their laid-back classic The Big Lebowski.

In it, Jeff Bridges plays the Dude  bowler, stoner and permanently relaxed LA layabout who inadvertently gets embroiled in a kidnapping plot involving a local millionaire namesake, his porn star wife and a group of German nihilists that use a marmot as a torture device.

Meanwhile, amid all this chaos, all the poor old Dude wants to do is go bowling and find his beloved missing rug because, as he puts it, it really ties the room together.

Read more: The goofy Blues Brothers sequel that gave fans the blues

Despite all these distractions, the Dude tries his best to live an uncomplicated life ruled by a simple ethos dedicated to taking er easy no matter what struggles are thrown at him. This mindset  along with plenty of hard-boiled, detective-flavoured, Coen Brothers craziness  is partly why the film has risen from being an almost-forgotten comedy to a full-on cult masterpiece.

Jeff Bridges in 1998's The Big Lebowski. (LMK/Alamy)

In the time since its 1998 debut, The Big Lebowski has amassed countless fans, inspired multiple Lebowski Fests across the world and became so popular, its slacker hero has become the unlikely centrepiece of a new-age religion.

According to its website, Dudeism uses Lebowski-inspired humour to preach a very practical and philosophical way of looking at life. Concocted by Dude-fan and The Abide Guide author Oliver Benjamin, it essentially encourages its followers to live every day like the Dude, taking a more laid-back approach to lifes troubles and the hurdles that threaten to throw us off track. Likening its teaching to Chinese Taoism, it doesnt take itself too seriously and even has its own Take It Easy Manifesto to help get you started on your path to Dude-like zen.

The Big Lebowski is a hilarious film, everyone involved made a very interesting comedy  but I did not see the film as a starting point for a new philosophy or way of life, admits writer, podcast host and Reverend of the Church of the Latter Day Dude, Phillip Kopp. It wasnt until I discovered Dudeism.com that I began to fully understand what its founders were trying to do.

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Raised Catholic before becoming rather disillusioned with its practices as an adult, Kopp found himself adrift and in search of a new outlook on life. Letting go of my faith honestly felt like cutting off from an anchor and journeying out into the unknown sea, he recalls. I felt calm and free and with all that I had learned, I realised that I just wanted to find some tools to help me live a peaceful life  and Dudeism helped me do that.

Boasting thousands of Dudeist Priests around the world, in America, a Dudeist can ordain your wedding, oversee your funeral or deliver sermons, just like Kopp does on his life-affirming free podcast, The Dudeist Journey. While the church is not yet tax exempt and currently bills itself as the worlds slowest growing religion due to its lazy, Lebowski-esque views, its appealing to a growing number of people who find themselves disillusioned with modern-day belief systems.

Jeff Bridges as Jeff 'The Dude' Lebowski. (LMK/Alamy)

The main ethos of Dudeism is to take it easy or be peaceful, says Kopp, unpacking the basics of his attitude towards daily life. Its far better to approach a situation with a calm mind and demeanor so you can make better decisions. The main elements that I take away from the philosophy would be to have a kick back, calm attitude, enjoy some music and a drink every now and then, and smoke cannabis daily.

Of course, there are some hard-and-fast rules to help guide new recruits, all of which are listed in founder Benjamins Dudeism explainer, The Abide Guide. Here, readers can learn seven tips to help live life more like a Lebowski, like The Law of Being There, Man, which illustrates the importance of living in the moment, and The Law of Laziness urging folks to keep things simple and follow their passions, the Dude Way. However, as a practicing Dudeist, Kopp is well placed to detail how this chilled out way of living can be practically implemented into everyday life.

Read more: The Star Trek movie that changed everything

Dudeism is a philosophy, so any person, religious or not, can apply the ideology of taking it easy into their own belief system. Dudeism has no God or deity. There is a teacher, like Buddhism, and that is the Dude and we follow his example, he tells us. I find that the golden rule is to do unto others as you would have them do unto you  or as Dudeists say, be cool to each other. Dudeists fully believe in having an open mind, listening to one another and having fun together.

The Dude abides. (LMK/Alamy)

That said, living like the Dude can sometimes be a tricky mix of strikes and gutters, especially considering the unpredictable nature of existence. Taking it easy 24/7 can be tough, reasons Kopp. We get angry, feel pain and get frustrated which causes us to become uncool. You have to set your brain to trigger the peaceful teachings when these incidents occur. Always try to remain calm, no matter what is thrown at you, he suggests. Take a deep breath, step out of a room and smoke a joint or do whatever you gotta do to stay level and calm.

If you can achieve this level of Dude-like enlightenment, Kopp is the first to admit that it can have a huge positive impact on your mental outlook. In addition to helping him be a better person, father, husband and creative person, he also insists that Dudeism has helped him to rememeber that we are all doing our best and you dont have to be perfect to function properly. Its also changed the way he views the Coens movie: I try to watch the film with a sharper eye, he smiles. I still try to kick back and have a laugh but I have to admit, I give a more nodding approval to the film as a whole.

If reading this has made you feel like your life could be improved with a new rug and a more abiding point of view, Kopp says that the religions website, Dudeism.com, is the best place to start. I hope my podcast might help a few folks out there too and wipe away some of the rumours and stereotypes that were all just a bunch of stoned/drunk hippies that only care about ourselves and being lazy, he says.

Dudeists are productive people and have a vision that can unite all of us, regardless of our beliefs, to smoke a joint while listening to Creedance Clearwater Revival  because everyone has at least one CCR song that they enjoy.

The Big Lebowski is available to rent or buy on digital.

Watch Jeff Bridges reviving The Dude
Brian Boyce will talk about his part in the investigation. (BBC)

If you've been gripped by true crime drama The Gold on BBC One, you won't want to miss newly announced documentary The Gold: The Inside Story.

The Brink's-Mat heist, which changed the underworld of British crime as well as the gold industry, is more fascinating than many a fictional drama, especially because of its repercussions decades on.

Read more: All you need to know about Succession season 4

BBC One has confirmed a one-off documentary which hears from the detectives who investigated Britains biggest bullion heist and led the hunt for three tonnes of gold.

Telling the true story of the November 1983 armed robbery, it explains how 6,800 bars of gold were taken, worth 26 million - or 100 million at today's value.

Jack Lowden stars as Kenneth Noye in the drama. (BBC)

Detective Chief Superintendent Brian Boyce and DC Tony Yeoman will speak on film about the crime for the first time in 40 years and will also talk about how tragedy unfolded with the death of DC John Fordham as they staked out Kenneth Noye, one of the key gang members.

Boyce is played by Hugh Bonneville in the drama, starring opposite Jack Lowden as Noye.

Read more: Ken Bruce signs off from BBC Radio 2 for the last time

Viewers of the drama series will know that loopholes in the banking systems of the 80s were used to launder the money and plough much of it into redeveloping London's docklands.

Hugh Bonneville plays Brian Boyce. (BBC)

It meant that the criminals could transform the biggest gold bullion haul in history into cash and in doing so, changed the UK forever.

Boyce said: "Our task was far greater than just arresting the robbers, we hadnt even recovered the dust of the gold. We had to work extremely hard, follow the trail and recover as much of the gold as possible."

BBC head of history Simon Young added: "Few robberies are as iconic as Brinks-Mat or have had such a profound effect on the country. Thats why its so fascinating to hear Brian Boyce and his colleagues give such a frank and unvarnished account of the challenges the police faced in attempting to solve such a colossal crime."
Former US President Donald Trump. Scott Eisen/Getty Images

The Conservative Political Action Conference is taking place this week just outside DC.

2024 candidates Donald Trump, Nikki Haley, and Vivek Ramaswamy are all scheduled to speak.

Trump fans told Insider no one else should jump in because things are already too mixed up.

NATIONAL HARBOR, Maryland  The three Republicans who have already declared for the 2024 presidential race are two candidates too many for some of the diehard Trump supporters bouncing around at this year's Conservative Political Action Conference meeting, being held this week just outside Washington, DC.

Insider spoke to more than a dozen attendees at the annual political confab about those who have formally thrown their hats into the ring for the GOP nomination in the next presidential cycle, as well as others who appear to be waiting in the wings.

The current field includes the scandal-plagued former President Donald Trump, the former South Carolina governor and Trump administration alumna Nikki Haley, and the tech entrepreneur turned aspiring politician Vivek Ramaswamy. Some of the likely contenders include former Vice President Mike Pence, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, Sen. Tim Scott of South Carolina, and others.

Several conferees said they were undecided at this point, and others seemed open to other candidates joining the fray.

But the most MAGA members of the bunch said they'd rather not see a repeat of the dozen-plus candidates Trump systematically picked off in 2016.

If Karen Ruybal had her way, she'd close the whole thing down right now.

"I don't think we need to mix it up any more than it already is," Ruybal, from Fort Lupton, Colorado, told Insider outside CPAC's main auditorium.

Ruybal said she hadn't paid any attention to GOP lawmakers who'd spoken throughout Thursday's session  a roster including the House Judiciary Committee chairman Jim Jordan, the 2016 presidential hopeful Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas, and the freshman Sen. JD Vance of Ohio, among others  because she'd been busy exploring the exhibition hall and catching up with friends.

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"What I'm most looking forward to, obviously, is President Trump," she said, noting that she planned to be front and center for his keynote address on Saturday evening.

Ruybal added that earlier in the day someone else had worked their way through the crowd asking everyone, "Trump or DeSantis?"  a spot poll which led her to believe that a Florida Man showdown may be inevitable.

"I don't like the way it's looking," she said. "But I think it's happening."

Chris, a man from Pennsylvania who declined to give his last name, nodded his head approvingly when Insider listed the current candidates.

But he tightened up a bit when asked if he was looking for others to join the fray.

"I think that's a good group," he said, adding, "That's enough."

Luis Marrero, who said he was in town from Orlando, Florida, wasn't interested in seeing the 2024 crew swell any further.

"I'm happy with it," Marrero said of the existing three-way race.

Thao Le, a woman from San Diego, California, said she wasn't opposed to having others test the waters, but they shouldn't count on her vote.

"Whoever wants to run, that's fine. But President Trump is the one that we need," Le told Insider.

CPAC attendee Thao Le shows off the Donald Trump pin on her American-flag-themed hat on March 2, 2023. Warren Rojas/Insider

"There's others out there," she added. "But they don't have what it takes to make America great."

Read the original article on Business Insider
The Moselle estate where the murders took place (AP)

Its a case that captured the nations attention over the past 21 months as South Carolina legal dynasty heir Alex Murdaugh stood trial and was convicted of the brutal double murders of his wife and son.

Before returning their guilty verdict on 2 March, jurors went back to the place where it all began.

On Wednesday, the jury was taken to the familys sprawling 1,700-acre Moselle estate in Islandton, South Carolina, to see for themselves the crime scene where Maggie and Paul were killed back on 7 June 2021.

They toured the dog kennels where Mr Murdaugh allegedly ambushed his son in the feed room, shooting him once in the chest and a second time in the head, neck and shoulder with a shotgun.

They saw where, moments after gunning down Paul, the husband and father allegedly turned on his wife Maggie.

They saw where she desperately tried to flee her killer, backing into an ATV under a hangar outside before being shot five times with a semiautomatic rifle.

But thats not all jurors saw.

They also saw a place where another mysterious death took place just three years before the 2021 murders.

They saw a snapshot of the powerful and affluent Murdaugh familys life given the $4m property was the place they called home for several years.

And they might have even seen some of the estates wild hogs  whose existence has been an unusually common mention throughout the disgraced attorneys murder trial.

Moselles dark history

Bordering the banks of the Salkehatchie River, 4147 Moselle Road consists of over 1,700 acres of land including a 5,275-square-foot house, a farm, a two-mile stretch of river  and of course the dog kennels.

Before the Murdaughs called Moselle home, the property was tied to another controversial family.

It was the home of Barrett Boulware  a fisherman, suspected drug smuggler and Mr Murdaughs longtime friend and business partner who died in 2018.

An aerial view of the Moselle estate including the kennels and feed room (AP)

He and his father were arrested on drug smuggling charges in 1980 when investigators seized 15 tons of marijuana from a shrimp boat in the Bahamas.

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The charges were later dropped when a key government witness died.

Boulwares name cropped up during the murder trial when jurors heard that Mr Murdaugh had stolen $750,000 in insurance money from his friend when he was dying of colon cancer.

Murdaugh family home

Alex Murdaugh bought Moselle back in 2013 from Boulwares wife Jeannine Morris Boulware, according to property records.

Mr Murdaugh allegedly bought the entire property for just $5, FITS News reported  a move sometimes used so the seller can avoid paying capital gains taxes.

Moselle was just one of several homes that the high-powered attorney  and alleged financial fraudster  owned.

The main house at the Murdaugh Moselle property on Wednesday (AP)

The family also had a home in Hampton, South Carolina, as well as a beach home in Edisto Beach.

During testimony from Mr Murdaughs surviving son Buster Murdaugh, jurors heard how the Hampton home had been their main residence but, after it was damaged in a hurricane, the family made Moselle their main home.

However, jurors have heard how Maggie preferred to stay at Edisto Beach  especially during the summer months.

Buster testified that much of the land on Moselle was actually inaccessible and consisted of swamp land.

1,700 acres and a whole lot of hogs

Throughout the trial, jurors have heard how the propertys 1,700 acres were a hunters paradise with dove fields, deer stands and duck ponds all over the estate.

Mr Murdaugh, Paul and Buster  as well as their friends  would spend a lot of time riding around the estate hunting deer, duck, quail, doves and hogs.

In particular, jurors have heard a lot about the hunting of wild hogs  from the time of day to hunt to the type of guns used.

Several witnesses testified that they roamed the property and caused a nuisance, and that the family  and their friends  would shoot them any chance they got.

Alex Murdaugh looks on as his murder trial nears its end (AP)

One witness even told the court how he had killed around 1,000 hogs in his time in the area (though not just on the Murdaugh estate).

The propertys river also made it ideal for fishing and kayaking.

Mystery buyer

In the months after the murders, Mr Murdaugh put Moselle on the market and it is currently under offer for a $3.9m bid from a mystery buyer.

The property was first listed in February 2022  eight months after Maggie and Pauls murders and five months before Mr Murdaugh was charged with them  under a new name of Cross Swamp Farm.

It was later changed back to Moselle Farm.

According to the listing by the Crosby Land Co. of Colleton County, Moselle consists of 1,772 acres of an unusually diverse habitat with varying forest types and age class distribution.

The landscape includes productive pine plantations, open fallow fields, and mature stands of mixed pine/hardwood, those upland regions give way to the flat bottomland of the Salkehatchie River Basin, it reads.

A view from where Maggie Murdaugh was found at the Murdaugh Moselle property on Wednesday (AP)

The feed room where Paul Murdaugh's body was found at the Murdaugh Moselle property on Wednesday (AP)

The property boasts over 2.5 miles of river frontage, offering freshwater fishing, kayaking, and abundant deer, turkey, and waterfowl populations.

The family home was built in 2011 and consists of four bedrooms and 3.5 baths, meaning it could easily be converted into a weekend hunting lodge with the capability to sleep up to 15 people, the listing reads.

This is truly a top-tier property, complete with all the improvements and amenities one would expect from a high-end sporting property with little or no deferred maintenance cost, it reads.

A buyer  said to be a local landowner  put in an offer in June 2022. But the sale was put on hold when Mr Murdaugh was accused of trying to offload his assets to avoid paying up in a string of lawsuits he is facing, prompting a court to freeze his assets.

Three bodies in three years

At least three deaths have now taken place on the Moselle estate.

In February 2018  three years before Maggie and Pauls murders  the Murdaughs long-term housekeeper Gloria Satterfield died in a mysterious trip and fall at the family home.

Satterfield, who worked for the family for more than 20 years, was found at the bottom of the steps leading into the familys home after she was believed to have tripped over the pet dogs.

She never resumed consciousness and died from her injuries three weeks later on 26 February.

At the time, her death was regarded as an accidental fall.

Gloria Satterfield died in a trip and fall at the Murdaugh home in 2018 (Provided)

However, her death certificate cited her manner of death as natural and no autopsy was performed.

Questions have now been mounting around Satterfields death and investigators reopened an investigation into her death in September 2021  days after Mr Murdaughs financial fraud scheme came to light.

Investigators are planning to exhume her body.

As part of his 100 financial crimes charges, Mr Murdaugh is now charged with stealing $4m in wrongful death settlement funds from Satterfields family as part of his decade-long multi-million-dollar fraud scheme.

The jury tour

The jurys tour of the murder scene came at the request of Mr Murdaughs defence attorney Dick Harpootlian who said it would be useful for the jury to see Moselle before they decide the fate of the disgraced attorney.

It took place under tight security with Judge Clifton Newman telling jurors that they could not ask anyone any questions while there, including law enforcement, and that they could not discuss the case with each other during the trip.

The judge also advised them that some things have changed on the property in the aftermath of the murders.

It has been a year and a half or more since June 7, 2021, since the alleged crime occurred. Things have most likely changed. Were in a different season of the year, he said on Tuesday afternoon.

The media was also banned from accompanying jurors on the trip, though a small media pool visited the site once the jury left.

According to a pool report from The Wall Street Journals Valerie Bauerlein, the jury visit lasted around 1 hour 20 minutes in total including travel time.

The dog kennels and feed room where Maggie and Paul were killed (AP)

The pool then briefly visited the dog kennels noting that it was a heavy place to visit with the feed room feeling like a haunted place.

While standing in the centre of the small room, she said she could not see to the left outside of the doorway where the prosecutions expert witness said the shooter was standing.

The place where Pauls body fell  outside the feed room  was within eyesight of and just 12 steps away from where Maggies body was found, she reported.

Judge Newman agreed to the jury visit on Monday following a request from Mr Murdaughs defence attorney Prosecutor Creighton Waters raised an objection that the property has changed in the last 20 months, with trees between the family home and the kennels having grown significantly.

Judge Newman gave the defence a rare win and agreed to arrange the field trip to Moselle.

During the courtroom discussion, Mr Harpootlian also raised concerns about the need for security for the trip after he claimed people had been caught trespassing on the property at the weekend.

A view of behind the house at the Murdaugh Moselle property is seen during a visit to the crime scene on Wednesday (AP)

He said that Mr Murdaughs brother called law enforcement to remove trespassers from Moselle as he noticed people taking selfies in front of the feed room where the brutal murders unfolded.

There were literally dozens of people at Moselle last weekend trespassing, taking selfies in front of the feed room, he said, condemning the carnival attitude of some members of the public.

After the jury visit, the days proceedings resumed in Colleton County Courthouse with the defence and prosecution arguing the charges for how the jury will deliberate.

Then, jurors will hear closing arguments before they begin deliberations  as soon as Wednesday afternoon.

Ultimately, the same day that the spotlight shines once again on the family home, Mr Murdaugh could find himself with a new, more permanent home  behind bars.
Three Kansas City police officers who were shot and wounded during the execution of a search warrant Tuesday night have been medically cleared to be released from the hospital.

The officers were brought to University Health hospital after a shootout in the 2300 block of Blue Ridge Boulevard that led to an 18-hour standoff. After arriving at the hospital, Police Chief Stacey Graves said early Wednesday that they were all awake, alert and expected to survive.

In a brief statement Friday, Capt. Corey Carlisle, a Kansas City Police Department spokesman, said all three were going home.

The search warrant was being executed by officers working with KCPDs Tactical Response Team on behalf of the Jackson County Drug Task Force. The county task force obtained a federal search warrant for a home there as they had investigated a subject of interest to the house.

After knocking and announcing, police took the door with a battering ram. Immediately after, authorities have said, gunfire erupted from inside the house.

Officers returned fire before retreating to safety. Independence police and the Missouri State Highway Patrol stepped in to take over an hours-long standoff that ended Wednesday afternoon.

During the course of the standoff, one subject of the drug investigation surrendered to police. He now faces federal charges stemming from separate alleged offenses.

After SWAT entered the home a second time on Wednesday, they discovered the body of Matthew L. Carrell, 62, identified by authorities as another target of the federal investigation.

On Thursday, authorities said the medical examiner had determined through an autopsy that Carrell died of a self-inflicted gunshot wound.
Aerial photo taken on June 29, 2022 shows a view of the Nansha Bridge, which links Guangzhou City and Dongguan City, in south China's Guangdong Province. [Photo/Xinhua]



With China's "two sessions" around the corner, the global community has once again turned its eyes towards some of the hot-button topics expected to be discussed over the coming days.

This year's version is of special relevance, as 2023 marks the first year for China to fully implement the guiding principles of the 20th National Congress of the Communist Party of China (CPC).

More importantly, how China will get off to a good start and provide the world with new opportunities through its own development has captured global attention.

Boosting global recovery



At a time when the world economy is still plagued with growing and overlapping uncertainties and risks, China's economic recovery has become the sliver lining of the prolonged global recession.

During the Spring Festival holiday, China witnessed a booming domestic market and expanding consumption in various sectors. International institutions like the International Monetary Fund have raised China's growth expectations, and multinational companies have increased investment in China.

China is arguably the only major economy set anticipated to see faster economic growth this year, Yi David Wang, chief China economist at Credit Suisse Group AG, told Xinhua.

An accelerated recovery of the Chinese economy has sent a positive signal to the world, and gives more reasons for observers to be confident in a stronger economic outlook.

After China optimized its COVID response, cross-border movements of personnel and materials are returning to normal, which will significantly improve global expectations for the stability of China's industrial and supply chains, Ding Ke, senior research fellow at the Institute of Developing Economies of the Japan External Trade Organization, told Xinhua in a written interview.

The rapid growth of digital economy, new energy and other emerging industries will equally bring greater dynamism for China's economic development, he added.

Such a good start, stemming from the fundamentals supporting China's steady economic growth, sheds light on the country's economic resilience, potential and vitality.

Given the fact that China is the world's second-largest consumer market and the largest trader of goods, the international community expects China to further consolidate its economic comeback and continue to inject confidence, stability and vitality into the global economic recovery.

"China will undoubtedly continue to be an important 'engine' for world economic growth," said Liang Guoyong, a senior economist with the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development. Focusing on economic policies expected at the "two sessions," Liang believes a rational use of macroeconomic policy tools will play a more active role in promoting China's economic growth.

For other economies, China's expanding import demand means new trade opportunities, and the surge in outbound trips by Chinese tourists will also give a boost to the global service industry, he said.

Khairy Tourk, a professor of economics with the Stuart School of Business at the Illinois Institute of Technology in Chicago, said that the swelling consumption market in China entails "a tremendous demand for new products, say refrigerators, the durable goods, housing that kind of thing."

"My expectations in the short term is that property market will gradually rejuvenate, and foreign direct investment to continue, it is growth unabated," he added.

Raising all boats



This year marks the 45th anniversary of China's reform and opening-up. How China will continue to open up its door means a lot for both itself and the wider world, particularly at a time when the economic globalization is under serious pressure.

The reform and opening-up has prompted the Chinese economy to grow at high rates over decades, with a giant leap in per capita income and living standards, Lewis M. Ndichu, a researcher at Nairobi-based think tank Africa Policy Institute, told Xinhua.

The expert said he believes that during this year's "two sessions," there will be much deliberation concerning how to continue to expand opening up, lift market confidence and defuse major risks.

Noting that China's Ministry of Commerce has pledged to fully resume offline trade fairs and support Chinese enterprises to go global, among other policies, Koh Chin Yee, president of Singapore's South Seas Society, said that many business delegations of Chinese local governments have recently headed to Singapore in search of new opportunities for trade and investment, attesting to China's commitment to further strengthening foreign cooperation.

From holding such international fairs as China International Import Expo and Canton Fair and pushing forward free trade projects like the Hainan Free Trade Port, to joining multilateral mechanisms such as the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership ... China is opening its door wider, further expanding international cooperation and sharing its development dividends with the rest of the world.

From the perspective of an exporter, Nicolas Perinetti, export manager for Asia at Argentina's Casarena winery, noted that China's import categories have been increasing in parallel with the expansion of its economic openness.

Noting that products of agricultural trade between Argentina and China have extended from grains to fruits, meat, wine, etc., Perinetti believes the trade of goods with higher added value will help boost Argentina's economic development.

China's further opening-up in the new era has caught high attention from the international community, said Yuri Tavrovsky, a professor of the Russian University of Peoples' Friendship. He has long been following China's development and published in 2017 the book One Belt, One Road: Traveling Westward.

Noting this year also marks the 10th anniversary of the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), Tavrovsky said how the initiative will foster common development of the partner countries is also an interesting topic to which he has paid much heed.

Over the past decade, China has signed Belt and Road cooperation agreements with 151 countries and 32 international organizations in the principles of extensive consultation, joint contribution and shared benefits.

Take Uzbekistan, one of the first countries joining the BRI. It has collaborated with China in multiple major projects such as the China-Central Asia Gas Pipeline and the Qamchiq Tunnel on the Angren-Pap railway line.

The initiative acts as a crucial venue to consolidate cooperation through infrastructure connecting land and sea; simultaneously, it is becoming an important platform for global economic growth, said Azamat Seitov, a scholar of Uzbekistan's University of World Economy and Diplomacy, who hopes that new measures to be declared at the "two sessions" will bring new opportunities to expand cooperation between the two countries.

New choice to modernize



Since the 20th CPC National Congress, the "Chinese path to modernization" has spurred worldwide discussions. Many believe that it has offered another option for developing countries to modernize, and embodies Chinese thinking on the cause of peace and development of humanity.

The forthcoming "two sessions" have become an important window for observers to have a deeper understanding of the Chinese path to modernization and keep pace with China's future development.

"The proposal of the Chinese path to modernization is a pioneering work for the development of human society," said Yersultan Zhanseitov, a senior expert at the Institute of World Economics and Politics in Kazakhstan, who believes the new ideas and practices provide new choices, which shows that countries can independently explore their own modernization paths and achieve leapfrog development.

Joseph Matthews, a senior professor at the BELTEI International University in Phnom Penh, said China's modernization is unique in the sense that it is based on inclusive development, common prosperity, people-centered and friendly policies, and a community with a shared future for mankind.

As the world's second-largest economy, China's modernization drive will bring positive changes to the world and promote multilateralism and economic globalization, he told Xinhua, adding China's economic development in the last four decades is a great inspiration for other developing countries such as Cambodia.

Abdoulaye Ba, general secretary of the Foreign Press Association in Senegal, said many African countries, including Senegal, are beneficiaries of China's modernization, which promotes high-quality development in the world.

Applauding several Belt and Road projects in Senegal, such as the Foundiougne Bridge and the Ila-Touba highway, he said, "I am very concerned about the two sessions this year. I want to know how China will further promote and expand Chinese modernization, and how to further promote high-quality development in the world, including African countries."

"Without the slightest doubt, China is a successful case that serves as an inspiration for all developing countries aspiring to become more developed," said Luis Antonio Paulino, director of the Confucius Institute at Sao Paulo State University.

It's hoped that the upcoming two sessions will not only help China forge ahead toward its goals, but also contribute to upholding a fair and equitable global order so as to bring peace and development to the rest of the world, he said.
TikTok star Alix Earle has left fans stunned after giving a tour of her college home, complete with cluttered bathrooms and piles of laundry.

The 22-year-old student  who has 4.7m followers on TikTok  went viral this week when she gave fans a glimpse inside the off-campus home she shares with five other girls. Earle attends the University of Miami and recently rose to influencer stardom with her viral Get Ready With Me videos.

The tour we have all been waiting for, Earle began the house tour, which has received 7.6m views since it was posted just this weekend. Welcome to Casa Amore.

The New Jersey native began the house tour by showing off their kitchen, which included a tiny wooden house named Casa Cucaracha placed next to the trash bin. We get a lot of cockroaches so we just made a little house for them, she said, laughing.

Keeping in theme, Earle zoomed in on the cockroach-shaped clips she and her roommates use to seal their chip bags. Our chip bag clips are also cockroach-themed, she added.

Next, Earle panned her phone camera to their fish tank  where their pet fish named Elton swam motionless  then over to the stove where a pot of ramen noodles was simmering.

Empty glasses, seltzer cans, and a Titos bottle were scattered across the dining table in the living area, seemingly left over from a night of partying. Also in tow were Starbucks bags and coffee cups sitting on the coffee table.

In a different area of the house, Earle revealed that she and her roommates even made some minor renovations to their college home.

So, this room was not a bedroom but we made it into one, she said, pointing to a pair of farmhouse-style sliding doors.

We just bought these doors but they dont fit over the space, Earle added, noting the two-inch gap in between the wall and the door.

Next up on the house tour was one room dedicated to a lot of packages, followed by their laundry room that also doubled as a storage space. She panned the camera to reveal piles of clothes, boxes, suitcases and her roommate Kristens makeshift art studio.

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Finally, it was time to see Earles shared bathroom space, which was cluttered with beauty products and styling tools across the countertops. The influencer even went rogue when she touched the toilet seat with her bare hand.

The toilet is like a childrens toilet, so its right on the ground and this doesnt stay on, so you cant sit too hard, she said, wiggling the toilet seat.

As for Earles bedroom, she revealed that she and her roommates jokingly call it the dungeon because only one window helps shed some natural light in the otherwise dark room.

Earles honest tour of her college home received mixed reactions from fans in the comments section. While some people were in utter shock at the state of her messy home, others applauded the influencer for showing the not-so-glamorous side of college living  even if youre a social media star.

I love this, commented Uncut Gems actor Julia Fox, who also went viral with her candid tour of her one-bedroom Manhattan apartment.

Nah, I could never do this, commented someone else, while another user wrote: I would cry.

When did living like this become a flex? one user asked, which prompted some people to point out that college living isnt always the cleanest.

When youre in college and party 95 per cent of the time and sleep the rest, replied one fan. Exactly. If you have been in college, this makes sense, another agreed.

I feel like this is pretty fitting for five college girls, I mean everyone is hating but it could be worse, a third user said.

Others couldnt get over Earles casual mention about cockroaches, writing: u r so chill about roaches I could NEVER hahaaha

u grabbing the toilet seat just sent shivers up my spine lmao, another said.

Youre so brave for even giving this tour, joked someone else.

Much like Earle, Julia Fox was recently praised on TikTok after she gave a very underwhelming tour of her normal one-bedroom Manhattan apartment. Last month, the model posted the apartment tour to show her fans that she doesnt live as glamorous as they might think.

For me, personally, I just dont like excessive displays of wealth, she explained. They make me feel icky, especially people that have really big houses. Its just really wasteful when theres so many homeless people in this country. Im just not really like that.

The actor also said that she keeps her small New York City apartment because she wants her two-year-old son, Valentino, to be more in touch with the real world despite her life in the spotlight.
TEL AVIV (Reuters) - Israel hosted the top U.S. military officer, Army General Mark Milley, on Friday for discussions that it said included the need for cooperation on denying Iran nuclear weaponry.

Milley made the previously unannounced visit ahead of a trip to Israel by U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin that will also include neighbouring Egypt and Jordan - U.S.-aligned Arab states that have influence on Israeli-Palestinian affairs.

"Ongoing cooperation is required in order to prevent Iran from gaining a nuclear weapon," Israeli Defence Minister Yoav Gallant's office quoted him as telling Milley, chairman of the U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff.

Milley made no public remarks in Israel. His spokesperson said Milley discussed regional security issues and "coordination to defend against threats posed by Iran" in his talks with Chief of the Israeli General Staff Lieutenant General Herzi Halevi.

Amid its long-stalled negotiations with world powers on renewing a 2015 nuclear deal, Western powers say Iran has made advances with technologies that could potentially yield it a bomb. Tehran denies having any such plan.

In January, the United States and Israel held what one U.S. official described as the allies' most significant joint military exercise to date, involving thousands of forces, a dozen ships and 142 aircraft, including nuclear-capable bombers.

Milley's trip also comes amid spiralling violence in the West Bank, with stepped-up Israeli military raids following a spate of Palestinian attacks. Fears of escalation ahead of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan and the Jewish Passover festival have prompted the United States, Jordan and Egypt to appeal for calm.

At least 62 Palestinians, including gunmen and civilians, have been killed since the start of 2023, the Palestinian health ministry said. Thirteen Israelis and a Ukrainian tourist died in Palestinian attacks in the same period, according to official Israeli figures.

(Reporting by Phil Stewart and Dan Williams; editing by John Stonestreet and Andrew Heavens)
A top Ukrainian military intelligence official predicted that Russia will run out of the military tools necessary for its war in Ukraine by the end of the spring.

Russia has wasted huge amounts of human resources, armaments and materials, Maj. Gen. Kyrylo Budanov told USA Today in an interview published Thursday. Its economy and production are not able to cover these losses. Its changed its military chain of command. If Russias military fails in its aims this spring, it will be out of military tools.

Russia launched its long-anticipated counteroffensive in eastern Ukraine last month, sending in tens of thousands of new troops. However, Moscow has incurred heavy casualties in its latest effort, as it continues to send in ill-equipped and ill-trained recruits, experts say.

Russia is losing hundreds of soldiers a day during some of the heaviest fighting in Bakhmut, although Ukrainian officials have recently indicated that they may withdraw from the city.

While many military experts have suggested that the war could drag on for an extended period of time, Budanov predicted in his interview with USA Today that the end was near, suggesting that there would be a decisive battle this spring, and this battle will be the final one before this war ends.

However, the U.S. has warned in recent weeks that China has previously provided Russia with non-lethal aid and is strongly considering upping that to lethal aid, such as weapons and munitions.

Kyiv has increasingly pressed the Biden administration for heavier weaponry, most recently F-16 fighter jets, but President Biden has so far ruled out such assistance.

I apply a different logic when I look at this issue, Budanov said of the Wests hesitancy. This conflict has already grown into an existential war between Russia and the West. Yes, the West is not participating in this war with their militaries. But they are providing us with weapons so we can use them in the fight.

This means a Ukrainian victory over Russia is a common victory, he added. And if Ukraine falls  though unlikely  its a defeat for all of Western civilization.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to The Hill.
By Bart Biesemans and Clement Rossignol

BRUSSELS (Reuters) -Farmers from Belgium's northern region of Flanders drove thousands of tractors into Brussels on Friday in a protest against a new regional government plan to limit nitrogen emissions.

Police estimated the number of tractors clogging the streets of Brussels at 2,700. Many were decorated with big signs reflecting the farmers' anger.

"Proud to be a farmer," read one.

Agricultural organisations said in a joint statement that the nitrogen agreement as it now stands "will cause a socio-economic carnage". They wanted the agreement to better reflect future prospects for the farm sector.

"We are all convinced that something has to change nitrogen-wise, but the agricultural sector should not be treated differently to the industrial sector", protester Leen Engelen said, referring to one of the disputed points in the draft bill.

Many who came to protest in Brussels on Friday feel the same way.

"Our sector is already making a lot of effort and is willing to do so as well, but (the government) expects more and more from us while the industry sector is also expanding", said Liesje Van Loon, who owns a goat farm.

Relatively large numbers of livestock and heavy use of fertilizers, as well as traffic and construction, have led to levels of nitrogen oxides in the air and water in both Belgium and the Netherlands that are higher than EU regulations and that threaten the environment.

The planned move to limit emissions in Flanders has caused a crisis within the Flemish regional government that was not resolved during 16 hours of talks earlier this week. Belgian media reported Flemish Minister-President Jan Jambon wants to make the final decisions by this weekend.

In the Netherlands, farmers have refused to cooperate with the government on measures to limit nitrogen emissions, which would significantly reduce livestock in the country.

(Reporting by Bart Biesemans, Clement Rossignol, Writing by Charlotte Van Campenhout, Editing by Frances Kerry and Angus MacSwan)
Waters Corporation (NYSE:WAT) shareholders (or potential shareholders) will be happy to see that the Independent Director, Mark Vergnano, recently bought a whopping US$998k worth of stock, at a price of US$313. That purchase boosted their holding by 856%, which makes us wonder if the move was inspired by quietly confident deeply-felt optimism.

View our latest analysis for Waters

The Last 12 Months Of Insider Transactions At Waters

Notably, that recent purchase by Mark Vergnano is the biggest insider purchase of Waters shares that we've seen in the last year. That means that an insider was happy to buy shares at around the current price of US$321. Of course they may have changed their mind. But this suggests they are optimistic. We do always like to see insider buying, but it is worth noting if those purchases were made at well below today's share price, as the discount to value may have narrowed with the rising price. The good news for Waters share holders is that an insider was buying at near the current price. Mark Vergnano was the only individual insider to buy shares in the last twelve months.

You can see a visual depiction of insider transactions (by companies and individuals) over the last 12 months, below. By clicking on the graph below, you can see the precise details of each insider transaction!

Waters 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 Of Waters

Another way to test the alignment between the leaders of a company and other shareholders is to look at how many shares they own. We usually like to see fairly high levels of insider ownership. Waters insiders own about US$79m worth of shares. That equates to 0.4% of the company. While this is a strong but not outstanding level of insider ownership, it's enough to indicate some alignment between management and smaller shareholders.

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So What Does This Data Suggest About Waters Insiders?

The recent insider purchase is heartening. And the longer term insider transactions also give us confidence. Insiders likely see value in Waters shares, given these transactions (along with notable insider ownership of the company). So while it's helpful to know what insiders are doing in terms of buying or selling, it's also helpful to know the risks that a particular company is facing. You'd be interested to know, that we found 1 warning sign for Waters and we suggest you have a look.

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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Adriana de Pertis and Dylan Evans saved for two years before becoming full-time travel vloggers. (SWNS)

What does it take to become a travel vlogger? Just ask Dylan Evans and Adriana de Pertis, a couple who saved 32,000 in two years and quit their day jobs to chase their vlogging dream.

Evans, 30, and de Pertis, 33, met in 2018 and soon bonded over their love of travel and their desire to explore the world.

It took two years for dental therapist de Pertis and Evans, who worked in data warehousing at an insurance company, to save up the money before they quit their jobs in 2020 and started their own YouTube channel, 2Passports1Dream.

The vloggers have travelled to Singapore, the Philippines, Cambodia, and Thailand. (SWNS)

Read more: Greens powder: What does the viral TikTok drink taste like and is it worth it?

With no video editing skills at the time, the couple had to learn everything from scratch, but they now have more than 120,000 subscribers and have travelled to Singapore, the Philippines, Cambodia, and Thailand.

To begin with, our social media accounts were making no money at all, Cardiff-born Evans says. The first day we got monetised on YouTube, we were cheering to making around 1 in one day.

It felt like much more than that, though. It was 1 that we made for ourselves from something that we love.

Read more: The TikTok trend where women call out #GymCreeps

He adds that their monthly income has grown since, but that it can vary greatly depending on their location and how often they are posting.

Evans now runs a digital marketing agency. (SWNS)

We are fortunate to be making more now than we were from our 9-5 jobs, he continues. But, with this travelling content creation lifestyle comes a lot more expenditures, such as camera gear, travel, insurance, and hotels with good wifi.

There's a common misconception that travel YouTubers are just sipping cocktails on the beach and the videos upload themselves. But we have never worked this hard in our lives, and we wouldn't change this for the world.

He says he and Swedish-born de Pertis saw quitting their day jobs as a massive load off our shoulders knowing that we can be our own bosses from now on and that they had a very strict budget in order to save the 32,000.

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Read more: What is the face icing TikTok trend and should we all be doing it?

Now, some of the couples most popular videos include trying the spiciest dish in Bangkok and buying the world's cheapest suit in Vietnam.

Evans now runs a digital marking agency too, but says that being away from family and friends for long periods is the most challenging part of their new jobs.

Evans and de Pertis are making more money now than they did at their 9-5 day jobs. (SWNS)

During the pandemic, we were away for almost two years before we finally returned to the UK and Sweden for a month, he adds.

It's tough, but we're working hard now so that we can afford to make more regular trips home in the future.

He says that anyone can make a living off of YouTube. Whether you want to travel like us or explore a different industry, with hard work and dedication, you too can build an epic follower base.

Additional reporting by SWNS.

Watch: Surprised vlogger captures dog riding motorboat while exploring Bangkok canals
Travis Scott plans to turn himself over to NYPD as early as next week after a DJ accused Scott of physically harming him and destroying $12k worth of equipment. Scotts legal team has arranged for his NY return to speak with detectives following his California Rolling Loud performance this weekend.

The post Travis Scott To Meet With NYPD Following Alleged Nightclub Assault appeared first on Blavity.

In celebration of Don Tolivers latest album, Travis Scott visited NY to support his friends album rollout at the Nebula nightclub. The festive night turned sour after Scott got into a scuffle with the DJ at the lounge, HotNewHipHop, reported.

Following the incident, Scott allegedly left New York on a private jet headed back to California early Wednesday morning.

The alleged victim, Mark, 52, said the rager allegedly climbed into the DJ booth with him and advised Travis Scott to lower the volume after hearing a distorted sound from the speakers.

Mark said he tried to speak with Scott, but the artist allegedly flipped him off.

So I lowered the monitor a little bit so I could talk to him, and thats when he ran around the speaker and attacked me, Mark told Fox News. I was trying to tell him to lower (the music) so it sounded good for the performance but he just stuck his middle finger in my face.

While bedridden at Jersey City Medical Center, Mark explained that Scotts security guard also physically and verbally intervened.

His security guard said Are you fucking crazy? Im going to kill you,' he said. Obviously, my neck is fucked up. My arm is tingling. I have pins and needles going down it.

Mark was discharged from the hospital and cleared to return to work but claims he cant lift anything over five pounds at the moment.

Scotts legal team said in a statement that the encounter was a misunderstanding.

Any statements about the incident involving Travis are clearly an attempt to sensationalize what is nothing more than a misunderstanding, Attorney Jason Ser said.

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NYPD will likely file an assault charge against Scott.

Scott might be the subject of legal action from another Nebula clubgoer in addition to the alleged attack.

Footage obtained by TMZ, allegedly shows Scott serving as a guest DJ at Nebula when a fan approaches him carrying a phone in hand.

The owner said Scott snatched the phone out of his hand and threw it at him, striking him in the head and cracking his phone screen.

The man told TMZ he plans to file both a police report and a civil lawsuit against the rager.
File photos of Donald Trump and Letitia James. Getty Images

Lawyers for Trump say they can't meet their deadlines in the NY attorney general's fraud lawsuit.

They want six more months, despite a judge's prior warning that the trial date won't budge.

AG Letitia James' lawsuit seeks to ban the Trump family and company from doing business in New York.

Lawyers for Donald Trump, his family, and his real-estate business said Friday that the fraud case against them is far too complicated for them to be ready for trial this year.

They are pushing back on a deadline in a massive lawsuit brought by New York attorney general Letitia James  a 200-page filing that seeks to drive the Trump Organization out of her state.

In new court papers, the Trump lawyers asked for six extra months to prepare for a bench trial currently scheduled for October 2. They also asked to triple the number of witnesses they can depose before the trial starts.

The request is the latest volley in a roiling pre-trial battle over the sprawling lawsuit  and is remarkable, given that the Manhattan judge who has presided over the case for three years recently warned that the trial date is set in stone.

"I am determined to start the case on time come hell or high water," New York Supreme Court Justice Arthur Engoron warned a roomful of lawyers in February, the last time the parties met in person.

Trump's request would greatly increase the number of witnesses his side can depose before trial.

There are 16 defendants named in the attorney general's lawsuit, a number that includes Donald Trump, Donald Trump, Jr., Eric Trump, Ivanka Trump, and a dozen other executives and Trump Organization sub-entities.

Currently, the 16 defendants are allowed to conduct a total of no more than 10 pre-trial depositions, and must do so by March 20. Friday's reach-for-the-moon filing asks for 30 witnesses, and to move that deposition-completion deadline to September 29.

A half-year delay in depositions would have a domino effect on later pre-trial deadlines, making it virtually impossible for the case to go to trial this year.

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"The current schedule imposes significant hardship on Defendants," the Trump lawyers argued in a supplemental filing.

The current schedule also "prejudices their ability to sufficiently understand the evidence against them to prepare a proper defense, and hinders their ability to prepare for summary judgement and trial," it said.

The attorney general's office has yet to respond to the Trump lawyers' request, though it has been clear that it, too, will tolerate no delays, especially given that both sides agreed to the current deadlines back in November.

"The Defendants' claimed hardship is self-inflicted," the attorney general countered in a filing last week, after the Trump lawyers first broached moving deadlines.

The judge, too, has yet to rule on the Trump lawyers' request for more time.

But he hardly seems warm to the idea, according to a letter from the judge to the parties that was also made public Friday.

"The core of this case is very simple: plaintiff claims that defendants submitted false financial statements to third-parties," Engoron wrote, a reference to the attorney general's allegations that Trump lied for years, and by billions of dollars, about the worth of his properties in documents sent to banks, insurers and tax authorities.

Trump's side shouldn't need to do a whole lot more to get ready for trial, Engoron reasoned.

"It is their own alleged documents and acts that are at issue," the judge said, though he left open the possibility of calling the parties into his courtroom to argue about deadlines.

Still, "October 2, 2023 is more than seven months away," he noted. "And with all that has already been accomplished, I see no reason to alter my determination to start the trial on that day."

Read the original article on Business Insider
Former President Trump on Friday asked for a roughly six-month delay in New York Attorney General Letitia Jamess (D) civil fraud suit against him.

Trumps motion, if granted, would likely push his trial back until the heat of the presidential primary season in the early months of 2024.

Attorneys for the former president argued that the current schedule infringes on Trumps right to a reasonable time to conduct discovery.

The requested extension allows Defendants a fair and reasonable opportunity to engage in meaningful discovery and to prepare and present an adequate legal defense, they added.

Newly filed court documents indicate that Judge Arthur Engoron, who is overseeing the case, told the parties during a recent proceeding that the trial would start as scheduled on Oct. 2 come hell or high water.

James filed the lawsuit last September, accusing the former president and his businesses of manipulating property values for years to obtain investments and loan benefits.

She named the former president and his three adult children  Donald Trump Jr., Ivanka Trump and Eric Trump  along with a number of the familys business entities as defendants and asked for an estimated $250 million in financial penalties.

The legal team for Trump, who has cast the suit as a political witch hunt, said the additional time is needed to review millions of pages of documents and conduct witness interviews.

Defendants cannot possibly review the staggering volume of material, serve subpoenas, review subpoenaed materials, prepare for and conduct depositions  all within a three-and-a-half month period from the date on which Plaintiff produced its investigative file  and then prepare and present expert reports one month later, Trumps attorneys wrote.

Jamess office has voiced opposition to that argument in recent days in a series of letters and emails as Trumps attorneys discussed a delay, court documents show. A spokesman for the office declined to provide additional comment.

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Trumps motion asks to delay a number of pretrial deadlines, each by roughly six months, which would likely push the new trial date deep into the 2024 campaign season.

After telling the parties the Oct. 2 trial would take place come hell or high water, the judge wrote in a Feb. 22 email that with all that has already been accomplished, I see no reason to alter my determination to start the trial on that day, according to court documents.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to The Hill.
Donald Trump has repeatedly praised the mob that stormed the halls of Congress on January 6, 2021, an attack fuelled by the former presidents baseless narrative that the 2020 election was stolen from him.

He has vowed to issue mass pardons for Capitol riot defendants, and now he has joined them on a song released on streaming platforms.

A group of defendants naming themselves the J6 Prison Choir released a track titled Justice for All on 3 March that features their rendition of the national anthem while the former president recites the Pledge of Allegiance.

Mr Trump recorded his portion at Mar-a-Lago, while the J6 Prison Choir recorded vocals by prison phone, according to Forbes, which first reported on the track.

The song, clocking in at two minutes and 20 seconds, made its debut on far-right activist and former Trump aide Steve Bannons War Room podcast.

Mr Trump will once again deliver headlining remarks at the Conservative Political Action Conference, a closely watched four-day stage for right-wing activists and Republican officials as GOP campaigns advance a 2024 agenda and mull potential candidates.

One panel at CPAC titled True Stories of January 6: The Prosecuted Speak provided a platform to a group of people who joined the Capitol riots.

Panelists reportedly included former West Virginia lawmaker Derrick Evans, who resigned from office after his arrest and apologised for his actions in court before he was sentenced to 90 days in prison on a felony charge of civil disorder.

The panel also included Simone Gold, a founder of Americas Frontline Doctors, an anti-Covid-19 vaccine organisation that is among CPACs chief sponsors. Gold pleaded guilty to knowingly and unlawfully entering and remaining in a restricted building or grounds and was sentenced to 60 days in prison and a $9,500 fine for entering the Capitol on January 6, which she said she regretted.

Mr Trumps recording with the J6 Prison Choir  which remains available on Apple Music, Spotify and YouTube, as of 3 March  is reportedly being used to raise money for January 6 defendants through a LLC run by conservative activist Ed Henry.

I am financially supporting people that are incredible and they were in my office actually two days ago, so theyre very much in my mind, Mr Trump told radio host Wendy Bell last year. Its a disgrace what theyve done to them. What theyve done to these people is disgraceful.
REUTERS/David 'Dee' Delgado/File Photo

In their latest bid to protect former President Donald Trump at his upcoming rape trial, his lawyers finally explained why exactly New York City jurors shouldnt be shown the infamous Access Hollywood tape where he described the joys of abusing the power of celebrity.

In a legal memo to a federal judge on Thursday, defense lawyers wrote that Trumps 2005 commentswhen youre a star, they let you do it you can do anything grab 'em by the pussyare entirely distinct from any accusation that he raped someone.

Trump is scheduled to go to trial in April for allegedly raping the journalist E. Jean Carroll in a high-end Manhattan department store in the 1990s. Trumps lawyers are trying to keep that jury from hearing him boast about sexual harassment.

Judge Denies Trumps DNA Testing Gambit in Rape Trial

The tape does not share any unique characteristics to this case or demonstrate a modus operandi or pattern of misconduct, they argued in Thursday's memo. Here, the actions described on the tape bear little resemblance to the actions that allegedly took place in or around 1995.

The lawyers accuse Carrolls team of trying to convert this trial into a referendum on [Trumps] character and distract the jury.

Read more at The Daily Beast.

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By Gram Slattery, Tim Reid and Alexandra Ulmer

LAS VEGAS (Reuters) - In Las Vegas, Nevada, Republican activists want to recapture the party from a local leader who backs former President Donald Trumps false election fraud claims. In Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, a battle for control of the local Republican partys assets has wound up in court. In North Carolina, party activists are seeking to punish Republican Senator Thom Tillis for his support for same-sex marriage rights.

As the 2024 presidential race kicks into gear, local Republican party organizations in many parts of the United States are consumed by rebellions, infighting and court battles that some officials and strategists said could damage the partys chances of winning back the White House.

Reuters spoke to more than 50 operatives, activists and party officials in competitive states Arizona, Georgia and Nevada, which Trump narrowly lost in 2020; North Carolina, which he won; and in the key early primary state of South Carolina. Nevada also holds an early presidential nominating contest.

While Republican divisions in Congress have been widely covered, Reuters looked at grassroots battles, especially in the small handful of states that remain truly competitive, that have not been closely examined.

Some strategists and officials warned the spectacle of a party at war with itself in electoral battlegrounds and early primary states risks turning off voters and donors.

"The degree to which we can manage this will determine how well our presidential candidate does," said Maurice Washington, the chair of the Republican Party in South Carolinas Charleston County, a regular campaign stop for presidential candidates, and himself a target of right-wing challengers.

Theres always that potential of behavior patterns turning off middle-of-the-road voters, Washington said.

Although it is too early in the election cycle to see a direct impact of these fights, and these feuds could subside once a presidential nominee is chosen, Ronna McDaniel, the head of the Republican National Committee, the party's central governing body, has called for unity.

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Larry Hogan, a Trump critic who left office in January after serving two terms as the Republican governor of Maryland, told Reuters it was crucial for the party to move beyond the former president if it wanted to win the 2024 elections.

Democrats outperformed expectations and avoided a Republican "red wave" in the November 2022 midterm elections, in part because voters shunned a slew of Trump-backed, hard-right candidates.

"Voters sent a clear message in the last three elections: they want competence and common sense solutions, not more crazy, Hogan said. If we want to start winning again, then we have to start listening."

Not everyone agrees. North Carolina State Representative Mark Brody, who supports censuring Sen. Tillis, says it is better to address differences directly.

I think one of the things that we fight against is that there is a tendency to say: Maybe we should just leave this alone. One side says: dont bring this up because some people might turn away," he said. "My side is: Lets address that, and lets set the record straight."

IN NEVADA, A PARTY REVOLT

In Nevada's Clark County, which accounts for more than two-thirds of the state's population, Margaret White, a former chief of staff for county Republicans, is leading about 50 current and former party members in a rebellion against the current county party leader Jesse Law in the swing state.

White said that Laws support for Trumps false election fraud claims and his backing for far-right candidates in last November's midterm elections are damaging Republicans' prospects in 2024. Most state and local candidates backed by Law lost in the midterms.

The activists filed paperwork last month to launch a non-profit organization called "Las Vegas Voices of Reason." White and Drew Hirsty, the county party member who made the filing, told Reuters that formalizing the structure will allow them to raise funds among independent voters as well as Republicans.

The group is contacting 400 Republicans, who resigned or were expelled from the party since Law took over in 2021, asking them to register to vote so they can remove him in the summer leadership contest, White said.

"We want normal people in charge who can appeal to moderates, independents and minorities, and that's not Jesse Law, White told Reuters.

White said the party needs to appeal to a broader set of voters; otherwise it will keep losing elections. About half of Whites core group of 50 are Black, Hispanic or Asian, reflecting the diverse demographics of Nevada. Law backed several far right candidates that lost in November's midterms.

Law, who served as a senior member of Trump's 2016 and 2020 campaigns in Nevada, and the county party did not respond to requests for comment.

John Bruchhagen, a Republican podcaster who says he is friends with people in both factions, said Law has worked hard to boost voter turnout and promote candidates but has an impossible job because the local party has become so factionalized.

The fighting in Clark County escalated in January when White was involved in a standoff with party members at the county partys central committee meeting in Las Vegas.

White, who quit her post last year in protest at Laws leadership, showed up with two bodyguards, one of whom was retired Las Vegas Police Lieutenant Randy Sutton, who told Reuters he carried a concealed firearm to the meeting.

White was ordered to leave by a security guard. Sutton told Reuters he was challenged to a fight by one Republican at the meeting who was part of a group that objected to White's presence.

Law and the county party did not respond to questions about the standoff.

ARIZONA: A BID TO CHANGE PRIMARY RULES

In Arizona, a former conservative stronghold that is now a swing state, a group of Republicans dismayed by hard-right candidates who deny the 2020 election are raising money and gathering signatures to force a referendum on an amendment to the state constitution that would open primary elections to all voters, according to Beau Lane, a Republican businessman who is involved in the effort.

Lane, who ran an unsuccessful campaign for Arizona Secretary of State last year, said his Save Democracy AZ group wants more moderate, less polarizing figures to emerge from the primary process.

SOUTH CAROLINA: FIGHTING OVER PARTY ASSETS

In one of South Carolina's most populous counties, a breakaway far-right faction of the party led by Roger Slagle and Chad Caton who support the former presidents false claims of election fraud, reject candidates they say are insufficiently conservative.

These include former two-term South Carolina governor Nikki Haley, who announced in February she was running for president; South Carolina Senator Tim Scott, who is widely expected to run for the presidency as well; and the former Vice President Mike Pence.

When the party prepared to host Pence at an event  which the former vice-president subsequently canceled  Caton criticized the effort in a text message to Reuters as part of a plan to push Trump out.

Scott's office declined to comment. Ken Farnaso, a spokesperson for Haley, did not respond to a request for comment.

HAVE REQUESTED PENCE COMMENT

The split dates back to last September when Slagle and his allies briefly quit the party but maintained control of the county party's website, bank account, and folding tables and chairs. A judge last month ordered Slagles group to hand over the chairs.

Both sides acknowledge a legal fight over the bank account is likely. "Is it something you want to spend party funds on? No," said Reese Boyd III, who is the recognized party county leader. "We're all inside the big tent, and we're shooting machine guns at one another. It's not productive for anyone."

CENSURE FOR NORTH CAROLINA SENATOR

In North Carolina, Republican party committees in about a third of the state's counties have voted to censure Republican Senator Tillis for his support for same-sex marriage rights. They are now seeking a state-wide condemnation, which would block Tillis's access to party resources and funds in a potential Senate primary.

Although Tillis retains support among the party establishment, Jim Womack, a county party chair, says the Senators critics are gaining strength. The North Carolina Republican party will eventually be decentralized to the point where the grassroots will actually run the party, Womack said.

Tillis did not respond to requests for comment.

(Reporting by Gram Slattery in Myrtle Beach, S.C.; Tim Reid in Las Vegas and Alexandra Ulmer in San Francisco; Additional reporting by Nathan Layne in Hillsdale, Michigan. Editing by Ross Colvin and Suzanne Goldenberg)
Fox News host Tucker Carlson was accused of projection following his monologue Thursday in which he attacked President Joe Bidens administration and warned weak men in positions of power are destroying society.

First, you always imagine in your minds eye that its evil men who destroy society  wild-eyed spit-flecked dictators pounding the podium, to demand the annihilation of their enemies, the self-confessed liar began.

Thats the Hollywood version of it. But in real life, people like that rarely get very far. Theyre too obvious, Carlson continued. Its not the cartoon demons youve got to worry about. Its weak men in positions of power. Theyre the most dangerous. Men with no principles but the desire for self-preservation. Hollow men who live in terror of being revealed for who they really are, men who will do anything to save themselves. Thats who you should be afraid of. And you can see that in our current moment. The weakest are the most destructive.

Carlson attacked several Democrats as sad, insecure, broken men filled with envy and bitterness from their lonely childhoods.

They hate you because they hate themselves, he continued. Its not their masculinity. Its their lack of it.

Watch the video here:

Carlson has increasingly come under the spotlight in recent weeks amid the release of court filings from Dominion Voting Systems $1.6 billion lawsuit against Fox News. The company is suing the conservative network after its hosts made unfounded claims about its machines flipping the 2020 election against Donald Trump.

In text messages released in lawsuit filings, Carlson called for a Fox News colleague to be fired after she accurately fact-checked a tweet from Trump.

Tucker Carlson seems to be projecting a bit in this segment about. "weak men." I've added some old photos of him along with an excerpt of his old "Crossfire" appearance with Jon Stewart. As Carlson mocks other men maybe he should look in the mirror. pic.twitter.com/w1N5zgUhZH  Decoding Fox News (@DecodingFoxNews) March 3, 2023

Ahh Tucker. What can we say.

Always putting the Pro in projection.  Thought First (Shane) (@FirstShane) March 3, 2023

This is one of those projection things, isn't it?  thank the stars (@timothysees) March 3, 2023

Death of irony  Gena Goff (@slapshotny91) March 3, 2023

Feels like projection lol  ThynkfreeYo  (@Thynkfree85) March 3, 2023

Related...
I appreciate that the Rockford Register Star offers a fair and equal forum for community opinion.

Recently, the debate over gun laws in Illinois has been vigorous in these pages. A working democracy values diverse views, and that is how it should be.

I have experienced feedback from steadfast gun owners who do not agree with me that we need legislators to pass S.25 the National Assault Weapons ban of 2023.

We all have experiences that affect our views on guns. My first memory of gun violence is from when I was 12. My uncle, a Rockford police detective, was shot and wounded in the line of duty. As my aunt can tell you, law-enforcement families never wanted to see well-loved police chaplain, Father Wentink, at their door unannounced.

My brother and his family knew people who were killed in the Boulder, Colorado food store shooting, the Las Vegas shooting at the Route 91 Harvest music festival, the recent nightclub shooting near Colorado Springs, and the December 2020 shooting at Don Carter Lanes in Rockford.

My brothers stepson worked at NIU when the mass shooting happened there on Valentines Day 2008. He ran for cover, and sheltered on campus. These are just one familys connections to mass shootings, so I think about what that says.

Your turn::Gun violence in America  a bottomless pit of grief

I will always believe that banning assault rifles can make a difference. The data shows it. According to the Giffords Law Center to Prevent Gun Violence, During the ten year period the assault rifle ban was in effect, mass shooting fatalities were 70% less likely to occur compared to the periods before and after the ban. (www.giffords.org)

The Gun Violence Archive (www.gunviolencearchive.org) shows that 82 mass shootings have already happened in the U.S. in 2023. Everytown data reveals that assault rifles account for 25% of all mass shooting deaths and 75% of nonfatal injuries. (www.Everytown.org )

In the Uvalde,Texas tragedy in 2022, nineteen children and two teachers were massacred while law enforcement stood by for an hour and 15 minutes. CNN Law enforcement analyst Michael Fanone served for 20 years with the Washington, DC Metropolitan Police Department.

Story continues

After Uvalde, Fanone wrote, The AR-15 has the dubious distinction of being Americas most popular semi-automatic rifle. Im more familiar with the gun than most people. I own one. And one thing I know for sure is that this weapon doesnt belong in the hands of the average civilian. (www.cnn.com)

We are the only country in which guns outnumber people, a fact that became true in 2009. (www.vox.com)

Gun violence, however, is not a one-dimensional problem. America is a country divided by hate, extremist ideologies, systemic racism, and economic inequality, all of which fuel gun violence.

Communities need to continue a dialogue and find some middle ground to solve problems, whether it is the plague of mass shootings or the everyday gun violence that casts a shadow of fear over our cities.

Second First Church and The League of Women Voters held a community discussion on gun violence last year. Many community leaders were there to facilitate a thoughtful discussion, including Mayor Tom McNamara.

There were discussion points about the Illinois red flag law; giving youth a sense of purpose and safe places to go, like new community centers which the City of Rockford is making a reality; and funding that may be available to support positive community change.

Dialogue can be a vehicle for change and action. Community action is what we need in every town.

Paula Coulahan, of Rockford, is a lifelong educator and member of Moms Demand Action and EveryTown for Gun Safety.

This article originally appeared on Rockford Register Star: Your turn: Dialogue can be a vehicle for change when it comes to gun violence
One of the biggest Supreme Court cases of the year -- with major stakes for U.S. elections and who decides when, where and how people vote -- could be thrown out.

In an unusual twist, the justices on Thursday issued an order asking both sides in Moore v. Harper to submit written explanations on why they should continue to decide it, indicating that they may find the matter moot in light of new state-level developments.

The dispute between the North Carolina GOP and a group of voting rights advocates, backed by the Biden administration, centers on the role of state courts in resolving election disputes.

The Republican lawmakers have advanced a fringe legal concept, known as the independent state legislature theory, that only legislators can set election policy and can do so largely free from any oversight by state courts or even governors.

Democracy advocates say that if the theory is adopted, it could upend state election laws nationwide.

MORE: Supreme Court hears redistricting case that could upend state election laws everywhere

The North Carolina Supreme Court initially ruled against the conservative lawmakers, who in turn appealed to the nations highest court. The justices heard oral arguments in the case late last year and have been poised to issue a ruling this spring.

But last month, the state Supreme Court, newly controlled by Republican justices, agreed to grant a rehearing in the case, on March 14. That rekindled the litigation at a state level and may serve to keep the U.S. Supreme Court on the sidelines while it plays out.

PHOTO: Light illuminates part of the Supreme Court building on Capitol Hill in Washington, Nov. 16, 2022. (Patrick Semansky/AP, FILE)

The justices' order on Thursday asks the parties to explain why they still have jurisdiction in light of this development.

"It raises the question whether the U.S. Supreme Courts decision in Moore v. Harper could become moot," Rick Hasen, a University of California, Irvine, law professor and election law expert, wrote in February.

Looking back at the arguments

In an extraordinary and tense debate stretching three hours during a hearing in December, the North Carolina Republicans asked the U.S. Supreme Court to reinstate a gerrymandered election map drawn by the GOP-controlled state legislature after it was thrown out by the state Supreme Court for violating the state constitution.

Story continues

A court-appointed panel drew a new map which was used during the 2022 midterm election.

The plaintiffs argued before the justices that the U.S. Constitution's elections clause expressly empowers the state legislature, and legislature alone, to dictate the "time, places and manner" of federal elections.

"States lack the authority to restrict the legislatures' substantive discretion when performing this federal function," argued attorney David Thompson, representing the Republicans.

A group of North Carolina voters and pro-democracy advocates opposed the move as contrary to the nation's history and tradition and warned that it would invalidate hundreds of election laws in every state.

"The blast radius from their theory would sow elections chaos," said attorney Neal Katyal, the former Obama administration solicitor general representing the voters.

In a twist, Supreme Court could table major election law dispute -- for now originally appeared on abcnews.go.com
Two Americans were arrested Thursday in relation to an alleged scheme to supply Russia with aviation equipment in violation of U.S. export laws amid the war on Ukraine, according to the Department of Justice (DOJ).

The DOJ alleged in a release that two men from Kansas  59-year-old Cyril Gregory Buyanovsky and 55-year-old Douglas Robertson  have conspired to shirk U.S. export laws since 2020 as they sent Western avionics equipment to Russian companies and offered repair services for equipment used in Russian-built aircraft through their Kanrus Trading Company.

Buyanovsky and Robertson allegedly concealed and misstated where and to whom the equipment and services were being delivered, according to the DOJ.

Days after Russia invaded Ukraine in February of last year, the defendants allegedly attempted to send the aviation-related equipment to Russia from the U.S.

The Department of Commerce informed Buyanovsky and Robertson that theyd need a license to export to Russia, but months later, the pair allegedly shipped the equipment to Russia via Armenia and Cyprus, without a license.

The two Kansas men are charged with conspiracy, exporting controlled goods without a license, falsifying and failing to file electronic export information, and smuggling goods contrary to U.S. law, according to the DOJ; they face decades in prison if convicted.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to The Hill.
A jury found two California brothers who crashed a wedding reception and later killed the groom guilty of second-degree murder, prosecutors announced Wednesday.

The guilty verdict comes nearly two years after the fatal scuffle in the early morning of Dec. 15, 2019. That day, Rony and Josue Castaneda appeared uninvited at the family residence-held reception of newlywed couple Joe and Esther Melgoza.

Prosecutors believe the brothers lived nearby and overheard the celebration that included a mariachi band. Guests saw the pair dancing and socializing at the event, authorities said.

The festivities took a tragic turn after the Castaneda brothers were asked to leave. They left the reception and returned armed with baseball bats. The pair antagonized Melgoza behind the familys home, telling him to jump the fence to their side, prosecutors said.

Once Melgoza and his family jumped the fence, the brothers began hitting them all with bats and fists, prosecutors wrote in a news release.

A family member took a bat from one of the Castaneda brothers, who then fled to an unrelated nearby home. Melgoza pursued them into the yard. Minutes later, the brothers were seen jumping the fence of another unrelated house with one bat that was never recovered.

Responding officers found Melgoza in the yard. He was transported to a local hospital where he was pronounced dead from blunt force trauma to the head, according to authorities.

Image: A father was brutally murdered on his wedding day and his family says it happened during the reception as he tried to protect his guests. (NBC Los Angeles)

Josue Castaneda denied being in attendance at the celebration. However, upon the brothers arrest, a photobooth picture was retrieved from his front pocket showing him, his brother, and a female guest from the reception.

The brothers are scheduled to be sentenced on March 13, 2023. Lawyers for the brothers could not be immediately identified.

Although this conviction can never undo the pain caused by two individuals actions, I hope it brings a measure of closure to the wife and loved ones of Joe Melgoza, said Jason Anderson, the San Bernardino District Attorney.

This story first appeared on NBCNews.com.

This article was originally published on TODAY.com
Two Lexington County men have been charged with sexual exploitation of a minor after state investigators say the men distributed child sexual abuse material.

Joshua Daniel Callahan, 24, of Pelion, and Christopher P. Veltmann, 68, of Gaston, were taken into custody Tuesday in the two unrelated cases.

State investigators received a CyberTipline report from the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, which led them to Callahan and Veltmann, the South Carolina Attorney Generals Office said in a news release Friday.

Callahan was charged with one count of sexual exploitation of a minor and faces up to 10 years in prison for allegedly distributing the child sexual abuse material.

Veltmann was charged with one count of sexual exploitation of a minor in the second degree and five counts of sexual exploitation of a minor in the third degree. He faces 10 years in prison for each count. Veltmann allegedly distributed and possessed child sexual abuse material.

The Attorney Generals Office will prosecute the two cases.
(Reuters) - The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) said on Friday it was issuing a health alert advisory to notify clinics and public health officials to be watchful after a case of measles was confirmed at a large gathering in Kentucky.

On Feb. 24, the Kentucky Department for Public Health identified a confirmed case of measles in an unvaccinated individual with a history of recent international travel, the CDC said.

While infected, the individual attended a large religious gathering on Feb. 1718, with an estimated 20,000 people there from other states and countries, the national agency said.

Measles is one of the most contagious human viruses and is almost entirely preventable through vaccination. However, it requires 95% vaccine coverage to prevent outbreaks among populations.

The CDC said doctors should consider measles as a diagnosis with anyone with clinically compatible symptoms. The agency also asked physicians to recommend measles, mumps and rubella shots for patients who are unvaccinated or not fully vaccinated.

The advisory also recommends healthcare professionals to immediately notify local or state health departments about any suspected case of measles to ensure rapid testing following the CDC's testing recommendations.

In November, the CDC and the World Health Organization said that there is now an imminent threat of measles spreading in various regions globally, as COVID-19 led to a steady decline in vaccination coverage and weakened surveillance of the disease.

(Reporting by Sriparna Roy in Bengaluru; Editing by Maju Samuel)
By Blake Brittain

(Reuters) - The name "gruyere" can be used to label cheeses from outside of the Gruyere region of Switzerland and France, a U.S. appeals court said on Friday, in a victory for U.S. dairy groups and others.

The Richmond, Virginia-based 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals upheld a U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) ruling that "gruyere" can legally be used to describe cheese regardless of where it was made.

The USPTO rejected a bid by two groups representing cheese producers from Switzerland and France for a mark that would restrict the use of "gruyere" to cheese from Gruyere itself.

The groups said in a statement that they were disappointed by the decision and would continue to "pursue vigorously" their efforts to protect the name.

U.S. Dairy Export Council president Krysta Harden said in a statement that the decision was an "outstanding result for manufacturers and farmers here in the United States."

Gruyere cheese, "widely considered among the greatest of all cheeses," was first made in the Swiss district of La Gruyere in 1115, the court said. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has standards to certify gruyere cheese, but the court said they are "far less stringent" than Switzerland and France's and do not include geographic restrictions.

Switzerland's Interprofession du Gruyere and France's Syndicat Interprofessionnel du Gruyere asked the USPTO in 2015 to certify that gruyere cheese only comes from the Gruyere region. But the USPTO rejected the request after finding gruyere is a generic, unprotectable word for a type of cheese.

The European groups appealed after a Virginia federal court upheld the ruling in 2021.

"Like a fine cheese, this case has matured and is ripe for our review," Chief U.S. Circuit Judge Roger Gregory wrote on Friday for a unanimous three-judge panel that affirmed the decision.

The case is Interprofession du Gruyere v. U.S. Dairy Export Council, 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, No. 22-1041.

(Reporting by Blake Brittain in Washington; editing by Leigh Jones and Aurora Ellis)
By Jonathan Stempel

(Reuters) -Airline passengers who have long felt squished in cramped seats suffered a setback on Friday as a U.S. appeals court refused to order the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) to adopt minimum requirements for seat size and spacing.

The D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals said an advocacy group, FlyersRights.org, had no right to force the FAA to adopt seating rules because it was not "clear and indisputable" that tight seating, while uncomfortable, was also dangerous.

Congress had in 2018 given the FAA one year to establish minimum seating dimensions including pitch, the distance between seatbacks, that were "necessary" for passenger safety.

No such rules yet exist, though airlines must be able to evacuate passengers within 90 seconds in emergencies. Airline margins could suffer if carriers were forced to reconfigure planes.

Writing for a three-judge panel, Circuit Judge Justin Walker rejected FlyersRights' claims that tight seating materially slowed emergency exits and posed medical risks such as blood clots, saying the FAA had no compelling evidence of either.

"To be sure, many airline seats are uncomfortably small. That is why some passengers pay for wider seats and extra legroom," Walker wrote. "But it is not 'clear and indisputable' that airline seats have become dangerously small.

"Unless they are dangerously small, seat-size regulations are not 'necessary for the safety of passengers,'" he added.

Paul Hudson, president of FlyersRights, said the decision ignored Congress' intent that minimum standards be considered, and passengers could expect seating to shrink to "torture class" if the FAA did nothing.

FlyersRights is directly petitioning the FAA for new rules.

"Even rules codifying the status quo would stop seat dimensions from getting even smaller," its lawyer Michael Kirkpatrick said in an interview.

The FAA declined to comment. Airline trade groups have opposed new seating rules.

Story continues

In November, six Democratic U.S. senators led by Majority Leader Chuck Schumer urged the FAA to ban airlines from further shrinking seat sizes and leg room.

FlyersRights has said typical average seat pitch has shrunk four to seven inches, to as little as 28 inches (71 cm), and seat width has also shrunk since airline deregulation in 1978, while passengers have gotten larger.

The case is In re Flyers Rights Education Fund Inc, D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals, No. 22-1004.

(Reporting by Jonathan Stempel in New York and David Shepardson in Washington; Editing by Bill Berkrot and Richard Chang)
WASHINGTON  Initial U.S. intelligence suggesting that China is considering supplying lethal aid to Russia for its war in Ukraine was gleaned from Russian government officials, according to one current and one former U.S. official familiar with the intelligence.

U.S. officials then spent weeks corroborating the information from other sources of intelligence, the current and former officials said, and with allies who also brought additional streams of information.

The officials spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive intelligence matters.

The multiple threads of intelligence suggesting that China is considering giving lethal aid to Russia, including ammunition and artillery, raised alarm among Biden administration officials, particularly given how such a move by Beijing could shift the dynamic of the war in Moscows favor.

A Russian military thats fueled by or aided by a Chinese infusion of weapons and platforms is more lethal militarily and more capable, a senior administration official said. Thats not going to be good for the people of Ukraine.

Top administration officials, including Secretary of State Antony Blinken and CIA Director Williams Burns, have publicly expressed confidence in the intelligence and warned China against providing Russia with lethal military aid.

China has denied it is considering sending lethal aid to Russia, calling the U.S. accusation disinformation.

U.S. officials note that they have not seen any evidence of movement or a decision from China to take that step.

At a White House press briefing Thursday, National Security Council spokesperson John Kirby was asked how serious the administration thinks China is about possibly sending weapons to Russia.

We actually dont know, Kirby said.

Kirby added that the U.S. believes China has not taken it off the table but also has not seen any evidence that Beijing is moving toward sending lethal aid to Moscow.

The NSC declined to comment when contacted for this story.

Story continues

The initial intelligence was vague about what specific systems or equipment China was considering providing to Russia, including whether they could provide drones beyond what are already available commercially, officials familiar with the intelligence said.

There are varying levels of confidence about how serious China is about this, a second senior U.S. official said.

In an interview Sunday on CBS News' "Face the Nation," Burns acknowledged that the decision to release the information publicly was intended to deter China from deciding to provide Russia with lethal aid.

"Were confident that the Chinese leadership is considering the provision of lethal equipment," Burns said.

He added: "Secretary Blinken and the President have thought it important to make very clear what the consequences of that would be."

There was some discussion within the administration over declassifying and publicly releasing some of the intelligence, but officials decided against doing so, at least for now, because of the sensitivity of the sources used to collect the information and because the administrations goal of sending a message to China not to supply Russia with lethal aid, for now, appears to have worked.

The U.S. accusations that China is considering supplying Russia with lethal military aid come as Beijing put forward a proposed peace plan for ending the war in Ukraine.

President Joe Biden and other top U.S. officials have said the proposal is one-sided and only benefits Russia. But Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has said Chinas engagement on a potential peace plan is not bad.

Some Biden administration officials see Chinas recent signals that it could come off the sidelines on the war in Ukraine, and get involved in one way or another, as an attempted power move aimed at undermining the U.S. after recent moves to enhance its alliances in the Asia-Pacific region.

Other officials caution that China hasnt made any decision yet on whether to get more involved and is still effectively taking the same position it has since the start of the war a year ago.

There are issues where we just know were not going to be able to see things eye to eye, a senior U.S. official said of the Biden administrations relationship with China. What we want to do, particularly when it comes to Ukraine, is we want that to be one of those areas where we do see eye to eye.

In other words, the official said, one of the Biden administrations goals is for China to recognize that its not OK for Russia to kill innocent Ukrainian people, and nobody should be helping them do that.

This article was originally published on NBCNews.com
Structural issues are causing a cancellation of events in Stegeman Coliseum at the University of Georgia.

Large pieces of concrete are falling from the ceiling inside of the facility, people with knowledge of the situation told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution.

[DOWNLOAD: Free WSB-TV News app for alerts as news breaks]

Due to the issues, the Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported that Fridays gymnastics meet between Georgia and Arkansas has been cancelled. The AJC said the meet has been rescheduled for Sunday and moved to the Gas South Arena in Duluth.

The facility is used not only used for UGA sporting events, but for other UGA events and local high schools graduation ceremonies.

Stegeman Coliseum is almost 60 years old. The facility was added to the UGA family in March 1964. According to the Georgia Dogs Stegeman Coliseum webpage, the facility underwent multiple renovations between 2010 and 2017.

TRENDING STORIES:

Channel 2 Action News reached out to UGA for details surrounding the structural issues and they responded with the following statement:

Due to the need to perform repairs that require immediate attention, Stegeman Coliseum will be closed until further notice. The university has begun notifying groups that have reserved the coliseum and advised them to find alternate locations. UGA Media Relations

The coliseum is closed until further notice.

IN OTHER NEWS:




UK banks are getting tougher on customers using crypto. In the past week, two of the countrys biggest banksNationwide and HSBCcracked down by applying daily limits for buyers or restricting credit cards from making crypto purchases.

These two banks arent the only ones: a number of banks over the past year have got tougher. Some took a tougher stance following the collapse of mega digital asset exchange FTX back in November.

According to most U.K. high-street banks with limits, the crackdown is to protect investors from cryptocurrency fraud. We want to do everything we can to protect our customers and we feel that limiting payments to cryptocurrency exchanges is the best way to make sure your money stays safe, Santander says.

So what are the current rules? Here is the low-down on which banks are crypto-friendly for the retail investor.

Nationwide

Been offered a cryptocurrency investment opportunity? If someone offers you a low risk, high reward crypto investment, be cautious. This could be a scam. Many cryptocurrency investments arent regulated, so youre unlikely to get your money back if something goes wrong. pic.twitter.com/bgb3PLbAHT  Nationwide Building Society (@AskNationwide) October 15, 2021

Major high-street bank Nationwide this week said it was setting up new restrictions to help protect you and to try and keep your money safe. Customers can no longer buy crypto with credit cards and with debit cards, and there are daily limits of 5,000 ($5,965).

HSBC

HSBC this week also imposed tougher rules. Now, customers cannot buy any digital assets from exchanges using credit cards. Those who bank with HSBC can buy crypto with a debit card through certain U.K.-regulated platformsbut not exchanges like Coinbase.

The banking giant has said it has no interest in Bitcoin and has banned customers from buying stocks of companies with Bitcoin exposure.

Story continues

Lloyds

Lloyds allows its clients to buy crypto via U.K.-regulated platforms and make withdrawals from exchanges such as Coinbasebut only using debit cards.

It was one of the first banks in the U.K. to stop its clients from buying crypto with credit cards back in 2018.

NatWest

NatWest Group CEO Alison Rose last month said that the bank had taken a pretty hard line as a bank on crypto.

And in 2021, the bank barred corporate customers who deal in cryptocurrencies. That means companies like crypto exchanges with a base in the U.K. cannot hold accounts at NatWest.

The FCA Has 5 Entirely Reasonable Concerns About Cryptocurrency

But right now, according to the bank, that doesn't mean that we block cryptocurrency payments altogether but we will restrict payments to cryptocurrency exchanges that present the highest risk of financial harm.

You can use a NatWest account to buy digital assets from exchanges such as Coinbase. Amounts are limited, according to the bank, though NatWest has not revealed exactly by how much.

Barclays

Barclays bank does not allow customers to buy or sell crypto through its online banking platform. Would-be investors can buy crypto via a regulated, FCA-approved broker, though.

Barclays was one of the U.K. banks that stopped customers making payments to crypto exchange Binance in 2021 after the British regulatory body FCA issued a warning over exchange.

Santander

High-street bank Santander announced last year that it would be limiting U.K. customers from making large crypto transactions. As it stands, those who bank with Santander can make single transactions of 1,000, with a total limit of 3,000 in any rolling 30-day period.

A crypto trader who banks with Santander told Decrypt that his account was closed without warning after making withdrawals from Coinbase.

Wise

Formerly known as TransferWise, Wise does not deal in cryptocurrencies at all. And you cant use an account to buy digital assets from an exchange. But Wise customers can receive money to their account from a platform that deals with crypto if it is regulated in the EU or UK.

Monzo

You can buy cryptocurrency on big, established exchanges such as Coinbase (but not Binance) with popular challenger bank Monzo, but it may block a small number of transactions based on risk. The bank does not say how big or small these transactions are.

Starling

Challenger bank Starling is one of the strictest: it has banned customers from all crypto-related payments. We consider crypto activity to be high risk, the bank said in November. Starling clients told Decrypt that the move was sudden.

Hi there  We always review our position in relation to financial crime. We consider crypto activity to be high risk. Weve taken the decision to prevent all card payments to crypto merchants and to implement further restrictions on outgoing and incoming transfers.  Starling Bank (@StarlingBank) November 22, 2022

Revolut

This challenger bank is the most crypto-friendly of them all: users can buy, sell, and store a number of digital assets via the mobile banking app. And just last month, the bank launched a staking service for Ethereum, Cardano, Polkadot, and Tezos.
[Source]

Animaid Cafe, a maid cafe in Manchester, England, is looking to hire more servers as the business continues to thrive despite online criticism.

The controversial business, which is located in Afflecks Palace, prides itself as the U.K.s only sit-in maid cafe.

The Japanese-inspired eatery features servers in anime-style maid uniforms, including lacy fishnet stockings and ruffled miniskirts, who act as servants and refer to customers as masters or princesses.

More from NextShark: Filipino spaghetti, balut land on Worst Rated Foods list from Taste Atlas

The cafe specializes in sweet treats, including milkshakes, bubble teas and mochi ice cream sundaes. It also has a section that sells anime figures.

Before entering the cafe, customers must agree to a set of rules, including not touching the maids nor discussing serious problems such as trauma or mental illnesses with them.

More from NextShark: Netizens poke fun at dinosaur' lechon served at Filipino familys NYE dinner

Animaid Cafe was previously slammed by Manchester councilor Joanne Harding on Twitter last month, who said the establishments atmosphere made her f[l]esh crawl.

She criticized the restaurant for its no touching policy, saying that professionals should not have to worry about being harassed in the workplace.

A maid cafe. No touching or asking to touch the maids, Harding said. We have a gender-based violence strategy and ask, Is this OK?

More from NextShark: Costcos famous $4.99 rotisserie chicken has a dark side, and the company is getting sued for it

What fresh hell is this in Manchester ? A  maid cafe - No touching or asking to touch the maids. We have a gender based violence strategy and ask  is this ok ? - this makes my fresh crawl. pic.twitter.com/cFYOENjhRF  (((Joanne Harding))) (@Joanne13Harding) January 28, 2023

One Twitter user dubbed the cafe as Hooters for incels, referring to a person who regards themselves as involuntarily celibate and considers themselves unable to attract women as sexual partners.

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However, executives of the cafe said that Hardings comments and her fellow detractors have caused a spike in their business, prompting them to hire more servers.

Customers have stuck by us since the media attention, manager Vic Littley told Jam Press.

We have become a lot busier since, and are currently hiring more staff to help out. A bad situation has turned into something more positive. Attention from the counselor made us want to improve our service. There has been a fast increase in positive attention too. More people are open to hearing about what we do and asking questions.

A bulletin posted on Animade Cafes official Instagram account notes that applicants must be 18 or older, have performance or cosplay experience and must be outgoing and confident members of the team.
A commuter walks across Westminster Bridge in London on Monday as the UK prepares for forecasted snow and ice. (PA Images via Getty Images)

The whole UK is set to be hit with a wave of snow and ice on Monday, the Met Office says.

It has issued yellow warnings for snow and ice for England, Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales for Monday and Tuesday, with further warnings throughout the week until Friday.

The Met Office warned that temperatures could drop below minus 15C.

It brought forward its previous yellow warnings as the UK braces with the cold weather caused by a blast of Arctic air.

The Met Office said temperatures could drop below minus 10C on Monday night on higher ground in northern Scotland, with northerly winds making it feel even colder.

The Met Office said temperatures could drop as low as -15 overnight on Tuesday in some sheltered Scottish Glens.

Snowy conditions are expected in parts of the UK this week. (Reuters)

In an update on Monday, the Met Office said temperatures in parts of the UK will drop below freezing on Monday night and will not top mid-single figures during the day on Tuesday or Wednesday.

Up to 30cm of snow could fall in isolated spots across Scotland while other areas could see 10-20cm of snow fall.

A yellow weather warning will be in place for London, the Thames Valley, East Anglia, parts of the Midlands and South Wales from 9pm on Monday night until 10am on Tuesday.

An identical one will be in place in Northern Ireland at the same time.

A yellow weather warning for snow and ice is already in place in much of Northern and Eastern Scotland and North East England.

Watch: Cold weather alert as freezing temperatures hit the UK

The area covered by it is set to extend as far south as Hull from Tuesday before it lifts at 10am on Wednesday.

Overnight temperatures later in the week could reach minus 4C in London and minus 6C in Birmingham and Belfast.

Met Office chief meteorologist Dan Suri said: Snow, ice and low temperatures are the main themes of this weeks forecast, as the UK comes under the influence of an arctic maritime airmass as cold air moves in from the north.

Snow is already falling in parts of the north where some travel disruption likely, as well as a chance of some rural communities being cut off. Snow showers will continue through today and Tuesday here, and Northern Ireland will also be subject to some snow showers, especially over high ground.

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It is expected to snow this week as temperatures drop. (PA)

The UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) has issued a cold weather alert and has placed north-east England, north-west England and Yorkshire under a level three alert, with the rest of England at level two.

A level three alert means there is a 90% chance of severely cold weather, icy conditions or heavy snow, which could increase the health risk to vulnerable patients, the NHS said.

Areas affected by the warnings could experience power outages, delays to road, rail and air travel, icy surfaces and some rural communities may be cut off by the freezing conditions.

Dr Agostinho Sousa, head of extreme events and health protection at UKHSA, said: During periods like this, it is important to check in on family, friends and relatives who may be more vulnerable to the cold weather, as it can have a serious impact on health.

If you have a pre-existing medical condition or are over the age of 65, it is important to try and heat your home to at least 18C if you can.

The Met Office have warned of frost and potential snow as temperatures drop at the start of March. (Getty)

Britain could see snow in March after temperatures dropped to below freezing over the past few days. (Reuters)

Last month, the Met Office suggested that in some areas of the country, there was "a small possibility of more organised rain or snow spreading southwards" in early March.

This is down to a phenomenon known as "sudden stratospheric warming".

Here, Yahoo News explains how it works.

What is sudden stratospheric warming?

Sudden stratospheric warming (SSW), refers to a rapid warming  up to about 50C in just a couple of days  high up in the Earth's stratosphere.

This is so high up that we dont feel the warming ourselves, but it can cause a knock-on effect a few weeks later, affecting the weather we experience lower down in the troposphere.

Every year in winter, strong westerly winds circle around the Arctic high up in the stratosphere  something known as a stratospheric polar vortex, the Met Office explains.

Read more: When Snow and -2C Freeze Will Hit UK As Met Office Issues Weather Warning

Sometimes  although not every year  this causes winds in the polar vortex to weaken, or even reverse to flow from east to west.

Cold air then descends rapidly in the polar vortex, causing temperatures in the stratosphere to soar by as much as 50C in the space of a few days.

Read more: Food shortages: Fruit and veg industry 'hurt horribly by Brexit', ex-supermarket chief warns

Cooler air from the higher level disperses and sinks down to the troposphere, which can cause the jet stream to change shape and "snake" across the North Atlantic and northern Europe, including Britain.

A sudden stratospheric warming event was linked to the Beast from the East that swept the UK in 2018.

What is the Beast from the East?

A car covered in snow in Larbert, near Falkirk, during 2018's Beast From the East. (PA)

The Beast from the East, a wintry storm that ran from around 22 February to 5 March 2018, saw weeks of heavy snow and wind pelting the UK and elsewhere in Europe.

It resulted in a total of 17 deaths in the UK, with 22 inches of snowfall in some areas and 1.2bn in damage.

Read more: Full list of fruit and veg rationed by Tesco, Asda, and Morrisons as supermarkets clamp down amid shortages

Since then, the term has been used in the media to describe subsequent spells of heavy snow.

Although the blizzard was caused by a SSW event, the Met Office says there is a low probability of having widely disruptive winter weather like that of March 2018.

Is there a sudden stratospheric warming taking place now?

There is usually a delay before we feel the impact of an SSW down on the troposphere. (Getty Images)

A major SSW took place some 50km above the North Pole earlier this month, causing the stratospheric polar vortex to reverse.

This weather event is currently still taking place, although as mentioned, there is usually a delay before people start to feel it on the Earth's surface.

The cold snap is expected to arrive within the next two weeks, according to the Met Office, with much colder weather expected in the middle of March.

Its long-range forecast covering 9-23 March says: "Spells of rain or snow, are more likely than earlier in the month, with a low chance that some wintry episodes could be disruptive, though northwestern areas most likely to see the driest conditions.

"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."
By Sarah Marsh and Andreas Rinke

BERLIN (Reuters) - Ukraine's envoy to Berlin said Germany is taking more of a leadership role in organising deliveries of arms to Kyiv and has stopped making what he called excuses to avoid sending weapons.

Germany was initially reluctant to send heavy arms to Ukraine to help it confront Russia's invasion, fearing it might escalate the fight. But in January Berlin agreed to send its Leopard tanks and said it would work with allies to send more.

"What has changed in the last few months is we are not just discussing the current order of the day but we are strategically planning according to what is needed and what can be delivered," Ukrainian Ambassador Oleksii Makeiev told Reuters.

"There are no more excuses now but facts that we talk about."

On Friday, the Swiss government said Germany had asked it to sell some of its Leopard tanks back to arms maker Rheinmetall, which would allow the company to backfill gaps in the armaments of European Union and NATO members.

Makeiev's conciliatory words were in stark contrast to the harsh tone of his predecessor Andriy Melnyk, who regularly chastised Germany for not doing enough to help it fight off the invasion, which Moscow calls a "special military operation".

Germany's decision in January, made after the U.S. agreed to send its own M1 Abrams tanks, broke through one of the last taboos in Western support for Ukraine: providing arms that have a mainly offensive rather than defensive purpose.

At the time, Russia reacted with fury, saying Berlin was abandoning its "historical responsibility to Russia" arising from Nazi crimes in World War Two when Hitler's forces invaded the Soviet Union.

TANKS AND GUARANTEES

The Ukrainian envoy said the military items Kyiv most needed were air defence systems, battle tanks, artillery and ammunition.

"We need more ammunition and more long-distance artillery to destroy Russian supply chains," Makeiev said, speaking in his office on Thursday in front of a whiteboard covered with photos representing this wish list.

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Ukraine was not currently pushing Germany to send fighter jets, Makeiev said, even if it was discussing possible deliveries of jets with other allies.

"We discuss what we need with allies in a very precise and content-rich manner," he said, sporting a blue suit and yellow tie, the colours of the Ukrainian flag.

"Until this moment, I have not received from our defence ministry any request for a certain type of plane available in Germany."

German Chancellor Olaf Scholz said on Thursday he was in talks with allies about giving future security guarantees to Ukraine, without specifying what they might be.

Makeiev said Ukraine welcomed discussions about offers security guarantees for its post-war future ands said they were not being made to persuade Ukraine to weaken it stance on Russia.

"The best security guarantee for Ukraine is NATO membership," Makeiev said.

Many other European countries would want some kind of security guarantees after the end of the war, he added.

"So for us it is important that Russia is deprived of the capacity to wage war anywhere in the neighbourhood after Ukraine wins this war."

Moscow, which says it has annexed nearly a fifth of Ukraine, accuses Kyiv of posing a security threat. Ukraine and its allies say the invasion was an unprovoked war to conquer land.

Makeiev said he hoped most Ukrainian refugees would return eventually to help rebuild the country. Germany has taken in around 1 million refugees and a recent survey showed more than a third wanted to stay.

Scholz was due to hold talks on Friday in Washington with U.S. President Joe Biden about the war in Ukraine amid growing concerns that China may provide weapons to Russia.

(Reporting by Sarah Marsh and Andreas Rinke; Editing by Andrew Heavens)
NPC deputy to propose sex education in kindergartens, compiling Chinese textbooks to 'help break Western-dominated values'

By Wan Hengyi, Zhao Yusha and Xu Yelu (Global Times) 09:12, March 03, 2023

A motion to introduce sex education into kindergartens and compile teaching materials in line with China's national conditions, which will be put forward at the upcoming annual two sessions, has sparked widespread discussion on social media, with experts saying that sex education that respects the laws of natural science and Chinese social values will break education models based on Western ideology and values.

"Sex education is an indispensable part of schooling. Kindergarten is a crucial period for comprehensive sex education in schools," Chen Wei, a doctor from a hospital in Quzhou, East China's Zhejiang Province, told the Global Times.

Chen, who is also a deputy to the 14th National People's Congress (NPC), China's national legislature, is set to submit a motion urging kindergartens to provide sex education and use textbooks that are suitable for Chinese culture.

She believes that comprehensive sex education will instill young people with certain knowledge, skills, attitudes and values toward sex, which will ensure their health and dignity.

"Giving young people comprehensive sex education can postpone their first intercourse, reduce the frequency of sex and risks for those young people, and let them know how to use birth control measures," according to Chen.

A total of 131,000 people have been prosecuted for sexually assaulting minors, including rape and child molestation, in the past five years, according to data released by the Supreme People's Procuratorate at a press conference on Wednesday.

In 2021, 223 cases of sexual assault against children were reported, involving more than 569 victims, among whom the proportion of boys grew, a report published by a Chinese nongovernmental organization revealed.

For minors at a critical stage of physical and psychological development, scientific and normative sex education and values based on laws and moral customs jointly internalize and shape their behaviors and values, Peng Xiaohui, a sexologist at Central China Normal University and vice-chairman of the China Sexology Association, told the Global Times on Thursday.

In November 2021, the Ministry of Education issued the Guide for Life Safety and Health Education Curriculum Teaching Materials for Primary and Secondary Schools, which requires students to "learn the basic knowledge and skills of adolescent health care and improve their ability to prevent sexual harassment and assault."

Beijing and Shanghai released the first pilot sex education textbooks for primary schools as early as 2011.

But several experts have said that not only are there few kindergartens in China that provide appropriate sex education for children, but most teachers have not received proper training in sex education, and localized teaching materials are also hard to find.

Some experts believe sex education textbooks should not be just copied from the West. These textbooks should be developed by authorities, experts on child sex education and even representatives of public opinion, Peng said, adding that these materials should be piloted and gradually improved in select kindergartens, so as to be promoted in kindergartens across the country.

It's alarming that some Western countries have infiltrated sex education in China and instilled some so-called politically correct ideas into the younger generation through foundations, agencies and NGOs, the expert noted, adding that this constitutes Western interference in China's social development from the commanding heights of discourse.

Many netizens and parents expressed similar views, saying that they encourage and support the idea of children receiving sex education, only if the content is consistent with children's cognition, social cognition and legal constraints.

Sex education in kindergarten can start with a simple understanding of the body, so that children can gain basic judgment and awareness of self-protection, a netizen surnamed Jian told the Global Times. More specific sex education and gender knowledge should be strengthened through courses at high schools and universities, she added.

Another parent surnamed Yang said that sex education content must be appropriate for the age and cognitive level of children, while attention should also be paid to protecting children's privacy and safety.

Education should not only teach children a correct and normal understanding of sex, but also guide them to shape values in line with the laws and social cognition of Chinese society, Peng said.

(Web editor: Zhong Wenxing, Liang Jun)
Syrskyi listened to the reports of unit commanders about the state of affairs in the Bakhmut

While visiting units defending the town, who are experiencing some of the fiercest fighting of the war so far, the general was informed about the situation in subordinate units, as well the defense capabilities of Ukrainian units on the front line.

Read also: Heavy fighting for Bakhmut ongoing as Russians raze Donbas town, governor says

According to the press service, Syrskyi praised and encouraged the defenders, whom he said were an example of stability, courage, and heroism in the battle for Bakhmut.

The press service added the Russians continue to throw more troops into the battle to capture the town.

Read also: Russians again fail to break through near Bakhmut, says Defense Ministry

The Russian invaders have thrown the most prepared units of the Wagner PMC and other Russian army regular units to capture the town, reads the report.

Fierce fighting is taking place in and around the town.

Ukrainian Deputy Defense Minister Hanna Malyar said on Feb. 28 that Kyiv had dispatched additional reinforcements to Bakhmut as the situation there became increasingly challenging for the Ukrainian military.

Malyar said the decision to hold Bakhmut is purely military, and not political.

Serhiy Cherevatyi, spokesman for the Eastern Group of the Ukrainian Armed Forces, said earlier that the Ukrainian military was heroically holding the defense line in the Bakhmut area and weakening the invading Russian forces so that rested reserves with new military equipment could repel them later.

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Read the original article on The New Voice of Ukraine
Vadym Prystaiko emphasized that Ukraine can contribute to the security of NATO countries

"There are two main requirements for any NATO member that are spelled out: the country must belong to the region, and it must be able to contribute to the common security," said Prystaiko.

Read also: Ukrainians not prepared to forego EU and NATO membership in exchange for peace, survey shows

Ukraine meets both of these criteria, there are no other criteria in the North Atlantic Treaty.

The diplomat emphasized that NATO has already re-asserted itself as one of the most powerful security organizations, and Ukraine should become a member of the alliance "precisely because we are now a superpower and can make our contribution."

He added that Ukraines doctrinal documents clearly spell out Kyivs aspirations for NATO membership.

Read also: Ending war in Ukraine wont improve Russia-NATO relations, Stoltenberg says

In February, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy predicted that Ukraine would join NATO after the war with Russia ends. Ukraine's Defense Minister Oleksii Reznikov also said that Ukraine has already become a de facto member of the alliance.

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Read the original article on The New Voice of Ukraine
As Ukraine runs low on the ammunition it needs to continue fighting off the Russian invasion and foreign stockpiles grow bare, some of Kyivs staunchest backers, including the United States, are putting pressure on European allies to quickly ramp up arms production.

An ambitious proposal made by Estonia and reviewed by NBC News would have Europe increase 155 millimeter artillery shell production by seven times, moving manufacturing capacity from 240,000 to 300,000 shells per year to up to 2.1 million shells annually.

The estimated cost would be nearly $4.25 billion for the joint acquisition effort that would be shared by European Union member states. If fulfilled, Europe would produce Ukraines ammunition needs in six months, rather than the four years it would take at current production levels, the proposal says.

Just before giving a blistering speech that denounced Russia at a United Nations Security Council meeting dedicated to the first anniversary of the invasion last week, Estonian Foreign Minister Urmas Reinsalu told NBC News that he had discussed the proposal with several of his European counterparts at a dinner in New York City.

Image: BELGIUM-EU-FOREIGN-AFFAIRS (Kenzo Tribouillard / AFP - Getty Images)

While he said he was confident that a plan would be agreed on, there was no time to waste.

The modus operandi may differ  who will make procurements and how much and so on  but what is important is that it takes place quickly, he said.

To Ukraine, the production of shells in Europe and the U.S. is at a crisis point.

If production remains at the same level or slightly higher, we will run out of shells this year, according to Andriy Zagorodnyuk, who previously served as Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyys defense minister and is now advising the Ukrainian government on arms procurement.

Estonia, which borders Russia, used to be part of the Soviet Union and its leaders for years have warned of President Vladimir Putins expansionist impulses. It has been key to efforts to dramatically increase ammunition production, according to a Senate staffer close to the arms production dialogue between the U.S. and its allies who spoke on the condition of anonymity to speak freely about the discussions.

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The country has served as the North Star for Europes military aid to Ukraine, the staffer said.

The small country, with a population of 1.3 million, has dedicated nearly half of its defense budget to aiding Ukraine. Now the U.S. is urging European governments to increase production of artillery ammunition, the staffer said, as the U.S. increases its own production fivefold.

Across the pond, officials said they are responding as best they can. The U.S. is asking us to do the same, and we are  on a smaller scale  doing exactly that, a Western official told NBC News on the condition of anonymity to openly discuss private matters.

Arms procurement and manufacturing has been a key agenda item for the Biden administration, especially in recent months as it has become increasingly clear that U.S. munition stores are getting low. American domestic production of conventional weapons  like howitzers, tanks and the ammo needed for them  fell out of fashion in the U.S. industrial base after the end of the Cold War. Those manufacturing lines, which grew fallow in the ensuing decades, have been slow to become fully operational again. Concerns have grown publicly in recent months that the U.S. alone may not be able to maintain its steady supply to Ukraine.

Three European diplomats said the issue was a top priority that was raised during President Joe Bidens visit to Poland for the wars anniversary, and it was a regular point of discussion during the Munich Security Conference last month among European officials. It is also expected to be a central topic of discussion for German Chancellor Olaf Scholz and Biden during their meeting at the White House on Friday.

All NATO armaments directors are collectively looking at ways to increase production capacity, said an administration official who spoke anonymously to share details about the ongoing efforts, referring to the top officials from each member country in charge of defense procurement. Given the changing security environment, NATO allies have identified this as a need.

The Biden administration announced Friday that it was contributing even more ammo to help the Ukrainians with a new $400 million package that would drawdown equipment from Pentagon inventories.

The trouble is not that there is opposition among Europeans. Instead, the challenge is time and the countries bureaucracies. Particularly around the defense industry, Zagorodnyuk said, European safety and competition regulations are fairly stiff. Expanding and building new plants to meet the Estonian proposal within a year would be extremely fast for Europe, Zagorodnyuk said, but in Ukraine it would not be fast enough.

It will take time: procurements, orders, production lines and the practical logistics of delivery, Estonias Reinsalu said, suggesting that European countries could still provide ammunition from their remaining stockpiles and backfill once production catches up.

One problem for the Ukrainians is that the war has been a kind of throwback, militarily. After the Cold War, both U.S. and European defense companies were organized to produce more advanced, high-tech weapons at a peacetime tempo and were not preparing for a land war in Europe heavily reliant on artillery, said Trevor Taylor, professor emeritus at Cranfield University in the United Kingdom.

Most NATO countries really did not envisage that they would be in an artillery war. I mean its a shock to the system, said Taylor, who heads a research program on defense and industry at the Royal United Services Institute think tank.

Europes defense industry has sought to adapt to the high demand from Ukraine but is looking for a longer-term commitment from governments to justify major investments required to ratchet up production of artillery rounds and other munitions, he said.

Image: UKRAINE-RUSSIA-CONFLICT-WAR (Ihor Tkachov / AFP - Getty Images)

Zelenskyy made clear his countrys needs during a news conference with Latvian President Egils Levits in Lviv on Friday.

Artillery is the No. 1 of what we need  both systems and ammunition, as well as shells in large quantities  to stop Russia, he said. Not to shoot at their territory, but to throw them out of ours.

It appears the conversations in Europe are beginning to move from hypothetical proposals to concrete action. A group of European defense ministers is aiming to hammer out a deal next week that would share the burden of production costs across the European Union, according to E.U. spokesperson Nabila Massrali.

Theyre discussing the need to look into joint procurement at the European level  both to replenish member states stockpiles and sustain our efforts in support of Ukraine, she said. We need to support the industry in ramping up production capacity to ensure they can deliver on the new order.

The European Union is also expected to deliver much-needed artillery ammunition from member countries stockpiles, for which Brussels will reimburse them, the Financial Times reported Friday.

European governments are looking at streamlining the rules for weapons buying that would speed up the process and drop some of the competition requirements, according to Taylor of RUSI.

Perhaps the main frustration for Ukraine is that it took over a year into Russias invasion of its territory for its partners and allies to respond. It was well known for months that not even the U.S. had the production capacity to maintain Ukrainian forces. It was openly discussed by the defense industry, leading to a recent shift in defense spending priorities.

We spend a lot of money on some very exquisite large systems and we do not spend as much on the munitions necessary to support those, Raytheon CEO Greg Hayes said at the Reagan National Defense Forum in December. We have not had a priority on fulfilling the war reserves that we need to fight a long-term battle.

Taylor said he expected U.S. and European defense contractors to be able to supply enough ammunition to Ukraine to avoid a crippling shortage for the countrys forces, but it may not be enough for Kyiv to gain the upper hand.

The Europeans and the Americans will be able to supply Ukraine with enough ammunition that the Russians cant in any meaningful sense win, he said. But it will be quite difficult to give the Ukrainians enough that the Ukrainians could, in a clear sense, win."

Phil McCausland reported from New York, and Dan de Luce from Washington.

This article was originally published on NBCNews.com
Northern Ukraine  The Ukrainian military has been conducting drills near the country's northern border with Belarus, aimed at showing preparedness to defend against any repeat of Russia's land invasion across that border. These drills on the northern front follow warnings that the Kremlin is planning a renewed offensive this spring.

CBS News visited the maze of trenches that Ukraine's forces built close to the border after Russian troops crossed over from Belarus as part of their failed push to capture Kyiv last year.

One of the Ukrainian commanders there said his troops were "fully ready," adding with a wry smile that they had "prepared a lot of presents" for any invading forces that might try to cross the border again.

Commander Kent, a callsign, wouldn't give details about those "presents," but he made it clear that, unlike 12 months ago, Ukraine has a "a fortified border" capable of stopping heavy equipment and even light armor from "trespassing."

The trenches look like they could be right out of World War I, but the soldiers bracing for battle inside them have modern technology at their fingertips.

A Ukrainian soldier flies a surveillance drone near the country's northern border with Belarus, in early March, 2023. / Credit: CBS News

CBS News watched as a soldier used a reconnaissance drone to scour the skies and the border for any signs of trouble.

Several Ukrainian units are now spread across the 650-mile frontier with Belarus, but they have yet to detect any new mass mobilization of Russian forces in the neighboring country. U.S. officials are also watching what they say is a regular flow of Russian troops and hardware in and out of Belarus, but no signs of a new buildup there yet.

The Ukrainian forces are determined not to be taken by surprise.

We asked the soldier flying the drone, who goes by the callsign Kraken, what he was spending six hours every day scanning for.

"Clusters of Russian military equipment," he said. "They need to gather somewhere If we see any columns of equipment, we forward this information."

In Ukraine's east, however, the fighting is only intensifying. The industrial town of Bakhmut, right on the front line, has been the focus of much of the worst fighting this year. Once home to about 70,000 people, it has been virtually razed to the ground, and now nearly all of it is under Russia's control.



That has made protecting the north an even higher priority for Ukraine.

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Reznikov at the 9th Ramstein meeting shows a handkerchief with the image of a fighter jet

"Im sure that we will have two or three types of fighter jets, with one of them to become the main one (for our military), Reznikov said.

It depends on which of them suits Ukraine the best  for our airfields, for our engineers, for our maintenance.

Read also: Ukraine working to build aviation coalition to get fighter jets, Kuleba says

When reminded of Germany Chancellor Olaf Scholz's refusal to supply attack aircraft to Ukraine, Reznikov said: "I can remember how Germany refused to supply tanks to Ukraine. Now, my country has Leopards that I have personally tested. They came from Germany."

The minister added that he believes a coalition will be formed to provide Ukraine with fighter jets, similar to the tank one, through which Kyiv eventually received German Leopards as its main battle tanks, and is also awaiting the delivery of British Challengers, American Abrams, and French AMX.

Earlier, Reznikov said that a positive decision on the issue of fighter jets supply to Ukraine would come in one or two months.

Ukraine has repeatedly requested the United States and others of its allies for Western aircraft.

However, Ukraines military allies haven't yet agreed on the matter, and have delayed making a decision. In particular, the U.S. President Joe Biden said in an interview to ABC news on the one-year anniversary of the Russian full-scale invasion: "I am ruling (the delivery of F-16 fighter jets) out for now," as he believes Ukraine currently doesn't need the aircraft.

Scholz also claimed that the question of warplanes for Ukraine "currently makes no sense."

UK Defense Secretary Ben Wallace also said there was no change of Ukraine being given British Typhoon fighter jets in near future, as he believes that it makes more sense if some European countries supply Ukraine with Soviet-era aircraft that would later be replaced with British warplanes.

Slovakia, meanwhile, has announced that it could transfer its MiG-29 fighter jets to Ukraine, while Poland has said it is ready to act within a broader fighter jet coalition.

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The discussion about western aircraft supplies to Ukraine continues. In the meantime, there is a much greater chance that Ukrainian pilots could be trained to pilot modern aircraft is more close.

The U.K. has become the first country to announce it would conduct such training. Poland has also declared its readiness to provide Ukrainian pilots with training on F-16s.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said that besides the UK and Poland, another three counties are also ready to train Ukrainian pilots.

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Read the original article on The New Voice of Ukraine
Key developments on March 2:

The Ukrainian military said on March 2 that its troops have the option to withdraw from Bakhmut, but such a decision will only be made if it is "absolutely necessary."

"As long as the command sees that it makes sense to keep a certain settlement, it will be fought for," Eastern Operational Command spokesman Serhiy Cherevaty said on television.

"If a tactical action needs to be made, it will be made," he added.

For now, Ukrainian forces are "heroically" holding on to the largely destroyed city even as Russia steps up its deadly onslaught, according to Cherevaty.

"The defenders of the Bakhmut front are heroically defending this segment of the front as they exhaust, bleed, and weaken the enemy," Cherevaty said.

Ukraine has previously said it intends to strengthen defense in the Bakhmut area.

Deputy Defense Minister Hanna Maliar reported that the military had ordered additional troops to be sent to Bakhmut.

The Institute for the Study of War (ISW), a D.C.-based think-tank analyzing the war in Ukraine, said, "Russian forces advanced within Bakhmut and continued ground attacks around Bakhmut."

The ISW said that despite the worsening situation in Bakhmut for the Ukrainians, the defense of Bakhmut is a strategically sound operation that will continue to force Russian troops to expend manpower and equipment on costly assaults."

Donetsk Oblast Governor Pavlo Kyrylenko said on March 2 that approximately 5,000 people, including 37 children, still live in Bakhmut. He reported that most remaining residents refuse to leave their homes.

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Attacks against civilians

An overnight Russian missile strike on Zaporizhzhia killed at least four people, and eight were wounded, the Prosecutor General's Office said on March 2.

Five people were still missing, including a child.

The attack partially collapsed a five-story residential building in the southeastern city.

The latest missile strike on Zaporizhzhia comes a few months after Russia launched relentless attacks on the city throughout October, killing dozens.

In the southern Kherson Oblast, Russia launched drone attacks on civilians lining up for humanitarian aid, the prosecutors said. They reported that nine were wounded in the attack, including a child.

Russia continues to attack liberated parts of Kherson Oblast nearly four months after its troops were forced to withdraw from the areas amid the Ukrainian counteroffensive.

Bryansk Oblast incident

Russia accused "Ukrainian saboteurs" of launching an "attack" on Russia's Bryansk Oblast. Kyiv denied its involvement in what it calls a "provocation."

At around 9:30 a.m., Bryansk Oblast Governor Alexander Bogomaz reported on his Telegram channel that "Ukrainian saboteurs" crossed the border with Russia and opened fire.

The incident occurred in the village of Lyubechane, located less than a kilometer north of the border. Lyubechane has a population of under 300.

Bogomaz reported that the attack killed two people and a child and that hostages were taken, a statement that can't be independently verified.

Russian President Vladimir Putin called the incident a "terrorist attack."

Mykhailo Podolyak, an advisor to Ukraine's Presidential Office, denied Russian claims, adding that Russia "wants to scare its people to justify the attack on another country."

The Russian Volunteer Corps later claimed responsibility for the incident in a Telegram post, calling the local authorities' claim about civilian casualties propaganda.

It attached a video of two people dressed in military uniforms outside a medical clinic in Lyubechane.

"The Russian Volunteer Corps came to the Bryansk Oblast to show their compatriots that there is hope, that free Russian people with weapons in their hands can fight the regime," the post said.

The so-called Russian Volunteer Corps allegedly consists of Russian nationals that are said to fight for Ukraine as part of the Territorial Defense Forces.

However, little is known about the unit and its allegiance.
Key developments on March 3:

The U.S. Department of Defense announced a new military aid package worth $400 million for Ukraine to support its critical security and defense needs.

The package includes a range of equipment, such as additional ammunition for High Mobility Artillery Rocket Systems (HIMARS), 155mm, 105mm, and 25mm artillery rounds, armored vehicle-launched bridges, demolition munitions, and equipment for obstacle clearing.

"To meet Ukraine's evolving battlefield requirements, the United States will continue to work with its allies and partners to provide Ukraine with key capabilities," Pentagon said in the statement announcing the aid.

On the one-year anniversary of Russia's full-scale invasion on Feb. 24, the U.S. announced a defense aid package worth $2 billion.

The latest aid announcement comes as the fierce battle continues for the eastern Ukrainian city of Bakhmut.

Bakhmut update

Russian troops overnight blew up a key bridge connecting Bakhmut with the village of Khromove, CNN reported on March 3, citing an unnamed official from the region's police and a soldier in Bakhmut.

The bridge is a vital route for evacuating civilians and transporting supplies such as ammunition, and it is the last major supply route from Bakhmut to Chasiv Yar.

CNN quoted a special forces soldier fighting in Bakhmut, who said a Russian Iskander missile had hit the bridge.

Police in neighboring Kostiantynivka said local authorities will attempt to repair the bridge soon, but in the meantime, Bakhmut can still be reached via dirt tracks and fields.

Story continues

The report comes as the press service of Yevgeny Prigozhin, the founder of the Russian state-backed Wagner Group mercenaries, claimed Bakhmut was "practically surrounded" by Wagner forces and called on Ukrainian troops to withdraw from the city.

Despite Russian claims, Colonel General Oleksandr Syrskyi, commander of Ukraine's Ground Forces, allegedly visited Bakhmut on March 3.

The Armed Forces shared photos of Syrskyi in Bakhmut.

Ukraine's military is reportedly weighing the option of withdrawing from Bakhmut as it becomes increasingly difficult to hold the city.

Eastern Operational Command spokesman Serhiy Cherevaty said on March 2 that the Armed Forces have the option to withdraw from Bakhmut, but such a decision will only be made if it is "absolutely necessary."

Meanwhile, the General Staff of Ukraine's Armed Forces said in its regular evening update that the Battle for Bakhmut continues.

According to the report, the Ukrainian military successfully repelled numerous attacks around Vasyukivka, Dubovo-Vasylivka, and Bakhmut in Donetsk Oblast during the past 24 hours.

Ukraine's Air Force also reported on March 3 that Ukrainian anti-aircraft gunners destroyed a Russian Su-34 fighter bomber near the town of Yenakiieve in Donetsk Oblast.

The Su-34 is one of Russia's most advanced fighter aircraft, able to hit targets up to 1,000 kilometers away while carrying 12 tons of bombs and missiles, according to Forbes.
Colonel General Oleksandr Syrskyi, commander of the Ground Forces of Ukraine, arrived in Bakhmut, Donetsk Oblast, on March 3 to visit the command posts in the frontline city.

"The enemy does not give up hope of capturing Bakhmut and continues accumulating forces to occupy it," Land Forces wrote.

Syrskyi discussed current issues on the Bakhmut front line with the units' commanders and supported the service people, who the ground forces called "an example of stability, courage, and heroism."

"The Russian occupiers threw the most prepared units of the Wagner mercenary group and other regular units of the Russian army to capture the city," reads the post. "Intense fighting is taking place in the city itself and around it."

Syrskyi's visit comes on the same day when Yevgeny Prigozhin, Wagner Group founder, said in a video address that Bakhmut was "practically surrounded" by his forces and called on Zelensky to withdraw Ukrainian troops from the city.

The Ukrainian military's National Resistance Center called Prigozhin's address "a disinformation campaign designed to create panic among the population."

Overnight on March 3, Russian troops blew up a key bridge connecting Bakhmut with the village of Khromove, CNN reported on March 3, citing an unnamed official from the region's police and a soldier in Bakhmut.

On March 2, Eastern Operational Command spokesman Serhiy Cherevaty said that Ukraine's Armed Forces have the option to withdraw from Bakhmut, but such a decision will only be made if it is "absolutely necessary."

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 General Oleksii Hromov.


Situation at Bakhmut increasingly challenging for Ukrainian military

In the middle of the night, the Ptakhy Madiara unit received a combat order to immediately withdraw from Bakhmut to a new place of hostilities, he said.

What are the reasons for the transfer at a critical moment for Bakhmut, when we spent 110 days of combat duty here? First of all, Im a military man, so I wont comment on the orders of the Bakhmut defense command.

Read also: Ukraines Defense Ministry comments on UK intelligence data on Bakhmut

Ukrainian Deputy Defense Minister Hanna Malyar said on Feb. 28 that Kyiv had dispatched additional reinforcements to Bakhmut as the situation there became increasingly challenging for the Ukrainian military.

Malyar said the decision to hold Bakhmut is purely military, and not political.

Serhiy Cherevatyi, spokesman for the Eastern Group of the Ukrainian Armed Forces, said earlier that the Ukrainian military was heroically holding the defense line in the Bakhmut area and weakening the invading Russian forces so that rested reserves with new military equipment could repel them later.

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Read the original article on The New Voice of Ukraine
Ukrainian anti-aircraft gunners have shot down a Russian Su-34 fighter jet in the skies over occupied city of Yenakiieve, Donetsk Oblast.

Source: Ukrainian Air Force; Russia-backed local news outlet, citing a message of Roman Khramenkov, Russian proxy "Head of the City Administration"

Details: Khramenkov reported that "an aircraft was shot down over the territory of Yenakiieve".

The Ukrainian Air Force reported that anti-aircraft gunners of the Nikopol anti-aircraft missile regiment of the Air Command Skhid (East) destroyed a Russian Su-34 fighter-bomber near Yenakiieve at about 13:30.

Quote: "One of the pilots is dead, and the other is about to join him."

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Ukrainian artillery teams fire Pions toward Russian positions in Bakhmut on Feb. 5, 2023. Madeleine Kelly/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images

A Ukrainian commander said fighting in Bakhmut is "critical" and there are more Russians than ammo.

The head of Russia's mercenary Wagner group said the city is almost surrounded by Russian forces.

Bahkmut has been the site of some of the deadliest combat in the war for both sides.

A Ukrainian commander said the situation in Bakhmut, a city in eastern Ukraine, is "critical" and that there are more Russian troops surrounding the city than there is ammunition to kill them all.

Volodymyr Nazarenko, a deputy commander in the National Guard of Ukraine, told Ukrainian NV Radio that the fighting is currently going on "round the clock" as Russians relentlessly push to capture the city, according to a translation from Reuters.

"They take no account of their losses in trying to take the city by assault," Nazarenko said, adding that Ukrainian troops are trying to "inflict as many losses on the enemy as possible."

But it may not be enough. Reuters reported that Nazarenko told the radio station that Ukrainian soldiers in Bakhmut have less ammo than there are Russian troops attacking the city.

"We need as much ammunition as possible," he said, according to Reuters' translation. "There are many more Russians here than we have ammunition to destroy them."

On Friday morning, Yevgeny Prigozhin, the head of the Wagner Group, a Russian mercenary organization, appeared in a video telling Kyiv that Bakhmut was "basically surrounded," the Wall Street Journal reported.

"The pincers are tightening," Prigozhin said, urging Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy to pull his forces from the area.

There's currently only one road left out of the city, CNN reported, and the Russian bombing of a vital supply bridge to Bakhmut has cut Ukrainian forces from critical resources.

The Wagner Group pushed much of the offensive into Bakhmut this past weekend, the Wall Street Journal reported.

Bakhmut has been the site of some of the deadliest combat in the war, with Ukraine and Russia experiencing high losses.

Insider previously reported that Bakhmut was being referred to as "the meat grinder" by soldiers. A retired US Marine fighting alongside Ukrainian forces said a fighter's life expectancy on the front lines in Bakhmut was around 4 hours.

Read the original article on Business Insider
By Rod Nickel and Leonardo Benassatto

KHERSON, Ukraine (Reuters) - The moment her grand-daughter was born, Olha Lukina, 65, rushed to a registry office. It was one of the last still providing Ukrainian citizenship for newborns in the southern city of Kherson which was then under Russian occupation.

Baby Kateryna became Ukraine's newest citizen that day in May, born into one of the country's darkest times.

Later in the occupation, Russia required all newborns to receive Russian citizenship, said Leonid Remyga, chief doctor at Kherson City Clinical Hospital, the city's only working hospital.

Russia occupied Kherson for eight months last year until Ukrainian soldiers recaptured it in November. Many residents initially returned, but Kherson is more like a ghost town now due to shelling by Russian troops across the Dnipro River.

Early in the occupation, Ukrainian parents faced pressure to accept Russian citizenship for their newborns. According to Remyga and Kateryna's parents - Natalia Lukina and Oleksii Markelov - this included denying them free distribution of diapers and baby food.

It is an example of how residents of towns and cities in Ukraine's east and south that Russian forces captured had to navigate sudden and sometimes dangerous changes in rules and demands made by the occupiers.

"When we asked for diapers, the Russians told us, 'If you come without Russian birth certificates, we will not give you diapers'," said Natalia Lukina, 42.

Most parents of small children, with little income during the war, accepted free diapers from Russians, Lukina's partner Oleksii Markelov, said. "There wasn't a penny of money."

Reuters could not independently corroborate their account.

Russia's intelligence service, the FSB, which helps enforce rules in occupied territories in Ukraine, did not respond to a request for comment on the residents' account.

Lukina refused to change the birth certificate of her daughter, who was born two months after Russia captured Kherson.

Story continues

Reuters has seen Kateryna's Ukrainian documentation, stamped by Ukraine's justice ministry. The ministry did not respond to a request for comment on the situation in Kherson during Russian occupation.

"We told (Russians) that the baby was born in Ukraine and is Ukrainian, not Russian," Lukina said in an interview in her cramped home, where she and Markelov live with their three children and her elderly mother Olha, without electricity or running water.

The house is just 1.5 km (one mile) from the Russian-controlled side of the Dnipro, from where troops fire artillery at Kherson daily.

'THREATS', 'PROPAGANDA'

The doctor Remyga said he still applied Ukrainian laws early in the occupation, until soldiers suspended him from his job on June 7.

"They conducted such a propaganda campaign, that Russia is here forever," Remyga told Reuters at the hospital. "But then FSB officers would threaten that if (families) did not receive Russian documents they would have problems."

Remyga said he fell ill in June and spent a month in hospital under soldiers' watch. He managed to escape the following month.

He said FSB officers arrested him on Sept. 20, cuffed him and pulled a bag over his head, before driving him to an unknown detention centre, where he was interrogated.

The officers released him in early October and forbade him to return to work at the hospital, he said.

Remyga said he was back on the job on Nov. 12, the day after Ukraine recaptured Kherson.

The FSB did not respond to a request for comment on Remyga's account.

In Ukrainian hospitals, parents receive a basic medical record of their baby's birth but must go to a registry office for the birth certificate of a citizen of Ukraine, conferring citizenship.

During the occupation, many parents delayed visiting Russian-controlled registry offices, said Olena Klimenko, head of Kherson's regional registration office.

Once the occupation ended, many of those parents registered their babies for Ukrainian citizenship, Klimenko said. She did not have precise statistics.

It is unclear how many babies received Russian citizenship, because Russian officials recorded them and Ukrainian registration workers did not cooperate with them, Klimenko said.

Before the war, an average of 1,200 babies were born at Kherson City Clinical Hospital per year, but the number dropped to 489 births in 2022, according to Remyga.

He said the drop reflected the fact that many mothers left to give birth in Ukrainian-controlled parts of the country, or abroad.

(Reporting by Rod Nickel and Leonardo Benassatto in Kherson, Ukraine; Editing by Mike Collett-White and Angus MacSwan)
By Michael Holden

LONDON (Reuters) -King Charles will travel to France and Germany on his first state visits since succeeding his mother Queen Elizabeth as British monarch last September, Buckingham Palace said on Friday.

Charles will address the chambers of both European neighbours' parliaments in a first for a British monarch during his busy five-day visit with his wife Camilla, the Queen Consort, which will begin on March 26.

"The visit will celebrate the UK's relationship with France and Germany, marking our shared histories, culture and values," a Buckingham Palace spokesperson said. "It is also a chance to look forwards and show the many ways our countries are working in partnership."

While his mother embarked on an extensive tour after becoming queen in 1952 which took in Australia, New Zealand and realms where she was head of state, Charles will make the short trip across the English Channel at the behest of the government, which is seeking better European relations after Brexit.

Both the French and German presidents had also extended speedy invitations to Charles since he ascended the throne, a palace source said.

During his time in France he will join President Emmanuel Macron for a state banquet at the Palace of Versailles and for a ceremony of remembrance at the Arc de Triomphe.

Macron notably paid a heartfelt tribute to Elizabeth following her death in a message to Britain, when he said she would be "with us forever". "To you, she was your queen. To us, she was the queen," he said.

Charles will address senators and members of the National Assembly at the French Senate as well travelling to Bordeaux to see the impact of last summer's wildfires and tour an organic vineyard, a nod to the king's long-running environmental campaigning.

STRAINED FRENCH RELATIONS

Relations between London and Paris have been strained since the British vote to leave the European Union in 2016, and long-standing rows over fishing rights and migrants travelling from France to Britain across the English Channel in small boats.

Story continues

However, British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak has sought to reset the relationship, agreeing a deal to ramp up efforts to tackle illegal migration and has also struck a deal with the EU to settle a bitter row over post-Brexit trade to and from Northern Ireland.

He will meet Macron for a bilateral summit himself in March.

In Germany, the British royals will be greeted by the German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier at the Brandenburg Gate, the first time a visiting head of state had received a ceremonial welcome there.

"It's important for the president to tell the king but also all Britons that we in Germany and also Europe hope our relations with the United Kingdom stay close and friendly even after Brexit," said Steinmeier spokesperson Cerstin Gammelin.

Charles will also address the German parliament, and meet refugees who have recently arrived from Ukraine. The trip will include a visit to Hamburg where they will go to the St Nikolai Memorial, the remains of a church destroyed when the Allies bombed the city during World War Two.

(Reporting by Michael Holden; Additional Reporting by Sarah Marsh in Berlin; Editing by Kate Holton, Alex Richardson and Sharon Singleton)
A huge cloud of Sahara dust reached Cuba on June 25, 2020.

As global temperatures and emissions rise, its going to become harder to breathe. Air quality issues wont just come from human activity, thoughthe natural world could also release more pollution in a rapidly warming world.

A recent study published in the journal Communications Earth & Environment found that a warming planet means more particles in the atmosphere, including dust and organic aerosols from plants. While we usually think of plants for their benefits to the environment, in certain circumstances they can actually release compounds that arent great for our respiratory systems.

Read more

Researchers at the University of California Riverside examined how air quality could change over time as temperatures and carbon dioxide increase. They looked at data from 13 models that participate in the Coupled Model Intercomparison Project, which compares climate data outcomes. Results from the models showed that increases in CO2 and hotter temperatures will create more global average concentrations of fine particulate matter, or PM2.5. The two largest contributors will come from dust and organic aerosols from plants. PM2.5 is particularly bad for humans: Long-term exposure is linked to lung problems, heart disease, and premature death.

If global temperatures increase by 4 degrees Celsius, then dust and plant emissions are predicted to increase as much as 14%, according to the study. But if the world manages to stay within 2 degrees Celsius of warming, that increase in PM2.5 is about 7%. The more we increase CO2, the more PM2.5 we see being put into the atmosphere, and the inverse is also true. The more we reduce, the better the air quality gets, James Gomez, UC Riverside doctoral student and lead author of the study, said in a press release.



All plants produce chemicals that are called biogenic volatile organic compounds, or BVOCs (if youve ever smelled a freshly mown lawn, youve experienced these compounds). The BVOCs oxidize in the atmosphere and form organic aerosols; an increase in BVOCs could create public health issues. Really anybody that has respiratory issues could be negatively impacted by air pollution, Gomez told Earther. Even an average healthy person who breathes in excessive amounts of air pollution could be negatively affected and develop respiratory issues.

Story continues

Change in PM2.5 surface concentration after 4 degrees C of warming. Black dots symbolize statistically significant changes.

The second largest contributor to the increase in naturally occurring air pollution would come from the Sahara Desert in Africa. Results from the models showed that a warmer world means changes in wind patterns. Remember the large dust cloud from the Sahara that traveled across the Atlantic Ocean and hovered over the southern U.S. and the Caribbean in 2020? Now imagine a bigger dust cloud. We looked at the magnitude of the change, Gomez said. The dust events that do occur will be more likely to be strongerThe ones that happen would probably be larger.

The study did not consider other forms of air pollution caused by the natural world, like wildfire smoke, because thats harder to place into climate models, according to Gomez. Because of that omission, he thinks the results are underestimating how bad PM2.5 pollution could become if emissions and global warming arent reigned in.

And thats not even talking about human-caused pollution. Gomez pointed out that, even though human pollution was not calculated for here, human activity has led carbon dioxide to increase in our atmosphere. Indirectly, we are causing these changes in the natural system, Gomez said. Nature is making the air pollution worse, as a result of our net actions.

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A university employee in Missouri was found dead during a well-being check after he missed a few days of work, authorities said.

Now, investigators with the Phelps County Sheriffs Department are investigating his death as a homicide.

Deputies were called to check on Eugene R. Morton, 57, at about 8:20 a.m. Wednesday, March 1, according to a news release shared on Facebook.

While searching in the area of the 15000 block of County Road 8430 in Rolla, investigators found Morton had been killed, authorities said.

At this time, investigators dont believe this was a random act of violence, officials said. They have no reason to think there is any danger to the public.

Missouri University of Science and Technology confirmed Morton worked as a custodian off and on since 2011.

He was well liked and highly regarded by many, Chancellor Dr. Mo Dehghani said in a statement sent to McClatchy News.

We send our sincere condolences to Genes family, friends and loved ones, Dehghani continued. Please know that we are fully cooperating with law enforcement as they investigate this case.

The Phelps County Sheriffs Department is investigating alongside the Phelps County Coroners Office, Missouri State Highway Patrol and the Rolla Police Department.

Anyone with additional information is asked to call the Phelps County Sheriffs Department Criminal Investigations Unit at 573-426-3860. Tipsters may also call the tip line at 573-426-2936 or visit www.phelpscountysheriff.com.

Missouri S&T is in Rolla, about 105 miles southwest of St. Louis.

Neighbor calls 911 after loud bang. Police find couple shot dead with child nearby

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College baseball player shot to death in Georgia. Cops believe it was targeted attack
Paul Weinhold, president and CEO of the University of Oregon Foundation board, left, visits with Anshuman Razdan, University of Oregon vice president for research and innovation, and Susan Stevens, chair of the University of Oregon Foundation board, after the announcement of Launch Oregon.

University of Oregon's new Launch Oregon, LCC is the first of its kind in the state, aimed at helping get startups off the ground. The program is seeking investors and donors to support the ideas of students and staff.

The nonprofit will take entrepreneurship opportunities to the next level, providing entrepreneurs access to capital and business talent, as announced in a news conference at the university.

Launch Oregon takes inspiration from other universities around the country, including Arizona State University's Startup Mill, University of California Los Angeles' Startup UCLA and Georgia Institute of Technology's CREATE-X Startup Launch.

Anshuman "AR" Razdan, UO's vice president for research and innovation, said he visited and spoke with several universities doing similar work, but they all had slightly different methods.

As a former computer science professor at UO, Razdan said a program like this will be transformative for getting projects off the ground.

He said when he tried to raise capital for his own projects, there was no support structure available and the first investment was the hardest to find. This effort, he said, changes that.

"Truly 'cradle-to-launch' we are here to hold hands, we are here to provide capital, we are here to bring that business and leadership talent," he said.

UO Interim President Patrick Phillips said many faculty have "struggled" to get projects, research, etc. going because of a lack of substantial university support or not knowing how to find that support. Phillips said he hopes this will change with Launch Oregon.

"(Our students) see what's going on in the world, they know the world is changing quickly, that they need to be agents of their own success," Phillips said. "If we're going to be an innovative university, we have to open the gates for innovation for those who are witness, that's faculty, graduate students, postdocs, undergrad, and staff as well."

Foundation funding and self-sustainability

The UO Foundation, the university's fundraising arm, is heavily involved in the project.

Story continues

The Launch Oregon board is made up of five UO Foundation representatives and five UO faculty and administration representatives. Razdan is the board's co-chair alongside Paul Weinhold, the UO Foundations president and CEO.

"The board will ensure that the mission of Launch Oregon stays true to support the university discoveries turning into innovation, yet bring the wherewithal of venture capital and business and industry experience coming from the foundation," Razdan said.

The foundation is providing $3 million for the program, which will fund operations as well as an initial venture fund. Razdan said the hope is for Launch Oregon to transition into a fully self-sustaining program through donations by alumni, individual and institutional investors, and others.

Razdan said this involvement of the UO Foundation, an entity outside the university, sets Launch Oregon apart from other similar projects around the country.

According to Razdan, all the money that is made from any future companies that are established through Launch Oregon will return back to the founders, investors and the academic units that the company spawned from.

'Hub of innovation'

Launch Oregon's goal is to make an impact not only on the Eugene community, but society-wide.

Phillips said the university is still determining how exactly these impacts will look. He said he would like to see Eugene become a "hub of innovation" by expanding research and invention through new companies.

Patrick Phillips, interm president and professor pf biology at the University of Oregon, speaks during the announcement of Launch Oregon.

"It's not just about helping people make money or whatever, it's how do we keep this engine of progress going for the whole state so that we are the state that we want to become?" Phillips said. "I hope that that's what Eugene can be, one of those places that is a sparkly city of the future."

Razdan hopes more companies will lead to more UO graduates staying in Oregon. He said even if not all the startups are successful, the students and staff that get involved will hopefully go on to try other ventures and continue to seek out entrepreneur opportunities.

"When the new company is live, the students who have worked on the project may become employee number three, or employee number four," Razdan said. "That retains the talent. They'll create decent-paying jobs, well-paying jobs, and will be an economic boon to the state."

Next steps for program

In the next six to eight weeks, Launch Oregon aims to select a managing director, according to Razdan.

The pool for the search process closed Tuesday with interviews starting this month.

"We have a robust pool of candidates," Weinhold said in a statement. "Once a person has been identified, it will be somewhat dependent on their schedule to arrive at an actual start date."

Razdan said the team already has their eye on about 20 different ideas that could be brought into Launch Oregon.

"Definitely in the first six months we should be launching at least a couple of companies," Razdan said.

Miranda Cyr reports on education for The Register-Guard. You can contact her at mcyr@registerguard.com or find her on Twitter @mirandabcyr.

This article originally appeared on Register-Guard: UO's Launch Oregon promises big entrepreneurship opportunities
(Bloomberg) -- Uruguays President Luis Lacalle Pou said Thursday he will ask lawmakers to approve $150 million in tax cuts for individuals and small businesses.

Most Read from Bloomberg

We are in conditions to proceed with a reduction in taxes thanks to a growing economy and improving public finances, Lacalle Pou said in his annual address to Congress. Lower taxes will boost consumption and the economy, he said.

The government will sponsor legislation that would increase personal income tax deductions for 75% of tax payers, while about 63,000 low income workers would no longer have to pay at all. Other proposed tax changes would exempt about 20,000 people from paying a social security tax and help small businesses, he said. Lacalle Pous five-party coalition holds majorities in both houses of Congress.

Uruguay is bucking the regional trend of countries such as Chile, Colombia and Brazil raising or planning to raise taxes to fund greater social spending. Uruguay, a country of 3.5 million people, already boasts one of the deepest welfare states in the Americas. That fiscal largess led to unsustainable deficits even before the government splurged on pandemic stimulus.

Colombia Congress Passes Petro Tax Hikes on Oil and the Rich

After surging to 5.8% in 2020, the Lacalle Pou administration reduced the deficit to an estimated 3.2% at the end of last year. The government is targeting a 2.6% deficit this year.

The proposed tax cuts equivalent to about 0.2% of GDP arent a significant risk to fiscal accounts, according to analysts at brokerage house Puente.

Our fiscal concerns remain concentrated on the expected deceleration of activity that is already adding pressure on the headline fiscal balance, the analysts wrote in a note to clients. We do not see the announcement as negative for valuations.

Story continues

(Updates with brokerage comments on tax cuts in sixth and seventh paragraphs)

Most Read from Bloomberg Businessweek

2023 Bloomberg L.P.
(Reuters) - Exxon Mobil Corp was sued for racial discrimination by a U.S. federal agency on Thursday, with charges alleging that the oil major failed to protect workers from harassment after nooses were found at one of its facilities in 2020.

The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) said in a statement that a Black employee at Exxon's chemical plant in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, found a hangman's noose at his work site in January 2020.

The EEOC said that at the time of this report, Exxon was already aware of three other such instances of nooses being displayed at the complex and a nearby refinery, and that a fifth noose was reported later in 2020.

According to the EEOC, Exxon investigated some of these incidents, but not all, and "failed to take measures reasonably calculated to end the harassment."

The federal agency alleged that Exxon's actions and omissions regarding the noose incidents "created a racially hostile work environment."

Exxon said it disagreed with the EEOC's findings and allegations.

"We encourage employees to report claims like this, and we thoroughly investigated. The symbols of hate are unacceptable, offensive, and in violation of our corporate policies", Exxon said in a statement.

(Reporting by Mrinmay Dey in Bengaluru; Editing by Christopher Cushing)
Flags of the USA and Ukraine

According to the report, the package will include GMLRS ammunition for HIMARS rocket artillery systems, along with 155mm and 105mm artillery shells.

Read also: Ukrainian strikes on ammunition depots in Russia not excluded, says military intelligence

Furthermore, the tranche is also expected to provide Ukraine with armored bridge layers, which would enable Ukrainian troops to cross trenches in combat conditions.

White House National Security spokesman John Kirby previously said that Washington will announce additional steps to support Ukraine militarily on March 3, with a focus on amnion for artillery systems already used by the Ukrainian military.

Read also: Estonian defense minister pledges new military aid package during Kyiv trip

On Feb. 24, the United States announced a $2 billion aid package for Ukraine, which included HIMARS ammunition, artillery rounds, drones, and other pieces of military equipment.

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Read the original article on The New Voice of Ukraine
The U.S. on Friday announced a $400 million security aid package for Ukraine, providing more ammunition, equipment and munitions for Kyiv in its fight against Russia.

The State Department said the latest package includes munitions for the High Mobility Artillery Rocket Systems (HIMARS) and howitzer artillery guns, as well as ammunition for the Bradley Infantry Fighting Vehicles the U.S. first announced for Ukraine in January.

The latest round of security aid also includes demolitions munitions, equipment and other material, as well as services for maintenance, training and support of Ukrainian troops, who have been fighting against a Russian invasion for more than a year.

The package also includes armored vehicle-launched bridges, which accompany armored columns and allow vehicles to cross rivers, streams, ditches and trenches, according to the Defense Department. The bridges are carried on the chassis of armored vehicles before they are launched at river or stream banks. They can also be quickly folded up on the other side of the crossing.

Russia alone could end its war today, the State Department said in a release. Until Russia does so, for as long as it takes, we will stand united with Ukraine and strengthen its military on the battlefield so that Ukraine will be in the strongest possible position at the negotiating table.

The U.S. has provided at least $25 billion in security assistance to Ukraine since the start of the Biden administration.

Congress approved about $113 billion in total emergency assistance for Ukraine last year and the last round of aid from December has not yet been exhausted.

Notably, the latest round of security aid to Ukraine does not include F-16 fighter jets, which Kyiv has long asked for, or another sought-after advanced weapon, ATACMS long-range missile systems.

The Biden administration has been under some pressure to send both over to Ukraine, which is preparing for a counteroffensive in the coming months.

Story continues

Ukrainian defenders are currently holding off an onslaught of Russian soldiers and mercenary fighters around the town of Bakhmut in the eastern Donetsk region.

Moscow has encircled the town in three directions and Ukraine has signaled a potential retreat from the embattled front.

Updated 4:25 p.m.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to The Hill.
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland made an unannounced visit to Lviv, Ukraine, on Friday at the invitation of the Ukrainian prosecutor general, a Justice Department official said.

"The attorney general held several meetings and reaffirmed our determination to hold Russia accountable for crimes committed in its unjust and unprovoked invasion against its sovereign neighbor," the official said.

(Reporting by Sarah N. Lynch; writing by Rami Ayyub; editing by Tim Ahmann)
(Bloomberg) -- The Biden administration on Thursday announced export restrictions for dozens of Chinese entities, including server maker Inspur Group Co. and units of genetics firm BGI, citing activities contrary to US national security and foreign policy interest.

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The Commerce Department added a number of companies to the so-called Entity List for acquiring or attempting to acquire US-origin items in support of Chinas military modernization efforts. The department also cited companies providing support to Russias military and supply sanctioned parties in Iran.

Among the notable China additions are Inspur Group, the state-affiliated maker of computer servers thats benefited from datacenter construction nationwide, and Beijing-based CPU maker Loongson. Both are regarded as integral to the governments effort to replace foreign-made technology and propel domestic innovation.

The US has been wielding the export control power of the Commerce Department, headed by Gina Raimondo, as one of its main tools to stifle Chinas technological ambitions and bolster national security.

There have been times in Americas history of intense global competition with another superpower who does not share our values, Raimondo said in the interview at Bloombergs office in Washington earlier Thursday. This is one of those times.

Loongson is considered a potential alternative in the future for Intel Corp. chips, while Inspur competes directly with servers made by the likes of HP Inc. and Dell Technologies Inc.

Another company cited is 4Paradigm Technology Co., an up-and-coming AI unicorn backed by some of the worlds biggest investors including Sequoia Capital, Goldman Sachs Group Inc. and Mubadala Investment Co. The US also added Chinese agencies such as the National Research Center for Parallel Computer Engineering and Technology and the Wuxi Institute of Advanced Technology.

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Inspur Electronic Information Industry Co. fell its daily limit of 10% Friday, on top of losses of between 4% and 17% among other group affiliates listed in Hong Kong and mainland China. Loongson Technology Corp. slid in Shanghai.

There are so many different topics here, said Cordell Hull, who led Commerces Bureau of Industry and Security during the Trump administration and is now a principal at national security advisory firm WestExec. Its a broad collection of Chinese entities spread across various topics and demonstrates the wide-ranging concern the US government has about the PRCs activities around the world, and attempting to ensure that US technology isnt furthering that malfeasance.

Economic Bullying

Chinas Ministry of Commerce said in a statement that it opposed the Entity List additions and urged Washington to end its unreasonable suppression and economic bullying, adding that the move also undermines global supply chains. It also said it will take necessary measures to safeguard the interests of its companies.

US companies are banned from exporting to the listed entities without prior government approval. The US government cited specific concerns for groups of companies, including support of Chinas military modernization and contributions to ballistic missile programs.

When we identify entities that pose a national security or foreign policy concern for the United States, we add them to the Entity List to ensure we can scrutinize their transactions, Assistant Secretary for Export Administration Thea Kendler said in a statement. In addition to screening against the Entity List, exporters and those transacting in items subject to our regulations need to exercise careful due diligence to determine whether such items may be diverted to prohibited end-uses or end-users.

Secretive Chinese Committee Draws Up List to Replace U.S. Tech

The sanctions that cover Inspur are similar to those imposed on Huawei Technologies Co., and apply to US shipments as well as foreign-made items produced with US-origin tools or technology, which effectively means all semiconductors on the planet are covered, said Kevin Wolf, a partner at Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld.

The US has also added BGI to the list, a reflection of the administrations use of the blacklist to address human rights violations.

The addition of these entities is based upon information that indicates their collection and analysis of genetic data poses a significant risk of contributing to monitoring and surveillance by the government of China, which has been utilized in the repression of ethnic minorities in China, the release said.

In 2020, two BGI affiliates, Beijing Liuhe BGI and Xinjiang Silk Road BGI, were among 11 Chinese companies added to the US Commerce Departments entity list over their alleged implication in human rights abuses in Xinjiang. BGI then issued a response saying there was no basis for including the subsidiaries on the list, and that the company strictly abides by all international business practices and laws.

Overall, the Commerce Department cited 18 entities in China for allegedly supporting the countrys military, 14 entities in China and Pakistan for work on ballistic missile programs, six entities in China and Burma for alleged human rights violations and three entities in Russia, Belarus and Taiwan for supporting Russias military.

How Blacklisting Entities Became a Trade War Weapon: QuickTake

--With assistance from Gao Yuan, John Harney and Selina Xu.

(Updates with comment from Raimondo in fifth paragraph, Chinas Ministry of Commerce in 10th paragraph.)

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DENVER (AP)  U.S. officials will work to restore more large bison herds to Native American lands under a Friday order from Interior Secretary Deb Haaland that calls for the government to tap into Indigenous knowledge in its efforts to conserve the burly animals that are an icon of the American West.

Haaland also announced $25 million in federal spending for bison conservation. The money, from last year's climate bill, will build new herds, transfer more bison from federal to tribal lands and forge new bison management agreements with tribes, officials said.

American bison, also known as buffalo, have bounced back from their near extinction due to commercial hunting in the 1800s. But they remain absent from most of the grasslands they once occupied, and many tribes have struggled to restore their deep historical connections to the animals.

As many as 60 million bison once roamed North America, moving in vast herds that were central to the culture and survival of numerous Native American groups.

They were driven to the brink of extinction more than a century ago when hunters, U.S. troops and tourists shot them by the thousands to feed a growing commercial market that used bison parts in machinery, fertilizer and clothing. By 1889, only a few hundred bison remained.

Haaland, of Laguna Pueblo in New Mexico, is the first Native American to serve as a U.S. Cabinet secretary. She's championed tribal concerns on issues ranging from wildlife conservation to energy development, and put a spotlight on past mistreatment of Native Americans through a series of listening sessions about systemic abuses at government-run boarding schools.

She told The Associated Press in an interview last year that the decimation of bison by European settlers eliminated the primary food source for many tribes and opened the way for their land to be taken away.

The return of bison in some locations is considered a conservation success. But Haaland said they remain functionally extinct and more work is needed to return the animals to tribal lands and restore the grasslands they depend on.

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This holistic effort will ensure that this powerful sacred animal is reconnected to its natural habitat and the original stewards who know best how to care for it, Haaland said in announcing her order Friday, during a World Wildlife Day event at the National Geographic Society in Washington, D.C..

When we think about Indigenous communities, we must acknowledge that they have spent generations over many centuries observing the seasons, tracking wildlife migration patterns and fully comprehending our role in the delicate balance of this earth, she added.

Across the U.S., from New York to Oklahoma to Alaska, 82 tribes now have more than 20,000 bison in 65 herds. Numbers have been growing in recent years along with the desire among Native Americans to reclaim stewardship of the animals.

Many of the tribes' bison came from U.S. agencies, which over the past two decades transferred thousands of the animals to thin government-controlled herds so they dont outgrow the land. The transfers often were carried out in cooperation with the South Dakota-based InterTribal Buffalo Council. The group's director, Troy Heinert, said Haaland's order is an acknowledgement of the work tribes have already done.

The buffalo has just as long a connection to Indigenous people as we have to it, said Heinert, a member of the Rosebud Sioux Tribe. They are not just a number or a commodity; this is returning a relative to its rightful place.

Past administrations have proposed or advanced bison conservation plans  including under former Presidents George W. Bush, Barack Obama and Donald Trump  and tribes have long been part of that process.

Haaland's order puts Native American interests at the center of the Interior Department's bison program. It also adds a tribal leader, yet to be named, to a group that's exploring establishing new herds on both tribal and federal lands.

Bison reintroductions could put the Biden administration at odds with state officials in Montana. Republican lawmakers have resisted returning the animals to federal lands and opposed some previous bison transfers to tribes.

State lawmakers voted Thursday to advance a resolution opposing the reintroduction of bison to the million-acre (400,000-hectare) Charles M. Russell National Wildlife Refuge in northern Montana  an idea that's been floated by the Biden administration and has support among Native Americans.

Bison were part of the culture 200, 300 years ago. We aren't going back to that, said Montana state Sen. Mike Lang, who sponsored the resolution. Lang said he doesn't oppose bison on tribal lands but added that as populations grow they can cause problems for ranchers and present a public safety threat.

About half of the $25 million announced Friday will go to the National Park Service. The remainder will be split among the Bureau of Indian Affairs, the Bureau of Land Management and the Fish and Wildlife Service.

It includes about $1 million to establish an apprenticeship program that will provide training to tribes on managing bison, including at national parks and national wildlife refuges, officials said.

The Interior Department currently oversees 11,000 bison in herds on public lands in 12 states.
By Josh Smith

SEOUL (Reuters) -The United States and South Korea will conduct more than 10 days of large-scale military exercises in March, including amphibious landings, officials from the two countries said on Friday.

The "Freedom Shield" drills will be held from March 13 to March 23 to strengthen the allies' combined defensive posture, the two militaries said in a statement released at a briefing in Seoul.

"Freedom Shield is designed to strengthen defence and response capabilities of the Alliance by focusing within the exercise scenario on things such as the changing security environment, DPRK aggression and lessons learned from recent wars and conflicts," the allies said, referring to North Korea by the initials of its official name.

On Friday, the two militaries conducted a combined air drill with at least one American B-1B long-range bomber and South Korean F-15K and KF-16 fighter aircraft, South Korea's ministry of defence said in a statement.

The aim was to practice coordination as well as demonstrate American "extended deterrence" against North Korean threats, the ministry said.

Such exercises have in the past drawn sharp reactions from North Korea, including missile tests and nuclear threats.

North Korea says such joint military exercises are proof that the United States and its allies are hostile and bent on regime change in the North.

When asked about the North's reaction, Colonel Isaac Taylor, a spokesman for U.S. Forces Korea (USFK), said the drills were routine and purely defensive.

South Korean officials have noted North Korea is also conducting annual winter drills.

Freedom Shield will feature field exercises on a scale not seen since about 2017, before former U.S. President Donald Trump scaled back public drills to facilitate diplomacy with North Korea.

Talks with North Korea later stalled and COVID-19 restrictions kept drills small in recent years.

With a record number of missile launches from North Korea last year, and South Korea's lifting of anti-pandemic measures, the allies are returning to large-scale drills.

Over the past month South Korean and U.S. special operations troops conducted a live-fire drill named "Teak Knife", which included a U.S. AC-130J gunship that participated in joint drills for the first time, firing guided missiles and bombs as well as 30 mm and 105 mm guns.

(Reporting by Josh Smith; Additional reporting by Hyunsu Yim; Editing by Tom Hogue, Robert Birsel)
A Ukraine security aid package worth approximately US$400 million is expected to be announced Friday around the visit of German Chancellor Olaf Scholz to the White House.

Source: CNN with reference to two US officials, European Pravda reports

The package will include ammunition for HIMARS rocket launchers and different artillery systems such as 155mm and 105mm. According to officials, it will also include Armored Vehicle Launched Bridges for the first time, a system used to launch bridges to cross trenches and narrow water obstacles.

On Thursday, John Kirby, National Security Council strategic communications coordinator, said the US will announce another round of assistance to Ukraine, including ammunition for HIMARS and artillery, but he did not specify how much.

This security assistance will be drawn directly from US inventories under the Presidential Drawdown Authority (PDA), meaning the weapons and equipment can arrive in Ukraine quickly. Last week, the US announced US$2 billion in aid under the Ukraine Security Assistance Initiative (USAI), which contracts with industry to procure the supplies and takes more time.

Together with the new package, the US aid to Ukraine since the beginning of the invasion will amount to more than US$32 billion.

Journalists fight on their own frontline. Support Ukrainska Pravda or become our patron!
(Bloomberg) -- The US and South Korea plan to hold large-scale military drills, defying threats by North Korea to unleash an unprecedented response to the exercises and turn the Pacific Ocean into its firing range.

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The two allies will hold their Freedom Shield exercise from March 13-23, which will bolster a joint defense posture in the face of North Koreas nuclear and missile threat, the militaries from the US and South Korea said Friday in a statement.

The drills would feature large-scale joint outdoor movement training, including joint landing training and reflect modified security environments as a result of North Korean advancements in its missile and nuclear arms capabilities, the statement said.

Kim Yo Jong, the influential sister of the North Korean leader, last month in a speech to the ruling party, threatened retaliation against joint drills by saying there is no change in our will to make the worst maniacs escalating the tensions pay the price for their action.

She also made the firing range comment, hinting the state could start testing whether its warhead designs can withstand the heat of reentering the atmosphere.

The last time North Korea launched a missile into the Pacific was October 2022, when it fired a Hwasong-12 intermediate-range ballistic missile over Japan, flyingnce of 4,600 kilometers (2,860 miles), and marking the longest distance traveled by a North Korean missile to date.

South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol, who took office in May, brought back joint military exercises with his countrys US ally. The drills had been scaled down or halted under former President Donald Trump, who was hoping the move would facilitate his nuclear negotiations with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un.

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Trumps three meetings with Kim from 2018, however, led to no concrete steps to wind down Pyongyangs nuclear program, which only grew in strength and size as the in-person diplomacy eventually fizzled.

North Korea for decades has called the joint exercises a prelude to an invasion and nuclear war. Last month, it test fired an intercontinental ballistic missile designed to deliver a nuclear warhead to the American mainland a day after its Foreign Ministry threatened the US with unprecedentedly persistent and strong counteractions for holding joint military exercises with South Korea.

Japan, which North Korea has listed as one of its mortal enemies, has joined several drills with the US in South Korea in recent months but there was no indication if its military would take part in the upcoming exercises.

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Utah may be getting a new state flag after lawmakers approved the design on Thursday.

A bill to change the official Utah flag narrowly passed in the state House by a margin of 40-35, sending the legislation to Gov. Spencer Coxs (R) desk. The state Senate cleared it at the end of January, though Cox has not indicated if he will support the measure.

The new flag, if the bill is signed into law, will be divided into three sections. The top part is blue, the middle is white, and the bottom is red.

The white area would be designed to appear as a mountain with five peaks, cutting into the blue area on top. A mostly blue hexagon would be placed in the middle of the white area, also cutting into the red area on the bottom.

Inside the hexagon will be a yellow beehive and a white star. The beehive is meant to symbolize industry, community and the year 1847, when the first settlers reached modern-day Utah, according to the legislation.

The honey bee is also Utahs state insect.

The star symbolizes hope and the year 1896, when Utah became a state, and the hexagon symbolizes the strength of Utahs people.

The top blue section is for the states skies and faith, the middle white section is for the snowy mountains and peace, and the bottom red section is for the southern part of the states red rocks and for the states perseverance and landscapes.

The Salt Lake Tribune reported that House Majority Leader Mike Schultz (R) said updating the flag will allow for it to be displayed more widely.

When you drive across the state, you see some Utah flags, but the majority of those flags you see are on state-owned buildings or government-owned buildings. There are going to be more people flying the Utah flag, and thats good for our state, Schultz said.

The outlet reported that the process to design a new flag started in 2019, and more than 5,700 submissions for design ideas were sent in last year.

Three versions of the current historic flag will also still be able to be used under the bill. The current flag features a blue background with an eagle, an American flag, a shield with a beehive and arrows in the middle, surrounded by a yellow circle.

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A spokesperson for Cox told the Tribune that the governors office appreciates the debate the legislators had on the flag and are pleased they found common ground but did not specify if Cox would sign the bill.

The Tribune reported that the governor must decide by March 23.

A Twitter account formed for civilians supporting the new flag design praised the bills passage in a tweet on Thursday.

Congratulations, #Utah, youre getting a new flag! the account tweeted.

Updated: 5:13 p.m.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to The Hill.
SALT LAKE CITY (AP)  Lawmakers advanced a measure to limit where people can get abortions in Utah, banning abortion clinics and effectively requiring they only be provided in hospitals. After passing through the state Senate on a party-line vote Thursday, it will return to the state House of Representatives for voting on minor amendments and then head to the desk of Gov. Spencer Cox, an anti-abortion Republican who expressed support last month.

When we passed the trigger ban a couple years ago, I did not anticipate we would be here so soon, Republican state Sen. Dan McCay said.

The measure is one of several that members of Utah's Republican-supermajority statehouse has passed this year while abortion restrictions approved in years past are on hold due to a state court injunction. It has faced fierce opposition from business, civil liberties and abortion rights groups including Planned Parenthood Association of Utah, which operates three of the four abortion clinics in the state.

It has one goal," Karrie Galloway, the group's president and CEO, said in a statement after the measure passed. Put abortion out of reach for as many Utahns as possible no matter what their faith, family and trust medical providers decide is best for their safety and health.

Republican lawmakers' push to shutter abortion clinics comes as red states throughout the country work to implement restrictions less than a year after the overturning of Roe v. Wade, the U.S. Supreme Court decision that enshrined a constitutional right to abortion for nearly 50 years. After the court gave states the power to regulate abortion, many attempted to implement trigger laws designed to take effect upon a Supreme Court ruling, while others took action to reinstitute pre-Roe bans on the books.

In Utah, the ruling triggered two previously passed laws  a 2019 ban on abortion after 18 weeks and a 2020 ban on abortions regardless of trimester, with several exceptions including for instances of risk to maternal health as well as rape or incest reported to the police. The state Planned Parenthood affiliate sued over the 2020 ban, and in July, a state court delayed implementing it until legal challenges could be resolved. The 18-week ban has since been de facto law.

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The clinic-centered push in Utah is unique among states with trigger laws, where many abortion clinics closed after last year's Supreme Court decision. Clinics were shuttered in states such as West Virginia and Mississippi in the aftermath, yet they remain open in Utah while courts deliberate. The measure mirrors a raft of proposals passed in red states in the decade before Roe was overturned when anti-abortion lawmakers passed measuresregulating clinics, including the size of procedure rooms and distances from hospitals.

In Utah, the proposal from Rep. Karianne Lisonbee would require all abortions  via medication or surgery  be provided in hospitals by not allowing new clinics to be licensed after May 2 and not allowing any to operate once their licenses expire. It would affect the operations of the four clinics that provide abortions in Utah  three run by Planned Parenthood and the other by Wasatch Women's Center, an independent clinic in Salt Lake City. The measure would also clarify the definition of abortion to address legal liability concerns providers voiced about the way exceptions are worded in state law  a provision Republicans called a compromise.

Because the 2020 ban would effectively put abortion clinics out of business, abortion opponents argue that it makes sense to remove them from state statute, Mary Taylor, president of Pro-Life Utah, said. She said the exceptional circumstances in which abortion will still be legal  rape, incest and health of the mother  are better suited to hospital care.

We have in statute provisions to license an abortion clinic when abortion is not legal. Theres an incongruency there, Taylor said. This just clarifies the statute.

McCay, the measure's Senate sponsor, said limiting abortions to emergency or exceptional circumstances and requiring they be provided in hospitals would protect both the innocent and the health of the mother."

In Utah last year, clinics provided most abortions. Of the total 2,818 administered, 61% were with medications like mifepristone rather than via surgery. Abortion access proponents argued abortions were no different than other kinds of specialty care that have increasingly moved to clinic settings where providers are more accustomed to recurring patient concerns and confronting complications that may arise.

Jasmin Charles, a Salt Lake City physician's assistant, said closing clinics would limit access to anyone seeking an abortion but would make things especially difficult for people who may not have extra cash or easy access to transportation. She anticipated difficult conversations lied ahead with her patients, including those struggling with substance abuse, as she works to advise them on how to access a rapidly diminishing number of reproductive health care options.

I can tell my patients that hospitals are OK, Charles said. But I know I work with individuals who cannot access the care through the hospital when every time they walk through the hospital door  including for an abortion  they think Itll cost me $10,000 to $20,000.'

__

This story has been updated to correct that the measure must return to the Utah House of Representatives for voting on minor amendments before heading to Gov. Spencer Cox for approval, not head straight to the governor.
According to new data from the National Military Family Association, some teenagers in military families need more help dealing with mental health concerns.

Advocates sat down with us to talk about the results of the 2023 Military Teen Experience Survey for the first time. The survey was done with Bloom, an organization for military teens created by military teens.

When someone joins the military, its the whole family that serves. National Military Family Association CEO Besa Pinchotti explained that includes military kids.

Some of them were born into the military and lived with their family through every stage of that military life and theyve been through a lot, she described.

Read: Sen. Warren demands answers about military housing: I want these contractors in front of me

They didnt choose the things unique to military life -- the constant goodbyes to deploying parents, consistent moves or school changes.

Youre starting from scratch over and over and over again, Pinchotti said.

Now data shows thats having an impact.

Read: Orlando White Castle raises money for Second Harvest Food Bank

This years survey followed up on a statistic these advocates found scary. In 2022, 37% of the teens said theyd considered harming themselves or others. So this year, NMFA asked if these teens are getting the help they need.

This new survey found 13% felt they needed care but did not receive it.

The issues have to do with those who are seeking help or know that they need help and arent getting it, Pinchotti explained. Some of the reasons for that are that they dont believe that their parents have the means or the ability to get them that help or that they didnt ask because they didnt think that their parents would help them.

Read: Pandemic learning gap: The mental toll on students

Now, the group is working with the Defense Health Agency to advocate for fixes.

Weve been working with DHA to expand telehealth and make sure that families are able to get those appointments because we know of those military teens who didnt get the mental health support that they needed, 20% of them said it was because they werent able to get an appointment, Pinchotti said.

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This isnt only about the families who serve -- it could impact our national security and our nations military, both now and in the future.

It all also trickles to the service member, who isnt able to focus on the job at hand when theyre worried about their family not getting the care that they need, Pinchotti added. Then it affects their ability to stay in the military. Theres a lot of decisions being made at the kitchen tables all around America to not continue to serve or to not sign up at all.

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safaris

A safari is a type of tourist activity that gives people the chance to see exotic animals, explore natural landscapes and learn about other cultures. They offer both adventure and relaxation, which makes them a popular choice among travelers who want to do something different and memorable.

Over the past decades, safaris in Africa have become increasingly popular with countries such as Kenya, Tanzania, and South Africa being top destinations for wildlife enthusiasts. As ecotourism has grown, people have been trying to use sustainable tourism practices to protect endangered species and help local communities.

A new trend promises to take safaris to the next level. Vegan safaris are emerging for animal lovers to experience African wildlife, while adhering to their plant-based lifestyle. These safaris often focus on conservation, ethical animal encounters and plant-based meals. An article from National Geographic reported that vegan safaris came as a response to traditional safaris, which typically hurt the ecosystem and environment of the area. In popular parks, people unintentionally can harm the wildlife. The animals can not only be injured, but also their habitats can be destroyed.

At a vegan safari, travelers can contribute to the protection and conservation of African wildlife and their habitats and enjoy a one-of-a-kind experience. In addition, travelers will support local communities that emphasize environmental sustainability. Members of People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) say that because more travelers are plant-based, these safaris are not only more accessible and sustainable, but also create a new way to make money.

Travel Noire gathered four vegan safaris worldwide to consider when planning their next African adventure. These tours provide unique chances to get close to the wildlife while helping local communities and traveling ethically. Some of these safaris include trips to places that are good for animals and meals made by local vegan chefs.

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Vegan Safari Africa

Destinations: Botswana and South Africa

Locally sourced, fresh, whole-food vegan meals are served at the lodges and on mobile camping safaris. The Okavango Delta is a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Both the wildlife concessions in Ngamiland and the Moremi Game Reserve on its eastern border protect it. Vegan Safari Africa aims to promote responsible tourism in all of its practices.

World Vegan Travel

Destinations: Botswana, Rwanda, and South Africa

World Vegan Travel offers tours, meals and activities selected by vegans for vegans at luxury lodges and quaint inns. The company offers guided walks through a forested primate sanctuary, an afternoon river cruise to see birds and monkeys, rhino conservation lessons and traditional African vegan cooking with a local chef.

Every aspect of the experience is checked to see how it affects animals and the environment. World Vegan Travel was built to have the least impact on this fragile ecosystem and its animals.

Kings Camps Safari

Destination: Kruger National Park, South Africa

Kings Camp offers vegan wine and cheese tastings, gourmet vegan food and cruelty-free spa services. This luxury safari faces a Timbavati Private Nature Reserve savanna with a wildlife-filled waterhole. A certified vegan hospitality consultant and vegan safari guide ensure the best camp experience. The Moholoholo Wildlife Rehabilitation Centre, rhino anti-poaching flights, and wild horse flights are some of the things offered by this vegan safari.

Alluring Africas Safari

Destinations: Botswana and South Africa

The vegan safari lodges run by Alluring Africa have vegan food and toiletries that arent tested on animals. There are no animal skins or trophy heads in sight.

At La Colombe, vegan guests can enjoy a dinner with several courses, high tea with a view of Cape Town and wine tasting. Its tours give animals space and respect, which helps to minimize disturbance.
The casket of Bishop David G. O'Connell at Cathedral of Our Lady of the Angels in downtown Los Angeles on Friday. (Jay L. Clendenin / Los Angeles Times)

The funeral Mass for Auxiliary Bishop David G. OConnell was held Friday at the Cathedral of Our Lady of the Angels in downtown Los Angeles.

OConnell, 69, who was found fatally shot just before 1 p.m. Feb. 18 at his home in Hacienda Heights, is being remembered with three days of funeral services.

Archbishop Jose H. Gomez places Christian symbols on the bishop's coffin. (Jay L. Clendenin / Los Angeles Times)

Mourners watch as Archbishop Jose H. Gomez leads the funeral procession. (Jay L. Clendenin / Los Angeles Times)

A woman holds up a button with a picture of Bishop O'Connell outside the cathedral. (Jay L. Clendenin / Los Angeles Times)

The coffin and a photo of Bishop O'Connell at his funeral Mass. (Jay L. Clendenin/Los Angeles Times)

Margarita Rico, a nun with the Servants of Mary, prays. (Jay L. Clendenin/Los Angeles Times)

Visitors are reflected in the baptismal font as they wait for the coffin to pass after the Mass. (Jay L. Clendenin/Los Angeles Times)

The vigil Mass for Bishop O'Connell at the Cathedral of Our Lady of the Angels on Thursday. (Francine Orr/Los Angeles Times)

The casket is closed before the vigil Mass. (Francine Orr/Los Angeles Times)

Three nuns at the vigil Mass. (Francine Orr / Los Angeles Times)

Archbishop Jose H. Gomez during the vigil Mass for Catholic Auxiliary Bishop David G. O'Connell. (Francine Orr/Los Angeles Times)

People gather at the Cathedral of Our Lady of the Angels for the vigil Mass. (Francine Orr / Los Angeles Times)

Trinitarian of Mary sisters enter the cathedral. (Francine Orr / Los Angeles Times)

Cardinal Roger Mahony, archbishop emeritus, prays over the casket. (Francine Orr / Los Angeles Times)

Relatives of the bishop walk with the casket after the vigil Mass. (Francine Orr / Los Angeles Times)

This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.
Russian President Vladimir Putin attends a wreath-laying ceremony at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier, near the Kremlin Wall during the national celebrations of the "Defender of the Fatherland Day" in Moscow, Russia

It was Karl Marx who said that history repeats itself, first as tragedy, then as farce. The father of communism was right for once, and never has his saying been more appropriate than now, as Vladimir Putins botched invasion of Ukraine continues into its second year.

Theres been much fanfare in recent weeks about Putin launching a major new offensive to completely debilitate Ukraine. Western leaders held their breaths at the Munich Security Conference last month, wondering if Kyiv had the resources to hang on. But the Russians are already getting bogged down and the tanks are stuck. Their expected gains are not quite coming to fruition. Does that remind you of anything? More than a year since the launch of Putins special military operation, we are witnessing an eerie repetition of the initial invasion  a repeat of the bad strategies and false assumptions that have plagued the Kremlins war plans.

Putins military strategy continues to be ill-thought through, in particular displaying a poor grasp of weather. As videos emerge of Russian tanks struggling to get through the Ukrainian mud, there appears to have been little preparation for the thawing of the ground that one might expect during a spring offensive. This is just bizarre, since it is precisely what bogged down the Russians last year.

Its also what did for another dictator in not so distant history  Adolf Hitler, during Operation Barbarossa in 1941. Heavens, theres even a Russian word for it: Rasputitsa (a season of the year when travel on unpaved roads or across country becomes difficult). The most basic student of military strategy would know that offensive manoeuvres involving heavy tanks and jeeps do not operate well in a quagmire  and yet the Kremlin has been caught out twice.

Furthermore, the new offensive still uses ridiculous First World War tactics, which come up short against a 21st-century, well-equipped, well-trained, and highly motivated Ukrainian army. Russian tanks, with their low ground clearance, cannot withstand changes to weather. Western tanks can  the CR2 and Leopard 2 have much higher clearance.

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It could be that Putin was pinning all his hopes on the restoration of soldier morale after months of long nights and bitter cold. If so, this was another miscalculation. Morale will always be higher among Ukrainian troops, who are fighting for their countrys survival  on their own territory, with the knowledge that Western tanks are coming  than among Russians, who are press-ganged to pile out of trenches and thrown into a meat grinder with rusty weapons, no training and inexperienced commanders. No army can fight and win in those conditions, and no number of Putin speeches will change these fundamental dynamics.

Perhaps the Russian tyrant is hoping to dominate the air, with spring weather clearing the skies. But that would also make it easier for Ukrainian forces to shoot down his jets, especially with the aid of Western Patriot missile systems, whose batteries can shoot down aeroplanes as well as incoming missiles and drones. We could see a repeat of the scenes above Kyiv last year: Russian jets coming down in smoke, the pilots having ejected.

Moreover, clearer skies will help Western intelligence assets which feed critical information to Ukrainian forces, allowing them to conduct strikes deep behind enemy lines using Himars. Expect more Russian HQs and logistic hubs to be hit.

Meanwhile, the Kremlins air intelligence gathering has recently been sabotaged by the destruction of a Beriev A-50 spy plane, worth hundreds of millions of pounds.

Putin must either be deeply troubled or badly guided. He faces the same conundrum in this major offensive as he did in the last: either he crosses his fingers and hopes the West loses its resolve, or his new conscripts die in vain, leaving their bereaved mothers to apply political pressure back home.

Ukrainian troops will dominate the battlefields this spring and summer. Russian failures will continue to repeat themselves. New weapons will be sent to Kyiv, and the determination to secure their freedom will increase. The Kremlin will search frantically for a game changer  which is why we must keep an eye out for chemical weapons.

Col Hamish de Bretton-Gordon OBE is a former commander of the 1st Royal Tank Regiment
Murdaugh Killings (ASSOCIATED PRESS)

Alex Murdaugh is now slated to spend the rest of his life in prison for the murders of his wife Maggie and son Paul. The astonishing murder trial delivered its final twist on Thursday evening when the jury returned its guilty verdict after less than three hours  a tiny fraction of the time they listened to unspeakably gruesome testimony about the killings.

While some of the 12 jurors may elect to reveal their identities and speak to the media in the coming days, as one already has, well likely never have a full picture of what happened in the deliberation room. But having followed the courtroom circus in the most minute detail from our New York newsroom, theres little doubt in my mind that the verdict hinged on one out of 75 witnesses: Murdaugh himself.

Murdaughs two-day stint on the witness stand began with a defiant declaration that he did not fatally shoot Maggie and Paul. He continued to make several confessions, from admitting he lied about being at the scene of the murders minutes before they occurred to acknowledging that he stole millions of dollars from his law firm clients.

Murdaugh was able to remember a mountain of tiny details  but was at a loss for a few key big ones.

He walked the jury through the final day he spent with his son PawPaw riding around the familys sprawling estate, how they stopped by the duck pond and marveled at growth in the corn fields. He described wrestling a chicken away from his dog Bubbas mouth in an incident that has become central to the trial because video filmed by Paul proved Murdaugh was at the scene minutes before the killings. He even remembered the exact moment that, while driving to his parents house on the night of the murders, he stopped his car to retrieve his phone from in between the seat and the console.

Major holes in what began as a very specific retelling started to emerge as soon as Murdaugh faced cross-examination. He struggled to remember exactly what he told dispatchers in his 911 call  despite having listened to recordings of the call multiple times over the course of the trial. He also couldnt remember what he and his wife talked about the last time they spoke, just minutes before she and her son were shot dead.

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And while he admitted to lying about his alibi on the night of the murders  from the moment the first police officer arrived on the scene to the moment he took the witness stand 20 months later  Murdaugh couldnt remember the moment he decided to tell that lie.

Prosecutor Creighton Waters seized on the disconnect in Murdaughs ability to remember certain things but not others during an intense cross-examination. Asked what he did with his phone when he arrived home from his day out with Paul and went to take a shower, Murdaugh said he wasnt sure.

Waters pounced, citing Murdaughs very specific recollection the day before about the phone slipping under his car seat. Mr Waters, those are two distinct, different things, Murdaugh replied before stumbling through an explanation of why he doesnt remember exactly where he put his phone at the house.

Waters accused Murdaugh of giving awful specific recollections when he needs to make his story fit with data already presented to the jury, adding: But youre awful fuzzy on the far more important things, arent ya?

Murdaugh repeatedly attributed any holes in his memory to his opioid addiction, while being unable to explain why the drugs affected some memories and not others. In his closing argument for the defense, Murdaughs attorney Jim Griffin emphasized that misremembering things doesnt prove anything.

Those already convinced of Murdaughs guilt found it easy to conclude that his entire story was rehearsed  just not quite well enough. The son of a legal dynasty that has controlled a slice of South Carolina for almost a century, he likely felt more at home in a courtroom than most.

But watching Murdaugh struggle to explain his story under fierce questioning from a relentless prosecutor, I had to wonder: How would I handle being in his shoes?

To be sure, I dont ever expect to find myself accused of murdering my spouse and child. But how much would I, or any average person, remember of such a traumatic event nearly two years down the road  with the added pressure of retelling my story in front of a jury that will decide my fate?

This question loomed large in my mind as I tried to predict what verdict might be coming. Put up against a knot of compelling circumstantial evidence, the horrible brutality of the murders, and the inconceivability that a man could kill his own wife and son, Murdaughs emotional-yet-inconsistent testimony was the stone tipping the scales back and forth in my mind.

I thought Id be turning those scales over for days while waiting for the jury to come back with its verdict. But in two hours and 45 minutes, the jury returned with a clear message: Alex Murdaugh could not be believed.
Photo: AP, Getty Images

Walgreens will walk back a previous plan to dispense medication abortion at pharmacies in all states where it remains legal to do so, Politico reported on Thursday. In response to a letter from 20 state attorneys general, who cite an inactive law prohibiting dissemination of lewd materials to threaten legal action against Walgreens for offering the abortion pill, the pharmaceutical chain told Politico it will not dispense abortion pills either by mail or at their brick-and-mortar locations in states whose attorneys general signed the letter.



These states include Alaska, Iowa, Kansas, and Montana, where abortionincluding medication abortioncurrently remains legal. Kansas has a law in its books that requires patients seeking abortion pills to get them directly from a physician. But that law is currently blocked in court, allowing Walgreens to legally dispense the medication.

Read more

In January, the FDA approved for mifepristone, the first of two pills taken to complete a medication abortion, to be distributed at pharmacies in states where abortion remains legal. The medication is highly safe and effective, and as states across the country rush to ban abortion and shut down clinicsforcing people to cross state lines for health careexpanding abortion access in as many states as possible has become especially vital. A Trump-appointed, federal judge with an anti-abortion record will soon rule on a case that could revoke FDA-approval of mifepristone, leaving the future of access uncertainbut it remains, for the time being, a safe, essential, and legal medication; if anything, as we await a ruling that could decimate access to mifepristone, pharmacies and providers should be trying to help as many people as possible purchase it in advance.

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Corporations experienced for 5 minutes what abortion clinics face on the reg and they caved! This seems not good! https://t.co/omdjqFBfIl  Sharmeen Aly (@sharmeenaly) March 3, 2023

In response to Walgreens January announcement to offer medication abortion, the pharmacy faced an outpouring of backlash from anti-abortion activists. At a Walgreens investors conference in January, anti-abortion protesters revealed theyd hid in a closet at the convention facility for nine hours in order to rush the stage and berate investors to stop selling abortions. Top nation-wide anti-abortion groups planned and executed dozens of protests at the headquarters of pharmacies that said theyd offer abortion pills, as well as their varying brick-and-mortar stores. Several groups planned a 40 Days for Life protest set to span from Feb. 22 to April 2.

Boycott Walgreens. I already am. Losing money is the only thing they understand as a threat to their business, not principles. https://t.co/r5Qrna4xTi  Judi Cunningham (@CarrieC75701474) March 3, 2023

It sure seems like the corporation is caving to anti-abortion pressure. And this, in turn, has now drawn the backlash of abortion rights supporters, who are threatening to boycott the pharmacy over its decision. As some have already pointed out, a corporation experienced for 5 minutes what abortion clinics face on the regular and they caved. Sure, the anti-abortion protests Walgreens weathered were aggressive and jarring. But this is just a fraction of the harassment, terror, and violence that abortion clinicsand often independent clinics with nowhere near the resources of a corporation like Walgreensface on a daily basis.

Heres a small sampling of this: In the last 50 years, abortion clinics have reported at least 11 murders and 26 attempted murders of abortion providers; 42 bombings of clinics and abortion providers homes; and nearly 200 incidents of arson. Between 2019 and 2020, reported incidents of physical violence targeting abortion providers surged by 125%.

Its frustrating to see Walgreens capitulate to right-wing activists demands when a clear majority of the country would very much like for abortion to remain legal, safe and accessible.

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Walgreens Location

A Walgreens location in Louisville, Kentucky, U.S., on Thursday, March 24, 2022. Credit - Luke Sharrett/Bloomberg via Getty Images

Calls to boycott Walgreens swelled online on Friday after Americas second-largest drugstore said it will not distribute mifepristone, a drug that is part of the most common method of abortion in the country, in some states where the abortion remains legal.

The announcement, first reported by Politico, comes after 20 Republican attorneys general sent a letter to Walgreens threatening it with legal action if it distributed the drug in their states, including some where abortion isnt banned. Under the new policy, Walgreens would not distribute the drug in some states which permit abortion: Kansas, Florida, Georgia, Alaska, Indiana, Iowa, Ohio, South Carolina, and Utah. We intend to be a certified pharmacy and will distribute Mifepristone only in those jurisdictions where it is legal and operationally feasible, Walgreens said in a statement to TIME.

On Feb 17, in response to the letter, Walgreens wrote to Kris W. Kobach, the attorney general of Kansas, that the company: does not intend to dispense Mifepristone within your state and does not intend to ship Mifepristone into your state from any of our pharmacies. If this approach changes, we will be sure to notify you. In 2022, Kansas voters rejected a constitutional amendment that would have allowed the legislature to ban abortion.

After the Biden Administration announced in January that pharmacies can become certified to distribute mifepristone for the first time, Walgreens and the largest pharmacy chain, CVS Health, said they would seek certification to dispense the pill. Whether other drug store companies will follow Walgreens remains uncertain; Walmart, Kroger, CVS, Cigna/Express Scripts, Optum/RX and Costco did not respond to a request for comment from TIME.

However, experts warn that Walgreens decision could have major consequences from both a health and legal perspective.

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Given barriers to abortion are on the rise, the decision is particularly concerning, says Dr. Raegan McDonald-Mosley, an OB-GYN and CEO of the abortion rights group Power to Decide. Pharmacies can be a crucial access point to mifepristone, especially in rural areas where healthcare is inaccessible. Its not good public health practice, its not good medicine, to not make available something that we know is safe, and effective, and commonly utilized, she says.

McDonald-Mosley says that shes concerned that patients seeking abortions, suffering miscarriages or who need the drug for other reasons could be at an increased health risk if they do not have access to mifepristone, and if they have to rely on a treatment that is less effective. If you decrease effectiveness, even a small amount, but apply that to a large number of people in the population, there are absolutely going to be people who suffer consequences, says McDonald-Mosley. There could be potentially more incomplete abortions, people dealing with hemorrhages or other consequences.

The attorneys generals letter argued pharmacy companies would be in violation of federal law, which prohibits the distribution of abortion drugs by post. The Biden administration has contended that sending mifepristone by mail does not violate the law, writing in that the mere mailing of such drugs to a particular jurisdiction is an insufficient basis for concluding that the sender intends them to be used unlawfully and noting that the drug has multiple uses, including abortion.

More from TIME

But regardless of the legality of distributing mifepristone by mail, Walgreens decision could lead to a domino effectwith smaller companies, which dont have the deep pockets of Walgreens, deciding to follow the pharmacy giants lead, says Allison Whelan, a Georgia State University assistant professor of law. Whelan says this goes to show just how much the legal landscape surrounding abortion has been disrupted. I think this is just how tenuous and uncertain access to either surgical or medication abortion is, even in states where the practice or the medications remain legal, says Whelan. The rule of law is under threat where the threat of litigation can allow someone to feel like they could be sued, even when they are squarely in line with the law of the jurisdiction.

On Twitter, the response to the decision was divided between supporters and advocates of abortion access. Lila Rose, the CEO of the anti-abortion rights organization Live Action, hailed the decision as a victory. After weeks of the pro-life movement protesting, Walgreens is backing down from distributing the lethal abortion pill in several states. Drugs that kill children dont belong in neighborhood pharmacies. Keep the pressure on! she wrote

GREAT NEWS:

After weeks of the pro-life movement protesting, Walgreens is backing down from distributing the lethal abortion pill in several states.

Drugs that kill children dont belong in neighborhood pharmacies. Keep the pressure on! https://t.co/eqDw6h8wHS

 Lila Rose (@LilaGraceRose) March 3, 2023

Abortion rights opponents had also urged Walgreens and CVS not to dispense drugs that induce abortions. We will be working with both federal and state lawmakers, along with consumers, to keep neighborhoods across America free from abortion if CVS and Walgreens ultimately go down this path, Tony Perkins, the president of the Family Research Council, said in a January statement.

By Friday morning #BoycottWalgreens was trending on Twitter in response to Walgreens announcement. Losing money is the only thing they understand as a threat to their business, not principles, tweeted user Judi Cunningham.

Boycott Walgreens. I already am. Losing money is the only thing they understand as a threat to their business, not principles. https://t.co/r5Qrna4xTi

 Judi Cunningham (@CarrieC75701474) March 3, 2023

Protect and deliver access to ALL reproductive health care or get the hell out of the health care business, wrote user Kay Hanley.

Protect and deliver access to ALL reproductive health care or get the hell out of the health care business.

Boycott @Walgreens #BoycottWalgreenshttps://t.co/BmYXybneyD

 Kay Hanley  Letters To Cleo (@kayhanley) March 3, 2023
One of the nation's largest pharmacies said Friday it wouldn't dispense abortion pills in some states, including several where medication abortion remains legal.

A group of 20 Republican attorneys general warned CVS and Walgreens in a letter last month that they could face legal consequences if they sell abortion pills by mail in their states.

The letter, from Missouri Attorney General Andrew Bailey, was cosigned by attorneys general in Alabama, Alaska, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Indiana, Iowa, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, Montana, North Dakota, Ohio, Oklahoma, South Carolina, South Dakota, Texas, Utah, and West Virginia.

THREATS TO MEDICATION ABORTION: A Texas judge could soon force a major abortion pill off market nationwide

On Tuesday, Jan. 3, 2023, the Food and Drug Administration finalized a rule change that allows women seeking abortion pills to get them through the mail, replacing a long-standing requirement that they pick up the medicine in person.

Walgreens responded to the letter by saying it will not dispense the abortion pill mifepristone in these states, Jim Cohn, a spokesperson for the company, confirmed to USA TODAY on Friday.

The list of states in the letter include some where abortion is legal both generally and regarding medication abortion. These states include Kansas, Alaska, Iowa and Montana, Planned Parenthood representatives confirmed to USA TODAY.

Cohn said Walgreens is not currently dispensing mifepristone and instead intends to go through the certification process to be able to distribute the drug "in those jurisdictions where it is legal and operationally feasible."

Earlier this year, the FDA ruled retail pharmacies could get certified to dispense mifepristone and agree to accept prescriptions from certified providers if they meet standards in shipping, tracking and confidentially storing drug-prescribing records

Pharmacies, including CVS and Walgreens, quickly responded by saying they intend to undergo the certification process to provide the drug in states where it is legal to do so.

HUMAN RIGHTS GROUP URGE UN INTERVENTION: US abortion bans violate international law, 200 human rights groups say in letter

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CVS has not responded to multiple USA TODAY requests for comment about their plans to dispense mifepristone in the 20 states included in the letter.

Melissa Fowler, chief program officer at the National Abortion Federation, the professional association of abortion providers, voiced concerns over pharmacies not providing mifepristone in states where the abortion pills are legal.

"When corporations give in to anti-abortion demands, patients are the ones who lose," she said in a statement. "Too many patients have already lost access to essential health care due to state abortion bans and we should not allow abortion opponents to continue playing games with peoples lives and denying them the care they needespecially in states where abortion remains legal. Every patient deserves to obtain abortion care in the time and place thats right for them."

Meanwhile, abortion rights advocates are awaiting a decision by a federal judge in Texas that could decimate medication abortion access nationwide as anti-abortion groups target the decades-long government approval of a key abortion drug. Medication abortion is the most common method for ending a pregnancy in the U.S.

Contact Christine Fernando at cfernando@usatoday.com or follow her on Twitter at @christinetfern.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Walgreens says it won't sell abortion pills in 20 GOP-led states
The nations second-largest pharmacy chain confirmed Thursday that it will not dispense abortion pills in several states where they remain legal  acting out of an abundance of caution amid a shifting policy landscape, threats from state officials and pressure from anti-abortion activists.

Nearly two dozen Republican state attorneys general wrote to Walgreens in February, threatening legal action if the company began distributing the drugs, which have become the nations most popular method for ending a pregnancy.

The company told POLITICO that it has since responded to all the officials, assuring them that they will not dispense abortion pills either by mail or at their brick-and-mortar locations in those states.

The list includes several states where abortion in general, and the medications specifically, remain legal  including Alaska, Iowa, Kansas and Montana. For example, Kansas law that patients only obtain the pills directly from a physician is blocked in court.



There is currently complexity around this issue in Kansas and elsewhere, said Fraser Engerman, Walgreens senior director of external relations.

The company stressed that it is not yet distributing the pills anywhere in the country, but is working to obtain certification to do so in some states, though declined to say which.

"In my letter to Walgreens, we made clear that Kansas will not hesitate to enforce the laws against mailing and dispensing abortion pills, including bringing a RICO action to enforce the federal law prohibiting the mailing of abortion pills," Kansas Attorney General Kris Kobach said in a statement. "Evidently, Walgreens understood that my office was serious about this. Im grateful that Walgreens responded quickly and reasonably and intends to comply with the relevant laws."

The decision is the latest to demonstrate how widely abortion access can vary state to state in a post-Roe America even in places where there are no bans in effect  as elected officials tussle with the federal government, activists and corporations to block the availability of services.

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E. Michael Murphy, the adviser for state government affairs for the American Pharmacists Association, said his members are struggling to navigate blatant contradictions between state and federal law that make it very challenging to identify what is legal and what is not legal.

We are very concerned with those reports, he added, because we as pharmacists want to ensure the patients have access to the best possible care that's informed by evidence.

The Biden administration moved in January to allow retail pharmacies to dispense the pills  part of a broader push to preserve and expand access to abortion as more states passed bans on the procedure. That decision followed a multiyear analysis by the FDA that found the pills were safe and effective to use without a doctors visit, a conclusion state attorneys general and anti-abortion groups are challenging in court.



Following the release of the FDAs analysis, several chain pharmacies swiftly announced they would participate, but only in states that hadnt banned or restricted access to the pills.

The group of Republican attorneys general, who argue that the Biden administration is misinterpreting the laws around mailing and dispensing abortion pills, also wrote to CVS, Albertsons, Rite Aid, Costco, Walmart and Kroger demanding they, too, refuse to dispense the medication.

The six companies did not immediately respond to POLITICOs questions about their plans in those states.

Though some independent and online pharmacies say they will seek certification to provide the drugs in these states, advocates warn that the impact of Walgreens decision could significantly limit access.

Theyre denying people agency over their lives, said Elizabeth Nash, a state policy expert with the abortion-rights Guttmacher Institute. When were thinking about states that have a lot of their population in rural areas, its much more likely that a pharmacy is nearby than a providers office, so these pharmacies play an outsized role in patient health and access to health care.

Over the past few months, anti-abortion rights advocacy groups have also mounted pressure campaigns targeting the pharmacies. This weekend, they plan to picket outside pharmacy locations in dozens of states. Groups including Students for Life and the Family Research Council have also written to Walgreens and CVS threatening legal ramifications for your pharmacy should they move ahead with becoming certified to fill prescriptions for abortion pills.

Students for Life spokesperson Kristi Hamrick cheered Walgreens decision.

This response indicates that pro-life concerns are being heard and that corporations are not rushing to take over the abortion business but are proceeding cautiously, she said.

Daniel Payne contributed to this report.
(Reuters) -Walgreens Boots Alliance Inc on Thursday said it will not dispense abortion pills in the states of 20 Republican attorneys general who have told the pharmacy chain it risked breaking the law should it dispense them to the states by mail.

The decision comes after the U.S. Food and Drug Administration allowed retail pharmacies to dispense mifepristone pills, including by mail, provided they are certified under special safety rules for the drug.

A Walgreens spokesperson said the pharmacy's decision was in response to a letter from the attorneys general. They said Walgreens intended to become a certified pharmacy and would only dispense in jurisdictions where it was legal to do so.

CVS Health Corp, which also received the letter, did not immediately respond to Reuters' request for comment.

News website Politico first reported Walgreens' position on Thursday.

Medication abortion, which accounts for more than half of U.S. abortions, has drawn increasing attention since the Supreme Court in June overturned a landmark 1973 Roe v. Wade ruling that had recognized abortion as a constitutional right nationwide.

Mifepristone, used in combination with another drug, misoprostol, is approved for abortion within the first 10 weeks of pregnancy.

(Reporting by Gokul Pisharody and Anirudh Saligrama in Bengaluru; Editing by Christopher Cushing)
WARSAW (Reuters) - Polish voters were given food for thought on Friday, as politicians from the two main parties traded accusations that the other side planned to push meat-loving citizens into eating worms ahead of elections this autumn.

Lawmakers from the ruling nationalists Law and Justice (PiS) claim that opposition party Civic Platform (PO) plans to limit the consumption of meat and replace it with insects, an accusation PO rejects.

"For the upcoming elections, PO politicians should write on each poster 'Instead of chicken eat a worm', because this is their real election programme," PiS lawmaker Bartosz Kownacki told reporters.

State-run broadcaster TVP Info accompanied Kownacki's press conference with a news ticker reading "The opposition's proposals for Poles: worms instead of meat". TVP Info has been regularly criticised by the opposition as being a mouthpiece for government propaganda.

The subject of eating worms has featured heavily on TVP Info since the C40 Cities initiative, which recommends measures such as eating less meat and using cars less to combat climate change, said Warsaw would feature in a project to demonstrate "the role of cities in responding to the climate, energy and cost of living crises".

The mayor of Warsaw is leading opposition politician Rafal Trzaskowski.

However, PO politicians and city hall officials say this does not mean proposals to force people to lower meat consumption and eat worms are under consideration.

PO leader Donald Tusk hit back at the PiS allegations on Friday, labelling the government a "promoter of worm soup".

Tusk was referring to media reports that the National Centre for Research and Development had provided 6.5 million zlotys ($1.47 million) in funding to a project called "SmartFood" which included the rearing of edible insects.

"It is a bit humiliating for everyone that the media and politicians have been wondering for several days whether Mayor Trzaskowski really wants to force Poles to eat worms, not meat," Tusk told reporters.

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Poland's Ministry of Development Funds and Regional Policy has said that "SmartFood" is not a government programme and is mainly funded by Norway, state-run news agency PAP reported.

($1 = 4.4365 zlotys)

(Reporting by Alan Charlish and Anna Wlodarczak-Semczuk; Editing by Shounak Dasgupta)
In front of a mostly full courtroom, Colleton County Clerk of Court Rebecca Hill took her time reading the verdicts in the Alex Murdaugh double murder trial as if she were trying to build suspense, calling out each indictment number and case number, numeral by numeral.

But the verdicts were all the same - guilty on all counts of murder and possession of a weapon while committing a violent crime in the deaths of his wife and son.

South Carolina Attorney General Alan Wilson said Thursday's verdict provided "justice and a voice" for Maggie and Paul Murdaugh.

"Wow, what a great day for the people of South Carolina," said Wilson, who also commented on all of the "hard work, blood, sweat and tears" that went into the case, thanking every local, state and federal agency involved. "It was all worth it because we got to bring justice to Maggie and Paul and to the people of South Carolina.

"Our criminal justice system worked and gave a voice to Maggie and Paul Murdaugh ... We can't bring them back, but we can bring them justice. Today's verdict proves that no one, no matter who they are in society, is above the law."

Engagement vs. entertainment: What the Alex Murdaugh trial, true crime interest says about us

Alex Murdaugh is led outside the Colleton County Courthouse by sheriff's deputies after being convicted of two counts of murder Thursday, March 2, 2023, in Walterboro, S.C., in the June 7, 2021, shooting deaths of Murdaugh's wife and son.

The scene in the courtroom when the verdict was read to Alex Murdaugh

Murdaugh, who had appeared confident, almost smug as the jury was being charged earlier in the day, looked less confident when the jury entered the room so quickly. He looked straight ahead as the verdict was read, then stiffened at the first "guilty," before turning and rocking just a little on his feet.

After nearly a month of hearing witness and expert testimony, the jury returned with a verdict in just over three hours.

Murdaugh's brothers were not in the courtroom, but his son, Richard "Buster" Murdaugh Jr., and his sister, Lynn Goattee, showed emotion but did not openly weep. Buster's faced turned dark red, and Goattee wiped her eyes.

As court security cuffed Murdaugh to lead him away, he turned and looked briefly at his son, nodding his head and mouthing a few words. Buster looked down, then looked away.

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Members of the jury were thanked for their service and excused. The Murdaugh family was escorted from the courtroom before the public and media were allowed to exit.

More Thursday Murdaugh trial updates: Murdaugh guilty on two counts of murder in death of wife, son

Judge Clifton Newman quickly denied a motion for a mistrial and a motion to set aside the verdict from Murdaugh's attorneys. "We have been here 28 days" considering an "overwhelming amount of testimony," he said. "The evidence of guilt is overwhelming and I deny the motion."

Judge Newman will sentence Murdaugh at 9:30 a.m. on Friday after hearing from any victims or supporters of Murdaugh who wish to speak.

The minimum sentence for murder in South Carolina is 30 years, with life as the maximum. The State is asking for life without parole.

In thanking the jury, Newman said, "It's not often you are called upon to sit in judgement of your fellow man, and you responded. The circumstantial evidence, the direct evidence, all pointed to only one conclusion and that is what you all reached.

Creighton Waters, Alan Wilson hold press conference after verdict

After the verdict was read and the courtroom cleared, the S.C. Attorney General's Office held a press conference under the archway of the historic Colleton County Courthouse.

Creighton Waters, chief prosecutor, said that it had been a tough, demanding trial and thanked the jurors for their long and arduos service. "I want to be clear, this was a team effort and amazing work ... on a complex case. It doesn't matter how much money you have, if you do wrong, break the law, murder, justice will be done in South Carolina."

Murdaughs lawyers will almost certainly appeal the conviction based on the judge allowing evidence of the financial crimes, which they contend were unrelated to the killings and were used by prosecutors to smear Murdaughs reputation.

Dick Harpootlian said that while the defense was disappointed, it would not be proper to comment on the verdict tonight.

Rev. Raymond Johnson, a pastor from Pisgah Baptist Church in Marion, S.C., was on hand after the verdict carrying a sign that read, "Justice."

"Justice is here," said Johnson. "He (Murdaugh) needs an Academy award for his performance (in the court) but he could not outperform God ... A Daddy is supposed to protect his wife and children, you aren't supposed to hurt your wife and child."

Daniel Brothers holds up his sign during the murder trial of Alex Murdaugh at the Colleton County Courthouse in Walterboro on Thursday, March 2, 2023. Andrew J. Whitaker/The Post and Courier/Pool

Wilson thanked everyone from the Colleton County first responders, law enforcement and court staff to the FBI and the Secret Service.

"When you go home tonight, hug your loved ones, hug your spouse, hug your children. You can't take them for granted," Wilson added Thursday night.

Jay Bender, the trial's liason between the court and media, said statewide media represented itself well amid the national and international attention.

"Judge Newman showed great sensitivity for the role of the press in our society, and the press handled its part with professionalism and talent, and I was honored to be a part of it."

Prosecution hammers Alex Murdaugh about lies

Testimony culminated in Murdaughs appearance on the witness stand this week, when he admitted stealing millions from clients and lying to investigators about being at the dog kennels where the shootings took place but steadfastly maintained his innocence in the deaths of Maggie and Paul Murdaugh.

I did not kill Maggie, and I did not kill Paul. I would never hurt Maggie, and I would never hurt Paul  ever  under any circumstances, Murdaugh said.

Murdaughs 52-year-old wife was shot four or five times with a rifle and their 22-year-old son was shot twice with a shotgun at the kennels near their rural Colleton County home on June 7, 2021.

Prosecutors didnt have the weapons used to kill the Murdaughs or other direct evidence like confessions or blood spatter. But they had a mountain of circumstantial evidence, led by a video locked on Paul Murdaughs cellphone for more than a year  video shot minutes before the killings that witnesses testified captured the voices of all three Murdaughs.

Continue the Murdaugh crime saga binge:After you finish Netflix's Alex Murdaugh series, continue the binge on Dateline NBC, HBO, CNN

Alex Murdaugh had told police repeatedly after the killings that he was not at the kennels and was instead napping before he went to visit his ailing mother that night. Murdaugh called 911 and said he discovered the bodies when he returned home.

But in his testimony, Murdaugh admitted joining Maggie and Paul at the kennels, where he said he took a chicken away from a rowdy yellow Labrador named Bubba  whose name Murdaugh can be heard saying on the video  before heading back to the house shortly ahead of the fatal shootings.

Murdaugh lied about being at the kennels for 20 months before taking the stand on the 23rd day of his trial. He blamed his decadeslong addiction to opioids for making him paranoid, creating a distrust of police. He said that once he went down that path, he felt trapped in the lie.

Oh, what a tangled web we weave. Once I told a lie  I told my family  I had to keep lying, he testified.

Waters grilled Murdaugh about what he repeatedly called the lawyers new story of what happened at the kennels, walking him moment by moment through the timeline and assailing his fuzzy memory of certain details, like his last words to his wife and son.

A state agent also testified that markings on spent cartridges found around Maggie Murdaughs body matched markings on fired cartridges at a shooting range elsewhere on the property, though the defense said that kind of matching is an inexact science.

Murdaugh comes from a family that dominated the local legal scene for decades. His father, grandfather and great-grandfather were the areas elected prosecutors for more than 80 years and his family law firm grew to dozens of lawyers by suing railroads, corporations and other big businesses.

The now-disbarred attorney admitted stealing millions of dollars from the family firm and clients, saying he needed the money to fund his drug habit. Before he was charged with murder, Murdaugh was in jail awaiting trial on about 100 other charges ranging from insurance fraud to tax evasion.

Prosecutors told jurors that Murdaugh was afraid all of his misdeeds were about to be discovered, so he killed his wife and son to gain sympathy to buy time to cover his tracks.

Waters commended the jurors for seeing through what he described as more lies by Murdaugh.

We had no doubt that when we had a chance to present our case in the court of law that they would see through the one last con that Alex Murdaugh was trying to pull. And they did, Waters said after the verdict.

-Jeffrey Collins of the Associated Press contributed to this report

What charges does Alex Murdaugh still face?

As the news of the mother and son's deaths began to be known on June 8, 2021, no one knew it would lead to multiple indictments of Alex Murdaugh and more than 100 charges and a tale that had media and true crime buffs wondering, what's next? And even with the verdict that question remains.

Murdaugh still has 100 other charges ranging from tax evasion to drug possession, still to come even though the double homicide charges have been dealt with.

Altogether, through 19 state indictments containing charges against Murdaugh, the State Grand Jury has indicted Murdaugh for schemes to defraud victims of $8,789,447.77 and the State of South Carolina of $486,819, stated a release from the S.C. Attorney General's Office.

State v. Richard a. Murdaugh Jury Charge by USA TODAY Network on Scribd

Follow Michael DeWitt's coverage of the Alex Murdaugh trial on Twitter

A Twitter List by SEDOT_J_Orlando

This article originally appeared on Greenville News: Alex Murdaugh guilty on two counts of murder in deaths of wife, son
With its stock down 2.1% over the past month, it is easy to disregard Kuala Lumpur Kepong Berhad (KLSE:KLK). However, a closer look at its sound financials might cause you to think again. Given that fundamentals usually drive long-term market outcomes, the company is worth looking at. Particularly, we will be paying attention to Kuala Lumpur Kepong Berhad's ROE today.

Return on Equity or ROE is a test of how effectively a company is growing its value and managing investors money. Put another way, it reveals the company's success at turning shareholder investments into profits.

Check out our latest analysis for Kuala Lumpur Kepong Berhad

How Do You Calculate Return On Equity?

ROE can be calculated by using the formula:

Return on Equity = Net Profit (from continuing operations)  Shareholders' Equity

So, based on the above formula, the ROE for Kuala Lumpur Kepong Berhad is:

15% = RM2.2b  RM15b (Based on the trailing twelve months to December 2022).

The 'return' is the income the business earned over the last year. That means that for every MYR1 worth of shareholders' equity, the company generated MYR0.15 in profit.

Why Is ROE Important For Earnings Growth?

Thus far, we have learned that ROE measures how efficiently a company is generating its profits. Based on how much of its profits the company chooses to reinvest or "retain", we are then able to evaluate a company's future ability to generate profits. Assuming everything else remains unchanged, the higher the ROE and profit retention, the higher the growth rate of a company compared to companies that don't necessarily bear these characteristics.

Kuala Lumpur Kepong Berhad's Earnings Growth And 15% ROE

To begin with, Kuala Lumpur Kepong Berhad seems to have a respectable ROE. Especially when compared to the industry average of 9.5% the company's ROE looks pretty impressive. This probably laid the ground for Kuala Lumpur Kepong Berhad's significant 33% net income growth seen over the past five years. We believe that there might also be other aspects that are positively influencing the company's earnings growth. For instance, the company has a low payout ratio or is being managed efficiently.

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Next, on comparing with the industry net income growth, we found that Kuala Lumpur Kepong Berhad's growth is quite high when compared to the industry average growth of 18% in the same period, which is great to see.

Earnings growth is a huge factor in stock valuation. The investor should try to establish if the expected growth or decline in earnings, whichever the case may be, is priced in. By doing so, they will have an idea if the stock is headed into clear blue waters or if swampy waters await. Is KLK fairly valued? This infographic on the company's intrinsic value has everything you need to know.

Is Kuala Lumpur Kepong Berhad Making Efficient Use Of Its Profits?

The three-year median payout ratio for Kuala Lumpur Kepong Berhad is 50%, which is moderately low. The company is retaining the remaining 50%. So it seems that Kuala Lumpur Kepong Berhad is reinvesting efficiently in a way that it sees impressive growth in its earnings (discussed above) and pays a dividend that's well covered.

Additionally, Kuala Lumpur Kepong Berhad has paid dividends over a period of at least ten years which means that the company is pretty serious about sharing its profits with shareholders. Based on the latest analysts' estimates, we found that the company's future payout ratio over the next three years is expected to hold steady at 51%. However, Kuala Lumpur Kepong Berhad's future ROE is expected to decline to 9.7% despite there being not much change anticipated in the company's payout ratio.

Summary

On the whole, we feel that Kuala Lumpur Kepong Berhad's performance has been quite good. Particularly, we like that the company is reinvesting heavily into its business, and at a high rate of return. Unsurprisingly, this has led to an impressive earnings growth. With that said, on studying the latest analyst forecasts, we found that while the company has seen growth in its past earnings, analysts expect its future earnings to shrink. To know more about the latest analysts predictions for the company, check out this visualization of analyst forecasts for the company.

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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Jenna Ortega as Wednesday Addams on Netflix's "Wednesday." Netflix

Jenna Ortega appeared on the latest episode of "Hot Ones" and spoke about working with Tim Burton.

She said that Burton was particular about her character's hair on the set of "Wednesday."

Ortega said they "ran two hours behind" because Burton said her braids were uneven.

"Wednesday" star Jenna Ortega said that director and executive producer Tim Burton was so particular about aesthetics that production got delayed because he wanted to adjust her hairstyle.

"On the first day when they were trying to establish what my hair was gonna look like, we ran two hours behind because, 'No, her braids are uneven. This one's lower, this one's higher,'" Ortega said while appearing on the latest episode of the online series "Hot Ones," in which celebrity guests are interviewed as they eat wings coated in increasingly hotter sauces.

The actor, who stars as Wednesday Addams on the hit Netflix series, continued: "He didn't like the way that my fringe looked at the time so he was just, 'Hey, do you mind if I do that?' He asked the hairdresser very politely and just kind of did my hair himself."

Jenna Ortega and Thing on Netflix's "Wednesday." Netflix

Ortega said that Burton's attention to detail extended beyond how her character should look.

When directing he also drew many of his shots and would show them to Ortega prior to filming. The "Scream" star also recalled Burton carrying trees, presumably prop ones, and throwing them into the background of the camera shot so they'd land exactly the way he wanted them to while filming in a forest in Romania.

"He was very specific and happy to do it himself, but also a really great communicator and collaborator," Ortega said.

Watch Ortega's appearance on "Hot Ones" below (she talks about working with Burton at the 3:37 mark).

Read the original article on Insider
The Emmy Award-winning "CBS Sunday Morning" is broadcast on CBS Sundays beginning at 9:00 a.m. ET. "Sunday Morning" also streams on the CBS News app beginning at 12:00 p.m. ET. (Download it here.)

Host: Jane Pauley

WATCH THE FULL MARCH 5 BROADCAST!

COVER STORY: The CHIPS Act: Rebuilding America's technological infrastructure | Watch Video

In today's wired world, chips power more than just computers. Cars, appliances, even toys rely on tiny silicon semiconductors, the vast majority of which are made in Taiwan. Supply chain disruptions caused by natural disasters or geopolitics could put America's chip supply in jeopardy  and its whole economy at risk. The $280 billion CHIPS Act aims to rebuild America's critical technology infrastructure, including the subsidizing of chip manufacturing facilities in the U.S. Correspondent David Pogue looks at how Silicon Valley is partnering with the government to ensure our country's technological leadership, and why not everyone is happy about it.

For more info:

"Chip War: The Fight for the World's Most Critical Technology" by Chris Miller (Scribner), in Hardcover, eBook and Audio formats, available via Amazon, Barnes & Noble and IndieboundChristopher Miller, associate professor of international history, Tufts UniversityTaiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company, Hsinchu, TaiwanIntelSemiconductor Degrees Program at Purdue University



Drawing Snoopy. / Credit: CBS News

COMICS: The world according to Peanuts | Watch Video

Charles M. Schulz's beloved comic strip "Peanuts" continues to garner fans 23 years after the cartoonist's death, from the lovable loser Charlies Brown to the dog with the greatest imagination, Snoopy. Correspondent Lee Cowan talks with Schulz's widow, Jean, and with "Pearls Before Swine" cartoonist Stephan Pastis, about the timeless influence of the man they called "Sparky" and his beloved cast of characters.

For more info:

Peanuts at gocomics.compeanuts.com (official site)Charles M. Schulz Museum, Santa Rosa, Calif.Warm Puppy Cafe, Santa Rosa, Calif."Charles M. Schulz: The Art and Life of the Peanuts Creator in 100 Objects" by Benjamin L Clark, Nat Gertler, and the Charles M. Schulz Museum (Weldon Owen), in Hardcover and eBook formats, available via Amazon, Barnes & Noble, and IndieboundPearls Before Swine by Stephan Pastis at gocomics.com

Story continues

Glock pistols are shown for sale at a range in Maryland in this 2015 file photo. Maryland is considering adopting Donna's Law, which would allow people to voluntarily place their names on a

U.S.: Donna's Law: A new suicide prevention tool | Watch Video

In any given year, suicide accounts for between 60-65% of all gun deaths in the United States (approximately 25,000). So far, three states have passed legislation called Donna's Law, which would allow people who fear that they may become suicidal to place themselves (voluntarily and confidentially) on a "do not sell" list, to block their purchase of a gun. Correspondent Susan Spencer looks at an innovative way to save lives.

For more info:

Donna's LawNew Jersey Gun Violence Research Center, Rutgers School of Public HealthUniversity of Alabama law professor Fredrick VarsMental health advocate Bryan Barks"Weapon of Choice: Fighting Gun Violence While Respecting Gun Rights" by Ian Ayres & Fredrick E. Vars (Harvard University Press), in Hardcover, eBook and Audio formats, available via Amazon, Barnes & Noble and Indiebound"Guns and Suicide: An American Epidemic" by Michael D. Anestis (Oxford University Press), in Hardcover and eBook formats, available via Amazon, Barnes & Noble and IndieboundThe Preventing Suicide Through Voluntary Firearm Purchase Delay Act

Beatboxer Kaila Mullady. / Credit: CBS News

MUSIC: How beatboxer Kaila Mullady found her voice (Video)

Beatboxing is one of the most misunderstood of art forms  vocal percussion in which the lungs and mouth are the instrument. And one of the best beatboxers in the world is Kaila Mullady, who co-organizes the American Beatbox Championships. Correspondent Luke Burbank gets some beatbox pointers from Mullady, and talks with Doug E. Fresh about beatboxing's origins.

[Correction: Doug E. Fresh attended high school in Harlem in New York City, not in Brooklyn. "Sunday Morning" regrets the error.]

For more info:

Kaila MulladyDoug E. FreshAmerican BeatboxAmerican Beatbox on YouTubeGrandmaster FlashBeatbox Wiki"Freestyle Love Supreme"Venetian, Las Vegas





PASSAGE: In memoriam (Video)

"Sunday Morning" remembers some of the notable figures who left us this week, including jazz saxophonist and composer Wayne Shorter.





CRIME: The verdict against Alex Murdaugh (Video)

On Thursday a jury decided Alex Murdaugh, who hailed from a family dynasty that had wielded power and influence over South Carolina's low country for a century, was a double-murderer, finding him guilty of shooting his wife, Maggie, and younger son, Paul, to death in June 2021. In the end it was Murdaugh's own words that helped in his undoing. Correspondent Nikki Battiste, who followed the sensational trial, reports on the verdict.



HARTMAN: A geese love story (Video)

Last August, Blossom the goose lost her mate, Bud. They'd lived on a pond at Riverside Cemetery in Marshalltown, Iowa. Blossom's grief was evident to the cemetery's staff, and so general manager Dorie Tammen decided to post a personal ad for Blossom. Correspondent Steve Hartman reports on the results of an avian blind date.

TV: "Tonight Show" host Jimmy Fallon on being an "outlet of joy" | Watch Video

It's always sunny on "The Tonight Show," where host Jimmy Fallon can't help being playful and funny. Fallon talks with correspondent Mo Rocca about his late-night job  bringing joy to audiences and celebrating the talent of his guests  and about the return of his musical variety show, "That's My Jam."

For more info:

"The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon" on NBC"That's My Jam"  Season 2 premieres March 7 on NBCThanks to Electric Lady Studios, New York City



COMMENTARY: Michelle Miller on a lifetime's search for a sense of "Belonging" | Watch Video

The co-host of "CBS Saturday Morning," and author of the memoir "Belonging: A Daughter's Search for Identity Through Love and Loss," talks about her family story, her biracial background, and her struggle to find acceptance.

For more info:

"Belonging: A Daughter's Search for Identity Through Love and Loss" by Michelle Miller (HarperCollins), in Hardcover, eBook and Audio formats, available March 14 via Amazon, Barnes & Noble and IndieboundMichelle Miller, CBS News

Comedian Nick Kroll. / Credit: CBS News

TV: Nick Kroll on "History of the World, Part II" | Watch Video

Standup comedian, writer and producer Nick Kroll has returned to TV as part of the cast of Hulu's star-studded sequel to the Mel Brooks comedy, "History of the World, Part I." Kroll talks with Turner Classic Movies host Ben Mankiewicz about "History of the World, Part II," and working with a comedy idol.

To watch a trailer for "History of the World, Part II" click on the video player below:

For more info:

nickkroll.com"History of the World, Part II" debuts March 6 on Hulu"Kroll Show" (Comedy Central)Largo at the Coronet, Los Angeles





NATURE: Elk in Idaho (Extended Video)

We leave you this Sunday morning with elk on the rugged hillside above the Salmon River, not far from Riggins, Idaho. Videographer: Hank Heusinkveld.

WEB EXCLUSIVES:

Michelle Yeoh in

2023 OSCARS: Watch scenes from the best picture nominees

Check out highlights from the 10 nominated films up for the Academy Awards' top prize, as well as interviews with the stars and filmmakers.

For more info:

Oscar nominations: "Everything Everywhere All at Once" leads nods for Academy Awards with 11The Oscars will be presented on March 12. Complete CBSNews.com coverage: The Academy Awards







"HERE COMES THE SUN": Actors Colin Farrell and Brendan Gleeson, plus Samantha Smith's letter (Video)

Actors Colin Farrell and Brendan Gleeson sit down with Tracy Smith to discuss their latest film, "The Banshees of Inisherin." Then, Mo Rocca travels to Maine to learn about Samantha Smith and her fearless letter to the Soviet Union.

The Emmy Award-winning "CBS Sunday Morning" is broadcast on CBS Sundays beginning at 9:00 a.m. ET. Executive producer is Rand Morrison.

DVR Alert! Find out when "Sunday Morning" airs in your city

"Sunday Morning" also streams on the CBS News app beginning at 12:00 p.m. ET. (Download it here.)

Full episodes of "Sunday Morning" are now available to watch on demand on CBSNews.com, CBS.com and Paramount+, including via Apple TV, Android TV, Roku, Chromecast, Amazon FireTV/FireTV stick and Xbox.

Follow us on Twitter; Facebook; Instagram; YouTube; TikTok; and at cbssundaymorning.com.

You can also download the free "Sunday Morning" audio podcast at iTunes and at Play.it. Now you'll never miss the trumpet!

Extend Interview: Rep. Brad Wenstrup says House COVID subcommittee hasn't "seen all that we want to see" about intelligence on virus origins

Flashback: Bob Schieffer visits Selma with John Lewis

Dr. Scott Gottlieb says COVID origins may never be known "with certainty," but focus should be on "taking the steps" to ensure a lab leak never happens
Vladimir Putin and Oleg Deripaska - ILIA PITALEV/AFP via Getty Images

Demand for its oil and gas has been choked off. Sanctions are finally starting to bite. The costs of a war that the Kremlin expected to be over in a matter of weeks are escalating wildly out of control, and the state is increasingly having to rely on borrowing to keep going.

Even supposed allies of the Russian regime, such as the billionaire Oleg Deripaska, are now warning that the country is close to running out of money.

Vladimir Putin ignored almost every lesson of history when he invaded Ukraine just over a year ago. But the one that might well haunt him the most is this: wars of attrition are brutally expensive, and are usually won by whoever has the deepest pockets and the productive capacity to keep up the fight for the longest. That isnt going to be Russia.

It could even be that the total collapse of Russias economy is not far away. And if it is, it will happen a lot more quickly than anyone currently thinks.

If we are to avoid a repeat of the events that followed the disintegration of the Soviet Union in 1991  when the economy fell apart , the oligarchs took control, and Russia ended up becoming a corrupt, gangster state intent on re-establishing its empire  the West needs to be ready.

It has taken longer than anyone thought, but the economic pressure on the Kremlin is finally starting to tell. True, last year the country got away with a fairly modest 2.2pc contraction in GDP, at least if you believe the official figures. This year, however, is going to be much worse.

There are estimates that output fell by 6pc to 7pc in the last quarter of the year, and the decline will only have accelerated since then. Europe, including the UK, has managed to wean itself off Russian oil and gas, its main customer, far faster than was expected. The G7 has imposed a price cap of $60 on Urals oil, and while some customers will inevitably avoid that the price has still dropped by 20pc since December, hitting revenues hard.

Companies might have been too slow about it  no one knows why the typically sanctimonious Unilever is still there  but they are steadily winding down their operations in the country, laying off staff and closing down units. The Russian budget deficit is climbing at an alarming rate, as tax revenue collapses.

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There will be no money already next year, Deripaska, the metals tycoon already subject to American, British and EU sanctions, told a conference in Siberia this week. We will need foreign investors.

That much is certainly true. The spending on the war has escalated dramatically. According to an analysis by Reuters, the military and security budget has risen to $155bn, or a third of all state spending. Putin and his generals may have planned a lightning campaign leading to a victory parade through the streets of Kyiv within a matter of weeks. But that is not the way it has worked out.

Instead, Russia is bogged down in a brutal war of attrition along a stretched front line that is consuming men and machinery on an epic scale. And if the fighting is tragically reminiscent of the First World War, then there will be similarities in the economic context, too. The Great War was effectively over once the economic might of the United States was thrown behind the Allies.

It is possible that China may step in to help Russia out. But it would be rash to count on it. The Chinese, and especially President Xi, are not sentimental, and they are certainly not interested in losers.

It is hard to see that they have anything to gain by bailing Putin out. And without help from China, it is impossible that Russias shrinking economy can match the spending power of the West (and the White House announced another $400m of help only yesterday). A total economic collapse is simply a matter of time.

The West needs to be ready for that. When the Soviet Union fell apart in 1991 the response was a total disaster. The country was allowed to sink into chaos, with GDP falling by a shocking 45pc between 1988 and 1998.

It was hardly surprising against that backdrop that industry fell into the hands of a corrupt group of oligarchs, and that an authoritarian state controlled by Putin quickly took charge. We ended up with a repressive, militarised regime, threatening its neighbours, and repressing its people. In other words, right back at square one.

The collapse of 2023 needs to be handled very differently. Like the post-war reconstruction of Japan and Germany, or indeed, the post-Soviet rebuilding of Poland, now on track to be richer than Britain, at least according to Sir Keir Starmer (who conveniently forgets to mention that it will also be richer than Spain and France), it needs to create small businesses, back entrepreneurs not robber barons, and encourage free and competitive markets operating under the rule of law instead of a gangster clique entirely dependent on favours from the Government.

None of that is going to be easy, but then it wasnt easy in Japan and Germany, either. It will require massive financial assistance when the Putin regime falls apart to stop output going into freefall, and that will be expensive, especially at a time when we will need to help Ukraine rebuild as well.

Even more importantly it will take slow, patient institution building. If successful, however, there will be at least a chance of a modern, liberal democracy emerging from the ruins of this dreadful war. And that will be a neighbour the rest of us can finally live with.

In reality, Russias economic collapse is not far off  and this time around the West needs to have a plan ready for when it happens.
What to watch: Elvis, Like Father, Like Son, and Finding Michael are all new to streaming. (Warner Bros./Mubi/Disney+)

Wondering what to watch this weekend? A new month of streaming has begun, with awards season contenders and more landing on services in a flood of new releases.

Chief among them is Best Picture Oscar contender Elvis, a gaudy new biopic from Hollywoods reigning champ of excess, Baz Luhrman, having garnered renown for its lead performance from Austin Butler (who, amusingly, sort of lied about the Elvis voice becoming his everyday speaking voice).

At the same time, MUBI releases the Japanese family drama Like Father, Like Son, an earlier film from Hirokazu Kore-eda, whose newest film Broker (his first film in the Korean language, and starring Parasite star Song Kang-ho) landed in cinemas this week.

Read more: Everything new on Netflix in March

At the same time Disney+ releases the emotional documentary Finding Michael, following journey of Spencer Matthews to recover the body of his record-setting, mountaineering older brother from the Everest peak where he disappeared.

Paramount+ adds more classics to his library in the form of Francis Ford Coppolas stone-cold classic The Godfather Trilogy, including Coppolas recent re-edit of the third and final film, retitled Coda.

Please note that a subscription may be required to watch.

Like Father, Like Son (2013) | (pick of the week)

Like Father, Like Son (MUBI)

Japanese filmmaker Hirokazu Kore-eda has long had a keen interest in splintered paternal dynamics amidst blood family and found family alike, and his 2013 film Like Father, Like Son might be his trickiest iteration on that theme.

Based on real cases in 1960s Japan where babies were accidentally switched at birth, the film looks at two families affected by such an exchange. The well-to-do but rather strict Ryota and his wife get a call from the hospital notifying them that their son Keita is not their child by birth, and Ryota struggles to adjust to the news. Its not long before they find their biological son Ryusei, who has been raised by a poorer family, but one rich in love and kindness. Ryota struggles with what he has and hasnt provided for Keita and whether he wants to make a switch so each boy lives with their birth parents.

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The films idea that parental bonds transcend blood only makes the situation more messy and painful, exploding festering wounds in the family through the revelation of the switched children exposes are ugly, and very compelling.

Read more: Everything new on Disney+ in March

Throughout it all however Kore-eda balances that pain with a lot of sweetness  he remains an excellent director of child actors  and the usual contemplative calm that his films are known for. Kore-eda has a reputation for making cute and cuddly films but his best often house a troubled and bitter core like Like Father, Like Son does  for a good majority of this film, Ryotas classism and traditionalism and his stubborn treatment of Keita is often uncomfortable to watch, even on the way to a heartfelt conclusion.

Also on MUBI: Glass Life (2021)

Finding Michael (2023) | Disney+

Spencer Matthews in Finding Michael. (Disney+)

A deeply personal act of memorial through filmmaking, Finding Michael follows the two decade old story of Michael Matthews, the youngest British person to climb Mount Everest, who died during the climb, separated from the group in the mountains Death Zone.

The documentary itself is about his younger brother Spencer Matthews (known for being on Made in Chelsea), who along with his sister and mother seek closure by recovering his body from Everest, with the help of mountaineering expert Nims Purja.

What the critics think of Finding Michael

Evening Standard: A powerful doc about the unbreakable bond between brothers (3 min read)

Guardian: A reality TV star goes on a haunting high-altitude mission (4 min read)

The Telegraph: Stunning scenery and uneasy ethics among Everest's dead (3 min read)

As it tracks the planning of the journey before the journey itself, the doc covers some potent emotional material as it wonders about the difference between the excitement Spencer feels in retracing his brothers journey and feeling closer to him, but also the pain it might also bring him  repeating a journey that led to a lot of anguish for his family and those who knew Michael.

The direction of the film itself is mostly just functional, the usual mix of archive and personal anecdote and interviews with family members and old expedition mates. Whats remarkable is the story at its core; as much a recounting of Michaels original journey and subsequent disappearance, the logistics and the feelings of what it takes to make an Everest climb, not to mention the difficulty and absurdity in making sense of a death at such a young age, brought into sharper relief by the unforgiving nature of the mountain.

Also on Disney+: Empire of Light (2022)

Elvis (2022) | NOW with a Sky Cinema Membership

Austin Butler and Tom Hanks star in Baz Luhrmann's Elvis. (Warner Bros.)

Since its release Baz Luhrmans gaudy biopic has gyrated its way into being an Oscar frontrunner while its star Austin Butler has cleaned up at the preliminary awards shows for his performance as the King.

How much one enjoys this film sort of depends how much one has a tolerance for Bad Luhrman shenanigans, his utterly insane and overcooked editing style and brazenly anachronistic needledrops (all that needs to be said: theres a Doja Cat track in this).

What the critics think of Elvis

Telegraph: You cant help falling in love with Baz Luhrmanns jukebox epic (4 min read)

Independent: Baz Luhrmanns sweaty, seductive biopic makes the King cool again (6 min read)

Variety: A stylishly on-the-surface life-of-Elvis impersonation until it takes off in Vegas (9 min read)

Elvis is, to put it shortly, deranged, Luhrmans maximalist style exploded to a reckless, breakneck pace over an epic two and a half hours. Butlers widespread recognition isnt unjustified, as a rare biopic performance that feels far more impassioned than the impersonations that often inexplicably wow awards bodies. As for the rest, mileage will undoubtedly vary.

Also on NOW: The Voyagers (2022) - from 5 March

The Godfather Trilogy (I, II and Coda) | Paramount+

The Godfather (Paramount Pictures)

Francis Ford Coppolas decade-spanning saga of the rise and fall of Michael Corleone is recognised as an all-time great with good reason.

Read more: Everything new on Paramount+ in March

Theres often temptation to dismiss canonised films like this but doing so here would only be a disservice to ones self. The first magnificent instalment follows Michael (Al Pacino in the role of a lifetime) as he enacts bloody revenge on his fathers would-be assassins, the second follows the dual storylines of a young Vito (De Niro!) while in the 1950s Michael expands his empire, the unfairly maligned third instalment sees Michael reckoning with a lifetime of sin.

Also on Paramount+: Orphan: First Kill (2022)
Chinas Two Sessions meetings kick off Saturday for the most important annual political gatherings where authorities are expected to lay out the countrys economic plans for the year ahead and reshuffle key jobs.

Initiatives for building a digital economy are expected to be high on the agenda.

The National Peoples Congress (NPC), the countrys parliament, will meet on Sunday, while the National Committee of the Chinese Peoples Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC), the countrys top advisory body, will take place a day earlier. The meetings are set to run for about two weeks.

Here are some of the digital trends to look out for.

Big plans

On Monday, China rolled out a grand digitalization plan that places an emphasis on building out a digital-based infrastructure for the economy by 2025.

According to the plan, China aims to integrate the technology into the real economy, including the application of digital technology in the agriculture, manufacturing, finance, education, medical services, transportation and energy sectors. It also calls for widely accessible digital public services.

The plan was released after China President Xi Jinping wrote in a January article that technologies, such as blockchain, artificial intelligence, 5G and cloud computing, will be major drivers for the nations new economy and to meet international competition.

Threaded through this narrative is a call for self reliance. Iris Pang, chief economist of think tank ING Economics, wrote in a report on Tuesday that self-reliance in advanced technology is a key topic in meetings of top leaders.

We believe that there will be funding from the government for both public and private research bodies to engage in R&D (research and development), with the ultimate aim of achieving self-reliance in advanced technology, Pang wrote.

John Hemmings, a senior director of U.S. research institute Pacific Forum, said in a press briefing in Washington D.C. earlier this week that Xis digital China initiative has grand ambitions.

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Its a digital strategy that drives all efforts within China. This is not just an industrial strategy. It is not just a technology sector strategy, he said.

This covers every area: political, economic, military, even foreign policy, and Chinas place in the world, said Hemmings, who published a research paper titled Digital China: The Strategy and Its Geopolitical Implications with another scholar in February.

Blockchain, metaverse

Despite its ban on crypto transactions, China considers blockchain technology key to its digital infrastructure, with a growing number of Chinese local governments showing interest in Web3 development.

At least a dozen Chinese cities and provinces have issued plans or policies to boost the growth of the Web3 and metaverse industries, including Shanghai, the countrys financial center.

Shanghai released a policy paper in July last year to build out metaverse-related industries worth about US$52 billion by the end of 2025.

The country also unveiled in February it is setting up a national blockchain technology research center in the capital Beijing, which has already incorporated blockchain use in its governance by building up a blockchain-based data directory for over 80 city departments.

Pi Jianlong, a Beijing-based lawyer and a CPPCC member, told local media this week that there are emerging types of virtual properties in China that dont fall under the category of financial properties, and that theres a pressing need to regulate such assets.

Pi said he plans to submit a proposal at the Two Sessions aiming to speed up legislation for virtual property protection.

Such virtual properties are often linked to real-world assets, such as wine, tea or artwork and are powered by blockchain technology and smart contracts, according to Pi.

Pi added that the country should set up institutions dedicated to virtual property custody and verification, as the worlds second-largest economy seeks to boost its international competency in a Web3 world, or the evolution of a decentralized Internet running on blockchain technology.

Johnny Ng, a member of Hong Kongs Legislative Council and a CPPCC member, said last month in an interview with Chinese state media that he is interested in discussing metaverse and Web3 during the Two Sessions.

Ng added that Hong Kong is well positioned to become a Web3 industry hub after the city released relevant policy documents last year.

Lily King, chief operating officer of Singapore-based crypto custody platform Cobo, wrote in a February commentary for Forkast: The Chinese government appears to be trying to replicate what it did with the internet industry in the Web2 era: to construct an ecosystem that is independent of the public blockchains in the global market  a Web3 with Chinese characteristics.

King added that the Chinese government sees blockchain technology and digital assets as potential sources of economic growth.

However, all the turmoil and scandals in the global crypto industry over the past year likely only validated its perception of cryptocurrency as a threat to financial and social stability.

GDP target

Last year, Chinese economic planners set a three-decade low gross domestic product (GDP) growth target of 5.5% for 2022, according to the government work report for last year.

Academics at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, a central research institute, predicted last month that Chinas GDP growth may come in at only 5% for 2023.

Pang of ING Economics wrote that the market is predicting a 5.5% to 6% GDP growth target coming out of the Two Sessions, but this will not be easy for the government to achieve even though China is gradually recovering.

We expect GDP growth for this year to be 5%, moving up to 5.5% if consumption and the job market are very strong, Pang added.

See related article: How Web3 in China is taking shape  with Chinese characteristics
After Walgreens announced it would no longer sell abortion pills by mail in 20 conservative-led states, the White House on Friday called it dangerous and unacceptable for Republicans to target pharmacies for offering them.

Press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre did not explicitly weigh in on Walgreenss move, but more broadly pushed back on the effort among Republican attorneys general to threaten consequences for the distribution of FDA-approved abortion medication.

Elected officials targeting pharmacies and their ability to provide women with safe, effective and FDA-approved medication is dangerous and just unacceptable, Jean-Pierre said.

This is all part of a continued effort by anti-abortion extremists who want to use this arcane law to impose a backdoor ban on abortion, she continued. The administration will continue to stand by the FDAs expert judgment in approving and regulating medications. And in the face of barriers to access and concerns about safety of patients, healthcare providers and pharmacists, we will continue to support access to this critical medication within the limits of the law.

Walgreens, the countrys second-largest pharmacy chain, announced that it will not provide abortion pills in several states after roughly two dozen Republican attorneys general wrote to the company last month threatening legal action if the pharmacy continued to distribute the medication. The news was first reported Thursday by Politico.

The GOP attorneys general previously argued that federal law prohibits anyone from using the mail to send or receive any drug that will be used or applied for producing abortion, referring to the Comstock Act of 1873.

The Justice Department issued a legal opinion earlier this year stating that mailing abortion drugs mifepristone and misoprostol does not violate the Comstock Act. The department said the U.S. Postal Service is legally allowed to deliver prescription abortion drugs even in states that have curtailed access to abortion.

Story continues

Among the states affected are Iowa, Alaska, Arkansas, Alabama, South Dakota, Florida, Georgia, Louisiana, Ohio, South Carolina and Texas. Most of those states already have restrictive abortion laws on the books.

The Walgreens decision is the latest development in an ongoing fight over access to abortion that has been reshaped in the wake of last summers Supreme Court decision overturning Roe v. Wade.

Several GOP-led states have sought to further restrict abortion access in the time since, while the Biden administration has issued executive orders and legal opinions seeking to protect womens access to abortion pills and their ability to travel across state lines for the procedure.

Updated at 4:48 p.m.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to The Hill.
The white nationalist and antisemite Nick Fuentes said Thursday evening that he has been kicked out of CPAC.

I just got kicked out of CPAC, Mr Fuentes posted on the instant messaging platform Telegram, which has been described by the Anti-Defamation League (ADL) as a safe haven for white supremacists.

The annual meeting of the top players in the conservative movement, which has tacked further and further right in recent years, began Thursday at the Gaylord National Resort and Convention Center in National Harbor, Maryland.

Mr Fuentes was recently in national headlines when and the rapper Ye, formerly Kanye West, were invited to dine at Mar-a-Lago with former President Donald Trump. The former presidents decision to host the pair was condemned by a range of civil rights groups and political leaders, including some Republicans and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

According to reporting by Axios, Mr Trump was very taken with Mr Fuentes and impressed with his knowledge of his political campaigns.
Matthew Kacsmaryk at a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing in 2017; boxes of mifepristone. (Photo illistration: Yahoo News; photos: U.S. Senate via YouTube, Robyn Beck/AFP via Getty Images)

In an unprecedented ruling, a conservative federal judge in Texas on Friday further restricted abortion access nationwide by suspending the Food and Drug Administrations approval of mifepristone, a widely used abortion drug that was approved over two decades ago.

The judge has decided to suspend the ruling for seven days, giving the Justice Department time to appeal the decision, which leaves the drug available on the market for the time being.

Judge Matthew Kacsmaryk, who was appointed by former President Donald Trump, ruled in favor of the plaintiffs Alliance Defending Freedom, a faith-based organization that has long sought to have abortion outlawed nationwide on the grounds it is harmful.

Pushing back on arguments that it was improper to allow a challenge to a medication that was approved decades ago by the FDA, Kacsmaryk wrote in the 67-page brief that the FDA stonewalled judicial review, claiming that the agency had ignored petitions from anti-abortion groups to revisit the approval of the abortion drug.

Mifepristone, in combination with a second abortion drug, misoprostol, has become the most common form of abortion in the U.S. It is also used in the treatment of miscarriages.

The delayed ruling could create a significant barrier for women who are seeking to terminate their pregnancies or manage miscarriages without a surgical procedure, even in states where abortion rights are protected.

Alliance Defending Freedom said in a tweet, This is a significant victory for the doctors and medical associations we represent and more importantly, the health and safety of women and girls.

Late on Friday, the Biden administration filed its notice of appeal to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit, which is considered one of the most conservative in the country.

Vice President Kamala Harris spoke to reporters at an airfield in Nashville, Tenn., on Friday about the judges decision, saying, It is contrary to what makes for good public health policy to allow courts and politicians to tell the FDA what it should do.

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Immediately after Kacsmaryks ruling, U.S. District Judge Thomas Owen Rice, an Obama appointee in Washington state, countered the ruling in a separate lawsuit by ordering that the FDA keep the medication abortion pill on the market in 17 states and Washington, D.C., where Democrats sued to keep the pill.

The competing decisions mark some of the most significant abortion-related rulings, adding another layer of complexity to U.S. abortion laws, which vary by state after last years Supreme Court decision overturning Roe v. Wade. Before Kacsmaryk arrived on the federal bench, he had sharply criticized abortion.

Who is Judge Matthew Kacsmaryk?

Hes a federal judge for the Amarillo division of the United States District Court for the Northern District of Texas. Hes also the only judge in that federal district, guaranteeing that he will be the one who presides over cases that are filed there.

Trump nominated Kacsmaryk to the District Court in 2017. During his Senate confirmation hearings, Kacsmaryk asserted that he would be fair, separating his religious beliefs from his rulings.

As a judge, Im no longer in the advocate role, Kacsmaryk said at the time. Im in the role of reading and applying with all good faith whatever Supreme Court and Fifth Circuit precedent is binding.

He was confirmed in June 2019 by a Republican majority Senate by a vote of 52-46. Centrist Sen. Susan Collins of Maine was the only Republican who voted against Kacsmaryks appointment, citing his alarming bias against LGBTQ Americans and disregard for Supreme Court precedents.

Collins was referring to two articles he published in 2015 attacking same-sex marriage and abortion rights.

What have been some of Kacsmaryk's more recent rulings?

In November, Kacsmaryk rejected the Biden administrations efforts to extend health care discrimination protections to LGBTQ people. His ruling found that a 2020 U.S. Supreme Court decision that bans workplace discrimination doesnt apply to health care.

In December, Kacsmaryk sided with a Christian father who didnt want his daughter to have access to birth control without his permission. The judge ruled that Title X, a federal program that provides low-cost or free and confidential contraception access, violated the constitutional right of parents to direct the upbringing of their children.

What was his upbringing?

Kacsmaryk, 45, was born in Gainesville, Fla., according to the Federal Judicial Center.

He grew up in the suburbs of Fort Worth, Texas, where religion played a key role in his family of born-again Christians. The family regularly attended West Freeway Church of Christ and were taught at an early age that abortion was wrong, his sister Jennifer Griffith told the Washington Post.

Griffith recalled that their mother was a microbiologist who began to question some of what she was taught after joining the church. She started working with anti-abortion crisis pregnancy centers.

According to the newspaper, Kacsmaryks anti-abortion beliefs were ingrained when he was a 22-year-old law student and one of his sisters, 17, became pregnant and chose adoption over abortion. Later on in life, he joined the organization that cared for his sister, Christian Homes and Family Services, and in 2016, became a trustee, according to public records.

How did Kacsmaryk's legal career get started?

Kacsmaryk attended Abilene Christian University, where he led the College Republicans student group. In a letter to the editor in his freshman year, he advocated for the rights of an unborn child, as reported by the Post. In the letter, he wrote, The Democratic Partys ability to condone the federally sanctioned eradication of innocent human life is indicative of the moral ambivalence undergirding this party.

Kacsmaryk received his law degree from the University of Texas School of Law in 2003, and he started his legal career at Baker Botts LLP. He went on to become an assistant U.S. attorney in the Northern District of Texas.

In 2014, he joined First Liberty Institute, a conservative legal group focused on defending the rights of religious people. He represented the defendants in a high-profile case involving two Oregon bakers who refused to make a cake for a lesbian wedding.
Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov held their first in-person meeting since the invasion of Ukraine on Thursday.

Blinken and his opposite number were both attending the G-20 summit in New Delhi, India.

The conversation was unexpected but brief  it reportedly lasted around 10 minutes  and there was no significant breakthrough.

But the meeting was still important. Here are four reasons why.

It happened at all

The mere fact that the confab between the two foreign ministers happened may be the most significant thing about it.

It shows, at a minimum, that both sides are at least willing to engage in some level of dialogue.

The Russians contended afterward that Blinken, not Lavrov, had asked for the meeting. But even if that is so, Lavrov could have rebuffed the request and didnt.

Back in February 2022, it was Blinken who canceled a scheduled meeting with Lavrov as Russia sent troops into eastern Ukraine.

Now that we see the invasion is beginning, and Russia has made clear its wholesale rejection of diplomacy, it does not make sense to go forward with that meeting at this time, Blinken said in remarks from the State Department then.

Since then, Blinken and Lavrov have only spoken on the phone, notably last summer during the lead-up to the release of WNBA star Brittney Griner from a Russian prison.

A face-to-face conversation doesnt resolve anything, but in the carefully choreographed world of diplomacy it is still significant.

Blinken again called for the release of Paul Whelan

The fate of Paul Whelan has been a political point of vulnerability for the Biden administration.

Whelan, a former Marine, was arrested in Russia in late 2018, accused of spying and subsequently convicted. He protests his innocence and the U.S. government agrees.

The fact that Griner was released in early December last year, but Whelan was not, led to charges that the White House had made a bad deal.

The de facto price of Griners release was a concession by the United States to let Viktor Bout, a notorious Russian arms dealer nicknamed the Merchant of Death, out of prison in this country. Bout had not been due for release until 2029.

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Critics argued that the Biden administration had given up its leverage by allowing Bout out without demanding Whelan also be released.

After the Thursday meeting with Lavrov, Blinken said that the United States had put forward a serious proposal for Whelans release and that Russia should take it.

Blinken, predictably, didnt go into detail about the nature of the proposal. But it was at least an affirmation for Whelans family and supporters that efforts to free him are continuing.

Pressure for the Kremlin to reengage with nuclear treaty

The war in Ukraine has had ripple effects in other areas where Russia and the U.S. had previously managed some level of cooperation.

One of the most dramatic instances came late last month, when Russian President Vladimir Putin abruptly announced he was withdrawing his nations participation from the New START treaty, a nuclear arms reduction agreement.

Putin did split some hairs in the announcement. As The New York Times noted, Putin made clear that he was not pulling out of the treaty which expires in February 2026. And hours after the speech, Russias Foreign Ministry declared the country had no intention to deploy more strategic nuclear arms.

All the same, the move increased anxiety between the two nations from an already-febrile point.

There is still speculation in some quarters that Russia could use tactical nuclear weapons on the battlefield in Ukraine, especially if Putin was facing a humiliating defeat.

Blinken on Thursday called the move on New START irresponsible and said that Russia should return to a stance of participation.

Russia downplayed the meeting

The degree to which the Russian side sought to minimize the meeting was notable.

A Russian foreign ministry spokeswoman acknowledged that the two men had spoken but categorized the encounter as neither talks nor a meeting, according to The Wall Street Journal.

This attempt to downplay the episode was in addition to the insistence that the conversation had been sought out by Blinken.

Those remarks could betray a defensiveness on the Kremlins part about any suggestion that it is taking even tiny, halting steps toward peace talks or concessions.

That, in turn, reveals something about the nature of a war that has now entered its second year  defying early predictions that Russian forces would easily sweep to victory.

Laura Kelly contributed.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to The Hill.
Texas dad Taylor Odlozil knows his wife is dying. What he didn't expect was support from all over the world after sharing his family's story on TikTok.

Haley Odlozil, 30, was initially diagnosed with ovarian cancer one week before Christmas in December 2015.

"We were two months out from our wedding," Taylor, 31, tells TODAY.com. "We found out in a matter of 10 seconds that she could never have children and that she was dying. It still makes me shake when I think about it."

The Odlozil family of Texas recently attended the Houston Rodeo. (Courtesy of Taylor Odlozil)

Taylor said Haley sat him down one week after her diagnosis and told him that he could "move on and find someone else."

"She was trying to let me know that I could leave if I wanted to," Taylor says. "I thought she was crazy."

After nine weeks of chemotherapy to shrink Haley's tumors, the couple married. But the week after their wedding, the couple was dealt a devastating blow.

"The doctor basically told us that the chemo did absolutely nothing and that the tumors didn't shrink at all. They actually grew," Taylor says, adding that Haley's doctor pulled him aside to give an even more grim prognosis. "That's when I found out she had six months left (to live)."

The couple went on their honeymoon and returned home to an optimistic referral from Haley's doctor: a surgeon in New York was willing to look at Haley's case.

"We got an appointment and he agreed to operate," Taylor says "The doctor did a nine-hour surgery and ... performed a miracle. He was able to remove 100% of visible cancer."

But Haley's cancer returned immediately after surgery and she has been battling the disease for seven years.

"She's been on chemo many times," Taylor says, adding that two years ago, Haley was given a colostomy bag. "It has been a fight."

Taylor Odlozil, with wife, Haley, and son, Weston, pose together during a trip to Park City, Utah. (Courtesy of Taylor Odlozil)

During a period of time where Haley's prognosis was promising, the couple, who had dreamed of becoming parents since they met, used the help of a surrogate to welcome their son, Weston.

"He is the most loving, caring little boy," Taylor says. "He is going to be what saves me for these coming months that are going to be pretty hard."

Story continues

In October 2022, following a bowel obstruction, Haley's doctors told her she was out of options.

"She was past the point of surgery," Taylor says. "Even the surgeon in New York said 'I'm not going to operate on her again'."

On Thanksgiving Day 2022, Taylor shared the family's story on TikTok. At the time, he says he had around 200 followers.

"I'm losing my family and there's nothing I can do about it," he captioned a video featuring clips of Haley with Weston.

The video immediately went viral, racking up more than 19 million views as of early March from people all over the world invested in Haley's story.

Taylor tells TODAY.com the response has been "unbelievable."

"I just started posting regularly and it's just snowballed," he says. He now has a following of more than 500K people.

Haley Odlozil tells TODAY.com she hopes her family and friends know how much she loves them. (Courtesy of Taylor Odlozil)

Taylor documents sweet moments between Haley and Weston  like the young boy rubbing his mom's back while she vomits  as well as more emotional moments, like Haley recording her voice in a stuffed animal for Weston.

But Taylor knows time with Haley is running thin.

Since October when we found out, shes just slowly gone downhill and the last three weeks have been really bad, he says, adding she has lost more than 60 pounds. Shes barely eating (and) she throws up (about) 20 times a day now. Its just terrible.

The familys TikTok page  as well as a personal archive of video footage  will eventually serve as a scrapbook for Weston after Haley dies.

"My wife's greatest fear that she talks about to me all the time is being forgotten," Taylor says. "She knows that life goes on (and) doesn't stop when you die. Everybody has to get up and go to work and continue on and and she's just so terrified of us forgetting about everything we've been through and forgetting about her ... and I'm not going to let that happen."

Taylor says Weston knows that "mommy is sick" and "mommy goes to the doctor a lot", but the 4-year-old "does not completely understand" what will happen.

"We ask him every day, 'When you can't feel or see mommy, where is she?' and he always says, 'My heart!'"

For Haley, each day gets more difficult. When asked what she hopes her friends and family know, she tells TODAY.com, How much I love them.

Its definitely not an easy thing to navigate, especially when you have a little one and amazing family and friends, Haley says. You dont want to leave. Thats hard. But were trying to make sure that we make memories and theres a lot of good moments.

Related video:

This article was originally published on TODAY.com
San Francisco radio host Jeffrey Vandergrift was reported missing last week.

San Francisco radio host Jeffrey Vandergrift was reported missing last week.

The wife of missing San Francisco radio host Jeffrey Vandergrift said in an update Wednesday that new information has led her to believe her husband will not return.

JV and I have always considered this community part of our family, so I want to let you know that personal information has recently been discovered that leads us to believe JV will not be coming back, Natasha Yi said in a statement on social media and the WiLD 94.9 website. I tell you this with incredible pain and sadness in my heart.

Vandergrift, 54, who hosted The JV Show with his wife, was last seen at his San Francisco home on Feb. 23, the San Francisco Police Department said in a news release on Friday. Police said Vandergrift was considered at-risk.

Yi noted that the SFPD still considers Vandergrift missing but that no foul play is suspected in his disappearance.

We are incredibly appreciative for the SFPDs ongoing efforts in locating JV and they have asked us to keep the details to immediate family only, she wrote. I know how painful this is for you to hear  please know that I have you in my thoughts.

My heart is utterly broken, and the pain feels unbearable, Yi added.

The radio station noted at the end of the message on its website that anyone who has listened to the show for the last year knows that JV has gone through an intense battle with Lyme disease.

The radio host had spoken about his struggle with the disease, which is usually caused by a tick bite in humans and can result in severe symptoms, including intense headaches, rashes, joint pain, dizziness and fatigue.

In her statement, Yi thanked viewers for their overwhelming compassion for the physical torture her husband had experienced over the past two years.

Its not clear if Vandergrifts health issues are connected to his disappearance. San Francisco police are encouraging anyone with information that may help the search to call the SFPD tip line at 514-575-4444 or text to TIP411.
Marine Killed in Ukraine Opens Up About Their Final Conversations Before Missile Attack: 'Good Luck, Adventure Buddy'

Courtesy Alex Potter

Alex Potter first learned the name "Pete Reed" via a newspaper article. In was November 2016 and she had just landed in Mosul, Iraq, where she'd traveled to cover the war as a photojournalist.

"When I got there, there were already hundreds of other journalists covering the battle," Potter tells PEOPLE. "I was like, 'Well there's not a lot of frontline medical providers, maybe I can help out in that way.' "

Potter, who is a nurse in addition to a journalist with credits in National Geographic and The New York Times, happened to see an article in The Washington Post about a nonprofit team rendering medical aid in the area.

"I asked if I could come help them," she says. "I thought I would stay and help for a couple weeks. I ended up staying the entire time."

On day one working with the medical nonprofit, Potter met Reed and fell hard.

Marine Killed in Ukraine Opens Up About Their Final Conversations Before Missile Attack: 'Good Luck, Adventure Buddy'

Courtesy Alex Potter

The "social, outgoing, gregarious" former Marine wasn't someone to whom Potter would typically be drawn.

"If we had met a decade earlier, we definitely would not have been together," she says. "He was former military. I thought he was a little bit of a showboater ... and yet he wasn't this hard-ass without a feeling bone. He had all the feelings."

Potter and Reed stayed in Iraq for a year and a half, then "followed each other around" indefinitely, moving to Idaho, then Minnesota, then Alaska  all while he continued to make the occasional international jaunt to offer medical aid.

Marine Killed in Ukraine Opens Up About Their Final Conversations Before Missile Attack: 'Good Luck, Adventure Buddy'

Courtesy Alex Potter

Reed had a passion for people, says Potter, which came in handy in war zones in Yemen, Syria, Iraq and Ukraine  all places he made a point to travel. "In war, in high-stress situations... that's how he worked the best," she says. "He was really good at making connections."

Having fallen in love in a war zone, Potter says she and Reed had an understanding  an unspoken agreement to allow one another to pursue their passions despite the considerable dangers.

"We would never tell each other 'no.' But I was worried," she admits.

Story continues

Marine Killed in Ukraine Opens Up About Their Final Conversations Before Missile Attack: 'Good Luck, Adventure Buddy'

Courtesy Alex Potter

Her worries heightened when Reed, 33, left for Ukraine in mid-November. He returned a month later, buzzing about the experience but somehow more introspective. He knew there was more work to be done.

Back home in the U.S., he had plans to become a paramedic. He had recently completed a program and applied for jobs in the field but when he lost out on a stateside opportunity, an altogether different offer materialized: a six-month contract, back in Ukraine.

RELATED: Everything to Know About the War in Ukraine, One Year After Russia's Invasion

So off he went, while Alex stayed in Alaska, where she works overnight nursing shifts two days per week.

She says she mostly tried "not to think about it too much," getting nervous only when she wouldn't hear from Pete for long stretches of time.

Marine Killed in Ukraine Opens Up About Their Final Conversations Before Missile Attack: 'Good Luck, Adventure Buddy'

Courtesy Alex Potter

"If he didn't answer his phone, I would catastrophize, and immediately think, 'Oh he's dead.' And of course, 99.9% of the time he was fine," she says, her voice trailing off. "But it turned out to be unfortunately true this one time."

Potter was working an overnight shift on Feb. 2 when she got a 4 a.m. call from the executive director of Global Outreach Doctors, the organization for which Reed was working. The two-minute phone call was sketchy on details  "I only knew a group of them had been hit," she says  and caused her to immediately go into "journalist mode," bolting out of the hospital doors to try and track down her husband some 6,000 miles away.

"I sat in my car for three hours ... contacting every single person I knew of who might have an idea of where he was or how he was," she says.

RELATED: A Timeline of How Russia Began Invading Ukraine

Over the next several hours, she heard differing stories  he was in an ambulance but conscious, he was hospitalized with abdominal trauma  but by midnight the next day, she heard from a journalist friend with troubling news.

"He was like, 'There's a video going around the internet,'" she explains. "And I said, 'Send it to me. I want to see it. I have to know.'"

Even in a blurry version of the video, Potter could tell: it was her husband, lying motionless on the ground.

As she would later learn, the van in which Reed was traveling had been hit by a missile and continuously shelled for hours.

It would take four more hours, Potter says, for her husband's body to be taken to a safe space, where it was then photographed so it could be identified. "I had to identify him by his tattoos because of his injuries," she says.

Marine Killed in Ukraine Opens Up About Their Final Conversations Before Missile Attack: 'Good Luck, Adventure Buddy'

Courtesy Alex Potter

Within days, she had booked a plane ticket to Poland, where she met friends who helped facilitate her travel to Ukraine. Following a meeting with Reed's team five days after he was killed, she went to say her final goodbye, visiting the morgue to see her husband's body in person.

"People were confused about why I went," she says. "I just know he would do the same for me. As far as seeing his body, it was weird. I had been an emotional wreck for a week, but it helped provide some comfort that his death was immediate."

Marine Killed in Ukraine Opens Up About Their Final Conversations Before Missile Attack: 'Good Luck, Adventure Buddy'

Courtesy Alex Potter

She left him with a figurine of a British Queen's Guard  a role Reed's father, who died last year, had when he was a child  then headed to the crematorium.

"The guy at the crematorium said, 'All of Ukraine thanks you for his service. We will always remember him,'" Potter says.

The days and weeks following Reed's death passed by in a blur. The couple's one-year anniversary came and went (Potter went ice-climbing, something she said had been on Reed's bucket list). She got two tattoos in his honor  an illustration of wheat and flower, in the colors of the Ukrainian flag, and the mantra, "Deeds not words," to mimic a patch he was wearing when he died. And then there was Reed's funeral, which was attended by a few hundred people, many of whom had never even met him.

RELATED: One Year into Ukraine War, NBC's Richard Engel Shares Insights from the Ground: 'Still in the Early Phases'

Now a month later, Potter is keeping herself busy by spending time with family and preparing to go into military training.

Marine Killed in Ukraine Opens Up About Their Final Conversations Before Missile Attack: 'Good Luck, Adventure Buddy'

Courtesy Alex Potter

"Those first two weeks, I was in overdrive," she says. "I could not eat or sleep, there were heightened emotions ... Now, it just feels very surreal. It feels like he's working somewhere and I'm just waiting for him to come home."

She continues: "For the first week after, I would see him everywhere. It's not like I could reach out and touch him, but I could visualize him. After I got to his body, that all stopped."

But the shadows of Reed  who he was as a person, the goals he had that never went fulfilled  are still very much surrounding Potter.

Marine Killed in Ukraine Opens Up About Their Final Conversations Before Missile Attack: 'Good Luck, Adventure Buddy'

Courtesy Alex Potter

"People ask me what I want to be as a leader and I never answered them this way but I really just want to be the type of leader that Pete was  forceful and in control, but also compassionate and willing to give everything up for the people that you're serving."

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.

Growing emotional, Potter shares one of the couples' final text message exchanges.

"I wrote, 'Good luck, adventure buddy.' And he wrote back, 'You're gonna have great adventures in Alaska,' and I said, 'I wish you were here, too.'"

"He said: 'I know, but I will be, for years and years to come.'"
WINCHESTER, Ind.  Indiana State Police on Thursday arrested a Winchester man accused of possessing child pornography.

Robert E. Puckett Jr., 44, was preliminarily charged with 10 counts of possession of child pornography, a Level 5 felony carrying up to six years in prison.

According to a release, an Indiana State Police trooper began an investigation last July after receiving reports that images showing the sexual abuse of children, reportedly under the age of 12, was being shared by an Internet user in Winchester.

More:Retired Randolph County principal formally charged in child porn probe

Detectives served a search warrant at Puckett's home and seized a computer hard drive.

In other Randolph County crime news:

Molest sentence: A Lynn man convicted of child molesting was sentenced this week to 20 years in prison.

Jimmy L. Bilbrey, 43, had pleaded guilty to a Level 1 felony carrying up to 40 years in prison. He had been arrested last May.

Randolph Circuit Court Judge Jay Toney on Wednesday accepted the terms of a plea agreement calling for Bilbrey to receive a 30-year sentence with 10 years suspended.

The deal called for three other molesting-related counts to be dismissed.

Douglas Walker is a news reporter at The Star Press. Contact him at 765-213-5851 or at dwalker@muncie.gannett.com.

This article originally appeared on Muncie Star Press: Child porn investigation leads to Winchester man's arrest
Snow in the mountains behind the Hollywood sign. Mario Tama/Getty Images

So much rain and snow have fallen in California over the last two months that several parts of the state are no longer considered to be in drought, the U.S. Drought Monitor said Thursday.

Just as California was going through its driest three years ever recorded, the state was hit by nine atmospheric river storms in January, and February saw even stronger storms, with snow falling at low elevations and blizzard conditions in Southern California mountains. In its latest estimate, the Drought Monitor said close to 17 percent of California is out of drought conditions, and 34 percent is now just "abnormally dry," just above drought classification. One-quarter of the state remains in "severe drought," including parts of eastern San Bernardino and Inyo Counties.

"It's pretty amazing, the changes, not only over the past week but going back to December of 2022," Drought Monitor author Brad Pugh told the Los Angeles Times. At that time, all of the state was experiencing drought conditions, with the exception of less than 1 percent that was considered abnormally dry.

Mountain snow provides about one-third of California's water supply, and as of Thursday, the statewide snowpack level is 192 percent of normal and the Southern Sierra is at 232 percent of normal. Looking at reservoirs, Lake Shasta rose from 34 percent to 60 percent of capacity, while Lake Oroville increased from 37 percent to 73 percent. More rain is in the forecast for next week, and meteorologists say the wet weather could continue through March.

"The pattern through the next two to three weeks appears colder than normal, so we should be able to maintain the snowpack, and signs are good for even enhancing the snowpack over the next couple of weeks," Pugh told the Times.

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When it comes to UTIs, women are particularly vulnerable to these common infections. (Getty Images)

If youve ever had a urinary tract infection (UTI), you know how uncomfortable it can be, with frequent trips to the bathroom, having the intense urge to go and go now  as Dr. Barbara Bawer, a family medicine physician at the Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center, puts it  and the burning sensation when you try to pee, along with lower abdominal pain.

UTIs, also known as cystitis, are a common problem. They account for nearly 25% of all infections, with up to 60% of women developing one within their lifetime. Women are particularly vulnerable to these infections. In fact, they get UTIs up to 30 times more often than men do.

Why is that the case? Here, experts break it down.

First, what causes UTIs?

UTIs are caused by bacteria, such as E. coli, in stool that enter the vaginal opening, move to the urethra, and then travel up the urethra and into the bladder, triggering an infection, Bawer tells Yahoo Life.

So how does bacteria actually get there? Several different ways, say experts. The most common cause is sexual activity, which can push bacteria close to the urethra. Dr. Rotimi Nettey, assistant professor of urology at Baylor College of Medicine, tells Yahoo Life that sex also causes microtraumas to the vaginal tissues and that makes women more vulnerable to an infection, same as when you have a cut, youre more susceptible to an infection.

In older women, going through menopause is a factor. The loss of estrogen reduces the population of good bacteria  known as lactobacilli  that defend the bladder from infection, says Nettey. The walls of the bladder and vagina also become thinner  and therefore more vulnerable to infection  because of the loss of estrogen.

Other factors that increase the risk of UTIs include using spermicides, previous recurrent UTIs, having a catheter in place, structural abnormalities of the urethra or genital area either from birth or due to surgeries, diabetes, pregnancy and poor hygiene, such as not properly wiping front to back, according to Bawer. Though, as Nettey points out, even if youre vigilant about preventing UTIs by peeing after sex to flush out bacteria, wiping front to back and washing the area, the bacteria is hard to beat. No matter what you do, it never gets clean, says Nettey  meaning the bacteria is never fully eliminated  so its very easy for bacteria to translocate to the urethral area, causing an infection.

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Why are UTIs much more common in women than in men?

The reason why women get significantly more UTIs than men has a lot to do with anatomy. In women, the urethra is located a shorter distance from the anus than in males and so bacteria can enter the urethra far easier, explains Bawer. The length of the urethra itself is also shorter in females than in males, which leads to more UTIs.

As Nettey points out, the length of a womans urethra is 3 centimeters long, while a mans is about 14 centimeters long, so theres a significant difference and bacteria has a shorter distance to traverse to enter the bladder in women.

What happens if a UTI is left untreated?

In a nutshell, the infection can get worse. If a UTI is left untreated, the bacteria can travel to the bladder via ureters and lead to a more severe infection called pyelonephritis, explains Bawer. Individuals typically develop fever, chills, severe fatigue, malaise, pain on the side of the abdomen and back.

In even severer cases, says Bawer, the bacteria can enter your bloodstream and lead to sepsis, organ dysfunction, shock, kidney failure and, in rarer cases, death if all of these are untreated.

How are UTIs treated?

UTIs are commonly treated with antibiotics, but not just any antibiotic will do. Typically, when you see your health care provider for a UTI, they test your urine (urinalysis), but Nettey explains that the real test is a urine culture, where the sample is plated on a petri dish to see which type of bacteria is there and which antibiotic is best suited to treat it. Unfortunately, it can take 48 hours, but its important to know what bacteria it is, especially if its a recurrent bacteria. Sometimes you get treated and it doesnt help. You want the antibiotic to be tailored.

Bawer agrees, saying, Which one we choose depends on a few factors like severity of the infection, your specific allergies, resistance rates in the area you live to certain antibiotics.

While finding the right antibiotic is key, Nettey adds that its also important to finish the course so bacteria wont continue to multiply, which can cause the UTI to return.

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Ovarian cysts typically have no symptoms, but when a cyst bursts it can cause intense pain. (Photo: Getty Images)

Six weeks after giving birth to her first child, Andria Ortiz went to her ob-gyn for a routine postpartum check-up, which included a discussion about birth control. At that appointment, Ortiz tells Yahoo Life that her doctor told her that the mini pill was her only option if she wanted to continue nursing. She says that her doctor did not discuss with her the risks of this type of birth control, including an increased risk of developing ovarian cysts.

After a few weeks of being on the mini pill, Ortiz started having a sharp, burning pain in her abdomen. She called her obstetrician to get some help because she knew something wasnt right. Ortiz says her doctor told her she was just having heartburn, but the pain didnt go away.

After about a month of constant, burning pain that was getting progressively worse, she went to her doctors office sweating and shivering, in absolute pain, begging for help. Her doctor again told her she was having heartburn and sent her away with a prescription for antacid.

The situation continued to deteriorate. Ortiz says that about a month after her unsuccessful doctor visit, she found herself in blinding pain, worse than ever. Her husband rushed her to the emergency room. I was sweating, throwing up from the intense pain, she recalls. An ultrasound revealed that she had an ovarian cyst that had just burst, hence the intense pain.

Andria Ortiz's intense pain was brushed off by her doctor when she was experiencing a ruptured ovarian cyst. She now encourages other women to trust their instincts if they feel something is wrong. (Courtesy of Andria Ortiz)

At that point, Ortiz says there was nothing they could do. She was told that her body would absorb the fluid and she was discharged from the ER with medication to help control her pain.

I felt so alone, scared, and like I had no choice but to just suffer through the pain until it was over, Ortiz says.

What exactly is an ovarian cyst?

An ovarian cyst is a fluid sac that develops on the ovaries, explains Dr. Alan Lindemann, an obstetrician, maternal health expert and co-author of Modern Medicine: What Youre Dying to Know, tells Yahoo Life.

There are four types of ovarian cysts  functional cysts, PCOS cysts, benign ovarian tumor and malignant ovarian tumor  that range from harmless to fatal. How much trouble they cause depends upon the kind of cyst you have, Lindemann says, with treatment ranging from letting a cyst run its course to radical surgery.

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What are functional cysts?

Every ovulating woman develops an ovarian cyst each month as a normal part of her cycle, says Lindemann. This type of cyst grows slightly until it reaches its mature state before it ruptures and sends the egg out, where it waits to be fertilized, explains Lindemann. If all goes according to plan, the cyst resolves on its own once the egg is discharged.

Dr. Joshua Cohen, a gynecologic oncologist at City of Hope Orange County, tells Yahoo Life that this type of ovarian cyst is functional and painless. However, a functional cyst may cause problems when a sac on the ovary doesn't release an egg, causing the sac to swell with fluid, explains Dr. Alexa Sueda, chief of obstetrics and gynecology for Kaiser Permanente in Hawaii.

Sueda says that even though 10 percent of women get larger than normal cysts at some point in their lives, most will never know it because there are no symptoms and they generally resolve on their own.

What are PCOS cysts?

Women who have polycystic ovarian syndrome (PCOS) experience a different kind of ovarian cyst due to hormone irregularities, Lindemann explains. These cysts do not rupture and release the enclosed egg ... in any predictable manner.

Over time, women with PCOS may develop multiple unruptured cysts, which can be painful. Lindemann says that PCOS responds to treatment, and ovarian cysts caused by PCOS can be controlled with medication and lifestyle modifications, although many women with PCOS have a hard time getting pregnant without assistance.

Shifra Nerenberg, who was eventually diagnosed with PCOS, had her first ovarian cyst when she was 15. Her parents took her to a doctor because she had such unbearable abdominal pain and the worst menstrual cramps ever that wouldnt go away. Her doctor recommended an ultrasound, which revealed a large cyst on her ovary. Nerenberg says she was told the cyst would probably pass on its own and that it wasn't large enough to manually remove.

More than 25 years later, Nerenberg says she still remembers being in agony, without any resolution except time. Now in her 40s, Nerenberg says she has a strand of cysts inside her ovaries and sometimes has severe cramps before, during or after menstruation. She has chosen to treat her PCOS with an herbal tincture she describes as a lifesaver in dulling the pain.

Shifra Nerenberg had her first ovarian cyst when she was 15, and was eventually diagnosed with PCOS. (Courtesy of Shifra Nerenberg)

What is a benign ovarian tumor?

Some women develop ovarian cysts that are benign tumors, which is a slow-growing mass of tissue. This type of ovarian cyst is relatively uncommon, says Lindemann, affecting about 1 to 2% of adult women. Benign ovarian tumors are usually one cyst, he says.

The size of the cyst and whether it has septations  or divisions  that may indicate cancer is present dictate whether the cysts can be watchedor needs to be surgically removed, notes Lindemann.

Often, a doctor can drain the cyst laparoscopically and remove enough of it to get a biopsy to rule out cancer, he says. However, even benign cysts can get to be very large  the size of a term pregnancy. When tumors get to be that big, they need to be surgically removed, even if they are benign.

Tiffany Renyolds Blackburn had no idea she had ovarian cysts until one ruptured, sending her to the emergency room. She went to the hospital because the pain was so sudden and awful. She thought she was having appendicitis but an ultrasound revealed she had several ovarian cysts, one of which had just ruptured.

She received regular monitoring to watch the other cysts. One of them became wrapped around her fallopian tube resulting in terrible constant pain. Because Blackburn was being monitored, her doctor discovered via ultrasound that it had some solid pieces to it, rather than all fluid, which raised a red flag.

Blackburn had immediate laparoscopic surgery to remove the cyst. She lost a fallopian tube as a result of the surgery, but the cyst was benign. She has not had any problematic ovarian cysts since her surgery and was able to have two healthy children.

What is a malignant ovarian tumor?

Very rarely, ovarian cysts become malignant. Cohen explains that, unlike the functional cysts that play a role in reproduction, cancer can cause non-functional cysts to grow on the ovaries. Unfortunately, the prognosis for these ovarian carcinomas has been and remains bleak because these cancers are found late, given that there are no early symptoms, Lindemann points out.

Women with malignant ovarian cysts typically experience abdominal pain and notice enlargement or mass formation, once the disease is more advanced, Lindemann explains. The treatment for malignant ovarian cysts is surgery, and it usually includes removal of both ovaries, both tubes, uterus, cervix and all of the little pieces of ovarian cancer growing in various places inside the abdomen, in addition to chemotherapy, says Lindemann.

What increases the risk of developing problematic ovarian cysts?

There are several factors that can increase the risk of ovarian cysts, including hormonal problems, endometriosis and severe pelvic infections.

Another risk factor for developing ovarian cysts, according to Lindemann, is having used follicle-stimulating hormone (FSH) to hyperstimulate ovaries to produce eggs, such as in women undergoing fertility treatments or donating eggs.

However, certain factors may help lower the risk of harmful cysts, including malignant ovarian cysts. According to Lindemann, having children lowers the risk of ovarian cancer. Pregnancy causes ovulation to stop, at least during the pregnancy, he explains, which lowers the risk of developing harmful ovarian cysts.

Similarly, using birth control pills also causes ovulation to stop, he says, and there has been an association with birth control pill use and less risk of ovarian cancer.

Although evidence is somewhat mixed, some research shows a link between using talcum powder in the genital area and ovarian cancer. Because of this possible increased risk, Lindemann says that women should not be using any kind of powder that has to do with talc and, if needed, should consider using a powder with cornstarch as an alternative.

How are ovarian cysts diagnosed?

Sometimes a doctor will feel an ovarian cyst during a pelvic exam, notes Sueda. If a woman notices symptoms of an ovarian cyst, her gynecologist will typically order an ultrasound image of the pelvis.

A pelvic ultrasound can confirm the presence of a cyst and determine if the cyst is filled with fluid or has solid areas, explains Sueda. However, because ovarian cysts are so common and are rarely cancerous they should not be cause for alarm, she says, even if a woman's doctor recommends an ultrasound.

What are the symptoms of ovarian cysts?

Although most women wont notice any signs with a typical ovarian cyst, they can cause symptoms in some cases. A few symptoms to look out for are sudden onset of severe abdominal or pelvic pain, often on the side where the cyst is located, vomiting, fever, feeling faint, dizzy or weak with rapid breathing, says Cohen.

Less often, women with ovarian cysts may experience painful sex or menstruation, a dull ache in the lower back or thighs, the need to urinate frequently, weight gain or unusual bleeding, Cohen adds. Additionally, he says that cysts on the larger side may cause heaviness or fullness, bloating in the abdomen and pelvic pain.

How are ovarian cysts treated?

Treatment for ovarian cysts is based on the type of cyst and the symptoms a patient is experiencing. To relieve minor pain, warm packs and over-the-counter pain medicine can be used, says Sueda. She adds that birth control pills may prevent new cysts from forming because it stops ovulation when cysts may form.

Surgery may be needed in cases where an ovarian cyst interferes with the person's ability to work or have normal activity, Sueda says. Or if the cyst is concerning because of its size or appearance, or when a large cyst bleeds or causes severe pain because of rapid growth or twisting, she says.

Cohen notes that most ovarian cysts are harmless. However, a ruptured cyst or one that twists could cause severe and abrupt pain, he says, and if this happens, patients should seek medical attention at once.

Because of her experience with ovarian cysts, Nerenberg encourages other women to advocate for themselves and if needed, to see a specialist and have the tests done to confirm the diagnosis.

Ortiz agrees, saying that she wants other women to trust their instincts, adding: If you feel like something is wrong with your body, then something is wrong.

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Most people will experience tinnitus at some time in their lives (Alamy/PA)

If youve ever got home from a loud concert, club or sporting event and noticed a high-pitched ringing or whirring sound in your ears, youve experienced tinnitus.

Tinnitus is a description, not a diagnosis, says Professor Paul OFlynn, consultant ENT surgeon at The Wellington Hospital.

While people often describe the sound as ringing in the ears, tinnitus can also present itself through other sounds including humming, buzzing, hissing, or whistling.

The sound can come and go and be present in one or both ears, and some people may also experience symptoms such as dizziness or vertigo, but its not necessarily the sign of a more serious problem.

Tinnitus is more frequently experienced by those who have hearing loss or other ear problems, but it can also affect people with normal hearing, says Gordon Harrison, chief audiologist at Specsavers. It is very common and can occur at any age.

We asked experts talk through everything you need to know about the condition, including when to seek medical advice.

What is tinnitus caused by?

Often no cause for tinnitus can be identified, but it can be linked to some form of hearing loss such as age-related hearing loss and noise-induced hearing loss, OFlynn says.

In addition to short bouts after being exposed to loud noice, other causes can include: Anxiety, certain medications  including some chemotherapy medicines or antibiotics  and conditions such as diabetes, blood pressure and thyroid disorders.

Earwax build-up, ear infections and perforated eardrums can also trigger it.

Too much earwax can block the ear canal, prevent normal hearing, disturb the eardrum and cause tinnitus, Harrison explains.

Ear infections  often caused by trapped fluid in the ear following a throat infection, cold, or allergies  can muffle sounds and causes tinnitus.

When should you seek medical advice for ringing in the ears?

Most people will experience tinnitus at some point and usually it fades away fairly quickly.

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In some cases, though, it can be persistent lasting for more than five minutes or even continuously, says Feraz Ashraf, audiologist from Boots Hearingcare.

This can lead to disturbed sleep and distract people from carrying out daily tasks. In this instance, its important that you speak to your GP to see if there is an underlying issue.

Harrison says you should speak to you doctor if the sound is pulsating or is only in one ear. Further testing such as head imaging with MRI or CT scan may be required to identify the cause.

OFlynn adds: You should consult your GP if the tinnitus is making you feel anxious, coming on more regularly or getting worse.

How is tinnitus treated?

Its necessary to consult a professional to determine if the tinnitus is caused by an underlying medical issue.

If so, simple treatment could help, such as ear wax removal, or you may be prescribed medication if theres an infection, Ashraf says.

If theres no discernible cause, treatment will focus on symptom relief and management.

There are ways you can help improve your symptoms including finding ways to improve your sleep and avoiding triggers that make your tinnitus worse such as stress or loud noises, says OFlynn.

A hearing aid or tinnitus masker may be appropriate. Occasionally, sound therapy, cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT), or tinnitus retraining therapy (TRT)  which aims to help retrain how your brain responds to tinnitus  may be helpful.

Is it possible to prevent tinnitus?

One of the best ways to prevent the onset of tinnitus is to protect your hearing, says Ashraf.

If you are doing something that involves exposure to loud noise, even if its only for a few minutes, its best to wear hearing protection.

Harrison advises caution when wearing headphones as well: To stay safe, you should never listen to your music above 60% volume and you should also give your ears a break every hour too.

People who work in loud environments should be particularly careful, OFlynn says: At all times proper ear defenders should be worn at work when advised and if exposed to recreational noise including shooting.
Lately, it feels like Ive been seeing the life cycle of a certain kind of woman play out on social media.

It starts when she is a baby. She arrives in the world wrapped in an off-white muslin blanket , her name hand-stitched into the material. She is taken home and placed in a sustainable, Greenguard-certified crib constructed of beech. She learns to crawl on a hand-knotted white wool rug and plays with wood toys that arrive on her doorstep each month in a curated subscription box . She only wears white and beige. Her pajamas are made of bamboo, and her onesies are sustainable cotton. Even her pacifiers are aesthetic.

Kelsey Dake for BuzzFeed News

In her 20s and 30s, she might work in marketing, public relations, or content creation. Even if she works in a highly demanding job, perhaps in finance at a Big Four company, she still has enough time to launder her linens on the weekends. When she invites you to get ready with her on TikTok, her face glows, her hair bounces, her lips are glossed. She pulls her blonde hair back in a seamless flourish and secures it with a claw clip. Gold hoops adorn her ears. Shes wearing a plain-looking T-shirt that looks plain (although its $420 from the Row ) and wide-leg knit trousers. She pulls a crisp white bedspread over silk white sheets, fluffs her cream pillows. She smells faintly of vanilla, maybe flowers. In her videos, she always seems to be making herself a latte, settling into her boucle chair, and opening her MacBook. She only wears white and beige.

If she has her own babies, she moves out of the city  to Nantucket if shes an East Coast native, Montecito if shes from the West. Her home has big windows, a large farmhouse table, and hydrangeas out front. Her white linen couch has way too many chunky, pale, knit throw pillows. She wears cozy taupe sweaters and crisp slacks in the fall; in the summer, an oversize Oxford. Shes often spotted with a crisp white wine in hand and always has enough cheese in the fridge to throw together a charcuterie board. She makes large dinners for her family, tossing salads with juicy tomatoes and spinach and a dressing she whisks herself. She may have a boat. Her daughter is her best friend. She only wears white and beige.

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Youve read about this woman in breathlessly reported missives straight from the front lines of TikTok. She is almost always white. She has a Clean Girl aesthetic ; shes That Girl . A Beige Baby becomes a Vanilla Girl becomes a Coastal Grandmother . These trends seem like the same person, in different stages of life. Behold: the beigeification of the white woman. If social media is to be believed, she could go an entire lifetime without a primary color touching her dewy, soft skin. Women who present this version of themselves to the world are telegraphing a few things: I am clean, I am effortless, and my life is easy.

Beigeification is exclusive by design. In both subtle ways (Black women never appear on Coastal Grandmother mood boards) and extremely heavy-handed ways (a key trait of a Vanilla Girl is being blonde), beigeification can be racially exclusionary. While the trend is being touted by many creators , the proponents have been predominantly white women. It also generally excludes people who wear above a size 10 or have messy hair, a greasy face, acne, mismatched furniture, stains on the carpet, garish Fisher-Price toys, kids who spill milk down their front, babies who spit up, pets that tear up your couch, and piles of stuff you should put away but havent yet, to name a few. You need to have the money to buy organic produce, the time to research the best, most sustainable fabrics and wood, and the leisure to care. Its a hard life to maintain if you have any of the trappings of any sort of life at all.

BuzzFeed News; Lovevery via TikTok; ivy2007_ via TikTok; sadbeige via TikTok; nabela via TikTok;

I admit Im not immune to the pull of beigeification. My bedspread is white, my rugs are white, and my throw pillows are white. My daughters crib is white. The playmat I selected for her is a sage green with natural wood and black-and-white toys. She also has a loud pink, and purple plastic one that lights up and sings, but I cant bear to leave it out  it ruins my vibe.

Perhaps because of my own commitment to aesthetic , I have become fascinated with these colorless women. Why have muted tones come to signify wealth and privilege across so many phases of life? And why is it something so many are striving for?

I do know that the trend is exploding. A spokesperson for the creator-driven shopping platform LTK told me that in the past month, searchers looking for a neutral aesthetic have shot up by 283%, with a 400% increase in searches for a vanilla girl aesthetic. Its all over popular culture as well. Kim Kardashian is famous for her all-white house, and Emma Chamberlains is all soft neutrals . Big influencers like Studio McGee sell their natural wood and beige home decor at Target , and when magazines suggest ways to cozy up your home, theres not even a hint of color.

Kelsey Dake for BuzzFeed News

The first time I saw the trend was when the internet became obsessed with beige babies: Parents dressed their children in muted earth tones, or no color at all, and constructed nurseries devoid of color. Google searches for the term spiked at the end of 2020. The trend has been poked fun at online (one tweet dubbed it  prison-core ), and some wondered whether sucking the color out of childrens lives might stunt their development (Is the Sad Beige Baby Aesthetic Harming Babies? PopSugar asked last month ).

Hayley DeRoche is perhaps the most preeminent chronicler of the Beige Baby trend. DeRoche, a librarian and mother of two in Virginia, is the curator and author behind @officialsadbeige on Instagram and @sadbeige on TikTok , which have a combined total of nearly 600,000 followers. On her accounts, DeRoche narrates photos and videos of sad beige brands in an accent approximating the German filmmaker Werner Herzog, known for his nihilist worldview (in one video, she describes the beige toys as being inspired by Cormac McCarthys The Road).

DeRoche told me she has long been fascinated by influencers and parenting bloggers and how they blur the lines between what is real and what is really just created for consumption. She began to notice the beige aesthetic seeping into all aspects of aspirational parenting content in 2019.

In a very specific way, the marketing for the beige, neutral aesthetic is really depressing, she said, describing how the austere feel of ads for beige babywear can sometimes make the children featured in them look absolutely miserable.

DeRoche thinks the style is so popular because these goods are marketed as premium items. For example, one brands website describes a brown pair of childrens overalls, made in Portugal with fabric originally crafted for sailors on the Scottish seas (price: $120 ), as perfect for Forest School, windy days, and cozy evening bonfires. Touting the nontoxic fabrics breathability and durability is a way of saying the product is better constructed and more sustainable than the average mass-market pair. Sure, youre paying a lot more money, but youre ensuring your babys soft skin only touches the best of the best in materials and not contributing to fast fashion. Additionally, many of the styles are also gender-neutral, so parents can feel good about breaking out of the gender binary when dressing their modern children. As for the ads, which feature children looking like they came out of Little House on the Prairie ? They harken back to a simpler time, soothing and inspiring the busy modern parent, DeRoche said.

Its aspirational, she said. Its just slightly more attainable than if somebody were posting, like, a nursery that was decked out in Prada.

Ultimately, all this social media beigeness is doing what aspirational trends have always done: make the rest of us feel like we can never measure up.

More generally, DeRoche believes that beigeification has taken off among the hoi polloi, like yours truly, because of high-end brands like the Olsen twins the Row, which have made luxury staples in neutral colors a status symbol (it may look like Im wearing a simple pair of slacks with a sweater, but the outfit costs more than your rent).

Thats kind of trickled down to people to say, Oh, well, the wealthy dont wear color, she said.

Amy Wax is an artist and color expert who specializes in helping people choose the colors that best express who they are in their homes, offices, and clothes . A person who gravitates toward beige, she said, values comfort and warmth: Its classic, it never goes out of style, and it is soothing.

Beige creates that sense of calmness and tranquility, she told me.

Its also versatile; with an underlying palette of beige, its easy to add pops of color at your discretion. Wax has noticed that since the pandemic began, many design trends have been incorporating earth tones, browns, slate blue, and sage green, which essentially turns the home into a tranquil oasis reminiscent of the outdoors.

I think were not afraid to use those colors of nature again, because we were surrounded by it [during COVID lockdowns], she said. And it felt good.

The same principles apply when it comes to clothing. Wax said that beige conveys warmth and safety; cloaking yourself and your baby in these muted tones can signal to the world that you have it all together.

Its something thats very understated  its almost like they dont need color, she said. Theyre fine. Theyre totally secure. Theyre safe.

Safety, security, control: If beigeification conveys anything, it may be a sense of care.

Kelsey Dake for BuzzFeed News

Because the dirty little secret beneath a perfect beige life is the dedication it takes to maintain. The perfectly clear skin of a Vanilla Girl requires adherence to a skincare routine, access to a dermatologist, and the ease of a low-stress life. White sheets have to be laundered and bleached regularly to maintain their sparkle. Cream rugs are extremely hard to keep pristine unless you can hire a specialist to clean them. A Beige Baby requires a beige nursery, so you need enough money to curate all the furniture to match  you cant just accept old pieces from friends or buy whatever works on Facebook Marketplace. A Coastal Grandmother doesnt scrub her floorboards herself, she doesnt sweat, and she doesnt worry about retirement. Her house is big enough to fit all of her tasteful, neutral things.

To be beigeified is to have the money, the stability, and the security to care for everything in your life with the utmost grace, from your sheets to your skin. Its the freedom to curate your life to a specific, high-effort aesthetic. Its the ability to have a clean home, ironed clothes, a nice lit candle, and yet be relaxed.

To commit to beigeification is to have the resources to do so. But when your rug gets stained and you dont have time to clean it, your skin breaks out, your baby is screaming, and your husband spills coffee on your duvet, all that beige can really only serve as a monument to how truly hard it is to be truly unbothered.

Ultimately, all this social media beigeness is doing what aspirational trends have always done: make the rest of us feel like we can never measure up. In the pursuit of a perfectly beige life, most of the world is doomed to endlessly fall short. 
Cassidy Perrone holding her daughter's footprints. Courtesy of Cassidy Perrone

Cassidy Perrone's pregnancy resulted in a stillbirth in March 2022.

A week afterward, Perrone's employer called to revoke her paid leave.

This is Perrone's story, as told to Kelly Burch.

This as-told-to essay is based on a conversation with Cassidy Perrone. It has been edited for length and clarity.

Almost exactly a year ago, I went in for a routine 36-week checkup. I was excited to welcome my first child. The pregnancy was a surprise, but my husband and I had been busy preparing, renovating our home, and making sure it was ready for our daughter.

Then I heard, "I'm sorry, there is no heartbeat." Delivering Olivia was a torture I can't describe. I was in labor for 17 hours in a room that should have been filled with her first cry and our happy tears. Instead, it was a vacuum.

My husband and I left the hospital empty-handed, heartbroken, and unsure how to carry on. We had a funeral for Olivia a week later. Two days after that, my employer called to tell me that because Olivia died, the state of New York was revoking my paid parental leave. I was distraught. It felt like I was being punished because my baby died.

I couldn't get out of bed, let alone work

Having to prepare for a baby had come as a surprise financially. Since I'm the breadwinner in the family, my husband and I were really counting on the $1,070 in paid family leave I would receive each week.

After Olivia died, I couldn't get out of bed physically or mentally, let alone go to work. Returning to my job would have been against my doctor's orders, as I dealt with leaking breasts, vaginal bleeding, and postpartum depression.

My husband was terrified he would lose me after we lost our baby. I struggled with suicidal ideation because I wanted to be with Olivia so badly.

On top of it all, I had to worry about money. The state told me instead of using paid family leave, I could use short-term disability, which paid $170 a week. We couldn't live on that. My husband returned to work full time, and we relied on savings and our credit cards to get through the three months I waited to return to work. We now have $10,000 in credit-card debt from that time.

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I want Olivia's legacy to be a change to this policy

Right away, I started advocating for change. Olivia will have a legacy if I can save one parent from the cruelty of that call I got from my employer saying the state revoked my leave.

I've met with Gov. Kathy Hochul's office twice. They expressed concern but pointed out that paid family leave wasn't meant to help you care for yourself  it's for taking care of a loved one.

That argument didn't sit well with me. This policy physically and mentally harms a small portion of people who have already paid into the system. An exception should be made for people whose babies die. It wouldn't even need financial approval since parents like me are already paying into the leave system.

Despite that, the governor is still not publicly supportive of Senate Bill S2175, which would make this change. I've helped organize advocacy efforts so that others can join the fight.

I changed jobs because of this

Every day, four New York mothers have my experience when their previously approved leave is revoked because their babies die. Disproportionately, they're Black moms, who are at higher risk for stillbirths, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. They have more than twice the chance of stillbirth compared with white and Hispanic moms, according to the agency.

I lose sleep over that. I'm more financially stable than many people. I had savings and credit cards. I don't know if I'd be here if I had to return to work.

Today, I'm 30 weeks pregnant. But I couldn't risk losing leave when I needed it. That's why I changed jobs, joining a law firm in Connecticut, a state that gives paid family leave to parents of stillborn children. I needed assurance that if, God forbid, I had another stillbirth, I would be cared for.

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The Morrow County Sheriff's Office on Tuesday identified two people who were shot and killed at a Marengo gas station on Sunday night.

The suspect had earlier Sunday committed a series of criminal offenses in Columbus, including stealing multiple vehicles, according to a Columbus Police Department report.

According to the sheriff's office, the suspect, identified as Keith Moser, 25, of Zanesville shot and killed Meagan Kennedy Stanford of Greenville, South Carolina, who was pumping gas at the Shell gas station on Ohio 61. The suspect then turned and fired at a U-Haul van whose driver returned fire, killing Moser, the sheriff's office said in news release posted on its Facebook page Tuesday.

Morrow County Sheriff John Hinton

The sheriff's office said it received a report of a shooting at the Shell gas station on Ohio 61 near Interstate 71 at 6:57 p.m. Sunday.

During the course of the investigation, it was learned that the alleged suspect, identified as Moser, attempted to steal a car on the northbound off ramp at Ohio 61 and I-71, resulting in shots being fired at the car, the sheriff's office said in the news release.

The alleged suspect then went to the Shell gas station and allegedly attempted to steal a minivan from Stanford while she was pumping gas. Shots were fired, striking Stanford, who succumbed to her injuries at the scene, according to the sheriff's report.

The suspect then turned and fired at a U-Haul van that was driven by a male occupant. The male occupant returned fire, and a fight ensued involving multiple people, the sheriff's office said. The alleged suspect died at the scene of apparent gun shot wounds.

The sheriff's office did not release Stanford's age or the name of the U-Haul van's driver.

The incident remains under investigation by the Morrow County Sheriff's Office, who said additional information may be released after the completion of the investigation and a review of the Morrow County Prosecutor's Office.

BCIs Crime Scene Unit was requested by the Morrow County Sheriffs Office to assist in the investigation by processing the crime scene, according to spokesman Steve Irwin.

Story continues

Marengo is 36 miles south of Mansfield, about halfway to Columbus on I-71.

According to the Columbus police report, on Sunday at 6:12 p.m., a series of criminal offenses occurred that were later attributed to the suspect in the Marengo shooting. The series of crimes, in Columbus, ended at 6:47 p.m.

Incidents that occurred in the city of Columbus included:

6:28 p.m.: The suspect fired rounds into an unoccupied Chevy. The locked vehicle had been left running, while the owner went into a gas station, in the in the 4000 block of Kenny Road. The suspect left his car, a Toyota, behind and fled in the stolen Chevy. No injuries were reported. Columbus police responded.

6:36 p.m.: The stolen Chevy had been abandoned on Starret Road. Emergency 911 calls were received from residents in the 200 block of West Henderson Road. The callers reported that shots were being fired during an attempted robbery/home invasion. The suspect stole a white BMW X3 from one location in the area. No injuries were reported.

6:47 p.m.: the suspect attempted to rob a food delivery driver in the 400 block of Glenmont Avenue. Shots were fired; no injuries were reported. Columbus police responded. The suspect was identified as Moser and the stolen BMW X3 was recovered. Moser reportedly then headed north on I-71.

lwhitmir@gannett.com

419-521-7223

Twitter: @LWhitmir

This article originally appeared on Mansfield News Journal: Zanesville man involved in shooting killed by return fire
President Volodymyr Zelensky, First Lady Olena Zelenska, Latvian President Egils Levits, and his wife Andra Levite honored the memory of fallen Ukrainian soldiers at Lychakiv Cemetery in Lviv on March 3, the president's office reported.

Levits and Zelensky also signed a joint declaration confirming Latvia's full-fledged support for Ukraine's path to EU and NATO integration.

"Only with Ukraine in its composition will the European project become truly complete. Only with Ukraine in its composition will NATO become a truly strong defender of the peoples of Europe and our common values," Zelensky said, adding that Ukraine's resistance against Russian aggression in the past year was proof of the country's dedication to Euro-Atlantic security.

Zelensky thanked Levits for Latvia's continued support of Ukraine even prior to the full-scale invasion.

During the meeting, the two discussed ways to strengthen the Ukrainian military and Ukraine's current defense needs, according to the president's office.
During his visit to Lviv Oblast on March 3, President Volodymyr Zelensky met with US Attorney General Merrick Garland and other prosecutors from allied states and international institutions to discuss prosecuting Russian war crimes, the president's office reported.

In addition to Garland, the meeting also included U.S. Ambassador for Global Criminal Justice Beth van Schaack, European Commissioner for Justice Didier Reynders, International Criminal Court (ICC) Prosecutor Karim Khan, Head of the EU Prosecutor's Office Laura Kovesi, Spanish Attorney General Alvaro Garcia Ortiz, UK Attorney General Victoria Prentis, among others.

Emphasizing the importance of holding Russian war criminals accountable for their crimes, Zelensky spoke about the message it would convey not just to Ukrainians, but to the entire world, about the triumph of justice. It would also serve as a warning to any potential aggressors that such actions would not be tolerated in the future.

"That's why we need justice, we need a tribunal to see all guilty people behind bars," Zelensky said.

On Feb. 28, Zelensky met with Khan in Kyiv to discuss the ICC's investigation into Russian war crimes and ways to expedite the repatriation process for Ukrainians who were forcibly relocated to Russia.
In Lviv, Zelenskyi honored the memory of the fallen Ukrainian soldiers

Zelenskyy and Levits, along with the first ladies of both countries, honored the memory of the Ukrainian soldiers who have been killed fighting the invading Russian forces.

They laid flowers at the graves of Ukrainian defenders at Lvivs Lychakiv Cemetery.

Read also: Russia launched over dozen of missiles at Lviv Oblast on Nov. 15, says governor

Zelenskyy also visited injured Ukrainian soldiers in a hospital. Many fought in or around Bakhmut, which is seeing the fiercest fighting of the war so far.

Read also: Massive Russian strike activates air defence in Kyiv, Vinnytsa, Lviv, other oblasts

The president expressed his gratitude for their military service and presented them with state awards. Mortar gunners, riflemen, anti-aircraft gunners, grenade launchers, and combat medics received the Order of Bohdan Khmelnytsky, 3rd class, and the Order for Courage, 3rd class.

He also presented the Order of Danylo Halytskyi to the medical staff of the Ukrainian Armed Forces for providing quality medical care to soldiers. Zelenskyy noted how highly he respects their work.

I want to thank you for your work, for your service, especially during this year, the president said. It was the toughest test for all of us. Thank you for putting back on their feet so many of our fighters, our heroes.

Zelenskyy was last in Lviv on Jan. 11 to discuss the security situation along the border with Belarus. He met with Polish President Andrzej Duda and Lithuania President Gitanas Nauseda on that visit.

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Read the original article on The New Voice of Ukraine
President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has arrived in Lviv together with his Latvian counterpart Egils Levits.

Source: Press service of the President of Ukraine

Quote: "In Lviv, President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyy and First Lady Olena Zelenska, together with President of Latvia Egils Levits and his wife Andra Levite, honoured the memory of Ukrainian warriors fallen in the Russian-Ukrainian war."



Details: It is reported that the Heads of State and First Ladies laid flowers at the graves of Ukrainian defenders at the Field of Honor at Lychakiv Cemetery in Lviv.

Zelenskyy also visited one of the hospitals, where wounded Ukrainian defenders who fought, in particular, on the Bakhmut front, are being treated.

The Head of State spoke to the servicemen and wished them a swift recovery. "Thank you for your service, for the heroic defence of our homeland. I wish you a swift recovery," he said.

Zelenskyy decorated the servicemen with awards.

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The recently confirmed University of Virginia Board of Visitors member who disparaged administrators and student groups in a series of text messages published by the Washington Post has apologized.

Bert Ellis addressed himself as the elephant in the room at the boards Friday meeting, its last of the academic year and Ellis first as a confirmed board member.

To all my colleagues, I offer my apology, Ellis said. Those were private and confidential messages but were still out of place. I am emotional and I have the occasion to do things that I would never expect to be on the front page of the Washington Post.

When asked if he would apologize to the students and student groups he had targeted, Ellis said only, No, that was fine.

In text messages dated July 22 that he sent to fellow new members Stephen P. Long and Amanda Pillion, Ellis referred to members of the UVa Student Council and staffers at the Cavalier Daily student newspaper as numnuts and promised a battle royale for the soul of UVa.

Richmond-based author Jeff Thomas requested the texts via the Freedom of Information Act last August but did not receive them until he sued the university after it withheld the texts for months. Earlier this month, a Richmond judge ordered the university to turn over the messages, according to the Washington Post, which published their contents on Feb. 23.

Ellis and other board members were aware that their private correspondences regarding the university could be requested and published.

At the current boards first meeting in August of last year, which Ellis was present for though not yet confirmed, the board was provided an overview on the status of UVa academics, sports, finances and health system  in addition to a presentation on board member responsibilities. As part of that presentation, they were told the Freedom of Information Act requires board members turn over electronic mentions of UVa, the Board of Visitors and any subsidiary of the university if anyone from the public requests them.

I have learned my lesson about FOIA, Ellis told the board on Friday. I cant put the genie back in the bottle, so all I can say is Im sorry.

Both Long and Pillion, who were in attendance Friday, declined an interview request from The Daily Progress.

Ellis is one of four new members to the board appointed by Republican Gov. Glenn Youngkin. The majority of the board, whose member serve staggered terms, was appointed by prior Democratic administrations.

Among them is Whittington W. Clement, who was appointed to the board by then-Gov. Terry McAuliffe in 2015 and serves as its rector. Clement was also targeted in Ellis texts.

In texts sent on July 20, also published by the Post, Ellis attacked a letter Clement had written to former board members.

Have you read Whitts letter to the Visitors Emeritus? Ellis wrote to Pillion and Long. What a damn whitewash. Not even a mention of the decline of the honor system  under his watch, I might add. No mention of the crap from the university guides. Its all good, Dorey, thats how he and the rest of the gits in Ryans office see things. We have to change that.

At the start of Fridays meeting, Clement said that he had read the Posts story on Ellis texts and doubted the Jeffersonian values of the man who wrote them.

The rhetoric of those messages, particularly ones that disparage students, faculty and staff, really run contrary to the values that Thomas Jefferson sought to instill in this community and which we as members of the universitys governing board, in turn, try to impart on our students, Clement said.

Ellis, who earned his bachelors and masters degree from UVa, is also president and co-founder of the Jefferson Council, a conservative alumni organization dedicated to preserving the legacy of Thomas Jefferson, the Lawn, the Honor Code, and the intellectual diversity one would expect from Mr. Jeffersons university, according to the organizations website.

He is also a wealthy businessman: the head of Ellis Capital in Atlanta, a founding investor and board member of the WebMD platform, the owner of Los Angeles television station KDOC-TV and the part-owner of the White Spot burger restaurant on the Corner in Charlottesville.

Ellis appointment has faced pushback from students, faculty and staff at UVa.

Since last July, the Cavalier Daily, Student Council, Faculty Senate, United Campus Workers of Virginia union and University Democrats at UVa have all stood in opposition to Ellis joining the board, all citing the same 2020 razor blade incident.

Ellis sparked a public outcry in 2020 after traveling to university Grounds with a razor blade in hand. According to his own account, he intended to use the blade to remove a sign that read F--k UVA that had been posted on the Lawn room door of a student.

That incident also compelled state Sen. Creigh Deeds, a Democrat who represents UVa in the upper chamber of the General Assembly, to introduce a resolution that would have removed Ellis name from the list of Youngkins nominations to the Board of Visitors. The amendment would have required the General Assembly to vote on Ellis appointment separate from the other appointments, but it failed to gain enough support to pass.

Ellis has defended his actions in 2020 as free speech, while arguing that the notion the sign was protected as free speech is incredibly stupid.

At Fridays meeting, Ellis nodded along as UVa President Jim Ryan read from the Virginia Council of Presidents Statement on Free Speech, which promotes diversity of research and intellectual perspectives while serving as a pledge to promote inclusivity, academic freedom, free expression and an environment that promotes civil discourse.

The board voted unanimously to adopt the resolution.

The UVa Board of Visitors is the ruling body of the university. The board makes decisions about tuition, property changes, academics and the health system and holds the authority to hire and fire the president of the university.

The board consists of 17 governor-appointed voting members who serve four-year terms, as well as nonvoting student and faculty representatives who serve one-year terms. Appointed board members are allowed to serve two consecutive terms if reappointed by the sitting governor.

Ellis, who began his term on June 30 of last year, will serve until the same date in 2026.

As the only person with the political power to appoint board members to public universities, the sitting governor of the commonwealth is the only person who can remove a sitting board member.
Haimi Dagnew grew up 8,000 miles away from Council Bluffs, but shes been a part of the community for about four years.

Dagnew is from Addis Ababa, the capital city of Ethiopia, Africa. She said she also spent time in Tanzania, another country in East Africa. She moved to the United States after high school to pursue an environmental studies degree at Augustana College in Rock Island, Illinois. She also minored in geography. Dagnew earned her bachelors degree in 2018 and then moved to Council Bluffs.

Dagnew spent time working with the Iowa Department of Natural Resources at Lake Manawa State Park, as well as Pottawattamie Conservation. She also worked side jobs and volunteered, with one of the organizations being Habitat for Humanity of Council Bluffs. She ended up on the Habitat staff through AmeriCorps and when her time came to leave, Dagnew said the administration didnt want to see her go. Habitat CB created the program associate title, which shes held since January 2022.

Dagnew helps oversee Habitat Council Bluffs home ownership and home repair programs alongside Program Manager Kim Smith. The home repair program is an income-based service for residents of Pottawattamie and Mills counties and shes there to help every step of the way, from application time to when the repairs are completed. Dagnew said working for Habitat has been an amazing experience, and her work has left her with a greater appreciation of Council Bluffs and the community.

Its made where I live way more interesting and more invested in the people around me, she said.

Dagnew is quite busy these days as Habitat Council Bluffs has opened up applications for the latest round in the home ownership program. She said those looking to apply need to attend an in-person class to see if they qualify and if home ownership is the right choice for them. Those who wish to apply must live or work in Pottawattamie or Mills counties; however, it is noted that homes are only built in Council Bluffs. The classes are held at the Habitat for Humanity of Council Bluffs offices, 1228 S. Main St. There are two more informal classes held at 6 p.m. the next two Thursdays, and they last less than an hour. Links for tickets to the home ownership program information sessions can be found on the Habitat Council Bluffs Facebook page or on their website, habitatcb.org. People can also call 712-256-0838 to make arrangements.

Dagnew and the Habitat CB crew are hoping to see some new faces and get the ball rolling on home ownership these next few weeks.
Lighthouse Bible Church

Lighthouse Bible Church, 2136 Fifth Ave., invites the community to participate in our live worship service at 10:30 a.m. on Sundays. The Sunday sermon is prerecorded and can be viewed on our website, lighthousemc.com. Dress is casual, and coffee and refreshments are provided. Upcoming events: Prayer and Study, 7 p.m. Wednesdays.

Mt. Hope United MethodistMt. Hope United Methodist Church, 290th and Highway 6, McClelland, would like to invite all to join us on Sunday mornings for our worship service at 9:30 a.m. Children are welcome for the regular worship service and childrens sermon during the worship service. You do not have to be a member to participate in our church activities. Everyone is welcome.

Gethsemane Presbyterian ChurchGethsemane Presbyterian Church, 224 Wallace Ave., invites you to worship with us. The service runs from 9 to 10 a.m. The Rev. Nancy Ross-Hullinger will deliver the message, Have Faith. Children are invited to participate in Sunday school. Please join us for refreshments following the service.

Adult Bible study meets on Mondays and Thursdays from 9 to 10 a.m.

Hot Diggity Dog Bingo will be held on March 23, with dinner at 6 p.m. and bingo starting at 6:30. For $10 per person, you get a hot dog, chips and dessert plus 20 games of bingo.

Our church is collecting Iowa 5 cent-refund cans/bottles for one of our mission projects. Your donations help! Bags can be dropped off anytime at our front door.

We are also collecting diapers and wipes for children. These can also be left in bags by the front door.

Our Food Pantry is open on Mondays and Thursdays until 10:30 a.m. Donations are welcome. For more information, contact the church office at 712-366-2513 or visit us on Facebook at gethsemanepresbyterianchurch.org.

Timothy Lutheran ChurchTimothy Lutheran Church, 3112 W. Broadway, offers services at 8 a.m. and 10:30 a.m. on Sundays. The church alternates between traditional services and praise services each week. Bible study and Sunday school at 9:15 a.m. If a month has a fifth Sunday, the church hosts a combined service at 9 a.m. Food and fellowship after service on fifth Sundays and there is no Bible study or Sunday school on those days. The church is handicap accessible. For more information, visit the church website at timothylutheran.net.

St. Pauls Evangelical Country ChurchSt. Pauls Evangelical Country Church rings the church bell each Sunday at 10:30 a.m. to welcome people to worship at 11055 Dumfries Ave. There are directional signs from Wabash Avenue and Pioneer Trail leading to the church.

We are a growing, caring and friendly Bible-teaching church led by Pastor Jason Kinney. This Sundays message is titled Just Say Yes or No, with the Bible reference James 5:12. Greeters are Lori Kirkpatrick and Eric Ziph. Each week we enjoy donuts and coffee in the Fellowship Hall after worship.

Sunday school for all ages including adults starts at 9:15. We have childrens church during our regular service.

The ladies Bible study meets Wednesdays at 1 p.m. Youth group meets at 7 p.m. on Wednesdays. Church Council will meet Thursday at 7 p.m. The Mens Breakfast will be Saturday at 9 a.m.

Plans are being made for the annual chili supper Saturday, March 25 from 4 to 7 p.m. This is a free-will offering event. Visit our website at www.stpaulsecc.org for more information. We are handicapped accessible.

Underwood Lutheran ChurchOn Sunday, Underwood Lutheran Church, 10 Third Ave., will hold Sunday activities. Education begins at 9 a.m. In-person worship begins at 10:15 a.m.

The online video will be available later in the day.

Compass Christian ChurchCompass Christian Church welcomes you to worship with us Sundays at 10:30 a.m. We are located at 2007 S. Seventh St., just west of the South Expressway. The church is handicap accessible. During worship, a cry room is available, along with childcare for children ages 1-4. Compass Kids grades K-5 meet downstairs for special Bible lessons during the sermon. You may also worship with us at compasscb.online.church or on YouTube.

Monday morning Bible study meets at 10 a.m. weekly. Separate mens and womens Bible study groups meet on Mondays at 7 p.m. The Bridge Young Adults (ages 18-30) meet on the first and third Tuesday of each month. The next meeting is March 7.

On Wednesdays, children in grades K-5 and students in grades 6-12 meet at 6:30 p.m. Wednesday Night Prayer Meeting is held at 6:30 p.m.

For questions or more information, visit our Facebook page, Compass Christian Church CB, our website compasscb.org or call the church office at 712-366-9112.

Fifth Avenue United Methodist ChurchFifth Avenue United Methodist Church, 1800 Fifth Ave., invites the public to participate in our live worship service at 10:30 a.m. on Sunday mornings. The Sunday worship service will be recorded live and can be viewed on our Facebook page: Fifth Avenue UMC, Council Bluffs. Face masks are optional.

The church office can be reached at 712-323-7374 or through our email at fifthaveumchurch@gmail.com.

Broadway United Methodist ChurchBroadway United Methodist, First Street and Broadway, is seeking, growing and serving with unconditional love and acceptance. On Sundays, we hold a traditional service at 8:30 a.m. and a contemporary service at 10:30. Coffee and donuts will be served in the DeLong Lounge between services. Our services are held in person and livestreamed to our Facebook page or broadwayunitedmethodist.com/live. Masks are optional.

Student Life Breakthrough will be held Sunday at 6 p.m. On Mondays, Philips Cupboard, a nonfood pantry, is open noon to 2 p.m. Bibles at Barleys is at 7:30 p.m. on Monday. The Praise Band will practice at 6:15 p.m. on Tuesday.

The womens book study meets at 5 p.m. on Wednesdays. The Mens Brown Bag Bible Study will be held Thursday at noon.

On Friday, the church office is closed but Philips Cupboard is open noon to 2 p.m.

Upcoming events: Volunteers are needed to help pack meals for area families for Kids Against Hunger March 15 at 6:30 p.m. Game Night 2.0 will be Friday, March 31 from 7-9 in the Fellowship Hall.

For more information, visit our website at broadwayunitedmethodist.com or call the office at 712-322-7741 (closed Fridays).

Bethany Presbyterian Churc

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Bethany Presbyterian Church, 1900 S. Seventh St., will have worship at 11 a.m. Pastor Nancy Ross-Hullingers message will be Have Faith, and the scriptures are Genesis 12:1-4, Romans 4:1-5 and Psalm 121. There will be a childrens chat.

Saturday, March 4 is Social Saturday 9 a.m. to noon. This is Communion/Pantry Sunday. Community Lenten Soup and Table discussion will be held at 12:30 at New Horizon.

Lenten Bible Study will Monday, March 13 at 11 a.m. Girl Scouts will meet Wednesday, March 8 at 6 p.m. We are a handicap accessible facility.

Community of Christ ChurchCommunity of Christ Church, 140 W. Kanesville Blvd., invites people to attend Sunday worship at 10:15 a.m. Our theme this week is Explore Your Faith. Scripture readings will be Romans 4:5, 13-17; Genesis 12:1-4a; Psalm 121; and John 3:1-17.

Sunday school starts at 9:15 a.m. We also have prayer service Wednesday at 6:30 p.m. Please call our office at 712-323-4498 for any questions. There are virtual ministries out on our World Church Website under Ongoing Ministries at https://www.cofchrist.org.

Epworth United Methodist ChurchAre you search to know more about God and his divine plan for you? Come to Epworth United Methodist Church, 2447 Ave. B. Join us for worship Sundays at 9:30 a.m. There is room for the little ones in the family to learn about God according to their ages. The people are friendly, worship is meaningful and the building is handicap accessible.

We will host Lenten Luncheons every Wednesday through March 29 from 11:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m., and everyone is welcome. Masks are not required but are available for those who need/want one. We also invite you to our Bible study on Thursdays at 9 a.m. We are currently going through the book of Proverbs.

We are in prayer for the healing of our community and a nation under God. If you want us to pray for you personally, let us know. Office hours are 8:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. Monday through Friday. Phone: 712-323-3124. You can find us on Facebook at Friends of Epworth UMC/Facebook.

Faith Lutheran ChurchFaith Lutheran Church (LCMS), 2100 S. 11th St., invites you to join us for traditional worship with Holy Communion at our 9 a.m. Sunday service. The Operation Barnabas donation box will be out to accept donations toward helping military service people and their families.

On Tuesday, there is a 9:30 a.m. adult Bible study in the downstairs fellowship hall that is open to everyone. Please use the rear door. The Elders will meet Tuesday at 2:30. Wednesday there is Praise team practice at 5:30 p.m., confirmation at 5:45 p.m., and Lenten worship service at 7.

Worship services are available on Faiths Facebook page and on YouTube by searching for Ron Rosenkaimer. For more information, contact the church office at 323-6445.

New Horizon Presbyterian ChurchNew Horizon Presbyterian will hold Communion services at 8, 9 and 11 a.m., with a soup luncheon following. Youth and adult Sunday school will be at 10.

On Wednesdays, the Praise Band meets from 5:45 to 6:30 p.m., the Chancel Bell Choir from 6:30 to 7:30 and the Chancel Choir from 7:30 to 8:30. Building and Grounds will meet March 8 at 4:30 p.m., Administration at 5:30. Stephens will be March 9 at 10:15 a.m., Grief Group at 1 p.m. and Worship Committee at 6:30.

If you are ill, please worship from home by watching our Facebook page, facebook.com/NewHorizonPC.

Westminster Presbyterian ChurchWestminster Presbyterian Church, 517 S. 32nd St., invites you to worship with us on Sunday, March 5 at 10:30 a.m. as we celebrate the second Sunday in Lent. The Rev. Portia Iverson will base her sermon on Hebrews 11:1-3, 8-12 The Faith of Abraham and John 3:1-17 Nicodemus Comes to Jesus by Night.

After worship, members of Council Bluffs Presbyterian Churches will join together for a Lenten Soup/Bread Lunch at New Horizon Presbyterian Church.

We are handicapped accessible through the northeast door of the church.

Corpus Christi Catholic ParishOur Weekend Mass in English is celebrated on Saturday at 4 p.m. and on Sunday at 8 a.m. and 10 a.m. at Corpus Christi Queen of Apostles, 3304 Fourth Ave., Council Bluffs; and at 9:30 a.m. at Corpus Christi Our Lady of Carter Lake, 3501 North Ninth St., Carter Lake. Our Sunday Spanish Mass is at noon (Council Bluffs).

Daily Mass is celebrated as follows: In English on Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday and Friday at 8 a.m. (Council Bluffs) and in Spanish on Monday and Thursday at 6 p.m. (Council Bluffs).

Eucharistic Adoration is held every Monday and Thursday from 9 a.m. to 5:45 p.m. at Corpus Christi Queen of Apostles.

Our Friday Lenten Fish Dinners will be served on March 3, 10, 17, 24 and 31 from 4:30 to 7 p.m. in the Great Hall at Corpus Christi Queen of Apostles. Fried pollock dinners, fish tacos, cheese pizza, french fries, baked beans, macaroni and cheese, coleslaw, bread and butter, dessert, water and lemonade. Adults, $14, and $7 for children age 10 and younger. Beer, wine and soda are available for purchase. Carry-out dinners are also available by calling 712-323-0014.

Join us for Stations of the Cross as we pray and reflect on the moments of Jesus journey to Calvary to commemorate His passion and death on the cross for us. Stations of the Cross will be prayed during Lent as follows: Mondays at 6 p.m. at Corpus Christi Our Lady of Carter Lake, followed by a soup supper (March 6, 13, 20 and 27; and April 3); Thursdays at 7 p.m. at Corpus Christi Church (March 2, 9, 16, 23 and 30); and Fridays at 7 p.m. (in Spanish) at Corpus Christi Church (March 3, 10, 17, 24 and 31).

Another special opportunity for the Sacrament of Reconciliation during Lent is Thursday, March 30 from 9 a.m. to noon and from 3 to 8 p.m. at Corpus Christi Church and Sunday, March 26 at Corpus Christi-Our Lady of Carter Lake.

For more information, call the parish office at 712-323-2916 or 712-323-4716 (Spanish) or visit our parish website at www.corpuschristiparishiowa.org.

Emanuel Lutheran ChurchEmanuel Lutheran Church, 2444 N. Broadway, welcomes everyone to come as you are and be who you are! You are invited to join us each Sunday for worship and Sunday school at 9:30 a.m., followed by coffee hour.

Other events this week include Tai Chi Monday at 10 a.m. in the youth center, a free Lenten dinner Wednesday at 6 p.m. followed by worship using Holden Evening Prayer at 7. Bible study Thursday at 9:30 a.m. in the conference room, and Tai Chi Thursday at 10 a.m. in the youth center.

Follow us on YouTube, Facebook or Twitter to stay up to date on events and view livestreamed services. Visit us online at emanuelcb.org.

Saint John Lutheran ChurchSaint John Lutheran Church, 633 Willow Ave., holds worship at 5:30 p.m. on Saturdays and 8:30 and 11 a.m. on Sundays. Worship is also available to watch on YouTube. Our website is www.SaintJohnELCA.org, and our Facebook page is Saint John Lutheran Church Council Bluffs IA.

Wednesday morning Bible study meets at 9 a.m., and Wednesday evening Bible study meets at 6:30 p.m. The bell choir practices at 6:30 p.m. Wednesdays, and the Chancel Choir starts practice at 7:30 p.m. Confirmation students and high school youth also meet Wednesdays at 6:30 p.m.

Please call the church office with any questions, 712-323-7173.

Broadway Christian ChurchThe congregation invites you to join us for Sunday worship at 9 a.m. at Broadway Christian Church (Disciples of Christ), 2658 Ave. A. Masks are optional. A hearing loop is installed for those who need it.

This Sunday, the Rev. Kathy Sorrell will share her message, The Workers Are Few. We celebrate communion weekly, and it is open to all. Guests are invited to join us in the fellowship hall after worship for coffee and donuts.

Pieceful Hearts Quilters meet the second Tuesday of the month at 9:30 a.m. Bible Study meets each Wednesday at 10 a.m. Newcomers are always welcome at both.

Alcoholics Anonymous meets Mondays and Fridays at 7:30 p.m. The church is ADA-accessible. To submit prayer requests or for more information, call the church office at 712-323-7741 or email us at office@bcccb.org. Visit us online at www.bcccb.org or on Facebook.

First Congregational UCC ChurchCome and join us for worship at 10:30 a.m. Sunday at First Congregational Church (United Church of Christ), located at 611 First Ave. near Bayliss Park. Coffee and light snacks are provided. Our service is also available via Zoom. Please email the church for information on how to join the Zoom meeting: cbfirstcong@gmail.com.

First Congregational hosts a weekly NAR-ANON meeting Mondays at 7 p.m. (ring the doorbell by the entrance on the Bayliss Park side). We also host a free Community Dinner the last Friday of each month from 5 to 6:30 p.m. Everyone is always welcome at First Congregational to enjoy worship, a meal and fellowship. See you soon!

Our Saviors Lutheran ChurchOur Saviors Lutheran Church, 600 Bluff St., can be reached at 712-322-6655. Everyone is welcome. The church is handicapped accessible.

Worship services are Saturday evening at 5:30 and Sunday morning at 10:30. Sunday services are livestreamed on Facebook. Adult Sunday school is at 9:15 a.m. and Youth Sunday school is at 9:30 a.m.

For more information, see our Facebook page under Our Saviors Lutheran Church of Council Bluffs or the website at oursaviorscb.org.

Other activities this week include Game Day Sunday at 11:30 a.m. and Al-Anon meetings Monday and Wednesday at 6 p.m. in the Education Building.

Thursday morning Bible Study will meet from 9:30 to 11 a.m., and Prayer Team will meet at 11:15 a.m. On Thursday evenings, the bell choir practices at 6:30 p.m. and choir at 7:30. There will also be a Bible Study at 7:30 p.m.

Food Pantry and Pet Food Pantry are open by appointment Thursdays from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. and the fourth Friday of each month from 5-7 p.m. To schedule an appointment, please call the Food Pantry directly at 712-522-3522 on the day it is open.

St. Johns United Church of ChristSt. Johns United Church of Christ, 400 Cloverdale Drive, welcomes everyone to attend Sunday service at 10:15 a.m. We invite you to hear our new minister, Pastor Don Morgan, deliver the Lenten message, GPS for the Journey. We celebrate Holy Communion on the first Sunday of each month. Everyone is welcome at the table. Also on the first Sunday of each month, please bring any nonperishable foods that you wish to contribute to the food pantry, and we will deliver them.

Each Wednesday from March 22 through April 5, we will host a Lenten soup supper and Bible study from 6 to 7 p.m. entitled, Seven Words of the Cross.

For information on how to join us by Zoom, email the church at stjohnsucccb@gmail.com. You can also follow us on Facebook at stjohnsucc-council bluffs or call 712-322-2174 for additional information.

St. Pauls Episcopal ChurchSt. Pauls Episcopal Church is located at 22 Dillman Drive in Council Buffs. Our services are held each Sunday morning beginning at 11 a.m., and we invite visitors to attend and share with us these very enjoyable and enlightening services. For additional information, please contact the church at 712-323-7188.
The City of Council Bluffs has been awarded a grant to create a community asset map addressing the citys nutritional and physical activity needs, and is asking for residents input.

Asset mapping allows communities to create a centralized list of resources  people, organizations, programs  visualize their strengths and determine what barriers might exist that keep people from being able to access these resources.

The grant is from the Iowa Department of Health and Human Services as part of its Healthy Eating Active Living community pilot project.

Its a movement within the state to try and create healthier environments and healthier people, said Sue Cutsforth, information officer for the Metropolitan Area Planning Agency, which is helping the City of Council Bluffs implement the project.

MAPA held an informational meeting on Tuesday, Feb. 28, at the Council Bluffs Public Library for members of the community to take part in a community health assessment, listing the organizations and initiatives they think contribute to the communitys physical and mental wellness and what resources are underutilized or nonexistent.

The meeting was the first step in securing funding for projects that could lead to the implementation of nutrition and physical activity initiatives.

Next, the city and MAPA are asking residents to fill out a brief online survey, to get more feedback on what resources residents think the community has and what it needs.

The community health assessment survey can be found at tinyurl.com/5210CBSurvey, and must be filled out by mid-March.
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...RED FLAG WARNING REMAINS IN EFFECT FROM 1 PM THIS AFTERNOON TO 8 PM CDT THIS EVENING FOR WIND AND LOW RELATIVE HUMIDITY FOR PORTIONS OF EASTERN NEBRASKA AND WEST-CENTRAL IOWA... * Affected Area...In Iowa, Monona. In Nebraska, Knox, Cedar, Thurston, Antelope, Pierce, Wayne, Boone, Madison, Stanton, Cuming, Burt, Platte, Colfax, Dodge, Butler, Saunders, Seward, Lancaster, Saline and Jefferson. * Winds...Northwest 25 to 35 mph with gusts up to 50 mph. * Relative Humidity...As low as 20 percent. * Impacts...Any fires that develop will likely spread rapidly. Outdoor burning is not recommended. PRECAUTIONARY/PREPAREDNESS ACTIONS... A Red Flag Warning means that critical fire weather conditions are either occurring now, or will shortly. A combination of strong winds, low relative humidity and warm temperatures can contribute to extreme fire behavior. &&
East Africa is set to benefit from swift implementation of the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA), according to the World Bank, and this will be accomplished particularly by lowering trade expenses related to trade facilitation, as well as decreasing the costs of non-tariff policies and non-tariff obstacles.

The AfCFTA has been well-designed to strengthen the economies of East Africa, with countries like Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania, and Rwanda projected to grow significantly in their real income generated in the next few years. The implementation of AfCFTAs policies is sure to boost the East African economy and also real income for East Africans, the Executive Director of the East African Business Council (EABC), John Bosco Kalisa said during the recent private sector sensitization workshop on the AfCFTA agreement in Nairobi, Kenya. Within the East African Community (EAC) group, real income is anticipated to rise by 10% in Tanzania, the second-largest economy in the area, between 2021 and 2035. Real income will rise by 11.8%, 3.8%, and 3.6% in Kenya, Uganda, and Rwanda, respectively.

Tanzanias and Kenyas intra-AfCFTA export shares will increase as their total world exports are projected to rise by 28% and 43%, respectively, for the EAC. Uganda and Rwanda are expected to have similar projections of 29% and 33%, respectively. The AfCFTA agreement was a manifest demonstration of the African nations commitment to the new system, Mucai Kunyiha, Director of the EABC board, said. They have shown commitment to doing more trade and investments among themselves, Mucai Kunyiha said.

The AfCFTA agreement aims to increase intra-African commerce by gradually removing tariffs on more than 90 African items. The elimination of non-tariff barriers and trade restrictions on products and services, respectively, are also a part of the goal. The EACs goods exports to Africa were $7.9 billion, or 42% of the overall EAC goods exports to the globe.
After recalling its ambassador to France last month, the Algerian government is now refusing to deliver temporary consular passes for the repatriation of its nationals expelled from French territory.

The move comes in retaliation for the intervention of French consular services in Tunis, preventing the extradition of French-Algerian journalist Amira Bouraoui.

After her arrest on February 3 for illegally entering Tunisia, the political activist appeared before a magistrate who released her pending trial but her entourage expressed fears that Tunisia was considering deporting her to neighboring Algeria.

Thanks to her dual French-Algerian nationality, she was authorized to leave for France after she spent a few hours at the French embassy in Tunis. She narrowly escaped extradition to Algiers.

The Algerian authorities, irked by the French intervention, recalled their ambassador to Paris and stopped issuing consular passes for Algerian nationals expelled by France.

According to diplomatic sources, the crisis between France and Algeria has reached its peak.
Morocco is a flagship country and a pillar of stability in the region, said Thursday in Rabat, the European Commissioner for Neighborhood Policy and Enlargement, Oliver Varhelyi, who stressed the extreme importance of the Morocco-EU partnership.

In a global context marked by multiple challenges, it is not easy to find stable partners like Morocco, hence the extreme importance of the Morocco-EU partnership, said Varhelyi, who was speaking at a press briefing held after his talks with Foreign Minister Nasser Bourita.

The European Commissioner, currently on a working visit to the Kingdom, said that the signing this Thursday by Morocco and the EU of five cooperation programs worth nearly 500 million (5.5 billion dirhams) to support major reform projects in the Kingdom, reflects the direct and serious commitment from the Union to Morocco.

With all our commitments, we are really changing the nature and depth of our cooperation, he said, adding that the reforms launched in Morocco are ambitious reforms close to European values.

Morocco is and will be a major beneficiary of the EUs project agenda for the entire region, said Varhelyi, adding that this financial support covers social, economic, agricultural, water and energy aspects, the latter being a crucial sector worldwide.

The Kingdom has the potential to become a source of energy not only for the region but also for Europe, said Varhelyi, making it clear that the European market is ready to receive energy from Morocco.

He also stressed the importance of other areas of cooperation between the Kingdom and the EU, including migration and the fight against criminal networks.

Regarding the resumption of relations with Israel, Varhelyi expressed the EUs willingness to participate in this cooperation, which will help address the major challenges facing the region, including water management.

This trilateral cooperation, he said, will also address the challenges of research, development and rapprochement between peoples.

Nasser Bourita convened as to the need to develop a tripartite regional cooperation between Morocco, the European Commission and Israel, as a complementary element to bilateral cooperation, which will encompass several areas through coordination between the three parties.

We have prepared a document that we will sign before the end of this month to consolidate the regional tripartite dimension in our relations, in areas of common interest, he said.

The European Commissioner took the opportunity of the news conference to congratulate Morocco for its exit from the gray list of the Financial Action Task Force (FATF), praising the Moroccan-European cooperation that has allowed to achieve this result.

In this connection, Bourita said the reforms undertaken by the Kingdom have enabled it to get out of the gray list of the FATF, urging the EU to interact quickly with this news by removing Morocco from the gray list of the European Union.

Bourita also pointed out that Moroccos relations with the European Union have never been as dense as they are today and that the year 2023 will be the year of stronger commitment and ambitions for the deepening of cooperation relations between the two parties in various areas. He mentioned in this context the implementation of the financial partnership agreements and the opening of new horizons of cooperation in the areas of security and migration, which will be further strengthened from this year.

Bourita expressed hope that the year 2023 will witness the expansion to other projects in the area of energy security that concern Morocco and the EU and be the year of the acceleration of the implementation of strategic projects, recalling that Morocco, under the leadership of King Mohammed VI, is surely advancing towards the implementation of its new development model in order to fulfil the aspirations of its citizens.

The visit to Morocco of the European Commissioner for Neighborhood Policy and Enlargement is the second of its kind in less than a year, which confirms the depth, strength and solidity of relations between the Kingdom of Morocco and the European Commission, he said.

The Minister voiced hope that this positive spirit and pragmatic approach characterizing relations between Morocco and the European Commission will continue in the long term, so that the partnership transcends mere speeches to take on a concrete dimension, thus contributing to the strengthening of ties between Morocco and the EU within the framework of the good neighbor policy.

He noted that over the past three years, we have seen a change in the neighborhood policy towards the southern Mediterranean, with now a greater willingness to listen, a deeper dialogue and a willingness of the southern Mediterranean countries to own the projects we develop.

This partnership, he said, has also deepened at the regional level through pilot projects implemented under this new approach.
The United States hailed Moroccos continued efforts to fight terrorism through a strategy, combining security, economic and human development in addition to the fight against radicalization, while highlighting the close cooperation between the Kingdom and the United States as part of international efforts aimed at fighting this scourge.

In its 2021 Country Reports on Terrorism, the US State Department recalls that the United States and Morocco have a long history of strong counterterrorism cooperation.

The Government of Morocco continued its comprehensive strategy that includes vigilant security measures, regional and international cooperation, and counter radicalization policies, the report points out, noting that there were no terrorist incidents reported in Morocco in 2021.

The document recalls that the Kingdom is a member of the GCTF, which it co-chairs with Canada, and of the Defeat-ISIS Coalitions Countering Violent Extremism Working Group and co-chairs the Africa Focus Group within the Coalition.

Regarding legislation, the report underlines that Morocco investigates, prosecutes, and sentences defendants under counterterrorism (CT) legislation enacted in 2003 and expanded in 2015. This legislation is in line with UN Security Council resolution 2178.

Moroccan law enforcement leveraged intelligence collection, police work, and collaboration with international partners to conduct counterterrorism operations, it says, adding that the Central Bureau of Judicial Investigation (BCIJ) remains the primary law enforcement agency responsible for counterterrorism prosecutions.

The document underlines the close cooperation between Moroccan and U.S law enforcement agencies in several areas, including financial investigation, intelligence analysis, forensics, and cybersecurity.

Commenting Moroccos efforts in countering the financing of terrorism, the report recalls that the Kingdom is a member of MENAFATF, adding that the National Financial Intelligence Authority (FIU) is a member of the Egmont Group.

In 2021, Morocco enacted stricter anti-money laundering legislation, in line with FATF standards, the source says.

Regarding Moroccos actions in the fight against violent extremism, the U.S. State Department stresses that the Kingdom has a comprehensive strategy in this area that prioritizes economic and human development in addition to countering radicalization to violence and oversight of the religious sphere.

The Ministry of Endowments and Islamic Affairs has developed an educational curriculum for Moroccos nearly 50,000 imams as well as for female Islamic guides (mourchidates), the report says, adding that Moroccos imam training center in Rabat trains imams mostly from West Africa.

The Royal Mohammedan League of Ulema (Rabita Mohammedia) counters radicalization by producing scholarly research, reviewing educational curricula, and conducting youth outreach on religious and social topics, the document points out, while highlighting efforts made by the General Delegation for Prison Administration and Reintegration (DGAPR) to modernize prison management.

The DGAPR, in cooperation with other ministries, conducted several trainings of its deradicalization program, Moussalaha (Reconciliation), for both women and men, it says.

On international and regional cooperation, the report underlines that Morocco is a major non-NATO ally, adding that the Kingdom hosted in 2021 African Lion, AFRICOMs (U.S. Africa Command) largest and most complex military exercise, which includes specialized training for CT-related units.

Additionally, the United Nations Office of Counterterrorism (UNOCT) established a UNOCT Program Office in Morocco for Specialized Counterterrorism and Law Enforcement Training in Africa, it says, adding that this Program Office opened in June and hosted several training courses in late 2021.

Morocco also enjoys strong cooperation with European partners  particularly Belgium, France, and the Netherlands  to thwart potential terrorist threats in Europe, the report points out.
While Bola Ahmed Tinubu was officially declared the winner of last Saturdays presidential election in Nigeria, two major opposition parties say the results were rigged and have vowed to challenge the results in court.

Nigerias opposition renewed calls for the election result to be overturned on Thursday, March 2, a day after the country announced its new president-elect. We won the election and we will prove it to Nigerians, said Peter Obi, a third-place candidate from the Labor Party. The election would be remembered as one of the most controversial in Nigerias history, Obi said and added that this is also because it was marred by a great many irregularities. Hours later, second-place candidate Atiku Abubakar from the Peoples Democratic Party also rejected defeat because, he argued, the election was grossly flawed in every (way) and as such must be challenged. At least four other parties are joining them in challenging the results.

President-elect Bola Tinubu of the ruling party received 37% of the vote, while the main opposition candidate, Atiku Abubakar, got 29% of the vote, and Obi came third with 25% of the vote, according to official results.

The 70-year-old president-elect who faces a divided nation has urged his fellow Nigerians to overcome any partisan divide. I (take) this opportunity  to appeal to my fellow contestants to let us team up together. It is the only nation we have, Tinubu pleaded. During the ceremony in Abuja where he collected the formal document confirming his victory, he also called on Nigerians to build (the country) together. We won together. To put broken pieces together, we must work for unity, happiness and harmony.

But many younger Nigerians doubt Tinubus ability to improve economic opportunities for all, let alone reduce violence and corruption in a country that is one of the worlds leading suppliers of oil.
The African Union (AU) has postponed sine die the Pan African Network Conference on Fighting IFFs in Africa, a continental conference initially scheduled in the Tunisian capital, Tunis, on March 15 to 17.

The AU did not provide reasons for the postponement, but the move comes amid soar relations between Tunisian authorities and Addis Ababa over the North African countrys treatment of African migrants.

Tunisia has stepped up crackdown on illegal migrants from Sub-Sahara as it accuses a third party, it stopped short of naming, for sending Sub-Saharan migrants in view of modifying Tunisias demography.

The comments stirred condemnation at home and abroad with critics branding the remarks as racist.

As African migrants are swept up in a widening crackdown, critics say President Kais Saied is openly mining a deep vein of discrimination and prejudice against dark-skinned people in his country.

The AU Friday last week said it called Tunisias representative for an urgent meeting to register deep shock and concern at the form and substance of the Tunisian Presidents 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 last 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.

Considering the crackdown, some Sub Saharan countries namely Cote dIvoire and Guinea have begun repatriating their nationals willing to return home. Tunisias top diplomat Nabil Ammar Tuesday said the North African country will not apologize for its shocking statements.
The Global Coalition against Daesh Africa Focus Group, co-chaired by Morocco, the United States, Italy and Niger, has voiced deep concern over the impact of the proliferation of non-State actors on efforts to counter ISIS in Africa.

In a joint statement released following its meeting held March 1-2 in Niamey (Niger), participants said the proliferation of separatist movements in Africa destabilizes certain African states and creates conditions on the ground that ultimately favor Daesh and other terrorist and violent extremist organizations.

The Africa Focus Group is African member-led and represents a collaborative, civilian-focused counterterrorism effort intended to enhance the counterterrorism capabilities of African members of the global coalition against Daesh.

In Niamey, 38 Coalition members and observers participated in a two-day Africa Focus Group meeting that highlighted various counter-Daesh initiatives on the continent, facilitated regional-based discussion on addressing the ISIS threat and identifying gaps in counterterrorism capabilities in the Coastal West African states, the Sahel region, East Africa, and Central and Southern Africa.

The Group endorsed the Africa Focus Group Action Plan that committed the Global Coalition to strengthen border security, collect biometrics of known and suspected terrorists, protect and utilize battlefield evidence, counter ISIS propaganda & recruitment and counter terrorist financing.

The Africa Focus Group meeting and the Co-Chairs affirmed that the Global Coalition against Daesh remains committed to confronting and defeating ISIS in Africa and elsewhere in the world, wherever it operates.

US Deputy Special Envoy for the Global Coalition to Defeat ISIS Ian J. McCary, who took part in the meeting, praised, Moroccos efforts in the global coalition against Daech, and stressed that Morocco is a model in the fight against terrorism and extremist ideologies and a pioneering partner of the United States.

Morocco made a lot of success in the fight against terrorism. It is a model to be followed, said McCary.

The Africa Focus Group aims to enhance the fight against ISIS by engaging with interested global Coalition members, coordinating with other regional and multilateral entities on existing initiatives on countering ISIS terrorism financing, supporting stabilization efforts in liberated areas, deterring foreign terrorist fighter flows and countering ISIS violent extremist messaging to vulnerable populations.
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The Legislature slogged through a filibuster on Thursday en route to a likely initial vote on Friday to move ahead a bill allowing concealed carrying of handguns in Nebraska without permits or safety training toward potential enactment.

Sen. Tom Brewer of Gordon, sponsor of LB 77, believes he has the 33 votes required to free the bill from the filibuster waged by its opponents and advance it to second-stage floor consideration following completion of the required eight hours of debate before a cloture motion is in order.

The proposal could be trapped again by four hours of debate during second-round consideration before it could be moved along toward final consideration where it could be subjected to a final two hours of debate.

Im here to take up time, Sen. Machaela Cavanaugh of Omaha told her colleagues in advance of motions to reconsider votes, require roll call votes and invoke a call of the house to require all absent senators to return to the legislative chamber and be seated before votes are cast.

Our committees are not balanced, Cavanaugh said in surveying a conservative grip on the legislative session.

Were rushing things through, she said.

Brewer argues that the U.S. Constitutions Second Amendment bestows a fundamental right to keep and bear arms without government interference in the form of required permits, fees and gun safety training.

While Brewer has proposed a pending amendment to address the concerns of some law enforcement officials, the bill continues to be opposed by Lincoln Police Chief Teresa Ewins and Omaha Police Chief Todd Schmaderer.

Criminals dont care what the law says, Sen. Brad von Gillern of Elkhorn said in arguing for the bill.

I come from a place where we want our Seconnd Amendment rights protected, Sen. Tom Briese of Albion declared.

Active duty shooter drills in schools are terrifying, Sen. Jen Day of Omaha said, and should not be normalized for children by unchecked gun violence.

The cost of such deadly violence has a lasting adverse effect, Sen. Jane Raybould of Lincoln said, and it can be addressed by common sense gun safety measures.

If we want to protect kids in school, harden the target, Sen. Mike Jacobson of North Platte argued, saying schools currently represent soft targets.

Photos: The business of governing in Nebraska in 2023
For the first time in the departments history, the Lee County Sheriffs Office has promoted a female to the position of captain. Crossing this milestone is Beulah native Capt. Tammy Booth Hollis.

If you would like to see a dedicated public safety professional who is committed to the ideal of service above self, then look to Capt. Tammy Booth Hollis, Lee County Sheriff Jay Jones said in a release.

Tammy has accepted every challenge presented to her and has performed at a level far in excess of what may be considered the standard. That is a strong statement because our agency prides itself in going beyond the expected, Jones continued. Her experience in various divisions within our office has positioned her well for the demands that she will face. She is a professional peace officer. We are all very proud of her.

Hollis, 48, started her career in law enforcement with the Valley Police Department in 1996 at the age of 21.

She said she decided to pursue a career in law enforcement after discussing the position with a friend whose husband worked for the VPD.

I grew up in the South. Both my grandfathers were military, and I always had talked to them about their military service and was fascinated with that, Hollis said. I almost joined the military in high school but did not, so I thought why not try (law enforcement).

Hollis attended the police academy, where there were only three other women in her class. She said she wasnt intimidated about entering a male-dominant field, but she was aware of the issue.

I was often called a little girl police, and I would go to calls and I would have people say dont send me the little girl police. Send me somebody else, but of course, my dispatcher would send me, Hollis said with a smile.

She worked hard to prove her worth and that she had the ability to do the job.

Throughout her career, Hollis said shes had several positive male supervisors who offered her a chance and helped mold her and challenge her. At the time she was beginning her career, there were even less females in law enforcement than there are today, but Hollis said she looked up to Darlene Billingsley, who was in charge of communications.

She was probably one of the strongest females that Ive ever met, Hollis said. She was always assertive, she was always vocal, she was always pushing me to continue to be what I needed to be.

By October 2000, Hollis moved over to the Lee County Sheriffs Office as a deputy in the Patrol Division, and in 2014, she became the first female graduate of the FBI National Academy to come from LCSO. Shed also earned a Master of Science degree in criminal justice administration.

Throughout her career with LCSO, she has risen through the ranks within various divisions as an investigator, sergeant in the Investigations Division, lieutenant in the Patrol Division, and lieutenant in the Administrative Division.

Hollis said the knowledge, experience and skills shes learned from each of these positions has helped prepare her for her new role as captain of the Administrative Division where she will oversee LCSOs school resource officers, communications officers (dispatch), civil process servers, clerks, guardianship agent, community relations specialist and IT technician.

She said the doors opened at the right time and shes excited to face the new challenges, work with a great team and gain more knowledge and experience.

Hollis said shes had hundreds of memorable moments while serving as a law enforcement officer that reminded her of the importance of the job and the reason why she does it.

I think that over the years, working heavy cases, they remind you why you do what you do because a lot of people that we deal with are having the worst times of their lifeso you want your interaction with them to be positive, she said.

Hollis hopes to be a role model for other women by showing if she can make it, they can too.

If somebody needs to reach out to me, if somebody wants to come and talk to me, I always want to be that open person, she said. I really am all about wanting to be peer support and help people understand that this is a hard job and it can make or break you, so to speak, but you got to have some strong support system in place.

With a five-year-old daughter, Hollis said she also hopes she can inspire her to believe she can be or do anything through hard work.

Hollis said making history as the first LCSO female captain comes with a responsibility to show the community that she is capable and the right person for the job.

She plans to continue helping the citizens of Lee County and working together with those citizens to make the world a better place. By her side on this mission will be her LCSO family.

Its a family atmosphere, she said. Some days we fight like brothers and sisters and hammer out our differences, but at the end of the day, we all come together and know that were under a common goal. And thats just to help people every day in whatever way we can.
Thailand looks to Chinese tourists to boost tourism

Xinhua) 09:18, March 03, 2023

BANGKOK, March 2 (Xinhua) -- The Thai tourism industry is steadily recovering as it counts on the influx of Chinese tourists this year to be the driving force for the improvement.

According to the latest data released by the Ministry of Tourism and Sports, Thailand welcomed 91,841 tourists from the Chinese mainland in January, a significant increase from last year's figure of 3,110, due to China's optimization of its COVID-19 policy.

The surge in tourist numbers is a positive sign for the Southeast Asian country's tourism industry, which has been severely impacted by the pandemic.

The Tourism Authority of Thailand (TAT) recently reported that the kingdom recorded 161,540 Chinese tourists from Jan. 1 to Feb. 15, and it seems likely the target of 300,000 for the first quarter will be met.

Authorities have set a more ambitious target of welcoming 7 to 10 million Chinese tourists this year, compared to 11 million in 2019.

To achieve this goal, TAT-led roadshows were conducted in major Chinese cities like Shanghai, Guangzhou and Chengdu in late February to enhance business discussions between Thai suppliers and China's tourism professionals.

The campaign also promoted a range of high-quality tourism products and services tailored specifically to the Chinese market.

The return of Chinese visitors is considered a boon for Thai businesses that depend on tourism. Saii Resorts cluster general manager Bart Callens said they are preparing for the arrival of Chinese tourists by providing Chinese language training, hiring Chinese staff, and introducing Chinese menus.

He estimated that with the increase in direct flights from China to southern Thai islands, Chinese tourists will hopefully arrive in scale by the middle of this month.

(Web editor: Zhang Kaiwei, Liang Jun)




Edited at 2023-03-03 09:48 pm (UTC)

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Honest to God Im rewatching Vanderpump RIGHT NOW and I just thought wow Tom and Ariana are such a great couple. Theyve been through so much and theyre great together. Theyve been together so long! Then I click ONTD and this is the first post. Wtf.

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I'm also watching vanderpump right now lol, Raquel was just talking about how she likes Schwartz lol

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I binged season 5, 6 and 7 while having COVID and... I've always believed Ariana deserved better! FUCK THE TOMS!

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You did this, sis.

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Sorry OP I actually read the post again and am a lil confused? 



"Raquel's storyline season has been a rumoured romance with Tom's best friend and buisness partner, Tom Schwartz"

So it was rumoured she was cheating with Schwartz, when in reality it was Sandoval? Or is it both?



Edited at 2023-03-03 10:02 pm (UTC)

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Schwartz was already seeing somebody who was not Raquel: their rumoured relationship was/is just a storyline.



Raquel has actually fucked/been fucking Sandoval.

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Ding ding ding

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Sounds like the Raquel/Schwartz storyline was to cover up for the affair 

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she literally said on WWHL last week that Sandoval is hotter than Schwartz

thought i got weird vibes from her in VPR + that segment 

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reddit is theorizing that sandoval and raquel were seeing each other at least while the season was filming and that schwartz was a fake storyline to hide it



i think they're all just shitheads but it's a fun conspiracy lol

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hoooooooooly shit!!! i'm honestly shocked, like out of all the vpr couples i really thought they'd make it egg on my face lol



so i guess raquel is the villain this season? how very

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Raquel being the villain is literally sending me into a tailspin LMAO!!! Like...I NEVER would've guessed.

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SAME like OK bambi eyed bitch!!!

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I never trusted her tbh. James used Kristen to get on the show, and Raquel used James to get on the show. She's securing her spot!

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well that's one way of making me watch this stupid show again. I wonder if her and other tom were letting those rumours go on, to help hide this cheating

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How you get em is how you lose em. Can't be shocked when it happens, boo.

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Ariana deleted all her Instagram posts  it sucks for her bc I like her, but.I cant wait to watch this all go down 

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I think she deserves better than Tom, I always have. He neglected her, he's abandoned her, and now he's cheated on her. I've always hated the Tom's, I feel so vindicated right now

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Honestly, not surprised about Sandoval b/c he's always pinged my radar as a cheaterespecially with his history on VPR.



But Raquel has me SHOOK omggggggg! Her behavior with Schwartz this season (and now THIS) has me side-eying her so hard lol.

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She is definitely an asshole.

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Raquel is messy... What's her deal all of a sudden?

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that girl's self-esteem has been in the toilet from day one. she dated JAMES KENNEDY lol.

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Her self esteem is non existent and I guess her complete physical transformation from a plain Jane type to the pageant girl meets walking Instagram filter wasnt the boost she thought it would be and instead became her ticket to being an asshole and getting away with it (or so she thought)

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It's not nice/good behavior at all but I do appreciate Raquel All About Eve-ing her way onto and staying on this show in her own fashion.

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First it was Miami girl and now Raquel!! Tom is gross, Ariana deserves better than him - honestly all the men on this show have been trash since day 1

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Ive always believed that Tom did sleep with the Miami girl BUT it was before him and ariana were ~exclusive~ so there was some wriggle room there/she was able to move on from that tbh.

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I just watched that episode and I agree-- he's totally hooked up with her before. The way he took off running, my god... GUILTY GUILTY GUILTY

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I haven't watched VPR in forever and I a) would've never recognised Raquel from her first season when she was James' high school girlfriend and b) I went on her Instagram and she looks so much like Ariana? I don't think I could tell them apart if you showed me pictures of them separately



Edited at 2023-03-03 10:19 pm (UTC)

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I mean even in that TMZ still it just looks like two pictures of the same person to me lmao. Maybe I'm face blind when it comes to them

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raquel and ariana look nothing alike lmao

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I havent watched this show in years, but I remember when they were slumming it in that apartment to save up for a house. They had a messy start to their relationship so it tracks that they would eventually go up in flames with that disgusting friend group.

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ahhhhh this is so fucking crazy

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Raquel is kind of fascinating. Ive never come across somebody so seemingly void of like, everything. She seems to just do what people want of her in the moment. Her extreme insecurity is really bizarre to me.

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In a different timeline, Raquel would've ended up in the Bling Ring.

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Ha! I can see it. Shes just so bizarre to me, like she has some personality but in general is a pretty blank thats kind of there and has no concept of common sense.

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Raquel's real-life voice/inflection actually reminds me of Emma Watson's American accent in the movie LMAO.



Edited at 2023-03-04 12:29 am (UTC)

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Shes the Hailey Bieber of reality tv

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she lacks a personality... so her personality was Pageant Queen. Then James' GF/Fiancee. Now she doesn't have an identity, so instead of developing one for herself, she's just gone full Pick Me. She was so lame on WWHL. Like we're supposed to applaud her lying to Katie and choosing to make out with Schwartz over a friendship with Katie? GIRL, LISTEN TO YOURSELF

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The last decade has been difficult for Ecuadors economically crucial oil industry. Despite recent reforms and rising investment, the Andean countrys hydrocarbon sector is struggling to recover from the corruption and malfeasance which occurred during Rafael Correas administration. A combination of poorly constructed and corroded infrastructure, natural disasters and frequent civil unrest are causing numerous production outages that are weighing on the economy and fragile government finances. Violent protests have rocked the small South American country of 18 million with worrying frequency over the last eight years. The civil disturbances, sparked by fuel price hikes and a spiraling cost of living, along with environmental incidents in Ecuadors Amazon are impacting oil industry operations and causing production outages.

A landslide in the Amazonian province of Napo, which caused the Marker River Bridge to collapse, forced the shuttering of Ecuadors two principal oil pipelines five days ago. That saw the state controlled Petroecuador owned 360,000 barrel per day SOTE pipeline and the 450,000 barrel per day privately owned OCP pipeline taken offline as a preventive measure despite neither pipeline being ruptured. With both pipelines shuttered there is no means of transporting the crude oil extracted in Ecuadors Amazon, where much of the Andean countrys oil production occurs, to the Pacific coast.

For this reason, national oil company Petroecuador was compelled to shutter wells and declare force majeure. According to Ecuadors Energy Ministry, production will be offline for up to three weeks dealing yet another blow to rightwing President Guillermo Lassos plans to substantially boost oil output. During 2022, Ecuador pumped an average of 480,299 barrels per day, which while 1.6% higher than a year earlier was still significantly less than pre-pandemic production of 531,000 barrels daily during 2019. This is the second time in less than a year that Petroecuador was obliged to declare force majeure. Energy Ministry data shows by February 26, 2023 (Spanish) Ecuadors oil production had fallen to 243,678 barrels half the daily average of 489,000 barrels per day pumped for January 2023. Related: Russia Is Intent On Defending Its Oil Market Share In India

Petroecuador was previously compelled to declare force majeure during June 2022 as violent protests swept across the impoverished Andean country and protestors stormed oilfields in the oil-rich Amazon. This was responsible for Ecuadors 2022 oil production being lower than it had been before the pandemic and failing to reach the official annual planned government target. These events are hindering Lassos plans to boost Ecuadors oil production. On taking office during May 2021 the president planned to more than double output to one million barrels per day by the time his term ended in 2025 but because of prevailing headwinds that target has been revised downward to 750,000 barrels per day. There are signs that even the reduced production target is unachievable with production outages remaining as an ongoing problem.

Since the completion of the Coca Codo Sinclair Dam on the Coca River in Napo province by the Sinohydro corporation during November 2016 erosion, landslides and flooding have become persistent problems. In the past, those events have led to the SOTE and OCP pipelines rupturing and spilling crude oil into the surrounding environment including the Coca River which flows into the Napo, a tributary of the Amazon River. One of Ecuadors worst oil spills occurred in April 2020 when landslides ruptured both pipelines seeing an estimated 15,000 barrels of crude flow into the Coca River. That spill affected over 300 miles of river, with petroleum even flowing into the Napo, and local potable water supplies. There were many complaints by local indigenous communities that the spill was not adequately cleaned-up leaving tainted drinking water and a seriously damaged local environment. Another 6,000-barrel spill from the OCP pipeline occurred during January 2022 when it was ruptured by falling rocks. The spill flowed into the Coca and Napo rivers and affected over five acres of the ecologically important Cayambe-Coca national park.

The shuttering of the SOTE and OCP pipelines was undertaken to ensure that if the pipelines are ruptured by landslides there will not be another environmentally damaging spill. Devastating erosion appeared along the banks of the Coca River and in the Cayambe-Coca reserve after the Coca Codo Sinclair Hydroelectric plant commenced operating during late-2016. In fact, during 2020 the erosion caused the 492 feet, or 150-meter, high San Rafael waterfall which had existed for thousands of years situated on the Coca River to collapse. This was Ecuadors tallest waterfall and a major environmental attraction. According to scientists the Coca River is once again suffering from regressive erosion which will eventually alter its course. Increased erosion is attributed by some scientists to the hydroelectric plants diversion reservoir which removes sediment from the river water depriving downstream waters of their natural sediment load. That is creating an effect called hungry waters where the river waters erosive capacity increases, seeing its waters aggressively erode the riverbed and banks, as they seek to recover the normal sediment load.

Even before the construction of the hydro-plant it was recognized that the SOTE and OCP pipelines pass through highly geological unstable territory which was already increasing the risk of ruptures, oil spills and outages. It is for these reasons that the SOTE and OCP pipelines must be rerouted if the risk of ruptures, related oil spills and outages due to landslides and other erosion related events are to be reduced. This is essential if Ecuador is not only to sustain petroleum production without interruption but for growing output to the desired volume of 750,000 barrels per day. The latest outage, which is expected to last up to three weeks will significantly impact production volumes. This will further effect Ecuadors oil dependent economy where petroleum is responsible for 58% of exports by value and around 4% of gross domestic production. Any substantial lengthy decline in production will also have a negative effect on Quitos revenue, placing pressure on an already fiscally fragile economy.

By Matthew Smith for Oilprice.com

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Shells plan to have its oil production decline by up to 2% each year this decade is currently under review, the supermajors new CEO Wael Sawan told The Times in an interview published on Friday, adding that he is a firm believer of the statement dont deny people energy.

Back in 2021, Shell said that its oil production peaked in 2019 and is set for a continual decline over the next three decades as it looks toward the renewables side of the business.

However, the post-Covid rebound in oil and gas demand and the Russian invasion of Ukraine with the subsequent major dislocation of energy the trade have clearly shown the fragility of the energy system when we starve it of the supply that is required, Sawan told The Times.

I am of a firm view that the world will need oil and gas for a long time to come. As such, cutting oil and gas production is not healthy, Shells boss, who took over from Ben van Beurden on January 1, told the British newspaper.

Shell will shed more light on its oil and gas production targets at its capital markets day in June, Sawan said.

Were reflecting on what is the right guidance to the market, he noted.

Last month, the other major UK-based oil firm, BP, said in its latest strategy update that its goal is to produce more oil and gas in the short term in a move welcomed by the market.

BP said in February that it would be producing more oil and gas for longer and increase investment into oil and gas projects by an average of up to $1 billion a year, or up to a cumulative $8 billion by 2030. As a result of these changes, BP anticipates its oil and gas production will be around 2.3 million barrels of oil equivalent a day in 2025 and aims for it to be about 2.0 million boe/d in 2030. This 2030 production would be approximately 25% lower than BPs production in 2019, excluding production from Rosneft, compared to BPs previous expectation of a reduction of around 40%. BP also lowered its emission reduction target to a fall of 20%-30% in emissions from the carbon in its oil and gas production in 2030 compared to a 2019 baselinelower than the previous aim of 35-40%.

By Tsvetana Paraskova for Oilprice.com

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Uzbekistans state-owned natural gas company is still working on adjusting pipeline infrastructure to enable it to import fuel from Russia, a measure it is pursuing to help avoid a repeat of the chronic shortages endured over winter.

Uztransgaz said on its Telegram channel on March 3 that the aim of the work is to avoid gas imported from Russia interfering with the flow of locally produced gas in the national pipeline network.

This imminent reliance on Russian gas represents a crushing acceptance of failure of Uzbekistans energy sector development agenda. As recently as last year, Tashkent earned money selling gas to China, but an Uztransgaz representative was compelled to admit in December that all exports had been halted as public anger mounted over a nationwide wave of power outages.

Russia, which has rendered itself an international pariah by invading Ukraine, spotted an opportunity in the crisis. In late November, Russian President Vladimir Putin reportedly spoke during a meeting in Moscow with Kazakhstans President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev about the notion of setting up a trilateral [gas trading] union that would also comprise Uzbekistan.

The initial Uzbek reaction was circumspect. Energy Minister Jorabek Mirzamahmudov was cited by Reuters news agency as saying that Tashkent had not been consulted on the issue, but that if any gas agreement was signed, it would be a purely technical and financial transaction. Not political in other words.

And then, in late January, Uzbekistan reached an agreement with Russia to explore the possibility of reversing the flow of gas in the Central Asia-Center pipeline to send supplies south instead of north.

An energy official in Tashkent told AFP news agency that deliveries might start as soon as March 1, although that deadline has now come and gone. No public statement has been made on when the first gas will be pumped to Uzbekistan. No information has been divulged either on how much Russia intends to supply and what the terms of sale are.

Kazakhstan is likewise poised to start sourcing some of its gas needs from Russia. Like Uzbekistan, it too has had to forego China-bound exports.

Taking the growth in gas consumption within Kazakhstan into account, QazaqGaz cannot count on exports in the next fall-winter period, the deputy chairman of Kazakhstans state-owned natural gas company, Arman Kasenov said on February 24.

Earlier that same week, Kazakh Energy Minister Bolat Akchulakov said at a government meeting that plans are being drawn up to import gas from Russia to provide for areas in the east of Kazakhstan.

The infrastructure for those specific imports does not yet exist, however. Extending gas supplies to those regions of Kazakhstan will be contingent on completion of a transnational pipeline running from Russia to China.

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Despite bold promises from several oil and gas firms, many failed to reduce their natural gas flaring in 2022. With increasing pressure from environmental organisations and governments to reduce carbon emissions, will 2023 be any better? The International Energy Agency (IEA) has been clear in its warnings about how gas flaring will affect climate change if not curbed quickly, as well as the negative impact of methane from flared gas on peoples health. While some companies, such as Exxon, are leading the way in reducing their gas flaring from oil operations, stricter regulations are needed if the U.S. hopes to meet its climate targets.

In 2021, as oil and gas demand rebounded to pre-pandemic levels, gas flaring increased by around 1 percent, with approximately 143 bcm of gas flared worldwide. This is roughly equivalent to the total quantity of gas imported into Germany, France and the Netherlands put together. This also equates to around 270 Mt of CO2and almost 8 Mt of methane being released into the atmosphere. And the main culprits, having released half of all flared gas globally, were Russia, Iraq, Iran, the United States and Algeria. In the Net Zero Emissions by 2050 Scenario, all non-emergency gas flaring will have stopped by 2030, reducing flaring by around 90 percent.

In addition to concerns around climate change, experts have raised more health concerns around flaring in recent years. A study released in 2022 revealed that more methane is being released into the atmosphere through gas flaring than originally thought. Research led by the University of Michigan revealed that the current process of gas flaring is less effective than estimated, meaning that up to five times more methane is being released into the air.

The energy industry and regulators assume that flares are lit constantly, meaning they burn off 98 percent of the methane. However, recent studies show that many operations have unlit flares between 3 percent and 5 percent of the time, and when lit, many are operating at low efficiency. This brings the average effective flaring efficiency rate down to around 91 percent. Jon Goldstein, EDFs senior director of regulatory and legislative affairs, stated This study adds to the growing body of research that tells us that the oil and gas industry has a flaring problem. Goldstein added, The Environmental Protection Agency and Bureau of Land Management should implement solutions that can help to end the practice of routine flaring.

In the Permian Basin, in late 2022, Rystad Energy predicted that operators were set to increase the amount of gas flaring due to a lack of capacity to ship it elsewhere. Operations in the Permian basin have been reinvigorated over the last year thanks to President Bidens push to deliver more national crude, in the wake of the Russian invasion of Ukraine and subsequent sanctions on Russian energy. Pipelines have quickly become saturated, and several pipeline expansions have not yet been completed. This left producers facing the ultimatum of increasing the quantity of gas flared from operations or reducing crude output  needed to ensure Americas energy security. Despite fears of increased flaring, operators have so far managed to scale back flaring plans, but with national production set to rise further in 2023, this is a problem producers will continue to battle with.

In recent months, there have been even more calls for stricter regulations and an earlier ban on gas flaring due to concerns that oil and gas companies are not doing enough to reduce flaring. In February, congressional Democrats wrote a letter requesting that the Environmental Protection Agency strengthen its proposal to regulate methane gas emissions from gas flaring. The public letter was signed by 76 lawmakers. It attacked oil and gas companies for not doing enough to reduce methane emissions in line with climate targets.

The letter stated, While the supplemental proposal takes some important steps to reduce pollution from routine flaring of gas at oil wells, stricter safeguards against this harmful practice are critical to reduce pollution and protect health.

But its not all doom and gloom, as some companies do appear to be making significant efforts to curb their gas-flaring practices. In January, Exxon announced it had stopped all routine gas flaring from production in Americas main shale basin and would support the call for stricter regulations on its competitors flaring. Exxons chief environmental scientist, Matt Kolesar, stated "It levels the playing field. He added, "We need strong regulations, so it doesn't matter who owns the facility" or where they operate around the world.

Yet Exxon recently came under fire for failing to initially report that it had released the super-potent greenhouse gas methane in the Permian Basin in February, which violated state rules. After new satellite imagery became available, showing the high methane concentrations in the area, Exxon had to publicly acknowledge a misstep in reporting.

Despite big promises from oil and gas majors, many appear to be repeating mistakes in their gas-flaring practices and failing to act in line with climate targets. Although there have been some positive steps in the effort to curb gas flaring, from companies such as Exxon, the failure to accurately report emissions has made environmentalists naturally wary of their dedication to their climate pledges. This means the U.S. is unlikely to meet the IEAs 2030 target to end all non-emergency flaring unless stricter regulations come into place for oil and gas companies.

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By Felicity Bradstock for Oilprice.com

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There were five new interstate natural gas pipeline projects in the United States last year, adding a total of 897 million cubic feet per day (MMcf/d) to interstate natural gas pipeline capacity. That is the least new capacity coming online since records began in 1995, the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) says.

Higher growth in intrastate capacity and a reduction in overall capital expenditures from oil and gas firms led to the low capacity additions to interstate natural gas pipelines last year, the EIA said in a new analysis based on its State-to-State Capacity Tracker.

In previous years, most of the interstate capacity additions were coming from new interstate pipelines to carry natural gas out of the Appalachia basin. With most of those projects now complete, the more recent natural gas growth has come predominantly from the Permian and Haynesville regions in Texas and Louisiana, many of which have accommodated growing output with intrastate pipelines.

In Texas and Louisiana, intrastate projects, rather than interstate projects, have increased takeaway capacity and connected natural gas production to LNG export terminals, the EIA said.

In 2022, the five interstate projects that added capacity to the U.S. natural gas pipelines crossing state borders were Columbia Gulf Transmissions Louisiana XPress Project, Florida Gas Transmissions Mobile County Project, Florida Gas Transmissions Southwest Alabama Project, ANR Pipeline Companys Wisconsin Access Project, and Gulfstream Natural Gass Gulfstream Phase VI Expansion Project.

While Texas and Louisiana are close to the U.S. LNG export facilities on the Gulf Coast, regulatory hurdles are stymieing growth in gas production in the Marcellus-Utica basin, the largest U.S. gas-producing region, which is set to miss out on the expected boom in American LNG exports in the coming years.

Not only is Marcellus-Utica missing the opportunity to export and monetize natural gas in a world scrambling for LNG supply, but it is also unable to provide more natural gas to the regions close to it in New England, analysts and the pipeline industry say. In one of the most ironic twists in American energy these days, the U.S. Northeast has been importing LNG from foreign producers to meet its gas demand.

By Tsvetana Paraskova for Oilprice.com

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Workers from Sinochem Group have been taken hostage by Colombians protesting poor road conditions, local media have reported.

At least one policeman and a civilian are dead.

The unrest between protests and the police started after a group of Colombian protestors broke into an oilfield owned by Emerald Energya subsidiary of Sinochem Group, also known as the China National Chemical Corporation. The oilfield is located in southern Colombia in the province of Caqueta.

Sinochem Group is an integrated operator in the oil and chemical industry. The protestors have also set oil installations on fire.

Social media videos have shown the protestors placing police offers in a truck on Thursday before they were driven away. The protests were triggered by the poor conditions of the roads, despite previous assurances from the government and Emerald Energy that road repairs would be completed.

Colombian President Gustavo Petro accused the protestors of wanting "to destroy this government and plunge Colombia into war."

Colombia is staring down the reality of declining crude oil production, in part due to the Covid-19 pandemic, but largely due to guerilla groups attacking key oil infrastructure. Colombia's crude oil production has fallen from 0.808 million bpd in 2020, to .76 million last year, according to EIA data. But that's just the most recent dropoff. In 2019, OPEC's MOMR lists Colombia's average production as 0.9 million bpd.

What's more, at the current rate of production, Colombia is seeing a rapid decline in investments in its oil industry, with some analysts suggesting that at the current rate, Colombia currently has enough crude oil reserves for another five or six years, some have estimated. And Colombia's President Petro last year pledged to end all new oil exploration.

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Meanwhile, President Petro, who was inaugurated last August, raised taxes on Colombia's oil industry, which has yet to recover from the pandemic.

By Julianne Geiger for Oilprice.com

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The United Arab Emirates is having an internal debate about the prospect of leaving OPEC, Emirati officials are telling the Wall Street Journal.

The decision of the UAE to leave the oil-based group that accounts for nearly 38% of the worlds total crude oil production would diminish the groups oil price-setting powers. The uncertainty regarding the UAEs participation in the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries comes as the rift between UAE and OPECs de facto leader Saudi Arabia appears to be widening over the war in Yemen.

Over the last year or so, the Wall Street Journal reported, relations between the two have soured, with UAEs President Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed al Nahyan and Saudi Arabias Prince Mohammed often missing events where the other was expected to be in attendance. Whats more, the WSJ has said.

But the rift actually began before that, in mid-2021, over the OPEC production cuts.a rift that, at the time, threatened to sink the groups entire plan for its production cuts. Some analysts at the time even believed that the disagreement between the two OPEC heavyweights could lead to a repeat of the 2020 oil price war.

Another bone of contention is the war in Yemen, where the UAE is hoping to keep its influence in the country to secure shipping routes in the Red Sea, while Saudi Arabia has been having talks with Houthi rebelswithout the UAEin hopes of ending the war. Meanwhile, the UAE has signed a security agreement with the Saudi-backed Yemeni government that allows the UAE to intervene if there is an imminent threatand theyre looking to build a military base and runway in the Bab al-Mandeb straitbut, according to the WSJ, Saudi officials have privately objected to this agreement.

The United Arab Emirates is currently producing more than 3 million barrels of crude oil per day, and is OPECs third most prolific producer.

For the oil markets, an OPEC fracture would give more market clout to non-OPEC producers such as the United States, Canada, and Braziland crude oil purchasers such as China, India, and Japan.

The UAE has long been rumored to be in opposition to OPECs plans to drastically cut its crude oil production as part of its agreement with OPEC+.

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U.S. LNG exports were basically unchanged in February compared to January, per shipping data from Refinitiv Eikon, despite the partial restart of some operations at Freeport LNG following a fire last June.

U.S. exporters of liquefied natural gas shipped out a total of 96 cargoes with 6.84 million tons of LNG in February, up by 9% from February 2022, but unchanged from January 2023, according to Refinitiv Eikons data quoted by Reuters.

Of the February 2023 shipments, 68% headed to Europe, while another at least 15% were en route to Asia, the data showed.

Exports were flat despite the partial resumption of commercial operations at the second-largest U.S. LNG export facility, Freeport LNG.

At the end of February, the operator of Freeport LNG received regulatory approval to resume commercial operations of its natural gas liquefaction and export facility.

The Freeport LNG export facility in Texas was shut down in June last year when a fire broke out and damaged the plant.

The authorization provides for the immediate full return to service of one liquefaction train that has already restarted and the incremental restart and full return to service of a second train, Freeport LNG said in a statement on February 21.

The third liquefaction train will need subsequent regulatory approval for restart and a return to service once certain operational conditions are met.

First LNG production and ship loading from the facilitywhich currently uses two of Freeport LNG's three LNG storage tanks and one of its two LNG berthsbegan on February 11, the company said.

The return of Freeport LNG is set to further ease concerns about LNG supply in Europe, which has managed well its gas supply and demand so far this winter, mostly due to long periods of mild weather and lower consumption because of demand destruction in the industry and energy savings from households.

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A year after it launched, nearly 700 people have downloaded a Nebraska app designed to help young people cope with mental health issues and prevent youth suicide.

Now, the Nebraska State Suicide Prevention Coalition and its partners are seeking to spread the word about the My Companion app and get it into the hands  and the phones  of more young people.

The app has a variety of features and is divided into four main areas: reflections, connections, resources and emergency. With it, users can log daily reflections, input contacts who they can reach out to for help and support if theyre having a difficult time and tap into a variety of resources. They can click and directly access the 988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline.

Thats the whole idea behind the app, is it provides connectedness, said Dr. Dave Miers, the coalitions founder and senior director of behavioral health services at Lincolns Bryan Medical Center. The research shows the more connected youth are, the less likely they are to hurt themselves or use substances.

Miers said the idea for the app came from a police officer who had learned about a similar app in Utah released under the name SafeUT. Work on a Nebraska app, which is modeled on the Utah tool, began in summer 2018 and was created in collaboration with Dont Panic Labs and Boys Town National Hotline. The Kim Foundation, a statewide organization focused on suicide prevention, provided an initial grant.

Once the software developers had created a skeleton app, the coalition held a youth suicide prevention summit. Some 40 youths from across the state tried the app and provided feedback.

Overwhelmingly, we had great feedback that we were going in the right direction, Miers said. The app was released last February.

Utah officials, he said, have reported that that states app and other interventions have resulted in a reduction in the number of youths who were expressing suicidal thoughts.

In Nebraska, suicide is the leading cause of death among people between ages 15 and 24. Overall, suicide is the 10th leading cause of death in the state.

Miers said the app is among the interventions outlined in the states newly updated suicide prevention plan, which will be implemented over the next three years.

The Kim Foundation created the 47-page document with the coalition and the Nebraska Department of Health and Human Services to provide guidelines for individuals, businesses, schools, medical professionals, communities and other agencies to prevent suicide. It replaces another statewide strategic plan that was created in 2016.

Miers said the app is loaded with resources for the Omaha and Lincoln areas. But the coalitions goal is to add resources for communities that want to localize it.

While the app is geared toward youths, who are used to connecting with others via technology, it can be used by people of any age.

Its encouraging them to communicate their feelings by reaching out to others through technology, he said.

To download My Companion from the Apple App Store, visit apps.apple.com/us/app/my-companion-journal/id1558734264.

To get it from Google Play, go to play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.nsp.companion.

Our best Omaha staff photos & videos of February 2023
A former Nebraska corrections employee who gave birth in December now faces a felony charge after DNA testing confirmed that a convicted murderer is likely the father of the baby boy.

Samantha Cedillo, 31, was charged Wednesday in a warrant in Douglas County with sexual abuse of an inmate. The charge carries a maximum of 20 years in prison and no required minimum sentence. She was not yet in custody as of 5 p.m. Thursday.

Authorities had recently collected the DNA of the infant, who was born in December, and the inmate, James E. Price, who is serving a life sentence for first-degree murder in connection with a 1995 homicide. Lab testing in mid-January revealed that Price, 47, could not be excluded as the father of the child.

The babys mother, Cedillo, had worked as a non-clinical program manager and oversaw three inmates at the Omaha Correctional Center last spring, one of whom was Price.

Nebraska law prohibits anyone from subjecting an inmate or parolee to sexual penetration or sexual contact.

Although the relationship between Cedillo and Price may be a legitimate, loving one, based on messages between the two, consent is not a valid defense, according to state law.

According to affidavits filed by a Nebraska State Patrol investigator:

Cedillo, of Council Bluffs, oversaw programs not involving substance abuse or medical needs at the Omaha Correctional Center, 2323 Ave. J. Cedillo had an office in the library and wore a gun belt while on the job.

She was in her second stint as an employee for the Nebraska Department of Correctional Services  she started in June 2021 and had previously worked at the center from April 2018 to July 2019, said Dayne Urbanovsky, a spokeswoman for the department.

In November 2021, informants told prison staff that they suspected Cedillo, then 30, was having an inappropriate relationship with her library clerk, then-46-year-old Price.

Over the next four months, staff members observed and documented at least 10 questionable interactions between the two or prison code of conduct violations by Cedillo.

One rule that was routinely broken was that Cedillo and Price were in her office with the door shut or partially closed  in several different instances lasting from three minutes to roughly an hour. A motion-activated security camera captured part of Cedillos office, so staff members were able to corroborate the twos interactions.

Urbanovsky declined to answer specific questions about prison policies regarding contact between staff and inmates and said only that it ranges based on the position of the staff member and the type of communication required.

Deputy Warden Shawn Freese had given Cedillo a verbal warning, then removed Price from his library clerk job and later told Cedillo and Price to avoid contact with each other except during an active, non-clinical program session.

Yet the two continued to talk in the library and in Cedillos office  staff members even reported that Cedillo blew kisses to Price, an allegation she denied.

On March 30, video surveillance captured Cedillo taking off her radio belt when Price was in her office. The two moved behind the door, out of the cameras view. The camera stopped recording for three minutes until a correctional employee entered the library, triggering the cameras motion sensors.

Cedillo hurries back to her chair, staff members wrote in a report. She appears to be adjusting her shirt and bra. Her shirt is untucked, and her hair is in a loose ponytail.

Cedillo had entered her office with her shirt tucked and her hair in a bun. The entire interaction occurred within roughly 12 minutes.

Freese asked Cedillo to file an incident report justifying the interaction. She turned angry and said she was fed up with having to explain. She resigned that day.

After having gone through this conversation before and having put in my notice once before withdrawing it, I have made the decision to discontinue working for NDCS, she wrote in an incident report.

Investigators later found a baby registry created by Cedillo, with a due date in mid-December  nine months after that March interaction.

State patrol investigators interviewed Cedillo in July, and showed her the video of the March 30 interaction. Cedillo said she couldnt remember why they were both in her office and said she had untucked her shirt because it was uncomfortable.

Cedillo denied rumors that she was having sex with inmates and staff and said she resigned because she felt her concerns about verbal assault and physical intimidation from inmates were not taken seriously. State Patrol Investigator CJ Alberico noted that Cedillo didnt mention that at all in her resignation letter.

After Cedillo left her job at the correctional center, she and Price continued to message each other  either via an illegal phone that Price had possession of in his cell and later destroyed when authorities searched for it, or via legitimate prison communications.

Cedillo was approved to send letters and messages to Price through the correctional communication system. The two exchanged 14 letters and 371 emails and messages as of early January and also spoke on the phone.

They had nicknames for each other, told each other they loved each other and recorded Nov. 22 as their anniversary. They talked about family, her pregnancy and her baby shower. In letters, Cedillo said the baby was her first and planned only child and also wrote sexually graphic messages.

I took care of him so hes growing bigger, Cedillo messaged Price in October. Also I like to push on his head so he moves.

You better be nice to him, Price responded.

Its kind of cute. He does get irritated when I push on him, Cedillo messaged Price in October. I wish you could feel this. Wed be up all night botherin (sic) him.

Two months later, Cedillo sent messages to Price when she was having contractions and going into labor at Jennie Edmundson Hospital in Council Bluffs.

I cant sleep Mama. Tell me whats going on? Price wrote.

Just got to hospital annoyed with nurses and this (expletive) hospital but otherwise Im good, Cedillo responded.

You are amazing babe and I love you so very much, Price said.

Thank you baby. Its getting harder but it seems to be progressing, she said.

After the boy was born, Cedillo told Price she would send photos once theyre approved.

Im so thankful you are allowing me to be a part of your lives and to step in as this little ones father means the world to me, Price wrote. I hope I can make you both proud. Love you.

Our best Omaha staff photos & videos of February 2023
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Four educators have been selected by the Bennington Public Schools board as finalists for the districts superintendent position.

Three candidates currently serve in leadership roles in Nebraska, while one is from Nevada.

Board members chose the finalists at a Wednesday night meeting, and the district announced their names in a Thursday press release.

Matt Blomenkamp is the only candidate from the Bennington district. He currently serves as assistant superintendent of operations.

The board also selected Aaron Plas, superintendent of Lakeview Community Schools in Columbus; Christopher Loofe, associate superintendent and director of finance at Kearney Public Schools; and Summer Stephens, superintendent of the Churchill County Schools District in Fallon, Nevada.

The superintendent search launched earlier this year following the announcement from Superintendent Terry Haack that he is retiring in May.

All candidates will be interviewed next week during public board meetings, which wont be streamed online, according to Stacy Hawn, a Bennington spokeswoman.

The Nebraska Association of School Boards will host the interviews. Blomenkamp will be interviewed at 5 p.m. Monday, followed by Stephens at 6:30 p.m.

Loofe will be interviewed at 5 p.m. Wednesday, with Plas following at 6:30 p.m.

Our best Omaha staff photos & videos of February 2023
The process of finding Nebraskas next education commissioner is nearing its end, with finalist interviews scheduled for the last week of March.

Patti Gubbels, president of the State Board of Education, said at a Friday meeting that the ad hoc search committee will meet on March 14 to review applications and select finalists before the interviews, which are scheduled March 30 and 31.

Applications for the job closed on Thursday. Gubbels said she couldnt reveal the number of applicants who will be considered.

Deborah Frison, one of the states two deputy commissioners, was selected in October to serve in Matthew Blomstedts place after his resignation on Jan 3. Blomstedt had been Nebraskas education commissioner for nine years.

McPherson and Jacobson has been handling the search process for the last few months. At Fridays meeting, the state board approved an amended contract with the Omaha firm to include its staff in the interview process.

Gubbels said the ad hoc search committee wanted the search firm to be at interviews in case advice or legal help was needed. The boards legal counsel, Brian Halstead, cant attend the interviews because the incoming commissioner will be his supervisor and it would be a conflict of interest, Gubbels said.

The amendment will hike the cost of the search by about $11,000 to almost $54,000.

Gubbels said the board will select eight to 10 Nebraska Department of Education staff volunteers to serve on a commissioner interview panel. There will also be an external interview panel comprised of education policy partners in addition to state board members.

Our best Omaha staff photos & videos of March 2023
For this piece, artist Nathaniel Ruleaux asked members of the community to help paste images of his great-great grandfather, Nicholas Ruleau, who attended the Carlisle Indian Boarding School, over the phrase "Kill the Indian, Save the Man", a propagandist motto used by the school.
LINCOLN  The latest effort to allow Nebraskans to carry concealed weapons without a permit cleared a major hurdle Friday when it passed the first round of debate in the Legislature.

Lawmakers passed Legislative Bill 77 in a 36-12 vote after eight hours of grueling debate that spanned the course of three days. LB 77, introduced by Sen. Tom Brewer of Gordon, would allow Nebraskans 21 and older to carry concealed weapons without a permit.

Brewer said the advancement was a weight off his shoulders, having worked for more than five years to pass such a measure.

I kind of had a feeling that this might be the year, Brewer said.

Measures like LB 77 are sometimes called constitutional carry in reference to some gun rights advocates belief that the Second Amendment of the U.S. Constitution gives people the right to carry concealed guns without a permit.

Currently in Nebraska, getting a concealed-carry permit requires passing a criminal background check, paying a $100 fee and taking an eight- to 16-hour gun safety class.

The bill has to pass two more rounds of debate before it goes to Gov. Jim Pillens desk to be signed into law. Passing the first round doesnt necessarily mean the bill is in the clear. Brewers previous attempt to pass similar legislation last year was killed in the second round of debate after an amendment to gain the support of local law enforcement fell through.

LB 77 was the subject of an hours-long public hearing in January before it went to the floor. Many of the same arguments presented during the hearing also popped up on both sides of the Legislatures debate, and persisted through all three days.

Supporters argued the bill would protect Nebraskans Second Amendment rights and help law-abiding citizens defend themselves. Opponents, largely led by Sen. Jane Raybould of Lincoln, countered that the bill would make Nebraska more dangerous, and that training is a necessary step to responsible gun ownership.

Much of the debate also focused on an amendment Brewer introduced that he said swayed the opinion of several law enforcement organizations. He said the amendment gained the support of the Nebraska Sheriffs Association and the Police Officers Association of Nebraska, and changed the Omaha police unions position to neutral on the bill.

Brewer said passage of the amendment in the first round of debate was important for ensuring success in the remaining rounds of debate. He said a vote on the amendment to last years bill being pushed to the second round ultimately contributed to its failure.

Under the amendment, an individual would receive an added misdemeanor charge if they carry a firearm while committing certain dangerous misdemeanors, including domestic assault, shoplifting or stalking. It would also be a felony upon the third offense of an individual failing to notify a law enforcement official that they are carrying a weapon.

The amendment was not enough to change the minds of Omaha Police Chief Todd Schmaderer and Lincoln Police Chief Teresa Ewins, who remain opposed to LB 77, along with Omaha Mayor Jean Stothert and a majority of Omaha City Council members. City Council President Pete Festersen said the bill would require the city to repeal some of its gun ordinances that he said limited gun violence.

I dont think its a positive for public safety, Festersen said.

LB 77s advancement Friday was bolstered by the support of several Democrat lawmakers, including Sens. Justin Wayne, Terrell McKinney, Anna Wishart and Mike McDonnell, who contributed to the 36 votes that passed a filibuster-ending cloture motion before the 36-12 vote to officially advance the bill.

However, that support may not hold through upcoming rounds of debate. Wayne said he supports the original LB 77, but he does not support the amendment that passed, and he didnt know if he will continue to support the bill in future rounds because of it. Wayne voted against adoption of the amendment.

This is a tough issue for me, he said.

Wayne said he liked that LB 77 would remove a tool police use to discriminate against people of color, by adding on charges if they are found carrying concealed weapons without a permit. For similar reasons, he said he didnt like the additional charges the amendment included with the bill.

Brewer said hes open to making further changes to address Waynes concerns, but he is also wary of monkeying around with the language out of fear that too many edits may lose the support of other lawmakers.

Photos: 2023 Nebraska legislative session
LINCOLN  Gov. Jim Pillen issued an executive order Thursday banning state broadband grants from going to any contractor using telecommunications equipment and services produced by several Chinese companies.

The order specifically bans equipment and services from Huawei Technologies, ZTE Corporation, Hytera Communications, Hangzhou Hikvision Digital Technology and Dahua Technology, along with their subsidiaries and affiliates.

All are on the Federal Communications Commission list of companies considered a risk to national security. The companies have been accused of making equipment capable of cyber-espionage, including economic and industrial espionage, and of having ties to the Chinese government.

"This executive order will keep the Chinese Communist Party from using technology to infiltrate and influence our state's infrastructure," Pillen said. "I will continue to find opportunities to improve Nebraska's infrastructure and technology grid while remaining vigilant in protecting our state's security."

Both the Trump and Biden administrations have raised concerns about equipment made by Huawei and other companies and have taken actions to restrict the companies. In 2019, the FCC designated the companies as national security threats and, in November, the FCC adopted new rules banning the sale of some equipment.

In August 2020, then-Gov. Pete Ricketts announced a ban on the use of the popular TikTok app on all state electronic devices. He also cited security concerns about the social media giant, which is owned by a Chinese company called ByteDance.

Pillen's action comes as lawmakers are considering a bill to prohibit telecom companies from getting state Universal Service Fund money if they use equipment made by companies on the FCC list in their Nebraska networks.

Legislative Bill 63, introduced by State Sen. Eliot Bostar of Lincoln, would institute the ban in 2025. Bostar said the delay would give Nebraska networks time to replace existing equipment. The bill also would ease the process of getting permits for the replacement. State Universal Service Fund dollars are provided to telecom companies for maintaining their networks.

Bostar said Thursday that he appreciated the governor's action and looked forward to working with him to get LB 63 passed. The bill already has backing from U.S. Rep. Mike Flood and State Sen. Suzanne Geist of Lincoln.

"His executive order is an important component of the broader effort to protect Nebraskans from foreign sabotage and espionage," Bostar said.

At a hearing, Bostar said the only company he knows to be using Huawei equipment is Viaero Wireless, which has networks in western Nebraska. He said the FCC began a program two years ago to help reimburse companies for replacing Huawei equipment, although the program does not have enough money for the replacement requests filed so far.

Nebraska is in the midst of a major push to expand broadband services to all residents of the state, using hundreds of millions in federal and state funding.

Photos: 2023 Nebraska legislative session
Two Nebraska sheriffs and a sheriffs captain have been fined $1,000 each for appearing in uniform in an ad for former gubernatorial candidate Charles Herbsters campaign.

Seward County Sheriff Michael Vance, Lincoln County Sheriff Jerome Kramer and York County Sheriffs Capt. Joshua Gillespie each agreed to pay a $1,000 civil penalty in settlements that were approved unanimously by members of the State of Nebraska Accountability and Disclosure Commission.

Under the agreements, the commission found that the three law enforcement officials had violated a state law barring the use of public resources for campaign purposes, in this case their uniforms being the public resources.

The advertisement ran on television stations in February and March of last year before being pulled by Herbsters campaign. That decision followed an inquiry from The World-Herald regarding concerns that the ad may have violated state law. A Herbster campaign spokesperson at the time said the campaign did not believe the advertisement violated state statute.

No taxpayer funds were used in the making or airing of our advertisement. Nebraska Sheriffs are elected officials and have earned the right to proudly wear their uniforms and, as elected leaders, to have a voice on important matters and issues, the spokesperson wrote in an email.

York County Sheriff Paul Vrbka, who also appeared in uniform in the Herbster ad, agreed to a $1,000 fine in a similar settlement approved in January. Vrbka in his settlement said it was not his intent to violate state law and, had he known it would be a possible violation, he would not have agreed to appear in the ad.

Both sheriffs and Capt. Gillespie included identical statements in their settlements. None of the three men could be reached for comment Friday afternoon.

All four of the complaints were filed by Cynthia Hartley. The initial complaint against Vrbka was filed in March 2022. The other three were filed in January, just days after the NDAC announced the settlement with Vrbka.

All four of the law enforcement officials could have faced a maximum penalty of $5,000. Their cooperation resulted in the lower $1,000 penalty.

Herbster ultimately finished second in the GOP gubernatorial primary behind Jim Pillen, who went on to win election as governor in November.

Photos: Nebraska primary day 2022
LINCOLN  The Lincoln elementary school student who brought a loaded handgun to school last week and used it to threaten a classmate will not face legal consequences and his parents wont face criminal charges, officials said.

The fifth grader, who allegedly flashed a handgun in a backpack while threatening another fifth grader at Prescott Elementary School last Friday is too young to be adjudicated even as a juvenile in Nebraska, Lancaster County Attorney Pat Condon said Monday.

The Lincoln Police Department had referred the student, a 10-year-old boy, to the prosecutors office on suspicion of terroristic threats, use of a weapon to commit a felony, unlawful possession of a firearm at a school and possession of a handgun by a minor, Sgt. Chris Vollmer said.

But the student is simply too young to prosecute, even in juvenile court, Condon said.

The childs under 11 years old, so we cant, Condon said.

Police responded to the school at about 12:30 p.m. Friday after the student who was reportedly threatened told a teacher, who alerted administrators at the school.

Staff located the backpack hanging from a coat rack in the hallway and took it to the office before calling police, who responded and found a loaded handgun inside the backpack, the district said.

This could have had a very different result, no question about it, Superintendent Paul Gausman said at a press conference, where he praised the response by staff and law enforcement and the student who reported the threat.

Only a couple of minutes passed from when the threat was reported to when the gun was secured, according to the school district.

It remains unclear how the 10-year-old got the gun.

Condon had left open the possibility that the students parents could face child neglect charges if they were found to have stored the handgun unsafely.

But investigators found that there were measures in place to secure the firearm, including a cable gunlock, but the student circumvented the safeguards, police said.

The investigation revealed insufficient probable cause to cite the parents of the student who brought the weapon to school, Lincoln Police Capt. Todd Kocian said in a Friday afternoon email, which came after a full week of relative silence on the investigation.

Police repeatedly declined to answer questions on the incident  including who owned the firearm, whether it was stored at the boys house and whether the handgun had been locked away  throughout the week.

Lincoln Police Chief Teresa Ewins declined to answer similar questions at the State Capital on Friday, pointing to the ongoing investigation.

The 10-year-old will still face consequences at school. Students who bring a firearm onto school grounds are automatically expelled for one calendar year, according to the districts student handbook.
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BLOOMINGTON  A difference in crop insurance for 2023 will allow farmers to get a head start on their planting  if Mother Nature allows.

Overall, it is a quiet year for changes for crop insurance, said Doug Yoder, a crop agency manager at Country Financial in Bloomington. The only year he remembers having fewer changes is in 2022, and that has been nice to see for producers who are looking at their options ahead of the looming insurance deadlines on March 15. If no new decision has been made by that deadline, the coverage is the same from 2022.

The biggest difference in policies this year are based on planting date. For many states, covered planting dates have been moved up, allowing farmers to get in the field earlier and retaining the ability to have any replant covered.

Theres been a trend going on in soybean country for a while now where we are seeing earlier and earlier planting, and its working, Yoder said.

He said the initial planting date possibility for soybeans has moved up 10 days, to April 5, in southern Illinois and to April 10 for central Illinois. In the northern third of Illinois the first initial planting date is 9 days sooner at April 15.

They can plant earlier and still qualify for federal crop insurance replant provision, he said.

The other major change for those toward the southern Midwest is the double crop soybean initiative. It is an effort to support farmers who may plant wheat in the fall and, after harvesting it in June, may opt to plant soybeans to get another harvestable crop out of the year. This has been available to some growers, but now is available to those who may live farther north.

They had to go through a pretty strenuous paperwork process called a written agreement with the government and seek approval to insure those double-crop beans, Yoder said. When the war in Ukraine broke out, that put the wheat supply in jeopardy and our government made it more available. They dont have to prove anything like they used to and now they can purchase it if they want to.

He said that has led to more winter wheat acres planted this past fall than in previous years.

Jon Strohl with Farm Credit Illinois said said most producers are using crop insurance in some capacity, saying more than 90% of corn and soybean acres throughout Illinois are insured. In a year where input costs are being watched very closely, Strohl said to not neglect some of the guarantees that come with insurance.

We've seen costs almost double for some operations," Strohl said. "We understand crop insurance is an expense, but yet it's still one of the cheapest marketing tools you have in your operation.

With 2023 creating talk about an updated farm bill, Strohl said he doesnt expect many changes to the crop insurance program. He hopes most members of Congress can recognize its importance to the agriculture industry and the stability it brings to many farmers throughout the country.
BLOOMINGTON  A McLean County judge found a Danville man guilty of multiple felony charges in a bench trial this week.

Judge William Yoder issued a guilty verdict on Tuesday for Randy M. Turner, 39, on 10 felony counts including:

disarming a peace officer, a Class 1 felony

attempting to disarm a peace officer, a Class 2 felony

six counts of aggravated battery of a peace officer, a Class 2 felony

unlawful possession of a weapon by a felon, a Class 2 felony

attempted possession of a stolen motor vehicle, a Class 3 felony

Turner was arrested in May 2022 following a traffic stop on northbound Interstate 55 near Chenoa. An Illinois State Trooper had pulled Turner over, and then during the traffic stop Turner attacked the officer and tried to flee.

The Pantagraph reported at the time of the arrest that Turner had been driving more than 100 mph and during the fight had taken the officers pepper spray. Turner had climbed into a tow truck before he was stopped by the officer, prosecutors said at the time.

In a statement released Thursday, the McLean County States Attorneys Office thanked civilian witnesses, ISP and First Assistant States Attorney Brad Rigdon, who led the prosecution.

Turners sentencing is set for May 4 and his bond was revoked.
BLOOMINGTON  A Bloomington man was sentenced Thursday to three years in prison after pleading guilty to possessing a stolen vehicle.

Austin C. Pittman, 20, gave his plea that morning to Judge Amy McFarland to a possession of a stolen vehicle charge, a Class 2 felony. Other charges, including misdemeanor trespass to vehicle and a traffic citation for never being issued a driver's license, were dropped per his plea agreement.

McLean County Assistant State's Attorney Emily Young presented factual basis to the court, stating that Pittman had access via court-ordered service work to a van at the St. Vincent De Paul Food & Clothing Pantry, 705 N. Roosevelt St., Bloomington. She said security camera footage showed the van being taken at night in early September.

Young said Bloomington police located the van before it parked at a Jewel grocery store, and then three males got out and ran from officers. She said Pittman was arrested and identified as the driver.

McLean County Public Defender Matthew Koetters represented Pittman, and had no comment to provide on the case outcome.

Pittman must also serve one year of mandatory supervised release.

Photos: Efforts to combat food insecurity in Bloomington-Normal Midwest Food Bank in Normal Midwest Food Bank in Normal Bread for Life Co-op Bread for Life Co-op Bread for Life Co-op Bread for Life Co-op Western Avenue Community Center Western Avenue Community Center West Bloomington Revitalization Project Sunnyside Community Garden Veggie Oasis The Table Veggie Oasis Midwest Food Bank Midwest Food Bank Midwest Food Bank Midwest Food Bank Midwest Food Bank Midwest Food Bank Sunnyside Community Garden and Food Forest Sunnyside Community Garden and Food Forest Sunnyside Community Garden and Food Forest Sunnyside Community Garden and Food Forest Sunnyside Community Garden and Food Forest Sunnyside Community Garden and Food Forest Sunnyside Community Garden and Food Forest Sunnyside Community Garden and Food Forest Sunnyside Community Garden and Food Forest Sunnyside Community Garden and Food Forest
CHICAGO  A group founded by Facebook creator Mark Zuckerberg and his wife will spend $250 million to create a new biomedical research hub in Chicago where scientists from Northwestern University, University of Chicago and the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign will study human disease.

The Chan Zuckerberg Initiative, named for Zuckerberg and his wife, Dr. Priscilla Chan, plans to invest $250 million in the Chan Zuckerberg Biohub Chicago over a decade. Gov. J.B. Pritzker has also committed $25 million in state dollars to support the project.

Biohub leaders are still in the process of finding a location, which will include laboratories, meeting spaces and special instrumentation and equipment.

Scientists from Northwestern, UChicago and UIUC will work together at the location, as well as at their own universities on biohub research projects. The biohub will also have its own dedicated staff of scientists and researchers. Leaders hope to start operations in April.

Northwestern, UChicago and UIUC beat out proposals from about 60 other teams across the country to win the funding. The Chan Zuckerberg Initiative spent about a year narrowing down the applicants, until the Chicago universities emerged as the winner, said Steve Quake, head of science at the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative. Pritzker committed the $25 million in state capital funds during that selection process.

The biohub will be a real boost to our biotech ecosystem in the city, said Milan Mrksich, vice president for research at Northwestern.

We were up against teams that included Harvard and Cal Tech and MIT, and really every place in the country, Mrksich said. For the team here of Northwestern, University of Chicago and University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign to win the competition is really exciting.

Pritzker said in a news release the hub will take medical research to a new level.

The Chicago scientists goal will be to better understand health and disease by embedding tiny sensors  some no bigger than the width of a hair  in samples of human tissue and engineered tissue. They foresee eventually embedding as many as a thousand sensors into a single, small square of tissue. They hope the sensors will allow them to observe, up close, how disease can arise at a molecular and cellular level.

Its a proposal that is wildly ambitious but still achievable, said Northwestern Professor Shana Kelley, who will lead CZ Biohub Chicago.

What well be doing is obtaining measurements in never-before-seen detail, Kelley said.

Specifically, scientists hope to better understand connections between the immune system and inflammation.

We think this is an incredibly important problem to address because diseases that are linked to inflammation have been recognized as the most significant cause of death in the world today, Kelley said. Those diseases include cancer, heart disease and Alzheimers disease.

We cant study inflammation in a petri dish. We really need the ability to measure cellular responses and communication, Kelley said. We need to do that over time in three-dimensional space within living tissues. This is a capacity that does not currently exist.

The hub will be the second of its kind in the country. The first CZ Biohub was founded in San Francisco in 2016 in collaboration with Stanford University; University of California, Berkeley; and University of California, San Francisco. That hub has focused on mapping and understand cellular physiology.

To bring the next biohub to Chicago does so much to make us even a stronger destination for people across the world who want to come and experience our research here, said Mrksich, with Northwestern. Its going to attract really brilliant people from all over the world.

The Chan Zuckerberg Initiative was founded in 2015, and has a mission that includes supporting science and technology in hopes of curing, preventing or managing all disease by the end of this century.

Celebrity birthdays: March 3 Brett Hite Camila Cabello David Faustino Duncan Phillips George Miller Herschel Walker Ira Glass Jackie Joyner-Kersee Jason Crabb Jessica Biel Julie Bowen Laura Harring Miranda Richardson Thomas Barbusca
Last month, I wrote a tongue-in-cheek headline for my blog: Poll conducted for IEA finds about 10 percent of Illinoisans are wackos.

The Normington-Petts and Next Generation Strategies poll of 1,000 Illinoisans conducted in January found that 11% strongly favor the fighting, yelling, or other contention at school board meetings that has been happening around the country. 10% strongly opposed Teaching Illinois high school students about slavery in the United States and its impacts. Another 14% strongly opposed Teaching Illinois high school students about racism and its impact in the United States. And 11% strongly favored Banning books from Illinois school libraries.

But we didnt need a scientific survey to know that wackos are proliferating.

Last year, then-Rep. Deb Conroy (D-Villa Park) came under attack after false and ridiculous claims were made that she sponsored a bill to forcibly round people up and lock them in internment camps for refusing to take a vaccine. The attack was patently absurd on its face, but it was fanned by some Republican legislators and even so-called moderates like Republican DuPage County Board Chair candidate Greg Hart, who lost to Conroy last November.

The result was, I wrote last year, profanity-laden, disgusting, misogynistic messages from hateful and violent-sounding people. It got so bad that Conroy closed her district office for a time, and a man was eventually charged with two felonies for making threats against her. Conroy stood firm, but the bill as introduced died on the vine and more than 21,000 electronic witness slips were filed in opposition.

Then, the other day, Rep. Katie Stuart (D-Edwardsville) announced that she had canceled a constituent meet and greet over threats about her own bill.

House Bill 1286 merely sets state guidelines for commercial property owners who want to construct multiple-occupancy, all-gender restrooms. The Illinois Retail Merchants Association, the American Institute of Architects  Illinois, the Chicago Alliance Against Sexual Exploitation, the Illinois Public Health Association, Equality Illinois, Illinois NOW and large numbers of other reputable groups filed electronic witness slips in support.

But the same usual suspects fanned the flames against Stuarts bill. Some current legislators, Rep. Stuarts former Republican opponent, former Rep. Jeanne Ives and groups like Awake Illinois and the Illinois Family Institute ginned up yet another social media explosion, warning people that Stuart wanted to mandate all-gender public restrooms everywhere.

The result was phone calls, emails filled with vile language, to Rep. Stuart, according to a House Democratic spokesperson. None of the communications referenced the people and groups spewing the misinformation, the spokesperson said. There's no specific connection other than they're all saying the same things essentially, all using the same language as these groups are, and they're all taking the same misinterpretation.

Rep. Stuart has shared everything she has with the Illinois State Police and other local law enforcement, the spokesperson said.

So far, the number of electronic witness slips generated against Stuarts bill hasnt come close to the massive numbers recorded on former Rep. Conroys legislation (perhaps partially because last year was an election year and groups had been organizing around vaccines in general for years), but the end result is essentially the same: A legislator was forced to temporarily back away from the public because a bunch of easily manipulated, perpetually angry wackos got all worked up over nothing  again.

The witness slips are an incredibly useful tool for activists because the groups can track their efforts real-time results online. Groups all across the political and issue spectrum try to encourage people to file witness slips on the General Assemblys website in support or opposition to bills to show supporters, donors, the other side and legislators that they have public backing. The slips are empowering. People feel seen. They believe theyre making a difference. But the slip wars also provide a positive feedback loop for dark conspiracy theories.

And since its pretty easy to post ones position online, the witness slip web pages have become an extension of social media, for good and ill. There is no identity verification required, although users do have to fill out a captcha box to prove theyre not a robot.

There was a time when filling out a paper witness slip made you subject to forgery laws. Maybe its time now for responsible groups which are committed to public involvement sit down with legislators and come up with a solution for this. It wont stop all the craziness, but at least the state doesnt have to play a role.
The Maternity unit of the Tema Polyclinic can now breathe a sigh of relief because an ultrasound scanning machine has been put in place.



The top-of-the-line equipment, which was paid for in full by Tobinco Pharmaceuticals Limited in response to a request from the hospitals management, will help lower the rate of maternal deaths.



According to the management of the Tema Polyclinic, the maternity unit of the facility, which has a daily visit of not less than 40 to 50 patients, has been under so much pressure for the past years due to its inability to run scans for pregnant women who visit the facility.



According to them, this has contributed to low revenue generation because most pregnant women will choose other health facilities for their scan and antenatal over the Polyclinic, and in some cases, pregnant women during their antenatal will prefer to sit at home until their due date, which can be a major problem when it is their due date.



After the hospitals management asked Tobinco Pharmaceutical Limited for help, the company gave the hospital a multi-purpose ultrasound scanning machine for its 60th anniversary.



Dr. Christopher Mensah, Deputy Managing Director-Marketing at Tobinco Pharmaceuticals Limited, said that while the company had supported the polyclinics anniversary celebrations, the donation of an ultrasound machine to the facility was to consolidate their existing relationship and to reiterate the values and tenets of Tobinco Pharmaceuticals Limited under the leadership of Elder Nana Amo Tobbin I.



Receiving the ultrasound machine on behalf of the hospital, the Medical Superintendent of the Polyclinic, Dr. Lenusia Ahlijah, who was beaming with smiles, could not hide her excitement at the gesture from Tobinco Pharmaceuticals.



She said the facility has been struggling for years now without a multi-purpose ultrasound scanning machine, adding that the support from Tobinco Pharmaceuticals Limited will not only help the facility generate more revenue but will also improve healthcare delivery at the polyclinic.





Source: Peacefmonline.com









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

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The Chief Executive Officer of the McDan Group of Companies, Dr. Daniel McKorley, has reacted soberly to a decision of an Accra High Court to sentence him for contempt.



The High Court (General Jurisdiction) presided over Justice Kweku Tawiah Ackaah-Boafo, a Justice of the Court of Appeal, sitting as an additional High Court judge imposed a fine of GH40,000 on him.



The court said GH15,000 out of that fine should be given to the applicant in the matter, who accused McDan of forcibly taking over his land under dispute.



Speaking in an interview with journalists on the matter, Dr. Daniel McKorley expressed that he has the utmost respect for the court and the judiciary as a whole.



He, however, noted that his busy schedule was the reason for his contempt adding that it was not a deliberate attempt on his part to evade the court.



I have nothing against the court and its decision. In fact, I have the utmost respect for the judges in the country and confidence in our judiciary system. Although the court has taken a decision in the matter, I'm not above the law and I want to put on record that the contempt was in no way deliberate as I have been on a busy schedule and some of these things have not been properly brought to my attention," McDan said.



"This development will help me better manage my time very well and it shows that our courts are working rather well and so no matter the caliber of person, once you fall on the wrong side of the law, you will be punished." McDan soberly expressed.



He continued, "This case has made me learn a lot and now my trust and respect for the judges and courts in Ghana have increased. I really hold the courts in high esteem and want to congratulate the judge who found me contemptuous."



"The fine given by the Court has since been paid and I want to advise every citizen in this country to respect the court as no one is above the law court which is one of the highest authorities in our land, McDan added.



Dr. Daniel McKorley further commended the Chief Justice, Kwesi Anin-Yeboah for implementing various strategies and efforts to improve the work of the judiciary and law courts in Ghana.

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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Wife of the President, Mrs Aisha Buhari, on Thursday, described the victory of APCs Bola Tinubu in the just concluded presidential election as the will of God.



Mrs Buhari said this when she received the wife of the President-elect, Sen. Oluremi Tinubu, and the wife of the Vice President-elect, Hajiya Nana Shettima, on a thank-you visit to the Presidential Villa, Abuja.



She said: Regardless of our interests and diversity, we should all accept it as a will of Almighty God; we wouldnt have done it without his grace.



It is a victory for all Nigerians. I am optimistic that the President-Elect will not betray the trust and confidence that Nigerians reposed in him. It is now time to move on and focus on the path of 'a renewed hope for Nigerian women and youths.



So, my sister we count on your experience and interest in promoting the cause of women, youths and girl-child education, she said.



She however reminded the wife of the president-elect of the challenges ahead and prayed for God`s guidance and direction as she prepare to take over the affairs of the Office of First Lady of Nigeria.



The task is arduous but with your determination I believe is surmountable. I pray that come May 29, your position as first lady will be marked with joy and continued success.



We look forward to the advancement of Nigerian women and their inclusion in the affairs of our nation`s development, Mrs Buhari said.



Sen. Oluremi Tinubu had earlier informed the gathering that they were at the Presidential Villa on a thank you visit to appreciate the support and wise counselling of the first lady towards the success of APC at the presidential election.



We want to thank you sincerely for how youve been able to bring us together as a campaign team for the APC, especially the women presidential campaign team. You really showed a lot of wisdom, dexterity and courage in the way you put us together.

Source: Vanguardngr









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Kenyas President William Ruto and opposition leader Raila Odinga have united in their criticism of last weeks Supreme Court ruling which allows the LGBT community to register lobby groups in Kenya.



President Ruto has sworn that he will never allow gay marriage in Kenya, which he said "goes against the countrys cultures and religious beliefs".



Its the latest and highest-profile attack on the judgement, which many have wrongly suggested gives the LGBT community freedom to get married in Kenya.



Last Friday, the Supreme Court ruled that the decision of Kenyas NGO board to decline the registration of the National Gays and Lesbians Human Rights Commission - or any other group with the words gay and lesbian in it, was unconstitutional.



The court said that denying the group registration purely on the basis of their sexuality was a violation of their constitutional rights to association and freedom from discrimination.



However since then, there has been outrage from the public, parliament, the religious community, powerful state officers including the speaker of the national assembly, and now the president himself.



On Wednesday parliament discussed the judgement at length, and many members who spoke wondered why the court had made the judgement to grant freedom of association to what they described as an illegality.



Kenyas constitution only provides for marriage between members of the opposite sex, while the penal code punishes sex "against the order of nature" with up to 14 years imprisonment.



These are the provisions upon which Kenyas legislators have faulted the judgement.



On Thursday, Deputy President Rigathi Gachagua said registering a group which fights for the rights of gay people to get married was an attempt to legitimise LGBT actions in Kenya, which was against the country's way of life.



President Ruto - to cheers from the crowd - suggested there was a campaign by foreigners to introduce "alien practices" in the country, which he swore not to allow in Kenya.



And opposition leader Mr Odinga has also been quoted as saying that it was not the role of the judiciary to make laws.



In recent weeks, there has been escalating anti-gay sentiment in Kenya and the region, with hundreds of hostile social media posts drowning out any attempts to balance the discussion.



On the day of the judgement, Kenyan legislator Peter Kaluma filed an official notice seeking to amend the law to give life imprisonment to people convicted of homosexuality or the promotion of it.

Source: BBC









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Chinese Foreign Minister Qin Gang meets with his Australian counterpart Penny Wong on the sidelines of the Group of 20 (G20) Foreign Ministers' Meeting in New Delhi, India, March 2, 2023. (Xinhua/Javed Dar)

NEW DELHI, March 2 (Xinhua) -- China and Australia have pledged to advance institutional dialogue at various levels, so as to further stabilize and improve their bilateral relations.

Chinese Foreign Minister Qin Gang and his Australian counterpart Penny Wong made the remarks on Thursday during their meeting on the sidelines of the Group of 20 (G20) Foreign Ministers' Meeting held in India's capital New Delhi on March 1-2.

China and Australia should implement the important consensus reached at the Bali Summit between the leaders of the two countries, respect each other's core interests and major concerns, and cherish the improving bilateral relations, Qin said.

The two countries have restarted or resumed institutional dialogue and consultation on diplomacy, economy and trade, and should continue to promote dialogue and exchanges at all levels, he said.

The two sides should properly view and handle their differences and address each other's legitimate concerns, said the Chinese foreign minister.

"We hope that the Australian side will provide a fair, just and non-discriminatory business environment for Chinese enterprises to invest and do business in Australia," he noted.

For her part, Wong said that the sound Australia-China relations are in the common interests of both sides, reiterating Australia's commitment to managing the differences between the two countries.

Australia will jointly implement the outcomes of the new round of China-Australia Foreign and Strategic Dialogue and fully agrees to resume more institutional dialogues between the two countries, said Wong.

Noting that Australia-China economic, trade and investment cooperation is mutually beneficial, she said Australia welcomes Chinese investment and will treat Chinese companies equally.

Saying that China is a key force in promoting world peace, stability and prosperity, Wong said she hoped that China will play an important role in helping resolve the Ukraine crisis.

Regarding the crisis, Qin stressed that the core of China's position on the issue is to promote talks for peace.

China has been calling for ceasing hostilities and a political settlement of the crisis through diplomatic negotiations since the very beginning and will continue to play a constructive role to this end, he said. 
The judge hearing the trial involving Dr Stephen Opuni, a former Chief Executive Officer of COCOBOD, and two others, has asked the High Court registrar to forward the case docket to the Chief Justice to assign a new judge.



In a ruling on Wednesday, Justice Clemence Jackson Honyenuga, a Justice of the Supreme Court sitting as an additional High court judge, upheld the Attorney-Generals submission which advised him to refer the case to the Chief Justice for the appointment of a new judge.



I must state that it is refreshing that the Attorney-General who initiated the Criminal proceedings against the accused persons has submitted through the Deputy Attorney-General that this case be referred to the Chief Justice due to the limited time at my disposal.



Indeed, due to the limited time accorded me by the Chief Justice to continue to hear this case, it is crystally clear that it is impossible for me to conclude and determine this case with DW7 in the box. In the circumstances, I will uphold the submission of the Deputy Attorney-General and hereby grant the application under Section 105 of the Court's Act 1993 Act 459 as amended.



It is hereby ordered that the pendency of this case be reported to the Chief Justice for his directions. Accordingly, the Registrar of this court is to carry out this order forthwith, Justice Honyenuga said in his ruling on Wednesday.



Prayer



The Attorney-General (A-G) had on Thursday, February 23, this year, prayed Justice Honyenuga to refer the matter to the Chief Justice for a new judge to be appointed.



Justice Honyenuga had been presiding over the trial since March 2018.



He reached the mandatory retirement age of 70 in September 2022.



However, in accordance with Article 145 (4) of the 1992 Constitution, the Chief Justice gave Justice Honyenuga a six-month extension to enable him to conclude all the cases he was handling, including the trial of the former COCOBOD boss.



When the case was called yesterday, a Deputy A-G, Alfred Tuah-Yeboah, said the six-month extension granted to Justice Honyenuga by the Chief Justice would be due in March this year.



According to the Deputy A-G, it would be impossible for the trial to be concluded with the limited time left, especially as the second accused, Seidu Agongo, was yet to open his defence.



Considering the time left, it is practically impossible for this matter to be concluded within that time. In the circumstance, we respectfully pray that my Lord refers this matter to the Chief Justice for this court to be reconstituted. This is being made in the interest of justice and fairness, the Deputy A-G said.



Article 145(4)



Article 145 (4) of the 1992 Constitution stipulates that notwithstanding the fact that a Justice of the Superior Court has attained the retirement age, that person may continue in office for a period not exceeding six months after attaining the age, as may be necessary to enable him to deliver judgment or do any other thing in relation to proceedings that were commenced before him previous to his attaining that age.



The six-month extension granted to Justice Honyenuga by the Chief Justice has generated controversy in the trial.



Dr Opuni challenged the decision at the High Court claiming that the Chief Justice was not clothed with the power to give a Justice of the Superior Court an extension after retirement.



Lawyers for Dr Opuni argued that since it was the President who appoints Justices of the Superior Court, it was only the President, and not the Chief Justice, who could grant such extensions to a retired Justice.



The case was dismissed by the High Court.



Dr Opuni challenged the decision of the High Court at the Supreme Court, which was also dismissed.



Not guilty

Dr Opuni is standing trial with Seidu Agongo, the CEO of Agricult Ghana Limited, an agrochemical company.



State prosecutors have accused the two of causing financial loss of more than GH271 million to the state in a series of lithovit foliar fertiliser transactions.





It is the case of the prosecution that the fertiliser was substandard, and has accused Agongo of allegedly using fraudulent means to sell the fertiliser to COCOBOD for onward distribution to cocoa farmers.

Source: graphic.com.gh









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Ghana and Armenia have held bilateral meetings on the sides of the Raisina Dialogue in New Delhi, India.



Information Minister Kojo Oppong Nkrumah led the Ghana side while Mr. Hakob Arshakyan, Vice President of the National Assembly led the Armenia side.



The two countries agreed to collaborate on matters of information dissemination, digitization and countering misininformation.



Ghanas diplomatic relations with Armenia were first established in the 1990s after the Government of Ghana gave approval for the recognition and establishment of diplomatic relations with countries in the former Soviet Union.



Since then, the two countries have co-operated at the political and international levels. Bilateral relations between Ghana and Armenia remain very cordial and have been nurtured by continuous collaboration at both multilateral and bilateral levels. The two countries share a strong commitment to peace and security, underpinned by a common interest in a stable and secure world order.



Both countries at the meeting held on Friday 3rd March 2023 agreed for the need to expand economic co-operation.



Ghana's delegation also included high Commissioner to India HE Kwaku Asoma- Cheremeh and officials from the high commission and Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

Source: Peacefmonline.com/Ghana









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The Vice President, Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia, has handed over the reconstructed Kumasi Central Mosque he undertook to the Mosque's committee after it was commissioned on Friday amidst excitement.



The commissioning ceremony was graced by the Asantehene, Otumfuo Osei Tutu II, the National Chief Imam Sheikh Osman Nuhu Sharubutu and a host of distinguished dignitaries including Ministers, MPs, Members of the Diplomatic Corps, regional Imams, Zongo Chiefs as well as top Muslim and Christian clerics.



The enthusiastic Muslim community from the Ashanti Region and beyond, turned up in their numbers to show appreciation to Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia for what is being hailed as a remarkable gesture of providing a breathtaking piece of architecture.



The mosque was officially commissioned by the Vice President and the Asantehene in time for Jummah prayers.



In no time after it was opened to the public, the 7000 capacity mosque was filled to capacity with several others praying outside.



As people entered the mosque, some were seen shedding tears of joy and showing admiration of the sheer beauty of the mosque.



TO THE GLORY OF GOD



Speaking at the ceremony, Vice President Bawumia said he undertook the project "to the glory of Allah" and expressed gratitude to God for giving him the strength and will to complete it single-handedly.



"I am really grateful to the Almighty Allah for giving me the vision, guidance and commitment to be able to undertake this massive project. I was touched by the Almighty Allah when I visited the mosque in 2020 and realised that it needed urgent attention."



Dr. Bawumia noted that the Kumasi Central Mosque, as one of the oldest mosques in the country, represents the vision of "our forefathers" and expressed his delight at the transformation of the mosque into a modern edifice, befitting the status of Kumasi as a renowned city.



ASANTEMAN'S COOPERATION WITH MUSLIM COMMUNITY



While acknowledging the roles of the founding fathers of the Kumasi Central Mosque, Vice President Bawumia also commended the Manhyia Palace and Asanteman for the peaceful co-existence and cooperation between Asanteman and the Muslim community as well as the support Otumfuo Agyemang Prempeh II offered the Muslim community in building the first Kumasi Central Mosque.



"As history beautifully captures, the Manhyia Palace played an instrumental role in the first Kumasi Central Mosque during the reign of Asantehene Otumfuo Sir Agyemang Prempeh II," Dr. Bawumia said.



"This clearly underlines how long-standing the relationship between Asanteman and the Muslim community has been, and the extent of support and cooperation, the Manhyia Palace in particular has offered."



"The Asante Kingdom, predating the days of Otumfuo Sir Agyemang Prempeh, is documented to have cooperated with Muslims within the Kingdom. This beautiful tradition has also continued under successive Asantehenes."



"The presence of Otumfuo Osei Tutu II today, signifies the premium the Asantehene and the Asante Kingdom place on the historic relationship."

A CALL FOR UNITY AND PEACEFUL CO-EXISTENCE



While urging Muslims to continue to use the mosque as a converging point not only for prayers but also for community integration, he called for even greater tolerance and cooperation between Muslims and neighbours of the Christian faith.



"This is our beautiful Ghana, where we tolerate, respect and support each other as one people. God has blessed our country with peace and unity amongst is so let us be grateful to him. Let us also continue to uphold the religious tolerance we show, which has endeared our country."



PLAUDITS FOR DR. BAWUMIA



The Asantehene, Otumfuo Osei Tutu II commended Dr. Bawumia for the gift he has given to not only the Muslim community but Asanteman as a whole.



Otumfuo Osei Tutu II added that Dr. Bawumia, as a responsible son, has done what he ought to do and as a father, he could not thank him enough.



He urged the Zongo Community to take good care of the mosque and ensure it is well maintained at all times.





Source: Peacefmonline.com/Ghana









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Former Chief Justice, Sophia A.B. Akuffo, has suggested that it will be better for Ghana to use the money earmarked for the celebration of the Independence Day parades to rather provide infrastructural facilities for the less developed communities.



For her, just observing the day with parades in the various districts and regions will not serve the interest of the citizenry than building memorial facilities that can serve the present and future generations.



The legal juggernaut said it will be appropriate to instead of rotating the celebration of the day in the region, rather rotate independence day projects in the regions and districts.



Ms. Akuffo was speaking to Accra-based radio station Citi FM on the sidelines of a public lecture organised by the University of Ghana on Ghana's 66th Indepedence.



"If they had selected, let's say, a deprived district to build a new school there, selected a ramshackle hospital or health centre and upgraded it, and naming it Independence school or hospital, it will be good," she explained.



In addition, she suggested, "Then every year, we pick a region; we pick a project and do itI think it will be money better spent if it is to be spent at all. This will inure to the benefit of the people directly and it will also last."



The Volta Regional capital, Ho, is hosting this year's national Independence Day parade.



The event will be held at the Ho Youth Resource Centre.



The initial 5,000-capacity resource centre is being expanded to seat 10,000 people.



Background



Independence Day is an official state holiday observed in Ghana and the Ghanaian Diaspora on March 6.



Ghana was the first sub-Saharan African country to attain independence from British colonial rule.



Independence Day serves as a time to reaffirm national unity, as well as national sovereignty.

Source: graphic.com.gh









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The Presidential candidate of the Labour party, Peter Obi, has said he and his running mate, Datti Baba-Ahmed won the February 25, 2023, presidential election and will be going to court to retrieve their mandate.''



Obi in a press conference in Abuja yesterday, March 2, said he won the elections and will prove it in court. Speaking during the press briefing, Obi said;



The election that we just witnessed had been conducted and results announced as programmed. It is a clear deviation from electoral rules and guidelines as we were promised. This election did not meet the minimum standard expected of a free, transparent, credible and fair election. It will go down as one of the most controversial elections ever conducted in Nigeria. The good and hardworking people of Nigeria have again been robbed by our supposed leader whom they trusted.



The process in which people come into office is far more fundamental and more important than what they do thereafter. It is my belief that if you must answer his excellency, the process to which you arrive office must be excellent.



Let me assure you that we will explore all options to reclaim our mandate. We won the election and will prove it to Nigerians. Please do not despair'.'



He appealed to all Nigerians to be peaceful and law-abiding as he goes to court to retrieve his mandate.''



Watch a video of him speaking below

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The Vice President, Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia has been welcomed with a tumultuous reception in Kumasi for the commissioning and handing over of the Kumasi Central Mosque.



Dr. Bawumia funded the reconstruction of the iconic mosque to an ultra-modern complex with expanded capacity from 4000 to 7000 as well as the provision of office complexes for Imams and Zongo Chiefs, a conference room, among other facilities.



Present at the ceremony was the Asantehene Otumfuo Osei Tutu II, Ministers of State, MPs, the National Chief Imam, Regional Imams, Members of the Diplomatic Corp and a large number of Muslims.



Dr. Bawumia was accompanied to the ground by a large number of NPP MPs from the Ashanti Region and beyond in a move which underlines his overwhelming popularity in the NPP.



As he arrived at the ground in the company of the National Chief Imam, the enthusiastic crowd mobbed him with songs of commendation, in admiration and in appreciation of his gesture for the Kumasi community.



The old Kumasi Central Mosque was considered one of the oldest mosques in the country.



Its transformation has significantly lifted its status to a modern mosque of international standard.

Source: Peacefmonline.com/Ghana









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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:

A hibernating dormouse. Credit: Zoe Helene Kindermann, CC-BY-SA-4.0

Developing approaches to protect human well-being in a changing climate will depend on a deeper understanding of how mammalian cells and organisms adapt to dramatic shifts in temperature and in the availability of food and water. To help build this knowledge base, Institute researchers are exposing cells from multiple types of mammals to a range of increased and decreased temperatures; then they are observing the mechanisms the cells may use to survive extreme conditions.

For example, Sinisa Hrvatin, Institute Member and assistant professor of biology at MIT, is studying animal hibernation. He explains, "To survive cold winters and limited food availability, certain animals enter hibernation, lowering their metabolism and body temperature to conserve energy. However, increased environmental temperatures appear to inhibit animals from entering deep hibernation, which may decrease their survival during winters." Hrvatin's lab is expanding its investigations on how changes in environmental temperature affect animals' ability to fully enter hibernation and hibernation-like states.

Rising temperatures are also predicted to induce sterility in many kinds of insects, fish, and mammalspotentially exacerbating an already-significant global decline in fertility. Institute researchers are leveraging their globally renowned research on germ cellsthe precursors of egg and sperm cellsto explore this phenomenon and seek ways to counter it.

"We have started by looking at some organisms that have evolved a certain capacity to adapt to abnormal temperatures in their environments," explains Lehmann lab postdoctoral researcher Arjuna Rajakumar. "The key question we are asking is whether those organisms modified their germline to gain that capacity. We've begun by observing and tracking the underlying molecular mechanisms of germ cell temperature sensing in multiple Drosophila species."

Certain animal and plant species have evolved capacities to survive, and even thrive, despite extreme environmental change. Understanding how these capacities function at the molecular and cellular levels could be the springboard for new biotechnologies that enable other species to adapt to climate change. For example, Institute Member Ankur Jain is studying the role that Late Embryogenesis Associated (LEA) proteins play in the ability to survive severe dehydrationa capacity known as desiccation tolerancedisplayed by certain animals, bacteria, and plants.

Jain explains, "At a certain point, plant seeds undergo programmed dehydration, losing about 90% of their water content. While it is not clear how they stay viable afterward, we recognize that the process is associated with massive upregulation of LEA proteins." This family of proteins has also been identified in animals that can withstand severe dehydration, such as tardigrades and desert scorpions; and expression of LEA proteins also imparts desiccation tolerance to certain bacteria.

"Our team is building on work suggesting that the proteins form a gel-like network that retains water," says Jain, who is also assistant professor of biology and the Thomas D. and Virginia W. Cabot Career Development Professor at MIT. "Once we better understand the mechanisms involved in desiccation tolerance, we intend to develop transgenic models with increased tolerance for dehydration."
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 slick off the Philippine province of Mindoro Oriental is threatening the region's rich marine life.

Thousands of fishermen in the Philippines have been ordered to stay ashore as authorities struggled Friday to contain an oil spill from a sunken tanker that is threatening the region's rich marine life and economy.

The slick off Mindoro island, south of the capital Manila, stretched for 120 kilometres (75 miles) and was about nine kilometres offshore, said Ram Temena, disaster operations chief in the affected province of Mindoro Oriental.

The Philippine Coast Guard is still looking for the Princess Empress, which had engine trouble and sank in rough seas off Naujan municipality on Tuesday.

It was carrying 800,000 litres (210,000 gallons) of industrial fuel oil from Bataan province, near Manila, to the central province of Iloilo.

Another vessel rescued the 20 crew members on board.

Diesel fuel, which had been powering the Philippine tanker, and some of the cargo have leaked into the sea, the coast guard said previously, sparking concern for the environment and industries dependent on the ocean.

Coast guard spokesman Armando Balilo said experts and major oil firms were being consulted over how to recover the industrial fuel oil from the tanker, which is more than 400 metres (more than 1,300 feet) below sea level.

"It is beyond the capability of technical divers," Balilo told reporters.

"Second, we do not have the mechanical equipment, submersible, that can dive to syphon it off without endangering (crew) lives."

Rough seas have prevented the deployment of oil spill booms to stop the toxic material from spreading, Balilo said.

Instead, they were spraying chemical dispersants on the water surface to break down the oil.

It is not known how much diesel fuel and industrial fuel oil are in the water.

The situation was "getting worse", said Provincial Governor Humerlito Dolor.

He had ordered the province's 18,000 registered fishermen to stay on shore until it was safe to fish. In the meantime, they would receive food packs.

"It will have a big impact on us," Dolor said. "Based on experience, the adverse effects on the community will be long term."

An estimated 591 hectares (1,460 acres) of coral reefs, 1,626 hectares of mangroves and 362 hectares of seaweed could be "potentially affected" by the oil spill, Environment Secretary Maria Antonia Loyzaga said.

The tanker sank near the Verde Island Passagea busy sea lane between the main island of Luzon and Mindorowhich Loyzaga said was "globally recognised" for its marine biodiversity.

Pola Mayor Jennifer Cruz said some dead fish coated with oil had washed up on the shores of the municipality, which is one down from Naujan.

"Our entire coastline was hit by the oil spill," said Cruz.

"Earlier, we could smell the foul odour. It's like we're inside an auto shop."

Coast guard personnel and volunteers were cleaning up oil from beaches, some using their bare hands, and had already filled several drums with the toxic material, she said.

 2023 AFP
This article has been reviewed according to Science X's editorial process and policies . Editors have highlighted the following attributes while ensuring the content's credibility:

The sensor bee can be used to investigate how bees process external stimuli and how their social behaviour is represented in the brain. Credit: Christian Verhoeven (www.verhoevenfoto.de)

An international team of bee researchers involving Heinrich Heine University Dusseldorf (HHU) has integrated a calcium sensor into honey bees to enable the study of neural information processing including response to odors. This also provides insights into how social behavior is located in the brain, as the researchers now report in the scientific journal PLOS Biology.

Insects are important so-called model organisms for research. Despite more than 600 million years of independent evolution, insects share more than 60% of their DNA with humans. For several decades it was mainly the fruit fly whose genetic code could be used to study biological processes.

Later, such research was expanded to other insects, with particularly promising results coming from the honey bee. Bees display complex social behaviorthey perform sophisticated behaviors while employing orientation, communication, learning and memory abilities, which make them interesting subjects for research into the brain's function and neural processing.

A team of researchers from the Universities in Dusseldorf, Frankfurt am Main, Paris-Saclay and Trento has now developed a method to enable direct observation of bee brains, a work which has now been published in PLOS Biology.

A calcium sensor was integrated into the neurons. Calcium plays an important role in nerve cell activity. "We modified the genetic code of honey bees to make their brain cells produce a fluorescent protein, a sort of sensor that allows us to monitor the areas that are activated in response to environmental stimuli. The intensity of the light emitted varies according to neural activity," explains Dr. Albrecht Haase, Professor of Neurophysics at the University of Trento.

Professor Beye indicates that "the realization of this 'sensor bee' was particularly challenging because we had to work on the DNA of queen bees. Unlike fruit flies, the queen bee cannot easily be maintained in the laboratory, because each one needs its own colony."

The research started with the inoculation of a specific genetic sequence into over 4,000 bee eggs. The protracted breeding, testing and selection process ultimately resulted in seven queens carrying the genetic sensor. When they reproduced in their own colony, the queens transmitted the gene to some of their offspring.

The sensor developed by the team of researchers was then used to study the bees' sense of smell and how the perception of smell is encoded in the neurons. Dr. Julie Carcaud, Assistant Professor at the University of Paris-Saclay and Dr. Jean-Christophe Sandoz, Research Director at CNRS in Paris, explain, "The insects were stimulated with various odors and observed with a high-resolution microscope. This made it possible to detect which brain cells are activated by these smells and how this information is distributed in the brain."

Dr. Marianne Otte, co-author of the study from Dusseldorf, says, "The recordings were performed in vivo using techniques which enabled us to look into the brains of the bees. The insects were fixed in a measuring stand and then presented with various odor stimuli."

Professor Dr. Bernd Grunewald, from Goethe University Frankfurt am Main and Director of the Honeybee Research Center in Oberursel, says, "The new 'sensor bee' makes it possible to study how communication works within colonies and, more generally, how sociality affects the animals' brains."

More information: Julie Carcaud et al, Multisite imaging of neural activity using a genetically encoded calcium sensor in the honey bee, PLOS Biology (2023). DOI: 10.1371/journal.pbio.3001984 Journal information: PLoS Biology

Provided by Heinrich-Heine-Universitat Dusseldorf
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A scientist inspects rice in China. Credit: CABI

A review of gene editing techniques suggests that the CRISPR/Cas (clustered regularly interspaced short palindromic repeats/Cas) method could be a possible "savior" for rice crops threatened by climate change and high food demand.

The study, published in CABI Reviews, highlights that while rice is one of the most consumed cereals worldwide and feeds about three billion people, climate-induced abiotic and biotic stresses have affected the production and quality of rice crops.

Dr. Antonio Costa de Oliveira, lead author of the Federal University of Pelotas, Brazil, and a team of fellow scientists found that the CRISPR/Cas tool was efficient in gene editing in studies related to yield, tolerance to biotic and abiotic stresses and rice grain quality.

However, the review, which sought to describe the different gene editing techniques and their respective applications in rice breeding, argues that the impact of the CRISPR/Cas approach in breeding programs depends upon the cultivation of the edited plants on a large scale in the field.

Dr. Costa de Oliveira said, "The development of new, higher yielding cultivars is necessary to ensure global food security.

"Although great progress has already been achieved by conventional breeding, biotechnological tools, such as transgenics and genome editing, can aid in meeting future demands.

"Gene editing is characterized by cutting and modifying target genes. Among the genome editing techniques, CRISPR/Cas has been proposed because of its ease of manipulation.

"Variants such as multiple Cas proteins, base editing and prime editing, which aim to increase editing efficiency have also been proposed. Edited plants are also more accepted because they are transgene free."

The study outlines that a 50% increase in the current consumption of rice is projected for 2050which would mean a demand as high as 1.125 billion metric tons.

But the occurrence of biotic stresses (diseasesviruses, bacteria, fungi, nematodes, pests and weeds) coupled with abiotic stresses (drought, submergence, salinity, heat, cold and heavy metals) is a limiting factor for rice production.

Climate change also influences the frequency, intensity and duration of these stresses, the scientists say. Therefore, it is necessary to develop new rice cultivars with tolerance to stress and higher yield potential, since the expansion of the cultivated area is limited.

Dr. Costa de Oliveira added, "The high potential of CRISPR/Cas9 editing, for instance, has aided in the development of broad-spectrum resistance against bacteria, fungi and viruses by silencing susceptibility genes and the insertion of resistance genes.

"In this sense, CRISPR/Cas9-mediated genome editing has made it possible to introduce mutations in three promoters of the SWEET gene that resulted in rice lines with broad-spectrum resistance to Xanthomonas oryzae pv. Oryzae."

The researchers conclude by stating that although conventional breeding has been decisive so far, there is still a long way to go in order to meet future demands and face the challenges of rice cultivation.

"Plants improved from genome editing and conventional breeding are similar in terms of risks to the environment and human health, which are practically non-existent," Dr. Costa de Oliveira said. "Therefore, it is expected that edited plants, in addition to meeting the demands, have good acceptance among consumers."

More information: Valeria Oliveira Nizolli et al, Genome editing in rice: New paths for an old crop, CABI Reviews (2023). DOI: 10.1079/cabireviews.2023.0008

Provided by CABI
Namibian Minister of Health and Social Services Kalumbi Shangula speaks at the renewal ceremony of the Chinese Medical Team in Windhoek, Namibia, March 2, 2023. Shangula welcomed four new members of the 15th Chinese Medical Team to Namibia at a reception event held in Windhoek on Thursday. (Photo by Musa C Kaseke/Xinhua)

WINDHOEK, March 2 (Xinhua) -- Namibian Minister of Health and Social Services Kalumbi Shangula welcomed four new members of the 15th Chinese Medical Team to Namibia at a reception event held in Windhoek, the Namibian capital, on Thursday.

Shangula, on the occasion of the renewal ceremony of the Chinese Medical Team, said over the past one and half years, the 14th batch worked hard and made remarkable achievements, particularly when Namibia was faced with the challenges of responding to the COVID-19 pandemic.

"The presence of these teams in our health facilities has enriched the services delivered to our patients. We appreciate and value the services of the Chinese Medical Team and the contributions they have made to the health sector," he said.

Shangula said over the past 27 years, the generosity of the fraternal people of China has been demonstrated through the work of the medical teams that have given the gift of good health to thousands of Namibians at no cost.

"We believe that the delivery of public health care services is enhanced through strong partnerships. The partnership and cooperation between our two countries in the health sector are in line with this belief and ethos," he added.

The outgoing 14th Chinese Medical Team leader and doctor Zhou Haijiang thanked the Namibian hosts for the support and trust instilled over their tenure. "It is because of all of you that we do not feel lonely living and working in a foreign country."

During their tenure, the 14th batch assisted various Namibian government officials, including Namibian Founding President Sam Nujoma, as well as visited informal communities and schools to promote Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM).

The outgoing Chinese Medical Team also became the first team to introduce modern Chinese Medicine Music Therapy to the array of already popular TCM therapies in Namibia.

"I'm very happy to note that the project of the Chinese medical team in Namibia has become a special part of the China-Namibia friendship," said Chinese Ambassador to Namibia Zhao Weiping, noting that this year also marks the 60th anniversary of the dispatch of the Chinese medical teams to other developing countries.

Zhao said Namibia and China are also exploring and developing new cooperative models.

"Currently, the Walvis Bay Hospital and Zhejiang Provincial Hospital of TCM are establishing a partnership of Paired Hospitals," he said, adding that China will also provide more scholarships and training programs for Namibian health personnel.

Since 1996, the Chinese government has been sending medical teams to Namibia to help boost the provision of health care services in the southwestern African nation. 

Namibian Minister of Health and Social Services Kalumbi Shangula (2nd L) appends his signature on the team flag of the 14th Chinese Medical Team to Namibia in Windhoek, Namibia, March 2, 2023. Shangula welcomed four new members of the 15th Chinese Medical Team to Namibia at a reception event held in Windhoek on Thursday. (Photo by Musa C Kaseke/Xinhua)
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Credit: CC0 Public Domain

In an ordinary Chicago winter, ice fishermen would still be scampering out onto the frozen stretches of Lake Michigan, toting fishing rods, drillseven pop-up shelters.

Swimmers in sleek wet suits would be spicing up their already bracing morning workouts by climbing on icebergs or posing on clear-as-glass ice sheets.

But this is no ordinary winter.

Due to naturally occurring climate patterns as well as climate change, ice coverage on the Great Lakes reached a record low in mid-February, with only 7% of the five lakes' surface covered, rather than the expected 35% to 40%, according to Jia Wang, an ice climatologist at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's Great Lakes Environmental Research Laboratory.

That's the lowest ice coverage for the date of Feb. 13 since 1973, when the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration began keeping records.

"The significance of this is long-lived, I believe," said Wang. "Almost the entire ice season this year, the lake was wide open, except for a little bit along the coast. The impact will be, we will have a warmer spring and warmer summer and even warmer falland that will delay ice formation in the coming winter."

Climate change played a role in the low ice coverage, Wang said, but in this case, naturally occurring surface temperature patterns on the Atlantic and Pacific oceans had an effect that was several times more powerful than warming caused by humans.

These patterns can alter the path of winds blowing in from the west, bringing the Great Lakes either relatively warm winter air from the western United States, or cold air from the Arctic.

Illinois State Climatologist Trent Ford said he didn't disagree with Wang's assessment that patterns of climate variability are playing the lead role in low ice cover. But he emphasized that, due to climate change, these natural patterns are working in a world with warmer baseline temperatures.

According to NOAA, the average January temperature across the contiguous United States was 35.2 degrees, more than 5 degrees above average and the sixth-warmest January on record.

Ford said that major climate assessments have found that warmer winters may lead to lower ice cover on the Great Lakes.

A previous study co-authored by Wang found that Great Lakes ice cover decreased by 71% between 1973 and 2010.

Low ice cover causes higher waves and shoreline erosion, including the loss of beaches. Without ice to protect them from winter waves, juvenile fish in coastal waters are less likely to survive, Wang said.

In Lake Michigan, warmer waters benefit the invasive quagga mussel that's already harming native mussels and fish, clogging water intakes and damaging docks and boats.

And there are more immediate effects. Chicago Fishing School founder and guide Johnny Wilkins said he only went ice fishing twice this season on the Chicago harbors of Lake Michigan, as opposed to his usual six to eight times.

"This (year) is definitely a stinker for ice," said Wilkins. "I had to cancel trips. I'm not going to take people out when it's not safe."

Maximum Great Lakes ice coverage is typically seen between mid-February and early March.

Steve Hernan of Evanston, who swims in Lake Michigan year-round, said that this season he's wearing a wet suit with short sleeves and shorts, as opposed to last year's full-length suit. It's easier to move his arms and legs, he said, but he's missing the ice formations of a typical winter.

Normally at this time of year, he and friends at Open Water Chicago, an outdoor fitness group that swims near North Avenue Beach, enjoy climbing Lake Michigan icebergs or swimming out to giant ice sheets.

If the low ice cover continues, he said with a laugh, he may have to move to northern Wisconsin.

"There are some things that are deal-breakers, right? And that's one of them," he said. "Gotta be able to climb on ice at some point during the year."

2023 Chicago Tribune.

Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.
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A mixed colony of clonal raider ants containing queen-like mutants that have rudimentary wings or wing stubs. Older workers are dark brown, while the lighter colored individuals are only a few days old. Credit: Daniel Kronauer

Ants are known as hard workers, tirelessly attending to their assigned tasksforaging for food, nurturing larvae, digging tunnels, tidying the nest. But in truth, some are total layabouts. Called workerless social parasites, these rare species exist only as queens, and they die without workers to tend to them. To survive, parastic ants infiltrate a colony of closely related ants, where, as long as they keep their numbers relatively low, they and their offspring become the leisure class of the colony.

It's long been thought that these determinedly lazy insects likely evolved their queenly characteristics one by one, through a series of mutations, in an isolated setting. Now scientists in the Laboratory of Social Evolution and Behavior at The Rockefeller University, together with their collaborators at Harvard University, have a new theory. As they report in Current Biology, they've discovered queen-like mutantsparasitic ants that spontaneously appeared in colonies of clonal raider ants, which are typically queenless.

"This mutant is like the precursor to other parasitic species," says Waring Trible, lead author of the study. "It's a new way of understanding how ants evolve to become socially parasitic."

Delving into the genetics of these unique ants could be a way to better understand the molecular mechanisms behind caste differentiation, or how an ant develops into a worker or a queen, which remain unknown. It could also help illuminate biological development in organisms in general.

Hiding in plain sight

Among the more than 15,000 identified ant species are hundreds that qualify as social parasites. Born inside a host colony, a parasitic ant will leave the colony, use a sex pheromone to attract a male from another colony to mate with, and once pregnant, will infiltrate the original colony or find another nearby.

She'll often use subterfuge to sneak past colony guards. The shampoo ant, for example, will snatch a few ants just outside a nest entrance, lick them to acquire the colony's signature chemical scent, and then lick herself all over to transfer it to her own body. Chemically cloaked, she then can slip inside to live out her life and reproduce both new queens and males who mate outside the colony. The males die, and the queens begin the cycle again.

Because of their uniqueness, they've been studied extensively by biologists since Charles Darwin, still there's been a sticking point in a prevailing theory of their evolution, says Daniel Kronauer, the Stanley S. and Sydney R. Shuman Associate Professor at Rockefeller University, and head of the lab.

They're closely related to their hosts, but if they had to acquire these parasitic traits over time, they would need to be isolated during reproduction, otherwise interbreeding with their hosts would wash out their unique traits. But no one has found intermediately evolved antsones with some social parasite traits but not othersin the wild, says Kronauer.

When queen-like ants suddenly appeared among the clonal raider ants in Kronauer's lab in 2015, Triblewho was looking to investigate genetic mechanisms behind caste differentiationtook notice. Because clonal raider ants typically have no queens and reproduce asexually, the queen-like mutants stood out: they were born with wings, larger eyes and ovaries, and as adults showed a general indifference towards labor.

But it turned out they were nothing newthey'd had been hiding for years in dense colonies whose numbers obscured their presence. Genetic analysis revealed that they had mutated into existence inside the colony in which they were first detecteda community of otherwise normal ants that Kronauer had collected in Okinawa, Japan, in 2008, and that still lived in the lab. It was a clue that the typical story of parasite ant invasion might need rethinking.

The researchers then ran a series of experiments and genetic analyses. One of the first experiments was to isolate them to see whether the phenotype was heritable. Because clonal raider ants reproduce asexually, they didn't have to worry about interbreeding with other ants.

The queen-like mutants lay eggs that developed into copies of themselves. "We knew we had something cool," Kronauer says.

They also tested behavior. Foraging parties composed entirely of queen-like mutants were half the size of those of worker ants, and they were far less likely to try to enlist other ants to track down food. These behaviors were a sort of intermediary between the diligence of worker ants and the dependence of queens, and allowed the mutant ants to avoid the dangers inherent to leaving the safety of the colony.

Despite laying twice as many eggs as their hosts, the ants self-regulate their head count. As long as their numbers stay below about 25% of the host population, they do well. More than that and they run into trouble. Queens need help from workers to free their wings as they emerge from the pupae, and if there are too many queens for the workers to look after, they'll die entangled in their pupal skin.

"They seem to have the ability to regulate their own reproduction so that they don't drive their host colony extinct, which is a very smart thing for a parasite to do," says Trible, a former member of Kronauer's lab who now runs his own lab at Harvard studying these and other mutants. "This provides these mutants the capacity to survive for long periods of time."

The influence of hormones

Whole-genome sequencing revealed that the parasitic queens have a mutation in chromosome 13, which is structurally similar to chromosomes that regulate colony social structure in other ants. This mutant chromosome seems to contain a "supergene," a set of genes that work together to create a phenotype. In this case, the supergene contains more than 200 individual genes, a disproportionate number of which assist in the metabolism of hormones.

These include genes that code for cytochrome p450 enzymes, which are required to synthesize hormones in both ants and humans, and may play a role in the creation of these highly unusual mutants. (This enzyme family may be familiar to anyone who has been warned to not drink grapefruit juice while taking certain medications because the juice inhibits the enzymes from detoxifying the drugs.)

It appears that with this single mutation, "their form, the higher egg production, the behaviorit can all shift in a single mutational step," Kronauer says.

And if that's the case, Trible says, "it would be a way that it's actually possible to go from a normal ant to a parasite within a single species."

That ideathat two very different forms of an animal can arise in a single speciesgets at the heart of the mystery of ant castes. Because workerless social parasites arise from a very specific type of mutation affecting ant caste development, studying the queen-like mutants has the potential to reveal insights into the still-unknown molecular mechanisms that allow ant larvae to develop distinct caste morphologies. "It provides a very comprehensive framework in which to study their evolution," says Kronauer.

Size matters

The findings could also lead to further research on an important process of development known as allometric scaling that happens in all animals, including humans, Trible says. Allometric scaling keeps the tissues of an organism proportional to its body size as it grows.

Its mechanisms are unknown, but understanding them likely has relevance to many aspects of human biology, including disease, says Trible. Perhaps queen-like mutants can provide a new avenue of investigation. "We don't have good examples of mutations in fruit flies or mice or human genetic disorders that break allometric scaling in such a dramatic way," he says.

"We think this queen-like mutant will be a powerful tool for understanding caste development, and caste development is in turn an ideal model to investigate these larger questions about how allometric scaling works."

More information: Waring Trible et al, A caste differentiation mutant elucidates the evolution of socially parasitic ants, Current Biology (2023). DOI: 10.1016/j.cub.2023.01.067 Journal information: Current Biology
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Light from a HeNe laser at 633 nm is polarized by a polarizing beam splitter (PBS), then spatially filtered and expanded to fill the aperture of an SLM using an aperture (P), a 50-mm focal length lens (L 1 ), precision pinhole (P 50 ), and 400-mm lens (L 2 ). The SLM displays a superposition of the 6-needle phase masks and a carrier diffraction grating. The SLM is optimized to project the majority of the modulated light into the first diffraction order, which is selected using a 250-mm lens (L 3 ) and aperture (P) placed in the Fourier plane of the SLM. This light is propagated into the far field through a combination of lenses (250-mm focal length lens (L 4 ) and 400-mm focal length lens (L 5 )). The beam is propagated into 2 separate arms using a beam splitter (BS). One arm uses a power meter to measure the laser power and the second arm consists of the target (T) in front of a ground glass plate (GGP). The photomultiplier tube (PMT) measures the transmitted light after interaction with the target. Author figure was adopted from Kallepalli et al. Credit: Intelligent Computing (2022). DOI: 10.34133/icomputing.0001

Although electron microscopy can already reveal details as small as one nanometer, ongoing research seeks to break through barriers limiting image quality and reducing the optical dose on the samples. Aberration is a common problem in electron microscopy that can reduce the resolution and quality of the images produced.

Additional complex phase and amplitude controls are needed in these microscopes. An international team of researchers led by Akhil Kallepalli (Kallepalli Lab) working within the Optics Group at the University of Glasgow set out to address the problem. Working from an optics perspective, they developed and tested a new ghost imaging algorithm, finding that they could produce an image with improved resolution and contrast using lower flux illumination, which could reduce sample damage.

The research was published Dec. 21 in Intelligent Computing.

Optical modulation is required to achieve better control of illumination strategies. Modulation in optics is the process of varying the properties of light waves to encode information. It is used in optical communication systems and in various applications, such as spectroscopy and imaging. Modulators of many kinds have long been available in the field of optics.

However, modulators are not available for electron microscopy. It is still challenging to achieve complex phase and amplitude control to reduce phase aberration for continuous imaging enhancement in the field of electron microscopy.

The authors applied computational ghost imaging, an optical approach, to electron microscopy and designed a new algorithm to address this problem. The approach inverts knowledge of the projected patterns and their measured transmission to reconstruct the image. This can be used to measure the transmittance of the sample when illuminated with more complex spatial patterns.

In this system, the resulting form of the light field in the plane of the object can be calculated using numerical beam propagation techniques enabling both lens-free and far-field implementations. Therefore, computational ghost imaging can be used for transmission electron microscopy imaging.

In optical methods, spatial light modulators can be used to ensure the orthogonality of the imaging patterns. It is, however, difficult to guarantee orthogonality between patterns when using natural scattering or highly limited modulators. This new algorithm designed by the authors makes optimal use of patterns regardless of their orthogonality. They call their new method "orthogonalized ghost imaging."

The authors tested their method in two ways. First, they conducted an optical experiment analogous to the transmission electron microscopy system. This experiment tested the illumination strategy and the algorithm's robustness to non-orthogonality. After that, they tested their method with transmission electron microscopy.

The experiments showed that the authors' ghost imaging algorithm produces a higher-resolution image reconstruction with better contrast in comparison to the most common online ghost imaging algorithm. The new algorithm enhances the imaging capabilities at any wavelength, and is robust to the non-orthogonality of the pattern sets, enabling effective application in both optical and electron microscopy.

In an appendix to their paper, the authors highlight some findings relating to electron microscope sample damage, which could be reduced using their method. Future development can be used to further optimize imaging resolution or speed across both optical and electron microscopic imaging.

More information: Akhil Kallepalli et al, Challenging Point Scanning across Electron Microscopy and Optical Imaging using Computational Imaging, Intelligent Computing (2022). DOI: 10.34133/icomputing.0001

Provided by Intelligent Computing
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Credit: University of Bath

Have you ever wondered how pedestrians 'know' to fall into lanes when they are moving through a crowd, without the matter being discussed or even given conscious thought?

A new theory developed by mathematicians at the University of Bath led by Professor Tim Rogers explains this phenomenon, and is able to predict when lanes will be curved as well as straight. The theory can even describe the tilt of a wonky lane when people are in the habit of passing on one side rather than the other (for instance, in a situation where they are often reminded to 'pass on the right').

This mathematical analysis unifies conflicting viewpoints on the origin of lane formation, and it reveals a new class of structures that in daily life may go unnoticed. The discovery, reported in Science, constitutes a major advance in the interdisciplinary science of 'active matter'the study of group behaviors in interacting populations ranging in scale from bacteria to herds of animals.

Tested in arenas

To test their theory, the researchers asked a group of volunteers to walk across an experimental arena that mimicked different layouts, with changes to entrance and exit gates.

One arena was set up in the style of King's Cross Station in London. When the researchers looked at the video footage from the experiment, they observed mathematical patterns taking shape in real life.

Professor Rogers said, "At a glance, a crowd of pedestrians attempting to pass through two gates might seem disorderly but when you look more closely, you see the hidden structure. Depending on the layout of the space, you may observe either the classic straight lanes or more complex curved patterns such as ellipses, parabolas, and hyperbolas."

Lane formation

The single-file processions formed at busy zebra crossings are only one example of lane formation, and this study is likely to have implications for a range of scientific disciplines, particularly in the fields of physics and biology. Similar structures can also be formed by inanimate molecules, such as charged particles or organelles in a cell.

Until now, scientists have given several different explanations for why human crowds and other active systems naturally self-organize into lanes, but none of these theories have been verified. The Bath team used a new analytical approach, inspired by Albert Einstein's theory of Brownian motion, which makes predictions that can be tested.

Encouraged by the way their theory agreed with the numerical simulations of colliding particles, they then teamed up with Professor Bogdan Bacikan experimentalist from the Academy of Physical Education in Katowice, Polandand ran a series of experiments (such as the one modeled on King's Cross) using human crowds.

Lead author Dr. Karol Bacik said, "Lane formation doesn't require conscious thoughtthe participants of the experiment were not aware that they had arranged themselves into well-defined mathematical curves."

"The order emerges spontaneously when two groups with different objectives cross paths in a crowded space and try to avoid crashing into each other. The cumulative effect of lots of individual decisions inadvertently results in lanes forming."

The researchers also tested the effects of externally imposed traffic rulesnamely, they instructed the participants to pass others on the right. In agreement with the theoretical prediction, adding this rule changed the lane structure.

"When pedestrians have a preference for right turns, the lanes end up tilting and this introduces frustration that slows people down," said Dr. Bacik.

"What we've developed is a neat mathematical theory that forecasts the propensity for lane formation in any given system," said Professor Rogers. "We now know that much more structure exists than previously thought."
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Researchers from the Shibaura Institute of Technology have synthesized fluorescent molecularly imprinted polymeric nanoparticles (fMIP-NPs) that serve as probes to detect specific small neurotransmitters like serotonin, dopamine, and acetylcholine. Credit: Prof. Yasuo Yoshimi from SIT, Japan

The animal brain consists of tens of billions of neurons or nerve cells that perform complex tasks like processing emotions, learning, and making judgments by communicating with each other via neurotransmitters. These small signaling molecules diffusemove from high to low concentration regionsbetween neurons, acting as chemical messengers.

Scientists believe that this diffusive motion might be at the heart of the brain's superior function. Therefore, they have aimed to understand the role of specific neurotransmitters by detecting their release in the brain using amperometric and microdialysis methods. However, these methods provide insufficient information, necessitating better sensing techniques.

To this end, scientists developed an optical imaging method wherein protein probes change their fluorescence intensity upon detecting a specific neurotransmitter. Recently, a group of researchers from Shibaura Institute of Technology in Japan led by Professor Yasuo Yoshimi has taken this idea forward. They have successfully synthesized fluorescent molecularly imprinted polymeric nanoparticles (fMIP-NPs) that serve as probes to detect specific neurotransmittersserotonin, dopamine, and acetylcholine.

Notably, developing such probes has been considered difficult so far. Their work, published in Nanomaterials, involves contributions from Mr. Yuto Katsumata, Mr. Naoya Osawa, Mr. Neo Ogishita, and Mr.Ryota Kadoya.

Prof. Yoshimi briefly explains the fundamentals of fMIP-NP synthesis: "It involves multiple steps. First, the target neurotransmitter to be detected is fixed on a glass beads surface. Next, monomers (building blocks of polymers) with different functionsdetection, cross-linking, and fluorescencepolymerize around the beads, enveloping the neurotransmitter. The resulting polymer is then washed out to obtain a nanoparticle with the neurotransmitter structure imprinted as a cavity. It will fit only the target neurotransmitter, just like only a particular key can open a lock. Hence, fMIP-NPs can detect their corresponding neurotransmitters in the brain."

When the target neurotransmitters fit inside the cavity, the fMIP-NPs swell and get bigger. The researchers suggest that this increases the distance between the fluorescent monomers that, in turn, reduces their interactions, including self-quenching that suppresses fluorescence, with each other. As a result, the fluorescence intensity is enhanced, indicating the presence of the neurotransmitters.

The researchers improved their selectivity of the detection by adjusting the neurotransmitter density on the surface of the glass beads during fMIP-NP synthesis.

Additionally, the choice of material for fixing the neurotransmitters was found to play a crucial role in the detection specificity. The researchers found that blended silane is better than pure silane for attaching the neurotransmitters, serotonin and dopamine, to the glass bead surface. The fMIP-NPs synthesized using blended silane specifically detected serotonin and dopamine.

In contrast, those synthesized using pure silane resulted in non-specific fMIP-NPs that responded to non-target neurotransmitters, identifying them incorrectly as serotonin and dopamine. Likewise, poly([2-(methacryloyloxy)ethyl] trimethylammonium chloride (METMAC)-co-methacrylamide) but not METMAC homopolymer was found to be an effective dummy template of the neurotransmitter acetylcholine. While the former produced fMIP-NPs that selectively detected acetylcholine, the latter led to unresponsive nanoparticles.

These results demonstrate the feasibility of fMIP-NPs in the selective detection of neurotransmitters released in our brain. "Imaging the brain with this new technique could reveal the relationship between neurotransmitter diffusion and brain activity. This, in turn, can help us treat neurological diseases and even create advanced computers that mimics human brain functions," said Professor Yoshimi.

More information: Yasuo Yoshimi et al, Synthesis of fluorescent Molecularly Imprinted Polymer Nanoparticles Sensing Small Neurotransmitters with High Selectivity Using Immobilized Templates with Regulated Surface Density, Nanomaterials (2023). DOI: 10.3390/nano13010212

Provided by Shibaura Institute of Technology
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Map of Panama's extended Marine Protected Areas. Credit: STRI

Within the framework of the Our Ocean Conference on Mar. 2-3, 2023 in Panama City, Panama's President Laurentino Cortizo and Minister of Environment Milciades Concepcion added 36,058 square miles to the Banco Volcan marine protected area in the Caribbean. During the last two decades, researchers at the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute (STRI) along with local and international collaborators have offered much of the science backing Panama's successful proposals to create the MPA's bringing more than 50% of its ocean waters under some form of management or protection.

Created in 2015, with 5,487 square miles, the "Banco Volcan Managed Resources Area" is an area with unique natural resources, such as deep mountain ranges and high biodiversity that includes various migratory species and protected and endangered species, all important for the health of the oceans. The proposal to expand its limits was made in response to a request from the Ministry of the Environment last year, after a review of the protected area by STRI scientist Hector Guzman and considering the ecological integrity of the region.

The expansion of the Banco Volcan Marine Protected Area in 2023 has not only led Panama to protect more than 54% of its territorial waters, but will also buffer climate change, protect Panama's deep-sea mountain environments, and help safeguard fauna from human interventions, including several fish and invertebrate species of high commercial value, such as the Caribbean spiny lobster (Panulirus argus). Therefore, this action will have a direct impact on the protection of an important sustainable resource for the indigenous and Afro-Caribbean coastal communities of Panama. In addition, it could maintain the connectivity of migratory routes for oceanic and marine-coastal species in the area that extends along the Caribbean coasts of Jamaica, Colombia, Honduras, Nicaragua, Costa Rica, and Panama.

"With the protection of more than half of its seas, including extensive ocean reserves on both sides of the isthmus, Panama is not only ensuring the conservation of its marine biodiversity and the livelihoods of the people who depend on these ecosystems in the long-term, but is also positioned to lead a much more ambitious regional effort," said STRI marine biologist and MigraMar co-founder Hector Guzman. Panama, Pionero Azul, a short video describing how Smithsonian science has supported Panama's creation of new Marine Protected Areas. Credit: STRI (Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute)

STRI has accompanied the Panamanian government with the scientific bases for the creation of new marine protected areas for almost two decades, starting with the Coiba National Park in 2004 and followed by the Las Perlas archipelago in 2007, both in coastal areas of the Pacific Ocean. In 2015, STRI led the design and scientific justification for the creation of the first two oceanic marine protected areas: Banco Volcan in the Caribbean and Cordillera de Coiba in the Pacific, helping Panama to protect 13% of its oceans. With this, the country surpassed the international Aichi target for biological diversity.

A few years later, in 2021, STRI once again supported the Panamanian government with the scientific data for the expansion of the Cordillera de Coiba marine protected area. With this action, Panama achieved a total of 37,926 square miles of marine protected areas throughout the country and met the goal of the United Nations 30x30 Initiative to protect at least 30% of its marine surface by the year 2030.

"The expansion of Banco Volcan is an essential first step for large-scale regional protection of marine biodiversity," said STRI Director Joshua Tewksbury. "A lot more science by us and by others will be required to ensure that we do the monitoring of this massive area and ensure that specific policy interventions actually create the sustainable ecosystems we all want."

The Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute, headquartered in Panama City, Panama, is part of the Smithsonian Institution. The Institute furthers the understanding of tropical nature and its importance to human welfare, trains students to conduct research in the tropics and promotes conservation by increasing public awareness of the beauty and importance of tropical ecosystems.
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Credit: CC0 Public Domain

Researchers in South Africa are feeling the effects of the country's continuing power cuts and fear for the impact the electricity crisis is having on their research output.

The crisis is due to aging infrastructure, poor management by state owned power utilityEskom, poor investment in the power sector and limited energy sources

Eskom Holdings SOC Ltd, South Africa's main energy provider, has been implementing what is termed load shedding, by imposing power cuts for a number of hours each day in a planned and coordinated way throughout the country.

"Load shedding is done to protect the national electricity network by balancing supply and demand," says Eskom in a tweet on 27 February. "If this is not done, the national grid will shut down entirely and the entire country will be blacked out for days to weeks."

Nonhlanhla Vilakazi, senior lecturer at the University of Johannesburg's zoology department, tells us that the frequent power cuts are impacting research in South Africa. "Load shedding has affected a lot of scientists and impacted their research outputs," she says.

Cola Mthembu, a doctoral candidate at the department of microbiology at the University of South Africa, is one example. She says "The frequency of the cuts causes disruption to sample integrity in laboratories".

"Turnaround times of research and tests are vastly delayed," Mthembu tells us. "Financially, laboratories spend huge amounts on reagents and equipment, and the backup systems to keep up with load shedding aren't cheap for laboratories that are already spending much to process samples."

Mthembu says that researchers have to closely monitor the scheduled load shedding times and try to work around it.

"Otherwise, it's a matter of having backup power for essential samples or using various freezing methods that will assure sample integrity when the power eventually comes back," she adds.

Having to adjust to the different load shedding schedules has been a nightmare for Mthokozisi Moyo, a doctoral candidate at the department of animal, plant and environmental science at the University of the Witwatersrand in South Africa.

Moyo tells us that he has been forced to go back to the "old school" way of doing things, in the digital age. "I have been writing things down on paper andthen typing when I have access to power," he explains.

Gwede Mantashe, South Africa's minister of mineral resources and energy, said at the Mining Indaba conference held earlier this month (6-9 February) that there was a long-term energy security plan to resolve the load shedding issue.

South African President Cyril Ramaphosa announced a state of disaster because of the energy crisis during his State of the Nation address on 9 February.

However, in a reply to a constitutional challenge filed against him by the opposition party, Ramaphosa later said the responsibility of providing electricity did not lie with him but only with local authorities.

Lungile Mashele, an independent energy expert based in South Africa, tells us that load shedding has resulted in the loss of valuable samples and data, which could affect her research outputs for years to come. She says it is a struggle to find alternative sources of energy as mini sub-stationselectrical connection system designed in smaller sizesare expensive and not easily accessible to most South Africans.

Mashele tells us that science has a crucial role in the development of alternative energy sources to augment the current low capacity.

"Scientists must be at the forefront of tackling the power issue. We need to come up with ways to advance science without electricity," she says.

Vilakazi adds, "As researchers, we have been preaching about saving planet Earth. I think it is time to act and not rely on the government. I believe scientists must be at the forefront of tackling this power issue."

"We need to come up with ways to advance science without electricity, find new solutions and work on building and manufacturing equipment that does not rely solely on electricity."

Provided by SciDev.Net
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Four astronauts entered the International Space Station after their SpaceX Dragon Crew-6 mission successfully docked.

Four astronauts entered the International Space Station on Friday after their SpaceX Dragon Crew-6 mission successfully docked, a NASA livestream showed.

The SpaceX Dragon Endeavour spacecraft arrived at the orbiting station at 0640 GMT on Friday, the US space agency said in a statement.

NASA's Stephen Bowen and Warren Hoburg, Russia's Andrey Fedyaev and Sultan al-Neyadi of the United Arab Emirates entered the station about two hours later, the livestream showed.

A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket carrying the spacecraft had blasted off to the station on Thursday after the launch was scrubbed just minutes before liftoff earlier in the week.

The crew will spend six months on the station, where they will conduct more than 200 science experiments and technology demonstrations, according to SpaceX.

The mission was the first space flight for Neyadi, Hoburg and Fedyaev.

Neyadi, 41, is the fourth astronaut from an Arab country and the second from the oil-rich UAE to journey to space.

Fedyaev is the second Russian cosmonaut to fly to the ISS aboard a SpaceX rocket. NASA astronauts fly regularly to the station on Russian Soyuz craft.

Space has remained a rare venue of cooperation between Moscow and Washington since the Russian offensive in Ukraine placed them in sharp opposition.

 2023 AFP
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A trio of climate scientists from Occidental College, Claremont Graduate University and the University of California, respectively, has found that after a 50-minute talk outlining the negative environmental impacts of raising and consuming meat, students ate on average 9% less meat over the following three years. In their paper published in the journal Nature Food, Andrew Jalil, Joshua Tasoff and Arturo Vargas Bustamante describe analyzing the eating habits of student volunteers.

Prior research has shown that meat consumption and the activities that allow for it constitute approximately 15% of all greenhouse gas emissions. Past studies have shown that one way to reduce meat consumption is to educate consumers on the magnitude of the problem and the ways that it can be reduced. For their project, the researchers partnered with an unnamed residential U.S. college to learn more about the impact of information exchange on behavior regarding global warming.

Notably, the World Resources Institute recently released its State of Climate Action in 2022 report, noting that if meat consumption worldwide could be slashed by an amount equal to two hamburgers per person, it would go a long way to reducing global warming.

The researchers recruited 213 students to participate in their study that began in the fall of 2017. The volunteers were divided into test and control groups. All of the subjects attended a 50-minute talk outlining the negative environmental impacts of meat consumption, including forest clearing to create more grazing land, the massive amounts of water needed to raise livestock and the huge amounts of methane generated by meat animals. In the talk, they also pointed out negative health consequences of eating meat, such as an increased risk of heart disease. The control group listened to a talk unrelated to food choices.

The researchers followed up the talk by tracking meal selections made by the volunteer students in the school cafeteria over the ensuing three years. The researchers found that the test group ate 11% less beef, 9% less poultry and 9% less fish-based meals. They also ate 20% more vegetable-based dishes.

More information: Andrew J. Jalil et al, Low-cost climate-change informational intervention reduces meat consumption among students for 3 years, Nature Food (2023). DOI: 10.1038/s43016-023-00712-1 Journal information: Nature Food

 2023 Science X Network
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Examples of impacts on water resources and infrastructure in Ukraine during armed conflicts. a, The dam on the Dnieper River near the city of Zaporizhzhia after reportedly being blown up by Soviet special forces in 1941 in an attempt to delay the offense of German troops. b, Demolition of the dam on the Irpin River on 26 February 2022 caused flooding near the village of Demidov in the Vyshhorod district of Kyiv region. c, Craters formed by shells on the floodplain of the Irpin River. d, Water in the Kamyshevakha River polluted by mine waters (picture taken in 2021). e, Damaged pipe near Kiselevka village in the Kherson region (picture taken in April 2022). f, People in a line for drinking water in Mykolayiv (picture taken in April 2022). Panels adapted with permission from: a, Taras Shevchenko National University of Kyiv; d, Deutsche Welle; e, Korabelov.info; f, Novosti-N. Photographs in b,c, Vincent Mundy. Credit: Nature Sustainability (2023). DOI: 10.1038/s41893-023-01068-x

The ongoing war in Ukraine is having multiple impacts on the country's water sector, according to a recent study led by the Leibniz Institute of Freshwater Ecology and Inland Fisheries (IGB) and the Senckenberg Society for Nature Research (SGN). In addition to the horror of the direct consequences of war, the destruction of water infrastructure also carries long-term consequences and risks for the population, the environment and global food security. The study has been published in the journal Nature Sustainability.

In armed conflicts, freshwater and water infrastructure are among the most vulnerable resources. In this context, access to water resources may trigger the conflict, it may be used as a military weapon, or the water sector itself may be directly affected by acts of war. The number of such incidents has increased significantly in the last decade.

"In Ukraine, military operations are taking place in a region with a highly developed and industrialized water sector. This makes the current armed conflict, and the scale of its impact, unique compared to other current or previously reported water violence around the world," stated IGB researcher Oleksandra Shumilova, first author of the study, who is herself from Ukraine.

Ukraine's extensive critical water infrastructure includes large multi-purpose reservoirs, hydropower plants, cooling ponds for nuclear power stations, water reservoirs for industry and mining, and an extensive network of water distribution systems for agricultural and municipal purposes.

The international team that conducted the studyinvolving researchers from Ukraine, Germany, Belgium and the United Statescollected and analyzed information on the number, location, type and implications of the reported impacts of military operations on the water sector during the first three months of the conflict. The researchers cross-checked data from governmental and media sources of Ukrainian, Russian and international origin available in the period from mid-February to mid-September 2022.

The results show a wide range of damage, including flooding of large areas due to dam breaches, pollution from untreated waste water spills, dumped ammunition, an increase in mine water levels, and a significant decline in the quantity and quality of water for drinking and agricultural purposes. A number of the incidents, while not resulting in direct damages, have potential impacts. Examples include missile flights over reservoir dams and cooling systems of nuclear power plants.

Millions face scarcity of drinking water supplies

Since the conflict began, hostilities have affected the supply of drinking water to millions of civilians, and the number of people affected is continuing to grow. As the study shows, these shortages are not only due to direct attacks on water pipelines, channels, pumping stations and water treatment plants, but also because of the water infrastructure's heavy reliance on power supplies, which were also disrupted or collapsed altogether.

"In my home city of Mykolayiv, home to half a million of residents before the war, water is in the news almost every day. A 90-kilometer pipeline that transported water from the Dnieper River was damaged in April 2022. There was no tap water for more than a month. Later, water was supplied from an alternative source, with frequent interruptions, but even after treatment it is not safe to drink. Every day, you see long queues of people with plastic bottles, waiting for water," said Oleksandra Shumilova.

According to a recent UN report, the number of people in need of access to safe water across Ukraine increased from 6 to 16 million between April and December 2022. This has a negative impact on health, and increases the risk of epidemic outbreaks in the country.

Military operations cause severe pollution

Military operations cause severe pollution of freshwater resources, not only directlydue to military ammunition and war equipment being dumped, for examplebut also indirectly, such as from damage to industrial facilities. By early June 2022, more than 25 major Ukrainian industrial enterprises had been damaged or completely destroyed. The most prominent examples were AZOT, a producer of ammonia, Avdievka Coke and Chemical Plant, and Azovstal Iron and Steel Works in Mariupol.

Most of the water infrastructure is located in the southern and eastern parts of the country, areas with intensive agricultural production and large industrial plants for metal processing, mining and chemical production. "These regions are particularly vulnerable in this war, highlighting the importance of protecting water systems from contamination and violence," explained Peter Gleick, co-founder and Senior Fellow of the Pacific Institute for Studies in Development, Environment, and Security in Oakland, U.S.. Gleick is one of the authors of the study, and also coordinates the institute's public database "The Water Conflict Chronology."

The south of Ukraine, the much-cited breadbasket of Europe, is also home to the Kakhovka Reservoir, which provides water for irrigation system for large-scale agricultural production. It supports the largest system of irrigation canals in Europe, with a total length of more than 1,600 kilometers. This widely branched network of irrigation canals has also become a burial ground for military objects. The decay of war equipment and the decomposition of ammunition under water can result in the release of heavy metals and toxic explosive compounds, which may impact the environment for decades to come.

The east of the country is home to large industrial plants for metal processing, mining and chemical production, which have been also affected. The rising level of polluted mine waters poses a particular risk in that part of Ukraine. The Donbas region, with a coal basin area 13 times the size of the Ruhr coal basin in Germany, has an extensive network of 220 subsurface mines.

Although many mines ceased operations in recent decades, the mine waters still have to be constantly pumped so that they do not rise and overflow to geologically connected mines. Several power outages and direct damage have brought this process to a halt. In the first three months of the conflict alone, six mines were flooded completely and two temporarily. Mine waters with high concentrations of sulfates, chlorides, and heavy metals can then discharge into groundwater and surface waters.

Another cause for concern is the structural damage that potentially can be caused by attacks to large reservoirs along the Dnieper River. These reservoirs are important not only for agriculture, but also for generating power and cooling nuclear power plants. A dam failure on the Dnieper also poses the risk of secondary radioactive contamination from the uncontrolled release of radioactive material accumulated in the sediments following the 1986 Chernobyl disaster, when the reservoirs of the Dnieper cascade acted as sinks for radioactive cesium. The Zaporizhzhia NPP, the largest nuclear power plant in Europe, is located on the banks of the Kakhovka Reservoir. Its water is needed for the reactor's cooling system. A breach of the dam there would therefore endanger the safety of the nuclear power plant.

At present, there can be no full assessment of the impact on freshwater resources, due to restricted access to the affected areas and possible discrepancies in the available reports. In addition, there are many transboundary water catchment areasand pollutants released into the environment can spread over long distances. Ninety-eight percent of the catchment area of Ukrainian rivers flows into the Black Sea and the Sea of Azov, with the remaining two percent flowing into the Baltic Sea.

There are historical analogies to some of the incidents, examples being the catastrophic flood that occurred following damage to the Dnieper Hydroelectric Station in World War II, and the spread of radionuclides through water as a result of the Chernobyl disaster.

Action must be taken now to ensure restoration

"Our study highlights just a few examples of damage and potential long-term and far-reaching consequences of this war. The catchment areas of freshwater ecosystems are transboundary, and the international community, including scientists, should take urgent action now to restore the water sector in Ukraine," said Klement Tockner, one of the authors of the study, and Director General of SGN.

The scientific article highlights avenues for future research. For example, spatial mathematical and cartographic modeling using remote sensing data could be applied to simulate flooding after dam breaches, estimate the spread of pollutants or rise in level of underground mine waters, and to assess the quality of water for drinking and irrigation purposes.

More information: Oleksandra Shumilova et al, Impact of the RussiaUkraine armed conflict on water resources and water infrastructure, Nature Sustainability (2023). DOI: 10.1038/s41893-023-01068-x Journal information: Nature Sustainability
TEHRAN, March 3 (Xinhua) -- Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi said on Friday that a series of poisoning incidents of schoolgirls across the country is the enemy's conspiracy to "intimidate and disappoint" the people in the country.

Raisi made the remarks in an address to a gathering in the southern province of Bushehr, where the president said he has ordered a thorough investigation into the incidents to "neutralize the enemy's conspiracy," according to the website of the president's office.

After waging "hybrid warfare" against Iran and attempting to create turmoil in its economy and foreign currency market, the enemy has resorted to causing insecurity in Iranian schools, he noted.

Also on Friday, Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian censured Western officials for their "interventionist reactions" to the "suspicious" poisoning of schoolgirls in Iran.

Amir-Abdollahian made the remarks in a Twitter post, after the U.S. State Department spokesman and German foreign minister expressed concerns about the incidents and called on the Iranian authorities to investigate it.

Describing their remarks as part of the "enemy's hybrid warfare" against Iran, he emphasized that Iranians know very well who is "shedding crocodile tears."

Meanwhile, Iranian Foreign Ministry Spokesman Nasser Kanaani also criticized the "hasty, weird and theatrical" reactions of Western officials to the poisoning incidents, saying such reactions continue their "interventionist political stances" over the past months and are aimed at "achieving certain political objectives," according to a statement on the Foreign Ministry's website.

Over the past three months, several mysterious poisoning cases have been reported in a number of girls' schools in different Iranian cities, mainly in the northern province of Qom.

The first case was reported on Nov. 30 in Qom, where 18 schoolgirls were transferred to medical centers after having poisoning symptoms, the official news agency IRNA reported.

Later, other schools in Qom, the western province of Lorestan, the northwestern province of Ardabil, the western province of Kermanshah and even the capital Tehran also reported similar cases, the IRNA said.

So far, more than 700 students in over 30 schools across the country have fallen victim to such incidents, it added, saying in most of the cases, the students were released from the hospital soon after receiving treatment.

Raisi issued the directive for investigating the schoolgirls' poisoning at a cabinet meeting on Wednesday, asking the interior minister to remove parents' worries and public concerns about the incidents.

In a briefing on Wednesday, U.S. State Department Spokesman Ned Price said the reports on the Iranian schoolgirls' poisonings are both "disturbing" and "concerning," calling on the Iranian authorities to thoroughly investigate the issue.

On Friday, German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock said reports of "poison attacks" on schoolgirls in Iran are "shocking and must be investigated fully." 
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Grave of a horse rider discovered in Malomirovo, Bulgaria. Credit: Micha Podsiado

Researchers have discovered evidence of horse riding by studying the remains of human skeletons found in burial mounds called kurgans, which were between 4,500 and 5,000 years old. The earthen burial mounds belonged to the Yamnaya culture. The Yamnayans had migrated from the Pontic-Caspian steppes to find greener pastures in todays countries of Romania and Bulgaria up to Hungary and Serbia.

Yamnayans were mobile cattle and sheep herders, now believed to be on horseback.

"Horseback-riding seems to have evolved not long after the presumed domestication of horses in the western Eurasian steppes during the fourth millennium BCE. It was already rather common in members of the Yamnaya culture between 3000 and 2500 BCE," says Volker Heyd, Professor of Archaeology at the University of Helsinki and a member of the international team that made the discovery.

These regions west of the Black Sea constitute a contact zone where mobile groups of herdsmen from the Yamnaya culture first encountered the long-established farmer communities of Late Neolithic and Chalcolithic traditions. For decades, the Early Bronze Age expansion of steppe people into southeastern Europe was explained as a violent invasion.

With the advent of ancient DNA research, the differences between these migrants from the east and members of local societies became even more pronounced.

"Our research is now beginning to provide a more nuanced picture of their interactions. For example, findings of physical violence as were expected are practically non-existent in the skeletal record so far. We also start understanding the complex exchange processes in material culture and burial customs between newcomers and locals in the 200 years after their first contact," explains Bianca Preda-Balanica, another team member from the University of Helsinki.

Horse riding is a pivotal moment in human history

The use of animals for transport, in particular the horse, marked a turning point in human history. The considerable gain in mobility and distance had profound effects on land use, trade, and warfare. Current research has mostly focused on the horses themselves.

However, horse-riding is an interaction of two componentsthe mount and its riderand human remains are available in larger numbers and more complete condition than early horse remains. Since horseback riding is possible without specialized equipment, the absence of archaeological finds with regard to earliest horsemanship does not come unexpected.

Traces of horsemanship can be found in the skeletons

"We studied over 217 skeletons from 39 sites of which about 150 found in the burial mounds belong to the Yamnayans. Diagnosing activity patterns in human skeletons is not unambiguously. There are no singular traits that indicate a certain occupation or behavior. Only in their combination, as a syndrome, symptoms provide reliable insights to understand habitual activities of the past," explains Martin Trautmann, Bioanthropologist in Helsinki and the lead author of the study published in Science Advances.

The international team decided to use a set of six diagnostic criteria established as indicators of riding activity (the so-called "horsemanship syndrome"):

Muscle attachment sites on pelvis and thigh bone (femur); Changes in the normally round shape of the hip sockets; Imprint marks caused by pressure of the acetabular rim on the neck of the femur; The diameter and form of the femur shaft; Vertebral degeneration caused by repeated vertical impact; Traumata that typically can be caused by falls, kicks or bites from horses.

To increase the diagnostic reliability, the team also used a stricter filtering method and developed a scoring system that takes into account the diagnostic value, distinctiveness and reliability of each symptom. Altogether, out of the 156 adult individuals of the total sample at least 24 (15.4%) can be classified as "possible riders," while five Yamnaya and two later as well as two possibly earlier individuals qualify as "highly probable riders." "The rather high prevalence of these traits in the skeleton record, especially with respect to the overall limited completeness, show that these people were horse riding regularly," Trautmann states.

If the primary use of horseback riding was as a convenience in a mobile pastoral lifestyle, in allowing a more effective herding of cattle, as means of swift and far-ranging raids or just as symbol of status needs further research.

Overview of the archaeological excavations in Malomirovo, Bulgaria. Credit: Micha Podsiado

Could it all have happened even earlier?

"We have one intriguing burial in the series," remarks David Anthony, emeritus Professor of Hartwick College U.S. and also senior co-author in the study.

"A grave dated about 4300 BCE at Csongrad-Kettoshalomin Hungary, long suspected from its pose and artifacts to have been an immigrant from the steppes, surprisingly showed four of the six riding pathologies, possibly indicating riding a millennium earlier than Yamnaya. An isolated case cannot support a firm conclusion, but in Neolithic cemeteries of this era in the steppes, horse remains were occasionally placed in human graves with those of cattle and sheep, and stone maces were carved into the shape of horse heads. Clearly, we need to apply this method to even older collections."

Who were the Yamnayans?

The Yamnayans were a population and culture that evolved in the Pontic-Caspian steppes at the end of the fourth millennium BCE.

By adopting the key innovation wheel and wagon, they were able to greatly enhance their mobility and exploit a huge energy resource otherwise out of reach, the sea of steppe grass away from the rivers, enabling them to keep large herds of cattle and sheep.

Thus committing to a new way-of-life, these pastoralists if not first true nomads in the world expanded dramatically within the next two centuries to cover more than 5,000 kilometers between Hungary in west and, in form of the so-called Afanasievo culture, Mongolia and western China in the east. Having buried their dead in grave pits under big mounds, called kurgans, the Yamnayans are said to be the first having spread proto-Indo-European languages.
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Credit: Pixabay/CC0 Public Domain

A new study finds that high school students identify more with math if they see their math teacher treating everyone in the class equitably, especially in racially diverse schools. The study by researchers at Portland State University, Loyola University Chicago and the University of North Texas was published in the journal Sociology of Education. Dara Shifrer, associate professor of sociology at Portland State and former middle school math teacher, led the study.

Who can do well in math? How you answer that question may depend on where you live. Whereas people in East Asian countries tend to believe that hard work can lead anyone to succeed at math, people in the United States are more likely to believe that people need natural talent in the subject to succeed. This perception means that students in the U.S. may be particularly susceptible to racial and gender stereotypes about who is and is not "good at math."

"Americans don't realize what strange stereotypes we have about math," says Shifrer. "It really sets kids up for failure here."

The fact that some high school students are more likely to give up on math than others has important implications for their individual futures and for the lack of diversity in STEM (science, technology, engineering and math) careers.

"U.S. STEM spaces are not a meritocracy," says Shifrer. "The cultural biases that we have around people's identities, status characteristics like race and gender, and our cultural stereotypes about math and science and who belongs there play a key role in who enters these fields and does well in them. The more that educators and students are aware of that and take action to counteract it, the more it could really shift access and representation."

In the study, Shifrer and colleagues sought to determine if teachers could counteract cultural biases and help students develop a positive "math identity"the sense of seeing themselves as 'a math person' or as a person who can succeed in math. In particular, they hypothesized that ninth graders who perceived their math teacher as being more equitabletreating everyone in the class fairly and providing clear resources for successwould have stronger math identities.

To test this hypothesis, the team used data from surveys of nearly 30,000 ninth graders from across the United States collected in 2009 by the National Center for Education Statistics. These surveys assessed how equitable students thought their math teachers were by having them rate their agreement with statements like, "my math teacher treats every student fairly" and "my math teacher thinks all students can be successful."

In their analysis, the researchers grouped students by their race and gender and by the racial composition of their school's student bodythat is, whether they attended a racially diverse school, a school where they were racially distinct or a school where most of their peers shared their race. They also controlled for factors that might be alternate explanations for a seeming relationship between perceived teacher equity and math identity, such as prior achievement in math, type of school, social advantages and teacher's preparation to teach math.

The results showed that students who perceived their math teachers as being more equitable had stronger math identities than those who saw their math teachers as less equitable.

"If teachers are teaching in a way that the kids perceive as equitable and efficacious, then it really makes a big difference in how the students feel about math," says Shifrer.

The researchers also found that this positive effect of equitable teaching on students' attitudes toward math was strongest in racially diverse schools.

"It seemed like teachers mattered more in those schools maybe because race is more evident in those schools," says Shifrer. "Kids are looking around and noticing that there are differences in students' race and maybe they're thinking more about whether they're the kind of student that's good at math. The teachers really had a space to make a difference in schools like that."

While the relationship between teacher equity and math identity was evident across races, there was an interesting exception. Black students, in general, had strong math identities, regardless of their teacher's actions.

"There's some kind of resiliency where these students persist and strive against racist stereotypes," says Shifrer. "They discount these dominant narratives and think, "I belong here; I'm good at this.'"

Shifrer says similar findings have been found in other studies looking at the educational attitudes of Black students.

"[Black students] are often more positive towards school and towards what education can do for them," she says. "But there's not been a lot of work fleshing out the details."

One limitation of this study is that the researchers can't say definitively that the teacher's behavior came before the student's feelings about math.

"It could be that kids who identify more with math perceive their teachers more positively," says Shifrer. "But it makes sense that teachers who are behaving more equitably are going to improve the way kids are feeling in the classroom."

Learning about the factors that affect student math identity is important because a student's attitude towards the subject influences the courses that they take as well as their future career selections. This study suggests that teachers may have a larger role to play in helping students develop a positive math identity than previously recognized.

More information: Dara Shifrer et al, The Relationship between Ninth Graders' Perceptions of Teacher Equity and Their Math Identity: Differences by Student Race and School Racial Composition, Sociology of Education (2023). DOI: 10.1177/00380407221149016 Journal information: Sociology of Education
GLENS FALLS  The shooting at a Dix Avenue home early Thursday morning stemmed from an earlier argument at another location, police said Friday.

Two people were attempting to break into a home at 29 Dix Ave. at around 4:14 a.m. when they were shot by the resident there, Glens Falls police said. The shooting victims were both transported to Albany Medical Center and one person was in critical condition.

Glens Falls Police Det. Lt. Seth French said police are not releasing the names of the victims or shooter at this time. He confirmed Friday that the parties did know each other.

French said the incident had started as an argument at a location on Cherry Street and the shooting was related to that initial incident and a continuation of that event.

No charges have been filed at this time and the investigation is ongoing.
GLENS FALLS  Common Council members voted in favor of amending one-way streets and prohibiting right turns on red for select streets at their meeting on Tuesday.

Mayor Bill Collins said that the changes to one-way streets were among several requested by the citys Board of Public Safety.

The Common Council recognizes that certain adjustments to its vehicle and traffic laws must be made from time to time in order to preserve the health and safety of its residents, Collins read from the resolution.

Committee members at the end of October had requested changes because of concerns about emergency vehicles being able to get down Mason Street. The street now prohibits on-street parking for the north side at all times.

Right turns on red will be prohibited during school hours from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. for the intersections of Sanford Street and Glen Street and the intersection of Grant Avenue and Glen Street.

Public safety members made the recommendation for the intersections on Jan. 11.

Traffic changes were also made for unlisted one-way streets in the city. The entire length of May Street, the east side of Fielding Street, and the west side of Fielding were all updated in the citys traffic schedule.

To increase the safety of the city, this is a simple thing that can be done to start it. I also want to thank Councilman (Ben) Lapham who was the person who helped us realize that we had some one-way streets that werent listed in our current codes, Collins said.

Other business

The city also approved a contract with Barton & Loguidice in Liverpool to conduct a study on the processing of biosolids at the wastewater treatment plant. The study will cost the city $35,222 of the $70,444 grand total.

NYSERDA will pay for the other half of the expense, according to the resolution. The study was requested by the Water and Sewer Commission as well as Superintendent Bill Norton.

Along with the biosolids study, the council also approved a consultant contract with Creighton-Manning of Albany to engineer work for the citys pavement preservation project.

Creighton-Manning has submitted a proposal for $40,000 to investigate existing sanitary and storm sewer conditions, design sanitary improvements and provide construction cost estimates, according to the resolution.

The pavement work will be paid for by American Rescue Plan Act funds allocated to the water and sewer department. A possible combination of grants and low-cost loans will be investigated to fund the engineering and construction to follow.
GLENS FALLS  The Chapman Museum announced the acquisition of a collection of Broncho Charlie Miller artifacts and the opportunity for members of the community to adopt the works.

The collection, which includes wooden carvings of animals, people, model wagons and religious figures, will be exhibited in Broncho Charlie, Unbridled at the Museum from June 3 through Sept. 10.

This exhibition will chronicle the exciting life and journey of Broncho Charlie through objects, photographs and records, said Nicole Herwig, executive director of The Chapman, in a press release.

Charles Mortimer Miller (1850-1955)  best known as Broncho Charlie  lived a long and adventurous life, the stories of which begin when he was an 8-year-old boy taming wild horses to earn a living. Born in New York City, Miller and his brother were in and out of foster care and reform school before their ages were even in the double digits. Their parents sent them to school ship, where they would serve as free labor to the captain. The eight-month journey left from New York City, traveled via Cape Horn, South America, and was nearing its destination of California when the brothers jumped off the ship and swam ashore. His brother was captured and sent back to New York, but Miller escaped and started his journey in the West.

At age 11, he was the last and youngest Pony Express Rider before the service closed. He traveled with Buffalo Bill Codys Wild West Show as The Most Famous Broncho Buster in the West, was a circus provider, trained horses for President Teddy Roosevelt; was an Army dispatch rider and a range war fighter storied to have ridden with Jesse James and General Custer.

In 1889, he met and married Glens Falls native Carrie Potter. The couple moved to Glens Falls, where Miller spent his most prolific years. He worked and raised his children in the city and is buried here.

The collection comprises more than 200 objects and was acquired from Rebecca Masland, an antiques dealer who purchased it in 1969 and kept it in an armoire in her shop. The Chapman was loaned the collection in 1998 for an exhibition, then put in storage.

The Chapman jumped at the opportunity to bring the collection home to Glens Falls for good, Herwig said. This collection is of great value to our community, as the objects together recount the story of an exciting life of local provenance.

As part of the Museums effort to process and store the collection, The Chapman offers opportunity for the objects to be adopted. Those interested can fund a piece and have their name included in the label every time it is on view.

This is a wonderful way for our community to invest in preserving local history and celebrate one of the regions many colorful characters, Herwig said.

Items are available for adoption now and can be previewed at https://www.32auctions.com/BronchoCharlieCollection.

For more information about The Chapman Museum, visit www.ChapmanMuseum.org.
Woman guilty in theft of vets funds

ALBANY  A Saratoga Springs woman pleaded guilty in U.S. District Court on Wednesday to misappropriating funds from a veteran as his appointed fiduciary.

JoAnne Natalie, 64, admitted that after being appointed as fiduciary for a veteran, between September 2019 and January 2021 she stole, embezzled and misappropriated $50,174.42 of the veterans VA benefits by using them for her own personal ends. She also admitted to neglecting and failing to submit any required accountings to the VA, as required by law.

United States District Judge Glenn T. Suddaby will sentence Natalie on July 27. Natalie faces a maximum term of five years in prison, a fine of up to $250,000, a term of supervised release of up to 3 years, and restitution to the estate of the veteran and any other identified victims. A defendants sentence is imposed by a judge based on the particular statute the defendant is charged with violating, the sentencing guidelines and other factors.

The VA Office of Inspector General investigated this case, which was prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Alexander Wentworth-Ping.

This case is part of the Elder Justice Initiative. Its mission is to support and coordinate the departments enforcement and efforts to combat elder abuse, neglect and financial fraud and scams that target the nations older adults. Anyone with information about allegations of attempted fraud involving elders can call the National Elder Fraud Hotline at 1-833-372-8311.
Warren Countys Local Development Corp. will no longer have any private sector members.

On Thursday, Queensbury resident and Conservative Party candidate for at-large supervisor Travis Whitehead was removed from the committee by Warren County Board of Supervisors Chairman Kevin Geraghty and replaced by the newly appointed Johnsburg Town Supervisor Mark Smith.

The Local Development Corp., or LDC, is partly funded by the county at a cost of $60,000 per year and tasked with authorizing business loans, but records show the committee has taken little action over the last two years.

Geraghty explained over the phone on Thursday that he agrees with Whiteheads claims that the committee has not been very active, but he is hoping a fresh face might change that. He also stated as chairman, it is his duty to appoint members each committee and make changes as he sees fit.

Travis is right. I cant deny that not much has been done in the committee, but thats why Im trying to bring in someone new, he said. Mr. Smith expressed interest in the committee and has a long history in business, so I am excited to see what he has to bring to the conversations. For a long time, I have wanted more representation of the North Country on the committee. All of the other representatives are from the Glens Falls and Queensbury area.

Geraghty began the conversation by saying he appreciated Whiteheads years of service and denied the decision was based on personal motives.

Whitehead attended the full boards special meeting on Thursday morning and spoke during the public comment period. Geraghty was absent due to other meeting commitments.

I received a letter yesterday thanking me for my service and removing me from the LDC, Whitehead began. In the last two years, the LDC spent over a $100,000 of monies you allocated to it and had absolutely nothing to show for it. Our major accomplishment was to write off about another $400,000 in bad loans while submitting reports to the state that we accomplished absolutely nothing. No loans, no grants, no seminars, no nothing.

Whitehead echoed the feelings of Queensbury at-large Supervisor Doug Beaty, who expressed concern about the majority of the committee consisting of elected officials, not members of the public, and quoted what the New York Authorities Budget Office said about staffing the LDC.

While it is not prohibited, as a best practice the ABO does not recommend that a majority of appointed board members have a political or employment relationship to the government for whose purpose the public authority was created, Whitehead said the office told him.

Whitehead feels he is being ushered out similarly to the way Dr. David Judkins was in 2022, before he attended a committee meeting, to uphold the agenda of the remaining members.

There is more work to be done before you can thank me for my service, Whitehead concluded.
Two administrators at an Egg Harbor Township charter school are facing criminal charges following a state investigation into an alleged self-dealing scheme involving over $100,000.

Peter Caporilli, the founder and former school board president of Principle Academy Charter School; and Michael Falkowski, Principle Academys school business administrator, have been indicted, according to a news release from the state Attorney Generals Office. They are alleged to have steered $115,000 in school spending to Modern Boat Works, a furniture company based in Pleasantville and run by Caporilli.

Attorney General Matthew Platkin announced the indictment Thursday, saying he was taking a hard line against the misuse of public funds. Caporilli, Falkowski and Modern Boat Works were originally charged Jan. 11, 2022, after an investigation by the Attorney Generals Office of Public Integrity & Accountability.

These defendants used their positions of power over the spending of this charter school to fix the contract-awarding process to enrich the school board president and his business, Platkin said. The misuse of taxpayer dollars for personal gain should not  and will not  be tolerated.

The state said Caporilli and Falkowski awarded Modern Boat Works $115,000 to build an outdoor learning center at Principle Academy, with the Office of Public Integrity & Accountability determining that crimes occurred between August 2018 and January 2019.

The state Department of Education referred the case to the Attorney Generals Office in July 2019, suspecting Caporilli had steered Principle Academy contracts to Modern Boat Works.

Robert DiLella, a representative for Caporilli, said the states allegations were false and without merit. He said ownership of Modern Boat Works had been disclosed to all stakeholders, Caporilli abstained on votes pertaining to Modern Boat Works and that all activities involving Modern Boat Works had been approved by the school board during the period in question.

Dr. Caporilli has always adhered to strict guidelines for transparency between his role as chairman and the operation and impact of Modern Boat Works on the school, DiLella said. And there has never been any claim of impropriety or any indication of doing anything improper or that might be construed by any party as wrong, in intent or action.

DiLella added his client created total transparency in the process involving Modern Boat Works that went beyond government requirements.

The weight of evidence will prove that these claims are unwarranted, and do not support the charges brought, DiLella said.

Falkowski, 48, of Point Pleasant, is being represented by Williams Hughes. Hughes said Falkowski was simply fulfilling his responsibility as business administrator, which he noted was a remote position. He expressed surprise at the Attorney Generals Office decision to indict his client. Hughes said Falkowski intends to plead not guilty.

I am really just dumbfounded, Hughes said. This is a guy (Falkowski) thats just doing his job.

Pleasantville BOE holds special meeting for public comments after contentious reorganization PLEASANTVILLE  Nine days after its meeting began, the school board finally moved into the p

Falkowski, Hughes added, contacted the Education Department when he became concerned about Caporilli having a conflict of interest. Hughes said he has not been in contact with Caporilli or his legal team since the indictment was issued.

The $150,000 outdoor learning center project was split between two smaller contracts, with the first being valued at $40,000. The maneuver, prosecutors allege, was designed to obviate the need to comply with public-bid requirements for the first contract, so that it could be awarded to Modern Boat Works uncontested.

The second contract, valued at $75,000, was put out to bid and publicly advertised Nov. 5, 2018, and there were nine businesses that subsequently submitted proposals. Falkowski, prosecutors said, gave the businesses the needed paperwork to bid Nov. 13, 2018, when the deadline to submit bids was just three days later on Nov. 16. Modern Boat Works was ultimately the only company to submit a bid. Principle Academy then allegedly made payments to Modern Boat Works before receiving authorization from its school board. Prosecutors allege Caporilli later approved a change order that shrunk the scope of the project without effecting a corresponding cut to what was being paid to Modern Boat Works.

State Police executed a search warrant at Principle Academy on Oct. 6, 2022. They said they found an outdoor learning center had not been built, even when evaluated by the new, relaxed project goals. Prosecutors describe what was found at the school as a haphazard collection of wooden furniture in poor condition.

Thomas Eicher, executive director of the Office of Public Integrity & Accountability, alleged Caporilli and Falkowski had hurt competing businesses, as well as students.

Other contractors were never given a fair shot at winning this job, as they should have been, Eicher said. And the company that did win the contract not only had a conflict of interest, but it also never followed through, preventing this school from getting what it paid for.

Pleasantville school board president says attempts to oust him failed PLEASANTVILLE  The president of the local school board said a vote to replace him as leader

Caporilli, Falkowski and Modern Boat Works are being charged with five counts of conspiracy, theft by unlawful taking, official misconduct, false representation for a government contract and misapplication of entrusted property, offenses each punishable by between five and 10 years in prison and a $150,000 fine.

Caporilli and Modern Boat Works also are being charged with unlawful official business transaction where interest is involved, an offense that carries as much as a 1-year prison sentence, along with another $150,000 fine.

Caporilli alone is charged with misconduct by a corporate official, punishable by five to 10 years in prison and a $150,000 fine. He also is being charged with tampering with physical evidence, which is punishable by up to 1 years in prison and a $10,000 fine.
OCEAN CITY  Cape May County officials will host a public information session later this month during which people can ask questions about windmills and offshore wind energy.

County Commissioner Director Len Desiderio and Ocean City Mayor Jay Gillian announced Friday they will hold the session at 6 p.m. March 15 at the Ocean City Tabernacle at 550 Wesley Ave.

There have been a lot of questions about what steps the County of Cape May has taken in connection with the efforts of the wind company rsted to place windmills off the shores of Cape May County, Desiderio, who also is the mayor of Sea Isle City, said in a news release. On Wednesday, March 15, we will provide the public with information, and we want to hear the publics questions and concerns. We have been working with the City of Ocean City for many months now to challenge the process at the Board of Public Utilities used by rsted to set aside home rule. Our partnership continues, including this first of several public information sessions.

The hearing will take place a day before U.S. Rep. Jeff Van Drew, R-2nd, is scheduled to hold a hearing on the issue at the Wildwoods Convention Center.

rsted, a Danish wind energy developer, recently filed petitions against both Ocean City and the county before the state BPU, which the state granted. They used an amendment to New Jerseys offshore wind law passed in 2021 and signed into law by Gov. Phil Murphy removing most local control over where offshore wind projects come ashore. The law enables an offshore wind developer to apply to the utilities board for an order superseding local control over such projects.

The company is looking to run cables ashore in Ocean City on their way to a substation at the site of the former B.L. England plant in Upper Township.

We tried very hard to have productive discussions with the wind developer, Gillian said. But they went to the Legislature and got a bill through to take away home rule, and then they used that to get the BPU, an unelected state agency, to take away the authority of the duly elected leaders of Cape May County and Ocean City and to give this foreign Big-Wind company what they want. Things are moving too fast and with too much at stake if we dont get it right.

Gillian said the forum will allow him and Desiderio to update the public on whats going on and listen to their concerns.

Desiderio and Gillian will be joined by former Superior Court Judge Michael J. Donohue, who is special counsel to the county on windmill issues, along with other county and Ocean City staff.

Offshore wind projects have recently come under fire after an increase in whale beachings over the past three months. At last count, 25 whales had washed ashore along the East Coast since Dec. 1, at least eight of which were attributable to vessel strikes.

Officials with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and other marine mammal experts have said there is no evidence linking the whale deaths with survey work taking place in advance of offshore wind projects.

Many local officials still suggest a connection, and mayors of about 30 New Jersey towns have joined calls for a moratorium on offshore work.

Those interested in attending the forum should visit capewindinfo.com to register.
NEW DELHI, March 3 (Xinhua) -- Chinese Foreign Minister Qin Gang met here with his French counterpart Catherine Colonna Thursday on the sidelines of the Group of 20 (G20) Foreign Ministers' Meeting, and they discussed the prospect of cooperation in new areas and the Ukraine crisis.

Qin said that as two major countries with international influence, China and France are two major forces of safeguarding peace. The two countries will embrace the 60th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic ties next year, and the Chinese side is willing to prepare with the French side the important agenda for the next-phase bilateral relationship, let the high-level exchanges play a guiding role, and push forward the China-France comprehensive strategic partnership to yield more fruits.

For her part, Colonna said the French side highly values the strategic communication and major-country coordination between France and China, and is willing to frequent high-level exchanges with the Chinese side, enrich the connotation of bilateral relations, and expand cooperation in new areas on science and research, innovation and climate change, among others.

Next year is an important year for France-China relations, and the French side is willing to successfully hold the Year of Culture and Tourism with the Chinese side, and fully resume people-to-people and cultural exchanges, said the French foreign minister.

She said French President Emmanuel Macron highly appreciates China's twelve-point position on the political settlement of the Ukraine crisis. The crisis has lingered and escalated, with all parties paying a high price. The French side hopes that the Chinese side could play a vital role in ending the war as soon as possible, she said.

In the meeting, Qin introduced China's position on the Ukraine crisis. He said that relevant parties should seriously reflect on the hard lessons from the crisis, insist on the right direction of peaceful negotiation, and truly build a balanced, effective and sustainable European security architecture. 
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GALLOWAY TOWNSHIP  Joe Bertolino on Friday officially continued his familys heritage at Stockton University by becoming the incoming president of the school.

Bertolino was named the sixth president of Stockton by the schools Board of Trustees on Friday. He will take over for current President Harvey Kesselman, who will step down June 30.

Bertolino will be paid $375,000 a year, school officials said.

After the boards unanimous vote, Bertolino, the current president of Southern Connecticut State University, spoke for about 20 minutes before Kesselman joined him to figuratively pass the baton to roaring applause.

Bertolino said he envisioned Stockton as both an institution and an asset to New Jersey, building upon its drive to remain a higher education stronghold while growing its footprint in the community.

I make this commitment to the Osprey community, Bertolino told 200 people at the Campus Center. I promise you that you can continue to count on Stockton.

Stockton opens Multicultural Center on Galloway campus GALLOWAY TOWNSHIP  Stockton University on Wednesday reinforced its commitment to diversity 

Bertolino, originally from Glendora, Camden County, comes to Stockton after his late mother, Eileen, graduated from there in 1977.

Being here now to serve her alma mater as its president is both meaningful and an act of love, Bertolino said.

Stocktons presidency will be Bertolinos third, having been with Southern Connecticut since 2016 and, before that, Lydon State College in Vermont. He was also vice president for enrollment management and student affairs at Queens College/City University of New York, and dean for community development at Barnard College in New York.

The Board of Trustees began its nationwide search for a president in August 2022, after Kesselman announced he would retire as Stocktons president at the end of the 2022-23 academic year.

During his tenure as president, which began in 2015, Kesselman oversaw the universitys return to Atlantic City, helping open the schools $220 million campus there. The project was lauded as a game changer for both the city and the school, aiding the resorts efforts to diversify its economy.

Kesselman wasnt a part of the group who searched for his successor, but the people who were made an excellent choice, he said.

Linwood residents' donation supports Stockton University's Holocaust Center GALLOWAY TOWNSHIP  A donation made by Linwood residents Rita and Stuart Stromfeld will bene

Hes (Bertolino) a seasoned president with a great track record, Kesselman said. He has many of the values that Stockton has. Nothing would make me happier than if he keeps moving Stockton higher and higher and higher, and I have every confidence that he will.

Before his appointment in December 2015, Kesselman served as acting president after President Herman J. Saatkamp Jr. went on medical leave and later resigned amid a flawed deal to purchase the former Showboat casino and open a campus in Atlantic City. The plan fell apart over legal complications restricting the Showboats development.

Despite his retirement, Kesselman will remain part of the Stockton family as president emeritus and a tenured professor.

Other finalists for the position were Frank D. Sanchez, former president of Rhode Island College, and Laurence B. Alexander, chancellor of the University of Arkansas at Pine Bluff. All three candidates participated in faculty, student and public forums as part of the interview process.

Jovin Fernandez, the director of Stocktons new Multicultural Center, said she sat in on Bertolinos interview and was impressed by the top three candidates.

Each of them demonstrated, in different ways, that they would be committed to furthering and supporting diversity, equity and inclusion efforts, Fernandez said.

Stockton University leading effort to help those on probation get jobs GALLOWAY TOWNSHIP  Stockton University is leading a new initiative to help state residents 

She said she was most intrigued by Bertolinos stance on social justice issues, which, as the person who runs the Multicultural Center, was important to her, she said.

Stockton received more than 80 applications for the presidents position, from which it chose 12 semifinalists.

Bertolino, Sanchez and Alexander, the final three, were brought in for in-person interviews in late January and early February. The process included public forums with faculty, staff, students, alumni and members of the community, who were permitted to ask questions of each candidate.

Input from the Stockton community was also sought before Bertolino won the bid, Trustee Ray Ciccone said.

Im excited, and I think the community is excited, too, Fernandez said.
EGG HARBOR TOWNSHIP  When Dave Ferrier, partner Brianna and their daughter Regan, 5, moved into their new home in May 2022, one of the first things they did was build a chicken coop and pig pen on their property.

We started with 10 chickens but now have eight. One just went missing, and the other, Mystery, was killed by a hawk, said Brianna, who is studying psychology and animal science at Atlantic Cape Community College. Every chicken has a name. Cruella and Geneva are our two roosters. Cash, Speck, Sunny, Blanche, Dorothy, Rose are our chickens.

The pigs are all named, too. Theres Archie, Panchie, Anna and Elsa.

All were rescued from unhealthy or inhumane conditions, said Brianna, and now they are all a part of our family.

But while Dave and Brianna consider their pigs and chickens family, the township considers them livestock and has ordered them removed from their property on Mill Road.

The couple are fighting that order and recently received an extension on a Feb. 20 deadline to remove them that has come and gone.

Some communities calling for halt to wind work have accepted rsted-backed grants Some of the same New Jersey shore towns calling for a moratorium on work for the first offsh

In a series of letters from the townships Zoning Board, officials say Dave and Brianna are violating two local ordinances, one prohibiting the ownership of pigs and the other requiring a minimum of 5 acres to raise chickens.

Their lot is 3.89 acres.

Dave said theyve done extensive research and dispute the townships assertion that theyre operating a piggery, or a farm where pigs are bred or kept. They also say a finer reading of the ordinance doesnt restrict chicken ownership just because their lot is less than 5 acres.

Since last month, though, the clock has been ticking  theyve been ordered by Zoning Official Sarah Schaffer to get rid of the animals or pay fines up to $1,000 dollars or face imprisonment.

Township zoning officials responded to a call requesting an update this week by confirming that the couple filed for an extension.

Like many disputes over pet ownership, there may be an element of a neighborhood dispute at the heart of the couples issues. The two joined other neighbors in testifying against a property receiving a variance recently. During the testimony, Dave acknowledged they had a chicken coop.

New Jersey traffic deaths reach 15-year high New Jerseys roads were more deadly to motorists last year, as traffic deaths passed 700 for

Dave thinks this led the township to investigate their situation, which he thinks was unfair, but pointed out that when asked, he answered truthfully.

All of the strife over their pets has not deterred the two from their ownership, said Dave, who is a former marine and professional actor (He holds a Screen Actors Guild card; he is credited on IMDb as playing Paul in the 2015 movie Slow Learners).

The two met while they were performing as characters at a haunted house, Brianna said.

Caring for animals was something they came to do together.

We are not done fighting for this, Dave said. We will continue to fight for the people of Egg Harbor Township that are going to face the same situation we have been facing.

Brianna said the pigs were abused when they found them, and that has motivated her.

We are fighting for pig awareness, Brianna said. Seeing how cruel people are towards animals made me have the confidence for a minor in animal science.

GALLERY: EHT family told to remove pigs and chickens from home
Panel comprising PM, LoP, CJI to select EC

The Supreme Court on Thursday ordered a panel comprising the prime minister, leader of opposition (LoP), Chief Justice of India (CJI) for selecting election commissioners.

A five-judge constitution bench headed by Justice K.M. Joseph said this panel will be enforced until a law in this regard is made by Parliament.

The top court emphasized that the Election Commission has to remain aloof from all forms of subjugation by the executive and added that a vulnerable Election Commission would result in an insidious situation and detract from its efficient functioning.

The top courts judgment came on a batch of petitions recommending reform in the process of appointment of members of the Election Commission of India.

The top court emphasised that the Election Commission is duty bound to act in a fair and legal manner and to abide by the provisions of the Constitution.

The bench noted that democracy is inexplicably intertwined with power to the people and democracy facilitates the peaceful revolution in the hands of a common man if held in a free and fair manner.

The detailed judgment in the matter will be uploaded later in the day. IANS

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Committee to probe Adani-Hindenburg row

The Supreme Court on Thursday formed a committee headed by its retired judge AM Sapre to probe into the Adani-Hindenburg controversy.

A bench headed by Chief Justice of India DY Chandrachud and comprising Justices PS Narasimha and JB Pardiwala delivered the order on a batch of petitions filed by advocates Vishal Tiwari, ML Sharma, Congress leader Jaya Thakur, and one Anamika Jaiswal.

The top court said the committee will consist of OP Bhat, Justice JP Devadhar (retired), KV Kamat, Nandan Nilekani and Somasekhar Sundaresan.

The bench added that the expert committee will be headed by retired justice Abhay Manohar Sapre, former judge of the Supreme Court.

The committee will provide an overall assessment of the situation and the causal factors led to the volatility in the security markets. The committee will suggest measures to strengthen investors awareness and also investigate whether there has been regulatory failure in the alleged contravention of laws pertaining to the securities markets in connection with Adani group or other companies, it added.

On February 17, the Supreme Court had said it would not accept sealed cover names of experts suggested by the Centre for inclusion on the committee to be set up to examine Hindenburg report, which resulted in crashing of Adani group company share prices and caused massive loss to investors.

The top court had said the court will select experts and maintain full transparency, and if the court were to take names suggested by the central government, then it would amount to a government constituted committee. IANS

OP Bhat, Justice JP Devadhar (retd), KV Kamat, Nandan Nilekani and Somasekhar Sundaresan are the other members to investigate the issue
Wins Tripura, Nagaland with allies; expected to support NPP govt in Meghalaya

The assembly poll results of the three states in the Northeast were announced on Thursday. The BJP and its allies emerged victorious comfortably in Nagaland and Tripura while the NPP is a few seats shorter to make it to the halfway mark in Meghalaya. Assam CM Himanta Biswa Sarma said that the BJP would support the NPP to form the government.

The NPP-BJP alliance is heading towards victory in Nagaland, as per the Election Commission of India (ECI).

The NPP has fallen short by five seats to touch the magic figure in the 60-member assembly in Meghalaya. The party got 26 seats, while the BJP managed to bag three seats.

The BJP retained power in Tripura for the second straight term by winning 32 seats, one more than the magic figure of 31 in the 60-member state assembly, for which elections were held on February 16, stated a report from Agartala.

According to the results declared by the Election Commission on Thursday, the tribal-based Tipra Motha Party (TMP), which for the first time contested 42 seats on its own, emerged as the second largest party securing 13 seats. The CPI-M won 11 seats while the Congress bagged three.

The Assam chief minister said in Guwahati on Thursday that soon after the announcement of the results of the Meghalaya assembly elections, National Peoples Party (NPP) chief Conrad Sangma called up Union home minister Amit Shah and sought his blessings to form the new government in the state. IANS
Women & youth wings agitate, ask: When will China vacate sacred land of India?

Youth Congress members held a protest here on Thursday against Chinese foreign minister Qin Gang, who is on a visit to India to attend the G20 meeting.

National president of Youth Congress Srinivas BV said, We have a clear message to Chinese Foreign Minister Qin Gang, who came to India to attend the G20 meeting, that -- when will China vacate the sacred land of India which has been forcibly occupied by the Chinese Army. Keeping the peace agreement in check, China has forcibly entered our border. Our protest will continue until China vacates the land of India, he said.

He alleged that on one hand Prime Minister Narendra Modi talks about showing red eyes and on the other hand he and his ministers are surrendering to China, but India has never neither surrendered in the past nor will surrender in future before any power, said Srinivas.

Women workers stage demo

All India Mahila Congress members demonstrate against Chinese Foreign Minister Qin Gang at Vijay Chowk in Delhi on Thursday.

Many Tibetans detained

Scores of Tibetans protested outside the Chinese embassy ahead of the Chinese foreign ministers visit. The police detained several protesters and took them to a nearby police station in a bus. IANS
New Mexico-based Presbyterian Healthcare Services and Midwest-based UnityPoint Health have signed a letter of intent to explore the formation of a new health care organization.

The proposed health care company would see both systems preserve their brand and continue delivering care locally, while operating under a parent organization.

As a not-for-profit health system, we must pave a sustainable path forward to continue serving our communities with care and coverage. While weve done that successfully independently, we know that partnering with like-minded health systems will allow us to accelerate our efforts, said Dale Maxwell, president and CEO of Presbyterian Healthcare Services. UnityPoint Health shares in our commitment to keeping healthcare delivery local and creating a culture where the workforce thrives, which will serve as foundational elements as we embark on this journey.

Combined, UnityPoint Health and Presbyterian serve 4 million patients through more than 40 hospital facilities, hundreds of clinics and significant health plan operations. The two organizations collectively represent a 40,000-strong workforce, including nearly 3,000 physicians and advanced-practice clinicians working alongside independent clinicians, educational partners and colleges.

Goals for exploring the creation of a new health care organization, which would function as a parent company for not-for-profit health systems, include making greater investments in clinical excellence, digital innovation, workforce development and value-based care while lowering overall administrative costs.

UnityPoint Health and Presbyterian are two organizations rooted in similar values, said Clay Holderman, president and CEO, UnityPoint Health. By lowering administrative costs, building new capabilities and increasing investments in innovation and clinical excellence, our intent is to help improve affordability and accessibility of care. Were excited about the unique possibilities ahead.

Both systems will now pursue a period of greater evaluation and exploration of next steps towards a definitive agreement and regulatory approvals.

This news comes the same week Genesis Health System announced it completed a merger with MercyOne, a Michigan-based hospital system.

Genesis and MercyOne complete merger An intent to partner was announced in September.
A critically acclaimed author made herself available this week to Quad-City high schoolers, including the more than 400 who heard her speak Thursday at Rock Island High School.

Author Nic Stone's message, "You're here because you're supposed to be here."

In a tour stop for her new book "How to be a Young Antiracist," Stone's visit focused on the power of storytelling. To illustrate it, she shared a proverb from the Hopi Tribe, which goes, "Those who tell stories rule the world."

"I truly do believe that story is the center of everything; story is how we learn to interact with other people. Story is how we decide what is dangerous and what is safe. Story is how we figure out politics," Stone said. "All of these things are linked to the idea of narrative."

The goal, she said, is to figure out how to make the most of one's own story. The author noted it may be difficult for young people, particularly minorities, to navigate their own stories when they don't see themselves reflected in others'.

Looking at literature, she recalled the first Black characters she read about in high school: Jim in "The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn", Tom Robinson in "To Kill a Mockingbird" and Crooks in "Of Mice and Men."

"They were all either lesson-bearers or suffering in some way, and it doesn't paint a really great picture of what I could do and what I could be," she said.

Stone's advice in those instances? Write the stories yourself.

"Your power lies in your presence," she said.

Stone's No. 1 New York Times bestseller and debut novel, "Dear Martin", was loosely based on several shooting deaths of unarmed Black teenagers. The sequel, "Dear Justyce" earned NPR's "Best Book of the Year" recognition. She's written several other young-adult fiction novels, uplifting diverse voices, such as "Odd One Out," "Jackpot" and the Marvel Comics' "Shuri" series.

Rocky senior Nelie Ninahazwe said she'd had a passion for writing since fifth grade and "fell in love" with Stone's writing style after reading "Dear Martin."

Her biggest takeaway from the presentation?

"There's a reason you got to where you are today," Ninahazwe said, adding that she appreciates Stone portraying characters that look like her. "She's broadening the spectrum of what YA (young adult) literature looks like in the 21st century."

"Dear Martin" is one of many banned books in schools and libraries nationwide, and Stone described herself as "one of the most banned authors in the U.S."

"I think we're dealing with a lot of adults who are looking for things to have a sense of control over," she said. "I do believe some people are wanting what's best for their children, but I also hope that more of them will open up to the thing that's best for their children  being exposure to other people and cultures."

Stone thinks the educational implications of book-banning are yet to be seen.

"I'm hoping, as we continue to fight and people continue to push back  students especially  against these bans, the implications won't be as devastating as some people are predicting," she said.

Junior Presley Behrens encourages everyone to read Stone's work, calling her books "helpful," "insightful" and "wonderful."

"It was really inspiring to hear her talk about how late in life she started writing and how she's become so successful," she said. "And how she's able to write such passionate stories about fictional characters but taken from real life situations."

Another junior, Gabe Richardson, called Stone's presentation "thought-provoking" and said he learned more about the power of one's presence.

After finishing a long autograph line, Stone brought her message to students in Davenport schools, making a visit to West High School. West hosted because it has the highest student participation in Davenport's summer reading challenge.

Amber Carlson, of the Davenport Public Library, organized the event, partnering with Rock Island-Milan and Davenport school districts and the Rock Island Public Library.
The two early favorites for the 2024 Republican presidential nomination are coming to Davenport this month.

Former President Donald Trump will visit Davenport on Monday, March 13, to give a speech on his America First Education Policy. This will be Trumps first visit to the Hawkeye State since announcing his bid for the GOP nomination just after the midterm elections.

Hell be at the Adler Theatre, 136 E. 3rd St., Davenport, according to a news release. Doors open at 3 p.m., and the program begins at 5:30 p.m., with Trump scheduled to speak at 6:15 p.m. General admission tickets are available online.

His visit will come a few days after a Davenport stop by Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis on March 10, which will be his first trip to Iowa as he teases a possible presidential run.

DeSantis will appear with fellow Republican Gov. Kim Reynolds at his two stops in Iowa  Davenport and Des Moines  an aide familiar with the governors plans confirmed.

A time and location for the event has not yet been announced, but the stops are planned to be interview-style events, the aide confirmed.

Reynolds traveled to Florida last weekend to hold a similar panel discussion with DeSantis, according to Politico, though she plans to remain neutral in the first-in-the-nation caucuses. Shes also appeared at events with Sen. Tim Scott, and former U.S. Ambassador Nikki Haley.

Early polling shows Trump and DeSantis in the mix as early favorites for the nomination. A Real Clear Politics rolling average of polling data shows Trump with 45.2%, DeSantis with 29.2%, former Vice President Mike Pence with 6.8% and Haley with 5.3% support.
CAIRO, March 3 (Xinhua) -- The Egyptian Foreign Ministry on Friday condemned an Israeli minister's call for wiping out the Palestinian village of Hawara in the northern West Bank.

Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, also the leader of the Religious Zionist Party, said on Wednesday that the village of Hawara, south of the West Bank city of Nablus, "needs to be erased."

He made the remarks after two Israeli brothers were shot dead by Palestinians in Hawara on Sunday, prompting attacks from Israeli settlers against Palestinians in the village that caused at least one death and numerous injuries.

"Such remarks constitute an unacceptable and serious incitement for violence," the Egyptian foreign ministry said in a statement, lambasting Smotrich for "irresponsible comments that contradict laws, norms, and moral values."

The ministry statement called for an immediate end to provocative actions against the Palestinian people and the resumption of the peace process on the basis of the two-state solution.

Smotrich's comments were harshly condemned by the U.S. State Department Spokesperson Ned Price on Wednesday, who described his remarks as "repugnant" and "irresponsible," according to a CNN report. 
A Chicago man with arrest warrants in six different jurisdictions in three states is facing burglary charges after he allegedly remained inside the West Kimberly Road Walmart store after hours Wednesday to steal electronic equipment, Davenport police said.

Stanley Marquise Bradford, 29, is charged with one count of second-degree burglary, a Class C felony under Iowa law that carries a prison sentence of 10 years, and possession of burglary tools, an aggravated misdemeanor that carries a prison sentence of two years.

According to the arrest affidavits filed by Davenport Police Officer Daniel Hylton, at 11 p.m. Wednesday officers responded to the Walmart store at 3101 W. Kimberly Road to investigate an active theft in progress.

Bradford had intentionally remained inside the store after it was closed to the public at 10 p.m., even after being told by employees the store was closed. Bradford went into an area marked for employees only and remained in the store.

Using tools he had brought with him, Bradford broke into a locked electronics case and took several items from the case. He hid the items in a suitcase.

When confronted by police Bradford ran from police and went out an emergency exit. Bradford was able to run through a nearby neighborhood and hide in backyards before he was caught and placed under arrest.

Bradford was charged with interference with official acts for fleeing police. The charge is a simple misdemeanor that carries a jail sentence of up to 30 days.

In a post-Miranda interview, Bradford admitted to police he went into the store to commit the theft, and that he intended to sell the items.

Walmart surveillance cameras captured the incident.

Bradford was being booked into the Scott County Jail at 1:29 a.m. Thursday. He was being held Thursday night on a $10,000 cash-only bond, as well as $71,110 in cash or surety bonds, and without bond on two of the arrest warrants.

During a preliminary hearing held Thursday in Scott County District Court, Magistrate Jay Sommers scheduled a preliminary hearing in the case for March 10.

Sommers assigned the Public Defenders Office to represent Bradford in the case.

Bradford has warrants for his arrest in six jurisdictions in three states.

In Illinois, Bradford is wanted in Champaign County on a burglary charge, in Coles County on a theft charge, in Will County for burglary and retail theft, and in DeKalb County for retail theft.

Bradford also is wanted in DeKalb County, Indiana, on a charge of corrupt of business influence, a racketeering charge, and in Racine County, Wisconsin on a charge of attempting to flee or elude a police officer.
Davenport Republican Luana Stoltenberg and Muscatine Republican Mark Cisneros are among eight Iowa lawmakers who introduced a constitutional amendment defining marriage as a union between a man and a woman.

State Reps. Cisneros and Stoltenberg, who won a razor-thin election after campaigning on a socially conservative platform, co-sponsored the bill, HJR8, which was introduced this week in the Iowa House.

The bill has not been assigned a subcommittee and is expected to fail the Legislatures first funnel deadline on Friday. House Speaker Pat Grassley told the Des Moines Register he did not expect the bill to move.

Democrats have introduced an opposing bill that would codify Iowas 2009 Supreme Court decision that legalized same-sex marriage in Iowa, which also is not expected to move past the funnel deadline.

Republican bills

House Joint Resolution 8 would propose an amendment to the state constitution to include the passage:

In accordance with the laws of nature and natures God, the state of Iowa recognizes the definition of marriage to be the solemnized union between one human biological male and one human biological female.

In Iowa, a constitutional amendment must pass twice in separate legislative sessions before being sent to voters on a statewide ballot for referendum.

The reason I signed on was because in 2009, the Iowa Supreme Court made an unlawful decision to define marriage, Stoltenberg wrote in a text when asked why she co-sponsored the bill. It never went through the Legislature. So, if this Resolution goes through, it would go to a vote of the people of Iowa.

She added: I believe same-sex couples should have all the same rights and benefits of marriage in a civil union.

Stoltenberg acknowledged the bill probably wouldnt make it past the funnel.

Under a separate bill, Stoltenberg and Cisneros also co-sponsor, House File 508, no Iowan would be compelled to recognize a same-sex marriage and the state would recognize marriage as a sacred religious sacrament.

The bill would also aim to void in Iowa the federal Respect for Marriage Act, which requires states and the federal government to recognize the validity of same-sex marriages if they were performed in a state where its legal. The Act was signed in December by President Joe Biden and drew some Republican support.

The two bills introduced to the Iowa Legislature have drawn national attention and condemnation from the ACLU and LGBTQ advocacy groups.

Dems bill adds same-sex marriage to state law

House File 508, introduced by 30 House Democrats, would codify the 2009 Iowa Supreme Court ruling that made Iowa the third state in the country to allow same-sex marriage.

The bill would strike language in state code that recognized a valid marriage only as between a man and woman and replace it with any two eligible parties as long as they meet all other requirements of the law.

Davenport Democrat Ken Croken is one of the co-sponsors.

Other bills on abortion, gender identity

Stoltenberg campaigned as an anti-abortion activist and has taken her stance to the statehouse.

She was among a group of 20 lawmakers cosponsoring HF510, which would define life as beginning at conception while allowing citizens to file lawsuits against abortion providers.

The bill does carve out exceptions for in vitro fertilization, plan b or other emergency contraception, miscarriages, removing an ectopic pregnancy, medical emergencies or other care that is not intended to be an elective abortion.

Republican leaders in the Legislature and governors office have said they plan to wait to take up abortion legislation until the Iowa Supreme Court rules on a 2018 law that would ban abortions when a heartbeat can be detected by ultrasound.

Stoltenberg said she respected the leaderships position but wanted to introduce legislation in response to constituents requests.

I needed to represent the people who were asking for me to do that, Stoltenberg said.

Gender identity and school policies have also been hot topics in the Legislature this year. Stoltenberg was also among 12 Republicans to introduce a bill striking gender identity from the Iowa Civil Rights Act.

That bill does not have a subcommittee assigned. Another bill, backed by Republican leadership, would require parental consent if a student wanted accommodations for a gender different from the gender assigned at birth. Stoltenberg is a co-sponsor, as well as another Davenport lawmaker, Rep. Mike Vondran, R-Davenport.
Davenport has secured funding to replace a bridge near the Village of East Davenport after being closed since 2018.

The city closed the bridge, which carried traffic above Canadian Pacific railroad tracks and a deep ravine, on 13th Street between Mound and Kuehl streets because of structural concerns.

It followed the closing of a nearby bridge at Elm Street, which fielded more vehicle traffic, and was prioritized for replacement. The city began construction on that in 2021 and the new bridge is now open for vehicles.

Now, it's 13th Street's turn for a replacement, to the pleasure of several neighbors.

The railroad bridge is a staple of the Village Heights neighborhood, said Ann Davis, the president of the neighborhood association of the same name. Couples and students would come to the 1880s-era wooden bridge for picturesque photos, noted Tim Huey, the vice chair of the group.

The overpass bridge originally was built by the Davenport & St. Paul Railroad Co. as part of an agreement with the city to build the railroad, according to an 1873 news story in the Daily Davenport Democrat, unearthed by residents.

Davis was one of four members of the neighborhood group, formed in 2018 just before the bridge closed, to attend the meeting. They've been continuing to keep the bridge top of mind for aldermen by meeting regularly with their representatives and researching the history of the bridge.

Asked after the meeting what it meant for the group, Davis let out a deep sigh of relief.

"Finally, we really have it," Davis said with a laugh.

Huey noted the support for the bridge is not quite unanimous among neighbors  some prefer no traffic at all.

The city took over ownership of both the 13th Street and Elm Street bridges in 2019 in exchange for a $1.9 million payment from Canadian Pacific to help repair them. But city officials estimated at the time it would take more than $6 million to repair both.

The 13th Street bridge only got a fraction of the use of the Elm Street bridge, leading the city to prioritize it. The city's estimates of daily traffic on the 13th Street bridge averaged 370 vehicles a day while it was open.

The city now has $1.5 million secured from the Iowa Department of Transportation in "Federal-aid Funding" to go toward construction of the bridge. Aldermen will take a formal vote on the funding agreement next Wednesday.

The project will remove and dispose of all existing bridge components and replace it with a new bridge.

Davis and Huey would like the new bridge to keep in line with the character of the old bridge that drew visitors  perhaps wrought-iron railings and period lighting, Davis said.

Keeping the bridge at its current height was also important to the association  the city received a waiver to replace the slanted bridge at its current 19 feet instead of the standard 24 feet above the tracks.

At-large Ald. Kyle Gripp said the bridge is in an "ugly state of affairs right now," and called the $1.5 million "awesome news."

Gripp said he wanted to "encourage our staff to continue to work with the neighborhood, get engaged and understanding the history of the bridge and its relationship to the neighborhood and ... just making sure the bridge fits the neighborhood."

"I'm so excited to see these folks that have been working so hard, and so diligently in this neighborhood to see this come to light," said 5th Ward Ald. Tim Kelly, who represents the area.
Ray Hespen and David Kingman found a solution to streamline the way tenants and property managers communicate. That solution is now worth millions and a recent investment has positioned the company to grow.

Property Meld, founded by the duo, is a property management maintenance solution that streamlines and automates the maintenance process for renters. Now the company has received $15 million in private equity funds known as Series B funding. The round of funding was led by private equity firm Frontier Growth from Charlotte, North Carolina.

Hespen, who is also the company's CEO, compared finding an investor to a dance, where first you must feel each other out and decide if it's a good fit.

"Investors want to bet on winners. But we also have to pick an investor that will add a lot of value for this next stage," Hespen said. "We felt really good about the partnership after doing that kind of dance."

Finding a willing dance partner was difficult, because Property Meld was committed to staying in Rapid City. Being one of the only software companies in the area, it put pressure on his team to make the case that they have a talented workforce, proper training, and other characteristics needed for a company to be successful, Hespen said.

Community impact

As Property Meld becomes a larger and better known company, those created in Rapid City after it will face fewer challenges, Hespen said. Not only is the funding a major milestone for them but for the Innovation District.

"To have a tech company reach this stage puts a spotlight on the community," Hespen said. "The more successful that our organization is the more it greases the skids for the second and third Property Meld. The Innovation District will continue to generate the capital that shows it's a great community to invest. This making it an ecosystem for growth."

Graduating from South Dakota Mines, Hespen knows the ecosystem well and is a prime example of a company benefiting from what the Innovation District has to offer. From its founding in 2015 in a basement, Property Meld moved into the Ascent Innovation Center, then to a small downtown office, and then to its newly constructed building.

Much of Property Meld's steady growth is a result of an abundance of mentorship in the area, especially from Todd Gagne, co-founder of Wildfire Labs, a Rapid City software accelerator, Hespen said. After spending 30 years on the east coast working with business-to-business software, Gagne wanted to share his expertise with the Midwest.

"I wanted to find software companies in the region and share some of the experiences I've had. When I found Ray and David, I loved their idea and it's a problem that every apartment ends up having," Gagne said. "Ray was trying to build sales process without a lot of experience or methodology. But he's a sponge and has the ability to constantly learn from his mistakes and mine--which I made a lot of in my career."

Gagne visits Property Meld for three hours every Thursday. Thirty minutes with development, 90 minutes with Ray and an hour customer success.

Solving a problem

The original idea for Property Meld was conceived when Kingman had poor maintenance experiences while living in Albuquerque, New Mexico. The two noticed a problem with property management companies' maintenance processes. After spending time with firms trying to understand why the negative experience was happening, the two realized technology could be the solution.

Kingman's experience is common and is instrumental in the often turbulent relationship between renters and property managers. Hespen believes his company's technology can mitigate the issue by allowing property managers to schedule, track, and communicate work orders all in a single web-based platform. The increased efficiency could give property managers time to focus on growth, enhance repair speed, and ensure resident satisfaction.

"Everybody wins if we optimize the resource. Investors are spending less money executing maintenance and residents stay longer because they're getting a better experience," Hespen said. "It makes their relationship non-adversarial. It actually points towards a very common goal."

Since Atrium Management Company first started using Property Meld's platform in 2018, they have grown from managing 900 units to 5,000. Its owner, Michael Kraus, says the platform is a game changer.

"They have really transformed the way we handle our maintenance. It allows vendors and residents to communicate directly via text which takes the property managers out of the middle. It really eliminates a constant struggle with communication," Kraus said. "We've seen increased maintenance satisfaction which directly and positively correlates with resident retention. It's a beautiful thing, I don't know what we'd do without them."

Series B: What it means

CEO of Elevate Rapid City Tom Johnson said Series B funding is very difficult to acquire. Typically a company begins with seed funding from family and friends to create the product or service, then initial investors give series A funding for the company to enter the market and if the company appears to be scalable, Series B may be awarded.

"That's why it's such a big deal. Companies that get Series B funding have proven that they are not struggling to earn revenue and have national and international exposure," Johnson said. "The market is saying Property Meld has something to believe in and that really hasn't happened in this area, where the market has given private equity to Rapid City, South Dakota."

There are approximately 56 employees at Property Meld, of which about 20% work remotely. In 2023, Hespen hopes to use the funding to double their sales and labor force. If they do, they will outgrow their current building capacity of around 100. Hespen predicts he will need to purchase a new building by the middle of next year which the Series B funding will allow them to do.

"Series B is a big milestone. I think the next big milestone is building a campus. Once we get to that point we'll become a predominant employer in the area. The workers would be earning a great wage and we would be attracting even more capital to the area," Hespen said.

Though companies like Property Meld employ many engineers and computer scientists, they are not the majority of jobs the company offers.

"Some people might think that because we're a tech company our workers are all computer programmers, but probably 65% of our workers aren't coding," Hespen said. "We hire a bunch of marketers and sales people. We're really training the next generation of salespeople here."

Property Meld services around 450,000 rentals managed by around 700 companies across the US and Canada. Close to a million renters get the Property Meld experience according to Hespen. Since its founding, the company has facilitated 1.7 million maintenance requests and $550 million in maintenance repairs.

As for being in Rapid City, Hespen said, "We need the support of the community to make sure that we can stay here, build here, hire here and train here."
South Dakota Mines students, staff, faculty and community members will host the Techstars Startup Weekend Rapid City on March 24, 25 and 26. Techstars Startup Weekend is an immersive foray into the world of startup businesses. Participants will meet mentors, investors, co-founders and sponsors during a weekend of brainstorming, group business planning sessions, pitching, judging and awards. Business ideas on any topic are welcome.

Techstars Startup Weekend will take place in the Devereaux Library Makerspace on the Mines campus and at Elevates David Lust Accelerator Building, or DLAB, on Main Street. Go to eventbrite.com/e/techstars-startup-weekend-rapid-city-tickets-560102580897 to register. There is a $25 registration fee for students and a $50 fee for all community members. The cost includes meals brought in from favorite local restaurants.

Its the entire gamut of business creation, said Joseph Wright, associate vice president for research and economic development on the Mines campus. Some people come with an idea to pitch and many of the business ideas are created on the spot.

This helps anyone who is serious about starting a business make those next steps to see their idea come to life, Wright said.

Startup weekends were successful annual events in Rapid City before the pandemic. John Barbour, a South Dakota Mines student, attended two previous startup events and has since launched his own successful company, CounSil, LLC, now located in the DLAB. The business helps meet software needs for the Department of Defense thanks to support from the National Security Innovation Network.

Barbour said past startup weekend events were instrumental in his own current success, and he wants to see entrepreneurship expand in Rapid City.

One of the big reasons Im motivated to do this is that a lot of people think they dont have a good idea that is worthy of a new business. Startup weekend changes your mindset. It helps you take a look at solving problems first and then starting a business with that solution, said Barbour, a chemical engineering major at Mines and the president of the Innovation Club on campus.

Mines student Adan Rodriguez is helping to organize Techstars Startup Weekend and will attend for the first time. He is excited to learn more about entrepreneurship.

I dont have a lot of general experience with business creation, so I am looking forward to taking part in this to build my skillset, said Rodriguez, a mechanical engineering major and member of the Innovation Club on campus.
Physician-owned Rapid City Medical Center will offer the Future Healthcare Heroes Scholarship to 2023 high school seniors in the Black Hills region.

$5,000 in total scholarships will be given to graduating seniors who attend a higher education program in the fall of 2023. The student must be accepted and enrolled in the program to receive their winnings. Students will apply by submitting a 1,500-2,500 word essay that answers the question, What is my role in changing the community through a career in healthcare?

Students interested in pursuing healthcare careers in the fields of Nursing (LPN, RN, CNP), Pre-Med (MD, PA-C, DO), Lab Tech, Med Aide, or Research are invited to apply. Students must currently be enrolled in a Black Hills area high school or homeschool and meet the graduation requirements in South Dakota.

A panel of retired RCMC physician partners will select recipients who will receive up to $5,000 to one or more persons. Students may submit applications between now and April 15.
A Pennington County judge recused herself from an animal neglect case Thursday at the arraignment of 65-year-old Lauri Jobbins of Rapid City, whose attorney appeared on her behalf.

Jobbins is charged with 13 counts of aiding and abetting neglect, abandonment or mistreatment of an animal. The charges are each Class 1 misdemeanors with a maximum of one year in the county jail and a $2,000 fine.

Magistrate Judge Sarah Morrison recused herself because she is "related to individuals involved in the investigation."

Jobbins' charges are identical to what her husband, 72-year-old Kenneth Jobbins, faces. His arraignment was on Jan. 23 before Magistrate Judge Scott Bogue. Both Kenneth and Lauri have been released on their own recognizance.

According to the indictment bearing the couples' names, the neglected animals included eight dead horses, a donkey with overgrown hooves, a mare with a body condition score of 2, and two mares with body condition scores of 3.

Body condition scores are based on fat buildup and bone visibility, according to the Bureau of Land Management. The scoring goes from a 1, poor or extremely emaciated, to a score of 9, extremely fat. A 2 is considered very thin or emaciated while a 3 is considered thin.

The Jobbins' charges came after the Pennington County Sheriff's Office conducted a search warrant on Jan. 5 at the Jobbins' rural property on the 5000 block of 143rd Avenue north of Rapid City and seized 14 horses and two donkeys.

A Pennington County judge awarded the ownership of the animals to Happy Tails Haven Horse Rescue, a Piedmont rescue operation. The sheriff's office said the transfer of ownership was done with the agreement of Kenneth Jobbins.

The Central States Fairground staff assisted by providing space for the animals rehabilitation, according to the sheriff's office.

Lauri Jobbins is scheduled to appear in court at 1 p.m. April 3 for a status hearing before Magistrate Judge Todd Hyronimus. Her lawyer said he suspects they will reach a plea deal with the state and that will turn into a change of plea hearing.

Kenneth Jobbins is scheduled to appear in court at 1 p.m. March 23 for a status hearing.
South Dakota received nearly $14 billion in federal COVID-19 funding from March 2020 through January, according to an internal state fiscal report obtained exclusively by South Dakota News Watch.

The document tallies the $13.84 billion intended to help governments, businesses, organizations and individuals survive and recover from a pandemic that killed 1 million Americans and more than 3,100 South Dakotans.

The federal funding came from six separate acts of Congress and was part of an overall $4.6 trillion in federal COVID-19 aid provided to states.

State government received about $4.2 billion, while the remaining $9.6 billion went directly to local governments, health care providers, the education system, businesses and individuals, according to Gov. Kristi Noems office.

The specific answer of where the money went lies amid a complicated conglomeration of spending initiatives undertaken by the state, local governments and federal agencies. The effort sought to save lives, protect a fragile economy, and provide a sense of normalcy to how people will live in a post-pandemic world.

The state report reveals that multi-million-dollar initiatives were enacted to diagnose and treat people with COVID-19; to reduce further infections and provide life-saving vaccines; to help businesses stay afloat and keep individual workers employed, fed and in their homes; to provide critical aid to low-income and elderly populations; and to help educate children and adults during a massive disruption in the public education system.

The state report notes that some of the stimulus money was allocated but has not yet been spent. Some funding may have shifted from one program or agency to another after it was received.

U.S. Sen. Mike Rounds, R-S.D., said the early days of the pandemic were a time of strong bipartisan efforts by Congress to provide states with the funding and resources necessary to battle one of the biggest crises in American history.

The context was one of a national emergency, he told News Watch. And it was a matter of trying to save lives and at the same time to prevent a total economic collapse because of what was anticipated to be a very severe pandemic.

Noem declined a request for an interview but through her spokesman said the state used the federal stimulus money wisely to aid the state during the pandemic.

Spokesman Ian Fury said in an email to News Watch that the governor approached use of federal pandemic funding in a conservative fashion. She rejected former President Donald Trumps offer of extended unemployment benefits for state workers in August 2020 and also sent back more than $80 million in rental assistance.

We focused on solving long-term problems with one-time investments rather than creating new government programs, Fury wrote. We are confident that we utilized that money more wisely than other states would have.

Tim Rave, CEO of the South Dakota Association of Health Care Organizations, said the federal funding provided to public and private health care providers in South Dakota is unquestionably a large amount.

The big thing it bought was access, because without that money, its not hard to imagine closures of health care facilities or limits on services. And when you start taking away access to health care, it ultimately leads to loss of life or increased burdens on families and patients, Rave said.

Rounds said Trump and Congress allocated funding to states and allowed some leeway on how money was spent on the local level.

If anything, we erred on the high side in terms of authorizing resources, Rounds said. There was a concern if we did nothing, there was a concern we could lose 5% of our population.

Resting at the center of the entire COVID-19 pandemic, the health care industry in South Dakota endured some of the toughest challenges and also received some of the largest federal funding levels in response.

The state Department of Health received more than $282 million in federal funding, and the state medical industry was allocated hundreds of millions more to diagnose, treat and respond to patients sickened by the coronavirus.

Urban and rural hospitals received another $445 million in other pandemic aid known as Provider Relief Funds that did not flow through the state health department.

The federal funding helped keep people healthy in other ways.

About $100 million was provided to provide food and nutrition to families and schoolchildren. Another $235 million was provided in additional unemployment compensation to people who could not work during the pandemic.

Some of the federal funding went directly to help nursing homes and other long-term care facilities in South Dakota stay open and as safe as possible during the pandemic, said Mark Deak, executive director of the South Dakota Health Care Association.

In South Dakota, skilled nursing facilities received about $145 million overall in federal pandemic funding, which helped keep facilities open and keep staff and residents alive, Deak said in an email to News Watch.

This funding was absolutely crucial during the height of the pandemic, he wrote.

A sense of pure panic struck businesses both small and large across South Dakota in the spring of 2020 as initial fears of the pandemic brought supply chains and customer visits in large part to a halt.

The state Bureau of Finance and Management was the single-largest recipient of federal pandemic funds among all state departments, receiving almost $2.9 billion, according to the state fiscal report.

But huge amounts of federal funds flowed to South Dakota businesses and employees without moving through state agencies.

More than $2.7 billion went to businesses to keep employees on the payroll through the Paycheck Protection Program of 2021. Another $895 million in 30-year Economic Injury Disaster Loans were offered to small businesses and non-profit organizations in 2021. The state report also includes line items for Economic Impact Payments to businesses of $795 million under the CARES Act and another $1.1 billion in Economic Impact Payments that are available through the ongoing American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA).

With nearly 24,000 students, 1,800 teachers and nearly 40 instructional buildings, the Sioux Falls School District had two main objectives in the pandemic, according to Kirk Zeeck, director of federal programs and language immersion for the district.

We took steps to help kids and staff be safe and yet still try to get some learning done, he said.

The Sioux Falls district received about $58 million of that money, which was used the past three years and into this school year for a variety of efforts to keep schools and students on track, Zeeck said.

Brian Maher, executive director of the South Dakota Board of Regents, said the federal government provided about $86 million to the regental system over roughly the past three years and about $83 million of that funding has been spent so far.

The pandemic hit South Dakota farmers, ranchers and food processors hard, especially in the early days, said Scott VanderWal of the South Dakota Farm Bureau.

The primary program that helped farmers, ranchers and other producers was the Coronavirus Food Assistance Program. The state report shows that nearly $1.4 billion in funding from that program was or will be provided directly to agriculture producers hit with price declines and additional marketing costs.

South Dakotans in the agriculture industry also benefited from the state Coronavirus Relief Fund, a part of the federal CARES Act, which provided roughly a half-billion dollars to nearly 6,000 businesses and individuals in 2021 who suffered losses due to the pandemic. About $71 million of that money went to the agriculture, forestry and fishing industries, according to state records.

The CARES Act of March 2020 provided two separate allocations specifically to U.S. tribal governments, including $400 million under the Operation of Indian Programs appropriation and an $8 billion funding effort for tribes within the Coronavirus Relief Fund.

The ARPA program signed by President Joe Biden in 2021 has a $20 billion funding allocation specifically for tribal governments.

The Rosebud Sioux Tribe in central South Dakota invested federal fiscal recovery funds to build affordable housing on the reservation, according to the Treasury.

The Sissteon-Wahpeton Oyate in northeastern South Dakota embarked on several spending initiatives to help keep residents safe during the pandemic. The tribe used federal money to build a COVID-19 quarantine and recovery center next to a local Indian Health Services hospital to keep infected residents isolated and prevent further spread of the coronavirus.
The company working to open a gold and copper mine outside Cheyenne submitted its application last month to the Wyoming Department of Environmental Qualitys Industrial Siting Council.

If everything goes smoothly, Nevada-based U.S. Gold Corp expects to start construction at the site of the old Copper King Mine in early 2024 and open the new mine toward the end of 2025. It projects that operations will last for about a decade, create over 300 long-term jobs and generate roughly $75 million in tax revenue.

U.S. Gold Corps request for an industrial siting permit comes about five months after it applied to the Department of Environmental Quality for permission to open the mine  an extensive review that could take more than a year to complete.

Wyomings Industrial Siting process is intended to ensure communities across the state are prepared to accommodate the activities and needs of multi-hundred-million-dollar developments.

The Industrial Siting is kind of those outside-the-fence activities and impacts, whereas the mine permit itself is more of inside-the-fence, said Jason Begger, the projects spokesperson.

With an anticipated  but not yet finalized  price tag over $253.9 million, U.S. Gold Corps proposal comes in above the states price threshold for an industrial siting permit, Begger said. Earlier estimates were slightly below the Industrial Siting cutoff.

Traffic is one issue the company, with the help of a Wyoming-based consulting firm, is evaluating for the permit. Water is another.

Earlier, we did sign an agreement with Cheyenne Board of Public Utilities, that they would sell us the water necessary to conduct the mining activities, Begger said. But part of industrial siting is, the State Engineer's Office does a third-party analysis, to ensure adequate water supplies really will be available.

Its been a long time  many decades  since a hardrock mine opened on state lands in Wyoming. Thats added another layer of complexity to the permitting process, Begger said. The state government employees who knew how it used to work have all moved on or retired.

In recent decades, U.S. companies have focused on the biggest, most lucrative deposits of gold, copper and other metals, like those found in Nevada. But prices are up and expected to remain high, and demand is forecast to grow, boosting the appeal of smaller deposits like Wyomings.

After a number of false starts by other companies at the site over the years, the projects economics finally make sense for another reason, too. The technology has come a long ways, to really be able to maximize how much you can get out of an ore body, Begger said.

Cyanide heap leaching, a method still used to extract gold from ore at some of the countrys gold mines, wouldnt be effective on gold and copper, he said. U.S. Gold Corp plans to rely on newer floatation mechanisms that are more effective  and less ecologically destructive  at multi-metal mines.

Its industrial siting hearing is scheduled for May 10.

This story has been updated to correct the cost of the project. It is over the Industrial Siting Council's threshold.

Photos: Panning for gold on Casper Mountain Gold Prospecting in Casper Gold Prospecting in Casper Gold Prospecting in Casper Gold Prospecting in Casper Gold Prospecting in Casper Gold Prospecting in Casper Gold Prospecting in Casper Gold Prospecting in Casper Gold Prospecting in Casper Gold Prospecting in Casper
The Scouts of the Square Table patrol of Boy Scout Troop 1962 of Corvallis and Hamilton finished first in the annual Klondike Derby Campout competition held 12 miles up Miller Creek in Missoula last weekend.

Scoutmaster Garrett Middleton said the event was the perfect challenge for the kids who had been preparing.

Ten inches of snow was on the ground, and scouts slept two nights as the mercury dropped to 11 degrees, he said. Be Prepared is the scout motto, and these young men worked for the past month to be ready for a cold and exciting weekend of outdoor skills, cooking and camping.

Scouts started the weekend by setting up tents and the camp, lighting a campfire and warming their stew. They worked in their patrols to check and double-check for the items they needed to trek across open meadows and into the woods on the 5-mile orienteering course.

Bright and early Saturday morning, scouts hopped out of their tents into the snow, made a fire, cooked and ate a nutritious breakfast. They met with over 60 other scouts from across western Montana for a presentation of flags, Scout Law and to recite the Scout Oath.

Middleton said the scouts participated in Klondike challenges that required precise scouting skills.

They were given directions about the course that is designed to only use a compass to find seven different waypoints, Middleton said. Once the 13 different scout patrols received their GPS coordinates, they started hiking into the unknown to reach an outpost with an outdoor skill and activity. If the scouts lost their bearing, they had to backtrack to where they started from to get a better reading.

Scouts found their way to stations that included challenges of starting a fire, first aid, orienteering, blindfolded tent shelter construction and building a catapult launcher with lashings.

When arriving at the activity, they are judged on cohesion, scout spirit, effort and communication, Middleton said. Their compass read true as they made it to each station without error.

It took Troop 1962 six hours to complete all the challenges. Scouts earned gold nuggets, which they turned in at the end of the day to deduct time off their final score.

Seventh-grade scout Payton Harbin said the weekend was great. His favorite part was the gathering of people enjoying the events."

The Scouts of the Square Table of Troop 1962 of Corvallis and Hamilton came in first with 21 points. The Zesty Zambonis of Troop 1911 of Missoula received second with 60 points, and the Atomic Pine Cones of Troop 1115 of Florence came in third place with 125 points.

Middleton said Scouts BSA is always looking to add youth ages 11-17 to their troops located across the state. To find a troop to join, go to beascout.scouting.org. Contact Middleton at 406-381-0370 for more information about scouting in the Bitterroot.
A new bus assembly plant co-built by Chinese and Saudi firms has started production in Egypt, with the first batch of transport buses expected to roll off the assembly line soon. #GLOBALink





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World-renowned animal behaviorist and advocate for autistic people, Dr. Temple Grandin, will be speaking at the Hamilton High School Performing Arts Center on March 24, and will be signing books at the HEARTism Center in Corvallis on March 23.

Grandin, a professor of animal science at Colorado State University, was formally diagnosed with autism as an adult and has shown throughout her career how thinking differently gave her insights that helped revolutionize the cattle industry. Her research into animal behavior and the development of a conveyor system used in slaughterhouses changed the cattle industry by redesigning the way livestock are handled.

Grandin is a prominent advocate for the humane treatment of livestock for slaughter as well as a spokesperson for autistic people. In 2010, Grandin was named in Time magazines list of the 100 most influential people and her life was made into an HBO film, Temple Grandin starring Claire Danes. She is also the author of multiple books including New York Times bestsellers Visual Thinking and Animals in Translation. Grandin was inducted into the National Womens Hall of Fame and was named one of the Top 10 Best College Professors in the U.S. in 2020. She recently published a guest essay in the New York Times titled Society Is Failing Visual Thinkers, and That Hurts Us All.

People who are neurodiverse bring important perspectives and skill sets to science, event organizer and Rocky Mountain Laboratories scientist Karin Peterson said. Autism spectrum disorder and neurodiversity are of high interest in science and local communities.

Peterson said attendees can expect to hear Grandin discuss ways to interact with people who are autistic or otherwise neurodiverse, so their skills and talents are brought forward. Having an understanding and awareness of neurodiversity is important for society.

Grandin, who was nonverbal until age 4, was given the formal diagnosis of brain damage in 1949 when she was 2. The diagnosis was later dismissed after cerebral imaging as an adult. When Grandin was in her midteens, her mother came across a diagnostic checklist for autism that she felt best described her daughters symptoms. Grandin would later go on to be diagnosed as an autistic savant.

Certified autism specialist Jessica Fitzpatrick of the HEARTism Community Center in Corvallis will also be speaking at the Hamilton event. Fitzpatrick is the mother of an autistic child and is on the autism spectrum herself. She founded the HEARTism center and provides services for autistic and neurodiverse children in the Bitterroot Valley and their families.

At HEARTism, we offer opportunities for children to thrive in a sensory friendly, supported environment and find success for a life beyond labels, Fitzpatrick said.

Grandin will be signing books at the HEARTism Center in Corvallis on March 23 at 6 p.m. Her presentation titled Developing Different Kinds of Minds starts at 7 p.m. March 24 at the Hamilton High School Performing Arts Center. Grandins presentation will explore how to support people who learn through different approaches, such as visual versus auditory learners, according to statement released by RML. The event is free and open to the public.
When Richmond Black Restaurant Week started seven years ago, co-founders Amy Wentz, Shemicia Bowen and Kelli Lemon saw it as an opportunity.

Richmond was getting on the map nationally as a foodie town and we wanted to make sure the world knew how much Black restaurants contribute to that narrative, Wentz said.

In its first year, 20 restaurants participated. This year, there are 44 participating restaurants in the event which has expanded into the Richmond Black Restaurant Experience, kicking off this Sunday.

At Mobile Soul Sunday over 25 Black-owned food trucks will be setting up shop in Monroe Park for attendees to purchase food, alongside music, vendors and family fun from noon to 5 p.m.

The grand finale takes place on March 12, with Stick a Fork In It, a showcase of Black caterers and chefs at Main Street Station from noon to 5 p.m. The event includes small plates, food tastings, cooking demonstrations and competitions, live music, and a Future Chefs Corner for children. General admission tickets cost $10. VIP tickets cost $50 and include access to a VIP tasting lounge, reserved seating for demonstrations, exclusive access to a private bar and a gift bag.

Throughout the week, Richmonders are encouraged to visit and support Black-owned restaurants. Because participating restaurants range from casual takeout to fine dining and from soul food to African cuisine, there isnt a set meal type or price, but some restaurants offer specials throughout the week. You can download a passport checklist listing all participants at rbre365.com.

Its about uplifting and supporting Black-owned restaurants, Wentz said.

Over the years, the organization has grown into a community of restaurant owners who also gather to support one another. It has also drawn over $1.7 million in revenue for its participating network, according to RBRE organizers.

Business owners have been able to renovate their storefronts, upgrade technology, hire and train staff, and expand their brick & mortar locations.

To be honest, Im still in disbelief RBRE has been in existence for seven years, Lemon, who owns Urban Hang Suite in Jackson Ward and works at the Richmond Times-Dispatch as the director of streaming video, said. We really started it because of the need for our Black hospitality brands in general to just be seen. Not only are they seen now, they are growing. They are prospering.

The restaurants participating in RBRE will allow visitors to try everything from Caribbean and Ethiopian, to soul food, Southern barbecue and more.

We want to energize folks to visit restaurants they havent been to, Wentz said.

Here are five of the many types of food you can try at Richmond Black Restaurant Experience:

African Cuisine at Addis Ethiopian Restaurant

Have you experienced the joy that is scooping up mouthfuls of flavorful stew with hearty, spongy injera bread? Find it at Addis (9 N. 17th St.) where owner Dilnessaw Bitew opened his own restaurant after having to travel to Washington D.C. to find the food he grew up eating. We suggest you order either the specialty meat plate or the vegetarian plate, both of which allow you to select several dishes to get a sampling of Ethiopian spicesdont skip the misir wot, made with red lentils cooked in Ethiopias famous berbere spice blend.

Eastern Caribbean Cuisine at Charles Kitchen

Charles Kitchen (10835 W. Broad St.), which opened an expanded location in Henrico in June, focuses on Eastern Caribbean cuisine with curries, stews and even a St. Lucian herb-style chicken. Try the popular coconut garlic shrimp or the curried vegetables with English cucumbers with a side of flaky roti flatbread thats made fresh daily.

Western Caribbean Cuisine at M&F Jamaican Cafe

Food-truck-turned-brick-and-mortar, M&F Jamaican Cafe (1400 Semmes Ave.) is a Manchester staple for jerk chicken, oxtail, fried plantains and curried vegetables. If youre new to Jamaican fare, go for a combo plate, which allows you to sample two meat dishes with cabbage, rice and beans.

Asian Fusion at Wok This Way

A collaboration between the LX Group (Juans Rooftop & Cantina, NAMA, Kabana) and Trey Owens (formerly of Soul Taco and JewFro) recently opened Wok This Way at 13 W. Broad St., shares a space with Switch, which also remains open downstairs. The menu is Asian street food-inspired with dim sum, shareable, entrees, rice and noodle dishes. Stop in for lobster rangoon, vegan curry puffs and bao buns with ground lamb in a rock-and-roll themed environment. And, during the month of March, one dollar from every purchase of a drink made with Uncle Nearest Premium Whiskey will be donated to historically Black colleges and universities.

North Carolina-Style Barbecue at Pig & Brew

Millennial business savvy combines with 20-plus years of culinary experience at Pig & Brew in Blackwell (1313 Hull St.). Lammar Johnson mans the front-of-house whipping up cocktails like The Blackwell featuring tequila, blackberry puree, simple syrup, lime juice and Sprite, while his godfather Lamont Hawkins mans the pit turning out popular pork spare ribs and burnt ends. Their talents combine for the Hillbilly Fries, which are topped with cheese, bacon and pulled pork or chicken.

These are just a few of the 44 participating restaurants in the Richmond Black Restaurant Experience. To get a full list, go to rbre365.com.

PHOTOS: Richmond Black Restaurant Experience Mobile Soul Sunday Mobile Soul Sunday Mobile Soul Sunday Mobile Soul Sunday Pig & Brew Pig & Brew Pig & Brew Pig & Brew Charles Kitchen Charles Kitchen Charles Kitchen Wok This Way Wok This Way Wok This Way Wok This Way Wok This Way
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Now that spring is almost here, it seemed like a good time to take down the Christmas decorations.

Its not entirely because Im lazy (OK, maybe partially). Actually, we have a good excuse: because our son wasnt coming home until early February after a year living in Mongolia, we decided to leave the trees lighted in the windows and the Santa sleigh (that my grandfather fashioned out of a beer can or some other scrap metal from at least 60 years ago) on the mantel, so he could celebrate Christmas with us.

And we did indeed celebrate Christmas in February after Jack arrived home on an unseasonably warm winter day  completing a three-flight, 21-hour journey that featured a 90-degree temperature change from when he left Ulaanbaatar, the Mongolian capital, where the low that day was dipping close to -30 degrees Fahrenheit.

Back in December, we had enjoyed a long-distance Christmas with him: ringing him up and taking him with us, so to speak, as we drove around looking at Christmas lights, holding up our phone so he could watch right along with us  more than 6,000 miles away. We did the same on Christmas Day, keeping an open line to him as we sat around the house. He hung out with us for hours as we opened gifts and maintained a festive banter, but by early afternoon (our time) it was already the wee hours of the next morning for him and he ran out of gas. How did we know? We heard him snoring.

All of which brings me to the real reason Im writing this: Al Schalow.

As we were taking the ornaments off the tree the other night, my wife said, You should write about Al again.

Schalow came up in conversation because an entire section of our tree was filled with homemade ornaments Schalow has crafted and generously sent to me for the past 13 Christmases.

This all started soon after Christmas 2009 when I wrote a column about Schalow and his tradition of saving the trunks of his familys Christmas tree each year. Using knives, saws and assorted carving tools, Schalow would spend the following year fashioning ornaments from the wood of those tree trunks and giving them to members of his family as Christmas presents. The ornaments are often very personal, representing some significant event in the lives of his wife, children and grandchildren.

I enjoyed my visit to Schalows Midlothian home, and it was a fun column to write. The next December, the mail brought an envelope from Schalow. Inside was one of his ornaments. I was touched and grateful and honored that he considered including me in his family tradition. Then he sent another the next Christmas. And the next. And the next. His ornaments have become highlights of our Christmases, and I tell him that every year.

Each years ornament (and sometimes there were more than one) was something very personal to me  whether it be something related to the Back Roads series Bob Brown and I used to do, including a piece of pie; miniature covers of books Ive written; the logo of the university Jack attended; or a wonderfully detailed signpost the year my family took a trip out West (one of the arrows pointed to Standin On The Corner Park in Winslow, Ariz., which was such a fine sight to see). The level of detail is astounding.

The first year of COVID-19, he asked me to email him a screenshot from a Zoom call our family held while we were apart from each other, and he somehow replicated it on an ornament.

Schalow is talented, observant and very kind.

He started making the ornaments around the time he and his family moved into their home in Midlothian in 1969, Schalow told me when I called the other day to see how hes doing (and to thank him again for years of little Christmas joys). He recalled saving pieces of the familys Christmas tree that year, taking them into the garage and using his table saw and a few tools, whatever and transforming those scraps of wood into tiny ornaments. There was a snowman and a few other things.

I said, Well, maybe well put them on the tree next year, he said. Then it kind of got going after that.

At one point, Schalow got busy with his job  he worked as a pharmacist  and he missed a year of making ornaments. Daughter Michele came to him and told him how much she enjoyed the ornaments, and Would you go back to doing them?

I thought, well, if it means that much to her, I certainly would do that, he recalled. Each year since then, Ive tried to do it and tried to make special things for the children.

Thats more than 50 years of meaningful ornaments.

The tradition must go on as long as I go on, he said.

Hes persevered through a lot to keep it going in recent years, including the death of one of his children, daughter Kim in 2016, and tearing a ligament in his right wrist while helping a neighbor take out a tree and stump.

But I didnt know, until he told me during our phone call, that he had been diagnosed with prostate cancer seven years ago, and now the cancer has spread, something he hasnt shared widely.

I set goals for myself, and try to do the best that I can, he said. I still bicycle, and still get out in the yard and try to do things.

Schalow turns 85 in a couple of weeks, and he acknowledges it feels like things are getting more difficult.

Making ornaments has been kind of tough on me the last couple of years, but he makes himself do it. Part of it is the whole goal-setting mentality, but part of it, too, is the motivation of doing something for somebody else. Especially, he said, Christmas surprises.

Everybody likes to be surprised, he said.

Schalow and his wife, Janice, have been married for 61 years. A wonderful 61 years, he said. They have three children, five grandchildren and their first great-grandchild is due this summer. Daughter Michele, who helped keep the ornament tradition going all those years ago, was the Hanover Christmas Mother this past holiday season. Granddaughter Callie, a junior at Auburn University, has decided to follow in her grandfathers footsteps and has already been accepted into pharmacy school.

We talk medicine, Schalow said with a laugh. Shes going to make a wonderful pharmacist.

Schalow told me it was fine to mention the health battle hes fighting as long as I didnt make it too maudlin.

I dont want to elicit sympathy or anything like that, he said. Schalow hopes that by talking about what hes going through he can serve as an example that you dont give up when youre up against the kinds of things hes up against.

Schalows kept a diary for the last seven years on how I feel about things, how you get through things.

I think my last present that I can give to my children and grandchildren is how to die with dignity, he said. How to take whatever comes along and handle things, to make it easier for everybody else.

Before we said goodbye on the phone, I told Schalow again how saddened I was to learn about his situation. He told me not to worry.

God has me by the hand, he said.

Recognize this? 1950s photos from The Times-Dispatch archives Richmond in the 50s Richmond in the 50s Richmond in the 50s Richmond in the 50s Richmond in the 50s Richmond in the 50s Richmond in the 50s Richmond in the 50s Richmond in the 50s Richmond in the 50s Richmond in the 50s Richmond in the 50s Richmond in the 50s Richmond in the 50s Robinson and Newcombe Richmond in the 50s (236).jpg Richmond in the 50s (235).jpg Richmond in the 50s (233).jpg Richmond in the 50s (234).jpg Richmond in the 50s (231).jpg Richmond in the 50s (232).jpg Richmond in the 50s (229).jpg Richmond in the 50s (230).jpg 1954 Branch House 1956 Richmond Virginians Richmond in the 50s Richmond in the 50s Richmond in the 50s Richmond in the 50s Richmond in the 50s Richmond in the 50s Richmond in the 50s Richmond in the 50s Richmond in the 50s Richmond in the 50s Richmond in the 50s Richmond in the 50s Richmond in the 50s Richmond in the 50s Richmond in the 50s Richmond in the 50s Richmond in the 50s Richmond in 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Three more animal cruelty charges were filed Thursday in the case of Byrd Rareshide, a former Virginia horse show judge who stands accused of starving retired show horses entrusted to her by owners from around the world.

Rareshide owns The Byrds Nest Farm in the 4200 block of Tabscott Road in Goochland County.

Ten animal cruelty charges were announced by county animal control officials on Feb. 18. The three additional charges bring the total to 13.

Each charge corresponds to a horse in her care, confirmed Goochland County Commonwealth Attorney Mike Caudill.

Caudill could not confirm the reason for the delayed charges, but said they were filed as additional veterinary reports were returned to Goochland County Animal Control and Protection.

The horses were scattered to stables throughout Virginia after a Facebook post by horse owner Kimberly St. John went viral on Feb. 5.

In the post, St. John said that a vet who had visited Rareshides retirement farm found her horse, Loki, in emaciated condition.

In a matter of days, other owners arranged to remove as many as 15 horses from Rareshides care.

Veterinarians who recovered Rareshides horses noted that several had heart murmurs consistent with starvation.

One has already been euthanized since its removal from Rareshides farm, according to Rebecca Kramer, a veterinarian at Keswick Equine Clinic.

In Virginia, horses are technically classified as livestock animals, not companion animals. Caudill, the prosecutor, said the distinction presents hurdles when animal control actually needs to remove animals.

In the courtroom, however, Caudill said the distinction wouldnt affect the animal cruelty charges for which Rareshide is being prosecuted. Under Virginia code, animal cruelty can be charged when an accused deprives any animal of necessary food, drink, shelter, or emergency veterinary treatment.

Rareshide has said that she looks forward to proving her innocence. In previous interviews, Rareshide denied intentionally starving the horses, and argued the horses she sees are typically older, have issues with their teeth, or have disease. She said those reasons explain why it was harder for some to keep weight on during the winter.

As desperately as I try not to make that happen, that is what happens, said Rareshide.

Rareshide served as a judge for the Virginia Horse Show Association. As recently as January, Rareshides name was included on a public list of horse judges maintained by the organization, but her name has since been removed. The VHSA did not respond to requests for comment on her removal.

Rareshides case heads to trial on June 29.

Looking back: Horse racing in The Times-Dispatch photo archives Horse racing Varina Races First Landing Master Boing Symphonic Markham
The College of William & Mary has extended its policy that does not require undergraduate applicants to submit standardized test scores.

The decision comes after a three-year pilot program in which the university experimented with going test-optional.

When the pandemic started, most colleges decided not to require SAT or ACT scores in applications because testing events were canceled.

Now, some schools are choosing not to go back, because some education experts believe standardized tests are not a good metric of a students abilities. Higher-income students who can afford prep classes tend to score higher.

We want to empower students with more flexibility to demonstrate their talent when applying, said Tim Wolfe, the universitys dean of admission.

In the fall of 2021, when William & Mary first went test-optional, 39% of students applied without submitting a standardized test score. The university tracked both groups and determined they had similar grade-point averages and identical retention rates.

Students can still submit scores if they choose to, and scores that are included will be considered as part of the approval process.

Accelerated by the difficulty of exam-taking during COVID, the national trend now is very much towards test-optional, said professor Michael R. Halleren.

Virginia Commonwealth University will not require test scores moving forward either, a spokesperson said. In 2013, it allowed students with higher GPAs to apply without a test score. In 2020, it went fully test-optional.

The University of Richmond hasnt made a decision for 2024 year. The University of Virginia will be test optional for students entering in the fall of 2024 and 2025.

25 must-visit hidden gems from across the US 25 must-visit hidden gems from across the US The World's Largest Mailbox, Casey, Illinois Mermaid statues and European influence in Solvang, California Salty dunes at White Sands National Park in Tularosa Basin, New Mexico The world's only Corn Palace in Mitchell, South Dakota On the set of 'The Truman Show' in Seaside, Florida Underground waterfall in Ruby Falls, Tennessee Bishop Castle in Rye, Colorado The wonders of Fly Geyser in northern Nevada Wild horses in Assateague Island Byodo-In Temple and the Japanese American experience in Kaneohe, Hawaii Take a dip at Hamilton Pool Preserve in Travis County, Texas Escape to Apostle Islands in Lake Superior, Wisconsin First National Monument in Devils Tower, Wyoming The colorful Heidelberg Project in Detroit, Michigan Going up the Fenelon Place Elevator in Dubuque, Iowa Explore Mackinac Island in Michigan Brick ruins at City Market Catacombs in Indianapolis, Indiana Millionaire Village in Jekyll Island, Georgia Yellow brick road at the Oz Museum in Wamego, Kansas A macrocosmic adventure at Meow Wolf in Santa Fe, New Mexico Mile High Swinging Bridge in Linville, North Carolina Petrified Forest National Park in Arizona Winterthur Museum, Garden and Library in Winterthur, Delaware Drive through Antelope Canyon in Page, Arizona Mendenhall Glacier waterfalls and icebergs in Juneau, Alaska
Drug manufacturing giant Eli Lilly & Co. announced Wednesday it will slash the cost of its insulin and cap a patient's cost at $35 a month.

A production facility recently built in Petersburg played a role in Lilly's move, which should help diabetics across the country save money on their medication.

Nonprofit drug maker Civica Inc. built a facility in Petersburg that will do something no drug maker is doing. It will assemble what are essentially generic forms of the three most popular types of insulin, and it will sell them at a fraction of the list price.

The company's aim isn't to dominate the insulin market, said its CEO, Ned McCoy. Its aim is to fix the market, and its plan appears to be working.

When it announced its plans to sell cheaper insulin, "it was with the intent of making clear that there is a more affordable way to deliver these essential medicines to people with diabetes," said Debbi Ford, a spokesperson for Civica. "With Lilly's announcement, we are seeing them take a positive and commendable step in the right direction."

Americans pay vastly higher drug costs than residents of other wealthy nations, and roughly 8 million Americans rely on insulin to survive.

The cost of insulin has grown so high that almost a quarter of Type 1 diabetics ration their supply, according to a study.

Humalog, one of Lilly's best-selling insulin products, has a list price of $530 for a five-pack of injection pens and $274 for a vial. What a consumer actually pays often depends on his or her insurance.

Sasha Poggi, a resident of Henrico County, has Type 1 diabetes and spends roughly $70 a month for two types of insulin, Humalog and Toujeo. Poggi works for Health Brigade, a Fan-neighborhood clinic, where she helps low-income diabetic patients obtain insulin for free or at a reduced cost.

Lilly said it will reduce the cost of its most common insulins by 70% and lower the price of its unbranded insulin from $82 a vial to $25.

In an effort to take back control of the drug market, a group of hospitals and philanthropic organizations formed Civica in 2018. Almost one year ago exactly, Civica announced it would produce insulin for a recommended cost of no more than $30 a vial and no more than $55 for a box of five pre-filled pens.

Its Petersburg facility will begin making the insulin products later this year, and Civica plans to begin selling them in early 2024.

Civica's products are known as "biosimilar" versions of popular insulin brands. Civica essentially will make generic forms of Lantus, Humalog and Novolog, the three most popular insulin brands. Patients using those brands can switch to Civica's insulin, McCoy said.

The nonprofit chose the Richmond region for its facility because of its overlapping vision with Virginia Commonwealth University's Medicines for All, which aims to reduce the price of essential medicines, Phlow Corp., which is building a national stockpile of drugs, and AMPAC Fine Chemicals, which provides the building blocks for medicines.

"Civica has demonstrated that you don't need to price gouge sick Americans to have a viable business model," said Sen. Mark Warner, D-Va. Warner's daughter has Type 1 diabetes, and he has supported the Richmond-area coalition for drug manufacturing, which won more than $50 million in federal support.

Civica isn't the only group competing with established insulin manufacturers. Walmart has begun selling insulin brand Novolog under its own label, called ReliOn, for about $75 a vial.

The Mark Cuban Cost Plus Drug Co. has said it will manufacture cheaper insulin, and the state of California passed a bill creating the authority to produce its own insulin.

"Eli Lilly definitely sees the writing on the wall," Larry Levitt, executive vice president for health policy at KFF, told NBC News. KFF was formerly known as the Kaiser Family Foundation.

A spokesperson for Eli Lilly did not comment on how Civica's entry into the insulin market affected its decision making.

Pressure from the government and diabetes advocacy organizations likely played a role, too.

The federal government capped the out-of-pocket cost of insulin for Medicare patients at $35 a month, and President Joe Biden has urged manufacturers to reduce their costs for the rest of the population.

Warner said Eli Lilly's action is the result of the sustained pressure politicians have put on the issue for years.

Eli Lilly's decision to cut prices won't have any effect on Civica's plan to produce insulin in Petersburg, Ford said.

Plenty of diabetic patients use other brands of insulin and still need relief. The country has a long way to go to ensure that everyone has affordable access to insulin, said Aaron Turner-Phifer, director of policy at JDRF, previously known as the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation.

"Civica will certainly play a role in the ultimate solution to have affordable insulin," Turner-Phifer said.

The Times-Dispatch's 'Photo of the Day'  Jan. 1, 2023 Jan. 2, 2023 Jan. 3, 2023 Jan. 4, 2023 Jan. 5, 2023 Jan. 6, 2023 Jan. 7, 2023 Jan. 8, 2023 Jan. 10, 2023 Jan. 11, 2023 Jan. 12, 2023 Jan. 13, 2023 Jan. 14, 2023 Jan. 15, 2023 Jan. 16, 2023 Jan. 17, 2023 Jan. 18, 2023 Jan. 19, 2023 Jan. 20, 2023 Jan. 21, 2023 Jan. 22, 2023 Jan. 23, 2023 Jan. 24, 2023 Jan. 25, 2023 Jan. 26, 2023 Jan. 27, 2023 Jan. 28, 2023 Jan. 29, 2023 Jan. 30, 2023 Jan. 31, 2023 Feb. 1, 2023 Feb. 2, 2023 Feb. 3, 2023 Feb. 4, 2023 Feb. 5, 2023 Feb. 6, 2023 Feb. 7, 2023 Feb. 8, 2023 Feb. 9, 2023 Feb. 10, 2023 Feb 11, 2023 Feb. 12, 2023 Feb. 13, 2023 Feb. 14, 2023 Feb. 15, 2023 Feb. 16, 2023 Feb. 17, 2023 Feb. 18, 2023 Feb. 19, 2023 Feb. 20, 2023 Feb. 21, 2023 Feb. 22, 2023 Feb. 23, 2023 Feb. 24, 2023 Feb. 25, 2023 Feb. 26, 2023 Feb. 27, 2023 Feb. 28, 2023 March 1, 2023 March 2, 2023 March 3, 2023 March 4, 2023 March 5, 2023 March 6, 2023 March 7, 2023 March 8, 2023 March 9, 2023 March 10, 2023 March 11, 2023 March 12, 2023 March 13, 2023 March 14, 2023 March 15, 2023 March 16, 2023 March 17, 2023 March 18, 2023 March 19, 2023 March 20, 2023 March 21, 2023 March 22, 2023 March 23, 2023 March 24, 2023 March 25, 2023 March 26, 2023 March 27, 2023 March 28, 2023 March 29, 2023 March 30, 2023 March 31, 2023 April 1, 2023 April 2, 2023 April 3, 2023 April 4, 2023 April 5, 2023 April 6, 2023 April 7, 2023 April 8, 2023 April 9, 2023 April 10, 2023 April 11, 2023 April 13, 2023 April 14, 2023
WASHINGTON  Nearly 60 years after he was first recommended for the nation's highest military award for his bravery during the Vietnam War, retired Col. Paris Davis, one of the first Black officers to lead a Special Forces team in combat, received the Medal of Honor on Friday.

The belated recognition for the 83-year-old Virginia resident came after the recommendation for the medal was lost, resubmitted  and then lost again.

It wasn't until 2016  half a century after Davis risked his life to save some of his men under fire  that advocates painstakingly recreated and resubmitted the paperwork.

President Joe Biden on Friday described Davis as a "true hero," describing his efforts to haul injured soldiers to safety under heavy enemy fire. When one of his superiors told him to get to safety, Davis said, according to Biden: "Sir, I"m just not going to leave. I still have an American out there," and he went back into the firefight to carry out an injured medic.

"You are everything this medal means," Biden said to Davis. "You're everything our nation is at our best. Brave and big hearted, determined and devoted, selfless and steadfast."

Biden said Davis should have received the honor years ago, describing remaining segregation when he returned home and questioning why the honor took so long.

"Somehow the paperwork was never processed," Biden said. "Not just once. But twice."

Davis doesn't dwell on it. He says he doesn't know why it has taken decades.

"Right now I'm overwhelmed," he told The Associated Press in an interview the day before he attended the White House ceremony where Biden placed the blue ribbon holding the Medal of Honor around his neck.

"When you're fighting, you're not thinking about this moment," Davis said. "You're just trying to get through that moment."

"That moment" stretched over nearly 19 hours and two days in mid-June 1965.

Davis, then a captain and commander with the 5th Special Forces Group, engaged in nearly continuous combat during a pre-dawn raid on a North Vietnamese army camp in the village of Bong Son in Binh Dinh province.

He engaged in hand-to-hand combat with the North Vietnamese, called for precision artillery fire and thwarted the capture of three American soldiers  all while suffering wounds from gunshots and grenade fragments. He used his pinkie finger to fire his rifle after his hand was shattered by an enemy grenade, according to reports.

Davis repeatedly sprinted into an open rice paddy to rescue members of his team, according to the ArmyTimes. His entire team survived.

"That word 'gallantry' is not much used these days," Biden said. "But I can think of no better word to describe Paris."

Davis, from Cleveland, retired in 1985 at the rank of lieutenant colonel and now lives in Alexandria. Biden called him several weeks ago to deliver the news.

He says the wait in no way lessens the honor.

"It heightens the thing, if you've got to wait that long," he said. "It's like someone promised you an ice cream cone. You know what it looks like, what it smells like. You just haven't licked it."

Davis' commanding officer recommended him for the military's top honor, but the paperwork disappeared. He eventually was awarded a Silver Star, the military's third-highest combat medal, but members of Davis' team have argued that his skin color was a factor in the disappearance of his Medal of Honor recommendation.

"I believe that someone purposely lost the paperwork," Ron Deis, a junior member of Davis' team in Bong Son, told the AP in a separate interview.

Deis, now 79, helped compile the recommendation that was submitted in 2016. He said he knew Davis had been recommended for the Medal of Honor shortly after the battle in 1965, and he spent years wondering why Davis hadn't been awarded the medal. Nine years ago he learned that a second nomination had been submitted "and that also was somehow, quote, lost."

"But I don't believe they were lost," Deis said. "I believe they were intentionally discarded. They were discarded because he was Black, and that's the only conclusion that I can come to."

Army officials say there is no evidence of racism in Davis' case.

"We're here to celebrate the fact that he got the award, long time coming," Maj. Gen. Patrick Roberson, deputy commanding general, U.S. Army Special Operations Command, told the AP. "We, the Army, you know, we haven't been able to see anything that would say, 'Hey, this is racism.'"

"We can't know that," Roberson said.

In early 2021, Christopher Miller, then the acting defense secretary, ordered an expedited review of Davis' case. He argued in an opinion column later that year that awarding Davis the Medal of Honor would address an injustice.

"Some issues in our nation rise above partisanship," Miller wrote. "The Davis case meets that standard."

Davis' daughter, Regan Davis Hopper, a mom of two teenage sons, told the AP that she only learned of her dad's heroism in 2019. Like him, she said she tries not to dwell on her disappointment in how the situation was handled.

"I try not to think about that. I try not to let that weigh me down and make me lose the thrill and excitement of the moment," Hopper said. "I think that's most important, to just look ahead and think about how exciting it is for America to meet my dad for the first time. I'm just proud of him."
Virginias main welfare program for families with children is facing a financial squeeze that is forcing a choice on the General Assembly  to cut some programs, or dramatically increase the sums the state kicks in to supplement a federal grant.

For years, Virginia has funded a series of programs to augment core services Washington requires with leftover federal funds it is required to pay for core Temporary Assistance for Needy Families. That is the 25-year-old welfare-to-work reform that replaced traditional federal welfare programs. It now pays $489 a month for a family made up of a single parent and one child.

Through 2020, Virginias particularly strict eligibility standards meant the percentage of families receiving benefits fell from 73 out of 100 who lived below the poverty line just before the reform, to just 18.1 after it.

The General Assembly in 2020 directed the Department of Social Services to ease the eligibility standards by 10% a year. Yet the current number of families receiving the benefits  20,113  represents just under 19 out of 100 Virginia families with children living below the poverty line.

The current $158 million federal grant for the program that Virginia receives has not been enough to fund both the core services that Washington requires and the optional services the General Assembly has approved over the years. They range from community-run jobs programs, to domestic violence services, to help with transit fees.

Virginia has made up the gap by using funds from the federal grant that it did not spend on the required core services  income benefits, employment and training services and child care  for those optional services.

The state has had a surplus from its core services programs because of its strict eligibility standards and because its monthly cash payments are so low.

Using the surplus, meanwhile, helps hold down the drain on state taxpayers dollars.

But that surplus of unspent funds for core services, accumulated over the years, has been shrinking, from $124.9 million the year before the General Assembly ordered a phased-in increase of the eligibility cutoff, to a projected $46.3 million on June 30, to just $4.2 million as of June 30, 2024.

In order to ensure structural balance, the General Assembly should focus on reductions in the Expanded Programming Category or continuing to support those programs with state general funds, a state working group, which has been looking at changes to how Virginia uses the federal grant and at the financial trends of the program in Virginia, told Gov. Glenn Youngkin and the chairs of the General Assembly money committees during the session.

The budget-writers jargon term structural balance means a program that does not require changes in the current rate of taxpayer support in order to maintain levels of service.

Emily Griffey, chief policy officer at Voices for Virginias Children, says she was surprised there were not more recommendations in this years General Assembly to expand the programs reach. She said the working group seemed more focused on the financial issues.

I think the tough work for the workgroup is still missing ... making the recommendations that put us on a path forward, she said.

Del. Mark Sickles, D-Fairfax, a member of the team of House of Delegates negotiators charged with finding a compromise with the Senate over the $1 billion difference between House and Senate versions of the budget, says the conferees are aware of the issue.

He said that, while no decisions have been made, adjustments to the optional TANF programs are on the table.

Sickles said it is also possible that the budget negotiators will increase the states share of the cost. But whatever decision that comes will arrive near the end of discussions over the whole, large portion of the state budget that covers health, behavioral health and social services, once conferees have agreement on the size of the budget  that is, whether to agree to all, some or none of Youngkins $1 billion of tax cuts.

The Senate has proposed spending an additional $1.2 million of state funds and directing an additional $9.8 million from the federal grant. That would cover the additional families that might be covered if Virginia raised the eligibility cutoff by 10 percentage points from the current 32% of the federal poverty level. For a family consisting of a single parent and one child, the poverty level income would be $1,526 a month; 32% is the $489 of cash assistance the family of two receives.

It hasnt been an incredibly effective tool for economic security because it reaches few families, said Griffey, at Voices for Virginias Children.

Both the House and Senate call for increases for specific groups that provide the optional services.

Currently, Virginia spends just under $57 million on the core services required by the federal grant, but Washington leaves it up to the states to determine eligibility and the amount of monthly cash assistance payments. That is less than administrative costs for Virginias TANF program, which total $59.6 million.

The biggest part of core services spending is cash assistance to families, accounting for $41.8 million, with employment and training accounting for an additional $11.5 million. Child care services and a reserve fund account for the rest.

Sadly for families receiving cash assistance through TANF ... they will need more support than cash assistance can offer to reach independence, Griffey said.

Cash assistance is the single most important tool to help families become self-sustaining, but we need more wraparound services, too, said state Sen. Barbara Favola, D-Arlington, whose experience with federal welfare for families predates the TANF reform.

Expanding limited child care funding, for instance, to cover longer periods while a parent starts work or follows a job training program is vital. So is help with transportation, she said.

Virginia spends $102.3 million on the optional programs, mainly run by nonprofits and local governments.

The largest piece of this was the more than $9.2 million to 28 local agencies for services ranging from helping 1,235 adults find work, to paying rent for 3,871, to providing temporary shelter for 1,913 people who lost their homes, to supplying prepared meals for 12,954 people.

An additional $9 million went to community employment and training programs, including Richmonds Office of Community Wealth Building, which over the past several years provided job skills training to 2,409 people and helped 1,275 find work, at a cost of $145 per participant.

Charlottesvilles program helped 39 of 91 participants find work. Lynchburgs program provided support services to 161, 41 of whom found jobs, while Danville Community Colleges programs has served 260 people over the years, with 166 finding work.

Other TANF funding for optional programs includes $3.8 million for domestic violence services that have helped 4,500 adults, including 1,286 who went to shelters to escape abuse, and 1,927 children, and $3 million to food banks for after-school and summer meals for children.

Theres been a tendency to say its your fault if youre poor, Favola said. But people dont want to be on welfare; who wants to have to worry every day about making ends meet?

Close In May 1953, students at the York County Training School for Negroes had to attend class in school buses after a fire that week destroyed the schools 11-room main building near Yorktown. Five classes were held on buses and three in small buildings that were saved from the flames. In November 1982, a crowd filled Regency Square mall for the first day of Sunday store openings in Henrico County. Before the Sunday closing law, or so-called blue law, was formally repealed by the Board of Supervisors, Henrico residents  who in a referendum that month voted in favor of repeal  had to travel to surrounding localities to shop on a Sunday. In March 1959, visitors at the Richmond Boat Show inspected a new cruiser, a sort of floating camper, during the five-day event at the State Fairgrounds in Henrico County. It was considered to be the first strictly marine show to be held in Richmond. In August 1971, members of Camp Willow Run gathered outside their dormitories, which were former train boxcars. The railroad-themed camp, on a Lake Gaston peninsula in Littleton, N.C., is still run by Youth Camps for Christ Inc. The dining hall, modeled after an 1890 train depot and built from plans furnished by the Southern Railway Co., was the focal point of activities. In July 1963, John Adam, director of talking books for the Royal National Institute for the Blind in London, visited Richmond and showed Virginia Library for the Blind employee Mrs. Richard V. Carter a new cassette system for recording and reproducing audio tapes of books. Using a federal grant and tapping into British expertise, the Virginia library was testing the system, whose cassettes offered more capacity and lasted longer than old discs used by blind patrons. This September 1953 image shows the canal locks in downtown Richmond between 14th and Pear streets. After their installation and later refurbishment in the mid-19th century, the locks increased boat traffic and allowed for easier transport of goods to and from the city. In September 1935, a small group of men, part of a larger army of workers and 70 trucks, reinforced dikes with sandbags to protect the 5-mile area controlled by Richmonds Shockoe Creek Pumping Station from flooding caused by a severe storm. In July 1977, Christine Bunce, a student at Manchester High School in Chesterfield County, worked in the Chippenham Hospital gift shop in Richmond as a volunteer. The nickname candy striper came from the red-and-white striped aprons worn traditionally by volunteers. In April 1976, men tended to the roasting planks at the 28th annualshad planking in Wakefield, an event in Sussex County that lured politicians, reporters, campaign workers and others to kick off the electoral season. Sponsored by the Wakefield Ruritan Club, the event historically was a function of the states Democrats, but it evolved into a bipartisan tradition. In October 1941, babies slept in the nursery at Brookfield, located on West Broad Street in Henrico County. The home for unwed mothers was the successor to Spring Street Home in Richmonds Oregon Hill area, which was established in 1874 by the Magdalen Association to help single women and their children. In April 1979, the St. Marys Hospital Orchestra rehearsed in the hospital auditorium in Henrico County. The orchestra, which formed in 1966 and initially consisted of staff doctors and hospital employees, performed several public concerts a year at the hospital. In May 1950, motorcyclists raced in the 10-Mile National Motorcycle Championship at the Atlantic Rural Exposition grounds in Henrico County. The winner was Little Joe Weatherly of Norfolk, who later turned to stock car racing and won NASCAR titles in the 1960s before being killed in a race accident in Riverside, Calif., in 1964. In July 1954, Kitty Liles performed with her band. Liles had played the drums for years, starting when she was a student at Varina High School in the 1940s. In 1954, Liles was using money from her gigs around Richmond to pay for her pursuit of a social work degree at Richmond Professional Institute. In September 1948, Richmond actress, singer and national radio show host Patsy Garrett greeted a friend downtown during her visit here. Garrett was known for her time on Fred Warings Pleasure Time radio show in the 1940s and for her recurring film and television roles in Nanny and the Professor, Room 222 and the Benji movie series. In September 1985, NASCAR Cup driver Kyle Petty inspected his wrecked Ford Thunderbird after a practice session at the half-mile Richmond Fairgrounds Raceway during the Wrangler 400. Pettys car hit Dale Earnhardts, with Petty getting the worst of it. In March 1969, balmy weather drew a large crowd to Monroe Park in downtown Richmond. A small band joined the gathering, serenading visitors as spring arrived. In April 1968, David Long manned the bar at an exhibit at a Virginia Restaurant Association convention, and Barbara Ann Brigel took a spot along the brass rail. That year, the General Assembly allowed liquor by the drink to become a local option in Virginia. In June 1941, Patrick Henrys Give me liberty or give me death speech was re-enacted at St. Johns Episcopal Church on Church Hill in Richmond as part of its bicentennial celebration. Construction of the church, built on land donated by city founder William Byrd II, was completed in June 1741. In July 1979, two boys walked along the rocks in the James River near the Lee Bridge in Richmond. In May 1942, actress-singers Dorothy Lamour (center), Patsy Garrett (at left) and actor Bert Lytell (at right) visited Richmond as part of a rally to stimulate sales of war bonds and stamps. They stood under a Welcome to Richmond sign and were flanked by Malcolm Bridges (left), the executive secretary of the Richmond Chamber of Commerce, and Ship Ahoy Girls Jetsy Parker and Dorothy Schoemer. The rally drew more than 5,000 people. This 1966 image of a quiet night on Franklin Street in downtown Richmond was captured by Times-Dispatch photographer David Harvey, who became renowned for his National Geographic magazine work and has received national awards. His photographs have been exhibited nationwide, including at the Museum of Modern Art in New York and the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts locally. In June 1977, John Stevens and his long-eared assistant performed a magic trick. Known as Nabis the Magician, Stevens was among the Richmonders in the International Brotherhood of Magicians. The local chapter had 25 members who met regularly to discuss their craft. In January 1970, Virginia Gov. Mills E. Godwin Jr. received his final salute from state police as he and his wife, Katherine, left the Executive Mansion in Richmond en route to the inauguration of A. Linwood Holton Jr. Godwin, then a Democrat, returned as governor four years later as a Republican. In July 1961, two men fished for bluegills in Chickahominy Lake, a large water-supply reservoir along the New Kent-Charles City county line. In June 1968, Toru Yanagida (left) and Ken Seguchi posed at Hillcrest Dairy in Crewe, in Nottoway County. They were learning American farming techniques from the dairy farms owners, Mr. and Mrs. Victor Johnson, who were their sponsors. Seguchi was a dairy farmer from Gifu, Japan, and Yanagida was a student in a college horticulture program in Hokkaido. In May 1973, local Scouts assembled their tents amid exhibits at the daylong Scout-O-Rama at the State Fairgrounds in Henrico County. In addition to traditional skills of woodcraft, wilderness survival, camping and cooking, the event highlighted Scoutings growing attention to archaeology, seamanship, aviation, metal detection, TV and space technology, among other topics. More than 2,000 Cub and Boy Scouts attended the event that year. In June 1977, a crowd lined up for drinks and barbecue chicken at the Virginia Chicken Festival in Crewe, a town in Nottoway County southwest of Richmond. Held on the pavilion grounds of the Southside Electric Cooperative, the annual affair was sponsored by the Burkeville Ruritan Club and the Crewe Kiwanis Club. It attracted state and local politicians  including gubernatorial nominees John Dalton and Henry Howell  among the more than 3,500 attendees that year. In February 1973, prisoners at the Virginia State Penitentiary made and stacked license plates. The pen was along Spring Street at Second Street in downtown Richmond. A print shop, metal shop, textile plant, leather shop and woodworking area offered vocational training to prisoners. Today the site is largely occupied by Afton Chemical Corp., a unit of NewMarket Corp. In November 1951, workers constructed a new lane on Monument Avenue in Henrico County. The truck was occupying what used to be the front yard of a house in the 6500 block. The road was being widened for divided lane traffic in the block between Bevridge Road and Roxbury Road. 29 photos from the Times-Dispatch archives In May 1953, students at the York County Training School for Negroes had to attend class in school buses after a fire that week destroyed the schools 11-room main building near Yorktown. Five classes were held on buses and three in small buildings that were saved from the flames. In November 1982, a crowd filled Regency Square mall for the first day of Sunday store openings in Henrico County. Before the Sunday closing law, or so-called blue law, was formally repealed by the Board of Supervisors, Henrico residents  who in a referendum that month voted in favor of repeal  had to travel to surrounding localities to shop on a Sunday. In March 1959, visitors at the Richmond Boat Show inspected a new cruiser, a sort of floating camper, during the five-day event at the State Fairgrounds in Henrico County. It was considered to be the first strictly marine show to be held in Richmond. In August 1971, members of Camp Willow Run gathered outside their dormitories, which were former train boxcars. The railroad-themed camp, on a Lake Gaston peninsula in Littleton, N.C., is still run by Youth Camps for Christ Inc. The dining hall, modeled after an 1890 train depot and built from plans furnished by the Southern Railway Co., was the focal point of activities. In July 1963, John Adam, director of talking books for the Royal National Institute for the Blind in London, visited Richmond and showed Virginia Library for the Blind employee Mrs. Richard V. Carter a new cassette system for recording and reproducing audio tapes of books. Using a federal grant and tapping into British expertise, the Virginia library was testing the system, whose cassettes offered more capacity and lasted longer than old discs used by blind patrons. This September 1953 image shows the canal locks in downtown Richmond between 14th and Pear streets. After their installation and later refurbishment in the mid-19th century, the locks increased boat traffic and allowed for easier transport of goods to and from the city. In September 1935, a small group of men, part of a larger army of workers and 70 trucks, reinforced dikes with sandbags to protect the 5-mile area controlled by Richmonds Shockoe Creek Pumping Station from flooding caused by a severe storm. In July 1977, Christine Bunce, a student at Manchester High School in Chesterfield County, worked in the Chippenham Hospital gift shop in Richmond as a volunteer. The nickname candy striper came from the red-and-white striped aprons worn traditionally by volunteers. In April 1976, men tended to the roasting planks at the 28th annualshad planking in Wakefield, an event in Sussex County that lured politicians, reporters, campaign workers and others to kick off the electoral season. Sponsored by the Wakefield Ruritan Club, the event historically was a function of the states Democrats, but it evolved into a bipartisan tradition. In October 1941, babies slept in the nursery at Brookfield, located on West Broad Street in Henrico County. The home for unwed mothers was the successor to Spring Street Home in Richmonds Oregon Hill area, which was established in 1874 by the Magdalen Association to help single women and their children. In April 1979, the St. Marys Hospital Orchestra rehearsed in the hospital auditorium in Henrico County. The orchestra, which formed in 1966 and initially consisted of staff doctors and hospital employees, performed several public concerts a year at the hospital. In May 1950, motorcyclists raced in the 10-Mile National Motorcycle Championship at the Atlantic Rural Exposition grounds in Henrico County. The winner was Little Joe Weatherly of Norfolk, who later turned to stock car racing and won NASCAR titles in the 1960s before being killed in a race accident in Riverside, Calif., in 1964. In July 1954, Kitty Liles performed with her band. Liles had played the drums for years, starting when she was a student at Varina High School in the 1940s. In 1954, Liles was using money from her gigs around Richmond to pay for her pursuit of a social work degree at Richmond Professional Institute. In September 1948, Richmond actress, singer and national radio show host Patsy Garrett greeted a friend downtown during her visit here. Garrett was known for her time on Fred Warings Pleasure Time radio show in the 1940s and for her recurring film and television roles in Nanny and the Professor, Room 222 and the Benji movie series. In September 1985, NASCAR Cup driver Kyle Petty inspected his wrecked Ford Thunderbird after a practice session at the half-mile Richmond Fairgrounds Raceway during the Wrangler 400. Pettys car hit Dale Earnhardts, with Petty getting the worst of it. In March 1969, balmy weather drew a large crowd to Monroe Park in downtown Richmond. A small band joined the gathering, serenading visitors as spring arrived. In April 1968, David Long manned the bar at an exhibit at a Virginia Restaurant Association convention, and Barbara Ann Brigel took a spot along the brass rail. That year, the General Assembly allowed liquor by the drink to become a local option in Virginia. In June 1941, Patrick Henrys Give me liberty or give me death speech was re-enacted at St. Johns Episcopal Church on Church Hill in Richmond as part of its bicentennial celebration. Construction of the church, built on land donated by city founder William Byrd II, was completed in June 1741. In July 1979, two boys walked along the rocks in the James River near the Lee Bridge in Richmond. In May 1942, actress-singers Dorothy Lamour (center), Patsy Garrett (at left) and actor Bert Lytell (at right) visited Richmond as part of a rally to stimulate sales of war bonds and stamps. They stood under a Welcome to Richmond sign and were flanked by Malcolm Bridges (left), the executive secretary of the Richmond Chamber of Commerce, and Ship Ahoy Girls Jetsy Parker and Dorothy Schoemer. The rally drew more than 5,000 people. This 1966 image of a quiet night on Franklin Street in downtown Richmond was captured by Times-Dispatch photographer David Harvey, who became renowned for his National Geographic magazine work and has received national awards. His photographs have been exhibited nationwide, including at the Museum of Modern Art in New York and the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts locally. In June 1977, John Stevens and his long-eared assistant performed a magic trick. Known as Nabis the Magician, Stevens was among the Richmonders in the International Brotherhood of Magicians. The local chapter had 25 members who met regularly to discuss their craft. In January 1970, Virginia Gov. Mills E. Godwin Jr. received his final salute from state police as he and his wife, Katherine, left the Executive Mansion in Richmond en route to the inauguration of A. Linwood Holton Jr. Godwin, then a Democrat, returned as governor four years later as a Republican. In July 1961, two men fished for bluegills in Chickahominy Lake, a large water-supply reservoir along the New Kent-Charles City county line. In June 1968, Toru Yanagida (left) and Ken Seguchi posed at Hillcrest Dairy in Crewe, in Nottoway County. They were learning American farming techniques from the dairy farms owners, Mr. and Mrs. Victor Johnson, who were their sponsors. Seguchi was a dairy farmer from Gifu, Japan, and Yanagida was a student in a college horticulture program in Hokkaido. In May 1973, local Scouts assembled their tents amid exhibits at the daylong Scout-O-Rama at the State Fairgrounds in Henrico County. In addition to traditional skills of woodcraft, wilderness survival, camping and cooking, the event highlighted Scoutings growing attention to archaeology, seamanship, aviation, metal detection, TV and space technology, among other topics. More than 2,000 Cub and Boy Scouts attended the event that year. In June 1977, a crowd lined up for drinks and barbecue chicken at the Virginia Chicken Festival in Crewe, a town in Nottoway County southwest of Richmond. Held on the pavilion grounds of the Southside Electric Cooperative, the annual affair was sponsored by the Burkeville Ruritan Club and the Crewe Kiwanis Club. It attracted state and local politicians  including gubernatorial nominees John Dalton and Henry Howell  among the more than 3,500 attendees that year. In February 1973, prisoners at the Virginia State Penitentiary made and stacked license plates. The pen was along Spring Street at Second Street in downtown Richmond. A print shop, metal shop, textile plant, leather shop and woodworking area offered vocational training to prisoners. Today the site is largely occupied by Afton Chemical Corp., a unit of NewMarket Corp. In November 1951, workers constructed a new lane on Monument Avenue in Henrico County. The truck was occupying what used to be the front yard of a house in the 6500 block. The road was being widened for divided lane traffic in the block between Bevridge Road and Roxbury Road.
It wasnt too long after state Secretary of Labor Bryan Slater took office that state Sen. Travis Hackworth shared a story about his long drive to Charleston, West Virginia, and then to Tennessee so he could take tests to be licensed to build homes across the state line from his home base in Tazewell County.

Hes a master electrician, so the tests  like the one in Virginia he passed years ago  are all about knowing the international codes and standards that make sure contractors know how to work and install wiring and electrical appliances safely.

Slater, working with Hackworth, state Sen. Ryan McDougle, R-Hanover, and Del. Will Morefield, R-Tazewell, found the answer was legislation that says people with one of the 85 occupational licenses issued in other states can practice in Virginia, as long as there arent pending complaints or investigations back home.

Its a key element in twin priorities for Gov. Glenn Youngkin  tackling Virginia tight labor market by helping fill some 300,000 empty job slots, and streamlining state regulations. It was the first bill out of the 2023 General Assembly session Youngkin signed into law.

This is the first official signing because this bill will change lives, Youngkin said Friday, before heading through one of the brightly-painted doorways at Dorothy Reids Refuge for Men barber shop on West Main Street in Richmond for a trim.

Youngkins been pushing to streamline regulations since he got into office in January 2022.

A recent move opened the door for mental health counselors licensed in other states to practice here, to help tackle a third Youngkin priority: improving access to mental health services, hit hard by vacancies.

In June, he set up a new operation in the governors office with the assignment to cut regulation requirements by 25% and set up rules and processes to see if proposed regulations are necessary, slash the time it takes to review them and make sure theres a review when it is time to decide whether or not to renew a regulation

An early move cut the education needed to get a cosmetology license from 1,500 hours over nearly a year and at a cost of more than $16,000 to 1,000 hours.

The new law  called universal licensing  passed unanimously, but it had a rough start.

McDougle said he, Hackworth and Morefield brought together groups with concerns, ranging from licensed occupations to labor unions to businesses, to work through each ones concerns.

A key move was language saying licensees couldnt simply come to Virginia to dodge problems back home, he said.

The new law also clarifies what people who come from states that dont require the same kind of licenses Virginia need to do: basically, if theyve been working for three years, and can pass a Virginia exam, and arent in trouble back home, they can get a license here.

This streamlines the wide variety of requirements of the various boards within the state Department of Professional and Occupational Regulation, which can sometimes require years of classroom or supervised work by a licensee, said director Demetrios Melis.

The legislation also requires some new arrivals  such as individuals wanting to work as real estate brokers or agents  be tested on specific Virginia laws that apply to their work.

Reid said she missed a chance to bring in a skilled barber from Maryland because of the hassle of getting a license to cut hair here. As an Army veteran she said she felt the new law would help military spouses find work when a new assignment brings them to one of Virginias many military posts.

Close In May 1953, students at the York County Training School for Negroes had to attend class in school buses after a fire that week destroyed the schools 11-room main building near Yorktown. Five classes were held on buses and three in small buildings that were saved from the flames. In November 1982, a crowd filled Regency Square mall for the first day of Sunday store openings in Henrico County. Before the Sunday closing law, or so-called blue law, was formally repealed by the Board of Supervisors, Henrico residents  who in a referendum that month voted in favor of repeal  had to travel to surrounding localities to shop on a Sunday. In March 1959, visitors at the Richmond Boat Show inspected a new cruiser, a sort of floating camper, during the five-day event at the State Fairgrounds in Henrico County. It was considered to be the first strictly marine show to be held in Richmond. In August 1971, members of Camp Willow Run gathered outside their dormitories, which were former train boxcars. The railroad-themed camp, on a Lake Gaston peninsula in Littleton, N.C., is still run by Youth Camps for Christ Inc. The dining hall, modeled after an 1890 train depot and built from plans furnished by the Southern Railway Co., was the focal point of activities. In July 1963, John Adam, director of talking books for the Royal National Institute for the Blind in London, visited Richmond and showed Virginia Library for the Blind employee Mrs. Richard V. Carter a new cassette system for recording and reproducing audio tapes of books. Using a federal grant and tapping into British expertise, the Virginia library was testing the system, whose cassettes offered more capacity and lasted longer than old discs used by blind patrons. This September 1953 image shows the canal locks in downtown Richmond between 14th and Pear streets. After their installation and later refurbishment in the mid-19th century, the locks increased boat traffic and allowed for easier transport of goods to and from the city. In September 1935, a small group of men, part of a larger army of workers and 70 trucks, reinforced dikes with sandbags to protect the 5-mile area controlled by Richmonds Shockoe Creek Pumping Station from flooding caused by a severe storm. In July 1977, Christine Bunce, a student at Manchester High School in Chesterfield County, worked in the Chippenham Hospital gift shop in Richmond as a volunteer. The nickname candy striper came from the red-and-white striped aprons worn traditionally by volunteers. In April 1976, men tended to the roasting planks at the 28th annualshad planking in Wakefield, an event in Sussex County that lured politicians, reporters, campaign workers and others to kick off the electoral season. Sponsored by the Wakefield Ruritan Club, the event historically was a function of the states Democrats, but it evolved into a bipartisan tradition. In October 1941, babies slept in the nursery at Brookfield, located on West Broad Street in Henrico County. The home for unwed mothers was the successor to Spring Street Home in Richmonds Oregon Hill area, which was established in 1874 by the Magdalen Association to help single women and their children. In April 1979, the St. Marys Hospital Orchestra rehearsed in the hospital auditorium in Henrico County. The orchestra, which formed in 1966 and initially consisted of staff doctors and hospital employees, performed several public concerts a year at the hospital. In May 1950, motorcyclists raced in the 10-Mile National Motorcycle Championship at the Atlantic Rural Exposition grounds in Henrico County. The winner was Little Joe Weatherly of Norfolk, who later turned to stock car racing and won NASCAR titles in the 1960s before being killed in a race accident in Riverside, Calif., in 1964. In July 1954, Kitty Liles performed with her band. Liles had played the drums for years, starting when she was a student at Varina High School in the 1940s. In 1954, Liles was using money from her gigs around Richmond to pay for her pursuit of a social work degree at Richmond Professional Institute. In September 1948, Richmond actress, singer and national radio show host Patsy Garrett greeted a friend downtown during her visit here. Garrett was known for her time on Fred Warings Pleasure Time radio show in the 1940s and for her recurring film and television roles in Nanny and the Professor, Room 222 and the Benji movie series. In September 1985, NASCAR Cup driver Kyle Petty inspected his wrecked Ford Thunderbird after a practice session at the half-mile Richmond Fairgrounds Raceway during the Wrangler 400. Pettys car hit Dale Earnhardts, with Petty getting the worst of it. In March 1969, balmy weather drew a large crowd to Monroe Park in downtown Richmond. A small band joined the gathering, serenading visitors as spring arrived. In April 1968, David Long manned the bar at an exhibit at a Virginia Restaurant Association convention, and Barbara Ann Brigel took a spot along the brass rail. That year, the General Assembly allowed liquor by the drink to become a local option in Virginia. In June 1941, Patrick Henrys Give me liberty or give me death speech was re-enacted at St. Johns Episcopal Church on Church Hill in Richmond as part of its bicentennial celebration. Construction of the church, built on land donated by city founder William Byrd II, was completed in June 1741. In July 1979, two boys walked along the rocks in the James River near the Lee Bridge in Richmond. In May 1942, actress-singers Dorothy Lamour (center), Patsy Garrett (at left) and actor Bert Lytell (at right) visited Richmond as part of a rally to stimulate sales of war bonds and stamps. They stood under a Welcome to Richmond sign and were flanked by Malcolm Bridges (left), the executive secretary of the Richmond Chamber of Commerce, and Ship Ahoy Girls Jetsy Parker and Dorothy Schoemer. The rally drew more than 5,000 people. This 1966 image of a quiet night on Franklin Street in downtown Richmond was captured by Times-Dispatch photographer David Harvey, who became renowned for his National Geographic magazine work and has received national awards. His photographs have been exhibited nationwide, including at the Museum of Modern Art in New York and the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts locally. In June 1977, John Stevens and his long-eared assistant performed a magic trick. Known as Nabis the Magician, Stevens was among the Richmonders in the International Brotherhood of Magicians. The local chapter had 25 members who met regularly to discuss their craft. In January 1970, Virginia Gov. Mills E. Godwin Jr. received his final salute from state police as he and his wife, Katherine, left the Executive Mansion in Richmond en route to the inauguration of A. Linwood Holton Jr. Godwin, then a Democrat, returned as governor four years later as a Republican. In July 1961, two men fished for bluegills in Chickahominy Lake, a large water-supply reservoir along the New Kent-Charles City county line. In June 1968, Toru Yanagida (left) and Ken Seguchi posed at Hillcrest Dairy in Crewe, in Nottoway County. They were learning American farming techniques from the dairy farms owners, Mr. and Mrs. Victor Johnson, who were their sponsors. Seguchi was a dairy farmer from Gifu, Japan, and Yanagida was a student in a college horticulture program in Hokkaido. In May 1973, local Scouts assembled their tents amid exhibits at the daylong Scout-O-Rama at the State Fairgrounds in Henrico County. In addition to traditional skills of woodcraft, wilderness survival, camping and cooking, the event highlighted Scoutings growing attention to archaeology, seamanship, aviation, metal detection, TV and space technology, among other topics. More than 2,000 Cub and Boy Scouts attended the event that year. In June 1977, a crowd lined up for drinks and barbecue chicken at the Virginia Chicken Festival in Crewe, a town in Nottoway County southwest of Richmond. Held on the pavilion grounds of the Southside Electric Cooperative, the annual affair was sponsored by the Burkeville Ruritan Club and the Crewe Kiwanis Club. It attracted state and local politicians  including gubernatorial nominees John Dalton and Henry Howell  among the more than 3,500 attendees that year. In February 1973, prisoners at the Virginia State Penitentiary made and stacked license plates. The pen was along Spring Street at Second Street in downtown Richmond. A print shop, metal shop, textile plant, leather shop and woodworking area offered vocational training to prisoners. Today the site is largely occupied by Afton Chemical Corp., a unit of NewMarket Corp. In November 1951, workers constructed a new lane on Monument Avenue in Henrico County. The truck was occupying what used to be the front yard of a house in the 6500 block. The road was being widened for divided lane traffic in the block between Bevridge Road and Roxbury Road. 29 photos from the Times-Dispatch archives In May 1953, students at the York County Training School for Negroes had to attend class in school buses after a fire that week destroyed the schools 11-room main building near Yorktown. Five classes were held on buses and three in small buildings that were saved from the flames. In November 1982, a crowd filled Regency Square mall for the first day of Sunday store openings in Henrico County. Before the Sunday closing law, or so-called blue law, was formally repealed by the Board of Supervisors, Henrico residents  who in a referendum that month voted in favor of repeal  had to travel to surrounding localities to shop on a Sunday. In March 1959, visitors at the Richmond Boat Show inspected a new cruiser, a sort of floating camper, during the five-day event at the State Fairgrounds in Henrico County. It was considered to be the first strictly marine show to be held in Richmond. In August 1971, members of Camp Willow Run gathered outside their dormitories, which were former train boxcars. The railroad-themed camp, on a Lake Gaston peninsula in Littleton, N.C., is still run by Youth Camps for Christ Inc. The dining hall, modeled after an 1890 train depot and built from plans furnished by the Southern Railway Co., was the focal point of activities. In July 1963, John Adam, director of talking books for the Royal National Institute for the Blind in London, visited Richmond and showed Virginia Library for the Blind employee Mrs. Richard V. Carter a new cassette system for recording and reproducing audio tapes of books. Using a federal grant and tapping into British expertise, the Virginia library was testing the system, whose cassettes offered more capacity and lasted longer than old discs used by blind patrons. This September 1953 image shows the canal locks in downtown Richmond between 14th and Pear streets. After their installation and later refurbishment in the mid-19th century, the locks increased boat traffic and allowed for easier transport of goods to and from the city. In September 1935, a small group of men, part of a larger army of workers and 70 trucks, reinforced dikes with sandbags to protect the 5-mile area controlled by Richmonds Shockoe Creek Pumping Station from flooding caused by a severe storm. In July 1977, Christine Bunce, a student at Manchester High School in Chesterfield County, worked in the Chippenham Hospital gift shop in Richmond as a volunteer. The nickname candy striper came from the red-and-white striped aprons worn traditionally by volunteers. In April 1976, men tended to the roasting planks at the 28th annualshad planking in Wakefield, an event in Sussex County that lured politicians, reporters, campaign workers and others to kick off the electoral season. Sponsored by the Wakefield Ruritan Club, the event historically was a function of the states Democrats, but it evolved into a bipartisan tradition. In October 1941, babies slept in the nursery at Brookfield, located on West Broad Street in Henrico County. The home for unwed mothers was the successor to Spring Street Home in Richmonds Oregon Hill area, which was established in 1874 by the Magdalen Association to help single women and their children. In April 1979, the St. Marys Hospital Orchestra rehearsed in the hospital auditorium in Henrico County. The orchestra, which formed in 1966 and initially consisted of staff doctors and hospital employees, performed several public concerts a year at the hospital. In May 1950, motorcyclists raced in the 10-Mile National Motorcycle Championship at the Atlantic Rural Exposition grounds in Henrico County. The winner was Little Joe Weatherly of Norfolk, who later turned to stock car racing and won NASCAR titles in the 1960s before being killed in a race accident in Riverside, Calif., in 1964. In July 1954, Kitty Liles performed with her band. Liles had played the drums for years, starting when she was a student at Varina High School in the 1940s. In 1954, Liles was using money from her gigs around Richmond to pay for her pursuit of a social work degree at Richmond Professional Institute. In September 1948, Richmond actress, singer and national radio show host Patsy Garrett greeted a friend downtown during her visit here. Garrett was known for her time on Fred Warings Pleasure Time radio show in the 1940s and for her recurring film and television roles in Nanny and the Professor, Room 222 and the Benji movie series. In September 1985, NASCAR Cup driver Kyle Petty inspected his wrecked Ford Thunderbird after a practice session at the half-mile Richmond Fairgrounds Raceway during the Wrangler 400. Pettys car hit Dale Earnhardts, with Petty getting the worst of it. In March 1969, balmy weather drew a large crowd to Monroe Park in downtown Richmond. A small band joined the gathering, serenading visitors as spring arrived. In April 1968, David Long manned the bar at an exhibit at a Virginia Restaurant Association convention, and Barbara Ann Brigel took a spot along the brass rail. That year, the General Assembly allowed liquor by the drink to become a local option in Virginia. In June 1941, Patrick Henrys Give me liberty or give me death speech was re-enacted at St. Johns Episcopal Church on Church Hill in Richmond as part of its bicentennial celebration. Construction of the church, built on land donated by city founder William Byrd II, was completed in June 1741. In July 1979, two boys walked along the rocks in the James River near the Lee Bridge in Richmond. In May 1942, actress-singers Dorothy Lamour (center), Patsy Garrett (at left) and actor Bert Lytell (at right) visited Richmond as part of a rally to stimulate sales of war bonds and stamps. They stood under a Welcome to Richmond sign and were flanked by Malcolm Bridges (left), the executive secretary of the Richmond Chamber of Commerce, and Ship Ahoy Girls Jetsy Parker and Dorothy Schoemer. The rally drew more than 5,000 people. This 1966 image of a quiet night on Franklin Street in downtown Richmond was captured by Times-Dispatch photographer David Harvey, who became renowned for his National Geographic magazine work and has received national awards. His photographs have been exhibited nationwide, including at the Museum of Modern Art in New York and the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts locally. In June 1977, John Stevens and his long-eared assistant performed a magic trick. Known as Nabis the Magician, Stevens was among the Richmonders in the International Brotherhood of Magicians. The local chapter had 25 members who met regularly to discuss their craft. In January 1970, Virginia Gov. Mills E. Godwin Jr. received his final salute from state police as he and his wife, Katherine, left the Executive Mansion in Richmond en route to the inauguration of A. Linwood Holton Jr. Godwin, then a Democrat, returned as governor four years later as a Republican. In July 1961, two men fished for bluegills in Chickahominy Lake, a large water-supply reservoir along the New Kent-Charles City county line. In June 1968, Toru Yanagida (left) and Ken Seguchi posed at Hillcrest Dairy in Crewe, in Nottoway County. They were learning American farming techniques from the dairy farms owners, Mr. and Mrs. Victor Johnson, who were their sponsors. Seguchi was a dairy farmer from Gifu, Japan, and Yanagida was a student in a college horticulture program in Hokkaido. In May 1973, local Scouts assembled their tents amid exhibits at the daylong Scout-O-Rama at the State Fairgrounds in Henrico County. In addition to traditional skills of woodcraft, wilderness survival, camping and cooking, the event highlighted Scoutings growing attention to archaeology, seamanship, aviation, metal detection, TV and space technology, among other topics. More than 2,000 Cub and Boy Scouts attended the event that year. In June 1977, a crowd lined up for drinks and barbecue chicken at the Virginia Chicken Festival in Crewe, a town in Nottoway County southwest of Richmond. Held on the pavilion grounds of the Southside Electric Cooperative, the annual affair was sponsored by the Burkeville Ruritan Club and the Crewe Kiwanis Club. It attracted state and local politicians  including gubernatorial nominees John Dalton and Henry Howell  among the more than 3,500 attendees that year. In February 1973, prisoners at the Virginia State Penitentiary made and stacked license plates. The pen was along Spring Street at Second Street in downtown Richmond. A print shop, metal shop, textile plant, leather shop and woodworking area offered vocational training to prisoners. Today the site is largely occupied by Afton Chemical Corp., a unit of NewMarket Corp. In November 1951, workers constructed a new lane on Monument Avenue in Henrico County. The truck was occupying what used to be the front yard of a house in the 6500 block. The road was being widened for divided lane traffic in the block between Bevridge Road and Roxbury Road.
Canadian suspect detained after Canadian woman found dead in Playa del Carmen resort hotel

Playa del Carmen, Q.R.  A Canadian man has been detained after a Canadian woman was found dead inside a Riviera Maya resort hotel. On Friday morning, Playa del Carmen police were notified of the discovery of a deceased woman inside the Princess Hotel.

In a statement, SSP Solidaridad said police from the Secretariat of Public Security insured a person of foreign origin for the possible crime of femicide. The man was taken into custody after a lifeless woman was found with possible marks of violence in a hotel located in the Xcalacoco neighborhood.

After receiving the report of a woman without vital signs, officers went to the Princess Hotel on Xcalacoco Avenue with the Federal Maritime Zone (beachfront), where a worker pointed out 26-year-old Ryan N, originally from Canada, who presented apparent blood stains on his clothes and swelling on his hands and next to him, a woman lying face up on the ground with visible injuries and blood stains, the SSP reported.

After requesting medical support, the officers were notified by medical personnel that the woman no longer had vital signs, so the subject was insured and made available to the State Attorney Generals Office.

In a news brief, the State Attorney Generals Office (FGE) reported that The FGE Quintana Roo reports that an investigation was initiated on a foreign person arrested for his probable participation in the femicide of a Canadian woman that occurred in a hotel in the Riviera Maya earlier today.

Additional details surrounding the death of the woman and the arrest of the man have not been disclosed. It is not known if the womans body was found inside a room or on hotel property. It is also not known who the arrested man is in relation to the deceased woman.
City wide manhunt for suspect in attempted Cancun robbery

Cancun, Q.R.  Cancun police are on the hunt for a man captured on camera for a shooting during a robbery. The man was captured on both city C5 surveillance cameras and a business camera after the Wednesday assault in SM 20.

The assault happened on March 1 outside a BBVA Cancun bank branch on Avenida Tulum. The wanted male is alleged responsible for shooting a Cancun contractor in an attempt to strip him of his cash.

During the attempted robbery, the man was shot in the hip while resisting the theft. He was taken to hospital for treatment.

His aggressor fled on a motorcycle. The banks security feed caught the man on camera, as did Cancun C5 surveillance. His getaway bike has since been located on Labna Avenue in SM 20, however, his arrest has not been announced.
Delegates submit formal request for creation of Municipality of Chiquila

Chiquila, Q.R.  The town of Chiquila has made a formal request to become its own municipality. On Thursday, delegates of Lazaro Cardenas formally made the request during a State Congress session.

Their request was submitted to the XVII Legislature for the creation of Chiquila as Quintana Roos 12th municipality.

The secretary of the Board of Directors, Cristina Alcerreca Manzanero, read the request, informing the 21 legislators present that delegates from the towns of Solferino, San Angel and the Chiquila Mayors Office, headed by Ignacio Caceres, all corresponding to the municipality of Lazaro Cardenas, requested the creation of the Municipality of Chiquila to the Congress of Quintana Roo.

In February, Mayor Joel Pinto Alvarez, reported that the request was made in order to obtain more resources for things such as infrastructure. Those involved in the new municipality request have said that the decision was made due to a lack of attention of regional needs on the part of the current Lazaro Cardenas City Council.
Government of Mexico extradites criminal group member to face charges New York court

Mexico City, Mexico  A member of a criminal group has been sent to the U.S. A man identified as Ismael Q was extradited to New York Thursday by the Government of Mexico.

He was wanted by the Eastern District Court of New York for criminal association, drugs and illegal possession of weapons. He was an alleged member of the Caro Quintero criminal organization.

As part of this criminal organization, Ismael Q was responsible for the logistics of drug trafficking from Mexico to the United States, as well as its manufacture and transportation for U.S. consumption.

According to the Government of Mexico, Ismael Q was also in charge of the security and protection of another member of the same criminal gang. He was once Caro Quinteros bodyguard.

In July of 2022, Caro Quintero was flushed out of a mountainous area in northwestern Sinaloa during a deep search operation.

The Government of Mexico granted his extradition to the U. S. after arresting him in January 2020 in Culiacan, Sinaloa.
When students at a small Christian college in Kentucky got caught up in prayer and refused to leave an otherwise routine chapel service, the world took notice. What it meant all depends on whator Who you think was responsible.

Sometimes God works and speaks to people in mysterious ways. At other times, He is as blunt and obvious as a slap in the face. The recent Asbury revival in Wilmore, Kentucky, qualifies as an example of the latter.

From February 8 to 19, thousands of souls joined in prayer with the students and faculty at Asbury University, a small Christian school in Wilmore, Kentucky. What began as a typical chapel service transformed into a 13-day prayer event that drew attention from popular Christian media figures and countries as far off as Brazil, Singapore, and Finland, and has garnered over 100 million views on TikTok. Even though school leaders finally ended the prayer service due to crowding issues, other schools have gone on to have their own versions to keep the flame going.

By all accounts, the Asbury revival was much more than a spontaneous gathering in the style of Woodstock, as the headline in the New York Times would have it, but was instead a truly miraculous experience. Many of the people who participated claimed to be moved by the Holy Spirit. Even among a throng of strangers singing praise and worship music, individuals reported being peacefully transported into a higher realm. People ridden with stress suddenly felt serenity and joy. Its notable that there was really nothing there that would otherwise bring together such a large crowd for so longno celebrities, no huge giveaways, no drugs.

Naturally, people have differing interpretations of the revival. Some characterized it as a mass release of all the built-up tension of Gen Z, which suffers from record levels of anxiety and alienation, apparently. Driven crazy by todays chaotic world, Zoomers have been desperate for some authentic spiritual experience that could offer some catharsis and personal connection. As a director of research at Auburn Seminary told the New York Times: You have a generation identifying that these are the problems of our generation that are intractable. So many of their friends are not well. Under this view, the prayer service was nothing much more than a kind of mass therapeutic psychosis.

Other decidedly unspiritual critics saw it mainly as a super-spreader event among a bunch of ignorant Christians. According to the Kentucky Department for Public Health, some participants may have caught the measles from a person who attended the revival. Thus far, there has thankfully been no outbreak. Still, one wonders if these public health schoolmarms would be as willing to lecture people to get vaccinated if the gathering was a Black Lives Matter rally or Democratic fundraising event.

Then there are the religious leaders who have expressed doubts about the Asbury revival, too, questioning whether it was a true revival in the full sense of the word or something else altogether. Unlike Christian revivals in the past, the meeting at Asbury was spontaneous and didnt seem to convey any specific message. Traditionally, most revivals would be coordinated by a firebrand pastor who would scare the hell out of people and call on them to repent. Nothing like that was at work at Asbury; on the contrary, people were actively prevented from using the meeting as a platform for any personal agenda.

For Catholics, particularly those of us with a traditionalist bent, its difficult to see the Asbury revival as anything more than emotionalist evangelical Protestantism. As fellow Catholic writer and educator Sean Fitzpatrick argues in a recent Crisis article, We might experience a spiritual high in being slain by the Spirit, but the real test of feeling in faith is the spiritual low when we feel forsaken. Even if amazing events like that at Asbury or similar Christian revivals move people to think about God again, this means little if the participants do not return to the one true church (i.e., the Catholic Church).

With all due respect to Fitzpatrick, while technically true (at least for Catholics), his argument comes off a tad condescending and pedantic. While I was also turned off by some of the praise and worship songs played at the revival, I cant deny that something supernatural and genuine was happening there. These werent a few kids pulling a stunt, nor some megachurch hosting a feel-good event for people in the suburbs. This seemed much closer to the apostles being touched by tongues of fire on Pentecost. And as far as I can remember, none of them were admonished to not get too emotional or sloppy in their theology. Rather, they were inspired to go and preach the Gospel, even if it meant certain death.

For this reason, I agree with the assessment of a different Catholic writer and educator, Mary Healy, who sees the Asbury revival as something significant for all Christians: It is as if the Lord, hearing the prayers of so many Catholics desperate for a restoration of faith and life in the midst of a radically secularized age, is giving us a picture of what revival looks like. To see such a collective outpouring of the Spirit among such people at such a time as today is nothing short of divine intervention. After all, this is the faithless generation thats been anesthetized by screens and bewitched by TikTok. They are the last people who would fall on their knees and praise God, correct?

And yet they are the ones doing this very thing, to the utter amazement and bewilderment of the rest of us, both as it was happening (as Rod Dreher documents) and a few weeks later. True, we can treat this as a random event where a large group of people released their pent-up angst, or a time where some naive fools idiotically caught the measles while howling at their sky daddy, or an occasion to wag ones finger at others and tell them go to church and start being reasonable. Or we can treat it as a veritable sign from God to repent and remember our promises to Him and to our children.

Even for the nonbeliever, something important happened at Asbury University. Acknowledging this provides an opportunity to move away from an unsettling and inconsistent materialism to a position of belief and coherence. As writer and podcaster Spencer Klavan wisely states in the conclusion of his recent book How to Save the West: Given what belief in God entails, a healthy human person should want to believe. In a way, you likely already do. Ultimately, theres little point to trying to classify what happened at Asbury. Accepted on its own terms, it should open ones heart to God and the life of faith. For the individual and the culture at large, theres very little to lose at this point, and everything to gain.
Roanoke police have charged a Roanoke woman with the August 2022 fatal shooting of 25-year-old Mahdi H. Holland.

Armonie Alize Gunn, 22, faces three felony charges: first-degree murder, using a firearm in the commission of felony and possessing a firearm as a convicted non-violent felon.

Around 5:20 a.m. on Aug. 20, a personal vehicle dropped Holland off at Carilion Roanoke Memorial Hospital, police said at the time. Officers went to the hospital, but Holland died from his injuries about 20 minutes later.

Search warrants certified in Roanoke Circuit Court that same week revealed that Holland arrived at the hospital in the back seat of a silver, four door Mercedes sedan with a sunroof.

The driver of the car notified hospital personnel, an affidavit reads, but once Holland was removed from the vehicle, it left. Police reviewed surveillance video from the hospital and obtained a description of the car.

Later that day, police located the car on Delta Drive Northwest, according to an affidavit. It had a bullet hole in the rear passenger side door and blood in the back seat.

Police obtained a search warrant for the vehicle, seized it, and found that due to the angle the bullets entered the victim and entered the back passenger door, the shooter was likely in the back seat on the drivers side, an affidavit read.

Police spoke with people who knew Holland and named a suspect  identified in an affidavit as Gunn  who was dropped off at the Ashton Heights Apartments prior to the victim being transported to the hospital, affidavits continue.

Officers reviewed surveillance camera footage at the apartment complex and saw the Mercedes arrive on 35th Street Northwest at 5:13 a.m. Aug. 20. At the intersection of 35th and Dona Drive Northwest, officers observed Gunn exiting the rear drivers side door.

The surveillance video also captures Gunn going inside an apartment, an affidavit reads, and leaving the property about half an hour later.

Roanoke detectives presented the case to a Roanoke grand jury in January, and warrants for the three felony charges were obtained. Gunn was indicted on those three charges on Jan. 3, according to Virginias online court case information system.

On Feb. 23, Gunn came to the Roanoke Police Department where the indictments were served without incident and she was taken into custody, police said in a press release Friday.

There are no further updates available at this time, the press release concluded. This remains an ongoing homicide investigation.

Gunn continues to be held at the Roanoke City Adult Detention Center without bond. Her next appearance in court has been tentatively scheduled for March 6.
CHRISTIANSBURG  Brenda Winkle is a veteran of the Montgomery County Commissioner of the Revenue office, and she has no intention to leave the department any time soon.

In fact, she wants to run it.

I just feel like I want to sit in this seat now, Winkle, 61, said with a laugh during a recent interview in her outgoing boss office.

Winkle said she simply has always loved her job.

Winkle, a Democrat, officially announced Friday that she is running for the commissioners post, an elected position that the seats current holder Helen Royal plans to retire from this upcoming summer.

Royal, also a Democrat, is supporting Winkle. Royal held the seat for just over a decade and has spent a total of about 37 years working in the office.

During Winkles announcement event Friday in the foyer that separates the commissioner and county treasurer offices, more than 30 people attended including county Supervisor Mary Biggs, a Democrat, and former Supervisor Bill Brown, who served as a Democrat when he was in office.

Winkle provided a brief speech that she capped with a reference to Eleanor Roosevelt. Winkle spoke about the 23 years shes spent working in the office, a period during which she said she saw firsthand the changes the department has gone through to accommodate an ever-changing world.

Winkle said she has worked in every aspect of the office, an experience she touted as her main qualification as a candidate.

Winkle said she plans to continue the cross training that started under Royal to ensure citizens continue to have access to the best service possible. One way to do that, she said, is to continue sending employees to classes and meetings to become and stay certified master deputies.

Along with the county treasurer, the commissioner of the revenue is directly involved in annual property and personal property tax bills.

The commissions office maintains the property assessments that the tax bills are based on and is responsible for sending out the bills. The treasurer collects the payments.

Both the commissioner and treasurer are among Virginias elected constitutional officers in most state localities  the others are the commonwealths attorney, sheriff and clerk of the circuit court.

Another goal Winkle has is to continue efforts to better educate taxpayers about their their bills and the process in general. Among those goals is reminding citizens to keep their addresses updated and letting the office know if theyve sold their cars  the latter is key in determining personal property tax bills.

This years election comes as Montgomery County continues to see sustained growth, a fact that has impacted the housing market and ultimately the work in the commissioners office. Winkle said the work of the office is even more important now due to that trend.

Winkle said she attended and received an associates degree from New River Community College. She said she then went straight to work for the commissioners office. Winkle also has a master deputy certification.

Winkle is the only candidate who has entered the commissioners race to date.
Roanoke County is in the final stages of a multi-year process to update its Comprehensive Plan, but it is still looking for citizen input before releasing the final product this summer.

The Roanoke County 200 Plan  which gets its name from the idea it will be the vision of the county through its bicentennial in 2038  has not been updated since 2005, according to county officials. Comprehensive plans are what localities use in Virginia as a blueprint for land use.

The county began hosting meetings on its update earlier this week for the countys 11 planning areas to show citizens a rough draft of the plan many of them helped create through a series of community input meetings held in the fall of 2021 and last spring.

We took their suggestions very seriously, and I think that is reflected in this plan, Assistant Director of Planning Megan Cronise said Wednesday evening at the meeting held for the Peters Creek portion of the county at the Green Ridge Recreation Center.

A meeting for the Catawba, Glenvar and Masons Cove portions of the county was held Monday evening at Glenvar Middle School.

Each meeting has a general presentation with county-wide information before more specific areas are then the focus.

Following that portion of the meeting, citizens are asked to fill out a demographics survey if they so choose, while also having the opportunity to ask a variety of questions specific to the planning area they reside in or more generally.

Attendees can also leave feedback at the meeting or online. Commenting on the draft plan through the website is open until April 16.

Data in the document shows a nearly 13% increase in the countys population from 2000 to 2020 with an additional expected increase of 7.4% by 2040, and transportation and land use are 75% of the topics in the summary of recommendations portion of the draft.

Citizen feedback showed support for widening both sides of Interstate 81 to three lanes from Montgomery to Botetourt counties.

Additionally, improving the existing interchange at Interstate 581 at Peters Creek Road to improve flow and safety on both roadways received heavy support.

Overall, the document lists more than 40 transportation projects that have been recently completed, are under construction, have funding or have multiple parts.

Much of the land use recommendations revolve around making amendments to the current map on issues such as conservation, neighborhoods and economic development.

The development of activity and rural centers, zoning, the development process and removing outdated proffers to promote redevelopment were also mentioned.

Other topics addressed include natural and cultural resources, parks, recreation, tourism, general services, libraries, communications and technology and public safety.

All remaining public meetings will be held from 4:30 p.m. to 6:30 p.m. and resume Monday at the Vinton War Memorial for the Bonsack, Vinton and Mount Pleasant areas, followed by a Wednesday meeting for Windsor Hills at Hidden Valley High School.

The last two meetings will take place the following week on Monday, March 13, at the Bent Mountain Center for Back Creek and Bent Mountain and Wednesday, March 15, for Cave Spring and Clearbrook at the South County Library.

Two public hearings beginning at 5 p.m. will be held by the planning commission, with the first on Thursday, March 23, at the Green Ridge Recreation Center and another on Monday, April 3, at the county Administration Center.

To view the full 200 draft plan or to leave feedback before the April 16 deadline, visit www.roanokecountyva.gov/200plan.
WASHINGTON  President Joe Biden exudes confidence as the next race for the White House approaches.

During last months State of the Union address, he lured unruly Republicans into agreeing with him that federal entitlements should be protected. He intensified travel outside Washington, trumpeting job creation in Wisconsin and steep federal health care spending to Florida seniors while touting a trillion-dollar public works package that he says can do everything from revitalizing Baltimores port to easing train tunnel congestion under the Hudson River.

And he used spy-thriller tactics to sweep into war-scarred Ukraine.

For most presidents, these are powerful elements to include as the centerpiece of a reelection campaign  pledging to protect people and the economy at home and democracy in the heart of Europe. But with the famously fickle 80-year-old Biden stopping short of officially declaring his 2024 candidacy, hes leaving just enough room to back out of a race and focus instead on using such moves to cement his legacy.

I look at Biden from the outside, as a historian, and say, Boy, if he stepped away now, his place in history is secure and extraordinarily positive, said Jeffrey Engel, director of the Center for Presidential History at Southern Methodist University in Dallas. Thats how a normal person thinks about these things. Thats not how a president thinks about these things.

Those close to Biden insist hes not legacy shopping and that he will announce a campaign, likely after the first quarter campaign fundraising period ends this month. The Democratic Party cleared a path for Bidens renomination with rivals from his left, including Sens. Bernie Sanders of Vermont and Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts, pledging to support the presidents reelection.

Bestselling self-help author Marianne Williamson formally launched a primary challenge to Biden on Saturday thats largely being shrugged off by the party.

The Democratic National Committee unanimously expressed our full and complete support for Bidens reelection. Party leaders arent planning primary debates, arguing theres not enough time to build out a debate schedule.

In an interview last week with The Associated Press, first lady Jill Biden said there was pretty much nothing left for the president to do but pick a time and place to announce his reelection bid.

How many times does he have to say it for you to believe it? she asked.

Still, there are signals that even if the prevailing assumption among most Democrats is that Biden will seek another term, the decision isnt yet final. Even Jill Biden was more muted in subsequent interviews when assessing her husbands political future.

Its Joes decision, she told CNN, noting that shes personally all for it.

If hes in, were there, she added. If he wants to do something else, were there too.

After the AP interview, the president joked to ABC that he needed to call his wife to find out if he was running again.

His intention has been from the beginning to run, the president told the network. But theres too many other things we have to finish in the near term before I start a campaign.

While Bidens standing among Democratic officials is solid, actual voters seem more wary. A recent poll from the AP-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research found just 37% of Democrats want Biden to seek a second term, down from 52% in the weeks before last years midterm elections.

Bidens age has been a leading concern since the early days of his first campaign. Already the oldest president in U.S. history, hed be 86 by the end of a second term, should he win one.

If Biden were to eschew a run, the biggest question is whether the party could quickly coalesce around someone else. Much of the initial focus would shift to Vice President Kamala Harris, who already said she expects to remain on a Biden ticket in 2024. She was notably in South Carolina this week, promoting the administrations efforts to expand broadband access.

The state is politically significant after Democrats moved South Carolinas primary to the front of their primary calendar at Bidens behest.

Other Democrats outside Washington worked to gingerly build national profiles without offending Biden. They include California Gov. Gavin Newsom, who positioned himself as a foil to Republican Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, seen as a leading alternative to former President Donald Trump in the 2024 GOP presidential primary.

While Bidens plans are under intense scrutiny, there are just four official entrants so far in the Republican presidential field: Trump, former United Nations ambassador Nikki Haley, entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy and Michigan businessman Perry Johnson. Others, including former Vice President Mike Pence, ex-Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and South Carolina Sen. Tim Scott, may join in the coming months.

For his part, Biden has a history of dithering. He agonized over whether to seek the presidency in 2004 and 2016 before ultimately deciding to sit out those races. Both times, he noted he essentially spent so long deciding that hed run out of time to be successful in a campaign, rather than really saying he didnt want to run.

By the numbers: President Biden at the two-year mark 6.5% annual inflation 10.46 million job vacancies $31.38 trillion national debt $24.2 billion in security aid to Ukraine 2.38 million migrants stopped at border 97 federal judges confirmed 89 pardons and commutations $3.36 average gas price 666 million vaccines administered 680,000 COVID-19 deaths 36 states visited 197 days in Delaware 6 chats with Xi 21 news conferences $1 trillion in infrastructure $40 billion for bridges 1 state dinner 0 Cabinet departures A closer look
Sen. Mark Obenshain announced Wednesday he will seek the new Virginia Senate District 2 seat, setting up a possible confrontation with another veteran GOP legislator.

Obenshain, R-Harrisonburg, has been the Senate District 26 senator for nearly 20 years. But under redistricting, his new district includes Rockingham County, Harrisonburg and a slice of Augusta County as well as Highland, Bath and Page counties.

Obenshains entry leaves the future of Sen. Emmett Hanger of Augusta County unresolved. If Hanger does not move, he must square off against Obenshain in District 2 for the Republican nomination.

Hanger has been considering moving to the new Senate District 3, which includes Waynesboro, Staunton and a portion of Augusta County, but has yet to announce his plans.

Im running for re-election because the work I started when I was first elected in 2003 is not finished, Obenshain said. When I was first elected, I promised to fight for Virginias taxpayers. Right now, we are engaged in a budget stalemate in which we have a $3.6 billion budget surplus, but many in Richmond fail to recognize that this is money that belongs to the taxpayers, and they deserve to have at least a portion of it returned to them.

Obenshain, 60, said he has other battles to wage, including providing safer Virginia communities, protecting innocent human life and assuring Second Amendment rights.

Regarding safety, Obenshain said, too many Virginians are suffering the effects of the opioid, meth and fentanyl epidemics that are killing young people, ruining lives, breaking up families and devastating our communities. We need common sense public safety reforms that will return us to a trajectory in which we have safer communities and neighborhoods.

Obenshain said Democratic control of the Virginia General Assembly and the governors mansion had led to unnecessary and burdensome restrictions on the constitutional rights of law-abiding citizens to keep and bear arms.

A Harrisonburg attorney, Obenshain narrowly lost a bid to become attorney general of Virginia in 2013 to Democrat Mark Herring. He is the son of the late Dick Obenshain, a Blacksburg native who was chairman of the Virginia Republican Party and the Republican nominee for the U.S. Senate before dying in a 1978 plane crash.
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Chinese, Russian FMs meet on ties, Ukraine crisis

Xinhua) 09:34, March 03, 2023

Chinese Foreign Minister Qin Gang meets with his Russian counterpart Sergei Lavrov on the sidelines of the Group of 20 (G20) Foreign Ministers' Meeting in New Delhi, India, March 2, 2023. (Xinhua/Javed Dar)

NEW DELHI, March 2 (Xinhua) -- Chinese Foreign Minister Qin Gang met with his Russian counterpart Sergei Lavrov on Thursday over bilateral ties and a political settlement of the Ukraine crisis on the sidelines of the Group of 20 (G20) Foreign Ministers' Meeting held here in New Delhi.

Under the strategic guidance of presidents of the two countries, the China-Russia relations have maintained sound and steady development, setting a new paradigm for a new type of major-country relationship, and playing an important role in promoting solidarity and cooperation among emerging markets and developing countries, Qin said.

The two sides should maintain exchanges at all levels and step up communication and coordination between their foreign ministries, he said.

In the face of the complex and grave international situation, China stands ready to work with Russia and other members of the international community to safeguard peace, security, development and prosperity, and join hands to build a community with a shared future for mankind, the Chinese foreign minister said.

For his part, Lavrov said he is willing to work with the Chinese side to implement the consensus reached by the two heads of state, intensify high-level exchanges and plan cooperation in various fields.

Noting that both Russia and China are members of the Group of Friends in Defense of the Charter of the United Nations, Lavrov said Russia is willing to strengthen strategic communication with China to inject more stability into the international system.

Russia supports and will actively participate in the Global Development Initiative and Global Security Initiative, and will continue to strengthen coordination and cooperation between the two sides within the frameworks of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization, the BRICS and other multilateral organizations, Lavrov said.

The two sides also exchanged views on the Ukraine crisis.

Qin expounded on China's basic position, calling for joint efforts to uphold the purposes and principles of the UN Charter, support a political solution to the crisis, oppose fanning the flames and disrupting the peace talks, and object to double standards, sanctions and pressure.

China supports all efforts conducive to the peaceful settlement of the crisis and will continue to play a constructive role in this regard, he said.

Lavrov appreciated China's objective and impartial position and constructive role, saying that the Russian side is always open to negotiations and dialogue.

The two sides also signed a consultation plan for 2023 between the foreign ministries of the two countries.

(Web editor: Zhang Kaiwei, Liang Jun)
KATHMANDU, March 3 (Xinhua) -- Nepal has decided to bar solo or independent trekkers from trekking in Nepal without the help of a guide starting from April 1, a senior official of Nepal Tourism Board said on Friday.

The tourism organization made it mandatory for a sole foreign trekker to take a guide on Thursday.

"The decision was taken considering the safety of such trekkers," Mani Raj Lamichhane, the board's spokesperson, told Xinhua.

"We have received 40 to 50 cases of trekkers being out of contact during the treks annually, which conveyed the message to the world that Nepal is not a safe destination," he explained. "So we decided to promote an organized trekking in Nepal with this decision."

"Another reason behind this decision is to create more employment opportunities in the country," he added.

Free and independent trekkers are those who plan their own trips and prefer to travel alone without assistance from trekking agencies. They are considered as price-conscious travelers.

According to Lamichhane, over 46,000 solo foreign trekkers got permission from the tourism board in 2019 before the COVID-19 pandemic hit.

The figure was 19,415 in 2022, showed the tourism board data.

The Trekking Agencies' Association of Nepal has been lobbying for a one-trekker one-guide system since 2012. 
Brian DeDecker, teaching associate professor in the Department of Molecular, Cellular and Developmental Biology, stands in a soybean field at his family farm in Annawan, Illinois. DeDecker and his students have developed a way to engineer soybeans that produce scarce ingredients for cancer drugs, vaccines and infant formulawhile going easy on the planet. Credit: DeDecker

When Brian DeDecker drives past the bucolic green soybean fields en route to his childhood home in rural Illinois, his mind drifts not to the past but to the future.

As a first-generation college student turned molecular biologist, DeDecker imagines a day when these humble beans, which his family has grown for generations, pack a bounty of therapeutic but hard-to-obtain natural compounds.

Some will be loaded with chemotherapy drugs typically stripped from old growth trees. Others will burst with vaccine additives, now mainly accessed by harvesting the livers of endangered sharks or immune-boosting proteins accessible only through human breast milk.

"Since the discovery of DNA in the 1950s, we have amassed an amazing amount of knowledge about how biology works at the molecular level," said DeDecker, a teaching associate professor in the Department of Molecular, Cellular and Developmental Biology at CU Boulder. "We are now in a position to use that knowledge to actually build new lifeto engineer organisms to do new things that can address some of the world's biggest problems."

In recent years, DeDecker and former student Simon Kalmus have put that vision into action, working with members of CU's iGEM (International Genetically Engineered Machine) student research team to devise a magic bean of sortsone that can shapeshift into a custom-made chemical factory depending on what genetic instructions they give it.

Their new company Seedling Biosystems is among a host of startups sprouting from the burgeoning field of synthetic biology, a $9 billion and growing industry combining the ancient wisdom of evolution with cutting-edge genetic engineering tools. Many companies already genetically program microorganisms to churn out desired chemicals. For instance, insulin, which was once harvested from dog pancreases, is now produced by heaping vats of yeast and bacteria.

But there's a hitch:

"You have to feed yeast and bacteria plants in order to make the chemicals. We make it directly in plants," said DeDecker, whose company will begin producing bean-borne protein supplements for baby formula this spring. "Someday, there could be soybean fields across the Midwest dedicated to biopharming."

Endangered sharks and old growth trees

Kalmus, a Colorado-raised prodigy, left high school early and spent a few years farming in southern France before enrolling in the Department of Chemical and Biological Engineering at CU Boulder. He was drawn to the promise of synthetic biology and eagerly joined the iGEM team. One day, DeDecker came into the lab excited about the potential of bioengineering plants. Soon after, Kalmus wandered into DeDecker's office excited to share his own ideas about how to do it.

"Over the course of a month or two we went from, 'Huh. This is a fun idea,' to realizing it might actually work," recalled Kalmus, who graduated in 2019 and has stayed on as a research associate and company co-founder. Credit: University of Colorado at Boulder

As plants go, he explained, soybeans are remarkably efficient, turning the sun's energy into a cornucopia of proteins and fats while restoring nitrogen to the soil rather than stripping it as many crops do. Because it is cheap and nutritionally dense, it's used broadly as feedstock for cattle.

It's also possible to infuse the beans with the genetic blueprint to build something more scarce: the natural oil squalene. The oil is widely used to strengthen vaccines and keep skin and lips supple in cosmetics. But it's primarily sourced from the livers of sharks. The oil helps them stay buoyant.

"We are decimating shark populations for this and we don't need to be," said DeDecker.

Taxol, or paclitaxel, a widely used chemotherapy treatment, comes from the bark of yew trees, which use it to fight off wood-degrading fungi. But as the old growth giants have grown increasingly endangered, environmentalists have become concerned.

Enter DeDecker's students.

Where scientists used to have to tromp through the forest, get a sample and analyze it to understand the tree's genetic code, they can now order yew DNA from a commercial vendor and play around with it in the lab.

In time, they developed a platform for infusing an otherwise normal soybean plant with the genetic instructions to, when switched on, produce taxadienethe first step in synthesizing the anti-cancer drug paclitaxel (Taxol).

To switch it on, they essentially make bean soup.

"At the end of the day, you essentially add water to a big pot of beans, let them sit and they start to putter away making whatever it is that you want them to make," said Kalmus.

A different kind of grow operation

Early on, the two rigged up a grow room in DeDecker's Boulder garage, taking great pains to reassure neighbors that their crop was really soybeans.

Teaching Associate Professor Brian DeDecker and his students (in lab coats) check out some soybean samples. From left are Maya Nelson, a biochemistry and public health major; Lindsey Neukirch, an MCDB and public health major; and David Birkhaeuser, an MCDB and Spanish major. Credit: Casey A. Cass/CU Boulder

"We're like, 'Seriously, we're growing the world's most unique tofu in this garage,'" said Kalmus.

With funding and support from Venture Partners, which helps CU faculty members commercialize their research, they launched a startup and obtained a patent. Meantime, the iGEM team, as part of an annual international contest, helped work out the scientific details.

"You are mixing all these things together and it looks like water but is actually the instructions for life," said team member Maya Nelson, an undergraduate in the Department of Biochemistry. "It's like magic."

In October, the team presented its Taxol research in Paris at the iGEM competition.

Well aware of concerns about genetically modified organisms (GMOs), the team is now working on ways to ensure that pollen from their engineered plants doesn't drift to other farms. (Notably, about 95% of soy is already genetically engineered, and soy possesses both male and female sex organs enabling some varieties to self-propagate without opening and releasing pollen at all.)

This spring, the company will begin scaling production on its first product, a bioengineered milk protein critical for infant development.

Similar proteins can already be extracted from cow's milk for formula, but cattle farming is extremely water intensive and emits the greenhouse gas methane.

"If we can remove the cow from the system, we can produce these proteins much more sustainably," said DeDecker.

And he and his students are just getting started.

"We have an opportunity to transform lots of dirty manufacturing processes," he said. "When you start to think about it, your imagination can just run wild."

Provided by University of Colorado at Boulder
COLUMBIA  Scout Motors Inc. is establishing its first manufacturing plant in Blythewood near Columbia, bringing with it 4,000 jobs.

At the Richland County site, the company will build all-electric, next-generation trucks and SUVs harkening back to the iconic Scout vehicles produced from 1960 to 1980. The company plans to invest $2 billion in the venture.

At full capacity, more than 200,000 Scout vehicles may be produced annually at the facility.

Scout Motors will provide thousands of South Carolinians with previously unimagined opportunities and prosperity for generations to come, Gov. Henry McMaster said. The Palmetto State, with its rich history, superior people, and sterling automotive manufacturing reputation, is the perfect place to re-start this iconic American brand.

Scout trucks and SUVs will be built on a newly designed all-electric platform that delivers credible capability and off-road prowess. With internal engineering focused on attributes including ground clearance, approach angles, robust axles, payload capacity, all-electric range and new digital features, Scout products will honor its heritage while injecting fresh American ingenuity to create a new era of iconic all-purpose vehicles.

Were honored to partner with South Carolina to usher in this new era for Scout, President and CEO of Scout Motors Scott Keogh said. Scout has been an American icon since introducing an SUV in 1960. It's the vehicle that took your family on a camping trip, that gave access to the great outdoors, and that showed up on the job site every morning. Today, were reimagining Scouts original ingenuity and electrifying its future. Were bringing the Scout spirit to South Carolina and it's going to be a hell of a ride.

Headquartered in Tysons, Virginia, Scout was formed to craft all-electric trucks and SUVs rooted in the same tradition that made the original Scout vehicle an American icon. The company is revitalizing a legend and returning manufacturing to American shores.

Entering the market with an EV-based vehicle like Scout is a bold move  one that will help our state achieve a sustained future," Secretary of Commerce Harry M. Lightsey III said. "We welcome Scout Motors and appreciate the companys confidence and commitment to take this bold journey with South Carolina.

The Blythewood Industrial Site, off Interstate 77, spans approximately 1,600 acres, with the plant itself occupying 1,100 acres. Vehicle production is targeted to begin by the end of 2026.

Scout Motors is an independent U.S. company, backed by Volkswagen Group, with an experienced board of directors, including Dr. Gernot Doellner, head of Group Strategy at Volkswagen AG, and Peter Bosch, member of the Bentley Motors Board for Manufacturing.

South Carolinas greatest asset is our people," Chairman of the Senate Finance Committee Harvey S. Peeler Jr. said. "Scout Motors recognized this and wanted to become part of our storied manufacturing history. Welcome to South Carolina and thank you for making a generational investment in our state.

Individuals interested in joining the Scout team should visit readySCs recruitment website to explore opportunities. Companies interested in becoming a supplier for the company should complete S.C. Commerces online interest form.
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On this version of Hot off the Wire (posted March 3 at 2:30 p.m. CT):

A judge has sentenced South Carolina attorney Alex Murdaugh to life in prison a day after he was convicted of murder in the shooting deaths of his wife and son. The sentence issued Friday carries no chance of parole or early release.

The U.S. has announced a new $400 million military aid package for Ukraine that for the first time includes armored vehicles that can launch bridges.

An 83-year-old Vietnam veteran is at long last getting his due. President Joe Biden on Friday awarded the Medal of Honor to retired Col. Paris Davis, one of the first Black officers to lead a Special Forces team in combat.

A new crew from the United States, Russia and United Arab Emirates has arrived at the International Space Station. Friday's docking was delayed an hour because of a switch problem with one of the capsule's docking hooks.

Severe weather continues to move through the Midwest and South and is heading toward the Northeast.

King Charles III will travel to France and Germany for his first state visits since becoming monarch, underscoring Britains efforts to build bridges with its European neighbors.

Arizona Gov. Katie Hobbs says corrections officials won't carry out an execution even though the state Supreme Court scheduled it over the objections of the states new attorney general.

Walgreens says it wont sell an abortion pill by mail in 20 conservative-led states.

Colombia is proposing transferring at least 70 hippopotamuses that live near Pablo Escobars former ranch to India and Mexico as part of a plan to control their population.

The Associated PressSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
On this version of Hot off the Wire:

 The House Ethics Committee is launching an investigation into embattled Republican Rep. George Santos. The committee announced the probe Thursday of the New York congressman whose lies and embellishments about his resume and personal life have drawn deep scrutiny in Congress.

 The Justice Department says former President Donald Trump can be sued by injured Capitol Police officers and Democratic lawmakers over the Jan. 6, 2021, insurrection at the U.S. Capitol.

 The judge has turned disgraced South Carolina attorney Alex Murdaugh's fate over the the jury in his double murder trial following closing arguments from the defense.

 Officials say a Lufthansa flight that experienced significant turbulence was diverted to Washington Dulles International Airport and seven people on board were taken to area hospitals.

 Legislation is heading to Tennessees Republican governor that would ensure drag shows cannot take place in public or in front of children.

 Republican senators says the Biden administration is taking $39 billion in federal money that's meant to build computer chip factories and using it to further woke ideas such as requiring some recipients to offer child care and encouraging the use of union labor.

 Joni Mitchell was this years recipient of the Library of Congress Gershwin Prize for Popular Song.

 An inquiry has found that Britains domestic intelligence agency missed a significant opportunity to prevent the suicide bombing that killed 22 people at a 2017 Ariana Grande concert in northwest England.

 Former President Barack Obama is marking the retirement of the South Carolina woman credited with popularizing the chant Fired up, ready to go! The chant came to epitomize Obama's two presidential campaigns.
The breathtaking dancing shimmer of the aurora borealis and its counterpart in the southern hemisphere, aurora australis, dazzles those lucky enough to catch a glimpse of Earth's greatest light show.

The northern and southern lights, usually confined to the Arctic and Antarctica, have generated awe and wonder for centuries and continue to do so.

In recent days, photographers and night sky watchers have been capturing the colorful display further south (or north if you're in the southern hemisphere) than usual  places like the state of Colorado, the southeast of England and New South Wales. Pilots have circled their planes mid-flight to give their passengers a closer look at the phenomenon.

What causes auroras?

Auroras are caused by activity on the sun  particularly a type of solar storm called a coronal mass ejection, which emits electrified gas and particles into space. When these electrified particles reach magnetic field lines at the north and south poles, which usually takes around three days, they enter into Earth's atmosphere.

Once there, the particles and energy interact with gases in the atmosphere, producing different colored light in the sky. Oxygen gives off green, the most commonly seen color, as well as red light, according to Aurora Watch at Lancaster University in the United Kingdom. Nitrogen glows blue and purple, according to NASA.

Clear weather can also help make the auroras more visible.

Researchers at NASA's Solar Dynamics Observatory said they detected two M-class solar flares on Friday and Saturday that led to coronal mass ejections (CMEs), triggering the recent bout of elevated geomagnetic activity and producing the captivating auroras. The smallest solar flares are designated A-class, followed by B, C, M and X, the largest, according to NASA.

CMEs can also sometimes disrupt satellite operations and communication on Earth.

On Tuesday, another solar flare erupted only a shade below "X-class," according to EarthSky, although there was no accompanying CME.

The latest uptick in geomagnetic activity has been driven by a "large and magnetically complex" sun spot region known as AR3234, according to the UK's Met Office.

How frequent are auroras?

The recent geomagnetic wild ride is now expected to ease, meaning fewer opportunities for people to see the northern or southern lights in the coming days.

Over the next few years, the northern lights might appear further south more regularly, said Robert Massey, executive director at the Royal Astronomical Society.

The sun goes through an 11-year solar cycle where the flare activity level fluctuates. Cycle 25, the latest one, began in December 2019 with a solar minimum  a period when the sun is still active, but it's quieter and has fewer sunspots.

We're now approaching a solar maximum, expected to occur in July 2025, which will be a time when there are a large number of sunspots and increased solar activity.

Massey said the solar events that cause auroras will become more common as we head toward the solar maximum.

Other planets in the solar system also experience auroras.

Jupiter is bathed in spectacular color at its poles, although its powerful auroras are caused by a different mechanism that those on Earth, according to research published in 2021.

___

33 groundbreaking NASA missions in photographs 33 groundbreaking NASA missions in photographs Explorer 1 Apollo-Saturn Apollo 7 Apollo 8 Apollo 9 Apollo 10 Apollo 11 Apollo 12 Apollo 13 Apollo 14 Apollo 15 Apollo 16 Apollo 17 Pioneer 10 Pioneer 11 Viking Voyager Interstellar Skylab Space Shuttle Shuttle-Mir Landsat Hubble Space Telescope Chandra Spitzer Space Telescope International Space Station Mars Science Laboratory Parker Solar Probe Juno OSIRIS-REx Cassini-Huygens SpaceX Falcon 9 Rocket and Manned Crew Mars 2020 Perseverance rover and Ingenuity helicopter James Webb Space Telescope
A man who fled Nebraska in 2017 after he was charged in the rape of a minor in Omaha was taken into custody last week by the U.S. Marshals Service in Houston, according to jail records.

Gabino Vargas-Perez, a 26-year-old immigrant from Guatemala, has been held in the Montgomery County Jail since Feb. 16 and will be extradited to Omaha.

Douglas County prosecutors charged Vargas-Perez with suspicion of first-degree sexual assault of a child in 2017 for the rape of a 14-year-old, the World-Herald previously reported.

After Vargas-Perezs bail was set at $50,000, someone posted the necessary 10%  $5,000  cash bail on his behalf and he left jail on Feb. 21, 2017. He then skipped bail and did not show up for a March 13, 2017, preliminary hearing, reports stated.

At the time he was charged, Vargas-Perez was a 20-year-old former Central High School student and was living in Omaha.

The 14-year-old girl told police that she met Vargas-Perez in fall 2016 and that he told her he was 16, according to previous reporting. Vargas-Perez asked her to come home with him to meet his family, took her upstairs and raped her, she told police.

Under Nebraska state law, it is illegal for anyone 19 or older to have sex with anyone under age 16.

Top Journal Star photos for February 2023
ISLAMABAD, March 3 (Xinhua) -- At least two Pakistani nationals were killed and 17 others rescued in a tragic incident of a shipwreck off the coast of southern Italy, Pakistan's Ministry of Foreign Affairs said.

Two of those onboard are still missing, spokesperson for the Pakistani Foreign Ministry Mumtaz Zahra Baloch said at Thursday's weekly press briefing.

"Our Embassy in Rome remains actively engaged with the Italian authorities for the welfare of the survivors and transportation of the mortal remains of the deceased," Baloch added.

Over 64 refugees were killed in the incident which took place on February 24. The ship reportedly carried more than 100 refugees, mainly from Iran, Pakistan and Afghanistan, when it began experiencing difficulties.

It broke up after hitting beneath-the-surface rocks in rough weather off the Calabrian Coast.

Separately, seven Pakistani nationals were killed in a tragic incident of a shipwreck off the Libyan coast in mid-February, said the spokesperson.

"Embassy of Pakistan in Libya is facilitating the process of identification of the bodies and transportation of the mortal remains to Pakistan with the support of local authorities and the International Committee of the Red Cross," she added.

The boat, carrying around 80 people, reportedly departed from Qasr Alkayar on Feb. 14 heading to Europe, according to the International Organization for Migration. 
Two Norfolk men could face charges related to the death of a bald eagle in Stanton County.

About 4 p.m. Tuesday, the Stanton County Sheriffs Office responded to a report of a suspicious vehicle northwest of the main Wood Duck recreation area, about 3 miles southwest of Stanton, said Sheriff Mike Unger. The suspicious vehicle was located in a field.

While having contact with two men who were inside the vehicle, it was determined that they had a dead American bald eagle in their possession, Unger said. Further investigation revealed that the two had allegedly shot and killed the protected national bird in the recreation area. According to the sheriff, both men said they planned on cooking and eating the bird.

Nebraska Game and Parks was contacted and took custody of the eagle and the rifle used to kill it. Two Honduran nationals, Ramiro Hernandez-Tziquin, 20, and Domingo Zetino-Hernandez, 20, both of Norfolk, were cited for unlawful possession of the eagle.

Hernandez-Tziquin also was cited for not having a drivers license. More serious charges are possible as the investigation into the eagles death continues, Unger said.
The two early favorites for the 2024 Republican presidential nomination are coming to Davenport this month.

Former President Donald Trump will visit Davenport on Monday, March 13 to give a speech on his America First Education Policy. This will be Trumps first visit to the Hawkeye State since announcing his bid for the GOP nomination just after the midterm elections.

Hell be at the Adler Theater, 136 E. 3rd St., Davenport, according to a news release. Doors open at 3 p.m. and the program begins at 5:30 p.m., with Trump scheduled to speak at 6:15 p.m. General admission tickets are available online.

His visit will come a few days after a Davenport stop by Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis on March 10, which will be his first trip to Iowa as he teases a possible presidential run.

DeSantis will appear with fellow Republican Gov. Kim Reynolds at his two stops in Iowa  Davenport and Des Moines  an aide familiar with the governors plans confirmed.

A time and location for the event has not yet been announced, but the stops are planned to be interview-style events, the aide confirmed.

Reynolds traveled to Florida last weekend to hold a similar panel discussion with DeSantis, according to Politico, though she plans to remain neutral in the first-in-the-nation caucuses. Shes also appeared at events with Sen. Tim Scott, and former U.S. Ambassador Nikki Haley.

Early polling shows Trump and DeSantis in the mix as early favorites for the nomination. A Real Clear Politics rolling average of polling data shows Trump with 45.2%, DeSantis with 29.2%, former Vice President Mike Pence with 6.8%, and Haley with 5.3% support.
State lawmakers worked through their first legislative deadline on Thursday, with restrictions on LGBTQ youth and education regulations taking center stage at the Capitol.

After this weeks legislative funnel, only bills that have passed out of at least one committee can be considered for the rest of the session. But there are exceptions: Budget and tax bills are not subject to the funnel, and leaders have ways to revive legislation later in the session if they want to bring it back.

House Speaker Pat Grassley, a Republican from New Hartford, said the House has hit on key priorities during the session so far, advancing legislation dealing with parental oversight of education, private school education savings accounts, and other issues Republicans made central to their campaigns.

Weve been focusing on what we feel are the priorities that we campaigned on in the last election and were very successful, Grassley said. A lot of these issues were part of those topics of conversation.

House Minority Leader Jennifer Konfrst, D-Windsor Heights, told reporters on Thursday the work of the Republican majority has been nothing but politics for the first two months of the session. She said the flurry of bills that deal with LGBTQ students, instruction and transgender youth are not dealing with the interests of Iowans.

If you were to look at this in the Legislatures work, you would think peoples biggest problem facing our state is trans kids and gay marriage, Konfrst said. Instead, the problems facing our state are rising cancer rates, our homeless kids, our schools that need additional help, our mental health crisis that Ive heard about over and over on the doors. Weve done nothing to address these issues.

The Senate Health and Human Services Committee passed Senate Study Bill 1197, a bill that would ban gender-affirming care for transgender minors on Thursday, a move that contradicts the guidance of doctors in the state and major medical associations. A House committee was likely to advance the bill later Thursday.

Its one of several bills dealing with LGBTQ students and youth, which Democrats and LGBTQ rights advocates have called harmful and discriminatory. In the Senate on Wednesday, lawmakers advanced a bill that would ban teaching on gender identity and sexual activity through fifth grade, requires schools to notify parents if a student expresses a different gender identity and requires schools to get parental permission before referring to a child by a different name or set of pronouns  all items the House committee has advanced as separate bills.

Parents should have the ultimate responsibility and right to decide what is in the best interest of their children, including when it comes to their education, said Molly Severn, legislative liaison and lobbyist for Gov. Kim Reynolds.

Another bill would effectively ban transgender students from using the bathroom or locker room that aligns with their gender identity, requiring school facilities to be separated by biological sex.

Thousands of Iowa high school students on Wednesday left school in planned walk-outs across the state to protest LGBTQ-related bills advanced by Republicans. Many in Des Moines marched to the Iowa Capitol, chanting we say gay and trans rights are human rights.

Being trans has not been easy for me, Jaxx Phillips, a 14-year-old transgender student from Ankeny, told lawmakers Thursday during a subcommittee hearing on one of the many bills dealing with LGBTQ students.

I have been bullied for it. Im being told that I am delusional or that I just want attention. People in my school have shouted slurs at me, Phillips said. Its not something that I want to go through. This is something that I have to do in order to express myself.

Phillips told lawmakers: Children should not have to live their lives in fear for their safety and lives because of how they identify.

Forcing trusted adults to out kids who have turned to them where they would be safe reinforces to those children that they should have to fear who they surround themselves with, Phillips said. I should not have to be here arguing before lawmakers that transgender youth should have the same rights as their peers to be whoever we can.

Republicans argued the bills are responding to concerns parents and other constituents have brought.

We laid out in session very early on some of these bills being part of our priority list, Grassley said. So I wouldnt say this is a flurry of things just coming along right now because were at funnel. And keep in mind, a lot of the bills that were working on, were taking concerns from Iowans across the state.

But Democrats said the LGBTQ legislation Republicans are advancing are appealing to a national right-wing playbook, not the majority of Iowans. Senate Minority Whip Sarah Trone Garriott, D-West Des Moines, said she has heard from constituents that moved to Iowa because they saw it as a welcoming place.

These folks are really concerned about what the future is going to be like here, and if theres a future for them in Iowa, she said. And we need to spend the rest of this legislative session working on the things that Iowans are asking for.

Ban on gender-affirming health care

Senate Democrats criticized Reynolds and Republicans for championing parental rights while also pushing a ban on gender-affirming health care for transgender minors, including the use of puberty blockers, hormones and surgery for transgender patients.

Such bans they argue violate the fundamental right of parents to seek medical care for their child. And courts in other states have struck down such measures, finding that it prohibits medical treatment consistent with accepted standards of care.

This is a sudden switch-up from Gov. Reynolds and some statehouse Republicans beating the drum of trusting parents parental rights and parental choice, Sen. Janet Petersen, D-Des Moines, said during Thursday in voting against the Senate bill in committee. Politicians do not belong in the exam room with Iowans. Banning medical care for Iowans puts lives at risk. Care should be free from discrimination and political interference.

Petersen thanked Iowans who came forward to testify against one of the most extreme political attacks on transgender Iowans and Iowa physicians.

These mean-spirited bills that are harmful to the health and wellbeing of their friends and classmates, she said. This bill bans life-saving, medically necessary gender-affirming care.

The move would contradict the guidance of several major medical groups, who have said gender-affirming care correlates with a reduction in mental health problems and suicide attempts.

Iowa physicians as well testified last week that gender-affirming care to minors is a methodical, deeply personalized process that involves multiple doctors and parent consent.

Critics as well note the measures would violate the Iowa Civil Rights Act and be at odds with federal protections against discrimination in education.

Senate Republicans on Thursday amended the bill to state enforcement and compliance with its provisions shall not constitute a violation of the Iowa Civil Rights Act.

A wave of similar legislation in Republican-led states has been considered this year, and Utah and Florida are among the states that have enacted such bans.

Sen. Jeff Edler, R-State Center, raised concerns about providing irreversible care to minors who they said are not old enough to make informed decisions about experimental treatments that could leave them permanently sterile or physically marred for life.

Edler is chair of the Senate Health and Human Services Committee, which advanced the bill Thursday on a party-line vote, with Democrats opposed.

Iowa has a duty to protect its citizens, especially our children, Edler said. These experimental procedures push vulnerable children down a one-way path that leads to permanent sterility and a lifetime of medical intervention.  This is a public health matter that should be regulated as such under Iowa law.

Traffic cameras

Bills dealing with traffic cameras moved out of the House Public Safety Committee as lawmakers look to regulate the systems that some cities use as a significant revenue driver.

House File 161 would require cities and counties to get permission from the state Department of Transportation to set up traffic cameras on interstates, highways and other roads maintained by the state. Another bill, House File 173, allows the state to place cameras on primary roads, but limits cities to city roads and counties to county roads.

Democrats opposed the bills, saying they would impose burdensome regulations and take away an important revenue stream that cities use to fund public safety. Rep. Sami Scheetz, a Democrat from Cedar Rapids, said the camera on the S-curve of Interstate 380 saves lives, and House File 173 would defund the Cedar Rapids Police Department.

Committee chair Rep. Phil Thompson, R-Boone, said the bills are intended to set up a framework around traffic camera regulation, and they could see changes before going to the floor.

We could merge bills. There are a number of different avenues to go in, he said. Right now we dont have a really good idea of which direction we want to go.

Jobs for teens

Senate Republicans advanced legislation that would create more opportunities for Iowa 14- to 17-year-olds to work certain jobs with parental permission, a proposal that Democrats warned would put those teenagers in harms way.

Examples among the provisions in the proposal include: 16- and 17-year-olds in Iowa could work in bars and sell or serve drinks, with parental permission; 15-year-olds could perform light assembly work, provided it is not on a machine or in an area with machines; and 14-year-olds could work in meat lockers.

Sen. Adrian Dickey, R-Packwood, said the legislation creates more opportunities for teenagers who want to pick up part-time work, and pushed back at assertions that the proposal will put Iowa teenagers in danger on the job.

But Sen. Bill Dotzler, D-Waterloo, argued the legislation would in fact put Iowa teenagers in places of work that he said are dangerous for teenagers.

Republicans advanced Senate File 167 out of the Senates workforce committee, keeping it eligible for further consideration this session and making it eligible for debate by the full Senate. House Republicans also are advancing similar legislation.
The forecast is calling for cold temperatures in Sioux City Friday. The forecast calls for it to be a cool 47 degrees. A 26-degree low is forecasted. We will see a mix of sun and clouds. The area will see gentle winds today, with forecast showing winds from Northwest, clocking in at 9 mph. This report is created automatically with weather data provided by TownNews.com. Stay in the know. Visit siouxcityjournal.com for local news and weather.
For the first two years of his presidency, Joe Biden positioned himself as a champion of statehood and home rule in the District of Columbia. The president urged Congress to make D.C. the 51st stateeven as the Senate filibuster stood in the wayand vowed to defend District residents right to govern themselves through their limited local democracy. Any denial of self-governance in D.C., he proclaimed, is an affront to the democratic values on which our Nation was founded.

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Then, on Thursday, he stabbed D.C. in the back. In a single tweet, the president reversed more than two years of staunch support for home ruleabandoning his principles the moment they became politically inexpedient. Biden announced that he would sign legislation nullifying the modernization of D.C.s criminal code. His action will, perversely, make the District less safe, preserving an outdated 122-year-old criminal code whose ambiguities actually make it harder for prosecutors to charge violent crimes.

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Just as importantly, Bidens decision will empower congressional Republicans to continue overriding D.C.s democratically enacted legislation, including progressive laws expanding the rights of immigrants, abortion providers, LGBTQ people, and other vulnerable groups. The president has, in effect, declared open season on the Districts democracy.

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Republicans, abetted by conservative media, have spread so many lies about the D.C. crime bill that rebutting all their misrepresentations would require an Infinite Jestlength treatise. Rather than tackle distortions one-by-one, I will simply explain what the measure truly does and how it came to be. The bill sought to address a problem that has roiled the Districts criminal legal system: Our criminal code was authored by Congress in 1901, and it is rife with vague and archaic provisions that create uncertainty about what constitutes a crime and how various offenses can be punished. The code ranks as one of the worst in the country in terms of clarity and consistency. For decades, many states faced similar problems. And so, starting in the 1960s, states began modernizing their criminal codes.

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That is precisely what D.C. did, as well. To lead the effort, the D.C. Council created a commission staffed with attorneys and an advisory group of experts. This expert group included representatives from the D.C. attorney generals office and the U.S. attorneys officewhich, together, prosecute all crimes committed in the District. The commission also invited a representative of the mayors office to take part in the overhaul, though Mayor Muriel Bowser showed little interest in the process and rarely sent a representative to participate. As I wrote in January, the commissions work was comprehensive and extensively documented.

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In the end, the advisory groupincluding representatives from both prosecutors officesvoted unanimously to send the commissions recommendations to the council. After making small changes, the D.C. Council unanimously passed the bill twice. After refusing to participate in the process for years, Bowser abruptly vetoed the measure, citing misunderstandings that I will address shortly. The council easily overrode her veto.

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By that point, however, Republicans had seized control of the House of Representatives. Congress has the power to nullify any D.C. law, though it has not done so for 30 years. Emboldened by the partial success of crime fearmongering in the midterms, House Republicans decided to target the criminal code revision for nullification. In the end, 31 Democrats joined every Republican in voting to override the measure (none of whom represent states close to D.C.). After Democratic Sen. Joe Manchin joined Senate Republicans in supporting nullification, the override was one voteand one presidential signatureaway from success. (The filibuster doesnt apply to bills that override D.C.s laws.)

Biden had previously announced his opposition to the nullification effort, and he might have staved off further defections in the Senate by promising a veto. Instead, he abruptly changed course on Thursday, promising the sign the bill if it reached his desk. His support guarantees that itll pass the Senate with multiple Democratic votes.

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Whats so frustrating about Bidens heel turn is that alleged concerns about the criminal code overhaul are not remotely rooted in reality. The chief complaint about the measure is that it would lower penalties for violent crimes. That is, in every meaningful sense, just not true. What the bill really did was align penalties with the sentences that judges are already handing down. The Criminal Code Reform Commission obtained data from the D.C. Superior Court covering every adult case from 2010 to 2019; crunched the numbers to identify what sentences D.C. defendants really faced; then based its revisions on these figures.

Take carjacking, which Biden cited as an excuse to nullify the measure. Under the current code, the maximum sentence for armed carjacking is 40 years, the same as second-degree murder. No onenot a single personis sentenced to 40 years for armed carjacking in D.C., or anything close to it. The absolute harshest penalties for the offense today run about 15 years. So the new code reduced the maximum penalty from 40 years to 24 years. Thats still nine years longer than the lengthiest sentences handed down today. If the new code took effect, then, theres no reason to believe that actual sentences for armed carjacking would go down. Judges would be free to continue imposing the exact same penalties that they have for decades.

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Or take robbery, which Fox News seized upon as an example of the revisions putative flaws, claiming the penalty for this crime would become a slap on the wrist. D.C.s current code has just one robbery statute with a maximum penalty of 15 years. It covers everything from nonviolent pickpocketing to beating a victim to the point of near-death. The new code, by contrast, would divide the crime into armed and unarmed robbery, then split each category into first, second, and third-degree offenses. A minor crime, like unarmed pickpocketing, would incur a two-year max, while a major crime, like violent, armed robbery, would incur a 20-year maxhigher than the current max. Moreover, the bill would let judges stack offenses by running them consecutively. By stacking both robbery and weapons offenses, a judge could send an offender to prison for several decades. Add homicide or kidnapping charges and the offender would effectively face a life sentence.

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As these examples illustrate, a key goal of the bill is to make prosecution easier by clearly defining crimes that are currently ambiguous. It also facilitates prosecution by increasing various penalties. The bill would jack up max sentences for various sex crimes and gun offenses while boosting the max for attempting murder from five years to 22.5 years. It even introduces a new crime, endangerment with a firearm, to cover any individual who fires a gun in public, helping prosecutors charge shootings when they cannot prove intent to injure or kill (a problem that currently bedevils D.C. law enforcement).

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All of these features would make the District safer. Nullifying them will make the District more dangerous. By killing the bill, Biden and Congress are telling D.C. residents that we are not allowed to protect our communities by enacting a criminal code that is coherent and consistent enough to work in the real world.

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But set all that aside. If Democrats really believed in D.C. home rule, they would not be debating the merits of this bill at all, leaving such decisions to the people of D.C. and our elected officials. For cynical political reasons, many party membersincluding the presidenthave decided instead to side with the bad faith efforts of Republicans to meddle in the Districts affairs. This sets an extraordinarily dangerous precedent; it is no coincidence that the sponsor of the nullification bill, Rep. Andrew Clyde, is also pushing legislation that would abolish D.C. home rule entirely.

Republicans saw this as a test vote, an experiment in reviving the dark days of perpetual congressional interference in District government. They will only be emboldened by its success. Already, Republicans include riders in each budget bill that block D.C. from opening recreational marijuana dispensaries and subsidizing abortion for low-income patients. With this victory against home rule, they will surely aim much higher, attempting to block all manner of local laws that conflict with their agenda. Potential targets including health care for trans youth, school vaccine mandates, non-citizen voting (already the subject of a separate nullification bill), and other aspects of D.C.s liberal abortion laws. Whats extraordinary is that ostensibly progressive senators like Mazie Hirono and Richard Blumenthal are open to voting for the current nullification billand apparently oblivious to its dire ramifications for other items on the progressive agenda.

D.C.s 700,000 residents have no senator to lobby against the bill. We can only plead, like subjects of a colony, for Congress to let us govern ourselves. For a moment, we believed that we finally had an ally in the White House who would defend the Districts autonomy. Bidens betrayal painfully demonstrates that until D.C. achieves statehood, its democracy will never be secure.
The presidential speechwriter is a delicate, hybrid creature. Torn between desire for glory, as promised by The West Wing, and the anonymity required by the job, their ambition is perpetually sublimated. Not only will they never receive spontaneous applause upon entering a room, but most people will never even know who they are.

Enter Jon Meacham, the historian who elicits groans and eyerolls from professional speechwriters (myself included). On Friday, Axios reported that President Joe Biden had tried to hire Meacham for a White House position.

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This news was not exactly shocking. Whenever Biden delivers what is deemed a major speech, Politico reports that Meacham helped write it. In the lead-up to this years State of the Union, multiple news stories mentioned that Jon Meacham was among a handful of advisers who hunkered down at Camp David with the president to help him with his remarks. Indeed, the only surprise about Meachams involvement was that Politico missed the scoopCBS News broke the news.

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Why does this rankle those of us who do this for a living?

One reason is that Meacham seems to brazenly, almost reflexively, break the first rule of speechwriting: Dont take credit. Thats the job. Speechwriters are, first and foremost, ghostwriters. The final product is a work of collaboration that ultimately belongs to the speaker. If you want credit for the speech, run for office. Deliver it yourself.

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And as one former presidential speechwriter told me, Were not the Knights of the Round Table or anything, but theres an unwritten code we follow.

Of course, we cant know for sure that Meacham is tacky enough to run to the Washington press corps whenever Biden calls him. But at the very least, hes not doing much to downplay his involvement.

In a speech about voting rights last January, Biden posed a rhetorical question to members of Congress: Do you want to be on the side of John Lewis or Bull Connor? Do you want to be on the side of Abraham Lincoln or Jefferson Davis? Politico later reported that Meacham had said almost the exact same thing at an event the week before. When asked about it, Meacham replied, I was involved in the drafting of the speech and was happy to offer that language for the president to use if he wished.

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That isnt the flex Meacham may think it is. For one thing, it is simply unethical to offer someone lines youve used in another context, thereby embarrassing the speaker and forcing a situation where youre compelled to reveal yourself. But then again, Meacham is more comfortable with cribbed lines than the average speechwriter; he frequently uses a phrase from President Barack Obamas second inaugural addressfrom Seneca Falls to Selma to Stonewallwithout attribution.

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While some recent presidential speechwriters may have amassed an air of glamour, the life of a real presidential speechwriteror any speechwriter, reallyis rather workmanlike. It is grueling, often thankless work, vacillating wildly from dispiriting to exhilarating at any given moment. Which is why Meacham, gliding about Washington with an above-the-fray arrogance and the gumption to hoard credit, chafes.

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There is a rather astonishing guilelessness to his manner. What kind of speechwriter uses lines he gives to someone elseand then tells the press about it? What kind of speechwriter assists with a speech and then praises that speech on MSNBCcreating a blatant conflict of interest that will cost him his contributor contract?

Well, perhaps a non-speechwriter, thats who. Meacham would probably be the first person to say hes not a speechwriter, but rather another fraught titlehistorian. He cant take a job at the White Househes too busy writing yet another biography of yet another Great Man.

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But this is semantics. If youre involved in the drafting of the speech and happy to offer language, then for all intents and purposes, youre a speechwriter.

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Another reason Meacham may not have taken the job, by the way, is that he doesnt actually do the job. Ive long suspected that, despite the coverage, Meacham is among the men without pens dreaded by all real speechwriters. These are the (often well-meaning) advisers who sit in speech meetings late in the process. They offer all kinds of ideas which, depending on their clout, might become directives from the president. When the meeting ends, the men without pens look at the speechwriter and say, You got that? You good? And then they walk out with a perfectly clear conscience and a free night, while the speechwriter is left to actually write the thing.

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One senses this is the case with Meacham, based on the vagueness with which his contributions are described. In the press, it is often said that Meacham helped craft the speech, as though its a dreamcatcher made out of popsicle sticks. And, indeed, when I raised this with one former White House speechwriter, the response was unequivocal: Meacham has leaked more stories about his speechwriting involvement to Politico than hes written actual speeches.

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I dont begrudge Bidens relationship with Meacham. There must be some psychological comfort in having a presidential biographer as your ersatz hype man. He nods gravely at your predicament and, in his baritone drawl, offers overwrought lines comparing this moment to the gauzy past. He throws around pablum about how weve been herewherever here isbefore, and we can do thiswhatever this isagain.

And perhaps the sum total of the Meacham package alleviates the awesome, awful weight of running the United States.

But there is a cost. While its hard to pinpoint his contributions, the ones that obviously came from him are at best unhelpful and at worst counterproductive. When Biden asked if legislators wanted to ally with Bull Connor by ignoring voting rights, Republicans clutched their pearls, shocked that Biden would liken them to a notorious racist. But they were, in fact, being let off the hook. Meachamand, by extension, Bidenwas eliding how racism was a force in the modern Republican Party long before Donald Trump came on the scene. The battle for the soul of America is not one-on-one combat between sanctified heroes like Dr. King and flashy villains like the KKK. It takes place at the level of systems and the many people who run them.

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Meachams mawkish binary of history as a fight between our darker impulses and the better angels of our nature doesnt accurately describe the moment were in. For decades, so-called mainstream Republicans, including Meachams own heroes Ronald Reagan and George H.W. Bush, were complicit in allowing the worst elements of their party to gain power. Any understanding of the modern GOP must, at the very least, acknowledge this.

Despite Meachams shortcomings, and the disdain with which he is held by my speechwriting circles, he seems untouchable in Washington. Even serious historians seem to limit their critiques, probably because his book blurbs are worth their weight in gold. He has amassed a rather troubling amount of authority, becoming the kind of Washington fixture one hesitates to antagonize. Its a good storyone about a flawed man who wields enormous power, one that Meacham himself might even write.
Right now, the country is waiting for District Judge Matthew Kacsmaryk to rule on a baseless case that attempts to challenge the use of mifepristone, one of two drugs used in medication abortions. The case goes after the Food and Drug Administrations approval of the drugwhich occurred more than two decades ago and was as rigorous as the process for many other drugsand because of that, there is a fear that if this district judge rules on the side of the plaintiffs, it could affect mifepristones availability nationwide. (There are arguments that it might not have to, but the situation is already absurd enough to warrant plenty of attention.)

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While we wait for the ruling, I decided to actually read the 113-page complaint filed by the anti-abortion group that calls itself, unscrupulously, Alliance for Hippocratic Medicine. You dont need to understand federal jurisprudence to grasp how preposterous the case is; it is apparent in the arguments offered by the plaintiffs themselves. Below are just a few of the egregious distortions contained in AHMs complaint, and Ive specifically chosen some that havent been reported on as much in the existing coverage of this case. I think its worthwhile for everyone to familiarize themselves with the way these plaintiffs are attempting to argue their way into controlling health care access for the whole country, which in fact overwhelmingly supports access to abortion care.

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As some legal context to start: Every lawsuit must include a description of whats called injury, defined as a harm suffered by those bringing the suit, due to some act or omission done by those the suit is brought against.

In the section delineating Injuries to Patients, paragraph 270 states:

As more women and girls require treatment in emergency departments, the other patients of the treating doctors are adversely affected. With the increase in women and girls suffering emergency complications from chemical abortion or seeking to reverse the effects of the chemical abortion regimen, there is a direct correlation in the decrease in time, attention, and resources that emergency department doctors have to treat their other patients.

First, note the use of the phrase chemical abortion, rather than medical abortion or medication abortion. Chemical abortion is used more than 200 times, throughout the complaint. This is purposeful and malicious, because it evokes the notions of being gassed or poisoned, which in turn evoke, paradoxically, a loss of agency and autonomy by the innocent, who are at the mercy of cold and evil monsters. Consider that most people who choose abortion are already parenting, and most people who have kids love them. The landmark Turnaway Study proved unequivocally that people who choose abortion do so after careful consideration of whats best for their existing and future children, and themselves, not because they are heartless killers.

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Back to the substantive point of this paragraph. A rigorous study found that only 0.3 percent of people using medication abortion experienced a major complication, so the assertion that the incidence of complications is high enough to widely impact the time, attention, and resources that emergency department doctors have to treat their other patients is ridiculous.

But before Roe guaranteed the national right to abortion care, the other patients of obstetricians and emergency department doctors were demonstrably affected by the incidence of women who had nearly killed themselves trying to abort a pregnancy. Nearly every big-city hospital had a septic abortion ward. Some of these women had attempted actual chemical abortionsinserting toxic fluids like drain cleaner, fertilizer, or motor oil into their uteruses, causing infection, damage to organs, and death.

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In the section titled Injuries to Plaintiff Doctors, paragraph 295 states:

Doctors, including Plaintiff doctors and the members of Plaintiff medical associations, experience enormous pressure, stress, and chaos in these emergency situations that the FDA created through its approval of chemical abortion drugs and elimination of necessary safeguards.

See the foregoing for why these emergency situations are simply not happening at a rate that can even bear such categorization; but an ER physicians actual, normal job is to manage the pressure and stress of dealing with peoples life-threatening situations. It does not make sense to assert as an injury to plaintiffs what is a routine and definitive aspect of their work.

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296. Some of these emergency situations force pro-life doctors, including Plaintiff doctors and the members of Plaintiff medical associations, into situations in which they feel complicit in an elective chemical abortion by needing to remove a baby with a beating heart or pregnancy tissue as the only means to save the life of the woman or girl. This feeling of complicity in the act of an elective chemical abortion causes great emotional suffering, mental anguish, and spiritual distress among these doctors.

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I cant dispute the anguish an anti-abortion doctor might feel if they encountered an incomplete abortion of a baby with a beating heart; however I can dispute the idea that this could ever happen, or that if it did, it wouldnt be an extraordinary sequence of events that would be tragic for all involved, and so exceptional as to never merit classification as a type of legal injury. I can also dispute the patriarchal, theocratic hierarchy of interests, which ranks the imputed value of the fetus above the value of the woman or girl. And I can dispute the unethical segregation of abortion from full-spectrum reproductive health care, which creates a medical establishment in which one can become an obstetrician or emergency physician without having to do some prefatory soul-searching regarding ones potential complicity. One should not enter a professional field if one does not feel that one can carry out the regular duties required by that vocation; pacifists shouldnt join the military, people who cant handle the sight of blood shouldnt become doctors, and doctors shouldnt be obstetricians, gynecologists, family medicine doctors, or emergency-medicine physicians if they are philosophically opposed to abortion, because elective abortion and miscarriage-management are going to be part of those realms of medicine no matter a doctors personal beliefs. The FDA is not causing that reality.

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Theres no such thing as the opportunity to provide pregnancy care, so its not a thing that can be lost. The doctor is there to serve the patient.

I can also raise the far more frequent incidence of powerlessness that many such doctors are feeling now, in the post-Roe era, when they cannot provide medically necessary lifesaving care because of the risk of prosecution. These doctors are complicit with unjust laws, and because pregnancy is far more complicated and dangerous than medication abortion, it is far more likely that a doctor would experience the anguish and distress of being forced to deny care to a patient because of the criminalization of abortion.

301. When their patients have chemical abortions, doctors lose the opportunity to provide professional services and care for the woman and child through pregnancy, which causes harms to providers who no longer can care for their patients and bring about a successful delivery of a new life.

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This one is, perhaps, the most outrageous of them all. Its such a distortion I dont think you could even call it a tautology. Theres no such thing as the opportunity to provide pregnancy care, so its not a thing that can be lost. The doctor is there to serve the patient. The patient does not have a duty of illness, injury, or condition, with respect to the doctor or the medical establishment. Either someone is pregnant and comes to a doctor for pregnancy care or an abortion, or someone isnt pregnant, and thus doesnt need pregnancy care or abortion. And I object to the manipulative invocation of new life. New life is great, its phenomenal, its mysterious and wonderful, and new life quickly becomes older life that can reproduce and therefore needs access to full-spectrum reproductive health care.

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308. The inability or refusal of a patient to disclose why she is presenting herself in the emergency department or what drugs she has received also impedes the ability of doctors, including Plaintiff doctors and the members of Plaintiff medical associations, to practice medicine and provide proper treatment to these patients.

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The inability or refusal of a patient to disclose why they are presenting themselves in the emergency department with complications due to an abortion is a direct result of an incessant campaign of shame, stigma, misinformation, and criminalization perpetrated by people who want to control the bodies of women, girls, and people who can become pregnant. Its an injury to the people who now (reasonably) feel the need to hide their actions, not plaintiff doctors attempting to treat them.

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309. The lack of accurate information on adverse events also harms the doctor-patient relationship with all medical care providers because the patients no longer trust that their health care providers are telling them the truth. This harms even doctors who do not support or practice chemical abortions, such as the members of the [American Association of Pro-Life Obstetricians and Gynecologists].

The lack of accurate information on adverse events does harm the doctor-patient relationship, but again, this is an injury to patients, not doctorsbecause patients are routinely provided false information about abortion in states where abortion is restricted.

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312. Doctors, such as [Plaintiff doctors] Dr. Jester and Dr. Delgado, serve patients as professional health care providers. They provide care to all women and unborn children, and they give them the best professional services possible. Just like all other health care providers, a hospital or practice will bill for the costs of medical services rendered. When their patients have chemical abortions, they lose the opportunity to provide professional medical care for the woman and child through pregnancy and bring about a successful delivery of a new life.

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Is this one actually claiming, with that enraging invocation of new life again, and even some unborn children thrown in, that because plaintiff doctors are, in theory, losing money when people choose not to continue a pregnancy, that is an injury at law? Because theres some law that doctors can expect to make a certain amount of money off of pregnancy, that depends on peoples not choosing abortion? And this is an injury caused by the FDA?

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In the Need for Judicial Relief section, plaintiffs state that Defendants would suffer no harm from the relief requested, and the relief requested would serve the public interest.

The relief requested would not serve the public interest; the relief requested could take mifepristone off the market, restricting access to abortion even more than it is already, even in states with liberal abortion laws, like California and New York. The relief requested would serve the interests of a few far-right conservatives.

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Also, the FDA (defendants in this case) would suffer harm from the relief requested, because this is an unprecedented breach of the FDAs regulatory authority. If Kacsmaryk enjoins the distribution of mifepristone, yes, people will still be able to have misoprostol-only medication abortions (for now); yes, the FDA can re-approve mifepristone or allow its use anyway; and yes, some other forum-shopped liberal judge can rule on a purposefully brought oppositional case, to force SCOTUS to intervene, even before the conservative 5th Circuit denies an appeal. But an extremely damaging precedent will have been set, one that could impact any other drug that might become a target of political interferencelike hormone therapy for transgender patients.

Under Claims for Relief, the plaintiffs state that Pregnancy is neither serious nor life-threatening, as those terms are understood in Subpart H.

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Say it with me: Pregnancy is 14 times more dangerous than abortion, and the maternal mortality rate in the United States is almost three times higher than that in other high-income countries; for Black women, its three times higher than for white women.

Moreover, this one is an especially heartbreaking and infuriating lie, because laws that restrict abortion make pregnancy even more serious and life-threatening.

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Also, come on, pregnancy isnt serious? Pregnancy is serious, whether you want to be pregnant or not, and regardless of Subpart H.

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Also under Claims for Relief: Chemical abortion does not provide a meaningful therapeutic benefit to patients over existing treatments. 

Over the 23 years that the mifepristone-misoprostol regimen has been legal in the U.S., weve seen a steady increase in the use of medication abortion over procedural abortion. Even when medication abortion used to be more expensive than procedural abortion, people often chose medication abortion because they wanted the convenience and control of having the abortion on their own time, in their own space, and/or with their own support people around them. Mifepristone has been used in almost 4 million abortions since the year 2000, and has proved safer than Tylenol or Viagra.

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At this point, abortion should be legal if only because this is a democracy and the people want it to be legal. Even in very red states, most people want abortion to be legal; that extremist legislators continue to force through bills that restrict access to abortion is a clear sign they dont actually care about what their constituents want. This challenge to mifepristone is an attempt at a backdoor nationwide ban on abortion, but its also, and more importantly, a flagrant challenge to the structure of our democracy.

But further, I must make the strong and righteous assertion of the reproductive justice and reproductive freedom movements, that we cannot and must not depend on government or the medical establishment to protect or enable our inherent human rights. Safe, self-managed abortion is the inalienable right of anyone who can become pregnant, regardless of what nation seeks to claim or control their body, and the ability to provide appropriate patient care is a requirement for any physician that must not be interfered with or politicized. Any attempt to use the law to constrain those rights must be diligently called out and forcefully resisted.
Teslas first-ever Investor Day, hosted by CEO Elon Musk and his leadership team at the carmakers Gigafactory in Texas on Wednesday, didnt quite end up being the sweeping, transformative moment that Tesla fans and funders had anticipated. Not for lack of promisethe event was chock-full of ambition, like a new Master Plan to have Tesla lead the clean-energy transition by expanding its green-tech manufacturing into products like heat pumps and batteries for energy storage. Also teased: a Gigafactory buildout in Mexico, an improved Supercharger, and two potential new vehicle models. But it was apparently a letdown. Musk demurred when asked for hard details on new Tesla products, and the companys stockstill the primary driver of the CEOs wealthfell by about 7 percent following the event. To judge by the internets reception, the most notable moment happened not during the core presentation, but during a Q&A at the very end, when an attendee asked Musk about the artificially intelligent elephant in the room: Im curious for your thoughts on how generative A.I. and these rapid breakthroughs in A.I. in the last months could help you make cars less hard to make.

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2/ Since yall are asking for an example. pic.twitter.com/8SkU8EIFFl  Brianna Wu (@BriannaWu) March 2, 2023

Musks closing response made for the most sober, halting portion of the entire four-hour event. I dont see A.I. helping us make cars anytime soon, he began, before expanding his purview beyond Tesla. Im a little worried about the A.I. stuff. I think its something, I dont know, we should be concerned about. After a lengthy pause: I think we need some regulatory authority or something overseeing A.I. development and just making sure its operating within the public interest. Then, a moment of self-reflection: And, you know, its quite a dangerous technology. I fear I may have done some things to accelerate it, which is, I dont know. Musk brought his remarks back to useful applications like Teslas self-driving tech (uh-huh) before concluding Investor Day with some hesitation: Teslas doing good things in A.I., andhe sighedI dont know, this one stresses me out, so not sure what more to say about it.

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It was an unusual break in bravado from the multibillionaire, a showman generally more inclined toward cowboy hats, big-ass trucks, and unbridled techno-optimism over somber addresses. But it also makes sense when you think about Musks ambivalent relationship with artificial intelligence technology, his longtime interest with its implications, and the way he perceives his own place in the now-rapidly-shifting A.I. landscape.

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Unlike Mark Zuckerberg and the many rockstar entrepreneurs of the 2000s Silicon Valley boom, Elon Musk has always sounded more fearful than psyched when it comes to A.I. Back in 2014, during a speech at MIT, Musk told students that we should be very careful about artificial intelligence. If I had to guess at what our biggest existential threat is, its probably that. Even though Musk had long expressed skepticism toward government regulations, he stated at MIT that Im increasingly inclined to think that there should be some regulatory oversight  just to make sure that we dont do something very foolish. Such comments may have seemed odd at the time, considering that Musk had already invested in the A.I. startups DeepMind and Vicarious; he claimed to CNBC that those financial ventures were meant for him to just keep an eye on whats going on, appointing himself an A.I. watchdog lest humanity end up in a Terminator-style future.

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Worth reading Superintelligence by Bostrom. We need to be super careful with AI. Potentially more dangerous than nukes.  Elon Musk (@elonmusk) August 3, 2014

Musk prominently kept up this worry-and-oversight approach. In 2015, he would both sign an open letter opposing autonomous weapons and co-found a little nonprofit startup you may have heard of: OpenAI, which was initially established as a research center for building technologies that augment rather than replace humans, as the New York Times wrote. In 2017, he launched his Neuralink venture to craft devices that could interact with the human brainvery Matrix-y, yesand pleaded with American governors to be proactive with regulation for A.I. tech, which he deemed the greatest threat we face as a civilization, citing his own access to the very most cutting-edge A.I. (A representative tweet of that time: Competition for AI superiority at national level most likely cause of WW3 imo.) The following year, he left the board of OpenAI over a disagreement regarding its mission. That was also the point this obsession would spill over into his personal life; Musk only started dating the art-pop musician Grimes after he found out she had once made a similar pun hed tweeted riffing on the Singularity-esque Rokos Basilisk thought experiment.

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China, Russia, soon all countries w strong computer science. Competition for AI superiority at national level most likely cause of WW3 imo.  Elon Musk (@elonmusk) September 4, 2017

Its always been hard to know what to make of the Musk A.I. crusade. On the one hand, his botpocalypse fears were shared by luminaries like Stephen Hawking; on another, plenty of A.I. researchers and Silicon Valley peers thought of Musk as alarmist; on yet another, the futuristically minded Tesla CEO helped to advance terrifying-sounding A.I.-tech inroads like humanoid robots and thought of himself as uniquely positioned to act as humanitys guardian. Hence, his requests for the government to get on his ass while his teams constructed Tesla robots and Autopilots.

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Musk was both an A.I. voice of caution and accelerationist, which tracked with the philosophy underpinning his stance: longtermism, the idea that we have a moral duty to maximize human potential and capability in the future, whatever form that takes. That term gained wider recognition beyond the tech spherewhere it had found a receptive audienceafter the fall of FTX CEO Sam Bankman-Fried, whose association with the related effective altruism movement guided his own earn-to-give ethos. (Or least thats how SBF, now accused of using FTX like a personal piggybank, once described his philosophy.) Influential thinkers in the space often cite runaway A.I. as a barrier to the goal of maximizing human potential, on par with threats like nuclear war and pandemics. Still, while longtermists and effective altruists may be scared of A.I., many also see its development for humanitys benefit as a necessity: The Future Fund, a significant EA investment firm, has stated that with the help of advanced AI, we could make enormous progress toward ending global poverty, animal suffering, early death and debilitating disease. Yet, such actors say, this should be done in a way not to reduce human influence and impact on shaping civilization for years to come.

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It seems thats the kind of path Elon Musk has taken over the years: warn against A.I.s worst potential, strive to ensure its only a boon for humanity. What Musk may have been thinking about on Tesla Investor Day, then, was whether thats actually been the effect of his A.I. experiments and rhetoric. The businessman is discomfited with OpenAI (now a for-profit firm) and its awe-inspiring advances in generative-text tools like ChatGPT; he apparently also hates that the company is now heavily invested in Microsoft, decrying what he views as corporate control of open-source research. To Musk, the chatbot arms race is especially jarringlast month, he compared Microsofts sour Bing tool to a vintage video game antagonist that that goes haywire and kills everyone.

But what does Musk actually plan to do about the new A.I. threats he helped bring into the world, if they are in fact as dangerous as he views them to be? Well, as of this week, hes reportedly building a rival to ChatGPT becausewait for itthe interface is trained not to spout racial slurs and otherwise has content-related guardrails. Back in December, he tweeted that the danger of training A.I. to be wokein other words, lieis deadly. About as deadly as World War III, I suppose.

Future Tense is a partnership of Slate, New America, and Arizona State University that examines emerging technologies, public policy, and society.
NEW DELHI, March 3 (Xinhua) -- Indian police said on Friday that three employees of the Uttar Pradesh-based pharmaceutical firm, Marion Biotech, were arrested after laboratory tests confirmed the company was not manufacturing medicines in compliance with prescribed norms.

The police said the drugs were found to be adulterated and spurious.

Marion Biotech's cough syrup is alleged to have caused the death of 18 children in Uzbekistan last year.

The arrests were made after a case was registered against the company's five officials over a complaint by a drugs inspector of the Central Drugs Standard Control Organization (CDSCO).

"Out of five people named in the police case, three have been arrested," Ram Singh, a senior police officer in Noida, said.

According to Singh, the case is linked to the death of the children in Uzbekistan because it was only after that samples from the pharmaceutical firm were collected for investigation.

Marion Biotech came under the scanner last December after its cough syrup, Doc-1 Max, was linked with the deaths of the 18 Uzbek children.

Following the reports, the Indian government launched an inquiry into the matter. 
This article is from Big Technology, a newsletter by Alex Kantrowitz.

The take machine went into high gear last week after Meta said it would charge $11.99 per month for verification and added customer service on Facebook and Instagram. This was the end of free social media, some said. It was Facebooks unimaginative copy of Elon Musks Twitter. Or perhaps a moblike shakedown for protection money.

The reactions all missed the underlying shift behind the move: Social-media feeds, once filled with content from ordinary users, are now programmed primarily by professional creators. These creators need identity verification, customer service, and visibility boosting. And theyre willing to pay. Meta is simply filling the need.

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The subscription model, in my opinion, is built to attract spend from professional creators and businesses, Meghana Dhar, a former partnerships head at Meta and Snap, texted me. Its a write-off for their business anyway.

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Nearly every large social-media company has released a premium subscription product within the past year, all built with professional content creators in mind. Twitter Blue, for instance, lets users post longer tweets and videos. Snapchat+ lets them share Stories that last up to a full week. And Meta, along with the perks mentioned above, promises some increased visibility on Facebook and Instagram.

These benefits appeal more to professional creators than amateurs, and they coincide with social medias swift move away from the latter. After long relying on ordinary users for content, social-media companies are giving up on them. Regular people either post too infrequently, are too boring, or both. And now theyre being pushed aside.

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TikTok effectively forced the issue, using an algorithm, not a follow model, to fill its feed with (very) compelling videos. In doing so, it put so much pressure on Instagram that its leader, Adam Mosseri, said it was no longer a photo-sharing app. Soon after, Instagram introduced a set of algorithm changes that brought it closer to TikTok and deprioritized content from friends and family.

Its not like ordinary users post much on social media anyway. At least compared to the early days of social media, when they ruled the feeds. Ahead of its sale to Elon Musk, Twitter found that less than 10 percent of users created 90 percent of its content.

The most successful paid social subscriptions will likely then satisfy the professionals needs while offering enough features to appeal to a somewhat broader audience. There will probably be a cap to the growth, however.

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Snapchat seems to have done the best job so far with Snapchat+, which has 2.5 million subscribers. But that still represents just .3 percent of its 725 million-person user base.

Twitter Blue, meanwhile, is struggling to be the transformative force Musk expects. Fewer than 300,000 people have signed up. It is hard to sell longer character lengths to people who dont tweet.

Meta does have some opportunity here. If it converts even a small percentage of Instagrams 2 billion-plus users, it could bring in significant revenue. And Dhar, who worked on Instagrams shopping initiative, assumes it will be appealing. The additional reach on Instagram, in this case, is meaningfully more enticing than the Twitter model, she said.

So, rather than an oppressive tax on everyday people, lets see these paid social subscriptions for what they are: a product for a new social-media era serving those still posting.
Among the bugs, glitches, and confounding UX choices that have plagued Twitter since Elon Musks October takeover of the company, theres one particular algorithmic shift thats rattled many a remaining user: the transformation of the main Twitter stream into the For You feed. Where once Twitter put the tweets of the accounts you followed in the order its system deemed most engaging, the platform now served you tons of random stuff from people you didnt follow. And some of those people seemed to be in everyones feeds.

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That Twitters changes had produced a new generation of main characters became apparent in January with the viral fame of menswear dude, aka fashion blogger Derek Guy, whose @DieWorkwear account had been recommended to many tweeters with little interest in fashion. It was both a positive and surreal development for Guy: a bigger audience and tons of new followers, but also a lot of cluelessness and hostility in his mentions, ultimately affecting the way Guy approached the platform (mostly with bemused glee).

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i was just talking to my therapist on Monday about how i think a lot of people hate me, and she said "can you name these specific people?" i said "well, no" but in two weeks, i will pull up the twitter search for "menswear dude."  derek guy (@dieworkwear) January 26, 2023

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As just one of the many journalists who spoke with Guy two months ago, I was curious about other influencers whod met similar Twitter fates, and how it affected their approach to the Musk-era town square. Another newly omnipresent account belonged to @lingerie_addict, aka Cora Harringtonalso a longtime fashion blogger with a handle named after her website.

Ive gotten lots of new followers recently and some of you may not know I wrote a book! The name is In Intimate Detail: How to Choose, Wear, & Love Lingerie and its the ultimate guide to lingerie covering bras, underwear, shapewear, hosiery, care & cleaning, and so much more! pic.twitter.com/0ny75OoSFe  Cora Harrington (@lingerie_addict) November 28, 2022

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When I reached out to Harrington to ask about her own follower surge and the ensuing Twitter hullabaloo, she told me about two other peers in the space whod been through the exact same thing: @AjaSaysHello, aka London-based fashion author and editor Aja Barber, and @OgLakyn, aka Los Angelesbased style consultant Lakyn Carlton. While those two didnt see the astronomical engagement bumps that Guy and Harrington got, they did pick up tens of thousands of followers, making them prime examples of the changes on Twitterwhere for some users sudden virality, puzzling engagement, and platform obstacles now define their experience, sans the opportunities for monetization available to viral tweeters of yore.

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Im getting a wave of new followers so hello! Thanks for joining the conversation, be a good community member and that looks like sometimes realizing that you dont have to weigh in on every conversation especially if you have no idea what youre talking about   Aja Barber (@AjaSaysHello) January 24, 2023

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Last week, I held a video chat with Harrington, Barber, and Carlton to discuss Twitter virality in an era in which the platform is as volatile as ever. Our conversation has been edited and condensed for clarity.

If thats a problem for any of my new followers, its best you see yourself out. I appreciate those who appreciate what I do regarding styling and sustainability but I cant not use my platform to support my sisters in the sex trade. All of them.  Lakyn Thee Stylist (@OgLakyn) November 10, 2022

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Nitish Pahwa: When were the moments where you started noticing that you were getting more engagement across Twitter, a sudden boost in followers or interactions, and people were pointing out that you were on more peoples feeds? How did that affect the way you maintain your Twitter presence?

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Aja Barber: I already had success on Instagram, and a lot of what I tweeted was really old posts from Instagram that the Twitter audience wasnt receptive to before. So for me, I dont think theres been much of a changemore that Im migrating information from my stronger platform to my Twitter platform.

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But I definitely am a little more selective about what I tweet about. When I first jumped on Twitterand I realize this is also an internet thingit makes you feel like you have to have an opinion on everything. Everything. I had that come-to-Jesus moment for myself where I was like, You dont have to comment on everything you see. I feel like if more people could have that moment, it would be a much different space

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I kind of say that Twitter is the place where you drop your thoughts and go. Because if you stick around too long, somebodys going to be like, Well, I have an opinion on your thread about white T-shirts because Im allergic to this. Someone is going to make what you were saying very personal, whether it applies to them or not. You could be there all day if you dont have boundaries.

Lakyn Carlton: I remember a flip happening in 2021, I want to say May. I had been tweeting here and there about getting back into styling. I wrote a [now-deleted] thread about how to find something that youre looking for on the internet, and I offhandedly mentioned how I found this green skirt three years ago from Zara. So many people latched on to that and got so mad. Theyre like: Youre talking about fast fashion, but youre shopping at Zara. Why not just thrift everything? It went so viral. But even within all that, there were a lot of people who really valued the information. I realized how to get engagement, and my followers started to grow from there.

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Cora Harrington: For me, an inflection point happened in 2018, when I did a thread on thin privilege that wound up going viral globally, got reported on in the Daily Mail, got me an interview on headline news. That was when I noticed there was an uptick in visibility for my account that never really went away. I started going viral regularly for things that, it felt obvious to me, were suddenly appearing in everyones feeds all the time. In the five years since then, there have been several times where something will take off and go viral and bring an influx of followers and then itll level out. Thats how my Twitter presence has grown.

When I ran my site, having a lot of content on Twitter also brought people to my site, which is where I made my money. Prior to this past year, being on Twitter did contribute to my bottom line, because I could send that traffic back to my site, which led to advertising dollars. My site and my Twitter are part of what led to my agent and my first book deal and my agent.

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How do you compare your Twitter experiences with other internet platforms, considering that all of you have been in these digital forums for years?

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Aja Barber: My Instagram grew over the course of three years, but there were a few moments where my following grew really rapidly. Ive been on Twitter since 2012, and up until about two years ago, I think, I had 2,000 followers. I always felt like Twitter was the space where, if I would got there and be like, Hey, everyone: Maybe we should not buy sweatshop clothing, people would pelt you with tomatoes, like, Boo, get lost.

Something then happened where that stopped, and we started to pick apart a lot of popular excuses that people use to continue unhinged consumption. There are all these misconceptions surrounding fast fashion, ethical fashion, sustainable fashion. For a long time, you couldnt have these conversations on Twitter. Then, it seemed like something happened overnight, where it was suddenly like, OK, now Twitters ready to have the conversation. So in a short amount of time, my account grew, not in a hundreds-of-thousands-of-followers way [like on Instagram], but where I felt the majority of my time was on Twitter.

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Harrington: Ive been on Twitter since 2009, which feels like entirely too much time to have been on Twitter. I no longer run the Lingerie AddictI ran it for 14 years in total, and I gave that up in April of 2022 because I was ready to move my focus and interests beyond intimate apparel.

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Carlton: I also decided to move all my most helpful tips to a Substack, and let me tell you how life-changing that has been. Not giving all of the advice in the world out via Twitter threads and instead giving it directly to people who actually follow me, its something that Im way more careful about now. I paywall a lot of it, and that helps the experience because I can focus on more lighthearted things that will still occasionally go viral and get weird comments.

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On social media, you have people who are eager to learn new things or jump into a movement, but at at the same time, the platforms incentivize a lot of yelling, argumentation, and shallow engagement with pretty deep topics, frankly. Im curious what all of you think about how those sorts of dynamics have changed over time. Were there social networks better at these discussions than Twitter?

Harrington: Thinking back to the days of 2007-era LiveJournal, there was a sense of community, and there was a lot of sincere interest in conversation and discussion. Even when people disagreed, I dont think it had the nasty edge that it has now. That is, I think, distinct for this current incarnation of social media: Theres a very deliberate nastiness and intention to hurt in a lot of interactions that I would not say was there in 2009 or 2011.

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Twitters always kind of been the Wild West, but even in the early days of the Fail Whale, you could have conversations with people. Your feed was organized chronologically, you could discover new accounts organically, you could engage with people. There wasnt this overt sense of hostility. I also had a Tumblr, where I had somewhere between 80,000 and 90,000 followers before I had to shut it down. It was centered around my old topic being banned or minimized on various platforms. I had a very active Facebook page that wound up diminishing when Facebooks algorithm and priorities changed.

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There has been a shift in the last four or five years for sure. I would probably peg some of that shift in tone, honestly, to the election of Donald Trump, where I think a lot of people felt empowered to be extremely nasty in a way they didnt necessarily feel empowered to be before. Combined with social medias more overt emphasis on profit margins. People picking fights is very profitable.

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Its incentivized, basically. When I interviewed Derek Guy about becoming a focal point of Twitter, something he mentioned to me was seeing all these people coming in who know nothing and are making all these assumptions about you, sometimes calling you a Nazi for whatever reason.

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Carlton: I think it is the nature of being on the internet. I think people who spend a lot of time online are either really passionate about something or really pissed about something. So, either way, you put a bunch of people who are passionate or pissed in the same space and its going to cause problems. Its going to do something. You get this with any sort of niche online square thats focused on anything we do every day, from food to fashion to games. Youre already there for a reason, and those reasons lend themselves to conflict.

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Harrington: People will talk to you in a way that they wouldnt speak to you in person. I was just thinking about that with this thrifting conversation where people said being a thrift reseller is being a landlord, which is absurd. But there were people coming into my mentions, talking to me all kinds of ways. I remember thinking: If I return the same energy back to you, people will call me a bully because I have over 100,000 followers. But you feel entitled to call me everything but a child of God because I said its fine to thrift and you should own less stuff. I think a part of this component is that for all three of us, were not saying anything thats particularly radical.

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Barber: I have never felt like absolute power doesnt absolutely corrupt on the internet. I have been in quite a few spaces where you think everyone is aligned, and then it turns into a brutal bloodbath. Oftentimes I would talk people down from this righteous anger, then I would be like, So dont cuss people out you dont know, and then theyd be like, Yeah, youre right.

On the upside, I think people can definitely find spaces to dig in a little bit deeper and feel validated. I credit the internet with giving me the ability to talk about race and racism, because I grew up in a predominantly white area. Up until I was probably in my mid-20s, I felt like I was existing in spaces where I couldnt really be my full self.

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Twitter has been breaking a lot in recent times. You all have hopped from platform to platform over the yearsdo you have plans in mind for if Twitter ever actually collapses?

Harrington: I see my role moving forward as more centered around public scholarship and public education. There are so many other people seeing what we have to say and who want to know more but arent sure how to because this education is often siloed. Its meant to exclude people who arent a part of these various communitiesthe literary or academic communities, for example. What I see my transforming or transitioning role becoming over the next two years, I hope, is teaching people the things that Ive learned that were exciting to me, that helped to change my worldview, and transmitting it to them so that they can then tell other people. Because thats how I think a lot of these things are going to pick up.

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That said, if I win the lottery, Im out. Im bouncing. If Im independently wealthy, yall are never seeing me again. But right now, thats what I see my future as being, and thats what makes me passionate. Until it doesnt anymore, which might happen because people are getting real mean out there. Im hoping there are other opportunities in my future. But for me, its all connected to sharing these stories and making these things more visible to people who want to know more. Thats part of why I tried to chase and keep up with various platforms, which is an exercise in futility. We dont own those platforms.

Carlton: Lately, Ive been getting more attention from major publications, which is really cool. But in a way I do feel up in the air, because every day Im like, Well, when is Twitter going to go lights out, and what am I going to do after that? Its a bit of a precarious position.

Barber: Ive always just viewed the internet as a tool, which means Im here for a good time and not a long time. I want to continue writing. Having a platform has allowed me, as a Black woman, to be in spaces that traditionally have not wanted to let us in. Ive been blogging since 2006, but nobody really cared what I had to say until I had a platform. I have to just look at it as: Do the things that you want to do in this space, allow it to get you into traditional places that didnt let you in, and then, when its time to go, cut out. Dont stay till the point it makes you mean. I look at authors like Zadie Smith and Sally Rooney, who have no internet presence, and I love that for them. Im trying to work toward having that myself, to be honest.

I just feel like Twitter is transient for me. I dont want to say Im not attached to it, because Ive made some lovely friends and the space has allowed me to do some cool things. But all internet spaces are owned by internet companies and not by me, unfortunately. So I have to detach myself from it and think about where I want my long-term legacy to be, and its probably not going to be there.
Slovaks are doing a lot of good things, but they dont like showcasing, says Marie Dizon, HR business partner at ING Hubs Slovakia.

Foreign employees left Slovakia during the pandemic either because they wanted to be closer to their relatives, or the lockdowns prevented them from living the life in Slovakia they originally wanted to. (Source: Courtesy of IBM )

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The Covid-19 pandemic not only accelerated the return of Slovaks working aboard back to their home country, but also squeezed the number of foreigners working in shared and business service centres in Slovakia. Nevertheless, companies operating these centres in Slovakia keep searching for foreign talents, even though it is more demanding than hiring Slovaks.

We usually go for a specific qualification from abroad to build up new teams, Christian Schulz, President of Henkel Slovensko and Head of GBS+ Bratislava and GBS+ Cairo, told The Slovak Spectator. If we dont get this initial core competence, we may fail to build up a new team, or in the corporate world, the new team might be allocated to another location. The share of foreign employees in member companies of the Business Service Center Forum (BSCF), which employ about 37,500 people, decreased in 2022 for the first time since the BSCF started conducting its survey.

It was usually around 10.5-11.5 percent. Last year it went down to 9 percent, said Peter Rusinak, AmCham Senior Policy Manager & AmCham BSCF Coordinator. The workforce at BSCF member companies increased by 4.31 percent.

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Related article Rising living costs abroad and family behind Slovaks' return to 'old-fashioned' home Read more

The BSCs see the effects of the pandemic behind this decrease. Foreign employees left either because they wanted to be closer to their relatives, or the lockdowns prevented them from living the life in Slovakia they originally wanted to.
The change comes after 75 years.

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For the first time in its 75-year history folklore ensemble Lucnica  one of Slovakia's most famous  has its own building.

Lucnica, which presents national arts and Slovak heritage to domestic and international audiences, now has its own headquarters in the Hurban Barracks (Hurbanovske Kasarne) in Bratislava. All branches of Lucnica should reside there, including the dance ensemble, orchestra and choir, folk costume department, and administration, writes the SITA newswire.

Lucnica was the last among all the contributing organizations of the Culture Ministry not to have its own building, notes the ensembles director, Pavol Pilar. Until now, Lucnica has resided in rented premises.

The ensemble cannot move into its new home quite yet, as the two-storey building will first need reconstruction. The overall cost of that should be around 1.6 million, of which 1.3 million is expected to come as a grant from Slovakias Recovery and Resilience Plan. The Culture Ministry has allocated approximately 100,000, according to minister Natalia Milanova (OLaNO).

The first reconstruction stage only needs a building permit. The plan is to first renovate the facade, replace the windows and renovate the roof.

In the last stage of the reconstruction, the ground floor will be adapted for the needs of the costume workshop, costume warehouse and equipment warehouse, writes the ministry.

During its 75-year history, Lucnica spent 60 years in a rented school gym on Jesenskeho Street, Bratislava. Then, for a shorter period, the ensemble resided in the basement of the ballet ballroom in the historic building of the Slovak National Theatre.

Read more about Lucnica
https://sputnikglobe.com/20230303/argentina-urges-uk-to-move-negotiations-on-falkland-islands-to-un---foreign-ministry-1107963715.html

Argentina Urges UK to Move Negotiations on Falkland Islands to UN - Foreign Ministry

Argentina Urges UK to Move Negotiations on Falkland Islands to UN - Foreign Ministry

Argentina has asked the United Kingdom to transfer the issue of the sovereignty of the Falkland Islands, also known as the Malvinas, to the agenda of the United Nations, the country's foreign ministry said on Thursday.

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"[Argentine Foreign Minister Santiago] Cafiero informed [UK Foreign Secretary James] Cleverly that the Argentine government is terminating the joint statement of September 13, 2016, known as the Foradori-Duncan pact," the foreign ministry said in a statement. According to the ministry, the Foradori-Duncan pact is incompatible with the UN General Assembly resolution, which recommends that both parties refrain from making decisions that entail unilateral changes in the dispute over the islands' sovereignty. UK Foreign Secretary James Cleverly responded to Argentina's request regarding the Falkland Islands by saying that these are a self-governing territory of the United Kingdom. There is a long-standing dispute between Argentina and the UK concerning sovereignty over the Falkland Islands. In 1982, a war broke out between the countries, which lasted several weeks and ended with the defeat of the Latin American country. The Foradori-Duncan pact was concluded in 2016 following the talks between Argentine Deputy Foreign Minister Carlos Foradori and his British counterpart, Alan Duncan. The joint statement spoke of the possibility of direct flights between the Falkland Islands and third countries with a transfer to Argentina. The document, which did not make it through the Argentine Congress, also indicated that the governments at the time of President Mauricio Macri and UK Prime Minister Theresa May planned to strengthen the economic growth and development of the Falklands, including trade, fishing, navigation, and hydrocarbon production. In 2019, a lawsuit was filed against Macri for handing the Falkland Islands' airspace to the UK government. In a memoir released last year, Duncan said that Foradori was drunk while negotiating the pact.

https://sputnikglobe.com/20210414/unjustified-show-of-force-argentina-fumes-as-uk-plans-missile-tests-in-falkland-islands--1082625354.html

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falkland islands

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https://sputnikglobe.com/20230303/biden-applauds-bipartisan-railway-safety-act-following-ohio-derailment-1107964036.html

Biden 'Applauds' Bipartisan Railway Safety Act Following Ohio Derailment

Biden 'Applauds' Bipartisan Railway Safety Act Following Ohio Derailment

US President Joe Biden said in a statement that he applauds the bipartisan Railway Safety Act, a new bill aimed at strengthening safety requirements for trains carrying hazardous materials in the United States following the recent train derailment incident and subsequent disaster in Ohio.

2023-03-03T02:23+0000

2023-03-03T02:23+0000

2023-03-03T02:22+0000

americas

east palestine

ohio

joe biden

railway

safety measures

safety rules

bipartisanship

us

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"I applaud the bipartisan group of senators for proposing rail safety legislation that provides many of the solutions that my administration has been calling for," the statement said on Thursday.According to Biden, if passed, the new legislation will phase in newer, safer tank cars over the next two years instead of the next decade and increase safety by requiring hotbox detectors every 10 miles to prevent derailments similar to the one in East Palestine, Ohio. The legislation is also expected to increase fines for safety violations from the current cap of $225,000 to the greater of $1 million or 1% of a railroads annual operating income, the statement added. To date, Biden has not visited East Palestine following the derailment and became the object of harsh criticism from Republican lawmakers and journalists for his trip to Kiev against the backdrop of what happened in Ohio. Earlier in the day, while speaking to media following the Senate Democratic luncheon, the US President said that he "will be out there [in East Palestine] at some point," but did not clarify when exactly he is going to visit the small village in Ohio. On February 3, a train hauling 20 cars from Norfolk Southern with hazardous materials derailed in East Palestine, Ohio. A big fire erupted due to the derailment, leading to officials burning 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. The CEO of Norfolk Southern has been heavily criticized by the residents and political leaders for the lack of engagement following the disaster. The company's president visited East Palestine, Ohio, but Norfolk Southern representatives did not show up at a public meeting last week where residents gathered, citing fear of physical threats. Despite repeated assurances that the air and water are safe, residents in the area have told Sputnik of recent health impacts, including headaches, burning skin and irritated eyes as well as anxiety about long-term health risks such as cancer. The Ohio Department of Natural Resources told Sputnik in mid-February that approximately 3,500 fish had died in waterways near the train derailment site.

https://sputnikglobe.com/20230301/east-palestine-residents-reportedly-suffering-from-chemical-bronchitis-after-train-derailment-1107898184.html

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joe biden, ohio, east palestine, bipartisan railway safety act, train derailment
https://sputnikglobe.com/20230303/china-boasts-stunning-lead-over-us-in-critical-tech-research-study-says-1107982437.html

China Boasts 'Stunning Lead' Over US in Critical Tech Research, Study Says

China Boasts 'Stunning Lead' Over US in Critical Tech Research, Study Says

China boasts a 'stunning lead' over the US in research of critical and emerging technologies, a new study discovered.

2023-03-03T14:54+0000

2023-03-03T14:54+0000

2023-03-03T14:54+0000

world

china

us

xi jinping

technologies

artificial intelligence (ai)

robotics

defense

biotechnology

quantum

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China has already positioned itself as a potential key science and technology superpower, according to data from a critical tech tracker. The Asian giant can boast a "stunning lead" over the US in high-impact research across critical and emerging technologies, underscored the Australian Strategic Policy Institute (ASPI).Chinas global dominance is already manifested in 37 out of 44 technologies tracked by the ASPI project, an independent, non-partisan think tank. These technological advances range from defense, space, robotics, energy, and the environment, to biotechnology, artificial intelligence (AI), advanced materials and key quantum technology areas.Furthermore, for some of these critical technologies, their top 10 leading research institutions are based in China. These institutions of scientific knowledge, taken together, churn out nine times more high-impact research papers than the second-ranked country, which, in some instances, is the US.China's Academy of Sciences ranks first or second when it comes to a hefty part of these 44 technologies, the Critical Technology Tracker revealed. It also acknowledged that Chinas impressive edge is the result of long-term policy planning, as oft-outlined by Chinese President Xi Jinping and his predecessors, the leaders of China's Communist Party.The report, resulting from a year-long study led by the institute's senior analyst Jamie Gaida, stated:Looking ahead, China's current lead could result in the country excelling in almost all sectors, even technologies that don't exist so far, ASPI said.Official figures in the US are likely to be chafed at the data, as Washington and Beijing have long butted heads over dominance in the race to develop advanced technologies. Washington resorted to numerous tactics to curb its rival's impressive strides, suffice it to recall how in 2019, the US obliged one of China's largest electronics makers, Huawei, and other manufacturers to apply for permission to buy technology from the Commerce Department. This effectively left the Chinese giant without 5G chips. In fact, restrictions on Huawei date back to the presidency of Donald Trump, when shipments were only possible with government permission as part of a crackdown strategy on Chinese firms the United States deemed a threat to US national security. The latter claims were repeatedly struck down by Beijing as unproven and concocted.In October 2022, the US not only expanded the list of companies covered by the restrictions, but also banned many foreign manufacturers from supplying Chinese customers. The Dutch company ASML, by far the largest manufacturer of photolithography equipment, also fell under the restrictions.However, amid such crackdowns, China has been taking deliberate, well-thought out steps to ensure it is as self-sufficient as possible, including in its scientific research. Earlier in the year, Chinese President Xi Jinping urged the leading body of the Communist Party of China to invest more heavily in cultivating Chinas technological skill base in order to ensure it can be both self-sufficient and compete on a global scale. He underscored the need for greater investment in basic research, including science education at an earlier age, as well as strengthening the feasibility studies and the selection and evaluation of major basic research projects, fully respecting scientists' advice, and grasping the general trends to make an early start, in order to achieve greater self-reliance and strength in science and technology and to become a world leader in science and technology,according to Chinese media.Its enough to recall how in 2019, the US obliged one of China's largest electronics makers, Huawei, and other manufacturers to apply for permission to buy technology from the Commerce Department. This effectively left the Chinese giant without 5G chips. In fact, restrictions on Huawei date back to the presidency of Donald Trump, when shipments were only possible with government permission as part of a crackdown strategy on Chinese firms the United States deemed a threat to US national security.In October 2022, the US not only expanded the list of companies covered by the restrictions, but also banned many foreign manufacturers from supplying Chinese customers. The Dutch company ASML, by far the largest manufacturer of photolithography equipment, also fell under the restrictions.

https://sputnikglobe.com/20230302/bill-gates-says-us-wont-be-able-to-limit-chinas-microchip-industry-1107955520.html

https://sputnikglobe.com/20230222/xi-urges-politburo-to-push-massive-effort-to-place-china-at-head-of-global-sci-tech-revolution-1107720370.html

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https://sputnikglobe.com/20230303/china-demands-us-stops-all-military-contacts-with-taiwan-defense-ministry-1107971578.html

China Demands US Stop All Military Contact With Taiwan: Defense Ministry

China Demands US Stop All Military Contact With Taiwan: Defense Ministry

China demands that the United States stops all military contacts with Taiwan and stops arms sales to the island

2023-03-03T08:39+0000

2023-03-03T08:39+0000

2023-03-03T11:21+0000

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taiwan

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"China demands that the United States stop selling arms to Taiwan and military contacts with Taipei, stop interfering in the Taiwan issue and aggravate tensions in the Taiwan Strait," Tan said. Beijing also made a representation to Washington on the approval of a possible deal to sell Taiwan ammunition for US-made F-16 fighter jets and equipment worth more than $600 million, the official added. The Chinese military is always ready to safeguard its national sovereignty and territorial integrity, the official concluded.Earlier in the week, the Pentagon's Defense Security Cooperation Agency (DSCA) said the US State Department has granted preliminary approval for a $619 million sale of F-16 munitions and related equipment to Taiwan.

https://sputnikglobe.com/20230302/pentagon-us-advances-possible-619mln-sale-of-f-16-munitions-to-taiwan-amid-china-tensions-1107922689.html

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https://sputnikglobe.com/20230303/fbi-whistleblower-says-washington-still-classifying-info-to-cover-up-crimes-1107985182.html

FBI Whistleblower Says Washington Still Classifying Info to Cover Up Crimes

FBI Whistleblower Says Washington Still Classifying Info to Cover Up Crimes

The US government has long used national security to conceal embarrassing or incriminating facts, ex-FBI official Coleen Rowley said, but the fault also lies with the judiciary and Congress for not insisting on proper oversight.

2023-03-03T16:48+0000

2023-03-03T16:48+0000

2023-03-03T16:48+0000

americas

us

federal bureau of investigation (fbi)

coleen rowley

official secrets act

classified documents

classified information

classified

washington dc

1917 espionage act

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A US federal whistleblower has condemned Washington's continued abuse of secrecy laws to hide evidence of crimes.Attorney and retired Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) agent Coleen Rowley told Sputnik that even though the law forbids classifying documents which could be used as evidence in court, in practice the government can do so with impunity."This is the whole problem with the abuse of the national secrets privilege," Rowley stressed, which dates back to the administration of George W Bush, when Deputy Assistant Attorney General John Yoo, author of the infamous 'torture memos', argued that the 'War on Terror' gave the president the authority to snoop on citizens' phone calls and emails without a judge's permission.Now President Joe Biden wants to reactivate Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA), a 2008 amendment that allows unauthorised spying on foreigners' communications  and by extension, those of any US citizens they interact with.Illegal PrecedentHowever, the government can simply cover its tracks by invoking secrecy laws  thanks to the precedent set in the 1953 US. v. Reynolds case.That began when three civilian contractors were killed in the 1948 crash of a B-29 Superfortress bomber in Georgia. Their widows sued the US Air Force, which refused to release the accident report on the grounds that it would compromise national security, leading the court to rule in the three women's favour. The government ultimately appealed to Supreme Court, which overturned that verdict, although the widows still received some compensation."That's where they developed this doctrine that if we claim it's secret, if the government decides to claim it's secret, that... no information can come out about that," Rowley said. "I think it was even a couple of decades later, you found out that the government actually lied and there was nothing even secret about this. This was this precedent, the state secrets privilege was established based on a lie."The upshot of that ruling is that "The government can just lie to prevent embarrassing information, and frankly, to prevent illegal actions," she added. "The whistleblowers are supposed to be protected by this notion. It's actually in an executive regulation that the government cannot classify information to cover up a crime," Rowley said. "That is supposed to be the case. But guess what? State secrets privilege allows them to do that."The attorney marvelled that there was no judicial oversight of the classification process. The "very easy fix" to the problem would be for the US Congress to require judges to view any classified materials relevant to court cases, the former FBI agent said, recalling how she once had to accompany a judge into the classified archives."They'd just prefer to say, oh, yeah, let the executive branch decide what's important to national security. I don't want to have any role in this. We don't want it" Rowley said. "That's why Congress needs to mandate that the judges have to review the material to see if it is covering up a crime, as in torture or whatever, or if it is bogus, as in US v. Reynolds."

https://sputnikglobe.com/20230228/biden-admin-seeking-reauthorization-for-fisa-warrantless-surveillance-of-foreigners-1107879175.html

https://sputnikglobe.com/20210428/fisa-court-docs-how-the-fbi-continues-to-spy-on-americans-without-a-warrant-and-get-away-with-it-1082750168.html

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coleen rowley, fisa, fbi, wiretapping, snooping, joe biden, classified documents
https://sputnikglobe.com/20230303/hate-crimes-against-russians-at-least-doubled-in-uk-in-2022-reports-say-1107974247.html

Hate Crimes Against Russians at Least Doubled in UK in 2022, Reports Say

Hate Crimes Against Russians at Least Doubled in UK in 2022, Reports Say

Russians living in the United Kingdom have been increasingly subjected to verbal and physical violence over the military conflict in Ukraine, with data obtained by US media suggesting that hate crimes against Russians more than doubled in 2022

2023-03-03T10:37+0000

2023-03-03T10:37+0000

2023-03-03T10:37+0000

world

hate crimes

uk

russia

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Of the 45 UK territorial forces queried, only 14 provided data on race hate crimes targeting Russian people, the broadcaster said. The rest ignored the request made under the Freedom of Information Act, refused to answer on cost grounds or said they had not recorded anti-Russian offenses. Of those who responded, Greater Manchester Police said they recorded 13 race hate crimes against Russians in 2022, up from six in 2021 and two in 2020. Derbyshire Police recorded four cases, compared to zero in 2021. They included an assault causing actual bodily harm and racially aggravated harassment. British Transport Police recorded three cases, versus none in 2021. Cambridgeshire Police said it recorded seven hate crimes against Russians, including racially aggravated common assault or beating and harassment. This is the same number of cases as in 2021. Londons Metropolitan Police refused to answer, but a UK media outlet said that the force previously revealed that it reported 16 hate crimes against Russian victims from February to late April 2022, compared to 22 offenses across the whole of 2021. Mark Walters, professor of criminal law and criminology at the University of Sussex, warned that hate crimes often went under-reported and that the figures revealed were probably "just the tip of the iceberg," while the Victim Support charity said that children as young as elementary school age were targeted.

https://sputnikglobe.com/20230213/uk-reportedly-getting-ready-to-confiscate-russian-assets--1107361236.html

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BEIJING, March 3 (Xinhua) -- The U.S. House Ethics Committee on Thursday launched an investigation against Congressman George Santos, who has been found to have fabricated major elements of his life story and even lied about his mother's death in the 9/11 attacks.

Not known for aggressively pursuing inquiries, the committee has limited ability to punish lawmakers for wrongdoing. In February, Santos told CNN that he is "not concerned" about a House ethics probe. And despite his scandals, Republicans seem reluctant to push for Santos' immediate removal from office.

The National Public Radio (NPR) recently lamented that surviving scandals has become easier for politicians like Santos, as the United States has entered an era of "post-shame politics." But NPR is a bit slow on the uptake. For people outside the United States, the post-shame era began long ago, particularly in regards to U.S. foreign policy.

In his book The Clash of Civilizations and the Remaking of World Order, Samuel P. Huntington noted that the belief in American principles as universal and the U.S. mission to promote and defend these principles throughout the world has been a persistent and potent theme in American foreign policy. However, this theme has become intermittent and weaker as the United States pursues its interests with no sense of shame and a willingness to flout its own principles and values.

The "America First" policy embodies how times have changed. Championed by former U.S. President Donald Trump, the approach prioritizes U.S. interests over those of other countries. It disregards established international norms, which many have criticized as selfish and isolationist.

Sadly, the lack of shame in American foreign policy has persisted beyond Trump's presidency, as seen in continued U.S. drone strikes, the hasty Afghanistan withdrawal, the theft of Syria oil and its long-arm jurisdiction, to name just a few.

The U.S. military's drone strikes in Somalia and Yemen, among other countries, have been controversial due to their often deadly impact on innocent civilians. Despite the U.S. government's claims to uphold human rights and the rule of law, the drone strikes have resulted in hundreds, if not thousands, of non-combatant deaths. Moreover, the legality of these strikes has been widely questioned, particularly as they were often carried out in countries where the United States was not officially at war and was without the consent of those nations.

Since 2001, the U.S. military has conducted several operations in the name of fighting terrorism, resulting in the deaths of over 900,000 individuals, approximately 335,000 of them civilians. These horrific U.S. military campaigns have created 37 million refugees worldwide, with an estimated 48,000 civilians having died due to U.S. airstrikes over the past two decades.

A lack of shame was also evident during the abrupt withdrawal from Afghanistan, ignoring the spirit of international cooperation and solidarity it had championed. Relying heavily on NATO partners during the 20-year war in Afghanistan, the U.S. government suddenly pulled out of the country without sufficient consultation with its allies, leaving them in a complex and precarious position, its allies complained.

The U.S. military's exploitation of Syrian oil resources is another prime example of how America lacks shame. Despite violating international law, the United States and its mercenaries have been accused of extracting an average of 66,000 barrels of oil per day from Syrian oil fields. Such acts of theft have damaged the United States' moral authority and undermined its credibility as a global superpower.

Its long-arm jurisdiction also exemplifies a sense of shamelessness. The United States typically enforces its laws on foreign individuals and entities outside its territory, disregarding the sovereignty of other nations. This behavior has been illustrated in cases involving French company Alstom and Chinese company Huawei. In both cases, the United States used its legal and economic prowess to bully others into submission and maintain dominance in key industries while containing rising competitors.

The implications of a "post-shame era" in U.S. foreign policy extend far beyond the country's borders. People worldwide associate such shame with the entire nation.

To rebuild its reputation, the United States must prioritize collaboration with other countries rather than continue to pursue unilateralism and hegemony. Only then can it play a more constructive and positive role in shaping a safer and more prosperous world. 
https://sputnikglobe.com/20230303/hungary-sends-delegation-to-sweden-with-stockholms-nato-bid-on-the-line-1107966534.html

Hungary to Send Delegation to Sweden With Stockholm's NATO Bid on the Line

Hungary to Send Delegation to Sweden With Stockholm's NATO Bid on the Line

Hungarian FM Peter Szijjarto voiced "legitimate concerns" over Swedish government officials spreading "lies and fake news" about Hungary and insulting its MPs.

2023-03-03T07:30+0000

2023-03-03T07:30+0000

2023-03-03T08:23+0000

world

sweden

finland

hungary

europe

news

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nato expansion

nato membership

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A delegation of Hungarian lawmakers plans to visit Sweden on 7 March to discuss the Nordic country's bid to join NATO against the background of Budapest's qualms about Stockholm.During the visit, the Hungarian delegation, led by the deputy speaker of Hungary's National Assembly, Csaba Hende, will meet with the speaker of the Swedish Parliament, Andreas Norlen.According to Hungarian Foreign Minister Peter Szijjarto, there are aspects of the relationship with Sweden that are causing friction, which is why a delegation is now being sent.Among others, Swedish government officials have often insisted that Hungary does not live up to the principles of the rule of law and is not a real democracy, which infuriates Budapest.According to Szijjarto, Swedish government officials have also been guilty of insulting Hungarian MPs. He added that Hungary now seeks to address these "legitimate concerns" in talks with Sweden.Depending on the outcome, the Hungarian parliament will then vote on Sweden's NATO membership on 20 or 21 March, two weeks later than initially planned.The two Nordic countries applied to join the military alliance last May, effectively abandoning the vestiges of their historic non-alignment under the pretext of "security considerations" in connection with Russia's special operation in Ukraine.Hungary and Turkey are the only NATO members who yet have to ratify the bids. Last autumn, Hungary's Prime Minister Viktor Orban promised that his country would approve Sweden and Finland's application in early 2023. However, the Hungarian government has pointed out that there are divided opinions on the matter in parliament. Earlier this week, Finland said it also expected a visit from a Hungarian delegation.So far, Sweden has been facing stern objections from Turkey, which accused Stockholm of harboring members of Kurdish groups which Ankara regards as terrorist. Although Turkey indicated that it could approve Finland's application, it gave no assurances that it would greenlight Sweden's bid. To make matters worse, a copy of the Quran was burnt in front of the Turkish Embassy in Stockholm in late January, throwing a new spanner in Sweden's NATO bid. After the incident - which came in the wake of several other demonstrations personally insulting the Turkish president - Recep Tayyip Erdogan warned Sweden that it should not expect his backing to join NATO.This dynamic made Finland reconsider its chances. Although vocally indicating that it intended to "walk the NATO path together", Helsinki keeps edging closer to joining NATO alone, having recently set a deadline for how long it is prepared to wait for its co-applicant Sweden. Previously, polls among politicians and ordinary Finns alike displayed a readiness to proceed without the neighboring nation.

https://sputnikglobe.com/20230228/to-veto-or-not-to-veto-sweden-and-finlands-nato-bids-in-limbo-as-turkiye-hungary-mull-pros--cons-1107877919.html

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Igor Kuznetsov

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https://sputnikglobe.com/20230303/mali-challenges-frances-penholder-status-at-united-nations-security-council-1107953382.html

Mali Challenges France's Penholder Status at United Nations Security Council

Mali Challenges France's Penholder Status at United Nations Security Council

France can no longer draft resolutions and declarations concerning the Republic of Mali within the framework of the UN Security Council, the Malian government said in a March 1 letter to Pedro Comissario Afonso

2023-03-03T04:10+0000

2023-03-03T04:10+0000

2023-03-03T04:09+0000

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France can no longer draft resolutions and declarations concerning the Republic of Mali within the framework of the United Nations Security Council (UNSC), the Malian government said in a March 1 letter to Pedro Comissario Afonso, president of the Security Council and Ambassador of Mozambique to the UN.France has been responsible for producing all the drafts in the UN Security Council concerning Mali since December 2012.In August 2022, Mali complained to the Security Council about acts of aggression, subversion, destabilization and violation of Malian airspace by aircraft of the French armed forces.French troops' presence in Mali was been established in 2013 under the pretext of countering the surge of terrorist activities in the Sahel region after the 2011 intervention in Libya by NATO forces. The power vacuum in Libya gave rise to many rebel groups, including those who were loyal to Daesh* and al-Qaeda*, which spread beyond Libya's borders.Mali achieved French troops withdrawal from its country on 15 August 2022, as it was requested by the Malian government. Earlier that year, Bamako terminated its bilateral defense agreements with France, accusing its former metropole of "a de-facto partition of the West African country."* terrorist organizations banned in Russia and other countries

https://sputnikglobe.com/20230220/france-ends-military-operations-in-burkina-faso-1107605714.html

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https://sputnikglobe.com/20230303/martyrs-day-in-malawi-remember-those-who-sacrificed-lives-for-independence-1107978049.html

Martyrs' Day in Malawi: Remembering Those Who Sacrificed Their Lives for Independence

Martyrs' Day in Malawi: Remembering Those Who Sacrificed Their Lives for Independence

On March 3, Malawi celebrates Martyrs Day, a public holiday, which commemorates political heroes who gave their lives in the service of their country.

2023-03-03T15:33+0000

2023-03-03T15:33+0000

2023-03-04T09:20+0000

africa

southern africa

malawi

national holiday

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colonialism

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Every year on March 3, Malawi celebrates Martyrs Day, a public holiday that commemorates those dedicated individuals and political heroes who gave their lives in the service of their country and contributed to the fight against British colonialism. The date is based on an uprising against the colonial authorities that took place on this day in 1959. During the holiday, Malawians pay tribute to the deceased freedom fighters by offering prayers for them and participating in patriotic events across the country. As the nation is commemorating its heroes today, Sputnik outlines the major events in the country's fight for independence, as well as the background of the holiday. Struggle for Independence: Background of Martyrs' Day British colonization of the territory of modern Malawi began in the middle of the 19th century. Several Anglican and Presbyterian missions were established, which were followed by a trading and transport company commencing operations. A British consul took up residence there in 1883. His task was to conclude treaties with local rulers to prevent Portuguese occupation. In 1899, a British protectorate was proclaimed over the territory. In 1907, it was named Nyasaland, which by then included all of present-day Malawi.In 1953, Britain formed the Federation of Rhodesia and Nyasaland, often called the Central African Federation. The people of Nyasaland opposed the establishment of the federation as they were afraid that the policy of Southern Rhodesia, where power was held by white settlers, would gradually be applied to them. They decided to develop their own political movements to confront the colonial authorities.The Nyasaland African Congress (NAC), formed in 1944 by the people of Nyasaland to promote their interests to the British government, emerged as an ardent defender of their rights. The creation of the federation provoked the local African opposition to step up and resulted in a widespread resentment of colonial domination, and in the NAC gaining public support. On March 3, 1959, the NAC, led by its President Hastings Kamuzu Banda, started a protest that turned into an uprising. The British authorities declared a state of emergency and arrested Banda, renowned as an independence fighter, and other leaders of the NAC as part of Operation Sunrise. Over 1,300 of its members and supporters were detained. In total, during the state of emergency, which lasted until 1960, about 50 people who participated in the protests were killed, and many more injured by colonial security forces. After the events during the state of emergency, according to historians, the NAC gained even more support and Banda managed to strengthen his position as the leader of all oppressed indigenous peoples from all over the country.He was released in 1960, and then participated in the drafting of a new constitution of the country, which was adopted in 1961. Under the new constitution, black Malawians were given the right to vote for the first time. On February 1, 1963, Nyasaland was declared a self-governing territory, and on July 6, 1964, the independence of Malawi was proclaimed. Kamuzu Banda became the head of the new independent state. Why March 3?Even though the country witnessed many political upheavals during the colonial era, this date was chosen as a Martyrs' Day to honor the memory of the freedom fighters. Kamuzu Banda explained this decision in his 1974 Martyrs' Day message to the nation, saying that the events of March 1959 led to independence. According to the former Malawian president, the developments of the time are regarded not only as significant steps on the country's path to independence and sovereignty, but as those which paved the road for Malawi to become independent. Before these incidents, he noted, foreign rule "seemed to be here to stay." But the events of 1959 cast doubt on the very survival of the federation, he stressed, saying that "nobody, not even the colonial rulers themselves, felt that what had taken place on that day would end there and then." Since the country gained independence, Martyrs' Day has been observed by Malawians every March 3. It is celebrated to honor the countrys heroes who laid down their lives in the country's struggle for independence from the British Empire and to encourage the younger generation to improve society.On Martyrs' Day, the country's political leaders deliver patriotic speeches. The president of Malawi and other high-profile politicians participate in ceremonial wreath-laying events, which are held across the country at memorials to the martyrs of March 3, 1959. Moreover, churches arrange special services, during which people can pray for the martyrs.

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https://sputnikglobe.com/20230303/nbc-reporter-added-to-ukraines-kill-list-1107962360.html

NBC Reporter Added to Ukraine's Kill List

NBC Reporter Added to Ukraine's Kill List

On todays episode of The Backstory, host Lee Stranahan discussed current events including the DOJ possibly allowing civil lawsuits against Donald Trump for... 03.03.2023, Sputnik International

2023-03-03T04:30+0000

2023-03-03T04:30+0000

2023-03-03T09:30+0000

the backstory

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NBC Reporter Added to Ukraine's Kill List On todays episode of The Backstory, host Lee Stranahan discussed current events including the DOJ possibly allowing civil lawsuits against Donald Trump for January 6th, and Sirhan Sirhan being denied parole for the sixteenth time.

Mark Sleboda - International Relations and Security Analyst | Terrorist Attack in Russia, Youth Neo Nazi Camps in Ukraine, and Real PoliticsIn the first hour, Lee spoke with Mark Sleboda about the terrorist attack in the Bryansk Region, the propaganda campaign in Ukraine, and the failed drone strike by Ukraine. Mark detailed the Ukrainian terrorist attack in the Bryansk Region and the goal of the attack. Mark discussed the Russian Penicillin weapon and who is winning the war of attrition.In the second hour, Lee spoke about the US government's history with Nazis, the national security council, and President Zelensky. Lee talked about President Zelensky's recent statements on US soldiers in Ukraine and months of erratic behavior from President Zelensky. Lee commented on reparations and the proposition of monetary reparations for black Americans in California.We'd love to get your feedback at radio@sputniknews.comThe views and opinions expressed in this program are those of the speakers and do not necessarily reflect the position of Sputnik.

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https://sputnikglobe.com/20230303/not-in-kenya-president-ruto-slams-top-courts-pro-lgbtq-ruling-1107970900.html

'Not in Kenya': President Ruto Slams Top Courts Pro-LGBTQ Ruling

'Not in Kenya': President Ruto Slams Top Courts Pro-LGBTQ Ruling

Kenyan President Wlliam Ruto has criticized the country's Supreme Court for the decision in favour of LGBTQ freedoms, stating that the government will not allow Kenya to head in that direction.

2023-03-03T10:07+0000

2023-03-03T10:07+0000

2023-03-29T10:41+0000

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Kenyan President Wlliam Ruto has criticized the country's Supreme Court for deciding in favour of LGBTQ freedoms, vowing that the government will not allow Kenya to head in that direction and won't support calls to legalize this community as the country has its own values that should be respected.Last week, Kenya's top court in its verdict delivered by a five-judge bench stated that a board overseeing non-government organizations was discriminatory and contravened the law when it refused to register a pro-LGBTQ rights entity in the country. The board, in a letter of March 2015, denied the activists bid on the grounds that same-sex marriage is outlawed in Kenya. However, three of the five judges ruled that community members have rights to associate saying that a refusal would constitute discrimination based on sexual orientation.Following the judicial ruling, President Ruto commented on the issue saying that even though he respects the court and its decisions, he disagrees with the verdict because it goes against religious values, beliefs and traditions that forbid same sex marriages and allow only heterosexual relationships.The president noted that in recent years these sorts of ideas that push the LGBTQ agenda are being spread by many people across the globe, and the country's children in particular are "being bombarded with this talk and pressured by these dirty teachings." Against this backdrop, he urged religious leaders to stand up against this phenomenon and educate children and all Kenyans in general, in a way that long-standing customs are maintained and protected. He highlighted that the country can't allow Christian and Islamic religious beliefs to yield "to platforms that are preaching foreign concepts."Deputy President Rigathi Gachagua shared this same point of view, lashing out at the court's ruling and dubbing the LGBTQ agenda as part of a "repugnant"satanic ideology that contradicts Kenyans' morals, ideals and customs. According to local media, other politicians, as well as religious leaders in the country, who are against legitimizing the LGBTQ movement, have also expressed the same frustration over the ruling and pledged to petition the court to overturn the decision. Moreover, the country's lawmakers are now considering legislation that prohibits the registration of pro-LGBTQ organizations. In particular, MP George Kaluma has put forward a bill seeking to criminalize the LGBTQ community and its propagators in Kenya.

https://sputnikglobe.com/20230217/uganda-wont-follow-west-in-normalization-of-homosexuality-president-says-1107530944.html

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https://sputnikglobe.com/20230303/not-only-gop-but-also-left--independents-feel-team-biden-has-lost-its-way-in-ukraine-1107989511.html

Not Only GOP, But Also Left & Independents Feel Team Biden Has Lost Its Way in Ukraine

Not Only GOP, But Also Left & Independents Feel Team Biden Has Lost Its Way in Ukraine

Polls indicate that public support for arming Ukraine is softening in the US, while protests and public anxiety over the conflict are surging in Europe and... 03.03.2023, Sputnik International

2023-03-03T17:55+0000

2023-03-03T17:55+0000

2023-04-12T17:05+0000

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"So far, peace protests are not gaining the type of traction similar ones did over Iraq when [George W.] Bush was president, but I expect that anti-war feelings will likely grow here at home, particularly because the left and independents are increasingly convinced that Joe Biden and his team have lost their way," Wall Street analyst and investigative journalist Charles Ortel told Sputnik. "While American taxpayers have funded the bulk of Western aid, Europeans are suffering most from the ramped costs of energy and will be hurt most should the conflict in Ukraine escalate beyond Ukraine's borders. Let us hope that sanity soon prevails and that actual negotiations may bring about a sensible resolution."A wave of anti-war protests swept through Europe last weekend, with the "Peace Rally" bringing together an estimated 50,000 people in Berlin alone. The Manifesto for Peace calling on German officials to halt the flow of weapons to Ukraine has attracted 650,000 signatures in two weeks.Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Seymour Hersh, who dropped the Nord Stream bombshell last month, drew attention to the emerging peace movement in Europe in a recent piece. He lamented the inaction demonstrated by US lawmakers and the American press, which have yet to pressure the Biden administration over its "fervid political, economic, and political support for Ukraine in its ongoing war against Russia."Last month, Hersh revealed that the Nord Stream pipelines were destroyed by two members of NATO, namely the US and Norway. According to the journalist's source, the explosives were planted in June 2022 by US operatives under the guise of the BALTOPS 22 NATO exercise and were detonated in September 2022.Is the Wind of Change Starting to Blow?Meanwhile, the first harbinger of change has apparently started to appear. On March 1, The New York Times acknowledged that despite Biden's bravado while he was abroad, national surveys show that support for arming the Kiev regime is "softening" in the US. In addition, two Republican presidential candidates "are increasingly speaking out against" involvement in the Russo-Ukraine conflict, while House GOP lawmakers recently questioned two Pentagon officials about spending on Ukraine and grilled them over the lack of financial accountability.A day earlier, yet another US mainstream media outlet, NBC News broke a story about Russia's Crimea. The media admitted that it's not realistic that the Kiev regime could ever dream of seizing the peninsula, and that "the people there... view themselves as Russian."The report quoted Praskovya Baranova, 73, as saying that if Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and his army invade Crimea, "we will all put on uniforms and will go to the border to defend ourselves."The piece came like a bolt from the blue, given that over the past eight years, the US mainstream press has refused to recognize the March 2014 referendum in Crimea that opened the door to the peninsula's reunification with Russia.On the other side of the pond, Hungary has called for an international investigation into the Nord Stream sabotage attack under UN auspices, after Russia's resolution seeking a similar investigation into the matter was rejected in the UN Security Council.Testifying at the UNSC meeting on February 21, Jeffrey D. Sachs, a professor at Columbia University and specialist in global economy, insisted that "the investigation by the UN Security Council of the Nord Stream explosions is a high global priority.""I applaud Orban's initiative and wonder why more Republicans are not joining the call to learn the truth about what may have happened with Nord Stream," Ortel said. "Moreover, responsible leaders in Germany should be appalled by Hersh's revelations and their implications. What does it mean to be an ally of Joe Biden's America? Whether in Afghanistan or, now, in Germany, many ostensible allies of America must be wondering."Were US Wartime Presidents Always 'Great'?In his Wednesday piece, Hersh also referred to the dangerous misconception among US leaders that great presidents are usually "wartime presidents," and pointed to the accompanying havoc and violence, including the My Lai massacre exposed by the investigative journalist in 1972.Hersh warned that Joe Biden and his foreign policy team, "in their unwillingness to seek an immediate ceasefire" in the conflict between Russia and a NATO-backed Ukraine, could in fact be "on the Titanic as the ship neared the ice flows.""The view that war makes for great leaders is an utterly foolish reading of history  great leaders protect their own peoples and preserve peace, after all, human life is arguably the most precious of all possible things," said Ortel, commenting on Hersh's latest op-ed.According to the Wall Street analyst, the Vietnam and Southeast Asia conflicts were disasters for President Lyndon Johnson and his successors, "and these are, in my mind, the best comparables for hapless President Joe Biden." What's more, one should bear in mind the "fires burning around roles of the Biden family likely taking bribes from foreign powers.""Given Biden's obvious, diminished mental capacities, I suspect Biden has already neutered his 2024 political prospects," the analyst remarked.Still, Ortel hopes that the odds of Europeans or Americans pressuring their respective governments into reconsidering their stance with regard to the Ukraine conflict are high and rising.

https://sputnikglobe.com/20230227/diplomacy-instead-of-arming-ukraine-how-peace-movement-is-scaling-up-in-europe-1107850285.html

https://sputnikglobe.com/20230217/time-for-peace-talks-biden-facing-faded-public-support-for-arming-ukraine-1107554952.html

https://sputnikglobe.com/20230225/sy-hersh-on-us-proxy-war-on-russia-snowdens-expose--nord-stream-sabotage-1107779243.html

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https://sputnikglobe.com/20230303/oil-prices-falling-after-reports-about-possible-uae-exit-from-opec-1107986545.html

Oil Prices Falling After Reports About Possible UAE Exit From OPEC

Oil Prices Falling After Reports About Possible UAE Exit From OPEC

Global oil prices are falling after the publication of The Wall Street Journal, which reported citing unnamed Emirati officials that the UAE was in internal discussions about the possibility of withdrawing from the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC).

2023-03-03T15:10+0000

2023-03-03T15:10+0000

2023-03-03T15:10+0000

economy

opec

uae

oil prices

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As of 14:25 GMT, the price of May futures for Brent crude fell by 2.1% to $82.97 per barrel, April futures for WTI were down 2.25% to $76.4. A possible withdrawal of the UAE from the cartel will undermine the latter's influence in global oil markets, the newspaper wrote. Due to participation in OPEC, the country is forced to produce less oil than it is capable of in terms of production capacity, which is detrimental to oil revenues. It has long insisted on increasing production, but the Saudis refused, the publication said, citing OPEC sources.

https://sputnikglobe.com/20230217/opec-deal-to-remain-in-force-until-end-of-2023-despite-rising-oil-demand-1107525062.html

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https://sputnikglobe.com/20230303/rt-pulled-from-africa-satellites-blinken-in-central-asia-nord-stream-attack-investigation-1107963181.html

RT Pulled From Africa Satellites; Blinken in Central Asia; Nord Stream Attack Investigation

RT Pulled From Africa Satellites; Blinken in Central Asia; Nord Stream Attack Investigation

US Secretary of State Tony Blinken wraps up his unsuccessful Central Asia tour as his work to build anti-Russia sentiment flopped. 03.03.2023, Sputnik International

2023-03-03T04:31+0000

2023-03-03T04:31+0000

2023-04-06T10:51+0000

the critical hour

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antony blinken

rt

sergey lavrov

alexander lukashenko

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RT Pulled From Africa Satellites; Blinken in Central Asia; Nord Stream Attack Investigation US Secretary of State Tony Blinken wraps up his unsuccessful Central Asia tour as his work to build anti-Russia sentiment flopped.

Mark Sleboda, Moscow-based international relations security analyst, joins us to discuss Ukraine. Ukrainian government officials now say that they may try to pull out of Artemovsk (Bakhmut). Also, India is unwilling to condemn Russia and Germany can not defend itself.Dr. Gerald Horne, Professor of History at the University of Houston, TX, author, historian, and researcher, joins us to discuss foreign policy. EU sanctions have forced satellite TV in Africa to pull RT. Also, US Secretary of State Tony Blinken wraps up his unsuccessful Central Asia tour as his work to build anti-Russia sentiment flopped.KJ Noh, writer, teacher, and activist, joins us to discuss China. The US House held an anti-China hearing. Also, the COVID lab leak theory is being used to attack China and Russia is reaching broad agreements with the Asian economic giant.Jon Jeter, journalist, and author, joins us to discuss Africa. Africans are making it clear that they are finished with US and European imperialism.Laith Marouf, broadcaster, and journalist based in Beirut, Lebanon, joins us to discuss the Middle East. The House has overwhelmingly approved a resolution to maintain sanctions against Syria. Also, The US falsely claims that Iran is 12 days from building a nuclear weapon.Linwood Tauheed, associate professor of Economics at the University of Missouri-Kansas City, joins us to discuss the US empire's economic domination. US dollar imperialism is fading and may be the death of US world dominations. Also, sanctions on Russia are hurting the US empire.Steve Poikonen, national organizer for Action4Assange, joins us to discuss the EU. Russia continues to push for an investigation of the Nord Stream attack. Also, US bio labs present a danger to the world and the UK considered exterminating all cats during the outbreak of COVID.Kim Ives, filmmaker, journalist, and editor at Haiti Liberte, joins us to discuss Haiti. Canada and the US are pushing for military intervention in Haiti.We'd love to get your feedback at radio@sputniknews.comThe views and opinions expressed in this program are those of the speakers and do not necessarily reflect the position of Sputnik.

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https://sputnikglobe.com/20230303/russia-test-fires-satellite-thruster-powered-by-krypton-1107982692.html

Russia Test-Fires Satellite Thruster Powered by Krypton

Russia Test-Fires Satellite Thruster Powered by Krypton

Russian rocket engine makers have tested an innovative type of satellite thruster powered by krypton, a noble gas that is up to 10 times cheaper than the standard xenon

2023-03-03T13:27+0000

2023-03-03T13:27+0000

2023-03-03T13:27+0000

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"Experimental design bureau Fakel  and Keldysh Research Center have for the first time [in Russia] tested a stationary plasma jet engine, SPT-70M, using krypton as a propellant," the state space corporation said in a statement. Satellites use thrusters to move around once they are in orbit  to dodge space debris, change altitude and even de-orbit. Xenon has been the working gas of choice in most electric propulsion engines, where it is converted into a plasma jet to produce thrust. The downside of using xenon is its high cost and, as Fakel CEO Gennady Abramenkov said recently, the fact that it is in short supply. Roscosmos announced in December that it was looking for an alternative gas to power satellite engines as it seeks to develop communication and Earth remote sensing constellations by 2030 as part of the Sphere (Sfera) national project.

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https://sputnikglobe.com/20230303/russian-fm-lavrov-slams-the-wests-continuous-lies-on-natos-eastward-strides-in-delhi-speech--1107983394.html

Russian FM Lavrov Slams the Wests 'Continuous Lies' on NATOs Eastward Strides in Delhi Speech

Russian FM Lavrov Slams the Wests 'Continuous Lies' on NATOs Eastward Strides in Delhi Speech

Moscows top diplomat has concluded his three-day working visit to India with a speech at the countrys flagship geostrategic conference the Raisina Dialogue, in which he shared the root causes of the Ukraine conflict.

2023-03-03T14:40+0000

2023-03-03T14:40+0000

2023-03-03T15:12+0000

sergey lavrov

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When you take a look at the list of partners of Indias flagship diplomatic and geopolitical conference the Raisina Dialogue, besides the Indian government which coordinates the event, you would see many Western players  from the UK government, to German state-funded NGOs, to large multinational corporations. In todays world, this would usually mean that the event may have a lot of anti-Russian rhetoric in the main program, and on the sidelines.But in the case of the Raisina Dialogue, the organizers appear to have been seriously focused on presenting all points of view in the discussion regarding the causes of the conflict between Moscow and the West in Ukraine.According to Raisina Dialogue delegate Nikhil Gadia, who is a Strategic Partner at the legal firm Bansal Chandra & Associates, one of the reasons for India's respect towards Moscow's position is a historic one:The Russian foreign minister's speech at the New Delhi conference made it into the headlines on Friday, with Sergey Lavrov giving the audience a 30-minute crash course on international politics  with topics ranging from regional security and Asian geopolitics to NATO expansion, to the conflicts in Kosovo and Ukraine, to energy security, and last years Nord Stream gas pipeline sabotage.Lavrov, whose diplomatic career began in the 1970s at the Soviet Embassy in Sri Lanka and continued as part of the Soviet mission to the UN later on, has been Moscows top diplomat for the past 19 years. In fluent English, he shared with the New Delhi audience his concerns about the Wests attempts to expand NATO eastwards, despite previous promises not to do so.Moscows top diplomat explained that the Wests written promises to Russia, given at the OSCE summit in Istanbul in 1999, were later broken, with indivisible security mentioned in the summits documents being ignored by the West.Raisina Dialogue delegate Harsh Suri, who is co-founder of the New Delhi-based think tank Geostrata, told Sputnik on the sidelines of the conference that Lavrov has really proved that Russia is the one who suffered, adding further evidence of NATOs expansion, greenlighted by the participants of the 2008 NATO Bucharest Summit, where the alliance made a decision to invite Croatia and Albania, just four years after the 2004 expansion, when the Eastern European countries of Bulgaria, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Romania, Slovenia, and Slovakia became members of the bloc:Besides his appearance at the Raisina Dialogue, Lavrovs three-day working visit to India included participation in the G20 Foreign Ministers' Meeting, which was overshadowed by sharp divisions over Ukraine between G7 nations within the G20 and the rest of the organization. This week, Russias top diplomat also met with his Indian colleague Subrahmanyam Jaishankar and with the countrys Prime Minister Narendra Modi.Sergey Lavrov had a big bilateral schedule in New Delhi, meeting with diplomats from Brazil, Turkiye, China, and Armenia. On the sidelines of his official program, he took part on Wednesday in the opening ceremony of an exhibit dedicated to Mahatma Gandhi and Leo Tolstoy at the New Delhi Book Fair.

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Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, March 3)  The government on Friday sealed a multibillion-peso agreement for the electro-mechanical systems and track works of two segments of the North-South Commuter Railway Extension project.

President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. was present when the contract was signed by Transportation Secretary Jaime Bautista and Mitsubishi Corp. Executive Vice President Koji Ota.

According to the transportation chief, the contract covers two sections of the railwaysfrom Malolos to Clark airport and from Blumentritt in Manila to Calamba.

The 110.4-billion contract package includes track works, signaling system, telecommunications for the mainline and depots, power supply, and power distribution system, among others.

Bautista noted that the project will be financed with the assistance of the Japanese government through the Japan International Cooperation Agency, and the Asian Development Bank.

Marcos thanked the Japanese government for financially supporting the country's infrastructure projects.

The president added the 147-kilometer railway project will create thousands of jobs and boost the economy.

Bautista expects the partial operations of the Malolos to Clark Airport section to begin by late 2026.




https://sputnikglobe.com/20230303/russian-fm-lavrov-speaks-at-raisina-dialogue-in-new-delhi-1107966381.html

Russian FM Lavrov Speaks at Raisina Dialogue in New Delhi

Russian FM Lavrov Speaks at Raisina Dialogue in New Delhi

Sputnik goes live as Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov takes part in the Raisina Dialogue multilateral conference in New Delhi.

2023-03-03T06:40+0000

2023-03-03T06:40+0000

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Sputnik comes live as Russia's Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov takes part in the Raisina Dialogue multilateral conference in New Delhi.The theme of the event is 'One Earth, One Family, One Future'.The Raisina Dialogue is a multilateral conference held annually in New Delhi, India. It is Indias premier conference on geopolitics and geoeconomics designed to tackle the most challenging issues facing the global community.Follow Sputnik's Live Feed to Find Out More!

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https://sputnikglobe.com/20230303/russian-foreign-ministry-says-grain-deal-fails-west-sabotaging-russian-part-of-package-1107965011.html

Russian Foreign Ministry Says Grain Deal Fails, West Sabotaging Russian Part of 'Package'

Russian Foreign Ministry Says Grain Deal Fails, West Sabotaging Russian Part of 'Package'

The West is "burying" the humanitarian initiative of UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres by sabotaging the implementation of the Russian part of the "package," the Russian Foreign Ministry said, commenting on the Istanbul agreements on food and fertilizers.

2023-03-03T04:02+0000

2023-03-03T04:02+0000

2023-03-03T09:26+0000

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grain

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"We have to state that the 'package' of agreements proposed by Antonio Guterres and signed in Istanbul on July 22, 2022, does not work. The main problem is the sabotage of the implementation of the Russia-UN Memorandum by Western countries," the ministry said in a statement.The ministry stressed that "it's time to stop playing the food card." "The lion's share of grain from Ukraine goes to the European Union at dumping prices for fodder, and not to the poorest countries. Russian agricultural exports are openly obstructed, no matter how the Europeans and Americans convince everyone of the opposite, they are used to telling lies. The West shamelessly buries humanitarian 'package' of the UN Secretary General," the statement says. The ministry added that "speculation is growing in media" about the extension of the Black Sea Grain Initiative as the end of the deal is approaching after the extension for another 120 days in November. "At the instigation of Kiev and Washington, the thesis is being actively promoted that the initiative should not only be preserved in the existing parameters: three ports  Odessa, Chernomorsk, Yuzhny  renewed for another 120 days with the possibility of extension for a similar period if the parties  Russia, Turkey, and Ukraine  do not object, but extended in time and scope - immediately for a year with the inclusion of additional ports," the ministry said in the statement on the website. The ministry said that only a part of the "package" is being implemented in practice  on the export of Ukrainian food  and it is being implemented "far from the stated humanitarian goals." Officials further noted that "in fact, we are talking about servicing the commercial grain exports of Ukraine," adding that over 23 million tonnes of food products have been transported from Ukraine to high-income countries (47%), primarily the European Union, and to countries with above average income (34%) since August 1, 2022. The share of supply to the countries in need was only 2.6%, the statement read. The ministry added that "without any remorse, they keep silent about the fact that Kiev continues to block the resumption of operation of the Tolyatti-Odessa ammonia pipeline for purely political reasons." According to the statement, the progress in the implementation of the Russia-UN memorandum on the normalization of agricultural exports tends to zero due to "the Westerners' stubborn unwillingness to recognize the second part of A. Guterres' 'package' and the continuation of sanctions restrictions by them."

https://sputnikglobe.com/20230223/saudi-arabia-relief-center-head-says-wants-to-see-grain-deal-extended-1107737022.html

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https://sputnikglobe.com/20230303/russian-military-destroys-submariners-base-in-nikolaev-city---local-resistance-1107964362.html

Russian Military Destroys Submariners' Base in Nikolaev City - Local Resistance

Russian Military Destroys Submariners' Base in Nikolaev City - Local Resistance

A base of Ukrainian submariners in the city of Nikolaev, where UK military instructors had been preparing drones for attacks on Russia's military ships, has been destroyed by the Russian military, a member of local resistance in Nikolaev has told Sputnik.

2023-03-03T03:13+0000

2023-03-03T03:13+0000

2023-03-03T03:12+0000

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"We have done a little work and learned that the Nazis had decided to establish a submarine sabotage unit on our island of Maisky," the resistance fighter said in a video sent to Sputnik.He said the explosion was very powerful and was "detonating for a long time," adding that the ammunition warehouse had been completely destroyed, and many premises of the base had been flooded. According to the fighter, the underwater drones had been being prepared for an operation related to alleged Kiev's attack on Transnistria. He did not provide any information on casualties among British instructors and Ukraine's forces. The Russian Defense Ministry said in late February that Ukraine had intensified preparations for the invasion of Moldova's breakaway region of Transnistria, which poses a threat to Russian peacekeepers, adding that the Russian military would respond to this in an adequate manner.

https://sputnikglobe.com/20230301/moldova-not-afraid-of-military-escalation-including-from-transnistria---prime-minister-1107919117.html

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https://sputnikglobe.com/20230303/russias-payment-system-set-to-appear-100-miles-off-us-coast-1107990576.html

Russias Payment System Set to Appear 100 Miles Off US Coast

Russias Payment System Set to Appear 100 Miles Off US Coast

At the G20 ministerial meeting in Delhi, India on Tuesday, Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov told Sputnik about Russias plans to further facilitate independent payment systems, push for more payments in national currencies and assist in creation of reliable transport corridors.

2023-03-03T17:42+0000

2023-03-03T17:42+0000

2023-03-03T17:42+0000

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Preparations to launch Russias Mir payment system in Cuba are in their final stage, Russian Ambassador to Cuba Andrei Gushkov has said.According to the Cuban side, work on the launch of the Mir payment system is close to completion. Its use should have a positive impact on increasing the flow of Russian tourists to the island, the ambassador told Sputnik in an interview.Created in 2015 in response to sanctions and fears that the US and its allies might cut Russia off from the SWIFT system, the Mir payment system is now operational across much of the post-Soviet space, as well as South Korea and Vietnam. Authorities in countries including Ethiopia, Iran, India, Indonesia, Mauritius, Mongolia, Myanmar, Nigeria, Sri Lanka, Thailand and Venezuela have either expressed interest in the payment system or launched it on a trial basis.Gushkov called Cuba one of Russias key partners in Latin America, pointing to new joint projects in the energy sector, manufacturing, the modernization of the Antillana de Acero Jose Martie metallurgical plant, and plans for the construction of new capacities at the Maximo Gomez and Habana del Este thermoelectric plants.The diplomat also pointed to deepening ties with Cuba as a major component of Russias reorientation away from the West and towards partners in Asia, Africa and Latin America.The ambassador also pointed to Havanas position of solidarity with Moscow in assessing the origins of the Ukrainian crisis lying in NATOs push eastward toward Russias borders, and Cubas condemnation of manifestations of neo-Nazism around the world.The commonality of our positions on this and many other issues on the international agenda serves as a solid foundation for relations of true friendship between our countries and peoples, Gushkov said.Russia and Cuba celebrated 120 years of diplomatic relations in 2022, and came to enjoy very close ties after the Cuban Revolution of 1959, when Fidel Castro and his socialist revolutionaries took power, ousting the long-time US puppet regime of Fulgencio Batista. Cuba was one of Moscows key political, military and economic allies during the Cold War. Relations shrunk to a post-Cold War low point in the 1990s after the restoration of capitalism in Russia and its retreat from the world stage, but slowly began to improve again in the 2000s as both countries joined others in the developing world in opposition to US unipolarity.

https://sputnikglobe.com/20230302/russia-cuba-talks-in-havana-included-color-revolution-prevention-security-council-1107925414.html

https://sputnikglobe.com/20220616/russian-mod-fever-carrying-mosquitoes-studied-in-ukrainian-labs-could-have-been-used-by-us-in-cuba-1096378770.html

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https://sputnikglobe.com/20230303/serbian-defense-ministry-says-did-not-supply-ammunition-to-end-users-in-ukraine-1107990410.html

Serbian Defense Ministry Says Did Not Supply Ammunition to End Users in Ukraine

Serbian Defense Ministry Says Did Not Supply Ammunition to End Users in Ukraine

The Serbian Defense Ministry told Sputnik that it had not supplied ammunition to end users in Ukraine.

2023-03-03T17:33+0000

2023-03-03T17:33+0000

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"Not a single one of our missiles, mines or projectiles since the beginning of the conflict in Ukraine has been covered by an agreement or delivered in such a way that one of the parties to the conflict was the end user. Thus, enterprises from Serbia did not supply weapons and military equipment to Ukraine," the ministry said. The ministry recalled that when deciding whether to grant consent to the export of weapons and military equipment, it was guided by the current international restrictions and sanctions of the UN Security Council in relation to individual states, organizations and entities. Serbia cannot accept responsibility for the alleged violation of international norms by companies from other states, it added. Serbian enterprise Krusik said earlier that it had studied and refuted the "documents" attached to the reports about the sale of missiles for the Grad MLRS to Ukraine. Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said on Thursday that Russia called on Serbia to clarify the situation with possible arms supplies to Ukraine, which she said was an extremely important topic for bilateral relations.

https://sputnikglobe.com/20230228/western-officials-admitted-involvement-in-ukraine-conflict-says-serbian-president-1107884618.html

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https://sputnikglobe.com/20230303/sudan-to-enhance-cooperation-with-russia-in-oil-production-energy-ministry-says-1107986406.html

Sudan to Enhance Cooperation With Russia in Oil Production, Energy Ministry Says

Sudan to Enhance Cooperation With Russia in Oil Production, Energy Ministry Says

Sudan is willing to cooperate with Russia in oil production as it seeks to reduce dependence on crude oil imports, the Acting Energy and Oil Minister Mohamed Abdallah told Sputnik.

2023-03-03T18:10+0000

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2023-03-03T18:10+0000

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Sudan is willing to cooperate with Russia in oil production as it seeks to reduce dependence on crude oil imports, and is already in talks with the country's major companies in the field, Acting Energy and Oil Minister Mohamed Abdallah told Sputnik.According to the official, several Russian firms are already operating in Sudan's oil and gas sector, while negotiations with companies such as Rosneft and Zarubezhneft are underway. The minister explained that Khartoum is going to increase oil production, with the ultimate goal to cut its reliance on imports, phase out the importation of oil, in particular from South Sudan, and eventually be able to fully provide itself with sufficient amounts of fuels. In this regard, he stressed, Moscow could provide necessary assistance in terms of investment in infrastructure, as well as technical support. Following the separation of South Sudan from Khartoum in 2011, 75% of the oil fields of the once united country went to the south. However, the entire infrastructure needed for oil exporting remained in the north. Abdallah noted that in recent years, Sudan has failed to boost its oil output, with production standing at "only 40,000-50,000 barrels a day, which is not enough for domestic consumption." At the same time, he stressed that given Sudan's oil and gas reserves, in the future the country will be able to produce sufficient amounts for the local market, while "the rest will be exported."He elaborated that the nation's oil and gas reserves are mainly concentrated in 26 fields, including areas that have not been developed yet, while tenders are planned to be issued for a number of these fields. He also confirmed that the political situation in the country will not affect Khartoum's obligations under contracts with foreign investors in the oil and gas sector, stating that the government considers the sector an important factor in development and economic growth.Earlier, Director of the Department of International Cooperation of the Russian Ministry of Energy Dmitry Semenov stated that Russia is discussing with Sudan the expansion of cooperation in the oil sector, and is ready to work together on technologies for enhanced oil recovery, associated gas utilization, oil refining, and petrochemistry.

https://sputnikglobe.com/20230209/multifaceted-cooperation-russian-fm-lavrov-arrives-in-sudan-1107104224.html

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https://sputnikglobe.com/20230303/they-now-need-democracy-internet-fears-for-irans-safety-as-tehran-finds-500-billion-in-lithium-1107988367.html

They Now Need Democracy: Internet Fears for Irans Safety as Tehran Finds $500 Billion in Lithium

They Now Need Democracy: Internet Fears for Irans Safety as Tehran Finds $500 Billion in Lithium

Iran announced this week that geologists had found some 8.6 million tons of lithium in the western province of Hamadan, instantly making Iranians the owners of one of the top five largest reserves of the metal in the world.

2023-03-03T16:30+0000

2023-03-03T16:30+0000

2023-03-03T16:33+0000

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It will take about four years to prepare the lithium mines discovered in Qahavand Plain, Hamadan for operation, with the deposits stretching across a five-six square kilometer area, Mohammad Hadi Ahmadi, vice president of mines and mineral industries at Hamadan provinces Industry, Mining and Trade Organization, said Friday.Ahmadi hailed the precious metals tremendous export potential, and its possible use by many domestic Iranian industries.The estimated 8.6 million tons in lithium found by geologists instantly shot Iran up to fourth place in the world in total reserves of the precious metal after Bolivia (21 million tons), Argentina (19.3 million tons), and Chile (9.6 million tons). The US, the previous fourth-place holder, now drops to fifth with its 7.9 million tons.Lithium is a highly valuable and sought after commodity, with reserves limited, but the metal vital for a broad variety of applications, first and foremost rechargeable batteries for phones, laptops other gadgets, and batteries used in electric vehicles (about three quarters of the lithium mined annually is used in battery applications). The precious metal is also used in the production of fluorescent glass providing protection against ultraviolet rays, with about 14 percent of production for this purpose. Lithium sulfide is an integral element in semiconductor manufacturing, in chemical storage and as a current source. The metal is also used in nuclear applications, serving as a readily available source of the radioactive isotope tritium, used in the manufacture of rods regulating reactor protection systems.Lithium is also used in metallurgy as a deoxidizer, and to increase the ductility and strength of alloys, in medicine, and refrigeration systems as lithium bromide. Finally, it the metal has crucial applications in the transportation and defense sectors  with lithium hydride serving as a rocket fuel, and as a grease in a variety of mechanical applications such as aircraft maintenance. Youve used lithium grease in the household if youve ever purchased a can of WD-40.A 2021 estimate by the US Geological Service put the global reserve of lithium at 86 million tons, meaning that this weeks discovery by Iran has just increased reserves by 10 percent. The precious metal has a market price of about $57,500 a ton, meaning Irans newfound deposits have an estimated value of about $494.5 billion.Given its applications in some of the most important global industries, lithium is a strategic resource with immense significance. In 2020, amid turmoil in Bolivia in the aftermath of a Western-backed coup, Tesla and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk nonchalantly tweeted that the US "will coup whoever we want! after someone criticized the US policy of conspiring to remove Bolivian President Evo Morales from power. Morales responded, pointing out that Musk, owner of a massive electric car factory, had effectively admitted that the coup was carried out over Bolivian lithium, and vowing that Bolivians will always defend our resources! Morales party returned to power a year later, allowing him to safely return to his home country.Irans lithium wealth has sparked concerns about whether the US and its allies will be able to restrain themselves from trying to bring freedom and democracy to the Middle Eastern nation at the barrel of a gun.They now need democracy, Sputnik Radio host Garland Nixon sardonically tweeted in response to the news.Oh, look. Iran just found the United States lithium under their country. Time for the US to take them some democracy, another person joked. Well, you know what that means. Sudden intense US concern for Iranian human rights will be used to justify depriving a lot of Iranian human beings of their right to live, another wrote. Damn, Iran hide your lithium; the pirates are hungry to spread their freedom and democracy, another recommended.Exciting and incredibly scary at the same time. Iran must prepare itself for unprecedented horrors levied against it by the imperialists, another person suggested. Operation Lithium Freedom, another joked, giving a name for the hypothetical NATO operation against Iran.

https://sputnikglobe.com/20230225/elections--lithium-mining-why-is-the-us-suddenly-running-get-out-the-vote-ads-in-nigeria-1107784963.html

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https://sputnikglobe.com/20230303/top-israeli-pentagon-officials-agree-on-need-to-prevent-iran-from-gaining-a-nuclear-weapon-1107992834.html

Top Israeli, Pentagon Officials Agree on Need to Prevent Iran From Gaining a Nuclear Weapon

Top Israeli, Pentagon Officials Agree on Need to Prevent Iran From Gaining a Nuclear Weapon

The heads of the Israeli and American militaries met in Tel Aviv on Friday to discuss a variety of issues, including ongoing tensions with Iran, which a United... 03.03.2023, Sputnik International

2023-03-03T18:24+0000

2023-03-03T18:24+0000

2023-04-13T12:45+0000

world

iran

israel

nuclear program

pentagon

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The statements by both nations defense ministries announcing the meeting were typically vague about the details, but noted that US Gen. Mark A. Milley, chairman of the US Joint Chiefs of Staff; Israeli Lt. Gen. Herzi Halevi, chief of the General Staff of the Israel Defense Forces; and Israeli Defense Ministry Yoav Gallant, along with other Israeli security officials, met at the Kirya military base in Tel Aviv.It is believed they also discussed recent events in the West Bank, including IDF military operations and a riot in Nablus by Jewish settlers that targeted Palestinian homes and businesses.Earlier this week, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), a UN-connected nuclear watchdog, reported it had detected uranium refined to 83.7% U-235 at Irans Fordow refining facility. The revelations set off alarm bells across the region, since Iran had previously only admitted to refining uranium to 60% purity, and since the lower threshold for a usable nuclear bomb is roughly 90% purity.However, the report only spoke of particles, not large stocks of such high purity, although that nuance has largely escaped reports in the Western press.Israel has long pledged to stop Iran from acquiring a nuclear weapon, claiming Tehran would be most likely to use it against them, and in that mission they have strong US support. However, the White House has so far seen the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), a 2015 deal that arrested Irans refinement capabilities in exchange for the lowering of economic sanctions, as the best way to prevent that. The US pulled out of that deal in 2018 and has struggled to revive it, with Iran saying it was the US that was refusing to return to the deal. Jerusalem has been more skeptical, with orders given in late 2021 to prepare for a military operation against Irans nuclear facilities should it become necessary.However, there is tension between Washington and Jerusalem, too, with the Biden administration positioning itself against several right-wing members of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahus government.One, Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich of the Religious Zionist Party, called for the IDF to wipe out the Palestinian town of Huwara, the target of last weeks settler riot. The White House has urged Netanyahu to disavow Smotrichs comments. After Netanyahu added Smotrich and his ally, Jewish Power leader Itamar Ben-Gvir, to his coalition late last year, the Israeli leader claimed he could keep the two on a tight leash.

https://sputnikglobe.com/20230203/us-satellite-photos-show-damage-iranian-workshop-suffered-in-israeli-drone-attack-1106958685.html

https://sputnikglobe.com/20230303/us-established-contingency-plan-for-war-with-iran-new-report-finds-1107962458.html

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https://sputnikglobe.com/20230303/toxic-blame-game-whos-responsible-for-east-palestines-mini-chernobyl-1107974876.html

Toxic Blame Game: Whos Responsible for East Palestines Mini-Chernobyl

Toxic Blame Game: Whos Responsible for East Palestines Mini-Chernobyl

A month has passed since the February 3 train derailment in East Palestine, Ohio, enough time for the massive plumed of toxic smoke caused by the controlled burn of several rail cars worth of chemicals to dissipate and for details of the accident to filter through. What happened? Whos to blame? Some of the answers may be surprising.

2023-03-03T13:06+0000

2023-03-03T13:06+0000

2023-03-03T14:02+0000

analysis

east palestine

ohio

derailment

train derailment

disaster

environmental disaster

environmental impact

blame

blame game

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Ohio Governor Mike DeWine provided an update on the cleanup operation in and around East Palestine earlier this week, expressing appreciation for local residents hearty can-do attitude in dealing with the emergency.I just want to say that I continue to be impressed by the resiliency of the people in the village, by their attitude, and how many people are pitching in to really make a difference every single day not just in the community but outside of the community, DeWine said, standing alongside representatives from the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) and other state and federal officials Wednesday.We had the chance to watch really almost all of the operations going on today, and again I was impressed by the magnitude of it, and also impressed by the hard work that so many people are doing to make sure this is a community that is in fact safe and does in fact remain safe, DeWine added.Empty feel-good sentiments aside, the governor was light on the hard facts about whats being done to mitigate the disaster. Earlier in the week, DeWines office reported that approximately 4,832 cubic yards of contaminated soil had been removed from the ground by Norfolk Southern, the Atlanta-based rail giant whose train derailed in East Palestine on February 3. Incidentally, that same 4,832-cubic-yard figure was mentioned by the governor last week, even as the railroad and officials continue to assure that cleanup operations are ongoing.DeWine has taken heavy flak for his role in the disaster, particularly over his and Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiros decision to sign off on Norfolk Southerns proposed controlled burn of the toxic chemicals on board the derailed freight cars, instead of carefully and thoroughly removing them from the disaster area via tanker trucks. The railway said the derailed cars posed an explosive hazard, and to mitigate this danger, rigged them with explosives and sent millions of pounds of chemicals into the skies over the town on February 6. Residents in a two-mile area were ordered to leave their homes and evacuate, but were told just two days later, on February 8, that they could "safely return home."What Was on the Train?The trains load included industrial chemicals used to make products like rubber, paint, and household synthetic polymers known as polyvinyl chloride (PVC), including vinyl chloride, butyl acrylate, ethylhexyl acrylate, ethylene glycol monobutyl ether, and isobutylene. Many of these chemicals have been linked to cancers, respiratory illnesses, and neurological and behavioral disorders.Despite the danger posed by these substances, DeWine, Shapiro, Norfolk Southern, the Environmental Protection Agency, and others insist that air quality in and around the town remains normal, and that air and ground pollution testing has been extensive.However, town residents, independent reporters, and people from nearby communities have told another story, reporting to anyone who will listen on the death of their pets, birds, farm animals and local wildlife, and the contamination of rivers and streams. On February 28, one independent journalist spotted three dead deer on the banks of Little Beaver Creek, almost 25 kilometers south of East Palestine, speculating that the animals may have died from drinking contaminated water.US legacy media have attempted to smear those sounding the alarm about the potential scale of the environmental disaster in East Palestine as right-wing crazies. How a train derailment in East Palestine turned into a right-wing cause, Jeff Bezos-owned newspaper The Washington Post opined in a feature February 24, attacking conservatives for criticizing the Biden administration for its half-hearted response. In Fog of East Palestines Crisis, Politicians Write Their Own Stories, The New York Times wrote the same day, accusing far-right podcasts, conservative celebrities, and House lawmaker Marjorie Taylor Greene of spreading conspiracy theories after Greene tweeted that East Palestine was in the middle of an ecological disaster because authorities blew up the train derailment cars carrying hazardous chemicals and press are being arrested for trying to tell the story. The NYT didnt clarify what part of MTGs tweet constituted a conspiracy theory. A NewsNation reporter named Evan Lambert was indeed arrested on February for speaking loudly and getting into a heated conversation with a National Guardsman while DeWine was addressing other reporters at one of his press conferences. The charges against him were soon dropped.Whos to Blame?The National Transportation Safety Board released a preliminary report on the East Palestine disaster last week, focusing on the derailment (but crucially, not the "controlled burn" or its consequences, which investigators promised to study at a later date). The federal agency also stressed that it is "not involved in air monitoring, testing of water quality, environmental remediation, or evacuation orders," and referred any questions on those matters to the EPA. In essence, the report boiled down to recounting what everyone already knows: that 38 railcars of a 149-car train derailed, among them 11 carrying hazardous materials.In a press conference accompanying the report, NTSB Chairwoman Jennifer Homendy intimated that the February 3 incident was preventable, because "we've never seen an accident that isn't preventable."Rail CompanyWhile state and federal authorities and much of the media have shied away from blaming Norfolk Southern directly for the decision to burn the chemicals off instead of removing them, residents of East Palestine have had no qualms about pointing the finger at those they believe are responsible.You know, their main concern was to get the rail line open so they could move freight. Thats all they care about, Bob Figley, owner of a local hardware store, said in an interview with independent media. When the guy from Norfolk Southern came on right after it happened to talk about their plans, the first thought that came out of his mouth was, theyre going to get this all cleaned and opened up and the tracks down and get the trains running. There was no talk about 'well, were going to find out what people need.' You know people were thrown out of their houses and they couldnt stay there. But I havent seen anybody from Norfolk Southern come in and say hey, you know, how has this affected you financially? Heres a check.The EPA announced earlier this week that Norfolk Southern representatives would be forced to attend a town hall gathering on Thursday after the railroad ducked out of a similar event held in mid-February, citing a growing physical threat to our employees. However, Norfolk Southern CEO Alan Shaw skipped Thursdays event, sparking outrage from locals, some of whom shouted Wheres Alan? Residents implored the railroad to hear their plight. Its not safe here. Im begging you, by the grace of God, please get our people out of here, one man said. If I did something wrong, Im going to stand up and Im going to face my wrong. And Im just one simple human being  theyre a corporation, an outraged woman added.Lethargic White HouseThe Biden administration has also faced flak for its role in the disaster, both for failing to pay it much attention and for refusing to pressure Norfolk Southern into doing more to mitigate it. Instead of deploying federal law enforcement and government environmental agents to East Palestine, for example, Washington has allowed a private police force owned by Norfolk Southern to provide security, and let company-hired ground and air quality testers with a notorious reputation for serving corporate interests do the air and soil analysis.Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg didnt show up to the disaster site until last week, nearly 20 days after the derailment, citing other commitments and the prevalence of train derailments (the US suffered over 1,000 derailments in 2022 alone). House Republicans have slammed Buttigieg for neglecting his duties and failing to mitigate or effectively respond to multiple national crises in a resolution this week, urging him to resign.President Biden, meanwhile, has skipped visiting the battered town entirely, instead jetting off to Kiev and Warsaw last month to reiterate the US continued support for Ukraine in NATOs proxy war with Russia. East Palestine Mayor Trent Conaway blasted Biden over the slap in the face to his community that his Kiev trip demonstrated, saying it tells you right now he doesnt care about us.With Biden remaining a no-show in East Palestine, former President Donald Trump turned up instead, expressing his support for the town, buying McDonalds for first responders and bringing 13 pallets of food and Trump-brand water to residents he said had been betrayed by Washington.Republican Deregulation?Amid complaints by conservatives over the Biden administrations mishandling of the disaster, Democratic politicians, media, and pundits have jumped at the chance to accuse Trump and other Republicans of responsibility for the accident by rolling back rail safety regulations.During his visit to the disaster zone, Buttigieg accused Trump of giving Norfolk Southern a Christmas tree of regulatory changes that the last administration made on its way out the door in December of 2020.However, even anti-Trump, pro-Biden media have pointed out that, so far, they have yet to find a direct correlation between the regulations rolled back by the Trump White House and the East Palestine derailment.As for the Christmas tree mentioned by Buttigieg, including brake safety inspections, a two-person crew requirement, and revisions to minimum safety requirements, all of these had unclear or no impact on the February 3 disaster, according to WaPo Fact Checker Glenn Kessler.Democratic Deregulation?The reality is that the Obama, Trump, and Biden administrations all share in the blame for the disaster by okaying a culture of lax railway safety regulations. As former Bernie Sanders campaign advisor David Sirota noted, all three presidents, and both Democratic and Republican lawmakers in Congress, allowed the rail industry to successfully lobby against stricter rules for trains carrying flammable chemicals, and against more advanced breaks that experts and the rail industry have said could lessen the severity of derailments.Theres no question that some regulations are outdated, unnecessary, or too costly, President Obama boasted in a 2012 State of the Union address, which has now been cited in connection with the East Palestine derailment. In fact, Ive approved fewer regulations in the first three years of my presidency than my Republican predecessor did in his. Ive ordered every federal agency to eliminate rules that dont make sense. Weve already announced over 500 reforms, and just a fraction of them will save business and citizens more than $10 billion over the next five years, Obama promised.Ironically, Biden ran in 2020 on a promise to "fix" America's aging infrastructure, including rail, roads, and bridges. The president and his allies in Congress passed a $1.2 trillion infrastructure bill in late 2021, and Democrats have been touting its implementation. However, by one count, so far, his administration has only succeeded in increasing the number of derailment incidents.Something's Rotten in WashingtonThe East Palestine derailment epitomizes the rot and non-viability of the current political system, in which the rail companies seek to maximize profits, and officials and lawmakers from both parties seek to serve lobbyists interests, and blame one another when something goes wrong, resulting in an utter lack of accountability to anyone but lobbyists and shareholders, instead of the American people.As independent journalist Tom Hall recently summarized, in reality, both parties bear responsibility for the disaster, having both supported decades of deregulation and backing rail profits to the hilt. Indeed, both parties received campaign contributions from the railroads, including $725,000 from Northern Southern in 2022, split 51-49 in favor of the Democrats.

https://sputnikglobe.com/20230301/east-palestine-residents-reportedly-suffering-from-chemical-bronchitis-after-train-derailment-1107898184.html

https://sputnikglobe.com/20230303/well-just-stay-here-and-die-east-palestine-residents-grill-railroad-execs-biden-admin-1107964535.html

https://sputnikglobe.com/20230302/house-gop-resolution-urges-buttigieg-to-resign-over-ohio-train-wreck-1107923397.html

https://sputnikglobe.com/20230223/trump-slams-biden-for-ohio-inaction-ukraine-funding-hope-theres-some-left-for-east-palestine-1107723291.html

https://sputnikglobe.com/20230226/mickey-mouse-voice-and-sore-throat-east-palestine-residents-complain-about-chemical-effects-1107808875.html

https://sputnikglobe.com/20230223/east-palestine-spox-blasts-biden-he-feels-safer-in-a-war-zone-in-ukraine-than-ohio-1107724640.html

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https://sputnikglobe.com/20230303/us-jury-finds-disgraced-lawyer-alex-murdaugh-guilty-for-2021-murder-of-his-wife-son-1107962800.html

'Justice Was Done': US Jury Finds Disgraced Lawyer Alex Murdaugh Guilty for Murder of His Wife, Son

'Justice Was Done': US Jury Finds Disgraced Lawyer Alex Murdaugh Guilty for Murder of His Wife, Son

A US jury on Thursday found well known South Carolina lawyer Alex Murdaugh guilty of murdering his wife and son in a trial that captivated the nation since proceedings first began at the start of February.

2023-03-03T00:20+0000

2023-03-03T00:20+0000

2023-03-03T01:24+0000

americas

us

guilty verdict

south carolina

murder charges

financial crime

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A US jury on Thursday found well known South Carolina lawyer Alex Murdaugh guilty of murdering his wife and son in a trial that captivated the nation since proceedings first began at the start of February.Murdaugh was found guilty on both murder counts as well as the two additional counts of possession of a weapon during a crime. The 12-member jury deliberated for less than three hours before announcing the verdict. Although prosecutors did not seek the death penalty, Murdaugh does face 30 years to life behind bars. The prosecution team has indicated they will be seeking life in prison without the possibility of parole for the double murder.Shortly after the verdict was announced, Murdaugh was removed from the courtroom. He showed no response and was directed out without issue.Sentencing in the case is set for Friday at 9:30 a.m. local time.The case gained nationwide attention after reports detailed that Murdaugh, whose family name for four generations has been synonymous with the law in South Carolina, killed his wife and son in an attempt to keep his embezzlement behavior from being exposed. Prosecutors argued that the disbarred attorney stole millions of dollars from his clients and colleagues.Outside the courtroom, the prosection hailed the verdict and underscored that the outcome proved justice was given in the caseIn earlier closing arguments, Murdaugh's defense team used the opportunity to lay doubt in the investigative work carried out by both the police and forensic teams assigned to the case, saying that no physical evidence tied him to the deaths of his wife and son.Officials additionally sought to explain the lawyer's repeated alibi revisions by stating they were the result of an addiction-induced paranoia. It was noted Murdaugh was addicted to opiates.Aside from the looming Friday sentencing, Murdaugh is also facing 99 separate charges in cases that have yet to go to trial, and which all stem from the lawyer's history of alleged financial crimes.

https://sputnikglobe.com/20210917/alex-murdaugh-and-the-fall-of-a-southern-dynasty--1089143932.html

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Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, January 31)  One million doses of donated bivalent vaccines are expected to arrive in the country by the end of March, the Department of Health (DOH) said on Tuesday.

In a media forum, DOH officer-in-charge Maria Rosario Vergeire said the donation is part of the commitment of COVAX to give bivalent vaccines to the Philippines.

Last week, we finalized the commitment of COVAX to donate bivalent vaccines in the country. Kapag nag push through talaga [If this pushes through], hopefully, by the end of March, we expect the initial doses to arrive, Vergeire said.

Vergeire also said DOH is currently confirming the commitment of other countries in donating bivalent vaccines.

She added that one country has already confirmed its commitment and the delivery date is being finalized.

This country will also be the one providing us additional doses of bivalent vaccines [but] we cannot disclose [the name] yet hanggang sa hindi pa final yung negosasiyon at pag-uusap, Vergeire said.

Kasi baka magkaroon tayong issue in terms of the country donating. Kapag napirmahan na natin yung agreement, we will be informing everybody, she added.

[Translation: Because there might be an issue regarding the country donating. Once the agreement is signed, we will be informing everybody.]
https://sputnikglobe.com/20230303/we-are-not-at-war-pentagon-denies-reports-of-us-giving-ukraine-information-to-strike-russia-1107963884.html

'We Are Not at War': Pentagon Denies Reports of US Giving Ukraine Information to Strike Russia

'We Are Not at War': Pentagon Denies Reports of US Giving Ukraine Information to Strike Russia

The US military is not providing Ukraine with information to strike inside Russia and the United States is neither at war with Russia nor seeking it, Defense Department spokesperson Pat Ryder said on Thursday.

2023-03-03T02:15+0000

2023-03-03T02:15+0000

2023-04-13T12:45+0000

military

russia

ukraine crisis

col. patrick ryder

pentagon

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"I can say definitively that the notion of us providing intelligence or information to the Ukrainians to target locations inside Russia is nonsense," Ryder said during a press briefing.With respect to reports about developments in Russia's border region of Bryansk that took place earlier on Thursday, Ryder said he cannot corroborate them. Earlier in the day, the governor of the Bryansk region of Russia, Alexander Bogomaz, said that a sabotage group from Ukraine had infiltrated the Klimovsky district. As a result of the attack, two people were killed, and a 10-year-old child was wounded. Russian President Vladimir Putin called the attack by Ukrainian saboteurs a terrorist act. The FSB confirmed that security forces were responding to the actions of armed Ukrainian nationalists who had entered the region. Now, the situation in the Bryansk region, as reported by the FSB, is under control. The nationalists were squeezed into Ukraine, where they were hit by a massive artillery strike.

https://sputnikglobe.com/20230302/medvedev-delivery-of-nato-aircraft-to-kiev-will-mean-alliances-war-against-russia-1107959202.html

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https://sputnikglobe.com/20230303/what-does-this-guy-gotta-do-to-get-fired-cruz-rips-buttigieg-for-ohio-train-wreck-response-1107968096.html

'What Does This Guy Gotta Do to Get Fired?' Cruz Rips Buttigieg For Ohio Train Wreck Response

'What Does This Guy Gotta Do to Get Fired?' Cruz Rips Buttigieg For Ohio Train Wreck Response

Ted Cruz lambasted Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg for his handling of the Ohio toxic train derailment response at a CPAC event.

2023-03-03T08:23+0000

2023-03-03T08:23+0000

2023-03-03T08:23+0000

americas

us

ted cruz

pete buttigieg

cpac

toxic chemicals

train derailment

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US Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg got another dose of vehement criticism from Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, for his handling of the toxic train derailment in East Palestine, Ohio.According to Cruz, Buttigiegs tardy response to the environmental disaster that ensued from the train wreck is a glaring sign that no one in the Biden administration wants to help residents of predominantly conservative districts. Pete Buttigieg finally visited East Palestine on February 23, with fuming local residents slamming it as "too little, too late."President Joe Biden also got his share of condemnation from Ted Cruz for being "completely AWOL" regarding the Ohio derailment. Meanwhile, Cruz applauded former President Donald Trump for going to the scene of the disaster. Trump, who arrived in East Palestine on February 22, blasted the Biden administration for its indifference and betrayal as the US President had traipsed off to Ukraine to meet with the Kiev regime instead.Ted Cruz also lauded Sen. JD Vance, R-Ohio, who had taken videos showing toxic chemicals had spilled into waterways in the vicinity of the incident.Earlier, House Republicans introduced a resolution slamming US Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg for neglecting his duties, and urging him to resign. The resolution was introduced by Rep. Michael Waltz, R-Fla., and supported by several of his GOP colleagues, such as Reps. Lauren Boebert of Colorado, Ryan Zinke of Montana, Mike Collins of Georgia, and Greg Steube of Florida. It condemns Buttigieg for having "failed to mitigate or effectively respond to multiple national crises," adding that his "ineptitude has jeopardized the safety and prosperity of the American people." The Norfolk Southern train derailed in East Palestine, Ohio, on February 3. About 20 of the roughly 150 train cars were carrying hazardous materials, including highly flammable vinyl chloride. The derailment was likely caused by an overheated wheel bearing on a railcar, according to the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) report. The incident resulted in evacuation orders for residents amid the toxic chemical scare, and a federal investigation into the causes of the accident.The derailment also led to a "controlled release" of toxins into the air in order to avoid what officials claim could have been a catastrophic blast. However, since then locals have been fearing possible health effects after witnessing the deaths of animals and local wildlife.

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Another winter storm set to hit southwestern Ontario this afternoon has forced the cancellation of live harness racing slated for Friday (March 3) at The Raceway at the Western Fair District and Woodbine Mohawk Park.

Simulcasting at Western Fair will remain open until 4 p.m. and then close for the remainder of the evening. The next live program in London, Ont. is slated for Monday evening (March 6) at 5:50 p.m.

Live harness racing is slated to return to Woodbine Mohawk Park on Saturday (March 4).

(with files from WFD)
An 18-year-old Omaha man was sentenced Monday to five to 40 years in prison for use of a firearm in connection with the 2020 shooting death of a Bellevue teen during a robbery.

Carlos Altoro-Colo was also sentenced in Sarpy County District Court for attempted robbery and manslaughter in the death of Kalani Zalopany, 17, on Oct. 12, 2020. He was sentenced to 18 to 20 years on each of those charges with the terms to be served at the same time and following his sentence for use of a firearm to commit a felony.

Scott Earl, an assistant prosecutor with the Sarpy County Attorney's Office, said Altoro-Colon will be eligible for parole after about 11 years. Altoro-Colon is one of three people found to be guilty in the death of Zalopany.

Bellevue police said Zalopany, a senior at Bellevue East High School, was killed while being robbed on West 31st Avenue just east of Offutt Air Force Base. Officers were called to Zalopany's home on a report of CPR in progress. Zalopany, who was born in Honolulu, was pronounced dead at the scene.

Rashaun J. Faison, 23, of Council Bluffs was sentenced to 18 to 20 years in prison after being found guilty of manslaughter. He was also sentenced to 40 to 50 years for being a prohibited person in possession of a firearm with the sentences to be served one after the other.

Davion D. Snider, 20, of Bellevue was found guilty of second-degree murder and will be sentenced in April.

Top Journal Star photos for February 2023
With Its Presence Across More Than 20 States & Having A Strong Dealer Network Of 150 Plus Across The Country, Citylife Has Set A Niche For Itself In The EV Industry

engineers and put through several stringent quality checks before reaching the customers. The company makes sure that when a customer rides a Citylife's EV, they should settle for nothing less than the best in comfort, style, afford ability and eco friendliness.Citylife believes that in a world of technological innovation, the EV industry can play a vital role. Traditionally, the company has provided the highest quality of electric vehicles and now its focus is on precise, professional and punctual services. It believes in offering good quality, competitive prices, on time delivery and powerful technical support. The company has acquired comprehensive knowhow and superior skills over a decade of high quality work. These essential qualities, coupled with the innovative, readily flexible infrastructure and power, enable it to respond immediately to the high tech requirements put forward by its customers.Citylife keeps conducting fun and engaging team building activities on a regular basis within the organization so that its employees can get refreshed and connected with each other through interactive sessions. The company predicts a meteoric rise and exponential increase in the number of sales of electric vehicles in India and is indicative of the countrys ongoing transition to electric mobility as a result of rising gasoline prices and subsidies for EVs. The firm has made incredible strides in terms of innovation design and road sustainability. Thus the development of the electric vehicle industry will usher in a plethora of prospects that will fuel the companys rapid expansion.Citylife is constantly re-inventing itself and offering its employees a great environment to grow their skills and careers. The company helps its employees to cultivate their craft and help them advance as they progress in their profession. All the team members of Citylife follow a clear vision of accelerating the earths transition to an all electric future. The firm is pumped to leverage its collective expertise in electric vehicle segment as well as it envisions a world where EVs are safer, last longer, perform better and empower a more sustainable future for its future generations.Citylife is already making it big in the passenger vehicle space and is pretty popular amongst its competitors. The company is on a mission to revolutionize the commute experience and aims to reduce traffic congestion and air pollution in urban India. Its durable, dependable and efficient vehicles have all the safety features that are needed by the customers, such as automated emergency brakes with a long range as the company never compromises on power and range.Citylife continuously maintains its position in the industry by adopting the latest technologies. With its presence across more than 20 states and having a strong dealer network of 150 plus across the country, Citylife has set a niche for itself in the EV industry. The company provides its services and products in regions including Uttar Pradesh, Punjab, Assam, Gujarat, Kolkata, Madhya Pradesh, Andhra Pradesh, Tripura, Jammu & Kashmir, Maharashtra and many more states.Currently, Citylife has a production capacity of 4000 vehicles every month and is planning to set up a new plant with the production capacity of 10,000 vehicles which will be commissioned by the year 2026. Also, the firm is continuously working towards introducing two wheelers and high speed three wheelers in this calendar year. Other than vehicles, it is also manufacturing some critical spare parts which can be very useful in these vehicles. With vehicular pollution being one of major causes for global warming, Citylife believes that clean mobility will play a big role in tackling this issue. Our aim is to use renewable energy and off grid power systems to optimise the last mile logistics, signs off Amit.
Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, February 3)  The Senate Blue Ribbon Committee has obtained information on some of the non-disclosure agreements (NDAs) signed by the government to procure COVID-19 vaccines, including the amount spent for each shot.

Without going into detail, panel chairman Francis Tolentino said a number of vaccine manufacturers were very cooperative during the closed-door executive session where they disclosed the information on Wednesday.

Sinabi na nila yung presyo, sinabi na nila yung volume, yung number ng dineliver nilang doses, Tolentino said in an online media interview on Friday.

[Translation: They already gave the prices, volumes, and number of doses delivered.]

However, a number of vaccine makers failed to send representatives. Tolentino said the committee is now constrained to issue a subpoena to force the pharmaceutical companies to be present during the next hearing.

He said details can be discussed in a public hearing once the vaccine manufacturers give their green light.

During the last hearing in December, officials from the previous and current administration cited the NDAs in their refusal to disclose the prices of vaccines bought by the government, prompting Tolentino to call a closed-door meeting.

He said he wanted to know how much money was spent for the 44 million doses that expired or went to waste since the pandemic struck, as reported by the Department of Health.

Tolentino said during the closed-door meeting, he also cautioned health officials to slow down in the purchase of bivalent vaccines to avoid further wastage.

While NDAs are a requirement in the procurement of vaccines, Tolentino urged the government to exempt prices from the deal and seek a shorter period for non-disclosure.

Yung isang nabasa kong NDA, 10 years, which is unfair. Dapat siguro two years, or 2.5 years, Tolentino said.

[Translation: I read an NDA with a 10-year validity period, which is unfair. I think two years or 2.5 years should suffice.]
WOODLAND  Officials aim to replace remaining city streetlights with a more energy efficient substitute by summer  a process that started over five years ago and is expected to save the city money.

Woodland Public Works Director Tracy Coleman said the city is replacing its older high-pressure sodium streetlights with new LED lights for better energy efficiency and monthly cost savings on utility expenses.

She said the replacement of the citys roughly 600 streetlights is expected to be completed before June, after starting the process in 2017. Delays on materials and creating an inventory of lights added to the extended timeframe.

The change will save the city nearly $2,000 a month and reduce maintenance costs, she added.

A report by the Pew Charitable Trust reports LEDs are up to 50% more energy efficient than high-pressure sodium lights and last up to 15 to 20 years, as opposed to two to five.

From 2019 to 2022, Woodland spent $37,953 in material for the lighting upgrades, Coleman said.

Woodland crews are currently upgrading the last 143 lights of the 424 the city owns, while the Cowlitz County Public Utility District will upgrade the 148 lights they maintain later this year, Coleman said. The streetlights belong to the city of Woodland, the PUD and the Washington State Department of Transportation.

Coleman said the city received a grant in December from the Transportation Improvement Board for the replacements.

One grant covered $40,000 for lights on Cowlitz PUD utility poles and another paid for $41,776 for material and labor costs for lights maintained by the city of Woodland. Cowlitz PUD will receive a BPA credit of $15,120 for additional cost, Coleman said.
Legislators are moving toward giving Gov. Tina Kotek extraordinary power to circumvent elements of state land-use law to find sites for semiconductor manufacturing and to provide more than $200 million in grants to chipmakers looking to build new Oregon factories.

Industry advocates say its not nearly enough. They want up to $500 million more to prepare industrial sites for development, plus tax credits that would reward companies that invest in Oregon research.

On Tuesday, the federal government laid out the rules for awarding $52 billion in government subsidies for chipmakers. Oregon business and political leaders badly want a share of that money for companies that build factories in the state.

So a bipartisan coalition of lawmakers are planning a two-phase approach  moving forward on an initial package of incentives this month, then taking up additional measures in the spring as the legislative session winds down.

I think were a ways away from finishing, Sen. Tim Knopp, Republican vice-chair of the Legislatures semiconductor committee, said last week.

Lawmakers committed to advancing a package of incentives within the sessions first 60 days, Knopp said, as a signal to the federal government and to chipmakers that Oregon is serious about improving its attractiveness to the industry. But with that deadline approaching in the middle of March, Knopp said its becoming evident they wont be able to achieve everything they want in that short timetable.

I recognize that as fast as this needs to move that it wont include everything, because you have to have time to work with all parties to make sure that you can get it right and get the support thats necessary, Knopp said.

Saving some elements for later, though, leaves open the possibility that those additional incentives never pass  either because the Legislature runs out of time or because they lack broad support.

Chipmakers and industry boosters say additional tax credits and funding for site readiness are essential to make Oregons incentives comparable to those others will offer.

Other states are doing this. If we dont, Im afraid were going to lose, Duncan Wyse, president of the Oregon Business Council, told the semiconductor committee last week. Its very risky not to keep working on this.

The semiconductor committee outlined its approach last week in Senate Bill 4. Heres what is in the initial package:

 $200 million in grants for chipmakers. Grants larger than $25 million would require legislative approval. Recipients would have to create a yet-to-be-determined number of jobs and generate at least $1.5 million in state and local revenue. Companies would have to pay the money back, with interest, if they dont meet their targets or dont start the permitting process for their project by the end of 2026.

 $10 million for university research, available for a broad category of economic development.

 Gubernatorial authority to bring industrial land into cities urban growth boundaries for chipmakers or for advanced manufacturing, provided the governor acts before June 30, 2024. She is limited to two such sites greater than 500 acres, or as many as six sites if none are greater than 100 acres.

Officials in Hillsboro, the heart of Oregons chip industry, say theyre not sure the governors authority in the bill would override rural designations the Legislature enacted in 2014. Hillsboro wants lawmakers to specify that hundreds of acres near the city are eligible for industrial development.

Conservation groups and some Washington County farmers, by contrast, want to preserve agricultural land. 1000 Friends of Oregon, which works to preserve rural land outside the states urban growth boundaries, says the state should fund site preparation for properties already designated for industrial development before adding to the pool of developable land.

Even if the Legislature reaches agreement on how to handle those thorny land-use issues, it could face bigger hurdles with spring legislation to expand site readiness and increase public funding for semiconductor research.

Lawmakers havent estimated how much tax credits for chipmakers might cost the state, but any significant sum  coupled with hundreds of millions of dollars more for industrial site readiness  could strain a state budget that as lawmakers seek to prioritize homelessness, housing costs and mental health care.

But Sen. Janeen Sollman, the semiconductor committees co-chair, said she is optimistic that lawmakers will hit their ambitious goals  and move forward on S.B. 4 this month.

I do think it is possible. The light is at the end of the tunnel here for this first step, the Hillsboro Democrat said.

Its unclear just when the full Senate and House might vote on the bill. Republicans are enforcing a constitutional rule requiring all bills to be read in full before votes, which has slowed the pace of work in the Democratic-controlled Legislature.

Studies funded by chip industry advocates say that if Oregon can land a major new semiconductor campus, it could generate $2.8 billion in net revenue for the state over 20 years  far exceeding the spending lawmakers are considering his year.

That potential represents generational change for Oregon, Sollman said, and creates an incentive to push forward with the second phase of legislation later in the session.

Weve laid this really strong foundation, she said.
Washington legislators have scrapped an ambitious plan to provide free breakfast and lunch to every public school student and are instead pursuing a more modest expansion of the program: free meals for elementary school kids in the lowest-income schools.

House Democrats have considerably narrowed the bipartisan proposal, citing budget constraints, but say the legislation would still make free meals available to about 90,000 additional kids.

In total, more than 600,000 Washington kids would be eligible for free school meals, part of a yearslong, piecemeal approach to expanding access to food at schools.

While the federal government pays for meals for the lowest-income families, school officials say lots of other families still struggle with the cost of school lunch.

Rep. Marcus Riccelli, D-Spokane, the bills lead sponsor, gave a one-word answer when asked why free meals for all students was no longer on the table.

Money.

The state Office of Financial Management estimated the cost of free breakfast and lunch for all students at nearly $100 million a year. The substitute version of the legislation, working its way through the Legislature, would cost about $16 million a year.

It skinnies it a bit to make it a little more palatable going forward, but it focuses on some of our youngest learners and our highest-poverty elementary schools, Riccelli said. We know that our students arent going to learn, grow and play and stay healthy if they dont have the nutrition they need to thrive.

While Im disappointed, I think this is another good step forward, he said.

The original version of the bill (HB 1238), which was requested by state schools Superintendent Chris Reykdal, was a model of clarity.

Requires public schools, beginning with the 2023-24 school year, to provide breakfast and lunch each school day to any requesting students and at no charge, read a summary by legislative staff.

The new version of the bill reads like a cautionary tale of paying attention to the fine print.

The bills title is still Providing free school meals for all.

But now the for all refers to kids in kindergarten through fourth grade at schools where at least 30% of students meet federal income eligibility requirements for free and reduced lunch.

House Speaker Laurie Jinkins, D-Tacoma, said last week that the universal program was likely to be a victim of budgetary constraints.

Theyre going to have to pare that down because I dont think this is a year that we can afford to probably go the whole way on that, Jinkins said. How do we make progress on it even if were not able to go the whole way? And thats going to be, well, its highly disappointing to me and lots of people.

Still, the new version of the bill is moving forward  it passed out of the House Appropriations Committee last week by a bipartisan 27-3 vote  and would provide free school lunch to an additional 90,000 students. Its been placed on the House floor calendar, and is likely to pass the full House.

The federal government funds meals for the lowest-income kids and reduced-price meals for those whose families make just a little bit more.

But the thresholds to qualify are low. To get free school meals, a family of four cant make more than about $36,000 a year in this school year. To get reduced-price meals, a family of four cant make more than about $51,000.

That leaves thousands of Washington families, advocates say, who have to struggle to pay full price for their kids to eat breakfast and lunch at school.

Students of all ages are asking staff for snacks, theyre borrowing money, theyre taking meals without the ability to pay, or simply just not eating at all, said Laurie Dent, superintendent of the Sumner-Bonney Lake School District in suburban and rural Pierce County. These students are from working families who do not qualify for free and reduced lunch, because many households in my district are just over the threshold.

In the 2021-22 school year, the federal government, as part of its response to the COVID pandemic, provided free school meals to all students. But when Congress allowed that to expire last year, state lawmakers looked for ways to boost the number of students getting free meals.

The federal government, in addition to taking into account the individual income thresholds, will also provide funding for school meals to entire schools, or school districts, if enough families receive Medicaid or food stamps, or similar programs.

A bill passed last year requires schools that are eligible for this program, known as the Community Eligibility Provision, to participate. And it provides state funding to schools to cover any additional costs not covered by the federal government.

That more than doubled the number of schools participating. More than 540,000 Washington kids are now eligible for free lunch through the Community Eligibility Provision program.

Riccellis legislation, in its reduced form, would bring free meals to another 220 schools, putting more than half of Washingtons 1.1 million public school students in a school offering free meals.

Supporters argue that providing meals to every kid in a school is crucial to getting kids to actually eat the meals available to them.

When kids from low-income families are the only ones getting free or reduced lunch, school officials say they see lunch shaming, where kids are divided into haves and have-nots.

What we see is, because of the stigma around that one-third of students who need access to meals, they would rather hang out with the two-thirds that do not require school meals, said Megan de Vries, the food and nutrition director for the Edmonds School District. So we are seeing kids skipping out on school meals.

Dr. Shaquita Bell, senior medical director at Seattles Odessa Brown Childrens Clinic, said about 70% of the patients she sees are food-insecure. Childhood hunger, she said, leads to health problems later in life.

The return on investment is almost unquantifiable, Bell said of expanding free school meals. When you are hungry, it is hard to concentrate, its hard to learn, its hard to participate, move your body, make new friends, feel safe. And school foods are often found to be the healthiest foods children have access to in a given day.
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An aerial photo of the Diablo Canyon Nuclear Power Plant, south of Los Osos, in Avila Beach, Calif., is seen on June 20, 2010. Federal regulators on Thursday, March 2, 2023, granted California's largest utility an unusual exemption that could allow the Diablo Canyon Nuclear Power Plant to continue running after the expiration of its operating licenses, a key piece of a contentious proposal that could keep the reactors producing electricity for years to come. Credit: Joe Johnston/The Tribune via AP, File

Government regulators Thursday granted California's largest utility an unusual exemption that could allow the state's last nuclear power plant to continue running after the expiration of its federal operating licenses, a key piece of a contentious proposal to keep the reactors producing electricity for years to come.

The twin-reactor Diablo Canyon plant is scheduled to shut down by 2025. But the federal exemption will permit operator Pacific Gas & Electric to keep producing power while the Nuclear Regulatory Commission reviews an expected application from the utility to extend the plant's operating run by up to two decades.

PG&E senior vice president Paula Gerfen praised the decision as an important step for the company "to extend our operations beyond 2025 to improve statewide electric system reliability."

Environmentalists said the NRC staff contorted its own rules in an attempt to keep the aging plant online in what amounted to an ominous sign for plant safety in a region crisscrossed by earthquake faults.

"It's inconsistent with their own rules," said Diane Curran, an attorney for the anti-nuclear advocacy group Mothers for Peace, which has long sought to shutter the seaside plant located midway between Los Angeles and San Francisco. "It's scary."

The decision marks the latest development in a long-running fight over the operation and safety of the decades-old plant, which Gov. Gavin Newsom says should keep running beyond 2025 to ward off possible blackouts as the state transitions to solar and other renewable energy sources.

The Newsom administration is pushing to expand solar power and other clean energy, as the state aims to cut emissions by 40% below 1990 levels by 2030. Nuclear power doesn't produce carbon pollution like fossil fuels. But it leaves behind waste that can remain dangerously radioactive for centuries.

Diablo Canyon produces 9% of the state's electricity.

Newsom's decision last year to support a longer operating run for Diablo Canyon shocked environmentalists and anti-nuclear advocates because he had once been a leading voice for closing the plant.

The decision by the NRC staff was critical for PG&E's proposal.

The company has said it intends to submit an application to extend the plant's life by the end of this year. However, the current operating licenses would likely expire before the NRC's review could be completed, a process that can take two years or more.

Typically, if a nuclear plant files for a license extension at least five years before the expiration of the existing license, the existing license remains in effect until the NRC's application review is complete, even if it technically passes the expiration date. But PG&E would not meet the usual five-year benchmark.

One reactor is scheduled to close in November 2024, and its twin in August 2025, and a state analysis predicted it would take federal regulators until late 2026 to act on the application. With the exemption from the NRC staff, the reactors can keep running while the agency conducts the expected review.

In documents submitted to the NRC, the company said the exemption "will not present an undue risk to the public health and safety."

Anti-nuclear activists and national environmental groups earlier urged the federal agency to reject the exemption, saying in a petition that it amounted to a dangerous shortcut that would expose the public to safety risks. They argued critical safety reviews for an extended run would likely be incomplete by the time the current licenses technically expire.

PG&E initially was part of a complex 2016 agreement with environmentalists and plant worker unions to close the plant by 2025. But the state changed direction last year, and the Democratic governor and the Legislature voided the 2016 pact and opened the way for PG&E to seek a longer operating run.

PG&E officials have said they are eager for certainty about the plant's future because of the difficulty of reversing course on a plant that was headed for permanent retirement, but now needs to prepare for a potentially longer lifespan.

The proposal comes at a time when the nuclear power industry foresees future growth. The Biden administration last year launched a $6 billion effort to rescue nuclear power plants at risk of closing, citing the need to continue nuclear energy as a carbon-free source of power that helps to combat climate change.

But critics of a longer run for Diablo Canyon have depicted the plan as a huge financial giveaway for PG&E, while warning it would gut state environmental safeguards. Also unknown is how much it will cost to update the plant for a longer lifespan.

 2023 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without permission.
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Credit: CC0 Public Domain

Modern communication systems need two main things: power, and what engineers call "backhaul", the connections that link cell towers and exchanges to the national network. When Cyclone Gabrielle struck, both were badly compromised.

Many sites lost power not long after the mains went down. They were only designed to run on battery for a few hours (or days at most)enough for routine faults, not for disasters.

Much of the backhaulusually fiber optic cables running along main roads, often parallel to power lineswas also knocked out by landslips and flooding. Because of this, even where cell sites still had power, they couldn't connect anyone to anywhere.

This disconnected large numbers of cell sites, including those run by the Rural Connectivity Group (RCG)the government appointed provider of broadband and mobile services in sparsely populated areas.

New Zealand's three big telecommunications operators (Spark, Vodafone and 2degrees) use the RCG service in rural regions, causing all three (along with wireless internet) to lose coverage in affected areas.

Emergency services have also increasingly abandoned their own radio-based communication networks for cheaper cell phones, which offer more privacy and coverage. Imagine calling 111 after the cycloneif you couldonly to find the emergency services themselves were incommunicado.

Furthermore, disaster responses by citizens and emergency services alike require fuel for vehicles, as well as food and other supplies. But electronic payment systems like eftpos and fuel cards need an internet connection.

Clearly it's time to ask whether systems so vulnerable to single points of failure are fit for purpose, given our exposure to natural disasters and increasing risk from more severe and frequent climate change events.

Power and connection

About 80% of cell site outages after Cyclone Gabrielle were related to power loss, and around 20% to loss of backhaul connectivity (the responsibility of telecommunications infrastructure provider Chorus).

Failed operator-owned urban cell sites can often be covered by nearby neighboring cells. If mains power stays off, they are generally easily reached and supplied with generators. After the cyclone, much of the initial reconnection progress was made in this way.

To be economically viable and cover enough customers, however, rural sites are often on hard-to-reach hills with precarious power supplies. Without power and road access, helicopters need to fly in generators and fuela task Vodafone described as "challenging" in the aftermath of Gabrielle.

Backhaul internet service provider Kordia fared much better. Its core sites (mostly on hilltops) were inherited from the former Broadcasting Corporation and were designed for resiliency. Big battery banks and significant on-site generation let them operate autonomously for weeks. After the cyclone, Kordia provided microwave backhaul links, replacing broken fibers.

Resilience and diversity

Cyclones and storms are not the only risk. Tairawhiti and Hawke's Bay, for example, are vulnerable to earthquakes from the offshore Hikurangi subduction zone, which could cause tsunami inundations and slips.

So, what kind of communication system does New Zealand need to cope with potential disasters of all types? To answer that, we need to look at two key technical concepts: site resilience and diversity.

Resilience could mean equipping cell sites with solar or wind generation, larger batteries and "redundant" equipment for operation over long periods without any need for external power or access.

It could mean requiring cell sites to have an independent, alternative backhaul path: a second cable along a different route, a microwave or satellite link. It could mean trying to connect a cable to the wider internet at both ends, rather than just at one. This would mean both sides of a break could be supplied from one end or the other.

Diversity could mean having more sites, and making more use of alternative cable corridors such as railway lines and overhead high-voltage power line pylons. It could mean more interconnections between these corridors for use in emergencies.

No cheap options

International connectivity also matters. New Zealand currently connects to the world via five undersea fiber-optic cables. A significant volcanic eruption on Auckland's North Shore, for instance, could cut the country off from three or possibly four of these.

A satellite internet service such as Starlink definitely has a role to play. It helped Wairoa reconnect with the world after hours of complete blackout, and has since brought numerous banks and retailers back online. It is easy to deploy, doesn't depend on local infrastructure, and only needs a small generator for power.

Starlink and other satellite backup can't provide the amount of international capacity needed in a major disaster. But they are still a valuable option. The terminals aren't expensive, so kitting out every Civil Defense post with one shouldn't break the bank.

And in coastal communities, marine VHF radios are also abundantsomething that could also be used onshore when other systems fail. It's ironic that boaties are told to have two different means of communication, but emergency services are expected to make do with one.

Disaster risk assessment and mitigation must now be a vital component of all communication projects. Affordability can no longer be the only question. Sometimes, you just can't afford cheap.

This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.
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A Ford sign is shown at a dealership in Springfield, Pa., Tuesday, April 26, 2022. Ford says it will increase production of six models through the year as the company and the auto industry start to rebound from sluggish U.S. sales in 2022. The automaker announced Friday, March 3, 2023, that it plans to build more of the Mustang Mach-E, the Bronco Sport SUV and Maverick small pickup. Credit: AP Photo/Matt Rourke

Ford will increase production of six models this year, half of them electric, as the company and the auto industry start to rebound from sluggish U.S. sales in 2022.

The automaker announced Friday that it plans to build more of the Mustang Mach-E, the Bronco Sport SUV and Maverick small pickup, the F-150 Lightning electric pickup, and the Transit and E-Transit gas and electric full-size vans.

To help increase production, Ford last year said it would add a third shift and 1,100 jobs at its full-size van plant in Claycomo, Missouri, near Kansas City, and another 3,200 jobs related to building the F-150 Lightning which is made in Dearborn, Michigan.

Ford will also hire an unspecified number of new workers this year at plants in Cuautitlan and Hermosillo, Mexico, where the Mach-E, Maverick and Bronco Sport are made, according to spokesman Said Deep. Production line speeds will increase shortly to raise output, with more workers coming later, he said.

For more than two years, U.S. auto sales have been depressed largely due to a shortage of computer chips during the coronavirus pandemic. But the chip shortage is easing and automakers like Ford are starting to increase production and build supplies on dealer lots.

Overall in the U.S., auto sales fell almost 8% last year to just under 14 million, with Ford's dropping just over 2%, according to Autodata Corp. But in February, overall industry sales rose 9.5% over the same month a year ago, according to LMC Automotive, which sees sales increasing to 15 million this year. Ford sales were up almost 22% in February.

"The industry is on its track back," said Jeff Schuster, executive vice president of automotive for LMC and Global Data.

Shares of Ford closed Friday up 4.2%, getting a boost after the production announcement was made.

Ford E-Transit electric vans are displayed at a Gus Machado Ford dealership Monday, Jan. 23, 2023, in Hialeah, Fla. The U.S. Postal Service is buying 9,250 of the E-Transit vans. Credit: AP Photo/Marta Lavandier, File

At crosstown rival General Motors, full-size pickup truck inventory rebounded enough that it will shut down a factory in Ft. Wayne, Indiana, for two weeks starting March 27 to control it.

Ford suspended production of the F-150 Lightning in February after a battery caught fire during a pre-delivery quality check. Deep said the battery issue has been resolved and production will resume March 13 to an annual rate of 150,000.

Mach-E production will rise to an annual rate of 210,000 by year's end, while the company plans to boost Bronco Sport and Maverick production by 80,000 vehicles this year. Transit and E-Transit production will rise by 38,000 this year.

Sales are up so far this year for all the models that will see production increases.

The production jumps are good news for consumers, who have had long wait times for some more popular models and have been forced to pay high prices due to strong demand and short supplies.

J.D. Power reported that the average U.S. new vehicle sold for $46,229 last month, a record for the month of February.

But as the chip shortage eases and automakers can produce more this year, Schuster said there should be some easing of prices even on hot-selling models.

"I would expect some relief on the pricing front," he said, adding that sticker prices could come down or automakers could offer discounts.

But he said prices will remain high and aren't expected to return to pre-pandemic levels.

 2023 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without permission.
This article has been reviewed according to Science X's editorial process and policies . Editors have highlighted the following attributes while ensuring the content's credibility:

Credit: Unsplash/CC0 Public Domain

Apple will manufacture iPhones at a new plant in India, officials said Friday, as the US tech giant seeks to ramp up its India production and diversify away from China.

The flagship mobile's global supply chain is based mainly in China, where strict Covid policies last year and ongoing diplomatic tensions with the United States have hurt production.

"Apple phones to be built in the state soon," Karnataka state chief minister Basavaraj S Bommai tweeted on Friday.

"Apart from creating about 100,000 jobs, it will create a whole lot of opportunities for Karnataka," he added.

Rajeev Chandrasekhar, India's minister of state for information technology, said the proposed factory will be spread over 300 acres in the state, home to India's tech hub Bengaluru.

The announcement came as Foxconn chairman Young Liu visited that city on Friday, according to local media, following a meeting with Prime Minister Narendra Modi earlier this week.

"Our discussions covered various topics aimed at enhancing India's tech and innovation eco-system," Modi tweeted on Wednesday.

Liu signed an agreement on Thursday to set up electronics manufacturing facilities that would employ 100,000 in the neighbouring southern state of Telangana.

Apple and Foxconn did not respond to AFP requests for comment.

Foxconn, the world's top iPhone assembler, has since 2019 manufactured Apple handsets in India at its plant in the southern state of Tamil Nadu.

Two other Taiwanese suppliers, Wistron and Pegatron, also manufacture and assemble Apple devices in India.

Apple said last September it would manufacture its latest iPhone 14 in India, just weeks after launching the flagship model.

But the country accounts for less than five percent of Apple's global production, according to Bloomberg, lagging behind the United States, China, Japan and five other countries.

Apple's expanding manufacturing in India is a boost to Modi's "Make in India" strategy under which he has urged foreign businesses to manufacture goods in the South Asian nation.

 2023 AFP
This article has been reviewed according to Science X's editorial process and policies . Editors have highlighted the following attributes while ensuring the content's credibility:

This photo shows a TikTok app logo in Tokyo on Sept. 28, 2020. In the latest salvo in the battle over the Chinese-owned video sharing app, Beijing says a ban on the use of TikTok by official European Union institutions will harm business confidence in Europe. Credit: AP Photo/Kiichiro Sato, File

TikTok has found a partner in Europe to guarantee that users' data is not transferred to China, a company executive said on Friday, after the European Union banned the app on work devices.

The EU's main concern is over data protection as fears rise in the West over how much access the short video sharing app could give Beijing to sensitive user data from around the world.

Theo Bertram, TikTok's vice president of European public policy, said the company wanted to offer reassurances after the bloc's bans.

"There are genuine concerns that Western governments have about China and therefore as a company whose founder was Chinese.

"I think there is a higher obligation on us to demonstrate how we keep users' data secure," Bertram told AFP.

The EU's three main institutions have in the past two weeks ordered a purge of the Chinese-owned app from devices including phones and laptops used for work.

Denmark's parliament this week told MPs and all staff to remove the app from mobile devices because of the "risk of spying".

The United States has already banned the app from federal devices.

TikTok's parent company ByteDance is also under investigation by the Irish privacy regulator over whether it violated the EU's data protection law, the GDPR, with its processing of children's personal data and transfers of data to China.

TikTok is now replicating a model it has in place in the United States with Californian company Oracle, which stores the data of US users.

"All of our source code is visible by Oracle. We can't make updates without them going through," Bertram said.

The project with Oracle has cost TikTok $1.5 billion. If it is approved by US authorities, "Oracle will also ship the update (so) the next TikTok app that you get will be sent to the app store by Oracle, not by TikTok", Bertram said.

That app would also be the same one available to download in Europe, he added.

"To really convince public opinion, we need to do the same in Europe.

"We're working on three new data centres and we will work with a partner as well," he said, without naming the partner and giving more details.

TikTok has 150 million users in Europe, including 25 million in the United Kingdom. It has over a billion users worldwide.

 2023 AFP
Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, March 3)  The Adamson University chapter of Tau Gamma Phi previously refused to comply with the fraternity's no-contact policy, one of its leaders said Friday.

Jewellord Peralta, Grand Triskelion of Tau Gamma Phi Global, told CNN Philippines' News Night that the Adamson chapter did not attend a conference where some fraternity members endorsed the rule.

"In 2015, we came out with that policy and enjoined other chapters to participate with us," Peralta said.

"We had a conference, and there were 33 chapters that were present. Unfortunately, Adamson did not want to participate. They were not going to comply with the no-contact policy," he added.

The fraternity was thrust into the spotlight in the past days following the death of Adamson student John Matthew Salilig - who went missing on the same day he attended the group's initiation rites in Binan, Laguna.

The body of the 24-year-old chemical engineering major was later on found buried in a lot in Cavite.

In an earlier statement, Tau Gamma Phi Global also condemned the "senseless acts" that led to Salilig's death.

Peralta, meanwhile, said they have been communicating with their fraternity brothers to help find the remaining persons of interest in the case.

"It's a matter of giving support to Adamson University. We're giving it to them to be in the frontline. So all we can do is give our support in whatever way," he said.
Courtney McFalls, a 36-year-old Bryan woman, was sentenced to four years in prison on Feb. 17 for forgery of a financial instrument-elderly following a hearing on the states motion to revoke probation, according to the Brazos County District Attorneys Office.

In February 2015, McFalls pled guilty to the third-degree felony offense of forgery of a financial instrumentelderly from an offense in July 2014 when McFalls stole a check from an elderly relative, made out to an associate and cashed at a bank, according to the Brazos County DA. McFalls received a felony conviction and eight years of probation.

McFalls probation called for her to complete treatment at a Substance Abuse Felony Punishment Facility to address underlying substance abuse issues and complete the Brazos County Drug Court Program, according to the Brazos County DA.

However, the DA's office said McFalls continually violated the conditions of her probation and had repeated sanctions by the Drug Court. McFalls violations included making fun of drug court presenters, being disrespectful at local recovery meetings, presenting forged AA meeting cards, and lying to drug court staff and her probation officer. McFalls was eventually expelled from the Drug Court program, according to the Brazos County DA. Evidence of violations and online bullying during her probation were presented at a hearing.
Two cities, one community, is again the echoed sentiment of sister cities Bryan and College Station this week.

However, both of the citys fire departments are at odds in negotiating a proposed mutual aid agreement that would mitigate any jurisdiction having more resource availability than the other.

Bryan Fire Department leaders proposed a revised mutual aid agreement to the Bryan City Council on Thursday morning  to which they unanimously approved contingent upon College Station City Councils approval next week  that defines how the cities can work together to dispatch fire and emergency medical services aid to the best availability.

During the special meeting, DJ Capener, assistant chief of EMS for the BFD, presented the proposal to the council and went over the reasoning for a new agreement. The College Station Fire Department and city staff requested terminating the Automatic Mutual Aid Agreement in January, which was put in place in July 1997 because they found that the cities were not equally operating available resources for fire and EMS calls.

Under this agreement, automatic aid was utilized for all fire and EMS calls, which meant an ambulance or truck would be sent to the call location based on the closest fire station, regardless of city boundaries.

During a Feb. 9 College Station council meeting, College Station Fire Chief Richard Mann further explained the need for a new agreement because of a 4-to-1 discrepancy in dispatched EMS calls into Bryan. Capener said he believes the reasoning for the discrepancy is due to the location of College Station Fire Station #6, which is close to the cities' border.

With a cost discrepancy in mind, CSFD proposed to BFD a way for the city of Bryan to compensate for the discrepancy in EMS calls made into their city. Capener said it was his understanding that per a new agreement, CSFD would like automatic aid for all fire calls; but for EMS calls they want automatic aid with full balance billing true-up, or mutual aid for all EMS calls.

The full balance true-up means 100% reimbursement for all bills with the city of Bryan paying the difference for what the citizen and their insurance, Medicare and/or Medicaid does not cover.

Your normal deductible and coinsurance are not counted as balance billing. A preferred provider (in-network) may not balance bill for covered services. If a provider is a participating provider with Medicare, balance billing is forbidden, he said. Thirty percent is an average collection rate; they are asking for 100%.

Capener said BFD disagrees with what CSFD is proposing and would prefer to have an automatic-aid agreement for the Delta and Echo EMS and fire responses. Low acuity calls are considered Omega, Alpha, Bravo and Charlie level calls, while high acuity and life-threatening calls are deemed Delta and Echo level.

We think that the border should be blurred when you are having a life-threatening emergency," Capener told the council. "I dont think I would care what color the ambulance was or the fire truck was that showed up to start my child breathing again, to pull my mom out of a house fire. I dont think any of us would care.

But at the same time, if it is not a life-threatening emergency, we should respect the boundaries a little bit more and use a mutual aid agreement for those lower acuity calls. We should absolutely guarantee them some kind of reimbursement. We dont want them to come over and do this at a loss. We would just hope and ask respectfully that they dont try and get rich off of their Station #6 location.

In order to cover some of the expenses rather than the full 100% reimbursement the CSFD is asking for, the BFD proposed a $240 reimbursement to CSFD per transport of service in Bryan, and it would have a cap threshold. The breakdown proposed is $50 for each of the two paramedics, $100 for supplies and $40 an hour for the ambulance itself, he said.

Capener posed a question to the council that if College Station is not able to ask their citizens to pay if the call was on that side of the border, why would they ask us?

Councilman Jared Salvato said he was against the College Station proposal.

I think the audaciousness of submitting this; I am not quite sure who is running the city over there, if it is the city manager or the council, he said. But the fact that this is being submitted to us, I think that they are playing a very dangerous game.

Because College Station transported 289 of those 432 Bryan residents to hospitals, a billable service of $517,000 is in order, according to Manns statements at the Feb. 9 College Station council meeting.

As of date we have collected $178,000 of that and recouped through billing. We are still about $340,000 in the [red] on this, Mann said. We are still off and we are continuing to work with them on that because that is the challenge that we continue to have.

College Station City Manager Bryan Woods weighed in on the balance during the same meeting.

If we cant bill all of those services to insurance or someone in the city of College Station, the citizens of College Station pay for that," he said. "Currently, if we provide service in the city of Bryan on an ambulance and we bill and cant provide all of the services, it is the citizens of College Station who pay the difference.

During Thursday's discussion, Bryan City Manager Kean Register confirmed that the city of Bryan owes College Station no money under the current agreement.

Capener also said it is not typical to be asking for a 100% cost reimbursement from one fire station to another.

Following the Bryan council meeting Thursday, the city of College Station sent a statement to The Eagle via email saying it received Bryans proposal and will present a revision during its council meeting next Thursday.

For several years, weve responded to EMS calls in the city of Bryan disproportionate to the times their personnel respond in College Station. ... In 2022, we still responded to EMS calls in Bryan (432) nearly four times more often than they responded in College Station (117)," the statement said. "The increasing demands in our community and the call responses to our sister city have created the need for CSFD to put another ambulance into service, costing College Station taxpayers about $1.4 million, which includes roughly $850,000 in recurring annual expenses.

Additionally, BFD has taken many steps to reduce the number of runs made by College Station into Bryan, by implementing a Community Medicine Program, Uber Health and a Telemedicine Program, Capener said. He also said after the meeting the old agreement will expire March 10, and if an agreement is not met, then the departments would switch to a straight mutual aid agreement.

I am confident the two fire departments will be able to manage that and if we have a need where we have to request something from them or us into College Station, then they would simply call and ask, and likely the answer would be yes, he said.
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Five federally protected species of bats, fish and a plant are not likely to be jeopardized by running a large natural gas pipeline through their habitats, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has determined.

A 297-page biological opinion of the Mountain Valley Pipelines impact on threatened and endangered species, released Wednesday, marked the third time the Fish and Wildlife Service has studied the issue.

Two earlier opinions reached the same conclusion in 2017 and 2020, but were invalidated by a federal appeals court.

The latest document provides additional data and analysis to support the federal governments finding of no significant harm to five species: the endangered Indiana bat, the threatened northern long-eared bat, the endangered Roanoke logperch, the endangered candy darter and the threatened Virginia spiraea, a flowering shrub native to southern Appalachia.

For Mountain Valley, the finding was an important step in its efforts to regain a series of approvals that have been struck down by the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals.

The MVP project team appreciates the USFWSs significant work to develop a thorough report that exceeds all regulatory requirements, protects natural resources and habitats, and provides a path forward for completion of this important infrastructure project, company spokeswoman Natalie Cox said in a written statement.

We look forward to resolving the few remaining permitting issues, resuming forward construction, and completing the MVP project later this year, Cox said.

The finding was derided by opponents, who say building a 303-mile pipeline through pristine woodlands and across clear-running streams has already had dire environmental consequences.

Here on the ground, our critters  particularly the endangered and threatened ones  are invaluable to our entire ecosystem, said Russell Chisholm of the Protect Our Water, Heritage, Rights Coalition.

We are in the midst of an escalating climate crisis where itll get harder for human and non-human species to stay alive. Yet our regulatory agencies are allowing an unnecessary fracked gas pipeline to destroy our home for no reason other than satisfying corporate greed.

Construction of the buried pipeline, which began in early 2018, has been delayed repeatedly by legal challenges from POWHR and other groups.

Equitrans Midstream Corp., the lead partner in the $6.6 billion project, says it hopes to have the remaining work done in time for the pipeline to begin transporting natural gas by the end of this year.

However, we must acknowledge that the ultimate hurdle remains legal challenges of the permits, Thomas Karam, chairman and CEO of Equitrans, said during a conference call last week to discuss annual financial results.

Erosion and sedimentation caused by clearing land and digging trenches for the 42-inch diameter pipe have been a recurring problem along a route that takes it from northern West Virginia, through Southwest Virginia, to connect with an existing pipeline near the North Carolina line.

A ruling from the Fourth Circuit is expected soon in a lawsuit in which environmental groups are contesting a stream-crossing approval by the West Virginia Department of Environmental Protection. The three-judge panel, which has ruled against Mountain Valley repeatedly, is also considering a similar approval by the Virginia Department of Environmental Quality, with a ruling expected by early summer.

In striking down the Fish and Wildlife Services second biological opinion last year, the Fourth Circuit found what it called serious errors with the conclusion that endangered species would not be jeopardized.

If a species is already speeding toward the extinction cliff, an agency may not press on the gas, Judge James Wynn wrote in a unanimous opinion from the panel.

Particular attention has been paid to the candy darter, a small, multi-colored fish that was listed as an endangered species in 2018, after construction of Mountain Valley had begun.

Bottom-dwelling fish such as the candy darter and the Roanoke logperch use their snouts to flip pebbles over in search of insects to feed on. When muddy runoff from construction sites flows into streams and rivers, silt can coat the bottoms, interfere with the fishs ability to see and cause longterm problems with egg and larval development.

In its opinion this week, the Fish and Wildlife Service wrote that project impacts are expected to be relatively small because most of the effects of sedimentation are expected to be sub-lethal and occur within a relatively small portion of the species range within each affected population.

While candy darter populations are declining, the effects from this specific project are not anticipated to reduce appreciably the suitable habitat available for recovery or recovery potential for the species, the opinion stated.

Shortly before the completion deadline for the report, environmental groups involved in the litigation submitted voluminous materials to the Fish and Wildlife Service, it said.

The last-minute submissions came too late to be meaningfully addressed, Cindy Schulz, a Virginia field supervisor for the agency, wrote at the end of the 297-page report. However, Schulz said other federal agencies will be consulted before a decision is made on whether to reopen the process.

Appalachian Voices, one of the groups involved in the legal action, expressed concerns about the way the decision was reached.

The agency has not addressed legitimate public concerns, said Peter Anderson, Virginia policy director of the organization, and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Services lack of transparency and thoroughness during this decision process is irresponsible.
Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, March 3)  Prosecutors junked an obstruction of justice complaint against the father of one of the fraternity members linked to the hazing death of Adamson student John Matthew Salilig, the Department of Justice said on Friday.

The complaint was filed against the father of the owner of the vehicle used to transport Salilig's body. He was arrested.

After the fraternity initiation rites, a witness said the vehicle was used to transport Salilig from Binan, Laguna, to Imus, Cavite.

The witness also said Salilig died in the vehicle, and was buried in a shallow grave in Cavite.

READ: Police serve search warrant to suspect in alleged hazing death of Adamson student

The complaint was dismissed due to "lack of probable cause with reasonable certainty of conviction," DOJ spokesperson Mico Clavano said.

Clavano also said the father would be released.

Meanwhile, one more fraternity member tagged in the death of Salilig surrendered to authorities, Clavano said.

"He will also go through the same inquest proceeding afforded to the previous six respondents and that will take place sooner, either today or tomorrow and we will see if he will also avail of the waiver of Article 125 just like the other six respondents," he said.

Seven of the 15 respondents in the hazing case are now under police custody.

READ: Police file charges against suspects in Salilig death
The following questions were asked recently on the Wonderline:

Q: Who takes over the mayor position in Henderson since Don Regier resigned from the elected position?

A: Connie Brown, Hendersons village clerk, explained that Don Regier resigned from the position of Henderson Mayor for personal reasons.

Corbin Tessman was the president of the council and assumed the position of mayor for the remainder of the term  there are two years left, Brown explained.

She also provided a section of Hendersons municipal code which addresses this type of vacancy, section 30.06.

It reads: (A) Whenever a vacancy occurs in the office of Mayor, or in case of his or her disability or absence, the President of the Council shall exercise the office of Mayor for the unexpired term until such vacancy is filled or such disability is removed, or in case of temporary absence, until the Mayor returns. (B) When the successful candidate for Mayor shall be prevented from assuming office, the incumbent Mayor shall not be entitled to hold over the term, but such office shall automatically become vacant and the President of the Council shall exercise the office of Mayor until such vacancy is filled. (C) If the President of the Council shall for any cause assume the office of Mayor for the remainder of the unexpired term, there shall be a vacancy on the City Council which shall be filled as provided in  30.05.

Q: Do you have any information about a merger of some sort involving the Aurora Co-op and a group I think is called KAAPA?

A: This week, it was announced that KAAPA Ethanol Holdings LLC (KAAPA) and Aurora Cooperative Elevator Company (Aurora Co-op) have closed on a joint venture, forming a new company  KAAPA Partners Aurora, LLC. The new company now owns and operates the ethanol and grain facilities located west of Aurora.

KAAPA was formed as an ethanol company by a group of Nebraska farmers in 2001.

KAAPA is now the majority owner and operator of the facilities, with Aurora Cooperative retaining a minority interest in the new company. KAAPA Partners Aurora, LLC intends to make significant investments in the ethanol and grain facilities with the goal of increasing production and efficiencies so that the ethanol plant may remain a destination for area farmers corn for many years to come, according to a press release provided by the new entity.

Chris Decker, Aurora Cooperatives chief executive officer said, I am excited that we have closed the transaction so we can move forward with making needed investments in the facilities to increase efficiency and capacity. We are looking forward to working with KAAPA to improve and expand these facilities for our area farmers.

Chuck Woodside, KAAPAs chief executive officer, said, We are excited to enter this partnership with Aurora Cooperative and look forward to expanding our customer base to the Aurora region. The collaboration with our existing plants, along with significant improvements to the facility will make this plant a great addition to KAAPA.

Q: I couldnt believe it when I heard Southern California was in a blizzard warning. Has that ever happened before? And if it has, when was the last time?

A: Its extremely rare. The last time that happened in Southern California was in 1989.

Q: When was Joe Biden first elected to the U.S. Senate?

A: Joe Biden was elected to the United States Senate in 1972.

Q: Can you tell me where the old (now non-existent) town of Houston was in York County? I know this has run in the Wonderline before and Im doing some research for a family project. If you could do that again, that would be great. Thank you.

A: According to a York County history book, details about old town in York County were written by a woman named Marion MaCoy a number of years ago.

She wrote, of this town called Houston, Nebraska, The general store was run by Mrs. Reamer along with the post office and Carson Reamer was the depot agent. William Florer had a blacksmith shop near his home. Homer Koons operated the elevator. The grain was hauled in by horse and wagon.

The stockyard was a busy place through the 1920s. People would drive the cattle and hogs into the stockyards to be shipped out. If the famer didnt have his livestock loaded when the train arrived, they would wait until they were in and loaded so they would on the Omaha Market the next day.

The school, District 24, was located there. There were as many as 30 pupils in attendance. There was one teacher for grades one through eight.

In 1935, Lou Jurs built a blacksmith shop there and was a well known blacksmith for many years.

Houston was platted in 1887. It was named for Joseph D. Houston, a pioneer settler. A post office was established at Houston in 1887 and remained in operation until it was discontinued in 1928.

The location of Houston was northeast of York and northwest of Waco, according to a Rand McNally map from the 1800s.

Q: I was sad to hear about President Carters health this week. It got me to thinking  when did Miss Lillian die?

A: Lillian Carter, the mother of President Jimmy Carter  also known as Miss Lillian  passed away on Oct. 30, 1983, at the age of 85.
HERRIN  As Southern Illinois Healthcare is preparing to interview new nurses for the RN residency program, Samantha Melvin, chief nurse executive at Herrin Hospital, and Whitney Meade, a registered nurse who is in the residency program, talked about how the program helps new nurses.

Melvin started her nursing career at SIH in the nurse residency program in 2009. Her residency position was in the ICU at Herrin Hospital.

The program provides you with an experienced preceptor, a mentor and additional services, Melvin said.

The program is 12 months. Nurses go to a four-hour class once a month and spend the rest of their time in their unit transitioning from student nurse to working nurse, giving them real-world experience treating patients.

Melvin said the program is evidence-based and sets new nurses up for success. She added that the program also helps SIH keep nurses at a time when nurses are in short supply.

She said being a new nurse is hard. They no longer have someone telling them what to do or suggesting their next steps. They are also working 12-hour shifts usually overnight.

Melvin did her residency and worked in the ICU. She then was able to become an ICU shift supervisor, then ICU nurse manager. She developed leadership skills through those positions and grew into the hospitals chief nurse executive.

Meade is in her fourth month in the nurse residency program. Her position is in same day surgery at Herrin Hospital.

Meade was a stay-at-home mom. She did not start nursing school until her children started school. She completed the LPN program first, then went into the RN program.

As an older graduate in the nursing program, Meade wanted a position in the ICU or emergency department. She thought she would learn more in those departments.

She got an appointment to be interviewed to join the program at SIH. There were three rooms she went to during that interview. One of them talked about different positions at SIH Herrin Hospital, SIH Memorial Hospital of Carbondale and Harrisburg Hospital.

She started the program and looked at several departments. She chose same-day surgery. The experienced nurses guiding her knew that her personality would fit in that department.

I feel like the residency program has helped me immensely, Meade said, adding that you dont get a lot of experience with equipment during school or on medication or drawing blood.

That is part of their monthly class, in addition to the work done on their unit.

The residency program slows down the learning to focus on the area you are working in, Meade said.

She is learning skills that focus on same-day surgery.

Meade plans on continuing her education online for her BSN. She is considering becoming a nurse practitioner.

For now, Meade will continue treating the physical, emotional and spiritual needs of her patients in same-day surgery.

The women say it is easy to apply for an interview into the nurse residency program. Go to sih.net for information and to apply.

Melvin said they are hiring at all four SIH hospitals, Memorial Hospital of Carbondale, Herrin Hospital, St. Joseph Memorial Hospital and Harrisburg Medical Center in numerous areas.

For additional information, contact Heather Julian, nursing professional development practitioner  nurse residency and onboarding, at 618-457-5200, ext. 68706, or heather.julian@sih.net.
COBDEN  The Union County Museum at 117 S. Appleknocker St., will reopen at 1 p.m. on Saturday, March 4 after being closed for the winter season.

Close A piece of large and exquisite piece of historic Anna Pottery in the Union County Museum. The piece stands about three feet tall. A unique piece of pottery, this "Death Mask," reminiscent of Abraham Lincoln, may have been used in a local fraternal society ritual. A view of the Union County Museum from the street in Cobden. The museum features local historic artifacts dating back to over a hundred years ago. Partrick Brumleve, a council member of the Union County Historic Society which manages the museum's collection. An Anna Pottery vase made in 1882, one among many artifacts from the Anna Pottery company which closed its doors just after the turn of the century. A jug with many names engraved into it. This is one of three very large jugs on display at the museum. A homage to "King Neptune" displayed in the front window of the Union County Museum. "King Neptune" was a local war bond mascot. A sweet painting from a local historical artist on display at the museum. A painting by Charles A. Clemens, 1862-1937, a local painter and Anna artisan. 030323-nws-museum photos A piece of large and exquisite piece of historic Anna Pottery in the Union County Museum. The piece stands about three feet tall. A unique piece of pottery, this "Death Mask," reminiscent of Abraham Lincoln, may have been used in a local fraternal society ritual. A view of the Union County Museum from the street in Cobden. The museum features local historic artifacts dating back to over a hundred years ago. Partrick Brumleve, a council member of the Union County Historic Society which manages the museum's collection. An Anna Pottery vase made in 1882, one among many artifacts from the Anna Pottery company which closed its doors just after the turn of the century. A jug with many names engraved into it. This is one of three very large jugs on display at the museum. A homage to "King Neptune" displayed in the front window of the Union County Museum. "King Neptune" was a local war bond mascot. A sweet painting from a local historical artist on display at the museum. A painting by Charles A. Clemens, 1862-1937, a local painter and Anna artisan.

The museum has the countrys largest public display of Anna Pottery, according to Patrick Brumleve, president of the Union County Historical and Genealogical Society. The pottery is collected all around the country.

It is considered a premier example of folk art, Brumleve said.

The Kirkpatrick brothers opened Anna Pottery in 1869. They sold the business in the late 1880s. Brumleve said that the person who took it over really couldnt make a go of it, leading to Anna Pottery's permanent closure in 1903.

The museum in Cobden has a large chimney pot, several fair jugs and many other pieces, including some of the novelty items made to promote the pottery.

With it's reopening, the museum plans to feature several new exhibits.

A collection of items from the Lockard-Fitch collection are displayed, including a Log Cabin quilt, jewelry, a Texico thermometer and plenty of photos. Brumleve said Judy Travelstead worked Lockard-Fitch on the display.

The museum also has a display of five new paintings which they just recently acquired.

The artists are: Maurice Metzger, whose piece has a religious theme; Charles Winn, with a patriotic painting; Jesse Wright, who did a picture of a lady; and C.A. Clemens, who did two paintings of landscapes. All are local artists and each has their own unique artistic style.

Brumleve said Clemens had a painting business in Anna and was very prolific. He says that he is probably the most well-known of the five artists.

Six items will be featured in an exhibit titled What is the Story? Each artifact in this exhibit has an interesting story. One of the pieces is a hand-carved elephant. Another is a campaign torch.

Brumleve said the What is the Story? exhibits are very popular with visitors.

A new window exhibit by Francis Swedlund illustrates the history of King Neptune. King Neptune was a locally raised pig that was used to raise funds for the war effort during WW II. He raised several million dollars and his story is unique to Southern Illinois.

Along with the Anna Pottery, the museum features a variety of permanent exhibits that include Native American artifacts, Civil War history and local history. The museum has been a popular tourist attraction for over 50 years.

The Shop for the Benefit of the Museum will also be open. The shop offers a variety of merchandise including flower arrangements, glassware, collectibles, Easter decorations, and much more. Proceeds from the shop go to the operation of the museum.

Regular hours for the museum and shop will be from 1 p.m. to 5 p.m. on Saturday and Sunday. Sometimes Friday afternoons by chance. The museum has a Facebook page under Union County, IL Historical and Genealogy Society & Museum. Their phone number is 618-893-2865.

The museum is run by a board of directors. They are: Patrick Brumleve, president; Paulette Aronson, vice-president; Beverly Anderson, secretary; Judy Travelstead, treasurer; and members Darryl Parks, Marianna Riley and Francis Swedlund.
There are many elements that go into taking quality wildlife photos consistently.

Equipment is important. While cellphone cameras are surprisingly good, they are ineffective beyond a few yards.

Knowledge is important. Good photographers understand habitat and food requirements. They know what time of day their target species is most active.

Patience is important. Wildlife do not respond to the photographers needs or time constraints. Birds and animals will do what they want to do. If the photographer is doing a good job, the subject wont even be aware of the photographers presence.

Technique is important. The best photographers take advantage of the natural surroundings, creating angles that enhance the image of the critter in question. Framing the subject within the photo is critical.

Luck is important. Sometimes being at the right place at the right time is all that it takes. However, luck increases proportionally to the time spent afield.

Finally, lighting can make up for a lot of things.

Recently while visiting friends in Pope County, the late afternoon sun bathed their yard in a golden light that accentuated the beauty of some of the most common birds in Southern Illinois. There was no choice but to take advantage of the moment.
Two people have been taken into custody on drug charges after a high-speed chase, according to Orangeburg County Sheriff Leroy Ravenell.

These individuals that led my deputy on a high-speed chase were carrying a variety of illegal narcotics and two firearms, which were seized, taking yet another pile of drugs off the streets, Ravenell said in a press release.

Eric Johnson, 24, of Denmark and Davon Johnson, 19, of Greenville were charged with possession with intent to distribute a Schedule V narcotic (promethazine), distribution of powder cocaine, distribution of crack cocaine, possession with intent to distribute marijuana, two counts of unlawful carrying of a pistol, hit-and-run and several traffic violations, according to the sheriffs office.

Around 10:30 p.m. Tuesday, an Orangeburg County Sheriffs deputy traveling south on Bamberg Road attempted to make a traffic stop on a vehicle bearing the wrong license plate.

That vehicle then sped up to eventually lead the deputy in a pursuit that reached speeds of more than 100 mph as they traveled down Binnickers Bridge Road and into Bamberg County.

The nearly 20-mile pursuit ended when the driver of the vehicle attempted to make a right turn onto Charles Street in Bamberg.

The two suspects were apprehended after the sheriffs office brought in a police dog.

A black and gray bag located during the search allegedly contained two firearms and illegal drugs. The vehicle allegedly contained more narcotics, including the promethazine.

Ravenell commended the Orangeburg County Sheriffs Office deputies and expressed appreciation to the Bamberg County Sheriffs Office and Bamberg Police Department for their assistance in the pursuit.
COLUMBIA  People charged with a violent crime and then convicted of a second violent offense while released on bond could face more prison time under additional sentences in a bill passed by the South Carolina House on Wednesday.

The proposal has been backed by law enforcement groups as a necessary tool to close the "revolving door" of repeat offenders while criminal justice advocates decried it as an unconstitutional violation of due process rights that targets poor defendants.

Under House Bill 3532, people convicted of a violent crime while out on bond for a separate first charge would face another mandatory sentence of five years in prison on top of any punishment for their other violations. The list of violent offenses includes murder, criminal sexual conduct, kidnapping, trafficking, armed robbery, carjacking, burglary and arson.

The measure passed by a 92-20 vote. The Senate must now advance the bill before the governor can sign it into law.

The bill is one in a slate of changes to bond moving through both chambers and was named a top priority for Republican Gov. Henry McMaster as he enters his final term. In his January State of the State address, McMaster  previously the state's Attorney General  endorsed the House proposal.

Supporters point to instances like a 2019 fatal shooting in Rock Hill as the impetus behind the bill. Prosecutors had tried to revoke bond for a 35-year-old man who has since been accused of killing one woman and injuring two others in a shooting while assaulting three other people with a hammer, the Rock Hill Herald reported.

House Speaker Murrell Smith celebrated the bill's passage at a Wednesday press conference with local sheriffs and prosecutors. 9th Circuit solicitor Scarlett Wilson said the bill would provide the "teeth" offices like hers need to hold repeat offenders responsible.

"South Carolina will not tolerate or enable a revolving door of reoffenders," Smith said. "Today the House loudly spoke with an overwhelming majority that we're going to crack down on those who continue to terrorize our citizens, especially when they're out on bond."

Orangeburg County Sheriff Leroy Ravenell thanked the House members for passing the bill and urged senators to do the same. Ravenell is president of the South Carolina Sheriffs Association.

Communities across our state have been tormented by repeat, violent offenders, Ravenell said.

These individuals are not only victimizing our family members, friends and neighbors, but they are also creating a tremendous burden on the criminal justice system, lowering officer morale and causing relationships between police and the communities they serve to be fractured, he said.

House Democrats supported the goal but criticized the chosen solution.

House Minority Leader Todd Rutherford accused Republicans of bumper sticker politics. He said the effort would be better served by allocating the funds necessary for all counties to afford GPS monitoring devices and assigning counselors to help offenders get jobs.

Democrats also raised concerns that people eventually found not guilty of the first charge would be wrongly punished as a repeat offender for a crime they did not commit.

We're penalizing people for being charged with a first crime, said Democratic Rep. Deon Tedder.

Republicans said the bill stiffens the punishment for violating one's bond conditions. Rep. Jeff Johnson, a leading proponent of the bill, said a judge could allow the extra five-year prison term to run concurrently  rather than consecutively  in cases where someone is ultimately acquitted of the initial offense.

The bill would require the posting of full cash bond  not the 10% currently permitted  for anyone accused of an offense who then, while out on bond, is convicted of certain violent crimes including sexual misconduct, domestic violence and child pornography, among other listed offenses.

Jim Huff, a DUI attorney in North Augusta, testified earlier this session that the "overbroad" changes could hamstring local budgets by turning any local detention center into a "pauper's prison" packed with people who cannot afford to post full cash bond.

South Carolina Law Enforcement Division Chief Mark Keel said the full cash bond requirement sends a "clear message" to violent, repeat offenders in the state.
The community is invited to visit the Regional Medical Center on Friday morning to celebrate the hospital's affiliation with the Medical University of South Carolina.

The community celebration will be held from 9 a.m. to noon in the hospital's back parking lot in Orangeburg.

The hospital is preparing for a large gathering. Visitors will have designated parking areas.

RMC officially became a part of MUSC Health on March 1.

MUSC has entered into a 99-year lease with the RMC. Under the agreement, the Charleston-based hospital system assumes control of all hospital operations and associated ambulatory practices.

The new relationship includes the hospital in Orangeburg, a freestanding emergency department in Barnwell and affiliated physician practice locations serving communities in Orangeburg, Calhoun and Bamberg counties.

RMC is owned by Calhoun and Orangeburg counties. The county councils have approved the change.

The event will include a number of speakers including:

 Dr. Lucius Craig III  RMC Board of Trustees chairman

 Dr. James Lemon  MUSC Board of Trustees chairman

 Barbara Johnson-Williams  MUSC Board of Trustees member

 S.C. Rep. Gilda Cobb-Hunter  House District 95

 S.C. Rep. Russell Ott  House District 93

 S.C. Sen. Vernon Stephens  Senate District 39

 Dr. David J. Cole  MUSC president

 Patrick J. Cawley  MUSC Health system CEO

Earlier in the week, the RMC held a celebration for employees.
The State Law Enforcement Division is investigating a shooting incident that occurred on the campus of South Carolina State University and left a student injured. According to university officials, the male student was treated for a non-life-threatening injury at a local hospital.

University Campus Police, along with SLED, the Orangeburg Police Department, Orangeburg County Sheriffs Department and South Carolina State Troopers responded to reports of a shooting at Hugine Suites about 12:30 a.m. Friday morning.

The campus community was placed on lockdown while police looked for a suspect. By approximately 1:25 a.m., the lockdown was lifted after authorities determined there was no threat to the campus community.

An active investigation is continuing.
Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, March 3)  Police on Friday said one of the six suspects arrested and charged for the hazing death of student John Matthew Salilig owns the house where the fraternity initiation rites took place.

He was one of the arrested person dito sa ating kaso, Binan chief of police Virgilio Macedonia Jopia told CNN Philippines The Source. Kasama po sya doon sa na-inquest, 'yung owner.

[Translation: He was one of the arrested persons here in our case. He was one of those who underwent inquest proceedings, the owner.]

Jopia, however, did not identify who among the six suspects owned the house located in Brgy. Casile in Binan City. All suspects, who were charged on Thursday, are members of the Tau Gamma Phi (Triskilion) fraternity.

The Philippine National Police in Calabarzon said charges for violation of the Anti-Hazing Act of 2018 were filed against Tung Cheng Teng, 22; Earl Anthony Romero, 21; Jerome Balot, 22; Sandro Victorino, 28; Michael Lambert Ritalde, 31; and Mark Pedrosa, 39; for the death of Salilig and the hazing injuries suffered by the other recruits.

According to the anti-hazing law, the owner or lessee of the place where hazing is conducted shall be liable as principal.

For failure to report the hazing incident despite having knowledge about it, the house's owner can be penalized with a fine of 2 million or 3 million, as well as jail time of up to 40 years (reclusion perpetua).

Meanwhile, Jopia also said that the police have 10 persons of interest, including two other victims.

The PNP already identified Lalan Hernandez, Christian Cruz, Earl Miguel Queano Ursolino, Daniel Perry, Ralph Tan, Ryan Ray Camangyan, Carlos Miguel Rovillos, Aron James Cruz, Lester John De Lara Sus, and Arjay Bryle Arao as suspects who remain at-large.

Jopia urged the other victims to coordinate with the police to prevent facing charges related to Salilig's death.

Based on evidence authorities have gathered so far, Jopia said the "severe blunt force trauma to the lower extremities authorities declared as Saliligs cause of death was due to hazing.

He noted that a paddle was used on the victim, citing a survivor's statement.

Police said they are still searching for the object used in the incident.
(TBTCO) - Tai cuoc lam viec voi Ban Thuong vu Thanh uy TP. Ho Chi Minh, Thu tuong Pham Minh Chinh a chi ao cac nhiem vu, giai phap cu the va cung cac pho thu tuong, lanh ao cac bo, nganh xu ly 29 e xuat, kien nghi tren tinh than Chinh phu ong hanh cung thanh pho giai quyet cac kho khan, vuot qua cac thach thuc, tu tin, vung buoc i len.
Ten months after a woman set fire to a Casper abortion clinic, police are hoping an increased reward may finally help identify her.

Casper police said Friday said they had raised the reward to $15,000 for information leading to the woman's arrest. While photos and videos of her have been public since June, the arsonist has not been located.

On May 25, officers responded to a report of a business burglary at Wellspring Health Access located at 918 East 2nd St. Police saw smoke coming from the northeast corner of the building when they arrived and realized the building was on fire.

While firefighters quickly extinguished the blaze, the fire caused significant damage to the clinic, which had been scheduled to open within a few weeks. It was set to become the second clinic in Wyoming, and first in Casper, to provide abortions, along with other OB/GYN services. However, it has still not opened.

Soon after the fire, police released video and photos of the arsonist. In one, she can be seen bringing a gas can into the facility while wearing a hoodie and mask to cover much of her head.

The arsonist entered the building around 3:30 a.m. and was inside for about 15 minutes.

Shortly after the fire, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms offered a $5,000 reward for information that led to the woman's capture.

It is important to recognize that despite people's personal opinions about the abortion clinic and the assumed reasons behind the fire, the arsonist put people in direct danger, Lt. Jeff Bullard said in the statement.

We know there is someone out there with information about who committed this crime," Bullard said. Someone either has to recognize the person in these pictures or has firsthand knowledge of what happened that night.

Residents and tenants of an occupied apartment complex, mere feet from the abortion clinic fire, were "callously placed in harm's way," police said.

"Had it not been for the rapid response of the first responders, everyone in that apartment building would have been in unimaginable danger," Bullard said. "Crimes like these have an impact on our entire community and we will exhaust every resource to hold offenders accountable.

The suspect, who investigators believe acted alone, is thought to be a white female, medium build and between 5'6" and 5'8" tall. She was wearing a surgical mask for a majority of the time, aside from one moment when she pulls the mask down.

The Casper Police Department has established a specific tip line and email address for those who provide information about the arson. They can either call 307-920-2862 or email investigators at PDTips@casperwy.gov. Tipsters should leave as much detailed information as possible.

A person is also able to leave information anonymously; however, they will not be able to claim the reward unless they identify themselves to police.

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A Wyoming man pleaded guilty Friday to a pair of first-degree murder charges as part of a deal that would require him to serve life in prison for the shooting deaths of two people near Casper.

Luke Thomas Young, 26, changed his plea to guilty as part of an agreement with the state to not pursue the death penalty. He also pleaded guilty to felony assault for pointing a gun at a witness who came upon the murder scene.

Under the agreement, he must also tell officials the location of the murder weapon.

At least a dozen people showed up to witness Young's change of plea, including family wearing a T-shirt pressed with a photo of one of victims.

Young shot and killed Acacia Colvin, 19, and Kameron Young Johnson, 27, on Aug. 9. Law enforcement responded to a reported shooting on Highway 20/26 west of Casper late that night.

Young and the victims were delivering fentanyl and "did a bunch of meth" on their way back to Casper, Young said in court.

"They were whispering about me, talking up front. I asked to get out of the car. They wouldn't let me," he said.

He started pointing a gun towards the front seat and eventually shot Johnson. Colvin hopped out of the car on the side road and started screaming, Young said.

"I saw something coming out of the corner of my eye and just reacted," he said. He shot Colvin six times.

An autopsy found Colvin had been shot in her hand, chest, bottom and arm as well as her head; Johnson was shot at close range.

A motorcyclist passing by saw a car swerve in front of him and then stop on the side of the highway. The motorcyclist witnessed a woman outside of the car screaming and a man slumped over the center console who appeared to have been shot in the head.

Young pointed the gun at him, so he drove away, the arrest affidavit states. He heard six shots as he left.

The shooting happened after Young escaped from a correctional facility in Gilette, where he was on work-release, court documents said.

The deal calls for him to serve a life sentence on both murder charges plus three to five years on the aggravated assault and battery charge, which would all run concurrently.
GILLETTE  To mark the full year since Kennedy Wainainas sister was last heard from, he took a long trip from Boise to Cheyenne.

The destination was the Wyoming State Capitol, but more specifically, the governors office.

On Feb. 24, Wainaina and his cousin Tarisai Githu delivered a change.org petition and handwritten letter to the office of Gov. Mark Gordon. They were asking for help on a day that marked exactly one year since Irene Gakwa was last heard from on a video call with her family.

The investigation into her disappearance began March 20 when she was reported missing to the Gillette Police Department. With few recent updates on the status of the case, the trip to Cheyenne served as another attempt to stir action in the otherwise quiet investigation.

Weve got to do everything we can to get some answers, Wainaina said.

Although he didnt have the chance to meet face-to-face with Gordon, Wainaina said he had face time with a few Gillette lawmakers, including Sen. Eric Barlow and Rep. Abby Angelos.

The Justice for Irene Gakwa online petition delivered to Gordons office has collected more than 30,000 signatures since launching in September.

These signatures are a testament that the public would like a speedy conclusion to this case and Irene Gakwas whereabouts made public and known, Wainaina said in a change.org press release. Additionally, the petition calls for justice for all those responsible for her disappearance.

Stacy Koester and a team of locals who have led efforts in Gillette to search for Gakwa and keep awareness of her investigation went to City Hall to deliver a similar message that day.

We just thought its time we did something else and thats why we tried to take this step and see if theres anything we can do or if theres anybody who can talk to us, Wainaina said.

Gillette police continue to investigate Gakwas missing person case, and her fiance, Nathan J. Hightman, remains a person of interest who has not faced charges directly related to her disappearance.

Hightman was arrested and charged in May with five felonies alleging he illegally accessed and stole from Gakwas bank account, ran up two of her credit cards and changed her Gmail account password.

He pleaded not guilty in June to two counts of theft, two counts of crimes against intellectual property and unlawful use of a credit card, according to court documents.

A 10-day trial for those charges is scheduled to begin April 3.

Hes alleged to have taken $3,666.46 from Gakwas checking account over multiple transfers, charged a visa card for $604.65 and then maxed out a Capital One card for $3,230.65. All bank transfers and credit card uses were made after Gakwa was reportedly last seen in February, and she was the only one authorized to use the bank account, according to court documents.

Police and FBI personnel were seen Oct. 13 outside of Hightmans home on Pathfinder Circle in Gillette where they executed newly granted search warrants after further evidence gave additional cause to search the home, according to police.

Even though we ask the police department, they just tell us theres no updates from the FBI, he said. It gets frustrating not knowing.

Wainaina knows the answers they seek may result in bad news, but at this point, he said any news is better than the feeling of not knowing.

All we want is to get some light and also to get more people in Gillette to know about it, Wainaina said. For me, up to today, I still believe maybe somebody saw something. Maybe they didnt put two and two together. The more people that know about this, the better it is for our family.
Nelsons driver license had been suspended at the time because of a prior DUI conviction, Deputy Carbon County Attorney Mark Nugent said at a previous court hearing.

He has been in-and-out of prison for over three decades for convictions including statutory rape, burglary, evading arrest and criminal impersonation. And he was caught driving with a suspended or revoked license at least four times during his life and as recently as December, court records show.

One month before the crash, he had a warrant issued for him out of Uintah County, Utah, for driving with no valid license, speeding 85 mph in a 65-mph zone and failing to stay in one lane.

His most recent serious offense happened in Tennessee, where he lived for over two decades before relocating to Utah.

Nelson pleaded guilty to 10 counts of statutory rape in Washington County. Officials discovered that he was in possession of multiple guns and 109 rounds of ammunition while that case was being investigated; he wasn't allowed to be in possession of the weapons because he was already a convicted felon.

He was sentenced to 17 years in prison in 2009, which means he would have been set for release around 2026, records show. But he was released early.
CHEYENNE  Gov. Mark Gordon allowed House Bill 103  legislation that bans crossover voting in Wyoming  to quietly become law without his signature on Thursday.

He explained in a Thursday evening letter that he chose not to sign the bill because it adds uncertainty to the voting process.

That ambiguity concerns whether or not someone registering to vote in the bills blackout period could also declare a party affiliation, Wheatland Republican Rep. Jeremy Haroldson, the bills sponsor, explained.

House Bill 103 bars voters from changing their party affiliation after the first day of the candidate filing period. That means voters wont be able to see what their candidate options are before deciding which party ticket they want to vote on for primary elections, unless people advertise their candidacy before that filing date.

There will also be a 14-day blackout period before general elections.

Voters wont be able to cancel their registration in those time periods; allowing those cancellations would make a loophole for people to re-register with a different party affiliation, Haroldson has explained.

Ending the practice of crossover voting was one of the top priorities of Secretary of State Chuck Gray, who campaigned primarily on a platform of ousting voter fraud and who has described crossover voting as a process which has undermined the sanctity of Wyomings primary process.

I support this bill 100%, and the Wyoming Legislature made the right decision by passing HB 103, Gray said in a statement following the Senates approval of the bill.

After Gordons announcement on Thursday, Gray said in a statement that he couldnt be more excited about the bill becoming law and will ensure its proper implementation.

Opponents of House Bill 103 have argued that the legislation will disenfranchise voters and push people to change their party affiliation to Republican regardless of whether or not they actually hold Republican values.

Adjusting to change

Mary Lankford, a former Sublette County clerk and current lobbyist for the County Clerks Association of Wyoming, said at committee meetings that implementing the bill will require pretty heavy voter education for the public so that they arent caught short.

Gordon acknowledged the adjustments that will have to take place in his Thursday letter.

No matter what, the changes resulting from this adjustment to Wyoming law will cause some confusion in the coming primary, he wrote. However, nearly 93 percent of Wyoming voters are now registered Republicans, making the presumed changes perhaps more academic than real. I urge voters to learn about these changes so that they may vote their desired major party ballot in 2024.

Wyoming lawmakers have pushed for legislation to bar crossover voting for several years. The practice came to the fore in particular following the primary battle between Rep. Harriet Hageman and former Rep. Liz Cheney, during which Cheney encouraged Democrats to cross over and vote for her.

Before this session, no bills to restrict crossover voting had survived the Legislatures scrutiny. It appeared earlier in the session that this years legislation would meet the same fate.

Identical legislation to House Bill 103 that was sponsored by Ranchester Republican Sen. Bo Biteman died on its first hearing in the Senate Corporations Committee early last month. The Senate committee gave House Bill 103 the same treatment, killing the legislation in a 3-1 vote.

But then Senate Majority Floor Leader Larry Hicks, R-Baggs, made a successful motion to resurrect the bill and refer it to the Senate Revenue Committee. With Biteman as chair of that committee, the panel was from the outset more favorable for the bills survival. It ended up clearing the committee in a 4-1 vote.

During the bills journey through the Legislature, lawmakers attempted 12 times to tweak the language. Proposed changes included shortening the blackout period before primary elections and allowing parties to opt out of the crossover restrictions. Only two of those attempts were successful, but one deleted the other, so they didnt change the legislation.

The legislations fate was uncertain even after clearing the Senate. On Tuesday, Haroldson, the bills sponsor, posted a call-to-action video on Facebook calling for people to contact the governors office and push Gordon to allow the bill to become law.

Were standing at the point where I believe we have the ability to make this bill pass or not, Haroldson said in the video.

Though Gordon allowed the bill to become law without his signature, it wasnt without some trepidation about its potential consequences.

What was delivered to my desk has ambiguity with the potential to deny participation in a major party primary election in a few limited circumstances, Gordon wrote in his Thursday letter. That said, the bills sponsor assured me that was not his intent. Furthermore, he and those who will be responsible for implementing the statute have agreed to work on clarifying the legal ambiguity before the next primary election.

Michael Pearlman, the governors spokesperson, said Gordon has asked Haroldson to bring clarifying language for the bill next session so that it can be in place before the next primary election. Haroldson said he plans to work on that clarifying language with the secretary of state and county clerks in the interim.

This story has been updated.

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CHEYENNE  Two members of the public who filed ethics complaints against a Laramie County lawmaker said Thursday they are confident in the response by Senate leadership.

Sen. Anthony Bouchard, R-Cheyenne, received a letter of reprimand Wednesday that outlined two separate complaints against him this general session, and stated there would be no tolerance for any further substantiated complaints against him for threatening or profane comments you make against members of the public or your Senate colleagues.

Senate President Ogden Driskill, R-Devils Tower, said Bouchard was provided with the complaints and offered the opportunity to respond, and without any response refuting the allegations, they had to be assumed true. He said the facts in the complaints are concerning, and members of the public should never be personally attacked for honest testimony provided before a legislative committee.

While you may not agree, a member of the Wyoming Senate is held to a high standard of decorum while communicating with members of the public, Driskill wrote. Troubling me even further is the fact that during the last session, a member of the public filed a complaint against you for your abusive power during legislative committee meetings.

Three complaints against you for very similar behavior are three complaints too many.

He said that if Bouchard received a similar complaint that is substantiated in the future, he will forward it to the full Senate to consider one or more potential disciplinary actions against him. The options provided were censure, removal from committees or expulsion from the Senate.

I would hope you take my statements in this letter to heart, Driskill concluded. While I understand your passion for legislation you have worked on and sponsored, that passion does not excuse disrespectful and abusive behavior.

Bouchard confirmed with the Wyoming Tribune Eagle that he was sent the letter, but said he had no further comment for the time being.

With all the legislation going through, I need to stay focused on that right now, he said Thursday in between the House and Senate chambers. Next week will be a better time to talk about this.

Formal complaints

The complaints Driskill refers to were made by Civics307 lobbyist Gail Symons on Feb. 24 and advanced registered nurse practitioner Jennifer James this past weekend.

Symons wrote in an email to Driskill that she believed the words of a sitting state senator reflect directly on the body, and attached screenshots of Bouchard using his public politician Facebook page to post abusive and inflammatory language against members of the public exercising their First Amendment rights.

She said the screenshots came from an individual who expressed serious concern that they would be subject to retaliation by Bouchard and the Wyoming Gun Owners organization. Symons said she was not as vulnerable as others, and said she was committed to standing up personally against bullying.

That retaliation has been observed previously as verbal and in social media, including doxing, she wrote to Driskill. Doxing is defined as the action or process of searching for and publishing private or identifying information about a particular individual on the internet, typically with malicious intent.

Symons told the WTE that she didnt approve of the language and tone he used in comments or posts, such as calling members of the Wyoming Medical Society Doctors for grooming, or veiled threats of violence against Republican legislators on his social media account representing his elected office.

It was because it was his official account, as Sen. Anthony Bouchard, during the Legislature, against a group that was exercising their First Amendment rights. Whether I agreed with him or not, that was totally irrelevant, she said. But mostly, it was because there has been this atmosphere created of intimidation, and thats not healthy for the process.

Public capacity

James said in a statement that she sent in her complaint after Bouchard sent an unprompted text to her personal cellphone calling her a f***ing idiot on Saturday night. She said it was because she offered medical standard guidelines in opposition of Bouchards Senate File 144 earlier in the week.

Although Bouchard has worked on legislation in the past with former Republican state Sen. Tom James, who is married to the complainant, she said she had no relationship with him outside of his elected duties. She said she doesnt follow any of his social media, and her husband is not personal friends with the Cheyenne lawmaker as many folks assume.

James said Bouchard had never acted in this manner toward her before. She previously worked with him on policy for a bill addressing health care professionals right to prescribe medication in January, and said she called him to receive background information. She said after he began their discussion to offer her clinical expertise, he abruptly hung up on her after letting her know he was bringing forward SF 144.

Prior to this call in January, I had communicated to him regarding a gun ordinance problem in Rock Springs last summer, which he helped resolve, she said.

She said the key fact in her complaint was that he is an elected official and she is a constituent. She said she is not another politician or friend. As a member of the public, she said it is simply unacceptable, unprompted behavior, especially in Wyoming.

Any elected official is held to higher standards. I expect to provide public testimony without fear of reprisals or repercussions. In America, we still have our First Amendment rights. Our political system process allows the public to comment freely, she said. Imagine how many people would feel comfortable to testify if they knew legislators would be harassing them afterward? None at all.

Trust in leadership

While there have been lawmakers who expressed they believe there should be further action taken, both James and Symons said they trust the decision made by Driskill.

James told the WTE she was comfortable with his response and confident in decisions on this matter. She said she believed the letter was sufficient and didnt request further action, but she suspects the Senate will review its defined ethics complaints process, given the number of recent complaints.

Sen. Chris Rothfuss, D-Laramie, is a member of the Senate Rules Committee and previously confirmed the chamber planned to reevaluate the process and find a system that works better.

Symons recognized there were those who said it should have been brought to the floor, but there is a process. She said there are rules and traditions.

Once she submitted the complaint, the lobbyist said she let go of it.

The people whose responsibility it is to evaluate the complaint, see if it has merit, and if it does, then bring the right people in to make a decision on what the proper response is  thats up to them, she said. I had no expectations of what would be done. I literally was driven solely by ensuring that behavior was called out for whatever the appropriate action.
South Africa: Government focused on resolving energy crisis

Minister in the Presidency, Mondli Gungubele, has assured South Africans that the gazetted regulations for the National State of Disaster pertaining to the impact of Severe Electricity Supply Constraints will provide government with the extraordinary measures required to deal with our energy constraints.

Gungubele was addressing media on Friday morning.

The National State of Disaster emphasises our determination to support and work with all South Africans and sectors of society negatively affected by the severe electricity supply. The regulations aim to assist, protect and provide relief to the public; protect property; prevent and combat disruption; and to deal with the destructive nature and other effects of the disaster.

We are confident that regulations will provide the extra-ordinary measures required to deal with our energy constraints. These regulations came into operation on the date of publication in the Government Gazette, he said.

The Minister acknowledged the social and economic impact that the current electricity challenges are having on the country.

We work hard and understand the plight all those who have been affected by the devastation of the power outages. We appreciate the cooperation from all sectors and society at large as we respond this disaster. In this way, we can all ensure efforts that yield to the end of load shedding, he said.

Gungubele said the experience gained during the COVID-19 pandemic  which also required a declaration of a National State of Disaster  will stand government in good stead heading into addressing the current electricity crisis.

The lessons learnt during our successful fight against the global pandemic where extraordinary measures under the auspices of the State of the Disaster legislation assisted in saving lives and livelihoods, have been at the heart of current efforts to strengthen our response as government to the deteriorating energy situation in our country.

These regulations are to ensure that the country does not get into a state of emergency and not to undermine any social liberty or the rights of individuals or groups in any way, he said.

The Minister emphasised and reiterated governments stance that no State funds will be lost to corruption during the National State of Disaster and that measures are in place to protect government coffers.

As we set out to mobilise resources to support and address the disaster, we are putting measures in place to safeguard these financial resources. Government, working with all stakeholders will ensure that all the resources we mobilise are used for their intended purposes and reach the intended recipients.

Various oversight structures like the Auditor-General and Parliament as set out in the regulations will monitor the use of funds. Specifically, the Auditor General will undertake real time audits whilst reports to Parliament have to be submitted by respective institutions in the month where expenditure took place and also reports have to be published.

Our focus is to ensure that there is value for money, transparency and accountability as the projects are costed and implemented, he said.  SAnews.gov.za

This story has been published on: 2023-03-03. To contact the author, please use the contact details within the article.
China, Australia vow to promote institutional dialogue for more economic cooperation

Xinhua) 09:35, March 03, 2023

Chinese Foreign Minister Qin Gang meets with his Australian counterpart Penny Wong on the sidelines of the Group of 20 (G20) Foreign Ministers' Meeting in New Delhi, India, March 2, 2023. (Xinhua/Javed Dar)

NEW DELHI, March 2 (Xinhua) -- China and Australia have pledged to advance institutional dialogue at various levels, so as to further stabilize and improve their bilateral relations.

Chinese Foreign Minister Qin Gang and his Australian counterpart Penny Wong made the remarks on Thursday during their meeting on the sidelines of the Group of 20 (G20) Foreign Ministers' Meeting held in India's capital New Delhi on March 1-2.

China and Australia should implement the important consensus reached at the Bali Summit between the leaders of the two countries, respect each other's core interests and major concerns, and cherish the improving bilateral relations, Qin said.

The two countries have restarted or resumed institutional dialogue and consultation on diplomacy, economy and trade, and should continue to promote dialogue and exchanges at all levels, he said.

The two sides should properly view and handle their differences and address each other's legitimate concerns, said the Chinese foreign minister.

"We hope that the Australian side will provide a fair, just and non-discriminatory business environment for Chinese enterprises to invest and do business in Australia," he noted.

For her part, Wong said that the sound Australia-China relations are in the common interests of both sides, reiterating Australia's commitment to managing the differences between the two countries.

Australia will jointly implement the outcomes of the new round of China-Australia Foreign and Strategic Dialogue and fully agrees to resume more institutional dialogues between the two countries, said Wong.

Noting that Australia-China economic, trade and investment cooperation is mutually beneficial, she said Australia welcomes Chinese investment and will treat Chinese companies equally.

Saying that China is a key force in promoting world peace, stability and prosperity, Wong said she hoped that China will play an important role in helping resolve the Ukraine crisis.

Regarding the crisis, Qin stressed that the core of China's position on the issue is to promote talks for peace.

China has been calling for ceasing hostilities and a political settlement of the crisis through diplomatic negotiations since the very beginning and will continue to play a constructive role to this end, he said.

(Web editor: Zhang Kaiwei, Liang Jun)
Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, March 3)  A person of interest in the suspected hazing death of Adamson University student John Matthew Salilig was found dead in his home, police said Friday.

The person was found lifeless in his house in Taguig City on Feb. 28, Binan, Laguna police chief Virgilio Jopia confirmed to reporters.

Jopia said the case  which was coordinated with the Taguig police  was listed as a suicide.

"Kanina may kumoordinate sa atin para i-surrender 'yung vehicle. And pinuntahan natin only to find out na patay na pala 'yung person of interest natin last Feb. 28," he told reporters.

[Translation: Someone coordinated with us to surrender the vehicle involved in the case. We went to the place only to find out that the person of interest already died last Feb. 28.]

Jopia said the person of interest  a 28-year-old alumnus of Adamson University  was driving another vehicle, which carried some fraternity members and another suspected hazing victim.

The police chief added that his parents were the ones who coordinated with the Binan police to surrender the vehicle.

Several individuals, including members of the Tau Gamma Phi fraternity, are facing charges following the death of Salilig  who went missing on the same day he attended the group's initiation rites in the Laguna town.

The 24-year-old's body was found buried in a lot in Cavite days later.

READ: Salilig death: Police see traces to back hazing

Meanwhile, the Binan police also called on the other suspected hazing victims during the rites to surface and get in touch with authorities to avoid facing raps.

CNN Philippines correspondents Crissy Dimatulac and Paige Javier contributed to this report.
Wyoming Governor Mark Gordon signed into law Senate File 95 which establishes Moon Landing Day in Wyoming on July 20. The bill will not authorize businesses or governmental offices to close. In working on this bill, I have received a fair number of questions about why I brought this bill. I also have heard plenty of puns and dad jokes, like I would have scheduled a hearing on the bill sooner, but I spaced it.

Despite its light-hearted tenor, this bill was important to me. Here is why.

From the oldest of times, men and women have looked to the skies. They studied stars and planets for practical reasons, using them as a calendar, for navigation, or to predict weather. They also looked to the stars to understand human existence. Some people based their culture and origin stories on constellations.

As women and men developed technology, they began to look at the skies in a different way. American aviation pioneers Orville and Wilbur Wright are generally credited with inventing, building, and ultimately flying the worlds first successful motor-operated airplane in 1903 south of Kitty Hawk, North Carolina. It is hard to imagine that since first taking our fledgling flight, it took less than a century for mankind to put a man on the moon. But we did.

On an aircraft piloted by Michael Collins, astronauts Neil Armstrong and Edwin Buzz Aldrin set foot on the moon on July 20, 1969. This moment was historic. In 1971, President Nixon issued a proclamation, explaining that our astronauts gathered samples of soil and rocks and emplaced scientific recording equipment. Two years later, other brave Americans followed with the purpose of exploring the unknown and advancing scientific knowledge for the benefit of all mankind.

I was not alive when the moon landing occurred. For many who were alive, I have heard resoundingly that this was a day where America stopped and looked at the sky. They prayed for the astronauts. They watched their television sets and saw an American flag placed on the moon. They listened to their radios and heard phrases which have been enshrined in our culture today, such as, The Eagle has landed, and, Thats one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind.

Despite this incredible feat, I think people of my generation may take the moon landing for granted. When we look at the sky, we think, Of course we landed on the moon. And through that lens, perhaps we forget to appreciate the technology that got those astronauts not only to the moon and back safely, but other incredible pursuits in space exploration, such as missions to Mars and beyond.

As a country, I think we have, for far too long, overlooked the potential of that event being recognized as a national holiday. There are eleven federal holidays. One of those federal holidays, Columbus Day, purports to celebrate discovery and exploration. However, this holiday does not uniformly resonate across our country as a celebration of discovery, but rather, of colonization and genocide. Rightfully, some of us question how one could be credited for discovering land already occupied by other human beings. Accordingly, in lieu of Columbus Day, some states and municipalities celebrate Indigenous People Day.

In looking our statutes, I learned that Wyoming currently has Native American Day on the books, to be observed on the second Friday in May. The law instructs the Governor each year, by April 15, to issue a proclamation requesting proper observance. I digress.

As I have thought about the words discovery and exploration over the years, I was inspired to bring this bill and I am thankful. Since its introduction, I have heard from so many people eager to share their stories about where they were the day we landed on the moon. With each story, I see pride radiating from their faces. I talked with several colleagues who have close connections with the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA). I heard from a mom who brought her daughter to the bill signing ceremony because her daughter hopes to be an astronaut someday.

I heard from an eighth-grade teacher at Wyoming Indian Middle School who had applied to be in the Teacher in Space Program, which we later saw, ended in tragedy when the 1986 Space Shuttle Challenger broke apart 73 seconds into its flight, killing all seven crew members aboard. Such tragedy reminds us of the dangers of space exploration, but it is also a testament to Americas tremendous grit and determination to continue our quest to explore the universe. That eighth-grade teacher and his students followed the progress of this bill and I am proud of that.

I also heard from a filmmaker in California, Steven Barber, who has organized projects and secured funding to build the Apollo 11 Monument at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida and the Apollo 13 Monument outside the Space Center in Houston, TX. This same individual will also be unveiling a monument of Sally Ride, the first woman in space, this upcoming July 4th outside of the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library and Museum. Mr. Barber heard about Senate File 95 and contacted Buzz Aldrin about the bill on Mr. Aldrins 93rd birthday about a month ago. I have since heard that Mr. Aldrin supports our new law.

I have learned that space monuments like these could very well be built in Wyoming by neighbors just south of our border. The filmmaker has worked with the Lundeen Sculptures company of Loveland, CO, the same sculptors who created the bronze statue of astronaut Jack Swigert which is on display in both the United States Capitol and the Denver International Airport. These sculptors also provide many of the beautiful bronze statutes that line the streets of downtown Cheyenne along Capitol Avenue.

Since bringing this bill, I have also learned of a company based in Gillette Wyoming. Specifically, L&H Industrial has built parts for NASA that have been in outer space. At its inception, L&H was a very small oil field service company with just six employees. It now employs 387 employees across North and South America. I am proud of Wyomings contributions to continued space exploration.

Finally, I have learned about the work being done by our very own University. Just recently, news broke that a new planet had been found similar to Earth in its size which orbits the habitable zone or Goldilocks Zone, a designation which denotes the possibility of liquid water being found on a planets surface. NASA hailed this discovery as significant. This sphere is not visible to the naked eye. NASAs Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (nicknamed TESS) was the tool that relayed the data scientists used to identify the planet. Launched in 2018, TESS monitors large sectors of the sky  more than 200,000 stars  for roughly 27 days at a time, allowing the satellite to track changes in a stars brightness. The instrument was designed and built at a lab in the University of Wyomings Physical Sciences Building. Remarkable.

Senate File 95 was only a few pages in length, but it may be the first of its kind among our states. Hopefully, it sparks a movement for other states, and perhaps the federal government, to properly acknowledge the significance of one of mankinds greatest achievements. I hope this bill inspires teachers, students, and new generations to pursue careers in the areas of science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM)  fields where women and some minority groups are vastly under-represented.

But at its most basic level, I hope this bill inspires all Americans to once again, look at the skies, in wonderment and with pride.
T&T rap legend Make It Hapn (Rayon Bernando) is back in the lab creating new music.

Anybody and their mama that followed the local hip hop scene in the early 2000s knows Make It Hapn is rap royalty.

The Diego Martin-born MC had a ubiquitous flow that earned him snaps and standing ovations everywhere he went, from the quad at The University of the West Indies (UWI), St Augustine campus to spoken word exposes and open mic nights across the island.
The regional symposium on crime to be held tomorrow and Tuesday is an important step toward addressing the problem facing Caricom countries.

So said Foreign and Caricom Affairs Minister Dr Amery Browne yesterday.

Trinidad and Tobago will host the two-day symposium at the Hyatt Regency (Trinidad) hotel in Port of Spain.
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?
Tucson-based Raytheon Missiles & Defense is partnering with Pima Community College to offer apprenticeships in computer system administration through PCCs East Campus under an agreement finalized Friday.

The two-year, state-registered apprentice program is the first partnership of its kind between Raytheon  the regions biggest employer with about 13,000 area workers  and Pima Community College, the companys chief information officer said.

Through this program we can strengthen our workforce, promote diversity, we can help retain employees longer in a career that is rewarding, and drive productivity and business performance, Kenneth Wilcox, vice president and chief information officer for Raytheon Missiles & Defense, said as he and Pima officials signed papers launching the apprenticeships.

Wilcox said the Tucson area is home to at least half of Raytheons digital technology operation, including about 1,100 workers, adding that the apprenticeship is a way for the company to give back to the community.

Information technology system administrators perform various tasks, including upkeep of computer systems and management of Raytheons computer networks, Wilcox said, noting that most jobs require government security clearance.

The program will start as a pilot with five employees to be hired by Raytheon, which is the sponsor for the apprenticeships state registration, said Denise Kingman, director of employer engagement and career Services for Pima.

Raytheon will host online informational sessions starting March 9, after which program information will be posted online.

Kingman said that the Raytheon apprentices will work at local company offices while taking classes online and at Pimas East Campus on East Irvington Road, where the schools Center of Excellence in Information Technology also hosts the nonprofit Arizona Cyber Warfare Range.

PCC added an associate degree program in cyber security to its IT programs in 2020.

This program will allow for talent development, provide opportunities for a diverse population and have a tremendous positive impact on our community, Kingman said.

PCC is working with 17 smaller employers to set up state-registered apprenticeships the school will sponsor in a new initiative.

The first informational session will be held at 6 p.m. on March 9 via Google Meet at meet.google.com/bbg-yzdo-vvq; the meeting number is 567-236-0851, and the PIN code is 363402863#.

For more information, email Denise Kingman at dkingman1@pima.edu.
With the thousands of communications satellites orbiting Earth and thousands more expected, a Tucson-based startup is focused on a better way to produce the antennas that link those satellites to users on the ground.

And with a recent million-dollar federal funding award in hand, Paramium Technologies plans to start making precision reflector panels for ground-based satellite dish antennas  and for similarly constructed radio telescopes  with a production system developed by its founders at the University of Arizona.

Founded by UA doctorate alumni Christian Davila and Justin Hyatt, Paramium recently was awarded a $1 million Small Business Innovation Research grant funded by the National Science Foundation to build a full-scale production line to make complex curved reflector panels that are used for large satellite ground dish antennas, as well as antennas used for radio astronomy.

Based on technologies developed by its founders at the UA, Paramium developed a new process to mold reflector panels that make up large reflector dishes to precise shapes, using inductive heating and electromagnetic energy with an adjustable mold.

Launched from UA

Paramium was co-founded in 2019 by Davila, who got his doctorate in mechanical engineering from the UA in 2020, and Hyatt, who got his Ph.D. in optical sciences from the UAs James C. Wyant College of Optical Sciences in 2019.

The company was created with help from Tech Launch Arizona, the UAs tech commercialization arm, which helped Davila and Hyatt file for patents, license their technologies through the school and develop business strategies.

The pair also licensed one UA technology patented by UA Regents Professor Roger Angel, who served as advisor for Davila and Hyatt during their doctorate work, who had developed a method to precisely shape multiple glass mirrors for concentrating solar generators.

In 2021, Paramium won a sponsored-launch competition to join the UAs tech-oriented business incubator, the UA Center for Innovation.

The company took up residence at the UACI at the UA Tech Park, across the park campus from the offices and labs of Steward Observatory, the UAs astronomy research arm, where both Davila and Hyatt have worked as engineers.

Hyatt, who still is senior research associate at Steward, has focused on radio astronomy  a branch of astronomy that studies non-visible radio signals from celestial objects  and radio telescope manufacturing.

Davila said the company is focused on making reflector panels for satellite dish antennas and radio telescopes faster and cheaper than traditional methods.

Shaping with precision

Paramiums technology has significant advantages for makers of a new generation of off-axis, or asymmetrical, reflector dishes, said Davila.

Off-axis reflector dishes place the antenna that receives the reflected signals to the edge of the reflector dish, minimizing interference from the antenna assembly that reduces performance in more traditional, axial designs, he said.

Davila said an example of off-axis dishes include the Next Generation Very Large Array, a planned array of more than 200 off-axis radio telescopes across nine states, including Arizona, as well as Puerto Rico. The array is under development by the National Radio Astronomy Observatory and industry partners, with construction planned to start in 2025.

Off-axis antenna designs allow greater efficiency and data speeds, for example, but also create a challenge to create the array of computer-designed reflector plates.

In the next generation, each panel is different, because this is off-axis, so that shape is a little bit different, and thats the thing that makes it a bit complicated to manufacture, said Davila, who has also worked as a senior systems engineer at Roche Tissue Diagnostics at its research and manufacturing plant in Oro Valley since 2020.

Paramiums patent-pending technology works by using inductive heat and electromagnetic force to press a metal plate, typically aluminum, to an adjustable, computer-controlled mold.

We need to have a mold that gives the shape that we want, so we take a flat aluminum panel and set it on the mold and then it shapes, it conforms, to the mold, Hyatt said.

Saving money and time

The adjustable, reusable mold is much cheaper and faster than the common method of shaping reflector panels, which involves multiple molds machined out of solid metal, he said.

Every panel in a dish could be different, so you would need to make a separate mold for each panel, which is really expensive  molds can be half a million dollars to machine one out of a block of metal, Hyatt said.

Roslyn Norman, Paramiums chief operating officer and a UA mechanical engineering grad, said making custom tooling for multiple panels of varying shapes also is a time-consuming process.

Lead time can be up to two years sometimes, depending on where you source your materials and what materials you need, said Norman, who joined Paramium in 2021 as engineering manager and principal investigator on Paramiums SBIR awards from the NSF.

Hyatt said since a single, reusable mold can make all the different shapes required, there is no need for any custom tooling for manufacturing the panels.

A customer could come to us and request a free-form shape that weve never seen before, and we could crank out a panel in a few days, said Hyatt.

Paramium plans to use the $1 million SBIR grant to build an automated, Industry 4.0 reflector panel production line to heat and press each panel under computer control.

Paramium was awarded the $1 million SBIR grant after completing work under a $256,000 Phase I awarded by NSF in 2021 through a competitive grant process.

Paramium is using optical software technology developed by Hyatt to measure the finished panels. Hyatt co-founded another company, Fringe Metrology, to commercialize that technology through Tech Launch Arizona.

Meanwhile, Paramium is looking to raise additional funding, which could be matched up to $500,000 by the NSF, to help it build out its assembly line and take the product to market.

Growing market

Its potentially a big market for satellite antenna dishes alone.

Driven by high-speed satellite communications networks, the space ground station market is expected to grow more than 7% annually and the market for reflectors alone is worth about $20 billion, according to market studies cited by Paramium.

And Paramiums production method has wider uses, Davila said.

We want to start with highest added value, which is space applications, he said. But we also think that theres applications of curved panels in different industries.

Davila cited architectural uses to create panels for metal-skinned buildings, as well as aircraft fuselages and perhaps automotive parts.

We do have ambition to go and chase different industries, in a later stage, he said. And it may be that in some industries, we may be doing the production, (but) most likely we will be selling these machines.
WASHINGTON  Injured Capitol Police officers and Democratic lawmakers can sue former President Donald Trump over the Jan. 6, 2021, insurrection at the U.S. Capitol, the Justice Department said Thursday in a federal court case testing Trumps legal vulnerability for his speech before the riot.

In court papers, the Justice Department urged a federal appeals court in Washington to allow the lawsuits to move forward, writing that no part of a Presidents official responsibilities includes the incitement of imminent private violence.

The Justice Department said it took no position on the lawsuits claims that the former presidents words incited the attack on the Capitol. Nevertheless, Justice Department lawyers said the court should reject Trumps argument that absolute immunity shields him from being sued because the remarks were in line with his official duties.

As the Nations leader and head of state, the President has an extraordinary power to speak to his fellow citizens and on their behalf, they wrote. But that traditional function is one of public communication and persuasion, not incitement of imminent private violence.

Lawyers of the Justice Departments Civil Division filed the brief, which has no bearing on a separate criminal investigation by a department special counsel into whether Trump can be criminally charged over efforts to undo President Joe Bidens victory in the 2020 presidential election ahead of the Capitol riot. In fact, the lawyers noted they are not taking a position with respect to potential criminal liability for Trump or anyone else.

Trumps lawyers have argued he was acting within his official rights and had no intention to spark violence when he called on thousands of supporters to march to the Capitol and fight like hell before the riot erupted.

The actions of rioters do not strip President Trump of immunity, his lawyers wrote in court papers. In the run-up to January 6th and on the day itself, President Trump was acting well within the scope of ordinary presidential action when he engaged in open discussion and debate about the integrity of the 2020 election.

A Trump spokesperson said Thursday that the president repeatedly called for peace, patriotism, and respect for our men and women of law enforcement on Jan. 6 and that the courts should rule in favor of President Trump in short order and dismiss these frivolous lawsuits.

The case is among many legal woes facing Trump as he mounts another bid for the White House in 2024.

A prosecutor in Georgia has been investigating whether Trump and his allies broke the law as they tried to overturn his election defeat in that state. Trump is also under federal criminal investigation over top secret documents found at his Florida estate.

In the separate investigation into Trump and his allies efforts to keep the Republican president in power, special counsel Jack Smith subpoenaed former Vice President Mike Pence, who said he will fight the subpoena.

Trump is appealing a decision by a federal judge in Washington, who last year rejected efforts by the former president to toss out the conspiracy civil lawsuits filed by the lawmakers and police officers. U.S. District Judge Amit Mehta ruled that Trumps words during a rally before the violent storming of the U.S. Capitol were likely words of incitement not protected by the First Amendment.

Only in the most extraordinary circumstances could a court not recognize that the First Amendment protects a Presidents speech, Mehta wrote in his February 2022 ruling. But the court believes this is that case.

The lawsuits, filed by Rep. Eric Swalwell, D-Calif., officers James Blassingame and Sidney Hemby, and later joined by other House Democrats, argue that Trump and others made false and incendiary allegations of fraud and theft, and in direct response to the Defendants express calls for violence at the rally, a violent mob attacked the U.S. Capitol.

The suits cite a federal civil rights law that was enacted to counter the Ku Klux Klans intimidation of officials. They describe in detail how Trump and others spread baseless claims of election fraud, both before and after the 2020 presidential election was declared, and charge that they helped to rile up the thousands of rioters before they stormed the Capitol.

The lawsuits seek damages for the physical and emotional injuries the plaintiffs sustained during the insurrection.

In its filing, the Justice Department cautioned the court must take care not to adopt rules that would unduly chill legitimate presidential communication or saddle a president with meritless lawsuits.

In exercising their traditional communicative functions, Presidents routinely address controversial issues that are the subject of passionate feelings, the department wrote. Presidents may at times use strong rhetoric. And some who hear that rhetoric may overreact, or even respond with violence.
Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, March 3)  Manila and Washington could start holding joint maritime patrols in the West Philippine Sea (WPS) this year, according to Philippine ambassador to the United States Jose Manuel "Babe" Romualdez.

In an exclusive interview with CNN Philippines, Romualdez confirmed the possibility of Australia and Japan joining  and conducting a "quad patrol" in the disputed waters.

"I think Japan indicated that they are interested in how they can also be part of thatand Australia is considering this," he said.

Romualdez reiterated there is no country being targeted in the joint activity.

He said the basic purpose of such maritime exercises is to enhance the Philippines' defense capabilities, as well as help maintain peace and stability in the region, especially in the WPS.

"This is the reality that we have to face  that if there is a conflict that we would be able to defend ourselves," Romualdez added.

Earlier this week, the Japanese embassy in Manila said there is no specific plan or discussion yet on joint patrols among the four countries. However, it added it will explore the possibility of cooperating with partners to promote maritime law enforcement in the Indo-Pacific region.

More details on the proposed joint activity are expected to be tackled this April in the so-called "2+2 meeting" between defense and foreign affairs officials from the Philippines and the US.

China and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations will also be meeting this month to resume negotiations on a code of conduct in the South China Sea.

CNN Philippines' Kristel Limpot contributed to this report.
WALTERBORO, S.C. (AP)  Disgraced attorney Alex Murdaugh has now been convicted of murder in a trial that attracted intense public attention to the Southern tale of privilege and deceit.

Investigations stemming from the June 7, 2021, shooting deaths of Murdaugh's wife and son revealed that the prominent South Carolina lawyer stole millions of dollars from largely poor clients' settlements and staged an attempt on his life to secure his surviving son a $12 million life insurance payout, according to authorities.

In the process, true crime enthusiasts, concerned onlookers and many others found the latest subject of their fascination in the yearslong unraveling of a mystery that jurors weighed in a six-week trial that culminated in a deliberation that took less than three hours. Murdaugh, 54, faces 30 years to life in prison without parole for each murder charge when court is scheduled to reconvene for sentencing Friday morning.

Experts say the small town sagas transformation into an international point of intrigue highlights insights into the human psyche: People are drawn to events that inform their perceptions of threat. And amid the commotion of the trial, some legal observers have found an important opportunity for education.

Coltan Scrivner, a researcher at the Recreational Fear Lab at Aarhus University in Denmark, said a human desire to avoid getting duped has developed into a natural curiosity about signs of danger. Those cues, he said, are especially strong when the schemes involve the rich and powerful like the Murdaugh family.

We put it in our rolodex of possible simulations of what could happen in a bad situation, Scrivner said.

Amanda Vicary, a psychology professor at Illinois Wesleyan University, said the obsession with true crime is largely driven by women interested in its self-protective lessons. Many followers might subconsciously ask themselves what they need to look for in their own lives, she said.

Plus, the Murdaugh cases many aspects  mystery, forensics, family, finances  have appealed to a variety of interests.

Most popular true crime stories might only have one or two of those elements, Vicaray said. It has a little something for everything going on right now.

Stephanie Truesdale, an upstate South Carolina teacher whose crocheted dolls of prominent figures in the case went viral on social media, said the combination of a wealthy familys fall from grace and the many unexpected developments piqued her attention from the start. She said she's been particularly interested to see how the states legal system treats one of their own.

Although the dolls garnered praise, some other displays of public interest in the case have been less well-received. Several trespassers were found last weekend taking selfies outside the feed room where Paul Murdaugh died, according to defense attorney Dick Harpootlian. He described it as the most distasteful thing he had ever seen.

If people are really paying attention, they could really learn a lot from whats going on right now, instead of just the more gruesome aspect of things, Truesdale said.

Read more:

Here's a look at today's other top stories:
Just over one hundred years ago in June 1919, the U.S. Congress passed a joint resolution in support of a 19th Amendment to the Constitution, which would give women the right to vote. The resolution was sent to the states and eventually was ratified in August 1920. In honor of March as Women's History Month, test your knowledge of this historical milestone with this quiz.
MADRID  With an abundance of sun and wind, Spain is positioning itself as Europes future leader in green hydrogen production to clean up heavy industries. But some energy sector experts express caution over ramping up an industry that would be wholly reliant on massive increases in the availability of zero-carbon electricity.

Ecological transition minister Teresa Ribera hosted a major conference in February for global renewable energy players. It focused on measures to guarantee our energy security as the European Union refocuses on intra-bloc supply chains for its energy needs.

The Spanish government announced a Hydrogen Roadmap in 2020, but the sector has taken on greater importance in Europe since Russias invasion of Ukraine. Russia is the worlds second-largest producer of natural gas, which powers most global hydrogen production. The International Energy Agency said in December that Spain would account for half of Europes growth in dedicated renewable capacity for hydrogen production.

Green hydrogen is created when renewable energy sources power an electrical current that runs through water, separating its hydrogen and oxygen molecules through electrolysis. The process doesnt produce planet-warming carbon dioxide, but less than 0.1% of global hydrogen production is currently created in this way, according to the IEA.

The separated hydrogen can be used in the production of steel, ammonia and chemical products, all of which require industrial processes that are harder to wean off fossil fuels. Hydrogen also can be used as a transportation fuel, which could one day transform the highly polluting shipping and aviation sectors.

Spains large, windswept and sparsely populated territory receives more than 2,500 hours of sunshine on average per year, according to the state weather agency, providing ideal conditions for wind and solar energy, and therefore green hydrogen production.

If you look at where hydrogen is going to be produced in Europe in the next million years, its in two countries, Spain and Portugal, said Thierry Lepercq, the founder and president of HyDeal Ambition, an industry platform bringing together 30 companies. Hydrogen is the new oil.

Lepercq is working with companies like Spanish gas pipeline corporation Enagas and global steel giant ArcelorMittal to design an end-to-end model for hydrogen production, distribution and supply at a competitive price. Criticism has centered on green hydrogens higher cost compared with highly-polluting gray hydrogen drawn from natural gas. Lepercq argues that solar energy produced in Spain is priced low enough to compete.

While cars and heating solutions for buildings are increasingly electric, other sectors are harder to crack. Globally, Lepercq said, Electricity, power, is 20% of energy consumption. What about the 80% that is not electrified? ... You need to replace those fossil fuels. Not in 50 years time. You need to replace them now.
Update (March 3): Police identified the man killed in the confrontation with officers Wednesday as 32-year-old Stormy Fuller.

"The female who was initially believed to be involved was questioned and released," police said. She was not identified as she was not arrested, according to TPD.

The story below published March 2, 2023, in Tulsa World:

Tulsa police shot and killed a burglary suspect they say first fired at officers with a sawed-off shotgun on Wednesday afternoon.

A 12:20 p.m. report of a burglary of a vacant house near the northeast corner of Third Street and Delaware Avenue resulted in a foot chase between a man and officers that ended in the 2800 block of East Second Street.

Officers started to chase the suspect who ran around the block and into the backyard of an occupied house one block north of the burglary location. As officers converged on the backyard, the suspect again pointed his shotgun at officers, reported the Tulsa Police Department Public Information Office. Two officers discharged their duty weapons at the suspect, striking him. An arrest team moved up to secure the suspect and render first aid.

The main suspect, whom police have described as a white man who appeared to be in his 30s, was pronounced dead at the scene.

Capt. Richard Meulenberg told the Tulsa World that a woman who had also been inside the house was apprehended around 4:30 p.m., but no decision had been made yet about whether to charge her.

The two officers involved in the shooting have been placed on routine administrative leave.

A homeowner named David, who asked that his last name not be used, told the Tulsa World he and his wife were working at one of their nearby rental properties when they got a security camera alert at 12:14 p.m. that people were in a vacant house that they recently purchased near Third and Delaware.

I called the cops, and we were so close we drove over and parked next door, the man said. Ive run homeless people off from this property before, but I just had a real bad feeling, and I said, Im not making contact with these thieves.

He and his wife watched as officers arrived and shouted for the people inside the house to come out and then saw a woman emerge from their property alone.

Then a man started breaking out the front window, and an officer said, Hes got a shotgun! David said. Me and my wife took cover behind our van. The guy ended up breaking down the backdoor and running out into the alley, and the officers ran after him. Next thing we know, there were gunshots and 15 to 20 more officers showed up.

Neighbors whose backyard security camera captured images showing the very beginning of the foot chase down an alley and then the sounds of gunshots off camera shared their video with police, as well as with the Tulsa World.
Booker T. Washington English teacher Traci Manuel knows a thing or two about obstacles.

She knows a thing or two about addressing them, as well.

You never know a teachers story, the 2023 Oklahoma Teacher of the Year said Thursday morning at her first appearance back at Booker T. Washington High School since Wednesdays award announcement. It might seem like were hard on you and that theres no end in sight and why am I having to do these things because it has nothing to do with the person youre going to become. But it has everything to do with the person youre going to become.

A third-generation educator, Manuel struggled with reading as a child. Along with needing tutoring growing up, she said she spent lunch hours studying in the library while attending Booker T. as a student.

However, even with that extra effort, a counselor told her college was not a possibility for her. It took the encouragement of her family and a mentor at the North Mabee Boys and Girls Club, Jo Bright, to help her figure out a way to make it happen.

Referencing a line from the school hymn, Manuel said that counselors remarks wound up being a boon in the long term, and she challenged students to find a similar spark.

Even though it was a setback hearing that from someone, it became my greatest weapon in life, Manuel said. What people told me I couldnt achieve, I finally found the faith to be able to overcome the fear and say what I can do and can achieve. You have to find that same one to be able to be girded for lifes greatest task.

As Oklahoma Teacher of the Year, Manuel was given a tuition waiver for up to 36 graduate credit hours or 16 undergraduate credit hours from the University of Oklahoma. However, after consulting with other faculty members late Wednesday and early Thursday, Manuel called ATaylor Elliott up on the stage during Thursday mornings assembly to help the Booker T. senior clear an obstacle of her own.

Elliott plans to study nursing at OU. Since she did not qualify for the Oklahomas Promise scholarship and has not been successful in applying for other scholarships, she said she has been considering less-expensive schools. Her mother recently took on a second job to help cover her college costs.

Manuel surprised Elliott with the waiver, thus covering her first semester of undergraduate school in Norman.

Taylors had to overcome obstacles, like me, Manuel said. Her story is different from mine, and I didnt get the opportunity to teach Taylor. What I do know about her through  other fellow Hornets is that she is a strong young woman who is going places, who may not be at the top of the class, but you dont always have to be at the top to know where youre going.

Thanks to Manuels surprise, an emotional Elliott said she will be able to attend OU in the fall.

This means a lot, Elliott said. Ive heard a lot of great things about her,  but this changed my life.

The Oklahoma Teacher of the Year program is coordinated through the office of Oklahomas State Superintendent of Public Instruction and is part of the National Teacher of the Year Program, sponsored by the Council of Chief State School Officers.

Teacher of the Year finalists are selected by a cross-section of leading educators, lawmakers and civic leaders representing all regions of Oklahoma. A state selection committee reviews finalists nominations and videos of their classroom teaching and interviews the finalists before recommending the winner.

Along with being just the third Tulsa Public Schools teacher in 60 years to win the award, Manuel is the first Black woman to be named Oklahomas Teacher of the Year, a fact that drew loud cheers and a standing ovation from the crowd in the Booker T. auditorium Thursday morning.

Instead of teaching, Manuel will spend the 2023-24 school year touring Oklahoma as an ambassador and advocate for public education. During Thursdays assembly, she acknowledged legislation under consideration this session to redirect state funding away from public schools through tax credits or vouchers and called on students and other assembly attendees to share their stories on social media about their public school experiences to help with that advocacy.

We have some people who may not want to see us succeed, Manuel said. We have some people who are not behind students like you who are diverse. We have some people who may want private schools or charter schools over public schools. But they (public schools) made me who I am, and they are making you who you are, so public education matters.
With the appointment clock continuing to tick, the Tulsa school board will reconvene Friday evening to once again address its vacant seat.

The agenda for Fridays meeting, scheduled for 5:30 p.m., calls for the board to discuss the procedures used to nominate and vote on applicants for the vacant District 2 seat and potentially conduct additional candidate interviews in executive session.

However, the agenda does not include language that would allow the board to vote on an appointment. President Stacey Woolley said the vacancy will be on the action agenda for Mondays regularly scheduled meeting in order to allow for public comment and a potential vote.

The seat has been vacant since Jan. 23, when the resignation of former board member Judith Barba Perez took effect. In the event of a board vacancy, state law allows school boards up to 60 days to appoint a successor. For TPS, the 60-day mark hits on March 24.

If the board is unable to appoint a successor within that time frame, it may request a special election. However, as attorney Jana Burk advised the board Monday night, the earliest such an election could be held is June 13, with a runoff in September if needed.

According to the Tulsa County Election Board, a special election for District 2 would cost TPS between $33,000 and $35,000 if only one vote is needed. Should a runoff be required, the figure would double.

Fridays special meeting comes after the board was unable to reach a consensus on an appointee at Monday nights meeting, despite pleas from multiple District 2 residents, teachers and parents for representation.

Separate motions to appoint Diamond Marshall and Jasmine Stewart to the vacant seat each resulted in a 3-3 tie, with ELena Ashley, Jerry Griffin and Jennettie Marshall voting no each time.

A motion to appoint Sharita Pratt died from a lack of a second. An attempt to appoint Pratt to the seat at an earlier meeting had ended in a 3-3 tie.

Notices were also issued Tuesday afternoon for special meetings on Thursday evening and Saturday morning. However, Thursdays special meeting was canceled.

When asked Wednesday, Woolley said the meeting notices were sent out before the board was polled about its availability in order to get a meeting called as quickly as possible within the parameters of Oklahomas Open Meeting Act, which requires at least 48 hours public notice for special meetings.

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Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, March 3)  Local police in Laguna province on Friday bared traces of possible hazing related to the death of Adamson University student John Matthew Salilig.

Speaking to CNN Philippines' The Source, Binan town police chief Virgilio Macedonia Jopia said the house in Barangay Casile where the incident took place is owned by one of the six members of the Tau Gamma Phi (Triskilion) fraternity arrested on Thursday for Saliligs death and injuries of complainant Roi Osmond Dela Cruz.

Upon checking and visiting the house where the initiation was conducted, na-observe natin doon yung blood stains and other presence of like cigarettes and patak ng mga candle, Jopia said.

[Translation: Upon checking and visiting the house where the initiation was conducted, we observed blood stains and the presence of cigarettes and candle drippings.]

He said the crime scene was isolated and still under construction.

The 24-year-old student was reported missing on Feb. 18, the same day he attended initiation rites of the Tau Gamma Phi fraternity in Binan, the police said. His body was found buried in a lot in Imus, Cavite ten days later.

Asked if it can be established that Salilig was killed through hazing, Jopia answered in the affirmative. He said the police can say that the actions of the suspects were deliberate after they buried the victims body instead of bringing him to the hospital.

Citing the complainant, Jopia said three people were undergoing initiation with Salilig. The chemical engineering student and two others were hit by a wooden paddle as part of the "welcoming rites," while the lone neophyte was singed with hot wax.

Authorities are still searching for the paddle used, which was allegedly burned, he noted.

Jopia said they will also file a case against the father of one of the suspects for obstruction of justice. Meanwhile, another person involved surrendered and is undergoing investigation.

Ten persons remain at-large, including the two remaining victims, Jopia said.
A large storm system took aim at the Northeast on Friday, threatening heavy snow and coastal flooding after heavy winds and possible tornadoes damaged homes and buildings, left thousands without power and caused five deaths in a wide swath of the South and Midwest.

Three people were killed by falling trees in Alabama as severe weather swept through the state. In Mississippi, a woman died inside her SUV after a tree branch struck her vehicle, and in Arkansas a man drowned after he drove into high floodwaters.

The storm system turned toward New England, where a mix of snow, sleet and rain was expected across the region starting Friday night and lasting into Saturday, prompting the National Weather Service to issue a winter storm warning.

There's a chance of coastal flooding in Massachusetts and Rhode Island and the storm could bring as much as 18 inches of snow to parts of New Hampshire and Maine. The storm will also bring strong winds with gusts of 40 to 50 mph, which could cause power outages.

Airport officials in Portland, Maine, canceled several flights for Saturday ahead of the weather and some libraries and businesses in the region announced weekend closures. Still, with warmer weather expected to return by the end of the weekend, most New Englanders were taking the storm in stride.

It wasn't the same story in California, where the weather system slammed the state earlier in the week with as much as 10 feet of snow. Some residents in mountains east of Los Angeles will likely remain stranded in their homes for at least another week after the snowfall proved too much to handle for most plows.

Many residents of Alabama, Louisiana, Kentucky, Arkansas and Texas emerged Friday to find their homes and businesses damaged and trees toppled by the reported tornadoes. Tens of thousands were without power and some were also without water.

In Alabama, a 70-year-old man sitting in his truck in Talledega County was killed when a tree fell onto his vehicle. A 43-year-old man in Lauderdale County and a man in Huntsville also were killed by falling trees Friday, local authorities said.

In Texas, winds brought down trees, ripped the roof off a grocery store in Little Elm, north of Dallas, and overturned four 18-wheelers along U.S. Highway 75. Minor injuries were reported, police said.

Winds of nearly 80 mph were recorded near the Fort Worth suburb of Blue Mound. The roof of an apartment building in the suburb of Hurst was blown away, resident Michael Roberts told KDFW-TV.

"The whole building started shaking.  The whole ceiling is gone," Roberts said. "It got really crazy."

Heavy rain was also reported in southern Missouri and northern Arkansas, causing flooding in both states.

The storm barreled Friday afternoon into the Detroit area, quickly covering streets and roads beneath a layer of snow. The weather service said some areas could see blizzard conditions with snowfall approaching 3 inches per hour.

Detroit-based DTE Energy reported more than 106,000 customers lost power Friday evening. It was the latest slap after ice storms last week left more than 600,000 homes and businesses without power.

Hail and strong winds were reported in Oklahoma. Elsewhere in the Midwest, Minnesota and Wisconsin expected areas of freezing fog with less than a quarter mile of visibility into the weekend, the weather service said. In North Dakota, South Dakota and Minnesota, highways could get up to 10 inches of snow and 45 mph wind gusts on Sunday and Monday.
WALTERBORO, S.C. (AP)  Disgraced attorney Alex Murdaugh has now been convicted of murder in a trial that attracted intense public attention to the Southern tale of privilege and deceit.

Investigations stemming from the June 7, 2021, shooting deaths of Murdaugh's wife and son revealed that the prominent South Carolina lawyer stole millions of dollars from largely poor clients' settlements and staged an attempt on his life to secure his surviving son a $12 million life insurance payout, according to authorities.

In the process, true crime enthusiasts, concerned onlookers and many others found the latest subject of their fascination in the yearslong unraveling of a mystery that jurors weighed in a six-week trial that culminated in a deliberation that took less than three hours. Murdaugh, 54, faces 30 years to life in prison without parole for each murder charge when court is scheduled to reconvene for sentencing Friday morning.

Experts say the small town sagas transformation into an international point of intrigue highlights insights into the human psyche: People are drawn to events that inform their perceptions of threat. And amid the commotion of the trial, some legal observers have found an important opportunity for education.

Coltan Scrivner, a researcher at the Recreational Fear Lab at Aarhus University in Denmark, said a human desire to avoid getting duped has developed into a natural curiosity about signs of danger. Those cues, he said, are especially strong when the schemes involve the rich and powerful like the Murdaugh family.

We put it in our rolodex of possible simulations of what could happen in a bad situation, Scrivner said.

Amanda Vicary, a psychology professor at Illinois Wesleyan University, said the obsession with true crime is largely driven by women interested in its self-protective lessons. Many followers might subconsciously ask themselves what they need to look for in their own lives, she said.

Plus, the Murdaugh cases many aspects  mystery, forensics, family, finances  have appealed to a variety of interests.

Most popular true crime stories might only have one or two of those elements, Vicaray said. It has a little something for everything going on right now.

Stephanie Truesdale, an upstate South Carolina teacher whose crocheted dolls of prominent figures in the case went viral on social media, said the combination of a wealthy familys fall from grace and the many unexpected developments piqued her attention from the start. She said she's been particularly interested to see how the states legal system treats one of their own.

Although the dolls garnered praise, some other displays of public interest in the case have been less well-received. Several trespassers were found last weekend taking selfies outside the feed room where Paul Murdaugh died, according to defense attorney Dick Harpootlian. He described it as the most distasteful thing he had ever seen.

If people are really paying attention, they could really learn a lot from whats going on right now, instead of just the more gruesome aspect of things, Truesdale said.

Read more:

Here's a look at today's other top stories:

Top 10 beaches in the US for 2023, according to Tripadvisor 1. Ka'anapali Beach (Maui, Hawaii) 2. Siesta Beach (Siesta Key, Florida) 3. Driftwood Beach (Jekyll Island, Georgia) 4. Hanalei Beach (Kauai, Hawaii) 5. Ho'okipa Beach Park (Maui, Hawaii) 6. Henderson Beach State Park (Destin, Florida) 7. Cannon Beach (Cannon Beach, Oregon) 8. Coronado Beach (Coronado, California) 9. Ogunquit Beach (Ogunquit, Maine) 10. La Jolla Cove (La Jolla, California)
Mexican Oklahomans soon will be able to open bank accounts and purchase homes and vehicles without being forced to leave the state to update or secure vital documentation.

Starting May 1, a team of 30 locally hired employees and six Mexican government officials will begin booking appointments at the Mexican consulate in Oklahoma City and deploying mobile consulates across the state to serve the more than 110,000 Mexican nationals who call Oklahoma home.

The location of the consulate has not been announced to prevent people from showing up for services that are still unavailable, said Edurne Pineda, the titular consul in Oklahoma City. Her Jan. 19 Twitter post showed renovations are underway.

The mobile consulate already has committed to deploying to Catholic churches in Tulsa  St. Francis Xavier on May 6 and St. Thomas More on May 20, Pineda said. There is also a need to reach far beyond Oklahomas urban centers to places like Guymon, where the Mexican community is one of the most concentrated in the state.

More than 354,000 Oklahomans identify as having Mexican heritage, according to the 2020 census, many of who will be able to take advantage of consular services without having to travel to the regional consulate in Little Rock, Arkansas.

Rep. Arturo Alonso-Sandoval, D-Oklahoma City, is a first-generation U.S. citizen and holds dual citizenship with Mexico. He remembers making the trip to Little Rock with his parents as a middle schooler.

We had to do it in one day because my parents had work the next day, and I was still in school, said Alonso-Sandoval, whose south Oklahoma Citys House district is 67% Hispanic. We woke up really early, took the trip, waited a decent amount in Arkansas because any Oklahoma person that wanted to receive consular services was also in Little Rock.

He said a Mexican consulate in Oklahoma City will allow the states rapidly growing Mexican population to fully contribute economically, culturally and politically.

As our community grows, the labor force is going to continue growing. Were going to have more cultural representation and, of course, political influence, he said.

Pineda said second- and third-generation Mexicans, who like Alonso-Sandoval were born in the U.S., would also be afforded services, starting with the right to apply for dual citizenship.

The consulate will offer services to individuals with active or expired U.S. work visas, green card holders, and members of families with mixed legal status. However, a Mexican consulate does not entertain matters related to immigration into the United States, she said. Thats the job of the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services; rather, it will focus on the provision of services related to being a Mexican citizen already living in the country.

Those services will be divided into four distinct departments that will be formed in order of priority: documentation, protection, community and promotion.

The documentation department will allow Oklahomans to apply for and renew their Mexican passports, consular IDs and voter registrations. It will also provide birth registrations, death certificates, marriage licenses and background checks, along with limited notary services like granting and revoking powers of attorney, will writing and parental authority agreements.

It will allow Mexican Oklahomans who are migrant workers in the country without permission to enroll in the Mexican Institute of Social Security, allowing them to pay into a retirement account which they can take advantage of upon returning to Mexico after a 20- or 30-year stint working abroad.

If you are an undocumented worker in the United States, you do not have a Social Security number here, and you cant enroll in health insurance, Pineda said, but you can go to the consulate and start making contributions to your retirement fund and even enroll yourself and your family still living in Mexico in health insurance.

The consulate will help Oklahomans navigate immigration and labor disputes, as well as other civil and criminal matters.

We are not going to defend, Pineda said. We are not lawyers who can practice in the United States, but we can talk to the community, listen to them and give them guidance on how to orient them when it comes to legal matters.

She said the ultimate goal for this department is to be able to form partnerships with attorneys willing to provide paid and pro bono representation. The current plan is to dedicate five or six consulate workers to legal aid.

Mexican Oklahomans can also use the consulate for assistance with opening bank accounts and sending money abroad, buying homes and enrolling children in school. Pineda said she plans to schedule health fairs, offering free mammograms, vaccinations, diabetes and cholesterol tests and vision and dental exams aimed at those without insurance.

The consulates website will allow people to schedule appointments and view a calendar of events. However, unlike the Little Rock consulate, Pineda said only those with Oklahoma addresses will receive services in Oklahoma City.

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Vietnam Airlines and Air France, the national flag carriers of Vietnam and France, will resume their codeshare flights from March 26 after a hiatus due to the COVID-19 pandemic, said Nguyen Tien Hoang, head of the Vietnamese airline's branch in France and Europe. The renewal of the joint venture agreement between the two air carriers will provide passengers with more flight options and optimize the products and services between France, Europe, and Vietnam, Hoang added. The joint venture agreement was launched in 2017 but was suspended in 2020. The resumption of the two sides cooperation will help strengthen the connectivity between their transshipment centers, specifically Noi Bai International Airport in Hanoi and Tan Son Nhat International Airport in Ho Chi Minh City and Charles de Gaulle Airport in Parisone of the largest gateways in the world. In particular, Air France will operate codeshare flights on the Hanoi - Paris air route of Vietnam Airlines with a frequency of six flights per week with the flight codes VN019 from Hanoi to Paris and VN018 from Paris to Hanoi, using wide-body Airbus A350 aircraft. Meanwhile, Vietnam Airlines will conduct flights on the Ho Chi Minh City - Paris air route of Air France with the flight codes AF258 from Paris to Ho Chi Minh City and AF253 in the opposite direction. France is one of the largest and most important markets of Vietnam Airlines in Europe since the Vietnamese air carrier launched its first direct air route to Paris in 2003. Vietnam Airlines transported some 570,000 passengers between Vietnam and France in 2019. Like us on Facebook or follow us on Twitter to get the latest news about Vietnam!

Vietnam Airlines and Air France, the national flag carriers of Vietnam and France, will resume their codeshare flights from March 26 after a hiatus due to the COVID-19 pandemic, said Nguyen Tien Hoang, head of the Vietnamese airline's branch in France and Europe.

The renewal of the joint venture agreement between the two air carriers will provide passengers with more flight options and optimize the products and services between France, Europe, and Vietnam, Hoang added.

The joint venture agreement was launched in 2017 but was suspended in 2020.

The resumption of the two sides cooperation will help strengthen the connectivity between their transshipment centers, specifically Noi Bai International Airport in Hanoi and Tan Son Nhat International Airport in Ho Chi Minh City and Charles de Gaulle Airport in Parisone of the largest gateways in the world.

In particular, Air France will operate codeshare flights on the Hanoi - Paris air route of Vietnam Airlines with a frequency of six flights per week with the flight codes VN019 from Hanoi to Paris and VN018 from Paris to Hanoi, using wide-body Airbus A350 aircraft.

Meanwhile, Vietnam Airlines will conduct flights on the Ho Chi Minh City - Paris air route of Air France with the flight codes AF258 from Paris to Ho Chi Minh City and AF253 in the opposite direction.

France is one of the largest and most important markets of Vietnam Airlines in Europe since the Vietnamese air carrier launched its first direct air route to Paris in 2003.

Vietnam Airlines transported some 570,000 passengers between Vietnam and France in 2019.

Like us on Facebook or follow us on Twitter to get the latest news about Vietnam!
A major portion of the products churned out by Vietnams supporting industry are exported to foreign countries or supplied to foreign direct investment (FDI) enterprises at competitive prices. These businesses are looking to a future that involves being a part of global supply chains with particular interests. As part of the Building Independent Industries forum, a delegation from the Vietnam Industry Agency under the Ministry of Industry and Trade, the Ho Chi Minh City Department of Industry and Trade, Tuoi Tre (Youth) newspaper, and many media agencies on Tuesday visited a number of businesses which operate in the supporting industry sector. Nguyen Ngo Long, chairman of Nhat Long Mechanical Company in Thu Duc City, Ho Chi Minh City, met with the delegation at his firms headquarters to discuss Nhat Long's 20 years of experience operating within the supporting industry sector. Tran Xuan Toan (C), deputy editor-in-chief of Tuoi Tre, speaks with Nguyen Ngo Long, chairman of Nhat Long Mechanical Company. Photo: Huu Hanh / Tuoi Tre Nhat Longs products are exported to South Korea and Japan, as well as supplied to many FDI enterprises in Vietnam. According to Long, Nhat Long has been investing heavily in modern production equipment, improving operational efficiency, focusing on product quality, and providing products at competitive prices compared to its foreign competitors. Assessing Vietnam's industry, Long shared his belief that it is necessary to support small businesses in order to step into the global supply chain. An employee from Dien Quang Lamp Joint Stock Company introduces the companys products. Photo: Huu Hanh / Tuoi Tre Big and small companies must work together toward sustainable and long-term development, he stated. Small-scale enterprises need favorable policies and support from large companies, he added. The delegation also visited Dien Quang Lamp Joint Stock Company  a Vietnamese high technology producer which has achieved impressive success in the supporting industry segment by focusing on electronic equipment and engineering plastics for the medical industry, automobile production, and tablet device manufacturing. Dien Quangs intelligent lighting solution for the industrial sector is built on the basis of 4.0 technology which optimizes electricity costs and ensures worker safety. A worker at the Dien Quang Lamp Joint Stock Company factory in Ho Chi Minh City. Photo: Huu Hanh / Tuoi Tre According to a Dien Quang representative, businesses using the companys comprehensive intelligent lighting solution can save up to 80 percent of electrical energy consumption by measuring available natural light levels and adjusting the lighting system accordingly. Many businesses believe that Vietnam's supporting industry has yet to reach its full potential as small and medium enterprises still face many difficulties in terms of market penetration, access to technology, and the availability of resources. Meanwhile, investment policies for research and development in the supporting industry segment are not focused, limiting the opportunity to reach the global market. An employee from Dien Quang Lamp Joint Stock Company introduces the companys products. Photo: Huu Hanh / Tuoi Tre Assisting small and medium enterprises in joining the global supply chain Tuoi Tre, the Ministry of Industry and Trade, and the Ho Chi Minh City Department of Industry and Trade jointly organized a seminar on Tuesday which focused on assisting small- and medium-sized enterprises in joining the global supply chain The event saw the attendance of officials, experts, and representatives from domestic and foreign industry enterprises. Delegates discussed the transformation of the global supply chain and issues related to industry linkages, as well as worked together to find solutions to help small and medium enterprises overcome obstacles and participate in the global supply chain. The workshop is part of a series of events under the Building Independent Industries initiative, which has been hosted annually by Tuoi Tre since 2022. Like us on Facebook or follow us on Twitter to get the latest news about Vietnam!

A major portion of the products churned out by Vietnams supporting industry are exported to foreign countries or supplied to foreign direct investment (FDI) enterprises at competitive prices.

These businesses are looking to a future that involves being a part of global supply chains with particular interests.

As part of the Building Independent Industries forum, a delegation from the Vietnam Industry Agency under the Ministry of Industry and Trade, the Ho Chi Minh City Department of Industry and Trade, Tuoi Tre (Youth) newspaper, and many media agencies on Tuesday visited a number of businesses which operate in the supporting industry sector.

Nguyen Ngo Long, chairman of Nhat Long Mechanical Company in Thu Duc City, Ho Chi Minh City, met with the delegation at his firms headquarters to discuss Nhat Long's 20 years of experience operating within the supporting industry sector.

Tran Xuan Toan (C), deputy editor-in-chief of Tuoi Tre, speaks with Nguyen Ngo Long, chairman of Nhat Long Mechanical Company. Photo: Huu Hanh / Tuoi Tre

Nhat Longs products are exported to South Korea and Japan, as well as supplied to many FDI enterprises in Vietnam.

According to Long, Nhat Long has been investing heavily in modern production equipment, improving operational efficiency, focusing on product quality, and providing products at competitive prices compared to its foreign competitors.

Assessing Vietnam's industry, Long shared his belief that it is necessary to support small businesses in order to step into the global supply chain.

An employee from Dien Quang Lamp Joint Stock Company introduces the companys products. Photo: Huu Hanh / Tuoi Tre

Big and small companies must work together toward sustainable and long-term development, he stated.

Small-scale enterprises need favorable policies and support from large companies, he added.

The delegation also visited Dien Quang Lamp Joint Stock Company  a Vietnamese high technology producer which has achieved impressive success in the supporting industry segment by focusing on electronic equipment and engineering plastics for the medical industry, automobile production, and tablet device manufacturing.

Dien Quangs intelligent lighting solution for the industrial sector is built on the basis of 4.0 technology which optimizes electricity costs and ensures worker safety.

A worker at the Dien Quang Lamp Joint Stock Company factory in Ho Chi Minh City. Photo: Huu Hanh / Tuoi Tre

According to a Dien Quang representative, businesses using the companys comprehensive intelligent lighting solution can save up to 80 percent of electrical energy consumption by measuring available natural light levels and adjusting the lighting system accordingly.

Many businesses believe that Vietnam's supporting industry has yet to reach its full potential as small and medium enterprises still face many difficulties in terms of market penetration, access to technology, and the availability of resources.

Meanwhile, investment policies for research and development in the supporting industry segment are not focused, limiting the opportunity to reach the global market.

An employee from Dien Quang Lamp Joint Stock Company introduces the companys products. Photo: Huu Hanh / Tuoi Tre

Assisting small and medium enterprises in joining the global supply chain Tuoi Tre, the Ministry of Industry and Trade, and the Ho Chi Minh City Department of Industry and Trade jointly organized a seminar on Tuesday which focused on assisting small- and medium-sized enterprises in joining the global supply chain The event saw the attendance of officials, experts, and representatives from domestic and foreign industry enterprises. Delegates discussed the transformation of the global supply chain and issues related to industry linkages, as well as worked together to find solutions to help small and medium enterprises overcome obstacles and participate in the global supply chain. The workshop is part of a series of events under the Building Independent Industries initiative, which has been hosted annually by Tuoi Tre since 2022.

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TLAXCALA -- Wearing flamboyant costumes and masks imitating blue-eyed, bearded Europeans, carnival-goers in Mexico have turned mocking colonizers into an art form. The colorful celebration stands out from hundreds of other carnivals in Latin America by rekindling the spirit of revenge against erstwhile invaders. Each year, men in wooden masks playing the role of light-skinned Europeans dance through the streets of Tlaxcala, one of Mexico's smallest states, located 120 kilometers (75 miles) east of the capital Mexico City. Many sport carefully-trimmed beards resembling those of Spanish conquistador Hernan Cortes, while others have mustaches. Men imitate the dandy style of the European colonizers and women wear the flowing dresses and elaborate hats of European ladies. Photo: AFP Participants in the photogenic festivities recreate the dandy style of the people who crossed the Atlantic to the New World. Women wear the flowing dresses and elaborate hats of European ladies centuries ago. The aim is to "mock the invaders... especially their customs and habits, which for the people of Tlaxcala were very effeminate," tourist guide Eduardo Cuautle Xochitemotl said beneath a mural depicting local history. The feather-topped masks, hand-embroidered clothes and European-style costumes are a celebration of the cultural collisions that have shaped the region. The Tlaxcalans allied with Cortes to capture the Aztec capital Tenochtitlan -- today Mexico City -- in 1521. The carnival's costumes and dances have become a fusion of Mexican and European cultures. Photo: AFP While their collaboration assured them certain privileges, the Tlaxcalans still faced exclusion by powerful Spanish landowners. "At the time when we were conquered, the big haciendas held huge parties with music and dance, which we, the indigenous people, could not enter," said dancer Carlos Gomez Vazquez. Another target of the mockery is the French influence that took root in the late 19th century under general-turned-president Porfirio Diaz, whose legacy can be seen today in Mexico City's Parisian-style architecture. And in modern-day Mexico, centuries-old foes are not the only subjects of ridicule. "Nowadays the tradition is to mock today's politicians," Xochitemotl said.

TLAXCALA -- Wearing flamboyant costumes and masks imitating blue-eyed, bearded Europeans, carnival-goers in Mexico have turned mocking colonizers into an art form.

The colorful celebration stands out from hundreds of other carnivals in Latin America by rekindling the spirit of revenge against erstwhile invaders.

Each year, men in wooden masks playing the role of light-skinned Europeans dance through the streets of Tlaxcala, one of Mexico's smallest states, located 120 kilometers (75 miles) east of the capital Mexico City.

Many sport carefully-trimmed beards resembling those of Spanish conquistador Hernan Cortes, while others have mustaches.

Men imitate the dandy style of the European colonizers and women wear the flowing dresses and elaborate hats of European ladies. Photo: AFP

Participants in the photogenic festivities recreate the dandy style of the people who crossed the Atlantic to the New World.

Women wear the flowing dresses and elaborate hats of European ladies centuries ago.

The aim is to "mock the invaders... especially their customs and habits, which for the people of Tlaxcala were very effeminate," tourist guide Eduardo Cuautle Xochitemotl said beneath a mural depicting local history.

The feather-topped masks, hand-embroidered clothes and European-style costumes are a celebration of the cultural collisions that have shaped the region.

The Tlaxcalans allied with Cortes to capture the Aztec capital Tenochtitlan -- today Mexico City -- in 1521.

The carnival's costumes and dances have become a fusion of Mexican and European cultures. Photo: AFP

While their collaboration assured them certain privileges, the Tlaxcalans still faced exclusion by powerful Spanish landowners.

"At the time when we were conquered, the big haciendas held huge parties with music and dance, which we, the indigenous people, could not enter," said dancer Carlos Gomez Vazquez.

Another target of the mockery is the French influence that took root in the late 19th century under general-turned-president Porfirio Diaz, whose legacy can be seen today in Mexico City's Parisian-style architecture.

And in modern-day Mexico, centuries-old foes are not the only subjects of ridicule.

"Nowadays the tradition is to mock today's politicians," Xochitemotl said.
About 170 people were evacuated from a Hong Kong shopping area after a fire broke out in a skyscraper late on Thursday night, the government said. Firefighters battled the blaze at a redevelopment project in the Tsim Sha Tsui district throughout the early hours of Friday, the flames visible from the other side of Victoria Harbour. Several upper floors of the building were engulfed in fire, according to Reuters witnesses, and blazing falling debris, including bamboo scaffolding, sparked smaller fires in adjacent structures. Keung Sai-ming, Hong Kong's deputy chief fire officer, told reporters that 250 firefighters and rescue workers battled the blaze for the entire night before it was extinguished around 8 a.m. (0000 GMT) local time. An under-construction skyscraper is seen on fire at Tsim Sha Tsui in Hong Kong, China March 3, 2023. Photo: Reuters He said the cause of the fire was being investigated. The building is a 42-storey project by the Empire Group to house the city's Mariners Club and a hotel, according to the companys website. The Mariners Club opened in 1967 to provide affordable accommodation to seafarers, and was popular among maritime workers passing through Hong Kong. The Empire Group did not immediately respond to a Reuters request for comment.

About 170 people were evacuated from a Hong Kong shopping area after a fire broke out in a skyscraper late on Thursday night, the government said.

Firefighters battled the blaze at a redevelopment project in the Tsim Sha Tsui district throughout the early hours of Friday, the flames visible from the other side of Victoria Harbour.

Several upper floors of the building were engulfed in fire, according to Reuters witnesses, and blazing falling debris, including bamboo scaffolding, sparked smaller fires in adjacent structures.

Keung Sai-ming, Hong Kong's deputy chief fire officer, told reporters that 250 firefighters and rescue workers battled the blaze for the entire night before it was extinguished around 8 a.m. (0000 GMT) local time.

An under-construction skyscraper is seen on fire at Tsim Sha Tsui in Hong Kong, China March 3, 2023. Photo: Reuters

He said the cause of the fire was being investigated.

The building is a 42-storey project by the Empire Group to house the city's Mariners Club and a hotel, according to the companys website.

The Mariners Club opened in 1967 to provide affordable accommodation to seafarers, and was popular among maritime workers passing through Hong Kong.

The Empire Group did not immediately respond to a Reuters request for comment.
The Asian Development Bank (ADB) has pledged a financing package worth US$682.55 million for a 600-megawatt wind power project in Laos to export the output to neighboring Vietnam. In particular, the ADB and Monsoon Wind Power Company Limited on Wednesday signed the nonrecourse financing package for the project, which will be developed in Laos southern provinces of Sekong and Attapeu. The Monsoon Wind power project, which will combine 133 wind turbines, will be the first of its kind in Laos and the largest one in Southeast Asia upon completion. The power generated by the project will be sold to Vietnam Electricity Group (EVN) for 25 years through a 500-kV transmission line. The package comprises a $100 million A loan from ADBs ordinary capital resources, a $150 million syndicated B loan, $50 million in concessional financing, $382.55 million in parallel loans, and a $10 million grant. Developing economies in Asia and the Pacific face shortfalls in climate investments that are needed to clear a pathway to green growth," said General Suzanne Gaboury, director of ADB private sector operations department. The syndication of development and commercial financing for this project bridges this gap by mobilizing private capital to develop wind resources which are translated to clean power generation that can spur economic and social advancement in the region. The project will reduce annual greenhouse gas emissions by at least 748,900 tons of carbon dioxide equivalent. The Vietnamese government had earlier approved the import of electricity from Laos with a total capacity of nearly 2,700 megawatts. In addition, EVN has reported to the Ministry of Industry and Trade that 10 plants with a combined capacity of 1,600 megawatts in Laos have proposed selling their output to Vietnam. Like us on Facebook or follow us on Twitter to get the latest news about Vietnam!

The Asian Development Bank (ADB) has pledged a financing package worth US$682.55 million for a 600-megawatt wind power project in Laos to export the output to neighboring Vietnam.

In particular, the ADB and Monsoon Wind Power Company Limited on Wednesday signed the nonrecourse financing package for the project, which will be developed in Laos southern provinces of Sekong and Attapeu.

The Monsoon Wind power project, which will combine 133 wind turbines, will be the first of its kind in Laos and the largest one in Southeast Asia upon completion.

The power generated by the project will be sold to Vietnam Electricity Group (EVN) for 25 years through a 500-kV transmission line.

The package comprises a $100 million A loan from ADBs ordinary capital resources, a $150 million syndicated B loan, $50 million in concessional financing, $382.55 million in parallel loans, and a $10 million grant.

Developing economies in Asia and the Pacific face shortfalls in climate investments that are needed to clear a pathway to green growth," said General Suzanne Gaboury, director of ADB private sector operations department.

The syndication of development and commercial financing for this project bridges this gap by mobilizing private capital to develop wind resources which are translated to clean power generation that can spur economic and social advancement in the region.

The project will reduce annual greenhouse gas emissions by at least 748,900 tons of carbon dioxide equivalent.

The Vietnamese government had earlier approved the import of electricity from Laos with a total capacity of nearly 2,700 megawatts.

In addition, EVN has reported to the Ministry of Industry and Trade that 10 plants with a combined capacity of 1,600 megawatts in Laos have proposed selling their output to Vietnam.

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What you need to know today in Vietnam: Politics -- Leaders of Laos, China, Cambodia, and Cuba have extended their congratulations to Vo Van Thuong on his election as State President of Vietnam on Thursday, according to the Vietnam News Agency. Society -- Police in Dak Lak Province, located in Vietnam's Central Highlands, said on Wednesday they had busted a gambling ring whose transactions reached VND250 billion (US$10.5 million). Business -- Vietnam Airlines will re-initiate its joint venture agreement with Air France after a COVID-induced halt, said Nguyen Tien Hoang, chief of the airline's France and Europe branch. -- Four Vietnamese firms -- Bamboo Airways, carmaker VinFast, Vietnam Airlines, and lender VietinBank -- are joining the small- and medium-sized enterprises' day held by the German Association for Small and Medium-sized Businesses (BVMW) on Wednesday, the Vietnam News Agency reported. -- The gold-plated Dolce Hanoi Golden Lake Hotel is on sale at a starting price of $250 million, with potential buyers coming from China, India, and the UAE, owner Nguyen Huu Duong has told reporters in Vietnam. The sale of the hotel is expected to be complete in April. -- Vietnamese electric vehicle maker VinFast delivered its first 45 cars to customers in California on Wednesday, Reuters reported. Lifestyle -- Vietnam's Nguyen Thanh Ha has made it to the top 10 of Miss Eco International 2023, taking place from February 22 to March 3 in Egypt. World News -- "The Brazilian Agriculture Ministry said on Thursday that Thailand, Iran and Jordan have temporarily suspended imports of beef from Brazil while authorities investigate a case of mad-cow disease in an animal from Para State," according to a statement sent to Reuters. -- "A hidden corridor nine metres (30 feet) long has been discovered close to the main entrance of the 4,500-year-old Great Pyramid of Giza, and this could lead to further findings, Egyptian antiquities officials said on Thursday," Reuters reported. Like us on Facebook or follow us on Twitter to get the latest news about Vietnam!

What you need to know today in Vietnam:

Politics

-- Leaders of Laos, China, Cambodia, and Cuba have extended their congratulations to Vo Van Thuong on his election as State President of Vietnam on Thursday, according to the Vietnam News Agency.

Society

-- Police in Dak Lak Province, located in Vietnam's Central Highlands, said on Wednesday they had busted a gambling ring whose transactions reached VND250 billion (US$10.5 million).

Business

-- Vietnam Airlines will re-initiate its joint venture agreement with Air France after a COVID-induced halt, said Nguyen Tien Hoang, chief of the airline's France and Europe branch.

-- Four Vietnamese firms -- Bamboo Airways, carmaker VinFast, Vietnam Airlines, and lender VietinBank -- are joining the small- and medium-sized enterprises' day held by the German Association for Small and Medium-sized Businesses (BVMW) on Wednesday, the Vietnam News Agency reported.

-- The gold-plated Dolce Hanoi Golden Lake Hotel is on sale at a starting price of $250 million, with potential buyers coming from China, India, and the UAE, owner Nguyen Huu Duong has told reporters in Vietnam. The sale of the hotel is expected to be complete in April.

-- Vietnamese electric vehicle maker VinFast delivered its first 45 cars to customers in California on Wednesday, Reuters reported.

Lifestyle

-- Vietnam's Nguyen Thanh Ha has made it to the top 10 of Miss Eco International 2023, taking place from February 22 to March 3 in Egypt.

World News

-- "The Brazilian Agriculture Ministry said on Thursday that Thailand, Iran and Jordan have temporarily suspended imports of beef from Brazil while authorities investigate a case of mad-cow disease in an animal from Para State," according to a statement sent to Reuters.

-- "A hidden corridor nine metres (30 feet) long has been discovered close to the main entrance of the 4,500-year-old Great Pyramid of Giza, and this could lead to further findings, Egyptian antiquities officials said on Thursday," Reuters reported.

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Police in Binh Thanh District, Ho Chi Minh City said on Thursday afternoon that they are holding a man in custody for selling his boss Maybach wheels worth VND141 million (US$5,943) without obtaining the approval of the luxury car owner. Nguyen Manh Tuan, 35, a resident of District 10, has been arrested for an investigation of trust abuse in order to appropriate property. Two other men, 41-year-old Nguyen Tuan Anh, living in Thu Duc City, and 30-year-old Vo Phuong Phuoc Thanh, living in Hoc Mon District, have been apprehended for the investigation of consuming property acquired by another person in a crime. Tuan drove his boss, V.H.M.V., 31, on the latters Maybach from her home in Binh Thanh District to Thu Duc City on February 27. V. hired Tuan via Cho Tot, an online platform for re-commerce and unskilled labor recruitment, without having much information about him other than a photo of his citizen identification and still put him on probation. This supplied photo shows the set of wheels and tires from V.H.M.V.'s Maybach after being recovered by police officers. After taking V. to Thu Duc, Tuan took the car to a tire shop owned by Tuan Anh, who is also commonly known as Bi, on Le Trong Tan Street in Tan Phu District, instead of returning to V.s house. Tuan asked Tuan Anh to swap four sets of wheels and tires of the Maybach with four equivalent sets of another car. Tuan was paid VND7 million ($295) by Tuan Anh, who then sold the four sets of Maybach wheels and tires to Phuoc Thanh for VND33 million ($1,391). The incident was later discovered by V.s family and reported to police officers. Officers quickly arrested the three suspects and recovered the appropriated car parts, whose market value is estimated at more than VND141 million. According to police officers, Tuan had had a conviction for property theft, while Tuan Anh had been convicted of embezzlement of state property. Like us on Facebook or follow us on Twitter to get the latest news about Vietnam!

Police in Binh Thanh District, Ho Chi Minh City said on Thursday afternoon that they are holding a man in custody for selling his boss Maybach wheels worth VND141 million (US$5,943) without obtaining the approval of the luxury car owner.

Nguyen Manh Tuan, 35, a resident of District 10, has been arrested for an investigation of trust abuse in order to appropriate property.

Two other men, 41-year-old Nguyen Tuan Anh, living in Thu Duc City, and 30-year-old Vo Phuong Phuoc Thanh, living in Hoc Mon District, have been apprehended for the investigation of consuming property acquired by another person in a crime.

Tuan drove his boss, V.H.M.V., 31, on the latters Maybach from her home in Binh Thanh District to Thu Duc City on February 27.

V. hired Tuan via Cho Tot, an online platform for re-commerce and unskilled labor recruitment, without having much information about him other than a photo of his citizen identification and still put him on probation.

This supplied photo shows the set of wheels and tires from V.H.M.V.'s Maybach after being recovered by police officers.

After taking V. to Thu Duc, Tuan took the car to a tire shop owned by Tuan Anh, who is also commonly known as Bi, on Le Trong Tan Street in Tan Phu District, instead of returning to V.s house.

Tuan asked Tuan Anh to swap four sets of wheels and tires of the Maybach with four equivalent sets of another car.

Tuan was paid VND7 million ($295) by Tuan Anh, who then sold the four sets of Maybach wheels and tires to Phuoc Thanh for VND33 million ($1,391).

The incident was later discovered by V.s family and reported to police officers.

Officers quickly arrested the three suspects and recovered the appropriated car parts, whose market value is estimated at more than VND141 million.

According to police officers, Tuan had had a conviction for property theft, while Tuan Anh had been convicted of embezzlement of state property.

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Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, March 3)  Local police with jurisdiction over a suspected hazing death called on other victims to get in touch with authorities to avoid facing charges.

The Binan, Laguna police said two other victims in the fraternity rites that killed Adamson University student John Matthew Salilig are considered suspects until they surface to authorities.

Panawagan natin doon sa dalawang biktima na napalo din o nag-undergo ng initiation rites na pumunta dito sa ating police station at gusto natin ay mawala kayo doon sa listahan ng mga suspects, Binan chief of police Lt. Col.Virgilio Macedonia Jopia told CNN Philippines The Source on Friday.

[Translation: We call the two victims who were also hit or underwent initiation rites to proceed here at the police station because we want to remove you from the list of suspects.]

The victims may also be issued with a warrant of arrest if they fail to reach out to the police, he said.

Saliligs body was found buried in a lot in Imus Cavite, and Roi Osmond dela Cruz, who survived with injuries, were named as two of the four victims of the initiation rites held by members of the Tau Gamma Phi (Triskilion) fraternity.

The Philippine National Police on Thursday identified the suspects as Lalan Hernandez, Christian Cruz, Earl Miguel Queano Ursolino, Daniel Perry, Ralph Tan, Ryan Ray Camangyan, Carlos Miguel Rovillos, Aron James Cruz, Lester John De Lara Sus, and Arjay Bryle Arao. They remain at-large.

Jopia said Dela Cruz testified the Salilig, 24, and two others were beaten by a wooden paddle as part of the fraternitys welcoming rites, while the neophyte was dripped with melted candle wax.

Authorities have filed cases for violation of the Anti-Hazing Act of 2018 against six arrested members of the fraternity directly involved in the activity, Jopia said. One of the suspects is the owner of the house where the incident took place, he added.

Another suspect surrendered to Cavite Gov. Jonvic Remulla, and is now under police custody, Jopia said.
The Peoples Committee of Da Nang in central Vietnam, alongside representatives from Sun Group, on Wednesday announced that the Da Nang International Fireworks Festival (DIFF) will return to the city from June 3 to July 8 after a three-year hiatus due to the COVID-19 pandemic. According to Sun Group, the 2023 DIFF is the main event of the 'WOW Da Nang' program, an integral initiative under the groups 'WOW Vietnam' tourism campaign. The 2023 DIFF will be held on a stage along the bank of the Han River. The event will see participation from seven international pyrotechnic teams from the UK, Italy, Poland, France, Australia, Canada, Finland, as well as a team from Da Nang. The Vietnamese and Finnish teams compete following the festivals opening ceremony on June 3 evening. The teams from Canada and France hold their fireworks displays on June 10, while those from Australia and Italy have their turn on June 17, followed by Poland and England on June 24. The finale takes place on the evening of July 8. With the theme 'The World Without Gap,' the 2023 DIFF will honor the strong recovery of the worlds tourism following the COVID-19 pandemic. In addition to fireworks displays, a variety of other activities will be held in the city in conjunction with the festival. Both Sun Group and Vietnamese tourism as a whole have experienced difficulties over the past few years, but the festival is expected to help aid both in their comeback. Sun Group contributed nearly VND150 billion (US$6.4 million) toward the Da Nang International Fireworks Festival in 2019, which helped attract nearly one million local and foreign travelers to the coastal city. This year's festival is the 11th DIFF to have been organized in Da Nang. It was last organized in 2019 before putting itself on hold for three years due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Like us on Facebook or follow us on Twitter to get the latest news about Vietnam!

The Peoples Committee of Da Nang in central Vietnam, alongside representatives from Sun Group, on Wednesday announced that the Da Nang International Fireworks Festival (DIFF) will return to the city from June 3 to July 8 after a three-year hiatus due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

According to Sun Group, the 2023 DIFF is the main event of the 'WOW Da Nang' program, an integral initiative under the groups 'WOW Vietnam' tourism campaign.

The 2023 DIFF will be held on a stage along the bank of the Han River.

The event will see participation from seven international pyrotechnic teams from the UK, Italy, Poland, France, Australia, Canada, Finland, as well as a team from Da Nang.

The Vietnamese and Finnish teams compete following the festivals opening ceremony on June 3 evening.

The teams from Canada and France hold their fireworks displays on June 10, while those from Australia and Italy have their turn on June 17, followed by Poland and England on June 24.

The finale takes place on the evening of July 8.

With the theme 'The World Without Gap,' the 2023 DIFF will honor the strong recovery of the worlds tourism following the COVID-19 pandemic.

In addition to fireworks displays, a variety of other activities will be held in the city in conjunction with the festival.

Both Sun Group and Vietnamese tourism as a whole have experienced difficulties over the past few years, but the festival is expected to help aid both in their comeback.

Sun Group contributed nearly VND150 billion (US$6.4 million) toward the Da Nang International Fireworks Festival in 2019, which helped attract nearly one million local and foreign travelers to the coastal city.

This year's festival is the 11th DIFF to have been organized in Da Nang.

It was last organized in 2019 before putting itself on hold for three years due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Like us on Facebook or follow us on Twitter to get the latest news about Vietnam!
A defamation case won last August by SKY News presenter Erin Molan against Daily Mail Australia is headed to a retrial following an appeal by the publishers.

Molan was previously awarded $150,000 following an article and two tweets by the Daily Mail which accused her of appearing to mock Polynesian names on 2GB in 2020. She maintained the broadcast had nothing to do with mocking someones name and ethnicity.

On Friday three judges set aside the ruling and sent the case back to the Federal Court to be re-tried.

Lawyers for the publisher  and for Molan  agreed presiding Justice Robert Bromwich had failed to consider all the evidence originally put forward in Daily Mail Australias defence.

Issues that Justice Bromwich will be required to determine include whether Molan was defamed, and if so, whether the publisher can rely upon defences including whether it was contextually true she engaged in racist behaviour.

Both sides were also ordered to attempt mediation by the end of the month.

Molan maintains she did not intend to mock anyone and is not racist.
Next week on Q+A is in Melbourne to discuss freedom of speech, stories  and who gets to tell them.

As a censorship debate rages over cuts and rewrites to apparently make Roald Dahls childrens books more palatable to todays readers, the publisher now says it will produce two versions of his novels  with and without the changes. As social mores and views change, what does that mean for literature of the past? Are some books simply too offensive for a modern audience?

Literature can help us make sense of the world  but what happens to those readers who dont see themselves reflected in stories? Or see themselves as little more than a stereotype? Is there a way to celebrate differences without defining people by them?

Meanwhile, the approaching referendum on a Voice to Parliament is forcing Australians to decide who gets to have a say in our future. And within the yes and no camps there are differing views  which one will prevail? Does a binary question allow for enough nuance in the discussion?

And the PM is being accused of breaking faith with voters as Labor confirms its plan to wind back tax concessions on multi-million-dollar superannuation balances. So should politicians be allowed to change their views? Does being locked into a promise stymie policy?

Panellists:

David Hare, British playwright;

Teela Reid, Wiradjuri and Wailwan lawyer ;

Pragya Agarwal, Author and behavioural scientist;

Matt Thistlethwaite, Assistant Minister for the Republic;

and Andrew Bragg, Liberal Senator for NSW.

Monday, March 6 at 9.35pm on ABC.
The South Australian Film Corporation has thanked Board Member Tony Ayres (Stateless, Fires, Glitch, Clickbait), who is finishing up after three years of service.

SAFC CEO Kate Croser said: As an award-winning Australian showrunner, writer and director with an internationally acclaimed reputation, Tony has brought a deeply informed and astute industry voice to the SAFC Board. His wealth of production experience, global marketplace knowledge and extensive networks have all been invaluable to the organisation and helped shape future directions for the continued growth of the sector. On behalf of the SAFC, Id like to thank Tony for his contribution and look forward to seeing what incredible productions he creates next.

SAFC Interim Board Chair Miriam Silva AM said: Tonys insights into the screen industry both nationally and globally, and his strong support for boosting and progressing diversity and inclusion in the sector, have been crucial to steering SAFC agency strategy. On behalf of the SAFC Board and team Id like to thank him for his dedication and commitment to supporting and championing the SA screen sector.

Tony Ayres said: It has been an honour to serve on the SAFC Board, particularly during a time of such remarkable industry growth. Id like to thank the SAFC staff and Board members for their support, and I look forward to watching the continued growth and success of the South Australian screen industry.
OSLO (Reuters) - The court case and verdict against Belarus human rights activist Ales Bialiatski are a tragedy, the leader of the Norwegian Nobel Committee told Reuters on Friday.

"Ales Bialiatski is one of the foremost fighters for democracy, freedom and human rights in Belarus. The court case and the accusations against him are politically motivated," Berit Reiss-Andersen said in an interview.

Bialiatski won the 2022 Nobel Peace Prize together with Russian human rights organisation Memorial and Ukrainian human rights group Center for Civil Liberties.

"The case, the verdict against him, is a tragedy for him personally," Reiss-Andersen said.

"But it also shows that the regime in Belarus does not tolerate freedom of expression and opposition ... We regret that he has to continue his fight by being held in jail."

(Reporting by Gwladys Fouche, editing by Terje Solsvik)
FILE PHOTO: The logo of German carmaker Volkswagen is seen on a rim cap in a showroom of a Volkswagen car dealer in Brussels

HAMBURG (Reuters) -Volkswagen's supervisory board will on Friday discuss plans for two new factories in North America, one production plant and one battery cell factory, two people familiar with the matter said.

While the committee is expected to approve a site for its Scout brand in the United States, discussions around a gigafactory are open-ended, the sources said. Other issues on the meeting's agenda are Volkswagen's annual results and its dividend, the people said.

A person familiar with the matter earlier this week said the supervisory board would discuss a new plant for the Scout brand, which is a key part of Volkswagen's target to gain 10% market share in the United States.

Separately, Volkswagen CEO Oliver Blume in December said the carmaker had begun searching for a site for a battery cell factory in North America, adding Canada was "one logical option" due to its raw material resources.

"We are still working hard to find a suitable location for our first gigafactory in North America and are in good, constructive talks," a Volkswagen spokesperson said on Friday, adding no decision has been made yet.

(Reporting by Jan Schwartz; Writing by Christoph Steitz, Editing bz Miranda Murray and Matthias Williams)
3 March 1968: The day the authorities came for the radio pirates

Its hard to emphasise just how different the way we discover music today is from the 60s. Now, almost every song in recording history is available to anyone with a subscription to Spotify, Tidal or just YouTube. Recommendations pass through TikTok trends and algorithm playlists.

The streaming generation is already lightyears from the recent memories of buying CDs from music shops with fans putting their taste together from a combination of music magazines, personal recommendations, and the chance discovery of a new CD.

Even this would have been liberating when compared to the music landscape of the early 60s in the United Kingdom. For a decade defined by shifting musical tastes, the new era of popular music from artists like The Beatles and The Rolling Stones wasnt yet accessible from the solitary taste-maker, the radio.

That didnt mean the appetite for hearing pop and rock music on the radio wasnt there. And instead of waiting for heritage stations to change their ways, the entrepreneuring music fans of the day acted. They became pirates.

When I say pirates, Im being literal. Pirate radio became popular in the 60s as radio DJs and presenters took to ships in the international waters near Britain to broadcast the songs they liked.

One of the first examples of a pirate radio station was Radio Luxembourg, which had run an English-language service since 1933 from Luxembourg to get around a strict monopoly on radio licensing. Its still broadcasting today from its home in Luxembourg today.

But the first proper British pirate radio station was Radio Caroline. Founded by Irish businessman Ronan O'Rahilly and Australian music publisher Alan Crawford, Radio Caroline was broadcast from a boat off the Essex coast.

Radio Caroline set a trend for the 60s and by 1967 there were 10 different pirate radio stations broadcasting for a daily audience of up to 15 million people. Alongside Crawfords ship the MV Mi Amigo, the pairs boats had some of the brightest and best talents in music DJing come aboard to share their favourite tracks of the day.

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The pirate radio stations also became known for their raucous atmospheres and rock n roll parties. Everything was going well and in the spirit of the 60s until in 1967, the law came knocking.

The British government legislated against pirate radio stations, making their broadcasts illegal. The move also had the BBC open up its radio offering, setting up the Radio 1 station to play pop and rock music. Many of _Radio Caroline_s presenters were employed by Radio 1.

In one sense, the original goal of the pirate radio stations had been achieved, rock music was on popular commercial radio. But in another, it was the death of an era of anarchic music lovers taking control over the channels the public defined their music tastes.

On this day in 1968, authorities boarded and seized the Caroline and Mi Amigo ships and towed them to a salvage company in the Netherlands.

While that might have been the death of the original version of pirate radio, it continues to this day. Offshore stations may have become illegal, but land-based pirate radio stations continue to proliferate as music fans refuse to wait for permission to broadcast. The launch of the Dread Broadcasting Corporation (DBC) in 1980 signified Britains first black owned radio station, playing music for the Black community of London.

Radio Caroline is still broadcasting to this day. The story of the days before the raid in 1968 has been liberally fictionalised in the 2009 Richard Curtis film The Boat that Rocked.
The University of North Georgia's (UNG) Blue Ridge Campus made history as the spring 2023 semester began by holding its first chemistry class.

Taught by Dr. Lori Wilson, Survey of Chemistry I is the first class and lab of its kind on this campus. There are 12 students enrolled in the class.

"This is significant because it opens up a course that had only previously been available in Dahlonega or Gainesville for students," Sandy Ott, Blue Ridge Campus executive director, said. "This opportunity opens up accessibility and opportunity for students pursuing health science and education degrees because it is a required course."

The resource will be used for additional lab science courses including environmental science, biology and geology, exemplifying UNG's commitment to providing access to this community and region, Ott said.
According to experts and officials, Viet Nam must do more to prevent wildlife trafficking, a major threat to the decline of biodiversity.

Despite progress made in banning bear bile farms, the protection of this animal should be further accelerated.

The government initiated a programme aimed at phasing out bear bile farming in the country in 2000s. In 2005, more than 4,300 captive bears were registered and microchipped as part of an effort to prevent new bears from entering farms. Nearly 20 years after the programme was launched, nearly 300 bile bears remain on farms across the country, and 40 provinces have become bear farm-free as of last year.

In 2022, Binh Phuoc, Thai Binh and Ha Nam became bear farm-free. HCM City, which used to be one of the countrys bear farm hot spots, had only 13 bears at private establishments.

Meanwhile, as of October 2022, the capital Ha Noi still led the country in the number of farmed bears, with a total of 140 individuals, accounting for 54.5 per cent of total farmed bears in the whole country. Ha Noi is forecast to become the last locality to have a bear farm in Viet Nam.

Bui Thi Ha, deputy director of the Education for Nature-Vietnam (ENV) suggested that Ha Nois authorities have more drastic measures to end farm bears in the city by 2025.

Tiger protection

Tigers have been considered an endangered, precious and rare wild animal protected at the highest level in accordance with Vietnamese and international laws.

The law has provided for strong sanctions to handle all violations related to tigers with a penalty of up to 15 years in prison for offenders. However, the illegal trade in tigers is still a serious problem due to the demand for and use of products from this species.

In 2022 alone, the ENV recorded 399 cases of tiger-related violations, with more than 88 per cent of cases detected in cyberspace (353/399). According to the organisation, in addition to strictly handling violators, the authorities need to strengthen communication work, raise people's awareness, and advise people not to trade or use tiger products to help protect tigers and avoid legal consequences.

Legal frameworks

According to o Quang Tung, director of the Endangered Wildlife Conservation Project under the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, the legal framework for management and control of wildlife animal exploitation, breeding, processing and trading activities is complete, comprehensive and in line with practical requirements.

The Law on Forestry in 2017 and related legal documents clearly stipulate prohibited acts (including hunting, catching, raising, confining, killing, storing, transporting, trading of wildlife animals, and collecting wildlife specimens of forest plant and animal species contrary to the provisions of the law). The sanctions for violations are also strict enough to deter violations.

The 2015 Criminal Code, with amendments made in 2017, is considered the most progressive law dealing with wildlife crimes. The law alleviates sanctions and removes the death sentence on some kinds of crimes, but imposes heavier penalties on wildlife criminals.

The dissemination of the law, the inter-sectoral coordination of ministries, branches and localities in law enforcement, inspection, control, prevention and handling of violations have been carried out synchronously and regularly, he added.

Many violations are detected and strictly handled in accordance with the law. Along with that, people's awareness has been enhanced and changed, Tung said, adding that the demand for using wild animals and wildlife products for food, pharmaceuticals and jewellery has declined.

According to the ENV, in 2022, authorities have seized or received and transferred a total of live 2,101 wildlife animals including 97 monkeys, 22 bears (Asiatic black bear), 12 tigers and 295 tortoises and turtles.

An annual report by the organisation showed that last year 1,247 online wildlife ads were successfully removed thanks to the intervention of the authorities, the law enforcement recommendation of the ENV and the coordination of social network providers.

Since early 2022, a total of 92 pages and groups for wildlife trading with 243,336 members have been deactivated.

Biodiversity that needs to be preserved

Viet Nam is ranked 16th among the Earth's most biodiverse countries and is one of the ten richest centres of biodiversity in the world with many different types of ecosystems and genetic sources.

With a wide range of latitudes, Viet Nam's climate varies from humid tropical conditions in the southern lowlands to temperate conditions in the northern highlands. Consequently, the country enjoys a diversity of natural environments and a high level of biodiversity in its forests, waterways, and marine areas, according to a report by the World Wide Fund For Nature (WWF).

It is home to an estimated 12,000 species of plants. About 33 per cent of the flora of northern Viet Nam are endemic and, nationally, the percentage of endemism could be as high as 50 per cent.

The country also has a wealth of fauna varieties: 276 species of mammals, 828 species of birds, 180 species of reptiles, 80 species of amphibians, 472 species of freshwater fish, and many thousands of invertebrate species have been identified.

These groups show a high degree of local distinctiveness, with many endemic species of great scientific and economic significance. Of the 34 globally threatened birds identified as occurring in Viet Nam, 10 are restricted-range endemic forest species. Sixty fish species and four primate species are also endemic to Viet Nam.

However, the diversity in Viet Nam is in danger because of unsustainable and poorly managed exploitation, an increase in population and rapid urbanisation, according to the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment.

The reasons that lead to biodiversity decline are rapid population growth, pollution, deforestation, the over-exploitation of marine resources and widely applied new species without careful examination. That has led to 28 per cent of mammals, 10 per cent of birds, 21 per cent of reptiles and amphibians facing risk of extinction.

The increase of wild animals trafficking and consumption has driven many rare species in the edge of extinction. The illegal consumption of wildlife not only massacres wild animal populations but also destroys ecosystems. VNS
HCM CITY  HCM City has great potential to become a UNESCO World Book Capital thanks to having a number of venues and events promoting reading, according to local officials.

World Book Capital is an initiative by the UN body to recognise cities around the world for promoting books and fostering reading, Lam inh Thang, director of the city Department of Information and Communications, said.

HCM City hopes to achieve that title by 2025, he said.

For that, it needs to foster reading, especially in rural and other underprivileged areas, and do surveys on reading habits to make policies supporting publishers, he said.

HCM City Book Street in District 1 is popular among book readers, and it received more than three million visitors, held 400 book-themed events and sold over 660,000 books last year.

Le Hoang, director of Book Street Ltd., said revenues increased by 113.7 per cent from 2021.

Other book venues such as Phu Lam and District 5 book parks are also very popular.

The city organises events meant to foster reading, such as the annual Book Festival during the Tet holidays.

It is home to 39 domestic and foreign publishers and 1,500 local libraries, and publishes over two million books every year besides 3.4 million ebooks.  VNS
TOKYO  Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Natural Resources and Environment Tran Hong Ha's participation in the Asia Zero Emission Community (AZEC) Ministerial Meeting in Tokyo will solidify Viet Nam's dedication to tackling climate change and reducing greenhouse gas emissions, Nguyen uc Minh, Charge d'affaires of the Vietnamese Embassy in Japan, has affirmed.

Minh spoke to the Vietnam News Agency before the Deputy PM's trip to Japan, highlighting Viet Nam's commitment to sustainable development and the nation's support for the Japanese Governments initiatives towards achieving net zero emissions.

The AZEC Ministerial Meeting is scheduled for March 2-3, and it serves as a platform for countries to discuss strategies and initiatives to address climate change.

The meeting, initiated by Japanese PM Kishida Fumio, is the first ministerial event among Japan, Southeast Asian countries, and Australia to discuss measures for supporting renewable energy development and use and reducing greenhouse gas emissions.

According to the official, the participation of the deputy head of government is important to reaffirm Viet Nam's determination to implement its commitments to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and adapt to climate change.

He said that Deputy PM Has attendance at the conference would promote cooperation on environment and energy and discussions on setting concrete roadmaps to develop initiatives.

Minh noted that Viet Nam is one of the countries most affected by climate change. The World Bank estimates that climate variation will weigh 3.5 per cent of the Southeast Asian nation's Gross Domestic Product (GDP) by 2050.

Viet Nam has set a target to become an industrialised country by 2030. To achieve this goal, the country needs to carry out the energy transition, transform the economy to achieve net zero, and protect people from natural disasters and the negative impacts of climate change. The transfer of technology and the training of high-quality human resources are prerequisites for achieving these objectives. Viet Nam will focus on these fields at the conference and seek the cooperation of developed countries, especially Japan.

As Minister of Natural Resources and Environment, Deputy PM Ha has participated in establishing Viet Nams strategic partnership with Japan and voiced support for the Japanese Governments initiatives towards the goal of net zero emissions.

The two countries have a long-standing cooperation in multiple spheres, including environmental protection and climate change. Realising the importance of cooperation to resolve global challenges, they have carried out various initiatives to minimize the impacts of climate change and achieved some accomplishments. They have completed policies and implemented projects to respond to climate change.

Nearly US$1.5 billion was mobilised to implement programmes and projects in 61 provinces and cities in Viet Nam through the Support Programme to Respond to Climate Change from 2011-2020. With the support of the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA), the Vietnamese Government adopted the Green Growth Strategy in 2012 to promote sustainable development by reducing greenhouse gas emissions, improving energy efficiency, and promoting the use of renewable energy.

Viet Nam is among the countries most affected by climate change, experiencing droughts, floods, and sea level rise. Japan has helped Viet Nam adapt to these impacts through various initiatives, including the projects of integrated coastal zone management and the Hong (Red) River Delta climate change adaptation. Japan has also been supporting Viet Nam's efforts to adapt to climate change, control environmental pollution, and protect forests as Viet Nam faces deforestation and forest degradation due to illegal logging and the expansion of agricultural production, according to the diplomat.

The two countries have signed a cooperation plan on climate change toward carbon neutrality by 2050, which is important to implementing the Vietnamese and Japanese PMs commitments announced at the 26th UN Climate Change Conference (COP26) in 2021.

Bilateral collaboration in environmental and climate change has recorded enormous attainments and positive effects. However, much needs to be done to deal with these global challenges, and the countries partnership will continue playing an important role in the efforts to achieve sustainable development, Minh added. VNS
ONG NAI  A manager of a motor company in ong Nai Province is being investigated over allegations he beat a female member of staff.

South Korean Seon Chang Hwa works for OT MOTOR VINA CO., LTD in Nhon Trach Industry Park.

On Thursday, a woman working at the same company told police she was attacked by Chang Hwa at the factory.

The 32-year-old said that around 8.15am on Tuesday, an argument started between her and the manager who then punched her in the face and dragged her across the floor by her hair.

The woman claims he continued to kick her until other members of staff intervened and broke up the altercation.

She was later taken to Long Thanh General Hospital for treatment. Police are investigated the alleged assault.  VNS
Industry experts believe that industrial real estate will be the brightest light in Vietnam's real estate market in 2023. Photo: Le Toan

As of February 20, according to the Ministry of Planning and Investment, the real estate sector placed second among businesses and areas that are attracting foreign investment with the total investment capital of almost $396.9 million, representing more than 12.8 per cent of the total. Compared to 2022, this figure climbed more than threefold.

Several industry professionals believe that industrial real estate will be the brightest light in the nation's real estate market in 2023. According to Trang Bui, general director of Cushman & Wakefield Vietnam, the country is the top market for industrial real estate investments.

According to her, Vietnam's location between China and Singapore and bordering the East Sea  one of the world's most important marine trading zones  gives it a strategic advantage.

Vietnam is also the gateway to Laos, northeastern Cambodia, Thailand, and southwest China, and its location at the junction of global marine and aviation routes facilitates trade with both neighbouring and distant nations.

Around 40 per cent of cargo travelling from the Indian Ocean to the Pacific will transit the East Sea en route to China, Japan, South Korea, and the United States.

Economist and Associate Professor Dr. Dinh Trong Thinh determines that Vietnam's real estate still has deficiencies in some areas. Thus, there are still several aspects that would benefit from international investment. Specifically, infrastructure is the component that helps Vietnam to lure foreign investment in general, and the real estate industry in particular.

The tourism and resort real estate sectors follow. Although Vietnam has developed a number of attractive tourist and resort locations over time, unfortunately, the optimal method for managing the firms and the substantial client base has not yet been established.

"If international companies invest, it will increase the number of tourists visiting Vietnam. In addition, there are relatively few items in the low-cost commercial housing market since investment is primarily concentrated on high-quality products," stated Thinh.

According to the General Statistical Office, the number of newly founded real estate enterprises in the first two months of 2023 was just 550, a 62.4 per cent decrease from the same time in the previous year.

Additionally, 235 businesses were closed, an increase of roughly 20 per cent over the same time frame.

There were 608 real estate businesses that resumed operations, a decrease of 18.8 per cent.

Industrial real estate faces up to pressures Although it was one of the rare segments to see positive growth in 2022, industrial real estate is forecast to suffer this year due to global macroeconomic uncertainties.

Real estate bailout perilous for system As more than $52 billion is due to banks and bondholders from real estate corporations, not to mention the requirement for additional loans, experts say a purge in the real estate market is unavoidable.
Flavors Vietnam 2023, the fourth-such annual gastronomical festival, will take place on March 10 in Hanoi and March 17 in Ho Chi Minh City. There, New Zealand companies will introduce various food products and ingredients that have been carefully sourced and processed to meet the highest standards of quality and safety.

The introduction of New Zealand products to Vietnams F&B industry is expected to raise the standard of offerings in the country, enabling hotel and restaurant industry partners to secure a reliable source of supplies while offering Vietnamese consumers new and exciting flavours.

New Zealand Ambassador to Vietnam Tredene Cherie Dobson expressed her excitement about the collaboration between the two countries, saying, New Zealand's ingredients offer a unique flavour and texture profile that can enhance the taste of already famous Vietnamese dishes. Our commitment to sustainability means that we are a reliable and responsible source of high-quality ingredients for the Vietnamese food service industry.

The total trade value between the two countries exceeded $1.5 billion in the year ended June 2022, with F&B playing a crucial role in the overall picture," added Dobson. "We believe that the combination of New Zealands finest ingredients and Vietnams rich culinary traditions can take the food service industry here to the next level,

The food sector in Vietnam has been thriving in recent years and is expected to reach a market value of $50 billion by 2025. Demand for high-quality and sustainable F&B products is expected to drive this growth. The hotel and restaurant industry, despite enjoying the many advantages of an emerging market, faces several challenges regarding the standards of food safety and the quality of supply sources.

New Zealand and its food products could be a solution to meet these needs, as the country has long been known for its high standards and focus on quality. The diverse landscape and climate provide an ideal environment for producing a wide range of fresh and nutritious ingredients, including meat, seafood, dairy, and fruit.

Fonterra, a New Zealand-based multinational dairy company, and the worlds largest exporter of dairy products, has been exporting to Vietnam for over a decade and has recently expanded its range to include premium dairy products such as Anchor butter, cheese, and milk.

Meadow Fresh, also from New Zealand, will showcase its line of UHT full cream milk, while Sanford, New Zealands largest and oldest seafood company, will showcase fresh offerings from sustainable sources such as their premium quality salmon and scampi sourced from the pristine waters of the Pacific Ocean.

Also featured will be Kono Seafood, Highford with their first-rate lamb and beef products, and Tatua, renowned for producing high-quality dairy products using sustainable and ethical practices. Tatua will showcase its Mascarpone cheese, a versatile ingredient that can be used in sweet and savoury dishes, and is popular among home cooks and professional chefs alike.
The event was held on the occasion of the official visit to Vietnam by the State Secretary of the Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Erling Rimestad. It attracted several Vietnamese and Norwegian officials, along with representatives from a number of companies from both countries.

During the seminar, they shared their aquaculture experiences and expertise, as well as discussed the potential for business-to-business cooperation in the marine farming sector.

The event involved a forum for authorities, companies and stakeholders from both countries to meet and explore practical opportunities to collaborate, particularly in sustainable development where technologies and science-based solutions play a key role. At the seminar, the Norwegian Seafood Council announced a new plan to introduce more Norwegian seafood products to the Vietnamese market.

In her introductory remarks, the Ambassador of Norway to Vietnam Hilde Solbakken said, Norway takes pride in the cooperation with Vietnam in the fisheries, aquaculture, and marine sectors, and sees this as a central part of the more than 50 years of friendship and cooperation since we established diplomatic relations in 1971.

Visiting Vietnam for the first time, State Secretary Rimestad spoke highly of the two countries' bilateral ties, particularly their productive relationship within the fisheries sector.

We find ourselves at the top of the list of seafood exporters. Norway as the second biggest in the world, and Vietnam as the third biggest," said Rimestad. "We are in the fortunate position that this does not make us competitors, in fact, we complement each other as seafood nations. The processing of Norwegian mackerel in Vietnam shows how we can both benefit in the seafood value chain".

Director general of the Fisheries Department Tran Dinh Luan shared the fisheries sector's priorities, particularly the shift from a traditional aquaculture model to a more industrial-sized scale, with a greater focus on the quality of products and environmental protection. Vietnam has made important achievements in marine aquaculture technologies and techniques, and is now shifting to marine aquaculture on an industrial scale, which is more sustainable from both a social and economic perspective, said Luan.

The director general also expressed a desire to learn from Norways experience in developing the branding for Norwegian salmon in order to develop a national brand for Vietnams aquaculture products.

Vietnam has already set out a number of goals, including the reduction of fishing intensity and enhancing marine aquaculture in certain areas, as specified in the Fisheries Development Strategy issued in 2021.

Norway to partner with Vietnam to "awaken" offshore wind power potential Norwegian Ambassador to Vietnam Grete Lchen and Commercial Counsellor Arne-Kjetil Lian recently have handed over the 'Vietnam Supply Chain Study Report' to Vietnamese Minister of Industry and Trade Nguyen Hong Dien.

Norway - Supporting Vietnams energy transition with world-leading excellence in renewable energy With the prime minister announcing Vietnams net-zero target by 2050 at the World Leaders Summit at the United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP26) in Glasgow, the country will take stronger measures to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by transitioning from fossil fuel into cleaner and greener energy. Norwegian Ambassador to Vietnam Grete Lchen told Bich Thuy how Vietnam can achieve these targets with lessons from her nation.

Norways world-class expertise in supporting the energy transition In announcing new net-zero targets by 2050 in November, Vietnam will take stronger measures to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by transitioning from fossil fuels. Norwegian Ambassador to Vietnam Grete Lchen told VIRs Bich Thuy how Vietnam can achieve these targets with lessons from her nation.
Illustrative image (Photo: VNA)

Prague  Overseas Vietnamese in the Czech Republic actively contributed their ideas to the draft Land Law (revised) at a conference held on March 2 in both online and in-person formats.

The conference collecting ideas of overseas Vietnamese on the draft revised law was jointly held by the State Committee for Overseas Vietnamese Affairs and the Vietnam Fatherland Front Central Committee, and was connected to several places in Europe, Asia, America and Oceania.

Vietnamese Ambassador to the Czech Republic Thai Xuan Dung said that the draft revised Land Law shows a great change in the mindset of the Vietnamese Party and State in turning land into a resource for national construction and development.

In order to promote its effectiveness, it must be close to the reality of people's lives, so it is necessary to get opinions from Vietnamese people living abroad, stressed Dung.

He expressed his belief that the amended Land Law will create more favourable opportunities for overseas Vietnamese, including those in the Czech Republic, to contribute to the cause of national building and development.

Talking to the Vietnam News Agency (VNA)'s resident correspondents in Prague, Nguyen Duy Nhien, Chairman of the Vietnamese Association in the Czech Republic, said he hoped that through the consultation round, many problems related to administrative procedures will be removed so that overseas Vietnamese can easily inherit the land left by their grandparents and parents.

Nhien also expressed his belief that with the contributions of overseas Vietnamese, the Land Law will be much more complete, creating favourable conditions for overseas Vietnamese to invest in their homeland.

Compared to the current law, the draft Land Law (amended) has many new points regarding the regulations on foreign-related land management and use, such as the removal of the restriction on the number of houses overseas Vietnamese can buy, instead of one home or one apartment like at present.

Land law considerations for foreigners With the implementation of the Law on Land, many foreign businesses have encountered multiple challenges related to real estate while investing in Vietnam, Pham Duy Khuong, managing director of ASL Law, explains why the country must remove these issues as soon as possible to keep Vietnam attractive.

Opinions for draft revised Land Law collected from today Opinions for the draft Land Law (revised) will be collected from people from all walks of life from January 3 to March 15.
The Philippine Coast Guard collects seawater samples from an oil spill off Naujan on March 2. (Photo: AFP)

Hanoi - Authorities in the Philippines are exerting efforts to find and secure a sunken tanker loaded with 800,000 litres of industrial fuel oil that has started to leak into waters.

The tanker, Princess Empress, was travelling from Bataan province, near Manila capital city, to the central province of Iloilo on February 28 when it faced engine trouble and sank in rough seas.

The Philippine Coast Guard initially reported that a spillage spotted in the sea was diesel fuel from the stricken vessels engines and not the ships cargo of industrial oil.

But the Coast Guard said on March 2 that tests of water samples showed that some of the industrial oil had leaked into the sea off Naujan city.

The spill had spread over 24 sq.km by March 1, the Coast Guard said previously. It is not known how much diesel fuel and how much of the industrial fuel oil cargo is in the water.

The Philippines assists in reducing hurdles for Vietnam's cement exports An agreement to export cement and clinker to the Philippines is a bright spot for the Vietnamese cement industry's demand-supply mismatch.

Floods in Philippines leave 51 dead The death toll from floods in the Philippines last week has risen to 51, the Philippine government said on December 3, adding that over 33,000 people still remained in temporary shelters.
Cai Mep-Thi Vai seaport cluster in the southern province of Ba Ria-Vung Tau. (Photo: VNA)

Hanoi - The railway network connecting economic hubs and seaports needs to be designed as the key arteries of the economy, Deputy Prime Minister Tran Hong Ha said at a meeting with the Ministry of Transport and relevant departments on March 2.

The discussion focused on the planning, policies, solutions and resources to implement the railway and seaport planning for the 2021-2030 period, with a vision to 2050.

A report by the Ministry of Transport said that the goal is that by 2030, the network of seaports in Vietnam can handle up to 1.4 trillion tonnes of goods and 10.3 million passengers.

Around 33,600ha of land and 606,000ha of water surface are expected to be used to develop this network. The demand for investment by 2030 is about 313 trillion VND (13.2 billion USD).

This funding is expected to be mobilised from the private sector, among other sources. The State budget capital is focused on public maritime infrastructure and key economic areas.

Ha also proposed an overall review of the general, specialised and inland waterway ports for renovation, utilising the transportation potential of the dense river network across the country.

He added: The railway network planning must not only stop at renovating and repairing, but follow a modern, comprehensive direction to respond to the development demands in the future.

The roadmap also needs to be supported by in-depth studies for synchronised implementation of detailed plans.

Suggesting selecting one railway route to focus on, the Deputy PM asked the Ministry of Transport to work closely with the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment for land use at intersections and stations.

He also asked the transport ministry to focus on several key railway and seaports projects in the 2023-2025 plan, while carefully reviewing and estimating investment resources, economic efficiency and the role of the State in the projects to be deployed in the following phase.

The railway network investment and development projects to 2023 are expected to make breakthroughs on the main routes of great demand, utilising its strengths in transporting a large volume of goods and passengers through medium and long distances.

The total demand for capital for the railway network by 2030 is estimated at about 240 trillion VND (10.1 billion USD), using the State budget as well as other sources.

After the master plans for the railway and seaport networks are approved by the Prime Minister, the transport ministry will actively implement the project, conducting evaluation after the first year, completing regulations and detailed plans, and allocating capital sources for the medium-term.

Boosting international railway transport investment The initial successes of the railway container transport network from Vietnam to Europe have provided a fulcrum inspiring the railway sector to increasingly engage with the international network.

Seaport and logistics advances get European flavour Vietnam is seeking European experiences and support in developing seaport and logistics infrastructure projects, with opportunities available for investors who are showing increased interest in the Southeast Asian market.
TTI has invested in building a modern manufacturing plant that meets LEED environmental standards in the Saigon Hi-Tech Park (SHTP), which is known as the Silicon Valley of Ho Chi Minh City, marking a turning point in its global growth strategy.

According to TTI Vietnam, We have identified Vietnam as a strategic location where we are committed to long-term investment and the building of a supply chain ecosystem with talent attraction policies that will contribute to the development of the cordless power tool industry in particular, and Vietnam's economy in general.

Since its presence in Vietnam in 2018, TTI has expanded its production activities and connected with local suppliers with the aim of constantly building a flexible supply chain ecosystem for its manufacturing operations.

Leaders of the Ministry of Science and Technology, Ho Chi Minh City People's Committee, and SHTP viewing TTI's products

TTI has nearly 8,000 employees working at eight production facilities, a representative office in Ho Chi Minh City, and Milwaukee Heavy Duty Centres in Ho Chi Minh City and Hanoi.

The companies product areas include professional tools, outdoor equipment, floor care, and cleaning tools, most of which have operation in the nation.

In 2022, TTI reaffirmed the sustainability throughout its business system, even during the increasingly challenging operating environment, especially thanks to the phenomenal growth of the flagship Milwaukee brand. It achieved a total revenue of over $13 billion worldwide and grew by 21.8 per cent in the local market.

Free cash flow increased in the second half of the year to reach $329 million at year-end. The gross margin improved for the 14th consecutive year to 39.3 per cent, up 54 basis points. Its earnings before interest and taxes increased by $1.2 billion on-year.

According to Horst Pudwill, TTIs president, with strong free cash flow growth and a healthy balance sheet, TTI is well positioned to further expand its leading position in the industry.

We are very confident in our ability to continue to drive market share growth and outperform the market in 2023, said Pudwill.

TTI is creating a wave of dramatic change in many businesses with its leadership in wireless technology, with battery development and cordless products underpinning its reputation.

TTI's commitment to reducing carbon emissions in its production activities is demonstrated through the construction of a modern LEED-certified production facility in the Saigon Hi-Tech Park.

By pioneering the use of Lithium-ion battery technology and applying brushless high-performance motor technology to create products that do not require complicated wiring, noise is minimised and enough power, operation time, and portability is ensured.

TTI has completely changed the way users and professionals think about power tools, floor care tools, or outdoor products.

HCM City leader welcomes German investors Secretary of the Ho Chi Minh City Partys Committee Nguyen Thien Nhan on August 5 hosted a reception for German investors who visited to explore investment opportunities in the southern hub of Vietnam.

Techtronic Industries seeking more Vietnamese suppliers Leading global cordless power equipment and floor care company Techtronic Industries Co., Ltd. (TTI) is actively searching for local suppliers to increase the localisation rate at its Vietnamese manufacturing facilities.

New investment wave starts despite COVID-19 The new wave of foreign investment triggered by COVID-19 and US-China trade tensions has become more visible, with outstanding overseas ventures being expanded in the first half of the year.
Thailand's recovery and expansion in the tourism industry boosted employment in hotels and restaurants as well as in wholesale and retail businesses. (Photo source: AFP)

Bangkok  The employment rate and working hours in the 4th quarter of 2022 in Thailand were similar to those before the COVID-19 pandemic, according to a report released on March 3 by the country's National Economic and Social Development Council (NESDC).

During the period, 39.6 million people were employed, marking an increase of 1.5 per cent over the same period in the previous year. Employment in the non-agricultural sector increased by 3.9 per cent.

According to the report, recovery and expansion in the tourism industry boosted employment in hotels and restaurants as well as in wholesale and retail businesses.

Meanwhile, employment in the transport, storage, and manufacturing sectors increased as entrepreneurs remained optimistic about future economic prospects.

Employment in the agricultural sector fell by 3.4 per cent due to flooding in southern provinces and labour relocation. Working hours in the sector also increased while 6.3 million workers in the sector were reported to work overtime.

The report also pointed out that hidden unemployment and quasi-unemployment declined by more than 28 per cent and 19 per cent respectively. Thailands unemployment rate dropped from 1.23 per cent in the third quarter to 1.15 per cent in the 4th quarter of the last year, with some 460,000 people out of work.

The report suggested more attention to employment for new graduates as about 230,000 recent graduates remained out of work, 64.5 per cent of them had been rejected by potential employers.

Thailand's capital pilots free space for street hawkers Thailand's capital city of Bangkok has kicked off a project to offer space free of charge for hawkers and street vendors in the heart of the city in a bid to clear cluttered pavements.

Thailands new strategies to attract foreign investors unveiled The Thai Board of Investment (BoI) on February 14 unveiled its strategies to attract foreign investors over the next three to five years.
VVietnam Airlines aircraft (Photo: VNA)

HCM City  Vietnam Airlines will cooperate with Air France to resume codeshare flights between Vietnam and France from March 26, the Saigon Times has reported.

A joint venture agreement between the two carriers was implemented in 2017. However, their flights were suspended due to the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic.

The cooperation between the two carriers, which revalidates from March 26, 2023, will strengthen the connection between the two carriers connecting centres, Noi Bai International Airport in Hanoi city, Tan Son Nhat International Airport in Ho Chi Minh City and Charles de Gaulle Airport in Paris.

Nguyen Tien Hoang, head of Vietnam Airlines Representative Office in France and Europe, said: The renewal of the joint venture agreement will bring passengers more flight options and optimise the products and services between France, Europe and Vietnam, contributing to the recovery of the aviation industry in the post-pandemic period.

Accordingly, Air France will operate codeshare flights with Vietnam Airlines for the route between Hanoi and Paris with a frequency of six flights per week on Mondays, Wednesdays, Thursdays, Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays, under the flight codes VN019 departing from Hanoi to Paris and VN018 departing from Paris to Hanoi using Airbus A350 aircraft.

Vietnam Airlines will conduct codeshare agreements with Air France on flights between HCM City and Paris under the flight codes AF258 departing from Paris to HCM City and AF253 departing from HCM City to Paris every Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday.

The two carriers also cooperate in providing services synchronously with their product lines to meet the diverse demands of the passengers.

Vietnam Airlines transported around 570,000 passengers between Vietnam and France in 2019. The resumption of codeshare flights between the carriers will reinforce the close relationship between them that have a long cooperation with each other in aircraft maintenance services and personnel training.

Vietnam Airlines focuses on digital transformation Vietnam Airlines launches new aircraft maintenance and technical management programme.

Vietnam Airlines: lease of eight A320NEO aircraft Vietnam Airlines Corporation is planning to lease eight A320NEO aircraft with a lease term of 143 months, with delivery in 2024.
An automobile production line (Source: VNA)

London  Vietnam has high potential to become a new production hub of the world in the context of the current transition of the supply chain, said Dr. Ho Quoc Tuan, a senior lecturer at Bristol University in the UK.

Speaking to Vietnam News Agency (VNA) correspondents in the UK, Dr. Tuan said that the COVID-19 pandemic and US-China trade tension are major factors prompting the shift in the global supply chain, mostly from China to other countries in the region.

He said the urgent need to diversify the global supply chain has created good chances for Vietnam to become one of the new production hubs of the world.

Vietnam is one of the countries that are most mentioned for the capacity of joining the global supply chain. Statistics showed that many big firms, including top US companies such as Intel and Apple, have moved their production to Vietnam. The country has also been listed as a competitor of China and India in these countries reports thanks to its advantages in low-cost labourers and attractive incentives for foreign investors.

However, Dr. Tuan underlined that Vietnam should take timely moves to optimise its potential and opportunities.

He recommended that the country should improve the quality of human resources, infrastructure including internet and transport, and speeding up economic digital transformation and technology application.

Tuan asserted that in order to overcome competitors in the region, Vietnam should accelerate infrastructure development and digital economy, while designing suitable policies to encourage investment in human resources development.

At the same time, Vietnam need a comprehensive industrial development strategy, ensuring that not only foreign businesses but also domestic firms access preferential policies, enabling both economic sectors can invest in production at low cost, he said.

The strategy should focus on a number of spearhead industries, while boosting agriculture development.

The expert warn that India is also emerging as a good choice to replace China, with a high possibility of becoming a growth pole in South Asia. If Vietnam fails to become a growth pole in the region, it will miss the chance to other countries near India, he stressed.

He emphasised that it is the time for Vietnam to quickly reform and make a breakthrough in growth by launching a comprehensive industrial strategy with specific, ambitious and feasible targets.

Vietnam joins largest SME festival in Berlin Four Vietnamese firms - Bamboo Airways, VinFast, Vietnam Airlines, and Vietin Bank - are joining the small- and medium-sized (SME) businesses day held by the German Association for Small and Medium-sized Businesses (BVMW) on March 1.

Vietnam supports Japans initiatives towards net zero emissions: diplomat Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Natural Resources and Environment Tran Hong Has participation in the coming Asia Zero Emission Community (AZEC) Ministerial Meeting in Tokyo will affirm Vietnams resolve to realise its committements on greenhouse gas emission reduction and climate change response, as well as support for the Japanese Governments initiatives towards net zero emissions.

Vo Van Thuong elected as State President The 15th National Assembly elected Vo Van Thuong as the new President of Vietnam at its fourth extraordinary session on March 2.
At the pre-final evaluation meeting for the VJJI Phase VIII (Photo: VNA)

Hanoi  The Vietnam-Japan Joint Initiative (VJJI) has significantly contributed to improving the domestic business environment and raising Vietnams competitiveness in foreign direct investment (FDI) attraction, an official from the Vietnamese Ministry of Planning and Investment (MPI) has said.

Do Nhat Hoang, Director of the MPIs Foreign Investment Agency (FIA), said at a pre-final evaluation meeting for the VJJI Phase VIII on March 2 that Vietnamese ministries and agencies have coordinated with the Japanese side in implementing commitments in the action plan.

They stand ready to work together with the Japan Chamber of Commerce and Industry (JCCI), the Japanese Embassy in Vietnam and relevant agencies to successfully materialise the joint initiative, laying ground for discussions on cooperation in the time ahead, he stressed.

The VJJI was launched in April 2003 as a special cooperation mechanism between the Vietnamese and Japanese Governments.

It serves as a policy dialogue forum between Japanese investors and relevant Vietnamese ministries and agencies, where proposals are made to help competent Vietnamese agencies fine-tune laws and policies.

The eighth phase of the initiatives focuses on 11 groups of issues. Because the global economy was seriously affected by the COVID-19 pandemic, especially disruptions in supply chains, Vietnam and Japan agreed to add three new groups of issues.

Over the past 20 years, many legal documents have been amended and issued, and various policy recommendations of the Japanese side put into consideration by Vietnamese ministries and agencies to report them to competent authorities during law and policy perfection and enforcement.

Japan has set forth a report proposing policies in an effort to promote investments by small- and medium-sized enterprises, the key players in Vietnams support industries.

Vietnam has been among the top 20 countries worldwide in terms of FDI attraction, which sees the remarkable contributions by Japanese firms through the initiative.

Japan has run nearly 5,000 projects in the Southeast Asian nation with a total registered capital of about 70 billion USD.

According to the latest survey by the Japan External Trade Organisation (JETRO), up to 60% of Japanese enterprises plans to expand their business in Vietnam.

Vietnam, Japan partner to develop startups, innovative companies A memorandum of understanding (MoU) on innovation cooperation has been signed, under which Japan will help Vietnam develop startups and innovative companies within the 8th phase of the Vietnam - Japan Joint Initiative.

Vinh Phuc attracted 700 delegates to conference on Vietnam-Japan ties Nearly 700 delegates participated in the conference in Vinh Phuc on June 23 with a view to reinforcing the northern provinces cooperation with Japanese localities and investors.
Lexi Huse, a West FFA member from Elm Mott, captured the reserve junior champion heifer title with LJR MS Tiger 3164J ET in the Charolais Junior Heifer Show at the 2023 Fort Worth Stock Show & Rodeo on Jan. 22.

The 2023 show hosted junior exhibitors from across Texas competing for awards and more than $37,110 in junior heifer show premiums.

The Fort Worth show had 4-H and FFA members from 239 of Texas 254 counties competing in livestock competitions, judging contests and other events.
After an impressive performance at the Texas Thespians State Festival, Midway High School theater students are being recognized as some of the best in the state.

Six students earned a spot in the national competition. Devontae Reyes and Chuckie Castillo Jr., along with Zach Williams and Cole Harris, qualified to compete at nationals in duet acting.

Zach Williams is also a national qualifier in short film alongside Dylan McEachern in playworks and Jackson Pyron in monologue.

These national qualifiers are invited to showcase their talents and compete at the International Thespian Festival, which will be held in June at Indiana University Bloomington.

The Midway Improv Troupe also won big at the state festival, taking home third place in the Improv Challenge out of 94 teams competing in Texas. To succeed in the Improv Challenge, troupes are required to demonstrate strong character work, clear scene development and high energy in an unscripted performance.

Members of the Midway Improv Troupe are Darrious Bedford, Chuckie Castillo Jr., Leland Chiles, Davis Duncan, JoEllen Pittman, troupe leader Devontae Reyes and Zach Williams.

In addition, three Midway theater students earned state honors from Texas Thespians. Kimi Clendennen was selected from a statewide pool of applicants to serve as one of 10 Texas Thespian Advocacy Network student ambassadors to advocate and promote theater education in Texas.

Cash Hayes also represents Midway as a 2022-23 Texas Thespian state officer, and Stella Davison was named to the Texas Thespian state honor crew.

The Midway High School theater department is directed by Jill Wilkinson and David Wellbaum.
More drivers this year are afraid of riding in a self-driving vehicle than last year, according to a new AAA survey.

Sixty-eight percent of drivers are afraid of riding in a self-driving vehicle, up from 55% in 2022, the poll found. AAA said it's also the largest annual increase in the survey since 2020.

"We did not expect such a dramatic shift in consumer concerns from previous years," Adrienne Woodland, a spokeswoman for the auto club, said Thursday in a statement. "Though it isn't entirely surprising, given the number of high-profile crashes that have recently occurred from over-reliance on current vehicle technologies."

The study also found there are a lot of misconceptions about automated vehicles. Nearly 1 in 10 drivers believe they can buy a vehicle that drives itself while they sleep  which isn't true  according to its findings.

AAA said the perception a car can drive itself while its operator is sleeping may stem from social media videos of motorists misusing driver-assistance technology.

The survey also found that the names manufacturers have given their vehicle systems confuse consumers. Twenty-two percent of Americans expect driver-support systems with names such as Autopilot, ProPILOT or Pilot Assist can drive a car by themselves without any supervision.

"Most new vehicles are equipped with some level of advanced driver-assistance technology, which can enhance the safety of motorists if used properly," Woodland said. "However, it's important to clarify that there are currently no vehicles available for purchase that allow someone to fully disengage from the task of driving."

Still, the poll said American consumers are not completely against advanced vehicle technology. Six in 10 drivers said they would "definitely" or "probably" want things like blind-spot warning, adaptive cruise control and automatic emergency braking in their next car purchase.

AAA said its survey was conducted online and over the phone from Jan. 13 through 17 with a probability-based panel designed to be representative of the overall U.S. household population. More than 1,100 interviews were done for the survey, and 949 of them qualified for the study. The margin of error is 4.3%.
CEDAR FALLS  A Waterloo man has been arrested after Cedar Falls police found a gun and several bags of marijuana during a traffic stop early Friday.

Police arrested Nga Reh, 18, on charges of possession of marijuana with intent to deliver, carrying weapons while intoxicated, operating while intoxicated and first-offense operating while intoxicated. He was also cited for speeding.

A Cedar Falls patrol officer stopped Reh after spotting an Acura RL traveling 40 mph in a 30 mph zone on West First Street around 1:45 a.m.

Officers noticed the scent of marijuana and found a bag of marijuana and a 9 mm handgun with a 30-round magazine in the vehicles door compartment, according to court records. An open container of alcohol was in the cup holder.

Three more bags of marijuana were later found in the vehicle.
WATERLOO  A Davenport woman has been arrested in connection with two trucks stolen from a Waterloo business in October.

A pair of Chevrolet 3500 work trucks and an Alum-line trailer were reported stolen from the R.C. Willett Co. facility at 3040 Leversee Road on Oct. 23.

The trailer was later discovered at an Evansdale truck stop. One truck was found damaged in Cedar County, and the other was parked at a West Branch convenience store.

On Thursday, 30-year-old Brianna Leigh Moss was arrested for first-degree theft in the case. Bond was set at $10,000.

Moss is also awaiting sentencing in an October 2022 Davenport case where a hole was drilled in a Cadillac Escalade gas tank in an attempt to siphon gasoline, according to court records.
ELGIN  A review by the state auditor has found that Elgins former clerk allegedly paid herself for more hours than the City Council had authorized.

In a report released Thursday, Auditor of State Rob Sands said his office found $131,212.73 of improper disbursements and $7,531.67 of unsupported disbursements linked to Rhonda Dales.

The probe found $104,282 in unauthorized payroll and related costs, $25,085 in unauthorized reimbursements for insurance and other items to Dales and a $1,399 cellphone upgrade. There was also $422 in late fees and interest to the Iowa Public Employee Retirement System and $22 for Rice Krispy treats and a heated back and seat cushion bought through a city account.

In addition, there were $6,595 in reimbursements to Dales that werent backed up by documentation and another $935 in unsupported purchases with the citys debit card, according to the audit.

Rhonda Dales was hired as part-time city clerk for the Fayette County town of 685 in 2003, starting at $8 an hour and working her way up to $20 an hour by 2017.

In February 2020, city officials became concerned about Dales, in part because she allegedly misrepresented herself as a full-time employee to obtain better benefits. She was eventually terminated in May 2021, and city officials sought an audit.

The audit found Dales was entered as a salaried employee, and not an hourly employee, in the citys payroll system. Council members interviewed by audit staff were split on whether Dales was full or part time, but the audit states that she didnt meet the definition of full time under the citys written policies. Even so, she received and used comp time, holiday pay and paid leave  which were benefits only for full-time employees, the report states.

Despite the terms on which Dales left, she was paid for her vacation and comp time balances as part of her termination payout, according to the audit.

The audit also found she had received separate reimbursements for cleaning the city hall restroom and foyer, apparently during her regular work hours, which hadnt been approved by the City Council.
WATERLOO -- Saturday's discovery of the wreckage of the USS Juneau, on which Waterloo's five Sullivan brothers served and perished with nearly 700 shipmates during World War II, was an emotional, bittersweet experience for the fallen sailors' descendants.

"There's over 700 Navy families affected by this and my heart goes out to all those people," said Kelly Sullivan, granddaughter of Albert Sullivan and grandniece of George, Francis, Joseph and Madison Sullivan, who all died after the Juneau was torpedoed by a Japanese submarine and sunk on Nov. 13, 1942.

"For me, it's like finding my grandfather's grave," said Knute Swensen of Huntington Beach, Calif., the grandson of the Juneau's commanding officer, Capt. Lyman K. Swenson, also among the Juneau dead.

The crew of the Research Vessel Petrel, on an expedition financed by Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen, found the Juneau's wreck at the bottom of "Ironbottom Sound" off Guadalcanal in the Solomons on St. Patrick's Day.

In an audio accompanying a video of the wreckage, Robert Kraft, director of subsea operations for the expedition, noted it was appropriate the Juneau's remains were discovered on St. Patrick's Day, given the Sullivan brothers' Irish heritage.

"The luck of the Irish was with them," Kelly Sullivan said, echoing a wish she made for the USS The Sullivans, the current Navy destroyer named for her grandfather and great uncles, when she christened the ship in Bath, Maine, in 1995. She is the official Navy sponsor of that ship.

This wknd Paul Allens team found wreckage of WW2 USS Juneau in Pacific Ocean In 1942 this ship was sunk by Japanese torpedo carrying the 5 Sullivan brothers of Waterloo These Iowa heroes + hundred of others lost their life on that ship protecting our country Shld not b forgotten  ChuckGrassley (@ChuckGrassley) March 20, 2018

The crew of the Petrel sent a message to The Courier, which said: "Our team is comprised of professional subsea operators and engineers with years of experience in the industry who are truly humbled with the opportunity to honor our fallen servicemen and provide some closure to their families."

The crew credited Allen with making the expedition possible.

Ironically, Kelly Sullivan was at the USS The Sullivans on St. Patrick's Day at its home port of Mayport, Fla., attending a retirement celebration for one of its former commanding officers.

"When this discovery happened, I was sitting on the fantail of the Sullivans...It's unbelievable," Sullivan said.

On her return trip home Sunday, she heard word of the discovery from U.S. Navy Vice Adm. Rich Brown, commander of Navy surface forces and a former commanding officer of the USS The Sullivans. Brown was in Waterloo last November for a 75th anniversary commemoration of the Juneau's sinking. On Monday, Knute Swensen contacted her.

"It's bittersweet, this feeling," Sullivan said. "There's closure. It also opens a wound."

She said her father, Albert's son, Jim Sullivan, reacted with surprise and had similar feelings.

"My first thought was my prayers for all the Juneau families, not just the Sullivan brothers," Kelly Sullivan said, and all veterans and their families. She said her great-grandmother, Alleta Sullivan, never really had closure because her sons' bodies were never recovered and held out hope they may have survived.

Swensen said he watched the Petrel's undersea video in amazement as the crew made out the Juneaus name inscribed across the fantail.

"Seeing that video gave me chills," he said.

He also thought of his father, U.S. Navy Cmdr Robert Swensen, who passed away in April 2016 at age 93 and was very close to his father, the Juneau commander. Knute's grandfather's surname was misspelled as "Swenson" by a staff member at the U.S. Naval Academy at Annapolis, Md., and he never had it corrected. It was at Annapolis, when Robert was a cadet, that the Juneau commander and his son had their last meeting.

In an audio accompanying the video, Kraft of the Petrel expedition notes the ship's bow and stern were found relatively close to each other but the ship's debris was scattered over a mile on the ocean floor -- an indication of the devastating explosion which sunk her.

Most of the sailors were killed during the actual sinking; more than 100 died at sea in the days that followed from wounds, exposure or shark attacks, including George Sullivan, the oldest of the brothers. Ten sailors survived the actual sinking plus a four-person medical crew sent to the USS San Francisco to tend to wounded there prior to the attack.

Swensen hopes the Juneau crew's valor is also remembered. The ship earned multiple battles stars for the engagements in which it fought -- including one the night before its sinking, when it and other outgunned American ships turned back a Japanese task force headed for embattled U.S troops at Guadalcanal.

Sullivan praised Paul Allen's passion for pursuing the expedition -- a lesson she used it as an example for her third-graders at Lincoln Elementary School in Cedar Falls.

"I really admire Mr. Allen and his crew for having the faith to do this," she said, and encouraged her students to pursue their passions as well.

Both were in New York this past November at the 75th anniversary commemoration of the Juneau's sinking at the same Staten Island pier where the ship was commissioned into the Navy in 1997. That ceremony was across New York harbor from the Brooklyn Navy Yard, where the Juneau was commissioned into the Navy and sailed out of the harbor, never to return.

She hopes the USS The Sullivans can sail to the Juneau's final resting place on a future mission, with some of its sailors surviving family members.
DES MOINES  As the rush from Iowa lawmakers to advance their priority bills before a key deadline stretched into the early hours Friday morning, some eye-catching bills did not make it out of committees and cannot be considered for the rest of the session.

After this weeks legislative funnel, only bills that have passed out of at least one committee can be considered for the rest of the session. But there are exceptions: Budget and tax bills are not subject to the funnel, and leaders have ways to revive bills later in the session if they want to bring them back.

A proposal from a group of House Republicans to remove protections for same-sex marriage from the Iowa constitution  House Joint Resolution 8  was introduced earlier this week, but it did not get scheduled for a subcommittee hearing.

As a proposed constitutional amendment, the measure would have needed to be passed by two separate general assemblies and then pass a popular vote in an election before becoming law.

On the same day, House Democrats proposed House File 509, which would have codified the right to same-sex marriage in Iowa law, which also did not gain traction.

Those are not moving through the process, any of them, from both sides, Republican House Speaker Pat Grassley said on Thursday.

In an email to House lawmakers, Republican Rep. Brad Sherman of Williamsburg, the chief sponsor of the bill to ban same-sex marriage, said the bill recognizes what has been established by nature for all of history and referenced Bible passages.

The definition of marriage was defined as being between male and female for 5,000 years, he wrote.

Medical cannabis expansion

A proposal to expand the number of medical marijuana dispensaries in Iowa and add vaporizable raw cannabis to the list of products failed to advance out of committee.

The sticking point in the bill, Senate Study Bill 1113, was the provision allowing raw cannabis flower, intended to be vaporized rather than smoked, to be sold at Iowas medical dispensaries, Zaun said. The Medical Cannabidiol Board on Monday denied a petition to allow the product, and Zaun said that created opposition to including it in the bill.

Vapes, capsules, and other treatments can be bought at Iowas medical dispensaries, but Bud & Marys, Iowas only operating cannabis manufacturer, argues vaporizable raw cannabis is the cheapest to produce and would bring costs down for patients.

Zaun said there isnt much opposition among lawmakers to expanding the number of dispensaries in the state, a move the board supports. The bill would have increased the limit of licensed dispensaries in the state from five to 10.

While Zaun said the prospects of any changes to the program arent likely this year, hes hopeful the measures can be revived through an amendment or other means.

Social media age requirements

Two bills that would have put an age requirement on social media accounts failed to pass a committee.

House Study Bill 223 would have required social media and gaming websites to verify that a child has parental consent before they make an account or access the site. The bill passed a subcommittee on Wednesday but did not get a vote in the House Judiciary Committee.

Another bill, House File 526, would have barred Iowans under 18 from having an account on a social media site, but that bill did not get a subcommittee hearing.

Republicans overnight push

When Republicans did manage to advance their priorities, in some cases it took a little more time than usual.

The final day of funnel week, Thursday, actually lasted two calendar days as the legislative work seeped into the early morning hours of Friday.

Throughout that final funnel-week push, Republican lawmakers advanced Gov. Kim Reynolds sweeping state government reorganization bill, legislation impacting LGBTQ students and youth, and gun regulations, among others.

House Democrats huddled for roughly nine hours to discuss the nearly 1,600-page government reorganization bill. And when their committee meeting finally resumed, they introduced more than 40 amendments in what they viewed as attempts to improve the bill.

Democrats expressed myriad concerns with some narrow proposals within the bill, but their overarching criticism was that it yields too much authority to the governor.

Reynolds proposal, which was designed with the help of a Virginia-based consulting firm paid nearly $1 million by the state, would reduce the number of state agencies with directors that answer directly to the governor from 37 to 16, in the process folding other state agencies under those fewer directors.

Transgender health care

Bucking impassioned pleas from doctors and transgender youth over the last week, House lawmakers after midnight on Friday advanced a bill that would ban transgender youth from receiving gender-affirming health care.

The move runs contrary to the guidance of major American medical associations and state experts, who say the interventions used to treat transgender youth improve well-being and are often lifesaving.

The bill, House Study Bill 214, would ban the use of puberty blockers, hormones and surgeries as a treatment for gender dysphoria for people under 18.

Bathroom bill

Iowa schools would be allowed to bar transgender students from using the bathroom that aligns with their gender identity under a bill the House Judiciary Committee advanced in the early hours on Friday.

House Study Bill 208 states that schools cannot be punished for restricting bathrooms and locker rooms to members of the same biological sex. A Senate committee advanced a bill this week that would enforce that requirement statewide, requiring students to use the school bathroom that aligns with their sex assigned at birth.

While the House bill makes the designation optional, it also allows a person to bring a civil lawsuit against a school if they encounter someone in a bathroom of the opposite sex who the school allowed to access the bathroom, and if they are required to share lodging with a person of the opposite sex.

Studies have shown transgender students who are denied access to a bathroom that aligns with their gender identity to be at a higher risk for sexual assault, and transgender people in general are far more likely than cisgender people to be victims of sexual assault.

Close Gov. Kim Reynolds gives the Condition of the State address to members of the Iowa Legislature inside the House Chamber, on Tuesday evening, Jan. 10, 2023, at the Iowa State Capitol, in Des Moines. Gov. Kim Reynolds hugs her husband First Gentleman Kevin Reynolds at the conclusion of the Condition of the State address, inside the Iowa House Chamber, on Tuesday evening, Jan. 10, 2023, at the Iowa State Capitol, in Des Moines. Gov. Kim Reynolds gives the Condition of the State address to members of the Iowa Legislature inside the House Chamber, on Tuesday evening, Jan. 10, 2023, at the Iowa State Capitol, in Des Moines. Gov. Kim Reynolds gives the Condition of the State address to members of the Iowa Legislature inside the House Chamber, on Tuesday evening, Jan. 10, 2023, at the Iowa State Capitol, in Des Moines. Iowa Senate President Pro Tempore Brad Zaun, R-Urbandale, applauds during Gov. Kim Reynolds' Condition of the State address, inside the House Chamber, on Tuesday evening, Jan. 10, 2023, at the Iowa State Capitol, in Des Moines. Attendees to Gov. Kim Reynolds' Condition of the State address applaud during the speech, inside the House Chamber, on Tuesday evening, Jan. 10, 2023, at the Iowa State Capitol, in Des Moines. Gov. Kim Reynolds gives the Condition of the State address to members of the Iowa Legislature inside the House Chamber, on Tuesday evening, Jan. 10, 2023, at the Iowa State Capitol, in Des Moines. Gov. Kim Reynolds gives the Condition of the State address to members of the Iowa Legislature inside the House Chamber on Jan. 10 at the State Capitol in Des Moines. Gov. Kim Reynolds gives the Condition of the State address to members of the Iowa Legislature inside the House Chamber, on Tuesday evening, Jan. 10, 2023, at the Iowa State Capitol, in Des Moines. Gov. Kim Reynolds is escorted into the Iowa House of Representatives, on Tuesday evening, Jan. 10, 2023, to give the annual Condition of the State address, at the Iowa State Capitol, in Des Moines. Photos: Gov. Kim Reynolds delivers the condition of the state address Gov. Kim Reynolds gives the Condition of the State address to members of the Iowa Legislature inside the House Chamber, on Tuesday evening, Jan. 10, 2023, at the Iowa State Capitol, in Des Moines. Gov. Kim Reynolds hugs her husband First Gentleman Kevin Reynolds at the conclusion of the Condition of the State address, inside the Iowa House Chamber, on Tuesday evening, Jan. 10, 2023, at the Iowa State Capitol, in Des Moines. Gov. Kim Reynolds gives the Condition of the State address to members of the Iowa Legislature inside the House Chamber, on Tuesday evening, Jan. 10, 2023, at the Iowa State Capitol, in Des Moines. Gov. Kim Reynolds gives the Condition of the State address to members of the Iowa Legislature inside the House Chamber, on Tuesday evening, Jan. 10, 2023, at the Iowa State Capitol, in Des Moines. Iowa Senate President Pro Tempore Brad Zaun, R-Urbandale, applauds during Gov. Kim Reynolds' Condition of the State address, inside the House Chamber, on Tuesday evening, Jan. 10, 2023, at the Iowa State Capitol, in Des Moines. Attendees to Gov. Kim Reynolds' Condition of the State address applaud during the speech, inside the House Chamber, on Tuesday evening, Jan. 10, 2023, at the Iowa State Capitol, in Des Moines. Gov. Kim Reynolds gives the Condition of the State address to members of the Iowa Legislature inside the House Chamber, on Tuesday evening, Jan. 10, 2023, at the Iowa State Capitol, in Des Moines. Gov. Kim Reynolds gives the Condition of the State address to members of the Iowa Legislature inside the House Chamber on Jan. 10 at the State Capitol in Des Moines. Gov. Kim Reynolds gives the Condition of the State address to members of the Iowa Legislature inside the House Chamber, on Tuesday evening, Jan. 10, 2023, at the Iowa State Capitol, in Des Moines. Gov. Kim Reynolds is escorted into the Iowa House of Representatives, on Tuesday evening, Jan. 10, 2023, to give the annual Condition of the State address, at the Iowa State Capitol, in Des Moines.
NEW DELHI  U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov talked briefly Thursday in the highest-level in-person talk between the two countries since Russia's invasion of Ukraine. There was no indication of any movement toward easing the intense tensions between their two nations.

The encounter came as relations between Washington and Moscow have plummeted over Russia's war with Ukraine and tensions have soared amid a myriad of disagreements, complaints and recriminations on other matters ranging from arms control to embassy staffing and prisoners.

U.S. officials said Blinken and Lavrov chatted for roughly 10 minutes on the sidelines of the G-20 conference of foreign ministers in New Delhi. There was no sign of progress and the conference itself ended with the group unable to reach consensus on the Ukraine war.

Still, with relations at perhaps their lowest point since the Cuban Missile Crisis during the Cold War, the fact the two men met showed that, at least for the moment, lines of high-level communication between Washington and Moscow remain open.

At a news conference, Blinken said he told Lavrov that the U.S. would continue to support Ukraine for as long as it takes and would push for the war to end through diplomatic terms that Kyiv agrees to.

"End this war of aggression, engage in meaningful diplomacy that can produce a just and durable peace," Blinken said he told Lavrov. He noted that "President Putin has demonstrated zero interest in engaging, saying there's nothing to even talk about unless and until Ukraine accepts, and I quote, 'the new territorial reality.'"

Blinken said he also urged Russia to reverse "its irresponsible decision and return to" participation in the New START nuclear treaty.

"Mutual compliance is in the interest of both our countries," Blinken said he told Lavrov. He added "that no matter what else is happening in the world, in our relationship, the United States is always ready to engage and act on strategic arms control, just as the United States and the Soviet Union did even at the height of the Cold War."

Blinken said he also urged Moscow to release detained American Paul Whelan and "the United States has put forward a serious proposal. Russia should take it."

Earlier, Blinken told the G-20 meeting that Russia's war with Ukraine could not go unchallenged.

"We must continue to call on Russia to end its war of aggression and withdraw from Ukraine for the sake of international peace and economic stability," he said. He noted 141 countries voted to condemn Russia at the United Nations on the one-year anniversary of the invasion.

Yet, several members of the G-20, including host India, China and South Africa, chose to abstain in that vote. Despite appeals from top Indian officials to look beyond their differences over Ukraine and forge consensus on other issues, the foreign ministers were unable to do so or agree on a final communique.

Indian Foreign Minister Subrahmanyam Jaishankar said there were "divergences" on the issue of the war in Ukraine "which we could not reconcile as various parties held differing views."

"If we had a perfect meeting of minds on all issues, it would have been a collective statement," Jaishankar said.

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi earlier appealed for all members of the fractured G-20 to reach consensus on issues of particular concern to poorer countries even if they could not overcome the broader East-West split over Ukraine.

"We all have our positions and our perspectives on how these tensions should be resolved," Modi said. "We should not allow issues that we cannot resolve together to come in the way of those we can."

China and Russia objected to two paragraphs taken from the previous G-20 declaration in Bali last year, according to a summary of Thursday's meeting released by India. The paragraphs stated the war in Ukraine was causing immense human suffering while exacerbating fragilities in the global economy, the need to uphold international law and that "the use or threat of use of nuclear weapons is inadmissible."

Blinken said it was positive that 18 of the 20 nations agreed on the statement.

Lavrov, who did not mention speaking with Blinken when he held a news conference after the G-20 session, told reporters that Moscow would continue to press its action in Ukraine. He shrugged off Western claims of Russia's isolation.

He said Russia remains open to talks on ending the conflict in Ukraine but accused the West of effectively blocking such talks. "They are encouraging Ukraine to continue the war," he said.

Lavrov also mocked U.S. threats against China, which has presented a peace plan for Ukraine that has been applauded by Moscow but dismissed by Washington and its Western allies.

Russian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Maria Zakharova said Blinken asked to speak to Lavrov. It was their first contact since last summer, when Blinken talked to Lavrov by phone about a U.S. proposal for Russia to release Whelan and formerly detained WNBA star Brittney Griner. Griner was later released in a swap for imprisoned Russian arms dealer Viktor Bout, but Whelan remains detained in Russia on espionage charges that his family and the U.S. government said are baseless.

5 ways war in Ukraine has changed the world 1. The return of European war 2. Alliances tested and toughened 3. A new Iron Curtain 4. A battered and reshaped economy 5. A new age of uncertainty
Note to politicians with presidential aspirations: Joining the Cabinet makes the path that much harder. Just ask Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg.

Cabinet secretaries are just one of more than a dozen top bureaucrats in the executive branch. Theyre tied to the popularity or unpopularity of the administration. Their lot is to labor in obscurity unless and until something bad happens  and then to take criticism and absorb blame.

Once upon a time, serving as a Cabinet secretary could lead to the presidency. But the last one to take that step was Commerce Secretary Herbert Hoover, in 1928. Since then, no sitting or former Cabinet secretary has been elected president, and only one has been nominated  former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton in 2016. Her circumstances were unique, but from Benghazi to her private email server, Clintons experience as the nations top diplomat was more a political liability than a benefit.

So when a Norfolk Southern train carrying toxic materials derailed three weeks ago in East Palestine, Ohio, leaving residents unsure whether they could even drink their own water, the political finger-pointing inevitably turned ugly. Buttigieg, who hasnt ruled out another presidential bid and who hasnt shied away from sparring with the MAGA crowd, has become the Republicans main target.

They charge that Buttigieg, the former mayor of South Bend, Indiana, has been MIA, and that he should have visited the crash site sooner. Donald Trump, who went to East Palestine recently and handed out Trump-branded water, used the occasion to mock Pete Boot-Edge-Edge. Republicans (and a few Democrats) are calling for hearings, with Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., saying he should be fired. Fox News host Tucker Carlson, who mocked Buttigieg for taking parental leave last year when he welcomed twins with his husband, called him flamboyantly incompetent, a brazen dog whistle.

The outrage at Buttigieg is misguided and opportunistic. Not only does it obscure the history of the rail industry spending heavily and working with some Republicans to roll back, stop or water down safety regulations, it also ignores the law: In a situation like this, the Transportation Department is not in charge. The EPA is on the front lines of the federal response. The National Transportation Safety Board, which is an independent agency, investigates the how and the why of the crash. The Transportation secretary has no role in the immediate response and cleanup efforts.

Congress sometimes forgets to read their own laws, says Craig Fugate, former director of the Federal Emergency Management Agency.

Buttigieg did visit the crash site recently, promising tougher regulations and pledging to hold Norfolk Southern accountable. Its still unclear whether the tighter rail regulations that were rolled back during the Trump era would have prevented this accident. But Buttigieg also acknowledged he waited too long to respond, noting that he was taking pains to respect the role that I have and the role that I dont have.

Politico reported last week that after the derailment, Buttigieg was prepared to answer any questions for 10 days, but no interviewer asked him. Thats a pretty passive response, especially considering that he was already under fire by Republicans for a series of transportation-related issues under his watch, including Januarys FAA computer meltdown.

Yes, the political circus obscures the real victims, who just want to know if theyre safe and what kind of financial losses they face. But the circus is the reality.

Larger forces are at work here: The accident is illustrative of an across-the-board failure of institutions, which plays into a deep public distrust of public and private institutions. Just 45% of the country trusts the government and media, while 55% trust business, according to the 2022 Edelman Trust Barometer. In the Midwest, the figures are 40% and 51%, respectively. Among low-income Midwesterners, just 28% trust key institutions.

The Midwest is the most likely region to say that businesses should prioritize stakeholders  customers and employees  over shareholders. And of all the regions in the U.S., its the most disappointed in business support for local communities  with a 49-point gap between those who say its what they expect versus what they see in terms of performance.

People suspect that business has prioritized profit over the community, says Tonia Ries, executive director of intellectual property for Edelmans Trust Institute. And in East Palestine, she says, government has also not provided the oversight to protect the communities.

The bottom line, to use a business term: People see both business and government as failing their communities. Restoring trust in those institutions is a job bigger than even the most powerful Cabinet secretary. Until thats accomplished, the kind of anger-inducing political fallout seen in East Palestine, Ohio, will keep arising.
Every year a select number of law students gather for the final week of winter break to participate in what has become a Willamette Law tradition, the Intensive Trial Practice (ITP) program. This week-long initiative provides students the opportunity to learn first hand what it takes to be a trial lawyer. Students spend a full week learning from local judges and members of the Bar about all the facets of preparing for and participating in a trial. The program culminates in a mock trial on the final day where local community members come to play the parts of witnesses and jury members. Started by Emeritus Professor Leroy Tornquist in 1978, this hands-on approach to teaching trial practice has continually provided students with a one-of-a-kind opportunity to gain the skills needed to be a trial attorney.

Judge Norman Hill (JD 94) co-taught Intensive Trial Practice alongside Judge Mary James for five years prior to her retirement last year. Now, Hill oversees the program and is consistently looking for new ways to broaden and deepen what students are able to learn in this week-long program. Designed to simulate the intensity of a real trial, the program exposes students to the techniques and skills that make a good trial lawyer. There is no born trial lawyer, it is a skill that is developed through trial and error, and conscious professional development, Hill says, this program introduces students to these concepts early on in their career in order for them to come away with a sense of whats needed to do this work.

Hill believes that this program truly mimics a real trial but with an added layer of feedback and training that enables students to learn quickly. You can learn about a trial in the classroom but to actually practice being a trial attorney alongside talented and knowledgeable members of the Bar is a more intentional and valuable way to learn these skills , he says.

Experiential learning prepares students for practice

After hearing about the program from fellow classmates and discussing her career goals with Judge Hill, Erin Casini (JD 24) saw ITP as a great opportunity to improve upon and learn the skills required to be a good trial attorney.

This was the first experiential class that I have taken, Casini says. Noting that most law school classes prepare students for the bar exam, Casini appreciated the chance to learn and practice day-to-day tasks that a practicing attorney has to do. Willamette encourages its students to take as many experiential classes as possible so that once you graduate and pass the bar, you have some idea of what you are doing, she shares.

Knowing firsthand the importance of experiential education opportunities, Janelle Debes (JD 21) participated in the ITP program and is, today, a practice trial attorney. For Debes, the ITP program was one of her first exposures to trial preparation and trial documents.

Having this knowledge in the first year of practice allowed me to quickly grasp what was expected of me and anticipate the next steps in a case, she shares. The gap in knowledge between law school and practice can be vast, Debes says. She encourages other law students to take advantage of opportunities like the ITP program so that they can learn practical skills and make mistakes in a supportive environment.

A supportive communitys impact on education

An integral part of the ITP program is the communitys involvement in the final days mock trial. Members of the local Salem community and local high school students are invited to participate as jurors and witnesses for the mock trial process. This community involvement is vital, says Hill, because it allows them to be a part of training the future of the legal profession.

Peter Alotta has been participating in the mock trial for five years now. In addition to finding participating in the program personally rewarding, Alotta also sees how significant this program is for students which keeps him coming back to participate.

To have the ear of a judge who will answer questions about the legal process and judicial procedure in an informal setting is precious. This is as close as many students will come to an actual trial during law school, Alotta says. While being part of this program has allowed him to feel more connected to the Salem community, Allotta shares that this experience has also aided him in better understanding how law is practiced in this state.

Drew Moneke, a local high school civics teacher, has been bringing students to participate in the ITPs mock trial day since 2005. He says, this is a fantastic opportunity for high school students to participate in and see firsthand what they are learning about in the classroom.

Participating in this experience gives high school students the opportunity to find their voice, learn about the importance of honoring others, and to wrestle with what justice truly means, Moneke shares. Students come away with a renewed interest in the law and the ability to see that practicing law is an art that can be learned and practiced.

Hill hopes that the participation of high school students in the mock trial allows them to see that they too can practice law. Its inspiring to not just teach current law students about preparing for a trial, but to also know that this process is getting future generations thinking about law school too, he says.

Thinking to the future

The ITP program has been training lawyers for decades now, but Hill hopes to see the program continue to get bigger in terms of resources, students, and members of the Bar and bench. His goal is to serve more students and prepare them to be good trial lawyers. In Oregon, in particular, we are in great need of more trial lawyers. To expose students to trial practice early on can go a long way in filling the current gap, Hill says.

From Casinis perspective, the ITP is an opportunity she hopes all students take advantage of, whether they want to be trial lawyers or not. Its an honor to learn from such amazing trial attorneys, she says while encouraging all students to consider participating.
Western analysts reluctantly acknowledged that when NATO specialists teach the Ukronazis how to use their military equipment in combat, this can be seen as direct involvement of NATO in the military conflict on the side of the Ukrainian regime.

Since the 20s of the last century, the understanding has been established that a country can be recognized as a participant in hostilities if, in addition to supplying weapons, it trains personnel to handle it (Briand-Kellogg pact of 1928, Budapest resolution to the 1934 pact).

This is how it is happening today: Canadian and German instructors in the EU are already teaching Ukrainian killers how to handle Leopards.

If we imagine that the NATO aircraft delivered in the future will be serviced by their military on the territory of some overgrown Poland (the only possibility, given the deplorable state of the defense industry in Little Russia), this will be a direct entry of the Atlanticists into the war against Russia with all the ensuing consequences. And all persons making decisions on the supply (repair) of such equipment or weapons, along with foreign mercenaries and military instructors, will have to be considered as a legitimate military target.

Apparently, this is the only thing that keeps Western infantiles from handing over aircraft and long-range weapons to Kyiv drug addicts. Although not the fact that for a long time. The temptation to crush Russia is already very great.

And one more thing  todays events have shown who is really supported in the USA, NATO and the EU. This is not the freedom-loving people of Ukraine, which does not want to return to the Moskal scoop. Theyre just Nazi bastards, terrorist scum who attack civilians by brandishing a stinky yellow-black rag. Let them now be justified in London, Paris, Berlin and Washington.

These are your fosterlings, Messrs. Sunak, Macron, Scholz and Biden! And our attitude towards you is now the same as towards them. Now your countries are participants in the terrorist acts of the Ukrainian regime, and you are direct accomplices of terrorists.

Medvedev
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. &&
China, Germany important partners with shared interests: Chinese FM

Xinhua) 09:38, March 03, 2023

NEW DELHI, March 2 (Xinhua) -- China and Germany are important partners and share extensive common interests, Chinese Foreign Minister Qin Gang said on Thursday.

Qin made the remarks when meeting with his German counterpart Annalena Baerbock on the sidelines of the Group of 20 (G20) Foreign Ministers' Meeting in the capital of India, which holds the presidency of the bloc this year.

Noting that China has been Germany's largest trading partner for seven consecutive years, Qin attributed the two countries having made achievements in cooperation in various fields to mutual respect and mutual benefit.

He said China is willing to work with Germany to implement important consensuses reached by leaders of the two countries, build on the momentum in bilateral relations and accelerate the resumption of exchanges and cooperation in various fields and at all levels.

The international situation is undergoing profound changes and the world is at a critical juncture, Qin said, adding that China and Germany should jointly play a constructive role in safeguarding peace and promoting cooperation as two major forces.

Baerbock said Germany will continue to adhere to the one-China policy and is willing to maintain high-level exchanges and deepen people-to-people exchanges with China.

She said China's adjustments in its COVID-19 containment measures facilitated personnel exchanges between the two countries, adding that she looked forward to visiting China at an early date.

Germany attaches importance to China's position paper on the political settlement of the Ukraine crisis and hopes that China will play an important role in resolving the crisis, Baerbock said.

Qin elaborated on China's objective and just position and constructive role on the Ukraine crisis, stressing the need for commitment to a political settlement and promoting talks for peace.

Relevant countries should stop fanning the flames and build a balanced, effective and sustainable security architecture in Europe, the Chinese foreign minister added.

(Web editor: Zhang Kaiwei, Liang Jun)
Answer to crime? Stiffer penalties

ABOUT 35 years ago, a member of the USAF at Kirtland AFB was found guilty of a rape that occurred on the base and was sentenced to 50 years imprisonment  there is no parole in the federal justice system. That may seem excessive to some, but he hasnt, and will not for the next 15 years, recommit such a crime.

Late in January of 2023, a woman was arrested in Albuquerque and found to be in possession of 878 fentanyl pills, a felony, and a large sum of cash. She was allowed to plea down to criminal trespass and was sentenced to two days in jail. In all likelihood, she will continue to offend. The difference between these two sentences is stark and informative.

If a system of policing did not exist in our cities, we would have chaos. Fortunately, we have policing, but we are in near chaos, anyway, because of lenient treatment and sentencing of wrongdoers.

An examination of the Unified Code of Military Justice (UCMJ) would provide guidance to the courts when sentencing is considered. Severe penalties for even minor infractions go a long way in keeping order in military units. Severe penalties for serious crimes serve two purposes: 1. The offender is prevented from repeating the crime during incarceration, and 2. The penalties are an example to others as to what will happen if they choose crime. I am not aware of the crime of rape occurring at KAFB since the one I mentioned above. Some protesters scream abolish the police and defund the police. I say abolish pre-sentencing freedom and abolish parole.

As to worrying about overcrowded prisons due to longer sentences, the answer is obvious  build more prisons.

Jeremiah Joyce, Rio Rancho

Police and NMs mean streets

THE DRAMATIC reports of police use of force rarely consider the realities of our mean streets or mention the root causes of those realities. New Mexicos 180 miles of southern border are wide open to illegal drug and human trafficking. We subsidize open drug use, street crime and homelessness. We have soft policies on bail and prosecutions, and have released hundreds of felons from prison early. We have a prevalence of gang-related crime and a population of foreign criminals that live in the shadows. New Mexico sanctuary policies protect (undocumented immigrants) from searches and arrest, and crimes of shoplifting, trespass and vandalism are overlooked. We allow vagrants to live in tent encampments that are littered with needles, garbage and human waste, creating a microcosm of desperate, opportunistic people who wander through stores and neighborhoods looking to sustain themselves. Are we pretending these lax policies are helping these people? There are hundreds of empty shelter beds every night.

The police understand that guns are everywhere, on persons and in cars, and that drug-addled humans often rage without thought or remorse. Police departments have been emasculated by Justice Department oversight and legislated sensitivity training that implies they are racist and trigger-happy. This is all agenda-driven and grossly untrue. People with any common sense and behavioral awareness are not being abused by police.

We should be very grateful for the women and men who choose careers in law enforcement, and should give them every benefit of the doubt.

Charles Burk, Albuquerque
THESSALONIKI, Greece (AP)  Emergency crews cut through the mangled remains of a passenger train on Thursday, progressing centimeter by centimeter in their search for the dead from a head-on collision in northern Greece that killed at least 57 people. Rail workers went on strike to protest years of underfunding that they say has left the countrys train system in a dangerous state.

The passenger train and a freight train slammed into each other late Tuesday, crumpling carriages into twisted steel knots and forcing people to smash windows to escape. It was the countrys deadliest crash ever, and 48 people remained hospitalized, most in the central Greek city of Larissa. Six of them were in intensive care.

Fire Service spokesman Yiannis Artopios said the grim recovery effort was proceeding centimeter by centimeter.

We can see that there are more (bodies) people there. Unfortunately they are in a very bad condition because of the collision, Artopios told state television.

WORKERS SAY TRAIN SYSTEM IS UNSAFE

The cause of the crash is still not clear. The Larissa station manager arrested after the collision was charged Wednesday with multiple counts of manslaughter and causing serious physical harm through negligence, as a judicial inquiry tries to establish why the two trains were traveling in opposite directions on the same track.

Railway workers associations, meanwhile, called strikes, halting national rail services and the subway in Athens. They are protesting working conditions and what they described as a dangerous failure to modernize the Greek rail system due to a lack of public investment during the deep financial crisis that spanned most of the previous decade and brought Greece to the brink of bankruptcy.

Unfortunately, our long-standing demands for full-time staff hirings, better training and above all, implementation of up-to-date security systems have always ended up in the wastepaper basket, Greeces federation of railway employees said in a statement announcing Thursdays strike.

Transport Minister Kostas Karamanlis resigned following the crash, his replacement tasked with setting up an independent inquiry looking into the causes of the crash.

Responsibility will be assigned, Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis said in a televised address late Wednesday after visiting the collision site.

We will work so that the words never again  will not remain an empty pledge, he said. That I promise you.

Supporters of the strike plan to protest in central Athens later Thursday.

CRASH SURVIVOR DESCRIBES FIERY ESCAPE

More than 300 people were on board the passenger train, many of them students returning from a holiday weekend and annual Carnival celebrations around Greece.

Andreas Alikaniotis, a 20-year-old survivor of the crash, described how he and fellow students escaped from a jackknifed train car as fire approached, smashing windows and throwing luggage onto the ground outside to use as a makeshift landing pad.

It was a steep drop, into a ditch, Alikaniotis, who suffered a knee injury, told reporters from his hospital bed in Larissa.

The lights went out.  The smoke was suffocating inside the rail car but also outside, Alikaniotis said.

He said he was one of the few around who had not been seriously injured.

Me and my friends helped people get out.

50 TICKETS TO DEATH

Relatives of the victims and still-missing passengers lashed out at government officials and Italian-owned private rail operator Hellenic Train.

Dimitris Bournazis, whose father and 15-year-old brother remain unaccounted for, said phone calls to the rail company have been fruitless.

Ive been trying since yesterday afternoon to communicate with the company to find out what seat my father was in, he said. Nobody has called me back.

Hes lost hope of seeing either of his loved ones alive again.

Ive lost my brother, my father. That cant change, I know it, he said. But the point is for us not to mourn victims like that again. They bought 50 tickets to death.

Bournazis said responsibility for the crash should go far beyond the stationmaster.

We cant dump all the blame on one person for making one mistake, he said.

ZELENSKYY AND TURKEY SEND CONDOLENCES

Residents in Larissa lined up to give blood, many waiting in heavy rain for more than an hour, while the citys hotel association provided free accommodation to relatives of the crash victims and to those who traveled to the city to provide DNA samples to help police forensics experts identify bodies. Nine bodies have been identified through genetic matches so far, authorities said.

Pope Francis and European leaders sent messages of sympathy in the wake of the crash. Among them were Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu, whose country is recovering from devastating earthquakes last month. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy sent a message in Greek, writing, The people of Ukraine share the pain of the families of the victims. We wish a speedy recovery to all the injured.

___

Gatopoulos reported from Athens, Greece.
JERUSALEM (AP)  Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his allies on Thursday denounced protesters as anarchists after they massed outside a Tel Aviv salon where his wife was getting her hair done  a chaotic end to a day of demonstrations against the governments plan to overhaul the judiciary.

Sara Netanyahu has long been a polarizing figure in Israel, and the incident late Wednesday in a posh neighborhood in Tel Aviv reflected Israels emotionally charged divide over the overhaul, seen by opponents as an existential threat to the country. Demonstrators outside the salon chanted, shame, shame  but did not try to force their way inside. Hundreds of police were sent to the scene and eventually escorted her into a limousine.

In a post on Instagram, Sara Netanyahu thanked the police for helping her and thanked the public for what she said was an outpouring of support.

Yesterdays incident could have ended with murder, she said. She called on opposition leaders to condemn the violence, anarchy and incitement.

Meanwhile, Netanyahu and his political partners showed no signs of easing up on a push to pass a series of bills to overhaul Israels judiciary. These moves have further inflamed an already deeply riven country and drawn the largest protests in over a decade.

Protest organizers held a small demonstration outside Netanyahus office on Thursday, with some 200 people, most of them army veterans, joining former Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni a day after their self-proclaimed day of disruption turned violent when police used a heavy hand against participants at a Tel Aviv rally.

Thursdays demonstrations in Jerusalem are expected to include speeches by former government ministers and senior security officials. Former top economists, including two former Bank of Israel heads and a Nobel Prize laureate, were set to speak at a conference in Tel Aviv about the economic fallout from the overhaul.

Justice Minister Yariv Levin, one of the architects of the judicial overhaul, said Wednesday night that despite the mounting public outcry, Netanyahus government will not stop the legislation.

The proposed bills would give politicians and parliament control over judicial appointments, the power to overrule the Supreme Court and the ability to pass laws impervious to judicial review.

Critics of the plan include a growing number of former military brass, academics, economists and business leaders. They say the changes will erode the countrys delicate system of checks and balances and erode democratic institutions. Netanyahu and his ultranationalist and ultra-Orthodox allies say the changes are necessary to rein in the power of unelected judges.

The battle over the judiciary overhaul comes as Netanyahus trial for charges of accepting bribes, fraud and breach of trust drags on. The longtime leader has dismissed the charges against him as part of a witch hunt by a biased law-enforcement, judiciary and press.

On Wednesday, tens of thousands of Israelis took part in demonstrations across the country against what they saw as an attempt by Netanyahus new government to weaken the Supreme Court and concentrate power in the hands of the ruling coalition.

Protesters blocked highways and major intersections in Tel Aviv and massed outside the prime ministers official residence in Jerusalem. For the first time since protests began two months ago, the scene on the streets turned violent after Public Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir, a hardline nationalist settler, ordered police to take tougher action against demonstrators he claimed were anarchists. At least 11 people were hospitalized and police arrested dozens.

Wednesdays events reached a crescendo outside a ritzy north Tel Aviv salon where the prime ministers wife was getting her hair done.

Moshe Butbul, a hair stylist from the salon, told the Israeli news site Ynet that another client posted a selfie with Sara Netanyahu. He claimed that within minutes thousands arrived, though the actual number of protesters may have been smaller, judging by videos posted online.

Reporters at the scene said the crowd kept its distance and did not attempt to break into the salon. Ben-Gvir then dispatched large numbers of security forces to the salon, saying on Twitter that he had ordered police to save her life from the demonstrators besieging the salon.

Hundreds of police officers, including mounted police, broke a path through the demonstration to let an SUV approach. Protected by a phalanx of police, Sara Netanyahu was escorted out of the salon and into the vehicle, which drove off under heavy police escort.

The anarchy has to stop, Netanyahu said in a Facebook post accompanied by a picture of him embracing his wife. This can lead to the loss of life.

Netanyahus allies came to Sara Netanyahus defense Thursday morning.

Galit Distel Atbaryan, Israels public diplomacy minister, called the incident three hours of terror in which one woman was besieged by an incited mob. Another Likud lawmaker wrote on Twitter that the prime ministers wife was rescued from a lynch by a mob of anarchists.

Yair Golan, a former general and one-time Meretz party lawmaker, told Kan radio that with all due respect, Sara Netanyahu is a political figure.

Referring to what critics consider her outsized political influence in the prime ministers office, Golan alleged that she is involved in decision making on a national level and approves senior appointments left and right.

The Netanyahus have been criticized for being out of touch with regular Israelis and living a lavish lifestyle at taxpayer expense. Last week, an Israeli parliamentary committee approved new funding for Netanyahu and his family.
THESSALONIKI, Greece (AP)  Family members lined up to give DNA samples in hopes of identifying victims of a train crash that killed nearly 60 people in Greece, as workers went on strike Thursday saying the rail system is outdated, underfunded and dangerous.

The government has blamed human error, and a railway official was charged with manslaughter.

Emergency crews, meanwhile, inched through the mangled remains of passenger carriages in their search for the dead from Tuesday nights head-on collision, which has left 57 confirmed dead  a number that rescuers fear will increase.

The collision of a passenger train and a freight train was the countrys deadliest ever, and more than 48 people remained hospitalized  with six in intensive care  most in the central Greek city of Larissa.

Dozens of grieving relatives spent a second day at a Larissa hospital awaiting the results of DNA identification on the bodies, many of which were burned or mangled beyond recognition.

Among them was Dimitris Bournazis, who said the crash should lead to a full safety overhaul of the countrys rail system.

Ive lost my brother, my father. That cant change, I know it, he said. But the point is for us not to mourn victims like that again. They bought 50 tickets to death.

CENTIMETER BY CENTIMETER

Fire Service spokesman Yiannis Artopios said the grim recovery effort was proceeding centimeter by centimeter.

We can see that there are more (bodies) of people there. Unfortunately they are in a very bad condition because of the collision, Artopios told state television.

Rescuers were focusing on the restaurant car, which was crushed under the first carriage from the force of the collision, said fire official Vassilios Vathrakogiannis.

This morning we removed seven burned bodies from that carriage, he said.

WORKERS SAY TRAIN SYSTEM IS UNSAFE

The Larissa station manager arrested after the collision was charged Thursday with multiple counts of manslaughter and causing serious physical harm through negligence, as a judicial inquiry tries to establish how the two trains could be traveling in opposite directions on the same track for more than 10 minutes without anyone raising the alarm.

Railway workers associations called strikes, halting national rail services and the subway in Athens. They are protesting working conditions and what they described as a dangerous failure to modernize the rail system due to a lack of public investment during the deep financial crisis that spanned most of the previous decade and brought Greece to the brink of bankruptcy.

Despite years of modernization projects, much of the key rail control work is still manually operated.

The head of the engine drivers union, Costas Genidounias, said an up-to-date traffic control system was supposed to have been ready three years ago.

In 2020, we started our efforts with industrial action, warning that there were delays and sending legal notices to the rail company, government officials and regulatory authorities, but to no avail, he said.

Transport Minister Kostas Karamanlis resigned following the crash, his replacement tasked with setting up an independent inquiry looking into the causes of the crash.

Responsibility will be assigned, Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis said in a televised address late Wednesday after visiting the collision site.

We will work so that the words never again  will not remain an empty pledge, he said. That I promise you.

Supporters of the strike plan to protest in central Athens later Thursday.

CRASH SURVIVOR DESCRIBES FIERY ESCAPE

About 350 people were on the passenger train, many of them students returning from a holiday weekend and annual Carnival celebrations around Greece.

Andreas Alikaniotis, a 20-year-old survivor, described how he and fellow students escaped from a jackknifed train car as the fire approached, smashing windows and throwing luggage outside to use as a makeshift landing pad.

It was a steep drop, into a ditch, Alikaniotis, who suffered a knee injury, told reporters from his hospital bed in Larissa.

The lights went out.  The smoke was suffocating inside the rail car but also outside, Alikaniotis said.

He said he was one of the few around who had not been seriously injured.

Me and my friends helped people get out.

A FOREST OF RESPONSIBILITY

Relatives of the victims and still-missing passengers lashed out at government officials and Italian-owned private rail operator Hellenic Train.

Bournazis, whose father and 15-year-old brother remain unaccounted for, said phone calls to the rail company have been fruitless.

Ive been trying since yesterday afternoon to communicate with the company to find out what seat my father was in, he said. Nobody has called me back.

Bournazis said responsibility for the crash should go far beyond the stationmaster.

We cant dump all the blame on one person for making one mistake, he said.

The stationmasters lawyer, Stefanos Pandzardzidis, said his client was devastated and accepted his portion of the responsibility.

But beyond that  we must not focus on the tree while theres a whole forest beyond it, he said. Theres a forest of responsibility.

ZELENSKYY AND TURKEY SEND CONDOLENCES

Residents in Larissa lined up to give blood, many waiting in heavy rain for more than an hour, while the citys hotel association provided free accommodation to relatives of the crash victims and to those who traveled to the city to provide DNA samples. Nine bodies have been identified through genetic matches so far, authorities said.

Pope Francis and European leaders sent messages of sympathy in the wake of the crash. Among them were Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu, whose country is recovering from devastating earthquakes last month. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy sent a message in Greek, writing, The people of Ukraine share the pain of the families of the victims. We wish a speedy recovery to all the injured.

___

Paphitis reported from Athens, Greece. Derek Gatopoulos in Athens contributed to this report.
THESSALONIKI, Greece (AP)  Family members awaited the results of DNA testing to identify victims of a train crash that killed nearly 60 people in Greece, as workers went on strike Thursday saying the rail system is outdated, underfunded and dangerous.

The government has blamed human error, and a railway official was charged with manslaughter.

Emergency crews, meanwhile, inched through the mangled remains of passenger carriages in their search for the dead from Tuesday nights head-on collision, which has left 57 confirmed dead  a number that rescuers fear will increase.

The collision of a passenger train and a freight train was the countrys deadliest ever, and more than 48 people remained hospitalized  with six in intensive care  most in the central Greek city of Larissa.

RESIDENTS LINE UP IN RAIN TO GIVE BLOOD

Larissa residents lined up to give blood, many waiting in heavy rain for more than an hour, while the citys hotel association provided free accommodation to relatives of the crash victims.

DNA matching was going fast, with at least four families  in the presence of psychologists  receiving confirmation Thursday that their relatives were among the dead, said police spokeswoman Constandia Dimoglidou.

Dimoglidou said the process usually takes several days but authorities are making an effort to finish by Friday. She said 24 bodies have been identified through DNA so far. The testing was necessary because many of the bodies were burned or mangled beyond recognition.

Among the dozens of grieving relatives who spent a second day at the hospital awaiting results Thursday was Dimitris Bournazis, whose father and 15-year-old brother remain unaccounted for. He said phone calls to Italian-owned train operator Hellenic Train have been fruitless.

Ive been trying since yesterday afternoon to communicate with the company to find out what seat my father was in, he said. Nobody has called me back.

WORKERS, RELATIVES SAY TRAIN SYSTEM UNSAFE

Railway workers associations called strikes, halting national rail services and the subway in Athens to protest working conditions and what they described as a dangerous failure to modernize the rail system. A second 24-hour strike was called for Friday.

Two separate protests in central Athens were held by left-wing groups, with one resulting in clashes between stone-throwing youths and riot police. Protests were also held in Thessaloniki and Larissa.

Critics blame a lack of public investment during the deep financial crisis that spanned most of the previous decade and brought Greece to the brink of bankruptcy. It was during the crisis, in 2017, that the rail operator, then heavily losing money, was privatized and bought by Italys Ferrovie dello Stato Italiane Group.

Despite years of modernization projects, much of the key rail control work is still manually operated.

The head of the engine drivers union, Costas Genidounias, said an up-to-date traffic control system was supposed to have been ready three years ago. He said that starting in 2020, union representatives sent legal notices to the company responsible for Greeces railway infrastructure, OSE, as well as government and regulatory officials, but received no reply.

OSE issued a statement Thursday expressing condolences to the victims families but it has not publicly commented on the criticism.

A FOREST OF RESPONSIBILITY

Transportation Minister Kostas Karamanlis resigned following the crash and officials launched a judicial inquiry to determine how two trains traveled in opposite directions on the same track for more than 10 minutes without anyone raising the alarm.

The Larissa station manager was charged Thursday with multiple counts of manslaughter and causing serious physical harm through negligence. His name was not released.

The stationmasters lawyer, Stefanos Pandzardzidis, said his client was devastated and accepted his portion of the responsibility.

But beyond that  we must not focus on the tree while theres a whole forest beyond it, he said. Theres a forest of responsibility.

Bournazis agreed that the responsibility for the crash should go far beyond the stationmaster.

We cant dump all the blame on one person for making one mistake, he said.

He said the crash should lead to a full safety overhaul of the countrys rail system.

Ive lost my brother, my father. That cant change, I know it, he said. But the point is for us not to mourn victims like that again. They bought 50 tickets to death.

Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis pledged in a televised statement Wednesday night to get to the bottom of the disaster.

Responsibility will be assigned. We will work so that the words never again  will not remain an empty pledge, he said. That I promise you.

CENTIMETER BY CENTIMETER

Amid the growing criticism, emergency workers continued their grim recovery effort, proceeding centimeter by centimeter through mounds of twisted steel, shattered glass and scattered luggage, said Fire Service spokesman Yiannis Artopios.

We can see that there are more (bodies) of people there. Unfortunately they are in a very bad condition, he told state television.

Rescuers were focusing on the restaurant car, which was crushed under the first carriage from the force of the collision, said fire official Vassilios Vathrakogiannis.

This morning we removed seven burned bodies from that carriage, he said.

CRASH SURVIVOR DESCRIBES FIERY ESCAPE

About 350 people were on the passenger train, many of them students returning from a holiday weekend and annual Carnival celebrations around Greece.

Andreas Alikaniotis, a 20-year-old survivor, described how he and fellow students escaped from a jackknifed train car as the fire approached, smashing windows and throwing luggage outside to use as a makeshift landing pad.

It was a steep drop, into a ditch, Alikaniotis, who suffered a knee injury, told reporters from his hospital bed in Larissa.

The lights went out.  The smoke was suffocating inside the rail car but also outside, Alikaniotis said.

He said he was one of the few around who had not been seriously injured.

Me and my friends helped people get out.

___

Paphitis reported from Athens, Greece. Derek Gatopoulos in Athens contributed to this report.
A 14-year-old boy pleaded no contest Thursday to second-degree murder and will remain in custody until age 21 in the 2021 shooting death of 13-year-old Bennie Hargrove on the grounds of an Albuquerque middle school.

Juan Saucedo Jr. was 13 when he brought his fathers gun to Washington Middle School and shot a classmate multiple times as dozens of other students watched in August 2021.

Saucedo will remain in custody until he is 21, the maximum sentence allowed for a child under New Mexico law, the 2nd Judicial District Attorneys Office said in a written statement.

District Judge Catherine Begaye handed down the sentence at a hearing Thursday in Childrens Court.

Hargroves death on school grounds caused shock and grief in the community and prompted gun-storage legislation now under consideration in the Legislature.

Hargroves grandmother, Vanessa Sawyer, said Thursday that she understands the legal basis for Saucedos sentence but considers it an injustice to her grandson and his family.

There is no punishment for what he did  thats the maximum allowed for a child, Sawyer said of Saucedo. You have to be in a really dark place to do that. It is so unfair.

Saucedo was charged as a juvenile because he was under 14 when he shot Hargrove. Begaye ruled last year that because of Saucedos juvenile status, the highest sanction permissible is incarceration up to age 21.

I personally think that he should be there longer, Sawyer said. But I do hope while hes in there he makes good choices and does better things.

Sawyer said she told the judge Thursday that her family has struggled since her grandsons death.

I feel like some thread has been loosened from our family, and a link to our hearts is gone, and were lost trying to find it, Sawyer said.

Investigators said Hargrove was trying to stop Saucedo from bullying his friends when Saucedo pulled a handgun and shot him.

Officers responded to the shooting at the school about 12:40 p.m. on Aug. 13, 2021, and found Hargrove with multiple gunshot wounds. He died at a hospital.

A classmate told police that earlier that day, Saucedo had shown other children the gun he brought to school in a backpack, according to a criminal complaint filed in Childrens Court.

Saucedos father, Juan Saucedo Sr., noticed his handgun was missing the day of the killing, the complaint said. He arrived at the school as officers were putting handcuffs on his son.

A gun storage bill bearing Bennie Hargroves name now is under consideration by state lawmakers. House Bill 9 would make it a crime to store a firearm in a way that negligently disregards the ability of a minor to access it.

Criminal charges could be brought only if the minor later brandishes or displays the firearm in a threatening way or uses it to kill or injure someone.

HB 9 was endorsed last month by the House on a 37-32 vote following a vigorous three-hour debate and sent to the Senate.

The bill received a do-pass recommendation Thursday by the Senate Finance Committee.

Sawyer and other family members have spoken at the Roundhouse in favor of the legislation.

This was a terrible tragedy for everyone involved, District Attorney Sam Bregman said in the statement. It changed the Hargrove family forever and devastated hundreds of children, parents, school faculty and the community. We hope this brings some closure to the Hargrove family.
In the wee hours of New Years Day, police found 40-year-old Felipe Vigil shot to death in Southeast Albuquerque.

Surveillance video revealed that Vigil was involved in two fights outside Adam Food Market and was running away just prior to the shooting, according to court records cited in previous Journal reporting.

The Albuquerque Police Department cites Vigils Jan. 1 death as their sixth homicide investigation at the property in the last 2 years  more than any other site in the city, APD Chief Harold Medina said in a statement Thursday.

If that isnt shocking enough, APD responded to 500 calls and wrote 117 reports during just one year at the business, Medina added.

Now the city is asking a state judge to order the East Central convenience store demolished at the owners expense or to shut it down for three years, saying it is a hotbed of criminal activity and a detriment to the community as a whole.

Respondents may suffer financially in the closure of Adam Food Market; however, it will reduce criminal activity in the surrounding neighborhood, the city argued in an amended complaint filed last month in District Court. Community members are at high risk of injury, death, blight and disinvestment if the Property is allowed to keep operating.

But the property owner said the city is essentially shifting responsibility for crime and homelessness onto businesses.

Sharif Rabadi said the site is fenced, has 24/7 security cameras, and that the store operator  who rents from him  has offered to provide Albuquerque police rent-free space across the street to run a substation or pay an off-duty officer to help with security.

He said hes not sure what else they can do, but that adding another vacant property to Central is not going to help.

You cant just come and take my building and knock it down and ask me to pay for it. This is not fair, said Rabadi, who owns the building and the land at 7817 Central NE. I pay taxes. Im a good citizen.

In the complaint filed in 2nd Judicial District Court in Albuquerque, the city argues that Adam Food Market meets the definition of public nuisance.' It references 117 police reports tied to the location in a recent one-year period, including 71 documenting illegal activities ranging from murder and aggravated assault to drug trafficking and receiving stolen property.

Undercover officers made three fentanyl buys inside the market and two more outside the store during an operation last September, according to the complaint.

The city also argues in its filing that the property is a drain on resources, estimating that police responses to the property amounted to $98,983 worth of officer time in the last year.

Defendants include Rabadi and his tenant, Anna Marie Delgado, the stores owner.

Delgados attorney said she is working on a motion to dismiss the citys complaint, which she calls outrageous. The building is not responsible for crime, she said.

I think that the city is trying to shirk its responsibility of protecting business owners and people living in the area, attorney Britany Schaffer said. You just go down Central and you see every property is being occupied by people who dont have anywhere else to go, because the city policies are failing.

The Journal has reported on a number of incidents at the store. In November 2021, police found a man fatally shot in the Adam Food Market parking lot  Albuquerques 100th homicide in what turned out to be a record-breaking year. And in January, police alleged a man  who they identified as the store owner  shot at a vehicle, while two other store employees retrieved the casings.

Schaffer said the man was not the owner but an employee.

She said Delgados partner at the store has proactively worked with police in an attempt to curb crime, as staff have been victims, too.

Asked about the defendants offers to provide police rent-free space nearby or to hire off-duty police, an APD spokesman responded in only general terms.

The City has been working with the property owners and business management for years. They have gone through the same process as other businesses with nuisance problems. Violent crime and drug trafficking has gotten worse, and we need to take action as quickly as possible to address this threat to public safety, APD spokesman Gilbert Gallegos said.
Once a week during the legislative session, Journal Capitol Bureau reporters will answer questions posed by readers. You can submit questions at the Journals website: ABQJournal.com/legislature.

Q. Will the Legislature select standard time to be the year-round time used throughout New Mexico during this session? If not, why not?  Michael Murphy

A. Debate over the bi-annual time changes has become as much of an annual staple in recent years at the Roundhouse as poorly-sung Happy Birthday serenades.

During this years 60-day session, there are two dueling bills on the issue  each with critics and staunch supporters.

One of the bills, Senate Bill 191, seeks to exempt New Mexico from daylight saving time and, instead, permanently keep the state on standard time.

The other measure, Senate Bill 287, would keep the state on daylight saving time year round by declaring a new Mountain Daylight Saving Time, though such a move would require federal approval.

But with just over two weeks left in this years session, neither time-shifting proposal has advanced very far in the legislative process and both appear unlikely to reach Gov. Michelle Lujan Grishams desk.

Currently, Hawaii and Arizona are the only states that dont observe daylight saving time, though the parts of the Navajo Nation located in Arizona do change their clocks. But at least six other western states have passed legislation to shift to permanent daylight saving time, if given congressional approval.

The issue is timely for this years session, with daylight saving time set to begin March 12.
Copyright  2023 Albuquerque Journal

California-based Universal Hydrogen made aviation history Thursday morning with a maiden test flight of a turboprop aircraft converted to hydrogen propulsion.

The company flew its test plane for 15 minutes at low elevation above the Grant County International Airport in Moses Lake, Washington, where its worked for two years to convert a 50-passenger Dash 8 aircraft from traditional kerosene-fueled engines to hydrogen power.

The Soviets flew an experimental jet in 1988 with one engine powered by hydrogen, making Universals test plane, dubbed Lightning McClean, only the second aircraft  and the largest one to date  to ever to fly on hydrogen.

Universal Hydrogen co-founder and general counsel Jon Gordon called it a dream come true.

Im at a loss for words, Gordon told the Journal late Thursday. It was fantastic. The plane flew beautifully.

The achievement is good news for the aviation industry in general as it works to decarbonize air flight, and for New Mexico in particular, because Universal Hydrogen will locate its global manufacturing headquarters at the Albuquerque International Sunport. The company plans to build both its turboprop conversion technology, plus modular hydrogen capsules to fuel up planes, at the Sunport, where its now investing $254 million in a new manufacturing facility that could employ more than 500 people by 2025.

Universal Hydrogen could have gone anywhere in the world, but the fact that theyre coming to the Sunport is thrilling, Albuquerque Economic Development Director Max Gruner told the Journal. Im so stoked about the jobs the company will create here. And the fact that its now achieved proof of concept through direct flight for technology to decarbonize regional airline travel is remarkable.

Universal has created disruptive, breakthrough technology that could shake up the aviation industry through a drop-in system to rapidly transition existing turboprop aircraft that manage regional in-state and interstate passenger service into hydrogen-propelled planes.

And, apart from the powertrain conversion kits, its developed entirely new, lightweight hydrogen fuel capsules that can be transported, stored, loaded and unloaded from planes using existing logistics, eliminating the need for expensive modifications to airport infrastructure.

Our business model resolves the chicken-and-egg problem between hydrogen airplanes and hydrogen infrastructure by developing both in parallel and with a uniquely low-cost approach, Universal co-founder and CEO Paul Eremenko said in a statement Thursday.

The airplanes are converted to hydrogen using an aftermarket retrofit conversion kit, tackling the existing fleet rather than developing a brand new airplane. And hydrogen fueling uses modular capsules compatible with existing freight networks and airport cargo handling equipment, making every airport in the world hydrogen-ready.

New Mexico approved $12 million in Local Economic Development Act funding to assist Universal in building its Sunport manufacturing facility, including $10 million from the state and $2 million from Albuquerque, which the City Council unanimously passed in January.

Were finalizing all the prerequisite documents now, Gruner said.

Universal expected to break ground at the Sunport this spring, employing some 1,200 construction workers through 2025. But thats been delayed until early next year to spend more time on architectural preparation for the 100-acre plot the company is leasing near the Sunport passenger terminal.

Were taking that plot of land very seriously, Gordon said. We want to do something really welcoming architecturally, because its the first thing people will see when they land.

Still, the targeted 2025 facility completion date remains unchanged. Thats critical, because the company expects to receive Federal Aviation Administration certification that year to fly passengers on converted planes, allowing turboprop conversions to start.

The company already has orders to convert nearly 250 planes for airlines in the U.S., Canada and Europe.

Universal flew Thursday with hydrogen fuel propulsion on just one of Lightning McCleans two turbine engines. The other remained on fossil fuel for safety.

But during the flight, the pilot throttled back the gas engine almost to idle, allowing the plane to fly almost solely on hydrogen power.

We flew with only one hydrogen engine for safety, but on the second pass, the pilot turned down the kerosene engine as far as it could go, Gordon told the Journal. It flew above our heads producing virtually zero emissions  just water. It was a real moment for all of us.

Given that historic achievement, Lightning McClean will eventually be displayed at the Smithsonian Air and Space Museum in Washington, D.C.
SANTA FE  Legislators confronted each other in testy, personal debate Friday as they moved forward with legislation to protect transgender rights in New Mexico.

The proposal won House approval on a 47-20 vote and moves next to the state Senate as lawmakers enter the final two weeks of the session.

The bill would prohibit school districts, government agencies and public contractors from discriminating on the basis of sex, sexual orientation or gender identity, among other categories, when providing services.

But much of the debate focused on transgender teachers and students.

They simply want to live their lives as who they are, said Rep. Dayan Hochman-Vigil, an Albuquerque Democrat who supported the bill and described herself as the step mom of a transgender individual.

Republicans lawmakers who opposed the bill sought to add an exemption for schools, contending a district should be permitted to keep a transgender girl out of a female bathroom or locker room.

Potentially, theyll be seeing genitals, Rep. Rod Montoya, R-Farmington, said as he argued in favor of a GOP-sponsored amendment.

Hochman-Vigil was among those who objected to the school exemption. She said it could endanger kids and expose them to bullying.

You are actually physically and emotionally putting them in danger with policies like this, Hochman-Vigil said as she opposed the amendment.

The back-and-forth at the Roundhouse comes as similar debates play out in state capitols across the country. But unlike lawmakers in neighboring Texas and Arizona, state legislators in New Mexico  where Democrats hold large majorities  are weighing measures to expand, not restrict, LGBTQ rights.

The New Mexico House last month sent to the Senate a proposal, for example, to prohibit cities, counties and school districts from interfering with access to gender-affirming care. The legislation, House Bill 7, has cleared one Senate committee and is awaiting action in a second.

The measure taken up Friday, however, focuses on the state Human Rights Act. It would update a variety of definitions for people who are protected from discrimination and add gender to the list of protected classes.

It also would declare it illegal for a government agencies and groups that receive public funds to limit or put conditions on the provision of services to people in certain protected classes.

I dont think public funds should be used to discriminate against any class of people.  I dont want those dollars to make people hurt, to make people suffer, said state Rep. Kristina Ortez, a Taos Democrat and co-sponsor of the bill.

Republicans sought unsuccessfully to add some exemptions, such as for religious groups that receive public funding. They sometimes peppered Ortez with questions about the differences between, say, sexual orientation, gender and gender identity.

I think these are very broad definitions, state Rep. John Block, R-Alamogordo, said. Theyre vague, quite frankly.

Rep. Greg Nibert, R-Roswell, said he feared the proposal, without amendment, would end some charitable efforts by putting religious organizations to a test.

Democratic Rep. Eliseo Alcon of Milan objected: As long as they arent handling government money, they can do whatever they want.

Lawmakers of both parties shared stories about LGBTQ friends and family members, sometimes touching on suicide and discrimination.

The proposal, House Bill 207, cleared the House largely along party lines. Four Republicans  Gail Armstrong of Magdalena, Jason Harper and Joshua Hernandez of Rio Rancho and Tanya Mirabal Moya of Los Lunas  joined Democrats in favor of the bill.

Bunnie Cruse, a transgender woman from Albuquerque, was among the advocates of the bill who visited lawmakers this week to seek support for the bill.

There are lot of transgender New Mexicans. We pay taxes, and we deserve not to be discriminated against, she said in an interview.
From 8 a.m. to 5 p.m., Dr. Casey Allman sees patients at his dentistry practice on the border of Albuquerque and Rio Rancho.

But at the end of the day, he changes his scrubs for a polo and heads to his new soda shop at 3301 Southern SE, Rio Rancho.

My staff has been very supportive, Allman said. Of course, they tease me that Im saying Congratulations, no cavities, come to my soda shop.'

Allman has brought the first franchize of FiiZ Drinks, a Utah-based soda chain, to New Mexico. The franchise now has locations in 10 states.

Allman has family in Utah, and said that soda shops are very popular in the state. For years, he waited for a similar shop to come to New Mexico  but eventually, he decided to open his own.

Nobody was doing it, Allman said. I finished paying off my business loans, and thought maybe I should look into seeing whats involved in bringing one of the franchises to New Mexico.

The menu at FiiZ includes base sodas that can have additional flavor syrups added to them. Allmans favorite is a drink called the Chandler Bing: a Mountain Dew with strawberry, pineapple and coconut syrup added in. Between all the sodas and flavors, Allman said, theres thousands of different combinations.

Ultimately, Allman is hoping to open four FiiZ Drinks locations in New Mexico.

Yeah, Im a dentist. Its kind of weird, but why not? Allman said.

The grand opening is on Saturday, March 4, from 12 p.m. to 6 p.m. During the grand opening, all sodas will be $1, and all specialty drinks including hot chocolate and smoothies will be $2.

Prior to grand opening, the shop is open 9 a.m. to 9 p.m., Monday through Saturday. Following the grand opening, the hours will be 7:30 a.m. to 10 p.m., Monday through Saturday. Hours are subject to change.
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The Johanna Mason depicter in the film franchise also claims that she has 'worked very hard to heal and learn thru restorative justice , how to make peace with the person who violated me and make peace with myself.'

Mar 3, 2023

AceShowbiz - Jena Malone has opened up about an unpleasant experience she had while filming "The Hunger Games". The Johanna Mason depicter in the franchise revealed in a candid post that she was sexually assaulted while working on the project, which left her with trauma.

Making use of Instagram, the 38-year-old shared a picture of herself standing alone in a sun-drenched field. She began her caption, "This photo was taken right after I wrapped mocking Jay part two and I had to say goodbye to everyone on set. We were shooting in a beautiful estate in the countryside of France and I asked the driver to let me out in this field so I could cry and capture this moment."

"Even tho this time in Paris was extremely hard for me , was going thru a bad break up and also was sexually assaulted by someone I had worked with , I was so full of gratitude for this project, the people I became close with and this amazing part I got to play," the Golden Globe Awards nominee continued. "A swirling mix of emotions im only now just learning to sort thru. I wish it wasn't tied to such a traumatic event for me but that is the real wildness of life I I guess. How to hold the chaos with the beauty."

Jena went on to note that she has "worked very hard to heal and learn thru restorative justice , how to make peace with the person who violated me and make peace with myself." She added, "It's been hard to talk about the hunger games and Johanna Mason without feeling the sharpness of this moment in time but I'm ready to move thru it and reclaim the joy and accomplishment I felt."

Before concluding her lengthy caption, Jena stated, "Lots of love to you survivors out there. The process is so slow and non linear. I want to say im here for anyone who needs to talk or vent or open uncommunicated spaces within themselves." She then asked her fans to "dm me if you need a safe space to be heard."

In the comment section of her post, Jena responded to someone's reply saying the person who assaulted her had been able to "walk away" without any repercussions for their actions. In response, she said, "No that's not true... I used restorative justice to allow healing and accountability and growth with the other person. It was a hard process but one I believe truly helped me move thru some of the hardest parts of the grief."

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The bassist of the 'Disco 2000' group has passed away at the age of 56 after landing in a hospital as he was fighting an illness 'with all his strength and determination.'

Mar 3, 2023

AceShowbiz - Pulp bassist Steve Mackey has passed away. While paying an emotional tribute to the musician, the "Disco 2000" hitmaker's wife Katie Grand revealed he passed away on Thursday, March 2 at the age of 56, having spent the last few months in hospital.

"After three months in hospital, fighting with all his strength and determination, we are shocked and devastated to have said goodbye to my brilliant, beautiful husband, Steve Mackey," the stylist wrote on Instagram. "Steve died today, a loss which has left myself, his son Marley, parents Kath and Paul, sister Michelle and many friends all heartbroken."

"Steve was the most talented man I have ever known, an exceptional musician, producer, photographer and filmmaker. As in life, he was adored by everyone whose paths he crossed in the multiple creative disciplines he conquered."

"I would like to express my heartfelt thanks to all the NHS staff who worked tirelessly for Steve. He will be missed beyond words. The family has asked for privacy at this time."

Pulp shared a statement on Twitter confirming the loss of their "beloved friend" alongside a photo of Steve walking with his back to the camera. It read, "Our beloved friend + bass player Steve Mackey passed away this morning."

"Our thoughts are with his family + loved ones. This photo of Steve dates from when Pulp were on tour in South America in 2012. We had a day off + Steve suggested we go climbing in the Andes. So we did."

"Steve made things happen. In his life & in the band. & We'd very much like to think that he's back in those mountains now, on the next stage of his adventure. Safe travels, Steve. We hope to catch up with you one day. All our love."

Steve joined the band in 1989, first featuring on the group's third album "Separations". He played on all their subsequent records but, in October, he confirmed he wouldn't be joining Jarvis Cocker, Candida Doyle, Nick Banks, and Mark Webber on their reunion tour this summer.

In an Instagram statement, he said, "Pulp is a very important part of my creative life. I'm exceptionally proud of the body of work we've created together. Jarvis and I remastered Pulp's entire Universal Records back catalogue together just over two years ago at Abbey Road Studios. It was a huge pleasure to do that and review our songs and recordings together."

"There have been wide reports of a full reunion for UK concerts today. However, I've decided to continue the work I'm engaged in - music, filmmaking and photography projects, and will not be joining them for these UK shows just announced."

"Wishing Candy, Nick, Mark and Jarvis the very best with forthcoming performances in the UK and also an enormous thanks to Pulp's amazing fanbase, many of whom have sent me lovely messages today."

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The 'Emily in Paris' actress weighs in on the impact of beauty apps and filters on social media, insisting they are doing more harm than good for young people.

Mar 3, 2023

AceShowbiz - Lily Collins is concerned about the influence of "scary apps and filters" on teenage girls. The 33-year-old actress has said teenage girls are now facing more pressure than ever before.

"There are scary apps and filters that change the complete aesthetic of your face. I don't even know what they're called, but when you see the before-and-afters, it's terrifying. The idea that young girls that are under the age of 16 are using those and posting them  I can't imagine having that at that age," Lily told Glamour magazine.

"I can't imagine that that would help instil accepting yourself as enough, if you're already feeling the need to change yourself in order to have to feel confident to post a photo. So that makes me really sad that filters like that exist as normal now."

Lily - who is the daughter of musician Phil Collins and his second wife, Jill Tavelman - worries about the potential influence of the apps and filters. The actress also suggested that so-called imperfections are actually a sign of a "fulfilled life."

Lily - who plays Emily Cooper in the hit Netflix series "Emily in Paris" - explained, "I was raised to embrace who you are and the different things about you as being what's beautiful, so those filters and apps really go exactly against that."

"It makes me question how the younger generation will then grow to accept themselves if they've been instilled so young that the only way to put yourself out there is through filters and apps like that. And also, when you smile and laugh, and see wrinkles  it just means that you've had a fulfilled life of lots of stories and memories."

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It is revealed that 21-year-old Dralin Carswell was taken into custody on Tuesday, February 28 after a three-mile car chase in Monroe County.

Mar 3, 2023

AceShowbiz - Honey Boo Boo a.k.a. Alana Thompsons' boyfriend had a run-in with the law. It was unveiled that Dralin Carswell was arrested for driving under influence and fleeing police in Georgia.

According to the Monroe County Reporter, the 21-year-old was taken into custody on Tuesday, February 28 after a three-mile car chase in Monroe County. It's said he was in the passenger seat of his Dodge Charger.

The incident reportedly took place around 4:30 P.M. when Cpl. Jaleel Brown ran the tag of a Dodge Charger in front of a gas station on Highway 24. The officer then tried to make a traffic stop after the police system confirmed that the car's owner had a warrant under his name. However, Dralin sped off, prompting the officer to use a PIT (precision immobilization technique) maneuver, spinning the car and disabling it near Hickman Road.

Dralin was eventually arrested for DUI, fleeing, failing to maintain lanes and slapped with a speeding citation. He spent two days in jail on a bond of $25,000. Another passenger Julian Malik Divon Williams was also arrested on outstanding warrants.

Alana and Dralin's relationship was first revealed in September 2021. At the time, The Sun reported that the pair had been dating for six months. They were believed to have made their relationship official when Dralin, a college student, changed his status to In a Relationship on Facebook back in March. On the same day, the reality TV star posted a photo of the pair together on her private account. In the comments on the photo, Dralin called her his "bae" and added a heart emoji.

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The alleged victim, a sound engineer named Mark, claims in the interview that the 'SICKO MODE' hitmaker stuck his middle finger in his face before punching him at Club Nebula.

Mar 3, 2023

AceShowbiz - Travis Scott (II) has responded to his alleged club attack victim's hospital interview. In the interview, the sound engineer, who identified only as Mark, claimed that the "SICKO MODE" rapper "attacked" him.

The 31-year-old rapper's rep called the allegations against the rapper "a complete and total joke" in a statement provided to Complex on Thursday, March 2. The statement read, "As anyone with common sense can see, the video that shows Travis DJ'ing in Nebula proves that the incident was nothing. All it shows that Travis's performance was disrupted by someone aggressively in his personal space."

In the meantime, Travis' attorney Mitchell Schuster noted that there have been no charges filed against the "Goosebumps" rapper. Mitchell continued, "Legal counsel for Travis are actively working with the authorities and remain confident that Travis will be vindicated once all is said and done. Any statements about the incident involving Travis are clearly an attempt to sensationalize what is nothing more than a misunderstanding."

The response came after Mark detailed what had happened at the Nebula nightclub in an interview from his hospital bed with Fox 5 on Wednesday. As he sat in his hospital bed, the engineer explained the extent of his injuries. He said that he was having some trouble turning his head and was feeling some pain. "Obviously, my neck is f**ked up. My arm is tingly. I have pins and needles going down it," he declared.

Besides explaining his issues with his neck, Mark detailed what had allegedly happened between him and Travis at the club. He said that the volume during the rapper's set, during an appearance with Don Toliver, was too high, causing it to distort. "I was trying to tell him to lower [the volume] so it sounded good for the performance, but he just stuck his middle finger in my face. So I lowered the monitor a little bit so I could talk to him, and that's when he ran around the speaker and attacked me," he recalled.

Travis has been wanted by the New York City Police Department. The police are currently searching for the "Astroworld" rapper to question him about an alleged altercation in a nightclub.

Police reportedly responded to the scene at about 3:25 A.M. for an assault and criminal mischief. NBC News reports that Travis was patronizing the nightclub when, per an NYPD statement, he allegedly became involved in a "verbal dispute" with a sound engineer.

According to the statement obtained by the outlet, the rapper was also accused of escalating the exchange of words "into a physical altercation" and that he allegedly "punched the victim with a closed fist on the left side of the face." He was also accused of destroying roughly $12,000 worth of equipment in the club, including a speaker and a video screen, during his alleged rampage.

Following the news of the attack, a representative for Travis called it a "misunderstanding" in a statement to Daily Mail. "There have been discussions with the venue who confirmed this was a simple misunderstanding that was resolved in minutes," the statement read, "The show was great and never missed a beat. This has the earmarks of a cash grab but will be resolved and all those with an agenda will be held accountable." A source close to the rapper also told the outlet that he and his team were "working with law enforcement to resolve and get to the truth."

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In a new interview with Hot Ones, the 'Wednesday' actress also confirms that the stereotype that teenagers are 'unintelligent' and 'bratty' gets 'under her skin.'

Mar 3, 2023

AceShowbiz - Jenna Ortega has shared her two cents on stereotypes about Gen Z. In a new interview, the breakout "Wednesday" star spoke out against the stereotypes about teenagers that irk her.

The former Disney Channel star addressed the issue when making an appearance on Hot Ones with host Sean Evans. In the Thursday, March 2 episode, she was asked if there's a Gen Z Trope or stereotype about teens in scripts that "gets under" her skin.

Unsurprisingly, Jenna was quick to call out some misconceptions about high schoolers. The "Scream VI" actress noticed that teenagers are often depicted as "unintelligent," which does not reflect her generation because so much is "accessible to them on the Internet." She went on to insist, "I wish that they were given a bit more credit. We can be smart, sometimes!"

After "a little over a decade" in Hollywood and acknowledging that she does "look a bit younger" than her peers, the 20-year-old actress also said she's over plotlines about "bratty" teens that "bad mouth" everything.

Prior to this, Jenna talked about how she feels that "a lot of" Hollywood bosses still lack awareness of today's issues. Speaking to New York Magazine's The Cut, the "You" star addressed the challenges of meeting "expectations" of what a Latina actress should look like or the kind of roles she should be taking on.

"It goes back to the 'your own worst critic' thing. Nothing anybody else could say is gonna bother me as much as something I could say," Jenna said. "When it comes to Latina expectations, it's so easy for me to brush those off because the people who are in positions of power right now or who have been in positions of power for so long in the industry, a lot of them are out of touch or just not necessarily familiar because they grew up in a very different time."

"So I think that I personally have so much fun pushing the boundaries and doing all of the things that, you know, the Latina character 'shouldn't' do. We were never the hero of the story or the lead of the story, and I love to be able to push back on that," she elaborated.

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Earlier this month, the former daytime TV queen revealed in a bizarre rant that she's eyeing hosting gig on 'The View' alongside Whoopi Goldberg, Joy Behar and Seth Meyers.

Mar 3, 2023

AceShowbiz - Wendy Williams is seemingly ready to make an epic comeback. The former "The Wendy Williams Show" host was seen walking outside her apartment amid rumors she's plotting a return to work.

On Thursday, March 2, the embattled former daytime TV queen was seen wearing an all-black outfit while clutching a silver Louis Vuitton handbag as she made her way to her home. Completing her look, she added her favorite furry boots. At one point, she looked surprised or caught off guard, standing with her mouth agape and her eyes opened wide.

Upon learning of her photos, fans quickly expressed their concern, with many alleging that Wendy is suffering from "thyroid eye disease." One person commented, "Thyroid eye disease. Before even thinking about going back to work she needs to take care of herself, go to an endocrinologist and an ophthalmologist."

"Take her meds, do her labs and removed that thyroid if possible. Seems like her condition has progressed. Nowadays there are medicines to control that, wish it could be more ways to cure that awful autoimmune disease," the said person added. "Some people with Graves' disease develops the eye condition but seems to be two separate issues."

Another remarked, "She should get her Thyroid condition in check before she does anything else. It's obviously out of control." Someone else chimed in, "thyroid eye disease possibly." A separate social media user said, "The eye bulging is from Grave's disease. Once it happens, there is no fixing it. Wishing Wendy all the best."

The sighting came after it's reported that Wendy was filming a mystery project in NYC. Page Six reported on February 23 that the 58-year-old star filmed the so-called new project at Fresco by Scotto. Sources said the former radio personality, who has been lying low since battling health and addiction issues, took the power eatery by storm.

Wendy herself recently revealed her desire to be on "The View", alongside Whoopi Goldberg, Joy Behar and Seth Meyers, in a bizarre rant. "I'm shopping for kitty litter because I have a wax museum in Paris and one in California," she told a fan while she's at a pet shop last week.

"I'm going for a week in Paris and then three weeks in California and then immediately fly back," she continued rambling on. "I want to be on TV, stuff like Seth Meyers, Joy Behar, Whoopi Goldberg, 'The View'. Stuff like that."

Indeed, Wendy hasn't been on screen since her show "The Wendy Williams Show" was canceled in June last year following months-long absence due to health issues. CBS cut the TV personality and replaced her show with Sherri Shepherd's "Sherri".

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Before releasing 'Red Ruby Da Sleeze' on Friday, March 3, the Young Money alum informed her online devotees that it will have 'ghost writers all around the world' scrambling.

Mar 3, 2023

AceShowbiz - The wait is finally over for the Barbz. Nicki Minaj released her new single "Red Ruby Da Sleeze" on Friday, March 3, a few days after she teased the track on social media.

The tune samples Lumidee's "Never Leave You (Uh Oooh, Uh Oooh)" and hears the femcee referring to her 2018 single "ChunLi". She raps, "Only on them C's if it's breeze/ Red Ruby Da Sleeze, Chinese on my sleeve, these wannabe Chun-Li's, anyway, ni hao."

"Who the f**k told b***hes they was me now?/ I knew these b***hes was slow, I ain't know these b***hes senile," she goes on. "Married a shooter case you n***as tried to breathe loud/ Boom your face off, then I tell him, 'Cease fire.' "

Before dropping "Red Ruby Da Sleeze", Nicki told her online devotees that it will have "ghost writers all around the world" scrambling. Posting the song's cover art on Instagram, she penned, "#RedRubyDaSleeze tmrw night. ghost writers all around the world are scrambling [laughing emoji] Just watch. Nicki still on hiatus. This [email protected] right here tho? She outside."

The "Super Bass" raptress first previewed her new track via Instagram on February 23. Fans immediately recognized the sample from Lumidee's 2003 summer anthem, "Never Leave You (Uh-Oh)".

The new single follows Nicki's recent guest appearance on Trinidadian stars Machel Montano and Destra's "Shake The Place (Remix)". While there's no confirmation, all signs seem to point to the New York native officially gearing up for the follow-up to her 2018 album, "Queen".

Nicki previously said that her new album would arrive before the end of 2022 and that she expedited the process because of "Super Freaky Girl's" success. However, an album has yet to arrive.

"I wasn't sure how I was even feeling about having to put out an album this year, but that song happening and people liking it, that made me happy," Nicki told Interview Magazine at the time. "People have gone through so much recently that they want to have fun. It'll probably expedite the album to come out this year."

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The 'Armageddon' star steps out to grab coffee with two friends in Santa Monica, California, weeks after his family revealed that the 67-year-old actor is battling a rare and 'cruel' form of dementia.

Mar 3, 2023

AceShowbiz - Bruce Willis has been seen in public for the first time since his family shared a heartbreaking update on his health issues. The retired actor stepped out to grab coffee with two friends in Santa Monica, California on Thursday, March 2.

The 67-year-old looked physically fit during the outing, though he appears to be confused when they were about to get back to their car. In a video obtained by Daily Mail, one of the friends walked ahead to open the door of the car while another friend pointed to the direction of the car.

However, the "Unbreakable" star looks confused as he ignored his pal who tried to guide him into the vehicle. He continued marching forward to the direction of the paparazzi waiting outside the coffee shop. It apparently took him a few seconds to realize which one the right direction was.

Bruce dressed down in a blue sweater, black joggers and a woolen hat for the outing. He also wore a black watch while letting his friends carry the beverages they bought from the coffee shop.

Bruce's family announced in March 2022 that he retired from acting after he was diagnosed with aphasia, a disorder typically caused by damage to the area of the brain that controls language expression and comprehension. At the time of his retirement, he had completed eleven films awaiting release.

Later in February of this year, his family revealed that his condition had progressed to frontotemporal dementia. "Since we announced Bruce's diagnosis of aphasia in spring 2022, Bruce's condition has progressed and we now have a more specific diagnosis, frontotemporal dementia (known as FTD)," read a joint statement from his five children, wife Emma Heming and ex-wife Demi Moore posted on The Association for Frontotemporal Degeneration's website.

"Unfortunately, challenges with communication are just one symptom of the disease Bruce faces. While this is painful, it is a relief to finally have a clear diagnosis," they explained. "FTD is a cruel disease that many of us have never heard of and can strike anyone."

They added, "As Bruce's condition advances, we hope that any media attention can be focused on shining a light on this disease that needs far more awareness and research. Bruce always believed in using his voice in the world to help others, and to raise awareness about important issues both publicly and privately."

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Ashley Darby's estranged husband reportedly files a defamation lawsuit against his 'The Real Housewives of Potomac' co-star after she claimed in a November 2022 episode that he gave a man an oral sex.

Mar 3, 2023

AceShowbiz - "The Real Housewives of Potomac" alum Michael Darby is suing Candiace Dillard for defamation. Ashley Darby's estranged husband reportedly filed a defamation lawsuit against Candiace after she claimed he gave a man an oral sex.

According to court documents obtained by TMZ, Michael sent Dillard a cease-and-desist letter earlier this year, though she "has not retracted or otherwise accounted for her defamatory statements."

Michael's lawyer asserts in the document, "In making this statement, [Candiace] initially hesitated and looked off-camera, indicated that what she about to say was salacious and imprudent, but nonetheless proceeded to intentionally utter the defamatory statement."

It further stresses that Candiace's statements "falsely accuse Mr. Darby of committing a crime" under the laws of Virginia (where the Darbys live) and are therefore "actionable as insulting words because they are deemed to incite violence and/or breach the peace."

Darby's legal team notes that the statements have prompted "public scorn, hatred, humiliation, ridicule, contempt and/or embarrassment," so the real estate executive is seeking $2 million, $1 million in compensatory damages and another $1 million in punitive damages, as well as interest, attorney's fees and associated costs.

Candiace made the gay oral sex claims in a November 2022 episode of "The Real Housewives of Potomac". At the time, she said that the 63-year-old star "likes to leave [Ashley] and go to a man named [censored]'s house and suck his d**k." She also claimed he pays for sex.

In addition to feuding with Candiace, Michael, who announced his split from Ashley in April 2022 after eight years of marriage, had been at odds with her husband Chris Bassett. The two notably got into a physical fight at Robyn Dixon's annual holiday party back in 2020.

Following the fight, Candiace called Michael a "creep," to which Ashley responded that "there have been a lot of things said about my husband, and he has defended himself, and some people have viewed that to be disrespectful - and yet, it's okay to drag his name through the mud. That's not OK."

Chris, meanwhile, responded, "You and my wife have gone back and forth for many years and I've never gotten involved. If I had an issue [with Michael] ... I would have gone to him at a separate time."

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The visuals shows J-Hope strolling around the city while delivering his verses before cutting to a scene where J. Cole raps his own bars on a rooftop overlooking the Brooklyn bridge.

Mar 3, 2023

AceShowbiz - J-Hope has teamed up with J. Cole for a new joint single called "On the Street". The song arrived on Friday, March 3 along with its official music video, which shows the BTS (Bangtan Boys) member and the emcee meeting up in New York City.

The visuals shows J-Hope strolling around the city while delivering his verses. The clip then cuts to a scene where J. Cole raps his own bars on a rooftop overlooking the Brooklyn bridge. His collaborator then takes a busway ride to join him there.

J-Hope, whose real name is Jung Ho-seok, opens the reflective tune by singing, "Every time I work/ Every time I run/ Every time I move/ As always, for us." He continues, "Every time I look/ Every time I love/ Every time I hope/ As always, for us (On the street, I'm still)."

As for the German-born rhymer, he spits, "I contemplate if I should wait to hand over the crown/ And stick around for a bit longer/ I got a strange type of hunger/ The more I eat the more it gets stronger/ J-hope, Cole World."

"On The Street" was droped just days after it was announced that J-Hope will soon begin the enlistment process to complete his mandatory military service in his country. Big Hit said in a statement, "We would like to inform our fans that J-hope has initiated the military enlistment process by applying for the termination of his enlistment postponement."

"We will inform you of further updates in due course. We ask you for your continued love and support for J-hope until he completes his military service and safely returns," the music label added. "Our company will spare no effort in providing support for our artist."

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The 'Sweet Child O' Mine' band and Alex Turner-fronted group have become the latest additions to starry line-up for the upcoming annual Worthy Farm music festivity.

Mar 3, 2023

AceShowbiz - Arctic Monkeys and Guns N' Roses have been announced as the final headliners for Glastonbury 2023. Alex Turner and co will perform on the Pyramid Stage at the world-famous festival for the third time in their career on Friday, June 23. And the "Sweet Child O' Mine" rockers are scheduled to make their Worthy Farm debut on Saturday, June 24.

The two bands join previously-confirmed Sunday night headliner, Sir Elton John, who will close out the music extravaganza in Somerset, South West England, on June 25. Lil Nas X is set to perform before the "I'm Still Standing" hitmaker.

Lana Del Rey was also announced as a headliner for the Other Stage. "Eurovision" winners Maneskin will also make their Glasto debut. The stacked line-up also includes Lizzo, Lewis Capaldi, The War on Drugs, Christine and the Queens, Thundercat, Carly Rae Jepsen, and Manic Street Preachers. Plus the likes of Becky Hill, Aitch, Raye, and Rina Sawayama.

The first line-up poster comes after Blondie self-confirmed themselves. The group's drummer Clem Burke let slip last month that the Debbie Harry-fronted punk rock band are playing at the iconic festival.

He told Foxy Radio, "We're also doing Isle of Wight and we're doing some other festivals. I guess it hasn't really been announced, the full list of artists to be playing Glastonbury, but we are going to be playing Glastonbury, so maybe you got an exclusive there."

Elton - who has never played Glastonbury before - said, "I couldn't be more excited to be headlining the Pyramid Stage. As the end of my 'Farewell Yellow Brick Road' tour comes into view, there is no more fitting way to say goodbye to my British fans. They have been beyond brilliant, and have supported me through all the highs and lows of my career."

"Every week I speak to new artists on my radio show and Glastonbury is often cited as a pivotal moment in launching their careers - the festival's genuine, enthusiastic support for the best emerging talent is something I've long admired."

"I've been talking to Emily Eavis about it over the last few weeks and I can't wait to embrace the spirit of the greatest festival in the world. It's going to be incredibly emotional."

And the "Tiny Dancer" hitmaker is already planning to ask his celebrity pals to join him. A source told The Sun newspaper's Bizarre column, "Elton knows just about everyone in music so he's not short of names he could ask to appear with him on stage."

"Glastonbury has long been linked with some epic special guests, and Elton's set will be one of the biggest ever. Sir Paul McCartney was joined by Bruce Springsteen and Dave Grohl this year and Elton wants to top that, which will be no mean feat. It's been years in the making but now he has finally signed on the - dotted line. Everyone is excited to put the plans into action."

Last year's festival - the first post-COVID - was headlined by Sir Paul McCartney, Billie Eilish, and Kendrick Lamar. Tickets swiftly sold-out for this year in November, but a resale is due to take place in spring.

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The One Club for Creativity has announced June 1, 2023 as the date for this years edition of its long-running global Portfolio Night, with BBDO India, DDB Mudra Group, and TBWAIndia working together to co-host the event in Mumbai.

Established in 2003, Portfolio Night has long been recognised as the worlds largest advertising portfolio review program. This fast-paced evening of advice, networking and recruitment takes place in dozens of cities around the world on the same date to help the next generation of creative talent entering the industry. After three years of being affected by the pandemic, the program aims to have all cities once again host the event in-person.

In addition to the event in Mumbai, confirmed cities and hosts so far are Buenos Aires (GUT Buenos Aires and Circulo de Creatividad), Hong Kong (Ogilvy Hong Kong), Houston (Adcetera), Lisbon (Clube da Criatividade de Portugal), Montreal and Toronto (Tank Worldwide), Paris (DDB Paris), Riyadh ( and us), Sao Paulo (Africa), Santiago (Inbrax), Seoul (Paulus), Shanghai (BBH Shanghai), and Singapore (BBDO Singapore).

Tickets for young creatives interested in attending Portfolio Night 2023 will be available in April, once all city hosts are determined.

Portfolio Night is an important event in advertising because it serves as the gateway for young talent to enter the industry, enabling the best of the present  hundreds of renowned international creative directors  to meet and mentor the leaders of the future in industry hubs around the world.

It has also become a crucial tool for agencies in recruiting top young talent, providing a platform for recognition from local industry peers, and giving agencies a place on the global stage as the ad world tunes in to this one-of-a-kind event.

The program includes Portfolio Night All-Stars, a weeklong virtual program where each city host selects one young creative in their market with the best portfolio to participate. These lucky All-Stars will work in teams on a brief from a major global brand sponsor to be determined, and attend seminars and recruiting sessions. At the end of the week, each team presents their pitch, with the winning team being flown to New York by The One Club for a week of events and networking opportunities.

Portfolio Night is a unique global event that serves as a high-visibility opportunity for agencies and creative professionals to give back to the industry by guiding the earliest steps of future copywriters, art directors and technologists, said Kevin Swanepoel, CEO, The One Club for Creativity. Were very grateful for the agencies and organizations who have signed on to make this important global event possible in their markets, and look forward to additional hosts getting involved.

Branding for Portfolio Night 2023 was created by Nana Rausch at Quick Honey, based in New York and Berlin.

Unlike for-profit awards shows, The One Club is a non-profit organisation that puts revenue generated from awards entries back into the industry in the form of programs under its four pillars: Education, Inclusion & Diversity, Gender Equality and Creative Development.
While most Indian households use a ceiling fan for almost 24 hours, very few are conscious about their energy consumption round the clock. There is a common belief that energy-efficient fans tend to be expensive. Knowing the criticality of Energy consumption and possibility of Energy saving, Crompton is proud to launch Energy Saving Fans across all price segments to further affordable savings to larger base of consumers. In order to further bust this myth about Energy Efficiency fans available only at a premium price and to spread awareness of affordable energy saving fans, Crompton is pleased to launch its new campaign Bachat ab Sabke Budget Mein. This campaign educates the consumer how Crompton fans are both affordable and energy-efficient, these fans are complaint with the new BEE star ratings, and also establishes that anyone can now afford energy saving fans within their budget. Moreover the fans provide superior air delivery, ultimately allowing you to enjoy your time with your loved ones in the comfort of your home.

Savings or Bachat has always been a relatable factor across Indian consumers and is one of the key factors while shopping any household appliance. Moreover, consumers today are looking for sustainable and responsible choices that help make significant changes in their households and the environment. In line with the new policy announced by BEE which mandates star ratings in fans, Crompton, the market leader in the Fans industry, has taken assurance of providing start rated fans in the consumers budget which will not only help them save energy but also be pocket friendly. In its latest TVC, Crompton communicates its wide range of star-rated energy saving range of fans, powered by its revolutionary Activ Power Technology, helps reduce electricity consumption by at least 30% and can go up to reducing 60% in higher star-rating fans with Activ BLDC Technology

Speaking about the brands latest TVC campaign, Pragya Bijalwan, CMO - Crompton Greaves Consumer Electricals Ltd. said, At Crompton, sustainability is one of our core agenda while providing meaningful consumer centric innovation. Our purpose has always been to evolve with time and provide contemporary choices to Indian Households. The BEE star ratings transition will help consumers saves money by saving energy, while choosing a fan that comes within their budget. By mere saving on energy the new energy efficient fan pays for itself in less than two years time*. The latest campaign captures the nuances of daily routines & frugal choices of every Indian mass household and establishes that Cromptons wide range of star rated energy saving fans with ActivPower Technology gives the power to save to every consumer thus democratising Energy Savings, while also highlighting the essence of its core communication - Bachat Ab Sabke Budget Mein.

The 360-degree campaign will be launched through a strong promotional campaign Pan India on Television and will further amplified through Digital and On ground outreach.

Conceptualised by BBDO, the newly launched TVC captures a fun banter between a middle-class couple where the conversation is mainly based on their budget and daily expenses. The film starts in the living/dining table set up of a middle class house where the wife is seen furiously chopping bhindi and her husband is seated in front of her, shelling peas, looking sheepishly at her. The entire conversation starts off as an argument between the couple on buying a probably expensive star-rated fan which will hamper the budget of the family, on which the husband reveals that the fan is, indeed, within their budget. Cromptons latest range of fans powered by Activ Power Technology saves energy as well as money. The TVC concludes with the couple silently enjoying the cool breeze of the fan knowing that the star-rated fan is in their budget itself thereby highlighting the core communication of Bachat Ab Sabke Budget Mein.

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Hemant Shringy, Chief Creative Officer, BBDO India further added, As a market leader, Crompton has always challenged the status quo and stayed ahead of the curve with innovations that really matter. And this time, with its Activ Power technology, that makes energy efficiency affordable in fans, they've pioneered yet another change. And so the film is not 'myth-busing' but 'fact-busting' where a budget savvy wife is upset with her husband about 'splurging' on a star-rated, energy efficient fan, only to be converted into an ambassador after finding out that Crompton fans not only bring down the electricity bill each month, but unlike other energy efficient fans are also pocket friendly at the time of purchase.
The Indian textile and apparel industry is expected to grow at 10% CAGR from 2019-20 to reach $190 billion by 2025-26. This growth is attributed to the rapid digitisation of consumers and brands alike post-pandemic. According to a study by the Indian Brand Equity Foundation, Indian apparel is expected to reach $135 billion by 2025 with online/ D2C shopping accounting for 30%.

These findings were revealed by industry leaders at the 22nd edition of India Fashion Forum in Bengaluru. Day 2 kickstarted with a series of Masterclass sessions led by the top heads from Google, Amazon, Aditya Birla Fashion and Retail, Puma, ICH Creative, Myntra, Nykd by Nykaa and Gloot. The sessions addressed topics, including digitisation of consumers and brands, omnichannel journey of Indian fashion customers, latest innovations in the fashion verticals for shopping on Google, informative case studies on the challenges, product development, retail storytelling and commercial successes.

On Day 2 of India Fashion Forum, experts indicate digitisation would gain 400 million online shoppers in the next few years.

The Google Masterclass session provided ample food for thought for brands to introspect into their business with their own data, decode trends and use the information to grow their business.

Commenting on the impact of Covid on buyer behaviour in fashion, Bhaskar Ramesh, Director-Omnichannel Businesses, Google India, said, The future of retail is omnichannel. The fact that Oxford dictionary added Goblin Mode as the most trending word of 2022 defines the phenomenon that we want everything to come to our phone or to our fingertips. Its an indication that we really want everything in our comfort zone. COVID has particularly changed consumer behaviour, and a lot of these behaviours are sticking. What happened during COVID was that commerce has taken off in a big way. A lot of companies in fashion and retail are moving their commerce business. As COVID receded, consumers actually went back to what they were familiar with and at the same time they are expecting the same digital experience. So, on one side, digital is enhancing customer experience and on the other better profitability of businesses.

With India having 700 million Internet users and 500 million users consuming videos across platforms, he observed that almost 190 million were shoppers. The prospects only indicate that the base would touch 400-420 million shoppers in the next few years. This includes not only shoppers in metros, but also from Tier 2 and 3 cities and rural areas.

The surface has only been scratched with just 32% retail companies offering hybrid experiences, he added. Omnichannel format is no longer a choice; the sooner brands adopt this the better they stand to gain.

Random online searches in India are 3 billion. 88% of Indians research online before they buy. So the question here is, are you helping or aiding the consumer in their research. If you have the latest design or fabric, are they able to discover it? noted Kaushik Dasgupta, Vertical Lead for Technology and Retail, Google.

It can be concluded that omnichannel in the new experience, retail companies are moving towards this experience, their ability to use first party data in a first-privacy way is also the next competitive advantage, Ramesh further remarked while talking about leveraging data.

Shubai Pai, Head, Google YouTube Sales & Solutions, and Gaurav Juneja, Head - Digitisation, Google, also shared their insights in the session.

IFF 2023 also launched the first-ever study on 100 Global Green Initiatives in Fashion in its India Business of Fashion Report 2023. Moderated by Devyani Hari, Director Centre for Responsible Business, the panel witnessed Dr Naresh Tyagi, Chief Sustainability Officer, Aditya Birla Fashion and Retail, Sreecharan, VP and Head Branding and Marketing, Liva, Puneet Dudeja, Director - Business Development, South Asia WGSN, Technopak deliberate upon brands preparing to meet the expectations of the next generation consumers and identify a cause or purpose that is true to their business ethos.

Todays line-up also delved into technology in fashion retail, virtual try-on tools like YourFit, product returns management, AI and EI to gauge customer tastes and preferences and a Masterclass by Meta.
Adgully has been turning the spotlight on the entrepreneurs who fought against all odds to bring their dreams to fruition in our special series  START-UP STARS. We at Adgully wholeheartedly support the Vocal for Local movement and have been featuring numerous local/ homegrown businesses, brands, and Apps in the country launched in the last few years.

SuperBottoms is an online-first sustainable brand of reusable cloth diapers and baby products, focused on awareness and increased adoption of reusable cloth diapers in India, besides the daily needs of babies and toddlers. Run by a core team of parents, 90% of whom are mothers, it is trusted by 20 lakh+ parents. SuperBottoms UNO, the companys flagship product, is an organic reusable diaper with the capability to stay dry all night. With one-size-fits-all functionality, it has a patent pending for its innovative buttoning system that enables the same diaper to be used for babies up to 3 years. A leader in the cloth diaper category in India, it is also a bestseller on online marketplaces like Amazon India.

In an interaction with Adgully, Pallavi Utagi, Founder & CEO, SuperBottoms, speaks about her entrepreneurial journey and growth of the SuperBottom brand. She also mentions the key insights about the challenges and opportunities that SuperBottoms has faced in its journey, as well as the key learnings, and more.

Please take us through your journey as an entrepreneur. What motivated you to establish SuperBottoms?

In 2014, when I had my son, I was perplexed when he started getting frequent inflammation as a reaction to regular disposable diapers. While discussing the same with my fellow mothers, I realised that I am not the only one facing this. We visited a couple of doctors only to find out how the diapers barely run the job. My husband, Salil, was also concerned about the environmental impact of disposable diapers and so began our journey to look for a solution. This led us to international cloth diaper brands, which although made well, were not the best suited for Indian babies.

Cloth nappies have been used by Indian moms for their babies over generations, but have their shortcomings. Disposable diapers offer an apt solution, but arent good for the babies or the planet. Enter SuperBottoms. We bring the best of the age-old cloth nappies and the benefits of disposable diapers in our one-of-their-kind Cloth Diapers that not only promise no spill, but ensure that the baby is dry.

What is the core business proposition of SuperBottoms?

SuperBottoms is more than simply a product; it is a simple, cost-effective solution for every family. SuperBottoms is a parenting partner with a passion for curating solutions, while preserving the basic values of quality innovation, conscientious parenting, and sustainability. SuperBottoms exemplifies what it preaches, whether it is by providing the easiest cloth diaper ever or by acting in a gender, racial, and colour-neutral manner.

SuperBottoms has continuously innovated to think outside the box  be it diapers, the langot, or basic underwear! For most ordinary to heavy-wetting newborns, Free-size UNO lasts between 10 and 12 hours when used with the booster pad. Together with unique goods like Dry Feel Langot, Diaper Pants, Potty-Training Pants, and many others. For new mothers facing incontinence and bladder leaks postpartum, SuperBottoms has launched Indias Most Absorbent Period Underwear, which marks us as a pioneer in the postpartum incontinence category in India.

What were your key learnings so far? How do you see the SuperBottoms ecosystem progressing in 2023?

Considering that our product is innovative, we feel generating first-hand interaction with customers, especially for our revolutionary products in new categories such as cloth diapers, period underwear, upcycled toys, etc., can help build awareness faster. With that idea, we are now diving into the omnichannel experience and have already launched our first few Kiosks. We will be expanding this initiative further and aim to have a deeper penetration across the country to make SuperBottoms synonymous with quality baby and mom care.

SuperBottoms aims to become the No. 1 bottom wear brand in India. Currently, the Indian market, especially in langots and underwear segment, is highly unorganised. We hope to organise the market by giving parents what I never had as a new mom  a trustworthy, comfortable, and safe brand that they can use for their baby, worry-free.

How is digital helping you further your business?

We are available pan-India only because of our digital-first approach. Our ParentTribe, which is largely connected through digital and social media is a 74k+ rich community and continues to grow. At every level, the Tribe provides us with insights and criticism. We believe that because our team is made up exclusively of mothers, the first-hand experience and feedback enabled us as a brand to connect deeply with our customers.

How did you identify your TG? Did you carry out any feasibility study prior to starting your business?

Since the beginning, our TG has been new mothers and families. We as a brand have grown to develop and share our expertise in the segment by providing innovative and specialised products and services.

I formerly worked with multinationals like Strides Arcolab Limited, and Piramal Healthcare in the pharmaceutical sector. As a part of the product development team, I oversaw the I category at Piramal, which included i-pill, i-sure, and i-can. While my stint there, I was deeply involved in product research and innovation which also included in-depth analysis and understanding of the target audience. This knowledge sets a strong foundation for a detailed understanding of the target audience.

Moreover, nothing teaches one more than personal experience. As a mother, I understand what other parents face when in such a situation. Being personally connected to them through the strong communication and review mechanism of the parent tribe- our 75k+ rich community of parents has enabled a major learning curve.

What were the challenges that you faced in your start-up journey and how did you overcome them?

As a start-up attempting to establish a completely new category in a highly competitive market dominated by giants, we faced numerous, one-of-a-kind challenges. In order to generate strong organic recommendations, we concentrated on creating a community around a fantastic product in the remotest parts of the nation.

One of the biggest challenges that we faced became our learning curve. After hundreds of tests, we created the worlds simplest cloth diaper, which helped in the comfortable and exponential expansion of the adoption of the category at large. As a bootstrapped organisation, it was also difficult for us to put together an extensively professional team. We could overcome this hurdle by building a unique team out of our customers who were on maternity breaks. This provided us with invaluable First-Hand, Real-Time feedback from the team!

What would be your message for budding entrepreneurs?

Theres no better time than right now to be in the space of entrepreneurship. Now is the time for you to take a leap of faith in yourself and your idea, take the plunge, and solve a problem that is waiting for you.
Rajesh Malhotra has assumed charge as Principal Director General, Press Information Bureau (PIB). Malhotra takes over after the superannuation of Satyendra Prakash.

Previously, Malhotra, an Indian Information Service (IIS) Officer of the 1989 batch, had been working in the Ministry of Finance since January 2018. During the critical COVID-19 pandemic, he effectively steered the media and communication policy in the Ministry of Finance in sync with the various Aatma Nirbhar Bharat packages announced by the Government of India over time to give relief to people and maintain economic balance.

Malhotra has over 32 years of operational experience in planning and implementation of Media & Communication strategies for various Central Government Ministries/ Departments, including Finance, Company Affairs, Agriculture, Power, Coal, Mines, Communications & IT, Textiles, Labour, New & Renewable Energy. Further, he was associated with the Election Commission of India as in-charge of media & communication for 21 years (1996-2017), thereby planning and implementing media & communication strategies during the six General Elections to the Lok Sabha, along with several State Assembly Polls and elections for the President and Vice-President of India, conducted by the Election Commission. During this tenure, Malhotra had worked closely with 12 Chief Election Commissioners.

Malhotra holds a Post Graduate Diploma in Business Management from IMT, Ghaziabad, and a Post-Graduate Diploma in Media Laws from NALSAR, Hyderabad. Further, he has also been a part of the short-term course on Public Policy Analysis from University of California, Media Management & Strategies at Thomson Foundation, UK and the Programme on Marketing: The Winning Concepts & Practices organised by IIM Lucknow at New Delhi. He is also a fellow member of Institute of Company Secretaries of India and also holds degree in Law.

As a spokesperson, Malhotra has the experience of successfully establishing Two-way communication channels between the Government, on one hand, and the media, on the other. He has been successfully managing crisis situations during his varied assignments in different Ministries in his distinguished career, and has ensured that only the correct perspective/ information is disseminated to the media. He also has a wide experience in coordinating media coverage for International Conferences/ events as he has been an integral part of various Ministerial Delegations from India during his career.
Renault Nissan India Automotive India Pvt. Ltd. (RNAIPL) has appointed Sukanya Ramanujan as General Manager Communications effective 30 January 2023. In her new assignment, she will lead communications for Renault Nissan Automotive India Private Limited (RNAIPL) and will collaborate closely with the management team at the plant. She will be based at the RNAIPL plant in Chennai and will report to and support Naraayan Kannan, Director Communications, Nissan Motor India Pvt Ltd (NMIPL).

Sukanya led public relations, crisis communications, internal and social media communications for over six years at Emirates Airline, Dubai, working on business divisions including cargo, engineering, flight operations, as well as several international passenger markets.

Keerthi Prakash, MD, RNAIPL, commented, We are happy to have Sukanya on board. Sukanya is an incredible asset to our team owing to her extensive communications expertise. I look forward to working together to achieve our goals of strengthening internal and external communications at RNAIPL. I wish Sukanya every success in her new role.

Sukanya Ramanujan as General Manager Communications, RNAIPL, said, I am honored to be a part of the RNAIPL family. The Renault Nissan Alliance recently announced their plans for new investment and product development in India and Im looking forward to contributing to this long-term vision as well as supporting the companys transition to carbon-neutral manufacturing.

An integrated communications professional with over a decade and a half of experience across corporate and international government agencies, Sukanya has worked for several international government agencies in India including the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (Australia), Foreign and Commonwealth Office (UK), and the Indo French Cultural Centre in Public Diplomacy focusing on Public Diplomacy and external communications. She has also worked for organizations such as KPMG and Michelin.

Sukanya has an MA in European Studies from the University of Bath, UK, and also holds a PGDBM from Loyola Institute of Business Administration, Chennai. She is multi-lingual, being fluent in English, Tamil and French along with intermediate proficiency in Hindi and Spanish.
India is set to reaffirm its commitment to share its experience, knowledge, and expertise on the country's United Payments Interface (UPI) architecture. (Representational Image/PTI)

HYDERABAD: An important three-day meeting of G20 that will focus on knowledge and experience sharing for emerging economies of the global south will begin in the city on Saturday, with India set to reaffirm its commitment to share its experience, knowledge, and expertise on the countrys United Payments Interface (UPI) architecture.

"Our goal is to provide our platform to developing countries. Ours is a goodwill offer. How it will be taken forward will be based on consensus among the G-20 members," Harsh Vardhan Shringla, the chief coordinator, G20 India, told reporters on Friday.

He said the robustness of the Indian UPI system meant that 40 per cent of all global digital financial transactions now take place in the country. "The IMF had said that $37 billion were transferred directly to beneficiaries during the Covid pandemic in the country, proving the UPI systems ability to deliver quickly and without associated costs," Shringla said.

The event to be held at HICC, will be the second meeting of the Global Partnership for Financial Inclusion. The meet is expected take forward the discussions on digital financial inclusion, SME finance and development of Financial Inclusion Action Plan 2023 that will guide the financial inclusion work for 2024-26, Chanchal C. Sarkar, economic adviser for the finance ministry, said.

One important aspect that India is seeking to address through the G20 meeting in the city is the long-term goal of cost cutting in financial transactions, especially among countries that form the global south, and low-income group nations, Shringla said.

He said the Ukraine crisis has shown how an event or happening in one part of the world can cause ripple effects across the globe, just as Covid did. Indias presidency reflects the need of the hour to strengthen existing multilateral agencies, and ensure the success of sustainable development goals which are faltering, Shringla said.
Russias February 24, 2022, invasion of Ukraine has passed the one-year mark, an ironic reminder that Russian President Vladimir Putin planned for a war lasting less than a week.

Among several mistakes, Putin wrongly assumed that the Ukrainian people would fold at the first sight of missiles raining down on Ukrainian cities. Likewise, he dismissed Ukrainian military staying power in the face of superior Russian firepower. Meanwhile, Russias brutal fighting forces, historically notorious for infamous depredations, would supposedly crush Ukrainian civic societys will to resist.

Putins predictions seemed sensible at the time. After all, in 2023, even after a year of war, Russias almost 4,200 combat aircraft faced just over 310 for Ukraine. Russias navy was nearly 16 times the size of Ukraines, and Russian ground forces, both active and reserve, outnumbered Ukraines almost seven-to-one.

Russian missile attacks have purposely targeted civilian residential and infrastructure areas, making a horrific mess of Ukraine. Rebuilding and cleanup will demand some $350 billion or more while Russian missile and other attacks have claimed more than 8,000 dead Ukrainian civilians. Such death and destruction have displaced more than seven million inside Ukraine and forced another five million to flee as refugees.

Yet Elon Musk, the worlds richest man, is now going AWOL from Ukraines fight for survival.

Musk owns rocket company SpaceX and Starlink, its satellite affiliate company that provides internet communications throughout the world. After Russia invaded, his Starlink provided a vital communication network for Ukraines society and military after other internet systems became unavailable due to causes like war damage or power outages. Initially he provided Starlink services for free, but later received some American government funding.

In early February, however, SpaceX president Gwynne Shotwell announced that Starlink would limit Ukrainian access in order to prevent the networks use for guiding drones, which have become a key technology in Ukraines war. Since last fall, Russia has used Iranian-made Shahed-136 kamikaze drones to loiter over search areas before crashing into targets. Although they are about eight feet across and hard to detect by radar, Ukraine has become better at shooting them down with small arms, heavy machine guns, portable antiair missiles, and jamming devices. For example, Ukraine claims to have shot down all 80 Shahed-136 drones launched during a New Years Eve attack.

Ukraine has its own drones, including some 700 Switchblade kamikaze drones delivered by the United States last May. But limiting Starlink -- which became central to Ukrainian military operations after Musk volunteered the technology -- will hobble Ukraine. It will have a much more difficult time guiding drones on strikes and during reconnaissance missions to identify targets for artillery and other systems. Ukraine may finally start to feel just how outnumbered it truly is.

Speaking at a February 8 Washington, D.C., conference, Shotwell argued that Starlink was never meant to be weaponized and that Ukrainians have leveraged it in ways that were unintentional and not part of any agreement. Noting Ukrainian use of Starlink in drone warfare, she referenced things that we can do to limit their ability to do that and have done. We know the military is using them for comms, and that's ok, she contradictorily added, yet Starlinks intent was never to have them use it for offensive purposes, only humanitarian needs.

Musk himself incoherently tried to justify Starlinks behavior in a response to a February 11 tweet by former astronaut Scott Kelly. Ukraine desperately needs your continued support. Please restore the full functionality of your Starlink satellites. Defense from a genocidal invasion is not an offensive capability. Its survival, he had pleaded to Musk. The next day the SpaceX billionaire responded, Starlink is the communication backbone of Ukraine, especially at the front lines, where almost all other Internet connectivity has been destroyed. But he will not enable escalation of conflict that may lead to WW3.

Starlinks claims make no sense. SpaceX began offering Starlink technology to Ukraine to help (purportedly) solve a humanitarian crisis. By eliminating Starlink for Ukrainian drone usage, SpaceX is now putting Ukraine at greater risk of greater military losses and civilian suffering at the hands of Vladimir Putin. Meanwhile Musks splitting the difference between an acceptable Starlink communication backbone for Ukrainian forces and an unacceptable drone usage that may lead to WW3 is incoherent.

While disheartening, Musks move is unsurprising to anyone familiar with Musks haphazard record. He loves to overpromise and underdeliver almost as much as he loves to chase media headlines, even as he turns a blind eye to human rights abusers like China and benefits from crony capitalism. SpaceXs record is filled with instances of Musk promising rocket launches on unreasonable timelines at unsustainable price points, behavior that has delayed countless government missions and increased their costs.

But letting down taxpayers and government procurement officers is one thing; abandoning a country in the middle of a humanitarian crisis and fight for independence is quite another.

This represents a new low even by Musk standards. The billionaires supporters in both the public and private sectors should take notice.

Image: Cleverson Oliveira/Mcom
God forbid there be a military conflict with China. Yet as tensions increase over Taiwan, spy balloons, and escalating rhetoric, the prospect of a skirmish or broader conflict with that massive nation is a daunting cloud over America. Traditionally, one would expect such a menace to unite Americans, yet today's far left despises the Constitution and the nation, and indeed tradition itself. More, the left ignores the human rights abuses of nations such as China in its derisive slanders against America. Bent on destroying the nation from within, will the left simply roll out the red carpet for Red China if it attacks America?

After all, the grand utopian fantasies of the America-haters is firmly grounded in Marxism  a power grab to create some new yet undefined authoritarian nirvana. Deconstructionists destroy  even themselves. The gullible cluelessness of today's postmodern truth-deniers extends to contempt for gender science, the family unit, heterosexual normativity, even math and economics. Ignorance of the universal failures of Marxism does not deter the would-be nihilists: those who wave rainbow flags professing love of liberty spout hatred for their neighbors and nation.

And so why would they not welcome China as liberators? As anarchy in the streets transforms more and more American neighborhoods into desolate Portlands, the plan appears to be to unleash chaos so that authoritarian domination can prevail. Those who elevate "personal identity" as the highest moral value are simultaneously statists who demand that an omnipotent federal government crush individual rights to free expression, faith, and assembly in order to impose the woke cult. This schizoid splintering of normalcy seeks to mutate America's "thousand points of light" into thousands of rabid Antifa thugs.

In The War on the West, British author Douglas Murray observes the odd contempt of the West-haters, who seemingly ignore China's treatment of Uyghurs. The far left defends extremist Islam while demonizing Judaism and Christianity. Murray writes:

[I]t is remarkable that the new religion believes not just that it owes nothing to its origins but that its origins are in fact part of the problem[.] ... The West's sources  the traditions of Athens and Jerusalem  are in fact the last place that the new devout would look to for guidance or consolation. (p.156)

In a chapter in the book titled "China," Murray chronicles how that nation is expanding its colonizing dominance even as liberals in the West provide eager escort, and denounce past colonization by the West. Murray exposes this insanity:

Most people around the world want to think well of themselves and of the country they are born into. ... All of this is a very unusual game to be playing. No societies outside the West are engaged in the same self-scourging enterprise. ... Aside from the historical illiteracy of the anti-Westernism of our day, there is something else going on here. It is a gigantic moral presumption. That presumption is the idea that nobody in the world can do anything wrong unless the West has made them do it. A presumption that is quite understandably wrong. (pp. 65 et seq.)

Academic (Marxist) elites are rarely held accountable for praising Stalin, Hitler, or Mao. As Eric Hoffer noted, "[o]ne of the surprising privileges of intellectuals is that they are free to be scandalously asinine without harming their reputations." Leftists condemn MAGA while lauding Mao  why would they fight to defend America?

In The Marxification of Education, James Lindsay equates the current social justice indoctrination in U.S. schools to Maoist brainwashing in China. The social justice methodology of conscientization, dubbed "the pedagogy of the oppressed," parallels China's path, and,

literally, is to hold up the models of Che Guevara and the Chinese Cultural Revolution  where the brainwashing occurred  as clear success stories[.] ... Of course, aside from teaching children to destroy Chinese historical culture and shame and kill their parents, the method of education and re-education established by Mao Zedong to achieve this "success" is precisely the thought reform (brainwashing) process he employed to reorient people to the "people's standpoint." (pp. 107, 108)

Dostoevsky famously concluded his prescient novel The Possessed this way: "Starting from unlimited freedom, I conclude with unlimited despotism." This succinctly captures the headlong rush by many of today's Democrats into chaos and societal suicide, dragging the nation along for that demonic ride. If Chinese soldiers landed on our nation's shores, perhaps they would be offered "the jobs that Americans don't want" or embraced as political refugees and offered free driving licenses and health care. Or rather, they might be exalted as victims of racist marginalization due to past American transgressions against Chinese railroad laborers and offered racial reparations and free housing.

As Os Guinness concludes in Zero Hour America, "[i]dentity politics has no place for the notion of human dignity, individual worth, and personal responsibility" (p. 152). This is the identical commie creed of China, touted by America's leftist enemies within. David Horowitz shares the same observation in Dark Agenda: The War to Destroy Christian America (at p. 30):

Today [Progressives] no longer call their earthly redemption "Communism." They call it "social justice." Like Communism, social justice is an impossible future in which the inequalities and oppressions that have afflicted human beings for millennia will miraculously vanish and social harmony will rule.

Indeed, the Chinese Communist Party extols the "Harmonious Society" as its official societal goal  for which the individual must sacrifice, and which shall be achieved using constant high-tech surveillance, brutal lockdowns, and government domination of both the economy and media. This system is indistinguishable from that proposed by America's postmodern social-justice-warrior race-baiters and nation-haters.

Malcolm X saw that "[y]ou can't hate the root without hating the tree." Far-left contempt for the American creed extends to all humanity, a broad misanthropy by so-called environmentalists; globalists who seek to control the world so that human overpopulation will be stymied, and people will own nothing and be free. Whether utopian or nihilist, American self-hatred is welcomed by China, which is being practically invited by the American left to invade the borders of a nation divided against itself.

With a few more years of Marxist social justice such as Biden's executive order edicts on race, climate, electronic currency, and transhumanism, the Chinese will have no need to launch an attack. They will simply annex America and Taiwan as allied territories, and drop Hunter another check.

Image via Good Free Photos.
A longtime lover of all things Dr. Seuss, one of my favorite books is Oh, the Places You Will Go! It is a popular gift for graduations and other milestone celebrations, but it resonates with me because it is all about traveling and adventure.

Travel is something that makes me happy, whether its business related or just for adventures sake. One of the things that makes travel exciting, possibly fun, even on the worst of days, is the unpredictability of it all.

Traveling with a disability is the ultimate adventure. While ADA and ACAA regulations have been in place for more than 30 years, they are not always followed. An accessible hotel room isnt guaranteed. Accessible bathrooms throughout a meeting facility are not a given. The airline travel itself can leave much to be desired. Covert and overt discrimination is abundant.

Recently I was returning to D.C. from a business trip in Florida when I experienced the nightmare scenario for all travelers who use motorized wheelchairs -- there were no wheelchair accessible cabs available. The airlines graciously allowed me to book a later flight when I called to explain the problem. I then waited three more hours only to remain without a cab. Time was running short as I have to be at the airport three hours before takeoff so that I can check in at the desk, drop off my bags (I always check at least two because of the medical supplies I must travel with), make my way through security (always tedious with medical equipment such as a wheelchair!), and after giving my chair to the ground crew so it can be loaded, be helped onto the plane through the use of an aisle chair  its a complicated operation akin to moving the Seventh Fleet.



Because time was of the essence, I chose to take the bus. My supportive boss, who had a rental car, took my luggage, and I began a 90-minute odyssey across Miami to the airport via public bus, a trip that should have taken 15 minutes via cab. Two busses, a metro and a people mover later, I found myself at the check in counter. After an argument with the counter agent about bags that contain medical supplies flying free of charge, I was off to security. Besides the amazing show of support from my boss, the best thing that happened from that point on was the quick thinking of a TSA agent who walked me through security, handling my carry-on luggage and getting me an expedited pat down so that I was on time for my flight. When I arrived at the gate, I was informed that I had been moved out of the bulkhead aisle seat, that I needed for ADA compliance reasons, to one where I knew my spinal bifida disability would prevent me from entering or exiting the seat without significant difficulty and pain.

They feigned willingness to switch it back but used all their persuasion techniques to get me to agree to stay where they wanted me seated. The gate agent couldnt fathom what a difference several inches of leg room or aisle access would make for me, and I was too exhausted to advocate effectively for myself.

As I boarded, I was able to see who was put in the seat I was supposed to have. It was a young man who had no visible need for the seat beyond his height. I was shocked by the airlines negligence. I was further shocked when no flight attendant offered to help me place my luggage in the overhead bin and told me instead that it would have to go under the seat in front of me, even if I had to put my feet on top of it, causing me further discomfort.

Halfway through the flight, I needed to use the restroom. Because I sit in bulkhead (except for this instance when I was three rows behind it), I use the restroom at the front of the plane. Its the safest for me to use as I cant walk long distances and the flight crew is usually hanging around in case I fall. In this instance, I was waiting patiently for the pilot to shut the cockpit door after returning from the restroom himself. As soon as I saw him do that, I rose as quickly as I could to make my way to the restroom. A first-class flight attendant who had his back to the cockpit door began screaming at me to take my seat immediately because the cockpit was unsecured. I didnt understand him at first and kept walking.

When I explained to him that I needed the bathroom, he said that if I had to use the bathroom I could walk to the back of the plane. When I tried to explain that I could not walk that far because of my disability, his response was that he didnt give a damn. When I refused to move because I was desperate to use the facilities, he shoved a very full drink cart at me, missing me by inches and causing me to fall into the lap of the person in bulkhead seating which caused injury to my still-healing mastectomy site. After I was back in my seat, the flight attendant parked the cart in the aisle so I could not get to either restroom. He then came to my seat, stood over me, slinging his hands around and started shouting at me about FAA violations and that he had called the air marshals to meet me at the gate. Apparently I was to be arrested simply because I needed to use the bathroom. When I told him that the pilot had returned to the cockpit before I got up, he called me a liar. I reminded him that his back was to the cockpit door and that I could see it from where I was sitting. He got angrier. I calmly looked at him and told him that unless he could speak to me quietly and respectfully, that he needed to leave me alone. I refused to look at him again. He finally left.

When we landed at DCA, I was refused help with my carry-ons again until the ground crew came on board to retrieve me. Instead of being met by the promised Federal Air Marshals waiting to arrest me, I was greeted by a kind, mild mannered manager from the airline who asked me to explain what happened. After I explained my experience in detail, he told me that it had been reported as an FAA violation. During our conversation, several fellow passengers from first-class came over to tell the manager what they witnessed. Without exception they said that the flight attendant behaved aggressively and otherwise inappropriately towards me.

I didnt get to use the bathroom until I got home. By then, a shower was required to clean me up.

I wish I could tell you that all of this was a string of unfortunate, random occurrences. It isnt. People with disabilities are routinely discriminated against and treated improperly when traveling. My flights to and from Miami had been rearranged several times because of the size of my wheelchair, because of rides that didnt show up, because of  well, you get it.

The FAA and individual airlines must pay better attention to the existing guidelines and training of their employees on how to properly interact with people with all disabilities. People with disabilities should spend their money with airlines who do the best job taking care of their needs as travelers. Shareholders should require better behavior from the airlines they invest in. Making airline policies and other disability policies more effective is what the National Center for Public Policys Able Americans program is working on to ensure that people with disabilities can live their best lives, unencumbered by government and corporate callousness.

Melissa Ortiz serves the National Center for Public Policy Research as the organizations Senior Advisor for the Able Americans Project. In her role, she will develop the projects strategic plan, marshals key resources and helps oversee the implementation of the project. She also assists the president in identifying necessary contractors, employees, strategic partners, stakeholders and donors and serves as a key spokesperson.

Melissa identifies as a happy warrior and is enthusiastic about driving a dialogue between people living with disabilities or chronic illness and policy makers across the political spectrum, especially conservatives. She has worked in the classroom in Nashville, Tennessee and in the nonprofit sector in New York City and Washington, DC. She was honored to serve as President Trumps Commissioner of the Administration on Disabilities. The first female board member of The Conservative Caucus, one of the oldest conservative groups in existence, she currently resides in Washington, D.C. with her husband Tony and Service Dog Dachshund, Annie Oakley.
Twenty-five years ago, I told a friend that we would likely bear witness to the acceptance and even protection of several abhorrent social or political practices. That came true, but it didnt stop there. We've witnessed a disturbing sea change in how we view these new social norms  norms at which we once shook our heads. How could I have predicted this? I simply recognized the downward trajectory of what used to be considered normal to surmise what could be next.

During the 1980s and 1990s, the social norms listed below were largely unacceptable; eventually the practices became mainstream through the strident promotion by activists and ineffective pushback by traditional institutions:

Open homosexuality, coupled with the very public promotion of the lifestyle

Gay Marriage

Transgenderism

Sex by consenting children with young adults

Open Borders

Anti-Capitalism

The acceptance of recreational drug use as acceptable behavior

Rampant crime and reduced punishment

Society no longer requires work to live

Single-parent constructs as equal to two-parent families

Take a moment to reread this list. Nothing surprises us anymore. History teaches us that radical social change usually ends badly, even for progressives. All of the above continues to have a significant stigma for many Americans. There is general agreement that promoting negative moral or societal values can and usually will have a deleterious effect on society. With no national debate, the redefinition of our country has almost been achieved. Today, our ability to be shocked must surpass a very high threshold.

The philosopher Allan Bloom once lamented:

There is one thing a professor can absolutely be certain of. Almost every student entering the university believes, or says he believes, that truth is relative.

Within this nugget is contained the oxygen, gas, and rocket fuel for everything that has happened to our old values and aspirations. One of my editors told me yesterday, "you have your truth; I have my truth." Could that be right?

Unequivocally, unabashedly, and frankly, "no!"  truth is truth. 1+1 equals 2. Our society must be based on the acceptance that life is not situational. Run faster than the tiger chasing you, or you die. We sometimes find the truth we believe is ultimately incorrect, but it does not change the premise that some things are unequivocally true. Though very much in vogue today, we must reject moral relativism. (I had to go to an Australian source to find an original definition that Woke revisionists had not yet sanitized with Newspeak language.)

The next great anti-leap for society is just around the corner and coming sooner than you might imagine. What do you think that might be?

Consider forced suicide of the old, sick, mentally impaired, or others who are voraciously consuming the resources meant for a youthful, Woke society? (In decades past, these members of society have been called useless eaters.) Several recently published articles appear to be preparing for the impending shift to a new norm  similar to the chain of events with the societal pivots notated above.

Certain writers, those with a nihilistic and leftwing worldview, are sowing seeds for what should be a revolting idea  exterminating costly citizens.

Exhibit One:

A Yale professor of economics suggested that older people in Japan should die by mass suicide; from The New York Times:

In interviews and public appearances, Yusuke Narita, an assistant professor of economics at Yale, has taken on the question of how to deal with the burdens of Japans rapidly aging society. I feel like the only solution is pretty clear, he said during one online news program in late 2021. In the end, isnt it mass suicide and mass seppuku of the elderly? Seppuku is an act of ritual disembowelment that was a code among dishonored samurai in the 19th century.

Indeed, we may see that idea already becoming a reality here; 18% of all suicides are committed by older adults. Narita rationalizes the need for older people to kill themselves by making an economic argument, noting that Japan's shrinking population cannot easily feed, support, or care for its elderly and still provide everything the younger generations demand.

This professor is pushing nothing less than genocide.

Exhibit Two:

Preparing the ground. Campaigns designed to change attitudes and demonize those opposed precede every societal change of view. Here's an example of an article that made an elderly suicide pact somehow romantic, practical, and uplifting.

It may seem practical on some level, i.e., to end pain or escape the financial limitations of living. But the ultimate effect on society by debasing life is devastating. Such abdication of a family's responsibility to care for our elderly should make us feel evil and selfish. Civilization should delegate, even demand, the responsibility for eldercare be carried by our children.

Exhibit Three:

Created as a response to the COVID-19 pandemic, the Great Reset is an initiative by the World Economic Forum to, urgently build the foundations of our economic and social system for a fairer, sustainable, and more resilient post-COVID future." The problem is that the WEF sees overpopulation as a problem, particularly when individuals are unproductive. Davoss ante chambers and side rooms discuss population control, and have discovered that manipulating health care is a viable way forward.

If you are 65 and older in the U.S., you already know about denied services like colonoscopies beyond a certain age  remember Obamacare was infamously panned for its Death Panel association? Routine denial of needed procedures, especially for the elderly today, seems to validate the assertion. The reasons have more to do with economics than medicine, as many women have discovered when seeking lifesaving mammographies past 40, or even 80.

Efficacy and safety were always our standards. But today, federal officials develop budgets each year for healthcare that reflect choices that are then restricted by government policies and Medicare. Private insurance looks carefully at what restrictions the government mandates and gladly agrees to save their bucks.

Already in Europe, assisted suicide is routinely practiced for non-life-threatening conditions such as depression, psychiatric disorders; even when the patients are teenagers! How this fact strikes you is telling. You have a debased view of life if you think this is not abhorrent. If you have never heard of this, it's happening more frequently than you can imagineand no doubt, Wokesters in the U.S. see this as the next step in their long march to their vision of a "just" and equitable society.

I am Jewish, and I have been taught specific values about family and the selfishness of suicide. It has been said that Suicide is the cruelest skeleton in a familys closet. I believe there is no comparison between voluntary assisted suicide of an individual versus state-sponsored or endorsed suicide, ostensibly professed for the betterment of society. This amounts to nothing more than genocide.

Talking of an individual's responsibility to the state or endorsing some ethical imperative to remove oneself from this earth to appease the hoard is morally reprehensible. That is nothing more than another notch in the belt of some true believers who seek a "just" society based on theories of Diversity, Inclusion, and Equity which spells DIE. These monsters are a death cult that sees everyone as fair game for elimination in the name of societal progressiveness.

Allan J. FeiferPatriot, Author, Businessman, and Thinker. Read more about Allan, his background, and his ideas to create a better tomorrow at http://www.1plus1equals2.com.

Image: Free image, Pixabay license, no attribution required.
Canada's Department of Justice recently promoted the country's Medical Assistance in Dying (MAiD) program on its Twitter account, calling the program a "regime" that wishes to support "autonomy and freedom of choice, while protecting those who may be vulnerable."

What a complete load of crap, eh? The "regime" currently in control of Canada and Canadians is intent on essentially enslaving those wh don't accept its offer to kill them.

Autonomy?

Autonomy (noun): 1) the quality or state of being self-governing; especially the right of self-government. 2) self-directing freedom and especially moral independence. 3) a self-governing state.

One does not think of "autonomy" when one thinks of Canada, although I'm sure Alberta  and possibly other provinces  fervently desire to be autonomous. Moral independence would be a big improvement from the amoral dependence the Trudeau government tries to shove down its citizens' throats like back-bacon off the Coleman.

Freedom of choice? Like whether or not to accept an experimental mRNA gene-therapy vaccine into one's decidedly non-autonomous body? Like the freedom the Canadian truckers were afforded to show their displeasure with Trudeau's draconian, Chinese-style coronavirus mandates? Or perhaps the autonomy they had over their bank accounts that the government froze, or their insurance policies that were canceled in a tyrannical snit? Or maybe the freedom and autonomy Canucks had to stay away from church services, and the weddings and funerals of loved ones during the pandemic...because they were not allowed to attend them?

"While protecting those who may be vulnerable"? Give me a break! Like those who are facing serious medical conditions or mental illness? The very folks MAiD offers to off?

Of course, Americans, especially in blue states, had their rights and freedoms stripped from them, too. However, their government isn't quite as openly aggressive in its desire to use taxpayer money to kill them. Yet.

How come "pro-choice" always means "pro-death" to leftists? Pro-abortion, proassisted suicide, etc. Yet they are fervently not pro-choice when it comes to personal protection  e.g., Second Amendmentprotected rights, acceptance of experimental "vaccines" and associated social-distancing and lockdown mandates, and even freedom of speech. Amazing. Preposterous. Repulsive. Insane.

Dear Canadians: Consider telling the formerly black-faced Trudeau that we don't need MAiD, an acronym spelling a word that means "a female domestic servant," representing the taking of life.

I would posit that instead we need MALE: Morality And Logic Enhancement programs. Representing the celebration of life...and respect for truth.

Image: taylor hartley, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons, unaltered.
In "In Israel, extremist's hands wield great power" (02/23/23), Washington Post reporter Shira Rubin applies double-standards to Israel, a common tactic at the Post. Never is Palestinian leader-dictator Mahmoud Abbas called an extremist  not even a hardliner. Neither are leaders of Hamas, Islamic Jihad, and other Palestinian terrorist organizations named as such by the United States, U.N., and European Union. Palestinians rarely, if ever, get the "extremist" label.

In addition, when Palestinians commit acts of terrorism, paragraphs are written about "cycles of violence." Rubin's article on Israeli Knesset member Ben Gvir portraying him as violent hasn't a single mention of "cycle of violence."

Rubin has the audacity to blame Gvir for provocations "which have inflamed the Israeli-Palestinian conflict"  a conflict that has gone on for over 75 years. Palestinians for decades have taught their children to murder Jews and that Palestine is all of Israel, yet Gvir is the provocateur?

Last month, the Post asked Gvir "about his plans to address settler violence," according to the article. Gvir responded, "You all need to stop getting things in the wrong order." He continued, "There are individual cases of violence from Jewish residents against Arabs and I am aware of them, but there are thousands of cases of Arabs engaging in violence against Jews." The Post felt the need to add that Gvir was laughing and smiling when he made these comments. But the Post let his words be put in print only because it was going to refute them with highly unreliable Palestinian official reports in the next paragraph.

The Post starts the next paragraph by downplaying the murder of seven Jews outside a Jerusalem synagogue, writing "a day after the synagogue shooting last month." It was more than a shooting. It was one of the worst terrorist attacks on Israeli civilians in years. The article follows with a claim that there were "nearly 150 settler attacks" after the shooting. Absent from the accusation were any Israeli official comments. Further, there were no reports made of any injuries or deaths to Palestinians.

Yes, individual Israelis occasionally commit violent acts against Palestinians, but these incidents pale in comparison to the constant, far bloodier, government-incited acts of terrorism by Palestinians.

Israel is a thriving democracy. Citizens of the Jewish State are free to elect whomever they want. Readers of the Post have lost count of the number of articles on the controversial new member of Knesset Ben Gvir. There has been article after article about Israel's "new far right government," despite the fact that Israel's ruling coalition has been dominated by the same moderate Likud party, and the same moderate Likud prime minister, for most of the last two decades.

Unlike the Palestinian authorities, the supposedly far-right Israeli government has never advocated violence. But you'd never know it by reading the Washington Post.

Dr. Michael Berenhaus is a freelance watchdog activist who works tirelessly to combat anti-Israel bias in the media. He has been widely published in news sources such as The Economist, The New York Times, and The Washington Post.

Image: Ron Cogswell via Flickr, CC BY 2.0 (cropped).
Sen. Josh Hawley blasted Attorney General Merrick Garland over the FBI raid on a pro-life activists home, and asked whether the Department of Justice (DOJ) had an anti-Catholic bias.

Our department protects all religions, all ideologies. It does not have any bias against any religion of any kind," Garland said during the Senate Judiciary Committee hearing.

Hawley then labeled the DOJ as an agency that attacks Catholics while turning a blind eye to crime in American cities.

Your answer frankly surprises me, Hawley added.

Merrick Garland has turned the DOJ into a political hit team for Joe Biden. There is no more impartial DOJ - the White House is using law enforcement to do its bidding pic.twitter.com/yCN7io4uM5  Josh Hawley (@HawleyMO) March 2, 2023

In September 2020, Mark Houck, a pro-life activist and author from Pennsylvania, was arrested in front of his wife and seven children after dozens of FBI agents showed up on his lawn, carrying long guns and shields.

In 2020, on Fox Newss Tucker Carlson Tonight, Houcks wife, Ryan-Marie, recounted the event:

My entire front yard, you could barely see it, it was covered with at least 15 big trucks and cars. There were 20, 25, 30, men, women, completely in jackets with shields and helmets and guns. They were behind cars. It was something I would never expect to see on my front lawn[.]

Houcks home was raided and the activist was arrested for allegedly pushing a 72-year-old man outside a Planned Parenthood clinic in Philadelphia in 2021. Houck accused the man of allegedly harassing his 12-year-old son.

According to the New York Post, the Philadelphia Police Department filed no charges against Houck. However, Houcks case caught the attention of the DOJ.

The DOJ accused Houck of violating the Freedom of Access Clinic Entrances Act, or FACE Act, which makes it a federal crime to use force with the intent to injure, intimidate and interfere with anyone because that person provides reproductive health care.

Days after the arrest, Hawley sent a letter to Garland, accusing him of turning a local dispute into a national case.

During the Senate hearing, Hawley asked Garland why the FBI showed extreme force in their arrest of Houck:

Why did the FBI do this? Why did you send 20-30 SWAT-style agents, SWAT-style team to this guys house when everybody else had declined to prosecute and he offered to turn himself in?

Garland replied that the FBI agents determined how to engage with Houck in the safest way.

Hawley then asked if it was objectively necessary to send agents with long guns and ballistic shields to the home where Houcks wife and children were at the time of the raid.

Garland reiterated that the FBI agents made the decision. When Hawley asked if he was abdicating responsibility, Garland said no. In the words of Hawley:

Then give me the answer. Do you think, in your opinion, you are the attorney general of the United States. You are in charge of the Justice Department and yes, sir, you are responsible. So give me an answer[.]

Hawley repeatedly pushed for an answer from Garland as to whether he thought the FBI raid was reasonable, but Garland kept dodging the questions, suggesting Hawleys description of the events was exaggerated.

What, that the children werent there? That there werent long guns there? That there werent agents? What do you dispute? Whats the factual premise that you dispute? Hawley inquired.

Garland finally admitted that the FBI disagreed with Hawleys description of how the arrest took place.

Last month, a Pennsylvania jury acquitted Houck of two separate federal charges accusing him of violating the FACE Act.

During the exchange, Hawley referenced an FBI memo from Jan. 23, 2023, that advocated for the exploration of new avenues for tripwire and source development against traditionalist Catholics.

According to Newsweek, the memo is titled, Interest of Racially or Ethnically Motivated Violent Extremists in Radical-Traditionalist Catholic Ideology Almost Certainly Presents New Migration Opportunities.

The FBI in Richmond, Virginia, discussed monitoring Racially or Ethnically Motivated Violent Extremists (RMVE) and their interests in Radical-Traditionalist Catholics.

Attorney General, are you cultivating sources and spies in Latin mass parishes and other Catholic parishes across the country? Hawley asked. Garlands response:

The Justice Department does not do that and does not do investigations based on religion. I saw the document you sent. Its appalling. Its appalling. Im in complete agreement with you. I understand that the FBI has withdrawn it and is looking into how this could ever have happened[.]

When asked how many informants the FBI has in Catholic churches across the U.S., Garland said, I dont know, and I dont believe we have any informants aimed at Catholic churches. We have a rule against investigations based on First Amendment activity.

Garland later said he doesnt specifically know how many informants the FBI has in Catholic churches.

Image: Free image, Pixabay license, no attribution required.
With the 2024 presidential campaign on and most Democrats convinced that Joe Biden is too old to be president, the race is on to find some kind of successor to the doddering old failure.

Enter Democrat operative Donna Brazile, who's penned a public relations buildup of Kamala Harris's execrable vice presidential record as the new pitch to potential voters.

The Excellence of Kamala Harris Is Hiding in Plain Sight

What?

Obviously, they're not going to be subtle. Brazile, who represents the Democrat establishment that put Biden and Harris into the top two executive slots, is laying it on thick. There's a halo around Harris's head in the Reuters photo accompanying the Brazile piece.

Brazile goes on to explain:

I have watched politicians up close for decades. And I have known Vice President Harris for years and urged Joe Biden to make her his running mate in 2020. I believe that the criticism of her is unrelated to her performance as vice president and fails to account for the role she plays in the White House. As a consequential and successful vice president himself for eight years under Barack Obama, President Biden has a keen understanding of the job he once held and he has tasked Vice President Harris with major responsibilities. She has done an outstanding job and her record in two years stands up to that of her predecessors. Has she solved every problem? No, but name me one vice president who has.

Brazile goes on to argue that Harris has "traveled the country to meet with Americans" and met with "more than 100 world leaders to repair damage to our international relationships caused by Donald Trump" as her pitch about Harris's excellence.

Last the rest of us saw, there's a slow-moving world war on, in Eastern Europe and in the South China Sea, as well as over the American landmass. There's saber-rattling about nuclear war coming from Moscow, along with scrapped treaties to prevent it. There's also an open border where five million unauthorized migrants have crossed into the country unvetted, and are still crossing. The after-effect of this is that our bordering neighbor, Mexico, is in danger of falling to the newly empowered cartels.

That's some repair to our international relations.

But Brazile doesn't want you to notice that. Then her piece gets worse:

At the Munich Security Conference in February she announced that the Biden administration has formally concluded that Russia is guilty of "crimes against humanity" in its war against Ukraine and warned China not to assist Russia in its invasion. Through public-private partnerships, she helped raise over $4.2 billion to address the root cause of migration from Central America.

That's a load of laughs, too. Harris made gaffe after gaffe at that Security Conference, which seems to have only emboldened Russia. Here's what she literally told the European defense dignitaries:

I mean, listen guys, we're talking about the potential for war in Europe. I mean, let's really take a moment to understand the significance of what we're talking about.

I wrote about that here on Feb. 21, 2022, noting:

Is this a self-absorbed fool who's just starting to do her "homework"? Apparently, she just looked up from her Instagramming and noticed that Ukraine is "serious" and now is announcing it, in case anyone at that conference or in the press dispatched to cover it didn't know. It sounds like something a dim Hollywood figure would say  Bette Midler, Susan Sarandon, Meghan Markle, Joy Behar, take your pick. Don't forget that a few weeks ago, based on leaks from disgusted staff, Kamala became rather famous for not doing "her homework" even when her staff spoon-fed it to her. "Staffers who worked for Harris before she was vice president said one consistent problem was that Harris would refuse to wade into briefing materials prepared by staff members, then berate employees when she appeared unprepared," the Washington Post reports. One former staffer told the paper, "It's clear that you're not working with somebody who is willing to do the prep and the work. With Kamala, you have to put up with a constant amount of soul-destroying criticism and also her own lack of confidence. So you're constantly sort of propping up a bully, and it's not really clear why." This sounds like one of those moments.

It doesn't get more amateur hour than that, and that's not good, given the chess pros we are up against with Russia and China.

As for the open border, and all that cash Harris has purportedly raised, I remember that well, too  most of the companies coughing up for Harris's project were ones whose contributions enabled illegal immigration  remittance companies, language translation outfits, big banks, job training, all of which make any would-be illegal alien's value in el norte that much higher. Very few of these corporate sponsors were about creating actual jobs that would disincentivize illegal immigration. As for the invisible architecture of capitalism that enables businesses to form and grow, Harris shows no sign of any cognizance of it. She's just about shoveling more money as her solution to the "root causes" of illegal immigration.

Harris has regularly horrified policy wonks on the matter with simplistic explanations about her mission like this: "I do believe most people don't want to leave home."

Brazile also says that Harris campaigned for Joe Biden's failed attempt to federalize elections, led the White House's COVID vaccine effort, engaged in various worker rights initiatives, and chairs the National Space Council, leaving out that all of these things were failures.

On the Space Council, Harris was actually a figure of fun, given her failure to do any homework whatsoever on her topic.

She can't keep staff. She repeatedly undergoes makeovers and repackagings. She's continuously unprepared.

Brazile, with unintentional comedy, declared that "Mr. Biden knew what he was doing when he selected Ms. Harris to be his vice president and had confidence that she would be up to the task of succeeding him if necessary."

Well, yeah, he did. He chose Harris as his impeachment and 25th Amendment insurance. The polls regularly show that even Democrats can't stand her. First lady Jill Biden has reportedly asked her staff whether there was "a process" for removing Harris from office.

She's been a disaster.

Now we see the Democrat establishment, led by Brazile, circling the wagons on its handiwork and attempting to boost Harris again  yet another big Hollywood-style buildup.

It's laughable and pathetic. As Joe Biden has said when questioned about his chops for office: watch me. The same can be said for Harris, whose performance is so bad that it's impossible not to look.

Image: Gage Skidmore via Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 2.0.
Chief Minister Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy addressing the delegates during the Global Investors Summit-2023. (Photo: Facebook)

VISAKHAPATNAM: Chief Minister Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy said Andhra Pradesh had received 340 investment proposals worth Rs. 13 lakh crore in 20 key sectors with a job potential for six lakh people, at the inaugural session of the two-day Global Investors Summit (GIS) that began here on Friday.

He said that of them, 91 MoUs worth Rs. 11.85 lakh crore with employment opportunities for four lakh people were signed on the first day while MoUs for the remaining amount of Rs. 1.15 lakh crore would be signed on Saturday. They have an assured job potential for two lakh people.

Reddy stated that by hosting the summit the YSRC government wanted to showcase the states potential for huge investments to the domestic and international communities and to proclaim the importance of their investments for the states development. He said that they wanted to promote healthy competition besides providing an industry-friendly environment backed by robust infrastructure facilities in order to forge long-term partnership with the industry bigwigs.

He said Visakhapatnam was known for its industries and picturesque beaches. The Chief Minister said that 2023 was a landmark year for India as it would host the G20 Summit. One of the summit meetings would be held in Visakhapatnam.

He reiterated that Visakhapatnam would be the executive capital of Andhra Pradesh and that is from where he would be taking up day-to-day administration of the state.

Reddy said that the state was contributing its share for the rapid growth of India given its abundant natural resources and 974 -km coastline, six airports with three having international status and three industrial corridors with the proactive government offering attractive incentives to boost industries.

The Chief Minister said that Andhra Pradesh registered a GSDP of 11.43 per cent, which was highest in the country in 2021-22. Niti Aayog ranked it as number three state in implementation of sustainable development goals. He laid emphasis on four pillars for the states economic and industrial growth, which included greenification, development of industrial and logistics infrastructure, digitalisation and promotion of entrepreneurship and skill development.

He said that they were according top priority for decarbonisation and promotion of renewable energy given the vast potential for production of 82 Giga Watts (GW) by using solar, wind and pumped storage. He said that there was an opportunity for 34 GW pumped hydro storage projects where power supply could be ensured for 24 hours in addition to having the potential for production, consumption and export of green hydrogen in the state.

With regard to industrial and logistics infrastructure, Reddy said that Andhra Pradesh could be considered as the gateway in the south coast for India. In addition to the six existing ones, they are developing four new ports, including at Ramayapatnam, Machilipatnam, Bhavanapadu and Kakinada to promote port-based industrial units in the state. He said that they were developing five multimodal logistic parks in strategic locations and developing nine harbours for promotion of marine produce and their processing.

On digitalisation, Reddy said that they were offering a single portal for both domestic and international investors and said that they were offering requisite permission for setting up industrial units and business establishments in 21 days while over 540 services were being offered at village/ward secretariats through e-seva services.

On ease of doing business, Reddy stated that Andhra Pradesh has been atop for three consecutive years and there was a positive 97.89 per cent feedback on implementation of EoDB. He said that they either repealed or amended the obsolete laws for the benefit of investors to set up industrial units and business establishments in the state. He said 26 skill development colleges to be set up in the state in order to train youth to acquire skills of global standards.
Yesterday during a hearing before the Judiciary Committee, we saw ample evidence of the blatant dual standards and the deep politicization of the Department of Justice.

Senator Ted Cruz (R-Texas) led the charge, challenging Bidens Attorney General Merrick Garland on many fronts.

Cruz asked Garland about the inaction over the past 10 months after pro-abortion protesters threatened and harassed Supreme Court justices outside their homes following the leaked Dobbs decision.

Cruz reminded Garland of the federal law that bans picketing or parading near a judges residence.

Cruz chided Garland for his inaction when rioters descended on the homes of six Supreme Court justices, night after night after night' and when far-left groups posted online information about where the justices worship, or their home addresses, or where their kids went to school.

But did you bring even a single case against any of the protesters threatening the justices, under 18 USC Section 1507  or did the Department of Justice decide this law doesnt apply it if it is harassing justices for an opinion that we dont like?

Cruz rightly called it a case of political bias by Garland.

Your failure to act to protect the safety of the justices and their families was an obvious product of political bias. You agree with Roe v. Wade. You disagree with the Dobbs decision, and the Department of Justice, under this president, was perfectly happy to refuse to enforce the law and allow threats of violence.

Garland eventually conceded there had been no cases against protesters. He then hid behind the excuse that it was up to local law enforcement, not him, to decide whom to prosecute.

Cruz disagreed with that comment.

You spent 20 years as a judge and youre perfectly content with justices being afraid for their childrens lives. And you did nothing to prosecute it.

Cruz contrasted that inaction with the DOJs prosecution of a Pennsylvania anti-abortion protester, Mark Houck, despite Houck being acquitted by a jury earlier this year for charges under a federal law that makes it a crime to engage in certain behaviors at abortion clinics.

Cruz reminded Garland about the dawn raid on Houcks residence where over two dozen agents clad in body armor and ballistic helmets and shields and a battering ram showed up at his house pointing rifles at his family.

Next, Cruz challenged Garland regarding the DOJs targeting of President Trump.

Cruz pressed Garland over leaks following the FBI's search of Trump's Mar-a-Lago estate last August. Cruz said he believed the leaks were "to set a predicate" for an eventual indictment of Trump.

Next, it was Sen. Josh Hawley (R-Montana)'s turn.

He returned to the Houck issue. Hawley reminded Garland that the dawn raid was conducted despite a Philadelphia DA, who is a Democrat, very progressive, declined to prosecute Houck, and the fact that a private suit against Houck was dismissed.

Hawley asked Garland about the rationale of his DOJ for deploying between 20 to 30 FBI agents in the early-morning hours to arrest Houck when Houck had offered to turn himself in voluntarily.

Garland said it was his practice to defer to FBI agents in the field to make that decision.

Hawley contrasted that claim with the raid on Mar-a-Lago.

Hawley challenged Garland about a Washington Post report that FBI agents initially resisted the idea that a court-authorized search of Mar-a-Lago should be necessary to retrieve the classified documents in President Trump's possession, but Garland overruled their concerns and approved the raid.

We see two instances of blatant dual standards.

Conservative vs. Liberal.

A dawn FBI arrest by heavily armed agents broke into the home of an acquitted pro-life activist but no action at all against those who threatened the lives of conservative Supreme Court Justices and their families with violence.

A Republican President vs. A Democrat President.

An FBI raid on President Trumps home was devoid of basis because Trump's attorneys were negotiating the return of the documents with the authorities. FBI agents were against the raid yet Garland seems to have effectively ordered them to do it anyway. When classified documents dating back to Bidens days as vice president were discovered, the DOJ allowed Bidens lawyers to take the lead and return documents based on Biden's wishes. Bidens home was searched, but not raided.

For all of these questions Garland either meekly issued denials or declined to comment regarding the criminal investigation. These are standard ploys of concealment and falsification when under oath.

This was nothing short of a disgraceful display by Garland. He was brazen and unapologetic regarding the blatant dual standards at the DOJ.

This is undemocratic.

Only under totalitarian regimes are individuals and groups targeted for their political or religious or ideological beliefs.

A perfect instance of this style of the regime is East Germany around 1950 under the rule of German communists aided by the Soviet Union.

In East Germany, it was customary to relentlessly and baselessly persecute dissidents or anyone who wasn't a total conformist. The regime forcibly drafted and co-opted law enforcement, the courts, and the media to conduct their reign of terror. There were surveillance operations without warrants and unannounced raids and arrests to target opponents.

Legal egalitarianism where all citizens are equal before the law is a fundamental tenet of any functioning democracy. The law must be enforced based on the violation and not based on who committed the crime or the motive behind the crime.

The goal behind this overreach is to silence all dissenters.

The Biden regime knows that most people neither have the time, patience, nor most importantly, the means to take on the government. So they remain silent and live their lives privately while the loudest liberals with access to the media try to convince everyone that their preposterous far-left beliefs are the consensus.

The Democrats are gnawing at the very roots upon which America was founded.

The hearing today is an important step, but it must not be conflated with action. If there are no consequences for these instances of judicial hypocrisy and overreach, these hearings become hollow theatrics devoid of any meaning.

Image: Screen shot from Senator Josh Hawley video, via YouTube
George Packer is a high-profile left-wing journalist, and in a rather groundbreaking essay published at The Atlantic yesterday, Packer made a "moral" case against the constant sanitation of language in pursuit of a perpetually moving goalpost.

Apparently, the Sierra Club's new "equity-language guide" was the straw that broke Packer's back. He notes that the affection and predilection for these "guides" has surpassed the boundaries of the absurd, and although he believes that the intentions were "utopian," the guides are indicative of a broken culture where "symbolic gestures" mean more than "concrete actions" (we call this "virtue-signaling," Mr. Packer).

Finally! What took you so long?!

Several things stood out to me about Mr. Packer's essay...

The first is the obvious: I never thought I'd see the day when leftists, in a mainstream outlet that constantly finds itself in lockstep with the establishment no less, would denounce the emptiness of "inclusive" and "atoning" language-cleansing demands. Packer, a leader in the editorial and political sphere, recognizes that the ideology to which he subscribes has created an absolute minefield. Oops! I'm not supposed to say that! As the Sierra Club alleges, the term "disrespect[s] veterans." Read one of Packer's opening paragraphs below:

The guide's purpose is not just to make sure that the Sierra Club avoids obviously derogatory terms, such as welfare queen. It seeks to cleanse language of any trace of privilege, hierarchy, bias, or exclusion. In its zeal, the Sierra Club has clear-cut a whole national park of words. Urban, vibrant, hardworking, and brown bag all crash to earth for subtle racism. Y'all supplants the patriarchal you guys, and elevate voices replaces empower, which used to be uplifting but is now condescending. The poor is classist; battle and minefield disrespect veterans; depressing appropriates a disability; migrant  no explanation, it just has to go.

You mean to tell me I'm not actually a racist because I referred to my lunch sack as a "brown bag"? Thank goodness!

The second: Packer ends his piece with a clarion call for...free speech! But not just free speech according to leftists  he means actual free speech. See what he said below:

It will be a sign of political renewal if Americans can say maddening things to one another in a common language that doesn't require any guide.

Well, I'll be!

The third: Packer appears to claim this is also a problem on the "far right"  wait, what? See what he has to say:

What I've described is not just a problem of the progressive left. The far right has a different vocabulary, but it, too, relies on authoritarian shibboleths to enforce orthodoxy.

Dang, he was almost there, too. Despite building an entire logical and methodical argument against leftist "equity-language" initiatives, Packer then falls victim to a false comparison fallacy. He wasn't arguing that both sides of the aisle had different vocabularies; he was arguing that there is a massive campaign to purify language  something which is exclusive to the left. (No one on the right is demanding anyone keep up with an ever-changing Newspeak vocabulary, so this equivalency doesn't make sense.) The funny reality is that despite the breakthrough, Packer is still a leftist, so of course, he couldn't quite grasp and articulate a political idea in total, but he gets credit for trying.

Image: Free image, Pixabay license, no attribution required.
Maybe you've heard that Mexico is importing Cuban doctors to fill some local needs. But why is Mexico doing this? The real reason is money or hard currency desperately needed by the Castro regime.

In the last month, we have seen critical reports like this in the Mexican media:

According to journalist Pablo Hiriart, the underlying issue in this state visit is the negotiation of cash resources for the Cuban regime, recalling that Mexico has imported medical services from that country and that this agreement will be maintained in the future. through the IMSS.

President Andres Lopez-Obrador's political opposition in Mexico are angry. They agree that it's about providing foreign currency to cash-strapped Cuba rather than addressing any needs in Mexico.

Another story in the media questions whether these doctors are even qualified. This is from Jessica Guerrero:

Not only has their training and professional qualifications come into doubt, but under Mexican law, only physicians licensed and duly accredited in Mexico are allowed to practice here. To become licensed, the Cuban doctors would have to pass the same medical exams as their Mexican counterparts, exams that are administered just twice a year under vigorous supervision by the Public Education Secretariat. Moreover, many Mexican physicians are furious about the fact that the Mexican government has granted special privileges to the Cuban doctors, including salaries that are almost 200 percent higher than those paid to Mexican doctors with comparable experience and studies. Additionally, the IMSS offers a generous "hospitality package" to the Cuban professionals that includes free housing and complementary meal plans.

So Mexico brings "unqualified" doctors and pays them more than Mexican doctors? What's going on? The answer is that this is not about medicine or heath care. This is about creating a source of foreign exchange for Cuba. Add to this that the Cuban doctors get paid by the communist regime. They are not free men who can negotiate. They are used by Cuba to find some friendly leader like Lopez-Obrador who wants to participate in this scam.

Senator Marco Rubio is on to something here when he calls these "medical missions ... a form of human-trafficking and modern-day slavery."

These missions are a scam and "madly in love with Castro regime" Lopez-Obrador is playing along with it.

PS: Check out my blog for posts, podcasts, and videos.

Image: Picryl.
It emerged last week that Roald Dahl's publisher, Puffin, gave Dahl's children's books to a company that edits them to conform with woke norms. Facing outrage, Puffin promised to publish a paper version of the original works but will generally opt for the bowdlerization.

While it was awful to learn what happened to Dahl, it's a good thing. A little research has revealed the company behind the changes and the person who was probably (although not certainly) responsible. If you pay attention to what she has to say, you will get a master class in the leftist values coming from Disney and other children's content creators.

Caroline Downey, at National Review, dug around and discovered that the hundreds of changes that neutered Dahl's work came from a British publishers' consulting group called Inclusive Minds. The "About page" is as awful as you'd imagine it would be in a DIE-obsessed way.



Image: Jo Ross-Barrett. YouTube screen grab.

The organization claims that it works with "book creators" to connect them to authentic "Inclusion Ambassadors" who will "share nuances related to their lived experience." No more author's imagination. Everything must go by the lived experience of the person who works at Inclusive Minds. And yes, "[o]ccasionally publishers approach us to consult Inclusion Ambassadors when looking to reprint older titles." Here's how that worked when it came to Roald Dahl's acerbic writing:

Whilst this is not the main focus for the Ambassadors (and we believe better authenticity is achieved through input at development stages), we do think those with lived experience can provide valuable input when it comes to reviewing language that can be damaging and perpetuate harmful stereotypes. In all our work with marginalised young people, the very real negative impact and damage caused to self-worth and mental health from biased, stereotypical and inauthentic representation is a recurring theme.

According to Downing, the presiding genius behind the bastardization of Dahl's works is almost certainly a woman named Jo Ross-Barrett ("they/them"). Ross-Barrett's bio is impressive, and I mean that in the worst way possible:

Jo Ross-Barrett (they/them) is a writer and editor with a passion for championing inclusive content and policies. They have a Distinction-grade MSc in Publishing and have had work published in Bi-ble (Volume 1) , an anthology about bisexuality and related identities, and AZE Journal , an online magazine for aromantic-spectrum, asexual-spectrum and agender people. Jo is an autistic, non-binary, asexual, polyamorous relationship anarchist. They work with Inclusive Minds to help authors and publishers make their books more authentically representative of marginalised groups, and have provided workshops and talks at A Place at the Table 2020 and the UK Asexuality Conference 2019 . They were a shadow judge for the CILIP Kate Greenaway and Carnegie Awards, and received commendations for the quality of their feedback. They are also the producer of What The Trans!? , a news and interviews podcast made by and for transgender and non-binary people.

In other words, a troubled person who is narcissistically obsessed with her sexual identity was put in charge of editing one of the world's most brilliant children's authors to bring his writing into line with her worldview. This is Ross-Barrett in action:

Did you see what I see? Ross-Barrett, who is clearly bright, is also a total Marxist who embraces every leftist cultural trope in existence: transgenderism, intersectionality, anti-capitalism, racial hierarchies, deviant or mentally ill sexuality, etc. She believes that books that portray the dominant culture (white, heterosexual, striving for accomplishment, able-bodied, Christian) are unrealistic and prejudiced. In other words, Ross-Barrett wishes to turn our incredibly successful Western model (traditional nuclear families, racial colorblindness, Judeo-Christian values, capitalism) on its head  and she understands that literature (especially for children) is the way to go.

I urge you to stick with Ross-Barrett's presentation because it perfectly sums up what's coming out of Disney (as well as other mainstream children's media) regarding not just LGBTQ+++ sexuality, but also race, "able-ism," Western history, etc. Listening to Ross-Barrett is, as the creators of the video claim, a master class in understanding the leftists' relentless battle to control our children's values.
Smartphones have evolved a lot over the past few years. We now have 200MP cameras, 300w charging speeds, and 3nm processors, none of which existed a couple of years back. But amidst all this, smartphone batteries have largely remained static in terms of capacity. Even the biggest phones today hardly go beyond 5,000mAh.

However, Redditor Downtown_Cranberry44 took battery capacity to a new level with their modded Samsung Galaxy A32 5G. They have modified the phone with a ludicrous 30,000mAh battery.

The Galaxy A32 5G is a mid-range Samsung phone from 2021. The handset, which currently sells for less than $200, ships with a 5,000mAh battery out of the box. As said earlier, thats the industry standard today, though the average may still be well below it.

Unless you seldom use it, a 5,000mAh battery will struggle to power the phone for two days without charging. The Redditor has solved the problem by giving the device six times its original battery capacity.

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The modification involves replacing the internal battery with an external pack that consists of six Samsung 50E cells (5,000mAh each) wired in parallel for a total capacity of 30,000mAh.

The handset doesnt look pretty, of course. Its like a brick strapped on the back of the phone. The whole package weighs about a pound (over 450 grams). The original device weighs 205 grams, so its more than two times heavy now.

The 30,000mAh battery took seven hours to charge fully

According to the Redditor, the device doesnt recognize the external battery pack and still shows its original capacity. It no longer reads the battery level as well, and always reports 1%.

The modified Galaxy A32 5G reportedly took seven hours to charge fully (likely externally determined a full charge). At the time of posting, they used the phone for two days. Since it doesnt note the battery level correctly, its unclear how much charge is left. But the handset may last over a week before running out of power.

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Its not just the battery that they replaced, though. This modified Galaxy A32 5G also gained multiple charging ports. It supports fast charging via USB Type-C, Apple lightning, and MicroUSB ports, though its unclear if all ports charge the phone at the same speed.

Moreover, it supports reverse fast charging through two USB Type-A ports and a USB Type-C port. So the handset can be used as a 30,000mAh power bank as well.

That said, you shouldnt do this. Its a safety hazard. You may not be able to carry it around as well. The TSA doesnt allow batteries above 27,000mAh capacity. This modification is just a fun project for experts and enthusiasts. Dont try this at home.
Samsungs One UI 5.1 update is rolling out to a couple of Galaxy M series mid-range smartphones  Galaxy M53 5G and Galaxy M42 5G. The former is a premium mid-range model from last year while the latter arrived the year before. Both devices are getting a host of new features and improvements with the latest update.

One UI 5.1 is rolling out to Galaxy M53 5G and M42 5G

The Galaxy M53 5G started picking up the One UI 5.1 update a few days back. After the initial rollout in Russia and Ukraine, Samsung has now covered the whole of Europe. The new One UI version is also rolling out to the phone in South Korea. The updated firmware build number in Europe is M536BXXU2CWB3, while that in the companys homeland is M536SKSU2CWB3. Users in Asia, Africa, and Latin America should also get the update soon. Samsung didnt launch the Galaxy M53 5G in the US.

The story is a bit different for the Galaxy M42 5G, though. This phone was mostly sold in India only, and probably in a few neighboring countries. The One UI 5.1 update is rolling out widely for the phone in the region with firmware version M426BXXU4DWB1. The OTA (over the air) package reportedly weighs just shy of 1GB. That for the Galaxy M53 5G weighs almost 1.2GB (via). Both handsets are getting the February 2023 Android security patch, which contains more than 50 vulnerability fixes.

But, the massive OTA size is because of the goodies that One UI 5.1 brings. Samsung is adding several new features to its Galaxy devices with the latest iteration of its custom Android software.

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The camera app gains new selfie effects at the top of the screen. Sharing vacation photos with your family is now easier with the new Shared Family Album, while the Gallery app also adds enhanced image remastering.

New gestures make multitasking more efficient too. You can also automate more tasks, including the automatic changing of wallpapers based on your activity.

Elsewhere, widgets are now smarter and show you more information. Smart settings suggestions save you time when you want to change a setting on your phone. Last but not least, Samsung Internet now supports continuous browsing across your connected smartphone, tablet, and laptop.

If youre using a Galaxy M53 5G or Galaxy M42 5G, the One UI 5.1 update with all of these new features and security enhancements should be available to you within the next few days if it hasnt already.
Microsoft seems to have addressed the European Unions antitrust concerns over its purchase of video game company Activision Blizzard. Sources have told Reuters that the EU will soon approve the $69 billion acquisition. The Windows giants licensing offers to rivals reportedly helped it win over the European watchdog. The Union previously raised concerns that the deal could stifle competition in the market.

Microsoft reached an agreement to purchase Activision Blizzard in January last year. The acquisition, its biggest ever, would equip the Windows maker with tools and resources to take on videogaming giants Tencent, Sony, and others. Unsurprisingly, the deal faced regulatory hurdles as the company could leverage Activision Blizzard to gain an unfair advantage in the booming video gaming market.

In November, the European Commission launched a full-scale investigation into the deal. The regulators said that the purchase may significantly reduce competition. Microsoft could block competitors from accessing Activision Blizzards high-profile and highly successful games, including Call of Duty. Dedicated gaming devices like the Steam Deck may lose business because of this, while Windows could greatly benefit from it.

Amongst the possible solutions to alleviate these concerns was the sale of asses like Call of Duty. EU is scheduled to announce its findings and decision on the matter on April 25. However, three people familiar with the matter told Reuters that it may no longer demand an asset sale. Last month, Microsoft pledged to keep these popular games on competing platforms for at least ten years. That seemingly proved enough to win the EUs trust.

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Our commitment to grant long-term 100 percent equal access to Call of Duty to Sony, Steam, NVIDIA, and others preserves the deals benefits to gamers and developers and increases competition in the market, Reuters cites a Microsoft spokesperson as saying. The EU may not release an official statement on the matter until the original schedule of April 25.

Microsofts Activision Blizzard purchase is also facing regulatory hurdles in other markets

Microsoft may have won over the European Commission, but its Activision Blizzard acquisition is still under scrutiny in other regions. The UK competition agency is demanding it to divest Call of Duty, while the US Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has mulled blocking the deal altogether citing antitrust concerns. Microsoft has until July of this year to address all of these concerns. If it fails to get a green light for the purchase by July, it will have to renegotiate or forfeit the agreement, which would incur a hefty breakup fee. We will keep you posted.
The Moto G Stylus 2023 will be available in a 4G variant, after all. While leaks so far have only talked about the 5G model, which has already picked up the FCC certification, a 4G model has now popped up on the benchmarking platform Geekbench. The listing revealed a few things about the upcoming Motorola smartphone.

Motorola launched the Moto G Stylus 2022 in February last year. The handset disappointingly came with Android 11 onboard when Android 12 had already been around for a good few months. The company isnt repeating that mistake this year. The 2023 edition of the stylus-equipped phone will run Android 13 out of the box, Geekbench reveals.

The Lenovo-owned smartphone brand isnt upgrading the processor, though. The Moto G Stylus 2023 seems to be getting the same MediaTek Helio G88 chipset as last years model. While the benchmark listing doesnt explicitly name it, the model number MT6769V/CZ tells the story. This chipset has two ARM Cortex-A75 CPU cores clocked at 2.0GHz and six Cortex-A55 cores clocked at 1.80GHz. It comes with an integrated Mali G52 GPU.

The Geekbench entry further reveals that the Moto G Stylus 2023 will feature 4GB of RAM. But its worth noting here that Motorola may release the device in multiple RAM options. We should get up to 6GB of RAM at least, if not 8GB. Storage options may include 64GB and 128GB, with a dedicated microSD card slot letting you add to that externally.

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This is the very first notable sighting of this phone anywhere on the internet. However, we should soon hear more about it as Motorola gears up for its launch. Both the 4G and 5G models of the Moto G Stylus 2023 may arrive in April.

The 2023 Moto G Stylus lineup will get a design overhaul

As said earlier, leaks about the Moto G Stylus 5G 2023 have been coming for some time now. We have already seen the handset in unofficial renders. Motorola is making a couple of changes to its design this year.

Firstly, the rounded rectangular vertical camera array is making way for a squircle housing. Also, we have one less camera inside it this year, though the company is retaining a 50MP primary shooter.

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While the render may be showing the 5G model, we dont expect any fundamental design difference between the two cellular variants of the Moto G Stylus 2023. We will keep you posted with all the latest information about these phones.
(ANSA) - ROME, MAR 3 - A vote on a proposed halt to the sale of carbon-emitting petrol and diesel cars from 2035 has been put off again amid stalemate at the EU, sources said Friday.

The vote on ending the sale of newly registered petrol- or diesel-powered vehicles from 2035 has been postponed until a later date and has therefore not entered the agenda of the meeting of the Deputy Permanent Representatives of the 27 Union members, they said.

Weighing in, in addition to Italy's no and the de facto contrary positions of Poland and Bulgaria (although Sofia abstained in November) is Germany's position, the EU sources said.

The issue has also been dropped from the EU Council of Education Ministers, which on 7 March was called upon to merely formally ratify the agreement. (ANSA).


(ANSA) - ROME, MAR 3 - Italian Premier Giorgia Meloni and Deputy PM and Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani began a two-day visit to Abu Dhabi on Friday by meeting with the Minister of Industry and Advanced Technology of the United Arab Emirates (UAE), Sultan Ahmed Al Jaber.

Sultan Al Jaber is also the president-designate of the COP28 climate summit, scheduled to take place in Dubai from 30 November to 12 December 2023.

On Saturday Meloni is due to meet with UAE President Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan.

After the meeting, Italian oil company Eni and its AbuDhabi counterpart Adnoc will sign a cooperation agreement covering multiple aspects of energy transition.

During the visit, which aims to relaunch ties between Italy and UAE after several years of tension, the two countries will also sign a strategic partnership statement of intent and a reinforced cooperation declaration making Italy a strategic partner on environmental issues and the fight against climate change. (ANSA).


Governor Tamilisai Soundararajan. (DC File Image)

HYDERABAD: The Telangana governments move on Thursday to approach the Supreme Court seeking its intervention over the matter of Bills pending clearance at the Governors office, received some swift reaction from Governor Dr Tamilisai Soundararajan. The Governor, taking to Twitter on Friday, took aim at Chief Secretary A Shanti Kumari - who is listed as the petitioner representing the state of Telangana  indicating that all it would have possibly required was for Shanti Kumari to visit the Raj Bhavan and discuss the issue instead of heading to the courts.

The state says that the office of the Telangana Governor is holding back on approving seven Bills since September last, and three more Bills that were passed in the recent Budget session of the State Assembly.

Though there appeared to be a thaw of sorts between the state government and the Governor who have been at logger heads for nearly two years when the government deputed two of its ministers to visit the Raj Bhavan to discuss budget approval before this Februarys budget session of the Assembly, and invite the Governor to address a joint session of the Legislature. Soon after, the budget was approved by the Raj Bhavan and the Governor did address the joint session.

With the Chief Secretary representing the state in its petition before the Supreme Court, Dr Tamilisai said friendly interactions would have been more helpful but added that the Chief Secretary appears to have no such intentions. The Governor tweeted saying "Dear @TelanganaCS Rajbhavan is nearer than Delhi. Assuming office as CS you didnt find time to visit Raj Bhavan officially. No protocol! No courtesy even for courtesy call. Friendly official visits & interactions would have been more helpful which you dont even intend."

Following up this tweet with another, the Governor said: "Again I remind you Raj Bhavan is nearer than Delhi @TelanganaCS."
NAPLES - The 15th edition of the Sharjah Biennial has kicked off until June 11, the Emirates news agency WAM reports. The event, which opened its doors on February 7 in the UAE city of Sharja, has turned the Emirates into an attraction for artists from around the world.

A total of 150 international artists and art collectives from over 70 countries will showcase their art around the theme 'Thinking Historically in the Present'. Overall, more than 300 artworks will be on display, including 70 new works, at the event which is celebrating its 30th anniversary this year, WAM explained.

The 2023 edition of the Biennial reflects on the late Okwui Enwezor, a great Nigerian art critic and international expert who died in 2019. It was conceived by Hoor Al Qasimi, director of the Sharja Art Foundation, who organizes the event. The idea is to start from Enwezor's visionary work, which has in some way transformed the contemporary art world, driving intellectual projects worldwide. Hoor Al Qasimi said in particular that she thought about the Biennial's title as a way to centre the past within contemporary times. "Sharja became a platform for a lot of people to come together in a conversation on the Global South", Hoor Al Qasimi, president and director of the Sharjah Art Foundation, was quoted as saying by WAM. "We want to engage and bring forward a lot of issues affecting societies around the world in a way that is approachable to the large public".

Many have indicated the growing importance of the Emirati biennial as a new face of a great archetype of biennials, such as the Venice Biennale: Sharja, said Al Qasimi, "kicked off with a traditional country representation, but when I got involved, I realized there are so many issues when you talk about nations.

Some people live as refugees, there are mixed marriages or different ethnicities living in the same country. How do you define a nationality? This is one of the things I changed, I removed the national representation to create a more curated exhibition", she was quoted as saying by WAM. "Biennials now, at least many of them across the world, really focus on cities, communities and what they can do for locals, boosting a cultural space within a city. As per my background, I am an artist, I am a painter, this is the way I wanted it to change", she added.

The Biennial is organized across 19 venues in five cities in the emirate of Sharja, including locations in the historic district, newly renovated buildings, and modern facilities - part of a rich calendar of free initiatives that are open to the public.




ANSAmed - Weekly diary from March 6 to March 12

(ANSAmed) - ROME, MARCH 3 - The following are the main events scheduled in the Euro-Mediterranean area from March 6 to March 12: MONDAY MARCH 6 MADRID - Event called 'El mar entre tierras', at the Italian cultural institute, including three exhibits on Italian artists dedicated to the Mediterranean (until April 12).



IDLIB (SYRIA) - Vaccination program against cholera kicks off.



ATHENS - Visit of the European Parliament's Committee on Civil Liberties over a wiretapping probe.



TUESDAY MARCH 7 PARIS - Strikes and protests against a pension reform.



MANSOURA (EGYPT) - Trial against three journalists accused of "offending" lawmakers.



ESSAOUIRA (MOROCCO) - World Women's Forum for Peace (also on Wednesday).



ROME - Forum on 'Tunisia: destination of proximity for Italian companies. Presentation of the economic part of Zarzis', organized by Assafrica & Mediterraneo, in cooperation with the Tunisian embassy.



RYADH - EU, visit of the vice-president of the European Commission, Frans Timmermans and the commissioner for energy, Kadri Simson.



WEDNESDAY MARCH 8 BRUSSELS - EU, European Commission's vice-president, Frans Timmermans meets Leila Benali, Morocco's minister for energy transition and sustainable development.



THURSDAY MARCH 9 FES (MOROCCO) - International symposium on the energy sector (until the 10th).



BRUSSELS - Sweden and Finland hold talks with Turkey for their candidature to join NATO.



FRIDAY MARCH 10 No major events scheduled SATURDAY MARCH 11 No major events scheduled SUNDAY MARCH 12 JERUSALEM - Visit of Italian Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani who will subsequently travel to Ramallah, in the West Bank, to visit the Palestinian National Authority (also on the 13th).



(ANSAmed).




Coast Guard rescues 211 refugees, migrants off Lampedusa Alleged smuggler arrested

(ANSAmed) - ROME, MARCH 3 - The Italian Coast Guard is continuing to search for vessels crossing the Mediterranean in adverse weather conditions while attempting to reach Italy's coast.



In the night between Thursday and Friday, two Coast Guard vessels - the Sar pc 324 and Cp 303 - rescued a fishing boat in distress with several refugees and migrants on board, in the Italian search and rescue zone some 15 miles south of the small island of Lampedusa. The two vessels reached the fishing boat and started operations to rescue its passengers, which were particularly complex amid rough seas, with a high number of people on board and the precarious condition of the boat taking in water. All 211 passengers were rescued.



The two Coast Guard vessels subsequently took the refugees and migrants to Lampedusa, including an alleged smuggler who was handed over to police.



A reported 9,000 refugees and migrants have been rescued from January 1 until today in operations coordinated by the Coast Guard, and over 55,000 in 2022. (ANSAmed).




ATHENS - The 59-year-old man in Larissa who was arrested as part of an investigation into a railway disaster on Tuesday night in which 57 people died was allegedly appointed station manager at the beginning of this year although he was over the age limit set by the job application. Candidates were allegedly not supposed to be older than 42, according to the website of Kathimerini, which first published a report on the man charged with manslaughter by negligence.

The station manager, according to the report, was employed for several years by the Hellenic Railways Organization (OSE) as a warehouse worker. Then in 2013, as part of a program to cut jobs, he was transferred to another public agency and only at the beginning of this year, after a six-month-long training course, he was appointed train station manager in Larissa.

Meanwhile, the train station of Larissa was searched on Friday morning by police as part of the investigation into the causes of the disaster. Police seized "all documents that can help the investigation", a spokesperson said.

Firefighters are continuing operations to look for missing passengers and identification procedures of victims' bodies through DNA tests. The operations should end in the coming hours. The victims include a Cypriot boy and girl (aged 23 and 24) who were studying at the University of Thessaloniki, the destination of the passenger train that had departed from Athens.





Students protest in front of Hellenic Train headquarters
Greece: student protests organized after train crash Demonstrations in afternoon in Athens, Larissa, Patras

(ANSAmed) - ATHENS, MARCH 3 - From Crete to Thessaloniki, students across Greece are organizing demonstrations against the government accused of being responsible for an alleged "announced tragedy", a train crash on Tuesday night near Larissa which killed 57 people, according to the latest death toll.



Student collectives met Friday in front of the University of Athens to march towards Parliament, chanting "killer State".



Many, speaking with megaphones, recalled that "our school friends, siblings and parents" died on the train. The passenger train was traveling from Athens to Thessaloniki with many young college students returning from celebrating the Orthodox Carnival.



Demonstrations are also ongoing in Patras, where more than 10 schools have been occupied as part of the protest, in the city of Larissa, not far from the hospital where bodies retrieved by firefighters are still being identified. Another demonstration is scheduled in Athens on Friday afternoon.



(ANSAmed).




Israel: protests against judicial reforms confirmed Saturday Scheduled in Tel Aviv and other parts of the country

(ANSAmed) - TEL AVIV, MARCH 3 - Groups organizing demonstrations against contentious judicial reforms in Israel have confirmed that they will stage protests scheduled on Saturday evening in Tel Aviv and in other parts of the country.



The protests on Saturday will be staged for the ninth consecutive week by members of the opposition who will be taking to the streets against a reform currently being debated in the Knesset.



Last Saturday, some 160,000 people across Israel protested against the proposed judicial overhaul. Violent clashes were recorded for the first time in Tel Aviv on Wednesday between demonstrators and police. Security officers used stun grenades and detained 39 people (the majority of whom were subsequently released). A reported 11 people were injured. (ANSAmed).




Spanish unionist prevented from entering Tunisia, UGTT He had been invited to attend anti-government demo

(ANSAmed) - ROME, MARCH 3 - The powerful Tunisian labour union UGTT said in a statement that Spanish union official Marco Molina, in charge of cooperation with Africa and Asia within CEC UGT Spain, on Thursday was not allowed to enter Tunisia. Molina was prevented from entering Tunisian territory and expelled from Tunis-Carthage airport as "persona non grata", according to Tunisia's main labour union.



Perez Molina had been invited to take part in an anti-government demonstration organized tomorrow in Tunis by UGTT. Authorities also told the union that entry will also be banned to a delegation of the International trade union confederation invited by UGTT at the protest.



Tunisian President Kais Saied last month also expelled European trade union chief Esther Lynch after declaring her "persona non grata" for delivering a speech at another protest organized by UGTT in Sfax. (ANSAmed).




Tunisia apprehends 57 irregular sub-Saharan migrants The allegedly crossed from Algeria

(ANSAmed) - TUNIS, MARCH 3 - The Tunisian national guard in Kasserine and Bizerte arrested in the night between Thursday and Friday a reported 57 people from several countries of sub-Saharan Africa "for illegally entering Tunisia" from the Algerian border, a national guard spokesman wrote on Facebook.



The spokesperson added that magistrates took the appropriate measures against them, without elaborating. (ANSAmed).




UNHCR calls for European action after migrants shipwreck Boat 'crossed three countries' before reaching Italy

(ANSAmed) - NAPLES, MARCH 3 - The UN Refugee Agency's representative for Italy, the Holy See and San Marino Chiara Cardoletti on Friday called for action at a European level in the wake of a deadly migrant shipwreck off Calabria on February 26.



"This boat crossed three countries before reaching Italy", she said of the vessel, which departed from the Turkish city of Izmir. "It is necessary to question why nobody intervened before. Action at a European level is necessary" to have "much more targeted, faster and more effective actions in the central Mediterranean", said the UNHCR official on the sidelines of the signature of a protocol with the city of Naples to promote the integration of refugees. Cardoletti stressed that the shipwreck was a "tragedy" and added: "It is important for us, as I have said on many other occasions, for similar events not to happen anymore". Cardoletti went on to note that we must "learn from this tragedy" to understand that "it is key to intervene immediately in such adverse weather conditions" so boats don't travel "for days and days in the Mediterranean without anyone intervening".



Cardoletti also stressed that "the Italian Coast Guard has always done an excellent job and we can't understand how this accident was possible". Expressing the hope that light will be shed on the case, the UNHCR official said "something must be certainly changed in the ability to intervene because the Italian Coast Guard can't be the only institution in the Mediterranean to intervene". (ANSAmed).




West Bank, army blocks Israeli pacifists in Huwara After settlers' attack, solidarity for Palestinians

(ANSAmed) - TEL AVIV, MARCH 3 - Israeli army units on Friday blocked in the West Bank 10 buses carrying hundreds of Jewish and Arab Israeli pacifists who were travelling to the Palestinian village of Huwara (near Nablus) to express solidarity.



The village on Sunday was targeted by a terror attack in which two Israeli brothers were killed by a Palestinian and then settlers retaliated a few hours later setting buildings and parked cars on fire.



According to public radio Kan, the army on Friday blocked Israeli pacifists marching to Huwara. The soldiers threw stun grenades. Haaretz reported that security forces used force and carried out a few arrests. Last night, two settlers believed to be involved in the attack on Huwara were reportedly placed on pre-trial custody for four months. According to public radio Kan meanwhile the number of pre-trial detentions has risen to four.



(ANSAmed).




Tajani in UAE to 'relaunch strategic partnership' 'Many opportunities for our companies', Italy FM tweets

(ANSAmed) - ROME, MARCH 3 - Italian Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani on Friday wrote on Twitter that he had arrived in the United Arab Emirates together with Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni.



"Relaunch of the strategic partnership. There are also many opportunities for our companies here, including in the sectors of innovation and food", tweeted the foreign minister. "Energy and food security are our priority", Tajani also tweeted, sharing a few photos of his arrival with Meloni. (ANSAmed).




WASHINGTON - The United States denounced an "escalating pattern" of arrests of opposition figures in Tunisia, expressing concern over reports of criminal charges against people in the country resulting from meetings with US embassy staff on the ground, according to State Department spokesman Ned Price.

"We are alarmed by reports of criminal charges against individuals in Tunisia resulting from meetings or conversations with US embassy staff", the spokesperson told reporters on Thursday. Price went on to say that the alleged criminal charges were part of an "escalating pattern if arrests against perceived critics of the government".

Price refused to identify any of the people believed to have been targeted, but stressed that US embassies and diplomats around the world meet various figures in all countries. Last Tuesday, the Tunisian Foreign ministry urged foreign embassies in the country "not to interfere in its domestic affairs", following reports that political figures who have been detained had prior contact with Western diplomats. Some 20 figures have been arrested in Tunisia in February at the behest of Tunisian President Kais Saied. The president fired the government and froze parliament in July 2021, concentrating all powers in his hands.




Turkey: opposition divided a few months ahead of vote Erdogan wants to hold election on May 14

(ANSAmed) - ISTANBUL, MARCH 3 - Meral Aksener, the leader of one of six opposition parties who over the past months have tried to forge an alliance to fight Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan in upcoming elections, has said that her party will not support the candidate chosen during a meeting held on Thursday.



The meeting of the six opposition parties "is not a platform of common sense anymore where potential candidates can be discussed but has become a notary's desk for the approval of just one candidate", the leader of the nationalist right-wing Iyi Party was quoted as saying by Anadolu news agency, in a reference to talks held Thursday. The gathering chose a candidate whose name has not been officially revealed yet.



However, according to unconfirmed reports, the candidate chosen by opposition members is Kemal Kilicdaroglu, the president of the nationalist centre-left Chp, the main opposition party.



Aksener on Friday publicly proposed as candidates the mayor of Ankara, Mansur Yavas or the mayor of Istanbul, Ekrem Imamoglu, who were both elected with the support of parties opposing Erdogan in 2019. In December, Imamoglu was sentenced to three years in prison on charges of insulting a public official and he was barred from public office but the sentence was suspended ahead of an appeals court's decision. (ANSAmed).




Major ambulance strikes scheduled for next week have been suspended after the Government agreed to discuss pay for this year, unions have said.

Tens of thousands of key workers had been due to walk out on Monday and Wednesday, but GMB and Unison have deferred their plans after ministers said cash is available for potential pay rises covering both this year and next.

However, Unite union is still planning to go ahead with strikes over what it calls unreasonable pre-conditions for negotiations imposed by the Department for Health and Social Care (DHSC).

Some 32,000 NHS workers would have been involved in planned Unison strikes  including 24,500 ambulance staff  while 13,000 ambulance workers were part of the GMB action.

GMB national secretary Rachel Harrison said the Governments latest concession marks a huge shift in its position.

She said: GMB ambulance workers announced a tightening of the derogations for cover on strike days.

Less than 24 hours later we received a letter from the Secretary of State for Health, Steve Barclay, inviting us and other unions to pay talks.

This is a huge shift from the Government, who for months have refused to consider negotiations on pay. Now they are saying they are willing to sit down and talk.

The Government has given assurances of additional cash for both years above existing budgets and that any deal will respect the existing Agenda for Change structure.

GMBs ambulance workers have agreed to suspend industrial action so talks can begin  however the strike will return with a vengeance should talks break down.

Writing on Twitter, the union thanked ambulance workers for standing strong along with the fantastic support of the public for convincing ministers to talk pay.

The DHSC has also said it is open to discussions about improvements to ambulance workers terms and conditions, according to GMB.

It took them over 90 days  but finally the Government have realised they need to talk pay. They would not have come to the table without ambulance workers standing strong  and the fantastic support of the public. Thank you   GMB Union (@GMB_union) March 3, 2023

GMB members working for the Welsh Ambulance service have also agreed to suspend strikes on Monday for further talks with the trust and the Welsh Government.

Unisons Sara Gorton said that industrial action would resume if discussions  which are due to take place over the weekend  are not meaningful.

 BREAKING NEWS  Our NHS strike planned for Weds 8 March has now been suspended. UNISON will enter pay talks with the government.  Christina McAnea (@cmcanea) March 3, 2023

She said: Proper pay talks should have started months ago, long before the first strike was called. That would have avoided days of disruption for the NHS and its patients.

Whether the talks signal the beginning of the end of the current dispute will emerge in the coming days. If a deal can be reached, strikes can end and everyone can work together again to ensure the NHS gets back on track.

However, when we get in the room, well quickly learn whether the talks can be meaningful. If not, Unison will be forced to resume strike action. Nobody wants that.

Ambulance strikes which had been scheduled to take place next week have been suspended (Danny Lawson/PA).

The Chartered Society of Physiotherapy (CSP) is also suspending planned strikes after agreeing to enter talks with the Government.

The union had planned walkouts at 56 trusts on March 22, but now expects negotiations to begin in the coming days.

Elaine Sparkes, assistant director of the CSP, said: Weve been calling for meaningful talks for months and always said we would suspend action if they took place.

We therefore welcome these discussions and hope they can conclude with a fair deal that helps our members manage the cost of living crisis and enables the NHS to recruit and retain the staff it needs.

Ambulance workers will not be going on strike next week following a potential breakthrough in negotiations (Andrew Matthews/PA).

Sir Julian Hartley, chief executive at NHS Providers  which represents trusts, welcomed the suspension of ambulance strikes, but stressed that industrial action by junior doctors continues to loom large.

He said: Trust leaders will be hugely relieved that the Government are coming round the table with more unions to talk about pay, and that much of next weeks strike action has now been called off.

But while progress is now being made in talks with some NHS unions, the prospect of a three-day walkout by junior doctors continues to loom large.

We hope todays breakthrough will pave the way for similar negotiations with all other unions planning strikes.

We are urging the Government and unions to pull out all the stops and begin talks immediately so that further disruption to patient care can be avoided.

Unite strikes will go ahead on Monday and Wednesday after union representatives in the ambulance trusts involved voted unanimously in favour.

The unions executive head of operations, Gail Cartmail, said: The Government has said for months that it cannot negotiate and then when suddenly it is prepared to, it lists a series of totally unreasonable pre-conditions for starting talks.

This isnt a negotiation, its an ultimatum.

Unite national lead officer Onay Kasab added: The NHS is on its knees and morale is at rock bottom, yet the Government somehow thinks that after weeks of strike action for a better deal, workers will meekly sign up to talks that will not tackle the issue of a decent pay settlement for 2022/23.

The DHSC described Unites position as disappointing, adding that ministers are ready to meet leaders of the other unions over the weekend.

A spokesperson said: Were pleased that Agenda for Change unions representing the majority of ambulance workers, nurses, physiotherapists, porters, cleaners and other non-medical staff have agreed to pause strikes and enter a process of intensive talks.

We want to start these talks as soon as possible and are ready to meet over the weekend.

We want to find a fair and reasonable settlement that recognises the vital role of NHS workers, the wider economic pressures facing the UK and the Prime Ministers priority to halve inflation.

It is disappointing Unite is going ahead with strikes next week. We urge them to call off strikes and join other unions at the negotiating table.

Further strikes will cause more frustration and delays for patients, despite contingency plans in place.
Evidence strongly suggests breaches of coronavirus rules would have been obvious to Boris Johnson during partygate, the inquiry into whether he lied to MPs with his denials has said.

The cross-party Privileges Committee said the Commons may have been misled at least four times, as it set up a live showdown with the former prime minister later this month.

Mr Johnson remarked a mid-pandemic leaving party in No 10 was probably the most unsocially distanced gathering in the UK right now, according to written evidence in an interim report published on Friday.

WhatsApp messages given to the inquiry show advisers struggling with how parties were within the rules, with one conceding an excuse blows another great gaping hole in the PMs account.

Mr Johnson released a statement claiming the inquirys preliminary report showed he was being vindicated, as he raised concerns over civil service investigator Sue Grays move to Sir Keir Starmers office.

But the committee said: The evidence strongly suggests that breaches of guidance would have been obvious to Mr Johnson at the time he was at the gatherings.

There is evidence that those who were advising Mr Johnson about what to say to the press and in the House were themselves struggling to contend that some gatherings were within the rules.

The committee defended its inquiry as being not based on the Sue Gray report but on evidence including witnesses, WhatsApps, emails and photographs from a Downing Street photographer.

Evidence included messages between No 10s then communications director Jack Doyle and an official discussing the birthday gathering held for Mr Johnson in 2020, for which the ex-PM was fined by police.

Mr Doyle wrote: Im struggling to come up with a way this one is in the rules in my head.

In response to a suggestion that they describe the event as reasonably necessary for work purposes, he said: Not sure that one works does it? Also blows another great gaping hole in the PMs account doesnt it?

One No 10 official in another exchange said a colleague was worried about leaks of PM having a piss-up and to be fair I dont think its unwarranted.

Former communications director Jack Doyle in Downing Street (Stefan Rousseau/PA)

Further evidence came in the form of new photos showing Mr Johnson and colleagues drinking alcohol in close confines.

During strict post-Christmas lockdown rules, the then Conservative leader can be seen apparently mid-speech in front of four bottles of sparkling wine, as well as beers.

The committee will cross-examine what Mr Johnson knew at the time of his various denials to the Commons, including saying on December 8, 2021 that no rules had been broken despite Ms Gray and the police concluding otherwise.

It appears that Mr Johnson did not correct the statements that he repeatedly made and did not use the well-established procedures of the House to correct something that is wrong at the earliest opportunity, the committee added.

Mr Johnson may also have broken the rules when giving the impression there needed to be an investigation by Ms Gray to establish whether the rules and guidance had been broken.

While repeatedly making that statement to the House, he appears to have had personal knowledge that he did not reveal, the committee said.

Mr Johnson told the committee he has no relevant material after repeated requests for evidence and still has not provided us with a written submission.

In a public statement released moments after the report was published, Mr Johnson said: I believe that their labours have helped establish the obvious truth: It is clear from this report that I have not committed any contempt of Parliament.

It is also clear that what I have been saying about this matter from the beginning has been vindicated.

That is because there is no evidence in the report that I knowingly or recklessly misled Parliament, or that I failed to update Parliament in a timely manner.

The report makes clear that the publication is not the final conclusions, with Mr Johnson scheduled to give oral evidence broadcast live on television in the week starting March 20.

Mr Johnson said he relied upon advice from officials so when he told MPs that the rules and the guidance had been followed, that was my honest belief.

He said it is surreal and particularly concerning to discover the committee was partially relying on findings from Ms Gray.

The Whitehall enforcer carried out the initial partygate investigation launched by Mr Johnson and will become the Labour leaders chief of staff.

Mr Johnson said: I leave it to others to decide how much confidence may now be placed in her inquiry and in the reports that she produced.

Labour deputy leader Angela Rayner described the report as damning (PA)

His allies have been using Ms Grays move to Labour in an attempt to discredit the inquiry, with Tory MP Mark Jenkinson describing it as a total circus.

Mr Johnson received one of the 126 fines issued by Scotland Yard over lockdown-busting parties in Downing Street and Whitehall.

If found to have lied to Parliament and suspended for more than 10 days, he could be forced to face a by-election.

The committee, that has a Conservative majority and is chaired by Labours Harriet Harman, criticised the Governments reluctance to hand over evidence until Rishi Sunak took over.

Deputy Labour leader Angela Rayner said the interim report is damning and she urged the Prime Minister to end Mr Johnsons taxpayer-funded legal defence.

This partygate report is damning on Boris Johnsons conduct, not just in the crime but the cover-up, she said.

Rishi Sunak must stop propping up this disgraced PM and his legal defence fund  and make clear that if he is found to have repeatedly misled Parliament, his career is over.
Senior SNP MSP Fergus Ewing has backed the leadership bid of Kate Forbes, comparing her to his mother.

Mr Ewing was a perennial minister in SNP administrations and was most recently the rural affairs secretary, but he has become a regular critic of the Scottish Government in the past year over the dualling of the A9, gender reforms and the deposit return scheme.

Announcing his support for the Finance Secretary on Friday, he compared her to legendary SNP politician Winnie Ewing  his mother.

Ms Ewing invigorated the party by winning the Hamilton by-election in 1967, before serving as an MEP and an MSP, as well as president of the party  becoming an iconic figure among the nationalists.

Winnie Ewing is one of Scotlands most respected politicians (PA)

Mr Ewing said: Over three decades in Scottish politics, I have rarely, if ever, come across a person who has the qualities Kate possesses, which so well equip her for the top job in Scotland.

Honesty, bravery, integrity, endless hard work, total commitment to eradication of poverty in Scotland, whilst at the same time working to promote and grow the economy in order to fund our valued public services.

These are all qualities that people in Scotland will appreciate and come to value. Already her talents and qualities have shone through. I predict that will continue during the campaign.

In working with her as fellow Highland MSPs for the last seven years, I have seen at first-hand how she first won the respect, then the trust and also the affection of her constituents, and the wider public.

Ms Forbess leadership campaign was initially marred by criticism over her views on social issues, after she said she would not have voted in favour of same-sex marriage legislation had she been an MSP at the time.

Fergus Ewing has said Kate Forbes should be the SNPs new leader (PA)

Mr Ewing, the Inverness and Nairn MSP, praised the Finance Secretarys handling of the criticism, which he described as unpleasant and unwarranted, claiming her response shows she can cope with the rough, tough and sometimes nasty world that politics has become.

He added: Kate reminds me of my mother Winnie Ewing, when she, as a young mother, first won the Hamilton by-election in 1967. Her slogan then was: Stop the world, Scotland wants to get on.

Huge progress has been made since then by the party and the wider independence movement.

However, there is further to go.

Gentle, well-evidenced, rational arguments and patient persuasion is required.

That means further establishing pubic trust and private confidence. I have no doubts whatsoever that Kate has the qualities that are required to do just that.

Health Secretary Humza Yousaf has so far won the support of the majority of the partys MSPs, with a small handful backing Ms Forbes but none saying they intend to back former community safety minister Ash Regan.
A former Royal Marine has won more than 700,000 in compensation after suing the Ministry of Defence (MoD) over hearing loss caused by his military service.

James Barry, of Nottingham, claimed he was provided with inadequate protective equipment and suffered hearing loss and tinnitus due to exposure to excessive noise during his service between 2013 and 2017.

The 34-year-old had ambitions to become a medic in the Royal Navys Special Boat Service, but became a lorry driver after being medically discharged.

In his High Court claim, Mr Barry argued he was exposed to incredibly loud gunfire while on training exercises and had to cope with yellow foam earplugs that often fell out during vigorous physical activity.

The ministry apologised to Mr Barry in court (PA)

His lawyers argued there had been a systemic, widespread and prolonged breach of duty by the MoD.

The ministry apologised to Mr Barry in court and accepted it had been negligent by failing to provide the father-of-two with suitable hearing protection.

But the MoD claimed the ex-marine was partly to blame for his hearing loss because he failed to always use equipment provided, and should receive less compensation.

Mr Barrys lawyers argued at a hearing in London in January that he should be awarded around 1.5 million in damages, while the ministry said he should only get about 250,000.

In a ruling on Friday, Mr Justice Johnson said the ministry had not shown Mr Barry was at fault over the use of deficient equipment and awarded him 713,716 in damages.

The judge said the available hearing protection was inadequate and incompatible with other equipment, adding: lamentably, it appears that nothing was done by the MoD to address the obvious and serious problem.

Mr Barry first noticed a problem with his hearing after returning from a training exercise dubbed black alligator in the United States between August and October 2014, the court was previously told.

Harry Steinberg KC, for Mr Barry, also said in written arguments that there were exercises during basic training where hearing protection was not worn (and could not be worn) at all.

The black alligator exercise likely resulted in much or all of the ex-marines hearing loss, the judge said in his ruling, with it involving flash bangs, flash crashes, grenades, and a general purpose machine gun which was operated within 10 metres of Mr Barry.

The training at a dummy town in California to practise urban warfare at one point saw an F16 fighter fly at low level above Mr Barry, while gunfire reverberated off metal shipping containers used as mock buildings.

After the exercise the ex-marine noticed a constant, high pitched noise which was intrusive, particularly at night, the judge said.

Mr Barrys lawyers claimed he received insufficient hearing protection training, that use of equipment was not properly enforced and the ear defenders and earplugs provided were incompatible with a helmet and using a radio.

Andrew Ward, for the MoD, argued Mr Barrys practice of not wearing ear protection in his left ear when using the radio went against instructions and amounted to contributory negligence.

But Mr Justice Johnson ruled that there was no evidence it was Mr Barrys fault that earplugs often fell out, noting that he was far from alone in experiencing this.

The judge added that Mr Barry was involved in exercises that were highly complex, challenging and potentially dangerous, involving intense simulated warfare and high cognitive demands.

It is understandable that replacement of hearing protection in the midst of a firefight, simulated, but with a high degree of realism, was not always at the forefront of Mr Barrys mind, the judge added.

The judge also said it was not unreasonable that Mr Barry removed an earplug in the light of the defective equipment when using a radio, with it not amounting to a failure to comply with instructions.

He concluded: The MoD admits that Mr Barry has suffered injury and loss as a result of exposure to excessive levels of noise and that this was due to the MoDs negligence and breach of statutory duty. It has not shown that Mr Barry was at fault.

Mr Barry is entitled to compensation for his losses, without any reduction for contributory negligence.
The family of missing rugby player Levi Davis have disputed reports the case has turned into a criminal investigation and asked the press to refrain from printing conspiracy theories about his disappearance.

The 24-year-old former Bath player and Celebrity X Factor contestant was last seen at The Old Irish Pub in Barcelona on October 29.

Spanish police searching for Mr Davis described the case as an open investigation on Tuesday but said they could not give any more information.

Catalan police also reportedly said there are disturbing issues with no logical explanation, with a specialist crime unit said to be taking over the probe.

A statement shared with the PA news agency on behalf of Mr Daviss family on Friday said gang involvement is not being considered or investigated at this time.

They said reports of hearsay have been causing a huge amount of distress to his family and friends and are potentially damaging the reputation of a young man who has achieved so much in his young life.

The statement said: Following a meeting with the Spanish police on Wednesday March 1 and contrary to the false and distressing stories being published in some of the newspapers, the facts are as follows:

Gang involvement is not being considered or investigated at this time as their focus is on facts and concrete evidence including where he was last seen, telephone calls he made, apps he used and people he may have arranged to meet.

They have now identified who he was last in contact with.

This is still a missing persons case, it is not and never has been a criminal case and there is not and never has been an imminent arrest.

The reports of a man seen in the water in the Port on the morning of (October) 30 is now being fully investigated with the help of the other relevant police forces.

This is also where his passport was found.

The statement added: We would also ask that the press, many of whom have been extremely supportive and respectful, refrain from printing conspiracy theories and hearsay which is causing a huge amount of emotional distress to family and friends, not to mention potentially damaging the reputation of a young man who achieved so much in his young life.

We would like to thank the West Midlands Police, the Mosso dEsquadra and the British consulate in Barcelona for their continued hard work.

As Levis 25th birthday approaches next week, we continue to hope and pray that he is found safe and well.

From left: Thom Evans, Levi Davis and Ben Foden arriving for the ITV Palooza held at the Royal Festival Hall, Southbank Centre, London, before Mr Daviss disappearance (PA)

Mr Davis appeared on ITVs Celebrity X Factor in 2019, alongside fellow rugby stars Ben Foden and Thom Evans, in a singing group known as Try Star.

He was also on E4s Celebs Go Dating in 2020.

He had signed a record deal and gone to stay with a friend, Richard Squire, in Ibiza to work on some songs.

Mr Squire said he dropped Mr Davis off in Ibiza Town on October 28 and has not seen him since.

He said Mr Davis told him he was heading to Barcelona.

Mr Squire told the BBC: I was obviously worried for him. I said, Gone where? He said: Barcelona, going to see some mates.

So then I sent him a voice note saying, Youre worrying me. Please tell me where you are.

Mr Davis told Mr Squire he would call when he arrived in Barcelona but he never did.

As concern grew, Bath Rugby shared a missing persons appeal in November in the hope someone may be able to help find Mr Davis.
A Florida woman was sentenced to life after slaying her disabled boyfriend and dismembering his corpse. On February 24, Penny Rebecca Pospisil, 51, was convicted on all three counts with life in jail by Judge Mary O. Hatcher of Sumter County Circuit Court.

Florida Woman Dismembers Boyfriend's Corpse

Brevard County police of Florida arrested Pospisil for the gruesome murder of her boyfriend, who was disabled physically. She chopped up the corpse in several pieces, which were stored in the camper they had lived in for almost half a year, reported Meaww.

The culmination of the murder trial last Friday ended in a successful prosecution that established her guilt for murdering Anthony Mitchell, 55, in 2018. The murder occurred in Lake Pan RV Village in Sumter County, said the authorities, after which she went to Brevard County, her residence in an RV. Extra detail said the suspect kept the rotting body until she got caught, noted WFTV9.

Police had several charges against the suspect who killed the victim, listed as the following. They are a single instance of second-degree murder with a life sentence meted against the woman.

Another comment by Judge Hatcher is the abuse of a corpse due to chopping it up in several parts, which carries an extra 15 years to the life sentence. Other minor changes that were mentioned are stealing an automobile of $300 though less than $20,000 with an added five years to it cited Law and Crime.

Remains of Disabled Boyfriend Kept in Camper for Months

Read Also: Quarryville Woman Convicted for Husband's Death in 2021 Valentine's Day

If it was not for the stench from rotting body parts of Mitchell that she kept in her RV that other residents had noticed. The suspect got taken by the police on December 30, 2019, when suspicious odors that gave away the foul play. Each time someone asked where the man was, she answered that the victim was cremated due to death from natural causes.

In police custody, she claimed she was allegedly an abuse victim and committed murder while defending herself. She later admitted all triple charges against her in October 2022.

Based on details from court documents, the prosecutors thought the woman would get the maximum sentence allowable. The called killing of Mitchell was brutal and horrific before he got choked to death. Used as a murder weapon is a blunt weapon striking the victim. Pospisil allegedly softened the body tissues and intentionally left the victim's flesh mangled.

Prosecutors expressed disbelief at how the victim was eviscerated and how Pospisil tried to keep the murder from authorities. Worse is the woman used the dead man's benefits for herself, got money from the bank account, and even got his credit cards.

Other than the eviscerated corpse mentioned in the document, which had more shocking details. The suspect removed the victim's heart and other internal organs. Even the genitalia was removed from the corpse too. Prosecutors described it as very meticulous how the body was severed.

Florida woman slays her disabled boyfriend and dismembers his body in the worst way. It was shocking how Penny Rebecca Pospisil degraded Mitchell's corpse and got a maximum sentence with extra time.

Related Article: Russian Rapper's Wife Dismembers Him To Feed His Body Parts to Rodents

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The founder of the first professional orchestra in Europe to be made up of a majority of black and minority ethnic musicians said being made a CBE rubber stamps the work she is doing to diversify classical music.

Double bassist Chi-chi Nwanoku founded the Chineke! Foundation to celebrate inclusion and diversity in the musical genre.

She was made a CBE at Buckingham Palace on Friday for services to music and diversity.

Chi-chi Nwanoku and the Princess Royal (Aaron Chown/PA)

Ms Nwanoku told the PA news agency: This sort of occasion rubber stamps the knowledge that I can carry on doing the work that Im doing which is opening that door and creating a platform of opportunity in the classical music world to those otherwise previously unseen.

The Chineke! Orchestra is now a resident orchestra at the Southbank Centre and is about to embark on its first tour of North America.

It has also just been made a National Portfolio Organisation for the first time.

Ms Nwanoku told PA she hopes recent recognition of her orchestra sends a big message to the arts industry that it is not a day too soon to think about how inclusive we can all be.

She wants to push to diversify not only musicians on stage, but composers and the type of music played as well.

The double bassist said she experienced a trigger point to create the orchestra in September 2014.

She told PA that then-culture secretary Ed Vaizey invited her to a pre-concert reception ahead of a performance by the Congos Kinshasa Symphony Orchestra after they bumped into each other on their way to the concert.

She said she found out at the reception that there was a documentary being filmed about the orchestra but there was not a single black person in the room at that time.

This was the lightbulb moment, she said.

And she remembered thinking: This is the 21st century, it shouldnt be a novelty that there is more than one black face playing Beethoven.

Ms Nwanoku told PA she phoned every music establishment in the country the next day telling them she wanted to build an orchestra that celebrates inclusion and diversity.

She added: The more I looked, the more I found. That well of talent runs deep.
The chrism oil which will be used to anoint the King during his coronation on May 6 has been made sacred in Jerusalem.

A ceremony took place in The Church of the Holy Sepulchre on Friday, with the holy oil consecrated by the Patriarch of Jerusalem, His Beatitude Patriarch Theophilos III, and the Anglican Archbishop in Jerusalem, The Most Reverend Hosam Naoum.

Mr Naoum said he had felt a deep sense of spiritual experience during the ceremony.

Oils from the Mount of Olives were mixed with essential oils and blessed in Jerusalem before being used in the Kings coronation (Patriarchate of Jerusalem/Buckingham Palace/PA)

The archbishop added: So what has been happening today, I think there is that thread, that this  the consecration of the oil for the enthronement and the coronation  it brings about something of a deep and profound meaning.

Both to King Charles, to the church and Jerusalem, to the Holy Land and I think to the whole world.

The holy oil has been created using olives harvested from two groves on the Mount of Olives, at the Monastery of Mary Magdalene and the Monastery of the Ascension, and will be used to anoint the King during the ceremony.

The olives were pressed just outside Bethlehem and the oil has been perfumed with sesame, rose, jasmine, cinnamon, neroli, benzoin and amber as well as orange blossom.

The King will also receive the orb, coronation ring and sceptre, and will be crowned with the majestic St Edwards Crown and blessed during the historic ceremony.

The Patriarch of Jerusalem, His Beatitude Patriarch Theophilos III, with the chrism oil in a silver urn at the Tomb of Jesus in Jerusalem (Patriarchate of Jerusalem/Buckingham Palace/PA)

Camilla will also be anointed with holy oil and crowned, just like the Queen Mother was when she was crowned Queen in 1937.

Charles has strong links with the Holy Land because his grandmother Princess Alice, who harboured a Jewish family in Greece during the Second World War, is buried at the Russian Orthodox church of St Mary Magdalene in Jerusalem.

He last visited her tomb in 2020 during a visit to Israel and the Occupied Palestinian Territories and laid flowers.

The Archbishop of Canterbury said: I am honoured and grateful that His Beatitude Patriarch Theophilos III and Archbishop Hosam Naoum have consecrated the oil that will be used to anoint His Majesty The King.

I want to thank especially His Beatitude for providing this Coronation Oil, which reflects The Kings personal family connection with the Holy Land and his great care for its peoples.

Charles during a visit to the Church of Mary Magdalene on the Mount of Olives in East Jerusalem in 2020. Neil Hall/PA Wire

I am also delighted that the Anglican Archbishop in Jerusalem shared in the consecration of the oil.

Since beginning the planning for the Coronation, my desire has been for a new Coronation Oil to be produced using olive oil from the Mount of Olives. This demonstrates the deep historic link between the Coronation, the Bible and the Holy Land.

From ancient kings through to the present day, monarchs have been anointed with oil from this sacred place. As we prepare to anoint The King and The Queen Consort, I pray that they would be guided and strengthened by the Holy Spirit.

The oil is based on what was used at the coronation of Queen Elizabeth II, the formula of which has been used for hundreds of years.
Two Insulate Britain protesters who blocked a City of London road have been jailed for seven weeks after flouting a court order not to use the climate crisis in their defence at trial.

Dorset councillor Giovanna Lewis, 65, and horticultural worker Amy Pritchard, 38, were both accused of causing public nuisance by gluing themselves to the tarmac in Bishopsgate in October 2021.

The pair, who represented themselves at an Inner London Crown Court trial, were banned by Judge Silas Reid from relying on their concerns about fuel poverty or the environment in their own defence.

But both defendants breached the order, with Pritchard citing her responsibility to future generations and parts of the world already suffering climate catastrophe.

The jury failed to reach verdicts and prosecutors indicated that they may seek a retrial.

Both women admitted being in contempt of court on Friday and were sentenced to seven weeks imprisonment, of which they will serve half.

Judge Reid told the defendants they had sought to set themselves above the law by mentioning aspects of their motivation in carrying out the October protest that were not relevant to jury deliberations.

Insulate Britain activists Amy Pritchard Giovanna Lewis outside Inner London Crown Court (James Manning/PA)

He concluded that the defendants had either set out to manipulate the jury into acquitting them even if they were sure of the pairs guilt, or to use the trial to continue their protest within the courtroom.

Either motivation would be serious as you would be seeking to set yourselves above the law, the judge said.

Each of you has clear disdain for the judicial process. Your contempts are very serious as they represent complete contempt for the court and court process.

He added: Most importantly though, in my mind, is the need of the court to protect its process. Not out of any sense of pride or importance, but because the rule of law is vital.

All people are treated as equals in the courts. No side has the advantage of the court determining that their cause is just, or that the law should be bent or broken because of any personal views a judge may or may not have.

If people are allowed to circumvent the court process just because they feel they should be entitled to, then the system would not be able to be relied on by every member of society.

You each decided that rather than show respect for the court process you would set yourselves up as individual arbiters of what is fair and proper. That is real contempt.

The defendants had each elected to have a Crown Court trial  heard before a jury of members of the public  instead of a summary trial at a magistrates court.

Asked by the judge whether they wished him to take anything into consideration in sentencing, Lewis said: I continue to be astonished that today in a British court, a judge can or would even want to criminalise the mention of the words fuel poverty or climate crisis.

There are thousands of deaths each year in the UK from fuel poverty and thousands of deaths around the world due to climate change. In the future this will be millions.

She added: Your ruling that why we did this was completely irrelevant was quashing the human spirit and the heart and you can only do that so much but it has to speak and that is the place I spoke from. Speaking from the heart and not allowing my soul to be repressed in the way that your rulings were doing.

Pritchard said the world is staring total eco-system collapse in the face and criticised those in power for failing to act.

Addressing the judge directly, she said: I include you in that and I wonder if people are too comfortable to feel the urgency.

Several supporters watching proceedings from the public gallery were warned not to disrupt proceedings by the judge before applauding at the end of the hearing.

Speaking to the PA news agency outside court ahead of the hearing, Ms Lewis branded the ruling unbelievable and an attack on civil liberties.

But she added that she had committed to going to prison when she broke the law and did not want to act like a martyr.

She said: Nobody wants to go to prison but in order to stand up for whats right, for our civil liberties in court, its the price that we have to pay.

Ms Pritchard said: I feel that my responsibility here is not to the judge and to this court, my responsibility is much wider. Its to young people who are rightly worried about their futures and my responsibilities to our global families who are already suffering and dying, to the worlds ecosystems and also to future generations.

She added that she had interpreted the hung jury as a promising sign that some sections of the public may be sympathetic to Insulate Britains cause.

I think its a sign that people are really concerned about the issues that were raising, and perhaps also concerned that were being blocked from talking about them in court, she said.

History has shown that the law is not always in line with justice, and I think this is another example of that.

This situation is completely unprecedented. The legal system is not fit for purpose to deal with it and to deal with people trying to intervene.
James Cosmo says he is a rom-com actor following release of new film

Actor James Cosmo has spoken about how much he enjoyed his role while working on a romantic film.

The 75-year-old  who is best known for his work in Braveheart, Trainspotting and HBO series Game Of Thrones  took to the red carpet at Glasgow Film Festival.

Cosmo is promoting his new film, My Sailor, My Love.

He plays the title role of a retired sea captain, Howard, who is forced to reassess his difficult relationship with his daughter, Grace (played by Catherine Walker), after he begins a new romance with a widowed housekeeper, Annie  who is portrayed by Brid Brennan.

The film, which was shot in Ireland, is his first romantic role in a film.

The actor said that he was glad to be back in Glasgow at the premiere.

The cast at the premier of My Sailor, My Love (Emma Lawson/PA)

He added: When I was sent the script I was really taken by it. You know its a sort of love story, set in this wonderful desolate part of the world, it happens to be in Ireland.

Its a love story about older people and the dynamics of family, that I found absolutely fascinating and I couldnt wait. I seen a wonderful film that Klaus (the director) had also directed called The Fencer and that really sold me on that. I just loved it to bits.

Its only taken me six decades to get here to do a romantic film, but I think Ive now found it, Im just a rom-com actor now.

The film previously premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival in 2022.

Director of the film Klaus Haro added: Working with actors like James Cosmo here was just amazing. I was sitting not that far from him, and to be that close and to see him act and see what was happening, was like is this really my film? you know with the material.

When we were casting Howard, we were looking at his films and hes most well known for cutting heads and stabbing people, but Ive seen him in other films. Its so great to find an actor that can show that other side of him.

My Sailor, My Love is set to be released on March 10 in cinemas.
Jimmy Kimmel says Chris Rock should be proud of his response to being slapped on-stage by Will Smith at last years Oscars.

Kimmel, who is due to host the star-studded event on March 12, said the incident was still shocking but hoped that lessons could be learned from it.

Smith resigned from the Academy and was banned from the organisations events for 10 years following the incident, which came in response to a joke made by the comedian about his wifes haircut. Jada Pinkett Smith suffers from alopecia  something Rock had not been aware of.

Smith also apologised several times to Rock online, though Rock has never given an official response.

Rock was slapped onstage at the 2022 ceremony by actor Will Smith, following a joke he made about the actors wifes haircut  unaware she suffered from alopecia (Isabel Infantes/PA)

Kimmel has hosted the Oscars twice previously, first in 2017 and again in 2018.

Another infamous incident at the Oscars saw the film LaLa Land incorrectly announced as the winner of best picture instead of Moonlight.

Speaking to US outlet People less than two weeks from this years Oscars, Kimmel praised Rocks conduct onstage in 2022.

Its still shocking that that happened, he said.

(And) for it to happen at the Oscars magnifies it by about a million times I think its something that everybody regrets and that we will move past.

One day it will be looked at in the same way as that guy running onstage naked is looked at: a weird moment that we all talked about and we hopefully learn from.

Smith was banned from Academy events for 10 years following the incident (James Manning/PA)

On Rock, he added: To be slapped in the face and to stay that cool is something that Chris should be proud of.

Chriss grandchildren, I hope, will still be proud of that when hes dead and gone.

It comes as Smith made his first in-person appearance at an award show on Wednesday, when he attended the African American Film Critics Association Awards (AAFCA).

The 95th Academy Awards will be broadcast live from the Dolby Theatre in Los Angeles on March 12.
The King and Queen Consort will make their first state visits to France and Germany, Buckingham Palace has confirmed.

Charles and Camillas six-day trip to Europe later in March will employ the royal familys soft diplomacy to help strengthen the UKs ties with two of the European Unions leading nations.

The visit has been in the planning by the UK and host nations for months but its timing is fortuitous as it comes a few weeks after the UKs relations with Brussels began to ease following the Windsor agreement, the new Brexit deal for Northern Ireland.

The King and Queen Consort will tour France and Germany over six days (Owen Humphreys/PA)

The King and his wife will travel to the French capital Paris on March 26 then continue to Berlin in Germany, arriving on March 29 during a trip which a source said was planned in an extraordinarily positive atmosphere by all.

Asked about the importance of the state visit to the UKs bond with Paris and Berlin, a Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office official said the Government was very keen to have a strong and close relationship with the UKs European neighbours.

Aspects of the trip reflect what are believed to be the wishes of the host countries to mark the historic visits of the UKs new head of state.

The King will be the first British monarch to give a speech from Frances senate chamber, to senators and national assembly members, and the first UK sovereign to address German politicians from the Bundestag.

Charles with Frances President Emmanuel Macron during the Cop26 climate change summit (Jane Barlow/PA)

Berlins Brandenburg Gate will be the backdrop for Charles and Camillas official welcome to Germany, the first time the landmark has been used to welcome any visiting head of state.

A source said: The fact that the programme has so many unique ceremonial elements to it does reflect the fact the strength of the relationship and something of the fact that this is the first state visit of their majesties reign.

The atmosphere in which this has all been planned has been extraordinarily positive.

A Buckingham Palace spokesperson said the visit was at the request of the British Government following invitations from the French and German presidents.

Charles pictured recently receiving the president of the Bundestag, Barbel Bas (Yui Mok/PA)

Outlining the trip, the spokesperson added: The visit will celebrate the UKs relationship with France and Germany, marking our shared histories, culture and values.

It is also a chance to look forwards and show the many ways our countries are working in partnership, whether that be to tackle climate change, respond to the conflict in Ukraine, seize trade and investment opportunities or share the best of our arts and culture.

As well as speaking to the strength of the United Kingdoms bilateral relationships with France and Germany, Their Majesties visit will include engagements highlighting the importance of sustainability and community  key themes which have been embraced by citizens of all our countries.

Highlights of the six-day historic tour include Charles and Camilla joining their French hosts President Emmanuel Macron and his wife Brigitte Macron for a ceremony of remembrance and wreath laying at the Arc de Triomphe.

The King and The Queen Consort will travel to France  and Germany  for the first State Visit of the new reign, from 26th March to 31st March 2023. The visit will celebrate Britains relationship with France and Germany, marking our shared histories, culture and values.  The Royal Family (@RoyalFamily) March 3, 2023

Afterwards the foursome will be part of a procession down the Champs Elysees towards the Elysee Palace, the French presidents official residence, where they will sit down to talks.

Camilla and Mrs Macron will officially open the new Manet and Degas exhibition at the Musee dOrsay while Charles gives his address from the senate chamber.

The King and Queen Consort will also visit Bordeaux, centre of the famous wine-growing region and home to many British residents, where they will visit an organic vineyard and Charles will meet emergency workers who tackled wildlife last summers wildfires on the outskirts of the city.

The King and Queen Consort will also visit Bordeaux, centre of the famous wine-growing region and home to many British residents, where they will visit an organic vineyard and Charles will meet emergency workers who tackled wildlife last summers wildfires on the outskirts of the city.

The German leg of the trip will begin in March 29 with a ceremonial welcome from German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier and his wife Elke Budenbender at the Brandenburg Gate.

Charles and Camilla will be welcomed at the Brandenburg Gate in Berlin (Tim Goode/PA)

The King will meet a few of the one million Ukrainian refugees who fled the Russian invasion and were welcomed in Germany.

In Hamburg, joined by the German president and his wife, Charles and Camilla will visit the St Nikolai Memorial, the remains of a church which was destroyed when the Allies bombed Hamburg during the Second World War.

Hamburg was virtually razed to the ground by Operation Gomorrah, a major bombing operation against the city in 1943, described as being unmatched by any other single Allied air attack in Europe during the conflict.

At the site, the King and president will lay wreaths during a short ceremony of remembrance.
MIA and Arcade Fire have led tributes to Pulp bassist Steve Mackey following his death at the age of 56.

The musician was described as a great mentor and a true friend in online posts shared following the news.

Mackey died on Thursday after three months in hospital, Pulp announced on their Instagram page.

After making demos in my room, I was lucky enough to meet Steve Mackey. 2003/4, He was a great mentor and helped turn my lil songs into GALANG and SUNSHOWERS. Forever glad to have worked with you and thank you.  https://t.co/uR0khxe5ee pic.twitter.com/6rJ1XFwiNE  M.I.A. (@MIAuniverse) March 2, 2023

The Britpop groups best known line-up consisted of frontman Jarvis Cocker, Russell Senior, Candida Doyle, Nick Banks, Mark Webber and Mackey, and they were known for their hits including Common People and Disco 2000.

Outside of his work in Pulp, Mackey also produced and recorded with many artists including MIA, Arcade Fire and Florence + The Machine.

Rapper MIA said she was speechless at the news, writing on Twitter: After making demos in my room, I was lucky enough to meet Steve Mackey.

He was a great mentor and helped turn my lil songs into Galang and Sunshowers. Forever glad to have worked with you and thank you.



Canadian rock band Arcade Fire hailed Mackey as one of the most beautiful people weve ever met in a post on the bands official Instagram account.

Alongside a black and white image of Mackey, they wrote: Steve you were one of the most beautiful people weve ever met, a true friend.

Thank you for letting us spend time in your presence, and for believing in the spirit of music with such ferocity.

Your influence as a person and a musician is part of us now. Luv AF.

Massive Attack paid tribute to the bassist by quoting a lyric from Pulps 1995 song Sorted For Es & Wizz and sharing a black and white photo of him smiling.

And tell me when the spaceship lands 'cause all this has just got to mean something Steve Mackey  pic.twitter.com/4MYlReMZwz  Massive Attack (@MassiveAttackUK) March 2, 2023

The trip hop group tweeted And tell me when the spaceship lands cause all this has just got to mean something, before adding a black heart.

Mackey studied at the Royal College of Art and later joined Pulp in 1989.

He played across many of the bands most successful studio albums including 1994s His n Hers, which gained them prominence in the UK, and their chart-topping albums 1995s Different Class and 1998s This Is Hardcore.

In 2017, the band were recognised with the Ivor Novello Award for outstanding song collection.

Last year, Cocker confirmed the groups reunion, saying they will play some concerts in 2023, though Mackey was not due to appear at the upcoming shows.

Announcing his death, the group shared a photo of Mackey climbing in the Andes.

Our beloved friend & bass player Steve Mackey passed away this morning. Our thoughts are with his family & loved ones, the post was captioned.

This photo of Steve dates from when Pulp were on tour in South America in 2012. We had a day off & Steve suggested we go climbing in the Andes. So we did.

And it was a completely magical experience. Far more magical than staring at the hotel room wall all day (which is probably what wed have done otherwise).

Steve made things happen. In his life and in the band. And wed very much like to think that hes back in those mountains now, on the next stage of his adventure.

Safe travels, Steve. We hope to catch up with you one day. All our love xx

Pulps Jarvis Cocker, Steve Mackey, Mark Webber, Nick Banks and Candida Doyle are presented with a music Heritage Award at The Leadmill in Sheffield by PRS For Music Deputy Chairman, Simon Darlow (Fabio De Paola/PA)

His wife Katie also shared a message on his Instagram describing him as the most talented man I knew, an exceptional musician, producer, photographer and filmmaker.

She also thanked the NHS staff who worked tirelessly with him over the last few months, adding: He will be missed beyond words.

Outside of music Mackey also photographed and directed campaign images and motion advertising for many leading brands including Miu Miu, Marc Jacobs and Armani.

Mackey also featured in Harry Potter And The Goblet Of Fire as the bassist of The Weird Sisters.

He is survived by his wife and son Marley.
Ministers and senior officials discussed the need to get heavy with the police over the enforcement of Covid lockdown regulations, according to the latest tranche of Matt Hancocks leaked messages published by The Daily Telegraph.

The newspaper highlighted an exchange between the then-health secretary and Cabinet Secretary Simon Case from August 2020, in which Mr Case raised the question: Who actually is delivering enforcement?

Mr Hancock replied I think we are going to have to get heavy with the police, prompting Mr Case to point out that they were due to have a roundtable meeting with ministers and the cops.

Following another meeting in January 2021 involving Boris Johnson, Mr Hancock messaged Mr Case to inform him that the PM was in vg shape and that the plod got their marching orders.

For Labour, shadow home secretary Yvette Cooper said the exchanges revealed the arrogance and shameful lack of respect of ministers towards the police.

Matt Hancock discussed enforcement of the Covid rules with Cabinet Secretary Simon Case (Oli Scarff/PA)

At the same time as they were flagrantly breaking the law themselves with their lockdown parties, they were demanding stronger enforcement by the police on everyone else, she said.

The exchanges were among more than 100,000 messages passed to the Telegraph by the journalist Isabel Oakeshott.

She was originally given the material by Mr Hancock while they were collaborating on his memoir of his time in government during the pandemic.

Mr Hancock has condemned the leak as a massive betrayal designed to support an anti-lockdown agenda, but Ms Oakeshott has insisted the release was overwhelmingly in the public interest.

Officials discussed whether Nigel Farage broke quarantine rules (Jacob King/PA)

In other exchanges, Mr Hancock and Mr Case joked about travellers arriving in the UK being locked up in quarantine hotels, with the Cabinet Secretary saying it was hilarious.

Meanwhile, Mr Hancock shared a news story about a man and a woman who were fined 10,000 each for failing to quarantine with Mr Johnson  who replied: Superb.

The Telegraph said the messages also showed Mr Hancock wanted his team to contact the Home Office after a news report suggested ex-Ukip leader Nigel Farage broke quarantine rules after returning from a trip the US.

His special adviser Jamie Njoku-Goodwin replied: Does he count as a pub hooligan? Can we lock him up?

Mr Hancock then said his case should be dealt with like any other.

In March 2021, when Piers Morgan left ITVs Good Morning Britain  where he had a reputation for giving ministers a hard time over Covid  Social Care Minister Helen Whatley joked they should celebrate at the departments team meeting that evening.

Mr Hancock messaged back: Perfect.

Elsewhere, in November 2020, Mr Johnson expressed concern that he had blinked too soon in ordering a second lockdown based on modelling that was very wrong.

Months earlier in June, the then-prime minister discussed speeding up plans to lift restrictions following the first lockdown, but was warned by his media advisers they were too far ahead of public opinion.
Proposals which could lower the age at which people are automatically placed in a workplace pension to 18 are being backed by the Government.

Currently, employers must automatically enrol workers into a pension scheme and make contributions if they are aged between 22 and the state pension age and earn at least 10,000 a year.

The lower earnings limit, at 6,240, is the minimum level of an enrolled workers earnings on which they and their employer have to pay contributions.

Conservative MP Jonathan Gulliss Private Members Bill, backed by the Government, grants two extensions to automatic enrolment  abolishing the lower earnings limit for contributions and reducing the age for being automatically enrolled to 18.

Removing the lower earnings limit could help to bring more lower earners and people working part-time jobs into automatic enrolment.

The Bill cleared its first hurdle after MPs gave it an unopposed second reading.

It will undergo further scrutiny at a later date and is on track to become law.

The intention is that the provisions will not result in any immediate change but will give the Secretary of State powers to amend the age limit and lower the qualifying earnings limit for automatic enrolment.

Jonathan Gullis holding the Pensions (Extension of Automatic) Enrolment (No. 2) Bill (Jonathan Gullis Office/PA)

There will be a statutory requirement to consult and report on the outcomes to inform the implementation approach and timing, before using these powers.

Minister for Pensions Laura Trott said: We know that these widely supported measures will make a meaningful difference to peoples pension saving over the years ahead.

Doing this will see the Government deliver on our commitment to help grow the economy and support the hard-working people of this country, particularly groups such as women, young people and lower earners who have historically found it harder to save for retirement.

Mr Gullis, who represents Stoke-on-Trent North, said: With all the evidence of the huge positive impact it can have, it is a no-brainer that we now need to extend auto-enrolment to those aged 18 and above.

Nigel Peaple, director of policy and advocacy at the Pensions and Lifetime Savings Association (PLSA), said: Automatic enrolment has seen over 10 million people newly saving or saving more for a pension in the UK.

This is a genuine success story. Combined with the new state pension, automatic enrolment ensures that many more people can meet some of the costs of later life.

He added: The PLSA supports increasing the momentum in automatic enrolment by extending it to workers under age 22 and removing the lower earnings limit so that people save from the first pound of earnings.

We have also long maintained that in order for savers to reach an adequate income in retirement, further increases should be undertaken over the next decade so that (automatic enrolment) rises from an 8% pension contribution today to around 12% in the early 2030s  split 50/50 between employers and employees.

Yvonne Braun, director of policy, long term savings, health and protection at the Association of British Insurers (ABI), said:  We strongly welcome the return of the Pensions (Extension of Automatic Enrolment) Bill and it is encouraging to see it make progress.

Automatic enrolment has transformed workplace pension savings in this country but the challenge remains to ensure that it captures as many people as possible and that they are saving enough for their retirement. Removing the lower earnings limit and reducing the lower age limit helps to achieve this

The success of this policy over the last 10 years is down to consensus between government, political parties, industry and employers, and we stand ready to work with Jonathan Gullis MP and all other partners to build on this over the next decade.

Earlier this week, it emerged that the timetable for pensions dashboards, which will eventually enable people to see all their pension pots in one place online, is being pushed back.

Pension schemes were due to start connecting to dashboards from August 31 2023 and dashboards were expected to be available to the public next year, but Ms Trott said previously that more time is needed to deliver the complex build.
A teaching union has urged members to accept a new pay offer presented by the Scottish Government.

The Educational Institute of Scotland (EIS) union made the announcement it is to ballot its members on a revised pay offer that was presented by local authority employers, with a recommendation that the offer should be accepted.

Some 20 days of rolling strikes had been planned by the EIS across Scotland, targeting every local authority north of the border between March 13 and April 21.

Teachers from the Educational Institute of Scotland union take part in a rally (Andrew Milligan/PA)

The EIS is now suspending all planned industrial action while it ballots its members on the new offer.

A special meeting of the EIS Salaries Committee, comprised of teachers from across Scotland, took place on Friday and it was unanimously agreed to ballot members on the new offer.

The Committee agreed to recommend that members vote to accept the new pay offer.

Subsequent to the decision of the Salaries Committee, a special meeting of the EIS Executive Committee agreed to suspend all planned industrial action while members are consulted on the offer. The online ballot opens today and runs until March 10.

The EIS has opened a ballot of its members on the new pay offer, with a recommendation to accept. Further information, and ballot information, is being emailed to members at the moment. This may take some time to arrive as a result of the volume of emails being sent.  EIS (@EISUnion) March 3, 2023

Commenting, EIS general secretary Andrea Bradley said: The view of our negotiators is that this deal represents the best that can be achieved in the current political and financial climate without a much more prolonged campaign of industrial action.

The new offer will see teachers getting a 12.3% increase by April 2023, and it will rise to 14% by 2024.

She added: It is through the determination and collective action of teachers and associated professionals across Scotland, led by EIS members, that we have improved this pay offer from an initial 2% for the current year to 7% for the current financial year, with additional increases of 5% and then 2% within the following financial year.

This has been a long dispute which has been challenging for all concerned. Teachers have taken strike action as a last resort, and that strike action has delivered an improved pay offer that the EIS can credibly put to its members with a recommendation to accept. It is now for our members to decide whether to accept this offer, and it is our recommendation that they should do so.

Responding to the decision by the EIS union to suspend strike action while a new pay offer is put to members, Education Secretary Shirley-Anne Somerville said: I welcome the EISs decision to suspend industrial action while they consider this offer.

This will end the disruption to learning for our children and young people particularly in the run up to exams.

We have worked closely with the unions to compromise and have arrived at a deal which is fair, affordable, and sustainable for everyone involved. The Scottish Government is supporting this deal with over 320 million of funding this year and next.

I would urge teaching union members to accept this historic pay offer which would see teacher pay increase by 33% since January 2018.

This is the best and final offer possible and recognises the invaluable contribution teachers make to the lives of our children and young people.
The People's Liberation Army (PLA) deploys J-11 fighters in the South China Sea (SCS) to shadow US patrol aircraft trying to get info on Chinese forces, described as a serial harasser that regularly shoos away the US recon craft making increased forays in the South China Sea.

PLAAF Fighter Intercepts US Navy Reconnaissance Jet

In one of the intercepts last February 24, the Chinese Flanker with lethal air-to-air missiles when it kept abreast of a P-8 Poseidon maritime patrol aircraft. Onboard was the press when the standoff occurred, reported The EurAsian Times.

Both planes kept parallel flight for 15 minutes, but the jet at one point would veer close to 500 feet off the port wing as the spy plane continued on its course, noted CNN.

While in flight, the PLA Air Force Flanker has its lethal armament seen at all times, which the occupants of the US recon plane comprehended. Increased tension as the US acts provocatively in the SCS support by its allies.

On December 2022, a US Air Force (USAF) RC-135 aircraft caused a dangerous interaction with another J-11 over the South China Sea, citing Reuters.

This time the Chinese pilot went to ten feet, prompting the pilot to maneuver the recon plane with the threat of collision. The Commander of the USN recon plane said the Chinese fighters are engaging US aircraft decisively. A video is allegedly taken from the R-135 to capture what happened over the SCS. The Flanker is nudging slowly to the US recon plane from its left, then shifting to the front of it.

Read Also: China Dispatches Stealth Fighters Threatening the US

South China Sea Tensions

Lethally armed Chinese warplanes have four air-to-air missiles with two PL-12 for long-range standoff attacks. Other missiles are dual PL-8s that are optimized for very close-range dogfights. One incident with the Chinese J-16, a better version of the J-11, had aggressively intercepted an Australian P-8 aircraft. This time release radar chaff was thrown into the P-8s engine.

The Shenyang J-11 had a dual engine with one crew in the cockpit based on the Russian Su-27SK Flanker developed by China and is called Flanker or Flanker B+, per Military Today.

The popularity of the US F-16 Fighting Falcon is the template for the PLAAF to develop its homegrown fighter or better. Initial attempts in the 70s used the Soviet MiG-19 powered by a British Rolls-Royce Spey 512 engine. It took another attempt to be successful, according to sources.

About twenty years later, China bought several Su-27s in 1990, with the Soviet Union, as mentioned by Autoevolution. In 1991, the USSR was broken up, and the China deal was the last ever.

Getting a topline Soviet fighter allowed the PLA to be equal to NATO's best fighters. Another deal in 1996 wherein Russia and China built 200 Su-27s using kits to complete a pre-assembled airframe. They became the earliest J-11s to enter service with the PLAAF, and the J-11B 'Flaming Dragon' followed later with more variants later on.

The PLAAF J-11 fighter has evolved a long way to keep on US Patrol Aircraft in the SCS. Even their armament shows the PLAAF means business with more upgrades to come.

Related Article: China Increases Production of Shenyang J-15B Navalised Flanker

@ 2023 HNGN, All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission.
NHS England is concerned about the impact of junior doctor strikes on emergency care and efforts to tackle waiting lists, its chief strategy officer has said.

Chris Hopson told a summit hosted by the Nuffield Trust he expected the strikes to have a bigger and wider spread than industrial action held so far.

Junior doctors in England are set to walk out for three days from Monday March 13.

Nearly 40,000 junior doctors voted to take industrial action in the British Medical Association (BMA) ballot.

Talks between the BMA and Health Secretary Steve Barclay failed to an reach agreement on Thursday, with the strikes now set to go ahead.

It is thought the BMA may not agree to exempt any areas of healthcare from the strikes (derogations), though staff can be recalled if there is an incident involving mass casualties.

Mr Hopson told health leaders: I do think its really important to recognise that, were the BMA strikes to go ahead, then they will be greater in scale than weve seen before.

All NHS organisations have junior doctors so it will be a bigger and a wider spread. The impact will be greater on the NHS  for example half of all GP practices actually have trainees.

It will last longer in terms of it will be for 72 hours. The BMA have said publicly that they think its unlikely that there will be national level derogations which, as you know, have been really important in terms of managing for example, the nursing strike.

And we know that there will be greater numbers of staff involved  it will be just under half of our medical workforce, so 61,000 junior doctors.

Were doing everything that we can. The bit that obviously were concerned about is not only the impact on urgent and emergency care, but also the impact in terms of the 78-week (18 month) elective target

He said the trajectory where we were before Christmas was that the NHS was on track to hit that particular target to reduce long waits by April.

The issue is that the scale of those kinds of upcoming strikes represent a major challenge to delivering the target, he said.

Mr Hopson also said the NHS was planning for the strikes but had already lost 111,000 rescheduled appointments due to industrial action.

Health bodies including NHS Providers and the NHS Confederation have urged the Government to hold talks to stop the strikes.

The Government has invited unions including the GMB, Unite and Unison to talks  something the unions have said they are considering.

Earlier this week, MPs said in a damning report the NHS will miss key targets for recovery of the health service, including treating people for cancer.

The cross-party Public Accounts Committee said the plan for tackling Covid backlogs, set out by NHS England and the Government last year, was already falling short and was based on over-optimistic assumptions about low levels of Covid and minimal pressure on the health service this winter.

There are currently around seven million people on the NHS waiting list compared to 4.6 million before the pandemic.

The MPs said: NHS Englands three-year recovery programme for elective and cancer care is very ambitious, relies on innovative but relatively untested approaches, and is already falling short of expectations in its first year.

It comes after ambulance chiefs have warned of a significant escalation in the strike action by unions next week across the country.

In a letter seen by the Health Service Journal (HSJ), the North West Ambulance Service said unions are becoming more stringent in their approach , with GMB and Unite not exempting category 2 calls from strike action.

Category 2 calls include conditions such as burns, heart attacks and strokes.
A pensioner who posted online about the assassination of Scottish First Minister Nicola Sturgeon and helped abduct a sheriff has been jailed for more than five years.

William Curtis, 70, was convicted last month of sending threatening messages to Ms Sturgeon and of sending or causing a threatening message to be sent to former MSP Stewart Stevenson in 2019 following a trial at the High Court in Glasgow.

He and Philip Mitchell, 60, were also found guilty of assaulting and abducting Sheriff Robert McDonald in a car park in Banff, Aberdeenshire, in June 2021, when Mitchell claimed he was performing a citizens arrest.

On Friday, Lord Weir said the pair were entirely unrepentant for their actions as he sentenced them, jailing Curtis for 18 months for sending threatening messages.

The trial and sentencing took place at the High Court in Glasgow (Jane Barlow/PA)

He also jailed Curtis for a further four years and two months for the incident involving the sheriff, with the term to begin once the 18-month sentence has ended.

During the trial, advocate depute Chris McKenna, prosecuting, read out a Facebook post from an account in the name of William Patrick Curtis that was flagged to Ms Sturgeons office manager John Skinner on March 6, 2019.

It said: We have reason to believe while it is my intention to citizens (sic) arrest her (Ms Sturgeon) to answer her treason, over the last three years, serious people who reel the abuse to the electorate by her criminal activities warrants assassination of her and sevreal (sic) of her ministers, on down to even civilians who work in all agenices (sic) who have repeatedly lied to the electorate and conspired with the First Minister.

Mr Skinner was asked in court what was made of the phrase warrant assassination of her, and he told the jury: To murder the First Minister.

Curtis was found guilty of behaving in a threatening or abusive manner which was likely to cause a reasonable person to suffer fear or alarm by sending an email and posting messages on social media in which he made threatening remarks towards Ms Sturgeon on various occasions between February 27 and March 6, 2019, as well as another charge of posting abusive material online about two other people in October 2020.

He was also found guilty of sending or causing a threatening message to be sent to Mr Stevenson on March 9, 2019.

It had a link to a video relating to the murder of West Yorkshire MP Jo Cox.

The court heard a direct message was sent on Facebook to Mr Stevenson from a person called Carole Curtis which read: Your turn is comming (sic) of that you can be sure.

On Friday, advocate Chris Miller, representing Curtis, told the sentencing hearing at the High Court in Glasgow that his client maintains his position that the messages to Ms Sturgeon and the others were not threatening and abusive to the extent a reasonable person would suffer alarm.

During the 11-minute hearing, Mr Miller also told the court his client maintains he did not send the message to Mr Stevenson.

Curtis listened silently as Lord Weir told him it appeared he had a personal vendetta against those in authority, and he showed complete disregard to the likely impact of the posts.

Paul Mullen, representing Mitchell, told the court his client was completely down a rabbit hole where he has simply not seen the wrongfulness of his actions and he still believes targeting the sheriff was legitimate.

Lord Weir told Mitchell it must have been a frightening and humiliating experience for the sheriff, and told the offender: What you did was not only an assault on Sheriff McDonald, it was an assault on the rule of law.

Curtis and Mitchell had their sentences backdated to the point they entered custody.

All of the offences occurred in Aberdeenshire.
Police have spoken to a pupil who sent death threats to an autistic boy after he caused minor damage to a copy of the Koran.

A Year 10 student brought the Islamic text to Kettlethorpe High School in Wakefield on February 23, reportedly as part of a dare, and its cover was slightly torn while smears of dirt were found on some pages.

The boys mother  who said he is 14 years old and has high functioning autism  revealed that he received death threats over the incident.

West Yorkshire Police said an officer has given words of advice to one student who sent malicious communications to the boy.

The force added they initially treated the damage done to the Koran as a hate incident, but officers are now satisfied that no criminal offences were committed in relation to the book.

Kettlethorpe High School said it suspended four students over the incident.

A spokesperson for West Yorkshire Police said: We are aware of local and national concerns following an incident at Kettlethorpe High School in Wakefield last week.

Police were made aware on the evening of Thursday, February 23, of an incident that had occurred at the school earlier that day.

Initial enquiries confirmed that minor damage was caused to a religious text.

We have recorded a hate incident, but from our enquiries are satisfied that no criminal offences were committed.

A report was also made of a malicious communications offence in relation to threats being made to a child in connection with this incident.

A suspect was identified, who was also a child, and they were given words of advice by an officer.

We are continuing to liaise with the school and our neighbourhood officers are conducting additional reassurance patrols in the area.

Headteacher Tudor Griffiths said the school understands there was no malicious intent by those involved, but added that the students had been suspended to ensure they understand why their actions were unacceptable.

Minister for Schools Nick Gibb condemned the death threats as totally unacceptable.

Mr Gibb added that the Department for Education (DfE) is supporting the school, but stressed that there is no blasphemy law in the UK and schools should be supporting British values including individual liberty.
A Scottish teaching union has voiced hope of a breakthrough in the ongoing pay dispute before the weekend.

Talks have been ongoing this week between the Educational Institute of Scotland (EIS), the Scottish Government and local authority body Cosla in a bid to reach a new offer.

EIS general secretary Andrea Bradley told BBC Radio Scotlands Good Morning Scotland programme on Friday morning that she is hopeful a new offer will be on the table by the afternoon.

The union launched its pay campaign, calling for a 10% increase, in May last year.

Last month, both the EIS and NASUWT unions rejected an offer that would see a 6% increase for all staff earning up to 80,000 backdated to April 2022, and a further 5.5% rise from this April.

The new offer is expected to be a 7% rise this financial year until April, then a 4.5% increase from April to December this year, and a further 2% increase from January to August next year, however this has not yet been formally tabled.

Ms Bradley said: We dont have an offer until the employer makes one, and as we understand it Cosla leaders this afternoon will be considering a proposal.

If there is agreement, we are very hopeful an offer will be with us this afternoon.

On whether strike action planned for next week would be postponed while a deal is discussed, she said: Not without an offer, we have to have an offer in order for that to be possible. Weve been very clear with the Scottish Government and Cosla about that.

EIS general secretary Andrea Bradley said she is hopeful of a new deal on Friday (Andrew Milligan/PA)

Our members have been committed to resolution and hopefully what comes across from employers (on Friday) afternoon lead our members to be in a position where they believe that is possible.

Following a meeting of Cosla leaders on Friday, the EIS salaries committee is then ready to meet, and a meeting of its executive is then planned an hour later.

We got to a place over the course of this weeks negotiations that got us into a better space than we had been prior to that, Ms Bradley added.

She said she is hopeful the offer is a strong enough improvement for EIS members to be consulted on it.

What weve been saying consistently in the negotiations is what we really need to see in order to bring a resolution to the dispute is an offer that is credible enough to put to our members, with the salaries committee recommending acceptance of that, she said.

Speaking on the same programme, Deputy First Minister John Swinney said he is very optimistic the pay dispute can be resolved on Friday, but he warned cuts will have to be made elsewhere to allow him to fund the new offer.

The Government has obviously got to find the money to support that, so Im having to take on, in the last few weeks of this financial year, additional financial pressures, he said.

Quite simply, there will be programmes and projects that will not be going ahead because Im having to take the money from those projects to put into the teachers pay deal.

Thats got to be done because I want to resolve the teachers pay deal, but thats not without its consequences for other areas of Government activity.

Mr Swinney said he would now look to see what could be cut to balance the Scottish Governments budget within the next month.

Following some useful informal discussions this week that took us within touching distance of a possible settlement, it is now for Scot Govt & COSLA to deliver a new pay offer to Scotland's teachers that can get an agreement over the line. #PayAttentionhttps://t.co/AFFCro48yc  EIS (@EISUnion) March 2, 2023

Speaking to the PA news agency on Friday, Scottish Labour leader Anas Sarwar said the dispute had gone on for far, far too long, adding: Thats not because of the unions, Im keen to stress.

Its because of intransigence from government, who are not serious about getting round the table and finding an answer to this dispute.

He went on to joke the strikes would have been resolved by now if Education Secretary Shirley-Anne Somerville was running to replace Nicola Sturgeon as SNP leader and first minister.

He added: This is a situation that is completely unacceptable, could have been avoided.

Im glad to hear there are meaningful talks around the table, I hope that does find a positive resolution  if it doesnt, thats on the Government, not the teachers.
An SNP MP has apologised after coming under fire for saying politicians who use too much make-up for television appearances tandoori themselves.

John Nicolson made the remark in a video recorded while he had his make-up done for a TV show.

He was condemned by Scottish Conservative MSP Pam Goshal for the offensive stereotype that Id hoped wed left behind in the 1970s.

Mr Nicolson, the MP for Ochil and South Perthshire, said on Twitter on Friday: A number of newspapers are running online pieces about a light hearted comment I made the other night before I went on to Debate Night.

A number of newspapers are running on line pieces about a light hearted comment I made the other night before I went on to Debate Night. Id really no intention of hurting anyones feelings. My apologies to those who felt hurt.  JOHN NICOLSON M.P. (@MrJohnNicolson) March 3, 2023

Id really no intention of hurting anyones feelings. My apologies to those who felt hurt.

In the video, which was later deleted, the MP said: If politicians put on make-up themselves, they tend to go, Im right in saying, they go a bit overly brown, they tandoori themselves. Thats why you need a professional make-up person.

After the 40-second clip was uploaded online, Ms Gosal wrote to Mr Nicholson to demand that he removed it and apologised.

Pam Gosal described the comment as grossly offensive (Jacob King/PA)

She said: I cant believe John Nicolson thought this ignorant racial slur was remotely appropriate.

To use the term tandoori in relation to brown skin colour is grossly offensive. The subtext is clear: brown people eat curry.

Its an offensive stereotype that Id hoped wed left behind in the 1970s, yet here we have a supposedly progressive politician using it in 2023.
Starmer refuses to say when Sue Gray first approached for Labour role

Sir Keir Starmer has dodged questions about when Labour first approached partygate investigator Sue Gray with the offer of a senior role.

It comes amid a furious reaction from Boris Johnson and his allies to the news that Ms Gray is planning to become the Labour leaders chief of staff, as he sought to use her move to discredit the Privileges Committee inquiry into whether he lied to the House of Commons over lockdown breaches.

The Labour leader, who visited Londonderry on Friday after Rishi Sunak secured his Windsor Framework deal earlier this week, batted away questions about when conversations first began with the high-profile Whitehall civil servant.

Sir Keir said it had been known for some time that he was hoping to appoint a chief of staff, but refused to get into specifics when pressed by broadcasters.

Sue Gray, who reported on Downing Street parties in Whitehall during the coronavirus lockdown (Aaron Chown/PA)

I think it has been known for some time that I have been looking for a chief of staff and I am very focused on what it is I need from a chief of staff, he said.

The Labour leader, whose party maintains a significant lead against Mr Sunaks Conservatives, linked her planned appointment to ongoing preparations for government after the next election.

He also robustly defended her reputation, stressing that he was delighted really strong professional, respected individuals want to join Labour.

Under the civil service code, officials of Ms Grays seniority must wait a minimum of three months before taking up outside employment.

The move will be scrutinised by Parliaments anti-corruption watchdog, the Advisory Committee on Business Appointments (Acoba), with Ms Gray expected to await the Acoba decision before starting the role.

Parliaments anti-corruption watchdog can advise waiting periods before civil servants take on other jobs and the Prime Minister ultimately makes the final decision.

But Downing Street made it clear that Mr Sunak cannot block her from taking a job.

I am delighted that respected, professional individuals want to be part of what we are doing in the Labour Party, Sir Keir said.

Sir Keir Starmer was visiting Northern Ireland (Brian Lawless/PA)

We are a changed Labour Party and I am very well aware that we have got to earn every vote going into the election, but we wont be forgiven if we are not prepared for government.

We are going to inherit a very badly damaged country, damaged economy, damaged public services and I want to ensure we are in a position to deliver for the whole of the United Kingdom and that is why I am so pleased that people of real quality, really respected want to join the team.

He also appeared to reject any suggestion the move threatened to undermine the Privileges Committee investigation.

I think Boris Johnson needs to confront the evidence that is there in front of him and everybody can see that evidence, he said.

Rishi Sunak needs to acknowledge that he actually sat on his hands through this process.
A strike by Welsh Ambulance Service staff has been called off, unions have announced.

The GMB and Unite unions said they had halted the industrial action, which was due to take place on Monday, after significant progress in talks.

A Unite spokesman said: Unite has suspended its strike action in Welsh Ambulance due to take place on March 6.

This follows significant progress in talks with Welsh Government. The pause in strike action will facilitate the continuation of these discussions.

Ambulance workers from the GMB union (Stefan Rousseau/PA)

The GMB said in a statement: After a positive and intensive set of negotiations, GMB alongside our sister union Unite have agreed to suspend strike action on March 6 so that further talks can take place with Welsh Ambulance and the Welsh Government.

This means that on Monday, members should return to work as normal. The talks are a positive step forward, but negotiations will continue Monday.

We did not take the decision to call off strike action lightly, and no suspension of future action has been agreed by us or Unite at this stage.

More than half of Wales ambulance workers went on strike in a continued dispute over pay and working conditions in February, with Unite and GMB members both walking out.

The Welsh Government said: We welcome the pausing of strike action by Unite and GMB while meaningful conversations with our trade union social partners continue.
A union has accused the Government of using unreliable figures to claim the latest round of teachers strikes in England had less impact than earlier industrial action.

Department for Education (DfE) figures suggest regional strikes by National Education Union (NEU) members between February 28 and March 2 led to fewer school closures than a nationwide walkout by the same union on February 1.

The DfE said more schools were open in each region than in the same region on the day of the nationwide walkout.

The union claims the figures are misleading because schools where just 0.1% of pupils attended can be classified as partially open.

At least 90% of pupils need to be in class for a school to be classified as fully open.

The NEU insisted pupil attendance rates should be included in the statistics but on Thursday the DfE refused to answer a freedom of information request asking for the figures by claiming they are confidential.

The union also said the figures are misleading because they give equal weight to schools of different sizes and that more recent pupil attendance figures show the February 1 strike was more effective than earlier data suggested.

An NEU spokesperson said: If the Government want to claim the NEU strikes are having a minimal and diminishing impact then they need to provide a full data release to back up that assertion.

Until they do, these reports should be taken with more than a pinch of salt.

Education Secretary Gillian Keegan said: We made a serious offer to the leaders of the National Education Union to pause the planned strikes so we can talk about pay, conditions and reforms.

Unfortunately, the NEU refused to call off strike action this week, once again causing disruption to families and thousands of children who missed out on their education.

The impacts of school closures were significantly less this time around, and I want to thank our brilliant head teachers and those teachers who chose not to go on strike as they have ensured more schools stayed open during strikes this week.

My invitation to have serious and intensive talks on all areas of this dispute still stands and I urge the NEU to take up the offer.

NEU members took industrial action in the North East, North West and Yorkshire on February 28, the Midlands and East Anglia on March 1 and London, the South East and the South West on March 2.

The union plans further walkouts on March 15 and 16 across England and Wales.
Nearly 75 million will be invested in schemes to protect the worlds oceans, the Government has said.

Environment Secretary Therese Coffey made the announcement at the Our Ocean conference in Panama on Thursday, where heads of state, civil society and the private sector discuss ways to protect the marine environment.

Ms Coffey said 45 million will go towards a new Blue Tech Superhighway project, which aims to build collaboration between communities in Africa and Asia who would develop and share technologies to help fisheries become more climate resilient and less damaging to the oceans.

The UK will also contribute 24 million to the Global Fund for Coral Reefs and said it has become the first donor to the Blue Carbon Action Partnership by offering 4 million.

Environment Secretary Therese Coffey (Jacob King/PA)

The partnership is a collection of intergovernmental organisations, state ministries, environmental groups and scientists seeking to build stronger blue carbon ecosystems and economies.

Blue carbon ecosystems are coastal environments with plants that remove carbon dioxide from the atmosphere  such as mangrove trees, salt marshes and seagrass  which together are present on every continent on Earth except Antarctica.

A further 1.5 million will go to the Asian Development Banks new Blue Pacific Finance Hub to support marine-based economies in the Pacific, the Government said.

Ocean conservation groups have welcomed the news, but said the UK must strengthen the protection of marine areas at home and improve its relationships with developing countries to ensure that international negotiations to safeguard the oceans are successful.

Were marking #WorldWildlifeDay and the 50th anniversary of CITES with three announcements from the #OurOceanConference. Our Blue Planet Fund will support sustainable fishing, blue carbon ecosystems and the protection and coral reefs. Read more: https://t.co/qhWGtTi2Hj  Defra UK (@DefraGovUK) March 3, 2023

Ms Coffey said: It is almost impossible to overstate the importance of stepping up our efforts to bolster the resilience of the marine environment and, in turn, the economies and communities that depend on it.

At the UN nature summit in Montreal, we made a commitment to manage our whole ocean sustainably and set a target to protect at least 30% of the worlds ocean by 2030.

The UK is leading, co-leading, and supporting global coalitions of ambition to drive forward this mission, and I urge countries to come together to deliver coordinated, impactful action on the ground.

She also urged more countries to work together to stop illegal, unreported and unregulated fishing, which she said undermines efforts to conserve fish stocks, damages marine ecosystems, impacts global food supply chains and threatens coastal communities.

Thursdays funding announcements will be drawn from the 154 million Climate and Ocean Adaptation and Sustainable Transition programme (Coast) launched by Lord Goldsmith at the UN Ocean Conference in 2022.

The Coast programme will run until 2030 and is itself part of the wider 500 million Blue Planet Fund, which the Government said is to support developing countries to protect the marine environment and reduce poverty.

Hugo Tagholm, executive director of Oceana UK, said: We welcome the UKs international work to tackle illegal fishing and also to fund some marine conservation initiatives globally, but this must be matched by action back home.

Oceana yesterday published our findings that industrial fishing is still pervasive in most UK offshore Marine Protected Areas (MPAs) with industrial fishing occurring for over 136,000 apparent fishing hours by UK and EU vessels in 2022.

We still need to ban industrial fishing in MPAs to show leadership on our commitment to protect 30% of the ocean. And more must be done to tackle overfishing as two-thirds of UK stocks are unsustainably fished.

Megan Randles, Greenpeace UK political campaigner, said: These funds are pitiful and from an existing pot.

Countries are in the final, critical, hours of talks at the UN to agree a Global Ocean Treaty  a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to protect the high seas  but after Coffeys announcement this morning, you could be forgiven for wondering if the minister is even aware those negotiations are taking place.

The UK still refers to itself as a world leader when it comes to ocean protection but, to prove that, it desperately needs to put money on the table to build trust with G77 countries in these final hours of negotiations to support the implementation of the treaty once established.

Agreeing a strong, Global Ocean Treaty is a crucial tool to achieve the globally agreed target to protect at least 30% of the worlds oceans by 2030. Its now or never.

Dr Peter Richardson, head of ocean recovery at the Marine Conservation Society, said: Our ocean is a crucial ally in the fight against climate change, and were pleased to see funding directed towards reducing ocean pollution, and protecting and restoring important carbon sequestration species and habitats, such as mangroves and seagrass.

But in addition to this, we need to see more investment in fully protecting our seas closer to home.
The Windsor Framework gives enough to end the Stormont stalemate, Sir Keir Starmer believes.

The Labour leader said he is glad the Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) is taking time to consider the new deal agreed by the UK and EU which was unveiled on Monday.

He backed the Prime Ministers decision not to rush the DUP, and described the deal as welcome, adding that there is now a window of opportunity.

I think the Prime Minister is right to give the DUP and others the space to study it, to come to a considered view, he told broadcasters in Londonderry on Friday.

Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer speaks to broadcasters during a visit to the Ulster University in Londonderry on Friday (Rebecca Black/PA)

I hope that will create the consensus that we need to move forward.

The Northern Ireland Assembly has been in flux for more than a year while the DUP refused to take part until the partys concerns around the Brexit protocol are addressed.

Earlier, Northern Ireland Secretary Chris Heaton-Harris said the Government will legislate to reassure unionists that their constitutional position in the United Kingdom is secure.

He said he hoped that with time and space the new UK-EU deal would pave the way for the return of the powersharing institutions.

Sir Keir spent the day in Derry, visiting St Columbs College, and later the Ulster University for the official opening of the Mo Mowlam Studio.

Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer poses for a picture with students during a visit to St Columbs College in Derry, Northern Ireland (Brian Lawless/PA)

On Friday morning he was questioned by school students at St Columbs College as part of an event organised by the John and Pat Hume Foundation.

When asked by a student if he believed the Windsor Framework was enough to end the stalemate at Stormont, Sir Keir said he did.

I do. Im always conscious that its very important for communities and political parties here to be comfortable with the progress that we make, and when I was here working 20 years or so ago, I was always reticent about being the person who came along to tell people in Northern Ireland what I thought they ought to think, he said.

But I do genuinely think that this is a real opportunity, I felt that before we even saw the text, over the last month/six weeks I could feel that the UK and EU were moving closer together.

This is a good thing, Im a great believer in bridge building and bringing people together.

I do think there is enough, it is a compromise, thats the nature of any agreement but if it gives us the space to move forward, which I think it will, if it leads to Stormont running again, I think thats really good and so I think this is a real opportunity.

He added: Im glad that the DUP is taking their time to look at it carefully, and we were very careful in saying we supported the protocol but it is important it has the greatest consensus possible.

Im really glad the DUP are taking time to carefully consider it. I do hope that allows them to get to a position where we move forward. I feel there is an opportunity there.

Later at the Ulster University camp in the city, Sir Keir attended the opening of a newly refurbished cinematic arts studio named after former Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, the late Mo Mowlam.

Former Northern Ireland secretary the late Mo Mowlam in 1999 (PA)

The studio and a new mural were unveiled in memory of Ms Mowlams impact as the first in a programme of events the university is organising for 25th anniversary of the Belfast/Good Friday Agreement.

Ulster University Provost Professor Cathy Gormley-Heenan said they were paying homage to the legacy of an inspirational leader who played an instrumental role in the signing of the Good Friday Agreement.

Sir Keir described Ms Mowlam as a true political force with an unwavering dedication to peace who helped pave the way for the Good Friday Agreement.

Mo loved the people of Northern Ireland, and was passionate about securing better opportunities for the next generation. Im honoured to see her legacy celebrated with the opening of the Mo Mowlam Studio at Ulster Universitys campus in Derry today, he said.

Ms Mowlams stepchildren Freddie and Henrietta Norton also attended.

They spoke of their pride to see her life and legacy celebrated, and said for someone passionate about the power of education, there could not be a more fitting tribute.
Green development emphasized at local "two sessions"

09:43, March 03, 2023 By Liu Fawei ( People's Daily

Photo taken on Jan. 13, 2023 shows an ecological and cultural park in Jizhou district, Ji'an, east China's Jiangxi province. (People's Daily Online/Li Jun)

Green has become a defining feature of China in the new era.

Green development and low-carbon transition remained focuses in the government work reports recently delivered by Chinese provinces during the local "two sessions," the annual meetings of provincial-level lawmakers and political advisors.

"Green development," "carbon reduction," and "pollution reduction" were buzzwords during the meetings.

According to statistics from China's Ministry of Ecology and Environment, in 2022, the emissions of major pollutants in China kept a continuous decline, and the country has hit the targets in improving ecological and environmental quality. This marked hard-won achievements in the country's ecological and environmental protection.

Beijing, recording a higher number of days with a blue sky, has delivered satisfying performance in green development.

Over the past five years, the capital of China has made earnest efforts to make its sky bluer. The average annual concentration of fine particles in the air dropped to 30 micrograms per cubic meter, a 48.3 percent decline from 2017, which is hailed as "Beijing miracle" by the United Nations Environment Programme.

Hebei, a neighboring province of Beijing, is seeing a future full of vitality thanks to its afforestation efforts. So far, the province's forest coverage has been raised to 35.6 percent, and the Saihanba mechanized forest farm situated in the northernmost part of the province has won the Land for Life Award of the United Nations.

New energy mini vans are assembled in a workshop of a plant owned by Chinese carmaker Geely in Nanchong, southwest China's Sichuan province, Feb. 9, 2023. (People's Daily Online/Li Xiangyu)

In central China's Hubei province, chemical engineering clusters along the Yangtze River are no longer a headache today. The province has shut down, overhauled, relocated, and transformed 452 chemical enterprises along the river and inspected 12,480 sewage draining outlets into the river, 9,067 of which have been renovated.

In east China's Anhui province, the proportion of surface water sections with good water quality under national assessment has improved from 71.7 percent to 86.1 percent. Phased results have been achieved thanks to a 10-year fishing ban on the Yangtze River. Today, the ecological environment on the river is getting better and better.

In recent years, China has firmly upheld the belief that lucid waters and lush mountains are invaluable assets. It has prioritized eco-environmental conservation and green development, promoted the comprehensive green transformation of economic and social development, and achieved modernization based on harmony between humanity and nature. Wonders have been accomplished in eco-environmental protection and green development.

At present, the entire country is passionate about advancing the green transition. Many provinces have vowed, in government work reports, to promote green and low-carbon development, strive for the green transition of traditional industries and focus on green sectors.

Beijing plans to promote green and low-carbon development of industrial parks, strengthen low-carbon pilot programs, and accelerate the application of advanced low-carbon technologies such as renewable energy and integrated buildings.

Southwest China's Yunnan province said it would vigorously promote the circular economy in the next five years, build centers for the comprehensive use of massive solid waste and industrial resources and set up a batch of low-carbon and zero-carbon demonstration parks.

Inner Mongolia autonomous region in north China encouraged industrial enterprises to use green electricity, techniques and materials, and to build more low-carbon and zero-carbon plants.

The country's vigorous efforts to develop green industries are generating new opportunities for the ecological and environmental protection industries. According to the estimation by China Association of Environmental Protection Industry (CAEPI), the Chinese environmental protection industry reported revenue of around 2.2 trillion yuan ($317.5 billion) last year, up 1.9 percent from 2021.

Photovoltaic panels are installed in a fish farm in Rudong county, Nantong, east China's Jiangsu province, Feb. 20, 2023. (People's Daily Online/Xu Congjun)

CAEPI president Guo Chengzhan told People's Daily that thanks to the implementation of the fiscal, financial, and investment policies as well as other measures to stabilize growth and promote development deployed by the Central Economic Work Conference, the investment in the environmental protection industry will experience obvious growth this year from 2022.

Realizing the "dual carbon" goals, or peaking carbon dioxide emissions before 2030 and achieving carbon neutrality before 2060, is a complicated and systematic mission. To achieve these goals, many provincial-level regions in China are focusing on the green and low-carbon transition of the energy structure.

On the one hand, many provinces said they would work to improve the utilization of coal and other traditional energies. Hebei province vowed to accelerate energy restructuring, promote clean and efficient utilization of coal, and expand installed capacity of renewable energy by 10 million kW. Shanxi province also stressed improving the clean and efficient utilization of coal and finding a better balance between the use of coal and new energy.

On the other hand, provinces are also planning to promote the development of new energy power generation and other relevant industries.

South China's Guangdong province proposed to accelerate the building of a new type of energy system, develop offshore power, pumped-storage hydroelectricity, and other new and clean energy, advance the progress of storage battery projects and vigorously develop new energy storage industries.

East China's Zhejiang province vowed to be a pioneer in building a new type of energy system and construct coastal nuclear power, pumped-storage hydroelectricity, offshore wind power, and oil and gas storage bases.

Anhui province said it will launch a program that aims to double its installed capacity of wind power, promote the development of the whole industrial chain of the hydrogen energy sector, and improve the installed capacity of renewable energy by at least 4 million kW.

(Web editor: Chang Sha, Du Mingming)
The Quincy Police Department was called to a home in residence in the 2500 block of Kentucky Road and found Rebecca Bliefnick, 41, dead with multiple gunshot wounds, and her husband as the main suspect in the violent crime. She was discovered lifeless after she failed to pick up her three boys from school that day.

Estranged Husband Detained

Police in Quincy, Illinois, says that on February 23, they found the victim at home gunned down several times. Allegedly the crime was discovered by a family member who went to the residence at the 2500 block of Kentucky Road since the kids weren't picked up by her, which prompted the authorities, as reported by Meaww.

Details mention that she was separated from her spouse, which led the police to consider their possible suspect who killed the mom of three. Authorities have not made any official arrest for the crime, so they took the man in for questioning, noted Yahoo.

One remark by the police is that murder of the mom of three is horrific and shocked the 40,000 people living in Quincy. They asked the public to keep themselves in check as they searched for a possible suspect. Rebecca used to be married to Tim Bliefnick,39, with three sons, but they were living separately from each other by the time the victim died.

Rebecca Bliefnick Death Timeline

Reports disclosed what happened on February 23 when the victim was killed. Officers would get to the crime scene at 3:32 pm when the murder was reported and have been working the site from day one. Police Chief Adam Yates added that evidence Is gathered from the crime scene and said their town is quiet though shaken.

Read Also: North Carolina Police Officer Found Dead Alongside His Wife in Suspected Murder-Suicide Case

Local authorities have assigned about eight investigators to probe Bliefnick's case to resolve it. Her death has pushed her loved one to make flyers with her picture and 'Justice for Becky' with the number of the police department on it.

One statement from Police Chief Adam Yates recounts the local community in Quincy does not have such crimes since 2019. He called the death of the mom of three sad, with a divorce proceeding and a possibly embittered husband as a motive.

On March 1 when cops, in their newest update, brought in a development concerning the murder case. A person on the 2000 block of Hampshire was in custody but released a bit later. Tim lives at the address while the couple is processing their divorce.

This recent murder has made people wonder why Bliefnick got shot. He reiterated that such crimes be solved and given justice to victims. Locals want to have a feeling they are safe at all times as well.

Yates added their community had not been a hotbed of violence with murders that occurs frequently. News of the recent murder tends to disturb the peace, which cannot return unless the case is solved. He pledged to find the murderer to ease his mind and work hard to achieve that possible conclusion.

Rebecca Bliefnick, a mom of three boys, was shot dead at home, but authorities see no solid motive other than an estranged husband, Tim.

Related Article: Bodybuilder Kills Ex-Wife, Gets Death Penalty Pushed by Florida

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An exciting new chapter! Demi Moore is ready to welcome her first grandchild as her daughter Rumer Willis prepares to give birth.

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She cant wait to be a grandma and is helping Rumer get ready in all kinds of ways  figuring out the nursery, brainstorming baby names, buying her what to expect type books, recommending vitamins and of course sharing her own experiences of a smooth pregnancy, a source exclusively reveals of the Indecent Proposal actress, 60, in the new issue of Us Weekly.

Moore shares the House Bunny actress, 34, as well as daughters Scout, 31, and Tallulah, 29, with ex-husband Bruce Willis. Rumer announced her pregnancy via Instagram in December 2022, sharing a snap of boyfriend Derek Richard Thomas kissing her baby bump. Her mom shared the stills on her own page, writing, Entering my hot kooky unhinged grandma era



.

The good news came after the family revealed the 67-year-old Die Hard stars aphasia diagnosis earlier that year.

Image Press Agency/NurPhoto/Shutterstock

To Bruces amazing supporters, as a family we wanted to share that our beloved Bruce has been experiencing some health issues and has recently been diagnosed with aphasia, which is impacting his cognitive abilities, Rumer shared via an Instagram statement in March 2022, signed by her, Moore, Bruces wife, Emma Heming, and the actors five daughters, including Mabel, 10, and Evelyn, 8, whom he shares with Heming, 44.

Moore, for her part, shared an update about the Sixth Sense stars health in February.

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Since we announced Bruces diagnosis of aphasia in spring 2022, Bruces condition has progressed and we now have a more specific diagnosis: frontotemporal dementia (known as FTD), the G.I. Jane actress wrote in a statement via the Association for Frontotemporal Degeneration (AFTD). Unfortunately, challenges with communication are just one symptom of the disease Bruce faces. While this is painful, it is a relief to finally have a clear diagnosis.

The New Mexico native  who was married to Willis from 1987 to 2000  added that there are currently no treatments for Bruces condition.

In addition to standing by her exs side and helping Rumer get ready for motherhood, Moore is experiencing a renaissance in her own life.

Demis a different person since that memoir came out; it was the equivalent of lifting a huge weight off her shoulders, the source told Us of the General Hospital alums 2019 tell-all, Inside Out. For years she craved the closure that came through sharing her private journey and not holding back on certain incidents and events that have shaped or defined her life.

Read article

In the book, Moore opened up about her substance abuse struggles, surviving sexual assault and her famous exes, including Ashton Kutcher.

There was two different people we opened our relationship to, and they didnt have bad intentions.  They were good people, but it was still a mistake, the Few Good Men actress wrote, claiming that Kutcher, 45, suggested they have threesomes during their marriage.

Moore  who was married to the That 70s Show alum from 2005 to 2013  also alleged that Kutcher was unfaithful to her.

The Just Married actor, for his part  who has never confirmed or denied the allegations in the memoir  said that he was fking pissed about the book release during a January interview with Esquire.

Sign up for Us Weekly's free, daily newsletter and never miss breaking news or exclusive stories about your favorite celebrities, TV shows and more!

For more on Moore, watch the video above and pick up the latest issue of Us Weekly, on newsstands now.
For more than 35 years, she lay buried in a grave marked "Unidentified Female."

And for more than 40 years, her alleged killer roamed free, an unidentified suspect in a brutal beating and strangling at a South Lake Tahoe campground.

Now they both have names: The victim, Patricia Carnahan, and the accused killer, Harold Carpenter.

Carpenter's arrest Wednesday by the El Dorado County district attorney in the 1979 killing was the product of investigative genetic genealogy, with law enforcement in Washington state matching his DNA from a rape kit in a separate crime he allegedly committed to the DNA recovered from Carnahan's murder scene.

"DNA and genetic genealogy is a big deal," said Vern Pierson, the district attorney.

Carpenter, 63, had been accused in 1994 of raping a woman in Washington. Though charges were never filed, police took DNA from Carpenter  but it was never tested.

"He was not charged in that. So his DNA sat in a warehouse almost 30 years," Pierson said.

Without the connection of the two cases, prosecutors in California were left trying to match DNA taken from the unidentified woman's body and crime scene to family tree databases such as 23andMe. They got close to solving the case in 2020, interviewing Carpenter's uncle, whose DNA closely matched the DNA found at the crime scene, but the case remained cold and no arrests were made, according to Pierson.

This year, the sexual assault kit from the 1994 case was tested as part of the Washington state attorney generals offices Sexual Assault Kit Initiative, which began in 2017 when the state received a $3-million federal grant to try to eliminate its sexual assault kit backlog.

Though prosecutors in California have not charged Carpenter with sexually assaulting Carnahan, they said that a sexual assault kit was taken, which provided them with the suspect's DNA.

The DNA from the Washington case was uploaded into CODIS  the FBI's nationwide Combined DNA Index System  where it was linked to the Carnahan case.

Cases like this illustrate the need to test every sexual assault kit and get their DNA profiles loaded into the federal database, Washington Atty. Gen. Bob Ferguson said in a statement. Every untested kit could be a potential break in a cold case."

Carpenter's arrest brought a measure of relief for Carnahan's daughter, who knew her mother had been missing for years but only discovered she was murdered in 2015.

Carnahan's identity was uncovered after the El Dorado County district attorney's cold case unit published photographs of Carnahan's jewelry in a Jewish newspaper, after realizing she was wearing a religious pendant when they exhumed her body in 2015.

Carnahan's daughter caught wind of the article, recognized the jewelry and reached out to authorities. Genetic testing revealed that the long-unidentified murder victim was her mother.

Carpenter was arrested in Spokane, Wash., where he lived, and is being held at Spokane County Jail, where he awaits extradition to California.

This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.
Donald Trump Jr. onstage at the Conservative Political Action Conference in National Harbor, Md., on Friday. (Kent Nishimura / Los Angeles Times)

When she walked onto the stage at the Conservative Political Action Conference, the room erupted in raucous applause.

It was Marjorie Taylor Greene, the congresswoman from Georgia known for her steadfast loyalty to former President Trump. For the next 10 minutes, she railed against Democratic lawmakers and transgender rights, warning that the left is coming for our children.

Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) is greeted by attendees at the Conservative Political Action Conference. (Kent Nishimura / Los Angeles Times)

Greenes warnings were echoed by other speakers, including the former presidents oldest son, Donald Trump Jr.

The focus on trans issues at the annual conference was an effort to rally conservatives around common interests. But in the run-up to the 2024 presidential election, the Republican Party is facing deep divisions. Uncertainty surrounding the outcome of the nominating process could imperil the partys chances of taking back the White House.

If Trump wins the nomination, will Republicans and conservative independents fall in line? If he loses, will he run as a third-party candidate and take his base with him?

In the immediate aftermath of the Jan. 6, 2021, insurrection, some within the GOP initially turned away from Trump. Two years later, its clear that Trump still has an iron grip on much of the party. But the former president still struggles to win over independent voters.

That dynamic has put the partys leadership in a bind. Many believe they cant win without Trump. But with him, the general election could prove an uphill battle.

Men carry American flags in a hall at the Conservative Political Action Conference. (Kent Nishimura / Los Angeles Times)

Trump has already announced his third bid for the White House. So far, only two other candidates have formally challenged Trump for the Republican nomination: former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley and biotech entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy.

Other potential candidates, including former Vice President Mike Pence and Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, have yet to announce bids.

Republican National Committee Chairwoman Ronna McDaniel has sought to exhibit party unity to voters by requiring primary candidates to back the partys nominee no matter the outcome. You want to make sure you have people on the debate stage who are running for president, McDaniel said Sunday on CNN. We dont want people who are running for book deals, or media contracts, or Cabinet positions.

In a Wednesday radio interview, Haley, who served as Trumps U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, said she would commit to the pledge.

Any of our people will be better than [President] Biden every day of the week, Haley said. We need to remember what the overall good is. The overall good is to make sure we dont have a Democrat in power.

On Wednesday, Pence declined to say he would back a Trump nomination. Trump last month in a radio interview declined to promise to back the GOP nominee.

Representatives for Trump and Ramaswamy did not respond to a request for comment.

Experts say the purpose of the pledge is two-pronged. The first is to encourage anti-Trump candidates to back the former president during the general election should he win the nomination in order to present a united front. The second purpose is to encourage Trump not to cast doubt on the partys process if he loses.

Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) signs autographs at CPAC. (Kent Nishimura / Los Angeles Times)

If Trump loses, declares the primary process corrupt and refuses to concede, he could kneecap his party. There is a real concern that Trump might hurt a nominee if he loses by not endorsing and telling his voters to stay home, Republican strategist Alex Conant said. American presidential elections are so close that even if a small fraction of Trumps base stays home, Biden will win reelection.

He added: Its a real concern that a lot of Republicans have that Trump might not ever endorse someone who beats him in a primary simply because being a gracious loser is not something we normally associate with him.

If Trump wins the nomination, anti-Trump politicians such as former Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan and ex-Wyoming Rep. Liz Cheney, who may run for the White House, might refuse to back him, again signaling a lack of unity in the party.

It would be antithetical for them to back Trump, said Robert Stutzman, a Sacramento-based GOP strategist.

This moral stance would likely capture media attention, but it is unlikely to have a major impact on the election itself.

Recent national polling indicates that Trump is still a likely front-runner  even against DeSantis, considered the biggest threat to him winning the nomination. A February poll from Emerson College shows that Trump captures 55% of the vote in the 2024 primary. DeSantis is second with 25% and Pence third with just 8%.

Though polling indicates Trump is likely to emerge out of the primary, his race to the White House may still be uphill.

Donald Trump Jr. and Kimberly Guilfoyle hold hands onstage at the Conservative Political Action Conference. (Kent Nishimura / Los Angeles Times)

Trump cannot grow the base, Stutzman said. He is unlikely to be able to build a broad coalition.

Sarah Longwell, a Republican strategist and head of the anti-Trump Republican Accountability Project, said that with Trump in the picture, the RNC can never be in charge of the GOP.

This attempt to force cohesion with a wing of the party that would not honor the peaceful transfer of power is an inherent conflict, she said.

I wish them all the luck in the world, but trying to return us to a place where everyone will abide like they are on the same page is just a fantasy.

There is no way around Trump; you have to go through him, she said. Theres no pledge the RNC can make that will make change that dynamic.

She added: This is the price the RNC has to pay for becoming a wholly owned subsidiary of Donald Trump.

This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.
Matthew Kacsmaryk at a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing in 2017; boxes of mifepristone. (Photo illistration: Yahoo News; photos: U.S. Senate via YouTube, Robyn Beck/AFP via Getty Images)

In an unprecedented ruling, a conservative federal judge in Texas on Friday further restricted abortion access nationwide by suspending the Food and Drug Administrations approval of mifepristone, a widely used abortion drug that was approved over two decades ago.

The judge has decided to suspend the ruling for seven days, giving the Justice Department time to appeal the decision, which leaves the drug available on the market for the time being.

Judge Matthew Kacsmaryk, who was appointed by former President Donald Trump, ruled in favor of the plaintiffs Alliance Defending Freedom, a faith-based organization that has long sought to have abortion outlawed nationwide on the grounds it is harmful.

Pushing back on arguments that it was improper to allow a challenge to a medication that was approved decades ago by the FDA, Kacsmaryk wrote in the 67-page brief that the FDA stonewalled judicial review, claiming that the agency had ignored petitions from anti-abortion groups to revisit the approval of the abortion drug.

Mifepristone, in combination with a second abortion drug, misoprostol, has become the most common form of abortion in the U.S. It is also used in the treatment of miscarriages.

The delayed ruling could create a significant barrier for women who are seeking to terminate their pregnancies or manage miscarriages without a surgical procedure, even in states where abortion rights are protected.

Alliance Defending Freedom said in a tweet, This is a significant victory for the doctors and medical associations we represent and more importantly, the health and safety of women and girls.

Late on Friday, the Biden administration filed its notice of appeal to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit, which is considered one of the most conservative in the country.

Vice President Kamala Harris spoke to reporters at an airfield in Nashville, Tenn., on Friday about the judges decision, saying, It is contrary to what makes for good public health policy to allow courts and politicians to tell the FDA what it should do.

Immediately after Kacsmaryks ruling, U.S. District Judge Thomas Owen Rice, an Obama appointee in Washington state, countered the ruling in a separate lawsuit by ordering that the FDA keep the medication abortion pill on the market in 17 states and Washington, D.C., where Democrats sued to keep the pill.

The competing decisions mark some of the most significant abortion-related rulings, adding another layer of complexity to U.S. abortion laws, which vary by state after last years Supreme Court decision overturning Roe v. Wade. Before Kacsmaryk arrived on the federal bench, he had sharply criticized abortion.

Who is Judge Matthew Kacsmaryk?

Hes a federal judge for the Amarillo division of the United States District Court for the Northern District of Texas. Hes also the only judge in that federal district, guaranteeing that he will be the one who presides over cases that are filed there.

Trump nominated Kacsmaryk to the District Court in 2017. During his Senate confirmation hearings, Kacsmaryk asserted that he would be fair, separating his religious beliefs from his rulings.

As a judge, Im no longer in the advocate role, Kacsmaryk said at the time. Im in the role of reading and applying with all good faith whatever Supreme Court and Fifth Circuit precedent is binding.

He was confirmed in June 2019 by a Republican majority Senate by a vote of 52-46. Centrist Sen. Susan Collins of Maine was the only Republican who voted against Kacsmaryks appointment, citing his alarming bias against LGBTQ Americans and disregard for Supreme Court precedents.

Collins was referring to two articles he published in 2015 attacking same-sex marriage and abortion rights.

What have been some of Kacsmaryk's more recent rulings?

In November, Kacsmaryk rejected the Biden administrations efforts to extend health care discrimination protections to LGBTQ people. His ruling found that a 2020 U.S. Supreme Court decision that bans workplace discrimination doesnt apply to health care.

In December, Kacsmaryk sided with a Christian father who didnt want his daughter to have access to birth control without his permission. The judge ruled that Title X, a federal program that provides low-cost or free and confidential contraception access, violated the constitutional right of parents to direct the upbringing of their children.

What was his upbringing?

Kacsmaryk, 45, was born in Gainesville, Fla., according to the Federal Judicial Center.

He grew up in the suburbs of Fort Worth, Texas, where religion played a key role in his family of born-again Christians. The family regularly attended West Freeway Church of Christ and were taught at an early age that abortion was wrong, his sister Jennifer Griffith told the Washington Post.

Griffith recalled that their mother was a microbiologist who began to question some of what she was taught after joining the church. She started working with anti-abortion crisis pregnancy centers.

According to the newspaper, Kacsmaryks anti-abortion beliefs were ingrained when he was a 22-year-old law student and one of his sisters, 17, became pregnant and chose adoption over abortion. Later on in life, he joined the organization that cared for his sister, Christian Homes and Family Services, and in 2016, became a trustee, according to public records.

How did Kacsmaryk's legal career get started?

Kacsmaryk attended Abilene Christian University, where he led the College Republicans student group. In a letter to the editor in his freshman year, he advocated for the rights of an unborn child, as reported by the Post. In the letter, he wrote, The Democratic Partys ability to condone the federally sanctioned eradication of innocent human life is indicative of the moral ambivalence undergirding this party.

Kacsmaryk received his law degree from the University of Texas School of Law in 2003, and he started his legal career at Baker Botts LLP. He went on to become an assistant U.S. attorney in the Northern District of Texas.

In 2014, he joined First Liberty Institute, a conservative legal group focused on defending the rights of religious people. He represented the defendants in a high-profile case involving two Oregon bakers who refused to make a cake for a lesbian wedding.
Activist Erin Brockovich poses at her home In Agoura Hills, Calif., on March 16, 2021. (Valerie Macon/AFP via Getty Images)

Ohio law enforcement issued a report late last month warning that events planned in East Palestine by the environmental activist Erin Brockovich could prompt a terrorist threat from violent extremists, according to an intelligence bulletin obtained by Yahoo News.

Dated Feb. 24 and distributed to law enforcement agencies by the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), the Ohio Statewide Terrorism Analysis & Crime Center Terrorism Analysis Unit Situational Awareness [STACC TAU] report obtained by Yahoo News "assesses that special interest extremist groups will continue to call for changes in governmental policy, which may lead to protests in/around East Palestine and/or at the Statehouse in Columbus.

The report then singles out the reaction by Brockovich, a whistleblower who helped build a successful lawsuit against the California utility company Pacific Gas and Electric in a case involving contaminated groundwater, to the Feb. 3 train derailment and release of toxic chemicals in East Palestine.

On 24 February, environmental activist Erin BrockovichUSPER [United States person] is scheduled to be in East Palestine to explain residents legal rights. Brokovich has urged the community to use common sense and ask questions. Brockovich is also placing blame solely on Norfolk Southern.The STACC TAU assess this event could potentially increase tensions within the community.

The report assesses the risk posed by Brockovich and other activist groups that have planned events in East Palestine in the wake of the Norfolk Southern train derailment and the controlled burn of vinyl chloride, a carcinogenic ingredient used in the production of plastic products after the derailment.

According to the FBI, special interest terrorism differs from traditional right-wing and left-wing terrorism in that extremist special interest groups seek to resolve specific issues, rather than effect widespread political change, the report states. Such extremists conduct acts of politically motivated violence to force segments of society, including the general public, to change attitudes about issues considered important to the extremists cause.

Drone footage shows the freight train derailment in East Palestine, Ohio, on Feb. 6. (NTSB Gov/Handout via Reuters)

Brockovich, who was played by the actress Julia Roberts in the 2000 film named after her, was in East Palestine on Thursday afternoon to host an event. She did not immediately respond to Yahoo News request for comment.

This situational awareness report is highly problematic, said former FBI agent Mike German, who worked on a recent Brennan Center report about issues with DHS fusion centers.

Obviously, there is no reason to have included Erin Brockovich's name or a description of her advocacy in a law enforcement intelligence report, much less a situational awareness report by a state fusion center's terrorism analysis unit, German told Yahoo News. Almost all of the activity described in this report is rightly protected by the First Amendment and poses no threat of harm, and therefore should be of no interest to terrorism intelligence units.

Contacted by Yahoo News, the Ohio Department of Public Safety denied that it had issued a report identifying Brockovich as a possible terrorist threat.

Erin Brokovich is listed as an environmental activist and the brief mention of her falls under the heading of various individuals or groups have responded to the train derailment, the Ohio Department of Public Safetys Jay Carey told Yahoo News in an email. The fact that she is an environmental activist that has responded to the train derailment is factual and has been well documented by media accounts. Any inference otherwise is incorrect.

DHS posted the report on its intelligence sharing platform on Feb. 28, making it available to its more than 150,000 local, state and federal police and other partners nationwide.

Fusion Centers are state and locally owned and operated centers that actively share, analyze, and operationalize threat-related information between federal, state, local, tribal, territorial, and private sector partners, a DHS spokesperson said in an emailed statement to Yahoo News. DHS supports Fusion Centers through the presence of DHS personnel and information sharing technology, but DHS does not run or operate Fusion Centers.

The report also referred to the environmental group Earthjustice, which, it stated called on Governor DeWineUSPER to declare a state of emergency," pointing to the "contaminated waterways" and subsequent deaths of thousands of fish.

Environmental activist Erin Brockovich, right front, speaks to concerned residents as the host of a town hall meeting at East Palestine High School on Thursday. (Michael Swensen/Getty Images)

Earthjustice works with communities across the country to protect peoples health, Debbie Chizewer, managing attorney for Earthjustices Midwest Regional office, told Yahoo News.

In East Palestine, Earthjustice is supporting partners that have been exposed to toxic chemicals as they call for much needed resources, monitoring, cleanup of the contamination, as well as protections to prevent disasters like the explosion of a chemical-carrying cargo train in the future.

The report obtained by Yahoo News stated that East Palestine police and fire department officials reported having received threats but had determined they were not credible. It was not clear, however, why they were mentioned in the report.

This report should not have described any noncriminal activity, particularly after it stated that the terrorism analysis unit is unaware of any credible direct threats regarding the East Palestine train derailment, German said. This flawed reporting only clogs our national intelligence networks with inappropriate materials that undermine effective counterterrorism and law enforcement analysis, by overwhelming intelligence analysts with unhelpful misinformation that dulls the response to genuine threat warnings.

Former DHS Acting Undersecretary John Cohen agreed that the inclusion of Brockovichs name was, as he put it, a bit problematic, and said that law enforcement needed to be more careful in describing what is and is not considered a threat.

When reporting on online or other activity that may be protected speech, authorities need to be very clear how that speech relates to threat-related activities or other public safety issues, Cohen told Yahoo News. Its fine to catalog what different people are saying, but from a law enforcement perspective, they need to be clear where there is a nexus with the need for an operational response.
A congressional watchdog says Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez might have violated House rules when she received gifts associated with her attendance at a prestigious fashion event in 2021.

The Office of Congressional Ethics recommended the House ethics committee continue investigating an allegation against the New York Democrat because there is substantial reason to believe that she accepted impermissible gifts associated with the Met Gala, according to a release Thursday from the agency.

In 2021, Ocasio-Cortez attended one of the fashion world's biggest nights at New York City's Metropolitan Museum of Art wearing a Brother Vellies white dress with "Tax the Rich" written in large red letters on the backside.

They cost millions and last years: The U.S. now has 3 of them.

DOJ to appeals court: Donald Trump can be sued over role in Jan. 6 Capitol riot

Ocasio-Cortez was provided with the dress, a handbag, shoes and jewelry for the event, according to a report from the Office of Congressional Ethics. She also received hair, makeup and transportation services as well as the use of a hotel room for the event.

The review said Ocasio-Cortez paid for the items, including the rental value of the dress, only after the watchdog office started its review. Investigators said that if the office hadnt opened the inquiry, it appears that Rep. Ocasio-Cortez may not have paid for several thousands of dollars worth of goods and services provided to her.

Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., with designer Aurora James, attends the 2021 Met Gala in September 2021 in New York City.

Ocasio-Cortez told investigators she was not privy to the details about the payments, relying instead on a campaign staffer to handle the matter. She also told the office there was a ball that was dropped," calling the situation deeply regrettable.

The congresswomans office said in a statement Thursday that none of the findings rise to the level of an ethics violation because she has always "understood that she had to pay for these expenses from her own personal funds."

The issue has been that those costs have yet to be reimbursed, delays Ocasio-Cortez finds "unacceptable," the statement said. "And she has taken several steps to ensure nothing of this nature will happen again."

AOC's 'tax the rich' dress: Who qualifies as wealthy? And how much are they getting taxed?

Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez has told ethics office investigators there was a ball that was dropped" on her handling of items and services provided to her for her high-profile appearance at the Met Gala in New York in 2021.

Ocasio-Cortez made headlines at the star-studded fundraiser that year with the Brother Vellies dress. The ethics office's report noted that she did not pay any rental fee for the dress, and it added that Brother Vellies, designer Aurora James and Janna Pea of the public relations firm BerlinRosen declined to provide requested information to investigators and therefore did not cooperate with the review. The report recommended that the House Committee on Ethics subpoena them.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Met Gala dress: AOC might have violated House rules, watchdog says
BALTIMORE  Three years ago, the leader of the Congressional Progressive Caucus, Rep. Pramila Jayapal, threw her support behind liberal icon Bernie Sanders for president while questioning Joe Bidens progressive credentials.

This week, at the House Democrats annual retreat, Jayapal stood before a bank of TV cameras and declared Biden the most progressive president that weve had in a long time.

I would like to see him announce sooner, Jayapal, of Washington, later said of his 2024 re-election bid.

The president has said he intends to run for a second term but has not officially announced his candidacy. An official announcement is anticipated this spring.

Bidens approval ratings are still stuck in the low 40s, voters rate his handling of the economy even lower and there are nagging concerns about his age. Hes already the oldest president in history, and if he runs for and wins re-election, Biden would be 86 at the end of his second term.

But at a three-day gathering of House Democrats at Baltimores Inner Harbor this week, Democrats from every corner of the party  progressives and moderates alike, leadership and rank-and-file members  said they were sticking with Joe in 2024.

Biden will kill both of them, progressive Rep. Jamaal Bowman of New York said of former President Donald Trump and Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis in a viral exchange with Rep. Byron Donalds, R-Fla., on the steps of the Capitol this week. Biden passed three bipartisan pieces of legislation after an insurrection during a global pandemic, opened back up the schools  killin the game!

Bowman, a member of the Squad of progressive lawmakers of color, repeated that same sentiment to colleagues and reporters later in the week in Baltimore.

Its not just progressive members in safer blue districts who are fired up about Bidens re-election. Some vulnerable Democrats, like Rep. Lauren Underwood of Illinois, said they have no qualms about running with Biden in 2024 despite his standing with voters. In last year's midterm election, Democrats braced for an anti-Biden red wave that they thought would sweep through the House; instead, it was a GOP ripple and 35 of the Democratic Party's most targeted members, including Underwood, beat back GOP challenges and returned to Congress.

Democrats are united. Lets just start there. Were united, Underwood told reporters this week. We are so proud of the progress that the Biden-Harris administration has made, and I certainly am very pleased to have the opportunity to be on a ballot with President Biden in 2024. Unequivocally. Full stop.

A warm reception

At-risk Democrats like Underwood are feeling better about Biden after the partys better-than-expected showing in the midterms and the fact that the effects of several landmark bills Biden signed into law in the last Congress are finally being felt by voters.

Ground is breaking on new roads, bridges and water and sewer projects, funded by the bipartisan infrastructure package; the CHIPS and Science Act has spurred billions in investments in the domestic manufacturing of computer chips; the PACT Act has expanded health care for veterans who were exposed to toxic burn pits; and Bidens signature climate and health care law, the Inflation Reduction Act, is lowering prescription drug prices for millions of Americans.

Folks are going to understand what youve done, and were going to make sure of it, Biden said during his televised address to House Democrats this week.

He was greeted in Baltimore with a standing ovation, and after the reporters and TV cameras were ushered out, Biden visited with his House allies for more than an hour, discussing issues like climate change, the economy, the war in Ukraine and the Ohio train derailment, lawmakers said.

Because they staved off a red wave in 2022, Democrats in the House need to flip a net of only five seats to take back the majority in 2024. And theyre bullish theyll do much better than that.

New Hampshire Rep. Annie Kuster, the new chair of the group of business-friendly moderates known as the New Democrats, said having Biden on the ballot will be beneficial in targeting the 18 Republicans who represent districts the president won in 2020.

In those 18 districts that are held by Biden Republicans, hes the best in terms of his message and how he approaches this, Kuster said. And the coalition that he built in 2020 [is] coming back even stronger in 2024.

'Iron sharpening iron'

Democrats said no one at this weeks Baltimore retreat spoke ill of Biden or suggested he quit the partys 2024 ticket. But one House Democrat has been beating the drum about the need for generational change. Rep. Dean Phillips of Minnesota, who did not attend the retreat because of a personal matter, has said hed like to see younger candidates vie for the 2024 nomination, even as he has praised Biden.

If Biden were 15-20 years younger it would be a no-brainer to nominate him, Phillips, 54, told Politico last month. But considering his age its absurd were not promoting competition but trying to extinguish it.

Another Democrat who is encouraging competition in the presidential primary is freshman Rep. Hillary Scholten, 41, who flipped a GOP-held seat last fall in western Michigan.

She said she supports Biden and that he has done a phenomenal job in pushing his agenda through Congress  from infrastructure to gun reform to health care  and that it is directly helping her constituents. But, Scholten said, Bidens low approval rating is unacceptable, chalking it up to a messaging problem.

Were not doing ourselves any favors to sort of stick our heads in the sand and say, No problem here, Scholten said in an interview. "Unlike some of my colleagues, you know, who dont necessarily recognize any disconnect, I do see a problem when, especially among young voters, you continue to hear a discontent with leadership."

Scholten also said its too early to endorse the president for a second term and she thinks it could be good if other Democrats throw their hat in the ring.

Ive said over and over, this president is doing a great job, but if there are other individuals out there who think that they could, our American democracy runs on that sort of iron sharpening iron, Scholten said. And I think this president has a lot of great talking points to hold up about all the amazing things hes been able to deliver in his first term."

Pressed again about whether she would endorse Biden, Scholten replied: We dont know what the landscape is going to be. ... When we get to the campaign season, Im going to take a look at all of them.

Most Dems backing Biden

Still, Phillips and Scholten represent a vocal but extremely tiny minority. Nearly all other congressional Democrats are lining up behind Biden.

Rep. Pete Aguilar of California, the new Democratic Caucus chair who organized the Baltimore retreat, was asked at a Punchbowl News event whether Biden would be the best candidate for the party in 2024.

Well, I think he will win. I think hes our strongest candidate. I think if you look at the body of work that we have been able to accomplish over the last few years, I think it demonstrates to the American public exactly what his values are, Aguilar replied.

The Republicans that ran toward extremism were pushed back. But there he was, Joe Biden, signing bills from the American Rescue Plan to the bipartisan infrastructure bill to gun safety legislation. Time and time again, he was able to deliver with House Democrats, with Senate Democrats, Aguilar added. And so I think that he can and should run, and hes going to have the support of the House Democratic Caucus.

Jayapal said the Congressional Progressive Caucus she chairs has formed a strong bond with Biden and his team during the past several years and has influenced several pieces of Bidens inflation reduction law. She will soon sit down with Bidens new chief of staff, Jeff Zients, she said.

Nobodys surprised that Biden was not my choice in the first election for the primary. But the CPC and the president and his administration have formed an incredibly strong partnership, Jayapal said. They have been very respectful of both our power and our ability to deliver the votes that they need, but also our ideas."

This was the presidents progressive agenda that we were pushing for," she continued, "and he has told me and hes told us as a caucus, time and time again, that hes grateful for us having his back.
Russian President Vladimir Putin delivers his speech during a meeting of the Federal Security Service (FSB) board as Federal Security Service (FSB) director Alexander Bortnikov sits next in Moscow, Russia, Tuesday, Feb. 28, 2023. (Gavriil Grigorov, Sputnik, Kremlin Pool Photo via AP) (ASSOCIATED PRESS)

WASHINGTON (AP)  The Justice Department on Thursday arrested two Kansas men on allegations that the pair illegally exported aviation-related technology to Russia and provided repair services for the equipment.

Cyril Gregory Buyanovsky and Douglas Robertson are charged with conspiracy, exporting controlled goods without a license, falsifying and failing to file electronic export information, and smuggling goods in violation of U.S. law.

The charges come as the U.S. has drastically ramped up sanctions and financial penalties on Russia since its invasion of Ukraine began on Feb. 24, 2022. Along with thousands of sanctions on people and firms, export controls on the Kremlin are meant to limit access to computer chips and other products needed to equip a modern military.

The Justice Department says Buyanovsky and Robertson owned and operated KanRus Trading Co., which allegedly supplied aircraft electronics to Russian companies and provided repair services for equipment used in Russian-manufactured aircraft.

The indictment says that since 2020, they conspired to evade U.S. export laws by concealing and misstating the true end users and destinations of their exports and by shipping equipment through third-party countries.

They face up to 35 years in prison if convicted. Lawyers for Buyanovsky and Robertson couldnt be identified from the provided documents, and the Justice Department didn't immediately respond to a request for their information.

The FBI and the Commerce Department's Office of Export Enforcement are investigating the case.

Matthew S. Axelrod, assistant secretary for export enforcement at the Commerce Departments Bureau of Industry and Security, said at an American Bar Association event in Miami Thursday that state actors like Russia, China, Iran and North Korea are trying to take advantage of rapid advances in technology, adding that sensitive technologies being sent to these countries are top of our list from an enforcement perspective.

Since the anniversary of the Russian invasion of Ukraine, U.S. officials have said they would increase enforcement and sanctions on people and entities that assist Russia in the procurement of weaponry and technology that would bolster its military.
Former United States President Donald Trump is not immune from multiple civil lawsuits, said the Department of Justice (DOJ) on Thursday following filings from police officers over the Capitol Hill riot.

In a court filing in the United States Court of Appeals, attorneys for the DOJ's civil division said that the Republican businessman does not have absolute immunity from the lawsuits. These filings seek to hold the former president accountable for damages from the Jan. 6, 2021, incident.

Trump's Liability Over Capitol Riot

The brief added that while speaking to the public on matters they should be concerned about is one of the traditional functions of the US president, it does not include incitement of imminent private violence. The district court said that the plaintiffs' complaints have plausibly argued that this was the case for the former president's actions.

It also takes caution to avoid taking a position on whether or not the former president could be held liable for causing the Capitol Hill riot, civilly or criminally. However, it urges that the appeals court reject the Republican businessman's claims of immunity that would bring back the cases to a lower court where they will face further litigation, as per NBC News.

The cases involve two Capitol Police officers, James Blassingame and Sidney Hemby, and 11 Congress members. They are seeking to hold former President Trump accountable for the injuries and damages caused by Trump supporters who participated in the Capitol Hill riot.

In February 2022, US District Judge Amit Mehta rejected the Republican businessman's immunity claims. He ruled that way because of the former president's speech during the Jan. 6, 2021, rally on the White House Ellipse, which was not considered a part of his official presidential duties.

At the time, the judge wrote that Trump's actions did not relate to his duties as president to faithfully execute the laws, conduct foreign affairs, command the armed forces, or manage the country's executive branch.

Read Also: Student Loan Forgiveness Plan Update

Claims of Presidential Immunity

The remarks on Thursday mark the first time that the DOJ directly confronted the questions surrounding Trump's claims of immunity related to the Jan. 6 Capitol Hill riot. According to CNN, the US Supreme Court has a 1982 ruling where justices established that presidents of the US had absolute immunity from civil damages that result from their official acts as leaders of the country.

However, whether a presidential speech is considered an official act is still a question that remains unclear. The latest cases highlight the difficulty in challenging the former president's immunity claims. The DOJ also told the DC Circuit that in "all contexts, questions of presidential immunity must be approached with the greatest sensitivity to the unremitting demands of the Presidency.

The filings come after an appeals court debated in December last year whether or not the former president was doing his job when he made a speech during the Jan. 6, 2021, rally. At the time, he told his supporters to "fight like hell" to prevent Congress from certifying the results of the presidential election in 2020 that he lost to Joe Biden, said the Washington Post.

Related Article: Biden Announces New Cybersecurity Strategy

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Procrastinators have been granted a mild reprieve on their taxes once again this year thanks to another fluke of the calendar.

Tax Day, typically April 15, is set for April 18 this year. Its the fourth year in a row the infamous occasion has been delayed.

The rare mini-extension, per the IRS, is a consequence of April 15 falling on a Saturday and a local holiday in Washington, DC. And it means youll have one additional weekend to get your return filed before facing the consequences of being late, or to file for an extension to give yourself more time to finish.

Heres what to know about 2023 tax deadlines, including how to get an extension if three extra days isnt enough:

Why is Tax Day on the 18th this year?

Tax Day falls on April 18 this year because Emancipation Day, a holiday in Washington marking the end of slavery in the District of Columbia, will be observed on April 17 this year.

By law, Washington, D.C., holidays impact tax deadlines for everyone in the same way as federal holidays, the IRS explains. The due date is April 18, instead of April 15, because of the weekend and the District of Columbias Emancipation Day holiday, which falls on Monday, April 17.

The same holiday bumped tax day to the 18th in 2022, and the COVID-19 pandemic pushed the filing deadline in 2021 and 2020.

What happens if you file taxes late?

The consequences youll face if you file your federal taxes late depend on whether or not youre getting a refund, according to the tax prep company TurboTax.

If you have a refund coming from the IRS  as about three out of four taxpayers do every year  then there is no penalty for failing to file your tax return by the deadline, even if you dont ask for an extension, TurboTax says.

Still, the company adds, filing late will delay the arrival of your refund and may prevent you from making some tax elections when filing.

If you owe money to the IRS and havent filed and paid by April 18, youll likely end up owing a late payment penalty of 0.5% per month, or fraction thereof, until the tax is paid.

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How to file a tax extension 2023

The deadline to file for an extension with the IRS is also April 18 this year.

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In North Carolina, a taxpayer who is granted an automatic extension to file a federal income tax return will be granted an automatic extension to file the corresponding North Carolina income tax return, the state Department of Revenue says. In order to receive an automatic State extension, the taxpayer must certify on the North Carolina tax return that the person was granted an automatic federal extension.

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YEREVAN, MARCH 2, ARMENPRESS. The deployment of the monitoring mission of the European Union in Armenia will play a crucial role in ensuring security and stability in the region, as well as will deliver timely and reliable reports on the current situation to partners in the EU and its member states, the correspondent of ARMENPRESS informs, Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan announced in his opening speech of the discussion at the German Council on Foreign Relations.

I am pleased to have this opportunity to be here today and address this distinguished audience. First of all, I would like to express my gratitude and appreciation to Mr. Ralf Nickel, vice President of the Council, and Director Mr. Guntram Wolff and his team for organizing this event.

Today we are living at a time when not only natural but also geopolitical tectonic shifts are taking place all around the world. Deepening geopolitical instability, growing tensions and unpredictability are weakening the world order and international security system, creating even bigger challenges, especially for a country like Armenia, with democracy, making us more vulnerable in our complicated region.

Dear attendees,

We witnessed the first sprouts of todays challenges and the collapse of the European security architecture in our region back in 2020 when Azerbaijan unleashed a war against Nagorno-Karabakh.

After the signing of the November 9, 2020 trilateral statement, Azerbaijan not only didnt abandon its bellicose policies and threats, but also carried out new aggression, this time against the sovereign territories of the Republic of Armenia in May 2021, November 2021 and September 2022.

During the last aggression - on September 13-14, 2022, Azerbaijan launched a large-scale military attack targeting the military and civilian infrastructure of Armenia using heavy artillery, missile systems, and drones. As a result, the Armenian side had 225 victims, including 3 civilians. More than 150 square kilometers of the sovereign territories of Armenia were occupied.

Today, I wouldnt like to go deep into the details of the aggressions of 2020, 2021, 2022, but it is impossible to ignore the evidences of multiple cases of torture, mutilation of captured or already dead Armenian servicemen (including servicewomen) and other atrocities by Azerbaijani military forces. The horrible videos of the Azeri militaries committing ISIS-style war crimes by executing Armenian prisoners of war (POWs) should be acknowledged and addressed by the international community. Another issue is the engagement of the mercenaries from Syria by Azerbaijan.

During the aggression of September 2022, when the external security system of Armenia didnt work, we requested an emergency meeting of the UN Security Council that was held on September 15, 2022. During the meeting, the UN Security Council member states noted* that the use of force is totally unacceptable, explicitly named the aggressor - Azerbaijan, highlighted the importance of adherence to the norms of international humanitarian law, emphasizing also the fact that civilian infrastructure on the territory of Armenia was targeted.

An important step towards de-escalation of the situation was a quadrilateral meeting of President Macron, President Michel, President Aliyev and me, in Prague on October 6, 2022, where an agreement was reached on deploying short-term EU monitoring capacity along the international border between Armenia and Azerbaijan.

When this missions mandate ended on December 19, 2022, at Armenia's request the EU Council made a decision to deploy a new, fully-fledged civilian mission (EUMA) on the territory of the Republic of Armenia for a two-year period.

On behalf of the Government of Armenia, I would like to express our gratitude to the EU and its member states, particularly to the Government of the Federal Republic of Germany for its support to our request. The Mission was launched on 20th February, and I have already met the Head of the Mission, your compatriot with extensive experience in international deployments  Mr. Markus Ritter in Yerevan.

The Mission shall play a crucial role in ensuring security on the ground and stability in the region, as well as timely and reliable reporting on the current situation to our partners in the EU and its member states, Pashinyan said.
United States Secretary of State Antony Blinken met with his Russian counterpart, Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, on the sidelines of the G20 Summit, their first face-to-face talks since the start of the Russia-Ukraine war.

During the brief conversation on Thursday, Blinken urged the Russian official to support the end of the conflict that has taken the lives of countless soldiers and civilians from both sides. Despite the meeting, there was no indication that the two officials worked to ease rising tensions between the two countries.

Blinken Meets Lavrov

It also comes as U.S.-Russia relations have deteriorated since the beginning of Moscow's invasion of Ukraine. Tensions have also risen between Washington and Moscow over disagreements, complaints, and recriminations on other issues, such as arms control, embassy staffing, and prisoners.

American authorities said that Blinken and Lavrov held a brief meeting that lasted about 10 minutes when foreign ministers worldwide met in New Delhi for the G20 Summit. However, there needed to be a clear indication of progress in their talks. The conference ended without a consensus on the Ukraine war being agreed upon, as per the Associated Press.

While the recent discussions did not result in anything concrete, the fact that the two officials met showed that the highest level of communication between the two nations remains open. During a news conference, the US Secretary of State told his Russian counterpart that the American government would continue supporting Ukraine.

Blinken also called for an end to the war of aggression, urging Russia to engage in meaningful diplomacy to produce a just and durable peace. However, the American official noted that Russian President Vladimir Putin showed no interest in peace talks.

The secretary of state added that he was urging Russia to reverse an irresponsible decision and go back to participating in the New START nuclear treaty. Blinken allegedly told Lavrov that both countries' interest was mutual compliance.

Read Also: Kim Jong Un Supports Dog Meat Restaurant Amid Food Shortage

Diplomatic Discussions

The American official also raised the situation regarding Paul Whelan, the US citizen currently detained in Russia. The conversation was confirmed by Russia's Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova, who did not provide further details of the meeting, according to BBC.

Before the G20 Summit meeting, the last time Blinken and Lavorv met face to face was during an event in January 2022 in Geneva. On Thursday, the Russian foreign minister accused Western nations of attempting to influence neutral states to condemn Moscow's invasion of Ukraine.

The US secretary of state said that he talked with top diplomats from other countries during the Delhi summit to shore up support for Ukraine. Blinken emphasized his condemnation of Russia to the United Nations Human Rights Council later that day.

Despite the meeting, Blinken said they had low expectations that it would lead to a breakthrough on several key issues. He added that he expected everything to stay the same regarding relations and other matters in the short term, said CNN.

Related Article: Japan Faces Birth Rate Decline

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BERLIN, MARCH 3, ARMENPRESS. Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyans visit to Germany will be followed by a trip by Speaker of Parliament Alen Simonyan, the Armenian Ambassador to Germany Viktor Yengibaryan has said.

He said that the political dialogue between Armenia and Germany has intensified.

In general, the political dialogue between Armenia and Germany has greatly intensified in the recent period. The Foreign Minister visited Germany in the beginning of the year. And the Prime Ministers visit is important in terms of raising the political dialogue to a higher level after the foreign ministers visit. This will be followed by a visit by the Speaker of Parliament, Yengibaryan told reporters in Berlin.

We expect to cooperate with Germany in a number of new areas such as renewable energy, green hydrogen area. Armenia and Germany will soon implement certain projects related to climate change. And this will first of all boost economic growth of Armenia and intensification of economic relations with Germany, he added when asked on the Prime Ministers visit.

Ambassador Yengibaryan added that the visit also has a political nature given the security issues existing today in Armenia and the region. And in this regard we hope that Germany will be involved in promoting regional stability, the Ambassador said.

PM Pashinyan arrived in Germany for a two-day visit on March 2.
YEREVAN, MARCH 3, ARMENPRESS. On March 3, Armenian Foreign Minister Ararat Mirzoyan, who is in New Delhi, had a meeting with Swedish Foreign Minister Tobias Billstrom within the framework of the "Raisina Dialogue" conference.

As ARMENPRESS was informed from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Minister Mirzoyan referred to the achievements in democratic reforms in Armenia and in that context emphasized the importance of continuous support of Armenias partners.

The parties exchanged ideas on the Armenia-EU partnership agenda. In the context of establishing stability in the region, the role of the EU's long-term civilian monitoring mission in Armenia was emphasized by both sides, the decision on the deployment of which was made in the EU Council during Sweden's presidency.

The foreign ministers also discussed issues of international and regional importance. Minister Mirzoyan presented to his colleague the latest developments in the process of normalization of relations between Armenia and Azerbaijan. Reference was made to the humanitarian situation in Nagorno-Karabakh resulted by Azerbaijan's illegal blockade of the Lachin Corridor. In this context, the Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Armenia emphasized the imperative to take steps towards the implementation of the decision of the International Court of Justice on the indication of provisional measures to Azerbaijan on February 22.

The interlocutors also touched on issues related to cooperation between Armenia and Sweden, emphasizing the importance of high-level mutual visits and developing cooperation in areas of mutual interest.
YEREVAN, MARCH 3, ARMENPRESS. Prime Minister of Armenia Nikol Pashinyan's working visit to the Federal Republic of Germany continues. Today, the Prime Minister was hosted in the Bundestag and had a meeting with the members of the Foreign Affairs Committee headed by Chairman Michael Roth. The latter welcomed the Prime Minister and noted that the visit is a good opportunity to discuss both the Armenian-German inter-parliamentary cooperation and the processes taking place in the South Caucasus region, ARMENPRESS was informed from the Office of the Prime Minister.

Prime Minister Pashinyan made a speech, in which he specifically stated:

"Mr. Chairman,

Dear Colleagues,

I am very happy to be here and to see you, because I think there are many issues that we would like to discuss today. I hope today we will have an open and constructive discussion.

You emphasized that there is a new factor in our relations with the EU, and that factor is the monitoring mission of the EU along the Armenia-Azerbaijan border. First of all, I would like to thank the EU for taking this decision. That decision was the outcome of the quadrilateral meeting in Prague when the short-term mission arrived. After that, we applied for a long-term mission and we are grateful to the EU for making that decision.

In general, the situation remains tense, first of all due to the continuous blocking of the Lachin Corridor by Azerbaijan. Unfortunately, despite the decision of the International Court of Justice, Azerbaijan has not opened the Lachin Corridor yet. I would like to draw your attention to the fact that the decision of the ICJ has a legally binding force. I think this is a situation that should be discussed at the international level, because it is unacceptable to leave the decision of the International Court of Justice without a reaction, in particular, when the humanitarian crisis in Nagorno Karabakh continues, and an international reaction is needed.

By the way, what is very important in this context? it has been more than 80 days that the Lachin Corridor has been closed, and during this time Azerbaijan insisted that the Lachin Corridor is not closed, it is open. The decision of the International Court of Justice is very important in terms of clarifying this issue, because the court stated that the Lachine Corridor is closed and should be opened.

During my visit, I heard some opinions that support the idea of sending an international monitoring or fact-finding mission to Nagorno-Karabakh and the Lachine Corridor to observe the humanitarian situation and see what is happening there, because it is a crisis that could have irreversible consequences, it can grow into a humanitarian disaster. I think we should work together to prevent the situation from getting out of control.

But the most important question is why Azerbaijan is doing this. We are sure that Azerbaijan's goal is to carry out ethnic cleansing in Nagorno-Karabakh and cleans Armenians from Nagorno-Karabakh. I think the latest statement of Azerbaijani president Aliyev proves this, because Aliyev said that the Lachin Corridor is open for Armenians who want to leave Karabakh, which I think automatically means that the Lachin Corridor is closed for Armenians who live in Nagorno Karabakh and who want to live there. This is the core cause of Azerbaijan's actions.

There are concerns that this is just the beginning of escalation in Nagorno-Karabakh, perhaps along the Armenia-Azerbaijani border as well, because Azerbaijan continues to express aggressive thoughts, aggressive rhetoric. You know that last September, Azerbaijan initiated a large-scale aggression against Armenia, occupying the sovereign territories of Armenia. But, on the other hand, we reached an agreement in Prague, according to which Armenia and Azerbaijan recognize each other's territorial integrity and sovereignty, based on the Alma Ata Declaration of 1991, which means that the administrative borders of the Soviet states turn into state borders. Alma Ata's declaration was about the collapse of the Soviet Union and the creation of the Commonwealth of Independent States. 13 former Soviet states agreed that administrative borders become state borders.

By the way, we also reached an agreement in Prague that the border delimitation process between Armenia and Azerbaijan will be based on the same declaration of Alma Ata. The surprise was that after that the president of Azerbaijan announced that the delimitation should be based on historical maps. You know, it's very difficult to explain what that means. Maybe the new initiative of the president of Azerbaijan can clarify this situation, because recently we witnessed the presentation of the so-called "Western Azerbaijan" initiative, and the whole idea of this initiative is that the entire territory of the Republic of Armenia belongs to Azerbaijan, and the capital of Armenia is an Azerbaijani city.

Our assessment is that all this, the blocking of the Lachin Corridor, the so-called "Western Azerbaijan" initiative, is a preparation for a large-scale aggression against Armenia.

By the way, I would like to draw your attention to another very important situation. We had a discussion at the German Council on Foreign Relations yesterday, and some of our colleagues there used the so-called "Zangezur Corridor" term. I asked our colleagues to be careful because sometimes the same word can have different meanings in different regions and in different political and geopolitical circumstances. Usually in Europe, saying corridor, people mean routes that provide transport services with better quality, etc. But our situation is that we have a legally agreed point on the word corridor in our trilateral declaration of November 9, 2020, which put an end to the war in Nagorno-Karabakh.

So we only have one point about corridor there and that is the Lachin corridor which is currently blocked. The Lachin Corridor was established for providing connection between Armenia and Nagorno-Karabakh. Lachin Corridor is not just a road, it is a security zone with a width of 5 km, and according to the relevant point of the statement, Lachin Corridor should be outside the control of Azerbaijan and should be under the control of Russian peacekeepers.

In the same declaration, we have point 9, which is about the opening of all transport and economic routes in our region. And yes, there is a point that Armenia should provide a connection between the western regions of Azerbaijan and the Autonomous Republic of Nakhichevan, but there is no point that those routes should be outside of Armenia's control. That route should operate in the context of the opening of roads and railways in our region. I must mention that Armenia is ready to open all communications even today. But every time we try to do this, Azerbaijan says that these routes should not be under the control and legislation of Armenia, which is totally unacceptable to us. Recently, the president of Azerbaijan publicly admitted that there is no point in the trilateral declaration about the so-called "Zangezur Corridor", and it was he who incorporated such that term into the context of regional communications.

The problem is how one can unilaterally incorporate something into the trilateral declaration? This is a total absurd. Thus, I would like that phrase not to be used, because it would mean support for Azerbaijan's territorial ambitions against Armenia. But, on the other hand, I once again confirm that we are ready to open. Moreover, for more than six months now, we have a draft government decision on opening three checkpoints on the Armenia-Azerbaijan border, but every time we try to adopt this decision, the Azerbaijani side makes a lot of noise, saying why they want to open a checkpoint near our borders without adjusting with us.

This is the overall situation, but I think we should focus on the peace agenda. As you know, our government has taken responsibility for the peace agenda, I am personally committed to the

peace agenda and democracy, because I believe that democracy and peace go together, and because democracy is a strategy for us, we are interested in peace so that we can ensure the continuous development of democracy, economy and freedom. This was the general assessment of the situation. I will gladly answer your questions."

Next, Prime Minister Pashinyan answered a number of questions of the members of the Bundestag.
YEREVAN, MARCH 3, ARMENPRESS. The Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation has recorded 3 violations of the ceasefire regime in Martuni and Shushi regions, ARMENPRESS informs, the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation said in a message.

According to the source, based on the existing facts, the command of the Russian peacekeeping force is conducting a joint investigation with the Azerbaijani and Armenian sides.

Earlier, the Ministry of Defense of Artsakh reported that the units of Azerbaijani Armed Forces located in the occupied territories of Askeran, Martakert and Martunu regions of the Republic of Artsakh violated the ceasefire on the night of March 2 and March 2-3 by using firearms.
by Steve Suwannarat

Accused of conspiring with foreign forces, for the chair of the ASEAN Parliamentarians for Human Rights, he was convicted in An act of sheer vindictiveness by the Hun Sen regime. The upcoming Cambodian elections in July, the first without any opposition, will not be fair and free.

Phnom Penh (AsiaNews)  Opposition leader Kem Sokha, a long-time activist and founder of the now-dissolved Cambodia National Rescue Party, was sentenced to 27 years of house arrest for "treason."

This is An act of sheer vindictiveness by the Hun Sen regime and has nothing whatsoever to do with justice, lamented Mercy Barends, chair of the ASEAN Parliamentarians for Human Rights,

Specifically, Kem is accused of conspiring with foreign forces (i.e. the United States) for subversive purposes.

Under the terms of his conviction, Kems ban from political involvement will exclude him from next Julys elections, the first without a parliamentary opposition to the ruling Cambodian People's Party of Prime Minister Hun Sen.

Reacting to the sentence, US Ambassador W. Patrick Murphy, who was at the court, said that, The United States is deeply troubled by the conviction of respected political leader Kem Sokha.

Last August, during a visit to Cambodia, US Secretary of State Antony Bliken met with Kem Sokha and made US concerns clear to Hun Sen.

Likewise, UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Volker Turk, said he was stunned by the verdict. [C]oncerned by the basis of the charges and the conduct of his trial, he called for the prisoners immediate release and respect for his rights, including the right to a fair trial and full participation in political life.

Phil Robertson, deputy director of Human Rights Watch's Asia Division, said the judges decision shows that authoritarians have won" in Cambodia.

Prime Minister Hun Sen is nominally subordinate to King Norodom Sihamoni, but with the removal of his last rival, who remained in the country to resist his excessive power, he caps 40 years in power during which he has squashed all political and social opposition, ignored international pressure, and used bribes, colluded and often intimidated to bend parliament and the judiciary to his will.

Case in point: The judge who ruled in Kems case is a member of Hun Sen's party as were the judges involved in cases involving members of other parties.

Hence, Nobody should be fooled into believing that, in the current conditions, a fair and free election is possible in Cambodia, said ASEAN Parliamentarians for Human Rights chief Mercy Barends.

She goes on to warn that, With so many opposition figures in jail or in exile, and the continuing harassment of the opposition, the polls will only be a farce designed by Hun Sen and his party to legitimize their power. The international community should not fall for such a charade.
Today's headlines: 6 March announcement of Erdogan's presidential challenger in Turkey; Asia's largest growth in obese people by 2035; New US sanctions on Russian and Chinese entities; Modi triumphs in voting in three border states; US study: 60-70 thousand Russian deaths in Ukraine.

MALAYSIA

At least 35,000 Malaysians have had to leave their homes due to flooding caused by torrential rains in recent days. The number of confirmed dead so far is three. Johor, in the south of the country, is the worst affected state.

TURKEY

The electoral alliance formed by six opposition parties will announce on 6 March the single candidate who will challenge Recep Tayyip Erdogan in the presidential elections. Despite the effects of the recent earthquake that claimed more than 45,000 lives in the country, the government confirmed the vote on 14 May.

ASIA

By 2035, half of the world's population will be classified as 'obese' or 'overweight'. Along with Africa, low- and middle-income Asian countries will see the largest increase in cases, says the World Organisation Against Obesity.

USA-CHINA-RUSSIA

Washington has added 37 names to its trade blacklist. Hit by sanctions are entities that support the Russian and Chinese military, and contribute to human rights violations in China (and also in Myanmar).

INDIA

Narendra Modi's BJP won elections in Nagaland, Tripura and Meghalaya, three border states in the east of the country. Apart from Tripura, in the other two cases the premier's Hindu nationality party will govern in coalition with regional forces.

RUSSIA

According to calculations by the Washington-based Csis, the Russians have suffered more losses in the war in Ukraine than in all wars since 1945. At least 60-70 thousand dead soldiers and a summary figure of between 200 and 250 thousand dead and seriously wounded, at a rate of almost 6 thousand per month.

MONGOLIA

Hundreds of thousands of working animals have died due to Dzut, the animal famine, caused by the formation of ice on pastureland. Some breeds are at the brink of exhaustion and others are in severe distress, causing the youngest and weakest animals to die, unable to reach the grass due to the blanket of snow and ice.
by Fady Noun

Outgoing Prime Minister Mikati is expected at the Vatican in March to meet Pope Francis. Today, the emigration of young people is '80% Muslim'. The last national census dates back to 1932 and is now outdated. The war of numbers for representation has long since passed the Islamic-Christian balance.

Beirut (AsiaNews) - What is the percentage of Lebanese of Christian denomination, in relation to the total population of Lebanon? Are they only 19.2%, as the resigning Prime Minister Nagib Mikati recently claimed during an interview given to a local television station?

Are they 34.42% as corrected by a source close to the Maronite patriarchate? Or perhaps 42%, as Boutros Labaki, a renowned economist and statistician, along with other experts, assures?

The debate on this issue, which is a sensitive subject, was revived by Mikati who put forward the figure of 19.2% for the Christian population, which no one has been able to verify to establish the source or credibility. Spokesman Fares Gemayel pointed out that the prime minister 'does not want to reveal the names of the authors of the report that gives this figure'.

At the same time, Mikati added that he is concerned about a figure that is itself revealing a decline in the number of Christians in Lebanon and a more general phenomenon that affects not only the Land of the Cedars but the entire Arab world. He also intends to discuss this with Pope Francis, during a visit to the Vatican that should take place by the end of the month, although there is no official date yet.

As one can imagine, Mikati's announcement has contributed to creating a rift in public opinion and among the Lebanese leadership. The Maronite Patriarchate immediately corrected him, pointing out that in the last general elections (May 2022), the Christian electorate in the lists - which included all the confessions present in the country - constituted 34.42% of the total number of voters, against 65.5% for the Muslim and Druze communities.

In the absence of a fully carried out census, the relevance of the electoral lists remains the best method to assess the overall number of Lebanese and their distribution in denominational terms. All this while bearing in mind that this figure remains approximate in the absence of an effective process of digitisation and updating of civil status registers.

In spite of the alarmist figures hastily put forward with a certain amount of improvisation for the camera, there are those who choose a more balanced and rational approach. Boutros Labaki, economist and university lecturer, former vice-president of the Council for Development and Reconstruction, along with other experts, assures that Mikati's figure is just 'a media operation'.

On the contrary, the professor assures that 'the demographic imbalance between Christians and Muslims is decreasing' and that Christians themselves now account for almost 43% of the total resident population. For the sake of completeness, we must mention here that the Christian and Muslim populations were equal in the middle of the last century.

The economist assures that the emigration of young Lebanese is currently '80% Muslim'. Basing himself on a study dating back to 2012, Labaky argues that this phenomenon "has been going on for at least twenty years" and has several causes: increasing levels of education and foreign language proficiency in Muslim communities; the development of networks in emigration countries (reunification of emigrants from the same village in the same country of emigration); and the development of communications.

Moreover, the economist adds, other factors have weighed in the process of accelerating emigration. Among these he cites the Israeli threat to the inhabitants of South Lebanon; the fight against illegal cultivation in the Bekaa; the war in Syria for the North.

Nevertheless, if in the midst of the presidential crisis the question of the respective demographic weight of the Lebanese communities has re-emerged, it remains unanswered in a country whose institutions are based on a distribution of the highest institutional offices among the various components.

And where, consequently, the numerical ratio between Christians and Muslims is likened to a 'state secret'. All this, knowing full well that the last national census in Lebanon dates back to... 1932.
As people avoid going out and travelling, the local market place lies empty. Many fear worse days ahead " amid the prevailing "pessimism. Given the current political situation, hope for a just peace is virtually nil. Christians are "part of a community" that is suffering. For Fr Jimenez, Israel and Palestine have two different visions of the world".

Nablus (AsiaNews)  Tensions are currently running high in the West Bank. Violence reached a crescendo last week in Nablus with heavy clashes between Israelis against Palestinians. With the whole city on edge, Christians too were affected, even if their neighbourhood, Rafidia is "far from downtown, this according to Fr Miguel Perez Jimenez, the local parish priest.

In Nablus since 15 August 2021, the 31-year-old Spaniard spoke to AsiaNews about the latest round of violence between Israelis and Palestinians, which, since the start of the year, has left 75 people dead, mostly Palestinians.

People are afraid to go out, he said. Those who do pay a price for this since they have to work outside the city and have to travel to their place of employment.

In Nablus the local open market is largely empty. It is usually packed with people and the stalls loaded with goods. Now, business is down considerably. Still, slowly we are trying to get things back to normal, but it is hard.

People are truly scared, mostly very pessimistic about the future, explained the clergyman, who studied philosophy, and was ordained a priest on 16 June 2018 at the Redemptoris Mater Galilee Seminary.

Most people see worse days ahead, he warns. Tensions are expected to rise further and there is little hope for a just peace in view of the political situation.

Developments in Nablus, as in Huwara are feeding "fear", which is worse than hatred, because with the latter it is possible to mediate using reason and arriving at a shared solution, but when fear prevails, "it is much harder because it is "completely irrational and leads to harm.

Recent events in the West Bank "are crimes" that fuel the spiral of violence and the danger of "a continuous escalation. Nevertheless, "I see people on both sides who want peace, who are ready to engage each other, who are tired" of the status quo.

Nablus is located in the central highlands on the West Bank, about 63 km north of Jerusalem and the second most populous Palestinian city after Hebron with 250,000 residents. It is home to three main religious groups: Muslims, Christians, and Samaritans.

Christians have lived in the city since the time of Jesus. In the Rafidia neighbourhood, the Latin church dates back to 1885 and takes its name from Saint Justin, who was born in Nablus in AD 110 and martyred in AD 165.

The local Latin convent complex includes a church for prayers, a hall for meetings and cultural activities, a yard for sports, the convent for the nuns, and the parish priest's house.

In Nablus there is also the St Josephs school. Founded in 1904, it was bought by the Latin Patriarchate in 1998. It is recognised for its high academic standards. It employs 46 teachers and its classes range from kindergarten to Grade 12.

Its approach is based on respect, dialogue and religious and social non-discrimination, as evidence by its student population. Only 10 per cent is Christians the others are Muslims and Samaritans.

Nablus Christians are not a target of Jews or Muslims, Fr Jimenez explains. They are only part of a community, citizens in the full sense of the term, and as such suffer from this situation.

Like others, they are used to tensions, which they experience, knowing that we must move forward, continue with work and life even amid conflicts, responding with the weapon "of prayer.

Worshipping [the Blessed Sacrament] becomes an opportunity to pray; to which we must add the pastoral activities with youth and adults, this despite a great feeling of sorrow" over the violence and a growing desire "for peace, security and harmony

For Fr Jimenez, the conflict between Israel and Palestine is "too complicated politically and socially." It involves "not only two nations, but two different visions of the world, hard to reconcile today, especially because of "injustices" and "political programmes" on both sides that do not go in the direction of peace.

Finally, the priest notes that such events tell us that the true Holy Land is that of communion among brothers, not the one crushed by armies. Love between brothers and sisters is stronger and this emerges in everyday life, even in the very life of the Church. This is our hope, which allows us to endure a perilous situation.
Cindy McCain has been appointed the new head of the United Nations World Food Program and is committed to addressing global humanitarian needs.

The 68-year-old has served as U.S. Ambassador to the UN Agencies in Rome since 2021, and she is the widow of former Sen. John McCain and a longtime friend of U.S. President Joe Biden. McCain was one of two candidates being considered the next leader of the World Food Program.

Cindy McCain as New Head of World Food Program

In a Thursday statement, McCain, who will take up her new position in April, said she was honored to be given a chance to lead the UN World Food Program. She noted that the agency had been a part of her life for several decades, from her time as a humanitarian to now when she is the U.S. Ambassador and Permanent Representative to the UN Food and Agriculture Agencies in Rome.

She revealed that she plans to spend some time in Rome and the field to ensure that the organization can grow continuously and meet the needs of a "hungry world." According to the Washington Post, McCain added that the path she will take moving forward is daunting, especially with hunger on the rise.

The outgoing executive director of the WFP, David Beasley, whom McCain is set to succeed, congratulated his successor in a Wednesday Twitter post. This was before the United Nations made its official announcement. On the other hand, McCain retweeted Beasley's Twitter post.

Beasley said McCain's extraordinary experience and leadership would be critical factors amid conflicts, climate shocks, and hunger soar. He added that he was looking forward to working with her. On Thursday, Secretary of State Antony Blinken expressed his confidence that McCain will bring renewed energy, optimism, and success to the World Food Program.

Read Also: Japan Facing Major Population Crisis

Addressing Global Humanitarian Needs

The decision to appoint McCain comes amid a rise in the global food policy realm for the ambassador. According to Politico, her relationships and experiences are seen as crucial in seeking to marshal resources for a record-high 349 million people suffering from acute food insecurity worldwide.

The issue also comes amid the geopolitical chaos brought about by the war between Russia and Ukraine, concerns that China is hoarding global food supplies, and calls to pull back funding support from members of her party in the US Congress.

Last year, McCain was appointed as U.S. Ambassador to three UN food and agriculture agencies, marking her first time in a formal role in food policy despite participating in humanitarian work for several decades.

Beasley also issued a farewell as he stepped down as the head of the World Food Program, where he thanked the family he made at the agency for their courage. South Carolina Sen. Lindsey Graham also congratulated McCain, saying that she is a great humanitarian and expects her to bring a business-like approach to the World Food Program, said ABC4 News.

Related Article: Obesity Rate Rising Among Younger Generation

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Sure, maybe some people will argue that rivals such as the Aston Martin DBX707 are already available  but do remember that the moniker is a bit misleading as the Brits are talking about 707 ps instead of 697 horsepower, as they should be when trying to lure U.S. customers. On the other hand, the $39k 2023 Dodge Durango can also be had as a $91k SRT Hellcat (and $97k SRT Hellcat Plus or $102,480 Premium), if money is no object of concern.And with that, you can have a family-oriented three-rowready to embark on roaring and mind-blowing road trip adventures with a top speed of 180 mph (290 kph) plus a towing capacity of no less than 8,700 lbs. (over 3,946 kg). And. Above all, no less than 710 horsepower thanks to the renewed availability for the 2023MY of the 6.2-liter supercharged Hemi V8 also used by the feisty Charger and Challenger versions. By the way, there was another hulking SUV that used to display its ponies, if you remember.That was the Jeep Grand Cherokees fourth-gen (WK2) Trackhawk version , of course. Now sent to greener pastures alongside the 6.4-liter Hemi V8 SRT variant, the feisty SUV made way for the arrival of the expansive WL iteration. The latter, just like the Wagoneer and Grand Wagoneer flagships, was more interested in establishing itself as a regular and stretched wheelbase force to be reckoned with inside the mid-size SUV segment rather than fulfilling any quick dragstrip and track dreams.At least that is from the two-row $41,350 Grand Cherokee and three-row $41,825 Grand Cherokee L OEM standpoint as the imaginative realm of digital car content creators is fast to give us the stuff of 2024 Grand Cherokee SRT and Trackhawk dreams and competitor nightmares  even if only in CGI. So, here are the good folks over at the AutoYa info channel on YouTube, who have a satellite venue dubbed AutoYa Interior, and that is where all the (CGI) SRT & Trackhawk action occurs, both inside and out.As always, the channel's resident pixel master is eager to show us the virtual goodies complete with cockpit variations for both the regular SRT and feistier Trackhawk versions, compare them to the real-world Trachawk and WL Grand Cherokee L models, and then even show us the exterior preview for the SUV. The latter does not come alone because the host also gives us the traditional (albeit unofficial) color palette reel. All in all, not a bad attempt  and here is hoping the WL Grand Cherokee SRT and Trackhawk will not remain just wishful thinking.
Photo: Aurrigo

Photo: Changi Airport

Every time I travel by plane, I am amused seeing those little trains carrying luggage to the plane. I dont know why, but it seems like the drivers are having fun behind the wheel of those little four-wheeled ants towing little trailers.It turns out I was wrong because driving those little baggage vehicles is not fun. Its simply a job, and its a boring job. No one would mind if those things would drive by themselves. At least this is what I suppose the guys from Aurrigo were thinking when they developed Auto-Dolly.Aurrigo is a British tech company that presents itself as a player focused on delivering autonomous vehicle technology for inner city applications, automotive, and aviation. In 2021, they launched this unique and disruptive baggage transportation solution for airports, nicknamed Dolly. A Zoox is much more interesting, but Auto-Dolly is not a people carrier. Its a luggage carrier and its meant to be useful, not pretty. Also, it was designed so that it can be manufactured anywhere in the world, using existing automotive and aviation parts.Well, its not quite a real vehicle. Its more of a fancy platform, fitted with an electric motor, a LIDAR system, and multiple sensor technologies, so that it can move by itself. Its meant to replace the trailers towed by that little ant I was talking about earlier.But wait, did you know that today these little tractor-ants are mostly diesel-powered? The guys at Aurrigo thought How about replacing them with electric-powered self-driving luggage tractors? And they created Auto-DollyTug.While its a self-driving vehicle, it can also be operated in manual mode by a driver. Auto-DollyTug was designed to tow up to three Auto-Dolly platforms, with a total weight of 7.5 tons. Moreover, it can also carry 1.5 tons on its platform, so luggage operations are more efficient.These two self-driving vehicles started operation a year ago in a trial test in one of the busiest airports in Asia  Changi Airport, in Singapore. As this is one of the most high-tech countries in the world, you might not be surprised about this trial happening there.But the main reason for the airports management to choose Auto-Dolly and Auto-DollyTug might surprise you. After the pandemic, there is a manpower shortage in airports. Especially in this sector, where working in the airside requires staff to be in outdoor conditions, in shifts.Remember I told you transporting luggage from the terminal to the airplane is not fun? Well, if no one wants these jobs, lets give them to robots. This February, the two self-driving vehicles completed Phase 1 of the trial test and the results are encouraging.Auto-Dolly demonstrated the ability to move autonomously along airside roadways, as well as within the baggage handling area. A fleet of Audo-Dollies would eliminate the need for baggage tractors and would increase the efficiency of transferring the luggage to the plane.Phase 2 of the trial is going to test how safely Auto-Dollies will be able to operate at the aircraft stand. They can transfer a unit-load device directly to and from the loading platform, thanks to their automated mechanical arms.It's worth mentioning that Changi Airport is the first in the world to test autonomous equipment for loading and unloading unit load devices at the aircraft stand. You can say goodbye to those guys carelessly throwing your luggage on the platform!It's important to note that in Phase 1, both Auto-Dollies had a human operator as a safeguard. The presence of a real person was necessary to step in to take control in the event of a hazardous situation. The test showed that sensors correctly identified the circumstances when they had to stop to allow people or other vehicles to pass.In the next steps, the Auto-Dolly and Auto-DollyTug will be tested in real-life operations without safety operators onboard. This is going to be the most important part of the trial, and if all goes well, we could witness the deployment of such autonomous vehicles in airports sooner than many expect.Both Aurrigo and Changi Airports officials are prepared to use observations from Auto-Dollies trials for automating other airport operations. For instance, vehicles that move planes in position or mobile escalators for onboarding and disembarking passengers are serious contenders for future autonomous operations.So, next time youll fly to Singapore, dont be surprised if youll see more Auto-Dollies at work, without human operators. We bet that, by the end of this decade, this kind of electric workhorse self-driving vehicle will become popular in major airports around the world.
The death toll from one of Greece's deadliest train accidents in recent years rose to 57 on Thursday, heightening public outrage over inadequate rail safety.

On Tuesday evening in Tempi, close to the city of Larissa, demonstrators spilled onto the streets following a head-on accident between a passenger train carrying more than 350 people and a freight train.

Greek Train Crash Prompts Strike

The Greek transport minister resigned in the aftermath of the disaster, and a train workers union is going on strike, accusing the government of "disrespect" in the industry. Another 48 individuals remain in hospital due to the collision, which left overturned carriages and burned rubble in its aftermath.

Six of the injured are in critical condition due to head injuries and severe burns, the state-owned public broadcaster ERT said on Thursday. Student and employee unions planned a demonstration in front of the downtown Athens offices of the Greek train business Hellenic Train.

Per CNN, the police were already present in front of the Hellenic Railways offices before the arrival of the protesters. After Wednesday's disturbance, when protestors battled with police, the demonstration was peaceful.

Most of the accident's passengers were young; a nearby hospital informed ERT. The incident occurred shortly following a holiday weekend. According to the Fire Service, search and rescue activities will continue on Thursday and Friday at the crash site in Tempi, near Larissa.

While the identification process continues at Larissa General Hospital, family members of the missing continue to wait for word about their loved ones. Dimitris Bournazis, still searching for information on his father and brother, told Greek media that no one had provided him with any details.

Read Also: Kim Jong Un Backs Dog Meat Restaurant Amid North Korea's Worst Food Shortage

Protesters Call for Government Accountability of Greece Train Crash

Families lined up to provide DNA samples to identify victims of a train collision. The government has blamed the human mistake, and a railway employee has been charged with manslaughter. In the meantime, emergency teams inched through the crumpled wreckage of passenger carriages in their hunt for victims of Tuesday night's head-on crash, which has already claimed 57 lives and which rescuers worry may rise.

The accident between a passenger train and a freight train was the bloodiest in the country's history, according to ABC7 Chicago. Scores of bereaved family members spent a second day at a hospital in Larissa awaiting the DNA results on the remains, many of which were severely charred or mutilated.

According to fire official Vassilios Vathrakagiannis, rescuers were concentrating on the restaurant vehicle, which was crushed under the first carriage due to the impact of the crash.

The Larissa station manager arrested after the collision was charged with multiple counts of manslaughter and causing serious physical harm through negligence on Thursday as a judicial investigation attempts to determine how two trains could have been traveling in opposite directions on the same track for more than 10 minutes without anyone sounding the alarm.

Associations of railroad employees called for strikes, stopping national rail operations and the Athens metro. They are protesting working conditions and what they say is a perilous failure to update the train infrastructure due to a lack of public investment during the decade-long financial crisis that drove Greece to the verge of insolvency.

Despite decades of modernization efforts, most important rail control tasks are still performed manually. The engine drivers' union chairman, Costas Genidounias, stated that a modernized traffic control system was expected to be operational three years ago.

Families of the deceased and people still missing lashed out at government officials and the private train company Hellenic Train, which the Italian government controls. Several Larissa residents waited in line for more than an hour to donate blood, while the city's hotel association gave free lodging to families of the crash victims and those who went to the city to submit DNA samples.

Critics attribute Greece's near-bankruptcy to a lack of public investment throughout the profound financial crisis that extended most of the preceding decade. During the financial crisis of 2017, the Ferrovie dello Stato Italiane Group privatized and acquired the significantly losing train company.

Greece's rail network is minimal and only covers some of the nations. Despite decades of modernization efforts, most important rail control tasks are still performed manually, as per Republic World.

The engine drivers' union chairman, Costas Genidounias, stated that a modernized traffic control system was expected to be operational three years ago. He stated that starting in 2020, union representatives filed legal letters to the firm responsible for Greece's railway infrastructure, OSE, and government and regulatory authorities but received no reaction.

Related Article: Greece Train Crash: Real Cause of Tragedy, Revealed

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Photo: The European Commission

Photo: The European Commission

Suddenly, one of Europes heavyweights  in fact, the heavyweight when it comes to car manufacturing  has decided to reanalyze the seemingly set-in-stone deadline. Germany pulled the reins big time on the EUs polar-icecap-saving initiative.The vote to adopt into law the proposed set of measures was planned for next week, but the German stall put everything on hold, with no concrete date for a new session. Its not common for the European Commission to have policies hindered just days before voting, but Germanys position is quite clear.German Transport Minister Volker Wissing once again affirmed that using carbon-neutral synthetic fuels should remain possible after the 2035 deadline. While technically viable, these quasi-renewable hydrocarbons dont eliminate tailpipe CO2 emissions straightaway.It doesnt increase the concentration of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere, as whatever a car produces is theoretically recovered by producing synthetic fuels (also known as e-fuels). Greenhouse-effect-producing gases have been on the EU agenda for decades. The transport sector was repeatedly pointed out as a significant contributor to global warming.According to official figures, around 25% of EU emissions are generated by automobiles, almost nullifying the blocs strive against rising global temperatures in the past three decades. While controversial, Germanys position is not solitary, with Italy already saying the country will vote against the proposed 2035 law.It took months of negotiations between the European Parliament, the EU Commission, and member states to agree on the final legislative form for banning ICEs. The consensus was reached on allowing only zero CO2-producing vehicles to be sold (new) in the EU from 2035.In other words  if it burns oil derivatives, its out of the books. And, while carmakers have reacted to this announcement and are now flooding the market with tree-hugging full-electric automobiles, the Piston Age is not entirely done yet.A non-binding section of the EU law requires the Commission to propose how CO2-neutral fuel engines can still be sold after 2035. Germany is not content with that and demands clarifications. Europes largest carmaker  and one of the key players in the global market  would fully feel the impact of a sudden slash in the production of internal combustion engines Even so, the countrys automotive manufacturers have set their own goals toward phasing out the smokers. Audi Chief Executive Markus Duesmann opined that prolonging the use of ICEs raises the risk of putting the industry on the brink of a cataclysmic collapse. The EU ban plan could shatter if Germany doesnt clarify its position until the final vote.On Sunday, March 5, the German cabinet will hold a meeting  most likely to revise the topic  and the EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen will be present. The EU lawmaking bodies ratified the documents final form in February of this year.
Ford Mustang

Photo: Lionsgate

Mercedes-Benz

Photo: Lionsgate

Mercedes-Benz V-Class

Photo: Lionsgate

Photo: Lionsgate

Photo: Lionsgate

Other cars in Guy Ritchie movies

Guy Ritchie, the man behind Sherlock Holmes, The Gentlemen, and The Man From U.N.C.L.E. has gotten us used to movies filled with famous names. Operation Fortune: Ruse de Guerre is no different and it stars Jason Statham , Hugh Grant, Aubrey Plaza, Cary Elwes, Josh Hartnett, and more.The movie also marks the fifth collab between action star Statham and Ritchie, after working together on Lock, Stock, and Two Smoking Barrels, Snatch, Revolver, and Wrath of Man.Operation Fortune: Ruse de Guerre was supposed to hit theaters in 2022, but it was removed from the schedule because of Russia's war with Ukraine, as the movie features a Ukrainian antagonist.The action film follows special agent Orson Fortune and his team in their effort to stop the sale of a deadly new weapon technology that threatens to change the world order. For this, Ritchie, who had an estimated $50 million budget, spared no expenses when it came to means of transportation, featuring cars, private helicopters, jets, and yachts.There are several important cars throughout the movie, but the crown jewel seems to be the red Ford Mustang , which also appears in several scenes in the movies trailer.In the movie, famous star Danny Francesco (Hartnett) drives the car in one of the films he stars in. Billionaire arms dealer Greg Simmonds (Hugh Grant) ends up buying it and keeping it in his garage filled with expensive cars. After Danny Francesco visits his house, Greg decides to offer it to him.The pony car in question is one from the model's first generation and seems to be a 1966 version. Based on the badge on the side, it comes with a Windsor 289 cu in engine.The German premium brand was one of the most used common in Operation Fortune: Ruse de Guerre, with an abundance of G-Class examples.Highly versatile, rugged, powerful, and great on any kind of terrain, it makes the perfect car for a spy action movie that involves a lot of traveling, chasing, and running from the bad guys.Ritchie opted for several Mercedes-Benz G-Class units from the current generation. The popular off-roader was introduced in 2018 and is available in different powertrains, both with gasoline and diesel engines. An electric variant, the EQG, is on its way.You cannot have a spy movie without a vehicle where you can sit outside a target's house and plan things.Well, we have one in Operation Fortune: Russe du Guerre, too, with Aubrey Plaza's character Sarah usually getting behind the wheel of the minivan.The V-Class appears in several scenes and it's one from the model's third generation. The minivan has been around for almost three decades, with the German brand introducing it in 1996.Other cars that appear in the movie but make quite an impact are a black Ferrari Testarossa (the U.S. spec), a 1961 Chevrolet Corvette C1, a Lamborghini Gallardo, a few Range Rovers, and a Rolls-Royce that seems to be the Corniche II convertible.Besides cars, we get even more luxury means of transportation. There are several private jets, private helicopters, and even yachts.One lengthy scene of the movie happens on board a multiple-decked, luxurious vessel. The movie introduces the superyacht as Silentium Yacht, and there is a fundraiser event taking place on it in Cannes, France. However, the massive vessel seems to have been renamed for the movie, as there is no yacht out there with that official name.A private MD Helicopters MD-500E is also part of the spy action flick, with the tail number N591E. The MD Helicopters MD 500 are light utility civilian and military helicopters and usually have enough space for two crew members and up to three passengers.There are several other vehicles in the movie, including a Can-Am Maverick X RS Turbo RR, a watercraft, the Sea-Doo Spark , and several motorcycles.Since it's all about luxury, in one of the scenes, Jason Statham's character wears a green dial Panerai Radiomir from which he pulls out a small earpiece to talk to his team.The English film director has helmed several other spy movies before, and many included lots of vehicles.For example, The Man from U.N.C.L.E , starring Henry Cavill, Armie Hammer, and Alicia Vikanderbrought a series of vintage cars. to the screen. Among them, a Land Rover Defender 90, a 1958 Mercedes-Benz L 312 truck, a Citroen Type HY van, a Trabant 1.1, a 1966 Wartburg 1000, and a custom-made Sandrail, among the most important vehicles.When it comes to the 2022 film The Gentlemen, with Matthew McConaughey, Charlie Hunnam, Colin Farrell, and Hugh Grant, we had more modern options. Among them, a Ford Transit MK IV, a Range Rover, a Mercedes-Benz ML 250, and a BMW M3 play lead roles. Other BMWs, Jaguars, and Mercedes-Benz cars appeared in the background.
Photo: Porsche

Photo: Porsche

Photo: Porsche

EV

ICE

Photo: Porsche

Photo: Porsche

The EU recently approved a plan to cut carbon emissions from cars by 100% in 2035. However, Germany was not pleased with the decision not to ensure that synthetic fuels would be exempt from the new regulations. If they arent, the country will vote against them. In practical terms, theyre equivalent to banning combustion engines. For Germany, synthetic fuels are carbon neutral  and that is correct.The main concern with burning fossil fuels is that they are putting back into the atmosphere carbon that was imprisoned under the sol for millions of years. The increase in the amount of carbon in the atmosphere makes the greenhouse effect more pronounced, raising the Earths temperature. For the record, the greenhouse effect is what allows life to bloom on Earth by helping it keep warm temperatures. Without this natural phenomenon, the planet would burn when exposed to the sun and freeze anywhere it did not shine.If any fuel is elaborated with the carbon that already exists in the atmosphere, it decreases the amount of the element in this environment and just returns it when it is consumed. Renewable fuels such as ethanol use plants or biomass to obtain the carbon they need, which plants extract from the air. Synthetic fuels skip the middleman and pull it directly from the atmosphere.Detractors of both solutions argue that it makes no sense to spend energy to manufacture fuel. They also attack renewable fuels with the idea that you could plant food instead of sugarcane or whatever people use to make ethanol. In both cases, the idea that these fuels will keep combustion engines alive is probably what they hate the most. However, this seems to be what Germany wanted to happen.At least one German car company is evaluating and producing synthetic fuels. Thats Porsche , which opened a pilot plant in Chile. The automaker argues that the so-called eFuel would allow current combustion-engined vehicles to run with its sustainable option. However, the implications are much broader than just keeping old cars running. They are also more complex.The decision caused a stir inside the German government, which was formed through an alliance involving SPD, the Green Party, and FDP. Volker Wissing is the German Transport Minister, and he is affiliated with FDP. His decision clashes with what the Green Party defends: a ban on combustion engines. This party also supported ending nuclear energy, which would force Germany to rely even more on Russian gas. Ironically, more and more people now realize that nuclear power is carbon neutral.The Associated Press talked to Benjamin Stephan, a campaigner from Greenpeace, and heard something we frequently hear fromadvocates. According to Stephan, the same amount of electricity will take a battery-electric car five times further than a car powered by synthetic fuels . Thats quite vague: not all EVs present the same efficiency, and that is also the case amongcars: some are better than others in that regard.On average, combustion-engined vehicles can convert around 20% of the chemical energy contained in fuels into movement. That alone would prove Stephan right without the need to include synthetic fuels in this equation. However, the best engines can convert a bit more than 40% of the energy gasoline contains. And there are energy losses in making synthetic fuels that need to be accounted for, so the Greenpeace campaigner could have been wrong either for overestimating or underestimating the whole thing.Jason Fenske, from Engineering Explained, once traveled 1,963 miles (3,159 kilometers) with the same energy contained in 16.6 gallons (62.8 liters) of gasoline. Thats equivalent to 118.3 mpg (1.99 l/100 km or 50.3 km/l). The most efficient pure ICE vehicle for sale in the U.S. is the 2023 Mitsubishi Mirage, with a fuel economy of 39 mpg (6 l/100 km or 16.6 km/l). It is three times less efficient than the Tesla Model 3 Fenske drove.As interesting as the efficiency discussion is, the truth is that it is irrelevant. The argument that governments and environmental protection organizations use to focus on battery-electric vehicles (BEVs) is that ICE vehicles emit carbon because they burn fossil fuels, which causes climate change and may destroy the world. What about mining all raw materials that batteries will need in the quantities necessary to make BEVs? Greenpeace and its pals should have that in mind. Germany wants to keep combustion engines alive by burning synthetic fuel. Italy also said it would not approve the ban. It is worried about its automakers, especially those in Motor Valley. Ferrari and Lamborghini would love synthetic fuel to keep their V8s, V10s, and V12s roaring. Italys Energy Minister said that "Italy believes that the choice of electric should not be the only way to achieve zero emissions in the transition phase."Gilberto Pichetto Fratins choice of words is interesting. If the goal of the EV shift is to end carbon emissions, and it can be solved without exclusively adopting electric solutions, isnt the transition complete? What is left to achieve? What is the transition about: making carbon-neutral cars or electric cars? That is not the same. If a shift to electric vehicles is still the objective, what is the reason for doing so? Simply put, are EVs a means or a goal?Germany and Italy are betting that they are a means. That said, they want other paths to carbon neutrality, and the Germans are even more specific: they want synthetic fuels. In other words, combustion engines that can deal with these fuels. If they can burn the eFuel, ethanol would be a piece of cake. In other words, the machines developed to work with synthetic fuel would deal with any fuel easily as long as they all adopt the Otto cycle.This is the only strategy in which an electric future and the use of combustion engines can coexist: if automakers are given the option of choosing any of them as long as carbon emissions are cut. That will ensure developing countries will still have what to use if EVs are too expensive for most people to buy. If carmakers are forced to ditch combustion engines , poor countries will have to buy whatever they have to offer. Ill develop the idea in my new series of articles on the ICE ban. I hope you join me in the following ones.
But by far one of its most successful collaborations is the deal they have with LEGO. Fans get to experience the beauty of McLaren cars from a young age, be it through complex Technic builds such as the Senna and McL36 or the small and simple Speed Champions sets.Now McLaren has struck yet another deal with a company, which brings together toys and technology. The Artura is going to be prominently featured in Hasbros famous Clue board game to celebrate its relaunch and it will all take place online.If by a miracle someone is not already familiar with Clue, it is a murder mystery game, where people try to uncover clues and make deductions to solve the case. This time, however, that trail of clues will be shared on social media, with a post already up on Instagram.Compared to just sitting around a table with a few friends, this will be a more immersive experience. Animated characters and drip-fed will make people work together to complete a puzzle that introduces a new storyline to Clues already impressive list.The new puzzle revolves around Boddy Black, the ultra-rich character famed for a lavish lifestyle, who owns a McLaren Artura . The new British supercar is not only parked outside Blacks mansion in the trailer but also featured in the latest Clue post.The deal serves as a perfect way to generate more buzz around the companys Artura hybrid supercar. This is a welcome opportunity, considering some of the hype was lost along the way due to delays and McLarens reliability, which at this point is already an internet meme. Albeit, it was not for lack of trying, as the automaker took great care to address all issues.Developing and launching a car through a global pandemic when many suppliers are shut down is definitely a challenge, to say the least. But it is here now, meaning that McLaren finally has a next-gen product on offer.Although one would be forgiven for thinking it is already a few years old considering the design has not evolved much in the past decade. The changes that matter are all on the inside, where combustion meets electricity.The Artura gives up on the trusty McLaren V8 in favor of a V6 capable of 577 hp (585 ps) and 431 lb-ft (584 Nm) of torque all on its own. Extra oompf is provided by an electric motor which adds 94 hp (95 ps) and a hefty 166 ft-lb (225 Nm) of torque, so promoting it through modern means feels fitting.
SUV

EV

Heres the moment it happened: pic.twitter.com/UCgvRzCorA  Gov. Henry McMaster (@henrymcmaster) March 3, 2023

Initially, Volkswagen wanted to task a contract manufacturer with the production, but the plans have changed in light of the IRA. Volkswagen will build the trucks in its own factory to benefit from the incentives offered. The rumors have been floating around for some time, but got more substantial a week ago. Both Scout and Audi were looking to build new factories to start U.S. production at the time.Following a board meeting on Friday, Scout has got its factory. This would be the second production facility Volkswagen will operate in the U.S., after the Chattanooga plant where the ID.4 is produced. There is no word yet about Audi's plant, but it would make sense to build the Q4 e-tron on the same production line with the ID.4, considering the similarities. Meanwhile, it's unclear whether Volkswagen intends to produce an electric pickup alongside the Scout EVs.Although Volkswagen has not made an official announcement at the time of writing, we already know that the Scout Motors factory will break ground in South Carolina. The news was shared on Twitter by the state's governor Henry McMaster Friday morning. According to his tweet, Volkswagen will invest $2 billion in the new factory and employ 4,000 workers to build Scout's electric trucks. Production is expected to start in 2026, in line with the previous target set by Scout Motors and Volkswagen.Volkswagen acquired the Scout brand in 2021 and is now making it the centerpiece of its strategy to conquer the U.S. market. Volkswagen has lacked a pickup truck in its lineup and thinks that's why it could not sell more cars in North America. Scout should be the perfect tool to boost U.S. sales and help Volkswagen gain 10 percent of the market. Being an American brand will no doubt help, not to mention that Scout will produce two of the most popular vehicle types in North America.Like Rivian, Scout Motors intends to produce a pickup truck and an, sharing the same dedicatedplatform. Volkswagen vowed to honor Scout's heritage and make the trucks proper off-roaders, pitching the brand against the likes of Ford Bronco and Jeep Wrangler, like in the good old days. The new company promised to show a concept prototype in 2023, with volume production planned to start in 2026.Volkswagen is still in doubt about the location of a third factory in North America. This one was called "Volkswagen's first gigafactory" and should produce Li-ion batteries to feed Chattanooga and the newly announced Scout factory in South Carolina. Volkswagen wants to build it in Canada to use its vast mineral resources, but no decision has been made about the location.
EV

Also he mentions that the president of mexico was concerned about amount of treated water that will be used by giga mexico to what the governor responded that that there is a water plant really close to the site where giga mexico will be built that most of that treated water is https://t.co/2d2Tm6uXIc  Hery.codes (@Totao) March 3, 2023

It's official: Tesla will break ground in Monterrey to build its next-generation gigafactory, which will assemble next-generation EVs. The location in the northern Mexican state of Nuevo Leon offers important advantages to Tesla, being close to Giga Texas and Tesla's new Lithium refinery in Corpus Christi, TX. Still, according to the latest information, Tesla doesn't intend to make Giga Mexico a "support factory" for Giga Texas.Instead, the Mexican gigafactory is set to become Tesla's biggest car factory in the world, where the most cutting-edge technologies are implemented. Based on the current production capacity of Giga Shanghai, Giga Mexico should go beyond 1 million vehicles per year in production capacity. With traditional manufacturing, this means a bigger assembly plant, so legacy carmakers rarely go above 400,000 units per year at any of their plants.However, Tesla is not a traditional carmaker, and its gigafactories have a different production line layout. That's why Tesla considered the 1 million-per-year production the sweet spot. Until now, that is. During Investor Day, Tesla offered a glimpse into the future with the "Unboxed Vehicle" manufacturing process . This allows more people to work simultaneously on different car sections and shortens the time needed to advance from stamping/casting to the finished vehicle.Tesla will also eliminate many posts from the gigafactory layout by streamlining the production process and using megacastings. This should make the car advance faster on the production line and need less production space. That's why Giga Mexico will not be larger than Giga Shanghai, and it will still be able to have higher production.According to Tom Zhu, who oversees Tesla factories and sales operations in North America and Europe, Tesla will try to break Giga Shanghai's speed record when building the factory. Giga Shanghai took just nine months from breaking ground to the first deliveries. Tom Zhu is qualified to make such promises as the man who pulled it through with construction and production ramp-up in China. If he succeeds again, we'll see Tesla's next-generationrolling off the production line in Monterrey as soon as next year.In the meantime, Tesla fans have already pinpointed the precise Giga Mexico location based on the slide shown at Investor Day. The site is next to two important highways, benefiting from high-power electrical lines and an electrical substation nearby. Also, Nuevo Leon governor, Samuel Garcia, has dismissed concerns about the scarce water reserves in the area. According to Garcia, there is a water plant nearby where the water is underutilized because there aren't many businesses in the area.
EV

Photo: VW

The TikTok controversy

Photo: Volkswagen

TikTok on VW cars

Photo: Volkswagen

Mercedes adopting TikTok as well

Photo: Mercedes

TikTok response

Announced this week at MWC, in Barcelona, the app store is the work of VW Groups software unit Cariad. It will make its way to vehicles manufactured by all brands in the group, starting this summer with Audi The app store will be the home of both first- and third-party apps. VW says all vehicles in the group will use it eventually, including not only cheap Skoda models, but also expensive Porsches. The carmaker hopes the huge number of vehicles running the app store would serve as an incentive for developers to bring their apps to the platform.Initially, the app store will launch this summer on select Audi models with a limited number of supported categories, such as music, video conferencing, weather, parking, gaming,charging, and news. More apps would follow shortly, including navigation solutions.VW Group says it has specifically worked with several companies to prepare for the launch of the platform. Spotify, Vivaldi , Yelp, and TikTok are some of the biggest names.TikTok has become an Internet phenomenon, as the adoption of the service skyrocketed in the last years. The parent company, however, has been accused of ties with the Chinese government, with American officials claiming TikTok could be used to harvest user data.No proof has been provided, but eventually, TikTok ended up being banned on government devices.The latest country to do it is Canada, as the local authorities have requested the removal of TikTok from government-issued devices.Officials said the app presents an unacceptable level of risk to privacy and security, adding that the ban is just a precaution.TikTok continues to be available on consumer devices, but authorities recommend individuals to take into account the privacy risks that are involved with using an app from a Chinese company.The launch of the social media service in VW Groups vehicles, therefore, comes at a time when TikTok is under heavy fire from governments across the world.With a car-optimized experience specifically aimed at drivers and passengers, TikTok helps Volkswagen target young drivers who account for an important share of the apps user base.The carmaker is fully aware of the controversy surrounding TikTok. This is why the application comes with several restrictions in place, including limitations to how users will interact with TikTok.The application will only allow browsing the existing content, as creating and uploading videos will be blocked. Volkswagen cars dont come with a selfie camera that would allow such activities, but the German group says its main intention is to only allow drivers and passengers to consume content.Of course, TikTok will be blocked when the vehicle is in motion. VW says that by design, third-party apps installed from the new store are not allowed to write any files to the software that powers the vehicle.VW isnt the only carmaker that brings TikTok to its vehicles. Back in February, Mercedes also announced that TikTok will be a first-class resident of its new operating system, called MB.OS.Just like in the case of VW, Mercedes will only allow passengers to watch TikTok content when the vehicle is parked. The app will run on the display on the dashboard, as well as on the rear-seat infotainment system for passengers traveling in the back.Mercedes did not detail the restrictions that it put in place to limit the access of the app to its software, but for now, uploading content is also blocked. However, the companys CEO acknowledged the popularity of TikTok, explaining that the app is very, very relevant right now, especially in China.The S-Class is particularly popular for customers aged 40 or even lower, Mercedes says, and this age group is believed to consume TikTok content on a daily basis.Despite government bans, TikTok is trying to do business as usual, and its expansion in the automotive industry helps reach more potential customers.Regarding the ban, TikTok says no evidence has ever been offered on any possible ties with the Chinese government. That said, the company believes the bans are unfounded, emphasizing that its willing to collaborate with officials on ensuring the privacy and security of users.India banned TikTok on consumer devices back in 2020 citing national security concerns. Several other countries followed in Indias footsteps and announced similar restrictions, including Indonesia and Pakistan.The United States is yet to announce a full ban on TikTok, but local officials are currently insisting on removing the app from government-owned devices.TikToks expansion in vehicles could, therefore, cause new concerns in countries where the offensive against the Chinese service gains traction, but so far, none of the involved parties discussed banning the app in cars.
The two ministers met in New Delhi on the sidelines of a conference on international security attended by many foreign leaders.

The Russian Foreign Ministry said they discussed Russian-Armenian relations as well as regional issues and the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict in particular. It said Lavrov stressed the importance of intensifying efforts on all tracks of the Armenian-Azerbaijani normalization in accordance with the agreements between the leaders of Russia, Armenia and Azerbaijan.

The Armenian Foreign Ministry likewise reported that Lavrov and Mirzoyan reviewed progress towards the normalization of Armenian-Azerbaijani relations, the restoration of transport links between the two South Caucasus states and the demarcation of their long border. Azerbaijans continuing blockade of the sole road connecting Karabakh to Armenia was also on the agenda, it said in a statement.

The Russian readout of the talks made no mention of the blockade. Russia has repeatedly called for its lifting as have the United States and other Western powers.

Visiting Baku earlier this week, Lavrov also indicated Moscows opposition to Azerbaijans desire to set up a checkpoint at the Lachin corridor. He said this would run counter to the 2020 ceasefire agreement that placed the corridor under the control of Russian peacekeepers.

Speaking after talks with Azerbaijani Foreign Minister Jeyhun Bayramov, Lavrov also reaffirmed his readiness to host talks between his Armenian and Azerbaijani counterparts. He noted that Yerevan has not yet given its final consent.

The three ministers were scheduled to meet in Moscow in late December. The Armenian side cancelled the meeting in protest against the Azerbaijani blockade. Moscow criticized the move.

Russian-Armenian relations have soured in recent months because of what Yerevan sees as Russias reluctance to support its main regional ally locked in the protracted conflict with Azerbaijan. Armenian leaders have also accused the Russians of doing little to unblock the Lachin corridor.

Russian officials have strongly denied that. They have chided Yerevan for asking the European Union to send monitors to Armenias border with Azerbaijan.

The Russian Foreign Ministry has claimed that the EUs monitoring mission launched last month is part of the Wests efforts of squeeze Russia out of the South Caucasus and use the Karabakh conflict in the standoff over Ukraine.

The ministry said that Lavrovs latest meeting with Mirzoyan took place in a friendly and trusting atmosphere.

While in New Delhi, the Armenian minister also met with the EUs foreign and security policy chief, Josep Borrell. His press office said both men praised the recent deployment of some 100 EU monitors to Armenian border areas.

The EUs top official, Charles Michel, is now understood to be trying to host a fresh Armenian-Azerbaijani summit in Brussels.
Firefighters have been tackling a massive blaze at a Hong Kong high-rise in a busy shopping area.

Several levels of the structure were engulfed in flames when a fire broke out on a construction site in the Tsim Sha Tsui area during the reconstruction of The Mariners' Club. In the highly populated region, debris was spotted falling from the building.

Hong Kong Skyscraper Blaze

No injuries have been recorded since the fire broke out at 11 p.m. on Thursday, local time (3 p.m. GMT). The Empire Group's rehabilitation proposal called for the construction of a 42-story landmark structure with a club and a new hotel.

Just witnessed a catastrophic high-rise building fire at the Mariners' Club in Tism Sha Tsui, Hong Kong. After years of studying and researching building fires, it's surreal to see it happen in person. Praying that the fire is extinguished soon.  pic.twitter.com/PPNvnPnORU  NAN Zhuojun (@ZhuojunNan) March 2, 2023

Another Video-Fire hits #skyscraper being built on site of old Mariners Club in Hong Kongs #tsimshatsui.



Scaffolding around the building engulfed in flames & burning embers from the building in Middle Road Tsim Sha Tsui ignited objects on the ground#NEWS #fire #HongKong pic.twitter.com/Xu8jjiE72y  Chaudhary Parvez (@ChaudharyParvez) March 3, 2023

The Hong Kong location is bordered by more hotels, a commercial mall, and residential units. According to the police, four additional neighboring structures also caught fire but were subsequently extinguished.

The number of persons evacuated from a building near the incident site has not been disclosed by officials. Tsim Sha Tsui is a popular tourist attraction and commercial district in Hong Kong, renowned for its skyscrapers and views of Victoria Harbour, as per Sky News.

The fire finally reached the fourth level of severity on a scale of five, and roughly 130 residents of three nearby buildings were evacuated early on Friday morning out of worry that it may spread.

According to Al Jazeera, several stories of the building, including the scaffolding, were engulfed in flames, and flaming debris filled the air. Many dropped to the ground. The authorities said at 8:00 am (00:00 GMT) that while the fire was under control, firefighters were still battling the blaze.

Six nearby buildings, including the three that were evacuated and the Sheraton Hong Kong Hotel & Towers, caught fire, but the fires were contained, according to the police.

The fire, which was plainly visible in the night sky across the harbor, drew throngs of observers. The 42-story building that caught fire was nearing completion and was part of a $6 billion ($764 million) rehabilitation project by the developer Empire Group.

Read Also: Greece Train Crash Death Toll Increases, Tragedy Sparks Anger

Authorities Conduct Investigation of the Incident's Cause

Hong Kong police were probing the origin of a massive fire that broke out overnight at a construction. According to the company's website, the Empire Group planned to construct a 42-story architectural monument to house the historic Mariners' Club and a new hotel.

The fire was substantially doused by 8:30 a.m., according to Keung Sai-ming, deputy chief fire officer. The fire had been fought for almost nine hours.

Keung stated that when firemen got at the area on Thursday evening, flames were visible on many floors of the structure, but only temporary firefighting equipment was available.

"The building is still under construction, therefore the firefighting apparatus typically seen in other structures is not yet operational. We had several obstacles since we required a significant number of personnel to provide water to the extremely high floors to battle the fire," he explained.

Per The Washington Post, he noted that the building materials, such as wooden planks and metal bars, made it impossible for fire firefighters to move about. The area is flanked by a retail complex, a number of hotels, and residential and business structures. Early in the evening, throngs of people gathered on the street to see 250 firefighters and paramedics perform an operation.

"Last evening was pretty breezy. "According to our count, the blazing debris was flown towards five structures," said Keung.

"Parts of the balconies of two of the buildings, a hotel and a business structure, caught fire. Thankfully, our on-call cops swiftly extinguished them," Keung added.

As daylight came, the fire was far less severe than it had been hours earlier, although flames were still visible on numerous storeys. The external walls of the structure were charred, and portions of its scaffolding seemed unstable. Authorities said that a resident of a nearby building was frightened and felt ill, and was subsequently sent to a hospital. In addition, another nearby person felt ill and went to the hospital, they said.

Related Article: VIDEO: Watch Tornadoes, Severe Storms Hit Texas, Louisiana

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Russian President Vladimir Putin alleges that on Thursday, a Ukrainian sabotage gang crossed into a Russian border area and began firing on residents.

Border town Lyubechane saw "saboteurs from Ukraine" open fire on a civilian automobile, injuring a 10-year-old kid and killing two adults, according to the governor of the Bryansk region, per BBC.

Russian President Vladimir Putin referred to it as a "terrorist act" of a group that targeted civilians in a televised message amid the Russia-Ukraine war.

"They won't achieve anything. We will crush them," Vladimir Putin remarked, according to NBC News.

According to a statement sent by Russia's FSB internal security service to the official news outlet Tass, Russian special forces and the Russian army are now engaged in a battle to eliminate "an armed group of Ukrainian nationalists" who have crossed into Russia from Ukraine.

Mykhaylo Podolyak, an adviser to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, called it "a classic deliberate provocation" on Twitter to justify an assault on another nation.

Read Also: Greta Thunberg Arrested in Norway

Ukraine and the United States have expressed concern that Russia is planning so-called "false flag" assaults along Russia's border with Ukraine as a pretext for military escalation. This includes Russian accusations before last year's full-scale invasion that Ukraine was sending "saboteurs" across the Russian border, according to a CNN report.

Russia Tightens Border Security

The Bryansk area is bordered on the south by Ukraine and on the west by Belarus, a close Russian ally country that aided Moscow forces in the Russian-Ukraine war.

Social media posts and videos purportedly from the Russian Volunteer Corps went viral after the claimed incident occurred.

Although calling itself "a volunteer formation in the Armed Forces of Ukraine" opposing Putin, the group denied involvement by a Ukrainian sabotage unit.

Vladimir Putin ordered officials to strengthen border controls with Ukraine after the Kremlin claimed Kyiv-launched drones had flown far into Russian territory, including one near Moscow.

Related Article: New Head of UN World Food Program

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The new Ballymena Spitfire mural in Drumtara, Ballymena. Photo by David Pettard.

A new mural in Co Antrim recognising the collective efforts of the community during World War Two to raise money for the Belfast Telegraph Spitfire fund, has been unveiled.

The mural in Ballymenas Drumtara estate was funded by a Housing Executive community cohesion grant of almost 5,000.

It features the iconic aircraft, figures depicting Royal Air Force personnel, and the RAFs badge with the motto 'Per ardua ad astra', which translates from Latin to through adversity to the stars.

Seven Towers Community Association carried out the re-imaging project at the site after the old World War One mural deteriorated.

Belfast Telegraphs Spitfire fund raised an impressive 88,633 16s 5d - the equivalent of about 2.9m in todays money - as part of a UK-wide fund-raising effort in 1940.

It was enough to buy 17 Spitfires used by the RAF during WWII.

'Belfast', one of the fighters from the Belfast Telegraph Spitfire Fund

Northern Ireland's twelfth Spitfire, which had the serial number P7835 ZF-S, was named Ballymena in tribute to the local people who donated to the fund.

The other 16 planes - Aldergrove, Antrim, Armagh, Bangor, Belfast, City of Derry, Down, Enniskillen, Fermanagh, Harlandic, Larne, Londonderry, Mid-Ulster, Mountains O'Mourne, Portadown and Tyrone - were named in recognition of similar fundraising efforts.

Ballymena flew with many RAF squadrons but went missing over France on July 24, 1941.

The Polish pilot Jozef Czachowski is believed to have been killed by enemy action.

It was one of 20,000 Supermarine Spitfires that were produced during the war and the aircraft remained in production throughout WWII and until 1948.

Seven Towers Community Associations chairperson Tam Balmer, said the mural has instilled a sense of pride among residents.

Additionally, the project aims to foster a strong sense of community spirit and encourage conversations around the themes of shared sacrifice, progress, and cultural expression, he said.

This mural serves as a reminder of the collective efforts made by people in the past to defeat fascism and achieve greatness through collaboration, inspiring people to work together towards a better future.

Housing Executive Good Relations Officer John Read said: We are thrilled with the artist's work and the successful outcome of this re-imaging project.

The Spitfire is iconic and the mural recalls a time when the community rallied together for the common good.

Seven Towers Community Association has done a sterling job in making the mural happen and feedback from the residents has been overwhelmingly positive.

We take pride in supporting projects that improve areas and promote community cohesion.
The agreement has brought renewed optimism to companies who have struggled in recent times

Paul Vallely of Kukoon Rugs says the Windsor Framework has brought vital clarity to businesses in Northern Ireland. Photo: Frank McGrath

Clarity and confidence will be the biggest gains for business from this weeks Windsor Framework, which is designed to break the impasse on trading relations that dogged the Northern Ireland Protocol.
New lease of life awaits Shankill building lying vacant since 2014

Nelson Memorial Church is on the market for 195,000

The building on Nelson Square has been boarded up since 2014

The interior of Nelson Memorial Church, which is on the market for 195,000

Nelson Memorial Church was built by the sister of Rev Isaac Nelson in his memory

The organ of Nelson Memorial Church, which is on the market for 195,000

An historic church off Belfasts Shankill Road funded by a devoted sister in tribute to her clergyman and MP brother has gone on the market for 195,000.

According to A History of Congregations at the Presbyterian Church in Ireland 1610 to 1982, Nelson Memorial was built after Elizabeth Nelson left thousands of pounds to trustees for a church to be built in memory of Rev Isaac Nelson.

Rev Nelson was a minister at First Comber Presbyterian and Donegall Street, but later resigned his religious roles to take up a position as MP for Mayo.

He is remembered in the Dictionary of Irish Biography as a champion of liberal causes whose support of Home Rule and the Land League put him at odds with many colleagues.

But Nelson Memorial, which first opened in 1897, has not been used by a congregation since 2014.

The listed building was designed by architect William J Gilliland, who was also behind the Crumlin Road Methodist Church and a bank building on High Street, Belfast.

The interior of Nelson Memorial Church, which is on the market for 195,000

Selling agent Johnny McLarnon of estate agents UPS said a property developer with interests in the area had originally bought the church for redevelopment.

But Mr McLarnon said the owner did not go ahead with the project and had instead decided to put the former church on the market.

He said he believed the building, which is off Nelson Square, could be given a new lease of life by a future buyer.

It could have multiple uses, perhaps as the home of an institution or as an arts venue.

Its a beautiful building but does have elements of damage so money does need to be spent on it.

UPS said the inside of the building was an example of superior craftsmanship and described it as one of the finest church interiors in the city.

The building offers unlimited potential and is adaptable to a wide variety of uses, they said.

Nelson Memorial Church was built by the sister of Rev Isaac Nelson in his memory

A spokesman for the Presbyterian Church in Ireland said Nelson Memorial closed in 2014 when its congregation amalgamated with Immanuel Presbyterian on Agnes Street, off the Crumlin Road.

Ciaran Fox, director of the Royal Society of Ulster Architects, said there were many precedents around Belfast for old church buildings to be given a new lease of life. Uses have included residential developments and in one case, a restaurant.

He said: There have been many very successful church conversions. My sense is that the new uses have predominantly been cultural, for example Culturlann MacAdam O Fiaich on the Falls Road or the Duncairn Arts Centre on the Antrim Road.

However, we also have Christ Church in the city centre which the Royal Belfast Academical Institution (RBAI) converted to a library and IT centre, and more recently the Chapel of the Resurrection which has been converted into apartments.

That project has just been shortlisted for the RSUA Design Awards 2023. Each building and location brings its own unique potential for a new use.

The building on Nelson Square has been boarded up since 2014

The project at the Chapel of the Resurrection was carried out by developers Alskea, which described their creation as a luxury development of apartments with impressive views both over Belfast Lough and Cavehill.

And Elmwood Hall in south Belfast, also a former Presbyterian Church, had been successfully turned into an arts venue, Mr Fox added.

Another former Presbyterian Church is on sale for 650,000 through selling agents OConnor Kennedy Turtle. But 159 to 161 Donegall Pass has already gone through two incarnations since its religious use ended. First, it was converted into Chinese restaurant The Water Margin.

After The Water Margin closed, the church built in 1873 and designed by Belfast architects Young & Mackenzie. became the home of the Belfast Multi-Cultural Association.

But the building was hit by arson attacks in 2021 and 2022, leading to a decision by the BMCA to leave the building.
The Barge, which formerly belonged to Sean Quinn, has been sold for 3.75m

A high-profile Dublin pub formerly owned by ex-tycoon Sean Quinn has been sold to a hospitality group based in the north-west for over 3m.

The exact sale price of The Barge in Dublin 2 has not been disclosed but is understood to have sold for close to its guide price of 3.75m (3.3m).

The Charlemont Street venue, described by selling agents CBRE as one of the citys landmark licensed premises, has been bought by McCaffertys, a pub chain led by Co Donegals Declan Boyle.

CBRE said the area had been transformed in recent ties following the completion of nearby mixed-use development Charlemont Square, which is anchored by Amazon.

The agency described McCaffertys as an established pub chain spearheaded by Donegal native Declan Boyle.

McCaffertys also has pubs in the wider north-west of Ireland, with three in Donegal, as well as in the UK, Spain, Dubai and Abu Dhabi.

The Barge and another Dublin pub, JW Sweetman, were both put on the market on behalf of liquidators for the Irish Bank Resolution Corporation.

They had been owned by Quinn Hospitality Ireland Operations, once part of the vast business interests of Co Fermanaghs Sean Quinn, before the collapse of his empire.

The combined sale price for the two pubs amounted to 8.75m (7.8m), CBRE said.

In a deal which completed at the end of last year, JW Sweetman on Burgh Quay was bought by the Mahon family, after they outbid mixed martial arts fighter Conor McGregor.

The Mahon family have major pub interests in New York and own Kennedys bar on Westland Row in Dublin.

John Hughes, director of CBRE in Dublin, said: The sale of The Barge and JW Sweetman confirmed the strong level of interest in landmark Dublin city locations. The sales were concluded following a competitive bid process, with the properties exceeding price expectations.
Social media chef Jade Greenhalgh has been described as humble, focused and earnest by Gordon Ramsay after being crowned the winner of Next Level Chef.

The 34-year-old from Lancashire fought off the competition during the final of the ITV cooking show, which sees aspirational chefs battle in a variety of challenges under mentorship from Ramsay, Nyesha Arrington and Paul Ainsworth.

Following Jades win, 56-year-old chef and restaurateur Ramsay, who had Jade on his team during the series, said: Jade is the absolute character that Next Level Chef personifies: humble, focused, earnest.

Earnest is something that you dont see a lot in todays world, especially in cooking as its all flamboyant.

Her approach is just so goddamn down to earth. There is something quite steely about her focus.

While American chef Arrington, 41, said: Jade, her focus and her energy.

Yes she was able to transform beautiful ingredients in the way that she does, but the intangible was the love that she put into the food.

Without sounding too cheesy, it is truly her superpower.

Fellow mentor and chef Ainsworth, 44, added: Jade is a worthy winner.

I really, really wanted Jade on my team, and even though she wasnt, we had a good bond.

When you see someone like Jade who had her break on social media in lockdown, cooking on a budget winning a show like this.

Im just so pleased I got to witness her trajectory.

The series, which originally aired on American TV network Fox, arrived in the UK for the first time earlier this year.

The show is set across three kitchens on three different levels, from a top-tier kitchen utopia to a basement level with scraps  as contestants vie to progress to the next level.

It is set to challenge the contestants creativity, agility, flare and expertise and determine how the budding chefs fare under the best of circumstances  as well as what they can create in the worst.

Gordon Ramsay and his former protege Paul Ainsworth are both mentors on Next Level Chef (National Geographic/Justin Mandel/PA)   National Geographic/Justin Mandel

Following her win, Jade said: Its been life changing.

Although I absolutely loved cooking before the competition, creating recipes, now its just taken it to another level.

I found it challenging but I feel like I learnt so much along the way.

Detailing the toughest element of the show, she said: Ive never pushed myself ever in my life as much as I did in that competition.

So probably for me, it was the long hours  they take their toll and Id just flop into bed every night because you are just absolutely exhausted.

Physically but also mentally because you have to give it your all every time you cook.

But its so worth it, every second. It was amazing.

Jade also admitted that being on Ramsays team was a great experience.

At first, I felt it wasnt real. Then after I got over the shock of being in the same room as him, it just felt really comfortable, she said.

He was such a supportive figure. He really took on the mentorship role, he was so helpful.

I did think it was going to be really scary and daunting but you just get into it and it felt really comfortable.

As the winner, Jade will receive a cash prize of 100,000 and a one-year mentorship under all three judges.

Next Level Chef is available to stream on ITVX.
Spencer Matthews who is attempting to retrace the steps of his older brother Michael with the help of survivalist Bear Grylls and record-breaking mountaineer Nims Purja for the documentary Finding Michael (Disney+/PA)   Disney+

Spencer Matthews said he watched footage of his older brother Michael for the first time since he disappeared on Mount Everest in 1999 while making documentary Finding Michael.

The Disney+ film will see 34-year-old Matthews attempt to find the body of his brother, who vanished three hours after becoming the youngest Briton to reach the summit of Everest at the age of 22.

The former Made In Chelsea star said his brother Michael was everything to me, and the pair were often described as twins separated by time despite the age gap.

In the film, Matthews attempts to retrace Michaels steps with the help of survivalist Bear Grylls and 14 peak record-holding mountaineer Nirmal Nims Purja  who leads the search and rescue mission.

Canadian climber Dave Rodney, who had been on the expedition with Michael, also features in the film.

Matthews said: Dave in particular brought to the table footage from the 1999 expedition of Mike and Dave climbing and Mikes attitude to the mountain and I actually had never, prior to flying to Canada to meet Dave, had never seen Mike on camera ever.

We werent the kind of family that made home videos and when I said to mum and dad, when we agreed to make this documentary, I said I need all footage of Mike and they said We dont have any.

Spencer Matthews with Nirmal Nims Purja (Disney+/PA)   Disney+

Fortunately, Dave had this incredible film that I hadnt seen so I saw it in Canada for the first time and its the first time Id heard Michael speak since he was alive, since I was 10.

Mr Rodney said that Michael was the best mate I could ever have hoped for on the mountain, and he is honoured and humbled to be a part of the documentary.

He said: Our dream was to be together on summit day. Sadly, although we climbed every single day of the expedition, together on summit day, we were not. I was to be with two other people and he was to be with his guide.

I only found out the next day that he had not come down and 40 below had become 50 below and breezes became hurricane winds.

Jamie Everett, Spencer Matthews and Dave Rodney attending the premiere of the documentary, Finding Michael (Belinda Jiao/PA)   Belinda Jiao

But Im so pleased that Spencer and Bear and the crew have filmed something that is I think going to be not only legendary, itll touch absolutely everyone whos experienced grief and loss and help them through that process.

TV presenter and executive producer Grylls also explained his connection to Michael.

Michael was a young man that I met a few months before he set off to climb Everest, Id climbed it the year before, he said.

He was going to be a year younger than me and I was all fired up and came for a chat and I was full of You gotta go for it, youre gonna smash it.

Spencer Matthews and Bear Grylls (Belinda Jiao/PA)   Belinda Jiao

There was definitely a meeting of minds and spirit with a fellow young guy who wanted to stand on top of the world. Obviously then when the disaster happened and Michael never came home it was a devastating blow for everyone.

Twenty years on to watch Spencer now as a man, as a father, as a husband wanting to try and recover his body and tell Michaels story was a privilege to be a small part of.

Ive always felt a bit of a shadow and a friend to Spencer ever since I met him just after Michael died up there and to see his journey come full circle is special.

Matthews described the film as a story about brotherly love and hopes the film moves and helps people, adding that the reaction so far had been incredibly humbling.

Finding Michael, directed by Tom Beard, is set to premiere on Disney+ on Friday.
A decision to grant a Belfast neurologist voluntary removal from the medical register is to be quashed, a High Court judge has ruled.

Mr Justice McAlinden held that a Medical Practitioners Tribunal (MPT) had no jurisdiction to deal with Dr Michael Watts application because fitness to practise proceedings were not properly underway.

In a withering assessment, he described the alleged circumstances surrounding the decision taken in private as frankly shocking.

The verdict came in a challenge by some who were treated by the medic at the centre of Northern Irelands biggest ever patient recall.

In October 2021 the former Royal Victoria Hospital consultant was allowed a Voluntary Erasure (VE) from the register.

It meant he would not face a public hearing about any fitness to practise issues.

Former patients Danielle ONeill and Michael McHugh both issued judicial review proceedings against the MPT.

The court heard Dr Watt appeared to have received a get out of jail free card.

Dessie Hutton KC, for Ms ONeill, said his client was among a legion of alleged malpractice victims denied public scrutiny of the clinical care they received.

They got notification of a decision taken during a secret or private hearing, he submitted.

Its something of an understatement to say that decision was met with dismay throughout this jurisdiction. Outrage might be a more appropriate term to categorise reaction.

Mr Hutton claimed staggering numbers of patients were initially recalled and then informed they had either been misdiagnosed or administered treatments not clinically indicated.

In the context of this extraordinary recall, with extraordinary consequences, and where accountability and transparency was expected, this decision looks like something of a get out of jail free card for the doctor concerned, counsel argued.

Stressing the sacred trust imbued in the General Medical Council (GMC) and the tribunal, he told the court: They are the bodies that look after the health professionals that look after us.

Instead, the barrister contended, Dr Watt came off the medical register at an unlawful and contrived hearing which the MPT had no power to conduct.

What effect does that have on the promotion and maintenance of public confidence in the medical profession? Mr Hutton asked.

This is quite clearly an exercise in corner cutting. Its a contrivance and it is a jurisdictional power-grab by the MPT.

Ronan Lavery KC, for Mr McHugh, backed claims that no hearing took place to deal with the burning concerns of patients about alleged medical impairment.

What occurred instead had the appearances of a Voluntary Erasure application being deliberately slotted in to avoid a fitness to practise hearing.

During a series of exchanges, Mr Justice McAlinden expressed alarm at how the issue was dealt with.

At its most charitable view this is a gross misunderstanding of the statutory framework; at its least charitable interpretation its a bit of a fix up, he commented.

This is something that somebody with a GCSE in law should know.

The judge observed that a Voluntary Erasure application appeared to have been put before the tribunal by sleight of hand.

On what I have seen this is frankly shocking, he added.

David Dunlop KC, for Dr Watt, argued that it had been perfectly legitimate for the MPT to convene a preliminary hearing on what it recognised was an exceptional case.

But the judge held that what took place was a legal nullity.

He ruled: I find that the tribunal had no jurisdiction to hear the Voluntary Erasure because (it) had not yet begun hearing the fitness to practise issues.

I quash the Voluntary Erasure order made by the tribunal in this case.

Amid a round of applause from former patients in court, Mr Justice McAlinden went on: If Dr Watt wishes to make such an application he will have to make that application afresh, and it will have to be considered and determined by the GMC in strict accordance with the statutory framework they are bound to comply with.

Outside court Ms ONeills solicitor, Claire McKeegan of Phoenix Law, said the MPT will now have to deal with Dr Watt in an open and transparent hearing.

Our clients have sent a message that he cannot hide, she added.

Ciaran OHare of McIvor Farrell, representing Mr McHugh, claimed the case had uncovered a disturbing situation.

He said: The Court's ruling is a revelation with regards to the need for those who are responsible for safeguarding the medical profession to be entirely scrupulous when applying the rigour of the law."
One of the men accused of murdering Shane Whitla has been refused bail after a judge said the risk of releasing him was too great due to his previous charge in connection with the gangland killing of Malcolm McKeown.

While defence counsel for Jake OBrien claimed the case against the 27-year-old was inherently weak, District Judge Bernie Kelly said defence submissions do not address the elephant in the room.

OBrien has been on bail for the murder of McKeown for over three years.

At Craigavon Magistrates Court, the judge added: He is alleged to have committed a murder while on bail for another alleged murder. The risk of further offending has to be through the roof.

OBrien, from Church Walk in Lurgan, appeared via video link from jail on Friday. He is one of three men accused of the murder of Mr Whitla on January 12, and of possessing a firearm with intent to endanger life.

While he remains in custody, the two co-accused, Kevin Conway (25), from Deeney Drive in Lurgan and 29-year-old Joshua Cotter of Madrid Street in Belfast, are both on bail.

Murder accused Jake O'Brien

According to the police case, there is a working hypothesis the trio are active members of an organised crime gang known as The Firm and that the shooting of Mr Whitla was a result of a drugs feud over a debt.

Detectives have claimed that Conway rang Mr Whitla four times on January 12 and it was those calls that caused the 39-year-old father-of-four to go to an alleyway off Woodville Street in Lurgan where he was shot, allegedly by Cotter and OBrien.

While police believe they can link Conway to a mobile, which was in contact with Mr Whitla before the murder and OBrien before and after the killing, detectives also say CCTV evidence places OBrien and Cotter close to the scene.

Meanwhile, forensics tests on soaking wet clothing seized from Cotters home, which he claimed OBrien gave him, has uncovered a significant amount of indicative cartridge residue particles.

This supports a contention the clothing was close to a primary source of cartridge discharge residue, such as a gun being fired.

A PSNI detective constable told court today that police had serious concerns that, given OBriens alleged membership of The Firm and his previous offending, the likelihood of breaches would be extremely high.

He said there were also fears that if OBrien was to be released, it could lead to reprisal attacks as police held intelligence that dissident republicans had issued threats against The Firm, revealing that OBrien has received TM1 threat documents.

While that threat had resulted in Conway being subjected to a 23-hour lockdown while he was in jail, a status which partially swayed the judges decision to free him, the detective further revealed that OBrien was not subject to any such strictures.

The detective also submitted that having spoken to 30 witnesses, as well as local residents, police had encountered a real fear in the community, so other witnesses may be hesitant in coming forward if he was released.

He added that, to date, OBriens and his legal team had put forward five proposed bail addresses, none of which were suitable. The latest one, at Patrick Street in Newry, doesnt exist.

With the tenant of another proposed address allegedly lying to police, he said already stretched officers are being led on a wild goose chase to ascertain the suitability of bail addresses.

Defence counsel Michael Forde highlighted that even taking the police case at its height, all they had was CCTV of Cotter and OBrien half an hour before the shooting and clothing which may or may not have evidence of cartridge residue particles, which they cannot connect to bullet casings retrieved in the alley where Mr Whitla was shot.

However, the detective constable argued that while police have not yet obtained the murder weapon, enquiries are ongoing and there was also the mobile phone evidence.

Mr Forde said the case against OBrien is such that there was an argument that he cannot be connected to the murder let alone remanded in custody on inherently weak evidence.

Malcolm McKeown was gunned down in Waringstown in 2019

Conceding that OBrien is on bail for the murder of McKeown, who was gunned down in Waringstown in 2019, the barrister argued he had been on bail for three-and-a-half years in relation to that case with no trial yet in sight. He added that while there had been breaches, other judges saw fit to re-release him.

Judge Kelly said there are no conditions that I can think of which she could attach to OBriens current bail order which would lessen the risks and concerns.

Remanding OBrien into custody, she adjourned the case to next Friday when his co-accused are due to have their cases mentioned again.
Details of a "gratuitous and frenzied" attack which claimed the life of a 61-year-old Latvian national were heard in court today.

Ludmila Poletelova was struck in the head 50 times with a claw hammer by her friend.

Belfast Crown Court was told Ms Poletelova's remains were discovered in the living room of her flat at Lodge Court in Limavady in April 2021. Following this, her friend and fellow Latvian woman Svetlana Svedova (47) was arrested.

Despite her initial denials, Svedova, with an address at College Court in Limavady, admitted battering her friend to death with the hammer and pleaded guilty to a charge of murder last December.

She has been told she will serve a life sentence.

After listening to submissions from the Crown and defence, Mr Justice O'Hara said he wanted time to reflect, adding he would set the tariff next Thursday. This will be the minimum term Svedova will serve in prison before she is considered eligible for release by parole commissioners.

Prosecuting barrister Mark Farrell outlined that Ms Poletelova had been living and working in Northern Ireland for 12 years before she was murdered.

Describing the mother-of-two as a "quiet lady who kept herself to herself", Mr Farrell said that when Svedova arrived in Limavady in 2020, the victim supported her financially and helped her to settle in.

In April 2021, both were working in a local wine bar. On the 22nd, Ms Poletelova failed to turn up for her shift.

As this was unusual, her boss asked a friend to call at her flat. When they arrived, they noticed that her front door was ajar.

Ms Poletelova was found lying face down in the living room with substantial wounds to her head. Emergency services were called, but she was pronounced dead at 1pm.

A post-mortem examination concluded she died from blunt force trauma caused by in excess of 50 blows to the head and skull area.

The pathologist also noted a fractured eye socket and defensive wounds to her wrist and hands.

A murder investigation was launched and police viewed CCTV from in and around the Lodge Court area. Footage captured Svedova arriving at her friend's flat at around noon on April 20 and leaving again just before midnight.

Footage also showed Svedova carrying two bags, one of which she placed in a bin in Irish Street.

Mr Farrell said: "It's the prosecution's belief that this was the disposal of the murder weapon, which we assert was a claw hammer."

On April 21, Svedova took a taxi to a local rental property agency and paid 520 cash for rent arrears. When Ms Poletelova failed to turn up for her shift at the wine bar the following day, Svedova filled in.

Noticing Svedova had injuries on her arms and was asking people in work if she was being blamed for Ms Poletelova's death, their boss contacted the PSNI.

She was arrested at her workplace on suspicion of murder on April 25 and during questioning admitted she had been at Ms Poletelova's flat that on the 20th. However, she claimed that when she left, Ms Poletelova was alive and well.

In a pre-prepared statement to police, Svedova said she and the deceased were friends, that Ms Poletelova often loaned her money which she paid back and that on the 20th they had been drinking together, but denied attacking her with a claw hammer.

However, the mother-of-one subsequently admitted the murder.

Mr Farrell spoke of the "repeated, gratuitous and frenzied nature of the attack. When asked by Mr Justice O'Hara if robbery could have been the motive, given that Svedova paid cash to the rental company after the murder, Mr Farrell said this could not be proven by the Crown.

This issue was addressed by defence barrister Alan Kane KC, who said Svedova claimed the cash had been given to her by her son.

Branding the victim as a "quiet and kindly soul" who offered support to Svedova when she arrived in Limavady, Mr Kane said his client "has expressed, through me, her deepest remorse for her conduct.

Mr Kane said it was Svedova's case that while the pair were drinking on the Tuesday afternoon, Ms Poletelova made negative comments about her parents and background which "triggered the attack.

Mr Justice O'Hara said that as Svedova had failed to previously mention this, he wasn't obliged to accept that claim.
A Pennsylvania court has released records in the Idaho student killings case, showing that police recovered a knife during a search on the perpetrator's parents' house in Pennsylvania.

On December 30, the FBI and Pennsylvania State Police conducted a nocturnal tactical operation and captured suspect Bryan Kohberger at his parents' home in the Pocono Mountains, according to Fox News.

They looked into his house, vehicle, garage, and shed on the premises to find evidence in connection to the Idaho murders case.

The fresh warrants show cops removed a door panel from his vehicle, seat cushions, headrests, seatbelt, visor, brake and gas pedals, a band-aid, "maps and documents," and other things.

Police seized a knife and a Glock pistol with three empty magazines from the residence. They confiscated a mobile phone, a computer, a black hat, and face masks, per USA Today.

A phone bill, a handwritten password, a book with highlighting "on page 118," and a "green leafy substance" in a sealed container were also on the list.

Read Also: Kentucky Co-Workers Win Scratch-Off Jackpot

Brutal Killings

Bryan Kohberger arrest occurred more than three months after the Idaho murders in Moscow, Idaho on November 13 that claimed the lives of students Ethan Chapin, 20, Madison Mogen, 21, Kaylee Goncalves, 21, and Xana Kernodle, 20.

Bryan Kohberger, a former doctorate student at Washington State University in Pullman, was charged with four counts of first-degree murder and felony burglary for entering the residence with the intent to kill. In the middle of the night, each student was attacked in their sleep.

The suspect is now in detention in Idaho, although he has not yet filed a plea, per ABC News.

Related Article: DOJ Says Donald Trump Can Be Sued in Jan. 6 Riot

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DUP leader Sir Jeffrey Donaldson has reiterated his partys position on the condemnation of violence on Friday morning, saying politics is the only way that we will succeed in dealing with issues caused by the protocol and Windsor Framework.

Posting on social media, Sir Jeffrey said the position of his party condemning violence and the threat of violence is absolutely clear.

"Violence and/or the threat of it is wrong and never acceptable, the leader wrote.

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"The DUP will always advocate democratic politics as opposed to arguing that there was no alternative to violence as some have recently said.

"We will continue to engage with people across the community to assert the primacy of democracy and the rule of law and to dissuade people from taking the law into their own hands or turning to violence.

Speaking on BBC NIs The View programme on Thursday evening about the new Windsor Framework agreement between the UK and EU, David Campbell from the Loyalist Communities Council (LCC) suggested there was a credible threat if unionism and loyalism is continually undermined.

"If the basis of the ceasefires that were agreed 1994 are undermined that is where we enter a period of real problems for Northern Ireland but none of us are contemplating that, he said.

"We genuinely collectively across unionism want a resolution to this protocol so we can all move on and start to deliver decent government for Northern Ireland.

Will the Windsor Framework be enough for the DUP?

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Northern Ireland Secretary Chris Heaton-Harris said the Windsor Framework represented "decisively taking back control" from the EU.

It comes after former prime minister Boris Johnson publicly criticised the deal, saying he would find it "very difficult" to support, and that it was "not about the UK taking back control".

In a robust defence, Mr Heaton-Harris said that the EU-UK deal would bring "prosperity to Northern Ireland like never before".

Mr Heaton-Harris also said that he was "encouraged" by the reaction to the deal struck between European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen and UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak on Monday.

"With our deal, we are decisively taking back control in a host of areas from Brussels," he said in a statement on Thursday.

"It ensures unfettered access for Northern Ireland-made goods to the whole UK market, restores the balance of the Belfast (Good Friday) Agreement and provides Stormont with the opportunity to reject the application of any harmful new EU rules in the few areas in which they remain.
Paul Holmes in Turkoglu southern Turkey with fellow medics and those affected by last months earthquake (PA)

A medic from Ballynahinch in Co Down has told of his work treating pregnant women pulled from the rubble following the devastating earthquakes in Turkey and Syria.

Paul Holmes, 56, arrived in Turkey on February 11, just five days after a huge earthquake left thousands of people trapped under destroyed buildings.

Mr Holmes volunteers through frontline medical aid charity UK-Med to work at the joint field hospital in Trkoglu, southern Turkey, which has treated more than 6,000 patients.

He said: Ive come across mums who have literally been pulled out of the rubble. They had not been dramatically badly injured thankfully.

Carrying a baby is obviously worrying for any mother at the best of times, let alone when you have survived an earthquake on this scale and in many cases have been left totally homeless and sleeping in a tent.

Paul Holmes outside a hospital in Turkey where hes been helping those injured in last months earthquake (PA)

Aftershocks have continued to impact the work of rescuers and medics.

Mr Holmes said: Whilst weve been here theres been very noticeable aftershocks.

The first one briefly set the hospital building on fire, which was slightly nerve-wracking. I saw smoke after it triggered an electrical fire but thankfully it was brought under control very quickly and there wasnt huge damage.

Its not enough to knock you off your feet but the closest thing I can compare it to is when you are on a boat in choppy seas. You are not being thrown from side to side, but if you were trying to walk, youd be unstable.

Co Down medic Paul Holmes aiding the humanitarian response in Turkey (PA)

He has experience with aid missions abroad, but as a father-of-four there are extra challenges that come with being away from home.

He said: Fortunately, advances in technology mean Ive been able to phone my wife each day via WhatsApp so they know I am OK. My children are not teeny-tiny kids so I think its been easier for them to get their heads round than when I was sent to Nepal.

The UK Government responded to the disaster by deploying a team of 77 search and rescue experts with specialist equipment and announced a further 25 million major package of support on February 15.

UK Minister for Development Andrew Mitchell said: The UK Government is proud that brave firefighters and medics from Northern Ireland have been at the very heart of our efforts to help the Turkish people in their hour of need.

Both the UK-ISAR and UK-EMT pool world-leading expertise from across Britain to make a real difference in reacting to humanitarian disasters around the globe.

The UK Governments priority now is to ensure that humanitarian assistance reaches the thousands of families left homeless by the earthquake. It will be so vital in ensuring those affected can begin to rebuild their lives.
A serial sex offender from Belfast is no longer at a Derry bail address which had sparked public concern due to its close proximity to a primary school.

Records had not been updated to reflect that Carey Lyons, who was convicted at Belfast Crown Court last month for possessing indecent images of children, vacated a hostel in the city ahead of sentencing at the end of this month.

Its understood the 63-year-old moved out of the accommodation last year.

The administrative oversight raised questions about whether appropriate risk assessments are being carried out to sufficiently protect local communities.

Lyons, formerly of Newtownabbey, has been convicted on more than 60 occasions since 1973, with most of the crimes linked to indecent images of minors.

At his most recent court appearance the persistent sex fiend admitted to a total of 16 counts of having indecent pictures obtained between September 2014 and January 2018.

Multiple courts over the years have heard that he is a self-confessed addict of images of child abuse and he has sometimes deliberately reoffended so that hes jailed, because he struggles with life outside prison.

Lyons has previously described his addiction to vile images of abuse as untreatable.

It comes shortly after notorious paedophile Richard McFarland was placed in Derry just doors away from young families and in close proximity to a nursery school and two primary schools.

The pervert repeatedly breached the terms of his sexual offences prevention order, which led a police officer to tell a court that supervised accommodation was the best option for him.

Meanwhile, serial offender Raymond Hugh Fitzpatrick sexually assaulted a woman near the city centre in 2021, allegedly telling her: I am from Belfast and Belfast couldnt control me.

The number of violent offenders being granted bail after providing addresses for B&Bs and hostels in Derry has caused outrage among local residents.

The Public Protection Arrangements NI (PPANI), which is made up of the PSNI, Probation Board for NI and NI Housing Executive, said the risk posed by violent and sexual offenders is being managed and insisted that public safety is paramount.

A spokesperson said measures include placing restrictions on offenders and intervening when necessary.

However, Aontu councillor Emmet Doyle warned that previous incidents show otherwise.

Certain individuals are known in their area and thats why theyre moved here, he said.

SDLP MLA Mark H Durkan has also spoken out about an influx of offenders in the area and said the game of Pass The Problem cannot continue.

Not only is it unsustainable, but its unsafe, he added.

The NI Housing Executive said it has a statutory duty to assess each case to identify if the statutory requirement for provision of accommodation has been met.

It should be noted that staff responsible for the allocation of accommodation are aware of the need to carry out relevant checks, where applicable, as part of the Public Protection Arrangements Northern Ireland, a spokesperson added.
There has been condemnation after the political wing of the New IRA called the gunmen who attempted to murder Detective Chief Inspector John Caldwell republican revolutionaries.
The SDLP has said it is concerned by the BBCs balance of editorial decisions after its south Belfast representative Matthew OToole was taken off-air during Friday mornings Nolan Show.

Presenter Stephen Nolan and Mr OToole were discussing comments made on Thursday night by David Campbell, chair of the Loyalist Communities Council (LCC).

Speaking on BBC NIs The View programme about the new Windsor Framework agreement between the UK and EU, Mr Campbell suggested there was a credible threat if unionism and loyalism is continually undermined.

The LCC, which was formed in 2015, involves representatives from the UVF, UDA and Red Hand Commando.

Different political actors - including one particular political party, different media outlets and other organisations - have continued to normalise the Loyalist Communities Council and particularly the utterances of Mr Campbell, who appears on television or in front of selective committees, wearing expensive suits and sounding like a well-educated, middle-class politician, said Mr OToole.

Mr Nolan replied: His suit is no more expensive than yours Im sure, and Ive heard Mr Campbell on numerous occasions say that he is fighting every day to try and convince these organisations violence is not the way to go.

Mr OToole added that it feels a bit, to a lot of people as if Mr Campbell is portraying a plastic, sinister bad cop good cop act.

To which Mr Nolan stressed: There was nothing sinister from Mr Campbell last night. The message might be sinister, the message from the UVF and the UDA pushing it through Mr Campbell might be sinister, but Mr Campbell had been asked by the BBC for an assessment of where the UVF and UDA are and he gave it.

"I think Matthew I need to insist that you talk about the UVF and the UDA and Mr Campbell is not part of those organisations.

The SDLP politician responded: A fairly pedantic distinction to make Stephen, but youre entitled to make it.

The discussion became gradually heated, as Mr Nolan then told Mr OToole to not talk over him, and proceeded to cut his phone line from the radio show, adding: Im sorry no, I can't tolerate that on air and Im not going to. Im going to say thank you, Matthew, this morning,.

"There is not a pedantic distinction. Mr Campbell is a law-abiding citizen and the UVF and UDA are criminals.

The SDLP has since released a statement, which reads: The SDLP is concerned about the balance of editorial decisions taken by the BBC to platform unelected spokespersons describing credible threats from proscribed paramilitary groups while legitimate criticism from elected representatives is curtailed.

Our party believes in fulsome debate but it is especially important that elected officials - including the Leader of the Opposition at Stormont - are able to speak on behalf of those who elected them and to challenge the threat of violence.

Following a decision to end a discussion with SDLP Assembly Group Leader Matthew OToole MLA on Radio Ulster this morning, the SDLP will be seeking urgent clarification from the leadership of BBC Northern Ireland about these editorial decisions and to address this very serious matter.

When asked for a response, the BBC said We tried to explain our response to what had been said on-air but note the concerns that have been raised about it. We invited Matthew OToole back on to the programme shortly afterwards because we wanted to hear from him. Everything that we do is informed by the BBCs editorial guidelines.

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This is not the first time Mr OToole has criticised the broadcaster for similar factors.

Last year, he questioned the "level of prominence consistently given to a small section of hardline voices" on The Nolan Show, following another intense debate on the same programme, in which he suggested too much air-time was being given to a number of contributors such as TUV leader Jim Allister and loyalist activist Jamie Bryson.

The BBC had at that time said: We seek to reflect diverse views within our output and take all feedback seriously.

Everything that we do is informed by the BBCs editorial guidelines.
David Trimble and Seamus Mallon  the day two men stood together to bring peace

As we approach the 25th anniversary of Good Friday Agreement, David Kerr, a former special adviser to David Trimble and director of communications for the Ulster Unionist Party during the talks leading up to the deal, reflects on the chaotic and violent events which marred the start of 1998. This led to the tragic and watershed moment in early March, with the murders of two best friends in a bar in Poyntzpass, Co Armagh

David Trimble and Seamus Mallon in Poyntzpass in March 1998 with Tommy Canavan, brother of Railway Bar owner

David Kerr Belfast Telegraph Fri 3 Mar 2023 at 07:00
A DUP MP has said it is high time Michelle ONeill and Naomi Long apologised for their rigorous implementation calls.

Carla Lockhart accused both leaders of getting it wrong.

The Upper Bann MP cited how, in September 2020, Ms ONeill and Ms Long travelled to Dublin and stood alongside the Dublin government calling for the rigorous implementation of the NI Protocol.

When we were trying to get a better deal for Northern Ireland, they were focused on making a bad deal worse, she said.

One can only draw the conclusion that they were so focused on pleasing the EU that they lost sight of the fact that it was Northern Ireland interests they should have been fighting for. Their anti-unionist politics was clouding their vision.

It is high time both leaders accepted they got it wrong and apologised for their pro-protocol campaign," she continued.

Brussels and London now accept the protocol is flawed but only because of DUP tenacity in standing up and fighting for Northern Ireland.

A Sinn Fein spokesperson responded: Carla Lockhart and her DUP colleagues should focus on getting back to work in the Executive with the rest of us. People on waiting lists cannot wait. Families facing a cost-of-living crisis cannot wait. Our health service and our health workers cannot wait.

The negotiations are now over, the deal is done. Its time to get down to business to deliver for the people without any more delays.

We have a huge economic advantage that can strengthen our economy and create good jobs and that is what local businesses are eager to see happen.

The visit by leaders to the US on St. Patricks Week is a major opportunity to showcase that and promote our economic potential to investors on the world stage. It cannot be missed.

The Alliance Party has also been contacted for further comment.

Ms Lockhart was echoing comments made by her party colleague Gregory Campbell earlier this week.

He had called on what he dubbed the rigorous implementer parties to accept they were wrong in refusing to recognise the flaws of the Northern Ireland Protocol.

Meanwhile, DUP leader Sir Jeffrey Donaldson said his party will study text of the new UK-EU agreement  the Windsor Framework  carefully, but wont be rushed into any hasty decision.

The DUP has further distanced itself from comments made by Ian Paisley in which he rejected the Windsor Framework deal.

On Wednesday a paper was published by the Centre for the Union think tank recommending unionists do not support the Windsor Framework until certain amendments are made.

Mr Paisley penned a foreword to the paper, which concludes further concessions must be bolted onto the agreement, adding that it will be for unionists to determine what those concessions should be.

The DUP has stressed Mr Paisley was not speaking for the party in this regard.
Couple stunned as disgraced Duke is offered keys to Frogmore Cottage

Meghan and Harry have been asked to vacate their UK home

The Kings decision to request the Duke and Duchess of Sussex to vacate their UK residence cannot be seen as anything other than a reaction to the release of Prince Harrys memoir, a royal expert has said.

A representative for the Sussexes confirmed on Wednesday night that Harry and Meghan Markle were asked to leave Frogmore Cottage, which was gifted to them by the late Queen after their wedding in 2018.

It has been reported that the King has instead offered the keys to the 10-bedroom property to the disgraced Duke of York, a move that sources say have stunned the Sussexes.

A royal expert said it is impossible to believe this isnt the monarch reacting to his youngest sons controversial memoir Spare, which was released in January.

RS Locke, a freelance writer and royal commentator, pointed to reports that Harry and Meghan were asked to vacate Frogmore Cottage within days of the books release.

She said that in her opinion: Evicting the Sussex family from Frogmore Cottage is transparently punitive and King Charles wanted the couple and the public to know it.

Frogmore Cottage

Nigel Cawthorne, who authored the 2020 book Prince Andrew: Epstein, Maxwell and The Palace, added that the Kings move signals that he clearly does not want Harry and Meghan coming back to this country.

He said: Charles, William and Camilla can hardly [have] been happy with the pasting they got in Spare.

Harry is threatening another chapter or two and has let it be known that, if necessary, he has another 400 pages in his back pocket.

Royal commentator and celebrity manager Mayah Riaz agreed that the decision to evict Harry and Meghan from Frogmore shows that King Charles is making a clear break from the couple. She added that, given the timing of the news, one can only assume it is [Charles] response to Spare, without verbally giving a response to the public.

Speculation over whether or not Harry and Meghan will fly to the UK to attend the coronation this spring has increased after it emerged that they were asked to vacate Frogmore.

Royal commentator and celebrity manager Mayah Riaz said that the Kings decision suggests there is clearly a rift between him and the Sussexes.

This shows that King Charles is making a clear break from Harry and Meghan and sends a loud message to everyone of their position, she said.

Asked if the couple are likely to attend the coronation, Riaz believed they should be invited, as this would be a signal from the King that there is no rift and the move to give Frogmore Cottage to Prince Andrew instead is a cost-saving exercise for the firm.

However, she added: [If they do not receive] an invite, it will be seen as a huge snub and [will be] likely to dominate the headlines and cast a shadow over the coronation.

Duke of York

Harry, Meghan and Andrew are all no longer working members of the royal family. The Sussexes stepped down in 2020 in order to become financially independent and move to the US, while Andrew stepped down in 2019 over his ties to convicted paedophile Jeffrey Epstein.

Andrew was accused of sexually abusing Epstein victim Virginia Giuffre when she was underage and has vehemently denied all allegations.

He reached a multi-million pound settlement with Giuffre last year to stop the case from proceeding to a civil trial.

The duke is said to be resisting a move to Frogmore Cottage, as it would mean leaving his current residence at Royal Lodge, where he has lived for nearly 20 years.

Cawthorne said: For Andrew to move out of Royal Lodge and into Frogmore Cottage is a demotion.

He can, of course, dig his heels in and refuse to move. Then Charles will have to send the bailiffs in, he speculated.

Riaz added that previous reports suggested Andrew had been trying to make his comeback into public life, but moving out of Royal Lodge would show this is now not possible for him.

She also suggested that, since the Queen died, the duke is now unable to get favourite child privileges from his brother, the King.

 The Independent
Sir Keir Starmer has dodged questions about when Labour first approached partygate investigator Sue Gray with the offer of a senior role.

It comes amid a furious reaction from Boris Johnson and his allies to the news that Ms Gray is planning to become the Labour leaders chief of staff, as he sought to use her move to discredit the Privileges Committee inquiry into whether he lied to the House of Commons over lockdown breaches.

The Labour leader, who visited Londonderry on Friday after Rishi Sunak secured his Windsor Framework deal earlier this week, batted away questions about when conversations first began with the high-profile Whitehall civil servant.

Sir Keir said it had been known for some time that he was hoping to appoint a chief of staff, but refused to get into specifics when pressed by broadcasters.

Sue Gray, who reported on Downing Street parties in Whitehall during the coronavirus lockdown (Aaron Chown/PA)   Aaron Chown

I think it has been known for some time that I have been looking for a chief of staff and I am very focused on what it is I need from a chief of staff, he said.

The Labour leader, whose party maintains a significant lead against Mr Sunaks Conservatives, linked her planned appointment to ongoing preparations for government after the next election.

He also robustly defended her reputation, stressing that he was delighted really strong professional, respected individuals want to join Labour.

Under the civil service code, officials of Ms Grays seniority must wait a minimum of three months before taking up outside employment.

The move will be scrutinised by Parliaments anti-corruption watchdog, the Advisory Committee on Business Appointments (Acoba), with Ms Gray expected to await the Acoba decision before starting the role.

Parliaments anti-corruption watchdog can advise waiting periods before civil servants take on other jobs and the Prime Minister ultimately makes the final decision.

But Downing Street made it clear that Mr Sunak cannot block her from taking a job.

I am delighted that respected, professional individuals want to be part of what we are doing in the Labour Party, Sir Keir said.

Sir Keir Starmer was visiting Northern Ireland (Brian Lawless/PA)   Brian Lawless

We are a changed Labour Party and I am very well aware that we have got to earn every vote going into the election, but we wont be forgiven if we are not prepared for government.

We are going to inherit a very badly damaged country, damaged economy, damaged public services and I want to ensure we are in a position to deliver for the whole of the United Kingdom and that is why I am so pleased that people of real quality, really respected want to join the team.

He also appeared to reject any suggestion the move threatened to undermine the Privileges Committee investigation.

I think Boris Johnson needs to confront the evidence that is there in front of him and everybody can see that evidence, he said.

Rishi Sunak needs to acknowledge that he actually sat on his hands through this process.
The Labour leader said he is glad the Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) is taking time to consider the new deal agreed by the UK and EU which was unveiled on Monday.

He backed the Prime Ministers decision not to rush the DUP, and described the deal as welcome, adding that there is now a window of opportunity.

I think the Prime Minister is right to give the DUP and others the space to study it, to come to a considered view, he told broadcasters in Londonderry on Friday.

Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer speaks to broadcasters during a visit to the Ulster University in Londonderry on Friday. (Rebecca Black/PA)

I hope that will create the consensus that we need to move forward.

The Northern Ireland Assembly has been in flux for more than a year while the DUP refused to take part until the partys concerns around the Brexit protocol are addressed.

Earlier, Northern Ireland Secretary Chris Heaton-Harris said the Government will legislate to reassure unionists that their constitutional position in the United Kingdom is secure.

He said he hoped that with time and space the new UK-EU deal would pave the way for the return of the powersharing institutions.

Sir Keir spent the day in Derry, visiting St Columbs College, and later the Ulster University for the official opening of the Mo Mowlam Studio.

Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer poses for a picture with students during a visit to St Columbs College in Derry, Northern Ireland (Brian Lawless/PA)   Brian Lawless

On Friday morning he was questioned by school students at St Columbs College as part of an event organised by the John and Pat Hume Foundation.

When asked by a student if he believed the Windsor Framework was enough to end the stalemate at Stormont, Sir Keir said he did.

I do. Im always conscious that its very important for communities and political parties here to be comfortable with the progress that we make, and when I was here working 20 years or so ago, I was always reticent about being the person who came along to tell people in Northern Ireland what I thought they ought to think, he said.

But I do genuinely think that this is a real opportunity, I felt that before we even saw the text, over the last month/six weeks I could feel that the UK and EU were moving closer together.

This is a good thing, Im a great believer in bridge building and bringing people together.

I do think there is enough, it is a compromise, thats the nature of any agreement but if it gives us the space to move forward, which I think it will, if it leads to Stormont running again, I think thats really good and so I think this is a real opportunity.

He added: Im glad that the DUP is taking their time to look at it carefully, and we were very careful in saying we supported the protocol but it is important it has the greatest consensus possible.

Im really glad the DUP are taking time to carefully consider it. I do hope that allows them to get to a position where we move forward. I feel there is an opportunity there.

Later at the Ulster University camp in the city, Sir Keir attended the opening of a newly refurbished cinematic arts studio named after former Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, the late Mo Mowlam.

Former Northern Ireland secretary the late Mo Mowlam in 1999 (PA)   PA

The studio and a new mural were unveiled in memory of Ms Mowlams impact as the first in a programme of events the university is organising for 25th anniversary of the Belfast/Good Friday Agreement.

Ulster University Provost Professor Cathy Gormley-Heenan said they were paying homage to the legacy of an inspirational leader who played an instrumental role in the signing of the Good Friday Agreement.

Sir Keir described Ms Mowlam as a true political force with an unwavering dedication to peace who helped pave the way for the Good Friday Agreement.

Mo loved the people of Northern Ireland, and was passionate about securing better opportunities for the next generation. Im honoured to see her legacy celebrated with the opening of the Mo Mowlam Studio at Ulster Universitys campus in Derry today, he said.

Ms Mowlams stepchildren Freddie and Henrietta Norton also attended.

They spoke of their pride to see her life and legacy celebrated, and said for someone passionate about the power of education, there could not be a more fitting tribute.
There's a good chance that you're reading this using a smartphone right now, which is no surprise since it's rare to find someone who doesn't have their own smartphone nowadays. But, how much do you really know about them? Here are a few facts that might interest you.

1. They Can Read Barcodes

A lot of people already know about phone cameras being able to scan QR codes, but not many know about smartphones being able to scan barcodes. With the help of barcode reading apps, you can use them for inventory management or scanning the prices of groceries.

2. Not as Clean as You Think

We have our phones with us almost all the time, but we never really think about how dirty they are. The fact is, there are 20 to 30 times more bacteria found on your gadget than in a toilet flush, so think about that next time you put it on your face as you answer a call, maybe even sanitize it first.

3. Too Much Screen Time

A lot of what we do in a day has something to do with smartphones. Either it's checking emails, playing games, or scrolling through social media. On average, people tend to check their phones 150 times a day, so maybe try to cut the number down to, perhaps a hundred.

4. Phone Sports?

You might be thinking, maybe it's an app that has something to do with sports, but not really. In Finland, they have a sport where they throw phones, as mentioned by EHorus, and the farthest throw wins. The record for men is 97 meters and 40 meters for women. Maybe an online gamer experiencing lag could throw it farther.

5. There's More Android

With the popularity of Apple, you'd think that they would have a huge chunk of the OS market if not the majority of it, but no. Android holds the lion's share. Back in 2017, Android actually accounts for 82.7% of the OS market. Imagine that.

6. Apple Did Not Coin iPhone Name

The iPhone is Apple's best-selling product, but funnily enough, it was not originally the tech giant's. Cisco owned the trademark for the name back in 2007. After some chitchat among executives, they reached a settlement and the name iPhone became Apple's.

Read Also: 5 Mario Facts You Might Not Know - Was He Named After a Real Person?

7. Nokia Paperweight

It's sad to see that Nokia is no longer as popular as it was in the early 2000s. Although they still sell smartphones, 42% of its users don't use the phone for long. Eventually, Nokia users switch to other brands like the more famous Apple and Samsung.

8. Samsung Still Wins

Apple is making more from its iPhones than Samsung is with its own. In fact, Samsung will make more from iPhones than its own lineups, according to Best Life. Still, Samsung is earning both ways, so earnings-wise, Samsung still wins, don't they?

9. Photography Hack

When people want to take photos a bit further than arm's length, they tend to ask others to take the photo for them or set a timer. For groupie photos, you'll also appear more prominent than the others since you're much closer to the camera. Next time you take a group photo, try using your headphone cord as a shutter button.

10. You Might Have This

It's a common thing for people now to have their eyes glued to their phone screens. A lot can't function without them since many aspects of their lives involve the use of a smartphone. There's a term for those who can't stand to leave their phones at home when they leave, and it's called nomophobia.

Related: 10 Interesting Facts about Facial Recognition
SNP leadership hopefuls must be given the space to set out opposition to party policies despite the Scottish Governments collective responsibility rules, Humza Yousaf has said.

The Health Secretary, who is vying to replace Nicola Sturgeon as SNP leader and Scotlands next first minister, discussed his opponents refusal to back controversial gender reform laws.

Holyrood passed the Gender Recognition Reform (Scotland) Act in December, but it was later blocked by the UK Government using a section 35 order amid concerns it interfered with reserved equality laws.

While Mr Yousaf has made it clear he would contest the section 35 order in court, fellow leadership candidate Ash Regan has pledged to drop the law, while Kate Forbes said she would not be in favour of challenging the order but would engage with UK ministers on amendments.

Ms Regan resigned from her position as community safety minister in opposition to the legislation, while Ms Forbes has been a stringent critic of the self-ID reforms and said she would have voted against the plans if she had not been on maternity leave during the final vote.

Following her comments, questions have been asked of Ms Forbes on whether she should resign from her role as Finance Secretary on the principle of collective responsibility.

It is expected that ministers who do not back the governments approach should resign their position.

Speaking to reporters in Arbroath on Friday, Mr Yousaf said: I dont think it is necessary for Kate to have to resign her position as Finance Secretary. Shes in a leadership contest, shes giving her views about a whole range of issues.

He added: Collective responsibility is incredibly important in government and government cant act without maintaining that collective responsibility.

What I would say, there has always got to be leeway in an election contest. We have got to accept that people are able to put forward differences in terms of policy position.

SNP leadership candidate Humza Yousaf (Andrew Milligan/PA)   Andrew Milligan

But what I would say is its really, really important for any SNP candidate in this election, I think we should stand proudly on the record of this government.

I dont think we should be trashing the record of the government because its the record that has managed to get us to incredibly unprecedented levels of support, election after election.

He added: I think its right that we give candidates a space to be able to speak about what policies they want to bring forward.

However, while Ms Forbes is an exceptionally capable minister, Mr Yousaf made it clear that if he was first minister, all cabinet members would be expected to support his agenda.

He said: Kate is exceptionally capable and very talented.

If I was the first minister of Scotland, and thats presumptuous because we are many, many weeks away from that decision, then I would want the best talent in the cabinet.

And what I would say to them all, of course, is that this is what my agenda is. This is the progressive agenda, the socially just Scotland I want to build.

And weve got to make sure that everybody is signed up to that and collective responsibility is an integral part of every government function.

He added: Im telling you my policy is that I dont know how anybody who believes in the democratic will of the Scottish Parliament, the democratic voice of the Scottish people, can do anything other than stand up against that section 35.
President Joe Biden will welcome Chancellor Olaf Scholz to the White House (AP Photo/Susan Walsh, File)   Susan Walsh

German Chancellor Olaf Scholz is visiting the White House on Friday for a private meeting with President Joe Biden as both allies become increasingly vocal about their concerns that China may supply weapons to Russia for its invasion of Ukraine.

Such a step could dramatically change the wars trajectory by allowing Moscow to replenish its depleted stockpiles.

China is Germanys top trading partner, and European nations have generally been more cautious than the United States in taking a hard line with Beijing.

However, there are signs that may be shifting as global rivalries grow more tense.

Germany has agreed to supply Ukraine with Leopard 2 tanks (AP Photo/Martin Meissner, File)   Martin Meissner

In a speech to the German parliament on Thursday, Mr Scholz called on China to use your influence in Moscow to press for the withdrawal of Russian troops, and do not supply weapons to the aggressor Russia.

The US and Germany have worked closely together to supply Ukraine with military and humanitarian assistance.

But there has also been friction over issues such as providing tanks, and Washington has occasionally grown frustrated with Berlins hesitance.

Maintaining a steady flow of weapons to Kyiv will be critical in the wars second year, especially with both sides planning spring offensives.

Were proud of the collective efforts that weve taken together, John Kirby, a White House national security spokesman, said on Thursday.

He said the US has not seen any indication that China has made a decision on whether to provide weapons to Russia.

Mr Scholz last visited the White House a little more than a year ago, shortly before Russia invaded Ukraine. Very little of Fridays meeting will be open to the public, and no announcements are expected afterward.

Unlike formal state visits, such as when French president Emmanuel Macron came to Washington last year, there will be no pomp and ceremony.

Both Ukraine and Russia are planning spring offensives (AP Photo/Vadim Ghirda)   Vadim Ghirda

Mr Scholzs trip will lack the customary press conference where the two leaders take questions from reporters representing both countries.

Mr Kirby described it as a true working visit between these two leaders.

The meeting will be intimate, according to a senior German official and a US official.

Rather than being constantly flanked by advisers, the officials said, Mr Biden and Mr Scholz are likely to be the only people in the room for much of the time.

The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because of the confidential nature of the talks.

In an interview with German broadcaster Welt, opposition leader Friedrich Merz accused Scholz of being secretive about his trip to Washington, which will take place without the customary press pack in tow.

Mr Merz suggested that Scholz had to smooth ruffled feathers over the deal to provide tanks to Ukraine.

Mr Scholz dismissed any notion of discord between allies.

Asked by the Associated Press about the circumstances of his visit, Mr Scholz said he and Biden want to talk directly with each other, and he described a global situation where things have become very difficult.

It is important that such close friends can talk about all of these questions together, continually, he said.

Jake Sullivan, Bidens national security adviser, hinted at some tension between the two countries on Sunday when appearing on ABCs This Week show.

He said Mr Biden originally decided against sending Abrams tanks to Ukraine, believing they would not be immediately useful for Ukrainian forces.

However, Mr Sullivan said, Germany would not send its Leopard tanks until the president also agreed to send Abrams.

So, in the interest of alliance unity and to insure that Ukraine got what it wanted, despite the fact that the Abrams arent the tool they need, the president said, OK, Im going to be the leader of the free world,' Sullivan said. I will send Abrams down the road if you send Leopards now. Those Leopards are getting sent now.

Scholzs government has denied there was any such demand made of the US.

Max Bergmann, a former State Department official who leads the Europe Programme at the Centre for Strategic and International Studies, said the US has often wanted Germany, the worlds fifth-largest economy, to be more forceful on the global stage.

Theres a hope that, instead of us having to push all the time, that Germany would take a leadership role, he said.

Bergmann said Germany has gone a long way toward strengthening its defence, but added that theres more work to do.

The German way of seeing the world doesnt always align with the US way of seeing the world, he said.
Colonel Isaac Taylor, left, of the United Nations Command, and Col Lee Sung-jun of South Koreas Joint Chiefs of Staff, announce the joint exercises (Chung Sung-Jun/Pool Photo via AP)   Chung Sung-Jun

The South Korean and US militaries announced on Friday that they will hold their biggest joint field exercises in five years later this month, as the US flew a long-range B-1B bomber to the Korean Peninsula in a show of force against North Korea.

The North has threatened to take unprecedently strong action against such exercises.

Its likely that it will respond to the upcoming training with missile tests because it views it as an invasion rehearsal.

In a joint news conference, the South Korean and US militaries said they will conduct the Freedom Shield exercise, a computer-simulated command post training, from March 13 to 23 to strengthen their defence and response capabilities, and separate large-scale joint field training exercises called Warrior Shield FTX.

A US Air Force B-1B bomber, top, flies in formation with South Korean KF-16 fighters over South Korea (South Korea Defense Ministry via AP)   Uncredited

Colonel Isaac L Taylor, a spokesperson for the US military, said the field training will include a combined amphibious drill and that their size would return to the scale of the allies earlier, biggest, springtime field exercises called Foal Eagle.

The two countries last conducted Foal Eagle in 2018. They then cancelled or downsized some combined drills to support now-stalled diplomacy with North Korea and guard against the Covid-19 pandemic.

Recently, however, the two countries have been expanding their joint military exercises in the face of an evolving North Korean nuclear threat.

Fridays deployment of a US B-1B was the aircrafts first such flyover in joint aerial training with South Korean warplanes since February 19.

US and South Korean soldiers work together in a military exercise in January (AP Photo/Ahn Young-joon, File)   Ahn Young-joon

North Korea is highly sensitive to the deployment of B-1Bs, which are capable of carrying a large conventional weapons payload.

It responded to the previous flights of multiple B-1Bs by test-launching two short-range missiles the next day.

South Koreas defence ministry said the use of a B-1B demonstrated the US determination and ability to use the full range of its military capabilities, including nuclear, to defend its allies.

North Korea test-fired more than 70 missiles last year, the most ever in a single year, and several more this year. Many of the missiles were nuclear-capable weapons designed to strike the US mainland and South Korea.

North Korea has also threatened to use its nuclear weapons pre-emptively in potential conflicts with the United States and South Korea.

The US military has warned it that the use of nuclear weapons will result in the end of that regime.

In January, defence secretary Lloyd Austin said the US would also increase its deployment of advanced weapons such as fighter jets and bombers to the Korean Peninsula.

Last month, North Koreas foreign ministry warned that the US and South Korea would face unprecedentedly persistent and strong counteractions if they carry out planned military drills this year that the North regards as preparations for an aggression war.

Later, senior North Korean foreign ministry official Kwon Jong Gun said the only way to reduce military tensions on the Korean Peninsula is for the United States to reverse its plans to deploy strategic assets in South Korea and halt joint drills with the South.

He said if the United States continues its hostile and provocative practices against North Korea, it can be regarded as a declaration of war.

North Korea has previously issued similar rhetoric in times of animosity with the United States and South Korea.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has met with US Attorney General Merrick Garland and top European legal officials, and called for Russia to face international prosecution for war crimes.

Mr Zelensky announced the meetings in the western Ukrainian city of Lviv, hundreds of miles from the wars front lines, during his evening video address to the nation.

We are doing everything to ensure that the International Criminal Court is successful in punishing Russian war criminals, Mr Zelensky said.

Attorney General Merrick Garland (J Scott Applewhite/AP)   J. Scott Applewhite

The main issue of all these meetings and the Lviv conference is accountability, he added.

The accountability of Russia and its leadership is personal, for aggression and terror against our state and people.

Mr Zelensky said more than 70,000 Russian war crimes have been recorded so far.

But, unfortunately, we do not know about all crimes at the moment, he added.

A large part of our territory still remains occupied and we cannot currently reliably predict how many Russian crimes we would discover after the occupiers are expelled.

Along with Mr Garland, other participants at the conference included UK Attorney General Victoria Prentis, Spanish Attorney General Alvaro Garcia Ortiz and European Commissioner for Justice Didier Reynders.

Meanwhile at the United Nations, deputy spokesman Farhan Haq said UN humanitarian staff are reporting intensive hostilities near the beleaguered Ukrainian town of Bakhmut and say the UNs few humanitarian partners on the ground are focusing on evacuating the most vulnerable people from the conflict area.

Bakhmut has been the focus of intense fighting for months, with Russian troops including large forces from the private Wagner Group inching ever closer to the largely destroyed town.
New IRA and loyalist drug gang planned DCI Caldwell shooting

Crime group supplied guns used by dissidents to shoot senior officer in front of his young son

DCI John Caldwell

Allison Morris Belfast Telegraph Fri 3 Mar 2023 at 07:00
Shutterstock.com

In war-torn Ukraine, miracles are happening in the face of devastation and violence, and despite the fear and chaos that grips these communities every day, people are finding hope and peace through prayer. Amidst all the destruction, there is a sense in the people that God is still present and is doing amazing things. There are stories of answered prayers and miraculous healings coming out, giving testimony to the power of faith in even the darkest of times. Those in Ukraine who are suffering are finding comfort in knowing that they are not alone and that Gods healing presence can be felt throughout their land.

Throughout the conflict in Ukraine, people from all religious backgrounds have come together to pray for a peaceful outcome. Though there have been many disheartening setbacks, there have also been moments of light that have given them hope for a better future and outcome. One example was when a group of Ukrainian priests proclaimed that they were going to start celebrating mass in bomb shelters. Despite the damage and destruction above ground, the shelters were packed with worshippers, all coming together to give thanks and pray for peace.

Since the beginning of the Russian military intervention in Ukraine, religious buildings have been among the main targets of attacks. In spite of this, however, an unexpected silver lining has risen above the destruction and violence. A number of churches in eastern Ukraine have chosen to sing instead of giving into fear.

This brave act of defiance has not gone unnoticed. Countless videos and photos of churches singing while under attack have been shared on social media, with many people hailing them as examples of resilience in the face of adversity. In a time when it seems like darkness is engulfing the country, these churches provide a ray of hope, showing that Ukraine will not be defeated. So far, the Russian military has failed to silence the voices of these brave churches, showing that faith can overcome extreme adversity when needed.

Since the outbreak of war in eastern Ukraine, the people's prayers have seemingly been answered for many caught in the middle of the conflict. Many people report that they have felt Gods presence and protection throughout the war through acts of kindness and small miracles.

Groups of nuns in both Poland and Ukraine have opened their doors to refugees and continue to provide spiritual care and shelter for those in need. Over 1,000 convents are helping refugees in any way that they can, with medical, material, and psychological help. Upwards of 2,400 families have found shelter under the roofs of convents, and the impact that these nuns are having does not stop there. They have put themselves on the frontline to provide hot meals, blankets, clothing, and hygiene products. They are also coordinating assistance for refugees, and in particular, the Polish nuns are helping refugees to find jobs through employment centers.

The current conflict in Ukraine has also been branded as a miracle by the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church. This is in consideration of the fact that the Ukrainian army is fighting against the Russian military and has been able to defend their country for so long. Although the Russians have more troops and better-equipped soldiers, the Ukrainians have been able to use their political and diplomatic resources to gain support from other countries.

The Ukrainian military has also been able to make use of modern technology, like drones, to some success against the Russians. In spite of these few advantages, however, the Ukrainians are still fighting an uphill battle, and are welcoming any support they get.
Pinata by Leopoldo Gout

Tremblays Head Full of Ghosts meets Mexican Gothic in Pinata, a terrifying tale of possession. Carmen Sanchez and her two daughters leave New York for Mexico so she can supervise the renovation of an ancient abbey. An accident at the worksite unearths rare, ancient artifacts, and the renovation is canceled. Carmen and her girls have to go back to New York, but something malevolent and unexplainable follows them home.

They were worshiped by our ancestors. Now they are forgotten.

Soon, theyll make us remember.
Chick-fil-A, an American fast food chain, has acknowledged that a months-long credential stuffing attack resulted in the breach of customers' accounts.

With this, Hackers were able to access personal data and spend stored reward sums as a result of the cyberattack.

Customer Accounts Are Being Sold By The Cybercriminals

According to a January report from Bleeping Computer, Chick-fil-A had started looking into what it called "suspicious activity" on customers' accounts.

Chick-fil-A created a support page at the time with instructions for customers on what to do if they see suspicious activity on their accounts.

Before Christmas, rumors of user accounts for Chick-fil-A being stolen in attacks using stuffed credentials and sold online arose.

Depending on the rewards account balance and associated payment methods, these accounts were sold for prices ranging from $2 to $200.

Even individuals buying these accounts and sharing images of their purchases made with them were visible on one Telegram channel that housed it all.

Read More: Chick-fil-A Customer Account Hack Now Under Investigation Following Reports

The Chain Restaurant Confirms Surfing Attack Affecting Users' Accounts

Today, the California Attorney General's Office received a security alert from Chick-fil-A today that contained confirmation of this news.

The fast food chain claims that between December 18 last year and February 12 of this year, it was the target of a credential stuffing attack.

"Based on our investigation, we determined on February 12, 2023 that the unauthorized parties subsequently accessed information in your Chick-fil-A One account," reads its customer notification.

Also, according to the notice Chick-fil-A sent to customers, the compromised credentials were obtained from an outside source.

Bleeping Computer writes that customers who were impacted are being warned by the fast food business that cyber attackers who gained access to their accounts would also have had access to their personal data.

Name, email address, membership number for Chick-fil-A One, mobile pay number, QR code, masked credit/debit card number, and the amount of Chick-fil-A credit currently on users' account are all included.

The details could have included the last four digits of credit cards, phone numbers, physical addresses, and birthdays for some clients.

Chick-fil-A required customers to change their passwords after the hack, froze any money added to their accounts, and deleted any payment information that had been saved.

As an additional expression of regret, Chick-fil-A claims to have restored the balances of affected customers' Chick-fil-A One accounts and added prizes.

Affected customers must update their passwords at all of the websites they often visit because the accounts were compromised using credentials revealed in earlier data breaches.

Customers who were affected should be on the alert for possibly targeted phishing emails using this information, even though there is no proof that personal information was misused.

The company has since then instructed customers to use different passwords for each site when changing passwords to make it easier to manage them.

Saving them in a password manager, might be of great help particularly if they share a Chick-fil-A password.

Related Article: Chick-fil-A To Use Refraction AI's Autonomous Delivery Robots in Pilot Test
Police stand guard at a nickel smelting plant after two workers were killed during a riot to protest labor conditions, in North Morowali, Sulawesi, Indonesia, Jan. 16, 2023.

Three Chinese migrant workers have filed a complaint alleging abuse at a nickel processing estate in Indonesia, drawing attention again to claims of exploitative labor conditions at Chinese-owned factories.

Indonesian workers, too, have complained about safety conditions at plants, with tensions culminating in a deadly riot at a factory in Central Sulawesi in January.

Meanwhile, Indonesia Morowali Industrial Park (IMIP), which is majority-owned by Chinas Tsingshan Steel Group, claimed the Chinese workers who filed the complaint were not employed by the company operating in the park.

Airlangga Julio, a lawyer at AMAR Law Firm & Public Interest Law Office who represents the three workers, said on Friday he filed a complaint on their behalf with the National Commission on Human Rights (Komnas HAM).

He said his clients working conditions were so bad they developed respiratory disorders, memory loss and rapid heartbeat.

This happens because every day migrant workers have to deal with dust and thick smoke in the factory without adequate safety equipment, Airlangga told BenarNews on Friday.

He also said the migrants had to work more than 12 hours a day without rest or holidays and were not paid for the extra hours.

This is forced labor because if they are asked to work overtime they must comply. Thats one of the serious violations, but there are many others, Airlangga said.

The lawyer said many of the Chinese migrant workers had asked to go home, but employers withheld their passports.

Komnas HAM member Uli Parulian confirmed the complaint.

Increasing Chinese presence

IMIP spokesman Dedy Kurniawan denied that the migrants who made the complaint were its employees or worked within the industrial complex.

They work in a slurry processing section in Konawe, not at IMIP Morowali industrial area, he told BenarNews, referring to a regency in Southeast Sulawesi.

How can they assess and make judgment about working conditions at IMIP, which covers 4,000 hectares with dozens of factories, Dedy asked.

IMIP said it is committed to safety and occupational health at its premises. It and other majority Chinese-owned firms in Indonesia are not new to controversy.

The workers complaint shed light on Chinas increasing presence in Indonesias industrial sector. China has invested heavily in Indonesias nickel industry, particularly in smelters.

These investments followed Indonesias ban on nickel ore exports, in 2013 and again in 2020, requiring the ore be processed at home to add value to exports.

In January, a riot erupted at a China-owned nickel smelter in Morowali, killing a Chinese and an Indonesian worker.

Police said the violence at the PT Gunbuster Nickel Industry (GNI) plant was fanned by a false rumor that Chinese employees had attacked their Indonesian counterparts who were protesting over wages and labor safety.

The incident highlighted lingering tensions over the presence of Chinese workers in the Southeast Asian country.

More than 42,000 Chinese worked in Indonesia in 2022, accounting for about 44 percent of all expatriates in the Southeast Asian nation, according to the Ministry of Manpower.

A report by China Labor Watch said Chinese workers overseas have experienced many forms of exploitation, including deception, coercion, violence and restriction of freedom that amount to forced labor and human trafficking.

The report said factors that contribute to these problems include lack of accountability, oversight, legal protection and international involvement.

Labor Watch said in 2021 that 592,000 Chinese worked overseas, but this number was before the COVID-19 pandemic and does not include Chinese workers who did not possess valid work visas.

Researchers at the Paramadina Public Policy Institute said in a report published in 2020 that Chinas investment in Indonesias nickel industry has brought some benefits, but also problems such as environmental degradation, social conflict and unfair competition.

The report urged the Indonesian government to enhance transparency and accountability mechanisms, promote local participation and empowerment, and balance economic interests with environmental and social concerns.

China is the second largest foreign investor in Indonesia, after Singapore.

Chinese investments in Indonesia reached U.S. $3.6 billion in the first half of 2022, compared with $1.7 billion in the same period of 2021, according to Jakartas data.

China is funding projects in Indonesia as part of Beijings Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), a worldwide infrastructure-building program. These include the Jakarta-Bandung high-speed rail project, which is expected to be completed this year.
In Brief

The Philippine coast guard issued a statement on Feb. 13 accusing China of firing military lasers at one of their ships near Ayungin Shoal (known as Renai Reef in China and Second Thomas Shoal in the U.S.), causing temporary blindness to the crew. Both China and the Philippines claim the shoal as their own territory and accuse each other of violating the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS).

Asia Fact Check Lab (AFCL) found that Chinas misleading claims of sovereignty are purely political. A 2016 case in the International Court of Justice (ICJ) defined the shoal as a low-tide elevation, a terrain feature which under UNCLOS cannot be claimed by any sovereign jurisdiction.

A Chinese Coast Guard ship allegedly aims a green laser at a Philippine Coast Guard ship.

In Depth

Who attacked whom?

On Feb. 6, a Chinese Coast Guard ship about 10 nautical miles from Ayungin fired two green lasers at a PCG ship replenishing a nearby Sierra Madre landing craft. The lasers temporarily blinded several Philippine crew members, with the Chinese ship approaching within 150 yards of the Philippine ships starboard at one point.

The Philippine government believes that the Chinese Coast Guard blatantly ignored and violated the sovereignty of the Philippines by attempting to obstruct the transport of supplies. Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Wang Wenbin responded by stating that Philippine ships had trespassed in the waters of Ayungin Shoal  which China claims sovereignty over as part of larger territorial claims to the Spratly Islands  and that the Chinese ship defended Chinese sovereignty in accordance with domestic law and UNCLOS.

The Philippine Department of Foreign Affairs issued a press release on Feb. 14, condemning China's encroachment on Philippine economic waters and calling on China to comply with UNCLOS and the ruling of the 2016 ICJ South China Sea arbitration.

Did the South China Sea case settle the dispute over Ayungin Shoal?

Due to the South China Seas rich oil reserves and important shipping routes between the Pacific and Indian oceans, competing sovereign claims over certain maritime features in the region have repeatedly blown up into international disputes.

In the 2013 South China Sea arbitration case held by the ICJ, the Philippines requested clarification on whether certain maritime features claimed separately by China and the Philippines  including Ayungin Shoal - were islands, rocks or low tide elevations. Each of these terms is defined as a different type of maritime feature by UNCLOS, and each grants different territorial rights to the controlling sovereign state. These territories are broadly divided into territorial waters which are fully under the controlling states jurisdiction, exclusive economic zones (EEZ) where the controlling state enjoys special rights on resource extraction in the water.

The ICJ finally ruled that the Ayungin Shoal  along with three other contentious maritime features  is a low tide elevation, which under UNCLOS does not confer either territorial seas or an exclusive economic zone (EEZ) to the controlling country.

The ICJ further ruled that the shoal is part of the Philippines EEZ, declaring that Chinas obstruction of Filipino fishermen and oil extraction, construction of artificial islands and interception of Philippine ships all violate the Philippines sovereign rights. UNCLOS only permits ships to pass freely through another countrys EEZ, not to conduct law enforcement operations within it, noted Song Chengen, an Oxford University doctoral candidate and scholar of international law.

Must China obey the South China Sea ruling?

While both countries are signatories to the UNCLOS, China refused to participate in the South China Sea arbitration proposed in 2013 and has repeatedly asserted that the ruling in the Philippines favor is invalid and non-binding.

The Chinese government has claimed sovereignty over most of the Spratly islands since 1953, publishing various documents since then which list the islands within its territory (1, 2) and resolutely denying the legitimacy of the ICJ ruling on the South China Sea, which Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Zhao Lijian called, a complete political, farce concocted by the United States.

U.S. State Department spokesman Ned Price called on China to comply with the ICJ ruling at a press conference on Feb. 14, noting that the U.S. stands behind the Philippines and affirms that the ICJ decision ought to be legally binding on both parties.

The International Court of Justice ruled that Ayungin Shoal is within the Philippines Exclusive Economic Zone.

Conclusion

Chinese claims of sovereignty over the Ayungin Shoal and subsequent accusations that Philippine Coast Guard ships were trespassing the Shoals outlying waters are misleading.

AFCL found that neither the Ayungin Shoal nor the surrounding 12 nautical miles of territorial waters can be claimed as sovereign territory by either China or the Philippines, and that the shoal still falls within the Philippines exclusive economic zone.

Asia Fact Check Lab (AFCL) is a new branch of Radio Free Asia, established to counter disinformation in todays complex media environment. Our journalists publish both daily and special reports that aim to sharpen and deepen our readers understanding of public issues. Radio Free Asia is a news service affiliated with BenarNews.
A member of the Philippine Coast Guard collects water samples from an oil spill in the waters off Naujan, Oriental Mindoro, central Philippines, March 2, 2023.

Updated at 10:15 a.m. ET on 2023-03-03

The Philippine government was rushing on Friday to contain the spread of an oil spill from a tanker that sank near the Verde Island Passage, considered the center of the center of marine biodiversity in the central Philippines.

Artemio Abu, commandant of the Philippine Coast Guard (PCG), joined a surveillance overflight in the vicinity of waters off Naujan, in Oriental Mindoro province, where the MT Princess Empress sank earlier this week with a cargo of 800,000 liters of industrial fuel. Its crew of 20 were rescued.

The coast guard said it spotted an oil spill measuring 2 to 3 kilometers (1.2 to 1.9 miles) long.

PCG spokesperson Rear Adm. Armand Balilo said the government had designated the affected coastal towns of Naujan, Pola, Pinamalayan, and Bongabong as exclusion areas due to health threats from the spill. Apart from being a threat to marine life, the environmental disaster could threaten the fishermen in the area where fishing is peoples primary livelihood.

We have imposed an exclusion [zone]. It means there are areas that cannot be accessed because it would be dangerous and may affect the health of individuals, Balilo said in an interview with dzBB radio in Manila.

The tanker sank to a depth of 400 meters (1,312 feet), making it difficult for the divers to reach the ship, Balilo said. Strong waves in the area were also hampering the mission, as authorities scrambled to set up oil spill booms to contain the spread.

The coast guard was carrying on with an assessment of the shoreline in Barangay Bacawan, Pola Oriental Mindoro as well as the cleanup of oil sludge on the beach, Balilo said.

President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. said the government wasworking with the International Maritime Organization and the Department of Interior and Local Government and was ready to provide support to the local government.

"The government, through the Department of Social Workand Development (DSWD), is prepared to provide various forms of assistance tofamilies and individuals affected by the oil spill caused by the submerged MTPrincess Empress in Oriental Mindoro, he said in a statement.

We are closely monitoring the situation with the PhilippineCoast Guard (PCG) as the lead agency. Special attention will be given to theaffected fisherfolks who will be losing their source of livelihood because ofthe oil spill.

Coast guard chief Adm. Artemio Abu joins the aerial survey above waters off Naujan, Oriental Mindoro, March 3, 2023. [Handout photo/Philippine Coast Guard]

Meanwhile, the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) was warning of threats to 21 locally managed marine protected areas.

The spill appears to be flowing southwards towards the southern part of Oriental Mindoro, Environment Secretary Toni Yulo-Loyzaga said in a video message Thursday.

A study by the DENRs Biodiversity Management Bureau said that seagrass beds, mangroves, and dispersion pathways for spawned fish larvae were at potential risk. DENR personnel were now focused on coastal clean-up, because possible contamination could affect the viability of these marine ecosystems, officials said.

Loyzaga said authorities were also collecting water samples in 12 sites and spraying dispersants at the spill.

Environmental groups called on the government to speed up operations, warning that the already threatened Verde Island Passage was at further risk.

The passage, surrounded by Oriental Mindoro and four other provinces, is recognized as the center of global shore-fish biodiversity and provides food and livelihoods for over 2 million people, according to Conservation International Philippines, an NGO.

We are calling on the government to expedite cleanup operations to minimize the damage and allow the people who depend on the riches of the sea to resume their normal activities, Father Edwin Gariguez, convenor of the Protect Verde Island Passage campaign network, said on Wednesday.

Fish may experience reduced growth and the turbid waters will make it harder for seagrasses and corals to grow, he said. Potential fish kills due to the oil spill may cause lesser fish stock out of the already dwindling fish catch.

The DENR has created a task force to address the problem. Undersecretary Marilou Erni was appointed as task force commander, having served as the corporate ground response coordinator during the Guimaras oil spill in 2006, the worst spill the country has so far recorded.

That occurred in August 2006 when the tanker M/T Solar 1 sank off the coast of the island province of Guimaras, spilling more than 2.1 million liters of bunker fuel.

This report has been updated to include comments from the Philippine president.
Thailand to strengthen cooperation with China's Great Bay Area

Xinhua) 09:48, March 03, 2023

BANGKOK, March 2 (Xinhua) -- Thailand signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with China's southern economic powerhouse Shenzhen to boost economic cooperation with the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area (GBA).

The signing ceremony was held by the Department of International Trade Promotion, Ministry of Commerce Thailand and the China Council for the Promotion of International Trade Shenzhen Municipal Committee (CCPIT Shenzhen).

Addressing the event, Jurin Laksanawisit, Thailand's deputy prime minister and minister of commerce, stressed the importance of bilateral economic cooperation and trade through mini-free trade agreements (mini-FTAs) between Thailand and China.

Thailand has been stepping up trade cooperation with China by expanding mini-FTAs with Chinese cities and provinces, he said. "Six smaller FTAs, including two with Chinese provinces like Hainan and Gansu, have already been signed by Thailand."

"The MOU between Thailand and Shenzhen, an important economic city in the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area (GBA) and a high-tech city in China, will further promote bilateral trade growth," Jurin said.

China was the largest trading partner of Thailand in 2022, with a bilateral trade value reaching 3.69 trillion baht (about 107 billion U.S. dollars), which accounted for about 18 percent of Thailand's total foreign trade volume, according to the Ministry of Commerce.

China and Thailand have strong ties, and economic and trade cooperation has grown significantly under both countries' strategic leadership, said Wang Liping, minister counsellor for economic and commercial affairs of the Chinese Embassy in Thailand.

"The signing of the MOU is strengthening the strategic alignment of the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area (GBA) and Thailand's Eastern Economic Corridor," Wang said, exploring new models of cooperation to create new highlights of China-Thailand economic and trade cooperation.

The trade cooperation between Shenzhen and Thailand produced fruitful results in 2022, with imports and exports totaling 100 billion yuan (about 14.56 billion U.S. dollars), an increase of 18 percent over the same period last year, said Gu Dongzhong, Chairman of CCPIT Shenzhen.

"The MOU will benefit both parties by increasing trade and assisting SMEs in market expansion through RCEP and cross-border e-commerce, while also promoting high-quality economic and trade cooperation between Shenzhen and Thailand," he said.

Over 150 Chinese and Thai government officials, experts, scholars, and business representatives attended the online and offline "Hybrid Seminar: Trade and Investment Opportunities in Thailand-Shenzhen" after the signing of the MOU.

(Web editor: Zhang Kaiwei, Liang Jun)
Bringing lithium-ion batteries on flights is still a bad idea.

A battery-operated vape device suddenly caught on fire in a Spirit Airline mid-flight, forcing the airliner to make an emergency stop to extinguish and investigate the fire's source.

Nobody was physically injured during the flight, though many were sent to the hospital complaining of illness.

Spirit Airlines Flight 259 Emergency Stop Details

Spirit Airlines Flight 259 made an emergency stop at the Jacksonville International Airport at around 4 PM ET to put out and investigate a fire that started in an overhead bin, per the Jacksonville NBC affiliate WTLV.

As soon as the airliner landed, emergency responders sent one person directly to the hospital from the airport. However, nine other people, including crew members, eventually felt sick around 6 PM ET; they were sent to the hospital to recover and be checked up on, per Local Jacksonville Fire Rescue Department (JFRD) Captain Eric Proswimmer's statement to local outlets.

Thankfully, their injuries and conditions were not life-threatening, per Fox Business.

While Spirit Airlines confirmed in a statement to multiple outlets that the fire came from a battery fire from a guest item in an overhead bin, it didn't mention what the battery-operated item was. However, Rocco Chierichella, a retired New York City firefighter who said he tried to help put out the flames, claims that the device in question was a "battery-powered vape tied to a battery charger inside the compartment," per local station WJXT.

Chierichella then claimed that the fire resulting from the battery-operated vape caught some surrounding luggage on fire and, as such, was considered to be "very dangerous." The retired firefighter then mentioned he received burns and blisters on his hands and fingers while trying to put out the fire.

Read More: Airbnb Bans People 'Closely Associated' With Bad Guests, Already-Banned Users

Other people also helped to put out the fire while the plane was still flying, possibly to initiate an emergency stop at Jacksonville International Airport.

Kerri Arakawa, a passenger on Spirit Airlines Flight 259, mentioned that Chierichella and the flight crew came in and tried putting water on it when another person went and got a bucket, which Chierichella presumably used to put the fire out. The entire ordeal took about 20 minutes before the fire was officially out.

JFRD stated that crew members acquired the item that caught fire and extinguished it in a bucket of water.

The Danger Of Lithium-Ion Batteries

While Spirit Airlines did not confirm Chierichella's statement about the battery-operated vape, the fact that the battery was a lithium-ion one is already bad enough.

Rechargeable lithium-ion batteries are at risk of overheating to the point they combust in flames through short circuits or excessive ambient temperatures. Additionally, other devices with lithium-ion batteries were previously recorded to combust in planes, such as when an iPhone 6 burst into flames in a Boeing 787 mid-flight in 2016, per an earlier Gizmodo article.

The Federal Aviation Administration made no update on its policy on lithium-ion batteries since it was first stated in Feb. 2020. According to the government agency, lithium-ion batteries, electronic cigarettes, and vaping devices must be carried with the passenger in carry-on baggage so that crew members and other passengers can put out the fire should it combust inside the aircraft cabin.

Related Article: FDA to Reexamine Juul Labs' Marketing Application, Delaying Ban on Its e-Cigarettes
After calling the mayor of Dallas "bruh" on Twitter, a reporter claims she was dismissed by her newspaper because the remark broke its social media policy.

Former reporter for The Dallas Morning News Meghan Mangrum took issue with Mayor Eric Johnson in what she believed to be a civil but firm tweet.

The Tweet Has Now Since Been Deleted After Mayor Johnson Criticized It

Johnson tweeted on February 11 that the local media had "no interest" in covering the city's decline in violent crime.

Meanwhile, the mayor of Dallas said that any uptick in violent crime will undoubtedly be addressed, Gizmodo reports.

"If it doesn't feed into our worst tribal instincts or show a city devolving into violent crime-ridden chaos, the media will not cover it," the mayor tweeted on February 11.

He even adds that the local media has no interest in policing or crime stories if they do not support a particular narrative.

Johnson was criticized in the comments by a number of local media outlets, including readers and reporters from the Dallas Morning News who had written about the crime increase.

Mangrum, a reporter for the Dallas Morning News Education Lab since the summer, added her thoughts of the matter through a tweet.

"Bruh, national news is always going to chase the trend. Cultivate relationships with quality local news partnerships," the tweet says.

Following the reporter's tweet, the mayor quickly called out Mangrum on what he thought was a tweet showing her inherent racial biases.

Mangrum was terminated for breaking the paper's social media policy three days after posting the tweet after being summoned in for a meeting with the executive editor, Katrice Hard.

Hardy, who is Black like the mayor, questioned if she would have continued to use the term "bruh" if the mayor were White, to which Mangrum replied affirmatively.

Mangrum, who is currently jobless and relocating back to her parents' home in Florida, asserts that her tweet was only an effort to defend her colleagues, Chron notes.

Read More: Apple Bids Farewell To Two More Executives

Mangrum Continues To Work On Union Activities

The Morning News' union, the Dallas News Guild, has complained to the National Labor Relations Board about Mangrum's dismissal.

The union protest by the Dallas News Guild, which Mangrum participated in and helped organize, was held on the same day as the meeting with Hardy.

The union thinks Mangrum's dismissal was intended to intimidate the bargaining unit, which is currently negotiating a new contract, Gizmodo writes.

Mangrum claims that she is heartbroken over losing her job and dissatisfied with how management handled the situation.

She also pointed out that the incident is just one worrying example in a larger tale of the difficulties faced by journalists at The Dallas Morning News and the company's attempts to break unions.

According to Mangrum, the Dallas News Guild has one of six complaints it has made to the National Labor Relations Board on her behalf recently.

She even mentioned how the company terminated the Al Da team, which was responsible for the newspaper's Spanish-language publishing, in February.

Related Article: Twitter's VP For Public Policy Quits As Layoffs Continue
If youve heard a sermon on Malachi, it was likely centered around one of three things. Malachi 3 is a favorite place to go for preachers desiring to preach on giving  it can provide a place for a hard-hitting rebuke to those who might be robbing God. If youre in a more Calvinistic minded church, youve maybe heard a sermon on Gods electing love. But my guess is that youve heard Malachi preached in preparation for the birth of Christ.

But really Malachi isnt the last book of the Old Testament. Its the last book of the English version of the Old Testament, but its original intent wasnt to drop the mic and then sit silent for 400 years. Malachi was positioned as the last book of the Neviim  the last of the Twelve Minor Prophets. But it is about battling indifference while we wait for Gods fulfillment of promise, in that regard it still might make a great Christmas sermon.

Where do we find the gospel in the message of the prophet Malachi?

How Do You Find the Gospel in the Old Testament?

I suppose before understanding how to find the gospel in the OT, itd be helpful for us to define the gospel. The simplest definition is one given by JI Packer: God saves sinners. If youd like to put a bit more meat on your gospel presentation, I use two different frameworks with four points each. The first is GodManChristResponse. The second is more of a story: CreationFallRedemptionGlory.

The first presentation centers upon Gods character and how humanity fails to meet Gods holy standard, as such the judgment of God is upon us. But the good news is that Jesus Christ fixes this by fulfilling what is required through his life, death and resurrection. Our only fitting response, then, is to respond to Him in repentance and faith. When this happens, we are united to Christ and his record becomes our record.

The second presentation centers upon the overarching story of the Bible. God lovingly created us to love Him and enjoy Him forever. We were made for rest, rule, and relationship. But we made shipwreck of this, and so rather than having the blessings of obedience we are under the curse of disobedience. Rather than having peace (rest), purpose (ruling), and healthy relationship we often experience the opposite. Ultimately, we are alienated from God. But thankfully God sent His Son, Jesus Christ, to bear our curse and to fulfill what God intended for humanity. As such we now experience the blessings of Jesus obedience in our place. He restores the rest, rule, and relationship we were created to enjoy. Someday everything will be ultimately restored and we will live in a new heaven and a new earth.

We could write entire books focusing on these various themes of the gospel. But every gospel story follows this basic skeleton. No matter where you find yourself in the Old Testament (or the New Testament) you can find one of these various threads. Every place in Scripture is either telling you something about God, something about our rebellion, something about His rescue, or something about our future restoration. If you can spot this, then you can fill out the rest of the story.

How Do We Find the Gospel in Malachi?

Imagine that as a child, your parent promised you a trip to Disneyland. Your family talked about it every week, as the parents hyped up how wonderful it would be to attend the Magic Kingdom. You get excited, as any kid is likely to do.

What happens, though, after a year of talking about it nothing seems to be happening with the trip to Disneyland. There is no money being saved. Year after year comes and there is no trip. Eventually the child gives up hope and assumes there was never a trip to Disneyland planned. After some time, the child, now an adult, moves out and starts their own family. When your child turns five (the same age when the promise was made to you) the same promise is made to them.

This time, there is a little bit of money put towards the trip. A miniscule bit of progress towards the trip. Its just enough to cause you to have hope again. But then, your child becomes a teenager. There is talk of taking a trip right before graduation. Do you believe any trip will happen?

That situation would be a bit similar to what the Israelites were facing. It had been 100 years since they had returned from exile. God had promised a restoration of the temple, a renewed interest in Torah, an extension of the land, and a king like David to rule over them. The Golden Era hadnt lived up to its potential, and the people are frustrated and indifferent. There are about 100,000 people in the land, and the land itself has been ravaged by drought. It feels like a far cry from the Promised Land.

The Book of Malachi is woven together with six different disputes. But they have one thing in common  its what happens when indifference has taken a toll. 47 of the 55 verses in Malachi are God speaking. The other verses are the people disagreeing with Gods assessment.

God says, I love you; they ask, How?

He says, You are robbing me; they again ask, How?

The Lord says, You are making me weary; they retort, Why?

What we see from all of these disputes is that the hearts of the Israelites have not fundamentally changed. Exile itself did not bring about the new covenant which was promised in Jeremiah 31. The Israelites, much like those of the Exodus generation, are grumbling and despising Gods redemption.

Malachi, like so many other places within the Old Testament, tells us about the truth of the human condition. We are rebellious people. And even the pain of exile and the joy of being brought back from such a dark place is not enough to captivate or hearts. Malachi tells us, especially in 4:4-6, that there will have to be another to come. One who will be a new prophet  a new Moses, a new Elijah  who will fulfill all of the promises which the prophets pointed toward. Yes, that promised messenger is the Lord Jesus Christ.

Gods promises are certain. They will get to Disneyland. His Word has not been a lie. But the trip doesnt come through human effort. It will require another leader. It will require the Christ, to fulfill and accomplish all of the Law and promises which God has made.

Where Is Jesus in Scroll of Remembrance?

There are three passages from Malachi which are quoted in the New Testament. Paul picks up the dynamic of Jacob and Esau in his explanation of Gods sovereignty in Romans 9. The gospel writers pick up the promise of a future messenger in both Malachi 3:1 and 4:5. These are relatively simple to draw a line to Christ, but what do we do with a passage like Malachi 3:16-18?

Malachi is filled with disputes. God expresses His disappointment in the people and the people return the favor. But there is a little section here in Malachi 3, where some heed Gods words. As a result, a book of remembrance is put together in order to write their names within.

This group is contrasted with those who are grumbling in verses 13-15. It is a display of the difference between those who are righteous and those who are wicked. As Duguid notes,

This is the fundamental fault line that divides humanity in two, running through all other divisions of race, class, gender, and social standing. It is also the essential division that the Lord affirmed at the beginning of this book, when he said, Yet I have loved Jacob but Esau I have hated (1:23).

The key here to connecting this with the gospel is the statement in verse 17, in the day when I make up my treasured possession. When does this happen? According to 1 Peter 2:9 being Gods treasured possession comes through being united to Jesus Christ. It is here that the dividing line is drawn. Those who are righteous  those who would be written in the book of remembrance  are those who are united to Jesus Christ by grace, through faith. For it is Christ Himself who is the One who is truly righteous.

Baldwin says it well:

Ultimate judgment turns on a mans relationship to God, and that is determined by his response to Gods invitation to return (3:7).

Sources

Iain M. Duguid and Matthew P. Harmon, Zephaniah, Haggai, Malachi, ed. Richard D. Phillips, Philip Graham Ryken, and Daniel M. Doriani, Reformed Expository Commentary (Phillipsburg, NJ: P&R Publishing, 2018), 174.

Joyce G. Baldwin, Haggai, Zechariah and Malachi: An Introduction and Commentary, vol. 28, Tyndale Old Testament Commentaries (Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 1972), 273.

Related articles

How Can We See the Gospel in Exodus?

Can We Find the Gospel Message amidst Jobs Suffering?

Where Do We Find the Gospel in the Book of Daniel?

Photo credit: SparrowStock
Tonight's rundown:

 Talking Points Memo: Joe Biden continues to decline with the world watching and remains out of the press reach

 Presidential Historian Larry Cook weighs in on how Bidens relationship with the press compares to past presidents

 US Special Forces have been confirmed to be in Ukraine

 OReilly describes Democrats hosting the DNC in Chicago as Crazy Arrogant

 The trial of Fox News gets underway

 58% of Americans are now living paycheck to paycheck even as inflation begins to cool off

 Smart Life: Utilizing Kelly Blue Book when searching for a new car

 This Day in History: FDR dies in office

 Final Thought: what to do when someone is disrespectful to you

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Promising high-quality, tailored laser, skin & hair treatments

Gurugram-based startup Meddo Health has announced the launch of its brand, "Uncover", a line of high-quality aesthetic dermatology services, in India. The brand is set to revolutionise the skincare and aesthetic dermatology industry in the country with its high-quality, tailored treatments by the best-in-class dermatologists at its centres or at the comfort of your home.

According to a recent report, the dermatology skincare market in India is one of the biggest and fastest-growing segments in India with a current size of over $1 billion annually and expected to grow at a CAGR of over 15% during the period 2020-2025. This growth can be attributed to rising disposable incomes and increasing awareness about healthy skincare.

Uncover aims to tap into this growing market with its range of expert-backed, effective services. The brand offers to break the claims-heavy (proven or otherwise) industry by bringing in best-in-class technology, expert knowledge and giving a platform to the users to find results-driven solutions for their unique concerns.

To strengthen its foray into dermatology services, Meddo Health has put aside a separate corpus of upto Rs 25 crore. It is commencing operations from Delhi /NCR (Gurugram) and plans to target both Tier 1 and 2 cities with Uncover. Simultaneously, the company is looking to open its centres in Jaipur, Panipat, Jalandhar, etc. and projects to generate over Rs 200 crore annualised revenue in the next 2 years.
To construct hospital with 164 beds that will have high-end medical equipment for cancer prevention, diagnosis, and treatment

Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) has signed a Loan Agreement with the Government of India to provide Japanese ODA loan amounting to JPY 9,918 million (approximately Rs 560 crore) for the development of a 164-bed Super-Specialty Cancer and Research Centre in Mizoram. The Super Specialty Cancer and Research Centre will also have state-of-the-art medical equipment for cancer diagnosis that will improve cancer prevention, diagnosis, and treatment.

The objective of the project is to improve access to cancer prevention, detection, and treatment as well as human resource development and research that support cancer control system, in line with the National Programme for Prevention and Control of Cancer, Diabetes, Cardiovascular diseases and Stroke (NPCDCS) program in 2010, which aims to reduce the premature mortality from cancer to 25% by 2025. The establishment of the Super Specialty Centre will ensure Universal Health Coverage by strengthening the cancer healthcare system in the state.

Mizoram records the second highest cancer incidence rate and the state government has identified the improvement of cancer control as one of the highest priorities in the state's health sector. Mizoram aims to be a model state for cancer control in India with the establishment of this regional cancer control system.

The loan agreement for the project was signed between Rajat Kumar Mishra, Additional Secretary, Department of Economic Affairs, Ministry of Finance, Govt. of India, and Saito Mitsunori, Chief Representative, JICA India.

The project is in line with the development policy and goals of the State of Mizoram, the development goals of the Government of India, and that of JICAs policy for developing nations. Through this project, not only the construction of the infrastructure but also soft components to support the establishment of a cancer control system in Mizoram will be provided. The soft components will consists of 1) Hospital management and medical safety, 2) Capacity strengthening of diagnosis and treatment, 3) Capacity strengthening of facility and equipment management and maintenance and 3) Capacity strengthening of cancer prevention and screening.
Coca-Cola Beverages South Africa (CCBSA) is partnering with the Henley Business School on a strategic learning partnership to empower select suppliers to the beverage company.

CCBSA managing director Velaphi Ratshefola and Linda Buckley, director for executive education at Henley Business School. Source: Supplied

The CCBSA-Henley Business School Supplier Development programme kicked off on 1 March 2023 at the Henley Business School.

The partnership will see 20 qualifying suppliers attend a 12-month programme at Henley Business School to obtain an NQF-8 Qualification, a Postgraduate Diploma in Management Practice Supplier Development Programme (PDiMPSD). The programme is targeted at suppliers who are at least 51% Black-owned enterprises, exempt micro-enterprises or qualifying small enterprises in line with the Broad-Based Black Economic Empowerment Codes of Good Practice.

We are proud to be able to offer our suppliers this qualification to help them develop their businesses further. Entrepreneurs are special in that they are willing to take risks, and through the knowledge acquired during the course, they will be able to enhance their service and goods offerings even further, says CCBSA managing director, Velaphi Ratshefola.

Tools and knowledge to scale

By offering entrepreneurs the opportunity to learn additional and specialised business skills, CCBSA hopes they will be able to grow and expand their small and medium-sized businesses.

Our plan is to assist our suppliers to upscale their businesses and grow their annual revenue by increasing their customer base, and in turn generate much needed employment and contribute to the growth of our economy, Ratshefola adds.

Linda Buckley, director for executive education at Henley Business School, comments, As an institution of higher learning with a footprint on the continent and presence in South Africa, our primary focus with a venture of this nature, is to ensure that small, micro, and medium enterprises can play a meaningful role in the mainstream economy. We are happy and excited to co-create opportunities that will go a long way towards improving small businesses and our country for the better.

The course, which will be offered through online and face-to-face contact, includes Systematic Management Practice, Innovative Wealth Creation, Managing Value Streams and Synthesis and Integration among others.

It is open to advanced diploma and bachelor degree graduates, managers with three to four years of middle to senior management experience, technical or other specialists, as well as senior managers with no degree qualification but can register in line with the countrys Recognition of Prior Learning (RPL).
The #OneLessWorry HPV campaign aims to increase public awareness and understanding of the HPV virus and to promote the importance of the lowering of risk through HPV vaccinations, regular screenings, namely Pap smears, and diagnosis and treatment of papillomavirus-related disease.

#OneLessWorry #HPV #CANSACervicalAwareness #EliminateCervicalCancer

Cansas national manager for Health Promotion, Lorraine Govender, says that Cansa is committed to working with partners like the IPVS to educate the public about HPV and its link to cancers such as cervical cancer. In 2021, we launched our two-year Cervical Cancer Awareness and Support Campaign on International HPV Day, where we highlighted that contracting certain HPV strains may result in cervical cancer as well as risk factors and symptoms of cervical cancer and the importance of early detection through screening. It is also important to know that certain HPV strains can cause some head and neck cancers, cancers of the penis and anus, but most cervical cancers are a direct result of HPV infection.

... cervical cancer is the second most common cancer

among women in South Africa

and the cancer with the highest mortality rate.

According to the National Cancer Registry (2019), cervical cancer is the second most common cancer among women in South Africa and the cancer with the highest mortality rate.

About seven in every 10 people will have HPV infection at some point in their lifetime. It is difficult to avoid as many people who contract it are not aware that they have it as they do not show any symptoms or health problems. Many of the strains are not as harmful as strains 16 and 18 which are detected in most cervical cancers. The virus lives on your skin and can be transmitted through skin-to-skin or sexual contact.

The most effective way to lower risk for HPV is to be vaccinated against it. HPV vaccination can prevent 90% of cervical and anal cancers and most other cancers caused by HPV.*

A study carried out by Cancer Research UK showed that young women, now in their early twenties, who had the vaccine at a young age presented with a reduction in both pre-cancerous growths and an 87% reduction in cervical cancer. The results were not as significant in teens who were vaccinated at an older age and those who had already been sexually active.**

Govender adds, Cansa encourages young women to get vaccinated against HPV and hopes that parents and guardians will consent to this as it is key to protecting our youth against potentially life-threatening disease. We encourage our teens who are planning their future to ensure HPV vaccination becomes part of their plan.

Cansa also supports the Department of Healths HPV School Vaccination Programme to help reduce cervical cancer risk. Adolescent girls attending public schools between the ages of 9 and 14 years have access to the HPV vaccine. As of 2020, the proportion of adolescent girls aged 15 years who had received at least one dose of the HPV vaccine at any time between ages 9 and 14 years was 75%, while 61% had completed the full recommended two-dose schedule. We need to empower our adolescent girls to demand life-saving HPV vaccines.

Other preventative measures include women, who are sexually active, prioritising their health and going for regular Pap smear screening tests. Early detection is key to fighting cervical cancer as it is treatable if caught in the early stages.

Using protection such as condoms, consistently, can reduce ones chance of contracting HPV. It will, however, not eliminate it completely. Limiting ones sexual partners can also help reduce your risk.

As part of Cansas cancer screening services, Pap smears (for cervical cancer screenings) are available at most Cansa Care Centres across South Africa for a fee of R380  which includes a clinical breast screening and the laboratory fees. Should any abnormalities be detected, Cansa can help with a referral within the public health care sector or to a medical practitioner.

Cansa, in association with the Centre of Community Technology at Nelson Mandela University, created an HPV awareness video to help spread the message of the efficacy of HPV vaccinations and screening to promote early detection. Further educational tools include a cervical cancer awareness video promoting the importance of Pap smears and educational radio spots in partnership with Siemens Healthineers. Resources are available in a variety of languages to ensure that a diverse group of women can be reached.

The National Department of Healths Cervical Cancer Prevention and Control Policy states that women aged 30 years and older should have three Pap smears in their lifetime at ages 30, 40 and 50 which are provided at some public health clinics at no cost (non-symptomatic). If women experience abnormal symptoms, they can request a Pap smear at public health clinics. HIV positive women are eligible for a Pap smear at diagnosis and every three years thereafter if negative for cervical cancer (yearly if screening is positive).

If you, or a loved one, have been diagnosed with cervical cancer, contact your local Cansa Care Centre to access Cansas care and support programmes such as medical equipment hire, wigs, counselling, Tele Counselling, support groups, online support groups and resources, as well as Cansa Care Homes where patients receiving treatment far from home can stay during treatment. Support and information can also be obtained via the Cansa Help Desk on 0800 22 6622 or info@cansa.org.za.

For more information, please contact Lorraine Govender, national manager: Health Promotion at email az.gro.asnac@rednevogl or call 031 205 9525 or 084 240 2488.
Informal traders inside the Belhar Airport Mall have been asked to vacate by 12 March.

Fatima Davids has been selling sweets, cereals and spices at her stall inside the Belhar Airport Mall for several years. She is among dozens of informal traders in the mall who have been issued notices by management to vacate the premises. Photos: Ashraf Hendricks

Fatima Davids has been selling sweets, cereals and spices at her stall inside the Belhar Airport Mall for several years. She is among dozens of informal traders in the mall who have been issued notices by management to vacate the premises. They were initially told to leave by 28 February but it was extended to 12 March so they could try and find alternative places to trade.

However, this notice came as a shock to many of the traders, many of whom like Davids, rely on the money they make selling their goods to survive and support their families. Silverbird Investments, in the notice, stated that All informal trade needs to be suspended as it is a fire and health and safety risk. Informal trade does not form part of our occupancy quote.

When GroundUp visited the mall, Davids and a dozen other traders were busy selling a variety of goods from clothing to perfumes. Their stalls and tables are mostly positioned in the centre of the walkway in the mall with larger retail stores on either side. We were told that traders pay R50 a day and R100 on days when beneficiaries collect their grants.

Traders reliant on income

Davids, 62, says that her husband is bedridden after having six strokes, so she needs this extra income. She gets an Old Age grant, and her husband receives the disability grant but most of the money goes towards medical bills and transport to the hospital.

Davids says she can hardly afford to buy food after paying rent and electricity. I dont want to beg and just want to make an honest living, she says. Its not fair towards us.

Igsaan Bester helps his daughter sell savouries at the mall so she can have extra income to support her family because her husband is paralysed. Photos: Ashraf Hendricks

Igsaan Bester, 68, helps his daughter sell savouries like pies, samoosas and koeksisters. He says they have been trading there for about three years. My son-in-law is paralysed so my daughter needs the extra income to support her family. Bester says that they still are not sure how they can suddenly be a fire hazard at the mall.

Another trader, who asked to remain anonymous as she wasnt the stall owner, says it was her first job in five years. She has only been there for two months. We just came at a bad time. She says she hopes the mall will be able to accommodate them outside or allow them to trade on assigned days or weekends.

Eugene Clark, director of Silver Bird Investments, told GroundUp that the mall had initially allocated the space to traders to create trade opportunities for members of the community and to allow small goods to be sold. Clark said that this has since become problematic because the tables and chairs, in the common area walkway, were listed as a risk by the fire inspector.

Clark said that they are exploring the possibility of moving the informal traders to a different location but it will not be a quick process.
In an era where foresight, problem-solving and left field thinking are the new business currency, Flux Trends is launching its Flux Innovation Tour 2023: Meet the Solution-Based, Future Innovators Defining the New World Order.

Image supplied. Flux Trends is searching for 10 inspiring young, solution-based innovators in South Africa

This unique full-day tour kicks off the night before with a meet-and-greet cocktail event with your fellow travellers to contextualise the tour ahead.

The next day, your tour guide Dion Chang, founder of Flux Trends, together with the Flux Trends team, will take you on a remarkable and unexpected journey.

They will facilitate the all-important conversations that take place between stops and give you an opportunity to converse and delve into years of Flux research that will help you frame the future of your business - through the lens of your future workforce and customers.

Your tour will start at 8am and conclude at 5pm, back where you started. Food and drinks will be provided at stops throughout the day.

Designed to simultaneously shift your thinking and challenge your perceptions of the innovation process by - literally - introducing delegates to the future the tour will introduce you to the young innovators, creatives, and entrepreneurs building the future of South Africa, Africa, and the world.

Gen Z  The SA so-called born free generation

Flux Trends has long been passionate about Generation Z, the first digital natives of humanity.

The South African cohort, the so-called born free generation, has lived through life-changing world events within a few short years. This is the generation that was born in post-apartheid South Africa, into an already always-on-internet landscape and came of age during the global pandemic and an extinction-level climate crisis.

Yet, they are resilient, motivated, and not afraid to challenge the existing world order.

Flux Trends invites you to do exactly that: come meet the young movers and makers where they are and see, taste and touch for yourself how they are challenging and re-creating the world in their own image.

The Flux Trends Generation Z Immersion Experience takes place on 15 June. Book for the Experience here before 31 March 2023 to qualify for the Early Bird Special. Bookings close on 31 May 2023.

The search for 10 aspiring under 25s

Flux Trends is searching for 10 inspiring young, solution-based innovators in South Africa. Under 25 years old, these innovators are making a difference in South Africa and the world at large.

Nominate yourself or someone else to be selected as one of Flux Trends top 10 innovators.

The winner will be featured in the Flux Trends Generation Z Immersion Experience.
Africa's music industry is on the rise, and the Africa Rising Music Conference (ARMC) is at the forefront of this exciting movement. The conference, which will take place in Johannesburg from 23-24 May 2023 at Hallmark Hotel in Johannesburg, bringing together music industry professionals from across the continent and beyond.

The conference is excited to announce its esteemed Ambassador Programme for 2023. This year the program will recognise and celebrate five women who are making a significant impact within their respective fields. The program highlights their influence and impact on various communities and movements.

The five ambassadors are Megatronic, Fundi, Naimah Global, Namakau Star, and Phelisa, representing Femme Fest, Bridges for Music, New Future Records, ARMC, and Viva Con Agua, respectively.

The ARMC aims to showcase the diverse and dynamic music scene in Africa and provide a platform for music industry players to network, build bridges and collaborate. The conference will feature panel discussions, keynote speeches, workshops and live performances from some of the continent's most exciting and innovative artists.

"This conference is all about celebrating the incredible talent and creativity that Africa has to offer," said conference communications lead and Ambassador, Namakau Socika. "We want to bring together the music industry's brightest minds to exchange ideas, build relationships and explore new opportunities in this fast-growing market."

This year's conference will feature a diverse mix of local and international delegates, with a focus on Zambia and Germany. It will offer a dynamic mix of workshops, activations, and performances centered around the hip hop, indie and electronic music industries, as well as the Afro-Euro connection.

We are proud to continue our partnership with the MTN Bushfire Festival, where we will take artists showcasing at ARMC and international delegates to Bushfire. Delegates will also be part of The Arts Round Table, and artists will get a chance to add an additional show to their trip to South Africa from abroad, said Socika.

This year, the key themes are developing independence, building bridges, and amplifying female voices. After last year's success and support from the likes of Mixmag, Music in Africa, Trace TV Southern Africa, and Paradise Worldwide, we look forward to announcing this year's partners soon, as well as the innovative program. This is a conference not to be missed. We are on a mission to build bridges and create real change in the music ecosystem. This year, the NAC supports ARMC to create 150 jobs for South African musicians and executives, enabling knowledge transfer and better preparation for international exchange.

Participating in an exchange such as ARMC shows how much value that each of these women selected as part of the ambassador programme bring to the table. We are most certainly excited to keep up with their journeys as they represent their communities.

For more, go to http://www.africarisingmusicconference.com/
Posters for tvN's new series "Pandora: Beneath the Paradise," left, and Netflix's original series "The Glory" / Courtesy of tvN and Netflix



By Lee Gyu-lee



In this month's lineup, we will see a number of series, ranging from period dramas to dark thrillers, including the much-anticipated Part 2 of Netflix's original series, "The Glory."



Following the premiere of its eight-part season last December, "The Glory" is set to launch eight more episodes on March 10.



The thriller series follows the revenge story of a victim of bullying (Song Hye-kyo). The first part showed Dong-eun's high school years, during which she was repeatedly assaulted by the school's bullies  Park Yeon-jin (Lim Ji-yeon), Jeon Jae-jun (Park Sung-hoon), Lee Sa-ra (Kim Hieora), Choi Hye-jeong (Cha Joo-young) and Son Myeong-o (Kim Gun-woo). In order to get even with the bullies who ruined her life, Dong-eun becomes a teacher at the school her abuser's daughter attends.



The second part will pick up on Dong-eun carrying out her revenge as the police investigate Myeong-o's sudden disappearance after he blackmailed his friends.



"Pandora: Beneath the Paradise," another revenge-based thriller, is set to premiere on March 11.



Starring Lee Ji-ah and Lee Sang-yoon, tvN's new series revolves around a woman, Hong Tae-ra (Lee Ji-ah), who loses all memories of her past. She seems to have a perfect family, with Pyo Jae-hyun (Lee Sang-Yoon), a successful husband who is a presidential candidate, and a lovely daughter.



However, her life begins to crumble when her past returns to haunt her. To protect her family, Tae-ra tries to uncover the memories she lost and fight against those behind her unfolding tragedy.





A scene from the KBS series "Oasis" / Courtesy of KBS
The IAB South Africa Bookmark Awards 2023 has announced this year's jury chairs. Now in its 15th year, the IAB SA Bookmark Awards continues to set the benchmark for digital media, marketing, and technology by rewarding impactful digital work within the marketing sector.

Image supplied. The IAB SA Bookmark Awards jury chairs have been announced

Khensani Nobanda, jury president of the Bookmark Awards, says that a greater emphasis on diversity is a core component of this years awards, both in encouraging entries from a diverse pool of candidates and also through the selection of the Chairs heading up each Jury panel.

Transforming the industry from within is integral to the success of a diverse creative sector that mirrors South Africa and the world. This years selection includes a 50% gender split as well as 75% of the Chairs being people of colour.

Jury chairs 2023

Heading up the Bookmarks panel this year are:

Special Honours Panel: Paula Hulley, managing director, Digitas



Marketers Panel: Jabulani Sigege, executive creative director, Machine_.



Publishers Panel: Rikashni Rangasamy, senior manager: digital, SuperSport



Performance Marketing Panel: Asha Patel, Sub-Saharan Africa head: B2B marketing & CMM South Africa, Google



Youth Action Panel: Senzo Xulu, executive creative director, Conversation Lab



Social, Community & Influencer Marketing Panel: MJ Khan, head of group digital communications, Sasol Limited



Builders Panel: Genie Botha, head of product design, MakeReign



Innovative Engineers Panel: Tilesh Bhaga, creative director: digital and innovation, Grey Johannesburg

The 2023 Jury Chairs will head up eight awards categories that align with IAB South Africas mandate to empower the media and marketing industry to thrive in the digital economy.

These include building brands digitally, putting users first, creating and maintaining a consistent approach to measurement, transforming the industry from within and providing trustworthy digital supply chains.

Moving the industry forward

Winning a Bookmark Award is a recognition of work that helps move the industry forward.

The Jury Chairs will offer their insight and expert knowledge and leadership during the judging process, with each heading up a diverse panel of jurors nominated by their industry peers.

The world of digital marketing and advertising is also changing constantly but, ultimately, success remains the same. Connecting with the relevant audience and delivering real growth  and measurable growth  is how innovation and excellence intersect," says Nobanda.

Its creativity that makes a real measurable impact. As more and more marketing budgets move to digital, the challenge of the return on marketing investment (ROMI) becomes even more expected from businesses.

We need to ensure that the entries we ultimately award do not just deliver on ROMI but that they benchmark what is best-in-class for digital advertising, adds Nobanda, about what she believes jurors will be looking for this year.

Personally, I want to be able to say to myself, Man, I wish wed done that!" she adds.

This year, the Bookmark Awards adds another layer to its offering with a Masterclass to assist entrants to perfect their awards entries. The Masterclass will be hosted by Jury President Khensani Nobanda and Danni Pinch, Executive Creative Director (ECD) at King James Group, and will be held virtually on Tuesday, 7 March at 10 am.

IAB Masterclass

This year, the Bookmark Awards adds another layer to its offering with a Masterclass to assist entrants to perfect their awards entries. The Masterclass will be hosted by Jury President Khensani Nobanda and Danni Pinch, executive creative director (ECD) at King James Group, and will be held virtually on Tuesday, 7 March at 10 am.

Sign up for the Masterclass here.

Important dates

Entries for the Bookmark Awards are now open. Any entry completed and paid for between Monday, 13 February and Tuesday, 22 March will receive a 10% Early Bird discount. Thereafter, normal rates will apply as per the outlined award fees for 2023

Entries submitted past the entry deadline will be subject to a 10% late penalty fee. Late fees are applicable from Tuesday, 25 April until Monday, 8 May. The awards ceremony is set to take place on Thursday, 27 July.

Enter the Awards here
The move to the new premises is a testament to Regent Business Schools commitment to providing its students with the best possible experience in higher education. With contemporary educational spaces and access to a range of 4IR technologies including 3D printing, virtual and augmented reality, drones and prototyping technologies, the new campus is designed to foster collaboration, creativity, problem-solving and innovation.

The new campus together with Regents makerspace (iLeadLab) and enterprise development unit (redHUB) will be situated in the heart of Woodstock - a vibrant and creative precinct in the Mother City.

Cape Town Mayor, Geordin Gwyn Hill-Lewis, recently visited the new campus and was very impressed with the facilities and the school's commitment to providing a high-quality education to its students. The Regent Business School is an important part of the Higher Education sector in Cape Town, their investment in upgrading their campus is evidence of that. It is encouraging to see a campus which empowers students to thrive in a 21st century world.

According to Regent Business School's managing director, Dr Ahmed Shaikh, Our commitment to innovation is reflected in our teaching methodology and approach to curricula reform. In the midst of a very challenging period for higher education, largely driven by the fallout of the pandemic and many years of disruptive technology deployments, we are nonetheless doing our absolute best to reflect deeply on how higher education in general, and Business Schools in particular, are able to respond to these seismic changes in every society around the globe. On a parallel track with our reflections, we are experimenting with new and interesting ways in which we can positively impact the communities we serve across Southern Africa. Our new campus in Cape Town is a tangible expression of our current thinking.

The school's goal is to make higher education accessible to more students by providing them with the best possible educational experience, and this move to a new and bigger campus is just one way to achieve that goal.

Regent Business School is confident that students will greatly benefit from the new premises and the cutting-edge technology and resources available to them.

This new campus space is defined by openness, creativity and digitalisation; along with a large Makerspace and student collaboration pods. These agile spaces afford teachers and facilitators the ability to respond to a range of student needs with multiple seating options, a flex zone for unique learning activities including exercise balls, kidney tables, standing tables, sofas and floor tables.

The team at the new Cape Town campus is eager to welcome its students and is excited to raise the bar for higher education.

Become future ready by joining one of accredited MBAs, postgraduate qualifications, degrees, diplomas, or higher certificates! All 2023 students will receive a free Management Development Programme valued at R7000. Ts & Cs Apply.
As long ago as 2014, a Hong Kong-based venture capital management fund, Deep Knowledge Ventures (DKV), announced that it had appointed a machine learning algorithm called "Vital" (Validating Investment Tool for Advancing Life Sciences) to its board of directors. According to DKV's senior partner, Vital was to be consulted and its views on potential investments were to carry equal weight to those of the fund's human directors.

Revolutionary as the idea of a robot company director was in 2014, advances in the field of artificial intelligence (AI) have ensured that it has continued to gather momentum in a number of countries. Over the past few months, the possibility of computers supplementing or even replacing human decision making has gathered renewed momentum with the advent of ChatGPT, a chatbot with interactive capacity and ability to answer complex and nuanced problems exceeding anything previously available in the public domain.

The advantages of using intelligent algorithms to assist corporate decision making are obvious - its ability to assimilate, retain and recall, in fractions of a second, vast quantities of information and to provide answers to questions unaffected by the problems that beset so many top-level human decision makers - bias, emotions, and stress.

AI and the law

For centuries, through the transition from a predominantly agrarian society to a predominantly urban one, and through successive industrial revolutions, lawyers have had to grapple with how existing laws would answer questions posed by new technologies and changing social and economic conditions. The advent of AI, and its increased role in business decision making is no exception. In this article, we examine some of the issues that would arise in South African law if a company wanted to involve an AI system in its corporate decision making.

Can a robot be appointed to a company board in South Africa?

There is no express statement in the Companies Act, 71 of 2008, that a company director must be a person (defined as a person or entity that the law recognises as being able to exercise rights and incur obligations). However, the Act confers rights and imposes obligations on directors. By implication therefore, the Act assumes that directors must be persons.

Section 69(7)(a) of the Act provides that a juristic person (a company, trust or other created association of persons recognised by law as having rights and obligations) is ineligible to be appointed as a director. So, it would seem that only natural persons (human beings) can be company directors in South Africa. While suggestions have been made in some jurisdictions that AI could be accorded legal personality, based on its capacity for autonomous thought and even displaying behaviour akin to human emotions, it would appear South African law would currently not allow an AI robot to be registered as a director.

Corporate governance and AI

Given that it would not be permissible, certain questions arise as to whether a robot can validly be given the authority to make, or participate in making, board decisions.

There would not seem to be any obstacle to the company effectively granting an AI robot these powers by a simple amendment to the memorandum of incorporation, shareholders agreement or both.

The relevant clause could provide that the AI must be consulted before any decision - or any decision in regard to specified subjects - is made, or that the AI must be consulted in the event of a deadlock between the members of the board.

The latter arrangement is similar to the common provision providing for the chairman to have a casting vote in the event of a deadlock, or that the companys auditors may be called upon to resolve deadlocks on certain topics; only that in this case the decision maker may arguably be better informed and less likely to be swayed by personal interests. The question is: are the directors allowed to relinquish their decision-making authority to a non-human resource, no matter how sophisticated?

Section 76 of the Companies Act is headed Standards of directors conduct. Section 76(3) states that a director must perform his or her functions 

in good faith and for a proper purpose;



in the best interests of the company; and



with the degree of care, skill and diligence that may reasonably be expected of a person  carrying out the same functions in relation to the company as those carried out by that director; and having the general knowledge, skill and experience of that director.



Section 76(4)(a) of the Act states that 

a director will have satisfied the second and third requirements of section 76(3) if (inter alia)  he or she has taken reasonably diligent steps to become informed about the matter; and he or she had a rational basis for believing, and did believe, that a decision that he or she made or supported was in the best interests of the company.



Section 76(4)(b), read with section 76(5), allows a director, when making or supporting a decision, to rely on 

the performance of, or



information, opinions, recommendations, reports or statements prepared or presented by

various persons including  professional advisers, within the spheres of their professional competence; or employees of the company whom the director reasonably believes to be reasonably competent in the functions performed or, information, opinions, recommendations, reports or statements provided; or a board committee of the company (unless the director has reason to believe that the actions of the committee do not merit confidence).

various persons including 

Looking at the duties imposed on directors in terms of section 76, it is a notable requirement that, for a director to have complied with his or her obligations, he or she must have taken reasonably diligent steps to become informed about the matter and must have had a rational basis for believing that a decision that he or she made or supported was in the best interests of the company. A director can never be exempt from applying his or her own mind to the issue at hand and forming an opinion as to the correctness of a course of action.

As mentioned, the Act does allow a director to rely on the advice of professional advisers, competent employees of the company and board committees. However, when allowing for these exceptions, the Act expressly refers to the providers of the advice as persons, in other words, people or companies capable of being held to account in law if they are negligent.

Systems like Vital and ChatGPT demonstrate just how sophisticated an AI system may be, and the huge advantages they can have over the human mind, especially when it comes to the ability to retain and recall vast quantities of information and to make decisions and give advice unaffected by biases and emotions. However, as our law currently stands, directors cannot avoid consciously seeking to become informed about company affairs, applying their own minds and exercising their discretion in the best interests of the company. Before that is possible, amendments to the Companies Act would be required, which would raise other issues as to who would then be liable if the system made a mistake This is a separate and equally complex discussion.
South Africa's leading provider of workforce and community education and training?for the public and private?sector, Optimi Workplace, is pleased to announce that Aunyana Moloisane will take over from Jackie Carroll as managing director from February 2023.

Moloisane holds a BCom Honours degree and a Masters of Business Leadership, specialising in strategy, and is currently working towards obtaining his Doctorate in Business Leadership. He joined the Optimi group as its chief business development officer in November 2018, and assumed the position as Optimi Classrooms managing director in July 2021.

Under his guidance, Optimi Classroom has established its position as one of South Africas most important providers of supplementary basic education. I firmly believe that we can have the greatest impact during the foundation phase of learning, Moloisane explains.

At that age, young minds are easy to mould and develop. And considering that 82% of fourth graders in South Africa cant read, its clear that entities like Optimi Classroom have a critical role to play.

For a short period of time in order to ensure a smooth transition, Moloisane will be serving as the MD of both Optimi Classroom and Optimi Workplace, until a new MD for the former is appointed. Looking ahead, Moloisane is excited for his new role at Optimi Workplace.

South Africa is alive with endless possibilities, he says, and our collective responsibility is to slowly decrease the high number of unemployed youths by creating meaningful skills development programmes in the form of learnership, internship and entrepreneurial opportunities.

My vision for Optimi Workplace is to change the mindset of South Africas unemployed population, helping them not just to become workers, but business owners that can transform their sectors and economies from within. We must create conducive environments by taking advantage of gaps in the market, particularly in terms of tech and innovation. Through continuous learning, I believe that we can skill and reskill our people, entrench an ethos of entrepreneurship, and forge a sustainable future.

Moloisane will be building on the robust foundations laid by Optimi Workplaces current MD, Jackie Carroll. Carroll co-founded Media Works, South Africas skills development and training leader, almost 30 years ago and steered its integration into the Optimi stable in 2019.

"I have been immensely honoured and humbled to serve as the managing director of Optimi Workplace since Media Works joined the Optimi group, Carroll says. And I have been proud to see Optimi Workplace thrive during this time. Through an incredible team working across the country, Optimi Workplace has grown and evolved, and continues to provide exceptional workforce and community training, and to help businesses make a positive impact.

"As I pass the torch to Aunyana, I have full confidence in his ability to take Optimi Workplace to new heights and to continue fulfilling our mission of empowering South Africans with quality education, entrepreneurial and career opportunities."

Optimi Workplace comprises Media Works, as well as Tuta-Me, which works with corporates to support their university-level bursars throughout their academic journeys. A high school programme is also in place to provide online learning support to learners. Through its offerings Media Works and Tuta-Me, Optimi Workplace works with some of South Africas largest and most established organisations to reduce unemployment, upskill learners, students and adults, to create a more prosperous future for all.
Western Cape Premier Alan Winde on Thursday, 2 March, hosted the first in a series of weekly Energy Digicons which will be used to keep citizens up to date with the province's steps to mitigate load shedding.

During his recent State of the Province Address, Winde announced that he had asked the provincial treasury to allocate R1bn to support the Western Cape's response to the energy crisis, which includes the development of its own Integrated Resource Plan.

On the National State of Disaster, he said the province is currently wading through the recently released regulations to see how they could be used to create an enabling environment to bring as much power onto the grid as quickly as possible.

"We've agreed that if there are any other issues, we can raise them again with national government, so we might need to tweak some of these regulations. We've also asked our parliament to make sure that there will be oversight in a special ad hoc committee. Our treasury will report on any spending that takes place during this crisis or spending that is enabled through the disaster itself," he said.

'Extremely high' unplanned activities

Winde was joined by former Eskom manager Alwie Lester who now serves as a special advisor on the Western Cape government's Energy Council.

Analysing data shared by Eskom, Lester said the utility's confidence levels in forecasting its ability to meet the national energy demand had dropped over the last year or so. In its forecasting, Eskom has added a factor of 13,000MW/day to its unplanned outage assumption, i.e., unplanned activities at its generating plants.

"What's important to note here is that 13,000MW out of a base of 43,000MW is a fairly high percentage for unplanned maintenance. Your planned maintenance normally sits at about 5-10% maximum on a daily basis, so that should be about 4,300MW. Your unplanned is typically 10% as well. But what you're seeing here is 20% of unplanned activities, which is extremely high," Lester said.

"This is an indication that you've got a failing plant. It is also an indication that your maintenance regime is not effective because what you're fixing, when it comes back, it doesn't stay on the grid long enough for you to meet that particular demand."

Unreliable baseload and infrastructure

Currently, renewable energy adds 6,000MW to the country's supply base - 10% of total installed capacity, noted Lester. And this is likely to increase to 20-25% based on South Africa's current ambitions.

Growth in renewables, however, means that the reliability of the existing baseload and infrastructure, particularly the power stations, is less, he said. "It is becoming critical for us to understand that this is not actually dependable, and we have to start looking at alternative options."

Winde said that, in this context, it's critical to now set energy resilience targets for the province over the short, medium and long term.

"It's also about how we make sure that the money we're getting appropriated - that R1bn - is being spent where it is going to make the biggest difference possible to get us as resilient as quickly as possible across the province," he said.
The IASC has granted FlySafair three additional routes for 2023, opening up extra avenues for business and leisure. Find out where they're flying to ...

South Africas International Air Services Council recently granted FlySafair the rights to operate an additional three services to African countries. These flights to Windhoek, Zanzibar, and Harare help alleviate the shortfall brought on by a decrease in services due to airline closures and reduced flight schedules.

Based in South Africa, FlySafair now offers an additional lifeline for business travellers with interests in three other African countries. With the granting of these additional routes, FlySafair flights also provide extra opportunities for the travel and tourism industries in these popular destinations.

FlySafair currently holds 60% of South Africas domestic air travel market...

The IASC is responsible for controlling and licensing all domestic and international air services in South Africa, and has allowed FlySafair flights to commence to the following major hubs:

Windhoek, Namibia

Windhoek is one of South Africas major African trade partners and the hub of business activity in Namibia. Its also the main destination for leisure flights between these two countries, which both rely heavily on tourism.

Thanks to these new permissions, FlySafair intends to operate daily flights between Windhoek and Johannesburg. These should commence at the end of Q3, 2023, once all permissions and logistical considerations are resolved.

Harare, Zimbabwe

South Africa is Zimbabwes most important trade partner, offering lucrative opportunities for business people to explore this growing market. Harare is the most populous and developed city in the region and at the hub of it all.

FlySafair plans to operate daily flights between Harare and Cape Town, opening new avenues for business and leisure between these two cities.

FlySafair will add another three aircraft for travel on the new routes. Theyve also increased their staff complement to accommodate this and hope to have these FlySafair flights up and running by the end of Q3 in 2023.

Zanzibar

Thanks to an existing charter arrangement, business and leisure travellers can look forward to more frequent travels between South Africa and Zanzibar as early as the end of March 2023.

The new routes promise more options for those seeking more cost-effective travels between the two countries.

Zanzibar is an important tourist destination for travellers to and from South Africa; Tanzania also has strong trade ties with the country.

More FlySafair flights to Mauritius

In addition to these new routes, the IASC has also granted FlySafair permission to operate five additional routes to Mauritius. Due to its proximity, South Africa is the main trading partner of this island nation.

This gives the airline the opportunity to offer daily flights between these two countries after gaining permission to operate flights to the island in December last year, along with 11 other attractive destinations.

FlySafair aims high

FlySafair currently holds 60% of South Africas domestic air travel market, up from 25% during 2020, making it the dominant provider of domestic flight services in the country.

At the time of Comairs demise, FlySafair had already increased its offering to encapsulate 42% of the market and plans to grow even further as demand for air travel increases.

According to Kirby Gordon, CMO of FlySafair, groundwork and discussions are underway to get these flights up and running as speedily as possible.

Airlink, Lift, and CemAir also have plans afoot to add aircraft and increase their flight schedules for domestic flights in South Africa in the months to come.




Sixteen Black-owned brands will represent South Africa's wine industry at Vinexpo America in New York. The trade-only expo, convening some of the world's top-producing wine regions, will be hosted

Source: Supplied

New York will soon welcome some of the biggest groups of black-owned South African wine brands to ever participate at North Americas leading international wine exhibition.

For the first time, the percentage of Black-owned businesses participating at Vinexpo America will be significant, thanks to an initiative jointly driven by Wesgro, the official tourism, trade, and investment promotion agency for Cape Town and the Western Cape, the SA Wine Industry Transformation Unit (SAWITU) and the South African Department of Trade, Industry, and Competition (DTIC).

Seizing opportunities to enter the US market

The United States (US) market has always been a high-priority market for South African wine brands. However, market access to the US has been a challenge for several decades. In the last few years though, a concerted effort has been made to engage with this market.

According to Wendy Petersen, executive manager of Sawitu: "A renewed focus on SA wines has especially attracted market share for black-owned wine brands that have not in the past been privy to this growth of the SA wine category in the US.

"The US market is difficult to penetrate, especially with the imposed three-tier system of importers/producers, distributors, and retailers. When trying to find an importer willing to take a product on board, brands need to take advantage of favourable trade agreements to enter the market.

"SAWITUs partnership with Wesgro on the US initiative is a result of increased market access through Wesgros Export Advancement Programme. Wesgros input over several years, especially by Mrs Nadine Smith Clarke, Head: Export Advancement Programme, has been instrumental in driving the process as well as trade and promotions activities for SA brands in the US market.

"The Vinexpo America event will build on the work that has already been done and will allow brands to engage with importers, buyers, retailers, and journalists to showcase their award-winning wines and new products."

The 16 black-owned brands participating at Vinexpo America will be Aslina Wines, Carmen Stevens Wines, Khai Wines, Sesfikile Wines, Thokozani Wines, The Bridge of Hope Wines, Klein Goederust Wines, La RicMal Wines, PaardenKloof Estate, Rockbelt Ridge Wines, Bayede Royal Wines, Koni Wines, Highberry Wines, Mhudi Wines, African Roots Wine, and The Nice Beverage Company.

Denise Stubbs of Thokozani believes South Africa and America share a long walk to freedom: "Sixty-five farmworkers own our brand, Thokozani, a Zulu word for celebration. Listing Thokozani in the US and sharing its story of transformation, empowerment, and award-winning wines would be our biggest achievement."

Two female African entrepreneurs, Lesego Holzapfel and Ezanne Gouws-du Toit, founded Khai by embracing diversity and fusing two cultures. "We believe our brand and story will resonate with many American consumers who value diversity, inclusion, and sustainable impact," says Holzapfel.

Dine with SA wine in New York

Prior to meeting buyers and industry experts at Vinexpo, the expedition to the US will kick off with an evening in New York. On Tuesday, 7 March 2023, the SA Consulate in New York will host a brand owners and importers wine tasting and networking reception. At this event, brand owners will offer tastings of their wines and showcase their companies.

"This will be the first event of its kind with such a substantial number of Black-owned brands participating and a very specific focus on entering the US market," says Petersen, who together with Smith- Clarke will present their organisations roles in assisting these brands as well as the work they do towards sustainable development.
If anything, the 2023 Budget Speech revealed it was that devising a targeted plan to solve South Africa's ongoing energy crisis remains the government's top priority. The immediate future will see a concerted and collective focus on bringing together the public and private sectors in a bid to fuel the clean-energy transition and end loadshedding. For small businesses looking to ride this wave on the path to post-pandemic recovery, the key is to "go solar".

This is the opinion of Jeremy Lang, chief investment officer at independent small- and medium-sized enterprise (SME) financier, Business Partners Limited. Prior to the Budget Speech, Lang aired hopes that large-scale interventions would be on the cards for the small business sector in the form of much-needed relief measures.

In light of the almost single-minded focus on boosting embedded generation efforts through various fiscal measures and policy reforms, this years speech delivered little in the way of SME-specific relief. It did, however, propose several measures that speak to the urgent need for government to address the resounding impact that rolling blackouts have had on small businesses.

On this, Lang suggests that South African small businesses review the viability of installing solar energy systems to power their operations. Not only will this help to alleviate pressure on the national grid, but it will also ensure business continuity  a vital factor given that loadshedding will likely persist for a long while longer. This could also bring good news for small businesses in the formal sector, who will realise gains in the form of a 125% deduction in tax in the first year for all renewable energy projects, says Lang.

Further state-led interventions aimed at benefiting the SME sector include the governments proposal to provide solar-related loans for small and medium enterprises on a 20% first-loss basis.

"What this means essentially is that going forward, small businesses will be able to secure loans from finance providers where the National Treasury will assume 20% of the initial loss. This will help to mitigate the total risk on behalf of lenders and hopefully make these loans more accessible to a wider base," explains Lang.

This development will likely form part of the proposed Energy Bounce Back Scheme, set to launch in April 2023  an extension of the Bounce Back scheme initiated during the pandemic years to assist SMEs in recovering Covid-19-related losses. On the effectiveness of this particular measure, Lang remains hopeful that the new solar-directed slant of the scheme will attract more uptake than its predecessor which saw only R140m in loans being approved and R77m disbursed of the proposed R15bn.

This is where the cooperation of state entities, governmental departments, private sector players and financiers will play a crucial role in reaching out to the thousands of small businesses in need of relief, facilitating a streamlined loan application process and deploying funds efficiently, says Lang.

Overall, governments R5bn investment into the expansion of the renewable energy tax incentive is a welcomed development, in tandem with the decision not to increase fuel levies.

Additionally, this years extended Budget Review revealed that the Department of Small Business Development has been allocated R2.8bn as part of a fund to support 12,000 townships and rural enterprises. The measures on which these funds will be spent remain unclear, but as Lang asserts, a meaningful impact on informal SMEs and the economy can be made by funding a concerted effort to formalise the many township and rural businesses that exist in South Africa.

In pushing the agenda to formalise these businesses, government will achieve the dual purpose of providing more support and regulatory protection to small businesses, while expanding the tax base.

Missing from this years Budget Speech was mention of any forthcoming adjustments to the Employment Tax Incentive (ETI)  a policy that Lang suggested should be revised as a way of directly addressing the problem of record-high youth unemployment.

Ahead of the speech, Lang had hoped for another increase over and above the maximum monthly value of R1,500 as per last years Budget Speech. It would also be advisable for government to revise the applicable age bracket of the ETI to 35 and expand the designated list of special economic zones to include more under-resources communities across all nine provinces.

On this Lang believes the temporary diversion of focus to a more consolidated effort to solve the energy crisis is well-warranted and that a solution that includes and benefits small businesses is a solution that benefits all South Africans.

As he concludes: In light of the changes that are afoot in South Africas tax regime, small business owners would do well to seek the advice and guidance of tax professionals and remain informed, via the available knowledge bases, to understand how they can make the most of the tax-related benefits on offer for the foreseeable future, this is where further relief will stem from.

About Business Partners Ltd.

Business Partners Limited (Business Partners Ltd) is a specialist risk finance company for formal small and medium owner-managed businesses in South Africa and selected African countries. The company actively supports entrepreneurial growth by providing financing from R500,000 to R50m, specialist sectoral knowledge, business premises and added-value services for viable small and medium businesses. Since establishment in 1981, Business Partners Ltd has provided business finance worth over R21,5bn in over 72,000 transactions facilitating over 671,000 jobs. Business Partners Ltd was named the 2019 Gold winner in the SME Bank of the Year  Africa category at the Global SME Finance Awards*. Visit www.businesspartners.co.za for more information.




Installation view of "Joseon White Porcelain: Paragon of Virtue" at the Leeum Museum of Art in Yongsan District, central Seoul, the museum's first show devoted exclusively to ceramics / Courtesy of Leeum Museum of Art



Leeum Museum of Art's exhibit presents surprisingly varied decorative techniques, patterns of Joseon-era ceramics through a whopping 185 pieces



By Park Han-sol



What comes to mind when you hear the words Joseon white porcelain?



Some would answer the question with an image of a moon jar, a voluminous, moon-like pottery item produced during the late Joseon Kingdom (1392-1910) which eventually, would go on to fascinate Korean modern art masters like Kim Whanki (1913-74) with its minimalist yet entrancing aesthetic.



Others may think of blue-and-white ceramics featuring the celebrated symbols of dignity regarding the royal court and literati  dragons, clouds, bamboo, plum blossoms and peonies.



Whatever leaps to mind, the Leeum Museum of Art's newest exhibition "Joseon White Porcelain: Paragon of Virtue" is here to show that there's much more to these refined centuries-old vessels than meets the eye.



As the museum's first show devoted exclusively to ceramics, it covers the full spectrum of Joseon white porcelains in terms of their surprisingly varied decorative techniques, patterns and production sites developed throughout the rise and fall of the kingdom.



And it does so by plopping the visitors amidst a literal constellation of rare masterpieces, each emanating a luminous glow from its glazed surface that lights up the otherwise pitch-black hall.





Installation view of "Joseon White Porcelain: Paragon of Virtue" at the Leeum Museum of Art / Courtesy of Leeum Museum of Art



These jars, bottles, saucers, ewers, brush holders and water droppers boast wide-ranging decorative techniques  even the ones that aren't immediately recognizable to the majority of the public.



"The pieces displayed here are the finest examples of porcelains that are painted not only in famous cobalt blue or monochrome white, but also in iron brown and copper red. There are several relatively unknown wares with inlaid design  a style most commonly witnessed in Goryeo-era (918-1392) celadons  as well," the show's curator Lee Jun-kwang remarked at a recent press conference.



These artifacts are the quintessential gems of Korean ceramics, as 31 of them are state-designated national treasures or treasures. This is more than half of the total number of Joseon white porcelain items that have been officially recognized as cultural treasures by the government  which stands at 59.



"We aimed to create an unexpected spectacle of traditional art that could captivate the viewers from the very beginning as a preview of what is to come before they head further into the exhibition," Lee added.





A 15th-century "Jar Decorated with Plum Blossoms and Bamboo" that has been designated as a national treasure, left, and "Jar Decorated with Pine, Tiger and Magpies" produced between the late 18th and early 19th century / Courtesy of Leeum Museum of Art



Mounted as a comprehensive view of Joseon white porcelain items with a whopping 185 pieces on display, "Paragon of Virtue" knocks down stereotypes of the genre unwittingly harbored by many even within Korea.



For the iconic blue-and-white porcelains, the show doesn't stop at highlighting their already well-known characteristic  that due to the rarity and high-priced nature of the imported cobalt blue pigment, these vessels were reserved exclusively for the royal court and to some extent, the "yangban" (the aristocratic class) as a means to symbolize their authority and decorum. They tended to reflect the Neo-Confucian ideals that the Joseon literati aspired to through icons like plum blossoms, orchids, bamboo and inscribed poems.



Instead, the exhibition goes on to spotlight the underrepresented sides of blue-and-white porcelain items' history, where the vessels during the late Joseon period began incorporating other pigments such as copper red and iron brown into the mix as well as unorthodox motifs usually witnessed in folk art  bats, tigers and magpies, among others.





Seen are two "Jars Decorated with Dragons and Clouds" from the 17th century. The left porcelain jar was produced by the state-controlled kiln, whereas the right one was fired from the regional counterpart and therefore featured a more whimsical design. Courtesy of Leeum Museum of Art



The usage of iron brown and copper red in white porcelains became much more apparent in the 17th century, following a series of irreversible historical disasters.



Just decades after repelling the 1592-98 Japanese invasions of Korea, the Joseon Kingdom had to face two separate Manchu invasions from the Later Jin dynasty in 1627 and the Qing dynasty in 1636. To make matters worse, the country was hit by the deadly Kyungshin Famine from 1670 to 1671, which is said to have killed as many as one million.



"Importing an invaluable material like cobalt blue pigment was no longer seen as a viable option in these times of crisis," the curator noted. "Consequently, iron brown and copper red, which had been in usage since the Goryeo Kingdom but had always remained in the background, rose to be the main alternatives."



These new ceramics produced by the state-controlled kilns had the same decorative motifs as their previous blue-and-white counterparts, but because of the striking intensity of the materials' colors and texture, they showed off unbelievably fresh dynamism.



As this practice of incorporating cheaper pigments made with iron and copper oxide into white porcelains spread across the country, the regional kilns began turning out jars, bottles and bowls with wilder and more whimsical designs than the state-controlled ones.



On view is a curated selection of such playful regional vessels, exhibiting motifs such as a wormlike dragon with no distinct facial features but a pair of round eyes, a fish with legs, chrysanthemums that are reminiscent of Cerberus, the three-headed hell hound of Greek mythology, and starfish-like grapevines.



"The ceramics fired in the provincial kilns weren't for decoration but for everyday consumption," Lee said. "As long as they served their purpose as durable containers, their styles or patterns were of secondary concern  hence the carefree designs filled with humor and individuality."





A 47-centimeter-tall moon jar from the 18th century that has been designated as a national treasure, left, and "Bottle Decorated with Lotus Petals" from the late 18th century / Courtesy of Leeum Museum of Art



The aesthetic distinction between the Joseon-era pottery produced from state-administered kilns and their regional counterparts can also be observed in monochrome white porcelains  luminous artifacts that celebrate values of austerity and understated grace.



The vessels made for the royal court and the elite class are evenly coated with a transparent glaze that elegantly highlights the white base clay. It's intriguing to note that throughout the Joseon period, the shades of white desired by the upper class continued to fluctuate  from snowy white to creamier milky white, or from grayish white to bluish white reminiscent of jade.



Nonetheless, while the essence of whiteness ultimately remained unchanged in these ceramics, it was a wildly different story for the provincial ones produced for everyday use. Not only were they cruder in design, but most failed to appear as pristine white  with many turning out to be light gray or beige in color.



Yet from a contemporary perspective, the apparent discoloration of regional vessels has a special appeal of its own.



"The earthen colors, rough surfaces and humble forms correspond well with one another, imbuing these porcelains with an organic and pragmatic beauty," Lee said. "Therefore, unlike other articles in the exhibition, we decided to do away with glass showcases and instead display them all together in an unenclosed area."



Overall, by bringing together an impressive array of Joseon white porcelains  from regal national treasures to everyday household items  the exhibition offers a peek into the fundamental aesthetic principles that blossomed throughout the five-century-long Joseon Kingdom.



"Joseon White Porcelain: Paragon of Virtue" runs through May 28 at the Leeum Museum of Art. Admission is free.




Unlike 'western' politicians I try to think ahead of the consequences certain foreign relation policies might have.

On March 9 2022 I predicted:

The Sanction Backlash Will Push The 'West' To Accept Russias Demands

For years the U.S. committed policies that have left a lot of countries grumbling. Now, as the U.S. needs support to milden the consequences of 'punishing' Russia, those policies come back to bite. So will the secondary effects of sanctions the 'west' has imposed on Russia.

...

The first [map] shows the countries which banned Russian airplanes from their airspace. Russia in turn denied its airspace to operators from those countries. It will cost quite a bit for U.S. and EU airlines as their flight times and cost to and from Asia, which typically fly through Russian airspace, will now increase. Carriers from Asian countries will now easily out-compete U.S. and European airlines on these routes.

bigger

A year later the Financial Times and Fortune finally wake up to the issue:

Airlines say Chinese carriers have an unfair advantage as China reopens: Theyre allowed to fly over Russia

If youve got a Chinese carrier that is flying over Russia, theyve got an unfair advantage over us, Ben Smith, CEO of Air France-KLM, told the Financial Times on Friday. Smith complained that skipping Russian airspace added three hours in flight time for a plane traveling from Paris to Seoul. Before Russias invasion of Ukraine, airlines often flew over Russia to connect Asia with destinations in Europe or North America. But Russia barred many Western airlines from using its airspace last February, in retaliation for governments in Europe and North America banning Russian airlines from flying over the West. European, Canadian and U.S. airlines are thus forced to fly different routes to avoid Russia. Longer flights burn more fuel, meaning higher costs and emissions. Longer flights can also upend tight flight schedules, as well as breach limits on working hours for flight crew. Yet carriers from several non-Western countries, including China, continue to fly over Russian airspace, allowing them to offer faster and cheaper flights to European and North American destinations. European airlines are now worried that theyll lose out on the wave of Chinese rebound travel, as Beijing reopens from years of COVID-era isolation. (Chinese tourism plummeted after the country required all international arrivalsincluding returning Chinese touriststo spend weeks in quarantine.) It will be very hard to make secondary cities of China profitable in terms of flying, Topi Manner, CEO of Finnair, said to the Financial Times last week. The closure of Russian airspace has hurt Finnair, kneecapping an effort by the airline to turn Helsinki as a hub for flights connecting northern Asia with Europe.

These were Finnairs most profitable routes before the country sanctioned its flag carrier from using them:
Not rational is how Biden described the plan that calls for de-escalation toward a ceasefire, respect for national sovereignty, establishment of humanitarian corridors and resumption of peace talks.

Dialogue and negotiation are the only viable solution to the Ukraine crisis, reads the plan. All efforts conducive to the peaceful settlement of the crisis must be encouraged and supported.

Biden turned thumbs down.





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, Biden told the press.

In a brutal conflict that has left thousands of dead Ukrainian civilians, hundreds of thousands of dead soldiers, eight million Ukrainians displaced from their homes, contamination of land, air and water, increased greenhouse gasses and disruption of the global food supply, Chinas call for de-escalation would surely benefit someone in Ukraine.

Other points in Chinas plan, which is really more a set of principles rather than a detailed proposal, call for protection for prisoners of war, cessation of attacks on civilians, safeguards for nuclear power plants and facilitation of grain exports.

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, said Biden.

Instead of engaging Chinaa country of 1.5 billion people, the worlds largest exporter, the owner of a trillion dollars in US debt and an industrial giantin negotiating an end to the crisis in Ukraine, the Biden administration prefers to wag its finger and bark at China, warning it not to arm Russia in the conflict.

Psychologists might call this finger-wagging projectionthe old pot calling the kettle black routine. It is the US, not China, that is fueling the conflict with at least $45 billion dollars in ammunition, drones, tanks and rockets in a proxy war that riskswith one miscalculationturning the world to ash in a nuclear holocaust.

It is the US, not China, that has provoked this crisis by encouraging Ukraine to join NATO, a hostile military alliance that targets Russia in mock nuclear strikes, and by backing a 2014 coup of Ukraines democratically elected Russia-friendly president Viktor Yanukovych, thus triggering a civil war between Ukrainian nationalists and ethnic Russians in eastern Ukraine, regions Russia has more recently annexed.

Bidens sour attitude toward the Chinese peace framework hardly comes as a surprise. After all, even former Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett candidly acknowledged in a five-hour interview on YouTube that it was the West that last March blocked a near-peace deal he had mediated between Ukraine and Russia.

Why did the US block a peace deal? Why wont President Biden provide a serious response to the Chinese peace plan, let alone engage the Chinese at a negotiating table?

President Biden and his coterie of neo-conservatives, among them Undersecretary of State Victoria Nuland, have no interest in peace if it means the US concedes hegemonic power to a multi-polar world untethered from the all-mighty dollar.

What may have gotten Biden unnervedbesides the possibility that China might emerge the hero in this bloody sagais Chinas call for the lifting of unilateral sanctions. The US imposes unilateral sanctions on officials and companies from Russia, China and Iran. It imposes sanctions on whole countries, too, like Cuba, where a cruel 60-year embargo, plus assignment to the State Sponsor of Terrorism list, made it difficult for Cuba to obtain syringes to administer its own vaccines during the COVID pandemic. Oh, and lets not forget Syria , where after an earthquake killed tens of thousands and left hundreds of thousands homeless, the country struggles to receive medicine and blankets due to US sanctions that discourage humanitarian aid workers from

operating inside Syria.

Despite Chinas insistence it is not considering weapons shipments to Russia, Reuters reports the Biden administration is taking the pulse of G-7 countries to see if they would approve new sanctions against China if that country provides Russia with military support.

The idea that China could play a positive role was also dismissed by NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg , who said, "China doesn't have much credibility because they have not been able to condemn the illegal invasion of Ukraine.

Ditto from US Secretary of State Antony Blinken , who told ABCs Good Morning America, "China has been trying to have it both ways: Its on the one hand trying to present itself publicly as neutral and seeking peace, while at the same time it is talking up Russias false narrative about the war."

False narrative or different perspective?

In August of 2022, Chinas ambassador to Moscow charged that the United States was the main instigatorof the Ukraine war, provoking Russia with NATO expansion to Russias borders.

This is not an uncommon perspective and is one shared by economist Jeffrey Sachs who, in a February 25, 2023 video directed at thousands of anti-war protesters in Berlin, said the war in Ukraine did not start a year ago, but nine years ago when the US backed the coup that overthrew Yanukovych after he preferred Russias loan terms to the European Unions offer.

Shortly after China released its peace framework, the Kremlin responded cautiously , lauding the Chinese effort to help but adding that the details need to be painstakingly analyzed taking into account the interests of all the different sides." As for Ukraine, President Zelinsky hopes to meet soon with Chinese President Xi Jinping to explore Chinas peace proposal and dissuade China from supplying weapons to Russia.

The peace proposal garnered more positive response from countries neighboring the warring states. Putins ally in Belarus, leader Alexander Lukashenko, said his country "fully supports" the Beijing plan. Kazakhstan approved of Chinas peace framework in a statement describing it as worthy of support. Prime Minister of Hungary Viktor Orban who wants his country to stay out of the war also showed support for the proposal.

Chinas call for a peaceful solution stands in stark contrast to US warmongering this past year, when Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin, a former Raytheon board member, said the US aims to weaken Russia , presumably for regime changea strategy that failed miserably in Afghanistan where a near 20-year US occupation left the country broke and starving.

Chinas support for de-escalation is consistent with its long-standing opposition to US/NATO expansion, now extending into the Pacific with hundreds of US bases encircling China, including a new base in Guam t o house 5,000 marines. From Chinas perspective, US militarism jeopardizes the peaceful reunification of the Peoples Republic of China with its break-away province of Taiwan. For China, Taiwan is unfinished business, left over from the civil war 70 years ago.

In provocations reminiscent of US meddling in Ukraine, a hawkish Congress last year approved $10 billion in weapons and military training for Taiwan, while House leader Nancy Pelosi flew to Taipei  over protests from her constituentsto whip up tension in a move that brought US-China climate cooperation to a halt.

A US willingness to work with China on a peace plan for Ukraine might not only help stop the daily loss of lives in Ukraine and prevent a nuclear confrontation, but also pave the way for cooperation with China on all kinds of other issuesfrom medicine to education to climatethat would benefit the entire globe.
As the war in Ukraine grinds on, it looks like Ukraines chances of joining NATO are also growing, a prospect that has long angered Russia.

Speaking today at a press conference in Finland, NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said that Ukraine will become a member of the military alliance in the long term.

NATO allies have agreed that Ukraine will become a member of our alliance, but at the same time that is a long-term perspective, Stoltenberg said.

However, bringing Ukraine within NATO appears to be very much a long-term goal, with Stoltenberg stressing that the immediate priority is preserving Ukraines independent status and repulsing the Russian invasion. The top priority for the alliance right now, he said, was inducting Finland and Sweden, promising the quickest accession process in NATOs modern history. Both Nordic countries decided to join NATO primarily as a result of the Russian full-scale invasion of Ukraine. They could both now become formal members as early as July 11 when a NATO summit is due to take place in Lithuania.

As well as the NATO developments, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky posted to Twitter today that the government remains committed to ultimately joining the European Union (EU). This comes exactly a year after Kyiv first applied to join the EU.

Ukraine has always been Europe, Ukraine will always be Europe, Zelensky wrote. The Ukrainian president added that this year is the time to decide on the launch of membership negotiations.

He continued:

Its Ukraine that has brought the EU together like never before. Its Ukraine thats defending European values for generations to come. Its Ukraine where Europe becomes whole, free, and at peace. Together in struggle, together in victory.

Meanwhile, Russia has said it will never compromise on the areas of Ukraine that its already annexed, although Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov did say that Moscow is open to negotiations to end the conflict. That statement may reflect the fact that both Russia and Ukraine have cautiously welcomed a Chinese peace plan, although its clear that Moscow will not easily give up what Peskov described as new territorial realities.

There are certain realities that have already become an internal factor, Peskov said. I mean the new territories. The constitution of the Russian Federation exists and cannot be ignored. Russia will never be able to compromise on this. These are important realities.

In particular, Peskov pointed to the annexed regions of Kherson, Zaporizhzhia, Luhansk, and Donetsk as being non-negotiable. Following staged referendums, the annexation of all four regions was formally announced by Russian President Vladimir Putin during a bellicose speech last September, which you can read about here.

Provided that Kyiv accepts Russias claims on those territories, Moscow would be open to talks.

With a favorable state of affairs and the appropriate attitude from the Ukrainians, this can be resolved at the negotiating table, Peskov continued. But the main thing is to achieve our goals.

However, negotiations look like an extremely remote possibility, considering Ukraines steadfast commitment to bringing all Russian-occupied areas fully back under its control.

Before we head into the latest news from Ukraine, The War Zone readers can get caught up on our previous rolling coverage here.

The Latest

Multiple reports suggest that Ukraine launched a concerted series of drone strikes against targets deep in Russia overnight, although Ukrainian officials have not commented on this and there is as yet no independent verification. While you can read our full analysis of these events here, the key points from today are as follows:

Russia claims that a Ukrainian drone was used in an attempt to strike a gas facility in the Moscow suburbs. The drone reportedly crash-landed in the village of Gubastovo, just short of its target. Available photos show what appears to be a Ukrainian-made UJ22 drone, suggesting it was deployed as part of an effort to attack critical infrastructure hundreds of miles behind Russian lines.

The Russian Ministry of Defense claims that it prevented two attempted Ukrainian drone attacks in different parts of southern Russia overnight, in the Krasnodar territory and the Republic of Adygea. The ministry claims that the drones were suppressed by the electronic warfare units of the Russian Federation Armed Forces.

A drone was reportedly seen overhead an oil depot in the town of Tuapse, on the coast of southern Russia, overnight, before a blaze broke out there. Emergency services said they had dealt with the fire by the morning and the local administration claimed that there was no damage to the oil tanks and no casualties. Tuapse is in the Krasnodar region, although its not immediately clear if the drone spotted over Tuapse is the same one claimed destroyed by the Russian Ministry of Defense.

After unconfirmed reports of an unknown object, possibly a drone overhead Pulkovo Airport in Saint Petersburg, all flights from there were temporarily suspended today. The airspace within a 124-mile radius was shut for around an hour and flights were diverted to Moscow. Unconfirmed reports suggest that a Russian fighter jet was scrambled to investigate the object. The Russian Ministry of Defense later said that this was due to an air defense training exercise in the region.
Russia's Wagner Group founder Yevgeny Prigozhin released a video on Friday from just outside the center of the Ukrainian city of Bakhmut telling Volodymyr Zelensky to order a withdrawal immediately as they have the city "practically surrounded" with only one road left out, Reuters reports.





"Wagner practically encircled Bakhmut,there is one road left.If previously with us was fighting professional AFU Army,today we see more and more old and kids(at the end of the video)..." - Yevgeniy Prigozhin pic.twitter.com/2eE0Jb2FKe  AZ  (@AZgeopolitics) March 3, 2023



From Reuters:

Prigozhin's men have spearheaded the assault in eastern Ukraine for months. Moscow regards Bakhmut, which it calls by its Soviet-era name of Artyomovsk, as a useful stepping stone to seize bigger cities like Kramatorsk and Sloviansk.



[...] "Units of the private military company Wagner have practically surrounded Bakhmut. Only one road is left (open to Ukrainian forces) The pincers are getting tighter," said Prigozhin.



Reuters geolocated the video to the village of Paraskoviivka, 4.3 miles (7 km) north of the centre of Bakhmut. Prigozhin announced the capture of Paraskoviivka on Feb. 17.



Prigozhin said his forces were increasingly fighting against old men and children rather than the professional Ukrainian army.



The video then showed what looked like three captured Ukrainians - an older man and two young boys - who looked frightened and asked to be allowed to go home. They looked to be speaking under extreme stress.

Bakhmut has seen some of the fiercest fighting yet with Zelensky shoving as many Christian Ukrainian soldiers into the meatgrinder as he can round up.





From the safety of their positions high above Artyomsk/Bakhmut @euronews captured the results of the torrential downpour of munitions from the Russian AF pic.twitter.com/a2P32toPfW  Comrade Scott 'Z.O.V'  (@schiedamseschot) March 1, 2023



From Newsweek, "Bakhmut Life Expectancy Near Four Hours On Frontlines, Fighter Warns":

Frontlines shifted to Bakhmuta city in eastern Ukrainein July 2022, and according to former U.S. Marine Troy Offenbecker, the scene is grisly.



Offenbecker, who is fighting in Ukraine's International Legion comprised of foreign soldiers, told ABC News that when a Ukrainian soldier fights on the frontlines in Bakhmut, their life expectancy is only around four hours.



"It's been pretty bad on the ground," he said. "A lot of casualties. The life expectancy is around four hours on the frontline."



Offenbecker said Bakhmut has been called "the meat grinder" because of the macabre scenes, and he described the fighting as "chaotic".

This video released from Wagner was geolocated to 2km from the center of Bakhmut, according to CNN.





Wagner sending greetings - basically in the center of Bakhmut pic.twitter.com/8EEwkBK3dw  Levi (@Levi_godman) March 2, 2023



Every day since March 2022 the media has been claiming Russia is running out of steam but someone they keep managing to take new territories.





Unconfirmed video reportedly showing a Ukrainian unit withdrawing from Bakhmut this morning. pic.twitter.com/2Irgf3Rp8P  War Monitor (@WarMonitors) March 3, 2023



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Stavroula Pabst, a writer in Greece, has published an interesting piece on the nefarious purpose of fact-checking and 'dis-information' debunking.

Guy Debords Warning of The Role of the Expert: A Philosophical Perspective on the Rise of Fact-Checking

The piece explains this by going back to the writings of the French philosopher Guy Debord and his musings about 'spectacles'.

While anti-disinformation efforts proliferate, whats missing from the conversation is a discussion about power. Of course, the powerful have reasons for wanting to combat what they consider to be disinformation  they want their version of the truth to become ours. Many commentators observe as such, noting that so-called disinformation researchers, fact-checkers, and experts are often partisan in nature, and themselves frequently disseminate things that are not true. Basically, anyone calling themselves a misinformation expert or disinformation reporter is a partisan fraud, trying to make their activism seem scientific: https://t.co/5gbDf2WJoD  Glenn Greenwald (@ggreenwald) November 21, 2022 But a larger force is at work within the rise of fact-checking and other counter-disinformation efforts. That force is our societys current arrangement of appearances, the totality of social relations mediated by images, or spectacle. Spectacle, as elucidated in Debords The Society of the Spectacle, is a concept that can help us to understand seemingly unconnected, yet deeply intertwined phenomena that have come to fruition as the economy has subjugated society to its needs (as opposed to the other way around), and thus recover our ability to experience life directly. As its dominance over our everyday lives grows complete, the spectacle has become powerful enough to turn our understanding of what is true upside down. Because spectacle replaces real life with a mere mediated representation of life that cannot be experienced directly, it provides a framework where mass deceptions and lies can consistently and convincingly appear as true. Thus, spectacle is perhaps one of the most effective tools we have to explain how elite deceptions, including fabrications and lies about imperialist wars like those in Iraq and Syria, can consistently go unpunished and even unnoticed. As such, it follows that spectacle can help us understand how modern fact-checks and counter-disinformation initiatives can consistently do the opposite of what they claim, as many have observed.

In Germany one provider of the daily spectacle is the premier news program of public TV, 'Die Tagesschau. It has an online presence which includes a section for 'fact checking deceptively called Faktenfinder - fact finder.

Its current main purpose is to promote the NATO war in Ukraine and to blame Russia for waging it.

It is quite embarrassing to read its highly manipulative pieces. Last week though it topped its usual nonsense with a mistake that exposed it to a wider audience and led to lots of taunts and jeering.

Its main writer was tasked with debunking Symour Hershs piece about the U.S. terror attack on the Nord Stream pipeline. Not being sufficiently capable of understanding the original English text, the writer used Google Translate to convert it to German. Google Translate is quite good if you need some base to work from but it is far from perfect:
An image of the online cover of BTS dancer-rapper J-Hope's upcoming single, "on the street," provided by BigHit Music / Yonhap



J-Hope of K-pop juggernaut BTS dropped a new solo single, "on the street," and its music video Friday.



The dancer-rapper returned with the digital song, seven months after releasing his first official solo album, "Jack in the Box," in July last year.



The lo-fi hip-hop song with a comfortable melody and warm lyrics is a collaboration with American rapper and producer J. Cole.



In the music video simultaneously released with the track at 2 p.m., J-Hope walks down New York streets, losing himself to the rhythm and singing, "Every time I walk / Every time I run / Every time I move / As always, for us."



Later, he raps, "Even my walk was made of your love and your faith." The agency earlier said he would share his candid feelings toward his fans through the song.



It said the word "street" in the title refers to J-Hope's roots  street dance  where his dream to become an artist began and traces of his intense life exist.



The video ends with him meeting his longtime inspiration J. Cole on a scenic rooftop.



J-Hope also participated in planning the music video, as well as composing and writing the song's lyrics, using the space of "on the street," where many people walk, breathe and feel various emotions, as a motif, according to the agency.



The release comes ahead of his enlistment in the military.



He recently decided not to delay his conscription after earlier receiving permission to do so, and will become the second BTS member to enlist following the oldest member Jin, according to the agency.



In Korea, all able-bodied men are required to serve in the military for about two years. (Yonhap)




Korean and Chinese aviation authorities have agreed to gradually increase the number of flights on their bilateral routes to pre-pandemic levels, the Korean transport ministry said Friday. Korea Times file



Korean and Chinese aviation authorities have agreed to gradually increase the number of flights on their bilateral routes to pre-pandemic levels, the Korean transport ministry said Friday.



Seoul and Beijing have the rights to provide 608 flights a week on routes to each other's country, and they used to offer a combined 1,100 weekly flights before the COVID-19 hit the airline industry three years ago, the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport said in a statement.



"Korean carriers used to offer 450 to 470 flights a week on their routes to China before COVID-19. The flights to China accounted for one-fourth of their international flights," a ministry official said over the phone.



Local airlines are expected to initially increase the number of flights on routes to Beijing, Shanghai, Qingdao and Yanji this month, the statement said.



The move comes as Korea lifted a polymerase chain reaction (PCR) test requirement Wednesday for travelers from China after their arrival here, though the pre-arrival test requirement will remain until next Friday.



Last month, Korea resumed issuing short-term visas for Chinese visitors, and China also restarted the issuance of short-term visas for Koreans. (Yonhap)


Like a growing number of contemporary authors, Hannett, an academic as well as a writer of fantasy fiction (as Lisa L. Hannett), is drawn to the findings of academic research to underpin a fictional reconstruction of the past. The resulting feasible connections take on a quality somewhere between a novel and a research report, but with the authors own strongly articulated reactions and opinions mediating the whole.

Its a rather bumpy ride, driven by her desire to zoom in on the past, immerse myself in their experiences, walk by their side, view the world through their eyes  and then, like so many saga authors have done before me, reconstruct what Ive observed in short retellings of their fascinating lives. A crucial part of this process is  forging feasible connections between fact and fiction.

Lisa Hannett is a self-proclaimed time traveller who offers to take the reader with her as she presents nine meditations, if not mediations, on the subject of Viking-Age Scandinavian women and their lives.

Is the recipe a success? Yes, if readers are willing to travel with Hannett and be enthused and informed by her take on past history and literature rather than explore it more directly for themselves.

In Viking Women there are nine chapters organised around female characters who appear in several of the best-known medieval Icelandic family sagas, or sagas of Icelanders, as they are also known. At least four of the nine chapters have characters from Laxdaela saga (The Saga of the People of Salmon River Valley), the authors favourite, as their core, while others are drawn from Egils saga and Njals saga, Eyrbyggja saga (The Saga of the People of Eyr) and Eiriks saga rauda (The Saga of Eric the Red).

Many of the women whose lives Hannett recreates, with often striking detail and on the basis of well-informed speculation, are not centrally important to the plots of the sagas in which they appear, aside from Gudrun Osvifrsdottir, the subject of the final chapter. Their importance comes from what they reveal about early Icelandic societys attitudes to women and to slavery, marriage, concubinage, fosterage, gender fluidity, sorcery and several other issues.

These social practices, which are all hot topics of modern research, are rarely represented directly in the sagas themselves, though they are implicit. However, Hannett brings them to centre stage and writes herself into the characters minds.
Snoop hasnt played Australia since 2014, and hes been missed. What an entertainer. A medley of deep-cut hip-hop? Yes! A house music dance break? Why not? Closing the show with a crooning singalong of Young, Wild & Free, before wandering about a bit and then off the stage to no further encores? Absolutely it works.

Reviewed by Liam Pieper MUSIC

Pavement 

Tent Pole Festival, Mt Duneed, March 4 Irony has always been at the core of Pavements music. The bands lyrics are cryptic, the guitar riffs seem not so much constructed as fallen together in accidents of melody, the groups appearance is at odds with the ambition of their sound. But something about the puzzle, so open to interpretation, continues to draw in new listeners. Stephen Malkmus of Pavement, playing at the Tent Pole Festival at Mount Duneed, Victoria. Credit: David Jackson So it was when Pavement headlined the Tent Pole Festival in Mount Duneed on Saturday night, where the band played a lush, tight set, showcasing how good they are on their instruments.

Aloof at the start of the show, frontman Stephen Malkmus sang, played and looked on almost like a father proud of the calculus of cool sound the group first invented in California so long ago. Tent Pole was billed as a cross generational musical jamboree and to that degree, Pavement, playing their last gig of an Australia-New Zealand tour, offered a needed musical focal point. Pavement, playing at the Tent Pole Festival at Mount Duneed. Credit: David Jackson The set list gave ample airtime to songs from the expansive, game-changing 1995 album Wowee Zowee, starting with the almost contemplative Grounded. The band was in top form: Scott Kannberg (aka Spiral Stairs) precise on guitar, Mark Ibold deftly weaving the bassline, Steve West steady and propulsive on drums and the addition of Rebecca Clay Cole on keyboards. Early in the set the audience began asking, Wheres Bob? Much-loved, sometimes-public-face-of-the-band Bob Nastanovich, on percussion and occasional hoots, was back in his Melbourne hotel room after sustaining an injury at the gig the night before.

The Tent Pole Festival featured acts as varied as Geelong-icons Magic Dirt and hard rocking Spiderbait to a young Indigenous rock and roller Jerikye Williams, replete with pompadour and multi-coloured suit. Loading San Diegos Schizophonics explosive show brought to mind Little Richard and, um, MC5, and Texan country and American singer Charley Crockett provided another musical pathway into the jamboree. Not nearly as big as other festivals held at Mount Duneed, the focus of the event seemed diffuse. And yet, in the streaming age, when once exclusive audiences have now merged, this kind of diffusion may be inevitable. Grey-haired GenXers came to see the bands of their youth. While from where I stood near the front of the stage, there were many young faces singing along to Pavements lyrics.

Malkmus warmed up to the audience as the night rolled on. Midway through the set, on a cool evening after a late summer day, Pavement played Father to a Sister of Thought, then Gold Soundz. I thought I heard the younger people in the crowd sing a little louder to Fight this Generation. They definitely sang along to the TikTok sensation Harness Your Hopes. And so the audience travelled to the place Pavement invented: where the gold sounds even at their most rocking, always retain an element of irony or remove. The band sang: Minds wide open truly, and the audience leaned in.

Reviewed by Chris Zappone THEATRE

Made in China 2.0 

Malthouse Theatre, until March 19 A trailer for Made in China 2.0 features Chinese director and actor Wang Chong  filming himself in the dark. He holds a handheld video camera up to his face, the gesture reminiscent of a hostage video, as he explains: According to a contract I signed with Malthouse Theatre, I cannot disclose any content in the show. Otherwise, Im going to be in trouble.

Wang Chong performs in Made in China 2.0. Credit: Tamarah Scott How does one market something unmarketable? Chong is billed as a provocateur, the play a personal manifesto for art-making. On the tram to the play, I pass a billboard advertisement featuring Chong, larger than life, with the phrase: Up close and personal with one of Chinas most provocative exports. Its hard to know before stepping foot in the theatre whether this show will be a gimmick or a truly risky work of political activism. The play opens on Chong amid a sparse set. Below a hanging rectangle comprised of 44 sheets of white A4 paper sits a table, chair, a plastic toy and two video cameras atop two tripods. Chong begins in earnest, asking the audience to tell their friends about the show after they leave the theatre  but pleads that they do not disclose the content. If the Chinese government finds out, I will be in deep shit. The audience laughs. Im risking my balls to make this happen. The danger seems legitimate, though around me, the audience laughs again. During his moving, hour-long performance, he worries about his ability to return safely home to his family in Beijing. Made in China 2.0 is a moving, hour-long performance. Credit: Tamarah Scott

How does one review the unreviewable? If, for Chongs safety, I am not to share the content of the play, then let me write about this laughter. Last night, I was one of the few people of colour in the audience; it was filled with the usual Malthouse opening night crowd. Chong speaks to such an audience while always aware of distant yet more powerful and more cruel listeners. So, there were moments of brilliance (which I cant mention) that shed light on the flows of collective memory; the possibility of a single defiant voice; what it means for ones actions to align with ones conscience. The strongest parts of his performance (which I cant mention) were Chongs heart-rending autobiographical admissions. But the complexities of his doubled audience meant that he couldnt trust his listeners to recall easily accessible news or historic events. At points, it felt like he was breaking a story that had already been told. Made in China 2.0 contains moments of brilliance and highlights the possibility of a single defiant voice. Credit: Tamarah Scott This seems the problem of the diasporic provocateur; art in one place might not be as provocative as it is in another. In Australia, what happens when art and political activism collide? Polemics defy nuance. It feels quite absurd to assign stars to Chongs courage. In the end, I cant really tell you what I feel about it. He literally asked me not to. One thing is clear: you should go to this play, and make up your own mind.

Reviewed by Leah Jing McIntosh MUSIC

Strauss, Debussy and Sutherland 

Melbourne Symphony Orchestra, Hamer Hall, March 3

A rediscovered Australian masterpiece together with two vividly contrasting works made for another engrossing program early in the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra season. Loading After the musical acknowledgement of country by Deborah Cheetham Fraillon, issues concerning First Nations people were further addressed through a committed performance of Margaret Sutherlands symphonic poem Haunted Hills. Dating from 1951, this remarkable work for large orchestra is forward-looking both in its musical language (post-romanticism blended with mid-century modernism) and its subject. While celebrating the natural beauty of the Dandenong Ranges, it also contemplates the first people who roamed the hills, their bewilderment and betrayal. After an arresting opening with jagged dissonances, the work pursues its purpose by developing thematic, rhythmic and timbral elements with the power of an extraordinary individualism. That a white woman could conceive such a work during the period of the Stolen Generations surely makes Sutherland something of a prophetic voice in Australian music. By contrast, soprano Siobhan Stagg transported the audience to the intensely sensual world of Debussys Ariettes oubliees, once again captivating listeners with ravishing tone, crystalline diction and winning charm. Thoughtfully orchestrated by Brett Dean, his arrangement both enhanced the texts and ensured the primacy of the vocal line.

Concluding an evocative program came Richard Strauss gargantuan An Alpine Symphony. This Everest of a score was expertly scaled by the MSO, chief conductor Jaime Martin helming a reading of impressive vigour and breadth of expression, especially when depicting the bracing arrival at the summit and the subsequent storm. Loading Sparkling brass, both here and in the Sutherland, together with ardent high violin playing elicited by guest concertmaster Rebecca Chan conspired to make this a concert to remember, the only disappointment being the use of a virtual organ due to the continuing absence of pipe organ in Hamer Hall.

Reviewed by Tony Way THEATRE

The Crucible 

Arthur Miller, NT Live, select cinemas from March 4 Rain. Torrential rain. An elemental deluge, with no discernible human form in the darkness. It is a Biblical event, or a futuristic one, summoning through artifice a display of natural power that might drown civilisations or centuries, and when it stops, finally, we are in Salem, Massachusetts, 1692.

A scene from NT Lives production of The Crucible. Credit: Johan Persson The lights come up on a spartan, elegantly realised period set. Eerie harmonies rise from a distant service; Abigail is slapped by her uncle and dragged away for laughing in church. Then, a chorus of girls in pink pinafores steps forward to perform the overture, starkly abbreviated, which begins the most celebrated American play of the 20th century. Arthur Millers The Crucible will resonate long after were all dead, and this NT Live production offers exquisitely rendered insight into its enduring social tragedy. For the playwright, the work was a response to McCarthyism and the paranoid scapegoating of the Cold War. Watching from 2023, what gets ruthlessly exposed are layers of oppression, nightmares of history from which were trying to awake. NT Lives production of The Crucible offers exquisitely rendered insight into the plays enduring social tragedy. Credit: Johan Persson

Ensemble performance establishes a febrile atmosphere, with power dynamics and character expressed at a cellular level. The cascade of blame in the first act rushes down the social ladder, first the pinched hollowness of Reverend Parris (Nick Fletcher), wearing patriarchal authority like a dwarf in giants robes, down into the one private encounter between Abigail and John Proctor  a standoff of piteous fascination. Erin Doherty and our own Brendan Cowell charge their performances not simply with repressed desire but the shadow of the #MeToo movement. When Abigail claims Proctor took me from my sleep and put knowledge in my heart, and Proctor condescendingly calls her child, were genuinely left to wonder whether either of them is speaking figuratively. The disparity in power and age is flagrant. Theres a strong sense  in Abigails frantic, vengeful wildness, and Proctor stonily pulling up the drawbridge between them  of traumatic bonding disguised as obsessive love. Scapegoating spreads like a disease down a social hierarchy until it reaches Tituba (Sophia Brown), a slave from Barbados, who under horrific pressure lobs the first accusation. Furiously revealing the truth about Parris, her master, she daringly inverts her oppression. The Devil says to her: Look! I have white people belong to me. Brendan Cowell and Rachelle Diedericks star in The Crucible. Credit: Johan Persson

Its a piercing moment among many. Freedoms are wrenched from extremity, but the traditional locus of them  Proctors stoic refusal to be complicit in evil  doesnt overwhelm others, from Mary Warrens (Rachelle Diedericks) insolent reversal of her servitude to the tragically belated compassion of the well-meaning Reverend Hale (Fisayo Akinade). Every performance hits its mark, and the production is more potent for its faithfulness and intense focus on delivering pity and awe. Loading Audiences are left to draw modern parallels and you dont have to look far to find them. Its no coincidence that Waleed Aly talked of excommunication or a morality of brute force in his discussion of artists boycotting Bluesfest last week. And you only have to read Van Badhams QAnon and On  a disturbing investigation into the global conspiracy movement  to realise that the demonology of early modern Europe isnt as dead as wed like to believe. The ghosts of Salem are with us yet.

Reviewed by Cameron Woodhead
Racing, like all institutions, must move with the times. But members are split over whether its time to relax some of the tracks most strident rules regarding dress to help attract younger members to the sport.

The issue has been a hot topic through the years, and is back on the agenda after Racing Victorias new chief executive, Andrew Jones, expressed his desire for Victorias three metropolitan clubs to relax their dress regulations in an attempt to make the sport more accessible.

Time for a change? Some people in racing circles are pushing to relax dress codes in members areas. Credit: Eddie Jim

The movement has already begun in Europe. A large cohort of courses in the United Kingdom this month largely ditched their dress codes. The 15 courses managed by the Jockey Club, which does not include Royal Ascot, will still not allow certain offensive clothing but ties, jackets and footwear will no longer be regulated.

The rules at Australian courses range from the relaxed to the regimented. At Flemington, members are required to wear jackets and ties, and women must cover their midriff, and must wear dress shoes. The only exception is between December and March, when jackets are optional. Sydneys Australian Turf Club, which runs Randwick and Rosehill, extends the jacket amnesty for the whole of the annual daylight savings period, from October to April. The ATC also has different codes for weekend and midweek meets.
When author and organisational psychologist Amantha Imber, 45, was growing up, she found her computer programmer dad Martin, 73, very detached. Since his stroke, though, theyve become close.

Amantha Imber and her father, Martin: His love language is 100 per cent acts of service; he doesnt really say I love you, but the things he does for me  thats how I feel his love. Credit: Simon Schluter

Amantha: Growing up, I identified more with Mum because shes also a psychologist and writer. Dad trained as an electrical engineer, then worked as a computer programmer. Hes the most competent person I know; he can figure out how to do anything. When something goes wrong in the house, hes the first person I call. And hes handy for tech support. Im always wanting to push myself and be productive, and I get that work ethic from Dad. Hes also very financially savvy, so I saved up and didnt move out of home until I was 23 and had bought myself an apartment.

Dad came to Australia when he was one year old. His parents were Holocaust survivors and his dad had built an underground bunker in Poland that 25 people lived in for a year until the war was over. Dad didnt talk about the Holocaust with his dad until he interviewed my grandfather in his final years. Growing up, I dont remember any super-deep conversations; Ive talked to Dad more in the last few years than I did in my first three-and-a-half decades, so I see his stroke as such a blessing for our relationship.

In 2009, Mum and Dad were at an Israeli dance camp in Frankston and he went to hospital with symptoms that were causing him to stutter. The next morning, he couldnt make a sound, and his right side was paralysed from face to foot. I was two years into running my business and worked from the hospital for weeks. Neuroplasticity wasnt mainstream then, but my mum researched it. So, even though Dads doctors were like, This is it, we said, This is not permanent. Dad was back dancing after six months.
A leaked email from a NSW government prison regulation official confirms Rattray-Woods concerns were substantiated by jail inspectors. They said health service problems at Clarence were significant and systemic and will take some time to address. Serco undertakes to maintain prisoner welfare as part of its contract to run these facilities. The company said in a statement that its health services were run by qualified professionals and were subject to independent review under its accreditation. It said the issues raised about Clarences early operations were investigated and addressed. The decision of the insiders to tell their stories, some at risk to their careers, comes as the mothers of Indigenous prisoners who have died or suffered medical neglect have demanded action from state and federal governments.

They include two mothers whose sons killed themselves at the Serco-run Acacia jail east of Perth after family members warned jail staff the two men were at risk of self-harm. Loading Stephanie Hills, a nurse who dealt with Indigenous woman Veronica Nelson in Victorias largest womens jail before Nelson died, has also broken her silence about the two years she worked for healthcare company CorrectCare. A state coroner recently ruled Nelsons death was preventable, inhumane and a shameful stain on the justice system. Hills said staffing at the Dame Phyllis Frost Centre in Melbourne was often woeful, and a failure to employ Indigenous support workers or those with appropriate health expertise exposed vulnerable inmates to preventable harm.

Prisoners at the jail sometimes waited up to 12 weeks to see a GP or were left in pain because of the absence of proper care, she said. You or I could walk down the road to a bulk-billing super clinic and see a doctor within an hour if we needed to. Theres no reason why healthcare should be any different in prison than it is in the community outside of prison, Hills said. There would be a dentist once a week for a day, just during the day for all the entire prison population. Hills said CorrectCare and the jail had attempted to cover up medical neglect. She observed a prison doctor fail to get off his chair and deliver appropriate medical support to the desperately unwell Nelson. Instead, Nelson died in a cell after calling for help more than 40 times over three days. She was the most unwell woman that I had ever recepted [sic] into the prison  which is why I suggested that she needed to go to the hospital, Hills said in an interview.

I still hold a lot of guilt. Because more should have been done  It was a preventable death, and it should have been prevented. Hills said that in August 2020 she quit CorrectCare, which recently lost its contract to deliver health services in Victorian jails to another multinational private firm because she couldnt provide the care that I wanted or needed to. She also said a CorrectCare manager laughed at her when she pushed for appropriate COVID-19 protective wear. Victorian public servant Troy Williamson, who has played an official role in many inquiries into Indigenous deaths in custody as the most senior Indigenous official at the Victorian Coroners Court, said current rates of Indigenous incarceration and deaths were a national disgrace.

He called on state and federal governments to implement immediately all of the 1991 royal commissions 339 recommendations. Federal and state governments have claimed to have implemented most of the recommendations, but critics say key proposals, such as the use of imprisonment as a last resort and the provision of culturally appropriate healthcare to Aboriginal people in custody, have not been properly taken up. Were still not taking our recommendations seriously enough. Were not treating Aboriginal lives as important as what they are, Williamson said. Williamson, who was recently appointed director at another Victorian government department, made his comments on the eve of coroner Simon McGregors findings into Nelsons death. The inquest findings into the death of Nelson and every other [Indigenous] death in custody around Australia needed to be viewed together as an urgent catalyst for change, he said. He described his frustration at coronial hearings that failed to prompt meaningful reform as a process of the system that is happy to fail.

Williamson made the comments in a previously unreported address to elders and Indigenous community members in January. He told them he could be sacked for speaking out without government approval but believed the issue was too pressing. Troy Williamson at the Coroners Court of Victoria, where, until recently, he was the most senior Indigenous person. Credit: Justin McManus Since the 1991 royal commission, more than 525 Indigenous Australians have died in prison or police custody. The number of Indigenous inmates dying every year is higher now than prior to the commission. There have been an average of 16.6 deaths a year since 1991, compared with 11 deaths a year between 1980 and 1989. Indigenous Australian men are almost 10 times more likely to die in prison custody than non-Indigenous men, according to Australian Institute of Criminology figures. In his findings, McGregor referred CorrectCare for possible prosecution and concluded that if the recommendations of the 1991 royal commission had been properly implemented, Nelson would probably still be alive. CorrectCare said it was reviewing the coroners findings and also pointed to the fact staff were accredited.

We always aim to provide the best possible care, but acknowledge at times we could do better, it said in a statement. Donna Nelson, the mother of Veronica, said change was needed across Australia. No other mother should suffer like the way I did, she said. Donna Nelson, whose daughter Veronica died in custody, pictured at her home in Mooroopna, Victoria. Credit: Chris Hopkins Blowing the whistle Rattray-Wood said he had decided to risk his career and speak out after making repeated internal complaints about the provision of healthcare in jails, including for CorrectCare in Victoria in 2019 and 2021, and for Serco in NSW in 2020.

He said failings by CorrectCare in Victoria left prisoners in great pain waiting for an ambulance because I didnt have adequate painkillers to treat them, and in two cases may have contributed to potentially preventable deaths, which the doctor had disclosed to the state coroner. After moving to NSW, Rattray-Wood said he was advised by his medical insurer to quit his post as a senior doctor at the Serco-run Clarence Correctional Centre in July 2020, just weeks after it had opened its health service. He said this was because the new prisons health service was in complete and utter disarray. Effectively, what we did in the medical centre, is we tested our systems and failed on real people. Now, custodial patients arent guinea pigs, he said. After Rattray-Wood shifted to the nearby Grafton Base Hospital, he treated an Indigenous prisoner from Clarence with a life-threatening stomach condition who was one hour from being a death in custody.

Rattray-Wood, along with another senior doctor from Grafton Hospital who briefed this masthead confidentially as he was not authorised to speak publicly, said the prisoner, William Doolan, had received grossly inadequate care at Clarence that would have cost him his life without emergency intervention at hospital. He was in absolutely enormous pain when I met him. And I believe he wouldve been that way for quite some time, Rattray-Wood said. William Doolans sisters Betty and Tanya Doolan with their mother, Robyn Doolan, in Cowra, NSW. Credit: Rhett Wyman Now, to leave someone like that  for three days going bad before they were found by accident, is not something you want to see in the First World in the 21st century. Doolans mother, Robyn, said she visited her son after he was flown from Grafton Hospital to the Prince of Wales Hospital in Sydney.

He was unconscious in the bed, all tubes coming out of his nose, his arms, she said. When he could finally get on his feet a few days later, he had to get pushed in a wheelchair. He told me: I thought I was going to die, Mum. Thats how much pain he was in until they did something about it. Rattray-Wood said he encountered several cases of neglect involving Clarence inmates: one man took 36 paracetamols simultaneously because he had not received help in three weeks for a painful condition. Another with melanoma was not given his chemotherapy medication for six weeks. One woman was double-dosed and prescribed 28 Valium tablets over three days. The cases prompted Rattray-Wood to document his concerns and those raised by other staff at Clarence. One medical contractor in the jail told Rattray-Wood that the handling and distribution of medicines, including methadone, was dangerously haphazard and potentially illegal.

Another Clarence health service insider described an inmate who was not sent to hospital despite passing urine that looked like chicken soup and appearing clearly really unwell. Loading Doctors and nurses employed at Clarence by Serco told our media investigation separately about shambolic and potentially illegal management of medication, critical staffing shortages, low morale, overcrowding and poor management. After Rattray-Wood confronted the most senior officials at the jail with his concerns, prison general manager Glen Scholes said Serco had made mistakes in its delivery of healthcare when the jail opened. We want it to be A-grade service, not a we just got to over the line service, Scholes said.

Senior Serco manager Andrew Mead said there were a lot of things that we didnt do right. Serco, I think, are getting used to running big health services. Its not something that theyre overly familiar with, Mead said. In late September 2020, a fortnight after William Doolans near-death surgery, a NSW government official responsible for monitoring jail healthcare, Trevor Puckering, emailed Rattray-Wood and told him a prison monitoring team had inspected Clarence. We were able to verify many of the issues you reported to me previously, Puckering wrote. In addition to NSW, where Serco won a $2.6 billion, 20-year state government contract to run Clarence, Serco runs Acacia Prison in Western Australia and the Adelaide Remand Centre.

It also manages Australias immigration and detention centres and provides healthcare to Australias 80,000 soldiers at army bases. Two young men gone Concerns about Sercos provision of healthcare to Indigenous inmates have been raised in the cases of two young men who took their own lives at Acacia Prison, 60 kilometres east of Perth. Karen Blanket (left) and Connie Moses-Penny at Fremantle Cemetery, where their sons are buried. Both young men died at Acacia Prison east of Perth. Credit: Tony McDonough Connie Moses-Penny, the mother of Stanley Inman, said family members warned Serco of the 19-year-olds mental state just hours after he had told his sister: I dont feel like being alive.

Four days after Stanleys sister Jacinta was assured the prison would keep an eye on him, the family learned he had gained access to a jail storeroom and hanged himself. They should have done more to save my boy, Connie Moses-Penny said. A year earlier, 30-year-old Jomen Blanket took his own life in Acacia after his family, too, warned Serco he needed support. Jomen Blanket took his own life at Acacia Prison. Jomens mother, Karen, said that after her son told her he wanted to self-harm, she drove out to the prison and I told them.

I wanted to speak to the supervisor, but they wouldnt let me speak to her. So I went home, and then I went back up again, and I sat there for half a day just crying and asked them, Can someone go down and check on my son? And they were just saying, Oh, hes all right. Theres nothing wrong.  A short time later, she learnt that he had hanged himself. George Newhouse, who leads the National Justice Project and has represented several Indigenous families at coronial inquests, said along with the Nelson familys lawyer, Ali Besiroglu of Robinson Gill, that coroner McGregors stunning findings in the Nelson inquest should be a wake-up call for the Albanese government and all states and territories. Besiroglu said the findings would be worthless without reform, noting the Victorian government had flagged changes to bail laws that led to record numbers of Indigenous women being placed in custody. Newhouse, who is the lawyer for the Inman and Blanket families, said the provision of appalling healthcare to Indigenous prisoners was a feature of many deaths in custody, a systemic problem compounded by the failure of some states, including Western Australia, to properly investigate deaths in custody.
Sansuyu flowers are seen in this photo, provided by the Korea Tourism Organization. Yonhap



The following are the major cultural and tourist festivals to be held in Korea in March.



Sansuyu Flower Festival



When: March 11-19



Where: Mount Jiri, Gurye, South Jeolla Province



The hot spring district of Mount Jiri will be bathed in a sea of yellow in March as blooming sansuyu, or Cornus officinalis, flowers cover the mountain. Around 40 events will be held during the festival. The program includes rituals for a good harvest, performances of Korean vocal music, farmers' music and dance, as well as demonstrations of traditional cultural arts from around the world. Wine and cake made from the sansuyu flower will also be available.



For more information, call 061-780-2727 or visit Gurye County's website ( https://www.gurye.go.kr/tour/detail.do?tourId=TOUR_0000000100menuNo=104001002000 ).





A photo of Gwangyang International Maehwa Festival, provided by the Gwangyang city government / Yonhap



Gwangyang International Maehwa Festival



When: March 10-19



Where: Gwangyang, South Jeolla Province



Various performances will be held for more than a week in the southern village of Da-ap-myeon in Gwangyang, South Jeolla Province. Wines and food made from "maehwa," or Japanese apricots, will be displayed and sold amid the beautiful scenery of the coastal village. For more information, call 061-797-3333 or visit the website ( https://gwangyang.go.kr/tour/gallery.es?mid=a30301020000bid=0011act=viewlist_no=14471 ).





A photo of Jinhae Gunhangje, captured from the website of the Korea Tourism / Yonhap



Jinhae Gunhangje (Naval Port Festival)



When: March 25-April 3



Where: Changwon, South Gyeongsang Province



Jinhae Gunhangje, or the Jinhae Naval Port Festival, is held annually for about 10 days in early April in Jinhae amid the gorgeous cherry blossoms. Jinhae, now a ward in the city of Changwon, has been an important naval base on the south coast since the Joseon Dynasty (1392-1910). The festival originated in 1952 as a memorial ceremony for Adm. Yi Sun-shin, a 16th-century war hero. It is currently a combination of a memorial for Adm. Yi and a collection of cultural and artistic events.



For more information, go to the website ( https://www.changwon.go.kr/depart/contents.do?mId=1101010000 ) or call the Changwon City Cultural Information Office at 055-225-2342.





A photo of the annual Jeju Fire Festival, captured from the website of the Korea Tourism Organization / Yonhap



Jeju Fire Festival



When: March 7-10



Where: Saebyeol Oreum area, Jeju



Jeju Fire Festival is an event at which people pray for good health and a good harvest in the coming year. The festival offers a number of hands-on events where visitors can participate in folk games and traditions. They can also enjoy the sights of Jeju Island's stunning natural environment. For more information, call 064-728-2752 or visit the website ( http://buriburi.go.kr.)





This photo provided by the Tongyeong city government shows a night exterior view of the Tongyeong Arts Center, the venue of the annual Tongyeong International Music Festival in Tongyeong, South Gyeongsang Province. Yonhap
Jesus was a man of many foreskins. So starts one of the Middle Ages dirtiest jokes, in which a theologian remarks on the sheer number of claimed relics of the Holy Prepuce (the punchline: he must have been very well-endowed).

People, even Christians, have always found humour and absurdity in divinity, so theres little new in comedian Reuben Kayes off-colour one-liner on Network Tens The Project. Far more noteworthy is the lameness of his joke-telling. Nailed as a double-entendre. Cringe. I heard that one back in high school.

Comedian Reuben Kaye on The Project. Credit: Network Ten

To be really offensive about Christianity you have to be far more creative these days. Remember Popetown, a 2005 adult sitcom billed as Father Ted meets South Park? It imagined the pope as a petulant child voiced by Ruby Wax. In one episode, a look-alike Jewish comedian played by Jackie Mason replaces him, all Prince and Pauper. Oy vey.

Or South Park itself, just as irreverent, after creator Matt Stone declared open season on Jesus. It had him swear and cuss and kill, with such scenes that attracted the usual handwringing from professional offence merchants and latter-day Mary Whitehouses.
When 50,000 people in their brightest colours prepare to cross Sydney Harbour Bridge at 7am on Sunday for the Pride March, nobody will be prouder than Jason Coombes.

He will be marching in the first wave with his niece, film producer Alexandra George, who is making a documentary about her uncle and the historic event.

The 50,000-strong Pride March across the Sydney Harbour Bridge will take place on Sunday morning.

The Gurnai-Kurnai man from Lake Tyers, Victoria, was one of the first Qantas long-haul Indigenous flight attendants and then retrained to become a remote area nurse serving Indigenous communities in the Northern Territory and South Australia.

He said: At a time in Australia with the Voice to parliament coming, it is the proudest thing I can do as a gay Aboriginal man. Ive been to Love Parade in Berlin, but this is my very first WorldPride. I have been going to Mardi Gras for years, but this is the pinnacle.
Around-the-clock nursing in aged care and mandated time spent caring for each nursing home resident will create a shortfall of about 25,000 workers in two years time.

Internal Health Department documents from late last year, published this week under freedom of information laws, reveal the governments election promise to implement the two key recommendations of the aged care royal commission will require 14,626 new workers in 2023-24 and 25,093 the year after.

Around-the-clock nursing in aged care homes and mandated time spent caring for each nursing home resident will create a shortfall of about 25,000 workers within two years.

The internal briefing note listed several initiatives that were likely to close that gap, including migration, pay rises, increased workforce utilisation and fewer staff exits. But they amounted to only 6100 new workers under the calculations from November, leaving thousands more places to be filled.

The Albanese governments aged care reforms will require aged care homes to have a registered nurse on site 24 hours a day from July, and mandate a minimum 200 care minutes per resident each day from October to improve the ailing sector.
Tanya Plibersek claims she would have won the Labor leadership in 2019 if she had stood, according to a new biography to be released on Tuesday.

Tanya Plibersek: On Her Own Terms, by journalist Margaret Simons  an extract of which is published in Good Weekend  reveals why the popular environment minister and former deputy leader chose not to stand against Anthony Albanese.

Tanya Plibersek is part of Labors Left faction, along with the Prime Minister Anthony Albanese. Credit: Alex Ellinghausen

In the last of eight interviews for the book  conducted after Albaneses 2022 election win  Simons asked Plibersek about claims that she didnt have the numbers to win the leadership after the 2019 election loss, so withdrew.

Thats absolutely what people who like to background against me would say. Well never know. Its history. But I am pretty confident that if I had run, I would have won, Plibersek said.
Coopes marketing describes it as a Californian mission residence with formal and informal living areas set around a central courtyard and fronting north-east facing terraces overlooking the harbour, as well as a pool, cabana, wine cellar and bar. Up the river Not since Toad of Toad Hall has riverfront real estate commanded such lavish housing and lured so many buyers with deep pockets. Yellowstone is set on a north-facing riverfront block of 1300 square metres and designed by Oikos Architects. Credit: Domain Upstream of the Harbour Bridge the fairytale prices were once limited to the Lane Cove River, where homes on the north-facing Hunters Hill peninsula could command up to $22.18 million, as it did for the historic Vailele mansion in 2017.

This side of the pandemic, however, the Parramatta River has come into its own, led by the surprise $25 million sale in 2021 for the Abbotsford estate bought by e-commerce entrepreneur Eddie Machaalani, and more recently followed by a slew of sales in the double-digit millions by the likes of Wallabies pub king Bill Young. Former Wallaby prop Bill Young has bought the most expensive house in Cabarita. Credit: Ross Land Sources say the Wallabies legend is behind the purchase of the Cabarita house known as Yellowstone, designed by Oikos Architects on a vast waterfront block of 1300 square metres that sold under the hammer for $14.62 million, smashing the suburb high by $6.3 million. Agent Ben Horwood declined to comment on Youngs purchase, but said he listed it with hopes in the early teens despite being told by locals he would be lucky to get $10 million. It was a similarly bullish result on the Drummoyne waterfront when Get Fish director Antonio Muollo, 23, and his dad, De Costi retail outlet owner Tony Muollo sold their house almost a year after they bought it.

The Drummoyne residence known as Oceans Mansion was sold by the Muollo family for more than the $14 million guide. The Muollos paid $13.125 million for the waterfront house in 2021, and soon after they settled on it put it back up for sale given plans to remain in the east. Sources say the Muollos are back in the black having sold for more than the $14 million guide for CobdenHaysons Daniel Patterson. Television businessman and president of the Italian Chamber of Commerce and Industry Fabio Grassia and his wife Monia Cavalli are touted as the buyers, and have already listed their waterfront home in Hunters Hill with BresicWhitneys Nicholas McEvoy with a $9 million guide.

The deep waterfront residence, purchased in 2014 for $3.9 million, is one of two neighbouring houses owned by Cavalli, of which the house next door is also for sale by McEvoy with a $3.5 million guide. Prominent lawyer Sue Gilchrist and Stephen Taylor have sold their Chiswick home for $12 million after two buyers competed at auction, forcing the result well past the $9 million guide originally offered by Matthew Ward. Return to buyers Meanwhile, the buyer of Youngs former home in Northwood, printing industry boss Anthony Karam and his wife, TMA Group director Corriene Karam are set to test the enduring strength of the local market this weekend when their newly purchased home goes to auction. Anthony and Corriene Karam had no sooner purchased the Hamptons-style house in Northwood than it is returned to the market. Credit: Domain

Karam, the chairman TMA Group, bought into Northwood at the height of the boom last year, offering a winning bid of $9.65 million at auction for a Hamptons-style house through Belles Simon Harrison. But no sooner did Karam take the keys to his new home than an even better house a few doors away, Youngs Federation mansion Yandama, hit the market for $14 million through Ray Whites Chris Wilkins. It was too good to refuse, prompting Karam to buy Yandama, and return his newly purchased, Hamptons-style house to the market, again with a $9 million guide. Safe as houses The Woollahra home of socialite and interior designer Sally Tilley and financier Adam Tilley goes to auction on March 28.

The couples home since 2014 has mercifully escaped the headlines of their former digs in Point Piper, which was bought on a structured deal from convicted murderer Ron Medich and reportedly later firebombed by the late businessman Michael McGurk, who was charged over the matter, but the charges were later dropped. Interior designer Sally Tilley has renovated the Woollahra terrace. Credit: Simon Alekna The house was meant to be part of a development project after Tilley purchased it from Medich in 2004 for $12.5 million on a structured deal. The project never got off the ground and descended into a protracted load dispute that later prompted Medich to organise the murder of McGurk, for which he is currently serving more than 30 years jail. Ultimately, the Point Piper house turned into the deal of a decade but only for Sevens Bruce McWilliam who bought it in 2013 for $10.65 million and sold it two years ago for $32.5 million.

The Tilleys, meanwhile, retreated to Woollahra, paying $4.11 million for the home of Paris-based expat Dominique Ogilvie, and undertaking a dramatic renovation of it since then. Ray Whites Randall Kemp has the listing. One for the car collector As garages go, that owned by Active Medias Michael Ryan and nutritionist Zoe Bingley-Pullin is one of the best. What was previously a sea-plane engine workshop in the 1950s was purchased by the North Bondi-based couple in 2019 for $1.76 million and converted into what one property watcher described as the ultimate man cave. Michael Ryan and Zoe Bingley-Pullin purchased the one-time sea plane workshop in 2019. Credit: Marco Del Grande

Gendered stereotypes aside, the description isnt wrong. It has space for 15 cars, a working bench, showroom, lounge, and a loft bedroom, all of which make it ideal for any car collector. Ryan, who trained Hugh Jackman for his role as Wolverine in the X-Men film series, has listed it with 1st City Double Bays Brad Caldwell-Eyles and Julian Hasemer and a $3 million to $3.3 million guide. Troy Malcolm was appointed national head of sales at McGrath Estate Agents last year. Credit: Market confidence Theres clearly confidence in the real estate market when the national general manager of sales at McGrath Estate Agents is buying. Troy Malcolm, who was a high-profile addition to the national real estate shop last year, has coughed up $6.025 million for new digs in Redfern.
Singapore/ Phnom Penh: Five years after being arrested and jailed, accused of plotting to topple the Hun Sen regime with a US-sponsored colour revolution, Cambodian opposition leader Kem Sokha has been sentenced to 27 years under house arrest.

The long-awaited verdict in his trial, widely panned as politically motivated, was delivered in Phnom Penh Municipal Court on Friday.

Kem Sokha arrives at court in Phnom Penh on Friday. Credit: AP

The former president of the now outlawed Cambodia National Rescue Party (CNRP) was accused of colluding with a foreign power in a bid to overthrow the government of Prime Minister Hun Sen, who has ruled in the south-east Asian nation since 1985.

Finding him guilty of treason, Judge Koy Sao ordered Sokha, 69, to be confined to his home for 27 years and also banned him from any involvement in politics, voting and standing for election for life.
The states legal team emerged from the courthouse to a celebratory atmosphere. South Carolina Attorney-General Alan Wilson thanked the prosecution for the past six weeks of late nights spent at a local hotel. It was all worth it. Because we got to bring justice and be a voice for Maggie and Paul Murdaugh, Wilson said. Todays verdict proved that no one  no matter who you are in society  is above the law, he added, a line met with applause from the growing crowd. Alex Murdaugh cries as prosecutor Creighton Waters describes the murder of Murdaughs wife and son during closing arguments in Murdaughs double murder trial . Credit: AP The scion of an influential legal family in an area west of Charleston had pleaded not guilty, though he admitted lying about his alibi and to an array of financial crimes in confessions that dented his credibility with the jury. The case has drawn intense media coverage, given the familys immense political power in and around Colleton County, where the trial took place.

Buster Murdaugh, son of Alex Murdaugh, listens to the jury charges during his fathers double murder trial. Credit: AP For decades until 2006, family members served as the leading prosecutor in the area, and Murdaugh was a prominent personal injury attorney in the Deep South state. Through more than 75 witnesses and nearly 800 pieces of evidence, jurors heard about betrayed friends and clients, Murdaughs failed attempt to stage his own death in an insurance fraud scheme, a fatal boat crash in which his son was implicated, the housekeeper who died in a fall in the Murdaugh home, the grisly scene of the killings and Bubba, the chicken-snatching dog. In the end, Murdaughs fate appeared sealed by a mobile phone video taken by his son, Paul, whom he called Little Detective for his knack for finding bottles of painkillers in his fathers belongings after the lawyer had sworn off the pills. Testimony culminated in Murdaughs appearance on the witness stand, when he admitted stealing millions from clients and lying to investigators about being at the dog kennels where the shootings took place but steadfastly maintained his innocence over the deaths of Maggie and Paul.

The Murdaughs South Carolina hunting farm. Credit: Crosby Land Company I did not kill Maggie, and I did not kill Paul. I would never hurt Maggie, and I would never hurt Paul  ever  under any circumstances, Murdaugh said. Murdaughs wife was shot four or five times with a rifle and their son was shot twice with a shotgun at the kennels near their rural Colleton County home. Prosecutors didnt have the weapons used to kill the Murdaughs or other direct evidence such as confessions or blood spatter. But they had a mountain of circumstantial evidence, led by a video locked on Paul Murdaughs mobile for more than a year  video shot minutes before the killings that witnesses testified captured the voices of all three Murdaughs. Alex Murdaugh had told police repeatedly after the killings that he was not at the kennels and was instead napping before he went to visit his ailing mother that night. Murdaugh called 911 and said he discovered the bodies when he returned home.

The colossal South Carolina hunting farm where Maggie and Paul Murdaugh were found shot dead. Credit: Crosby Land Company But in his testimony, Murdaugh admitted joining Maggie and Paul at the kennels, where he said he took a chicken away from a rowdy yellow Labrador named Bubba  whose name Murdaugh can be heard saying on the video  before heading back to the house shortly before the fatal shootings. Murdaugh lied about being at the kennels for 20 months before taking the stand on the 23rd day of his trial. He blamed his decades-long addiction to opioids for making him paranoid, creating a distrust of police. He said that once he went down that path, he felt trapped in the lie. Oh, what a tangled web we weave. Once I told a lie  I told my family  I had to keep lying, he testified. Prosecutor Creighton Waters grilled Murdaugh about what he repeatedly called his new story of what happened at the kennels, walking him moment by moment through the timeline and assailing his fuzzy memory of certain details, such as his last words to his wife and son.

A state agent also testified that markings on spent cartridges found around Maggie Murdaughs body matched markings on fired cartridges at a shooting range elsewhere on the property, though the defence said that kind of matching was an inexact science. Murdaugh comes from a family that dominated the local legal scene for decades. His father, grandfather and great-grandfather were the areas elected prosecutors for more than 80 years and his family law firm grew to dozens of lawyers by suing railroads, corporations and other big businesses. The now-disbarred attorney admitted stealing millions of dollars from the family firm and clients, saying he needed the money to fund his drug habit. Before he was charged with murder, Murdaugh was in jail awaiting trial on about 100 other charges ranging from insurance fraud to tax evasion. Prosecutors told jurors that Murdaugh was afraid all of his misdeeds were about to be discovered, so he killed his wife and son to gain sympathy to buy time to cover his tracks. Murdaughs lawyers will almost certainly appeal against the conviction based on the judge allowing evidence of the financial crimes, which they contend were unrelated to the killings and were used by prosecutors to smear Murdaughs reputation.
Washington: A maze of US regulations and export control laws still stand between Australia and the multibillion-dollar AUKUS agreement, even as the countries prepare to announce within weeks how the nuclear subs will be acquired.

With Prime Minister Anthony Albanese set to join US President Joe Biden and British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak to unveil the details of the agreement this month, Australias ambassador to the US, Arthur Sinodinos, has signalled that one of the biggest hurdles to the deal is yet to be resolved.

Under AUKUS, Australia will need the US Congress to legislate exemptions on export controls and intellectual property transfers on sensitive technology.

Asked if Australia had secured a guarantee that US export control rules would be wound back to allow for the crucial transfer of nuclear technologies under the AUKUS pact, Sinodinos said that while a lot of work had been done to speed up the process, its not finished.

The attitude weve taken is we want to push the [Biden] administration process as far as possible, he said, adding that the upcoming AUKUS announcement would build on the momentum to get this done.
The angry tirade was further evidence of the fallout between Trump and Murdoch, the Fox Corporation chairman whose media outlets propped up the former president for years  even to the point, it would seem, of deluding the audience about his baseless lies. But Trumps rise was also undeniably good for Murdochs business, boosting Foxs profits, audience share and broader influence. So as the race for the 2024 US election heats up, it begs the question: is the bromance truly over? Or does Trump still need Murdoch and does Murdoch still need Trump? The front pages of the New York Post from November 9 and November 10. Credit: A.J. Bauer, a professor at the University of Alabama who researches and analyses trends in conservative media, says he cant see Murdoch wanting to support Trump unless he was profitable or useful. Right now, thats debatable. If anything, Bauer says, Trumps insistence that the election was stolen is costing Murdoch, both in terms of legal fees to defend the Dominion case and the possibility of hefty fines should Fox lose, which appears likely.

And even if Trump were to somehow secure the Republican nomination, his campaign rallies and cable news interviews would likely regurgitate the same argument: that he was cheated out of the last election. Should that happen, Bauer says, Murdoch and Fox executives would face a conundrum: Are we willing to get burnt again to benefit Trump? Loading Those close to Trump take a different view. Campaign adviser Jason Miller cites Trumps run in 2016, noting that everybody was against him, but he connected with the people. You had the mainstream media against him, you had the conservative media, you had the Washington insiders, Miller recently told The Sydney Morning Herald and The Age. So are there going to be news outlets who will be less supportive than others in 2024? Of course  but thats been the case for his entire career. The rift between the pair is being watched closely in political and media circles given the influence of Fox News and other Murdoch-owned media entities in potentially shaping the race for the Republican presidential nomination in 2024.

But if the last few months are any guide, Americans are more likely to see a concerted effort to bolster DeSantis chances of succeeding in the partys primaries, should the Florida governor declare his candidacy as expected. Fresh signs of this emerged on Thursday morning (US time), when DeSantis appeared as a guest on Foxs Americas Newsroom morning program  hours after Trumps Truth Social rant  to talk up his new book, his state legislative wins and his prospects for running against for the Republican nomination. He didnt give much away regarding his national ambitions, but the soft-ball interview with hosts Dana Perino and Bill Hemmer was notably fawning. Yet, while the Murdoch empire clearly views DeSantis as the future of the party, observers note that the landscape can always shift. After all, the Trump-Murdoch union was a slow burn: in July 2015, one month after the Apprentice reality TV star announced his candidacy, Murdoch tweeted: When is Donald Trump going to stop embarrassing his friends, let alone the whole country? One year later, after Trump secured the nomination, Murdoch was firmly in his corner.

Murdochs deposition in the Dominion defamation case also provides a telling insight into Trumps ongoing hold over the Fox audience, as well as Murdochs attempt straddle the issue of election fraud without angering the president or his supporters. For instance, when a former Fox executive told Murdoch in the aftermath of the January 6 capital attack that Fox News needs a course correction on Trump, Murdoch replied that the company was busy pivoting and we want to make Trump a non-person. But he also later acknowledged that this was easier said than done. Right now Trump needs Murdoch more than Murdoch needs Trump. Gary Nordlinger, professor of politics at George Washington University. Nobody wants Trump as an enemy, Murdoch said. We all know that Trump has a big following. If he says, Dont watch Fox News, maybe some dont. Behind the scenes, the latest court filing reveals that similar concerns were playing out among primetime presenters and other executives. Sean Hannity, a longstanding Trump ally, had been privately disgusted by Trump for weeks, but was scared to lose viewers. Lachlan Murdoch, Ruperts son, said in his testimony that a ratings drop would keep me awake at night.

Credit: Matt Golding And presenter Tucker Carlson privately acknowledged that the claims of rigged Dominion voting systems were absurd. Yet when Foxs White House correspondent Jacqui Heinrich tweeted that there is no evidence that any voting system altered the election, Carlson suggested to Hannity she should be fired. Its measurably hurting the company. The stock price is down. Not a joke, he added. Since its creation in 1996, Fox has enjoyed a virtual monopoly when it comes to US conservative cable news viewers. But this began to shift in the aftermath of the 2020 election as Trump supporters sought out news stations seemingly more willing to push his false claim that Joe Biden had stolen the election. While Trumps frustration towards Fox had been brewing for months before the poll, tensions boiled over on election night when the independent analysts on Fox News decision desk projected Biden as the winner of Arizona, ahead of many other networks. In line with Trumps instructions, some viewers later defected to right-wing news channels such as OANN or Newsmax.


This includes the setting up of two cement units with a combined capacity of 10 million tonne per annum (MTPA), a 15,000-mega watt (Mw) renewable power project, a 400-Mw data centre and plans to add 100 million metric tonnes of capacity in the port sector. In what is being seen as the first major public appearance by the Adani family after the Hindenburg row, Karan Adani announced mega investments by his group in Andhra Pradesh, at the state's investor summit on Friday.



According to the Andhra government, Adani Green Energy itself has signed two memorandums of understanding (MoUs) that may involve an investment of about Rs 21,820 crore and create 14,000 jobs. Karan Adani said his group is planning to double the capacity at its existing two ports at Krishnapatnam and Gangavaram. The Adani Groups commitment to the states vision for port-led industrial development is reflected in our actions. Currently, Adani Group operates two large private ports in Andhra Pradesh with a total capacity of 100 million metric tonnes a year. In the next five years, we aim to add another 100 MMT and transform these ports into industrial port cities, he said. This comes at a time when neither Gautam Adani nor anyone else from the family was present at the much-hyped investor summit held by the government of Uttar Pradesh in Lucknow last month. Karan Adani is the chief executive officer of Adani Ports and SEZ and the son of Gautam Adani. The mega investment announcement also comes at a time when the Adani Group is battling allegations of stock manipulation and fraud raised by Hindenburg Research. This can be seen as the first big-ticket announcement after the charges came out. Karan Adani said the Adani Group is active in multiple sectors such as ports, logistics, power, edible oil and data centres in Andhra Pradesh.



With the data centre business gathering momentum in India, the group is also planning to set up a 400 Mw data centre at Visakhapatnam, the new executive capital of the state. These projects will not only bring further investment but will also create job opportunities. They demonstrate our commitment to sustainable growth of the state of Andhra Pradesh, he said. These projects are in addition to around Rs 20,000 crore already invested in the state by the group, which has created more than 18,000 direct and 54,000 indirect jobs. The renewable power projects of 15,000 Mw announced by the group on Friday will also come up in a few years in Anantapur, Kadappa, Kurnool, Visakhapatnam and Vizianagaram districts. Another mega investment announced by the younger Adani was in cement. Ambuja and ACC Cement, as part of our expansion plans in the coming years, will be setting up two plants in Kadappa and Nadikudi, with a total capacity of 10 million tonne per annum, Adani added.
Office to remain, but slimmer workforce will maintain communication functions



By Nam Hyun-woo



The Ministry of Unification on Thursday refuted rumors that it is considering abolishing the inter-Korean liaison office as part of the ministry's restructuring plan, saying that the liaison office is not under its authority because it was installed under an agreement between South Korea and North Korea.



The ministry's dismissal comes after media reports that said it is set to downsize the secretariat for the liaison office due to the current stalemate in inter-Korean relations and instead better serve President Yoon Suk Yeol's North Korea policy, which concentrates on human rights issues.



"The ministry is not trying to abolish the inter-Korean liaison office, which was established under the agreement of the two Koreas," an official at the ministry told reporters.



"There is no change in our stance that we will maintain the communication function between South Korea and North Korea."



However, the official said the secretariat for the liaison office was set up by the South Korean government to support the operation of the liaison office. The official did not confirm whether it will be included in its restructuring plan, but stated, "Various restructuring scenarios are under review."



The inter-Korean liaison office was established in Gaeseong, North Korea, in September 2018, following an agreement between then-President Moon Jae-in and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un in April of the same year. Since then, staffers from both South and North Korea have worked at the single building, but South Korean officials vacated the premises following the COVID-19 outbreak in January 2020.



In June 2020, the North blew up the building, blaming Seoul's inability to prevent defectors from flying anti-regime propaganda over the border. Then, the liaison office was relocated to Seoul and it has been maintaining contact with North Korea.



Reportedly, the unification ministry is now considering downsizing the liaison office's secretariat into a department under the Office of Inter-Korean Dialogue. Instead, the ministry is reviewing the possibility of scaling up its Humanitarian Cooperation Bureau as an office to enhance functions related to human rights in the North.





South Korean Ambassador to the U.S. Cho Tae-yong speaks during a seminar hosted by the Committee for Human Rights in North Korea in Washington D.C., Feb. 28 (local time). Yonhap


I am happy to announce that we will continue our investments and we will invest in 10 Gw of renewable solar energy in AP, said Ambani. Reliance Industries (RIL) plans to come up with a 10 giga watt (GW) solar energy project in Andhra Pradesh (AP), Chairman Mukesh Ambani said on Friday, addressing the Andhra Pradesh Global Investors Summit.



The group is providing the largest and best digital network footprint in Andhra Pradesh through Jio with investments over Rs 40,000 crore, Ambani said. The rollout of Jios True 5G will be completed across the country before the year-end, he added.



On Krishna Godavari Dhirubhai 6 (KG-D6) basin, Ambani, said: We have invested over Rs 1.5 trillion in KG-D6 basin development and the supporting pipeline infrastructure. Today, the gas produced by Reliance at the KG-D6 basin is fuelling Indias clean energy transition and will contribute nearly 30 per cent of Indias gas production, he said. Our 4G network covers 98 per cent of Andhra Pradeshs population, including those living in the remotest corners of the state. The roll-out of Jios True 5G will be completed before the end of 2023 throughout India, including in Andhra Pradesh, Ambani said.

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The company said the investment would be used towards capital expenditure in pumped storage projects, which will have storage capacity of more than 25 Gigawatt hours (GWh). This would enable 45 billion units of dispatchable carbon-free energy (CFE). Pumped energy storage uses the gravitational energy of water for energy storage. Hyderabad-based Greenko Energy Holdings has raised $700 million (about Rs 5,700 crore) equity funding from the founders, along with GIC, a wholly owned subsidiary of the Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, and Japanese financial group Orix Corporation. The company said it had signed definitive agreements for a primary equity raise of $700 million, in an official statement issued on Thursday. There was no change in the shareholding structure after this investment, it added.



In a public statement, Ang Eng Seng, chief investment officer of infrastructure at GIC, said, Cost-effective long duration energy storage is key to unlocking widespread adoption of renewable energy, accelerating Indias energy transition plans, and spurring the global transition to a net-zero economy. Greenko is uniquely positioned as the leading market provider of long-duration energy projects through its pumped storage projects. Anil Kumar Chalamalasetty, chief executive officer and managing director of Greenko, said, This equity commitment from the existing shareholders reinforces their trust in our vision. Greenko is leading Indias energy transition through implementation of large scale and long-term solutions, and it continues to deliver long-term value to all stakeholders. CFE is helping accelerate industrial decarbonisation, enhancing the green quotient of the Indian grid and development of green molecules and chemicals at a competitive cost.



Greenko claims to be Indias first dispatchable renewables company. The company has lately widened its offering beyond traditional green energy projects. It recently launched the countrys first integrated green energy storage project, which will offer energy storage solutions through its cloud platform under a unique model to bulk energy users. Greenko was founded in 2006 by Chalamalasetty along with Mahesh Kolli, who is currently president and joint managing director at the company.

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Kolli had earlier told Business Standard that the energy storage system deployed by Greenko for this project was an off stream closed loop pump hydro system. It is half the cost of battery storage and more sustainable. India would need close to 50 GWh of pump hydro to meet the storage needs in tandem with the growth plans of solar and wind energy. Besides, it has also commenced construction of 5.2 Gw integrated renewable energy storage project in Andhra Pradesh. The project has storage of 10 GWh, 3 Gw of solar and 0.5 Gw of wind power. The project already has private investors such as ArcelorMittal, Ayana Renewable and tie up with the Solar Energy Corporation of India for sale of power to Bihar, Rajasthan, and Damodar Valley Corporation, the company had said earlier.


State-run power major NTPC signed three MoUs for investments amounting to Rs 2.35 trillion, while industry majors Adani Group, Reliance Industries, ABC Ltd, Renew Power and JSW Group announced big-ticket investments in the state. On Saturday, another Rs 1.15 trillion worth of MoUs are set to be signed, taking the total to Rs 13 trillion. The renewable energy sector received the maximum attention on Day-one of the Andhra Pradesh Global Investors Summit (GIS) on Friday. As many as 92 memorandums of understanding (MoUs) were signed for investments worth about Rs 11.87 trillion and an employment generating potential of 392,000 jobs.



...the state has received 340 investment proposals with worth about Rs 13 trillion, and with a potential to employ almost 600,000 people across 20 sectors. As of today, we will execute 92 MoUs worth Rs 11 trillion, the remaining will be executed tomorrow, Reddy said. The states energy department attracted as many as 35 investment proposals worth Rs 8.25 trillion and with an employment generating potential of 133,000 jobs. With decarbonisation being the global emphasis, our focus is also on renewable, said chief minister Y S Jagan Mohan Reddy in his address to the summit. A senior NTPC executive told Business Standard that the firm is investing to develop a hydrogen ecosystem park at Pudimadaka, a 2.6 giga watt (Gw) pump storage power plant, and 20 Gw of renewable energy capacity.



We see Andhra Pradesh as an energy hub of the future. Single-window clearances and investor development policy have created a good ecosystem for investors in the state. We are working on a three-million-tonne steel plant near Krishnapatnam, said Naveen Jindal, Chairman, Jindal Steel & Power. JSW Group signed six MoUs, the largest among the lotm with an investment of Rs 50,632 crore. These are expected to generate employment for 9,500 people. ABB Ltd signed an MoU worth Rs 1.2 trillion, and a job generating potential for 7,000 people. Adani Green Energy signed two MoUs worth Rs 21,820 crore collectively (employment potential: 14,000 jobs). Aditya Birla Group signed two MoUs worth Rs 9,300 crore(employment potential: 2,850 jobs). Jindal Steel signed an MoU worth Rs 7,500 crore (employment potential: 2,500 jobs).

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The meeting, to be presided over by External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar, will be attended by US Secretary of State Antony Blinken, Japanese Foreign Minister Yoshimasa Hayashi, and Australia's Penny Wong. A day after the G20 Foreign Ministers' Meeting (FMM) was held in New Delhi, the city is set to host a meeting of the Quad foreign ministers on Friday. The meeting is expected to focus on the Indo-Pacific against the backdrop of increasing assertiveness by China in the region.



"The meeting will be chaired by External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar, and will see the participation of foreign ministers of Australia and Japan and the Secretary of State of the United States of America," it said. "The next meeting of the Quad Foreign Ministers will be hosted by India on March 3 in New Delhi," the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) said.



"They will exchange views on recent developments in the Indo-Pacific region and regional issues of mutual interest, guided by their vision of a free, open, and inclusive Indo-Pacific," the MEA said, as reported by news agency PTI. According to the MEA, the meeting will be an opportunity for the ministers to continue the discussions held at their last meeting in New York in September 2022.

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Quad, or the Quadrilateral Security Dialogue (QSD), comprises India, the US, Australia, and Japan. One of its primary objectives is to work for a free, open, prosperous, and inclusive Indo-Pacific region. The ministers will also review the progress made by the Quad in pursuit of its agenda and implementation of initiatives aimed at addressing contemporary priorities of the region.

G20 foreign ministers' meeting ends without a joint statement

The G20 FMM, held on Thursday, ended without a joint communique as the diplomatic tussle between the West and Russia over the war in Ukraine continued. However, a common outcome document was released.



"Despite the challenges of the divergent positions on the conflict in Ukraine, the G20 foreign ministers were able to come to a consensus on key challenges. We believe the outcome document truly reflects what the G20 should be aiming towards," he said. Jaishankar said that it focused on multilateralism and the need for reforms at the United Nations (UN).
A Pune-bound Air Asia flight made an emergency landing at the Biju Patnaik International Airport in Bhubaneswar after a bird-hit incident on Thursday, the Airport Authority informed.

The Air Authority informed in a statement that, "Pune bound Air Asia flight made an emergency landing at Biju Patnaik International Airport in Bhubaneswar after a bird-hit incident, soon after the take-off. The aircraft is being assessed, and all the passengers are safe."

Reacting to the incident, Air Asia said that the flight has returned to Bhubaneshwar for detailed inspection after suffering a bird hit.

"VT-ATF, operating from Bhubaneswar to Pune, suffered a bird hit after takeoff and returned to Bhubneshwar for detailed inspection. We are attending to guests and taking steps to minimise the impact on other scheduled operations," the Air Asia spokesperson said.

He further added saying, "We are attending to guests and taking steps to minimise the impact on other scheduled operations. We regret the inconvenience caused due to circumstances beyond our control.
U.S. President Joe Biden holds up a sign for the Frederick Douglass Tunnel as he speaks during the annual House Democrats Issues Conference at the Hyatt Regency Hotel in Baltimore, Maryland, March 1. AFP-Yonhap



The United States on Thursday released a national strategy to enhance cybersecurity and mitigate illicit cyber activities by actors from countries such as North Korea.



The strategy released by the White House calls for efforts to defend the country's "critical infrastructure" and "disrupt and dismantle threat actors."



"The governments of China, Russia, Iran, North Korea and other autocratic states with revisionist intent are aggressively using advanced cyber capabilities to pursue objectives that run counter to our interests and broadly accepted international norms," says the text of the strategy released by the White House.



North Korea or the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) "conducts cyber activities to generate revenue through criminal enterprises, such as through the theft of cryptocurrency, ransomware and the deployment of surreptitious information technology (IT) workers for the purpose of fueling its nuclear ambitions," it adds.



The White House earlier said that Pyongyang secures up to 30 percent of funds for its nuclear and missile development programs through illicit cyber activities that include cryptocurrency heists and money laundering.



To disrupt illicit cyber activities by such "malicious actors," the National Cybersecurity Strategy says the U.S. will integrate federal disruption activities, enhance public-private cooperation and prevent abuse of U.S. infrastructure.



It also calls for efforts to build international partnerships and U.S. ability to assist allies and partners in responding to cyber threats. (Yonhap)


Around 1.07 lakh public grievances were received on an online platform against different government departments, a majority of them against the department of financial services, labour and employment ministry and CBDT.

These grievances were received on Centralised Public Grievance Redress and Monitoring System (CPGRAMS), an online system that allows citizens to raise complaints.

In February, 2023, a total of 1,07,308 public grievances (PG) cases were received on the CPGRAMS portal, 1,09,976 PG cases were redressed and there exists a pendency of 65,215 PG cases, as of 25th February, 2023, a statement issued on Friday by the personnel ministry said.

The pendency in the central secretariat has decreased from 67,883 PG cases at the end of January, 2023 to 65,215 PG cases at the end of February, 2023.

For the seventh month in a row, the monthly disposal crossed one lakh cases in central ministries/departments, it said.

"Department of financial services (banking division) (18,478 grievances), Ministry of Labour and Employment (14,269 grievances), Central Board of Direct Taxes (Income Tax) (5,544 grievances) and department of agriculture and farmers welfare (5,500 grievances) have received the maximum number of grievances in February, 2023," the statement said.

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The Unique Identification Authority of India and the Ministry of Labour and Employment are the top performers in the grievance redressal index within the Group A for February, 2023 and department of financial services (pension reforms) and NITI Aayog are the top performers in the grievance redressal index within the Group B for February, 2023, it said.

As many as 17 ministries/departments have more than 1,000 pending grievances as on 25th February, 2023.

The Central Board of Direct Taxes (Income Tax) (7,768 grievances) and department of personnel and training (2,432 grievances) have the highest number of grievances pending for more than 30 days, the statement said.

Average grievance redressal time in all the ministries/departments in the year 2023, from 1st January to 25th February, 2023 is 18 days, it added.

The department of administrative reforms and public grievances (DARPG) has also unveiled its plans for using of artificial intelligence and machine learning to deal with grievances in the future, the statement said.

For this DARPG partnered with IIT Kanpur and has operationalised an intelligent grievance monitoring dashboard for the benefit of the grievance officers of all ministries/departments, it added.
Close to 1,500 flights would be operated every week from the Cochin International Airport as part of its summer schedule starting from March 26 till October 28 this year, CIAL said.

The summer schedule of 1,484 flight services every week would also include 332 weekly departures to international destinations by 31 airlines of which 23 are foreign carriers, the Cochin International Airport Ltd (CIAL) said in a release.

Indigo, which tops the list with 63 weekly departures to international destinations, has also started operations on a new sector -- Kochi to Ras Al Khaimah in the UAE, the release said.

The domestic services will see an increase in flights to Mumbai, Bengaluru and Hyderabad, it said.

During the winter schedule there were 1,202 weekly services from the airport, it further said.

"Over the past ten years, the aviation sector in India has undergone significant expansion and transformation. With more people choosing to travel by air than ever before, India is now the third-largest domestic market in the world, behind only China and the United States.

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Additionally, the industry is anticipated to benefit from increased efficiency and cost savings as a result of technological advancements like automation and artificial intelligence," the release said.

CIAL Managing Director S Suhas IAS said that the company was strenuously trying to reinvent itself to accommodate the developments in the Indian aviation sector, as Cochin airport was the 3rd largest in the country in terms of international traffic.

"Indian aviation is going to witness a surge in both terms of volume and a 17 per cent growth in the domestic sector. CIAL is preparing and designing strategies to adapt to that growth and contrives new route maps for the future, as we believe we will make Kochi a hub for air traffic in South India," he is quoted as having said in the release.

During the post-pandemic period, CIAL is almost witnessing 96 per cent of passengers at par with that of the pre-pandemic era, the release added.
The C20 Inception Conference will be held in Nagpur in Maharashtra between March 20 and 23, with more than 200 foreign delegates from civic groups and NGOs scheduled to participate.

Making the announcement on Friday, Vinay Sahasrabuddhe, vice chairperson of Rambhau Mhalgi Probodhini and patron of CIVIL20 India secretariat, said the objective of the event would be to present the perspective of civil society, non-government organisations and the development sector in G20 nations.

Spiritual leader Mata Amritanandmayi is the C20 India chair and the Rambhau Mhalgi Prabodhini has taken responsibility of the secretariat, and the event, which will be held in the Press Club here, will be among the several that are being organised nationwide.

"The inception conference will discuss the work done by Civil20 in the last few months. A total of 14 themes have been selected, which will be discussed in different sessions. The final meeting of Civil 20 will take place in the last week of July, after which a policy pack will be released and given to the G20," he explained.

The themes include education, health, technology, environment, arts and crafts, democracy, human rights and sustainable development, he said.

The speakers will include Nobel Laureate Kailash Satyarthi, G20 Sherpa Amitabh Kant, United Nations Resident Coordinator in India Shombi Sharp, Indonesian C20 Sherpa Ah Maftuchan, Brazil's Alessandro Nilo, Argentina's Guillermina Alaniz and Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis.
A day after a BJP MLA's son was caught red-handed while accepting Rs 40 lakh as bribe, Karnataka Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai on Friday said that the guilty will not be spared.

"We will not protect any one," he added.

Speaking to reporters, the chief minister also asserted that the Lokayukta will probe all the cases lodged during Congress's tenure in the state. "We have reinstalled the Lokayukta office with the sole purpose of preventing corruption," he said.

"Let the Lokayukta sleuths investigate the matter without bias. Congress MLAs also faced many allegations during its tenure, but all the cases were hushed up. All those cases would now be investigated," CM Bommai stated.

Before, as the Lokayukta institution was shut, the cases against Congress leaders were closed without any probe, he said.

Bengaluru Water Supply and Sewerage Board (BWSSB) Chief Accountant and BJP MLA's son Prashanth was caught red-handed by the Lokayukta while accepting a bribe of Rs 40 lakh on Thursday.

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The development is being seen as a serious setback to the ruling BJP. The incident has come to light at a time when opposition is launching attacks of 40 per cent commission and kickbacks in government tenders.

The ruling BJP is also concerned about Union Home Minister Amit Shah's visit to state on Friday.

--IANS

mka/shb/


"I myself had Pegasus on my phone. I've been called by intelligence officers who say, please be careful of what you say on the phone as we are recording the stuff," he said. "So there is a constant pressure that we feel. Cases are registered against the Opposition. I've got a number of criminal liable cases registered against me for the things which shouldn't be under criminal cases." Addressing the students at Cambridge University, former Congress president Rahul Gandhi said that he had Pegasus on his phone and was cautioned by intelligence officers to be careful about what to say over it.



Pegasus is a spyware developed by the Israeli cyber-arms company NSO Group. It allows operators to invade a target's mobile device stealthily, giving them access to contacts, messages, and movement history. NSO has been connected to a number of scandals resulting from alleged misuse by customers of its flagship Pegasus phone surveillance software. "As Opposition, it is very difficult to communicate with people when you have this type of an assault on media and on the democratic architecture," he added.



The apex court appointed a committee to check the allegations. The committee had concluded that the spyware was found in five of the examined phones. Several pleas were filed before the Supreme Court last year on the Pegasus row by senior journalists N Ram and Sashi Kumar, Rajya Sabha MP John Brittas of Communist Marxist Party of India (Marxist) and advocate ML Sharma, former Union minister Yashwant Sinha, RSS ideologue KN Govindacharya.

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"Art of Listening"

Gandhi also talked about the inception of the 4000 km-long Bharat Jodo Yatra and its lessons. He said that the interactions with the people who held his hand during the yatra, trusted him as a brother, and confided in him changed him as a politician. It also changed his perspective.



"As I was walking, a guy came up and showed me a few men standing nearby. He told me they are militants. I thought I was in trouble because in that situation militants would kill me. But they did not do anything because this is the power of listening," he said. He also focussed on the "art of listening" and called for new thinking to promote a democratic environment globally, as opposed to a coercive one. He added that a "yatra" is a journey or pilgrimage in which people "shut themselves down so they can listen to others".



"We simply cannot afford a planet that doesn't produce under democratic systems," he said. "So, we need new thinking about how you produce in a democratic environment compared to a coercive environment negotiation about this." Regarding a decline in manufacturing in democratic countries such as India and the US in recent years as production shifted to China, Gandhi said the shift had produced mass inequality and anger, which needed urgent attention and dialogue.



Gandhi is on a week-long tour of the UK and is scheduled to hold some closed-door sessions on Big Data, Democracy, and India-China relations at Cambridge University. Later in the week, he will interact with representatives of the Indian Overseas Congress (IOC) UK chapter and address an "Indian Diaspora Conference" planned over the weekend in London. According to Gandhi, the US had become less open after the September 11, 2001, terror attacks. Meanwhile, China idolises harmony through organisation around the Chinese Communist Party.

(With agency inputs)


According to experts, the cases pertain to the H3N2 variant of the Influenza A virus. According to data from the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR), H3N2 has been widely circulated for the last two to three months. India is witnessing a bad bout of influenza, with patients showing high-grade fever and persistent cough lasting for about two weeks. Reports from various cities, especially the national capital region, show that the flu is aggressive and long-lasting with severe congestion.



Primus Hospital, Chanakyapuri, also reported a 90 per cent patient surge in OPD cases with viral infections. "The typical symptoms include high-grade fever for two-three days, body ache and headache, throat irritation, and a majorly persistent cough lasting for two weeks," Sushila Kataria, senior director of Internal Medicine at Medanta, was quoted by IANS in a report.



The higher transmission of the flu virus is being attributed to the current climatic conditions. Coupled with the changing weather, pollution is also pivotal in multiplying the number of patients impacted by viral infections. "Viral fever, cold and cough, and severe lung allergies like bronchitis are being reported majorly in patients visiting the hospital," SK Chhabra, head of department - Pulmonary, Sleep and Critical Care Medicine, at Primus, said in a statement.

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Who is more vulnerable to this flu?

According to doctors, elderly people, children, and pregnant women are most vulnerable to getting infected.



"Patients having chronic ailments like asthma have to be extra cautious during such weather transitions as it can trigger severe respiratory issues and asthma attacks. During this time, even a minor respiratory problem must be reported to a pulmonologist or a physician to reduce the risk of escalating the problem," Chhabra added. The rise in the number of patients complaining of viral infections and chest congestion reflects how seasonal change is gravely impacting the health conditions of people. So, patients with asthma and those with severe lung infections have difficulty in breathing.

What should be done to stay safe?

According to experts, everyone must remain extra cautious while venturing outside. The doctors also suggested getting vaccinated against the flu, practising hand sanitation, and maintaining hydration to fight the virus. Some even suggested serological surveillance.
Indian democracy is under threat, senior Congress leader Rahul Gandhi said during a lecture at Cambridge University, claiming that several politicians, including himself, are under surveillance.

Gandhi made the comments during his lecture on "Learning to Listen in the 21st Century", which was shared on Twitter by Congress leader Sam Pitroda, ex-adviser to former prime minister Manmohan Singh.

Raking up the Pegasus snooping issue, Gandhi alleged that the Israeli spyware was installed on the phones of a large number of politicians, including him.

"Indian democracy is under pressure and under attack. The institutional framework which is required for a democracy... Parliament, free press, the judiciary, just the idea of mobilisation--these are all getting constrained. We are facing an attack on the basic structure of democracy," he said.

Gandhi noted that in the Constitution, India is described as a Union of States and that Union requires negotiation and conversation.

"It is that negotiation that is under attack and threat...there is also attack on minorities and press.

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"A large number of political leaders have Pegasus on their phones. I myself had Pegasus on my phone. I've been called by intelligence officers who say please be careful of what you say on the phone as we are recording the stuff," the former Congress chief claimed.

"I have got a number of criminal liable cases registered against me for the things which shouldn't be under criminal cases. As the Opposition, it is very difficult to communicate with people when you have this type of an assault on media and on the democratic architecture," he said.




North Korea appears to be mobilizing the youth for a new housing project in a bid to tighten state control over the younger generation and elicit their loyalty to leader Kim Jong-un, Seoul's unification ministry said Friday.







Kim attended a groundbreaking ceremony last Saturday for new homes in the Sopho area of Pyongyang, stressing that some 100,000 youths volunteered for the construction project, according to state media.







The ministry in charge of inter-Korean affairs said with the large-scale construction project, the North seems to be tightening its control on youths and encouraging them to show patriotism and loyalty to the authorities.







"The North also appears to be pursuing an improvement in its construction technology in provincial regions through construction projects led by youths mobilized from all parts of the nation," Lee Hyo-jung, the ministry's deputy spokesperson, told a regular press briefing.







At a key party congress in 2021, the North's leader announced a plan to build 50,000 new homes in the capital by 2025 amid deepening economic hardships. (Yonhap)






International Women's Day (IWD) is celebrated on March 8 of each year. Honouring women's social, economic, and cultural accomplishments is a worldwide celebration. The day focuses on important topics like gender equality, women's equal rights, violence and abuse against women, and reproductive rights. The day is celebrated to honour all kinds of women.

Every year, International Women's Day (IWD) is marked with a new theme. People should make plans for events based on the theme that has already been chosen for International Women's Day 2023. On this day, we must remember all of the significant women who fought for their rights. This day is crucial to the development of our society.

International Womens Day 2023: Theme

The theme for International Women's Day 2023 has already been chosen. It is essential to note that this year's theme is "DigitALL: Technology and innovation for gender equality". All of the campaigns, programs and events will revolve around this theme. Women should be supported and encouraged by everyone.



International Womens Day: History

National Women's Day was the name given to Women's Day when it was first established in 1909. On February 28, 1909, the day was first observed in New York City. On the advice of activist Theresa Malkiel, the Socialist Party of America celebrated the day on this date.

The International Socialist Women's Conference was established in August 1910. It is essential to keep in mind that Germany first observed International Women's Day (IWD) on March 8 in 1914. In 1975, the United Nations (UN) began marking International Women's Day. In 1977, it was decided that the day would be celebrated widely on March 8 each year.

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International Womens Day: Importance

Around the world, International Women's Day is a grand celebration of womanhood. This day, in particular, celebrates women's accomplishments and raises awareness of gender inequality. On this day, everyone should consider ways to recognize the achievements of women in our society. Girls' education and the elimination of gender bias in all aspects of society are crucial.

International Womens Day 2023: Whatsapp features for safety

 Pick your caller- Users of WhatsApp can easily "block and report" an account to WhatsApp. You will no longer be able to receive messages or calls from blocked contacts or numbers.

 Control over messages-

While on WhatsApp, users can also set screenshot blocking to prevent other members from taking photos of messages, and other information that they may not want in the public domain. This provides an additional layer of security.

 Settings for group privacy- The group invite system and privacy settings of WhatsApp permit users to control who can add them to groups. This protects users' privacy and prevents people from adding them to groups they don't want to be a part of.

 Control over online information- On WhatsApp, you can also control your online presence by choosing who can see when you're online and who can't. This is useful if you want to check WhatsApp privately at certain times.

 Protect the privacy of your WhatsApp account- By activating the Two-Step Verification feature, you can protect yourself in double ways. If the phone is hacked or a SIM card is stolen, this is helpful.




The Taiwanese company, also known for its flagship unit Hon Hai Precision Industry Co., plans to build the plant to make iPhone parts on a 300-acre site close to the airport in Bengaluru, the capital of the southern Indian state of Karnataka, according to the people, who asked not to be named as the information is not public. The factory may also assemble Apples handsets, some of the people said, and Foxconn may also use the site to produce some parts for its nascent electric vehicle business. Apple Inc. partner Foxconn Technology Group plans to invest about $700 million on a new plant in India to ramp up local production, people familiar with the matter said, underscoring an accelerating shift of manufacturing away from China as Washington-Beijing tensions grow.



The new production site in India is expected to create about 100,000 jobs, the people said. The companys sprawling iPhone assembly complex in the Chinese city of Zhengzhou employs some 200,000 at the moment, although that number surges during peak production season. The investment is one of Foxconns biggest single outlays to date in India and underscores how Chinas at risk of losing its status as the worlds largest producer of consumer electronics. Apple and other US brands are leaning on their Chinese-based suppliers to explore alternative locations such as India and Vietnam. Its a rethink of the global supply chain thats accelerated during the pandemic and the war in Ukraine and could reshape the way global electronics are made.



The plans could still change as Foxconn is in the process of finalizing investment and project details, the people said. Its also unclear if the plant represents new capacity, or production that Foxconn is shifting from other sites such as its Chinese facilities. Output at the Zhengzhou plant plunged ahead of the year-end holidays due to Covid-related disruptions, spurring Apple to re-examine its China-reliant supply chain. Foxconns decision is the latest move that suggests suppliers may move capacity out of China far faster than expected.

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Foxconns decision would be a coup for Modis government, which sees an opportunity to close Indias tech gap with China as Western investors and corporations sour on Beijings crackdowns on the private sector. Apple declined to comment. Hon Hai, whose Chairman Young Liu met Indias Prime Minister Narendra Modi this week, did not immediately respond to an email seeking comment. The Karnataka state government also did not immediately respond. Liu, who is on tour in India, has committed to another manufacturing project in the neighboring Telangana state.

India has offered financial incentives to Apple suppliers such as Foxconn, which began making the latest generation of iPhones at a site in Tamil Nadu last year. Smaller rivals Wistron Corp. and Pegatron Corp. have also ramped up in India, while suppliers such as Jabil Inc. have begun making components for AirPods locally.
IRCTC char dham yatra route and package costs

Starting from Mumbai, it will proceed to Delhi, Haridwar, Barkot, Jankichatti, Yamunotri, Uttrakashi, Gangotri, Guptkashi, Son Prayag, Kedarnath and Badrinath and then return via Haridwar to Delhi and then back to Mumbai. The cost of IRCTC's air tour package differs based on occupancy, starting with Rs 67,000 per person for triple occupancy, Rs 69,000 for double occupancy, and Rs 91,400 for single occupancy.

Indian Railway Catering and Tourism Corporation (IRCTC) has unveiled its special Char Dham Yatra 2023 air tour package. According to the official website of IRCTC, it is a tour of 11 nights and 12 days covering several Hindu pilgrimage sites like Haridwar, Yamunotri, Gangotri, Kedarnath, Badrinath, and Rishikesh.
The Supreme Court Friday said it will set up a three-judge bench to hear a plea of Muslim girl students to sit for examinations in Karnataka government schools while wearing hijab.

I will create a bench, said a bench comprising Chief Justice D Y Chandrachud and Justices P S Narasimha and J B Pardiwala when a woman lawyer sought urgent hearing of the plea saying girls are on the verge of losing another academic year as the exams are being held in government schools which are not permitting wearing of headscarf.

Initially, the CJI said the matter will be listed for hearing after Holi vacations.

The examinations are scheduled to be held after five days, the lawyer said, adding, They have missed one year. They will miss another year.

On being told by the bench that the matter has been mentioned on the last day before the vacation, the lawyer said it has been mentioned twice earlier.

Without specifying the date, the bench then said it will create the bench.

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The matter was last mentioned for urgent hearing by lawyer Shadan Farasat on behalf of the students.

The court had said it will take a call on listing a plea for allowing Muslim girl students to sit for examinations in Karnataka government schools while wearing hijab.

Following the apex court's split verdict on the issue of ban on sporting the Islamic headscarf in educational institutions in Karnataka, girls in hijab are not being permitted to take the exams scheduled to begin from March 9, the bench was told.

On March 15, 2022, the high court had dismissed the petitions filed by a section of Muslim students of the Government Pre-University Girls College in Karnataka's Udupi seeking permission to wear the hijab inside classrooms, ruling it is not a part of the essential religious practice in the Islamic faith.
The Maharashtra government told the state Legislative Assembly on Friday that the licenses of six manufacturers of cough syrups in the state have been suspended for not following the rules.

Food and Drugs Administration Minister Sanjay Rathod made the statement while replying to a calling attention notice by Ashish Shelar (BJP) and others. Recently, a cough syrup made by a Noida-based firm was alleged to have caused the death of 18 children in Uzbekistan. Noida police on Friday said they had arrested three employees of the firm. Rathod said that the Maharashtra government had initiated inquiry against 84 out of 108 manufacturers of cough syrups in the state.

Four of them were directed to stop production while the licences of six companies were suspended, he said. As many as 17 firms were served show-cause notices for violation of rules, the minister added. Shelar referred to the deaths of 66 children in Gambia allegedly because of cough syrups imported from India. But the minister said that the company which was facing the charge of violation of rules in that case was based in Haryana and had no manufacturing unit in Maharashtra.

"We have, however, taken a strict action against the violators of rules. We are ensuring that the World Health Organization's GMP (good manufacturing practises) certification-related rules and Certificate of Pharmaceutical Products are complied with while exporting products (from the state)," he added. Presiding officer Sanjay Shirsat said if 20 per cent of manufacturers faced raids because of suspected violation of rules, it needs to be taken very seriously as it was akin to playing with people's lives. Rathod said of 996 allopathic drug manufacturers in the state, 514 manufacturers export their products.


The cash has been found at the residence and office of BJP MLA Madal Virupakshappa's son, Prashanth, who worked as chief accountant at the Bengaluru Water Supply and Sewerage Board (BWSSB). Karnataka BJP MLA Madal Virupakshappa's son Prashanth Madal was caught red-handed accepting a bribe of Rs 40 lakh on March 2 in Bengaluru. The Lokayukta police caught him accepting the bribe at his father's office. The police also raided Prashanth and his aides' residences and recovered Rs 7.62 crore. The search went on till late in the night.



Madal Virupakshappa is a BJP MLA from Channagiri in the Davanagere district. He is the chairman of the state-owned Karnataka Soaps and Detergents Limited (KSDL), which makes the renowned Mysore Sandal Soap. Besides Prashanth, authorities have arrested five other people associated with the case.



The anti-corruption branch received information about Prashanth Madal that he demanded an Rs 81-lakh payoff from a contractor for a deal for raw materials needed to manufacture soap and other detergents, reported NDTV. "The anti-corruption branch of Lokayukta yesterday caught Prashanth Madal, son of BJP MLA Madal Virupakshappa, taking a bribe of Rs 40 lakh. Over  1.7 crore in cash was recovered from his office," the Karnataka Lokayukta said.

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He said, "We have re-established Lokayukta to curb corruption. During the Congress regime, with Lokayukta dissolved, many cases were closed. We will investigate the cases which were closed. Lokayukta is an independent institution and our stand is clear. The institution will investigate independently and we will not interfere in it." Speaking about the matter, Karnataka Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai said that the ombudsman would conduct an independent investigation into the case. He also attacked the Congress.

The opposition has accused Mr Bommai's administration of corruption. Commenting on the matter, Congress leader Randeep Singh Surjewala said, "The loot of #40PercentSarkara continues unabated... caught red-handed taking  40 lakh bribe, Now  crore recovered from BJP MLA's son's house. Father chairman, son takes money! Cozy Corrupt nexus of BJP!"


Post-poll violence that erupted in at least three assembly constituencies in Meghalaya left several people injured, while one person was found dead in a mysterious circumstance, officials said on Friday.

Several incidents of violence were reported in Mariang constituency in Eastern West Khasi Hills, Shella in East Khasi Hills and Mokaiaw in West Jaintia Hills, where prohibitory orders under section 144 CrPC were clamped, they said.

A number of vehicles parked in the compound of the deputy commissioner's office in Mairang were set on fire, a senior district official told PTI.

One person was also found dead in a mysterious circumstance at the place of violence, he said.

The incident took place soon after Congress supporters had on Thursday gheraoed the DC's office, expressing dissatisfaction over the Mairang assembly constituency results.

Meghalaya Assembly Speaker and UDP chief Metbah Lyngdoh defeated his nearest rival of the Congress, Batskhem Ryntathiang, by a slender margin in Mairang.

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Lyngdoh was declared re-elected from the assembly seat as he secured 19,066 votes, while the Congress nominee got 18,911 votes.

The district police fired tear gas shells to disperse the violent crowd last night, the official said.

In another incident in Sohra, supporters of the NPP hurled stones at the office of the SDO after they were disappointed with the Shella assembly constituency results.

The situation is under control now and additional forces have been deployed, district SP MGR Kumar said.

United Democratic Party candidate Balajied Kupar Synrem won the Shella seat, defeating National People's Party nominee Grace Mary Kharpuri by 434 votes.

In West Jaintia Hills, the district administration has imposed a curfew in Sahsniang village following a clash between two groups after the announcement of the assembly poll results on Thursday.

There is an apprehension that the violence may spread and intensify if left unattended and it may result in destruction of property and loss of lives, said an order issued by the local administration.

The NPP emerged as the single-largest party in Meghalaya on Thursday, bagging 26 seats out of the 59 constituencies that went to polls on February 27.

The UDP, which was NPP's ally in the Conrad K Sangma government, emerged as the second-largest party, winning 11 constituencies. It had won only six seats in the 2018 polls.

The Congress and the Mamata Banerjee-led TMC won five seats each, while the BJP secured two constituencies.

The newly formed Voice of the People Party (VPP) won four seats, while the Hill State People's Democratic Party (HSPDP) and the People's Democratic Front won two seats each. Two Independent candidates also emerged victorious.
The Ministry of Rural Development on Friday extended its Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the National Institute of Fashion Technology (NIFT) which will provide design support for the products made by Self Help Groups of the Deendayal Antyodaya Yojana -- National Rural Livelihood Mission (NRLM), an official said.

A non-financial MoU was signed between NRLM-MoRD and NIFT on October 23, 2019, initially for three years. The MoU provisions have been extended as due to the effect of the Covid pandemic, nothing much was done under the MoU between NRLM/ SRLMs and NIFT, a statement noted.

However, NRLM engaged the services of NIFT for the designing and renovation of the 'Saras Gallery' in Delhi.

The gallery is now operational since December 17, 2021 for marketing of Self Help Groups products from all the states and union territories.

According to a government statement, the Saras Gallery, till March 1, has generated sales of Rs 1,17,05,240 since renovation.

The team from NIFT has been engaged with the NRLM during various occasions in guiding the SHG members about their product design and packaging.

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--IANS

miz/prw/pgh
Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) leader Sandeep Deshpande was injured after being attacked with a stump by three unidentified persons while he was on a morning walk in central Mumbai's Dadar area on Friday morning, a police official said.

Deshpande received minor injuries in the incident and is out of danger, he said.

"Three unidentified persons attacked MNS leader Deshpande with a stump during his morning walk at Shivaji Park," the official said, adding that nobody has been arrested in this connection so far.

A first information report (FIR) is being registered at the Shivaji Park police station, he said.
Why India worries G20 Foreign Ministers Meeting goes off-topic

By Global Times editorial (Global Times) 09:54, March 03, 2023

The two-day G20 Foreign Ministers' Meeting was held in India on March 1 and 2, with the participation of representatives of 40 countries and international organizations including foreign ministers of China, Russia as well as US secretary of state. This is also the largest gathering of foreign ministers in G20 history. The recently held G20 Finance Ministers and Central Bank Governors Meeting (FMCBG), as well as the Foreign Ministers' Meeting this time, are both important preparatory meetings for the G20 Leaders' Summit in September this year.

As G20 is the "premier forum for international economic cooperation," the public opinion used to focus more on the FMCBG, but this year's Foreign Ministers' Meeting has received much more attention due to the Russia-Ukraine conflict. Representatives from the US and European countries have tried to turn the Foreign Ministers' Meeting into an anti-Russia meeting. To some extent, this is a manifestation of the Western push for pan-securitization in G20 and its attempt to change G20's original intention. Many developing countries including last year's host of G20 presidency Indonesia, this year's host India, and China all have expressed their concerns and opposition to this trend.

To prevent the Foreign Ministers' Meeting from going off-topic, the host, New Delhi, made preparations in advance by including topics such as climate change, counter-terrorism, energy and food security, and debt issues of developing countries into the agenda, with the aim to make the participants focus on economic cooperation. Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi in a video speech even bluntly warned that "global governance has failed in both its mandates" - to prevent future wars and to foster international cooperation. This is also the stance of the vast emerging and developing countries that account for more than half of the world's population. These countries generally hope to end conflicts and divisions, and achieve economic recovery in the post-pandemic era as soon as possible.

Unfortunately, like the FMCBG held a few days ago, this G20 Foreign Ministers' Meeting also failed to produce a joint statement. At the G20 Foreign Ministers' Meeting, we have not only seen the severity of global differences, but also felt the paranoid attitude of the US and Western countries in intensifying these differences. Although Secretary of State Antony Blinken and some European foreign ministers said they strongly supported India's G20 priorities, they did not take the host's words seriously, but instead continued to instrumentalize and weaponize G20, using geopolitics to hijack the development agenda that G20 is supposed to focus on.

There are many prominent challenges facing the international economic and development fields at present, and G20 can play a role in many areas. It should be an important platform for solving problems, resolving differences, and promoting cooperation, rather than a stage for political showmanship or quarreling. Every meaningless political slogan or sarcastic accusation at this platform is a waste of this precious opportunity and time. In other words, the global economic cooperation situation is already very fragile and urgently needs new energy. It cannot withstand new disruptions. At this critical moment, each member of G20 has a responsibility to demonstrate political wisdom and a sense of responsibility to seek common ground while putting aside differences.

On March 2, Chinese Foreign Minister Qin Gang delivered a speech at the first session of G20 Foreign Ministers' Meeting, titled "Enhancing Multilateralism and Promoting Global Development," emphasizing the principles of dialogue on an equal footing and consensus-building through consultation, and opposing power politics and even bloc confrontation. He also mentioned specific issues that concern the general well-being of the international community, such as the debt treatment of developing countries, the shareholding review of the World Bank, and the prevention of illegal cross-border traffic of waste. Regarding the crisis in Ukraine, Qin stated that China will always stand on the side of peace, actively promote peace talks, and play a constructive role.

China's statement hits the difficulties and obstacles facing international cooperation at present and proposes constructive solutions with strong relevance, representation and feasibility, which should trigger corresponding joint actions within the G20.

It is worth mentioning that India, G20's rotating chair, has always garnered much attention from Washington. Especially when there is any sign of trouble between India and China, US and Western media is always eager to exaggerate the "divergences" between the two countries. However, at this G20 Foreign Ministers' Meeting, the foreign ministers of China and India held talks and both expressed their firm attitude to support multilateralism, oppose confrontation, and focus on development cooperation on multiple occasions. This also represents the trend of the world and the aspirations of developing countries. If it weren't for the deliberate disruptions by the US and the West, global cooperation like this might have come faster.

We also noticed that at the opening ceremony of the G20 Foreign Ministers' Meeting, all participants observed a minute of silence for the victims of the earthquakes in Turkey and Syria. This was a rare touch of warmth amid the growing division and intensifying confrontation. It shows that transcending differences and engaging in dialogue and cooperation are not only possible, but also have a deep root in international community. We hope that all parties can shoulder their responsibilities, demonstrate cooperation, and contribute to promoting global development and prosperity.

(Web editor: Zhong Wenxing, Liang Jun)
Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol shakes hands with Japan's Prime Minister Fumio Kishida during their summit at a hotel in Phnom Penh, Cambodia, Nov. 13. Yonhap



Korea's presidential office and Japan's prime minister's office have established an additional channel to negotiate a settlement to the issue of compensation for Korean forced labor victims, a senior official said Friday.



The channel has been established between the presidential National Security Office and the National Security Secretariat under the prime minister's office amid reports the two countries are nearing a deal on the dispute.



Until now, the foreign ministries of the two sides have served as the main negotiation channel.



"There are other channels in operation in addition to the foreign ministry," the senior presidential official told Yonhap News Agency. "Sufficient discussions are also taking place between the two countries' security offices."



Korea's Supreme Court issued rulings in 2018 that ordered Japan's Nippon Steel and Mitsubishi Heavy Industries to pay compensation to Korean forced labor victims who were mobilized during World War II when Korea was under Japanese colonial rule.



Japan has refused to pay compensation in any form, arguing that all such matters were settled under a 1965 treaty that normalized bilateral ties.



The Korean government has proposed compensating the victims through a government foundation using donations from local businesses but called on the Japanese companies to also make contributions.



Both Japan and the victims have rejected the proposal.



Skepticism about a quick settlement increased this week after President Yoon Suk Yeol angered some Koreans in his speech on the anniversary of the March 1, 1919, Independence Movement by describing Japan as a "partner," with no mention of its past wrongdoing.



"A negotiation is only over when it's over," the presidential official said. (Yonhap)


Pictures and social media posts of people draped in saffron clothing claiming to represent rape-accused fugitive Nithyananda and his fictional country, "Nation of Kailasa," at the United Nations (UN), were shared and left many puzzled.

To quell any misrepresentation, a UN official responded to queries about the delegation's attendance at a UN meeting on March 1 and said that the group was attending general discussions at the UN, which are public meetings open to anyone interested in participating. The BBC quoted a UN official, "United States of Kailasa (USK) representatives attended two UN public meetings in Geneva in February".

Providing further clarification, the official said that the inputs provided by the "self-proclaimed" figure would not be taken into consideration as they were "irrelevant" and "tangential" to the issues being discussed.

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Who is Nityananda?

Nithyananda, a rape-accused fugitive who is also a self-styled godman, claims to have established a country representing two billion Hindus in 2019. He is wanted in India in several cases, including rape and sexual assault. However, he denies all the allegations against him.

In 2012, Nithyananda was recognised as one of the "100 Most Spiritually Influential Living People" by Watkins' Mind Body Spirit magazine.

In August 2022, a representative for Nithyananda wrote to Sri Lankan President Ranil Wickremesinghe requesting political asylum, citing Nithyananda's ill health. According to India Today, the letter contained an offer to invest in Sri Lanka on the condition that asylum be granted and medical equipment needed for treatment be donated.

What is the "Nation of Kailasa"?

The Nation of Kailasa, founded by Nithyananda in 2019, claims to represent two billion Hindus worldwide.

There is little clarity about the territorial or geographical existence of the country, but the Nation of Kailasa has an official website with a .org domain. The website has provisions for e-citizenship for the nation.

Furthermore, the website talks about the flag and emblem, the national anthem, the constitution, the reserve bank, various embassies worldwide, and several departments of the Nation of Kailasa.

There is no definite information on Nithyananda's whereabouts. According to a report in HuffPost, Gujarat Police believe he could be shuffling between Ecuador and Trinidad and Tobago. In contrast, other news reports say he may have gone to Ecuador because the country does not have an extradition treaty with India.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi will address a post-budget webinar on 'Developing Tourism in Mission Mode' on Friday, officials said.

It is part of a series of 12 post-budget webinars being organised by the government to seek ideas and suggestions for effective implementation of the initiatives announced in the Union Budget.

Prime Minister Modi will address the participants via a video conferencing link.

The Union Budget has stated that promotion of tourism will be taken up in mission mode, with active participation of states, convergence of government programmes and public-private partnerships.

At least 50 destinations will be selected through challenge mode and developed as a complete package of tourism. Sector specific skilling and entrepreneurship development will be dovetailed to achieve the objectives of the 'Dekho Apna Desh'.

The post-budget webinar being organised by the Ministry of Tourism will have six breakout sessions covering the priority areas identified in the Union Budget, officials said.

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Besides ministers and secretaries of the central ministries concerned, a host of stakeholders drawn from the travel and industry sector, representatives from the department of tourism, students, leading industrialists, educational institutions under the Ministry of Tourism, will attend the session, the ministry said in a statement.

Representatives of industry bodies like FICCI and CII as well as heads of tourism and hospitality industry associations would attend these sessions and contribute through their suggestions and ideas for better implementation of budgetary announcements for the tourism sector.

The themes of the breakout sessions are destination-centric approach for tourism development, convergence the power of collaboration, strengthening public private participation in tourism sector, driving innovation and digitalisation in tourism sector, impacting lives at grassroots level through tourism and cultural heritage for promotion of tourism, it said.
Minister of State for Electronics and IT Rajeev Chandrasekhar on Friday asserted that freedom of speech cannot be a cover for criminality, illegality and user harm, and emphasised that intermediaries have to be accountable for the content on their platforms.

The minister was addressing the valedictory session of the National Conference on Child Sexual Abuse Material (CSAM) organised by the National Human Rights Commission in New Delhi.

Chandrasekhar made it clear that safety and trust cannot be sacrificed at the altar of freedom of speech and privacy, according to an official release.

"For decades the model that was followed was that intermediaries were not accountable about the content on their platforms, and encouraged anonymity to prevent traceability of the illegal content. This helped the proliferation of child sexual abuse and other illegalities on the internet," Chandrasekhar said.

An intermediary wanting to do business in India is under obligation to carry out due diligence over the kind of content it carries, the minister said as he outlined the government's firm resolve in ensuring that platforms are accountable to users.

"An intermediary, if it wants to do business in India, is now under obligation to carry out due diligence over the kind of content it carries and if there is content which is illegal or CSAM, it has to inform us about the first originator when a court order is produced," the minister said.

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He pointed out that the government and the intermediaries are not in any kind of adversarial relationship, and said it is in their joint interest to ensure that the internet is safe and trusted from exploitative material such as CSAM.

The minister - while referring to CSAM content in the domain of online gaming - said, "there are thousands of games which are gamified CSAM's we are in the process of enacting news rules under the IT Act which will make it very difficult for games that will incorporate CSAM to be available on the Indian internet".

The minister also spoke of the upcoming Digital India Act, that will be a contemporaneous legislation, to deal with everything necessary to ensure that the internet in India is safe and trusted for the digital 'nagriks'.

"India will chart its own course to ensure that the internet is safe and trusted, not just for adults but also for children," Chandrasekhar asserted.


President of a womens self-help group in Chhattisgarhs Balodabazar, Lokeshwari cultivated turmeric in an acre of land, investing Rs 50,000. When the yield arrived, the members were taken aback by the rate of return. There is a possibility of getting an average production of 50-60 quintals, she said. Lokeshwari Bai knew the rich medicinal values of turmeric. What she didnt know was its treasures worth.



Sensing the favourable condition for spice cultivation in the state, the Chhattisgarh government is promoting farmers to pursue the crop as part of a diversification strategy. The state provides financial aid for spice cultivation under the National Horticulture Mission, National Agricultural Scheme, and other programmes. Of cultivated crops, the members uprooted 5 quintals and made powder out of it that they packed and sold in grocery stores. Lokeshwari said the group earned up to Rs 65,000 by selling turmeric powder.



Spices are grown on 66,081 hectares of land in the state, with about 450,849 metric tonnes produced. Turmeric has the most cultivation and production area in Chhattisgarh of any spice, followed by ginger, coriander, garlic, chili, and tamarind. The efforts have yielded results with more people like Lokeshwari coming forward, states agriculture department officials said. There has been a steady increase in the production of spices in the state, they added.

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Tuteja said research over the past couple of years had helped introduce two new varieties of coriander  CG coriander and CG Chandrahu. Agricultural scientist at the Indira Gandhi Agricultural University, S H Tuteja, said climatic conditions in Chhattisgarh had been favourable for spices and the state governments encouragement was yielding results.



Tuteja said research over the past couple of years had helped introduce two new varieties of coriander  CG coriander and CG Chandrahu. To encourage the cultivation of spices, Barrister Thakur Chedilal Agricultural College and Research Centre in Bilaspurs Sarkanda will hold a two-day workshop on March 14. While turmeric, coriander, fenugreek, garlic, chili, and ginger are cultivated across Chhattisgarh, celery is grown in Balrampur, Bilaspur, Gaurela-Pendra-Marwahi and Mungeli, and black pepper in Kondagaon.

The officials said subject experts from different states would explore the possibilities of the production of spices in Chhattisgarh.
As France and India celebrate the 25th anniversary of their strategic partnership, now is the time to show "even greater ambition", French Foreign Minister Catherine Colonna said on Friday, and asserted that over the next decades, Paris will continue to stand "side by side, shoulder to shoulder" with New Delhi.

She said this in her address at the launch of an India-wide artist residency programme -- "Villa Swagatam" -- in the charming lawns of the French Institute in India here this evening.

Colonna, the French Minister for Europe and Foreign Affairs, is visiting India from March 1-3.

"I am delighted and privileged to be in India for the second time in six months as the Minister for Foreign Affairs. It is a privilege to share this moment with you this evening as we are about to launch an initiative that embodies the very philosophy of our bilateral partnership," she said and unveiled "Villa Swagatam".

Cultural policy is in the "DNA of our diplomacy", and at the "very core of our bilateral relationship with India", Colonna said, adding that "we are keen on engaging with new artists, writers, academics, scientists as you are the true backbone of our partnership".

The French foreign minister also underlined that both the countries are marking the 25th anniversary of their "strategic partnership".

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"As we celebrate through this year, the 25th anniversary of the strategic partnership between India and France, now is the time to show even greater ambition. And, you will see soon what I mean by that, it will be quite visible," Colonna said.

"Over the past 25 years, we have sided with India for the protection of our respective sovereignty - we are two countries proud to be independent - and we share these links in security and defence, and lots of fields of cooperation," she said.

Over the next decades, "we will continue to stand side by side, shoulder to shoulder with India", the French minister said.

The fact that both the countries have come such a long way already in such a short time is an "invitation to do even more and even better together", she said in her address.

France and India are two countries of innovation that "defend a shared vision of new technologies centred on the rights of citizens", the reduction of inequalities and sustainable development, she said.

So both countries will continue to work together to promote this vision and jointly develop the "research partnerships and technologies that form the bedrock of the strategic independence of our two countries", the French foreign minister said.

The State visit of President Emmanuel Macron in March 2018 "boosted the dynamism of our cultural partnerships greatly", she asserted.

The reciprocal invitations to the Paris Book Fair and the New Delhi Book Fair were decided on this occasion, and "I am delighted that French literature has been celebrated with enthusiasm these past days in New Delhi at the Book Fair", she said.

"Our cooperation in science, arts, student mobility, or in humanities is already one of the most important bonds that bridge our two nations," Colonna said.

The event was attended by Ambassador of France to India Emmanuel Lenain, and several other guests drawn from multiple fields, including art. music and architecture.

"Our people-to-people exchanges are strategic as well and deserve structural and ambitious projects. This is why we are more dedicated than ever to reach the target of 20,000 Indian students in France set by President Macron. You know and I know that the pandemic prevented us to be there already, but now that it is hopefully gone, we want to reach that target as soon as possible.

"So this is why we have just created an Indo-French health campus for the Indo-Pacific, not only for France, for India but for the region. And this is why we are ready to take part in the new National Museum Prime Minister (Narendra) Modi wants to build here in New Delhi," she said.

This is also very much the idea behind "Villa Swagatam", she said, adding, "I understand that 16 residencies agreed to take part in this 'Villa Swagatam' project, which was presented just a minute ago, and span across India from north to south, east to west. Thank you for that".

With this, you are joining an international network of residencies supported by France like "Villa Albertine" in the US, "Villa Kujoyama" in Japan, "Casa Velasquez" in Spain, or "Villa Medicis" and the "Nouveau Grand Tour" in Italy, Colonna said.

Culture and cooperation thrive when there are opportunities that enable dialogue, exchange, and cross-pollination. This is the philosophy behind "Villa Swagatam" which will develop over time, a pool of personalities who commit to working on long-term cultural projects and structural relationships between the two countries, she said.

"And soon, we will add another layer with selected residencies in France, for Indian artists and writers. So that's not too far, just the beginning, and I am happy to announce that this is only the beginning of what we can do together," the French minister said.

"I will end on this note, and so I am delighted to declare officially the launch of 'Villa Swagatam' tonight in Delhi and to enjoy with you the incredible performance of our great artist Amala Dianor and the Trimukhi platform. Thank you really for being here, thank you for being with us so long, and for many years to come," she said.
Bulgarian Ambassador to Korea Petko Draganov, second from right, makes a toast with dignitaries during the country's Liberation Day reception at Grand Hyatt Seoul in central Seoul, Feb. 28. Courtesy of Embassy of Bulgaria in Korea



By Kwon Mee-yoo



The Embassy of Bulgaria in Korea hosted a reception honoring the country's Liberation Day at a hotel in Seoul, Tuesday.



The southeastern European country celebrates its Liberation Day on March 3, commemorating liberation from the Ottoman Dominion during the Russo-Turkish War of 1877-1878.



Bulgarian Ambassador to Korea Petko Draganov noted that Bulgaria and Korea established diplomatic relations 33 years ago with the acknowledgment of their mutual desire for increased political and economic exchanges during the event.



"The cooperation soon evolved into a comprehensive and future-oriented partnership of mutual trust and support. Today, I'm glad to attest to the expanding ties that bind our countries in wide-ranging spheres of bilateral interests  trade and investment, tourism and culture, science and education," Ambassador Draganov said.



Draganov said global challenges such as the pandemic, climate change, Pyongyang's illegal nuclear weapons program and Russian aggression against Ukraine have brought the two countries closer together.



"Our nations have come to realize that upholding international law is the best way to protect the livelihoods and freedoms for our people. That is why we stand firmly against any assault on the U.N. Charter and the basis of our international order," he said.



"Together with the vast majority of nations, we voted for Russia's immediate withdrawal from the occupied Ukrainian territories. So let us dedicate today's celebration to our common vision of prosperity and shared values of democracy that unite us and makes us stronger, for a better future for all."



Choi Yeong-han, deputy minister for Overseas Koreans and Consular Affairs at Korea's Ministry of Foreign Affairs, delivered the congratulatory remarks.



"Since our two nations signed the joint declaration on the comprehensive and future-oriented partnership in 2015, last year, we saw important developments in establishing a solid and enduring foundation for thriving bilateral partnership as President Yoon Suk Yeol's Special Envoy Park Heong-joon visited Bulgaria to deliver a presidential letter," Choi said.



"While the current trade volume between our two countries may not be significant, there is tremendous potential for growth and expansion in the future. Korea and Bulgaria share many things in common  diligent people, a great passion for education and ICT development to name a few. I'm hoping that, based on such similarities, we will continue to successfully enhance our relations in the years to come."


Direct tax collection in 2022-23 is likely to exceed the governments Revised Estimates (RE), potentially helping narrow the fiscal deficit. Robust corporate tax collections and a likely recovery from pending tax demand have given the government confidence in actual revenue collections exceeding RE of Rs 16.5 trillion in the current fiscal year (2022-23, or FY23), according to government sources. Read more

The promoters of the Adani group on Thursday sold shares worth Rs 15,446 crore in four of its listed entities to GQG Partners, a US-based global equity-investment boutique firm. The promoters plan to use the proceeds to retire debt and for other purposes. They sold shares in Adani Enterprises worth Rs 5,460 crore, and those worth Rs 5,282 crore in Adani Ports & SEZ. Read more

Air Indias management has proposed a single simplified salary structure and a common master seniority list for 3,100 pilots across Tata airlines, as the group begins the process of the integration of four carriers.

Mizoram has resources that are conducive for setting up big industries: CM

VC model of investment looks like ponzi scheme: N R Narayana Murthy

These were among the proposals put forth at separate town hall meetings with pilots of Air India and Vistara on Thursday. The meetings were addressed by Air India CEO Campbell Wilson, Vistara CEO Vinod Kannan, and senior pilots and HR heads of the two airlines. They were joined by an executive from consulting firm BCG, which is advising the Tata group airlines on integration.
Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma Thursday described the party's victory in Tripura and Nagaland as affirmation of the northeast region's resolve to progress on the path paved by the vision of Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

He termed the BJP's poll result in Meghalaya, where the party could win only two seats though it will remain a part of the next government, a humbling experience.

BJP's win in Tripura & Nagaland is an affirmation of North East's continued resolve to prosper on the path paved by vision of Hon PM @narendramodi Ji. The future is glorious & safe. Much gratitude to @JPNadda Ji for his continued guidance, Sarma tweeted.

In Tripura, BJP won 32 seats and its ally, the Indigenous People's Front of Tripura, one, cruising past the half-way mark of 31 to retain power.

The saffron party bagged 12 seats in Nagaland, while its partner Nationalist Democratic Progressive Party (NDPP) won 25 seats in the 60-member Assembly, and the alliance will continue in power.

Meghalaya's verdict has been humbling! Heartening that more people have posed their faith in us and helped us improve our vote share than last elections. It strengthens our resolve to continue to serve people with more conviction driven by vision of PM Shri @narendramodi Ji, Sarma added on Twitter.

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The BJP will be a part of the NPP-led government in Meghalaya, as Conrad K Sangma is poised to continue as the chief minister, with his party emerging as the single-largest one in the state, clinching 26-seats in the 60-member House.

Sarma said Sangma has spoken to Union Home Minister Amit Shah, and sought his support and blessings in forming the new government.
India as the G20 host has a "unique role" to play in bringing about an end to the war in Ukraine due to its "longstanding historical" ties to Russia, the US has said, expressing hope to work closely with New Delhi to find a way to stop the conflict.

The G20 foreign ministers' meeting hosted by India on Thursday was unable to come out with a joint communique due to a sharp rift between the West and Russia over the Ukraine conflict despite efforts by host India to bridge the differences.

"We are deeply grateful to our Indian partners for the way they have led the G20 to date. And as you alluded to, there is a lot more work to be done over the course of this year, but India is off to a very promising start with its stewardship of the G-20," State Department Spokesperson Ned Price told reporters at his daily news conference on Thursday.

The India-US partnership was a subject of discussion between Secretary of State Antony Blinken and his counterpart External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar in New Delhi, Price said, describing the ties with India as one of the most consequential relationships the US has.

On the question of whether the Secretary Blinken believes that India still has the role to play to break the ice and to stop the war between Russia and Ukraine, Price said there are countries around the world that have a relationship with Russia that is distinct from the one US has.

"India certainly falls within that category. India has longstanding historical ties to Russia. It is connected in Russia to ways that the United States is not and, for that matter, has not been," he said.

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India also has tremendous leverage in different areas, whether it's economic leverage, diplomatic leverage, political leverage, but also moral leverage, Price said.

"And India has the ability, as we've seen from Prime Minister (Narendra) Modi, to speak with tremendous moral clarity," he said.

When Prime Minister Modi said last year that this is not an era of war, the world listened because when Prime Minister Modi and his country say something to that effect, it is meaningful to the United States, it's meaningful to Russia, it is meaningful to countries near and far, he said.

During a bilateral meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin on the sidelines of the annual summit of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) in Samarkand in September last year, Prime Minister Modi underlined the importance of democracy, dialogue and diplomacy while calling for an early cessation of hostilities in Ukraine.

I know today's era is not of war," Modi told Putin.

Price said the US will continue to work with its Indian partners over the matter.

"They of course have a unique role to play in this as the G20 hosts, but also as a country with whom we have a Global Strategic Partnership, a country that has a relationship with Russia that we don't," Price said.

"And just as India has consistently expressed that this is not, should not be an era of war, we hope that we can work closely with India to bring about an end to this war," he said.

He also referred to the G20 foreign ministers' meeting in New Delhi being unable to come out with a joint communique due to the bitterly increasing rift between the US-led Western powers and Russia over the Ukraine conflict despite consistent efforts by host India to bridge the differences.

The meeting adopted a Chair's Summary and Outcome Document listing various key priorities, but External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar had said there were differences over the Ukraine conflict because of which the meeting could not agree on the joint communique.

Price said, Of course, this was a chair of summary that was subscribed to by all 20 members of the G20, except for two key paragraphs. We all know those two countries in question, Russia and China. We all know the issue in question, Russia's brutal war of aggression against Ukraine, he said.

"But when it comes to the broader set of issues that neither Russia nor China could agree to accept, I think it was pretty notable that the key paragraph referenced the essential need to uphold international law and the multilateral system that safeguards peace and stability, he said.

Price asserted it is a paragraph that speaks to defending and protecting the principles of the UN Charter, ensuring that countries around the world adhere to international humanitarian law, including the protection of civilians and infrastructure in armed conflict, and that makes clear where countries stand in strongly condemning the use or threat of use of nuclear weapons in any conflict.

"The fact that neither Russia nor China could sign on to a paragraph that should be as an anodyne and common sense and basic as that, it tells you a lot about the two countries that purport to believe in the UN Charter, have been permanent members of the UN Security Council, consistently raise international law and the principles of the UN Charter only to ignore them in contexts like this," he said.

Price said the US works closely with India on just about everything that is a priority to it and everything that is a priority to New Delhi, increasing their mutual prosperity, supporting democracy, addressing the climate crisis and upholding a rules-based order grounded in international law.

"It is that point, the rules-based order, that is so important to us around the world, but particularly important to the United States and to India in the context of the Indo-Pacific, he said. "It is helping to build and to preserve a free and open Indo-Pacific region, a vision that we share with Indian counterparts."



The US, India and several other world powers have been talking about the need to ensure a free, open and thriving Indo-Pacific in the backdrop of China's rising military manoeuvring in the region.

China claims nearly all of the disputed South China Sea, though Taiwan, the Philippines, Brunei, Malaysia and Vietnam all claim parts of it. Beijing has built artificial islands and military installations in the South China Sea.

Blinken and Jaishankar discussed the work India has done so far in hosting the G20 foreign ministers and finance ministers and creating an agenda that allows them to tackle the key issues of global and strategic partnerships, Price said.

The G20 is an important instrument for India and the US, Price said.

"We have seen how the G20 can bring together countries for collective action. We think what we've seen in India over the past couple of days was no exception," Price said.

"The United States, for our part, participated in this foreign minister meeting with two imperatives in mind -- first to see to it that the G20, again with India at the helm, was a success, which clearly it was," Price said.

"And second, to demonstrate how the United States, together with our partners is working collaboratively to build a world that is more prosperous, is more sustainable, it is more inclusive in terms of the global economy, and that delivers for the needs of people around the world, whether that's food, whether that's energy, whether that is health, whether that is helping people around the world confront the challenges and threats that they face from fentanyl and narcotics, to a changing climate to COVID and to everything in between, he said.


"We believe that the long-term growth prospects for these companies are substantial, and we are pleased to be investing in companies that will help advance India's economy and energy infrastructure, including their energy transition over the long run," he said. The promoters of the Adani Group on Thursday sold shares worth Rs 15,446 crore to GQG Partners, a US-based global equity-investment company. While making the announcement, Rajiv Jain, chairman and chief investment officer (CIO) at GQG, said that the long-term prospects of the Adani Group companies are substantial.



Who is Rajiv Jain? GQG is one of the world's leading market investors; as of January, it manages assets worth $92 billion. Despite this, Jain has been a relatively lesser-known man. He does not have a Twitter account and rarely appears on television.



Later, between 2014 and 2016, he served as the company's co-CEO. By the time he left Vontobel, according to Bloomberg, its Emerging Market Fund had returned 70 per cent in 10 years. Jain was born and brought up in India. In 1990, he moved to the US to pursue an MBA at the University of Miami. His career as a portfolio manager started in 1994 when he joined Vontobel Asset Management. Gradually, he came to be known as the "star manager" at Vontobel. He rose to the rank of CIO and the head of equities at Vontobel.

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Describing him, a Bloomberg report said, "He plunks down huge sums of money on individual stocks and, in a heartbeat, can bail on an entire position  the sort of bold moves most in the industry avoid. Moreover, in talking with him, it quickly becomes clear that he doesn't make much of his rival stock-pickers". In 2016, Jain founded GQG Partners and took up the role of its chairman and CIO.



His portfolio does not have many stocks of "driverless car companies" or "hypersonic missile manufacturers", but he makes huge bets on oil, tobacco and banking. He believes that by loading up on companies with strong, "bullet-proof" balance sheets, it is unlikely that the portfolio will suffer a sudden collapse. He considers himself a "quality growth manager".
Stringent measures are being taken to provide security to the members of the minority community in the valley, a senior CRPF officer in Jammu and Kashmir said here on Friday.

Minority pickets of CRPF are on alert, we review the security regularly. Our endeavour is to keep all the minorities in south Kashmir safe and we are in touch with them on a regular basis, IG CPRF (Kashmir Operations) M S Bhatia told reporters in Anantnag district of south Kashmir.

His remarks come in the backdrop of terrorists on Sunday killing a 40-year-old Kashmiri Pandit in Jammu and Kashmir's Pulwama district while he was on his way to a local market, in yet another targeted killing of a minority community member in the valley.

Sanjay Sharma, who worked as an ATM guard, was shot in the chest at point-blank range barely 100 metres from his residence in Achan area of south Kashmir.

The killing evoked widespread condemnation and demand for security for the community members.

Bhatia said every measure will be taken to provide security to the community.

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I want to assure that we are taking stringent security measures to provide a sense of security to them and everything will be done for their security, he said.

To a question about the security measures for the Amarnath Yatra, which is likely to begin in June, the CRPF officer said security agencies have started assessing the security measures for the annual pilgrimage to the south Kashmir Himalayas.

Last year, the yatra concluded peacefully and a huge number of yatris came. This year too, we hope for a huge number of yatris. Stringent security measures will be put in place, including use of technology like drones. Also, ROPs, bullet-proof vehicles will be used in such a manner that the yatris have a wonderful experience, he said.

Bhatia said whatever steps need to be taken to facilitate the yatris will be taken like the last year.

"CRPF's helpline Madadgar' proved very helpful last year and this year too, we are ready to work in the same manner, he added.

Asked about the number of militants in south Kashmir, the IG CPRF said while it is difficult to give the exact number of militants as it keeps on changing, the forces have an upper hand.

All the security forces are working in coordination and the results are there for everyone to see, he added.

About the use of technology in the counter-insurgency operations, the CRPF IG said it is our responsibility to keep our jawans safe and for that, whatever technological upgradation is necessary, like the critical situation response vehicle, JCB, bullet-proof, technological equipment, etc. we will take that.

"Our aim is to neutralise enemies without incurring any own losses, he said.

On reports that the Army would be removed from the hinterland areas in some parts of the valley and the CRPF will be given that responsibility, Bhatia said such a decision is for the Centre to take and we will do whatever role is given to us.
Delhi has a uniform education system in both private and government schools where equal facilities are being provided to students, Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal said on Friday.

He also said that people from all over the world should consider Delhi as the "hub of education".

The chief minister was speaking during the 'Excellence in Education' award programme here where several students were awarded under various categories.

"Delhi has a uniform education system in private and government schools. There is no inequality in our education system. We will also fix MCD schools gradually and all our councillors will work hard to improve them. Our aim is that people from all over the world should consider Delhi as the hub of education," he underlined.

Handing over the awards, Kejriwal said transformation of the education system in Delhi would not be possible without the efforts of teachers, students and parents.

When we started parent-teachers meetings at government schools, parents of the underprivileged students appreciated how we invited them inside the school premises and treated them with respect. The education system in Delhi would not be possible without the efforts of the teachers, students and parents, he said.


The Union Minister of Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution, and Textiles, Piyush Goyal, chaired a review meeting of BIS activities on Friday and directed the standards authority to take up further activities. In an effort to promote quality culture in micro-scale units, the Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS) will provide an 80 per cent concession on the certification/minimum marking fee across various product certification schemes of BIS. Additionally, units located in the North-East will continue to receive an extra 10 per cent concession.



BIS has been directed to augment the testing infrastructure in the country and increase the frequency of product testing and market surveillance depending on the criticality of components used for consumer safety. The meeting was also attended by the secretary of consumer affairs, the director general of BIS and other officials of the consumer affairs department and BIS.



BIS shall map standards against various government schemes and produce booklets in simple and local languages to enhance accessibility and develop a culture of quality consciousness among citizens. The minister also directed BIS to increase the frequency of lab inspection. He said that BIS shall enhance market surveillance for different products such as pressure cooker, helmets, and other consumer products to ensure product safety and to bring quality consciousness in the country.

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BIS has proposed Quality Control Orders (QCO) for 663 products in the coming time. Currently, there are 462 products covered under QCOs. "We are committed to ensuring that all products in India meet the highest quality and safety standards. These measures shall promote microscale units, enhance the testing infrastructure, and develop a culture of quality consciousness among citizens," Goyal said.
External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar on Thursday conveyed to his Chinese counterpart Qin Gang at a meeting that the state of India-China relations is "abnormal" as their talks focused on addressing the challenges in bilateral ties, especially that of peace and tranquillity in the border areas.

Jaishankar's first in-person meeting with Qin came on the sidelines of the G20 foreign ministers conclave amid the over 34-month-long border row in eastern Ladakh. Qin took charge as Chinese foreign minister in December, succeeding Wang Yi.

"It's our first meeting after he took over as foreign minister. We spent maybe about 45 minutes talking to each other and the bulk of our conversation, understandably, was about the current state of our relationship, which many of you have heard me describe as abnormal," Jaishankar told reporters.

"And those were among the adjectives that I used in that meeting. There are real problems in that relationship that need to be looked at, that need to be discussed very openly and candidly between us," he said.

The external affairs minister said the thrust of the meeting was on the bilateral relationship.

"We also had a brief discussion on what was happening in the G20 framework. But the thrust of the meeting was really on our bilateral relationship and the challenges in the bilateral relationship, especially that of peace and tranquillity in the border areas," he said.

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Qin arrived in Delhi on Thursday morning to attend the G20 meeting hosted by India under its presidency of the influential grouping.

"Met Chinese Foreign Minister Qin Gang on the sidelines of #G20FMM this afternoon. Our discussions were focused on addressing current challenges to the bilateral relationship, especially peace and tranquillity in the border areas," Jaishankar said on Twitter earlier.

"We also spoke about the G20 agenda," he said.

Qin also had a meeting with Russian foreign minister Sergey Lavrov.

In an address at the G20 foreign ministers' meeting, Qin highlighted China's peace plan to resolve the Ukraine conflict.

"Global development and prosperity cannot be achieved without a peaceful and stable international environment. With this in mind, China has put forward the Global Security Initiative, and issued the position paper on the political settlement of the Ukraine crisis," he said.

"China will always stand on the side of peace, actively promote peace talks, and play a constructive role," he said.

In his remarks, he also said that the G20 must contribute to global development and prosperity.

"The G20 is the premier forum for international economic cooperation. Faced with a volatile international situation and rising global challenges, the G20 must rise to the occasion, enhance cooperation, and contribute its share to global development and prosperity," he said.

India has been maintaining that its ties with China cannot be normal unless there is peace in the border areas.

The talk between the foreign ministers came nearly eight months after Jaishankar held a meeting with the then Chinese foreign minister Wang Yi in Bali on the sidelines of a G20 meeting.

At the hour-long meeting on July 7, Jaishankar conveyed to Wang the need for early resolution of all the outstanding issues in Eastern Ladakh.

The external affairs minister had told Wang that the relationship between the two countries should be based on "three mutuals" -- mutual respect, mutual sensitivity and mutual interests.

Wang had visited India in March last year,



In line with a decision taken at the 16th round of military talks, the two sides carried out disengagement from Patrolling Point 15 in the Gogra-Hotsprings area in September last year.

But the face-off between the two of the planet's biggest military forces lingered on in Demchok and Depsang regions though the Indian side pressed for completion of the disengagement in remaining friction points at the earliest.

On February 22, India and China held in-person diplomatic talks in Beijing and discussed proposals for disengagement in the remaining friction points along the Line of Actual Control (LAC) in eastern Ladakh in an "open and constructive manner".

The meeting took place under the framework of the Working Mechanism for Consultation and Coordination on India-China Border Affairs (WMCC).

The eastern Ladakh border standoff erupted on May 5, 2020, following a violent clash in the Pangong lake area.

The ties between the two countries nosedived significantly following the fierce clash in the Galwan Valley in June 2020 that marked the most serious military conflict between the two sides in decades.

As a result of a series of military and diplomatic talks, the two sides completed the disengagement process in 2021 on the north and south banks of the Pangong lake and in the Gogra area.
The foreign ministers of Quad countries on Friday reaffirmed the grouping's commitment for a free and open Indo-Pacific, and said it strongly supports the principles of rule of law, sovereignty and territorial integrity and peaceful settlement of disputes.

The Quad foreign ministers carried out a comprehensive review of the situation in the Indo-Pacific at a meeting presided over by External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar and attended by US Secretary of State Antony Blinken, his Japanese counterpart Yoshimasa Hayashi and Australia's Penny Wong.

The meeting came in the backdrop of growing global concerns over increasing Chinese assertiveness in the region.

"Our meeting today reaffirms the Quad's steadfast commitment to supporting a free and open Indo-Pacific, which is inclusive and resilient," a joint statement said.

"We strongly support the principles of freedom, rule of law, sovereignty and territorial integrity, peaceful settlement of disputes without resorting to threat or use of force and freedom of navigation and overflight, and oppose any unilateral attempt to change the status quo, all of which are essential to the peace, stability and prosperity of the Indo-Pacific region and beyond," it said.

The foreign ministers said the Quad is acting as a force for regional and global good, and it will be guided by the priorities of the Indo-Pacific region through its positive and constructive agenda.

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The statement said through the Quad, the countries seek to support the region through practical cooperation on contemporary challenges such as health security, climate change and the clean energy transition, critical and emerging technologies, infrastructure and connectivity.

It also talked about addressing the debt crisis through sustainable, transparent and fair lending and financing practices.

"We concur that the rules-based international order is anchored in international law, including the UN Charter, and the principles of sovereignty, political independence, and territorial integrity of all states," it said.

"We are committed to cooperate to address attempts to unilaterally subvert the UN and international system, in consultation with our partners and through multilateral and international platforms," it added.


The government will keep 51% equity with an Indian company, while asking the foreign partner to do technology transfer, the people said, asking not to be identified as the deliberations are at an early stage. The jets, which typically seat less than 100 people, are likely to be produced in Prime Minister Narendra Modis home state of Gujarat, they said. India is looking to partner with global aircraft manufacturers, including Embraer SA and Russias Sukhoi, to make small planes locally as it seeks to improve connectivity in tiny towns and far-flung areas, according to people familiar with the matter.



India mandates airlines operate at least 10% of their capacity on remote routes, including Kashmir and the Northeast bordering China, which means smaller planes could be more efficient for airlines as they can fill a larger share of total seats. The worlds fastest-growing aviation market is trying to ramp up its small-plane fleet as airports with limited capacity and short runways are not equipped to handle narrow-body planes of Airbus SE and Boeing Co. that dominate the Indian skies. This will help the government bolster tourism and facilitate faster access to remote areas in the South Asian giant of 1.4 billion, which recently has been seen to surpass China in population.



Regional Workhorse

Airbus SE estimates India will need 2,210 aircrafts by 2040 and 80% of them will be smaller jets. The country has piqued global turboprop makers interest, with De Havilland Aircraft planning to seize 80% of its market for smaller planes of less than 20 passengers.

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Embraer said India has significant opportunities for regional jets and the manufacturer continuously looks for ways to collaborate with India to find win-win solutions. Representatives for Sukhoi, ATR and the aviation ministry didnt respond to emails seeking comments. India has completed preliminary discussions with Embraer, while Sukhoi has expressed interest in manufacturing regional jets locally, the people said. In addition, the country has also approached ATR, a joint venture between Airbus and Leonardo SpA of Italy, to make in India, they added.
A surveillance drone is deployed during military drills in Paju, northwest of Seoul, Jan. 13. Yonhap



South Korea's military will bring in a more effective operational concept with the aim of neutralizing threats from North Korea's evolving nuclear and missile systems even from a prelaunch stage, the defense ministry said Friday.



The ministry unveiled the scheme to introduce the "Kill Web" concept as part of a basic plan for Defense Innovation 4.0, an initiative by the Yoon Suk Yeol administration to harness cutting-edge technologies, including artificial intelligence (AI), to build a smarter and sturdier military.



The Kill Web refers to a multilayered yet integrated apparatus that employs cyberoperations, electronic warfare tactics and other means to disrupt and negate the enemy's move to fire a missile even before its launch, according to a ministry official on condition of anonymity.



Whereas the current Kill Chain preemptive strike system is designed to conduct a contingency mission in a linear, sequential process, the Kill Web is a flexible approach that enables field officers to make adjustments on their initial target decisions to optimize strike operations.



The Kill Chain is a pillar of the country's three-pronged deterrence system, which also includes the Korea Massive Punishment and Retaliation, an operational plan to incapacitate the North Korean leadership in a major conflict, and the Korea Air and Missile Defense system.



"The Kill Chain concept is to proceed in a single direction," the official told reporters. "But the Kill Web, like a spider's web, entails frequent mission adjustments to ensure the operational effectiveness."



The official stressed that the Kill Web concept will be used to implement the Kill Chain system "more effectively" rather than replacing it.



In the defense innovation plan, the ministry said it would develop integrated "all-domain" operations capitalizing on AI and other new technologies to ensure that the country's military is capable of "winning a war with minimum casualties in the shortest span of time."



The plan also includes the development of an AI-based vigilance concept using both manned and unmanned equipment to defend major military bases, including front-line guard posts and coastal and seaborne units.



Meanwhile, Defense Minister Lee Jong-sup called for the military to "completely" change itself to achieve the goal of becoming a strong combat-ready force during a meeting of top military commanders, according to his office.



At the meeting, the ministry outlined a series of key tasks, such as establishing the operation of combat mission-focused units and strengthening realistic training based on scenarios of enemy provocations.



Under the tasks, the ministry seeks to create a training ground that would allow live-fire drills in all weather conditions, as well as to improve working conditions of entry-level officers by increasing their wages. (Yonhap)




Germany, Spain, France, Netherlands, and Italy pulled out of the Energy Charter Treaty last year to stave off the ISDS mechanism. So far, 30 of the 53 members of the Energy Charter have faced 150 ISDS disputes. Turkiye pulled out of the Investment Facilitation for Development (IFD) discussion at the WTO on Feb 1, 2023. More members will follow suit not just because of IFD's defective birth investment's negative mandate in line with the July 2004 General Council Decision, but for the implications of the Investor-State Dispute Settlement (ISDS) mechanism from International Investment Agreements (IIA).



However, in reality, the signatories of IFD cannot escape ISDS's clutches if they have already signed some IIAs. This linkage and the interplay of IIAs and the IFD are unambiguous. The provision of the ISDS in IIAs has been controversial across countries as governments faced unpleasant experiences. The ISDS disputes are also costly, incurring an estimated average of $6 million for each party. Several efforts are underway to find alternative dispute-resolution methods in newer IIAs, including in IFD, which has opted for WTO's dispute mechanism.

Risks and rewards of joining IFD

Facilitations help investors in the application process, but investment decisions are market-driven and based on destination countries' political, policy and regulatory stability.

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The current literature on the impact of signing IIAs on investment flows is not encouraging either. Some studies have shown no correlation, and others have indicated limited influence. Despite states giving protection and legal assurances in IIAs, there is no conclusive evidence that IIAs have directly helped investment flows There is no evidence to show any correlation between investment facilitation and development or investment inflows. The current discourse of IFD is just an assumption.



Relationship with international investment treaties On the contrary, despite excluding the ISDS mechanism from the scope of the IFD text, the risks to the states continue. The following paras briefly explain some of these risks.



Article 4 of the current version of the IFD text (16 Dec 2022) reads that members will not use IIAs to interpret this text, and this agreement shall not serve as a means to interpret any provision of an IIA of a member and shall not be used as the basis for a claim or in any way by a claimant under the procedures for the resolution of investment disputes between investors and States provided for in an IIA of a member. Proponents of the IFD have tried to build a firewall between the IFD and the ISDS mechanism of the IIAs.



Further, in the unlikely event that some members do amend their IIAs to address the issue, it is still not enough, as disputes in the ISDS are brought against the states by private investors. The former is reasonable, as parties to IFD can agree to certain restraints, but the latter is untenable, as such restrictions cannot be imposed on parties that are not its signatories. Even IFD members with IIAs cannot honour this commitment unless they have such a restraint in their respective IIAs.



Fair and equitable treatment (FET) and legitimate expectations Interpretation of the IFD by the ISDS tribunals will have severe implications considering the commitments in IFD are expansive and include measures pertaining to the pre-investment stage. So, a country that has signed the IFD and an IIA could face an ISDS dispute even before any investment flows into its territory!



One FET standard element is 'legitimate expectations'. According to international investment law, states are responsible for ensuring stability and predictability under legitimate expectations. Among others, in the IIAs, the states commit to non-expropriation (direct and indirect) of investments, non-discrimination between two foreign investments and foreign and domestic investments, and to treat all investments fairly and equitably.



According to UNCTAD's ISDS monitor, out of the total 722 ISDS cases for which data is available, a staggering 86 per cent of the disputes allege a breach of legitimate expectations under FET. States create legitimate expectations through various means, such as public announcements and statements by authorities and by signing MoUs, agreements, and treaties. Countries signing the IFD create such a legitimate expectation for their existing and potential investors, and non-implementation of some or even one element of the IFD is fertile ground for ISDS dispute.

Most favoured nation

This Most Favoured Nation (MFN) article of IIAs can potentially turn the IFD on its head and suck all the IFD commitments into its domain.



The MFN application extends beyond FDI caps to the other commitments in the other IIAs. In other words, if a host country has agreed to provide 'full protection and security' and 'national treatment' standards with one country and not with a second country, then an investor of the second country invoking a dispute under the second treaty can import the commitment of the first treaty using the MFN article. Tribunals have passed orders with this interpretation to the detriment of host states. In the investment sphere, there is no multilateral agreement. Countries have entered into bilateral treaties. Suppose a host country liberalises its FDI ceilings for one of its bilateral treaty partners, it then has to extend the same benefit to the investors of other countries with whom it has investment treaties.



Dispute resolution under IFD Thus, an MFN article in one IIA of any host country is a window for disputing investors to import all investment-related commitments of the host country from across the board.



Whether the dispute-winning country retaliates by removing it's IFD measures or by using the goods tariff. Would such an award and action be WTO-consistent? The current IFD text ascribes itself to the WTO's Dispute Settlement Understanding (DSU). If IFD is not multilateralised into WTO as a plurilateral, it can replicate the WTO's DSU mechanism. But the challenge in case of disputes would then be how to operationalise retaliation and compensation awards.

Development or market access

Other than in the title, there is no indication in the agreement of how investment facilitation measures help development. But the obligation of the state to provide information, as per Articles 5 & 9, is pre-investment market access, especially the obligation to announce the policy details to the investors even before they are adopted, including justification and rationale for considering such measures.



India is not a party to IFD discussions. India also terminated its 83 BIT Agreements in 2015. The latest news is that the EU, as a block, is actively considering pulling out of the Energy Charter to save itself from the ISDS and to preserve its policy space. Further, the terms 'investment' and 'investor' are still not defined. If the investment is open and asset-based, then the portfolio investments can come into the country and fly by night without contributing to the development through FDI.



Considering the link between IFD and ISDS, should the developing countries sign the IFD and, in the bargain, cede their policy space and also import the ills of the ISDS mechanism or avoid the trouble and attract investments using UNCTAD's Global Action plan for investment facilitation without treaty bindings.

The author is the Counsellor, Permanent Mission of India to WTO. Views are personal.


Participating in the Raisina Dialogue, a combative Lavrov wondered why everyone was asking Russia whether it was ready to negotiate to end the war when Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy had signed a decree making negotiations with Moscow under President Vladimir Putin a "criminal offence". Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov on Friday hit out at western nations, accusing them of raking up the Ukraine issue during G20 meetings and claiming that nobody "gave a damn" over the situation in Iraq, Afghanistan, and Yugoslavia in previous deliberations of the grouping.



"They say Russia must suffer a strategic defeat and this they say is existentialist for the west in the context of global domination. This is a blunt admission," he said. Lavrov said US President Joe Biden and NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg had publicly stated that Russia must be defeated on the battlefield.



Nobody was giving a damn about anything but finances and macroeconomic policies which the G20 was formed for... when Russia has started to defend itself, there is nothing except Ukraine that is of interest to the G20, he said. It is a shame. If they say it is existentialist for them, it is existentialist for us, he said, adding that Moscow had been warning the West for decades against the expansion of NATO and pushing arms into Ukraine to prepare them for war against Russia. Referring to the G20 Foreign Ministers' Meeting on Thursday, the Russian minister said the western leaders had raised the Ukraine issue, but wondered whether previous declarations of the grouping ever discussed the situation in Iraq, Libya, Afghanistan or Yugoslavia.

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Lavrov said the countries in Europe were not affected by what Russia was doing in Ukraine, but by the reaction of the West on Moscow's actions in the region after ample warnings.
A significant percentage of employers expect hiring to increase over the next two years due to Production Linked Incentive (PLI) schemes, under which fiscal incentives ar being provided to several sectors to boost domestic manufacturing, says a report.

A TeamLease report said the higher positive hiring sentiment is attributed to the pharmaceutical industry (68 per cent) followed by white goods industry (67 per cent) and textile products (62 per cent).

Around 60 per cent of employers expect hiring to increase due to PLI schemes over the next two years.

The TeamLease PLI Outlook Report has been prepared on the basis of the employers' reaction towards job creation based on the incentives mentioned by the government in the PLI schemes and their projection towards hiring in the next two years.

For the report, 344 mid to senior-level, general managers/ talent acquisition managers across 14 cities and 8 industries in India were surveyed.

"The PLI schemes are a revolutionary one. It will not only boost investments and growth across industries but is also expected to lead a significant surge in employment opportunities.

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"Over 60 per cent of employers in India Inc. are planning to hire more due to the PLI scheme over the next couple of years," Sumit Sarabhai, Business Head - Emerging Vertical, TeamLease Services, said.

Another major aspect that the PLI schemes will address is diversity of the workforce and is expected to bring more women to the forefront.

"According to our report, while cities like Gurgaon and Indore, Kolkata, Delhi and Nagpur still prefer hiring male candidates, cities like Chandigarh, and Chennai are more inclined towards female employees, especially across industries like textiles, pharmaceuticals, and large-scale electronics manufacturing," Sarabhai said.

The boost from the PLI schemes is also estimated to impact the MSME ecosystem and bring more women to the workforce.

Moreover, a few industries such as Textile Products, Pharmaceuticals, and Large Scale Electronics Manufacturing believe that there will be a preference for hiring female employees as a part of the PLI schemes, Sarabhai said.

"Even for the MSME sector, which contributed to about 30 per cent of our GDP, the PLI scheme is a positive foot forward as it will boost investment in MSMEs especially in Textile Products, Specialty Steel and Automobile and Auto Components industries," Sarabhai added.


After External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken, his Japanese counterpart Yoshimasa Hayashi, and Australia's Penny Wong met, it was announced that a Quad working group on counter-terrorism would be established to explore measures to counter new and emerging forms of terrorism, radicalisation, and violent extremism. The foreign ministers of Quad countries on Friday reaffirmed the groupings commitment to a free and open Indo-Pacific and said they strongly supported the rule of law, sovereignty, territorial integrity, and peaceful settlement of disputes, in comments seen as an oblique message to China.



Following the meeting, the four ministers attended a session at the Raisina Dialogue and spoke largely about the convergence of interests of the Quad member nations. The ministers vowed to work closely to align and complement Quads agenda with Japans presidency of the G7, Indias presidency of the G20 and the US APEC (Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation) host year in 2023.



Late last month, Russian President Vladimir Putin suspended a landmark nuclear arms control treaty and threatened to resume nuclear tests. If we allow with impunity Russia to do what its doing in Ukraine, then thats a message to would-be aggressors everywhere that they may be able to get away with it too, Blinken told a forum in India, which was also attended by the Quad ministers. After meeting his counterparts from India, Japan, and Australia, Blinken said Russia cannot be allowed to wage war with impunity. The Quad group, in a statement issued after the meeting, also said that the use, or threat of use, of nuclear weapons in Ukraine was inadmissible.

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They reiterated their condemnation of terrorist attacks, including 26/11 Mumbai strikes, which claimed lives of citizens from all Quad countries, and Pathankot attacks. In a joint statement, the ministers said the meeting reaffirmed the Quads steadfast commitment to supporting a free and open Indo-Pacific, which is inclusive and resilient. The ministers also unequivocally condemned terrorism and violent extremism in all its forms and denounced the use of terrorist proxies and financial or military support to terrorist organisations which could be used to launch or plan terrorist attacks, including transnational and cross-border strikes.



In their statement, the Quad ministers also took a barely disguised swipe at China by denouncing actions that increase tensions in the South China Sea, and the militarisation of disputed territories in the area. The foreign ministers said the Quad is acting as a "force for regional and global good", and it will be guided by the priorities of the Indo-Pacific region through its positive and constructive agenda.


The ATMA February 2023 result was released yesterday, i.e., March 2, 2023. Candidates can check their ATMA 2023 results on ATMAs official website (https://atmaaims.com/). The Association of Indian Management Schools (AIMS) has released the result of the AIMS Test for Management Admissions (ATMA) exam held on February 25, 2023, for the academic year 2023-24.

How to check the ATMA exam result 2023? Candidates can check and download their ATMA results for 2023 by following these steps: Candidates will be offered admission to various management institutions based on their scores obtained in the ATMA exam 2023. Many institutes accept ATMA scores to offer admission in their MBA/PGDM and MCA programmes. These scores are valid for the academic session of 2023-2025.

Firstly, visit the official website of AIIMS ATMA

Check for the candidate login option in the right corner

Click on the exam date

Enter your EID and password, and click on the login button

Details mentioned in your ATMA scorecard 2023 Here are all the details mentioned in your ATMA scorecard: ATMA result 2023 will appear on your screen as soon as you click the login button. You can check your result and download it in pdf form. You can also take a printout of it for future reference.

Also Read ICAI CA November 2022 PQC-IRM exam postponed; check revised schedule NEET UG Result 2022 announced: Check merit, cutoff, score, and percentile FMGE 2022 exam date declared; step-by-step guide for registration process DUET 2022: NTA releases exam schedule for Delhi University PG entrance test NTA JEE Main 2023 application process to start in November; check details Maharashtra Board SSC Exam 2023 begins today: Check Detailed report CBSE CTET Result 2023: How to check, download Scorecard, other details IIT Madras ties up with Denmark for next-gen fuels, energy systems research CGBSE class 12 exams commence today: Check full update here JEE Main Final Paper 2 Answer Key: How to Download, calculation process

Name of the candidate

Test date

Roll number

Section-wise scaled score and percentile

Total scaled score and overall percentile

Result validation key

Valid admission year

List of documents required for the admission process All the students who pass must keep their documents ready for further processing. Ensure that you have all your documents handy, as college authorities need them at the time of admission. Below are the documents required at the time of admission. Students are advised to verify all the details mentioned in their ATMA exam results.

Copies of class 10 and Class 12 mark sheets

Copy of Graduation mark sheet

Birth certificate

ATMA scorecard

ATMA 2023 admit card

Residence proof

Photo ID

Copies of passport-size photographs

Caste certificate (if applicable)

Admission fee (challan/DD/cash)

Calculate ATMA results 2023 marks
Denial of admission under EWS or Disadvantaged Group category by a school even after allotment by the authorities frustrates and undermines the noble objective of the law on right to education and violates the fundamental rights of children under the Constitution, the Delhi High Court has said.

The court's observation came on a petition by a minor boy who sought a direction to a private school here to give him admission in the Economically Weaker Section (EWS)/ Disadvantaged Group (DG) category.

The school's objection before the court was that the petitioner's residence was not within the 0-1 km radius and so he was not eligible for admission. The Delhi government, however, took a contrary stand and said the child was staying in the school's vicinity.

Ruling in favour of the petitioner, Justice Mini Pushkarna accepted the scrutiny carried out by the Department of Education (DOE) with respect to the petitioner's place of residence and said the noble object of providing good education to the economically downtrodden and bringing them into the mainstream of the society cannot be lost sight of.

If this Court is to doubt the genuineness of the exercise of scrutiny and investigation carried out by the DOE as regards the residence of children on the basis of such objections as raised by the school, then many children would be deprived of admission under the EWS/DG category. This would defeat the very purpose of the provisions of The Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education Act, 2009 (RTE Act), said the court in a recent order.

The court stated it would accept the bonafides of the investigation and scrutiny carried out by the DOE unless some very glaring discrepancy is brought to the fore.

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Denial of admission by a school under the EWS/DG category even after allotment of school by DOE, frustrates the noble objective of the RTE Act, 2009. It violates the fundamental rights of children belonging to EWS/DG category, as enshrined under Article 21-A of the Constitution, as also undermining the object of the RTE Act, 2009, it added.

The court noted that pursuant to its earlier order, the petitioner was given admission in the school as an interim measure in June last year.

It is directed that the petitioner child will continue to study under the EWS/DG category in the school, ordered the court.
Some disturbing news went viral amid the exams. According to some media reports, more than 300,000 students skipped their papers on March 1.

The Uttar Pradesh Madhyamik Shiksha Parishad (UPMSP) is conducting UP board exams 2023 for classes 10 and 12 at 8,753 examination centres across the state.
The BJP created history on Thursday by returning to power in Tripura and the NDPP-BJP alliance swept the polls in Nagalanad. The BJP is also part of the sweepstakes to form government in Meghalaya having decided to extend support to the National People's Party which emerged as the single-largest party with 26 seats.

BJP and NPP were partners in the outgoing government but had contested the polls separately.

BJP's performance in the assembly polls in the three northeastern states showed its continued dominance in the region, which was once a Congress stronghold. The outcome meant that there will be no change of government in the three northeastern states in the results declared on Thursday. Assembly polls in the three states were held last month.

The parties opposed to BJP did relatively better in the results of assembly bypolls.

The BJP which had created a big splash in 2018 elections by ousting the Left parties from power in Tripura, returned to power in the state with absolute majority. Its ally Indigenous People's Front of Tripura (IPFT) won one seat of the six it contested.

Tipra Motha, which fought the polls on its demand of 'greater Tipraland' made a mark by winning 13 seats.

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The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) won 32 seats with a vote share of around 39 per cent. The Left parties and Congress had forged an alliance to keep BJP out of power in the border state but it did not yield results as in West Bengal earlier. CPI-M and Congerss are arch rivals in Kerala. Together polled around 33 per cent votes in Tripura and bagged 14 seats (CPI-M 11, Congress 3). The Left had contested on 47 and Congress on 13 seats. The Left Front had been in power in Tripura for 35 years since 1978.

The BJP tally is marginally lower than its number in 2018 election when it had won 36 seats in Tripura and IPFT had also done well.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi said that vote in Tripura was that for "progress and stability".

"Thank you Tripura! This is a vote for progress and stability. @BJP4Tripura will continue to boost the state's growth trajectory. I am proud of all Tripura BJP Karyakartas for their spectacular efforts at the grassroots," PM Modi said in a tweet.

He later addressed BJP workers at party headquarters here over the resutls in the three northeastern states.

Chief Minister Manik Saha defeated Congress' Asish Kumar Saha from the Town Bordowali seat by a margin of 1,257 votes.

In Nagaland, BJP secured 12 seats, Nationalist Democratic Progressive Party (NDPP) won 25 seats.

Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) bagged seven seats, National People's Party (NPP) won five seats, Naga Peoples Front, Lok Janshakti Party (Ram Vilas) and Republican Party of India (Athawale) won two seats each. Nitish Kumar's Janata Dal (United) got one seat.BJP had earlier won a seat uncontested in the 60-member Nagaland assembly.

Nagaland Chief Minister and NDPP candidate Neiphiu Rio won from the Northern Angami seat.

In Meghalaya, National People's Party (NPP) led by Chief Minister Conrad Sangma surprised its rivals by winning 26 seats. The party is poised to lead second successive government in the state. Election was held on 59 seats in the state.

United Democratic Party (UDP) bagged 11 seats.

Congress won five seats. Trinamool Congress, which had inducted all Congress MLAs in the previous assembly, also got five seats.

BJP, People's Democratic Front and Hill State People's Democratic Party bagged two seats each. Voice of the People Party got four seats. Two seats were won by independent candidates.

Congress won a seat each in the assembly bypolls in West Bengal, Maharashtra and Tamil Nadu.

Congress is part of DMK-led alliance in Tamil Nadu and the result is a setback for AIADMK which is grappling with internal tussles.

Congress candidate Ravindra Dhangekar won Pune's Kasba Assembly seat, considered a BJP bastion. Chinchwad seat was won by the BJP. These were the first elections since the Election Commission recognised the faction led by Maharashtra Chief Minister Eknath Shinde as the real Shiv Sena giving it the party name and symbol. The faction led by Uddhav Thackeray had supported Congress and NCP candidates on the two seats.

In Jharkhand, the assembly bypoll to Ramgarh seat was won by All Jharkhand Students Union (AJSU) an ally of BJP.

Home Minister Amit Shah hailed the party's performance in Tripura and Nagaland and said it was a historic day for the northeast.

"A historic day for the Northeast. I thank Tripura for placing trust in BJP once again. It is a victory of pro-development politics that the BJP has delivered in Tripura under PM @narendramodi Ji's leadership. Together we will move ahead and build a prosperous Tripura," he said.

He thanked people of Nagaland and Meghalaya for their support and lauded the work of party workers.

The BJP will hope to carry its election momentum in the six other assembly polls to be held later this year.
Pakistan will get another USD 1.3 billion from all-weather ally China to shore up its fast-depleting forex reserves, Finance Minister Ishaq Dar said on Monday, days after the cash-strapped country received USD 700 million from Beijing.

Addressing a press conference here, Dar said that the Industrial and Commercial Bank of China Ltd (ICBC) would provide the funding in the coming days.

"All our formalities with the ICBC are complete as of last night. We returned them USD 1.3bn in the last few months they are giving it back and have renewed this facility, he said.

The minister said that USD 500 million would be transferred to Pakistan possibly in the next few days - by Monday or Tuesday - and another USD 500 million within 10 days.

Last week, Pakistan received a much-needed cash injection of USD 700 million from China to help its ailing economy before the finalisation of talks with the IMF for financial assistance.

It prompted Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif to express gratitude to the special friend of Pakistan.

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Dar also assured the citizens that the country would not default.

"We have never defaulted and we won't now. Yes, we were in a precarious situation and are going through it currently, he said.

Talking about the fast-depleting reserves, he said there were USD 3.82 billion with the State Bank of Pakistan and combined with amounts held by commercial banks, the net national reserves were around USD 9.26 billion.

There will be a further increase in this. China has given proof of great friendship, he said.

Dar also said Pakistan suffered over USD 30 billion in financial losses due to the last year's devastating floods.

Our requirement (to offset these losses) for the next three to four years is for USD 16 billion or Rs 4,000 billion, he said.

The finance minister said the government had a complete roadmap supported by policies for taking the country out of the difficulties but refused to provide its details.

I am confident that by June 30 we will take the State Bank's reserves to USD 10 billion and national reserves near to USD 16 billion, he said.

He blamed the previous government led by ousted premier Imran Khan for ruining the country's economy.

He said Pakistan has fulfilled all conditions of the International Monetary Fund to get the next tranche of USD 1.1 billion.

Pakistan and the IMF have been holding virtual talks after the two sides held 10 days of intensive negotiations with an IMF delegation in Islamabad from January 31 to February 9, which failed to reach an agreement.
In an apparent reference to the US, a Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson said that the financial policies of a "certain developed country" were the main reason behind the financial difficulties of a large number of developing nations, including Pakistan.

The spokesperson called on concerted efforts of all parties to play a constructive role in the economic and social development of the country, The Express Tribune reported.

"It must be pointed out that the financial policy of a certain developed country is the main reason behind the financial difficulties of a large number of developing countries including Pakistan," Mao Ning said while responding to a question during her regular briefing.

She said that the West-led commercial creditors and the multilateral financial institutions were the basic creditors for developing countries and called on concerted efforts of all parties to play a constructive role in the economic and social development of Pakistan, The Express Tribune reported.

"China and Pakistan are all-weather strategic cooperation partners and iron-clad friends. The two sides have supported each other," Mao highlighted.

"China always carries out economic and financial cooperation with Pakistan and helps Pakistan to achieve steady economic growth, improve its livelihood and achieve independence development," she added.

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On the Ukraine issue, she said that China's position has all along been objective and fair.

--IANS

san/ksk/
Seoul Mayor Oh Se-hoon speaks during a meeting with foreign envoys to Korea at Some Sevit floating island on the Han River, Friday. Newsis



Seoul's financial hub Yeouido to turn English-friendly to attract foreign investors



By Lee Hae-rin



Seoul will build a giant Ferris wheel named "Seoul Ring" in Sangam-dong of the city's western Mapo District to turn the capital into a more attractive, global city, its mayor said, Friday.



Seoul Mayor Oh Se-hoon announced the plan during a spring meeting held in attendance of Foreign Minister Park Jin and some 150 foreign envoys from 99 countries to Korea at Some Sevit floating island on the Han River.



Seoul Ring is going to be a giant Ferris wheel equipped with large cabins for passengers within its modern ring-shaped design.



Oh made a reference to the Ferris wheel's construction plan when he announced the "Great Sunset Project" last August. He pitched that Seoul will install several attractions including on-water stages for art performances, bridges for pedestrians and the giant Ferris wheel to lure visitors to the sunset area along the Han River.



The giant structure was initially named "Seoul Eye," as it was inspired by London's signature attraction London Eye. However, the name changed after its design was finalized to resemble a ring.



According to the mayor, the city government plans to transform Yeouido, the capital's financial hub, into a more English-friendly district to attract foreign residents and investors. As part of this effort, the city will establish English-friendly infrastructure and various facilities in Yeouido.



The infrastructure to be built for foreign nationals includes an English-friendly kids' cafe  a restaurant or coffee shop equipped with toys and play programs for children, popular among young mothers  and a library that runs book club programs in English. Yeouido will also have 13 road signs with English directions written above Korean ones, the mayor explained.



It is part of Seoul's master plan to promote and support foreign investments and settlement in Korea.



As part of the plan, Seoul launched Invest Seoul, a sub-governmental agency dedicated to attracting global companies and promoting foreign investment, last February. The agency is the first of its kind established by a local government here and will turn into a government-funded organization by the second half of next year.


Delegates attending the first G20 anti-corruption working group (ACWG) meeting here held intensive and productive deliberations on asset recovery, fugitive economic offenders and formal and informal channels of cooperation for information sharing among others, a statement issued by the Personnel Ministry on Friday said.

Rahul Singh, Additional Secretary, Department of Personnel and Training (DoPT), and Chair, G20 ACWG, said that it has been the endeavour of the delegates during the deliberations to arrive at a consensus on the draft text of the high-level principles that are on the agenda for the group during India's G20 presidency.

He said that considerable progress has been made in discussing the high-level principles on improving information sharing for fighting corruption, strengthening asset recovery mechanisms related to corruption and related economic crimes, strengthening law enforcement cooperation and promoting integrity and effectiveness of public bodies responsible for preventing and combating corruption.

Singh said that every effort is being taken to give the delegates a flavour of India's rich culture, heritage and cuisine during their stay here at Gurugram.

"India looks forward eagerly to hosting the delegates again at Rishikesh from 25th to 27th May for the second ACWG meeting and Kolkata from 9th to 11th August for the third ACWG meeting," he said.

India will also host the first-ever in-person anti-corruption ministerial meeting to provide further impetus to enhancing asset recovery and international cooperation for strengthening the fight against corruption and related economic crimes, Singh said.

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Giovanni Tartaglia Polcini, head of task force, co-chair, G20 ACWG, Italy, appreciated India's efforts for organising the first meeting of the anti-graft panel at Gurugram.

While talking about the changing nature of corruption, he stated that there is a need to engage with the civil society and the business community, as part of a multi-stake holder approach that is required to effectively fight against corruption.

More than 90 delegates participating from 20 member countries, 10 invitee countries and nine international organisations attended the first meeting of the G20 ACWG, which is truly representative of the richness of international experience in anti-corruption initiatives, the statement said.
The absence of a US Ambassador to India for more than two years now is an embarrassment, a top Democratic Senator said Thursday, floating the idea of an "equally qualified" candidate if the current nominee Eric Garcetti is not able to get enough votes for a Senatorial confirmation.

Garcetti, 52, a former Mayor of Los Angeles, was nominated by President Joe Biden for US Ambassador to India in July 2021. His nomination was not brought to the Senate floor for a vote as the ruling Democratic Party did not have enough support to get him through.

"It is an embarrassment that we say this is one of the most valuable relationships in the world, and yet we've not appointed an ambassador," Senator Mark Warner, Chairman of the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence, told PTI when asked about the issue.

Warner, who was part of a Congressional delegation to India last week, said that Indians also raised the issues of the absence of an ambassador at this important time. "I think that the message was relayed. I think our acting Charles affair is doing a good job," he said.

Warner is also Co-Chair of the Senate India Caucus, the largest and only country-specific caucus in the Senate.'



"One other thing our Indian friends have said is, you say these things (about strong ties with India), but you don't even have an ambassador. Now that (confirmation) has been caught up in domestic politics, but I think we all came away committed that Mr. Garcetti, who's been nominated by the president, needs to have a vote," he said.

"If he gets in, great. If he doesn't get in, we need to have an equally qualified, competent person right behind. We cannot continue this relationship without a Senate confirmed ambassador here. It is disrespectful if we don't do that, Warner said in response to a question.

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Republicans and some members of Garcetti's own party were opposed to his nomination because of the allegations of sexual misconduct by some of the staffers in the Mayor's Office. Though the hold on his nomination had been lifted, he could not be confirmed by the last Congress.

Biden renominated Garcetti to the same position in January this year. Senate Foreign Relations Committee Chairman Bob Menendez scheduled a vote on his nomination on February 28. However, Republican Senator Marco Rubio placed a hold on his nomination. The vote by the committee has now been postponed till March 8.

"One of these nominees has ignored credible sexual assault accusations in his prior office. I will not turn a blind eye to these absurd nominations, which will hasten America's decline, said Rubio, who is the vice chair of Senate Select Committee on Intelligence.
A city-based journalist has filed a complaint of cheating against Twitter and its owner Elon Musk, accusing them of stealing his concept of a new label or 'tick' for the accounts of prominent personalities including heads of state. Twitter assigns a blue tick to ordinary verified accounts, but those of prominent personalities -- such as Prime Minister Narendra Modi or US President Joe Biden -- get a brown tick. In his complaint filed before a magistrate's court in suburban Andheri, journalist Rupesh Singh sought action under Indian Penal Code sections 420 (cheating), 406 (criminal breach of trust), 120B (criminal conspiracy) and the Copyright Act.

The complaint was filed on March 1, but the details were available on Friday.

Besides Musk, the complaint also named former Twitter India head Manish Maheshwari. Being a senior journalist, writer and director, he is very active on Twitter, Singh said in the complaint filed through Advocate Niraj Gupta.

He noticed that all verified Twitter accounts have blue ticks whether they are of ordinary users or prominent personalities likes heads of state, he said. Singh developed and created the concept that verified Twitter accounts of prominent personalities should be given different-colored ticks, and shared it on the wall of the microblogging site in May 2022, the complaint claimed.

But the accused, in a very "pre-planned and afterthought manner", did not reply to his concept but after a few months the same idea of different-coloured tick was implemented without giving him credit and remuneration, it alleged. The accused, hatching a criminal conspiracy, played a fraud upon the complainant, caused him huge wrongful loss and also "mental and physical torture", the complaint said. The court will hear the matter on March 17.
The Kremlin on Thursday accused Ukrainian saboteurs of crossing into western Russia and firing on villagers. Ukraine denied the claim and warned that Moscow could use the allegations to justify stepping up its own attacks in the ongoing war.

The exact circumstances of the alleged attack reported in the Bryansk region were unclear, including what the strategic purpose of such an assault might be.

If confirmed, it would be another indication following drone attacks earlier this week that Kyiv may be stepping up pressure against Moscow by exposing Russian defensive weaknesses, embarrassing the Kremlin and sowing unease among Russian civilians.

Russian President Vladimir Putin blamed Ukrainian terrorists for an incursion, claiming that they deliberately targeted civilians, including children in "yet another terror attack, another crime.

They infiltrated the area near the border and opened fire on civilians, Putin said during a video call. They saw a civilian vehicle with civilians, with children in it, and they fired on them."



The alleged incursion came just days after Putin ordered the Federal Security Service, the main successor to the KGB, to tighten controls on Russia's border with Ukraine.

While Russian war hawks have expressed dismay about what they see as Putin's reluctance to declare martial law and a sweeping mobilization of soldiers, the Russian leader's comments Thursday did not appear to signal any such moves.

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Putin blamed the attack on neo-Nazis and said it confirmed that Russia did the right thing by invading Ukraine. I repeat again: They will not succeed, and we will finish pushing them out, he said.

When he ordered the invasion, the Russian leader vowed to denazify Ukraine, alleging falsely that radical neo-Nazi groups dominate the country led by a Jewish president. Kyiv and its Western allies dismissed his assertion as a bogus cover for an unprovoked act of aggression.

Ukraine's military intelligence representative, Andrii Cherniak, saw the Russian claims as evidence that Moscow is facing what Kyiv says is an uprising among its own disgruntled people.

This was done by the Russians; Ukraine has nothing to do with it, he told The Associated Press.

A group calling itself the Russian Volunteer Corps claimed it crossed the border into Russia in a video that also urged Russians to rebel. The group's statement did not explain what actions it took or what specific objectives it wanted to achieve.

The Russian Volunteer Corps described itself as a volunteer formation in the Armed Forces of Ukraine. Little is known about the group, and it was not immediately clear if it has any ties with the Ukrainian military.

Ukrainian presidential adviser Mykhailo Podolyak described the Russian claims as a classic deliberate provocation".

Russia wants to scare its people to justify the attack on another country (and) the growing poverty after the year of war, he tweeted, suggesting that Russian partisans were behind what happened in Bryansk.

Bryansk Gov. Alexander Bogomaz said the attackers killed two civilians and wounded a child in the village of Lyubechane.

Russia's Federal Security Service said it acted together with the military to "eliminate armed Ukrainian nationalists who violated the state border. The agency claimed later that the attackers had been pushed back into Ukraine where a massive artillery strike was inflicted on them. It was not possible to verify the claim.

Putin cancelled a planned trip to southern Russia because of the attack. He is set to chair a weekly meeting of the Russian Security Council on Friday.

Asked by reporters whether the activity could warrant a change in the status of the conflict, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said, I can't say for now."



The raid in the Bryansk region followed a spate of drone attacks. On Tuesday, drones that the Kremlin said were launched by Ukraine flew deep inside Russian territory, including one that got within 100 kilometers (60 miles) of Moscow. The Russian Defence Ministry also said Wednesday that the military repelled a drone attack on Crimea.

In Ukraine's southern city of Zaporizhzhia, three people were killed and six others were wounded early Thursday when a Russian missile hit a five-story apartment building, destroying several floors.

A Russian drone attack hit people standing in line for humanitarian aid in a village in southern Ukraine's Kherson region, wounding nine people, including a 16-year-old, the regional administration said.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Russia wants to turn every day for our people into a day of terror, adding that evil will not reign in our land.

Russian artillery, drones and missiles have pounded Ukrainian-held areas in the country's south and east for months. Moscow denies aiming at civilian targets, but its indiscriminate shelling has wrought wide destruction in urban centres.

The war largely slowed to a grinding stalemate during the winter months, but a fierce battle continued for control of Bakhmut, a key eastern stronghold where Ukrainian officials say they might strategically withdraw.

The Ukrainian military's general staff reported that Russian forces continue to advance and storm the city, but Kyiv's troops repelled some of the attacks. Capturing the city would not only give Russian fighters a rare battlefield gain after months of setbacks, but it might rupture Ukraine's supply lines and allow the Kremlin's forces to press toward other Ukrainian strongholds in Donetsk.

In other developments, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov talked briefly on Thursday at a meeting of top diplomats from the Group of 20 nations. It was the first high-level meeting in months between Russia and the US.

A senior US official, who spoke to reporters on condition of anonymity to discuss the private conversation, said Blinken had disabused Lavrov of any idea that US support for Ukraine is wavering.
With the G20 Foreign Ministers' Meeting in New Delhi unable to come out with a joint communique due to the sharp rift between the West and Russia over the Ukraine conflict, a spokesperson for UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said this is not a reflection on India's efforts as host but of the divisions" seen among countries in the international fora.

India as President of the G20 hosted the Foreign Ministers Meeting on Thursday in New Delhi, attended by US Secretary of State Antony Blinken, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, and Chinese Foreign Minister Qin Gang among counterparts from other G20 nations.

The meeting was unable to come out with a joint communique due to a sharp rift between the West and Russia over the Ukraine conflict despite efforts by host India to bridge the differences.

Blinken told a news conference in the Indian capital that Russia and China were the two countries that did not support a joint communique at the meeting.

Well, we are not a party to the meeting. I think this is obviously in no way a reflection on the hosts, and on the efforts of India as the host of the G20. Since we're not at the table, it is not for us to proportion, blame and to analyze where the issue may be. It is yet however another reflection of the divisions we see in a number of international fora, Stphane Dujarric, Spokesman for the Secretary-General, said at the daily press briefing on Thursday.

Dujarric was responding to a question on the conclusion of the G20 Foreign Ministers' meeting without a joint communiqu and Washington putting the blame for this on Moscow and Beijing.

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On the sidelines of the G20 meeting, Blinken and Lavrov spoke briefly face to face-for the first time since the Russian invasion of Ukraine a year ago. I told the Russian foreign minister that no matter what else is happening in the world and our relationship, the US will always be ready to engage and act on strategic arms control just as the US and the Soviet Union did at the height of the Cold War, Blinken said.

In response to a question on how the Secretary-General sees the Blinken-Lavrov meeting, Dujarric said: On one hand we didn't see an agreement, joint agreement or joint statement, on the other hand, any opportunity for direct dialogue between the Russian Federation and the US is to be welcomed.

But I have no more insight into what was said. But we always believe direct discussions and face-to-face discussions are best, Dujarric said.
In a move to counter China's increasing assertiveness in the Indo-Pacific region, Quad members (Australia, India, Japan and the US) on Friday committed to supporting Pacific Island countries.

"We are committed to supporting Pacific Island countries in line with the objectives of the Pacific Islands Forum's 2050 Strategy for the Blue Pacific Continent, guided by Pacific priorities of climate change, resilient infrastructure and maritime security," read Quad leaders joint statement.

External Affairs Minister Dr S Jaishankar, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken, Japanese Foreign Minister Yoshimasa Hayashi, and Australian Foreign Minister Penny Wong today attended the Quad Foreign Ministers Meet, in Delhi on the sidelines of Raisina Dialogue, 2023.

"We support regional institutions in the Pacific and are also further strengthening our cooperation with the Indian Ocean Rim Association (IORA), to address the region's most pressing and important challenges. We welcome India's leadership in finalising the IORA Outlook on the Indo-Pacific," added the statement.

In recent times there has been a shifting of goal posts by major world powers from other areas of conflict to the Indian and Pacific Ocean. This has largely been due to Chinese belligerence in the South China Sea by hegemonizing its intention over the entire seawater defying the laid down UN conventions and international maritime laws.

Recognising that peace and security in the maritime domain underpins the development and prosperity of the Indo-Pacific, the Quad grouping of countries comprising of US, Japan, Australia and India issued a joint statement opposing any unilateral actions that seek to change the status quo or increase tensions in the area.

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It also reaffirmed the Quad's steadfast commitment to supporting a free and open Indo-Pacific, which is inclusive and resilient.

"Our meeting today reaffirms the Quad's steadfast commitment to supporting a free and open Indo-Pacific, which is inclusive and resilient. We strongly support the principles of freedom, rule of law, sovereignty and territorial integrity, peaceful settlement of disputes without resorting to threat or use of force and freedom of navigation and overflight, and oppose any unilateral attempt to change the status quo, all of which are essential to the peace, stability and prosperity of the Indo-Pacific region and beyond," read the statement.

The present geo-political situation in the Indo-Pacific is fraught with major irritants destabilising the region. There is a need to establish common standards to form the basis of deeper integration in the future and to ensure equal access to global commons for all the countries as a right under international law.

The quad members also recognized that peace and security in the maritime domain underpins the development and prosperity of the Indo-Pacific, and reiterated the importance of respect for sovereignty, consistent with international law.

"We reiterate the importance of adherence to international law, as reflected in the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS), to meet challenges to the maritime rules-based order, including in the South and East China Seas," added the statement.

They also strongly opposed any unilateral actions that seek to change the status quo or increase tensions in the area.

"We express serious concern at the militarization of disputed features, the dangerous use of coast guard vessels and maritime militia, and efforts to disrupt other countries' offshore resource exploitation activities," added the statement.

"We reiterate our conviction that the Quad, acting as a force for regional and global good, will be guided by the priorities of the Indo-Pacific region through its positive and constructive agenda," it added.

The quad members also reaffirmed consistent and unwavering support for ASEAN centrality and unity, and the ASEAN-led architecture- including the East Asia Summit and ASEAN Regional Forum.

"We remain committed to supporting the implementation of the ASEAN Outlook on the Indo-Pacific (AOIP) and will be guided in our work by ASEAN's principles and priorities," added the statement.

They also welcomed Indonesia's 2023 ASEAN Chairmanship and vowed to support its Chair theme "ASEAN Matters: Epicentrum of Growth."

"We identify tangible areas for the Quad to support the work of ASEAN. In addition, we are committed to further strengthening our respective relationships with ASEAN, thus creating a platform for greater Quad collaboration in support of the AOIP," added the statement.

The Quad leaders also focussed on deepening engagement with regional partners, including through information-sharing, capacity-building and technical assistance, to strengthen maritime domain awareness; counter illegal, unreported and unregulated fishing; enhance their capacity to protect and develop offshore resources, consistent with UNCLOS; ensure freedom of navigation and overflight; and promote the safety and security of sea lines of communication.

"We look forward to continuing these discussions at the Quad Maritime Security Working Group meeting hosted by the United States in Washington DC in March 2023. In this context, we welcome the progress made under the Indo-Pacific Partnership for Maritime Domain Awareness (IPMDA)," added the statement.


Prigozhins men have spearheaded the assault in eastern Ukraine for months. Moscow regards Bakhmut, which it calls by its Soviet-era name of Artyomovsk, as a useful stepping stone to seize bigger cities like Kramatorsk and Sloviansk. Yevgeny Prigozhin, founder of Russias Wagner mercenary force, said in a video published on Friday that the Ukrainian city of Bakhmut was practically surrounded by his forces and that Kyivs forces had only one road left out.



Prigozhin, wearing a military uniform in the video, called on Ukrainian President Volodymr Zelenskiy to withdraw his forces from the small city. Washington will announce a new $400 million military aid package for the Kyiv government, and is expected to be a major topic between U.S. President Joe Biden and German Chancellor Olaf Scholz when they meet at the White House, officials said.



Reuters geolocated the video to the village of Paraskoviivka, 4.3 miles (7 km) north of the centre of Bakhmut. Units of the private military company Wagner have practically surrounded Bakhmut. Only one road is left (open to Ukrainian forces) The pincers are getting tighter, said Prigozhin.

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The video then showed what looked like three captured Ukrainians  an older man and two young boys  who looked frightened and asked to be allowed to go home. They looked to be speaking under extreme stress. Prigozhin said his forces were increasingly fighting against old men and children rather than the professional Ukrainian army.



Putin orders new rules for defence firms in case of martial law

Ukrainian forces clinging to the eastern city of Bakhmut dug new trenches in an attempt to hold back Russian attackers, as the United States said new military aid for Ukraine would be discussed at a meeting with Germanys leader on Friday.



Under the decree, the state would get the power to take over firms that fail to meet their obligations under military contracts during the period of martial law, suspending the rights of owners and shareholders. A government working group is to be set up on the operations of arms companies under martial law, according to the order, the text of which was published Friday.

Russian President Vladimir Putin signed a decree Friday laying out new rules for tightening control of companies that fail to fulfill defense contracts in the event martial law is imposed, the latest step in the Kremlins preparations for militarising the economy as its invasion of Ukraine stretches into a second year.
The South Korean and US militaries said Friday they'll go ahead with large-scale annual military drills later this month despite North Korea's threats to take unprecedently strong action against such training.

It's likely that North Korea will respond to the upcoming South Korean-U.S. exercises with provocative missile tests and belligerent rhetoric because it views them as an invasion rehearsal.

In a joint press conference, the South Korean and US militaries said they will conduct the Freedom Shield exercise, a computer-simulated command post training, from March 13-23 to strengthen their defense and response capabilities.

They said the training would focus on North Korean aggression, lessons learned from recent conflicts and the changing security environment.

The Korea-U.S. alliance will prepare for the FS (Freedom Shield) training while maintaining a firm readiness against potential provocations by the North Korean military, said Col. Lee Sung Jun, a spokesperson at the South Korea's Joint Chiefs of Staff.

Lee said the allies would respond to possible North Korean provocations with an overwhelming capability.

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During the exercises, the allies will also conduct a number of large-scale joint field training, called Warrior Shield FTX, to improve their operation execution capabilities, said Col. Isaac L. Taylor, a spokesperson for the U.S. military. He said the field trainings will include a combined amphibious drill.

The Warrior Shield FTX stands for the ROK-U.S. alliance's capability and resolution to ensure a combined defense posture to defend the ROK, Taylor said, using South Korea's official name, the Republic of Korea.

South Korea and the United States have been expanding their military exercises in the face of evolving North Korean nuclear threats. Emboldened by its advancing nuclear arsenal, North Korea test-fired more than 70 missiles last year, the most ever for a single year, and several more this year. Many of the missiles tested nuclear-capable weapons designed to strike the U.S. mainland and South Korea.

North Korea has also threatened to use its nuclear weapons preemptively in potential conflicts with the United States and South Korea. The US military has warned the North that the use of nuclear weapons will result in the end of that regime.

In January, Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said the US would also increase its deployment of advanced weapons such as fighter jets and bombers to the Korean Peninsula.

Last month, North Korea's Foreign Ministry warned the U.S. and South Korea would face unprecedentedly persistent and strong counteractions if they carry out their planned military drills this year that the North regards as preparations for an aggression war.

Later, Senior North Korean Foreign Ministry official Kwon Jong Gun said that the only way to reduce military tensions on the Korean Peninsula is for the United States to withdraw its plans to deploy strategic assets in South Korea and halt joint drills with its Asian ally. He said if the United States continues its hostile and provocative practices against North Korea, that can be regarded as a declaration of war against it.

North Korea has previously issued similar rhetoric in times of animosities with the United States and South Korea.


The Commerce Department added a number of companies to the so-called Entity List for acquiring and attempting to acquire US-origin items in support of Chinas military modernization efforts. The department also cited companies providing support to Russias military. The Biden administration on Thursday announced export restrictions for dozens of Chinese entities, including server maker Inspur Group Co. and units of genetics firm BGI Research, citing activities contrary to US national security or foreign policy interests.



Loongson is considered a potential alternative in future for Intel Corp. chips, while Inspur competes directly with servers made by the likes of HP Inc. and Dell Technologies Inc. Among the notable additions is Inspur Group, the state-affiliated maker of computer servers thats benefited from giant datacenter construction nationwide, and Beijing-based CPU maker Loongson. Both are regarded as integral to the governments effort to replace foreign-made technology and propel domestic innovation.



The Commerce Departments Bureau of Industry and Security declined to comment beyond the federal register notice. US companies are banned from exporting to the listed entities without prior government approval.

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The US has also added BGI Research to the list, a reflection of the administrations use of the blacklist to address human rights violations. It also included agencies such as the National Research Center for Parallel Computer Engineering and Technology and the Wuxi Institute of Advanced Technology. The sanctions that cover Inspur are similar to those imposed on Huawei Technologies Co., and apply to US shipments as well as foreign-made items produced with US-origin tools or technology, which effectively means all semiconductors on the planet are covered, said Kevin Wolf, a partner at Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld.
By Andrea Shalal

WASHINGTON (Reuters) -U.S. President Joe Biden's nominee to lead the World Bank, ex-Mastercard Chief Executive Officer Ajay Banga, said he plans to travel to Europe, Asia, Africa and potentially Latin America in coming weeks to hear from donor countries and borrowers on challenges facing the global institution.

Speaking with reporters at the U.S. Treasury Department, Banga said he believes the scientific evidence on climate change, and underscored the need for the bank to continue to work on poverty reduction and inequality, while also tackling the "intertwined" challenges posed by climate change.

"You cannot have economic prosperity without caring about nature, pandemics, fragility, food availability - this is our new world," Banga said. "You need to understand that the challenges are multiplied and are multipolar."

Biden last week nominated Banga, to head the World Bank, betting the India-born executive's ties to the private sector and decades of experience in emerging markets will bring fresh momentum to a U.S.-led push to overhaul the 77-year-old institution to better address climate change.

Banga, 63, would replace outgoing president David Malpass, who announced his resignation last month after months of controversy sparked by his initial refusal to say if he accepted the scientific consensus on climate change, and escalating pressure by Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen for him to adopt "bolder and more imaginative" reforms at the bank.

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Banga, who oversaw the expansion of Mastercard's market capitalization to $360 billion from $20 billion during his 12-year tenure there, said he had already gotten support from India, Ghana and Kenya, but hoped to visit as many countries around the world "as logistically possible" over the next three weeks to understand their priorities and concerns.

Barring any last-minute challenges, Biden's nomination of Banga, now a U.S. citizen, all but assures he will assume a job that oversees billions of dollars of funding to help developing countries. 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.

Asked about a U.S.-led push to stretch the bank's balance sheet and boost its lending capacity, Banga said the bank must "do all it can" to work through recommendations prepared for the Group of 20 major economies by an independent commission last year, while still protecting the bank's AAA credit rating.

(Reporting by Andrea Shalal; editing by Diane Craft)
Monica Macias poses near Tower Bridge in London in this recent photo. She is the fourth and youngest child of Francisco Macias Nguema, the first president of Equatorial Guinea since the country gained independence from Spain in 1968. She was sent to North Korea for education in 1979 at the age of 7. Photo from Duckworth Books



In memoir, Monica Macias delves into her journey from North Korea to the West



By Kang Hyun-kyung



Monica Macias' brown skin, big eyes and curly hair made her stand out wherever she went in North Korea.



She had lived in Pyongyang for 15 years since 1979 when she and two other siblings, Maribel and Fran, were sent there in 1979 by her father, Francisco Macias Nguema (1924-79), the first president of Equatorial Guinea. She was 7 at that time.



In hindsight, Monica Macias, now 50, said living apart from her mother during her childhood and adolescent years made it difficult to adapt to North Korean society, as she spent most of her early days in Pyongyang homesick and missing her mother.



The strict military discipline she was required to undergo at Mangyongdae Revolutionary Military Boarding School was also a setback to adapting to the country.



Her exotic appearance, more than anything else, kept her at the center of attention, another challenge she had to overcome.



Despite the layered obstacles, Macias said she has fond childhood memories about her school life and her classmates.



"They were nice to me," she said during a Korea Times interview on Monday. "We were kids. We laughed. Sometimes we fought When I returned to school after a month of hospitalization, they were so happy to have me back. Our relationship grew deeper."



Macias, the author of the forthcoming book, titled "Black Girl from Pyongyang: In Search of My Identity," is currently based in London. She finished her master's degree in international relations in 2019 and has lived there since.



In her memoir, she elaborates on her upbringing in Pyongyang, school life and post-North Korea life which took her to Spain, New York, Seoul and London. The book also delves into her decades-long truth-finding mission about her father and his death. Her memoir will be officially released by Duckworth on March 9.





Monica Macias, center, poses with North Korean leader Kim Il-sung, third from right, and her father, Francisco Macias Nguema, third from left, in this 1977 photo taken during a visit to North Korea. Courtesy of Duckworth Books



Like her classmates, Macias was educated in a North Korean way.



She was indoctrinated with the North's unique belief system which demonizes the West. She was taught that the U.S. is North Korea's enemy and South Korea is a puppet of the U.S.



She said she was outraged when she saw her Syrian friend, who was then studying in North Korea, sitting on the state newspaper Rodong Sinmun that featured then North Korean leader Kim Il-sung on the front page.



Deeply disturbed by the Syrian's demeanor, she scolded him and lectured him on not being disrespectful.



"He started laughing and said to me that 'Oh, you say that because you grew up in Pyongyang.' Then, he left the scene," she said.



Back then, Macias said she didn't understand why he reacted like that.



After having explored several different Western countries after her departure from North Korea in 1994, she realized that she had been brainwashed by a cult of personality and that's why she felt extremely uncomfortable about the Syrian's demeanor.



The more she traveled the West, the more doubts she had about North Korea and what she was taught there.



She felt culture shock when she learned that the narratives she was taught in the North were very different from those in other countries. "The truth that I had held as absolute as I grew up in Pyongyang started to teeter," she said.





Monica Macias works on homework in this undated photo. Courtesy of Duckworth Books



Kim Il-sung, the grandfather of current North Korean leader Kim Jong-un, looked after her and her two other siblings throughout their stay there.



Macias' father was executed months after he sent his three children to the North. His nephew, Teodoro Obiang Nguema Mbasogo, launched a military coup and removed her father from the presidency. He was put on trial, accused of having perpetrated atrocities and executed by firing squad in September 1979.



Being aware of the situation, Kim Il-sung checked in regularly, over the phone or through an aide, whether the three African children were doing well at school.



"He was kind," Macias recalled. "President Kim Il-sung was always a person whom I was and am thankful to  not on a political level but on a personal level."



After rising to power, President Obiang of Equatorial Guinea sent an envoy to bring Macias' four children back home from North Korea and Cuba. Macias' eldest brother, Teo, was studying in Cuba at the time.



Then Cuban leader Fidel Castro allowed Obiang's envoy to take Teo back to Equatorial Guinea.

But Kim didn't. The North Korean leader risked his country's diplomatic relations with Equatorial Guinea to protect Macias' three children.



"Unlike Fidel Castro, Kim Il-sung refused to send us back to Equatorial Guinea. He could have just sent us back. Instead, he offered a house to my mother who was visiting Pyongyang for medical treatment to stay and live with us in the North's capital," Macias said.





Monica Macias poses with her classmates in North Korea in this undated photo. Courtesy of Duckworth Books



The family turmoil, meanwhile, has motivated Monique Macias to dig into the facts surrounding her father's death.



She was determined to conduct a research trip to Spain, the former colonizer of Equatorial Guinea, to "right the wrong" in historical narratives.



She claimed her father has a mixed legacy. His supporters describe him as a liberator who saved Equatorial Guinea from Spain's brutal colonization, while opponents labelled him as a mass murderer responsible for atrocities.



In Western media, Francisco Macias Nguema is portrayed as a dictator. Early in his presidency, he established a cult of personality and conducted a massive purge to consolidate power and silence intellectuals and educated people. In 1972, he declared himself president for life after revising the law.



Monica Macias embarked on a journey to Spain in 1994, two years after she graduated from Pyongyang University of Light Industry, to seek out the truth about her father and his legacy.



During a decade living in Spain, she interviewed about 3,000 people familiar with her father and his regime. Many of them preferred to remain anonymous when sharing their opinions. But a few, including lawyer, activist and politician Don Antonio Garcia-Trevijano, consented to Monique Macias quoting them with their names.



Through her extensive interviews, she said she found that there is a gap between the official narratives of her father and his rule in post-colonial Equatorial Guinea and what he was really about.



"My thorough research into Macias began to draw an utterly different picture of him and of historical events of the aftermath of decolonization when he was president of Equatorial Guinea. It was a shock to see how far the official account differs from that picture that was emerging from personal testimonies and the archives," she wrote in her book.



During her travels to Western countries, Monica Macias has been employed in several different industries. She worked as a part-time belly dancer in Spain, a hotel attendant in London, a jewellery designer in New York and a fashion designer in Seoul's posh southern Gangnam District. She lived in Seoul for several years.



She received the media spotlight in 2013 when her memoir, "I'm Monique from Pyongyang," was published in Korean.



Macias' experiences living in the two Koreas helped her develop an insider's view of Korea issues.



She said she didn't find any meaningful cultural differences between the two Koreas.



If there are any, she claimed, the difference might have come from a limited understanding of each other.



"Just as Northerners did not know about the South, Southerners did not know about the North. They had been cut off from each other for several generations and the emotional distance between them grew wider with every passing year," her memoir read.






More so given his preference for defensive stocks and companies with solid balance sheets. A firm believer that the active fund managements main job is outperformance, GQG Partners co-founder Rajiv Jains bet on Adani Group stocks has raised many eyebrows on the Street.



On the question of Hindenburg Research, he said, They have their view, and we have ours, and we happen to disagree with their view. But that's what makes a market." However, his interaction with Australian Financial Review on Thursday, throws more light on his investment of nearly $2-billion on the beleaguered conglomerate. He said that he had been following the group companies for the last five years but it was only now that they were available at a good price.



The ace investor has shown strong inclination towards the Indian companies and has remained underweight on China. He has established himself as a trusted name in the investment space with assets of over $92 billion under his belt. Jain made it clear that he is always looking to exploit the mispricing of long-tailed assets. He also said that he tends to be greedy in a fearful market, but sits on the sidelines when there are parties around.

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Our team must evaluate factors that are in constant flux and make decisions with imperfect information. We do this in the most competitive of environments, where the signal is very faint, he had said in an address to shareholders in the latest annual report for his company. His firm, which has its headquarters in Florida and is listed in Australia, is known for hiring individuals from various sectors -- like journalism, private equity, hedge funds, and specialised accounting -- to bring in alternative viewpoints.

Before launching his own firm, he spent over two decades at Switzerland-based Vontobel Asset Management overlooking investments in emerging markets and international equities, and earning accolades for producing excellent long-term risk-adjusted returns.


Transparency, in the form of accurate, clear, and timely communication is the best defence for a listed company that is the subject of a short-seller report, Tharman said in a written reply to parliamentary question on protection for Singapore companies against short sellers. Singapore will closely examine short-seller reports and the companies response if there are cases similar to the explosive allegations made against the Adani Group, Senior Minister Tharman Shanmugaratnam said.



Indias top court set up a panel to probe allegations against the Adani Group, after a bombshell report alleging fraud and stock rigging from Hindenburg Research wiped out more than $140 billion from its market value. Billionaire Gautam Adanis conglomerate has denied the accusations. The Singapore Exchanges regulatory arm may order an independent review if there are areas of concern, said Tharman, who also serves as minister in charge of the Monetary Authority of Singapore. The financial regulator and the white-collar police will also investigate if there are grounds to suspect theres market misconduct.

In Singapore, at least two major companies have come under attack from short-sellers. Authorities in 2022 closed a probe into Noble Group Ltd. with a record fine, years after Iceberg Research accused the commodity trader of inflating its profits. In 2012, Muddy Waters LLC raised doubts about Olam International Ltd.s finances. The food commodities trader, which suffered a stock rout, dismissed the claims.
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Canara Bank is quoting at Rs 302.9, up 4.3% on the day as on 12:44 IST on the NSE. The stock is up 44.14% in last one year as compared to a 7.97% jump in NIFTY and a 53.04% jump in the Nifty Pharma.

Canara Bank is up for a fifth straight session today. The stock is quoting at Rs 302.9, up 4.3% on the day as on 12:44 IST on the NSE. The benchmark NIFTY is up around 1.26% on the day, quoting at 17540.2. The Sensex is at 59645.51, up 1.25%. Canara Bank has gained around 2.8% in last one month.

Meanwhile, Nifty Pharma index of which Canara Bank is a constituent, has gained around 1.25% in last one month and is currently quoting at 3766.75, up 4.78% on the day. The volume in the stock stood at 86.06 lakh shares today, compared to the daily average of 73.55 lakh shares in last one month.

The benchmark March futures contract for the stock is quoting at Rs 305, up 4.63% on the day. Canara Bank is up 44.14% in last one year as compared to a 7.97% jump in NIFTY and a 53.04% jump in the Nifty Pharma index.

The PE of the stock is 5.79 based on TTM earnings ending December 22.

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For promotion of tourism in the state

EaseMyTrip.com has signed an agreement through a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the State Government of Andhra Pradesh (GoAP) on 03 March 2023.

Andhra Pradesh is a sought-after place and the destination is amongst the third highest in terms of number of visits by tourists. Under this agreement, EaseMyTrip will undertake certain marketing initiatives for the promotion of tourism in the state that will range across ATL/BTL/Digital mediums pan-India. EaseMyTrip through the promotions aims at expanding the inbound international tourism to the destination.

Binded by the MoU, GoAP will facilitate in getting necessary Permissions/ Approvals/ Clearances etc., from its relevant departments through the single desk portal within the set timelines. The MoU has a duration of three years and shall be governed by Indian laws with any disagreements related to the MoU's terms being settled exclusively by the courts in New Delhi.

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Mahindra & Mahindra Financial Services said that in February 2023, the total disbursement of approximately Rs 4,185 crore, delivering 53% growth over February 2022.

Consequently, the loan book grew further by 1.5% over January 2023.

The collection efficiency (CE) was at 97% for February 2023 compared to 98% achieved in February 2022.

The gross stage-3 (GS-3) as at February end is maintained at similar levels compared to January 2023. Gross stage-2 (GS-2) has seen further improvement sequentially.

Based on the income recognition, asset classification and provisioning norms, the gap between gross non-performing assets and IND-AS remained range-bound at approximately Rs 1,250 crore, an improvement over January 2023.

The company continued to hold adequate liquidity buffer which covers approximately 3 months' funds requirement.

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Separately, Mahindra & Mahindra Financial Services (MMFSL) has announced the launch of a specialized end-to-end digital journey named 'Used Car Digi Loans'. This offering has been launched in association with Car&Bike (by Mahindra First Choice Wheels) & Rupyy (by Cardekho), the leading brands in the used car industry.

'Used car Digi loans' has the capability of successfully disbursing loans within few hours with the help of specialized underwriting & processing teams, equipped with 15 fintech tools. Partners will have a real-time visibility of the application status and sanctioned loan offer.

Ramesh Iyer, vice chairman & managing director, Mahindra Finance said, Mahindra Finance has been at the forefront of innovative product offerings and this venture is another step in that direction.

Our partnership with Car&Bike and Rupyy will enable us to leverage on market strengths to create a digitally empowered platform. This integration will ensure a seamless and transparent journey for all stakeholders enhancing customer delight.

Mahindra & Mahindra Financial Services (Mahindra Finance), part of the Mahindra Group, is one of India's leading non-banking finance companies. Focused on the rural and semi-urban sector, the company has over 8.7 million customers and has an AUM of over $11 Billion. The company is a leading vehicle and tractor financier, provides loans to SMEs and also offers fixed deposits.

The NBFC reported 30% drop in standalone net profit to Rs 629 crore in Q3 FY23 from Rs 894 crore in Q3 FY22. Total Income in the third quarter was at Rs 2,892 crore, up 14% YoY.

The scrip shed 0.18% to currently trade at Rs 252.05 on the BSE.

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MOIL rose 2.89% to Rs 155 after the company recorded manganese (Mn) ore production of 1.31 lakh tonnes in February, 2023, thereby registering a growth of 10% over the same period last year.

Sales at 1.32 lakh tonnes of manganese ore during February 2023 was higher by 19% vis-vis February 2022.

Ajit Kumar Saxena, CMD MOIL, congratulated MOIL collective on maintaining upward trend in production and mentioned that it is fully geared up for much higher production level in coming months.

MOIL is a Schedule-A, Mini-ratna Category-I CPSE under the administrative control of Ministry of Steel, Government of India. MOIL is the largest producer of manganese ore in the country, contributing approximately 45% of the domestic production. It operates eleven mines in the state of Maharashtra and Madhya Pradesh. The company has ambitious vision of more than doubling its production to 3.00 million tonnes by 2030.

The company's standalone net profit declined 68.10% to Rs 39.52 crore on a 16.89% fall in sales to Rs 302 crore in Q3 FY23 over Q3 FY22.

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Natco Pharma added 2.42% to Rs 567 after the company announced that its board will meet on Wednesday, 8 March 2023, to consider a proposal for buyback of fully paid up equity shares of the company.

The announcement was made after trading hours yesterday.

Natco Pharma is engaged in the business of pharmaceuticals which comprises research and development, manufacturing and selling of bulk drugs and finished dosage formulations. The company has manufacturing facilities in India which caters to both domestic and international markets including regulated markets like United States of America and Europe.

The company's consolidated net profit tumbled 22.5% to Rs 62.30 crore on 12.1% decline in net sales to Rs 492.50 crore in Q3 FY23 over Q3 FY22.

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Patel Engineering jumped 6.64% to Rs 15.41 after the company, along with its joint venture (JV) partners, bagged Rihand micro irrigation project worth Rs 640.06 crore.

On the BSE, over 11.32 lakh shares were traded in the counter so far as against an average trading volume of 5.22 lakh shares in the past two weeks.

In an exchange filing made during market hours today, the civil construction firm said that the company along with the JV Partners have received letter of award for Rihand Micro Irrigation Project from Department of Water Resources, Madhya Pradesh, which was declared as L-1 earlier.

The project involves construction of a pressure irrigation system to supply water through the rising/ gravity mains by pressurized pipeline system for micro irrigation under Rihand Micro Irrigation Project, State of Madhya Pradesh. The construction period is 36 months.

The value of the contract is Rs 640.06 crore. The company being 80% partner in the JV, our share in the project is Rs 512.05 crore.

Patel Engineering is a construction company specializing in the hydro power generation and irrigation segments. We are engaged in the construction of dams, bridges, tunnels, roads, piling works, industrial structures and other kinds of heavy civil engineering works and have executed a variety of infrastructure projects in the hydro power, irrigation and water supply, urban infrastructure and transportation segments primarily as civil contractors.

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The company's consolidated net profit rose 13.5% to Rs 31.19 crore on 18.1% increase in net sales to Rs 1,036.98 crore in Q3 FY23 over Q3 FY22.

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Prime Minister Han Duck-soo speaks at the government complex in Seoul during a meeting of a government committee tasked with supporting the country's preparations for the 25th World Scout Jamboree, March 3. Yonhap



Prime Minister Han Duck-soo said Friday that South Korea has not yet decided whether to send lethal weapons to Ukraine, despite calls from Ukraine for heavy arms to support its fight against Russia.



In an interview with CNN's "Quest Means Business," Han said that South Korea has decided to increase its financial supports for Ukraine this year while seeking to support Kyiv with electricity generation facilities.



Asked whether he will consider sending lethal weapons to Ukraine, Han replied, "Not now. I think."



"But we are quite supportive of Ukraine, and this year we decided that we will increase our support in the amount of $130 million, and we are trying to support them in terms of electricity generation capabilities and so on," Han said.






Union Minister of State for Education Subhas Sarkar Friday said that the BJP-led NDA government at the Centre is committed to create systems, processes and policies aimed at developing a self-reliant country.

Interacting with students from other states who are in Arunachal Pradesh as part of Yuva Sangam' in Namsai district, Sarkar said that the idea of a sustained and structured cultural connection between the people of different regions was given by Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

Yuva Sangam' under Ek Bharat Shrestha Bharat' is a programme launched by the Centre with focus on conducting exposure tours of youth between the eight northeastern states and other states of the country, an official communiqu said.

Addressing the students, the minister said because of this initiative they were in the beautiful state of Arunachal Pradesh, which is full of diversity.

During their tours, they will have a multi-dimensional exposure under five broad areas Paryatan' (tourism), parampara' (traditions), pragati' (development), prodyogik' (technology) and paraspar sampark' (people-to-people connect).

He added that a nation that has energetic, curious and hard-working youth and is able to provide them ample opportunity to work and grow builds a strong base for its own development.
Delhi Mayor Shelly Oberoi on Friday instructed officials for undertaking special drives for repair of civic-run hospitals, officials said.

After this, several hospitals, including Hindu Rao Hospital, Swami Dayanand Hospital, Kasturba Hospital, Fatehpur Beri Maternity and Child Welfare Hospital, SDN Hospital and Mata Gujri Hospital, are set for "radical reforms", her office said in a statement.

Oberoi chaired a meeting with senior officers of the engineering and the IT departments on Friday, it said.

She took stock of various ongoing and completed projects spanning across various domains of the departments.

While reviewing the conditions of MCD hospitals she gave instructions for improvement and for undertaking special repair drives at these hospitals, the statement said.

The mayor also reviewed the redevelopment of MCD staff colonies at Azadpur, Model Town and Kamla Nagar. She directed officers to give impetus to the project and ensure the colonies are upgraded to the highest possible standards.

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Oberoi also took stock of ongoing tenders, parking projects and lake rejuvenation initiatives, directing officials to expedite progress on these projects.

She laid special focus on the rejuvenation of Roshanara Bagh Lake and Aya Nagar pond among other projects, it said.

Oberoi also directed officers to explore the possibility of app-based solutions to streamline services and improve efficiency. She reviewed the challenges being faced by the IT department and discussed proposed solutions to them as well, her office said.

The mayor said it is important for the civic agency to work together to address the issues facing the city in a timely and efficient manner.

Earlier in the day, the mayor also chaired a meeting with the deputy commissioner (DC), zonal heads, and councillors of the Narela Zone.

The purpose of the meeting was to understand the local issues that can be solved collectively, and to discuss major issues with councillors in their respective wards, it said.

The mayor was also apprised by the councillors regarding shortage of sanitation and horticulture staff in the zone, besides some equipment related issues. She asked the DC and zonal heads to take quick and probable action on the issue.

Further, the mayor learnt that a Maternity and Child Welfare Centre in Nizampur and a nursing college in the zone are "lying shut". She directed officers to address the situation and revive the medical facilities being provided there, the statement said.

The mayor also expressed her concerns over the functioning of the veterinary department in the zone. She directed officers to immediately resolve all issues relating to the shortage of cattle catchers and vehicles in the zone.
The BJP on Friday credited the win of its alliance in Nagaland to Prime Minister Narendra Modi's 'Act East' policy and the party's campaign focus on peace and development in the northeastern state.

BJP's in-charge for Nagaland Nalin Kohli, who is also a national spokesperson of the party, said, "The voters of Nagaland have rewarded the party for its positive agenda and the good work done by the double-engine government of PM Modi at the Centre and Chief Minister Rio in the state."



He noted that Modi has visited the northeastern region 51 times in his tenure, and ministers from his government have been there more than 400 times. This has ensured that infrastructure projects and various schemes are implemented effectively and on time, Kohli added.

"The BJP's success in the northeast is directly linked to Prime Minister Modi's 'Act East' policy and the positive agenda of Sabka Saath, Sabka Vikas, Sabka Vishwas, Sabka Prayas. In Nagaland, the campaign focus was on peace and development," he said.

The NDPP-BJP alliance bagged 37 seats in the 60-member Nagaland assembly, securing a straight second term in office in the state.

The Nationalist Democratic Progressive Party (NDPP) and the BJP emerged victorious in 25 and 12 constituencies respectively.
The Supreme Court on Friday issued notices to Axis Trustee Services Ltd on a batch of appeals filed by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) and others challenging a Bombay High Court order quashing a decision of the Yes Bank Administrator to write off Additional Tier 1 (AT-1) bonds.

The top court also extended the stay on the operation of the Bombay High Court order quashing the decision of the Yes Bank Administrator to write off AT-1 bond worth Rs 8,415 crore as part of the bailout in March 2020.

A bench headed by Chief Justice D Y Chandrachud, however, assured the AT-1 bond investors that it would try to find out some kind of solution to the financial trouble being faced by them after senior advocate Mukul Rohatgi, appearing for Axis Trustee Services Ltd, said the invested money has become zero for no fault of theirs.

It was the top officials of the bank who brought down the bank. Their men are in jail. Our money has become zero... we are not Tata-Birla. We are institutional investors. Some people invested their hard earned money. What wrong we committed? Why should we suffer, Rohatgi added.

Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, appearing for the RBI, and senior advocate Kapil Sibal, representing Yes Bank, said the PSU banks agreed to bailout and infused money in Yes bank after it was decided to write off AT-1 bonds.

Sibal said these were non-convertible, perpetual bonds yielding high interest at the rate of 9.5 per cent and they can be written off to save the bank.

Also Read SBI board approves Rs 10,000-cr AT1 bonds offering to support biz growth Canara Bank to raise Rs 3,000 cr in AT1, tier-II capital in H2FY23 YES Bank approaches Supreme Court against Bombay HC decision on AT-1 bonds Bombay High Court quashes write-off of YES Bank's additional AT1 bonds State Bank of India issues Rs 4.5K-crore in AT1, half of the amount planned SC lowers criterion for appointment as president, member of consumer forums Safety, trust can't be sacrificed at altar of freedom of speech: MoS Mansukh Mandaviya, Ashwini Vaishnaw flag off Jan Aushadhi train AIIMS Delhi to join hands with other govt hospitals for cross referrals Ministry of Rural Development extends MoU with NIFT

The top court said it might use its extraordinary power under Article 142 of the Constitution to find some solution for the bond holders.

The Bombay High Court, while quashing the decision of the Yes Bank Administrator had, however, said its decision will be in abeyance so the central bank and Yes Bank may appeal against it in the apex court.

Issue notice. The stay granted (by the Bombay HC on its decision) will continue, said the bench which also comprised justices P S Narasimha and J B Pardiwala.

AT-1 bonds have no maturity date. These debt instruments offer higher returns but also carry greater risk.

The bench asked the parties to file a list of dates and a common compilation of records and case laws for expeditious disposal of the matter and listed it for hearing on March 20.

It also appointed lawyers Pallavi Shroff and P S Sudhir as nodal counsel to assist the bench in hearing the case by collating and filing the common documents from both sides.

The high court had on January 20 quashed the decision of the Yes Bank on March 14, 2020 to write off the bonds noting the Administrator did not have the authority to take such a decision.

The high court had in its judgment said the Final Reconstruction Scheme of the Yes Bank issued by the Reserve Bank of India did not engulf within its fold writing down/off the AT-1 bonds.

"The final scheme sanctioned by the Central government did not contain the clause or provision for writing down AT-1 bonds," it had said.

The high court had further held when the RBI prepared the draft scheme for reconstitution of the bank, it had invited suggestions and objections and it appears the petitioners had raised objection to the writing down of AT-1 bonds and even suggested their conversion into shares.

The high court had, however, stayed its order for a period of six weeks.

The petitions before the high court had also sought directions against National Securities Depositories Limited and Central Depository Services to take steps to reverse the effect of any accounting, entries, noting, write-offs, cancellations, or any such steps that may have been undertaken pursuant to the impugned decision to write off the bonds.
IT services company Tech Mahindra on Friday said it will invest up to Rs 700 crore in the newly carved out division of products and platforms in the next two years.

The Mahindra group company is already present in the products and platforms business with its acquisition of the telecom sector-focused Comviva and other offerings which are delivering an annual revenue run rate of USD 450 million, company's chief executive and managing director C P Gurnani said.

In the next two-three years, we are aiming to take the revenue from products and platforms to USD 1 billion, he told PTI in a virtual interaction in Pune after making the announcement about the new division at 'investor day'.

The investment in the new division, to be led by Gurugram-headquartered Comviva's team, will be Rs 500-700 crore over the next two-and-half years, Gurnani said.

The Comviva team, which also has presence in Bhubaneswar and Bengaluru, has been tasked with leading the entire products and platforms play,he said.

Apart from telecom, Tech M's products and platforms also extends to the banking, financial services and insurance vertical and other sectors in the enterprise business at present, he said, adding that Comviva's standalone contribution to the USD 450 million pie will be about USD 200 million.

Also Read Mahindra XUV 400 EV launch: Where to watch, time, features and price M&M to unveil Mahindra XUV 400 EV this week; here's what we know so far Mahindra & Mahindra reports total sale of 56,677 units in Dec 2022 India's Mahindra named fastest-growing brand in South Africa for 2022 Mahindra lines up new products; firms up investments for electric future World Bank commits $1 bn to India for public healthcare infrastructure Govt to stop import of crude sunflower seed oil under tariff rate quota India, Denmark have strong, historic silver traditions: Danish Crown Prince Adani Ports and SEZ crosses 300 MMT cargo handling in just 329 days ChatGPT revolutionary, highly productive : ICRIER Chief Pramod Bhasin

Company's president for corporate development Vivek Agarwal said the company will be leveraging on existing customers who will form the first of the clients for the products and platforms offerings, and also the embedded domain knowledge it has earned by working for customers.

He also said the products and platforms play will help expand the margins for the company, which has been aspiring to improve on profitability for some time now.

Gurnani said the investments are not very significant and will be made using its existing balance sheet strength, and added that the investments will be in technology, which will involve research and development tools and creation of labs.

It will be getting people internally, and also hiring specialized talent with domain expertise from outside for the new division, he added.

The new division will also be working with other companies in the diversified Mahindra group, which can yield sector-specific solutions, Gurnani said.

Apart from the new products and platforms division, Gurnani also said the company is aiming to increase the overall revenue contribution from partnerships to the industry average of 40 per cent in a year's time from the present 30 per cent.

It has created a road map for the same in coordination with its technology partners SAP, Amazon, Google and Microsoft, Gurnani said.

Tech Mahindra will also focus on co-creation with customers, he said, pointing out that it has agreed to create solutions with a Japanese customer which can help the broader auto industry worldwide as well.

It will also be working with other companies in the group on this aspect of co-creation, he added.

Speaking to investors earlier in the day, its chief financial officer Rohit Anand said the company will be focusing on organic growth, margin expansion and driving portfolio synergies in the future.

Its business head for Business Process Services Birendra Sen said generative artificial intelligence platforms like ChatGPT will not have a major impact on the business.

Tech Mahindra scrip settled at Rs 1,085.45, down 2.19 per cent on BSE on Friday.
The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) rejected Elon Musk-run company Neuralink's bid to implant a chip in a human brain over safety risks, the media reported.

In December last year, Musk had claimed his brain-computer Neuralink's device is ready for human trials and he is expecting to do so in about six months after experimenting it on pigs and monkeys.

Reuters now reports that FDA rejected Neuralink's application for a human experiment over several safety concerns, like the device's lithium battery, implant's tiny wires and questions how the device can be removed without damaging brain tissue.

"A year after the rejection, Neuralink is still working through the agency's concerns," the report said, citing Neuralink's staffers.

Musk and Neuralink did not comment on the report and the FDA declined to comment.

Neuralink had submitted most of the paperwork needed for a human clinical trial to the US FDA.

Also Read Elon Musk's Neuralink hopes to implant computer in human brain in 6 months Bezos and Gates back Synchron in drive for brain implant breakthrough Elon Musk's brain-implant firm under probe after 1,500 animal deaths Kids who suffer traumatic brain injury have more emotional problems: Study Extreme cold raises risk of brain stroke, haemorrhage: Health expert We're building next-gen AI to become a global powerhouse: Chandrasekhar Indian short-form video market to reach up to $12 bn by 2030: Report Keep teens out of your metaverse dream: US Senators tell Mark Zuckerberg Users can now choose different tones of responses of AI Bing chatbot Meta expanding Instagram's age verification test to 6 more countries

"We are now confident that the Neuralink device is ready for humans, so timing is a function of working through the FDA-approval process," the new Twitter CEO had tweeted.

Neuralink's goal is to create a device that can be implanted in the brain, and use it to control a computer with brain activity.

The Neuralink devices are tiny, with multiple flexible "threads" that can be inserted into the brain.

"It's like replacing a piece of your skull with a smartwatch, for lack of a better analogy," Musk said. He said the device can be upgraded as the time progresses.

Neuralink's implant is designed to record and stimulate brain activity, which Musk has stated could help people address conditions such as obesity.

Musk claims that Neuralink's brain chips will one day make humans hyper-intelligent and let paralysed people walk again.

The brain chips were recently implanted in monkeys' brains during a series of tests at the University of California, Davis.

Since launching publicly in 2017, Neuralink has demonstrated its brain implant in pigs and monkeys.

The main aim of the project is to provide a direct connection between a brain and a computer to overcome the power of Artificial Intelligence, using a "sewing machine-like" device to stitch threads to an implanted brain chip.

--IANS

na/dpb
Cyril Amarchand Mangaldas advised Kotak Mahindra Bank Limited (Kotak), in relation to the acquisition of Sonata Finance Private Limited (Sonata), a Non-Banking Finance Company  Micro Finance Institution registered with the Reserve Bank of India for an aggregate amount of Rs 537 crore (approx.).



The General Corporate, Finance, and Financial Regulatory Practices of Cyril Amarchand Mangaldas advised Kotak for the transaction. The transaction team was led by L. Viswanathan, Partner (Chair  Finance, Projects & Insolvency); Indranath Bishnu, Partner; Pranjita Barman, Partner; with support from Anirud Sudarsan R, Senior Associate; and Ayushi Agrawal, Associate.



The Due Diligence team was led by Pranjita Barman, Partner; with support from Anirud Sudarsan R, Senior Associate; Niyati Dholakia, Senior Associate; Soumyaditya Dasgupta, Associate; Ayushi Agrawal, Associate.



The employment team for the Due Diligence was led by Richa Mohanty Rao, Partner; with support from Ankita Sharma, Senior Associate; Luv Saggi, Senior Associate; and Anushka Dua, Associate.



Bharath Reddy, Partner; with support from Sindhushri Badarinath, Director - General Corporate; and Sudipta Lenka, Associate; advised on acquisition of shares from employee shareholders of Sonata and the Sonata Employee Welfare Trust.



The Finance team led by Meeta Kurpad, Partner; with support from Kishan Kumar Gupta, Associate; advised on the Financing-related aspects (i.e., transfer/assignment of loans).



Ganesh Kumar, Consultant; and Lily Vadera Consultant; rendered advice on RBI-related aspects on the Proposed Transaction and incidental matters thereto.




First lady Kim Keon Hee helped clean a river and met with merchants at a traditional market in the southeastern city of Pohang on Friday, the presidential office said.







Kim joined a group of community leaders and college students in the city 272 kilometers southeast of Seoul to throw mud balls containing effective microorganisms (EM) into the river and collect trash, according to presidential spokesperson Lee Do-woon.







The mud balls are known to help purify water.







The first lady later visited Jukdo Market and encouraged merchants who suffered damage in last year's floods.







She held hands with an elderly merchant selling dried fish and asked how her business was doing before buying a flounder from her and wishing her good health in the cold weather, Lee said.







Kim also bought 10 boxes of apples at a fruit stall to donate to a center for disabled children, and tasted and purchased various foods, such as gimbab, crab and fruits and vegetables, he said. (Yonhap)






John Kirby, National Security Council coordinator for strategic communications, is seen answering questions during a press briefing at the White House in Washington on March 2, 2023 in this captured image. Yonhap



Whether Korea will provide direct military assistance to Ukraine is up to the country itself, a White House official said Thursday, calling it a "sovereign decision" that each country has to make.



John Kirby, National Security Council coordinator for strategic communications, said the U.S. already appreciates Korea for the assistance it has provided to the East European country amid Russia's ongoing invasion of the country.



"We want all nations to support Ukraine to the best that they can. We don't want any nation to help Russia kill more Ukrainians, but it (helping Ukraine) is a sovereign decision each nation has to decide," he said when asked if the U.S. wants South Korea to provide weapons to Ukraine.



The remarks come after Ukraine's ambassador to Korea Dmytro Ponomarenko asked Seoul to provide "lethal weapons" to Ukraine in a Seoul forum held Monday.






People cross a street near office towers in the Lujiazui financial district, ahead of the National People's Congress (NPC), in Shanghai, China, Feb. 28. Reuters-Yonhap



China's annual parliament opens on Sunday and will implement the biggest government reshuffle in a decade as Xi Jinping tightens control while contending with a host of challenges, from an uneven post-COVID economic recovery to cratering U.S. relations.



Nearly 3,000 delegates will gather in the Great Hall of the People west of Tiananmen Square for the first National People's Congress (NPC) of the post-zero-COVID era, although some precautions remain including testing and quarantine for journalists.



The rubber-stamp NPC will confirm Xi's new economic team after China's most powerful leader since Mao Zedong cemented a norm-breaking third term and stacked the top of the ruling Communist Party with allies during its twice-a-decade congress in October.



It will also discuss Xi's plans for an "intensive" and "wide-ranging" re-organization of state and Communist Party entities, state media reported on Tuesday, after a three-day meeting of the party's central committee.



"It will likely entail more incorporation of State Council ministries into the party under the name of the party's comprehensive leadership," said Wen-Ti Sung, a political scientist at the Australian National University, with public health and national security likely to be areas of focus.



The government is likely to set a 2023 economic growth target of between 5 percent and 6 percent to keep a lid on unemployment, policy sources and analysts have said, with measures aimed at boosting consumption and foreign investment, among other efforts, but little expected in the way of landmark reforms.



China's economy grew just 3 percent last year, one of its worst showings in nearly half a century.



Loyalist Li Qiang, previously Shanghai party chief, is poised to become premier, charged with managing the world's second-largest economy, with investors cautiously hoping his ties with Xi will enable him to usher in more business-friendly policies after an increasingly statist turn.



The NPC will install new faces at the top of main economic and regulatory bodies including the central bank, replacing a generation of leaders seen as more reform-oriented, such as retiring Premier Li Keqiang and economic czar Liu He, a vice premier.



"The National People's Congress will be a continuation of the 20th Party Congress and will firmly implement Party decisions taken then, including a focus on security," said Alfred Wu, associate professor at the National University of Singapore's Lee Kwan Yew School of Public Policy.



The NPC takes place at a challenging time for China and Xi, who abruptly dropped his COVID policy in December after three years, following widespread protests unprecedented during his tenure.



It comes against the backdrop of a demographic turn that saw the population shrink for the first time since 1961, while urban employment fell last year for the first time in six decades, and per capita spending also declined.



Worsening relations with the United States, which is squeezing China's access to cutting-edge technologies, and a sluggish global economy add to headwinds for Xi, who will be confirmed in a third term as president after doing away with constitutional term limits in 2018.





Surveillance cameras overlook Tiananmen Square in front of a portrait of late Chinese chairman Mao Zedong, ahead of the opening of the National People's Congress (NPC) in Beijing, China, Feb. 28. Reuters-Yonhap



Rocky beginning?



The 63-year-old Li Qiang, a veteran of provincial-level posts whose prospects were undiminished by his handling of last year's crippling two-month Shanghai COVID lockdown, will be the first premier of the People's Republic never to have served in the central government.



"The beginning of his tenure could be a bit rocky as he tries to find his place in the State Council and really understand how to make it work for him," said Trey McArver, co-founder of Trivium China, a research group.



Ding Xuexiang, a former Xi aide set to become the top vice-premier, also lacks central-level management experience.



The congress, which typically lasts between one and two weeks, will begin with the outgoing Li delivering a 2023 work report, which is expected to focus on stimulating an economy damaged by three years of COVID curbs and a property sector downturn.



"We will strive to spur growth and have policy tools to do that, mainly by channeling money into big projects," Xu Hongcai, deputy director of the economic policy commission at the state-backed China Association of Policy Science, told Reuters. (Reuters)




Joint Chiefs Chairman Gen. Mark Milley speaks during a media briefing at the Pentagon, Wednesday, July 20, 2022, in Washington. AP-Yonhap





The United States is hosting war planning exercises in Germany for Ukrainian military officers to help them think through upcoming battlefield decisions, officials said on Thursday, ahead of the next phase of the year-old conflict with Russia.







The multi-day tabletop exercises have been carried out at a war-gaming facility at a U.S. Army base in Wiesbaden, Germany, which the top U.S. military officer, Army General Mark Milley, visited on Thursday.







U.S. officials declined to talk through the potential battlefield scenarios that Ukrainian military staff were examining during the drills, which involve thought exercises to evaluate potential military courses of action.







"No one is sitting there telling the Ukrainians, go left or go right or do this or do that. That is not the job of the international community," Milley told reporters traveling with him to Germany.







"All we're doing is setting up the framework and the mechanics to allow the Ukrainians to self-learn, to learn against a situation, or various scenarios."







General Darryl Williams, the U.S. Army commander in Europe, praised the dozens of Ukrainian military staff who attended the drills, saying they were "really, really good."







The drills come on the heels of the one-year anniversary of Russia's Feb. 24 invasion of Ukraine, as speculation mounts about what potential offensives Kyiv and Moscow might attempt in the war's second year.







Ukrainian forces repelled Russia's advance on Kyiv early in 2022, and the conflict, which Moscow calls a "special military operation," has become one of grinding trench warfare in the east and south.






NEW DELHI (AA) - US Secretary of State Antony Blinken on Thursday asked his Russian counterpart Sergey Lavrov to end war in Ukraine, reiterating that "every country is suffering from the impacts" of the conflict.

Blinken was addressing a press conference in New Delhi after participating in the G20 foreign ministers meeting.

He said that Russia can end the war anytime if it wanted.

Blinken had a brief meeting with Lavrov, which was the first meeting since Russias invasion of Ukraine. Blinken said that he urged Lavrov to return to negotiations for the New START treaty and return to the path of peace. Russian President Vladimir Putin last week suspended nuclear arms treaty with the US.

Every country is suffering from the impacts of the Russian War in Ukraine. We have to get food to those who are hungry and help countries become agriculturally sufficient, said Blinken.

I told the foreign minister that, no matter what else is happening in the world or in our relationship, the United States will always be ready to engage and act on strategic arms control, just as the United States and Soviet Union did even at the height of the Cold War, he said.

Blinken has also warned China that providing lethal military aid to Russia or helping them evade sanctions would be a "serious problem for U.S.-China relations.

The top diplomat also warned that there would be consequences for China should it help Russia. Blinken cited sanctions authorities as one option.

When asked about democratic backsliding and human rights issues in India, Blinken said that both India and the US are the world's two biggest democracies.

We have to hold ourselves to core values including respect for human rights like freedom of speech, freedom of religion and freedom of assembly, he said and added that, We regularly engage with our Indian counterparts on the issue, as I did with Jaishankar today.
In pics: Chinese Medical Team provides medical services for local people in Morocco

Xinhua) 10:21, March 03, 2023

Physician Wang Yi (R) from the Chinese Medical Team examines a patient during a free medical treatment activity in Taza, Morocco, Jan. 12, 2023. (Chinese Medical Team in Morocco/Handout via Xinhua)

Since 1975, China has been assigning medical teams to Morocco to provide medical services for local people.

By the end of 2022, about 2,000 Chinese medical workers have been dispatched to the African country in 195 batches, receiving 5.78 million patients' visits and performing nearly 530,000 surgeries.

Surgeon Chen Ji (1st R) from the Chinese Medical Team performs an operation for a patient in Errachidia, Morocco, Feb. 3, 2023. (Chinese Medical Team in Morocco/Handout via Xinhua)

Ophthalmologist Jin Xi from the Chinese Medical Team checks the eyes of a child during a free medical treatment activity in Taza, Morocco, Jan. 12, 2023. (Chinese Medical Team in Morocco/Handout via Xinhua)

Acupuncturist Shen Hanbing from the Chinese Medical Team examines a resident before doing acupuncture therapy in Mohammedia, Morocco, Feb. 27, 2023. (Xinhua/Sui Xiankai)

Otolaryngologist Gao Yiling from the Chinese Medical Team examines the nose of a girl during a free medical treatment activity in Chefchaouen, Morocco, Jan. 19, 2023. (Chinese Medical Team in Morocco/Handout via Xinhua)

(Web editor: Zhang Kaiwei, Liang Jun)
Sara Netanyahu, wife of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, attends a hearing at the Magistrate's Court in Rishon LeZion, Israel, on Jan. 23. AP-Yonhap



The scene signaled a grave national emergency  dozens of riot police charged through the streets of Tel Aviv as crowds of anti-government protesters howled and roared. Their mission: to rescue Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's wife from a swanky salon where she was getting her hair done.



The protesters' Wednesday night siege of the beauty parlor, accompanied by chants of "shame, shame," cast a spotlight on Sara Netanyahu, a divisive figure long been intertwined with her husband's political career.



She has drawn scorn for a reputation of living a lavish lifestyle at the taxpayers' expense  an image only reinforced by her decision to get her hair done in the center of a city wracked by unrest that turned violent Wednesday for the first time .



Israelis have also accused Netanyahu, a former air hostess turned educational psychologist, of wielding undue influence over her husband, pressuring him over political appointments and policy issues.



Here's a look at what has made Sara Netanyahu so controversial over some three decades on the political stage.



Hey, big spender



Sara Netanyahu, 64, has garnered sensational headlines over the years for allegedly misappropriating public funds, overspending on household expenses and pocketing gifts from world leaders, among other things.



In 2019, she accepted a plea bargain to settle accusations that she misused $100,000 in public funds to order lavish meals from celebrity chefs at the prime minister's official residence, although she already had cooks on the government payroll. She also has become entangled in Benjamin Netanyahu's corruption trial, which has precipitated the country's yearslong political crisis.



In exchange for political favors, the prime minister allegedly accepted gifts from billionaire friends that included tens of thousands of dollars in crates of champagne and extravagant jewelry for Sara Netanyahu, and struck backroom deals with newspaper publishers aimed at scoring more favorable coverage of his wife. He denies all wrongdoing. Most recently, a parliamentary committee approved new spending money for the Netanyahus, including an increase of thousands of dollars each year in clothing and makeup expenses for Sara Netanyahu.



"The general feeling is that this is a very greedy couple," said Israeli journalist Amir Oren. "It does have a sort of Marie Antoinette vibe."





Police stand guard outside a Tel Aviv salon where protesters demonstrating against the government's planned judicial overhaul amassed on Wednesday, March 1, after learning that the prime minister's wife, Sara Netanyahu, was getting her hair done inside. AP-Yonhap



Temper tantrums



Over the years, Sara Netanyahu's household help has consistently accused her of explosive tirades and mistreatment. In one case, a leaked phone conversation surfaced of Netanyahu screaming at her publicist about how a gossip column omitted a mention of her educational credentials. In another, the family's nanny said Netanyahu fired her for burning a pot of soup, kicking her onto the curb without her clothes or passport.



Two domestic workers have won damages in lawsuits accusing Netanyahu of making their lives miserable. In court testimony, one of them revealed Netanyahu's taste for pink champagne and other expensive luxuries. Friends and staff over the years have shared accounts about Netanyahu's extreme outbursts and unhealthy obsession with cleanliness. Netanyahu's family has depicted themselves as the casualties of a press war. They brought a libel suit against Ehud Olmert, a former prime minister, after he described them as being "mentally ill."



Calling the shots?



Critics of Netanyahu's family have accused Sara Netanyahu of interference in the prime minister's decision-making. Former officials have testified recently in court that she wielded undue influence over top security appointments. In January, a retired general testified that Sara Netanyahu interviewed him for 45 minutes for the job of the prime minister's military secretary, after Benjamin Netanyahu had left the room. "For the last few years, there has been no appointment of a senior official that was not interviewed or influenced by Sara," said Gayil Talshir, professor of political science at Hebrew University of Jerusalem.



She has been accused of pushing her husband further to the right and helping drive his government's determination to overhaul the country's judiciary  a plan that has prompted some of the largest protests in Israeli history and drawn widespread condemnation from across Israeli society and around the world.



Given her past legal troubles, critics argue, she has just as much stake in the government's plan to weaken the court system as her husband. Sara Netanyahu and her son, Yair  similarly a lightning rod for controversy  have repeatedly incited against Israel's "elites"  the media, the bureaucrats, the civil servants. Benjamin Netanyahu insists that his wife keeps out of affairs of state.





Former Israeli Prime Minister and the head of Likud party, Benjamin Netanyahu and his wife Sara gesture after first exit poll results for the Israeli Parliamentary election at his party's headquarters in Jerusalem, Wednesday, Nov. 2, 2022. AP-Yonhap
Well, it took Geely Philippines long enough. About two years after we said they needed a sub-compact crossover to penetrate the local market...
Cementarnica Usje posts 13% drop in net profit in 2022

ICR Newsroom By 03 March 2023

Cementarnica Usje, the North Macedonian subsidiary of Titan, reported a 13 per cent YoY drop in net profit to MKD1bn (US$17.2m) in 2022 as costs increased.



Operating expenses were up 41 per cent YoY to MKD5.8bn in 2022 as raw material costs increased by 67 per cent YoY to MKD3.5bn.



Operating revenue advanced 25 per cent YoY to MKD6.7bn in 2022.



Sales within Macedonia increased 26 per cent YoY to MKD4.1bn while export sales were up 22 per cent YoY to MKD2.3bn in 2022.







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Reading business news I noticed every movement in crude oil is explained away by China influences. Thanks for another great article ChatGPT. Al is awesome. I'm going to start a business media company with no employees. But I'll be programming my bot to give it out straight. It will be blaming all upward price movements on UFOs and Republicans. I'm going to be rich! Oh, wait, thats already been done.

These AI chatbots are like your high school valedictorians  they have wonderful grammar skills but their stories will put you to sleep. Theyre things AI will be great for, like running the FBI for instance, telling you to take out the garbage because its Thursday, and removing cockpits in jets and replacing them with martini bars.

Does mankind have a chance? Only it knows.

If only we wouldve had AI when I was in high school. I wouldve skipped more school than Huckleberry Finn and wandered along Market Street, my Mississippi River. I did that enough anyway. My guidance counselor told me when I was a senior that I somehow got lost in the system as a sophomore. She said I skipped 61 days. She wasnt wrong. She told me if I missed two days as a senior that I could not legally graduate. You must attend at least 2/3rds of your mandated high school days. I skipped one day as a senior.

Back in the late 70s, I probably wouldve gotten out of high school two years earlier using ChatGPT, pleasing many school administrators and saving thousands of gallons of gas. My first car was a 1963 Pontiac Catalina with a 400-hp four-barrel carb. It was a 13-mile drive to school. I think it got 12 mpg with a good tailwind. That thing was great. I once put five people in the trunk. It was a great body-dumping gangsters car. But the bodies I stashed in mine were all living and breathing. We saved $20 at the drive-in doing that.

These new kids on the block will have more time on their hands than a panhandler on a rainy day. I wonder what theyre gonna be putting in their hands? What evils emerge from an idle mind cannot be underestimated. Story updated at 11 PM, January 1, 2035.

Artificial intelligence is not a new thing  most of my friends have it in spades. What are people gonna do for in the future? I think opening a bait shop would be a good business plan. But seriously, there arent going to be many options  because AI will drive your car, cook your meal, plan your vacation, clean your house, mow the lawn, pick your mate, write your stories, and diagnose your illness, but theres one thing that AI will give us more than anything else  unemployment benefits.
Tennessee started 2023 with continued low unemployment, according to the latest data released by the Department of Labor and Workforce Development (TDLWD). The rate for January 2023 came in at 3.5%, the fourth consecutive month the states jobless number remained at that level.



In a year-to-year comparison, the number was also unchanged from the 3.5% rate the state recorded in January 2022.



Over the month, Tennessees workforce increased by 21,800 jobs. The professional and business services sector led the state in job growth, followed by the leisure and hospitality sector, and then the mining, logging, and construction sector.



During the last 12 months, Tennessees employers added 123,200 jobs to their payrolls. The leisure and hospitality sector did the most hiring during the last year. The trade, transportation, and utilities sector saw the next highest amount of growth, followed by the education and health services sector.



TDLWD has prepared a report that contains an in-depth analysis of Tennessees unemployment data for January 2023, which is available here.

Across the nation, unemployment in January dropped by 0.1 of a percentage point to 3.4%. One year ago, the rate for the United States came in at 4%.



While unemployment remains low across Tennessee, employers are still searching for great workers who can help their companies grow. Jobs4TN.gov currently has more than 350,000 open positions posted.



Job seekers can see what reemployment services the state provides at no cost, all on an easy-to-access website. TNWorkReady.com is a great place to search for employment and training opportunities or to find a nearby American Job Center or Adult Education program.



TDLWD also has the Tennessee Office of Reentry which focuses on justice-involved individuals who recently left incarceration. The Office creates and coordinates opportunities across the state to enable these individuals to receive a second chance at entering the states workforce.



The state of Tennessee will release the January 2023 unemployment data for each of the 95 counties on Thursday, March 9, at 1:30 p.m. CST.
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One Fish, Two Fish it is National Read Across America Day and the colleagues at Parkridge East Hospital celebrated by reading to their newest arrivals.

"It's never too early to get kids excited about reading," officials said. "For one of our families, even big brother joined in on the reading. Congratulations to all the families celebrating the arrivals of their new babies."
The Hamilton County Sheriffs Office School Resource Unit was made aware on Thursday morning that a threat had been made against Loftis Middle School.

After being advised of the threat, HCSO personnel immediately began an investigation.


Conversation continued at the City Beer Board on Thursday about how outlets that sell beer in Chattanooga will be educated about the new state law known as Dallass Law. Beer Inspector Sgt. Jason Wood has contacted beer boards in both Nashville, where the law originated, and in Knoxville to find out how they are implementing it, but received no reply to messages that he has left. Likewise, Assistant City Attorney Kathryn McDonald associated with the beer board has not found answers to questions that the Chattanooga Beer Board has asked.

Vice Chairman Vince Butler said that there are already violation cases being booked and that are in the pipeline so the new law is being enforced. However, he said it is very likely that many businesses are not even aware of it.

If there is a doorman checking IDs, that is considered security personnel. Restaurants that do not check IDs are exempt from this law, said Mr. Butler. The law now requires that person to be licensed by the state of Tennessee plus they must be trained in Dallass Law. It is the responsibility of the business owner to make sure security personnel they use are certified.

There continues to be many unknowns. Board Member Dan Mayfield said there needs to be a way for verifying that security is qualified such as having the bar owner to keep documentation in house for the security guards that are working there. But the bars need to know the law exists and to understand it and the Chattanooga board is attempting to find how to notify each holder of a beer license.

All records are now done on opengov a citywide online system. It is unknown if licenses issued prior to that system have been added to it or if their information is still in manual files, making it difficult to compile a mailing list. The person in charge of opengov will be asked to come to the next beer board meeting to advise how to best notify businesses that already have a permit to sell beer, and if it can be done through that system. Any new license holder can be informed in the application process.
The River City Company will be holding Rock the Riverfront from March 17-April 16 for the second year. The event celebrates the diverse cultures in the Chattanooga area - this year highlighting the Latino community.

It will be held on the Chattanooga Green, 100 Riverfront Parkway, and will be open from 10 a.m. until 10 p.m. each day.

Last year the interactive art displays were giant see saws. This year there will be eight larger than life spinning tops that can be activated with a group effort. There will also be live music, food and vendors.

With the approval from the Chattanooga Beer Board of a temporary beer permit those 21 and older will be able to buy beer. The IDs of those customers will be checked for age and they will be issued wristbands. Alcohol will not be allowed outside the perimeter of the event that will be marked with signs. Security will be provided by the Chattanooga Police Department with a higher number present on the weekends when the crowds are larger.

The new owners of the Moxy Chattanooga Downtown, 1220 King St., Andrea, Scott and Vickie Durfee and Karen and Geary and Alexander DelMonte, were approved for a new consumer and carry-out beer license for the hotel. A new permit was needed because of the change in ownership, previously the 3H Group. The new owners plan to retain the employees who sell and serve alcohol who are all TABC certified.

The Neighborhood Market, 909 Dodson Ave. was given a carry-out beer license. The new owner, Amjed Fadhel, told the beer board that he was very familiar with that store, having worked there as a cashier and stocker 10 years ago. He left and recently got the opportunity to take over the ownership.

He told the board that the store has a system in place that can automatically lock all doors from either inside or outside and calls the police if needed for security. There also is a system requiring an ID to be scanned to verify the customer who is purchasing beer is 21.
Shane Brown Kathy Estes Thaddeus McRae Anthony Minutolo Jennifer Minutolo Andrea Phillips Betsy Poole Jason Schmurr Mark Scully Beth Seymour Kevin Snider Previous Next

Following the annual board meeting in January, the Lee University Board of Directors awarded tenure to 11 faculty members, effective August 2023. The new tenured faculty members are Shane Brown, Kathy Estes, Thaddeus McRae, Anthony Minutolo, Jennifer Minutolo, Andrea Phillips, Betsy Poole, Jason Schmurr, Mark Scully, Beth Seymour and Kevin Snider.

Dr. Brown serves as an assistant professor in education in the Helen DeVos College of Education. He earned his Doctorate in Education (EdD) from Liberty University, his Master of Education (MEd) and Bachelor of Science (BS) at Lee University. He teaches all levels of educator preparation and gives administrative oversight to all field experiences and teacher education programming and licensure. Dr. Brown also serves as the assistant pastor for children and families at Westwood Baptist Church.

Dr. Estes, an associate professor of finance, earned her Doctorate in Philosophy (PhD) at Anderson University, her Master of Business Administration (MBA) at the University of Illinois at Springfield, and her Bachelor of Arts (BA) at Illinois College. She teaches courses in the School of Business such as business finance, investments, and international financial management, and has received many accolades, including the FDIC Coporate Success Award and the LaFata Adjunct Teaching Award.

Dr. McRae serves as an associate professor of biology in the College of Arts and Sciences. He received his PhD from the University of Miami and his BA from Cornerstone University. In addition to teaching his courses, Dr. McRae leads a study abroad trip to Costa Rica, where students explore the ecology and conservation of forests in cloud forests at 6,000 feet above sea level, to lowland rainforests and mangrove forests. He has mentored several student projects that range from community ecology to animal behavior.

Anthony Minutolo earned his Master of Science (MS) and his BS at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville. He currently serves as an assistant professor of engineering and physics in the College of Arts and Sciences. He has experience teaching a wide variety of mathematics, physics, and chemistry courses, and is currently involved in the development of Lees engineering program. Mr. Minutolo also planted the first Young Life outreach for teenagers in Bradley County.

Jennifer Minutolo earned her PhD at Northcentral University, her Master of Arts and Teaching (MAT) at the University of Florida, and her BS at Lee University. She currently serves as an assistant professor of computer science and mathematics in the College of Arts and Sciences. She has coordinated the implementation of Statewide Tennessee Board of Regents mandates, presented at numerous conferences, and worked with the Title III at Lee.

Dr. Phillips serves as an assistant professor of public relations in Lees Communication Arts Department. She earned her PhD at Texas Tech University, her Master of Arts (MA) at Dallas Theological Seminary, and her MS and BS at Texas Christian University. She serves as the faculty sponsor for Lees PRSSA chapter and the faculty advisor to the Bateman Competition team. She is also the founder of FTF Marketing Communications (a corporate promotions firm), where she continues to serve long-time clients.

Dr. Poole serves as the coordinator of World Languages at Lee, as well as the director of mentorship and literacy for the Center of English Language and Literacy (CELL). She received her PhD and MA at the University of Alabama and her BA at Mississippi College. At Lee, she serves as an assistant professor of spanish and linguistics. She also supervises graduate TESOL (Teaching English to Speakers of Other Language) thesis students at LCC International University in Klaipeda, Lithuania.

Dr. Schmurr teaches a wide range of courses in mathematics and computer science and serves as an associate professor of mathematics. He received his PhD and MS at Oregon State University and his BA at Wheaton College. Dr. Schmurr has been active in promoting student research through both theoretical research and collaborations with industry. He also focuses on free developing curricular materials for students such as textbooks and online homework.

Dr. Scully earned his PhD and MA at Baylor University and his BA at St. Johns College. He currently serves as an assistant professor of political science, and he also leads Lees public administration major and has expanded internship opportunities for his students in the local community. He directs Lees Mock Trial team, as well as Lees participation in the Tennessee Intercollegiate State Legislature. Dr. Scully teaches courses in the American presidency, congress, and political parties.

Dr. Seymour teaches financial accounting for all levels, including governmental and not for profit in Lees School of Business. She earned her PhD at Anderson University, her MBA and MA at Bryan College, her BS at the University of Alabama, and she holds her CPA. Before serving as an assistant professor of accounting, Seymour worked in Lees business and finance sector as the assistant director of budget and accounting.

Dr. Snider earned his PhD from Middlesex University (in collaboration with London School of Theology). He earned his Master of Divinity (MDiv) at the Pentecostal Theological Seminary and his MA and BA at Lee University. He currently serves as an assistant professor of Christian ethics and teaches classes in moral theology & philosophical ethics in Lees School of Theology and Ministry. Some of his courses include introductory and advanced courses on Heaven, Hell, and the Afterlife.

Dr. Snider encourages his students to consider questions about what makes for a good character, technology and the good life, bioethics, moral responsibility, and practical wisdom.
A woman at 1817 Broad St. told police she and her friend returned to her friends car, a black Ford Fusion, and found a man sitting in the car. The two women asked the man to get out of the car and leave. He continued to sit in the car while she called 911. The man got out of the vehicle but remained on scene. The woman told police she didnt want to press charges, she just wanted the man to leave. Police spoke to the man who said he was drinking at Whiskey Cowgirl then woke up in the vehicle. The man said he didnt remember how he ended up in the car. The man gave police his wifes phone number. Police spoke with his wife on the phone and she agreed to pick her husband up. The man left with his wife when she arrived.

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An officer attempted to stop a car on Jersey Pike and it fled. The officer saw a young black male enter the driver seat who appeared to be around 6 foot and had a thin build. He was wearing a red puffy jacket, light colored jeans and had a white bandanna in his back pocket. The officer didnt get a look at his face as he entered the vehicle. Apartment staff were notified and will alert police if they think of a possible suspect. The officer contacted Enterprise about the vehicle and they said a woman rented the car. They gave the officer a phone number for her and an address at an apartment on Greendale Way. The officer also found a second phone number and address for her. The officer attempted to call her and she answered the phone and then hung up after the officer asked about the car.

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A woman on Shawnee Trail told police someone fraudulently spent $1,100 from her EBT card.

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A woman on Williams Street told police she saw a large dent on the front passenger side door of her white Honda HR-V. She has no idea how damage was done to her vehicle. An officer saw the car was parked on the side of the road with the damage occurring to the side of the vehicle which was facing the narrow sidewalk. The officer determined due to her statement and the position the vehicle was parked, the damage could not have occurred from a vehicle.

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Police were asked to check on a residence on S. Lovell Avenue. As police were walking around the residence, the window on the back door appeared to have been broken. There were no other signs of entry and nothing appeared to have been taken. Police checked the residence to make sure no one was inside and it was secured.

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Police noticed an abandoned Mercury SLP parked behind the Walgreens at 4542 Hwy. 58. Walgreens employees told dispatch they saw a possible kid in the vehicle before it was abandoned. Police ran the tag through info channel and tried to contact the owner of the vehicle, but were unsuccessful. Police spoke with the Walgreens manager and explained the vehicle is on their property and can have it towed if deemed necessary.

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A man was seen ticket switching at self-checkout at Walmart at 2020 Gunbarrel Road. He was able to get outside to his vehicle and leave the area before he could be intercepted. It is unknown how much was stolen, but the purchase price was around $20. He has been entered in Walmart's system and at this time Walmart is not choosing to pursue charges.

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Police were called to Glass Street where a woman said a man was refusing to leave the residence. Police spoke with both people and the man agreed to leave after packing a bag of his clothes. He left without incident.

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A couple on Chestnut Street were arguing in a parking lot. They told police the disorder was about the man removing his belongings from the womans apartment. After speaking to police, both agreed for the man to return on a later date to gather his belongings.

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An employee at the Holiday Inn Express and Suites at 440 W. Martin Luther King Blvd. told police a hotel guest had left a firearm. Police spoke with the man who had occupied the room and he said he didnt want to leave his firearm in his truck and brought it up to his hotel room and forgot it. The firearm was transported to the Chattanooga Police Property Division.
Kochs Bakery owner Barbara Davis has announced she will close the South Broad Street business in a few days.

The 84-year-old says it is just time. Lyle and Barbara Davis purchased the bakery in the 80s from Mike and Barbara Hailey, who had bought it from George and Irene Koch in the late 70s.

The bakery was located across from WDEF radio and TV and a favorite of Luther Masingill, Chuck Jolly Cholly Krause and Harry Thornton. The broadcasters would be seen frequently crossing the busy street bringing back to the station a dozen of those famous glazed doughnuts and they would share with WDEF employees. When Harry Thornton retired, he thanked the bakery staff on the air for the delicious cake.

While I was working at WDEF Radio in 1968, listeners brought Jolly Cholly several of their eclairs, a pastry filled with cream and chocolate icing. Jolly Cholly would eat them on the air then lick his fingers.

The late Jack Hatcher would eat several of their fritters and enjoy his coffee while selecting music for his noon radio show. Program manager Jerry Lingerfelt said their baked products were the best. Lingerfelt also liked their baked fresh bread.

Guests knew how Luther and the air personalities enjoyed Kochs goodies and would often bring them a sack full before interviews.

WDEFs Ben Cagle said it was like losing a friend when the bakery moved from across from the studio to 1900 Broad St., their current location. Mr. Cagle said after the move, station employees would make frequent trips up the street just to get the doughnuts.

Kochs Bakery was a favorite place for the late Chattanooga Mayor Gene Roberts to pick up doughnuts on his way to city hall. He would often share with reporters including J.B. Collins with the Chattanooga News Free Press and Springer Gibson with the Chattanooga Times. Both journalists would eat two.

Commissioners Paul Clark and Jim Eberle would often join them. Clark said, Were not violating the Sunshine Law by eating doughnuts together.

While I was on the air at WDOD in the 80s the Davises fixed birthday and anniversary cakes for our listeners. They sponsored live Mountain Opry radio broadcasts on WDOD preparing several large sheet birthday cakes for visitors on the Oprys anniversary dates. Frank McDonald with the Dismembered Tennesseans joked, Our group shows up at anniversary time just to get a piece of that delicious cake.

The Davises were known to send baked goodie trays to the station during the holidays when veggie lady Marylin Gearldson and Delmar Goatman Hoskins were my guests.

The Davises even hosted several birthday parties for this writer with special guests longtime customer restauranteur Abe Zarzour and folklorist Dick Frymire.

Every time I went into the bakery, owner Lyle Davis would insist I take a sack of baked goods back to the radio station.

Barbara Davis gave me several on location tours of her spotless kitchen where everything was prepared. She said she would arrive in the middle of the night and enjoyed baking for her customers.

After Lyle Daviss death, his wife was determined to keep the family owned business open six days a week. She often remarked, I love to make others happy by baking for them.

The success of one of the last of the downtown bakeries would have to be summed up in a few words, the hard work of Mrs. Davis and her employees.

Thanks, Kochs Bakery, for bringing us decades of goodies to satisfy our sweet tooth and we will all miss the smell of fresh baked bread early in the morning.
Chickamauga and Chattanooga National Military Park invites the public to participate in a special 45-minute, ranger-led, program on Saturday, March 18, at 2 p.m., examining the story of four cannon belonging to Cobbs Kentucky Battery and how each one got its unique name. This program will be held at Bragg Reservation on Missionary Ridge, 3136 S. Crest Pl. in Chattanooga.Officials said, "Today, in Bragg Reservation, four cannon mark the position where a battery of artillery was placed on the morning of Nov.25, 1863, during Missionary Ridges defense by Confederate forces. Encountering artillery pieces is not uncommon when visiting Chickamauga and Chattanooga National Military Park, as there are over 250 cannon scattered throughout the parks various units. However, these particular cannon are a bit different. By special request of Confederate General Braxton Bragg, the guns were named 'Lady Buckner,' 'Lady Breckinridge,' 'Lady Lyon,' and 'Lady Gracey.' Why did they get these special names? We hope you will be able to join us and find out the answer to this intriguing question."For more information about programs at Chickamauga and Chattanooga National Military Park, contact the Chickamauga Battlefield Visitor Center at 706-866-9241, the Lookout Mountain Battlefield Visitor Center at 423-821-7786, or visit the park website at www.nps.gov/chch.
WTCI announces a television and digital broadcast series of special episodes featuring three of Chattanoogas international artists sharing at-home art activities, paired with social studies content.The series follows a Jingle Truck, a traditional South Asian artistic tradition created by Pakistani artist Haider Ali.Episode one follows the truck on a trip through the Indus River Valley, learning about the ancient Harappan civilization, a sixth grade social studies standard.Artists Sadaf Khan and Kathryn Warren create mosaic art and soap carvings to celebrate the artistic contributions of Pakistan.In episode 2, the Jingle Truck works its way through the Sahara desert, exploring the food of Sudan with Randa Iteim, showcasing spices of northeast Africa. "After crossing to West Africa, we meet Kofi Mawuko, who shares traditional African music and shows viewers how to make their own instruments with household items. This episode delivers artistic connections to seventh grade social studies content and enriches our understanding of history as well as the importance of art as a connector that moves beyond borders," officials said.This project was made possible by SHARP grant funding from Humanities Tennessee, alongside support from the Doris Duke Foundation for Islamic Art.Episode 1 of WOW: World on Wheels will be available on YouTube starting Friday and on broadcast 45.4 in May.
The General Assembly this week approved Republican legislation meant to further encourage individuals to seek medical treatment for an overdose. House Bill 75 extends criminal immunity, at the discretion of law enforcement or the district attorney, to anyone experiencing a second or subsequent drug overdose and is seeking medical assistance.When an individual survives a drug overdose, they have an opportunity to seek treatment or other recovery support efforts from the disease of addiction, said bill co-sponsor State Rep.Sam Whitson, R-Franklin. They can repair relationships and make a positive impact on their community.Anyone seeking medical assistance for themselves or a person experiencing an overdose should not be arrested, charged or prosecuted for a drug violation as a result of seeking help under current law. However, the immunity only applies to individuals who are experiencing their first overdose. House Bill 75 would provide the opportunity for additional immunity. The legislation will now go to Gov. Bill Lees desk to be signed into law. It will take effect July 1.4 new state parks included in Gov. Lees proposed budgetGov. Bill Lee has included funding to creating four new state parks as part of his proposed $55.6 billion budget for the upcoming 2023-24 fiscal year.Our state parks are a jewel, and theyll only be around for the future if we invest in them today, Lee said during his annual State of the State address last month. Through the years, Tennessee has maintained responsible stewardship of our natural resources, but its time to develop a conservation strategy that balances our states economic growth with a plan to protect our environment.The proposed new state parks include:Devils Backbone State Park (Lewis County): The 950-acre natural area, along with an additional 570-acres of state land, offers visitors the opportunity for a quiet hike adjacent to the Natchez Trace Parkway. The potential to add camping for cyclists and motorists along the parkway may also be considered in future development planning.Middle Fork Bottoms State Park (Madison County): The approximately 1,200 acres would serve as a conservation showcase featuring 250,000 recently planted hardwood trees, 20 acres of warm season prairie, more than 200 acres of restored shallow water wetlands and 2 miles of restored stream. If approved, $22.5 million would be used for the construction of a visitors center, maintenance facility, boardwalk, boat ramps, trail bridge(s), utility infrastructure and amenities.North Chickamauga Creek Gorge State Park (Hamilton/Sequatchie counties): The 7,093-acre natural area features more than 18 miles of hiking trails, an outstanding 10-mile gorge, a high diversity of plant and animal habitat along with a popular kayaking stream. The terrain and already high visitation require additional infrastructure and Tennessee State Parks personnel to support the intense demand for the area.Scotts Gulf Wilderness State Park (White County): The park would link three significant state natural areas around Virgin Falls to allow for greater access to recreation on state-owned land while also improving visitor safety and resource protection. If approved, $27.8 million would be used to build a new visitors center, maintenance shop, restrooms, roadways, utilities and parking infrastructure.As part of the selection process for the proposed new state parks, locations already in TDEC holdings were evaluated based on their suitability to better meet the outdoor recreational needs of Tennesseans and visitors. Considerations included their proximity to populations and travel routes; uniqueness of experience; natural, cultural and scenic value; and resource stewardship. Tennessee has 57 unique state parks that provide a variety of activities for outdoor adventurers of all interests and pursuits. Every Tennessean lives within an hour of at least one state park. Additional information about what each park offers can be found online at www.tnstateparks.com.Pro-life legislation supports children and families, creates trustLegislation that creates a long-term funding strategy to help support organizations that provide services to children advanced in the House this week. The Tennessee Childrens Trust Fund Act, sponsored by State Rep. Patsy Hazlewood, R-Signal Mountain, establishes a trust to provide support to nonprofit organizations and agencies of local governments that assist in the care of children.In Tennessee, we are going to push, promote and support a pro-life agenda, Hazlewood said. We are putting our money where our mouth is and were going to prioritize children and families and were going to support (them).House Bill 792 requires that the trust be funded in the 2023-24 budget by an initial deposit, and to consist of donations, appropriations, or contributions from both public and private institutions. The bill authorizes trustees to adopt and implement investment policies and requires all income received and accrued from the investments to be expended solely for entities assisting in the care of children, and for reasonable expenses incurred through administering trust assets. The bill requires the trustees to provide an annual financial report.It also requires the trustees to prepare a financial report on the trust at the end of each fiscal year, which, along with other financial records that will be audited by the Tennessee Comptroller of the Treasury. House Bill 792 will be considered in the House Health Committee on March 8.Republicans seek to expand victims rights with constitutional amendmentRepublican efforts to expand the rights of crime victims outlined in the Tennessee Constitution advanced in the House this week.House Joint Resolution 94, also known as Marsys Law, proposes a constitutional amendment that would add more than a dozen specific rights crime victims have in the state. The legislation must pass two separate General Assemblies and be approved by a majority of Tennessee voters in order to take effect.No criminal should have more rights than the victim, and Marsys Law simply will ensure that wont happen, said bill sponsor State Rep. Patsy Hazlewood, R-Signal Mountain. The whole purpose is to make sure we treat our victims as well as we treat those who are convicted or accused of a crime.Among the victims rights that would be enshrined in the states constitution include the right to be notified of all public criminal proceedings involving the accused; the right to be present and heard in court; the right to be free from harassment, intimidation and abuse throughout the process; and the right to receive reasonable notice of any release, transfer, or escape of the accused or convicted person.Marsys Law is named after Marsalee Marsy Nicholas of California who was stalked and killed by her ex-boyfriend in 1983. Marsys family was unaware that her murderer had been released on bail until they were confronted by him at a market one week after her death. House Joint Resolution 94 is scheduled to be heard in the Criminal Justice Committee on March 7.Proposal establishes Tennessee Juvenile Justice Review CommissionLegislation aimed at finding new solutions for juvenile justice issues in Tennessee advanced out of the House Children and Family Affairs Subcommittee this week.House Bill 1103, as amended, would create the Tennessee Juvenile Justice Review Commission to review a sampling of juvenile justice cases and any critical incidents involving juveniles in the custody of the Department of Childrens Services. It would be modeled after the Second Look Commission which reviews severe child abuse cases.The legislation was among multiple recommendations that were made earlier this year by the General Assemblys Joint Ad Hoc Committee on Juvenile Justice. The findings were based on months of hearings with various state agencies, non-profits, local law enforcement, district attorneys, juvenile judges and health care professionals.We realized [in the ad hoc committee] what a problem we have, said bill sponsor State Rep. Mary Littleton, R-Dickson. We know that some of these [juveniles] have fallen through the cracks. A lot of them have actually been in the system from time to time, so this would give us some of the harder cases to study and see what weve missed.If approved, the 15-member commission would meet at least quarterly and would be required to provide the General Assembly with findings and legislative recommendations in an annual report beginning in 2024. House Bill 1103 is scheduled to be heard in the Civil Justice Committee on March 8.Bill increasing punishment for voluntary manslaughter advancesThe House Criminal Justice Subcommittee this week advanced Republican legislation to increase the punishment for voluntary manslaughter in Tennessee.House Bill 722, as amended, would make the crime a Class B felony instead of a Class C felony.Lots of times you get to a voluntary manslaughter charge when somebody has been charged with first- or second-degree murder, said bill sponsor State Rep. Bud Hulsey, R-Kingsport. A jury can reduce (the charge) down to voluntary manslaughter, but its illegal to tell a jury what the sentence is and they get horrified, and so does the family, when somebody kills somebody and they get three to six years or are eligible for parole before they get through the court system and found guilty.According to state law, voluntary manslaughter is described as the intentional or knowing killing of another in a state of passion produced by adequate provocation sufficient to lead a reasonable person to act in an irrational manner.A Class B felony is punishable by eight to 30 years in prison along with an up to $25,000 fine. A Class C felony is punishable by three to 15 years in prison and a fine of up to $10,000. House Bill 722 is scheduled to be heard in the Criminal Justice Committee on March 7.Monroe County fourth-graders inspire pumpkin pie resolutionThe House chamber on Thursday approved House Joint Resolution 23, sponsored by State Rep. Lowell Russell, R-Vonore, to make pumpkin pie a symbol for the state of Tennessee. If passed by the Senate, the honorary title would only apply for the 113th General Assembly.The idea for the resolution came from a fourth-grade class at Madisonville Intermediate School in Monroe County. While learning about different state symbols as part of their social studies curriculum, the students discovered that Tennessee does not have an officially recognized state pie. The class unanimously chose pumpkin pie as their favorite.Ban on property purchases by sanctioned foreign countries advancesRepublican legislation to prevent individuals and other entities from sanctioned foreign countries from purchasing property in Tennessee advanced out of the House Local Government Committee this week.House Bill 40, as amended, would prohibit nonresident aliens, foreign businesses, foreign governments or their agents, trustees or fiduciaries from acquiring real property in the state if their respective country is on the U.S. Department of the Treasurys sanctions programs and countries list.Its about protecting Tennessees sovereignty from these foreign entities, said bill sponsor State Rep. Jay Reedy, R-Erin. If they ever roll off [the sanctions list], then these folks could start selling property to them again.If approved, the restrictions would not apply to property acquired before July 1, 2023. House Bill 40 is scheduled to be heard in the Finance, Ways and Means Subcommittee on March 8.Majority Whip Johnny Garrett names 9 deputiesHouse Majority Whip Johnny Garrett, R-Goodlettsville, this week named nine Republican freshman legislators to serve as deputy whips for the 113th General Assembly.Newly appointed members are State Reps. Robert Steven, R-Smyrna; Bryan Richey, R-Maryville; Jeff Burkhart, R-Clarksville; Monty Fritts, R-Kingston; Ed Butler, R-Rickman; Elaine Davis, R-Knoxville; Jake McCalmon, R-Franklin; Michael Hale, R-Smithville; Gino Bulso, R-Brentwood.These freshman leaders have already demonstrated their strong commitment to the people of their district and earned the respect of their colleagues in the House, Garrett. They will play a crucial role in further advancing and protecting the conservative values that matter most to Tennesseans.As newly appointed deputy whips, the members will assist in counting votes as well as communicating with members about the Republican supermajoritys position on issues or important legislative initiatives. They will support Garrett who is the fourth-ranking officer of the House Republican Caucus.BrieflyTennessee Freedom to Cook Act: The General Assembly this week passed House Bill 483 to protect Tennesseans from any potential government attempts to limit the types of appliances they can use in their homes. The legislation, sponsored by State Rep. Clark Boyd, R-Lebanon, prevents the state or any local government in Tennessee from banning the sale or installation of appliances used for cooking, space heating, water heating or any other end use based on the source of energy they are powered by. It also applies to the connection or reconnection of utility services. The legislation will now head to Gov. Bill Lees desk.Enhanced handgun carry permit fee reduction: House Bill 578, sponsored by State Rep. Rush Bricken, R-Tullahoma, would remove the $100 application and processing fee for enhanced handgun carry permits in Tennessee from Jan. 4, 2024 until Jan. 1, 2027. The legislation is meant to promote responsible gun ownership by encouraging residents to take an approved handgun safety course. The House Finance, Ways and Means Subcommittee is scheduled to consider House Bill 578 on March 8.Modernizing regulations for the money transmitter industry: House Bill 316 , co-sponsored by State Rep. Rush Bricken, R-Bricken, R-Tullahoma, seeks to modernize regulatory standards to enhance the safety and soundness of the money transmitter industry while supporting business, innovation and economic progress. The bill would replace the Tennessee Money Transmitter Act of 1994 as the industry has changed significantly over the years from operating out of brick-and-mortar offices to Internet-based models in multiple states. It clarifies the types of activities subject to licensing, enhances the standards required by licensees and it better aligns these standards with the risks associated with the evolving industry. Multiple other states are considering similar legislation. The House Finance, Ways and Means Subcommittee will take the bill up on March 8.Alleviating the teacher shortage: The House Education Administration Committee on March 8 will consider a bill supporting Tennessee teachers. House Bill 784, sponsored by State Rep. Mark White, R-Memphis, creates a fund and process to reimburse teachers for the cost of a licensure assessment after earning a passing score. Candidates must earn a passing score on required assessments to demonstrate their preparations to obtain a license and enter the classroom ready to teach. Additional funds to cover these assessments will allow more educators to become licensed in Tennessee and reduce the states teacher shortage.Extending the Ground Ambulance Service Provider Assessment Act: Sponsored by State Rep. Jay Reedy, R-Erin, House Bill 893 extends the Ground Ambulance Service Provider Assessment for one year through June 30, 2024. Ambulance providers in Tennessee impose a fee on themselves thats administered by the Bureau of TennCare, and the fee is then leveraged into additional federal dollars that are distributed to participating ambulance services based on the number of ground transports. The bill will be considered in the House Finance, Ways and Means Committee on March 7.Law enforcement: Legislation that will improve the hiring process for out-of-state law enforcement officers now heads to the governors desk. House Bill 313 allows for more efficient processing for out-of-state law enforcement personnel, while giving the Tennessee Peace Officers Standards and Training (POST) Commission the flexibility to determine standards of certification. An administration bill sponsored in the House by State Rep. Lowell Russell, R-Vonore, this legislation adds practical experience and education of an applicant certified in another state to the criteria evaluated by the POST Commission when considering qualifications for certification. Current law only authorizes the POST Commission to evaluate the training received in another state compared to the training programs in Tennessee. In addition, the legislation prohibits the POST Commission from certifying a person who has been decertified in another state due to criminal or other misconduct.Topical Medical Waste Reduction Act of 2023 The House Health Committee on Wednesday advanced legislation that allows patients to take home topical medication administered at a hospital or surgical center that is needed for continued use. House Bill 495, sponsored by State Rep. Brock Martin, R-Huntingdon, will save patients money and reduce waste for medication currently tossed out after being opened at a health care facility. It applies to topical antibiotics, anti-inflammatories, dilation, glaucoma drop or ointments. House Bill 495 is expected to be considered on the House floor next week.Third-grade retention: The third-grade retention law passed in 2021 provides students with additional academic support before being promoted to the fourth grade if they are not reading on-level. Lawmakers this session have filed 18 bills to address concerns about the law. The House K-12 Education Subcommittee will begin to consider the proposals in a special hearing scheduled for March 7 at 4:30 p.m.
DISTRICT 28

CANNON COUNTY SR-1 (US-70S) construction from near Barker Road (LM 1.2) to east of Hoover Road (LM 2.5): Right lane closures in both directions of SR-1 will remain in place while the contractor is completing grade work. Flaggers may be present to load and unload equipment. Motorists should use caution through the work zone and watch for workers.

[Tinsley Asphalt, LLC /Harris/CNW348]

CANNON COUNTY SR-1 (US-70S) installation of a flashing beacon at the intersection of SR-281 (Center Hill Road, LM 12.4): The contractor will be utilizing right lane closures through the work zone to complete underground work. Motorists should use caution through the work zone and watch for flaggers that may be present.

[Stansell Electric Company, Inc./Harris/CNW229]

CANNON AND WARREN COUNTY SR-1 (US-70S) bridge repair and paving from east of Lincoln Lane (LM 11) in Cannon County to Robinson Road (LM 9.4) in Warren County: The contractor may utilize short term lane closures and flagging operations to complete any remaining work. Motorists should use caution through the work zone and watch for flaggers.

[American Pavements, Inc./Harris/CNV075]

COFFEE COUNTY SR-55 (TULLAHOMA-MANCHESTER HWY.) Utility Work northbound from LM 9.2 to LM 13.94: Mobile shoulder and single lane closures from Emerson Drive to Jack Welch Drive. Motorists should reduce speed and use caution while traveling through the work zone and be aware of construction personnel. Trucks, signage, drums/cones, and flaggers will be present, 02/23/23 through 03/24/23 from 9 am  2 pm. [2022-693]

FRANKLIN COUNTY SR-50 repair of bridge over the Elk River (LM 1.6): The roadway will be reduced to one lane being controlled with a traffic signal. One lane will be open to traffic with the restriction of all wide loads, the maximum lane width is 11.5. Motorists should be alert to a new traffic pattern throughout the duration of the project and encouraged to use caution while being alert to construction personnel and equipment.

[Mid-State Construction Company, Inc./Hussein/CNW220]

GRUNDY COUNTY SR-15 (US-41A) construction of pedestrian facilities from north of Clifftops Avenue (LM 1.3) to I-24 (LM 1.8) in Monteagle: During this reporting period the contractor will continue implementing a lane shift that will be in place for the duration of the project. Motorists are encouraged to use caution daily. The contractor will be performing various operations.

[Rowe Construction Group, Inc./Hussein/CNW917]

MARION COUNTY I-24 (US-64) rockfall mitigation westbound between MM 136.2 and MM 140.3: The contractor will be working on I-24 WB at MM 141  140, MM 139.0  137.0, and MM 136.0  135.0 to perform rockfall mitigation activities. On Wednesday 03/01/23 and Thursday 03/02/23 from 1 PM - 4 PM, the contractor will be performing rolling roadblocks to cut down and clear trees from the top bench at site 3 MM 137.2. The rolling roadblock will last approximately 20 minutes then traffic will be released. Also, Monday 03/06/23 through Friday 03/10/23 from 8 AM - 4 PM beginning near MM 141 a single left lane closure will be setup to remove barrier rail and restripe lanes. Please use caution when traveling through the work zones.

[Wright Brothers Construction Company, Inc./Voiles/CNV912]

MARION COUNTY I-24 TDOT Bridge Maintenance both directions from MM 160.3 to MM 160.4: Region 2 Bridge Repair will be performing nighttime concrete repairs to the median wall on Tuesday, March 7, on I-24 over the Tennessee River. One lane will be closed with traffic control in place.

MARION COUNTY SR- 2 (US-41, US-64, US-72) miscellaneous safety improvements from the Jasper city limits (LM 19.1) to SR-27 (LM 19.23): The contractor will be working in Marion County on SR-2 from LM 19 to LM 21. They will be installing guardrail and painting using a single lane closure. Please use caution when driving through the work zone.

[Superior Traffic Control, LLC/Inc./Voiles/CNW349]

MARION COUNTY SR-27 between LM 26.9 and LM 27.9 slide repair and bridge and retaining wall construction: The contractor will be working on SR-27 (Suck Creek Road) at LM 26.9 and LM 27.9 to construct a new bridge and repair a slide. Both work zones, at LM 26.9 and LM 27.9, have the travel lanes reduced to one lane controlled by temporary traffic lights. On Friday 03/03/23 there will be one 15-minute total road closure near LM 27.9 sometime in the time between 9 AM and 12 PM. During this time, one bridge beam will be installed. Once the beam is lifted off the truck, and equipment moved off site, the traffic signals will resume normal operations. Please use caution when traveling through each work zone.

[Dement Construction Company, LLC/Voiles/CNV307]

MARION COUNTY SR-283 (ALVIN YORK HWY.) Utility Work southbound from LM 6.37 to LM 7.32: Mobile lane closures along SR-283 between Pickett Cemetery Road and Panorama Trail. Motorists should reduce speed and be prepared to stop. Trucks, signage, cones, and flaggers will be present, 03/07/23 through 03/31/23 from 8:00 am - 5:00 pm [2022-395]

WARREN COUNTY SR-1 (US-70S) and SR-380 intersection improvement and S.I.A. to Motlow Advanced Robotics with intersection: The contractor will be staking and installing signs start the week of 03/06/23. Motorist should use caution in the area and watch for workers. The contractor may need to use intermittent lane closures and flagging operations to install construction signs.

[Dement Construction Company, LLC/Harris/CNW212]

DISTRICT 29

BRADLEY COUNTY SR-2 (N. LEE HWY.) TDOT Contractor both directions from LM 14.8 to LM 19.8: During this reporting period, TDOT contractors will have short-term intermittent closures with flaggers for utility location work. Work will begin at 8:30 AM and continue until 5:00 PM daily. One lane of traffic will be open at all times under a flagging operation. [JMT Consultants/FORD]

BRADLEY COUNTY SR-2 (N. LEE HWY.) Utility Work northbound at LM 13.88: Shoulder and single lane closures from Sequoia Road NW and Cromwell Circle. Motorists should reduce speed and use caution while traveling through the work zone and be aware of construction personnel. Trucks, signage, drums/cones, and flaggers will be present, 03/02/23 through 03/16/23 from 9 am  2 pm. [2022-622]

BRADLEY COUNTY SR-40 (WATERLEVEL HWY.) Utility Work westbound from LM 2.04 to LM 8.62: Shoulder and single lane closures from Hancock Road NE to Durkee Road NE. Motorists should reduce speed and be prepared to stop. Trucks, signage, drums/cones, and flaggers will be present, 02/23/23 through 03/27/23 from 9 am  2 pm. [2022-263]

BRADLEY COUNTY SR-60 widening from the 4-lane north of I-75 (LM 17.2) to SR-306 (LM19.9): During this reporting period the contractor will have short term intermittent lane closures throughout the project for utility relocation and moving equipment as work continues on new roadway alignments and a new bridge over Candies Creek. The speed limit in the work zone has been reduced to 35 mph. Motorists are advised to use caution in the work zone and watch for flaggers assisting with traffic control.

[Summers-Taylor, Inc./Wagner/CNV130]

HAMILTON COUNTY I-24 interchange improvement at SR-2 (US-11, US-41, US-72, Broad Street) and SR-58 (Market Street): Williams Street is closed to all traffic at the I-24 underpass to support the installation of new storm drainage structures for the new frontage road. Traffic will still be able to access the ramps to I-24 and US 27, but no through traffic will be allowed on Williams Street between West 21st Street and West 25th Street. Traffic will detour around the closure via West 21st Street and Broad Street. Signs will be posted. The contractor will be working on new bridge construction, storm drainage structures, and utility relocation. The US 27 N on-ramp at William St. has been closed and it will remain closed until the new alignment for this ramp is completed. There will be marked detour signs to use the Broad St. US 27 on-ramp. The contractor has opened up the new Broad St exit off I-24 and closed the existing exit to the Broad St that is off the US 27 S exit. Traffic from US 27 S that needs to access Broad St. will have to use the Williams St. exit. There will be detour signs to direct traffic off the Williams St. exit to Broad St. The motoring public needs to be aware of the changes. The US 27 South ramp onto I 24 East will be down to 2 lanes with the Williams St. exit still open. This ramp will be this way for several months and the motoring traffic is advised to drive with caution in this area.

[Wright Brothers Construction Company, Inc./Curtis/CNU011]

HAMILTON COUNTY I-75 at I-24 Interchange Reconstruction Phase 2: Weather permitting, the contractor will implement single lane closures between the hours of 9 PM until 6 AM Sunday through Thursday, at following locations: I-24 WB MM 185 to MM 183 and North Terrace, I-75 NB MM 2 to MM 4, I-75 SB MM 4 to MM 2.

[Wright Brothers Construction Company, Inc./Maj Prj - Blevins/DB2101]

HAMILTON COUNTY I-75 concrete repair from MM 6.6 to MM 12.8: During this reporting period, the contractor will be having lane closures in both directions on I-75 from 9 PM - 6 AM on Sunday thru out the week. During these lane closures, the contractor might have to temporary close some of the ramps so that they can work on the ramp.

[Summers-Taylor, Inc./Curtis/CNW046]

HAMILTON COUNTY I-75 Utility Work eastbound from MM 0 to MM 1.0: Shoulder and single lane closure on the I-75 on ramp from SR-8 (Ringgold Road) towards the Tennessee Welcome Center. Motorists should reduce speed and use caution while traveling through the work zone and be aware of construction personnel. Trucks, signage, drums/cones, and flaggers will be present, 03/07/23 through 03/15/23 from 9 am  4 pm. [2019-578]

HAMILTON COUNTY SR-17 resurfacing from the Georgia state line (LM 0) to SR-2 (US-11, US-64, US-72, LM 2.2): During this reporting period, there will be lane closures during the day as the contractor will be starting to mill the roadway. There will be flaggers stopping traffic as this work is being done. The motoring public needs to expect possible long delays as this work is going on.

[Talley Construction Company, Inc./Curtis/CNW213]

HAMILTON COUNTY SR-2 (BRAINERD RD.) Utility Work westbound at LM 13.28: Shoulder and single lane closures from N. Tuxedo Avenue to Woodvale Avenue. Motorists should reduce speed and use caution while traveling through the work zone and be aware of construction personnel. Trucks, signage, drums/cones, and flaggers will be present, 03/06/23 through 03/08/23 from 9 am  2 pm. [2022-772]

HAMILTON COUNTY SR-2 (LEE HWY.) Utility Work both directions at LM 20.01: Shoulder and single lane closures from Bonny Oaks Drive to Tyner Road. Motorists should reduce speed and use caution while traveling through the work zone and be aware of construction personnel. Trucks, signage, drums/cones, and flaggers will be present, 02/27/23 through 03/10/23 from 9 am  2 pm. [2023-095]

HAMILTON COUNTY SR-317 (Apison Pike) improvement project from SR-321 (Ooltewah-Ringgold Road) to east of Layton Lane: Lane closures and flagging operations will be required on SR-317, Apison Pike, for utility work. The flagging operations will be performed on 03/02/23, 03/03/23, 03/06/23, 03/07/23 and 03/08/23 from 7 AM to 1 PM and 3 PM to 7 PM. Closures will last about 2 hours per location. The contractor will have intermittent flagging operations during daytime non-peak hours for utility work, delivery of materials and equipment.

[Wright Brothers Construction Company, Inc./Osbonlighter/CNT336]

HAMILTON COUNTY SR-8 (E. MAIN ST.) Utility Work eastbound from LM 5.94 to LM 6.38: Shoulder and single lane closures from S. Orchard Knob Ave and S. Watkins Street. Motorists should reduce speed and be prepared to stop. Trucks, signage, and barrels will be present, 12/01/22 through 03/31/23 from 9 am - 2 pm. [2022-754]

HAMILTON COUNTY SR-8 (E. MAIN ST.) Utility Work eastbound from LM 7.52 to LM 7.48: Shoulder and single lane closures from Madison Street to Slayton Street. Motorists should reduce speed and be prepared to stop. Trucks, signage, drums/cones, and flaggers will be present, 02/16/23 through 03/08/23 from 9 am  2 pm. [2022-797]

HAMILTON COUNTY SR-8 (RINGGOLD RD.) Utility Work westbound at LM 1.44: Shoulder and single lane closures from Adair Avenue to Castleberry Avenue. Motorists should reduce speed and use caution while traveling through the work zone and be aware of construction personnel. Trucks, signage, drums/cones, and flaggers will be present, 02/27/23 through 03/01/23 from 9 am  2 pm. [2023-092]

HAMILTON COUNTY SR-8 (US-127) construction near Palisades Road (LM 15.2) to near Sunset Drive (LM 15.4): The contractor has closed the right lane going up the Signal Mountain Road from LM 15 (about 1/2 Mi from Palisades Road) to past Sunset Drive. This closure will be in effect for several months during the duration of this project. There will be intermittent lane closures on Signal Mountain Road as the contractor will have flaggers out as they work. Due to the possibility of flaggers stopping traffic, traffic should be aware of possible delays in this area.

[Wright Brothers Construction Company, Inc./Curtis/CNW001]

MCMINN COUNTY SR-163 bridge repair over Chestuee Creek (LM 11.7): During this reporting period, the contractor will continue bridge repairs on the bridge over Chestuee Creek. Traffic on the bridge over Chestuee Creek on SR-163 at LM 11.74 will be reduced to a single lane controlled by a traffic signal. Maximum horizontal clearance will be limited to 11. Wide load detour routes will be posted. Motorists are advised to reduce speed in the work zone. RESTRICTIONS: Horizontal clearance maximum 11.

[Jamison Construction, LLC/Wagner/CNW282]

MCMINN COUNTY SR-2 (CONGRESS PKWY.) Utility Work westbound from LM 12.93 to LM 12.1: Mobile shoulder closure along SR-2 between the intersection of Congress Pkwy and Dennis Street and the intersection of Congress Pkwy and Rocky Mount Road. Motorists should reduce speed and be prepared to stop. Trucks, signage, cones, and flaggers will be present, 08/15/22 through 04/12/23 from 7:30 am  5:00 pm. [2022-019]

MCMINN COUNTY SR-30 (LILLARD HWY.) Utility Work both directions from LM 16.5 to LM 16.61: Shoulder and single lane closures from Casey Gap Zion Hill Road to Foreman Branch Road to assist with an all stop at Blair Branch Road. Motorists should reduce speed and be prepared to stop. Trucks, signage, drums/cones, and flaggers will be present, 03/01/23 from 9 am - 2 pm, with a rain date of 03/03/23. [2022-580]

MEIGS COUNTY SR-58 (STATE HWY. 58) Utility Work southbound from LM 14.22 to LM 9.35: Mobile shoulder and single lane closures from Goodfield Road to Cottonport Road. Motorists should reduce speed and be prepared to stop. Trucks, signage, cones, and flaggers will be present, 01/26/23 through 03/17/23 from 9 am  2 pm. [2022-366]

RHEA COUNTY SR-302 (OLD DIXIE HWY.) Utility Work both directions from LM 0.01 to LM 2.5: Mobile shoulder and lane closures on SR-302 as crews transition work zones between SR-30 and Taylor Road. Motorists should reduce speed and be prepared to stop. Signage and flaggers will be present, 10/06/22 through 03/25/23 from 9 AM - 2:30 PM. [2022-643]

REGION WIDE

REGION 2 preventative and unscheduled maintenance of Chattanooga SmartWay Intelligent Transportation System: The contractor may have short term shoulder and/or lane closures to perform preventative or unscheduled maintenance to the local SmartWay Intelligent Transportation System. At least one travel lane will always remain open to traffic. Flaggers will assist with traffic control as needed.

[NABCO Electric Company, Inc./Osbonlighter/CNT354]

REGION 2 TDOT Maintenance drainage work: There will be possible short-term lane and shoulder closures at various locations in Region 2 in order to clean rock and debris from ditches on an as-needed basis. One lane will be maintained at all times.

[TDOT Operations/Maintenance/R2MAINT]

REGION 2 TDOT Maintenance pothole repair and pavement patching: There will be possible short-term emergency lane closures at various locations in Region 2 in order to repair potholes and patch pavement on an as-needed basis. Depending on location and severity these repairs may be done during the day or at night. In addition to performing the work, regional Operations crews will also provide traffic control.

[TDOT Operations/Maintenance/R2MAINT]

REGION 2 TDOT mowing operations: There will be possible short-term lane closures at various locations on interstates and state routes in Region 2 in order to perform mowing activities on an as-needed basis. In addition to performing the work, regional Operations crews will also provide traffic control.

[TDOT/Maintenance/R2MAINT]

REGION 2 The drain cleaning on various Interstate and State Routes: During this reporting period from Sunday thru Thursday night from 8 PM-6 AM the contractor will have 1 lane closed on I75 from MM 2 - MM18 as they work to clean various drains in this area. If they get finished in this area, they will move to I24 and from MM184 - MM176 work to clean those drains.

[Blevins Enterprises, Inc./Curtis/CNW335]

REGION 2 The on-call concrete pavement repair on various interstates and state routes: During the daytime the contractor will be repairing concrete pavement at several ramp locations along SR-29 in Soddy Daisy in Hamilton County. First location: The on and off-ramps at SR-29 and SR-319. Half the width of the ramps will be closed during repairs leaving a 10-foot minimum lane width. Second location: The SR-29 SB exit to Thrasher Pike and the Thrasher Pike on-ramp to SR-29 SB. On Thursday 03/02/23 and Friday 03/03/23, from 8 AM - 4 PM, a single right lane closure will be setup near the SR-29 exit to Thrasher Pike and run just passed the Thrasher Pike on-ramp to SR-29 SB. Once concrete has been poured the lane closure will be picked up. Third location: The SR-29 exit to SR-153 SB. Half the width of the ramp will be closed during repairs leaving a 10-foot minimum lane width. Please slow down and use caution when driving through the work zones.

[Vulcan Construction Materials, LLC/Voiles/CNV341]

REGION 2 The on-call guardrail repair and new guardrail installation on various Interstate and State Routes: The contractor may have short term shoulder and/or lane closures in order to perform guardrail repair. These closures will take place on the interstate nightly Sunday through Thursday from 7 PM to 6 AM and daily Monday through Friday on state routes. At least one travel lane will remain open to traffic at all times on the interstate, and flaggers will be present on state routes during any work that is performed.

[Cumberland Guardrail, Inc./Harris/CNW127]

REGION 2 The random on-call attenuator repair on various Interstate and State Routes: The contractor will be utilizing inside lane closures or shoulder closures during nonpeak travel times on SR-311/US-64 at LM 2.505 in Bradley County to make repairs to the damaged attenuator. Motorist should use caution in the area and watch for workers.

[Site-Safe, LLC/Harris/CNW120]

REGION 2 The random on-call cable barrier repair on various Interstate and State Routes: The contractor may have short term shoulder closures in order to perform cable rail repair. Both travel lanes will always remain open to traffic on the interstate during any work that is performed.

[Tennessee Guardrail, Inc./Harris/cnw283]

REGION 2 The sweeping on various Interstate and State Routes: There will be an area wide sweeping operation on selected regional state routes and interstates. This activity will be supported by a mobile lane closure. Hours of activity are Sunday through Thursday night between 8 PM and 6 AM during this reporting period.

[Blevins Enterprises, Inc./Curtis/CNW334]

RESTRICTIONS
The last time we saw Eileen Fitzgerald in ABCs Alaska Daily, she was in a bit of a sticky situation. After weeks of receiving threats from someone called the Concerned Citizen, Eileen finally met her stalker. He confronted her at the Daily Alaskan with a gun, and after a three-month-long break, fans finally learned what happened next in Alaska Daily Episode 7, Enemy of the People.

[Spoiler alert: This article contains spoilers from Alaska Daily Episode 7, Enemy of the People.]

Hilary Swank as Eileen Fitzgerald | ABC/Darko Sikman

The Concerned Citizen holds Eileen hostage in Alaska Daily Episode 7

Alaska Daily Episode 7 begins by giving viewers a little insight into the Concerned Citizen and his motives for targeting Eileen. Hes sitting in his car outside of the Daily Alaskan, listening to a talk show where some man rambles on about how the media is quick to label someone fascist, racist, or homophobic if they disagree with them. Once he notes that everyone has left the building except Eileen, he grabs his gun and goes inside.

The Concerned Citizen locks the door and confronts Eileen. He points the gun at the journalist, demands she gives him her phone, and walks her to the bullpen. While Eileen tries to pull information from the Concerned Citizen, Gabriel Tovar watches from the archives room. Ruh-roh.

Gabriel texts Stanley Cornik and fills his boss in on the situation. And Stanley informs everyone at the bar  Bob Young, Roz Friendly, Claire Muncy, Yuna Park, and Austin Teague. Although theyre worried contacting the police might set the Concerned Citizen off, they call them anyway. After reaching (non-ally) Captain Freeman, the reporters stay in the bar and try to find more information about the gunman.

Back at the Daily Alaskan, the Concerned Citizen wants Eileen to write a confession about how she spreads lies, suppresses the truth, and faithfully serves her corporate masters as they destroy the backbone of the country. From that line, Eileen realizes he reads the Eagle and Dennis Gibson. The Concerned Citizen then admits he disagrees with her liberal crap, even though Eileen points out that she doesnt even vote.

In the bar, the group discovers a user named OilMan223 who comments on the Daily Alaskans post and the Eagles is likely the Concerned Citizen in Alaska Daily Episode 7.

The Concerned Citizens identity is revealed

Gabriel starts to (understandably) get more nervous, so he calls Stanley in Alaska Daily Episode 7. They brainstorm a way to send Eileen a message, and Gabriel realizes he can communicate with her via the analytics page on a nearby screen. He writes, Colombian Staffer Locked in Morgue. Can you see him? And she does.

Yuna links OilMan223s Twitter account to a website owned by Eric Berry. Stanley sends a picture of Eric to Gabriel, and he confirms that this is the Concerned Citizen. They inform the police, and Aaron Pritchard arrives at the bar to help. Meanwhile, the police surround the Daily Alaskan.

Eileen finishes her confession, even though she doesnt believe a word of it. When Eric demands she publishes it online, Eileen starts making up excuses. And when the phone starts ringing, Erics frustration reaches an all-time high, so he shoots the landline.

After the unnecessary overreaction, Eileen convinces Eric to let her go to the bathroom. While there, she clocks that Eric worked on oil rigs from his shoes, so she tries to relate to him by mentioning that her father was a steelworker. Eric seems to soften up a little, and back in the bullpen, Eileen says he can use her to tell his story. And they get to work.

While explaining his life story, Eric seemingly blames his problems on environmental freaks and their protests. He admits he hasnt worked for seven years as a result. And perhaps Eileen starts to feel sympathy for her hostage-taker.

Back at the bar, Claire discovers that the bank recently foreclosed Erics house. Austin and a detective head over to find more information about the gunman.

The police inform the reporters that they can shoot and kill Eric, but Eileen has to move out of the way. So Gabriel sends her a message  Former Vanguard employee in line of fire. Drop to the ground to terminate problem. However, Eileen refuses in Alaska Daily Episode 7. She doesnt want to see Eric killed right in front of her, and we cant say we blame her.

Previously on #AlaskaDaily ? Tune in TONIGHT for the return on ABC & Stream on Hulu! pic.twitter.com/Bd9HyJH4D5  Alaska Daily (@AlaskaDailyABC) March 2, 2023

The hostage situation comes to a tragic end in Alaska Daily Episode 7

The next morning, more than 10 hours after the hostage situation began, Roz confronts Dennis Gibson about OilMan223 in Alaska Daily Episode 7. She reads him one of the messages that Dennis sent Eric  Take action, OilMan223. Reporters like Eileen Fitzgerald are a spreading cancer sore that requires excising. So, Dennis agrees to help.

Austin and the detective find a goodbye letter to Daisy, Erics college-aged daughter, at his house. Her social media reveals that shes in rehab, so Bob and Yuna pay her a visit. They inform Daisy of the situation and try to convince her to call her dad.

Eric clocks Eileen staring at the analytics page, so he shoots it and demands that she tells him where the messages are coming from. Flustered, Gabriel knocks over some boxes, and Eric grabs him. The gunman barricades them in Eileens office, out of sight of the snipers.

Dennis calls Eric, but Eric sees right through him and hangs up. Believing he has no other way out, Eric makes Eileen promise to tell his story, and once she does, he leaves the office, holds the gun up to Eileen, and a sniper shoots him in the head. As Erics dead body lays on the floor, Eileen and Gabriel note that the gun wasnt loaded, and a call from Daisy comes on his phone. And just like that, its all over.

Later, Eileen writes the story and sheds light on the attack on journalists. And afterward, she and Jamie, the pilot poet, take a much-needed flight over the beautiful Alaskan waters.

New episodes of Alaska Daily air Thursdays at 10 p.m. ET on ABC. Fans will be able to stream Alaska Daily Episode 7 on Hulu starting March 2.

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You might know actor Jonathan Groff best for his portrayal of Jesse St. James in Glee, or perhaps you know his voice better than his face (he voiced the roles of Kristoff and Sven in both Frozen films). Groff has had a long, largely wholesome career, with many roles on Broadway and in classic plays.

Jonathan Groff | Slaven Vlasic/Getty Images

But recently, Groffs acting career took a sinister turn when he played the role of Eric in the horror film Knock at the Cabin. But can we expect any more dark movies from this actor? If Groffs middle school movie obsession is any indication, the answer may be yes.

Groffs move from musicals to horror

Groff, 37, recently appeared on Late Night with Seth Meyers to promote Knock at the Cabin, which was released on February 3, 2023. After the two shared some laughs over spending Covid together (Groff watched his show, while Meyers watched Frozen a few too many times with his children), they discussed the horror film.

Groff said that working with M. Night Shyamalan was amazing, calling working inside the cabin incredibly intense. After praising Shyamalans work, Meyers asks Groff if he was a fan of horror growing up. Groff immediately laughs.

I was a little bit of an outsider in middle school, he said. I feel like the genre of horror tends to gravitate toward  as an outsider, I feel it, like, gravitated for me. He then added, It was Scream. I had the mask. I had the voice changer.

And you brought it to school? Meyers asked, as Groff cringed and nodded. Yeah, Groff said as the audience laughed. And I would call people and be like, surprise, Sydney.

Its hard to imagine the voice of sweet snowman Olaf once being so sinister. But it sounds like Groff was pretty obsessed with Scream once, so it makes sense that he had so much fun filming a horror movie as an adult.

Knock at the Cabin is a new hit

This new M. Night Shyamalan film Knock at the Cabin looks great actually, but this Glee callback with Jonathan Groff  UNIQUE sang Boogie Shoes when they were first introduced into the show pic.twitter.com/iN9uDkF0H9  Meech (@MediumSizeMeech) September 22, 2022

Knock at the Cabin is based on a 2018 novel by Paul G. Tremblay. In the film, a family of three is vacationing in a remote cabin in Pennsylvania when they are suddenly held hostage by four strangers. The strangers claim that the apocalypse is imminent, and to prevent it, they must sacrifice one of their own.

Like all M. Night Shyamalan films, Knock at the Cabin is intense and riveting, with plenty of plot twists. While it is heartbreaking at times, the theme of the film appears to be the power of love. And since it has already grossed $52 million worldwide, according to Collider, its safe to say Groffs first delve into the horror genre has been a successful one.

What is next for Jonathan Groff?

During his interview with Seth Meyers, Meyers asked about his next Broadway performance, which will be Merrily We Roll Along. Groff calls the play a famous flop since its first run in 1981 didnt do very well. He calls it an amazing show, announcing its move from Off-Broadway to Broadway this fall.
TLCs Little People, Big World Season 24 brought Zach and Matt Roloffs issues to the forefront. The father and son couldnt agree on a price for Roloff Farms, and Zach didnt buy any of the land he hoped to own. Zach and Tori Roloff moved after the failed Roloff Farms sale, but Tori gave a clue that shes back in Oregon and just 30 minutes from the farm.

Where do Zach and Tori Roloff live now? The Little People, Big World stars moved

Zach and Tori Roloff in Little People, Big World | TLC via YouTube

Zach and Tori Roloff lived in Oregon but moved after they failed to buy any of Roloff Farms from Matt Roloff, as seen in Little People, Big World Season 24. Now, the couple lives in Battle Ground, Washington.

We said goodbye to our sweet, cozy, unique, and very green house in Portland yesterday!! Tori posted to Instagram on Oct. 14, 2021. We have had so many beautiful memories in that house including bringing our sweet bean home from the hospital, countless gatherings, and just a whole lot of love. We will miss Portland but were so excited for our new adventure in  Washington.

According to the New York Post, the couple spent nearly $1 million for the four-bedroom, three-bathroom home. While their Oregon home had more bedrooms, the Battle Ground home is near the city but still in the countryside, giving the family options.

Zach and Tori are already adding on to their home, too. Tori posted to her Instagram Stories that she and Zach are building a two-story shop beside their house.

Tori Roloff asked for restaurant recommendations in a town just 30 minutes from Roloff Farms

While Zach and Tori Roloff no longer live in Oregon, they still visit the nearby state. On March 3, 2023, Tori asked for restaurant recommendations in Wilsonville, Oregon, via Instagram.

Restaurant recommendations in Wilsonville, the Little People, Big World star wrote on her Instagram Stories with the option for her followers to answer.

Wilsonville is just 30 minutes from Roloff Farms, which resides in Hillsboro, Oregon. Its unclear why Toris in Oregon and if Zachs with her. The couple may be headed over to Amy Roloffs place, as Amy lives just 15 minutes from Roloff Farms. But its extremely unlikely that Zach and Tori are headed to the farm property to see Matt Roloff after everything that went down. Tori and Zach clarified that they wanted to put distance between their family and Matt and Caryn Chandler after the failed Roloff Farms sale.

Zach Roloff doesnt appear to visit Roloff Farms nearly as much as he once did

Zach Roloff used to spend a lot of time on Roloff Farms, but he doesnt spend as much time after the conflict with Matt Roloff. In Little People, Big World Season 24, Zach and Tori Roloff said they didnt want their children around Matt and Caryn Chandler as much due to the conflict.

The kids loved them, Tori said of Matt and Caryn. But, no matter what, when you have two adults, and there are kids involved, if those two adults dont get along well, the relationship with the kids is going to suffer.

It doesnt look like Matt has visited Zach or Tori in Battle Ground recently, either. Matt and Caryn traveled to Arizona to see his mother in February 2023, and before that, the couple was on a cruise. Matts recent Instagram posts in March 2023 also indicate that he returned to Roloff Farms and hasnt left.

It remains unclear exactly where Zach and Matt stand now. But fans hope the father and son can repair their relationship so Zachs children can visit Roloff Farms more often.

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Quantum effects can play an important role in chemical reactions. Physicists led by Roland Wester of the University of Innsbruck, Austria, have now for the first time observed a quantum mechanical tunneling reaction in experiments. The observation can also be described exactly in theory. With the study published in Nature, the scientists provide an important reference for this fundamental effect in chemistry. It is the slowest reaction with charged particles ever observed.

Tunneling reactions in chemistry are very difficult to predict. The quantum mechanically exact description of chemical reactions with more than three particles is difficult, with more than four particles it is almost impossible. Theorists simulate these reactions with classical physics and must neglect quantum effects. But where is the limit of this classical description of chemical reactions, which can only provide approximations?

Roland Wester from the Department of Ion Physics and Applied Physics at the University of Innsbruck has long wanted to explore this frontier. It requires an experiment that allows very precise measurements and can still be described quantum-mechanically, says the experimental physicist. The idea came to me 15 years ago in a conversation with a colleague at a conference in the U.S., Wester recalls. He wanted to trace the quantum mechanical tunnel effect in a very simple reaction.

Since the tunnel effect makes the reaction very unlikely and thus slow, its experimental observation was extraordinarily difficult. After several attempts, however, Westers team has now succeeded in doing just that for the first time, as they report in the current issue of the journal Nature.

Breakthrough after 15 years of research

Roland Wester's team chose hydrogen  the simplest element in the universe  for their experiment. They introduced deuterium  a hydrogen isotope  into an ion trap, cooled it down and then filled the trap with hydrogen gas. Because of the very low temperatures, the negatively charged deuterium ions lack the energy to react with hydrogen molecules in the conventional way. In very rare cases, however, a reaction does occur when the two collide.

This is caused by the tunnel effect: Quantum mechanics allows particles to break through the energetic barrier due to their quantum mechanical wave properties, and a reaction occurs, explains the first author of the study, Robert Wild. In our experiment, we give possible reactions in the trap about 15 minutes and then determine the amount of hydrogen ions formed. From their number, we can deduce how often a reaction has occurred.

In 2018, theoretical physicists had calculated that in this system quantum tunneling occurs in only one in every hundred billion collisions. This corresponds very closely with the results now measured in Innsbruck and, after 15 years of research, for the first time confirms a precise theoretical model for the tunneling effect in a chemical reaction.

Foundation for a better understanding

There are other chemical reactions that might exploit the tunnel effect. For the first time, a measurement is now available that is also well understood in scientific theory. Based on this, research can develop simpler theoretical models for chemical reactions and test them on the reaction that has now been successfully demonstrated.

The tunnel effect is used, for example, in the scanning tunneling microscope and in flash memories. The tunnel effect is also used to explain the alpha decay of atomic nuclei. By including the tunnel effect, some astrochemical syntheses of molecules in interstellar dark clouds can also be explained. The experiment of Wester's team thus lays the foundation for a better understanding of many chemical reactions.
Wastewater can provide clues about a communitys infectious disease status, and even its prescription and illicit drug use. But looking at sewage also provides information on persistent and potentially harmful compounds, such as per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS), that get released into the environment. Now, researchers in ACS Environmental Science & Technology Letters report an unexpected source of these substances in wastewater systems  toilet paper.

PFAS have been detected in many personal care products, such as cosmetics and cleansers, that people use every day and then wash down the drain. But not many researchers have considered whether toilet paper, which also ends up in wastewater, could be a source of the chemicals. Some paper manufacturers add PFAS when converting wood into pulp, which can get left behind and contaminate the final paper product. In addition, recycled toilet paper could be made with fibers that come from materials containing PFAS. So, Timothy Townsend and colleagues wanted to assess this potential input to wastewater systems, and test toilet paper and sewage for these compounds.

The researchers gathered toilet paper rolls sold in North, South and Central America; Africa; and Western Europe and collected sewage sludge samples from U.S. wastewater treatment plants. Then they extracted PFAS from the paper and sludge solids and analyzed them for 34 compounds. The primary PFAS detected were disubstituted polyfluoroalkyl phosphates (diPAPs)  compounds that can convert to more stable PFAS such as perfluorooctanoic acid, which is potentially carcinogenic. Specifically, 6:2 diPAP was the most abundant in both types of samples but was present at low levels, in the parts-per-billion range.

Then, the team combined their results with data from other studies that included measurements of PFAS levels in sewage and per capita toilet paper use in various countries. They calculated that toilet paper contributed about 4% of the 6:2 diPAP in sewage in the U.S. and Canada, 35% in Sweden and up to 89% in France. Despite the fact that North Americans use more toilet paper than people living in many other countries, the calculated percentages suggest that most PFAS enter the U.S. wastewater systems from cosmetics, textiles, food packaging or other sources, the researchers say. They add that this study identifies toilet paper as a source of PFAS to wastewater treatment systems, and in some places, it can be a major source.
Researchers used a green laser on a jar filled with water to show how the water moves and how contaminants clump together.

Water is a vital resource, and clean water is a necessity. Texas A&M University researchers have developed a new technique to monitor one of the key processes of purifying water in real time.

Raw water contains microscopic pathogens that are too small to remove during water and wastewater treatment easily. Chemicals are added to form large clumps called flocs, which are easily filtered out. Flocculation is the process used in water treatment to remove suspended particles from the water.

"Coagulant chemicals need to be added to purify drinking water and remove turbidity (cloudiness) and microbes that are too small to be visible to the naked eye," said Dr. Kuang-An Chang, professor in the Zachry Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering at Texas A&M.

But it is crucial to properly mix the water and chemicals so the pathogens properly clump. If mixing is low, clumps won't form. If mixing is too intense, clumps will form but quickly break apart.

The new method simultaneously monitors the size and shape of the clumps and the mixing intensity in a single step, in real time, allowing for more accurate measurements. The value of the research lies in the fact that mixing is one of the most energy-consuming processes during water and wastewater purification.

The results of this study were recently published in the journal ACS ES&T Engineering and featured on the cover of its February issue.

"We developed a brand-new technique to non-intrusively monitor the mixing so that we can precisely control it, quantify heterogeneities within the reactor and potentially optimize it to create flocs of desired characteristics while simultaneously minimizing energy consumption," he said.

This first-of-its-kind technique can be used to improve flocculation, meaning successfully removing contaminants by growing large enough clumps while minimizing the energy used.

"All previous research did this in two steps," Chang said. "In the old approach, first, artificial particles of known characteristics would be added to monitor mixing. Then, a second experiment would be done with identical settings and the actual clumps would be monitored.

"We essentially halved the workload and improved precision because there are always statistical differences any time you do two experiments."

This interdisciplinary project was a collaboration between Chang, who focuses on fluid dynamics, and Dr. Shankar Chellam, professor of civil and environmental engineering and A.P. and Florence Wiley Professor III, who focuses on water/wastewater treatment.

Three graduate students performed the experimental work and associated numerical analysis: Kaleisha Miller, Kyungho Kim and Wei-Liang Chuang, who is now an assistant professor at National Sun Yat-sen University in Taiwan.
This 1981 electron microscope image provided by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention shows a human respiratory syncytial virus, also known as RSV. On Tuesday, Feb. 28, 2023, a panel of U.S. Food and Drug Administration advisers narrowly backed an experimental vaccine from Pfizer that could become the first shot to protect older adults against the RSV respiratory virus.
I dont remember the last time I said, I love you to my parents. In fact, I dont think theyve said that to me much either in the 30-something years of my existence.

For a Chinese Singaporean family, this is hardly out of the ordinary. Our affection for each other is mostly communicated through sharing food at mealtimes or through questions about how work has been.

But theres another way that my parentsand grandparents, aunties, and uncles, for that matterexpress affection for me: through biting, negatively framed opinions that hit you like a punch in the gut.

Youve got more white hair now. You put on weight. You look so tired. (Theres also the all-encompassing Aiyoh! which usually conveys a mix of disappointment, disapproval, worry, and concern all at the same time.)

That is why, when watching Everything Everywhere All at Once at home one Friday evening, I cringe-laughed when the protagonist Evelyn Wang blurts this line out to her daughter Joy early in the film: You have to try and eat healthier. You are getting fat.

Such judgmental comments have become a tried-and-true method of communicating care and concern, bypassing anything gushy or sentimental. To be clear, this is not a condoning of verbal abuse, which exerts manipulative control over another. I speak of the pessimistic, unsympathetic sentiments that often color speech in a Chinese family.

Over the years, Ive deflected remarks like these by laughing or shrugging them off rather than allowing them to take root. As I tell my husband when similar phrases roll off my tongue, these are simply words of endearment.

I used to view this inability to articulate I love you to one another in a Chinese family as a deficiency. Lately, Ive come to recognize how love, even when it isnt verbally expressed, is present in silence.

Remarks like the one Evelyn makes to Joy sting. But even without saying, I love you, Evelyns love for her family lingers in what is left unsaidin the gaps between words and worlds, and in the silence that hangs suspended in midair. (Caution: spoilers abound.)

Threading the spaces in between

Delightfully disorienting and intellectually absorbing, Everything Everywhere All at Once centers on Evelyn (Michelle Yeoh), a Chinese immigrant and laundromat owner who verse jumps across the multiverse to save it from crumbling into nihilistic oblivion.

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Since its March 2022 premiere, the film has swept up countless awards from the Screen Actors Guild and the Golden Globes. Its also garnered seven Oscar wins, including best picture, best director, and every acting category in which it received nominations.

While there are instances of violence, sexual references, and coarse language throughout, its depiction of family dynamics is, in my view, its greatest attraction and strength. For all of Evelyns grandiose escapades in the multiverse, the one thing she struggles to achieve is authentic connection with her family members. With her husband, Waymond (Ke Huy Quan), she is brusque and dismissive. With her daughter Joy (Stephanie Hsu), she lapses into harsh, prickly statements.

This gulf between Evelyn and her family members grows throughout the film. Its a silent, stealthy phenomenon that creeps against the endless cacophony of noise and activity, and becomes ironically evident when Waymond assures Evelyn that her father, Gong Gong (James Hong), will see them as a happy family.

Reality is anything but happy for the Wangs, as the film goes to show.

Evelyn is a disengaged entity, always moving but never actually getting anywhere. She deftly slips in and out of conversations about Gong Gongs birthday, the Chinese New Year party, whether Joys girlfriend Becky can attend, the taxes, and the missing bag of freshly laundered clothing.

Everything, everywhere, seems broken and out of sync in the first 10 minutes of the film. And it only gets worse when the eerily grinning Jobu TupakiJoys alt-persona from the Alphaverseappears on screen, making mayhem and reveling in it.

Evelyn soon learns about Jobus genesis. In one universe, Evelyn is a brilliant scientist who pushes her daughters verse-jumping abilities to the point that it has fractured her and given her the power to be an agent of chaos in every single universe.

Youve been feeling it too, havent you? Something is off, Waymond from the Alphaverse tells Evelyn.

How can we get back? is Evelyns heartfelt response.

The films masterful depiction of generational trauma exposes a dissonance thats buried deep, always there but never addressed head-on, in the quintessential Chinese family. In everyday life, Evelyn is filial to her father, but in her flashbacks, the memory of Gong Gong telling her, You are not my daughter anymore surfaces repeatedly.

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When words become weapons and deathly silence consumes us, how do we ever get back?

Evelyns question sums up the core of humanitys cry, which has echoed throughout the pages of Scripture. The Christian heart throbs with a yearning within for our relationship with God to be made whole and right. Like Evelyn, we may wonder: How do we return to an edenic existence which offers an opportunity to walk with God in the cool of the day (Gen. 3:8) and fight against a temptation to float aimlessly in an existentialist world in which nothing ever seems to matter?

The answer, for Evelyn, lies in becoming as fractured as Jobu is. Acquiring the ability to exist everywhere all at once means that Evelyn may be able to save her daughter Joy from getting sucked into the Everything Bagel, a whirling, amped-up version of a black hole that holds both horror and allure in its totality.

Evelyn never says she does this because she loves Joy. Yet there is possibly no other reason as strong, and no other emotion as enduring, as the love a mother has for her child. Stop calling me Evelyn. I. Am. Your. Mother, she says through gritted teeth, gripping Jobu in a tight hug as the Bagel threatens to engulf her.

Beneath this assertion of her role as Joys mother, which many a Chinese child has undoubtedly been at the receiving end of, an underlying message resonates and says more than words ever can: I. Love. You.

Nevertheless, Evelyns love is limited in scope and power. It is only hinted at through caustic observations or self-determining statements. (Ironically, the only person Evelyn says I love you to is the Wangs tax auditor Deirdre Beaudeirdre, played by Jamie Lee Curtis.)

As believers, we look to the Bible, which abounds with verbal proclamations of Gods covenantal love for us. I have loved you with an everlasting love, God says through the prophet Jeremiah (Jer. 31:3). The Lord, the Lord, the compassionate and gracious God, slow to anger, abounding in love and faithfulness, he says of himself to Moses (Ex. 34:6).

But Gods love existsand I dare say persistsin silence too.

Encountering a luminous darkness

Silence is often problematized in film and in Scripture. In cinematic form, silence often serves a particular purpose. It can alienate just as well as it can illuminate.

I contend that Scripture does likewise, in that silence is one of the ways God speaks and communicates his love, inasmuch as it might convey a sense of separation from him.

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I used to think that silence on the part of God displayed his absence. Im not so convinced anymore. Surely Gods hesed, the Hebrew word we understand as loyal love, steadfast love, or loving-kindness, goes beyond words and cannot be contained or defined only by verbal demonstrations?

Theologians call this the via negativa (Latin for way of negation), or apophatic theology. This approach recognizes that God has revealed himself to us but also that human language is ultimately incapable of describing God.

To know God apophatically is to know that God is forever and fully unknowable. No human concept or construct can fully define who God is and what his love is or is not. In this way, our experience of Gods silence may not always construe his perceived absence. Rather, his silence might be the very sign and marker of his presence.

Fourth-century Cappadocian church father Gregory of Nyssa privileged this approach to knowing God. In The Life of Moses, he writes, For leaving behind everything that is observed, not only what sense comprehends but also what the intelligence thinks it sees, it keeps on penetrating deeper until by the intelligences yearning for understanding it gains access to the invisible and the incomprehensible, and there it sees God.

The Everything Bagel is a kind of via negativa itself. It lies just beyond Evelyns world of comprehension, pulling everything in its sphere of influence toward a not-knowing, turning them inside out and upside down until all matter and significance are lost.

Evelyns character reflects a descent into apophatic unknowability as well. She verse-jumps to the point that she seems to spin out of control and lose her sense of self, even though she has acquired the power to be every Evelyn that exists across the multiverse and harness their skill sets in fighting Jobu.

That moment when Evelyn is screaming, and shes feeling everything, and shes completely unmoored and lost, that is the experience of losing God, said Daniel Kwan, one of the films writer-directors who grew up evangelical before leaving the Christian faith in his 20s.

But where Evelyn, the Bagel, and Kwan are inclined to deteriorate into abject nothingness, a via negativa that is grounded in the silence of God and his hesed is an ascent toward a deeper intimacy with him.

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Inhabiting the silence of God is akin to what Gregory calls a luminous darkness. We wrestle with Gods unknowability, experiencing the agonizing distance from God that silence so often brings while also recognizing that he is present in this felt absence. This is the seeing that consists in not seeing, because that which is sought transcends all knowledge, Gregory says.

As contradictory as it might sound, a luminous darkness is one filled with Gods presence, and by faith, the soul can begin to perceive God in darkness, writes Baylor University patristics and historical theology professor D. H. Williams.

Through this via negativa, perhaps our view of what Gods silence constitutes might be changed ever so slightly. Perhaps it might lead to a clearer picture of his hesed, leading us to declare as the psalmist does: For God alone my soul waits in silence; from him comes my salvation. (Ps. 62:1, ESV)

An exchange between Jesuit priest Sebastiao Rodrigues and the voice of Jesus in Martin Scorseses 2016 film Silence illustrates the depth of Gods hesed, which is both achingly absent and unspeakably present. Father Rodrigues prays wordlessly while his voiceover says: Lord, I fought against your silence.

I suffered beside you. I was never silent, Jesus responds, also in a voiceover.

But even if God had been silent my whole life, to this very day, everything I do, everything Ive done  speaks of him, Rodrigues realizes. It was in the silence that I heard your voice.

When silence begets love

Everything Everywhere All at Once also includes a scene in a similar vein to Silence. Evelyn and Jobu have become two gray rocks in a dry desert landscape that is inhospitable to living, breathing things. There is no audible dialogue, only text unfurling onscreen to simulate a conversation between the two.

In this space devoid of verbal discourse, Evelyn and Jobu have their first proper conversation in the film, to the point that both rocks even start laughing together. Comic relief aside, this scene is one of the most heartwarming moments in the film because it shows that silence is hospitable to love.

Silence is a welcome interruption in a family that speaks over, or at, each other like the Wangs in the film do. Silence plays a transformative role in a family that finds itself predicated toward self-annihilating despair when it ushers in a quiet, companionable hush, even if everything is still a mess.

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Despite the chasm that exists between generations, whether through unresolved generational trauma or a lack of affectionate displays, love does take up space in Chinese families that dont ever say I love you like Evelyns, and like mine.

The clincher comes at the end of the film when life has returned to some semblance of normalcy and the Wang family is once again trying to get their taxes done. At the IRS building, Evelyn suddenly kisses Waymond. Spontaneously. In broad daylight. And in public.

Words, clearly, are inadequate here.

An experience of not-aloneness

Everything Everywhere All at Once gives voice to the loneliness and isolation common to humanity. It displays this disconnectedness from one another and our desire to overcome it through Evelyns riotous adventure in the multiverse. Although it appears to champion nihilism, the film ultimately lifts our gaze from all that fractures and disintegrates our lives to say: Who we are matters. We matter to someone.

This doesnt negate humanitys struggle and striving and the silences that remain. What the characters say to one another, even when the entire multiverse is at stake, reflects this poignantly. No matter what, I still want to be here with you. I will always, always want to be with you, Evelyn tells Joy in the laundromat parking lot. In another life, I would have really liked just doing laundry and taxes with you, Waymond says to Evelyn in a divergent universe.

Saying I love you to my parents or relatives is still not a habit of mine. Expressions of love, in my family at least, continue to materialize in the form of critical comments and the most mundane questions. But thanks to this film, Im learning that its okay that I love you isnt ever said. Im learning to see a love that exists beyond words and in the silence.

Divine love is communicated through silence too. Gods hesed remains true and unchanging in the unknowability of it all, and in that I rejoice. While some may regard the via negativa approach as alienating, it provides me with no small comfort to know that he is far beyond any means of human comprehension, and far more present than I may ever realize.

Its a good thing youre not alone, says Evelyn to Chad, her teppanyaki chef coworker in the Raccacoonie universe. (Sorry, youll just have to watch it.) Im glad this remains true for all of us who dwell in Gods luminous darkness.

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When Aaron Kohler tries to talk to people in Cottbus, Germany, about Jesus, church, and faith, he cant assume they know what hes talking about.

Many in the city near the Polish border dont know anything about Christianity. Kohler has had people ask him whether Christmas and Easter are Christian holidays, and if so, what theyre about. One time, he talked to someone at a local market who wasnt familiar with the name Jesus. The person had never even heard it, that they could recall.

That was crazy for me. In the land of the Reformation, in a supposedly Christian country, these people dont even know the basic basics, said Kohler, copastor of a church plant called Mittendrin (In the Middle).

According to the most recent data from Germanys Federal Agency for Civic Education, more than 60 percent of Germans identify as Christian. A little more than a quarter say they have no religion.

Zoom in a little closer, though, and stark regional differences emerge. In the western part of the countrywhich includes Hamburg, Munich, Cologne, Frankfurt, Stuttgart, and Dusseldorfthree-quarters of the population identify as Christian. But in the east, the region that was a Soviet Union satellite state from 1949 to 1990, only a quarter of Germans are Christian, with nearly 70 percent identifying themselves as nicht glaubig, or nonbelievers.

Christianity is, of course, declining in much of formerly Protestant Europe. But eastern Germany stands out, even compared with other rapidly secularizing nations. Here, large swaths of the population have had no serious contact with Christianity for three generations.

For decades, there was no prayer, no Bible at home, no church attendance, Kohler said. After all these years, people dont know what they dont know.

The regional differences are easily traced to the division of the country after its defeat in World War II. The French, British, and American-controlled sectors in the west merged into the German Federal Republic in 1949. The Soviet-controlled East formed the German Democratic Republic, a socialist state with totalitarian leaders who suppressed religion. Although the efforts to stamp out faith were not as harsh in East Germany as they were in some areas of the Soviet Bloc, the effects were profound, according to sociologists Detlef Pollack and Gergely Rosta.

The Christian population in East Germany fell from about 90 percent in 1949 to only 30 percent in 1990. When the Cold War ended, the Berlin Wall dividing the historic capital city came down and the country was reunited. But Christianity in the former East just kept shrinking.

Simon Tarry, a British-born church planter with Newfrontiers, a network of evangelical, charismatic churches, said official statistics actually paint a rosier picture than the reality. Even for many of the one out of four who say they are Christian in the East, little to nothing in their lives resembles a vibrant faith.

The scales of measurement are membership where people pay their church tax for marriage and baptism purposes, he said. Germany is equivalent to an unreached people group. You might think of the 10/40 Window, places in Asia or the Middle East. But a lot of places in Germany and Northern Europe are much more unreached than elsewhere in the world.

Newfrontiers has two church plants in the East, both in the Berlin area. The network has had more success in the West, like the Frankfurt area where Tarry is helping plant a church.

Its incredibly hard work to plant a church in Germany. Its incredibly discouraging at times. It feels like really hard ground, he said.

For evangelical church planters, this presents an incredible challenge. But also, because they are church planters, they see opportunities.

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There are really many opportunities, said Dominik Lorenz, a church planter with the Union of Free Evangelical Churches in Vogtland, a hilly region in the eastern state of Saxony. These people are looking for a second chance.

There are no firm numbers on how many church planting initiatives have launched in the East since the fall of the Berlin Wall. None of the church planters who spoke to CT knew of a complete count. But church planters are there, talking to people about Jesus and attempting to live out their trust in the gospel.

The idea of people making any life decisions around church is so strange and countercultural, Lorenz said, that it piques curiosity and opens doors. He joined Herzfabrik (Heart Factory) in 2017. The plant was started the year before by Daniel Rudolph and a team of 11 people sent out by the Union of Free Evangelical Churches in Germany.

While everyone withdraws in fear, we build bridges for encounters, Lorenz said. While many people look only to their own, we give generously. This relationship dynamic of the gospel, which is lived in everyday life, in homes, in families, in the workplace, has an enormous appeal here.

In a region with around 70,000 inhabitants, Herzfabrik now has 120 members and an additional 250 people and 80 children who regularly attend services. Some of these are part of the 17 percent of the population who already identified as Protestant or another Christian religion in the official survey, but the church has focused on reaching nonbelievers. The staff talks about the temptation to pay too much attention to the needs and frustrations of Christians and losing sight of those who are truly lost.

Thats really the harder task for evangelicals in eastern Germany, according to Joel Ernst, a church planter in training with Mittendrin in Cottbus.

You need patience here in East Germany, he said. It takes a long time for a skeptic to become a follower of Jesus. You need to know more than just the facts of these peoples lives, but feel the pain of it. The reality of it. Getting to know people in a deep way.

Growing up in church in the western part of the country, Ernst said, he was shaped by a church growth mindset. Hes had to unlearn that in his training in Cottbus.

If you have that model in mind and come to East Germany to plant a church, youre going to end up frustrated quite quickly, he said. Being with people who have forgotten theyve forgotten God challenged my view of what church culture is [supposed to be].

At the same time, church planters in the region say theyve had to adjust their view of nonreligious people. Tobias Klement, who grew up in western Germany, expected people to be hostile to Christianity when he joined Kohler to plant a church in Cottbus.

What he found, instead, was a mix of ignorance and indifference. People didnt know the basic basicsor why they should care.

Its just not relevant to their lives, he said. They did not actively decide to be atheist. Its just a normal thing.

Klement and Kohler say they have learned that the work of spreading the gospel in eastern Germany will be slow. But theyre in it for the long haul.

The Reformation didnt happen in a day, Kohler said. And thats what we are working and praying for here in Cottbus and East Germany: that God would come here and start a second reformation.

Ken Chitwood is a writer and scholar of global religion living in Germany.

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A Christian conservation group is fighting the Ghana government in court over plans to mine bauxite in the Atewa Range Forest Reserve. The protected highland forest north of the capital, Accra, is home to more than 700 species of butterflies, 239 different birds, and 1,134 plants and also provides water for millions of people.

The government reportedly granted a license to the Chinese state-owned Sinohydro Corp. to mine bauxite and build a refinery for the production of aluminum to pay back a $2 billion loan for infrastructure projects across the country. Experts say the mine would be catastrophic for plants and wildlife, not to mention the climate and clean water.

We thought that if we didnt take this step of faith, then we would not have acted well as Christians who are stewards of Gods creation, said Seth Appiah-Kubi, the national director of A Rocha Ghana. Weve done all weve done because we are Christians.

A Rocha Ghana is leading the legal challenge, joined by six other civil society groups and four private citizens. The case was filed three years ago and made its way to the Accra High Court in February. The conservation group has never filed suit before.

Even though weve done advocacy and campaigns as part of our work, this is the first time weve taken legal action, Appiah-Kubi said. Its a big learning curve.

Appiah-Kubi was the first witness when the hearing began February 6. He was cross-examined by a state lawyer for two days.

The conservation group and the other plaintiffs argue that mining the forest for bauxite would violate Ghanas constitution, which protects citizens rights to a clean and healthy environment.

Atewa Forest is a water tower. Many rivers take their source from there, supplying water to many communities, Appiah-Kubi told CT. So, the right to clean water that we know bauxite mining would destroy is the right of the ordinary citizen of Ghana.

The mountain range and its forests cover more than 56,000 acres. Atewas status as a forest reserve, however, affords it little protection, and the plaintiffs want the area converted into a national park. They also want the nations high court to order parts of it that have already been damaged by prospecting teams to be restored.

Appiah-Kubi told the court that A Rocha Ghana had tried to engage the Ghana Integrated Aluminum Development Corporation during several meetings in the past, but before the parties could reach agreement, the company publicly announced its intentions to target Atewa Forest and two other areas for bauxite.

They went ahead to commission a reconnaissance and exploration activity at the forest which was carried [out] without due legal processes, destroying part of the forest. And these activities are the pre-events for actual mining, he said on the witness stand. The government disputes that claim.

If the court challenge fails and bauxite mining goes ahead, theres no question it will harm Ghanas only highland forest. The extent of the damage, though, is hard to predict. Atewa is one of the most understudied forests in West Africa, and scientists working in it are still surprised at what they dont know.

Two years ago, for example, British scientists unexpectedly flushed a huge bird of prey from its daytime roost. It turned out to be a Shelleys eagle-owl, an elusive predator that hadnt been seen in Ghana for 150 years.

One of the scientists, Robert Williams, got a photographone of the only ones ever taken of the bird.

There are surely more treasures and surprises to be found there, Williams told CT. Forests across West Africa have been decimated over the last century and the wildlife severely diminished.

Preserving the wildlife in Atewa should be a national and international priority, according to Williams.

As the world wakes up to the climate and biodiversity crises, it is vital to protect what remains of Africas natural heritage, he said.

One species that will almost certainly be wiped out by bauxite mines in Atewa is the recently discovered Atewa slippery frog. A team of West African and international scientists discovered it just months before Williamss sighting of the eagle-owl. It lives only in a handful of clear-running streams in an area earmarked for mining.

Nathaniel Annorbah, a lecturer in the school of natural and environmental sciences at Ghanas University of Environment and Sustainable Development, was thrilled to hear of the rare sighting of the eagle-owl. He knows what its like to encounter rarities in Atewa. He once heard an African broadbill there. The small, perching bird with a streaked chest has a frog-like call that is rarely heard elsewhere in Ghana.

But for Annorbah, the clearest reason to protect the forest from bauxite mining is the water. Thats why, he said, most Ghanaians support A Rochas lawsuit.

The forest provides water to millions of both rural communities and city dwellers in the nation's capital, he said. Opposition to the planned destruction of the forest is the rational thing to do.

If the mining goes forward in Atewa, bulldozers and scrapers will start removing the mountaintops. They will remove one to two meters of topsoil, then extract the layer of ore.

The mountain peaks are where the bauxite is, Appiah-Kubi said. Theyll be dug down. This habitat would be destroyed.

According to A Rocha, there are other less-sensitive places where bauxite can be mined. The conservation group has been clear it does not oppose all mining.

Over 82 percent of Ghanas bauxite can be mined without compromising the existence of the Atewa Range Forest, A Rocha said in a statement.

The government, however, has not been receptive to these arguments. So, A Rocha is appealing to the courts.

We trust the legal system in Ghana, Appiah-Kubi said. Thats why we are there.

A ruling is expected in April.
CPAC 2023: GOP lawmakers want to 'fire bureaucrats' in response to DOJ 'weaponization'

NATIONAL HARBOR, Md.  At the annual Conservative Political Action Conference Thursday, Republican members of the U.S. Congress called for the downsizing of the federal government in response to what they say has been the weaponization of federal law enforcement agencies against conservatives and people of faith.

CPAC, one of the most prominent annual gatherings of conservative activists and politicians, made its return this week to the Gaylord National Resort and Convention Center for the first time since the coronavirus pandemic.

The conference wasted little time highlighting the gripes conservatives have had with what they argue has been the politicization of the Department of Justice, FBI and other law enforcement agencies under the Biden administration, which the House Judiciary Committee is investigating under the new Republican majority. The morning panel titled "No Dominus Vobiscum FBI" focused on the alleged weaponization of the federal government.

Moderated by Fox News contributor and Townhall Editor Katie Pavlich, the panel featured Reps. Kat Cammack, R-Fla., and Harriet Hageman, R-Wyo., members of the newly established U.S. House Judiciary Committee's Subcommittee on the Weaponization of Government.

"You have the DOJ, the Department of Justice, telling parents that are concerned about what their kids are being taught that they are terrorists," Cammack, who previously served as the chief of staff to her predecessor Ted Yoho until his 2020 retirement, explained.

Cammack referred to a 2021 Department of Justice memo directing the FBI to work with state and local law enforcement to "facilitate the discussion of strategies for addressing threats against school administrators, board members, teachers, and staff."

The memo followed a letter from the National School Boards Association urging the federal government to use anti-terrorism laws, including "the Gun-Free School Zones Act, the PATRIOT Act in regards to domestic terrorism, the Matthew Shepard and James Byrd Jr. Hate Crime Prevention Act, the Violent Interference with Federally Protected Rights statue, [and] the Conspiracy Against Rights statute" to take action against those who threaten school officials.

Critics suggested that the memo was an effort to silence concerned parents who descended on school boards to express outrage over sexually explicit material in school curriculum and school libraries, the teaching of racially divisive theories and coronavirus restrictions.

Pavlich warned of a "double standard between the prosecutions of the pro-life Americans" versus the comparative lack of action taken to address "dozens of crisis pregnancy centers which have been [vandalized and] firebombed." She cited the case of pro-life activist Mark Houck, who was arrested last September by "FBI agents in front of [his] children" over purported violations of the Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances Act. A jury found him not guilty in January.

Several pro-life pregnancy centers, churches and pro-life advocacy organizations have been vandalized in the wake of the U.S. Supreme Court's Dobbs v. Jackson Women's Health Organization decision that determined that the U.S. Constitution doesn't contain a right to abortion. Aside from the arrest of vandals who defaced pro-life pregnancy centers in Florida, many of the perpetrators of such violence remain at large.

Hageman, an attorney serving her first term after defeating her predecessor and prominent Donald Trump critic Liz Cheney in 2022, attributed the alleged politicization of the federal government to the fact that the country has "stockpiled more and more power in Washington, D.C."

"[W]e've laundered more and more money to Washington, D.C., and it has now become probably [that] the biggest business really in the United States is the federal government," she said.

She lamented that "conservatives and Republicans and parents are the targets of these folks," adding, "we need to ferret it out, we need to expose it, we need to be passing laws to stop it."

"What I'm focused on is that the FBI and the Department of Justice have been violating our First Amendment rights through surrogacy," Hageman added. "So, we found out through the Twitter Files that they have been contacting Twitter and social media companies and demanding that they pull down folks."

Hageman noted that under the First Amendment, "neither of these agencies would be able to do that directly, so they're doing it through a third party." She insisted that "It's just as illegal."

The Twitter Files were submitted to independent journalists by new Twitter CEO Elon Musk beginning at the end of last year. The documents show government officials sending requests to Twitter to consider censoring certain accounts.

When asked how lawmakers could use their power to protect against the continued weaponization of the federal government, Hageman said they should "start with the 10th Amendment."

"Start with taking power out of Washington, D.C.," she said.

The 10th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution grants all powers not directly delegated to the federal government to the states.

"Every single one of these agencies is too large," she maintained.

Cammack warned about the "regulatory regime," which she described as the fourth branch of government, expressing concern that it was too difficult to fire career employees of the federal government.

"We have to be able to fire these bureaucrats," she said. "They are so insulated."

The House Select Subcommittee on the Weaponization of the Federal Government was established in a Feb. 1 resolution to investigate "matters related to the collection, analysis, dissemination, and use of information on U.S. citizens by executive branch agencies, including whether such efforts are illegal, unconstitutional, or otherwise unethical." The Subcommittee was established after Republicans retook control of the U.S. House of Representatives following the 2022 elections.
'Do I flush my child down the toilet?: Abby Johnson laments loss of God's vision for humanity at CPAC

NATIONAL HARBOR, Md.  A women-centered panel at the 2023 Conservative Political Action Conference focused on defending human dignity and how the panelists believe the culture has lost sight of Gods intended vision for humankind.

The panel, Some Tuff Mutha, featured pro-life advocate Abby Johnson, founder of And Then There Were None; Penny Nance, CEO and president of the conservative group Concerned Women for America; and Kimberly Fletcher of Moms for America. Radio host Sandy Rios served as the moderator for the panel.

One of the ways the panelists believe human dignity has been lost is through the practice of abortion, which has killed 63.5 million Americans since it was legalized in 1973.

Johnson, a former Planned Parenthood clinic director (read more about her here and here), drew attention to the Food and Drug Administration modifying restrictions on abortion pills and enabling women to obtain prescriptions for the drugs at major retail pharmacies. Under the Biden administration, the FDA greenlit abortion into the home of every woman across the country, she said.

We have created abortion facilities in every womans home across the country, Johnson added, lamenting the risk this imposes on women.

The former abortion clinic director noted that the full extent of the ramifications of the FDAs decision is still unknown, highlighting the lack of medical supervision surrounding at-home chemical abortions. According to a 2009 study, the complication rate for chemical abortions is four times higher than for surgical abortions.

Johnson cited several concerns she has with the modified regulations, such as women potentially hemorrhaging to death in their bathroom. She also emphasized that women will be looking into the toilet to see the remains of their fully-formed baby.

And then theyre going to have to make a decision, she said. What do I do with this fully-formed baby? What do I do with this child? Do I scoop the child out of the toilet? Do I take the child to be buried? Do I flush my child down the toilet?

The pro-life advocate raised further concerns about the psychological impact of seeing their childs remains.

Nance added that abortion is the ultimate disrespect of human dignity, but stressed that God still loves and can redeem women who have had abortions.

The conservative leader pointed to another loss of human dignity, criticizing the Biden administrations treatment of women. She asserted that the Administration seemingly believes men can do everything better than women, including being women, highlighting the appointment of Rachel (Richard) Levine, a man who identifies as a woman, to the position of U.S. Assistant Secretary of Health. In 2022, USA Today listed Levine, a man who identifies as a woman, as its Woman of the Year.

Nance said CWA intends to stand up for the unique dignity of American women and encourages other Americans to do the same.

We are fearfully and wonderfully made as male and female, she said. That is the ultimate disrespect, to deny who we are and how God created us in that unique, dignified position as American women.

Speaking about public education, Fletcher shared how, when she talks to mothers, she tells them how parental rights are fundamental and supreme.

We as parents have got to stand up, she said. First of all, we have to know whats coming our way.

Fletcher noted that mothers are attending school board meetings, reading the sexual content in books made accessible to their children, and being lectured for sharing such things out loud. She also pointed to incidents involving comprehensive sex education being taught to early elementary school students or schools instructing young children about changing their sex.

The parental advocate asserted that conservative Christian women haven't been voting or paying enough attention to whats happening at their school boards. This demographic of women, she added, can repair what's wrong in the education system.

In terms of fixing what they see as negatively impacting the culture, Johnson said God wants His people to participate in daily victories, imploring those gathered to use their voice and speak boldly on these issues.

Nance seconded Johnson's challenge, adding that the Holy Spirit is alive and well, and whether it be at school board meetings or outside abortion facilities, she called on everyone to speak the truth and fulfill Gods command to care for the least of these.
With 8,794,726 votes, representing 36.61 percent of the total vote cast; Bola Hammed Tinubu, candidate of the ruling APC, won a highly contested and contentious general election. Former Vice-President Atiku Abubakar, the candidate of the PDP, came second with a total vote of 6,984,520 votes, representing 29.07 percent of the total. But, the greatest upset in this particular election was the performance of the Labour Party candidate, Peter Obi, who scored a total vote of 6,101,533 (25.40 percent) coming in third but with an almost non-existing party structure. This is a clear indication that the Nigerian masses are looking for an alternative on the political front.

He beat Bola Tinubu in Lagos State, a state that is meant to be the traditional base of Tinubu, in which he was governor for eight years, and where he remains a political elder statesman, with a lot of public recognition. No one in the last 24 years of this republic has ever beaten Tinubu in Lagos. It was generally believed, before last Saturday, that it would take a civil war or a revolution to overthrow Tinubus APC and its political machine in Lagos. But instead, a relatively peaceful political revolution successfully challenged his dominance. How are we to explain this earthquake?

What really happened?

The APC has completely lost its social base / Image: Chatham House, Wikimedia Commons

Having squandered its initial manipulative and deceptive goodwill (with which it came to power in 2015) through its capitalist policies of privatisation of everything in sight, the APC has completely lost its social base, just like the PDP before it. Its promises are no longer trusted by the masses, because all its promises of change have been exposed as a change from bad to worse.

It therefore had only very little in the way of a programme to campaign on in this election. It eventually resulted to ethnic and religious demagogy. By putting forward an unusual Muslim-Muslim ticket (with both the president and vice-president being Muslim, in a society that is almost equally divided into Muslim/Christian), Tinubus APC put the question point blank to majority-Muslim Northern voters: Your ethnic brother [Atiku of the PDP] or Prophet Mohammed?

He then came to the Yoruba-dominated South-West, where he himself comes from, and introduced especially toxic ethnic politics to consolidate his grip on the region. From his uninspiring Emi lokan (it is my turn) slogan, to Olule(he fell down, referring to the previous PDP regime), he moved to A ma dibo, a ma wole(We will vote and we will win), deliberately raising slogans in the Yoruba language to maintain his ethnic base in the contest, while keeping his focus on the Muslim-dominated North.

His tactics were sufficient to win the presidency, but he must also be aware that he is preparing to rule over a country that is sharply divided along ethnic and religious lines. Tinubus APC was able to get away with these tactics mainly, because his so-called opponents equally lacked any programme.

Obi, the candidate of the Labour Party, was a former Governor of Anambra State and an obedient servant of capitalist interests. His campaign was not clearly different from the others, despite standing on the platform of Labour, with its affiliation to the big Trade Union Centers. In the same vein, Atiku was the chairman of the Privatisation and Commercialisation Committee (yes, that was its actual name) when he was vice president. Sixteen years of hardship under the rule of the PDP had already done irreparable damage to the image of the party. The party was terribly divided, almost in half, North and South, and the only thing that saved him from total humiliation was that he came from the North, and a sizable number of Northern electorate voted for ethnicity rather than religion. He came second at the expense of finally reducing the PDP to a regional party, having won a total of nine states in the North (very narrowly) and three states in the South. A one-time national party seems to have been finally relegated to a party of the North.

As noted, the biggest upset in this election was the strong showing for Obi and theLabour Party. A party that was almost non-existent a few months ago almost overtook the PDP, and won in the commercial and industrial capital of the country. The party also won six seats in the Senate by defeating three sitting governors, and many seats in the House of Representatives, majorly in the South-East and Lagos.

Lagos state was the epicentre of that magnificent 2020 EndSARS movement, and the Nigerian youth were very clear in their political position during this movement: Neither APC, Nor PDP! The brutal attack on this movement by the state and the complicity of Tinubu, was never forgotten by the youth, who ensured a (relatively peaceful) defeat for Tinubu. Despite the intimidation, violence and highest level of thuggery displayed by the APC thugs during the election, the Lagos youth and the poor masses successfully humiliated Tinubu in Lagos.

The newly sworn-in leadership of the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) came out at the last minute with a press statement calling for support of the Labour Party in the election. However, this call by the NLC leadership failed to tap into the full potential that was there. This is because Obi, although he stood on the Labour Party ticket, has nothing in common with wishes and aspirations of the working-class. It is not enough to own the party, the NLC needs to also control it, and make sure that it actually is a party that defends the real interests of working people in Nigeria

What is to be done?

The Labour Party, despite all its glaring shortcomings, has been thrown forward by the masses as a vehicle with which to challenge the ruling elite / Image: Peter Obi, Twitter

Now Tinubu has been declared the winner, but he now has to rule over a terribly divided country that is passing through a historical crisis, while the workers and youths are on the march. Tinubus regime will have no honeymoon period, while all the attempts he will make to stabilise the economy will consistently end-up destabilising the political situation.

The Labour Party, despite all its glaring shortcomings, however, has been thrown forward by the masses as a vehicle with which to challenge the hegemony of the crisis-ridden ruling elite that dominates the country. The main Trade Union Centers, the NLC and TUC, can now no longer pretend that this party was not founded by them, using resources from their working-class activists.

It is not sufficient to only once in a while announce their ownership of the party: it needs to be consciously taken over by and put under the firm control of the working class. It is only on this basis that a genuine opposition party, a national party of labour, can be built. This will be the best instrument for challenging the series of attacks that are being planned against the working class in the coming period.

The time to reclaim the Labour Party as a genuine weapon of and for labour, is now!
ELCA's first trans bishop sues after being removed from office

The first trans-identified bishop in the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America has filed a lawsuit against the denomination after being compelled to resign over allegations of racism and other issues.

Megan Rohrer, who was born female but has identified with both gender-neutral and masculine pronouns, filed suit against the ECLA on Wednesday in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California, seeking monetary damages.

In addition to the ELCA, the filing names the Sierra Pacific Synod  the regional body where Rohrer served as bishop  and Does 1-25, who might be named as the litigation continues.

The complaint claims Rohrer was terminated by the ELCA "after suffering harassment and engaging in whistleblowing," arguing that church leadership engaged in "animus" and falsely cast the former bishop as a racist. The filing also claims that the "Church demonstrated its lack of acceptance of LGBTQIA+ people."

"The Church's history of prejudice far predated Megan Rohrer's entry into the Church, and the notion he was motivated by racial animus in any personnel decisions is an outright falsehood propagated by the Church to deflect blame," the lawsuit reads. "It has also had the tragic effect of turning marginalized communities against each other."

Rohrer accuses the denomination of mistreatment, intentional and repeated misgendering and mocking gender identity. The plaintiff seeks "economic and non-economic damages" as well as legal fees, exemplary damages, the imposition of applicable fines and penalties for "wrongful conduct."

Rohrer's contract as the bishop didn't end until June 30, 2027, but was forced to resign on June 4, 2022, over the termination of a Hispanic pastor. In late May 2022, ELCA Presiding Bishop Elizabeth Eaton issued a statement publicly calling for Rohrer's resignation.

"The very Presiding Bishop of the ELCA, the highest position of the nationwide Church body, and [her] predecessor minimized Rohrer's gender identity and complained about [her] presence in leadership," continued the complaint.

"Rohrer has received near-daily hate mail, death threats, and overtly hateful vitriol from congregants and members of the public. The backlash against Rohrer as a result of the Church's conduct has been nothing short of egregious."

Rohrer is represented by Cotchett, Pitre & McCarthy, LLP, a law firm with offices in California, New York and Washington state.

"Rohrer is an extraordinary individual who has dedicated [her] life to lifting marginalized communities in faith and in service," said Tamarah Prevost, an attorney with Cotchett, Pitre & McCarthy, in a statement on Wednesday.

"The Church's public false statements implying he is racist are egregious, absurd, and are contradicted by [her] entire life's work."

In September 2021, Rohrer became the first trans-identified bishop in the history of the ELCA, having previously served as community chaplain coordinator for the San Francisco Police Department and as pastor of Grace Evangelical Lutheran Church in San Francisco.

Shortly after being installed as bishop, however, allegations surfaced that Rohrer engaged in unethical behaviors, including the firing of the Pastor Nelson Rabell-Gonzalez of Mision Latina Luterana, which critics accused of having racial motivations. There was also litigation surrounding Rohrer's actions as pastor of Grace Lutheran.

In her statement calling for Rohrer's resignation, Eaton claimed that "There are profound issues regarding the circumstances surrounding the end of Nelson Rabell-Gonzalez' call to the Mision Latina Luterana community on the Feast Day of Our Lady of Guadalupe, a day of such importance to that congregation and community."

"My decision was not made hastily nor without much deep consideration but is necessitated by a careful analysis of both the totality of information available and the disciplinary criteria and processes as described in the Constitution, Bylaws, and Continuing Resolutions of the ELCA," she stated.

However, the lawsuit claims that Rohrer was a victim of scapegoating for "following the directive" of superiors to "terminate Rabell-Gonzalez on the precise date."

"The Church's narrative surrounding Rohrer's termination is replete with falsehoods and

post-hoc justifications that are ungrounded in fact. The Church investigated, and disciplined, Rev. Rabell-Gonzalez's before Rohrer became Bishop," the lawsuit reads.

The Congregation Council of Our Savior's Lutheran Church, a Fresno-based ELCA congregation that reportedly has about 50% LGBT membership, passed a resolution in March 2022 calling for Rohrer's removal and the Synod Council.

"Rohrer's approach to pastoral ministry is incompatible with the expectations of ordained clergy of the ELCA  a pattern of abuse, bullying, manipulation of facts, deceit, and character assassination," stated the resolution.

"[T]he episcopate of Bishop Megan Rohrer, the first transgender bishop of the ELCA, should be cause for great celebration but, instead, by their actions as both Pastor of Grace Evangelical Lutheran Church in San Francisco and as Bishop of the Sierra Pacific Synod, their episcopate is an embarrassment to the LGBTQIA+ members of Our Saviour's Lutheran Church and its Mision Esperanza."

In December 2021, the Extraordinary Lutheran Ministries, an organization that supports LGBT Lutheran clergy, suspended Rohrer's membership over what it called "an existing pattern of behavior" that put the bishop at odds with "ELM's Mission, Vision, and Values  specifically as it pertains to being an anti-racist organization."

Last June, after facing a potential disciplinary process from ELCA leadership, Rohrer agreed to resign from the office of bishop.
Nativity musical starring Antonio Banderas, Lecrae is in the works

A holiday musical centered around the story of the Nativity is in the works and will feature a star-studded cast, including Antonio Banderas and Christian music stars Joel Smallbone and Lecrae.

The yet-to-be-titled musical from AFFIRM Films will star Banderas as King Herod; Smallbone as King Herods son; Lecrae as Gabriel; Milo Manheim as Joseph; Outer Banks actress Fiona Palomo as Mary; Rizwan Manji as Gaspar; Geno Seagers as Balthazar and Omid Djalili as Melchior. CCM artist Moriah Smallbone and "Fatima" actress Stephanie Gil will also be featured.

The project is in production with Monarch Media on the coast of Spain for a Nov. 10 theatrical release, according to a press release from AFFIRM films.

According to the project's description: A young woman carrying an unimaginable responsibility. A young man torn between love and honor. A jealous king who will stop at nothing to keep his crown. This live-action Christmas musical celebration for the entire family weaves classic Christmas melodies into new pop songs in a music-infused retelling of the timeless story of Mary and Joseph and the birth of Jesus. A unique new entry into the collection of holiday classic movies, this epic Christmas musical is unlike any before it.

Adam Anders (Glee, High School Musical, The Passion) is directing the project. Anders also wrote the script along with Peter Barsocchini and the music with Nikki Anders (Glee," High School Musical) and Peer Astrom. It is produced by A Week Away producers Alan Powell and Steve Barnett.

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.

The forthcoming Nativity musical is the latest in a slew of recent media ventures dramatizing the life, death and resurrection of Jesus.

"The Chosen," a multiseason look at the life of Christ through the eyes of His disciples, has become a global phenomenon since its launch in 2017. In November, season three debuted on over 2,000 screens globally and grossed $8.75 million in sales on opening weekend.

The Thorn, a stage production that combines martial arts, aerial acrobatics and emotionally powerful performances to bring the story of Jesus to life, is hitting the big screen for a special two-day Fathom event on March 6-7.

John Bolin, director of The Thorn, told The Christian Post the success of projects like The Chosen and The Thorn is evidence that Gods hand is on projects that glorify Him  and that people are thirsty for content that uplifts and encourages them.

During the Renaissance, Christians led the way in the arts, from architecture to fine art, to music, across illuminated manuscripts, he said. And then somewhere along the way, we sort of like gave that mantle over, we gave leading the arts over to secular people. And so I think there's an opportunity for us as the Body of Christ to not just tell stories, but to tell great stories and to do them at a high level.

God is the architect; when He comes in, when He decides to make something work, it doesn't matter. There's nothing we can do to stop it, and there's nothing we can do to make it happen. When He comes into the equation, it's up to Him to do His work; we just have to be faithful with what we have.

Reflecting on the popularity of projects like The Chosen, Jenkins told CP that viewers are drawn to the many aspects of Jesus character, from His humble approach to humanity to His holiness and divinity.

I do believe that Jesus could be super serious, telling people there's only one way to Heaven, he said. I do believe He also was very tender and loving. He said, I didn't come here to judge but to save. In the past, people tend to just find one lane for Jesus. He's either super loving and never judgmental, or He's harsh and exclusive.

The God of the universe, the Creator of the universe, dwelt among us and was a human being like us. He laughed with his friends and danced at weddings. When He did miracles, it was to reach a specific persons heart, Jenkins continued.
School district rejects student-teachers from Arizona Christian University due to their biblical values

Despite allowing student-teachers and practicums from Arizona Christian University for the last 11 years without incident, the five-member governing board of the Washington Elementary School District in Arizona has unanimously voted to stop the practice because of the perceived threat the students biblical value system poses to LGBT students.

At a board meeting held on Feb. 23, school district officials had recommended renewing the partnership with Arizona Christian University education students but the board members, three of whom identify as members of the LGBT community, said that having student teachers with biblical values in the states largest elementary school district is just too dangerous.

The Christian Post reached out to Arizona Christian University for comment on the severed relationship with the school district Friday, but no one was immediately available.

The five-member governing board members are Nikkie Gomez-Whaley, president; Jenni Abbott-Bayardi, vice president; Kyle Clayton, Tamillia Valenzuela, and Lindsey Peterson.

Valenzuela, who first raised concern about the universitys values, insisted that while she supports religious freedom, and is aware of a current teacher shortage, she cannot support student-teachers with traditional Christian values in the classroom.

While I full-heartedly believe in religious freedom and people being able to practice whatever faith that they have, I had some  concerns regarding looking at this particular institution, said Valenzuela, who identifies as a bilingual, disabled, neurodivergent Queer Black Latina.

I'm going to start with our values. First, our vision in Washington Elementary School District is committed to achieving excellence for every child, every day, every opportunity, every child. When I go to Arizona Christian University's website, and I'm taking this directly from their website, 'above all else, be committed to Jesus Christ, accomplishing His will and advancing His kingdom on earth as in heaven, Valenzuela continued.

Part of the four values [of the school] is 'influence, engage and transform the culture with truth by promoting the biblically informed values that are foundational to Western civilization, including the centrality of family, traditional sexual morality and lifelong marriage between one man and one woman.'

I want to know how bringing people from an institution that is ingrained in their values that will very directly 1) impact three of your board members who are a part of the LGBTQ community. We have added our pronouns at the dais as solidarity, [to] let our LGBT community know that we stand in making sure that they feel protected. Are we only performing performative solidarity? Or are we going to dig deep, and actually look at the partnerships that we're doing? she asked.

Because if we're bringing people in whose mission, who has been told with their institution of education, that  above all else, it is to influence people to be biblically minded? How does that hold space for people of other faiths? How does that hold space for our members of the LGBT community? How does that hold space for people who think differently and do not have the same beliefs? At some point, we need to get real with ourselves and take a look at who we're making legal contracts with, and the message that that is sending to our community, she added.

Clayton, who is married to his same-sex partner, said he was troubled not only by ACUs traditional core values but also by its statement of faith which, among several other things, notes, We believe the term marriage has only one meaning: the uniting of one man and one woman in a single, exclusive union, as delineated in Scripture.

I went and looked into not only their core values, but then the statement of faith that they asked their students to sign and live by [is] what gave me pause, Clayton said.

It's not just teaching, but it's teaching, as they say, with a biblical lens, with a proselytizing. [It] is embedded into how they teach. And, you know, I just don't believe that that belongs in schools. And I would never want, you know, my son to talk about his two dads, and be shamed by a teacher who believed a certain way, and is at a school that demands that they teach through God's, their biblical lens, he added.

I also reached out to some of our social workers to see what they thought the impact of these teachers would be on our most vulnerable students. And it gave them pause to go and look and see this. And they are with our most vulnerable students every single day. And it just takes one off-the-cuff comment one moment, to then have trauma for a child that's already vulnerable, already experienced trauma, he said.

When questioned about the history of the relationship the district has had with the university over the years, a district official explained to the board that the student-teachers have always signed agreements that prevent them from proselytizing and discriminating against children whose values dont align with their own.

Gomez-Whaley said the board has received several emails from the community arguing against renewing the partnership with ACU. She also argued that she doesnt think it is possible for Christian student teachers to separate their Christian values from their professional obligations to treat students equally under any legal requirement.

For me, this is not a concern about Christianity, there are plenty of Christian denominations who are LGBTQ friendly. So, I want to make it clear that, for me, my pause is not that they're Christian so much as this particular institutions strong anti-LGBTQ stance, and their strong belief that you believe this to your core, and you take it out into the world, the board president said.

I simply don't know how a piece of paper can change somebody's underlying value system. Even though they may not  do anything illegal, where they are preaching or using Bible verses, how do you shut off an essential part of your being, and not be biased to the individuals in which you are in charge of nurturing and supporting unconditionally? she asked. I don't see how that disconnect is possible.

Gomez-Whaley who is the most experienced board member, accepted blame for not raising questions about the partnership between the district and ACU earlier.

There's a lot of things that I just didn't ask, quite frankly, the questions that I should have and so, I take ownership for that. But at this point in time, I do believe that we owe it to especially all of our students when we're working in equity, but especially our LGBTQ students and staff, who are under fire, she said.

We cannot continue to align ourselves with organizations that starkly contrasts our values, and say that we legitimately care about diversity, equity and inclusion and that we legitimately care about all of our families.
Texas Supreme Court sides with pro-life activist in free speech case

The Texas Supreme Court has ruled in favor of a pro-life activist who found himself subject to a lawsuit for saying that abortion advocacy organizations murder innocent unborn children.

The Texas Supreme Court issued a ruling in the consolidated cases of The Lilith Fund for Reproductive Equity v. Mark Lee Dickson and Right to Life East Texas and Mark Lee Dickson and Right to Life East Texas v. The Afiya Center and Texas Equal Access Fund on Friday.

The cases concerned pro-life activist Mark Lee Dicksons advocacy on behalf of the Sanctuary Cities for the Unborn movement, specifically his effort to craft an ordinance to ban abortion in the city of Waskom, Texas, and his comments about abortion advocacy groups.

As explained in the opinion, the Waskom ordinance, approved in 2019, decried abortion as an act of murder with malice afterthought and added the plaintiff organizations to a list of criminal organizations that perform abortions and assist others in obtaining abortions. The language of the ordinance was later amended to remove the references to the plaintiffs and others as criminal organizations and the city itself was never a party to a lawsuit.

However, Dickson, the leader of the pro-life group Right to Life East Texas, continued to use similar rhetoric in social media posts about the Waskom ordinance. In such posts, he contended that the pro-abortion groups exist to help mothers murder their babies and murder innocent unborn children. According to the Texas Supreme Court, In June 2020, the plaintiffs wrote Dickson and Right to Life East Texas, requesting that Dickson retract his statements.

The plaintiffs asked Dickson to specifically clarify that neither you, nor to your knowledge anyone else, has any evidence or reason to believe that any of the organizations named above nor any of their agents has committed any acts in violation of the criminal laws of the United States or of any state or local government. Dickson did not reply.

This prompted the Lilith Fund for Reproductive Equity to file a lawsuit against Dickson in Travis County and the other two plaintiffs to file a nearly identical lawsuit in Dallas County. They argued that Dicksons comments constituted defamation.

Dickson and Right to Life East Texas sought the dismissal of the cases under the Texas Citizens Participation Act, which calls on courts to dismiss legal challenges based on an individuals right to free speech unless clear and specific evidence establishes a prima facie case for each essential element of the claim in question. The Texas Supreme Court weighed in on the case after two lower courts issued divergent rulings. While the Seventh Court of Appeals sided with Dickson, the Fifth Court of Appeals ruled in favor of the plaintiffs.

The Texas Supreme Court ultimately reached the same conclusion as the Seventh Court of Appeals: We hold that the plaintiffs failed to adduce specific evidence that Dicksons statements were defamatory. We therefore affirm the judgment of the Seventh Court of Appeals. We reverse the judgment of the Fifth Court of Appeals, and we remand both causes to their respective trial courts for entry of a judgment of dismissal and further proceedings under the provisions of this Act.

The Texas Citizens Participation Act provides for early dismissal of lawsuits that chill a citizens exercise of free speech unless the lawsuit has merit. Because the speaker in this case properly invoked the act and the plaintiffs failed to adduce evidence of defamation in response, these cases must be dismissed, the court added. An examination of the statements and their context shows no abuse of the constitutional right to freely speak.

The opinion determined that Dickson did not urge or threaten violence, nor did he misrepresent the underlying conduct in expressing his opinions about it, stressing that either potentially could have removed his constitutional protections.

Dickson celebrated the state Supreme Court's ruling on Twitter, stating: "The Supreme Court of Texas unanimously ruled that the First Amendment protects speech and advocacy in favor of ordinances that outlaw and criminalize the activities of Texas abortion funds. What a great victory for freedom of speech and the right to life!"

In addition to his work with Right to Life East Texas, Dickson is the leader of the Sanctuary Cities for the Unborn movement, which works with local jurisdictions to craft ordinances banning abortion within their city limits.

Waskom is one of more than five dozen cities that have outlawed abortion within their city limits either via ordinance or following a voter referendum. More than four dozen cities in Texas, including the large cities of Abilene, Lubbock, Odessa and San Angelo are sanctuary cities for the unborn as are Willey, Iowa; Pollock, Louisiana; Lebanon, Ohio, and eight cities in Nebraska and three cities in New Mexico.

The Supreme Court of Texas unanimously ruled that the First Amendment protects speech and advocacy in favor of ordinances that outlaw and criminalize the activities of Texas abortion funds. What a great victory for freedom of speech and the right to life! pic.twitter.com/zwF4hUuTA3  Mark Lee Dickson (@MarkLeeDickson) February 24, 2023
Winsome Sears warns of 'dystopian society' if public schools are not reformed

NATIONAL HARBOR, Md.  A prominent politician is warning of a dystopian society if the public education system is not reformed, insisting that she would rather lose her seat than abandon her goal of improving American education by embracing school choice.

The Conservative Political Action Conference, an annual gathering of conservative activists and politicians, is being held at the Gaylord National Resort and Convention Center this week for the first time since the coronavirus pandemic lockdowns.

One panel at the event, titled Parents with Pitchforks, addressed concerns about the state of public education in the United States.

Weve got to protect our children, weve got to defend our parents and not allow the leftist radical agenda to take over our school system, declared Mercedes Schlapp, co-host of CPAC Now, who moderated the panel.

One of the panelists, Virginia's Republican Lt. Gov. Winsome Sears, has seen the issue of education play a prominent role in her November 2021 election as well as her tenure as lieutenant governor.

Sears used her platform on the panel to advocate for school choice programs, which enable parents to send their children to the school of their choice regardless of where they live and, in some cases, parents receive vouchers so they can send their children to private schools. She responded to concerns of some politicians that supporting school choice, an idea not supported by the politically influential teachers unions, would come with an electoral backlash.

If I have to lose the next election so that the children can get an opportunity for a good education, Ill do it, she proclaimed. Its not about maintaining a seat. Its about our children and their future.

Sears characterized the issue of school choice as the new Brown v. Board of Education fight, referring to the U.S. Supreme Court decision determining that segregated schools were unconstitutional. She had previously noted that the rich people have already made a decision on school choice by sending their children to private school.

You sent your children to private school, so why cant everybody have that same option? Sears asked. Characterizing opponents of school choice who send their children to private school as hypocritical, Sears added: Weve got to make a change.

Sears was elected lieutenant governor in November 2021, three weeks after news broke that a sexual assault of a teenage girl had occurred in a bathroom in Loudoun County, Virginia, high school at the end of the previous school year. The assault, perpetrated by a boy wearing a skirt, took place as the school district was considering implementing a policy allowing trans-identified students to use bathrooms that correspond with their gender identity instead of their biological sex.

The school district faced allegations of orchestrating a cover-up based on the fear that public knowledge of the sexual assault would derail efforts to implement its transgender bathroom policy to allow boys to enter girls' restrooms if they identify as female. The perpetrator of the assault was transferred to another school where he committed another sexual assault at the beginning of the following school year.

Responding to the efforts to advance LGBT ideology and expose children to other concerning content, Sears remarked that its 1984 in American society, referring to the dystopian novel forecasting a tyrannical government that declares war on reality. If we dont get a grip, were going to be living in some kind of dystopian society, she warned.

Schlapp asked Sears to react to the fact that several public schools in northern Virginia held merit awards from students out of a desire for equity. She described the situation as part of an effort to dumb down education where instead of trying to bring everybody up, were just going to bring everybody down.

Sears lamented the state of American education, asserting that by the time a child even goes to college now, 65% of them need remedial education. Were paying for it twice. Were paying for it in the public schools [where] theyre not getting [an education] and were paying for it when they do go to college or other post-high school ed.

America is a superpower, and the only way to maintain that superpower status is to ensure that everybody has a quality education because China is right behind, she added. And guess what? They dont care about that.

Ian Prior, senior advisor at America First Legal and executive director of the advocacy group Fight for Schools and Families, contrasted the rigor of education in China with American education and its embrace of LGBT ideology: In this country, unlike in China, where Chinese children are learning calculus and complicated numbers and complex numbers, in our country, they learn 72 genders.

Theyre laughing at us right now. And because of that, we have these bathroom policies all over the country where you can use a bathroom that does not correspond to your biological sex based on, I guess, how you feel that day.

Its taken the Left decades to really take control of the education system. Prior said, maintaining that we cannot expect that one election or two elections are going to allow us to fix this.

Its going to take decades to repair, he stressed. And you can sit on the sidelines and say, well, its not going to affect my kid or Im just going to mind my own business and you can watch all this happen or you can get in the fight, so get in the fight.
Ukraine war exposes weaknesses in Russia and the West

My frustration continues to mount with the growing chorus on the left and the right who are questioning Americas and NATOs commitment to defending Ukraine in its gallant effort to defend their freedom against the Russians attempt to eliminate Ukraine as an independent nation and culture and to completely absorb the Ukrainian people into Russia.

As I have observed the political pundits question whether the commitment to Ukraine is in Americas national interest, my frustration has increased exponentially. Frankly, I am incredulous that any American with sense enough to come inside when it rains would even question Americas and the Wests commitment to the Ukrainian people in their valiant defense of their freedom.

Just over a year ago, on Feb. 23, 2022, Russia invaded Ukraine with the expectation that the Russians would overwhelm the Ukrainians within a week. It turned out that the Ukrainians were far more determined to defend their freedom than anyone, except perhaps the Ukrainians themselves, had anticipated. It also turned out that the Russian Army was a hollow shell of what it was believed to be (clearly this is not the Red Army that defeated the Germans in World War II).

Stories abound of extraordinary Ukrainian courage. One Ukrainian fighter pilot, Andril, after flying 19 hours straight of combat sorties, was too exhausted to continue and was spoon-fed stew by his commanding officer in order to revive him. Ordinary citizens flocked to volunteer and the freedom-loving people of the world were both moved and inspired by the collective courage of the Ukrainian people.

The success of the Ukrainians in fending off the Russian invasion to date has been about equal parts American and Western military aid, Ukrainian fortitude, and Russian ineptitude. Without sophisticated American military hardware being utilized in very significant numbers, things would be going much worse for the Ukrainians. In fact, America and Western-supplied weaponry has been given to the Ukrainians at an unsustainable pace.

Currently, America can make about 180,000 155 mm shells a year, while Europe  produced about 300,000 last year. All total, that amounts to barely three months consumption for Ukraine (Keeping the guns blazing, The Economist, Feb. 25  March 3, 2023).

The Ukraine war has exposed the fact that America and her allies have significantly inadequate production of armaments and ammunition ordinances they would need in wartime.

The Russians goal is to obliterate Ukraine as a national entity and completely erase Ukrainian culture. That means literally erasing a nation of 43 million people from the map of the world.

The U.N. estimates that the Ukrainian population was 43 million at the beginning of the war. Now, a year later, there are approximately 12 million Ukrainians who have been displaced by the war (of that 12 million, 5 million have fled to other countries and 7 million are displaced within Ukraines borders).

Vladimir Putin has unintentionally provided the Western American-led alliance with a tremendous opportunity. This unprovoked and brutal attack on Ukraine has unified a fraying NATO alliance. The Western European countries (Germany, France, Italy, the United Kingdom, Belgium, etc.) have been reawakened to the danger Russia presents. The Eastern European Countries (Poland, Hungary, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, etc.) did not have to be awakened. They already knew the hostile and omnivorous nature of the Russian Bear.

The invasion has also served to unite and increase Ukrainian patriotism. While the Crimea and the Donbas region have significant numbers of Russian-speaking citizens, Russias behavior in this war has disimbued them (if they needed to be disimbued) of the benefits of being part of Mother Russia.

All freedom-loving people around the world need to understand what is at stake in Ukraine. Russia is an oligarchy in decline and such totalitarian states are always more dangerous when they are threatened with decline. If Russia is successful in facing down the West in Ukraine, they will move on to their next target, probably the Baltic States (Lithuania, Latvia, and Estonia).

And, the Ukrainians are fighting Americas and the Europeans war. For approximately 5% of the Americans budget for defense, the Ukraine has stymied the Russian Empire. That is 5% of the defense budget, not the entire federal budget (about one-sixth of federal spending goes to national defense). Five percent of one-sixth of the federal budget is a small price to pay for helping the Ukrainians make the world a safer place.

The Russian invasion of Ukraine should awaken freedom-loving people around the world to the enormity of what is at stake in Russias war with Ukraine.

Russias invasion has revealed to all who have eyes to see and ears to hear that the greatest threat to freedom around the world comes from two fascist empires (Russia and Communist China) who are seeking to upend the world order and replace it with Russian and Chinese hegemony.

The British weekly, the Economist, perhaps put what is at stake most succinctly:

A Russian victory in Ukraine would frog-march the world down a bleak path where might is right and frontiers are drawn by violence. It may hasten, the next, even worse, confrontation in Europe. And it would deepen a widespread sense that Western power, and the universal values it sustains, are in steep decline.

America and the West have spent the second half of the 20th century and the first third of the 21st century expending enormous resources to win the Cold War. Now we have the chance to continue and expand the enormous benefits for mankind by having won the Cold War by helping the Ukrainians thwart a fascist Russian attempt to expand its empire and the beneficial impact that will have on a fascist China casting its hungry eyes on expanding its hegemony in Asia and the world at large.

If we help the Ukrainians win, we destroy the myth that America and the Western democracies are in terminal decline.

The alternative is Ukrainian defeat which would signal catastrophe for every freedom-loving person in the world.
Its smut: Kid reads sexually graphic book he got from school library to school board members

An 11-year-old boy gained national attention after he spoke at a school board meeting where he read aloud from a sexually graphic book that his father said was displayed at his son's middle school library.

At a meeting of the Windham Raymond School District RSU14 on Feb. 15, student Knox Zajac read from the school library book Nick and Charlie by Alice Oseman, which was marked as inappropriate for children under the age of 14.

Nevertheless, Knox was able to check out the book, which has a plot centered on two teenage boys sexually experimenting with each other, and read it aloud to school board members.

My back over my hips. I asked if he should take his clothes off. He was saying yes before I finished my sentence. Hes pulling off my T-shirt, laughing when I cant undo his shirt buttons. Hes undoing my belt. Im reaching into his bedside drawer for a condom, said Knox as he read the expletive book for the record as seen in a video shared by 1776 Project PAC.

Knox added, When I rented it out and showed my dad it, the librarian asked if I wanted more and if I wanted a graphic novel version.

His father, Adam Zajac, told The Maine Wire that many parents just dont know whats going on in the school.

What I dont understand is how we have books in the middle school library that adults would be fired for having at work, or potentially prosecuted for sharing with children given their pornographic content, said Adam Zajac. Its smut, really.

Public school districts across the United States have seen passionate debates over their decision to allow sexually explicit books in school libraries and classrooms. One such book, Lawn Boy, promotes pedophilia by depicting scenes where an older man grooms an underage boy. Another book is Gender Queer, which features violent nudity and other adult content.

Last November, Dearborn Public School officials announced that they were removing a couple of their sexually explicit books in response to protests by Muslim and Christian parents.

These included Push by Sapphire, which features a girl being sexually abused by her father, and Red, White and Royal Blue by Casey McQuiston, a sexually explicit LGBT romance story.

In April of last year, Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin signed a law requiring school boards to inform parents of when books used in their kids classrooms contain sexually explicit content.

According to a press release by the American Library Association last September, efforts to ban or restrict books in school libraries were increasing, with 681 attempts to ban or restrict library resources occurring during the first eight months of 2022.

ALA President Lessa Kananiopua Pelayo-Lozada was quoted in the press release casting these efforts in a negative light, believing that they reflected coordinated, national efforts to silence marginalized or historically underrepresented voices.

Though its natural that we want to protect young people from some of lifes more difficult realities, the truth is that banning books does nothing to protect them from dealing with tough issues. Instead, it denies young people resources that can help them deal with the challenges that confront them, she stated.
Marsha Blackburn highlights connection between China, border crisis and fentanyl epidemic

NATIONAL HARBOR, Maryland  Speaking Thursday at the Conservative Political Action Conference, Sen. Marsha Blackburn, R-Tenn., highlighted the connection between the Chinese Communist Party and the humanitarian crisis at the U.S. southern border.

In a panel discussion at Gaylord National Resort and Convention Center titled "No Chinese Balloons over Tennesse," the 70-year-old Blackburn discussed the border crisis and national security with Fox News contributor Sara Carter serving as the moderator.

Blackburn, who recently led an all-female delegation to the border in January alongside Sen. Cindy Hyde-Smith, R-Miss. and Sen. Katie Britt, R-Ala., shared how she has spoken with individuals crossing the border who have been taken advantage of by human traffickers and drug cartels.

As the Tennessee senator noted, Homeland Security Investigations reported that the smuggling of migrants across the border went from being a $500 million industry in 2018 to a $13 billion in 2022.

At one point, Carter revealed that she frequently receives pictures from the Texas Department of Public Safety showing children, some as young as 2, found in the backs of trunks. The Fox News contributor also shared stories of young girls being brought across the border and sold to "the worst of mankind."

"Shouldn't this be a bipartisan issue?" she asked the Republican senator.

Blackburn responded that she finds the lack of bipartisan support for legislation to secure the border "astounding." She stated that there is nothing "compassionate" about having an "open-border policy," which she argued the Biden administration has adopted, pointing to victims who have "been raped thousands of times" or harmed by fentanyl.

"We should be able to stop this," Blackburn said, highlighting two pieces of legislation she has proposed to combat the issue.

The first would require an adult that comes to the border with a child that does not have documentation proving a relation to take a DNA test. The other piece of legislation would prevent anyone charged with drug or human trafficking-related crimes at the country's international border or territorial waters from receiving government benefits.

"There is no trafficker that should be getting government benefits," she said.

In addition to the exploitation of human beings, Blackburn also talked about the rising number of fentanyl-related deaths. Last year, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported that opioid overdose deaths increased from over 70,000 in 2020 to over 80,000 in 2021, with over 71,000 of those 2021 deaths coming from synthetic fentanyl.

"Our children are being harmed by fentanyl that is coming across the border," she said, emphasizing how the drug has become the leading cause of death for U.S. adults ages 18-45.

The senator discussed how the chemicals used in the fentanyl trafficked at the border are coming from China, an issue the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration raised in December. The fentanyl is then disguised to look like ordinary medications, such as Xanax or OxyContin, and is trafficked by drug cartels.

"Our children are the victims of this. It's up to us to protect our precious children," Blackburn said. "It's up to us to protect these future generations; it's up to us to protect our freedom and our liberty that is going to let our children dream big dreams and make those dreams come true."

In October, the DEA announced that it had seized more than 10.2 million fentanyl pills and approximately 980 pounds of fentanyl powder from May 23 through Sept. 8 as part of its One Pill Can Kill initiative. Fifty-one of the 390 cases investigated were linked to overdose poisonings, and 35 were connected to one or both Mexican cartels.

The DEA also issued a warning in August, alerting people that disguising fentanyl pills to look like candy, calling it "a new method used by drug cartels to sell highly addictive and potentially deadly fentanyl made to look like candy to children and young people."
Doctor who helped healthy woman die with sick husband acquitted

A Swiss doctor who helped an elderly woman who did not want to live without her sick husband hasten her death has been acquitted after a five-year legal battle.

Pierre Beck, the former vice president of Exit International, an assisted suicide nonprofit group, prescribed barbiturate pentobarbital to the 86-year-old woman in April 2017. The Geneva Court of Justice acquitted the doctor last month after he was previously convicted on charges of assisting the healthy woman with hastening her death.

In a 23-page judgment reported by Radio Television Suisse, the Geneva court noted that Switzerland has "liberal regulations," highlighting that assisted suicide is only punishable if there is a "selfish motive."

Detailing the law on narcotics, the court concluded that the law "is not intended to regulate the conditions under which a doctor may prescribe pentobarbital, since this substance does not fall under any medical indication. In particular, it does not prohibit its prescription to people in good health, under penalty of criminal sanction."

"The mere fact of a physician prescribing pentobarbital to a person in good health, capable of discernment and wishing to die, does not constitute behavior punishable by the law on narcotics," the court continued.

However, the court ruled that a doctor who prescribes pentobarbital to a person in good health could still face civil or administrative liability and advised doctors to follow the Swiss Academy of Medical Sciences, which prohibits pentobarbital prescriptions for people in good health.

A doctor who disregards these rules, the court warned, "exposes himself to disciplinary sanctions which can prove to be very heavy."

The court's ruling may not be final, as prosecutors were given 30 days to appeal the verdict to the Federal Court.

"If I was again in front of a lady who has such intense suffering and she plans very concretely to commit suicide, I would help her again to allow her a gentle and safe death," Beck said, according to RTS.

Both the husband and wife at the center of the case ended their lives in April 2017 after Beck prescribed them pentobarbital. The Geneva Public Prosecutor's Office found the doctor guilty in December 2018 without a public trial of violating federal law by prescribing the drug to an elderly woman who was not sick.

In October 2019, a police court came to the same conclusion, and Beck was ordered to pay fines for breaching the laws on medicines and medical devices. The police court's decision was upheld in April 2020 by the criminal appeal and review chamber.

The Federal Court allowed the doctor's appeal in December 2021, referring the case to the Criminal Appeal and Review Chamber to examine whether the doctor could be retried under laws surrounding narcotics.

The legalization of assisted suicide is not unique to Switzerland, as it is legal in varying degrees in several other countries.

As The Christian Post reported, the Special Joint Committee on Canada's Medical Assistance in Dying presented a report before the House of Commons earlier this month, recommending that certain minors be made eligible for assisted suicide.

Canada legalized doctor-assisted suicide in 2016 but was limited to citizens or permanent residents at least 18 years old with "a serious and incurable disease, illness or disability" that included "enduring and intolerable suffering."

The country's parliament expanded the law to make people with non-physical disabilities eligible for MAID by March before the Canadian government announced in December that it was temporarily halting the expansion.

The report listed 23 recommendations, proposing that minors "deemed to have the requisite decision-making capacity upon assessment" should be eligible for the country's Medical Assistance in Dying Program (MAID). In addition, the report recommended MAID for minors whose deaths are "reasonably foreseeable."

According to recommendation 19, the report suggested: "That the Government of Canada establish a requirement that, where appropriate, the parents or guardians of a mature minor be consulted in the course of the assessment process for MAID, but that the will of a minor who is found to have the requisite decision-making capacity ultimately take priority."

The majority of the committee's members called for the government to hold formal consultations with Canadians under 18 within the next five years and to provide funding for research into the issue of minors being eligible for MAID.
The President of the Republic of Sierra Leone, His Excellency Dr Julius Maada Bio, has said that Democracy and the rule of law are not foreign concepts to Africa. He made this known during his speech at the African Leadership Magazine Persons of the Year Awards in Balaclava, Mauritius.

While presenting his keynote at the event, the President who received the African of the Year Award stated,

Democracy and the rule of law are not foreign concepts to Africa. These concepts are rooted in the experiences and struggles of our people. Therefore, as Africans, we must embrace these principles not because they are imposed upon us, but because they are part of who we are.

President Bio, who is primarily regarded as the father of Democracy in Sierra Leone due to his role in restoring party politics and Democracy in the country after years of military incursion in politics, maintained that We must not be afraid of dissent or debate, but rather recognize that these are the hallmarks of a healthy society.

This is why, under my leadership, we have worked to create a culture of openness and transparency in Sierra Leone. We have repealed sedition libel laws, removed barriers to freedom of expression, and allowed a free press  essential for good governance and creating an informed citizenry. I am proud that no journalist in our country is jailed for practising journalism. We recognize that the freedom to speak ones mind, criticize the government and hold leaders accountable is not just a right but a vital part of any democracy. He said that we have removed the shackles of repression and developed a culture of participation where all voices can be heard, and all people can contribute to nation-building, he added.

Before he participated in the event, President Bio was received at the Clarisse House, on 37 Riverwalk Vacoas, in Port Louis, by the Prime Minister of Mauritius, Pravind Jugnauth. Both leaders discussed areas of mutually beneficial partnership and exchange of ideas on the shared potentials of both countries. President Bio is committed to learning more about the countrys tourism advancement strategy. The Mauritian economy depends heavily on the tourism industry, which accounts for 8% of the countrys GDP and 10% of its total employment. Tourism accounts for about 24% of Mauritiuss GDP if the hotel industry and related businesses are included. The sector also attracted over $360 Million in 2022, with over 2 million visitors. He also met with the President of Mauritius Mr Prithvirajsing Roopun.

President Bio, on a two-day visit to the Island of Mauritius, rounded up by participating in the 11th African Leadership Magazine Persons of the Year Awards, with the theme Reimagining Opportunities in a turbulent Time. The event also served as the platform for formally presenting the instruments of honour to Africans who emerged winners in the annual vote-based polls. The event had in attendance delegates from over 13 countries, including Nigeria, Ghana, Mauritius, Liberia, Angola, Kenya, Congo DRC, Sierra Leone, Zambia, and Namibia, amongst others.

The African of the Year, His Excellency Julius Maada Bio, won a popular vote. He came to power in 2018 on the promise of prioritizing human capital development and providing free and quality education to the citizens of Sierra Leone. Four and half years on, he has sustained his commitment amidst economic shocks occasioned by the COVID-19 pandemic and the ongoing war between Russia and Ukraine. Recent data by UNESCO Institute for statistics put the countrys total government expenditure on education at 32% of the GDP  making it one of the highest in the world. His governments massive investment in health, agriculture, mining and infrastructure development also reshapes the countrys trajectory.

Other guests and award recipients at the events include Hon. Lucia Iipumbu, Minister For Industrialisation and Trade, Namibia; Lieutenant General Yakuba Drammeh, Chief of Defense Staff, The Gambia Armed Forces; Mrs Naseem Lahri, Managing Director, Lucara Diamond, Botswana; Sonny Zulu, Managing Director, Standard Chartered Bank, Zambia; Dr Sibongile Moyo, The Managing Director, Nedbank Zimbabwe; Mr Mathieu Mandeng, CEO, Standard Chartered Bank Mauritius; Dr Adesola Kazeem Adeduntan Group Managing Director/CEO, First Bank of Nigeria Limited, Dr Gertrude Mwangala Akapelwa Vice Chancellor, Victoria Falls University of Technology, Zambia, among others.

Earlier, during the unveiling of the winners of the 11th edition of the POTY, the Chairman and founder of the African Leadership Organisation, Dr Ken Giami, stated,

Africa has traditionally been the cradle of great leadership; from Nelson Mandela, Kwame Nkrumah, Steve Biko, to Julius Nyerere, the Continents contribution to leadership philosophy remains indelible. However, a new leadership paradigm is evolving in the Continent  they are the new Changemakers. Continuing, the Chairman added, our nominees are Changemakers, who have chosen to push through with their vision to build and bequeath an Africa that works for all to the next generation.

Our nominees see progress, whereas others see retrogression; they see possibilities amid challenges. They are on a mission and are eager to lead Africa to the promised land, he said.

The African Leadership Magazine Persons of the Year Awards is Africas premier vote-based endorsement, reserved annually for the leading Africans contributing to promoting the Continents progress and positively altering Africas perceived negative image. The annual event has also become a platform for honouring people-centred leadership and Africans pursuing a pan-African agenda in their chosen fields of endeavour. This years event will provide a platform to celebrate the Continents merchants of hope, ready to lead an army of change agents and reformers, to build an Africa that works for everyone.

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Eastview Christian Church pastor resigns after son is fired from Central Christian Church for adultery

Mike Baker, the longtime senior pastor of Eastview Christian Church in Illinois, has resigned from the megachurch weeks after his son, Caleb Baker, was fired from his job as a pastor at Central Christian Church after he was caught in an extramarital affair with another church staffer.

Caleb Baker, our lead student pastor and associate preaching pastor has been involved in an extramarital relationship for the past six months. And it involved a woman on our staff, Cal Jernigan, lead pastor of Central Christian Church in Phoenix, Arizona, told his congregation near the end of his sermon at the megachurch on Feb. 19.

They made a decision to be involved in something that is clearly considered sin in the Bible, known to be destructive. They kept it hidden for months on end and eventually, though, it came out. [It] did not come out by confession. They were discovered, he said.

Jernigan said he was informed about the affair on Feb. 12 and the details shared with him at the time left him absolutely devastated  to my core.

I just sat there in silence and in disbelief. I was then and I am still absolutely heartbroken over what was told to me on that phone call, he said.

After discussing the situation with his elders, they made the decision to fire Caleb Baker and the woman he was involved with in the affair.

I and the other leaders of this church cannot turn a blind eye to this and act as if it didn't happen or that somehow we didn't know or we didn't find out, Jernigan said. What I also can't do is get up here and spin this for you some way that makes it sound less horrible and, therefore, painfully and with profound sadness, both of them have been released from our staff.

Caleb Bakers firing from Central Christian Church and the discovery of his affair quickly snowballed into a conversation online about why he left his job as a pastor at Eastview Christian Church in 2016 where he worked for his father.

Brook Yarbrough, a former colleague of Caleb Baker at Eastview Christian Church, alleged in a Feb. 22 statement on Facebook that Caleb Baker was let go after it was disclosed that he was involved sexually with multiple women at the church.

In 2016, while I was on staff at Eastview, Caleb was let go after multiple women in our congregation came forward disclosing inappropriate sexual relationships he initiated. Instead of being honest and transparent about this, leadership chose to let our staff and congregation believe he was choosing to leave to join a new church staff instead of being terminated directly for his misconduct, Yarbrough wrote. Despite asking lots of questions and continuing to raise concerns about what was happening, I was told to be quiet and to stop asking questions and then had the privilege of throwing a go away celebration party and standing in front of our students to announce his send off, knowing something wasnt adding up.

She said once she found out the true reason Caleb Baker left Eastview Christian Church, she began making plans to leave as well after serving there for 10 years.

I was not going to continue to perpetuate the nepotism and system that allowed for this predatory behavior to happen  because thats exactly what it was. When leaders use their platforms to take advantage of the people they commit to serve, this is abuse. In the church, this is specifically called clergy sexual abuse and I was not going to stand for it, she said.

Yarbrough further alleged that Central Christian Church was warned about Caleb Bakers history prior to his hiring as a pastor. The Christian Post reached out to Central Christian Church for comment about this allegation but did not receive a response by press time.

A little over six years later, this behavior has now repeated itself. While Central did an outrageously better job being honest about what has happened than Eastview, they have still fallen short of owning their part in this sexual abuse against their staffer, Yarbrough alleged. They chose to take a pastor on their staff after being warned about his misconduct and placed him in a position of power where he could then continue this pattern of behavior.

In a statement released last weekend, Eastview Christian Church elders said they only became aware of allegations of abuse against Caleb Baker after he left the church in 2016.

In 2016, after Caleb Baker left ECC, the Elders first became aware of specific allegations of possible abuse through letters that purported to be written by victims of abuse. The Elders at the time acted. However, the purported authors of those letters denied that they wrote the letters and stated they had not been victims of abuse, the statement said.

It was not until July 2022, they said that they got a complaint from a former employee alleging an abusive culture in 2016. Since receiving that letter, the elders said they started an independent investigation that will continue in light of the revelations about Caleb Bakers affair at Central Christian Church.

Since receiving the July 2022 letter, the Elders initiated a process for a third-party to conduct an audit of Eastview as a workplace. The report from that audit was completed in January 2023, but the Elders determined that the audit was not thorough enough. Thus, the Elders requested a second, more detailed audit.



This second audit request was finalized by the Elder team in the beginning of February, before the recent allegations on social media. The Elders requested that the audit evaluate current workplace culture, HR policies and procedures, and the ELT [Elder Leadership Team] policies and procedures with respect to power dynamics, harassment, and employee on/off boarding to determine whether any unknown fear or power culture exists, the church leaders said.

The combination of these most recent allegations by ECC former staff and the news of Caleb Bakers admitted affair with a staff member of Central Church in Phoenix, Arizona, have reinforced to the Elders that it is best to continue forward with the independent third-party audit, they added. The goal will be to evaluate the current health and safety of our church staff and workplace culture and determine past facts and errors by church leadership. If additional facts come to light, the Elders will forward those to the audit team.

The Eastview Christian Church elders said they were committed to working with their lead pastor through the investigation but he insisted that there is nothing to investigate.

Regrettably, Mike submitted his resignation as the Senior Pastor of Eastview Christian Church. The Elders did not call for his resignation, they explained.  Because the Elders were not aware of everything that transpired involving Caleb Bakers departure and want to be transparent in the process, we reached an impasse. We love and support Mike and Sara Baker. Our hearts break for their family, and we pray for healing for the Baker Family as well as the Church they loved so well.

In response to the statement released by Eastview Christian Church elders, Mike Baker insisted in a video posted on YouTube that the church did not give him an opportunity to defend his family nor speak directly to the congregation. He also disputed allegations that he covered up his sons behavior.

In 2016 my son left Eastview Christian Church. In that previous fall leading into Christmas there were rumors and friends of people saying that Caleb was having sexual relationships. Now that's no big deal if you work at State Farm, but if you work in a church, it's a big deal. It's a sin, and all sin, sex outside of marriage is a sin, he said.

Mike Baker said he entrusted the allegations to some very trustworthy staff members and they could not prove or disprove the allegations.

When people say Mike Baker is covering things up, I didn't know. What I do know is that at Christmas time, we resolved  one of the most trusted members of our staff ever  resolved that there's no conclusion here. Can't prove or disprove these allegations and I thought it was done, he said.

And then early in January, there was another allegation that came and I went down immediately to my son, and I said, you need to resign. I can't deal with this anymore. This is breaking my heart, and we just can't let it destroy me, Mike Baker recalled.

He said after he told his son he needed to resign, he had a job offer from Central Christian Church within two or three days in a crazy turn of events.

I'm just gonna be straight up true, whatever allegations were in this second time. I said I don't want to know.  I will tell you the honest truth, [I] was completely in the dark. I didn't mislead anyone because I didn't know anything, he continued. Should I have dug a little deeper? Maybe. But anyway, so Caleb goes off and he starts a new career, and he does really, really, well until two weeks ago when he confesses to having an affair. Devastation. Blows my socks off.

He urged the people on social media attacking his family like it's the Valentine's Day Massacre to stop and think about his sons two daughters and his wife.

All I will say to Caleb's former workers who are out there spreading the lies and the gossip, and untruths, maybe they think it's the truth, but it's not, he said. I will say this to them: If you really care about trauma victims and girls who have been mistreated, and girls who have done nothing, but they're taking the brunt of the pain, what about Caleb's wife? What about my granddaughters?
His Only Son becomes first-ever crowdfunded theatrical release, coming this Easter

The upcoming film His Only Son, based on the biblical account of Abraham and his son, Isaac (Genesis 22), has made history by becoming the first-ever crowdfund film to have a nationwide theatrical release.

Spearheaded by Angel Studios, the same company that brought viewers The Chosen, whose episodes have been viewed over 420 million times worldwide, His Only Son tells the life of Abraham (Genesis 12 through 22).

"We just had to bring this epic story of faith, Angel Studios spokesman Jared Geesey told The Christian Post.

The idea for the film was conceived by former U.S. Marine David Helling, whose time in the deserts of Iraq formed a desire in him to bring biblical accounts to the masses in a theatrical format. Helling, who's also the director, described the quality of the film as The Chosen meets The Passion of Christ.

Speaking of Helling, Geesey added: "He actually got connected into the Bible when he was in Iraq, and the Lord just brought the Bible to life for him and he was like, 'I have to go to film school and learn how to tell biblical stories.' So he's been working on this film for five years.

"We're just so excited to bring it to fans, he continued. If you love 'The Chosen,' you're going to absolutely love 'His Only Son!

The timing of the movies release is intentional, as the Old Testament account of Abraham being willing to sacrifice his son, Isaac, symbolically reflects the coming of Christ.

"Maybe people are thinking, 'Why would we have a story about Abraham right at Easter?' But the parallels of what he went through and how God asked him to sacrifice Isaac and what we celebrate on Easter with Jesus' sacrifice for us. It's such a powerful bringing to life of seeing Jesus in the Old Testament, Geesey said.

"Today, Angel reached another milestone with the first-ever crowdfunding of marketing funds for a theatrical release, said Neal Harmon, CEO of Angel Studios. "Because Angels decisions are driven by fans  and crowdfunding for 'His Only Son' reached capacity in 100 hours  we are responding to the demand from the audience by at least tripling the theater count nationwide and throwing our most valuable marketing resources behind the film. The Angel Guild, made up of Angel investors from every show, have rated this film with one of the highest scores we have ever received in our system."

The studio hopes fans of The Chosen will show up to theaters this Easter and really make the film a success.

As per The Angel Guild (made up of fans who are pegged Angel investors that partner with Angel Studios), His Only Son was rated one of the highest scores in their system.

His Only Son stars Lebanese film and TV actor Nicolas Mouawad, who plays Abraham. To purchase tickets in advance, visit His Only Son Movie.com.
In-Person Worship A Thing Of The Past, Joyce Meyer Gets A Tattoo, Pro-Life Doctors Banned From Medical Conference

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Top headlines for Friday, March 3, 2023



As many churches have now reopened their doors in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic only a minority of them view in-person worship services as the church model of the future. A majority see a hybrid model utilizing various online technologies as the new normal, according to a new study from Pushpay.



Some 43% of British people believe the metaverse will eventually lead them toward the matrix, a simulated reality created by sentient machines to pacify and subdue the human population" as heat and electrical activity from their bodies are used as an energy source, data from a new study show.



Televangelist Joyce Meyer announced that she got two tattoos for the first time at 79, to honor God and is convinced that the Bible supports her decision despite the belief among some Christians that tattoos are sinful.



A group of pro-life doctors say they were banned from running an exhibit booth at a national medical conference because of their beliefs on abortion differ from those of the organizers.



An Arizona teacher has gone viral after she told a state education board that allowing parents to make decisions about what their children are taught is a mistake."
The growing war against our past

There is a growing war against the past. Our heroes of yesteryear, even George Washington and Abraham Lincoln, are under attack.

I was disheartened to see ads for Hulu presenting a series based on the discredited 1619 Project. As Ive noted in a column many months ago, the 1619 Project postulates that America began in 1619, when the first black slaves were brought here  not 1776, when the founders declared independence.

Dr. Ben Carson writes on his website, www.americancornerstone.org: In recent years  many people in politics, academia, and the media have questioned the values of the American founding. They have focused on the faults of certain Founding Fathers  along with the undeniable fact that the rights they championed were not originally enjoyed by all Americans  and cast doubt upon whether any of their fancy words are important today.

Lets take the issue of slavery. The rewriting of American history is becoming increasingly commonplace. Americas founders, hailed by generations of Americans as heroes (albeit flawed ones), are today viewed as nefarious evildoers because of the sin of slavery.

Without question, chattel slavery is a horrific evil. But it is often treated by revisionist historians as if America invented it. Tragically, slavery was virtually universal at the time of the founders  and it existed in America despite some of the positive Christian influence among many of the late colonies.

As the late Dr. Walter Williams said in our Foundation of American Liberty series of films for Providence Forum: Slavery has been mankinds standard fare throughout his entire history. And even the word, slave, in most languages is Slav, that is because the Slavic people are among the first to be enslaved. And Africans were among the last to be enslaved. And the great thing about the Western world is that we spent many resources on eliminating slavery.

What made the western Judeo-Christian systems in America and England unique is that they abolished slavery  something that still exists in many other places even today.

Founding father Thomas Jefferson, of course, wrote the first draft of the Declaration of Independence, which says that we are created equal and are endowed by our Creator with inalienable rights. When I visited his estate in Monticello in Charlottesville, Virginia, the tour guide seemed to throw our third president under the bus because he owned slaves.

I once asked Rabbi Daniel Lapin about Jefferson and slavery in my television interview with him for the Foundation series.

He said, It's always very disappointing that the intellectual level of those who constantly pose this question to me, it's just frankly disappointing when people say, Oh, you know, Jefferson was a slave owner or speaking of many of the other founders, as well as Jefferson, as if somehow to discredit these people. Indeed, that attempted discrediting has become commonplace today. Thats why they tear down statues of him.

The rabbi concluded, [I]t's almost a childish and pathetic attempt to discredit these giants by the pigmy-like behavior of suggesting that, because their behavior at the time corresponded to the values at the time, that somehow retroactively from the vantage point of 200 years later, we can declare these people to have been invalid or we can cancel them ... This reflects far more on the critics than it does on the founders.

Imagine saying to someone, Youre under arrest. What for? For violating a law that will go into effect a century from now.

Dennis Prager of PragerU told me this in an interview for the Foundation series: People say, Well, Jefferson had slaves, but thats not the question. The question is: did Jefferson create a society that would abolish slavery? Thats the only intelligent question to ask. Not what did that person do that contravened their ideal.

Prager went on to say, When he wrote, all men are created equal, he meant it, even though he had slaves. Did he violate his own beliefs that he had with regard to blacks? Yes, of course he did, but  look at what he unleashed, the freest country in human history. The least racist country in human history is the United States of America. This was unleashed by these people.

Slavery was uprooted ultimately because of the framework the founders created in giving us self-rule under God.

I wonder: How will future generations view us, since so many treat so cavalierly the issue of abortion  the deliberate taking of babys lives, by the millions? And we have 4-D sonograms to boot.

In my view its time to stop this ongoing attempt to erase our history and dethrone our heroes  flawed ones no doubt, but heroes, nonetheless. Historian Dr. James S. Robbins wrote a book a few years ago called, Erasing America. The subtitle of that volume speaks volumes, Losing Our Future by Destroying Our Past. Lets pray none of this happens.
Pauline Boty: She was beautiful, with this marvellous laugh: clever, very bright, very much the early feminist

Pauline Boty was charming, rebellious, and determined to confront the misogyny she encountered as a brilliant young Pop artist in 1960s London. But although her pure spirit burned brightly, it was also destined to do so only briefly

In the early 1960s, the theatre critic Kenneth Tynan met the Pop artist Pauline Boty. Tynan, a dazzling advocate for experimental modern drama, was the The Observer newspapers theatre critic. Boty was a young up-and-coming painter who, after graduating from the Royal College of Art in 1961, starred in Ken Russells avant-garde documentary Pop Goes the Easel about four aspiring Pop artists. Sexy and full of life, with a temperamental quickness and openness, Boty stood out from her ponderous male contemporaries, going on to have her first solo exhibition at the Grabowski Gallery in 1963. It is easy to see why Tynan and Boty were attracted to one another. Both liked to shock. Tynan was the first person to say fuck on British TV, while Boty rebelled against her Catholic upbringing by speaking openly about sex and her experiences with drugs. As her biographer Sue Tate said, She refused to relinquish either her ambition as a serious intellectual artist or her right to an autonomous sexuality.

You can see just what an accomplished painter she was, even at a young age  specialist Angus Granlund

Celia Birtwell, who lived with Boty in the early 1960s, remembers the artist as tall, vivacious, and very political. She was beautiful, with this marvellous laugh: clever, very bright, very much the early feminist. Boty was often frustrated by the misogyny around her, saying that men found it embarrassing when she started talking about ideas, because she was supposed to listen to them. The actor Roddy Maude-Roxby recalled that people would be delighted with her and not notice the work, and when she spoke out, people were taken aback. In 1963 Tynan introduced Boty to his pal Clive Goodwin, a left-wing literary agent. Ten days later, they married. He was the very first man I met who really liked women, she said. He accepted me intellectually, which men find very difficult. The couple became the centre of the intellectual left, holding meetings in their flat on the Cromwell Road, where visitors included writer and activist Tariq Ali and the Marxists Robin Fior and Adrian Mitchell. Tynan, who was by now literary manager of the newly formed National Theatre, was a regular visitor.

Open a larger version of this image Pauline Boty (1938-1966), BUM, 1966. Pencil, ink, watercolour, gouache and collage on paper. 19 x 16 in (50 x 40.6 cm). Sold for 239,400 on 21 March 2023 at Christies in London

Showing Boty around his Mount Street flat one day, Tynan challenged the artist to identify the repeated image on the wallpaper in his study. Nobody got near it until one day I showed it to Pauline. That, she said instantly, is a girls bum. Tynan was delighted and commissioned her to design the sets for an erotic cabaret  titled Oh! Calcutta!  that he was planning. It was an inspired choice. Botys paintings distil 1960s pop culture to its purest essence, one icon at a time, the most famous being her Impressionistic-style picture of Marylin Monroe flickering chimerically between two bands of solid green paint. Boty understood the seductive and transient nature of pop, describing it as a nostalgia for now, not unlike the theatre. Offered in the Modern British and Irish Art Evening and Day sales on 21 and 22 March are three works on paper by the Pop artist. The first is a study for BUM (1966), made for Tynans theatre production, which was Botys last painting. The other two are early works, made in the late 1950s while Boty was studying at the Royal College of Art. They are pre-Pop. You can see the influence of Bonnard and the European avant-garde, says Christies Modern British and Irish Art specialist Angus Granlund.

Open a larger version of this image Pauline Boty (1938-1966), Golden nude, 1959. Oil on paper. 23 x 17 in (59.5 x 44 cm). Sold for 50,400 on 22 March 2023 at Christies in London

In an interview with the writer Nell Dunn in 1964, Boty explained that her father had tried to impose his Victorian values on her: He didnt even want me to go to work when I left school. But her mother insisted she be allowed to enrol at Wimbledon School of Art, where she was fortunate to be taught by the stained-glass artist Charles Carey  an enlightened teacher who was especially supportive of women artists. He introduced his students to the paintings of Pierre Bonnard, and Golden Nude (1959) is clearly inspired by the Nabis painters loose brushstrokes and shimmering colours. It is not known if the other work, Nude on the Beach, circa 1958-59, is painted from life. However, it is recorded that a group of RCA students went on holiday to Greece in 1959, among them Boty, Patrick Caulfield and Natalie Gibson. This painting reminds me of Picassos Two Women Running on the Beach, says Granlund. But importantly, you can see Boty developing her own voice and can see just what an accomplished painter she was, even at a young age.

Soon after Tynan commissioned BUM, Boty was diagnosed with cancer. Already pregnant, she refused radiotherapy until after the baby was born. She died in July 1966 at the age of 28. There were plans for a posthumous exhibition, but it never happened and BUM remained on Tynans dining room wall. It was later sold in 2017 at Christies for 632,750. Its incredibly rare to see any works by Pauline Boty because she sadly died so young, says Granlund. There are fewer than 25 Pop paintings in existence. As she has gained more recognition, the demand for her work has naturally increased and is currently at an all-time high.

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China-donated aid distributed among 400 Afghan families

Xinhua) 10:40, March 03, 2023

HERAT, Afghanistan, March 2 (Xinhua) -- Afghan authorities have distributed China-donated humanitarian aid to 400 needy families in the western Herat province, provincial deputy director for Natural Disaster Management and Humanitarian Affairs Mawlawi Inayatullah Saber said Thursday.

In the provincial capital of Herat city, Afghan authorities started the distribution of China-donated aid to 400 needy families on Thursday morning, and each aid package includes a 50 kg bag of rice, Saber told Xinhua.

Thanking China for the assistance, an aid beneficiary named Sayed Abdul Baqi said, "Receiving China's assistance at this stage would solve our problems for a while."

"We were facing a food shortage and receiving China's assistance at this stage would solve our problems to some extent," said Abdul Rahman, a resident of Herat city.

China-donated aid was also distributed to around 550 families in Herat province over the past couple of weeks.

China has supported Afghanistan over the past year with COVID-19 vaccines, winter clothes, tents, and foodstuff, which had been distributed among poor and flood-affected families in the country.

(Web editor: Zhang Kaiwei, Liang Jun)
Every futurist and forecaster I have talked to is convinced the transformative technology of the next seven years is artificial intelligence. Everyone seems to be talking about AI. Unfortunately, most of these conversations do not lead to value creation or greater understanding. And, as an IT leader, you can bet these same conversations are reverberating throughout your organization  in particular, in the C-suite.

CIOs need to jump into the conversational maelstrom, figure out which stakeholders are talking about AI, inventory what they are saying, remediate toxic misconceptions, and guide the discussion toward value-creating projects and processes.

A brief history of AI hype and impact

AI has been part of the IT conversation since the term was coined by Stanford University computer scientist John McCarthy in 1956. Conversations around AI have generally tracked alongside multiples waves of enthusiasm and valleys of disappointment for the technology. In 1983 the prevalent conversation regarding AI was Its coming, its coming! thanks in part to Edward Feigenbaum and Pamela McCorducks The Fifth Generation: Artificial Intelligence and Japans Computer Challenge to the World. And then just a year later, in 1984, a subset of AI startup companies in Silicon Valley collapsed, spectacularly ushering in a period known as the AI winter. At that point, AI conversations, when they occurred, typically concluded with the determination not yet.

Around the turn of the century we  most of us unknowingly  entered the age of artificial narrow intelligence (ANI), sometimes referred to as weak AI. ANI is AI that specializes in onearea. John Zerelli, writing in A Citizens Guide to Artificial Intelligence,contends, Every major AI in existence today is domain-specific  i.e., ANI.

The general path forward for ANI has been that it moves into a given domain and 7 to 10 years later it becomes impossible to compete/perform that particular task/activity without AI. Executives need to have tactical conversations regarding which domains and activity areas  aka, in AI-speak, which definable problems and measurable goals  should be targeted with which ANI resources.

By 2009 we were surrounded by invisible ANI, in the form of purchase, viewing, listening recommendations; medical diagnostics; university admissions tasks; job placement; etc. Today ANI is ubiquitous, invisible, and fundamentally misunderstood. Ray Kurzweil, computer scientist, futurist, and director of engineering at Google, keeps telling people that if AI systems went on strike our civilization would be crippled.
The engagement and re-engagement policy continues to bear fruit, with European Union (EU) member-states and Switzerland calling on Zimbabwe to export more fresh produce to the bloc.

EU member-states and Switzerland also pledged to contribute over 207 million to support the Governments strategy for a more productive, resilient and greener agricultural sector.

The development indicates that the drive by the Second Republic to re-establish good relations with countries that had turned their backs on Zimbabwe, is paying off.

In his address during the launch of the Team Europe Initiative on Greener and Climate-Smart Agriculture yesterday, the EU delegation, led by EU Ambassador Jobst von Kirchamann, said there was growing demand for fresh produce in Europe, which Zimbabwean farmers can meet.

We do want to see more fresh produce exports to the EU as farmers shift towards market and value-driven agriculture production.

We have been working with farmers in Chipinge district by facilitating organic produce certification and export capacity building, said Ambassador von Kirchamann.

The launch of the Team Europe Initiative on Greener and Climate-Smart Agriculture followed coordination at political level to ensure Zimbabwe and the EU achieve the greatest sustainable impact and transformational change in line with the countrys strategic priorities.

This comes as the Government is pacing up efforts to transform small-scale farms into production hubs for export produce to accelerate the attainment of an upper-middle income economy by 2030.

Transforming small-scale farms will also help in accelerating rural development.

Lands, Agriculture, Fisheries, Water and Rural Development Minister, Dr Anxious Masuka, said as Zimbabwe aims to grow the export bill through various Government-led export strategies, the European market presented an opportunity that local small-scale farmers could explore for increased profitability.

The ministry is developing robust market systems that address the dictates of exports and domestic uptake.

Government is developing and revitalising horticulture-related infrastructure, including agro-processing to establish sustainable and effective funding mechanisms and to attract foreign investment in horticulture production.

The Team Europe Initiative on Greener and Climate-Smart Agriculture will also support young people and farmers through agri-business support services.

The initiative, which includes all member-states and Switzerland, will contribute over 207 million in support of the Governments strategy for a more productive, resilient and greener agricultural sector.

Ambassador Von Kirchmann said Team Europe was committed to supporting the achievement of the shared goals to Zimbabwe.

We have a volume of 207 million euros for Zimbabwe. There is a lot of room to improve and some member States decide to do extra funds for projects.

Different member States are participating in different ways. The funds are from European citizens and others are tax payers money. All 27 member States are participating in any initiative you are having in Zimbabwe, he said.

Zimbabwe has already embraced climate smart agriculture and in the 2020/2021 season. launched the Presidential Climate Proof Input Scheme commonly known as Pfumvudza/Intwasa.

Speaking during the meeting yesterday, Lands, Agriculture, Fisheries, Water and Rural Development Minister Dr Anxious Masuka said greener and climate smart agriculture was a priority for the economy.

He welcomed Harares cooperation with the EU, to work together to make it a reality.

As you know, agriculture-led to rural industrialisation will also lead to economic development, the attainment of Vision 2030. This is also crucial for research and development, he said.

The Team Europe Initiative on Greener and Climate-Smart Agriculture supports ongoing and upcoming interventions that look to increase greener and climate-smart agricultural productivity in Zimbabwe while helping vulnerable communities overcome climate-related challenges.

Farmers will benefit directly from diverse systems that utilise crops resilient to pests, disease and drought, as well as through climate-smart practices that work to reduce their inputs while lowering emissions.

The initiative will also support young people and farmers through agri-business support services. Herald
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Contractare si Achizitie Bunuri Anunturi de Angajare Granturi - Finantari Burse de studiu Stagii Profesionale Oportunitati de voluntariat Toate Articolele
JOB DESCRIPTION

All NRC employees are expected to work in accordance with the organisations core values: dedication, innovation, inclusivity and accountability. These attitudes and believes shall guide our actions and relationships.

Role Summary:

The Accountability Officer is responsible for the management of the countrys complaints and feedback mechanism (CFM). The Officer will sit within the M&E Unit that falls under the Programme Unit at the Country Office. The Accountability Officer will be responsible for the day-to-day collection and processing of complaints and/or feedback and will coordinate with the Programme and Support units at the country and area offices to ensures all complaints and/or feedback are addressed within the established timeframes. The position reports directly to the M&E Manager and has dotted relationships with the Area Manager and the Head of Programmes.

Generic Responsibilities:

Develop knowledge of NRCs core competencies in order to effectively attend to and communicate with affected populations in Moldova and Romania. Adequately communicate and share general information about NRCs operations in Moldova and Romania. Manage the complaints and feedback system. Analyse and produce regular internal (and external) reports on complaints and feedback trends, response procedures, and lessons learnt. Support the dissemination of relevant information to affected populations and partners. Actively promote NRCs standards and principles as well as core humanitarian standards within NRC and among affected populations served by NRC.

Specific Responsibilities:

Ensure context-appropriate, effective and accessible complaints and feedback mechanisms are in place for the communities we work with by assessing the preferred mechanisms and establishing communication channels to receive and respond to complaints and feedback. Support the development of a strategy for CFM promotion internally and externally by developing contextualized IEC materials. Support the development of information sharing mechanisms to improve transparency and participation. Enhance community engagement through information sharing as well as establishing an effective system that can feed back into projects design, implementation, monitoring and evaluation. Develop and maintain a secure and confidential complaint and feedback database and records. Ensure all complaints and feedback are captured properly with the relevant information. Validate and triangulate complaints and feedback received for accurate and effective resolution. Follow up and ensure effective and satisfactory resolution of complaints and handling of complaint within specified timeframe according to the NRC Moldova CFM SOPs. Escalate sensitive complaints and/or feedback, sexual exploitation and abuse, child abuse, fraud, and breach of NRC code of conduct, to the Country Director, while ensuring confidentiality. Maintain CFM dashboard and provide regular progress reports on complaints to the Country Management Group (CMG), the area management team, M&E Manager and other relevant staff according to NRC reporting procedures. Conduct regular field visits to NRCs project locations (Moldova and Romania) to monitor the implementation and visibility of CFM. Train implementing partners on NRCs complaint and feedback mechanisms and support the roll out of the CFM among partners as needed. Perform any other duties as instructed by the line manager.

Competencies:

Competencies are important in order for the employee and the organisation to deliver desired results. They are relevant for all staff and are divided into the following two categories:

1. Professional competencies

These are skills, knowledge and experience that are important for effective performance.

University degree in social sciences, international development, or other relevant fields.

Previous experience from working in complex and volatile contexts.

Experience in the field of accountability and CFM in a humanitarian/recovery context and experience in handling a hotline/helpline is desirable.

Excellent oral and written communication skills.

Proficiency with Microsoft applications.

Strong data management and analytical skills.

Skills and knowledge of dashboard development, data visualization and presentation.

Fluency in Russian, knowledge of English, Romanian and Ukrainian, written and oral, will be an added advantage.

Knowledge of, respect and empathy for the communities NRC are working with.

2. Behavioural Competencies:

These are personal qualities that influence how successful people are in their job. NRCs Competency Framework states 12 behavioural competencies, and the following are essential for this position:

Communicate with impact and respect

Working with people

Planning and delivering results

Handling insecure environments

Working under stress

Kindly note that empty or incomplete applications as well as CVs received via email will not be considered official and will not be processed.

https://ekum.fa.em2.oraclecloud.com/hcmUI/CandidateExperience/en/sites/CX_2019/job/10002

Apply Before 03/17/2023
The charity regulator has defended its investigation into Care4Calais, as well as charities' rights to take part in political activity that supports their purpose, in response to criticism in the House of Commons.

At a Westminster Hall debate on Wednesday, Conservative MP Craig Mackinlay called into question the Commissions competencies and abilities to investigate properly.

He said: Care4Calais has been under investigation by the Charity Commission since August 2020 but there are no outcomes yet.

So, were getting towards the three-year anniversary and that in itself, I find quite remarkable for a 1.6m institution that is patently uncomplicated, and that does lead into some questions as to the Charity Commission's competencies and abilities to investigate properly.

A Care4Calais spokesperson said: Care4Calais accounts are available on the Charity Commission website and are independently audited. Our income is transparent and the vast majority of our donations come from ordinary people who care as deeply as we do about refugee protection.

We have cooperated fully with the Charity Commission and worked positively with them to ensure best-practice governance and compliance. We remain committed to our work supporting refugees and asylum seekers, and to our legal and ethical duties as a charitable organisation.

Investigation is fair, balanced and independent

A Commission spokesperson told Civil Society News: Each investigation is undertaken in a fair, balanced and independent manner, and an inquiry will only conclude once the Commission is satisfied that all regulatory concerns have been sufficiently investigated and resolved and all evidence assessed.

They said the Care4Calais inquiry opened in August 2020 , and as its investigation is ongoing, it is unable to comment further at this time.

The regulator has so far appointed two interim managers as part of its work with trustees, and the inquiry is considering safeguarding and financial controls at Care4Calais, and whether there has been any mismanagement or misconduct in the administration of the charity.

In his debate on the transparency of charity sector funding, Mackinlay also questioned the sources of Care4Calais income.

There is complete opacity that I could not penetrate as to where its 1.6m of fundingaccording to its most recent accountscomes from, he said.

Care4Calais accounts are publicly accessible on the Commissions register and show that 1.58m of its 1.62m income in the year to September 2021 came from donations and legacies.

The remaining money came from shops and investment income, according to the accounts.

Political activity can support a charitys purpose

Mackinlay also said charities bite the hand of the government that is feeding it prompting civil society minister Stuart Andrew to respond campaigning can be a legitimate way for charities to spend their money.

A Commission spokesperson told Civil Society News that charities can take part in political activity that supports their purpose and is in their best interests.

There are many examples where carrying out political activity is the best way for trustees to support their charitys purpose. However, political activity must not become the reason for the charitys existence, they said.

Editor's Note: A comment from a Care4Calais spokesperson was added after publication.
Before working in the charity sector, Linda Edwards started her career as a headhunter, before deciding it wasn't really making me bounce out of bed anymore.

She has now worked in the sector for around 20 years, most recently at the Donkey Sanctuary before joining the Society for the Protection of Animals Abroad (SPANA) as chief executive.

Animals have always been my absolute passion, but to be able to combine working with animals and understanding the needs of particularly more vulnerable communities was an opportunity I couldn't turn down, she explains.

Edwards joined SPANA in the height of the coronavirus pandemic, though says she was fortunate as she had met some colleagues in previous roles.

Not everybody was a stranger to me, which was very nice. I knew the organisation pretty well, so it didn't feel perhaps quite as alien as it could have done.

Thank goodness for technology. Over the years Ive worked in places where my colleagues have not always been in the same location. So, I think Im pretty used to it.

I think for international organisations Covid actually created a nicer platform, because I can interact as much with a colleague in Morocco or Mauritania as I do with a colleague based in the UK.

On that level, actually, weve created a more equal platform where we engage more fluidly than we would have perhaps done before  it breaks down some of those barriers that geography tends to create.

This year is going to be particularly hard

In 2021, SPANAs income was 9.2m, but last year it was down by about 5-10%, says Edwards.

SPANA will be looking to increase its income this year and thats not easy in this current climate but Edwards says weve been relatively fortunate so far.

She is braced for a tough year financially, with the charitys expenditure also increasing.

For us, its not so much that weve seen a massive drop in income at the moment, but we know this year is going to be particularly hard. What weve seen is that costs have gone up massively.

The impact on our budget is not so much about what weve been bringing in, it's now actually the cost of delivering services and treatments and getting access to the right medications etc, has gone up hugely. Just standing still its costing us  half a million more just to do exactly the same.

Were keeping it as lean as possible, making sure that weve got efficiencies, but equally, we still have critical work to do.

Were hoping supporters will be able to weather this journey

SPANA gets almost all of its income from donations and legacies.

We have an incredible supporter base who are wonderfully generous and trust us to deliver effective programming to support working animals, says Edwards.

Edwards says the British public are extremely generous for charities in general, but for animals I think we do have an incredible soft spot which SPANA really relishes and thanks  we couldn't do it without people supporting us.

It's our centenary year, weve relied very heavily on our supporters, were hoping that they will be able to weather this journey and continue to support us, she says.

SPANA receives a lot of legacies, similar to many animal charities, but Edwards says the charity also has a lot of individual givers, supporters and major donors.

Were obviously looking to build and diversify our income, as most charities are trying to do, in an environment which is at the moment quite worrying.

A united voice is much more powerful

SPANA has campaigned recently alongside other organisations against the donkey skin trade, which has been a major issue, but it plans to be vocal on other issues in the near future.

SPANA has been actively engaged in that campaign and continues to be. Its extremely worrying the number of donkeys that are disappearing, and its a species that many communities and populations rely on in order to do all the work that they do.

I think a united voice is always much, much more powerful, says Edwards.

Going forwards, SPANA will looking at climate or environmental disasters, she says, as often working animals are impacted.

I would imagine that the reality is were going to see far more climatic issues, there'll be more droughts, more floods. Obviously, weve just seen recently with the horrendous earthquake [] working animals often end up being the invisible workers during a crisis.

If youre looking at some of the things that have happened, its donkeys and mules and horses that are tracking across landscapes to make sure medicines get to people.

You need to be able to demonstrate the connections. Environmental damage is having a direct impact on working animals. So, when we're looking at things, we know it's interconnected.

Edwards says that she will not invest oodles of time on issues unrelated to animals. But she says: If theres a direct connection, which in many cases there are, then we need to be raising the issue and connecting with organisations who are experts in that field  so that we're not a lone voice.

As an organisation, we bring a lot of expertise to what we do. However, to presume that we know best on everything would I think be rather arrogant.

New strategy after 100 years

The charity was founded by British woman Kate Hosali after she and her daughter travelled around north Africa in 1923 and were struck by the sight of donkeys, mules and camels malnourished and wounded by poorly fitting harnesses.

One hundred years later, the charity has published a strategy looking ahead to the next five years.

Obviously we're not new to what we do, but we are working in a world that is changing, none of us thought Covid was going to happen, and here we are, says Edwards.

Were celebrating our centenary, so it's our 100th birthday. For me its a huge privilege to be leading the organisation through this incredible year, and we also launched earlier this year our new five year strategy, which takes us through to 2027  the title of which is transforming the lives of working animals.

This new strategy is focused on three key areas. One is about improving the quality of life for working animals across the globe.

We want to scale to the next level, really building on our foundations by having a much greater, more strategic reach.

Were wanting to increase scale by greater buy-in, working with more strategic partners, and focusing a lot more on not just treatment, but also prevention.

Edwards would like to see some of the strategic partnerships that they are visioning at the moment really coming to fruition, so some of those other partners who we would not traditionally have worked with seeing the value of the work.

She would like to demonstrate that working animals are strategic to what others are delivering and I think we can get to a stage where that is adopted, and we can provide the technical expertise to ensure that there's a greater impact.

Edwards adds: We are also focused on ensuring that the contribution of working animals and what they do for communities and people in the world is actually recognised and importantly valued. And we want to ensure those invisible workers start to become truly visible.

The third goal is focused on that working animals thrive and continue to grow sustainably as part of a nexus of animals, humans and the environment.

The reality if nothing else is that over the last few years, weve seen that actually, we're so interconnected  you can't separate animals from humans from the environment. We need to protect our planet, protect the animals and ensure that, as humans, we take greater responsibility.

sign up to receive the Civil Society News daily bulletin here . For more news, interviews, opinion and analysis about charities and the voluntary sector,
Greetings charity sector. The title of this column might sound like the ingredients for a very strange picnic, but Diary insists that each facet has something to do with charities this week (however tenuous).

So, when you are quite done biting the hand that feeds you , then we can begin.

Matt Hancock donates shirt to Matt Hancock

Your favourite ex-health and culture secretary, ex-reality TV star and breaker-of-Covid-laws-he-set is back this week with even more shenanigans. Can you believe it?

Diary can. This is the man that once made an app named after himself, which has since been discontinued in favour of his TikTok account, which he now uses to keep his constituents in the loop.

One of his latest TikTok's shows him sporting a Newcastle United shirt to celebrate the club reaching the league cup final.

So far, so uninteresting  but what did cause a stir is the fact that the signed shirt he's wearing is the same one he claimed to have donated to Chris Evans' NHS charity auction.

Since his post, Hancock has admitted it is the same shirt he auctioned off for charity. He claims the person who bought the top gave it back as a gift.

This is the most bizarre response that Diary could have ever anticipated.

A diehard magpie presumably paid hundreds or thousands of pounds for a signed Newcastle United shirt, but was even more fond of the former health secretary so he decided to donate it back to him?

If true, who on earth would do this? Is there a Matt Hancock superfan hidden in the ruffles of society? Or did the shirt simply smell so bad they returned it to its owner, with the plea of even for charity, I cant wear this?

It makes the mind wander  but now Hancock has bigger fish to fry, or should Diary say, t-shirts to wash.

A mere 100,000 of his WhatsApp messages have been leaked. Perhaps the best thing to come out of this is the bluntness of George Osbornes texting style when responding to the politician.

Most pleasing, too, is reading Hancocks text message I WANT TO HIT MY TARGET!

This columnist likes to read this in the voice of a petulant school boy that stomps his feet with each enunciation.

Happy feet

CSM Towers, where Diary and the Civil Society colleagues reside, was interrupted by the stampiest of feet this week.

Remote working, which is often thought of as less productive, would have been preferable at this time, as two absolutely ginormous birds (no exaggeration, it was like Jurassic Park up there) had decided to make nests on the roof of our office.

Serious meetings were interrupted by the giggling of the editorial team, giddy with distraction and glee. Was the office about to be taken over by huge birds? The excitement was too much to handle, because really anything is more exciting than doing the work youre being paid to do.

Diary and CSM colleagues have had previous animal encounters in the office, most notably, when a Mama Cat decided to give birth to kittens inside our roof.

This columnist would like to decipher what it is about CSMs roof that makes animals wish to raise their spawn there. Sooner or later, Diary will have to find out for themselves. Next column may be broadcast from said roof when editor is not looking.

Over 240 National Trust scones later

Sarah Merker, 49, made the news this week after she completed her goal of sampling a scone at every National Trust location.

Ten years, 244 scones and over 7,000 Twitter followers later, Merker completed her challenge armed only with a Choose National Trust Scones t-shirt.

Not only is the completion of this project incredibly impressive, but it was also a very emotional experience for Merker.

She told the Independent she started the journey with her husband Peter, who was diagnosed with cancer in 2016 and died two years later.

She told the newspaper: Hed been there for so much of it and obviously I have memories of doing it with him.

So, for me, it was really important to finish it for him as well  I wanted to make sure I got to the end.

Merker told them the secret to a good scone is its freshness. We applaud her for her dedication to the cultural classic.

Egg-citing times

Easter is rearing its head which means egg-related puns are about to crawl out of the woodwork and straight into charity appeals.

Edinburgh Zoo, part of the Royal Zoological Society of Scotland, has announced its upcoming Easter events with a photo of a little red panda playing with a paper mache egg.

The adorable image promptly made Diary forgive all the egg puns!
In a new book, Ron DeSantis, the governor of Florida, lays out the case that the future of America can be seen in his state. He says so right in the title: The Courage to Be Free: Floridas Blueprint for Americas Revival.

If hes right, American newsrooms have reason to be very nervous. In the race for the Republican nomination for president, DeSantis is widely expected to run against Donald Trump, who, both as a candidate and in office, made antipathy toward the press a central tenet of his politics. Perhaps in an attempt to differentiate himself from his Florida neighboror as part of a wider ploy to show hes Trumpier than TrumpDeSantis is doubling down on press threats to an extent never before seen in a (presumed) major-party candidate.

Some of DeSantiss anti-media ploys are old favorites, like stonewalling public-records requests and bullying reporters who write articles that he doesnt like. Trump did these things, too, but in a sense, DeSantis is playing the bad cop to Trumps Pick me! approach, in which he seemed to grant reporters nearly unlimited access even as he publicly pilloried their employers. DeSantis, by contrast, largely shut out the mainstream media during his reelection campaign in Florida last year.

DeSantis is dangerous in more insidious ways, too. Last month, according to a report in Politico, he urged Floridas Republican-controlled state legislature to consider a slate of breathtaking anti-press measures. The proposals go beyond the usual efforts to gut libel laws, including lowering the threshold for when a public figure can sue a media outlet. In a serious threat to investigative reporting, Floridas legislature is now looking at a provision to specify that comments made by anonymous sources in news stories would be presumed false for the purposes of defamation lawsuits.

The Miami Herald and the Tampa Bay Times, covering the legislation, wrote that its reasonable to assume that any anti-press legislation will leach out of Florida:

Given the governors clout in Tallahassee, it stands a solid chance of passage this spring in the Republican-controlled state Legislature and would likely spur more defamation cases in Florida, legal experts say. Because of the clear-cut constitutional questions, the legislation could eventually be appealed all the way to the United States Supreme Court, where at least two justices have already signaled they are interested in revisiting libel law and press protections.

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Ironically, this is in some ways a delicate dance for DeSantis, who has squared an antipathy for the mainstream media with a public embrace of Fox News. Fox, as I wrote last week, is now fighting a defamation suit, in which its primary defense is rooted in the very legal framework that DeSantis is hoping to weaken. DeSantis seems happy to present himself as a practitioner of journalismor at least memoiras he promotes his book, which was published by a unit of Rupert Murdochs empire. (In a review in the New York Times, Jennifer Szalai noted this conflict and was otherwise scathing of the book, writing that, although DeSantiss first book was weird and esoteric enough to have obviously been written by a human, this one reads like a politicians memoir churned out by ChatGPT.)

Whether or not DeSantis ever gets the chance to take his Florida blueprint national, we are, in a sense, all already living in an increasingly Floridian media environment. In 2021, Bob Norman wrote for CJR that the state has become the right-wing media capital of the country. DeSantis has played a role in that dynamic. As Norman wrote, with reference to the thoughts of Bob Sutton, a local Republican activist:

Sutton says Conservative emigres also feel safe in South Florida, as opposed to other more liberal metropolitan areas, because of the political makeup of the state. While Florida is generally a purple state, its blood red in terms of raw power, with a Trump-loving governor in Ron DeSantis, a pair of Republican senators, and a decades-long GOP-controlled legislature ruling its largely dysfunctional roost. DeSantis in particular has become a maga darling and much-hyped 2024 presidential hopeful with an unofficial campaign slogan of Make America Florida based on a much-propagated myth that the state was kept open during the pandemic.

Also, per Sutton:

Its the good weather and low taxes.

What an irony it would be if the conservative-media capital of America ends up as the nexus of the biggest threat to the countrys press. Talk about the courage to be free. You can read Normans piece here.



Some news from the home front: Mark your calendars for March 20, when CJR and the Columbia Journalism School will host a symposium looking at inequality in America and how its covered in the press. More details, including on how to sign up, are available here.



Other notable stories:

ICYMI: One year on from Russias invasion of Ukraine, where does the cyberwar stand?

Kyle Pope is the editor in chief and publisher of the Columbia Journalism Review.
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China will invest an additional $1.9 billion in Yangtze Memory Technologies Co. (YMTC), the countrys biggest memory chip producer, to spur the growth of its domestic semiconductor industry, which is currently being cramped by US sanctions.

Chinas National Integrated Circuit Industry Investment Fund, a government-backed investment body also known as the Big Fund, will inject the capital into YMTC, Bloomberg reported Friday. The magnitude of the investment shows Chinas effort to boost its struggling home-grown chip industry, which is currently facing constraints on its manufacturing capabilities from the US and other countries.

Chinas quest for self-reliance

Last month, The Political Bureau of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China conducted the third collective study on bolstering basic research, according to a report by Xinhua News Agency.

In the group study, Chinese President Xi Jinping urged the country to hasten scientific research so it can become self-sufficient in vital technologies, the report noted.

The president emphasized that the party committees and the government at all levels should strengthen basic research, improve overall coordination, increase policy support, and promote high-quality development of research.

Chinas Academy of Science has also provided a plan to create a semiconductor industry in China that can thwart the sanctions levied by the US.

The study on strengthening basic capacity for semiconductor research outlines Chinas view of how it can win the technological war with the US.

US ramps up trade bans against China

China is focusing on self-reliance as the US is seeking to prevent Western technology from being used to modernize the Chinese military. On Thursday, the Biden administration added 37 more entities to a trade blocklist, including units of Chinese cloud computing company Inspur.

The organizations were added for, among other activities, contributing to Russias military and/or defense industrial base, supporting PRC military modernization, and facilitating or engaging in human rights abuses in Burma and in the Peoples Republic of China (PRC), the US department of commerce said in a statement.

When we identify entities that pose a national security or foreign policy concern for the United States, we add them to the Entity List to ensure we can scrutinize their transactions, said Assistant Commerce Secretary, Thea D. Rozman Kendler.

The commerce department accused Inspur of procuring and attempting to procure US goods to support Chinas military modernization efforts.

In early October, the US issued export controls that restrict US firms from selling advanced semiconductors as well as equipment required to make them to some Chinese manufacturers unless they receive a special license.

In mid-December, the administration expanded those restrictions to include 36 more Chinese chipmakers from accessing US chip technology, including Yangtze Memory Technologies Corporation (YMTC), the target of the Chinese governments latest investment.

Now, the latest move by the US will perhaps stir up more tension in its already-strained relationship with China.
Erb Memorial Union Starbucks employees walked out and protested outside of the EMU following the firing of an employee on Thursday.

The employee who was fired, who asked to be referred to only by her first name Alice, said managers told her she was being fired for her use of profanity in a conversation with a manager about a month and a half ago.

Alice disputes that she ever used profane language and said she was unaware that a manager wrote her up for profanity.

Alice said she wishes she had been informed earlier that she would be fired so that she could look for another job.

I dont know how Im going to be able to pay my rent, Alice said.

Kaylee Calvert, an employee at the EMU Starbucks, said Alice was pulled out around 11 a.m., a rush time for the store, and was brought to a table right in front of the store. She was fired in sight of all of the other employees.

Alice said she felt embarrassed and did not understand why it was happening then and not at the end of her shift.

Ive worked for this company for seven years, she said. I was devastated.

Sevey said the employees asked the manager to have Alice reinstated.

Management did not agree to reinstate Alice. Thirty minutes later, employees clocked out, gave the keys to the managers and began protesting. After the employees walked out, the mobile orders were unfulfilled for around an hour until the online ordering was shut down.

We have a lot of support from the community. Theres a lot of people here who arent employees but just had signs in the back of their cars, Sevey said.

Thomas Finley, the district manager responsible for the EMU Starbucks, did not respond to comment in time for this articles publication.
US Dollar, Euro, Australian Dollar Vs Japanese Yen  Price Setup:

USD/JPY gains appear to be slowing ahead of stiff resistance.

 EUR/JPY has maintained a slight upward bias, while AUD/JPY is flirting with a tough barrier.

What is the outlook and key level to watch?

Recommended by Manish Jaradi How to Trade USD/JPY Get My Guide

Atlanta Federal Reserve President Raphael Bostics slow and steady remarks appear to have stalled USD/JPYs rise for now. Bostic echoed a few other Fed officials recent remarks that rate-setters may not revisit the jumbo rate hikes of 2022 despite the recent strong US data. In this regard, US monthly jobs and consumer prices data due in the coming days would be key. Also, Fed Chair Powell is due to speak next week at a semi-annual testimony.

USD/JPY 240-minute Chart

Chart Created Using TradingView

The Japanese yen weakened on Thursday after the US Treasury 2-year yield rose to a fresh 15-year high and the US Treasury 10-year yield rose to a four-month high  a reflection of strong US data in recent weeks. US Rate futures are now pricing in the Feds target rate to peak around 5.45% in September from the current 4.50-4.75%, compared with under 5% at the end of January. What are the charts saying?

USD/JPY  Rally showing signs of fatigue?

There are tentative signs emerging that USD/JPYs six-week-long rally is beginning to lose steam as it tests a tough resistance area at 135.00-138.00, including the early-January high, the 200-day moving average, coinciding with the upper edge of the Ichimoku cloud on the daily charts, not too far from the December high of 138.20. For more discussion on the topic see Japanese Yen Forecast: High Bar for USD/JPY to Crack Resistance, published February 26.

USD/JPY Weekly Chart

Chart Created Using TradingView

Negative divergence on the 240-minute and daily charts indicates that the rebound is beginning to look tired. To be sure, there is no sign of reversal of the nascent uptrend just yet. USD/JPY would need to break below immediate support on a horizontal trendline from about 135.25 for the short-term upward pressure to fade. Furthermore, any break below 133.75-134.50: including the 89-period moving average on the 240-minute chart, the lower edge of a rising pitchfork channel from January, and the February 24 low, would raise the odds that the short-term uptrend was reversing.

USD/JPY Daily Chart

Chart Created Using TradingView

EUR/JPY  Slight upward bias within a broad range

EUR/JPYs break above a horizontal line from the end of December at about 143.00 triggered a minor double bottom (the January lows) with a potential price objective of 148.00, coinciding with the October high. However, zooming out a bit, EUR/JPY has been in a choppy range since mid-2022, albeit with a gradual upward bias. For the emergence of a material trend, the cross would need to break above the October high of 138.40 or fall below the January low of 137.40.

EUR/JPY Daily Chart

Chart Created Using TradingView

AUD/JPY  Flirts with a tough hurdle

AUD/JPY continues to be snowed under a heavy barrier around 93.00-93.50, including the 200-day moving average, the mid-December high of 93.35, roughly coinciding with the upper edge of a rising channel from December. On the daily charts, the rebound from December looks corrective, that is, the trend is bearish after the cross drop in December below a slightly upward-sloping trendline from August triggered a break from a bearish topping pattern. In this regard, AUD/JPY would need to clear the November high of 95.50 for the downward pressure from September to reverse.

AUD/JPY Daily Chart

Chart Created Using TradingView

Trade Smarter - Sign up for the DailyFX Newsletter Receive timely and compelling market commentary from the DailyFX team Subscribe to Newsletter

--- Written by Manish Jaradi, Strategist for DailyFX.com
Stocks are a key ingredient in the portfolio of millions of investors and traders. They can provide a long-term path towards passive income potentially hitting double-digit returns. But the stock market can also be confusing, and potentially costly or dangerous, with the process of picking the right stocks, at the right time, not always so clear. Read on and discover our guide on how to pick stocks for investors to move towards meeting their goals.

How to pick stocks: Step by Step

There are a variety of crucial factors to consider when approaching the question How to pick stocks. These considerations can determine the success of a stock portfolio and range from the financial health of the companies chosen, to liquidity and volatility of the stock in question, to wider fundamental events outside the companys control. Investors should consider all of these influences to have the best chance of building a stock portfolio capable of meeting their goals. Heres a step-by-step list below.

1. Establish a plan

Establishing a plan is key starting point when picking stocks. Youll need to consider questions such as how many stocks to buy, what your likely plans are for the money down the line, and whether youd prefer to trade stocks over the short term rather than invest for a longer-term approach. For example, long-term investors looking to buy and hold stocks for five years or more will obviously have a very different strategy to those looking for short positions in overbought market conditions like we saw frequently in the latter part of the 2010s.

If youre in it for the short term, find out more on how to create a trading plan for technical analysis.

2. Assess your risk tolerance

Your tolerance for risk will play a key role in determining the kind of stocks to pick. To this point, if an investor is looking for a more risk-averse portfolio, they may want to weigh more towards defensive stocks such as those in utilities or consumer staples. Alternatively, a higher-risk approach could see an investor choosing companies in emerging economies or immature sectors, or companies that depend on key market events going a certain way for their targets to be realized. For example, a pharma company awaiting FDA approval for a new drug will be subject to the risk of that approval not happening  an event potentially devastating to its share price.

Find out more on navigating risk management with our helpful guide.

3. Do your research

Attractive stocks can be found in a variety of circumstances, but an investor may get a head start on the crowd if they know a couple of sectors and the companies within them inside-and-out.

Recommended by Ben Lobel Consult our equities forecast to help your stock picks Get My Guide

Here are some of the key things to consider about the companies behind the stocks being analyzed, as well as the market conditions in which they might be most attractive.

Financial condition

Understand the state of the companys balance sheet. What are its assets, liabilities, and cash flow situations? Research revenue in recent periods.

Management

Whos steering the ship and whats their industry track record? Do they enjoy shareholder confidence?

Innovation

How does the company innovate to stay ahead of and respond to its competition? How have new products and services been received by customers and shareholders?

Dividends

Is the company paying a dividend, and if so, how often and will it be increased? Find out more about how to invest in dividend stocks.

Price and valuation

Is the company undervalued? To find out, calculate the price-to-earnings ratio, or P/E, by dividing the companys stock price by its earnings per share. A P/E of around 15 may be considered cheap  but that doesnt necessarily mean that its worth buying or inexpensive by industry standards. Being cheap may just mean investors lack confidence in its growth prospects. Find out more about how to value a stock.

Liquidity

Does the stock have sufficient trading volume to allow traders to enter and exit the market as straightforwardly as possible? Read more on stock market liquidity for a detailed picture.

Volatility

How volatile has the price movement been for this stock, and what are the reasons for any extreme fluctuations? With volatility naturally comes increased risk, but also potential opportunity. Read more on stock market volatility to discover how to take advantage.

Explore our in-depth guide on researching stocks for more information.

If you are trading stocks in the short term, for example as a day trader, swing trader or scalper, you may want to investigate technical analysis tools to try and gauge price action in order to help time entries and exits. These tools include the moving average, MACD and RSI, as well as volume and support and resistance levels.

Naturally, these tools rely on historical price activity to inform choices, so while they can be useful for projecting trends, it is advisable to combine a technical approach with understanding of the fundamental factors that can override patterns and, of course, risk management.

Read more on technical indicators and how they can assist your analysis.

5. Pick the stock and trade it activelyor just wait

When it comes to the procedural process of picking the stock for a long-term investment or short-term trading endeavor, the clearest method is often via a trading platform/online brokerage account, which can be set up with proof of ID and a choice of funding method. After that, while short-term speculators may be actively trading the stock, long-term passive investors will usually be waiting it out. For the latter, while therell be ups and downs along the way, the mission is to capitalize on growth over a period of many years.

The Best Performing Stocks - Jan 00 to Jan 20

Stock Growth in Stock Price Jan 00-Jan 20 Monster Beverage Corporation 73,300% Netflix 34,400% Apple 20,000% Tractor Supply Company 17,000% Amazon 11,400%

Most popular stocks

As mentioned above, the most popular stocks to trade by volume consistently show up as the likes of giant corporations Facebook, Amazon, Apple, Netflix and Alphabet, but different fundamental events can cause the stocks of various other companies to come out on top in shorter-term trading volume. The chart below shows the stocks with the highest global volume for the month at the end of March 2020.

The leading stock by volume, Greece-based tanker vessel operator Top Ships Inc, grew in popularity as an asset sale saw an influx of funding which allowed the company to greatly reduce its debt. The stock was likely even buoyed by circumstances surrounding the coronavirus pandemic, with surging product demand in areas such as cleaning supplies and paper products leading to increased shipping requirements.

Another company seeing unusually high volume in March was cruise line operator Carnival Corp, much of which was to the short side as the company suspended dividend payments and stock repurchases as voyage suspensions continued amid the coronavirus outbreak.

Rounding out the top three is Ford, which saw a seven-year high in trading volume, again mostly to the short side, as coronavirus decimated production and market demand.

What lesson can stock pickers learn from these examples? When a huge fundamental crisis hits, stocks are affected in different ways. Research on different sectors may shine a light on the industries that could pick up steam when others are going in the other direction. So read up, keep your eyes open, and focus on the goals of the portfolio.

FAQs

How do you decide what stocks to buy?

Deciding what stocks to buy is a multi-faceted process based on factors such as industry knowledge, corporate financials, timing, wider market fundamentals, and in some cases, technical patterns. Investors can put all or some of it together in the effort of building the most appropriate individualized approach.

When should you buy shares?

Timing is everything, but not all oversold shares are ready to be snapped up  after all, they were sold for a reason. Consider the growth potential of the industry and the company within it, and the fundamental factors that might affect its journey along with how that investment or trade may fit with the goals of the portfolio.

Is it worth it to buy 1 share of stock?

It depends on the stock- and the circumstances. Stocks are priced across the board, so owning one share of Berkshire Hathaway has very different ramifications for an investors financial position than owning one share of Facebook.

What stocks does Warren Buffett own?

Speaking of Berkshire Hathaway  some of Warren Buffetts largest investments are currently in financial institutions such as Bank of America and Wells Fargo, consumer brands such as Coca-Cola and Kraft-Heinz, and technology giants such as Apple and Sirius.

How many stocks should I own?

That depends entirely on your plan and the companies you choose. Overall, its advisable to aim for a diversified portfolio, with a mixture of growth and defensive stocks, to ensure that risk can be managed effectively.

For more on stock trading, including the main types of stocks, a background on indices and why the stock market is important, check out our beginners guide to trading stocks.
GBP/USD - Prices, Charts, and Analysis

S&P PMIs highlight growing customer confidence.

UK economic docket looks very thin next week.

The US dollar may have peaked.

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Most Read: GBP Price Forecast: Pound Undeterred by Brexit Deal

GBP/USD continues to trade on either side of 1.2000 in fairly uninspiring trade with the US dollar the driver behind any short-term moves. The US dollar has been moving around this week as Fed speakers continue their hawkish narrative, aided by this weeks punchy core PCE reading that came in hotter than expected. On the flip side, the recent CB consumer confidence data (February) missed by a sizeable margin, adding to any dovish market outlook.

The greenback has been supported by rising US Treasury yields with the rate-sensitive 2-year UST hitting 4.95% mid-week, a level last seen in July 2007. One technical indicator suggests however that US short-dated bond yields may have peaked. On Thursday the US 2-yr yield made a gravestone doji, a bearish reversal candle, an indicator that needs to be closely watched over the coming days. Saying that the recent uptrend in short-dated yields is strong and may take control again. The latest US ISM data is released this afternoon and may steer the greenback into the weekend.

US 2-Year Treasury Yield  March 3, 2023

How to Trade GBPUSD

For all market-moving data releases and events, see the DailyFX Economic Calendar

The final S&P UK PMI reading released earlier in the session point to renewed consumer confidence. According to Dr. John Glen, chief economist at CIPS, As recessionary fears started to recede, there were expectations of improving business opportunities in the next 12 months resulting in the highest future optimism since March last year. With the UK finely balanced between recession and expansion, the Bank of England (BoE) may rein back on future rate hikes after this months meeting. The BoE is expected to hike by 25 basis points on March 23. Next week there is very little UK economic data of importance and this again leaves cable looking at the US dollar as the driver of price action.

The daily GBP/USD chart looks mixed with a slight downside bias. Cable is being supported by the 200-dma while at the same time being pressed down on by the 20- and 50-dmas. There seems to be reasonable short-dated support just above 1.1900, an area that has been repeatedly tested in the last month. A break below would leave the January 6 low at 1.1842 vulnerable.

GBP/USD Daily Price Chart  March 3, 2023

All Charts via TradingView

GBP/USD Bearish Data provided by of clients are net long. of clients are net short.

Change in Longs Shorts OI Daily 18% -26% -10% Weekly 5% -10% -3%

Retail Traders Build Their Longs

Retail trader data show 65.11% of traders are net-long with the ratio of traders long to short at 1.87 to 1.The number of traders net-long is 19.91% higher than yesterday and 20.39% higher from last week, while the number of traders net-short is 10.67% lower than yesterday and 10.10% lower from last week.

We typically take a contrarian view to crowd sentiment, and the fact traders are net-long suggests GBP/USD prices may continue to fall. Traders are further net-long than yesterday and last week, and the combination of current sentiment and recent changes gives us a stronger GBP/USD-bearish contrarian trading bias.

What is your view on the British Pound  bullish or bearish?? You can let us know via the form at the end of this piece or you can contact the author via Twitter @nickcawley1.
A woman has revealed she feels 'absolutely awful' after she called out by a supermarket assistant for his behaviour - leaving him in floods of tears.

The anonymous mother posted on the Am I Being Unreasonable? forum on the British parenting forum Mumsnet, explaining how she was served in her local Tesco by a young boy who kept looking at his phone.

Describing him as no older than 18, she detailed how he 'was looking at his phone' and 'kept chewing his nails and sticking his fingers in his mouth.'

She explained she was left exasperated by the transaction, explaining: ''I said, "You're too busy playing on your phone, and it's not hygienic to be chewing your nails when you're going to be handling food".'

She said the interaction left him with 'tears streaming down his face' - with other users suggesting she had been 'appalling' to the youngster, while others argued she was right to call out poor customr service.

A British woman has revealed she feels 'absolutely awful' after she called out by a supermarket assistant for his behaviour - leaving him in floods of tears (stock image)

Starting the post, she wrote she had 'upset a staff member in Tesco' and 'felt bad now'.

She said: 'When it came to pay he didn't tell me how much. I was getting irritated at this point and just stood there until he looked up and I said you've not told me how much (obviously I could see on the screen).'

She pointed out that he was playing with his phone and chewing his nails, adding: 'I didn't have a go but said it in a firm manner.'

However, she told users how this telling off had upset the young supermarket assistant and embarrassed him.

The poster explained: 'He went bright red, muttered sorry and didn't give any eye contact the rest of the transaction.'

She then noticed 'he had tears running down his face,' and apologised, asking him 'is everything ok?'

The young lad 'ignored' her so on her way out she explained to a security guard what had happened who said he would go and speak to the boy.

She ended the post asking: 'I feel absolutely awful that I've upset somebody... but was I wrong to have said something to him?'

The anonymous mother posted on the Am I Being Unreasonable? forum on Mumsnet explaining how she was served in her local Tesco by a young boy who kept looking at his phone

The post quickly racked up over 400 comments with users torn between both sides of the argument.

While some were sympathetic with the woman and told her she had done a good thing for the boy by calling him out, others labelled her a 'bully' and called her actions 'appalling.'

One user exclaimed: 'Retail is a very hard job, customers are demanding and entitled - as demonstrated by your behaviour.

'Its not your job to teach him manners or customer service skills, if you are unhappy with the service you receive then complain to the management.

'This young person was obviously distracted and stressed by something, everyone has bad days at work and its difficult when you feel like that in a customer facing role.

'You made him cry - thats appalling.'

Many users were disappointed in her actions and called her actions 'appalling' with one person labelling her as a 'bully'

Another added: 'Someone had a go at me once at work for looking at my phone. My daughter-in-law had been rushed into hospital at 24 weeks pregnant in early labour and Id been given permission to keep my phone with me that day. Normally my phone was in my locker.

'I was upset too. And as you can see 11 years later it still smarts.'

A third commented: 'Yes it was unreasonable- you dont know what he is going through, could be a very awful reason why he is was texting, and even if there wasnt a good reason, what have you achieved here?

'You made someone cry and you feel awful. Its a really negative way to act.

'If you were friendlier he would have taken more good out of that experience.'

Others were on her side and said that she had nothing to feel bad about as he was not performing his job well

And a fifth added: 'Oh dear, poor lad. I think you were totally out of order,and a bully'

However, not everyone was against the woman's actions and others understood where she was coming from.

One user reasoned: 'As we go through our working lives we learn how to put on a professional face and leave our home life at the door or realise we are going to be unable to do that and approach our employer to discuss support/leave. We don't just go to work and provide poor/unprofessional service to paying customers because of some other shit going on.

'Maybe this prompted the lad to realise he had to stop trying to be strong or ignore it or whatever and he may have gone to get some support from a manager. I think that's an important learning curve in a working life, to seek support when needed.'

Another posted: 'You are not unreasonable, you just called out rude behaviour. If he got upset he won't do it again. If we can't call out poor behaviour in case someone gets upset we will be all be living in hell.'

A third agreed: 'You weren't being unreasonable to call out poor service. When he appeared upset, you asked if he was ok and got a colleague to check on him so no, you didn't do anything wrong.

'If you'd carried on telling him off when he was crying that would have been unreasonable of course but we can't hold back on everything just in case someone's having a bad day.

'The solution is to be civil and concise with poor feedback, as you were, not make it a personal attack.'

And a fourth said: 'His job is to serve customers and take payment. Courteously.

'He was rude. More concerned by his phone than the job he is being paid to do.

'Thats totally on him. Hes front line staff and is giving a very bad impression of the company.'
If you want to avoid ruining your bartender's evening, a pub worker has revealed the rude comments and actions that a customer should never say or do when at the bar.

These include avoiding mentioning you own past bar experience, placing finished chewing gum in your empty glass, or clicking your fingers at a staff member to get their attention that you're next in line.

Speaking to The Daily Record, Claire Twist, event bartender and bar training upskill at the Off to Work Edinburgh academy shared some of the worst blunders punters can make when ordering their drinks.

She insisted a good customer should never boast about their past bar experience if a bartender isn't preparing a beverage the way they desire.

Instead, it's best to offer any tips you might have before they start making the drink to avoid any annoyance.

If you want to avoid ruining your bartender's evening, a pub worker has revealed the rude comments and actions that a customer should never say or do when at the bar (stock photo)

Elsewhere, trying to get a staff member's attention when you're at the bar is a big no-no, with Claire insisting many workers will already know who's next to be served.

'I think clicking fingers at a bartender is just plain rude. The same goes for leaning right across the bar, trying to get served next,' she said.

'Trust that the bartender serving is a professional, and will be keeping an eye on whos next to be served. I teach new bartenders that a quick 'Ill be right with you' can help reassure customers that theyve been seen.'

She also explained that chewing gum on an evening out and then leaving it in your empty glass should definitely be avoided.

The bartender said: 'Either people dont realise that someone has to put their hand in to collect the used gum, or they dont care. One simple rule: if you wouldnt do it at home, dont do it in a bar!'

Claire also suggested that a huge order that takes five minutes or more to remember should instead be penned on a note to be passed to the staff worker.

Finally, she told how ordering drinks in a group is easier on the bartenders preparing your beverages.

Meanwhile, last year, a former flight attendant revealed the type of passenger cabin crew hate the most.

Speaking to The Daily Record, Claire Twist, event bartender and bar training upskill at the Off to Work Edinburgh academy shared some of the worst blunders punters can make when ordering their drinks

Kat Kamalani, from the US, worked on planes for six years, and she posted a TikTok video in which she said it's not babies who annoy the crew, but rather the people who complain about the babies.

The social media star and mother-of-two explained there's nothing worse than this type of complaint because it makes both the parents and the staff uncomfortable.

'I promise you, there's nothing that irritates us more as a flight attendant when people complain about a baby crying,' Kat said in the video.

'DON'T even ask to be moved to a different seat, no one wants that baby to stop crying more than that parent. So if you're travelling, bring noise-cancelling headphones, or maybe ask the parent if they need help.'

The short video was viewed more than 1.4million times and thousands commented on the topic agreeing.
A Canadian expat is blaming Australian wildlife for ruining every chance she's had at a lie-in since she moved Down Under.

Amanda, who now lives on the mid north coast in NSW, complained that the laughing cry of the kookaburra sounds like a 'satanic ritual'.

Aussies were not happy with the criticism of the native bird, but people from other countries agreed the noise is 'insane'.

The young woman runs a TikTok page called 'Australia is weird' and often comments on things she finds unusual about the country.

'When you wanna sleep in but you live in Australia and the birds start performing their satanic rituals at 6am,' Amanda said on TikTok.

A Canadian expat is blaming the Australian kookaburra for ruining every chance she's had at a lie-in since she moved Down Under

Amanda, who now lives on the mid north coast in NSW, complained that the laughing cry of the kookaburra sounds like a 'satanic ritual'

She recorded the loud bird song of the kookaburra, which is known to sound like a shrill cackle or laugh.

The native Australian bird tends to make the most noise at dawn and dusk to establish their territory.

Their call can sound like a chorus of laughter because one bird starts with a low chuckle, then throws it's head back in laughter, and the whole family often join in.

Why do kookaburras 'laugh'? The call is used to establish territory for families of birds, often the entire family will join in creating a cacophony of laughter. (Source: The Nature Conservancy) Advertisement

Aussies slammed her for the comments.

'Youre lucky if its 6am! That's a lie in!' one man said.

Others joked that the birds are the reason Australian's are known to be early risers.

Others said the noise of the kookaburra should be appreciated as it's 'beautiful'.

'Can't ask for a better morning.. sleep early and wake up with them,' one man commented.

However, non-Australians could not believe the noise was actually made by birds.

'I could never. NEVER. Id go mad,' one woman said.

'What?!! Those noises? As if they are laughing at your misery,' another joked.

'I hated visiting Australia because of this. I feel like I couldnt enjoy the trip and no one warned me about it,' another wrote.
Dragon's Den viewers slammed a couple of 'privileged' entrepreneurs who appeared on the programme last night to pitch their matcha energy drinks business.

Teddy Levenfiche and Marissa Poster, both 25, asked the dragons for 50,000 for a 5 per cent stake in their Perfect Ted business on the BBC1 show.

They said they had put 250,000 of their own savings into the business, which sells natural energy drinks made using matcha, as well as raising 125,000 from family.

The dragons were impressed by their pitch, with all five business people vying for a stake in the company - before Teddy and Marissa agreed to work with Peter Jones and Stephen Bartlett with 25,000 investment for a 5 per cent share each.

Despite the dragons being blown away by Teddy and Marissa, many of those watching were less than impressed, with one writing: 'Did geezer say by the age of 25, he'd saved 250k?? Just say you're privileged.'

Teddy Levenfiche and Marissa Poster, both 25, were criticised after appearing on Dragon's Den to pitch their matcha drink business last night, as many viewers branded them 'privileged'

Meanwhile another commented: 'Having been on Dragons Den, I look at the journey fairly closely, what did they sacrifice?

'The matcha people were great, but being able to raise 125k from family is privileged. Fair play, I'm sure they will be a huge success.'

A third wrote: 'Running a 125k family fundraiser after leaving your job in finance screams "My parents were early to Bitcoin.'

'They lost me at "we quit our jobs in finance,"' another added. 'Why is that necessary to say? It makes me take them less seriously.'

One commented: '125k in family loans, quitting your job in finance before the age of 25 and having the name 'Teddy Levenfish' shouts "My parents are rich af"'.

Appearing on the programme, Marisa said: 'there's a massive opportunity in the natural energy drink sector. We want to ride the wave and be at the front.'

Teddy said: 'Everything we do, we're figuring out on the fly, because we have no food or drink experience.

'It's been a super challenging journey but we're excited for what's to come.'

Many viewers were left unimpressed by the pair, with one saying they were 'clearly already millionaires' and 'faced no questions'

Entering the den, Teddy explained they are the founders of Perfect Ted 'the brand on a mission to spread positive energy.'

He said they were looking for 50,000 for a five per cent stake in their business.

Marisa explained: 'For years, I've struggled with ADHD and anxiety, which was particularly challenging while studying at university in the US.

'I would consume copious amounts of coffee and energy drinks to get me through long study days. But the caffeine gave me jitters, crashes and exacerbates my anxiety symptoms.

'That's when I discovered matcha, a powdered Japanese green tea which offers slow release energy.

'I was hooked so naturally I recommended it to everyone, including Teddy.'

Teddy explained there was a barrier however - because people didn't like the flavour or how long it took to whip up a matcha drink.

After Marisa moved to London in 2022, Teddy said they quit their jobs in finance and created the UK's first matcha powdered energy drinks, flavoured with real fruit

After Marisa moved to London in 2022, Teddy said they 'quit their jobs in finance and created the UK's first matcha powdered energy drinks, flavoured with real fruit.'

Stephen Bartlett started by asking how old the pair were, before Marisa said they were working full time on the business.

Marisa explained she is the CEO and also oversees the marketing and branding, while Teddy is in charge of the operations.

Teddy explained they'd financed the business largely on their own, saying: 'Today we've put 245,000 into the business, 125,000 of directors loans and 125,000 from family members.'

When Stephen asked where they had got their money from, Teddy said: 'We both worked in the US before.

'While I was there I was investing, because I knew I wanted to do something entrepreneurial. I knew I needed to save up to go and do something.'

The dragons were impressed by the pair's ambition and ultimately they received five offers. The pair accepted to work with Peter Jones (pictured) and Stephen Bartlett

Meanwhile the pair also said they were hugely determined to make the brand a success, with Marisa saying she hoped the label would be a household brand across a number of different countries.

The dragons were impressed by the pair's ambition, with Sara Davies saying she felt five per cent in the business wasn't enough - and instead offering all the money for 10 per cent.

Stephen, Peter and Touker all said they would match the offer. But Deborah said she would offer all the money for 7.5 per cent.

Teddy asked if Stephen and Peter would each put in 25,000 for five per cent of the business. Both businessmen said they would love to accept.
Sarah Ferguson has vowed that she will 'always be there' for Prince Andrew because she loves the Queen.

Speaking in a candid interview with The Telegraph, the Duchess of York, 63, said that her support for her disgraced ex-husband - with whom she has remained close friends and still lives with - stems from a devotion to her late mother-in-law.

'During the last three years, her poor son has been going through such a tumultuous time,' she revealed.

'And I think HM was very relieved I could help her with him, so we became even closer, then.'

The royal vouched that Her Majesty 'knew' Sarah wouldn't abandon her youngest son, who fell from grace due to his friendship with paedophile Jeffrey Epstein, and paid a multi-million-pound settlement to his sex abuse accuser Virginia Giuffre.

Sarah Ferguson has vowed that she will 'always be there' for Prince Andrew because she loves the Queen. Pictured with her ex-husband in 2019

She was 'sad' to see what the dishonoured royal has been through, revealing that it was tough to see him hurting.

The Duchess, who is coming out with new Mills & Boon novel - A Most Intriguing Lady - spoke with great fondness of the Queen, who entrusted Sarah with her beloved corgis after she passed away.

The mother of Princess Eugenie and Princess Beatrice went so far as to say she was 'more of a mother' to her than her own family.

Sarah admitted she now feels the need to be stronger for others 'at the moment' because of the monarch's passing.

'When Andrew went through a hard time, I used to be able to throw it to The Boss,' she wistfully told the outlet.

The Duchess was also full of praise for her ex-husband, admiring him as a grandfather and taking a slice of his favourite cake back home.

In the same interview, she opened up about her past struggles with body issues, being compared to Princess Diana, and feeling a sense of 'duty' to the Royal Family.

It comes as the Duchess has said she has 'no judgement' on Prince Harry and Meghan Markle leaving the Royal Family - despite the Duke and Duchess of Sussex's scathing attacks on 'The Firm'.

The royal vouched that Her Majesty 'knew' Sarah wouldn't abandon her youngest son, who became embroiled in the Jeffrey Epstein scandal and paid a multi-million-pound settlement to his sex abuse accuser Virginia Giuffre. Pictured with the Queen in 1986

The royal - also known as Fergie - told PEOPLE magazine: 'I don't believe that any single person has the right to judge another person. I'm not in a position myself to make any judgments.

'The Duke, 38, and Duchess of Sussex, 41, launched scathing attacks on the Royal Family in their Netflix documentary series and Harry's memoir Spare - including publicly criticising Sarah's ex-husband Prince Andrew, labelling the Jeffrey Epstein affair 'a shameful scandal'.

However, Sarah said: 'I have been judged all my life, and I have no judgment on the Sussexes.'

She added that Princess Diana would be 'incredibly proud' of all her grandchildren - which includes Harry and Meghan's youngsters Archie, three, and Lilibet, one, as well as Prince William and Kate's three children: Prince George, nine, Princess Charlotte, seven, and Prince Louis, four.

Harry became the first royal to publicly criticise Prince Andrew, 63, labelling the Jeffrey Epstein affair 'a shameful scandal'.

No one in 'The Firm' had spoken about claims the Duke of York twice sexually assaulted Virginia Giuffre, who claimed she was trafficked by Epstein.

The Duchess, who is coming out with new Mills & Boon novel - A Most Intriguing Lady - spoke with great fondness of the Queen. The former couple pictured with the Queen at a horse show

The Duchess was also full of praise for her ex-husband, admiring him as a 'very good' grandfather and taking a slice of his favourite 'Chocolate Nemesis cake' back home. Pictured with Andrew in 2010

Sarah was 'sad' to see what the dishonoured royal has been through, revealing that it was tough to see him hurting. The former couple pictured on their wedding day in 1986

Andrew settled her lawsuit last year, accepting no liability, and has always denied any wrongdoing. But Harry brings up the affair in his book Spare.

When his wife Meghan asks if the Royal Family might cut their security after they left for America, he says there is 'no way', considering his uncle still gets protection.

Harry told her there was an 'obligation' and an 'implicit promise' to protect them.

Pushed by Meghan if it would ever be removed, he said: 'Never. Not in this climate of hate. And not after what happened to my mother.'

The Duke of Sussex adds: 'Also, not in the wake of my Uncle Andrew. Despite being embroiled in a shameful scandal, accused of sexually assaulting a young girl, no one had even suggested removing his security.

'People have had plenty of reasons to complain about us, sex crimes weren't one of them.'

Prince Andrew has always denied the accusation.
Queen Letizia of Spain looked sharp in a scarlet coat with a waterfall collar as she stepped out in Madrid today to round up a busy week.

The Spanish royal, 50, wore the loose-fitting cover up with oversized lapels to a presentation by the board of UNICEF Spain, of which she is Honorary President.

She moved away from the chromatic range of pinks, which have been her uniform this week, as she joined the Board of Trustees at the UNICEF headquarters.

Letizia wore her deep-red coat undone, with the tie belt loosely at her side, showing off a Carolina Hererra houndstooth blouse in red.

Queen Letizia of Spain, 50, (pictured) wore a scarlet coat to attend a board of trustees committee meeting for UNICEF Spain in Madrid on Friday

The stylish mother-of-two, paired her red ensemble with a statement pair of wide-legged grey trousers and grey suede pumps.

As for her jewellery the Spanish Queen kept it simple with double dagger stud earrings from Gold And Roses and decorative gold ring on her index finger.

Keeping her make up natural, the Spanish Queen added a burst of bronze eyeshadow and wore her brunette hair loose.

As she walked into the meeting in Madrid Letizia held onto an iPad and burgundy handbag.

The stylish mother-of-two, paired her red ensemble with a statement pair of wide-legged grey trousers and grey suede pumps

As she walked into the UNICEF meeting in Madrid Letizia held onto an iPad and burgundy handbag

As Honorary President of UNICEF Spain, the wife of King Felipe VI has been informed of all the details of work that the organisation is taking.

The United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) is the leading international organisation working to promote children's rights and achieve real change in the lives of millions of children.

Its work is based on the Convention on the Rights of the Child, the most ratified human rights treaty in the world, and currently develops its work in 190 countries.

UNICEF Spain is one of the 36 National Committees that contribute to the work of the United Nations Children's Fund.

Its aim is to ensure that children's rights to health, education and protection are fulfilled throughout the world, something which the Spanish Queen is deeply invested in.

As Honorary President of UNICEF Spain, the wife of King Felipe VI has been informed of all the details of work that the organisation is taking

Friday's meeting rounds off a busy schedule for the Spanish royal, who on Wednesday attended the Investigation National Awards 2022 in Alicante.

Joined by her husband King Felipe VI, the stylish Queen, 50, opted for a matching pencil skirt and blouse for the event at Casa Mediterraneo in the Spanish city.

The royal's midi skirt had a slit down the back, while her elegant pink blouse featured a round neck and billowing sleeves held in at the wrists with statement gold buttons.

King Felipe, 55, and Letizia were captured side-by-side walking among the gathering crowds for the annual awards.

The Spanish royals presented the prizes, which are worth 30,000 euros to researchers in Spain who have performed outstanding professional work of international relevance in the fields of research and science.

The awards were created in 1982 and are presented to a total of 10 experts, with each one associated with different areas of science.
Myanmar, China sign agreement on wind power projects

Xinhua) 10:41, March 03, 2023

YANGON, March 2 (Xinhua) -- Myanmar and China have signed a memorandum of agreement (MoA) to cooperate on wind power projects in western Myanmar's Rakhine state, according to a release from the Chinese embassy in Myanmar on Thursday.

Speaking at the signing ceremony held in Nay Pyi Taw on Wednesday, Chinese Ambassador Chen Hai said Myanmar is rich in the resources of wind, solar, water and natural gas that are required for generating electricity. The electric power cooperation will benefit the two countries, he said.

Chinese companies are cooperating in Myanmar's power projects to achieve the Southeast Asian country's goal of nationwide electrification by 2030, he said, adding that they are the first wind power projects in Myanmar which mark a new step in China-Myanmar power cooperation.

Union Minister for Electric Power of Myanmar U Thaung Han said that energy sufficiency is of vital importance for all Myanmar citizens and there are limitations to energy resources.

He also urged the companies to exert efforts so that the projects can generate electricity by 2025, stressing the importance of abiding by the environmental laws in implementing the projects.

The wind power plants, which are to be built in the towns of Ann, Gwa and Thandwe in Rakhine state, will be able to generate 360 megawatts (MW) after completion.

(Web editor: Zhang Kaiwei, Liang Jun)
Dame Deborah James' mother has revealed her 'sadness' at seeing her name as she visited roses planted in her memory.

The former deputy head teacher, who was known to many as Bowel Babe, passed away from bowel cancer last summer, after intimately detailing the last five years of her life online.

In May, it emerged a rose had been named after her, and 2.50 from the sale of each flower will be donated to her Bowelbabe Fund to benefit Cancer Research UK.

Her mother Heather shared a post on Instagram yesterday, saying: 'What a beautiful day to go to Wisley to see how Deborahs roses were doing...Although I feel a sadness when I look at her name on the plaque that she is no longer with us I also feel a connection that I can talk to her and feel her near me.'

It comes as new documentary about Dame Deborah's final few months was announced, which will give fans an intimate insight into the life of the late cancer campaigner.

Dame Deborah James' mother Heather has revealed her 'sadness' at seeing her name as she visits roses planted in her memory

The former deputy head teacher, who was known to many as Bowel Babe, passed away from bowel cancer last summer , after intimately detailing the last five years of her life online

Posting the snap online, Heather wrote: 'It was lovely to meet up with Helen @thetittygritty and to show her the beautiful setting with the view they are planted in and we both agreed Deborah would approve!

'Being amongst nature and plants growing their new shoots is always a great reminder of how precious life is and I will always be grateful for the time we did have with Deborah.'

In the snap, she could be seen sitting cross-legged next to a rose named the 'Dame Deborah James'.

Earlier this week, it was announced 'Bowelbabe: In Her Own Words', will air on BBC2 in the coming weeks.

It will capture the campaigner's bittersweet journey from living with incurable disease, to Damehood, to her untimely death.

Filmed with Deborah in the last months of her life, viewers will see her talk frankly about the heartbreaking diagnosis and grueling treatment.

She has also shared many personal moments whilst dancing and recounting what the reality of living with the illness was really like for her and those closest to her.

The 80-minute programme will also archive Deborah's collection of voice notes, Tik Tok videos, Instagram posts, 'You Me and the Big C' podcasts and family videos.

The social media star had been raising awareness about the disease until her death on June 28 at the age of 40 after a five-year battle with bowel cancer during which time she raised more than 7million for charity.

Her mother Heather shared a post on Instagram yesterday, saying she 'feels a connection' with the flowers and feels Deborah 'can talk to her'

'Deborah worked with us on this film right up until the last few weeks of her life and was adamant that it was finished even though she wouldn't be around to see it through,' Lucie Kon, Commissioning Editor, BBC Storyville said. 'It's an incredibly powerful and beautiful piece  emotional, intimate and unique.

'With enormous warmth and good humour, the documentary echoes the powerful, honest and direct way that Deborah communicated, as if she were talking to a friend or confidante.'

In October, Deborah's husband said he was 'so proud' of her after she inspired record numbers of people to get tested for bowel cancer.

Sebastian Bowen remarked he was 'in awe of everything [Deborah] did' after she spent five years tirelessly raising awareness.

That month, NHS figures revealed a record 30,000 more people went for referrals between May and July in 2021. Figures also showed 170,500 people were referred for checks for checks for suspected lower gastro-intestinal cancers between the months of May and July, which is nearly 80,000 higher than the same period two years ago.

In early May, Deborah revealed she had stopped active treatment and was receiving end-of-life care at her parents' home in Woking, Surrey, with her husband and their two children on hand.

A new documentary will feature candid never-before-seen mobile footage of the late Dame Deborah, as well as a collation of her personal social media, BBC Two has revealed

The Dame also wrote and published her second book How to Live When You Should Be Dead , while suffering from cancer, detailing how developing a positive mindset was key to enabling her to cope with her diagnosis

The podcaster was diagnosed in 2016 and kept her one million Instagram followers up to date with her treatments.

Her candid posts about her progress and diagnosis, including videos of her dancing her way through treatment, won praise from the public and media alike.

Alongside Lauren Mahon and Rachael Bland, she launched the You, Me And The Big C podcast in 2018.

In the months leading up to her death, Deborah had Prince William over for tea, who made her a Dame.

Living life on her own terms despite her illness, she designed Charity T-shirts a clothing line to raise millions more for her Bowelbabe fund.

The Dame also wrote and published her second book How to Live When You Should Be Dead, while suffering from cancer, detailing how developing a positive mindset was key to enabling her to cope with her diagnosis.

She told her children to 'take chances and experience life now' and to marry for love in a heartbreaking final letter.

'BowelBabe: In Her Own Words' - for BBC Two and iPlayer - was made by Brook Lapping, part of Zinc Media, and Executive Produced by Emma Hindley in her former role at the company. The Director was Sara Hardy and the Editor, Gwyn Jones.
Prince Harry's latest interview to promote his bombshell memoir Spare could prove to be the most damaging yet for his father, King Charles - as it will see the Duke sitting down with a 'childhood trauma expert' who believes that everything wrong in people's lives is rooted in their negative experiences as a child.

The royal, 38, is set to speak with Hungarian-Canadian doctor Gabor Mate on Saturday to promote his new memoir, Spare, and discuss 'living with loss and the importance of personal healing.'

Having already taken several swipes at his family in the pages of his book, this new interview will provide Harry with an opportunity to delve even deeper into his childhood - and potentially lay bare any 'traumatic' experiences that he believes have led to his struggles as an adult.

Gabor, 79, is a physician and author with more than two decades of experience working with people suffering from addiction and mental illness - and he fiercely believes that all of the problems we face as adults stem from trauma we endured as children.

He claims that the 'greatest damage done by neglect, trauma, or emotional loss is not the immediate pain they inflict' in the immediate aftermath, but rather the 'long-term' damage that they have on a person as they grow out of childhood.

Prince Harry (left) will have an 'intimate' conversation with 'childhood trauma expert' Gabor Mate (right) - who believes 'everything wrong' in our lives stems from trauma we faced as kids

The royal, 38, is set to sit down with the Hungarian-Canadian doctor on Saturday to promote his new memoir, Spare, and discuss 'living with loss and the importance of personal healing'

Gabor (seen with his wife) fiercely believes that all of the problems we face as adults is rooted from issues that arose when we were kids

In his tell-all book, which came out in January, Harry launched numerous attacks against his family and shared a series of intimate secrets about what it was really like to grow up as a royal

Harry himself has been open about the traumas that he suffered as a child, opening up about the difficulties he says he faced as the 'spare' to his older brother the 'heir', as well as the struggles he went through after the death of his mother, Princess Diana.

The Duke has repeatedly taken aim at his family in multiple interviews, the Sussexes' Netflix documentary and, most recently, his explosive memoir Spare and its accompanying publicity tour.

The Duke of Sussex spoke heavily about the negative impact that losing his mother, Princess Diana, at a young age had on him and how hard it was for him to be raised in the public eye. He is seen at his mothers funeral

In his tell-all book, which came out in January, Harry launched numerous attacks against his family and shared a series of intimate secrets about what it was really like to grow up as a royal.

The Duke of Sussex spoke heavily about the negative impact that losing his mother, Princess Diana, at a young age had on him and how hard it was for him to be raised in the public eye - while being treated like the 'spare' compared to his older brother, Prince William, who is the heir to the throne.

Much of Gabor's work has stemmed from one overall notion that 'everything that is "wrong" with you began as a survival mechanism in childhood,' as he once put it - so it will certainly be interesting to see what he and Harry discuss.

'All our dysfunctions, our relationship problems, the pain that we carry, the resentment we harbor, the anger that we generate at our partners - it originates in early childhood trauma,' Gabor said in a previous interview.

According to the doctor, children don't have to be subjected to 'violence, addiction, abuse, or mental illness' for their 'biological development' to be negatively impacted.

In fact, he believes that we are often subjected to 'terrible stress' even as infants. He told The Scotsman in 2019, 'These studies dont include everything. They dont include the terrible stresses infants undergo when their parents are suffering.

'I dont recall being an infant, but its stamped in my brain, in my physiology and psychology.

'What happens to you in the first three or four years of life has the most profound influence on how youre going to be for the rest of your life.'

While speaking to AcesConnection.com, Gabor added that parents often transfer the tension and pressure they feel from outside influences - such as work, their relationship, and social media - to their children without even realizing.

He also said he was treated like the 'spare' compared to his older brother, Prince William, who is the heir to the throne

Much of Gabor's work has stemmed from one overall notion that 'everything that is "wrong" with you began as a survival mechanism in childhood,' as he once said

He explained that kids often get 'separated from nurturing adults' and don't have time to 'fully attach' thanks to the introduction of 'technology' and busy 'schedules.'

Dr. Gabor Mate's controversial views on how childhood trauma can affect you even during adulthood - and how parents can 'stress' out their kids without even realizing Much of Gabor's work has stemmed from one overall notion that 'everything that is "wrong" with you began as a survival mechanism in childhood.' 'All our dysfunctions, our relationship problems, the pain that we carry, the resentment we harbor, the anger that we generate at our partners - it originates in early childhood trauma,' he said. According to the doctor, children don't have to be subjected to 'violence, addiction, abuse, or mental illness' for their 'biological development' to be negatively impacted. In fact, he believes that we are often subjected to 'terrible stress' even as infants which get 'stamped in your brain.' 'What happens to you in the first three or four years of life has the most profound influence on how youre going to be for the rest of your life,' he explained. While speaking to AcesConnection.com, Gabor added that parents often transfer the tension and pressure they feel from outside influences - such as work, their relationship, and social media - to their children without even realizing. He explained that kids often get 'separated from nurturing adults' and don't have time to 'fully attach' thanks to the introduction of 'technology' and busy 'schedules.' The doctor also stressed the importance of parents 'responding to a child in a way that the child feels seen, heard, understood, accepted, celebrated, received.' Advertisement

The doctor also stressed the importance of parents 'responding to a child in a way that the child feels seen, heard, understood, accepted, celebrated, received.'

'Children are a great incentive and impetus for parents to learn about themselves, about each other and about life itself. Unfortunately, much of the learning may occur at their expense,' he said in a separate interview.

'Whatever the hopes, wishes or intentions of the parent, the child does not experience the parent directly: the child experiences the parenting.

'When it comes to relationships between parents and children, its not just the thought that counts, its the action that communicates the thought.

'When we are older and have the capacity to view our parents behavior in context, we might find it easier to forgive and understand their actions.

'However, even that perspective-granted view of events is not enough to erase the layers of belief about ourselves and the world around us that parenting implanted in the first place.

'This doesnt mean that we need to parent in fear of ruining the children, but to parent mindfully, knowing that we are the single greatest influence that they will experience in their lives.'

Gabor and Harry's conversation will be livestreamed, and you can buy a ticket to watch it for $33. A live question and answer session with viewers will follow their talk.

In his bombshell autobiography, Harry recalled often feeling like 'the shadow, the support, the Plan B' as a kid.

'I was brought into the world in case something happened to Willy. I was summoned to provide backup, distraction, diversion and, if necessary, a spare part,' he wrote.

'A kidney, perhaps. Blood transfusion. Speck of bone marrow. This was all made explicitly clear to be from the start of life's journey and regularly reinforced thereafter.'

He said his mother once told him that the day he was born, King Charles told her, 'Wonderful, now you've given me an Heir and a Spare - my work is done.'

Gabor's own childhood will filled with loss - he was born in Budapest in 1944, but his maternal grandparents were killed in Auschwitz when he was five months old.

He was then separated from his mother as a baby to save his life, while his father was subjected to forced labor by the Nazis.

The doctor once described how he was unable to look at his mother when they were finally reunited due to feelings of 'abandonment, rage and despair' - something he said still heavily impacts him now.

According to the doctor, children don't have to be subjected to 'violence, addiction, abuse, or mental illness' for their 'biological development' to be negatively impacted

In his bombshell autobiography, Harry recalled often feeling like 'the shadow, the support, the Plan B' as a kid

Gabor has faced controversy in the past for comparing Hamas to the Jewish heroes of the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising against the Nazis, branding Israel's government as terrorists, and defending Palestinian rocket fire at Israeli civilians.

The author is also an outspoken supporter of psychedelic drugs, and has used the Amazonian plant ayahuasca to treat patients suffering from mental illness - which lead to Canadian officials threatening to arrest him if he didn't stop using the drug to treat his patients in 2011.

According to Healthline, ayahuasca - which is usually brewed into a tea - is made from the leaves of the Psychotria viridis shrub along with the stalks of the Banisteriopsis caapi vine, both of which, have hallucinogenic properties.

Harry has admitted to using the drug to help cope with the loss of his mother, who died in a car accident in 1997, when he was 12.

He told 60 Minutes host Anderson Cooper that he only cried over his mom's death once - when her coffin was put in the ground - and that he was plagued with guilt over feeling like he was not being emotional enough over her passing for years.

But the former royal said using psychedelics when he got older ultimately 'cleared away the idea' that he needed be sad to prove he 'missed' his mom.

'I would never recommend people to do this recreationally,' he said. 'But doing it with the right people if you are suffering from a huge amount of loss, grief or trauma, then these things have a way of working as a medicine.

He said his mother once told him that the day he was born, King Charles told her, 'Wonderful, now you've given me an Heir and a Spare - my work is done'

'For me, they cleared the windscreen, the windshield, the misery of loss. They cleared away this idea that I had in my head that ... I needed to cry to prove to my mother that I missed her. When in fact, all she wanted was for me to be happy.'

The new interview comes days after news hit the web that King Charles had decided to evict Harry and his wife, Meghan Markle, 41, from Frogmore Cottage in Windsor just 24 hours after the release of Spare. Charles is seen with Camilla in November 2022

In his memoir, Spare, Harry spoke about it further, writing that the psychedelics - which are illegal in the US, UK, and Canada - allowed him to see 'the truth' and discover 'another reality,' and that even after they wore off, he saw a world that was 'twice as beautiful.'

The new interview comes days after news hit the web that King Charles had decided to evict Harry and his wife, Meghan Markle, 41, from Frogmore Cottage in Windsor just 24 hours after the release of Spare.

Sources said he he believed Harry had 'crossed a line' following his shocking claims in the book, particularly, that Camilla was responsible for leaking stories to the media.

'It was the last straw. Harry was well aware how Camilla would be a red line for his father and he crossed with flagrant disregard anyway,' an insider told the Mirror.

'The King felt without a doubt it crossed a line  it was the ultimate act of disrespect.'
The Perilla Leaf Debate is the latest dating trend to send the internet into a frenzy after sparking fierce discussion on the meaning of loyalty.

Amy Shin, from Illinois, set out the hypothetical relationship scenario on TikTok.

The 26-year-old revealed that the debate centers on whether it is acceptable for a boyfriend to move food onto the plate of his girlfriend's friend at a restaurant.

It has caused quite a stir on social media where users were split about whether it was acceptable - but what do you think?

Amy Shin, from Illinois, set out the hypothetical relationship scenario on TikTok which left social media users divided

In the minute-long clip, which has so far been viewed more 6.4 million, Amy speaks to camera as she does her makeup

What is the 'Perilla Leaf Debate'? The Perilla Leaf Debate centers on a hypothetical situation where you, your boyfriend, and your close friend are all eating at a restaurant together. There is a popular Korean dish of perilla leaves - or ggaenip - on the table but these are notoriously difficult to pick up using chopsticks. In the scenario, your friend is struggling to take one from the dish. You don't notice but your boyfriend does and he swoops in to help. He picks up one of the leaves with his chopsticks and places it on her plate. But, the question is, is this acceptable for him to do? Advertisement

In the minute-long clip, which has so far been viewed more 6.4 million, Amy speaks to camera as she does her makeup.

She says: 'I don't know how I've just now heard of this.

'There is a very popular dating analogy that Koreans are asking each other - and I need to know your thoughts.

'Let's say you have a boyfriend - and if you're actually in a relationship imagine your boyfriend.

'Let's say you're out to dinner with you, your boyfriend and a really close friend of yours.

'Now one of the lovely side dishes on the table is ggaenip [perilla leaves].

'It's important to note that it is specifically ggaenip, because it is known to be difficult to pick up with chopsticks - that's important.'

Amy continues: 'Now, this close friend of yours is having a hard time picking it up. She's going at it for a really long time, so your man reaches over, picks it up for her, and puts it on her dish. You didn't even notice she was struggling, but he did.'

The 26-year-old revealed that the debate centers on whether it is acceptable for a boyfriend to move food onto the plate of his girlfriend's friend at a restaurant

Amy concluded: 'The question is, is that okay? Does it make a difference if it is a friend that he has met before versus a friend he is now meeting for the first time?'

The scenario involves a popular Korean dish of perilla leaves - or ggaenip - which are notoriously difficult to pick up using chopsticks (stock image)

In one camp, there were those that didn't see anything wrong with the hypothetical scenario and praised the 'boyfriend' for being so caring

Poll Do YOU think this is acceptable behavior in a relationship? Yes No Do YOU think this is acceptable behavior in a relationship? Yes 200 votes

No 28 votes Now share your opinion





She concludes: 'The question is, is that okay? Does it make a difference if it is a friend that he has met before versus a friend he is now meeting for the first time?

'How would you feel? What would you do? Does it make a difference if it's just a situation-ship? What if you're already married?'

And social media users were quick to flood the comments as a fierce debate broke out.

In one camp, there were those that didn't see anything wrong with the hypothetical scenario and praised the 'boyfriend' for being so caring.

One wrote: 'I think it's okay no matter when he met her or any circumstance, let my girl get her perilla leaf.'

But others were less convinced by the situation and said that it would be a big red flag in a relationship

Another added: 'Makes me love him more now I know he's empathetic and helpful or others.'

And a third simply said: 'There is nothing wrong with a man helping a female in a respectful manner.'

But others were less convinced and said that it would be a big red flag in a relationship.

One joked: 'They peel off one perilla leaf next thing you know they're holding hands, fall in love and end up getting married.'

Someone else said: 'No, I wouldn't be okay with it tbh. He can suggest that I help her or maybe give her advice on how to pick it up but he shouldn't do it for her.'

Another stated: 'It's not ok at all. I would have a talk with my man. If I was the other friend I would feel uncomfortable.'
When it comes to style, we are all inspired by what we see; whether it be a well-dressed celebrity, a blow-your-mind catwalk presentation or even a fashionable passerby.

As fashion editors, we're moved by all of the above, and then some. We're exposed to under-the-radar labels; we get a first-hand look at collections months before they hit stores; we attend VIP events; we're tapped into brands with chic-yet-cheap offerings and we shop  a lot.

To share our knowledge, FEMAIL brings you Style Swoon, a weekly series of the latest, greatest and on the verge. We hope this Friday series will serve as a buying guide and point of inspiration for all.

This week's edition focuses on the hottest events to take place in fashion and beauty to get us ready for summer.

On March 2nd, Beautycounter, the pioneer of the clean beauty movement, celebrated a decades worth of accomplishments by hosting an industry forum discussing whats next in clean beauty

Star-studded clean beauty forum

On March 2nd, Beautycounter, the pioneer of the clean beauty movement, celebrated a decades worth of accomplishments by hosting an industry forum discussing whats next in clean beauty.

The event was held at NeueHouse Hollywood and hosted by Ashley Greene.

Notable attendees, included Jeannie Mai, Candice King, Kara Del Toro, Helen Owen, Gizele Oliveira, and Quigley Goode were there to show their support.

'Clean beauty is important to me because what you put on your skin can directly affect your health,' said Ashley Greene.

'Unfortunately, health and beauty standards have traditionally been incredibly low, and you really have to advocate for your own health and wellness.

'That's why I've been such a huge Beautycounter fan- they truly care about the consumer and the planet and have created such powerful change already as a company.'

The actress - whose fave Beautycounter product is the Overnight Resurfacing Peel - looked professional in a lightweight tan suit with a black underpinning.

'I only have one face and it's nice to know I can have fun with experimental makeup while also treating my skin and healthfully as possible,' said The Vampire Diaries actress Candice King

The Real's Jeannie Mai added: 'Clean beauty is the most responsible step you can take in your selfcare regimen. Whatever you are putting on your skin is seeping into your pores and affecting your health and well-being, too'

'Clean beauty is important to me because what you put on your skin can directly affect your health,' said the host of the evening, Ashley Greene

Joining Ashley was Candice King looking radiant in a floral-print dress featuring long sleeves and a bustier belt.

'Clean Beauty is important to me because makeup is an inherent part of my daily ritual,' said 'The Vampire Diaries' actress.

'I only have one face and it's nice to know I can have fun with experimental makeup while also treating my skin and healthfully as possible.'

The Real's Jeannie Mai Why stunned in a shoulder-baring blue leather look, while carrying a white Jacquemus handbag.

'Clean beauty is the most responsible step you can take in your selfcare regimen. Whatever you are putting on your skin is seeping into your pores and affecting your health and well-being, too,' said the star rocking bold red lipstick.

Fantastical beach party

On March 2nd, leading energy drink brand, CELSIUS, celebrated the launch of their newest flavor, Fantasy Vibe (mandarin marshmallow), with an invite-only party

On March 2nd, leading energy drink brand, CELSIUS, celebrated the launch of their newest flavor, Fantasy Vibe (mandarin marshmallow), with an invite-only party.

The interactive event was held at a stunning oceanfront property in Malibu, California.

Stars including The Perfect Match's Chloe Veitch and Ines Tazi were in attendance as the golden sun set over the Pacific Ocean.

'I love the beach and the fact that the event happened right as the sun was setting was magical,' said Chloe.

'Everyone's styles were unique and represented their fun/sexy side.'

For the fun evening, the London-born beauty put her sensational figure and style sense on display in a denim corseted top and blue jeans.

'I love expressing myself through my outfits. I wore classic double denim with bulky jewelry and a statement, bold red lip  my go-to signature look,' shared the reality show fan-favorite.

'I love the beach and the fact that the event happened right as the sun was setting was magical,' said Perfect Match fan favorite Chloe Veitch. 'Everyone's styles were unique and represented their fun/sexy side'

The interactive event was held at a stunning oceanfront property in Malibu, California, with stars like Victoria Justice in attendance

No beach bums here! Victoria Justice and Jasmine Sanders were dressed to impress while they took in the tunes of musical guest Loud Luxury.

Victoria wore a a floral-print strapless top with matching pants, while Jasmine put her washboard abs on display in a white wrap-tie top paired with black hip-hugging pants.

A celebration of all things fantastical, attendees like Delilah Belle Hamlin, Tessa Brooks, Landon Barker, Anastasia Ashley, Jordyn Jones and Austin North enjoyed flaming cocktails, fire dancers, photo-worthy activations and more.

The Perfect Match's Ines Tazi was in attendance as the golden sun set over the Pacific Ocean

Guests like Jasmine Sanders, Shae Scott and Havilah Unique were dressed to impress while they took in the tunes of musical guest Loud Luxury

Celeb-approved resort wear

On Friday, March 3, Bachelorette and TV host Jojo Fletcher's collaboration with female-founded, LA-based womenswear brand, RESA, dropped.

The RESA x Jojo spring collection was carefully curated with the reality star's favorite styles and prints, and with each style name tied to a connection dear to her.

The Sunstone is the winery where she married Jordan, the Rico is where she currently lives with her husband, and the Fletcher named after herself.

The flirty assortment with a southern twist includes dresses with sexy leg slits and matching sets with crop tops, skirts and shorts.

The perfect spring/summer pieces are prices from $68-$158 in sizes XS-XL, and available now.

On Friday, March 3, Bachelorette and TV host Jojo Fletcher's collaboration with female-founded, LA-based womenswear brand, RESAs dropped

The RESA x Jojo spring collection was carefully curated with the reality star's favorite styles and prints, with each style name tied to a connection dear to her

The flirty assortment with a southern twist includes dresses with sexy leg slits and matching sets with crop tops, skirts and short

Outer Banks-inspired collection

American Eagle launched their AE x Outer Banks collection in collaboration with the hit teen drama on Netflix

Stars of the show Carlacia Grant and Jonathan Daviss took to social media to highlight their favorite styles from the new collection

American Eagle launched their AE x Outer Banks collection in collaboration with the hit teen drama on Netflix.

Inspired by the sunkissed style of the shows characters and the beach they call home, the AE x Outer Banks collection features the perfect warmer-weather essentials.

From board shorts to flowy rompers, tank tops and roomy sweatshirts, the line is getting us ready for all of summer's fun adventures (Pogue style!).

Stars of the show Carlacia Grant and Jonathan Daviss took to social media to highlight their favorite pieces featuring a blue palm print from the limited-edition assortment.
The Queen Consort is to have two personal items valued by Antiques Roadshow experts when she guest stars in a special episode of the BBC show.

Filmed in Cornwall at the Eden Project last September, the programme - which will air on Sunday at 8pm on BBC One - will see Camilla meet the team and join host Fiona Bruce in a Guess The Mystery Object game.

For the occasion, Camilla brought along a rare snuffbox from the Royal Collection made from Cornish silver and a copy of Elegy In A Country Churchyard by poet Thomas Gray to be examined.

Silver specialist Duncan Campbell is thrilled with the snuffbox due to it being the first all-English silver he has seen in his career.

Meanwhile, books expert Justin Croft also admires Camilla's copy of Gray's work as she describes her love for the poem and her interest in the book's special binding, which was done in 1899 by the Guild of Women Binders.

The Queen Consort is to have two personal items valued by Antiques Roadshow experts when she guest stars in a special episode of the BBC show. Pictured, Camilla and host Fiona Bruce during filming

Later in the episode, the Queen Consort and Bruce attempt to guess the true purpose of three unusual items offered up by jewellery specialist Geoffrey Munn.

Among the items is a piece of rock crystal, a silver plaque decorated with a pair of eyes and two jewelled arrows.

Bruce, who has presented Antiques Roadshow since 2008, said: 'The Queen Consort was just terrific fun. She put everyone at ease and was keen to take part in the programme and chat to everyone.

'The members of the public that came along with their items that day got a bit more than they bargained for as they had no idea The Queen Consort was coming!

'Her Majesty got stuck into our Antiques Roadshow games, though Guess The Mystery Object had us both stumped.'

The presenter also discussed with Camilla her close connection to the Eden Project and her support for The Big Lunch, a charity based at the Cornish site which encourages people to come together with their local community to share a meal.

Filmed in Cornwall at the Eden Project last September, the programme - which will air on Sunday at 8pm on BBC One - will see Camilla meet the team and join host Fiona Bruce in a Guess The Mystery Object game

The Cornish attraction's two enormous 'biome' greenhouses hosted the show's various experts, and crowds of local people also brought their family heirlooms to be valued.

During the visit, Camilla also stopped to talk to members of the public including 16-year-old Dylan Kilpatrick and his mother Amanda Fishlock, from Cornwall, who had brought along a painting by their ancestor, 19th century artist Robert Ponsonby Staples, featuring a family on a seaside outing.

Ms Fishlock explained the artist was a relative on her mother's side, which is how the painting came to be in their possession.

When asked what Camilla had thought of the painting, Dylan said: 'She said she was jealous, she said she really liked the figure in the foreground.'
A plastic surgeon has revealed the five cosmetic procedures she would never get done to stop you from going under the knife.

Dr. Kelly Killeen, is a double board-certified Los Angeles plastic and reconstructive surgeon who frequently shares her tips and tricks to her TikTok.

Most recently, the doctor detailed the procedures she would never go under the knife for.

In a viral video, which racked up over 1.7 million views, Dr. Kelly revealed that she would never get a BBL or a nose job, while warning her over 64,000 followers why they should avoid 'trendy' procedures.

Dr. Kelly Killeen, a plastic surgeon from Los Angeles, has revealed the five cosmetic procedures she would never have

The bigger the butt the bigger the risk! The surgeon says she would NEVER get a BBL because it is dangerous

'Here are my top five procedures that I would never have done as a plastic surgeon,' she said before detailing what came in at first place.

The first cosmetic procedure the doctor said she would never get is a Brazilian Butt Lift

The first cosmetic procedure the doctor said she would never get is a BBL or a Brazilian Butt Lift.

'This is the procedure with the highest death and complication rate of any cosmetic procedure,' she explained.

Dr. Kelly also revealed that the surgeons who frequently perform BBLs should not be praised in the way they are.

'I don't like the weird hero worship culture of the surgeon that perform a lot of these surgeries. I think it has a weird ick factor for me, I would never ever do it,' the doctor added.

Through fat transfer, a BBL adds volume and accentuates your butt to give you curvier figure.

According to the International Society of Aesthetic Plastic Surgery, around 396,105 people had a Brazilian Butt Lift.

BBLs have become notorious for having a high fatality rate of one in 3000.

Dr. Pat Pazmino, a board certified plastic surgeon in Miami told NBC that more people died in 2021 from 'the Brazilian butt lifts than any other year before.'

'I don't like it': Dr. Kelly says you should avoid upper lip lifts

Coming in at second place, the doctor revealed she would never do an upper lip lift.

'This is probably going to piss off some of my facial plastics colleagues,' she said before detailing why she wasn't a fan of the lip lift.

Coming in at second place, the doctor revealed she would never do an upper lip lift

'I think, in general, we all get it, we want a bigger upper lip, but the scar is not worth it for me.

'I can see it in every single patient, even the ones that claim their scars aren't seen, I can see it.

'I don't like it. Everybody knows what you had done, not for me,' she explained.

Dr. Kelly also said that she doesn't like texture that an upper lip lift can cause.

'I also don't like how it can rotate the wet part of the red lip out and cause kind of permanent weird texture of the upper lip,' Dr. Kelly added.

During a lip lift, doctors remove the skin between the nose and the border of the top lip.

This shortens the distance between the nose and the top of the lip, which makes your lips appear more volumized.

Lip lifts have become increasingly popular in recent years, with many woman flocking to their doctors to get bigger lips.

Although popular, the procedure does run the risk of infections and scarring.

Don't fall for the 'trend': The surgeon says fox eye brow lifts will go out of style so you should use makeup to achieve the look instead

'Number three is the fox eye brow lift,' Dr. Kelly revealed.

The surgeon explained that you should avoid this procedure because it looks 'weird' and is just following a 'trend.'

'It looks weird. I would never have a surgical procedure done on my face for a trend that's probably going to be out in a few years,' she said.

Instead, the doctor recommended those wanting the procedure learn how to master the same look by using makeup.

'You can make your eyebrow do that thing on its own by shaving the end, work on your eye makeup techniques, [that's] not permanent.

'I would never do that procedure,' she explained.

In the past year, a growing number of women have attempted to achieve a lifted eyebrow look through their surgeons or by shaving off the ends of their eyebrows.

The look is also known as 'designer eyes' and is all the rage.

It involves removing excess skin or fat around the eyes to change the shape.

The fox eye brow lift is very in right now, so it's important to keep in mind what will look good on you for years to come.

The fourth procedure Dr. Kelly would never have done is massive fat grafting to the breast (stock image)

Opt for implants instead! Dr. Kelly says you getting massive fat grafting to the breast will cause them to look 'droopy'

The fourth procedure Dr. Kelly would never have done is massive fat grafting to the breast.

'Number four is massive fat grafting to the breast, I know I do a lot of fat grafting to the breast, but if you need that much fat in your breast to do what you want to do, you are at a higher risk for complications like cysts, fat necrosis, contour deformities where you have been lipoed all over and fat just doesn't have the structure of an implant or breast tissue.

'So you end up with kind of a dumpier-looking breast and I just would never do that,' the board certified surgeon explained.

Fat grafting, which is also know as fat transfer, has emerged as a major new breast reconstruction technique.

This procedure uses liposuction to transfer fat from other areas of your body and enlarge your breasts.

According to Cleveland Clinic, the risks of a fat transfer breast augmentation include: bleeding and bruising, fat cell death (necrosis) or fat cells moving out of your breasts to different parts of your body, infection, noncancerous (benign) breast cysts or breast calcifications.

Although Dr. Kelly admitted she performs these procedures, she explained that after only a certain amount of fat should be used.

She noted that if you want to transfer too much fat, it becomes an issue, and you should opt for implants instead.

The surgeon says she would NEVER get a nose job because of the year-long recovery process which includes 'swelling and unpredictable scarring'

Lastly, the surgeon reveled she would never get a rhinoplasty or a nose job.

'I love rhinoplasties, they are such amazing surgeries for the right person, but for me personally, the things I don't like about my nose are not huge, they are easily addressed with a liquid rhinoplasty.

'I don't think I personally could tolerate a year of swelling and the unpredictable scarring that comes with a rhinoplasty,' she explained.

Lastly, the surgeon reveled she would never get a rhinoplasty or a nose job

Rhinoplasties, or nose jobs, are one of the most common procedures that change the way a nose looks by transforming the shape of the nose.

According to Cleveland Clinic, there are over 350,000 rhinoplasty procedures performed each year.

The risks of a nose job include: a hole in your nasal septum (nasal septal perforation). Infections, nosebleeds, scarring, skin discoloration, pain, and change to your sense of smell.

For small fixes, Dr. Kelly recommended liquid rhinoplasty.

A liquid rhinoplasty, or non-surgical nose job, is the injection of dermal fillers into the nose to change its shape.

It is known as a painless and quick alternative to going under the knife.

Although it isn't a surgical procedure, Dr. Kelly also revealed she would never get a thread lift.

'I would never have a thread lift done anywhere. They look ok when you're static, but when you're in motion you can see the pull of the threads.

'There's all kinds of weird complications from infections to extrusions where they come through your skin.

'I just would never have a thread lift done, I think it's kind of an awful procedure honestly,' she revealed.
Even if theyve never read a Harry Potter book in their life, there can be few people who dont know the tale  a magical one in itself  of how an impoverished single mother finished writing her debut novel while keeping warm, sipping tea and trying to get her baby to sleep in an Edinburgh cafe.

That was 1994 and in the decades since, the mother, JK Rowling, has become arguably the most famous, and richest, writer in the world.

Few will know, however, of another, much darker chapter in the story of the boy wizard that took place 1,700 miles away, in the Portuguese city of Porto.

It was from here that Rowling  then just plain Joanne  fled an abusive, short-lived marriage, to Portuguese journalism student Jorge Arantes, secreting away both her precious manuscript, which he had threatened to destroy as a way of controlling her, and their baby daughter Jessica, who was literally snatched from his arms.

Witness to that harrowing scene was Maria Ines Rocha Aguiar, now a grandmother of 64, then deputy director of the language school Encounter English, where Rowling was employed when she met Arantes.

Rowling  then just plain Joanne  fled an abusive, short-lived marriage. Witness to that harrowing scene was Maria Ines Rocha Aguiar (pictured)

Rowling escaped from Portuguese journalism student Jorge Arantes along with her manuscript, which he had threatened to destroy as a way of controlling her, and their baby daughter Jessica, who was literally snatched from his arms

Speaking to the Mail this week, she recalled for the first time Rowlings fateful last few days in Portugal, and her part in helping her flee the country  with Harry Potter in her suitcase.

Rowling herself described the agonies of her first marriage in moving detail last week, in the first episode of Spotify podcast, The Witch Trials Of JK Rowling.

She spoke of the night, on November 17, 1993, when the marriage descended into violent scenes in the street, saying of her husband: He became very violent. He said, If youre leaving, you can leave, but youre not getting Jessica, Im keeping her, I will hide her. So I put up a fight, and I paid the price.

But it was Ines who helped Rowling get away  and the day has haunted her for nearly 30 years. Talking exclusively to the Mail, she said: It was an extremely emotional scene, the tears fell . . . a situation you experience once in a lifetime. Now I have many doubts. Not because I took her [Jessica], but because of the way I did it. Im sure Jessica was better off with her mother, thats clear to me, but I regret the way I took her out of Jorges house. I still have his scared face in my memory. At the time, as a young mother, I became very emotionally involved in that troubled romance.

She recalls: I was the sub-director of the Encounter English school and I got a call early in the morning telling me to go [to their apartment] as Jorge had thrown Jo out without Jessica.

I took off and called a friend of mine, who worked with lawyers, who advised me to get the girl out of the house as soon as possible because, through the courts, it would probably end up being a very time-consuming process. As a young mother, I reacted and I think I did well. But I shouldnt have scared him so much, with the police and all.

There was nothing they could do, but I asked a patrol car at least to help us by showing themselves at the location. With their protection, I went to his house with two teachers, a school secretary and Jo. I took their daughter from his [Jorges] arms.

Troubled is, perhaps, an inadequate description for the short-lived marriage about which Rowling, until recently, mindful of her now 29-year-old daughter, had remained guarded. So what do we know of the Portuguese interlude that left such deep scars on the woman who went on to become Britains successful living novelist?

Maria recalled for the first time Rowlings fateful last few days in Portugal and her relationship with Jorge Arantes. Pictured: Rowling and her ex-husband

JK Rowling's former husband Jorge Arantes pictured outside his Porto home last week

It was against the backdrop of heartache that a young Joanne Rowling (she was then 26) spotted a newspaper advertisement reading: Qualified English teachers required for a school in Porto.

Her beloved mother Anne had died after a long battle with multiple sclerosis, and, adding to her pain, her house in Manchester had been burgled, and everything her mother had left her was stolen. Porto, then, must have sat like a bright spot on the horizon, a place for a fresh start.

As Rowling put it in last weeks podcast: I knew that I liked teaching and so I thought Im just going to go away. Im going to take a year out, Ill teach, I dont really know why, but I chose to go to Portugal.

She arrived emotionally vulnerable . . . lost and pretending not to be lost, as she puts it.

Help was at hand in the shape of her two flatmates, women who remain friends to this day  Aine Kiely and Jill Prewett, names that may be familiar to readers of the third Harry Potter instalment, Harry Potter And The Prisoner Of Azkaban, because it is dedicated to them, the godmothers of Swing, Swing being a nightclub they would all frequent.

By day, there was plenty of time for an aspiring author to write. Teaching hours were in the evening, after which there was time to socialise.

It was on a night out, in March 1992, several months into her Porto sojourn that Rowling met Arantes, three years her junior and a journalism student. Her amazing blue eyes captured his attention, he would later say. There was an exchange of numbers, a kiss and the relationship escalated swiftly.

Rowlings account is not quite so effusive: I was drifting along in something that wasnt perfect, but it was good to be wanted.

The warning signs were there, however. And Ines saw them. She remembers their overwhelming passion but also cultural clashes that couldnt be overcome.

She recalled one memorable fight that exploded in the street, near the language school. Speaking about the scene, in a 2001 biography of Rowling, she said: It was like a scene out of Romeo And Juliet. He was shouting, Joanne, forgive me. I love you. And she was shouting back, I love you Jorge. 

This, it should be pointed out was before the couple married. But then, as Rowling recounts on the podcast, she fell pregnant and Jorge proposed. She would miscarry that first pregnancy, a blow that she describes as a massive loss, both physically and emotionally.

The fateful wedding ceremony took place in Portos civil register offices on October 16, 1992. Jorge donned a red polka-dot shirt for the occasion.

A solitary photograph of the celebrations  witnessed by Rowlings younger sister Di and soon-to-be brother-in law, tells a story in itself. Rowling wears black and on her face there is barely flicker of a smile, let alone the flush of bridal joy.

Rowling, now a mother of three, has given her own account of what happened next: I became pregnant almost immediately, she told the podcast, which is a joyful thing because I cannot imagine a world without my Jessica in it.

The former couple with their daughter Jessica, who is now 29 and uses the surname Rowling

JK Rowling revealed her abusive ex-husband hid the manuscript for the first Harry Potter novel in a bid to stop her from leaving him

Should anyone be wondering why Rowling, who has chalked up 500 million global book sales and a fortune of 850 million, has spoken out, the answer lies perhaps in Jessica. She encouraged her mother to open up in 2020, in a deeply personal essay published online about why she had become embroiled in a bitter row with the LGBTQ community over her feminist views.

I managed to escape my first violent marriage with some difficulty, she wrote. But Im now married to a truly good and principled man, safe and secure in ways I never in a million years expected to be. However, the scars left by violence and sexual assault dont disappear, no matter how loved you are, and no matter how much money youve made.

In her podcast, Rowling, who has been married to second husband Neil Murray, a doctor, since 2001, goes further still, revealing not just the strain of living in an abusive relationship, but the lengths to which her ex-husband went to control her, even holding her manuscript hostage.

The situation was a bad situation, she says. I left him twice before I left for good. And then I went back twice. The marriage at this point has turned very violent and very controlling. At this point, hes searching my handbag every time I come home. I havent got a key to my own front door because hes got a control with the front door.

Rowling, it would seem, had two priorities  getting her daughter out and preserving her precious manuscript. I think he knew, hed also suspected, that I was going to try and bolt again, says Rowling. It was a horrible state of tension to live in because you have to act. And I dont think Im a very good actor.

And yet, the manuscript kept growing. Id continued to write. In fact, he knew what that manuscript meant to me because at a point, he took the manuscript and hid it. And that was his hostage.

When I realised that I was definitely going to go, I would take a few pages of the manuscript into work every day. Just a few pages, so he wouldnt realise anything was missing. And I would photocopy it, and gradually, in a cupboard in the staff room, a photocopied manuscript grew and grew and grew and grew. Because I suspected that if I wasnt able to get out with everything, he would burn it or take it or hold it hostage.

Ines, who says she has not seen Rowling in the years since they were thrown together, has no memory of the writers clandestine photocopying missions at the language school, which occupies the same building in a nondescript corner of Porto as it did then.

She does, however, recall Rowling writing. The author would type at a ferocious speed on a word processor at Encounter English.

As for Arantes, Rowling didnt look back. She flew to Edinburgh, staying with her sister before moving into a local authority flat. The couple divorced in 1995 and Rowling was granted custody of Jessica. What contact, if any, she has had with her father remains unclear. In the podcast, Rowling revealed she did have at least one further brush with her ex, when he broke into her Edinburgh home shortly after Harry Potter And The Philosophers Stone was published, to almost universal acclaim, in 1997.

He spiralled into drug use, lost his job, and after a spell living in Paris with his brother, by 2020 was to be found living back in the modest, grey-fronted apartment he once shared with Rowling.

The Witch Trials of JK Rowling is a seven-part podcast in conversation with the author, hosted by American activist and journalist Megan Phelps-Roper

Earlier this week, he had the audacity to declare his former wife delirious after three years of Covid lockdown for suggesting he had held her book hostage. The self-confessed abuser (he first admitted slapping his wife very hard in the street in an interview back in 2000) went on to insist that he was, at least in part, responsible for his erstwhile wifes success.

When she was writing the book, I was participating in it, she was reading it out to me and I was reading it to her, he pompously declared. The project was for seven books and I was very involved with this first one and she knows that. She started writing it when we were together. Ines is sceptical. I know she learned a lot from him about Portugals history and culture  things that might have inspired her  but I never heard that he actually helped her write, she says.

Rowling, president of the charity Gingerbread, which champions the rights of single parents, has heard it all before. He had about as much input into Harry Potter as I had into A Tale Of Two Cities, she once said. Legions of Potter fans, young and old, around the globe will need no convincing.

Anyone who has been entranced by the magic of Harry Potter will be relieved to know that the fraught circumstances of a brief marriage nearly 30 years ago did not manage to derail the exploits of an unassuming schoolboy wizard before they even began.

Additional reporting: Rui David
She stays at home doing domestic duties

A 25-year-old woman has defended her decision to give up her career as a meteorologist to become a homemaker after getting married.

Estee Williams is part of the 'Tradwife' movement, which inspires women to go back into the home where they perform 'traditional' gender roles.

She cooks and cleans for her husband, Conner, and always presents herself as 'the perfect wife' so he can be proud to have her.

He, in turn, heads to work every day to pay the bills.

The 'Tradwife' movements divides people online with some claiming it 'goes against everything women worked for' while others argue 'it's the best, most proper way to live'.

25-year-old Estee Williams gave up her career when she got married, to be a housewife

Estee sits somewhere in the middle, she claims she doesn't push her values onto people who want to have two working people in a household.

'We believe our place, specifically us (not all women), our purpose is to be homemakers.

Poll Do you think the Tradwife movement is good? Yes, I would love to be one! Yes, I would love to have one No, women should work outside the home! Do you think the Tradwife movement is good? Yes, I would love to be one! 47 votes

Yes, I would love to have one 12 votes

No, women should work outside the home! 20 votes Now share your opinion





'Some people are trying to make this a sinister thing or put some other, darker meaning behind it.'

But she loves 'gender based roles' at home, and can't imagine being a working mother or wife, like her own.

'The world continues to condemn traditional wives,' she said in a recent video which shows her baking for her husband and 'touching up' her hair and makeup to make sure it's perfect throughout the day.

'I'll continue to live my truth,' she added.

She calls her lifestyle 'the greatest blessing'.

The young woman, who is from Virginia, even calls for women to 'make wives great again'.

In one video she clarifies the term Tradwife for her 80,000 followers.

'It is a woman who chooses a more traditional life with ultra-traditional gender roles,' she said.

Estee always wanted to be a stay at home wife, and says it suits her relationship with Conner

She keeps the home clean, prepares the meals and makes sure she is always well presented for her husband

'So the man goes outside the house, works, provides for the family. The woman stays home and is the homemaker, she takes care of the home and the children if there are any.'

Estee is not yet a mother, but plans to be.

She was inspired by her own mother who ran herself ragged trying to 'do it all', working, cleaning and cooking for the family.

As part of her role as a Tradwife Estee believes she should 'submit' to her husband.

'This is not degrading, I am not considered less important than him,' she added.

'The word submit and serve triggers some people. We are here for a different role, equally important,' she said.

Estee also wears a veil when she goes to church with her husband.

'A veiled woman shows reverence for God,' she said.

'Symbolising the veiled bride of the Church but also honours herself as a woman before God,' she added.

She is sick of other women shunning the lifestyle and couldn't imagine having a career and a husband

She is calling for others to stop shunning her lifestyle.

And others couldn't agree more.

'I don't think people realize how many women want their man to take care of them in that way. I'm luck to be a stay at home mom and love it,' one woman said on one of Estee's posts.

'I love to work but I love this too. Live and let live! This is actually empowering for women to find their calling,' said another.

Some people sat on the fence, said the lifestyle isn't for everyone.

'Do you know why it is your greatest blessing? Because it is your choice.

Others continued to slam the housewife.

'One giant step into the dark ages for women,' one said.

'If you want this lifestyle then fine but most of us want to be financially secure,' said another.
Travellers were delighted to hear a family-run sunflower farm is hosting their wildly popular annual two-day only sunflower picking event in April.

Bloom Barn Farm will let hundreds of nature lovers come onto their 60-acre farm on the Central Coast, NSW, and pick their own bunch of sunflowers on the 7th and 8th of April.

The unique event has become a cult favourite among people of all ages after its launch a couple of years ago.

Kids under five can visit the farm for free, making the sunflower picking day a popular activity for young families. Those aged under 15 can visit for $22, and adult entry costs $27.

Families were delighted to hear a family-run sunflower farm is hosting their annual two-day only sunflower picking event in April

The Sunflower field will be open to the public on the 7th April between 9am to 12pm, and 1pm to 4pm.

The family-friendly event also has activities for children, including face-painting and marshmallow roasting.

A coffee cart will be in operation, and the farm encourages visitors to bring a rug and picnic to relax for the day.

It will also be open between 9am to 12pm on the 8th.

The farm is located in Peats Ridge, 30 minutes north of Hornsby and one hour south of Newcastle.

Tickets for the even can be purchased on the Bloom Barn Farm website.

Bloom Barn Farm will let hundreds of nature lovers come onto their 60-acre farm on the Central Coast, NSW, and pick their own bunch of sunflowers on the 7th and 8th of April

The farm has been in operation for the past 40 years, and supplies flowers to local farmers markets, florists and weddings.

They grow many other flower variations and have several native Australian flowers like Kangaroo Paw and Christmas Bush.

Previous visitors have raved about the experience, dubbing it a 'slice of heaven'.

'A fun morning picking flowers, blowing bubbles, drinking great coffee and watching bees at The Bloom Barn Farm,' one mum said after visiting the farm.

Another said she couldn't wait to visit again and had 'two very pleased kiddos with their hand picked flowers.'

'Today we went along to the bloom barn farm at Peats Ridge. We spent the morning picking flowers, making magic wands and flower crowns while relaxing in the beautiful sunshine,' another wrote.

Others were impressed with the 'amazing photo opportunities' on the farm and in the sunflower fields.

Many families are keen to visit this year, and Bloom Barn Farm has warned that tickets are selling fast.
This is the first time the infection has been discovered out of South America

A painful skin-blistering illness spread by cats has been detected in Britain for the first time ever, MailOnline can reveal.

Until now, the rare cat-transmitted infection had never been seen outside of South America.

Three Brits were struck down with the fungus, suffering wounds and ulcers on their hands, wrist and arms.

Government health chiefs claim they all caught the fungal infection from the same cat, which had been rescued from Brazil  where the fungus is rife.

All three tested positive for sporotrichosis brasiliensis, just one type of the fungus.

There were three cases of the infection discovered in Britain, scientists wrote in the journal Medical Mycology Case Reports

The disease is spread to human through a bite or scratch from a cat infected with a fungus called Sporotrichosis brasiliensis

A mother, daughter and male vet, none of whom were identified, were all scratched by the same cat.

Despite suffering cuts that left them seeking medical treatment, all three made a full recovery.

Symptoms begin with lesions or wounds near the part of the body exposed to the fungus.

The infection, which is usually mild, can also affect the eyes, lungs and bones and joints. In rare cases, it can affect the central nervous system.

Increased attention has been placed on fungal infections because of the hit HBO show 'The Last of Us', which sees infected people transform into zombies.

The World Health Organization says fungal infections are becoming a 'major threat' to public health as the changing climate makes environments more suitable for them.

UKHSA scientists documented the British cases in the journal Medical Mycology Case Reports.

The 63-year-old mother, originally from south-eastern Brazil, who had been living in the UK for three years, was one of the recorded cases.

She had not travelled back to Brazil in that time.

She visited her GP after having had wounds on her hand for three weeks, and swollen lymph nodes, following a scratch she sustained while feeding her cat.

Her 30-year-old daughter, who was also infected, had moved to the UK at the same time as her mother and had also not travelled back since.

Like he mother, the daughter had an ulcer on her middle finger that wouldn't heal due to a scratch from the cat, for eight weeks.

Both were referred by their GP to their local infectious diseases clinic and were given six months of itraconazole - medication used to treat fungal infections.

The daughter's nine-year-old son also lived in the same house, however he was not infected and had never been scratched or bitten by the cat.

The third reported case was that of a vet who had been scratched by the cat while examining it at an appointment.

Four weeks later, he developed an ulcer on his middle finger and lesions tracking up his arm.

He underwent a biopsy which confirmed sporothrix brasiliensis and was prescribed three months of itraconazole.

Scientists claim that the cat likely responsible for the human cases was a 9-year-old male long-haired domestic cat who had been rescued by the family in South-Eastern Brazil. They brought him to the UK with them when they moved.

No details on the breed of cat were shared in the journal.

The first case of CTS in Britain, caused by a different fungus called Sporothrix humicola, was reported in 2020.

A mother, daughter and male veterinarian developed long-lasting cuts on their hands after being scratched by the same cat - which had been rescued in Brazil

Sporotrichosis is spread by a bite or scratch from an infected cat. There have been no recorded cases of human to human transmission.

The first symptom is usually a small pink, red or purple painless bump, which usually appears on the finger, hand or arm where the fungus first entered through a break in the skin, such as a scratch or bite.

Open bumps or nodules then develop, which start to look like ulcers. They are very slow to heal.

Rarely, an infected person can get pneumonia if fungal spores have been inhaled, causing symptoms such as shortness of breath, cough and fever.

The infection can spread to other parts of the body, including bones and joints and the central nervous system and cause caused joint pain, headaches and seizures. This is called disseminated sporotrichosis.

Her 30-year-old daughter, who lived with her, was another of the recorded cases (pictured). She had moved to the UK at the same time as her mother and had also not travelled back since

As most cases of of sporotrichosis only involve the skin or tissues underneath the skin, the CDC says it is mostly treated with prescription antifungal medicine for several months.

If the infection is severe and affects other parts of the body, intravenous medication is given. People with sporotrichosis in the lungs may need surgery to remove the damaged tissue.

CTS has been recognised as a zoonotic (cat to human transmission) epidemic and public health threat in Brazil since the 1990s.

It has since spread to other countries in South America, like Argentina and Paraguay.

The cat carrying the fungal infection has since died.
Limits on the levels of cancer-linked forever chemicals in drinking may soon be introduced in the US.

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is expected to propose restrictions in the near future. But, experts say removing them will cost billions, a burden that will fall hardest on small communities with few resources.

Concerned about the chemicals' ability to weaken children's immune systems, the EPA said last year that PFAS could cause harm at levels 'much lower than previously understood.'

The chemicals are in all types of products, including cleaning products, cookware, dishes, stain-resistant carpets and clothing and even toilet paper.

There is evidence the compounds are linked to low birthweight, kidney cancer and a slew of other health issues. It's unclear what the EPA will now propose and how well it will protect people from these recently-understood harms.

Betty Rivas prepares breakfast for her family Thursday, Feb. 23, 2023, in Commerce City, Colo. Rivas was startled by a letter telling her that the drinking fountains her 8-year-old used at school weren't safe. PFAS stories had been in the local news and the school district told families to use bottled water

A water researcher tests a sample of water for PFAS, Tuesday, Feb. 14, 2023, at the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Center For Environmental Solutions and Emergency Response in Cincinnati. The Environmental Protection Agency is expected to propose restrictions on harmful 'forever chemicals' in drinking water after finding they are dangerous in amounts so small as to be undetectable, but experts say removing them will cost billions. (AP Photo/Joshua A. Bickel)

'We as a community of scientists and policymakers and regulators really missed the boat early on,' said Susan Pinney, director of the Center for Environmental Genetics at the University of Cincinnati.

PFOA and PFOS are part of a larger family of compounds called PFAS, for per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances, that are widespread, dont degrade in the environment and have been around for decades.

They've been used in nonstick pans, food packaging and firefighting foam. Their use is now mostly phased out in the US, but some still remain.

Water providers are preparing for tough standards and testing that will undoubtedly reveal PFOA and PFOS in communities that don't yet know the chemicals are in their water.

'This rule would help ensure that communities are not being poisoned,' said Jonathan Kalmuss-Katz, senior attorney, toxic exposure and health at Earthjustice.

Over the last decade, an increasing number of cities and towns, often abutting manufacturing plants or Air Force bases, suddenly realized they had a problem.

In 2016, for example, Sarah McKinney was on maternity leave when she got word there was too much PFOA and PFOS in the tap water in her Colorado Springs suburb.

She picked up her weeks-old daughter and hustled out to buy enough bottled water for her family of five.

'If I'm just spitting it out, can I brush my teeth?' she remembers wondering.

In response to concerns from people who had been drinking the water for years, McKinneys water utility switched to a different source, provided water bottle filling stations and installed a $2.5million treatment system that was the first of its kind in the country, according to Lucas Hale, the water district manager.

The chemicals had gotten into the water from nearby Peterson Air Force base, which then built a treatment facility.

Homes that flank an industrial zone are seen from the air in Commerce City, Colo. The Environmental Protection Agency is expected to propose restrictions on harmful 'forever chemicals' in drinking water after finding they are dangerous in amounts so small as to be undetectable. Although the district built a facility to treat the contamination in Commerce City, it sparked long-simmering distrust in the predominantly Latino neighborhood, and questions over how long they had been exposed

For communities with the pollutants, it's not a cheap problem to solve.

Nationally, it could cost roughly $38billion to remove enough of the chemicals to meet a strict EPA rule limiting them to where they can't be detected, according to an estimate prepared by engineering consultant Black & Veatch for the American Water Works Association, an industry group.

There also will be ongoing costs for filter material and testing.

The consultant looked at federal and state test results and estimated that 4 percent to 12 percent of water providers nationally will need to treat for PFAS due to the EPA rule.

Smaller, poorer communities will have a harder time affording the new systems and training staff on how to use them, experts said.

And in general, smaller water providers with fewer resources already violate water quality rules more often than utilities that serve large cities.

'Small systems often need technologies that are more simple to operate,' said Jonathan Pressman, engineer and EPA water researcher.

The agency offers technical assistance to states and communities and it recently made $2billion available to states for contaminants like PFAS.

Inside the EPAs research facility in Cincinnati, a row of vertical, forearm-sized glass tubes were partially filled with a resin material that can remove PFAS.

Betty Rivas cleans dishes using tap water in Commerce City, Colorado. Rivas was startled by a letter telling her that the drinking fountains her 8-year-old used at school weren't safe. Her family is one of many in the community who do not drink the tap water and instead buy water from potable refill stations around town

The work ensures the agency knows how long it will last and how much PFAS it removes. That's important for designing treatment systems.

Last year the agency lowered its conservative, voluntary health thresholds to levels that tests cant even detect - a fraction of a part per trillion. In 2016, it was 70 ppt. Before that, it was even higher.

As the EPA recognizes the increased danger of these compounds, it will mean people who were once told their water was safe to drink will find out it actually requires treatment.

When people feel misled about the safety of their tap water, they are less likely to drink it.

Instead, they tend to reach for expensive bottled water and consume sugary drinks more often, choices associated with health problems like diabetes.

'We do have challenges in this community with trust,' said Abel Moreno, the district manager of the South Adams County Water & Sewer District that serves Commerce City, an industrial stretch of Denver. Contaminants leaked from a nearby chemical manufacturing plant decades ago.

Although the district built a facility to treat the contamination, it sparked long-simmering distrust in the predominantly Latino neighborhood, and questions about how long people had been exposed.

Betty Rivas buys water from a refill station in Commerce City, Colorado. Rivas was startled by a letter telling her that the drinking fountains her 8-year-old used at school weren't safe. Her family is one of many in the community who do not drink the tap water and instead buy water from potable refill stations around town

A sample of granular activated carbon, used to remove PFAS from water, sits on display. The Environmental Protection Agency is expected to propose restrictions on harmful 'forever chemicals' in drinking water after finding they are dangerous in amounts so small as to be undetectable, but experts say removing them will cost billions

Last year, Betty Rivas was startled by a letter telling her that the drinking fountains her 8-year-old used at school weren't safe.

PFAS stories had been in the local news and the school district told families to use bottled water. It reinforced Rivass fears.

'With this recent PFAS issue, its one more reason to be certain that you shouldn't drink the water in Commerce City,' she said.

Moreno responded that the district tested for PFAS long before the news reports, in 2018.

It discovered extremely high levels in certain wells, but once the water went through the treatment plant, it didn't surpass the EPA health advisory threshold in place at the time. Moreno's agency closed the wells.

He said the letter Rivas received was frustrating because PFAS hadn't spiked - it had just made the news. Now, the district purchases and mixes in water from Denver to keep PFAS at undetectable levels and plans to build a treatment plant for a permanent fix.

Across the U.S., so far only local utilities and state regulators have imposed changes, not the federal government. Michigan set a drinking water limit and paid for testing.

Those tests helped quickly find and fix some places with contamination and Michigan officials have said since then its limits haven't proved too expensive.

New standards, however, will force tradeoffs, according to Chad Seidel, president of a water consultant company.

'Resources going towards addressing this are in some ways coming at a cost' of other needs, like removing dangerous lead pipes and replacing aged water mains, he said.

Kalmuss-Katz of Earthjustice said too many people are drinking contaminated water. Cost can't be a barrier.

'The solution is to do whatever you have to do to ensure that people are not getting sick,' he said.
Health experts are telling 200,000 residents in Florida to avoid washing their face with tap water after a man died from a brain-eating amoeba.

Officials believe the unnamed Charlotte County man died after rinsing his sinuses using tap water contaminated with the microscopic pathogen.

Dr Mobeen Rathore, an infectious disease expert from the University of Florida, told DailyMail.com residents in the county should avoid exposing their nose to tap water - including while showering - until 'officials give the all clear'.

'Unless it's cleared [by local health authorities] you should avoid any water going into the nose  at least for now. 'In the shower, avoid getting anything into the nose.'

His comments were echoed by Dr Anjan Debnath, a pararsite expert at the University of California, San Diego.

Dr Mobeen Rathore (left), an infectious disease expert from the University of Florida, said that people should not wash their nose with tap water. Dr Anjan Debnath (right) said chlorine should be strong enough to treat the water and kill the amoeba

Both experts stress the chance of suffering an amoeba infection is miniscule  only around 160 have been detected in US history.

Usually cases are linked back to people swimming in warm outdoor waters, where the single-celled organism thrives.

Local health officials in Charlotte County, around 70 miles south of Tampa, told DailyMail.com they were investigating the cause of the potential contamination.

'Infection with Naegleria fowleri is rare and can only happen when water contaminated with amoebae enters the body through the nose,' a Florida Health Department spokesperson told DailyMail.com.

The Florida resident is believed to have contracted the infection when rinsing out his sinuses.

Sinus rinsing is a practice where a person flows water into their nose through one nostril and out the other - in an attempt to clean mucus and other debris.

It is unclear whether he used a pressurized sinus rinser, or used a pot to manually pour water in.

Local officials advise residents to boil water for at least one minute before using it to wash their noses to kill any lingering bacteria or harmful chemicals.

There are processes that prevent the amoeba from making its way from the groundwater into your tap.

Dr Debnath said that tap water should be avoided for these practices at all times because of the lingering risk - no matter how small - of contaminants like the amoeba.

If someone must wash their nose, Dr Rathore said they should instead boil their water first, use a saline solution to disinfect the water or distilled water.

Dr Rathore explains that these amoeba, scientifically known as Naegleria fowleri, are naturally in groundwater that is eventually used in taps around your home.

'It's a part of the water supply,' he explained.

'It's in the soil, the water, the sediment of the water. It's not a contaminant in natural reservoirs, it is a part of it.'

First, water is applied from coagulation chemicals - such as salts, iron or aluminum - which make particles lingering in the water, like dirt, larger.

These particles are then removed through the process of sedimentation and filtration, where the heavy particles are sorted out from the overall supply.

Finally, the water is treated with a disinfecting chemical - often chlorine - to kill any lingering bacteria or amoebas.

Dr Debnath said chlorine is strong enough to kill the amoeba.

'Usually drinking water gets treated with chlorine, and chlorine is pretty good at killing the amoeba,' he explained.

'Chlorine can kill very effectively.'

This is not the first time the amoeba has found its way into municipally controlled water, though.

Louisiana has famously suffered multiple issues with the deadly organism found in its water supply.

In 2011, two Louisianans died because of contaminated water in the home. Another unnamed child died in 2013.

Still, modern water treatment should be enough to protect people, experts say.

The US has only suffered around 160 confirmed or suspected case of brain-eating amoeba since it first started tracking them in 1962

Dr Debnath also pointed out that some religious practices may be risky too - like when Muslims perform sinus cleaning before prayer.

But, this will also apply to showering, general face washing and any other time where a person may allow tap water to go up their nose.

While the brain-eating amoeba itself cannot cause any harm when in enters through the mouth, other contaminants can.

If the public water supply in Charlotte County is being under-treated there is a risk organisms that can cause harm when drunken could be lurking.

'If one organism [is] failed [by] the water purification system... efforts should be [enhanced] to make sure others aren't,' Dr Rathore said.

'You cannot be infected by drinking tap waterDOH-Charlotte, as part of a multi-agency response, is continuing to investigate how this infection occurred and is working with the local public utilities to identify any potential links and make any necessary corrective actions.'

They are also concerned about the case appearing this early in the year. Brain-eating amoeba infections almost always occur over summer, because the organism thrives in a warm environment.

While Florida does not suffer the brutal chilly temperatures of much of the rest of America, it is usually not hot enough in the state in these winter months to allow it to fester.

Dr Debnath explained that the amoeba can live in colder winter temperature, but has trouble replicating and spreading.

Dr Rathore points to climate change as a potential cause, as abnormal weather patterns could be causing the amoeba to show up at unexpected times.
Havana syndrome, the mysterious ailment that has struck US diplomats, tourists and others around the world has confounded experts for years.

A recent report by US intelligence officials found that rumors Russia - or another adversary - was attacking Americans with directed energy are likely untrue.

This may have created more questions than answers, as now the world is left wondering what caused these illnesses.

Here DailyMail.com explains what it means for the larger search for an explanation:

After US officials and embassy staff reported hundreds of cases in nearly 70 countries, new reports of Havana syndrome declined sharply starting in early 2022

What does the latest intelligence report add?

Since cases of anomalous health incidents (AHIs), known colloquially as Havana syndrome, began cropping up among diplomats stationed there in 2016, defense officials, victims, and lawmakers have been alleging that a foreign adversary has clandestinely weaponized pulsed electromagnetic energy and ultrasound technology.

Five US intelligence agencies have determined it was very unlikely that a foreign adversary was responsible for the symptoms, which are wide-ranging and include pain and ringing in the ears, splitting headaches, cognitive difficulties, dizziness, and nausea.

For some of the roughly 1,000 cases in the US, symptoms are chronic.

Shattering the long-disputed idea that US officials were being purposely attacked, Director of National Intelligence Avril Haines said on Wednesday: [Intelligence community] agencies assess that symptoms reported by U.S. personnel were probably the result of factors that did not involve a foreign adversary, such as preexisting conditions, conventional illnesses, and environmental factors.

Officials behind the report also said that they found no common threads among different cases or any evidence that a foreign power had used a form of directed energy such as radio waves or ultrasonic beams.

Despite the intelligence communitys consensus, the debate is not over, as some Republican lawmakers have said.

Florida Sen Marco Rubio said on Thursday: Upon first glance, I am concerned that the intelligence Community effectively concluded that U.S. personnel, who reported AHI symptoms, were simply experiencing symptoms caused by environmental factors, illness, or preexisting conditions and is potentially rushing to a conclusion while a substantial number of questions remain.

As I have said before, something happened here and just because you dont have all the answers, doesnt mean that it didnt happen. I will not accept that all these reported cases were just coincidences.

The mysterious aliment is named for the US embassy in Havana (above) where the first cases were reported in 2016, and hundreds of people have since reported symptoms

Where did the term Havana syndrome come from?

The name has its roots in the original cases beginning in November 2016 through June 2018 among 25 US diplomats stationed in Havana, Cuba.

The State Department described what it saw as medically confirmed symptoms including headaches, dizziness, nausea, fatigue, difficulty concentrating, memory loss, confusion and disorientation.

In some cases, they also include trouble walking, insomnia, sensitivity to sound, ear pain and pressure, tinnitus and brain abnormalities similar to concussion-like symptoms.

After the first cases appeared in Cuba and were made public knowledge, diplomats abroad in countries such as Uzbekistan, China, Germany, Vietnam, and Colombia.

Even before determining the cause, officials in the former Trump administration decided that the cases were a byproduct of foul play by the Cuban government, straining already fraught relations with the Communist-run island.

What could be causing it?

The origin of the anomalous condition is unclear, though some experts posit that this was a case of mass psychogenic illness.

Scientists in California and New Zealand argued in 2020 that the rise of mysterious symptoms in Havana was a psychological response to the stressful post-Cold War conditions in which diplomats were living as well as rumors of a new and enigmatic sonic device.

They said: These psychogenic symptoms associated with American soldiers living under continuous stress parallel those reported by the US diplomats working under continuous surveillance while living on foreign soil under the spectre of the Cold War.

The symptoms of the American diplomats in Havana closely parallel those associated with war trauma  right down to the concussion-like symptoms that have often confounded physicians who have misdiagnosed it as brain trauma in the past.

Further complicating the situation, the Trump-era Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin told roughly 3 million military personnel, civilian officials, and contractors in a letter two years ago to be on the lookout for symptoms consistent with so-called Havana syndrome.

Meanwhile, a scientific review in 2020 determined that radiofrequency energy, a type of radiation that includes microwaves, was the most likely cause of the injuries.

It wasnt until two years later that the intelligence community concluded that the mysterious cases were unlikely to have been caused by Russia or another foreign adversary, which served as a basis for the most recent IC report this week.

Were cases elsewhere similar to those in Cuba?

The issue began with a smattering of reports among diplomats in Cuba, but it has since expanded to around 1,000 people  both US citizens and foreign officials  claiming to have suffered similar symptoms.

In January 2019 as his symptoms worsened, a senior Canadian diplomat was pulled from his post in Havana.

An unnamed Ottawa-area diplomat experienced memory loss, cognitive difficulties and dizziness, and said he felt like a zombie.

In China, US diplomat Catherine Werner was jolted awake one night in 2017 by a pulsing, humming sound in her apartment in Guangzhou, China.

She also felt intense pressure in her head. While the noises and sensations returned nightly, her health continued to decline with frequent vomiting, headaches, and loss of balance.

Once medevaced to the states, it was determined that Ms Werner had a vision disorder, a balance disorder and an organic brain injury  diagnoses similar to those of the roughly two-dozen diplomats who fell ill in Cuba starting in 2016.

What happens now?

President Joe Biden has been fairly mum on the topic of Havana syndrome with the exception of signing the 2021 Havana Act authorizing Secretary of State Antony J. Blinken and the CIA director, William J. Burns, to give financial support to employees who have suffered brain injuries.

When asked whether the President was satisfied with the intelligence communitys determination, White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre obfuscated with an indirect answer.

She said: What's important to the president is that we take this very seriously, as the intelligence community has.

What we are committed to is making sure that our workforce and their families get the assistance that they need through the medical care. And look, the work is ongoing.

Republicans in Congress, meanwhile, likely will not stop pressing for investigation into the causes of Havana syndrome.

In addition to Sen Rubio weighing in, GOP Rep. Mario Diaz-Balart, also of Florida, said: This report is a brazen precursor to the Biden Administration removing Cuba from the State Sponsor of Terrorism a measure they have been working on since taking office.

The speculation of the causes as "preexisting conditions, conventional illnesses, and environmental factors" is not only at odds with the findings of a panel of experts and fails to adequately name the cause of what occurred, but the report is an insult to the dozens of hard-working U.S. staff and their families who suffered serious brain damage and other symptoms as a result of these AHI's.
Ministers and senior officials joked about locking up travellers arriving in the UK in quarantine hotels during the Covid pandemic, leaked text shows.

Simon Case, the country's top civil servant, asked about how many people were 'locked up' and joked about arrivals being put in 'shoe box' rooms.

In messages to former Health Secretary Matt Hancock, obtained by The Telegraph, Mr Case said he wanted to 'see some of the faces' of those moving from first class plane seats into small hotel rooms.

The exchanges were at a time when passengers from countries deemed to have high levels of Covid were forced to isolated in a quarantine-managed hotel for 10 days  at a cost of up to 2,285.

Simon Case, the country's top civil servant, asked about how many people were 'locked up' and joked about arrivals being put in 'shoe box' rooms

The tranche of more than 100,000 WhatsApp texts were passed to The Telegraph by the journalist Isabel Oakeshott (right), who was given the material by former Health Secretary Matt Hancock (left) when they were working together on his book Pandemic Diaries

In one exchange with Cabinet Secretary Mr Case on February 5 2021, the then health secretary said 'we are giving big families all the big suites and putting pop stars in the box rooms'. Mr Case replied: 'I just want to see some of the faces of people coming out of first class into a premier inn shoe box'

A few days later, on February 16, Mr Case asked how many people had been 'locked up' in hotels the previous day. Mr Hancock responded: 'None. But 149 chose to enter the country and are now in Quarantine Hotels due to their own free will!' to which Mr Case replied: 'Hilarious'

The messages are the latest to be published, after more than 100,000 WhatsApp texts were given to The Telegraph by journalist Isabel Oakeshott, who was given the material by Mr Hancock when they were working on his Pandemic Diaries book.

Mr Hancock introduced hotel quarantine rules in February 2021 when it was illegal to travel abroad outside of narrow exceptions.

Passengers told of chaotic organisation, 'prison-like' conditions and inedible food at the hotels, where security guards accompanied those who left their rooms.

Arrivals faced fines of up to 10,000 if they failed to quarantine at a Government-approved hotel.

In one exchange with Cabinet Secretary Mr Case on February 5 2021, Mr Hancock said 'we are giving big families all the big suites and putting pop stars in the box rooms'.

'Get heavy with the police': Matt Hancock said the Government should strong-arm forces to help crack down on Covid lockdown rulebreakers, leaked messages reveal The Government must 'get heavy with the police' to make them crack down on lockdown rule-breakers, Matt Hancock said during the pandemic Advertisement

Mr Case replied: 'I just want to see some of the faces of people coming out of first class into a premier inn shoe box.'

A few days later, on February 16, Mr Case asked how many people had been 'locked up' in hotels the previous day.

Mr Hancock responded: 'None. But 149 chose to enter the country and are now in Quarantine Hotels due to their own free will!' to which Mr Case replied: 'Hilarious.'

Messages on August 28 2020 also suggested Mr Hancock wanted to 'get heavy with the police' over the enforcement of lockdown regulations.

This is despite ministers claiming at the time that the police were operationally independent of the Government.

After one meeting with then prime minister Boris Johnson on January 10 2021, he informed Mr Case: 'The plod got their marching orders.'

Then home secretary Priti Patel and Mr Case were also at the meeting.

Sir Peter Fahy, the former chief constable of Greater Manchester Police, today said that the police 'won't be surprised' at the tone of Mr Hancock's messages.

He told BBC Radio 4's Today programme: 'I think lots of people in the police service won't be surprised at the tone of these remarks.

'There was this constant confusion between what was legislation and what was guidance. Often it seemed ministers themselves didn't understand the impact of the legislation.'

It caused 'huge resentment within policing' when cases of officers 'trying to do their best' were 'highlighted and misunderstood', Sir Peter added.

Mr Hancock has called the leak of his messages by Ms Oakeshott a 'massive betrayal' used to produce 'a partial, biased account to suit an anti-lockdown agenda'.

But she yesterday insisted that disclosing the messages was 'in the overwhelming public interest'.

She told BBC Breakfast that the UK Covid inquiry  which is looking into the country's preparedness for the pandemic, decision-making and the pandemic's impact on the NHS  will not produce answers for potentially up to 10 years.

'It is in the overwhelming public interest against that backdrop to release as much information as can be found about what happened and why, because another pandemic could happen at any point and I don't think there should be a repeat of the disasters of lockdown,' she said.

Asked if she had been thinking about releasing the messages while writing Mr Hancock's book, Ms Oakeshott said: 'If you're asking me was I secretly plotting to do something quite different at the end of the project, the answer to that is no.

'If you're asking me was I as a journalist intrigued about what else might be lurking in there, the answer is yes.

'I don't think any journalist, particularly not any political journalist, who cares about what has happened to this country and what happened during the pandemic would be worth their name as a journalist if they didn't look through those messages.'
For decades, 10,000 daily steps have been held up as a holy grail for the minimum level of exercise needed to keep you healthy.

But if you're going to treat yourself to a cider tonight, you might want to consider adding an extra 5,670 to your target.

The average pint contains around 240 calories, which, according to research, would take around 51 minutes of walking to burn off.

Researchers at the mobile app WeWard  which rewards your daily steps with various cash, gifts or donations to charities  ranked nine alcoholic drinks.

For decades, 10,000 daily steps have been held up as a holy grail for the minimum level of exercise needed to keep you healthy. But if you're going to treat yourself to a cider tonight, you might want to consider adding an extra 5,670 to your target

The average pint of cider contains around 240 calories, which, according to research, would take around 51 minutes of walking to burn off

HOW MANY CALORIES ARE IN YOUR FAVOURITE DRINK? 1 - Cider (pint) - 240 calories - 5,670 steps to walk off, around 51 minutes 2 - Wine (250ml, large glass) - 225 calories - 5,575 steps to walk off, around 49 minutes 3 - Guinness (pint) - 210 calories - 5,480 steps to walk off, around 46 minutes 4 - Lager (pint) - 200 calories - 5,385 steps to walk off, around 43 minutes 5 - Vodka & orange (25ml vodka & 100ml orange) - 110 calories - 2,720 steps to walk off, around 22 minutes 6 - Gin & tonic (25ml gin & 75ml tonic) - 100 calories - 2,650 steps to walk off, around 21 minutes 7 - Jagermeister (30ml) - 95 calories - 2,595 steps to walk off, around 20 minutes 8 - Champagne (125ml) - 90 calories - 2,520 steps to walk off, around 19 minutes 9 - Jack Daniels (50ml shot) - 60 calories - 1,680 steps to walk off, around 12 minutes 10 - Water - 0 calories Advertisement

For those looking to keep trim, a shot of Jack Daniel's or a 125ml flute of champers is probably the best option.

A 125ml flute of champagne contains 90 calories, taking just 2,520 steps to walk off, in around 19 minutes.

Meanwhile, a shot of JD has 60 calories. This would take around 1,680 steps to walk off, in around 12 minutes.

But one drinker highlighted how the reality may not match up with the aspiration for some pub regulars.

Eric Barrowman, 47, of Eastcote, north-west London, said he'd love a walk home after a few pints  but his local, The Ascott, was just across the road from his house.

The electrical engineer said: 'I do love a good walk before a trip to the pub, but my local is just opposite me, a one-minute walk, if that.

'I guess I should find another pub a bit further away, but every time I venture out I always end up in the same seat, the same pub, with the same pint of lager in my hand.'

He admitted: 'I'm a creature of habit.'

A spokesman for WeWard said: 'If you're someone who likes to "earn" their pint with a brisk walk to the local pub, just how many steps should you be taking to burn off your drink of choice?

'Whether it's a pint of lager or a glass of wine, we've calculated the number of steps you need to rack up for the UK's favourite pub tipples.

'All you need is your walking shoes and a step counting app  we recommend WeWard as they give you rewards for your steps too  and off you go to the pub!'

The NHS recommends people do not drink more than 14 units a week and to spread them over three days or more.

Meanwhile, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in the US advises that Americans do not drink more than 14 standard alcoholic drinks per week for men and seven for women.
Britain's Vagina Museum has sparked outrage by posting a woke, gender-neutral 'crash course' on ovarian cancer.

It said on Twitter that 'most people' who get the disease are women.

Social media users quickly tore into the post, accusing the museum of 'belittling' women and being 'immensely disrespectful'.

Only biological women can get ovarian cancer because men are not born with ovaries.

Trans men can be diagnosed unless they have had surgery to remove their ovaries.

The Vagina Museum, which opened in 2019, is looking for a new home after the landlord of its Bethnal Green venue asked it to leave at the start of February

Britain's Vagina Museum has sparked outrage by posting a woke, gender-neutral 'crash course' on ovarian cancer. It said on Twitter that 'most people' who get the disease are women

Similar woke advice is already peddled by the NHS, with advice pages on ovarian, womb and cervix cancers having the word 'women' removed from them.

The Vagina Museum's Twitter thread, posted earlier this week, said: 'We're going to give you a crash course in ovarian cancer awareness.

'Each Wednesday we'll be updating this to discuss topics including the basics of ovarian cancer; symptoms; causes; risk factors; diagnosis and treatment; and myth-busting.

'Throughout this thread we will be using gender neutral language.

'While most people who get ovarian cancer are women, it can affect anyone with ovaries, including trans men, non-binary people and intersex people who have ovaries.'

The Vagina Museum, which is based in Bethnal Green, east London, and is the world's only museum of its kind, had to turn off replies to the thread.

It said: 'Some individuals are determined to derail this thread about ovarian cancer awareness with their ideological beliefs.'

One user said: 'My dad's never been checked for ovaries, where does he go to find out if he has them?'

Heather Buell insisted: 'Only females can get ovarian cancer.'

A third respondent added: 'This is a serious topic affecting women. As such the language used needs to be clear, factual and accessible.'

Another said: 'The common denominator here is all that are mentioned are biologically the same, regardless of their gender identity.'

Around 7,500 ovarian cancer cases are diagnosed in the UK each year, with up to 20,000 in the US.

No clear figures exist on how many of the cases are among trans men.

Examples of the woke language changes that have engulfed NHS communications

The old version of the NHS ovarian cancer page on December 30, 2021, (left) mentions women specifically three times, whereas the new version (right) omits them

It comes after NHS chiefs were urged last week to start using 'women' and 'woman' again on health pages online.

Ministers including former health secretary Sajid Javid had pledged to crack down on the practice  but action has yet to be taken.

Experts have long warned that degendering medical advice could be dangerous for women by over-complicating vital health messaging.

The Vagina Museum, which opened in 2019, is looking for a new home after the landlord of its Bethnal Green venue asked it to leave at the start of February.

Exhibitions over the years have included 'Muff Busters: Vagina Myths and How To Fight Them', displaying giant glittery red tampons, menstrual cups and vagina-themed bunting.

A spokesperson for The Vagina Museum said: 'March is Ovarian Cancer Awareness Month, and Endometriosis Awareness Month. Ovarian cancer is a cancer affecting the ovaries, the pair of organs which produce eggs.

'Symptoms of ovarian cancer include: persistent bloating; persistent pain or tenderness in the abdomen or pelvic area; unexplained changes in bowel habits (e.g. constipation, diarrhoea, needing to go more often); needing to pee more frequently; difficulty eating (e.g. feeling full more quickly or feeling nauseous); back pain; feeling fatigued or tired all the time; weight loss; vaginal bleeding after menopause.

'We urge anyone experiencing these symptoms to see a doctor. It's important that everyone is aware of the symptoms of ovarian cancer, whether they have the relevant anatomy of not.'
A woman had to have a dildo removed from her bladder after accidentally inserting it into the wrong hole.

The 29-year-old, from Israel, showed up at an emergency unit complaining of discomfort when passing urine and abdominal pain.

She revealed that she had put a crystal dildo into her urethra  the tube that allows urine to exit the body  during sex by mistake.

Despite spending 'a few hours' trying to remove the object, which was nearly 10cm long (4 inches) and 2.5cm wide (1 inch), she had been unable to get it back out.

The unidentified 29-year-old, from Israel, showed up at an emergency unit complaining of discomfort when passing urine and abdominal pain. She revealed that she had put a crystal dildo into her urethra  the tube that allows urine to exit the body  during sex by mistake

The patient underwent an ultrasound and X-ray (pictured), which show that the dildo, measuring 9 by 2.5cm (3.5 by 1 inch), had become stuck, horizontally, in her bladder

Doctors at the Shaare Zedek Medical Center in Jerusalem treated the women, who wasn't identified.

The medics believe it is the 'widest object' that has ever been removed this way  with the previous record reported being 2.4cm wide.

The woman underwent an ultrasound and X-ray, which showed the dildo was stuck, horizontally, in her bladder.

Medics gave the woman, who had inserted the dildo for 'sexual gratification', antibiotics though an IV drip.

They performed cystoscopy  a procedure that sees a long thin tube, with a small camera attached to the end, inserted through the urethra  in a bid to remove it.

While the patient was under general anaesthetic, doctors passed a surgical tool called a 'grasper' through the tube to pull the dildo from her bladder via the urethra.

The woman was discharged the same day after doctors confirmed she could pass urine as normal.

Writing in the journal Urology Case Reports, the medical team said foreign bodies in the urinary tract  such as the urethra and bladder  are 'quite rare'.

It is usually a result of self-insertion, 'inquisitiveness' or mental disorder, they said.

Medical reports show that a 'diverse' range of objects have been extracted from the urinary tract and doctors are often forced to perform 'improvised' techniques to remove them, the doctors wrote.

Along with the patient's complaints of difficulties passing urine and abdominal pain, other symptoms can include blood in the urine, inability to urinate and swollen genitals.

Case reports suggest that only around half of cases can be resolved through a cystoscopy, with the more risky cases  such as those with a larger object or involving an older patient  requiring surgery.
Officials have issued a health warning over a potential measles super-spreader event at a religious ceremony in Kentucky.

Around 20,000 people may have been exposed to the extremely infectious disease at the 10-day worship event in the city of Wilmore.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and state health chiefs revealed that an unvaccinated attendee tested positive for measles days after the event last month and was likely infectious at the time of the festival.

They are now warning all unvaccinated attendees or anyone who develops symptoms to quarantine for up to 21 days and contact their doctor.

'Large numbers of people that attended the gathering from across Kentucky and from other states and countries may have been exposed,' the CDC told DailyMail.com.

The Asbury Revival is a massive church event that drew in thousands of people from around the world in February

Around 20,000 people may have been exposed to measles at a massive all-day prayer event in Wilmore, Kentucky, local officials and the CDC confirmed

The infected person - who has not been identified - attended a 24-hour prayer event at Asbury University in Wilmore on February 18.

The Christian 'Asbury Revival' event gained viral attention on social media platforms such as Instagram and TikTok, with some videos earning hundreds-of-thousands of views.

Social media videos show a packed event with some even worshipping outside as the inner area of the church became filled.

The CDC spokesperson added: 'An estimated 20,000 people attended the gathering on the days that the patient attended.

'The Kentucky Department for Public Health is actively working with CDC and clinicians to help identify if there are additional cases.

'Community transmission of measles in connection with this event is possible, particularly among unvaccinated or under-vaccinated individuals.'

Measles is one of the most contagious virus known to man. Each infected person can pass it onto up to 18 others.

The highly effective vaccines which first emerged in 1963 have largely subsided the virus's spread throughout the developed world.

But the disease is highly preventable, with a 97 percent efficacy against measles.

This outbreak could be tied to COVID-19 lockdowns and other pandemic measures that disrupted medical treatment for the past two years.

The World Health Organization warned in July that the pandemic had created a global 'backslide' in vaccinations across the world.

Officials now fear that rare but dangerous viruses like measles could make a resurgence across the world.

Jessamine County Health Department - which oversees Wilmore - and Asbury University did not immediately reply to a DailyMail.com request for comment.

'If you may have been exposed at Asbury University's campus and develop any symptoms, whether previously vaccinated or unvaccinated, please isolate yourself from others and call your medical provider, urgent care, or emergency department to seek testing,' Dr Steven Stack, commissioner of the Kentucky Health Department, said in a statement.

'Please do not arrive at a health care facility without advance notice so that others will not be exposed.'

The state health department told DailyMail.com that no additional cases of measles had been linked to this event.

The event began on February 8 and ran until the 19th. It was hosted by Asbury University, a small private Christian school of around 1,600 students. Prayers are led by students.

Many of those students attended, along with tens of thousands of people who traveled from nearby communities, out-of-state or even from abroad.

It is unclear where the infected person is from. Asbury University, like many US schools, requires students to be vaccinated for measles in order to attend.

Wilmore is a small US city with a population of just 6,000. The northern Kentucky city is 60 miles southeast of Louisville and 80 miles south of Cincinnati.

The small town was reportedly overwhelmed by the influx of worshippers, even causing some events to be shut down early to keep things in control.

The US suffered 131 cases of measles in 2022

State health officials told DailyMail.com that more than 90 percent of students in Jessamine county have received it.

The MMR vaccine is a three-in-one shot that prevents three potentially deadly conditions.

A child is meant to get their first jab between the ages of 12 and 15 months. The first shot alone is 93 percent effective against infection.

They are to receive a second dose between the ages of four to six, boosting their protection from the virus to 97 percent.

Many of the infected children did not receive the shot, though, leaving them vulnerable to the disease.

The first symptoms of measles will often erupt a week after a person is infected.

A sick person will often experience a high fever, cough, runny nose and red eyes.

In the following days, the virus causes a rash that can spread all over a person's face, neck, arms, legs and feet.

Unlike many other rashes, the spots caused by measles usually do not hurt or itch.

Asbury University, which has a student body of less than 1,700, is located about half an hour outside of Lexington and drew international and national attention after students refused to leave following a chapel service on Feb 8

No other attendees to The Asbury Revival have since tested positive for measles, officials told DailyMail.com

One attendee at the massive event tested positive for measles. It is unclear who the unvaccinated person was, and where they had traveled to the even from

An infected person may also experience the development of tiny white spots. Young children, the immunocompromised and the elderly are most at risk.

Measles first rose to prominence in the US in the early 1900s, being declared by federal officials as a nationally notifiable disease in 1912.

The virus killed around 6,000 Americans each year before scientists first developed a vaccine in 1963.

Since then, rates of measles in the US have cratered as successful vaccine campaigns have all but removed it as a regular threat to Americans.

In 2000, US officials declared the virus eliminated from the US population.

It does arise in America on occasion, though. While 90 percent of the population is vaccinated by age two, the CDC reports, the remaining unvaccinated people are vulnerable.

In 2019, the largest measles outbreak in decades struck the nation, with 1,274 confirmed infections across 31 states.

In late 2022, 80 Columbus, Ohio-area children were infected in a measles outbreak linked to local daycares.

The CDC has since declared the outbreak over.
Matt Hancock was today pictured out and about for the first time since the leak of his private WhatsApps, which have given Brits an extraordinary glimpse of behind-the-scenes ministerial wrangling during Covid.

The disgraced ex-Health Secretary tweeted a photo of himself with MP Lucy Frazer, his political neighbour, after an 'important meeting' to discuss 'sorting the traffic on junction 37 of the A14'.

It came hours before The Daily Telegraph's latest revelation that Mr Hancock shared advice about how the pandemic could 'propel' his career 'into the next league' just two days before Britain recorded its first ever cases.

The message, written by an unnamed 'wise friend', claimed a 'well-handed crisis of this scale could propel you into the next league and break you through in terms of public perception'.

Other bombshell texts today revealed Mr Hancock also praised his own appearance in a MailOnline story which showed him 'covered in mud' while carrying a rugby ball through a London park a day after then-PM Boris Johnson pleaded with the country to stay at home.

He told his advisor, who called the story 'ludicrous' and tried to downplay the video footage: 'I think I look great!'

The disgraced ex-Health Secretary tweeted a photo of himself with MP Lucy Frazer, his political neighbour, after an 'important meeting' to discuss 'sorting the traffic on junction 37 of the A14'

Matt Hancock was seen carrying a rugby ball through a North London park this afternoon the day after Boris Johnson pleaded with the nation to 'stay at home this weekend'

On January 29, he forwarded a message to his media adviser Jamie Njoku-Goodwin, which Mr Hancock said was from a 'wise friend'. It states that the former Health Secretary 'has come over well so far' and a 'well handled crisis of this scale could propel you into the next league, and break you through in terms of public perception'. The person who sent him the message, who is not identified, encouraged Mr Hancock to consider how he wants his handling of the crisis to be remembered and how he will project these qualities

The latest messages show Mr Hancock was considering how the pandemic could help his career as early as January 2020.

On January 29, he forwarded a message to his media adviser Jamie Njoku-Goodwin, which Mr Hancock said was from a 'wise friend'.

It states that the former Health Secretary 'has come over well so far', describing him as 'calm, authoritative and honest'.

The unidentified sender encouraged Mr Hancock to consider how he wants his handling of the crisis to be remembered and how he will project these qualities.

In the message, Mr Hancock was encouraged to 'show the PM you're his ultra competent, non showboaty lieutenant' and 'show him you're looking out for him, not you'.

'Pipsqueak Matt Hancock couldn't stop me': Nigel Farage taunts ex-Health Secretary and admits he broke lockdown rules Nigel Farage travelled to the US in June 2020, where he attended rallies for Donald Trump Advertisement

The exchanges occurred two days before Britain logged its first cases, a 23-year-old University of York student and his 50-year-old mother, who arrived in the UK from China.

Further WhatsApp exchanges show that Mr Hancock's standing with the public continued to be on his radar.

Emma Dean, one of the then-Health Secretary's special advisers, sent him a link to a YouGov poll on December 29, which rates the most popular Conservative Poll.

Mr Hancock replied: 'F*** that's good'.

It's unclear what the poll showed. But in January 2021, one month later, he ranked fourth, behind Rishi Sunak, Boris Johnson and Theresa May.

In another text in January 2021, media special adviser Damon Poole told Mr Hancock that he had just received a call from MailOnline about footage of the former Health Secretary taking a walk in a London park.

The exclusive footage, taken on January 16, shows Mr Hancock 'covered in mud' while carrying a rugby ball through Queen's Park in North London.

It was taken one day after the then-Prime Minister Boris Johnson urged the public to 'think twice' before leaving the house and behave as if they have Covid.

Mr Poole said it was 'ludicrous' and suggested telling this website: 'Matt was outside in line with the rules for exercise.'

Mr Hancock replied: 'If you do need a line say "As you can see, Matt was outside for exercise".' He added: 'I think I look great!'

By May 2021, he was advising his team to contact Gina Colangelo, his married aide who he was caught having an affair with just one month later, on his PR matters.

Footage obtained by The Sun in 2021 showed Mr Hancock and Ms Colangelo kissing, in breach of social distancing rules in place at the time.

Emma Dean, one of the then-Health Secretary's special advisers, sent him a link to a YouGov poll on December 29, which rates the most popular Conservative Poll. Mr Hancock replied: 'F*** that's good'

In another text in January 2021, media special adviser Damon Poole told Mr Hancock that he had just received a call from MailOnline about footage of the former Health Secretary taking a walk in a London park

By May 2021, he was advising his team to contact Gina Colangelo, his married aide who he was caught having an affair with just one month later, on his PR matters

Mr Poole asked Mr Hancock if he had 'said yes to photos of you surfing'. He replied: 'Yes. Do you think no? Can you talk to Gina and decide. I get the risks'

Mr Poole asked Mr Hancock if he had 'said yes to photos of you surfing'.

He replied: 'Yes. Do you think no? Can you talk to Gina and decide. I get the risks.'

The Telegraph also reported that Mr Hancock managed 'almost every post' sent from his Twitter account.

In April 2020, when social care minister Helen Whately was trying to discuss PPE supplies to care homes, he sent her five messages.

For comparison, on the same day, he sent 72 messages to the team in charge of managing his Twitter account, according to the newspaper.

MailOnline has not seen or independently verified the WhatsApp messages, leaked by Isabel Oakeshott, the journalist who helped Mr Hancock write his book Pandemic Diaries.

But texts show that he would edit tweets from his team and 'clear' them before they were shared.
The nations second-largest retail pharmacy will not sell the abortion-inducing medication mifepristone  even in states where abortion is still legal.

It comes amid growing pressure from anti-abortion policy-makers and activists not to carry the drug. Mifepristone makes up half of the combination used to induce a medication abortion.

Walgreens responded to a letter sent last month by nearly two dozen Republican state attorneys general threatening legal action against the company if it stocked the medications.

The chain said it would not dispense abortion pills either by mail or at brick-and-mortar stores in those states. In some of the affected states, such as Alaska, Iowa, Kansas and Montana, using the pills for abortion is still legal.

Medication-induced abortion has been a lifeline for women in blue states and even red states since the Supreme Court eliminated the federal guarantee to an abortion. A lawsuit in Texas imperils legal access though, as anti-abortion activists seek to reverse FDA approval of the drug

It comes just a couple of months after the Biden Administration updated a regulation to allow mifepristone, part of a two-drug cocktail to induce miscarriage, to be stocked and dispensed at pharmacies to pregnant people with a prescription.

GOP attorneys from these states sent letters to CVS, Rite Aid, Albertsons, Costco, Kroger and Walmart.

In a response, Danielle Gray on Walgreens legal team said: As you know, to become certified by the FDA, participating pharmacies must satisfy a range of safety and risk mitigation requirements to dispense this drug.

At this time, we are working through the certification process, which includes the evaluation of our pharmacy network to determine where we will dispense Mifepristone and training protocols and updates for our pharmacists.

Walgreens decision to hold off on stocking the drug constitutes yet another hurdle millions of women face in pursuit of a safe abortion.

Mifepristones future is tenuous at best. A February lawsuit filed by anti-abortion activists in Texas challenging the Food and Drug Administration's two-decade-old approval of mifepristone.

The appointed judge for the case, Matthew Kacsmaryk, is a devout conservative and Donald Trump appointee. He is expected to side with the pro-life activists.

Siding with the plaintiffs would significantly disrupt abortion access nationwide. It would effect access to an abortion even is states with no restrictions on the procedure.

It is likely that pro-choice advocates would appeal Kacsmaryk's ruling.

The FDA has loosened restrictions on abortion-inducing medication in recent years.

The combination of drugs, mifepristone and misoprostol, became available at local pharmacies at the start of 2023.

Women can also be prescribed the pills via telemedicine and have it mailed to them by an out-of-state provider.

Per the Justice Department, the U.S. Postal Service can legally deliver abortion pills to people in states where the procedure is banned or restricted, saying that federal law allows the mailing of the pills because there is no way for the sender to know for certain whether the recipient would use them illegally.

Medication abortion has become the most commonly used method for terminating a pregnancy.

In 2020, the two-drug cocktail accounted for 54 percent of all abortions in the US, up from roughly 44 percent in 2019.

This is in part due to the rise of telemedicine and a general preference to stay away from doctors offices during the pandemic.

The legal landscape for abortion has been in near-constant flux since the Supreme Court issued a fatal blow to legal access to abortion in the June 2022 decision in Dobbs v Jackson Women's Health Organization.

Abortion-rights advocates in blue states as well as states with restrictions of abortion have been able to take solace in the fact that mifepristone, a medication that has been proven safer than carrying a pregnancy to term, will always be available with the input of a doctor.

But the lawsuit in Texas, in addition to growing pressure like what GOP attorneys are displaying here, severely imperils access to the drug.

For many women, the medication is their only option to terminate a pregnancy.
Before 1800, many dogs in Britain would have been the sort of rascally, wire-haired mutts made up of 57 varieties.

Then along came certain devoted Victorian dog-lovers, who wanted to introduce more exotic foreign varieties and in a matter of decades many of the breeds of dog we now take for granted first made their appearance, from bassets to borzois to St Bernards.

So, points out Michael Worboys, as well as other great inventions, such as steam trains, iron and steel bridges, postage stamps and bicycles, the Victorians gave us the modern dog.

And what an eccentric lot these dog-lovers were. Starting at the top, there was Queen Victoria herself, who absolutely doted on her collie, Sharp, finding him such a consolation after the death of Prince Albert. Her diaries record that she owned 640 dogs, belonging to 32 breeds, says Worboys.

When her spaniel Dash died, on Christmas Eve 1840, he was honoured with his own memorial in Windsor Great Park, and the following splendid epitaph: Here lies DASH, The favourite spaniel of Her Majesty Queen Victoria . . . His attachment was without selfishness, His playfulness without malice, His fidelity without deceit. READER, If you would live beloved and die regretted, Profit by the example of DASH.

Like so many doggy people, Victoria may well have preferred dogs to humans. Not everyone felt the same. The royal courtiers were less favourably disposed to Edward VIIs wire-haired fox terrier Caesar, calling the dog Stinky.

The King was so devoted to the mutt that he stipulated Caesar/Stinky (above) should be in his funeral procession, positioned proudly just ahead of Kaiser Wilhelm

But the King was so devoted to the mutt that he stipulated Caesar/Stinky should be in his funeral procession, positioned proudly just ahead of Kaiser Wilhelm, who was allegedly angered by his demotion. Might this have been another small but overlooked cause of the World War I?

There was the absurdly rich American banker, J.P. Morgan, who kept his collies in kennels with electric lights, central heating and bathrooms.

My favourite doggy eccentric, though, has to be Gordon Stables, whose Scottish terrier, Wagga-Wagga, had anger management issues, it seems, because he lacked a tail; so Stables solved this problem by affixing a squirrels tail to his rump with wire.

But there was a darker side to the Victorian dog world. It seems unbelievable today that there could ever have been such a sport as lion baiting, but there was. In 1825, a showman called George Wombwell entertained the public with the spectacle of a lion, called Nero, fighting dogs. Nero showed no interest in fighting, but suffered injuries when attacked by three dogs at once in the final round. Sickening. But the vile Wombwell was criticised on all sides, and perhaps his gruesome idea of fun was one of the drivers for the Cruelty to Animals Act of 1835.

The Act doesnt seem to have covered rat-killing events, though, and admittedly it must have been hard to feel much fondness for the disease-spreading, food-stealing creatures of the London slums.

Starting at the top, there was Queen Victoria herself, who absolutely doted on her collie, Sharp, finding him such a consolation after the death of Prince Albert

Two terriers who excelled at rat-killing against the clock were Tiny the Wonder and Jacko.

Tiny, was only slightly bigger than a rat, yet, on one occasion, in 1848, he destroyed 200 rats in just under 57 minutes. The much heftier Jacko, meanwhile, managed to kill 100 rats in just five minutes and 28 seconds, a record that was never beaten.

From the highs and lows of Victorian society, and of human behaviour, Doggy People offers a fascinating portrait of a small corner of 19th-century life.

And despite such a niche subject, it uncovers a surprisingly wide and interesting array of forgotten and colourful characters.

Love Story: New Photography Of Love And Intimacy

by Rachel Segal Hamilton (Hoxton Mini Press 20, 224 pp)

Whenever photographer Deanna Dikeman left her parents in their retirement bungalow to drive home, there were emotional goodbyes

Whenever photographer Deanna Dikeman left her parents in their retirement bungalow to drive home, there were emotional goodbyes. Dikemans natural response was to capture them waving farewell each time (above), in a 27-year ritual that began in 1991. The final shot in this poignant collection was taken when she left the property one last time after her mothers funeral.

This beautiful and intimate book manages to grasp the intangible  love  whether between friends, family or lovers, without being cliched.

lilly subbotin
LESSONS IN CHEMISTRY

by Bonnie Garmus (Penguin, 9.99, 400pp)

The number one global bestseller Lessons in Chemistry is available in paperback

It is chemistry that brings Elizabeth Zott and Calvin Evans together. Theyre both chemists at a private research lab in California. Calvin is a genius; Elizabeth is almost equally talented, but this is the 1960s and men, including Calvin, often mistake her for a secretary. With that misunderstanding cleared up, they fall deeply in love.

But tragedy follows and Elizabeth finds herself a single parent, struggling to make a living until a chance encounter lands her a job as presenter of a daytime television cooking show.

A reluctant TV star, she refuses to patronise her audience of housewives, instead introducing them to the chemistry of cooking and the science of self-belief. A TV adaptation of Bonnie Garmuss fierce and funny debut begins airing this month on Apple TV+, starring Brie Larson.

LEFT ON TENTH

by Delia Ephron (Penguin, 10.99, 304pp)

Left on Tenth by Delia Ephron is available in paperback now

When Delia Ephrons husband, Jerry, died of cancer in 2015, it was a second shattering loss, following the death in 2012 of her sister, Nora, from leukaemia.

A year after Jerrys death, while Delia was still wondering how to live without him, she got an email from a man called Peter. When they were young, he wrote, Nora had set them up on a date. He lived in California, was a psychiatrist and he, too, was recently bereaved. Delia couldnt remember their date, but she was charmed by his email.

They met, love blossomed and late-blooming happiness seemed possible. But then Delia was diagnosed with aggressive leukaemia. Her delightful memoir describes her experience of a lot of good fortune wrapped around very bad fortune with heart-lifting humour and grace.

THE WAR ON THE WEST

by Douglas Murray (Harper Collins, 10.99, 320pp)

Douglas Murray's new Sunday Times bestseller The War on the West is out now

A statue is torn down and flung into Bristol harbour; a wartime prime minister is condemned as racist; a museum restaurant closes because its mural contains, among other scenes, an image of an enslaved child.

These are just some of the examples cited by Douglas Murray in his analysis of the current assault on the West. Suggesting that an unfair ledger has been created in which it seems that the West can do no right, and the rest of the world can do no wrong, he argues that the history of Western culture is one of openness to ideas and influences, not to subjugate or steal them, but to learn from them.

Murray warns that demonising the great gifts of Western tradition  from music and art to politics and science  risks killing the goose that has laid some very golden eggs
We didnt have nightmares, writes Lidia Maksymowicz of the 13 months she spent in the concentration camp Auschwitz-Birkenau in Poland, from 1943 to 1945, aged from three to almost five, because nightmares walked with us at every moment. Our lives were the worst nightmare it was possible to imagine.

This was indeed a living hell. As always when reading a memoir about the Holocaust, you can hardly take in the level of cruelty and depravity that man can inflict on man, let alone on such a small child. This tiny little Belarusian girl  not Jewish, but the daughter of partisans captured by the Germans and loaded into cattle trucks  spent two freezing winters in the childrens barrack at Birkenau.

It was presided over by a female kapo who was herself a deportee and took her own fear out on the terrified children with her whip. There was no kindness, no heat, no washing, no lavatories, hardly any food, and not only the constant fear of being chosen by that quintessence of human evil Dr Josef Mengele for his next experiment, but the frequent reality of it.

Every time she heard Mengele coming into the barrack to choose his guinea pig child for the day, Lidia darted away to hide under the lowest bunk against the back wall.

It didnt always work; many times, Mengele hoicked her out, took her to his laboratory, injected poisons into her to watch their effects and put liquids into her eyes. I was his favourite guinea pig, she writes in this devastating memoir.

As always when reading a memoir about the Holocaust, you can hardly take in the level of cruelty and depravity that man can inflict on man, let alone on such a small child

She sometimes came back to the barrack in a coma, my body as transparent as glass. But at least Lidia was alive. Other children did not come back.

In an act of great bravery, Lidias 22-year-old mother Anna, housed in another barrack, crept 50m along the wall each evening to find Lidia and bring her some raw onion shed managed to find while doing forced labour outside the camp.

Lidia remembers begging her: Please dont just leave me the onion, leave me your hands too, to keep me company in the dark. But, of course, Anna could not stay; she would have been killed if discovered.

Whats extraordinary is the inner strength that those children somehow found in order to survive. They did not make friends; they didnt chat. They spent their days on their bunk shelves, rocking silently backwards and forwards, rocking, rocking, ceaselessly.

Lidia discovered a vital weapon: not crying. She didnt cry when the tattoo needles spiked her skin, giving her the prisoner number 70072; she didnt cry when Mengele injected her with poisons.

She was not going to give him that satisfaction. Silence, she writes, was the only possible response we could give our jailors I learned to stifle all my feelings I couldnt cry, I couldnt laugh.

Mengele would go into the barrack to choose his guinea pig child for the day, Lidia darted away to hide under the lowest bunk against the back wall. It didnt always work; many times, Mengele hoicked her out, took her to his laboratory, injected poisons into her to watch their effects and put liquids into her eyes. I was his favourite guinea pig, she writes in this devastating memoir

In early 1945, the weary children heard distant explosions. Something was changing. Mengele had stopped coming. Everyone out now! shouted an SS man.

Snow settled on our shaven heads, covered our filthy clothes, froze our hearts and froze our blood. (Shes an extremely vivid writer.) The Russians had arrived. The camp was being liberated.

For the first time in years, a man smiled at her. This was a Russian soldier scarcely able to believe the horrific scene he was encountering.

Now we shift to the second part of this unforgettable book. A woman from the nearby Polish city of Oswiecim said to Lidia, Will you come with me? Yes, she replied. Will you be good? Yes. You can guard my geese. Thus Lidias new life began. She was adopted by a kind, bossy local woman longing for a child of her own.

But where was her biological mother? She had disappeared, or so it seemed. For 15 years, Lidia grew up happily with the mother she now called Mama Bronislawa, making good friends with the local children  she was always the best at hide and seek after those years of practice in the barrack.

In her teens, her friends encouraged her to start searching for her mother. Mama Bronislawa was terrified of losing her, so Lidia assured her she didnt want to leave  she just wanted to know the truth.

This tiny little Belarusian girl  not Jewish, but the daughter of partisans captured by the Germans and loaded into cattle trucks  spent two freezing winters in the childrens barrack at Birkenau

Lidia Maksymowicz, now grown up, wrote of the 13 months she spent at a Nazi concentration camp in Poland

She discovered a vital weapon of not crying while at Auschwitz-Birkenau - even when the tattoo needles spiked her skin, giving her the prisoner number 70072 (Lidia pictured)

Eventually, in the late 1950s, she received a letter from the Red Cross: Your mother is not dead. She lives in the Soviet Union. She has been looking for you desperately for years and years.

Her first telegram from her mother reached her when she was aged 19. I was in pieces, Lidia admits. I felt betrayed. Why hadnt she moved Heaven and Earth to find out what had happened to me?

The Soviet Union was excited by the story of imminent reunion of mother and daughter two years later in 1961: it was good PR, an opportunity to show how the Soviet Union was devoted to its scattered children and wanted them back under its wing.

Cameras flashed as Lidia arrived at Moscow railway station  but her mother fainted, so the media never got its heart-warming reunion photo. Mother and daughter met later that day in a hotel room instead. Luda, Luda, too much time has passed.

It turned out that Anna had tried everything she could to find her lost daughter. The Soviet authorities had assured her and her husband (reunited after the war) that any surviving children from Birkenau were in Soviet orphanages. Anna had searched every single one, in vain. She had always baked a cake on Lidias birthday.

Lidia chose to carry on living in Poland rather than returning to the USSR. Im not choosing between Mama Bronislawa and Mama Anna, Lidia stated. I choose both.

The best moment of the reunion, she writes, was seeing her two mothers hug each other. Both women, in their different ways, had showed her infinite love and had ultimately saved her life.
THE RESCUE OF RAVENWOOD

by Natasha Farrant (Faber 7.99, 352 pp)

THE RESCUE OF RAVENWOOD by Natasha Farrant (Faber 7.99, 352 pp)

This perfect blend of ecological adventure and moving exploration of family and friendship confirms Costa award-winning Farrants exceptional talent.

Bea has been brought up by her Uncle Leo at Ravenwood, a ramshackle country house with an ancient tree. Now 11, she roams the rural idyll with her best friend, Raffy, Leos stepson, until one summer, Noa, a local girl, reluctantly comes to stay. Tensions arise until the house and tree are threatened by developers. Dismayed by the adults inaction, the three hatch a plan that involves travelling across Europe, defying authorities and forming a new bond.

Bursting with passion, humour, authentic voices and a valuable message, this is a timely reminder of the importance of home and history.

WHERE THE RIVER TAKES US

WHERE THE RIVER TAKES US by Lesley Parr (Bloomsbury 7.99, 320 pp)

THE NOWHERE THIEF by Alice M. Ross (Nosy Crow 7.99, 256 pp)

by Lesley Parr (Bloomsbury 7.99, 320 pp)

Set in the Welsh valleys in 1974, against a backdrop of the miners strike, power cuts and the three-day week, this touching, powerful story follows 13-year-old orphan Jason, who lives with his brother Richie.

Struggling financially, Richie has become mixed up with local criminals and Jason is terrified, so when a newspaper offers a reward of 100 for a photograph of a rumoured wild cat roaming the forest, Jasons friends volunteer to help him find it.

They embark on a camping trip, but the journey is not just physically demanding, it also changes their understanding of each other for ever.

THE NOWHERE THIEF

by Alice M. Ross (Nosy Crow 7.99, 256 pp)

In this dystopian romp, 12-year-old Elsbeth lives with her distracted mother, who runs an antique shop in a seaside town. But Elsbeth has a secret power that enables her to travel through a portal to other worlds where she collects, or steals, objects to sell.

However, her supposedly harmless journeys become more dangerous when she meets Idris, a boy with different powers; her mother disappears; and strange weather events threaten the other universes. And who is the mysterious Racine, who exerts a terrible power over everyone near her? Wildly imaginative  and the ending suggests a sequel.
There was a lot riding on Baron Oil's competent person's report (CPR) published on Tuesday, and by most accounts, the independent assessment of the AIM-listed oil and gas exploration group's Chuditch asset in Timor-Leste was a good one.

Baron's technical director Jon Ford called the CPR, which is basically a third-party view of the project and its scope, a 'major milestone' while highlighting that it confirms the 'potential commercial viability of the asset'.

The report detailed a 1.1 trillion cubic feet of gas resource  a very sizeable discovery for any company the size of Baron (which has a market worth of about 32million). Such promising news surely must've sent shares rocketing, right?

Accrol Group's deal with Unilever to exclusively produce and sell a kitchen towel product under the Lifebuoy brand got the attention of investors

Quite the opposite in fact. This week Baron Oil shares are down 22 per cent following an immediate 17.5 per cent drop on Tuesday.

Perhaps it may've been simple profit-taking. Baron chief executive Andy Yeo himself noted the 'good run' Baron's had of late. Indeed, a zoomed-out view of the share chart sees Baron up nearly 140 per cent year on year.

Alternatively, perhaps investors have rebased their expectations, given that prospective resources appear to be lower than previously indicated. According to the company this is a result of incomplete survey coverage.

Analysts at house broker Allenby Capital appear less than worried. In fact, its analysts raised its project valuation by 52 per cent, noting that 'contingent resource for the Chuditch-1 discovery constitutes a major element of de-risking and underpins the potential of the asset'.

One caveat acknowledged by the broker is that the need for funding ahead of a mid-June 'drill or drop' decision remained a near-term risk.

Longboat Energy took a nosedive too as investors reacted to news that a proposed appraisal well at the Egyptian Vulture light oil discovery will not presently proceed  as joint venture partners failed to trigger an extension to the Norwegian project's licence and it was relinquished.

Longboat said it wants to pick up the project again through a 2024 licensing round. It sent the stock some 20 per cent lower on Friday to 11.57p on Friday morning.

Sticking to small-cap oilers Angus Energy saw some stronger share price action, thanks to a milestone in its onshore UK project. The shares shot up 13 per cent to 1.59p on Thursday, following the successful completion of the Saltfleetby Field.

Angus Energy has also entered into a 3million funding agreement with Aleph Commodities to build out Saltfteelby operations. Meanwhile, non-executive director Richard Herbert, who was previously head of exploration at BP, has now taken the helm as chief executive officer.

At 1.56p, Angus shares had moved back slightly to 1.56p by Friday.

Elsewhere, dual-listed Artemis Resources saw its UK shares take an 11 per cent tumble Tuesday after pricing in a new A$2.55million (1.45million) capital raise.

Artemis has had a rocky start to the year, having suspended trading in Australia at the end of February to undergo this capital-raising exercise. Now it will use the funds to support exploration work and for 'general working capital' whilst its board completes a technical and corporate strategic review.

Conroy Gold & Natural Resources closed the week in high spirits with the share climbing 11 per cent, to 20.2p, boosted by the explorer's new gold discovery in County Monaghan, Ireland.

Company chair Richard Conroy described the latest positive result as 'a further step forward' in what he sees as a 'very extensive new gold district'.

Shifting gears into a totally different sector, kitchen towels are a fascinating subject, right?

Well perhaps not, but Accrol Group's deal with British multination Unilever to exclusively produce and sell a kitchen towel product under the Lifebuoy brand certainty got the attention of investors.

Accrol's shares advanced 6 per cent higher to 33.38p by the end of the week.

Across the broader market small-cap stocks drifted higher. The AIM All-Shares Index rose 1.19 per cent to 863.59 over the week, slightly outperforming the FTSE All-Share Index's 1.04 per cent gain.
From his son appearing to flip the bird at a witness, to his defense attorney pointing a rifle at prosecutors - and even a bomb scare, Alex Murdaugh's double murder trial has seen a host of wild moments only fitting of his bizarre saga.

In six weeks of bombshell testimony, the courtroom has been rocked by not just the evidence, but the antics of lawyers, jurors, witnesses and the Murdaugh clan.

Trial watchers have been gripped by the nicknames: Big Red for Murdaugh, PawPaw for Paul, White Boy for a farm truck and and Bo Whoop for a shotgun.

Somber evidence has been punctuated with laughter, including when defense attorney Dick Harpootlian aimed a gun at prosecutors and joked, 'tempting,' and when an expelled juror asked the judge if she could fetch her eggs before leaving.

The Murdaugh clan have ruffled feathers by passing contraband to the defendant and the legal scion's surviving son is even accused of giving a witness the finger.

After the jury sensationally delivered a guilty verdict after less than three hours of deliberation, here DailyMail.com looks at six of the most bizarre moments from Murdaugh's bombshell trial...

Prosecutor Creighton Waters suggested that Murdaugh's use of the nickname PawPaw repeatedly on the stand last week was an affectation. 'This jury has heard multiple recorded statements of you during the course of this, did you ever refer to Paul as PawPaw during that?' Waters asked. Murdaugh said: 'I called him PawPaw, Mags called him PawPaw, Bus called him PawPaw, RoRo called him PawPaw ... I can call him Paul if you prefer that'

Buster, Paul, Maggie and Alex Murdaugh at Lake Kiwi in May 2021 to celebrate the birth of Maggie's niece's child

Murdaugh's nicknames: PawPaw for Paul, White Boy for his farm truck and Bo Whoop for his father's shotgun

The Murdaughs extensive use of nicknames for family members, cars and guns has fascinated trial watchers.

When Murdaugh took the stand he reeled off a host of pet names: PawPaw for Paul, Mags for Maggie, Bus for Buster, Handsome for his father Randolph, Em for his mother Libby, Papa T for his father-in-law Terry Branstetter, Grandmar for his mother-in-law Kennedy and RoRo for Paul's friend Rogan Gibson.

Murdaugh himself was known as Big Red while Paul was called Little Rooster.

Prosecutor Creighton Waters suggested that Murdaugh's use of the nickname PawPaw repeatedly on the stand last week was an affectation.

'This jury has heard multiple recorded statements of you during the course of this, did you ever refer to Paul as PawPaw during that?' Waters asked.

Murdaugh said: 'I called him PawPaw, Mags called him PawPaw, Bus called him PawPaw, RoRo called him PawPaw ... I can call him Paul if you prefer that.'

Records show Paul's number was saved in Murdaugh's iPhone as 'Paul Paul.'

As well as the many nicknames for friends and family the court has heard how Paul's white farm truck was nicknamed White Boy while his Ford F150 was dubbed Dolly.

Jurors even heard Murdaugh's father Randolph had a shotgun named Bo Whoop.

Murdaugh's attorney points a rifle at the prosecution bench and jokes: 'Tempting'

At one point in the trial Alex Murdaugh's defense attorney pointed a rifle at the prosecution bench and said 'tempting' as the courtroom erupted with laughter.

Dick Harpootlian indulged in the gallows humor as the defense on February 21 provided analysis of gunshots at the crime scene to claim Murdaugh was too short to be the killer.

The attorney, who is also a Democrat State Senator, was wielding a .300 Blackout rifle in order to show jurors how the killer was holding the gun that killed Maggie.

Dick Harpootlian indulged in the gallows humor as the defense on February 21 provided analysis of gunshots at the crime scene to claim Murdaugh was too short to be the killer

A meme of defense attorney Dick Harpootlian gesturing to the prosecution table with a rifle

He grinned as he pointed the firearm at the prosecution table and said, 'tempting', prompting a chorus of laughter. South Carolina Attorney General Alan Wilson laughed but others at the prosecution table like Creighton Waters were not amused.

The image quickly became a meme online with many on social media poking fun at Harpootlian's gag.

Others commented that it was tone deaf given that the rifle was submitted as evidence as the type of gun used to kill Maggie.

Harpootlian is no stranger to offering levity during the double murder trial and has made frequent asides.

During cross-examination of a forensic scientist, the lawyer joked about how 'scintillating' her afternoon of lengthy technical evidence had been.

While cross-examining a pathologist, he demonstrated gunshots on his colleague with a yard stick and then told him to sit down. He added, 'but don't put your jacket on, I may not be done with you yet.'

On another occasion Harpootlian was laughing during a witness' testimony, prompting the prosecutor to scold him.

Harpootlian jumped up and said John Meadors should be addressing the witness - not him. 'If I found the question humorous, I'm sorry,' he added.

Murdaugh charged over contraband and Buster caught 'flipping the bird' at a prosecution witness

Murdaugh was hit with a fresh contraband charge this week after earlier allegedly receiving notes from his family members.

The Colleton Country Sheriff's Office confirmed Saturday will be served with an arrest warrant following his double murder trial for 'bringing contraband.'

The defendant was allegedly handed a book from his sister Lynn. The incident reportedly happened on February 8 - the same day Buster Murdaugh appeared to give a prosecution witness the middle finger.

Two days later, Buster and Lynn were asked to move back a few rows back in the courtroom. They are not facing charges, officials confirmed.

Buster's alleged obscene gesture may have even been caught on camera, with the legal heir seen biting on his middle finger while Mark Tinsley, the attorney for Mallory Beach's family, was giving evidence on February 8

Buster Murdaugh, his girlfriend Brooklynn White and Alex's sister Lynn

Eagle-eyed court viewers also spotted Murdaugh giving Buster a pat on the back during a break in the middle of his surviving son's testimony. Legal experts said defendants are not allowed to have physical contact with family members, or anyone else for that matter.

Buster's alleged obscene gesture earlier in the trial may have even been caught on camera, with the legal heir seen biting on his middle finger while Mark Tinsley, the the attorney for Mallory Beach's family, was giving evidence.

Tinsley told the court that Alex tried to 'intimidate and bully' him because he was suing him over his son Paul's drunken boat crash that left 19-year-old Mallory dead in February, 2019.

Buster attended the trial every day, usually accompanied by his girlfriend Brooklynn White, and was there in the courtroom when the jury delivered its guilty verdict.

Murdaugh's sister Lynn and brothers Randy and John Marvin have also attended most days, often accompanied by their wives.

Buster and John Marvin both testified for the defense and the family have sat directly behind Murdaugh, supporting the alleged murderer.

Court evacuated after bomb threat made on the judge's chambers

The double murder trial was evacuated on February 8 after a bomb threat was made on the Colleton County courthouse.

Testimony was interrupted as lawyers, press and members of the public streamed out of the courthouse amid fevered speculation.

Law enforcement swept the building and eventually gave the all-clear two hours later, with the trial allowed to resume.

It was later revealed that the threat was a hoax made by a violent inmate at a local prison.

Police confirmed that Joey Coleman, a Colleton County drug dealer, called the court clerk and claimed there was a 'bomb in the judge's chamber'.

Lawyers, press and members of the public were seen streaming out of Colleton County Courthouse as police cars and fire trucks swarmed on the building in Walterboro, South Carolina

Joey Coleman (left and right) was jailed for 30 years in 2018 after pistol-whipping two store clerks during a stick-up in Yemassee, South Carolina, in 2018. The Walterboro crook has a rap sheet dating back more than a decade, including third-degree burglary in 2010, second-degree burglary in 2011 and possession with intent to supply cocaine in 2018

A police vehicle arrives at the scene after a bomb threat was reportedly made

Police cars and trucks are seen at the scene as members of the public, staff and lawyers gather outside

Detectives said there was 'no direct connection' between the thug and Murdaugh.

Investigators discovered Coleman in possession of a contraband cell phone after tracing the offending call to the Ridgeland Correctional Facility in Jasper County.

Coleman was jailed for 30 years in 2018 after pistol-whipping two store clerks during a stick-up in Yemassee, South Carolina, in 2018.

The Walterboro crook has a rap sheet dating back more than a decade, including third-degree burglary in 2010, second-degree burglary in 2011 and possession with intent to supply cocaine in 2018.

Prison records show that after the bomb hoax Coleman was moved to the Broad River Secure Facility in Columbia.

On the day of the hoax, a police officer entered the court moments before the evacuation and signaled to the judge who immediately sent the jury out.

Confusion spread through the room as the court clerk and a police officer then opened the rear doors, which are usually blocked off.

Attorney pays another prosecution witness $1,000 to 'reward her bravery'

The trial took a sensational turn on February 9 when an attorney who testified against Murdaugh was accused of making a $1,000 payment to another prosecution witness.

Defense attorney Phillip Barber interrupted proceedings to demand that the testimony of Mark Tinsley be struck from the record, after he donated to a GoFundMe page for Shelley Smith, Murdaugh's mother's caregiver.

Smith's daughter, Rachelle Buckner, set up the page to 'reward her mother's bravery' after her emotional testimony about seeing Murdaugh on the night of the murders which prosecutors say shatters his alibi.

The GoFundMe page has raised more than $30,000 at the time of writing.

Defense attorney Phillip Barber (right) interrupted proceedings to demand that the testimony of Mark Tinsley (left) be struck from the record, after he donated to a GoFundMe page for Shelley Smith, Murdaugh's mother's caregiver

The GoFundMe page has raised more than $30,000 at the time of writing

Barber said Tinsley made a $1,000 donation to the page before later removing his name from the record. The defense demanded that the judge strike out the evidence of Tinsley, who was suing Murdaugh and his son Paul at the time of the murders for a fatal boat crash that killed 19-year-old Mallory Beach.

'He made a financial payment to a witness in the middle of a trial, that he has a financial interest in the outcome of,' Barber told the judge, adding that Smith was still under subpoena.

However, Judge Clifton Newman refused to strike out Tinsley's evidence, instead telling the defense: 'That will make good fodder for cross examination.'

Barber stated that Tinsley had admitted making the donation to South Carolina Attorney General Alan Wilson.

Tinsley told the court during his testimony that Murdaugh tried to 'intimidate and bully' him because he was suing him over his son Paul's drunken boat crash.

Expelled juror asks judge if she can fetch her eggs before leaving

A juror was expelled on the last day of the trial after discussing evidence with outsiders - but the serious charge was soothed by laughter when she asked the judge if she could get her eggs before leaving.

Judge Clifton Newman summoned the juror to dismiss her for discussing the trial with at least three people. He added that she had been a 'great juror' and that her misconduct had not been deliberate.

'You have been by all accounts a great juror and smiled consistently and seemingly been attentive to the case and performed well,' Newman said.

After the dismissal, Newman asked if there were any belongings she needed the bailiff to retrieve from the jury room. 'I got a dozen eggs,' she told the judge. Laughter filled the room as Newman joked: 'You wanna leave the eggs or take the eggs?'

'I'm not suggesting that you intentionally did anything wrong, but in order to preserve the integrity of the process and in fairness to all the parties involved, we are going to replace you with one of the other jurors.'

After the dismissal, Newman asked if there were any belongings she needed the bailiff to retrieve from the jury room. 'I got a dozen eggs,' she told the judge.

Laughter filled the room as Newman joked: 'You wanna leave the eggs or take the eggs?'

She said she did. Newman told the bailiff: 'Can you retrieve from the jury room, her dozen eggs, her purse and - what else? - a bottle of water.'

After she left, Newman smiled as he told the court: 'I have heard a lot of things but not a dozen eggs.'
A university student who works multiple jobs to support her family back home in India while studying in Australia has been diagnosed with stage three cancer.

Alisha Limbu, 23, was recently rushed to a hospital in Melbourne to undergo major surgery after her ovarian cancer diagnosis.

Doctors removed a massive seven-kilogram tumour, an ovary, appendix, fallopian tube and the inner lining of her stomach.

The student, originally from Darjeeling at the foot of the Himalayas, may have to undergo more surgery after the cancer spread to her pelvic region.

But Ms Limbu must first undergo an exhausting round of chemotherapy and has been ordered by doctors not to work for the next ten months.

International student Alisha Limbu (pictured) has been rocked by a recent cancer diagnosis

Before her shock diagnosis, Ms Limbu juggled university studies with several jobs to help support her parents and brother back home in India.

It's another cruel blow for the family after her father suffered multiple brain strokes last year.

Melbourne's Indian community have rallied around the brave student so she can focus on the long road to recovery ahead.

'This young girl may look timid and tender, but apart from continuing to support herself, her fragile shoulders have been supporting her family in Darjeeling, India,' an online fundraiser states.

'She supports her brother's living expenses, and her father, who is on his road to recovery after suffering multiple brain strokes last year. Alisha is the only strength her mother, a homemaker, her father and brother look up to keep the family moving.

'Under such circumstances, being diagnosed with cancer has been physically and mentally debilitating for her.'

The Indian student (pictured in hospital) has undergone major surgery to remove a 7kg tumour

It's estimated around 1,815 new cases of ovarian cancer were diagnosed in Australia last year.

The five year survival rate for ovarian cancer is 49 per cent.

While Ms Limbu's medical insurance covered the cost of her surgery, ongoing expenses such as medications, CT scans, blood tests are not covered while chemotherapy is only partially funded.

'In addition to this, the doctor has advised her to take rest for the next ten months, during which she isn't able to make any earnings,' the page states.

'This is why we have come together to help her in her time of need and raise funds for Alisha's medical treatments and living expenses for the next ten months.

'We aim to raise enough money to cover her medical bills and help Alisha get through her treatments to resume her studies and return to a normal life.'

More than $20,000 has been raised within a week.
John Swinney is to leave the Scottish Government with Nicola Sturgeon, he has confirmed.

Mr Swinney, who has been the longest serving Scottish Deputy First Minister, described his almost 16 years in the Cabinet, first under Alex Salmond then under Ms Sturgeon, as the 'privilege of my life'.

But he said after taking on several 'demanding' roles, including as finance secretary, education secretary, and currently as the Covid Recovery Secretary, he will be stepping down from the Government when the new first minister is appointed.

In a letter to Ms Sturgeon setting out his intentions, Mr Swinney  who has been her Deputy First Minister since she took on the top job in 2014  said he looks forward to serving with her on the backbenches of Holyrood 'to continue our contribution to Scotland's cause'.

He told Ms Sturgeon: 'Thankyou for the opportunity you have given me to serve my country.

'I am indebted to you for your leadership, constancy, friendship and loyalty.'

Deputy First Minister John Swinney is to leave the Scottish Government with Nicola Sturgeon, he has confirmed

Recalling how he joined the SNP at the age of 15 in 1979 at a time when the party's prospects of electoral success were 'poor', he said he could 'scarcely have imagined that over so many years I would have the opportunity to serve Scotland in Government in the way I have'.

Mr Swinney, who was the SNP leader between 2000 and 2004, thanked colleagues and also civil servants, praising Government officials for their 'advice and professionalism'.

He said he had been 'touched constantly by the kindness of people in Scotland and their understanding of the many challenges with which we have to wrestle in Government'.

He added he will remain at Holyrood as the MSP for Perthshire North, vowing to 'faithfully represent' his constituents.

Ms Sturgeon, meanwhile, praised Mr Swinney for his years of service, telling him: 'Your contribution to our nation, almost 16 years in Government is considerable, indeed unique. '

First Minister Nicola Sturgeon (right) and Deputy First Minister John Swinney (left) arrive ahead of First Minister's Questions yesterday, on one of their last appearances before MSPs as Scotland's leaders

She told him while she 'completely' understood his decision to step down, she 'felt a real sense of sadness'.

She highlighted his role as finance secretary in the first SNP Government, when Mr Swinney ensured successive budgets got through Holyrood despite the SNP not having an overall majority.

In his time as education secretary, the First Minister said he had delivered the 'biggest expansion in early learning and childcare in our country's history' with the introduction of 1,140 hours a year of early years care for pre-school children, with Ms Sturgeon hailing this as a 'transformation that will change the lives of future generations of children for the better'.

After almost 16 years as a Minister, I have today written to the First Minister to say that when her successor is appointed I will leave Government. Serving Scotland has been the privilege of my life. Thank you.  pic.twitter.com/2tmFXcYOtU  John Swinney (@JohnSwinney) March 2, 2023

She also said Mr Swinney's role in Scotland's Covid recovery 'merits special mention', telling him: 'Your friendship and wise counsel during the pandemic, which was by far the most challenging period of my tenure as First Minister, was invaluable and helped me through some really tough days.'

Ms Sturgeon added: 'Over almost 16 years in government, more than eight years as Deputy First Minister  indeed, the longest serving Deputy First Minister so far  you have made countless contributions to the good of our people and our country.

'In short, I could not have wished for a better partner in government than you, and there is no doubt that our Scottish Government would have achieved much less had you not been in it.'

Mr Swinney's decision to leave the Scottish Government comes as three candidates: Scottish Health Secretary Humza Yousaf; Finance Secretary Kate Forbes; and former community safety minister Ash Regan; are running to replace Ms Sturgeon as SNP leader and Scottish First Minister.

John Swinney has been Nicola Sturgeons Deputy First Minister since she took on the top job in Scottish politics in 2014. (Andrew Milligan/PA)

SNP members will choose their new leader in a ballot later this month, with voting closing on March 27.

Mr Yousaf said it had been 'an absolute honour to serve in Cabinet alongside John Swinney', hailing the Deputy First Minister as a 'true giant of the SNP and the independence movement'.

He said: 'Our party and our Government owe much of our success to John's hard work, from securing the council tax freeze in the early days of Government, to expanding childcare as education secretary, finding the funds to help households through the cost of living crisis and enabling me to deliver fair pay for our NHS in recent weeks.'

Meanwhile, Ms Forbes spoke of her 'respect and admiration' for Mr Swinney, who took responsibility for public finances for her while she was on maternity leave.

She said: 'John Swinney is not only an incredibly able politician, who has put public service at the heart of his career, he's also somebody who I'd call a friend and is a friend to so many MSPs.

'I have valued enormously his advice and guidance over the years and I wish him well because he has put in some shift.'
His wife, Dana Wilson, who was friends with Maggie Murdaugh, reveals what it was like finding out about the allegations that Alex Murdaugh had stolen money

Chris Wilson opened up to NBC's Craig Melvin about testifying against the disgraced legal scion who has been convicted of killing wife Maggie, son Paul

The former best friend of Alex Murdaugh is speaking out about his decision to testify against the disgraced legal scion during his bombshell double murder trial.

Chris Wilson told NBC News' Craig Melvin in an exclusive interview that it was 'hard' to take the stand against the once prominent South Carolina lawyer - after he was called by prosecutors to give evidence about Murdaugh's alleged financial crimes.

'There's a relationship there that I thought was based on trust and respect,' Wilson said. 'And all of those things that when you find out it's not, it's hard to relive that, hard to talk about it.'

After a six weeks of harrowing testimony, Murdaugh, 54, was found guilty on Thursday of murdering his wife Maggie, 52, and son Paul, 22, at the family's 1,800-acre hunting estate in Moselle in South Carolina's Lowcountry on June 7, 2021. He has been sentenced to life in prison.

Dateline NBC will air a comprehensive two-hour special on Friday at 9 p.m. ET/8 p.m. CT, with insiders close to the family speaking out for the first time.

Chris Wilson, a former friend of Alex Murdaugh, talks to NBC News' Craig Melvin about his decision to testify against the disgraced legal scion during his bombshell double murder trial

Murdaugh listens to his attorney make closing argument on Thursday. A few short hours later, he was found guilty in the June 2021 murders of his wife Maggie, 52, and son Paul, 22

Last month, the state called Wilson to the stand where he revealed that his former friend Murdaugh had admitted stealing from his firm and confessed to a 20-year opioid addiction

The trial lasted six weeks at the Colleton County Courthouse in Walterboro, a sleepy, rural town 50 miles west of Charleston in a low-lying region of South Carolina over which the Murdaugh family has wielded immense judicial and political power.

Last month, the state called Wilson to the stand where he revealed that Murdaugh had admitted stealing from his firm and confessed to a 20-year opioid addiction.

Wilson was one of seven witnesses the state called in the absence of the jury to provide explosive evidence about how Murdaugh's life was spiraling out of control - which prosecutors claim was the motive for the killings.

Judge Clifton Newman later ruled that Murdaugh's financial crimes were admissible in his trial, despite the defense fighting to keep that evidence from the jury, arguing that there is 'no logical connection' between the financial impropriety and the murders.

On Friday's two-hour Dateline special, Wilson explains why it was hard for him to testify against his longtime friend.

'Hard,' he answered, when Craig Melvin asked him how he felt about taking the stand.

'Not for any other reason other than it brings up all the hurt. Not because it's hard to tell the truth or not because I didn't know that I had to be involved and do, you know, what I had to do, but it's just, it's hard because there's a relationship there that I thought was based on trust and respect, and all of those things that when you find out it's not, it's hard to relive that, hard to talk about it.'

Wilson's wife, Dana Wilson, who was also a close friend of Maggie Murdaugh, was also interviewed by Melvin and recounted how she found out about the allegations Alex Murdaugh had been misdirecting funds.

'I remember Chris telling me, and I'm shaking my head, like - there's no way. There's no way. He made good money. How? Why? What? No, that's not right. And Chris was shocked in disbelief.'

Wilson's wife, Dana, who was also a close friend of Maggie Murdaugh, revealed to Melvin what it was like to find out about the allegations that Alex Murdaugh had been misdirecting funds

Dana Wilson was close to Maggie Murdaugh, who was murdered in June 2021, along with her son Paul. Pictured are Buster, Paul, Maggie and Alex Murdaugh on a family vacation in Lake Keowee in May 2021 - a month before the killings

Dana Wilson also recalled when it became obvious to her that Murdaugh wasn't who she thought he was.

'When he was who I thought he wasn't, in September, September 3rd, that was a Friday before everything came out to the public,' she told Melvin.

'Because Chris had gotten a phone call that day from Lee Cope and told him what had been going on, that he'd been stealing money, he'd been fired, had a pill addiction.'

Dana added, 'I mean, this was his best friend. We didn't want to believe it. But after that phone call, more came out. More came out, kept coming out, more is still coming out probably. I mean, it's just, who is this person? I don't know this person. Who was he?'

When her husband Chris took the stand last month, he told the court that he was roommates with Murdaugh in law school and said that he thought Murdaugh was his best friend and believed he felt the same way.

Prosecutor Creighton Waters asked: 'You feel that way now?'

'I don't know how I feel now Mr. Waters,' Wilson said, his voice cracking.

Wilson answers questions from prosecutor Creighton Waters during his former friend Alex Murdaugh's double murder trial in South Carolina on February 9

Wilson testified on the stand last month that Murdaugh admitted to him that he had stolen money from their firm and that he had been addicted to opioids for 20 years

In the birthday video introduced by the defense, Murdaugh is seen with his best friend, Chris Wilson, whom he allegedly took advantage of by convincing Wilson to divert Murdaugh's cut of funds from a case they shared to his personal account instead of Murdaugh's law firm

Wilson had worked on a case with Murdaugh during which $792,000 in legal fees disappeared. This sparked the investigation by the law firm, PMPED.

Wilson testified Murdaugh admitted he had stolen money and had been addicted to opioids for 20 years. He told the court he was informed on September 3, 2021, by PMPED attorney Lee Cope that Murdaugh about the thefts.

He later met with Murdaugh at his parents' home in Almeda.

'I was so mad. I had loved the guy for so long, and I probably still love him a little bit, but I was so mad.'

Wilson grew emotional as he told the court he does not know how he did not notice his friend's life was descending into chaos.

'He told me that he had been stealing money.' Murdaugh admitted that he had 'sh*t me up.' He said he had 'sh*t a lot of people up.'

Wilson later found out that Murdaugh had been shot in the head.

'What in the devil is going on?' Wilson told the court he thought at the time. 'I thought he had tried to kill himself.'

While Murdaugh has reached out, Wilson hasn't spoken to him since.

One of the texts sent to Wilson said: 'So sorry for the havoc I created. I'd do anything to make it right.'

Wilson was also seen in a birthday video introduced by the defense, as they attempted to show Murdaugh as a family man.

Six weeks of testimony came to a close Thursday as both sides had one more chance to plead their case before Judge Newman sent the jury to deliberate. Less than three hours later, the jury came back with a guilty verdict.

One of the jurors Craig Moyer appeared on Good Morning America on Friday where he revealed it took just 45 minutes of deliberations to convince the three other jurors of Murdaugh's guilt.

'He was a good liar, but not good enough,' Moyer said, breaking his anonymity to discuss the blockbuster trial that had America gripped.

Murdaugh arrives to someone holding a sign: 'FORGIVE MY SINS JESUS SAVE MY SOUL'

Reverend Raymond Johnson of Myrtle Beach at court on Wednesday, telling DailyMail.com he 'wants to see justice done ... a wife and son have been torn from their family and community'

Murdaugh's defense attorney Jim Griffin said Thursday that state agents were so determined to get the disgraced South Carolina attorney convicted of murder in the killings of his wife and son that they lied about or misrepresented evidence.

Griffin emphasized that investigators focused solely on him and conducted the investigation so poorly that any evidence pointing to someone else, like fingerprints or possible DNA on Maggie or Paul Murdaugh's clothing, was never gathered.

'How could he have butchered Maggie and Paul without leaving a trace of evidence within a matter of minutes?' Griffin said.

Prosecutors got the last word with a rebuttal argument before the judge gave the jury its instructions to begin considering their verdict.

'You can't answer every question, and the law doesn't require it,' prosecutor John Meadors said.

Prosecutor Creighton Waters gives his closing statement during the murder trial of Alex Murdaugh at the Colleton County Courthouse in Walterboro on Wednesday

Defense attorney Jim Griffin attacked a video which proves Murdaugh was at the crime scene moments before prosecutors say he killed his wife and son, saying 'there is nothing to indicate any strife or anger'

Maggie, Paul, Alex and Buster Murdaugh with their dog Bubba in a new family photo

Buster Murdaugh, girlfriend Brooklynn White and Alex's sister Lynn arrive at court Thursday

Investigators said there was about 17 minutes between the time his wife and son stopped using their cellphones and when he left the property to visit his ailing mother.

Experts from both sides agreed there had to be a massive amount of blood, tissue and other material from the killings, but the prosecution did not present any evidence of blood spatter on clothes. The weapons in the case also have never been found.

'He had 17 minutes. He would have to be a magician to make all that evidence disappear,' Griffin said.

Prosecutors believe Alex Murdaugh killed his wife and son because he feared his years of stealing millions of dollars from his law firm and clients would be exposed and his lofty standing in the community toppled. They said he hoped their deaths would make him a sympathetic figure and draw attention away from the missing money.

A key piece of evidence for prosecutors is a video that includes the voices of Murdaugh, his wife and son at the kennels just minutes before investigators said they were killed. The video wasnt discovered for a year because agents couldnt initially hack into his sons iPhone

For 20 months, Alex Mudaugh told everyone that he wasn't at the kennels but while testifying in his own defense, he finally admitted he was there.

'He lied because thats what addicts do. He lied because he has a closet full of skeletons,' Griffin said.

Dog kennels at the Moselle property Wednesday where Maggie and Paul's bodies were found

Maggie's body was found a few yards to the right of the doghouse while Paul's was in the doorway of the feed room at the kennels (far right)

Prosecutors said all Murdaugh did was lie - to the people he was stealing from, to police about a key fact in their investigation, to his family about his drug use and even about the order in which he checked his wife and son for signs of life, switching who he checked first in different police interviews.

Griffin said that showed how badly the state wants to convict Murdaugh at all costs, referring to prosecutors' closing argument where they said the evidence showed Maggie Murdaugh died while running to see her son.

'Alex was running to his baby. Can you imagine what he saw?' Griffin said. 'And is it evidence of guilt that he doesn't remember what the sequencing was at that moment?'

Griffin said his time as a prosecutor left him pained to say the State Law Enforcement Division either fabricated or lied about evidence.

The lead agent on the case said on the stand that he told the grand jury that indicted Murdaugh 13 months after the deaths that the T-shirt Murdaugh was wearing when police arrived had high velocity blood spatter from his son that happens when someone is shot at close range.

But other agents in the case had already reported further testing on the shirt showed no blood on it and the shirt was never mentioned by prosecutors at the trial. Meadors said law enforcement is not on trial, Murdaugh is.

A photo of the property taken on February 16 shows that the bicycle was not out on the lawn and that it was placed there ahead of the jury visit on Wednesday

Jurors visited the estate after the defense requested they get a better understanding of the crime scene. Holes are seen in the glass of the feed room where Paul was shot with a shotgun

The prosecutor said he was offended that Murdaugh's defense is claiming that law enforcement 'didnt do their job while he is withholding and obstructing justice by not saying, 'I was down at the kennels.'

The two shotgun blasts that killed Paul Murdaugh had different size pellets. Owen incorrectly told the grand jury other shotguns in the house were loaded in a similar fashion.

'There's two shooters out there,' Griffin said.

And there was the matter of the blue rain jacket that state agents said was covered in gunshot residue when it was found at Murdaugh's mother's house. Investigators theorized Murdaugh wrapped guns in it to hide on his parents' property, but Murdaugh's family didn't recognize it and it wasn't his size.
Rep. Elissa Slotkin faces a Federal Election Commission probe into a home she rented last year from a wealthy donor when running for reelection in Michigan, DailyMail.com can reveal.

Local media last year reported that she was renting a furnished property in Lansing from Jerry Hollister, a medical manufacturing business executive and donor to her campaign. She paid $2,000 a month for the furnished apartment including utilities.

Now the Committee to Defeat the President, a conservative Political Action Committee, says that she paid a below market price in a deal amounts to an in-kind campaign contribution that was never declared and exceeded donation limits.

'The people of Michigan deserve much better than a two-faced politician like Slotkin, who tried to pull one over on her constituents to preserve her political career,' said Ted Harvey, chairman of the group.

'As Slotkin now eyes a Senate seat, Michiganders would be wise to look elsewhere and demand accountability.'

Rep. Elaine Slotkin (D-Michigan) rented a home from Jerry Hollister, a medical manufacturing business executive and donor to her campaign, last year as she won reelection to the House

Slotkin's campaign said she paid $2000 a month for furnished condo with utilities. The Committee to Defeat the President said the fair market rent would have been much higher

The FEC has acknowledged receipt of the complaint and has begun the process of review.

Neither Slotkin nor Hollister responded to multiple requests for comment.

Slotkin went on to win reelection in November's midterm elections.

On Monday, she announced that she will seek the Senate seat left vacant by fellow Democrat Debbie Stabenow's decision not to run for reelection in 2024.

But that leaves her still facing questions about her House campaign, after she moved from her family home to take up residence inside the new, redistricted 7th Congressional District based around Lansing.

Property records reviewed by DailyMail.com show that Slotkin was listed living in a two-bedroom condo in Lansing from May last year.

That property is owned by Hollister, and his wife.

He is the director of government relations at Niowave, manufacturer of medical radioisotopes, and who has given at least $1400 to Slotkin's campaigns since 2018, according to federal filings.

'As campaign was legally required to include such in-kind contributions on Campaign's regular finance reports and failed to do so, Campaign has violated applicable campaign finance law,' reads the complaint filed with the Federal Election Commission last week

Property records show Slotkin was living in this town house in Lansing, Michigan from May last year. It is owned by Hollister and his wife

The Detroit News reported that Slotkin signed a seven-month lease that would run through the election.

Amid a furore about whether her residency was a stunt, the campaign said she had opted for a short-term deal because of the fast-moving, inflated market.

And the campaign said Slotkin was paying a fair-market rate for the furnished condo: $2,000 a month including utilities.

But a fair rent for the 1840sq ft two-bedroom town house in Lansing is estimated by market listing site Zillow as $1850 back in 2020.

In its complaint, The Committee to Defeat the President estimates that a fair market rent in 2022, including furnishings and utilities, for the property would be more like $2600.

'As campaign was legally required to include such in-kind contributions on Campaign's regular finance reports and failed to do so, Campaign has violated applicable campaign finance law,' reads the complaint.

It also alleges that Hollister exceeded donation limits.

'Slotkin's acceptance of in-kind monthly contributions from Hollister for her personal residence ... resulted in Hollister exceeding applicable contribution limits for the 2021/22 election cycle,' it says.

And it all amounted to personal use of campaign funds, the complaint alleges.

'Not withstanding the fact campaign funds are not believed to have been withdrawn from the Campaign's bank account to pay for Slotkin's personal residence, Slotkin has nevertheless engaged in personal use of campaign contributions by accepting a monthly in-kind contribution in the form of a monthly rental rate for her personal residence, furnishings and utility payments ...' it says.
Dozens of frustrated drivers were left trapped in a parking lot for 30 minutes as an angry attendant refused to let a woman who didn't have a ticket past the gate.

Footage, filmed in the Circle on Cavill shopping centre car park in Surfer's Paradise, Queensland, on Thursday, shows the young woman arguing with the worker to be allowed past the gate - as traffic banked up behind her.

The woman claimed that she had paid her parking membership fees, but the attendant disagreed, and showed no sympathy to the other drivers in the car park - telling the woman she should just reverse.

That was impossible - given there were dozens of cars banked up behind her.

The video starts with a frustrated man getting out of his car to find out what's holding up the woman at the front of the queue.

A woman (above) whose parking membership card wasn't working was stuck waiting at a boom gate for more than half an hour

She explained her dilemma and said the parking assistant was trying to charge her for a $25 lost ticket fee because her membership card won't scan.

The man then called the assistant using the electronic help button and got caught in the middle of a heated argument.

Poll Who is in the wrong? The driver without the pass The attendant refusing to open the boom gate Who is in the wrong? The driver without the pass 389 votes

The attendant refusing to open the boom gate 1672 votes Now share your opinion





He told the assistant: 'You've got about a hundred cars in this carpark because one of your machines isn't working.

'This lady has a membership to get out.'

The assistant then told him: 'She actually does not have a valid membership. She doesn't have one with us so she needs to pay the amount on screen.'

The woman tried explaining that her card wasn't working, to which assistant replied: 'I'm sorry but if everyone else must pay for their carpark, so should you.'

As more cars continue to buildup in the small parking space, the woman repeatedly tried to tell the assistant she had paid for a month's worth of parking and shouldn't be expected to pay a $25 fee.

However, the assistant repeatedly cut her off and told her to call the membership company to 'sort it out'.

'Either reverse or pay the amount on screen,' the assistant said.

A man filming the dispute between the woman and a parking assistant said there was about 100 cars stuck in a queue (above) behind the woman

The man then jumped into the conversation and said: 'We can't reverse, you've got a hundred cars here.'

The assistant again told the woman she must 'pay as everyone else must pay'.

As frustrations began to reach a head, the man snapped at the assistant to 'open the gate' and offered to pay the $25 fee so everyone can leave.

The angry assistant continued to talk over him and the upset woman until she finally decided he can pay for the fee if he walks back to his car and brings his card to the box.

The man tried to explain his car is far away and down a hill and asked if she could open the gate and let the queue through so he could drive up instead.

'No, sorry we can't,' she said. 'The rules are clearly stated at the entry gate and it says a condition of entering our carpark is you pay the amount on screen.'

The man replied: 'I'm trying to pay for it, I just can't get my car here because there's a hundred cars... I ran all the way up the hill because there's a massive traffic jam because you're not being a human being.'

After more back and forth, the assistant told the man she didn't care if he had to walk the distance, saying: 'Okay, then do so. There isn't anything I can do from my side.

'We'll wait here. We'll wait for you. That's not a problem.'

As the upset woman and rude assistant continued to talk over each other about the payment, people began hollering to the assistant from the line of cars.

The parking assistant (above) repeatedly told the woman she would have to pay 'like everybody else' and refused to lift the boom gate

A frustrated man yelled: 'We've got to get out of here. Open the gate.'

The man finished the video by telling the assistant he's recorded their conversation and will report her to centre management.

'That's not a problem,' she said.

Aussies were quick to call out the parking attendant.

'The fact that you were willing to pay for her and she STILL refused to let her out is ridiculous,' one said.

Another wrote: 'What about all the other cars in the line with a valid pass? Are they expected to stay there because they won't let her out? Absolutely ridiculous.'

A third added: 'Can the rest of the people waiting request refunds from the carpark due to the additional time they waited? The lady behind the intercom is crazy!'

'That person on the speaker is in a power trip,' a fourth added.

'My worst nightmare,' another said.

The man later shared an update and said another angry customer yelled at the woman to open the gate after which they were bale to drive through.

A spokesman for the Circle on Cavill shopping centre said: : We have no further comment while we investigate the matter.

Care Parking said it is investigating the incident and apologised for the situation.
Former Bond girl Gloria Hendry looks just as glamorous as she did 50 years ago when she landed her big break in Live and Let Die.

DailyMail.com spotted Hendry on Wednesday running errands in Beverly Hills and looking trendy as ever in a red and yellow leather jacket, leggings, multi colored shoes and stylish shades.

At one point the actress picked up mail from a post office and carried a large box to her car all by herself.

Hendry, who celebrates her 74th birthday today, has kept a relatively low profile in Hollywood since she became 007's first black love interest opposite Roger Moore in 1973.

DailyMail.com spotted Gloria Hendry, 74, stopping at the post office while running errands in Beverly Hills on Wednesday

Hendry still looks chic and glamorous 50 years after landing her big break in Live and Let Die opposite Roger Moore

At one point the actress picked up mail from a post office and carried a large box to her car all by herself

The Florida-born model-turned-actress played the part of Rosie Carver, who famously gets shot and killed in Bond's arms.

Her steamy scenes with Roger Moore catapulted her into the spotlight and the Ian Fleming classic featured a soundtrack written by Paul McCartney.

In his memoir, Moore described how the passion between himself and Hendry was a sore point for his wife Luisa Mattioli at the time.

He wrote, 'As Bond, I make love to Rosie Carver, played by the beautiful black actress Gloria Hendry, and my wife Luisa has learned from certain Louisiana ladies that if there is a scene like that they won't go to see the picture.

'I personally don't give a damn, and it makes me all the more determined to play the scene.'

Moore and Hendry's love scene was cut from the film when it was shown in apartheid South Africa, where interracial relationships were outlawed.

In 2015, Hendry and other former black Bond girls were honored at the African American Film Critics Association's Black Women of Bond tribute.

Recalling her days as a Bond girl, she told Ebony Magazine at the event, 'I had a penthouse hotel room in London at the Pinewood Studios. I was treated like I thought I starred in the movie, [as if] I played Bond! They made all my clothes. It was awesome!'

In his memoir, Roger Moore described how the passion between he and Hendry was a sore point for his wife Luisa Mattioli at the time. 'I personally don't give a damn, and it makes me all the more determined to play the scene,' he wrote

Hendry wore a trendy red and yellow leather jacket, leggings, multi colored shoes and stylish shades for her outing on Wednesday

Hendry made history as the first black Bond girl to be romantically involved with the British secret agent in 1973

Hendry, who is celebrating her 74th birthday today, March 3, has kept a relatively low profile in Hollywood since her Bond role

The Florida-born model-turned-actress played the part of Rosie Carver, who famously gets shot and killed in Bond's arms

Trina Parks was the first black actress cast as a Bond girl, starring as Thumper in Diamonds Are Forever opposite Sean Connery in 1971.

Parks didn't play a romantic partner to Connery's Bond, but was a feisty nemesis.

Hendry made history as the first black Bond girl to be romantically involved with the British secret agent.

Grace Jones played Bond's sexy henchwoman May Day in 1985's A View To Kill, opposite Roger Moore.

When Halle Berry was cast as Jinx in 2002's Die Another Day opposite Pierce Brosnan, she was the first black Bond girl for 17 years.

And in 2012, Naomie Harris starred opposite Daniel Craig in Skyfall and 2015's Spectre.
Deputy Prime Minister Richard Marles has been accused of 'making it up on the run' after he struggled to answer a question about superannuation.

Those with more than $3million in superannuation will no longer receive tax concessions under a new plan announced by Anthony Albanese this week.

The Prime Minister and federal Treasurer Jim Chalmers confirmed plans to double the tax rate for contributions to 30 per cent, up from 15 per cent, for 80,000 Australians, with the changes expected to come into effect on July 1, 2025.

'We have got to make the system sustainable,' Marles said on the Today Show.

'We inherited a budget from Peter [Dutton] and his crew, which was a trillion dollars in debt, and there's nothing to show for it.'

Karl Stefanovic asked Mr Marles to clarify a detail of Labor's new plan - at one point telling the deputy PM it was 'okay' if he didn't know the answer.

'I know it is a technical question, but how are you going to tax the increased paper value of an asset that hasn't been sold?' Stefanovic.

Ms Marles tried to redirect the question to the low number of Aussies that would be affected - prompting Stefanovic to interrupt with: 'If you don't know, it's okay'.

'I will let you try and come up with a better explanation to that at a later date, like Jim Chalmers did the other day,' Stefanovic said.

Karl Stefanovic asked Mr Marles (pictured) to clarify a detail of Labor's new plan - at one point telling the deputy PM it was 'okay' if he didn't know the answer

Mr Marles stressed that it was a 'modest' change that would only affect those with $3million in superannuation, just 0.5 per cent of Australians.

'They are making it up on the run,' Opposition Leader Peter Dutton told the show.

'They want to tax unrealised capital gains. If your shares go to paper value, they want to tax you on the profit before you actually sell the shares, which is unbelievable.'

The clash comes after Federal Treasurer Jim Chalmers confirmed plans to double the tax rate for contributions to 30 per cent, up from 15 per cent, for 80,000 Australians, with the changes expected to come into effect on July 1, 2025.

This would affect some 80,000 people, the top 0.5 per cent of super savers, and would save the federal budget about $2billion a year.

The deputy PM told the Today Show on Friday: 'We inherited a budget from Peter [Dutton] (right) and his crew, which was a trillion dollars in debt and there's nothing to show for it'

The other 99.5 per cent of Australians would continue to receive the same tax breaks - meaning the 15 per cent concessional rate would remain unchanged for them.

The change won't kick in until after the next election, due by mid-2025.

Earlier this week, prime minister argued the plan did not change the fundamentals of the superannuation system and was an 'important reform'.

He pointed to figures that show 17 Australians have more than $100million in their retirement savings accounts, and one person had more than $400million in super.

Australians with super balances of more than $3million will no longer get generous tax breaks under a new plan announced by Prime Minister Anthony Albanese (pictured right with Treasurer Jim Chalmers)

The graph showed a total of 411,128 superannuation funds with a balance of more than $1million. One superannuation fund amassed an astonishing $544million (pictured)

'It's hard to argue that those levels is about actual retirement incomes, which is what superannuation is for,' Mr Albanese told reporters.

'Most Australians would agree that this is not what superannuation is for.

'It's for people's retirement incomes.'

Two-thirds of superannuation tax concessions go to the top 20 per cent of income earners and less than 1 per cent of people have super savings of more than $3million, with that group having an average pool of $5.8million.

The 15 per cent concessional tax rate for super contributions costs the Budget $53billion a year, with the crackdown on those with more than $3million in super estimated to save the treasury $2billion.
Jason Barker, 50, is being held on $3million bail ahead of his trial for allegedly murdering his girlfriend, the business manager of the Kardashians and Nicki Minaj.

Barker pleaded not guilty last year to 'torturing his girlfriend with a knife before murdering her and then driving around with her body in the trunk of his car.

Today in Los Angeles court, Barker appeared before Judge Shellie Samuels. After the appearance, during which attorneys for the defense and prosecution agreed to guidelines for trial preparation, Barker was returned to jail in lieu of a $3million bail.

Kukawski who was found dead in the trunk of her car in the Simi Valley suburb on December 23, 2021, one day after she was reported missing.

'Detectives believe that Barker killed the victim inside their Sherman Oaks residence, placed her inside her vehicle, and drove to Simi Valley,' the Los Angeles Police Department said at the time.

Jason Barker is brought into the courtroom to appear before Judge Shellie Samuels on Thursday

Barker was arrested in 2021 for the alleged torturing and murder of his then-girlfriend Angela Kukawski

A Ventura County coroner reported that Kukawski died from sharp and blunt force injuries to the head and neck and strangulation, which they ruled a homicide.

Barker was arrested on December 28, 2021 and booked into Van Nuys Jail where he was charged with murder and torture and is being held on a $3million bond.

He appeared in court in January of 2022, sitting behind a glass screen, wearing a yellow jumpsuit and white face mask, and spoke only to confirm his identity and to be read his rights.

In court on Thursday, Barker appeared in a blue jail suit with a shorter haircut and a few more prison pounds on his frame.

Kukawski, a mother of five, worked at Boulevard Management in Woodland Hills, which specializes in 'financial management services to entertainers, athletes, and high-net worth individuals.'

'Angie was a kind, wonderful person, and she will be greatly missed by all who knew her,' said her place of work at the time.

As manager, she worked with celebrity clients including the Kardashians and Nicki Minaj.

She had also worked with the Tupac Shukar estate as well as Kanye West and OffSet.

At the time of her apparent murder, the Kardashian-Jenner family told Dailymail.com: 'Angela was truly the best.'

'She cared about every one of us and made things happen that were impossible.

'She will be greatly missed and we send our sincere condolences to her family and loved ones during this most difficult time.'

Minaj also posted a social media tribute to her business manager at the time.

'Hardest working, most reliable, sweetest person you could ever know,' Minaj wrote.

'You didn't deserve this, Angela. My heart is breaking for your children. Rest in peace.'

Jason Barker, 50, (pictured last January) pleaded not guilty to allegedly torturing his girlfriend Angela Kukawski, 55, with a knife before murdering her and then driving around with her body in the trunk of his car

Kim Kardashian and Nicki Minaj attended the Daily Front Row's 3rd Annual Fashion Los Angeles Awards in 2017. Kukawski was a manager for both women

Rapper Nicki Minaj also paid tribute to her former manager on social media

LAPD officers arrested Barker on December 28, 2021 on charges of murder and torture
An ocean swimmer who discovered a message in a mussel-encrusted bottle that spent 808 days at sea plans to reunite the lucky find with its owner.

Scott Gutterson, 49, was free diving around Murrays Beach at Jervis Bay on the NSW south coast last week when he came across the bottle bobbing up and down 100metres from shore.

The Navy veteran discovered the sender was a 10-year-old girl whose dad put the bottle out to sea in Newcastle in December, 2020 - more than 300km from where it ended up.

Mr Gutterson told Daily Mail Australia the discovery made him feel like a 'kid in a candy store'.

'It reminded me of when I wished for a police motorbike toy for Christmas when I was around 10 and when I opened up my present, that's what I got,' he said.

Scott Gutterson, 49, waited for his wife and two kids to come home after finding the bottle with 30 to 40 mussels glued to the exterior (pictured) so they could open it together

The Navy veteran discovered the sender was a 10-year-old girl whose dad put the bottle (pictured) out to sea in Newcastle in December, 2020 - more than 300km from where it ended up in Jervis Bay

Mr Gutterson (pictured) was free diving around Murrays Beach at Jervis Bay on the NSW south coast last week when he came across the message in a bottle bobbing up and down 100metres from shore

'Super excited to say the least.'

He added it was a welcome find after spending years cleaning up rubbish from the oceans during his swimming and free diving missions.

'I have found dog toys, hats, umbrellas, fishing rods and even two $5 notes,' he said.

'So grateful the ocean gave me some 'treasure' in return for looking after the ocean.'

Mr Gutterson waited for his wife and two kids to come home after finding the bottle with 30 to 40 mussels glued to it so they could open it together.

'My family all played the guessing game of the location and what the message was inside,' he said on social media last Sunday.

The messenger turned out to be penned by Vicky, who was 10 years old at the time and living in Canberra.

Her father Ted launched the bottle into the ocean with her on December 9, 2020 while they were in Newcastle - before he was about to go out to sea with the Navy.

The hand-written letter the young girl scribbled revealed her address, a phone number to contact and her birthday.

She also asked the recipient to write back to her.

Mr Gutterson called the number and spoke to the now 13-year-old girl and her father who were gobsmacked by the discovery.

In an unusual double coincidence Mr Gutterson found that he and the girl's father had a similar Navy background as well as some local connections.

He said Ted is still in the Navy while Mr Gutterson has done 17 years as a naval aviator and now flies for Toll Helicopters on a NSW Ambulance contract.

Ted's parents live in Gerringong 65km north of Jervis Bay, the same place where Mr Gutterson lives.

'They were like, 'No way!'' he said when he called them with the news of his discovery, adding the families had arranged to meet up at Easter where the letter would be returned to Vicky.

The hand-written letter (pictured) the young girl scribbled revealed her address, a phone number to contact and her birthday

'The ocean always gives me incredible surprises but this was next level that I will not forget,' Mr Gutterson said on social media (pictured, the message in a bottle)

He added it was a welcome find after spending years cleaning up rubbish from the oceans during his swimming and free diving missions (pictured, Mr Gutterson with an umbrella discovered in the waters)

'[Ted] couldn't believe his ears when I said I had his daughter's letter in my hand and the location the bottle was found,' Mr Gutterson said on social media.

'I chatted to Vicky [now 13] and she couldn't believe it either.'

He said the bottle had to be broken to get to the message but he would frame the letter and create a timeline of the bottle's journey for the young girl.

'The ocean always gives me incredible surprises but this was next level that I will not forget,' Mr Gutterson said.
A senior Republican on Thursday slammed the Biden administration for failing to protect Afghan girls with a 'muted' response that saw only six Taliban thugs placed on a visa blacklist for abuses against young women.

President Joe Biden is already under intense scrutiny as Republicans launch investigations into his handling of the 2021 withdrawal from Afghanistan.

Rep. Mike McCaul of Texas, chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, said the administration's measures to protect girls were 'appalling' and demanded tougher action.

The Taliban have rolled back two decades of progress since taking control of the country in August of 2021. Girls have suffered most, barred from high-school education and more

Last month Secretary of State Antony Blinken announced visa restrictions on Taliban officials who prevented girls from going to school. Rep. Mike McCaul, chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, said only six figures had been sanctioned and demanded tougher action

'Most disturbing, these limited visa restrictions have been the administrations only response to the Talibans horrific treatment of women and girls, despite President Bidens promise to hold the Taliban accountable,' McCaul wrote in a letter to Secretary of State Antony Blinken.

'I urge the administration to take more significant steps to respond to the Talibans inhumane treatment of women and girls, including by imposing wider visa restriction sanctions against Taliban officials.'

The Taliban took control of the country in August 2021 as American troops left

Since then, the country's brutish new rulers have rolled back two decades of progress.

They have banned women and girls from attending college or high school. Women are not allowed to visit parks in Kabul or use gyms all across the country.

Women must wear full-face and body hijabs and can no longer work in most sectors. They must be accompanied by a male chaperone if they travel more than 75 kilometers (46 miles).

Blinken announced fresh measures last month.

'I am taking action today to impose additional visa restrictions on certain current or former Taliban members, members of non-state security groups, and other individuals believed to be responsible for, or complicit in, repressing women and girls in Afghanistan,' he said.

A day later, his spokesman Ned Price offered more detail. He said six individuals had been sanctioned for barring girls' access to education, employment or infringing on their human rights.

'Due to visa confidentiality laws, we are unable to name the individuals who are subject to this policy,' he said.

McCaul could barely contain his outrage in the letter.

Taliban took control of Hamid Karzai International Airport outside of Kabul after the completion of the U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan on August 31, 2021.

McCaul lays bare his frustration with the administration in a letter to Secretary of State Antony Blinken demanding tougher action on Taliban thugs stopping girls going to school

Women have been prevented from taking up jobs and need male chaperones for long journeys

'In total, eight members of the Taliban are currently legally barred from entering the United States,' he wrote.

'This is appalling given that the State Department regularly places far more expansive visa restrictions on other malign actors.'

In contrast, he added, the department placed visa restrictions on more than 500 Nicaraguan regime officials for impeding democracy in just one day last year.

Last month it emerged that the Taliban had begun enforcing blanket bans on all forms of contraception in two of Afghanistan's two biggest cities, according to Afghan media, in the latest crackdown on women's rights.

Pharmacies and physicians in the capital Kabul and fourth largest city Mazar-e-Sharif confirmed to women-led Afghan outlet Rukhshana Media that Taliban officials ordered them not to sell any contraceptives.

President Joe Biden remains under intense scrutiny for the decision to pull out of Afghanistan

The actions have put greater pressure on Biden administration officials.

Karen Decker, the top U.S. diplomat to Afghanistan, recently had to delete a tweet Afghan women needed some 'Black Girl Magic' while being oppressed under Taliban rule.

She added celebrities like Beyonce and Lizzo might be able to share wisdom with Afghan women, who have been essentially shut out of school and work entirely since the Taliban takeover.

Decker, the Charge d'Affaires of the U.S. Mission to Afghanistan, wrote on Twitter on Wednesday: 'Are Afghans familiar with #BlackGirlMagic and the movement it inspired? Do Afghan girls need a similar movement? What about Afghan Women?'

'Teach me, ready to learn. @Beyonce @lizzo @ReginaKing,' it read.

She issued an apology after deleting the messages.
Race-faking white Muslim Raquel Saraswati preached about Islamist extremist violence years before she was exposed for lying about her Arab, Latin and South Asian heritage.

A 2015 MidPoint interview of Saraswati, 39, with host Ed Berliner on NewsmaxTV resurfaced amid accusations of 'cultural vulturism' - while her family exclusively told DailyMail.com that she is 'British, German and Italian.'

In the video, Saraswati appeared to condemn the Islamist extremist behind the Charlie Hebdo newsroom al-Qaida terrorist attack in France that claimed the lives of 12 people in 2015.

She also expressed her disappointment that the attackers were referred as Muslim and Islamic extremists, which 'represses' the Muslim community as a whole. She blamed countries, such as Saudi Arabia, who 'propagates a very malignant interpretation of Islam.'

'There is a history of Muslim dissidents trying really hard to have our voices be heard. We are drowned out by leaders, who unfortunately occupy the halls of power in our government,' she said. 'I am a patriotic American but I'm deeply troubled by the fact that our government continues to ally with the worst within my community.'

Raquel Saraswati, 39, preached about Islamist extremist violence in 2015 following the Charlie Hebdo newsroom terrorist attack in France. A 2015 MidPoint interview of Saraswati, 39, with host Ed Berliner on NewsmaxTV resurfaced amid accusations of 'cultural vulturism'

Saraswati lied about being 'Arab, Latin and South Asian' and was exposed by her family as 'British, German and Italian'

At the time, Saraswati claimed the US government chooses to see the worst interpretation of Islam and pushed for officials to step back to allow 'non-violent' Muslims to speak out.

'[It] hurts me as an American and it hurts me as a Muslim who seeks change and believes what America is about.'

'We need to see law enforcement engage in Muslims like myself and engage in Muslims who really understand what the problems are and really seek out those dissidents' voices who are trying to speak out. We are out there, we are trying to make a change, but across the world voices like ours are often silenced.'

She called herself a patriotic American and insisted it was time for officials to create Muslim allies with a better interpretation of Islam, such as herself.

'There is a history of Muslim dissidents trying really hard to have our voices be heard. We are drowned out by leaders, who unfortunately occupy the halls of power in our government.

'We really do need the support of non-Muslim allies in helping to magnify the voices of those of us who are very honest and forthright about what the problems really are.'

Saraswati, hired by a Philadelphia-based Quaker group as their Chief Equity, Inclusion and Culture Officer, never had to prove her race

Saraswati has been accused of lying about her alleged descent - her biological mother confirming that she is in fact 'British, German and Italian'

The resurfaced video came to light amid the scandal Saraswati lied about her Muslim heritage.

Until recently, Saraswati served on the Mayor's Commission on LGBT Affairs and worked as the chief equity and inclusion officer for the American Friends Service Committee (AFSC). She was also named Woman of the Year.

The AFSC confirmed she resigned from her position last week and said there are no requirements for employees to prove their race or ethnicity.

In a statement to DailyMail.com they wrote: 'AFSC's Chief Equity, Inclusion, and Culture Officer, Raquel Saraswati, who is facing public allegations that she misrepresented her background and past associations, has informed us of her intention to separate from the organization.

'AFSC supports her in this difficult decision. This is a deeply personal issue, and we respect her privacy and ask that others do as well.'

The organization has stressed its commitment to working globally with people from 'all faiths, ethnicities, races and backgrounds for lasting peace with justice.'

'Through our history and continuing today, AFSC has brought the Quaker belief in peace, equity, integrity, and the divine Light in every person into vital work across the U.S. and around the world,' the statement continued.

'We see ending all forms of racism as a critical part of this work both within our organization and in the world.'

Saraswati, who grew up as Rachel Seidel, was investigated by a 'group of individuals who care deeply' about the AFSC and provided an open letter which identified years of deception.

Human resources professional Oskar Henry Castro, who participated in ASFC's hiring committee for Saraswati, told the Intercept that Saraswati had represented herself as 'multiethnic' and as 'a queer person of color, who happens to be a Muslim' in hiring interviews he saw.

'I definitely feel conned. I feel deceived,' he said.

The 39-year-old was seen rubbing shoulders with celebrities - such as Jodie Foster (left) and Nathan Lane (right) after receiving an accolade

Family members, who asked to remain nameless after backlash from the embattled race faker, told DailyMail.com that the 39-year-old is of 'British, German and Italian' heritage and started to shape her new identity after going to boarding school.

Saraswati has been at the center of a media frenzy following the deception, but commentators noted the irreparable damage her misrepresentations have caused for the minority groups she'd so vocally tried to represent over the years.

'This is not about 'proving' one's heritage but about lying, misrepresentation and taking opportunities from actual women of color,' tweeted documentarian Laila Al-Arian, who referred to Saraswati as a 'Rachel Dolezal of the Muslim community.'

Journalist Sana Saeed, who called attention to Saraswati's heritage as early as 2015, tweeted about the 'harm she's done  especially the years she worked as essentially a 'native informant' with anti-Muslim orgs & platforms.'

So far, Saraswati has remained silent on the issue - deleting her social media platforms and taking a step back from her once prominent and shamelessly self-promotional lifestyle.

Family members gave some insight into the web of lies served up by Saraswati over the years, saying she'd become 'intrigued' by the culture of a friend from school.

They noted that growing up, Saraswati, who they knew as Rachel, had lived a fairly 'sheltered life in a fairly white town.'

Members of Saraswati's family - who were privy to her life before the 'fraudulent' claims - exclusively told DailyMail.com that her new life began to take shape while she attended the prestigious Emma Willard school in Troy, New York.

Saraswati's relative, who claims to have watched the 39-year-old grow from the age of three till she started to attend the scholarship-funded private girl's school, said she remembers Saraswati, who went by Rachel Seidel then, as a 'bright and terribly creative' young woman

Members of Saraswati's family - who were privy to her life before the 'fraudulent' claims - exclusively told DailyMail.com that her new life began to take shape while she attended the prestigious Emma Willard school in Troy, New York

Pictures provided by family members show a young Saraswati with blonde/brown hair and a visibly paler complexion

One of Saraswati's relatives, who claims to have watched the 39-year-old grow from the age of three till she started to attend the scholarship-funded private girl's school, said she remembers her as a 'bright and terribly creative' young woman.

'She went to a small public school where everybody knew her and then she went to a private school and no one there was American - most were European or eastern European,' the family member said.

They went on to say that this is where Saraswati met her roommate, a friend from Turkey, named Fatima, who followed the Muslim faith.

'Her junior year at school she had a roommate that was from Turkey who was Muslim and Rachel was very intrigued by that culture, she was a very inquisitive kid,' they explained.

'Rachel converted to the Muslim religion while at school and we never found out because she was boarding there... we found out much later that this was her new persona.'

Saraswati's early years were a stark contrast, however, growing up in a Christian household.

Pictures provided by family members show a young Saraswati with blonde hair and a visibly paler complexion.

Her hair appears to have become darker as she grew older, but her complexion remains the same.

Photos revealed by DailyMail.com from the early 2000s show Saraswati with a similar pale complexion, thin eyebrows and a light blush.

However, Saraswati's appearance began to change, as she publicly rejected her heritage and started to claim she was Latin, South Asian or of Arab descent.

'Rachel was a very sweet, loving child. She went to church with us and she belonged to several different church clubs,' the family member said.

'We all had the expectation that she was going to do great things because she was bright and politically astute but what we didn't know was it would be in a fraudulent manner.'

The relative told DailyMail.com that the entire family have been 'shocked' and 'saddened' by the entire situation believing that at one time they had been 'close to Saraswati.

In 2007, Saraswati herself told conservative media host Glenn Beck she was 'estranged' from her family, 'for reasons that I can't get into.'

'It's curious and bizarre,' the relative said.

'The comments to Glenn Beck were really bizarre because she said she was estranged from her family.

'I felt very sad because we thought, wrongly, that we were very close to Rachel and that she was a very bright, politically astute woman.

'She went about all of this the wrong way.

'There was no way we had no relationship with her. Her friends, who would continue to see us all, still asked us how she was doing and we embarrassingly had to admit we didn't know.'

The family have not spoken to Saraswati, who they say they last saw at her graduation, except for an alleged phone call in which she blasted her biological mother for revealing her true ancestry.

'We went to her graduation, had lunch with her and never saw her again.'

The family stressed that they have never tried to 'out' Saraswati's 'double life.'

'Her mother really had no influence on this information surfacing, her double life... we knew about it for a while and nobody tried to correct it,' they said.

'It came from people concerned about where she worked who suspected something wasn't quite right.

'We have always said it's a crazy, crazy situation and the people that we know and knew her growing up also agree that it's just crazy.'

Saraswati's early years were a stark contrast to the deceptive identity which took hold in the later years of her life

Family members of a race-faking white Muslim social justice activist have claimed she turned her back on her heritage after attending boarding school

The linchpin, an open letter from the anonymous group, provided an in-depth analysis of the 39-year-old's ancestry and her work, and expressed concern about her role.

They accused Saraswati - who converted to Islam in high school, and has since come out as gay - of 'cultural vulturism', and noted 'the shades of bronzer she applies to her face have become darker over time'.

The authors of the damning open letter called on AFSC to investigate 'why a member of its most senior leadership has so profoundly eroded trust among people of color'.

They noted her appearance on conservative-hosted shows, and asked: 'Are there external entities with whom Saraswati is collaborating?'

The case is being likened to that of Rachel Dolezal, a white woman, who in 2015 was exposed as having posed for years as black, rising to become president of an NAACP chapter in Spokane, Washington.

Saraswati's identity was first questioned by media commentator Sana Saeed, who tweeted in 2015: 'Can we talk about "Raquel Dolezal" in the Muslim community. Y'all know who I mean.'

The allegations were given fresh impetus this month. On February 10, the letter was published on Medium, and on February 16 The Intercept spoke to Saraswati's biological mother, Carol Perone, who confirmed her daughter was not a person of color.

'I call her Rachel,' said Perone. 'I don't know why she's doing what she's doing.'

Perone said her daughter is of 'British, German, and Italian descent'  not Latin, South Asian, or Arab as she claims.

'I'm as white as the driven snow and so is she,' she said.

Perone told the site that her daughter converted to Islam in high school, which likely informed her decision to present herself as another ethnicity.

'I'm German and British, and her father was Calabrese Italian,' her mother added.

'She's chosen to live a lie, and I find that very, very sad.'

Perone was adopted by Carl and Winifred Seidel, who ran a guesthouse in the Catskill mountains, in Windham, New York.

Saraswati's grandparent's were Ed Newman and Myrtle Burkhardt - an alcoholic of Alliance, Ohio, who had 18 children, and put most of them up for adoption, according to a 1988 newspaper report found by the authors of the letter.

Perone said Saraswati's father is now dead. She had a relationship with him before marrying Flory Perone, who died in 2006.

The family have not spoken to Saraswati, who they say they last saw at her graduation - except for an alleged phone call in which she blasted her biological mother following the deception surfacing

Saraswati appears to have begun claiming Indian ancestry around 2005. She is pictured celebrating the election of Kamala Harris, the first Indian American vice president

Saraswati was born in Paterson, New Jersey, and spent large amounts of time in Windham, where she attended school before being sent to boarding school in Troy, New York.

She studied at Simmons University in Boston, settling in Massachusetts and marrying her girlfriend, Anh Dao Kolbe in 2005.

In 2004, the couple was mentioned in a Boston Globe feature, in which Saraswati went by the name Seidel and said she was of Arab and Latin descent.

'Raquel Evita Seidel, 20, of Brookline, said she and her girlfriend, Anh Dao Kolbe, have been together nine months,' the author wrote.

'While they are confident they want to marry, they also want to take the time to plan something that respects Seidel's Arab and Latin traditions and 33-year-old Kolbe's Vietnamese traditions.

'We want it to be something special, not about hype and not about media,' Seidel said.'

Sometime around the time of the article, she switched her name to Saraswati. In 2005, she was performing belly dances under her new name.

Her wedding was featured in an article about Indian-American marriages.

The couple are now divorced, and Saraswati moved from Massachusetts to Pennsylvania, where she now lives.

She took on a higher profile after 9/11, appearing on Beck's show and in a 2013 film produced by the Clarion Project, an organization the Southern Poverty Law Center said specialized in 'rabidly anti-Muslim films.'

She worked with the American Islamic Forum for Democracy, another group that has been accused of promoting Islamophobia.
Alex Murdaugh has been found guilty of murdering his wife and son after a jury of seven men and five women spent less than three hours deliberating.

The disgraced legal scion, 54, showed no emotion on his face but was shaking as the unanimous verdict was read out at the Colleton County courthouse in Walterboro, South Carolina, following six weeks of harrowing testimony.

His only surviving son Buster, 26, was stony-faced and put his head in his hands. Murdaugh turned to face his son and sister Lynn as he was cuffed and led away. Neither his younger brother John Marvin, who testified earlier this week, nor his elder sibling Randy were in court.

Murdaugh, whose family has wielded immense judicial power in the region for three generations, brutally shot dead his wife Maggie, 52, and younger son Paul, 22, at the family's 1,800-acre hunting estate in Moselle on the night of June 7, 2021.

The disbarred attorney lied to cops about his alibi before making the sensational decision to take the stand where he changed his story to fit the damning evidence.

But the State convinced jurors with a video which proved he was at the scene just moments before he blasted Paul's brains out with a shotgun and mercilessly turned an assault rifle on his wife of 27 years, shooting Maggie five times.

Murdaugh will return for sentencing at 9.30am Friday. He faces 30 years to life in prison after being convicted of two counts of murder and two weapons charges.

Murdaugh is led out of the court by sheriff's deputies after being found guilty of murdering his wife and son

The disgraced legal scion, 54, shook as he stood while the verdict was read out at the Colleton County courthouse in Walterboro, South Carolina, following six weeks of harrowing testimony

His surviving son Buster appeared stony-faced and sat with his hand covering his mouth beside his girlfriend Brooklynn White who looked down at the ground

Murdaugh is led away in handcuffs after being convicted of shooting dead his wife Maggie and son Paul

Alex Murdaugh's sister Lynn looks emotional as she drives away from the courtroom

Buster, Paul, Maggie and Alex Murdaugh at Lake Kiwi in May 2021 to celebrate the birth of Maggie's niece's child. At the time of the killings, Buster was staying with his girlfriend near Charlotte

Prosecutor Creighton Waters was cheered by the public as he addressed a press conference outside the court, proclaiming: 'Justice was done today.

'It doesn't matter who your family is, it doesn't matter how much money you have or people think you have, it doesn't matter how prominent you are. If you do wrong and break the law and if you murder, then justice will be done in South Carolina.'

South Carolina Attorney General Alan Wilson said Maggie and Paul had been 'brutally murdered ... by someone that they loved and someone that they trusted.'

He paid tribute to his team for their work and said 'we can't bring them back but we can bring them justice.'

Murdaugh's defense attorney and friend Jim Griffin, who earlier broke down as he implored jurors not to find his client guilty, said: 'Obviously we're disappointed but until he's sentenced we will have no further comment.'

Judge Clifton Newman dismissed a defense move for a mistrial and thanked the jury for their finding. The judge said: 'The circumstantial evidence, direct evidence, all of the evidence pointed to one conclusion, and thats the conclusion that you all reached.'

Murdaugh, who wept throughout the trial as the jury were told in gruesome detail how his wife and son were brutally executed and shown harrowing images of the crime scene, gave a blank expression as the judge spoke to the court.

His eldest son Buster, who sat behind his father every day during the trial and testified for the defense, put his head in his hands.

As he was cuffed by sheriff's deputies Murdaugh turned to face his son Buster and sister Lynn. He then shook hands with his attorney Dick Harpootlian, a Democratic State Senator, and was escorted out of the room.

Murdaugh was loaded into the back of the black prison van which brings him to and from court everyday and ferried to the local Colleton County jail where he has been remanded in custody throughout the trial.

Buster Murdaugh, the son of Alex Murdaugh, listens as Alex Murdaugh's verdict is read at the Colleton County Courthouse in Walterboro, S.C., Thursday

Murdaugh is taken away by cops tonight. He will be sentenced in the morning

South Carolina Attorney General Alan Wilson said Maggie and Paul had been 'brutally murdered ... by someone that they loved and someone that they trusted.' He paid tribute to his team for their work and said 'we can't bring them back but we can bring them justice.'

Prosecutor Creighton Waters was cheered by the public as he addressed a press conference outside the court, proclaiming: 'Justice was done today. 'It doesn't matter who your family is, it doesn't matter how much money you have or people think you have, it doesn't matter how prominent you are. If you do wrong and break the law and if you murder, then justice will be done in South Carolina'

Murdaugh is led away after being convicted of the brutal murders of his wife and son

Murdaugh is taken away in handcuffs to the prison van

Murdaugh looks stony-faced as he is escorted from the courthouse late on Thursday

Murdaugh is taken away by cops after being found guilty of Maggie and Paul's brutal killings

Alex Murdaugh fiercely denied executing his wife and son when he sensationally took the stand to defend himself last week against his own lawyers' advice.

He wept as he admitted to jurors that he had lied about being at the crime scene minutes before they were slain - but blamed his paranoia brought on a crippling opioid habit and a mistrust of the police.

Murdaugh said: 'I would never intentionally do anything to hurt either of them. Ever. Ever,' he sobbed. 'I didn't shoot my wife or son, ever.'

'Oh what a tangled web we weave. Once I told a lie, and I told my family, I had to keep lying,' he added.

But prosecutor Waters exploded Murdaugh's 'new story' by playing bodycam footage from the local cop who was first on the scene in which he was seen already lying about the last time he saw Maggie and Paul.

Waters yesterday told jurors in his closing argument: 'The pressures on this man were unbearable and they were all reaching a crescendo the day his wife and son were murdered by him.'

On the day of the killings, Murdaugh had been confronted over $792,000 that had gone 'missing' from a recent case. In the subsequent months it would be revealed that he had stolen more than $10m from clients and partners at his firm.

Three days after the killings he was due in court for a hearing in a lawsuit over his son's drunken boat crash in which a teen girl had died two years earlier.

The family patriarch, Randolph III, who Murdaugh had continually turned to for massive six-figure loans and relied upon emotionally, was badly ill with cancer. He died three days after the murders.

Compounding this, prosecutors say Murdaugh's opioid pill habit was spiraling and on the defendant's own admission, 'withdrawals would make him do anything.'

Waters told jurors: 'Nobody knew who this man was. He avoided accountability his whole life, he had relied on his family name, he had a powerful family, he carried a badge and used that in authority, he lived a wealthy life - but now finally he was was facing complete ruin.

He added that the legal scion 'is the kind of person for whom shame is an extraordinary provocation' and faced with financial ruin which his 'ego couldn't stand ... he became a family annihilator.'

He concluded the speech with the fervent plea: 'This defendant has fooled everyone, everyone. Everyone who thought they were close to him he's fooled them all and he fooled Maggie and Paul too and they paid for it with their lives. Don't let him fool you too.'

Murdaugh walking out of the courthouse after the jury delivered his guilty verdict

Murdaugh says goodbye to his defense attorney Dick Harpootlian as cops lead him out of the courtroom

Murdaugh is cuffed and led away by sheriff's deputies after he was found guilty

Murdaugh is led away by sheriff's deputies after the jury delivered its verdict

Maggie's body was found a few yards to the right of a doghouse, while Paul's was by the doorway at the end of the kennels

WHERE MAGGIE DIED: A pool of blood outside the kennels where Maggie Murdaugh was shot dead with two AR bullets to the head

Two of the family dogs - who appear to be Bubba and Maggie - based on descriptions in court - are seen in the kennels on the Moselle Road property on June 7, 2021 when Alex Murdaugh's wife Maggie and son Paul Murdaugh were shot and killed

WHERE PAUL DIED: Blood spatters on the floor inside the storage room at the kennels where Paul Murdaugh was shot dead. He was killed with a shot to the chest and a second to the head

Buster, Maggie, Paul and Alex Murdaugh in a photo the mother posted for Father's Day in 2020

Murdaugh's lawyer places a hand on his shoulder to comfort him as he sobs. The 30-minute interview took place around 1am - about four hours after the killings - inside a state agent's vehicle

In closing arguments earlier on Thursday, Murdaugh's lawyer accused investigators of fabricating evidence.

He said the South Carolina Law Enforcement Division (SLED), the state's version of the FBI, failed to secure the crime scene and examine key evidence that could have exonerated Murdaugh, and instead focused on him due to scrutiny over his financial misdeeds.

'That made him an easy, easy, easy target for SLED,' Jim Griffin said, arguing Murdaugh could have been ruled out as a suspect. 'SLED failed miserably in investigating this case.'

Murdaugh's lawyers tried to paint their client as a loving family man who, while facing financial difficulties and suffering from an opioid addiction that led him to lie and steal, would never harm his wife and child.

They floated alternative theories, with Murdaugh testifying that he believed someone angry over a deadly 2019 boating accident involving Paul likely sought revenge on his son.

Griffin described the State's alleged motive as preposterous, arguing the murders would only draw more scrutiny, not less, to the allegations of Murdaugh's financial misdeeds.

Buster Murdaugh sat with his head in his hands as his father Alex Murdaugh was found guilty of murdering Maggie and Paul

Buster Murdaugh, his girlfriend Brooklynn White and Alex's sister Lynn

Buster Murdaugh, his girlfriend Brooklynn White and Alex's sister Lynn arrive at the court Thursday

Murdaugh's lawyer Jim Griffin and family friend looks on as the jury delivers a guilty verdict

Griffin repeatedly highlighted the high legal bar in criminal cases of proving guilt beyond a reasonable doubt, underscoring the challenge for prosecutors who have built their case on circumstantial rather than direct evidence.

'If there's any reasonable cause for you to hesitate to write 'guilty,' then the law requires you to write 'not guilty,'' he said.

Griffin also outlined a handful of examples where he alleges the state fabricated evidence. They included the claim that Murdaugh had high-velocity blood spatter on his shirt, an assertion contradicted by testing by SLED.

Among the state's strongest evidence is Murdaugh's admission from the stand last week that he'd lied about his whereabouts on the night of the killings, telling investigators he wasn't at the dog kennels before the murders.

Murdaugh changed his account after the jury listened to audio evidence placing him at the crime scene minutes before it occurred.

Griffin attacked the in his closing argument, saying 'there is nothing to indicate any strife or anger' in the footage. In fact, it showed a family 'doing what families do.'

'Four minutes later the State would have you believe that Mr Murdaugh blows his sons brains out of his head and murders his wife,' he added.
By the time Salman Abedi detonated a bomb at an Ariana Grande concert in May 2017, killing 22 innocents, he had already been on the radar of the security services for seven years.

The Manchester bomber had first been flagged by MI5 in 2010 when he was just 15 years old, the first in a long line of brushes with anti-terror agencies.

These included his decision to travel to Libya and his subsequent evacuation by the Royal Navy, and spies intercepting his apparent connections with ISIS and Al Qaeda.

Below are all 23 times he appeared on the radar of Britain's security agencies from 2010 to 2017:

By the time Salman Abedi detonated a bomb at an Ariana Grande concert in May 2017, killing 22 innocents, he had already been on the radar of the security services for seven years

The Manchester bomber (pictured making his way to the arena) had first been flagged by MI5 in 2010 when he was just 15 years old, the first in a long line of brushes with anti-terror agencies

December 2010: Abedi first comes to MI5s attention seven years earlier, aged 15, when an address linked to him becomes relevant in an investigation.

2011: MI5 and counter-terror police are told Abedi may be going to Syria but conclude he had briefly gone to Europe.

November 2011: Ramadan Abedi, Salmans father, subject to ports checks at Manchester airport and Dover on return from Libya. Once, Salman was with him.

December 2013: Abedi mistakenly considered to be an individual seen alongside a subject of interest under investigation for planning to join Isis in Syria.

March 2014: Salman is made low-level MI5 subject of interest for four months after contacting a suspect by phone.

July 2014: Then 19, Salman and younger brother Hashem, 17, travel to Libya but are evacuated on August 4 by HMS Enterprise, without any security debrief.

August 2014: Suspected Isis recruiter Abdalraouf Abdallah exchanged 1,300 messages with person called Salman.

2015: Abedis phone is linked to an Al Qaeda suspect under investigation for arranging travel to Syria.

2015: MI5 told about Abedis contact with Libyan-linked subject of interest.

February 2015: Abedi visited Abdallah on remand in Londons Belmarsh prison, prompting MI5 and police probes.

May 2015: MI5 considered investigating Salman and another individual. He was treated as an informal subject of interest involved in funding terrorism.

September 2015: Salmans older brother, Ismail Abedi, is stopped at Heathrow on return from Malaysian honeymoon. Radical material is found on his phone.

September 2015: Salman and Hashem go on a pilgrimage to Saudi Arabia, which friends call a turning point for Hashem, who became a bomb-maker.

October 2015: Abedis status as a subject of interest is reopened and closed within a day after MI5 found a link with senior Libyan Isis figure  later clarified as being via a third person.

November 2015: Salman travels to Germany via Paris  days before Isis-inspired terror attack killed 130 people in the French capital. MI5 initially believed he was attempting to reach Syria, later discounted as unlikely.

April 2016: Abedi revealed as contact of a contact of an MI5 subject suspected of funding an Isis fighter in Syria.

May 2016: Manchester airport informs police after Abedi is seen activating a boarding card for a flight to Istanbul  a well-known transit point to Syria  next to a suspicious individual.

Early 2017: Two pieces of intelligence received by MI5 about Abedi. He may have been thwarted if the intelligence was acted upon, inquiry concludes.

January 2017: Bomber appeared as a second-level contact of individual who was being investigated due to previous travel to Syria, and Isis links.

January 2017: He and two associates visit Abdallah in HMP Altcourse. MI5 are informed. That day, Abedi orders his first bomb-making chemicals.

March 2017: Abedi flagged as a potential terrorist by a security services computer programme, following intelligence received in 2016.

April 2017: Abedi is again flagged up as a second-level contact of a subject under investigation for links to a recruiter and facilitator for Isis in Libya.

May 2017: Salman Abedi is one of 26 individuals considered for further low-level investigations by MI5, with a meeting scheduled for May 31 to discuss his case. He detonates bomb on May 22.

Arena families' fury at MI5 errors

By James Tozer and Richard Marsden

The father of the youngest victim of the Manchester Arena bombing last night rejected an apology from the head of MI5 over his spies missed chance to foil the plot.

In a rare on-camera statement, the agencys director general, Ken McCallum, said he was profoundly sorry that the May 2017 attack that claimed 22 lives was not prevented.

But retired High Court judge Sir John Saunders, chairman of the inquiry into the atrocity, yesterday accused MI5 of a significant missed opportunity to stop it, leaving loved ones of those killed furious.

Mr McCallum insisted there had been only a slim chance that officers could have learnt Salman Abedi was planning his attack as a concert by pop star Ariana Grande finished. But Andrew Roussos, 49, whose eight-year-old daughter Saffie-Rose was among the victims, said evidence showed MI5 had loads of chances.

Abedi had been on the authorities radar at least 23 times since 2010.

Saffie-Rose Roussos: Aged eight, she was the youngest of those killed

Blasting Mr McCallum for not taking responsibility for your own actions, Mr Roussos said the report uncovered a cataclysmic failure by MI5 which demonstrated that the agency was not fit to keep us safe and therefore not fit for purpose.

How can he apologise for losing my eight-year-old daughter when the evidence is so strong? he told Sky News. In the apology, he states there was a slim chance. I find that quite insulting when the evidence shows from 2010 right up to 2017 they didnt have a slim chance, they had loads of chances.

While thanking Sir John for his thoroughness, Mr Roussos said the report had not been sufficiently hard-hitting.

He spoke as bungling spies were also slammed by mothers of victims Liam Curry, 19, and his girlfriend Chloe Rutherford, 17, for playing a part in the murder of our children. Caroline Curry and Lisa Rutherford said they could never forgive the spy agency following the publication of the third and final report of the public inquiry.

Had MI5 acted on two pieces of intelligence they were given and so put the bomber under surveillance, they could have uncovered his plan, Sir John said.

The nature of the information MI5 received about Abedi was given to the inquiry behind closed doors, so may never be made public. In an excoriating attack after the report was published, Mrs Curry, 52, said: From top to bottom, MI5 to the associates of the attacker, we will always believe that you all played a part in the murder of our children.

The first report, published in 2021 focused on security at the Arena and highlighted missed opportunities to identify Abedi as a threat before he detonated his device.

The second, unveiled last November, exposed how shocking failings by emergency services left victims of the blast dying without dignity  and said there was a chance that two, including Saffie-Rose, could have survived with better care.

So many people being paid that night to protect our kids, and yet so many failed in their duties, said a tearful Mrs Curry, of South Shields. Professionals that had responsibility but clearly had other priorities. Security staff that even when told of the danger failed to act appropriately. Once again, well never forgive you. As well as killing 22, plus Abedi, the backpack blast left hundreds injured.

Sir John highlighted how the two pieces of information about Abedi in the run-up to the attack were assessed by MI5 not to relate to terrorism  despite him being on its radar for seven years.

In closed hearings, the spy involved admitted they considered one to represent a possible pressing national security concern  but did not discuss it with colleagues straight away and did not write up a report on the same day.

In his 207-page report, Sir John said MI5 had failed to act swiftly enough  and that the delay led to the missing of an opportunity to take a potentially important investigative action.

Abedi was then on a month-long trip to Libya where Sir John concluded he received specific training in how to assemble an IED (improvised explosive device).

Had the intelligence been investigated  which Sir John concluded should have happened  Abedi could have been placed under surveillance on his return from Libya four days before the bombing.

In addition, spies could have followed Abedi to the car he used to hide a quantity of TATP, known as mother of Satan, the explosive used in the bomb.

Had these steps happened, the inquiry head said, the attack might have been prevented.

Sir John said the threat posed by radicalised boys from Libyan families such as Abedi and his brother Hashem, who is serving a life sentence with a minimum term of 55 years for assisting in the attack, had been known since 2010.

The chairmans recommendations to security services will be published in a confidential document later. In response, Mr McCallum said: I deeply regret such intelligence was not obtained. Gathering covert intelligence is difficult  but had we managed to seize the slim chance we had, those impacted might not have experienced such appalling loss and trauma.

I am profoundly sorry that MI5 did not prevent the attack.

Promising to act on Sir Johns forthcoming recommendations, he added: We will continue to do everything in our power to keep our country safe from hidden threats. MI5 exists to stop atrocities.

Andy Burnham, Labour mayor of Greater Manchester, said the three volumes had exposed that the country was not prepared for a terrorist attack of this nature in a city like ours. And Head of Counter Terrorism Policing Matt Jukes said he was sorry that despite the organisations determined partnership with MI5, we did not stop the loss of life, in 2017.

Meanwhile, the Prime Ministers spokesman said that the Government was committed to learning the lessons of this inquiry.
Less than 24 hours earlier, civil servants had been partying in Downing Street

Boris Johnson made the decision to implement Tier 4 Covid lockdowns - ruining Christmas plans for millions of Brits - while senior civil servants partied the night away in Downing St, leaked WhatsApp messages reveal.

A No10 Christmas party raged on December 18, 2020, which saw civil servants spill wine on the walls of the press office and partygoers leave the carnage to attend 'official meetings' according to Sue Gray's Partygate report.

All the while, the then Prime Minister was sat in the Cabinet room drawing up plans to announce that regular citizens in high-risk areas were to stay at home.

The timing of the party was revealed by time stamps on WhatsApp messages exchanged between then Health Secretary Matt Hancock and Simon Case, the then permanent secretary at the Cabinet Office, according to The Daily Telegraph who obtained the messages.

MailOnline has contacted No10, the Cabinet Office and Boris Johnson for comment.

Britain's Prime Minister Boris Johnson speaks during a news conference in response to the ongoing situation with the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic, inside 10 Downing Street on December 19, 2020 in London, England

A No. 10 Christmas party raged on December 18, 2020, which saw civil servants spill wine on the walls of the press office and partygoers leave the carnage to attend 'official meetings' according to Sue Gray's Partygate report (Johnson pictured at a lockdown party)

Hours after the No. 10 party on December 18, Johnson addressed the nation, telling people they were facing reinforced restrictions and that they could no longer travel.

'First, we will introduce new restrictions in the most affected areas  specifically those parts of London, the South East and the East of England which are currently in tier 3,' the then Prime Minister said.

'These areas will enter a new tier 4... that means residents in those areas must stay at home, apart from limited exemptions set out in law.

'Second, we are issuing new advice on travel... We are asking everyone, in all tiers, to stay local.'

This advice came less than 24 hours after civil servants were quaffing booze in the halls of Downing St - and just three days after Johnson had told the nation that 'it would not be right to criminalise people who have made plans and simply want to spend time with their loved ones [at Christmas].'

The sickening revelation comes as messages revealed that Matt Hancock said the Government must 'get heavy with the police' to make them crack down on lockdown rule-breakers and gave senior police officers 'their marching orders' to enforce restrictions.

Hancock made the second comment days before No 10 staff held an illicit party at Downing Street. The leaked texts to The Daily Telegraph also reveal that senior officers were hauled into No 10 to be told they should be stricter with the public.

This is despite ministers claiming at the time that the police were operationally independent of the Government.

On August 28, 2020, Case asked Hancock: 'Who is actually delivering enforcement?'

The Government must 'get heavy with the police' to make them crack down on lockdown rule-breakers, Matt Hancock said during the pandemic

This is despite ministers claiming at the time that the police were operationally independent of the Government (file image)

On August 28, 2020, Case asked Hancock: 'Who is actually delivering enforcement?' Hancock replied: 'I think we are going to have to get heavy with the police'

Hancock replied: 'I think we are going to have to get heavy with the police.'

After a meeting on January 10, 2021, one week after England entered its third national lockdown, Hancock texted about how 'the plod got their marching orders'.

The meeting was attended by Boris Johnson, then home secretary Priti Patel and Case, who is now the Cabinet Secretary.

On January 14, a gathering was held in No 10 to mark the departure of two private secretaries. The Metropolitan Police later said this event breached the rules in place at the time.

It also emerged that Johnson feared he had 'blinked too soon' by plunging Britain into a second lockdown during the pandemic.

The then prime minister made the observation in private messages after being told that modelling he had been shown predicting death numbers was 'very wrong'.

The messages, leaked by journalist Isabel Oakeshott, who was a ghost-writer on Hancock's Pandemic Diaries, show he expressed the fear on November 1, 2020, a day after he announced a national lockdown would come into force a few days later.

Despite his fears, the lockdown went ahead and lasted for a month.

The messages raise fresh questions about whether ministers were making decisions about curbing people's freedoms based on the science, as they always insisted. It also raises the prospect that people were forced to abide by draconian restrictions for more time than was necessary.

In one message on November 1 that year, Johnson said he had held an online conference call with scientists Dr Raghib Ali and Dr Carl Heneghan.

He told those in the messaging group that Dr Heneghan had said 'the death modelling you have been shown is already very wrong' because it was out of date due to having been drawn up three weeks previously.

The previous day, Johnson had announced an impending national lockdown, justifying the decision by pointing to public modelling that 4,000 people could die daily without action. But this data projected what could happen in the event of no restrictions being ordered.

The then PM shared a link in the exchanges suggesting that the modelling was out by a factor of four, with a newer Cambridge study suggesting 1,000 deaths a day would occur.

Referring to the idea that ministers could be criticised for announcing a lockdown too early, Johnson wrote: 'The attack is going to be that we blinked too soon.' Previous messages reveal how Johnson was told that lifting curbs earlier than planned was not in line with what the public wanted.

A message Johnson sent to Hancock on June 6, 2020, said he was 'thinking hard about the 15th June'. On June 15, ministers were planning on opening non-essential retail premises. But Johnson's message suggested he wanted to go further and remove more restrictions.

However, he was warned by his senior media advisers Lee Cain and James Slack not to do so. Johnson said they 'still think the whole package will be too far ahead of public opinion'.
New laws to tackle the small boats crisis are due to be unveiled next week as Rishi Sunak aims to capitalise on the momentum from his Brexit breakthrough.

The long-awaited measures, provisionally titled the Illegal Migration Bill, will set out a wide range of tough laws to combat arrivals across the Channel.

The Bill is expected to be published ahead of a summit between the Prime Minister and French president Emmanuel Macron on Friday.

There is now a political imperative to seize upon the opportunities that have been provided by the Northern Ireland Protocol, a source said.

The momentum is such that details of the small boats Bill are likely to be agreed in government very quickly. Ministers want to sort it and get it done.

New laws to tackle the small boats crisis are due to be unveiled next week. Pictured: A group of migrants arrive at Dover on February 21

Home Secretary Suella Braverman, pictured on February 20, is expected to spend this weekend finalising the final details of the laws

Home Secretary Suella Braverman is expected to spend this weekend finalising the final details of the laws - which will be closely based on a series of pledges made by the PM in December to stop the boats.

Mr Sunak vowed then that the Government would make unambiguously clear that if you enter the UK illegally you should not be able to remain here.

It comes after nearly 46,000 migrants crossed the Channel by small boat last year, a huge rise on the 28,500 seen in 2021.

The package of legislation will strengthen existing laws setting out that anyone entering the UK illegally is committing a crime.

Read more: More than 8,600 Afghan migrants reached the UK by boat last year - a six-fold increase on 2021, report reveals 8,633 Afghan migrants reached the UK by boat last year - a six-fold increase on 2021, a report has revealed Advertisement

It is thought this will help meet Mr Sunaks pledge to detain or remove anyone who arrives in Britain by irregular routes, such as across the Channel by small boat.

The Bill is also expected to strengthen measures which allow asylum applications to be declared inadmissible.

It may also bar Channel migrants from appealing against deportation - and is expected to include specific clauses to prevent them lodging claims under human rights laws.

There have previously been reports that the Home Office will be granted new powers to carry out removals even if objections are lodged by the European Court of Human Rights.

Strasbourg judges blocked the Home Offices first attempt at a removals flight to Rwanda last June by issuing an interim injunction.

Justice Secretary Dominic Raab has argued strongly that members of the Convention are not bound by such injunctions, because they were devised by the court itself and do not rely on powers within the treaty.

The new Bill is also expected to underpin the principle of sending irregular migrants to a safe third country such as Rwanda.

The legislation is also expected to tighten modern slavery laws which are being exploited by criminal gangs to delay police investigations and by migrants to avoid removal.

The PM has vowed to raise the threshold for modern slavery claims so that objective evidence of exploitation is required rather than mere suspicion.

It came as Home Office figures revealed that modern slavery claims reached a record high last year  boosted by an 84 per cent surge in Albanians claiming.

There were 16,938 modern slavery claims in 2022  up 33 per cent on the previous year. Of those, 4,613 were from Albanian nationals.

There is widespread concern that modern slavery laws are being exploited by migrants who arrive here illegally to delay being removed from the country.
Many residents took to the stand to detail their harrowing stories of them and their children falling ill and projectile vomiting from the side effects

They also questioned: 'Where's Alan?' as the railroad CEO Alan Shaw failed to once again show up in the small town

Emotions ran high at the town hall meeting on Thursday evening in East Palestine as residents yelled at an EPA representative not to 'lie to them'

East Palestine resident erupted in anger after Norfolk Southern CEO fails to show up again at the town hall meeting as his representative told the crowd the company 'feels horrible' about the crash.

Emotions ran high at the town hall meeting on Thursday evening in East Palestine as residents yelled at an EPA representative not to 'lie to them' and they questioned: 'Where's Alan?' as the railroad CEO Alan Shaw failed to once again show up in the small town.

This is the second time the CEO, who makes $4.5million, has failed to show up for East Palestine residents, as he did not show up to the meeting two weeks after the derailment.

Many residents took to the stand to detail their harrowing stories of children falling ill and projectile vomiting from the side effects of the February 3 train derailment, as well as those who have lost everything from property value to farm animals.

Despite the evacuation orders being lifted for several weeks, community members are still calling for a reevaluation, as many do not believe the symptoms they are feeling and environmental disaster they are witnessing with their own eyes is safe.

'By the grace of god, get our people out of here,' one anger patron said at the end of the very heated meeting.

'How long is that going to take, I'm watching my family slowly dying in front of my eyes? It's been a month,' an angry mother questioned.

Another woman, who lives in the area, said the derailment has effected her on 'every level.' She said: 'This has touched my family, this has touched my friends, this has touched my farm, this has touched my animals, this has touched my finances, and this has touched my home. And it will touch me to the cellular level when I get diagnosed with cancer or ALS or whatever is going to come down the road if I stay in this contaminated, toxic town.

'And you all know it,' she said. 'Norfolk is a goliath and we are no match.'

An angered East Palestine resident walked up to the stage during the Town Hall to address the Norfolk representative Darrel Wilson (pictured in black vest)

Emotions ran high at the town hall meeting on Thursday evening in East Palestine as residents yelled at an EPA representative not to 'lie to them' and they questioned: 'Where's Alan?' as the railroad CEO Alan Shaw failed to once again show up in the small town

Many residents took to the stand to detail their harrowing stories of children falling ill and projectile vomiting from the side effects of the February 3 train derailment, as well as those who have lost everything from property value to farm animals

A child even spoke to the panel about the train derailment

Several residents also complained at the town hall meeting that they were struggling to get someone to their homes to tests for chemicals, despite the EPA representative saying the agency has tested nearly 600 homes.

'The EPA Region 5's number one priority is and always will be the health and safety in communities across the region and those that live here,' the representative said.

She also said the EPA is monitoring air quality at 16 stations in the community and said the agency has 'not detected any volatile compounds above levels of health concern in the community that are attributed to the train derailment.' The comment garnered a round of boos from the crowd.

'Don't lie to us!' one man yelled at out.

One man from a surrounding town said his 'skin fall off' after touching a soil machine.

When he described the horrific moment, Norfolk Southern representative Darrell Wilson didn't have much to say, besides: 'Seek medical attention.'

A representative for the railroad, Darrell Wilson, (pictured at the stand) said they are 'ready to start at 6am tomorrow' to begin removing contaminated soil from underneath their tracks. It is unclear when the operation will begin.

Norfolk CEO Alan Shaw was a no-show at Thursday night's town hall meeting in East Palestine, as several citizens yelled at: 'Where's Alan?'

Several residents took to the stand to reiterate to those involved with the clean-up that their families are unable to return to the town due to becoming 'violently ill,' which many experiencing headaches and projectile vomiting since the train derailment (pictured)

Several residents were quick to share how they still are unable to come back, despite the evacuation order being lifted.

Long-term resident, Josh, who has spent his whole life in East Palestine, revealed that his family of five were crammed into one bedroom, sleeping on a single air mattress at his brother's home because it is unsafe to return to his own home.

'It's the only place I've got, I can't afford to go nowhere,' he said. 'Why? Because I have a home, I own it, I've put my life into it.

'You know just like we know, what happened here was catastrophic, it's not going to get better overnight. We have people living here. Do you live here?' he questioned the panel. 'You can tell us and treat us like we're children, tell us about the statistics, the point is, you've got a chemical disaster like this, exploding, the dioxins, it's there, you can't say it's not.

'If this happened to your grandchildren or your children, you'd pull them [out of here], but you're letting people stay here or you're covering it up,' he said. 'The reality is we got to get out...You can't leave here while it's happening, because it's not going to get better until it's gone.'

Josh has spent the last 15 years 'trying to build myself up' in the small town and 'put everything we've got into our home.'

'I love this town more than anyone else,' he said several times.

Another woman, who lives a mile from the derailment, claims people are becoming so ill by the derailment that they're 'driving down the road looking like they're driving under the influence.'

'I've watched six or seven people in 10 minutes swerve and almost hit people and cars parked,' she said.

She also said she becomes ill after only 30 minutes inside her home.

'You're telling me it's okay for me to bring my kids into my house, when after 30 minutes I'm there I throw up, my mouth goes numb, I can't think properly, my head pounds so hard it takes three hours from when I leave the area for it to dissipate,' she said.

'I know for a fact that you're all experienced a symptom, you know you have,' she told the panel. 'You leave and it goes away...I'm struck.'

Another man said he and his wife 'are concerned our property is a total loss,' and despite it 'tearing our hearts up to leave it,' they can't sell it because of the derailment.

Another father revealed his child 'threw up the second I got him home.'

'The second I got him on the top bunk, he projectile vomited,' the father said.

One of the representatives on the panel said they are collecting health data from the area, but it would take three weeks.

Now, clean-up workers are falling ill, as well. Workers aiding in the cleanup of toxic materials at a train derailment site are falling ill with migraines and nausea.

The revelation came in the form of a letter from labor leaders to the White House and Ohio's governor on Wednesday that claimed workers may have been willingly exposed to harmful chemicals at the direction of Norfolk Southern, the company that owns the derailed freighter.

Within hours, the letter led to a meeting between the union heads and Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg in Washington on Wednesday to discuss the February 3 derailment - and its potential repercussions.

Officials confirmed on Thursday that the meeting centered around potential improvements to rail safety, as well as the 40 workers ordered to the clean-up site in East Palestine last month, and their aforementioned symptoms.

Meanwhile, Norfolk Southern continues to face scrutiny over the incident. The company's CEO is poised to testify before the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee next week, amid calls for renewed rail safety regulations.

His company has publicly promised to clean up an estimated 30,000 truckloads of toxic waste wrought by the wreck, while vowing to invest in East Palestine 'for the long-term.'

Despite the promise to invest in the small town, residents are not happen with Shaw's attendance record, nor his company's plan on how to clean up the spill.

There will be another town hall next Thursday, according to the mayor (pictured)

Wilson said they are 'ready to start at 6am tomorrow' to begin removing contaminated soil from underneath their tracks. It is unclear when the operation will begin.

Residents, however, are unhappy, as their farmland and residential areas are still contaminated, they claim.

'We're going to clean up the site, we're going to test,' Wilson said on Thursday evening. He also claimed that it took so long to be begin clean-up because it took some time to 'find where [the contamination] is.'

Now, clean-up workers are falling ill, as well. Workers aiding in the cleanup of toxic materials at a train derailment site are falling ill with migraines and nausea

The sky after authorities released chemicals into the air during a controlled release a few days after the derailment

To which residents screamed back: 'It's everywhere!'

The plan by Norfolk Southern is to dig up the South track first, remove the contaminated soil, and them move onto the North track, where the cars derailed. Residents, however, are concerned that if both tracks are taken care of at the same time, the South side will become contaminated again.

Residents are requesting trains stop being run on those tracks until the clean-up is finished, but Wilson seemed irritated by the suggestion.

The train derailed on February 3 and hasn't been fully cleaned up a month later (pictured: the derailment on February 24)

The EPA has ordered Norfolk Southern to test for dioxins. If high enough levels are found, the rail company will be ordered to immediately clean it up

'You said you wanted to dig it up, so we have a plan to do that,' Wilson said in an icy tone. 'It's simple engineering.'

The EPA has ordered Norfolk Southern to test for dioxins. In a press release today, the agency said: '[The] EPA will require Norfolk Southern to conduct a background study to compare any dioxin levels around East Palestine to dioxin levels in other areas not impacted by the train derailment.'

If dioxin levels are found to be high in the area, the EPA will order an immediate clean-up.

'In response to concerns shared with me by residents, EPA will require Norfolk Southern to sample directly for dioxins under the agencys oversight and direct the company to conduct immediate clean up if contaminants from the derailment are found at levels that jeopardize peoples health,' EPA Administrator Michael S. Regan read in the press release.
It is impossible to exaggerate the importance to good government of a scrupulously impartial civil service.

So when top mandarin Sue Grays report into Partygate lambasted failings in Downing Street, which played a major role in Boris Johnsons downfall as prime minister, her credibility rested on her supposed unimpeachable neutrality.

Now we discover shes not just an ardent Labour supporter, she is soon to be a key player in Sir Keir Starmers inner circle.

Until her shock resignation yesterday, she was entrusted with sensitive information by the Tory Government. As Starmers chief of staff, she will be in charge of his campaign to bring it down at the next election.

Ms Grays move not only casts doubt on her integrity, it also casts doubt on the legitimacy of her Partygate findings. Allies of Mr Johnson are already convinced he was nobbled by an Establishment and Left-wing stitch-up in revenge for Brexit.

DAILY MAIL COMMENT: Ms Grays move not only casts doubt on her integrity, it also casts doubt on the legitimacy of her Partygate findings

Equally disturbing, her damning report into lockdown-flouting parties at No 10 is being treated as crucial evidence by the Commons privileges committee investigating whether Mr Johnson misled Parliament

Equally disturbing, her damning report into lockdown-flouting parties at No 10 is being treated as crucial evidence by the Commons privileges committee investigating whether Mr Johnson misled Parliament. If it finds him guilty, he could lose his seat. But how can he trust that hell get a fair hearing?

In hindsight, perhaps Ms Grays defection shouldnt have been such a surprise. After all, the barrister who advised her on the Partygate probe was a card-carrying Labour activist and militant Remainer who expressed hostility to the PM online.

The truth is, these people are not honest brokers. The civil service is steeped in Left-wing (and anti-Brexit) bias, which is why it is so resistant to implementing Tory policies.

As for Starmer, he is a weapons-grade hypocrite. How important it is, he bleats, for bureaucrats to be non-partisan.

His cloth-eared stupidity in so cynically offering Ms Gray a job is breathtaking. This whole unedifying episode truly stinks.

A decent Brexit deal?

There is a maxim in politics that contains much wisdom. Commonly attributed to Voltaire, it cautions against letting perfect be the enemy of the good.

Rishi Sunak will be hoping the DUP and hardline Brexiteers show such pragmatism rather than undermining his Northern Ireland deal in the name of unionist purity.

But there is another saying the Mail also agrees with: Dont try to pull the wool over voters eyes. Because theyre not stupid.

Yes, the Windsor Framework has many things to admire. Bureaucracy hindering trade between Britain and Northern Ireland is mostly being dismantled. Unnecessary obstacles around the movement of medicines, pets and plants have been cleared.

Rishi Sunak, pictured on March 1, will be hoping the DUP and hardline Brexiteers show such pragmatism rather than undermining his Northern Ireland deal in the name of unionist purity

The Prime Minister deserves great credit for these achievements, which should materially improve life for families and businesses in the province.

Unfortunately, No 10 has accompanied the agreement with lashings of spin. Listening to Mr Sunak, youd think it was nothing less than the Second Coming.

Yet the EU retains a right to interfere in Northern Irelands laws, VAT and state aid and the European Court of Justice remains the arbiter of trade disputes.

Its hardly surprising, then, that some think the deal looks less like a new car than the same old model with a fresh lick of paint.

After a level-headed and forensic analysis of the detail, Boris Johnson was entitled to say he would find it difficult to vote for.

He was right that Mr Sunaks pact will be for nothing if we dont now make the most of Brexit by turbo-charging the economy  starting with cutting corporation tax.

But hes also correct that people have other priorities, including the cost of living and Channel migrants. After seven years of Brexit squabbling, most just want to move on.

So the real question to answer on Mr Sunaks deal is this: Its plainly not perfect. But is it good enough?
A male employee allegedly raped a 79-year-old female resident at an Adelaide aged care home three times in the past two months, police say.

The 47-year-old man worked at the same southern suburbs home where he allegedly raped the elderly woman.

Police will allege the man, from Adelaide's eastern suburbs, sexually assaulted her three times in January and February.

Following an investigation by South Australian Police, detectives arrested the man on Friday, 24 February and charged him with three counts of rape.

A male employee raped a 79-year-old female resident at an Adelaide aged care home three times in the past two months, police say.

He was bailed to appear in the Christies Beach Magistrates Court on 30 March, 2023.

The arrest comes after another case of aged care worker in Western Australia faced three charges for the sexual assaults of women aged 71, 84 and 93 in residential homes.

The alleged assaults took place between July 2022 and January 2023.
One of Australia's leading Catholic figures has invited panelists and staff from The Project to attend his church to 'better understand' Christian beliefs in the wake of a lewd Jesus joke that made it to air.

Backlash against the prime-time Channel 10 program is growing after queer comedian Reuben Kaye made an X-rated joke about the crucifixion of Jesus when he appeared as a guest on Tuesday night.

He spoke about the hate he receives from members of the public - and Christians in particular - for being gay and wearing drag, and then joked: 'I love Jesus. I love any man who can get nailed for three days straight and come back for more!'

The shocking gag prompted laughter from several panelists, including host Sarah Harris.

She and co-host Waleed Aly issued a grovelling apology the next night, which has done little to quell growing calls for the program to be cancelled.

Sydney Archbishop Anthony Fisher has expressed deep disappointment about the 'inappropriate' ridiculing of Christian beliefs and wrote to Channel 10 owners Paramount ANZ.

Public backlash against The Project continues. Pictured is host Sarah Harris laughing at the lewd Jesus joke that made it to air on Tuesday

'Many us are saddened and bewildered at the shocking comments about the crucifixion of Jesus which aired on The Project earlier this week,' he told parishioners on Friday.

'It's incredible that a mainstream television program would mock the beliefs of more than half of all Australians.

'In this season of Lent, let us continue to do penances for these all too common acts of blasphemy, and pray that the eyes of the ignorant will be opened to the life that Christ offers us.'

Archbishop Fisher also shared a copy of the scathing letter he sent inviting Paramount ANZ executives, staff and and panelists from The Project to attend his Easter services at Sydney's St Mary's Cathedral next month.

'During prime-time, the guest used the crucifixion of Jesus as a source of ridicule and derision. Presented as a 'joke', the crude remark was of a sexual nature and highly inappropriate,' Archbishop Fisher wrote.

'Worryingly, the insult not only went unchallenged, but was even endorsed with spirited laughter by members of the panel.

'That a 'news and current affairs' program would so flagrantly mock the beliefs of more than half of all Australians is extremely upsetting and frankly incredible.'

Sydney Archbishop Anthony Fisher (pictured) has written a scathing letter to Channel 10 and owners Paramount ANZ to express his sadness and deep disappointment over the segment

He added the hosts' follow-up apology came across as 'forced and insincere'.

'One gets the impression that the panellists are either unaware or indifferent to the hurt they have caused not only to Christians but people of faith throughout the nation,' Archbishop Fisher wrote.

'Moreover, the apology was not posted on The Project Facebook page yet the video clip containing the offensive remarks is still available for viewing.'

'It is clear to anyone who watched the Project on Tuesday night that those who hold traditional Christian beliefs are treated with such contempt by many within the media.'

Archbishop Fisher ended the letter inviting staff from the network and the program to attend the Good Friday or Easter Sunday service to 'fully experience the reverence Christians have for Jesus Christ'.

'Perhaps members of The Project have little understanding of the Easter season and why attacks on one of the most sacred symbols of our faith is so offensive,' he added.

The Lebanese Muslim Association also condemned the program.

'We call upon everyone, and in particular, public figures like Reuben Kaye who left Network Ten The Project producers red faced, to respect and display tolerance towards one another, regardless of their religious beliefs,' the organisation wrote.

'As civilised society, we call upon the Australian government to enshrine the sanctity of religion from such derogatory and blasphemous statements that serve only to denigrate people's faith, beliefs and principles.'

The backlash from Muslims and Christians has been brutal, forcing remorseful co-hosts Waleed Aly (left) and Sarah Harris (right) to issue a grovelling on-air apology on Wednesday

Muslim activists have also organised a protest to be held at Sydney's Hyde Park on March 18.

Almost 20,000 Australians have also signed a change.org petition lobbying for The Project to be axed.

The backlash from Muslims and Christians over the controversial segment was swift and brutal prompting Aly and Harris to issue an apology for the segment the following night.

'During an interview last night our guest told a joke which we know was deeply and needlessly offensive to many of you,' a remorseful Aly said.

'We want to acknowledge the particular offence that caused our Muslim viewers but especially our Christian viewers.

'Obviously I understand just how profound that offence was.'

Harris, who burst out laughing after the joke, also joined the grovelling apology.

'Live TV is unpredictable and when this happened in the last few moments of last night's show, it took us all by surprise, there wasn't a lot of time to react in any sort of considered way,' she said.
Two people have been charged with the murder of an Adelaide man whose dismembered body was found in a wheelie bin.

A 51-year-old man and a 49-year-old woman were charged over the death of Geoffrey McLean, 55, whose remains were found in the bin on a vacant block in the city's north in October last year.

The Andrews Farm man had been reported missing several weeks earlier after he was last seen on August 18 last year.

Only his torso was found in the bin with police still trying to locate his head and limbs.

On Friday detectives searched a house in Adelaide's north after taking the woman into custody.

A 51-year-old man and a 49-year-old woman were charged over the death of Geoffrey McLean (pictured), 55, whose remains were found in the bin on a vacant block in the city's north in October last year.

Only his torso was found in the bin (pictured) with police still trying to locate his head and limbs

The news comes after police released video last month of two mysterious figures (pictured) carrying torches near where the torso was found stuffed inside the wheelie bin

Police said she was known to Mr McLean.

Both of the accused are from the same area as the victim.

The man was arrested on Thursday and was believed to be known to the woman.

Detective Inspector Mark McEachern said the pair allegedly attacked Mr McLean before his death.

Mr McLean (pictured) had been reported missing several weeks earlier after he was last seen on August 18 last year

He said the accused man was charged with aggravated assault, aggravated serious trespass and attempted murder after an alleged incident against Mr McLean in April last year.

The woman was also charged with aggravated assault, aggravated serious criminal trespass, attempted murder, arson and aggravated cause serious harm.

Detective Inspector Mark McEachern (pictured) said the pair allegedly attacked Mr McLean before his death

These charges relate to alleged attacks on the victim from April and May in 2022.

The pair were expected to face Adelaide Magistrates Court on Friday where police will oppose them being released on bail.

The news comes after police released video last month of two mysterious figures carrying torches near where the torso was found stuffed inside the wheelie bin.

The individuals were caught on CCTV from a distance in the early hours of August 24 last year, five days before Mr McLean was reported missing.

Meanwhile, police discovered the wheelie bin used in the alleged murder was stolen from a property in Salisbury South, blocks away from where the remains were dumped, the Adelaide Advertiser said.

The bin and its gruesome contents were discovered last October in a vacant lot underneath trees and vegetation.

South Australian police discovered it was taken from a home on Eastview Street at Brahma Lodge.

The owners of the property are not considered as suspects.

Detective Inspector McEachern said investigations into the alleged murder were ongoing with a focus on finding the rest of Mr McLean's remains.

He said detectives strongly suspected other people were involved in the dismemberment, removal and storage of the body.

'So further arrests are quite possible,' he said.
Alex Murdaugh was brought down by damning evidence including a video which placed him at the scene minutes before the murders, a 'confession' to cops and a disastrous appearance on the stand.

The disgraced legal scion, 54, was Thursday night found guilty of shooting dead his wife Maggie, 52, and son Paul, 22, at the family's 1,800-acre hunting estate in Moselle in South Carolina's Lowcountry on June 7, 2021.

At the center of the State's case was a video taken by Murdaugh's son at the kennels just moments before he was shot dead along with his mother. It proved the disbarred attorney's undoing as he'd told cops he was never at the crime scene.

Last week he took the stand to claim he was only lying because his drug addiction made him paranoid. Murdaugh desperately changed his alibi to fit the damning evidence, claiming he went down to the kennels only briefly before going back up to the main house and then drove out to visit his ailing mother. But the prosecution used cell phone data to prove his wife and son were already dead.

In six weeks of harrowing testimony, the State landed major blows with video footage appearing to show a confession when Murdaugh said 'I did him so bad' just three days after the murders.

Prosecutors outlined a clear motivation for the killings which they said were carried out to distract from his financial crimes and a ruinous lawsuit over his son's fatal boat wreck two years earlier.

Alex Murdaugh broke down in tears as the prosecutor ended his explosive grilling with proof that the alleged double murderer lied to cops about his alibi

Buster, Paul, Maggie and Alex Murdaugh are pictured in a photo presented to jurors during the trial at Colleton County court on Tuesday, February 14

Here DailyMail.com looks back a the six biggest blows landed by the prosecution...

LYING ABOUT BEING AT THE MURDER SCENE

Perhaps the most significant piece of evidence is a video taken by Paul at 8.45pm in which multiple witnesses, including close family friends and relatives, told jurors they can hear Murdaugh's voice in the background.

The State said Paul and Maggie were shot dead shortly after 8.49pm when their 'phones locked forever' within seconds of each other.

The video of a dog's tail was taken by the 22-year-old for his close friend, Rogan Gibson, whose Labrador was staying at Moselle.

Gibson told jurors he was 100% positive he could hear Paul, Maggie and Alex in the footage. Multiple witnesses, including close family friends and the Murdaughs' housekeeper, later said the same.

Murdaugh had denied ever going down to the kennels after he Maggie and Paul shared dinner together. He told cops that night and in subsequent interviews that he only arrived there shortly after 10pm to find his wife and son dead.

Alex Murdaugh was asked point blank if he killed Maggie and Paul in a third interview with cops on August 11, 2021, two months after the murders. During that grilling, the cops also put to him issues with his alibi, including the time he says he spent at his mother's house and a claim from a witness that he was at the crime scene

But the killer took the stand last week in a highly unusual move for a murder trial defendant to alter his story.

In what Prosecutor Creighton Waters termed the 'new story,' Murdaugh told jurors that he actually had been at the kennels.

He claimed he had lied to cops because his opioid addiction made him paranoid of law enforcement personnel, despite regularly coming into contact with them in his work as a lawyer.

Murdaugh said that he went down to the kennels only briefly and was headed back to the main house about a minute after Paul took the video.

He said he sat down to watch TV and had a short nap before heading to his mother's house in Almeda, around 15 minutes away.

Police only obtained the video proving Murdaugh was at the scene months after the killings when they managed to unlock Paul's phone.

Maggie's body was found a few yards to the right of a doghouse, while Paul's was by the doorway at the end of the kennels. Dr. Ellen Riemer described how Paul's brain was blown out the back of his head by a shotgun and that the organ arrived at the morgue 'in a separate bucket'

But in his third police interview in August 2021 he was confronted over his presence at the kennels after Paul's friend Gibson said he heard Murdaugh in the background during a phone call.

Murdaugh confirmed that Gibson had already 'asked me if I was up there, he said he thought it was me.'

South Carolina Law Enforcement Division Agent Owen asked why Gibson thought that. Murdaugh said he had 'no idea.'

Owen asked if he was at the kennels around 9pm.

'No sir, not if my times were right,' Murdaugh said.

Owen asked, 'Then who could it be?'

The alleged killer replied: 'I have no idea.'

'OH WHAT A TANGLED WEB WE WEAVE': MURDAUGH'S DISASTROUS LEGAL HAIL MARY TO TAKE THE STAND

Murdaugh made the sensational decision to take the stand in his own defense last week.

He wept as he described finding his son Paul's brains strewn across the feed room at the kennels and Maggie's bullet-riddled lifeless body on the grass by the doghouse.

The defense sought to portray him as a devastated family man who was 'broken' by the loss of his wife and child.

Murdaugh even floated his own theory of who he thought killed 'Mags' and 'PawPaw'.

He said vigilantes had threatened and attacked his son after his drunken boat crash in which a 19-year-old girl was killed in February 2019.

But the move to testify opened up the flood gates for the State to grill him about a decade of financial crimes against clients and partners at his law firm.

Alex Murdaugh broke down in tears as the prosecutor ended his explosive grilling with proof that the alleged double murderer lied to cops about his alibi

Crusading Creighton Waters barracks Murdaugh during cross examination Thursday

In hours of grueling cross examination, the legal scion was painted as 'a master liar' who was able to deceive everyone around him.

'Nobody knew who this man was,' prosecutor Creighton Waters told the court. 'He's fooled them all and he fooled Maggie and Paul too and they paid for it with their lives.'

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.'

It came 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.

Describing why he lied to cops, Murdaugh told jurors: 'I don't think I was capable of reason and I lied about being down there and I am so sorry that I did. I am sorry to my son Buster, I am sorry to Grandpa, Papa T (Maggie's father) ... most of all I am sorry to Mags and PawPaw.'

Murdaugh said: 'Oh what a tangled web we weave. Once I told a lie, and I told my family, I had to keep lying.'

Buster, 26, hunched over with his hand over his face as he listened to his father describing how he found his younger brother Paul with his brains spattered across the walls of the kennels at the family's hunting estate in Moselle, SC, on June 7, 2021

John Marvin Murdaugh, brother of Alex Murdaugh, listens to testimony during his brother's double murder trial at the Colleton County Courthouse

But the disgraced legal scion claimed 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.'

COVERING UP HIS FINANCIAL CRIMES

Prosecutors said that Murdaugh killed Maggie and Paul because his life was spiraling out of control, he had embezzled more than $10m in the decade before their deaths.

He was 'out of options and out of time,' prosecutor Waters said.

The defense had tried to block the evidence arguing that there was 'no logical connection' between the murders and Murdaugh's financial crimes.

But following a lengthy battle between the opposing legal sides lasting several days, Judge Clifton Newman ruled that the evidence was important for jurors to understand the full context surrounding the killings.

On the day of the murders, Murdaugh was confronted at his office over stealing $792,000 from his legal firm.

Later that week he was due in court for a hearing in a civil suit over a boat crash in which his son Paul was driving under the influence, killing 19-year-old Mallory Beach.

Murdaugh claimed that he was broke to lawyers for Beach's family.

Maggie had recently confided in the housekeeper that they were being sued for $30m.

Murdaugh - a chronic opioid addict - would go on to arrange for his drug dealer cousin to shoot him in the head three months later in a botched life insurance fraud scheme.

The defense had battled to keep this evidence from the jury arguing that 'there is no logical connection and it does not lead to evidence of motive'.

Evidence relating to the botched suicide attempt was originally excluded because the judge said it risked confusing jurors.

However, in the final days of the prosecution laying out its case, the defense gifted them another win when Murdaugh's defense team questioned a cop over whether he was aware that the legal scion was paying up to $60,000 a week to his drug dealer Cousin Eddie.

Curtis 'Cousin Eddie' Smith was the 'hitman' who shot Murdaugh in the head on a rural Hampton County road on September 4, three months after the murders.

Alex Murdaugh, center, listens to a recording of himself retelling how he was shot in a bizarre roadside incident in Sept. 2021, during his double murder trial at the Colleton County Courthouse

At the time of Maggie and Paul's deaths , Murdaugh and his son were facing a civil suit over the boat wreck that killed 19-year-old Mallory Beach in February, 2019. Murdaugh told cops Paul and Maggie had been killed in revenge for the accident

The defense theory is that somebody else killed Murdaugh's wife and son in revenge for a boat crash (the Murdaugh boat Sea Hunt is pictured) during which Paul had been driving under the influence, killing a 19-year-old woman, in February 2019

Murdaugh survived with a surface wound and initially told police he had got a flat tire and someone stopped to offer help before shooting him. He later admitted to cops the scheme was designed to net a $10million life insurance payout for his surviving son Buster.

Defense attorney Griffin suggested to SLED investigator David Owen that Smith had been buying drugs from the Cowboy drug gang and skimming Murdaugh's money off the top.

The defense attorney insinuated one of the Cowboys could be a suspect in Paul and Maggie's murders, and asked why their cell phones and DNA were never evaluated.

Judge Newman ruled on the side of the State that this had 'opened the door' for the prosecution to put the September shooting before the jury.

The prosecution case was extended by another two days as the bizarre roadside shooting incident was introduced to jurors.

In a call with police from a rehab facility in Atlanta, Georgia, Murdaugh confessed to the elaborate scheme, even desperately apologizing to cops for lying, claiming he had been 'in a very bad place.'

Murdaugh said he was in the grips of a 20-year opioid addiction and had been paying Smith up to $60,000 a week for pills, including oxycodone.

'When withdrawals begin, you'll do just about anything to make 'em quit,' he told the cops.

He said that on the day of the shooting he had earlier met with longtime friend and colleague Chris Wilson to discuss 'everything I had done ... Finances, pills, lies.'

Prosecutors argue that there was a 'symmetry' between the murders of Maggie and Paul and the roadside shooting - two acts of violence which centered around money.

Prosecutor Creighton Waters argued: 'When the hounds are at the door, when Hannibal's at the gate for Alex Murdaugh, violence happens.'

Murdaugh later told authorities he hired Curtis 'Eddie' Smith, 61,(pictured) to shoot him. But the 911 call reveals he had initially described his alleged shooter as a 'younger', 'white fella' with 'really, really short hair'

MAGGIE AND PAUL WERE LURED TO THE HUNTING LODGE

Maggie's sister Marian Proctor and the Murdaughs' housekeeper Blanca Simpson both testified that Maggie did not want to be at Moselle.

Murdaugh claimed in his third police interview in August that Maggie 'was worried about me and me worrying about my Dad, and so she came home.'

The legal scion's father, Randolph III, was sick at the time. He died three days after Maggie and Paul's murders.

However, Marian Proctor, Maggie's older sister, told jurors that she chatted to her while she was driving at around 4pm on the day of the killings.

Maggie told her sister that Alex 'needed her to come home' to Moselle because of his father's ailing health.

Proctor testified that Maggie preferred staying at the Edisto Beach house because she felt that the local community had turned against the family following Paul's drunken boat crash in February, 2019, that left 19-year-old Mallory Beach dead.

Simpson, the housekeeper, said Maggie was disappointed to be at Moselle because she had been planning a 4th of July party at the beach house and was overseeing renovations at the property.

Maggie told Simpson in text messages that 'Alex wants me to come home.'

Marian Proctor told the court Tuesday that Murdaugh did not seem scared that the murderers could still be out there and seemed more intent on 'clearing his son's name' following a drunken boat crash two years before.

Maggie Murdaugh and her older sister Marian Proctor in an undated photo from a wedding

The family's housekeeper Blanca Simpson testified Alex told her to go to the house and clean up the day after Maggie and Paul were killed at the kennels on the estate in Moselle, South Carolina, on June 7, 2021

Marian Proctor (right) reaches out to hug her nephew Buster Murdaugh after she testified in his father Alex Murdaugh's murder trial on Tuesday, February 14

Simpson corroborated Proctor's evidence, testifying that Maggie did not especially like being at Moselle and preferred to stay at Edisto Beach.

'She kind of sounded like she didn't want to come home because she really liked being in Edisto because they had a lot of work going on,' Simpson told jurors.

This is critical evidence for prosecutors who have claimed Murdaugh lured Maggie and Paul to the hunting lodge before executing them.

CHANGING CLOTHES THE NIGHT OF THE BLOODY SHOOTINGS

At some point on the night of the murders, Murdaugh changes his clothes.

A Snapchat video taken by Paul at 7.56pm shows Murdaugh wearing a blue polo shirt, khaki pants and brown loafers.

When cops arrived he was wearing a clean white t-shirt, shorts and sneakers.

The Murdaughs' housekeeper Blanca Simpson testified that she never saw the shirt or shoes he was wearing ever again. She found his pants by a puddle on the bathroom floor the following day.

Simpson also told how Murdaugh came to her two months after the killings in an agitated state and tried to convince her to tell cops he was wearing different clothes that night.

Murdaugh was wearing a blue shirt, khaki pants and brown shoes on the night of the murders according to a Snapchat sent by Paul at 7.46pm

Murdaugh was wearing a white t-shirt and shorts when cops arrived and appeared clean

The housekeeper said that in August, two months after the murders, Murdaugh visited her home in Hampton and appeared agitated, mentioning a video of him.

'I've got a bad feeling about this,' she said he told her.

He asked her whether she remembered the 'Vinny Vines' (Vineyard Vines) shirt he was wearing on the day of the murders.

'I didn't say anything, but I was kind of thrown back because I didn't remember that,' she told the court.

'I don't know what he was trying to get me to say - if I was to be asked - that was the shirt he was wearing,' Simpson added.

In his third interview with cops in August, SLED investigator David Owens asked Murdaugh about the video, showing him in different clothes that night.

'At what point in that evening did you change clothes?' Owen asked.

The legal scion replied: 'I'm not sure, it would have been - what time of day was that? I would've thought I would have already changed.

'I guess I changed when I got back to the house.'

'I DID HIM SO BAD': COP SAYS MURDAUGH CONFESSED

A cop claimed Murdaugh said, 'I did so him bad', during a recorded interview three days after his son's brains were blown out.

Murdaugh shook his head in court as the video was played, mouthing to his attorneys, 'I did not say that.'

Jurors heard detectives questioning Murdaugh about the 'traumatic picture' he encountered upon finding Maggie and Paul lying dead at the kennels.

'It's just so bad, I did him so bad,' Murdaugh says through sobs during the interview.

Prosecutor Creighton Waters paused the video to ask special agent Jeff Croft to clarify what Murdaugh said. Croft repeated: 'It's just so bad, I did him so bad.'

But Murdaugh shook his head defiantly in court as he reacted to Croft's interpretation of the audio and appeared to tell his lawyers: 'I did not say that.'

Detectives at the time did not seize on the alleged admission as Murdaugh continued to tell them of Paul: 'He was such a good boy too'.

The defense later played the recording to Murdaugh's brother John Marvin who testified that he could hear him saying, 'They did him so bad.'

John Marvin said his older brother said the same thing to him that night and continued making the statement afterwards.

In a desperate bid to convince jurors, the defense even played the recording at a third of the speed to claim he was clearly saying 'they' not 'I.'
The man accused of murdering Toyah Cordingley more than four years ago has faced court in Queensland for the first time - breaking his long silence with a simple acknowledgment of a magistrate.

Rajwinder Singh is charged with the murder of the 24-year-old at Wangetti Beach, north of Cairns, in October 2018.

The 38-year-old appeared via video-link dressed in a white T-shirt in Cairns Magistrates Court on Friday morning.

The former nurse remained silent throughout the hearing, except when Magistrate Cathy McLennan asked if he was Rajwinder Singh.

Toyah Cordingley (pictured) was murdered in October 2018 at Wangetti Beach, 40km north of Cairns

'Yes madam,' Singh replied.

Police prosecutors told the court they would provide a brief of evidence by April 14, with a committal mention set down for April 28.

Singh has been remanded in custody.

Extra security officers were on duty at the court and there was an overflow room opened for members of the public to watch the proceedings.

Rajwinder Singh (pictured centre, wearing a black long sleeve shirt and grey trackpants) was charged with Ms Cordingley's murder on Friday morning

Defence lawyer Derek Perkins refused to answer questions from journalists, who mobbed him outside the courthouse after the brief hearing.

'Mr Singh is innocent until proven guilty,' he told the reporters.

Singh was arrested in Delhi in November before being extradited from India to Queensland via Melbourne this week.
Swimmers have been warned to avoid some of Australia's most popular beaches this weekend because of a skin irritant in the water.

Randwick City Council in Sydney's eastern suburbs has advised locals not to enter the water because of an algal bloom along the coast between Coogee and south Maroubra.

An algal bloom occurs due to an increase in algae and cyanobacteria in the water which can change the colour to green-brown or even red or blue. It can also causes skin, eye and nose irritation with side effects similar to hay fever.

Coogee and Maroubra beaches are potentially affected, as are several popular ocean baths and rock pools also situated along the same stretch of coast.

Thousands of swimmers have been advised against entering between Coogee and Maroubra beaches. Ocean baths like Mahon Pool (pictured) and Wylie's Baths would also be affected

These include Mahon Pool, Wylie's Baths, McIver Ladies' Baths, the Ivo Rowe rock pool and the Rob Walker rock pool.

'The algal bloom can move quite quickly so it will affect different beaches and pools at different times,' a spokesperson for the council told Daily Mail Australia.

'If you see a discolouration in the water it's best not to swim there,' he said.

'But in general we are advising people to avoid the area.'

An algal bloom can change the colour of the water to brown, green or even red or blue and can have similar impacts to hay fever

Pets can also be affected to algal blooms and owners are usually advised to keep their animals out of affected water.

The council has not closed the beaches, the baths or the rock pools.

In a Facebook post the council said 'Algal blooms are a natural phenomenon which discolour the water and can cause skin irritation.

'Council Lifeguards are advising people not to swim until it clears.'
Victims of Alex Murdaugh's convoluted web of lies and criminality celebrated his conviction tonight - as reports suggest he could be jailed for more than 700 years for his financial crimes.

Jurors unanimously found the disgraced legal scion guilty of murdering his wife Maggie, 52, and son Paul, 22, on June 7, 2021, after a sensational six-week trial that has gripped the country. He now faces 30 years to life in prison.

One of his former clients - from whom he stole $1million - celebrated the news tweeting 'justice is served' while a lawyer representing other victims praised the jury for not 'buying' Murdaugh's tears and charisma.

But questions still loom over how authorities will handle the myriad of other crimes he is accused of - many of which he admitted to while under oath during his double murder trial.

He told the court he stole as much as $10 million from clients in a bid to fund his opioid addiction which saw him take more than 60 oxycodone pills a day.

Alex Murdaugh's trial opened up a can of worms for the disgraced legal scion, as he admitted to a litany of financial crimes which could see him jailed for a further 700 years

Lawyer Justin Bamberg, who represents a number of Murdaugh's financial victims, welcomed his conviction on Thursday night as he said 'today is a good day'

Justin Bamberg, who represents several victims who claim to have been exploited by Murdaugh, said 'today is a good day' as he spoke after the verdict was delivered.

'Those of us who have been dealing with Alexs shenanigans for the last year and a half two years knew that he was a liar,' he told Fox News.

'I think that the jury made it very clear that were not buying what youre selling.

'We think that its been proven that you are a liar, that you have lied to any and everybody including those you care about most.

'If you watch Alexs face when that verdict was read the tears we saw on trial, the snot we saw on trial - there was none.

'You know why? Because tears and stuff werent going to help him.'

Meanwhile Alania Spohn, who claims Murdaugh stole $1million from after her mother and brother died in a car crash, congratulated the prosecution.

She tweeted: 'Guilty on all counts! Justice is served! Beyond proud of all the prosecution team.

'What an exhausting and draining trial it's been. Murdaugh is a liar, a thief. And a murderer.'

Alania and her sister Hannah Plyler were just nine and 12 when their mother Angela, 37, and 14-year-old brother Justin were killed in a car wreck in 2005 - in which they were also both injured.

Alania (left) and Hannah Plyler were just nine and 12 when their mother and brother were killed in a car wreck in which they were both injured in 2005. Alania tweeted on Thursday that 'justice is served'

Murdaugh was hired by their family to look after their finances until they turned 18. But more than $1m in settlements related to the crash were stolen.

Eric Bland, who is representing the family of a housekeeper who died while working for the Murdaughs, wrote on Twitter: 'Alex Murdaugh now drinks from the same cup of justice as every other murderer in South Carolina.

'I am not gloating because it is extremely sad for Maggie and Paul.

'But there were way too many national Pundits who did not live this case, knew Alex and did not have boots on the ground, and understand South Carolina citizens injuries for the last 30 years. Justice was done.'

Parker Law Group, which is made up of Murdaugh's former partners, said in a statement: 'The actions of Alex Murdaugh are shocking to us all.

'Tonight's verdict, which was rendered after a thorough and fair trial, brings justice and some closure to this awful matter.

'Maggie and Paul died tragically and for reasons we may never fully comprehend.

'They were much beloved and we will forever mourn their loss.'

The court case opened up a can of worms for the Murdaugh family, exposing a litany of criminal and financial allegations dating back to 2015.

The disgraced legal scion is accused of at least 99 financial crimes in 19 different indictments, among other offences. These will be dealt with at a later trial.

As he took to the stand over the double homicide case, he admitted: 'What I can tell you is that in all of these financial situations, I stole money that was not my money, I misled people I shouldnt have misled, and I did wrong. I can tell you that.'

Murdaugh, pictured being led away from Colleton County Court on Thursday evening, faces up to 700 years in jail if convicted of the financial crimes he is accused of

Lawyers acting on behalf of his financial victims welcomed his conviction which they said marked 'justice'

Paul, Margaret, Alex and Buster (from left to right). Murdaugh denied killing his wife and son but did tell the court: 'I stole money that was not my money, I misled people I shouldnt have misled'

Other scandals discussed in the trial include a 2019 boat crash involving his late son Paul which killed 19-year-old Mallory Beach.

Paul was facing criminal charges after being accused of driving the boat while drunk before he was shot dead. The girl's family were suing Murdaugh for a reported $30m at the time of Paul and Maggie's murders.

The death of his housekeeper Gloria Satterfield - who the Murdaugh family claimed tripped over the dogs and fell down the stairs while working at their hunting lodge - was also raised during the case. Her son Tony called to give testimony on the stand about the $4 million wrongful death payout Murdaugh allegedly stole.

Murdaugh is also facing separate charges in connection to a September 2021 botched suicide attempt, designed to gift his only surviving son Buster a $12 million insurance payout.

On top of that, the South Carolina Attorney Generals office allege that Murdaugh stole almost $7 million from the bank account of his law firm, then called Peters, Murdaugh, Parker, Eltzroth & Detrick.

He is reported to have evaded less than half a million dollars in taxes as well as stealing settlement money from extremely ill, vulnerable and bereaved clients and families - including a quadriplegic client who was swindled out of $1million.

He is now facing up to 700 years in prison if found guilty on all fronts, according to calculations by legal magazine Law and Crime.

Money laundering an amount exceeding $100,000 - of which Murdaugh has been charged with on at least 11 occasions - carries a potential 20-year sentence.

He's also accused of two lesser money laundering charges which carry a maximum sentence of five years.

Mallory Beach (pictured) was killed during a boat crash in which Murdaugh's oldest son Paul was driving drunkenly. He was facing criminal charges for the event before he was shot dead

Beach, 19, was thrown from the boat when it crashed into Archers Creek Bridge, in Beaufort South Carolina. Her body was found five days later

Gloria Satterfield is said to have died after falling at the Murdaugh home in 2018. She was the family's housekeeper and nanny for 25 years. Her son Tony (right) testified during Murdaugh's trial

It means the laundering charges alone carry a maximum sentence of 230 years in jail.

Additionally he stands accused of at least 20 different financial crimes which could each see him jailed for up to 10 years.

The accumulated maximum penalty for those allegations total 200 or more years.

His remaining charges carry at the least a combined maximum penalty of 310 years, claims Law and Crime.

It means he could be indicted to 740 years in a South Carolina correctional facility.
Restaurant used album name and song titles for menu

An Australian judge has dismissed a case brought by US rapper Ye, formerly known as Kanye West, against a burger restaurant in Melbourne's northern suburbs.

The judge said the musician had taken 'no steps' in advancing his case since initiating proceedings last year.

Ye commenced legal action against Ivanhoe business College Dropout Burgers and its owner, Mark Elkhouri, in October on the grounds he engaged in 'misleading and deceptive conduct' by representing the business had Ye's sponsorship or approval.

The restaurant's name, burgers and signage borrowed titles from Ye's albums and songs.

The rapper's case was dismissed in the Federal Court of Australia on Friday morning after lawyers representing Mr Elkhouri told the court Ye had not responded to them - despite several attempts - and had 'no genuine interest' in progressing the case.

Ye, formerly known as Kanye West, (pictured) has had his lawsuit against a Melbourne burger restaurant thrown out of court after the rapper took 'absolutely no steps' to advance his case

Craig Smith SC, representing Mr Elkouri, said it had 'become clear that by this point the (Ye) applicant is not interested'.

Justice Shaun McElwaine agreed with Mr Smith, and said Ye had 'commenced proceedings with all guns blazing' only not to take a 'step thereafter'.

A statement of claim filed in the Federal Court in October by prestigious law firm King and Wood Mallesons, who have since ceased to represent Ye, said the rapper had 'suffered loss and damage' as a result of Mr Elkhouri's business.

'Ye has sold more than 140 million records internationally and is one of the best selling artists of all time,' his lawyers said.

'Many of the burgers on (College Dropout's) menu have names which are derived from albums or songs released by Ye,' they said.

'The College Dropout' was the name of Ye's debut album in 2004.

College Dropout Burgers in Ivanhoe, Melbourne, (pictured) was thrust into the national spotlight when Ye filed legal action in October, last year. Lawyers argued the restaurant's name, burgers and signage used titles from the rapper's albums and songs

The statement of claim requested Mr Elkhouri's business to immediately cease using the name College Dropout Burgers and any signs and logos based on Ye's original album.

'By reason of the conduct referred to above, Ye has suffered and will continue to suffer loss and damage.'

Ye, 45, legally changed his name from Kanye Omari West in 2021.

Last year Ye divorced his wife of eight years, socialite Kim Kardashian, and is now married to Australian Bianca Censori - who in a strange stroke of fate grew up in the same suburb where College Dropout Burgers operates.

Outside court on Friday, Mr Elkhouri said he was 'very relieved' the case against him and his business was over, but had no doubt things would be concluded in his favour.

He said he would be giving away free cheeseburgers at his Ivanhoe store from 2-3pm on Saturday in a show of gratitude to the local community.

College Dropout Burgers owner Mark Elkhouri (pictured outside of court wearing a 'I am not Kanye West' t-shirt) said he would consider changing the name of his restaurant

Mr Elkhouri said it was 'important' he was pursuing costs against Ye, which had been awarded in his favour by Justice McElwaine.

'I don't even know anything about it - all I know is that I make good burgers.'

Wearing a t-shirt that said 'I am not Kanye West' and 'Case Dismissed,' Mr Elkhouri said outside court he might celebrate the dismissal by flipping patties at his business, which is now significantly more well-known due to the national coverage of his court case.

Asked whether he intended to keep the name, he said 'if I do, it's on my terms.'

He said Kanye West was inspiration for 'who I am as a person.'

'This Ye character - I don't know who he is. I don't support him.'

Mr Elkhouri declined to comment on how much Ye's litigation had cost him.
Australians are now buying more cars made in China than South Korea with a Tesla from Shanghai outselling every SUV on the market - and the ever-popular Toyota Corolla missing the top 10 of cars sold.

In February, 13,625 cars manufactured in China left the showroom, making it the third most common country of origin for new vehicles behind Japan and Thailand.

By comparison, 24,805 cars last month came from Japan, compared with 18,557 from Thailand and 12,246 from Korea, new Federal Chamber of Automotive Industries data showed.

For the second month running, no traditional, petrol-powered passenger car was in the top 10, with the Toyota Corolla absent for both months of 2023 so far.

Intriguingly, no Korean cars were on the top 10 list, with the Hyundai Tucson absent in both January and February.

The fully-electric Tesla Model 3, made in the Chinese city of Shanghai, was Australia's third most popular vehicle in February with 2,671 sold, putting it ahead of every SUV on the market (pictured is an example in South Australia's Yorke Peninsula)

The fully-electric Tesla Model 3, made in the Chinese city of Shanghai, was Australia's third most popular vehicle in February with 2,671 sold, putting it ahead of every SUV on the market.

Australia's most popular new cars 1. FORD RANGER: 4,473 sales for a ute made in Thailand 2. TOYOTA HILUX: 3,939 sales for a ute made in Thailand 3. TESLA MODEL 3: 2,671 sales for an electric vehicle made in China 4. MAZDA CX-5: 2,600 sales for an SUV made in Japan 5. MITSUBISHI OUTLANDER: 2,166 sales for an SUV made in Thailand 6. TOYOTA RAV4: 2,115 sales for an SUV made in Japan 7. MG ZS: 2,047 sales for an SUV made in China 8. ISUZU D-MAX: 1,931 sales for a ute made in Thailand 9. TOYOTA LANDCRUISER: 1,783 sales for a four-wheel drive made in Japan 10. SUBARU FORESTER: 1,709 sales for an SUV made in Japan Source: Federal Chamber of Automotive Industries data for February 2023 Advertisement

It made up 45 per cent of the 5,932 electric cars sold in Australia in February, with EVs having a small but growing 6.8 per cent market share.

Only the new generation Thai-built Ford Ranger ute with 4,473 sales and the Toyota HiLux, with 3,939 sales, beat the Tesla.

Chinese-made cars had two spots on the top 10 list with the MG ZS SUV managing 2,047 sales, with a fully-electric model in the range.

The only fully-electric cars in the top 10 list came from China.

The Thai-built Mitsubishi Outlander, with 2,166 sales, had a plug-in hybrid EV version.

Vehicles from Thailand had four spots on the top 10 list, with the Isuzu D-Max ute managing 1,931 sales.

Japanese-built SUVs and four-wheel drives had four spots with the Mazda CX-5 having 2,600 sales, compared with 2,115 for the Toyota RAV4 which is available as a hybrid, 1,783 for the Toyota LandCruiser and 1,709 for the Subaru Forester.

Australia's overall vehicle sales of 86,878 last month represented the best February result since 2019, which Federal Chamber of Automotive Industries chief executive Tony Weber said was remarkable.

'It is particularly pleasing given global and domestic supply constraints,' he said.

Fully-electric battery, hybrid and plug-in hybrid vehicles had a 13.9 per cent market share, with 12,102 sold.

More charging stations are expected to boost EV sales.

'Growing sales of electric vehicles proves that where a battery electric product exists which suits the driving habits, needs and finances of Australian motorists, they will purchase these vehicles,' Mr Weber said.
Mate said during the most recent conflict with the Palestinians that Hamas was 'nothing compared to the terrorism of the Israeli government'

In an effort to continue promoting his memoir Spare, Prince Harry will have a conversation with virulent anti-Zionist Gabor Mate

Prince Harry will hold an 'intimate' public conversation with a leftist trauma expert who has previously compared Hamas terrorists to those who rose up from the Warsaw Ghetto.

Gabor Mate, 79, who has previously congratulated people who make the Simon Wiesenthal Centre's top ten anti-Semites of the year list, has a long history of published anti-Israel sentiments.

This weekend, Mate will take part in a livestreamed discussion with the prince about 'living with loss and the importance of personal healing.' Tickets are on sale for $33.09.

It is unclear whether or not Prince Harry is personally aware of how controversial a character Mate is. But Rabbi Abraham Cooper of the Simon Wiesenthal Centre told the Jewish Chronicle, 'whoever made the arrangements to have this individual appear with Prince Harry, did him no favors.'

'If Prince Harry knew this mans record and still chose him for the interview, our Centre would criticize the prince for such an inappropriate choice,' he continued.

Prince Harry is set to have an 'intimate' public conversation with virulent anti-Zionist Gabor Mate about healing and loss

Gabor Mate, 79, who has previously congratulated individuals named to the Simon Wiesenthal Centre's top ten antisemites of the year for making the list, has a long history of published anti-Israel sentiments

Mate is a survivor of the Holocaust and Harry, as detailed in his recently published memoir 'Spare,' went through grief publicly after losing his mother Princess Diana.

Mate was born in Budapest, Hungary in 1944. When Mate was five months old, his maternal grandparents were killed in Auschwitz. One year later, his mother left him in the care of stranger who subsequently saved his life. She returned five weeks later but Mate claims the trauma of 'abandonment, rage and despair' still influences him today.

Though some of Mate's work is based on his experience in the Holocaust, in the aftermath of his remaining family's immigration to Canada, he became virulently opposed to the Jewish state of Israel.

In a 2014 article for the Toronto Star, Mate wrote, 'The Palestinians use tunnels? So did my heroes, the poorly armed fighters of the Warsaw Ghetto.'

'Out of impotent defiance, they fire inept rockets, causing terror for innocent Israelis but rarely physical harm,' he wrote, defending Palestinian rocket fire at citizens of Israel.

During the most recent conflict between Israel and Gaza in spring of 2021, Mate said during a livestream that Hamas was 'nothing compared to the terrorism of the Israeli government.'

He also appeared on comedian-turned-public intellectual Russell Brand's podcast to say that Israel is 'the longest ethnic-cleansing operation in the 20th and 21st centuries. Its still going on.'

He further described Gaza as 'the world's largest outdoor prison.'

In 2019, Mate defended disgraced former British Labour Leader Jeremy Corbyn, who has been accused of anti-Semitism. He called it 'manipulative' to call Corbyn an anti-Semite.

'So, Corbyn goes to this rally where this Jewish person speaks, and Corbyns accused of being an anti-Semite because hes present when a Jew criticizes or points out similarities between the ghettoisation of Gaza and the ghettoisation of Jews,' he said.

He added that he believed Corbyn had been the victim of a 'witch hunt' and 'Israeli assassination.'

Prince Harry and Meghan Markle have been on a worldwide publicity tour pertaining both to Harry's memoir, Spare, and their Netflix documentary

Dr. Gabor Mate spoke to Russell Brand in 2021 about the 'ethnic-cleansing operation' going on in Israel

Israeli soldiers patrol the streets in the town of Hawara, south of Nablus, in the occupied West Bank in March of 2023

Palestinian elderly man argues with Israeli soldiers while raising the Palestinian flag during a protest on March 2, 2023

Pro-Palestinian activists and supporters let off smoke flares, wave flags and carry placards during a demonstration in support of the Palestinian cause as violence escalates in the ongoing conflict with Israel, outside the Israeli embassy in central London on May 15, 2021

German soldiers fighting against the Polish Home Army (Armia Krajowa), the Polish resistance movement, during the Warsaw Uprising, Poland, August 1944

Also during the recent conflict, Mate praised Grayzone - a far-left, pro-Kremlin news outlet - founder Max Blumenthal's statement that '[Israelis] grow up under a certain ideological framework in which the Arab is less than human.'

Rabbi Cooper said that Mate is a 'Holocaust survivor whose worldview sets him apart from 99 per cent of world Jewry.'

'I am working under the assumption that the Prince did not know this persons political bias, his hatred for the Jewish state, his cavorting with anti-Semites and his covering for Hamas terrorists.'
A political chief of staff was given a formal warning by her boss for potentially putting fellow passengers at risk after she boarded a flight while infected with Covid-19, a court has heard.

New details of the alleged workplace dispute between federal political staffer Sally Rugg and independent Kooyong MP Dr Monique Ryan emerged in documents tendered to the Federal Court for the first time on Friday.

Ms Rugg appeared in the Federal Court in Melbourne on Friday for an urgent application asking the court to prevent her job from being terminated in what is heralded as a potential landmark 'test case'.

The court heard Ms Rugg tested positive to Covid while working for Dr Ryan at Parliament House in Canberra in November, 2022.

Dr Ryan claims Ms Rugg then put passengers at risk by boarding a flight home to Melbourne, according to an affidavit.

Political staffer Sally Rugg (pictured) boarded a flight while infected with Covid last November, a court heard on Friday

She added she took the incident very seriously and didn't believe any doctor would advise a person infected with Covid to fly.

'Ms Rugg did not accept the seriousness of what she had done,' Dr Ryan's affidavit stated.

A former paediatric neurologist, Dr Ryan famously scolded the vast majority of opposition MPs for not wearing asks in parliament last August.

Ms Rugg took stress leave following the row with Dr Ryan and hasn't returned to work since.

But she's still technically employed by the MP, who ousted then-treasurer Josh Frydenberg from his seat last May as one of the Teal independents.

Mr Rugg's lawyers argued their client had medical advice to return home before Justice Debra Mortimer pointed out it didn't recommend boarding a flight.

'You can't hide from that,' she told the court.

'There is no letter [advising her to board a flight].'

An affidavit filed by Ms Rugg to the court also claimed Dr Ryan told her: 'I want to be the prime minister one day.

'You don't understand, I need to be the best, this is bigger than Kooyong.

I want to be the prime minister one day, and I need to know my staff are prepared to work hard for me.'

Teal MP Monique Ryan (pictured last month) told the court she had warned her political staff that she could have put fellow passengers at risk

Ms Rugg launched an unfair dismissal claim against Dr Ryan and the Commonwealth in January, claiming she was threatened with being sacked for refusing to work unreasonable hours.

Dr Ryan told the court Ms Rugg resigned from the position of her own volition, however the staffer's lawyer told the court she was pushed or jostled into resigning.

Ms Rugg alleged in court documents she would work between 70 and 80 hours a week for Dr Ryan, including working both days across the weekend, writing speeches and other tasks.

She claimed Dr Ryan asked her to work more than that by performing community engagement work, including managing volunteers, projects and events in the MP's Kooyong electorate.

Dr Ryan's tone and facial expressions were very angry when issues were raised about Ms Rugg not fulfilling some duties due to the alleged high workload, Ms Rugg said in an affidavit.

The MP is fighting the case and has rejected Ms Rugg's claims about hostility and tension in the workplace.

Sally Rugg's (left) desire to continue working for teal MP Monique Ryan (right) may be simply unworkable, a judge told the Federal Court in Melbourne on Friday

Ms Rugg's lawyer, Angel Aleksov, said his client was employed as an advisor, not specifically as chief-of-staff, and was paid $136,000 per year plus $30,000 in parliamentary allowances.

'Ms Rugg was plainly saying, 'I can't do this community engagement work'. Dr Ryan said 'no I need you to work harder',' he told the court.

'Ordinary human experience tells us a salary of $130,000ish with top up of $30,000 does not justify someone working 70-plus hours a week, week in, week out.

'This has test case written all over it.'

He said Ms Rugg was willing to return to work as an advisor for Dr Ryan, undertaking policy and media work, as the dispute continued through the courts.

However, Justice Mortimer said this may be unworkable, given the personal working relationship MPs had with staff.

'It does seem to me what the applicant is inviting is for the court to supervise or it's simply unworkable,' she said.

The hearing continues.
A criminal investigation at an Ohio elementary school has been launched after black students forced their white peers to say 'Black Lives Matter' on camera and assaulted those who didn't.

The incident at Kenwood Elementary on February 10 showed the altercation play out as two students were initially seen escorting their peer to an area on the playground while punching the student in the head.

Footage of the 17-minute video showed the student being tossed on the ground while another student joined seconds later. About 10 minutes later a third student was thrown right beside them.

The students involved in the incident were interviewed by school staff as Springfield Police attempt to charge the suspect for menacing and assault for knowingly harming a victim, according to Dayton247now.

Ohio schoolkids might face charges for forcing and assaulting students into saying 'Black Lives Matter' on the play ground

The incident is being treated as an Anti-White hate crime and lists at least four students involved. The names of the students weren't immediately available

School Principal Evan Hunsaker told police he was informed about the incident the following Monday.

'He stated that a few of the students who had tried to avoid the situation, were chased down and escorted, dragged, or carried to the spot on the playground. One student was also punched in the head by one of the suspects,' the police report reads.

Springfield City School District officials released a statement and won't be disclosing how the students will be punished.

'The Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA) prevents the District from disclosing personally identifiable information or details about the discipline of a child to anyone other than their parent or guardian,' the obtained by WHIO statement reads.

'As it relates to this incident concerning participants and staff involved, the Springfield City School District followed appropriate procedures in accordance with Board Policy.

'Moving forward from this experience, the District is working closely with counselors, mental health experts and multiple community partners and agencies to provide support to children and staff directly involved, as well as those not directly involved.

'The District will use this experience as an opportunity to strive for greater acceptance, grow and reinforce community connections.'
When NSW teenager Bradley Hope died after inhaling from an aerosol, his mother was determined his death would not be in vain.

'We as a society can't afford to lose one more young life in this way ... there must be answers or solutions to prevent this,' Corinne Mair told an inquest into her 16-year-old son's accidental death.

Bradley, described as a kind and loyal young man, died in the early hours of December 8, 2019, after using an inhalant with friends during a sleepover in Tweed Heads, on the NSW far north coast.

In the first inquest of its kind, NSW State Coroner Teresa O'Sullivan on Friday handed down lengthy and urgent recommendations to address the trend of inhalant use, known as 'volatile substance misuse'.

Ms O'Sullivan recommended NSW Health hold a roundtable with police, the education department, paramedics, manufacturers, retailers and youth and community services.

Bradley Hope, described as a kind and loyal young man, died in the early hours of December 8, 2019, after using an inhalant with friends during a sleepover in Tweed Heads, on the north coast

'The heartache of Bradley's loss continues to be felt daily by his family,' NSW State Coroner Teresa O'Sullivan said in her findings, handed down at Byron Bay Court in the inquest into the 16-year-old's accidental death in 2019 (pictured left, Bradley Hope with a friend)

The roundtable should consider a public health campaign, education programs for children and parents, potential legislation relating to the sale of inhalants, and greater training for police and paramedics.

'The heartache of Bradley's loss continues to be felt daily by his family,' Ms O'Sullivan said in her findings, handed down at Byron Bay Court.

'It is hoped that from this inquest process, some small measure of solace can be taken by the family, given that these proceedings are a step towards reform to prevent the occurrence of another similar tragedy.'

Ms O'Sullivan also recommended the Aerosol Association of Australia look at the effectiveness of warning labels on containers, while manufacturers should continue research into new, safer products.

The inquest heard Bradley stopped breathing and turned pale late on December 7.

His friends and one of their mothers, who was a nurse, repeatedly tried to revive him, an act Ms O'Sullivan described as courageous.

Paramedics also tried to resuscitate him before he was treated at the Tweed Hospital, where he died of heart failure, a complication of inhaling the aerosol.

Experts told the inquest there was no effective data about the prevalence of inhalant use, but one study found there were 164 deaths between 2000 and 2021, most of them male.

Inhaling aerosols can have a 'paint stripping' effect on the brain and disturb heart rhythms, with possible chronic effects like nerve and organ damage and dementia, the inquest heard.

Ms O'Sullivan offered sympathies to Bradley's family, saying their grace and dignity was remarkable.

'It is very clear how much they loved him and how much they miss him.'

The inquest came after Bradley's mum pushed for it to be held, to 'stop another young life like Bradley's being lost'.

Ms Mair believed her son did not know the risks associated with inhaling aerosols.

Ms O'Sullivan offered sympathies to Bradley's family, saying their grace and dignity was remarkable (pictured, Corinne Mair with her son Bradley)

Inhaling aerosols can have a 'paint stripping' effect on the brain and disturb heart rhythms, with possible chronic effects like nerve and organ damage and dementia, the inquest heard

'Literally for him it was him and his mates made a silly decision and it cost him his life,' she told A Current Affair in 2020.

Chroming or Volatile Substance Misuse (VSM) has killed about a dozen young Australians since 2009, the ABC said.

Sarah MacLean from La Trobe University told the inquest last October chroming had become a trend but the use of them was far from glamorous.

'They're seen as a gutter drug  bottom of the barrel,' Dr MacLean said.

'There's a lot of shame involved. There's certainly a huge amount of stigma around VSM as you get older.'
A real estate expert has shared her five top tips on how to secure a property during Australia's current rental crisis.

With the national vacancy rate sitting at 0.8 per cent, Real Estate Institute of Queensland CEO Antonia Mercorella said the market was 'not looking positive' for tenants - with no quick fix in sight.

Renters in Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane and Perth are all facing record low vacancy rates, with those in Perth and Adelaide facing the most fierce competition in the country at 0.3 per cent, Domain reports.

Speaking to Sunrise on Friday morning, Ms Mercorella said her top five recommendations were to be prepared, do your research, consider co-tenancy, get organised and act swiftly.

Antonia Mercorella (pictured) shared her top five tips on securing a rental in Australia's current rental crisis on Friday morning

'What we're seeing is unprecedented low vacancy rates across the country. It's proving incredibly challenging for tenants,' she said.

'The demand for rental property is far outstripping the level of supply that's available.'

While the housing crisis could be solved by adding more supply, the CEO said, she also acknowledged there was no an overnight solution or quick fix.

With little vacancy available for struggling renters there has been an increase in would-be tenants offering above-market rent to secure the property.

However, rental bidding is unlawful in most jurisdictions, Ms Mercorella warned.

With the national vacancy rate sitting at 0.8 per cent, renters across the country are struggling to find a property with some applicants turning to rental bidding - offering higher rent than is being asked or pre-paying rent - to secure a place (pictured, a line outside a Sydney property available for lease)

'You will find that property managers or owners can't actually ask for higher rent,' she said.

FIVE TOP TIPS FOR RENTERS Be prepared

Do your research

Consider co-tenancy

Get organised

Act swiftly Advertisement

'But what we are seeing is applicants are offering more rent but they're also offering rent in advance or looking for other ways to stand out.

'That's human nature - when we're desperate to secure shelter for ourselves and for our families, people will look for ways to stand out from the pack.'

Ms Mercorella said people may have heard stories of real estate agents creating bidding wars, but in the majority of these situations it was applicants looking to 'get a step ahead'.

'Ultimately what any property owner is looking for is financial capacity ... ensuring that someone is able to meet the financial obligations and pay the weekly rent,' Ms Mercorella said.

'Secondly, looking for an applicant or a tenant who will look after the property, so references that talk to your ability to pay the rent on time and look after the property - that's absolutely fundamentally important.'
Alex Murdaugh's family looked stony-faced as they reacted to news of his conviction on Thursday night.

Youngest son Buster, 26, put his head in his hands after the verdict was revealed while Murdaugh's sister Lynn showed little emotion driving away from Colleton County courthouse in Walterboro, South Carolina.

Murdaugh was convicted of murdering his wife Maggie, 52, and son Paul, 22, on June 7, 2021, after a sensational six-week trial that has gripped the country. He now faces 30 years to life in prison.

Neither the disgraced attorney's younger brother John Marvin, who testified earlier in the week, or his elder sibling Randy were in court to witness the verdict.

It left Lynn and Buster as the sole members of the family to watch on as jurors unanimously found the patriarch guilty after deliberating for less than three hours.

Buster Murdaugh sat with his head in his hands as his father Alex Murdaugh was found guilty of murdering Maggie and Paul

Lynn Murdaugh is pictured looking stony-faced as she drove away from Colleton County courthouse in Walterboro, South Carolina, on Thursday night

In other shots, Lynn appeared to look glum as she stood outside the courthouse following the conviction of her brother

Lynn, pictured, has not spoken publicly about her brother's trial though she has been frequently pictured in court watching it unfold

Murdaugh turned to face them both as he was cuffed and taken away by officers.

Buster had sat diligently behind his father every day of the dramatic trial, often expressing little emotion as the court discussed how his mother and brother were shot and killed.

But on Thursday night he finally appeared to break, placing his hands over his eyes - a contrast to his father and aunt's more stoic reaction.

The convicted killer, who wept throughout the trial as the jury were told in gruesome detail how his wife and son were brutally executed and shown harrowing images of the crime scene, gave a blank expression as the judge spoke to the court.

The Murdaugh family wielded immense judicial power in South Carolina for three generations.

But their empire came crumbling down after Murdaugh shot dead his wife Maggie, 52, and younger son Paul, 22, at the family's 1,800-acre hunting estate in Moselle on the night of June 7, 2021.

The disbarred attorney lied to cops about his alibi before making the sensational decision to take the stand where he changed his story to fit the damning evidence.

Buster appeared stony-faced and sat with his hand covering his mouth beside his girlfriend Brooklynn White who looked down at the ground

His sister Lynn can be seen just rows away from him after the verdict was announced

Murdaugh is led out of the court by sheriff's deputies after being found guilty of murdering his wife and son

Prosecutor Creighton Waters was cheered by the public as he addressed a press conference outside the court, proclaiming: 'Justice was done today. 'It doesn't matter who your family is, it doesn't matter how much money you have or people think you have, it doesn't matter how prominent you are. If you do wrong and break the law and if you murder, then justice will be done in South Carolina'

But the State convinced jurors with a video which proved he was at the scene just moments before he blasted Paul's brains out with a shotgun and mercilessly turned an assault rifle on his wife of 27 years, shooting Maggie five times.

He will return for sentencing at 9.30am Friday. He was convicted of two counts of murder and two weapons charges.

He fiercely denied executing his wife and son when he sensationally took the stand to defend himself last week against his own lawyers' advice.

The patriarch wept as he admitted to jurors that he had lied about being at the crime scene minutes before they were slain - but blamed his paranoia brought on a crippling opioid habit and a mistrust of the police.

Murdaugh said: 'I would never intentionally do anything to hurt either of them. Ever. Ever,' he sobbed. 'I didn't shoot my wife or son, ever.'

'Oh what a tangled web we weave. Once I told a lie, and I told my family, I had to keep lying,' he added.

But Creighton Waters, prosecuting, exploded Murdaugh's 'new story' by playing bodycam footage from the local cop who was first on the scene in which he was seen already lying about the last time he saw Maggie and Paul.

Waters yesterday told jurors in his closing argument: 'The pressures on this man were unbearable and they were all reaching a crescendo the day his wife and son were murdered by him.'

Waters joined ex-clients of Murdaugh - who claim he stole millions from them - in celebrating the news of his guilty verdict as he declared 'justice' had been served.

Paul, Margaret, Alex and Buster (from left to right). Jurors took less than three hours to reach a guilty verdict

Buster, Maggie, Paul and Alex Murdaugh in a photo the mother posted for Father's Day in 2020

'If you do wrong and break the law and if you murder, then justice will be done in South Carolina,' he said.

Meanwhile Justin Bamberg, who represents several victims who were reportedly exploited by Murdaugh, said 'today is a good day.'

'Those of us who have been dealing with Alexs shenanigans for the last year and a half two years knew that he was a liar,' he told Fox News.

'I think that the jury made it very clear that were not buying what youre selling.

'We think that its been proven that you are a liar, that you have lied to any and everybody including those you care about most.

'If you watch Alexs face when that verdict was read the tears we saw on trial, the snot we saw on trial - there was none.

'You know why? Because tears and stuff werent going to help him.'

WHERE MAGGIE DIED: A pool of blood outside the kennels where Maggie Murdaugh was shot dead with two AR bullets to the head

WHERE PAUL DIED: Blood spatters on the floor inside the storage room at the kennels where Paul Murdaugh was shot dead. He was killed with a shot to the chest and a second to the head

WHERE PAUL DIED: Blood spatters on the floor inside the storage room at the kennels where Paul Murdaugh was shot dead. He was killed with a shot to the chest and a second to the head

Maggie's body was found a few yards to the right of a doghouse, while Paul's was by the doorway at the end of the kennels

The court case opened up a can of worms for the Murdaugh family, exposing a litany of criminal allegations dating back to 2015.

He is accused of at least 99 financial crimes in 19 different indictments, among other offences.

These will be dealt with at a later trial but reports suggest he could face more than 700 years being added to his sentence.

As he took to the stand over the double homicide case, he admitted: 'What I can tell you is that in all of these financial situations, I stole money that was not my money, I misled people I shouldnt have misled, and I did wrong. I can tell you that.'

Other scandals discussed in the trial include a 2019 boat crash involving his late son Paul which killed 19-year-old Mallory Beach.

Paul was facing criminal charges after being accused of driving the boat while drunk before he was shot dead. The girl's family were suing Murdaugh for a reported $30m at the time of Paul and Maggie's murders.

The death of his housekeeper Gloria Satterfield - who the Murdaugh family claimed tripped over the dogs and fell down the stairs while working at their hunting lodge - was also raised during the case. Her son Tony called to give testimony on the stand about the $4 million wrongful death payout Murdaugh allegedly stole.

Buster Murdaugh, his girlfriend Brooklynn White and Lynn are pictured arriving in court earlier in theday

Buster and Lynn both appeared in court most days to watch Murdaugh's trial, once being apprehended by guards and told to move a few rows back in the court

Lynn showed little emotion throughout the trial. Pictured listening to the closing statements on Thursday

Murdaugh is also facing separate charges in connection to a September 2021 botched suicide attempt, designed to gift his only surviving son Buster a $12 million insurance payout.

On top of that, the South Carolina Attorney Generals office allege that Murdaugh stole almost $7 million from the bank account of his law firm, then called Peters, Murdaugh, Parker, Eltzroth & Detrick.

He is reported to have evaded less than half a million dollars in taxes as well as stealing settlement money from extremely ill, vulnerable and bereaved clients and families - including a quadriplegic client who was swindled out of $1million.
The FedEx pilots used their better judgement to avoid the near miss but the cause of the almost accident remains unclear

Despite being cleared for landing, the FedEx team was concerned about the apparent proximity of the Southwest jet on the runway

The captain of a FedEx cargo plane that had been cleared for landing last month at the Austin-Bergstrom Airport was concerned about the presence of a Southwest jet on the runway below.

The Boeing 767 cargo airplane was several miles from the airport when it was cleared to land, according to the FAA but just before it was about to touch down an air traffic controller also gave the go-ahead for the Southwest Boeing 737 to take off on the exact same stretch of tarmac.

According to federal investigators, the pilot asked for and received confirmation that he was clear to land. But as the FedEx plane made its way through foggy conditions to the runway, the flight's first officer decided not to attempt to complete the landing given how close the Southwest fight was.

'Southwest abort,' the FedEx crew broadcast, according to the federal report. 'FedEx is on the go.'

The two planes appeared to come within 75 vertical feet of one another, though the NTSB is continuing to investigate the minimum distance that occurred between the planes.

This model shows how close the two planes came to having an unscheduled meeting on the runway

Graphics of the near-miss incident show how close on the runway the FedEx plane and passenger Southwest flight came to collision

The FedEx aircraft had to suddenly pull up and managed to climb several hundred feet within seconds as the crew averted catastrophe

The FedEx plane climbed back into the skies away from the Southwest flight carrying 128 passengers, which continued its takeoff toward Cancun. The FedEx plane landed safely soon after.

The incident is one of a growing handful of recent close calls at airports that the National Transportation Safety Board is investigating.

The most recent incident occurred Monday, when a JetBlue pilot had to dodge a Learjet that was crossing the runway as the first plane was about to land.

So far the incidents have caused no injuries, but the close calls have drawn raised eyebrows on Capitol Hill and prompted the acting head of the Federal Aviation Administration issued a memo in February guiding the industry toward a renewed focus on safety, according to the Washington Post.

The NTSB report does not indicate what might have caused the close call on the runway in Austin, but it mentioned there was limited visibility due to fog. Traffic at the airport, however, was limited at the time.

In an initial tweet Saturday, the National Transportation Safety Board used jargon to downplay the incident describing it as a 'possible runway incursion and overflight involving airplanes from Southwest Airlines and FedEx.'

The incident occurred in poor visibility conditions early on Saturday morning in Austin.

The FAA said FedEx Express Flight 1432, a Boeing 767 cargo plane, which had departed from Memphis, was cleared to land on Runway 18-Left around 6:40am while the aircraft was several miles from the airport.

The Southwest plane had not yet departed when the FedEx plane was approaching the runway.

Southwest has so far declined to comment. FedEx said its flight 'safely landed after encountering an event,' but declined to further comment because of the ongoing investigations.

'FedEx Express Flight 1432 from Memphis, Tennessee to Austin, Texas safely landed after encountering an event just before landing at Austin Bergstrom International Airport this morning,' FedEx said in a statement,

Austin Airport said it was 'aware of the Federal Aviation Administration's investigation into the discontinued landing of a flight. We will assist our FAA partners and their investigation as necessary.'

In addition to the JetBlue and FedEx incidents, anther close call was averted at John F. Kennedy International Airport last month after an American Airlines plane crossed a runway while a Delta Airlines' Boeing 737 plane was preparing for takeoff on January 13.

Air traffic controllers noticed a Boeing 777 had crossed from an adjacent taxiway.

The FAA said the Delta Boeing 737 stopped its takeoff roll approximately 1,000 feet before reaching the point where American Airlines Flight 106 had crossed.

The FedEx cargo plane was coming into land at Austin Bergstrom Airport when it was forced to pull up

At one stage, just 75 feet appeared to separate the two aircraft according to FlightRadar24

The FedEx plane climbed back into the skies away from the Southwest flight carrying 128 passengers, which continued its takeoff toward Cancun.

Data from flight tracking websites suggest the two planes came very close indeed. Pictured, the FedEx cargo plane's route which saw it having to abort landing and then circle the airpor

Jennifer Homendy, the chair of the National Transportation Safety Board, said two planes came within less than 100ft of each other during a near miss in Austin on Saturday

Following the initial almost accident, Jennifer Homendy, the chair of the National Transportation Safety Board, explained just how close the planes were to catastrophe and said investigators are probing how the incident was able to happen.

The Boeing 767 was approaching the runway with poor visibility while a Southwest Boeing 737 was cleared for takeoff.

Homendy told Politico: 'Were really digging into the communications between [air traffic control], Southwest, FedEx  especially in relation to weather issues.'

She said it was 'fairly clear that the aircraft came within very close proximity of each other and we believe its less than 100 feet'.
A teenager who was allegedly filmed jumping over the counter of a busy McDonald's and terrorising staff has called the footage 'embarrassing'.

Nooria Halake, 19, faced the Adelaide Magistrates Court on Friday, charged with disorderly behaviour, property damage and aggravated assault.

She'd allegedly caused a scene at the fast food restaurant on Hindley Street, in Adelaide's CBD on December 29, throwing food around and harassing staff.

Nooria Halake, 19, faced the Adelaide Magistrates Court on Friday, charged with disorderly behaviour, property damage and aggravated assault

Ms Halake is seen at court on Friday. She said the footage of the alleged incident was 'embarrassing'

Footage of the incident allegedly shows Ms Halake hurdling over the service counter and helping herself to food while shouting abuse at staff members.

Upon leaving court on Friday, Ms Halake was asked if she'd seen the footage that has since gone viral.

'Yes I have ... embarrassing, it's embarrassing,' she replied, The Advertiser reported.

Customers at the time of the incident could be seen watching on in shock as Ms Halake allegedly yelled obscenities and carelessly tossed a bag full of food.

She then allegedly grabbed a burger box and shoved it with food, before grabbing a drink out of the fridge while staff members chased her around the store.

She'd allegedly caused a scene at the fast food restaurant on Hindley Street, in Adelaide's CBD on December 29, throwing food around and harassing staff

'I'll beat you up and I'll leave,' Ms Halake allegedly told one worker.

Police arrived moments later to detain the woman behind the counter.

During Friday's court appearance, Ms Halake's lawyer, David Moen, asked for his client's case to be adjourned.

He said that he is yet to receive a copy of allegations or the court file, nor been given instructions from Mr Halake.

Ms Halake will remain on bail and will face court again in May.
The heartbroken fiancee of a journalist who was shot dead while broadcasting is fundraising to have his baby via IVF after she ordered doctors to harvest his sperm on the night he died.

Casey Fite had been planning to have a family with Dylan Lyons, 24, before he was killed during a broadcast for Spectrum News 13 in Florida on February 22.

In a GoFundMe page, she revealed doctors had successfully managed to retrieve eight vials of sperm from him on the night he died, upon her request.

She is now fundraising $50,000 so she can have IVF to implant the sperm and keep 'Dylan's legacy alive.'

Lyons made headlines after he was one of three people - including a nine-year-old girl and her mother - to be gunned down while broadcasting about a homicide which had happened in the area five hours earlier.

Casey Fite, right, is fundraising for IVF so she can have a baby with her murdered fiance Dylan Lyons, left, who was gunned down last month while reporting on-air

Dylan Lyons' and Casey Fite were planning to have a family together, she says, before he was killed

Career criminal Keith Melvin Moses, 19, was arrested in connection with the killings which police believe are linked.

Writing on GoFundMe, Casey said she had met Lyons in 2020 and labelled him the 'love of my life.'

'From the moment I met Dylan I knew he was someone special and was the most handsome man I ever saw,' she said.

'Dylan and I began dating in November 2021, and we had our entire lives plannedhe did everything for me

'Dylan was a vegan but he would still take me out to restaurants I liked just because he wanted to make me happythats the type of man my Dylan was.'

She later added: 'Dylan and I wanted nothing more than to get married and have childrenthe night he passed away.

Lyons (right) and his fiancee Casey Lynn. The pair met in 2020 and began dating in November 2021

Lyons was an ambitious young reporter described as 'a voice for the voiceless'

'I researched about harvesting his sperm. I called doctor after doctor until I found one who was able to perform the procedure within the 24-hour period.

'The doctor was able to retrieve 8 vials of his sperm, and I am going to do IVF to have the baby we so desperately wanted to have together.

'I am devastated he cant be here for what we always wantedDylan would have been the best dad in the worldany contribution would be appreciated so we can still have our baby as I want to keep my Dylans legacy alive.'

On Thursday night the page had already raised $1,040.

Lyons was tragically gunned down while on the scene in Pine Hills, near Orlando, to report on the murder of Nathacha Augustin, a 38-year-old woman who was killed in a car hours earlier.

However, after arriving at the murder scene, the suspect returned and started firing again - gunning down the news reporter and injuring his photographer.

Police were then called to a third shooting nearby - where a mother and her nine-year-old daughter had been targeted in a residential house.

The child later died, and the mom is understood to still be in critical condition.

Suspect Keith Melvin Moses was pictured sneering and smiling as he was handcuffed in relation to the shootings.

Moses is understood to have known the first victim though his motives for the later killings are unclear.

Keith Melvin Moses, 19, is accused of shooting the reporter and cameraman after they came to report on the death of Moses' first victim - Nathacha Augustin, 38

Cameraman and photographer Jesse Walden, who was with Lyons at the time, was also shot though he survived

Lyons, who hails from Philadelphia, graduated with a Bachelor's degree in Journalism and Political Science from the University of Central Florida in 2020.

He received his Master's in Criminal Justice a year later.

The ambitious reporter was known for being 'a voice for the voiceless' and reported on a plethora of stories in his community - including crime, politics, and social issues.

Last year, he wrote on Twitter: 'November 7th, 2021 changed my life forever! It is the day you became my girlfriend! That was one of the easiest decisions of my life! You're a remarkable, beautiful, kind, loving, and caring girl Case! I love you so much!'
Ken Bruce opened his final Radio 2 by telling fans he 'will miss them' after taking a parting swipe at BBC bosses for booting him off the air early.

The Scottish presenter told Radio 4's Today programme that his premature exit 'seems a shame' after more than four decades at the corporation  and more than 30 years on the mid-morning show.

Bruce, 72, received cards and messages of thanks from emotional fans when he opened his slot for the last time at 9.30am, following The Zoe Ball Breakfast Show.

He began by saying: 'Lots of lovely music on this programme. Don't go looking for any secret messages or hidden agendas behind them, they're just good songs, all the way through. Enjoy.'

The first song he played was the Jackson 5's Can You Feel It, followed by Trustfall by Pink.

Bruce will leave the BBC to join rival station Greatest Hits Radio once his show ends at midday. Gary Davies will sit in until Vernon Kay takes over the slot in May.

Ken Bruce surrounded by good luck cards presents his final ever show on BBC Radio 2 this morning

Veteran broadcaster Ken Bruce (pictured arriving for work today) will present his final show on BBC Radio 2 after more than three decades - and delivered a parting shot to the BBC in the process

Radio 2 fans have accused the BBC of ageism as a string of older DJs step back, including Ken, Paul O'Grady, Steve Wright, Ken Bruce and Simon Mayo

The BBC has again been accused of 'ageism' over his exit, and listeners have vowed to follow him and his beloved PopMaster quiz to Greatest Hits Radio.

Today these 'Radio 2 refugees' shared their memories of Ken  and admitted they were crying before his final show.

One listener wrote: 'Today is the day. End of an era at BBC Radio 2. I've never met Kent but I feel emotional.'

Another said: 'I've had to remove the oldest from the kitchen where Phil is listening to R4 in a state of bereavement as it's Ken Bruce's final interview before he leaves R2.'

A third added: 'Say thanks to Ken Bruce whose programme lifted spirits working in hospital during Covid. He played Sunshine After The Rain by Elkie Brooks  me in full PPE and patient with no language after stroke both sang/hummed along. It became my Covid anthem. Thanks, Ken.'

Another tweeted: 'Feeling very emotional today listening to Ken Bruce's final show on BBC Radio 2. The voice of my childhood, and the highlight of my day as I've grown into an adult and become a mother.

'It won't be the same without you @RealKenBruce. Thanks for the memories.'

A fifth said: 'It's time to celebrate the outstanding contribution to radio by Mr Ken Bruce. In my opinion, he was a key worker through the pandemic, keeping me going with his humour and of course PopMaster. It's the end of the BBC but it's the start of #GHR. Don't be sad, be happy.'

In an interview on Radio 4's Today, Bruce said: 'It's entirely within the BBC's right to ask me to step away a little early. But for the sake of 17 days, which was all that was remaining (on my contract), it seems a shame.

'Over the last 46 years, I haven't had very much time off, I've attempted to turn up whenever I'm required to turn up. So my natural feeling as a broadcaster is if I've got 17 days to do, I want to do them.'

Fellow Radio 2 presenter Jeremy Vine, who hosts the slot immediately after, paid tribute to the broadcaster on air.

He said: 'Am I allowed to say, Ive worked with some great people and youre the best. I know you dont like praise, youre the most generous, intelligent talented colleague.

'Listeners need to know that for us at Radio 2, the presenters, you are the Charlie Watts, the drummer the all drummers want to be like. You are the presenter all presenters want to be like.'

Council employee Paul, from Norwich, was last contestant on PopMaste and won 27 of the 39 available points during the quiz which included questions on Sir Cliff Richard, Slade, Cher and Bob Marley.

Bruce asked Paul and fellow contestant Anna from Hastings to make their traditional dedications as part of the long-standing segment.

Anna made a dedication to family and friends along with Bruce, who she said had been a 'warm and funny friend to the nation' who provided a 'soundtrack' to 'our lives'.

Paul also gave shout-outs to his loved ones along 'a big thank you' to Bruce.

One superfan was so desperate to catch the final instalment of PopMaster, he scheduled his flight especially to land in Sao Paulo, Brazil, so he could listen.

Chris Samsa told the BBC: 'Couldn't miss this momentous day. You're on in the car via Bluetooth and I'm introducing my Brazilian driver Roberto, to the magic of uncle Ken.

'Would never have done this for any other broadcaster, you're the best and will miss you.'

The presenter will be moving to the Bauer station in April to present a new mid-morning show from 10am to 1pm.

Bruce also told Radio 4: 'Gardening leave is a known concept in broadcasting, and in many other areas. But you just adapt your timetable, and instead of three weeks, it's one week, and that's fine.'

'My belief is that, when I'm given a contract, I work to it and complete it'.

His departure appears to suggest a shift within the BBC of trying to attract a younger audience, though critics including Paul O'Grady have claimed this 'doesn't make sense' when Radio 1 already targets that demographic.

The broadcaster, who left Radio 2 in 2021 after being asked to share his slot with comedian Rob Beckett, criticised the approach taken by bosses.

'Radio 2 has changed, it's not what it was,' O'Grady told Metro.co.uk.

'They're trying to aim for a much younger audience, which doesn't make sense because you've got Radio 1. Radio 2 was always for an older audience.'

Bruce is leaving a month earlier than planned as corporation bosses became 'frustrated' that his shows were 'free advertising' for his next station.

He joined the BBC in 1977 in his 30s as a Radio Scotland presenter, going on to present several different programmes.

His first regular slot on Radio 2 was the Saturday Late Show in 1984 and the next year he fronted the Radio 2 Breakfast Show, taking over from Sir Terry Wogan.

Bruce later moved to mid-mornings in 1986 and after a brief stint on late nights and early mornings, returned to mid-mornings in January 1992.

Before his departure, Bruce said that he would 'always be proud' of his association with the BBC and Radio 2, but that he wanted to continue his career 'in a slightly different way in the next few years'.

But in a tweet, he added: '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!'

He later told the Daily Mail that he 'wasn't given any real reason that I understood' by the BBC for the decision to move his final programme.

However, sources told The Sun: 'The BBC believe that every second he is on air is just free advertising for his new show on Greatest Hits Radio.

'They became frustrated by the rival station launching a marketing campaign for his show. It leaves a sour taste.'

Vernon Kay appeared on Zoe Ball's BBC Radio 2 breakfast show to discuss his new slot, and he cried when he described his joy getting the job

Bruce is leaving a month earlier than planned as corporation bosses became 'frustrated' that his shows were 'free advertising' for his next station

In response to Bruce's comments, a Radio 2 spokesman said: '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.'

The date for Kay's May takeover of his slot is yet to be announced.

Davies, host of the station's Sounds Of The 80s, will present the mid-morning show from March 6 until Kay takes the helm, the BBC said.
The Met Office has issued snow and ice warnings for Monday and Tuesday across parts of the country while warning Britons to brace for very cold weather next week.

Temperatures are set to plummet across the whole country at the start of next week with lows of -3C in Scotland and -2C expected in the north west and east of England.

A yellow warning is in place for much of northern and eastern Scotland, the North East of England and North Yorkshire from midnight on Monday until 11.59pm.

A separate warning is in place covering a slightly larger area, including more parts of Scotland and Yorkshire, for the whole day on Tuesday, with fears snow and ice could lead to travel chaos and power cuts.

'Although we've moved into meteorological spring there will be a distinctly wintry feel to our weather next week,' said deputy chief meteorologist Chris Almond.

The Met Office has issued weather warnings for snow and ice on Monday (left) and Tuesday (right)

A cold morning at Avon Beach, Mudeford, Dorset today - as more cold weather is on the way

'Very cold air will spread across the UK, bringing snow showers even to sea level in the north on Monday, and these snow showers could spread further south on Tuesday.'

He added: 'With freezing overnight temperatures and the risk of ice, there's a risk of some travel disruption and wintry hazards are likely to persist through much of next week, even further south for a time, so keep an eye on the Met Office forecast for the latest information.'

Forecasters warn that areas in northern Scotland and the North East of England are expected to experience snow showers on Monday, with a small chance of road delays and travel disruption.

Cold northerly blusters will continue to drive frequent showers of snow and hail in these areas into Tuesday.

High ground areas of northern Scotland can expect the most snow, with the possibility of 5-10cm of snowfall by the end of the day on Tuesday.

Very cold air will also spread across the country from Monday, the UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) said.

The UKHSA is encouraging people to stay warm and look out for those most at risk from these conditions, such as people with medical conditions or over-65s.

A map showing the probability of snow (in purple) falling in the UK on Thursday, March 9

Heavy frost on the ground at the Sandringham Estate in Norfolk at the end of January

Snow in the Brecon Beacons in January - there are warnings of another cold snap on the way

The parts of the country highlighted in yellow show where there is a cold weather alert for Monday to Wednesday

The Met Office and UKHSA warned that all regions of England will experience cold weather from 1am on Monday to midnight on Wednesday.

Dr Agostinho Sousa, head of extreme events and health protection at UKHSA, said: 'During periods like this, it is important to check in on family, friends and relatives who may be more vulnerable to the cold weather, as it can have a serious impact on health.

'If you have a pre-existing medical condition or are over the age of 65, it is important to try and heat your home to at least 18C if you can.'

The health agency said for those struggling with the rising costs, it provides free advice on energy efficiency and national grants to help warm homes.

It advised that wearing several layers of thinner clothing will keep people warmer than wearing one thick layer, and that consuming hot food and drinks is also effective.

It comes after England had its driest February in 30 years, according to provisional figures from the Met Office.

The UK as a whole saw less than half the average rainfall for the month, at 45 per cent, with 43.4mm falling.

The plunging temperatures are the latest cold snap to hit the UK as it battles with soaring energy bills.
List of each state and territories top towns are revealed

List of each state and territories top towns are revealed

The best Australian towns to live in have been revealed with the popular tourist hot spot of Kiama in New South Wales topping the list.

A total of 752 towns that had between 1,000 and 50,000 residents were analysed based on data collected from four million Australians in the 2021 Census.

The extensive criteria used to judge the best town in each state and territory include measuring up the area's prosperity, skills, diversity and wellness.

Specifically, residents needed to have more than $1,282 in their household weekly income and the town required an unemployment rate less than 5.1 per cent.

The results, collated by The Australian's columnist Bernard Salt, also included towns that had at least 14 per cent of residents born overseas and more than half living without long-term illnesses.

The best small towns to live in each state and territory can be revealed based on the regions' prosperity, skilled workforce, diversity, wellness and lowest unemployment rates (pictured: Kiama, NSW, near Wollongong)

The extensive criteria used to judge the best in each state and territory include the region's prosperity, skills, diversity and wellness (pictured: Queensland's top town Tamborine Mountain)

New South Wales - Kiama

Kiama, which lies just south of Sydney, was ranked the best town in NSW and Australia overall due to a household average weekly income of $1,752, skills, wellness and a high volunteer rate with 20 per cent of residents giving their time for free.

Sixteen per cent of those living in the beach town were also born overseas.

The area grew by 9 per cent from 2016 to 2021 with the coastal town's population hitting the 23,000 mark in 2023.

Kiama is surrounded by pastures and forests about 130km south of Sydney and is a tourism hot spot with beautiful beaches and famous blowhole.

Kiama was ranked the best in NSW

Queensland - Tamborine Mountain

Tamborine Mountain is made up of North Tamborine, Eagle Heights and Mount Tamborine and is nestled on a plateau in the Gold Coast hinterland.

The population of the region is just over 8,000 people, with 27 per cent born overseas.

Twenty one per cent of residents volunteer, while the population has overall grown by 8 per cent between 2016 and 2021.

The town has a subtropical climate with temperatures often 5C less than surrounding regions.

It also features a large rainforest.

Tamborine Mountain earned top spot in Queensland with its small population of 8,000 people and subtropical climate

Victoria - Bright

The Victorian town of Bright was ranked as the best town in the state with a population of about 2,500 people.

Bright is known for its consistently warm temperatures and is located close to the Victorian Alps and various national parks, including the Mount Buffalo National Park.

The small town is about a three and a half hour drive from Melbourne.

Bright topped the list with its amount of volunteers, with 30 per cent of residents doing their bit for the town.

The Victorian town of Bright ranked as the best town in the state with a population of around 2,500 people

South Australia - Mount Barker

South Australia's Mount Barker ranked as the state's top town with an average weekly household income of $1,690.

It is located approximately 33km from the Adelaide city centre and is home to more than 21,000 residents.

The town is one of the state's fastest growing, with a 3.5 per cent rise in population in the financial year from 2020 to 2021.

South Australia's Mount Barker ranked as the states top town and is also one of the state's fastest growing towns, growing 3.5 per cent in population in the financial year from 2020 to 2021

Western Australia - Dunsborough

Dunsborough is a coastal town in south-west Western Australia, about 254km south of Perth and ranked as the top town in the state.

It is a 30 minute drive from the closest airport and is a favourite among tourists.

Dunsborough has also seen significant population growth with the 2021 Census showing the town increasing by 16 per cent in the five years to 2021, with the population currently sitting above 7,000 residents.

It also has a decent international population with 23 per cent born overseas.

Western Australia's coastal town of Dunsborough has seen significant growth with the 2021 Census showing the town growing 16 per cent in the five years to 2021, with the population currently sitting above 7,000 residents

Northern Territory: Nhulunbuy

Nhulunbuy was named the Northern Territory's best town.

Although home to less than 4,000 people, the region has plenty of employment potential thanks to its major mining operations.

According to the 2021 Census, Nhulunbuy had an unemployment rate of just 2 per cent and a median weekly household income of $2,799.

Nhulunbuy in the Northern Territory was named the territory's best town and has an unemployment rate of just two per cent

Tasmania: Legana

Tasmania's Legana is located 32km south-east of the town of Beaconsfield and has a population of about 4,250 residents.

The town ranked first in the state largely thanks to its unemployment rate of four per cent.

Tasmania's Legana is located 32 kilometres south-east of the town of Beaconsfield and has a population of around 4,250 residents and earned the prize of the state's best town
He is believed to have been hit over head with the butt of a gun by muggers

The victim was attacked by muggers at a mountain viewpoint in Medellin

A British tourist has died after he was attacked by muggers while hiking along a mountain trail in Colombia.

He is believed to have been hit over the head with the butt of a gun by muggers who stole his belongings after he hiked to the Hill of Three Crosses in the city of Medellin.

The victim, named locally as Kyle MacKenzie, was found critically injured at the bottom of the mountain trail where he was abandoned by the muggers after being attacked.

He was discovered two days after going missing and rushed to hospital in a critical condition before succumbing to his multiple injuries which included head wounds.

The victim has been described locally as a Swedish-born man who had a British passport.

The British tourist is believed to have been hit over the head with the butt of a gun by muggers who stole his belongings after he hiked to the Hill of Three Crosses (pictured in file image)

He is understood to have been on an extended holiday when he was killed. The victim had been in the city since January 21 and had planned to stay for two months, El Combiano reports.

After he was discovered at the bottom of the mountain trail, the victim was taken to a nearby health centre before being rushed to Medellin's General Hospital where he died despite life-saving surgery, just before midday local time on Wednesday.

He reportedly managed to tell medics he had been attacked and mugged by three men who stole all his belongings before he lost his fight for life.

His body is now at Medellin's Forensic Medicine Institute.

The UK's Foreign and Commonwealth Office said in a statement: 'We are supporting the family of a British man who has died in Colombia and are in contact with the local authorities'.

The Hill of Three Crosses, Cerro De Las Tres Cruces in Spanish, is a short but intense hike which offers breathtaking views of the city of Medellin.

As well as three small crosses at the top, it has an outdoor gym.

Holidaymakers who have made the same hike and posted comments online say they felt very safe climbing the path, but warn against going late in the day when it starts getting dark and admit they have heard of people being robbed at night.

The mugging victim has been described as the first foreign person to have been murdered in Medellin so far this year, following 10 murders of foreigners last year in the city.

No arrests are yet believed to have been made although police chief Henry Yesid Bello was quoted as saying detectives had some information pointing to the criminals believed to be responsible.
Sadiq Khan was barracked at a public meeting last night as he branded some Ulez opponents 'far-Right' and 'Covid deniers'.

The London mayor was holding a People's Question Time in Ealing, west London, when the extraordinary confrontation developed.

Tensions have been running high for months over the expansion of the Ultra Low Emission Zone - where 12.50 is charged for driving polluting vehicles - which is due to cover all London boroughs from August.

Critics, including some London Labour MPs, have branded the policy a 'tax raid' and warned it will price key workers and others who have no choice about using vehicles out of the capital.

London mayor Sadiq Khan was holding a People's Question Time in Ealing when the extraordinary confrontation developed

During the bad-tempered session last night, Mr Khan compared the situation over Ulez to complaints before the ban on smoking in public places was introduced in 2007, adding: 'What I find unacceptable, though, is those who've got legitimate objections joining hands with some of those outside who are part of a far-Right group.'

Shaking his head amid shouts of protest from the audience, Mr Khan went on: 'Let's be frank, let's call a spade a spade... some of those outside are part of the far-Right, some are Covid deniers, some are vaccine deniers and some are Tories.'

At that point the jeers became so loud that the chairman had to intervene and warn that the meeting might have to be broken up.

Mr Khan then continued: 'Some of you have got good reasons to oppose Ulez, but you are in coalition with Covid deniers... you may not like it... you are in coalition with the far-Right. And you are in coalition with vaccine deniers as well.'

Peter Fortune, the Tories' deputy leader at City Hall, shot back at Mr Khan: 'If you disagree with the mayor he's going to paint you as far-Right... he is going to say you are a flat-Earther... he doesn't want to address the fact you've got legitimate concerns.'

He claimed the real issue behind the Ulez scheme was the need to prop up Transport for London (TfL), which runs the city's buses and Underground, adding: 'It's about finance. At the end of the day this is about the mismanagement of TfL.

Peter Fortune, the Tories' deputy leader at City Hall, shot back at Mr Khan: 'If you disagree with the Mayor he's going to paint you as Far Right.'

Shadow foreign secretary David Lammy highlighted 'placards including swastikas' apparently being brandished outside the event last night

'He never talks about the financial impact on people... he never wants to address that because the reality is he's filling a financial hole in TfL.'

Nick Rogers, another Tory member of the London Assembly, said afterwards that Mr Khan's comments were 'some of the most disgraceful I have ever heard from any politician', adding: 'Labelling those who oppose his Ulez expansion as 'far-Right' is not OK. If he can't hack the pressure of being mayor, he should resign.'

Mr Khan tweeted afterwards: 'Good to answer questions in Ealing on how we are addressing genuine concerns about ULEZ expansion, whilst ensuring our children no longer breathe in poison.

'To the conspiracy theorists who tried to disrupt tonight's #PQT:: Londoners have no time for your dangerous misinformation.'
Xi Jinping will secure a third term as China 's president at a rubber-stamp parliament that starts this weekend, enjoying unchallengeable status despite criticism over his handling of Covid and the economy.

Xi is certain to be reappointed as president after he locked in another five years as head of the Communist Party (CCP) and the military - the two more significant leadership positions in Chinese politics - in October.

Since then, 69-year-old Xi has faced unexpected challenges and scrutiny over his leadership, with mass protests over his zero-Covid policy and its subsequent abandonment that saw countless people die.

But those issues are almost certain to be avoided at the National People's Congress (NPC), a carefully choreographed event that will also see the unveiling of a Xi ally as the new premier.

Starting on Sunday, the NPC is expected to last around 10 days and culminate with Xi's presidency being endorsed by the 3,000 delegates casting votes in Beijing's Great Hall of the People.

Xi Jinping has faced unexpected challenges and scrutiny over his leadership, with mass protests over his zero-Covid policy and its subsequent abandonment that saw countless people die

'Public opinion is probably not very good about him - zero-Covid has damaged people's faith,' said Alfred Muluan Wu, an associate professor at the National University of Singapore's Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy.

Yet Xi still enjoys a 'pretty strong' position at the top of the party that makes him virtually unchallengeable, Wu said.

China maintained some of the world's strictest Covid curbs until late last year, pounding growth and social life under a constant barrage of testing mandates, quarantines and travel restrictions that Xi himself championed.

Public resentment exploded in November into the most widespread public demonstrations for decades, followed by the rapid dismantling of the policy and a maelstrom of infections and deaths that went mostly unreported by authorities.

The country is still tentatively emerging from the outbreak, after three years in which business, employment and even education were subjugated to the government's demand to shut out the virus at any cost.

And the gathered lawmakers will likely set some of China's lowest economic growth goals in decades on the opening day of the NPC, according to experts interviewed by AFP.

However, there is no sign that the position of Xi - who has stacked the party's top bodies with loyalists, and expunged rivals in last year's Congress reshuffle - is in any doubt.

Li Qiang, a Xi confidant and former Shanghai party chief, is set to be named premier.

Pictured: Li Qiang (file photo). The event will see the unveiling of Xi ally Qiang as the new premier

Instead of threatening Xi's rule, last year's protests actually 'gave him just the out he was looking for', according to Christopher Johnson, president and CEO of China Strategies Group.

'If abandoning zero-Covid went well, he could... say he listened to the people. If it went poorly, he could blame the protesters and the 'hostile foreign forces' that his top security chief publicly suggested were behind them,' he wrote in an article for Foreign Affairs magazine last week.

Steve Tsang, director of the SOAS China Institute at the University of London, said Xi now had an opportunity to flaunt his response to pressure.

'He acted decisively when the protests included calls for him and the CCP to step down. He quashed them and removed the basic cause,' Tsang told AFP.

'He can present himself as leading from the front, rather than being pushed to react.'

But Oxford University professor emeritus Vivienne Shue suggested it was time for Chinese leaders to reflect on 'what certainly looks like a cumulative record of failures' to respond to crises in recent years.

Delegates to the NPC - and to the concurrent 'political consultative conference' (CPPCC) - will also approve a slate of personnel changes and discuss a range of issues from the economic recovery to improved sex education in schools, according to state media reports.

The meetings serve as a forum for attendees to present pet projects, but they have little say in broader questions of how China is run.

This year's conclave will take place against the backdrop of increasingly fraught ties with Western countries.

A spat with the United States over alleged surveillance balloons has added to dismay over Beijing's equivocal stance on its ally Russia's invasion of Ukraine.

As well as announcing China's GDP target for the coming year, outgoing Premier Li Keqiang is expected to use his speech at Sunday's opening ceremony to pledge a bump in military spending.
A new Florida law could require bloggers who write about Gov. Ron DeSantis and other state politicians to register with the state.

State Sen. Jason Brodeur has submitted a bill titled 'Information Dissemination' that would force bloggers to detail any compensation they receive and to register with the Florida Office of Legislative Services or the Commission on Ethics.

The proposed bill reads: 'If a blogger posts to a blog about an elected state officer and receives, or will receive, compensation for that post, the blogger must register with the appropriate office within five days after the first 164 by the blogger which mentions an elected state officer.'

The legislation, however, would not extend to newspapers or established online news platforms.

The bill - which would treat bloggers similar to lobbyists in the state - has come under severe criticism, however, with many suggesting that it would be a violation of First Amendment freedom of speech rights.

A new Florida law could require bloggers who write about Gov. Ron DeSantis (pictured) and other state politicians to register with the state

The 'elected state officers' covered by the bill would be Florida's governor, the lieutenant governor, the cabinet officer, and any member of the state legislature.

After registering with the state and disclosing any financial backers, bloggers would also be required to file a monthly report on their posts.

The blogger would have to detail to the department where and when it was written and specify, if any, the amount of compensation they received for the post. If they failed to do this, the legislation proposes that they would be met with fines.

If the blogger fails to register with the state, they could receive a fine of $25 a day, and rising to a maximum of $2,500 per individual post, it was reported.

While established news websites are not included in the law, the bill defines a blog to be 'a website or webpage that hosts any blogger and is frequently updated with opinion, commentary, or business content'.

A blog post is outlined as 'an individual webpage on a blog which contains an article, a story, or a series of stories'.

Mr Brodeur, the state senator who has proposed the bill, told Florida Politics: Paid bloggers are lobbyists who write instead of talk. They both are professional electioneers. If lobbyists have to register and report, why shouldnt paid bloggers?'

The blogger would have to detail to the department where and when it was written and specify, if any, the amount of compensation they received for the post. Pictured: The historic Old Florida State Capitol building

Ron Kirby, a New York lawyer has cast doubt on the bill, joining many in criticism of its violation of First Amendment rights.

Mr Kirby told NBC: 'It's hard to imagine a proposal that would be more violative of the First Amendment.

'We don't register journalists. People who write cannot be forced to register.'
A family-of-four is facing deportation after the Australian government denied permanent residency because their son who has Down syndrome is considered a 'financial burden' on society.

Aneesh Kollikkara and Krishnadevi Aneesh, along with their son Aaryan, 10, and daughter Aaryasree, 8, moved to Australia from India seven years ago.

They call Perth home but the Immigration Department have denied the family's application for permanent residency due to the potential costs Aaryan's disability might have on the health system.

The parents' application was rejected in mid-2021 after being lodged in February the year before.

The family have now been told they have less than two weeks to leave the country after their final appeal was denied last month.

Perth parents Krishnadevi Aneesh and Aneesh Kollikkara are fighting to stay in Australia with their children after their permanent residency application was rejected because their 10-year-old son Aaryan has Down syndrome

'We haven't mentioned anything to [our children]. If our daughter hears we have to depart from the country because of her brother, I don't know how it will be,' Ms Aneesh told SBS News.

Mr Kollikkara works in telecommunications, while Ms Aneesh works as a cyber security expert - both considered critical industries.

'Our children have known no other home than Australia,' they wrote in a Change.org petition, begging Immigration Minister Andrew Giles to intervene.

'To now require us to go to India is a seriously retrograde step in their development.'

Friends of the family labelled the government's justification as 'sickening' and 'fundamentally worrying'.

'The case put by the Australian Government is that Aaryan is a 'Burden' to the taxpayer,' the petition read.

'To consider this as appropriate is sickening. But the ableism displayed in our case is fundamentally worrying.

'The CMO has assessed the cost to the taxpayer if Aaryan accessed all disability services at a very high cost.

'The reality is that Aaryan does not access any services whatsoever. And this is unlikely to ever change.'

Aneesh and Krishna wrote Immigration Minister Andrew Giles (pictured) a letter desperately pleading for him to intervene

The parents claim any taxpayer-funded services their son might access in the future is 'well and truly' covered by the significant tax they pay already.

Ms Aneesh said her son wouldn't be accepted in India as he was in Australia.

'The culture, society, everything here is very different from India and also it will be very hard for Aaryan to survive there because of this [disability],' she told the ABC.

'Even though he has Down Syndrome, he is really healthy ... he has the same physical capabilities like any other child.'

The family are now hoping Mr Giles can approve their application and allow them to stay in the city their children grew up in.

Daily Mail Australia has contacted the Department of Home Affairs and Immigration Minister Andrew Giles.

A spokesperson for Mr Giles told the SBS the minister is aware of the matter but does not comment on individual cases due to privacy reasons.
A British family's luxury holiday in Tenerife turned into a nightmare after they say thieves broke into their room at the five-star Hard Rock Hotel and stole 8,000 worth of items.

James Dobson, 40, and his wife Jayne, 39, had been staying at the 1,300 a night hotel with their two children for three days when they say the items were stolen.

These included two designer handbags, three pairs of designer sunglasses, a Nintendo Switch, Bose Bluetooth headphones and Mr Dobson's electric toothbrush.

The thieves even managed to get into the room's locked safe and steal 800 (710) from Mr Dobson's wallet while the family were relaxing by the pool, the couple said.

'When we returned to the room, although there was no physical evidence of a break-in, we noticed straight away that things were missing,' said Mr Dobson.

James Dobson, 40, and his wife Jayne, 39, were staying at the 1,300 a night Hard Rock Hotel in Tenerife when ten items worth around 8,000 were stolen from them, they say

The couple said staff at the Hard Rock Hotel were unsympathetic when they reported the theft

'These were obviously not opportunists. They knew exactly what to take.

'They left items like airpods and iPads because they knew they could be tracked.

'They also took an Adidas rucksack, which I assume they used to carry the stolen items.

'It looks like the thieves cut the power using the fuse box in the room in order to reset and open the safe.

'We had a child's clock with us that flashes the time when it loses mains power - and it was showing the time when we were out of the room.'

Mr Dobson, the co-founder of a tech company, immediately reported the incident to the police and when he returned, told the hotel staff what had happened. The hotel said they had found no evidence of wrongdoing.

But he said none of them 'apologised' or 'showed any empathy' about what had happened.

'Surely there was someone on the staff other than the hotel manager who could have helped us?,' he said.

Mr Dobson said: 'It was beyond frustrating. Not once did anyone at the hotel apologise or show any empathy. 'Our holiday was ruined'

Mr Dobson said the couple's children were so traumatised by the theft 'that my wife had to sleep with them'

'I went to the police station as soon as possible and submitted a full report.

'When I got back to the hotel, staff... said that they couldn't talk about it as it was now a police matter.

'It was beyond frustrating. Not once did anyone at the hotel apologise or show any empathy.

'Our holiday was ruined.

'My young children were so traumatised by the theft that they spent the rest of the holiday worried that someone would come back into the room.

'So much so that my wife had to sleep with them.'

Three days after the incident, Mr Dobson was finally able to talk to the hotel manager and ask if they had done or found any of the stolen goods.

But he said she 'laughed in me and my wife's face' when he 'suggested that a crime had taken place'.

Mr Dobson, of Leeds, West Yorkshire, said: 'I was chasing the hotel every day to try to find out if they'd done or found anything.

'I eventually managed to talk to the hotel manager after literally refusing to leave reception until she came to speak to me.

'When I suggested that a crime had taken place, she laughed in me and my wife's face.

'In our experience, the hotel is neither safe nor secure.

'And when something goes wrong, they will ignore you and hope you go away.'

A Hard Rock Hotel Tenerife spokesperson said: 'The safety and security of our guests is our top priority, and we take allegations of theft very seriously.

'Hard Rock Tenerife fully cooperated with local authorities on this matter and defer any further questions to them.'

MailOnline has approached Hard Rock Hotel Tenerife for further comment.
A hapless man who was running away from police was discovered up a tree by a dog and drone, a video shows.

The man had dumped a car upside down in the street and scarpered to the top of a tree in Deal, Kent on June 26, 2022.

Footage shows the moment police discovered the driver hiding in the tree with the assistance of force dog Eli and drone pilot PC Andy Green.

Police Dog Eli leads officers to a wooded area before the man is spotted due to his light clothing by PC Green at the top of the tree.

The man then insulted police officers and was arrested after he climbed down.

Search dog Eli worked with a drone flown by PC Andy Green to find the man, who was hiding up a tree

The man hiding in the tree, circled in red, was visible to drone pilot PC Andy Green due to his light clothing

PC Green said: 'There are times when officers responding to incidents can track down suspects on foot.

'But police dogs and drones are obviously invaluable resources when this is not possible.

'The drone is an increasingly useful part of police kit, helping us locate missing people, provide situation awareness and cover a larger area than officers on the ground would normally be able to.'

Police dog Eli helped officers to find the man, who had abandoned a vehicle upside down in the road

Officers tracked down the driver - who was banned from driving for two years following the incident, using a police dog and a drone

The man (circled in red) was given an 18-month community order, 200 hours of unpaid work, a drink-drive rehabilitation order and was disqualified from driving for two years

Police dog Eli led officers to a wooded area near Deal in Kent, where the man was hiding up the tree last June

A 28-year-old man from Herne Bay was later charged with failing to provide a specimen for analysis and a public order offence, relating to comments made to attending officers.

He admitted both charges at Folkestone Magistrates' Court on 23 February.

The man was given an 18-month community order, 200 hours of unpaid work, a drink-drive rehabilitation order and was disqualified from driving for two years.

Locals praised the work of the police and said the man must be feeling 'daft'.

Janet Lyon said: 'Great work Kent Police, I imagine he is feeling a bit daft now.'

Another Kent resident added: 'Great job all round.'
Prince Harry was today urged to reconsider holding an online event to promote his memoir, Spare, with a 'toxic trauma' doctor who has compared Hamas to the Jewish heroes of the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising against the Nazis and once branded Israel's government terrorists.

Gabor Mate, 79 - who has also defended Palestinian rocket fire at Israeli civilians - will join the Duke of Sussex on Saturday for an 'intimate' 17-a-head virtual conference to discuss 'living with loss and the importance of personal healing', followed by a live Q&A.

Rabbi Abraham Cooper, of the Simon Wiesenthal Center in New York, told the Jewish Chronicle: 'Whoever made the arrangements to have this individual appear with Prince Harry, did him no favours. If Prince Harry knew this man's record and still chose him for the interview, our center would criticise the prince for such an inappropriate choice.'

Harry's memoirs are dominated by the death of his mother Princess Diana in 1997. Buckingham Palace will be watching what he says at 5pm GMT tomorrow, especially after it emerged this week that King Charles decided to evict the Sussexes from Frogmore Cottage in Windsor just 24 hours after the release of Spare.

The livestream costs 17 and comes with a free hardback copy of the duke's memoir

Gabor Mate, 79, will join Harry (pictured with US chat-show host Stephen Colbert while promoting Spare) tomorrow to discuss 'living with loss and the importance of personal healing', followed by a live Q and A

Rabbi Abraham Cooper, of the Simon Wiesenthal Centre in New York, told the Jewish Chronicle: 'Whoever made the arrangements to have this individual appear with Prince Harry, did him no favours'

Dr Mate, a Hungarian-Canadian physician, has his own harrowing story. Born in Nazi-occupied Budapest in 1944, when he was five months old his maternal grandparents were among the Jews murdered in Auschwitz. He was taken from his mother and hidden with an aunt until the war ended.

But it is not clear if Harry is aware of some of the controversies - and hurt - Dr Mate has caused with some of his words, especially on Israel and Palestine.

He has also recently defended Pink Floyd founder Roger Waters and former Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn from claims of anti-Semitism.

He has also appeared on a left-wing YouTube channel: The Grayzone, which has been branded pro-Kremlin.

MailOnline has contacted a representative of Prince Harry for comment and asked if the event is still going ahead and whether Harry was aware of the controversies surrounding Gabor Mate before the event was organised.

It is not yet clear who put Harry and Dr Mate together, and if they have spent time together in the past.

It could be the publishers of Spare or one of the Sussexes' team who put them in touch.

Archewell's executive director is Briton, James Holt one of Prince Harry's longest-serving team members, having led communications for the Royal Foundation from October 2017, when it was run by Harry along with Prince William and Kate Middleton.

Mr Holt, who has previously worked for the Liberal Democrats, also acted as Harry and Meghan Markle's UK spokesman and took on the role of executive director of the Archewell Foundation in March 2020. He is now based in LA.

There is also Mandana Dayani, who Harry and Meghan hired as a tech and media executive in June 2021.

There is also Ashley Momtaheni, one of the Sussexes' most recent hires. She joined last May as executive vice president for global communications.

In 2021 Gabor Mate said in an online event that Hamas was 'nothing compared to the terrorism of the Israeli government', accusing Israel of wanting to seize all of 'biblical Palestine' beyond the Jordan.

He also appeared on a podcast with left-wing comic Russell Brand, saying of Israel: 'It's the longest ethnic-cleansing operation in the 20th and 21st centuries. It's still going on.'

He then described Gaza as 'the world's largest outdoor prison'.

In another controversy, writing in the Toronto Star, he compared Hamas terrorists to the heroes of the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising - the 1943 Jewish rebellion in German-occupied Poland

Dr Mate said in in 2014: 'The Palestinians use tunnels? So did my heroes, the poorly armed fighters of the Warsaw Ghetto.'

Defending the firing of rockets from Palestine into Israel, he said: 'Out of impotent defiance, they fire inept rockets, causing terror for innocent Israelis but rarely physical harm'.

He has spoken in friendly terms of Pink Floyd star Roger Waters, recently described as 'antisemitic to [his] rotten core'.

Gabor Mate also taken in part in discussions hosted by a far-left, pro-Kremlin blog and defended Jeremy Corbyn against charges of antisemitism, according to The JC.

Trauma expert Gabor Mate with his wife, Rae, who he married in 1969

Dr Mate is a Hungarian-Canadian best-selling author and physician who specialises in addiction and childhood development

King Charles (left) issued notice to the Sussexes (seen right, at Frogmore) that they would need to vacate the five-bedroom mansion on Tuesday

Harry will speak publicly tomorrow as the rift with his family appeared to deepen this week.

His father appears to have retaliated to Spare by evicting the Sussexes from their grace-and-favour UK home.

The couple no longer have a base in Britain - in an act their allies say they consider to be 'cruel'.

And a wrangle over money could also follow.

Meghan Markle and Prince Harry could be owed a 'refund' after they were kicked out of Frogmore Cottage having spent 2.4million on refurbishments and apparently paying for rent up front.

King Charles issued notice to the Sussexes that they would need to vacate the five-bedroom mansion on Tuesday in a dramatic move reportedly prompted by the repeated broadsides at Queen Consort Camilla in the Duke's memoir, Spare.

The decision was backed both by his wife and the Prince and Princess of Wales, it is understood.

However, it has now prompted questions as to whether the Crown Estate, which leases out Frogmore to the Sussexes, might actually end up owing the couple money.

The Sussexes were given use of Frogmore Cottage in 2018 by Queen Elizabeth amid their explosive fall-out with William and Katherine.

It was originally five, run-down, staff residences but was knocked back into one large home with a private garden initially using 2.4million in taxpayers' money.

The couple themselves paid for anything over and above basic fixtures and fittings.

At the time, the couple were said to be 'relieved and pleased' to refund taxpayers for the renovations.

'They are 'very relieved and very pleased' to have been able to pay off the debt so quickly,' a source close to them told Vanity Fair's Katie Nicholl.

'This has been a pro-active step and something they wanted to do from the outset.

'There was no requirement [from the Queen] for them to pay the money back but it was important to them that they did, and after the Netflix deal they were in a position to do so. I think this is quite a significant moment for them.'

New data from the US shows the drop in the couple's approval ratings over the last three months

The source added: 'They're now in their forever home, it's the start of their new life and they're very much looking forward to everything that's about to come.'

Gabor Mate has 20 years' experience working with people suffering from addiction and mental illness, with other specialisms such as stress and child development. But it has since emerged he once caused concern with the authorities for using a 'spiritual' psychedelic drug to treat patients.

He was born in Budapest in 1944, his maternal grandparents were killed in Auschwitz when he was five months old.

Tragically he was separated from his mother as a baby to save his life, while his father was subjected to forced labour by the Nazis.

The academic has described how he was unable to look at his mother when they were finally reunited when he was a toddler due to feelings of 'abandonment, rage and despair'.

He says the trauma he suffered continues to affect his adult life, leading to an intense emotional reaction when he perceives a threat of abandonment, especially from his wife.

He also believes it may have shaped his 'addiction' to shopping for classical music.

'As I was writing about my hardcore, drug-addicted clients I was certainly able to recognize similar areas in myself and in their behaviors,' he told Classical Voice in 2013.

'Working through the emotional dynamics and being with the emptiness that addictions attempt to fill, it just helped me understand myself better.'

The author is an outspoken supporter of decriminalising drugs, and has used the Amazonian plant ayahuasca to treat patients suffering from mental illness.

The psychedelic plant, which is taken as a brewed drink, causes people to experience hallucinations and other side effects, including vomiting.

Ayahuasca has traditionally been used by shamans and traditional healers but is now popular among Western tourists.

It remains illegal in the US, UK and Canada, and in 2011 Canadian officials threatened to arrest Dr Mate if he didn't stop using the drug to treat his patients.

Dr Mate regularly airs his opinions on a range of topics, and in 2021 appeared on a podcast series by the comedian Russell Brand where he discussed the Israel-Palestine conflict.

'There's no way you could have ever created a Jewish state without oppressing and expelling the local population,' he said.

Dr Mate called Gaza the 'world's largest outdoor prison,' and said that 'given those conditions, of course people will go for extremist leadership' - a reference to the 2006 election victory of Hamas.

'The disproportion of power and responsibility and oppression is so markedly on one side, that you take the worst thing you can say about Hamas, multiply it by a thousand times - and it still will not meet the Israeli repression, and killing, and dispossession of Palestinians,' he said.

He has published a series of books including 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 for his work on addiction and other mental health-related contributions.

Prince Harry's decision to select Dr Mate to help promote his memoir is another sign of his interest in therapeutic healing, having previously discussed his experience of going through therapy.

The event, organised in collaboration with Harry's publishers Penguin Random House, will take place at 5pm UK time on Saturday March 4.

It comes at a fragile time for the Sussexes, 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.

Since December last year, Harry's popularity has sunk by 48 points and Meghan's by 40, giving them net approval ratings of -10 and -17 respectively, according to a survey by Redfield & Wilton for Newsweek.

Sources suggest neither William nor King Charles are prepared to offer any apology prior to the coronation, meaning the Sussexes may stay away.

'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 in two weeks to the 2,000 guests who have been chosen to attend the pared-down spring ceremony.

Numbers have been reduced from the 8,251 who attended Queen Elizabeth II's coronation in 1953 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 if he is to attend.

It is unclear whether Meghan will attend the ceremony if Harry chooses to do so, but as the date chosen for the coronation also falls on their son Archie's fourth birthday, there are doubts she will be present regardless of the ongoing family feud.
Ministers at the time claimed the police were operationally independent

Police won't be surprised at the tone of Matt Hancock's leaked messages, in which he discussed the need to 'get heavy' with officers over enforcing lockdown rules, a former chief constable said today.

WhatsApp messages revealed yesterday also disclose how the ex-health secretary gave officers 'their marching orders' to enforce the Covid restrictions.

Sir Peter Fahy, former chief constable of Greater Manchester Police, said the approach taken by Mr Hancock and other ministers during the pandemic caused 'huge resentment' within the ranks.

He told BBC Radio 4's Today programme: 'I think lots of people in the police service won't be surprised at the tone of these remarks. There was this constant confusion between what was legislation and what was guidance. Often it seemed ministers themselves didn't understand the impact of the legislation.'

It caused 'huge resentment within policing' when cases of officers 'trying to do their best' were highlighted and misunderstood, he said.

The Government must get heavy with the police to make them crack down on lockdown rule-breakers, Matt Hancock said during the pandemic

Leaked private WhatsApp messages show Matt Hancock telling Simon Case, the then permanent secretary at the Cabinet Office, about the need to 'get heavy' with the police

Mr Hancock made the comment about giving officers 'their marching orders' days before No 10 staff held an illicit party at Downing Street.

The texts given to The Daily Telegraph also reveal that senior officers were hauled into No 10 to be told they should be stricter with the public.

This is despite ministers claiming at the time that the police were operationally independent of the Government.

On August 28, 2020, Simon Case, then permanent secretary at the Cabinet Office, asked Mr Hancock: 'Who is actually delivering enforcement?'

Mr Hancock replied: 'I think we are going to have to get heavy with the police.'

After a meeting on January 10, 2021, one week after England entered its third national lockdown, Mr Hancock texted about how 'the plod got their marching orders'.

The meeting was attended by then prime minister Boris Johnson, then home secretary Priti Patel and Mr Case, who is now the Cabinet Secretary.

On January 14, a gathering was held in No 10 to mark the departure of two private secretaries. The Metropolitan Police later said this event breached the rules in place at the time.

It also emerged that Mr Johnson feared he had 'blinked too soon' by plunging Britain into a second lockdown during the pandemic.

He made the observation in private messages after being told that modelling he had been shown predicting death numbers was 'very wrong'.

Derbyshire Police were among the forces who raised eyebrows for their zealous enforcement of lockdown rules, including sharing drone footage of people walking their dogs in the Peak District in 2020

Sir Peter Fahy, the former chief constable of Greater Manchester Police, said the approach taken by Mr Hancock and other ministers during the pandemic caused 'huge resentment'

The messages, leaked by Isabel Oakeshott, who was a ghost-writer on Mr Hancock's Pandemic Diaries, show he expressed the fear on November 1, 2020, a day after he announced another national lockdown would come into force a few days later.

Despite his fears, the lockdown went ahead and lasted for a month.

The messages raise fresh questions about whether ministers were making decisions about curbing people's freedoms based on the science, as they always insisted.

It also raises the prospect that people were forced to abide by draconian restrictions for more time than was necessary.

On November 1, Mr Johnson said he had held an online conference call with scientists Dr Raghib Ali and Dr Carl Heneghan.

Jessica Allen and her friend Eliza Moore were given 200 fines by police in January 2021 after strolling with coffees by Foremark Reservoir in Derbyshire. The fines were later dropped

He told those in the messaging group that Dr Heneghan had said 'the death modelling you have been shown is already very wrong' because it was out of date due to having been drawn up three weeks before.

The previous day, Mr Johnson had announced an impending national lockdown, justifying the decision using public modelling that 4,000 people could die daily without action.

But this data projected what could happen in the event of no restrictions being ordered.

The then PM shared a link in the exchanges suggesting the modelling was out by a factor of four, with a more recent Cambridge study suggesting 1,000 deaths a day would occur.

Referring to the idea that ministers could be criticised for announcing a lockdown too early, Mr Johnson wrote: 'The attack is going to be that we blinked too soon.'

Police speak to drivers at Tynemouth beach after it was closed during lockdown in March 2020

Previous messages reveal how Mr Johnson was told that lifting curbs earlier than planned was not in line with what the public wanted.

A message he sent to Mr Hancock on June 6, 2020, said he was 'thinking hard about the 15th June'.

On June 15, ministers were planning on opening non-essential retail premises.

But Mr Johnson's message suggested he wanted to go further and remove more restrictions.

But he was warned by senior media advisers Lee Cain and James Slack not to do so.

Mr Johnson said they 'still think the whole package will be too far ahead of public opinion'.
Shocking footage recorded by an officer captures the moment a man trapped inside a car in a Florida canal is rescued after his iPhone sent a distress signal which led deputies to the submerged vehicle.

Reports from Martin County Sheriff's Office reveal that a 38-year-old's vehicle was partly submerged underwater after swerving into a canal near Indiantown, Florida.

The accident occurred at around 1.00am on Wednesday after the driver claimed he had been trying to avoid an animal on a dark road when he crashed and landed upside down into the canal.

The impact of the crash promoted an automatic response from his iPhone, which sent an SOS alert to first responders.

Deputies were then able to locate the crashed vehicle by using the latitude and longitude submitted by his device.

Deputies were alerted to the crash location after an automatic response from a man's iPhone sent an SOS alert to first responders

Reports from Martin County Sheriff's Office reveal that a 38-year-old's vehicle was partly submerged underwater after swerving into a canal near Indiantown, Florida

Emergency services were then able to locate the crashed vehicle by using the latitude and longitude submitted by his device

Cries for help were heard from inside the car by deputies that quickly rushed to the scene.

One of the deputies said on body camera footage: 'Stay back from the window, buddy, I'm going to bust it'.

At least two deputies were then recorded attempting to pry the door from the vehicle before the victim was eventually freed.

The man grabbed onto a deputy's arm as law enforcement officials attempted to get him to safety.

The rescued man said: 'I'm so cold... Can you give me a blanket, please sir? I'm freezing.'

Paramedics assisted the man once he was pulled from the water before he was transported to a nearby hospital.

Investigators said speed did not play a role in the crash and the driver is not suspected of being under the influence of drugs or alcohol, TCPalm.com reported.

'The victim that night was probably slipping into a form of hyperthermia, you can tell by watching the video,' Chief Deputy John Budensiek told CBS12 News.

Cries for help were heard from inside the car by deputies that quickly rushed to the man's aid

At least two deputies were then recorded attempting to pry the door from the vehicle before the victim was eventually freed and taken to hospital

He added: 'That phone application saved him (from) what could have been more catastrophic'.

Martin County Sheriff's Office wrote on Facebook: 'The victim could be heard pleading for help, and our deputies wasted no time jumping in the water to calm and save the man.

Read More: The new iPhone 14 feature that could save your life Advertisement

'The incident happened around 1am on a dark desolate road after the victim crashed into the water in attempt to avoid an animal in the road.

'The impact of the crash prompted his cell phone to send an S.O.S alert to our dispatchers with impact coordinates. The additional footage of the rescue can be seen on the prior post.'

According to Apple, emergency signals via satellite can help you connect with the emergency services under exceptional circumstances when no other means of reaching the emergency services are available.

Crash Detection can detect severe car crashes  such as front-impact, side-impact and rear-end collisions and rollovers  involving saloons, minivans, 4X4s, pickup trucks and other passenger cars.

If a person is able to, they can choose to call emergency services or dismiss the alert, however, for those unable to respond, the device will automatically call emergency services after a 20-second delay.
Murdaugh will return for sentencing where he faces 30 years to life in prison

He is the millionaire legal scion whose fall from grace has gripped America.

Alex Murdaugh showed no emotion on his face yesterday as a jury found him guilty of brutally shooting dead his wife Maggie, 52, and younger son Paul, 22, at the family's 1,800-acre hunting estate in Moselle, South Carolina on the night of June 7, 2021.

The disgraced 54-year-old, whose family has wielded immense judicial power in the region for three generations, lied to cops about his alibi before making the sensational decision to take the stand where he changed his story to fit damning evidence.

But now the disbarred attorney faces decades in prison following a case filled with so many captivating twists and turns that it has inspired documentaries on the likes of Netflix and HBO.

Just after 10pm on June 7, 2021, Murdaugh called 911 claiming through blubbering tears that he had discovered his wife and son gunned down outside the kennels of their estate.

However, as the jury found yesterday, Murdaugh had fired five shots at his wife with an automatic rifle before shooting his son in the head and chest with a different weapon to make it look as though his barbaric murders were an ambush.

As police arrived on the scene, the lawyer said he had been to visit his mother and had returned to discover his Maggie and Paul dead. As video evidence would later reveal, he was lying.

Prosecutors think Murdaugh killed his wife and son because he feared his years of stealing millions of dollars from his law firm and clients would be exposed and his lofty standing in the community toppled. They said he hoped their deaths would make him a sympathetic figure and draw attention away from the missing money.

But the long and winding story that lead to the horrific 2021 killings of Maggie, 52, and younger son Paul, 22, started two years earlier. Then aged 19, Paul Murdaugh had ventured for a booze-laden cruise along the South Carolina coast with friends on the family boat, when a collision knocked three of the friends into the icy water - with only one body not surfacing, Mallory Beach.

Alex Murdaugh's (second right) killed his wife Maggie (second left) and son Paul (left) in 2019

Mallory Beach (pictured) 19, was killed in a a boat crash in 2019 and Paul Murdaugh was charged. But the case was never came to court

Alex Murdaugh was shot in the head and injured on September 4, 2021, months after he killed his wife and son

Alex Murdaugh, who like previous generations of his family has wielded huge judicial power in the region, had allegedly attempted to pressure survivors of the accident to say his son had not been at the helm. But the young Murdaugh was soon charged with three offences including boating under the influence resulting in death.

While the case never came to court, Beach's family filed a civil suit against Alex Murdaugh, claiming he was liable for her death because he lent his son the boat and turned a blind eye to his underage drinking.

Then, just days before the hearing for the civil case - which, crucially, would have required Murdaugh to provide a full picture of his finances, and for Maggie and Paul to testify - the wife and son were killed.

Paul Murdaugh, a wayward youth described as a 'teenage Caligula', was an aggressive drunk and he was allegedly steering the boat when it crashed.

Despite his influential family's alleged attempts to pressure survivors of the accident to say Paul had not been at the helm, he was charged with three offences including boating under the influence resulting in death.

Although that case never came to court  an illustration, some said, of the power of the Murdaughs  Mallory Beach's family filed a civil suit against Murdaugh, claiming he was liable for her death because he lent his son the boat and turned a blind eye to his underage drinking.

Alex Murdaugh (left) shot his wife Maggie (right), 52, and their son Paul, 22, on the family's land in 2021

Murdaugh is led out of the court by sheriff's deputies after being found guilty of murdering his wife and son yesterday

Alex Murdaugh cries during the murder trial that suddenly transfixed America

His surviving son Buster appeared stony-faced and sat with his hand covering his mouth beside his girlfriend Brooklynn White who looked down at the ground yesterday

Just days before Murdaugh's wife and son were killed, a future hearing for this civil case had been scheduled. Crucially, it would have required Murdaugh to provide a full picture of his finances which could have revealed he was fleecing his clients.

The lawyer bringing the civil suit had specifically requested his wife Maggie and son Paul to testify about the reportedly boozy culture on the Murdaugh hunting estate, known as Moselle, where underage teenagers were said to be allowed to stagger around drunk.

Prosecutors argued Alex murdered them not only to delay the civil suit (which the killings succeeded in doing) but also to distract attention from himself by suggesting that the Murdaughs had been targeted by people wanting to avenge Mallory Beach's death in the boat crash.

Indeed, his trial was shown video evidence from the body cameras of police officers who attended the scene of the murders. It showed an apparently distraught Alex Murdaugh offering his thoughts about the possible motive.

'This is a long story. My son was in a boat wreck . . . months back. He's been getting threats,' he said. 'Most of it's been benign stuff. We didn't take it serious, you know, he's been getting like punched. Um, I, I know that's what it is.'

And to reinforce this idea that the murders were in fact carried out by people intent on revenge for Mallory Beach, it's alleged that Murdaugh then faked an assassination attempt on himself.

Murdaugh is taken away by cops tonight. He will be sentenced in the morning

Maggie's body was found a few yards to the right of a doghouse, while Paul's was by the doorway at the end of the kennels

WHERE MAGGIE DIED: A pool of blood outside the kennels where Maggie Murdaugh was shot dead with two AR bullets to the head

WHERE PAUL DIED: Blood spatters on the floor inside the storage room at the kennels where Paul Murdaugh was shot dead. He was killed with a shot to the chest and a second to the head

Two of the family dogs - who appear to be Bubba and Maggie - based on descriptions in court - are seen in the kennels on the Moselle Road property on June 7, 2021 when Alex Murdaugh's wife Maggie and son Paul Murdaugh were shot and killed

Three months after the double murder, he called police to say that a stranger had ambushed him while he was changing a tyre by the roadside  and that the assailant had shot him in the head. Medical reports showed that Alex was indeed grazed by a bullet but, as we will see, the man involved was far from a murderous stranger.

Unfortunately for Murdaugh, a passer-by saw the so-called 'shooting' and told police it was so unconvincing they thought it had been a 'set-up'.

This all coincided with a worsening of Murdaugh's problems when his family law firm, which goes by the acronym of PMPED, revealed it had just ousted him for allegedly stealing its funds.

Following the firm's disclosure, Murdaugh's lawyer went on national television to admit that, yes, his client had been stealing money  but only because he had to pay for a 20-year-old opioid addiction, for which he was now in rehab.

The lawyer also blew the gaff on the mystery person who supposedly shot at Murdaugh by the roadside, saying he had in fact been a distant cousin, Eddie Smith, who did odd jobs for him.

Murdaugh asked Smith to shoot him dead, explained the lawyer, and make it look like murder so that his surviving son, Buster, could collect an 8.4 million ($10 million) life insurance policy. Only Smith, he added, had botched it and managed merely to wound him.

The trouble was that Smith then insisted to investigators he had never agreed to kill him and that the gun only went off by accident as he struggled to wrest it from Murdaugh.

Whatever the case, sceptics believe Murdaugh never meant to die at all and simply wanted to strengthen the theory that he and his family were targets.

Murdaugh says goodbye to his defense attorney Dick Harpootlian as cops lead him out of the courtroom

Alex Murdaugh stands for sentencing at the court in South Carolina yesterday

But what of the financial crimes that, say prosecutors, Murdaugh was so desperate to keep secret that he was even prepared to murder his wife and son? These were already beginning to emerge because journalists had started to look into the family's affairs following the fatal boat crash.

And it is here that we came to the fourth death in this grim saga. It emerged that Murdaugh's former housekeeper, Gloria Satterfield, had died in February 2018 after falling down the front steps of their family home. It has been mooted that she might have been pushed, although Alex Murdaugh has insisted Ms Satterfield tripped over one of his hunting dogs.

What the journalists uncovered was that the housekeeper's family had accused Murdaugh of tricking them out of a multi-million-dollar settlement over her death.

Old hand as he was at exploiting America's super-litigious culture, Murdaugh actually encouraged Ms Satterfield's brothers to sue him over her death on the grounds that his liability insurance policies would cover it. And the policies did, paying out more than 3 million  whereupon Murdaugh allegedly pocketed it all.

Only after a lengthy battle did Murdaugh, who is now disbarred, agree in late 2021 to pay the Satterfield family 3.25 million to settle their claims.

Prosecutors say many more examples of his shameless looting over a decade-long period have emerged, including the fact he once stole from a police officer injured in the line of duty, as well as from the family of a deaf man who had suffered a horrendous car accident that left him quadriplegic.

Local people say that he was able to act with impunity for so long because so many of them were intimidated by the Murdaughs, who  despite having reputedly first made their money distilling illicit alcohol, or moonshine  built strong connections with politicians and law enforcement.

'They were powerful. They own the country,' said Suzy Murdaugh, a relative, about how she would sometimes enlist her mighty cousins' help.

'If you went to court, you won. Didn't matter what it was. Don't think Alex, his father or his grandfather ever lost a case. He told the judge what to do.'

Even during the murder trial, Murdaugh was represented by a lawyer friend who is a senior senator and judiciary committee member in the state congress  a congress that chooses South Carolina's judges.

For all that historical influence, the trial never appeared to be going his way, hence his 11th hour decision to take the stand.

Murdaugh has denied killing his wife and son in a trial now in its fifth week

Alex Murdaugh cries while watching a video clip on his son Paul's phone during his double murder trial

The Murdaughs' current housekeeper then testified how Mrs Murdaugh had told her that her husband Alex had insisted she return home from their beach house on the night of the murder.

And video evidence from son Paul's phone then placed his father with his family minutes before prosecutors say he killed them  contradicting his previous insistence to police that he didn't get home until much later and hadn't seen the pair that evening until he found their bodies.

His surviving son Buster later testified that his father was 'destroyed' by the murders of his wife and son  so 'heartbroken' that he could barely speak.

His defence suggested that the double killing may have been committed by a drug gang, saying Murdaugh was spending $50,000 (41,000) a week buying drugs from a man who was in deep debt to the gang.

Many believe Murdaugh was brought down by his own vanity, desperate to live up to the family name.

After jury decided yesterday that the tears rolling down his cheeks were not those of an innocent but of an accomplished but desperate liar, he will return for sentencing on Friday, where he faces 30 years to life in prison.
Footage has emerged showing a column of advancing Russian tanks and armoured vehicles destroyed by Ukrainian artillery.

The undated video shows several Russian military vehicles attempting to cross the battlefield in the city of Avdiivka in the Donetsk region. They are unsuccessful as they are repeatedly hit by Ukrainian ordnance.

At least one of them appears to explode in a giant fireball, with smoke billowing into the sky.

The images were obtained yesterday from the 53rd Separate Mechanized Brigade, named after Volodymyr Monomakh of the Ukrainian Armed Forces, along with a statement.

The statement said: 'Our warriors are our heroes! Our people are our heroes! Glory to Ukraine!'

The video shows several Russian military vehicles attempting to advance across the battlefield. They are unsuccessful as they are repeatedly hit by Ukrainian ordnance

At least one of the tanks appears to explode in a giant fireball, with smoke billowing into the sky

The images and statement were also relayed by Operational Command East of the Armed Forces of Ukraine.

Russian troops and mercenaries were closing off the last access routes to the besieged Ukrainian city of Bakhmut on Friday.

The head of Russia's Wagner private army said the city, which has been blasted to ruins, was now almost completely surrounded, with only one route out left open for Ukraine's troops.

The commander of a Ukrainian drone unit inside the city for months told Reuters he had been ordered to withdraw.

Victory in Bakhmut, with a pre-war population of about 70,000, would give Russia the first major prize of a costly winter offensive after it called up hundreds of thousands of reservists last year.

Moscow said it would be a stepping stone to capturing the surrounding Donbas region, a major war aim.

Ukraine, which recaptured swathes of territory in the second half of 2022 but whose forces have been on the defensive for three months, said the city has little strategic value but huge losses there could determine the course of the war.

In a video filmed on a rooftop in an undisclosed location, Wagner boss Yevgeny Prigozhin, dressed in a combat uniform, said he was calling on President Volodymyr Zelensky to order the evacuation of Bakhmut to save the lives of Ukrainian soldiers.

The images were obtained yesterday from the 53rd Separate Mechanized Brigade, named after Volodymyr Monomakh of the Ukrainian Armed Forces

A statement that accompanied the images said: 'Our warriors are our heroes! Our people are our heroes! Glory to Ukraine!'

The video features a series of explosions with smoke billowing into the sky

'Units of the private military company Wagner have practically surrounded Bakhmut. Only one route (out) is left,' he said. 'The pincers are closing.'

The camera then panned to show three captured Ukrainians - an older man and two young boys - who looked frightened and asked to be allowed to go home, in what appeared to be a choreographed appearance under extreme stress.

Prigozhin's men have spearheaded the assault in eastern Ukraine for months.

Both sides say they have inflicted devastating losses in Bakhmut. Kyiv has insisted its forces are still holding out there, while acknowledging that the situation has deteriorated this week.

Russia said on Friday it would take measures to prevent new border incursions, a day after accusing Ukraine-backed nationalists of killing two people in a cross-border raid in southern Russia.

President Vladimir Putin said on Thursday Russia had been hit by a 'terrorist attack' in the southern Bryansk region bordering Ukraine, and vowed to crush what he said was a Ukrainian sabotage group that had fired at civilians.

A Ukrainian presidential adviser accused Russia of staging the incident as a false 'provocation' to justify aggression against Ukraine.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters on Friday that additional measures were being taken to protect the border.

'Of course, yesterday's terrorist attack will be investigated and measures will be taken to prevent similar events in the future,' he said.

The FSB security service released video and photos of Thursday's incident showing two shot-up cars with their drivers slumped dead inside.

A Ukrainian serviceman carries a 152 mm shell to fire a Msta-B howitzer towards Russian positions, near the frontline town of Bakhmut on March 2, 2023

Yevgeny Prigozhin, founder of Russia's Wagner mercenary force, speaks in Bakhmut, Ukraine in this still image from an undated video released on March 3, 2023

Meanwhile, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz was due to meet U.S. President Joe Biden on Friday at the White House to discuss additional military aid to Ukraine.

Germany makes the Leopard tanks that are expected to be the core of a new Ukrainian armoured force when they arrive later this year.

The Kremlin today warned Western countries against providing more arms to Ukraine.

'[Arms deliveries] place a significant burden on the economies of these countries and negatively affect the well-being of citizens of these countries, including Germany,' Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters.

'It is obvious that this will prolong the conflict and have sad consequences for the Ukrainian people,' he added.

Scholz has been criticised by some Western allies for taking a cautious public stance towards arming Ukraine, although he has overseen a dramatic shift in policy from a country that was Russia's biggest energy customer on the eve of the war.

Washington is expected to announce its latest military aid package worth $400 million, mainly comprising ammunition and armoured vehicles. The United States has provided nearly $32 billion in weaponry to Ukraine since the invasion.

Biden and Scholz could also touch on concerns that China may provide lethal aid to Russia, a senior administration official said.

German Chancellor Olaf Scholz (pictured) was due to meet U.S. President Joe Biden on Friday at the White House to discuss additional military aid to Ukraine

Washington will announce its latest military aid package worth $400 million, mainly comprising ammunition and armoured vehicles

Tens of thousands of Ukrainian civilians and soldiers on both sides are believed to have been killed since Russia invaded its pro-Western neighbour a year ago.

Moscow, which claims to have annexed nearly a fifth of Ukraine, says Kyiv posed a security threat. Ukraine and its allies say the invasion was an unprovoked war to conquer land.

On the sidelines of a G20 foreign ministers meeting in India, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken briefly met Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov face to face for the first time since the invasion.

Blinken told Lavrov to end the war, and urged Moscow to reverse its suspension - announced last week - of the last remaining nuclear arms control agreement, U.S. officials said.

Speaking at the meeting on Friday, Blinken said Russia cannot be allowed to wage war with impunity, otherwise it would send 'a message to would-be aggressors everywhere that they may be able to get away with it too'.

Lavrov said on Friday that Russia 'will not let the West blow up gas pipelines again' and said that Moscow would no longer rely on the West as an energy partner.

Moscow has suggested that Western countries were responsible for the blasts that damaged the Nord Stream pipelines in September, an assertion they have dismissed, and has called for an international investigation.
To the world, she looked like a doting mother smiling as she put her arms around her five young children as they opened presents.

But, months after this family photograph was taken, Genevieve Lhermitte went on to slit the throats of her children, aged three to 14, with a kitchen knife at their home in Nivelles, Belgium, in a case that shocked the country.

And exactly 16 years after Lhermitte, 56, slaughtered her children - three-year-old Mehdi, Mina, seven, Myriam, ten, Nora, 12, Yasmine, 14 - on 28 February 2007, she was euthanised at her own request on Tuesday.

Her ex-husband Bouchaib Moqadem, who was visiting his parents in Morocco when Lhermitte launched her attack, revealed he still struggles to cope following his children's 'massacre'.

'I keep my feelings to myself, I can't share them. It's a massacre 16 years ago, I have nothing more to say,' the grieving father told SudInfo, adding that the murders of his children remains a 'difficult ordeal' for him to deal with.

To the world, she looked like a doting mother smiling as she put her arms around her five young children as they opened presents. But, months after this family photograph was taken, Genevieve Lhermitte (right with her five children and then husband Bouchaib Moqadem) went on to slit the throats of her children

On 28 February 2007, Lhermitte (pictured during her trial in 2008) stole two knives from a supermarket before cooking what would be a final meal for her five children. She locked the door and began slitting each child's throat

Mr Moqadem was pictured in tears at the funeral for his five children at a mosque in Brussels in March 2007

A heartbreaking image emerged today of Lhermitte smiling with Moqadem and their five young children - months before she went on to murder them. The youngest, Mehdi, is seen sitting next to his mother as he smiles broadly at the camera.

On 28 February 2007, Lhermitte stole two knives from a supermarket before cooking what would be a final meal for her five children. She locked the door and began slitting each child's throat.

Lhermitte, who was 40 at the time of the murders, told her trial in 2008 that her eldest daughter, Yasmine, 14, was too big for her to handle so she tricked her into putting a blindfold on for a 'surprise'.

When when the teenager was unable to see, her mother hit her over the head with a heavy marble tabletop, knocking her out before also killing her with a knife.

Lhermitte then tried to end her own life by stabbing herself, but the attempt failed and she ended up calling the emergency services.

Police found her body spread-eagled in the hall. Lhermitte later told police she felt 'desperate and trapped' at having to be at home with the children while her husband was away, the court heard.

Lhermitte was sentenced to life in prison in 2008, before being moved to a psychiatric hospital in 2019.

Her lawyer Nicolas Cohen said his client had died through euthanasia on the sixteenth anniversary of the killings on Tuesday.

Belgian law allows for people to choose to be euthanised if they are deemed to be suffering from 'unbearable' psychological, and not just physical, suffering that cannot be healed.

Genevieve Lhermitte (pictured at her trial) killed all five of her children before attempting to take her own life in February 2007

Lhermitte carried out the killings while her husband Bouchaib Moqadem (pictured) was visiting his parents in Morocco

The person must be conscious of their decision and be able to express their wish in a reasoned and consistent manner.

Her funeral took place on Wednesday, according to Belgian news site Sudinfo, which revealed her death.

Her trial was told that Lhermitte's role as wife and mother was disturbed by the presence in the family home of a middle-aged Belgium doctor, Michel Schaar who paid most of the family's bills.

'He lived with us he even went on our honeymoon and slept in our room. We had to wait until he fell asleep before we could make love,' Lhermitte said in court. She began to resent Schaar for this and the fact that they depended financially on him.

It was revealed during her trial that Lhermitte laid the dead body of her 13-year-old daughter Nora in the bathroom used by Dr Schaar.

When Lhermitte was asked why she said this, she said: 'I wanted to hurt him. Nora was his favourite.'

Lhermitte, previously described as a 'perfect' mother, and Moqadem have since divorced. She said: 'I gave him a son and killed him. I've lost all children through my own fault. They never deserved it.

'I shall suffer to the end of my days - that is my punishment.'

Lhermitte's lawyers argued that their client, who had regularly seen a psychiatrist, was mentally disturbed and should not be sent to prison.

But the jury found her guilty of premeditated murder and sentenced her to life in jail after hearing conflicting medical expertise.

Children Yasmine, 14, Nora, 12, Myriam, 10, Mina, seven and Mehdi, three, were killed in the attack

Psychologist Emilie Maroit told the RTL-TVI channel that Lhermitte likely chose to die on February 28 in a 'symbolic gesture in respect for her children'.

'It may also have been for her to finish what she started because basically she wanted to end her life when she killed them,' Maroit said.

In 2010 Lhermitte filed a civil lawsuit demanding up to three million euros ($3.18 million) from a former psychiatrist alleging his 'inaction' had failed to prevent the murders, but she ended up abandoning the legal battle after ten years without success.

Belgian media reported Lhermitte died at the Leonard de Vinci hospital in Montigny-le-Tilleul. In 2021, she reportedly attempted to end her life herself.

Last year 2,966 people died via euthanasia in Belgium, an increase of 10 percent compared to 2021, according to the authorities.

Cancer remains the number one reason cited, but officials said for nearly three out of four requests the patient presented 'several types of suffering, both physical and psychological'.
Britain's youngest female double murderer who killed her father and a woman in separate incidents has been granted her first parole hearing and could walk free from prison.

Lorraine Thorpe was just 15 when she killed her father, Desmond, 43, and Rosalyn Hunt, 41, in Ipswich, Suffolk, in August 2009.

Thorpe, who had been part of Ipswich's street-drinking culture since she was 13, was convicted alongside her 'role model', Paul Clarke, then aged 41, and sentenced at London's Old Bailey.

Aged 16, Thorpe was told she would serve a minimum of 14 years behind bars for the horrific double murders over the space of just nine days between August 1 and 10, 2009.

She has now served her minimum term and has been granted a parole hearing which is likely to be heard in the 'early summer'.

Lorraine Thorpe became Britain's youngest female double murderer at the age of 15 after the brutal killings of her father, Desmond, and Rosalyn Hunt

A seven-week trial at Ipswich Crown Court heard that Rosalyn Hunt was the first victim and was beaten to death over several days, with Thorpe responsible for kicking, punching and stamping on her head.

Desmond Thorpe, a 'vulnerable' alcoholic, was smothered to stop him telling police about the first murder.

The trial in August 2010 revealed shocking details about the culture of violence among some street drinkers in Ipswich and of Thorpe's descent into chaos and murder.

One of 11 children, her parents had split up when she was 12 and she went to live with her alcoholic father in various squalid flats and even tents to evade social services.

Thorpe met Clarke, who was known as a bully in the street community, and they formed an unlikely drinking pair.

The jury was told that Clarke and mother-of-two Ms Hunt - also a street drinker - had spent time boozing at each other's flats in Ipswich in the run-up to the murder.

The court heard that Ms Hunt, who at one time had a relationship with Clarke, had been killed following a row about his dog, which had attacked a child.

Paul Clarke carried out the brutal killings alongside Thorpe in 2009

Thorpe and Clarke lured the victim back to a flat in Ipswich and tortured her for two days, using a cheese grater on her and then rubbing salt into the open wounds.

Thorpe was then said to have used Ms Hunt as a 'punch bag' - stamping on her and snapping nine of her ribs before burning her hair and whipping her with a dog lead.

After days of torture their victim was beaten to death.

On August 9, 2009, a member of the public rang police to raise concerns about Ms Hunt's safety. Officers found her dead when they entered her property.

Days after the murder, the pair decided to kill Desmond Thorpe to stop him from implicating them in the first murder.

Thorpe smothered her disabled father with a cushion before kicking him as he lay on the floor.

She later admitted to police that they would find her 'trainer prints on his head'.

Mr Thorpe's body was found by police on the morning of August, 10, just hours after the discovery of Ms Hunt's.

Police immediately announced that they suspected the murders were linked and arrested Clarke and Thorpe.

On August 25 they appeared in court charged with the murders.

Thorpe and Clarke both denied the charges, but gave no evidence during their trial at Ipswich Crown Court.

Prosecution barrister Ros Jones said told the court: 'Rosalyn Hunt became a prisoner in her own home and died from multiple injuries due to the continuous attacks she suffered at their hands.

'Desmond Thorpe, who was killed days later, had been smothered for reasons known only to Clarke and Thorpe.'

Rosalyn Hunt was tortured over days by the pair, with psychologists saying they had never seen such a level of violence from a young girl

Jurors heard evidence from a young friend of Thorpe's who said she had confessed to being a murderer.

A fellow inmate also testified that Thorpe had spoken about her father's murder to on the anniversary of his killing

A jury found them guilty of the double murders by majority verdicts of 10-2 after more than 17 hours of deliberations.

Judge Mr Justice Sweeney said that Thorpe had in part carried out the attacks as she had been keen to 'impress' Clarke.

In his sentencing remarks, the judge said: 'She was responsible for protracted kicking, punching and stamping on Rosalyn, who was not fit to defend herself effectively from the outset.

'By the end of those attacks she was completely helpless. Far from being sorry, Lorraine appears to have gloried in it, describing to her friends at one stage how she stamped on Rosalyn's head.'

Referring to Mr Thorpe, the judge added: 'The only possible explanation for his death can be the fear that he would go and tell the police what happened to Rosalyn Hunt.

'I don't accept that she was entirely under the control of Mr Clarke.

'She is someone who can be quite stubborn and wilful and is capable of being highly manipulative herself. Her story is an appalling one.'

In 2019, consultant forensic psychologist Dr Keri Nixon told the documentary Britain's Deadliest Kids: 'She laughed about the level of violence they used against Rosalyn Hunt.

'In my experience, I have never seen this level of violence, these types of injuries, enacted by a 15-year-old girl.

'Usually, in cases like this, they will partake in some violence. But to be actively involved in such torturous activity is incredibly rare.'

Ms Hunt's brother Adrian Provins attended the court hearings and was disgusted as Thorpe treated the deaths like a 'big joke'.

He told the TV programme: 'The first time I went to court, all I remember is Lorraine Thorpe laughing and giggling to Paul Clarke as if it was all a big, big joke.

'No one stopped her. I felt disgusted, I felt like I wanted to jump over and just rip her head off.'

Clarke was sentenced to life imprisonment with a minimum term of 27 years.

In September 2014, he was found dead at HMP Whitemoor in Cambridgeshire, in what is believed to be suicide.

A Parole Board spokesperson said: We can confirm the parole review of Lorraine Thorpe has been referred to the Parole Board by the Secretary of State for Justice and is following standard processes.

'Parole Board decisions are solely focused on what risk a prisoner could represent to the public if released and whether that risk is manageable in the community.

'A panel will carefully examine a huge range of evidence, including details of the original crime, and any evidence of behaviour change, as well as explore the harm done and impact the crime has had on the victims.

'Members read and digest hundreds of pages of evidence and reports in the lead-up to an oral hearing.

'Evidence from witnesses such as probation officers, psychiatrists and psychologists, officials supervising the offender in prison as well as victim personal statements may be given at the hearing.

'It is standard for the prisoner and witnesses to be questioned at length during the hearing, which often lasts a full day or more. Parole reviews are undertaken thoroughly and with extreme care. Protecting the public is our number-one priority.'

The parole hearing for Thorpe, who is now 28, will last a day. A decision will be made a few weeks later.

The panel can reject her release on licence, but can recommend she be moved to an open jail.
Friends of a 23-year-old mother who was killed in a car crash involving a Mercedes and a taxi have paid tribute to her as a 'beautiful angel.'

Sharna Brooke Burgin was travelling as a passenger in the Mercedes during the fatal incident in Sheffield that also left four people injured.

The suspected driver of the Mercedes, a 23-year-old man from Sheffield, left the scene before officers arrived before handing himself in to police.

He was arrested for causing serious injury by dangerous driving and failing to stop at the scene of a road traffic collision and bailed pending further enquiries.

Ms Burgin's injuries were critical when she was taken to hospital following the crash where tragically she died a day later.

Sharna Brooke Burgin, 23, was killed in a horror car crash in Sheffield

The mother-of-one leaves behind her three-year-old daughter

She leaves behind a three-year old daughter.

Since her death, friends of Ms Burgin have began to organise a GoFundMe to raise money for her family.

Paying tribute to Ms Burgin on Facebook, friend Ashleigh Turner said: 'My beautiful bestest friend In the whole wide world, my soul sister.

'Im truly heartbroken and devastated, life will be so different without you, my right arm.

'I miss you so much, you will be truly missed by many, may you rest in internal peace, I love you always and forever and cherish every moment we shared.

'I will help look after your family and your little girl, fly high my angel until we meet again.'

Another friend, Jackie Hector said: 'I am so very very sorry from the bottom of my heart, what a beautiful young lady she was inside and out, truly heartbroken for you all.'

Anyone who witnessed the collision, or has any dash-cam footage that could assist the ongoing investigation, is asked to call 101 quoting incident number 55 of 26 February 2023.
Majestic pictures show a rarely seen black swan feeding with a bevy of white swans on the River Severn - 9,000 miles away from the waterfowl's native Australia.

The charcoal-coloured bird, with a distinctive red beak, was seen making feathered friends with Worcester's famous swan population since it arrived in the city last week.

A stunning photograph show the female swan and one of its white cousins form a heart-shape with their necks as they feed in the river close to Worcester Cathedral.

Swan lover Chris Bright, 69, snapped the elegant scene while walking along the city's South Quay on Wednesday.

She said: 'It was a shock to see the black swan especially because it was swimming so confidently with the other white swans.'

Majestic pictures show a rarely seen black swan feeding with a bevy of white swans on the River Severn - 9,000 miles away from the waterfowl's native Australia

The charcoal-coloured bird, with a distinctive red beak, was seen making feathered friends with Worcester's famous swan population since it arrived in the city last week

A stunning photographs shows the female black swan and its white cousin form a heart-shape with their necks as they feed in the river close to Worcester Cathedral

She added: 'It was so assured and didn't seem put off by the white swans, which is odd because normally swans are very shy if they mix with a new flock.

'The black swan is definitely female and I have never seen it before in Worcester.

'It must have veered off course quite a way because they come from Australia but it's a real treat to see her with the city's swans.

'It's very beautiful and is said to have been in the city for about a week now and got lots of attention from the public.'

Black swans or Cygnus Atratus are native to the West Coast of Australia but are spotted in the UK on occasions.

There are a few breeding populations of black swans in England, most notably in the south Devon town of Dawlish, due captive birds being released into the wild.

The majestic black swan taking a drink from the River Severn in Worcester

Swan lover Chris Bright, 69, snapped the elegant scene while walking along the city's South Quay on Wednesday

The birds were introduced to England in the early 20th Century by a Dawlish resident who emigrated from New Zealand.

And since the birds have become an unofficial symbol of the seaside resort.

Chris, who volunteers for the Swan Food Project, added: 'The swans in this spot get fed here twice a day by the charity.

'I suspect this is why the black swan chose this spot as it knows it is going to get fed and seems very happy here.'
A man, 38, has been arrested on suspicion of arson and remains in custody

Firefighters were called to a blaze at on Wednesday in Bradford, West Yorkshire

The shocking moment that an arsonist doused a father and daughter's cars in petrol before torching them has been captured on camera.

A fierce blaze engulfed two vehicles in an arsonist attack that took place late on Wednesday evening in Bradford, West Yorkshire.

Police and firefighters were called to the incident at 10pm amid one resident's fears that his home would be destroyed after the burning of his car.

Footage shows a hooded figure throwing the fuel out of a cannister before lighting a match and running away from the burning cars.

Around one minute after the fire ignites, residents are seen to come out from their homes and look at the wreck in front of them.

One car owner said: 'My daughter ran upstairs to tell me our two cars were on fire. One was mine and one was my daughter's. They had been set alight.

'I'm glad the fire brigade came when they did, as the fire was spreading like wildfire.'

A 38-year-old man has now been arrested on suspicion of arson and remains in custody, according to a spokesperson for West Yorkshire Police.

As the car owner and his wife are disabled, he also claimed that being without two vehicles would be a 'massive inconvenience'.

'We're in panic mode,' he said. 'We don't know what to do. This is going to give us nightmares.

'This is going to be a massive inconvenience for us. We both regularly go to doctor's appointments.

'We very, very vulnerable people and this has stressed me out.'

Another local resident also described hearing a 'pop' before going outside to see a 'line of fire'.

A man, 38, has since been arrested on suspicion of arson and remains in custody

He claimed a 'lot of cars were on fire' and the he warned neighbours to move in the fear that there could be an explosion.

'There was fuel running along the ground and there was a trail of it,' he said.

'I was worried it might explode. I was scared if there was an explosion it would set houses on fire.

'I shouted to warn the neighbours and to tell them to get out of the way and we didn't want people to get burned.'

The neighbour also claimed that people attempted to put out the fire with water.

He continued: 'There could have been kids or other people walking by.

'I've lived here 31 years and nothing like this has ever happened.

'Everybody gets on with each other.'

One man who lives in Thornbury but goes for regular walks along the street was surprised by the damage to the two cars.

'It's usually pretty peaceful around here,' he said. 'This community gets on well, so I'm surprised to see this.'
A prospective renter has revealed how a scammer tried to make him pay a deposit for a rental property that wasn't on the market.

Cihan Kenar, from Rosebery, in Sydney's inner-south, has warned other renters after he almost fell for a scam while enquiring about a suspiciously cheap house up for rent in his area.

The three bedroom, free-standing property caught Mr Kenar's eye when it was advertised for $400 a week - significantly lower than the current market.

But the price and response of the supposed landlord when Mr Kenar asked to come view the property immediately set alarm bells ringing.

Cihan Kenar, from Rosebery, in Sydney's inner-south, has warned other renters after he almost fell for a scam while enquiring about a suspiciously cheap house up for rent in his area. A scammer had asked him to pay a deposit for a house that wasn't listed

The stranger responded to Mr Kenar saying they'd been inundated with messages from other prospective tenants wanting to inspect the house.

'If you can drop your information and make a refundable deposit to secure it now then once we meet tomorrow and the house doesn't suit your money will be refunded immediately,' the 'landlord' said.

Mr Kenar then clued into the scam and responded: 'Are you f***ing serious?'

'You bait me with a cheap rent and ask for a deposit?' he continued - only to be blocked shortly after.

Mr Kenar posted the interaction to a Facebook group, where others revealed they too had similar interactions with the scammer.

One said they even drove out to the home and spoke to the owner who revealed it had never been advertised for rent and she had no plans on listing it.

'(The scammer) was basically asking me to act quickly as to not lose such a great deal,' Mr Kenar told Seven News.

'If it's too good to be true, it probably is.'

The ACCC claims that more renters are falling for the scams as rental prices have increased at historic rates (pictured is a rental property in Sydney)

According the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) more potential renters are falling for scams.

The amount of scams are increasing alongside the recent historic rises in rental prices.

Australians lost around $544,846 due to rental scams last year, an increase from 2021.
Thousands of Brits are considering moving to Australia after being wooed with the prospect of more sun, cash and sex.

So far, 60,000 are said to have shown an interest, with Australian minister Paul Papalia bragging: 'We are the new Love Island.'

Papalia is leading a delegation of West Australians on a nine-day tour of the UK, with the aim of recruiting 30,000 Brits to work in the state's public sector across a range of industries, including the police force, hospitals and hospitality.

The delegation is also seeking to hire doctors, teachers and civil engineers.

Papalia said: 'If you're a single Brit, come on out because you might not be single for long.'

Papalia is leading a delegation of West Australians on a nine-day tour of the UK, with the aim of recruiting 30,000 Brits to work in the state's public sector across a range of industries, including the police force, hospitals and hospitality

Pictured: Woman on beach (file photo). Papalia said: 'If you're a single Brit, come on out because you might not be single for long'

Speaking of the country's draws, he said: 'It's lower cost of living, higher wages and magnificent weather. What's not to like?'

One of the King's policemen on duty outside Horse Guards Parade was reportedly tempted by a bumper starting salary of 51,000 per annum.

Papalia said the nation is 'getting our own back' after decades of Aussies moving to Britain.

He said: 'You took some of our best and brightest. And there was never that question in regards to us losing our young ones to the UK.'

Recruiting new police is a particular concern for Papalia.

He is charged with completing an election commitment to recruit 950 more officers to the WA Police Force on 2021 levels.

At present there are 6,811 police officers - 300 fewer than 2021 levels.

Pictured: Hillarys Beach in the northern suburbs of Perth, Western Australia

Papalia told The Times newspaper he was shocked by the resourcing issues the UK police is facing, along with the pay disparity.

'The wages [in the UK] are far lower, the conditions are worse and resourcing appears to be far worse. So there's all manner of reasons why [WA is] more attractive,' he said.

More than 800 British police officers have applied for jobs in Australia, The Times reported.

Recruits, who are required to have at least three years' experience, will start on around 50,000, compared with 30,000 for a UK constable with five years' experience.

The first intake is expected to start training in September.

At the end of June 2020, almost 1.2 million people who were born in the UK were living in Australia, 1.3 per cent (15,220) less than June 30, 2010, according to the Australian Government's Department of Home Affairs.

The department said this makes it the largest migrant community in Australia, equivalent to 15.3 per cent of Australia's overseas-born population and 4.6 per cent of Australia's total population.

Males accounted for 50.8 per cent of Australia's UK-born migrants. The median age of 57.9 years was 20.2 years above that of the general population.
A package of 'suspicious meat' that was found in the suitcase of a suspected cannibal killer at an airport in Portugal is said to be human.

Begolea Mendes Fernandes, 26, was arrested at Lisbon airport on suspicion of murdering 21-year-old Alan Lopes in Amsterdam on Sunday.

Fernandes is said to have fled the Dutch capital and boarded a flight to Lisbon where he was caught with a suitcase containing pieces of meat and bloodied clothes.

Forensic experts have now analysed the contents of his luggage at a specialist lab and have reportedly determined that they are human remains.

However the remains are not that of Lopes who Fernandes is suspected of murdering in northern Amsterdam on Sunday, reports Portuguese media.

Begolea Mendes Fernandes, 26, is suspected of killing a 21-year-old called Alan Lopes in the Dutch capital on Sunday. Fernandes is said to have fled the Dutch capital and boarded a flight to Lisbon where he was caught with blood on his clothes and a suitcase containing pieces of meat now believed to be human remains

Dutch police have confirmed Lopez was the victim of a 'serious violent crime.'

Portuguese press have said investigators suspect the killer committed cannibalism.

The suspect held at Lisbon Airport was on a stopover and going to board a flight to Belo Horizonte in his homeland of Brazil.

He is now under police arrest at Santa Maria Hospital in the Portuguese capital and is expected to face extradition to Holland.

A spokesman for the Portuguese Borders and Immigration Service said: 'A 26-year-old man suspected of murder in the Netherlands was arrested at Lisbon Airport on Monday.

'He was wearing clothes with blood on them and had a package containing pieces of meat.

'He was held at the airport's border control after the authorities became suspicious about the legality of the Italian ID card he presented.

'He was initially detained over suspicions he was travelling on falsified documents before it was subsequently discovered he was suspected of committing a homicide in the Netherlands the day before.'

Fernandes was detained at Lisbon Airport (pictured) after arriving on a flight from Amsterdam

The murder victim was found dead at the house he shared with relatives including his mother and two sisters.

Respected Portuguese daily Jornal de Noticias reported he may have the victim of cannibalism.

A spokesman for Dutch police said: 'On Monday afternoon a 25-year-old man was arrested at the airport in Lisbon in collaboration with the Portuguese authorities and the Royal Netherlands Marechaussee.

'The man is suspected of having been involved in the death of a 21-year-old man who was found in a home on Vegasstraat in North Amsterdam on the evening of Sunday February 26.'

The investigation continues.
Renowned activist Erin Brockovich has launched a blistering attack on the handling of the East Palestine toxic train derailment, branding it a 'classic cover up' of an environmental 'disaster.'

'They are so afraid. They get so many mixed messages,' Brockovich said of local residents during a visit to East Palestine on Thursday evening, her second in less than a week.

The derailment of the Norfolk Southern train one month ago in the town of East Palestine caused a massive fire and prompted the evacuation of thousands of residents as hazardous materials were released into the air, soil and nearby surface waters.

During the meeting last night, East Palestine residents gathered to show their fury at the government agencies that they feel have neglected them during the crisis.

Resident also erupted in anger as Norfolk Southern CEO failed to show up at the town hall meeting for a second time as his representative told the crowd the company 'feels horrible' about the crash.

Erin Brockovich has launched a blistering attack on the handling of the East Palestine toxic train derailment last night

The derailment of the Norfolk Southern train one month ago in the town of East Palestine caused a massive fire and prompted the evacuation of thousands of residents

'It's a classic cover-up in an environmental disaster,' Brockovich told reporters. 'Something is not right here.'

Later at a public meeting with residents Brockovich said she was 'stunned' to hear of some of the health problems they were facing.

The gathering with East Palestine residents was intended to inform the community about how they could take legal action against Norfolk Southern, according to organizers.

Since the derailment some residents claim to have experienced symptoms including headaches and skin rashes.

To address the concerns, the US Environmental Protection Agency will require Norfolk Southern to test for dioxin levels, even though the agency says its analysis indicates the likelihood of the pollutants being present following the accident is low.

This is the second time the CEO, who makes $4.5million a year, has failed to show up for East Palestine residents, as he did not show up to the meeting two weeks after the derailment.

During the meeting, many residents took to the stand to detail their harrowing stories of children falling ill and projectile vomiting from the side effects of the February 3 train derailment, as well as those who have lost everything from property value to farm animals.

Community members are calling for a reevaluation of evacuation orders that have been lifted, as many do not believe the symptoms they are feeling and environmental disaster they are witnessing with their own eyes is safe.

During the meeting, many residents took to the stand to detail their harrowing stories of children falling ill and projectile vomiting from the side effects of the train derailment. Pictured: East Palestine Mayor Trent Conaway

Many residents took to the stand to detail their harrowing stories of children falling ill and projectile vomiting from the side effects of the February 3 train derailment

This is the second time CEO Alan Shaw, who makes $4.5million a year, has failed to show up for East Palestine residents

Amid the train crash. hazardous materials were released into the air, soil and nearby surface waters, February 4, 2023

The train fire is seen in East Palestine, Ohio, Friday, February 3, 2023

A man takes photos as a black plume rises over East Palestine, Ohio, as a result of a controlled detonation of a portion of the derailed Norfolk Southern train, February 6, 2023

Environmental activist Erin Brockovich (left) met with residents for the first time on February 24, as she hosted a town hall at East Palestine High School

'By the grace of god, get our people out of here,' one distraught resident said at the end of the heated meeting.

'How long is that going to take, I'm watching my family slowly dying in front of my eyes? It's been a month,' an angry mother questioned.

Another said the derailment has affected her on 'every level'.

'This has touched my family, this has touched my friends, this has touched my farm, this has touched my animals, this has touched my finances, and this has touched my home. And it will touch me to the cellular level when I get diagnosed with cancer or ALS or whatever is going to come down the road if I stay in this contaminated, toxic town.

'And you all know it,' she said. 'Norfolk [Southern] is a goliath and we are no match.'

The residents' meeting came on the same day that the EPA announced that it would ask the railroad to conduct tests in the area for highly toxic pollutants known as dioxins.

US authorities have promised a full investigation and ordered Norfolk Southern to pay for the cleanup, but since authorities conducted a controlled release of the toxic vinyl chloride to avoid a possible explosion, residents' fears have swelled over possible contamination of their air, soil and water.

The train fire that spilled toxic chemicals is seen in East Palestine, Ohio, February 3, 2023

The Biden administration has been criticized, particularly by Republican opposition, for its handling of the derailment.

Brockovich's battle against a major American corporation accused of covering up groundwater contamination was brought to the screen in 2000 by director Steven Soderbergh.

The film which bears her name features Julia Roberts in the title role, for which she won an Oscar.
The head teacher of a leading grammar school has left after sending parents a list of striking teachers.

Charlotte Jordan, 45, who ran King Edward VI Five Ways School in Birmingham, left the school on Tuesday.

The school described the incident that prompted her firing as a 'data breach related to industrial action' in a statement.

It has referred the matter to the Information Commissioner's Office (ICO) and has begun its own investigation.

Mrs Jordan's email to parents is thought to relate to strike action taken by members of the National Education Union last month.

Charlotte Jordan, head of King Edward VI Five Ways School in Birmingham, left on Tuesday following a 'data breach related to industrial action'

One parent, who contacted Mail Online, said: 'It is a huge surprise. She was just settling in as the head teacher and now there will be a further period of instability.

'She clearly made a mistake, but probably thought the parents had a right to know.'

Asked about her dismissal, Mrs Jordan said at her home in south Birmingham: 'I am sorry but there is nothing I can say about this at the moment.'

She is only the second woman to hold the job of head teacher at the school in its 140-year history.

Mrs Jordan was the second woman to hold the head teacher's job in the school's 140-year history

The school, which is set in 30 acres of grounds, describes itself as a 'highly selective, co-educational state grammar school'.

It is consistently ranked as one of the best schools in Birmingham.

In a statement, it school said: 'Mrs Charlotte Jordan will be leaving her role as Headmistress of King Edward VI Five Ways School on Tuesday 28 February.

'The school's Governing Body has communicated this news to staff, parents, and pupils at Five Ways. We thank Charlotte for her leadership and contribution to the school and the wider Foundation.

'We have appointed an experienced Interim Headteacher, who until recently was leading a Foundation school, to see the school through the next few months until permanent arrangements are made.

'The Academy Trust's investigation into the data breach at King Edward VI Five Ways School related to industrial action earlier this month is ongoing.

'The Information Commissioner's Office has been informed of the breach, and we are investigating the breach in line with the ICO's timescales.'

The grammar school has consistently been ranked as among the best in Birmingham

A spokeswoman for the ICO said: 'People have the right to expect that organisations will handle their personal information securely and responsibly. If an individual has concerns about how their data has been handled, they should raise it with the organisation first, then report them to us if they are not satisfied with the response.

'King Edward VI Foundation and Academy Trust has made us aware of an incident and we are assessing the information provided.'

In a letter to parents, chairman of governors Bob Grundy said: 'On behalf of the Governing Body, I thank Charlotte for her leadership and contribution to Five Ways, as Headmistress since 2021 and before that as Deputy Head from 2019.'
Ensuring lockdown and quarantine rules were stringently enforced became something of an obsession for Matt Hancock and the rest of the Cabinet as Covid cases continued to spiral throughout 2021.

Leaked messages from his WhatsApp account show the Health Secretary, Boris Johnson and Priti Patel reacting to examples of police down on rulebreakers with almost childlike glee - hailing the cases as 'brilliant' and 'superb'.

In another exchange, Mr Hancock and Simon Case, the UK's top civil servant, are seen joking about travellers being forced into quarantine hotels at airports - with Mr Case calling their plight 'hilarious'.

It comes as police criticised the former Health Secretary after a 2020 WhatsApp exchange emerged showing him telling Mr Case about the need to 'get heavy' with officers as part of a tough approach to lawbreakers.

Sir Peter Fahy, former chief constable of Greater Manchester Police, said the often chaotic approach Mr Hancock and other ministers took to formulating and implementing anti-Covid rules caused 'huge resentment' within the ranks.

Below, MailOnline reveals the moments Britons found themselves at the sharp end of pandemic-era legislation - and how ministers reacted in private.

January 13, 2021: Friends trying to travel to Switzerland for a ski holiday are stopped at St Pancras

As Matt Hancock and Priti Patel discussed Covid enforcement, the Home Secretary said the case of a ski group who were stopped from boarding the Eurostar was 'my fav'

Cases of people being caught breaking lockdown rules were a common topic of conversation among ministers and officials.

In one case, a group of skiers trying to travel to Switzerland were stopped from boarding a Eurostar train at London St Pancras because their journey was not essential.

The case was revealed by a train manager called Justin, who posted on Twitter that French police deployed to the station had told the group to go home.

Priti Patel called the incident her 'fav', noting how officials charged with guarding Britain's borders were 'seeing all sorts right now'.

February 5, 2021: Police stop people at Bristol Airport to check if their journeys are essential

England entered its third national lockdown on January 6, 2021, and in the coming weeks ministers became increasingly focused on ensuring rules restricting movement were firmly enforced.

On February 5, Mr Hancock sent Ms Patel a MailOnline story about police stopping passengers at Bristol Airport to check their reasons for travelling.

'BRILLIANT,' he wrote, in capital letters.

Under the restrictions, people had to stay at home and were banned from travelling without a legally permitted reason. It was illegal to travel abroad for leisure.

On February 5, Mr Hancock sent Ms Patel a MailOnline story about police stopping passengers at Bristol Airport to check their reasons for travelling. 'BRILLIANT,' he wrote

February 9: Woman says she walked through border controls after arriving from South Africa

On February 9, Mr Hancock announced that travellers who lied about whether they had been to countries with 'mutant' strains of Covid could be jailed for up to 10 years.

But the attempt at tough posturing was undermined by the revelation that same day that a woman been allowed to walk straight through border controls after arriving from South Africa - a virus hotspot at the time.

Sharing her experience with the media to highlight how the UK was 'messing up', Sharon Feinstein, from Islington in north London, said she walked through the terminal after arriving from a trip to Johannesburg the day before.

Mr Hancock shared a Twitter clip of the woman being interviewed and wrote: 'Should be easy for Priti to track her down'.

On February 9, a traveller revealed she had managed to walk through border controls after arriving from South Africa in a major embarrassment for the Government

February 16: Travellers complain of 'going nuts' in quarantine hotels

The Government introduced mandatory hotel quarantine for travellers arriving from 'red list' countries on February 15.

This forced everyone flying into Britain from these nations to stay in a managed hotel for 10 days  at a cost of up to 2,285.

The policy's introduction prompted an immediate rush of accounts from travellers complaining about conditions in the hotels.

One guest, Zari Tadayon, 67, from north London, said she hoped she wasn't going to 'go nuts' after checking into the Radisson Blu Edwardian hotel near Heathrow Airport after travelling from Dubai.

On February 16, the country's top civil servant Simon Case asked Mr Hancock: 'Any idea how many people we locked up in hotels yesterday?'

Mr Hancock responded: 'None. But 149 chose to enter the country and are now in Quarantine Hotels due to their own free will!' to which Mr Case replied: 'Hilarious'.

A few days later, on February 16, Mr Case asked how many people had been 'locked up' in hotels the previous day. Mr Hancock responded: 'None. But 149 chose to enter the country and are now in Quarantine Hotels due to their own free will!' to which Mr Case replied: 'Hilarious'

February 23: Woman jailed for four months after coughing at police

One case that caught Mr Hancock's attention was that of a woman who deliberately coughed at police investigating a breach of Covid restrictions.

Lisa Dawn Fisher swore at officers called to a flat in Scarborough, North Yorkshire, on 30 January before coughing at them.

The 31-year-old went on to admit two counts of assault against emergency workers and was jailed for four months.

Mr Hancock shared a BBC story about the incident, prompting Ms Patel to reply 'law & order!'

The Heath Secretary added 'love it' before going on to describe a separate incident.

Lisa Dawn Fisher swore at officers called to a flat in Scarborough on 30 January before coughing at them. 'Law & order!', wrote Ms Patel in response to a story about her being jailed

March 2: Couple are fined 10,000 for failing to quarantine after returning from Dubai

Enforcing the hotel quarantine scheme became a particular focus for ministers as concerns mounted about cases of the virus being imported from abroad.

In early March, it emerged a man and a woman had been issued with 10,000 fines for failing to quarantine after returning from Dubai.

Mr Hancock shared a Twitter link to a Sky News article about the pair in a WhatsApp group used by ministers.

'Superb,' Mr Johnson replied.

Just weeks later Number 10 staff assembled in Downing Street for a now infamous illegal party on the eve of Prince Philip's funeral.
One of the jurors who convicted Alex Murdaugh has broken his cover to tell how it took the jury just 45 minutes to find him unanimously guilty of double murder.

Craig Moyer appeared on Good Morning America on Friday morning to explain why he and his fellow jurors believed Murdaugh was guilty of killing his wife Maggie and son Paul on their property in South Carolna in June 2021.

'He was a good liar, but not good enough,' Moyer said, breaking his anonymity to discuss the blockbuster trial that had America gripped.

When the jury entered the deliberation room yesterday, nine were already convinced of Murdaugh's guilt - including Moyer. Two thought he was innocent and another juror was undecided.

Moyer revealed on Friday that it took just 45 minutes of deliberations to convince the three other jurors of his guilt.

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Craig Moyer appeared on Good Morning America on Friday morning to explain why he and his fellow jurors felt Murdaugh was guilty

Alex Murdaugh will return to court on Friday for sentencing. He faces life in prison

'You start deliberating, going through the evidence and everybody was pretty much talking.

'About 45 minutes later, after all our deliberating, we figured it out. The evidence was clear.'

Moyer said the nail in Murdaugh's coffin was a video filmed by his son Paul just moments before the murders, in which his voice can be heard in the background.

Murdaugh had always denied being near the dog kennel where the bodies of his wife and son were found, but conceded at trial that he'd lied, and was heard in the video.

Moyer also said the jury wasn't convinced by Murdaugh's emotional testimony on the stand.

'I didn't see any true remorse or any compassion or anything. He never cried.

'All he did was blow snot. [There were] no tears. I saw his eyes,' Moyer said.

The defense claimed Murdaugh wouldn't have had enough time to shoot his wife and son, clean up, visit his mother and then return to the scene where he called police.

Alex Murdaugh with wife Maggie and their sons Buster (left) and Paul (right)

Prosecutor Creighton Waters also appeared on GMA on Friday to reveal his cross-examination strategy

Moyer, however, said he and the jurors felt he had 'just enough time' to do all those things.

He also said they were turned off by Murdaugh's apparent preparedness.

'His responses, how quick he was with the defense, and his lies.... just steady lies.'

Murdaugh will return to court this morning for sentencing. He faces life in prison.

Yesterday, he showed no emotion as he was found guilty.

He had wept on the stand, telling the court of his crippling opioid addiction and money troubles, but insisted he did not kill his wife and son.

Buster Murdaugh with his head in his hands yesterday after father was found guilty of murder

Pictured: Alex Murdaugh's sister Lynn is seen leaving the Colleton County Court

Prosecutor Creighton Waters also appeared on GMA on Friday to reveal his cross-examination strategy.

'He's been able to talk his way out of accountability his entire life. People like that are convinced of their own ability to do that.

'I was convinced he was going to testify. My strategy was to establish who he was.

'You know, he wouldn't even concede to the jury that he was wealthy.

'The idea was to get him talking about himself, his life, then move into the specifics of his new story that he was telling the world for the first time.'

Among those in court yesterday was Buster Murdaugh, the legal heir's only surviving son.

Buster has never stated if he believes in his father's innocence, but he was called to stand as a witness for his defense team.

He told the court his father was 'devastated' by the murders.

Maggie's relatives, including her sister, also testified for the prosecution. She said she thought it was strange her brother-in-law wasn't looking for his wife and son's killer.

'I just thought his priority should have been focusing on finding out who killed Maggie and Paul,' Marian Proctor said.

John Marvin Murdaugh, brother of Alex Murdaugh, listens to testimony during his brother's double murder trial at the Colleton County Courthouse

Maggie's body was found a few yards to the right of a doghouse, while Paul's was by the doorway at the end of the kennels. Dr. Ellen Riemer described how Paul's brain was blown out the back of his head by a shotgun and that the organ arrived at the morgue 'in a separate bucket'

In his closing arguments, Waters told the jury: 'Nobody knew who this man was.

'He avoided accountability his whole life, he had relied on his family name, he had a powerful family, he carried a badge and used that in authority, he lived a wealthy life - but now finally he was was facing complete ruin.'

He added that the legal scion 'is the kind of person for whom shame is an extraordinary provocation' and faced with financial ruin which his 'ego couldn't stand...he became a family annihilator.'

He concluded the speech with the fervent plea: 'This defendant has fooled everyone, everyone.

'Everyone who thought they were close to him he's fooled them all and he fooled Maggie and Paul too and they paid for it with their lives.

'Don't let him fool you too.'
A shattered couple who lost their beloved dog to a dangerous rip at a popular beach have called for proper warning signs to be introduced.

Georgia Crook, was swimming at 11 Mile Beach in Esperance, in southern West Australia, with her partner Ash Bowman and their two dogs last Saturday.

All four had been enjoying a seemingly perfect day at the beach before their Australian Shepherd was suddenly sucked into a gap in the nearby reef.

Within seconds the three-year-old dog had been carried away in the rip.

The couple scoured the area and dove underwater to try and find Mushu but his body tragically never resurfaced.

Dog-owner, Georgia Crook (pictured right), lost her dog Mushu (pictured) after a rip dragged the Australian Shepard into a gap in a reef at 11 Mile Beach in Esperance last Saturday

'It all happened in about in about two seconds and in front of our eyes,' Ms Crook told 7News.

'I knew instantly he was gone and we weren't getting him back. He was helpless.

'It was so heartbreaking.'

Her partner attempted to jump into the gap immediately after, calling out to Mushu, but it was too late.

The couple turned to a community Facebook group to ask if Mushu had been found by anyone else in the area.

It was then that they learnt numerous other dogs have been killed at the same location.

'So sorry to hear this. Unfortunately, it's not the first time this has happened. It really is dangerous,' one user wrote.

'I worry for anyone swimming near these spots. It should be covered with mesh and sign-posted,' another wrote.

'Sorry to hear about this. I lost my dog many years ago in the same spot,' one pet owner said.

A spokesperson for the Shire of Esperance said that they are prioritising the update of safety signage after it was revealed that Mushu is one of many dogs to have been killed there

Ms Crook said she was concerned about children getting caught in the rip.

The Shire of Esperance council said that they are taking steps to prioritise updating signage on water safety.

'The Shire does not have management over this beach, which is why the safety signage we provide is located at the access points,' a spokesperson said.

'We can confirm that Shire officers have already been working in partnership with Surf Life Saving WA, who have carried out a coastal risk assessment and advised on updated signage.

'The coastal hazard signage on the Esperance tourist loop and town areas will be updated as a priority.'
Furious drivers slammed 'disgraceful' Sadiq Khan today after he branded some Ulez opponents 'far-Right' and 'Covid deniers'.

The London mayor was holding a People's Question Time in Ealing, west London last night, when the extraordinary confrontation developed.

Tensions have been running high for months over the expansion of the Ultra Low Emission Zone - where 12.50 is charged for driving polluting vehicles - which is due to cover all London boroughs from August.

During the bad-tempered session, Mr Khan said: 'Some of you have got good reasons to oppose Ulez, but you are in coalition with Covid deniers... you may not like it... you are in coalition with the far-Right. And you are in coalition with vaccine deniers as well.'

Drivers then took to social media in their droves today to blast the Mayor's 'outrageous' comments.

London mayor Sadiq Khan was holding a People's Question Time in Ealing when the extraordinary confrontation developed

Commentator Sophie Corcoran said: 'Sadiq Khan labels people who disagree with his ULEZ expansion far-right. So your working class builder - your traditional Labour voter - who is currently struggling to pay for their heating - being concerned about having to now fork out an extra 60 a week is far right?'

One driver tweeted: 'Sadiq Khan is an absolute disgrace!! Calling people 'far right' because they object to the Ulez extension clearly shows he's losing the argument. We all know this is to finance his failing TFL, if he was so concerned about air quality he'd ban these vehicles completely!'

Another wrote: 'Let's be clear here, I am far from far right or even right and I'm not an anti-vaxxer but I'm 100% against expanding the ULEZ at this time when people are hard up.'

A third added: 'You called those opposed to Ulez far right and COVID deniers, I am neither and wish you to publicly apologise to all the Londoners you insulted. Your comments also incited hatred. Not a very professional look for a mayor whose job it is serve through democracy.'

A fourth said: 'Mayor Khan should be sacked from the Labour Party for calling protestors in Ealing 'far right, anti lockdown, anti covid vaccine, anti climate change' people. The UK is not a communist state.'

Critics, including some London Labour MPs, have branded the policy a 'tax raid' and warned it will price key workers and others who have no choice about using vehicles out of the capital.

At a fiery meeting, Mr Khan compared the situation over Ulez to complaints before the ban on smoking in public places was introduced in 2007.

He added: 'What I find unacceptable, though, is those who've got legitimate objections joining hands with some of those outside who are part of a far-Right group.'

Shaking his head amid shouts of protest from the audience, Mr Khan went on: 'Let's be frank, let's call a spade a spade... some of those outside are part of the far-Right, some are Covid deniers, some are vaccine deniers and some are Tories.'

At that point the jeers became so loud that the chairman had to intervene and warn that the meeting might have to be broken up.

Peter Fortune, the Tories' deputy leader at City Hall, shot back at Mr Khan: 'If you disagree with the mayor he's going to paint you as far-Right... he is going to say you are a flat-Earther... he doesn't want to address the fact you've got legitimate concerns.'

He claimed the real issue behind the Ulez scheme was the need to prop up Transport for London (TfL), which runs the city's buses and Underground, adding: 'It's about finance. At the end of the day this is about the mismanagement of TfL.

'He never talks about the financial impact on people... he never wants to address that because the reality is he's filling a financial hole in TfL.'

Peter Fortune, the Tories' deputy leader at City Hall, shot back at Mr Khan: 'If you disagree with the Mayor he's going to paint you as Far Right.'

Shadow foreign secretary David Lammy highlighted 'placards including swastikas' apparently being brandished outside the event last night

Nick Rogers, another Tory member of the London Assembly, said afterwards that Mr Khan's comments were 'some of the most disgraceful I have ever heard from any politician', adding: 'Labelling those who oppose his Ulez expansion as 'far-Right' is not OK. If he can't hack the pressure of being mayor, he should resign.'

Mr Khan tweeted afterwards: 'Good to answer questions in Ealing on how we are addressing genuine concerns about ULEZ expansion, whilst ensuring our children no longer breathe in poison.

'To the conspiracy theorists who tried to disrupt tonight's #PQT:: Londoners have no time for your dangerous misinformation.'
President Joe Biden and German Chancellor Olaf Scholz sat down in the Oval Office on Friday to discuss the war in Ukraine as China considers arming Russia and Republicans push back on U.S. assistance to the war-torn nation.

The U.S. and Germany have worked closely together to supply Ukraine with military and humanitarian assistance. But there has also been friction over issues such as providing tanks, and Washington has occasionally grown frustrated with Berlin's hesitance.

Biden thanked the German leader for his country's support.

President Joe Biden met with German Chancellor Olaf Scholz in the Oval Office

'You stepped up to provide critical military support. And I would argue, beyond the military support, the moral support you've given Ukrainians has been profound. Profound,' the president said.

And he acknowledged their last White House meeting just over a year ago, before Russia invaded Ukraine.

'A lot's happened since last year, we've got a lot to talk about,' he said.

Scholz said he appreciated the opportunity to meet.

'This is a very, very important year because of the dangerous threat to peace that comes from Russia invading Ukraine,' he said.

The two leaders were expected to discuss meetings with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky over the past month - Biden when he traveled to Kyiv two weeks ago and Scholz when Zelensky traveled to Paris in early February - and his requests for more military aid.

Zelensky's weapon request comes amid concern China will arm Russia with artillery and drones to help its invasion, giving Moscow much-needed supplies as it faces equipment shortages.

White House spokesman John Kirby said the U.S. doesn't believe that China has decided to send weapons to Russia - at least just yet - 'but we don't believe they've taken it off the table.'

The U.S. has raised its concerns with China and warned that sending weapons to Russia is 'not in their best interests,' Kirby said at Thursday's White House press briefing.

Olaf Scholz was last at the White House in February 2022 (above) right after he became chancellor and before Russia invaded Ukraine

He also said the United States will announce another round of military assistance for Ukraine on Friday that will involve 'ammunitions and munitions that the Ukrainians will need for the systems that they already have, like the HIMARS and the artillery.'

But questions have been raised about what else is on the agenda given the quiet nature of the trip: Scholz brought no traveling press with him, the two leaders won't hold a joint news conference, and the Germans announced the trip in a one-line release.

The White House meeting comes as concerns grow in Europe about how long a united front of support will stand for Ukraine, particularly with the upcoming presidential election in the United States and Republicans pushing to cut back on American assistance.

Additionally, House Republicans have promised to scrutinize and audit the more than $112 billion in military and economic aid that the Democrat-controlled Congress approved last year.

Ukrainian service members fire a shell from a towed howitzer FH-70 at the front line with Russia

Republican Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene has pushed for an audit of U.S. military and economic aid for Ukraine - a move with much GOP support.

Since Russia invaded Ukraine on Feb. 24, 2022, the U.S. has sent a wide range of weapons systems across the pond, including hundreds of anti-tank missiles, kamikaze drones and various anti-armor munitions.

There are also signs that Western allies are growing wary about sending more money to Ukraine amid worries their populations are losing interest in the conflict.

Washington and its allies pressured Germany to deliver Leopard tanks to Ukraine - a move Scholz agreed to after the U.S. pledged to send its Abrams tanks. There are concerns that sophisticated weapons may not be useful to Ukraine due to high-maintenance requirements and extensive training to operate them.

Biden ultimately sent 31 Abrams tanks, and Germany agreed to deliver 14 Leopard 2s.

'We wanted to make sure we were all together,' Biden said.

National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan suggested Biden sent the hardware to placate the Germans.

'In the interest of alliance unity, and to ensure that Ukraine got what it wanted, despite the fact that the Abrams aren't the tool they need, the president said, 'OK, I'm going to be the leader of the free world. I will send Abrams down the road if you send Leopards now,'' Sullivan told ABC News. 'And this is actually an example of Joe Biden rallying the global coalition to get Ukraine what it needs.'

Biden and Scholz last met at the White House in February of 2022, shortly after Scholz took office as chancellor and before Vladimir Putin invaded Ukraine. Since then, they have met in Europe - usually at meetings of NATO and G7/G20 leaders.
he has serious health condition that must not 'be taken lightly'

Tate said he has serious health condition that must not 'be taken lightly'

Misogynistic influencer Andrew Tate, who is currently being held in Romania on suspicion of organised crime and human trafficking, has today confirmed he has a 'dark spot on his lung' that is 'most likely a tumour'.

Tate attended a medical consultation with doctors in Dubai about his 'serious' health condition that must 'not be taken lightly' before he was arrested in December, his team told MailOnline.

Since his arrest, Tate has been receiving medical treatment in Romania for the medical condition - and the influencer said he remains 'strong' and 'in good shape'.

Tate's doctors, in both Romania and Dubai, reportedly wrote in medical documents that the influencer has a lesion of his upper right lung - a condition that has been described as a 'serious health condition'. His doctor said the lesion could be a sign of a carinoid tumour - a rare type of slow-growing cancer.

Tate confirmed the major health fears today, with his spokesman telling MailOnline: 'Tate has a dark spot on his lung, most likely a tumour.'

As a result, his doctors have requested that Tate, who has been held at a Romanian prison since late December on sex trafficking charges, be released from prison so he can receive treatment in Dubai.

Misogynistic influencer Andrew Tate (pictured on 27 February), who is currently being held in Romania on suspicion of organised crime and human trafficking, has today confirmed he has a 'dark spot on his lung' that is 'most likely a tumour'

However, Romanian officials have said Tate will receive any medical treatment in Romania.

A spokesperson for Andrew Tate told MailOnline: 'Andrew was made aware of his serious condition before his arrest, after attending a consultation in Dubai.

'As he could not be monitored by his chosen medical team in Dubai, it meant he was taken to a Romanian local clinic whilst in detention.

'No official diagnosis has been confirmed and he is in good shape and is staying strong. His doctors have requested that he returns to Dubai for further testing. Andrew has not demanded this.

'This is not a health issue to be taken lightly and all due diligence is being made to make sure he gets the best medical care that is available to him.'

It came after Romanian news site Spy News said it had retrieved Tate's medical documents from both Romania and Dubai.

His most recent visit to hospital was in December last year when he went to Dubai and underwent a chest x-ray on December 5. He returned to hospital on December for a CT scan, the publication said, citing the documents.

Tate was scheduled to fly to Dubai in January this year for an emergency bronchoscopy and biopsy of the lesion in his lung, but he and Tristan were arrested in December.

His doctor wrote in a letter and medical report that an 'urgent investigation' was required into the supposed lesion in Tate's lung.

The letter said: 'His case was discussed at our MDT (Multidisciplinary Team) meeting and he has been scheduled to have a number of further urgent investigations and procedures including a PET CT (Positron Emission Tomography) scan, bronchoscopy and tissue sampling via CT guided biopsy.

The medical documents claim Tate has a lesion on his upper right lung - a condition that has been described as a 'serious health condition'. His doctor reportedly said the lesion could be a sign of a carinoid tumour - a rare type of slow-growing cancer.

As a result, his doctors have requested that Tate, who has been held at a Romanian prison since late December on sex trafficking charges, be released from prison so he can receive treatment in Dubai.

'Time is of the essence and any further delay in the above investigations may have a serious negative implication for Andrew's physical health.'

Another alleged medical report claimed that Tate had complained about feeling more fatigued and thirsty than usual.

Earlier this week, the Tate brothers lost their latest bid to be released from jail, with a Romanian court upholding a third extension for their detention.

The divisive influencer will now be detained for another 30 days until at least March 29, according to Ramona Bolla, a spokesman for Romanian anti-organised crime agency DIICOT.

Bolla said prosecutors also won an appeal on Monday against a court's decision last week to place under house arrest two women also held in the case, instead of in full detention. None of the four has yet been formally charged.

It is the third appeal the brothers have lost against decisions to extend their detention while investigations continue. All four will now remain in jail until at least March 29, Bolla said.

A document explaining an earlier decision to keep them in jail said the judge took into account the 'particular dangerousness of the defendants' and their capacity to identify victims 'with an increased vulnerability, in search of better life opportunities'.

Tate, who has lived in Romania since 2017, was previously banned from various social media platforms for expressing misogynistic views and hate speech.

He has repeatedly claimed Romanian prosecutors have no evidence and alleged their case is a 'political' conspiracy designed to silence him.

DIICOT said in a statement after their arrests in December that it had identified six victims in the human trafficking case who were subjected to 'acts of physical violence and mental coercion' and were sexually exploited by members of the alleged crime group.

Pictured: Andrew Tate (left) and his brother arrive at a Romanian court on Monday where they lost their appeal to be released from prison

The agency said victims were lured with pretences of love and later intimidated, put under surveillance and subjected to other control tactics while being coerced into engaging in pornographic acts for the financial gain of the crime group.

Since their arrest, the brothers have allegedly demanded prison officers bring them a PlayStation and a hair stylist, reports Romanian news sit Gandul. But the pair have been snubbed by officials who have refused their demands.

Tate, who before his arrest had a shaven head and proudly posed with sports cars, has apparently become frustrated with his appearance. But after two months in jail, the millionaire was seen with longer hair that is thinning to reveal bald patches.

Tate allegedly complained he could not shave his head as disposable razors are not allowed in the prison and demanded a hairstylist be brought in, which was rejected.

Tate and his brother also allegedly asked prison officials to buy them a PlayStation so that they could play games in the cell they share.

When the British-US citizen demanded to know where the games console was, officials reportedly told him that in custody 'prisoners don't play, they pray'.

Meanwhile, Tate also directed his associates to recruit two right-wing politicians to help him fight rape and trafficking allegations while in police custody, according to wiretaps of his phone calls submitted to a court by Romanian prosecutors.

The internet celebrity instructed two associates to tell the Romanian politicians, George Simion and Diana Iovanovici-Sosoaca, that he was being framed and supporting him would be 'very good for their careers', according to one of the exchanges.

'So make it clear to them: You will get a lot of votes when Tate says you took their side,' the former kickboxer said in the January 28 call to two of his associates.

The internet celebrity instructed two associates to tell the Romanian politicians, George Simion (pictured) and Diana Iovanovici-Sosoaca, that he was being framed and supporting him would be 'very good for their careers', according to one of the exchanges

Andrew Tate directed his associates to recruit two right-wing politicians, George Simion and Diana Iovanovici-Sosoaca (pictured) to help him fight rape and trafficking allegations while in police custody, according to wiretaps of his phone calls submitted to a court by Romanian prosecutors

Transcriptions of the wiretapped calls are included in a previously unpublished court document, dated February 21, compiled by Bucharest court officials and reviewed by Reuters.

Simion, a politician in Romania's lower house, told Reuters he had never been contacted by Tate or his associates, and wouldn't publicly support Tate if he was asked to.

The wiretapped calls offer a window into his multi-pronged attempts to defend himself while in detention, efforts that stretch beyond the courtroom into the realms of politics and social media.

Also in the January 28 call, detailed in the court document, Tate directs his associate Luke to release 'party clips' on social media that he said shows at least one of his alleged trafficking victims dancing in Bucharest.

'Yes, put them everywhere and say, 'This girl says she is kidnapped when she is not kidnapped',' Tate says.

'You're saying you want me to discredit them, have social media pull hard, yes?' asks Luke.

'Yes, screw them,' Tate replies.
This choice of European nations is seen as attempt to build post-Brexit bridges

King Charles today risked fueling further claims he is wading into politics after announcing his European tour - days after his Windsor tea meeting with EU chief Ursula Von der Leyen.

King Charles will become the first British monarch in history to address the French senate later this month as part of state visits to France and Germany.

The choice of the two European nations is widely seen as an attempt to build post-Brexit bridges and acknowledge the affection the late Queen Elizabeth II had for France.

Today's announcement follows Charles's meeting with Ms von der Leyen at Windsor Castle on Monday - less than two hours after she signed off on changes to the Northern Ireland Protocol four miles from His Majesty's Berkshire home.

Charles and his wife Camilla will be in France from March 26 to March 29, and will join President Emmanuel Macron (right) for a ceremony of remembrance and wreath laying at the Arc de Triomphe in Paris

King Charles III shook hands with European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen during an audience at Windsor Castle on Monday

The King and his wife Camilla will make their first state visits to EU heavyweights France and Germany, Buckingham Palace confirmed today

It came amid a clash between the palace and No10 over the 'constitutionally unwise' meeting.

One senior Tory told MailOnline that the King's visits were part of a 'charm offensive' under way with the EU.

They acknowledged that the meeting with Ursula von der Leyen last week  criticised by the DUP and some Tories as too connected to the Windsor Framework announcement - had been 'clumsy'.

But the veteran Conservative said the fact that it blow over quickly showed that Mr Sunak had 'space' after the relatively warm reception for the package.

'It was clumsy but it wasn't as messy as it might have been. To some extent that is a reflection things that previously would have been massive headlines, Rishi does another gaffe  he's bought himself space.'

The Tory grandee said they were detecting 'more optimism' about relations with the EU, and the King's visit would help. 'It is a charm offensive it could have not worked, but because of the circumstances we find ourselves in it will work  because people are willing to listen.'

They added: 'There is more optimism. There are little straws in the wind There is a sense that Rishi has not only unlocked communications with the British public but with Berlin.'

Charles and Camilla will travel to the French capital Paris and then continue onwards to Berlin in Germany during a six-day visit which begins on March 26, ahead of the King's coronation on May 6.

Aspects of the trip reflect what are believed to be the wishes of the host countries to mark the historic visits of the nation's new head of state.

The King will be the first British monarch to give a speech from France's senate chamber, to senators and national assembly members, and the first UK sovereign to address German politicians from the Bundestag.

Charles and Camilla will be in France from March 26 to March 29, and will join President Emmanuel Macron for a ceremony of remembrance and wreath laying at the Arc de Triomphe in Paris. The King will make an address at the French Senate, while Camilla and the French first lady Brigitte Macron will officially open the new Manet and Degas exhibition at the Musee d'Orsay.

The royal couple will then be guests of honour at a state banquet hosted by the Macrons at the Palace of Versailles, and will also pay a visit to Bordeaux in southwestern France.

While there, Charles will 'witness first-hand the devastation caused by last summer's wildfires' on the outskirts of Bordeaux and visit an organic vineyard, the palace said.

The visit will take place shortly after a first trip to France by British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak on March 10 for a bilateral summit.

Rishi Sunak was accused of dragging King Charles III into politics with the monarch meeting EU chief Ursula von der Leyen at Windsor Castle this week

The trip will mark the king's 35th official visit to France, and 29th official visit to Germany.

His mother Queen Elizabeth II, accompanied by her husband Prince Philip, last undertook state visits to France and Germany in 2014 and 2015 respectively.

Elizabeth, who was a fluent French speaker, made five state visits to France during her reign, in addition to numerous private visits.

Her first visit to France was in 1948 as the 22-year-old Princess Elizabeth.

In 1957, when she returned to France as queen, thousands lined the streets to cheer her as she travelled through the streets of the capital.

'Look at our Parisians, how much they love you,' president Rene Coty told her.

On her last state visit to France in 2014, she joined 1,800 World War II veterans and 18 heads of state and government, including the US and Russian presidents Barack Obama and Vladimir Putin, to mark the 70th anniversary of the Normandy landing.

A Macron aide has previously said the visit would illustrate the 'age-old attachment of his country to ours, beyond Brexit.'

It would also be a sign of 'family continuity, because Elizabeth II was a Francophile and a Francophone', the aide told Le Parisien newspaper.

Macron himself paid tribute to Britain's late monarch following her death in September 2022.

In a message to the British people, he recalled a 'great head of state' and a 'unique example of devotion to her people, and a very close ally'.

'With her, France and the United Kingdom shared not just an 'entente cordiale', but a warm, sincere and loyal partnership,' he added.

Charles will head to Berlin on March 29, and undertake engagements there and in Brandenburg before heading to Hamburg, the palace added.

The royal couple are due to receive a ceremonial welcome by President Frank-Walter Steinmeier at the Brandenburg Gate and will be guests of honour at a state banquet, hosted by the President and his wife.

The king will also make a speech in the German federal parliament, the Bundestag, a first for a British monarch, and will also meet refugees recently arrived from Ukraine.
Says she had been 'naive', but is braver about 'uncomfortable conversations'

Evanna Lynch has spoken out in support of author JK Rowling as the Harry Potter author continues to face a backlash about her allegedly 'transphobic' opinions.

The Luna Lovegood actress said she had been naive when she supported Rowling in 2020, but now wished more people would listen to her.

The 31-year-old actress, who won the part of Luna after battling anorexia with the help of supportive letters from Ms Rowling herself, said the 'problem is that there's a disagreement over who's the most vulnerable'.

Ms Rowling waded into the trans debate in 2020 when she criticised an article's use of the phrase 'people who menstruate' and then wrote a personal essay defending her opinions on sex and gender.

The author, who also writes crime fiction under the pseudonym Robert Galbraith, dismissed claims last month that the trans row would overshadow her Harry Potter legacy.

The 31-year-old Luna Lovegood actress said she was naive when she first spoke out in favour of Ms Rowling, but was now ready to have 'uncomfortable conversations'

JK Rowling first sparked controversy by responding to the use of the phrase 'people who menstruate' in an article in 2020

Ms Lynch told The Telegraph that the debate was difficult and that she understood what it meant to be 'too triggered' to have a conversation.

Read more: JK Rowling's former husband claims he helped with Harry Potter Advertisement

'I was very naive when I was dragged into that conversation.

'I didn't even know there were two sides. I had a view of, like, good and bad. I do have compassion for both sides of the argument.'

Referring to her experience of anorexia as a teenager, she added: 'I know what it was like to be a teenager who hated my body so much I wanted to crawl out of my skin, so I have great compassion for trans people and I don't want to add to their pain.'

She said that it was important that Ms Rowling was promoting the voices of 'detransitioners' - those who regret changing gender and want to reverse the process.

The Irish actress said she was shocked by the reaction against Ms Rowling, 'especially when she wrote her essay', adding: 'I just felt that her character has always been to advocate for the most vulnerable members of society.

Evanna Lynch as Luna Lovegood in Harry Potter And The Order Of The Phoenix, the fifth film in the blockbuster franchise

'The problem is that there's a disagreement over who's the most vulnerable. I do wish people would just give her more grace and listen to her.'

Evanna beat 15,000 other girls to get the role of Luna Lovegood in the later Harry Potter films.

The teenager, who had been struggling with an eating disorder, had written to JK Rowling aged 11, in a letter sent through the author's publisher.

When a response arrived from Ms Rowling herself, the two struck up an unlikely pen friendship, even while Ms Lynch was in a residential clinic for her eating disorder.

Two years later, Ms Lynch was trawling through a Potter fan site when she came across a casting call for Luna.

Following Ms Rowling's controversial tweet in 2020, Ms Lynch wrote an impassioned defence of the woman she refers to as a 'mentor', saying: 'I wont be helping to marginalise trans women and men further. I think its irresponsible to discuss such a delicate topic over Twitter through fragmented thoughts and I wish Jo wouldnt  That said, as a friend and admirer of Jo I cant forget what a generous and loving person she is.'

She sent Ms Rowling a copy of her 2021 memoir, The Opposite Of Butterfly Hunting: The Tragedy And The Glory Of Growing Up, and said she would work on more Harry Potter projects.

JK Rowling pictured with Rupert Grint, Daniel Radcliffe and Emma Watson at the world premiere of Harry Potter And The Philosopher's Stone in 2001

Ms Rowling recently addressed the trans debate on a podcast, The Witch Trials Of JK Rowling.

Chapter One: Plotted In Darkness opened with her addressing the backlash she received after sharing her views on gender identity, saying: 'I never set out to upset anyone. However, I was not uncomfortable with getting off my pedestal.

'And what has interested me in the last ten years and certainly in the last few years, particularly on social media, "You've ruined your legacy, oh you could have been beloved forever but you chose to say this" and I think you could not have misunderstood me more profoundly.

'I do not walk around my house thinking about my legacy. What a pompous way to live your life, walking around thinking about what my legacy will be.

'Whatever. I'll be dead. I care about now. I care about the living.'

The latest offering from the Harry Potter universe, the video game Hogwarts Legacy, has smashed bestseller records in recent days.

The hit video game racked up a total of $850million in revenue, with 12million sales, according to figures released by its creator, Warner Bros. Games.

This makes Hogwarts Legacy one of the fastest-selling games of all time, and the most lucrative launch ever for the Warner Bros. Discovery media empire.
Earlier, the judge eviscerated Murdaugh , who he called a 'monster' controlled by drugs. The jury took just 45 minutes to reach a unanimous guilty verdict

Alex Murdaugh has been booked into South Carolina's Kirkland Reception and Evaluation Center where he'll be housed for the next 45 days

Alex Murdaugh has been pictured in a new mugshot with his head shaved and wearing a yellow jumpsuit after being booked into South Carolina's Kirkland Reception and Evaluation Center on Friday evening.

The convicted double-murderer will be held in a single cell for the next 45 days. The facility is maximum security, and houses male offenders.

Earlier on Friday, Murdaugh was heckled on his way out of court today after being sentenced to life in prison for the murders of his wife and son in what is the death knell of a once-revered southern dynasty family and its disgraced patriarch.

Murdaugh will serve two consecutive life sentences for murdering Maggie and Paul at the family's hunting lodge in June 2021.

Among those in court today and throughout the trial was Murdaugh's surviving son Buster, who was crestfallen as Judge Clifton Newman announced his father would spend the rest of his life behind bars.

Alex Murdaugh has been pictured in a new mugshot with his head shaved and wearing a yellow jumpsuit after being booked into South Carolina's Kirkland Reception and Evaluation Center on Friday evening

Alex Murdaugh is led out of the courthouse to a waiting prison van to begin his life sentence

Murdaugh leaves the courthouse in a Colleton County Jail jumpsuit on Friday

His uncle John Marvin Murdaugh - Alex's youngest brother - rested a consoling hand on his back as the sentence was read out.

As Murdaugh was ushered into a prison van, a heckler shouted: 'Buster's next!' He added: 'Justice for Stephen Smith!', referring to the unsolved 2015 death of a 19-year-old friend of Buster.

Stephen's body was found by the side of the road and initially his death was ruled as a hit-and-run.

Police revisited the case, however, and found he had a blunt force trauma wound to the head.

Many have connected Buster to the boy's death because his family's name appears more than nine times in the investigative file into Smith's death.

Buster has never been arrested or charged in connection with Smith's death.

After the sentencing on Friday, Murdaugh's attorney - State Senator Dick Harpootlian - announced plans to appeal.

He also defended putting him on the stand.

Before handing down his sentence, Judge Clifton Newman gave a searing assessment of Murdaugh's 'duplicitous' character and said it's possible his opioid addiction turned him into a 'monster'.

'You have to see Paul and Maggie during the nighttime when you're attempting to go to sleep. I'm sure they come and visit you. I'm sure,' he said.

Murdaugh replied: 'All day, all night.'

Judge Newman shot back: 'I'm sure. And they will continue to.'

Buster Murdaugh leaves court with his Aunt Lynne and other members of the family. They were flanked by sheriff's deputies

Murdaugh spoke briefly, telling the judge: 'I am innocent. I would never hurt my wife Maggie and I would never hurt my son Paul Paul.' He was sentenced to life in prison

Judge Clifton Newman gave a searing assessment of Murdaugh's 'duplicitous'; character

Prosecutor Creighton Waters enters court on Friday morning

Murdaugh spoke briefly before the sentencing, telling the judge: 'I am innocent. I would never my wife Maggie and I would never hurt my son Paul Paul.'

Judge Newman also told of the irony that Murdaugh had been spared the death penalty when his legal dynasty family had spent over a century sending others to their deaths in the same courthouse.

He also lamented the fact that he knew Murdaugh through the courts.

'As well known member of the legal community, you've practiced law before me.

'We've seen each other at various occasions throughout the years.

'It was especially heartbreaking for me to see you go in the media from being a grieving father who lost a wife and son to being the person indicted and convicted of killing them.

'A lawyer, a person from a respected family who has controlled justice in this community for over a century.

'A person whose grandfather's portrait hangs at the back of the courthouse that I had to have ordered removed in order to ensure that a fair trial was had by both the state and the defense,' he said.

'This case qualifies under our death penalty statute.

'I don't question at all the decision of the state not to pursue the death penalty, but as I sit here in the courtroom and look around the portraits of other judges and court officials and reflect on the fact that over the past century, your family have been prosecuting people here in this courtroom and many have received the death penalty... probably for lesser conduct.'

Judge Newman said Murdaugh has continuously lied, at first insisting he was nowhere near the crime scene and then admitting at the 11th hour that he was after being placed there by video evidence.

Alex Murdaugh with wife Maggie and their sons Buster (left) and Paul (right)

'You claimed to have been someplace else at the time the crime was committed.

'Then after all the witnesses placed you at the scene of the crime, in the last minutes, you switched courses and admitted to being there then that necessitated more lies.

'You continued to lie. Where will it end? It's already ended for many.

'But within your own soul you have to deal with that.'

When Murdaugh made one final attempt to plead his innocence, insisting he would 'never under any circumstances hurt my wife Maggie or hurt my son Paul Paul', the judge reminded him of his opioid addiction.

'It might not have been you. It might have been the monster you become when you take 15, 20, 30, 40, 50, 60 opioid pills. Maybe you become another person, I've seen that before.

'The person standing before me was not the person who committed the crime, though it's the same individual.'

There was enormous media coverage of the trial and sentencing. Above, Colleton County Courthouse on Friday

Members of the media wait for Alex Murdaugh to arrive to the courthouse during his sentencing at the Colleton County Courthouse in Walterboro, S.C.

Tracy Kinsinger holds up a sign as Alex Murdaugh walks into the Colleton County Courthouse for sentencing Friday, March 3, 2023 in Walterboro, S.C

Prosecutor John Meadors (right) leaving the Colleton County Court March 3rd 2023

Murdaugh was helped out of a prison van. He wore orange slide shoes with socks and a prison jumpsuit

Prosecutor Creighton Waters said Maggie was 'cut down in the prime of her life' while Paul was 'cut down as he was just starting to live his life.'

He asked for the maximum sentence of two consecutive life sentences, saying Murdaugh did not deserve to walk among free, law-abiding citizens ever again.

'Both of them, like everyone else was unaware of who he really was. No one who thought they were close to him knew who he was. That's chilling.

'I've looked in his eyes. He liked to stare me down. I could see the real Alex Murdaugh.

'The depravity, the callousness, the selfishness of these crimes are stunning.

'The lack of remorse, the effortless way in which he lies... your honor, a man like that- a man like this man, should never be allowed to be among free, law abiding citizens again.'

The jury's lightning-fast verdict stunned many after the six-week trial, which produced a mountain of evidence and testimony. Prosecutors today requested the maximum sentence available - two consecutive life sentences.

Murdaugh maintained his innocence throughout the six-week trial.

He wept on the stand as he talked about his crippling opioid addiction and talked fondly of his family, who he said he would never want to hurt.

He suggested that it was the 2019 boating accident caused by Paul that led to the death of a teenage girl that ultimately led to his death.

Prosecutors were not able to nail down some of the key questions that remain unanswered after the trial.

Their arguments were enough to convince the jury of Murdaugh's guilt.

One juror broke cover on Friday to tell Good Morning America why they convicted him so quickly.

'He was a good liar, but not good enough,' Moyer said, breaking his anonymity to discuss the blockbuster trial that had America gripped.

When the jury entered the deliberation room yesterday, nine were already convinced of Murdaugh's guilt - including Moyer. Two thought he was innocent and another juror was undecided.

Moyer revealed on Friday that it took just 45 minutes of deliberations to convince the three other jurors of his guilt.

'You start deliberating, going through the evidence and everybody was pretty much talking.

'About 45 minutes later, after all our deliberating, we figured it out. The evidence was clear.'

Moyer said the nail in Murdaugh's coffin was a video filmed by his son Paul just moments before the murders, in which his voice can be heard in the background.

Murdaugh had always denied being near the dog kennel where the bodies of his wife and son were found, but conceded at trial that he'd lied, and was heard in the video.

Moyer also said the jury wasn't convinced by Murdaugh's emotional testimony on the stand.

'I didn't see any true remorse or any compassion or anything. He never cried.

'All he did was blow snot. [There were] no tears. I saw his eyes,' Moyer said.

The defense claimed Murdaugh wouldn't have had enough time to shoot his wife and son, clean up, visit his mother and then return to the scene where he called police.

Moyer, however, said he and the jurors felt he had 'just enough time' to do all those things.

Buster Murdaugh with his head in his hands yesterday after father was found guilty of murder

Pictured: Alex Murdaugh's sister Lynn is seen leaving the Colleton County Court

He also said they were turned off by Murdaugh's apparent preparedness.

'His responses, how quick he was with the defense, and his lies.... just steady lies.'

Murdaugh will return to court this morning for sentencing. He faces life in prison.

Yesterday, he showed no emotion as he was found guilty.

He had wept on the stand, telling the court of his crippling opioid addiction and money troubles, but insisted he did not kill his wife and son.

Prosecutor Creighton Waters also appeared on GMA on Friday to reveal his cross-examination strategy.

'He's been able to talk his way out of accountability his entire life. People like that are convinced of their own ability to do that.

'I was convinced he was going to testify. My strategy was to establish who he was.

'You know, he wouldn't even concede to the jury that he was wealthy.

'The idea was to get him talking about himself, his life, then move into the specifics of his new story that he was telling the world for the first time.'

Among those in court yesterday was Buster Murdaugh, the legal heir's only surviving son.

Craig Moyer appeared on Good Morning America on Friday morning to explain why he and his fellow jurors felt Murdaugh was guilty

Alex Murdaugh took the stand but failed to convince jurors of his innocence

Buster has never stated if he believes in his father's innocence, but he was called to stand as a witness for his defense team.

He told the court his father was 'devastated' by the murders.

Maggie's relatives, including her sister, also testified for the prosecution. She said she thought it was strange her brother-in-law wasn't looking for his wife and son's killer.

'I just thought his priority should have been focusing on finding out who killed Maggie and Paul,' Marian Proctor said.

In his closing arguments, Waters told the jury: 'Nobody knew who this man was.

'He avoided accountability his whole life, he had relied on his family name, he had a powerful family, he carried a badge and used that in authority, he lived a wealthy life - but now finally he was was facing complete ruin.'

He added that the legal scion 'is the kind of person for whom shame is an extraordinary provocation' and faced with financial ruin which his 'ego couldn't stand...he became a family annihilator.'

He concluded the speech with the fervent plea: 'This defendant has fooled everyone, everyone.

'Everyone who thought they were close to him he's fooled them all and he fooled Maggie and Paul too and they paid for it with their lives.

'Don't let him fool you too.'
Hero rescue dogs returning from Turkey are being upgraded to first class in honour of their service.

Turkish Airlines said it does not want the dogs to travel in the cargo hold after all their hard work.

The 7.8-magnitude earthquake on February 6 killed more than 45,000 people in Turkey and thousands more in neighbouring Syria and completely devastated hundreds of thousands of buildings.

A spokesperson for the Turkish Airlines told MailOnline: 'As we have been experiencing an extraordinary period within our evacuation operations due to earthquakes centered in our eastern regions and affecting all our country and nation, we fly our heroes, the rescue teams along with their dogs, which are let to sit in cabin (in business class as well) for this period.

'It was the least we could to do show our appreciation for these heroic dogs sincere and heroic efforts.

Turkish Airlines said the gesture was to show 'appreciation for these heroic dogs' sincere and heroic efforts'

A spokesperson for the Turkish Airlines said: 'As we have been experiencing an extraordinary period within our evacuation operations due to earthquakes centered in our eastern regions and affected all our country and nation, we fly our heroes, the rescue teams along with their dogs, which are let to sit in cabin (in business class as well) for this period'

Rescue dogs were sent to Turkey from a number of countries including the US, the UK, Croatia, the Czech Republic, Germany, Greece, Libya, Poland and Switzerland.

Turkish Airlines told Insider that it had also flown dogs from Thailand, Kyrgyzstan, Hungary and China.

On February 7, a day after the 7.8 earthquake occurred, Mexico announced it was sending some of its famous search and rescue dogs to help look for people buried under rubble.

A plane with 16 dogs on board took off from Mexico City.

Mexico, which is prone to earthquakes, has highly specialised civilian and military teams which are often deployed to help when disasters strike.

The dogs saved several lives during the country's 2017 earthquake.

Frida, a golden Labrador belonging to the Mexican Navy, became a national icon in Mexico after she was photographed wearing googles and boots.

Although Frida died last year, one of her comrades from the 2017 rescue attempts was among those helping out in Turkey, BBC News reported.

Dogs are often used in rescue attempts in areas where the use of heavy machinery could cause the rubble to collapse further, putting the lives of survivors at risk.

The dogs are trained to sniff out humans and alert their handlers by barking and scratching the ground where the scent is strongest.

Turkish Airlines also provided free flights for evacuees after the earthquake.

'We evacuated a total of 296,819 citizens by 1,646 flights,' Yahya Ustun, Turkish Airlines' senior vice president for media relations, wrote on Twitter on February 21.

The airline has also provided free cargo transportation for urgent medical supplies to aid in the recovery and rebuilding of areas affected by the earthquakes.

The airline said it donated free carrying cases to airports so that other pets could be safely boarded onto aircraft for evacuation flights.

'We also wish to extend our gratitude to our friends from abroad for their overwhelming support and aid in response to the crisis along with our missions, embassies, and consulates for their coordination in order to deliver aid material from other countries to the affected region with our cargo flights,' Prof. Dr. Ahmet Bolat, the Chairman of Turkish Airlines in a statement.

'Our flag carrier will continue to be with our citizens in the future just like it has been with all of its capabilities.'

According to the carrier's website, the Turkish Airlines' network spans 121 countries and 342 airports.

Turkish Airlines did not want the dogs to travel in the cargo hold after all their hard work

Rescue dogs were sent to Turkey from a number of countries including the US, the UK, Croatia, the Czech Republic, Germany, Greece, Libya, Poland, and Switzerland

Rescuers pulled a dog alive from a collapsed building in southern Turkey three weeks after last month's 7.8-magnitude deadly earthquake, local media reported yesterday.

The teams from a local municipality in central Turkey saved Aleks the dog on Wednesday and delivered him to Haytap, a Turkish animal protection association in the city of Antakya.

A video from DHA news agency shows rescuers reaching between two large concrete slabs and calling to the trapped canine.

Images showed the rescuers embracing the dog, who appears to be alert and in good health, and offering him water.

Rescue workers have saved hundreds of trapped cats, dogs, rabbits and birds cherished by the locals in Antakya, one of the cities flattened by the disaster.

After the deadliest earthquake in its modern history, Turkey faces the daunting task of disposing of hundreds of millions of tonnes of rubble, some of it potentially harmful.

The February 6 earthquake and aftershocks left at least 156,000 buildings either completely collapsed or damaged to the point where they require demolition, Turkish authorities said, with whole areas of cities reduced to shattered concrete and steel.

The U.N. Development Program said the resulting 116- 210 million tonnes of rubble are equivalent to an area of 100 square km (40 square miles), if it were stacked to a height of 1 metre. That is roughly the size of Barcelona.

Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan, facing an election likely to be held on May 14, has pledged to rebuild homes within a year, although experts warned safety should come before speed.

Emergency rescue members search for people in a destroyed building in Adana, Turkey on February 7, 2023

Dogs are pictured in the first class cabin of a Turkish Airlines flight

A rescue dog is pictured at the airport before it boards a Turkish Airlines flight

Turkey's opposition alliance fractured on Friday after one of the leaders refused to endorse a joint candidate against Erdogan.

The cracks emerged a day after the six opposition party leaders held a meeting in Ankara to discuss whom to field against Erdogan in the May 14 polls.

Five parties endorsed Kemal Kilicdaroglu, a former civil servant who heads Turkey's main secular party, as the frontrunner in the bid to end Erdogan's rule.

But Meral Aksener, leader of the nationalist Iyi Party, has resisted Kilicdaroglu, backing instead Istanbul's popular opposition mayor Ekrem Imamoglu or Ankara's mayor Mansur Yavas.

'I am sorry to say that as of yesterday, the Table of Six has lost its ability to reflect the will of the nation in its decisions,' Aksener said after meeting her party delegates on Friday.

She said her party was being forced to choose Kilicdaroglu and added: 'We will not bow to this.'

The opposition bloc was due to announce their joint candidate next Monday.
The bankrupt crypto exchange FTX has said $8.8 billion in customer funds are unaccounted for in a 'massive shortfall' that casts doubt on whether bilked clients will ever see their money back.

In a presentation to creditors publicly released on Thursday, the auditors leading FTX through bankruptcy said they had identified just $2.8 billion in assets towards the $11.6 billion that customers are owed from their accounts.

If that $8.8 billion was used fraudulently, FTX would rank as one of the biggest scams in US history, behind the $78 billion Enron scandal, as well as the $65 billion Bernie Madoff is estimated to have stolen from his clients.

FTX filed for bankruptcy on November 11, and founder Sam Bankman-Fried is charged with siphoning billions in client funds to prop up his hedge fund Alameda Research, buy lavish property in the Bahamas, and splash out huge political donations.

Three of Bankman-Fried's top lieutenants at FTX, including his former lover, Alameda boss Caroline Ellison, have pleaded guilty to fraud charges and agreed to cooperate with the investigation.

The new report, overseen by FTX restructuring chief John J. Ray III, found that the customer funds shortfall was primarily traceable to Alameda's 'net borrowing' of $9.3 billion from FTX.com, the company's international exchange.

FTX has said $8.8 billion in customer funds are unaccounted for in a 'massive shortfall'. Pictured: FTX founder Sam Bankman-Fried leaves court last month

FTX co-founder Gary Wang (left) and former Alameda Research CEO Caroline Ellison (right) have both pleaded guilty to criminal charges in connection with the scandal

It also confirmed that a total of $432 million in FTX assets disappeared in 'unauthorized transfers' in the midst of the bankruptcy chaos.

FTX's current management says that it was breached by hackers on the same day as the bankruptcy filing, but it remains unclear whether all of the unauthorized transfers were due to outside hackers.

The report also quantified the huge surge in customer withdrawals that exposed FTX's severe liquidity issues in November.

Amid concerns about FTX's handling of client funds, customers withdrew a net $8.4 billion from the exchange from the start of November through the bankruptcy filing date, the report said.

The stampede of withdrawals, similar to an old-fashioned bank run, is what ultimately brought the serious irregularities at FTX to light, when the exchange was unable to meet its obligations to customers.

The financial report cautioned that the latest figures are 'preliminary and subject to material change as new, additional or conflicting information is identified.'

It noted that the 'analysis is ongoing, and complicated by the incomplete nature of the books and records maintained by' the company's former management team, who were ousted when Ray, a respected bankruptcy attorney, took control.

Earlier this week, former FTX engineering director Nishad Singh became the third high-level executive to plead guilty to criminal charges in the case.

The plea agreement was another sign that prosecutors are leaning the inner circle of Sam Bankman-Fried, who was hit with four additional criminal counts last month after pleading not guilty to eight counts of fraud and conspiracy in December.

The chart above shows the shortfall in assets to customer payables for FTX.com, the company's international exchange. FTX US had smaller, but still significant, shortfalls

FTX restructuring chief John J. Ray III's new report found that the customer funds shortfall was primarily traceable to Alameda's 'net borrowing' of $9.3 billion from FTX.com

At a Manhattan court hearing on Tuesday, Singh pleaded guilty to six criminal counts, telling the judge: 'I am unbelievably sorry for my role in all of this.'

According to a civil complaint filed separately on Tuesday by the US Securities and Exchange Commission, Singh used his computer skills to backdate fraudulent fund transfers and set up an 'unlimited line of credit' for Alameda using client funds.

Court documents also accuse Singh of acting as a 'straw' donor for Bankman-Fried to covertly donate tens of millions of dollars in order to influence lawmakers to pass legislation favorable to the company.

Prosecutors say Bankman-Fried used Singh to donate to liberal causes and candidates, and another executive to donate to Republicans, with many donations funded by Alameda and including FTX customer funds.

An indictment said a political consultant working for Bankman-Fried told Singh that 'you being the center left face of our spending will mean you giving [donations] to a lot of woke s**t for transactional purposes.'

Singh, identified in court documents only as CC-1 (co-conspirator 1), gave more than $1 million to a pro-LGBTQ group at Bankman-Fried's direction, the indictment said.

Singh contributed $8 million to left-leaning campaigns in the 2022 election cycle, including $1.1 million on July 7, 2022 to the LGBTQ Victory Fund, according to public records.

Nishad Singh, the former director of engineering at now-bankrupt cryptocurrency exchange FTX, has agreed to plead guilty to US criminal charges, his lawyer said

Singh's plea comes after two other former executives in December agreed to cooperate with prosecutors.

Ellison, Alameda's chief executive, and Gary Wang, FTX's chief technology officer, pleaded guilty to seven and four criminal charges, respectively.

FTX's former top lawyer, Daniel Friedberg, has also cooperated with prosecutors, but has not been told he is under criminal investigation, a person familiar with the matter told Reuters in early January.

Several other former FTX executives have also hired lawyers to discuss possible cooperation with prosecutors.
The South Carolina Attorney General said Alex Murdaugh has been 'weaving a tangled web of lies for decades' and the once prominent attorney's guilty verdict proves that 'no one is above the law.'

Murdaugh secured his downfall when he took the stand in his double murder trial, AG Alan Wilson said Friday morning on Good Morning America just before the disgraced legal scion was sentenced to life in prison for the murders of his wife Maggie and son Paul. The two life sentences will run consecutively.

Murdaugh took the stand last month in his trial, uttering 'oh what a tangled web we weave' when admitting that he had lied about being at the crime scene minutes before the murder.

'Oh, what a tangled web we weave,' he had told the court. 'Once I told a lie, and I told my family, I had to keep lying.'

After six weeks of harrowing testimony and just under three hours of deliberations, a jury came back with the guilty verdict.

Wilson said the guilty verdict sends a message to those 'who question the criminal justice system' and who think 'it doesn't apply fairly and equally to all people.'

South Carolina Attorney General Alan Wilson said Alex Murdaugh (pictured in court Friday) has been 'weaving a tangled web of lies for decades' and that his guilty verdict proves that 'no one is above the law'

Wilson said Friday morning on Good Morning America that Murdaugh secured his downfall when he took the stand in his trial for the murders of his wife Maggie and son Paul

Murdaugh was led away after he was sentenced to life in prison for the 2021 murders

'We are here to say that it does, that no one is above the law in South Carolina and when you brutally murder your wife and son, you will be held accountable no matter who you are,' Wilson said.

Wilson said on GMA that he was 'pleasantly surprised' when he learned that the jury had returned a verdict in less than three hours and added that he had hoped it was a good sign.

'I didn't know what to think,' he said. 'I respect the process too much to be that confident, but I was guardedly optimistic when they came back as quickly as they did.'

He pointed out that Murdaugh was able to manipulate people - including juries - for so long, but he could not get what he wanted out of this jury. This was his last closing argument, Wilson said.

'For so long, he's been able to manipulate people and bend them to his will because he's so good at what he does,' Wilson said.

'He was a master at manipulating and communicating with juries and I believe when he took the stand, that was his last closing argument. He had done this for so long, he believed that he could get what he wanted out of this jury.

And I think when he took the stand, he confirmed for many of those jurors what they had heard in that video -- that he was a liar.'

The disgraced legal scion arrived at court on Friday where he was sentenced to life in prison for the murders of his wife Maggie and son Paul. The two life sentences will run consecutively

Murdaugh's surviving son Buster remained emotionless in court on Friday

Maggie Murdaugh and Paul Murdaugh were shot at close range near the dog kennels on their family estate in South Carolina on June 7, 2021

Wilson wanted to make clear that he hopes no one forgets the victims of the case.

'At the end of the day, two people were brutally murdered, they lost their lives, a family was destroyed, a legacy was torn asunder and there's been a wake of victims going back decades, and we want to put the attention on them and let them know that their voice can be heard,' Wilson said.

On Thursday night, just after the guilty verdict was delivered, the AG spoke to the press and talked about the six weeks everyone endured through through the trial.

'But it was all worth it because we got to bring justice and be a voice for Maggie and Paul Murdaugh,' Wilson said.

The South Carolina attorney thanked the authorities, investigators and prosecutors in the case, and said that 'they made this conviction possible.'

He also praised the people in the community of Walterboro, the small Lowcountry town in South Carolina.

'You don't know how good that feels when you're under an incredible amount of stress, an incredible amount of scrutiny,' Wilson said, noting the doubt some had that holding the trial so close to home would hinder a fair verdict.
Furious pupils rallied against their school's uniform policy which was believed have banned white socks with skirts, chanting 'free the knee' in the latest TikTok-inspired protest.

Dozens of pupils at a Hampshire school banded together on Wednesday in a campaign against alleged new uniform restrictions.

Some students were heard chanting 'white is right' against the white sock ban - seemingly unaware of possible racist interpretations of the phrase.

Boys were also said to be wearing skirts as part of the demonstration, and at one point all protestors sat firmly on the ground.

The campaign in New Milton follows a wave of other 'TikTok-inspired riots' against school policies across the country.

Secondary pupils rallied against new uniform rules at Arnewood School in Hampshire

Fire alarms were set off by teachers at Oasis Academy Mayfield school in Southampton this week as students protested against unisex toilets.

Last Friday, another 'TikTok riot' even forced Warriner School to scrap new rules on a 'gender neutral' PE kit and a ban on girls wearing skirts.

It is understood that students at The Arnewood School are now allowed to wear white socks with skirt uniforms but not as a result of the protests.

A spokesman for the school explained that it was not a banning of white socks but instead an 'omission', having left them out of new school policy.

This 'oversight' was then said to have been corrected by the school's council at a similar time to when the protests had occurred.

'Omission of white socks was an oversight when policy changed,' the spokesman said.

'It was corrected by the school council.'

Despite confusion on rules, new headteacher Jamie Anderson described the students' behaviour as 'extreme' and threatened them with suspension.

New headteacher Jamie Anderson (pictured) described their behaviour as 'extreme' and has since threatened the students with suspension

A letter was also reportedly sent to parents claiming that students ran through corridors and banged on doors.

In a video uploaded to social media, Mr Anderson was compared to a chicken poo.

He said: 'At the end of morning break a small number of students caused some disruption to teaching.

'It was unclear what, if anything, it was about but it briefly affected some lessons.

'It follows similar incidents at schools across the country, footage of which has been shared on the social media platform TikTok.

'Those involved who can be identified will face our disciplinary procedures, including suspension where their misbehaviour was extreme and affected the learning of children who wished to get on with their lessons.

'This behaviour is well below the high standards demanded at Arnewood and it will not be tolerated.

'If students have concerns there are various methods of communicating them to staff in an appropriate manner including our School Council which meets frequently.'

Despite this, some parents have hit out at the school and commended their children - with one father saying 'I won't be punishing my child'.

Another parent criticised Arnewood online and even accused the school of threatening to call the police.

He wrote: 'Once again, you have failed our children.

'I understand if my child was using bad language, I will accept her punishment. I understand if my child was involved in a fight, I will accept her punishment. I understand if my child was caught smoking, I will accept her punishment!!!!

'But, to threaten to call the police on my child and wanting to send her home for involvement in a protest for wearing WHITE socks, this is unbelievable and quite astonishing!!!

'I certainly won't be punishing my child!!!!

'FREE THE WHITE SOCKS!!!!!'

Another mother, who did not want to be named, also said: 'Fair play to the kids standing up for themselves everyone has a right to a voice.'

She also claimed that the protest was centred around the idea of 'their body, their choice'.

'Kids who took part got excluded, some threatened, there's a lot of angry parents out there,' she added.

The trend has prompted the Department for Education to release a statement, saying it was 'concerned' by the spate of school protests.

TikTok has teams closely monitoring the situation to ensure content uploaded complies with their community guidelines.

An assessment by TikTok found that most of the content shows pupils taking part in peaceful protests which do not violate the platform's policies, according to a spokesperson.
Some House Democrats are boiling over at President Joe Biden's announcement that he won't veto a bill that would block changes to Washington D.C.'s criminal code  just days after his administration blasted the proposal as a violation of 'home rule.'

Biden announced the change Thursday after a meeting with Senate Democrats where he got asked about it. He cited a policy dispute between D.C.'s Mayor Muriel Bowser and the City Council.

But that didn't satisfy some members of his own party who are accustomed to Republicans seeking to overturn local policy decisions but have counted on Democratic pledges to push D.C. statehood and protect local decision-making authority.

'The White House f***** this up royally,' one House Democrat told The Hill newspaper. The lawmaker said party leaders that Biden was prepared to veto the resolution of disapproval  which likely would have stopped the move.

Some House Democratic lawmakers fumed after President Joe Biden announced he will sign a GOP-backed bill that would override a revised D.C. criminal code. Democratic lawmakers say the move violates home rule principles  and note that the White House was opposed to the bill when it came up in the House

Early last month, the White House Office of Management and Budget had issued a Statement of Administration Policy opposing the move as a 'denial of self-governance.'

But with Democrats on the defensive on crime issues, amid poor polling and the defeat of Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot in a primary where crime was an issue, Biden opted not to be associated with a measure that would weaken some criminal sentences.

'So a lot of us who are allies voted no in order to support what the White House wanted. And now we are being hung out to dry,' the lawmaker continued,' the lawmaker vented via text. 'F****** AMATEUR HOUR. HEADS SHOULD ROLL OVER AT THE WHITE HOUSE OVER THIS.'

Also bashing the turnaround was progressive 'squad' member Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez.

'This ain't it. DC has a right to govern itself, like any other state or municipality. If the President supports DC statehood, he should govern like it,' she wrote in a rebuke.

'Plenty of places pass laws the President may disagree with. He should respect the people's gov of DC just as he does elsewhere,' she added.

D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser had vetoed the changes to the criminal code, only to be overridden by the city council

'This ain't it. DC has a right to govern itself, like any other state or municipality. If the President supports DC statehood, he should govern like it,' wrote Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) in a rebuke

Biden's decision to break with his party and the city on home rule comes amid rising concerns about crime

Biden tweeted about the move Thursday

Del. Eleanor Holmes Norton also blasted the move

The OMB's Statement of Administration Policy ripped the resolution, saying 'This taxation without representation and denial of self-governance is an affront to the democratic values on which our Nation was founded'

Many lawmakers learned about the turnaround suddenly. A Senate bill advancing the move could come up next week.

'I support D.C. Statehood and home-rule  but I don't support some of the changes D.C. Council put forward over the Mayor's objections  such as lowering penalties for carjackings,' Biden tweeted after Senate Democrats confirmed Biden told them he at a party retreat that would sign it if the chamber passed it.

'If the Senate votes to overturn what D.C. Council did  I'll sign it,' Biden wrote.

Rep. Pete Aguilar (D-Calif.) called the turnaround 'disappointing.'

'It's disappointing for me and anybody who believes in home rule, honestly. I'm a former mayor of a city of 70,000 and I wouldn't want the federal government coming in and telling me what city ordinances to pass.  So I think it's disappointing in that context.'

'It's smart politics. He was running into a buzzsaw,' Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., told reporters on Thursday. 'You don't want to get left of the DC mayor.'

Said D.C.'s Delegate Eleanor Holmes Norton, who learned about the change after it broke during a press conference: 'This is news to me, and I'm very disappointed in it, if he will not veto.'

The told the Washington Post: 'I hope that he continues to say that he will oppose it.'

Biden also irked statehood fans when it was reported his presidential limo, known as 'the Beast,' does not bear the citiy's 'Taxation without Representation' logo.

The OMB's Statement of Administration Policy stated: 'For far too long, the more than 700,000 residents of Washington, D.C. have been deprived of full representation in the U.S. Congress. This taxation without representation and denial of self-governance is an affront to the democratic values on which our Nation was founded.'

'While we work towards making Washington, D.C. the 51st state of our Union, Congress should respect the District of Columbia's autonomy to govern its own local affairs,' the OMB said.

There had been a clash within D.C.'s Democratic-dominated government.

The City Council last year approved changes that nixed some mandatory minimum sentences and reduced maximum sentences for robbery and burglary.

Bowser vetoed the plan but the council overrode her veto.

A total of 31 Democrats joined Republicans in backing the measure to preempt the new, under laws that allow Congress to intervene in the federal district, which was established by the Constitution.
Foreign diplomatic envoys visit China Communications Construction Company

10:42, March 03, 2023 By Li Xiao ( People's Daily

Photo shows the activity Ambassadors Face to Face with China Communications Construction Company. (People's Daily/Li Xiao)

An activity entitled Ambassadors Face to Face with China Communications Construction Company (CCCC) was recently held in Beijing.

Organized by China's Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the event was joined by 110 diplomatic envoys of foreign countries and representatives of international organizations, during which they visited the Chinese engineering and construction giant and held talks with the company's management.

In a speech, Wang Tongzhou, Chairman of CCCC explained the company's vision of making the world smoother, cities more livable and life more colorful, and introduced in detail the high-level infrastructure projects built by the company around the world, including the Peljesac Bridge in Croatia, the China-Maldives Friendship Bridge in the Maldives and the Zemun-Borca Bridge in Serbia.

He said China, while promoting high-level opening up and working to build a community with a shared future for mankind, will create more opportunities of cooperation for governments and enterprises across the world.

K. K. Yoganaadan, Deputy Chief of the Mission of the Sri Lankan Embassy in China, said the CCCC-built Colombo Port City was nicknamed the "city of the future" by local residents, as both its design and construction are futuristic and tech-ish. It is hoped that Sri Lanka could deepen its cooperation with China in infrastructure so that the two countries can better share each other's development dividends, he added.

Diplomatic envoys of foreign countries and representatives of international organizations visit China Communications Construction Company. (People's Daily/Li Xiao)

Pakistani Ambassador to China Moin ul Haque noted Pakistan and China have witnessed fruitful results in their cooperation in various fields, which has forcefully driven their economic and livelihood development.

He hopes the two countries can enhance practical cooperation within the framework of the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), especially in infrastructure. Pakistan and China share ample room and enjoy abundant opportunities for cooperation, he added.

Diplomatic envoys and representatives of international organizations also visited exhibition halls of optical technology and urban renewal at a CCCC subsidiary, where they witnessed China's development and philosophy in the realm of optical technology.

This year marks the 10th anniversary of the BRI proposed by President Xi Jinping. Diplomatic envoys and representatives of international organizations attending the event said the initiative carries huge development opportunities and heralds development prospects, and some BRI projects have already brought tangible benefits to local economy and livelihood after being implemented.

They hope their countries can keep the momentum for cooperation with China, continue consolidating the foundation for cooperation, and jointly build a better future with China.

(Web editor: Chang Sha, Du Mingming)
A woman was raped twice by a sex attacker on a Piccadilly Line Tube train, a court has heard.

Ryan Johnston, 36, assaulted the woman between Heathrow and Hounslow West on February 23, 2020, it is claimed.

He is also charged with performing a sex act in public and trespassing on a house in north London with intent to commit a sexual offence.

Johnston was due to enter his plea at Inner London Crown Court but the case was adjourned because he was unrepresented.

Judge Usha Karu told him: You need to get representation as soon as possible. These are serious charges you face.

A woman was raped twice by a sex attacker on a Piccadilly Line Tube train, a court has heard. [File image]

Johnston replied: I am someone who knows quite well how to represent myself in legal matters. I thought I would represent myself.

I have been arrested for matters I have not committed. I have not been able to get that point across to anyone.

Johnston is expected to enter not guilty pleas on April 24 and his trial date is fixed for July 17 this year.

He is charged with two counts of rape, two of sexual assault, one of attempted rape, one of outraging public decency and one count of trespass with intent to commit a sexual offence.

He was remanded in custody.
Americans are increasingly fearful of self-driving cars following a series of 'high-profile crashes', the US motoring watchdog said on Friday in the latest blow to the emerging industry.

The American Automobile Association (AAA) reported a 13 percent spike in the share of motorists who are afraid of the technology  from 55 percent in last year's survey to 68 percent this year.

The results come after reports of a series of crashes linked to autopilot failures and a recall of 363,000 Tesla vehicles last month over a bug in the carmakers' self-driving software.

Greg Brannon, AAA's research director, said he had not been 'expecting such a dramatic decline in trust from previous years.'

Motorists were likely swayed by a 'number of high-profile crashes that have occurred from over-reliance on current vehicle technologies,' he added.

The AAA reported a 13 percent spike in the share of motorists who are afraid of the technology  from 55 percent in last year's survey to 68 percent this year

The driver of this 2019 Tesla Model 3 told officers she was using Autopilot, Tesla's advanced driver assistance system, when she collided with a police car and a Mercedes SUV in Orlando, Florida

For its survey, AAA defined a self-driving vehicle as one that can operate without any human supervision  a product that is being tested but is not yet available on the market.

The group said public fears were in part due to makers of self-driving cars giving their systems 'misleading or confusing names.'

Many consumers expected such driver support systems as Autopilot, ProPILOT, or Pilot Assist to be able to drive a vehicle by itself unsupervised  even with the user sleeping in the back seat.

But that's not the case. The systems available on the market today only assist drivers, including by warning about blind spots, moderating speed, keeping vehicles in a lane or slamming on the brakes to avoid a crash.

The survey involved about 1,000 interviews of motorists across the US in January.

The results come within weeks after Tesla recalled more than 362,000 vehicles in the US over fears that its self-driving software could cause a crash.

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration said the Full Self-Driving Beta software allowed the vehicles to 'exceed speed limits' and even careen through intersections in an 'unlawful or unpredictable manner'.

The driver of one of the vehicles covered in that recall was killed after the car they were driving slammed into the side of a fire truck in California last month.

Tesla CEO Elon Musk's fortune has shrunk in recent weeks

Officers at the scene said it was not clear whether the Tesla Model S was operating with automation or driving assistance features.

Still, Waymo, the Alphabet-owned company that's testing out a fleet of driverless cars in Arizona and California, said its vehicles had clocked up 1 million miles as of January and only been involved in two significant crashes.

Even though the AAA survey showcased broad public concern over the technology, there was some reason for optimism for makers of the vehicles.

Six in ten of respondents said they would want an advanced driver assistance system in their next vehicle purchase.
The knives, and forks, are out as the battle to secure the best restaurant tables heats up, with some customers paying up to $25 extra to sit where celebrities have dined.

Tablz, a Toronto-based startup, is helping customers book tables by offering 3D tours of venues so diners can immersive themselves in the restaurant before even stepping foot outside.

Chicago steakhouse Gene & Georgetti is using the service to capitalize on their star-studded guest list by charging extra to sit at crooner Frank Sinatra's favored booth depending on what time you hope to come into the restaurant.

Managing partner Michelle Durpetti, whose family has operated the restaurant since 1941, said while there is nothing commemorating Sinatra at the booth, demand is high for the table.

Gene & Georgetti steakhouse (pictured) in Chicago is one of many capitalizing on Tablz, a Toronto-based startup helping customers book tables by offering 3D tours of venues

The steakhouse is charging customers $25 if they want to secure the booth where Frank Sinatra (pictured) dined after 8pm on Fridays

'We've had a great response,' Durpetti told The Chicago Tribune. 'It books several times a day, at least several days a week.'

Gene & Georgetti said the booth next to Sinatra's is also in hot demand and has hosted many famous diners, including Sting, Nat King Cole and members of Fleetwood Mac.

Though consumers are used to shelling over extra cash for airline seats with more legroom or concert tickets closer to the stage, restaurants have not generally asked diners to do the same.

When a restaurant joins Tablz, it gets a 3D scan so diners can search for a table to book as if they're walking through the restaurant.

Restaurateurs work with the app to decide how much to charge for each booking, prices often varying depending on the day of the week and the reservation time.

Gene & Georgetti, Sinatra's booth is available to book for free in the late afternoon Friday, but it goes for $25 after 8 pm.

Managing partner Michelle Durpetti, whose family has operated the restaurant since 1941, said while there is nothing commemorating Sinatra at the booth demand is high for the table

Roka Akor in River North costs $15 and Old Town Pour House charges patrons $200 a table to watch March Madness games from the bar's communal table section, which can seat eight to 10 people each.

Gabriella Lenzi-Littleton, who leads Chicago-based partnerships at Tablz and is a cousin of Durpetti, said just over a third of bookings on Tablz is free. The average price for a paid booking is about $27.

Restaurants don't pay a fee to be on the platform, but Tablz takes 30 percent of each booking fee.

Top-earning restaurants can make between $65,000 and $90,000 according to the applications website and on average $21,000 a year.

Exclusivity and access have always been an appeal to customers with some restaurant's only letting customers in on a need-to-know basis.

With only four booths and six tables, Rao's is the toughest table in New York to get and that's because there are no reservations.

Instead, restaurant regulars own table assignments with diners including Leonardo DiCaprio, Hillary Clinton and Jay-Z.
Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene dedicated her Friday CPAC appearance to attacking transgenderism, warning the crowd that there was a 'multi-billion dollar' industry out there that 'mutilates the genitals of children.'

The Georgia Republican announced she planned to reintroduce a bill next week that makes performing underage transgender surgeries a felony.

Greene was cheered on by the crowd as she argued that the Republican Party needs to be the 'party that protects children' as she warned that people are 'left with lifelong disabilities' by transitioning their genders.

'They are given puberty blockers, that actually chemically castrates them, makes them sterile. They're giving testosterone to girls as young as 11, 12, 13 years old,' Greene said. 'That within four to five years some of them have to have hysterectomies because of the damage it does inside of them.'

'There are teenage girls having their breasts cut off, that is permanent damage done to their bodies, they'll never be able to breastfeed their babies,' she continued. 'There are boys that are having their penises turned inside out.'

Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene dedicated her Friday CPAC appearance to attacking transgenderism, warning the crowd that there was a 'multi-billion dollar' industry that 'mutilates the genitals of children.'

Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene announced that she planned to reintroduce a bill next week that makes performing underage transgender surgeries a felony

Greene gave graphic details about surgeries in a speech before lunchtime.

She said that 'we should protect children from making a horrible mistake.'

'This isn't a right-wing extremist idea everyone,' she argued.

Greene said her bill, the Protect Children's Innocence Act, should curtail these surgeries.

The bill not only makes it a felony for medical professionals to perform gender affirming care, but it bars federal funding from going toward gender affirming care.

Greene suggested that it would likely pass the House, with its narrow Republican majority.

'Let me tell you my great news this morning, ladies and gentleman, it couldn't pass last Congress because, like I said, Nancy Pelosi was the speaker of the House and she doesn't believe in gender at all,' Greene said.

'But we have a new speaker in our Republican majority in our House of Representatives and I am going to be introducing my bill, the Protect Children's Innocence Act, that will make a felony to perform anything to do with gender-affirming care,' she added to huge cheers.

More broadly, Greene suggested that turning children trans was a left-wing agenda itme.

'The left has told us something that should put fear in the heart of every parent. And not just parents, every single person. They said they're coming for our children,' she said at the top of her speech.

'I don't know about you, but when it comes to kids, I think the Republican Party has a duty. We have a responsibility and that is to be the party that protects children,' she said.

Greene started her political career by being branded an adherent of QAnon - which focuses on Democrats preying on children.

Believers in the conspiracy theory think that powerful Democrats are involved in a Satanic cannibalistic child sex-trafficking ring and that cabal conspired against former President Donald Trump while he was in office.
He said the school have been 'brushing off' the incident, which saw black students assault their white peers if they didn't comply

The dad of a white student who was forced to pledge allegiance to BLM by black bullies has spoken out

The dad of a white student who was forced to his knees to chant 'Black Lives Matter' by black bullies has said he and his wife were 'livid' after discovering their son's ordeal.

Speaking to DailyMail.com, the dad, who wished to remain anonymous, also hit out at the school Kenwood Elementary for 'brushing off' the outrageous incident.

'They became segregated by race,' he said. 'The entire sixth grade became involved in recess after two or three black kids started it.'

'We were livid. The school have been trying to brush it off... but my son said lots of kids have been feeling threats at school, kids are afraid to walk home because of the bullying.'

The furious parent's criticisms come after fellow Kenwood Elementary parent Krystal Harr said the Ohio school where her son was subjected to the ordeal was 'getting unsafe' due to the racial tensions.

Shocking footage of the episode emerged this week, showing black students forcing their white peers to pledge allegiance to Black Lives Matter and assaulting those who didn't comply.

Krystal Harr is pictured with her 12 year-old son, who was filmed being bullied at school by black children and made to chant 'Black Lives Matter' after being forced to his knees

Krystal Harr, right, said her 12-year-old son was one of the students involved in the shocking bullying episode

According to the local parents, the schoolkids appeared to divide themselves by race during the February 10 bullying episode.

Despite a criminal investigation being launched after the students were assaulted, the father said his son's school merely 'brushed it off' and handled it internally.

'It happened at recess on the Friday, and we didn't even find out until Monday,' he added.

'We're definitely more aware of the bullying now than before.'

He said while his son 'been bullied for years', the racist aspect to it among the 12-year-olds is what was most disturbing.

'It's definitely because of the messages being put out there. Black Lives Matter, All Lives Matter, and them going back and forth, its all they (the kids) see.

'It's definitely doing more harm than good, it's all they see all the time'.

The father has been joined in his fury at the school by fellow parent Krystal Harr, who took to Facebook to share her anguish at the incident, saying: 'Kenwood Elementary families!

'I just wanted to let people know that my 12 year old was really forced on his knees Friday and to say blm.

'Watch your babies! This is getting unsafe!'

She added that while the footage caught a small number of students involved, the bullying ended up pitting almost all the pupils against each other.

'It was literally half of the class that did it to the other half... they called us 20 minutes before school let out today (February 13) and wouldnt even tell us what happened.'

The students involved in the incident were interviewed by school staff as authorities continue to investigate.

Disturbing footage of the February 10 episode saw two students initially escorting a boy to an area in the school's playground, where he is punched in the head.

More students are then taken to the same area of the playground, where they are assaulted and shoved to the ground if they don't pledge allegiance to BLM.

Police are seeking to charge the suspects with assault, according to Dayton247now, however Harr claimed that the episode included almost all the students.

Video of the bullying first showed one student being tossed to the ground, before another student joined seconds later.

As the scene escalated, a third student was thrown right beside them. The incident is being treated as an anti-white hate crime and lists at least four students involved.

Despite the disturbing scenes, School Principal Evan Hunsaker revealed that he only knew about the bullying the following Monday, three days later.

According to a police report, the principal 'stated that a few of the students who had tried to avoid the situation, were chased down and escorted, dragged, or carried to the spot on the playground.

'One student was also punched in the head by one of the suspects.'

Footage of the episode shows a student first being escorted to an area of the school playground

The white students are seen being forced to their knees while their black peers leer over them

One of the students was punched in the head during the incident,

Springfield City School District officials released a statement, but insisted it won't be disclosing how the students will be punished.

'The Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA) prevents the District from disclosing personally identifiable information or details about the discipline of a child to anyone other than their parent or guardian,' the statement, obtained by WHIO, reads.

'As it relates to this incident concerning participants and staff involved, the Springfield City School District followed appropriate procedures in accordance with Board Policy.

'Moving forward from this experience, the District is working closely with counselors, mental health experts and multiple community partners and agencies to provide support to children and staff directly involved, as well as those not directly involved.

'The District will use this experience as an opportunity to strive for greater acceptance, grow and reinforce community connections.'
A catastrophic fighter jet crash aboard a U.S. aircraft carrier was caused when the bungling pilot attempted a 'show of force' maneuver which went disastrously wrong, a Navy investigation has found.

The incident happened on January 24 last year when a F-35C worth $115 million smashed into the USS Carl Vinson during operations in the South China Sea.

The pilot, who is still a serving Navy officer but not longer has 'flying status', ejected before the plane collided with the runway, causing millions of dollars in damage to the aircraft carrier and at least one other plane. The F-35C tumbled into the ocean and was recovered months later from a depth of 12,400 feet.

The pilot and at least five other individuals were injured. Leaked footage captured the dramatic crash and triggered a separate inquiry into who shared the video.

A Navy probe has now concluded the incident was caused by pilot error after the unnamed lieutenant in the cockpit attempted a 'expedited recovery maneuver', also known as the 'Sierra Hotel Break'.

A photo also emerged of the jet after it fell into the South China Sea. It sank to a depth of about 12,400ft and was recovered several weeks later

The USS Carl Vinson is seen with the USS Essex behind in a January 2022 picture

The report into the incident, obtained by military.com, describes an SHB as 'when an aircraft initiates a turn to downwind from either behind the ship or over the top of the ship  [using] G-forces to decelerate over the course of a 360-degree turn, dropping the landing gear when the aircraft is below landing gear transition speed'.

Former Navy pilots have described the move as a 'real loud show of force'.

Commander Guy Snodgrass said in 2020: 'You go screaming over the aircraft carrier, and then, right as you reach the end of it, that's when you peel away and come around to land.'

According to the report into the crash, the pilot had seen other junior officers perform the maneuver and 'wanted to attempt it before the end of deployment'.

But the lieutenant, who was reaching the end of a four-hour flight, didn't finish the landing checklist. The pilot hadn't turned on Approach Power Compensation Mode (APC) to keep the jet at the right angle, or the Delta Flight Path (DFP), which automatically adjusts the throttle.

Desperate attempts by personnel on the ship to warn the pilot were made in vain.

The jet crashed into the carrier's ramp and one of its missile brackets caught a landing wire on deck before the aircraft tumbled into the South China Sea.

Investigators said a EA-18G Growler jet suffered damage likely worth more than $2.5 million after it was showered with debris. The aircraft carrier was damaged to the tune of about $600,000.

The pilot was previously recognized as an 'exceptional' junior officer and had 650 flights hours under his belt, including 370 in an F-35C.

The report said: 'It is the opinion of this board that pilot error was the cause of the mishap. However, the error was not conducted in a reckless manner nor with malicious intent.'

It took several weeks to recover the crashed aircraft - as US officials raced against China, who were suspecting of also attempting to get to the jet.

Members of the US 7th Fleet Task Force 75 and the Naval Sea Systems Command's Supervisor of Salvage and Diving were in charge of operations regarding the F-35C fighter jet's retrieval (pictured)

An F-35C Lightning II test aircraft approaches for a landing aboard the nuclear powered aircraft carrier USS Dwight D. Eisenhower of the coast of Norfolk, Virginia, in 2015

The wreckage was recovered from a depth of about 12,400 feet using a remotely operated vehicle to attach rigging to the aircraft, which was then hoisted up by a diving support ship, the U.S. Navy's 7th Fleet said.

Members of the US 7th Fleet Task Force 75 and the Naval Sea Systems Command's Supervisor of Salvage and Diving were in charge of the operation. They used 'the diving support construction vessel Picasso' to retrieve the wreckage.

A Navy ensign, a senior chief and three chiefs were later charged with failure to obey an order under Article 92 of the Uniform Code of Military Justice for the release of the footage.

The Navy had previously brushed off media reports suggesting there were fears the $100 million fighter jet could fall into the hands of China, which said at the time that it had no interest in recovering the warplane.

The F-35C includes some of the Navy's most advanced technology.

Shortly after the crash, Navy officials described the damage to the Carl Vinson as 'superficial' and said it quickly resumed normal operations.
Footage has emerged of a furious driver punching an eco-protester after several of them glued themselves to the road today, causing traffic mayhem in Hamburg city centre.

At the start of the video, the angry man can be seen dragging another man across the road as fellow protestors block cars at a crossing.

He confronts a woman and pushes her along in a threatening manner while shouting at her.

Another livid driver is then seen shouting at one of the protesters.

Other drivers attempt to quieten the man who was first shown in the video as he continues to vent his anger.

The video shows the line of protesters sitting in the road wearing high visibility jackets with frustrated drivers looking on from their stationary vehicles

After the angry man confronts one of the photographers, another man tries to intervene and they get into a scrap

The footage shows a line of protesters sitting in the road wearing high visibility jackets, with frustrated drivers looking on from their stationary vehicles.

They are holding orange banners bearing slogans as a driver comes over to shout at them.

The video shows that the protest has created a build-up of traffic.

At another point in the demonstration, a driver exited his car and started to pull protesters off the road, Bild reported.

He yelled: 'F*** off!' Try to clear the way for the cars.'

In the footage, the angry man and another man are seen dragging a female protester across the road to the pavement. They then throw a man to the ground.

The man who is seen throughout the video waves for a white van to come past.

After he confronts one of the photographers, another man tries to intervene and they get into a scrap.

The angry man rips off the other man's hat and punches him in the face.

The police then come over and speak to him. They are also seen escorting one of the protesters off the road.

In the video, the angry man rips off the other man's hat off and punches him in the face

The angry man can be seen dragging one of the protesters across the road as fellow protestors block cars at a crossing

He confronts a woman and pushes her along in a threatening manner while shouting at her

The angry man and another man are seen dragging a female protester across the road to the pavement

Almost three hours later, the officials managed to get the last climate activist off the street, according to Bild.

Thousands of climate protesters gathered in Berlin and other German cities today to demand tougher government action against global warming, particularly when in curbing greenhouse gas emissions in the transportation sector.

A small pro-business party that controls Germany's Transport Ministry, the Free Democrats, has pushed back against efforts to impose a general speed limit, phase out combustion engines and massively invest in public transport.

The refusal has frustrated the party's larger coalition partners - Chancellor Olaf Scholz's Social Democrats and the environmentalist Greens - as well as climate campaigners who say Germany is missing its own emissions targets.

Asked about the protests Friday, a spokesman for Scholz said the German government takes its climate goals 'very seriously'.

'All ministries are hard working on them,' said Wolfgang Buechner.

The protests in Germany are part of a global 'climate strike' called by the group Fridays for Future, which drew inspiration from Swedish activist Greta Thunberg's protests outside the parliament in Stockholm.

Darya Sotoodeh, a spokesperson for the group, accused Germany's transport minister of placing too much focus on the country's car industry, at the expense of affordable public transport.

Last year, the government agreed to introduce a nationwide public transit ticket costing 49 euros (43) a month, but bus and train companies say it is not sustainable without further government subsidies.

The police are seen escorting one of the protesters off the road

The police come over and speak to the angry man, who appears to be explaining the situation

Public transit labor unions, whose members went on strike in parts of Germany on Friday to demand higher wages, expressed support for the climate protest.

In October, nine activists from the Scientist Rebellion group broke into Autostadt, a museum and car showroom opposite Volkswagen's main factory in Wolfsburg, northern Germany, and glued themselves to the floor of the Porsche pavilion.

They vowed to continue their protest until the carmaker agreed to lobby ministers to decarbonise the transport industry.

In August, German police employed batons, pepper spray and water cannons against a group of eco-zealots as they staged a sit-down protest on a major railway supply line in Hamburg.

Dozens of protesters, led by the eco-mob Ende Gelande - which translates to 'here and no further' - attempted to disrupt the major northern city by blockading the Kattwyk Railway Bridge, which leads to the nearby harbour.

Ahead of their action, Extinction Rebellion, who were also involved, said: 'We are blocking a central hub of German foreign trade here to draw attention to the consequences of modern colonialism'.

The sit-down on the bridge was one in a series of blockades involving more than 1,000 people at different locations, designed to 'interrupt cargo traffic' in protest against 'the expansion of fossil fuel infrastructure and colonial supply chains'.

The protesters' main gripe was a slew of new LNG (liquified natural gas) terminals set to 'cover the German coast'.
An uncle accused of murdering his niece asked police 'what the sentence was for someone in his position' and 'if it was true you only serve half in prison', a court has heard.

Mohammed Taroos Khan, 53, is accused of killing Somaiya Begum, 20, at her home in Bradford, in June last year.

The Leeds Beckett University student was found with a metal spike in her chest eleven days after she went missing, a jury has heard.

Ms Begum had been living with another of her uncles after her parents had been issued with a Forced Marriage Protection Order.

This followed her refusal to marry a cousin in Pakistan when she was 16 years old, Bradford Crown Court heard.

Somaiya Begum, 20, was found with the 11cm-long 'Bradawl' tool - a sharpened metal woodwork implement - stuck in the right side of her chest

Forensic officers and sniffer dogs were seen search for evidence at Miss Begum's home at Binnie Street last July

On Thursday a statement from Detective Constable Scott Kennedy was read to the court, describing Khan's comments in custody after he had been arrested for Miss Begum's murder.

The statement, read by prosecutor Tom Storey, said Dc Kennedy was with Khan in an interview room on June 29 as an application was being made to magistrates for his continued detention.

'(Khan) asked me what the sentence for "someone in his position' was," Dc Kennedy said.

'I explained murder could carry a life sentence. He went on to ask what the sentence was for the lesser offence of manslaughter.

'Again I explained that would be determined by a judge with the facts of the case taken into account.

'He asked if it was true you only serve half your sentence in prison. I said that would depend on the judge.'

Jurors were shown CCTV footage of the moment prosecutors say shows Khan dragging Miss Begum's body from his car and dumping it on waste ground.

The court heard the clip shows Khan parking his Mitsubishi Space Wagon on Mill Lane before getting out and pulling something long and light coloured out of the vehicle.

Last June Police in Bradford searched an industrial estate and house believed to be connected to the disappearance of Somaiya Begum

Josie Wright, the West Yorkshire Police analyst presenting the footage, said he could be seen dragging it to the tree line and then out of sight.

Khan, denies killing Miss Begum, but has admitted perverting the course of justice by disposing of her body and trying to burn her mobile phone.

The jury has heard how Miss Begum's extended family was split in two by a feud and prosecutor Jason Pitter KC said they may hear the death explained in terms of an 'inappropriately named honour killing'.

Opening the case earlier this week, the prosecutor added: 'Whatever it was ... it was not honourable.'

Jurors were shown CCTV footage of the moment prosecutors say shows Khan dragging Miss Begum's body from his car and dumping it on waste ground (pictured: Bradford Crown Court)

Jurors at Bradford Crown Court were previously told Khan 'bundled' Miss Begum's body up and made online searches for 'rubble bags', before disposing of her body 'like rubbish' on wasteland.

Somaiya's body was found at Carter Gate Works, Bradford, just a mile from her home, on July 6 'infested with maggots' and 'partially decomposed'.

Khan was initially arrested following her disappearance, and after being charged, he also asked police to explain how prison sentences for 'manslaughter' and 'murder' differed.

He has since pleaded guilty to perverting the course of justice by disposing of her body and destroying her phone, found in a nearby smouldering bin.

Mr Karl Pitter KC, prosecuting, previously said: 'On Saturday 25th June 2022, at around 3.30 pm, Somaiya Begum sent final messages to her close companion and school friend. Not long after that, her telephone was to cease meaningful use.

'That coincided with the arrival of her uncle, the Defendant, Mohammed Taroos Khan at her home address in the minutes afterwards. The signs indicate that she had met her traumatic death following a violent attack in her home, the nature of which was demonstrated by a metal spike which had become embedded in her back.

'She was then bundled up and away before her body was dumped and left to rot and decompose on wasteland like rubbish such that she was not recognisable.

'The prosecution say the defendant was responsible for her death, such that he is guilty of murder. That is before he went on to attempt to dispose of her body.'

Zafar Ali KC, defending, had also previously told the jurors there will be times in the trial when they will be 'utterly sickened' by what they hear, including 'the terrible way (Miss Begum's) body was just dumped like rubbish'.

Mr Ali said: 'No-one could deny that the attack on Somaiya on June 25 last year was both terrible and unforgivable'.

But the barrister told the jury: 'Mohammed Taroos Khan accepts that Somaiya Begum, his niece, was murdered but he did not murder her. He knew nothing about the death until after Somaiya had been killed.'
A shocking new documentary on pedophile former Subway spokesman Jared Fogle will show how a Florida radio host went undercover and befriended him to hear his depraved fantasies and the debauched acts he committed.

Rochelle Herman says in the series, Jared From Subway: Catching a Monster, that she wore a wire to record conversations with Fogle over the course of four years.

The recordings from the Sarasota-based former host and reporter are featured in the series.

Herman says Fogle, 45, would tell her about the ages of the children he was sexually interested in, how he wanted her to witness him 'pound a little kid' and his desire for them to watch child pornography together.

She details in the three-part documentary how after suspecting Fogle of being a pedophile during their first encounter, she struck up a faux-flirty friendship with him to ensnare the former pitchman.

Herman said ultimately, the lengths she went to cost her a relationship with her daughter and led to health issues as she strived to have Fogle put behind bars.

Former Florida-based radio host Rochelle Herman says that she began a flirty friendship with Jared Fogle after suspecting him of being a pedophile in 2006

Jared Fogle was sentenced to 15 years in prison in 2015 for possession or distribution of child pornography and traveling across state lines to have sex with a minor

A picture of Fogle and Herman together that will feature in the documentary Jared From Subway: Catching a Monster

Fogle, who began working with Subway after shedding more than 200 pounds as a college student, in part by eating the chains sandwiches, was sentenced in 2015 to 15 years in prison for possession or distribution of child pornography and traveling across state lines to have sex with a minor.

He has a son and daughter, now aged 12 and 10, with second wife Kathleen McLaughlin, who divorced him shortly after the scandal broke. The Indianapolis native is due for release in 2029.

In the documentary, which airs on ID on Monday March 6 at 9pm Eastern, Herman describes Fogle telling her about how he had sex with underage sex workers in Thailand.

'It was so hot baby. It was so, so f*****g hot,' he told her.

Herman explains that she first met Fogle in 2006 while interviewing him for her show and afterwards they attended an event at a high school for the American Heart Association. At the event, Fogle confided to Herman that he thought some of the adolescents in attendance were 'hot.'

At one point, Fogle asks Herman if he can see her two children naked. She goes on to say that her pursuit of Fogle led to her estrangement from her daughter while her son, Thomas, has nothing but admiration for his mother, according to the Daily Beast.

When she went to the FBI, Herman accuses the agency of being complacent, forcing her to go to local law enforcement.

In another instance, Herman discusses confronting Fogle in a motel room but escaped after fearing for her physical safety.

Rochelle Herman says that her pursuit of Fogle left her estranged from her daughter

Fogle, 41, gained fame for losing almost 250lbs from eating two Subway sandwiches a day and exercising. He became the face of the sandwich chain in 2000 until his arrest in 2015

A prisoner file for Fogle who currently sits in a Colorado prison where he's serving out his sentence

Hannah Parrett and Christian Showalter, two of Fogle's victims will tell their stories in the documentary

Herman previously played some of her recordings of Fogle in a 2015 appearance on Dr. Phil.

In that appearance, clips played included Fogle said that he wanted to get kids 'as sexed up as we can.'

'I want to know what turns you on the most: the young girls or the young boys?' she asked Fogle at one point.

'You know, both of them do,' he replied.

At that time, Herman described her faux-friendship with Fogle as her 'role playing' with him.'

The same year, Herman spoke briefly about her interactions with Fogle in an interview with ABC News.

'He would tell me the ages he was interested, boy or girl. He indicated the fact that he has done it before and told me in gross detail what transpired,' she said.

Also featured in the new documentary are two of Fogle's victims, Hannah and Christian. They were the step-children of Russell Taylor, who led Fogle's charitable foundation.

The pair discuss how their stepfather introduced them to Fogle as well as the fact that Taylor planted cameras around their home in order to capture them and their friends in states of undress.

Taylor was sentenced to 27 years in prison for similar crimes to Fogle in May 2022.

His ex-wife and the sister's mother, Angela Baldwin, was sentenced to 33 years after being found guilty of two counts of producing child sexual abuse material, one count of conspiracy to produce such material, and one count of possessing it.

The couple shared with Fogle videos and photos of the girls that were captured by hidden cameras Taylor installed in the then-couples Indianapolis home, prosecutors said.

Russell Taylor, 50, was sentenced to 27 years in prison on Monday after pleading guilty to 30 child porn and sexual exploitation crimes last year

Taylor's wife Angela Baldwin (pictured) was sentenced to more than 30 years in prison for her role in the crime. She originally was not charged with any wrongdoing until her husband's case was re-investigated in 2020 and new evidence implicated her

During Taylors sentencing hearing, US District Judge Tanya Walton Pratt described the four-year grooming, exploitation and molestation of the children from 2011-2015 as a 'mutual perversion' between Taylor, Baldwin and Fogle.

In an interview with Yahoo, the sisters said one of things they're most looking forward to in the documentary is getting the perspective of Herman.

Last year, a letter written by Fogle from his prison cell in November 2021 leaked.

'I really royally screwed up to wind up where I am,' Fogle, a father of two, wrote in a hand-written letter dated November 7, 2021. 'I was selfish and entitled.'

Fogle goes out of his way to quote famous prison film 'The Shawshank Redemption' in relation to his own experiences.

'Something like, 'You can either get busy living or get busy dying' when you are sent to prison. I've done everything I can to get busy living and make the most of this unwanted experience.'

Fogle said he thinks about 'all the people I've let down every single day, especially my family.'

If you or someone you know has been sexually assaulted pleas contact RAINN's National Sexual Assault Hotline is here for survivors 24/7 with free, anonymous help. 800-656-HOPE (4673) and online.rainn.org.
Amazon has paused construction on its second headquarters near Washington DC, as the internet retail giant slashes costs and makes its largest ever job cuts.

The indefinite pause affects the second phase of construction on the massive complex, known as HQ2, that Amazon is constructing in Arlington, Virginia, the company said Friday.

The first phase of the project, two office towers known as Metropolitan Park, is due for completion in June, and will be able to house some 14,000 workers.

The delay impacts a larger development planned across the street, called PenPlace, consisting of three 22-story office towers and a 350-foot architectural showpiece known as the Helix.

Amazon's primary headquarters is located in Seattle, and plans for the HQ2 campus outside the nation's capital were announced in 2018.

Amazon has paused construction on its second headquarters near Washington DC, as the internet retail giant slashes costs. The Helix (above) is one of the planned buildings on hold

The first phase of the project, two office towers known as Metropolitan Park (above), is due for completion in June, and will be able to house some 14,000 workers

'We're always evaluating space plans to make sure they fit our business needs and to create a great experience for employees, and since Met Park will have space to accommodate more than 14,000 employees, we've decided to shift the groundbreaking of PenPlace (the second phase of HQ2) out a bit,' said John Schoettler, Amazon's real estate chief.

He said the company has already hired more than 8,000 employees and will welcome them to the nearly-completed Met Park campus when it opens in June.

Amazon has pledged to spend $2.5 billion and hire some 25,000 workers at the Arlington site by 2030.

The delay in construction would not mean any elimination in jobs, Amazon told Bloomberg, which first reported the construction pause.

But as Amazon indefinitely delays the PenPlace groundbreaking, which had been imminently targeted for sometime early this year, it could cause headaches for local suppliers who had banked on the company's rapid expansion.

The Met Park complex is a 2.1-million-square-foot development consisting of two 22-story office buildings.

Amazon says it will include more than 50,000 square feet of retail space for local small businesses and a 700-person meeting center that will be available to local community groups.

Amazon has pledged to spend $2.5 billion and hire some 25,000 workers at the Arlington site by 2030. CEO Andy Jassy is seen above

Skyscrapers are banned in the District of Columbia, and the planned Amazon buildings will be among the tallest in neighboring Arlington County

Evan Regan-Levine, an Executive Vice President in JBG SMITH's Investments Group, shows future plans for developing the National Landing area, including the construction of HQ2

Amazon has announced layoffs totaling 18,000 jobs since last year. Pictured: Ten tech companies with most lay-offs since March 2020

Earlier this year, Amazon announced it would eliminate more than 18,000 roles as part of a workforce reduction it previously disclosed.

In 2018, Amazon after a long contest announced northern Virginia would be home to its second headquarters known as 'HQ2' and eventually employ more than 25,000 employees.

The northern Virginia site is near the Pentagon and directly across the Potomac River from the US capital.

Initially, the plan also called for HQ2 to be split between the Virginia site and Long Island City in Queens, New York.

However, the Queens plan was scrapped after furious backlash from local activists and union leaders, who objected to the $3 billion in government incentives involved in the project.

Amazon announced the plans in February 2021 for an eye-catching Helix tower to anchor the second phase of its redevelopment plans in Virginia.

The HQ2 campus, seen in renderings, will also include a separate park, as well as a community high school, and retail space - if it's ever completed

Amazon says the Forest Plaza will provide a densely planted landscape with accessible pathways, seating nooks, and long views to the south. Its construction is currently paused

The HQ2 campus will also include a separate park, as well as a community high school, and retail space.

Amazon has claimed that the Helix will have its very own artist in residence, as well as meeting space for the staff who work there.

The Helix features a spiral-hike around its exterior, complete with trees, and will let visitors follow a winding outdoor ramp around the edge of the building to its summit.

Skyscrapers are banned in the District of Columbia, and the planned Amazon buildings will be among the tallest in neighboring Arlington County.

From some vantage points the Helix will dominate the region's skyline like no structure other than the Washington Monument.
Police learned when they went to investigate it was a Paramount publicity stunt

Police learned when they went to investigate it was a Paramount publicity stunt

Sonoma Police were alerted to the suspicious person on Monday

Sonoma Police were alerted to the suspicious person on Monday

Ghostface stood near Sonoma Plaza at First Street East and East Napa St.

California locals called police after seeing an eerie figure dressed as Scream killer Ghostface standing ominously at crosswalks in a quiet town.

The masked figure was spotted looming at the edge of a crosswalk in Sonoma on Monday.

They then crossed the road, before mugging for the camera wearing the ghoul mask first seen in 1996, when the original Scream movie premiered.

Unlike the fictional Ghostface of the movies, this one wasn't wielding a blade, and didn't slash anyone to death.

On Monday, Sonoma Police were flooded with calls by frightened residents reporting a suspicious person- dressed in black hoodie and white mask - standing at the historic town square near First Street East and East Napa Street at Sonoma Plaza

When officers went to investigate they learned that the person underneath the costume was nothing to fear but was there to promote the upcoming horror flick

Scream VI' that is slated to hits theaters on March 10

But locals were still frightened and fearful of possible copycat crimes - with some calling police.

It was only then they learned the truth; the figure was part of a stunt dreamt up to generate publicity for Scream 6, which hits theaters on March 10.

When officers went to investigate they learned that the person underneath the costume was nothing to fear but was there to promote the upcoming horror flick.

Over the last few weeks Ghostface has been spotted in various cities across the country, including New Orleans, St. Louis and Sonoma, the stand-in for the movie's fictional town of Woodsboro.

Ghostface who appears to be getting a kick out of all the fuss has gone to Twitter telling those who are panicked, 'I was just minding my own business.'

The cult film revolves around are a streak of brutal murders in the sleepy town of Woodsboro and a Ghostface killer that targets a group of teenage victims.

The slasher franchise directed by Wes Craven started in 1996 starred Neve Campbell, David Arquette, Courteney Cox, Matthew Lillard, and Drew Barrymore.

Campbell quit after Scream 5. Arquette and Barrymore's characters were slaughtered by Ghostface himself - with Lillard's character dying after being unmasked as Ghostface in the first movie.

Cox remains one of the few original characters standing, and will feature in Scream 6, which sees the latest incarnation of Ghostface terrorize New York City.

The first film in the franchise was shot at the Sonoma Community Center just a block away from Sonoma Plaza.

The community center served as the high school in the film, and the original film was filmed all over the Bay Area in 1996.

Santa Rosa, Tomales and Healdsburg were other California areas featured in the film.

The cult film revolves around are a streak of brutal murders in the sleepy town of Woodsboro and a Ghostface killer that targets a group of teenage victims
The father of boat crash victim Mallory Beach refused to shake hands with Alex Murdaugh's family in court after the legal scion was sentenced to life in prison for the murders of his wife and son - and claimed 'justice has been served.'

Phillip Beach's daughter Mallory was killed in 2019 when a boat driven by Murdaugh's intoxicated son Paul crashed.

He was in court on Friday to watch Alex's sentencing for the 2021 shooting murder of his son Paul and wife Maggie at their South Carolina estate.

Beach was sitting at the back of the courtroom during the hearing on Friday when Murdaugh's brother John Marvin attempted to shake his hand. But Beach refused, telling him: 'I have nothing to say to you.'

He told reporters after the sentencing that he was at peace with Murdaugh's guilty verdict and life sentence, and added that he 'grateful that justice has been served.'

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Phillip Beach's daughter Mallory was killed in 2019 when a boat driven by Murdaugh's intoxicated son Paul crashed. Nearly two years later, Murdaugh shot and killed Paul and his wife Maggie at their estate in South Carolina

Beach, 19, was thrown from the boat when it crashed into Archers Creek Bridge, in Beaufort South Carolina, in 2019. Her body was found five days later.

The Beach family reached a tentative settlement with Buster Murdaugh in a $50million lawsuit

Earlier this year, the family of Mallory Beach reached a tentative settlement with Murdaugh's surviving son Buster Murdaugh in a $50million lawsuit after she was killed during the fatal late night boat ride on February 23, 2019.

The other passengers on the boat were Anthony Cook, Connor Cook, Miley Altman and Morgan Doughty, who was Paul's girlfriend.

It is believed Paul was driving drunk when the boat of six people crashed in Archer's Creek near Parris Island, and Buster was accused of lending his younger brother his ID in order for him to buy the alcohol.

According to legal documents seen by DailyMail.com Paul was 'highly intoxicated,' 'drunk' and 'belligerent,' on the February night two years ago when he sped his boat into a piling.

The six youths on board that night, who were under 21, were ejected from the vessel - and all but Beach made it to shore. Her body wasn't found for a week.

Paul was indicted on three counts of boating under the influence in April 2019.

But while awaiting trial, the 22-year-old along with his mother Maggie, were found shot to death at their hunting lodge in June 2021.

Paul's father Alex Murdaugh, who has since been convicted of his wife and son's murders, had tried to convince the jury that someone else had killed Maggie and Paul in revenge for the boat wreck.

The boat crash victims and their families recently appeared in a new Netflix docuseries called Murdaugh Murders: A Southern Scandal.

Paul was indicted on three counts of boating under the influence in April 2019. But while awaiting trial, the 22-year-old was gunned down in 2021

Alex Murdaugh was convicted this week their murders, and would later claim that someone else was responsible for the murders in response to the boat crash

The six youths on board that night, who were under 21, were ejected from the vessel and all but Mallory Beach made it to shore. Her body wasn't found for a week

Prior to the murders, one of the six teens on board the boat had testified that they were scared to speak about the Murdaugh family because they knew how to 'cover things up.'

All of the survivors had told the authorities that Murdaugh was drunk and there had been arguments over his determination to drive his boat.

Beach's boyfriend Anthony Cook offered to get them all an Uber home but Murdaugh was insistent they would travel by boat despite the fog and a lack of light on the vessel.

Cook told attorneys that Murdaugh had a 'crazy' alter-ego called 'Timmy' who came out when he was drunk.

On the night in question Cook stated: 'The whole way everybody was fighting and arguing. We drifted around in circles numerous times. We idled along.Miley was steady hollering that she had to work the next morning. She was ready to go.

'All Paul was doing was making a fool of himselfthen for some reason Paul acted like he was on drugs or something.

'He started taking off his clothes during one of the arguments and it is 40 degrees outside.'

According to Cook, Murdaugh stripped 'all the way down to his boxers,' and belligerently refused to let anyone else drive his boat.

Both Cook and Altman told how Murdaugh, 'slapped, pushed and spat' on his girlfriend Doughty as the bitter arguing continued.

Asked if Murdaugh had ever spat on her when he was sober, Doughty replied, 'No.' She admitted to having witnessed him smoking weed and taking cocaine on other occasions.

Describing the terrifying scenes as the youngsters begged Murdaugh to let someone else drive, or just take them home, Altman recalled, 'I yelled at him once and he just told me..he was like..shut the eff up and sit the eff down. Nobody else is driving my boat.'

The family of Mallory Beach (pictured) reached a tentative settlement earlier this year with Murdaugh's surviving son Buster Murdaugh in a $50million lawsuit after she was killed

Paul was believed to have been drunk when the boat with six people onboard crashed in Archer's Creek near Parris Island, and Buster was accused of lending his younger brother his ID in order for him to buy the alcohol

One of the boat passengers told attorneys that Paul Murdaugh had a 'crazy' alter-ego called 'Timmy' who came out when he was drunk

Doughty told how she and Beach cowered in the boat with their arms 'intertwined,' as Murdaugh continued the journey that was doomed to end in such tragedy.

Ultimately, Cook remembered, the boat suddenly took off. In a chilling recollection he said: 'We went from a two-mile-per-hour idle to the bow of the boat sticking up in the air and I went to the back.'

Cook pulled Beach down next to him and held on to her but the next thing he knew, he testified, he was 'waking up' in the water, grabbing at piles of weed and debris and fighting against the swift current and frigid temperatures.

The survivors then quickly established that nobody could locate Beach. Her body was found a week later.

In January 2023, after months of negotiations, hearings and a failed mediation, 'several defendants' including Buster settled with the Beach family and three of the other surviving passengers in the fatal crash.

Four years after the boat crash tragedy and nearly two years after Maggie and Paul were murdered at their South Carolina home, the family patriarch Alex Murdaugh was sentenced to life in prison for his wife and son's deaths.

The family patriarch Alex Murdaugh was sentenced to life in prison for wife and son's deaths

Both Maggie and Paul were found gunned down at the South Carolina estate in June 2021

His surviving son Buster was crestfallen on Friday as Judge Clifton Newman announced his father would spend the rest of his life behind bars.

Murdaugh will serve two consecutive life sentences for murdering Maggie and Paul the family's hunting lodge in June 2021. He faces between 30 years and life in prison.

As Murdaugh was ushered into a prison van, a heckler shouted: 'Buster's next!'

He added: 'Justice for Stephen Smith!', referring to the unsolved 2015 death of a 19-year-old friend of Buster.

Stephen's body was found by the side of the road and initially his death was ruled as a hit-and-run.

Police revisited the case, however, and found he had a blunt force trauma wound to the head.

Many have connected Buster to the boy's death because his family's name appears more than nine times in the investigative file into Smith's death.

Buster has never been arrested or charged in connection with Smith's death.

After the sentencing on Friday, Murdaugh's attorney - State Senator Dick Harpootlian - announced plans to appeal.
Donald Trump Jr. lambasted John Fetterman as a 'vegetable' who would be better employed as a grocery bagger than a U.S. senator.

The former president's son mocked the Pennsylvania Democrat by saying Fetterman lacks 'basic cognitive function' in a speech at the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) Friday while Fetterman continues treatment for clinical depression at Walter Reed Medical Center in Bethesda, Maryland.

'I'm the one that's willing to say this stuff because someone has to because it's insane. What's actually going on, right?' Trump goaded the crowd. 'When I said, like, I don't know, it's sort of weird that Pennsylvania managed to elect a vegetable.'

Donald Trump Jr. lambasted John Fetterman as a 'vegetable' who would be better employed as a grocery bagger than a U.S. senator

'They criticize me as being ableist,' Trump went on. 'I didn't know what that was.'

'I'd love for John Fetterman to have like, good gainful employment,' Trump said. 'Maybe he could be like a bag guy at a like a grocery store or, but like, is it reasonable for me to expect you as a citizen of the United States of America to have basic cognitive function?'

'He's clearly unfit for office,' Trump said. 'This guy had these issues, and they ran him anyway because they want a radical extremist that wants to release murderers.'

'We have to start voting with our wallets,' Trump said before plugging two of his personal business ventures - news service MxM News and online conservative marketplace Public Square.

Fetterman's office said Monday the senator is keeping up with official business from the hospital.

'He is visiting with staff and family daily, and his staff are keeping him updated on Senate business and news,' Fetterman's communications director, Joe Calvello, said in the statement.

Calvello said Fetterman's team is moving 'full speed ahead' but underscored the senator's recovery would be a 'weeks-long process.'

Trump began his address with a Willy Wonka-esque stunt where he told conservatives in the crowd to look under their chair and see if they'd won a 'golden ticket' to his father's private event the following night after the elder Trump's headline address to the conference.

The half-full crowd began scrambling to look around the empty seats for a ticket.

The former president's son said the Pennsylvania Democrat lacks 'basic cognitive function' in a speech at the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) Friday while Fetterman recovers from depression in the hospital

'They criticize me as being ableist,' Trump went on. 'I didn't know what that was'

He closed his speech by making his pitch to put his father back in the White House next election.

'We need a president that is not owned by other people, right? There's a reason the billionaire class -- even the billionaire conservative news class -- wants someone other than Trump,' he continued.

'It's because they want someone that needs them to take their call,' Trump said in an apparent jab at Fox Corps' Rupert Murdoch, who recently told a court he wished his hosts had been more forceful in denouncing Trump's election fraud claims in 2020.

'I want the guy that doesn't need to take that call, that isn't entirely beholden to them,' he said. 'My father certainly didn't.'

Trump went on: 'You know, there's a lot of the billionaire class even on the Republican side, it's like, yeah, we're really hard on China, but like, don't be that hard.'
President Joe Biden on Friday awarded the Medal of Honor to retired black Army Col. Paris Davis for his heroic service during the Vietnam War  after paperwork recommending him for the honor mysteriously 'vanished' in 1965  and then again four years later.

At the start of his remarks at the White House, Biden called awarding the nation's highest military honor 'the most consequential day since I've been president.'

Davis sat to the president's right, staring ahead as Biden detailed his heroism and his service in a military that had only recently desegregated.

President Joe Biden awards the Medal of Honor to retired Army Col. Paris Davis for his heroism during the Vietnam War

'Paris helped write the history of our nation. And this year, we celebrate the 75th anniversary of our first fully integrated armed forces,' Biden said. 'Paris Davis will still stand alongside the nations pioneering heroes.'

'You are everything this medal means  I mean everything this medal means,' he said. 'You are everything our nation is at our best.'

Davis, a Vietnam veteran, was among the first black officers to lead Green Beret forces.

He stood outside the White House after the ceremony to speak to reporters. He was asked what it meant to receive the honor but began looking for notes.

'Let me find a statement. I'm supposed to read to you  because I haven't read myself!' David joked to reporters.

Reading from a piece of paper, he said: 'Thank you, President Biden. This medal reflects what teamwork, service, and dedication can achieve.'

'God bless you, God bless all, God bless America,' he added.

While under fire from North Vietnamese forces near Saigon in June 1965, Davis dragged fellow servicemen to safety, even after a grenade ripped through his teeth and his trigger finger.

He refused to leave behind two of his comrades. One of them, Billy Waugh, spoke decades later of how Davis 'grabbed me, and he (dragged) me, after he was shot several times and couldn't walk.

'I only have to close my eyes to vividly recall the gallantry of this individual,' he wrote years later, in 1981.

Retired Army Colonel Paris Davis, a Vietnam veteran, was among the first black officers to lead Green Beret forces

President Biden shakes Colonel Davis' hand

The paperwork recommending Colonel Davis for the Medal of Honor was lost - twice

Davis was nominated for the Medal of Honor soon after the event.

But the Army lost his paperwork in 1965. A commander submitted paperwork four years later, only to have it go missing again  prompting charges of racism. A 1969 military review didn't reveal any Medal of Honor file on Davis.

His comrades suspected racism was at work.

'What other assumption can you make?' team member Ron Deis, then-77, told the New York Times in 2021.

'We all knew he deserved it then,' he said. 'He sure as hell deserves it now.'

Waugh and his former commander, Billy Cole, each recommended him for the commendation.

Pressing on, his advocates contacted former Defense Secretary Christopher Miller, who ordered an expedited review of the matter.

CBS asked Davis last year whether he thought race was a factor. 'I don't think  I know race was a factor,' he said.

According to the Times account based on after-action reports, Davis had teeth and his trigger finger blown off by the grenade in June 1965 after his team came under fire. They and about 90 South Vietnamese forces continued to face fire.

He fired with his pinkie and ran into open areas to help his comrades.

Davis repeatedly sprinted into an open rice paddy to rescue each team member, according to the Army Times. His entire team survived. Davis refused to leave the battlefield until his men were safely removed.

A native of Cleveland, Davis retired in 1985 at the rank of colonel and now lives in Alexandria, Virginia, just outside Washington. Biden called him several weeks ago to deliver the news.

Colonel Paris Davis in Vietnam

'This medal reflects what teamwork, service, and dedication can achieve' - Colonel Davis

Davis eventually was awarded a Silver Star Medal, the military's third-highest combat medal, as an interim honor, but members of Davis's team have argued that his skin color was a factor in the disappearance of his Medal of Honor recommendation.

'I believe that someone purposely lost the paperwork,' Ron Deis, a junior member of Davis' team in Bong Son, told the AP in a separate interview.

Deis, now 79, helped compile the recommendation submitted in 2016.

He said he knew Davis had been recommended for the Medal of Honor shortly after the battle in 1965, and he spent years wondering why Davis hadn't been awarded the medal. Nine years ago, he learned that a second nomination had been submitted 'and that also was somehow, quote, lost.'

'But I don't believe they were lost,' Deis said. 'I believe they were intentionally discarded. They were discarded because he was Black, and that's the only conclusion that I can come to.'

Army officials say there is no evidence of racism in Davis's case.

'We're here to celebrate the fact that he got the award, long time coming,' Maj. Gen. Patrick Roberson, deputy commanding general, U.S. Army Special Operations Command, told the AP. 'We, the Army, you know, we haven't been able to see anything that would say, `Hey, this is racism.''

'We can't know that,' Roberson said.

In early 2021, Christopher Miller, then the acting defense secretary, ordered an expedited review of Davis's case. Later that year, he argued in an opinion column that awarding Davis the Medal of Honor would address an injustice.

'Some issues in our nation rise above partisanship,' Miller wrote. 'The Davis case meets that standard.'
Alex Murdaugh avoided the death penalty because prosecutors relied on circumstantial evidence, his defense team claimed today.

Dick Harpootlian suggested prosecutors knew they would not have secured a conviction if they had pushed to execute the disgraced legal scion.

The attorney, who is also a Democratic State Senator, said it would have also allowed the defense to individually question jurors which would have hindered the prosecution.

Judge Clifton Newman earlier told Murdaugh 'many have received a death penalty' for lesser crimes as he handed him two consecutive life sentences for the murders of his wife Maggie, 52, and son Paul, 22, at the family's hunting estate on June 7, 2021.

The 54-year-old lured the pair to the property in Moselle where he blasted his son's brains out with a shotgun before turning an assault rifle on his wife of 27 years, shooting her five times.

Harpootlian and his colleague Jim Griffin afterwards held a feisty press conference outside the Colleton County Courthouse in Walterboro, South Carolina, where they vowed to fight the murder conviction

Alex Murdaugh is led through the courtroom for his sentencing at the Colleton County Courthouse in Walterboro, S.C., on Friday

Buster, Paul, Maggie and Alex Murdaugh at a family event just a month before the murders

Harpootlian and his colleague Jim Griffin afterwards held a feisty press conference outside the Colleton County Courthouse in Walterboro, South Carolina, where they vowed to fight the murder conviction.

Asked why he thought that prosecutors did not seek the death penalty, Harpootlian said: 'I'm someone that has prosecuted and defended a bunch of death penalty cases and clearly you never do it in a circumstantial case because 99 times out of 100 the jury is not going to sentence someone to death without a "I saw him do it", he confessed or great forensic evidence at the minimum.

'They had none of that.

'Secondly, in a death penalty case it gives us the ability to individually voir dire (question) jurors which would have been very helpful here and the prosecution obviously did not want that.'

Harpootlian added: 'If I'd been prosecuting this case I probably wouldn't have brought it based on [the evidence].'

In death penalty cases defense attorneys can exclude jurors who are so pro-execution they could not judge guilt fairly in a capital case.

On the other hand, the prosecution can remove jurors who would not be able to vote for the death penalty, whether for ethical or other reasons.

In December, South Carolina's Attorney General said that 'after carefully reviewing this case and all the surrounding facts, we have decided to seek life without parole.'

To pursue the death penalty, the State would have needed to prove an 'aggravating circumstance,' included but not limited to, killing two people 'by one act or pursuant to one scheme or course of conduct.'

The judge said Friday the Murdaugh double murder case qualified for the death penalty - but said he didn't 'question at all' the decision of the state not to proceed.

He added: 'But as I sit here in this courtroom and look around (at) the many portraits of judges and other court officials and reflect on the fact that over the past century your family, including you, have been prosecuting people here in this courtroom and many have received a death penalty probably for lesser conduct.'

Nobody has been executed in the state since 2011.

Despite the unanimous verdict reached in less than three hours, Harpootlian insisted Murdaugh is innocent and said that they had no regrets about putting him on the stand.

The disbarred attorney had 'no choice' but to testify because he had been 'made out to be a monster who stole from children, crippled people' and others, he said.

Judge Clifton Newman gave a searing assessment of Murdaugh's 'duplicitous'; character

Alex Murdaugh and his defense attorney Dick Harpootlian listen to Judge Clifton Newman during his sentencing at the Colleton County Courthouse in Walterboro, S.C., on Friday

Alex Murdaugh stand with his defense attorneys Jim Griffin (left) and Dick Harpootlian while he was sentenced to life in prison after conviction in double murder trial

Defense attorney Dick Harpootlian and prosecutor Creighton Waters shake hands after the Alex Murdaugh sentencing at the Colleton County courthouse

Defense attorney Dick Harpootlian addresses Judge Clifton Newman during the Alex Murdaugh sentencing at the Colleton County courthouse

'Did he pull it off? He apparently didn't,' he said.

Askes if he believed his client was innocent, Harpootlian emphatically shouted back: 'Yes!'

He and Griffin confirmed they would be handling Murdaugh's appeal and would file a motion arguing for a mistrial within ten days.

Griffin said their chief complaint was the admission of all the evidence of Murdaugh's financial crimes which the State claimed went to his motive but which the defense argued was 'illogical and ludicrous.'

The defense had battled to keep the evidence out in a lengthy legal battle lasting several days held without the jury present in court.

However, Judge Clifton Newman ultimately found that it was important for them to understand the full context of the double life he was leading, lying to his family, friends, colleagues and clients.

On Friday, the judge called Murdaugh a 'monster' as he sentenced him to back to back life sentences for the murders of Maggie and Paul.

Newman criticized what he described as Murdaugh's 'duplicitous conduct' throughout the trial, and said his actions were especially troubling given that the Murdaugh family had 'controlled justice in this community for over a century.'

The judge also referenced Murdaugh's addiction to opioids, which his defense attorneys sought to use as an excuse for his behavior, including his lying to investigators about his whereabouts on the night of the killings.

Alex Murdaugh is led out of the courthouse to a waiting prison van to begin his life sentence

Murdaugh leaves the courthouse in a Colleton County Jail jumpsuit on Friday

Buster Murdaugh leaves court with his Aunt Lynne and other members of the family. They were flanked by sheriff's deputies

Murdaugh leaves Colleton County Court in a corrections van

'I know you have to see Paul and Maggie during the nighttime when you attempt to go to sleep,' Newman said. 'It might not have been you (who killed them). It might have been the monster you become.'

Murdaugh, dressed in prison garb, professed his innocence again on Friday.

'I'm innocent. I would never hurt my wife Maggie and I would never hurt my son, Paw Paw,' he said, using a nickname for Paul, minutes before the judge delivered his sentence and he was escorted from the courtroom in handcuffs.

Throughout the trial, prosecutors portrayed Murdaugh as a serial liar and argued that only he had the means and the opportunity to commit the murders. Prosecutors said he fatally shot his wife and son to distract from an array of financial misdeeds, including the theft of millions of dollars from his law partners and clients -- money used to feed a years-long addiction to opioids and support an expensive lifestyle.

For their part, Murdaugh's lawyers tried to paint their client as a loving family man who, while facing financial difficulties and suffering from a drug addiction that led him to lie and steal, would never harm his wife and child.

They floated alternative theories, with Murdaugh testifying last week that he believed someone angry over a deadly 2019 boating accident involving Paul likely sought revenge on his son.

Murdaugh plans to appeal the verdict all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court, his lawyers said on Friday, arguing that the judge's decision to allow testimony about all Murdaugh's financial misdeeds unfairly undermined his credibility with the jury.

'They would never, ever, ever acquit him after that,' Dick Harpootlian told a news conference.

Prosecutor Creighton Waters enters court on Friday morning

Prosecutor John Meadors (right) with Reverend Raymond Johnson leaving the courtroom Friday

Alex Murdaugh with wife Maggie and their sons Buster (left) and Paul (right)

Among the prosecution's strongest evidence was Murdaugh's admission that he had lied about his alibi, telling investigators he wasn't at the dog kennels where the murders took place on the family estate. Murdaugh changed his account after the jury listened to audio evidence placing him at the crime scene minutes before the murders occurred.

The judge spoke about what may have been running through Murdaugh's mind on the night of the killings, as he confronted a 'looming storm' that included his father on his death bed and Paul facing charges in the death of 19-year-old girl killed in the 2019 boat crash.

Murdaugh was facing a $10 million wrongful death lawsuit stemming from that accident, with a critical hearing scheduled for just days after the killings.

'There had to be quite a bit going through your mind,' Newman said, and yet he noted that Murdaugh had testified to that day being like any other, that he had been enjoying life with his wife and son.

'Not credible, not believable,' the judge said.
Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene hit back at President Joe Biden for 'making fun' of her after she highlighted the Congressional testimony of a mother who lost two of her sons to fentanyl overdoses.

Greene told DailyMail.com during a gaggle with the press at CPAC Friday that she often ignores Biden's comments. 'But I think what is important is, from my understanding, he's laughing at her,' Greene said.

'She's a mother, and it doesn't matter when her children died,' the Georgia Republican also offered.

Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene hit back at President Joe Biden for 'making fun' of her after she highlighted the Congressional testimony of a mother who lost two of her sons to fentanyl overdoses

Greene told DailyMail.com during a gaggle with the press at CPAC Friday that she often ignores Biden's comments. 'But I think what is important, from my understanding, he's laughing at her,' Greene said

In a tweet, Greene had held the Biden administration responsible for the deaths of Congressional witness Rebecca Kiessling's two sons - who had died during former President Donald Trump's tenure.

'I've read she was very specific recently, saying that a mom - a poor mother who lost two kids to fentanyl, that - that I killed her sons,' Biden said of Greene during his appearance Wednesday night at the House Democratic Caucus Issues Conference. 'Well, the interesting thing is that the fentanyl they took came during the last administration,' Biden said with a chuckle.

On Thursday, the White House defended Biden's laugh with press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre saying that he 'expressed sympathy' to Kiessling - who was a witness at Tuesday's House Homeland Security Committee and spoke emotionally about losing her sons Caleb and Kyler.

She's since asked for an apology from the president.

Greene argued that Kiessling's sons, while they had a history of using drugs, didn't expect to be poisoned with fentanyl when they took what they thought was Percocet. This prescription painkiller includes the opioid oxycodone.

'They were poisoned by fentanyl that came across the border from the cartels,' the Georgia congresswoman continued. 'That number has exploded. It has doubled now under Joe Biden's presidency.'

'And instead of Joe Biden making fun of me and making fun of her, Joe Biden should care about reducing that number,' Greene added.

Greene also told the press that she had already backed Trump in 2024, mocking former U.N. Amb. Nikki Haley's presidential bid and suggesting Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis should stay in Florida.

'I've never listened to Nikki Haley and I don't think she's going to do very well in the primary,' she said of the former South Carolina governor, who was due onstage at CPAC later Friday afternoon.

'Well, the interesting thing is that the fentanyl they took came during the last administration,' Biden said with a chuckle when referencing the deaths of Rebecca Kiessling's two sons during an appearance Wednesday at the House Democratic Caucus Issues Conference

Rebecca Kiessling's sons Caleb and Kyler died in 2020 when they were 18 and 20 after taking a pill that they did not know was laced with fentanyl

Rebecca Kiessling at her sons' graves. The pair died in July 2020

Asked her thoughts on a DeSantis run, MTG praised the work he'd done in the Sunshine State.

'I think he is a fantastic governor for the state of Florida and if I were Florida, at the snail's pace things get done here in Washington, if I were Florida, I'd give him a third term and beg him to stay as governor,' Greene said.

Greene was also asked if she'd consider being Trump's running mate, as the ex-president and former Vice President Mike Pence had a falling out over Pence's refusal to overturn the election when he was presiding over Congress on January 6.

'We haven't fully engaged, that's up to President Trump, who he chooses,' she said.

She played coy when DailyMail.com asked if she and Trump discussed her joining his 2024 ticket.

'What I've talked about is legislation for this Congress and being focused on serving Georgia's 14th district,' she said.

She also wouldn't name her ideal Trump vice presidential candidate.

'I'm not sure, those are conversations that will happen in good time,' she said with a smile, as she left the crush of reporters craning to talk to her.
Russia's investigative committee has launched a murder investigation after a top scientist was found dead in his Moscow apartment yesterday.

Andrey Botikov, known as one of the 18 scientists who worked on the Sputnik V coronavirus vaccine in 2020, was identified as the man who had been strangled to death with a belt in northwest Moscow.

It was previously reported he had survived the encounter after an intruder broke into his home and started rowing with him over money.

But a 29-year-old man has since been arrested and charged with the murder of the scientist.

Andrey Botikov was found strangled to death in his apartment in Moscow on 2 March 2023

The Investigative Committee of Russia said they found the suspect in 'the shortest possible time' after he tried to flee the scene.

They claim he confessed to the crime during an interrogation.

The committee also reported the defendant had already been prosecuted for committing another 'serious' crime.

Russian media reported that the suspect, known as Alexei Z, had spent 10 years in prison on charges of providing sex services.

Andrey Botikov was a senior researcher at the National Research Center for Epidemiology and Microbiology.

He had previously worked at the Russian State Collection of Viruses D.I. Ivanovsky Institute of Virology as a senior scientist.

He was awarded an Order of Merit for the Fatherland for his work on the Sputnik V vaccine.

An image shared by the Investigative Committee of Russia after the virologist was killed

Sputnik was the first registered combination vector vaccine against Covid-19.

Critics suggested the vaccine was approved without robust research into its safety and efficacy.

A 2021 article in The Lancet nonetheless claimed the vaccine 'appeared safe and effective'.

In February, Russian General Vladimir Makarov was found shot dead in an apparent suicide at his country home.

He had recently been fired from his top job of 'combating extremism' in Russia.

In December, a Russian sausage tycoon was found dead after falling out of a window to his death while staying at a hotel in India.
The image shows the disgraced legal scion and now-convicted murderer partying at the 'Old South' ball he attended with Kappa Alpha pals in 1989

Alex Murdaugh is dressed in a Confederate military uniform at the University of South Carolina, in an unearthed photo obtained by DailyMail.com

Wild-eyed, drunk and sneering with privilege, this is legal scion turned double murderer Alex Murdaugh dressing as a Confederate soldier for a frat party photo obtained exclusively by DailyMail.com.

Grinning Murdaugh donned Civil War-style fatigues for a 1989 'Old South' ball he attended with Kappa Alpha pals from the University of South Carolina.

College acquaintances remember him as a swaggering bully who boasted of his family's high-powered connections, drank heavily, and challenged students to fist fights.

Alex Murdaugh is seen dressed in a Confederate military uniform while attending an 'Old South' ball at the University of South Carolina in 1989, in an unearthed photo obtained by DailyMail.com

The disgraced legal scion and now convicted murderer was a member of the Kappa Alpha fraternity, whose members at the time have described Murdaugh as a 'belligerent drunk' and a 'poster child for white privilege'

Murdaugh was led out of the courthouse to a waiting prison van to begin his life sentence Friday after being found guilty of murdering his wife and son

'Alex Murdaugh was the poster child for white privilege,' one told DailyMail.com.

'He was a belligerent drunk. He would be verbally abusive to women. He would challenge his frat brothers or college classmates to a fight.

'His attitude was, my family owns everything and everyone and I can do what I want  I'm the top dog. He thought he was made of Teflon.'

The Murdaughs held massive sway in South Carolina where three generations of his family served as top prosecutor in the 14th Judicial Circuit solicitor's office, spanning five counties and 3,200 square miles.

But no amount of wealth or influence could shield Murdaugh, 54, from justice for murdering his wife Maggie and son Paul at the family's rural hunting lodge in June 2021.

A six-week trial heard how Maggie, 52, was shot five times with a semi-automatic rifle while 22-year-old Paul was blasted twice with a shotgun.

Prosecutors said Murdaugh killed the pair to divert attention from financial crimes that were about to be exposed, including the millions of dollars he embezzled from his law firm and its clients.

The lying patriarch took the stand himself to tearfully testify about his crippling opioid addiction and how his love for Maggie and Paul meant he could never harm them.

But jurors took just 45 minutes to decide the disgraced lawyer was guilty of annihilating his own family, earning him two consecutive life sentences without the possibility of parole.

The Murdaughs were one of South Carolina's most prominent legal families, with family members heading up the 14th Circuit solicitor's office dating back almost a century. Pictured from left to right, Paul, Margaret, Alex and Buster

Murdaugh (pictured with murdered wife Maggie) earned his bachelor's degree in political science at USC, the same institution where his great-grandfather, Randolph Murdaugh Sr, graduated in 1910 before starting the family law firm in Hampton County

The South Carolina law firm formerly known as Parker, Murdaugh, Parker, Elztroth & Detrick, or PMPED, stripped the Murdaugh name from their masthead last year and has since rebranded as the Parker Law Group

'We all have idiotic college pictures and Alex looks like a complete buffoon in this one, ' the former acquaintance told DailyMail.com.

'But there's something about his photo that foreshadows his downfall, the arrogance in his eyes perhaps.'

Murdaugh earned his bachelor's degree in political science at USC, the same institution where his great-grandfather, Randolph Murdaugh Sr, graduated in 1910 before starting the family law firm in Hampton County.

He was a 21-year-old senior when he attended an 'Old South' party, a tradition that celebrated the Kappa Alpha fraternity's southern roots.

Male revelers typically wore military getup while women dressed in hoop skirts and southern belle hats inspired by the classic 1939 movie Gone with the Wind.

Murdaugh didn't have an exact replica of the confederate uniform but wore the closest thing he could find: a vintage cadet tailcoat from the Citadel, the South Carolina military college, dating back to the civil war era when the state was a prominent slave-holding state and member of the Confederacy.

The event was supposed to highlight traditions of courtesy, graciousness and hospitality but it was scrapped in 2016 because of its historic association with plantations and slavery.

'The Kappa Alpha fraternity in the South is the epitome of southern culture. They all wore uniforms once a year, but they don't do it anymore, it's all been banned. We've moved on from that era,' our source added.

'It was supposed to be about being a gentleman, but Alex Murdaugh was anything but that. He was unpleasant to be around, he had an abusive personality.

'I don't know he got Maggie to marry him or why she stayed with him for so long.'

To this day many of Murdaugh's former college pals are wary of criticizing him publicly because of his family's influence, explained the former associate, who asked to remain anonymous.

Murdaugh spoke briefly, telling the judge: 'I am innocent. I would never hurt my wife Maggie and I would never hurt my son Pau Paul' He was sentenced to life in prison

Judge Clifton Newman sentenced Alex Murdaugh to two consecutive life sentences

Murdaugh was helped out of a prison van. He wore orange slide shoes with socks and a prison jumpsuit

'His father was a district attorney. They ran their county for a hundred years. Alex grew up thinking he was special. He was never denied anything,' she added.

'As a consequence, he walked around with an attitude on steroids. Nothing's changed to this day. He thought he was invincible even when he was lying to the court. But nobody is that special.'

Murdaugh faces life in prison and could yet be hit with more charges for fraud and tax crime.

Juror Craig Moyer told Good Morning America ahead of today's sentencing at the Colleton County Courthouse that it took just 45 minutes to unanimously decide he was guilty.

Judge Clifton Newman gave a searing assessment of Murdaugh's 'duplicitous' character and said it's possible his opioid addiction turned him into a 'monster'.

'You have to see Paul and Maggie during the nighttime when you're attempting to go to sleep. I'm sure they come and visit you. I'm sure,' he said.

Murdaugh replied: 'All day, all night.'

Judge Newman shot back: 'I'm sure. And they will continue to.'

Judge Newman also told of the irony that Murdaugh had been spared the death penalty when his legal dynasty family had spent over a century sending others to their deaths in the same courthouse.

He also lamented the fact that he knew Murdaugh through the courts.

Alex Murdaugh took the stand but failed to convince jurors of his innocence

Murdaugh was led away from the courtroom in Walterboro, South Carolina, ton Friday o begin his two life sentences

'As a well-known member of the legal community, you've practiced law before me. We've seen each other at various occasions throughout the years,' he said.

'It was especially heartbreaking for me to see you go in the media from being a grieving father who lost a wife and son to being the person indicted and convicted of killing them.

'A lawyer, a person from a respected family who has controlled justice in this community for over a century.'

Prosecutor Creighton Waters was granted his request for the maximum sentence of two consecutive life terms.

He said Maggie was 'cut down in the prime of her life' while Paul was 'cut down as he was just starting to live his life.'

'Both of them, like everyone else, were unaware of who he really was. No one who thought they were close to him knew who he was. That's chilling,' Waters said.

'I've looked in his eyes. He liked to stare me down. I could see the real Alex Murdaugh. The depravity, the callousness, the selfishness of these crimes are stunning.'
Shark Tank star Kevin O'Leary has accused Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of 'killing jobs by the thousands' and said Democrat-led states like New York, California and Massachusetts are 'uninvestable'.

The Canadian investor, 68, tore into 'punitive' regulation across the three states that he claims deter businesses.

He singled out left-wing firebrand AOC for criticism and pointed to her successful efforts to prevent Amazon opening a major office in New York City in 2019.

'I don't put companies here in New York anymore - or in Massachusetts, or in New Jersey or in California. Those states are uninvestable,' O'Leary told CNN This Morning on Friday.

'The policy here [in NY] insane, the taxes are too high.'

Shark Tank's Kevin O'Leary claims New York, Massachusetts, New Jersey and California are "uninvestable" https://t.co/HyuU3AgJLM pic.twitter.com/XkhqTmqvnw  CNN (@CNN) March 3, 2023

The Canadian investor, 68, tore into 'punitive' regulation across New York, California and Massachusetts that he claims deter businesses

He singled out leftwing firebrand Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez for opposing an Amazon HQ in New York city which supporters said would have created up to 40,000 jobs

He added: 'AOC [is] great at killing jobs, she kills jobs by the thousands.'

O'Leary, whose net worth is estimated at $400 million, said New York Representative AOC 'threatened to sue [Amazon] if they created jobs. This is a reality.'

He was referring to her opposition to a second Amazon HQ in New York City that was supposed to be built with help from $2.8 billion in tax breaks.

AOC described Amazon's decision to pull out of the plan in 2019, amid fierce Democrat opposition, as 'incredible'. But supporters of the complex claimed it would have generated up to 40,000 jobs which justified the tax breaks.

O'Leary said he chooses to put businesses in cities like Fargo, North Dakota, which offers tax incentives, payments in lieu of taxes, and tax credits.

He added that he's called out Elizabeth Warren, the senator for Massachusetts, and told her 'we've got to move the companies out of your state because you're not investable anymore. You're punishing people if they're successful, you overtax them, you hit them with a supertax.'

'The regulatory environment is punitive,' O'Leary added.

He also gave the example of a troubled project he was involved with in upstate New York to build a global data center near Niagara Falls.

'Eventually it got so bad with the politicians in the local region and the state policy we moved it to Norway - and all the jobs - Norway has them now, thousands of jobs coming out of that,' he said.

O'Leary is one of the country's best-known investors thanks to his position in the Shark Tank lineup. He courted controversy in February for hinting getting rich was more important than family.

He tweeted: 'You may lose your wife, you may lose your dog, your mother may hate you.

'None of those things matter. What matters is that you achieve success and become free. Then you can do whatever you like.'

O'Leary, whose net worth is estimated at $400 million, said New York Representative AOC 'threatened to sue [Amazon] if they created jobs. This is a reality.'

O'Leary singled out out Elizabeth Warren (pictured), the senator for Massachusetts, and told her 'we've got to move the companies out of your state because you're not investable anymore'

Eric Balchunas, a Bloomberg analyst responded, 'That sounds more like the definition of Hell.'

O'Leary's $400million net worth came to the Canadian businessman largely after the sale of his software company SoftKey for more than $3.5billion.

But he's not immune to bad investments. He lost $15 million he was paid by FTX to endorse the company before it collapsed last year.

His comments about New York and California come amid rising disquiet about homelessness and high taxes in the city.

In January of 2020, New York State introduced sweeping criminal justice legislation that eliminated cash bail for the majority of misdemeanors and nonviolent felonies, including robberies.

New York, where the average rent is now more than $5,200 a month, lost more residents than any other state between April 1, 2020 and July 1, 2021, many of whom fled a staunch set of pandemic restrictions and high taxes for friendlier business environments, according to MarketWatch.

Crime in Manhattan surged 23.5 percent in 2022 as robberies, rapes and felony assaults all climbed - though murders and shootings both decreased by double digits.

The state of California lost over 500,000 residents between 2020 and 2022. It's the fourth largest decrease in the country in that time, behind New York, Illinois and Louisiana.

Not only are California lawmakers are pushing legislation that would impose a new tax on the state's wealthiest residents, there's also a rising crime and homeless problem.
Following the rise in remote work, some US cities and states are shelling out cash and other incentives to lure new residents.

Tulsa, Oklahoma, is offering $10,000 to remote workers who move there. West Virginia offers $12,000 and two years of free outdoor gear rental. Buy a house in southwest Michigan, and the state might help with $15,000.

However, experts warn that the programs often come with strict conditions, and say anyone who wants to take advantage should carefully read the fine print before pulling up stakes and moving on a whim.

Many of the relocation programs require applicants to already have a job working remotely for a company based elsewhere, and sometimes the incentives are tied to buying a house in the area.

Following the rise in remote work, some US cities and states are shelling out cash and other incentives to lure new residents

For cities, the goal is to stoke economic growth by bringing in skilled, high-earning new residents to spend money and pay local taxes.

And for workers, the right relocation program could provide the added nudge to consider moving from expensive coastal cities to the more affordable environs of states like Kansas or Iowa.

Statewide and regional relocation programs

Alaska has what might be considered the original relocation program: an annual cash dividend for all residents who have lived in the state for more than a year.

The state's Permanent Dividend Fund was established in 1979, and the payments vary each year based on revenue from oil drilling. Last year's payment of $3,284 per resident was a record high.

In Alabama, the northwest part of the state known as the Shoals region offers full-time remote workers a $10,000 cash incentive to relocate.

Applicants to the Remote Shoals Program must make more a salary of at least $52,000 and live for one year in one of the qualifying cities: Florence, Muscle Shoals, Sheffield and Tuscumbia.

West Virginia offers a statewide incentive program, offering $12,000 and free outdoors gear rentals and co-working space to remote workers who move to the Mountain State.

To qualify for the full benefits through Ascend West Virginia, applicants must bring a remote job with them and live in the state for at least two years.

In Alabama , the northwest part of the state known as the Shoals region (above) offers full-time remote workers a $10,000 cash incentive to relocate

In a bid to lure remote workers from Chicago, Michigan offers up to $15,000 toward a new home and $5,000 in additional 'perks' for remote workers who buy a home in the southwest part of the state.

Applicants for the Move To Michigan program must be fully remotely employed and moving from out of state.

To qualify for the full benefits, you must buy a home worth at least $200,000 in southwest Michigan and enroll kids in public schools for two years.

Arkansas also has a regional relocation program for the northwest part of the state, including the cities of Fayetteville, Springdale, Rogers and Bentonville.

The Life Works Here program offers $10,000 to new Arkansas residents, who must be employed full time and at least 24 years old.

Vermont has a statewide relocation program, Think Vermont, offering up to $7,500 to people who either take a new job based in the state, or bring a remote job with them.

However, the Vermont program currently warns that it has more applicants than funding, an issue that is common to many relocation programs.

Cities with cash incentives for relocation

Tulsa, Oklahoma started trying to lure remote workers to move to the city in 2019, through a program called Tulsa Remote that offered a $10,000 grant, housing assistance, office space and more.

When the pandemic hit, it saw a 'huge uptick in applications,' managing director Justin Harlan told Reuters last year.

From 60 people in 2019, the program brought in 350 the following year, then 950 in 2021, he said, about half of them tech workers and many from San Francisco and New York.

Harlan has said that Tulsa Remote accepted just 3% of its 30,000 applicants in 2021, indicating how difficult it can be to see the payouts from such programs

In Baltimore, the Buying Into Baltimore program offers up to $5,000 towards the purchase of a home in the area

In Baltimore, the Buying Into Baltimore program offers up to $5,000 towards the purchase of a home in the area. However, only twenty potential homeowners can receive the grant each year.

Chattanooga, Tennessee is seeking to draw tech workers with its Geek Move program, which offers computer developers $1,250 in relocation expenses and a $10,000 forgivable mortgage.

Topeka, Kansas has one of the richest programs in the country.

The Choose Topeka program offers up to $15,000 cash to new residents who are take a full time job and buy a home in the area, or $10,000 for those who rent.

For remote workers, the cash incentive drops to $10,000 for homebuyers and $5,000 for those who rent.

Another Kansas city, Lincoln, is offering a limited number of free residential lots to new residents who agree to build homes on the property.

Newton, Iowa is offering a $10,000 cash incentive to new residents who buy a home valued at $190,000 or more through the Newton Housing Initiative.

Savannah, Georgia also offers reimbursement for relocation expenses up to $2,000 for new residents who move to the city.
A former Royal Marine has won more than 700,000 in compensation after suing the Ministry of Defence (MoD) over hearing loss and tinnitus caused by 'useless' earplugs that 'fell out' during military service exercises.

James Barry, of Nottingham, claimed he was provided with inadequate protective equipment and suffered due to exposure to 'excessive noise' during his service between 2013 and 2017.

The 34-year-old had ambitions to become a medic in the Royal Navy's Special Boat Service, but became a lorry driver after being medically discharged.

In his High Court claim, Mr Barry argued he was exposed to 'incredibly loud' gunfire while on training exercises and had to cope with yellow foam earplugs that often fell out during vigorous physical activity.

His lawyers argued there had been a 'systemic, widespread and prolonged breach of duty' by the MoD.

James Barry, pictured here outside the High Court in January, has won more than 700,000 in compensation after suing the MoD over hearing loss caused by his military service

The former marine says he first noticed problems with his hearing after taking part in a training exercise in California in 2014. Pictured: Two Royal Marines take part in the same exercise in 2013

The ministry apologised to Mr Barry in court and accepted it had been negligent by failing to provide the father-of-two with suitable hearing protection.

But the MoD claimed the ex-marine was partly to blame for his hearing loss because he failed to always use equipment provided, and should receive less compensation.

Mr Barry's lawyers argued at a hearing in London in January that he should be awarded around 1.5 million in damages, while the ministry said he should only get about 250,000.

In a ruling on Friday, Mr Justice Johnson said the ministry had not shown Mr Barry was at fault over the use of 'deficient' equipment and awarded him 713,716 in damages.

Mr Barry first noticed a problem with his hearing after returning from a training exercise dubbed 'black alligator' in the United States between August and October 2014, the court was previously told.

Harry Steinberg KC, for Mr Barry, also said in written arguments that there were 'exercises during basic training where hearing protection was not worn (and could not be worn) at all'.

The black alligator exercise likely resulted in 'much or all' of the ex-marine's hearing loss, the judge said in his ruling, with it involving 'flash bangs, flash crashes, grenades, and a general purpose machine gun which was operated within 10 metres of Mr Barry'.

The training at a 'dummy town' in California to practise urban warfare at one point saw an F16 fighter fly at low level above Mr Barry, while gunfire reverberated off metal shipping containers used as mock buildings.

After the exercise the ex-marine noticed 'a constant, high pitched noise which was intrusive, particularly at night', the judge said.

Mr Barry's lawyers claimed he received insufficient hearing protection training, that use of equipment was not properly enforced and the ear defenders and earplugs provided were incompatible with a helmet and using a radio.

Andrew Ward, for the MoD, argued Mr Barry's practice of not wearing ear protection in his left ear when using the radio went against instructions and amounted to 'contributory negligence'.

But Mr Justice Johnson ruled that there was no evidence it was Mr Barry's fault that earplugs often fell out, noting that he was 'far from alone' in experiencing this.

The judge added that Mr Barry was involved in exercises that were 'highly complex, challenging and potentially dangerous, involving intense simulated warfare and high cognitive demands'.

'It is understandable that replacement of hearing protection in the midst of a firefight, simulated, but with a high degree of realism, was not always at the forefront of Mr Barry's mind,' the judge added.

Mr Barry, pictured here outside the High Court in January, said he had wanted to join the SBS but was forced to leave the armed forces due to the damage to his hearing

The judge also said it was 'not unreasonable' that Mr Barry removed an earplug 'in the light of the defective equipment' when using a radio, with it not amounting to a failure to comply with instructions.

He concluded: 'The MoD admits that Mr Barry has suffered injury and loss as a result of exposure to excessive levels of noise and that this was due to the MoD's negligence and breach of statutory duty. It has not shown that Mr Barry was at fault.

'Mr Barry is entitled to compensation for his losses, without any reduction for contributory negligence.'

Mr Barry was awarded a total of 713,716, including damages for pain, suffering and loss of amenity, to cover past losses and to pay for hearing aids.
Nikki Haley said the Democratic Party is now 'socialist' and said 'wokeness' is more dangerous than any public health crisis in a speech Friday.

'The Democratic Party is now a socialist party. Bernie Sanders and AOC are at least honest about it,' the told a crowd at the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC). 'Socialism is weakening our country at the worst possible moment.'

And after a coronavirus pandemic that has killed 1.13 million Americans, Haley said, 'wokeness is a virus more dangerous than any pandemic  hands down.'

The former United Nations ambassador and South Carolina governor called China the 'strongest and most disciplined enemy we have ever faced.'

'I cant believe what Joe Biden is letting China get away with,' she said. 'Never in my life did I think Americans would look at the sky and a see a Chinese spy balloon looking back at us.'

Nikki Haley said the Democratic Party is now 'socialist' and said 'wokeness' is more dangerous than any public health crisis in a speech Friday

'Chinese companies now own more than 380,000 acres of American soil, some of it right next to our military bases,' Haley went on. 'What are we doing? We should never let an enemy buy land in our country.'

The Republican presidential candidate claimed President Biden is having U.S. troops take 'gender pronoun classes' rather than combat training.

'A strong military doesnt start wars. A strong military prevents wars,' she said. 'Ill bring the same strength to the White House that I did to the United Nations.'

Haley touted her work at the UN compiling a list of nations and cross-checking how often they voted with the U.S. and how much aid the U.S. was giving them.

'They stab us in the back then turn around, with their hands out, wanting our money,' she said. 'To this day, were giving foreign aid to Pakistan, Iraq, the Palestinians, and even Communist Cuba and China.'

'We need to stop trying to buy friends. All were doing is paying off enemies. When Im president, we will stop giving money to countries that hate America!'

'Never in my life did I think Americans would look at the sky and a see a Chinese spy balloon looking back at us,' Haley said

There were lots of empty seats at CPAC's second full day on Friday

After calling for mental competency tests and term limits, Haley knocked both Biden and congressional Republicans for adding to the national debt after Republicans brought back earmarks last year.

'[Biden] has put us on track to add $20 trillion more in the next 10 years. And by the way  some Republicans have helped with that,' she said. 'We need to stop with the earmarks and pet projects  once and for all!'

Haley entered the race for the presidency in mid-February but is currently polling well behind former President Trump - who has already launched a bid - and Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, who has not yet done so.

According to an Emerson College poll released this week, Trump is leading the pack in a hypothetical matchup at 55 percent of GOP primary/caucus voters and DeSantis trails him at 25 percent. Vice President Mike Pence is behind at 8 percent and Haley behind him at 5 percent.
Ashleigh Banfield is the host of 'Banfield' which airs weeknights at 10pm ET on NewsNation

It was the cell phone of Paul, Alex Murdaugh's murdered son, that exposed the smoldering deceit that his father had been telling for a year and a half.

Alex, a 54-year-old disgraced attorney, had claimed he was nowhere near his doomed wife, Maggie, 52, and child, Paul, 22, when they were brutally gunned down on their sprawling, low country South Carolina estate in June of 2021.

And ever since that fateful night, Alex maintained, to anyone who would listen, that he was at the main house napping and had no idea of the horrors that were playing out 1,100 feet away outside the family's kennels.

But it was the dumbest, most damaging lie that he could have ever told.

Because a chance video that Paul filmed of one of the dogs inside the kennels, featured the high-pitched, yet haunting, voice of Alex Murdaugh in the background.

If there's one thing the Alex Murdaugh murder trial has taught us, it's that star witnesses are lurking in almost everyone's back pocket.

In the video, Alex could be heard kibbitzing with Maggie about a chicken on the property. And it proved, beyond a reasonable doubt, that Alex was there, at the kennels, just minutes before his family was annihilated.

So clear and convincing was the electronic evidence presented to the court that even Alex had to reverse course on the witness stand and concede, after 20 months, that it was, indeed, his voice on the tape.

If there's one thing the Alex Murdaugh murder trial has taught us, it's that star witnesses are lurking in almost everyone's back pocket.

The mountain of electronic data that was paraded through this South Carolina courtroom most certainly helped sealed Alex's fate.

A deliberating juror told Good Morning America that was the moment - right then and there - that he decided Alex was guilty.

But that wasn't the only electronic data that proved critical in putting Alex Murdaugh behind bars for the rest of his life.

The mountain of electronic data that was paraded through this South Carolina courtroom most certainly helped sealed Alex's fate. And it is this type of data that nearly every one of us carries as we go about our daily lives.

It was jaw-dropping to learn during this trial that a simple cell phone will record, for posterity, nearly every instance of its own movement when the device's backlight is activated.

There's also a record made of every change from portrait mode to landscape mode when a phone is lifted to the face.

We all know it happens. We just didn't know that all those movements are tucked away, in a tiny memory vault located deep inside the device.

And so, when experts testified about Maggie's phone moving after her death, it gave us a striking glimpse into what might have been going on.

The expert testimony suggested Alex was holding her phone in one hand and his phone in the other, while calling her to leave a phony alibi message.

As a former attorney, he may have been trying to fool future investigators into thinking that he was calling her from the main house to tell her that he was off to visit his aging mom.

But when dead Maggie's phone was lifted, the screen changed from landscape to portrait. One could almost picture Alex fumbling the phones in his hands.

The problem for Alex was that Maggie's phone recorded the movement two seconds before Alex's call came in. It certainly appeared that he was watching her phone to confirm that his call was received.

Also jarring, was the realization that the phone will log every step you take, even if you're not hooked up to a fitness app and tracking them.

Alex's lie, that he was sleeping while his family was being slaughtered, was defenestrated by the frantic 283 steps captured by the electronic spy in his pocket.

Alex, a 54-year-old disgraced attorney, had claimed he was nowhere near his doomed wife, Maggie, 52, (center) and child, Paul, 22, (second from right) when they were brutally gunned down on their sprawling, low country South Carolina estate in June of 2021.

So clear and convincing was the electronic evidence presented to the court that even Alex had to reverse course on the witness stand and concede, after 20 months, that it was, indeed, his voice on the tape.

And dead Maggie's phone also seemed to be recording his steps. That data was consistent with the prosecution's claim that Alex hurriedly hosed himself off and washed away any blood evidence after shooting his loved ones.w

When the smartphone connects to the Bluetooth of a vehicle, another tiny digital witness is born, becoming another window into criminal behavior.

Alex's suburban recorded his 80-mile per hour dash through dark and winding country roads, something he assumed he was doing in secret.

When his GMC slowed, precisely at the location where Maggie's phone was found flung out into the woods, it was hard to believe that he hadn't done it.

Finally, an innocent snapchat video that Paul recorded less than an hour before the killings, which showed his dad fussing with an obstinate sapling that had just been planted, provided yet another clue.

The clothes Alex was wearing in the video were not the clothes he had on when he claimed to 'discover' his dead family just hours later. And no one could find the button-down and the chinos that he was wearing in the video.

Surprisingly, the only electronic spies that weren't featured in this trial are now almost standard evidence in most other courtrooms  doorbell cameras.

There wasn't one operating at the main house, and there certainly wasn't one down by the kennels.

Normally, those cameras are everywhere else, keeping track of every drive, walk, or other innocent (or sinister) move.

A veritable network of neighborhood cameras provided the genesis of the investigation into Bryan Kohberger and his White Elantra. The images of Kohberger's car eventually lead to his arrest.

Before joining NewsNation, author and host Ashleigh Banfield, served as a legal analyst and host for Court TV, anchor for 'Legal View with Ashleigh Banfield' on CNN, and a correspondent for ABC News, among other roles.

His vehicle was captured speeding through a neighborhood in Moscow, Idaho around 4:00am, which is the approximate time that four innocent University of Idaho students were stabbed to death in their own home.

This proliferation of electronic witnesses and their increasing importance in American jurisprudence cannot be understated.

The human eyes of decent, law-abiding citizens cannot peer into all the dark corners where criminal behavior festers, but these electronic eyes are a powerful and pervasive substitute.

Electronic and video data have become the most important criminal investigation tools since fingerprinting, black and white photography, and DNA became ubiquitous in court.

So the next time someone bloviates that 'it's just a circumstantial case,' it's good to note that this kind of evidence is circumstantial evidence, and it's downright compelling, because it has the power to remove all reasonable doubt.

Increasingly, it can be considered even more powerful than direct evidence, as we learn more and more of the fallibility of eyewitness accounts.

There's no doubt that phones and gadgets have become essential to modern life.

Now, as it turns out, they've become essential tools for avenging death.

Ashleigh Banfield is the host of 'Banfield' which airs weeknights at 10pm ET on NewsNation. Click here to find NewsNation in your area.
An alarming study from Canada's prisons department has revealed that nearly half of the country's male-to-female trans inmates has a history of sexual offenses.

Research from Correctional Service Canada (CRC) shows that 44 percent of the nation's trans women detainees has a history of sexual offending.

Even more worrying is how 71 percent of them were caged for murder or sex crimes.

The study has stoked fears about the safety of natal women detainees in Canadian lockups, who have to share cells and blocks with detainees who were men at birth.

Maxime Bernier, leader of the conservative People's Party of Canada, called the policy 'insane'.

'These rapist men pretending to be women are sent to women's prisons and allowed to assault more women,' he posted on Twitter.

Research from Correctional Service Canada (CRC) shows that 44 percent of the nation's trans women detainees has a history of sexual offending

Heather Mason, a Canadian woman former detainee, led a series of protests last year aimed at kicking trans male-to-female inmates out of women's prisons

CRC studied the 99 gender-diverse inmates in the prison system between 2017 and 2020 for its 68-page report, called an Examination of Gender Diverse Offenders.

Some 61 of them were male-to-female transitioners, it found. They had an average age of 43 and about half of them were indigenous Canadians.

Most of them had been convicted of violent offenses, including murders, sex crimes, robberies, and assaults.

In most cases, they had committed those crimes as men, before transitioning.

Their victims were mostly women and children, who typically suffered death or serious harm, researchers said.

Heather Mason, a Canadian former detainee who campaigns for traditional single sex prisons, said: 'Basically, trans prisoners are more likely to be the most dangerous ones.'

Canada in 2017 started housing trans detainees in facilities that matched their gender identity  not their biological sex.

That policy was supported by Prime Minister Justin Trudeau.

Poll Should trans women convicts be allowed to serve their sentences in women's prisons? Yes No Should trans women convicts be allowed to serve their sentences in women's prisons? Yes 47 votes

No 1113 votes Now share your opinion





Since 2022, requests from trans inmates to switch facilities have been reviewed on a case-by-case basis.

Among Canada's historical male-to-female trans detainees is Catherine Lynn, who while identifying as male in 1995 murdered an upstairs neighbor and had sex with her corpse.

Lynn was reportedly housed at the Grand Valley Institution women's prison, in Kitchener, Ontario.

Likewise, Adam Laboucan, a pedophile who raped a three-month-old infant, was granted permission to move to a women's ward at the Fraser Valley Institution after transitioning in prison to a woman, Tara Desousa.

Adam Laboucan, a pedophile who raped a three-month-old infant, was granted permission to move to a women's ward at the Fraser Valley Institution after transitioning in prison to living as a woman, Tara Desousa

One of Laboucan's dating profiles, where he goes by the name Tara Desousa

Maxime Bernier, leader of the People's Party of Canada, said allowing 'rapist men pretending to be women' to serve their time in women's prisons was 'insane'

Trans rights groups say trans detainees are most often victims of abuse and all of them deserve protection. Trans male-to-female detainees in men's prisons are at great risk of violence and often trade sex for protection.

Women's rights groups in the US and Canada say ever more male-to-female trans detainees are serving time in women's prisons, despite rising incidents of rape and other horrors in what were once women-only cellblocks.

They point to a 2011 Swedish study, which found that man-to-woman transitioners retain a 'male level of criminality', meaning they are more prone to crime, including violent offenses, than women, even after taking hormones or undergoing surgery.

The US public is apparently against letting trans women into women's prisons. A survey of 3,500 voters in March 2021 found that 48 percent opposed trans women sharing cells with natal females, while 34 percent approved.
The sprawling Colorado home where 6-year-old beauty pageant contestant JonBenet Ramsey was murdered in 1996 is listed for sale for a cool $7 million.

The Ramsey family, who originally bought the Boulder, Colorado, mansion in 1991 for $500,000, never spent another night there after their daughter was found dead in the home's basement. They finally sold in 1998 to a group of investors.

The current owners are Tim and Carol Milner - Carol Milner is the daughter of Hour of Power televangelist Robert H. Schuller. They paid just over $1 million for it in 2004.

JonBenet was killed on Dec. 26, 1996, bludgeoned and strangled, several hours later her mother called 911 to say her daughter was missing and a ransom note had been left behind.

Her death was ruled a homicide, but nobody was ever charged in the case.

6-year-old JonBenet Ramsey was found dead in the basement of her familys Boulder home on Dec. 26, 1996, bludgeoned and strangled

Following her death, the Ramsey family never spent another day in the house that they bought in 1991

A view of the basement where Ramsey was found dead in 1996

The home's current owners have attempted to sell the house on several different occasions

In 2016, one of the home's current owners, Carol Milner, described it as a 'wonderful place' to live

The Ramsey family first bought the house in 1991 for the sum of $500,000

'Stately and modernized 1920s Tudor estate in an epic Boulder location, on three lots, stunning curb appeal with amazing Flatiron views,' reads the home's listing on Zillow. It was first built in 1927.

'Surrounded by luxury homes, a beautiful stroll to Pearl Street shops, restaurants, CU and easy access to Denver. An impressive Boulder estate with timeless appeal in an unbeatable location.'

With a 20 percent deposit, the house would end up costing $40,600 per month.

The original address of the 5-bedroom house was changed to 749, 15th street in 2001, at the same time fences were added and the basement was boarded up in order discourage prying eyes.

It went on the market on Wednesday. According to the Zillow listing, the owners have tried to sell the house on five previous occasions.

It was last put on the market by the Milners in 2013, at the time the asking price was just $2 million.

When the house was first sold by the Ramsey family, it was bought by a group of investors for $650,000.

Patsy Ramsey is pictured with her daughter JonBenet and son Burke - who was nine when JonBenet died in 1996

John and Patsy Ramsey, the parents of JonBenet, meet with Colorado media in May 1997

Carol Milner, a Christian minister, is the daughter of famed televangelist Robert Schuller, shown here in 2007 at Evil Knievel's funeral

Carol Milner told the Orange County Register in 2011 that she and her husband moved to Boulder from Southern California in order to start their own ministry away from her father's church.

The couple's goal was to help college students and families in the area.

The same year, the couple were forced to deny that funds raised for their church in California had been used to buy the Ramsey's home.

Milner told the newspaper that she was wary of buying a home where a little girl had been murdered.

'Of course I thought about it. I have four children of my own who were quite young at the time. I wasnt sure how Id feel until I stepped inside the home,' she said.

While in a separate interview with Inside Edition, Milner described the house as a 'wonderful place to live.'

'I got out to the car and thought: "Are we're really doing this? Really? We are gonna do this? Come on, Carol." I was reticent. The minute we walked through the door my breath was taken away,' Milner recalled.

'This has become a dark monument, this thing that was just sitting there, just a constant reminder of something horrible that happened and Im just a believer in undoing stuff like that,' she said.

Milner calls the home a 'wonderful place to live' and says she and her husband 'would love to be here the rest of our lives,' contradicting the fact the family has tried to sell up on multiple occasions.

More than 25 years later, the Ramsey case continues to captivate America.

In February, a new book by former Texas sheriff and now author John W. Anderson, Lou and JonBenet: A Legendary Lawman's Quest to Solve a Child Beauty Queen's Murder, was published.

Among those interviewed in the book is Colorado investigator Lou Smit who had been investigating the Ramsey case for years.

Smit argues that evidence recovered under the little girl's fingernails and clothes did not match any family members or anyone close to the case.

Despite that, Smit says authorities continued to put parents Patsy Ramsey and John Bennett Ramsey under 'an umbrella of suspicion' that led many to suspect them in the case.

For many years following her death, John and Patsy Ramsey would remain the primary suspects in their daughter's murder.

It was not until 2008 that they were officially cleared - though they were never charged with any crime.

The body of JonBenet Ramsey (pictured) was found bludgeoned and strangled in her basement hours after she was reported missing on December 26, 1996

Smit's copy of the DNA results may be the only papers in existence that are unredacted, with censored results having circulated online in the past, according to Fox News.

Ramsey's father supported an online petition last year that asked Colorado's governor to intervene in the investigation into her death more than 25 years ago, by putting an outside agency in charge of DNA testing in the case.

Anderson writes in the book: 'For the past quarter-century, the Boulder police have ignored the DNA evidence that exonerated the Ramseys and could be used to identify her killer.'

In November, Colorado police, who are working with a cold case review team, said they were hopeful that new technology would help them use the very small amount of DNA evidence found on the child to create a profile to match the killer.

The case is being revisited by the Colorado Cold Case Review Team next year in another bid to solve the case that has haunted the state's law enforcement officers.

If DNA analysis produces the killer, it will be one of the largest cold case breakthroughs in American history.
Before adjourning the Alex Murdaugh case today, Judge Clifford Newman warned against sharing graphic autopsy photos of Maggie and Paul's bodies that were accidentally shown during the trial.

He also compared the case to that of Vanessa Bryant, Kobe Bryant's widow who sued Los Angeles officials for leaking photos of the helicopter crash that killer her husband and daughter.

The photos of Maggie and Paul Murdaugh were unintentionally shown on one of the many livestreams of the trial when a member of the prosecution's team flashed them up on his computer while questioning pathologist Dr. Ellen Riemer.

Some viewers who'd been following the livestreams seized on the graphic images and shared them on Twitter.

Today, after sentencing Murdaugh, Judge Newman warned against reposting them online.

Judge Clifton Newman warned against the sharing of graphic autopsy photos that were accidentally shown in court during the trial

Maggie and Paul Murdaugh (right) were shot dead on June 7, 2021. During the trial, graphic autopsy images were shown

'Secondly, there's a complaint now regarding the posting of autopsy photos that came from within the courtroom, based on the direction of the photographs, it came from within the well of the court.

'Of course one of the reasons that we've sought to seal graphic photos is because the parties have the right to privacy and a right to those matters not being publicly disclosed.

'If anyone has heard about the recent settlement that Kobe Bryant's wife just made with the Los Angeles County and others out there over certain disclosures, involving the death of Kobe Bryant, liability can be substantial and it's a risk, for the most part, that's not worth taking.

'We'll let everyone judge themselves accordingly,' he said.

It will be down to South Carolina law enforcement to investigate the leak.

Bryant and his daughter Gigi were tragically killed along with seven others on January 26, 2020, when their helicopter pilot ignored poor weather warnings and flew accidentally into a Los Angeles hillside.

In the aftermath of their deaths, gruesome photos of the crash site which showed some of their charred remains were leaked by members of the emergency services and police who first responded to the scene.

Vanessa Bryant has been awarded $28.5million from Los Angeles County. She sued after images of the graphic helicopter crash where her husband and daughter's remains were found were leaked

Kobe and Gianna Bryant were killed along with seven others when their helicopter crashed on January 26, 2020

Bryant's widow Vanessa successfully sued Los Angeles County, accepting a settlement this week of $28.9million.

Judge Newman also warned against harassing jurors who wish to remain anonymous.

One has already come forward to explain how they reached their verdict, and why he thought Murdaugh was guilty all along.

But the others, Judge Newman said, were entitled to anonymity.

During one day of the trial, a courtroom camera that trailed Murdaugh as he left court unintentionally captured the jurors too.

Their faces appeared on a livestream being watched around the world.

'The jurors have a right to continue that privacy but they are not obligated to do so. It would not surprise me if jurors choose to come forward and to speak.

'They are encouraged to do so if that is their desire - I have no problem whatsoever with the jurors unmasking themselves and speaking with the media.

'They have gone through a life changing experience. Should anyone attempt to harass or annoy them, please let me know and I will address the issue,' Judge Newman said.

Murdaugh was sentenced to two consecutive life sentences.
Luis Martinez, who survived after he was shot twice and is in an induced coma, was part of the cartel's special force 35th battalion

At least one of the five young men killed by the Mexican military had alleged links to Cartel del Noreste, which operates in the northern border city of Nuevo Laredo across from Texas.

A sixth shooting victim, who was wounded and is fighting for his life at a local hospital, also belongs to the same criminal organization.

Wilberto Mata was shot 10 times by soldiers following a high-speed chase pre-dawn Sunday after the driver, 21-year-old American Gustavo Suarez, failed to stop.

An intelligence report that was reviewed by TV Azteca claimed Mata had a criminal background record in San Antonio, Texas.

An intelligence report obtained by TV Azteca indicated that Wilberto Mata, one of the five young men killed by soldier in the northern border city of Nuevo Laredo, was an alleged member of the Cartel del Noreste ( Northeast Cartel)

Gustavo Suarez, an American from San Antonio, Texas, was a purported member of the Northeast Cartel, according to a Mexican intelligence report. The 21-year-old was driving the pickup truck that crashed into a parked car after he refused orders from the military to pull over. He was shot 12 times and died

Luis Martinez survived after he was shot twice by the Mexican military following a high-speed chase in the border city of Nuevo Laredo, across from Texas. A Mexican intelligence report alleges that he was linked to the Northeast Cartel's special forces 35th battalion

The document alleged that Suarez was also a member of the Cartel del Noreste. He reportedly operated under the aliases of 'El Gus' and 'El Baby Syko.'

The file also showed that the five victims tested positive for sodium rhodizonate, a sign they may have been carrying weapons and shot at the soldiers during the pursuit. However, no firearms were recovered from their pickup truck.

Photos shared by Mata's friends on social media showed him holding a rifle and wearing a black vest with the Cartel del Noreste's (Northeast Cartel) initials, 'CDN,' across the chest and ammunition hanging from it.

In a second picture that was posted online, Mata is seen with a rifle and an army fatigue green vest that appeared to have grenades concealed. A third photograph showed Mata smiling and flashing a thumbs up inside a jail cell.

Alejandro Trujillo was one of five men who were shot dead by soldiers in Nuevo Laredo, Mexico. Four members of the army were placed under arrest Thursday and each face homicide, bodily injury and disobedience charges

Jonathan Aguilar did not survive after he was shot in the temple by a Mexican soldier after the vehicle he was riding in crashed into a parked vehicle in the border city of Nuevo Laredo

A friend dedicated a post to Mata with a photo of him holding a rifle and the name of the criminal organization spelled across under its initials.

The five men were shot and killed when Suarez, a resident from San Antonio, Texas, refused orders to pull over. Suarez was chased by two Army pickup trucks before he lost control of his own and crashed into parked vehicle.

Suarez, who hours before the incident had learned he was going to be a father for the first time, was shot 12 times and died. A third victim, Alejandro Trujillo, died from being shot five times. Jonathan Aguilar did not survive after he was struck in the temple. Gustavo Perez died after he was shot two times  on the side and on the right forearm.

Luis Martinez, who was shot two times and remained in an induced coma as of Friday, was also an alleged member of the Cartel del Noreste, according to his Facebook account.

He had previously changed his profile image to the logo of the criminal organization's special forces 35th battalion.

Perez's brother, Alejandro Perez, was unharmed and told Univision that he saw the moment his sibling was shot at point-blank range.

Jennifer Castillo (right) found out Sunday morning after her son Gustavo Suarez (left) has been killed by the Mexican military that his girlfriend was expecting the couple's first child

Jennifer Castillo said that her son Gustavo Castillo had purchased his Chevrolet Silverado pickup truck in February and that the vehicle's temporary license plate had been removed by the soldiers who were involved in the deadly shooting

He revealed that the soldiers forced him into making a video statement in which he claimed the group was responsible for the incident in exchange for sparing his life.

Mexican authorities have yet to comment on Mata's and Martinez's alleged links to the notorious criminal organization.

Four soldiers were placed under arrest Thursday for the murder of the five men. They each face homicide, bodily injury and disobedience charges.

The Defense Department said the soldiers acted on their own and shot at the vehicle after they heard a loud noise following the crash.

Wilberto Mata is said to have links to the Northeast Cartel, a criminal organization that operates in Nuevo Laredo, a northern Mexico border city across from Texas

Wilberto Mata, an alleged Northeast Cartel member, reportedly had a criminal background record in San Antonio, Texas

Authorities claimed that Suarez was operating a Chevrolet Silverado that had been reported stolen.

However, his mother, Jennifer Castillo, showed proof of a Texas-issued temporary license plate and said she had title of the vehicle, which Suarez purchased in February.

Castillo said Suarez lived with her and that he worked in the construction business with his stepfather.

He notified her Saturday evening that his girlfriend was expecting the couple's first child and shared the positive pregnancy test via a text message.

'My son was a good person and he didn't deserve the way they killed him,' she said.
A rookie NYPD cop has taken his life just months after he was involved in the fatal shooting of a gunman.

The 22-year-old officer, who has been named as Colin Rossiter, shot himself at his home in Staten Island at about 1.50am on Thursday. A gun was found next to him.

Rossiter was found by his father, a retired NYPD sergeant, and taken to hospital but pronounced dead on arrival.

He was only appointed to the job in October 2021 and worked in the 60th Precinct, which includes Coney Island, Brighton Beach, West Brighton Beach, and Sea Gate, sources told the New York Post.

Rossiter's relatives, fellow officers and other well-wishers gathered outside Staten Island University North Hospital on Thursday to pay their respects as Rossiter's body was removed. He is the third NYPD officer to die by suicide in 2023.

Colin Rossiter, 22, (pictured) was named as the NYPD officer who shot himself at his home in Staten Island at about 1.50am Thursday

Tributes were paid outside Staten Island University North Hospital. Rossiter was rushed to the hospital after his father discovered his body, but tragically pronounced dead on arrival

Rossiter's fellow officers, relatives and other well-wishers gather to pay their respects to the young officer

Rossiter is the third NYPD officer to die by suicide in 2023

The emotional scene included a salute to the officer by colleagues, relatives and well-wishers

The emotional scene included a salute to the officer. Campaigners say there is a lack of mental health support for officers in New York and across America.

In November 2022, Rossiter was one of several cops who shot dead Jermaine Hickson, 42, after he opened fire on police in Coney Island.

Hickson was spotted standing in the street with a gun and opened fire on responding cops as they jumped out of their cruiser.

New York City Mayor Eric Adams said on Thursday: 'After the shooting, I reached out to the officers who were involved, because I just know that after an encounter like that, of good people, you know what officers can go through.

'These are young children, you know? Twenty-one, 22 years old, and when I communicated with them I just told them, "Youre protecting New Yorkers".

'I was hoping to ease the stress. It just really broke my heart that we lost this young man.'

Rossiter was also remembered by members of his college fraternity, Kappa Sigma Rho-Sigma

In November 2022, Rossiter was one of several officers who shot dead Jermaine Hickson, 42, after he opened fire on police in Coney Island. Pictured: the aftermath of the shooting

Hickson was spotted standing in the street with a gun and opened fire on responding cops as they jumped out their cruiser

Rossiter's father told police his son appeared fine before heading to his bedroom on Wednesday. Pictured: a police vehicle outside Rossiter's home in Staten Island

Rossiter's father told police his son appeared fine before heading to his bedroom on Wednesday.

Neighbors described him as a 'well-known and loved' young man who is one of many police officers and firefighters with homes in the neighborhood.

Rossiter was also remembered by members of his college fraternity, Kappa Sigma Rho-Sigma. A tribute posted to Facebook said: 'Rest in Peace to brother Colin Rossiter. You will forever hold a place in our hearts not only as a brother but as a friend. Fly high.'

In January, an NYPD police officer took his own life at an apartment building in Queens by leaping to his death in broad daylight.

Steven Hernandez was pronounced dead at Lefrak City Apartments in Flushing, Queens, shortly before 12.30pm.

Hernandez, a 30-year-old father-of-two, belonged to the 121th Precinct in Staten Island. He just left an appointment with a psychiatrist, according to reports.

Days later, an off-duty officer was found dead near Brookville Park, in Queens, after he shot himself.

And earlier this month, a New York City police officer shot himself in a locker room after less than a year on the job. The male officer, who was 22, was transferred to Jacobi Hospital in the Bronx in critical condition after the bullet hit his cheek.

Data from Blue H.E.L.P, an organization which tracks cases of suicide among law enforcement and campaigns for better mental health support, shows 18 officers have died by suicide across the U.S. so far in 2023.

There were 154 in 2022, 141 in 2021, and 145 in 2020. Between 2017 and 2022, 185 to 250 first responders have died per year, according to Blue H.E.L.P.

Steven Hernandez was pronounced dead at Lefrak City Apartments in Flushing, Queens, shortly before 12.30pm on January 10

Hernandez joined the NYPD in 2017. He was assigned to the 121st Precinct last year

In addition, male first responders died by suicide at significantly higher rates than their female counterparts. Out of the 186 deaths in 2022, 168 of them were committed by males and 18 by female.

Among the recorded deaths, it was found that police officers had an average of nearly 16.5 years of service among those who took their own life. Firefighters had an average of 14.77, correctional officers averaged 11.31, EMS averaged 10.83, and dispatchers averaged three years of service.

Blue H.E.L.P was founded by Karen Solomon and Jeffrey McGill. A statement from the organization said: 'It is the mission of Blue H.E.L.P. to reduce mental health stigma through education, advocate for benefits for those suffering from post-traumatic stress, acknowledge the service and sacrifice of law enforcement officers we lost to suicide, assist officers in their search for healing, and to bring awareness to suicide and mental health issues.'

If you or someone you know are experiencing suicidal thoughts or actions, please call the National Suicide Hotline at 988.
The View host took aim at the sweeping book bans to hit US schools

Her first book will be 'And Tango Makes Three', a story of a gay penguin couple

Joy Behar's latest stunt will see her read a banned children's book on The View each week - even though the show's target audience is middle-aged women.

Behar, 80, will begin the segment next week with And Tango Makes Three, based on the true story of a same-sex male penguin couple who adopted a chick at New York's Central Park Zoo.

'Joy's Banned Book Club' will see the presenter take aim at the sweeping book bans to hit US schools in recent months, mainly in conservative states.

But it's unclear if fans of The View will enjoy having to sit through a children's book, with the show aimed squarely at grown women - rather than youngsters.

Joy Behar announced plans to start a 'banned book club' on The View, where she will read excerpts from woke books deemed inappropriate for children

The View host chose 2005 book 'And Tango Makes Three' as her first reading. It tells the true story of a gay penguin couple living in Central Park Zoo who adopted a baby chick

Behar, who recently made actor Liam Neeson squirm on The View by sharing her lust for him, said: 'This is not some kinky Shades of Grey for penguins.

'Its a sweet, graceful way to introduce children to the concept of acceptance of same sex relationships and non-traditional families.'

In announcing her new segment, Behar said her readings are a form of protest against the more than 2,500 books that were banned across the nation.

Over 5,000 schools across America banned books last year, Behar said, including 'some of the best books ever written' such as 'To Kill a Mockingbird', 'Of Mice and Men', and 'The Catcher in the Rye'.

'A person can decide they dont want to read a book,' she continued.

'A person can decide they dont want their child to read a book. But a person cant decide that an entire school or town cant read a book.

'As for And Tango Makes Three, our studio audience can decide for themselves because youre all getting a copy.'

Escambia County in Florida banned And Tango Makes Three after deciding the depiction of a same-sex penguin couple was unsuitable for children.

Thousands of books are currently under review by Florida public school officials over content deemed contentious by Ron DeSantis

The book won multiple awards on its publication in 2005, and was quickly-heralded as an instant classic.

Book bans have more-commonly targeted novels written for older children or young adults.

One of the most notorious is Gender Queer, a graphic novel which depicts a transgender teenage boy giving oral sex lessons using a strap-on penis.

Some supporters of the book ban back removing Gender Queer and other very explicit books from libraries, while opposing other removals.

Books widely-regarded as classics including To Kill A Mockingbird and Toni Morrison's Beloved have also fallen foul of the bans, prompting some conservatives to say the rules have gone too far.

The officials were following the lead of Governor Ron DeSantis, who has vowed to crack down on 'woke' literature in schools.

Last month, the potential-2024 candidate forged ahead with his initiative, putting thousands of books on the chopping block.

Thousands of books are now under review in the sunshine sate after being deemed contentious by DeSantis.

Officials say that more than 100 titles, including picture books like The Berenstain Bears and biographies of black and Hispanic historical figures, have already been pulled in parts of the state.

The books are under review based on several state laws that restrict classroom topics revolving around race, gender, and sexual orientation.

Laws that could spell the end for the books in classrooms include DeSantis' Stop WOKE Act and the Parental Rights in Education law - dubbed the 'Don't Say Gay' bill by detractors.
Two protestors have been jailed for contempt of court after they defied an order not to refer to climate change as their motivation for blocking traffic in the City of London.

Dorset councillor Giovanna Lewis, 65, and horticultural worker Amy Pritchard, 37, along with screenwriter Paul Sheeky, 46, glued themselves to the road between Bishopsgate and Wormwood Street in October 2021.

Lewis and Pritchard were jailed for seven weeks after they ignored the order issued by Judge Silas Reid during their trial at Inner London Crown Court.

Last month, another Insulate Britain protester David Nixon was given an eight week prison sentence, also for defying Judge Reid's orders.

Judge Reid said the trial was not about climate change, but whether the protesters caused a public nuisance.

Insulate Britain activists Amy Pritchard, 37, and Giovanna Lewis, 65, outside Inner London Crown Court today

Lewis and Pritchard were among activists (pictured) who glued themselves to the road between Bishopsgate and Wormwood Street in October 2021

Policemen carry an Insulate Britain activist during the protest on October 25 2021

But Lewis was unrepentant and told the court today: 'I continue to be astonished that in a British court of law a judge can or would want to ban or criminalize the mention of the words "fuel poverty" or "climate crisis".

'There are thousands of deaths every year in the UK from fuel poverty, and thousands of deaths around the world due to climate change. There is no choice but to give voice to truth and to not be silenced.

'I always believed that courts and judges would encourage this truth. I now see how naive I have been.'

Pritchard said: 'History shows that the law is not always in line with justice. I cannot and will not follow your rulings.

'Possibly billions of people in tropical parts of the world will be unable to live in those places during my lifetime.

'We are turning these parts of the world into sacrifice zones. We are staring total ecosystem collapse in the face.

'Lack of political action means that ordinary people have to act. I don't understand why there is no urgency from those in power.'

Referring to the judge she added: 'And I include you in that.'

Last month another Insulate Britain protester David Nixon (pictured) was given an eight week prison sentence, also for defying Judge Reid's orders

Lewis, Pritchard and Sheeky were among 25 arrested after the protest in October 2021 (pictured) while experts had to clear solvents from the streets that had been used to remove superglue

Jailing the two protesters Judge Reid said: 'You each breached my rulings in your closing addresses to the jury.

'You have each been given the opportunity to apologise. Neither of you took that opportunity.

'My ruling was made because there was no relevance to the matters that the jury needed to decide.

'The public have rights as well as protesters. 'You each had disdain for the judicial process.'

READ MORE: Insulate Britain protester glued his face to the road as climate change activists brought chaos to City of London, court hears Advertisement

Lewis, from Portland, Pritchard, of Walthamstow, east London and Sheeky, of Warrington, all denied causing a public nuisance.

Jurors trying the three Insulate Britain protestors at Inner London crown court were unable to reach a verdict and the judge blamed the defendants.

He told them: 'You really went on until there was no chance of reaching a verdict.'

The prosecution will announce whether there will be a retrial on March 31.

The three were part of a large group of Insulate Britain protestors who glued themselves to the road, bringing rush hour traffic to a standstill on October 25 2021.

Lewis, Pritchard and Sheeky were among 25 arrested while experts had to clear solvents from the streets that had been used to remove superglue.

Judge Reid had ruled that the defendants could not refer to climate change as their motivation for blocking the road in their defence.

He said it was 'not a trial about climate change or fuel poverty'.

In his closing speech to the jury, Sheeky had tried to defend the public nuisance charge in accordance with the judge's order.

He said: 'There is no real evidence being presented of someone being stuck in traffic for 40 minutes, if there was and they were so annoyed by this why haven't they come forward to give evidence?

'I was out of the road by 8:49 am the road was fully clear by 8:55. According to TFL the incident was not yet severe... no buses had to be diverted.

'So, what stopped [the road] being open?... A police van, they could have parked in numerous places without blocking the road.

Police officers detain an 'Insulate Britain' protester who was part of the demonstration blocking Upper Thames Street

Insulate Britain protestors block London's Liverpool Street as part of their demonstration

'Remember this was October 2021 when things were still not back to 'business as usual' due to covid 19 pandemic... more people were working from home and less taking public transport.

'Even if 5,6, or 7,000 people were affected that is still 0.1 per cent of the population of London.

'20 minutes out of the 960 minutes [we are awake] in the day is only 2.08 per cent of the day.

'I was there to get dramatic attention from the media and as a screenwriter I knew that would mean creating a dramatic situation.'
A worker at New York's Israeli consulate was charged with attempted murder after allegedly battering a man with a giant glass jug outside a Manhattan nightclub.

Jounathan Maimon, 24, is said to have rampaged with the 1.75 liter glass bottle after a trip to Gospel nightclub in SoHo on February 26, striking a 42 year-old man in the head.

The victim, who hasn't been named, was approached by an unidentified man cops say is Maimon while standing at a traffic light, waiting for it to change.

Maimon - whose role at the consulate was not disclosed - is then accused of striking his victim hard once in the head, prompting the man to fall to the ground in an attack described as unprovoked.

That didn't stop the attack, with the man cops say is Maimon seen striking his victim another six times.

The attacker said to be Maimon only stopped when the glass bottle shattered after landing the seventh blow.

NYPD investigators say this is Israeli consulate worker Jounatham Maimon during a bare-chested rampage in SoHo which saw him batter a man with the glass jug seen here in his right hand seven times

Jounathan Maimon is pictured, left, outside Manhattan criminal court Friday after being freed on $25,000 bail on an attempted murder charge

Paramedics rushed the victim to Bellevue Hospital, where he was treated for a brain bleed and multiple cuts, according to the NYPD.

Maimon is further accused of using the same jug to smash the window of a passing Uber moments before the orgy of violence began.

A NYPD spokesman said they have a 'strong case' against the consulate worker, who was captured on CCTV in Gospel nightclub shortly before the attack.

Prosecutors say they have credit card receipts from Gospel proving that Maimon was there.

It's unclear if Maimon met his alleged victim inside the club prior to the beating, and if he remains employed by the Israeli consulate.

DailyMail.com has contacted the consulate for further comment.

The attack happened outside Gospel nightclub, pictured, in SoHo on February 26

Maimon stared at the ground as he was escorted away from the court by his lawyer David Gelfand. His demeanor was markedly different from video said to show him rampaging through SoHo with a giant glass jug last month

Further details on Maimon's role at the consulate haven't been disclosed, and it's unclear if he's been suspended from duty in the wake of the attack

Footage recorded from a cab, and released by the NYPD shows a man who strongly resembles Maimon strutting down the street while toting the empty glass container.

A white stretch limo was filmed idling behind the attacker, who had pulled his white t-shirt over his shoulders to expose his tattooed torso.

It's unclear - if anything - what prompted Maimon's alleged violent rage.

He appeared meek and shame-faced outside Manhattan Criminal Court on Friday, as he was freed on $25,000 bail.

Maimon dressed in a white shirt and gray pea coat to fend off the winter chill, and kept his eyes fixed on the sidewalk while being snapped by a DailyMail.com photographer.

He was flanked by his lawyer David Gelfand.

Maimon faces between five and 25 years behind bars if convicted on the attempted murder charge.

He was charged as felony assaults rocketed in the Big Apple.

A total of 3,293 such attacks so-far in 2023, a sizeable jump from the 3,780 recorded for the same period last year.
Salesforce CEO Marc Benioff has said he canceled dramatic plans to slash the bottom 5% of the company's workforce each year, after protests from staffers who found the proposal 'triggering'.

Benioff spoke out in an interview with the Wall Street Journal this week, outlining the Silicon Valley giant's cost-cutting moves as it grapples with growth that has slowed dramatically in recent quarters.

Salesforce slashed 8,000 jobs in January, or 10% of its workforce, and has dramatically scaled back pandemic-era perks such as wellness retreats and specialty baristas at its San Francisco headquarters.

'It's an unfortunate part that you have to say goodbye to folks who, in many cases, are your friends and you have relationships with,' Benioff told the Journal. 'But, ultimately, the success of the business has to be paramount.'

Salesforce CEO Marc Benioff has said he canceled dramatic plans to slash the bottom 5% of the company's workforce each year, even as he pushes other cost-cutting measures

Salesforce cut ties with Trailblazer Ranch, a 75-acre wellness retreat where employees enjoyed hiking and yoga alongside training activities

Last month at an executive retreat, Benioff proposed a new ranking system to rate all employees based on metrics including their impact on revenue, with the intention of culling the bottom 5% each year.

However, he scrapped the ranking plan, telling the Journal that workers 'made a very passionate case that that is not a culture that they want to bring to Salesforce.'

Executives who had previously worked at companies with similar annual ranking systems, such as Microsoft, found the plan 'triggering,' said Benioff.

Salesforce, a cloud business software provider that saw booming growth during the pandemic, has now cut back on many of the wellness-centered perks it offered over the past few years, as it faces slowing growth.

For the past several years, the company offered salespeople a 'well-being day' of extra paid time off each year, a perk that ended in January.

Salesforce has also axed some specialty baristas from its San Francisco HQ, some of whom are seen working there shortly after the 68-floor tower opened in 2018

At Salesforce Tower, the company headquarters, some of the specialty-coffee baristas have been let go.

The company also cut ties with Trailblazer Ranch, a 75-acre wellness retreat where employees enjoyed hiking and yoga alongside training activities.

The Journal also revealed that Salesforce is paying actor Matthew McConaughey $10 million a year to serve as a 'creative advisor' despite the recent cutbacks.

McConaughey is receiving compensation in a mix of cash and equity.

Salesforce paid McConaughey $5 million to star a Super Bowl ad last year, which featured the actor in an astronaut suit aboard a hot-air balloon.

When asked about the expense of hiring hiring McConaughey, Benioff told the WSJ that his salary and compensation paled in comparison with his company's 70,000-person payroll.

McConaughey's remuneration was significant enough that it required a green light from the Salesforce compensation committee.

Salesforce has begun axing perks at its global HQ in San Francisco - the 61-story Salesforce Tower

Benioff had once been known for referring to staff as 'ohana' or family. 'Layoffs are always hard,' he told the WSJ.

'You can continue to keep a company going with excess employees, but it's not healthy for the company,' he added.

'If you don't have a performance culture, and you don't operate the company with that kind of efficacy, you're not doing anybody any favors.'

In January the business-software provider said that 'the environment remains challenging and our customers are taking a more measured approach to their purchasing decisions.'

Salesforce hired aggressively during the first two years of the pandemic as companies purchased products in order to pivot to remote work. The company also acquired the popular work message application Slack at the time.

In recent months, several activist investors including Elliott Management and Starboard Value have raised concerns about slowing growth at Salesforce, and have been pushing for changes.

On Wednesday, Salesforce surprised investors by forecasting first-quarter revenue above analysts' estimates and doubled its share repurchase to $20 billion.

The upbeat forecast and fourth-quarter results that beat analysts' estimates pushed the shares of the cloud-based software provider up 13.8% for the week that ended on Friday.

They also got a boost from Benioff's statement that the company would integrate artificial intelligence into all of its cloud as well as Slack, data analytics platform Tableau and MuleSoft platform.

'I think this (fourth) quarter does buy Salesforce some time with the activists,' said RBC analyst Rishi Jaluria.
The architect behind Congress' last successful criminal justice reform bill said that President Biden is 'right' not to veto the GOP-led D.C. crime bill that overrides local law.

On Thursday President Biden took Congress by surprise in announcing he would not block changes to Washington, D.C.'s new criminal code - just days after his administration blasted the proposal as a violation of 'home rule.'

'I mean, honestly, it's the right thing to do,' Ja'Ron Smith, the highest-ranking black Trump aide and former head of the Office of American Innovation, told DailyMail.com in an interview.

'The way that DC was doing it is the wrong way to do,' said Smith, one of the key leaders on the First Step Act.

Smith, a D.C.-area resident, said he had 'huge concerns' with the city's crime bill, which overwhelmingly bested a veto from Mayor Muriel Bowser. 'It's another example of progressive individuals out of touch with these communities, creating incentives for more crime.'

The citywide legislation would nix mandatory minimum sentencing and lower maximum penalties for crimes such as carjackings and robberies. It also allows nearly all misdemeanor charges the right to a jury trial.

'I think we need to be a lot more nuanced and how we handle the criminal justice system, specifically on nonviolent criminals,' Smith said.

I mean, honestly, it's the right thing to do,' Ja'Ron Smith, the highest-ranking black Trump aide and former head of the Office of American Innovation, told DailyMail.com in an interview

Sparse crowd at CPAC's second full day on Friday

'But there certainly needs to be a lot more accountability with violent criminals, but also our ways of thinking about crime prevention, by access to opportunity, by investing in police officers, and technology around policing.'

Some House Democrats said felt hoodwinked by the president, voting against the legislation because they believed the president would veto it. Progressives said Biden's veto would fly in the face of his push for D.C. statehood.

The First Step Act aimed to cut some federal sentences and improve conditions in federal prisons.

In a provision known as compassionate release, it was meant to free people who are terminally ill in federal prison or who pose little to no threat to society. However, data shows judges are roundly denying many compassionate release requests.

It also allowed those who were in federal prison for crack cocaine offenses and were sentenced prior to 2010.

Smith spoke with DailyMail.com ahead of speaking at the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC), a yearly gathering of the biggest names in conservative politics.

But a number of GOP heavyweights are notable absent this year - Speaker Kevin McCarthy and Senate GOP Leader Mitch McConnell are not on the agenda, and neither are potential 2024 candidates like Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis or Vice President Mike Pence, Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin or Sen. Tim Scott, R-S.C.

The yearly conference is usually a place for aspiring GOP stars to test their appeal with the base, raising questions over whether the conference's influence is waning as organizer Matt Schlapp is facing sexual assault allegations.

Smith said not to read into the absence of some big names.

'There's a lot of things going on at once, you know,' he said. 'There's other conventions that's happening around the country, and those are members that attend CPAC pretty regularly, so I wouldn't look at it that way.'

Growing up in Cleveland, Ohio surrounded by Democrats, Smith said he had been taught all Republicans are 'rich racists.'

'The way that DC was doing it is the wrong way to do,' said Smith, one of the key leaders on the First Step Act

'But I've always been a conservative I just didn't know it,' he said.

The former White House adviser finds himself at a crossroads, having worked for not only Trump but two other potential presidential contenders - Pence and Scott.

He said he hasn't given much thought to who he wants to see at the top of the ticket in 2024.

'I'm more so trying to do the work on the ground,' said Smith.

'What's most important, at least for my leadership, is regardless who comes out of that primary, that you're following that playbook that we use in the Trump administration, that's about empowering underserved communities,' he added.

'If we don't invest with them, if those individuals don't get access to the American dream, we got problems for years to come.'
A skin legion lesion removed from President Joe Biden's chest last month during his annual physical was cancerous, White House doctor Kevin O'Connor announced on Friday, but added no further treatment is needed.

'The biopsy confirmed that the small lesion was basal cell carcinoma. All cancerous tissue was successfully removed,' O'Connor wrote in a memo.

The 80-year-old president will continue to have regular skin screenings as part of his ongoing health care, but the biopsy site has 'healed nicely,' the White House physician added.

President Joe Biden had lesion removed from his chest during a February physical that was found to be cancerous - he is now cancer free; (above) he leaves the White House on Friday afternoon to head to Wilmington, Delaware

President Biden had the lesion removed from chest during his physical - above Biden on the beach in May 2009

Biden had 'several localized non-melanoma skin cancers' removed from his body before he started his presidency, O'Connor said in his Feb. 16 summary of the president's physical. He also acknowledged that Biden spent a lot of time in the sun in his youth.

In evaluating the president, O'Connor deemed him still physically fit for office and described Biden as 'healthy' and 'vigorous.'

On Friday afternoon, Biden left the White House to spend the weekend at his home in Wilmington, Delaware. Earlier that day, he met with German Chancellor Olaf Scholz to discuss the ongoing war in Ukraine.

The president is not the only member of the family to be diagnosed with skin cancer.

First lady Jill Biden in January had two basal cell lesions removed from her right eye and chest. All cancerous cells were removed.

The Bidens are fond of going to the beach and often wind down by spending time in the sun. The couple is also known to ride bikes frequently.

The president got his annual checkup before announcing potential plans to run for a second term in the White House.

At the time of the physical in February, O'Connor noted Biden had a lesion removed, and results would be available later.

President Joe Biden jogs back to the Oval Office after his annual physical on Feburary 16

O'Connor said Biden's gait 'remains stiff,' but noted it has not worsened since the president's last examination.

A detailed 'neurologic exam' also found nothing 'consistent with any cerebellar or central neurological disorder.'

Biden didn't receive a cognitive test despite some calls from Republicans for him to receive one. Republicans are questioning his fitness to run for office, which they are expected to use as a political issue in the next election.

Biden is already the oldest president in U.S. history, and if he wins another term, he will be 82 at the time of his second inauguration.
White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre was forced to respond to fierce criticism from within the Democratic tent about how President Biden got behind a Republican proposal to block changes to the D.C. criminal code after ripping it just weeks ago on self-governance grounds.

Her effort to explain Biden's posture  he said he would sign the measure if it cleared the Senate  came after House Democrats protested against both the turnaround and the mixed signals. She was grilled repeatedly on the official Statement of Administration Policy on the Republican resolution that would block the new D.C. law.

'One thing the president believes in is making sure that the streets in America and communities across the country are safe,' said Jean-Pierre. 'That includes D.C.'

He was against it before he was for it: White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre explained why President Biden would sign a Republican bill blocking changes to D.C.'s criminal code, despite a White House policy statement that he opposes a resolution doing so.

Indeed, the Statement of Administration Policy, known as a SAP, stated opposition to the resolution arguing on statehood and governance grounds  without taking a position on the substance of the D.C. law that the Republican-led House would overturn.

'Even earlier this week, many of you were asking me ... which direction the President was going to go. He never made that clear in that SAP. And I think as it was becoming  we always let the process and Congress go through,' she said.

'As it now looks like it was going to come to his desk, we wanted to communicate where we were going to go,' she said.

She also took some shots at the D.C. law, as Biden did Thursday, saying it 'doesn't actually reform policing practices. That's not something that it does, reform like the ones the President has put forward at the federal level,' she said.

If Biden chose to cast one, a veto would require a two-thirds majority in each chamber  though it might open up Biden to Republican accusations of being soft on crime.

Jean-Pierre's explanation  Biden supports statehood for D.C., which has 700,000 residents but not full representation in Congress  came as some House Democrats are boiling over at President Joe Biden's announcement.

Biden announced the change Thursday after a meeting with Senate Democrats where he got asked about it. He cited a policy dispute between D.C.'s Mayor Muriel Bowser and the City Council.

But that didn't satisfy some members of his own party who are accustomed to Republicans seeking to overturn local policy decisions but have counted on Democratic pledges to push D.C. statehood and protect local decision-making authority.

'The White House f***** this up royally,' one House Democrat told The Hill newspaper. The lawmaker said party leaders that Biden was prepared to veto the resolution of disapproval  which likely would have stopped the move.

D.C. delegate Eleanor Holmes Norton blasted Biden's decision to essentially allow Congress to nullify the city's laws for the first time in more than three decades

The OMB's Statement of Administration Policy ripped the resolution, saying 'This taxation without representation and denial of self-governance is an affront to the democratic values on which our Nation was founded'

Early last month, the White House Office of Management and Budget issued a Statement of Administration Policy opposing the move as a 'denial of self-governance.'

But with Democrats on the defensive on crime issues, amid poor polling and the defeat of Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot in a primary where crime was an issue, Biden opted not to be associated with a measure that would weaken some criminal sentences.

'So a lot of us who are allies voted no in order to support what the White House wanted. And now we are being hung out to dry,' the lawmaker continued,' the lawmaker vented via text. 'F****** AMATEUR HOUR. HEADS SHOULD ROLL OVER AT THE WHITE HOUSE OVER THIS.'

Also bashing the turnaround was progressive 'squad' member Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY).

'This ain't it. DC has a right to govern itself, like any other state or municipality. If the President supports DC statehood, he should govern like it,' she wrote in a rebuke.

'Plenty of places pass laws the President may disagree with. He should respect the people's gov of DC just as he does elsewhere,' she added.

D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser had vetoed the changes to the criminal code, only to be overridden by the city council

'This ain't it. DC has a right to govern itself, like any other state or municipality. If the President supports DC statehood, he should govern like it,' wrote Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) in a rebuke

Biden's decision to break with his party and the city on home rule comes amid rising concerns about crime

Some House Democratic lawmakers fumed after President Joe Biden announced he would sign a GOP-backed bill overriding a revised D.C. criminal code. Democratic lawmakers say the move violates home rule principles  and note that the White House was opposed to the bill when it came up in the House

Many lawmakers learned about the turnaround suddenly. A Senate bill advancing the move could come up next week.

'I support D.C. Statehood and home-rule  but I don't support some of the changes D.C. Council put forward over the Mayor's objections  such as lowering penalties for carjackings,' Biden tweeted.

'If the Senate votes to overturn what D.C. Council did  I'll sign it,' Biden wrote.

Rep. Pete Aguilar (D-Calif.) called the turnaround 'disappointing.'

'It's disappointing for me and anybody who believes in home rule, honestly. I'm a former mayor of a city of 70,000 and I wouldn't want the federal government coming in and telling me what city ordinances to pass.  So I think it's disappointing in that context.'

'It's smart politics. He was running into a buzzsaw,' Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., told reporters on Thursday. 'You don't want to get left of the DC mayor.'

Said D.C.'s Delegate Eleanor Holmes Norton, who learned about the change after it broke during a press conference: 'This is news to me, and I'm very disappointed in it, if he will not veto.'

She told the Washington Post: 'I hope that he continues to say that he will oppose it.'

Biden also irked statehood fans when it was reported his presidential limo, known as 'the Beast,' does not bear the city's 'Taxation without Representation' logo.

The OMB's Statement of Administration Policy stated: 'For far too long, the more than 700,000 residents of Washington, D.C. have been deprived of full representation in the U.S. Congress. This taxation without representation and denial of self-governance is an affront to the democratic values on which our Nation was founded.'

'While we work towards making Washington, D.C. the 51st state of our Union, Congress should respect the District of Columbia's autonomy to govern its own local affairs,' the OMB said.

There had been a clash within D.C.'s Democratic-dominated government.

The City Council last year approved changes that nixed some mandatory minimum sentences and reduced maximum sentences for robbery and burglary.

Bowser vetoed the plan, but the council overrode her veto.
A group of religious men marched down a busy street while reciting The Rosary as backlash continues to grow over the offensive joke about Jesus told by a comedian appearing on The Project.

Up to 30 men chanted the 'Lord's Prayer' and 'Hail Mary' as they were guided by police officers along King Street in Newtown, Sydney, on Friday night.

The intimidating display came as calls grow for The Project to be cancelled after gay comedian Reuben Kaye made an X-rated gag about Jesus on Tuesday.

'I love any man who can get nailed for three days straight and come back for more,' Kaye said in a gag the hosts were later forced to apologise for.

The joke led to media watchdog the Australian Broadcasting Authority Australian Communications Authority receiving 203 complaints.

A group of religious men marched down a busy street while reciting The Rosary as backlash continues to grow over The Project

The comment sparked outrage from the Muslim and Christian communities with the march along King Street the latest display of anger.

One of the marchers filmed the chant showing the group huddled close together with several wearing masks hiding their faces.

Diners were left visibly uncomfortable as they sat outside of the restaurants lining the street with their meals interrupted by the chanting.

The group of men stopped briefly to form a circle while they recited the 'Lord's Prayer'.

The group then continued on their march with several men seen wearing rosary beads around their necks.

A person at the front of the group is seen holding his rosary beads above his head.

Police officers escorted the group as they made their way along the busy street passing multiple LGBTQI venues and the train station.

Footage of the march was circulated on social media with some saying they were left unsettled by the group.

'Its easy for me to sit here two suburbs over and joke about how incredibly f***ing lame these guys are, but if I was out in Newtown tonight and saw this I would absolutely have felt threatened. This isn't a protest, it's intimidation,' one wrote.

Other social media users voiced their support but took issue with the location of the march.

'These prayers should have been outside Chanel 10 and Chanel 10 only,' one wrote.

'No need to lash at others. God bless and pray for their conversion.'

A NSW Police spokeswoman said no arrests were made following the incident.

One of the marchers filmed the chant showing the group huddled close together with several wearing masks hiding their facial features

The unsettling display came as calls grow for The Project to be cancelled after gay comedian Reuben Kaye made an X-rated gag about Jesus on Tuesday

'Police spoke with a group of about 30 people who marched along the footpath on King Street, Newtown, before dispersing just before 9pm,' she said.

'While we won't comment on specific individuals or groups, the community can be assured we continue to monitor activities and will take action where appropriate.'

The NSW Police spokeswoman said there were reports of an alleged assault at a venue but were investigating whether it was linked to anyone involved in the march.

'Officers attached to Inner West Police Area Command were told two men were involved in an altercation where one man was assaulted,' she said.

'He did not require medical treatment. Inquiries are continuing.'

The Australian Communications and Media Authority (ACMA) has revealed that it received hundreds of complaints from the public after The Project's lewd 'Jesus joke' caused widespread outrage.

In a statement to Daily Mail Australia on Friday, the media watchdog confirmed: 'The ACMA has received 203 inquiries about an episode of The Project broadcast on Tuesday 28 February 2023 featuring the comedian Reuben Kaye.

'Under the broadcasting co-regulatory system, complainants are directed to the broadcaster in the first instance.

'If a complainant does not receive a response from the broadcaster within 60 days, or is not satisfied with the response they do receive, they may refer their complaint to the ACMA for consideration.'
On a January evening two years ago, Pietro Addis dialled 999 and told the operator: Im calling to hand myself in. Asked what he had done, the 17-year-old simply replied: Theres been a murder.

When police arrived at the property, they found the naked body of a woman in a bloody bath. Sue Addis, 69, was the teenagers grandmother with whom he had been living in her 1.8 million Brighton home.

She had been stabbed 17 times, including suffering four wounds of such severity that each was life-threatening on its own.

Sue Addis had taken on a maternal role in Pietros life after he lost his mother to cancer when he was just six. And of all his family, he was said to have loved her the most.

All of which makes the events that unfolded in 2021 so incomprehensible.

Sue Addis, 69, was stabbed 17 times at her Brighton home in January 2021, including suffering four wounds of such severity that each was life-threatening on its own

Why Addis killed his grandmother formed the basis of a two-week trial at Lewes Crown Court that had one question at its heart: Was the teenager bad or mad?

In the months leading up to the killing, Addis had stopped taking the medication he had been prescribed to treat attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). He had also started smoking cannabis heavily, as well as taking other drugs including cocaine, MDMA, ketamine and Xanax, an anti-depressant.

Friends noticed a dramatic change in the teenagers behaviour. He often failed to turn up to work and became depressed, withdrawn and paranoid.

His concerned grandmother sought advice from a psychiatrist and elsewhere. On the day she died, she researched how to get him into the Priory chain of mental health and addiction clinics for treatment.

Prosecutors alleged that Addis, now 19, knew what he was doing when he attacked her, and that he did so in anger, previously becoming so enraged he would punch walls or even himself. One theory was that his gran might have suggested that he go for in-patient treatment, causing him to lash out.

Addis, who did not give evidence, admitted the killing but denied murder on the grounds of diminished responsibility, on the basis that he had been suffering from temporary paranoid psychosis.

Yesterday, the jury accepted the explanation, unanimously clearing him of murder. Addis was remanded in custody ahead of sentencing, with Judge Christine Laing KC describing the incident as a deeply sad and distressing case, and adding: Mrs Addis was a warm and generous person who was supportive of her family and would do anything for them.

Mrs Addis' grandson Pietro was later arrested by officers

Not only were her family her life  when her brother fell sick in Australia, she flew there to donate her bone marrow  they were also at the heart of a 6 million chain of Italian restaurants that made her one of Brightons most recognisable figures.

As the companys success grew, it became a cornerstone of the community, with donations to charities and sponsorship of Brighton and Hove Albion FC.

It also had an impressive celebrity clientele, frequented by the likes of Tony Blair, actor Bill Nighy and model Katie Price.

Born in 1939 on the island of Sardinia, Sues husband Pietro Addis Snr moved to the UK as a young man and spent more than a decade working at the Italian Embassy in London, promoting his countrys food and wine.

Identifying Brighton as the place to be, he opened his first restaurant in the city in 1967. Things really took off in the late 1980s when he and Sue opened two large restaurants  Pinocchio and Donatello.

When Pietro retired in 2004, he handed over the running of the business to ex-wife Sue and their three sons  Leo, Stefano and Mikele. By then, eldest son Leo had two children  daughter Carmen and Pietro Jnr.

The boys childhood was not easy. In 2009, his Spanish-born mother Ana, from whom his father had already split, died from cancer. Problems at school followed, where Addis displayed disruptive and unruly behaviour.

Like his sister, he attended 25,000-a-year Lancing Prep School but moved to Shoreham College, where, in 2018, he was diagnosed with ADHD.

He was prescribed the amphetamine-based drug, Elvanse, which appeared to help. But the following year Addis started to smoke cannabis, quickly increasing his use until he was smoking one or two joints almost every day.

By early 2020, he had withdrawn from friendship groups, spending most of his time in his room or on the phone, and failing to turn up at work and college. His grandmother, with whom he lived on and off, did her best.

But she confided in friends that the amount of weed he was smoking was becoming a major problem. In October 2020, she emailed Dr Daphne Keen, the psychologist who had diagnosed Addis with ADHD, spelling out her concerns.

He is suffering paranoia and we are all getting annoyed with him rather than helping, she wrote. He still says he cant do anything without the Elvanse but with the weed as well he has become impossible to reason with. Can you please advise where we go from here as I dont want the situation to become completely out of control.

Dr Keen replied, saying she felt he and the family need some careful and skilled counselling with a therapist who has the right experience. She recommended a couple of names to try.

In the meantime, things deteriorated further. With Addis failing to attend college or work, his father took his ADHD medication away, the court heard. Leo believed the medicine was largely to blame for his sons problems and flushed it down the toilet, leading to rows.

His friend George Cameron also noticed a change in Addis in the six months preceding Sues death. He said he had become negative and despondent and seemed paranoid. He understood Addis was also taking Xanax as well as Adderall, an ADHD medication.

By then the teenager had moved in with his grandmother permanently, following an argument with his stepmother at the family home shortly after Christmas.

On the day of the killing, Addis told his father that people were following him. After returning home from work at Donatellos, his grandmother began searching online for treatment for him.

What happened next is unclear, but defence psychiatrist Dr Peter Misch told the court that after his arrest Addis had told him he had become paranoid five months before the incident, and had been suffering from crippling anxiety.

The psychiatrist told the court that in his opinion at the time of the killing, Addis was suffering from transient psychosis  which only lasted a short time and resolved without medication.

But Dr Duncan Harding, a psychiatrist who gave evidence on behalf of the prosecution, said he did not find any abnormal mental function that might explain Addiss conduct. The jury took just six hours to find Addis not guilty of murder. He will be sentenced for manslaughter in May.

In a tragic twist, Pietro Snr  who remained close to his ex-wife  died aged 83 in March last year. As for Sue, a memorial bench sits in a park close to her home. It bears a plaque and words that perfectly echo the feelings of all who knew her: Sue Addis  Simply The Best.
The deaths of two men drugged and assaulted at a New York City gay bar were homicides, according to the medical examiner's officer.

In both cases, the men were was last seen leaving gay bars in Hell's Kitchen with strangers before they were found dead of a suspected drug overdose with fraudulent charges on their cards.

They are believed to have been targeted by thieves who drugged them to empty their bank accounts, before leaving the victims to die.

John Umberger, 33, a Washington, DC, political consultant disappeared in May 2022 and Julio Ramirez, 25, vanished in April 2022 after a night out in Hell's Kitchen. Both were later found dead.

The Chief Medical Examiner's said the cause of death was 'drug-facilitated theft,' NBC News reported.

Both men died from 'acute intoxication' from the same lethal cocktail 'fentanyl, p-fluorofentanyl, cocaine, lidocaine and ethanol.' Ramirez also had 'heroin' in his system, the medical examiner revealed.

John Umberger, 33, a Washington, DC, political consultant was the victim of a homicide after leaving a gay bar in Hell's Kitchen May of 2022. Umberger had been in New York on business

Julio Ramirez, 25, was a social worker from New York was another victim killed in April 2022 after a night out in Hell's Kitchen. He was found dead in the back of a taxi

Q Bar was one of the gay bars the men went to in Hell's Kitchen before they turned up dead.

Ramirez, who was a social worker, was found dead in the back of a taxi before his bank acount was emptied out after a night out at Ritz Bar and Lounge.

Umberger, who has been in New York on business was staying at an apartment on the Upper Eastside where he was found deceased.

When DailyMail.com reached out to the NYPD to find out if there have been further assaults they did not respond.

But, in November, police said they believe their Umberger and Ramirez deaths are part of a pattern and continue to investigate similar robbery patterns where victims were given drugs in Manhattan bars before being assaulted, robbed.

Linda Clary, Umberger's mother told CBS News she was 'relieved' that people are putting the pieces together.

'To me the greatest tragedy would be labeling someone's death an overdose when that is not what happened.'

But, she also expressed her concern for others who may fall victim.

'People are still getting hurt because these people are still potentially out there,' she said.

Police believe their deaths were part of a pattern with more than a dozen other victims who survived.

In each, case investigators believe a group of four men approach the victims by offering them drugs, and then after drugging them steal their cell phone and electronically transfer money out of their accounts.

This investigation has led to a second pattern with different suspects and possibly involving five more overdose deaths, the news outlet reported.

In these cases the suspects befriend their victims inside bars where they offer them drugs or slip in their drinks before stealing money, phones and jewelry by force.

Sources: NYPD investigating similar robbery patterns where victims were given drugs in Manhattan bars before being assaulted, robbed. The rings may be connected with 7 overdose deaths. @CBSNewYork https://t.co/lXsNo8D8ct pic.twitter.com/h89aP24ZvN  Ali Bauman (@AliBaumanTV) November 23, 2022

Linda Clary pictured with her son John

Umbergers body was found on June 1 in the Midtown Manhattan townhouse (pictured) where he was staying

Erick Bottcher, a New York City Council member, whose district includes Hell's Kitchen, called on Manhattan District Attorney's office to move forward with charges immediately.

'We demand justice for the people who murdered Julio Ramirez and John Umberger,' Bottcher said in a text message, the news outlet reported.

'As we approach the one-year anniversary of their murders, the pain experienced by their families, friends and our entire community has only been exacerbated by the fact that their killers have not been brought to Justice.'

A spokesperson with the District Attorney's office told DailyMail.com on Friday that 'the investigation is ongoing.'
A 31-year-old Colorado woman won't see the inside of a prison cell despite admitting to having sex with a 13-year-old boy in June 2022.

It later emerged that Andrea Serrano had become pregnant as a result of the sexual assault on the minor. She was freed shortly after her original arrest in July of last year on a $70,000 bond.

The Fountain Police Department had charged Serrano with sexual assault on a child by one in a position of trust, as well as sexual assault on a child. Investigators said that Serrano admitted to the relationship.

On Friday, it was widely reported that Serrano's lawyers had come to a plea deal with prosecutors that will force her to register as a sex offender but means she will avoid prison.

Since her arrest, Serrano has given birth to the teen's baby. The child is in her care. His family are planning to petition the courts to gain custody. The victim is now 14 years old.

Andrea Serrano is accused of having a 'mother figure' relationship with the 13-year-old she assaulted

As part of her plea agreement, Serrano will be put on probation and is forced to register as a sex offender

Serrano was first questioned by police after a therapist found out and came forward with the allegations. After being interviewed by the Fountain Police Department, Serrano confessed to her crimes.

'He looked at her like a mother figure and even called her "mom" before,' according to the criminal affidavit in the case, cited by the Colorado Springs Gazette.

'I feel like my son is robbed of his childhood. Now hes having to be a father. Hes a victim, and hes going to have to live with that for the rest of his life,' the victim's mother told KKTV after the plea deal was made public.

'I feel like if she was a man and he was a little girl, it would definitely be different. They would be seeking more. I feel like because he is not a woman, they are not. They are having compassion for her,' she added.

At the time of her arrest, KOAA reported that Serrano and her victim were living together for a time.

'I feel like my son is robbed of his childhood. Now hes having to be a father. Hes a victim, and hes going to have to live with that for the rest of his life,' the victim's mother told KKTV

The victim's actual mother told the Gazette that she spoke with the judge in the case prior to the plea deal being accepted to voice her displeasure.

KKTV's report says that Serrano's plea deal is to lesser charges and that the a judge could still sentence her to 10 years to life of 'sex offender intensive supervised probation.'

Serrano is facing a hearing in May that will determine the length of her probation.

The Gazette reports that the 'lesser charge' is one of incest, a class four felony in Colorado.

Prior to her probation hearing, Serrano is also due in court in March and is facing two additional misdemeanor charges for violating the terms of a restraining order.

The town of Fountain is located just south of Colorado Springs.
Last September an 11-year-old boy called Alfie came home from his new school and began to chat about the day.

What the small child, still in his maroon uniform, revealed to his parents was shocking.

That Thursday, he had been chucked out of class by his teacher for being rude to a guest speaker at his comprehensive on the Isle of Man.

His crime? Alfie had dared to challenge the view of the visitor, a local drag queen, who told his class in a sex education lesson overseen by a male teacher that human beings have 73 genders.

I said there were only two genders, Alfie said. The teacher said I had upset the guest and I was told to leave the classroom, then threatened with isolation. His astounded father and mother complained immediately to the school, saying their son was being unfairly punished for politely expressing his opinion.

That Thursday, Alfie had been chucked out of class by his teacher for being rude to a guest speaker at his comprehensive on the Isle of Man. File image

All Relationship and Sex Education lessons at the Queen Elizabeth II school are currently on hold

Since that moment, all hell has been let loose on the small island of 84,000 British citizens in the Irish Sea. Education chiefs have put on hold all Relationship and Sex Education lessons at the Queen Elizabeth II school, while an inquiry has been launched into what parents say were graphic and indecent classes wholly unsuitable for children fresh out of their primaries.

What began as an unfortunate classroom incident in a small outpost of Britain has spiralled into a national row which puts a spotlight on the nature of sex education lessons in some of our state schools which take place often against parents wishes and sometimes without their say-so or knowledge.

Alfies mother is appalled by what her son was being taught. This week, in her first interview, she told the Mail: We think Alfie was very brave to speak out. We want him to grow up a confident young man and if he doesnt agree with something, we encourage him respectfully to express his opinion.

Shes chosen to remain anonymous to protect her family, allowing only Alfies first name to be published. He had only started at big secondary school two weeks before, she added.

At his young age, he should not be reprimanded for believing that genders are purely male and female. It is not an appropriate punishment, nor fair.

Alfie, meanwhile, has become something of a hero. As news leaked out of his brave stand via social media and radio stations on the Isle of Man, his family received hundreds of supportive messages by phone and via the internet from all over the world.

Some have sent texts anonymously saying simply: Well done, Alfie.

Only one was hostile, telling Alfies parents: How dare you not apologise for your sons bad behaviour at school.

With a rueful smile, his articulate and attractive mother said she told her son on Thursday as the messages poured in: Alfie youve gone viral.

But this is far more serious than a row over a drag queen, she told me as we spoke at a restaurant on the island. It goes deeper than that, she said.

Some children will be scarred by what they are being told in sex education lessons that were introduced without parents being told.

It emerged this week that, under a new headmistress, Queen Elizabeth II High School (QE2) brought in a new curriculum covering sex education at the start of the academic year in September.

The lessons are said to include videos on topics such as successful masturbation, how a girl should roll a condom onto a male partner, intimate details of oral and anal sex, as well as discussion on transgender issues with graphic details of sex change operations showing the creation of false male genitalia.

As I discovered, some parents consider this all to be tantamount to nothing less than pornography.

The syllabus, on offer by the islands education department to all five secondaries, has not been adopted by all of them.

One head said they put it in the office file where it remains. Another senior teacher in charge of 11-year-olds lessons has refused to introduce it, according to parents and local parish councillors (known here as commissioners).

Mothers and fathers of children at QE2 and its feeder primary schools have now sent a 1,000-signature petition to education chiefs asking for an explanation about what their children have been learning in the lessons.

As one commissioner, Eliza Cox, a Londoner and mother of two who is married to a lawyer and moved to the island 15 years ago, told us this week: Our children are being taught about porn at 11 years old just after leaving primary school. The state, here and in the UK, drums into parents that we should look after our kids going online, put on all the safety features, watch them at all times.

Then we send them to school where they see it all anyway.

Eliza, in her 40s, has found herself spearheading the parents protest. Many of the children in her island parish go to QE2, although her 11-year-old son goes to a private school on the island so is insulated from the row.

Her daughter, aged nine, is at primary school with classmates due to go to QE2 this autumn or the following year, however.

Eliza has taken up the fight against the graphic sex lessons with alacrity. Many parents are afraid of speaking out publicly because they fear online trolling or being accused of homophobia or transphobia, she said.

I have a thick skin. I dont worry about that. This is about protecting our children.

Over the last three weeks she has heard a litany of truly alarming stories from children who have attended the sex education lessons.

Yesterday the number of signatures on the petition complaining to QE2s headmistress, Mrs Charlotte Clarke (pictured), was continuing to grow

It all began in early February when she bumped into another mother in the local supermarket where the two women stopped to chat. She was rushing around because her 12-year-old daughter at QE2 was off school, recalls Eliza. I asked if anything was wrong with her. The mother said her daughter was refusing to go to school, having a real meltdown, because it was a sex education lesson that day.

The mums story was that her child had already been to one such lesson. She was asked to stand with a group of boys she didnt get on with, hold a wooden dildo and put a condom on it.

Eliza goes on: The daughter, sensitive and highly intelligent, was mortified, deeply embarrassed. She will remember that all her life and it may affect her relationships later on.

But, more was to come. Eliza duly went off to pick up her daughter from school soon afterwards. There she was told by other parents that children were being taught how to masturbate at QE2. Another parent said to me thats nothing. They are learning about oral and anal sex too. I thought this cant be true.

Now she knows that it was all too true  and happening on the Isle of Man, one of the safest and most gentle areas of Britain where locking your front door is an after-thought and a lost wallet is invariably returned.

She suspects the entire curriculum at the school is tinged with an enthusiasm for no-holds-barred sex education.

On Tuesday, Eliza says, the subject got more than a mention in a science lesson on reproduction.

A mother rang me horrified about her daughter of 11 coming home after the lesson and asking her if she could get pregnant through her mouth or her bum,  she says. The subject of oral and anal sex had obviously been discussed by the teacher even though these were very young children.

Worse was to follow, if that seems possible. Eliza received an email from the same mother, which we have her permission to publish, about the same science lesson.

Its highly shocking content was as follows: My daughter came home yesterday asking me to clarify what the word c**t means.

She had learned the word from her science teacher at school during the day. Her class was asked if they could suggest alternative words for sex and the reproductive parts of the human body. The terms f***, oral, anal and finger sex were also mentioned and written up on the board. C**t was not suggested by any of the pupils. The teacher taught it to my daughter and the other children.

The mothers email warned: The sex education curriculum (at QE2) may be paused, but the content is still being taught across other subjects. The same science lesson is due to continue this Friday.

Yesterday the number of signatures on the petition complaining to QE2s headmistress, Mrs Charlotte Clarke, was continuing to grow. The petition insists that what the school has been teaching 11 and 12-year-olds is wholly unacceptable and unsafe, alleging it places children at risk of harm from graphic, indecent presentation of sexual acts and gender identities, including images of transgender operations.

It warns that in any other walk of life the things which children say they have been shown in class would be deemed indecent with serious consequences under the law for those adults involved.

We consider the alleged actions of showing graphic images of sex-change operations (on a mobile phone to young pupils) an issue of child protection. The attendance of a drag queen in class inappropriate. How and why was this guest speaker, an untrained adult, permitted to discuss gender issues with a child audience?

One father, Matthew Cheetham, 34, who helped draw up the petition, has an 11-year-old girl at QE2 as well as a boy of seven at primary school and due to go there.

He told the Mail that hundreds of children had come forward telling identical stories about their classes since the sex education curriculum was introduced in September. It is clear from the sheer volume, that what theyre telling their parents day after day when they come home is true.

The software engineer related how he was at a dinner recently with family and friends when they received an unwelcome surprise. One of the QE2 11-year-olds in the group said: We talked about anal at school today.

Matthew said: There were younger children at the meal, so they then wanted to know what anal meant. Some of these are children who eight months ago believed in Father Christmas. They were innocent when they arrived at the school last September. That didnt last long because a teacher at QE2 told my child, and others, that Father Christmas wasnt real anyway.

The school, added Matthew, had personally apologised by phone on Thursday to parents over the science lesson, admitting in essence that the unfortunate events had taken place.

Meanwhile, the islands Chief Minister Alfred Cannon said this week he wanted to find out exactly what went on during QE2s relationship and sexual education classes since their September start amid concerning and conflicting reports.

Neither his officials nor the school will identify the drag queen who, say children, boasted of being number one on the island. But under growing pressure from islanders, the Manx government has appointed a lawyer and a former policeman to run an independent investigation into the parents and pupils allegations.

For her part, the head teacher of QE2, Charlotte Clarke, supports the investigation.

I am confident that there is false and inaccurate information being shared, she said. For openness and transparency, I requested an independent review to ensure the facts. I am happy to take part in the independent external investigation. The safeguarding of our students is paramount.

A spokesperson for the islands Department of Education said: The safeguarding and wellbeing of all our students is of paramount importance. Following concerns being raised around the relationships and sex education (RSE) curriculum, the Department has paused RSE lessons in all primary and secondary schools, while an external independent investigation is carried out.

But this is unlikely to calm the anger from families who were kept in the dark about the lessons. As the redoubtable Eliza said: Parents have the right to take children out of sex education classes. But if you dont know they are being taught, how can you?

It is the secrecy that has really lit the touch paper. It gives you the frightening feeling the state is taking over and parents have no say.

Then, shaking her head, she wonders what will happen next. Will they be teaching 11-year-olds about how to have Greek orgies or conduct Viking sacrifices?
If aliens exist within our solar system, Saturn's icy moon Enceladus is considered to be one of the most likely worlds to harbour them.

Although the satellite's surface is freezing cold, experts know there is a lot of activity going on beneath it, in part because of the discovery of hydrothermal vents in its vast, underground ocean that could provide the heat needed to give life a chance.

What they were less clear about, however, is how icy minerals and 'vital nutrients' that could provide the building blocks for life go from the moon's seafloor to circling Saturn as part of its 'e' ring.

Now planetary scientists at the University of California Los Angeles (UCLA) believe they have solved the mystery of how this process works and the length of time it takes.

The experts said that as Saturn's sixth largest moon orbits the gas giant, the latter's enormous gravitational influence creates tidal forces that squash and squeeze Enceladus' frozen core.

Extraterrestrials? If aliens exist within our solar system, Saturn's icy moon Enceladus is considered to be one of the most likely worlds to harbour them

Discovery: Planetary scientists at the University of California Los Angeles have modelled how minerals go from the moon's seafloor to the surface, before being jetted into space by geysers

This deformation generates friction that heats the bottom of its ocean, in turn creating strong currents that can carry icy particles of silica from the seafloor toward the surface via hydrothermal vents.

Here, they are then jetted into space, along with huge quantities of water vapour and other organic compounds, by geysers within 'tiger stripe' features near the moon's south pole.

WHY IS ENCELADUS SO EXCITING? Enceladus is Saturn's sixth largest moon, at 313 miles wide (504 kilometres). It is an icy satellite with hydrothermal activity - a rare combination - with vents spewing water vapour and ice particles out from a global ocean buried beneath the moon's frozen crust. A handful of worlds are thought to have liquid water oceans beneath their frozen shell, but only Enceladus sprays its ocean out into space, where a spacecraft can sample it. According to Nasa observations, the plume includes organic compounds, volatile gases, carbon dioxide, carbon monoxide, salts, and silica. Microbes on our planet either produce these compounds or use them for growth, leading some to speculate that tiny organisms live in Enceladus's hidden ocean. This means that while Enceladus may look 'inhospitable' like Saturn's other moons, it is a prime candidate in our search for alien life. Advertisement

This material eventually goes on to form one of Saturn's famous rings.

'Our research shows that these flows are strong enough to pick up materials from the seafloor and bring them to the ice shell that separates the ocean from the vacuum of space,' said UCLA doctoral student Ashley Schoenfeld.

'The tiger-stripe fractures that cut through the ice shell into this subsurface ocean can act as direct conduits for captured materials to be flung into space. Enceladus is giving us free samples of what's hidden deep below.'

Until now, scientists had not understood the process that swept this silica  one of the most common minerals in the Earth's crust  up into the geysers of the sixth-largest of Saturn's 83 known moons.

Previous studies had also disputed the length of time it took. One said months to years, while another said weeks to months, but the new study believes it is somewhere in between and takes a matter of months.

The fact that there is heat emanating from Enceladus' core keeps the water in its ocean from freezing, while also creating fissures in the seafloor through which heat escapes from the moon's interior.

Evidence of these hydrothermal vents was uncovered by NASA's Cassini spacecraft during its visit to Saturn between 2004 to 2017.

Previous research has suggested that the heat from Enceladus's interior should generate vertical convection currents in the ocean, similar to those seen on Earth, so Schoenfeld and her colleagues delved deeper.

The researchers analysed Enceladus' orbit, ocean, and geological features using data collected by Cassini and created a model involving those currents to try to understand how silica was transported from the seafloor into the vacuum of space.

'It's like boiling a pot on a stove. Tidal friction adds heat to the ocean and causes upwelling currents of warm water,' Schoenfeld said.

Spectacle: This material eventually goes on to form one of Saturn's famous rings (pictured)

Process: Deformation of Enceladus' frozen core generates friction that heats the bottom of its ocean, in turn creating strong currents that can carry icy particles of silica from the seafloor toward the surface through hydrothermal vents (pictured)

'Our model provides further support to the idea that convective turbulence in the ocean efficiently transports vital nutrients from the seafloor to ice shell,' added study co-author Emily Hawkins, an assistant professor of physics at Loyola Marymount University.

The research is exciting because it offers more clues about how these hydrothermal vents work and what might be hiding in or at them.

On Earth, they are teaming with life, even beyond the reach of sunlight.

These organisms feed on minerals released by the vents and rely on a chemosynthetic food web rather than the more common photosynthetic processes that use sunlight.

This is why scientists are so excited by the idea of Enceladus possibly harbouring life, even though it is far from the sun and its ocean floor receives no sunlight whatsoever.

Evidence of these hydrothermal vents was uncovered by NASA's Cassini spacecraft during its visit to Saturn between 2004 to 2017

Professor David Rothery, of the Open University, told MailOnline that microbes could feed off the chemical energy produced by reactions between water and hot rock.

He added: 'It doesn't matter that sunlight can't penetrate to those depths  we have similar "chemosynthetic life" clustered around hydrothermal vents on Earth's sunless ocean floors too.

'If there are microbes, maybe some more complex forms of life have evolved that eat the microbes.'

The UCLA researchers hope their findings could help guide future NASA missions that would fly past, orbit and even land on Enceladus.

These could in turn gather data that allows scientists to further investigate the moon's hydrothermal vents to see if there are any signs of life surrounding them.

The research has been published in Communications Earth & Environment.
Experts have recommended drinking out of glass or metal bottles due to growing fears that tiny plastic particles may wreak havoc on our health.

Dr Luisa Campagnolo, an expert in histology and embryology at the University of Rome Tor Vergata, warned there is mounting evidence that micro and nano-plastics are ending up in human tissue.

Previous studies have shown microscopic particles  a byproduct of the degradation of plastic  can end up in the human bloodstream and even the placenta.

But a new study in rats, presented at the American Association for the Advancement of Science's annual conference, shows ingested plastics can end up in the organs of the foetus itself.

'There are indications that most likely the foetus is a target for plastic particles, because the placenta is,' Dr Campagnolo, who was not involved in the study, said.

Experts have recommended drinking out of glass or metal bottles due to growing fears that tiny plastic particles may wreak havoc on our health (stock image)

Microplastics used in food packaging and paint are found in live human VEINS for the first time - READ MORE Microplastics are tiny pieces of plastic less than 0.2 of an inch (5mm) in diameter - some so small that they're not even visible to the naked eye (file photo) Advertisement

'I would avoid stuffing the placenta with plastic particles, in order not to have the foetus affected.'

Previous research has suggested plastic particles that penetrate human tissue can impact the production of certain hormones and may therefore impair biological processes.

And while research into the effect of plastic particles on human health is in its infancy, and it is important not to jump to conclusions about the potential dangers, there are simple steps we can all take to protect our health, Dr Campagnolo said.

Disposable plastic bottles can release debris, particularly when exposed to sunlight, which we then drink.

Dr Campagnolo said: 'It's probably less handy but we should not drink bottled water in plastic bottles.

'We don't have to freak out if we sit on a plastic chair, but I think we should avoid whatever is disposable, whatever is in contact with food, such as using plastic containers in the microwave oven. We should go back to glass.

'Disposable plastic took over probably 30 to 40 years ago but we can rethink this approach.'

Dr Philip Demokritou, an expert in nanoscience and environmental bioengineering at Rutgers University in New Jersey, said recent findings from animal studies were 'very alarming'.

His study in rodents, published last month in the journal Nanomaterials, is thought to show the first evidence that ingested plastics can be passed to a foetus.

Previous research has suggested plastic particles that penetrate human tissue can impact the production of certain hormones and may therefore impair biological processes (stock image)

He said: 'From the stomach of the pregnant animal, 24 hours later we found these micro- and nano-plastics in the placenta.

'More importantly, we found them in every organ of the foetus, which points to potential developmental effects.'

Dr Demokritou called for more investment in research to understand the implant of plastic particles on human health, and renewed efforts to recycle materials or switch to more biodegradable alternatives.

He said: 'I don't want to scare people but this is an emerging contaminant and we have a lot of unknowns in terms of the risks.

'Every person consumes roughly 5g of micro- and nano-plastics per week. That's the equivalent of a credit card going into your stomach on a weekly basis.

'We cannot go back to the Stone Age, but as a society we need to become smarter, embrace sustainable concepts, to avoid crises like this.

'All of us, scientists, the public, society at large, regulators, we need to rethink how we produce and use materials and chemicals in general.'
While NASA recently confirmed it can deflect a killer asteroid off a path toward Earth, it still leaves people wondering how they would survive if one hit our planet.

The last catastrophic impact occurred 66 million years ago, killed the dinosaurs, and some scientists believe we are due for another 'big one.'

With this inevitable doom looming over the scientific community, researchers are tirelessly working on how-to guides to help humanity stay alive.

The first step would be to destroy the asteroid before it is too late, and while the American space agency seems to have this covered, more than 2,000 potentially hazardous space rocks are waiting to slip under its radar.

The last catastrophic impact occurred 66 million years ago, killed the dinosaurs, and some scientists believe we are due for another 'big one'

NASA launched its Double Asteroid Redirection Test (DART) in 2022 for humanity's first planetary defense mission, dubbed NASA's 'Armageddon moment.'

The craft's target was a moonlet called Dimorphos circling its parent asteroid, Didymos.

On September 26, the world watched as DART soared 15,000 miles per hour toward Dimorphos to push it off its orbit.

And on March 1, 2023, NASA confirmed the mission was a smashing success.

The space agency's refrigerator-sized satellite managed to shave 33 minutes off the orbit of a 520-foot-wide asteroid - nearly five times greater than what was predicted.

Scientists from the Northern Arizona University said: 'This serves as a proof-of-concept for the kinetic impactor technique of planetary defense, DART needed to demonstrate that an asteroid could be targeted during a high-speed encounter and that the target's orbit could be changed.'

The probability of an asteroid the size of the dinosaur-killing Chicxulub hitting our planet is one every 100 to 200 million years - but the event is not impossible.

If NASA fails to deflect the massive space rock, experts said the next best is to leave the impact zone and move away from coastal areas.

NASA launched its Double Asteroid Redirection Test (DART) in 2022 for humanity's first planetary defense mission, dubbed NASA's 'Armageddon moment.' The craft's target was a moonlet called Dimorphos (pictured) circling its parent asteroid, Didymos

NASA confirmed Monday that it successfully deflected an asteroid in space, but people still wonder what they could do to survive if the agency's mission fails. Pictured is the moment the craft smashed into the asteroid in NASA's DART mission

One tip is to move away from coastal areas due to the towering tsunamis that the impact would trigger. A 9.1-magnitude undersea earthquake struck off Japan's coast on March 11, 2011 (pictured)

Because Earth is 71 percent water, there is a greater chance the asteroid would fall into the ocean.

And when it does, the impact would create towering tsunamis that would engulf all nearby land.

A 9.1-magnitude undersea earthquake struck off Japan's coast on March 11, 2011.

It caused a powerful tsunami that caused a meltdown of 3 reactors at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant and hundreds of thousands of residents were forced to evacuate the area.

Official figures released in 2021 reported 19,747 deaths, 6,242 injured, and 2,556 people missing from this tsunami disaster

And those created from an asteroid impact would be much devastating.

Another tip for staying alive would be to seek underground shelter.

However, when an asteroid hits, it releases dust, debris and even toxic gases that would linger in the atmosphere for years - even decades.

Another tip for staying alive would be to seek underground shelter. One company, called The Vivos Group, constructs bunkers for $35,000 with a maximum capacity of 24 people

The bunkers are completely underground, with just an entryway on the surface

If you have made it this far, following impact, scientists suggest staying in the shelter until you can prove the environment is safe

And scientists believe the safest place would be an underground bunker.

Bunkers can be expensive, ranging from $20,000 to a million dollars and upwards, making these shelters more of a luxury than a necessity.

One company, called The Vivos Group, constructs bunkers for $35,000 with a maximum capacity of 24 people.

A complex of these facilities in South Dakota houses 10,000 people and is being hailed as the 'backup plan for mankind.'

If you have made it this far, following impact, scientists suggest staying in the shelter until you can prove the environment is safe.

This can be done by constantly checking the air outside to ensure normal levels, ensuring fires and floods have subsided and acid rain is not falling from the sky.

One option eliminates the need for a survival guide and pulls inspiration from the Netflix movie Don't Look Up - waiting until it is too late and just accepting the end of humanity

One option eliminates the need for a survival guide and pulls inspiration from the Netflix movie Don't Look Up - waiting until it is too late and just accepting the end of humanity.

Released in January 2022, the film features Leonardo DiCaprio and Jennifer Lawrence, portraying two astronomers racing against time to warn the world about an impending asteroid to destroy the planet.

They identify a comet coming for planet Earth in six months and 14 days and attempt to warn the world of the discovery, but people do not care about bad news about the future - and Earth and all living things are destroyed in a ball of flames.
CORONATION STREET

Scottish accents are interesting: they can be very calming and comforting (its the reason many companies have based their call centres in Scotland) but also occasionally menacing. Andrew Still, who is terrifying Daisy as stalker Justin, brilliantly manages to combine both tones as his campaign to break up Daniel and Daisy gathers pace. The ex-Waterloo Road and Hollyoaks actor is extraordinary in making his characters behaviour seem almost normal, despite it being clear that he is deluded, if not deranged. Events escalate when Christina introduces Daisy to her new boyfriend, and he is none other than Justin. Thats some age gap! Surely Christina would have smelled a rat. Life gets even worse for Daisy when she suspects Justins found out her wedding date and then finds him in the house.

Events escalate in Coronation Street when Christina introduces Daisy to her new boyfriend, and he is none other than Justin (pictured)

When will people in Weatherfield learn that leaving the back door open is never a good idea? When will anyone get a locksmith to replace their pathetic locks with a mortice? Surely, if you had a stalker, the first thing youd do upon arriving home would be to make sure nobody could get in? Daisys last hope is the Stalking Protection Order hearing, but will Justins arrival at court, claiming there has been a misunderstanding, fool the judge?

Stephens proposal might turn out to be a good thing  for him, anyway  when Tim finds Elaine looking at a country cottage on her laptop. The writers and actor Todd Boyce (Stephen) are having so much fun with this storyline. I never want it to end, though end it inevitably will. When Elaine says she and Stephen will be spending a lot of time at her new place, Tims concerned about his mum. Its when Stephen suggests putting in a patio that he really needs to worry. Serial killers, patios and wives are never a good combination.

Amy is understandably in a state following her night with Aaron, who she knows is lying about the sex being consensual. But will she come clean to Summer?

DAN'S DESPERATE Its been a thin line between a rocky patch and a trek in the Rocky Mountains for Corries Daisy and Daniel. Rob Mallard says his character Daniel just wants the wedding done and over with. Dont we all. Advertisement

EASTENDERS

Can Denise put Jack off the scent of lover Ravi?

The coat has to go. Now down to just one button struggling to maintain its composure, Jacks beige signature outfit is long past its wear-by date. Scott Maslen, who has played Jack since 2007, is not only a wonderful actor, hes the shows top totty and deserves more than having his fine frame squeezed into such a costume. As Jacks investigation into Ravi gathers pace, Denise is concerned and tries to persuade him to reconsider. Fat chance of that. If she cant persuade him to buy another coat, she stands little chance of interfering with his police work.

In the Vic, Denise is jealous when Ravi walks in with a date and upset when she learns the pair are off to the same hotel he took her to. This is absurd. A few weeks ago, Denise told Ravi she had no interest in him, being of inferior meat to the steak she had at home. Jack isnt just steak: hes filet mignon, T-bone, ribeye Nothing against the handsome Aaron Thiara, who plays Ravi, but Im not buying this alleged hot passion; Im more stirred thinking about Staceys baps.

Talking of unconvincing couplings, the Suki/Eve drama bangs on, but is Suki in danger when Nish discovers his wife lied about dissuading Ash from taking a job in Canada? North America must be desperate for medics.

As Jacks investigation into Ravi gathers pace, Denise is concerned and tries to persuade him to reconsider (pictured, Jack and Denise)

EMMERDALE

Will Marlon be able to excavate Paddy from his dressing gown? Thats the million-dollar question when he encourages his friend to seek professional help. Although relieved to hear Paddy calling a counselling service, Marlon worries that theres a two-week wait to see someone. Is that all? I know people whove been given a date close to a year away. Surely, on a vets salary, Paddy could go private. But the important thing is to encourage men in particular to reach out and open up about their problems. Women, Chas tells Marlon, are generally better at dealing with their emotions because they speak to their friends. She should know. She never stops banging on  and she still manages to mess up her life. Jimmy says the community of the pub is his therapy, and so, as nine local guys gather in the Woolpack, their hope is that Paddy will join them.

Given all the problems facing everyone in this village, maybe what they need is to move a full-time therapist into the area; Cain is certainly a man who could benefit from one. Having done everything he can to gain greater access to Kyle, he now sees himself as a malign influence. Horrified by his plan to cut himself out of Kyles life, Moira tells him its a mistake that would haunt him to his dying day. Hmm. A bit like when he married you, Moira.

Will Marlon be able to excavate Paddy from his dressing gown? Thats the million-dollar question when he encourages his friend to seek professional help

MEN'S NIGHT AT THE WOOLPACK

On Friday, Emmerdale will be airing an episode featuring only men at a late-night lock-in at the Woolpack. In the light of Paddys depression, the aim is to highlight the importance of men sharing their deepest thoughts and feelings. Inspired by real stories from the charity Andys Man Club, producer Laura Shaw says, If watching some of our most loved characters opening up to each other encourages just one person to reach out and start talking, we will be extremely thankful.
She is the blonde bombshell 'alpha female' on Married At First Sight.

But Melinda Willis looks almost unrecognisable in an album of throwback photos from her younger years.

The 33-year-old CEO shared some childhood photos and pictures from high school with Daily Mail Australia, and just like the rest of us she too went through some awkward teenage years.

From playing saxophone in elementary school with her locks pulled back tight to rocking a front fringe in high school, Willis always favoured blonde tresses.

Her fashion evolved drastically as well, as she was first seen wearing gum boots, a bright yellow shirt and colourful shorts as a kid.

Melinda Willis (pictured) is the glamorous 'alpha female' of Married At First Sight's season 10. But Daily Mail Australia can reveal the 33-year-old CEO looked almost unrecognisable in an album of throwback photos from her younger years

She went on to experiment more with fashion, leaning towards less conservative outfits as she got older and flaunted her toned stomach.

In one picture, Willis could be seen posing in underwear during her early twenties as she pulled faces with a friend in front of an older style car.

Willis also shared several photos of herself partying it up with one snapshot showing her dressed all in white with colourful markers drawn all over her.

The glamazon shared some childhood photos and pictures from high school which look completely different to the blonde beauty who graces Australian television now

It comes after it was revealed the fashion entrepreneur competed in beauty pageants across the globe before turning heads on reality television.

Unearthed Instagram photos show Willis posing in gowns on-stage as she competed for several international pageant titles.

She was awarded International Health and Fitness Advocate in 2018 at her first beauty pageant.

From playing saxophone in elementary school with her locks pulled back tight to rocking a front fringe in high school, Willis always favoured blonde tresses

Her fashion evolved drastically as well, as she was first seen wearing gum boots, a bright yellow shirt and colourful shorts as a kid

She went on to experiment more with fashion, leaning towards less conservative outfits as she got older and flaunted her toned stomach

The same year, she also went on to represent Miss Australia in the Mrs. Global pageant held in China.

Unfortunately, she could only make it to the top 65, top 30, and top 15 and came extremely close to the final round of the top 5.

She was also a contestant in the Mrs. Globe pageant in 2018.

And it seems Willis' past isn't limited to beauty pageants as a photo of her modelling for a car magazine made the rounds on social media, along with a picture of her as a ring girl for XFC fights.

In one picture, Willis could be seen posing in underwear during her early twenties as she pulled faces with a friend in front of an older style car
Murder In The Pacific

Rating: ****

Willem & Frieda - Defying The Nazis

Rating: ****

The law of archive documentary clips decrees that any footage on the BBC of Mrs Thatcher addressing a Tory party conference must be framed to imply that she, and all present, were frothing mad.

Either the shot must be set on an angle, as though she's about to slide off the edge of the world, or the soundtrack has to crackle with feedback and distortion.

Murder In The Pacific (BBC2), investigating the sinking of the Greenpeace flagship Rainbow Warrior by French special forces, diagnosed Maggie as insane by association.

As she spoke from the podium at Blackpool in 1981, the camera panned back to focus on a woman in a plastic boater with the Union Jack picked out in sequins. The message was obvious: Tory members were refugees from the Monster Raving Loony party.

Yet Mrs Thatcher's words were eerily prescient: 'This is a time of danger. We face in the Soviet Union a power whose declared aim is to bury Western civilisation.' If you didn't believe her then, do you believe her now, when Russia is trying to reinstate the USSR by force of arms?

Murder In The Pacific on BBC2 investigates the sinking of Greenpeace flagship Rainbow Warrior by French special forces in 1985 (pictured)

The sinking of the ship, pictured here being towed into Devonport Naval Base in Britain, killed one crew member

This absurd, endless political point-scoring by the Beeb devalued an excellent probe into an untold story. The Rainbow Warrior, a former North Sea trawler fitted out with sails, was sunk by limpet mines in Auckland harbour in July 1985. One crew member, the photographer Fernando Pereira, was trapped in his cabin and drowned.

Unconvincing claim of the night Nick Knowles, on Into The Grand Canyon (C5), crossed Arizona's famous ravine on a zipwire. 'Conquer your fears and have a go,' he gasped, tottering away. 'That was actually great fun.' His voice said one thing  his face said another. Advertisement

Former skipper Peter Willcox and crew member Bunny McDiarmid described the night with terrifying vividness. This was the first of three episodes, with full details of the callous operation to come next week, but it was clear that the French saboteurs were trying to silence protests over nuclear testing.

Those atomic tests are perhaps the most incredible part of the whole story. It seems beyond comprehension that nuclear weapons were exploded close to human populations for decades in the South Seas.

U.S. newsreels from the 1950s showed radiation burns suffered by the people of Rongelep. The Greenpeace crew attempted to intervene by helping the population decamp to another atoll. Unfortunately, their new home wasn't much good either for agriculture or fishing, and from today's perspective the activists look like colonial do-gooders.

There was more than a hint of smug do-gooding in Stephen Fry's manner as he ambled around Amsterdam, tracing the story of Dutch resistance organisers Frieda Belinfante and Willem Arondeus, who were both gay.

Stephen Fry in Amsterdam in Channel 4's Willem & Frieda - Defying The Nazis, which charts the story of Dutch resistance organisers

Fry's platitudes, in Willem & Frieda - Defying The Nazis (C4), failed to convey the desperate courage of civilians who fought back against Nazi occupation with firebombings and forged documents. His amiable chats with archivists and historians intruded on the story, which became much more urgent and gripping when the facts were laid out in voice- over or through reconstructions.

Best of all was a 1994 interview with Frieda, then aged 90, a professional musician and a truly remarkable woman. Life in the underground, she said, was, 'always on the edge - but I liked that!'

She held all-night forgery parties, fuelled by amphetamines and booze, where artists faked identity documents for Jews. When the resistance began running out of funds, she approached brewery chief Henry Heineken and persuaded him to buy her cello for 100 times its real value.

After informers betrayed her, she escaped by disguising herself as a man, so convincingly that her own mother didn't recognise her.

What Frieda Belinfante deserves to do her story justice is not a one-off profile by Stephen Fry, but a Hollywood movie.
PlayStation VR2 (For PlayStation 5, 529.99)

Verdict: A better reality

Rating: ****

Turns out, the future already has a sequel. After the release of Sony PlayStation's impressive-for-the-time virtual reality headset - dubbed the PSVR  in 2016, there is now a PSVR2. Owners of PlayStation 5 consoles can strap a white carbuncle to their faces and look silly bumping into things in their lounge... in higher definition than ever before!

The sad thing is that the PSVR2's future-gazing is also a break with the past. It is not what they call 'backward compatible' with the original PSVR, meaning that any games you bought for the older headset won't work with the newer one. And so Beat Saber  one of the purest-ever gaming experiences  is off the cards, on PlayStation at least, until it's released again for PSVR2.

Unsurprisingly, Sony's marketeers say that this lack of crossover between PSVRs 1 and 2 is because the new device is so much better and more powerful  and it's true, there really is a difference between the two. It's noticeable as soon as you pull the PSVR2 from its elegant packaging.

Instead of having to trail thick cables across the floor and balance sensors on the telly, there is now nothing more than just one thin lead between the headset and your console  which you soon forget about while gaming. The initial setup takes a couple of minutes, rather than a planetary epoch. Everything feels far more comfortable on your head and in your hands.

Horizon Call of the Mountain (pictured) is the flagship title for PlayStation VR2's launch

Sony's new virtual reality headset for the PS5 (pictured) feels far more comfortable on your head and in your hands

Though perhaps you'd expect all that from a device that costs almost 200 more than its forerunner did at launch.

Thankfully, at that price, the differences continue after you lower the PSVR2 over your eyes and switch it on. Its two internal screens are of a much, yes, higher definition than before and are, crucially, based on OLED technology, making its digital panoramas extra-colourful and super-crisp.

This much is clear from the first seconds of Horizon Call of the Mountain (****), the flagship title for PSVR2's launch. A hood is pulled from the head of the dissentious character whom you inhabit, and there you are  in the world of the (non-VR) game Horizon Forbidden West. Mountains loom overhead. Winged insects flit through the reeds. And, of course, robo-dinosaurs prowl menacingly about. It's simply stunning.

What follows ain't bad, either. You'll be tasked with climbing one of those mountains, which results in much waggling of your arms, but also, occasionally, bow-and-arrow combat against one of those metallic monsters. This shows off another of the PSVR2's features, its eye-tracking  by which it knows where you're looking.

I've also spent time with the endearingly zany What the Bat? (****) and the visually amazing, though ultimately limited, paddling game Kayak VR: Mirage (***). But what's really got me excited is the thought of returning to the great Gran Turismo 7, but this time actually occupying the cars I'm driving. Despite the PSVR2 doing away with the old PSVR library, it's already building its own selection of attractive games.

So, if you want me, you'll find me in the lounge, treading on the real-life cat as I scramble away from a game-world beastie. The sequel to the future is here  and it makes me look just as clumsy as ever.
MAFS bride Janelle Han has revealed she almost appeared on a different reality show.

The influencer, 28, applied for season 10 of The Bachelor, and while she made it through the whole casting process, she pulled out at the last minute.

Janelle, who was 'married' to jobless groom Adam Seed on MAFS, turned down The Bachelor after being accepted by Nine's social experiment.

'So what happened was The Bachelor reached out to my social media agency, and I had been single for about four months at this point,' she told Yahoo Lifestyle.

'And I was like, "You know what? I'm ready to meet someone new." I was over that relationship for a long time and I just wanted to do something crazy. I do crazy s**t all the time.'

MAFS's Janelle Han (pictured) has revealed she almost appeared on a different reality show

The influencer, 28, applied for season 10 of The Bachelor, and while she made it through the whole casting process, she pulled out at the last minute

Janelle, who was 'married' to jobless groom Adam Seed (right) on MAFS, turned down The Bachelor after being accepted by Nine's social experiment

She continued: 'So I was going to apply for The Bachelor and then I thought to myself, "If I'm going to be looking for love and if I'm going to be going through a crazy experience where I can learn something about myself, I might as well apply for the show that I actually watch."

'So I applied for MAFS the same night I applied for The Bachelor, and I actually got into both of the shows.'

The Perth-based makeup artist said she didn't pick The Bachelor because the men on that show 'never really pick the Asian girls'.

She added: 'Asians aren't the beauty standard in Australia, and I'm very aware of that.

'I also just didn't want to compete with women for a man, and I also just don't think that I was going to get anything out of it in terms of learning about myself.

'And with MAFS, youre stuck with someone who you might click with or you might not click with but regardless, youre going to learn something.'

The daughter of Singaporean-Chinese immigrants said she had worries going into MAFS about how her husband would react to her ethnicity.

'I was concerned that I was going to get paired with someone who had "yellow fever" and only liked Asians, or someone who had never dated an Asian before or wasn't culturally aware of different cultures,' she said.

The Perth-based makeup artist said she didn't pick The Bachelor because the men on that show 'never really pick the Asian girls'

The daughter of Singaporean-Chinese immigrants said she had worries going into MAFS about how her husband would react to her ethnicity

On MAFS, Janelle said she wanted to show how proud she was of her culture through her style

Janelle said she wanted to show on MAFS how proud she was of her culture through her style.

'If I could do any subliminal messages by doing that I tried,' she said.

'Like the chopsticks in the hair, playing mahjong in my backstory, my Buddha "J" necklace I wore throughout the whole experiment.

'I wanted to show how proud I was of my culture and I really hope that it showed.'
PIp Edwards was the envy of all women on Thursday evening.

The P.E Nation designer was spotted cuddling up to Euphoria hunk Jacob Elordi at the opening of TAG Heuer's flagship store in Adelaide.

In a photo Pip posted on Instagram, the Aussie actor, 25, had his arms wrapped around the activewear mogul, 42, and stared into her eyes.

The glamorous businesswoman, who looked stunning in black jumpsuit with silver bedazzled detailing, tucked her head into his shoulder.

She captioned the photo: 'We both love the pink @tagheur @jacobelordi'.

Pip Edwards cuddled up to Euphoria hunk Jacob Elordi at the opening of Tag Heuer's flagship store in Adelaide on Thursday evening

The glamorous businesswoman looked stunning in a black jumpsuit with silver bedazzled detailing

Pip accesorised her look with gold jewellery and slicked-back hair

The pair are both ambassadors for the luxury watch brand and wore TAG timepieces on the night.

Pip also got a selfie with Jacob's sister Isabella during the party.

In the photo, she has her hand placed on a casually-dressed Isabella with the caption: 'The Elordi's are in the house @isabellaelordi @tagheur'.

Jacob, who made a name for himself playing Nate Jacobs on Euphoria, was swamped by hundreds of fans at Rundle Mall before the event as they hoped to catch a glimpse of him.

Speaking to The Advertiser, the actor said she is excited to spend some time in Adelaide.

'Its lovely, its a beautiful city, City of Churches,' he said.

The Hollywood actor has been linked to many famous women in the past few years, including his Kissing Booth co-star Joey King.

Dating his co-stars wasn't a one time thing for the star as US weekly confirmed that he had a romantic relationship with Euphoria's Zendaya as they were spotted showing PDA.

He has also been linked to supermodel Kaia Gerber and influencer Olivia Jade Giannulli.

Pip posted several photos to her Instagram story of her trip to Adelaide for the event, including a photo of her black and silver bedazzled Prada bag and matching heels.

She was recently dragged into a public stoush between her ex Michael Clarke and his girlfriend Jade, which also involved Karl Stefanovic and his wife Jasmine.

Extraordinary footage emerged of a heated exchange between the couple while they were on holiday in Noosa, Queensland.

In the video, which was filmed by an onlooker on January 10 and sold to The Daily Telegraph for a reported $10,000, Jade accused the former Test captain of cheating on her with his former flame Pip on December 17.

Others in the group, including Karl, his wife Jasmine - Jade's older sister - and celebrity accountant Anthony Bell, tried to defuse the fracas.

Pip also got a selfie with Jacob's sister Isabella during the party

Pip posted several photos to her Instagram story of her trip to Adelaide for the event

Hundreds of fans showed up at the Rundle Mall to catch a glimpse of the Hollywood actor going into the event

The dramatic footage showed a shirtless Michael being screamed at and slapped by his hysterical girlfriend.

'I'm wrong? I'm f**king wrong! You're a f**king liar. I can see everything. You called her,' Jade screams.

Michael tries to reassure Jade he didn't cheat on her and swears on his young daughter Kelsey Lee's life he was with Bell on the night in question.

'Baby you're wrong, you're wrong,' he insists.
Elsa Hosk made her way to a Paris Fashion Week event on Thursday in a sexy long leather coat.

The former Victoria's Secret model, 34, strutted the Parisian streets in an eye-catching ensemble that seemed to feature only the leather jacket and nothing but a pair of black stockings and undies underneath.

The beauty tied the coat tightly around her waist, showing off her thin frame, despite the largeness of the jacket.

She left the collar of the piece open enough to give it a plunging neckline down to the middle of her chest.

Elsa paired her gorgeous ensemble with strappy black heels, a small black purse, and thick gold earrings.

Flawless: Elsa Hosk strutted the streets in a long leather coat with nothing underneath

Strutting the streets: The 34-year-old was headed to a Paris Fashion Week event

For makeup, she went with an elevated look complete with pink cheeks, and blood-red lipstick.

Her blonde hair was styled in a short bob and curled at the ends, giving it a 70s-inspired look.

The catwalk star spent the previous night at the Clarins Precious dinner as another part of her fashion week agenda.

She posed up a storm at the event in a high-neck black jumper and black skinny jeans underneath a huge shaggy white coat.

The in-demand model has used her fashion savvy to create her own brand of clothing.

Elsa founded her clothing company, Helsa Studios, in 2022 to have people 'looking your best while living freely, comfortably, and fully in the moment.'

In a letter on the company's website, the designer, who shares her daughter, Tuulikki Joan, two, with her partner, John Daly, wrote the brand was 'my love letter to Scandinavia, an ode to the values I grew up with in Sweden.'

Continuing, the popular cover model said it was, 'an effort to communicate those values to the next generation of sustainably-minded young women and families.'

Legs for days: The blonde beauty seemingly only had on black tights underneath her sexy leather jacket

On the go: She left the collar of the piece open enough to give it a plunging neckline down to the middle of her chest

Perfect physique: The model went for an elevated makeup look, complete with pink cheeks and blood-red lipstick

Extra cozy: The bombshell attended the Clarins Precious dinner the previous night

Her company is also featured on Revolve, which is a highly popular place to purchase designer clothing.

Raissa Gerona, chief brand officer at Revolve said to WWD: 'Weve had the pleasure of working with Elsa for years and have witnessed her evolution from a supermodel and influencer to a designer and creative director.'

She continued: 'Elsa has put her upbringing in Sweden at the forefront of the collections inspiration and ethos.

'From the timeless designs, to featuring her entire family in the campaign, Helsa is very true to Elsa and the reason we wanted to bring her vision to life.'

A check of the Helsa website showed a wide variety of looks that included dresses, pants, sweaters, and even a faux leather maxi skirt.

The inclusive sizing ranges from XXS to XL.

The Helsa clothing line is her second foray into the world of design and sustainability.
Skye Wheatley has furiously lashed out at a troll who slammed her via a direct text message.

The former Big Brother star turned influencer, 29, couldn't believe that the person, who she said she didn't know, had obtained her private mobile number and was able to message her directly.

The troll messaged Skye to slam her for posting a video of herself doing a dance video in a public place while wearing a beige netted skirt and bikini top.

The person took some personal shots at Skye, shaming her for doing the dance when she's a mother and saying she's 'leading a really sad example'.

Skye hit back with a lengthy Instagram post and shared the text message, saying she was even more angry that she couldn't call the number back.

Skye Wheatley furiously hit back at a troll on Thursday after they obtained her number and send her a direct text to slam her over a dancing video

Skye complained that her personal space was invaded and said she understands trolling on social media, but was in belief as it being over a text.

'Like I'm such a nice girl but f**k with me and I'm not backing down,' Skye said in her post.

'This makes me really mad like don't text me this bulls**t it's so bloody personal to TEXT someone,' Skye began.

The troll messaged Skye to slam her for posting a video of herself doing a dance video in a public place while wearing a beige netted skirt and bikini top (pictured)

The person took some personal shots at Skye, shaming her for doing the dance when she's a mother and saying she's 'leading a really sad example'

Skye complained that her personal space was invaded and said she understands trolling on social media, but was in belief as it being over a text. 'Like I'm such a nice girl but f**k with me and I'm not backing down,' Skye said in her post

'Send hate on Instagram that's fine but texting me is too far like I want to report this but don't even know who it is?'

'Legit this makes me so angry. Sounds like a 12 year old legit... grow up sis. The irony on it. Anyways for real can people actually stop thinking anyone with a social presence was put on earth to be nailed to the cross and be god on earth I actually cannot,' she wrote.

'Like babes I'm sharing my life and my passions and being myself while raising my children to have good morals and be good people I don't need to be held accountable for anything. I never said I was trying to change the world?'

'Life is way too short to be texting someone flat out f**kery... send all the redic (sic) hateful messages you want via DM don't f**k with my number please it's for real so disrespectful and childish.'

She added: 'Like I'm such a nice girl but f**k with me and I'm not backing down. So done being walked all over because I'm the "dumb, naive blonde girl" like no hunni absolutely not. Call me next time we can have an adult conversation.'

The troll had messaged Skye: 'Wasn't it you that you weren't going to post as much bikini stuff and be more about family?'

'At what point is this encouragement to anyone? At what point is this actually spreading any message? For someone like you that's a mum - you lead a really sad example.'

They added: 'Go do something real with your life and something that actually brings value to the world. Grow up sis. And yes, holding you accountable.'

Skye rose to fame back on Big Brother Australia in 2014 and is now a full-time influencer with 634,000 followers.

'Life is way too short to be texting someone flat out f**kery... send all the redic (sic) hateful messages you want via DM don't f**k with my number please it's for real so disrespectful and childish,' she said

In January, she told her followers she was 'taking the day off social media' after receiving backlash for sharing 'insensitive' video of horrific Sea World helicopter crash which killed four people.

She was slammed after she posted a video she filmed of the aftermath of the tragic crash to her Instagram story.

Following the backlash, Skye posted a tribute to the four people who died in the tragic incident and said she'll be taking a break from social media.

'Can everyone please pray with me for the families affected by yesterdays devastating events, I feel sick to my stomach today and I am praying for everyone in hospital that they are going to make it,' she wrote in part of her post.

She has also been trolled in the past, including for being accused of using Photoshop on her images.
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The first teaser and poster for Disney's new Haunted Mansion movie was shared on Thursday.

Haunted Mansion is inspired by Disneyland's famous theme park ride of the same name, and is the second edition after its 2003 original, which featured Eddie Murphy and Wallace Shawn.

The stars are LaKeith Stanfield, Rosario Dawson, Jamie Lee Curtis, Jared Leto, Winona Ryder, Owen Wilson, Danny DeVito, Dan Levy and Tiffany Haddish, who was seen in Los Angeles last month.

Dawson plays single mom Gabbie who moves into a stunning New Orleans mansion. She is joined by her nine-year-old son played by Chase Dillon.

But then they soon realize that the massive home is filled with spooky ghosts so they call in a team of experts to help them get rid of the zany spirits.

New look: The first teaser and poster for Disney's new Haunted Mansion movie was shared on Thursday

The ghosts cause all kinds of havoc in the old home, just like in the famed Disneyland ride. The team of experts that help her get rid of the spirits are quite the motley crew.

There is a paranormal expert (played by Stanfield), a psychic (Haddish), a priest (Wilson) and a historian (DeVito) for assistance.

In the poster they are seen carefully walking up a flight of stairs in the large home as someone carries a lit lantern.

The online synopsis reads: 'A priest, a professor and a paranormal investigator try to help a woman and her family after they unwittingly move into a haunted mansion in New Orleans.'

And the clever tag line is, 'Home is where the haunt is,' a play on 'Home is where the heart is.'

Haunted Mansion will premiere in theaters on July 28, 2023.

Justin Simien directs the comedy with a script by Katie Dippold.

Simien previously revealed at the D23 exhibit that he used to work at the Walt Disney theme park. And he would ride the Haunted Mansion on breaks.

Scared: Rosario Dawson plays single mom Gabbie who moves into the New Orleans mansion. She is joined by her son, aged nine, played by Chase Dillon

Expert: They call in a team of experts after they realize their mansion is filled with spooky ghosts. The stars are LaKeith Stanfield, Rosario Dawson, Jamie Lee Curtis, Jared Leto, Winona Ryder, Owen Wilson, Danny DeVito (pictured), Dan Levy and Tiffany Haddish

Oh no! Haunted Mansion is inspired by Disneyland's famous theme park ride of the same name

He shared: 'For me, there was something about that ride I felt was there in the script.

'It was funny and full of interesting characters, but with a dark edge to it. I just related to it. It felt I knew how to make it,' he said.

'I love New Orleans and I felt I had a responsibility here to make sure all the little Easter eggs are there,' continued Simeon, according to Deadline.

Actress Jamie appeared on stage with director Simeon during the Disney event.

She was seen arriving in one of the famous 'Doom Buggy' from the ride.
Addison Rae made a questionable fashion choice on a lunch date with her musician boyfriend Omer Fedi in Los Feliz, California on Thursday afternoon.

As she walked down the street, all eyes were on her creepy graphic tee, featuring the demonic versions of Mickey and Minnie Mouse doing a satanic dance on it.

The beloved cartoon characters, created by Walt Disney, were depicted with razor-sharp teeth and angry eyes as they stood next to each other surrounded by candles.

Her disturbing t-shirt, from the brand Local Authority, had the phrase 'f**ked up friends club' written on the bottom in capital letters.

Meanwhile, her beau opted to wear a black Balenciaga hoodie with Apple's logo on the front and 'be different' across his chest.

Bizarre: Addison Rae made a questionable fashion choice on a lunch date with her musician boyfriend Omer Fedi in Los Feliz, California on Thursday afternoon

After grabbing a bite to eat together, the duo, both 22, looked blissfully happy as he wrapped his arm lovingly around her shoulders.

Rae kept the rest of her outfit simple, opting to show off her toned legs in a pair of barely-there black shorts, brown socks and white sneakers.

The Louisiana native and her man began dating over the summer of 2021, and even spent Christmas together at Disneyland.

Last week, she confirmed that she scored her second acting gig in Eli Roths upcoming horror film, Thanksgiving.

The social media sensation announced that she will star in the gory flick, based on a fake movie trailer from Quentin Tarantino and Robert Rodriguezs 2007 double-feature Grindhouse on Instagram.

Shooting on the project begins this month, according to Deadline.

The publication noted that Thanksgiving will be 'about a pseudo movie, in which a slasher makes his own carving board out of the inhabitants of a Massachusetts town that makes a big annual fuss over the annual turkey day.'

In 2021, she signed a multi-picture deal with with streaming giant Netflix, which included her starring role as Padgett Sawyer in He's All That.

Disturbing: As she walked down the street, all eyes were on her creepy graphic tee, featuring the demonic versions of Mickey and Minnie Mouse doing a satanic dance on it

Creepy: The beloved cartoon characters, created by Walt Disney, were depicted with razor-sharp teeth and angry eyes as they stood next to each other surrounded by candles

Odd choice: Her disturbing t-shirt, from the brand Local Authority, had the phrase 'f**ked up friends club' written on the bottom in capital letters

Despite the film being panned by critics, gender-swapped remake of He's All That instantly shot to the top spot on Netflix's most popular movies upon its release.

While speaking about making her acting debut, , Rae said in a statement to Variety: 'Getting the opportunity to work with Netflix was such a pinch me moment and now to be able to continue the relationship is beyond my wildest dreams.'

'Im thrilled to be able to collaborate with this incredible team and am excited to develop projects while continuing to strengthen my skills as an actress,' she gushed.

The original, a modern update of George Bernard Shaw's play Pygmalion and the musical My Fair Lady, starred Freddie Prinze Jr. as a popular high schooler who accepted a bet to turn a nerdy girl (Rachael Leigh Cooke) into that year's prom queen.

On a roll: Last week, she confirmed that she scored her second acting gig in Eli Roths upcoming horror film, Thanksgiving

Exciting: The social media sensation announced that she will star in the gory flick, based on a fake movie trailer from Quentin Tarantino and Robert Rodriguezs 2007 double-feature Grindhouse on Instagram

In the newest version, Addison played a popular Instagram influencer and high school senior who accepts a challenge to turn an introverted photographer (Tanner Buchanan) into the prom king.

The film became a smashing success as Netflix estimated that more than 55 million households watched the remake within the first month it hit the platform and reached #1 on the streaming platform in 78 countries.

While He's All That is her only acting credit, she has appeare in several music videos and appeared on Hailey Bieber's second episode of Who's in my Bathroom? on YouTube.

Additionally, she made a cameo on her pal Kourtney Kardashian's reality show Keeping Up With the Kardashians in 2021.
Rapper Lil Mosey has been found not guilty of second-degree rape, following a trial in Washington state.

The Krabby Step hitmaker, 21, was 'cleared of all charges by a jury' on Thursday according to TMZ.

The musician - born Lathan Moses Stanley Echols - pled not guilty to the charges - stemming from 2021 - and reportedly passed a polygraph test 'with flying colors.'

The artist was initially charged with rape after a woman claimed she and her girlfriend were raped by him, as well as another man, after going to see them at a cabin, but he had maintained his innocence.

Lil Mosey was potentially facing a maximum sentence of life in prison if convicted for the crime.

Found not guilty: Rapper Lil Mosey has been found not guilty in a 2021 rape case; Pictured 2023

The woman who accused the rapper told authorities at the time that she had consented to have sex with Lil Mosey in a vehicle but later, when in a cabin together, she had blacked out after drinking White Claw and champagne.

The woman alleged, according to TMZ, that she came round to found him on top of her and having sex with her.

She blacked out a second time and awoke to find another man having sex with her.

The charge alleges that Echols engaged in sexual intercourse with the woman when she was physically helpless or mentally incapacitated.

In an affidavit seen by TMZ, the victim stated she suffered injuries including bruising on her arm, neck and inner knee.

Another woman who attended the party with the accuser, who was 20-years-old at the time, reported that she woke up partially clad and was told she had intercourse, but she had no memory of it, the affidavit said.

'Mr. Echols did not commit this crime, and we intend to work hard to clear his name,' his Seattle-based attorneys, Amy Muth and Jennifer Atwood, said in a statement at the time.

The Washington native found fame with his 2017 single Pull Up and in 2021 he made it to number 8 on the Billboard Hot 100 with Blueberry Faygo.

Cleared of all charges: The Krabby Step hitmaker, 21, was 'cleared of all charges by a jury' on Thursday according to TMZ, and passed a polygraph test 'with flying colors'; Pictured 2020

The charge: He was initially charged with rape after a woman claimed she and her girlfriend were raped by him and another man, after going to see them at a cabin; Pictured 2019
He's downplayed suggestions that he could be the next James Bond but Idris Elba is determined to turn crime thriller Luther into a series of big-budget films.

At the world premiere of the new Netflix film Luther: The Fallen Sun, he tells me: My hope is that Luther can become its own franchise now and that we duplicate it and make more stories and take it slightly bigger.

The Hackney-born star, 50, also used the premiere at the BFI IMAX in Waterloo to apologise to his wife, model Sabrina for his time playing troubled detective John Luther. I know I turn into a complete w***** when Im playing John but she still loves me.

Elba stars alongside Cynthia Erivo in the forthcoming film, and the one-time 007 in waiting admitted it was an honour to finally work with the former Bond girl.

He said: 'Cynthia was amazing to work with, she's an incredible actor and I've been a fan for a long time, and now I'm even more of a fan as she came in and embodied this character.'

High hopes: He's downplayed suggestions that he could be the next James Bond but Idris Elba is determined to turn crime thriller Luther into a series of big-budget films

Exciting: The Hackney born actor is back in new Netflix film Luther: The Fallen Sun

The actor returns in the big-screen continuation of the TV series, and hopes the character can take up some of 007's 'real estate'.

But the gritty new movie, which features Andy Serkis as cyber serial killer David Robey, has so far been panned by critic after its Netflix release last week.

Elba, who has often been tipped to play Bond, told Magic Radio: 'The Bond series is an incredible staple to the UK and the world right, but Luther could take up some of that real estate.

'It is not about espionage, but it is about how to catch them. I think Luther tends to be a little bit more relatable, you know grounded.

'You know guys that creep from under your bed... this film has certainly taken it a little more cyber if you like with Andy Serkis's character.'

Elba thinks the Luther movie has been 'a long time coming' and is already planning for the future on the big screen.

Sorry: Elba also used the premiere at the BFI IMAX in Waterloo to apologise to his wife, model Sabrina (right), for his time playing troubled detective John Luther

Welcome back: The actor returns in the big-screen continuation of the TV series, and hopes the character can take up some of 007's 'real estate'

The Beasts of No Nation star said: 'Hopefully it is the beginning of the new chapter. Sounds corny, but you know we have gone from television, we have gone as far as we can and now, we have got the world as our stage. Big epic landscapes and you know infinite stories.'

Elba also explained that he wants to star in a musical next despite his experience on the ill-fated 2019 adaptation of 'Cats'.

The star said: 'I would love to do a musical. I started off, my first semi-professional job was 'Guys and Dolls' and I played Big Jule and I loved it. And I was the understudy for Sky Masterson, so I did the whole singing and dancing number, and I loved it.'

Meanwhile, on Heart Radio, Elba said it's 'the biggest compliment' to have his name attached to James Bond but admits the role of Luther is all he's 'wanting to do'.

He said: 'It is one of the biggest compliments I can ever get as an actor. You know, the role of Bond is such a coveted role and to be considered for it is amazing, but honestly, I always secretly felt that Luther is my answer to that.

Awkward: But The Fallen Sun has so far been panned by critics after the Netflix crime thriller was shown in select cinemas ahead of its streaming release

Disappointing: The film has been met with a flurry of two-star reviews, with critics claiming the 'preposterous' picture is 'jumbled', 'farfetched' and 'ridiculous'

'It's not as espionage it's not you know, suave, it's you know, a relatable guy that's going to catch bad guys that's all I'm you know, wanting to do really...'

But The Fallen Sun has so far been panned by critics after the Netflix crime thriller was shown in select cinemas ahead of its streaming release.

The film has been met with a flurry of two-star reviews, with critics claiming the 'preposterous' picture is 'jumbled', 'far-fetched' and 'ridiculous'.
Ed Westwick put on a cosy display with his stunning Bollywood star girlfriend Amy Jackson as they attended the Valentino Beauty Party on Thursday night.

The Gossip Girl star, 35, stepped out with Amy, 30, for the 'Born In Roma Intense' event as part of Paris Fashion week.

Ed looked dapper in a pink sequinned suit, while Amy looked gorgeous in an eye-catching sparkly two piece.

Ed's ensemble featured a black hem along the collar and a sheer vest underneath.

He added a pair of dark beige boots to his look to round off the stylish display.

Dapper: Ed Westwick put on a cosy display with his stunning Bollywood star girlfriend Amy Jackson as they attended the Valentino Beauty Party on Thursday night

Meanwhile Amy, looked sensational in the eye-catching number, which featured ruffled feathers along her wrists and ankles.

The sparkling number featured tones of gold, red, blue and purple and a low v-neck cut.

She added inches to her enviable frame with a pair of bright purple boots.

Amy accentuated her natural beauty with a gorgeous palette of make up, including a pink smokey eye and red lip.

She had her brunette locks slicked back into loose waves that cascaded past her shoulders.

The pair cosied up to one another as they posed for pictures ahead of the event.

Also at the star-studded party was Australian model Adut Akech, who looked sensational in a black gown which featured a low v-neck cut, putting her assets on show.

The gorgeous number featured a stylish display of white stars, dotted around the model's chest and stomach.

Star-studded: The Gossip Girl star, 35, stepped out with Amy, 30, for the 'Born In Roma Intense' event as part of Paris Fashion week

Stylish: Ed looked dapper in a pink sequinned suit, while Amy looked gorgeous in an eye-catching sparkly two piece

Sensational: Meanwhile Amy, looked sensational in the eye-catching number, which featured ruffled feathers along her wrists and ankles

Pose! Ed's ensemble featured a black hem along the collar and a sheer vest underneath

Cosy: The pair cosied up to one another as they posed for pictures ahead of the event

Lori Harvey, also looked sensational as she attended the star studded bash.

The former girlfriend of Michael B. Jordan sported a brown sparkly dress and brown trousers for the event.

13 Reasons Why star Tommy Dorfman sported a black suit for the ocassion.

The 30-year-old  who previously presented as a gay man before coming out as a transgender woman - slicked back her locks and accessorised with big hoop earrings.

Sofia Carson stunned in an eye-catching purple dress as she graced the event.

Ed and Amy's appearance comes after the pair enjoyed a date night in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, two months ago.

Ed stepped out with Amy at the closing night gala of the Red Sea International Film Festival.

Ed looked dapper in a velvet tuxedo and bowtie, while Amy looked gorgeous in a strapless and cut-out black and white dress.

Ed wore a black velvet suit jacket with a white shirt and velvet bow tie underneath.

Wow! Also at the star-studded party was Australian model Adut Akech, who looked sensational in a black gown which featured a low v-neck cut, putting her assets on show

Gorgeous: Lori Harvey, also looked sensational as she attended the star studded bash

Stunner: The former girlfriend of Michael B. Jordan sported a brown sparkly dress and brown trousers for the event

Cool: 13 Reasons Why star Tommy Dorfman sported a black suit for the ocassion

Challenging stereotypes: The 30-year-old  who previously presented as a gay man before coming out as a transgender woman - slicked back her locks and accessorised with big hoop earrings

Kisses! Sofia Carson stunned in an eye-catching purple dress as she graced the event

He matched Amy, who wore a chic black and white gown.

Her frock featured a strapless black top and a flowing black and white skirt, with a cut-out over the waist.

She pulled her locks back and off her face and wore makeup including a winged eye and red lip.

The pair cosied up to one another at the event, joining the likes of Naomi Campbell and Kelly Gale on the night.

The new couple are rumoured to have started dating last December.

Rumours of the pair dating began circulating in February, but they reportedly began dating in December of 2021.

The couple met at Saudi Arabia's Red Sea International Film Festival last December - where they were snapped chatting together at a screening during the closing ceremony.

Suited and booted: TikTok star Nick Kaufmann looked dapper in a Valentino suit and shoes

Smile! Gala Gonzalez stunned in a sparkly white blouse and black leather trousers

Close: Hofit Golan and Gloria Patricia Contreras posed up a storm as they arrived at the event together

Trendy: Paul Forman was the epitome of stylish in a brown Valentino jacket and trousers

Heart throb: Jacob Rott also made his appearance in a trendy Valentino fit and choker necklace

Glorious! Bilal Hassani stunned in a black cape style dress and quirky white boots

Figure-hugging: Lena Mahouf opted for a figure hugging off-white dress

Gorgeous: She tied her curly locks half up and accentuated her beauty with a gorgeous palette of make up

In February, a source told The Sun: 'Ed and Amy are a really good match. They hit it off straight away.

'Both like to have fun and are career-driven. They're enjoying getting to know each other for now.'

Amy has starred in a string of Indian films, predominantly in Tamil, Hindi, and Telugu languages - after auditioning for one in London in a twist of fate.

She was previously in a relationship with hotelier George Panayiotou, with the pair getting engaged in January 2019 and welcoming a son that September.

They broke things off in 2021, before her relationship with Ed began later that year.

While Ed was previously dating South African model and influencer Tamara Francesconi for two years, before the couple also ended last year.
Kyle Richards revealed the state of her and Lisa Rinna's friendship during a recent Instagram Live with her daughter Portia.

It comes months after the Real Housewives Of Beverly Hills' tumultuous 12th season and Rinna's shock departure.

While scanning the chat, the actress, 54, came across one fan who was curious if she was still on speaking terms with her former co-star, 59.

'We were having some issues before. Obviously, you know that,' replied Richards, alluding to the drama between herself, her older half-sister Kathy Hilton and Rinna.

But the Halloween Ends star told her audience that she extended an olive branch after learning Rinna would not be returning to the show.

Candid: Kyle Richards revealed the state of her and Lisa Rinna's friendship during a recent Instagram Live with her daughter Portia. It comes months after the Real Housewives Of Beverly Hills' tumultuous 12th season and Rinna's shock departure

While scanning the chat, the actress, 54, came across one fan who was curious if she was still on speaking terms with her former co-star, 59

'And I texted her when I found out that she wasn't coming back and, you know, like I said, unfortunately, we had that issue,' she explained. 'But we'll get past all that.'

All in all, Richards says she is doing 'fine' and is ready to put the past behind her.

'I'm just moving on from everything and I had to put all that behind me, honestly,' she said. '[Rinna] brought a lot to the show and she'll be missed.'

Rinna confirmed she was departing after eight seasons on the hit Bravo series in a statement issued to PEOPLE in January.

'This is the longest job I have held in my 35 year career and I am grateful to everyone at Bravo and all those involved in the series,'

She continued: 'It has been a fun eight-year run and I am excited for what is to come!'

The outlet reported that 'she and Bravo mutually decided that she would not return to RHOBH' after her contract expired last season.

Season 12 was drama-plagued and controversial as it documented the fiery face offs between Rinna and 'friend of' the housewives, Hilton.

The feud seemingly began after Rinna accused Hilton of slandering Richards during a drunken off-camera tirade.

This drove a major wedge between the two sisters, who are no longer on speaking terms.

During the three-part RHOBH reunion, that aired in October, Hilton called Rinna 'the biggest bully in Hollywood.'

She later issued an 'ultimatum' to Bravo, claiming she would not return to the show if Rinna and Erika Jayne were brought back.

'I had said I would only be willing to come back if the cast [changed],' she told TMZ last year.

'If it was completely the same, absolutely not. Because I feel they are two bullies that intimidate a lot of the other girls.'

Issues: 'We were having some issues before. Obviously, you know that,' replied Richards, alluding to the drama between herself, her older half-sister Kathy Hilton (left) and Rinna (right)

But the Halloween Ends star told her audience that she extended an olive branch after learning Rinna would not be returning to the show

[Rinna] brought a lot to the show and she'll be missed,' she said

Draining: Richards previously told Page Six that shooting season 12 was 'very emotionally draining' for her and that she regretted involving Kathy, who she is no longer speaking to

Richards previously voiced her regret over involving Kathy, as well as sister Kim Richards, in the show and told Page Six that shooting season 12 was 'very emotionally draining.'

Richards is the last remaining original cast member on RHOBH as she made her reality TV debut when season one aired in 2010.

Her co-star Garcelle Beauvais recently confirmed that season 13 is underway after producer Andy Cohen paused production in November.

According to Garcelle, the cast and crew have only been shooting for a week.

All episodes of The Real Housewives are available to stream exclusively on Hayu in the UK
Amelia Gray Hamlin revealed that she accomplished a major career milestone, at just 21, that very few models are able to achieve over their lifetimes.

On Thursday afternoon, the youngest daughter of Lisa Rinna and Harry Hamlin shared the exciting news that she was selected to grace the cover of April's upcoming issue of Vogue Japan.

'My first Vogue cover im on the cover of Vogue!??? What!!!! This is one of those dreams that always felt so unattainable. A dream so far away, I was unsure if it would ever become part of my reality,' the rising runway star wrote on Instagram.

She continued: 'I'm beyond honored, grateful, and speechless.'

The five-foot-nine beauty went on to thank Tiffany Godoy Presents, who is the head of editorial content at Vogue Japan, for 'believing in' her 'since the first day' they met.

First Vogue cover! Amelia Gray Hamlin revealed that she accomplished a major career milestone, at just 21, that very few models are able to achieve over their lifetimes

'Thank you @voguejapan I love you all so much. Little me is freaking out.. and so is current me.. thank you thank you thank you forever. I love you my heart is melting,' the model, who has served as the face for Too Faced's Damn Girl cosmetic line and Hudson Jeans, concluded.

Her slideshow included her magazine cover as well as a sweet mirror selfie clutching the publication.

The full circle moment comes six years after she and her sister, Delilah Belle Hamlin, shot a spread for Vogue in Tokyo.

Since walking her first runway at 18, Gray has gone on to appear in ads for Stuart Weitzman, Savage x Fenty and Levi's as well as strut her stuff for major fashion shows across the globe, including Diesel, Vivienne Westwood and Jean Paul Gaultier.

Her mother reposted her little girl's magazine cover, which she captioned: 'Baby's first VOGUE COVER!'

Meanwhile, her big sister commented under Amelia's slideshow that she 'so beyond proud' of her sibling.

Other fans reminded the model that this will be the 'first of many' covers in her future and that the accomplishment was much 'deserved.'

For the cover, Amelia sported a bright blue eyeshadow and geometric blouse with beige pants as well as a French manicure.

Last year, Amelia scored her first cover ever on Numero Tokyo's April 2022 issue.

Exciting: On Thursday afternoon, the youngest daughter of Lisa Rinna and Harry Hamlin shared the exciting news that she was selected to grace the cover of April's upcoming issue of Vogue Japan

'A moment in time that I will cherish forever... my first cover. thank you to everyone that made this possible. i love you all endlessly,' the ex-girlfriend of Scott Disick wrote.

In 2020, Amelia's mother revealed that Amelia, then 19, was paying for her own Los Angeles.

'It's all her money,' Rinna said on the Real Housewives of Beverly Hills when asked her kid was paying for her $5,700-a-month apartment. 'I'm not even helping her a thousand dollars.'

The reality star then claimed: 'Amelia Gray makes more money than all of us.'

Just getting started: Since walking her first runway at 18, Gray has gone on to appear in ads for Stuart Weitzman, Savage x Fenty and Levi's as well as strut her stuff for major fashion shows across the globe, including Diesel, Vivienne Westwood and Jean Paul Gaultier (seen last month in London)

Despite her incredible success at such a young age, the bombshell has overcome a lot in her life, including battling anorexia as a teenager.

The model previously said she was about 14 or 15 when her eating disorder started. She was going through an 'awkward stage' and was upset by her appearance in paparazzi photos that were taken when she was leaving a store with her mom.

'I remember crying to my mom about them,' she recalled on Dear Media podcast The Skinny Confidential Him and Her in 2020.

The teen decided to do the Master Cleanse after reading online that a model she had looked up to at the time would always do it 'before a huge job.'

Impressive recovery: Despite her incredible success at such a young age, the bombshell has overcome a lot in her life, including battling anorexia as a teenager

Ultimately, she eventually got so thin that her family took her to UCLA to get her treatment.

'We show up. It's like this really scary old man's office. It could not have been a more uncomfortable vibe for me,' she said. 'I sat there and there was just like books everywhere, even on the floor...

'He looked at me and he was like, "So, yeah, basically, at this rate in about four months you're going to be 45 pounds and you're going to be dead."'

Amelia remembered asking herself how that is even 'humanly possible' and couldn't get the number out of her head.

'I just snapped out of it,' she said. 'I was so lucky that I was just like, yeah, I don't want to be 45 pounds.'

Wake up call: At the height of her eating disorder, Amelia's family eventually took her for treatment at UCLA, where she was told she was 'going to be 45 pounds' and 'going to be dead' if she didn't get help (pictured in 2017)

She said the beginning of her recovery was particularly difficult because she started rapidly gaining weight and didn't know why.

'I was still eating just an apple a day, and then I would have a bowl of vegetables at night, maybe with some sriracha and like a drizzle of olive oil if things got pretty crazy,' she recalled. 'I gained 50 pounds in six months and I was like, I know something's wrong with me.'

Amelia went on to note that she was diagnosed with Hashimoto's disease, an autoimmune disorder in which the thyroid gland is attacked.

Pushing through: The model said that in addition to Hashimoto's, she also has an inflamed thyroid, a hormone imbalance, depression, and anxiety

She stressed that 'the longer you're anorexic, the more detrimental effects it's going to actually have on your body.'

In addition to Hashimoto's, the model stated that she suffers from an inflamed thyroid, a hormone imbalance, depression, and anxiety.

Over the years, Amelia said she has been focused on healing her body and mind and does not weigh herself.
Chris Hemsworth and his wife Elsa Pataky are enjoying a relaxing trip to Bali with friends.

The Hollywood star and the actress, 39, are staying at the the luxurious Komune Resort and Beach Club with Chris' pal Luke Munro and his wife April.

The Thor star showed off his famous ripped physique as he and Luke went swimming in the resort pool and drank Bintang beer.

Meanwhile Spanish star Elsa flaunted her own incredible figure in a yellow mini dress as the group posed for a happy snap before heading for a night out on the town.

During the trip, Chris also surfed the waves at Keramas, a popular surf beach which is about an hour's drive from Kuta - the main tourist location on the island.

Chris Hemsworth, far right, and his wife Elsa Pataky, middle right, are enjoying a relaxing trip to Bali with friends

The Hollywood star and the actress, 39, are staying at the the luxurious Komune Resort and Beach Club with Chris' pal Luke Munro and his wife April. The Thor star showed off his famous ripped physique as he and Luke went swimming in the resort pool and drank Bintang beer

Hemsworth met with eager locals on the beach, who watched him surf.

A professional photographer was also on hand to take photos of the star carving the pipeline. Chris then happily posed for selfies with locals when he got out of the water.

Sharing a post to Instagram on Thursday, Chris thanked the photographer for the pictures and the resort for their 'hospitality'.

Komune Resort and Beach Club boasts an iconic surf beach once only surfed by locals.

Chris was also mobbed by fans as he went surfing at a local surf beach

Chris happily posed for selfies with locals when he got out of the water

The black-sand beach, located on Bali's eastern coast in Gianyar, has been visited by the likes of pro surfer Kelly Slater and hosted popular surf competitions like the Corona Bali Pro in 2019.

Chris appears to be enjoying his active and laidback lifestyle after he recently announced he was taking a break from acting to spend more time with his family after discovering he was at risk of Alzheimer's disease.

The Thor star told Vanity Fair he'd decided to take 'time off' after filming a confronting episode about death for his new Disney+ docuseries Limitless.

After having bloodwork done for the program, he was informed he is 'between eight and 10 times' likelier to develop Alzheimer's than the general population, because he is one of only two to three percent of people with two copies of the gene APOE4.

'Yeah, there was an intensity to navigating it,' he reflected. 'Most of us, we like to avoid speaking about death in the hope that we'll somehow avoid it.'

The former Home and Away star added: 'We all have this belief that we'll figure it out. Then to all of a sudden be told some big indicators are actually pointing to this as the route which is going to happen, the reality of it sinks in. Your own mortality.'

Playing on Chris' stardom through superhero movies, Limitless follows him as he pushes up against the boundaries of what his body can do.

The bloodwork he got in aid of the show resulted in the bombshell news that he is several times likelier than the general population to get Alzheimer's, a degenerative brain condition characterised in part by memory loss.

The actor reacted to the news of his own predisposition to Alzheimer's by cultivating a healthier lifestyle.

'For me, the positive of it was like: "Right, if I didn't know this information, I wouldn't have made the changes I made,"' he said.

Chris appears to be enjoying an active and laidback lifestyle after he recently announced he was taking a break from acting to spend more time with his family after discovering he was at risk of Alzheimer's disease

'I just wasn't aware of any of it, so now I feel thankful that I have in my arsenal the sort of tools to best prepare myself and prevent things happening in that way.'

As for how he coped emotionally, 'very quickly it became a self deprecating sort of joke, if you will. It's just the way I am, my family, there's a sense of humor.'

As a result, Chris lives in dread of developing the illness and forgetting his wife Elsa Pataky as well as their daughter India, 10, and twin sons Sasha and Tristan, eight.

'The idea that I won't be able to remember the life I've experienced, or my wife, my kids, is probably my biggest fear,' he said.

Chris lives in dread of developing the illness and forgetting his wife Elsa as well as their daughter India, 10, and twin sons Sasha and Tristan, eight
Admiral Jean-Luc Picard shockingly realized that Jack Crusher was actually his son on Thursday's episode of Star Trek: Picard on the Paramount+ streaming service.

Picard [Patrick Stewart] confronted Dr. Beverly Crusher [Gates McFadden] after noticing the strong resemblance between him and her secret son Jack [Ed Speelers].

Beverly asked him if he remembered their shore leave on Casperia Prime, two months before she left the USS Enterprise.

'We both knew we were at the end,' Beverly said.

'I didn't,' Picard said. 'I didn't know I would never see you again. That I would wonder for years what it was that I had done. Having no idea it was really about what you had done.'

Family talk: Admiral Jean-Luc Picard shockingly realized that Jack Crusher was actually his son on Thursday's episode of Star Trek: Picard on the Paramount+ streaming service

'Well, I got pregnant that night,' Beverly said. 'I wanted to tell you.'

'Then why didn't you?' Picard asked.

Beverly said there were multiple attempts on Picard's life each time that she tried to tell him.

'And you never thought if you would have told me that it all might have been different?' Picard asked.

Picard angrily blasted Beverly for cutting him out of the biggest decision of his life.

'What could have been had I known?' Picard said.

Beverly said if people knew Jack was the son of Picard he would have been a target.

She noted that she already has lost her parents and son Wesley and was determined to protect their son Jack.

Shore leave: Beverly asked him if he remembered their shore leave on Casperia Prime, two months before she left the USS Enterprise

Got pregnant: 'Well, I got pregnant that night,' Beverly said. 'I wanted to tell you'

Multiple attempts: Beverly said there were multiple attempts on Picard's life each time that she tried to tell him

Striking resemblance: Jack Crusher, who has a striking resemblance to Picard, was raised by Beverly as a single mother

'I thought I could protect mine, but I didn't know if I could protect yours,' Beverly said.

The episode titled Seventeen Seconds opened with the Starfleet's Titan trying to outrun the Shrike commanded by a vengeful Vadic [Amanda Plummer]. Vadic repeatedly fired at the Titan causing extensive damage. Captain Liam Shaw [Todd Stashwick] told his crew to prepare to go to warp speed.

William Riker [Jonathan Frakes] warned Shaw that he couldn't outrun the Shrike and needed to hide instead. Shaw instructed ensign Sidney La Forge [Ashlei Sharpe Chestnut] to navigate them deeper inside the nebula cloud. The ship dove and appeared to have lost the Shrike.

'For now,' Picard said.

The show then flashed back to Picard hanging out at a Los Angeles bar toasting Riker about his then newborn son.

Riker said when his son was born on the Titan that it took seventeen seconds for him to get to sick bay to see him when there were complications and it was the 'longest turbolift ride of my life.'

'I thought I was losing him,' Riker said. 'My unborn son.'

Riker said when he finally saw his child he knew that would do anything to save him. Riker said he wished one day Picard would know what it was like to be a father.

LA bar: Picard was shown in a flashback at a Los Angeles bar congratulating Riker on the birth of his son

Long ride: Riker said when his son was born on the Titan that it took seventeen seconds for him to get to sick bay to see him when there were complications and it was the 'longest turbolift ride of my life'

The show then flashed back to the present day with Vadic demanding that Picard hand over Jack Crusher or else.

Picard asked Beverly why she sent the message to him to 'trust no one.' Beverly said everywhere they went people turned on them and she thought it had to do with Picard.

'That's no bounty hunter ship,' Beverly said. 'That's a war ship with Jean-Luc Picard sized enemies behind it.'

Vadic's ship fired on the Titan injuring Shaw. He quickly transferred his command to Riker. Picard set off torpedoes that pounded Vadic's ship.

Meanwhile, Raffi Muskier [Michelle Hurd] woke up after being drugged while the news played about how the Starfleet Federation recruitment building was blown up in a terrorist attack by Lurak t'Luco, the leader of a Romulan rebel faction. Raffi heard music and found Klingon warrior Worf [Michael Dorn], Son of Mogh, who had saved her from Sneed.

'Worf, you are a legend,' Raffi said.

Raffi said she remembered that Worf saved her.

Dangerous mission: Meanwhile, Raffi Muskier [Michelle Hurd] woke up after being drugged while the news played about how the Starfleet Federation recruitment building was blown up in a terrorist attack by Lurak t'Luco, the leader of a Romulan rebel faction

'You are my handler?' Raffi said.

Worf told her that a human by the name of Titus Rikka paid for the Ferengi to lie and they needed to find him.

On the Titan, Riker told LaForge to keep the ship hidden. Jack and Beverly helped treat injured people in the sick bay. When Shaw was brought in, Beverly ran over and figured out that he was bleeding internally.

'How does she keep finding us?' Shaw said to Jack who held his hand.

The Titan emerged from the Nebula and Vadic fired on it pulling it through a portal. Vadic fired again, creating another portal that drew the ship back to her.

'Now is the time to fight,' Picard said.

On M'Talas Prime, Raffi and Worf worked together to track Titus. Titus saw them and started to run but they chased after him but Worf caught him in time.

The Titan continued to try to outrun the Shrike.

Got him: On M'Talas Prime, Raffi and Worf worked together to track Titus

'We are running out of chances here captain,' Picard said.

'I am well aware,' Riker said.

Jack knocked on Seven's door and said he needed her help. He told her that somehow they were leaving a trail of breadcrumbs that the Shrike was using to follow them.

'Mass spectrometer,' Seven said. 'Verterium. It insulates the warp coils.'

'Yes!' Jack said. 'Yes, that's it! That's what I'm saying. We have a leak.'

Jack punched the guard who was guarding her door and they went to engineering where they saw that someone had deactivated diagnostics so the ship's computer couldn't detect the leak. Seven opened up a compartment and saw that the valve had been ruptured.

'It's not damaged,' Seven said. 'It's sabotage.'

Seven radioed the bridge and said that they were leaking verterium and that was how the Shrike had been following them.

In command: Riker was named the emergency captain with Picard as his number one

'Someone did this on purpose,' Seven said.

'We have a saboteur,' Picard said. 'If this was sabotage we can use it to our own advantage. Stop the leak, create a dead end to the Shrike's tail.'

Picard told Riker to use it as a trap. He then could then come up behind the enemy ship but Riker worried about risking the lives of the crew. Riker said as soon as the leak was fixed they would warp speed out of there instead. Picard told him he was making a mistake to give away their one advantage.

'I'm taking this ship and her crew home,' Riker said.

Jack worked to try to stop the leak when a man in a Starfleet uniform walked in and knocked him out. Seven found Jack passed out on the floor and took him to sick bay. Picard rushed to be with him as Beverly tried to revive him. Finally, Jack regained consciousness.

Raffi wanted to torture Titus to get him to talk but Worf said no. Titus told him that the weapons theft and explosion was just a distraction and then started to act strange.

'It's too late, Klingon,' Titus said. 'Human. Solids. Your worlds are on the verge of destruction.'

Intense interrogation: Raffi wanted to torture Titus to get him to talk but Worf said no

Titus then changed into a pile of liquid slime.

'He's a changeling,' Worf said.

Picard returned to the bridge and told Riker they couldn't run any longer but needed to engage Vadic.

'It's not working!' Picard said.

'Sit down, Admiral,' Riker said. 'I'm the captain of this ship.'

Jack told Beverly in sick bay that the man who attacked changed like a Changeling.

Worf explained to Raffi that in the past the Changelings were a powerful enemy of the Federation but that after the Dominion war a terrorist faction broke away unwilling to accept defeat. Worf said he thought they were planning another attack.

Changeling attack: Jack told Beverly in sick bay that the man who attacked changed like a Changeling

Seven told Riker that Jack was ambushed by possibly a Changeling, who had just detonated an explosive leaving the ship unable to go to warp. Picard instructed Riker to turn the ship around and fight.

'We fight or we die,' Picard said.

Riker prepared the ship to attack.

'Fire everything we've got,' Riker said.

The Shrike shot back, disabling the Titan.

'We are sinking, captain, towards the gravity well.

'Remove yourself from the bridge,' Riker said to Picard. 'You've just killed us all.'

Star Trek: Picard will return next Thursday on the Paramount+ service.
Charlize Theron reminisced on her time at the Dior runway show held earlier this week during Paris Fashion Week and uploaded a strew of throwback photos on Instagram on Thursday.

The beauty, who has been the face of the brand's luxurious J'adore fragrance since 2004, attended the Fall/Winter 2023 event alongside other celebrities, such as Blackpink member, Jisoo.

The Mad Max: Fury Road actress, 47, gushed to her 7.1 million followers in the caption that show had been 'absolutely amazing' and that she was, 'grateful to be apart of the House of Dior for all these years.'

In the first picture added into the Instagram carousel, the Oscar winner showed off her cream-colored dress that contained a beaded tassel fringe that fell down from her upper waist.

The flapper-styled gown was sleeveless and contained a plain, satin slip underneath the stunning embellishments.

Classy: Charlize Theron, 47, reminisced on her time at the Dior runway show held earlier this week during Paris Fashion Week and uploaded a strew of memorable photos on Instagram on Thursday

Face of the brand: The beauty, who has been the face of the brand's luxurious J'adore fragrance since 2004, attended the Fall/Winter 2023 event

She layered the look with a long-sleeved, black coat that fell down past her knees and was left unbuttoned to show off her ensemble underneath.

For an edgy flare, the mother of two slipped into a pair of black, combat boots that were secured with laces.

The Monster actress, who recently revealed her platinum locks after sporting brunette hair, carried a black, Lady Dior handbag as she attended the runway show.

Her hair was parted to the side, and fell down in light waves with the ends stopping just below her ears.

She opted to keep her accessories minimalistic to allow the ensemble to be the main focal point, and donned a pair of gold, dainty Christian Dior earrings.

Charlize's makeup was elegantly done for the festivities, and comprised of a layer of black mascara and eyeliner to make her eyes pop.

The star also added a light touch of blush to better accentuate her cheekbones, along with a glossy, pink tint to her lips for a finishing touch.

In the caption, the actress excitedly wrote out, 'Still in awe by the absolutely stunning @Dior Autumn-Winter show.'

She then gave a shout out to the current creative director of the beloved French brand, Maria Grazia Chiuri, and penned, 'you have truly outdone yourself. So grateful to be apart of the House of Dior for all these years - thank you for letting me be apart of this magical moment. Till next time, Paris.'

Getting ready: The Oscar winner also shared snaps as she got ready to attend the show, including a moment when she was getting her makeup done

Special moment: Other celebrities were in attendance at the Dior show, and Charlize had the chance to cross paths with Blackpink member, Jisoo, who donned a stunning, purple dress

In the photo series, Charlize also uploaded various snaps of herself once she entered the spacious venue ahead of the show for Paris Fashion Week, which comes to an end on March 7.

At one point, she crossed paths with Jisoo, who is a member of the K-pop girls group called Blackpink, and is also a global ambassador for Dior.

A black and white photo showed the South African-born actress getting her hair and makeup done ahead of the anticipated runway show. Other black and white photos showed the star pausing for a brief photo session at the event.

She had the opportunity to pause for a picture with Maria, who officially was appointed as the creative director at Dior back in 2016.

Theron notably became the face of the brand's J'adore perfume back in 2004, and has sparked a close relationship with Dior since then.

Along with starring in numerous campaigns, the French company also partnered with her own charity in the past called the Charlize Theron Africa Outreach Project (CTAOP), which was launched in 2007.

The organization aims to 'advance and invest in the health, education and safety of young people living in Southern Africa to create a more equitable future for all,' according to the official website.

During a past interview with WWD, the actress expressed that 'being the face of such an iconic perfume' has been an 'honor' for her and added that, 'Dior has been such a collaborative and supportive partner.'

Fashionable: Other black and white photos showed the star pausing for a brief photo session at the event

Luxurious: She opted to keep her accessories minimalistic to allow the ensemble to be the main focal point, and donned a pair of gold, dainty Christian Dior earrings

The creative mind: She had the opportunity to pause for a picture with Maria (middle), who officially was appointed as the creative director at Dior back in 2016

She continued, 'Its been an ideal match, since so much of what Dior stands for and behind really resonates for me. In particular, the celebration of women and the incredible talent, passion and altruism of women.'

Along with collaborating with Dior, Charlize is also slated to appear in the upcoming Netflix sequel titled, The Old Guard 2, which is currently in its post-production stages. The plot has mainly remained under wraps and a set premiere date has yet to be revealed to anticipated fans.

Cast members, aside from Charlize, who will be reprising their roles from the first installment, such as KiKi Layne, Marwan Kenzari, Luca Marinelli and also Matthias Schoenaerts. New actors have also joined the second film, including Henry Golding and Uma Thurman.

The premise of the first movie followed, 'A covert team of immortal mercenaries is suddenly exposed and must now fight to keep their identity a secret just as an unexpected new member is discovered,' according to an IMDB synopsis.

When talking about what audiences can expect from The Old Guard 2, Charlize recently told Variety, 'It felt very specific the first time around, and we wanted to kind of like, take it out of that.'

She added to the publication that, 'We have a bigger cast and feels more global. It's a big movie.'

When she is not busy on sets, Theron spends time with her two adopted children, daughters Jackson and August.

Upcoming project: Along with collaborating with Dior, Charlize is also slated to appear in the upcoming Netflix sequel titled, The Old Guard 2, which is currently in its post-production stages; seen in December 2022 in Los Angeles
Coronation Street viewers have predicted that serial killer Stephen Reid will kill Elaine Jones after he accidentally proposed to her while high on LSD.

The dastardly character, played by Todd Boyce, had earlier intended to drug boss Carla Connor as he continues is plot to take over Underworld, however, his plan when disastrously wrong when he mistakenly drugged himself.

Later as a besotted Elaine attempted to comfort him believing he'd had an anxiety attack, his confused words led her to believe Stephen had popped the question - with fans guessing that she'll soon become 'victim number 3' as he'll bump her off for her money.

Earlier in the day, after Carla (Alison King) spat out her tea complaining over full fat milk, Stephen realised with horror that either he or niece Sarah Platt had drunk the spiked beverage - with things not looking good as they both had a huge presentation coming up.

Later on stage it soon became apparent that Stephen had in fact accidentally drugged himself, with the villain having blurred vision and sweating profusely before running off - forcing Sarah (Tina O'Brien) to take over.

In danger? Coronation Street viewers have predicted that serial killer Stephen Reid will kill Elaine Jones after he accidentally proposed to her while high on LSD

He then rushed back to his hotel room where he soon became overcome with LSD hallucinations, with Stephen being haunted by the ghosts of his murder victims Teddy and Leo.

Meanwhile, a concerned Elaine (Paula Wilcox), who was in the audience to support his pitch, headed to his room alongside Debbie Webster (Sue Devaney), with the pair getting a maid to let them into the room.

Elaine persuaded Debbie to let her go into the room alone where she went on to comfort Stephen and suggest he retire and that they should live out their golden years together.

Still bewildered by the drugs, Stephen nodded in approval and said they were 'for keeps', causing an ecstatic Elaine to take this as a proposal before hugging the confused killer and declaring her love.

Watching the hilarious scenes play out, Corrie fans were quick to take to Twitter to suggest that Stephen will likely murder Elaine and claim her life insurance money.

'Hmm. Now let's see: Stephen and Elaine get married, take out life insurance and then he bumps her off. Victim number 3 coming up', said one watcher.

While a second remarked: 'Think Elaine will be for the wheelie bin next.'

A third tweeted: 'Best #corrie episode ever, hilarious. Dont think Elaine will make it as far as her country cottage.'

Whoops: The dastardly character had earlier intended to drug boss Carla Connor as he continues is plot to take over Underworld, however, his plan when disastrously wrong when he mistakenly drugged himself

No way! Later as a besotted Elaine attempted to comfort him believing he'd had an anxiety attack, his confused words led her to believe Stephen had popped the question - with fans guessing that she'll soon become 'victim number 3'

'Stephen will marry Elaine & take out 250,000 life insurance. Matched then dispatched' shared a fourth watcher.

'Stephen will marry desperate Elaine, kill her and play the merry widower as he empties her account' predicted a fifth.

With another adding: 'will Stephen talk his way out of marrying Elaine or will he marry her & kill her for her money?'

Thoughts: Watching the hilarious scenes play out, Corrie fans were quick to take to Twitter to suggest that Stephen will likely murder Elaine and claim her life insurance money

Delusional: Elaine persuaded Debbie to let her go into the room alone where she went on to comfort Stephen and suggest he retire and that they should live out their golden years together

Ha! Still bewildered by the drugs, Stephen nodded in approval and said they were 'for keeps', causing an ecstatic Elaine to take this as a proposal before hugging the confused killer and declaring her love

Plot: Could Elaine be Stephen's latest victim?

In upcoming scenes, Carla berates Stephen for pulling out of the presentation, leaving Sarah to carry on, making it clear he's to have nothing more to do with the American deal.

A seething Stephen heads to the precinct with the intent of buying more drugs.

However when two lads pocket his money and laugh in his face, Stephen sees red.

Coronation Street airs on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays at 8pm on ITV1 and ITVX.
Simon Baker was in high spirits as he touched down at Sydney Airport on Thursday and picked up by a mystery woman who is believed to be his new girlfriend.

The Mentalist star, 53, couldn't wipe the smile off his face as he made his way through the terminal and to the blonde beauty's white Range Rover.

Simon quickly loaded his suitcases into the backseat and beamed as he greeted the blonde.

The handsome star, who split from ex Laura May Gibbs in 2021, dressed casually in a blue jacket and pale pink trousers.

Simon flew in from Europe where he attended the Berlinale International Film Festival in Berlin for his new film, Limbo.

Simon Baker was in high spirits as he touched down at Sydney Airport on Thursday, and picked up by a mystery woman who is believed to be his new girlfriend

The actor, who has aged like fine wine, showed off his rugged good looks and the beginnings of a beard.

In November, he was spotted enjoying a dip in Bondi with a blonde beauty, believed to be the same woman who picked him up at the airport.

Simon and his female companion appeared to be having a ball as they jumped in and out of the water and lapped up the sun.

The Mentalist star, 53, couldn't wipe the smile off his face as he made his way through the terminal and to the blonde beauty's white Range Rover

The handsome star, who split from ex Laura May Gibbs in 2021, dressed casually in a blue jacket and pale pink trousers

Simon flew in from Europe where he attended the Berlinale International Film Festival in Berlin for his new film, Limbo

The actor, who has aged like fine wine, showed off his rugged good looks and the beginnings of a beard

They were also joined by another woman, who relaxed on the sand with the pair.

In November 2021, his ex Laura May Gibbs spoke publicly for the first time about her split from the Hollywood star.

The Byron Bay activewear designer, 36, categorically denied rumours the actor broke up with her because she attended an anti-vaccine mandate protest.

Unlike some stars, Simon proved he wasn't too posh to push his own luggage through the terminal

Simon quickly loaded his suitcases into the backseat and beamed as he greeted the blonde

Laura slammed this 'false narrative' about their split in a lengthy Instagram post, declaring it was 'simply not true'.

She insisted their split was amicable, adding: 'I never discuss my private life, but I will say this - the friendship and respect I share with [Simon] runs too deep for the media's noise to have any true impact in our lives.'

Before that, Simon's spokesperson confirmed he and Laura had quietly parted ways.

In November 2021, his ex Laura May Gibbs spoke publicly for the first time about her split from the Hollywood star

The Byron Bay activewear designer, 36, categorically denied rumours the actor broke up with her because she attended an anti-vaccine mandate protest

Simon announced his split from wife Rebecca Rigg in January 2021, after 29 years of marriage

The pair are said to have met in Byron, where Laura's sustainable fashion design studio is based near his farm in Nashua.

Simon announced his split from wife Rebecca Rigg in January 2021, after 29 years of marriage.

It was reported at the time that the pair had quietly separated some time in 2020.

The pair told PEOPLE in a joint statement: 'We remain close friends and our three children will always be the most important focus of our lives.'

Australian actor Baker first met actress Rigg, 55, in the early '90s and the former couple share three children together, Stella, 29, Claude, 24, and Harry, 21.

The pair told PEOPLE in a joint statement: 'We remain close friends and our three children will always be the most important focus of our lives'
Katherine Ryan cut a stylish figure in a glittering purple co-ord as she performed at the Just For Laughs comedy festival at The O2 Arena, London on Thursday.

The comedian, 39, looked sensational in the eye catching shirt which boasted feather cuff sleeves as she took to the stage.

She teamed the number with a pair of matching wide legged trousers which also donned feather detailing around the bottom.

Katherine added inches to her frame in a pair of black heels and accessorised with small gold hoop earrings.

The TV personality styled her long blonde tresses poker straight from a side parting and added a coordinated chunky purple headband to her ensemble.

Looking good: Katherine Ryan cut a stylish figure in a glittering purple co-ord as she performed at the Just For Laughs comedy festival at The O2 Arena, London on Thursday

Stylish: The comedian, 39, looked sensational in the eye catching shirt which boasted feather cuff sleeves as she took to the stage

Darren Harriott, 34, also took to the stage during the festival to perform his stand up act.

The comedian looked effortlessly cool in a black short sleeved shirt which he teamed with matching cargos and white trainers.

It comes after Katherine hit out at Towie star James Argent earlier this week for his age gap relationship with 18-year old actress Stella Turian.

James, 34, and Stella have been together for over eight months after meeting at a wedding in Mykonos last year.

They're in a long-distance relationship because Stella, who's 16 years Arg's junior, lives in her native Italy while James resides in Buckhurst Hill, Essex.

Katherine has now taken a swipe at their relationship on social media, shortly after labelling Leonardo Di Caprio creepy for his previous relationship age gap.

The comedian took to her Instagram stories in a brutal way where she cuddled her baby daughter Fenna Grace, whilst giving the camera a moody looking stare.

Katherine zoomed in on her unimpressed face in a video and captioned it: 'Me - a mother - finding out a 35 TOWIE star has an 18 year old girlfriend.'

Chic: She teamed the number with a pair of matching wide legged trousers which also donned feather detailing around the bottom

Glamorous: The TV personality styled her long blonde tresses poker straight from a side parting and added a coordinated chunky purple headband to her ensemble

Incredible: Katherine added inches to her frame in a pair of black heels and accessorised with small gold hoop earrings

James says his girlfriend living overseas has only strengthened their connection and Stella's 'proud' of everything he's achieved since turning his life around.

He said: 'We are really happy. Me and Stella are both really, really happy. Everything is going well, and we are very close.

'Stella is incredible she is such a special woman and we're very close and happy. It's really working. Everything is good.

'Obviously, we are in a long-distance relationship, but we make it work and every time we see each other it's exciting and fun and we do nice things and when we're not together we're still in regular contact. It's nice because then we miss each other and when we do see each other it's always special.

'She's very proud of me and she's been very supportive. Absence makes the heart grow fonder and I'm just so happy.'

James's relationship with Stella is his first since ending his on/off romance with former TOWIE co-star Gemma Collins.

It comes after Katherine labelled Leonardo Di Caprio creepy on Twitter over his rumoured romance with model Eden Polani, 19.

After the news broke about the actor, 48, who has a penchant for dating women under 25, she posted a series of bemused tweets about him.

Show time: Katherine seemed in high spirits as she performed to the crowd

Performing: Darren Harriott, 34, also took to the stage during the festival to perform his stand up act

Looking good: The comedian looked effortlessly cool in a black short sleeved shirt which he teamed with matching cargos and white trainers

Chic: Also in attendance was Kerry Godliman who looked chic in a pair of white trousers and a lace black blouse

When one fan asked the comedian what the ' crime ' was because Leo and Eden are both adults, she replied: 'No crime just a creepy pattern.'

It came after she quote-tweeted a post which said: 'Not enough people are talking about Leonardo DiCaprio who is almost 50- and 'getting close' to a 19 year old teenage girl' and replied: 'This is literally all I've talked about for SEVEN YEARS.'

She also wrote 'uh huh' in response to a separate tweet which read: 'the power dynamic of his age, his wealth, and his fame over a 19 year old girl is actually repulsive.'

The star also quipped: 'This year, Titanic became too old for Leonardo DiCaprio to be in it' after author Caitlin Moran wrote: I feel like he has Titantic trauma.

'He's dating women like he's still the age he was when he shot it, and he's ALWAYS on holiday on a yacht. Dude needs some EMDR.'

Twitter has gone wild with the news because Eden is so young that her high school education was interrupted by the Covid pandemic.

And moreover, she was not even born when Titanic was released back in 1998 - 25 years ago.
The Merchant Of Venice 1936 (Palace Theatre, Watford)

Rating:

Verdict: Historical mis-match

The Time Machine  A Comedy (New Wolsey Theatre, Ipswich, & touring)

Rating:

Verdict: Kills time

Shakespeare's Venetian-Jewish money lender Shylock has been teleported down the centuries and secured a sex change to become a matriarch in London's East End of the 1930s.

In a radical new production of The Merchant Of Venice in Watford, this is a fascinating and timely reinvention of the Bard's highly contentious, stereotypical Jewish character, played by Tracy-Ann Oberman (recently in Noises Off).

The new setting is certainly thought-provoking and director Brigid Larmour's adaptation culminates in the 1936 'Battle of Cable Street' when Oswald Mosley and his British Union of Fascists attempted to march through the East End's Jewish quarter. On the day, he was seen off by a coalition of cross-political, trans-religious resistance.

Although heavily cut to run at two hours  including a 20-minute interval  Larmour's adaptation remains very much Shakespeare. Historically, Shylock's character has been used to act as a figure for and against anti-Semitism. Here, though, you hear how some of the Bard's lines are set up to make him a hate figure after he insists on cutting a pound of flesh from his defaulting debtor, Antonio.

Tracy-Ann Oberman is a very distinctive Shylock, performing with enormous pride and dignity in the face of rancid racism

The problem with Larmour's otherwise thoughtful and unsettling production is that she has turned it into a didactic polemic, with the posh merchant Antonio wearing a black shirt and Nazi armband. He's a very one-dimensional baddie, whereas Shakespeare's full text offers a sharper and more complex presentation of Shylock's social evisceration.

Oberman, however, is a very distinctive Shylock, performing with enormous pride and dignity in the face of rancid racism. She particularly relishes Shylock's contemptuous putdowns  investing them with righteous, guttural scorn.

Hannah Morrish as the foreign princess, Portia, who rescues Antonio in a legal fitup, sprinkles courtroom glitter on the injustice. Adam Buchanan as her suitor is a jolly Biggles type, oblivious to his idle boyish prejudice, and Raymond Coulthard brings effortless superiority to Antonio's aristocratic, anti-Semitic bile.

Together with images of fascist rallies projected on grey East End tenement walls at the back of the stage, good points are made about racism and the shame of English fascism.

But there is little sense of the widespread resistance to fascism that defeated Mosley. For that, Larmour would have been better off with a play cut loose from all the baggage that comes with old Bill.

Time out: Amy Revelle and Dave Hearn in the adaptation of H.G. Wells' The Time Machine

Were H.G. Wells to buzz in on his time-travelling Chesterfield armchair, driven by a spinning brolly, he would surely be perplexed by this stage adaptation of his famous novel, The Time Machine. It's an ultra-lightweight caper in which one of three actors performing his story is accidentally killed.

Despite being thwarted by the 'timeline protection paradox' which (we are told) rules that stuff can't 'unhappen', the three actors have to find a way to save him. It's a flimsy idea filled out with audience participation including eating pizza in a mocked-up trattoria with one volunteer, while another draws the scene on a flip chart. All of which has no more to do with H.G.'s plot than a later Importance Of Being Earnest 'Handbag' hip-hop dance routine.

As the Wells character, Dave Hearn is the show's chief purveyor of knowing gags. Amy Revelle plays the female roles, correcting sexist tropes and singing a Cher song, while Michael Dylan as the dead man walking gets to do a Hamlet soliloquy rather well.

All very much on a budget, it's staged with a green marble Doric folly painted on canvas, together with a Roman numeral clock at its centre. It does at least kill time.

Oh, what a thrilling hoedown!

Oklahoma! (Wyndham's Theatre, London)

Rating:

Verdict: Sexy, spare and stunning

By Georgina Brown

Shameless Ado Annie isn't the only one who 'Cain't Say No' in Daniel Fish's remarkable rethink of Oklahoma!, in which the frills, hoedown hokiness and lush orchestration expected in a revival of the Rodgers & Hammerstein classic are stripped away.

Actors in denim and checks sit waiting for their cues in what looks like a local community hall.

Some scenes burst with sunshine, such as whenever Georgina Onuorah's Ado Annie flutters her lashes at Stavros Demetraki

Instead of the bright golden haze on the meadow of Oh, What A Beautiful Mornin', the house lights are blazing  all the better to expose the simmering hearts and haunted souls of these lusty farming folk. The trigger-happy atmosphere is deftly suggested by racks of rifles along the walls. A blue-grass band of seven is tuning up in front. And every note of this piece is sounded afresh.

The result is thrilling, dark, dangerous and very, very sexy. An outrage according to some, but more than OK by me.

On swanks Arthur Darvill's cowboy Curly, bringing an edge of sleaze to The Surrey With A Fringe On Top  his flirty invitation to the dance to the town's heartthrob, Laurey.

Anoushka Lucas's Laurey is no pushover, however. When she says she wants 'things to happen', she may be thinking of another suitor, Jud Fry (Patrick Vaill, menacing but also sad).

Some scenes are played out in total darkness  all the better to hear the shame and fear. Others burst with sunshine and fun, such as whenever Georgina Onuorah's Ado Annie flutters her lashes at Stavros Demetraki's slippery pedlar. Stunning.

Globe's first tale over TWO venues

The Winter's Tale (Shakespeare's Globe, London)

Rating:

Verdict: Double the fun

By Veronica Lee

The Winter's Tale is one of Shakespeare's 'problem plays', with its psychological drama and broad comedy. But the tonal shift, plus the jump of time and location from Sicilia's formal court to pastoral Bohemia, makes it perfect for the Globe's first dual-venue staging.

A scene from The Winter's Tale, currently playing at Shakespeare's Globe

Sean Holmes's production begins in the Sam Wanamaker Playhouse, at the court of King Leontes (Sergo Vares) in Sicilia, before transferring to the open-air Globe to visit Bohemia and returning inside for the final act.

It is a brilliant conceit. Leontes wrongly accuses pregnant wife Hermione (Bea Segura) of infidelity with King Polixenes (John Lightbody). She dies after he abandons their child, Perdita, who is raised by shepherds. When the grown-up Perdita falls in love with Polixenes' son Florizel, all is revealed.

Holmes's warm-hearted production does justice to Shakespeare's exploration of how love can bring destruction and redemption, while giving full rein to the comedy.

Raw, uncompromising, state-of-the-nation theatre

Grenfell System Failure (Touring London)

Rating:

Verdict: The importance of bearing witness

By Georgina Brown

Hisam Choucair lost six members of his family in the Grenfell inferno. He opens this docu-drama, expertly adapted by Nicolas Kent and Richard Norton-Taylor from verbatim witness statements taken during the public Inquiry into the 2017 tragedy.

They reveal the chronicle of casual corporate and social neglect, organisational obfuscation, naked greed and bureaucracy which allowed a residential tower-block clad in combustible material (the risks had been flagged in 1999) to function as 'a chimney', trapping and burning to death 72 people in Grenfell Tower, West London.

This docu-drama is expertly adapted by Nicolas Kent and Richard Norton-Taylor from verbatim witness statements taken during the public Inquiry into the 2017 tragedy

Andrew Roe, then leading the London Fire Brigade, called it 'the most appalling example of institutional failure in British history'.

Staged in the Playground Theatre, in the shadow of Grenfell, on a replica of the shabby Inquiry room, the obscene failures which lead to this preventable tragedy are exposed with forensic clarity.

Questioned by Richard Millett QC (a poker-faced yet pouncing Ron Cook) a devastated, dignified Hisam (Shahzad Ali) says no one from the council, or government or police were at the scene on that terrible night to help traumatised locals searching for loved ones; no processes in place like those he had seen during the 7/7 bombing working for Transport for London.

Obstructed, he went from hospital to hospital, filling out form after form. After five days, he was asked for a sample of DNA which, weeks later, confirmed the deaths of his mother, his sister, her husband and their three children.

Many of those questioned play the blame game: cuts to the London Fire Service by Mayor Boris Johnson; lazy civil servants sitting on data; a culture of passing-the-buck. Most sickening is an egregious Lord Pickles (Howard Crossley) almost celebrating the Tory's deregulation of building standards.

In his final speech, Hasim raises the issue of 'racism', not touched on by the Inquiry, which, he believes, may explain the 'lack of urgency' at every level.

Raw, unadorned, uncompromising, state-of-the-nation theatre.
Austin Butler looked effortlessly cool while waiting for his car at the Sunset Tower Hotel in West Hollywood on Thursday.

The Golden Globe winner, 31, showed off his James Dean reminiscent style while wearing a dark green bomber jacket over a white T-shirt, which he paired with light blue jeans.

The Elvis star - who's currently dating 21-year-old model Kaia Gerber - was pictured chatting and sharing a hug with a mystery gal pal.

Hollywood's new leading man finalized his look with a pair of brown boots and a brown leather belt.

Butler kept his eyes shielded from the sun with a pair of black sunglasses.

Like James Dean: Austin Butler looked effortlessly cool while waiting for his car at the Sunset Tower Hotel in West Hollywood on Thursday

Hug: The Elvis star - who's currently dating 21-year-old model Kaia Gerber - was pictured chatting and sharing a hug with a mystery gal pal

Meanwhile the mystery brunette sported a pale blue cardigan over a white T-shirt, light blue jeans, and a pair of white sneakers.

She accessorized with a large green tote and wore her brunette tresses in a ponytail.

The week prior the actor was joined by his girlfriend Kaia at W Magazine's Annual Best Performances Party at Chateau Marmont.

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.

Meanwhile, the Oscar-nominated actor 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 couple have been linked since November 2021 and made their red-carpet debut together at the 2022 Met Gala, six months later.

Stylish pair: The week prior the actor was joined by his girlfriend Kaia Gerber, 21, at W Magazine's Annual Best Performances Party at Chateau Marmont

Red carpet debut: The couple have been linked since November 2021 and made their red-carpet debut together at the 2022 Met Gala, six months later (pictured)

The ex: Prior to Kaia, the actor dated High School Musical Vanessa Hudgens for eight years, before calling it quits in 2020; Pictured 2019 in Italy

Prior to Kaia, the actor dated High School Musical Vanessa Hudgens for eight years, before calling it quits in 2020.

Butler's outing comes after he spoke openly of the bond he shared with the late Lisa Marie Presley following her sudden death.

Lisa Marie, the only daughter of Elvis and Priscilla Presley, tragically died six weeks ago at the age of 54 after going into cardiac arrest at home.

Austin, who is up for Best Actor at the Oscars for his role as the King of Rock and Roll, spoke about the close bond he formed with Lisa Marie while making the film.

Speaking about the loss of Lisa Marie, who passed away just days after Austin won a Golden Globe for his portrayal of her father, he said: 'I've never felt so close to somebody so quickly as I did to Lisa Marie.

'The first time I met Lisa Marie, we felt as though we knew each other from before, because I'd done these scenes saying goodbye to little Lisa Marie, suddenly now I'm looking at adult Lisa Marie and we just both got tears in our eyes and I got the biggest hug.

'We just talked and talked for hours. She took me up into his bedroom at Graceland and sat on his bed. Those are the things that are the biggest gift for this whole thing for me,' Austin said on the WTF podcast with Marc Maron.

The actor has been in touch with Lisa's mum Priscilla and said the grief within the family and those who were close to Lisa is 'strong'.

'I've never felt so close to somebody so quickly': Butler recently spoke openly of the bond he shared with the late Lisa Marie Presley following her sudden death; Pictured 2022
Matthew McConaughey's wife Camila Alves McConaughey has revealed she was on board the Lufthansa flight from Austin, Texas to Frankfurt, Germany that was diverted to Washington D.C. after severe turbulence injured seven.

The 40-year-old Brazilian model was on board Lufthansa Flight 469 that was flying 37,000 feet over Tennessee on Wednesday evening when the crew reported severe turbulence.

Alves shared a brief video on her Instagram on Thursday afternoon, showing food and other items strewn about the aisle in the aftermath of the turbulence.

She also shared details of the flight - which she described as 'chaos' after the turbulence hit - while thanking those who helped her.

'On Flight last night, plane dropped almost 4000 feet, 7 people went to the hospital, Everything was flying everywhere,' Alves McConaughey began.

Camila on board: Just hours after it was reported that a Lufthansa flight from Austin, Texas to Frankfurt, Germany was diverted to Washington D.C. after severe turbulence injured seven on board, Matthew McConaughey's wife Camila Alves McConaughey revealed she too was on the plane

Aftermath: Alves shared a brief video on her Instagram on Thursday afternoon, showing food and other items strewn about the aisle in the aftermath of the turbulence

'To respect the privacy of those around me thats all I am showing but the plane was a CHAOS And the turbulence keep on coming,' she added.

'The @lufthansa flight you are seeing on the news today!!!! Yesthat one. Thank God everyone was safe and ok,' the model added.

The flight was diverted to Dulles Airport outside of Washington D.C., with Alves McConaughey thanking the staff of the Marriot Bonvoy near the airport.

'I must say everyone @marriotbonvoy by the airport of Washington where we had to divert to and spend the night was so kind!' she said.

'And we made it to the bar with 1 minute before closingslept well, getting on new flight today, To the journey I continue Karin Lacy was a savior with me until 1am working on new flights!!!' she concluded.

Alves McConaughey also took to her Instagram story, sharing a headline from an NBC News story about the flight she was on.

'Yeap... this flight we were on,' Alves said in the caption of her Instagram story post on Thursday.

She also shared a new video on Thursday from her new flight to Frankfurt, giving her 1 million fans and followers a quick update.

Headline: Alves McConaughey also took to her Instagram story, sharing a headline from an NBC News story about the flight she was on

Update: 'Yep... this flight we were on,' Alves said in the caption of her Instagram story post on Thursday

'Just my luck, after last night. Just got on the rescheduled flight and the pilot's saying we have 45 minutes of turbulence, getting out of Washington,' she revealed.

'Just my luck. Wish me luck,' Alves McConaughey concluded.

Her husband Matthew McConaughey, who she married in 2012, made headlines last week when she shared a snap of him cutting their 10-year-old son Livingston's hair.

Their oldest son, 14-year-old Levi, was also there looking on along with the family dog in the snap, which got nearly 70K likes.

The scary flight incident came just months after she suffered a neck injury after falling down a flight of stairs.

'Sh** Happens. I am ok but Dont fall peopledont fall' Alves McConaughey began in her caption from early November.

'Ladies hold your long dresses up or lose pants up when going by down the stairs!!' she continued.

'Wind blew mine as I was midair, pant fabric wrapped around my shoe and down the floor I wentA silly fall, turned into not so silly neck situation, recovery time ahead' she concluded.

Luck: 'Just my luck, after last night. Just got on the rescheduled flight and the pilot's saying we have 45 minutes of turbulence, getting out of Washington,' she revealed

More luck: 'Just my luck. Wish me luck,' Alves McConaughey concluded

Neck injury: The scary flight incident came just months after she suffered a neck injury after falling down a flight of stairs

Earlier on Thursday, one of the other passengers aboard Lufthansa Flight 469 - Susan Zimmerman - opened up about her experiences on Good Morning America.

'I don't think any of the people on board - the cabin crew - I don't think any of them have experienced anything like this,' passenger Susan Zimmerman said.

'This was shocking. It was kind of like you're in slow motion. You just see everything - like in a movie where you see everything lift and all of a sudden it just comes right back down,' she said.

Zimmerman added the 4,000-foot drop, 'felt like five seconds of falling and then there was shaking.'

Many of the passengers weren't wearing their seatbelts at the time of the unexpected turbulence, since the seat belt sign was not on at the time of the turbulence.

ABC News Aviation contributor John Nance added, 'This is the very reason that pilots warn you from the cockpit to keep your seatbelts fastened, because if you hit something like this and you're not strapped in, you could go flying.

The flight landed at Washington-Dulles International Airport around 9pm, just three hours into the 10.5-hour flight to Germany. Seven passengers were taken to the hospital with unknown injuries.

One man, who claimed his wife was on the flight, said 'people who didn't have their seat belts fastened got hurt mostly cause it came as surprise.'

The flight landed at Washington-Dulles International Airport around 9pm, just three hours into 10.5-hour flight from Austin to Germany. Seven passengers were taken to the hospital
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Katy Perry, Sofia Vergara, Cher and Marisa Tomei brought their megawatt star quality to Thursday's taping of the upcoming TV special Carol Burnett: 90 Years Of Laughter + Love.

A cavalcade of celebrities flooded into the AVALON Hollywood & Bardot to take the stage and pay tribute to Carol, who has been a comedy star since her Broadway debut 1959.

The retrospective is due to air on NBC on April 26 - the day that Carol will celebrate her 90th birthday after decades of adulation as a titan of stage and screen.

Evidently the special will be chockablock with musical performances, including by Katy, who brought back the 1980s in a retro chic black gown with swirling silver embroidery.

The 38-year-old complemented her off-the-shoulder frock with a towering black period hairdo and lent the proceedings an extra splash of glitz with an elaborate pair of drop earrings.

Salute from the stars: (from left) Katy Perry, Sofia Vergara, Cher and Marisa Tomei brought their megawatt star quality to Thursday's taping of the upcoming TV special Carol Burnett: 90 Years Of Laughter + Love

Cher, who memorably appeared on the iconic Carol Burnett Show during its 11-year run during the 196s and 1970s, also made her presence felt on the red carpet.

Wearing her platinum blonde hairdo down in waves, she paired a black sequined blouse with a loose-fitted pair of checked silver slacks for her latest red carpet appearance.

Carol herself glowed as she basked in the adoration of her fellow stars and cozied up to her longtime pal Julie Andrews, whom she has been friends with for over half a century.

Julie and Carol's longtime personal and professional bond, which included a 1962 Carnegie Hall concert that was taped for TV, will be highlighted in the upcoming special.

One of the musical performances at Thursday's taping will be Stephen Sondheim's song Old Friends from the 1981 musical Merrily We Roll Along, according to TV Insider.

Some of the comic actresses who have succeeded Carol as TV megastars were also out in force, including Modern Family star Sofia Vergara, who was every inch the busty bombshell in a plunging strapless dress.

Meanwhile Marisa Tomei, who shocked movie buffs by winning an Oscar for a dazzling comic performance in My Cousin Vinny, exuded a youthful glow while wearing nothing but an open blazer and a necklace over her bra.

Some of the boldface names who succeeded Carol in TV sketch comedy were also out in force, including Saturday Night Live alumnae Kristin Wiig, Maya Rudolph and Amy Poehler.

Superstar: Wearing her platinum blonde hairdo down in waves, Cher paired a black sequined blouse with a loose-fitted pair of checked silver slacks for her latest red carpet appearance

Age-defying: Cher showed a hint of her cleavage in the figure hugging bodysuit which she teamed with a sparkly studded black jacket

Glam: Cher showed off her very smooth visage with a glamorous make-up look and her platinum blonde hair

The look: Evidently the special will be chockablock with musical performances, including by Katy, who brought back the 1980s in a retro chic black gown with swirling silver embroidery

Bosom buddies: Carol herself glowed as she basked in the adoration of her fellow stars and cozied up to her longtime pal Julie Andrews, whom she has been friends with for over half a century

Milestone: The retrospective is due to air on NBC on April 26 - the day that Carol will celebrate her 90th birthday after decades of adulation as a titan of stage and screen

Heavy hitters: Some of the boldface names who succeeded Carol in TV sketch comedy were also out in force, including Saturday Night Live alumnae (from left) Kristin Wiig, Maya Rudolph and Amy Poehler

Kristin slid her enviably petite frame into a slinky silver pencil dress, while Maya was draped in a flowing sky blue smock and Amy looked sprightly as ever in a scarlet sequin number.

Broadway legend Bernadette Peters showcased her ample endowments as she hobnobbed with iconic costume designer Bob Mackie, whose storied career included The Carol Burnett Show.

Vicki Lawrence, another Carol Burnett Show veteran, was unmistakable as she trod the red carpet amid such names as Quantum Leap silver fox Scott Bakula and POSE star Billy Porter.

Bob Odenkirk, a supporting player on Breaking Bad and the leading man of its acclaimed spin-off Better Call Saul, attended the beano on the arm of his wife Naomi, whom he tied the knot with in 1997.

Sitcom names galore paraded into AVALON Hollywood & Bardot, including Friends star Lisa Kudrow working a bit of monochrome magic and Glee actress Jane Lynch in a burgundy blazer over a matching blouse.

Carol's fellow Broadway hand Kristin Chenoweth, who is best known for playing Glinda in the original Broadway cast of Wicked, could be spotted holding hands with Carol on the red carpet.

The Assassination Of Gianni Versace: American Crime Story star Darren Criss cut a dapper figure at the fete amid such sparkling names as Oscar-winner Allison Janney and the agelessly radiant soap star Susan Lucci.

One of Carol's most memorable film roles was the villainous Miss Hanigan in the 1982 movie of Annie - whose title star Aileen Quinn could be seen, all grown up at 51, hitting the red carpet at AVALON.

Legends in their own time: Broadway's Bernadette Peters showcased her ample endowments as she hobnobbed with iconic costume designer Bob Mackie, whose storied career included The Carol Burnett Show

Stars of the small screen: (from left) Vicki Lawrence, another Carol Burnett Show veteran, was unmistakable as she trod the red carpet amid such names as Quantum Leap silver fox Scott Bakula and POSE star Billy Porter

Date night: Bob Odenkirk, a supporting player on Breaking Bad and the leading man of its acclaimed spin-off Better Call Saul, attended the beano on the arm of his wife Naomi, whom he tied the knot with in 1997.

Unmistakable: Sitcom names galore paraded into AVALON Hollywood & Bardot, including Friends star Lisa Kudrow (left) working a bit of monochrome magic and Glee actress Jane Lynch (right) in a burgundy blazer over a matching blouse

Side by side: Carol's fellow Broadway hand Kristin Chenoweth, who is best known for playing Glinda in the original Broadway cast of Wicked, could be spotted holding hands with Carol on the red carpet

The Big Bang Theory blonde Melissa Rauch was effervescent in a black party dress, Rhea Seehorn wore a sleek midnight blue frock with crimson accents and Sutton Foster showcased her dancer's frame in a skintight getup.

Carol Burnett: 90 Years Of Laughter + Love will look back on the beloved actress' storied career, stretching back to her star-making role in the 1959 Broadway musical Once Upon A Mattress.

Based on The Princess And The Pea, the show featured music by Mary Rodgers - daughter of The Sound Of Music composer Richard Rodgers - and catapulted Carol to prominence in show business.

While the special will of course cover the peak of her career during her 11 seasons fronting The Carol Burnett Show, it will also highlight some of her less well-remembered projects such as the movie Pete 'N' Tillie.

Carol gave a statement about the special in January, gushing: 'Im so excited NBC decided to throw me a birthday party and invited all of my closest friend. I cant wait to look back at so many wonderful moments throughout my career. I feel so lucky to share this night with everyone.'

In addition to the famous faces on the red carpet, the ceremony will include such showbiz luminaries as Ellen DeGeneres, Steve Carrell, Laura Dern, Tracee Ellis Ross and Bill Hader.

The musical performances will reportedly include a rendition of I'm So Glad We Had This Time Together, which was the theme song of The Carol Burnett Show throughout its 11 years on the air.

All together now: (from left) The Assassination Of Gianni Versace: American Crime Story star Darren Criss cut a dapper figure at the fete amid such sparkling names as Oscar-winner Allison Janney and the agelessly radiant soap star Susan Lucci

Where she is now: One of Carol's most memorable film roles was the villainous Miss Hanigan in the 1982 movie of Annie - whose title star Aileen Quinn could be seen, all grown up at 51, hitting the red carpet at AVALON

So many stars: (from left) The Big Bang Theory blonde Melissa Rauch was effervescent in a black party dress, Rhea Seehorn wore a sleek midnight blue frock with crimson accents and Sutton Foster showcased her dancer's frame in a skintight getup

Fancy meeting you here! Katy joined Allison Janney on the red carpet
Lara Worthington (nee Bingle) layered up on Thursday as she headed to Paris Fashion Week.

The Australian model, 35, went for a futuristic look when she stepped out and waited outside her hotel for a ride to the runway event.

She rugged up in Loewe's oversized black bomber jacket, worth almost $10,000, and long black trousers.

The blonde beauty paired her look with a black Prada handbag, black sunglasses and black leather shoes.

Lara added a touch of colour to her bold look with dark red painted nails.

Lara Worthington (nee Bingle) layered up on Thursday as she headed to Paris Fashion Week

Her hair was styled straight with a blunt bob cut.

Lara, who is married to actor Sam Worthington, kept her makeup natural and showcased her flawless skin.

Last month, she revealed the secrets to her glowing and youthful appearance to her 1.1 million Instagram followers.

The Australian model, 35, went for a futuristic look when she stepped out and waited outside her hotel for a ride to the runway event

Demonstrating which products she uses to achieve her signature glow, she explained she uses only a cleanser, eye cream, serum and a face cream.

'First up I'm going to use the Illuminating [Oil] Cleanser. It takes all your makeup off but doesn't strip your skin,' she said, applying the product with her hands.

'I love an oil cleanser. It's really hydrating as you can see. Next up is the Skin Reset [Serum]. This is my favourite product. This is the best for pigmentation and dark spots.'

She continued: 'When I was pregnant with my first son I had the worst pigmentation. Everyone always said, "You're going to get this glow." And I did not.'

She rugged up in Loewe's oversized black bomber jacket, worth almost $10,000, and accessorised with a black Prada handbag

Worthington then dabbed on some Skin Reset Eye Creme on her under-eyes and around her nostrils before finishing up with the Supernatural Face Creme Riche.

'Now this cream is quite thick, but I love it. It's got 32 active ingredients and sometimes I just wear it to bed,' Worthington said.

'Sometimes I wear as a barrier between makeup and skin. And I feel like it saves my skin and makes it super glowy and hydrating. It's really, really hydrating,' she continued.

According to the Emma Lewisham website, the cleanser costs $76, the serum is $143, the eye cream is $121, and the face cream is $140.
Christian O'Connell has officially become an Aussie after uprooting his family from the UK five years ago to work in Melbourne radio.

The host of Gold 104.3's breakfast show said on Thursday he was 'proud' to become an Australian citizen alongside his wife Sarah and their daughters Ruby and Lois.

The 49-year-old and his family made things official during a ceremony at Brighton Town Hall, reports Radio Today.

'We love our adopted country and are proud to be part of it,' O'Connell told the Herald Sun.

'The real attraction is you guys. You are friendly, positive and love a laugh. It has changed us since moving here five years ago.'

Christian O'Connell (pictured) has officially become an Aussie after uprooting his family from the UK five years ago to work in Melbourne radio

He added: 'I came here and stumbled on the radio as a complete unknown and outsider and, after some initial trepidation, you were kind enough to give me a go.'

After taking over from Jo Stanley and Anthony 'Lehmo' Lehmann in 2018, O'Connell made Melbourne radio his own despite knowing almost nothing about the city and its people when he started.

O'Connell, who is one of the most awarded radio presenters in the world, described leaving the UK for a new role at Gold 104.3 as 'the hardest decision of my life'.

The host of Gold 104.3's breakfast show said on Thursday he was 'proud' to become an Australian citizen alongside his wife Sarah and their daughters Ruby and Lois

'The chance to move to Melbourne was an opportunity just too good to pass up because, well, who wouldnt want to move to the world's most liveable city?' he said in a statement when he first joined the station.

'My family and I chose Melbourne for the lifestyle, comedy and arts culture, and, obviously, the coffee. And the wine. Did I mention the wine?

'The decision to leave the UK has been the hardest of my life, but we can't wait to start this new adventure.'

O'Connell is the winner of more Radio Academy Awards than any other person and is also the youngest radio anchor to ever be inducted into the UK Radio Hall of Fame.
Olivia Wilde looked effortlessly cool in a white furry jacket over a loose tank, tucked into a pair of black leather pants, while stepping out in Paris on Thursday evening.

Amid rumors that she is back on friendly terms with her ex-fiance Jason Sudeikis, the Booksmart director, 38, was seen exiting the Hotel Costes, known for its swanky bar and courtyard cafe.

As she left the luxury hotel rocking a pair oversized black shades and a pair of sky-high heels, the mother-of-two smiled on her way to a waiting car.

For her fun night out, the House star wore her light brown hair in a sleek bun and no jewelry or accessories, apart from her quilted crossbody handbag.

Her latest sighting comes amid reports that she is in 'constant communication' with Sudeikis, who shares her daughter Daisy, six, and eight-year-old son Otis.

Chic: Olivia Wilde looked effortlessly cool in a white furry jacket over a loose tank, tucked into a pair of black leather pants, while stepping out in Paris on Thursday evening

A source close to the former couple, who are are both 'very single', insisted that the pair 'do not have any drama anymore, following her split from Harry Styles.

The two ignited speculation that they were headed for a recoupling in January, when they were spotted being super touchy-feely with each other in Los Angeles, however the source noted that they are not currently in a romantic relationship and are instead focusing on 'friendship.'

'Jason and Olivia are on very good terms and have become friends again,' they said, revealing that improved relations between the pair have had a 'very positive impact' on the co-parenting of their two children.

The two amicable exes have been stuck in a nasty bi-coastal custody battle for the past several years - due in large part to the fact that Olivia lives in LA and Jason lives in New York City - which caused huge controversy when the actress was served with custody papers while on-stage in front of 4,000 industry executives.

However, the duo have now put any anger and resentment behind them, the source shared.

'Olivia and Jason have resolved any past issues and tension that was caused by their split,' they said.

'They are in constant communication via phone calls and text messages and keep each other up to date on anything involving their kids, whether it be appointments, or their schooling.'

'Most importantly, they are happy in their own lives. This has made it so much easier for them to be on the same page and treat each other with respect,' says the source.

In the City of Love: Amid rumors that she is back on friendly terms with her ex-fiance Jason Sudeikis , the Booksmart director, 38, was seen exiting the Hotel Costes, known for its swanky bar and courtyard cafe

Night out: As she left the luxury hotel rocking a pair oversized black shades and a pair of sky-high heels, the mother-of-two smiled on her way to a waiting car

Following their split in 2020, Olivia and Jason initially seemed to be very much on the same page and were very cordial to each other, putting their children first.

After she and Jason split in 2020, Olivia met Harry at a party for Irving Azoff. At the time, production was beginning for Olivia's directorial debut film, Don't Worry Darling, which she also starred in.

The drama off-set took center stage when Olivia got into a blowout fight with the lead actor, Shia LaBouf. After his exit, Olivia replaced him with Harry, who had only had a few acting roles prior.

Friends again: Her latest sighting comes amid reports that she is in 'constant communication' with Sudeikis, who shares her daughter Daisy, six, and eight-year-old son Otis; seen in 2019

In January 2021, rumors that Olivia and Harry were more than just friends and co-stars were confirmed when they were spotted holding hands in public. Harry then solidified the situation when he referred to her as his 'girlfriend.'

Shortly thereafter, her cordial co-parenting with Jason turned ugly. In April 2022, Olivia was served with a legal papers regarding the custody of Otis and Daisy while she was giving a speech on her newest movie, Don't Worry Darling.

In August 2022, Olivia responded to Jason's filing. In court documents obtained by DailyMail.com, she said that that she and Jason had previously agreed to let the kids finish the school year in L.A., while he filmed Ted Lasso.

'Recently, however, Jason decided that he wanted to go to New York for the next year while he is not working, and wanted the children to be with him there during this time off,' Olivia said in the docs. 'When I did not agree, since the children have not lived in New York for several years, Jason filed these papers.

Regarding inappropriately being served at CinemaCon, Olivia stated that, 'Jasons actions were clearly intended to threaten me and catch me off guard. He could have served me discreetly, but instead he chose to serve me in the most aggressive manner possible. The fact that Jason would embarrass me professionally and put our personal conflict on public display in this manner is extremely contrary to our childrens best interests.'

Jason later responded, apologizing to Olivia by saying that he was 'very, very sorry' and that he 'deeply regretted' the manner in which she was served. His response detailed the reason for his contesting the children's previously agreed on custody arrangement.

'First, Olivia said that if I did not reside full-time in Los Angeles, she would allow me to spend time with Otis and Daisy on weekends and during vacation periods  thus depriving me of my right to parent the children during important periods of their lives.'

He also stated that Olivia had informed him that she wanted to possibly move the kids to London, where she was planning to move with Harry during the height of their romance.

Quarantine couple: Harry Styles and Olivia became a hot item during the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020 after meeting at Irving Azoff's birthday

Keeping a low-profile, Harry and Olivia were often seen sneaking out of restaurants and clubs. Needless to say, they did not go unnoticed

'Olivia said that she intended to relocate with the children to London following the close of school in 2023,' Jason stated. Olivia and Harry broke up in November 2022, squashing those plans entirely.

In November 2022, Olivia and Harry announced that they were taking some time off from their relationship. In a joint statement to People magazine, their reps said that there was 'no bad blood' and that the decision to split was mutual. Shortly after their split, the outlet said that it was 'difficult' for Olivia, who was 'disappointed' because she hoped to work out their issues.

Harry and Olivia's relationship has seemingly come to a permanent end. In February, The Mirror reported that 'Harry is seeing someone. Hes going to great lengths to keep her identity quiet after the circus surrounding his relationship with Olivia.'

'But his close circles all know about the romance. Though its early days, things seem to be going well.'

Olivia has also moved on and is ready to date again, according to a report in Us Weekly. 'Olivia is ready to date again, making it clear shes available, and she isnt looking for anything less than an amazing guy,' a source told the outlet.

In January, DailyMail.com published exclusive photos of Olivia and Jason showing some major affection towards each other as they exited a meeting in Los Angeles.

They were spotted chatting and smiling at each other on the sidewalk, in plain view of photographers. Before going their separate ways, they gave each other a warm embrace, which was clearly pleasant for both parties.

As they walked away from each other, Olivia continued to smile, as her ex gave her a peace sign, which is a huge indication that thins were turning around for them.

The former couple's custody battle took a turn for the bitter when Olivia was served with legal papers while on-stage at an event in front of 4,000 industry insiders

Although their custody battle has subsided, Olivia and Jason are now dealing with another massive legal battle that was brought on by their former nanny, Ericka Genaro.

In February, Ericka filed a lawsuit against them in the Los Angeles Superior Court. In the court documents obtained by DailyMail.com, she said that she was fired by them in 2020 after she requested a medical leave. and Jason fired her after she requested medical leave.

Olivia and Jason's relationship timeline May, 2011 - Jason and Olivia meet at a Saturday Night Live wrap party in 2011, when both were recently single after ending their marriages Jason later recalled he didn't make 'any sort of moves' at the time November, 2011 - The pair start dating after months of friendship December 2012 - Jason proposes over the holidays 2014 - The couple welcome their first child, a son Otis 2016 - Their daughter Daisy is born with Wilde explaining how she believes becoming a parent with Jason is a stronger commitment for the couple than tying the knot October 2020 - Olivia starts shooting her second directional effort Don't Worry Darling, starring new cast member Harry Styles November 2020 - Jason and Olivia split January 2021 - Harry and Olivia's romance is confirmed when they are seen holding hands at his agent's wedding in Montecito, California, on January 3 Advertisement

She also exposed details of Olivia and Jason's split, stating that she was put in the middle at the time. 'Wilde abruptly left the home where she lived with Sudeikis, her two kids and Plaintiff as [a] live-in nanny in November 2020,' the suit alleged.

'Wilde's sudden absence from the home had an adverse consequence on its emotional state, including Sudeikis leaning on the presence of Plaintiff for support,'

'Although this shared trauma created a bond between Plaintiff and Sudeikis, Plaintiff became increasingly anxious and stressed with Sudeikis' tendency to seemingly require Plaintiff to stay up at night after the kids were put to bed to talk, whereas that dynamic did not occur before Wilde's absence.'

'The subject matter of these late night conversations with Sudeikis naturally evolved into speaking about Wilde, which Plaintiff felt compelled to engage in despite creating extreme anxiety to her as she ostensibly felt she had to pick sides between the parents of the children she was ostensibly the primary caretaker [of.]'P

Prior to filing suit, Ericka previously told DailyMail.com that Jason would constantly reach out to her about Olivia's relationship with Harry.

'When I saw Olivia holding hands as a couple with Harry in the news in January 2021, I was shocked as just a month before, when we were in LA, she was sending Jason

Olivia and Jason deny all the accusations made by their former nanny. In a statement, they said, 'As parents, it is incredibly upsetting to learn that a former nanny of our two young children would choose to make such false and scurrilous accusations about us publicly.

'Her now 18-month long campaign of harassing us, as well as loved ones, close friends and colleagues, has reached its unfortunate apex. We will continue to focus on raising and protecting our children with the sincere hope that she will now choose to leave our family alone.'
Molly Ringwald and her husband Paino Gianopoulos got their weekend off to an early start, hitting the red carpet at the 2023 PEN America Literary Awards.

The 55-year-old actress and her 47-year-old writer husband rocked stylish ensembles as they hit the red carpet at The Town Hall in New York City, just a month after they celebrated 22 years together.

Ringwald was one of the evening's presenters alongside authors Robert Jones Jr. and Mahogany L. Browne, actor/choreographer Adesola Osakalumi, composer and musician Jad Abumrad, producer/director/model Geena Rocero, comedienne Rachel Dratch and attorney/journalist Ari Naftali Melber.

Ringwald stepped out in a pink off-shoulder flower print gown that fell to the red carpet during the event.

Her red short red locks fell to her shoulders, accessorizing with pink earrings and holding a gold clutch.

Red carpet ready: Molly Ringwald and her husband Paino Gianopoulos got their weekend off to an early start, hitting the red carpet at the 2023 PEN America Literary Awards

Molly's look: Ringwald stepped out in a pink off-shoulder flower print gown that fell to the red carpet during the event

The Brat Pack actress completed her look with a pair of silver pointed-toe pumps for the awards show.

Her husband Panio Gianopoulos opted for a classic Gucci black suit - sans tie - with a white shirt, black coat, black pants and black shoes.

The outing comes a month after Ringwald celebrated her 22nd year with Gianopoulos.

'Today, the "getaway car" and I are together 22 years! Happy anniversary to us!' she gushed in the caption.

'3 kids, 3 dogs, 1 cat and a lot of love. Best decision I ever made. Here's to 22 more, at least.'

The couple tied the knot in 2007 and share three kids together, Mathilda, 19, and 13-year-old twins Roman and Adele.

She opened up in 2021 on Sirius XM's Radio Andy about raising her kids, and whether or not she's showed them her early movies.

'It definitely is a different time. People ask me if I've watched them with my kids, and I did watch the first one ... with Mathilda,' she said.

Opening up: She opened up in 2021 on Sirius XM's Radio Andy about raising her kids, and whether or not she's showed them her early movies

'And it was such an emotional experience that I haven't found that strength to watch it with my two other kids,' she added.

Also hitting the red carpet for the annual event was 30 Rock creator/star Tina Fey, who was all smiles in a grey and black wool overcoat.

She wore a full-length black dress under the coat, clutching a large black leather bag, completing her look with light grey pumps.

Fey was on hand to receive the 2023 PEN/Mike Nichols Writing for Performance Award, with her former SNL co-star Rachel Dratch presenting her the award.

'Its been a lifelong dream to have my name associated in any way with the great Mike Nichols. Thanks to this award, I can stop working on my Silkwood reboot,' Fey joked in a statement back in January.

Fey is just the fifth winner of the award, following Elaine May (2022), George C. Wolfe (2021), Tom Stoppard (2020) and Kenneth Lonergan (2019).

The event was hosted by actor Kal Penn, who opted for for a colorful blue suit with a black shirt and blue sneakers.

Penn also posed on the red carpet with Peter Skurman and Romen Borsellino before fulfilling his hosting duties.

Red carpet ready: Also hitting the red carpet for the annual event was 30 Rock creator/star Tina Fey, who was all smiles in a grey and black wool overcoat

Tina's look: She wore a full-length black dress under the coat, clutching a large black leather bag, completing her look with light grey pumps

Presenter: Fey was on hand to receive the 2023 PEN/Mike Nichols Writing for Performance Award, with her former SNL co-star Rachel Dratch presenting her the award

Dream: 'Its been a lifelong dream to have my name associated in any way with the great Mike Nichols. Thanks to this award, I can stop working on my Silkwood reboot,' Fey joked in a statement back in January

Fifth winner: Fey is just the fifth winner of the award, following Elaine May (2022), George C. Wolfe (2021), Tom Stoppard (2020) and Kenneth Lonergan (2019)

Kal: The event was hosted by actor Kal Penn, who opted for for a colorful blue suit with a black shirt and blue sneakers

Red carpet: Penn also posed on the red carpet with Peter Skurman and Romen Borsellino before fulfilling his hosting duties

Host with the most: Kal Penn hits the red carpet before hosting the 2023 PEN America Awards

Geena: Geena Rocero hits the red carpet in a glamorous black gown before presenting at the 2023 PEN America Awards

Erika: Erika Dickerson-Despenza hits the red carpet before presenting the 2023 PEN/Laura Pels International Foundation for Theater Award

Lorne: Saturday Night Live creator Lorne Michaels his the red carpet at the 2023 PEN America Awards

David: Writer David Sedaris attends the 2023 PEN America Awards

Geena presents: Geena Rocero presents at the 2023 PEN America Literary Awards
The ACMA has revealed that it received hundreds of complaints from the public after The Project's lewd 'Jesus joke' caused widespread outrage.

The left-leaning current affairs program is under fire after gay comedian and cabaret performer Reuben Kaye joked on Tuesday's show he admired Jesus Christ because 'I love any man who can get nailed for three days straight and come back for more'.

The backlash from Muslims and Christians was swift and brutal, forcing the two presenters to issue a grovelling on-air apology on Wednesday as religious groups organise protests of Channel 10's headquarters.

A significant number of viewers have aired their grievances to The ACMA in the wake of the controversy.

In a statement to Daily Mail Australia on Friday, the media watchdog confirmed: 'The ACMA has received 203 inquiries about an episode of The Project broadcast on Tuesday 28 February 2023 featuring the comedian Reuben Kaye.

The ACMA has received hundreds of complaints after The Project's lewd 'Jesus joke' caused widespread outrage. The left-leaning current affairs program is under fire after gay comedian and cabaret performer Reuben Kaye (left) joked on Tuesday's show he admired Jesus Christ because 'I love any man who can get nailed for three days straight and come back for more'

'Under the broadcasting co-regulatory system, complainants are directed to the broadcaster in the first instance.

'If a complainant does not receive a response from the broadcaster within 60 days, or is not satisfied with the response they do receive, they may refer their complaint to the ACMA for consideration.'

It comes after a former panellist on The Project has sensationally claimed a guest's controversial Jesus joke was 'script-approved' by the show's producers - despite the hosts saying it was a 'live TV' gaffe that could not have been predicted.

Co-host Sarah Harris laughed at the joke, which went to air uncensored during the live broadcast, but her Muslim colleague Waleed Aly looked shocked.

Em Rusciano tweeted on Thursday she finds it 'hard to believe' the offensive joke was not green-lit by producers given her experience on the program, which she says includes 'very little' improvisation with its live segments being carefully scripted.

In a statement to Daily Mail Australia on Friday, the media watchdog confirmed: 'The ACMA has received 203 inquiries about an episode of The Project broadcast on Tuesday 28 February 2023 featuring the comedian Reuben Kaye'

The backlash from Muslims and Christians was swift and brutal, forcing co-anchors Waleed Aly (left) and Sarah Harris (right) to issue a grovelling on-air apology on Wednesday

She accused The Project of throwing Kaye 'under the bus' by distancing itself from him and offering a sombre apology stressing how 'deeply and needlessly offensive' his joke was.

'I find it pretty hard to believe that Reuben Kaye's joke that stopped a nation wasn't script-approved,' Rusciano tweeted.

'I've worked on The Project - very little is off the cuff! A tiny, tiny amount. They have flat-out thrown him under the bus, in my opinion. Sorry, but someone had to say it.'

In a follow-up tweet, Rusciano took a swipe at the Australian media for elevating 'mediocrity' instead of 'talented' performers like Kaye.

'They honestly don't deserve him and his talent,' she said.

'I don't know if Australia deserves him! In the end, we always seem to champion the non-threatening and the mediocre.'

It comes after Em Rusciano (pictured) accused The Project of throwing Kaye 'under the bus' by distancing itself from him and offering a sombre apology stressing how 'deeply and needlessly offensive' his joke was

She tweeted on Thursday she finds it 'hard to believe' the offensive joke was not green-lit by producers given her experience on the program, which she says includes 'very little' improvisation with its live segments being carefully scripted

In a follow-up tweet, Rusciano took a swipe at the Australian media for elevating 'mediocrity' instead of 'talented' performers like Kaye

An insider at The Project claimed Channel 10's flagship talk show was being trashed by sloppy production values and editorial standards.

The 'Jesus' joke disaster would have been easily avoided in previous years, the source told Daily Mail Australia.

The informant said The Project used to pre-record 90 per cent of all interviews with potentially controversial performers such as Kaye, for the simple reason they could edit out anything offensive.

And on the occasion an 'edgy' guest wasn't available for a pre-record, the hosts would be meticulously briefed, allowing them to 'neutralise any situations like that, intervene if necessary and apologise if needed not laugh like Sarah Harris or sit stony-faced like Waleed'.

But on Tuesday, Kaye's joke went to air live and uncensored with Harris doubling over with laughter while Aly looked shocked, sparking a firestorm.

An insider at The Project claimed Channel 10's flagship talk show was being trashed by sloppy production values and editorial standards. The 'Jesus' joke disaster would have been easily avoided in previous years, when there more safeguards in place, they said

The hosts were quick to issue an apology the following day but their gesture left viewers unmoved with calls continuing to grow for the show to be cancelled.

The insider said they 'can't understand' why Reuben Kaye's interview wasn't pre-recorded when it was an obvious 'red flag interview'.

'In the few cases [before] an interview like that would be done live, the hosts would normally be well primed beforehand.

'If the interview was done live because that was only time [Kaye] was available, why weren't Harris and Aly more prepared?

'It's yet another sign of the slipping professionalism on the show, the declining standards of Ten, sloppiness and, frankly, their general slack approach.'
Director Paul Feig has already assembled a star-studded cast for his new Amazon movie Grand Death Lottery, with John Cena, Simu Liu and Awkwafina set to star.

The 45-year-old Cena - who was recently featured in the Die Hart 2 trailer - 33-year-old Liu and 34-year-old Awkwafina (born Nora Lum) have signed on, via Deadline.

Feig will direct from a script by Ron Yescombe (Outside the Wire), which is set in a 'very near future' where something known as the Grand Lottery is established in an 'economically challenged California.'

When a winner is selected... the catch is anyone is allowed to legally kill the winner before sundown to claim their multi-billion dollar prize.

The story centers around Awkwafina's character Katie, who has just moved to Los Angeles and finds herself with the winning ticket.

Cast: Director Paul Feig has already assembled a star-studded cast for his new Amazon movie Grand Death Lottery, with John Cena, Simu Liu and Awkwafina set to star

New project: The 45-year-old Cena - who was recently featured in the Die Hart 2 trailer - 33-year-old Liu and 34-year-old Awkwafina (born Nora Lum) have signed on, via Deadline

Director: Feig will direct from a script by Ron Yescombe (Outside the Wire), which is set in a 'very near future' where something known as the Grand Lottery is established in an 'economically challenged California'

She decides to team up with an, 'amateur jackpot protector' named Noel (Cena), who tries to fend off all rivals to keep her safe until sundown.

Liu plays Louis Lewis, Noel's 'protection rival' who also tries to protect her and claim a lucrative protection commission like Noel.

Feig will direct and produce with Laura Fischer through his FeigCo production company, with Roth/Kirschenbaum Films Joe Roth and Jeff Kirschenbaum also producing.

Cena and writer Yescombe will also serve as executive producers alongside Zack Roth, with filming slated to begin next week.

'Grand Death Lotto is the kind of original idea audiences have been craving, and theres no one better than the endlessly talented Paul Feig to steer the ship,' said Amazon and MGM Studios chief, Jennifer Salke in a statement.

'We cant wait to watch John Cena, Awkwafina, and Simu Liu bring this fun, action-packed script to life for our Prime Video customers around the world,' she added.

'I love action comedy and extreme physical comedy and this movie has both in abundance, as well as a boatload of heart and hilarity,' added Feig.

'This lotto will make winners of us all,' the director concluded.

Protector: She decides to team up with an, 'amateur jackpot protector' named Noel (Cena), who tries to fend off all rivals to keep her safe until sundown

Rival: Liu plays Louis Lewis, Noel's 'protection rival' who also tries to protect her and claim a lucrative protection commission like Noel

Can't wait: 'We cant wait to watch John Cena, Awkwafina, and Simu Liu bring this fun, action-packed script to life for our Prime Video customers around the world,' she added

Feig most recently directed last year's Netflix film The School for Good and Evil and several episodes of Fox's Welcome to Flatch.

He's also attached to produce 24-7, the directorial debut for Eva Longoria, and he's also writing and producing a sequel to his 2015 hit action-comedy Spy.

Cena is coming off his hit HBO Max series Peacemaker, where he reprises his title character from James Gunn's movie The Suicide Squad.

The show has been renewed for a second season, which is expected to debut on the HBO Max streaming service later this year.

The busy actor also has four movies in post-production that are expected to be released later this year.

He will return as Jakob Toretto, the brother of Vin Diesel's Dominic Toretto in Fast X, which hits theaters May 19.

The actor also lends his voice to Coyote vs. Acme, set in the Acme warehouse, arriving in theaters July 21.

Cena also stars in Argylle, a spy adventure with Henry Cavill, Bryce Dallas Howard, Bryan Cranston and more, which doesn't have a release date.

Director: Feig most recently directed last year's Netflix film The School for Good and Evil and several episodes of Fox's Welcome to Flatch
Leonard 'Lenny' Hochstein's girlfriend Katharina Mazepa shared snaps from their picturesque ski trip on Wednesday nearly a year after his ugly split with ex-wife Lisa.

The 56-year-old plastic surgeon's girlfriend, 27, posted a series of three photos on Instagram of the pair in Aspen, Colorado and joked about going to hell in response to a hate comment.

In one of the pictures, the 'boob god' and the model sported matching black cowboy hats on a private jet amid a nasty divorce with Real Housewives of Miami star Lisa Hochstein, 40.

'Y'all both going to hell,' an Instagram user wrote in the comments section.

In response, Katharina wrote alongside a smiling devil emoji with horns: 'At least I'll get to walk him in through the staff entrance'.

Couple's trip: Leonard 'Lenny' Hochstein's former mistress and now-girlfriend Katharina Mazepa, 27, shared snaps from their picturesque ski trip on Wednesday

Posed up: The 56-year-old plastic surgeon's girlfriend posted a series of three photos on Instagram of the pair in Aspen, Colorado before joking about going to hell in response to a hate comment

In her caption, she kept it simple with a pirate flag emoji.

Another photo showed the Austrian native - who has denied rumors of an affair causing the end of his marriage - wearing a black outfit with various revealing cutouts and a low-cut neckline while posing next to the reality star in a restaurant.

She styled her long, brunette tresses in voluminous waves and accessorized with diamond earrings and a flashy gold watch.

By her side, Lenny donned a polkadot-patterned button-up and denim jeans.

They were also seen posed up on a private jet apparently playing a card game.

The pair donned matching black outfits and cowboy hats as they posed for the camera.

Lenny sported a classic black T-shirt and denim jeans while Katharina wore an oversized black sweater with a pair of dark gray leggings.

The former Miss Vienna 2014 also shared a snap of the two bundled up in ski gear while hitting the slopes together and posing in front of a scenic mountain view.

Scenic views: The former Miss Vienna 2014 also shared a snap of the two bundled up in ski gear while hitting the slopes together and posing in front of a scenic mountain view

'Y'all both going to hell': An Instagram user left hate in her comments section and in response, Katharina joked that 'at least I'll get to walk him in through the staff entrance'

Lenny was first linked with the young model before he filed for divorce from his estranged wife.

He was spotted partying with Katharina before he reportedly 'blindsided' Lisa with divorce papers.

The former couple met in 2007 and dated for two years before tying the knot in 2009.

Their divorce has not yet been finalized as of now.

They share two children together - a seven-year-old son Logan and a two-year-old daughter Elle - that they welcomed both via surrogacy in 2015 and 2020, respectively.

Prior to announcing their split, Lenny had previously denied rumors of an inevitable divorce but then later said they had been 'contemplating divorce for the last several years'.

However, Lisa later gave a statement via a spokesperson that basically claimed she was 'blindsided' by Lenny's decision to file for divorce.

Around the same time, Lenny announced his relationship with the model - who is 30 years his junior.
'It was so weird,' she admitted

'Well, the cameo came about because I have to have intercourse,' Riley said

The 33-year-old actress during an appearance on Thursday on Late Night With Seth Meyers was asked by the 49-year-old host how her husband's cameo came about

Riley Keough revealed that her husband Ben Smith-Petersen was recruited to play her sex partner in her new miniseries Daisy Jones & The Six.

The 33-year-old actress during an appearance on Thursday on Late Night With Seth Meyers was asked by the 49-year-old host how her husband's cameo came about.

'Well, the cameo came about because I have to have intercourse,' Riley said.

'With a random person on the show,' she added.

Riley said the producers thought 'it would be so funny' if they cast her husband and Ben, 31, agreed.

Sex cameo: Riley Keough revealed that her husband Ben Smith-Petersen was recruited to play her sex partner in her new miniseries Daisy Jones & The Six

Seth asked if simulating intercourse with him was more or less awkward.

'It was more awkward,' Riley admitted.

Seth said it sounds good in the beginning, but less so the more he thought about it.

'I think that they were thinking it would be less awkward, then we got there and like this is really uncomfortable,' Riley said.

'Because, I mean, like, for one, I've never had pretend sex with my husband,' she said.

Riley said those types of scenes are typically done 'very professional, but she and Ben were 'just giggling the whole time.'

'It was so weird,' she admitted.

Riley issued a spoiler alert that her character was not really enjoying sex with the random person.

Cute couple: The 33-year-old actress and husband Ben Smith-Petersen are shown in February 2019 in Santa Monica, California

Sex scene: 'Well, the cameo came about because I have to have intercourse,' Riley said

Pretend sex: 'It was so weird,' she admitted of having pretend sex with her husband

'And I feel like I really kept feeling inclined to be like, "In real life, it's not like this,' Riley said laughing. 'And then I was like, I'll just you know, keep that to myself.'

Riley and Ben met while working on the 2015 film Mad Max: Fury Road and got married in February 2015.

Ben revealed last month during a memorial from Riley's mother Lisa Marie Presley that they had a daughter in 2022.

Daisy Jones & The Six premiered on Amazon Prime Video on Friday.

Spoiler alert: Riley issued a spoiler alert that her character was not really enjoying sex with the random person played by her husband
It has been revealed that Teen Mom alum Ryan Edwards was arrested for stalking after he had texted estranged wife Mackenzie Edwards which was a violation of order of protection.

Us Weekly is reporting that the former reality star was arrested on Wednesday, March 1, for stalking, which is a violation of an order of protection in Hamilton County, Tennessee.

According to legal documents, Edwards texted his estranged wife Mackenzie Edwards (nee Standifer) on more than one occasion after being alerted on February 10 that he could not legally have any contact with her.

'My god I don't haven't to live my life without you! Sorry!' he wrote in one text on February 19. The father of three then reached out to her again in a text February 23, writing, 'For what its worth, I'm sorry and I do miss you.'

This latest arrest comes just days after his wife MacKenzie filed for divorce from Edwards, obtained a restraining order against him, and was also granted temporary custody of the couple's children, Jagger, five, and Stella, two, as reported by E! News.

Arrested again! Former Teen Mom star Ryan Edwards, 35, was arrested on Wednesday, March 1, for breaking an order of protection issued to his estranged wife Mackenzie Edwards in Hamilton County, Tennessee;

Ryan was previously served with an Order of Protection by Hamilton County Sheriff's Office personnel on February 9, ordering him to immediately leave the residence where his wife was currently living, police said in a press release.

The following day Mackenzie went to the Hamilton County Sheriff's Office to report that her estranged husband posted revealing photos of her and accused her of cheating on his Instagram account.

'If you guys have never seen a spineless s*** this is one,' Edwards was alleged to have written along with a picture of his estranged wife topless.

He added: 'They take your money sleep with anything that looks at them. But they must have a wife to [sic]. God what a joke. It's sad really.'

Authorities then discovered that Ryan had violated the order of protection by contacting his father-in-law.

While investigating the violation, the deputies discovered that Ryan had a warrant for harassment, filed by MacKenzie, from the Chattanooga Police Department.

Police would then arrest him at his place of employment for the harassment warrant and the violation of an order of protection, along with possession of drug paraphernalia and a controlled substance.

Following the social media post, Mackenzie, 26, reported to the police multiple instances of domestic violence Edwards has been involved in since they wed in 2017 after meeting at a gym in Chattanooga, Tennessee.

Busted: According to legal documents obtained by Us Weekly, Edwards texted Mackenzie (nee Standifer) on more than one occasion after being alerted on February 10 that he could not legally have any contact with her

Edwards, who has been accused of domestic violence by his estranged wife, was also arrested in February has been arrested on charges of stalking and violating an order of protection; the Tennessee native is pictured after his arrest last month

Legal troubles: This latest arrest comes just days after his wife MacKenzie filed for divorce from Edwards, obtained a restraining order against him, and was also granted temporary custody of the couple's children, Jagger, five, and Stella, two, as reported by E! News

Happier times: The former couple wed in 2017 after meeting at a gym in Chattanooga, Tennessee. They are parents to son Jagger, four, and daughter Stella, three

Mackenzie told police her estranged husband 'punched holes in the walls and doors' and held her up by her 'neck to the wall' during a fight last month.

She also accused Edwards of throwing her 'down in hallway and said if he could not have me no one could' and 'opened [his] pocket knife' and put it to her 'back like he was going to kill' her.

And what's worse: Mackenzie maintained that the entire incident played out in front of their children.

'I tried to leave, he smashed my phone, took my car keys,' Mackenzie said, adding that a co-worker contacted the authorities in the wake of the incident.

Father of three: Edwards is also father to son Bentley, 14, with Maci Bookout, 31, who he was seen with on the MTV series 16 & Pregnant

The Chattanooga, Tennessee native told police that a week later, Edwards was violent with her again. This time she claime Edwards 'came into bedroom where [she] was laying down ... pretending like he's going to punch [her] face' while yelling at her.

She added that after Edwards broke the bed she was lying in at the time, she 'went to get [her] kids and leave,' but he wouldn't let her.

Mackenzie then said he 'threw [her] down in [the] living room' and 'threw menthol nicotine in [her] eyes.'

Mackenzie was granted a temporary protective order.

Edwards, Mackenzie, and his parents were terminated from the show Teen Mom OG in 2021 following an incident with Bookout and her spouse, Taylor McKinney (pictured), according to The Sun

His issues with drugs were subsequently chronicled on the network's popular series Teen Mom.

Back in March of 2018, he was arrested in connection with a probation violation on a previous drug conviction, after which his ex-Bookout, whom he shares a 14-year-old son Bentley, obtained a restraining order against him.

He was subsequently arrested later that year after he was arrested with heroin in his possession, eventually serving a three-month prison stint in connection with the incident.

Edwards, Mackenzie, and his parents were terminated from the show Teen Mom OG in 2021 following an incident with Bookout and her spouse, Taylor McKinney, according to The Sun.
Kelsey Grammer has said he 'won't apologise' for his faith as he discussed his own religion in wake of his latest film, Jesus Revolution.

The actor, 68, reflected on how his faith and Jesus have helped him through the 'tragic times' in his life.

Based on the book of the same name by Greg Laurie and Ellen Vaughn, the film follows the true life story follows youth minister Greg.

Kelsey plays pastor Chuck Smith who helps him to spread the Christian movement in the late 1960s and early 1970s across the United States.

In a recent interview with USA Today, Kelsey said: 'I've had hiccups. Ive had some tragic times. I have wrestled with those and worked my way through them.'

Opening up: Kelsey Grammer, 68, has said he 'won't apologise' for his faith as he discussed his own religion in wake of his latest film, Jesus Revolution (pictured in November 2022)

Movie: Based on the book of the same name, the film follows the true life story follows youth minister Greg Laurie (Kelsey pictured as pastor Chuck Smith in the film)

'Sometimes rejecting faith, sometimes rejecting God even, in a period of being pretty angry about it. Like, "Where were you?" That kind of thing. But I have come to terms with it and have found great peace in my faith and in Jesus.

'It's not cavalier - Jesus made a difference in my life. Thats not anything Ill apologise for.

'Its really uplifting. Its a good movie. My wife and I saw it together. She was just dissolved in tears and said, "Its the best thing youve ever done."'

It comes following the news that the faith based comedy-drama, Jesus Revolution has defied expectation and raked in an incredible $15M in it's opening weekend.

Despite being described as 'bland' and a 'slog' by some reviewers the movie has proved a hit with American audiences, with a UK release date yet to be announced.

It's been reported analysts had believed the Liongate release to earn between $6M and $7M during it's first weekend, only to smash all expectations.

The offical synopsis reads: 'In the 1970s, Greg Laurie and a sea of young people descend on sunny Southern California to redefine truth through all means of liberation.

'Inadvertently, Laurie meets a charismatic street preacher and a pastor who open the doors to a church to a stream of wandering youth'.

Honest: In a recent interview with USA Today, Kelsey said: 'It's not cavalier - Jesus made a difference in my life. Thats not anything Ill apologise for' (pictured in May 2022)

'What unfolds is a counterculture movement that becomes the greatest spiritual awakening in American history'.

The Los Angeles Times described the flick as: 'Unfortunately, despite the interesting history, the film itself is a dry, scattered slog, neutered of all the thorny, contradictory details of the real story'.

Meanwhile the Austin Chronicle gave the movie a two star review and Reel Reviews branded it a 'bland made for TV-movie'.

It comes after it was revealed Only Fools and Horses star Nicholas Lyndhurst was busy filming the Frasier revival, it has been confirmed - in his first major role since his son's death.

Amazing: It comes following the news that the faith based comedy-drama, Jesus Revolution has defied expectation and raked in an incredible $15M in it's opening weekend

Unexpected: Despite being described as 'bland' and a 'slog' by some reviewers the movie has proved a hit with audiences

The legend will appear in two episodes of the Paramount+ reboot of the US sitcom - which was a Cheers spin-off - as Alan, a friend of Kelsey's character Dr Frasier Crane.

The 61-year-old actor - who played Rodney Trotter in Only Fools and Horses opposite Sir David Jason as his older brother Del Boy - will film his scenes in front of a live studio audience in LA.

Kelsey is delighted to have Nicholas onboard after they become friends from starring together in The 2019 West End production of The Man of La Mancha.

A representative for Frasier said: 'Frasier Crane in the next chapter of his life as he returns to Boston with new challenges to face, new relationships to forge and an old dream or two to finally fulfill. Frasier has re-entered the building!'

The new series will also feature the actress Toks Olagundoye as Olivia, a co-worker of Frasier, and Jack Cutmore-Scott as the psychotherapeutic radio presenter's son Freddy Crane.

A little faith! According to Breitbart analysts had believed the Liongate release to earn between $6M and $7M during it's first weekend, only to smash all expectations

Freddy is described as a mixture of his father and his grandfather, Marty Crane, a role played by John Mahoney, who passed away in 2019 aged 77 from complications from throat cancer.

The offspring of Frasier's character description reads: 'Years ago, Freddy rejected following in his father's footstepsdropping out of college to become a firemanand he's never looked back until now, when recent troubles have left him with no one to turn to in his life.'

News of the series - which will not involve his former co-stars David Hyde Pierce, Jane Leeves, and Peri Gilpin - was confirmed last month after speculation dating back to 2021.
Christine Quinn ensured all eyes were on her as she was seen out in Los Angeles on Thursday.

The reality star, 34, made a head-turning exit from a house viewing, dressing head-to-toe in a very busty Magda Butrym outfit.

Christine showed off her ample cleavage as she went braless in a plunging white corset which she teamed with a matching high waisted pencil skirt.

The former Selling Sunset star complemented her ultra glamorous look with a teddy coat and woven heeled mules.

And while Christine was out and about, her ex co-stars shot scenes for series seven of the Netflix show in West Hollywood.

Walk this way: Christine Quinn ensured all eyes were on her as she was seen out in Los Angeles on Thursday

Gorgeous: The reality star, 34, made a head-turning exit from a house viewing, dressing head-to-toe in a very busty Magda Butrym outfit

Christine accessorised her outfit with a small yellow Chanel bag, clear sunglasses and styled her waist length peroxide blonde locks in a poker straight look.

The author of How to be a Boss B*tch isn't letting her exit from Selling Sunset slow her down.

Quinn left the Oppenheim Group and Selling Sunset to launch a crypto real estate venture, with her husband Christian Dumontet in April 2022.

Over in West Hollywood Chrishell Stause, Chelsea Lazkani, and Nick Cannon's baby mama Bre Tiesi, were spotted leaving the famed Oppenheim offices as filming got under way.

While the ladies were busy filming, their co-star Emma Hernan, 31, enjoyed a sunny getaway to Cabo, Mexico, and shared a number of sultry bikini selfies to her Instagram.

There's no bad blood between Christine and her ex-boss Jason Oppenheim.

In an interview with PageSix, the founder of the Oppenheim Group said Christine left the show at the right time.

'I never had my own personal issues with Christine other than the fact that I recognized that she had a lot of other issues with other cast members,' Oppenheim said.

Selling sunset: While Christine was out and about, her former co-star Chrishell Stause shot scenes with the rest of the girls for series seven in West Hollywood

He said he believed Selling Sunset's audience was tired of Christine always being the villain.

'I think people were tired of watching that dynamic continue season after season,' he said.

'So I think, if anything, its provided a breath of fresh air for the office and for the show,' he added.

'But I wish her the best and I know she is doing great things, especially in the fashion space,' he added.
Jennifer Lawrence looked chic as she and husband Cooke Maroney enjoyed a romantic, child free dinner date on Thursday evening.

The actress, 32, and her partner, 38, share a son named Cy who was born early last year, and stepped out for a low-key night at Baltaire restaurant in Los Angeles.

She opted for a stylish white dress with a warm chunky knit black jumper layered over the top.

Jennifer teamed her outfit with a pair of knee-high suede boots and opted for a long line wool coat to keep out the chill.

Her long blonde hair was styled in tousled waves and she carried a black studded handbag to complete her look.

Date night: Jennifer Lawrence, 32, looked chic as she and husband Cooke Maroney, 38, enjoyed a child free romantic dinner date on Thursday evening

Art gallery director Cooke, looked smart in a black jumper with a white shirt and black chino trousers.

He dressed his outfit down with a pair of Vans trainers as he followed closely behind his wife.

Although the couple have not made their child's exact date of birth public, Cy was widely reported to have been born last February.

Jennifer spoke touchingly about motherhood in a Vogue interview last year, reflecting on how her outlook had changed since Cy was born.

'The morning after I gave birth, I felt like my whole life had started over. Like, Now is day one of my life,' she gushed.

'I just stared. I was just so in love. I also fell in love with all babies everywhere. Newborns are just so amazing.'

Jennifer added: 'Theyre these pink, swollen, fragile little survivors. Now I love all babies. Now I hear a baby crying in a restaurant and Im like, Awwww, preciousssss.'

The Don't Look Up actress reflected: 'My heart has stretched to a capacity that I didnt know about. I include my husband in that. And then theyre both just, like, out there  walking around, crossing streets.'

Parents: The actress and her partner share a son named Cy who was born early last year, and stepped out for a low-key night at Baltaire restaurant in Los Angeles

The actress also revealed that she and Cooke decided on the name Cy after the postwar American painter Cy Twombly, who is one of her gallerist husband's favourite artists.

Jennifer spoke about her pregnancy for the first time during the candid cover story, explaining how throughout the pregnancy she found herself considering the changing landscape of women's rights and admitted that the recent US Supreme Court overruling of Roe Vs Wade resurfaced painful memories for her.

Jennifer said that she had her first miscarriage in her early 20s and had 'one hundred percent' intending to get an abortion before 'I had a miscarriage alone in Montreal.'

She had another loss a couple of years ago while shooting Don't Look Up in late 2020/early 2021.
Spencer Matthews fought back tears as he discussed his attempts to recover his late brother's body on Mount Everest on The One Show on Thursday.

The former Made In Chelsea star, 34, became choked up as he spoke of how Michael made history as the youngest ever Brit to reach the summit aged 22 in 1999, but tragically died on the perilous mountain.

Spencer was on the show to talk about his new Disney+ documentary, Finding Michael, released on Friday.

The TV star, who was aged just 10 when it happened, retold Alex Jones and Roman Kemp about Michael's last journey and how he retraced his steps to try to bring him home.

Spencer said: 'When Michael went missing, by the time some people realised he was missing it was too late. Nobody survives the night, really. A couple of cases maybe.

Emotional: Spencer Matthews fought back tears as he discussed his attempts to recover his late brother's body on Mount Everest on The One Show on Thursday

RIP: Michael made history as the youngest ever Brit to reach the summit aged 22 in 1999, but tragically died on the perilous mountain

Tragic: Michael is said to have got in trouble after beginning to make his way down the south descent through the 'death zone' on May 13, 1999

Michael is said to have got in trouble after beginning to make his way down the south descent through the 'death zone' on May 13, 1999.

He was the brother of Pippa Middleton's husband, the racing driver turned hedge fund manager James Matthews, 47.

The experienced mountaineer, who had previously conquered Aconcagua, the Pyrenees and the Swiss Alps, was the 162nd person to die on Everest.

Spencer went on to detail how he made the 'difficult decision' to undertake the mission himself.

'In 2017, the family was sent a photo of a body on the mountain and they claimed that it could be Michael. In fact it did look like it could be, with similar summit suits. It's the first time really that I thought even a body recovery was possible.

'It continued to tick away in my head: "What if it is him?". I've certainly grown up with feelings that he's up there and died and was left there. Wouldn't it be nice if there was a body to mourn for my family?

'We scrapped together any information we had. Some of the footage of Michael on the mountain I'd never seen before,' he said, becoming increasingly more emotional as the interview progressed.

'It was the first time I'd seen him on camera, because as a kid we didn't do home movies or anything.

Moving: The TV star, who was aged just 10 when it happened, retold Alex Jones and Roman Kemp about Michael's last journey and how he retraced his steps to try to bring him home

Emotional: Spencer was on the show to talk about his new Disney+ documentary, Finding Michael, released on Friday

Challenge: Ahead of its release, he said: 'I'm not the most emotional person but the nearer we got to the mountain, the more potent my feelings became. It's the closest I've felt to Mike'

Brothers: Spencer (left) spoke candidly about his elder brother (right) with whom he shares a striking resemblance

'Retracing his steps and understanding his final days a bit better was quite cathartic for me...'

The former Made In Chelsea star filmed Finding Michael with the help of survivalist Bear Grylls and record-breaking mountaineer Nirmal 'Nims' Purja.

Ahead of its release, he told The Sunday Times: ''I'm not the most emotional person but the nearer we got to the mountain, the more potent my feelings became. It's the closest I've felt to Mike since his death.'

'He's frozen in time. I'm his big brother now. I was unable to stop thinking about it. I wanted to bring him home for my mum.'

Spencer added: 'I found the idea unbearable of him being out there on the mountain, alone, with people walking past him en route to the summit.

His story: Spencer also appeared on This Morning on Friday where he discussed the documentary

The trailer for Finding Michael begins with Spencer looking at a picture of his brother wearing a red ski jacket, saying: 'I hate the picture. All I see is a young man in the process of losing his life.'

He continues: 'Michael was my big brother. 20 odd years later we are sent this photograph of a body, it looks like it could be Michael.

'My heart says we should go and find him. And if we can, bring him home.

'We need the best people possible. We have one of the greatest, Nims Purja. We have to look all over the mountain.'

Spencer can be seen kissing his wife Vogue Williams, holding their new-born baby, who says: 'God I hope you find him.'

She is later seen getting emotional while on a video call to Spencer who is out on the expedition.

Sad loss: Michael became the youngest Briton to reach the summit of Everest at the age of 22, but disappeared on the mountain just three hours later

Honesty: Spencer said: 'He's frozen in time. I'm his big brother now. I was unable to stop thinking about it. I wanted to bring him home for my mum'

Tears: Spencer added: 'I found the idea unbearable of him being out there on the mountain, alone, with people walking past him en route to the summit

Sad: The trailer for Finding Michael begins with Spencer looking at a picture of his brother, saying: 'I hate the picture. All I see is a young man in the process of losing his life'

Challenge: World '14 peak' record holder Nirmal leads the 10-man search crew armed with drones and the trailer shows the crew as they face unexpected and extreme challenges

World '14 peak' record holder Nirmal leads the 10-man search crew armed with drones and the trailer shows the crew as they face unexpected and extreme challenges as well as intense time pressures when the weather closes in.

TV presenter and executive producer Bear says: 'Stay safe. If you get hold of Mike, I hear his voice screaming that one loud.'

He later added: 'On average, seven people every year of those attempting Everest will lose their lives.

'No mountain is worth dying for a second time over.'

Spencer trekked to South Base Camp base camp via Namche Bazaar, a town in north-eastern Nepal, often the staging point for expeditions to and other Himalayan peaks.

He made the journey just five days after the birth of his son Otto after a 'weather window' made scaling the mountain feasible.

Spencer would have otherwise been left facing another year of waiting to begin the search, revealing that he had the backing of his wife Vogue.

The South Base Camp is at an altitude of 5,364 metres.

Describing the trek, he said: 'You don't have to be superman to do it. You come across this town [Namche Bazaar] in the sky. It's amazing. It's above the clouds. It reminded me of Asgard.

'Part of the film is that we retrace the exact steps that Mike and his friends took. We stay in the same places and do the same path as he did. It'll be a really powerful and amazing film'.

Finding Michael, directed by Tom Beard, is set to premiere on Disney+ on March 3

Brothers: TV personality Spencer was 10 years old when Michael (left next to sibling James) tragically died aged 22 - after becoming the youngest Brit to reach the peak in 1999
The actress and her boyfriend suffered backlash over their 'inappropriate' Valentine's Day snaps, last month.

And in her first Instagram post since the furore, Maisie Smith, 21, showed off a sultry make-up look as she shared pouty selfies taken while in her car, on Thursday.

The soap star left her bold blue hoodie unzipped to show off a glimpse of her decolletage as she gazed into her camera phone.

Maisie arranged her long strawberry blonde tresses to cascade down over her chest for the trio of images uploaded to her grid.

While the TV babe captioned her shots: 'Me, again!' her enamoured boyfriend Max George, 34, branded them: 'Perfect' in the comments below.

Sexy: Maisie Smith, 21, showed off a sultry make-up look as she shared pouty selfies taken while in her car, on Thursday

Oh: The soap star left her bold blue hoodie unzipped to show off a glimpse of her decolletage as she gazed into her camera phone

Sultry: Maisie arranged her long strawberry blonde tresses to cascade down over her chest for the trio of images uploaded to her grid

Maisie's post came just weeks after she and Max have suffered backlash over 'inappropriate' Instagram snaps they posted while staying at the Lee Marston Hotel and Spa in Warwickshire.

The couple shared pictures of a rose-filled room on Valentine's Day including the lavish gifts Max had bought Maisie such as Louboutin heels and a teddy.

But some fans were not very impressed after spotting a Balenciaga gift bag placed on their bed, amid the current controversy surrounding the brand.

The fashion house recently sparked outrage among consumers over its use of children in a campaign for BDSM-styled bags and its inclusion of a legal ruling on child porn in the background of another image.

Last month, Balenciaga's creative director Demna broke his silence to call the child pornography legal documents found on his set an 'unfortunate coincidence'.

Two scandals erupted in December - first was the shoot involving young kids clutching bondage-themed teddy bear bags on sets that resembled booze-fuelled parties.

Soon afterwards, documents related to a Supreme Court child pornography case were identified in the background of a separate photoshoot, conducted months before the bears shoot.

Coupled together, they created a PR disaster for the brand, which is owned by European fashion behemoth Kering. Neither Balenciaga nor Demna has ever been able to explain how the documents ended up on the photoshoot.

'A lot of famous people supporting the wronguns of the world': Maisie and Max George, 34, suffered backlash over 'inappropriate' Valentine's Day snaps

Not happy: Some fans were not very impressed after spotting a Balenciaga gift bag placed on their bed, amid the current controversy surrounding the brand

'I was shocked when I heard about their presence... it was a set of negligent and unfortunate but not intentional coincidences,' Demna told Vogue.

'At first, we were told the documents were confirmed to be fake... when the scandal was sparked [by the documents and props], I was like, everybody, my team, was shocked.

'I don't know how they ended up there. They were not supposed to be there. I was completely stunned,' he said.

When the scandal exploded, he and Kering tried to blame the props on North Six, the production company that was hired for the shoot, and even planned to launch a lawsuit against the company, which was dropped amid industry uproar.

In his Vogue interview, Demna said the BDSM bears shoot was his fault, and that the animals were meant to portray 'punk' and 'DIY' - not sex.

'I didn't realize how inappropriate it would be to put these objects [in the image] and still have the kid in the middle. It unfortunately was the wrong idea and a bad decision from me.

'We should not have featured kids in images that included objects that were not related and inappropriate to them. No one, myself included, raised a question of it being inappropriate.

'There were control processes in place, people involvedinternal and externalbut we just did not spot what was problematic,' he said, adding of the bags themselves: 'Kidswear was a part of the selection for the 'gift shop,' as well as the plush teddy bear bags, referencing punk and DIY culture, absolutely not BDSM, and they were worn by adults in the October 2022 show.'

Upsetting: Two scandals erupted in December - first was the Balenciaga shoot involving young kids clutching bondage-themed teddy bear bags on sets that resembled booze-fuelled parties

Shocking: Soon afterwards, documents related to a Supreme Court child pornography case were identified in the background of a separate photoshoot, conducted months before the bears shoot.

He said he simply 'didn't see a problem' with the bears photoshoot which included empty wine and champagne glasses along with other items.

'I realized that I really have to look at everything from a very objective point of view and imagine how it can speak to a different audience and be responsible for that. It was a reaction I would never, ever want to cause.

'I realize that my work has been seen as provocative, but this specific situation would never be part of my, you know, provocative nature.

'That was the most difficult thing for me personally: How could I not see [the problem]? Because it is so clear to me now that it was the wrong thing to do,' he said.

Later, he said he 'no longer felt' like being provocative because he is often 'misunderstood', and insisted again: 'Never, ever would I have an idea to mess around with such an awful and horrible thing as child abuse.'

Demna - who boosted the brand's popularity and was a darling among celebrities - was allowed to keep his position.

The brand announced it was partnering with the National Children's Alliance last month, in an effort to learn more about how they can 'protect children'.

In return, Balenciaga will give an endowment to the charity to fund training for youth counsellors. Max and Maisie did not respond to the furore.
Charlotte Crosby has received some backlash on social media for sharing intimate details of her daughter Alba's birth on national TV on Thursday night.

The Geordie Shore star, 32, - who welcomed her first child with beau Jake Ankers last October - gave an insight to her labour on Instagram ahead of it being broadcast on the final episode of her Charlotte in Sunderland series.

After the episode aired Charlotte was hit with some criticism from her followers from airing such intimate details, including a snap of her hospital wristband.

One in the comments warned: 'Be careful displaying your personal details - I'm a Doctor and your record could be accessed with these details so just be aware.'

Another said: 'Would delete the name band picture off not good to have those whole details on the internet.'

Reaction: Charlotte Crosby has received some backlash on social media for sharing intimate details of her daughter Alba's birth on national TV on Thursday night

Details: The Geordie Shore star, 32, - who welcomed her first child with beau Jake Ankers last October - gave an insight to her labour on Instagram ahead of it being broadcast on the final episode of her Charlotte in Sunderland series

Mum: Sharing candid images from the day of her daughter being born, she wrote ahead of the final episode: 'MY BIRTH. The day we met our Alba Jeanies will remain the most special day of my whole entire life!'

'Take your NHS number off the photo of the id band,' wrote someone else.

Charlotte was also criticised for saying she would redo the birth again if she could - as mothers who had negative experiences offered their viewpoints.

One said: 'Amazing what private care gets you. No dig at Charlotte herself but so many women suffer etc who are less fortunate the NHS is shambles. Your baby's beautiful glad you were both safe xx.'

Another added: 'I'm glad yours was amazing and lovely but some women have horrendous births, awful midwife's and staff and it's very traumatic that causes issues thereafter both mentally and physically for mum and baby.

'Speak your truth but don't believe every parent feels the same and don't comment on their behalf it's good yours was fantastic and you'd re do it but many wouldn't x.'

Another added: 'Also mums there's nothing wrong with you if you didn't feel this way and struggled and didn't bond immediately.'

However others praised Charlotte as they commended her for sharing footage from her birth which left them in 'tears'.

Sharing candid images from the day of her daughter being born, she wrote ahead of the final episode: 'MY BIRTH. The day we met our Alba Jeanies will remain the most special day of my whole entire life! I think all parents will agree what's a feeling! What an experience.

Advice: One in the comments warned: 'Be careful displaying your personal details - I'm a Doctor and your record could be accessed with these details so just be aware'

Parent: In one snap she pulled a funny face as she lay in the hospital bed with Alba Jean in her arms

Birth: Another candid snap showed Alba just after she had been born as she was held by one of the doctors

Team: Ahead of the birth she posed with the doctors and filming crew as she stood in her hospital gown

Thoughts: Charlotte was also criticised for saying she would redo the birth again if she could - as mothers who had negative experiences offered their viewpoints

'I would redo that whole birthing experience every single day over and over and over again, and the fact I got to watch it all on #CharlotteInSunderland yesterday well wow goosebumps absolutely EVERYWHERE.

'I want to say a huge thankyou to of course @emekaokaro who saved my life all them years back and then brought my new life into the world. Throughout our whole pregnancy journey Dr Okaro you made us feel at ease, you have left a lasting in-print in our memories!

'THANKYOU for being at the end of the phone whenever I needed help! And making our birth so special and accommodating. THANKYOU to all of the nurses and staff that truly made our start the parenthood a perfect one!

She added: 'THANKYOU @chatterbox_media who put together a very tumultuous year, sensitively, beautifully and made it I think we can all agree a very warm, relatable show! I've never worked with such an incredible team of people! Who I would now class as very good friends.'

It comes after Charlotte candidly opened up about her ectopic pregnancy and admitted she thought she'd 'never be able to have kids'.

An ectopic pregnancy is when a fertilised egg implants itself outside of the womb, usually in the fallopian tube, meaning a baby is unable to develop and leaving the mother's health in danger.

While filming her BBC reality show, the reality star said: 'When I had my ectopic pregnancy, I didn't even know I was pregnant. I just thought I was having a normal period but with extra bad cramps.

'When I was taken to hospital, I found out I was having an ectopic pregnancy and if it wasn't sorted there and then, I may potentially die.'

While there is a chance of conceiving again, it is advisable for the woman to wait a while due to damage caused in the fallopian tube.

She ended by saying: 'It was an awful time and I truly thought I would never be able to have kids'

Then there was a sweet clip of Charlotte and her boyfriend Jake during one of their hospital scans.

The couple held hands as they saw Alba Jean on the screen, with Charlotte saying: 'What a relief'.

Giving birth: Then there was a sweet clip of Charlotte and her boyfriend Jake with the hospital team

Ready: Jake also posed in a snap with Charlotte's gynecologist in the slew of intimate images

Charlotte recently admitted she hasn't forgiven ex Gary Beadle after she went through the ectopic pregnancy alone while he was filming Ex On The Beach.

In 2016, while the television personality was going through the traumatic experience, Gary, was out in Thailand filming the reality show where he slept with Jemma Lucy and also had a threesome.

As a result of the ectopic pregnancy, Charlotte's fallopian tube had ruptured and was releasing toxins into her body.

'The X-ray showed how much damage had been caused. Because I'd left it a week, it'd torn open my fallopian tube and I was bleeding internally,' she explained to Heat.
Abbie Chatfield has slammed one of TikTok's latest trends, hailing it as 'toxic' and 'harmful'.

The Aussie reality TV star, 27, unleashed on the viral Bold Glamour beauty filter which has stirred up some controversy in recent days.

After having been used over 10 million times after being launched just this week, Abbie used the filter herself.

The effect lets the person look like a thick layer of makeup has been piled on the user's face, and irons out any skin spots.

Meanwhile, the former Bachelor contestant warned the filter as being harmful, and her fans were on board with her viewpoint.

Abbie Chatfield has slammed one of TikTok's latest trends, hailing it as 'toxic' and 'harmful'. The Aussie reality TV star, 27, unleashed on the viral Body Glamour beauty filter which has stirred up some controversy in recent days

So she uploaded her version which went on to accumulate 192,000 views, altering her look and showing the contrast of when no edits were made.

'If I wasn't a full grown adult, this would rot my brain to be honest,' her text read on top of the video.

She added in the caption alongside the video: 'Like it's funny but also this is so toxic'.

A variety of fans commented they didn't recognise her with the filter on, and said they preferred when her look when it wasn't used.

'If I wasn't a full grown adult, this would rot my brain to be honest,' her text read. She added in the caption alongside the video: 'Like it's funny but also this is so toxic'

This trend wasn't the first that she targeted this week.

She also hit out at the notorious dating show, There's Something About Miriam as 'disgusting and transphobic'.

The British reality series, which was filmed in 2003, featured six men in their twenties who were trying to woo 21-year-old Mexican model Miriam Rivera.

The winner would not only win Miriam's affection but a 10,000 prize and a cruise.

However, the 'twist' was that Miriam was transgender and none of the men knew until the final episode.
Jodie Turner-Smith made a head-turning exit from a fancy hotel on Thursday.

The actress, 36, strutted out in a sheer bra which showcased plenty of cleavage and her toned abs.

Jodie teamed the look with a satin blazer, low-rise embellished jeans and a furry coat.

The screen star rocked gold and silver jewellery and a huge pair of Gucci sunglasses.

Taking to Instagram, Jodie uploaded to her Insta stories the moment she walked out of the hotel, with the hotel security guard looking on amused.

Wow factor: Jodie Turner-Smith made a head-turning exit from a fancy hotel on Thursday. The actress, 36, strutted out in a sheer bra which showcased plenty of cleavage and her toned abs

Glam: Jodie teamed the look with a satin blazer, low-rise embellished jeans and a furry coat

Late last month, Jodie announced she will be joining the cast of Sex Education, after Doctor Who actor Ncuti Gatwa, who has been among the main cast playing Eric Effiong, rang her up to pitch the idea.

'You may or may not see me in a little Netflix show called Sex Education,' she teased at the BAFTAs.

'First of all all my scenes were with Ncuti Gatwa who  I DIE for him  and he's my favorite character on the show,' she said of the actor, who was originally from Kigali, Rwanda before immigrating to the UK.

Jodie added, 'So when he called me and asked me to do it I was like, I dont care how much they're paying Im doing [it].'

So far, there's no official word yet about who she will be playing, or how long shell be part of the series.

The actress will be joining a host of new characters such as Schitts Creek's star Dan Levy, Thaddea Graham, Marie Reuther, Felix Mufti, Anthony Lexa, Alexandra James and Imani Yahshua.

Season four of Sex Education began shooting this past summer, but its not known when it wrapped.

Taking to Instagram, Jodie uploaded to her Insta stories the moment she walked out of the hotel, with the hotel security guard looking on amused

It has been confirmed that at least four members of the cast won't be returning for the upcoming season four: Simone Ashely (Olivia Hanan), Patricia Allison (Ola Nyman), Tanya Reynolds (Lily Iglehart) and Rakhee Thakkar (Emily Sands), according to Screenrant.

Along with Gatwa, the cast of the show has included the likes of Asa Butterfield, Gillian Anderson, Emma Mackey, Connor Swindells, Kedar Williams-Stirling, Alistair Petrie, Mimi Keene, Aimee Lou Wood, Chaneil Kular and Mikael Persbrandt, among many others.
She's one of the most beautiful models in the world.

On Thursday, Tina Kunakey displayed her toned pins in a skimpy leotard and leather biker jacket as she posed in sexy stilettos for a racy photoshoot in Paris, France.

The French beauty, 25, was pictured leaning on a red Ferrari 308 during the street shoot in Place Vendome on the sidelines of Paris Fashion Week.

Mother-of-one Tina oozed edginess in her biker chick get-up and she gazed intensely into the camera's lens.

The model - who is married to actor Vincent Cassel, 56 - wore her natural curls down, and completed her look with pillar-box red lipstick.

Wow! On Thursday, Tina Kunakey, 25, displayed her toned pins in a skimpy leotard and leather biker jacket as she posed in sexy stilettos for a racy photoshoot in Paris, France

Glam: The French beauty was pictured leaning on a red Ferrari 308 during the street shoot in Place Vendome on the sidelines of Paris Fashion Week

Tina and Vincent married in a private ceremony at the city hall in Bidart, south-west France, in August 2018, and four months later announced they were expecting their first child together.

The baby's name is an apparent tribute to Brazil, where the happy couple reside for part of the year.

They duo first linked back in July 2016 when Tina, then 19, shared a social media snap of herself cuddling up to the then 49-year-old actor while smoking a cigarette.

Vincent rose to fame in Matthieu Kassovitz's 1995 film La Haine (Hate) and starred in Ocean's Twelve and Ocean's Thirteen, as well as Eastern Promises and Black Swan.

Previously, he was married Italian actress Monica Bellucci, 58, for 14 years, after first meeting on the set of their 1996 film The Apartment.

The couple welcomed two daughters, Deva, 18, and Leonie, 12, before divorcing in 2013 after 14 years of marriage.

Just last month, it was revealed that Monica has been secretly dating film producer Tim Burton, 64, for four months.

Former flames: Tina is married to Vincent Casell, 56, who was previously married to Italian actress Monica Bellucci, 58 (Vincent and Monica pictured in May, 2002)

The couple first met 16 years ago but are said to have started dating after seeing one another at the Lumiere Film Festival in Lyon in October.

Monica, who was an honorary guest at the festival- presented Tim with the Lumiere lifetime achievement award on stage around the time they went official.

Paris Match wrote that Monica and Tim 'briefly met on the steps of the Palais des Festivals in Cannes in 2006, but it was only sixteen years later, behind the scenes of another festival, that they got closer.'

MailOnline contacted reps for both Tim Burton and Monica Bellucci for more information.
Steve Mackey's showbiz friends have paid tribute after he died aged 56 on Thursday morning.

The Pulp bassist tragically passed away after spending the last three months secretly 'fighting with all his strength and determination' in hospital.

Kate Moss, 49, Patsy Kensit, 54, and Jude Law Sadie Frost's son Rafferty, 26, have said they're 'devastated' by Steve's sudden death.

Steve's friendship with the Primrose Hill set goes back decades, with Rafferty best friends with the late guitarist's son Marley, also 26.

Taking to her modelling agency's Instagram page, Kate reshared a black and white photo of the Pulp star and wrote: 'Steve. Gone too soon, rest in peace. Sending our love to Katie, Marley and family'.

Thoughtful: Steve's wife Katie was touched by their friend Patsy Kensit's moving tribute

Kate's daughter Lila, 20, also wrote to Steve's wife Katie Grand: 'A brilliant man, sending all my love to you and Marley.'

Patsy, meanwhile, posted a throwback photo of Steve with his arms wrapped around Katie, who is her best friend.

She wrote: 'Such a great man. Devastated. Love you both so much,' with Katie replying with a love heart emoji.

The actress added when a fan asked who the picture was of: 'one of my closest friends Katie Grand's brilliant beautiful husband Steve Mackey... we are all devastated.'

Rafferty said: 'I love you Steve. Thanks for being the best dad to my best mate and always an inspiration and friend to me throughout my life.'

Fashion designer Marc Jacobs remembered Steve as a 'beautiful and brilliant man'.

He wrote: I am lucky that I got to know and work with him. To Katie and Steve's family my deepest. heartfelt condolences and love. Rest in peace.

Pearl Lowe added: 'Sending so much love and strength to you all!'.

Well loved: Taking to her modelling agency's Instagram page, Kate Moss reshared a black and white photo of the Pulp star and wrote: 'Steve. Gone too soon, rest in peace'

Tragic loss: Kate Moss, 49, Patsy Kensit, 54, and Jude Law Sadie Frost's son Rafferty, 26, have said they're 'devastated' by Steve's sudden death

Friendship: Kate pictured with Steve's son Marley, Rafferty Law and his then girlfriend Ella Dallaglio seven years ago

Pals: Steve's friendship with the Primrose Hill set goes back decades, with Rafferty (pictured top right) best friends with the late guitarist's son Marley (next to Rafferty right), also 26,

Upset: Patsy said he was devastated by the death of Steve, who is her best friend Katie Grand's husband (pictured centre) in 2016 with Poppy Delevingne (right)

Nineties supermodel Helena Christensen typed: I am so so sorry for your immense loss sending love and endless hugs.'

Steve's death has come as a shock to fans, which comes five months after Steve revealed he wouldn't be taking part in Pulp's reunion.

No cause of death has been announced.

In an emotional tribute Katie said she is 'shocked and devastated' by Steve's death, while the band paid homage to 'their beloved friend'.

She wrote on Instagram: 'After three months in hospital, fighting with all his strength and determination, we are shocked and devastated to have said goodbye to my brilliant, beautiful husband, Steve Mackey.

'Steve died today, a loss which has left myself, his son Marley, parents Kath and Paul, sister Michelle and many friends all heartbroken.

'Steve was the most talented man I have ever known, an exceptional musician, producer, photographer and filmmaker. As in life, he was adored by everyone whose paths he crossed in the multiple creative disciplines he conquered.

'I would like to express my heartfelt thanks to all the NHS staff who worked tirelessly for Steve. He will be missed beyond words.

'The family has asked for privacy at this time.'

Heartbroken: Pulp rock band formed in Sheffield in 1978 - Mark Webber, Nick Banks, Jarvis Cocker, Steve Mackey, Candida Doyle L-R 1998

'He will be missed beyond words': In an emotional tribute Katie said she is 'shocked and devastated' by Steve's death (pictured in March last year)

Emotional: 'I would like to express my heartfelt thanks to all the NHS staff who worked tirelessly for Steve. He will be missed beyond words', Katie wrote as she paid tribute

Steve married his longtime girlfriend, Katie, in 2009 and welcomed son Marley in 1996.

Rock band Pulp, who formed in Sheffield in 1978, shared a photo of Steve on tour in South America in 2012 and wrote: 'Our beloved friend & bass player Steve Mackey passed away this morning. Our thoughts are with his family & loved ones.

'This photo of Steve dates from when Pulp were on tour in South America in 2012. We had a day off & Steve suggested we go climbing in the Andes. So we did.

'It was a completely magical experience. Far more magical than staring at the hotel room wall all day (which is probably what we'd have done otherwise).'

They continued: 'Steve made things happen. In his life & in the band. & We'd very much like to think that he's back in those mountains now, on the next stage of his adventure.

'Safe travels, Steve. We hope to catch up with you one day. All our love.'

In October, the bassist said he would not be joining this year's Pulp reunion tour - but did not share he was secretly battling with his health.

The band - Jarvis Cocker, Candida Doyle, Nick Banks and Mark Webber - had planned to reform for a second time to play a number of dates across the UK and Ireland.

The tour which kicks off on 26 May stars in Bridlington Spa and includes two festival appearances, at Glasgow's TRNSMT (7 July) and Latitude (21 July).

In a post shared to Instagram, Steve explained he wouldn't be joining them.

He said: 'I've decided to continue the work I'm engaged in  music, filmmaking and photography projects, and will not be joining them for these UK shows just announced.

'Wishing Candy, Nick, Mark and Jarvis the very best with forthcoming performances in the UK and also an enormous thanks to Pulp's amazing fanbase, many of whom have sent me lovely messages today.'

Steve is best known as the bass guitarist for the alternative rock band Pulp, which he joined in 1989.

As a record producer, he has produced songs and albums by M.I.A., Florence + the Machine, The Long Blondes and Arcade Fire.

Steve continued to write, record and tour with the band as they found success in the 1990s.

Subsequent albums recorded included Intro  The Gift Recordings, His 'n' Hers, Different Class, This Is Hardcore and We Love Life.

They had a series of hits including Common People and Sorted for Es & Wizz.

After an eight-year hiatus, Steve returned to Pulp in 2010 and their subsequent world tours in 2011 and 2012. He also had a cameo in Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire as fictional band The Weird Sisters.

In more recent times, he shifted his focus to photography and shared his work on Instagram.
Glastonbury organisers have revealed that the John Peel Stage has been renamed after almost 20 years - after the headliners for 2023 were announced.

It comes after historical sexual abuse claims against the late BBC Radio One DJ came to light - sparking a petition last summer for the festival to take action.

Allegations included one from a woman named Jane Nevin, who claimed in 2012 that she became pregnant by Peel during a three-month affair when she was a 15-year-old schoolgirl in 1969.

Event organiser Emily Eavis has now disclosed that the John Peel Stage, which replaced the New Bands Tent in 2005, will be called Woodsies - although she insisted it wasn't in response to the petition or the allegations.

Ms Eavis said the decision was part of a push to name stages after the fields they stand in, such as West Holts and Silver Hayes.

Change: Glastonbury organisers have revealed that the John Peel Stage, named after the late DJ, above, will now be known as Woodsies

Decision: Event organiser Emily Eavis said the new name for the John Peel Stage, above, which replaced the New Bands Tent in 2005, was not a response to allegations against the broadcaster

'We've had 20 years of John Peel and it's been an honour to use his name,' she told The Guardian.

Ms Eavis then insisted that the name change was not a response to the petition, saying: 'I haven't got involved in that because it's not our area.

'We've had a really good relationship with the Peel family and everyone's on board.'

Jack Owens, 26, who set up the petition, said last year that the stage was 'long overdue' a change and asked organisers to remove the former BBC presenter's name from the tent ahead of this year's festival.

Glastonbury's New Bands Tent took its new name after Peel, 65, died in Peru in 2004 of a heart attack.

He is alleged to have met Ms Nevin at a Black Sabbath concert when he was 30. She claims he had sex with her in the BBC studio and backstage at concerts.

In an interview with The Sunday Correspondent in 1989, Peel said: 'Girls used to queue up outside. By and large not usually for sh*****g.'

Difficult: It comes after historical sexual abuse claims against the late BBC Radio One DJ came to light - sparking a petition last summer for the festival to take action

Moves: Ms Eavis said the decision to rename the stage - pictured last year - was part of a push to name stages after the fields they stand in, such as West Holts and Silver Hayes

Action: Jack Owens, 26, said the stage was 'long overdue' a change and asked organisers to remove the former BBC presenter's name from the tent ahead of this year's festival

Peel added: 'Oral sex they were particularly keen on, I remember. One of my, er, regular customers, as it were, turned out to be 13, though she looked older.'

An interview originally published in The Herald in April 2004 stated that Peel admitted to sexual contact with 'an awful lot' of underage girls.

In an interview with The Guardian in 1975 while discussing women, Peel said: 'All they wanted me to do was abuse them, sexually, which, of course, I was only too happy to do.'

Mr Owens, from Manchester, called on Glastonbury organisers to rebrand their Peel tent in light of the comments and historical accusations.

His petition read: 'The John Peel stage at Glastonbury is long overdue being renamed, considering the serious sexual abuse he has been accused of and even admitted, against women and children.

'It's a slap in the face to sexual abuse survivors, women, children and decent people to have to stand in a stage with his name on it, which has the sick words 'teenage dreams so hard to beat' written on the side.

'Please rename it for the next year's festival. He's been put up on pedestal for too long.'

Peel, born John Robert Parker Ravenscroft, worked as a DJ for the BBC from 1967 till he died.

In 1965, Peel - then 26 - married a 15-year-old American girl called Shirley Anne Milburn.

He later claimed she and her family had lied about her age.

They divorced in 1973 and years later she reportedly took her own life.

In 2012, eight years after Peel's death, Ms Nevin came forward with claims of an affair with the respected DJ.

She said she had a 'traumatic' abortion in Ealing, west London, after he got her pregnant.

A postcard, allegedly sent to Ms Nevin from Peel after she contacted him about their relationship 30 years later, read: 'Jane, Well, you've scared the daylights out of me. For years I've been expecting a letter starting, "In the 70s we had a brief affair - and your now son/daughter, aged 27, wants to meet you".

'What exactly do you want me to do. I live near Ipswich so Croydon is pretty inaccessible.

'I'll wait to hear from you again. John.'

After Mr Owens set up the page, he said: 'I knew about John Peel's sexual abuse allegations and admissions after researching him once, about six months prior.

'It was when I was in the tent for the first time the recollection of it hit me, and I felt really uneasy about it.

'I've been tweeting Glastonbury and Emily Eavis, the director, daily. I've also sent emails to the festival itself, through their various emails.

'I've had no contact from the festival.

'I'm going to keep spreading the word until we hit 150,000 because I think it's the right thing to do.'

The petition received a mixed reaction from music fans.

One person wrote: 'He doesn't deserve to be remembered.'

Another said: 'This is abominable. This man is disgusting and does not deserve to be lauded with an important stage named after him.'

However, one commentator said: 'Accused not found guilty.'

A fellow sceptic added: 'What? Never heard of that, and I'm certainly not going to sign anything that looks like C**P.'

Mail Online contacted the Glastonbury Festival for comment at the time.

Meanwhile, Ms Eavis spoke out today in defence of the 'boring' line-up of all male acts after Arctic Monkeys and Guns N' Roses were announced as the final two headliners, joining Sir Elton John at the top of the bill.

Having her say: Ms Eavis insisted the name change was not a response to the petition, saying: 'I haven't got involved in that because it's not our area'

Full line-up: Arctic Monkeys and Guns N' Roses have been announced as Glastonbury's final two headliners, joining Sir Elton John at the top of the bill

The line-up was announced today and includes Lizzo, Lewis Capaldi, The War On Drugs, Christine And The Queens, Thundercat, Lil Nas X, Lana Del Rey, Carly Rae Jepsen and Manic Street Preachers.

However, fans were quick to highlight the lack of female talent.

Out of the 30 headline acts announced since 2010 only four have been women - Beyonce, Adele, Billie Eilish and Florence and the Machine.

Ms Eavis claimed it was due to a 'problem in the pipeline', telling The Guardian: 'We're trying our best, so the pipeline needs to be developed. This starts way back with the record companies, radio. I can shout as loud as I like but we need to get everyone on board.'
They're one of the most talked-about couples in showbusiness right now.

Rebel Wilson and her fiancee Ramona Agruma warmed many hearts when they celebrated the film star's 43rd birthday on March 2.

The women joined a group of friends for a party, with the lovebirds embracing as they watched a fireworks display.

The Pitch Perfect comedienne opted for a black, laced frock while she enjoyed a glass of white wine.

The Isn't It Romantic star also had on a large, decorative sombrero and appeared in great spirits at the shindig.

Rebel Wilson (centre) and her fiancee Ramona Agruma celebrated the film star's 43rd birthday on March 2 with fireworks and a dinner date

The women embraced as they watched a fireworks display

Ramona opted for a flowing green gown and couldn't keep her hands off her ladylove.

The couple also watched as a romantic display of fireworks shone over them and later enjoyed a dinner date.

They were also shown standing at an undisclosed location which featured a beautiful lookout with panoramic views.

After getting to know each other for some months, Rebel recently got engaged to Ramona at the Cinderella Castle in Disneyland.

Rebel is pictured pictured with her friend Natalia V at the party

They plan to hold their wedding at the same location.

On November 7, Rebel introduced her adorable daughter Royce to the world, and the pair were overjoyed to welcome her into the world.

Rebel called her bundle of joy a 'beautiful miracle' when sharing a photo of the baby on Instagram.

In June 2022, Rebel came out as a lesbian, introducing Ramona as the stunning lucky lady who stole her heart.
Emily Ratajkowski made a bold fashion statement when she led the stars at Loewe's wacky Paris Fashion Week show on Friday.

The model, 31, looked incredible as she flashed a hint of her abs while wearing a top with a giant phallic plant - called an anthurium - on the front.

She was sure to command attention in the number which was teamed with baggy black trousers and simple heels.

The brunette beauty wore her dark tresses up in a chic do and opted for glowing makeup for the event.

Elsewhere model Mia Regan turned heads in an equally quirky number - wearing a puffy dress with a huge face on it.

Wow! Emily Ratajkowski made a bold fashion statement when she led the stars at Loewe's wacky Paris Fashion Week show on Friday

Outfit: The model, 31, looked incredible as she flashed a hint of her abs while wearing a top with a giant phallic plant - called an anthurium - on the front

Different: Elsewhere model Mia Regan turned heads in an equally quirky number - wearing a puffy dress with a huge face on it

Naomi Campbell was also in attendance rocking a black leather jacket and dark shades to conceal her eyes.

Also at the show was Jamie Dornan who looked smart in a brown jumper and shiny shoes as he posed for snaps.

Emily's outing at the show comes just days after she was seen with ex Sebastian for the first time since their split in July.

The pair appeared to be on friendly terms as she picked up her son Sylvester, 23 months, from him.

The My Body author ended her marriage to Sebastian after allegations of Sebastian's infidelity emerged last year.

In her High Low podcast, the model, who often goes by Emrata, said in the January 2 episode that even though she is an independent woman, she 'attracts the worst men.' She did not mention any names.

'They're like, you're special, you've done it and they love it, and they love it and then slowly they get emasculated,' she explained of her experience.

'And they don't know what to do with those feelings, and then, they resent you.'

The swimsuit designer has been seen with several men since she jumped back into the dating pool.

Flawless: Mia wore her short blonde tresses in cute plaits and sported natural makeup to show off her pretty features

Pose: Naomi Campbell was also in attendance rocking a black leather jacket, quirky shoes and dark shades to conceal her eyes

Radiant: She sported a glowing makeup look and accessorised perfectly with a simple silver necklace

Leggy: Alexa Chung showed off her pins in a beige coat and blue and white shirt

The look: She completed her outfit with strappy black shoes and toted a silver bag

Beauty: She opted for a red lip

The man: Also at the show was Jamie Dornan who looked smart in a brown jumper and shiny shoes as he posed for snaps

Handsome: He looked as hunky as ever and sported his normal facial hair as he posed for snaps at the show

Quirky: Greta Lee attends the Loewe Womenswear Fall Winter 2023-2024 show as part of Paris Fashion Week

In attendance: Mafalda de Bulgaria and Maria Valverde were also spotted at the event in Paris, France

FROW: Luca Guadagnino also attended and wore a cosy cream jumper and black trousers as he posed

Fashion show: Paul Hameline was also in Paris for the Loewe catwalk and stood out in a purple jacket

Figure: Karol G wore a semi-sheer grey and blue dress teamed with a bright orange handbag for the show

Stars: Canadian actor, writer and producer Dan Levy wore a smart brown coat and light blue denim jeans

All smiles: He looked happy to be at the event as he got ready for the catwalk and wore black glasses

Style: Mafalda de Bulgaria attends the Loewe Womenswear Fall Winter 2023-2024 show in Paris

Designer: Lena Mahfouf wore Loewe's 1,300 egg shoes as she got comfortable on the front row

She was first seen with DJ Orazio Rispo, 35, in October after quashing rumours she was dating Brad Pitt.

Her next romantic adventure was with former Saturday Night Live star Pete Davidson, 29, in November.

The Viktor and Rolf Fragrances spokeswoman was later spotted on dinner dates with artist Jack Greer, before entering into a brief relationship with comedian Eric Andre, 39.

Emily and Eric appeared to call their 'situationship' quits shortly after posting a mostly nude photo on Valentine's Day.

Chic: Rose Bertram attends the Loewe Womenswear Fall Winter 2023-2024 show

Happy: She was all smiles as she arrrived

Outfit: She toted a bright red bag

Details: She wore black strappy heels

Busty: Noah Cyrus wore a brown denim dress

Style: Noah's dress had statement fluffy sleeves

Work it: She completed the look with chunky black boots

Pins: She put on a leggy display in the thigh-split number

Bright: Dina Asher-Smith attends the Loewe Womenswear Fall Winter 2023-2024 show

Bright: Dina Asher-Smith attends the Loewe Womenswear Fall Winter 2023-2024 show

Thigh-skimming: She flashed her pins in the short number

Beautiful: She looked as radiant as ever

Leather: Bad Gyal attends the Loewe Womenswear Fall Winter 2023-2024 show in Paris on Friday

Stylish lady: She shielded her eyes with huge shades as she got ready to watch the catwalk show

Tresses: She wore her blonde locks in a poker straight style and completed the look with sparkly heels

Designs: The models stormed the runway

Designs: The models stormed the runway

In a TikTok video posted last week, the runway veteran puts on a busty display she lays with her head on a pillow with the words 'What should you do when a situationship ends? Start another one,' written across the screen.

As she began the January 25 episode of her High Low podcast, in an episode titled, 'Dating in the Public Eye?' Emily admitted, 'My life feels really full, which has made dating really interesting and fun.

'I'm doing it for the experience,' she continued, 'not because I'm looking for the next boyfriend. I'm just, like, enjoying myself.'
Rebel Wilson admitted that she got banned from Disneyland after taking an 'illegal photo' inside one of the parks secret bathrooms on Friday.

The actress, 43, who got engaged to girlfriend Ramona Agrum at the California theme park, claimed she was asked to stay away after breaking the rules.

It comes after she thanked Disney CEO Bob Iger for allowing her to propose there when he granted his permission for her to pop to question at the resort.

Speaking on The Daily Show she revealed: 'I did get banned from Disneyland for 30 days because I took a photo inside a secret bathroom, which is illegal, at Disneyland.'

But Rebel admitted Disneyland bosses worked the punishment around her schedule so she didn't have to miss the theme park too much.

Oh no! Rebel Wilson admitted she got banned from Disneyland after taking an 'illegal photo' inside one of the secret bathrooms on Friday

Disaster: The actress, who got engaged to girlfriend Ramona Agrum at the California theme park, claimed she was asked to stay away for a month (pictured at the resort with Ramona)

She continued: 'I got officially banned for 30 days. They called me up and said, "Rebel what 30 days did you not want to come to Disneyland because youre away filming a movie or something?"

'And I was like, "Oh, well, June would be fine,"' she quipped.

As well as teasing the existence of 'secret bathrooms', the actress also revealed the theme park is home to 'gangs of adults'

Rebel added that the group have 'cool names like the White Rabbits and the Children of Thanos and Coco Locos,' as she divulged more inside knowledge.

'They wear matching vests and walk around and do gang stuff around Disneyland,' she claimed.

'One of the initiations was you had to steal the apple from the Snow White ride, and the apple kept getting stolen so many times they had to make it a hologram.

'But dont ask me how I know about Disneyland gangs, because I will not say,' she teased.

When Rebel announced her proposal to fiancee Ramona, she thanked Disney CEO Bob Iger in her Instagram post, as it turns out, for a good reason.

Confession: It comes after she thanked Disney CEO Bob Iger for allowing her to propose there when he granted his permission for her to pop to question at the resort

Resort: Speaking on The Daily Show she revealed: 'I did get banned from Disneyland for 30 days because I took a photo inside a secret bathroom, which is illegal, at Disneyland'

The actress appeared on The Drew Barrymore Show in a new episode that aired on Thursday.

She popped the question to Agruma at the Disneyland resort in Anaheim, though she revealed in the episode that she actually reached out to Iger for special permission to pop the question at the beloved resort.

'He's the big, big boss and I thought, "Well, if he says yes, then it was meant to be, and I was meant to propose that day at Disneyland,' Wilson said, adding Disneyland was, 'the most magical proposal place on Earth.'

'I had to get special permission to get a special area roped off and get the topiary trees in and, you know, I had a violinist playing like Disney classics, and it was very, really romantic,' she added.

Wilson revealed she had never been engaged before and she wasn't sure how to actually go about it.

'She said yes. And I was like, "Do I get down on one knee? What do I do?" And I was like, "I may as well," so I got down on one knee,' Wilson said.

'And then she was like, "What are you doing?" And goes, "Well, you cant be the only one on your knee,' so she got down as well,"' Wilson said, as Drew said, 'because she's a giver not a taker.'

Lucky: But Rebel admitted Disneyland bosses worked the punishment around her schedule so she didn't have to miss the resort too much

'It was just beautiful and she said yes and then I was like, "OK, great!," Wilson said.

Wilson said she was, 'so overwhelmed' by the moment that, after going on a new ride at Disneyland, she needed some time to compose herself.

'Afterwards we went on a ride, this new ride they had, and I kind of collapsed afterwards. Because Id never been engaged before, or proposed to, or proposed. So it was such a huge thing in my life,' she continued.

'I literally collapsed on the floor for five minutes. And then I go, "OK, Im good. Lets get churros and move on,"' Wilson joked.

The couple went public with their relationship in June 2022, and Disney played a role in that as well, specifically in Wilson's Instagram announcement.

'I thought I was searching for a Disney Prince but maybe what I really needed all this time was a Disney Princess,' Wilson said with the hashtag #loveislove.

The couple welcomed their first child via a surrogate in November, which Wilson announced on Instagram as well.

Coming soon: She will next be seen in Verona, where she plays Lady Capulet, which is in post-production and is based on the true love story that inspired William Shakespeare's Romeo & Juliet

'Beyond proud to announce the birth of my first child, Royce Lillian, born this past week via surrogate,' she began.

'I can't even describe the love I have for her, she's a beautiful miracle! I am forever grateful to everyone who has been involved, (you know who you are),' she added.

'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, it's an amazing gift. The BEST gift!!' she added.

'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 concluded.
His brother Michael made history as the youngest ever Brit to reach the summit aged 22 in 1999, but tragically died on the perilous mountain.

And on Friday, Spencer Matthews, 34, praised his wife Vogue Williams, 37 - with whom he shares son Thedore, four, daughter Gigi, two, and son Otto, 11 months - for not 'stepping in the way' of his bid to recover his late brother's body.

Appearing on ITV's This Morning, the former Made In Chelsea star admitted he 'had to leave Otto pretty soon after he was born,' as he discussed the impact filming his new Disney+ documentary, Finding Michael, had on his young family.

Spencer - whose wife gave birth in April 2022 - told Dermot O'Leary and Alison Hammond: 'I had to leave Otto pretty soon after he was born, and I wouldn't be able to do if she wasn't so supportive.

'She is so family oriented that she would have done the same thing. She knew that taking this on was important to us as a family - she didn't even come close to stepping in the way.'

Grateful: On Friday, Spencer Matthews, 34, praised his wife Vogue Williams, 37, for not 'stepping in the way' of his bid to recover his late brother's body

Family: Spencer admitted he 'had to leave Otto pretty soon after he was born,' as he discussed the impact filming his new Disney+ documentary, Finding Michael, had on his young family

Family: Spencer and Vogue share Thedore, four, Gigi, two, and Otto, 11 months

Spencer also explained that the original filming date had been pushed back by a year due to Covid, so it had been agreed that it would go ahead in 2022, long before they knew Vogue was pregnant.

The Made In Chelsea alum spoke fondly of his late brother, recalling: 'I think we shared a very loving relationship, i understand he was the sibling really pushing my parents to have another child. Now I'm 12 years older than him, but I'll always see him as my older brother.

'He had had great success with a number of other mountains and Everest was just next on his list. He was a good kid he just wanted to push himself.'

Describing how he was told of his brother's passing, Spencer admitted: 'I think if there is anything to be grateful for it was being that age, I wasn't hit by it like it did my family. I couldn't quite wrap my head around how he could have died.

'I was called into their bedroom. They said Michael's been lost on the mountain. I just thought let me know when you find him. I think my parents did such a good job of sheltering me from it. We moved through it with pain but i look back at that time, but I lived my life well as a kid.'

And of how the idea for the documentary came about, the reality star explained: 'In 2017 the family received an email of a photo of a body.

'I did a bit of digging, I found out that body recovery was possible to recover a body. There's a few cases of successful body recoveries.'

Lead by Nirmal 'Nims' Purja, Spencer said of the expedition: 'We were aware of the risks attached to that. This was something that was possible, he [Nims] could do very minimal risk to his team that's what pushed us to the edge of agreeing to doing it.

Challenge: Spencer's documentary Finding Michael is available now on Disney+

Emotional: On Thursday, Spencer fought back tears as he discussed his attempts to recover his late brother's body on Mount Everest on The One Show

RIP: Michael made history as the youngest ever Brit to reach the summit aged 22 in 1999, but tragically died on the perilous mountain

'I want him [Michael] to have a legacy, to die at 22, I want him to have a place in everybody's hearts.

Of the trek, Spencer admitted: 'It was cathartic in a way, to make the same journey that Michael did those years ago, and that part of the world and the culture..

'I wanted to be as close to the mountain as I could be, 5 and a bit weeks in total, to immerse myself in the process and many ways move through the grief and pain for the first time. I had suppressed these feelings for most of my adult life.'

In the Disney+ documentary, Spencer Matthews is filmed hearing his late brother Michael Matthews' voice for the first time since 1999.

The TV star - who was 10 years old when his big brother went missing - got to see some unearthed footage, given to him by his sibling's climbing partner, Dave Rodney.

In the film, Spencer said: 'Dave in particular brought to the table footage from the 1999 expedition of Mike and Dave climbing and Mike's attitude to the mountain and I actually had never, prior to flying to Canada to meet Dave, had never seen Mike on camera ever.

'We weren't the kind of family that made home videos and when I said to mum and dad, when we agreed to make this documentary, I said I need all footage of Mike and they said ''We don't have any''.

'Fortunately, Dave had this incredible film that I hadn't seen so I saw it in Canada for the first time and it's the first time I'd heard Michael speak since he was alive, since I was 10.'

Tragic: Michael is said to have got in trouble after beginning to make his way down the south descent through the 'death zone' on May 13, 1999

Moving: The TV star, who was aged just 10 when it happened, retold Alex Jones and Roman Kemp about Michael's last journey and how he retraced his steps to try to bring him home

Dave labelled Spencer's big brother as the 'best mate I could ever have hoped for on the mountain', as he reflected on the day Michael disappeared.

He continued: 'Our dream was to be together on summit day. Sadly, although we climbed every single day of the expedition, together on summit day, we were not.

'I was to be with two other people and he was to be with his guide. I only found out the next day that he had not come down and 40 below had become 50 below and breezes became hurricane winds.

'But I'm so pleased that Spencer and Bear and the crew have filmed something that is, I think, going to be not only legendary, it'll touch absolutely everyone who's experienced grief and loss and help them through that process.'

On Thursday, Spencer fought back tears as he discussed his attempts to recover his late brother's body on Mount Everest on The One Show.

The reality star became choked up as he spoke of how Michael made history as the youngest ever Brit to reach the summit aged 22 in 1999, but tragically died on the perilous mountain.

He retold Alex Jones and Roman Kemp about Michael's last journey and how he retraced his steps to try to bring him home.

Spencer said: 'When Michael went missing, by the time some people realised he was missing it was too late. Nobody survives the night, really. A couple of cases maybe.

Emotional: Spencer was on the show to talk about his new Disney+ documentary, Finding Michael, released on Friday

Brothers: Spencer (left) spoke candidly about his elder brother (right) with whom he shares a striking resemblance

Michael is said to have got in trouble after beginning to make his way down the south descent through the 'death zone' on May 13, 1999.

He was the brother of Pippa Middleton's husband, the racing driver turned hedge fund manager James Matthews, 47.

The experienced mountaineer, who had previously conquered Aconcagua, the Pyrenees and the Swiss Alps, was the 162nd person to die on Everest.

Spencer went on to detail how he made the 'difficult decision' to undertake the mission himself.

'In 2017, the family was sent a photo of a body on the mountain and they claimed that it could be Michael. In fact it did look like it could be, with similar summit suits. It's the first time really that I thought even a body recovery was possible.

'It continued to tick away in my head: 'What if it is him?'. I've certainly grown up with feelings that he's up there and died and was left there. Wouldn't it be nice if there was a body to mourn for my family?

'We scrapped together any information we had. Some of the footage of Michael on the mountain I'd never seen before,' he said, becoming increasingly more emotional as the interview progressed.

'It was the first time I'd seen him on camera, because as a kid we didn't do home movies or anything.

Sad loss: Michael became the youngest Briton to reach the summit of Everest at the age of 22, but disappeared on the mountain just three hours later

Honesty: Spencer said: 'He's frozen in time. I'm his big brother now. I was unable to stop thinking about it. I wanted to bring him home for my mum'

'Retracing his steps and understanding his final days a bit better was quite cathartic for me...'

The former Made In Chelsea star filmed Finding Michael with the help of survivalist Bear Grylls and record-breaking mountaineer Nirmal 'Nims' Purja.

Ahead of its release, he told The Sunday Times: ''I'm not the most emotional person but the nearer we got to the mountain, the more potent my feelings became. It's the closest I've felt to Mike since his death.'

'He's frozen in time. I'm his big brother now. I was unable to stop thinking about it. I wanted to bring him home for my mum.'

Spencer added: 'I found the idea unbearable of him being out there on the mountain, alone, with people walking past him en route to the summit.

The trailer for Finding Michael begins with Spencer looking at a picture of his brother wearing a red ski jacket, saying: 'I hate the picture. All I see is a young man in the process of losing his life.'

He continues: 'Michael was my big brother. 20 odd years later we are sent this photograph of a body, it looks like it could be Michael.

'My heart says we should go and find him. And if we can, bring him home. We need the best people possible. We have one of the greatest, Nims Purja. We have to look all over the mountain.'

Tears: Spencer added: 'I found the idea unbearable of him being out there on the mountain, alone, with people walking past him en route to the summit

Brothers: TV personality Spencer was 10 years old when Michael (left next to sibling James) tragically died aged 22 - after becoming the youngest Brit to reach the peak in 1999

Spencer can be seen kissing his wife Vogue Williams, holding their new-born baby, who says: 'God I hope you find him.'

She is later seen getting emotional while on a video call to Spencer who is out on the expedition.

World '14 peak' record holder Nirmal leads the 10-man search crew armed with drones and the trailer shows the crew as they face unexpected and extreme challenges as well as intense time pressures when the weather closes in.

TV presenter and executive producer Bear says: 'Stay safe. If you get hold of Mike, I hear his voice screaming that one loud.'

He later added: 'On average, seven people every year of those attempting Everest will lose their lives. No mountain is worth dying for a second time over.'

Spencer trekked to South Base Camp base camp via Namche Bazaar, a town in north-eastern Nepal, often the staging point for expeditions to and other Himalayan peaks.

He made the journey just five days after the birth of his son Otto after a 'weather window' made scaling the mountain feasible.

Spencer would have otherwise been left facing another year of waiting to begin the search, revealing that he had the backing of his wife Vogue.

Project: During the film, Spencer undertook a 'gut-wrenching' mission to climb Mount Everest to find the body of his brother Michael

The South Base Camp is at an altitude of 5,364 metres.

Describing the trek, he said: 'You don't have to be superman to do it. You come across this town [Namche Bazaar] in the sky. It's amazing. It's above the clouds. It reminded me of Asgard.

'Part of the film is that we retrace the exact steps that Mike and his friends took. We stay in the same places and do the same path as he did. It'll be a really powerful and amazing film'.

Finding Michael, directed by Tom Beard, is set to premiere on Disney+ on March 3
DJ Fisher has come under fire after sharing a video in which he's taking a baby for a ride on a motorbike during a trip to Bali.

The clip, shared to Instagram on Thursday, shows the performer, real name Paul Nicholas Fisher, 36, taking Minnie Alex Pullin, the 17-month-old daughter of Ellidy Pullin, on a joy ride.

The tot is wearing a helmet and is strapped to the DJ's chest in the video, which was captioned: 'MINNIE MOO SCOOTING AROUND TOWN!!!!'

Ellidy was tagged in the clip, as was an Instagram account for little Minnie.

Several fans shared their concerns about the baby being taken for a motorbike ride in the comments.

DJ Fisher (pictured) has come under fire after sharing a video in which he's taking a baby for a ride on a motorbike during a trip to Bali

Another wrote: 'No no no - as cool as everyone thinks this is - it's very young child with no protective wear on a motorcycle/moped and they aren't concentrating as they are playing up to a camera - sorry as much as I love this guy this isn't clever at any point.'

'Have you been to Bali?? Have you seen the road?? If an accident happens on the bike with the baby. Next min on social media asking for help or Go Fund Me' one more chimed in.

'And if you drop the bike? Get in an accident? Super cool then!' one more person said.

The clip, shared to Instagram on Thursday, shows the performer, real name Paul Nicholas Fisher, 36, taking Minnie Alex Pullin, the 17-month-old daughter of Ellidy Pullin, on a joy ride

The tot is wearing a helmet and is strapped to the DJ's chest in the video, which was captioned: 'MINNIE MOO SCOOTING AROUND TOWN!!!!'

The child wore sunglasses in some of the clips, which showed multiple rides

Ellidy was tagged in the clip, as was an Instagram account for little Minnie

'I'm surprised after all the trauma she has been through that she would allow this' someone else wrote.

'It's not so much being on the scooter it's being silly whilst on the bike. Most parents would want the person watching the road. What if they hit a bump and miss it because they pulling faces for the camera'.

Others loved with footage, with one person saying: 'The literal best thing I've ever seen'.

Another wrote: 'Best thing I've seen EVER!! She's bound to be the best socialized human on the planet with her Auntie and Uncle Fisher'.

Several fans shared their concerns in the comments, but others enjoyed the video

'So bloody cuuuuuute' said one more, with someone else agreeing, 'I cannot deal with how adorable this Minnie Moo is'.

Daily Mail Australia has reached out to DJ Fisher for comment.

Australian model Ellidy shares her daughter with late snowboarder husband Alex 'Chumpy' Pullin.

The Olympic snowboarder was 32 when he drowned while spearfishing on the Gold Coast in July 2020, but through an incredible IVF and sperm retrieval process, Ellidy was was able to have his baby, Minnie.

A two-time snowboard cross world champion, Chumpy was Australia's flag-bearer in Sochi in 2014 and a mentor for many up-and-coming snowboarders.

Australian model Ellidy (pictured) shares her daughter with late snowboarder husband Alex 'Chumpy' Pullin

Chumpy drowned at Palm Beach on the Gold Coast on July 8, 2020. Later, Ellidy revealed that the couple had been trying for a baby.

Pullin drowned that day. It's believed he was spearfishing by himself at an artificial reef at the beach when he was spotted on the ocean floor by a snorkeler.

He was a two-time boardercross world champion and had represented Australia at three Winter Olympics.Minnie was born in October, 2021.

Just hours after Pullin's death, Ellidy's quick-thinking brother and friends mentioned the process of sperm retrieval. Sperm retrieval from a body can take place up to 36 hours after death.

The Olympic snowboarder (left) was 32 when he drowned while spearfishing on the Gold Coast in July 2020, but through an incredible IVF and sperm retrieval process, Ellidy was was able to have his baby, Minnie

Under Queensland legislation, sperm can be removed posthumously when a designated officer declares their belief the deceased wouldn't object.

The consent of the immediate family is also required before any sperm can be retrieved.

An IVF specialist assists with the retrieval, with a recommended removal timeframe of between 24 and 36 hours after death.

Ellidy's retrieval process took place through the use of ICSI IVF, where a single sperm is injected directly into an egg for fertilisation.

She announced she was pregnant with Chumpy's baby in June 2021 and welcomed her miracle baby on October 25, 2021.

'The ocean gave [Chumpy] life, and I didn't think for a second that it would take that same life away,' she explained.

'It's all a blur now. I can tell you what happened on that day, but it's a story rather than a memory. I don't remember anything else about that day beyond the story I've been forced to tell.'
She's a model and upcoming star in the fashion world.

And Mia Regan stood out from the crowd as she attended Loewe's star-studded Paris Fashion Week show on Friday.

The girlfriend of Romeo Beckham, 20, commanded attention in a strapless dress with a huge face on it for the event.

She completed the out-there look with peep-toe black heels and accessorised with simple silver bracelets and rings.

The blonde beauty wore her short light tresses in sweet plaits and opted for natural makeup to show off her pretty features.

Pose: Mia Regan stood out from the crowd as she attended Loewe's star-studded Paris Fashion Week show on Friday in a quirky dress with a HUGE face on it

Mia was joined by the likes of Alexa Chung, Emily Ratajkowski and Naomi Campbell to watch the runway show.

It comes after Romeo, who made his debut for Brentford's B team recently, decided to get 'I love you' inked onto his arm.

Tattoo artist Certified Letter Boy shared the moment he tattooed the romantic phrase onto Romeo, who reunited with Mia late last year .

The sentimental tattoo had the appearance of being written - perhaps by Mia as their romance goes from strength to strength.

The couple are said to have got back together in November after dating since 2017.

They were said to be living in separate quarters at the Beckhams' 31m London home.

Romeo's trip to the tattoo parlour comes after he debuted a different inking which runs along the side of his neck.

And just like his dad and older brother Brooklyn, Romeo is a big fan of tattoos .

Work it: The girlfriend of Romeo Beckham, 20, commanded attention in a strapless dress with the design on it

Outfit: She completed the out-there look with peep-toe black heels and accessorised with simple silver bracelets and rings

He has a 'freedom to love', 'free spirit', 11, and a large dove on his wrist and a heart, butterfly, 'in the present' on his arm.

It comes after Mia took to Instagram last month to share a sweet post dedicated to Romeo on Valentine's Day.

The model shared an array of snaps to her page, including the couple larking about and another one sniffing flowers.

The first photo saw a grinning Romeo make a love-heart to the camera as Mia peeped through behind him.

In another, Romeo looked through a camera lens in a baggy pink jumper and abundance of chains.

The final two showed Romeo and Mia both clinging onto a pink rose.

Lovely: The blonde beauty wore her short light tresses in sweet plaits and opted for natural makeup to show off her pretty features

Gals: Gala Gonzalez, Mia and Xenia Adonts attend the Loewe Womenswear Fall Winter 2023-2024 show

Star-studded: Mia was joined by the likes of Alexa Chung, Emily Ratajkowski and Naomi Campbell to watch the runway show

Captioning the photos, Mia penned: 'all the love'.

Earlier in the day, Romeo also shared a post dedicated to his girlfriend.

Romeo and Mia posed in romantic snaps, as he wrote: 'happy Valentine's Day to my valentines I love you .'
Kristin Chenoweth was a sight to see as she attended the Carol Burnett: 30 Years of Laughter + Love event in Los Angeles on Thursday.

The 54-year-old entertainer  who was in NYC to promote her book last month  was joined by fiance Josh Bryant, 40.

The Broadway star dazzled in a one-strap gold beaded vintage Bob Mackie dress that clung to her petite 4ft11in frame.

The blonde beauty was all smiled as she walked the red carpet with her beau and posed for photos with Carol and Julie Andrews.

She pulled her hair back into a chic, low, side ponytail that fell over her shoulder in a loose wave.

Stunner: Kristin Chenoweth was a sight to see as she attended the Carol Burnett: 30 Years of Laughter + Love event in Los Angeles on Thursday

Chenoweth, who hails from Oklahoma, looked typically stunning as she modeled the paneled frock.

It had sparkly trim and various shades of flickering yellow tones to set her apart from other attendees.

She wore glinting diamond-encrusted jewelry, including a flashy bracelet and rings on her manicured fingers.

The hemline of her ensemble boasted an asymmetric fringe-like detail and she rounded out the look with sparkly nude heels.

The acclaimed vocalist showed off her stunning looks in a full face of flattering makeup that included sleek black eyeliner.

She added color to her cheeks with blush and completed the cosmetics look with a nude lipstick.

For his part, Josh, who met Kristin at two separate family weddings, complemented his bride-to-be in an all black look.

He wore a button-up shirt tucked into his slim-fitting pants, donned a blazer, and finished with loafers.

Date night: She was was joined by fiance Josh Bryant

Gorgeous: The Broadway star dazzled in a one-strap gold beaded vintage Bob Mackie dress that clung to her petite 4ft11in frame

The legendary Burnett, who was born in San Antonio, Texas, looked younger than her 89 years in a bright pink blazer.

It had black, silver, and pink beading along the trim and she layered it over a black blouse.

The groundbreaking actress' signature short, red hair was arranged in an undefined side part.

Kristin glowed as she shared several sweet moments with Carol on the event's step-and-repeat.

The stunner was photographed holding hands with the Annie star and at one point cradling her face.

Also on the scene was another Hollywood pillar, Julie Andrews, who is 87-years-old.

Icon: The legendary Burnett, who was born in San Antonio, Texas, looked younger than her 89 years in a bright pink blazer

Priceless: Kristin glowed as she shared several sweet moments with Carol on the event's step-and-repeat

Chenoweth and her fiance, who's 14 years her junior, became engaged in October 2021.

The hunky star popped the question at the iconic Rainbow Room at Rockefeller Center in New York City.

'I've been the runaway bride. Now that I've found him, I won't let him go. I will race to greet him at the altar,' Kristen told Vogue at the time.

'My best friend and soulmate said YES to me!' Bryant also shared with the publication.

'Kristin is my world, my everything, and I can't wait to spend the rest of my life with her!' he added.

They first met at Kristins nieces wedding in 2016 when he was playing in a band called Backroad Anthem.

She bumped into him again in 2018 when he was playing at her nephews wedding and they started dating soon after.

Precious: Also on the scene was another Hollywood pillar, Julie Andrews, who is 87-years-old
Elsa Hosk was spotted heading to a fashion fitting in Paris on Thursday afternoon.

The 34-year-old supermodel wore an eye-catching outfit as she took in the sights of the City of Lights during her outing, which took place during Paris Fashion Week.

The fashion industry figure, who recently showed off her legs while wearing a stylish leather coat, also shared various behind-the-scenes photos to her Instagram account and Story.

Hosk wore a gorgeous cream-colored button-up jacket that was paired with oversized brown pants.

The runway regular added elements of darkness to her look with leather shoes, and she carried an oversized bag.

Out and about: Elsa Hosk was spotted while taking a stroll through Paris' streets on Thursday afternoon

The social media personality accessorized with several articles of jewelry, as well as a pair of chic sunglasses.

Her beautiful blonde locks fell towards her shoulders and paired well with the light tone of her top.

Hosk also shared several images from her time in the City of Lights to her Instagram account and Story on Thursday and Friday morning.

The supermodel posted a duo of shots on her account that showed her getting ready to attend a show.

The fashion industry figure wore a gorgeous furry white overcoat as she posed for the snaps.

Her bright blonde hair also cascaded onto her upper chest in one of the shots and paired well with the bright tones of her clothing.

Hosk went on to share several posts to her Story, one of which showed her driving through Paris' streets in the early morning.

She added a text graphic to her post that partially read: 'Was early for an event and my driver took me around and told me the history of every single important building in the center of Paris.'

Fashionable: Hosk wore a gorgeous cream-colored button-up cardigan that was paired with oversized brown pants. The social media personality accessorized with several articles of jewelry, as well as a pair of chic sunglasses

Gearing up: The supermodel posted a duo of shots on her account that showed her getting ready to attend a show

Staying warm: The fashion industry figure wore a gorgeous furry white overcoat as she posed for the snaps

Taking in the sights: Hosk went on to share several posts to her Story, one of which showed her driving through Paris' streets in the early morning

Breakfast: The model also shared a photo of an assortment of baked goods and added that she was 'eating way too many croissants'

The model also shared a photo of an assortment of baked goods and added that she was 'eating way too many croissants.'

Hosk included a shot of herself FaceTiming her daughter Tuulikki Joan, aged two.

The fashion industry figure wrote a message where she called her child 'my angel' and remarked that she missed her 'sooooo much.'

The social media personality welcomed her daughter in February of 2021 and shares Tuulikki with her longtime partner, Tom Daly.
Michelle Williams sat down for a Q&A at the 92nd Street Y in New York City on Thursday.

The Fabelmans star, 42, plays Steven Spielberg's mother in the heartwarming movie.

The Dawson's Creek alum - who looked stunning in a in canary yellow for W Magazine - looked chic in an all black ensemble consisting of a black jacket with brass buttons, turtleneck, pants and stiletto-heeled booties.

The event was hosted by the film's co-screenwriter Tony Kushner. The actress was in good spirits as she waved to fans as she entered the screening and Q&A.

On March 12 she will find out if she has won an Academy Award for Best Actress for her role in The Fabelmans.

Hello: Michelle Williams sat down for a Q&A at the 92nd Street Y in New York City on Thursday

Babe in black: The Meet the Fabelmans star plays Steven Spielberg's mother in the heartwarming movie

Last week Michelle looked sensational as she posed for a reunion shoot with the cast of Meet The Fabelmans for The Director's Issue of W Magazine.

The actress wore a canary yellow ensemble with the feathered texture of the lower half of her outfit taking on the appearance of a grass skirt.

The five-time Academy Award nominee, who played Mitzi Fabelman in the film, could be seen smiling as she posed against a grand piano in the Mojave Desert in Lancaster, California with her co-star Paul Dano, who played her on-screen husband Burt.

The Fabelmans is based on the true story of legendary director Steven Spielberg's life, and after directing and photographing the shoot, he spoke to the magazine about how the film came to be and if there would be a sequel.

The semi-autobiographical film, directed by Steven Spielberg, is based on Steven's own parents and their eventual divorce.

Now in its fifth year, the Directors Issue of W Magazine highlights and celebrates some of the greatest and most talked about directors in film this year.

And Steven told the publication he decided to make the movie after the world was thrown into lockdown amid the coronavirus pandemic, unsure about whether it would be an 'extinction-level event'.

He explained: 'I didnt know if Covid was going to be an extinction-level event. I wasnt sure whether the film Contagion was, in fact, art becoming life

Back in black: The Dawson's Creek alum looked chic in an all black ensemble consisting of a black jacket with brass buttons, turtleneck, pants and stiletto-heeled booties

Answering questions: The five-time Academy Award nominee, plays Mitzi Fabelman in the film

Mom of three: Michelle recently gave birth to her third child

The movie: Williams in a scene from the (Universal Pictures film The Fabelmans (2022)

And Michelle, who recently gave birth to her third child, hasn't worked since she shot the semi-autobiographical film.

She said: 'I haven't worked since I did this movie and part of me is still there.

I've had a baby so I've been busy with that.'

She shares her youngest child and son Hart, two, with her husband, the theatre director Thomas Kail.

She also has a daughter, Matilda, 17, with the late Heath Ledger.

Williams quietly confirmed her third pregnancy to Variety in an interview published on 10 May last year and she displayed a bump at subsequent events.

Thomas and Michelle got engaged in 2019, following their collaboration on the FX miniseries Fosse/Verdon.

They tied the knot in 2020, and Michelle gave birth to Hart that year, though it wasn't until May of last year that she finally revealed his name.

Back to business: The Blue Valentine star shares her youngest child and son Hart, two, with her husband, the theatre director Thomas Kail

Lost love: She also has a daughter, Matilda, 17, with the late Heath Ledger; seen with Tony Kushner
Pirates Of The Caribbean producer Jerry Bruckheimer recently spoke to Deadline about how fond he is of Johnny Depp.

The 79-year-old established film producer, who worked with Depp, 59, on the Pirates franchise praised the actor for his artistry and other notable traits.

Speaking about the Edward Scissorhands star's volatile litigation with ex Amber Heard on Behind the Lens with Pete Hammond, he said about the actor, 'Hes just so good at what he does and actors recover from things like this.'

Jerry added, 'Hes a good individual and hes a caring individual. Hes somebody that you can rely on and hes just terrific.'

Bruckheimer was prompted to discuss Depp when he was asked about the possibility of Johnny returning to the film series.

Kind words: Pirates Of The Caribbean producer Jerry Bruckheimer recently spoke to Deadline about how fond he is of Johnny Depp - 'He's just terrific'

Jerry continued in the interview, 'I think Johnny is an utter friend and an amazing artist and, again, you go through things in life you wish you hadnt, but hes still a talented artist.'

Bruckheimer previously told The Hollywood Reporter he would 'love' to have Johnny back in the fold.

When asked specifically if Disney would invite the star back to perform he replied: 'Youd have to ask them. I cant answer that question. I really dont know.'

He added candidly, 'I would love to have him in the movie. Hes a friend, a terrific actor and its unfortunate that personal lives creep into everything we do.'

The producer also responded to Depp's previous claims that the franchise would have to kill off his character Captain Jack Sparrow if he returned for a sixth and final film.

'You can't. We tried to kill him. It didn't work,' Bruckheimer said.

Johnny reached a $1 million settlement with his ex-wife Amber over his defamation suit against her last year.

Despite Jerry's positive statements about the longtime entertainer, sources told DailyMail.com last November that Depp would not be returning for a sixth film in the Pirates series, following a rumor that his name had been spotted on a call sheet.

Singing his praises: The 79-year-old established film producer, who worked with Depp, 59, on the Pirates franchise praised the actor for his artistry and other notable traits

Depp was plagued in recent years by claims of abuse from his ex-wife.

He sued her for defamation in response to a Washington Post op-ed she wrote referencing a past abusive relationship, though he was not named in the article.

A jury later awarded Depp more than $10 million in his defamation suit, but, confusingly, also ruled in favor of Heard on one of her counterclaims, awarding her $2 million.

Speaking with The Sunday Times last May, Bruckheimer said there were no plans to bring Depp back to the Pirates of the Caribbean franchise.

Although Depp claimed in his trial that Heard's op-ed hurt his career, reports of his alleged drug and alcohol predated it, and he reportedly became difficult to work with on film sets.

During his defamation trial, his former agent Tracey Jacobs testified that he used an earpiece on set to be fed his lines, though the actor claimed that he had noises and music piped in to help him get in the right mindset for a performance in a 2018 Vanity Fair profile.

Rumors began circulating that Depp would return to the Pirates series after a report claimed he would be reprising his role as Captain Jack Sparrow despite being axed from the franchise by Disney in 2018.

However, sources confirm to DailyMail.com that the information was false.

Depp last played the swashbuckling character in 2017's Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales, before producers decided they wanted to bring 'new energy' to the hugely popular film series.
Kim Kardashian looked delighted as she joined James Corden to film a skit for his Carpool Karaoke segment on The Late Late Show this week.

The reality star, 42, cracked up as she joined departing host Corden, 44, to film scenes in a grocery store before the pair hit the roads.

Kim wore a busty grey vest-top, which revealed her trim midriff and honed arms, paired with grey ripped stonewash jeans that hugged her famous posterior.

The beauty added some height to her petite frame with stiletto heels.

Her tresses were worn in a sleek braided ponytail and Kim went for full on glamour with smoky eye make-up and a glossy lip.

Kracking Up With Kim! Kim Kardashian looked delighted as she joined James Corden to film a skit for his Carpool Karaoke segment on The Late Late Show this week

Having fun? The reality star, 42, cracked up as she joined departing host Corden , 44, to film scenes in a grocery store before the pair hit the roads

The star, who has been interviewed by Corden many times over the years, rested her head on his shoulder as the pair larked around in the store.

While this marks Kim's debut on Carpool Karaoke, her ex-husband Kanye West famously filmed a spectacular version of the segment in an airplane back in October 2019.

The appearance comes after the air date for the final episode of The Late Late Show has been revealed - with Tom Cruise joining the host for his presenting swansong.

In April 2022, DailyMail.com exclusively revealed Corden had quit the CBS show to spend more time with his young family - and the Brit star will present The Last Last Late Late Show primetime special on April 27, followed by the final episode of his hit show.

Cruise, 60, who took part in a hilarious Top Gun sketch with the star last year, will join Corden in a musical performance during The Lion King at the Pantages Theater in Hollywood, reports Deadline.

The Last Last Late Late Show will air Thursday April 27 at 10pm, before the final episode of The Late Late Show with James Corden airs at 12:37am ET/PT.

Back in May 2022, Cruise joked 'I'm sorry you got fired' as he appeared on the show after the host recently announced he was leaving.

Speaking from his dressing room before joining the host on stage, the actor hinted that James was 'fired' from the talk show as he expressed mock sympathy towards the star.

Curves on display: The beauty added some height to her petite frame with stiletto heels

Haha: The star, who has been interviewed by Corden many times over the years, rested her head on his shoulder as the pair larked around in the store

Lol: Kim wore a busty grey vest-top, which revealed her trim midriff and honed arms, paired with grey ripped stonewash jeans that hugged her famous posterior

Oh wow: Kim departed with her usual sultry camera poses as she laughed out loud

Siren: Her tresses were worn in a sleek braided ponytail and Kim went for full on glamour with smoky eye make-up and a glossy lip

Eye-popping: The star showed off her pert posterior and cleavage as she shopped

'I'm here for you tonight whatever you need,' Tom said. ' I would not have fired you. 'I'm here for you if you need anything.'

'Okay,' said James.

'I just want you to know that I'm sorry,' Tom said.

'I would love it if you could lend me some money,' James said.

'I told you anything, James,' Tom said. 'Don't worry.'

'Then this works out great,' James making light of his recent announcement that he will be leaving The Late Late Show next year after his contract ends.

After that skit, Tom, wearing a black polo shirt and black pants, came out and James told him that it had been four years since he was on the show and asked how he was doing.

Banter: James larked around with some gloves as the pair filmed

Delight: The pair looked in great spirits as they enjoyed the day together

Giddy: Kim couldn't contain her laughter as she chuckled in the store

Wow: The star appeared to be crying with laughter as she left the store

Fun: Kim and James were seen cackling as they left the store

Fun times: The star looked delighted as she joined James for one of his final filming sessions

Chat: The pair were engaged in conversation as they left the store

Style: James wore a polo shirt, jeans and Gucci trainers on the outing

Looking good: Kim looked as glamorous as ever as she stepped out

Amused: Kim looked radiant as she cracked up at James' jokes

Fun in the sun: The pair looked in great spirits in sunny California

Casual cool: Kim lost it with laughter as she left the store with James in tow

Goodbye: The air date for the final episode of Corden's The Late Late Show has been revealed - with Tom Cruise joining the host for his presenting swansong

Last guest: Cruise, 60, who took part in a hilarious Top Gun sketch with the star last year, will join Corden in a musical performance during The Lion King at the Pantages Theater in Hollywood, reports Deadline

'It's amazing to be here to see everyone and see you and be alive,' Tom said. 'It's wonderful.'

Cruise also left Corden absolutely terrified after convincing the late night talk show host to be his wingman as he flew them over the desert in two fighter jets.

After accepting the action star's invitation to meet him at the Hollywood Burbank Airport at 5am, the English actor boarded a small aircraft with his friend headed to a remote desert.

Upon their arrival, Tom reminded James of their last adventure in 2018, which saw the The Late Late Show host jump 15,000ft out of a plane with the Mission Impossible actor.

In the clip, which aired on The Late Late Show, Tom went on to reveal his plans to pilot James in a vintage fighter plane in true Top Gun style, leaving James at a loss for words.

While looking slightly uneasy, the Cats star asked 'who' would be flying them, to which Tom, who got his pilot's license in 1994, replied: 'Ill fly you in it.'

'But you're not a pilot, you're an actor,' James cheekily reminded Tom.

The Top Gun: Maverick star was quick to retort that he also flies planes, which did little to comfort James.

Its such a privilege to be here. Im sorry about the news, Im sorry you got fired, quipped Cruise during a May 2022 appearance.

Im here for you tonight, whatever you need, he continued. I would not have fired you. Im here for you if you need anything.

Doting dad: The British star has three children, Max, 11, Carey, eight, and Charlotte, five, with wife Julia (pictured together in 2019)

A multitude of stars have appeared on the Late Late Show with James Corden. They include the likes of Cher and Phoebe Waller-Bridge

With the immense popularity of the Late Late Show and segments like Carpool Karaoke, James has become one of America's most beloved late night presenters

During the flight, Tom flew them over the desert landscape and turned the plane on its side as James jokingly held up a sign reading 'help me'.

Corden made the decision to quit at the end of season eight despite the best efforts of CBS executives who exclusively told DailyMail.com that they 'desperately tried to keep him for longer.'

The star and his wife of 10 years Jules are mulling over a return to the UK with their three children but they are still trying to 'figure out' what's next for the family.

An insider tells DailyMail.com that spending more time in the UK when the show ends is 'definitely on the horizon'.
China's medical aid in past 60 years demonstrates borderless compassion

11:21, March 03, 2023 By Gong Wenjing ( People's Daily

This year marks the 60th anniversary of China dispatching its first medical aid team abroad.

China has offered diagnoses and treatments for overseas patients 290 million of times since 1963 when the country sent its first overseas medical support team to Algeria.

In the past nearly 60 years, the country has sent a total of 30,000 medical workers to 76 countries and regions around the globe, saving countless lives throughout the world.

Leaving the residence at 7:30 a.m. and arriving at the hospital half an hour later, where benches along the two sides of the hall are fully packed by patients waiting to see doctors - this is the daily routine of Yang Yi, a member of the 27th Chinese medical aid team to Algeria.

Chinese doctors of the team are always fully occupied by their work and don't even have the time to drink or go to the bathroom.

Yang is the chief physician of the rehabilitation medicine department of Shiyan Renmin Hospital in central China's Hubei province, who went to Africa in August 2021.

She has gained a batch of "loyal fans" there thanks to her rich experience in acupuncture gained in the past three decades.

Last June, Yang received a patient surnamed Appomata who suffered from myelitis and quadriplegia. The patient was depressed and believed she would spend the rest of her life in bed. However, after two months of acupuncture therapy, she stood up again.

Algerian patient Appomata (right) visits Yang Yi, a member of the 27th Chinese medical aid team to Algeria after recovery at a local traditional Chinese medicine center. (Photo provided by the interviewee)

Acupuncture was brought to Africa by Chinese doctors when the first Chinese medical aid team arrived in Algeria 60 years ago, where this component of traditional Chinese medicine is considered "magic" by local people.

Today, Yang not only is alleviating the pain of patients with acupuncture but also has accepted two "apprentices" in Algeria.

"Acupuncture can take root here even after Chinese doctors are gone," she said.

Guo Wei is the chief physician of the emergency department of Beijing Tiantan Hospital. He went to Guinea in 2022 with the 29th medical aid team to the country.

According to him, he and other members of the team faced a series of challenges in the African country, such as the scorching heat, infectious diseases, and frequent electricity blackouts.

Once, a colleague of Guo in Guinea occasionally found a laparoscope in the hospital where they worked. It had been idle for years though it was one of the most frequently used devices in the general surgery department. Later, Guo learned that it was idle because no local doctor was able to use it.

Therefore, Guo contacted the Chinese manufacturer of the laparoscope and asked it to send relevant medical consumables. The Chinese medical aid team later instructed Guinean doctors to use the device.

Zhou Zhuo, former head nurse of the operating room, Beijing Shijitan Hospital and member of the 21st Chinese medical aid team to Guinea, poses for a picture with Guineans. (Photo provided by the interviewee)

So far, under the guidance of Chinese doctors, local doctors in the hospital have performed multiple laparoscopies.

Zhou Zhuo, former head nurse of the operating room, Beijing Shijitan Hospital, always thought of the socks that her mother made for her before she went to aid Africa.

In 2008, Zhou signed up for the 21st medical aid team to Guinea.

Zhou's mother, who was also a medical worker, joined a medical team for the China-aided Tanzania-Zambia Railway project in the 1970s. Though she was supportive for Zhou's decision to join the medical aid team, she was quite worried about it because of the mosquitoes and infectious diseases in Africa. Before Zhou's departure, the mother specifically made several pairs of socks that were able to prevent mosquito bites.

In Guinea, Zhou and her colleagues cleaned and sterilized idle warehouses and turned them into clinics and operating rooms, where large numbers of local patients later received treatment.

In May 2018, China resumed diplomatic ties with Burkina Faso in West Africa and planned to restart sending medical teams there.

Zhou was 55 that year and her parents were aged. However, as a medical worker who had foreign-aid experiences and could speak French, she signed up again for the medical aid mission. She set foot on the West African country at about the same time with the staff of the Chinese Embassy in Burkina Faso.

Guo Wei, chief physician of the emergency department of Beijing Tiantan Hospital and head of the 29th Chinese medical aid team to Guinea, poses for a picture with Guinean medical workers. (Photo provided by the interviewee)

After arriving, the Chinese medical team spent some 20 days renovating houses, sorting medical materials, and doing other work related to camp construction.

During the team's half-year stay in Burkina Faso, it performed 138 surgeries for local cataract patients together with experts of the Brightness Action program, a Chinese aid program.

When the team went to local villages to give a free clinic, all team members were surrounded by patients. Zhou told People's Daily that she still remembers that many local patients would say "China is great" when posing for pictures with Chinese doctors.

Last year, Beijing Shijitan Hospital was assigned with another medical aid task. "I'd still sign up if I was not retired," Zhou said.

(Web editor: Chang Sha, Du Mingming)
Eva Longoria cut an elegant figure as she attended her close friend Victoria Beckham's womenswear show for Paris Fashion Week on Friday.

The Desperate Housewives star, 47, looked incredible for the event, donning a navy blazer mini dress which she wore with black lace stockings.

Adding height to her frame with a pair of matching heels, the actress also carried a silver handbag.

Styling her brunette locks into loose waves, Eva complimented her look with a pair of sunglasses.

The media personality looked in good spirits and waved to fans as she arrived at the star-studded show.

Stunning: Eva Longoria cut an elegant figure as she attended her close friend Victoria Beckham's womenswear show for Paris Fashion Week on Friday

Radiant: The Desperate Housewives star, 47, looked incredible for the event, donning a navy blazer mini dress which she wore with black lace stockings

Eva and Victoria have been close friends for years and the actress is godmother to her children Cruz, 18, and Harper, 11.

It comes after Eva announced that her new film Flamin' Hot will debut on June 9.

Flamin' Hot will have its world premiere in March at the SXSW Film Festival, and also comes months after she filmed her new project Land of Women in Barcelona.

The movie is based on the true story of Richard Montanez, who started working as a janitor at Frito-Lay's Rancho Cucamonga, California factory in 1976.

After a machine broke down, he took a bunch of unflavored chips home and came up with a blend of spices reminiscent to Mexican street corn.

He pitched the idea for what would become Flamin' Hot Cheetos to Frito-Lay CEO Roger Enrico and the product was launched in 1992.

That lead to an expansive product line that lead to billions of dollars in new revenue.

Jesse Garcia will portray Montanez, who rose through the ranks from janitor to an executive level position before he retired in 2019 to embark on a new career as a motivational speaker.

Style: She added height to her frame with a pair of matching heels and carried a matching handbag

Beauty: Styling her brunette locks into loose waves, Eva also wore eye-catching silver necklaces

Pals: Eva and Victoria have been close friends for years and the actress is godmother to her children Cruz, 18, and Harper, 11

The cast also includes Annie Gonzalez as Richard's wife Judy, Emilio Rivera as Vacho Montanez plus Matt Walsh, Tony Shalhoub and Dennis Haysbert in unknown roles.

Eva directed from a script by Lewis Collick and Linda Yvette Chavez, with DeVon Franklin producing.

Production wrapped on the film in August, where Eva released a statement about how proud she is to tell this story.

'Im so honoured to have led this team in telling a beautiful story where people can see themselves in these characters and are inspired by the endless beauty and talent that is so rich in our community,' she said.

The film did make headlines in 2021 though, when a report from The Los Angeles Times disputed Montanez's claims that he created the Flamin' Hot Cheetos.

Montanez also penned two books - A Boy, a Burrito, and a Cookie and Flamin' Hot: The Incredible True Story of One Man's Rise from Janitor to Top Executive.
By her own description, growing up Leila Farzad was something of an ugly duckling. 'Mal-coordinated, over-sized features, very hairy, buck teeth,' is how she recently summarised her teenage appearance.

Now, of course, that couldn't be further from the truth.

The actress, currently starring in the latest BBC hit Monday-night drama, is beautiful, charismatic, not to mention fiercely intelligent  a champion of the sisterhood, railing against societal pressures on women and how they are expected to conduct themselves.

'As women we've been taught to behave and be a certain way,' the Oxford graduate said a few weeks ago. 'Sometimes that's impossible.

'There's a little gremlin inside you that says, "I don't want to behave like this. My stomach hurts, I feel horrific, I'm incredibly premenstrual and underslept and maybe grappling with the fact of whether I should have a child or not."

On-screen partnership: In Better, Buchan (right) plays a gangland boss to Farzad's (left) corrupt Detective Inspector and sexual electricity positively crackles between them on-screen (pictured for BBC drama Better)

Looking back: Did Andrew Buchan's earlier role hint at romance with Leila Farzad? (pair pictured in Better)

'And yet I'm expected to be this smiley, sweet, affable creature. The hell with that.' She added: 'I'm the queen of self-sabotage. I get angry and have a short fuse. I'm not very self-possessed.'

But could her talk of not conforming to expectations  and of 'self sabotage'  be interpreted differently in the light of recent revelations?

For, just a few months after setting up a film business with her wealthy and apparently doting husband who still wears his wedding ring, Leila Farzad, a mother of one, has moved on with co-star Andrew 'Andy' Buchan, whose nine-year marriage has simultaneously ended.

In Better, Buchan plays a gangland boss to Farzad's corrupt Detective Inspector and the sexual electricity positively crackles between them on-screen.

It's not known when Leila's marriage to businessman James Maizels finished, though a source who spent time with her on a different production last summer, when the affair with Buchan apparently took off, says that she 'gave every appearance of being single' by that time.

The source says: 'She never mentioned her husband and was always larking around with the cast and crew. I thought that she was single  I think a lot of people did.'

He adds: 'She came across as single and also as exactly the kind of person who it would be better not to leave alone with your husband.'

As for Buchan  the 'nice guy' from Bolton, known for his devotion to his former soap actress turned Downton star wife Amy Nuttall and their two children, his grey eyes and his kind smile  it is a turn of events that has left many astonished.

End of the road: It recently emerged Andrew Buchan and Amy Nuttall had split after nine years of marriage (pictured in 2017)

Fire on screen: Sexual electricity crackles between as they star in Leila and Andrew in BBC drama Better together

Buchan, 44, was Andrew Parker Bowles in The Crown, Mark Latimer in Broadchurch and unfaithful former Health Secretary Matt Hancock in the drama This England (where he inhabited the role to a disconcerting degree.)

His idol is the actor Jimmy Stewart, cinema's 'nice guy'. He has played him in a short film that he wrote and the company which he set up with his wife is named SlowTalkinJimmy in Stewart's honour. However just before Christmas, the marriage came to an abrupt end.

Buchan moved out, and reports this week suggest that his wife became suspicious after noticing that he had been staying in hotels close to their home.

A gift of lingerie not in her size was, it has been reported, the final devastating proof that he had strayed. She confronted him, and he left.

Amy posed solo in front of her Christmas tree, and on Valentine's day in a telling Instagram post, she wrote: 'I am not impressed by money, social status or job title.

'I'm impressed by the way someone treats other human beings.'

It was a heavy hint that all was not well. Since news of the split emerged Amy, 40, has been seen pink-eyed running errands in the Buckinghamshire town of Gerrards Cross where the couple shared a 1.2 million home.

Their circle of friends include Amy's fellow Downton Abbey actress, Joanne Froggatt, who lives nearby.

Her parents  Elaine, an artist and former model, and Andrew, a successful barrister  are said to be 'shocked and appalled'.

Andrew Nuttall was, incidentally, counsel to members of the South Yorkshire Police during the Hillsborough inquiry.

Buchan's father is similarly successful: he was head of customs at Manchester airport.

Sadly his wife died when Andrew was 20, although he says: 'She lived to see me play Hamlet at university. I still feel her presence in my life.'

It's not known where the actor is now  possibly in Yorkshire  or if he has moved in with Leila.

He has written a comedy-horror series for ITV called Passenger, and it is filming in Wigan and Calderdale.

What, one wonders, did Leila have which drew him so strongly to his co-star that he would jettison a long-standing marriage?

And similarly, it is not clear what precipitated the significant change in Leila's personal circumstances.

Until recently, she shared a home in Chelsea with her husband James Maizels, a successful businessman who runs pub group FB Taverns among other ventures.

In an interview last year, she talked about a home life where Sunday lunches were Persian feasts of buttery rice at local restaurants and where her husband would make their daughter her favourite banana oat pancakes 'because he's a legend'.

Certainly the two women now in Buchan's life seem to be polar opposites in career, attitudes and education.

Leila is academically brilliant with a degree in modern languages from Oxford.

Her mother had stipulated that she could only be an actress if she got into either Oxford or Cambridge.

While Amy went straight from her private arts school to a job on Emmerdale, where she spent 11 years.

In contrast to Amy's early success, professional achievement has been more of a slog for Leila, who has described with relish how plain she was as a teenager and the challenges of fitting in at school.

The only daughter of Iranian parents, who divorced, she says she always stood out.

'I had one eyebrow and very buck teeth, and my mum didn't know how to manage my hair so it was a big frizzy mess, and everybody at my school had this sleek blonde hair.

'They all seemed to have these very even features, and I was the 'creature' that felt very different and other.

'Comedy was my way in. I was the class clown, that was my position amongst all those very pretty... Sophies and Arabellas, if you know what I mean.

'I felt comfortable and happy being the one that could make everyone laugh. My best friend even talked about it in the speech at my wedding: comedy meant that I felt like I belonged. That was the skill I was offering.'

After graduating from university Leila went to the prestigious Guildhall School of Music and Drama. But years of rejection and doubt followed.

She said: 'Drama school doesn't prepare you for the level of rejection and pain, and the thickness of skin you'll need to have.'

Before she landed her leading role in the Sky comedy series I Hate Suzie with Billie Piper, Leila was preparing to leave acting and was starting to train as an intimacy coordinator.

All stars: Leila Farzad stars as character Lou and Andrew Buchan appears as Col in BBC drama Better

Her struggle will be familiar to Andy Buchan, whose story has parallels with hers.

His father also insisted that he should get a degree and Andy studied modern languages at Durham University.

He went on to Rada, where Tom Hiddleston and Andrea Riseborough were in his graduating class.

But jobs in a hotel, call centre and conducting tours of Coronation Street followed before he got anywhere in acting.

He and Amy met in 2007, were married in 2012 and moved out to the home counties soon after.

'Before that, we had flat above a Carphone Warehouse in London. But now we're two Boltonians in Buckinghamshire, lowering the tone,' he joked in 2014.

He went on: 'It definitely helps that Amy's an actor. Who else would be ok with the absences or with you doing theatre on Christmas Eve?'

The pair have a seven-year-old daughter and a four-year-old son.

Amy is a home-bird who seems happy to be a traditional mum, telling interviewers that she is 'terribly boring' and very much a 'staying in rather than going out girl'.

When cast in Downton as housemaid Ethel Parks aged 29, she fretted that she might be 'one of those women who leaves it too late  it would be devastating to miss out on having children'.

Leila, again, seems to feel quite the opposite, once telling an interviewer: 'We're meant to feel like we haven't achieved what we're meant to if we don't have a baby.'

Intriguingly, in an article in December last year to promote the drama Better, any mention of a husband was absent.

While Leila talked happily of their eight-year-old daughter  'If I didn't get a job, I had this other wonderful, ball of happiness. That helped me contextualise things'  there was no reference to James.

Perhaps the marriage was already on its last legs by this point and she was simply trying to avoid mentioning him.

In a post on Instagram on February 13, Leila again hinted that she was single by the time Better was filmed.

She wrote: 'Big up the Better team who wiped my tears, held me up, fed me crumpets and made me smile. Don't have pics of everyone but this gang got me through!'

Given the headlines this week, it seems one member of the 'gang' was being rather more supportive than the rest.
Scott Disick certainly seems to still be enjoying bachelor life as he was seen with a mystery redhead.

The 39-year-old ex of Kourtney Kardashian - who has never been married - was seen hanging out with an unknown female companion while jewelry shopping in Calabasas on Thursday.

This was not the first outing together for the pair as they were seen out the previous day with Scott's 13-year-old son Mason.

On the latest outing it was just Scott and the mystery woman as they hit up his favorite Polacheck's Jewelers.

The father-of-three opted for comfort in a black Chrome Hearts zip-up hoodie with baggy camouflage cargo pants and green Nike Air Max sneakers.

New girl? Scott Disick was seen hanging out with an unknown female companion while jewelry shopping in Calabasas on Thursday

He accessorized with a pair of black designer shades while holding onto a steel reusable water bottle.

His brunette locks were combed back into his regular slick back look as he sported a full beard.

Scott's female companion kept it casual in a blue sweat suit and a pair of grey suede New Balance 990 sneakers.

Her fiery red locks were pulled back as she showcased her natural looks with complementary make-up on her porcelain skin.

Scott's relationship with the woman remains a mystery as Scott has been quiet about his dating life recently.

Last month he was seen out to dinner with his on-off 26-year-old flame Bella Banos at Nobu in Malibu.

The pair have had an on-again/off-again relationship for the past six years. They were first linked together in 2017, after both were spotted in Costa Rica where Scott was taking part in a Keeping Up With The Kardashians episode.

After going their separate ways, the two were seen again, vacationing in St. Barts, in December 2021 after Scott's 2020 breakup with Nicole Richie. Since then the Talentless founder has also dated model Amelia Hamlin, 21, and model Rebecca Donaldson, 27.

Relaxed: The 39-year-old ex of Kourtney Kardashian - who has never been married opted for comfort in a black Chrome Hearts zip-up hoodie with baggy camouflage cargo pants and green Nike Air Max sneakers

Vibes: Scott's female companion kept it casual in a blue sweat suit and a pair of grey suede New Balance 990 sneakers

The entrepreneur sought help for substance abuse in 2017 and again in 2020.

In an interview with Andy Cohen on Watch What Happens Live in June 2021, Kourtney admitted the fatal blow to their relationship, which ended in 2015, was due to his substance abuse.

Kourtney said the two were now 'great friends and co-parents,' with Scott adding, 'We're family. I think we always will be.'

Scott, who lost his parents in 2013 and 2014, struggled with substance abuse and alcoholism during his nine year relationship from 2006 until 2015.

Kourtney moved on from their on/off relationship and is now married to rocker Travis Barker; the lovebirds dated for 10 months before he proposed in November 2020 and wed in May 2022.

Different girl: Last month he was seen out to dinner with his on-off 26-year-old flame Bella Banos at Nobu in Malibu. The pair have had an on-again/off-again relationship for the past six years, they are seen in St. Bart's in December 2021
She welcomed her second daughter into the world just ten months ago.

And Shay Mitchell cut a stylish figure as she left a fitting during Paris Fashion Week on Friday.

The Pretty Little Liars star, 35, wore a glamorous oversized blue and orange jumper dress with a baggy white shirt underneath.

Shay layered an oversized black padded jacket on top, and carried a black mini handbag.

She gave herself some extra inches with a pair of edgy thigh-high black boots.

Glamorous: Shay Mitchell cut a stylish figure as she was captured leaving a fitting during Paris Fashion Week on Friday

Oversized look: The Pretty Little Liars star, 35, wore a glamorous oversized blue and orange jumper dress with a baggy white shirt underneath

The mother-of-two appeared in good spirits as she smiled and posed for the cameras.

The You star styled her mahogany tresses in a cosy bun and hid behind a pair of squared dark shades.

Shay welcomed her second bundle of joy - a baby girl named Rome - with her long-time partner Matte Babel back at the end of May 2022.

The couple, who have been together since 2017, also share two-year-old daughter Atlas Noa.

Shay said after having her second baby: 'I feel awesome. I feel really, really good. It definitely takes a village.

'I'm really lucky my parents are in town and everybody's been really helpful.'

Noting that Atlas 'is loving being a big sister,' the actress added: 'She is so excited. She's been incredible. She helps me change diapers and it's good - she loves it.'

Shay first announced she was expecting her second baby in February 2022 with an emotional Instagram post.

Baggy: Shay layered an oversized black padded jacket on top, and carried a black mini handbag

Edgy: She gave herself some extra inches with a pair of edgy thigh-high black boots

Stylish: The You star styled her mahogany tresses in a cosy bun and hid behind a pair of squared dark shades

New mum: Shay welcomed her second bundle of joy - a baby girl named Rome - with her long-time partner Matte Babel back at the end of May 2022

First child: The couple, who have been together since 2017, also share two-year-old daughter Atlas Noa

Second mum: Shay first announced she was expecting her second baby in February 2022 with an emotional Instagram post

Big sis: Noting that Atlas 'is loving being a big sister,' the actress added: 'She is so excited. She's been incredible. She helps me change diapers and it's good - she loves it'

The star detailed the difficult experience of celebrating having a baby on the way while mourning the loss of her grandmother at the same time.

She said at the time: 'Saying goodbye to a loved one while simultaneously experiencing the joy of welcoming another into this world is the great cycle of life. It is also my most challenging season to date.

'Losing the most important person in my life in the same year I welcomed my second daughter has shifted everything for me, but one thing remains steady in my soul - I'm certain they spent time together and that brings me peace and joy.

'We're so happy you're here, Rome, named after my best friend, my soul mate, my 'person,' my Grandma Romaine.'

Loss: The star detailed the difficult experience of celebrating having a baby on the way while mourning the loss of her grandmother at the same time
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Chief Minister Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy addressing the delegates during the Global Investors Summit-2023. (Photo: Facebook)

Visakhapatnam: The National Thermal Power Corporation (NTPC) and the JSW Group signed the biggest deals with the AP government which harvested investments worth Rs 11.87 lakh crore during the Global Investors Summit here on Friday. On the government side, the energy department was the biggest gainer.

NTPC signed three MoUs with an investment of Rs 2.35 lakh crore which would generate employment for 77,000 people. The JSW Group singed six MoUs, the largest with an investment of Rs 50,632 crore that could create employment for 9,500 people.

ABC limited signed a MoU with investment of Rs 1.2 lakh crore with employment potential for 7,000 people. Aurobindo Group signed five MoUs with an investment of Rs 10,365 crore and the ability to create employment for 5,250 people.

The Adani Green Energys two MoUs were worth Rs 21,820 crore and carried with it a job potential for 14,000 people. Aditya Birla Group signed two MoUs worth Rs 9,300 crore and 2,850 jobs. Jindal Steel signed a MoU with an investment of Rs 7,500 crore to generate employment for 2,500 people.

The energy department attracted 35 investment proposals worth Rs 8.25 lakh crore with employment potential of 1.33 lakh people; industries and commerce 41 proposals worth Rs 3.2 lakh crore to generate employment for 1.79 lakh people.

The IT and ITES department got six proposals worth Rs 32,944 crore which employment generation for 64,815 people and tourism department got 10 proposals worth Rs 8,719 crore with employment for 13,400 people.

The summit had 200 stalls with 30 showcasing the advantages of investing in AP and 13 dealing with crucial sectors. More than 8,000 dignitaries and investors from all over India and from 40 other countries including China and the US are participating in the GIS.

In a related development, Electronics Manufacturing Clusters (EMC) chief executive officer M. Gauthami said at Tirupati in a statement that eight companies signed MoUs with EMC to invest Rs 10,072 crore in Tirupati and Kadapa districts. They are: Sunny Oppo Tech India Private Limited: Rs 2,500 crore, TCL Group Rs 5,000 crore, Claire Electronics Rs 90 crore, Neo Link Group Rs 300 crore, S2P Solar System Rs 850 crore, Celkon Resolute Company Rs 1,200 crore, Virtual Maze Rs 80 crore and Techno Dome India Private Limited Rs 52 crore.
From left, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken, Japanese Foreign Minister Yoshimasa Hayashi, Australian Foreign Minister Penny Wong and Indian Foreign Minister Subrahmanyam Jaishankar participate in a Quad ministers' panel at the Taj Palace Hotel in New Delhi Friday, March 3, 2023. AP/PTI

New Delhi: External affairs minister S. Jaishankar chaired a breakfast meeting of foreign ministers of the Quad nations (India, Japan, the US and Australia), during which they resolved "to meet challenges to the maritime rules-based order, including in the South and East China Seas". The Quad joint statement expressed anguish over the Ukraine conflict and emphasised on "respect for sovereignty, territorial integrity, transparency and peaceful resolution of disputes".

The joint statement described itself as a "force for good" and announced that a Quad maritime security working group meeting, hosted by the United States, will be held in Washington later this month.



Taking veiled jibes at Pakistan and China, the Quad statement also took a strong stand against terrorism, including the Mumbai terror attack of 2008, and expressed its "concern at attempts to politicise the working of the UNSC Sanctions Regimes and called on all states to maintain the transparent, objective and evidence-based working methods of UNSC Sanctions Committees", a significant statement given Chinas past record at the UNSC of blocking UN sanctions on several Pakistan-based terrorists.

The joint statement said: "We strongly oppose any unilateral actions that seek to change the status quo or increase tensions in the area. We express serious concern at the militarisation of disputed features, the dangerous use of coast guard vessels and maritime militia and efforts to disrupt other countries offshore resource exploitation activities."

It added: "We recognise that peace and security in the maritime domain underpin the development and prosperity of the Indo-Pacific and reiterate the importance of respect for sovereignty, consistent with international law. We reiterate the importance of adherence to international law, as reflected in the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS), to meet challenges to the maritime rules-based order, including in the South and East China Seas.

On Ukraine, the joint statement said: "We continued to discuss our responses to the conflict in Ukraine and the immense human suffering it is causing, and concurred that the use or threat of use of nuclear weapons is inadmissible. We underscored the need for a comprehensive, just and lasting peace in Ukraine in accordance with international law, including the UN Charter. We emphasised that the rules-based international order must respect sovereignty, territorial integrity, transparency and peaceful resolution of disputes."

On terrorism, the statement stated: "We unequivocally condemn terrorism and violent extremism in all its forms and manifestations. We denounce the use of terrorist proxies and emphasise the importance of denying any logistical, financial or military support to terrorist organisations that could be used to launch or plan terrorist attacks, including transnational and cross-border attacks. We reiterate our condemnation of terrorist attacks, including the 26/11 Mumbai, which claimed the lives of citizens from all four Quad countries, and the Pathankot attacks..."

Besides Mr Jaishankar, US secretary of state Antony J. Blinken, Japanese foreign minister Yoshimasa Hayashi and Australian foreign minister Penny Wong attended the Quad meeting.

At the Raisina Dialogue, the Japanese foreign minister compared the Quad to the iconic The Beatles music group. He said, "This is kind of a band like The Beatles. The members are fixed and they always play together (for over) 10 years. But this is more kind of a soft group, so that even within The Beatles, Paul McCartney can release an album solo.

"On the role of China in the region, the Japanese foreign minister said, "We need to abide by international norms and institutions. We hope China will abide by these norms and international obligations as well."

Asked about the reference to The Beatles, the Japanese foreign ministrys deputy press secretary Yukiko Okano explained during an online briefing that the "Quad is not a fully concrete body that has to work together all the time". And that the Quad member nations have their own individual relationships with other countries and can therefore also act individually whenever they choose to.

She also said that the reference to the Ukraine conflict was made for the first time in the Quad joint statement.

Speaking at the Raisina Dialogue, Jaishankar said, "We have expanded the Quad's focus to include many issues: the workings of multilateral institutions, counter-terrorism, tech collaborations, humanitarian assistance, SDGs, maritime security, etc. We're not against any powers. That does not define our partnership."

The US secretary of state said: "The future is the Indo-Pacific and our engagements with the region are strongest now. What is happening in Ukraine has global implications, including in this region. The Quad is a critical part of our engagement with the region."

The Australian foreign minister said: "India is a critical and great power in the region. It is critical to reshape the region. India is a civilisational power and brings a different perspective to the regions challenges."

The Quad also committed itself to supporting the Pacific Island countries in line with the objectives of the Pacific Islands Forum's 2050 strategy for the Blue Pacific Continent.

It was announced that the next Quad leaders Summit will be hosted by Australia this year. And that the Quad "will work closely to align and complement the Quads agenda with Japans presidency of the G7, Indias presidency of the G-20 and the United States APEC host year in 2023.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov speaks at the Raisina Dialogue 2023 in New Delhi, Friday, March 3, 2023. (Photo: PTI)

NEW DELHI: Russian foreign minister Sergey Lavrov on Friday questioned the focus on the Ukraine conflict in the G-20 grouping, including the foreign ministers meeting that was held on Thursday, and asked why the group had never discussed the situation in previous years in countries like Iraq, Syria and Libya, especially on occasions such as when the United States attacked Iraq in 2003. He noted that the G-20 always used to discuss only financial issues ever since its formation.

Speaking at the Raisina Dialogue here Friday afternoon, the Russian foreign minister also flagged the "double standards", wherein the "United Sates has the right to declare a threat to itself from any place on earth", while Russia is accused of protecting its interests. Saying Russia had excellent relations with both China and India, he also attacked the efforts to "militarise" the four-nation Quad (of which India is a part).

Mr Lavrov accused Western delegates at the G-20 session of "shouting" at Russia at the meeting on Thursday and said the policy that nothing except Ukraine was of consequence to the G-20 "will fail". The Russian minister also said that countries around the world are affected not by the Russian actions in Ukraine but by the reaction of the West. He accused the West of wanting the strategic defeat of Russia.

The Russian minister also criticized the efforts in the Indo-Pacific region towards "trying to militarise" the four-nation Quad and accused the United States of plotting an "Asean plus Quad" scenario so that Russia and China are excluded from the East Asia Summit.

It may be noted that the G-20 foreign ministers meeting on Thursday had ended without a joint communique after Russia and China objected to two paragraphs on Ukraine that both nations had previously agreed to at the G-20 Bali summit joint declaration.

Slamming the West during a session "in conversation" with think tank Observer Research Foundation chairman Sunjoy Joshi, the Russian foreign minister noted how the West had attacked Serbia, Iraq, Libya, Syria and other nations and was now lecturing Russia. "If these are not double standards, then I am not the foreign minister," he said. "The war that was launched against us, using the great Ukrainian people, influenced the policy of Russia, including our energy policy.

Russias energy policy will be oriented towards reliable credible partners like India and China," he added.

Asked about Russian grievances, Mr Lavrov alleged that there "was a taboo on the right to use the Russian language" in Ukraine. Referring to the West and Nato, the Russian foreign minister said no one has the right to increase their own security at the expense of others. Asked whether Russia was willing to end the conflict in Ukraine by stopping the fighting, Mr Lavrov alleged that it was Ukranian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy who had said it would be a "criminal offence" to negotiate with Russia as long as President Vladimir Putin was the Russian President.

On ties between Russia and China, Mr Lavrov said Moscow enjoys close ties with both Beijing and New Delhi and that Russia "never makes friends against anyone". He said ties between Moscow and Bejing have been the best ever, adding that Russia was interested that both India and China "be friends" and that the two neighbours "must make additional common ground". In this context, he mentioned the Russia, India, China (RIC) trilateral grouping and other groupings such as the Brics and SCO for cooperation.
Source: Twitter

It is such a deeply polarised world that no consensus was expected to be delivered through a joint communique at the end of the G-20 foreign ministers meeting in New Delhi and the finance ministers meeting in Bengaluru. Honoured as India was at being conferred the presidency of G-20 in significant rotation that has been putting South nations at the head of the table, the difficulties of getting the leading economies to agree was made clear in Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modis philosophical references to the host country of Gandhi and the Buddha as he implored the world to "not allow issues that we cannot resolve together to come in the way of those we can."

Even six months ago, in Bali, the G-20 could face up to the reality of the Ukraine war thrust upon Europe by Russias Vladimir Putin. But, in India, there was quibbling even over the word war by the likes of Russia and China. The divisions have grown so much with the USA-led West stepping up its arms support in defence of Ukraine that the differences have exploded in an East versus West blame game. It is more distressing because the G-20 meetings represent an opportunity lost in the sense that there was not even talk of finding ways to end the war.

The opportunities that the G-20 did otherwise offer, including a rare, private face-to-face meeting on the sidelines between Anthony Blinken of the United States and Sergei Lavrov of Russia, were significant. It is some consolation that the lines of communication are not totally shut even if the meetings were filled with vitriol and mutual recrimination. At a time when Russia has walked out of the New START nuclear weapons treaty after having threatened to use strategic nukes in Ukraine, it is important that attempts be made to facilitate cooling of tempers.

Apart from India heading G-20 at the moment, the country has been in the middle of it all, as a friend of Russia as well as a close strategic ally of the US now, a point Mr Blinken stressed upon. Expectations are being left unfulfilled in the sense that maybe India has not done more towards helping stop the war, apart, of course, from Prime Minister Modis admonishment of Russia in his now famous "This is not the era for war," comment made in Shanghai. In fact, the US said it is hoping that Indias special relationship with Russia could help find a way out of the war.

The G-20 meetings did mean a lot more than the failure to address the Ukraine war more directly. As Indias foreign minister pointed out, much may have been achieved towards thrashing out issues multilaterally, especially on climate change, counterterrorism, stabilising food and fertiliser supply chains and, crucially, additional funding for Sustainable Development Goals. India also had an occasion to impress upon China the need for a much firmer push to deescalate border tensions as the foreign ministers met for close to an hour and some plain truths were told about the current state of the relationship.

It wasnt quite a unipolar world a year ago when the Ukraine war began but, since the invasion, the globe has taken several steps back in multilateralism, especially since humanity was recovering just then from the global Covid-19 pandemic. Prime Minister Modi needed to remind fellow G-20 leaders that they are responsible also for those from about more than 150 nations who were not in the room. Summits, particularly outsize ones like the G-20, may have gained a reputation for more talk than action. The world is, however, in grave need of its biggest leaders to show they care for everyones welfare.
The death toll from a train crash in central Greece reached 57 on Thursday, emergency services said.

"At present the number of confirmed dead recovered is 57," a police spokesperson said.

A spokesperson for the fire brigade said the search mission at the crash site, in the Tempi valley in central Greece, was expected to wind down on Friday.
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Chimera Investment Corporation operates as an internally-managed real estate investment trust (REIT) in the United States. The company was incorporated in 2007 with the purpose of investing in mortgage loans, asset securitization, and mortgage-backed securities.

Chimere Investment Corporation is based in New York, New York, trades on the New York Stock Exchange, and works to provide attractive risk-adjusted returns via dividends and capital preservation. As of late 2022, the company had more than $3 billion in capitalization including common and preferred stock, and had paid more than $5.8 billion in dividends.

The company has elected to be taxed as a REIT which is a tax-sheltered vehicle for real estate investment. As such, the company must invest at least 75% of its assets in real estate and return 90% of its taxable income to shareholders in the form of dividends. The only drawback is that shareholders are responsible for income taxes on the earnings.

The companys strategy is to invest in a portfolio of mortgage assets, including residential mortgage loans, agency, and non-agency residential mortgage-backed securities, and agency commercial mortgage-backed securities. Income is generated by the net spread between the income earned on investments and the costs of financing.

Chimera Investment Corporation finances its operations through secured pools of residential and commercial mortgage loans and by leveraging other real estate-related securities as well. The strategy not only provides a stable source of financing but also provides the flexibility to enhance returns or mitigate risk as necessary.

One risk of Chimera Investment Corporation is its exposure to US credit risk retention rules. These rules limit the companys ability to sell or hedge a large portion of its RMBS portfolio which means it may have to hold some assets it would otherwise sell. In regard to portfolio diversification, RMBS historically make up about 11% of the portfolio while securitized loans comprise 80% to 90% of total holdings.

Chimera Investment Corporation investors may participate in a share repurchase plan as well. Investors of Record can participate directly in the plan while Beneficial Owners may request their shares be transferred to the agent of record and become Investors of Record.
The U.S. government is the largest customer for many defense companies, providing a significant portion of their revenue. This stability and predictability can be beneficial for both the companies and investors. However, the revenue... More of this article 
Ulster Universitys Magee Campus will today (Friday 3 March) host a Peace Summit led by the John and Pat Hume Foundation and Community Dialogue.

The event will reflect on the progress of peace and reconciliation since 1998, and to discuss next steps still need to be taken to finish the job.

The summit comes after months of engagement with peacebuilders, local communities and young people across the island of Ireland who were tasked with reflecting on what still needs to be done to deliver peace and reconciliation 25 years after the Belfast Good Friday Agreement.

Working with partners including Glencree Centre for Peace & Reconciliation, Youth Action NI, Holywell Trust, Ulster Universitys International Conflict Research Institute (INCORE) and the Integrated Education Fund, the summit will consider four themes.

These are: Political Progress; Participation and civic engagement; Cohesion and sharing; and Issues not addressed in the Agreement.

Attendees will discuss the consultation document and agree on calls to action that seek to finish the job of peace and reconciliation.

Speaking in advance of the summit, Professor Brandon Hamber from Ulster University and John Hume and Thomas P. ONeill Chair in Peace said: "As we approach the 25th anniversary of the Belfast Good Friday agreement, the Peace Summit is an important and timely opportunity to take stock of the unfinished business of peace.

Political developments in the past week make peace and reconciliation all the more urgent, and give pause to the fact that neither peace, nor political agreements, should be viewed as an event.

Peace and reconciliation is an ongoing process that needs support, investment and recognition; it is the foundation of creating a better society, and should be central to government policy rather than an add-on.

This project engaged with people far and wide, seeking out voices that often go unheard in political discourse, and many who may often feel disconnected from the political process.

We will ensure that these voices are heard loud and clear by decision makers, and that the next generation of peacebuilders are supported to finish the job of peace and reconciliation.

Louise Malone, YouthAction NI, said: Two of the key issues emerging from this project are the challenges for political leadership and the fragility of the institutions, as well as the perception of many people that their voice and their interests are not adequately addressed by their political representatives.

The disconnect was most acutely felt amongst young people, many of whom expressed frustration at what they described as the prioritisation of green and orange politics.

As one contributor put it: I wouldnt say that we dont care  I would say that we dont care in the same way that our parents care.

This cuts to the heart of what the Peace Summit is about; understanding the journey we have travelled, but respecting the fact that we are not at the destination, and that to get there, we may need to adjust our approach.
Derry born acclaimed journalist Leona ONeill, is set to take to the famous red dot at this years TEDxStormont taking place at Parliament Buildings, Stormont later this month.

An expert in her field, Leona has vast experience from her time as a reporter, covering everything from terror attacks and political scandals to presidential visits.

Most recently, she co-edited Breaking: Trauma in the Newsroom, which collates stark and courageous stories from some of the UK and Irelands most renowned journalists.

Leona was also reporting in Derrys Creggan Estate in 2019, and witnessed journalist and former TEDxStormont speaker, Lyra McKees tragic death. She is now an avid campaigner for journalism safety, as well as better mental health in newsrooms.

The daylong event on Saturday, 25 March 2023, supported by Herbert Smith Freehills and compered by presenter and broadcaster Sarah Travers, is expected to see 200 guests fill the Great Hall at Parliament Buildings for the events 10th anniversary and as Northern Ireland celebrates 25 years of the Belfast/Good Friday Agreement.

Other speakers at the 10th Anniversary of TEDxStormont include globally renowned cellist Patrick Dexter, Sky News Ireland Correspondent David Blevins, Senator Emer Currie, and Northern-Irish-Ghanian artist Winnie Ama.

This years speakers will deliver their talks on the theme of YES. Standing on the iconic red dot, speakers will share their ideas on hope, peace, and possibility for Northern Ireland and beyond.

Leona ONeill, TEDxStormont 2023 speaker, said: I am honoured to be invited as a speaker at TEDxStormonts 10th anniversary event. It is a unique opportunity to lend my voice at a time of such historic significance, not just for TEDxStormont, but also as we celebrate 25 years of the Good Friday Agreement in April.

It is also a great privilege to follow in the footsteps of Lyra at TEDxStormont and shine a light on some of the important causes that I am deeply passionate about.

Lisa McLaughlin, Managing Partner of Herbert Smith Freehills Belfast Office said: Original ideas and inspiring individuals are the twin pillars of progress, so it is always important to give a platform to those who can help develop the foundations on which our collective futures are built.

We are thrilled to be able to support efforts to ensure their vision of change becomes a reality.

Selina Wallace, Business Director at Smarts Agency added: Its a privilege to once again support TEDxStormont, especially in what is a milestone year for the event and for Northern Ireland.

As a creative agency Smarts is passionate about creating ideas that drive change and we look forward to considering the insights and new ideas for positive change that each talk will offer. The speakers announced today set the stage for what will be a phenomenal event.

Eva Grosman, Curator of TEDxStormont 2023 concluded: It is fantastic to be joined by some of the most inspiring and respected individuals from various fields at this years TEDxStormont, taking place in the historic backdrop of the Great Hall at Stormont.

We can certainly feel a sense of expectancy and excitement ahead of our 10th anniversary event.

Our fantastic speakers will help us to imagine how ideas, solutions and fresh opportunities for change and progress are always within reach.

Tickets and more information are available at www.tedxstormont.com.
The Windsor Framework gives enough to end the Stormont stalemate, Sir Keir Starmer believes.

The Labour leader said he is glad the Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) is taking time to consider the new deal agreed by the UK and EU which was unveiled on Monday.

The Northern Ireland Assembly has been in flux for more than a year while the DUP refused to take part until the partys concerns around the Brexit protocol are addressed.

Earlier, Northern Ireland Secretary Chris Heaton-Harris said the Government will legislate to reassure unionists that their constitutional position in the United Kingdom is secure.

He said he hoped that with time and space the new UK-EU deal would pave the way for the return of the powersharing institutions.

Sir Keir was questioned by school students at St Columbs College as part of an event organised by the John and Pat Hume Foundation.

When asked by a student if he believed the Windsor Framework was enough to end the stalemate at Stormont, Sir Keir said he did.

I do. Im always conscious that its very important for communities and political parties here to be comfortable with the progress that we make, and when I was here working 20 years or so ago, I was always reticent about being the person who came along to tell people in Northern Ireland what I thought they ought to think, he said.

But I do genuinely think that this is a real opportunity, I felt that before we even saw the text, over the last month/six weeks I could feel that the UK and EU were moving closer together. This is a good thing, Im a great believer in bridge building and bringing people together.

I do think there is enough, it is a compromise, thats the nature of any agreement but if it gives us the space to move forward, which I think it will, if it leads to Stormont running again, I think thats really good and so I think this is a real opportunity.

He added: Im glad that the DUP is taking their time to look at it carefully, and we were very careful in saying we supported the protocol but it is important it has the greatest consensus possible.

Im really glad the DUP are taking time to carefully consider it. I do hope that allows them to get to a position where we move forward. I feel there is an opportunity there.
Loganair have confirmed that flights between Donegal airport in Carrickfinn and Glasgow are to resume in July.

The Scottish airline Loganair announced in August 2021 that it was pulling out of Donegal to focus on key destinations to support recovery from the pandemic, with the last of the flights leaving that October.

The news also marks the rekindling of a long-standing relationship between Loganair and Donegal Airport, with the airline flying on the route as far back as the early 1990s. The route will operate on the airline's new and more efficient ATR42 aircraft, the first time the airline has flown the type on a route to Donegal.

However, the flights will make a comeback, with Glasgow to Donegal flights scheduled for 3:15pm on Saturday, July 1, and 10:55pm on Sunday, July 2. The Donegal to Glasgow flights that weekend are at 12:25pm Saturday and 4:35pm Sunday. The route will open from July 1 to September 24.

Luke Lovegrove, Chief Commercial Officer, Loganair, said: "We are delighted to be able to restore this important connectivity between the UK and Ireland, helping families stay connected and facilitating leisure breaks too. We expect our summer flights to be extremely popular; therefore, we encourage customers to book as soon as possible to secure the best fares."

Eilis Docherty, Managing Director, Donegal Airport, said: Donegal Airport warmly welcomes the announcement of the resumption of the Donegal-Glasgow flights for Summer 23 and will work closely with Loganair to ensure the success of the route.

Cormac O'Suilleabhain, Brand Partnership Manager at Tourism Ireland, said: Tourism Ireland is delighted with the announcement of Loganairs reinstatement of the Glasgow to Donegal route.

We recognise the vital importance of direct air connectivity and the key role that this air link to Donegal provides for Scottish holiday-makers. We look forward to welcoming visitors from Glasgow and all over Scotland to the island of Ireland and working with Loganair to promote the route and further expand their network to the island.

The new route will also provide onward connections at Glasgow to points within Loganair's extensive route network across the UK. Fares start at 75 one way and are available to book today at loganair.co.uk and via all major travel agents. Regular travellers can also take advantage of the airline's loyalty programme - Clan Loganair.
Titanic Belfast will reopen its doors to visitors on Saturday following a multi-million pound refurbishment.

The visitor attraction has added four new galleries to the Titanic experience including new artefacts and a 7.6m scale model of the ship that is suspended from the ceiling and fully rotates.

The model ship is part of an experience that sees music synced with light projections to tell the story of passengers on the ship befitting of the new experiences title, The Pursuit Of Dreams.

Deirdre McIntyres great-grandfather Rodrick Chism was the chief draftsman at shipbuilders Harland and Wolff.

She said: I was reluctant to be involved because I was concerned that it would be made a commodity and it wouldnt be about the people, it would be about selling fobs and pens.

This is about telling the stories, never mind Titanic reimagined, its like Titanic resurrected. Shes come alive again and theres a story to be told. Its the story of the people of Belfast.

The new experience aims to combine the attraction of existing exhibits on the Harland and Wolff shipyard, with the emotive experience of the ships story.

Judith Owens, chief executive of Titanic Belfast said: We have reopened with four new themed spaces showcasing never heard before stories of the hopes and dreams of passengers, a collection of artefacts being displayed and an original music score which beautifully encapsulates the stories and emotions throughout.

The illuminated model of the RMS Titanic is 1:35 scale and fitted with 300 metres of LED lights.

The ship is coupled with a light show and a score played by Belfast musician Maebh Martin.

The new artefacts on display from tomorrow, include a lifejacket which is one of only twelve in the world, the keys to the binocular box the absence of which may have contributed to the Titanics demise, and an original deckchair bearing the distinctive White Star Line logo.

Since opening in 2012 Titanic Belfast has welcomed more than seven million visitors from 145 countries, contributing to 430 million to the Northern Ireland economy.
The Government will legislate to reassure unionists that their constitutional position in the United Kingdom is secure, Northern Ireland Secretary Chris Heaton-Harris has said.

He also said that clarity would be provided in coming days over the workings of the Stormont brake element of the new post-Brexit Windsor Framework.

Mr Heaton-Harris also said he hoped that with time and space the new UK-EU deal would pave the way for the return of the Stormont powersharing institutions.

Prime Minister Rishi Sunak and the EU Commission Presidents Ursula von der Leyen unveiled the new framework earlier this week to replace the Northern Ireland Protocol which had led the DUP to collapse the Stormont powersharing institutions.

The latest deal seeks to remove post-Brexit trade barriers, creating a new system for the flow of goods into Northern Ireland.

The DUP, which is currently boycotting the Stormont powersharing institutions, has said it will study the new framework against its seven tests before reaching a collective conclusion.

However, a number of senior party members, including Sammy Wilson, Lord Dodds and Ian Paisley, have already been vocal in expressing concerns about the deal.

Former prime minister Boris Johnson publicly criticised the deal, saying he would find it very difficult to support.

Mr Heaton-Harris told the BBC Good Morning Ulster programme that he believes most unionist concerns with the deal relate to the Acts of Union.

He said: This is why we are clear we need to make sure that Northern Irelands place in the United Kingdom is secure so we will be looking to bring forward amendments to the Northern Ireland Act of 1998 to provide further assurances on that matter.

There are concerns amongst unionists and we believe that we can, through the Northern Ireland Act 1998, provide a whole host of proper legal assurances.

Reassurances in law that Northern Ireland remains an integral part of the United Kingdom and it is the Government saying that in primary legislation which is what people are asking for.

The Northern Ireland Secretary said the Government wanted to give all parties in Northern Ireland time and space to study the deal.

He added: That decision lays on the shoulders of the DUP members and I know they will be listening to their electorate.

With the time and space the parties have I am hoping we can get to a place where Stormont can come back.

This is a ground-breaking agreement and is very good for Northern Ireland.

This is the deal we have done with the European Union, this is what is on the table.

Mr Heaton-Harris said the new framework meant that 97% of EU laws which applied under the Northern Ireland Protocol, would now be disapplied.

The deal announced this week aims to give a future Northern Ireland Assembly a greater say on how remaining EU laws apply to Northern Ireland, a mechanism known as the Stormont brake.

Mr Heaton-Harris said more details about the brake would be communicated to parties in coming days.

He said: In the next few days we are going to codify this and demonstrate how we will codify this.

Essentially it is going to act similar to the petition of concern mechanism so 30 MLAs from two parties can trigger such a concern.

This will be codified in the next few days so everyone can get the clarity they want.
Dundalk Chamber of Commerce says it welcomes the Windsor Framework and believes that this has significantly addressed the concerns of unionists, while at the same time reinforcing the existing trading relationships North South.

The Windsor Framework is the proposed agreement between the European Union and the United Kingdom, announced this week, that seeks to address issues between the European Single Market and the United Kingdom in the current Northern Ireland Protocol.

Una McGoey, President of Dundalk Chamber, said that the new agreement confirms that the increase in trade North-South over the past three years will continue and increase. This will help to secure the economic prosperity of the area. She stressed that the M1 Corridor region of Drogheda-Dundalk-Newry is in an ideal position to now grow even stronger.

Paddy Malone, PRO of Dundalk Chamber, pointed out that the Chamber will be holding, with Newry Chamber, the 7th conference post the Brexit vote.

He said that the mood has now changed from fear of tariffs and quotas to one of expansion and opportunity for doing trade in both directions. He also stated that the Minister for Enterprise, Simon Coveney would be addressing the conference, which underlines the opportunities that now exist on the M1 corridor
National Broadband Ireland, the company delivering high-speed fibre-to-the-home network under the National Broadband Plan on behalf of the Government, has said that almost 2,600 premises near Dundalk can get a high-speed fibre broadband connection on its network today.

There are 2,564 premises in the Dundalk deployment area that can join the National Broadband Ireland network. National Broadband Ireland is calling on people living near Dundalk to visit nbi.ie/map/ and enter their Eircode to see if they are ready to connect.

Peter Hendrick, Chief Executive Officer, National Broadband Ireland, said: In Louth, we have already seen an increase in the amount of homes, businesses and farms signing up to our high-speed broadband network. On the National Broadband Ireland website, people in the area can check their eligibility to connect to the network. A connection to our high-speed broadband creates endless opportunities for users.

9,000 premises in County Louth are included in the States Intervention Area, which will see NBI deliver minimum speeds of 500 megabits per second to homes, businesses, farms, and schools.

Works have already been completed in other parts of Louth and there are 3,335 premises that are available to order or pre-order high-speed, reliable broadband across the county, with 1,239 connections made to the network so far.

National Broadband Ireland says its website is regularly updated to show estimated connection dates and that signing up to the NBI email notifications at https://nbi.ie/eoi/ is the easiest way to get the most up to date status of premises during the rollout and when premises will be ready for order.

As a wholesale network operator, NBI does not sell fibre broadband directly to end users, rather it enables services from a range of broadband providers or Retail Service Providers (RSPs). As a wholesale provider, NBI will make the new Fibre-to-the-Home network available to all RSPs operating in the Intervention Area.

Some 61 RSPs have already signed up to sell services on the National Broadband Ireland network and 48 are certified as ready to start providing connections as of today. To see the retail broadband providers that are currently licensed to sell on the National Broadband Ireland network, visit NBI.ie/buy.
The Irish Freedom Party had planned an anti-immigrant rally at Louth County Council - but they never showed up.

The far-right Irish Freedom Party had arranged the anti-immigrant rally called 'Dundalk Says No' for 12 noon today, Friday, at the council buildings but it didn't happen as they never appeared.

A group of pro-refugee, anti-racist demonstrators gathered this afternoon at the council buildings in Dundalk for a counter protest.

Up to around 30 people gathered holding placards saying 'Refugees Welcome' and ' Stop using the Irish Flag for your racist agenda'.

A post online urged people to join the anti-immigrant rally at 12 noon today with the post saying to present the worry and fear for our children's safety while out (sic) government, councils still accommodate unvetted in hotels and b&bs nit (sic) only round the town by the county.

But despite the call on social media for people to join the Irish Freedom Party's rally no one showed up while there was a substantial group for the counter protest.
Three flights have been diverted after operations were suspended at Dublin Airport due to a drone sighting, the airport authority has said.

The Dublin Airport Authority suspended operations at the airport from 18.27pm until 18.59pm and notified Gardai.

Three flights were diverted discommoding passengers as a result of this reckless & illegal activity of flying a drone within 5km of Dublin Airport, it tweeted.

It is the latest in a series of delays at the capitals airport caused by drone incidents.

Ryanair Group CEO Michael OLeary calls on Minister @EamonRyan to fix drone closures of Dublin airport or resign pic.twitter.com/9Er1hULAwK  Ryanair (@Ryanair) March 2, 2023

The Dublin Airport Authority has called for tougher sentencing for people who illegally fly drones over Irish airfields, and for new technology that would bring drones down.

Despite the airport having a drone detection system in place, which gives early warning of illegal drone activity, there is no system in place to bring the drones down as there is at other airports.

Michael OLeary, the chief executive of Irish airline Ryanair, said it was the sixth drone disruption in five weeks.

He apologised to passengers, and called on them to write to Minister for Transport Eamon Ryan.

It is unacceptable, he said. Three flights have been diverted to Shannon and Belfast this evening while our minister for transport sits on his hands doing nothing.
The transport and logistics sector has been heavily impacted by the twin shocks of Covid-19 and Russias war on Ukraine. Disrupted supply chains and rising energy and fuel costs have left the sector vulnerable, requiring high levels of resilience and adaptation.

Azeri Express Ltd is a family business in Azerbaijan run by Shaig Garibzade, a young and ambitious entrepreneur, who has fought to maintain and grow the companys market position in the face of these challenging external circumstances and related economic headwinds. Shaig himself has simultaneously grown in stature since becoming Chairman of the Azerbaijan Postal Carriers Association in 2022.

With support from the EBRD, the European Union (EU) and Turkiye, the company has recently scaled up its business and committed to meeting international quality standards as it expands. Azeri Express is also looking beyond its business: mobilising and helping to deliver critical aid to the victims of the devastating earthquake in Turkiye.

Transforming challenges into opportunities

Founded in 1997 by Shaigs uncle Anar Garibov, Azeri Express  or AzEx as it is known locally  is a delivery service business boasting decades of experience in the logistics space. It operates with a focus on continuous growth and a commitment to innovation and unparalleled customer service: core differentiators from its competition in Azerbaijan.

The company has been developing over the years and in 2016 launched a new domestic delivery service covering the whole country. At that point, management began negotiations on a long-term partnership with FedEx  the multinational courier company headquartered in the USA  and became the companys official representative in Azerbaijan. Approved in 2018, the partnership enhanced the companys reputation and created a valuable relationship with an established brand.

Recent global events could have derailed Azeri Expresss plans. However, Shaig and his management team quickly realised that they could use the situation to create a competitive advantage for the business and increase its profitability by turning the negative realities of the downturn into opportunities and leveraging the right technology while rethinking its approach.

When the borders closed due to pandemic, the business had particular challenges in terms of international transport, which they sought to address by changing focus to domestic deliveries with local companies.

Many large corporations also reduced the number of deliveries, in some cases ceasing to use Azeri Express. Therefore, the company adjusted its model and started catering to local SMEs, while also placing some emphasis on the business-to-customer sector.

Recognising the need for additional support

To optimise operational costs without lay-offs during the pandemic, company management decided to let employees work from home where practical.

In order to ensure that this process was as seamless as possible, they requested support from the EBRDs Advice for Small Businesses programme in Azerbaijan to help deliver the project.

The automation of its call centre, allowed its call centre staff to work fully remotely with no disruption or loss of quality to the service. With support from the EBRD and the Turkiye-EBRD TC Fund, the company was able to introduce innovative remote working technology, which has transformed its operations: considerably improving the customer experience and performance, reducing customer service costs and increasing revenues.

Shaig also sought assistance in the installation of a specially designed management system to help the company streamline operations, improve interdepartmental communication, and enhance quality control.

This support has enhanced the businesss efficiency, market performance and brand perception. We have become a truly customer-centric company with an exceptional level of service that we believe really sets us apart from our competition, says Shaig.

To bring the business in compliance with international quality standards, AzEx management reached out to the EBRD again in 2021. With support from the EU, it implemented a new quality management system, allowing it to operate in accordance with international standards and raise its reputation. Shortly after, the company successfully passed an external audit and achieved ISO 9001-2015 certification.

This has cemented the companys reputation as a reliable and certified partner among its clients. As Shaig says, The purpose of our business and the motivation of the entire team is to go the extra mile: delivering an exceptional level of service and making a difference to the lives of our customers.

A clear vision and corporate culture ingrained in his staff has helped the business to thrive, despite a challenging operating environment.

Turkiye earthquake aid

At the initiative of Shaig, employees and partners of the Azerbaijan Postal Carriers Association and Azeri Express recently collected and sent aid to Turkiye in response to the earthquakes which caused so much damage in the eastern part of the country.

The aid was delivered from the Azeri Express offices to the earthquake-hit region through the support of Turkiye-based Valour Logistics and included essential clothing, bedding, baby supplies and electronics to help those in need. A notable show of support for those affected by the destruction.
FROM March 7 to 11, the town of Youghal is set to play host to more than 200 films at the First Cut Youth Film Festival (FCYFF).

Now in its 14th year, the festival showcases new and emerging young filmmakers from Ireland and beyond between the ages of 12 and 25.

It is also the culmination of deep engagement with the local community. Workshops run in schools and youth centres weeks before rooms darken and silver screens light up.

Festival Director Mary McGrath is the passionate Cork woman who gets the reels rolling.

When I was involved with Youth Cafes in the mid-noughties, I conducted a survey of more than 800 young people, all expressed a desire to have more access to the arts she said.

The truth of it was that in Cork, if you were interested in sports at the time, you were made. Although sport is wonderful, its not for everyone, so Im struck by the need to offer a creative outlet, something different.

The director describes the festival as having developed organically over the years. She began by working with young people through the Cork Film Centre, offering workshops to schools, youth groups and individuals. This continued to expand; eventually the young filmmakers wanted to screen their work.

It started off as a one-day event. Now its five, says Mary.

The festival has a deep commitment to inclusion and diversity. Someone Like Me is a special guest panel discussion this year with members of the LGBTQIA+ filmmaking community.

On Saturday, writer/director Katie McNeice, film artist Francis OMahony, and filmmaker Barry Dignam will present their work, and discuss their filmmaking from their own specific point of view.

Mary McGrath relishes sharing the magic of film with young people. Not everyone will catch the bug, she says, but everyone will enjoy the experience. For those that want to go further, the festival offers a unique experience to network with people in film and to collaborate creatively with peers.

This Cork woman is clearly driven by a can-do attitude.

We encourage them to follow their passion, aim for new heights, and ultimately have their work showcased on an even larger platform.

Her enthusiasm is catching.

Lisa McDonald is a freelance animator and tutor at Dun Laoghaire Institute of Art, Design and Technology. This is her second year working with the festival, and she loves every minute, sharing her animation workshops with local primary and secondary students in Youghal.

Its a busy schedule for the Wexford native, with up to three or four workshops a day, but like festival director Mary McGrath, shes bowled over by the creativity of the young people in this unique seaside town.

Its genuinely one of my favourite times of year. Im the youngest in my family so before this, I didnt have that much experience of children. They are so talented and fearless and it is wonderful to give them this platform for their creativity. There are the funniest little people Ive ever met.

McDonald prioritises fun in her workshops. She says it is a bit of a free-for-all with everybody chatting with one another, collaborating and problem-solving.

For her, this skill of thinking on your feet and coming up with creative solutions is a life-long asset.

I almost dont want them to know theyre learning. They all get so much from it. Ive never had a kid who doesnt finish our project and its such a little victory when that one kid who isnt so interested gets involved.

All participants have their work shared on the festivals big screen as McDonald creates a film combining all their drawings on a loop. This year the festival will also screen the beautiful animation film Marcel The Shell with Shoes On.

McDonald is astounded by the quality of the work produced and says the young people enjoy the inclusivity of everyone contributing to the one film. Like the festivals organiser, she believes in the transformative power of film.

I think film can be like another parent, in its power to influence you. We are a very cool little country. Irish film promotes a way of being. Its a wonderful industry to be involved in, but this festival is great because it gives me an opportunity to get back in touch with the demographic.

Maya Lupton is a Transition Year Student in Scoil na Trionoide, Youghal. She participated in all three workshops on offer: animation, film-making and Irish language film.

Every single student enjoyed these workshops. We all chose to do them, so everyone wanted to be there. The film-making one was great as we got to use and understand all the equipment, learning to understand how to use the cameras and the microphones. It made film more real, like something I could do. I understand how films are made now, even if at a basic level.

The articulate student attends the Irish language part of her secondary school. She enjoyed making an Irish film about climate change through a workshop developed through the festivals Athru Amhain/One Change Programme.

The festival will showcase about 30 Irish Language short films on the big screen. This is an area director Mary McGrath would like to develop given more funding. In the wake of big successes like An Cailin Ciuin and Arracht, this seems timely.

This year we worked with two Irish language filmmakers. We picked 200 films out of 1,500 entries to screen. We are looking for Irish language organisations to help fund and develop this side of the festival. It is such a great way to share our culture with the world and to show our young people a direct use for their native language.

There will be a national and international flavour to the festival. First Cut International, the festivals online screening programme, will screen a wide range of films from all over the world including the US, Iran, India, Korea, UK, Brazil, Lithuania and Denmark up until March 12.

Along with her passion to share Irish culture, Mary McGrath sees this as a great opportunity for young people to grow in cultural understanding, getting glimpses of different cultures and realities around the world.

An Australian film, Daydream (Julian Hamman), features on the Spotlight Programme, Saturday 11th, Regal Cinema 3pm, and a very topical Ukrainian film Russian Military Warship Go (Oleg Tchelkin) also screens on Saturday in The Mall Arts.

More than anything, young people are at the heart of this festival. Over 40 primary and secondary Schools from all over Ireland have created short films which will screen at the festival. A selection of these includes  Lonely but Never Alone, Wilson Hospital School in West Meath, Lost and Found, Regina Mundi in Cork, and Liam OMaoiliosa, Colaiste an Eachreidh, Athenry.

Student Maya Lupton is volunteering throughout the week of the festival, helping visitors to navigate the different venues and events. Screenings will take place in Youghals Regal Cinema and Mall Arts Centre. Both Venues have something unique to offer visitors and Maya cant wait to play host.

There is such a buzz around the place. Im so excited for the festival. Not only will we be able to show off our work, well get to show off our town. Were so proud of both.

For a full line-up of what is on at the festival, see www.firstcutfilmfestival.com
A CORK TD has told the Dail that he drove a young woman to a hospital four minutes away from them after being told the next available ambulance was 40 minutes away.

Sinn Fein TD for Cork North Central, Thomas Gould, relayed to the House an incident that occurred in Cork city when he and his family assisted a young woman who had collapsed.

Mr Gould said he had decided to bring the woman to the Mercy Hospital, a four-minute journey, after a 999 dispatcher had said an ambulance would take 40 minutes to reach them.

The northside TD said that, in another incident, a Sinn Fein councillor had stayed with a pregnant woman who had collapsed at the side of a road for almost an hour before an ambulance arrived.

Mr Gould said the pressure that paramedics in Cork were under was due to the Governments continued failure to adequately resource the National Ambulance Service.

In Cork and Kerry, response times for ambulance care have risen by over 70% since 2019, Mr Gould said.

This puts huge pressure on paramedics and those working in the ambulance service.

Speaking on a Private Members Bill proposed by the Regional Independents Dail grouping, Mr Gould said his party had tabled a similar motion the night before, which he said demonstrated that the Opposition was united in recognising the crisis in the emergency services.

He said he had met paramedics with the Sinn Fein spokesperson on health, David Cullinane, in 2021, when they had outlined the crisis they were facing, but, Mr Gould said, the situation was much worse now.

Sinn Fein TD for Cork North Central, Thomas Gould, relayed to the House an incident that occurred in Cork city when he and his family assisted a young woman who had collapsed.

Shockingly, 72% of life-threatening incidents are left without a response for longer than 19 minutes, which is the target that is given.

"This is way off-target. It is not the fault of the paramedics or the National Ambulance Service, but it is the Governments fault, Mr Gould told Minister of State at the Department of Health Hildegarde Naughton.

The Minister of State is a member of Fine Gael, which has been in power for 12 years. The minister and others in government say they are working on it, or, as the Minister of State said earlier, they are learning. I do not know how long it takes the Government to learn, but it should have learned by now.

This crisis has been with us for some time Mr Gould said, adding he was not making the matter a personal issue for Ms Naughton, but rather, he said, it was about the Government and Fine Gaels attitude towards healthcare, especially toward the ambulance service.

I have had to ring the ambulance service numerous times for constituents, he said. I raise two particular cases. In one, a Sinn Fein councillor met a lady who was distressed. She was pregnant and had collapsed at the side of the road. She was alone and afraid. He stayed with her for almost an hour before an ambulance arrived.

There was an incident where I was in Cork city with my family and a young woman collapsed. When I rang 999, I was told an ambulance would take over 40 minutes, Mr Gould said.

Mercy University Hospital was four minutes away and Cork University Hospital was 10 minutes away but all the ambulances were queued up, unable to offload patients because of the crisis we have in emergency departments. We had to put the young lady into my car to get her to the Mercy hospital because the ambulance service would have taken over 40 minutes.
UCC STUDENTS gathered in their droves this afternoon to give a warm cead mile failte to the President of Malta, Dr George Vella and his wife Miriam accompanied by President Michael D Higgins and his wife Sabina on a visit to the campus.

President Vella and his wife are currently on a three-day State visit to Ireland which commenced on Wednesday.

He attended a number of engagements in Cork today joined by Sabina and President Higgins who told reporters he was very anxious that President Vella would see some of Cork during his visit.

While at UCC, President Higgins and President Vella visited the Honan Chapel which recently underwent a major renovation.

During the visit, they also received a presentation from researchers at UCCs Environmental Research Institute (ERI) and met UCC students and Maltese students studying in Cork.

The @PresidentIRL, #MichaelD Higgins, obviously well able to draw a crowd @UCC. Amazing what the promise of a half day and no homework will do for students pic.twitter.com/Lu6DY3qq86  Paschal Sheehy (@PaschalSheehy) March 2, 2023

Marking World Book Day today, the two presidents also took the time to view The Great Book of Ireland, ( Leabhar Mor na hEireann) which has been described as Irelands modern-day Book of Kells.

A modern vellum manuscript comprising the original work of 121 artists, 144 poets and nine composers, it includes Samuel Becketts last handwritten poem and a poem by Michael D Higgins himself.

State visit to Ireland by H.E. Dr George Vella President of Malta and his wife Mrs Miriam Vella. Picture shows H.E. Dr George Vella President of Malta as he signs the guest book at City Hall, Cork with (behind l to r) Sabina Higgins, President Michael D Higgins, Ann Doherty, Chief Executive Cork City Council, Mrs Miriam Vella, Deputy Lord Mayor of Cork, Cllr Damian Boylan, Brenda Boylan. Picture: Maxwells

President Vellas visit reciprocates the State visit of President Higgins to Malta in May 2022.

The discussions between the two presidents, in addition to current matters, have continued themes discussed between the two during President Higgins State visit to Malta, and again at the 2022 meeting of the Arraiolos Group of non-executive European Heads of State, which was hosted by President Vella in Malta last October.

Speaking today, both presidents acknowledged that a friendship has been formed.

President Vella said their informal discussions on a range of issues have been particularly thought-provoking.

When one exchanges informally thoughts, opinions and comments, I think that is very, very enriching, he said.

The discussions... would have been about the appropriate relations between matters of economy, society, social justice, migration, how we can recover a relationship with nature, the new kind of ecological responsibility that sustainability asks of us and the consequences of climate change, President Higgins added.

We are both very committed to multilateralism.

The hope of humanity is in the pursuit of peace and it is a tragedy when we find ourselves not able to in fact deal with these problems that are existential ones in relation to the environment, for example, but also the many, many increasing levels of conflict creating the displacement that it does and many, many issues in relation to migration.

Cork City Council was honoured to today welcome the Presidents of Ireland and Malta to Cork City Hall as part of a 3 day Maltese State Visit to Ireland  @PresidentIRL @presidentmt @DamianBoylanFG @dfatirl pic.twitter.com/4yUFYxLzC0  Cork City Council (@corkcitycouncil) March 2, 2023

Earlier in the day, the two presidents and their wives also visited Cork City Hall where they were greeted by Deputy Lord Mayor of Cork, Cllr Damian Boylan, Mrs Brenda Boylan, and Cork City Councils chief executive, Ann Doherty.

We were honoured to welcome President Vella to Cork City Hall.

It is a further great privilege to have Uachtaran na hEireann Michael D Higgins and Mrs Sabina Higgins in Cork with us again, Mr Boylan said.

I was pleased to discuss the history of our city with both presidents and to celebrate Cork as a great place to live, work, study and invest in today.

I hope this special occasion will mark the start of greater and closer links between the people of Cork and Malta.

We will fondly remember the day two presidents came to City Hall.
A pensioner found guilty of assaulting a census 2022 official has received a six month suspended sentence, with a warning from the judge as to his future conduct.

Michael Allen, 66 and of Garylucas, Garretstown in County Cork, had pleaded not guilty to the charge of assaulting Kieran Burns, a census supervisor, when the official and a colleague, Laura Coholan, visited his home on March 15 last year.

Bandon District Court heard that Mr Allen had already, on March 6 when Ms Coholan had paid an earlier visit to his property to deliver census forms, told her: "I do not give a fuck who you are. Get the hell off my property."

Ms Coholan said she was "taken aback" by this, telling Judge James McNulty she had never encountered anything like it.

I was actually very afraid, she said, explaining to the court that as a census enumerator for the Kinsale area she was responsible for some 350 households. She said she was wearing hi-vis gear with CSO and census lettering, and an official identity badge.

Ms Coholan then returned to the property, with Mr Burns, at 11.15am on March 15. Both census workers said that as on the first day, Mr Allen first opened a window and told them, aggressively, to leave. Mr Burns said that Mr Allen then opened the door and rushed out, pushing him into the chest and arm.

"We were frozen to the spot," Mr Burns said. In her evidence Ms Coholan said Mr Allens action were violent and his behaviour erratic and aggressive, with both stating that Mr Allen disappeared back into the house at one point and re-emerged, again pushing Mr Burns. Ms Coholan told the court she was worried Mr Allen would return with a dog or weapon.

Mr Burns told the Judge: "I just wanted to try to explain to the gentleman that this [the census] was no big deal."

GARDA VISIT

Garda Richard O'Sullivan told the court he received a call from the census takers and went to the property, where Mr Allen said he would not be making a statement. The Garda said Mr Allen recorded that interaction on his phone.

Mr Allen's census form was subsequently posted to his home and completed and Mr Burns rejected an assertion from Mr Allen's solicitor, Killian O'Mullane, that it could have been posted as soon as it became obvious, from March 6, that Mr Allen did not wish to engage. He also rejected any idea that he had come to Mr Allens property to confront him.

He said census forms could be posted to households, but only after three attempts were made to engage personally, including confirming name and eircode and how many forms a household may require.

Mr Allen rejected the evidence of both census staff, saying he did not assault anyone and that Mr Burns had assaulted him in what Mr O'Mullane later described as "argy bargy". He said the family was very security conscious as a result of an attempted burglary and anxiety on the part of Ms Allen's wife, something also attested to by Mr Allen's daughter in evidence.

Mr Allen also denied using any bad language and his daughter, Kathleen - who told the court she was on the property along with her two children and her mother during the first visit by Ms Coholan - said she would have intervened if she had heard anyone speak like that. He also said that his wife had been very stressed by the presence of the two census people who, he claimed, did not leave when asked to do so.

But Judge McNulty said Mr Allen's evidence was unsatisfactory and sentenced him to six months, suspended, on condition he keep the peace. He said this would extend to social media and that there should be no posts relating to Ms Coholan or Mr Burns.

The judge said an assault on a public servant was a grave offence and an aggravating factor, adding that it was "bad form, to put it mildly" and "unworthy of him.

He is entitled to be a contrarian, or some class of non-conformist, if he wishes, the judge said. He is entitled to be un-cooperative, unreasonable, or difficult, if he wishes.

But he cannot engage in threatening or abusive words and behaviour and he certainly cannot assault any person, least of all a public servant. Recognisance was fixed for appeal on Mr Allens own bond of 2,000, half in cash.
A WOMAN from Cork City who has 74 previous convictions for theft travelled to Bandon to steal in three different pharmacies while out on bail, a court heard.

Julianne Farrell of 8 Marble Hall Park, Ballinlough, Cork City, pleaded guilty to all the thefts at Bandon District Court.

The court heard that the first incident took place in Horgans Pharmacy on September 2 last when the defendant stole body cream, valued at 61. Staff were made aware of the thefts and she was identified on CCTV and the property was recovered.

Ms Farrell then stole numerous packets of eye lashes, valued at 17 at Brookes Pharmacy on South Main Street and also stole baby products, valued at 48.95 from Boots.

Sergeant Trish OSullivan said the defendant has 227 previous convictions, including 74 for theft and fraud offences and that she is currently serving a prison sentence until November 30.

Solicitor Plunkett Taaffe said his client, who is a mum, has a significant history of addiction and had a problematic childhood.

She was attending various addiction counsellors and is currently serving a sentence. She has a huge number of previous convictions for shoplifting and, in her demented state, she doesnt know what she is doing, said Mr Taaffe.

Judge James McNulty remarked that with 74 previous offences, she travelled out from Cork City to steal in three different places, while she was on bail awaiting trial.

He convicted and sentenced her to four months in prison on each of the three charges. He said these sentences must be served consecutively after her current sentence is served as these particular offences were committed while she was out on bail.

Mr Taaffe asked if he would make the sentences concurrent, but the judge declined his request.

Recognisances for an appeal were fixed in her bond of 100, while Judge McNulty also sought one independent surety of 1,500 with one third of that to be provided in cash.

She has a history of bench warrants and not turning up in court. This court needs a surety, said Judge McNulty.

However, Mr Taaffe said that there is no fear of her not attending court as she is serving a prison sentence.
The Friday papers lead with the Covid-19 inquiry, upheaval in the pensions industry, and a visit to Ireland by Joe Biden.

The Irish Times reports that former HSE chief executive Paul Reid has warned against revisionism in the States inquiry into Covid-19.

Social media firms are assisting Munster Technological University in its efforts to stop confidential data from being widely published on the internet, the Irish Examiner reports.

The Irish Independent says a major upheaval in the pensions industry means thousands of divorcees face the prospect of losing out on significant payouts.

The Minister for Justice has granted a controversial application by convicted killer Logan Jackson, moving him from Limerick Prison to a UK jail near his family, the Irish Daily Mail reports.

The Irish Daily Mirror and Irish Daily Star reveal that US president Joe Biden is planning a trip to Ireland to mark the 25th anniversary of the Good Friday Agreement.

Police investigating the attempted murder of senior PSNI officer John Caldwell believe it was a joint operation by the New IRA and a loyalist drugs gang, the Belfast Telegraph claims.

The British papers are dominated by revelations from the public inquiry into the Manchester Arena bombing.

The Daily Mirror, The Independent and i report MI5 boss Ken McCallum issued an apology after the review into the May 2017 atrocity found it might have been prevented if MI5 had acted more swiftly on a piece of intelligence received in the months before.

Fridays i - MI5s missed chance to stop Manchester Arena bomber #TomorrowsPapersToday pic.twitter.com/olKql0QdFL  Allie Hodgkins-Brown (@AllieHBNews) March 2, 2023

The Guardian leads with fury from the families of the victims, while The Sun carries the headline: 22 Who Should Be Alive.

Guardian front page, Friday 3 March 2023: Families' fury at 'devastating' MI5 failings in Manchester bombing pic.twitter.com/SytT44mmtz  The Guardian (@guardian) March 2, 2023

On tomorrow's front page: The 22 Manchester Arena bomb victims would be alive today but for security blunders, an inquiry found yesterday https://t.co/wLebzECp2U pic.twitter.com/JzZUXg9LSP  The Sun (@TheSun) March 2, 2023

Elsewhere, ministers and senior officials discussed the need to get heavy with the police over the enforcement of Covid lockdown regulations, according to the latest tranche of Matt Hancocks leaked messages published by The Daily Telegraph.

The front page of tomorrow's Daily Telegraph:



'We are going to have to get heavy with the police'#TomorrowsPapersToday



Sign up for the Front Page newsletterhttps://t.co/x8AV4OoUh6 pic.twitter.com/kuLxzGkFRJ  The Telegraph (@Telegraph) March 2, 2023

Metro carries Matt Hancock calling the leaks a massive betrayal and breach of trust.

Tomorrow's Paper Today 



THE GREAT BETRAYAL



 Hancock fury over leak of ministers' WhatsApp messages

 Teacher union fury over him branding them 'absolute a**es' #tomorrowspaperstoday pic.twitter.com/94T6ZnWk2Y  Metro (@MetroUK) March 2, 2023

The Times reports the British prime minister has been urged to block Sue Gray, who led the so-called partygate inquiry, from taking up a new job as Keir Starmers chief of staff.

Fridays TIMES: PM urged to block new job for parties inquisitor #TomorrowsPapersToday pic.twitter.com/kxcpGB4R2d  Allie Hodgkins-Brown (@AllieHBNews) March 2, 2023

The Daily Mail says Tory MPs have claimed the move is proof that the inquiry was a Labour stitch-up.

Boris Johnson has said Rishi Sunaks Brexit deal does not take back control from the EU, according to the Daily Express.

The Financial Times leads with the worlds largest building materials group opting to list in New York over London.

Fridays FINANCIAL Times: Fears for Citys status after Arm and building giant opt to list in New York #TomorrowsPapersToday pic.twitter.com/UToQPNJ5Wi  Allie Hodgkins-Brown (@AllieHBNews) March 2, 2023

And the Daily Star says a health minister admitted the government discussed killing all of Britains cats in the early days of the pandemic.
Even as miners, loggers and ranchers fell them at record rates, scientists are still learning about all the things that forests do to keep the local and global climate comfortable and stable.

Most recently, they have provided compelling evidence for the first time for a link between deforestation and rainfall decline across the tropics as a whole.

Local people living near deforested regions often report a hotter and drier climate after the forests are cleared. But until now this effect had not been seen in rainfall observations, study co-author and project supervisor professor Dominick Spracklen of the School of Earth and Environment at the University of Leeds said in a press release. The study shows the critical importance of tropical forests in sustaining rainfall.

According to new research by @SEELeeds, deforestation in the tropics over the last 14 years has been linked to a reduction in rainfall, threatening the viability of these forests and their communities. pic.twitter.com/gsKp5rivsf  University of Leeds (@UniversityLeeds) March 1, 2023

The study, published in Nature Wednesday, made this crucial link by looking at satellite data of deforestation and rainfall in three key tropical forest regions: the Amazon, the Congo and Southeast Asia. All of these regions had seen significant deforestation between 2003 and 2017, the period observed by the scientists. The researchers looked at rainfall records both in deforested areas and in areas where the forest had been spared. What they found was that the deforested locations were indeed drier  even during the dry season when every drop of rain counts. In the wet season, rainfall fell by as much as 0.6 millimeters a month for every percentage point of clearing.

The study authors also looked at how far the impacts of deforestation would reach, on a scale of 25 to 40,000 square kilometers (approximately 10 to 15,444 square miles), New Scientist explained. They found that the effects increased with the more land included, with no effects discernible within 10 square miles of deforestation, but a monthly rainfall reduction of 0.25 millimeters per percentage point of cleared forest within 15,444 square miles.

Though the study doesnt prove that deforestation is causing the rainfall decline, it does provide evidence for a longstanding hypothesis that forest loss reduces rainfall because it means there is less evapotranspiration  the word for what happens when the water from leaves wafts up into the atmosphere. If this is true, it could have serious consequences both for tropical forests and the people and animals who depend on them.

Tropical forests play a critical role in the hydrological cycle through helping to maintain local and regional rainfall patterns, study lead author and Leeds doctoral researcher Callum Smith said in the press release. The reduction in rainfall caused by tropical deforestation will impact people living nearby through increased water scarcity and depressed crop yields.

Its also bad news for the forests themselves. It adds to concerns that the Amazon rainforest could reach a tipping point after which it can no longer sustain itself by creating its own rain, as The Guardian pointed out. A loss of rainfall can trigger other deforestation feedback loops such as increased wildfire risk as well as hinder forests ability to store carbon and harm their biodiversity, according to the press release. The team also looked at the potential future of the Congo rainforest and found that, if current deforestation rates persisted through 2100, rainfall in the region could fall by 8 to 10 percent.

However, there is a silver lining to the disappearing raincloud of the findings  the evidence that deforestation leads to local rainfall loss is also an important short-term argument for forest preservation. For every percentage point of reduced rain, crop yields can fall by 0.5 percent. Since agriculture is the motivator for nearly 90 percent of global deforestation, these findings may give farmers second thoughts about cutting down trees.

Demonstrating the local benefit of keeping tropical forests standing for the people living nearby has important policy implications, Spracklen told The Guardian. I hope our work will provide a strong incentive for policy and decision makers within tropical nations to conserve tropical forests to help maintain a cooler and wetter local climate, with benefits for nearby agriculture and people.
Founded in 2005 as an Ohio-based environmental newspaper, EcoWatch is a digital platform dedicated to publishing quality, science-based content on environmental issues, causes, and solutions.

A forum on ESG investing held by the Humanity 2.0 Foundation and International WELL Building Institute in New York City on Feb. 28, 2022. Eugene Gologursky / Getty Images for Humanity 2.0 Foundation

The nations split Congress and President Joe Biden are set to clash over whether and how much pension fund managers can take social and environmental issues like the climate crisis into account when making investments.

On Wednesday, the Senate voted 50 to 46 to reverse a Department of Labor (DOL) ruling allowing fiduciary retirement fund managers to consider Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) factors when placing money, following a similar House vote Tuesday, as CNBC reported. Biden has already promised to veto the bill, but climate advocates are concerned about the implications of this latest front in the culture war.

Attacks on ESG principles have deep roots in the fossil fuel industry and are aimed at trying to ensure coal, oil and gas companies can continue expanding production of their climate-destroying products at the expense of the public, Dr. Rachel Cleetus, policy director in the Climate and Energy Program and lead economist at the Union of Concerned Scientists, said in a statement emailed to EcoWatch. President Biden must move quickly to veto this resolution, as he has promised to do. That would affirm what scientists, economists, and forward-looking asset managers know to be true: climate change is a serious risk to our economy and acknowledging that fact is the first step to making better choices to protect peoples futures and livelihoods.

ESG refers to a set of standards that companies can use to report on factors beyond simple profitability such as sustainability, equity and employee welfare. Investors can then use this reporting to put their money where their values are. Republicans have decried the practice as woke capitalism, according to CNBC. Yet there are solid financial reasons why a company should take action on climate, for example.

It is widely accepted in the investment community that factors like worsening climate impacts pose a significant risk to our financial and economic systems and taking that reality into account is simply good fiduciary practice, Cleetus explained. As billion-dollar extreme weather and climate-related disasters mount, it is commonsense to align responsible investment choices with what science shows is necessary to limit risks to people and the economy. Moreover, climate-conscious investing will also best serve the interests of people whose retirement accounts and other investments would otherwise face exposure to climate risks.

The current row over ESG began with former President Donald Trump, whose DOL issued a rule in 2020 that everyone managing pensions or 401(K)s would have to prioritize profitability over non-pecuniary goals, as Bloomberg News explained. Bidens DOL then reversed this ruling and passed a new rule in December 2022 that allowed retirement fund managers to consider ESG factors if they impacted the risk or potential profitability of an investment.

DOL issued the final rule after receiving extensive feedback from the public that revealed that the previous Administrations rules in this area created problematic impediments for plan fiduciaries seeking to act in the best interests of Americas workers when making investment decisions, the Biden administration wrote in a policy statement Monday.

The House and Senate bills passed this week would now reverse the new rule. However, in the same statement, Biden vowed to veto the House version as it stood Monday.

The House bill passed 216 to 204, with one Democrat joining every Republican, according to CNBC and Bloomberg News. In the Senate, Democrats Joe Manchin of West Virginia and Jon Tester of Montana crossed the aisle to see it pass. It is unlikely that Congress will be able to summon the two-thirds necessary to overturn Bidens promised veto, as The New York Times noted. However, the disagreement over how to invest in the age of climate change is likely to persist. Florida Governor and likely Republican presidential candidate Ron DeSantis has been vocally opposed to so-called woke capitalism, according to Reuters.

At the heart of the debate seems to be a question of what constitutes undue interference in investment decisions.

The last thing we should do is encourage fiduciaries to make decisions with a lower rate of return for purely ideological reasons, lead Senate sponsor of the bill Mike Braun of Indiana said, as CNBC reported.

But Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer argued that the anti-ESG Republicans were the ones forcing their own views down the throats of every company and every investor, as Reuters reported further.

There is also evidence that the fossil fuel industry is partly behind the kerfuffle, as many of the Conservative advocacy groups pushing the anti-ESG agenda have connections to both wealthy Republican donors and fossil fuel companies, as CNBC reported.
Sulby Claddagh: Government U-turns and will allow camping during TT

The Manx Govenment has made a u-turn regarding a decision to close Sulby Claddagh during the Isle of Man TT Races.

It had planned to close the area for overnight camping saying it is running at a significant loss.

A statement from the Manx Government said: "Following Wednesday's public meeting and consultation with local MHKs, overnight stays at the Sulby Claddagh will permitted during the busy TT period.

The interim solution will be put in place to help address the concerns of some residents, local business owners and MHKs and support local retailers and hospitality businesses.

It means people should be able to stay overnight in a tent, or motorhome, between 22 May to 18 June, and further details will be announced in due course. Further work will also be undertaken to seek to provide a financially viable solution for the whole summer season.

A consultation to gather public views on cost neutral future options for the common land will be launched by DEFA in the coming weeks, with people encouraged to share their views."
On 13 March 1806, the commander-in-chief of the Madras army issued a general order in which the new standing regulations were published. The new regulations of the Madras army emphatically prohibited native soldiers (or sepoys as they were called) from sporting caste marks on their faces, or for that matter, flaunt earrings or whiskers on parade. Though the regulations had been in vogue for a while, they had not been uniformly followed across the length and breadth of the Madras army, and each regiment was left to its own devices as far as coping with these regulations was concerned. The new order, though, removed all ambiguity on this score and strove to enforce uniformity.

The new order initially led to general discontent among native troops stationed at Vellore fort cutting across barriers of caste and religion. Matters were compounded by the introduction of new turbans, which had leather as a building material, thus affecting the sentiments of both Hindus and Muslims as leather was considered polluting by both communities. Moreover, the sepoys claimed that the new headgear resembled the one worn by the avowedly lowly and half-caste drummers in the regiments. Discontent now assumed an overt form, though not violent in tenor. On 6 May 1806, the sepoys of the second battalion 4th regiment refused to wear the new turbans. The tension had burst forth into the open and the air was now rife with rumours of fakirs roaming around and staging puppet shows that exhorted the sepoys to kill their European officers. Things were now poised on a razors edge and finally on 10 July 1806, an open mutiny broke out with a large number of native sepoys and officers attacking the European troops and their officers stationed in the fort. Reinforcements, though, arrived from nearby Arcot around 9 am and quelled the mutiny by the native troops, thus setting an end to the first major mutiny in the company armies, namely the Vellore Mutiny of 1806.
Internacional

Una nueva filtracion del Pentagono advierte de la debilidad de las defensas antiaereas de Taiwan ante China
The daily death toll in the occupation army is 25 times as much as the Russians had in the Chechen war and 35 times more than in Afghanistan. Tactics of using waves of manpower to storm well-defended Ukrainian positions bring the attrition level in the occupier's army to an enormous level.
South Africa: Debt relief a boost for Eskom

Eskom interim Group Chief Executive, Calib Cassim, says governments commitment to take on at least R254 billion of the power utilitys debt will allow it to put more focus on dealing with the current generation capacity challenges it faces.

Cassim was speaking at a media briefing where various Ministers provided an update on governments response to the electricity crisis and the regulations of the National State of Disaster related to energy.

That decision by the Minister of Finance [Enoch Godongwana] that Eskom doesnt have to borrow for the next three years allows Eskom to release CapEx [capital expenditure] funds three years in advance not only for generation but for transmission and distribution.

...[With] the flexibility that we now have on procurement within the governance rules, there should be no excuses from an Eskom perspective, and from a generation perspective... [I don't see] why load shedding [should not be] reduced going forward.

We must not accept Stage 6 [load shedding], we need these stages to come down, he said.

Head of the Project Management Office in the Presidency, Rudi Dicks, said the debt relief will also allow Eskom to procure more generation capacity.

The changes that weve made around new generation capacity, particularly through the IRP [Integrated Resource Plan], are that Eskom is not the only entity responsible for the build of new generation capacity.

We have the ability to procure new generation through IPPs [Independent Power Producers]. Weve also changed schedule 2 so its important to understand that this is not necessarily new build by Eskom but the ability for Eskom to procure additional generation, he said.

Turning to issues related to the National State of Disaster regulations, Dicks said the regulations allow for government to open a one stop shop for businesses to register to apply to build new generation projects in an expedited manner.

That one stop shop is currently being formed at the Department of Trade, Industry and Competition, where theres an existing one stop shop for registration of businesses.

We are in the process of finalising all the necessary requirements for the establishment of that, including alignment with departments, having systems in place and ensuring that we have an agreement across the entire system of institutions, entities and government that are required to provide permitting, authorisations and requirements for registration.

As soon we set [it up formally] we will launch it and we will allow for smoother process for energy applications to be processed through one entry point, with a backend system to ensure a streamline and quicker process for approvals so that we can get as quickly as possible to construction and have those megawatts dispatched onto the grid, he said.  SAnews.gov.za

This story has been published on: 2023-03-03. To contact the author, please use the contact details within the article.
China ready to cooperate with Saudi Arabia to achieve fruitful results in multiple areas: Chinese FM

Xinhua) 11:24, March 03, 2023

NEW DELHI, March 2 (Xinhua) -- Chinese Foreign Minister Qin Gang said on Thursday that China is ready to keep the positive momentum of high-level exchanges with Saudia Arabia and work together to advance high-quality Belt and Road Cooperation.

During a meeting with Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Faisal bin Farhan Al Saud on the sidelines of the Group of 20 (G20) Foreign Ministers' Meeting held here on March 1-2, Qin said Chinese President Xi Jinping attended the first China-Arab States Summit and the China-Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) Summit last year, and Xi also paid a state visit to Saudi Arabia.

The two events have opened a new chapter in the China-Saudi Arab, China-GCC and China-Arab states relations, Qin said.

China is willing to cooperate with the Saudi side to achieve more fruitful results in energy, trade and investment, as well as green and digital economy, Qin noted, adding that China supports Saudi Arabia in playing an active role in regional affairs.

For his part, Faisal said President Xi's visit to Saudi Arabia last year has pushed the bilateral ties to a new level.

Saudi Arabia and China have great potential for cooperation, and the Saudi side has given priority to its relations with China, said Faisal, who voiced his confidence in the broad prospects of Saudi-China relations.

(Web editor: Zhang Kaiwei, Liang Jun)
Iran says it will investigate a wave of poisonings of female students at various schools in the country. Some politicians have suggested religious groups opposed to girls' education could be behind the attacks.
JACKSON, Mississippi  The Pink House  otherwise known as Jackson Womens Health Organization  was the center of the U.S. Supreme Court case that overturned the federal right to abortion in June. Today, the clinic, the only abortion clinic to serve Mississippi and the greater area for years, is shuttered.

On a hot day in February, there are no protests outside the clinics gates, the air is still and quiet, the iconic walls on the outside have been painted white, and the medical equipment has been removed. A new owner has moved in and has begun converting it into a consignment shop for luxury goods.

I worry about those women a lot, that they no longer have means to health care in the state of Mississippi, said Diane Derzis, former owner of the Pink House.

The Pink House is just one of dozens of clinics across the South that have closed or stopped offering abortion services in the face of trigger abortion bans that went into effect right after Dobbs v. Jackson Womens Health Clinic overturned Roe v. Wade.

Derzis said selling the building that housed the clinic was a business decision. She said the Jackson clinics operations, medical equipment and furniture have been moved to Las Cruces, New Mexico, in the face of Mississippis 15-week abortion ban. She also has clinics in places like Columbus, Georgia, and Richmond, Virginia. Now, many people in the South are traveling out of state to seek an abortion  either in-clinic or via medication abortion, she said.

Derzis says shes getting ready to open a clinic in Chicago.

But all those clinics and others still operating could soon face new restrictions as a federal judge in Texas decides on a lawsuit filed by anti-abortion groups that directs the U.S. Food and Drug Administration to withdraw its approval of mifepristone  a widely used drug used in medication abortion thats been around for decades.

I think that women need to pick up their guns and take to the streets, and Im serious. This is a crusade against women, Derzis said.

A broad lawsuit that leaves room for questions

Medication abortions account for over half of all abortions in the United States, according to the research group Guttmacher Institute. A ruling in favor of the anti-abortion groups would not only make legal abortion more challenging, it would also erase some of the limited options left for people in states where there are strict abortion bans. These restrictions are most prominent across the southeastern United States, where maternal health care deserts are growing.

The likely immediate impact would be that manufacturers would not be allowed to ship mifepristone anywhere in the United States, and providers would no longer be able to prescribe it. Its still unclear what could happen with misoprostol, a drug thats used in medication abortion as well as to treat ulcers.

The typical regimen used in medication abortion involves the use of mifepristone and misoprostol, and has been prescribed by doctors since the 2000s.

Elizabeth Nash, principal policy associate at Guttmacher, says its likely that only misoprostol would be used for medication abortions  which Nash says has been done in other countries. But she says, the issue is that the lawsuit is broad in some areas, so there are still a lot of unknowns.

How many providers would switch to a misoprostol regimen? Not every provider would do that. Secondly, its unclear how patients would feel about using a misoprostol-only regimen especially because it has a higher dosage. They may be asking for more procedural abortions, and that may make it harder because in-clinic abortion takes more time and resources for clinic staff, Nash said.

Erik Baptist, senior counsel with the Alliance Defending Freedom, one of the groups that filed the lawsuit, said the lawsuit also asks the FDA to ban the use of misoprostol in medication abortion.

This lawsuit focused on the FDAs approval of both mifepristone and misoprostol for its use in medication abortion. Whether a doctor could approve the use of these drugs off-label is not in the scope of this lawsuit, he said. I think its important to note that this lawsuit doesnt target the use of [misoprostol] for benign issues such as Cushings disease or gastric ulcers.

The plaintiffs argue that the FDA did not follow protocol to evaluate whether these drugs were safe to be prescribed for medication abortion, although numerous studies have shown the regimen to be safe and effective.

We will evaluate the courts decision no matter how he may rule and determine what to do from there. We are currently focused on prevailing at the district court, Baptist said.

Clinics strapped, patients have fewer options

While its still unclear what could happen after the ruling, what is known is that people in abortion-restricted states who used to go to clinics like the Pink House in Jackson are already having a tougher time seeking legal abortion.

People are still needing and wanting abortion services. Its just making it harder for Mississippians. Its more expensive having to travel farther and take longer periods off of work. Some folks have had to fly to either Florida and New York. Some of these people are experiencing their first time being on a plane, said Michelle Colon, executive director of Sisters Helping Every Woman Rise and Organize (SHERo), an abortion-rights organization that helps connect people of color to legal abortion services.

In Florida, abortion is illegal after 15 weeks, although soon that could be reduced. In New York, that timeframe is through viability of a fetus, which is about 24 weeks of pregnancy.

Clinics in northern states are already feeling the pressure of the increased demand, said Mara Pliskin, patient navigation manager at Planned Parenthood in Illinois.

Were in the trenches. We are doing the best we can and have systems in place to get scheduled as fast as we can and get them here, Pliskin said. We hear patients say, I dont know how to make this happen.  Weve definitely seen an increase in patients from the South  Louisiana, Mississippi, Tennessee, Florida, all of these states.

Pliskin says many patients are facing dangerous situations, especially if they are in states where they have to be mindful of confidentiality or dealing with issues like intimate partner violence.

Pliskin said that like many abortion clinics around the country, clinics in Illinois have long waitlists, and resources are stretched. And, those waitlists will likely get longer if medication abortion becomes restricted, as more patients will opt for the surgical procedure.

In fact, data from Planned Parenthood Illinois shows that for patients from Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, Georgia and Florida, 38% had a medication abortion and 62% had an in-clinic procedure between Nov. 1, 2022, to Feb. 28, 2023. Meanwhile, for the overall abortion population at that clinic in the same time period, 54% had medication abortion and 46% had an in-clinic abortion for the same time period.

We will continue to offer medication abortion with misoprostol. There is already a method for it. The only thing is that it will take longer  its more medication over a longer period of time and it just makes it that much more difficult for people who travel, Pliskin said. That means patients will have to stay in Illinois longer  before they can return home to a state where its illegal or restricted.

Even when it comes to telehealth, Pliskin says patients still have to come to Illinois when they are actually taking the medication. That means patients will also have to spend more money and time, adding to the emotional toll and financial strain they may be experiencing, said Colon. In turn, that makes it more difficult for advocates, too.

Its put a burden on all of the abortion funds that are in partnership with supporting folks from Mississippi, she said. When somebody calls you and they need you at the drop of a hat  its hard and its just wrong and sad. This is torture and government sanctioned oppression. But were doing what we can.

More health and legal safety risks

Anti-abortion groups argue that medication abortion is unsafe. Terri Herring, leader of pro-life group Choose Life Mississippi, says womens lives are at risk.

Abortion pills without confirmation of gestational age and consultation with a physician are dangerous for women, Herring said. We need to continue to educate women about the dangers of abortion on both their physical and emotional health.

Other groups say theyre prepared to help people who have no choice but to give birth.

I think that the pro-life movement has shown that we are here for women and we will continue to support women whether they are pursuing abortion or not, said Sarah Zagorski, a spokeswoman for Louisiana Right to Life. Of course, there are improvements that can be made, but I think weve come a long way in supporting women in crisis.

But reproductive health care in some southern states is lacking, causing some of the highest maternal mortality rates in the country, especially for people of color. Centers for Disease Control data from 2020 show that while the national rate for maternal mortality is 20.4 maternal deaths per 100,000 births, the rate is 30.2 in Mississippi, 31.8 in Louisiana, and 36.2 in Alabama.

This is about control. This is about obliterating liberation of not only women, but of marginalized Mississippians, Black and brown Mississippians, queer Mississippians and low income, poor Mississippians, Colon said, adding that people who arent able to have a child will seek abortion anyway, but that the process will be much less safe for them.

More legal risks are also ahead for both providers and patients in the wake of a potential ruling to limit medication abortion, said Kelsea McLain, deputy director of the Yellowhammer Fund in Alabama.

Alabamas abortion law is highly restrictive and criminalizes anyone who aids a person seeking an abortion, McLain said. Yellowhammer has had to effectively stop most of its abortion-related services. It can only provide information thats already available in the media.

We really effectively cant do anything since the Dobbs decision  weve had to lean heavily into our programs that support new parents, said McLain.

McLain said its been tough hearing from people they arent able to help in specific ways. The other concern, she says, is that theres a pre-filed bill in Alabama that could make abortion akin to homicide.

The abortion haver would be charged with the crime, she said, noting that the ruling on medication abortion could open up room to investigate people who have miscarriages to see whether they used medication or they had it naturally.

We are unsure looking at a future where multiple forms of pregnancy loss are facing criminalization or investigation, she said. So people are going to need to be more clandestine and intentional about when they visit a doctor and disclose if they are pregnant.

The post Remaining abortion clinics face more challenges if abortion pill limited by Texas judge appeared first on Nebraska Examiner.
GREAT FALLS, Mont. - Traveling from Benefis Health Systems to Chemotherapy a few blocks away at the Sletten Cancer Institute in Great Falls can be a long and daunting task, but patients in Great Falls are finding strength and inspiration through the hand prints of survivors.

The tunnel connecting the hospital and the cancer institute is filled with handprints of cancer patients and their loved ones to commemorate their cancer journeys.

"You lose a lot of dignity through everything. You lose a lot of yourself because the cancer just takes everything over," said Denise Burk, a cancer survivor.

"Cancer is a very emotionally, mentally, and physically draining disease. And not only do they have their close ones like their relatives, but they have all these people that have also made this journey like they have and hopefully it gives them a little hope that they can make it through this journey as well," said Melissa Weigel, an administrative assistant at Sletten Cancer Institute.

The project began at a survivorship event to let patients know they're never along on their journey.

"In 2014 we realized that radiation oncology rang a bell to state that this journey, this piece of the journey is done and we're ready to take on that survivorship role. We realize that we don't really do anything for our chemotherapy patients and it's two fold. We realize that when we transport patients from the hospital over to Benefis Sletten Cancer Institute the walls were stark white and it was very scary and intimidating," said Jodi Dake, a patient navigator and cancer survivor.

And behind every handprint, there is a story.

"I am considered a survivor, I believe. Yes. I was diagnosed in 2009 when I was 31 years old. With stage three breast cancer... My mom was diagnosed with the static breast cancer. 2017. My sister was diagnosed with breast cancer. So they both went through treatment together, chemotherapy together... I don't have my either of my parents anymore, so it's so nice to be able to walk this, you know, tunnel a couple of times a day and be able to give them a little squeeze and a hug. And it's just that physical reminder that, you know, there they have left a piece of themselves here as well, and that we can still partake in that love," said Dake.

I was diagnosed in 2020 with stage to be breast cancer. A very aggressive form and went through chemo radiation... My grandmother whose hand is represented here, passed away weeks before I was born, and she had ovarian cancer. My aunts two of my aunts, my cousin, several cousins. And we as a family have all pulled together and supported one another through the journey.

Burk has been in remission for just over a year now and she says putting her handprint on the wall was an even more special gesture knowing that she made it through this journey with her family by her side.

"Not only am I a survivor, but my family is and together we're going to make it," said Burk.

If you want to get your hand added to the wall, you can call Weigel at 406-731-8250.
Lawmakers in the Montana House advanced a pair of dueling proposals this week that outline distinct and contradictory paths toward a K-12 charter school system in the state, hinting at a fundamental divide among Republicans about how to resolve a long-standing debate over educational choice.

The first of those measures to appear on the House floor Wednesday was House Bill 562, which would authorize the creation of community choice schools under the jurisdiction of a new, autonomous statewide commission attached to the Montana Board of Public Education. Parents and community groups could, under HB 562, seek approval for such a school directly from the new commission or from an authorized local school board. Choice schools would be subject to the same federal laws as K-12 public schools, but governed at the state level by their own set of curricular, licensing and academic reporting regulations.

The intent of this bill is to create options that empower parents, encourage students to develop their full educational potential, provide a variety of professional opportunities for teachers and encourage educational entrepreneurship, the bills sponsor, Rep. Sue Vinton, R-Billings, said Thursday. She added that HB 562 would provide ample oversight of newly established community choice schools.

Vintons introduction kicked off a heated discussion as Republican supporters sought to promote the bill as a way to improve educational freedom, increase institutional competition and break what Rep. Terry Falk, R-Kalispell, called the monopoly of the current public school system. Critics within the Democratic caucus countered that HB 562 would commit taxpayer dollars to an educational model without adequate accountability measures or teacher certification requirements. Rep. Mark Thane, D-Missoula, directly challenged the legality of the proposal, noting that the Montana Constitution vests oversight of public education in the Board of Public Education and locally elected school boards.

Thane and others struggled to comply with procedural rules preventing them from discussing another piece of charter school legislation, sticking primarily to veiled references. That dam broke loose several hours later when the second proposal  House Bill 549  came to the floor. The bill, sponsored by Rep. Fred Anderson, R-Great Falls, is part of a package of Republican-led education reform bills introduced this session and seeks to place state oversight of charter schools directly in the hands of the Board of Public Education. Andersons public charter schools would be governed by the same laws and administrative rules applied to public schools, and be under the local jurisdiction of either an existing elected school board or a locally elected charter school board.

Anderson emphasized in his opening remarks that parents or any concerned group of citizens who desire educational opportunities that are not being currently provided by their school district can appeal to local trustees with a charter application. That, he continued, gives the board an initial chance to address those concerns by expanding programming in existing public schools or by approving the charter. If unsuccessful, parents or citizens could then take their request to the Board of Public Education.

What this does is keeps local control as the first right of refusal with the local board, Anderson said. If they decide not to do this, then it allows any outside group to come in with an application.

HB 549 attracted little criticism on the floor save for one concern about a potential conflict of interest if local oversight of a charter school falls to an existing public school board. Supporters took the opportunity, with both bills having been heard, to point out the ways in which HB 549 addresses the constitutional and regulatory concerns voiced over the previous proposal.

Both bills passed their initial votes on the House floor  HB 549 on a bipartisan vote of 79-21 and HB 562 on a largely party-line vote of 63-37  and must now appear before the House Appropriations Committee before a final House vote, as both would require state funding to implement. Due to an agreement among leadership, bills that have passed second reading on the House floor this week but still require an appropriations hearing will not be subject to Fridays transmittal deadline.

Lance Melton, executive director of the Montana School Boards Association, told Montana Free Press Thursday that HB 549 and HB 562 have now made it farther in the legislative process than any previous charter school proposal in the past two decades. HB 549 is a particularly anomalous entry, representing the first charter school bill in that time to draw support from the bulk of Montanas public education associations, including Meltons.
House Speaker Rep. Matt Regier, R-Kalispell, speaks on the House floor on March 2, 2023. (Photo by Nicole Girten/Daily Montanan)

Rep. Laurie Bishop, D-Livingston, said that the legislature cannot determine whether legislation is consistent with the constitution, and that the courts have determined time and again that abortion restrictions are unconstitutional.

There is no code you can write that will change that, she said.

Bishop said this in opposition to a bill proposed by House Speaker Matt Regier, R-Kalispell, that would restrict access to surgical abortion, considered the safest procedure for abortion after 12 weeks.

House Bill 721 was among several abortion-related restrictions to pass on second reading, meaning they are likely to head to the Senate after meeting the transmittal deadline for general bills without fiscal implications on Friday.

Regier said on the floor, as he did during the committee hearing on the bill earlier this week, that this bill wouldnt restrict access to abortion, listing procedures and pills that would still be available to those seeking them.

However, opponents to the bill in committee said surgical abortion is the safest termination procedure after 13 weeks and results in the fewest complications.

Rep. Marilyn Marler, D-Missoula, said the bill, which uses language surrounding dismemberment abortions and going into details about fetal parts, was pushing abortion stigma that hurts people and their families.

Rep. Kerri Seekins-Crowe, R-Billings, responded to that saying abortion also hurts people.

The bill passed 68-32.

Seekins-Crowes bill, one bringing back Legislative Referendum 131 with new language, also passed on Thursday. LR-131 was the Born Alive ballot initiative that failed last fall, that would have purportedly required doctors to save any infant born alive after an abortion later in pregnancy.

The new language added parents or guardians can turn down medical treatment under certain circumstances when a baby is not expected to survive, a major critique from the movement against LR-131 last fall. House Bill 625 passed 68-32.

Rep. Lola Sheldon-Galloways sponsored a bill that requires providers who dispense abortion pills to file reports with the state listing potential adverse affects seen in patients. The bill, proposed by the Great Falls Republican, specifies that personal identification information will not be reported.

Sheldon-Galloway said a woman could hemmorhage from an at-home abortion and need emergency room care. Common side effects of abortion pills taken between 10 and 11 weeks gestation involve bleeding and cramping, with the U.S. Food and Drug Administration approving the use of mifepristone and misoprostol to end pregnancies up to 10 weeks, according to the Association of American Medical Colleges.

HB 786 passed 65 to 35.

Sheldon-Galloways bill defining fetal viability at 24 weeks passed the House on third reading Thursday night.

Rep. Jane Gillette, R-Bozeman, sponsored a bill requiring pre-authorization for abortions for patients who have Medicaid also passed on the floor.

The post Speakers bill among abortion legislation likely headed to the Senate appeared first on Daily Montanan.
A-Plan Rural Insurance have set up a Rural Community blog as part of their work on social media to contribute to farmers' efforts in showcasing British farming.

The blog invites farmers to give their experiences in the industry, sharing their contributions to over 120,000 followers on Instagram.

Bridging the gap between farm and the consumer is something that lots of farmers are trying to do in an effort to help more people understand the reality of what goes into producing their food.

Since starting the blog, A-Plan Rural have worked with a great variety of farmers from differing backgrounds and locations all over the UK.

They previously spoke with Ioan Humphrey, a sheep farmer based in Wales, who has generated a large Instagram following from his content that shares the ups and downs he experiences on his farm.

Millie, a sheep farmer based in Kent, who used to work in the public services but is now a shepherdess, was featured in a separate blog.

And Sophie Mitchell-Smith, a cattle hoof trimmer based around Manchester who works with her father, starred in it recently.

Now in A-Plan Rural's latest, they spoke with Rhi Pinches, a suckler beef and sheep farmer based in the Shropshire Hills, who works with her father on their family farm.

They asked Rhi some questions around her farm, the animals she farms, some of her processes for rearing her animals and why she loves being a farmer in Britain.

Read the full blog here.
The Welsh lamb sector is set to work together to launch a major drive to tap into the all important American export market.

Hybu Cig Cymru  Meat Promotion Wales (HCC), the Welsh government and the whole PGI Welsh Lamb supply chain have launched the push.

Market research has shown that the US market could be a multi-million pound opportunity for Welsh farmers and the broader red meat industry.

Restrictions on the import of UK lamb into the US were lifted last year, and processors have been obtaining the necessary inspections and certification in order to begin exporting.

The initial promotional programme will kick off with attendance at the summit of the US meat industry  the Annual Meat Conference (AMC)  held this year in Dallas on 6-8 March, at which meetings are planned with importers and distributors.

Welsh Lamb will feature in a trade show to be held alongside the AMC event, and HCC and processors will also use the opportunity to visit leading US retailers to further research the market.

A new website will be launched to give potential customers information on how to source Welsh Lamb, and its key brand values of quality, traceability and environmental sustainability.

Laura Pickup, HCCs head of strategic marketing, will be part of the delegation at the AMC in Texas

She said: Im looking forward very much to being at the top annual event of the American meat sector, alongside our leading processing companies from Wales.

"Were thrilled to have this opportunity to meet importers, retailers and foodservice distributors.

"Our work in Canada in the past has also helped us to develop links with importers and to build awareness of the Welsh Lamb brand in the North American market.

Were therefore determined to put together a bold programme of promotion  both developing the key contacts, and launching an online information resource.

The sector's promotional push in the US market has received financial assistance from the Welsh government.

Minister for Rural Affairs Lesley Griffiths said there were 'exciting opportunities' for Welsh Lamb in the US market following the lifting of restrictions.

"[This is ] good news for our farmers and producers," she said, "Im pleased the Welsh government is supporting this activity and I wish the event every success.

Food and drink exports from the UK hit record highs in 2022, with exports to non-EU markets breaking through the 10 billion barrier for the very first time.

There was a resurgence in export sales in the food and drink last year, with most categories now exceeding pre-pandemic levels to reach a record 24.8bn.
Garment exports from China to Vietnam surprisingly not only jumped substantially in the last quarter of 2022 but also breached the $1.5 billion mark on a quarterly basis. Chinas exports of apparel to Vietnam increased by 85 per cent to $1.653 billion in Q4 2022.

China garment exports of $765.026 million in the last quarter of 2021 dipped to one third to reach $253.786 million in the first quarter of 2022, which more than doubled to $570.442 million in Q2 2022. The shipment further increased to $895.546 million in Q3 and $1.653 billion in the last quarter of 2022, according Fibre2Fashions market insight tool TexPro.

Garment exports from China to Vietnam surprisingly not only jumped substantially in the last quarter of 2022 but also breached the $1.5 billion mark on a quarterly basis. China's exports of apparel to Vietnam increased by 85 per cent to $1.653 billion in Q4 2022. The shipment was $895.546 million in Q3 2022 and $765.026 million in Q4 2021.

The outbound shipment of garments from China to Vietnam was recorded at $3.372 billion in 2022, 25.91 per cent higher than the exports of $2.678 billion in 2021. Chinas exports of garments to Vietnam stood at $2.823 billion in 2017, $4.194 billion in 2018, $2.583 billion in 2019 and $2.935 billion in 2020.

Vietnam was the thirteenth largest market for Chinas garment exports in 2022. The worlds second largest economy exported garments worth $165.971 billion to the world in 2022, out of which 2.03 per cent was exported to Vietnam, as per TexPro.

Fibre2Fashion News Desk (KUL)
Cambodia and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) have successfully concluded the third and final round of talks regarding their Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement (CEPA). Both countries have agreed on their CEPA's text, chapters, and annexes, covering a range of issues such as trade in goods and services, investment, rules of origin, technical barriers to trade, intellectual property, and economic and technical cooperation.

The CEPA is expected to improve bilateral ties between the two countries and promote trade and investment flows, particularly between the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) and the Middle East. It is a type of free trade agreement that goes beyond the traditional coverage of commodities and includes provisions for services, investments, dispute resolution, intellectual property rights, government procurement, and other forms of economic cooperation.

Cambodia and the UAE have successfully concluded the third and final round of talks regarding their CEPA. Both nations have agreed on their CEPA's text, chapters, and annexes, covering a range of issues such as trade in goods and services, investment, rules of origin, technical barriers to trade, intellectual property, and economic and technical cooperation.

The two countries have also agreed to hold a formal closing ceremony for their CEPA during the UAEs minister of state for foreign trade Thani bin Ahmed al-Zeyoudis visit to Cambodia next month. The announcement was made following the successful conclusion of the final round of talks taking place in Dubai from February 20-22, according to local media reports.

No official signing date has been given for the CEPA, but local officials expect it to be signed by the end of the year.

Cambodia-UAE trade was worth $105 million in 2022, down by 28.57 per cent from $147 million in the previous year. Cambodian exports to the UAE totalled $70 million, up by 34 per cent year-on-year, while imports from the UAE were valued at $35 million, down by 63 per cent year-on-year.

Fibre2Fashion News Desk (NB)
Indonesias fibre exports to India have seen a sharp rise in 2022, increasing by 155 per cent from the previous year. The shipments to Bangladesh also increased by over 15 per cent. However, the exports to China from Indonesia decreased in 2022. Indonesia has large production capacity of man-made fibre, developed mostly by Chinese majors.

Indonesias exports of fibre to India jumped 155.31 per cent from the shipments of $47.962 million in 2021. The outbound shipment had slipped to $37.090 million in 2020 from $52.500 million of 2019, but it recovered to $47.962 million in 2021. The shipment was $49.576 million in 2018 and $31.752 million in 2017, according to Fibre2Fashions market insight tool TexPro.

Similarly, Indonesias exports of fibre to Bangladesh dipped to $81.198 million in 2020 after reaching $101.343 million in 2019, but it increased to $131.174 million in 2021 and $154.880 million in 2022. Last year, the trade between Indonesia and Bangladesh increased by 17.55 per cent.

Indonesia's fibre exports to India have seen a sharp rise in 2022, increasing by 155 per cent from the previous year. The shipments to Bangladesh also increased by over 15 per cent. However, the exports to China from Indonesia decreased in 2022. Indonesia has large production capacity of man-made fibre, developed mostly by Chinese majors.

A reverse trend was seen in fibre exports from Indonesia to China. The exports dipped 21.59 per cent to $69.387 million in 2022 from the shipment of $88.290 million in 2021. The shipment fell to $37.555 million in 2020 from $82.629 million of 2019. It recovered sharply to $88.290 million in 2021 but slipped again in 2022, as per TexPro.

China has its own large production capacity of MM fibre. However, Bangladesh is dependent on supplies from other countries. India is also partially dependent on supplies from abroad, but it is making efforts to create large capacity and planning to discourage foreign supplies.

Fibre2Fashion News Desk (KUL)
The Indo-Pacific Economic Framework for Prosperity (IPEF) and the US-Taiwan 21st Century Trade Initiative are two proposed agreements being negotiated by the office of the United States Trade Representative (USTR), according to President Joe Bidens 2023 Trade Policy Agenda and 2022 Annual Report presented to Congress by the USTR office recently.

The report details USTRs work to advance President Bidens trade agenda over the last two years, as well as its priorities for 2023 and beyond.

The Indo-Pacific Economic Framework for Prosperity (IPEF) and the US-Taiwan 21st Century Trade Initiative are two proposed agreements being negotiated by the office of the United States Trade Representative (USTR), according to President Joe Biden's 2023 Trade Policy Agenda and 2022 Annual Report presented to Congress by the USTR office recently.

USTRs worker-centered trade agenda is realising President Bidens vision to grow the American economy from the bottom up and the middle out, USTR Katherine Tai said.

USTR and the department of commerce are negotiating an innovative trade framework, called the IPEF, with 13 countries in the Indo-Pacific region that, combined with the United States, represent 40 per cent of global gross domestic product (GDP).

The IPEF will tackle 21st century challenges, particularly those exposed during the COVID-19 pandemic and Russias invasion of Ukraine, USTR said in a press release.

The United States and Taiwan, under the auspices of the American Institute in Taiwan (AIT) and the Taipei Economic and Cultural Representative Office in the United States (TECRO), are negotiating an ambitious new trade framework that will deepen the long-standing economic and cultural ties between the two sides.

The Americas Partnership for Economic Prosperity, announced in June last year, includes 11 other countries that represent about 90 per cent of the Western Hemispheres GDP and nearly two-thirds of its people.

This initiative will drive the regions economic growth and broadly shared prosperity, tackle the core issues that will define the coming decades, and galvanise greater economic cooperation in the hemisphere, according to the report.

The United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA) brought concrete outcomes that levelled the playing field for workers and defended the interests of US energy and agricultural producers, the report noted.

The United States looks forward to hosting the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) Ministers Responsible for Trade meetings in Detroit, Michigan, in May 2023 as part of the United States APEC host year.

Fibre2Fashion News Desk (DS)
Gulmohar

Triangle of Sadness

Creed III

Tu Jhoothi Main Makkaar

Scream VI

Mrs. Chatterjee Vs Norway

Zwigato

Shazam! Fury of the Gods

Bheed

Chor Nikalke Bhaaga

John Wick Chapter 4

Bholaa

Murder Mystery 2

Dungeons and Dragons: Honour Among Thieves

Another month, another list of exciting upcoming movies. March is a mixed bag of star-studded entertainers and serious head-scratchers. One of the most anticipated theatrical Bollywood releases is Tu Jhoothi Main Makkaar. The Luv Ranjan directorial that will see Ranbir Kapoor and Shraddha Kapoor share screen space for the first time is bringing back popcorn romantic comedies. The month will also see Rani Mukerji's comeback in Mrs. Chatterjee Vs Norway. The emotional drama chronicles a mother's journey to get back custody of her children. On the streaming side, Gulmohar, a family drama starring Sharmila Tagore, Manoj Bajpayee and Suraj Sharma promises some powerful performances.The slate of Hollywood movies releasing this year is stacked with franchise films. Between Jennifer Aniston and Adam Sandler's Murder Mystery 2 and Keanu Reeves' return to Gun-fu in John Wick Chapter 4, the month has a fair share of much-awaited sequels.Here are all the best movies releasing in March 2023:Rahul V. ChittellaSharmila Tagore, Manoj Bajpayee, Suraj Sharmahas an exciting star cast including Manoj Bajpayee, Sharmila Tagore, Suraj Sharma, Amol Palekar and others. The film revolves around generations of the Batra family. When they move out of their family home, it brings up secrets and insecurities that threaten their bonds. The film's trailer teases an emotional ride.March 3OTTRuben OstlundHarris Dickinson, Charlbi Dean, Woody HarrelsonRuben Ostlund's Palme d'Or winner Triangle of Sadness is a hilarious black comedy that takes on themes like capitalism and the class divide. It revolves around a couple - Carl and Yara whose lives are turned upside down when a luxury cruise they're invited to is hit by a storm. The film is nominated at the Oscars 2023 in the Best Picture, Best Director and Best Original Screenplay categories.March 3TheatresMichael B. JordanMichael B. Jordan, Jonathan Majors, Tessa ThompsonThe latest addition to the Rocky universe - Creed III is the third installment in the Creed series. It sees Michael B. Jordan's Adonis Creed in retirement till he's forced to come out of it when an old friend - Jonathan Majors' Damian Anderson shows up.March 3TheatresLuv RanjanRanbir Kapoor, Shraddha KapoorEverything we know aboutso far tells us that it's going to be a trophy rom-com with a major recall of Bollywood movies from the '00s. In it, Ranbir Kapoor and Shraddha Kapoor are players navigating love and relationships. Between dancing and romancing, their characters will play mind games and of course, serve some of that crackling chemistry that fans are expecting.March 8TheatresMatt Bettinelli-Olpin, Tyler GillettMelissa Barrera, Jack Champion, Henry Czerny, Mason GoodingScream VI will see the survivors finally move from Woodsbro to New York City. However, their fresh start isn't what they imagined it would be and they find themselves up against another killer on a rampage.March 10TheatresAshima ChibberRani Mukerji, Neena Gupta, Jim Sarbh, Anirban BhattacharyaGrab some tissues because Rani Mukerji's next left viewers in tears with just its trailer. Based on a true story, Mrs. Chatterjee Vs Norway follows an Indian mother in Norway who is deemed unfit to raise her kids by the Norwegian child welfare department. The film is a heart-touching account of the long-drawn battle between a mother and the state for the custody of her kids.March 17TheatresNandita DasKapil Sharma, Shahana GoswamiKapil Sharma is all set to star in a movie that takes us back to the hardships of the COVID-19 pandemic. The film will see Sharma play a man who after losing his job takes up a job as a food delivery rider. Recently, Kapil revealed that viewers in South Korea cried after watching the movie. It'll be interesting to see what the Indian audiences think.March 17TheatresDavid F. SandbergZachary Levi, Asher Angel, Jack Dylan Grazer, Rachel ZeglerShazam! Fury of the Gods is the sequel of Shazam!, the 2019 film that introduced Zachary Levy's Billy Batman/Shazam. This time around, he is joined by his foster siblings Freddy, Eugene and Darla as they go up against a formidable trio - the Daughters of Atlas played by Rachel Zegler, Helen Mirren.March 17TheatresAnubhav SinhRajkummar Rao, Bhumi Pednekar, Dia Mirza, Ashutosh RanaThe month has another movie that chronicles the COVID-19 lockdown in India. Bheed is a socio-political thriller from the director of films like Thappad and Article 15. Announcing the film, Bhumi Pednekar revealed that the film is a drama, "shedding light on the dichotomy and complexities through the toughest times our country faced!"March 24TheatresAjay SinghYami Gautam, Sunny Kaushal, Sharad KelkarChor Nikalke Bhaaga has a fun concept. The thriller sees a flight attendant who along with her business partner plans a heist to steal some diamonds. Things escalate when the plan goes wrong. And did we mention it all happens on a plane?March 24OTTChad StahelskiKeanu Reeves, Donnie Yen, Laurence Fishburne, Bill SkarsgardFour years - that's how long fans have been waiting for the fourth installment of John Wick. The film led by Keanu Reeves's popular hitman character is making an action-packed comeback. And from the looks of it, it's going to be his greatest adventure.March 24TheatresAjay DevgnAjay Devgn, Tabu, Raai Laxmi, Deepak DobriyalAfter the success of Drishyam 2, Ajay Devgn and Tabu are set to star in another South remake. Bholaa will see Ajay play a prisoner who upon being released from jail is about to meet his daughter for the first time. However, he ends up getting arrested again.March 30TheatresJeremy GarelickJennifer Aniston, Adam Sandler, Melanie LaurentJennifer Aniston and Adam Sandler reunite as Audrey and Nick Spitz as this time around, they're going full-time with their detective work. The film will revolve around their struggles to set up their agency. More importantly, it will see them travel to a private island for an Indian wedding where a Maharaja is unexpectedly kidnapped. The film features. Need we say more?March 31OTTJonathan Goldstein, John Francis DaleyChris Pine, Michelle Rodriguez, Rege-Jean PageFeaturing a good-looking cast full of A-listers, Dungeons and Dragons is a highly anticipated action-adventure film. It follows a thief and a rag-tag crew of adventurers who set out on a dangerous quest.March 31Theatres
If you were looking for the Charlestown Democratic Town Committee website and ended up here, try this





Got news tips, gossip, suggestions, complaints?E-mail us: progressivecharlestown@gmail.com We strive to avoid errors in our articles. Our correction policy can be found here
TOKYO (dpa-AFX) - The services sector in Japan continued to expand in February, and at a faster pace, the latest survey from Jibun Bank revealed on Friday with a services PMI score of 54.0. That's up from 52.3 in January, and it moves further above the boom-or-bust line of 50 that separates expansion from contraction. Notably stronger increases in activity and new orders meant that Japanese service providers reported an increase in capacity pressure, as firms saw a further rise in outstanding business that was the fastest since August 2017. Concurrently, firms recorded a renewed expansion in employment levels, with anecdotal evidence linking this to the need for additional staff as demand recovered. The survey also showed that the composite PMI improved from 50.7 in January to 51.1 in February. The latest upturn was modest, yet the quickest recorded for four months. The expansion was led entirely by a solid expansion in services activity growth, as manufacturing output declined at the fastest pace since July 2020. Copyright(c) 2023 RTTNews.com. All Rights Reserved Copyright RTT News/dpa-AFX

Werbehinweise: Die Billigung des Basisprospekts durch die BaFin ist nicht als ihre Befurwortung der angebotenen Wertpapiere zu verstehen. Wir empfehlen Interessenten und potenziellen Anlegern den Basisprospekt und die Endgultigen Bedingungen zu lesen, bevor sie eine Anlageentscheidung treffen, um sich moglichst umfassend zu informieren, insbesondere uber die potenziellen Risiken und Chancen des Wertpapiers. Sie sind im Begriff, ein Produkt zu erwerben, das nicht einfach ist und schwer zu verstehen sein kann.
STOCKHOLM (dpa-AFX) - Ericsson (ERIC) has agreed to plead guilty and pay a criminal penalty of more than $206 million after breaching a 2019 Deferred Prosecution Agreement or DPA. The U.S. Department of Justice said that Ericsson will plead guilty to engaging in a long-running scheme to violate the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA) by paying bribes, falsifying books and records, and failing to implement reasonable internal accounting controls in multiple countries around the world. According to court documents, beginning in 2000 and continuing until 2016, Ericsson used third-party agents and consultants to make bribe payments to government officials and to manage off-the-books slush funds in Djibouti, China, Vietnam, Indonesia, and Kuwait. As per the terms of the plea agreement, which must be accepted by the court, Ericsson agreed to plead guilty to the original charges deferred by the 2019 DPA: one count of conspiracy to violate the anti-bribery provisions of the FCPA and one count of conspiracy to violate the internal controls and books and records provisions of the FCPA. Ericsson will also be required to serve a term of probation through June 2024 and has agreed to a one-year extension of the independent compliance monitor. Copyright(c) 2023 RTTNews.com. All Rights Reserved Copyright RTT News/dpa-AFX

Werbehinweise: Die Billigung des Basisprospekts durch die BaFin ist nicht als ihre Befurwortung der angebotenen Wertpapiere zu verstehen. Wir empfehlen Interessenten und potenziellen Anlegern den Basisprospekt und die Endgultigen Bedingungen zu lesen, bevor sie eine Anlageentscheidung treffen, um sich moglichst umfassend zu informieren, insbesondere uber die potenziellen Risiken und Chancen des Wertpapiers. Sie sind im Begriff, ein Produkt zu erwerben, das nicht einfach ist und schwer zu verstehen sein kann.
The Cryptoverse is a fast and secure cryptocurrency exchange where users can buy and sell cryptocurrency in minutes

Dubai, United Arab Emirates--(Newsfile Corp. - March 2, 2023) - The Cryptoverse, a Dubai-based cryptocurrency exchange, is changing how money, information, and assets move around the world. They were recognized for their hard work and innovation within the crypto industry and have reached new heights in the UAE. Their services are provided to start-ups, corporations, professionals, and individuals for smoother payments in the UAE. Throughout the year, The Cryptoverse is proud of successfully completing more than 15,000 client exchanges and achieving a major milestone.

Cryptocurrency Reaches New Heights In The UAE As The Cryptoverse Achieves Major Milestones



To view an enhanced version of this graphic, please visit:

https://images.newsfilecorp.com/files/8814/157054_6c95c86fa4d688ee_001full.jpg

Cryptocurrency transactions are now accepted as a secure method of sending and receiving money digitally in many countries. The United Arab Emirates (UAE) is among the nations that have completely embraced the use of cryptocurrencies, and The Cryptoverse is undoubtedly a safe place to Buy and Sell Cryptocurrency in Dubai and the UAE.

The Cryptoverse is considered the most known and trusted Cryptocurrency Exchange in Dubai, varying from Bitcoin (BTC), Ethereum (ETH), Binance (BNB) or Tether (USDT). All of the transactions are completed instantly through The Cryptoverse. As a result, settlements are instant, meaning the client receives their crypto or Fiat (AED) instantly after their payment is made.

Last year, The Cryptoverse facilitated substantial payments for Real Estate purchases and developed significant works with multiple car dealerships as well as luxury watch brands and hotels.

Customers are able to buy and sell cryptocurrencies using multiple payment methods including cash and/or bank transfer. The Cryptoverse is a safe, and practical cryptocurrency exchange that offers the best rates and provides excellent customer care and support. They maintain the highest standard and regulatory requirements making it your one-stop shop for all your cryptocurrency needs.

Moving forward, The Cryptoverse aims at becoming one of the leading cryptocurrency exchanges globally providing users with a reliable platform where they can safely buy or sell cryptocurrencies without any hassle.

For more information, please visit: http://www.thecryptoverse.ae/.

About The Cryptoverse

The Cryptoverse was established in 2021 in Dubai, UAE. The Cryptoverse helps the crypto community and users buy and sell their crypto to fiat and vice versa. The Cryptoverse has multiple partnerships with CEXs like Binance, Houbi, OKX, and ByBit where liquidity is provided on these platforms for people to smoothly cash out or buy crypto directly. The Cryptoverse has their over the counter (OTC) office open in Dubai as well to smoothly do the same in person.

Contact Info:

Name: Zaid Al Nasseri

Email: support@thecryptoverse.ae

Organization: The Cryptoverse

Address: 208 Al Ameri Tower, Barsha Heights, Dubai, UAE

Phone: +971529766077

Website: http://www.thecryptoverse.ae/

To view the source version of this press release, please visit https://www.newsfilecorp.com/release/157054
Vancouver, British Columbia--(Newsfile Corp. - March 3, 2023) - Coloured Ties Capital Inc. (TSXV: TIE) ("CTI" or the "Company") is pleased to announce that it has entered into a loan agreement dated March 1, 2023 (the "Loan Agreement") with Quebec Pegmatite Corporation ("Quebec Pegmatite"), pursuant to which the Company has agreed to lend Quebec Pegmatite CDN$1,185,288.50 (the "QPC Loan"). The QPC Loan shall bear interest at a rate of 4.0% per annum and is due in full on December 31, 2024.

Quebec Pegmatite is a subsidiary of the Company. As such, the Loan constitutes a "related party transaction" as defined under TSX Venture Exchange Policy 5.9 - Protection of Minority Securityholders in Special Transactions and Multilateral Instrument 61 - 101 - Protection of Minority Security Holders in Special Transactions ("MI 61-101"). Such QPC Loan is exempt from the formal valuation and minority shareholder approval requirements of MI 61-101 as the fair market value of the QPC Loan exceed 25% of the Company's market capitalization.

For further information please contact:

Coloured Ties Capital Inc.

Kal Malhi Chief Executive Officer kal@bullruncapital.ca

Neither the TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.

To view the source version of this press release, please visit https://www.newsfilecorp.com/release/157063
SINGAPORE, March 03, 2023)



Novotech research data shows between 2017 and 2021, there were close to 1,400 industry-sponsored single-country vaccine-based clinical trials globally, with the Asia Pacific involved in over 45% of the trials. Mainland China, India, Japan, Australia and South Korea were the frequently involved locations in the region.

During this period the top 3 regions including the US (369), EU7 (162) and APAC5 (541) together contributed over 1,000 vaccine trials with Asia-Pacific contributing more than 50% of the global share of trials.

Download our latest data report here: Vaccines - Asia Pacific Clinical Trial Landscape

Novotech offers biotechs a unique and unparalleled suite of early to late-phase CRO services across Europe and the US, with a focus on Asia Pacific where the company has built a reputation for delivering high-quality expedited clinical trials.

The Endpoints webinar, Keeping pace with the evolving global landscape in vaccine development, will hear from a panel of life science experts on the latest advancements and innovative modalities paving the way in the global vaccine development space including:

The COVID-19 impact on drug development and the regulatory landscape including mRNA vaccines.

Key factors contributing to Asia Pacific being recognised as the hub for vaccine development and opportunities for biotech's to leverage.

Key considerations for pre-clinical and clinical planning to accelerate vaccine development, supporting a robust global strategy.



Date/Time: March 09 11:00 am - 12:00 pm EST

Register here

Panelists:

SUSHANT SAHASTRABUDDHE

ASSOCIATE DIRECTOR GENERAL, INTERNATIONAL VACCINE INSTITUTE (IVI)

Dr. Sushant Sahastrabuddhe, Associate Director General at the International Vaccine Institute (IVI), joined in July 2010, leading the clinical trials of IVI's typhoid vaccine and process to achieve its licensure, the global clinical development of and licensure of SK bioscience's COVID-19 vaccines and Phase 1 and 2 trials of Bharat Biotech's Chikungunya vaccine. As a vaccine enthusiast with more than 17 years of experience in multiple countries across diverse projects, he continues to lead collaborative efforts with companies and partners in Korea, India and globally to get these vaccines through early- to late-stages of their clinical development. Dr. Sahastrabuddhe is also the Associate Editor for Vaccines for tropical diseases and associated with Yonsei University as Research Professor and with Universite Claude Bernanrd, Lyon France as Research Fellow. In 2021, Dr. Sahastrabuddhe was named an 'Honorary Citizen of Seoul' for his contributions to the joint efforts with Korean companies and international partners to develop vaccines against COVID-19 and other diseases.

PAUL GRIFFIN

ASSOCIATE PROFESSOR, INFECTIOUS DISEASES PHYSICIAN, MICROBIOLOGIST, UNIVERSITY OF QUEENSLAND

An Infectious Diseases Physician and Microbiologist, Dr. Paul Griffin was appointed as the Director of Infectious Diseases at Mater Health Services in 2013 and continues an appointment as an Associate Professor of Medicine at the University of Queensland Medical School. Additionally, Dr. Griffin chairs the Advanced Training Committee in Infectious Diseases with the Royal Australasian College of Physicians, the committee that oversees the training of Infectious Diseases specialists in Australia.

Previously, Dr. Griffin was the Principal Investigator (PI) and Medical Director at Nucleus Network, a contract research organization specializing in infectious diseases trials, which included a PI role on in excess of 125 clinical trials predominantly in Infectious Diseases including novel vaccines and COVID-19 vaccines. With fellowships in Infectious Diseases from the Royal Australasian College of Physicians, in Clinical Microbiology from the Royal College of Pathologists of Australasia and from the Australasian College of Tropical Medicine, Dr. Griffin has an active interest in vaccine education and advocacy and has become a trusted media authority and spokesperson across the nation during the COVID-19 pandemic.

BABAJI YADAV

SENIOR CONSULTANT, NOVOTECH DRUG DEVELOPMENT CONSULTING

Babaji Yadav is a Senior Consultant with over eight years of academic experience in pre-clinical oncology drug development and eight years of industry experience in drug development. Babaji has a strong background in pharmaceutical sciences with a Ph.D. in Pharmacology and Toxicology from the University of Otago, New Zealand. Previously he has worked as a Research Project Manager to oversee IND-enabling toxicology studies for lead oncology drugs and, prior to joining Novotech, was a Clinical Project Manager for early-phase oncology trials. Babaji is a UK Registered Toxicologist and at Novotech he is focused on providing technical toxicology advice and product development strategies to facilitate the entry of client's compounds into clinical trials. Babaji has experience in small molecules, combination products, and biologicals including vaccines, proteins, monoclonal antibodies, and advanced cell and gene therapies.

JENNIFER ARELLANO

DIRECTOR OF CLINICAL SERVICES (PHILIPPINES), NOVOTECH

Jennifer Arellano is the Director of Clinical Services in the Philippines with over 25 years of technical and leadership experience in managing clinical trial operations for sponsors and CROs. With a Bachelor of Industrial Pharmacy from the University of the Philippines and a Pharmacist license, Jennifer's research operations experience includes monitoring, auditing, project leadership, feasibility, study start-up, driving inspection readiness and hosting regulatory inspection, client engagement and business development, learning & development and organization SOP development/review. Jennifer has contributed to the transformation of the Philippine clinical research industry - bringing improvement to the local clinical research regulations and practices and is the founding President of a non-profit organization, the Philippine Clinical Research Professionals Inc, with more than 400 members from pharmaceutical and CROs and has, more recently, volunteered pro-bono services during the Covid-19 pandemic to provide trial management consultancy to the Philippine DOH-funded trials such as WHO Solidarity COVID-19 Treatment and Vaccine trials, Avigan COVID-19 treatment trial, and Philippine Heart Association funded cardiovascular outcome study.

Novotech has recently acquired EastHORN a European CRO with clinical, medical and regulatory expertise in multiple strategically important locations across the continent. The acquisition is part of Novotech's global expansion program in Europe and the US.

Novotech has been benchmarked as a top 10 CRO among the world's leading CROs, is the recipient of the Asia Pacific Cell & Gene Therapy Clinical Trials Excellence award and the Asia-Pacific Contract Research Organization Company of the Year Award, and has signed 45 Leading Site Partnership agreements over the last 3 years.

About NovotechNovotech-CRO.com

Novotech is the leading Asia Pacific centred biotech CRO with global execution capabilities. Novotech is a clinical CRO with labs, phase I facilities, drug development consulting services and FDA regulatory expertise and has experience in over 5,000 clinical projects, including Phase I to Phase IV clinical trials and bioequivalence studies. Novotech is positioned to serve biotech clients conducting clinical trials in Asia Pacific, the US and Europe. Novotech has over 3,000 staff globally and 33 office locations across the US, Europe and Asia Pacific.

For more information visit https://novotech-cro.com/contact
Werbehinweise: Die Billigung des Basisprospekts durch die BaFin ist nicht als ihre Befurwortung der angebotenen Wertpapiere zu verstehen. Wir empfehlen Interessenten und potenziellen Anlegern den Basisprospekt und die Endgultigen Bedingungen zu lesen, bevor sie eine Anlageentscheidung treffen, um sich moglichst umfassend zu informieren, insbesondere uber die potenziellen Risiken und Chancen des Wertpapiers. Sie sind im Begriff, ein Produkt zu erwerben, das nicht einfach ist und schwer zu verstehen sein kann.
LONDON, March 3, 2023 /PRNewswire/ --

A UK business, Jusan Technologies Limited (" JTL ") has commenced two defamation claims in the English Court, the first against The Bureau of Investigative Journalism (" TBIJ ") and the Telegraph Media Group Limited (" TMGL "), and the second against openDemocracy Limited (" OD ").

") has commenced two defamation claims in the English Court, the first against The Bureau of Investigative Journalism (" ") and the Telegraph Media Group Limited (" "), and the second against openDemocracy Limited (" "). The claims relate to articles published by these publishers which allege that JTL is a corrupt vehicle through which the former President of Kazakhstan , Nursultan Nazarbayev, controlled an international business empire. In addition, TBIJ and OD have claimed that JTL's complaints regarding their initial publications amount to improper or abusive legal proceedings pursued by Mr Nazarbayev himself, and are therefore so-called "SLAPPs" (Strategic Lawsuits Against Public Participation).

, Nursultan Nazarbayev, controlled an international business empire. In addition, TBIJ and OD have claimed that JTL's complaints regarding their initial publications amount to improper or abusive legal proceedings pursued by Mr Nazarbayev himself, and are therefore so-called "SLAPPs" (Strategic Lawsuits Against Public Participation). JTL was left with no choice other than to bring proceedings to vindicate itself with respect to these allegations and obtain an injunction to prevent their repetition.

BACKGROUND

JTL has commenced the following claims in the High Court of Justice of England and Wales:

1. A claim in connection with:

a. an article published by OD on 21 January 2022, which alleges that JTL is part of an "opaque network" which links Mr Nazarbayev to US$7.8bn in assets. OD also claims that JTL participated in a US$200 million transaction with a third party at a significant undervalue. JTL was not offered any opportunity prior to publication to verify the factual accuracy of and respond to these allegations; and

b. an article published by OD on 19 October 2022, which alleges that in response to OD's earlier article, JTL and its legal advisers were being used by Mr Nazarbayev to pursue an abusive legal action simply to silence his critics.

2. A claim in connection with:

a. an article published by TBIJ on 17 February 2022, which alleges that JTL was being used by former president Nazarbayev "to help safeguard [his] multibillion-dollar empire";

b. two articles published simultaneously (in print and online) by TBIJ's publication partner, TMGL, on 17 February 2022, which alleges that Mr Nazarbayev "controlled $7.8bn (5.8bn) in assets" via JTL and that JTL was "at the centre of the financial interests of a key ally of Vladimir Putin"; and

c. an article published by TBIJ on 19 October 2022, which made the allegation that in response to TBIJ's earlier reporting, JTL was being used by Mr Nazarbayev to pursue an improper legal action simply to silence journalists and shut down investigative journalism in the public interest.

DETAILS

JTL stresses that, in these lawsuits, it does not seek to silence truthful journalism in the public interest. JTL has no objection to robust reporting in relation to Mr Nazarbayev or his family.

The articles portray JTL as having been owned and/or controlled by or for the benefit of Mr Nazarbayev and the claims as having been brought at his behest. Mr Nazarbayev has never had, directly or indirectly, any role in or control over JTL's assets or how it uses its funds. He cannot sell JTL's assets and neither he nor his family exert any controlling interest. Mr Nazarbayev does not sit on the boards of JTL or its direct or indirect parent companies, nor is he a shareholder, either directly or indirectly, of any companies in the group. Since its inception, JTL has been managed by an independent board of directors, each with fiduciary obligations under UK law, and takes any decisions independently of Mr Nazarbayev.

JTL is a bona fide UK company that, together with its group companies, supports funding Western-style education in Kazakhstan, through Nazarbayev University ("NU"), Nazarbayev Intellectual Schools ("NIS") and their organisations. JTL has preferred to operate in the UK (ranked 11 of 180 jurisdictions in Transparency International's 2021 Corruption Perception Index) in order to keep its assets safe as a result of the UK's strong culture of the rule of law, and thereby safeguard NU and NIS for future generations. In fact, JTL (together with its parent company) has recently even initiated separate proceedings in the US against the Republic of Kazakhstan and others in order to continue to protect and further the group's charitable educational objectives. Further details regarding this claim is available at: https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/jysan-holdings-files-federal-lawsuit-against-kazakh-government-in-nevada-to-halt-campaign-to-expropriate-education-funds-301749319.html.

JTL tried to resolve the claims against these publishers amicably out of court, including by making clear prior to issuing proceedings that its key objective is to correct the falsehoods in the articles, and offering to donate damages to the Disasters Emergency Committee Ukraine Humanitarian Appeal. Although TBIJ and OD have each accepted certain inaccuracies in their reporting and published updates and clarifications in respect of them, they have refused either to publish suitable corrections which adequately meet JTL's complaints, or to remove the defamatory articles from their websites. Given the seriousness of the allegations of financial and other wrongdoing, JTL was compelled to pursue legal complaints against each publisher.

JTL is confident that it is not complicit in any SLAPPs and has already included this allegation as an issue in the Proceedings brought in the High Court's specialist Media and Communications List, so that the Court can consider it in detail and make findings as appropriate in due course.

JTL is entitled to pursue legal recourse to vindicate its reputation in respect of false and damaging allegations and to put a stop to the publication of such falsehoods; just as the publishers are entitled to defend the claims on any grounds properly available to them. JTL is hopeful that its claims brought in support of truthful journalism will be upheld following a full ventilation of the facts and laws in the proper forum. But even if the publishers prevail in the claims, it obviously does not follow that such claims would be characterised as an abuse of process, as the SLAPP label implies: it is the function of the Court process to adjudicate on the issues that arise between the parties and the defendants are entitled to advance whatever defence(s) are properly available to them; in this respect there is nothing unusual about its claims.

A spokesperson for JTL commented:

"JTL is independently audited and its financial statements are publicly available. JTL employs rigorous standards of compliance and corporate governance in its operations. Out of fairness to the claimants and defendants alike, JTL has no wish to litigate its claims through the media. At this time, we note only that JTL continues to support truthful journalism in the public interest and stresses that in these lawsuits, it does not seek to silence proper reporting. However, these articles are highly defamatory of JTL, a UK company, which was seeking to expand its operations when these articles were published. The defendant publishers' hostility to accountability is troubling. The claims are not "SLAPP" actions; they are backed by facts and law. Regrettably, JTL's efforts to resolve these claims amicably were rebuffed and JTL was therefore compelled to defend itself against the erroneous claims that continue to be made against it in the press.

"These claims are being pursued in order for the correct position to be made clear and to encourage accurate reporting going forward."

NOTES TO EDITORS

Jusan Technologies Ltd is a UK-registered business which holds assets and investments primarily in Kazakhstan including in real estate, telecoms, banking, logistics and insurance. Its main source of income and revenue comes from First Heartland Securities JSC, which owns First Heartland Jusan Bank JSC.

JTL is represented in the UK proceedings by Prateek Swaika of Boies Schiller Flexner (UK) LLP. The cases are Jusan Technologies Ltd v The Bureau of Investigative Journalism and another, and Jusan Technologies Ltd v openDemocracy Ltd, case numbers QB-2022-002660 and QB-2022-002661, in the High Court of Justice of England and Wales.

View original content:https://www.prnewswire.co.uk/news-releases/jusan-technologies-limited-brings-claims-in-english-court-to-clear-its-name-301761667.html
3 March 2023

Conroy Gold and Natural Resources plc

("Conroy Gold" or "the Company")

NEW GOLD TARGET AND SECOND GOLD TREND IDENTIFIED IN LONGFORD-DOWN MASSIF

New gold target discovered in Co. Monaghan

Second gold trend lies parallel and to the south of the Orlock Bridge Fault Zone gold trend

New trend covers the new gold target and the recent high grade gold discovery in Co. Armagh

Five further prospecting licences applied for along the new gold trend

Conroy Gold and Natural Resources plc (AIM: CGNR), the gold exploration and development company focused on Ireland and Finland, is pleased to announce the discovery of a new gold target in County Monaghan. This discovery, together with the recent discovery of a gold target in County Armagh (announced by the Company on 22 February 2023), has led to the identification of a second gold trend in the Longford-Down Massif.

Assay results from gold-in-soil sampling by the Company, on Prospecting Licence 4554 in County Monaghan, have yielded values greater than 10ppb Au over an area of 1.5KM by 1.1KM. Anomalies greater than 10ppb gold-in-soil in the Longford-Down Massif tend to be associated with gold-in-bedrock. This licence area also previously yielded sediment samples, which returned gold values of up to 170ppb Au, as part of the nationwide TELLUS survey.

The new gold discovery in County Monaghan, and the recently announced gold discovery in quartz breccia samples (which had assay results of up to 123.0 g/t gold) in County Armagh, have both been recorded along a major geological structure, the Skullmartin Fault Zone, indicating the presence of a second gold trend in the Longford-Down Massif.

The newly identified (24km) gold trend lies parallel to, and south of, the Orlock Bridge Fault Zone, on which the Company has made a series of gold discoveries along a 65 km gold trend.

The new trend, along the Skullmartin Fault Zone, links the County Monaghan gold discovery, as announced today, to the recent gold discovery in quartz breccia samples in County Armagh.

The Company also announces that applications for five further prospecting licences along the trend have been made by the Company.

This release has been approved by Kevin McNulty PGeo, who is a member of the Company's technical staff and holds a BSc/MSc in Geology and Remote Sensing, in accordance with the guidance note for Mining, Oil & Gas Companies issued by the London Stock Exchange in respect of AIM Companies, which outlines standards of disclosure for mineral projects.

Professor Richard Conroy, Chairman, commented:

"The identification of a new gold trend in the Longford - Down Massif is a further step forward in relation to the very extensive new gold district discovered by the Company."

For further information please contact :

Conroy Gold and Natural Resources plc Tel: +353-1-479-6180 Professor Richard Conroy, Chairman

Allenby Capital Limited(Nomad) Tel: +44-20-3328-5656 Nick Athanas/Nick Harriss

First Equity Limited (Broker)

Jason Robertson



Lothbury Financial Services

Tel: +44-20-7330-1883





Tel: +44-20-3290-0707 Michael Padley Hall Communications Tel: +353-1-660-9377 Don Hall

Visit the website at:www.conroygold.com
LONDON (dpa-AFX) - Murray International Trust Plc (MYI.L) reported Friday that its fiscal 2022 return before taxation was 142.14 million pounds, down from last year's 204.87 million pounds. Return attributable to equity shareholders fell to 134.72 million pounds from 198.11 million pounds a year ago. Return per Ordinary share was 107.5 pence, down from prior year's 154.8 pence. Revenue return per share was 60.1 pence, up 16.3 percent from 51.7 pence in the previous year. Income for the year grew to 88.75 million pounds from last year's 78.74 million pounds. Further, the company said its Board is now recommending an increased final dividend of 20.0p per Ordinary 25p share, higher than last year's final dividend of 19.0p. Total Ordinary dividends for the year will amount to 56.0p, an increase over the previous year of 1.8 percent. If approved at the Annual General Meeting, this final dividend will be paid on May 5 to holders of Ordinary 25p shares on the register on April 11. For more earnings news, earnings calendar, and earnings for stocks, visit rttnews.com Copyright(c) 2023 RTTNews.com. All Rights Reserved Copyright RTT News/dpa-AFX

Werbehinweise: Die Billigung des Basisprospekts durch die BaFin ist nicht als ihre Befurwortung der angebotenen Wertpapiere zu verstehen. Wir empfehlen Interessenten und potenziellen Anlegern den Basisprospekt und die Endgultigen Bedingungen zu lesen, bevor sie eine Anlageentscheidung treffen, um sich moglichst umfassend zu informieren, insbesondere uber die potenziellen Risiken und Chancen des Wertpapiers. Sie sind im Begriff, ein Produkt zu erwerben, das nicht einfach ist und schwer zu verstehen sein kann.
The Barking Lounge LLC, a mobile dog grooming business, has expanded its service range for pet owners in the Miami-Dade area.

Doral, Flordia--(Newsfile Corp. - March 3, 2023) - The Barking Lounge LLC has introduced more options for dogs with allergies and aging dogs. The announcement complements the full mobile grooming services the company has provided to residents in and around the Miami-Dade and Broward areas for years. Pet owners choose The Barking Lounge for at-their-door service that is gentle, thorough, and relaxing.

More information is available at https://www.thebarkingloungespa.com.

Miami Mobile Dog Grooming Services Expanded By The Barking Lounge LLC

To view an enhanced version of this graphic, please visit:

https://images.newsfilecorp.com/files/8814/157060_f667a774d43d58bc_001full.jpg

The American Kennel Club recommends dogs be groomed every 4 - 6 weeks. As dogs age, their needs change and they can require grooming with an extra gentle touch. Dogs with sensitivities and allergies also require special attention. With their latest announcement, The Barking Lounge gives pet owners the peace of mind they need, knowing their dogs are being groomed and cared for by professionals who understand that every pup is unique.

While services are customized to accommodate every canine client, pet owners also benefit from The Barking Lounge's built-in convenience. As a mobile service, their location is whatever their customers want it to be, whether residential, office-based, the park, or the beach.

By virtue of their business model, The Barking Lounge eliminates the need for pet owners to battle congested Miami traffic, wait for one or two hours while their pets are being groomed, and then battle return traffic. More significantly, however, with dog groomers focusing solely on one client at a time, The Barking Lounge provides a more personal experience for pet owners and their pups.

"The Barking Lounge Spa is a locally-owned and next-generation luxury mobile pet grooming concept founded here in Miami," says Luis Casas, owner of The Barking Lounge. "We wash and groom your pets in a fun-loving, safe and clean environment from the comfort and convenience of your front door."

The expanded grooming services include shampoo, nail trimming, ear cleaning, sanitary cleaning, rounding the paws and gland expression. Add-on services include de-matting, de-shedding, flea and tick treatments, teeth brushing, and deep dental cleaning. Customers can choose from a standard wash, the Barking wash, and the Barking Grooming Experience.

Learn more at https://www.thebarkingloungespa.com.

Contact Info:

Name: Luis Casas

Email: luiscasas@thebarkingloungespa.com

Organization: The Barking Lounge LLC

Address: 6351 Northwest 99th Avenue, Doral, Florida 33178, United States

Website: https://www.thebarkingloungespa.com/

To view the source version of this press release, please visit https://www.newsfilecorp.com/release/157060
A Place for All Conservatives to Speak Their Mind.
London-based AVRillo Conveyancing announces an expansion of its settlement services for property deals performed by UK agents, helping them speed up their residential property transactions.

London, United Kingdom--(Newsfile Corp. - March 3, 2023) - Following a recent announcement, AVRillo Conveyancing offers settlement support services with a 0% tolerance to negligence policy to estate agents in the country, allowing them to safeguard their clients from financial losses throughout the home-buying process.

More information is available at https://avrillo.co.uk/free-online-conveyancing-quote.

AVRillo Conveyancing Announces Real Estate Closing Services For UK Estate Agents

To view an enhanced version of this graphic, please visit:

https://images.newsfilecorp.com/files/8814/154718_b36ddaa2b48799d0_001full.jpg

AVRillo Conveyancing's recent move is intended to provide a more efficient settlement solution to estate agents and their clients, shortening the time from offer acceptance to transaction closing, and encouraging transparent customer communication. With a focus on speed and collaboration, the conveyancing company facilitates the transfer of property ownership and reduces the likelihood of delays.

About AVRillo Conveyancing

AVRillo Conveyancing is a residential conveyancing solicitor servicing all towns and cities across the United Kingdom. Recently, the company was announced as the winner of the Gold award for Supplier of the Year: Professional Support at the Negotiator Awards 2022.

Angelo Piccirillo, Senior Partner at AVRillo Conveyancing, said, "Our transparent pricing and upfront, honest and no-nonsense advice is why we're The Sunday Times' Best Conveyancers."

Additional details can be found at https://avrillo.co.uk/free-online-conveyancing-quote.

Contact Info:

Name: Tony Brotherton

Email: aap@avrillo.co.uk

Organization: AVRillo Conveyancing

Address: 257 Green Lanes" London, England N13 4XE, United Kingdom

Website: https://avrillo.co.uk

To view the source version of this press release, please visit https://www.newsfilecorp.com/release/154718
HONG KONG, March 3, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Mobile World Congress (MWC) 2023 comes to an end. It was definitely a resounding success. IPLOOK Technologies, the global vendor of industry-leading end-to-end mobile core network solutions, participated at the MWC Barcelona 2023 with 4G/5G Converged Core Solution from February 27 to March 3.

Over 2,000 companies convened to discuss the latest trends in the telecom industry under the theme: VELOCITY, UNLEASHING TOMORROW'S TECHNOLOGY - TODAY.

Living up to our customers' trust, IPLOOK showcased the flexible and efficient 4G/5G converged core solution and recent innovations, which have sparked heated conversations with professional opinions. This solution can effectively enhance customer experience with flexible deployment, achieving 5G acceleration. By discussing this cutting-edge solution, we have explored a myriad of potential opportunities in global market.

After the 2nd day of the event, IPLOOK held a dinner party, to further enhance connections with our valued customers and partners. We truly appreciate their attendance and cherish the partnership we have with each of them. We hope that the party serves as a reminder of our commitment to every client and partner.

MWC 2023 was a fruitful event and left us with an insightful exploration of the developments of 5G and 6G technology. IPLOOK was privileged to take part in the exhibition with our mobile core network products and display of impressive technologies. With the momentum generated at MWC 2023, IPLOOK is sure to showcase more exciting advances next year at MWC!

More latest news about IPLOOK on LinkedIn @IPLOOK Technologies

About IPLOOK

Founded in 2012, IPLOOK is an industry-leading end-to-end, cloud-based mobile network solution provider. IPLOOK's highly scalable virtualized 3G/4G/5G core network software products can be deployed in the deployment scenarios for Mobile Network Operators (MNO), Mobile Virtual Network Operators (MVNO), Wireless Internet Services Providers (WISP) and Enterprises.

More info: www.iplook.com

CONTACT: info@iplook.com

View original content:https://www.prnewswire.co.uk/news-releases/iplook-displayed-flexible-and-efficient-4g5g-converged-core-solution-at-mwc-2023-301761947.html
Regulatory News:

The shareholders of Gecina (Paris:GFC) (the "Company") are invited to attend the Ordinary General Meeting to be held on:

Thursday April 20, 2023 from 3pm,

at Hotel Kimpton Saint-Honore, 20 rue Daunou, 75002 Paris

A meeting notice containing the agenda, the full text for the proposed resolutions and the main conditions for attending and voting at the Ordinary General Meeting on April 20, 2023 has been published in the French official gazette (Bulletin des Annonces Legales Obligatoires) today. This meeting notice and the Board of Directors' report on the proposed resolutions can be consulted on Gecina's website at www.gecina.fr.

The meeting notice will be followed by an invitation to attend, which will be published in the French official gazette (BALO) and a French legal announcement journal within the legal and regulatory timeframes.

The preparatory documents for this General Meeting will be made available to the Company's shareholders in accordance with the regulatory conditions and timeframes applicable.

All shareholders may ask the Company to send them these documents with written requests to be sent by post to the Company's registered office or by email to titres&bourse@gecina.fr until the fifth day (inclusive) before the Ordinary General Meeting on April 20, 2023, i.e. April 15, 2023. For bearer shareholders, they will need to be accompanied by a certificate of registration in the securities accounts held by an intermediary mentioned in Article L. 211-3 of the French monetary and financial code (Code monetaire et financier).

They may also be consulted at the Company's registered office and will be available on the Company's website (www.gecina.fr).

Shareholders are invited to regularly consult the dedicated section for the 2023 General Meeting on the Company's website (www.gecina.fr), which could be updated to provide further information on the definitive arrangements for participation in the General Meeting.

The Board of Directors

Gecina

French limited company (societe anonyme) with capital of 574,673,940

Registered office: 14-16, rue des Capucines 75002 Paris France

Paris trade and companies register: 592 014 476

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20230303005176/en/

Contacts:

Gecina
MUMBAI, India, March 3, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- The Alumni Association, N.C.E Bengal & Jadavpur University, Mumbai Branch, will hold its National Conference on Saturday, 4thMarch 2023, at the hotel Lalit, Mumbai. The Conference titled 'New India @ 2030 - Tailoring for Sustainable Growth' will be organised in association with the Associated Chambers of Commerce & Industry of India (ASSOCHAM), India's oldest Apex Chamber.





Nearly 200 people from Mumbai and other parts of the country are expected to attend this year's Conference, including alumni of Jadavpur University, academicians, policymakers, business executives, and alumni of other leading educational institutions.

Former Principal Scientific Advisor to the Government of India and Former Chairman of the Atomic Energy Commission, Padma Vibhushan Dr. R Chidambaram, will be the Chief Guest of the Conference. The Guests of Honour will be Ms. Marja Einig, Deputy Consul General, German Consulate General Mumbai, and Mr. S S Mundra, Former Deputy Governor, Reserve Bank of India. Mr. Shailesh Haribhakti, Chairman of Shailesh Haribhakti & Associates will deliver the keynote address.

India, the home of 140 crore people, is also the largest democracy in the world. With the nation approaching its 76th anniversary, there is much to be proud of in terms of its achievements since independence. The GDP of India grew at an average rate of 5.5% during the past decade, making it the world's fastest-growing major economy. Considering the sluggish growth in the global economy that shows no signs of rebounding, India needs to step up to lead the way. The question remains as to how India, once synonymous with red tape, can become the new powerhouse of growth we expect it to be. This single important question is the theme of our conference this year, which has been appropriately worded as New India @ 2030: Tailoring for Sustainable Growth: Reform, Perform, Transform.

"The Indian economy is projected to become the third largest in the world by 2030. India, however, must correct a few important things. Our National Conference aims to examine those issues that India must address if India is to be the economic powerhouse the world expects her to be. We are extremely fortunate that some of India's best minds and thinkers from science, technology, education, engineering, banking, and finance will enlighten us about what Reforms are required in order to deliver Performance that is consistent with our expectations that will transform the country's vast potential into reality," said Mr Dibyendu Chakraborty, Convenor of Conference Committee and former President of Jadavpur University Alumni Association, Mumbai Branch.

Leading companies from across the country and other parts of the world have stepped forward to support the event as donors. Some of these organisations include Phoenix Contact, Zenitel, MSA Indian Oil, ONGC, Winsteel, JSW Cement, Tally solutions, Deutsche Bank, Chemtrol, Bauer, JNK India, Advanced Systek, Global Group, New Fire, Vinngtor Stentofon, Beekay Corp, OOMS India, Power Gilt, AGGCON, Gita Group and Mobile Communication.

Thanking the donors for their support, Mr. Ashok Adhikary, Chairman of the Conference Committee, said, "Our donors have been extremely generous, and we are grateful for their kind support. This will enable us to achieve our goals of supporting meritorious but needy students in Mumbai and those from Jadavpur University, Kolkata. Currently, we offer 15 scholarships and stipends to such students through the Jadavpur University Alumni Association Company Branch Trust. To fulfil our obligation to promote education, we have disbursed over Rs.50 lakhs for educational purposes over the last 20 years."

Mr. Rudranath Banerjee, President, Jadavpur University Alumni Association, Mumbai, said, "As the oldest alumni association in India, the Alumni Association, N.C.E Bengal & Jadavpur University, has played a major role in nation-building and furthering the objectives of our alma mater since 1921. To achieve its goal of becoming one of the world's leading economies by 2030, India must maximize the benefits of its inherent advantages and take advantage of opportunities that emerge. During the Conference, we will develop actionable insights that will strengthen the Indian journey towards sustainable growth."

About the Alumni Association NCE Bengal & Jadavpur University (Mumbai):

The Mumbai branch of the Alumni Association, N.C.E Bengal and Jadavpur University was established in the year 1956 with the short-term objective of providing an umbrella under which Alumni could meet, interact and socialise. Soon after, the objective was enlarged to include contributing to society at large through knowledge sharing and charitable activities. The Association Organized Seminars, with the active participation and support of Corporates, on topical themes of national interest and organised cultural events to raise funds for charitable activities. The Mumbai branch has over 500 active members who are connected with various core and knowledge-based industries, professional organisations and Government agencies in and around Mumbai.

Along with the firm belief in integration and solidarity, our Alumni Association is focused on the spiritof Indian heritage and culture and is committed to the overall welfare of the people of the nation. Professionally, the organization maintains close relationship with eminent academic institutions, reputed industrial houses and organizes workshops, conferences and technical debates on topical themes.

For more information, please contact:

Mr. Ashok Adhikary

Chairman of the Conference Committee

Email: akadhikary@gmail.com

Tel: 9820190336

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SEOUL, South Korea, March 3, 2023 /PRNewswire/ --

SK Shieldus provides central monitoring and dispatch services to 680,000 commercial customers, and market leading cyber security consulting and monitoring services

SK Shieldus, which marks EQT Value-Add Infrastructure's first investment in South Korea , leverages digital and connected infrastructure to deliver services that make Korean society safer from both physical and cyber threats

, leverages digital and connected infrastructure to deliver services that make Korean society safer from both physical and cyber threats SK Shieldus will be able to leverage EQT's sector experience within physical and cyber security, and strong digitalization capabilities to enable more tailored and digitized security service offerings for its customers

EQT is pleased to announce that EQT Infrastructure VI ("EQT Value-Add Infrastructure") has agreed to acquire SK Shieldus Co Ltd ("SK Shieldus" or the "Company") from SK Square, an affiliate of South Korea's second largest conglomerate SK Group, and Macquarie Asset Management's Infrastructure business ("Macquarie"). Following the closing of the transaction, EQT Value-Add Infrastructure will own 68 percent in SK Shieldus, while its current shareholder, SK Square will remain as a minority shareholder with 32 percent.

Headquartered in Pangyo, South Korea, SK Shieldus is a scaled integrated physical security operator providing digital security infrastructure across 680,000 commercial customer sites and more than 100 central monitoring and dispatch centers across South Korea. The Company also provides a "closed loop offering", covering both physical and cyber protection to strategic customer locations.

SK Shieldus is supported by strong secular tailwinds in South Korea, such as an aging population, increased digitization of traditional on-location guard services, and an increased focus on cyber security. The Company acts as a de facto extension of Korean public police and security services and is an embedded part of the country's security network. The country's security market is protected by high barriers of entry and stringent regulation requirements which require operators to have a dense network of dispatch and monitoring capabilities to deliver high-quality service to customers.

SK Shieldus is expected to leverage EQT's strong sector expertise within physical and cyber security, and strong digitalization capabilities to enable more tailored and digitized security service offerings for each customer segment, with the ambition to make South Korea more safe in both physical and digital domains. Moreover, EQT Value-Add Infrastructure plans to decarbonize the Company's vehicle fleet in favor of increased electrification and phasing out of fossil fuel. The Company will be supported by a new Board of Directors, with a combination of EQT's Industrial Advisors, with backgrounds in leading security companies in Europe and North America, as well as prominent Korean business leaders.

Sang Jun Suh, Managing Director and Head of South Korea for EQT's Infrastructure Advisory Team, said, "SK Shieldus marks EQT Value-Add Infrastructure's first investment in Korea and comes just weeks after EQT opened a new office here in Seoul. The company is a clear leader in both the Korean physical and cyber security markets and EQT Value-Add Infrastructure is excited about partnering with SK Square to support SK Shieldus as it continues to roll out new digitized security solutions and invest in the decarbonization of its vehicle fleet."

Park Jung-ho, Vice Chairman of SK Square, said, "Our joint management deal will provide us an opportunity to upgrade the global competitiveness of the Korean security industry. With the support from EQT, SK Square will further enhance the shareholder value, based on its first full-cycle investment performance since the launch of the company."

The transaction is subject to customary conditions and approvals, including approval under the Foreign Investment Promotion Act. It is expected to close in Q3 2023.

EQT Value-Add Infrastructure was advised by Standard Chartered (financial), Kim & Chang (legal), PwC (financial, tax and technology) and BCG (commercial).

With this transaction, EQT Infrastructure VI is expected to be 5-10 percent invested (including closed and/or signed investments, announced public offers, if applicable, and less any expected syndication) and subject to customary regulatory approvals.

Contact

APAC media inquiries: daniel.ketema@eqtpartners.com, +65 9628 7576, mavis.ma@eqtpartners.com, +852 9280 9663

International media inquiries: EQT Press Office, press@eqtpartners.com, +46 8 506 55 334

The following files are available for download:

https://mb.cision.com/Main/87/3726962/1889555.pdf Press release EQT Infrastructure VI SK Shieldus 030323 https://news.cision.com/eqt/i/sk-shieldus,c3151121 SK Shieldus

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MediaZest Plc - Posting of Annual Report and Notice of AGM

3 March 2023

MediaZest Plc

("MediaZest" or the "Company"; AIM: MDZ)

Posting of Annual Report and Notice of AGM

MediaZest (AIM: MDZ), the creative audio-visual company, announces that the 2023 Annual General Meeting ("AGM") of the Company will be held at Unit 9, Woking Business Park, Albert Drive, Woking, GU21 5JY on 31 March 2023 at 11.00 a.m.

The Notice of AGM and the Report and Financial Statements for the year ended 30 September 2022 will be posted to shareholders today and are available on the Company's website: www.mediazest.com.

The Company values shareholder participation and votes, so it encourages all shareholders to exercise their voting rights by completing and submitting a proxy form as soon as possible. Shareholders can also submit any questions in advance by email to info@mediazest.com.



Enquiries: Geoff Robertson

Chief Executive Officer

MediaZest Plc 0845 207 9378 David Hignell/Adam Cowl

Nominated Adviser

SP Angel Corporate Finance LLP 020 3470 0470 Claire Noyce

Broker

Hybridan LLP 020 3764 2341

Notes to Editors:

About MediaZest

MediaZest is a creative audio-visual systems integrator that specialises in providing innovative marketing solutions to leading retailers, brand owners and corporations, but also works in the public sector in both the NHS and Education markets. The Group supplies an integrated service from content creation and system design to installation, technical support, and maintenance. MediaZest was admitted to the London Stock Exchange's AIM market in February 2005. For more information, please visit www.mediazest.com
The rise in prevalence of infertility among men and women, the surge in use of a variety of microscopes in clinical ART procedures, and innovations in microscopes which is increasing treatment efficiency drive the global in-vitro fertilization microscopes market.

PORTLAND, Ore., March 3, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Allied Market Research published a report, titled, "In-Vitro Fertilization Microscopes Market by Type (Upright Microscopes, Inverted Microscopes, Stereo Microscopes, Embryo Microscope), by End User (Clinical, Academic Research): Global Opportunity Analysis and Industry Forecast, 2021-2031". According to the report, the global in-vitro fertilization microscopes industry was valued at $105.4 million in 2021 and is estimated to generate $250.4 million by 2031, witnessing a CAGR of 9.4% from 2022 to 2031. The report offers a detailed analysis of changing market trends, top segments, key investment pockets, value chain, regional landscape, and competitive scenario.





Download Free Sample Report:https://www.alliedmarketresearch.com/request-sample/31831

Drivers, Restraints, and Opportunities

The rise in prevalence of infertility among men and women and innovations in microscopes which is increasing treatment efficiency drive the in-vitro fertilization microscopes market. However, high cost of in-vitro fertilization microscopes hinders the global market growth. On the other hand, the surge in use of a variety of microscopes in clinical ART procedures, rise in awareness about IVF treatments, and increasing private investor investments in infertility clinics will present new growth opportunities for the global in-vitro fertilization microscopes market in the coming years.

Covid-19 Scenario

The outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic negatively impacted various industries. The in-vitro fertilization microscope manufacturing companies ceased their operations owing to import-export restrictions, lockdowns, and labor shortage due to the fear of contracting the novel coronavirus, resulting in reduced market demand.

International fertility organizations suggested that except for necessary medical fertility preservation, IVF treatments need to be discontinued after the WHO declared the COVID-19 pandemic in March 2020 . Consequently, fewer people chose to undergo IVF procedures, which had an impact on fertility clinics' need for supplies, equipment, and services.

. Consequently, fewer people chose to undergo IVF procedures, which had an impact on fertility clinics' need for supplies, equipment, and services. IVF operations resumed after measures such as decontaminating & validating equipment, ensuring adequate staffing, and completing risk assessments were implemented.

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The embryo microscope segment to grab lion's share during the forecast period

Based on type, the embryo microscope segment contributed to the largest share of more than one-third of the global in-vitro fertilization microscopes market in 2021 and is expected to maintain a noteworthy growth during the forecast period. The same segment is projected to witness the fastest CAGR of 10.0% from 2022 to 2031. This is because these systems display images of embryos and information about their growth patterns. This information enables embryologists to observe healthy embryo development and detect any issues with cell division timing that may occur during the early stages of growth.

The clinical segment to dominate the market during the forecast period

Based on end user, the clinical segment contributed to the largest share of three-fifths of the global in-vitro fertilization microscopes market in 2021 and is expected to maintain its leadership in terms of revenue during the forecast period. Moreover, the same segment is projected to witness the fastest CAGR of 9.7% from 2022 to 2031. IVF clinics offer a variety of services, including healthy oocyte identification, sperm analysis, ICSI, embryo monitoring, and embryo freezing & storage.

Europe to achieve the largest revenue by 2031

Based on region, the market in Europe was the largest in 2021, accounting for more than two-fifths of the global in-vitro fertilization microscopes market and is likely to maintain its dominance during the forecast timeframe. This is because companies in the region are implementing a variety of strategies, such as product launches and research initiatives. The presence of a large population as well as increased awareness of IVF are two important factors contributing to the market growth. However, the market in North America is likely to show the fastest CAGR of 10.2% during the forecast period. This is because of significant factors such as increased knowledge and availability of IVF services in the region.

Purchase Inquiry:https://www.alliedmarketresearch.com/purchase-enquiry/31831

Leading Market Players

Linkam Scientific Instruments

Olympus Corporation

Leica Microsystems

Meiji Techno

ZEISS International

Euromex Microscopen B.V.

Labomed Europe B.V.

Nikon Corporation

NARISHIGE Group.

Hamilton Thorne, Inc.

The report analyzes these key players of the global in-vitro fertilization microscopes market. These players have adopted various strategies such as expansion, new product launches, partnerships, and others to increase their market penetration and strengthen their position in the industry. The report is helpful in determining the business performance, operating segments, product portfolio, and developments by every market player.

Trending Reports in Healthcare Industry (Book Now with 10% Discount):

IVF Services Market by Cycle Type (Fresh IVF Cycles (Non-donor), Thawed IVF Cycles (Non-donor), and Donor Egg IVF Cycles) and End User (Fertility Clinics, Hospitals, Surgical Centers, and Clinical Research Institutes): Global Opportunity Analysis and Industry Forecast, 2021-2030

In Vitro Diagnostics Market By Product And Services (Reagents, Instruments, Software And Services), by Technique (Immunodiagnostics, Hematology, Molecular Diagnostics, Tissue Diagnostics, Clinical Chemistry, Others), by Application (Infectious Diseases, Cancer, Cardiac Diseases, Immune System Disorders, Nephrological Diseases, Gastrointestinal Diseases, Others), by End User (Standalone Laboratories, Hospitals, Academic And Medical Schools, Point Of Care, Others): Global Opportunity Analysis and Industry Forecast, 2020-2030

IVF Devices and Consumables Market by Product (Instruments, Accessories & Disposables, and Reagents & Media), Technology Type (Fresh Embryo IVF, Frozen Embryo IVF, and Donor Egg IVF), and End User (Fertility Clinics, Hospitals, Surgical Centers, and Clinical Research Institutes): Global Opportunity Analysis and Industry Forecast, 2021-2030

Fertility Services Market by Procedure (IVF with ICSI, IUI, IVF without ICSI, Surrogacy, and Others), Service (Fresh Non-Donor, Frozen Non-Donor, Egg & Embryo Banking, Fresh Donor, and Frozen Donor), and End User (Fertility Clinics, Hospitals, Surgical Centers, and Clinical Research Institutes): Global Opportunity Analysis and Industry Forecast, 2022-2031

Electrocardiograph (ECG) Market By Product (Resting Electrocardiograph (ECG), Stress Electrocardiograph (ECG), Holter Monitors, Others), By End User (Hospitals & Clinics, Home Settings & Ambulatory Surgical Centers (ASCs), Others), By Lead Type (Single Lead ECG, 2 Lead ECG, 3 Lead ECG, 6 Lead ECG, 12-Lead ECG): Global Opportunity Analysis and Industry Forecast, 2020-2030

About Us

Allied Market Research (AMR) is a full-service market research and business-consulting wing of Allied Analytics LLP based in Portland, Oregon. Allied Market Research provides global enterprises as well as medium and small businesses with unmatched quality of "Market Research Reports" and "Business Intelligence Solutions." AMR has a targeted view to provide business insights and consulting to assist its clients to make strategic business decisions and achieve sustainable growth in their respective market domain.

We are in professional corporate relations with various companies and this helps us in digging out market data that helps us generate accurate research data tables and confirms utmost accuracy in our market forecasting. Allied Market Research CEO Pawan Kumar is instrumental in inspiring and encouraging everyone associated with the company to maintain high quality of data and help clients in every way possible to achieve success. Each and every data presented in the reports published by us is extracted through primary interviews with top officials from leading companies of domain concerned. Our secondary data procurement methodology includes deep online and offline research and discussion with knowledgeable professionals and analysts in the industry.

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ZUG, SWITZERLAND, Mar 3, 2023 - (ACN Newswire) - Inacta Group, a leading Swiss IT solution provider with a venture building arm focused on blockchain enabled business models, and Roland Berger, a global strategy consulting firm, have disclosed that they are working on joint Web3 projects and intend to closely cooperate on many more in the future. One of the projects is for the German utility giant E.On which was announced in December 2022, another is for a pharma- and consumer goods giant based in Switzerland.Inacta is headquartered in Zug, Switzerland, in the heart of Crypto Valley, and has delivered many Digital Assets and Web3 projects for clients like AXA, InCore Bank, Swiss Post, Raiffeisen Bank and Visa. Additionally, Inacta has been one of the initiators of the fastest growing blockchain ecosystem in the world, MENA focused Crypto Oasis.Crypto Oasis has been the facilitator for this deal by connecting the stakeholders through their expert knowledge of the global Web3 network. "Many such deals, connecting global players, have been orchestrated by Crypto Oasis as we build on the strong infrastructure of the Middle East and the talent and capital migration into the region," says Saqr Ereiqat, Co-Founder of Crypto Oasis.Roland Berger has been at the forefront of advising blue-chip companies, investment funds and governments on Digital Assets, Web3 and Metaverse strategies and use cases."Inacta is a reputable company in the Web3 ecosystem. With this new partnership, we extend our offering further towards the implementation of Web3 ventures, while still maintaining the necessary objectivity to be protocol- and vendor agnostic, a key value for us when advising clients," says Pierre Samaties, Partner and Global Head of Roland Berger's Digital Asset, Web3 and Metaverse practice."Roland Berger is a thought leader among the top strategy consulting firms in the Digital Assets and Web3 space. With our strategic partnership, we can combine strong strategy consulting skills with Web3 implementation power for our clients. We leverage this experience out of Crypto Valley and the growth in Crypto Oasis to bring more Web3 and Digital Asset solutions into the corporate world. For us, it is not about trading of crypto currencies, it is about building infrastructure for Tokenisation, Provenance and Digital Identities in several areas," says Ralf Glabischnig, Managing Partner and founder of Inacta.ABOUT ROLAND BERGERRoland Berger is the only management consultancy of European heritage with a strong international footprint. As an independent firm, solely owned by its Partners, Roland Berger operates 51 offices in all major markets. Their 3,000 employees offer a unique combination of an analytical approach and an empathic attitude. Driven by the values of entrepreneurship, excellence and empathy, Roland Berger is convinced that the world needs a new sustainable paradigm that takes the entire value cycle into account. Working in cross-competence teams across all relevant industries and business functions, Roland Berger provides the best expertise worldwide to meet the profound challenges of today and tomorrow.ABOUT INACTA GROUPDigital, decentralised, innovative - Inacta AG, founded in 2009 and based in Zug, is an independent Swiss IT company. More than 100 experienced digitalisation experts support organizations from the insurance, banking, real estate, and healthcare industries. Also part of the Inacta Group are several international ventures with offices in Switzerland and the UAE. Inacta supports established companies as well as start-ups with consulting, project management, and software development. As a leading technology provider for many years, Inacta uses state-of-the-art methods and leads numerous blockchain projects worldwide.ABOUT CRYPTO OASISCrypto Oasis is a MENA focused Blockchain Ecosystem headquartered in Dubai, UAE. The core elements needed for its growth are Talent, Capital, and Infrastructure. The Ecosystems stakeholders include Investors & Collectors, Start-Ups & Projects, Corporates, Science & Research Institutions, Service Providers and Government Entities & Associations. Crypto Oasis' vision is to be one of the leading Blockchain Ecosystems in the world. Today it is the fastest growing Blockchain Ecosystem in the world, with more than 1,650+ organisations identified in the UAE alone with more than 8,300+ individuals working in the space.RELATED LINKS:Roland Berger - www.rolandberger.com/en/Inacta Group - https://inacta.ch/enCrypto Oasis - https://cryptooasis.aeInacta Press OfficeMaurus SchupferCommunications Manager+41 41 725 08 54maurus.schuepfer@inacta.chSource: Crypto OasisRoland Berger GmbHInacta GroupCopyright 2023 ACN Newswire . All rights reserved.
All-new Highlights to showcase the best-in-class research from 7 peer-reviewed journals, hand-picked and introduced by the editors of each journal, and featuring exclusive interviews with the researchers behind the work.

LONDON, March 3, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- SCI (The Society of Chemical Industry) has launched a brand new Journal Highlights initiative, showcasing the most exciting, impactful and interesting studies published in SCI's journals, each carefully selected by the journal's editors.

SCI's Journal Highlights will serve to communicate and promote the exceptional applied science published in SCI's multidisciplinary portfolio of peer-reviewed academic titles, which receive contributions from leading scientists working in many fields of research and at institutions worldwide.

The platform will feature studies recently published in:

Journal of the Science of Food and Agriculture (JSFA)

Journal of Chemical Technology and Biotechnology (JCTB)

Polymer International

Pest Management Science

Biofuels, Bioproducts and Biorefining (BioFPR)

Greenhouse Gases: Science and Technology

Energy Science and Engineering

Each journal will have one editor-selected paper highlighted every quarter, with an introduction by the journal's editor and an exclusive interview with the lead researchers, as well as a lay summary and the paper's abstract.

In addition to the quarterly synchronised release of Highlights for all of SCI's journals, additional individual Highlights will be released throughout the year.

Highlights can be found at soci.org and will also feature in SCI's flagship magazine, Chemistry & Industry (C&I). SCI members and non-members alike can also subscribe to receive Highlights directly to their emails.

The first collection of seven Highlights, published on 28 February, includes an investigation by researchers in Spain into the effects of climate variability on wine grapes in the Rioja region (originally published in JSFA); a Beijing-led study into the potential for elastomer-silica nanocomposites to pave the way for eco-friendly tires (Polymer International); and a Swedish study to develop a model to sustainably improve land use while providing a local grass clover-based biomass feedstock for biorefineries (BioFPR).

SCI's Digital Editor, Simon Frost, said:

'SCI Journal Highlights are a great opportunity to bring wider attention to some of the incredible research that scientists worldwide are publishing in our journals. Producing this first set of Highlights has involved a great deal of collaboration over several months with the editors of the journals and the researchers themselves to create something that takes cutting-edge academic research and presents it in a way that a wide audience can appreciate, without compromising on scientific rigour and accuracy.

'It has been such a fantastic experience working on this project and meeting the researchers to talk about the fascinating ways that science and industry are addressing many complex challenges that affect us all. We're already working on more Highlights for release soon, and I'm so proud of everyone involved for their work to help shine a light on research that addresses the key global challenges we face, from climate change and sustainability to food and energy security.'

View original content:https://www.prnewswire.co.uk/news-releases/sci-launches-journal-highlights-301761996.html
Third authorized indication in Europe for Reblozyl, a first-in-class treatment for patients with diseases impacted by anemia

Bristol Myers Squibb (NYSE: BMY) today announced that the European Commission (EC) has granted full Marketing Authorization for Reblozyl (luspatercept), a first-in-class therapeutic option, for treatment in adult patients of anemia associated with non-transfusion-dependent (NTD) beta thalassemia. Reblozyl is currently approved in the European Union (EU), United States and Canada to address anemia associated with transfusion-dependent beta thalassemia and transfusion-dependent lower-risk myelodysplastic syndromes. The centralized Marketing Authorization approves use of Reblozyl in all EU member states, as well as Norway, Iceland and Liechtenstein.*

"Beta thalassemia is an inherited blood disorder that puts patients at significant risk for long-term clinical complications due to anemia, leaving a substantial need for treatment options, regardless of a patient's dependence on blood transfusions. This announcement is welcome news for patients with non-transfusion-dependent beta thalassemia associated anemia across the EU who are seeking newer treatment options to reduce these burdens," said Noah Berkowitz, M.D., Ph.D., senior vice president, Hematology Development, Bristol Myers Squibb. "Today's approval represents the third indication for Reblozyl in Europeand we look forward to continuing to evaluate this first-in-class therapeutic option across multiple diseases impacted by the burden of anemiain a broad clinical development program."

The EC approval of Reblozyl was based on results from the Phase 2 BEYOND study, evaluating the efficacy and safety of Reblozyl versus placebo in 145 adults with NTD beta thalassemia. Patients were eligible to receive best supportive care, including red blood cell transfusions and iron-chelating agents.

Reblozyl is being developed and commercialized through a global collaboration with Merck following Merck's acquisition of Acceleron Pharma, Inc. in November 2021.

*Centralized Marketing Authorization does not include approval in Great Britain (England, Scotland and Wales).

About BEYOND

BEYOND (NCT03342404) is a Phase 2, double-blind, randomized, placebo-controlled, multicenter study to determine the efficacy and safety of luspatercept-aamt (ACE-536) versus placebo in adults with non-transfusion-dependent beta thalassemia. The study is divided into the Screening Period, Double-blind Treatment Period (DBTP) and Post-Treatment Follow-up Period (PTFP) and randomized 145 subjects at a 2:1 ratio of Reblozyl versus placebo. All patients were eligible to receive best supportive care, which included red blood cell transfusions; iron-chelating agents; use of antibiotic, antiviral, and antifungal therapy; and/or nutritional support, as needed. The primary endpoint of the study is the proportion of subjects who have an increase from baseline =1.0 g/dL in mean of hemoglobin values over a continuous 12-week interval from Week 13 to Week 24 of treatment in the absence of transfusions. Key secondary endpoints include mean change in non-transfusion-dependent beta thalassemia-patient reported outcome (NTDT-PRO) Tiredness and Weakness (TW) domain score and baseline hemoglobin (Hb).

Results demonstrated 74 of 96 (77.1%) patients in the Reblozyl treatment arm achieved the study's primary endpoint, =1.0 g/dL mean Hb increase from baseline, versus 0 of 49 (0%) patients in the placebo arm (P<0.0001).

In a key secondary endpoint of the study, 47 of 96 patients (49.0%) treated with Reblozyl achieved mean Hb increase of =1.5 g/dL compared to baseline from Week 37-48 in the absence of transfusions versus 0 patients (0%) in the placebo arm (P<0.0001). In the Reblozyl arm, 89.6% of patients remained transfusion free at weeks 1-24 versus 67.3% of patients in the placebo arm (P=0.0013). Improvements in patient-reported QoL outcomes (tiredness and weakness) were also observed to correlate with Hb increases.

Serious adverse reactions occurred in 11.5% of patients (n=11) who received Reblozyl. The most common adverse reactions occurring in =10% of patients treated with Reblozyl were bone pain (36%), headache (30%), arthralgia (29%), back pain (28%), prehypertension (23%), hypertension (20%), cough (18%), diarrhea (17%), influenza-like illness (17%), asthenia (13%), influenza (13%), insomnia (11%) and nausea (10%).

About Beta Thalassemia

Beta thalassemia is an inherited blood disorder caused by a genetic defect in hemoglobin. It is one of the most common autosomal recessive disorders, and the total annual incidence of symptomatic individuals is estimated at 1 in 100,000 people globally.1 The disease is associated with ineffective erythropoiesis, which results in the production of fewer and less healthy red blood cells (RBCs), often leading to severe anemia-a condition that can be debilitating and can lead to other complications for patients-as well as other serious health issues.2 Treatment options for anemia associated with beta thalassemia are limited, consisting mainly of frequent RBC transfusions that have the potential to contribute to iron overload, which can cause serious complications such as organ damage.1 Non-transfusion-dependent beta thalassemia is a term used to describe patients who do not require lifelong regular transfusions for survival, although they may experience a range of clinical complications and require occasional or even frequent transfusions, usually for defined periods of time.3

About Reblozyl

Reblozyl, a first-in-class therapeutic option, promotes late-stage red blood cell (RBC) maturation in animal models.1 Reblozyl is being developed and commercialized through a global collaboration with Merck following Merck's acquisition of Acceleron Pharma, Inc. in November 2021. Reblozyl is currently approved in the U.S. for the treatment of:

anemia in adult patients with beta thalassemia who require regular red blood cell (RBC) transfusions

anemia failing an erythropoiesis stimulating agent and requiring 2 or more red blood cell units over 8 weeks in adult patients with very low- to intermediate-risk myelodysplastic syndrome with ring sideroblasts (MDS-RS) or with myelodysplastic/myeloproliferative neoplasm with ring sideroblasts and thrombocytosis (MDS/MPN-RS-T).

Reblozyl is not indicated for use as a substitute for RBC transfusions in patients who require immediate correction of anemia.

WARNINGS AND PRECAUTIONS

Thrombosis/Thromboembolism

In adult patients with beta thalassemia, thromboembolic events (TEE) were reported in 8/223 (3.6%) REBLOZYL-treated patients. TEEs included deep vein thrombosis, pulmonary embolus, portal vein thrombosis, and ischemic stroke. Patients with known risk factors for thromboembolism (splenectomy or concomitant use of hormone replacement therapy) may be at further increased risk of thromboembolic conditions. Consider thromboprophylaxis in patients at increased risk of TEE. Monitor patients for signs and symptoms of thromboembolic events and institute treatment promptly.

Hypertension

Hypertension was reported in 10.7% (61/571) of REBLOZYL-treated patients. Across clinical studies, the incidence of Grade 3 to 4 hypertension ranged from 1.8% to 8.6%. In patients with beta thalassemia with normal baseline blood pressure, 13 (6.2%) patients developed systolic blood pressure (SBP) =130 mm Hg and 33 (16.6%) patients developed diastolic blood pressure (DBP) =80 mm Hg. In adult patients with MDS with normal baseline blood pressure, 26 (29.9%) patients developed SBP =130 mm Hg and 23 (16.4%) patients developed DBP =80 mm Hg. Monitor blood pressure prior to each administration. Manage new or exacerbations of preexisting hypertension using anti-hypertensive agents.

Extramedullary Hematopoietic Masses

In adult patients with transfusion-dependent beta thalassemia, EMH masses were observed in 3.2% of REBLOZYL-treated patients, with spinal cord compression symptoms due to EMH masses occurring in 1.9% of patients (BELIEVE and REBLOZYL long-term follow-up study).

In a study of adult patients with non-transfusion-dependent beta thalassemia, a higher incidence of EMH masses was observed in 6.3% of REBLOZYL-treated patients vs. 2% of placebo-treated patients in the double- blind phase of the study, with spinal cord compression due to EMH masses occurring in 1 patient with a prior history of EMH. REBLOZYL is not indicated for use in patients with non-transfusion-dependent beta thalassemia.

Possible risk factors for the development of EMH masses in patients with beta thalassemia include history of EMH masses, splenectomy, splenomegaly, hepatomegaly, or low baseline hemoglobin (<8.5 g/dL). Signs and symptoms may vary depending on the anatomical location. Monitor patients with beta thalassemia at initiation and during treatment for symptoms and signs or complications resulting from the EMH masses and treat according to clinical guidelines. Discontinue treatment with REBLOZYL in case of serious complications due to EMH masses. Avoid use of REBLOZYL in patients requiring treatment to control the growth of EMH masses.

Embryo-Fetal Toxicity

REBLOZYL may cause fetal harm when administered to a pregnant woman. REBLOZYL caused increased post-implantation loss, decreased litter size, and an increased incidence of skeletal variations in pregnant rat and rabbit studies. Advise pregnant women of the potential risk to a fetus. Advise females of reproductive potential to use effective contraception during treatment and for at least 3 months after the final dose.

ADVERSE REACTIONS

Beta Thalassemia

Serious adverse reactions occurred in 3.6% of patients on REBLOZYL. Serious adverse reactions occurring in 1% of patients included cerebrovascular accident and deep vein thrombosis. A fatal adverse reaction occurred in 1 patient treated with REBLOZYL who died due to an unconfirmed case of acute myeloid leukemia (AML).

Most common adverse reactions (at least 10% for REBLOZYL and 1% more than placebo) were headache (26% vs 24%), bone pain (20% vs 8%), arthralgia (19% vs 12%), fatigue (14% vs 13%), cough (14% vs 11%), abdominal pain (14% vs 12%), diarrhea (12% vs 10%) and dizziness (11% vs 5%).

Myelodysplastic Syndromes

Grade >3 (=2%) adverse reactions included fatigue, hypertension, syncope and musculoskeletal pain. A fatal adverse reaction occurred in 5 (2.1%) patients.

The most common (=10%) adverse reactions included fatigue, musculoskeletal pain, dizziness, diarrhea, nausea, hypersensitivity reactions, hypertension, headache, upper respiratory tract infection, bronchitis, and urinary tract infection.

LACTATION

It is not known whether REBLOZYL is excreted into human milk or absorbed systemically after ingestion by a nursing infant. REBLOZYL was detected in milk of lactating rats. When a drug is present in animal milk, it is likely that the drug will be present in human milk. Because many drugs are excreted in human milk, and because of the unknown effects of REBLOZYL in infants, a decision should be made whether to discontinue nursing or to discontinue treatment. Because of the potential for serious adverse reactions in the breastfed child, breastfeeding is not recommended during treatment and for 3 months after the last dose.

Please see full Prescribing Information for REBLOZYL.

About Bristol Myers Squibb

Bristol Myers Squibb is a global biopharmaceutical company whose mission is to discover, develop and deliver innovative medicines that help patients prevail over serious diseases. For more information about Bristol Myers Squibb, visit us at BMS.com or follow us on LinkedIn, Twitter, YouTube, Facebook and Instagram.

Cautionary Statement Regarding Forward-Looking Statements

This press release contains "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995 regarding, among other things, the research, development and commercialization of pharmaceutical products. All statements that are not statements of historical facts are, or may be deemed to be, forward-looking statements. Such forward-looking statements are based current expectations and projections about our future financial results, goals, plans and objectives and involve inherent risks, assumptions and uncertainties, including internal or external factors that could delay, divert or change any of them in the next several years, that are difficult to predict, may be beyond our control and could cause our future financial results, goals, plans and objectives to differ materially from those expressed in, or implied by, the statements. These risks, assumptions, uncertainties and other factors include, among others, that the outcome of pricing and reimbursement negotiations in individual countries in Europe may delay or limit the commercial potential of Reblozyl(luspatercept) for the additional indication described in this release, that any marketing approvals, if granted, may have significant limitations on their use, that such product candidate may not receive regulatory approval from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration or other regulatory authorities for the additional indication described in this release, that continued approval of such product candidate for such additional indication described in this release may be contingent upon verification and description of clinical benefit in confirmatory trials, and whether such product candidate for such additional indication described in this release will be commercially successful. No forward-looking statement can be guaranteed. Forward-looking statements in this press release should be evaluated together with the many risks and uncertainties that affect Bristol Myers Squibb's business and market, particularly those identified in the cautionary statement and risk factors discussion in Bristol Myers Squibb's Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2022, as updated by our subsequent Quarterly Reports on Form 10-Q, Current Reports on Form 8-K and other filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The forward-looking statements included in this document are made only as of the date of this document and except as otherwise required by applicable law, Bristol Myers Squibb undertakes no obligation to publicly update or revise any forward-looking statement, whether as a result of new information, future events, changed circumstances or otherwise.

corporatefinancial-news

References:

Galanello R, Origa R. Beta thalassemia. Orphanet Journal of Rare Diseases. 2010;5(11). Available at: https://ojrd.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/1750-1172-5-11. Accessed February 2022. Rivella, S. (2013). Ineffective erythropoiesis and thalassemias. Available at: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3703923/pdf/nihms-490109.pdf. Accessed February 2022. Musallam, K. M., Rivella, S., Vichinsky, E., Rachmilewitz, E. A. (2013). Non-transfusion-dependent thalassemias. Haematologica, 98(6), 833-844. https://doi.org/10.3324/haematol.2012.066845. Accessed February 2022.

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20230302005889/en/

Contacts:

BMS Contacts



Media Inquiries:

media@bms.com



Investors:

investor.relations@bms.com
Sudbury, Ontario--(Newsfile Corp. - March 3, 2023) - Visit McFarlane Lake Mining (NEO: MLM) (OTCQB: MLMLF) at Booth #3208 at the Prospectors & Developers Association of Canada's (PDAC) Convention at the Metro Toronto Convention Centre (MTCC) from Sunday, March 5 to Wednesday, March 8, 2023.

About McFarlane Lake Mining

McFarlane Lake Mining is a mineral exploration company focused on the exploration and development of the High Lake mineral property located immediately east of the Ontario-Manitoba border and the West Hawk Lake mineral property located immediately west of the Ontario-Manitoba border. In addition, McFarlane holds the McMillan and Mongowin mineral property located 70 km west of Sudbury, which hosts the past-producing McMillan Gold Mine. McFarlane also owns the Michaud/Munro mineral property situated 115 km east of Timmins along the so-called "Golden Highway". McFarlane is a "reporting issuer" under applicable securities legislation in the provinces of, British Columbia, Alberta and Ontario.The Company has recently completed a drilling campaign at its West Hawk Lake property, and another is underway at its High Lake property. Please visit our website to see up-to-date news of our results.

About PDAC

PDAC 2023: The World's Premier Mineral Exploration & Mining Convention is the leading event for people, companies and organizations connected to mineral exploration.

This annual convention in Toronto, Canada is known for attracting up to 30,000 attendees from over 130+ countries for its educational programming, networking events, outstanding business opportunities and fun. Since it began in 1932, the PDAC Convention has grown in size, stature and influence. Today, it is the event of choice for the world's mineral industry hosting more than 1,100 exhibitors and 2,500 investors.

For more information and/or to register for the conference please visit: https://www.pdac.ca/convention/attend/registration.

We look forward to seeing you there.

For further information:

McFarlane Lake Mining

Craig MacPhail

416-525-5709

cmacphail@national.ca

https://mcfarlanelakemining.com/
Vancouver, British Columbia--(Newsfile Corp. - March 3, 2023) - Orestone Mining Corp. (TSXV: ORS) (OTC Pink: ORESF) (FSE: O2R1) is focused on further advancing the 100% owned, 105 square kilometre Captain project in northern BC located 41 kilometres north of Fort St. James and 30 kilometres south of the Mt Milligan copper-gold mine.

The Captain Project hosts gold dominant porphyry copper style mineralization occurring within a 5 kilometre long N-S trending corridor of low resistivity defined by an airborne MagnetoTelluric (MT) survey and drilling.

To learn more about Orestone's exploration plans for 2023 and to view the core please visit us at the 2023 PDAC, being held March 5-8 at the Metro Toronto Convention Centre, South Building, Booth 2138.

PDAC 2023: The World's Premier Mineral Exploration & Mining Convention is the leading event for people, companies and organizations connected to mineral exploration and mining.

This annual convention in Toronto, Canada is known for attracting up to 30,000 attendees from over 130 countries for its educational programming, networking events and outstanding business opportunities.

To stay informed of Orestone's latest activities please click here to provide consent and receive news and updates. For more information, please visit Orestone's website at www.orestone.ca

ON BEHALF OF ORESTONE MINING CORP.

David Hottman

CEO

info@orestone.ca



Neither the TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this News Release. This news release has been prepared by management and no regulatory authority has approved or disapproved the information contained herein.

To view the source version of this press release, please visit https://www.newsfilecorp.com/release/157046
Toronto, Ontario--(Newsfile Corp. - March 3, 2023) - Rockcliff Metals Corporation (CSE: RCLF) (OTCQB: RKCLF) ("Rockcliff" or the "Company") is pleased to provide an update from the completed drill program at its 100% owned Bur property in Manitoba. Drilling to test potential copper-zinc geophysical targets near its existing high-grade Bur VMS (copper-zinc) Deposit has discovered multiple pegmatite dykes in drill core with thicknesses of up to approximately 15 meters. The Bur Property, known for its high-grade copper-zinc potential and located within the Flin Flon-Snow Lake Greenstone Belt ("BELT"), is now recognized as being part of the lithium-bearing Wekusko Lake Pegmatite Field ("WLPF") located east of Snow Lake, Manitoba. The WLPF is known to host several nearby historical lithium-rich pegmatite deposits and recent exploration by others has discovered numerous additional lithium-bearing pegmatites in the area (see Figure 1). An increase in world-wide demand for critical minerals has amplified interest in the WLPF where numerous lithium-focused juniors have recently reported high-grade lithium drill intersections.

Rockcliff's interim President and CEO, Ken Lapierre, commented, "Our drill program at Bur has discovered the presence of beryl, tourmaline and lithium bearing spodumene and lepidolite in zoned pegmatites within the WLPF. The discovery of pegmatites near our existing 5.3 million tonne high grade Bur VMS Deposit is truly a testament to the tremendous prospectivity of the property for copper, zinc and now lithium and other critical minerals. Historical maps on the property have outlined kilometres long unexplored pegmatite dyke swarms at surface throughout the property. A modern-day staking rush continues around us and heated interest in this area focuses on its potential to host multiple and significant areas with lithium and critical minerals all near a world class copper-zinc mining camp with excellent infrastructure already in place. As we continue to focus on copper and zinc within our extensive property portfolio, we will sample and assay lithium and critical minerals on all pegmatites intersected in our drilling at the Bur Property. We will also re-examine Bur historical drill core for additional pegmatite intersections previously not recognized. Rockcliff plans to expand its summer prospecting program at Bur and at its nearby 100% owned Sails Property, which happens to be centered between two major landowners in the WLPF. It's in the early stages for us in the lithium space but we are excited to investigate this tremendous lithium and critical mineral opportunity and will keep our shareholders updated with results."

Bur Property: Bur VMS Deposit and Wekusko Lake Pegmatite Field (see Figure 1)

A total of approximately 1,400 metres of drilling in 4 holes were completed on geophysical targets within the hangingwall and footwall rocks hosting the Bur VMS Deposit. All targets were explained by the presence of appreciable graphite and pyrite and all mineralized areas will be assayed for copper and zinc.

Additionally, multiple pegmatite dykes have been discovered by drilling on the Bur property across an area of approximately 2 kilometres. The Bur Property is now recognized as being part of the WLPG, which represents a well-endowed belt of lithium bearing pegmatites east of the main Snow Lake mining camp. All 4 holes intersected from one up to 5 pegmatite dykes ranging from down the hole thicknesses (not true thickness) of 0.5 metres and up to 14.82 metres. Historical mapping at the Bur Property have identified numerous unexplored pegmatite dyke swarms at surface. If drill core sampling of the pegmatite dykes proves successful, Rockcliff will expand its efforts to determine the prospectivity of the pegmatite dykes throughout the Bur Property in the coming spring and summer seasons. Rockcliff will also compile all existing data at our 100% owned Sail Property that is in the center of the WLPF.

Figure 1: Location of the Wekusko Lake Pegmatite Field (WLPF) with pegmatites from Regional Scale Mapping, Bur and Sails Properties, Historical Nearby Lithium Deposits and Lithium Bearing Pegmatites Swarms within the WLPF.



To view an enhanced version of this graphic, please visit:

https://images.newsfilecorp.com/files/3071/157048_2fa0d0258423e959_001full.jpg

The 100% owned Bur Property hosts the Bur VMS Deposit and is located approximately 30 kilometres by gravel and paved road from the center of the Snow Lake Mining Camp. The Bur VMS Deposit is a strategic, high-grade and significant resource of copper and zinc. It remains open at depth and along strike. (see Figure 2 below).

Figure 2: Plan View of Bur VMS Deposit and Location of TDEM VMS Winter Drill Targets. Multiple Pegmatite Dykes were Intersected within the Highlighted Copper-Zinc Target Areas.



To view an enhanced version of this graphic, please visit:

https://images.newsfilecorp.com/files/3071/157048_2fa0d0258423e959_002full.jpg

Bur VMS Deposit

Rockcliff completed a NI 43-101 Technical Report in Q4 2021 on the Bur Property and press released the report on November 22, 2021. The Technical Report prepared by Stantec, with an effective date of October 26, 2021, is summarized below:

Bur VMS Deposit Mineral Resource Estimate at a 2.3% CuEq Cut-Off Grade (1-1 2 )

Classification Tonnes

(k) Cu

(%) Zn

(%) Au

(g/t) Ag

(g/t) CuEq

(%) Cu

(Mlbs) Zn

(Mlbs) Au

(koz) Ag

(koz) CuEq

(Mlbs) Measured 338 1.54 3.58 0.05 12.94 2.87 11.48 26.68 0.54 140.62 21.39 Indicated 2,679 1.70 6.45 0.02 3.41 3.97 100.41 380.95 1.72 293.71 234.48 Measured/Indicated 3,017 1.69 6.13 0.02 4.48 3.84 112.37 407.59 1.94 434.41 255.33 Inferred 2.342 1.03 8.65 0.00 0.91 4.04 53.18 446.62 0.00 68.52 208.59

CIM definitions are followed for classification of Mineral Resource. Mineral resources are contained within a mineralized vein (zone) dipping at approximately 60 degrees towards the northwest whose closest vertical depth from surface is 6 m and maximum vertical depth is 1,274 m. Resources are constrained to a minimum true vein thickness of 0.2 m and where calculated block revenues after recovery are greater than costs for mining. CuEq (%) = Cu (%) + Zn (%) x 0.347 + Au(gpt) x 0.430 +Ag(gpt) x 0.005 ZnEq (%) = Cu (%) x 2.885 + Zn (%) + Au(gpt) x 1.241 + Ag(gpt) x 0.016 CuEq and ZnEq formulas are calculated using the following revenue inputs: Cu US$ 3.26/lb, Zn US$ 1.13/lb, Au US$ 1,744/oz, and Ag US$ 22.05/oz. Metal recoveries are: 80% Cu, 80% Zn, 40% Au and 40% Ag. Mining costs used to determine prospects for eventual economic extraction total C$110/t. US$ to C$ exchange rate applied is 1:1.31. Specific gravity for the mineralized zone is fixed at 3.1. Totals may not represent the sum of the parts due to rounding. The Mineral Resource estimate has been prepared by Derek Loveday, P. Geo. of Stantec Consulting Services Ltd. in conformity with CIM "Estimation of Mineral Resource and Mineral Reserves Best Practices" guidelines and are reported in accordance with the Canadian Securities Administrators NI 43-101. Mineral resources are not mineral reserves and do not have demonstrated economic viability. There is no certainty that any mineral resource will be converted into mineral reserve. The 100% owned Bur Property is part of the Company's extensive Manitoba property portfolio, has excellent infrastructure with a year-round access road, clearing for portable buildings, and a box cut and portal. The Bur Property lies within the Flin Flon-Snow Lake greenstone belt, the largest Paleoproterozoic VMS district in the world and the most prolific VMS district in Canada.

A copy of the Technical Report is available on the Company's SEDAR issuer profile at www.SEDAR.com and the Company's website at http://rockcliffmetals.com.

Quality Control and Quality Assurance

Samples of half core were packaged and shipped directly from Rockcliff's core facility in Snow Lake to ALS Canada Ltd. (ALS), in Thunder Bay, Ontario. ALS is a Canadian assay laboratory and is accredited under ISO/IEC 17025. Each bagged core sample was dried, crushed to 70% passing 10 mesh and a 250g pulp is pulverized to 85% passing 150 mesh for assaying. A 0.5g cut is taken from each pulp for base metal analyses and leached in a multi acid (total) digestion and then analyzed for copper, lead, zinc and silver by inductively coupled plasma atomic emission spectroscopy. Gold concentrations are determined by fire assay using a 30g charge followed by an atomic absorption finish. Samples greater than the upper detection limit (3000 ppb) are reanalyzed using fire assay gravimetric using a 1 assay ton charge. A 0.2g cut is taken from each pulp for lithium and other trace and rare earth metals, and leached in a sodium peroxide fusion to ensure complete recovery, then analyzed by inductively coupled plasma mass spectroscopy. Rockcliff inserted certified blanks and standards in the sample stream to ensure lab integrity.

Rockcliff has no relationship with ALS other than ALS being a service provider to the Company.

Ken Lapierre P.Geo., Interim President and CEO of Rockcliff, a Qualified Person in accordance with Canadian regulatory requirements as set out in NI 43-101, has read and approved the scientific and technical information that forms the basis for the disclosure contained in this press release.

About Rockcliff Metals Corporation

Rockcliff is a Canadian exploration and resource development Company with several advanced-stage, high-grade VMS copper-zinc dominant deposits in the Snow Lake area of central Manitoba. The Company is a major landholder in the Flin Flon-Snow Lake Greenstone Belt which is the largest Paleoproterozoic VMS district in the world, hosting high-grade mines and deposits containing copper, zinc, gold and silver. The Company's extensive portfolio of properties totals approximately 4,000 km and includes six 100% owned high grade, undeveloped VMS deposits. Rockcliff's (49% ownership) seventh high grade VMS deposit, the Talbot Copper Deposit, is a joint Venture with Hudbay (51% ownership).

Find out more, visit our website and social media:

Website: http://rockcliffmetals.com

Twitter: @RockcliffMetals

LinkedIn: Rockcliff Metals Corp

Facebook: Rockcliff Metals Corporation

For further information, please contact:

Rockcliff Metals Corporation

Ken Lapierre

Interim President & CEO

Cell: (647) 678-3879

ken@rockcliffmetals.com

Cautionary Note Regarding Forward-Looking Statements: This news release includes forward-looking statements that are subject to risks and uncertainties. Forward-looking statements involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties, and other factors that could cause the actual results of the Company to be materially different from the historical results or from any future results expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements. All statements contained in this news release, other than statements of historical fact, are to be considered forward-looking. Although Rockcliff believes the expectations expressed in such forward-looking statements are based on reasonable assumptions, such statements are not a guarantee of future performance and actual results or developments may differ materially from those in the forward-looking statements.

The Canadian Securities Exchange does not accept responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this news release.

To view the source version of this press release, please visit https://www.newsfilecorp.com/release/157048
Software development and technology company OBSS Technology, conducts CodeMaster coding contest with a legacy of more than 10 years. On its 11th year, OBSS CodeMaster online coding contest expands into the UK, taking place in Oxford University, on March 7, 2023 with a grand prize of 30,000. Cambridge University will follow at the end of March.



OBSS CodeMaster stands out from the ordinary hackathons with its scope of real business challenge simulations. The online contest offers a self-assessment opportunity for coding enthusiasts, by measuring technical ability, passion to learn and ability to apply real life solutions.

The top 3 CodeMasters of each university will be granted cash prizes of 5,000, 2,500 and 1,000, respectively. The highest performer of internationally held CodeMasters in 2023 will win the grand prize of 30,000.

LONDON, March 03, 2023 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- OBSS Technology is a software development and technology consultancy company, offering a wide spectrum of tech services with more than 850 senior developers and software architects. The company has 18 years of expertise in the tech industry and has been a reliable business partner to well-established, global brands in industries such as finance, banking, insurance and e-commerce, bringing deep know-how on million-user, million-transaction, complex systems.

With a vision to attract and grow young and passionate talent in technology, OBSS conducts CodeMaster coding contest in more than 80 universities with a legacy of more than 10 years in its home country, Turkey. OBSS supported these talents to excel in their passion and fulfill their potential by an educational prize to Stanford University Summer School.

OBSS CodeMaster marks 11th year in the UK, at Oxford University, followed by Cambridge University

This year marks the 11th year of OBSS CodeMaster inter-university coding event, with an overarching aim to support the development of talent and contribute to unlocking their potential. Internationally held OBSS CodeMaster 2023 initiates in the UK, at Oxford University. The coding contest will take place online, at a single stage, on Tuesday, March 7, 2023 at 16:00 GMT. The contest is expected to last 4 and a half hours. CodeMaster will continue its UK tour at Cambridge University at the end of March.

Freshmen to senior Oxford University students with coding interest are welcome to apply for OBSS CodeMaster 2023 until 24:00 March 6, 2023 at:

https://obss.tech/en/codemaster/codemaster-oxford/

During the contest, the CodeMaster team of senior software developers will be ready on the online platform to answer any inquiries of contestants. The OBSS CodeMaster team will announce the highest ranking contestant on the same day, at the end of the event.

The international OBSS CodeMaster 2023 winner will receive 30,000 grand prize

The contest will finalize with 3 top ranking CodeMasters of each Oxford University and Cambridge University. First, second and third place CodeMasters will be receiving cash prizes of 5,000, 2,500 and 1,000, respectively.

OBSS CodeMaster will continue in Ethiopia on Mar 27, 2023. Other top schools in Germany, Netherlands and Poland are to be finalized in the near future. The participant with the highest performance across all internationally organized OBSS CodeMaster coding contests will win the grand prize of 30,000.

CodeMaster is a 'top talent magnet': Business simulation coding contest received 5,000 applications in previous years

OBSS CodeMaster measures the coding and solution development skills of each participant. CodeMaster 2023 will consist of 3 different tasks, including 1 algorithm and 2 sector-oriented tasks. With these tasks, OBSS aims to measure the skillsets of each participant in producing solutions, analysis, problem solving, planning, analytical thinking, developing algorithms and creating integrated solutions. Participants must be familiar with at least one of the programming languages Java, C#, C, C++, JavaScript and Python in order to complete these tasks of varying degrees of difficulty within the specified time and to be successful in the contest.

CodeMaster is different from other hackathons in how OBSS aims to find, train and bring in passionate people, not just those that are technologically gifted. OBSS simulates the struggles and challenges of business life by confronting participants with a wide range of issues they may encounter in the business world during the contest.

Standing out from the crowd of hackathons, OBSS CodeMaster coding contest received generous attention from top tech talent, up to 5,000 applications in previous years.

For more information please contact Ms. Nil Ayvaz at nil.ayvaz@obss.tech
NORTHAMPTON, MA / ACCESSWIRE / March 3, 2023 / Kimberly-Clark was named to the Clean200, a list of the top 200 publicly traded companies worldwide that are leading the way among their global peers to a clean energy present and future. The Clean200 list, developed by As You Sow and Corporate Knights, ranks companies by their 'clean revenues' in U.S. dollars and recognizes those that are putting sustainability at the heart of their products, services and investments.

"At Kimberly-Clark, we are passionate about providing Better Care for a Better World. Exploring and scaling efficient technologies, delivering innovative solutions, and building collaborative partnerships that serve our consumers' essential needs is core to who we are as a company," said Lisa Morden, Vice President of Safety, Sustainability & Occupational Health at Kimberly-Clark. "We are putting these capabilities to work to reduce our environmental footprint and safeguard the natural systems that we all rely on."

Kimberly-Clark is proud to earn a spot on the 2023 Clean200 list and represents one of six consumer goods companies recognized. This recent ranking reflects the hard work of the company's teams around the globe as they deliver Kimberly-Clark's purpose of Better Care for a Better World.

In addition to this recent recognition, Kimberly-Clark was named one of Barron's 100 Most Sustainable Companies in 2023 and was named to the 2022 Climate Leadership Hall of Fame.

View the complete 2023 Clean200 list here.

View additional multimedia and more ESG storytelling from Kimberly-Clark Corporation on 3blmedia.com.

Contact Info:

Spokesperson: Kimberly-Clark Corporation

Website: https://www.3blmedia.com/profiles/kimberly-clark-corporation

Email: info@3blmedia.com

SOURCE: Kimberly-Clark Corporation

View source version on accesswire.com:https://www.accesswire.com/741857/Kimberly-Clark-Named-to-2023-Clean200TM-List-by-As-You-Sow-and-Corporate-Knights
Toronto, Ontario--(Newsfile Corp. - March 3, 2023) - SLANG Worldwide Inc. (CSE: SLNG) (OTCQB: SLGWF) ("SLANG" or the "Company"), one of the leading global cannabis consumer packaged goods (CPG) company with a diversified portfolio of popular brands, today announced it has launched its industry-leading vape brand, O.pen, in West Virginia through its strategic partnership with Trulieve Cannabis Corp. ("Trulieve"), one of the leading and top-performing cannabis companies based in the United States.

The O.pen brand, which recently celebrated 10 years of success, has become one of the most recognized and best-selling vape brands in the country, selling over 12 million total vape products since its inception in 2012. As part of the strategic partnership with Trulieve, O.pen vape products will be sold in Trulieve's nine West Virginia retail locations and through its wholesale network composed of 40 dispensaries throughout the state, with this number continuing to grow as demand continues to build.

John Moynan, CEO of SLANG, said, "Our entry into the West Virginia market is extremely timely as West Virginia's medical cannabis market continues to evolve and consumers increasingly look for today's most popular cannabis products. O.pen has remained a top-performing vape brand for over 10 years and we are seeing stronger product sales and increased market share in our core markets more than ever before. Entering the West Virginia market through our longstanding partnership with Trulieve, who has established a leadership presence in West Virginia since launching the first medical dispensary in that state, provides a key opportunity to quickly add a new revenue stream to our business and supports our overall mission to build a national brand."

This new partnership agreement expands upon the Company's longstanding strategic alliance with Trulieve, which began in July 2019 with the successful launch of SLANG's products in three states across the country, including, Maryland, Massachusetts and Florida.

"Our ability to enter new, emerging cannabis markets through our strategic partnership model allows us to secure a position as an early entrant in each market that demonstrates the near-term opportunity for recreational legalization. For the past three years, Trulieve has played an integral role in positioning our expanding SLANG product portfolio on the shelves of today's largest and fastest growing cannabis markets and we look forward to building upon this success as the cannabis industry continues to evolve," concluded Moynan.

Gina Collins, Trulieve's Chief Marketing Officer, stated, "Our partnership with SLANG allows us to exclusively introduce O.pen into West Virginia at our dispensaries. As we continue to build our presence in the state, the addition of SLANG's market-leading vape furthers our ability to deliver the highest quality of cannabis products and customer experiences to our growing patient base."

About SLANG Worldwide Inc.

SLANG Worldwide Inc. is the industry leader in branded cannabis consumer packaged goods, with a diversified portfolio of five distinct brands and products distributed across the U.S. Operating in 15 legal cannabis markets nationwide, SLANG specializes in acquiring and developing market-proven regional brands, as well as launching innovative new brands to seize global market opportunities and match evolving consumer tastes. The Company has over a decade of experience operating in the nascent and highly regulated cannabis sector, and its partners enjoy the benefits of that experience, with access to the SLANG playbook for successful operations, sales and marketing. Its strong product pipeline from uniquely positioned and scalable brands like O.pen, Alchemy Naturals, Ceres Collaborative, Firefly, and partnerships with brands like Greenhouse Seed Company have a proven track record of success with the brands consistently ranking among the top performers in the states where SLANG operates. Learn more at slangww.com.

To be added to SLANG's email distribution list, please email SLANG@kcsa.com with "SLNG" in the Subject.

About Trulieve

Trulieve is an industry leading, vertically integrated cannabis company and multi-state operator in the U.S., with established hubs in the Northeast, Southeast, and Southwest, anchored by leading market positions in Arizona, Florida, and Pennsylvania. Trulieve is poised for accelerated growth and expansion, building scale in retail and distribution in new and existing markets through its hub strategy. By providing innovative, high-quality products across its brand portfolio, Trulieve delivers optimal customer experiences and increases access to cannabis, helping patients and customers to live without limits. Trulieve is listed on the CSE under the symbol TRUL and trades on the OTCQX market under the symbol TCNNF. For more information, please visit Trulieve.com.

Forward-Looking Statements

This news release contains statements that constitute "forward-looking statements." Such forward-looking statements involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors that may cause actual results, performance or achievements, or developments in the industry to differ materially from the anticipated results, performance or achievements expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements are statements that are not historical facts and are generally, but not always, identified by the words "expects", "plans", "anticipates", "believes", "intends", "estimates", "projects", "potential" and similar expressions, or that events or conditions "will", "would", "may", "could" or "should" occur.

Forward-looking statements are necessarily based upon a number of estimates and assumptions that, while considered reasonable by management of SLANG at this time, are inherently subject to significant business, economic and competitive risks, uncertainties and contingencies that could cause actual results to differ materially from those expressed or implied in such statements. Investors are cautioned not to put undue reliance on forward-looking statements. Applicable risks and uncertainties include, but are not limited to regulatory risks, risks related to the COVID-19 global pandemic, changes in laws, resolutions and guidelines, market risks, concentration risks, operating history, competition, the risks associated with international and foreign operations and the other risks identified under the headings "Risk Factors" in SLANG's annual information form dated April 27, 2022 and other disclosure documents available on the Company's profile on SEDAR at www.sedar.com. SLANG is not under any obligation, and expressly disclaims any intention or obligation, to update or revise any forward-looking information, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, except as expressly required by applicable law.

Company Contact

Mikel Rutherford, CFO

833-752-6499

Media and Investor Inquiries

Investors@SLANGww.com

KCSA Strategic Communications

Phil Carlson

SLANG@kcsa.com

Reader Advisory

Neither the Canadian Securities Exchange nor the Investment Industry Regulatory Organization of Canada accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.

To view the source version of this press release, please visit https://www.newsfilecorp.com/release/157025
VANCOUVER, BC / ACCESSWIRE / March 3, 2023 / Sassy Gold Corp. ("Sassy" or the "Company") (CSE:SASY)(FSE:4E7)(OTCQB:SSYRF) continues to expand the 4Amigos Vein along strike and to depth and has drilled into a new high-grade vein parallel to 4Amigos at the Company's Westmore Gold Discovery, part of its 100%-owned Foremore Project in Northwest British Columbia's prolific Eskay Camp, 45 km northeast of the Eskay Creek mine.

Drilling Highlights:

Eighteen of 19 drill holes in the 2022 program, totaling 3,740 meters (m), intersected mineralization at Westmore, the highest percentage of "hits" since Westmore drilling began in 2020;

Drill hole WM22-033 resulted in the discovery of a new vein 20 m north of 4Amigos, highlighted by 74.6 g/t Au over 0.35 m starting just 27.65 m downhole with numerous flecks of VG (visible gold) noted;

over 0.35 m starting just 27.65 m downhole with numerous flecks of VG (visible gold) noted; Sassy now has 19 drill hole pierce points into the 4Amigos Vein. A higher-grade section of the vein >150 meters in strike, and approximately 90 meters below surface, has grades that range from 1.1 g/t Au over 0.60 m to 86.4 g/t over 0.70 m;

over 0.70 m; Drilling successfully intersected the quartz stockworks system that defines the south cliff of Westmore with intercepts up to 11.55 g/t Au over 0.59 m within this structure. The Company has also developed a new vein corridor, the South Cliff vein corridor;

over 0.59 m within this structure. The Company has also developed a new vein corridor, the South Cliff vein corridor; One of the last drill holes of the 2022 campaign (WM22-035) cut three separate mineralized intervals, including two at depth with grades as high as 5.82 g/t Au in quartz veining, to confirm that gold mineralization occurs at the Westmore intrusive over ~470 m in the vertical dimension;

Gold occurring in quartz veins, in granodiorite at depth, suggests the Westmore intrusive continues south of the southern cliff exposure and possibly deep under the More Creek Glacier to the south and east.

Mr. Mark Scott, Sassy President and CEO, commented: "The Westmore discovery is in its early stages and continues to impress our geological team. Extensive surface mineralization has now been traced to a depth of nearly 500 meters in drill core after a successful program in 2022, with over two dozen veins now identified, yet the source of this mineralization remains unknown."

Mark Scott concluded: "As our understanding of this Eskay Camp system evolves through continued drilling, we would expect to see wider intercepts and high grades typical of other deposits in this prolific district. Just a few years ago, Westmore was an unknown target without a single drill hole into it. The systematic process we have followed over three short Eskay field seasons is how important discoveries are made in this region."

Westmore Discovery Highlights:

Sassy has now drilled 36 holes or 7,908 meters at Westmore and continues to better define the high-grade mineralization associated with numerous quartz veins first recognized in a surface discovery late in the 2019 field season;

It is now apparent that the quartz veins occur in individual quartz vein corridors. Within these corridors occur the dominant east-west striking veins which are supplemented by veins that are oblique to the east-west strike;

As demonstrated by the 4Amigos vein corridor, gold grade distribution is erratic and nuggety which is not uncommon in these types of vein systems;

The 2022 and 2021 drilling did intersect zones of significant quartz vein thickening, which are auriferous and geochemically anomalous;

A geochronology study has put the time of the emplacement of the Westmore intrusive at 189.6 Ma (Early Jurassic). Notable examples of gold deposits in the Eskay Camp of a similar age are Brucejack and Snip;

Geochemically, the high-grade veins occurring in the intrusive and the encompassing mafic volcanic rock at Westmore are similar;

The associated Au-Ag-Cd-Pb-Te-Zn geochemical signature is recognized in veins occurring within the mafic volcanic unit that flanks the west-northwest side of the Westmore intrusive and on the southeast side of the intrusive where mafic volcanic hosted and very steeply dipping quartz veins have a measured thickness at surface of up to 7.7 m;

Importantly, this geochemical signature can be utilized to vector to potentially favorable quartz veins within the intrusive and surrounding country rock;

Structural interpretation of the Westmore vein corridor settings is ongoing. LiDAR results collected in 2022 have provided an excellent platform to do structural interpretation at Westmore and on the Foremore property as a whole;

Preliminary interpretation of the setting of the Westmore Intrusive is that of a possible tight, anticlinal fold structure. The axis of this fold is oriented slightly north of an east-west direction. The vast majority of the gold bearing veins mapped and sampled at Westmore conform to the interpreted orientation of the fold axis. There is a noticeable increase in quartz vein thickness in some veins mapped on surface and intersected by drilling to the south, away from the interpreted fold axis. This is a possible indication of a more ductile setting within the outer limbs of the fold as opposed to a more brittle deformation occupying the area of the fold axis. A more ductile setting may be more amenable to a vein thickening scenario within the limbs of the interpreted fold. Fold structures and zones of possible dilation are excellent conduits for fluid flow and traps for gold deposition.

Sassy continues to map and interpret the vein corridors recognized at the Westmore intrusive. The corridors highlighted in this news release (Herve, 4Amigos and South Cliff) are all open along strike and to depth. It is also important to note that exploration; prospecting and drilling at Westmore has thus far been focused in areas of maximum exposure. The eastern half of the intrusive remains very underexplored and drilling does suggest the intrusive and the vein corridors continue underneath the More Creek Glacier to the south and most likely to the east.

2022 Drill Intersection Highlights - 2022 Westmore Discovery Zone

Drillhole Id From (m) To (m) Length (m) Au (g/t) Ag (g/t) Vein WM22-019 50.94 52.20 1.26 3.52 29.75 WM22-019 65.55 67.96 2.14 3.14 14.04 Including 65.55 66.14 0.59 11.55 20.70 WM22-019 269.41 269.71 0.30 2.21 9.89 WM22-020 106.48 106.78 0.30 2.99 8.17 WM22-020 116.10 128 11.90 0.52 3.88 South Cliff Vein Including 118.00 122.00 4.00 1.16 3.84 South Cliff Vein Including 118.00 120.00 2.00 1.78 5.52 South Cliff Vein WM22-021 75.00 75.45 0.45 0.38 76.40 WM22-021 102.98 110.93 7.95 1.01 0.97 South Cliff Vein Including 104.19 110.26 6.07 1.24 1.17 South Cliff Vein Including 107.60 110.26 2.66 2.13 1.54 South Cliff Vein WM22-021 150.70 151.60 0.90 0.24 51.00 WM22-021 261.08 262.56 0.30 4.87 0.88 WM22-022 38.96 39.79 0.83 3.94 8.79 4Amigos Including 38.96 39.49 0.53 5.98 13.55 4Amigos WM22-023 48.14 48.95 0.81 5.56 13.25 4Amigos WM22-024 23.53 25.55 2.02 2.02 15.27 Herve Vein Including 25.25 25.55 0.30 11.05 14.60 Herve Vein WM22-024 42.76 43.15 0.39 1.41 3.54 4Amigos WM22-024 165.18 166.00 0.82 1.48 12.85 WM22-025 12.93 13.23 0.30 3.88 27.50 Herve Vein WM22-025 44.91 45.58 0.67 10.55 9.54 4Amigos WM22-025 86.35 86.77 0.42 0.66 37.20 WM22-025 130.84 131.49 0.65 2.31 26.13 WM22-026 81.90 85.56 0.66 1.21 9.52 WM22-026 97.75 99.07 1.32 1.71 3.05 4Amigos Including 98.38 99.07 0.69 3.12 5.06 4Amigos WM22-027 123.34 124.81 1.47 0.06 0.59 WM22-028 108.14 110.15 2.01 0.18 1.20 WM22-029 108.10 108.80 0.70 12.10 21.50 4Amigos WM22-029 204.00 205.55 1.55 1.10 5.43 WM22-029 216.70 217.00 0.30 0.81 33.70 WM22-030 26.09 26.49 0.40 14.70 20.10 Herve Vein WM22-030 43.20 43.75 0.55 1.10 26.20 4Amigos WM22-030 60.19 60.81 0.62 6.45 3.36 WM22-030 121.38 121.98 0.60 1.03 19.25 WM22-031 32.60 33.00 0.40 2.46 4.85 Herve Vein WM22-031 56.15 56.65 0.50 5.61 85.90 4Amigos WM22-032 44.88 45.92 1.04 0.33 3.36 4Amigos WM22-032 63.57 66.71 3.14 1.35 2.53 Including 63.57 64.00 0.43 9.36 7.67 WM22-032 97.60 98.10 0.50 1.90 22.20 WM22-033 27.65 28.00 0.35 74.60 47.30 Herve Vein WM22-033 45.45 46.80 1.35 4.48 9.49 Including 46.00 46.80 0.80 7.38 14.15 4Amigos WM22-034 No significant results WM22-035 79.90 80.20 0.30 3.52 5.91 WM22-035 194.50 198.50 4.00 0.64 2.05 Including 196.65 198.50 1.85 1.25 4.04 Including 196.65 197.60 0.95 2.11 7.66 Including 197.30 197.60 0.30 5.82 13.20 WM22-035 207.00 207.30 0.30 1.26 16.25 WM22-036 153.50 154.24 0.74 2.05 29.30

Note: Above intercepts are drill hole lengths - true widths unknown at this time.

2022 Westmore Drill Hole Location Map

Westmore 2022 Drill Hole Location Details

Drill Hole # Easting (UTM) Northing (UTM) Elevation (ASL_m) Azimuth () Dip () Depth (m) Start Date End Date WM22-019 6325305 378419 1421 175 -50 322 07/22/22 07/26/22 WM22-020 6325299 378462 1404 156 -50 258 07/26/22 07/29/22 WM22-021 6325299 378462 1404 168 -50 303 07/29/22 07/31/22 WM22-022 6325534 378354 1533 180 -45 219 08/01/22 08/03/22 WM22-023 6325534 378354 1533 180 -60 176 08/03/22 08/04/22 WM22-024 6325534 378354 1533 195 -53 175 08/04/22 08/05/22 WM22-025 6325534 378354 1533 165 -53 157 08/05/22 08/06/22 WM22-026 6325584 378383 1519 180 -45 177 08/06/22 08/07/22 WM22-027 6325584 378383 1519 180 -60 204 08/07/22 08/08/22 WM22-028 6325584 378383 1519 170 -53 210 08/09/22 08/10/22 WM22-029 6325584 378383 1519 190 -53 222 08/10/22 08/11/22 WM22-030 6325543 378295 1548 180 -45 151 08/11/22 08/12/22 WM22-031 6325543 378295 1548 180 -60 169 08/12/22 08/13/22 WM22-032 6325543 378295 1548 195 -53 184 08/13/22 08/14/22 WM22-033 6325543 378295 1548 170 -53 166 08/14/22 08/15/22 WM22-034 6325254 378666 1277 215 -45 181 08/15/22 08/16/22 WM22-035 6325254 378666 1277 230 -50 226 08/16/22 08/18/22 WM22-036A 6325254 378666 1277 200 -45 15 08/18/22 08/18/22 WM22-036 6325254 378666 1277 200 -45 225 08/18/22 08/20/22 Total 3740

Westmore Drilling 2020-2022

Sassy at PDAC - Booth #3246

Sassy Gold looks forward to meeting investors at PDAC 2023, the world's premier mineral exploration and mining convention, in Toronto from Sunday, March 5 through Wednesday, March 8.

Visit us at Booth #3246.

Quality Assurance/Quality Control

Sassy implemented an industry-standard QA/QC program for all field samples and drill core samples collected during its 2022 exploration program. The company inserted QC blanks and standards at pre-determined intervals. Drill core samples were cut in half by rock saw. Half of the core remained in the labeled interval in the core box, the other half was placed in clear plastic sample bags together with pre-numbered sample tags and remained on site until transportation to the lab. Samples were transported and submitted directly by Company personnel to the ALS prep lab at Terrace, B.C., when there was capacity. Some shipments went directly to ALS facilities in Kamloops and North Vancouver. Initially, all rock and drill core samples were crushed to 70% passing 2mm, split to 500g, and pulverized to a pulp with 85% passing 75 micrometres. The pulps were then shipped/processed at ALS facilities in Kamloops and Vancouver where they were fire assayed for gold by 50g fire assay with atomic absorption finish (AAS), 48 elements by multi-element ICP-MS, 4-acid digestion. Over-limit analyses for Ag, Cu, Pb, Zn were performed utilizing the Ore Grade, 4-Acid, ICP-AES procedure. ALS is an accredited lab independent of Sassy Gold.

Qualified Person

The technical information in this news release has been reviewed and approved by Ian Fraser, P.Geo., Vice-President of Exploration for Sassy Gold. Mr. Fraser is the Qualified Person responsible for the scientific and technical information contained herein under National Instrument 43-101 standards.

About Sassy Gold Corp.

Sassy is an exploration stage resource company currently engaged in the identification, acquisition and exploration of high-grade precious metal and base metal projects in North America. Its focus is the Foremore Project located in the Eskay Camp, Liard Mining Division, in the heart of Northwest B.C.'s prolific Golden Triangle. Sassy is also earning up to a 100% interest in the Highrock Uranium Project in the Key Lake region of Saskatchewan. Sassy also holds significant equity positions in Gander Gold Corp., Galloper Gold Corp., and MAX Power Mining Corp.

Contact Information:

Mark Scott

Chief Executive Officer & Director

info@sassygold.com

Terry Bramhall

Corporate Communications/IR

1.604.833.6999 (mobile)

1.604.675.9985 (office)

terry.bramhall@sassygold.com

Adrian Sydenham

MarketSmart Communications Inc.

Toll-free: 1-877-261-4466

Email: info@marketsmart.com

Caution Regarding Forward-Looking Statements

This news release contains "forward-looking statements" and "forward-looking information" (collectively referred to herein as "forward-looking statements") within the meaning of applicable securities legislation. Forward-looking statements are statements that are not historical facts and are generally, but not always, identified by the words "expects", "plans", "anticipates", "believes", "intends", "estimates", "continues", "projects", "potential", "budget" and similar expressions, or are events or conditions that "will", "would", "may", "could" or "should" occur or be achieved. This news release contains forward-looking statements pertaining to: the closing of the Transaction and the ability for the Transaction to enhance shareholder value.

Although the Company believes that the material factors, expectations and assumptions expressed in such forward-looking statements are reasonable based on information available to it on the date such statements are made, undue reliance should not be placed on the forward-looking statements because the Company can give no assurances that such statements and information will prove to be correct and such statements do not guarantee future performance. Since forward-looking statements address future events and conditions, by their very nature they involve inherent risks and uncertainties.

Actual performance and results could differ materially from those currently anticipated due to a number of factors and risks. These include, but are not limited to known and unknown risks, including those set forth in the Company's Management Discussion and Analysis (a copy of which can be found under Sassy's profile on SEDAR at www.sedar.com). Accordingly, readers should not place undue importance or reliance on the forward-looking statements. Readers are cautioned that the list of factors is not exhaustive. Statements, including forward-looking statements, contained in this news release are made as of the date they are given and the Company disclaims any intention or obligation to publicly update or revise any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, unless so required by applicable securities laws. The forward-looking statements contained in this news release are expressly qualified by this cautionary statement. Additional information on these and other factors that could affect the Company's operations and financial results are included in reports on file with applicable securities regulatory authorities and may be accessed under the Company's profile on SEDAR at www.sedar.com.

The CSE has neither approved nor disapproved the contents of this news release. Neither the CSE nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the CSE) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.

SOURCE: Sassy Gold Corporation

View source version on accesswire.com:https://www.accesswire.com/741837/Sassy-Discovers-New-High-Grade-Gold-Vein-at-Westmore
VANCOUVER, BC / ACCESSWIRE / March 3, 2023 / Gold Terra Resource Corp. (TSXV:YGT)(Frankfurt:TX0)(OTCQX:YGTFF) ("Gold Terra" or the "Company") is pleased to announce the first assay result from its winter drilling program on the Con Mine Option ("CMO") Property in Yellowknife, NWT. Drill hole GTCM23-042, the first hole of the program, intersected 5.3 g/t Au over 6.43 metres. The drilling program is designed to expand the Yellorex North gold zone between surface and 300 metres below surface (see February 24, 2023 press release). The CMO property is under option from subsidiaries of Newmont Corporation and is acquirable by the Company upon fulfillment of certain conditions set out in the CMO agreement, as reported in the Company's news release dated November 22, 2021. To date, the winter drilling program has completed ten (10) holes for a total of approximately 4,000 metres, of which eight (8) holes were on Yellorex North.

Yellorex North Zone drill core from hole GTCM23-042 will be on display at the Gold Terra Booth #2304, The Prospectors & Developers Association of Canada Convention (PDAC) at the Metro Toronto Convention Centre (MTCC) on Sunday, March 5 to Wednesday, March 8, 2023. Please join us at our booth to speak with management about the drilling program, future objectives and to see the core.

Chairman and CEO, Gerald Panneton, commented, "The Hole GTCM23-042 initial assay result is very encouraging as the intersection is 150 metres below surface, and fulfills our objective to expand the current near surface mineral resources on the CMO. We look forward to additional results as all eight holes have hit the targeted Campbell Shear and show significant intersections of visible multi-meter veining and sulphide mineralization. The Campbell Shear structure is our highest priority target as the Con Mine produced historically more than 5 million ounces of high-grade gold (16 g/t Au)."

Hole GTCM23-042 Highlights

GTCM23-042 intersected 5.3 g/t Au over 6.43 metres and was designed to verify and add depth extension to historical high-grade mineralization encountered in the Yellorex North zone of the Campbell Shear, as shown in Figure 1 below. The Campbell Shear was intersected at approximately 150 metres below ground level.

The main intersection is between 236.5-242.93 metres down hole and contains approximately 6.5 metres of smoky quartz veining, strong sericite alteration, and strong pyrite and arsenopyrite mineralization. Veining, alteration, mineralization, and width are the most important factors for assessing zone potential as drilling occurs.

A cross-section with hole GTCM23-042 is shown in Figure 2 further below.

Figure 1 - Long section showing 2023 drilling, historic drilling, and hole GTCM23-42

Figure 2 - Cross-section showing hole GTCM23-042

The focus of the winter drilling program is to expand the September 2022 initial Mineral Resource Estimate ("MRE") (see September 7, 2022 press release) along the Campbell Shear immediately south of the Con Mine. The initial mineral resource estimate from drilling in 2022 is 109,000 Indicated ounces of contained gold and 432,000 Inferred ounces of contained gold between surface and to a depth of 400m below surface along a 2 km corridor. Please see the October 21, 2022 technical report, titled "Initial Mineral Resource Estimate for the CMO Property, Yellowknife City Gold Project, Yellowknife, Northwest Territories, Canada" with an effective date of September 2, 2022, by Qualified Person, Allan Armitage, Ph. D., P. Geo., SGS Geological Services, which can be found on the Company's website at https://www.goldterracorp.com and on SEDAR at www.sedar.com.

The eight holes were drilled near surface on Yellorex North as this represents one of many under explored targets in the area. The target area is only 1 kilometre south of existing infrastructure, and tested only by one hole in 2022, GTCM22-039, (see August 3, 2022 press release) which returned two mineralized zones returning 3.31 g/t Au over 6.00 metres from 306.0 to 312.0 metres and including 5.39 g/t Au over 2.0 metres from 309.00 to 311.00 metres, and 2.18 g/t Au over 5.0 metres from 324.00 metres to 329.00 metres.

Qualified Persons

Joe Campbell, P. Geo., Senior Technical Advisorfor Gold Terra is a Qualified Person within the meaning of NI 43-101 and has reviewed and approved the technical information contained in this news release.

About Gold Terra

The YCG project encompasses 800 sq. km of contiguous land immediately north, south and east of the City of Yellowknife in the Northwest Territories. Through a series of acquisitions, Gold Terra controls one of the six major high-grade gold camps in Canada. Being within 10 kilometers of the City of Yellowknife, the YCG is close to vital infrastructure, including all-season roads, air transportation, service providers, hydro-electric power, and skilled tradespeople. Gold Terra is currently focusing its drilling on the prolific Campbell Shear, where 14 Moz of gold has been produced, and most recently on the Con Mine Option claims immediately south of the past producing Con Mine (1938-2003).

The YCG and CMO property lie on the prolific Yellowknife greenstone belt, covering nearly 70 kilometers of strike length along the main mineralized shear system that host the former-producing high-grade Con and Giant gold mines. The Company's exploration programs have successfully identified significant zones of gold mineralization and multiple targets that remain to be tested which reinforces the Company's objective of re-establishing Yellowknife as one of the premier gold mining districts in Canada.

Visit our website at www.goldterracorp.com.

For more information, please contact:

Gerald Panneton, Chairman & CEO

gpanneton@goldterracorp.com

Mara Strazdins, Manager of Investor Relations

Phone: 1-778-897-1590 | 604-689-1749 ext 102

strazdins@goldterracorp.com

Neither the TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.

Information Concerning Estimates of Mineral Resources

Mineral Resources that are not Mineral Reserves do not have demonstrated economic viability. Therefore, investors are cautioned not to assume that all or any part of an Inferred Mineral Resource could ever be mined economically. It cannot be assumed that all or any part of "Measured Mineral Resources," "Indicated Mineral Resources," or "Inferred Mineral Resources" will ever be upgraded to a higher category. The Mineral Resource estimates contained herein may be subject to legal, political, environmental or other risks that could materially affect the potential development of such mineral resources. Refer to the Technical Report, once filed, for more information with respect to the key assumptions, parameters, methods and risks of determination associated with the foregoing.

Cautionary Note to United States Investors

The Company prepares its disclosure in accordance with the requirements of securities laws in effect in Canada, which differ from the requirements of U.S. securities laws. Terms relating to Mineral Resources in this news release are defined in accordance with NI 43-101 under the guidelines set out in CIM Definition Standards on Mineral Resources and Mineral Reserves, adopted by the Canadian Institute of Mining, Metallurgy and Petroleum Council on May 19, 2014, as amended ("CIM Standards"). The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (the "SEC") has adopted amendments effective February 25, 2019 (the "SEC Modernization Rules") to its disclosure rules to modernize the mineral property disclosure requirements for issuers whose securities are registered with the SEC under the U.S. Securities Exchange Act of 1934. As a result of the adoption of the SEC Modernization Rules, the SEC will now recognize estimates of "Measured Mineral Resources", "Indicated Mineral Resources" and "Inferred Mineral Resources", which are defined in substantially similar terms to the corresponding CIM Standards. In addition, the SEC has amended its definitions of "Proven Mineral Reserves" and "Probable Mineral Reserves" to be substantially similar to the corresponding CIM Standards.

U.S. investors are cautioned that while the foregoing terms are "substantially similar" to corresponding definitions under the CIM Standards, there are differences in the definitions under the SEC Modernization Rules and the CIM Standards. Accordingly, there is no assurance any Mineral Resources that the Company may report as "Measured Mineral Resources", "Indicated Mineral Resources" and "Inferred Mineral Resources" under NI 43-101 would be the same had the Company prepared the Mineral Resource estimates under the standards adopted under the SEC Modernization Rules. In accordance with Canadian securities laws, estimates of "Inferred Mineral Resources" cannot form the basis of feasibility or other economic studies, except in limited circumstances where permitted under NI 43-101.

Cautionary Note Regarding Forward-Looking Information

Certain statements made and information contained in this news release constitute "forward-looking information" within the meaning of applicable securities legislation ("forward-looking information"). Generally, this forward-looking information can, but not always, be identified by use of forward-looking terminology such as "plans", "expects" or "does not expect", "is expected", "budget", "scheduled", "estimates", "forecasts", "intends", "anticipates" or "does not anticipate", or "believes", or variations of such words and phrases or statements that certain actions, events, conditions or results "will", "may", "could", "would", "might" or "will be taken", "occur" or "be achieved" or the negative connotations thereof.

All statements other than statements of historical fact may be forward-looking information. Forward-looking information is necessarily based on estimates and assumptions that are inherently subject to known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors that may cause the actual results, level of activity, performance or achievements of the Company to be materially different from those expressed or implied by such forward-looking information. In particular, this news release contains forward-looking information regarding the current drilling on the Campbell Shear, potentially adding ounces to the Company's current YCG mineral resource, and the Company's objective of re-establishing Yellowknife as one of the premier gold mining districts in Canada.

There can be no assurance that such statements will prove to be accurate, as the Company's actual results and future events could differ materially from those anticipated in this forward-looking information as a result of the factors discussed in the "Risk Factors" section in the Company's most recent MD&A and annual information form available under the Company's profile at www.sedar.com.

Although the Company has attempted to identify important factors that would cause actual results to differ materially from those contained in forward-looking information, there may be other factors that cause results not to be as anticipated, estimated or intended. The forward-looking information contained in this news release is based on information available to the Company as of the date of this news release. There can be no assurance that such statements will prove to be accurate, as actual results and future events could differ materially from those anticipated in such statements. All of the forward-looking information contained in this news release is qualified by these cautionary statements. Readers are cautioned not to place undue reliance on forward-looking information due to the inherent uncertainty thereof. Except as required under applicable securities legislation and regulations applicable to the Company, the Company does not intend, and does not assume any obligation, to update this forward-looking information.

SOURCE: Gold Terra Resource Corp

View source version on accesswire.com:https://www.accesswire.com/741803/Gold-Terra-Intersects-53-gt-Gold-over-643-Metres-on-Yellorex-North-Zone-Con-Mine-Option-Property
Companies on the 2023 Inc. 5000 Regionals: Pacific list had an average growth rate of 559 percent

LOOMIS, CA / ACCESSWIRE / March 3, 2023 / Inc. Magazine revealed on Tuesday that Ticket Chocolate is No. 150 on its third annual Inc. 5000 Regionals: Pacific list, the most prestigious ranking of the fastest-growing Pacific private companies, based in the Pacific region. Born of the annual Inc. 5000 franchise, this regional list represents a unique look at the most successful private companies within the Pacific economy generating sustainable growth and jobs.





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Boutique Gourmet Chocolate Company Ticket Chocolate

"This is a huge milestone for Ticket Chocolate," says Tyler Geertsen, Owner/CEO of Ticket Chocolate. "I am so grateful to our amazing team members who come in every day to work hard and create amazing experiences for our customers. Our growth and continued support from our shop owners are a testament to their hard work. We love what we create every day and I'm excited for what we are creating for the future."

The companies on this list show a remarkable rate of growth across all industries in the Pacific. Between 2019 and 2021, these 185 private companies had an average growth rate of 559 percent and, in 2021 alone, they added 14,536 jobs and $4.6 billion to the Pacific region's economy. Ticket Chocolate continues to create jobs and economic prosperity in the Loomis, CA community.

Complete results of the Inc. 5000 Regionals: Pacific, including company profiles and an interactive database that can be sorted by industry, metro area, and other criteria, can be found at inc.com/pacific.

About Ticket Chocolate

Ticket Chocolate was founded in 2010 to introduce the now-famous Hot Chocolate on a Stick to the US market. The gourmet chocolate manufacturer now produces a wide range of delicious confections, from artisan chocolate bars to s'mores kits, from truffles to marshmallows, available direct-to-consumer and wholesale nationwide. Their products have also increased in popularity with corporations as part of their corporate gifting packages.

At Ticket Chocolate, we believe that life's best moments are often the simplest, which is the approach we take with our chocolate. We use only the finest couverture chocolate and other ingredients, carefully handcrafting every one of our chocolates in our Loomis, California kitchen to create chocolate that's worth lingering over. It's the perfect treat for late-night visits with old friends, overdue romantic moments, and quiet mornings all to yourself. From our hot chocolate sticks to our creamy marshmallows, our products remind busy people to take time for the pleasure of small things.

Our name. Like a great trip, we want our chocolate to be a part of moments to remember. We want to create chocolate and sweets that send you

Ticket Chocolate is the result of years of dreaming and many late-night conversations (while lingering over steaming mugs of delicious hot chocolate, of course!) why not come along for the ride?

Visit Ticket Chocolate at www.ticketchocolate.com

Contact Information

Ryan Geertsen

Marketing Director

ryan@ticketchocolate.com

253-683-0059

SOURCE: Ticket Chocolate

View source version on accesswire.com:https://www.accesswire.com/741812/Boutique-Gourmet-Chocolate-Brand-Ticket-Chocolate-Ranks-No-150-on-Inc-Magazines-List-of-the-Pacific-Regions-Fastest-Growing-Private-Companies
Viz.ai has submitted a de novo classification request to the FDA for a new AI algorithm intended to identify and triage patients suspected with HCM

Viz.ai, a leader in AI-powered disease detection and care coordination, today announced a multi-year agreement with Bristol Myers Squibb (NYSE: BMY), a global biopharmaceutical company, to deploy an artificial intelligence (AI) algorithm and provider workflow software (VizTM HCM) intended to identify and triage patients who may require further evaluation for the detection of hypertrophic cardiomyopathy. Viz.ai has submitted a de novo request to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for the algorithm as a Software-as-a-Medical-Device (SaMD), and the filing has been accepted by the agency for review.

This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20230303005086/en/

Viz.ai Announces Agreement with Bristol Myers Squibb on Hypertrophic Cardiomyopathy (Graphic: Business Wire)

"HCM is the most common inherited heart disease with an estimated prevalence between 1 in 200 and 1 in 500, and one of the leading causes of sudden cardiac death in people under age 35," said David Huneycutt, M.D., F.A.C.C., a cardiologist at HCA Healthcare's TriStar Centennial Medical Center in Nashville, Tenn. and an enterprise-wide cardiovascular physician director. "Since a high percentage of patients remain undiagnosed, it is critical that we find solutions to identify patients with suspected HCM sooner."

HCM is defined by thickened heart muscle, which can make it harder for the heart to pump blood. It is associated with increased risks of atrial fibrillation, mitral valve disease, and heart failure. HCM is estimated to impact an estimated 750,000 people in the United States and 20 million worldwide.1

"At BMS, we believe that the use of AI to detect key, subtle characteristics in bio signals to aid physicians in the screening, diagnosis, treatment and monitoring of diseases will have a critical and positive impact on patients' lives," said Suhas Krishna, Vice President, Head of Digital Health Product Management, Bristol Myers Squibb. "We are excited to continue building momentum in our support of Viz.ai's research and development program. The speed and quality in which this novel AI algorithm workflow sequencing product was designed, verified, validated, and submitted by Viz.ai for agency review is testament to the ability to drive rapid and meaningful innovation in healthcare."

Viz HCM is intended to automatically review routine electrocardiograms (ECGs) from across a health system, identify suspected cases of HCM, and notify the appropriate cardiologist. The physician can then review the ECG in a timely manner and take the appropriate clinical action, including recommending follow-up diagnostic testing in parallel to the standard of care. Viz HCM will be integrated into the Viz.ai Cardio Suite for U.S. hospitals, which is expected to advance cardiac care coordination through a mobile-based electrocardiogram viewer, built with timely AI-powered alerts and communication tools. The Viz.ai Intelligent Care Coordination Platform, which includes Viz.ai Cardio Suite, is adopted by nearly 1,300 hospitals in the U.S. Viz.ai has placed Viz HCM at several hospitals, including select HCA Healthcare facilities, under research agreements to further evaluate the product in clinical practice. The company plans to launch Viz HCM broadly upon FDA clearance.

"Hypertrophic cardiomyopathy can be a devastating disease. The agreement with Bristol Myers Squibb gives us the opportunity to enable underdiagnosed and underserved HCM patients to get the care they need from appropriate providers at the right time," said Dr. Chris Mansi, CEO at Viz.ai. "Incorporating the new HCM module into the Viz Cardio Suite is expected to enhance detection, expedite care, and empower clinicians and patients."

For more information on Viz HCM for research, please visit https://www.viz.ai/research/hcm.

Viz HCM not available for sale. Investigational use only

1 Maron BJ. N Engl J Med. 2018; 379:655-68.??

About Viz.ai, Inc.

Viz.ai is the pioneer in the use of AI algorithms and machine learning to increase access to life-saving treatments, covering more than 220 million lives across 1,300+ hospitals and health systems in the U.S. and Europe. The AI-powered Viz Platform is an intelligent care coordination solution that identifies more patients, informs critical decisions at the point of care, and helps improve outcomes. Backed by real-world clinical data, the Viz Platform delivers significant value to patients, providers, and pharmaceutical and medical device companies. For more information visit viz.ai.

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20230303005086/en/

Contacts:

Ariane Lovell

ariane.lovell@finnpartners.com
HOUSTON, TX / ACCESSWIRE / March 3, 2023 / Camber Energy, Inc. (NYSE American:CEI) ("Camber" or the "Company"), is pleased to announce that on or about January 30, 2023, Camber entered into a 12-month full-service agreement with Shareholder Intelligence Services, LLC ("ShareIntel") as part of its overall efforts to help identify and combat potential short selling of the Company's stock and protect the interests of its shareholders.

ShareIntel gathers and analyzes shareholder trading data through its DRIL-DownTM process, a technology platform that tracks bank, broker dealer and shareholder movement specifically to reveal suspicious, aberrant, and/or unusual trading activity. The tool aims to help identify, interpret, and communicate shareholder and broker-dealer movement to issuers.

James Doris, President & CEO of Camber stated "It is imperative that illegal trading activity be completely eliminated from the market, and we are pleased to be working with ShareIntel as part of our efforts to identify parties who are or who may have been involved in any potential illegal short selling of our stock. Analysis provided by ShareIntel will assist us with developing an appropriate action plan to diminish any potential unlawful activity".

David Wenger, President and Chief Executive Officer of ShareIntel, stated, "We look forward to helping Camber Energy identify participants to potential illegal naked short selling, and assisting the company with implementing appropriate action steps to help curtail such activity."

About ShareIntel

ShareIntel-Shareholder Intelligence Services, LLC (SIS) is a patented compliance driven SaaS retained by public companies to track shareholder ownership and monitor critical broker-dealer and shareholder movement. DRIL-Down identifies participants to potential abusive and illegal short selling providing actionable intelligence. www.shareintel.com

About Camber Energy,Inc.

Camber Energy, Inc. is a growth-oriented diversified energy company. Through its majority-owned subsidiary, Camber provides custom energy & power solutions to commercial and industrial clients in North America and owns interests in oil and natural gas assets in the United States. The company's majority-owned subsidiary also holds an exclusive license in Canada to a patented carbon-capture system, and has a majority interest in: (i) an entity with intellectual property rights to a fully developed, patented Waste Treatment system using Ozone Technology; and (ii) entities with the intellectual property rights to fully developed, patent pending, ready-for-market proprietary Electric Transmission and Distribution Open Conductor Detection Systems. For more information, please visit the company's website at www.camber.energy.

Forward-Looking Statements

This press release may contain forward-looking information within the meaning of Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended, and Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933, as amended. Any statements that are not historical facts contained in this press release are "forward-looking statements", which statements may be identified by words such as "expects," "plans," "projects," "will," "may," "anticipates," "believes," "should," "intends," "estimates," and other words of similar meaning. Such forward-looking statements are based on current expectations, involve known and unknown risks, a reliance on third parties for information, transactions that may be cancelled, and other factors that may cause our actual results, performance or achievements, or developments in our industry, to differ materially from the anticipated results, performance or achievements expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements. Factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from anticipated results include risks and uncertainties related to the fluctuation of global economic conditions or economic conditions with respect to the oil and gas industry, the COVID-19 pandemic, the performance of management, actions of government regulators, vendors, and suppliers, our cash flows and ability to obtain financing, competition, general economic conditions and other factors that are detailed in Camber's filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission. We intend that all forward-looking statements be subject to the safe-harbor provisions.

Contact Information

Investors and Media:

Tel. 281.404.4387

SOURCE: Camber Energy, Inc.

View source version on accesswire.com:https://www.accesswire.com/741817/CamberEnergy-Takes-Steps-to-Combat-Illegal-Short-Selling
Vancouver, British Columbia--(Newsfile Corp. - March 3, 2023) - BASIN URANIUM CORP. (CSE: NCLR) ("Basin Uranium" or the "Company") is pleased to announce that it has entered into an option agreement (the "Option Agreement") dated February 28, 2023 with Cowboy Exploration and Development LLC ("Cowboy Exploration"), St. Cloud Trading Corp. and Thomas Byrne pursuant to which Cowboy Exploration has granted the Company the right to acquire a 90% interest (the "Option") in the Chord property located in East Fall River County, South Dakota (the "Property").

The Chord property is comprised of 147 contiguous lode mining claims (~ 3,037 acres) located in Edgemont, South Dakota approximately 3 miles southwest of enCore Energy Corp.'s Dewey-Burdock development project which is targeting initial production in 20251. Mineralization at Chord is hosted within typical roll front deposits in the Cretaceous age Fall River and Lakota formations, in particular the Chilson member which is the same host for mineralization at Dewey-Burdock. The property has been the subject of extensive exploration since the 1970's with over 1,000 holes drilled by Union Carbide Corp. ("UC") and is host to an historic resource totaling 2.4 million pounds U3O8 plus a potential resource of 1.4 million pounds U3O82.

Chord Detailed Historical Resources by Area





Figure 1



To view an enhanced version of this graphic, please visit:

https://images.newsfilecorp.com/files/8416/157044_figure1.jpg

Disclaimer to Historic Resource and Resource Classification:

The current 147 claims cover materially all of the historic resource. The historic resource are not contained in a National Instrument 43-101 report and no qualified person has not done sufficient work to classify the historical estimate as current mineral resources or mineral reserves. The Company is not treating the historical estimate as current mineral resources or mineral reserves. Further the classification of the noted reserved are not classifications pursuant to Canadian Institute of Mining Metallurgy and Petroleum ("CIM") definitions and readers are cautioned not to rely on the resource definitions in assessing the potential of the Chord property. The resource estimates and classifications are historic and provided for context only in regards to the prospective nature of the Chord property.

Basin plans to engage in the permitting process for the Chord property to conduct both exploration and confirmatory drilling, in addition to aquifer testing. The Company is also plans to acquire additional public and private datasets, confirm historic results, investigate the ISR amenability and conduct exploration to increase the currently known mineralized footprint.

Mineralization at enCore's adjacent Dewey-Burdock project is also hosted in the Chilson member sandstones. The Dewey-Burdock project is host to a M&I resource of 17.1 Mlbs U3O8 (7.4 Mt at 0.116% U3O8) plus an Inferred resource of 0.7 Mlbs U3O8 (0.6 Mt at 0.055% U3O8), a positive Preliminary Economic Assessment3 (PEA) outlining a low-impact in-situ recovery (ISR) operation producing 14.3 Mlbs U3O8 at an all-in sustaining cost of US$28.88/lb U3O8. The Dewey-Burdock project also has received its Radioactive Materials License (RML) from the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) and is currently navigating the State Licensing process.

Chord Project, Fall River County, South Dakota

Mineralization on the Chord property is hosted within typical roll front deposits in the Cretaceous age Fall River and Lakota formations, in particular the Chilson member. The contiguous claim block covers uranium mineralization drilled by Union Carbide Corp. ("UC") in the late 1970s. The property consists of 147 lode mining claims (approximately 3,037 acres) and is located 3 miles southwest of the enCore Energy Corp., Dewey Burdock ISR ("In Situ Recovery") uranium deposit, which is also hosted in the Chilson member sandstones. Union Carbide estimated resources, reserves and potential reserves for the Long Canyon, October Jinx, Ridge Runner, Virginia C and Viking deposits. These deposits were historically evaluated from an open pit or underground mining scenario and never evaluated for their ISR potential. Specifically, the October Jinx and Viking areas vary from depths of 350 to 500 feet deep and, based on historic depth-to-groundwater measurements4, are believed to, at least in part, lie below the water table which could potentially allow for ISR extraction. Mineralization is hosted in the sands of the lower Chilson member of the Lakota formation. Resource calculations are documented in UC and subsequent claimant reports and UC radiometric ore maps covering most of the reported mineralization.

October Jinx: Mineralization lies in the Chilson member, is unoxidized and lies at depths varying from 400 to 500 feet. Resources were based on 100-foot drill hole spacing except for three areas that were drilled on 500-foot offsets to test the continuity with results showing good continuity of mineralization. A cutoff grade of 0.06% U3O8 and a minimum grade thickness product (GT) of 0.30 was used and diluted to a minimum width of 8 feet.

Ridge Runner & Virginia C: Mineralization lies in the Fall River Formation with sallow depths of less than 50 feet. Resources were based on drill spacing of 50-foot or less with chemical assays of 2 foot samples of rotary drill cuttings (where available) and radiometric results. A cutoff grade of 0.04% U3O8 and a minimum grade thickness product (GT) of 0.08 (2.0 feet of 004% U3O8) was used and diluted by 30% of 0.02% U3O8.

Viking: Mineralization lies in the Lakota formation and accessed via a decline in a gulch west of the deposit. Resources are based on 100-foot drill hole spacing and chemical assays of 2 foot samples of rotary drill cuttings. A cutoff grade of 0.04% U3O8 and a minimum grade thickness product (GT) of 0.30 was used and diluted to a minimum width of 8 feet.

Long Mountain: Mineralization lies in the Chilson member and generally shallow varying from 60 to 150 feet to a maximum of 200 feet deep. Resources are based on 50-foot drill hole spacing and chemical assays of 2 foot samples of rotary drill cuttings. A cutoff grade of 0.04% U3O8 and a minimum grade thickness product (GT) of 0.08 (2.0 feet of 004% U3O8) was used and diluted by 30% of 0.02% U3O8. The claims under option cover 90% of the Measured and Potential historic resources at Long Mountain.

Resource Modelling: Measured resources drilled on 50-foot centres were computed using the Polygonal Block Method. Measured resources drilled on 100-foot centres were computed using 300 tons per foot of ore intercept. Indicated resources were derived by subtracting the measured resources from the total resources computed by using the standard formula which relates the ratio of ore holes to total holes of the volume of the area of equally-spaced drilling. Potential resources were based on projections of favorable ore-bearing formations. Density tests have been run on Lakota ores mined from Long Mountain and on core samples taken in 1978. The density used to compute the Chord resources was 14 ft3 per ton and Fall River resources are computed using 15.5 ft3 per ton.

Source: Geologic Review of Chord Uranium Project dated September 1982 by E.K. Pinnick, Consulting Geologist

Basin Uranium believes the historic estimate are a relevant data point as they clearly demonstrate the potential of the Chord property.

Basin Uranium cautions investors it has not yet verified the historical information.

The Option

Pursuant to the terms and conditions of the Option Agreement and in order to acquire a 90% interest in and to the Property, the Company must: (i) pay a total of US$50,000 in cash, (ii) issue common shares in the capital of the Company ("Shares") equivalent to a value of US$950,000, and (iii) incur US$1,200,000 in exploration expenditures on the Property. The timing of the Share issuances and exploration expenditures will be dependent on the receipt of permits from applicable regulatory authorities in accordance with the terms of the Option Agreement. Following the exercise of the Option, the Company and Cowboy Exploration will commence a joint venture on the Property.

The Option Agreement also provides for the Company to make contingent payments in certain circumstances. The Company will make a contingent payment in relation to the first mineral resource in the measured or indicated mineral resource category, established on the Property by the "Third Anniversary Date" (as defined in the Option Agreement) of: (i) US$100,000 in Shares if the resource established is holds between 3,000,000-3,999,999 lbs of U3O8, (ii) US$200,000 in Shares if the resource established holds between 4,000,000-4,999,999 lbs of U3O8, and (iii) US$300,000 in Shares if the resource established holds between 5,000,000 lbs or more of U3O8. The Company will also make a payment of US$400,000 in Shares following the announcement of a positive Preliminary Economic Assessment (PEA) on the Property.

The issuance of the Shares is subject to approval by the board of directors of the Company and the Canadian Securities Exchange. All securities issued in connection with the Option will be subject to a four-month plus one-day hold period from the issuance date. The Company will pay a finder's fee of US$5,000 in cash and 66,000 common shares on closing. The Company will issue up to an additional US$69,000 in shares if the Option is exercised in full.

Qualified Person:

R. Tim Henneberry, PGeo (B.C.), a technical advisor to the Company, is the Qualified Person as defined by National Instrument 43-101 who has reviewed and approved the technical data in this news release.

About Basin Uranium Corp.

Basin Uranium Corp. is a Canadian junior exploration company focused on mineral exploration and development in the green energy sector. The Company owns the Wray Mesa project in southeastern Utah which has seen significant historic uranium and vanadium exploration and is located adjacent to the fully- permitted and production ready La Sal project. The Company has an option to acquire a 75% interest in the Mann Lake uranium project, located in the Athabasca basin in Northern Saskatchewan, Canada and holds an option in the CHG gold exploration project located approximately 15 kilometers northwest of the town of Clinton in south-central British Columbia.

For further information, please contact Mr. Mike Blady or view the Company's filings at www.sedar.com.

On Behalf of the Board of Directors

Mike Blady

Chief Executive Officer

info@basinuranium.ca

604-722-9842

Neither the Canadian Securities Exchange nor its regulation services provider accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this news release.

FORWARD-LOOKING STATEMENTS:

Cautionary Note Regarding Forward-Looking Statements: This news release includes certain statements and information that may constitute forward-looking information within the meaning of applicable Canadian securities laws. All statements in this news release, other than statements of historical facts, including statements regarding future estimates, plans, objectives, timing, assumptions or expectations of future performance are forward-looking statements and contain forward-looking information. Generally, forward-looking statements and information can be identified by the use of forward-looking terminology such as "intends" or "anticipates", or variations of such words and phrases or statements that certain actions, events or results "may", "could", "should", "would" or "occur". Forward-looking statements are based on certain material assumptions and analysis made by the Company and the opinions and estimates of management as of the date of this news release. These forward-looking statements are subject to known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors that may cause the actual results, level of activity, performance or achievements of the Company to be materially different from those expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements or forward-looking information. Important factors that may cause actual results to vary include, without limitation, uncertainties affecting the expected use of proceeds. Although management of the Company has attempted to identify important factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those contained in forward-looking statements or forward-looking information, there may be other factors that cause results not to be as anticipated, estimated or intended. There can be no assurance that such statements will prove to be accurate, as actual results and future events could differ materially from those anticipated in such statements. Accordingly, readers should not place undue reliance on forward-looking statements and forward-looking information. Readers are cautioned that reliance on such information may not be appropriate for other purposes. The Company does not undertake to update any forward-looking statement, forward-looking information or financial out-look that are incorporated by reference herein, except in accordance with applicable securities laws.

1 Source: enCore Energy February 2023 Corporate Presentation "enCore: production pipeline"

2 Source: Geologic Review of Chord Uranium Project dated September 1982 by E.K. Pinnick, Consulting Geologist

3 Source: Azarga Uranium NI 43-101 PEA dated December 22, 2020

4 Source: W.T. Cohan, 1984, Report on Water Sampling and Limited Aquifer Testing, Chord Project

To view the source version of this press release, please visit https://www.newsfilecorp.com/release/157044
Vancouver, British Columbia--(Newsfile Corp. - March 3, 2023) - New Energy Metals Corp. (TSXV: ENRG) (OTC Pink: NEMCF) ("New Energy" or the "Company") is pleased to announce the appointment of Keenan Hohol to New Energy's Board of Directors effective immediately.

Mr. Hohol is a lawyer and executive with over 20 years of international advisory experience, with a record of achievements in the areas of mergers and acquisitions and corporate transactions, corporate governance and corporate development, legal and regulatory compliance, risk management, litigation management, business ethics and anti-corruption, and corporate social responsibility. Mr. Hohol 's previous executive roles include General Counsel, Global Exploration, BHP Billiton; Global Head of Legal, Western Coal and interim General Counsel at Walter Energy; Vice-President, Legal and General Counsel, for Silver Standard Resources; and General Counsel, for Pan American Silver.

The Company also announces the resignation of Mr. Stuart Ross as a director.

Rishi Kwatra, CEO, commented, "On behalf of the the Board, I would like to thank Stuart for his contributions to the Company and wish him all the best in his future endeavours."

Mr. Kwatra continued, "We are very pleased to have someone with Keenan's professional background join New Energy Metals. His expertise in the mining industry and various leadership roles will be of great value to the Company as we continue to execute on our strategy and advance our exploration projects."

The Company is also pleased to announce the appointment of Nilda Rivera as Chief Financial Officer and Corporate Secretary effective immediately. Ms. Rivera has over 20 years of experience in corporate and operational finance and managed publicly listed companies in the areas of accounting, finance, regulatory compliance and corporate governance. She was involved in IPOs, RTOs and mergers and acquisitions in several industries including cannabis, hemp, resource and technology, and assisted various start-up companies in achieving public listings on the CSE, TSXV and OTC, and their uplisting to the TSX and NYSE. Ms. Rivera is currently CFO of Cloud Nine Web3 Technologies Inc. Previously, she served as Vice President of Finance and Corporate Secretary at Aurora Cannabis Inc. where she was instrumental in building its finance team, and involved in completing its early equity and debt financings and its uplisting to the TSX and NYSE. She has also served as CFO, Corporate Secretary and a director for several public mining and exploration companies.

"We are very pleased to welcome Nilda to New Energy's executive team," stated Rishi Kwatra, CEO. "Her caliber and extensive experience in corporate finance will be of great benefit to us as we move the Company forward."

The Company also would like to announce the resignation of Priscilla Ikani as CFO and Corporate Secretary. The Company would like to thank Priscilla for her contributions and commitments to the Company and wishes her success with her future plans.

Pursuant to the Company's Stock Option Plan, the Company granted to directors, officers and employees stock options to purchase 820,000 common shares of the Company exercisable at $0.42 per share for a period of five years.

ON BEHALF OF THE BOARD OF DIRECTORS,

New Energy Metals Corp.

Rishi Kwatra

CEO & Director

#2710 - 200 Granville Street

Vancouver, BC V6C 1S4, Canada

Tel: 778.510.5757

www.new-enrg.com

About New Energy Metals Corp.

New Energy Metals Corp. is a Canadian-based resource company listed on the TSX Venture Exchange under the symbol "ENRG". The Company has an option to purchase a 100% interest in the Roslyn Lithium property, covering 5,100 hectares located 20 km southeast of the Georgia Lake Pegmatite Field and 35 km southeast of where Rock Tech Lithium just published a PEA supporting the indicated mineral resource of 10.6 Mt (million tonnes) grading 0.88% Li2O and an inferred mineral resource of 4.2 Mt grading 1.0% Li2O (https://www.rocktechlithium.com/news/georgia-lake-project:-pre-feasibility-study-published ) . The Company also has an option to purchase a 100% interest in the Troitsa Copper property covering approximately 7,000 hectares located in the Omineca Mining Division of British Columbia.

Neither the TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.

This news release contains forward-looking statements that involve risks and uncertainties. Forward-looking statements or information are based on current expectations, estimates and projections that involve a number of risks and uncertainties which could cause actual results to differ materially from those anticipated by New Energy. The forward-looking statements or information contained in this news release are made as of the date hereof and the Company does not undertake any obligation to update publicly or revise any forward-looking statements or information, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, unless so required by applicable securities laws.

To view the source version of this press release, please visit https://www.newsfilecorp.com/release/157051
WASHINGTON DC / ACCESSWIRE / March 3, 2023 / The Hispanic Association on Corporate Responsibility (HACR) is pleased to announce that Dr. Lisette M. Garcia will rejoin the organization as Chief Research Officer, effective March 20, 2023. Dr. Garcia spent the past two-and-a-half years driving inclusion strategy at Penn State University, where she served as Assistant Vice President for Diversity, Inclusion, and Belonging.

"We are thrilled to welcome Dr. Garcia back as she took the organization's research to the next level of excellence while supporting the organization's mission-driven growth," said Cid Wilson, President & CEO of HACR. "In her returning capacity, Dr. Garcia will lead all HACR's research operations including expanding our research outcomes, driving thought leadership, and producing original content data that will illuminate challenges and opportunities for advancing Hispanic inclusion in Corporate America."

During her time at Penn State University, Dr. Garcia crafted the school's diversity and inclusion strategy for its 20,000 employees. There she transformed the university's approach to affinity groups and employee resource groups (ERGs), ensuring they were inclusive of all populations and connected to business outcomes.

"As the Hispanic population continues to grow and more of us participate in the workforce, it's more important than ever to design research that will uncover the gaps in our knowledge of the Hispanic experience in Corporate America," said Dr. Garcia. "I'm so excited to return to HACR, because the organization is uniquely positioned to use its own research to fine-tune its leadership advancement programs. This coupling of knowledge and execution is what's really going to drive progress towards full and equitable Hispanic inclusion in Corporate America."

Prior to joining Penn State, she spent eight years at HACR in various leadership roles, serving most recently as Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer. In those roles, she built the organization's research institute and crafted the corporate sector's premier research tool for Hispanic inclusion in four areas of economic reciprocity: employment, governance, procurement, and philanthropy, the HACR Corporate Inclusion Index. Prior to joining HACR initially, she worked in a variety of capacities in academia at New York University, Montclair State University, and Virginia Tech.

Dr. Garcia holds a bachelor's degree in sociology and labor industrial relations from Penn State University and a master's degree in sociology from Virginia Tech. She holds a doctorate degree in sociology from The Ohio State University.

About HACR??

Founded in 1986, the Hispanic Association on Corporate Responsibility (HACR) is the nation's leading corporate advocacy organization representing 14 national Hispanic organizations in the United States and Puerto Rico. Its mission is to advance the inclusion of Hispanics in Corporate America in the areas of Employment, Procurement, Philanthropy, and Governance. Through HACR's corporate leadership advancement programs, Symposium best-practice conferences, research initiatives, and public communications, HACR is illuminating The Power of Hispanic Inclusion throughout Corporate America.??

View additional multimedia and more ESG storytelling from Hispanic Association on Corporate Responsibility on 3blmedia.com.

Contact Info:

Spokesperson: Hispanic Association on Corporate Responsibility

Website: https://www.3blmedia.com/profiles/hispanic-association-corporate-responsibility

Email: info@3blmedia.com

SOURCE: Hispanic Association on Corporate Responsibility

View source version on accesswire.com:https://www.accesswire.com/741871/The-Hispanic-Association-on-Corporate-Responsibility-Announces-Dr-Lisette-M-Garcia-as-Chief-Research-Officer
TACOMA, WA / ACCESSWIRE / March 3, 2023 / Today Greenlink International (OTC PINK:WSHE) has announced the launch of the "Mamma Needs a Minute" brand in the Washington State market. The partnership between top companies in the cannabis sector has resulted in The Herbery, one of Washington's premier retail outlets, becoming the first retail chain to bring in the brand created by Kim Flores aka The Hemp Housewife.

Brandon Butcher, Director of Marketing for The Herbery, expressed excitement about the partnership, stating, "'Mamma Needs a Minute' fits our customers oh so well. It's for our favorite people, the ones who value self-care."

Mamma Needs a Minute was created with the goal of helping women manage stress and improve overall well-being through natural and holistic means. The initial product offering is a 5-pack of pre-rolls conveniently packaged in a classic cassette tape cartridge that adds a touch of nostalgia and provides a discrete way to keep the product safe from children. Each batch is carefully hand-selected to provide a balanced experience. To maintain freshness, The Hemp Housewife includes a cedar strip infused with her proprietary blend of terpenes in every pack.

Kim Flores, founder of "Mamma Needs a Minute," said, "I'm overjoyed to have The Herbery be the first to bring on Mamma Needs a Minute in the Pacific Northwest. I'm even more excited for all of their customers, especially the women in Washington who choose to use cannabis for their overall health and wellness. This is for you!"

Jake George, CEO of Greenlink International, commented on the company's family of brands, saying, "We are proud of how well-rounded our family of brands is, and the addition of 'Mamma Needs a Minute' is a perfect fit. We've got a movement on our hands."

George went on to express his excitement about the initial reception to the brand, stating, "The overwhelming indication we've received is that this sector of the industry is underserved and ready to rally behind Kim and her mission to remove the stigma around the cannabis and hemp plant. We believe that with the right partners, like The Herbery, we can continue to break down barriers and provide innovative, high-quality products that speak directly to our customers' needs."

The Herbery is a chain of premium cannabis outlets known for their commitment to quality and customer education. Brandon Butcher continued, "Cannabis dispensaries tend to attract people with lives to live, jobs to work, and kids to raise. As the stigma around cannabis melts away, it's clear that every mom deserves a break... and 'Momma Needs a Minute' is exactly the message we want to normalize."

With its focus on self-care and relaxation, "Mamma Needs a Minute" is expected to be the go-to brand for women who support each other having access to cannabis and hemp products made with their needs in mind. As the stigma around cannabis continues to decrease, the demand for clearly labeled, experience-based products is expected to grow, and Greenlink International is well-positioned to meet this demand.

About Us

GreenLink, a Colorado corporation based in Washington State, is a public quoted OTC Markets issuer under the ticker symbol "WSHE." The company is a diversified holding company with operating segments in investment, equipment, technology, brands, textiles and real estate that are leased or licensed to legally compliant CBD and cannabis entities.

GreenLink's subsidiary and partner companies possess key competitive strengths and/or leading market positions. Greenlink is committed to becoming a global leader in the hemp and legal cannabis markets. GreenLink will continue to leverage decades of experience in the hemp and cannabis industry to expand existing operations and develop partnerships across a wide range of industries.

Forward-Looking Statement

Certain statements that we make may constitute forward-looking statements under the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Forward-looking statements include information concerning future strategic objectives, business prospects, anticipated savings, financial results (including expenses, earnings, liquidity, cash flow and capital expenditures), industry or market conditions, demand for and pricing of our products, acquisitions and divestitures, anticipated results of litigation and regulatory developments or general economic conditions. In addition, words such as believes, expects, anticipates, intends, plans, estimates, projects, forecasts, and future or conditional verbs such as will, may, could, should, and would, as well as any other statement that necessarily depends on future events, are intended to identify forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements are not guarantees, and they involve risks, uncertainties, and assumptions. Although we make such statements based on assumptions that we believe to be reasonable, there can be no assurance that actual results will not differ materially from those expressed in the forward-looking statements. We caution investors not to rely unduly on any forward-looking statements and urge you to carefully consider the risks described in our filings with OTC Markets Group and the Securities and Exchange Commission from time to time, including our most recent Annual Report and subsequent Flings, which are available on Otcmarkets.com. We expressly disclaim any obligation to update any forward-looking statement in the event it later turns out to be inaccurate, whether as a result of new information, future events, or otherwise.

CONTACT:

Greenlink International, Inc.

Tacoma, Washington

Stakeholders@greenlinkholdings.com

SOURCE: Greenlink International, Inc.

View source version on accesswire.com:https://www.accesswire.com/741765/Greenlink-Launches-Mamma-Needs-a-Minute-Brand-Meeting-Demand-for-Womens-Cannabis-and-Hemp-Products
NAPLES, Fla., March 3, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Music Licensing, Inc. (OTC:SONG) is thrilled to announce that its wholly-owned subsidiary Pro Music Rights, Inc. has renewed its licensing agreement with ByteDance and its subsidiary TikTok for another year. This milestone marks a significant achievement for Pro Music Rights and its continued efforts to provide high-quality music and innovative AI-generated music to users worldwide.

As part of the licensing agreement announced last year, Pro Music Rights has been providing TikTok with access to its vast music catalog, which includes some of the most popular songs and artists of all time, as well as AI-generated music from Pro Music Rights' Music AI program. This partnership has enabled TikTok to offer its users a unique and engaging experience by incorporating a diverse range of music into their videos and content.

The renewal of this agreement is a testament to the success of Pro Music Rights and its commitment to delivering top-notch music and innovative AI-generated music to its partners. It further solidifies Pro Music Rights' position as a leading provider of music licensing services in the industry. With this agreement, Pro Music Rights and TikTok will continue to work together to provide innovative and engaging experiences for users across the globe.

"We are thrilled to renew our agreement with ByteDance and TikTok for another year, and to continue to provide them with access to our vast music catalog and our innovative Music AI program," said Jake P. Noch, CEO of Music Licensing, Inc. "Our team at Pro Music Rights is dedicated to delivering high-quality music and exceptional services to our partners, and we are proud to be working with such a forward-thinking company like ByteDance and TikTok."

The renewal of this agreement highlights Music Licensing, Inc.'s commitment to providing innovative and cutting-edge music solutions to its partners. With Pro Music Rights' vast music catalog, exceptional licensing services, and its innovative Music AI program, the company is well-positioned to continue to be a leader in the music industry.

About Pro Music Rights, Inc. ( ProMusicRights.com )

Pro Music Rights is the 5th public performance rights organization (PRO) to be formed in the United States. Its licensees include notable companies such as TikTok, iHeart Media, Triller, Napster, 7Digital, Vevo, and many others. Pro Music Rights holds an estimated market share of 7.4% in the United States, representing over 2,500,000 works that feature notable artists such as A$AP Rocky, Wiz Khalifa, Pharrell, Young Jeezy, Juelz Santana, Lil Yachty, MoneyBaggYo, Larry June, Trae Pound, Sause Walka, Trae Tha Truth, Sosamann, Soulja Boy, Lex Luger, Lud Foe, SlowBucks, Gunplay, OG Maco, Rich The Kid, Fat Trel, Young Scooter, Nipsey Hussle, Famous Dex, Boosie Badazz, Shy Glizzy, 2 Chainz, Migos, Gucci Mane, Young Dolph, Trinidad James, Fall Out Boy, and countless others, as well as Artificial Intelligence (A.I.) Created Music.

This press release contains certain forward-looking statements within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933, as amended and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, which are intended to be covered by the safe harbors created thereby. Investors are cautioned that, all forward-looking statements involve risks and uncertainties, including without limitation, the ability of Music Licensing, Inc. & Pro Music Rights, Inc. to accomplish its stated plan of business. Music Licensing, Inc. & Pro Music Rights, Inc. believes that the assumptions underlying the forward-looking statements contained herein are reasonable, any of the assumptions could be inaccurate, and therefore, there can be no assurance that the forward-looking statements included in this press release will prove to be accurate. In light of the significant uncertainties inherent in the forward-looking statements included herein, the inclusion of such information should not be regarded as a representation by Pro Music Rights, Inc., Music Licensing, Inc., or any other person.

View original content:https://www.prnewswire.co.uk/news-releases/music-licensing-incs-subsidiary-pro-music-rights-renews-agreement-with-bytedance-and-tiktok-offering-innovative-music-and-ai-solutions-301761815.html
NORTHAMPTON, MA / ACCESSWIRE / March 3, 2023 / T. Rowe Price was named in Stonewall's Top 100 Employers 2023 list, the UK's leading ranking of employers from public, private and third sectors on how inclusive their workplaces are and their demonstrated efforts to support LGBTQ+ staff and customers. In its first year of inclusion on the Workplace Equality Index 2023, the investment management firm was listed among a number of construction, legal, health, finance and education firms who made the annual index. Stonewall is Europe's largest charity for lesbian, gay, bi, trans and queer rights.

"We are honored to be named in Stonewall's Top 100 Employers list. As we are committed to sustaining and enhancing our inclusive culture for our associates, this recognition affirms our DEI work and our belief that our diverse global workforce is one of our most valuable assets," said Raymone Jackson, head of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI).

T. Rowe Price has implemented a three-year, intentional, global DEI strategy designed to expand and strengthen its diverse workforce and sustain an inclusive work environment to provide the best service to its global client base. This strategy is informed by an internal self-ID campaign that provides the firm valuable data on the representation of diverse communities within its workforce. Through its global associate-led PRIDE @ T. Rowe Price business resource group, the firm ensures that LGBTQ+ associates and allies are comfortable bringing their best selves to work every day. This group also supports associate recruitment and engagement efforts and promotes education and awareness initiatives.

In addition to Stonewall, strategic partnerships with organisations such as LGBT Great, PowerToFly, myGwork and Lesbians Who Tech help T. Rowe Price make a positive impact while recruiting diverse talent, engaging associates, creating an inclusive environment and communicating the firm's commitment and progress.

Nancy Kelley, CEO of Stonewall, said, "It's been fantastic to see all of the work put in by T. Rowe Price over the past year to create a workplace where LGBTQ+ staff feel free to thrive as themselves. For many of us, the majority of our time is spent at work, so if we have to hide who we are it can take an enormous personal toll and hold us back from fulfilling our true potential. Creating environments where we can all feel comfortable makes our workplaces a safer, better and friendlier place for everyone and helps staff be proud of who they are."

The Top 100 Employers list is compiled through submissions to a free, voluntary benchmarking tool, the Workplace Equality Index. All submissions are then marked against thorough and standardized criteria and the Top 100 Employers are picked out by Stonewall for their excellent work in creating inclusive workplaces for their LGBTQ+ staff.

ABOUT T. ROWE PRICE

Founded in 1937, Baltimore-based T. Rowe Price (troweprice.com) is a global investment management organization with USD $1.35 trillion in assets under management as of 31 January 2022. The organization provides a broad array of mutual funds, subadvisory services and separate account management for individual and institutional investors, retirement plans and financial intermediaries. The company also offers a variety of sophisticated investment planning and guidance tools. T. Rowe Price's disciplined, risk-aware investment approach focuses on diversification, style consistency and fundamental research. T. Rowe Price helps clients invest with confidence and can be found on Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, Twitter and YouTube.

ABOUT STONEWALL

Stonewall is the UK's leading charity for lesbian, gay, bi and trans equality, working to create a world where every lesbian, gay, bi, trans and queer person is free to be themselves-wherever they are. It was founded in 1989 by a small group of people who wanted to break down barriers to equality. Stonewall continues to campaign on LGBT Equality, as well as work with employers and schools to create environments which allow LGBTQ+ people to thrive.

To get involved, visit us at stonewall.org.uk. | Registered charity number 1101255

T. Rowe Price was named in Stonewall's Top 100 Employers 2023 list

View additional multimedia and more ESG storytelling from T. Rowe Price on 3blmedia.com.

Contact Info:

Spokesperson: T. Rowe Price

Website: https://www.3blmedia.com/profiles/t-rowe-price

Email: info@3blmedia.com

SOURCE: T. Rowe Price

View source version on accesswire.com:https://www.accesswire.com/741876/T-Rowe-Price-Named-to-Stonewalls-Top-100-List-of-Leading-LGBTQ-Inclusive-Employers
WILMINGTON, DE / ACCESSWIRE / March 3, 2023 / The Chemours Company ("Chemours") (NYSE:CC), a global chemistry company with leading market positions in Titanium Technologies, Thermal & Specialized Solutions, and Advanced Performance Materials, recently announced the winners of its 2022 Responsible Supplier Awards.

Chemours' annual Responsible Supplier Award acknowledges the companies that have distinguished themselves by driving quality, innovation, and sustainability improvements across Chemours' supply chain. Five companies are recognized -one in each of the four categories of Logistics, Indirect Materials, Direct Materials, Capital, and one Star Supplier. The Star Supplier award recognizes the supplier with the largest year-to-year improvement in its overall score among all categories in the sustainability assessment carried out by EcoVadis, Chemours' sustainability rating partner.

Selected from among more than 10,000 suppliers around the world, the winners of the 2022 Chemours' Responsible Supplier Awards are PT. Yosomulyo Jajag (Star Supplier category), H.Essers (Logistics category), Rockwell Automation Inc (Indirect Materials category), Twin Eagle Resource Management LLC (Direct Materials category), and Worley (Capital category).

"At Chemours, sustainability is a business priority, and to reach our sustainable supply chain goal, we understand the need to harness the power of collaboration," said Sunil Naik, VP, Chief Procurement Officer at Chemours. "Each of these companies demonstrated a commitment to meeting Chemours' Supplier Code of Conduct and an improvement in their sustainability performance, as well as a remarkable long-term partnership. We recognize and appreciate their efforts and how they have become partners beyond the supply of goods or services to showcase their commitment to improving their corporate sustainability performance."

Chemours assesses its suppliers' sustainability performance on an annual basis.

About The Chemours Company

The Chemours Company (NYSE: CC) is a global leader in Titanium Technologies, Thermal & Specialized Solutions, and Advanced Performance Materials providing its customers with solutions in a wide range of industries with market-defining products, application expertise and chemistry-based innovations. We deliver customized solutions with a wide range of industrial and specialty chemicals products for markets, including coatings, plastics, refrigeration and air conditioning, transportation, semiconductor and consumer electronics, general industrial, and oil and gas. Our flagship products are sold under prominent brands such as Ti-Pure, Opteon, Freon, Teflon, Viton, Nafion, and Krytox. The company has approximately 6,600 employees and 29 manufacturing sites serving approximately 2,900 customers in approximately 120 countries. Chemours is headquartered in Wilmington, Delaware and is listed on the NYSE under the symbol CC.

For more information, we invite you to visit chemours.com or follow us on Twitter @Chemours or LinkedIn.

Forward-Looking Statements

This press release contains forward-looking statements, within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933 and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, which involve risks and uncertainties. Forward-looking statements provide current expectations of future events based on certain assumptions and include any statement that does not directly relate to a historical or current fact. The words "believe," "expect," "will," "anticipate," "plan," "estimate," "target," "project" and similar expressions, among others, generally identify "forward-looking statements," which speak only as of the date such statements were made. These forward-looking statements may address, among other things, the outcome or resolution of any pending or future environmental liabilities, the commencement, outcome or resolution of any regulatory inquiry, investigation or proceeding, the initiation, outcome or settlement of any litigation, changes in environmental regulations in the U.S. or other jurisdictions that affect demand for or adoption of our products, anticipated future operating and financial performance for our segments individually and our company as a whole, business plans, prospects, targets, goals and commitments, capital investments and projects and target capital expenditures, plans for dividends or share repurchases, sufficiency or longevity of intellectual property protection, cost reductions or savings targets, plans to increase profitability and growth, our ability to make acquisitions, integrate acquired businesses or assets into our operations, and achieve anticipated synergies or cost savings, all of which are subject to substantial risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from those expressed or implied by such statements. Forward-looking statements are based on certain assumptions and expectations of future events that may not be accurate or realized. These statements are not guarantees of future performance. Forward-looking statements also involve risks and uncertainties that are beyond Chemours' control. In addition, the COVID-19 pandemic has significantly impacted the national and global economy and commodity and financial markets, which has had and we expect will continue to have a negative impact on our financial results. The full extent and impact of the pandemic is still being determined and to date has included significant volatility in financial and commodity markets and a severe disruption in economic activity. The public and private sector response has led to travel restrictions, temporary business closures, quarantines, stock market volatility, and interruptions in consumer and commercial activity globally. Matters outside our control, including general economic conditions, have affected or may affect our business and operations and may or may continue to hinder our ability to provide goods and services to customers, cause disruptions in our supply chains such as through strikes, labor disruptions or other events, adversely affect our business partners, significantly reduce the demand for our products, adversely affect the health and welfare of our personnel or cause other unpredictable events. Additionally, there may be other risks and uncertainties that Chemours is unable to identify at this time or that Chemours does not currently expect to have a material impact on its business. Factors that could cause or contribute to these differences include the risks, uncertainties and other factors discussed in our filings with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, including in our Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2022. Chemours assumes no obligation to revise or update any forward-looking statement for any reason, except as required by law.

INVESTORS

Jonathan Lock

SVP, Chief Development Officer

investor@chemours.com

Kurt Bonner

Manager, Investor Relations

investor@chemours.com

NEWS MEDIA

Cassie Olszewski

Media Relations and Financial Communications Manager

media@chemours.com

View original content here

View additional multimedia and more ESG storytelling from The Chemours Company on 3blmedia.com.

Contact Info:

Spokesperson: The Chemours Company

Website: https://www.3blmedia.com/profiles/chemours-company

Email: info@3blmedia.com

SOURCE: The Chemours Company

View source version on accesswire.com:https://www.accesswire.com/741879/Chemours-Announces-the-Winners-of-Its-2022-Responsible-Supplier-Awards
Toronto, Ontario--(Newsfile Corp. - March 3, 2023) - Mr. Peter Marrone announces the acquisition of 4,090,909 units of Astra Exploration Inc. (the "Company") at a price of $0.11 per unit pursuant to a non-brokered private placement of 9,090,910 units completed by the Company on March 2, 2023. Each unit is comprised of one common share and one common share purchase warrant exercisable for one common share at a price of $0.15 per share for a period of 24 months.

Prior to the completion of the private placement, Mr. Marrone beneficially owned and controlled 1,650,000 common shares and 1,650,000 warrants of the Company. Following the completion of the private placement, Mr. Marrone beneficially owns and controls an aggregate of 5,740,909 common shares and 5,740,909 warrants representing approximately 12.0% of the Company's issued and outstanding shares on an undiluted basis, approximately 21.5% on a partially diluted basis after giving effect to the exercise of warrants held by Mr. Marrone and approximately 16.2% on a fully diluted basis.

The common shares and warrants were acquired for investment purposes. Mr. Marrone has a long-term view of the investment and may acquire additional securities of the Company either on the open market or through private acquisitions or sell securities of the Company on the open market tor through private dispositions in the future depending on market conditions, reformulation of plans and/or other relevant factors.

For further details relating to the acquisition, please reference the Early Warnings Report, a copy of which will appear on the Company's SEDAR profile at www.sedar.com and may be obtained by calling Mr. Mark Bennett at (416) 869-5407. The Company's head office is at 1090 West Georgia Street, Suite 700, Vancouver, British Columbia V6E 3V7.

Peter Marrone

c/o Suite 2100, 40 King St. West.

Toronto, ON M5H 3C2

To view the source version of this press release, please visit https://www.newsfilecorp.com/release/157086
Union Minister Anurag Thakur while criticizing former Congress president Rahul Gandhi over his statement regarding Pegasus, said that Pegasus existed in Gandhi's heart and mind and it had become his habit to defame India in foreign lands using the foreign media, agencies and friends.

Thakur on Friday demanded an answer to Gandhi not submitting his mobile phone for the investigation into the Pegasus issue.



He added: "What did the leader (Gandhi), who is out on bail in a corruption case had in his phone that he needed to hide? Why did he and the other leaders not submit their phones?"

Thakur said that the Congress leader should at least listen to what the Prime Minister of Italy had to say about Prime Minister Narendra Modi if not anyone else.



Italy's Prime Minister said that Modi had emerged as a big leader today and has received love from all over the world, stated Thakur.



He added that Gandhi and the Congress party are unable to digest this.



Referring to the Assembly election results in Tripura, Nagaland and Meghalaya, the Union Minister said that the Congress had been defeated again.



Thakur added that Gandhi probably expected the loss but is still not able to accept the mandate in the northeastern states.



Thakur questioned: "What is the Congress' agenda?"






Montreal, Quebec--(Newsfile Corp. - March 3, 2023) - E-Power Resources Inc (CSE: EPR) ("E-Power" or the "Company") announces its intention to complete a non-brokered private placement, comprised of a flow-through portion of up to $1,500,000 (the "FT Offering") and a non-flow through portion of up to $500,000 (the "Non-FT Offering", and collectively with the FT Offering, the "Offering"), for total gross proceeds of $2,000,000.

Securities to be issued pursuant to the Non-FT Offering shall consist of an amount of up to 1,250,000 units of the Company (the "Non-FT Units") issued at a price of $0.40 per Non FT Unit, each Non FT Units being comprised of one common share in the capital of the Company (each a "Common Share") and one common share purchase warrant (each a "Warrant"), each Warrant entitling its holder thereof to acquire one additional common share (each a "Warrant Share") at a price of $0.60 per Warrant Share for a period of 2 years from the closing date of the Non-FT Offering.

Securities to be issued pursuant to the FT Offering shall consist of an amount of up to 3,260,869 units of the Company (the "FT Units") issued at a price of $0.46 per Non FT Unit, each FT Units being comprised of one common shares in the capital of the Company (each a "FT Share") that will qualify as "flow-through shares" (within the meaning of subsection 66(15) of the Income Tax Act (Canada)), and one Warrant, each Warrant entitling its holder thereof to acquire one Warrant Share at a price of $0.60 per Warrant Share for a period of 2 years from the closing date of the FT Offering.

Net proceeds from the FT Offering will be used by the Company to incur eligible "Canadian exploration expenses" that will qualify as "flow-through mining expenditures", as defined in subsection 127(9) of the Income Tax Act (Canada) and under section 359.1 of the Taxation Act (Quebec) (the "Qualifying Expenditures"), related to the Company's Tetepisca Graphite Property, located in the Tetepisca Graphite District of the North Shore Region of Quebec, as well as the Company's Turgeon Property, located in the Abitibi Region of Quebec, on or before December 31, 2024. All Qualifying Expenditures will be renounced in favour of the subscribers to the FT Offering effective December 31, 2023. In addition, with respect to Quebec resident subscribers of FT Shares and who are eligible individuals under the Taxation Act (Quebec), the Canadian exploration expenses will also qualify for inclusion in the "exploration base relating to certain Quebec exploration expenses" within the meaning of section 726.4.10 of the Taxation Act (Quebec) and for inclusion in the "exploration base relating to certain Quebec surface mining expenses or oil and gas exploration expenses" within the meaning of section 726.4.17.2 of the Taxation Act (Quebec).

Net proceeds from the Non-FT Offering will be used by the Company for general working capital purposes.

The Flow-Through Shares and the Common Shares will be offered by way of private placement pursuant to applicable exemptions from prospectus requirements. The Offering is expected to close on or about March 31, 2023 (the "Closing Date"), subject to the satisfaction or waiver of the customary closing conditions, including the approval of the Canadian Securities Exchange.

The securities to be offered pursuant to the Offering have not been, and will not be, registered under the U.S. Securities Act of 1933, as amended (the "U.S. Securities Act") or any U.S. state securities laws, and may not be offered or sold in the United States or to, or for the account or benefit of, United States persons absent registration or any applicable exemption from the registration requirements of the U.S. Securities Act and applicable U.S. state securities laws.

This press release shall not constitute an offer to sell or the solicitation of an offer to buy nor shall there be any sale of the securities in any jurisdiction in which such offer, solicitation or sale would be unlawful.

About E-Power Resources Inc.

E-Power Resources Inc. is an exploration stage company engaged principally in the acquisition, exploration, and development of graphite properties in Quebec. Its flagship asset, the Tetepisca Graphite Property, is located in the Tetepisca Graphite District of the North Shore Region of Quebec, approximately 215 kilometers from the Port of Baie-Comeau. For further information, please refer to the Company's disclosure record on SEDAR (www.sedar.com) or contact the Company by email at info@e-powerresources.com.

On Behalf of the Board of Directors

James Cross

President & CEO

+1 (438) 701-3736

info@e-powerresources.com

Disclaimer for Forward-Looking Information

This news release contains certain forward-looking statements within the meaning of applicable securities laws. All statements that are not historical facts, including without limitation, statements regarding future estimates, plans, programs, forecasts, projections, objectives, assumptions, expectations or beliefs of future performance are "forward-looking statements". These forward-looking statements reflect the expectations or beliefs of management of the Company based on information currently available to it. Forward-looking statements are subject to a number of risks and uncertainties, including those detailed from time to time in filings made by the Company with securities regulatory authorities, which may cause actual outcomes to differ materially from those discussed in the forward-looking statements. These factors should be considered carefully and readers are cautioned not to place undue reliance on such forward-looking statements. The forward-looking statements and information contained in this news release are made as of the date hereof and the Company undertakes no obligation to update publicly or revise any forward-looking statements or information, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, unless so required by applicable securities laws.

The CSE has not reviewed, approved or disapproved the contents of this news release.

To view the source version of this press release, please visit https://www.newsfilecorp.com/release/157089
TruBit has announced a strategic partnership with SPEI, which enables users to utilize funds directly from their bank accounts to conduct fiat-crypto transactions, without the need to rely on credit or debit cards;

SPEI is one of the most widely-used payment methods in Mexico, with over 2.6 billion transactions completed in 2022 alone, representing a significant increase of 42.1% compared to previous years. Among these transactions, TruBit stands out as one of the very few cryptocurrency representatives, and is in fact the only new crypto partnership SPEI has established in the past 3 years;

Now complemented by MMXN, the one and only operational stablecoin pegged to the Mexican Peso, Trubit becomes an even more powerful comprehensive platform for millions of Mexican users to buy, sell and use assets between digital and fiat.

MEXICO CITY, MEXICO / ACCESSWIRE / March 3, 2023 / TruBit , the foremost cryptocurrency wallet and exchange platform in Latin America, has recently partnered with Sistema de Pagos Electronicos Interbancarios (SPEI), the real-time settlement system of Banco de Mexico. This collaboration allows for secure and efficient buying and selling of cryptocurrencies directly through Mexican Peso.

SPEI is one of the most popular payment methods in Mexico, according to an analysis prepared by the Condusef (National Commission for the Protection and Defense of Users of Financial Services), only in 2022 more than 2,610 million operations were carried out, an increase of 42.1% compared to just over 1,837 million in 2021. Among all of these operations, TruBit is the very few crypto representatives, and is the only new crypto partnership they have in 3 years.

The absence of reliable deposit and withdrawal options has proven to be a major hurdle for countless cryptocurrency enthusiasts and users across Mexico and the region as a whole. Through this partnership and in conjunction with MMXN (Moneta Digital) , TruBit has marked a momentous step in the right direction to solve this long-standing problem. Now, the platform allows automated payments 24/7 to instantly buy and sell cryptocurrencies, such as Bitcoin, Ethereum, USDT and MMXN, by using SPEI. This translates into immediate liquidity of deposited funds, with no chargebacks and no transaction fees compared to other payment options. Secondly, TruBit guarantees that both the sender and the recipient of the payments are fully identified to prevent fraud and identity theft, thus guaranteeing total security in all transactions. Finally, as an all-in-one platform, TruBit continues to offer users a diverse range of financial products such as spot trading, perpetual trading, earn+, payment, and remittance services after onboarding, helping them save on transaction times and fees, and overall user experience.

"Since our first day in Mexico, we have prioritized compliance, actively communicating with local authorities and establishing our legal framework in accordance with local laws. After years of hard work, we have successfully connected to SPEI. This allows Mexican users to seamlessly buy and sell cryptocurrencies such as BTC, ETH and MMXN through bank transfers, which is a significant milestone for the entire industry and Mexico. Our partnership with SPEI, along with other payment options, solidifies our position as one of the main pioneers of crypto industry in LATAM," concluded Maggie Wu , CEO and co-founder of TruBit.

Now TruBit has made it even easier for mainstream users to acquire cryptocurrency through a simple bank transfer via SPEI. Discover the most comprehensive platform in the region and join the cryptocurrency revolution today.

About TruBit

One crypto ecosystem for all your needs. TruBit simplifies entry into the cryptocurrency market for enthusiasts and users by offering a hassle-free wallet TruBit and comprehensive exchange TruBit Pro. This platform enables seamless and speedy customer interaction with cryptocurrencies and blockchain technology.

For more information and media inquiries, please contact:

jane@trubit.com

www.trubit.com

SOURCE: TruBit

View source version on accesswire.com:https://www.accesswire.com/741815/TruBit-Announces-its-Strategic-Partnership-with-SPEI-to-Facilitate-the-Buying-and-Selling-of-Cryptocurrencies-in-Mexico
NORTHAMPTON, MA / ACCESSWIRE / March 3, 2023 / Applications are now open for the 2023 Ray of Hope Prize , a startup accelerator organized by the Biomimicry Institute in partnership with the Ray C. Anderson Foundation. The uniquely founder-focused program aims to propel nature-inspired startups towards marketplace growth with robust training and networking opportunities, and a $100,000 Prize awarded to the top ranked finalist. Applications are due April 28, 2023.

Through the Ray of Hope Prize, the Biomimicry Institute recognizes the top 10 nature-inspired startups in the world and fosters their growth by providing a 10-week program focused on sustainable business training, communications support, and opportunities for non-dilutive funding-including the $100,000 Prize.

Unlike most accelerators, the Ray of Hope Prize is not industry, technology, or geography specific. Instead, each cohort is connected by a shared drive to address one of the 17 UN Sustainable Development Goals. Any startup with a nature-inspired product, service, or technology with inherent social or environmental benefits may apply. The Institute is particularly interested in solutions that address carbon sequestration, climate change adaptation or mitigation, critical sustainability challenges, or any of the U.N. Sustainable Development Goals.

Past recipients of the Prize include GreenPod Labs (India, 2022), Spintex Engineering (UK,2021), ECOncrete Tech (Israel, 2020), Watchtower Robotics (USA, 2019), and Nucleario (Brazil, 2018).

"From the perspective of former research scientists, winning the Ray of Hope Prize is the equivalent to passing peer review," said Michael S. Long, Ph.D., Founder & COO, Renaissance Fiber, LLC, a 2021 Ray of Hope Prize participant. Another participant, Brent Cutcliffe, Co-Founder & COO of New Iridium, adds: "Not only was our startup elevated by the process, butthe diversity of other viable nature-inspired solutions shows that we as humans are making serious progress against seemingly intractable problems."

In addition to the $100,000 grand prize, one participating startup will receive the $25,000 Runner-Up Prize, and an additional $25,000 will be split among the remaining finalist teams. Up to 10 startups will be selected as finalists for the prize by a panel of experts, including representatives from investment, sustainability, and biomimicry backgrounds.

The finalists will also receive in-depth support and training for their science communication storytelling and access to a wide range of corporate and investment leaders. The program culminates with a nature-immersion expedition where participants benefit from an in-person workshop focusing on community building, leadership skills, and cultivating a sustainability ethos, all while reconnecting with nature.

Following the Ray of Hope Prize program, participants have been able to secure additional investments thanks to network introductions, gain inbound leads from global media, attain paid proof-of-concept pilot contracts with major corporations, and increase sales thanks to lessons learned throughout.

For more information on the official rules and how to apply, visit http://www.biomimicry.org/RayofHopePrize

About the Biomimicry Institute

The Biomimicry Institute is a 501(c)(3) not-for-profit organization founded in 2006 that empowers people to seek nature-inspired solutions for a healthy planet. To advance the solution process, the Institute offers AskNature.org, a free online tool that contains strategies found in nature and examples of ways they are used in design. It also hosts a Youth Design Challenge to support project-based education; a Biomimicry Launchpad incubator program; and the Ray of Hope Prize  for early-stage biomimetic companies to bring solutions to market. Most recently, the Institute launched a new collaborative initiative called Design for Decomposition which will pilot technologies that convert discarded clothes and textiles into biocompatible raw materials. For more information, visit biomimicry.org.

Media Contact:

Marc Cappelletti

Biomimicry Institute, Development and Marketing Manager

marc.cappelletti@biomimicry.org

215-435-6185

ECOncrete installation - 2020 Ray of Hope Prize Winner

View additional multimedia and more ESG storytelling from Ray C. Anderson Foundation on 3blmedia.com.

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Spokesperson: Ray C. Anderson Foundation

Website: https://www.3blmedia.com/profiles/ray-c-anderson-foundation

Email: info@3blmedia.com



SOURCE: Ray C. Anderson Foundation

View source version on accesswire.com:https://www.accesswire.com/741884/Biomimicry-Institute-Begins-Search-for-the-Top-Nature-Inspired-Startup-in-the-World
BRUSSELS/FRANKFURT/PARIS (dpa-AFX) - European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen will visit the United States next week for an important meeting with President Joe Biden at the White House. During their meeting, scheduled for Friday, the leaders will review the strong cooperation between the United States and the European Union to support Ukraine as it defends its sovereignty and democracy. The White House indicated the two leaders will discuss ways to 'impose costs on Russia for its aggression' against Ukraine. They will also discuss U.S.-EU coordination to combat the climate crisis through investing in clean technology based on secure supply chains. The leaders will take stock of the joint Task Force on Europe's Energy Security that they established one year ago, which has helped the European Union member states reduce its dependence on Russian fossil fuels and accelerate its green transition. The executive head of the European Union will also discuss with the U.S. President other international security challenges. It will include the two entities' work together to address the challenges posed by China, according to White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre. Copyright(c) 2023 RTTNews.com. All Rights Reserved Copyright RTT News/dpa-AFX

Werbehinweise: Die Billigung des Basisprospekts durch die BaFin ist nicht als ihre Befurwortung der angebotenen Wertpapiere zu verstehen. Wir empfehlen Interessenten und potenziellen Anlegern den Basisprospekt und die Endgultigen Bedingungen zu lesen, bevor sie eine Anlageentscheidung treffen, um sich moglichst umfassend zu informieren, insbesondere uber die potenziellen Risiken und Chancen des Wertpapiers. Sie sind im Begriff, ein Produkt zu erwerben, das nicht einfach ist und schwer zu verstehen sein kann.
NOIDA, India, March 3, 2023/PRNewswire/ -- According to a new report published by UnivDatos Markets Insights, theBipolar Coagulator Market is expected to grow at a CAGR of around 6% from 2022-2028. The analysis has been segmented into Product Type [Generators, Instruments (Advanced Vessel Sealing Instruments, and Bipolar Forceps), Accessories (Electrodes, Cords, Cables, Adapters, Foot Switches, Carts)]; Application (Laparoscopic Surgery, Orthopedics, Neurosurgery, Gynecology Surgery, Others); End Users (Hospitals, Trauma Centers, Ambulatory Surgical Centers, Others); and Region/Country.





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The bipolar coagulator market report has been aggregated by collecting informative data on various dynamics such as market drivers, restraints, and opportunities. This innovative report makes use of several analyses to get a closer outlook on the bipolar coagulator market. The bipolar coagulator market report offers a detailed analysis of the latest industry developments and trending factors in the market that are influencing the market growth. Furthermore, this statistical market research repository examines and estimates the bipolar coagulator market at the global and regional levels.

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Market Overview

Bipolar coagulators are used in surgical procedures such as cardiovascular surgery, gynecology surgery, general surgery, and others. These devices apply electric current for the thermal destruction of the targeted tissues. Thus, the growing technological developments in the medical sciences have resulted in the development of modern, highly advanced medical tools and techniques that are very effective in the treatment of many diseases and disorders such as chronic diseases and tumors. According to the World Health Organization (WHO) in 2021, various types of chronic diseases, such as cardiovascular diseases, cancer, respiratory diseases, and diabetes are responsible for approximately 17.9 million, 9.3 million, 4.1 million, and 1.5 million deaths, respectively. Major companies in the market offer product launches, and product approvals with technologically advanced features. For instance, in August 2020, Encision Inc., a developer of active electrode monitoring technology that prevents dangerous stray electrosurgical burns in minimally invasive surgery, launched AEM 2X enTouch Scissors, which was an instrument intended for surgical use in cutting, drilling, sawing, scratching, scraping, clamping, retracting, clipping, or similar procedures.

Some of the major players operating in the market include B. Braun SE, Symmetry Surgical Inc., Apyx Medical, Medtronic, XCELLANCE MEDICAL TECHNOLOGIES PVT LTD, Olympus Corporation, Karl Storz, CONMED Corporation, Boston Scientific Corporation, Smith & Nephew.

COVID-19 Impact

The recent covid-19 pandemic has disrupted the world and has brought a state of shock to the global economy. The global pandemic has impacted the healthcare industry and has transformed the way healthcare is delivered. The bipolar coagulator market has been significantly affected during these times owing to the delay in elective surgeries during the pandemic.

The global bipolar coagulator market report is studied thoroughly with several aspects that would help stakeholders in making their decisions more curated.

Based on on product type, the market is segmented into generators, instruments, and accessories. Instruments are sub-segmented into advanced vessel sealing instruments, and bipolar forceps. Accessories are sub-segmented into electrodes, cords, cables, adapters, foot switches, and carts. Among these, electrodes are expected to grow at a significant CAGR during the forecast period. This is mainly due to the growing prevalence of chronic diseases, the increasing adoption of minimally invasive procedures globally, and the technological advancements offered to patient requirements. According to the CDC 2020 report, 90% of the nation's USD 3.8 trillion per year healthcare costs were likely to be attributed to people with chronic diseases and mental health conditions .

. On the basis of application, the market is categorized into laparoscopic surgery, orthopedics, neurosurgery, gynecology surgery, and others. Among these, the laparoscopic surgery segment held a significant share of the market in 2020. Laparoscopic surgery refers to surgical procedures that are performed through one or multiple small incisions. This minimally invasive surgical technique is associated with faster recovery and better patient outcomes that drive the segment. For instance, in April 2021 , Genesis MedTech, a medical device company, announced the launch of novel laparoscopic technology in Singapore and China .

Have a Look at the Chapters https://univdatos.com/report/bipolar-coagulator-market/

Bipolar Coagulator Market Geographical Segmentation Includes:

North America ( United States , Canada , and Rest of North America )

( , , and Rest of ) Europe ( Germany , United Kingdom , Spain , Italy , France , and the Rest of Europe )

( , , , , , and the Rest of ) Asia-Pacific ( China , Japan , India , and the Rest of Asia-Pacific )

( , , , and the Rest of ) Rest of the World

North America held a significant share of the global bipolar coagulator market. This is mainly attributed to the rising incidence of cardiovascular and neurological disorders may lead to an increase in surgical procedures. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), in 2022, one person dies every 36 seconds in the United States from cardiovascular disease. In addition, it is anticipated that factors include an innovative medical infrastructure and high disposable income. The presence of leading players such as CONMED Corporation, Boston Scientific Corporation, and Smith & Nephew offers bipolar coagulators for surgical procedures with technologically advanced features. For instance, in December 2020, Boston Scientific Corporation announced FDA approval for its ORISE ProKnife, designed to be used with endoscope units to cut tissue within the gastrointestinal tract using high-frequency current.

The major players targeting the market include

B. Braun SE

Symmetry Surgical Inc.

Apyx Medical

Medtronic

XCELLANCE MEDICAL TECHNOLOGIES PVT LTD

Olympus Corporation

Karl Storz

CONMED Corporation

Boston Scientific Corporation

Smith & Nephew

Competitive Landscape

The degree of competition among prominent global companies has been elaborated by analyzing several leading key players operating worldwide. The specialist team of research analysts sheds light on various traits such as global market competition, market share, most recent industry advancements, innovative product launches, partnerships, mergers, or acquisitions by leading companies in the bipolar coagulator market. The major players have been analyzed by using research methodologies for getting insight views on global competition.

Key questions resolved through this analytical market research report include:

What are the latest trends, new patterns, and technological advancements in the bipolar coagulator market?

Which factors are influencing the bipolar coagulator market over the forecast period?

What are the global challenges, threats, and risks in the bipolar coagulator market?

Which factors are propelling and restraining the bipolar coagulator market?

What are the demanding global regions of the bipolar coagulator market?

What will be the global market size in the upcoming years?

What are the crucial market acquisition strategies and policies applied by global companies?

We understand the requirement of different businesses, regions, and countries, we offer customized reports as per your requirements of business nature and geography. Please let us know If you have any custom needs.

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Bipolar coagulator Market Report Coverage

Report Attribute Details Base year 2021 Forecast period 2022-2028 Growth momentum Accelerate at a CAGR of 6% Market size 2020 USD 3 billion Regional analysis North America, Europe, APAC, Rest of World Major contributing region North America to Dominate the Global Bipolar Coagulator Market Key countries covered United States, Canada, Germany, United Kingdom, Spain, Italy, France, China, Japan, India, and Australia Companies profiled B. Braun SE, Symmetry Surgical Inc., Apyx Medical, Medtronic, XCELLANCE MEDICAL TECHNOLOGIES PVT LTD, Olympus Corporation, Karl Storz, CONMED Corporation, Boston Scientific Corporation, Smith & Nephew. Report Scope Market Trends, Drivers, and Restraints; Revenue Estimation and Forecast; Segmentation Analysis; Impact of COVID-19; Demand and Supply Side Analysis; Competitive Landscape; Company Profiling Segments Covered By Product Type; By Accessories; By Application; By End Users By Region/Country

About UnivDatos Market Insights

UnivDatos Market Insights (UMI) is a passionate market research firm and a subsidiary of Universal Data Solutions. We believe in delivering insights through Market Intelligence Reports, Customized Business Research, and Primary Research. Our research studies are spread across topics across the world, we cover markets in over 100 countries using smart research techniques and agile methodologies. We offer in-depth studies, detailed analysis, and customized reports that help shape winning business strategies for our clients.

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LONDON, March 3, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Nintex, the global standard for process intelligence and automation, today announced the appointment of Amit Mathradas as Chief Executive Officer. Mathradas most recently served as President and Chief Operating Officer of Avalara. He succeeds Eric Johnson, following a successful five-year tenure in the role.





"Nintex has built a reputation as a company with deep process expertise, to help customers eliminate manual processes, manage process risk and compliance, and improve communications," said Mathradas. "A passion for technology and commitment to continuous improvement were the cornerstones upon which Nintex was born and remain a part of our identity today. And that's why it's a privilege to join the company at such an exciting time in its history."

Mathradas is a seasoned operating executive with significant experience leading teams, transformations, go-to-market strategies, and new business development for technology companies. At Avalara, Mathradas was responsible for most of its day-to-day operations and helped lead the business through a period of significant growth. Prior to Avalara, Mathradas was the General Manager and Head of SMB for North America at PayPal. He also served in senior leadership roles at Web.com and Dell.

"Amit's joining is another strong sign of momentum at Nintex, following the company's acquisition of process discovery leader Kryon last year," said Nehal Raj, Co-Managing Partner at TPG Capital. "Amit's leadership, operational expertise, and vision make him the right person to continue Nintex's transformation from a leading automation tool into a strategic, enterprise platform for broad-based automation."

"We also want to recognise Eric for his incredible contributions to Nintex over his decade with the company," said Stephen Elop, Chairman of Nintex. "Eric has been essential to the company's growth and success, and we thank him for his leadership." Johnson will continue to work closely as a senior advisor to TPG.

To learn how more organisations across every industry are going digital faster and transforming the way people work with the Nintex Process Platform, visit https://www.nintex.com/why-nintex/case-studies.

Media Contact

Ben Tamblyn

ben.tamblyn@nintex.com

About Nintex

Nintex is the global standard for process intelligence and automation. Today more than 10,000 public and private sector organisations across 90 countries turn to the Nintex Process Platform to accelerate progress on their digital transformation journeys by quickly and easily managing, automating, and optimising business processes. Learn more by visiting www.nintex.com and experience how Nintex and its global partner network are shaping the future of Intelligent Process Automation (IPA).

Product or service names mentioned herein may be the trademarks of their respective owners.





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View original content:https://www.prnewswire.co.uk/news-releases/nintex-names-amit-mathradas-chief-executive-officer-301761855.html
NORTHAMPTON, MA / ACCESSWIRE / March 3, 2023 / In celebration of Read Across America Day on March 2, 2023, LA Kings Alumn and radio analyst Daryl Evans, the LA Kings Ice Crew and mascot Bailey joined students at Hermosa View Elementary and Hermosa Vista School in Los Angeles, CA for a special reading of "B is for Bailey."

"It is so important to engage young readers in the community and expose them to the joy of reading," explained Gabe Gelbard, LA Kings Community Relations Specialist. "Literacy is a vital skill that is essential to a child's overall development. Strong literacy skills can positively affect a student's academic performance in school, enhance socialization and problem-solving skills and encourage independent learning."

Read Across America is an annual reading motivation and awareness program that calls for every child in every community to celebrate reading on the birthday of beloved children's author Dr. Seuss.

The LA Kings' Read Across America Day activities are aligned with the organization's umbrella program, G.O.A.L.S, which encompasses all of the club's sponsored character building and wellness activities. In partnership with Blue Shield of California, the G.O.A.L.S. program champions Green solutions, Open outlooks, Active bodies, Local leaders, and Sharp minds, equipping children with the practical skills and tools they need to lead healthy lives. To learn more about the G.O.A.L.S program, click here.

LA Kings Alumn and radio analyst Daryl Evans, the LA Kings Ice Crew and mascot Bailey hosted a special reading for students in Los Angeles, CA.

View additional multimedia and more ESG storytelling from AEG on 3blmedia.com.

Contact Info:

Spokesperson: AEG

Website: https://www.3blmedia.com/profiles/aeg

Email: info@3blmedia.com

SOURCE: AEG

View source version on accesswire.com:https://www.accesswire.com/741889/AEGs-LA-Kings-Celebrate-Read-Across-America-Day-at-Local-Elementary-Schools-Across-Los-Angeles-CA
Options Technology, the leading Capital Markets services provider, today announced its sponsorship of the American Lung Association's "Rock for Air" Fundraiser

This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20230303005286/en/

"We are proud to have sponsored the American Lung Association's Rock for Air concert and contribute to their mission of fighting lung disease. The success of this event, raising over $100,000, is a testament to the generosity and commitment of our community." Danny Moore, Options' President and CEO -- Read full press release here: https://www.options-it.com/2023/03/03/options-announces-sponsorship-of-the-american-lung-associations-rock-for-air-fundraiser-concert/ (Photo: Business Wire)

The American Lung Association's first-ever concert fundraiser, Rock For Air took place on Thursday, March 2, 2023 at The Cutting Room in New York City. The event, co-sponsored by Pure Storage, featured The Stage 8 Band and Mama D and the Vexations, and brought together the lung health community in New York City along with customers, partners and employees for an evening of fun and live music while raising over $100,000 for the American Lung Association.

Danny Moore, Options' President and CEO said, "We are proud to have sponsored the American Lung Association's Rock for Air concert and contribute to their mission of fighting lung disease. The success of this event, raising over $100,000, is a testament to the generosity and commitment of our community.

At Options, we believe in giving back and supporting important causes, and we are honoured to have played a part in supporting the American Lung Association's efforts in research, advocacy, and education."

"This event is a really exciting departure from our usual events in New York," said Erica Masin, Executive Director for the Lung Association in Metro New York. "We are grateful to have a local leadership board that is driven to engage their own talents and networks to benefit the Lung Association. Rock For Air is a unique opportunity to inspire a whole new crowd to join us in the effort to end lung disease for good."

The idea for the event came from Adam Apps, member of the Lung Association's Leadership Board in metro-New York. By combining his passions for lung health and music, and bringing in his corporate community as a sponsor, Adam has generated a new interest for philanthropy among his peers in New York City's tech community.

Apps said, "I'm honored to sit on the American Lung Association's NY Metro board and play a small role in advancing their mission. I decided to join their ranks because I was so impressed with the organization, the work they do, the difference they make and the lives they impact. Over the last couple of years during the pandemic, lung health has had a personal impact on a lot of us and I've never met a group of individuals who are more dedicated to their cause and mission to establish a world free of lung disease.

"The Lung Association's 'Rock For Air!' event is a perfect opportunity to steer the philanthropy of the NYC tech sector towards a worthy cause and a fun night, right in their backyard."

In addition to Options Technology and Pure Storage, Rock For Air is sponsored by, HighPoint, CDI LLC, Cohesity, Converge Technology Solutions, and Nasuni.

About the American Lung Association

The American Lung Association is the leading organization working to save lives by improving lung health and preventing lung disease through education, advocacy and research. The work of the American Lung Association is focused on four strategic imperatives: to defeat lung cancer; to champion clean air for all; to improve the quality of life for those with lung disease and their families; and to create a tobacco-free future. For more information about the American Lung Association, which has a 4-star rating from Charity Navigator and is a Platinum-Level GuideStar Member, or to support the work it does, call 1-800-LUNGUSA (1-800-586-4872) or visit: Lung.org.

American Lung Association 55 W. Wacker Drive, Suite 1150 Chicago, IL 60601

1331 Pennsylvania Ave. NW, Ste. 1425 North Washington, D.C. 20004

1-800-LUNGUSA (1-800-586-4872) Lung.org

About Options (www.options-it.com):

Options Technology is the No. 1 provider of IT infrastructure to global Capital Markets firms, supporting their operations and ecosystems.

Founded in 1993, the firm began life as a hedge fund technology services provider. Today, the company provides high-performance managed trading infrastructure and cloud-enabled managed services to over 550 firms globally, providing an agile, scalable platform in an Investment Bank-grade Cybersecurity wrapper.

Options clients include the leading global investment banks, hedge funds, funds of funds, proprietary trading firms, market makers, broker/dealers, private equity houses, and exchanges. With offices in 9 key cities; New York, Toronto, Chicago, London, Belfast, Hong Kong, Singapore, Tokyo and Auckland, Options are well placed to service its customers on-site and remotely.

In 2019, Options secured a significant growth investment from Abry Partners, a Boston-based sector-focused private equity firm. This investment has enabled Options to considerably accelerate its growth strategy to invest further in its technology platform and expand its reach in key financial centres globally.

Options has been named among the UK's leading growth companies in the 2021, 2020, 2019, 2018, and 2017 Sunday Times HSBC International Track 200 league table. For more on Options, please visit www.options-it.com follow us on Twitter at @Options_ITand visit our LinkedIn page

About Abry Partners (www.abry.com)

Abry is one of the most experienced and successful sector-focused private equity investment firms in North America. Since its founding in 1989, the firm has completed over $82 billion of leveraged transactions and other private equity or preferred equity placements. Currently, the firm manages over $5.0 billion of capital across their active funds.

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20230303005286/en/

Contacts:

Press Contact: Niall McAleer

Email: niall.mcaleer@options-it.com
NORTHAMPTON, MA / ACCESSWIRE / March 3, 2023 / Enbridge

Energy reliability. Energy sustainability. Energy affordability.

It's an "energy trilemma" facing the world today, and Enbridge is equipped to address it, our President and CEO Greg Ebel told an audience today in Toronto during our 2023 Enbridge Day investor community conference.

Mr. Ebel, and other members of our executive leadership, spoke of the North American energy advantage-which includes an abundance of conventional energy resources, and leading sustainability practices in bringing energy to market. They also addressed Enbridge's extensive asset base, cost competitive position and industry-leading safety record.

"We firmly believe that North America is at the forefront of balancing this trilemma, and Enbridge is helping to lead that rebalancing-and is perhaps one of the best-positioned companies to help ensure that this rebalancing occurs," said Mr. Ebel.

"Enbridge is connected to North American's most prolific oil and gas basins, and has a long track record of safely and reliably delivering energy from these basins to consumers of all kinds," he added. "This competitive advantage is one that cannot be replicated-and it's what makes us the first choice for energy delivery in North America and increasingly beyond."

Prior to today's market opening, Enbridge made a number of strategic growth and investment announcements :

The acquisition of the Tres Palacios natural gas storage facility in Matagorda County, TX for US$335 million, advancing our U.S. Gulf Coast strategy.

A US$80 million investment (10% stake) in Divert Inc., a Massachusetts-based company focused on transforming food waste into renewable natural gas (RNG).

An upcoming open season on our Flanagan South liquids pipeline, and plans to build the Enbridge Houston Oil Terminal (EHOT) with an initial capital cost of US$240 million.

Advancement on a 14-kilometre natural gas pipeline to support ArcelorMittal Dofasco's transition away from coal in Hamilton, ON, making it the largest GHG emissions reduction project in the province.

$2.4 billion in new gas transmission modernization and utility capital.

The 2023 Enbridge Day investor community conferences continues March 2 in Manhattan.

View additional multimedia and more ESG storytelling from Enbridge on 3blmedia.com.

Contact Info:

Spokesperson: Enbridge

Website: https://www.3blmedia.com/profiles/enbridge

Email: info@3blmedia.com

SOURCE: Enbridge

View source version on accesswire.com:https://www.accesswire.com/741893/2023-Enbridge-Day-The-First-Choice-for-Energy-Delivery
VANCOUVER, BC / ACCESSWIRE / March 3, 2023 / Spark Energy Minerals Inc., ("Spark" or the "Company" (CSE:EMIN)(Frankfurt:M1N)(OTC PINK:MTEHF) is pleased to announce that it has closed on a mineral claims purchase agreement dated February 1 , 2023, with Talisman Venture Partners, Ltd. ("Talisman") of Victoria B.C., pursuant to which it acquired a 100 percent ownership interest in 12 (twelve) exploration permits comprising approximately 22 thousand hectares (22k ha) of surface area in Minas Gerais, Brazil.

Talisman retained a 1% N.S.R. The Company can purchase %0.5 from Talisman at any time for $1,000,000.

The Company paid a total of $300,000 and 10 million common shares at a deemed price of $0.08 per share. Shares issued pursuant to this transaction are subject to statutory trading restrictions until June 24, 2023.

About Spark Energy Minerals Inc.

Spark Energy Minerals, Inc., is a Canadian company pursuing battery metals and mineral assets with newly acquired interests in Brazil and Canada. The Company has acquired assets in some of the world's most prolific mining jurisdictions, Brazil's growing lithium and provinces and in the Newfoundland, Canada region which is gaining recognition as a world hot spot for lithium and rare earth mineral exploration.

FOR ADDITIONAL INFORMATION SEE THE COMPANY'S WEB SITE AT

https://sparkenergyminerals.com

Email to info@sparkenergyminerals.com

Contact: Peter Wilson, CEO, Tel. +1-604-649-0945

Spark Energy Minerals' Minas Gerais Property Map

Neither the Canadian Securities Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the Canadian Securities Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.

Further information about the Company is available on www.SEDAR.com under the Company's profile.

Certain statements contained in this release may constitute "forward-looking statements" or "forward-looking information" (collectively "forward-looking information") as those terms are used in the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995 and similar Canadian laws. These statements relate to future events or future performance. The use of any of the words "could", "intend", "expect", "believe", "will", "projected", "estimated", "anticipates" and similar expressions and statements relating to matters that are not historical facts are intended to identify forward-looking information and are based on the Company's current belief or assumptions as to the outcome and timing of such future events. Actual future results may differ materially. In particular, this release contains forward-looking information relating to the business of the Company, the Property, financing and certain corporate changes. The forward-looking information contained in this release is made as of the date hereof and the Company is not obligated to update or revise any forward-looking information, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, except as required by applicable securities laws. Certain statements contained in this release may constitute "forward-looking statements" or "forward-looking information" (collectively "forward-looking information") as those terms are used in the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995 and similar Canadian laws. These statements relate to future events or future performance. The use of any of the words "could", "intend", "expect", "believe", "will", "projected", "estimated", "anticipates" and similar expressions and statements relating to matters that are not historical facts are intended to identify forward-looking information and are based on the Company's current belief or assumptions as to the outcome and timing of such future events. Actual future results may differ materially. In particular, this release contains forward-looking information relating to the business of the Company, the Property, financing and certain corporate changes. The forward-looking information contained in this release is made as of the date hereof and the Company is not obligated to update or revise any forward-looking information, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, except as required by applicable securities laws.

SOURCE: Spark Power Group Inc.

View source version on accesswire.com:https://www.accesswire.com/741901/Spark-Energy-Minerals-Inc-Announces-the-Closing-of-Additional-22-Thousand-Hectares-of-Brazilian-Lithium-Valley-Exploration-Properties-Increases-Portfolio-by-700
Dubai, United Arab Emirates--(Newsfile Corp. - March 3, 2023) - Future Blockchain Summit and local holders of Bored Ape Yacht Club (BAYC) and Mutant Ape Yacht Club (MAYC) are set to host the first-ever Bored Ape Yacht Party in the UAE on March 3, 2023, at Dubai Harbour followed by an after-party in partnership with Arte, a Web 3.0 community by Crypto Oasis at Sumosan Restaurant in Downtown Dubai.

Featuring live performances by Ape DJ Richy Boy with digital and physical art showcases, including Virtual Reality paintings and more, the exclusive Yacht Party event is set to bring together a highly exclusive and diverse crowd of 100 guests, including BAYC and MAYC NFT holders, yacht owners, and key opinion leaders in the blockchain space. The event is created to be the first international BAYC and MAYC meet-up in the UAE. Following the famed success of other BAYC events in the US, this one promises to be a unique and unforgettable experience with noteworthy partnerships, including Dubai International Boat Show, Future Blockchain Summit, PunkApe, Althaus Yachts, AIX Labs, Sumosan, Luna PR, and Cointelegraph Arabic.

The BAYC community fosters personal relationships among members and promotes community, culture, art, and music values and has made headlines for its unique approach to community building and the entire Yuga Labs ecosystem. The Bored Ape Yacht Party in Dubai represents a significant milestone for the entire NFT community and sets the standard for future events worldwide.

About Bored Ape Yacht Party:

The Bored Ape Yacht Party is the first Bored Ape Yacht Club (BAYC) and Mutant Ape Yacht Club (MAYC) community event held in Dubai. The community is built around a collection of 10,000 unique hand-drawn apes, each with its distinct personality and traits. Bored Ape NFTs have become some of the most sought-after digital assets in the world, with prices soaring into millions of dollars. Each Bored Ape NFT is unique and comes with a digital and physical membership card, giving holders exclusive access to the Bored Ape Yacht Club community and events.

To learn more about the event, visit https://boredapeyachtparty.com.

About Future Blockchain Summit:

Future Blockchain Summit, the MENA region's most immersive large-scale blockchain event, is moving Dubai Harbour from 15-18 October 2023 and is revamping with a new concept designed to embolden the disruptors, empower the change-makers, and inspire the innovators of the Web 3.0, Blockchain, Crypto, NFT, Metaverse, and Gaming community. The event will feature 1,000+ investors, 130+ exhibitors, and 200+ expert speakers.

To learn more about Future Blockchain Summit, visit https://www.futureblockchainsummit.com/

Media Contact:

Prerna Arora

prerna@zexprwire.com

To view the source version of this press release, please visit https://www.newsfilecorp.com/release/157096
NORTHAMPTON, MA / ACCESSWIRE / March 3, 2023 / Comcast Corporation



KEY TAKEAWAYS

The US workforce has a high demand for digital skills, yet many workers - particularly workers of color and those without higher education - lack these skills. Federal funds should increase access to digital skills training, by providing vital support to small businesses, drive economic mobility for individual workers, and benefit the broader economy. Prioritizing upskilling, especially within entry-level jobs, can close digital equity gaps and create business growth.

The digital divide is a complex issue that includes barriers to digital adoption and access. However, there is another key element of the issue that is too often ignored: the digital skills gap.

Earlier this week, the National Skills Coalition (NSC) released a report in conjunction with the Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta on the task at hand and what it means to close the digital skills divide in the workforce.

Here are the key numbers:

92%

92% of jobs available today require digital or likely digital skills - yet nearly one-third of US workers lack opportunities to build these skills.

23%

Jobs that require even one digital skill can earn an average of 23% more than jobs requiring no digital skills - an increase of $8,000 in annual income.

$27K

Businesses can save more than $27,000 per position when they offer upskilling opportunities, versus the cost of replacing a worker who departs.

What does this report tell us?

Across every industry and firm size, the US labor market shows an incredible demand for digital skills and workforce development. This is the reality we face today - not a projection of where jobs will be in the future. When we close the digital skills divide, we can create big payoffs for individuals, businesses, and the overall economy.

What should we do?

The answer lies in partnerships. Both the public and private sectors must work together to equip workers with digital skills. These skills must be both fundamental, like using a computer, and industry specific, like using bookkeeping software.

With an unprecedented federal investment in broadband deployment and adoption, there is no better time for government, private companies, and community organizations to collaborate.

Policymakers can use federal Digital Equity Act and Broadband Equity, Access, and Deployment (BEAD) funds to supercharge free or low-cost digital skills training programs. Such programs include Digital Navigators, in which local experts help folks understand the importance of digital skills and how to access available resources, like the Affordable Connectivity Program (ACP). Across the nation at Comcast, we've launched a network of Digital Navigators who are breaking down barriers to digital literacy and helping more people get and stay online.

As these federal funds are distributed, we have a special opportunity to bring digital skills resources to the communities that need them the most. This includes workers of color as well as small businesses and education providers, many of which rely on publicly funded programs to upskill employees.

The NSC's findings reiterate why I am so proud of the work Comcast has been doing for so long and why we are proud to call NSC a valued partner. Over the last decade, we have grown our Internet Essentials program, the largest and most successful broadband adoption initiative in the industry. Through that program, more than 10 million individuals have become broadband subscribers.

And through Project UP, our $1 billion commitment to help advance digital equity, we're partnering with organizations like CodePath, Hispanic Federation, NPower, and Per Scholas to create equitable access to skills and training so more people secure good jobs and climb the economic ladder.

One of the featured states in the NSC report is Illinois, which Comcast is proud to serve. 90% of the jobs in that state require digital skills. That's why we're working with local organizations like City Colleges of Chicago to ensure students can build critical digital skills.

The pandemic accelerated digital transformation. The importance of not only digital access but also digital skills is clear, and so is the path forward. The NSC's report lays out a roadmap to close the digital skills divide, through increased public investments in digital skill-building.

With this knowledge in hand, let's continue to build and nurture partnerships across the public and private sectors to give everyone the opportunity to succeed in today's digital world.

Broderick Johnson is Executive Vice President, Public Policy & Executive Vice President, Digital Equity.

View additional multimedia and more ESG storytelling from Comcast Corporation on 3blmedia.com.

Contact Info:

Spokesperson: Comcast Corporation

Website: https://www.3blmedia.com/profiles/comcast-corporation

Email: info@3blmedia.com

SOURCE: Comcast Corporation

View source version on accesswire.com:https://www.accesswire.com/741906/National-Skills-Coalition-Report-We-Must-Close-the-Digital-Skill-Divide
NORTHAMPTON, MA / ACCESSWIRE / March 3, 2023 / Rayonier's New Zealand team has a deep respect for protecting wildlife including the beloved kiwi.

In the video above, our New Zealand management team joined with a number of community stakeholder groups at Te Kura o Te Teko (a full-immersion Maori school) to attend a kiwi naming ceremony before releasing two kiwi chicks into Omataroa Forest.

(The Maori are the indigenous Polynesian people of New Zealand. Kiwi are flightless birds native to the country and are a national symbol of New Zealand.)

The Omataroa Trust owns the land and has invested in environmental restoration including pest control and active kiwi management for the past two decades to ensure a sustainable population of kiwi for generations to come.

Partnering to preserve a threatened national symbol

Rob Schoonderwoerd, District Forester for our Bay of Plenty region, has worked with the Trust since the inception of the Omataroa Kiwi Project . The presence of kiwi and native falcons was discovered through a survey of vegetation in 2000, prompting the development of a pest control plan. (The New Zealand falcon is the country's only falcon species and is the most threatened bird of prey.)

Initially there were only 12 Eastern Brown Kiwi found in or around the block. That population has now grown to 60 adult kiwi living and breeding in that area today thanks to careful management of these threatened birds.

Kiwi are the size of a domestic chicken and are the smallest living ratites (the group of animals that includes ostriches and emus). They also lay the largest egg in relation to their body size of any species of bird in the world. Kiwi are nocturnal, so they are more often heard than seen. If they survive to maturity (5 years), they can live for 50 to 100 years; however, predation is the biggest issue facing their survival.

Pest control and protecting kiwi chicks

Rayonier | Matariki Forests (RMF) is working with the Omataroa Kiwi Project to provide intensive trapping and pest control management, which largely targets stoats and cats. Buffer trapping is also being deployed beyond the 11,000-hectare (27,000-acre) reserve area.

The Kiwi Project team works with the Department of Conservation on the survivability of chicks using three techniques:

Incubation hatching at a special facility in Rainbow Springs in Rotorua, where the chicks are raised until they weigh 1,000 grams (2.2 pounds) In situ management of nests and chicks Creching, where the chicks are sent to another region to be raised and are returned once they weigh 1,000 grams (2.2 pounds)

The two female chicks that were released at the event in the video above were hatched at Rainbow Springs and were named Hobson and Aroha (which means "love") by the children at Te Teko school.

The kiwi were tagged with transmitters for monitoring and will be checked three weeks after being released into the wild. A key part of the Omataroa Kiwi Project is education, so we had the opportunity to teach the school children about the environment, predators and survival requirements of the kiwi.

A long-term commitment to stewardship

The kiwi management work being carried out by the Omataroa Kiwi Project along with pest control, education and training is crucial to the continued survival of kiwi in this forest. Thanks to Rob Schoonderwoerd's work over the years, the Omataroa Trust has grown to be a valued partner, and the Trust has now invited Rayonier | Matariki Forests to partner on a more substantial sponsorship program.

We recognize our responsibility as a forest owner to support the sustained preservation of the Eastern Brown Kiwi and other native birds in this forest for future generations, and we are delighted to be part of this wonderful conservation effort.

After the ceremony, the kiwi are taken into the woods, where they will be released back into the wild.

View additional multimedia and more ESG storytelling from Rayonier on 3blmedia.com.

Contact Info:

Spokesperson: Rayonier

Website: https://www.3blmedia.com/profiles/rayonier

Email: info@3blmedia.com

SOURCE: Rayonier

View source version on accesswire.com:https://www.accesswire.com/741908/Dedicated-to-Wildlife-Rayoniers-Efforts-To-Help-Save-the-Kiwi-in-New-Zealand
Calgary, Alberta--(Newsfile Corp. - March 3, 2023) - Green Impact Partners (TSXV: GIP) ("GIP" or the "Company") is pleased to announce the addition of Ms. Natascha Kiernan to its Board of Directors effective immediately. Ms. Kiernan brings a wealth of experience in both the public and private sector across a range of disciplines including corporate governance, project finance and development, tax equity financings, environmental, social and governance ("ESG"), commercial contracts, and joint ventures.

Natascha has held senior positions with several major international law firms, including approximately 12 years in the New York and London offices of Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom. She has represented international governments, multilateral institutions, commercial lenders, and major corporations in numerous multi-billion dollar energy projects, including some of the world's largest and most complex LNG projects. Natascha has worked across six continents and has experience representing sovereign governments in the development of energy-related policies and in their international treaty negotiations.

"I'm very pleased to welcome Natascha to our Board and look forward to her contributions as we continue to execute our growth strategy," said Jesse Douglas, Chief Executive Officer. "I know we'll benefit from Natascha's extensive knowledge and experience as we scale our organization for substantial growth, including the Future Energy Park, and execute on our development opportunities on the back of GIP finalizing its project equity process."

"Natascha is an inspiring leader, and she brings unique experiences and valuable expertise and perspectives to drive effective board governance," said Geeta Sankappanavar, Chair of the Board. "Natascha will make a positive impact as Green Impact Partners continues to build for the future."

Natascha received her B.A. from the University of Victoria and her J.D. from Columbia University School of Law. She earned her ICD.D designation having completed the Director Education Program at the Institute of Corporate Directors. Ms. Kiernan also serves as an independent director on the boards of Empress Royalty, Soma Gold Corp., Altaley Mining Corporation and as a Board Member Consultant to the BC Energy Regulator. Natascha was ranked as one of the 2014 "Top 40 under 40 Rising Legal Stars in Europe" by the Financial News.

In addition, GIP is pleased to announce the promotion of Nikolaus Kiefer to Chief Investment Officer, effective immediately. Mr. Kiefer is a co-founder of the business, and he has been part of the Executive Leadership Team as an Executive Advisor since the Company's inception in 2021.

"Nik has made a significant impact in our company and his promotion to Chief Investment Officer is so very well-deserved," added Jesse Douglas. "Nik has played an integral role in the development and successful execution of our business plan and his promotion will allow us to successfully continue to execute on our long-term growth plans, including the expansion of our development portfolio across North America."

About Green Impact Partners

Green Impact Partners is focused on creating a more sustainable future and inclusive planet by developing clean energy. GIP acquires, develops, and builds RNG and clean bio-energy projects, with the intention of building, owning, and operating a portfolio of producing facilities, and participates in a wide range of zero-carbon opportunities during every stage of the project lifecycle - from idea generation through to operations. GIP has a growing portfolio of RNG and clean bio-energy projects under development, representing over $2 billion in capital expenditures over the next three years. In its pursuit of net zero earth impact, GIP is positioned to be a leading producer of decarbonizing energy in North America. GIP's shares trade on the TSX Venture Exchange under the symbol GIP. For more information about GIP and its projects, visit www.greenipi.com .

Investor/Analyst Inquires:

(236) 476-3445 or investors@greenipi.com

Media Inquiries:

media@greenipi.com

To view the source version of this press release, please visit https://www.newsfilecorp.com/release/157105
Finsbury Growth & Income Trust Plc - Transaction in Own Shares

For immediate release

3 March 2023

FINSBURY GROWTH & INCOME TRUST PLC

(the "Company")

MARKET PURCHASE OF COMPANY'S OWN SHARES

The Company announces that it has today purchased 39,253 of its own shares ("Ordinary Shares") at a price of 886.49 pence per Ordinary Share. Such shares will be held in treasury by the Company.

The transaction was made pursuant to the authority granted at the Annual General Meeting of the Company held on 17 January 2023.

Following this transaction, the total number of Ordinary Shares held by the Company in treasury is 15,361,853; the total number of Ordinary Shares that the Company has in issue, less the total number of Ordinary Shares held by the Company in treasury following such purchase, and therefore, the total number of voting rights in the Company is 209,629,450.

The figure of 209,629,450 may be used by shareholders as the denominator for calculations of interests in the Company's voting rights in accordance with the FCA's Disclosure Guidance and Transparency Rules.

For and on behalf of

Frostrow Capital LLP

Company Secretary

For further information, please contact:

Victoria Hale

Frostrow Capital LLP

Tel: 020 3 170 8732
LONDON, March 3, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Tetragon has published its 2022 Annual Report. Please click below to access the report.

Tetragon Financial Group Limited 2022 Annual Report

As a reminder, Tetragon will host a conference call for investors on Monday, 6 March 2023 at 15:00 GMT / 10:00 EST to discuss its annual report and to provide a company update.

During the call, Tetragon's investment manager will also seek to address questions raised by investors, including questions e-mailed to ir@tetragoninv.com.

Getting Access to the Call and Q&A:

The call will be accompanied by a live presentation which can be viewed online by registering at the link below. In addition, questions can be submitted online while watching the presentation. We would encourage you to log in 15 minutes prior to the start of the call.

https://onlinexperiences.com/Launch/QReg/ShowUUID=D92B9E59-82F3-4028-ADD0-94EFBC2F9BC5

Presentation Replay:

A replay of the call will be available for 30 days through the link provided above or by visiting http://www.tetragoninv.com/shareholders where a recording will posted.

About Tetragon:

Tetragon is a Guernsey closed-ended investment company. Its non-voting shares are listed on Euronext in Amsterdam, a regulated market of Euronext Amsterdam N.V., and also traded on the Specialist Fund Segment of the Main Market of the London Stock Exchange. Our investment manager is Tetragon Financial Management LP. Find out more at www.tetragoninv.com.

Tetragon: Yuko Thomas Investor Relations ir@tetragoninv.com Press Inquiries: Prosek Partners pro-tetragon@prosek.com U.K. +44 203 890 9193 U.S. +001 212 279 3115

This release contains inside information within the meaning of Article 7(1) of the EU Market Abuse Regulation (2014/596/EU), or EU MAR, and of the UK version of EU MAR as it forms part of UK law by virtue of the European Union (Withdrawal) Act (as amended).

This release does not contain or constitute an offer to sell or a solicitation of an offer to purchase securities in the United States or any other jurisdiction. The securities of Tetragon have not been and will not be registered under the U.S. Securities Act of 1933, as amended, and may not be offered or sold in the United States or to U.S. persons unless they are registered under applicable law or exempt from registration. Tetragon does not intend to register any portion of its securities in the United States or to conduct a public offer of securities in the United States. In addition, Tetragon has not been and will not be registered under the U.S. Investment Company Act of 1940, as amended, and investors will not be entitled to the benefits of such Act. Tetragon is registered in the public register of the Netherlands Authority for the Financial Markets (Autoriteit Financiele Markten) under Section 1:107 of the Dutch Financial Markets Supervision Act as an alternative investment fund from a designated state.

View original content:https://www.prnewswire.co.uk/news-releases/tetragon-financial-group-limited-2022-annual-report-301762360.html
Thunder Bay, Ontario--(Newsfile Corp. - March 3, 2023) - Benton Resources Inc. (TSXV: BEX) ("Benton" or the "Company") is pleased to report that the Company will be attending the Prospectors & Developers Association of Canada (PDAC) Convention at the Metro Toronto Convention Centre from Sunday, March 5th to Wednesday, March 8th. The Company invites investors and interested parties to visit the Benton team, Sunday through Wednesday at Booth #2117 located in the Investors Exchange area. In addition, the Company will also display core, from the recent diamond-drilling program at the Kraken Lithium discovery in southwestern Newfoundland, at the PDAC Core Shack located on Level 800, Booth #3109B on March 7th from 10:00 am - 5:00 pm and March 8th from 9:00 am - 12:00 pm.

About Benton Resources Inc.

Benton Resources is a well-financed mineral exploration company listed on the TSX Venture Exchange under the symbol BEX. Following a project generation business model, Benton has a diversified, highly prospective property portfolio of gold, silver, nickel, copper, platinum group elements and, most recently, lithium and cesium assets. In addition, it currently holds large equity positions in other mining companies that are advancing high-quality assets. Whenever possible, BEX retains net smelter return (NSR) royalties with potential long-term cash flow.

Benton also is a 50/50 partner in a strategic alliance with Sokoman Minerals Corp. through three large-scale joint venture properties, including Grey River Gold, Golden Hope and Kepenkeck in Newfoundland.

On behalf of the Board of Directors of Benton Resources Inc.,

"Stephen Stares"

Stephen Stares, President & CEO

Parties interested in seeking more information about properties available for option can contact Mr. Stares at the number below.

For further information, please contact:

Stephen Stares, President & CEO

Phone: 807-475-7474

Email: sstares@bentonresources.ca

CHF Capital Markets

Thomas Do, IR Manager

Phone: 416-868-1079 x 232

Email: thomas@chfir.com

Website: www.bentonresources.ca

Twitter: @BentonResources

Facebook: @BentonResourcesBEX

THE TSX VENTURE EXCHANGE HAS NOT REVIEWED AND DOES NOT ACCEPT RESPONSIBILITY FOR THE ADEQUACY OR ACCURACY OF THIS RELEASE.

The information contained herein contains "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of applicable securities legislation. Forward-looking statements relate to information that is based on assumptions of management, forecasts of future results, and estimates of amounts not yet determinable. Any statements that express predictions, expectations, beliefs, plans, projections, objectives, assumptions or future events or performance are not statements of historical fact and may be "forward-looking statements."

Forward-looking statements are subject to a variety of risks and uncertainties which could cause actual events or results to differ from those reflected in the forward-looking statements, including, without limitation: risks related to failure to obtain adequate financing on a timely basis and on acceptable terms; risks related to the outcome of legal proceedings; political and regulatory risks associated with mining and exploration; risks related to the maintenance of stock exchange listings; risks related to environmental regulation and liability; the potential for delays in exploration or development activities or the completion of feasibility studies; the uncertainty of profitability; risks and uncertainties relating to the interpretation of drill results, the geology, grade and continuity of mineral deposits; risks related to the inherent uncertainty of production and cost estimates and the potential for unexpected costs and expenses; results of prefeasibility and feasibility studies, and the possibility that future exploration, development or mining results will not be consistent with the Company's expectations; risks related to gold price and other commodity price fluctuations; and other risks and uncertainties related to the Company's prospects, properties and business detailed elsewhere in the Company's disclosure record. Should one or more of these risks and uncertainties materialize, or should underlying assumptions prove incorrect, actual results may vary materially from those described in forward-looking statements. Investors are cautioned against attributing undue certainty to forward-looking statements. These forward-looking statements are made as of the date hereof and the Company does not assume any obligation to update or revise them to reflect new events or circumstances. Actual events or results could differ materially from the Company's expectations or projections

To view the source version of this press release, please visit https://www.newsfilecorp.com/release/157121
DENVER, CO / ACCESSWIRE / March 3, 2023 / Arrow Electronics executives from around the globe took a break from recent business strategy meetings to build 150 bikes for charity. The local employees then donated the finished bikes to second graders in schools that qualify for federal aid - and even helped some students ride for the first time.

"We believe in making a difference in the lives of many and giving back to our communities. Through our leadership team-building event, we did just that," said Rick Marano, president of Arrow's Americas components business.

The bike-building project was an initiative with Wish for Wheels, a Denver-based non-profit. Since 2004, they have distributed new bikes and helmets to 75,000 second-graders in underserved schools across the United States.

"Our mission to empower 2nd graders starts with amazing companies that show commitment to their communities by engaging their teams to build bikes and engage at the heart level by directly connecting with the kids they are supporting. Arrow truly understands community engagement through action," said Brad Appel, CEO & Founder of Wish for Wheels.

About Wish for Wheels:

Wish for Wheels is a 501C3 that engages companies to fund, build and give bikes to 2nd graders in Title I schools in their communities. This double touch point engages the companies' teams, bringing them closer, while the second touch point engages communities and empowers the kids who grow into the bikes for 2nd, 3rd and 4th grade.

About Arrow:

Arrow Electronics guides innovation forward for over 210,000 leading technology manufacturers and service providers. With 2022 sales of $37 billion, Arrow develops technology solutions that improve business and daily life. Learn more at fiveyearsout.com.

View additional multimedia and more ESG storytelling from Arrow Electronics on 3blmedia.com.

Contact Info:

Spokesperson: Arrow Electronics

Website: https://www.3blmedia.com/profiles/arrow-electronics

Email: info@3blmedia.com

SOURCE: Arrow Electronics

View source version on accesswire.com:https://www.accesswire.com/741949/Arrow-Electronics-Employees-Give-Back-by-Building-Bikes-for-Denver-Students-in-Title-I-Schools
VANCOUVER, BC / ACCESSWIRE / March 3, 2023 / The Power Play by The Market Herald has announced the release of new interviews with Else Nutrition, Pelangio Exploration, Silver Bullet Mines and Avrupa Minerals discussing their latest news.

The Power Play by The Market Herald provides investors with a quick snapshot of what they need to know about the company's latest press release through exclusive insights and interviews with company executives.

Else Nutrition (TSX:BABY) triples production capacity

Else Nutrition (BABY) has more than tripled its production capacity in line with increasing demand. The company reached the milestone by adding a second U.S. powder production facility, while initial commercial European production is slated for later this month. Hamutal Yitzhak, Else's CEO and Co-Founder, sat down with Sabrina Phillips to discuss the news.

For the full interview with Hamutal Yitzhak and to learn about Else Nutrition, click here.

Pelangio Exploration (TSXV:PX) to commence a 1,000 metre drill program at Manfo

Pelangio Exploration (PX) will begin a 1,000-metre diamond drill program on its Manfo Project in Ghana. Starting this month, the program follows the drilling conducted at Pokukrom West in late 2021 and is the latest phase in a larger planned diamond drilling program of 3,700+ metres. Ingrid Hibbard, President & CEO, sat down with Sabrina Phillips to discuss the program.

For the full interview with Ingrid Hibbard and to learn about Pelangio Exploration, click here.

Silver Bullet Mines (TSXV:SBMI) encounters further silver mineralization and returns to processing material at its mill

Silver Bullet Mines Corp. (SBMI) is again processing mineralized material at its 125 TPD pilot plant. The Company has one outstanding order for 50 kilograms of silver, including credits for any contained copper or gold. Peter Clausi, VP Capital Markets at Silver Bullet, spoke with Sabrina Phillips about this news.

For the full interview with Peter Clausi and to learn about Silver Bullet Mines, click here.

Avrupa Minerals (TSXV:AVU) partners with Western Tethyan Resources to advance Slivova Gold Project

Avrupa Minerals' (AVU) partner, Western Tethyan Resources (WTR), has completed its detailed due diligence study of the Slivova Gold Project. WTR found that the project has the potential for low initial capex, moderate operating costs, and attractive NPV and IRR in the current estimated mine life. Avrupa Minerals CEO and Director Paul Kuhn sat down with Sabrina Phillips to discuss the news.

For the full interview with Paul Kuhn and to learn about Avrupa Minerals, click here.

Interviews for The Power Play by The Market Herald are released daily. To learn more about the companies featured in The Power Play or to explore our other interviews visit The Power Play by The Market Herald.

About The Market Herald

The Market Herald Canada is the leading source of authoritative breaking stock market news for self-directed investors. Our team of Canadian markets reporters, editors and technologists covers the entire listed company universe in Canada. We cover over 3,985 businesses, their people, their investors, and their customers. We write the stories that move the Canadian capital markets.

DISCLAIMER: Report Card Canada Media Ltd. ("Report Card") is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Market Herald Limited, an Australian company ("Market Herald"). Report Card is not an advisory service, and does not offer, buy, sell, or provide any other rating, analysis or opinion on the securities we discuss. We are retained and compensated by the companies that we provide information on to assist them with making information available to the public. All information available on themarketherald.ca and/or this press release should be considered as commercial advertisement and not an endorsement, offer or recommendation to buy or sell securities. Report Card is not registered with any financial or securities regulatory authority in any province or territory of Canada, will not be performing any registerable activity as defined by the applicable regulatory bodies and do not provide nor claim to provide investment advice or recommendations to any visitor of this site or readers of any content on or originating from themarketherald.ca. Market Herald and/or its affiliates and/or their respective officers, directors or employees may from time to time acquire, hold or sell securities and/or commodities and/or commodity futures contracts in certain underlying companies mentioned in this site and which may also be clients of Market Herald's affiliates. In such instances, Market Herald and/or its affiliates and/or their respective officers, directors or employees will use all reasonable efforts to avoid engaging in activities that would lead to conflicts of interest and Market Herald and/or its affiliates will use all reasonable efforts to comply with conflicts of interest disclosures and regulations to minimize any conflict. All the information on this document and/or the website - themarketherald.ca - is published in good faith and for general information purpose only. Report Card does not make any warranties about the completeness, reliability, and accuracy of this information. Any action you take upon the information you find on this document and/or website (themarketherald.ca) is strictly at your own risk. Report Card will not be liable for any losses and/or damages in connection with the use of our website. From our website, you can visit other websites by following hyperlinks to such external sites. While we strive to provide only quality links to useful and ethical websites, we have no control over the content and nature of these sites. These links to other websites do not imply a recommendation for all the content found on these sites. Site owners and content may change without notice and may occur before we have the opportunity to remove a link which may have gone 'bad'. Please be also aware that when you leave our website, other sites may have different privacy policies and terms which are beyond our control. Please be sure to check the Privacy Policies of these sites as well as their "Terms of Service" before engaging in any business or uploading any information.

CONTACT:

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SOURCE: The Market Herald

View source version on accesswire.com:https://www.accesswire.com/741963/The-Power-Play-by-The-Market-Herald-Releases-New-Interviews-with-Else-Nutrition-Pelangio-Exploration-Silver-Bullet-Mines-and-Avrupa-Minerals-Discussing-Their-Latest-News
VANCOUVER, BC / ACCESSWIRE / March 3, 2023 / Pampa Metals Corp. ("Pampa Metals" or the "Company") (CSE:PM)(FSE:FIRA)(OTCQX:PMMCF) is pleased to advise that it has issued 14,644,334 units ("Units") at a price of $0.15 per Unit under the Non-Brokered Private Placement offering (the "Offering") detailed in a January 19, 2023 news release for gross proceeds of $2,196,650.

Each Unit consists of one fully paid common share and one purchase warrant entitling the holder to acquire an additional common share at a price of $0.21 for a period of 3 years after the closing of the Offering.

In connection with the Offering, the Company paid total cash commissions of $94,724 and issued 1,041,023 finder's warrants and 344,143 finder's shares. Each finder's warrant is exercisable into a common share of the Company at an exercise price of $0.21 for a period of 3 years from the date of closing of the Offering.

The Company's Vice President of Exploration was recently in Chile, finalising preparations for the maiden drill testing of the Buenavista target and the Block 4 Project more broadly, where an initial ~2,100m diamond drill program has been designed to test coincident geological, geochemical, and geophysical anomalies.

Residual proceeds from the Offering will be directed towards due diligence on the identification and possible acquisition of large porphyry copper-molybdenum targets capable of complementing the Company's existing portfolio, as well as general corporate purposes.

Block 4 / Buenavista - Principal Findings & Conclusions from Technical Data

Preliminary results from a soil geochemical survey were previously reported (see news release dated November 10, 2022) and subsequently the following key findings (see news release dated January 19, 2023):

The soil geochemical data are consistent with key findings identified by surface geology, Induced Polarisation (IP) geophysics, and magnetometry, and other complementary data including 3D modeling.

Clearly anomalous values of Mo (up to 14 ppm Mo) and Cu (up to 1,560 ppm Cu) in soils, in a heavily supergene leached desert environment, coincide with mapped hydrothermal alteration at the key central quartz-stockwork zone and the neighbouring quartz-sulphide breccia zone (previously reported).

Additional sporadic gold anomalies (up to 175 ppb Au), together with the distributions of copper, molybdenum, and pathfinder elements including Zn, Pb, As, and others, suggest Buenavista represents a fertile Tertiary porphyry copper-molybdenum system located along the world's preeminent porphyry copper belt.

Buenavista has a footprint of about 1.5 km E-W by 1 km N-S according to the exploration results to date, and is located on a significant NE-SW trending geological structure revealed by the geochemical dataset and supported by surface mapping.

The geochemical data is also suggestive of a further potential target to the SW of Buenavista, and gives encouragement to the likely existence of a further target under cover to the east of Buenavista, currently defined by geophysical data.

Mo in Soils Compared to Buenavista Magnetic Anomaly

The combination of geological, geochemical, and geophysical anomalies is suggestive of a potential "cluster" of porphyry copper-molybdenum systems on the Block 4 property, an aspect typical of some major porphyry copper-molybdenum districts in Chile and worldwide.

A diamond drilling program to test Buenavista, and likely an additional covered target under cover to the east or southeast, is well supported by the various surface datasets, where three to four diamond drill holes totalling around 2,100m have been planned.

Block 4 - Regional Location Along Domeyko Belt

Debt Settlement

The Company further announces that it has entered into debt settlement agreements to settle outstanding indebtedness to two arm's length service providers in the aggregate amount of $25,500 (collectively, the "Debt Settlement"), of which will be settled through the issuance of an aggregate of 166,667 Units at a price of $0.15 per Unit. The Units in the Debt Settlement have the same terms as the Units in the Offering.

ABOUT PAMPA METALS

Pampa Metals is a Canadian company listed on the Canadian Stock Exchange (CSE:PM) as well as the Frankfurt (FSE:FIRA) and OTC (OTCQB:PMMCF) exchanges. Pampa Metals owns a highly prospective, wholly owned, 47,400-hectare portfolio of seven projects for copper, molybdenum and gold located along proven mineral belts in Chile, one of the world's top mining jurisdictions. The Company is actively progressing four of its projects, including completed and planned drill tests, and has two additional projects optioned to Austral Gold Ltd.

The Company has a vision to create value for shareholders and all other stakeholders by making a major copper discovery along the prime mineral belts of Chile, using the best geological and technological methods. For more information, please visit Pampa Metals' website www.pampametals.com.

The latest Company Presentation can be accessed at https://pampametals.com/investor/.

ON BEHALF OF THE BOARD

Joseph van den Elsen | President & CEO

INVESTORS CONTACT

Joseph van den Elsen | President & CEO

joseph@pampametals.com

Neither the CSE nor the Investment Industry Regulatory Organization of Canada accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.

FORWARD-LOOKING STATEMENT

This news release contains certain statements that may be deemed "forward-looking statements". All statements in this release, other than statements of historical fact, that address events or developments that Pampa Metals expects to occur, are forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements are statements that are not historical facts and are generally, but not always, identified by the words "expects" and similar expressions, or that events or conditions "will" or "may" occur. These statements are subject to various risks. Although Pampa Metals believes the expectations expressed in such forward-looking statements are based on reasonable assumptions, such statements are not guaranteeing of future performance and actual results may differ materially from those in forward-looking statements.

SOURCE: Pampa Metals Corp.

View source version on accesswire.com:https://www.accesswire.com/741953/Pampa-Metals-Closes-Non-Brokered-Private-Placement-and-Finalises-Preparations-for-Maiden-Drill-Testing-of-the-Buenavista-Target-and-the-Block-4-Project
Vancouver, British Columbia--(Newsfile Corp. - March 3, 2023) - Bolt Metals Corp. (CSE: BOLT) (FSE: A2QEUB) (OTCQB: PCRCF) ("Bolt" or the "Company") announces it has implemented a consolidation (the "Consolidation") of its issued share capital on the basis of one (1) new common share for every ten (10) currently outstanding common shares. Trading of the common shares on a post-Consolidation basis on the Canadian Securities Exchange and OTCQB will commence at market open on March 6, 2023.

Immediately prior to the Consolidation, the Company had 14,981,415 issued and outstanding common shares, immediately following the Consolidation 1,498,122 common shares were issued and outstanding. No fractional shares were issued, any fractional interest in common shares resulting from the Consolidation, were rounded down to the nearest whole common share. Outstanding common share purchase warrants were also adjusted by the Consolidation ratio and the respective exercise prices adjusted accordingly.

Registered shareholders that hold certificated shares, will receive a letter of transmittal from the Company's transfer agent, Computershare Investor Services Inc., with instructions for exchanging their pre-Consolidation shares. Shareholders who hold their shares via DRS, through a broker or other intermediary and do not have shares registered in their name, will not need to complete a letter of transmittal.

The Company name and symbol were not changed in connection with the Consolidation.

About Bolt Metals

Bolt Metals is a Canadian-based exploration company focused on the acquisition and development of production grade nickel and cobalt deposits, key raw material inputs for the growing lithium-ion battery industry. Visit https://boltmetals.com/ to find out more.

Bolt Metals Corp.

Ranjeet Sundher - President and CEO

(604) 922-8272

rsundher@boltmetals.com

Steve Vanry - CFO & Director

(604) 922-8272

steve@vanrycap.com

Reader Advisory

This news release contains statements that constitute "forward-looking statements." Such forward-looking statements involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors that may cause actual results, performance or achievements, or developments in the industry to differ materially from the anticipated results, performance or achievements expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements are statements that are not historical facts and are generally, but not always, identified by the words "expects", "plans", "anticipates", "believes", "intends", "estimates", "projects", "potential" and similar expressions, or that events or conditions "will", "would", "may", "could" or "should" occur. Forward-looking statements are necessarily based upon a number of estimates and assumptions that, while considered reasonable by management of the Company at this time, are inherently subject to significant business, economic and competitive risks, uncertainties and contingencies that could cause actual results to differ materially from those expressed or implied in such statements. Investors are cautioned not to put undue reliance on forward-looking statements. Applicable risks and uncertainties include, but are not limited to regulatory risks, changes in laws, resolutions and guidelines, market risks, concentration risks, operating history, competition, the risks associated with international and foreign operations and the other risks identified in other disclosure documents available on the Company's profile on SEDAR at www.sedar.com. The Company is not under any obligation, and expressly disclaims any intention or obligation, to update or revise any forward-looking information, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, except as expressly required by applicable law.

Neither the Canadian Securities Exchange nor the Investment Industry Regulatory Organization of Canada accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this news release.

To view the source version of this press release, please visit https://www.newsfilecorp.com/release/156857
Agreement Expands Cooperation to Enhance Energy Security and Achieve Climate Goals

Westinghouse Electric Company today announced it has signed a Memorandum of Understanding with Bulgaria's Kozloduy NPP-Newbuild. The agreement establishes a joint working group between the two parties to initiate planning for potential deployment of one or more AP1000 reactors, a Generation III+ nuclear technology. The working group will also evaluate regulatory, licensing and design bases to ensure full compliance with applicable regulations as well as a streamlined execution path to enable Bulgaria to achieve its nuclear energy goals.

This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20230301006144/en/

Ivaylo Ivanov, member of the Board of Directors of Kozloduy NPP New Build, and Elias Gedeon, Senior Vice President for Westinghouse Energy Systems, complete signing a Memorandum of Understanding for Westinghouse AP1000 technology. The agreement expands cooperation, enhances energy security and achieves climate goals. (Photo: Business Wire)

"Westinghouse appreciates the partnership and is eager to support Bulgaria's clean energy future," said David Durham, Energy Systems President for Westinghouse. "This cooperative agreement sets us on a path toward providing both economic and environmental benefits for the Bulgarian people while bolstering the country's energy security."

KNPP-Newbuild is a special project company owned by the single operating nuclear power plant in Bulgaria and specifically established to manage the project to build one or two nuclear reactors at the Kozloduy NPP site, using the advantages of existing infrastructure and advanced licensing and environmental status.

There are currently two Russian-designed VVER-1000 reactors in operation at the Kozloduy site. Westinghouse signed a 10-year agreement in December 2022 to supply nuclear fuel to one of the units starting in 2024.

The AP1000 reactor is the only operating Generation III+ reactor with fully passive safety systems, modular construction design and has the smallest footprint per MWe on the market. In addition to the two reactors nearing completion at the Vogtle site in Georgia, four AP1000 units are currently setting operational performance records in China with four additional reactors under construction, and two more planned. Three units were recently selected for Poland and nine units have been announced for Ukraine, and the technology is under consideration at multiple other sites in Central and Eastern Europe, the United Kingdom, and in the United States.

Westinghouse Electric Company is shaping the future of carbon-free energy by providing safe, innovative nuclear and other clean power technologies and services globally. Westinghouse supplied the world's first commercial pressurized water reactor in 1957 and the company's technology is the basis for nearly one-half of the world's operating nuclear plants. Over 135 years of innovation makes Westinghouse the preferred partner for advanced technologies covering the complete nuclear energy life cycle. For more information, visit www.westinghousenuclear.com and follow us on Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter.

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20230301006144/en/

Contacts:

Cathy Mann

Cathy.Mann@westinghouse.com

+1 (281) 254-2276
Results Provide over 40% Faster Uptake of Insulin

Toronto, Ontario--(Newsfile Corp. - March 3, 2023) - NuGen Medical Devices Inc. (TSXV: NGMD) (the "Company" or "NuGen") reports its needle-free injection device, InsuJet provides over 40% faster insulin uptake[1] and significantly faster onset of action in diabetic patients compared to needle injections in multiple clinical studies performed in the Netherlands.

Studies were performed at the Radboud University Medical Center in Nijmegen, Netherlands[2],[3] and were published in various influential medical journals including Diabetes Care.

Many patients confirm they notice a faster insulin absorption as evident in the testimonials of many users of InsuJet. Absorption is very beneficial in managing post-meal blood glucose peaks, where conventionally subcutaneously injected insulins still have limitations.

"Data from our past clinical studies, patient testimonials and feedback confirm the benefits of this faster absorption which is bringing many positive benefits to diabetes management. The majority of patients confirm noticeably faster absorption," commented Mr. Nicky Canton, Chief Operation Officer of NuGen. "Time and again we hear that for both children and adults with an active lifestyle that InsuJet, with its needle-free injection delivery, and its quick insulin absorption, has contributed immensely in the management of their diabetes care."

For more information regarding clinical studies, certificates, or InsuJet reports, please visit www.insujet.com and click on the 'Partners' button to learn more. For more information on product testimonials, please visit www.insujet.com and click on the 'Community' button.

"NuGen has become invigorated with a group of like-minded individuals committed to investing time and capital to improve life for millions of diabetics worldwide." Richard Buzbuzian, President & CEO.

About NuGen Medical Devices

NuGen is an emerging specialty medical device company developing the next generation of needle-free technologies and other innovative medical delivery products. The company's products, which include the InsuJet and PetJet needle-free injection systems, are designed to improve the lives of millions of people and animals. NuGen continues to receive approval in numerous countries, including Canada. NuGen's products are designed for use in several important fields including, but not limited to, diabetes, veterinary medicine, and vaccines.

For further information, please visit:

Websites: www.insujet.com and www.nugenmd.com

Instagram: @NuGenMD

Twitter: @NuGenMD

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/nugenmd/

For further information, please contact:

Tony Di Benedetto

Executive Chairman

(416) 791-9399

tony@nugenmd.com

Richard Buzbuzian

President &CEO

(647) 501-3290

richard@nugenmd.com

Notice Regarding Forward-Looking Information:

Neither TSXV nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in policies of the TSXV) accept responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.

This news release contains "forward-looking information" and "forward-looking statements" (collectively, "forward-looking statements") within the meaning of the applicable Canadian securities legislation. All statements, other than statements of historical fact, are forward-looking statements and are based on expectations, estimates and projections as at the date of this news release. Any statement that involves discussions with respect to predictions, expectations, beliefs, plans, projections, objectives, assumptions, future events or performance (often but not always using phrases such as "expects", or "does not expect", "is expected", "anticipates" or "does not anticipate", "plans", "budget", "scheduled", "forecasts", "estimates", "believes" or "intends" or variations of such words and phrases or stating that certain actions, events or results "may" or "could", "would", "might" or "will" be taken to occur or be achieved) are not statements of historical fact and may be forward-looking statements. These forward-looking statements are subject to a variety of risks and uncertainties and other factors that could cause actual events or results to differ materially from those projected in the forward-looking information. The forward-looking information contained herein is given as of the date hereof and the Company assumes no responsibility to update or revise such information to reflect new events or circumstances, except as required by law.

[1] de Wit, H.M., Engwerda, E.E.C., Tack, C.J. and de Galan, B.E. (2015), Insulin administered by needle-free jet injection corrects marked hyperglycaemia faster in overweight or obese patients with diabetes. Diabetes Obes Metab, 17: 1093-1099. https://doi.org/10.1111/dom.12550

[2] Elsemiek E.C. Engwerda, Cees J. Tack, Bastiaan E. de Galan; Needle-Free Jet Injection of Rapid-Acting Insulin Improves Early Postprandial Glucose Control in Patients With Diabetes. Diabetes Care 1 November 2013; 36 (11): 3436-3441. https://doi.org/10.2337/dc13-0492

[3] de Wit, H.M. et al. supra note 1.

To view the source version of this press release, please visit https://www.newsfilecorp.com/release/157099
Springfield, Oregon--(Newsfile Corp. - March 3, 2023) - Silo Wellness Inc. (CSE: SILO) (OTCQB: SILFF) (FSE: 3K7A), has reduced its public float percentage to 25.4% of outstanding shares, resulting in a current public float of 35,415,282 shares, according to a new report from the Company's transfer agent. This reduction was achieved through over $1M of debt conversions this week. The company's current share count is publicly available on the CSE website, which reports a total of 139,704,089 shares issued.

Silo Wellness closed at CAD$.02 on Friday, resulting in a market capitalization of CAD$2,794,082 on the CSE versus $709,977 the day before the new shares were reflected in the share count.

Meanwhile, the OTCQB listing service, where Silo is more thinly traded (under the SILFF ticker symbol) despite its substantial Oregon-based plans, closed at USD$0.0146 on Friday with a market cap of USD$2,039,680. Converting this to CAD using an exchange rate of 1.36, the OTC market cap stands at CAD$2,773,964, representing a difference of less than 1% compared to the CSE market cap. This underscores the compatibility of the two exchanges for price comparisons at this particular time.

"The reduction of debt and the reduction in the percentage of our public float is a strategic decision that we believe will benefit our company and our shareholders over the long-term," said Silo Wellness founder and CEO, Mike Arnold. "By limiting the number of shares available for trading on the market, we hope to create greater scarcity and demand for our stock, potentially leading to increased value for our shareholders."

While market capitalization is just one metric used to evaluate a company's financial performance, it is an important indicator that investors may use to assess the overall value of a company's stock. However, investors should exercise caution and conduct thorough research before making any investment decisions based solely on market capitalization values.

Silo Wellness remains committed to restructuring debt and advancing its business plans in Oregon and Jamaica.

Contact:

Mike Arnold, CEO

541-900-5871

IR at silo wellness dot com

NEITHER THE CANADIAN SECURITIES EXCHANGE NOR ITS REGULATION SERVICES PROVIDER ACCEPTS RESPONSIBILITY FOR THE ADEQUACY OR ACCURACY OF THIS RELEASE. SEE PRIOR PRESS RELEASES FOR CAUTIONARY NOTE REGARDING FORWARD-LOOKING STATEMENTS.

To view the source version of this press release, please visit https://www.newsfilecorp.com/release/157244
Apaleo, a Munich, Germany-based provider of an open hospitality platform, raised a growth equity funding which brought its Series A round to 9M.

The round was led by Rockaway Ventures and Serpentine Ventures with participation from Redalpine, and Force Over Mass Capital.

The company intends to use the funds for product development plans and consolidation of its market-leading position in Germany while accelerating its penetration within hotel and serviced apartment groups across Europe.

Co-founded by CEO Martin Reichenbach and Uli Pillau, Apaleo provides a platform to manage hotel & serviced apartment chains. The API-first property management platform powers brands across more than 15 countries, Customers include numa, Mollies by Soho House, mk hotels, Zetter Hotels & co, Limehome, SV Group, HR Group, Vagabond Club, and Lindemann Hotels.

FinSMEs

03/03/2023
Divert, a West Concord, MA-based impact technology company, raised $100M in Equity funding.

The round consisted of $80M in growth stock from Enbridge and $20M led by current investor Ara Partners.

The company intends to use the funds to accelerate growth and expand operations.

Founded in 2007 and led by CEO Ryan Begin and COO Nick Whitman, Divert is an impact technology company that creates advanced technologies and sustainable infrastructure to eliminate wasted food, driving social and environmental impact. The company provides an end-to-end solution that prevents waste by maximizing the freshness of food, recovers edible food to serve communities in need, and converts wasted food into renewable energy. The company works with five Fortune 100 companies and nearly 5,400 retail stores across the U.S., helping food retailers to reach their sustainability goals.

Divert plans to scale its facilities to every major geographic region in the U.S. to be within 100 miles of 80% of the U.S. population in the next eight years. New wasted food to RNG facilities will also be considered for Canada.

FinSMEs

03/03/2023
Flagler College Com Week 2023: Q&A with PRSSA President

Since 2005, the Flagler College Communications Department has invited alumni, communications professionals, and community members to participate in Com Week. It's an opportunity for students to network while gaining valuable insights from leaders and innovators in the fields they are interested in pursuing.

We talked with Senior Matthew Dutton, president of the Public Relations Student Society of America and organizer for Com Week 2023, about his experience attending past Com Weeks and the vision for this year's programming:

Over the past three years, what have been some of your major takeaways from Com Week?

My key takeaway from previous COM Weeks that I have attended is definitely getting a strong sense of what it means to be a communication professional. I've heard from a variety of individuals from different backgrounds and hearing their experience in communication really helps me and other students figure out our own goals.

Tell me about this years theme The Truth About Communication and how it was developed.

This year's theme for COM Week has been developing since last summer. "The Truth About Communication" is an interesting topic because oftentimes, viewers have preconceived opinions about journalists, reporters, and PR professionals. So, I think having an open dialogue about what truth really means is important to current students that are aspiring communication professionals. Everyone has a different outlook on truth and COM Week is a great way for professionals to give their own insight into what truth really means in all aspects.

In developing the programming for this years Com Week, how did you source speakers, and what was your strategy for choosing them?

Flagler's communication faculty does the leg work in lining up our speakers and panelists for COM Week and it usually comes down to the connections they have with others across the country. When sourcing speakers, we like to have a variety of professionals to expose students to all aspects of communication; that can include filmmakers, PR practitioners, decorated journalists, producers, social media experts, and more. We also have great connections with Flagler communication alumni that are successful in their careers and invite them to speak at our alumni panel where they can engage with current students and share their journey in transitioning from a student to a working professional.

How did you work with speakers to nail down their topics of presentation or what guidance did you give them?

We like to give our speakers lots of flexibility when deciding on what they would like to present. They are aware of the theme of COM Week, and usually, the sessions they have are tailored around that theme in some way.

This years alumni panel has an impressive lineup of recent grads; what topics will they cover in the session and why do you think their perspective on the industry is especially important?

The alumni panel is one of COM Week's most anticipated events because many current students are posing the question of what they can do with their communication degree. Inviting alumni that are successful in their careers is great because they can share their journey of transitioning from a student to a working professional. I think their perspective on the industry really helps current students figure out their goals and plans post-graduation and gives them a good sense of what they can accomplish with the skillset they earned from Flagler.

Are there any traditions of Com Week or any speakers or events that occur every year? And why have they carried through the years?

The speech contest and alumni panel are great traditions of COM Week that I always enjoy. These events have become essential to COM Week because it encourages student engagement and interaction with the speakers and panelists. Open dialogue and meaningful conversations are essential to a successful COM Week.

There are a handful of events planned for Com Week that students can get involved in like the Speech Competition, One-Minute Film Festival, and Pulitzer Center competition. What do they entail, and why would you encourage students to participate?

Every year, we really strive to make COM Week as interactive as possible. The speech contest allows students to write their own speech that answers a prompt, usually correlated with the theme, and present it to judges for a chance to win cash prizes. This year, we also added the one-minute film festival which is aimed at our digital media productions students or anyone that has skills in creating short film projects. I would encourage students to get involved in events like these because they touch on important aspects of communication while also focusing on this year's theme of truth.

What new or unexpected events/ speakers are you looking forward to?

The one-minute film festival is the newest event I'm looking forward to. Short-form video is becoming increasingly popular and many students have skills in creating this type of content. I also think it will be interesting to see how students create videos that address this year's theme of communication.

Tagged As
Taiwanese electronics giant, Foxconn, is setting up a manufacturing facility in Telangana that is expected to create employment opportunities for over one lakh people. Last year, the company said that it will be investing US$500 million in India.

Foxconn to Generate 100,000 Jobs in Telangana

Foxconn Chairman Young Liu and Telangana Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao signed an agreement at the Chief Ministers official residence, Pragati Bhavan, after their meeting.

One of our slogans during the statehood fight was employment. With the mega investment coming our way in the form of Foxconn, and the huge employment opportunities it brings, youngsters of Telangana state will truly be happy. @KTRBRS pic.twitter.com/2GO234qDIO  Minister for IT, Industries, MA & UD, Telangana (@MinisterKTR) March 2, 2023

The agreement has the potential to generate jobs for more than a lakh people over the next 10 years, said the CMO. The amount of investment remains undisclosed.

KCR, Chief Minister of Telangana, and Liu, discussed the importance of diversifying electronics manufacturing for a resilient supply chain. KCR expressed that Foxconns unit will help generate large-scale employment for the youth and attract more industries to the state.

The Chief Minister also shared that the government has been successful in implementing an industrial policy that is bringing in huge investments. Telangana considers Taiwan as a natural partner, glad to be a part of Foxconns growth story.

Super stoked to announce a mega investment by @HonHai_Foxconn in Telangana that will create employment for a whopping One Lakh youngsters in Telangana  The announcement is made after Chairman of FoxConn Mr Young Liu met Honble CM Sri KCR Garu at Pragathi Bhavan today pic.twitter.com/zzFAnBxcvz  KTR (@KTRBRS) March 2, 2023

Telangana Welcomes Foxconn

Telangana considers Taiwan a natural partner and the Chief Minister assured Young Liu, Foxconn Chairman, that one lakh jobs would be provided to the states youth.

The Foxconn Chairman lauded the friendly industrial development ecosystem created in Telangana, expressing happiness with the progress of the State in IT and related electronics sectors.

Foxconn Donates SMT Line to Support Telengana Speed

Chairman Young Liu announced that Foxconn will donate an industrial grade SMT line to support T-WORKS, the largest prototyping centre in India spread across a 78,000 sq ft building. He expressed admiration for the Telengana Speed and its commitment to high-tech.

Liu appreciated the industrial policy of the Telangana government and the progress made in a short time. IT and Industries Minister KT Rama Rao, Finance and Health Minister T Harish Rao, Education Minister P Sabitha Indra Reddy and other officials were present.

Foxconn Signs MOU with Telangana Govt.

Foxconns chairman Young Liu met with Chief Minister K Chandrashekhar Rao to sign a MoU between the company and the State government.

The CM also discussed the robust industrial policy of the State, which would help to generate large-scale employment to the local youth. Rao asked Liu to prioritize local youth when it comes to employment.

Speaking on the announcement, Minister for IT, Industries, MA & UD, Telangana, said
Last month, Samsung announced a partnership with Qualcomm and Google to build extended reality hardware. Now, new U.S. trademarks for Galaxy Glasses AR/VR headsets and Galaxy Ring smart rings show that Samsung is preparing to expand its portfolio of wearables.

Samsung trademarks Galaxy Glasses & Galaxy Ring

Samsung has filed for a U.S. trademark for Galaxy Glasses and Galaxy Ring  smart glasses and AR/VR headsets, similar to Focals by North or the Ray-Ban Stories.

With trademarks in, its too early to say whether Samsungs big extended reality project will be slim smart glasses or a full-on VR headset. However, the U.S. trademark filing for Samsung Galaxy Glasses is a good sign for the launch in the U.S., and possibly in other countries as well.

The U.S. trademark filing of SAMSUNG GALAXY RING and GALAXY GLASSES is now in the public record, so it wont be long before we see the formal unveiling of Samsungs wearables.

SAMSUNG GALAXY RING  is intended to cover smart rings for tracking and monitoring health, fitness and sleep, as well as smartphones.

 is intended to cover smart rings for tracking and monitoring health, fitness and sleep, as well as smartphones. GALAXY GLASSES is intended to cover virtual and augmented reality headsets, headphones and smartphones.

Its not yet known if Samsungs two upcoming wearables are connected. The Galaxy Ring is meant to collect health data & send it to smartphones. For context, Focals by North smart glasses (now Google) have a connected smart ring with discreet controls.

Perhaps Googles partnership with Samsung for Galaxy Glasses will include ring-based controls. In 2021, Google I/O and Samsung joined forces to introduce the smartwatch OS Wear OS 3 on the Samsung Galaxy Watch 4.

Source 1, 2 | Via
Chinese-invested uranium mine looks to solar energy to reduce carbon footprint

Xinhua) 11:29, March 03, 2023

WINDHOEK, March 2 (Xinhua) -- Namibia's oldest commercial uranium mine Rossing Uranium on Thursday announced plans to construct a 15 MW AC Solar PV Plant, which it said will reduce its carbon footprint and cost of power.

The mine, which began production in 1976, called for bids from independent power producers to supply it with 50,864 MWh per annum from any renewable energy source.

Rossing said an Environmental Impact Analysis (EIA) had been successfully completed, and the Ministry of Environment, Forestry, and Tourism issued an Environmental Clearance Certificate.

The decision by Rossing Uranium to move to renewable energy sources to generate its power comes at a time when import-depending Namibia is under pressure to increase its energy production as its neighbors and power suppliers -- Zambia, Zimbabwe and South Africa -- are experiencing generation challenges that have resulted in regular load shedding, wreaking havoc on businesses and households.

In 2019, China National Uranium Corporation Limited (CNUC) became a majority shareholder in Rossing Uranium, the longest-running and one of the largest open-pit uranium mines in the world following the sale of mining giant Rio Tinto's 68.62 percent shareholding.

(Web editor: Zhang Kaiwei, Liang Jun)
It is hoped that the power struggle within the Sri Lanka Police is resolved in a peaceful and amicable manner and that the new IGP, whether it be Chandana Wickramaratne with a new extension or someone else, is able to lead the police force with integrity, professionalism, and a commitment to the safety and security of all Sri Lankans.

by Our Defence Affairs Editor

It is not titles that honour men, but men that honour titles.  Niccolo Machiavelli

The current power struggle within the Sri Lanka Police is a cause for concern and highlights the need for stability within one of the largest state institutions and prime law enforcement agencies. The bitter game that has always existed within the police force has now reached a pathetic level, with seniors fighting like "kilkenny cats". With the current Inspector General of Police (IGP) set to retire on March 20th, the appointment of a new IGP by the constitutional council is impending and the situation is becoming increasingly critical. However, there is uncertainty surrounding whether the current IGP will receive an extension or if a new man will come to administrate the police.

According to the Police Ordinance, No. 16 of 1865, it is the President who has the power to nominate the new IGP based on recommendations. As we approach this critical moment, it is important to take a brief retrospective look at the journey of the current IGP, Chandana Wickramaratne. He assumed duties as the 35th IGP in Sri Lanka in November 2020, after briefly serving as the Acting IGP. He was appointed at a time when Sri Lanka was navigating through one of the most difficult periods in its recent history.

Sri Lanka Police during the Independence Day celebration (Photo Credit: Dhanuka Nalin)

The Easter Sunday bombings, carried out by lunatics who distorted globally accepted religious principles, claimed the lives of over 260 unarmed civilians, including foreigners. After working closely with local law enforcement agencies, the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) in the United States conducted an exhaustive investigation and determined the cause behind the attacks and true culprits but several NGOs, social groups, and particular political parties continued to promote baseless conspiracy theories through their rhetoric.

The response of society and responsible parties to the Easter Sunday bombings and subsequent violence targeting Muslims was not only pathetic but also showed the immaturity of our society. However, the police force under the leadership of Wickramaratne was able to manage the situation without disastrous consequences. This was a testament to his leadership skills and the professionalism of the police force. His leadership was again put to the test when the Covid-19 pandemic hit the country. The entire country was put on lockdown, and the police were left with the task of enforcing the lockdown and assisting in tracing infectious patients. They worked tirelessly, from police constable to IGP, to quarantine those who were infected with the help of health officials and provide essential supplies to those who were quarantined in their homes or elsewhere. Many police officers were unable to visit their loved ones for months. Despite facing tremendous difficulties, the police were able to keep the country stable during this exceptional time.

After the pandemic, the country started witnessing a series of protests that eventually led to the ousting of President Gotabaya Rajapaksa. The pandemic had turned into an economic plague, and people were forced to stand in long queues for daily essentials. During this precarious time, every person in a police uniform may not have been perfect, but most of them remained committed to maintaining social stability and ensuring law and order in the country.

In addition to the challenges faced by the police force in Sri Lanka, it is also important to note the challenges faced by individual police officers. Policemen and policewomen are often underpaid and overworked, with long hours and difficult working conditions. They are also often subject to verbal and physical abuse from members of the public, which can have a detrimental effect on their mental health and well-being. Another issue that the police force in Sri Lanka has faced is a lack of diversity. The force is predominantly male and Sinhalese, which can lead to a lack of trust and cooperation from other ethnic and religious groups. The current IGP has made efforts to address this issue by promoting officers from different backgrounds and implementing policies to ensure that the force is more representative of the wider community.

Despite these efforts, there is still much work to be done to improve the police force in Sri Lanka. The appointment of a new IGP will be an important opportunity to continue these efforts and address the challenges faced by the police force. It is essential that the new IGP is appointed based on merit and that they are committed to upholding the principles of public policing, as outlined by Sir Robert Peel.

Sir Robert Peels 9 principles of policing, also known as the Peelian principles, were first introduced in 1829 in the United Kingdom, and they still hold significant relevance for police departments worldwide, including the Sri Lankan police. These principles serve as a foundation for police officers to maintain public trust and demonstrate impartial service to the law. It is vital that police officers are continually trained and educated in these principles and other basic fundamentals to ensure that they are implemented effectively in all aspects of their work.

The decision to appoint a new IGP or extend the tenure of the current IGP lies in the hands of the President and other key players. It is a crucial decision that will determine the future of the Sri Lankan police and its effectiveness in maintaining law and order in the country. If the President decides to extend the tenure of the current IGP, it will provide stability and continuity to the police force, which is essential for effective policing. It will also be a recognition of the hard work and dedication of the current IGP in navigating the police force through some of the most challenging times in recent history.

On the other hand, if the President decides to appoint a new IGP, it is essential that the selection process is based on merit, and the new IGP is a person of integrity and competence who can lead the police force effectively. The new IGP should be committed to upholding the Peelian principles of policing and demonstrating absolute impartial service to the law, which is vital for maintaining public trust and confidence in the police force.

In this context, the role of the IGP in leading the police force during such a challenging time cannot be overstated. Chandana Wickramaratnes tenure as IGP has been marked by his efforts to maintain law and order, combat drug peddlers, and promote national security as well as institutional re-engineering. His leadership has been instrumental in ensuring the safety and security of the citizens of Sri Lanka.

As the police force prepares for a new leader, it is imperative that the continuity of leadership and stability be maintained. The Sri Lanka Police must remain a reliable and effective institution that upholds the rule of law, protects human rights, and ensures the safety and security of all Sri Lankan citizens. It is hoped that the power struggle within the Sri Lanka Police is resolved in a peaceful and amicable manner and that the new IGP, whether it be Chandana Wickramaratne with a new extension or someone else, is able to lead the police force with integrity, professionalism, and a commitment to the safety and security of all Sri Lankans.

In the current challenging time of social upheavals, it is more important than ever for the police to act with responsibility and accountability. Police officers should not act as agents of a select few or any political party, but rather as protectors of the law and public servants of the people. They should work towards building trust with the communities they serve, and strive to maintain law and order while upholding the human rights and dignity of all individuals.

Furthermore, the police should prioritize community policing and work closely with local communities to address the root causes of crime and social unrest. This means understanding the needs and concerns of the community, being responsive to their requests, and building partnerships to address issues such as poverty, inequality, and lack of access to basic services. By doing so, the police can create a more harmonious and stable society, where everyone feels safe and valued.
News

Galveston businesses scramble for solutions to power outages

Courtesy A CenterPoint Energy worker fixes a power pole outside of Marios Seawall Italian Restaurant on Feb. 28.

GALVESTON

Electrical outages have long plagued businesses on the seawall, costing owners thousands of dollars in broken electronics and melted ice cream, with Marios Seawall Italian Restaurant being the most recent victim of the power struggle.

These issues have seemed to be exacerbated over the last 10, 12 years, Johnny Smecca, president of Galveston Restaurant Group and owner of Marios at 628 Seawall Blvd., said.

So, it isnt like this is something thats more recent, he said. In the short run, they have been hitting me more weekly than annually as they were before. Because I have several locations on the seawall, over the years, we have had multiple locations with the same issue.

Officials with CenterPoint, which manages the lines and poles that deliver power to the island, said they were investigating one recent outage and were committed to investments designed to strengthen the safety, resiliency and reliability of the companys electric system.

Galveston Restaurant Group operates island eateries Saltwater Grill, Little Daddys Gumbo Bar, Taquilos and Papas Pizza. Papas hasnt had any problems in almost a year, but Marios issues this year began in February, Smecca said.

BOOM TOWN

A loud boom in the alley on Feb. 15 was followed by flickering lights and appliances operating at about half capacity, Smecca said.

It shook the restaurant, he said. The ACs were coming on and off and making a lot of noise. It just disrupts all of the electronic components and motors. Were like, What do we do at this point? Were just trying to operate and make sure everybody is safe.

Smecca analyzed his equipment once CenterPoint Energy restored power to his restaurant Feb. 15. He found $20,000 worth of damage, he said. Smecca lost two exhaust fans, two air units, three computers, the elevators main switchboard, printers, thermostats, AC motors and tons of fuses, he said.

Maybe even more, I havent even put it all together because I cant look backward, he said. Ive got to get open. Ive got to try to do whatever I can.

We are about 75 percent recovered from Feb. 15, and on Feb. 25, the same pole blew. And, this time, it arced and the telephone pole caught on fire like a matchstick.

POLE FLAMBE

It was 7:30 p.m. on a Saturday night when the power pole exploded into flames 10 days after the boom, Smecca said. The assembled crowd was comparable to that of a typical Saturday night in June, Smecca said.

The island was packed; I was packed, he said. I had a full house and 30 people on my waiting list. I was shut down. It completely shut me down. Those last few hours cost me $5,000. My staff lost $875 in tips in those last four hours of work. Thats a direct loss to my staff.

The common line CenterPoint feeds is that salt accumulation causes problems in seawall power poles, Smecca said. He wonders why CenterPoint workers didnt see the salt accumulation in their many trips to his business before the February outages.

POWER PROBE

Centerpoint representatives didnt respond to a request for an interview or comment about Feb. 15 and Feb. 25, but issued a statement via email.

Feb. 28, CenterPoint Energy crews responded to a transformer fire at the Moody Substation in Galveston, Alejandra Diaz, lead communications specialist, said in response to questions about power outages that predate the substation fire.

The cause of the fire is unknown at this time, but a full investigation will be conducted of the incident, she said.

CenterPoint Energys crews worked closely with local first responders to secure the area. There were no injuries, and the fire was extinguished. As of 10:30 a.m., all impacted customers service was restored.

CenterPoint Energys top priority is to provide safe and reliable service to customers across our service territory, Diaz said in response to inquiries about the companys plans to invest in updating the islands power grid.

The companys investments are designed to further strengthen the safety, resiliency and reliability of our electric system, as well as help reduce the impact of severe weather events on our approximately 2.7 million metered customers, she said.

MELTING MONEY

Power outages have melted thousands of dollars in ice cream at Ben & Jerrys, 4408 Seawall Blvd., owner Danny Hart said. Those outage days seem to be a thing of the past after CenterPoint replaced equipment near the store, however, he said.

It was happening to us very similarly to whats happening at Marios, Hart said. They finally changed out all the equipment. Instead of changing one thing at a time, they came in and cleaned everything up at once.

Id lose 100 tubs at a time. It would be 15 hours until they fixed it, and I would lose all my ice cream. Thats $4,000 worth of ice cream, 300 gallons.

ELECTRICAL BUZZ

CenterPoint put three new transformers up near the HomeTown Bank, 4424 Seawall Blvd., but bank officials phones still buzz with notifications of power outages at the building, which is still under construction, Scott Kusnerik, executive vice president, said.

HomeTown Bank in October closed its old branch and moved senior management and employees to its 45th and O  branch to build an 8,000-square-foot building at the 4424 Seawall Blvd. site.

We had a lot of issues in the past, he said.I have a text alert from CenterPoint on my location up there from Monday. Prior to that, I had one on Dec. 30, a lot of problems then because I got multiple texts, then, on Dec. 29, Dec. 20, Dec. 19 and another from October.

Ive been at that bank for 13 years, and it happens a lot.

HomeTown isnt banking on the new transformers to keep them supplied with power, Kusnerik said. The bank is outfitted with a backup generator, which Kusnerik said wasnt just because of the outages.

The power goes out, but people still want their money, he said. We live on the Gulf Coast, so our people are trained to work without computers. When the power goes out, we usually lock the doors and let a few customers in at a time.
Russian forces not only failed to quickly conquer Ukraine in early 2022 but suffered such heavy losses that its army is unable to carry out effective offensive operations until the forces are rebuilt and re-equipped. That will take years so during that time Russian troops will continue to suffer heavy losses in Ukraine defending territory they already have and carrying out small scale attacks. Russia has been forced to adopt a new strategy against Ukraine and has come up with a plan to continue attacks against the Ukrainian economy. This deprives more Ukrainians of jobs and homes and forces more to leave the country. Ukraine has already seen about 20 percent of its population flee the country because of dangers civilians face from the Russian attacks on the economy.

This strategy is meant to prolong the war and demoralize Ukraines NATO allies as well as the Ukrainian population. This Russian strategy of attacks on the economy began a few months after the war began and the Russian forces suffered heavy losses. For most of 2022 Russia was deliberately attacking the Ukrainian economy and the result was that Ukrainian GDP declined 30 percent in 2022. The initial Russian attacks concentrated on Ukrainian defense industries, followed by major non-defense industries and agriculture. Russia deliberately attacked power plants, oil refineries and distribution networks for natural gas. It was these attacks on economic targets that prompted NATO nations to send in anti-aircraft systems. Meanwhile Russia was attacking agricultural production by attacking grain storage silos and agricultural infrastructure. Some crop land was rendered unusable by planting landmines. Russia attacked grain ships operating from Black Sea ports and many of these ships were forced to take shelter in Ukrainian ports. Grain and other foodstuffs are major Ukrainian exports and Russia deliberately sought to shut down these exports. The cost of flour and bread went up worldwide but particularly in countries more dependent on grain imports.

While NATO shipments of weapons to Ukrainian forces receive lots of media attention, there has been an equally large effort to assist the Ukrainian economy. The Ukrainian GDP was $200 billion in 2021 and $122 billion in foreign military and economic assistance in 2022. Repairing the Ukrainian economy cannot begin on a large scale until the war ends. It was hoped this might happen by the end of 2023, but the Russian strategy is to keep the war going for as long as it takes to weaken NATO resolve and enable Russia to declare some kind of victory. This is a victory of the create a desert and call it peace variety. So far the destruction is mainly in Ukraine, with Russia threatening to use its nuclear weapons if any large scale destruction takes place in Russia.

In late 2022 Ukraine estimated that the Russian attacks on the economy would require a reconstruction budget of over $350 billion. As the destruction continues in 2023, reconstruction costs increase as well. That has led to serious proposals to seize $350 billion in Russian assets in the West that have been frozen (kept from Russian control) for the duration of the war. Russia is also accused of more conventional war crimes committed in Ukraine against civilians. Russia is unmoved by the Western threats and accusations and determined to make Ukraine and the West suffer for its role in defeating Russian efforts to conquer Ukraine. The Russian government describes their attack on Ukraine as an effort to defend Russia from NATO aggression. According to Russia their tactics are justified as part of its defensive measures.

Destruction on this scale was last seen during World War II when the economies of Russia, Germany and Japan were largely destroyed by ground combat and aerial bombing. Russia is inflicting this degree of damage on Ukraine in an effort to overcome their inability to conquer Ukraine militarily. The NATO nations are having a hard time accepting the degree of devastation Russia is inflicting on Ukraine. NATO members bordering Ukraine or Russia see this as typical Russian behavior and for over decade warned that Russia was making threats that more distant NATO members considered exaggerated. Never underestimate Russia, especially when they dont get what they want and respond with a destructive tantrum.
A man already in federal prison has been sentenced to almost 25 years for sex crimes committed against a minor in Benton County.

On Thursday, March 2, Benton County Circuit Court Judge Matthew Donohue sentenced Jack Michael Smith, 36, to 24 years and seven months in prison following four sex crime convictions.

During the sentencing hearing, Smith pleaded guilty to charges of first-degree sexual abuse, second-degree sodomy, second-degree unlawful sexual penetration and using a child in a display of sexually explicit conduct.

According to court documents, Smith sexually abused a minor who was under the age of 14 in 2019.

In accordance with a plea agreement, Donohue dismissed three charges of first-degree sexual abuse and one count of using a child in a display of sexually explicit conduct.

During the hearing, the victims mother spoke on the impact Smiths actions have had on her child.

This man ripped my entire family apart, she said.

The victims mother said her child struggles with anxiety and PTSD from the trauma, but is working through it.

They wont let what this man did to them slow them down, she said.

Already in prison

Smith is currently serving a prison sentence for a federal case in West Virginia. The sentence for the Benton County case will run concurrent with the West Virginia sentence.

Prosecutor Jay Hughes said Smiths sentence was negotiated in collaboration with defense attorney Dan Armstrong and the federal prosecutors.

According to court documents, Smith was sentenced in the United States District Court Southern District of West Virginia to 30 years in prison for production and attempted production of child pornography.

He was indicted in May 2020 on three child pornography charges for crimes said to have occurred in 2019 and 2020. He was sentenced in March 2022 for this case and currently resides in a federal correctional institution in West Virginia.
On Monday, the White House announced there is no consensus in the Biden administration about whether COVID-19 sprang from a leak in a virus laboratory in China or was the result of a leap from another species to humans.

The announcement was prompted by a Wall Street Journal report that the Department of Energy, one of several federal entities in the intelligence community that has weighed in on the origins of the virus, had "low confidence" that the pandemic started when a novel coronavirus escaped from the Wuhan Institute of Virology. Some trumpeted this as proof the virus was a Chinese leak. But other parts of the intelligence community disagree.

There are, however, areas of consensus among the agencies investigating COVID's origins, according to a declassified 2021 assessment by the director of national intelligence:

The first cluster of COVID-19 cases emerged out of Wuhan, China, at the end of 2019. The virus was not developed as a biological weapon, and it probably wasn't genetically engineered. Chinese officials knew nothing about the virus before the pandemic emerged. And no one can say with a high degree of certainty whether the virus was the result of animal-to-human transmission or a terribly unfortunate laboratory incident.

Was a lab worker in a highly secure setting inadvertently infected while collecting unknown animal specimens? Or is it more likely that an infection occurred among the many human beings who have frequent, natural contact with animals  hunters, farmers, merchants?

Bottom line: We may never have a definitive answer to the virus' origins. Beijing has refused (mostly) to cooperate with the world scientific community. It has resisted sharing information and has blamed other countries for the outbreak, including the United States.

As a regular old civilian, I can live with the uncertainty. We know that lab accidents will occur from time to time because human beings and their safety systems are fallible. We also know that diseases can leap between animals and human beings  plague, rabies, Lyme disease, West Nile virus, to name a few.

I reserve my anger for the way the government under former President Trump bungled its response to the disease, the way that some conservative ideologues still push bogus theories, dismiss proven science about the effectiveness of masks and vaccines, and generally demonize experts like Anthony Fauci, former director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, who devoted a long career to protecting the health and lives of his fellow Americans.

Experts warned for years that the world was overdue for another pandemic. In 2019, the "Worldwide Threat Assessment of the U.S. Intelligence Community" included this admonishment: "The United States and the world will remain vulnerable to the next flu pandemic or large-scale outbreak of a contagious disease that could lead to massive rates of death and disability, severely affect the world economy, strain international resources, and increase calls on the United States for support."

Instead of a coordinated response, confusion and conflicting proscriptions reigned, abetted by an American president who took too long to admit the obvious, shot from the hip and seemed to view the pandemic as a personal foe to vanquish using blustery, nonsensical pronouncements. Trump exploited scientific uncertainty about the new virus and, out of fear of being seen as failing, gagged the government's top scientists, then tried to make them into scapegoats.

Did some health officials overreact? In hindsight yes, but not out of incompetence or malice.

Fauci, who changed his mind about masks, has compared fighting a new disease to "the fog of war." In an interview with MSNBC's Rachel Maddow last year, he explained his changing outlook: "It really was the evolution of science." Once it became clear there was not a mask shortage, that asymptomatic infections were common and that the virus spread through breathing particles, or aerosols, Fauci urged people to cover their faces. For this, Republicans want to investigate him? Give me a break.

These continuing  and ridiculous  debates over masking are just another symptom of our political dysfunction. People with absolutely no background in science or medicine decided that they were experts on whether masks and mask mandates were effective. Or, horrors, an infringement on American liberty. It took then-President Trump seven months to wear a face mask in public, because in his warped view, masking was a sign of weakness.

Of course masks are effective in preventing disease transmission. Would you opt for surgery in an operating room full of bare-faced doctors and nurses?

Just last week, New York Times columnist Bret Stephens proclaimed that a new meta-study on masking concluded that "Mask mandates were a bust. The mainstream experts and pundits who supported mandates were wrong." Masking, he allowed, should always be a personal choice, not a requirement.

Not so fast, wrote my colleague Michael Hiltzik, who accused Stephens of failing to actually read the study he was quoting. "The two studies in the meta-analysis that actually measured the effect of mask mandates in the COVID-19 pandemic, from Bangladesh and Denmark," wrote Hiltzik, "showed that mask mandates did reduce infections and the spread of the virus  quite the opposite of a conclusion that they 'did nothing.' "

One thing we can all agree on (I pray) is that vaccines are more effective than masks in preventing serious disease and death. But I daresay there is a large, Venn-diagram overlap of people who refuse to don masks and those who refuse to be vaccinated.

For the latter, especially if they've had COVID, at least a part of their skepticism was recently reinforced by research. A meta study, published in the Lancet, found that natural immunity after COVID-19 infection can be as protective as vaccines. It took nearly three years to substantially confirm the claim, though it is still unclear exactly how long the protection lasts. (It will wear off eventually, so you should still take the vaccine.) Early on, experts downplayed natural immunity because there was no solid evidence for it. Now there is.

I am always going to put more faith in health experts, vaccine developers and doctors than in politicians and right-wing cable TV hosts. When it comes to COVID's prevention and treatment, we didn't know very much at first, and now we know a lot. That's how science works, folks.
Welcome to my genealogy blog. Genea-Musings features genealogy research tips and techniques, genealogy news items and commentary, genealogy humor, San Diego genealogy society news, family history research and some family history stories from the keyboard of Randy Seaver (of Chula Vista CA), who thinks that Genealogy Research Is really FUN! Copyright (c) Randall J. Seaver, 2006-2021.
BRANFORD, Conn., March 02, 2023 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Sachem Capital Corp. (NYSE American: SACH) (Sachem, the Company), a financing company that specializes in originating, underwriting, funding, servicing, and managing a portfolio of first mortgage loans, announced today the Company has entered into a $45 million revolving line of credit with Needham Bank.



Mr. John Warch, Sachem Capitals Chief Financial Officer, stated, Given our growing pipeline of opportunities we are pleased to close on this attractive financing as it significantly enhances Sachem's financial flexibility and liquidity. This additional line of credit provides the financial capacity to further scale our business and execute on our growth strategy. We appreciate the confidence and strong support of Needham Bank as we look to continue to grow into the future.

This transaction with Sachem demonstrates Needham Banks commitment to the real estate lending market. We look forward to building our relationship with Sachem and supporting them as their lending opportunities grow, said Joseph Campanelli, Chairman, President and Chief Executive Officer of Needham Bank.

The intended purpose of this line of credit is to support the Companys working capital needs, general corporate purposes and to fund new mortgage loan originations. The capacity of the revolving credit facility can be increased to $75 million with an accordion expansion feature, which is subject to obtaining participating lender commitments.

Needham Bank is the sole acting Agent Bank.

Additional details relating to the Facility will be available in the Companys Current Report on Form 8-K, including the exhibits thereto, which the Company expects to file on or before March 2, 2023, and will be available at www.sec.gov.

About Sachem Capital Corp.

Sachem Capital Corp. is a financing REIT that specializes in originating, underwriting, funding, servicing, and managing a portfolio of first mortgage loans. It offers short-term (i.e., three years or less) secured, nonbanking loan to real estate investors to fund their acquisition, renovation, development, rehabilitation, or improvement of properties. The companys primary underwriting criteria is a conservative loan to value ratio. The properties securing the loans are generally classified as residential or commercial real estate and, typically, are held for resale or investment. Each loan is secured by a first mortgage lien on real estate and is personally guaranteed by the principal(s) of the borrower. The company will also make opportunistic real estate purchases apart from its lending activities.

Forward Looking Statements

This press release may contain forward-looking statements. All statements other than statements of historical facts contained in this press release, including statements regarding our future results of operations and financial position, strategy and plans, and our expectations for future operations, are forward-looking statements. The words anticipate, estimate, expect, project, plan, seek, intend, believe, may, might, will, should, could, likely, continue, design, and the negative of such terms and other words and terms of similar expressions are intended to identify forward-looking statements. We have based these forward-looking statements largely on our current expectations and projections about future events and trends that we believe may affect our financial condition, results of operations, strategy, short-term and long-term business operations and objectives and financial needs. These forward-looking statements are subject to several risks, uncertainties and assumptions as described in our Annual Report on Form 10-K for 2021 filed with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission on March 31, 2022, as supplemented by our subsequently filed Quarterly Reports on Form 10-Q. Because of these risks, uncertainties and assumptions, the forward-looking events and circumstances discussed in this press release may not occur, and actual results could differ materially and adversely from those anticipated or implied in the forward-looking statements. You should not rely upon forward-looking statements as predictions of future events. Although we believe that the expectations reflected in the forward-looking statements are reasonable, we cannot guarantee future results, level of activity, performance, or achievements. In addition, neither we nor any other person assumes responsibility for the accuracy and completeness of any of these forward-looking statements. We disclaim any duty to update any of these forward-looking statements. All forward-looking statements attributable to us are expressly qualified in their entirety by these cautionary statements as well as others made in this press release. You should evaluate all forward-looking statements made by us in the context of these risks and uncertainties.

Investors:

Email: investors@sachemcapitalcorp.com
TORONTO, March 02, 2023 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Spruce Ridge Resources Ltd. (Spruce or the Company) (TSX-V: SHL) announces that further to its press release dated September 1, 2022 the Company has filed its audited annual financial statements for the year ended April 30, 2022, along with the related management's discussion and analysis, and CEO and CFO certifications (the Annual Filings). The full text of the Annual Filings is available on the Companys profile on SEDAR at www.sedar.com.



Highlights of 2022 Financial Year

$1.359 million (M) in qualifying exploration expenses incurred

Over $12 M in marketable securities retained

$0.511 M net loss from oil & gas assets

Return of oil & gas financial security deposit in the amount $0.554 M

Sufficient cash to remain in good standing with TSX Venture Exchange



Commenting on the financial statements, interim President and CEO Steve Balch explained Spruce Ridge remains well capitalized to explore its mineral properties. We own 5.7 M shares of Canada Nickel Company Inc. and 10.0 M shares of Noble Mineral Exploration Inc. We have since sold our oil & gas assets in Saskatchewan and will now focus on our Great Burnt Copper and South Pond Gold properties in Central Newfoundland. Once we have filed our Q1 and Q2 financial statements and the Companys common shares resume trading on the TSXV we plan to issue a more detailed press release.

CTO Update

The Companys quarterly financial statements for the periods ended July 31, 2022 and October 31, 2022 (the Interim Filings) are being prepared, and are expected to be filed as soon as they are completed. Filing of the Interim Filings is necessary for the revocation of the cease-trade order (the CTO) announced on September 1, 2022 and presently in place. In connection with the filing of the Annual Filings and the anticipated filing of the Interim Filings, the Company is preparing an application to the securities regulators to revoke the CTO. Upon the CTO being revoked, the Company plans to request revocation of the trading halt of the Companys common shares on the TSX Venture Exchange. The timing or success of these applications cannot be assured at this time, but the Company is working diligently to ensure that its securities resume trading as soon as possible.

Property Update

Further to the Companys press release dated August 4, 2022, the Company has applied to the Newfoundland and Labrador Mineral Rights Adjudication Board (the MRAB) for formal reinstatement for the three lapsed mineral licenses covering its South Pond Copper-Gold property (the Property). The Company is pleased to report the Propertys mineral licenses have been reinstated in full and are currently in good standing.

Cautionary Statement:

Neither TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this news release. No stock exchange, securities commission or other regulatory authority has approved or disapproved the information contained herein.

This news release contains statements that constitute forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements are statements that are not historical facts and include, but are not limited to, disclosure regarding possible events, that are based on assumptions and courses of action, and in certain cases, can be identified by the words expects, plans, anticipates, believes, intends, estimates, projects, potential and similar expressions, or that events or conditions will, would, may, could or should occur, or the negative forms of any of these words and other similar expressions. Forward-looking statements include statements related to future plans for the Company, statements and information regarding the ability to prepare the Interim Filings, the anticipated timeline for filing for the Interim Filings, the Companys ability to revoke the CTO expeditiously or at all, and other forward-looking information. Forward-looking statements are based on various assumptions including with respect to the anticipated actions of securities regulators, stock exchanges, and government entities, management plans and timelines, reliance on the Companys auditors and management for the preparation of and the anticipated timeline for filing of the Interim Filings, reliance on the Companys legal counsel and management for the reinstatement of the mineral licenses on the Property, as well as results of operations, performance, business prospects and opportunities. Although the forward-looking statements contained in this news release are based upon what management of the Company believes are reasonable assumptions on the date of this news release, such assumptions may prove to be incorrect. Forward-looking statements involve known and unknown risks and uncertainties, they should not be read as guarantees of future performance or results, and they will not necessarily be accurate indications of whether or not such results will be achieved. A number of factors could cause actual results, performance or achievements to differ materially from the results discussed in the forward-looking statements, including, but not limited to: unanticipated financial discrepancies and other delays in preparing the Interim Filings; an inability to revoke the CTO and/or trading halt expeditiously or at all; an inability to develop and successfully implement exploration strategies; general business, economic, competitive, political and social uncertainties; the lack of available capital; impact of COVID-19 or the evolving situation in Ukraine on the business of the Company; and other risks detailed from time-to-time in the Companys ongoing filings with securities regulatory authorities, which filings can be found at www.sedar.com. The Company cannot assure readers that actual results will be consistent with these forward-looking statements. Readers are cautioned not to place undue reliance on forward-looking statements in this press release. These forward-looking statements are made as of the date of this news release and the Company disclaims any intent or obligation to update any forward-looking statement, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, unless otherwise required by law.

Contacts:

Steve Balch, President & CEO (interim)

Phone: 905.407.9586

Email: steve@beci.ca
DUBAI, UAE , March 02, 2023 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Candao, a user-friendly decentralized social networking platform with a broad range of features and services, is pleased to announce its native token ($CDO) presale to go live on March 06, 2023.

Candao's pre-sale provides an opportunity for users to pre-purchase Candao tokens, enabling them to take their place on the platform at an earlier time. Candao token is specially designed for the decentralized social media platform.

Candao ushering in the new age of development in Web3 space

Investor interest in Candao is growing as a result of the new development, which addresses the decentralized nature of the platform and safe data storage for users. The architecture of Candao's decentralized social media platform is designed in a way that it promotes content creators. By receiving rewards, users who share their content using the Candao token can acquire significant influence on the network.

Candao provides users with a structure where they can create their own tokens within the platform. Users are allowed to build an in-value transfer mechanism using the Candao token. Moreover, users can tokenize their skills and conduct transactions by exchanging barter services, company shares or tokens.

Moreover, Candao is an emerging innovative social network protocol that offers a range of cutting-edge features including NFT collections, encrypted messages and much more. Due to its decentralized structure and financial incentives provided to users through the adoption of the Candao token, it appears that Candao will take a significant position in the competition in the social media industry.

About the Project - Candao

Candao is a well-established decentralized social media platform that is a secure storage of users' data which makes it different from others. The platform opens its doors and shares all revenue with users through a revolutionary system.

Users can create a social identity, a group profile, and group tokens with Candao. The goal is to create a network where individuals with similar social and corporate ideologies can come together to inspire, engage, and cultivate aspirations.

Furthermore, potential investors and cryptocurrency enthusiasts interested in Candao can visit the projects official website, or read the whitepaper for more details.

Website | Twitter | Telegram | Medium | Reddit | LinkedIn | YouTube | Facebook



Disclaimer:

The information provided in this release is not investment advice, financial advice, or trading advice. It is recommended that you practice due diligence (including consultation with a professional financial advisor) before investing or trading securities and cryptocurrency.




LOS ANGELES, March 02, 2023 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Glancy Prongay & Murray LLP (GPM) reminds investors of the upcoming April 7, 2023 deadline to file a lead plaintiff motion in the class action filed on behalf of investors who purchased or otherwise acquired PLDT Inc. (PLDT or the Company) (NYSE: PHI) securities between January 1, 2019 and December 19, 2022, inclusive (the Class Period).



If you suffered a loss on your PLDT investments or would like to inquire about potentially pursuing claims to recover your loss under the federal securities laws, you can submit your contact information at www.glancylaw.com/cases/pldt-inc/. You can also contact Charles H. Linehan, of GPM at 310-201-9150, Toll-Free at 888-773-9224, or via email at shareholders@glancylaw.com to learn more about your rights.

On December 16, 2022, PLDT announced that it had overrun its budget by PHP 48 billion (equivalent to $866 million) for broadband and data projects over the past four years. The Company stated that it was undertaking a management reorganization process and has initiated improvements on its processes and systems to address weakness that allowed such budget overruns to occur. In response, the Philippines Securities and Exchange Commission has launched an inquiry amid questions over the Companys corporate governance and fiscal control.

On this news, the Companys share price fell $6.35, or 23.7%, to close at $20.46 per share on December 19, 2022, thereby injuring investors.

The complaint filed in this class action alleges that throughout the Class Period, Defendants made materially false and/or misleading statements, as well as failed to disclose material adverse facts about the Companys business, operations, and prospects. Specifically, Defendants failed to disclose to investors that: (1) there were capital spending budget overruns; (2) Defendants failed to address weaknesses that allowed such budget overruns; and (3) as a result, Defendants positive statements about the Companys business, operations, and prospects were materially misleading and/or lacked a reasonable basis at all relevant times.

Follow us for updates on LinkedIn, Twitter, or Facebook.

If you purchased or otherwise acquired PLDT securities during the Class Period, you may move the Court no later than April 7, 2023 to request appointment as lead plaintiff in this putative class action lawsuit. To be a member of the class action you need not take any action at this time; you may retain counsel of your choice or take no action and remain an absent member of the class action. If you wish to learn more about this class action, or if you have any questions concerning this announcement or your rights or interests with respect to the pending class action lawsuit, please contact Charles Linehan, Esquire, of GPM, 1925 Century Park East, Suite 2100, Los Angeles, California 90067 at 310-201-9150, Toll-Free at 888-773-9224, by email to shareholders@glancylaw.com, or visit our website at www.glancylaw.com. If you inquire by email please include your mailing address, telephone number and number of shares purchased.

This press release may be considered Attorney Advertising in some jurisdictions under the applicable law and ethical rules.

Contacts

Glancy Prongay & Murray LLP, Los Angeles

Charles Linehan, 310-201-9150 or 888-773-9224

shareholders@glancylaw.com

www.glancylaw.com
SINGAPORE, March 03, 2023 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Novotech, the leading Asia Pacific centred biotech CRO with extensive experience in vaccine trials, is convening an expert panel webinar with Endpoints News covering the evolving landscape in vaccine development. (Register here)



Novotech research data shows between 2017 and 2021, there were close to 1,400 industry-sponsored single-country vaccine-based clinical trials globally, with the Asia Pacific involved in over 45% of the trials. Mainland China, India, Japan, Australia and South Korea were the frequently involved locations in the region.

During this period the top 3 regions including the US (369), EU7 (162) and APAC5 (541) together contributed over 1,000 vaccine trials with Asia-Pacific contributing more than 50% of the global share of trials.

Download our latest data report here: Vaccines  Asia Pacific Clinical Trial Landscape

Novotech offers biotechs a unique and unparalleled suite of early to late-phase CRO services across Europe and the US, with a focus on Asia Pacific where the company has built a reputation for delivering high-quality expedited clinical trials.

The Endpoints webinar, Keeping pace with the evolving global landscape in vaccine development, will hear from a panel of life science experts on the latest advancements and innovative modalities paving the way in the global vaccine development space including:

The COVID-19 impact on drug development and the regulatory landscape including mRNA vaccines.

Key factors contributing to Asia Pacific being recognised as the hub for vaccine development and opportunities for biotechs to leverage.

Key considerations for pre-clinical and clinical planning to accelerate vaccine development, supporting a robust global strategy.



Date/Time: March 09 11:00 am - 12:00 pm EST

Register here

Panelists:

SUSHANT SAHASTRABUDDHE

ASSOCIATE DIRECTOR GENERAL, INTERNATIONAL VACCINE INSTITUTE (IVI)

Dr. Sushant Sahastrabuddhe, Associate Director General at the International Vaccine Institute (IVI), joined in July 2010, leading the clinical trials of IVIs typhoid vaccine and process to achieve its licensure, the global clinical development of and licensure of SK biosciences COVID-19 vaccines and Phase 1 and 2 trials of Bharat Biotechs Chikungunya vaccine. As a vaccine enthusiast with more than 17 years of experience in multiple countries across diverse projects, he continues to lead collaborative efforts with companies and partners in Korea, India and globally to get these vaccines through early- to late-stages of their clinical development. Dr. Sahastrabuddhe is also the Associate Editor for Vaccines for tropical diseases and associated with Yonsei University as Research Professor and with Universite Claude Bernanrd, Lyon France as Research Fellow. In 2021, Dr. Sahastrabuddhe was named an Honorary Citizen of Seoul for his contributions to the joint efforts with Korean companies and international partners to develop vaccines against COVID-19 and other diseases.

PAUL GRIFFIN

ASSOCIATE PROFESSOR, INFECTIOUS DISEASES PHYSICIAN, MICROBIOLOGIST, UNIVERSITY OF QUEENSLAND

An Infectious Diseases Physician and Microbiologist, Dr. Paul Griffin was appointed as the Director of Infectious Diseases at Mater Health Services in 2013 and continues an appointment as an Associate Professor of Medicine at the University of Queensland Medical School. Additionally, Dr. Griffin chairs the Advanced Training Committee in Infectious Diseases with the Royal Australasian College of Physicians, the committee that oversees the training of Infectious Diseases specialists in Australia.

Previously, Dr. Griffin was the Principal Investigator (PI) and Medical Director at Nucleus Network, a contract research organization specializing in infectious diseases trials, which included a PI role on in excess of 125 clinical trials predominantly in Infectious Diseases including novel vaccines and COVID-19 vaccines. With fellowships in Infectious Diseases from the Royal Australasian College of Physicians, in Clinical Microbiology from the Royal College of Pathologists of Australasia and from the Australasian College of Tropical Medicine, Dr. Griffin has an active interest in vaccine education and advocacy and has become a trusted media authority and spokesperson across the nation during the COVID-19 pandemic.

BABAJI YADAV

SENIOR CONSULTANT, NOVOTECH DRUG DEVELOPMENT CONSULTING

Babaji Yadav is a Senior Consultant with over eight years of academic experience in pre-clinical oncology drug development and eight years of industry experience in drug development. Babaji has a strong background in pharmaceutical sciences with a Ph.D. in Pharmacology and Toxicology from the University of Otago, New Zealand. Previously he has worked as a Research Project Manager to oversee IND-enabling toxicology studies for lead oncology drugs and, prior to joining Novotech, was a Clinical Project Manager for early-phase oncology trials. Babaji is a UK Registered Toxicologist and at Novotech he is focused on providing technical toxicology advice and product development strategies to facilitate the entry of clients compounds into clinical trials. Babaji has experience in small molecules, combination products, and biologicals including vaccines, proteins, monoclonal antibodies, and advanced cell and gene therapies.

JENNIFER ARELLANO

DIRECTOR OF CLINICAL SERVICES (PHILIPPINES), NOVOTECH

Jennifer Arellano is the Director of Clinical Services in the Philippines with over 25 years of technical and leadership experience in managing clinical trial operations for sponsors and CROs. With a Bachelor of Industrial Pharmacy from the University of the Philippines and a Pharmacist license, Jennifers research operations experience includes monitoring, auditing, project leadership, feasibility, study start-up, driving inspection readiness and hosting regulatory inspection, client engagement and business development, learning & development and organization SOP development/review. Jennifer has contributed to the transformation of the Philippine clinical research industry  bringing improvement to the local clinical research regulations and practices and is the founding President of a non-profit organization, the Philippine Clinical Research Professionals Inc, with more than 400 members from pharmaceutical and CROs and has, more recently, volunteered pro-bono services during the Covid-19 pandemic to provide trial management consultancy to the Philippine DOH-funded trials such as WHO Solidarity COVID-19 Treatment and Vaccine trials, Avigan COVID-19 treatment trial, and Philippine Heart Association funded cardiovascular outcome study.

Novotech has recently acquired EastHORN a European CRO with clinical, medical and regulatory expertise in multiple strategically important locations across the continent. The acquisition is part of Novotechs global expansion program in Europe and the US.

Novotech has been benchmarked as a top 10 CRO among the worlds leading CROs, is the recipient of the Asia Pacific Cell & Gene Therapy Clinical Trials Excellence award and the Asia-Pacific Contract Research Organization Company of the Year Award, and has signed 45 Leading Site Partnership agreements over the last 3 years.

About Novotech Novotech-CRO.com

Novotech is the leading Asia Pacific centred biotech CRO with global execution capabilities. Novotech is a clinical CRO with labs, phase I facilities, drug development consulting services and FDA regulatory expertise and has experience in over 5,000 clinical projects, including Phase I to Phase IV clinical trials and bioequivalence studies. Novotech is positioned to serve biotech clients conducting clinical trials in Asia Pacific, the US and Europe. Novotech has over 3,000 staff globally and 33 office locations across the US, Europe and Asia Pacific.

For more information visit https://novotech-cro.com/contact
Press Release

Nicox to Present at Upcoming Scientific Conferences



March 3, 2023  release at 7:30 am CET

Sophia Antipolis, France



Nicox SA (Euronext Paris: FR0013018124, COX), an international ophthalmology company, today announced a number of presentations at key ophthalmology conferences including the American Glaucoma Society (AGS) Annual Meeting 2023 and the Association for Research in Vision and Ophthalmology (ARVO) Annual Meeting 2023.



Details of the presentations (all U.S. local times )



AGS 2023 Annual Meeting  March 2-5, 2023, Austin, TX, U.S.



Poster Title: NCX 470, a Nitric Oxide Donating Bimatoprost, Demonstrates Non-inferiority to Latanoprost in Phase 3 Mont Blanc Clinical Trial

Type: Top Poster Presentation Session

Date: March 3, 2023 from 7:30 am to 8:30 am.

Presenter: Dr. Robert Fechtner, Chair of the Department of Ophthalmology at SUNY Upstate Medical University in Syracuse, NY



ARVO 2023 Annual Meeting  April 23-27, 2023, New Orleans, LA, U.S.



Poster Title: NCX 1728, a nitric oxide (NO)-donating phosphodiesterase type-5 inhibitor, but not its des-nitro derivative (NCX 1880), enhances ocular perfusion and improves photoreceptor function in rabbits with endothelin-1 (ET-1)-induced ischemia/reperfusion injury of optic nerve head and retina

Type: Paper presentation

Session Title: Retina/RPE: New drugs, delivery and mechanisms of action 2

Date: April 25, 2023 from 11:45 am to 1:30 pm

Presenter: Corinna Galli, PhD, Nicox Research Institute



Poster Title: NCX 470, a nitric oxide (NO)-donating bimatoprost, preserves rabbit eyes from biochemical and functional changes associated with endothelin-1 (ET-1)-induced ischemia/reperfusion injury of optic nerve head and retina

Type: Poster presentation

Session Title: Neuroprotective Therapies

Date: April 25, 2023 from 8:45 am to 10:45 am

Presenter: Francesco Impagnatiello, PhD, Nicox Research Institute



NCX 470 is a novel nitric oxide (NO)-donating bimatoprost currently in Phase 3 clinical development for the reduction of intraocular pressure (IOP) in patients with open-angle glaucoma or ocular hypertension. The first randomized, double-masked, multi-center, parallel group trial conducted in the United States (Mont Blanc) comparing NCX 470 (0.1%) to latanoprost (0.005%) was completed in October 2022. The second Phase 3 trial Denali, similarly designed to Mont Blanc, and which includes a long-term safety extension, is ongoing.



NCX 1728 is an NO-donating phosphodiasterase type-5 (PDE5) inhibitor under preclinical evaluation for development in retinal conditions.





About Nicox

Nicox SA is an international ophthalmology company developing innovative solutions to help maintain vision and improve ocular health. Nicoxs lead program in clinical development is NCX 470, a novel nitric oxide-donating bimatoprost, for lowering intraocular pressure in patients with open-angle glaucoma or ocular hypertension. The company is also conducting research on NCX 1728, a nitric oxide-donating phosphodiesterase 5 inhibitor, in retinal conditions. NCX 4251, a novel, patented, ophthalmic suspension of fluticasone propionate nanocrystals for topical ocular application for dry eye disease, is being developed by Ocumension Therapeutics in China under an exclusive license agreement and is available for partnering elsewhere. Nicox generates revenue from VYZULTA in glaucoma, licensed exclusively worldwide to Bausch + Lomb, and ZERVIATE in allergic conjunctivitis, licensed in multiple geographies, including to Eyevance Pharmaceuticals, LLC (a wholly-owned subsidiary of Santen Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd.), in the U.S. and Ocumension Therapeutics in the Chinese and in the majority of Southeast Asian markets.



Nicox is headquartered in Sophia Antipolis, France, is listed on Euronext Paris (Compartment C: Mid Caps; Ticker symbol: COX) and is part of the CAC Healthcare, CAC Pharma & Bio and Next 150 indexes.



For more information on Nicox, its products or pipeline, please visit: www.nicox.com.

Analyst coverage





Bryan, Garnier & Co Eric Yoo Paris, France

Edison Investment Research Pooya Hemami London, UK

H.C. Wainwright & Co Yi Chen New York, U.S.

Kepler Cheuvreux Arsene Guekam Paris, France

The views expressed by analysts in their coverage of Nicox are those of the author and do not reflect the views of Nicox. Additionally, the information contained in their reports may not be correct or current. Nicox disavows any obligation to correct or to update the information contained in analyst reports.

Contacts





Nicox

Gavin Spencer

Executive Vice President, Chief Business Officer

& Head of Corporate Development

T +33 (0)4 97 24 53 00

communications@nicox.com

Forward-Looking Statements

The information contained in this document may be modified without prior notice. This information includes forward-looking statements. Such forward-looking statements are not guarantees of future performance. These statements are based on current expectations or beliefs of the management of Nicox S.A. and are subject to a number of factors and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from those described in the forward-looking statements. Nicox S.A. and its affiliates, directors, officers, employees, advisers or agents, do not undertake, nor do they have any obligation, to provide updates or to revise any forward-looking statements.



Risks factors which are likely to have a material effect on Nicoxs business are presented in the 3rd chapter of the Document denregistrement universel, rapport financier annuel et rapport de gestion 2021 filed with the French Autorite des Marches Financiers (AMF) on April 29, 2022 whose first amendment has been filed with the AMF on May 19, 2022, in the 2nd chapter of the second amendment filed with the AMF on November 22, 2022 and in the 2nd chapter of the Securities noted filed with the AMF on November 22, 2022 which are available on Nicoxs website (www.nicox.com)
Pune, March 03, 2023 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Maximize Market research, a global Material & Chemical business consulting firm, has published a market intelligence report on the  Plastic films and sheets Market . The report is a combination of primary and secondary data and the domain expert has analysed the Plastic films and sheets Market from a global as well as a regional perspective. The total market opportunity for Plastic films and sheets Market was USD 125.3 Bn in 2021 and is expected to grow at a CAGR of 4.5 percent through the forecast period to reach USD 178.19 Bn by 2029.



Market Size in 2021 USD 125.3 Bn Market Size in 2029 USD 178.19 Bn CAGR 4.5 percent (2022-2029) Forecast Period 2022-2029 Base Year 2021 Number of Pages 250 No. of Tables 110 No. of Charts and Figures 120 Segment Covered Product and Application Regional Scope North America, Europe, Asia Pacific, Middle East and Africa, South America Report Coverage Market Share, Size & Forecast by Revenue | 20222029, Market Dynamics, Growth Drivers, Restraints, Investment Opportunities, and Key Trends, Competitive Landscape, Key Players Benchmarking, Competitive Analysis, MMR Competition Matrix, Competitive Leadership Mapping, Global Key Players Market Ranking Analysis.

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Plastic Films and Sheets Market Scope and Research Methodology

The report is a comprehensive analysis of the Plastic films and sheets Market by region, segment and competitive landscape. For understanding the global factors affecting the Plastic films and sheets Market, the report presents drivers, challenges, restraints and opportunities prevailing in the Plastic films and sheets Market. The report covers the current trends prevailing in the market along with estimations about future trends to help investors identify investment pockets and opportunities in the Plastic films and sheets Market. The segments covered in the report are by Product and application.

The report is equipped with a competitive analysis of the Plastic films and sheets Market players. Key players and new entrants in the Plastic films and sheets Market are listed together. The Plastic films and sheets Market was analyzed by region, revenue, financial status, portfolio, technological advancement adopted, social, social media presence, and mergers and acquisitions. The new entrants in Plastic films and sheets Market was researched for growth prospects and future business outlooks. The analysis acts as a guide for stakeholders, investors, market players and followers and new entrants with an overall view of the Plastic films and sheets Market for formulating investment approaches and marketing tactics. Bottom-up approach was used to estimate the Plastic films and sheets Market Size. Primary research was conducted to validate the findings from the secondary research from the Plastic Films and Sheet Market.

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Plastic Films and Sheets Market Overview

Plastic films and sheets is a form of plastic material that is thin, usually wound on core or are cut into sheets. These sheets are available with many rows of perforations, which helps in growth of plants. Plastic sheets are used in agriculture which is expected to be a driving factor for the market growth. Applications of plastic film are packaging, plastic bags, labels, building construction, photographic film, video tape, and many more.

Plastic Films and Sheets Market Dynamics

Increasing demand for bi-axially oriented films with unique properties, that allow stretching in two distinctive directions with changes in the property of films such as high stiffness and lustrousness are the factors expected to fuel the Plastic films and sheets market growth. Vast use of Bi-axial oriented sheets in the food packaging industry in developing countries is expected to boost the Plastic Films and Sheets Market growth. Plastic films and sheets are used in roof flooring, which helps to prevent leakage, temperature, and requires less quantity of paint or cement for beautification & give smooth texture to ceilings.

Technological advancement and investment in R&D activities, increasing environmental concern & awareness regarding packaging waste has increased buying habit of consumers, which are expected to drive the Plastic films and sheets market growth. Demand for plastic films and sheets has increased in construction industry, especially in emerging economies. However, high cost of Plastic films and sheets is expected to restrain the Plastic films and sheets market growth over the forecast period.

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Plastic films and sheets market Regional Insights

Asia Pacific region held the largest Plastic films and sheets market share accounting for 35 percent of total market revenue and is expected to grow with a significant growth rate during the forecast period. Increasing population, urbanization, changing trends, and adoption of bio-based and recycled plastic solutions in the region is expected to fuel the Plastic films and sheets market growth. Use of sheets in agriculture and construction in India, China, and Japan are expected to drive the regional Plastic films and sheets market growth. Well established electrical and electronic manufacturing companies in China, Taiwan, and South Korea are expected to fuel the regional Plastic films and sheets market growth in the region.

European region held the second-largest position in Plastic films and sheets market in 2021. Increase in spending on R&D activities in pharmaceutical industry is expected to boost the European region market growth.

Plastic films and sheets Market Segmentation

By Product:

LLDPE

LDPE

HDPE

BOPP

CPP

PVC

PES

PA

Others



By Application:

Packaging Food Consumer goods Medical Others

Non-packaging Construction Healthcare Agriculture Others



Plastic Films and Sheets Market Key Players Include:

Amcor PLC.

Berry Global Group, Inc.

SABIC

Toray Industries, Inc.

Sealed Air Corporation

Uflex Limited

Toyobo Co., Ltd.

Jindal Poly Films Limited

DuPont Teijin Films

Oben Holding Group

British Polythene Ltd.

SABIC

Plastic Film Corporation of America

Sealed Air

Dow

Novolex

Griffon Corporation Inc.

Mitsuibishi Chemical Holdings Corporation

Evonik Industries AG

Honeywell International Inc.

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Key questions answered in the Plastic Films and Sheets Market are:

What is Plastic films and sheets?

What was the Plastic films and sheets market size in 2021?

What is the growth rate of the Plastic films and sheets Market?

Which are the factors expected to drive the Plastic films and sheets market growth?

Which segment dominated the Plastic films and sheets market growth?

What is the demand pattern for the Plastic films and sheets market?

Which region held the largest share in the Plastic films and sheets market?

Who are the key players in the Plastic films and sheets market?

Key Offerings:

Past Market Size and Competitive Landscape (2018 to 2021)

Past Pricing and price curve by region (2018 to 2021)

Market Size, Share, Size & Forecast by different segment | 20222029

Market Dynamics  Growth Drivers, Restraints, Opportunities, and Key Trends by region

Market Segmentation  A detailed analysis by Product, and application

Competitive Landscape  Profiles of selected key players by region from a strategic perspective Competitive landscape  Market Leaders, Market Followers, Regional player Competitive benchmarking of key players by region

PESTLE Analysis

PORTERs analysis

Value chain and supply chain analysis

Legal Aspects of business by region

Lucrative business opportunities with SWOT analysis

Recommendations

Maximize Market Research is leading Material & Chemical research firm, has also published the following reports:

Plastic Films Market : The total market was valued nearly USD 193.14 Bn in 2021 and is estimated to grow at a CAGR of 5.34 percent to reach at USD 292.83 Bn by 2029. Change in consumer food tastes, combined with a rising food retail sector around the world is expected to drive the market growth.

FRP Panels & Sheets Market : The total market size is expected to reach USD 1.90 Bn by 2029, at a CAGR of 7.1 percent during the forecast period. Functional as well as aesthetic appeal of Panels and sheets to numerous products related to automotive, aerospace, construction industries, electronics and others in manufacturing machinery are expected to drive the market growth.

Cast Acrylic Sheets Market : The total market size was valued at USD 3.14 Bn in 2021 and is expected to grow at a CAGR of 5.18 percent from 2022 to 2029, reaching nearly USD 4.70 Bn. Increasing demand for lightweight materials in automotive and aviation industries are expected to influence market growth.

Polycarbonate Sheets Market : The total market size was valued at USD 1.85 Bn in 2021 and is expected to reach USD 2.65 Bn by 2029, at a CAGR of 4.6 percent during the forecast period. Unique performance characteristics of polycarbonates in industrial sector such as medical devices are expected to drive the market growth.

Polycarbonate Panels Market : The total market size was valued at USD 1.80 Bn in 2021 and the total revenue is expected to grow at 5.1 percent through 2022 to 2029, reaching nearly USD 2.43 Bn. Unique qualities of polycarbonate panels, which allows maximum solar energy while blocking dangerous Ultraviolet rays are expected to fuel the market growth.

About Maximize Market Research:

Maximize Market Research is a multifaceted market research and consulting company with professionals from several industries. Some of the industries we cover include medical devices, pharmaceutical manufacturers, science and engineering, electronic components, industrial equipment, technology, and communication, cars, and automobiles, chemical products and substances, general merchandise, beverages, personal care, and automated systems. To mention a few, we provide market-verified industry estimations, technical trend analysis, crucial market research, strategic advice, competition analysis, production and demand analysis, and client impact studies.
VANCOUVER, British Columbia, March 03, 2023 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Standard Uranium Ltd. (Standard Uranium or the Company) (TSX-V: STND) (OTCQB: STTDF) (Frankfurt: FWB:9SU) is pleased to announce that diamond drilling has begun at its 100% owned Sun Dog Project. (Sun Dog or the Project). Sun Dog is located at the northwestern edge of the Athabasca Basin, Saskatchewan, and is south of the first uranium mining camp in Canada, the Beaverlodge District, near Uranium City.



Key Focus Points:

Standard Uranium and Base Diamond Drilling crews began mobilizing to the Sun Dog Project on February 24 th .

Drill equipment has arrived on site and is mobilizing to the first drill pad.

Two diamond drills are testing high-priority target areas on the Project, following up on known uranium mineralization in addition to prospective alteration and structure intersected during winter 2022 inaugural program.



Sun Dog  Winter 2023 Drill Program

Diamond drilling and geophysics completed by the Company in winter 2022 further refined high-priority uranium drill targets across the 15,770-hectare property (Figure 1 & 2). Several gravity-low and resistivity anomalies have been identified and coincide with breaks or flexures in electromagnetic (EM) conductors under Athabasca sandstone cover, providing compelling unconformity-related uranium targets. The perched uranium mineralization present in the Athabasca sandstone outcrop on the Project remains to be properly drill-tested at depth, and during the 2023 winter drill program, the Company aims to discover the high-grade roots of these mineralizing systems in the basement rocks underlying the sandstone. In addition, a portion of the planned holes will follow-up along conductor strike from historical basement-hosted uranium mineralization.

The Standard Uranium team arrived at the Project on February 27th, and drilling commenced at the first Java target drill hole on March 3rd, 2023. This seasons drill targets will focus on the Java, Johnston-Bay (J-Bay), Haven, and Skye target areas (Figure 1 & 2) following up on known high-grade1 uranium mineralization and prospective alteration including dravite and clay alteration.

The Company considers uranium mineralization with concentrations greater than 1.0 wt% U 3 O 8 to be high-grade.

Jon Bey, President and CEO, commented Our team of geologists have done a great job of extracting value from the historical exploration reports on the Project and coupling that information with our modern understanding of how these high-grade uranium systems work. Armed with the invaluable data collected from our inaugural drill program in 2022, we are poised for a very exciting drill program this winter.

Figure 1. Plan map of the Johnston Island target areas on the Sun Dog project highlighting historical drill holes, geophysical anomalies, and EM conductors.

Figure 2. Plan map of the Stewart Island target area on the Sun Dog project highlighting historical drill holes, geophysical anomalies, and EM conductors.

Java Target Area

The Java Target at the north-west end of Johnston Island encompasses the historical JNW-1 prospect and a compelling unconformity-related uranium target area to the north (Figure 1). The JNW-1 prospect was channel sampled in 1977 by SMDC with results of 0.43% U 3 O 8 over 4.2 m at surface. Individual grab samples from surface returned results as high as 12.4% U 3 O 8 .

Located approximately 350 metres to the north of the JNW-1 prospect is a 1.5 km long EM trend that was drill-tested by several drill holes which encountered strongly altered and brecciated, chlorite-, sulphide-, and graphite-bearing metasediments underlying the Athabasca sandstone. The best historical hole in the area, LAO-1, contains 0.10% U 3 O 8 over 1.0 m. Given the reconnaissance-scale drilling so far, the Company believes that the true potential of the target area has not yet been tested.

Johnston-Bay Target Area

The Johnston-Bay target area links the Java and Haven target areas and contains several kilometres of untested conductors coincident with NE-SW striking cross-faults and gravity low anomalies. Historical drill holes in the area have intersected sporadic mineralization with results up to 205 ppm U over 1.0 m within graphitic metapelite in drill hole LA1-005. Winter 2022 drill hole SD-22-002 in the area intersected localized dravite alteration and SD-22-003 intersected elevated radioactivity up to 300 cps within a graphitic metapelite.

Haven Target Area

The Haven prospect was discovered by Standard Uranium during 2020 ground truth sampling. At the previously undocumented Haven prospect, 4 samples were collected, with 3 returning greater than 0.10% U 3 O 8 , and a maximum of 0.70% U 3 O 8 . During 2022 field mapping and prospecting, the surface expression of mineralization on south Johnston Island (Haven-Walli target areas) was expanded, with scintillometer readings greater than 10,000 cps and locally off-scale* (>65,535 cps).

In addition, the fall mapping program revealed outcrop showings of brecciated Athabasca sandstone containing dravite-kaolinite alteration in both the Skye and Haven target areas. Dravite is a key pathfinder mineral for uranium in the Athabasca Basin, which was also intersected in drill holes SD-22-001 and -002 during winter 2022 drilling.

Skye Target Area

At the south end of Steward Island is the Stewart Island mineralized zone that was defined during exploration activities between 1960 and 1969 (Figure 2). A historical channel sample across the surface exposure returned 1.05% U 3 O 8 over 2.6 m. Historical drill hole N-2 intersected 0.9% U 3 O 8 over 5.49 m. The Skye target area encompasses the historical Stewart Island mineralized zone in addition to the un-tested conductive rocks to the west.

The confluence of EM conductors, resistivity-low and interpreted faults remains the un-tested potential at the Skye Target area. The Company continues with the exploration model that the Stewart Island mineralized zone could potentially be related to an unconformity-related uranium deposit located less than 1-kilometre to the west.

The scientific and technical information contained in this news release, including the sampling, analytical and test data underlying the technical information contained in this news release, has been reviewed, verified, and approved by Sean Hillacre, P.Geo., VP Exploration of the Company and a qualified person as defined in NI 43-101.

About Standard Uranium (TSX-V: STND)

We find the fuel to power a clean energy future

Standard Uranium is a uranium exploration company with a focus on the world-class Athabasca Basin in Saskatchewan, Canada. Since its establishment, Standard Uranium has focused on the identification and exploration of Athabasca-style uranium targets with a view to discovery and future development.

Standard Uranium's Sun Dog project, in the northwest part of the Athabasca Basin, Saskatchewan, is comprised of six mineral claims over 17,309 hectares. The Sun Dog project is highly prospective for basement and unconformity hosted uranium deposits yet remains largely untested by sufficient drilling despite its location proximal to uranium discoveries in the area.

Standard Uraniums Davidson River Project, in the southwest part of the Athabasca Basin, Saskatchewan, comprises eight mineral claims over 22,775 hectares. Davidson River is highly prospective for basement-hosted uranium deposits due to its location along trend from recent high-grade uranium discoveries. However, owing to the large project size with multiple targets, it remains broadly under-tested by drilling. Recent intersections of wide, structurally deformed and strongly altered shear zones provide significant confidence in the exploration model and future success is expected.

Standard Uraniums Atlantic, Canary, and Ascent Projects, in the northeast Athabasca Basin, comprise nine mineral claims over 13,215 hectares. The eastern basin projects are highly prospective for unconformity-related uranium deposits based on historical uranium occurrences, recently identified geophysical anomalies, and location along trend from several high-grade uranium discoveries.

For further information contact:

Jon Bey, Chief Executive Officer, and Chairman

550 Denman Street, Suite 200

Vancouver, BC V6G 3H1

Tel: 1 (306) 850-6699

E-mail: info@standarduranium.ca

Cautionary Statement Regarding Forward-Looking Statements

This news release contains forward-looking statements or forward-looking information (collectively, forward-looking statements) within the meaning of applicable securities legislation. All statements, other than statements of historical fact, are forward-looking statements and are based on expectations, estimates and projections as of the date of this news release. Forward-looking statements include, but are not limited to, statements regarding: the timing and content of upcoming work programs; geological interpretations; timing of the Companys exploration programs; and estimates of market conditions.

Forward-looking statements are subject to a variety of known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors that could cause actual events or results to differ from those expressed or implied by forward-looking statements contained herein. There can be no assurance that such statements will prove to be accurate, as actual results and future events could differ materially from those anticipated in such statements. Certain important factors that could cause actual results, performance or achievements to differ materially from those in the forward-looking statements are highlighted in the Risks and Uncertainties in the Companys management discussion and analysis for the fiscal year ended April 30, 2022, dated August 26, 2022.

Forward-looking statements are based upon a number of estimates and assumptions that, while considered reasonable by the Company at this time, are inherently subject to significant business, economic and competitive uncertainties and contingencies that may cause the Companys actual financial results, performance, or achievements to be materially different from those expressed or implied herein. Some of the material factors or assumptions used to develop forward-looking statements include, without limitation: the future price of uranium; anticipated costs and the Companys ability to raise additional capital if and when necessary; volatility in the market price of the Companys securities; future sales of the Companys securities; the Companys ability to carry on exploration and development activities; the success of exploration, development and operations activities; the timing and results of drilling programs; the discovery of mineral resources on the Companys mineral properties; the costs of operating and exploration expenditures; the presence of laws and regulations that may impose restrictions on mining; employee relations; relationships with and claims by local communities and indigenous populations; availability of increasing costs associated with mining inputs and labour; the speculative nature of mineral exploration and development (including the risks of obtaining necessary licenses, permits and approvals from government authorities); uncertainties related to title to mineral properties; assessments by taxation authorities; fluctuations in general macroeconomic conditions.

The forward-looking statements contained in this news release are expressly qualified by this cautionary statement. Any forward-looking statements and the assumptions made with respect thereto are made as of the date of this news release and, accordingly, are subject to change after such date. The Company disclaims any obligation to update any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, except as may be required by applicable securities laws. There can be no assurance that forward-looking statements will prove to be accurate, as actual results and future events could differ materially from those anticipated in such statements. Accordingly, readers should not place undue reliance on forward-looking statements.

Neither the TSX-V nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX-V) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.

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Dublin, March 03, 2023 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- The "Global Aquaponics Market - Forecasts from 2022 to 2027" report has been added to ResearchAndMarkets.com's offering.



The global aquaponics market is projected to reach a market size of US$934.508 million in 2027 from US$632.385 million in 2020, at a CAGR of 5.74%.



Growing demand for organic produce and rising preference for off-season fruits and veggies are projected to drive the demand for aquaponics systems, which in turn is expected to drive the overall market growth during the forecast period. Additionally, Increased income due to dual raising activity, less requirement for water and reduced technical complexity are the major factors that are contributing to the growth of the market.

Moreover, shrinkage of arable lands owing to rapid industrialization and urbanization is expected to increase the adoption of aquaponics system which is anticipated to fuel the market growth in the coming years. Aquaponic agriculture generates 8 times more food per land in one-sixth of the area required by traditional agriculture. Rising demand for exotic fruits and vegetables due to the increased purchasing power of consumers is further expected to boost the overall market growth during the forecast period.



The cost of these exotic fruits and vegetables is quite high because of which many research institutions and universities are focusing on establishing a simplified aquaponic system to increase the production of fruits and vegetables to meet the growing demand of consumers.

Recent partnerships and investments by key players are projected to have a positive impact on the market growth. For instance, Aero farms has partnered with Dell Technologies for the expansion of its technological requirements of machine learning and network systems. With the help of this partnership, the company will implement the right data-driven machinery by using data related to temperature, humidity, airflow, nutrients, light, water, and food safety.



One of the prime reasons which are supporting the growth of the market is the growing demand for organically grown food and crops. Organic food doesn't contain any harmful chemicals and fertilizers because of which their consumption has increased in the last few years. Moreover, growing health concerns due to the rising number of chemical poisoning incidents around the globe are fueling the demand for organic food. Rapid urbanization and less available arable land, and increased preference for locally grown food produced in an environmentally friendly and sustainable way are driving the adoption of aquaponics technology.

It is a potentially useful tool to overcome a few challenges that are faced by traditional agriculture such as freshwater shortages, climate change, and soil degradation. Additionally, the growing affluent middle class, willing to pay more for higher quality food produced with less pesticides, is also fueling the market growth. This rising demand for organic food has forced the countries to adopt the advanced technologies and methods in their agricultural practices to meet the escalating demand.



France-based indoor farming company Les Nouvelles Fermes has invested EUR 2 million in its first round of funding by the investors from IRDI, the Banque des Territoires, Credit Agricole Aquitaine and the CIC. The company is planning to build the largest aquaponic farm in Europe. South Central Connecticut Regional Water Authority (RWA) has invested $500,000 in Trifecta Ecosystems to build a custom-controlled aquaponics system.



Organic veggies grown in aquaponics are becoming more popular, and this trend is likely to continue. One of the key reasons for this is that farmers are gradually adopting these strategies to produce these vegetables, resulting in an increase in the market's expansion prospects during the forecast period. Aquaponics in the media bed method employs containers filled with rocky media such as stones or expanded clay to support plant roots. To provide the plants with the nutrients and oxygen they require, the bed is inundated and drained with nutrient-rich water. To capture and break down waste, the medium used to support the plants serves as both a mechanical and a biofilter. Media-filled bed unit is the most popular design for small-scale aquaponics.

For most developing regions, this strategy is highly recommended. Because of their simplicity, these designs are space-efficient, have a cheap initial cost, and are excellent for novices. The medium is used to support the roots of the plants in media bed units, and it also serves as a mechanical and biological filter. With increased surface area exposed to the light, water evaporation is higher in medium beds. Media beds come in a variety of designs, and this is perhaps the most adaptable method. Owing to its advantages media filled grow beds segment holds a considerable share in the market.

Market Segmentation:

By Types

Media Filled Growbeds (MFG)

Nutrient Film Technique (NFT)

Deep Water Culture (DWC)

Others

By Component

Bio Filter

Settling Basins

Fish Tanks

Soil-Free Plant Bed

Rearing Tanks

Aquaponic Produce

Others

By Equipment

Pumps and Valves

Water Heaters

Fish Purge Systems

Aeration Systems

Water Quality Testing

Others

By Application

Fish

Herbs

Fruits

Vegetables

By End-User

Commercial

Home Production

Research

By Geography

North America

United States

Canada

Mexico

South America

Brazil

Argentina

Others

Europe

UK

Germany

France

Italy

Others

Middle East and Africa

UAE

Israel

Saudi Arabia

Others

Asia Pacific

China

Japan

India

Australia

South Korea

Taiwan

Thailand

Indonesia

Others

Report Attribute Details No. of Pages 145 Forecast Period 2020 - 2027 Estimated Market Value (USD) in 2020 $632.39 million Forecasted Market Value (USD) by 2027 $934.51 million Compound Annual Growth Rate 5.7% Regions Covered Global

Companies Mentioned





Aquaponic Lynx LLC

GreenLife Aquaponics

Nelson & Pade Aquaponics

The Aquaponic Source

ECF Farmsystems GmbH

MyAquaponics

Backyard Aquaponics

NutraPonics Canada Corporation

Symbiotic Aquaponic

Endless Food Systems





For more information about this report visit https://www.researchandmarkets.com/r/nkgnxq

About ResearchAndMarkets.com

ResearchAndMarkets.com is the world's leading source for international market research reports and market data. We provide you with the latest data on international and regional markets, key industries, the top companies, new products and the latest trends.

Attachment
Dublin, March 03, 2023 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- The "Global Data Annotation Tools Market, by Data Type, by Technology, by Device Type, by End-users, Estimation & Forecast, 2017-2030" report has been added to ResearchAndMarkets.com's offering.



The global data annotation tools market held a market value of USD 1,186.9 Million in 2021 and is projected to reach USD 13,287.9 Million by the year 2030. The market is anticipated to register a CAGR of 30.9% during the forecast period.



Data annotation tools can be on-premise, cloud-based, or containerized software solutions that can be utilized to annotate production-grade training data for machine learning. The data annotation tools industry is growing steadily due to the enhanced application of artificial intelligence, rising demand, and investing strategic activities by the key players.

For instance, in October 2020, CloudFactory, a global leader in managed workforce solutions for artificial intelligence introduced a new computer vision offering, Data Annotation Solution, that bales their professionally managed workforce with a market-leading data annotation platform.



On the other hand, the data privacy compliance standards are not proper in all regions which hamper the market growth to a limited extent. Moreover, AI and machine learning continue to advance, yet many AI disruptors lack the aptitude to process and label the voluminous amount of data vital to feed complex AI, machine learning algorithms. Thus, such elements hinder the market growth.



Growth Influencers:



Rising demand for annotated data to improve machine learning models



The increasing focus and inclination of the major players operating in the industry drive the growth rate of the market. For instance, several firms are focusing on adding value to their current product portfolio and dicing newer technological advancements. Scale, a San Francisco startup employs a combination of human data labelers and machine learning algorithms to sort through raw, unlabeled streams for clients, such as nuTonomy, Lyft, Zoox, nuTonomy, Voyage, and Embark. Moreover, firms such as DefinedCrown utilize a smart data curation platform, providing a bespoke model-training service to clients in customer service, health care, automotive, retail, and enterprise sectors.



Increasing Investment by the players and technology advancements



The rising investment by prominent players, coupled with the surge in developments in data annotation tools fuel the market growth.

For instance, in November 2019, CloudFactory, one of the global leaders in managed workforce solutions for artificial intelligence (AI), secured USD 65 Million in growth equity funding, led by FTV Capital and Weatherford Capital. Such an investment marks an exciting milestone in CloudFactory's mission of offering meaningful work as the company seeks to scale operations while continuing to deliver high-quality data work for its global customers. Such measures drive the market growth.



Segments Overview:



The global data annotation tools market is segmented into data type, technology, device type, and end users.



By Data Type

Text

Sentiment

Text Classification

Entity

Image

Boundary Boxes

Line Annotation

Image Transcription

Video

Semantic

Polygon

Key point

Audio

Voice Activity Detection (VAD)

Speaker Identification

Automated Speech

The text segment is anticipated to hold an opportunity of more than USD 3,400 Million during 2022-2030. The video sub-segment is estimated to cross the mark of USD 1,000 Million revenue by 2026 owing to its growing adoption and awareness of data annotation tools for video datasets. On the basis of audio, the automated speech recognition sub-segment is anticipated to grow at the highest CAGR amongst all audio data type.



By Technology

Supervised

Semi-Supervised

Automatic

The supervised segment is estimated to cross the mark of USD 5,000 Million revenue by 2028 owing to the increasing use of this particular technology in the different applications and end uses.



By Device Type

Mac OS

Windows

Linux

Others

The windows segment is anticipated to grow with the highest revenue generation of more than USD 1,000 Million in 2021 owing to the increasing applications and usage of this device type. Moreover, the Mac OS segment is expected to grow at the highest CAGR of 32.3%.



By End Users

Automotive

Healthcare

Retail

Transportation and logistics

BFSI

Telecommunication and IT

Others

The automotive segment is anticipated to hold an opportunity of more than USD 2,000 Million during 2022-2030 owing to the high demand for data annotation tools in automotive sector. The healthcare segment is expected to grow at the fastest growth rate of 33.2 over the forecast period.



Regional Overview



By region, the global data annotation tools market is divided into North America, Europe, Asia Pacific, Middle East & Africa, and South America.



The North American market for data annotation tools held the largest market share of more than 30% in 2021 owing to the highly developed infrastructure. Furthermore, the European market for data annotation tools is estimated to cross the mark of USD 1,000 Million revenue by 2026 owing to the rising awareness.



Moreover, the market in other regions of APAC, and Middle East and Africa are anticipated to grow at a considerable rate. For instance, in August, 2021, Appen Limited, an Australian company, signed a definitive agreement to acquire Quadrant, a leader in mobile location data, point-of-interest data, as well as corresponding compliance services. The merged firm of Quadrant and Appen will be well positioned to supply high-quality data to businesses that rely on geolocation. Thus, such measures drive the growth of the APAC regional market.



Competitive Landscape



The major five players in the market hold approximately 15% of the market share. These market players are capitalizing in collaborations, product launches, mergers, acquisitions, and expansions to sustain a competitive edge in the market. For instance, in November 2020, TELUS International agreed to purchase Lionbridge's artificial intelligence business segment for USD 935 Million, with the transaction anticipated to completion by December 31st. Lionbridge AI, a Lionbridge Technologies business unit, operates multilingual data for artificial intelligence algorithms, including human-annotated text, photos, audio, and video.



The global data annotation tools market report provides insights on the below pointers:

Market Penetration: Provides comprehensive information on the market offered by the prominent players

Market Development: The report offers detailed information about lucrative emerging markets and analyzes penetration across mature segments of the markets

Market Diversification: Provides in-depth information about untapped geographies, recent developments, and investments

Competitive Landscape Assessment: Mergers & acquisitions, certifications, product launches in the global Data annotation tools market have been provided in this research report. In addition, the report also emphasizes the SWOT analysis of the leading players.

Product Development & Innovation: The report provides intelligent insights on future technologies, R&D activities, and breakthrough product developments

Pricing Analysis: Pricing analysis of various metals and other components used in the manufacturing

Manufacturing Cost Analysis: Cost-share of various components in data annotation tools

Application of Data annotation tools in Service Sectors

Performance of Data annotation tools in Service Sectors

The global data annotation tools market report answers questions such as:

What is the market size and forecast of the global data annotation tools market?

What are the inhibiting factors and impact of COVID-19 on the global data annotation tools market during the assessment period?

Which are the products/segments/areas to invest in over the assessment period in the global data annotation tools market?

What is the competitive strategic window for opportunities in the global data annotation tools market?

What are the technology trends and regulatory frameworks in the global data annotation tools market?

What is the market share of the leading players in the global data annotation tools market?

What modes and strategic moves are considered favorable for entering the global data annotation tools market?

Report Attribute Details No. of Pages 198 Forecast Period 2021 - 2030 Estimated Market Value (USD) in 2021 $1186.9 Million Forecasted Market Value (USD) by 2030 $13287.9 Million Compound Annual Growth Rate 30.8% Regions Covered Global



A selection of companies mentioned in this report includes

Annotate.com

Appen Limited

Cloud Factory Limited

CloudApp

Cogito Tech LLC

Deep Systems

Google Inc.

Labelbox Inc

LightTag

Lionbridge Technologies, Inc.

Lotus Quality Assurance

Playment Inc.

Tagtog Sp.zo.

For more information about this report visit https://www.researchandmarkets.com/r/h734cy

About ResearchAndMarkets.com

ResearchAndMarkets.com is the world's leading source for international market research reports and market data. We provide you with the latest data on international and regional markets, key industries, the top companies, new products and the latest trends.

Attachment
Dublin, March 03, 2023 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- The "ADAS Market by System (ACC, DMS, IPA, PDS< TJA, FCW,, RSR, LDW, AEB, BSD), Component (Camera, LiDAR, Ultrasonic, Radar), Vehicle Type, EV Type, Vehicle Class, Level of Autonomy, Offering, Sales Channel and Region - Global Forecast to 2030" report has been added to ResearchAndMarkets.com's offering.





The global ADAS market size is projected to grow from USD 27.2 billion in 2021 to USD 74.9 billion by 2030, at a CAGR of 11.9%. Safety features are an important prerequisite for automotive customers across the world. Governments across the world have mandated the incorporation of features such as lane departure warning (LDW) and automatic emergency braking (AEB). Different types of safety features have, therefore, been developed to assist drivers and lower the number of accidents.

Growing demand for safety and driving assistance systems likely to drive the growth of the ADAS market during the forecast period

The automotive industry is witnessing a rapid evolution of safety features, which is expected to increase exponentially in the coming years to provide a safer and more convenient driving experience. Major OEMs such as Toyota and Honda are launching vehicles with features such as blind spot detection, rear cross traffic, lane keep assist, forward collision warning, and automatic emergency braking as a standard. OEMs such as Cadillac, Tesla, Nissan, Honda, and Audi are currently developing L3 driving systems for their upcoming models. The increasing demand for sophisticated cruise control and driving comfort features has also fueled the safety systems market. Transforming a vehicle into a self-driving one could help reduce errors caused by drivers.

As per the NHTSA, the total number of fatalities due to road accidents in the US was 38,680 36,560 in 202018. ADAS could play a crucial role in reducing this number and lead to a safe, productive, and efficient driving experience. Active safety systems such as blind spot detection (BSD), automatic emergency braking (AEB), and lane departure warning (LDW) play a major role in automated driving technology today.

Demand for luxury vehicles will further strengthen the demand for ADAS during the forecast period. Several economies around the world have recovered from the 2008 recession. Higher growth rates have been observed in developing countries such as China and India, among others. The standard of living has also improved in developing countries, with a considerable rise in spending power. German auto brands such as Mercedes-Benz, BMW, and Audi dominate the global luxury car market.

The change in consumer preferences has increased the demand for better products, which has positively affected the sales of premium cars across the globe. For instance, major BMW's automotive division recorded growth in 2019, despite the slowdown in the global automotive market. The division registered a growth of 6.8% in 2019 due to increasing deliveries in the luxury cars segment. Its subsidiary, Rolls Royce, sold 5,100 units, an increase of 21.6%, compared to 4,194 units, a year earlier, while the production volume increased by 25.3%. Similarly, the group sold more BMW-branded vehicles in 2019 than in 2018. Safety innovations are first introduced in the luxury and premium car segments, and this rise in sales will act as a driver for the ADAS market.

North America is projected to play a major role in the ADAS market during the forecast period

The North American region has been studied for the US, Canada, and Mexico. The ADAS market in the region is projected to witness significant growth during the forecast period due to the higher penetration of ADAS features in most vehicles here. North American OEMs such as Ford Motors Co., General Motors Co., and Fiat-Chrysler Automotive, along with established European and Asian OEMs such as Toyota (Japan), Nissan (Japan), Honda (Japan), Hyundai/Kia (South Korea), BMW (Germany), and Volkswagen (Germany) offer ADAS features in vehicles.

The automotive industry, largely dominated by the US, is one of the most advanced. The US is considered one of the most lucrative markets for ADAS, as it has always been an innovation hub for global automakers. The country houses domestic OEMs such as General Motors and Ford as well as foreign automakers such as FCA Group, Volkswagen, Toyota, and Nissan. These OEMs invest heavily in megatrends, such as connected mobility and autonomous vehicles. Major automakers in the US offer ADAS as standard in most vehicles. According to the NHTSA, 12 OEMs already mandated AEB in 75% of their new passenger car vehicles for the period September 1, 2018, through August 31, 2019. Just 2 years ago, penetration was only 30%. More active initiatives by OEMs would further increase the demand for AEB systems in the country.

Market Dynamics

Drivers

Increased Safety of Vehicles

Comfort Features Associated with Adas

Increasing Interest of Customers in Luxury Vehicles

Integration of Radar and Cameras in Modern Cars

Restraints

ADAS Infrastructure at Developing Stage

Consumer Acceptance of Autonomous Cars

Opportunities

Increasing Demand for Autonomous Vehicles

Emergence of 5G Technology for Vehicles

Increasing Adoption of IoT and GPS in ADAS

Increasing Adoption of Electric Vehicles

New Trends in Shared Automotive Mobility

Huge Investments in Lidar Startups

Challenges

Hight Cost of Integration

Environmental Constraints and Security Threats

Maintaining Balance Between Cost and Quality

Lag in Real-Time Image Processing in Multi-Camera Systems

Report Attribute Details No. of Pages 478 Forecast Period 2022 - 2030 Estimated Market Value (USD) in 2022 $27.2 Billion Forecasted Market Value (USD) by 2030 $74.9 Billion Compound Annual Growth Rate 11.9% Regions Covered Global



Key Topics Covered:

1 Introduction

2 Research Methodology

3 Executive Summary

4 Premium Insights

5 Market Overview

6 Adas Market, by Vehicle Class

7 Adas Market, by Level of Autonomy

7.1 Introduction

7.2 L1

7.3 L2

7.4 L3

7.5 L4

7.6 L5

8 Adas Market, by Vehicle Type

8.1 Introduction

8.2 Passenger Cars

8.3 Light Commercial Vehicles

8.4 Trucks

8.5 Buses

8.6 Key Primary Insights

9 Adas Market, by Electric Vehicle Type

9.1 Introduction

9.2 Battery Electric Vehicles

9.3 Fuel Cell Electric Vehicles

9.4 Hybrid Electric Vehicles

9.5 Plug-In Hybrid Electric Vehicles

9.6 Key Primary Insights

10 Adas Market, by System Type

10.1 Introduction

10.2 Adaptive Cruise Control

10.3 Adaptive Front Light

10.4 Automatic Emergency Braking

10.5 Blind-Spot Detection

10.6 Cross-Traffic Alert

10.7 Driver Monitoring System

10.8 Forward Collision Warning

10.9 Intelligent Park Assist

10.10 Lane Departure Warning

10.11 Night Vision System

10.12 Pedestrian Detection System

10.13 Road Sign Recognition

10.14 Tire Pressure Monitoring System

10.15 Traffic Jam Assist

11 Adas Market, by Component

11.1 Introduction

11.2 Camera Unit

11.3 Lidar

11.4 Radar Sensors

11.5 Ultrasonic Sensors

11.6 Infrared Sensors

12 Adas Market, by Sales Channel

12.1 Introduction

12.2 OEM

12.3 Aftermarket

13 Adas Market, by Offering

13.1 Introduction

13.2 Hardware

13.3 Software

14 Adas Market, by Region

15 Competitive Landscape

16 Company Profiles

17 Analyst's Recommendations

18 Appendix

Companies Mentioned

Aisin Corporation

Aptiv

Autoliv

Blackberry

Continental Ag

Denso

Ficosa International Sa

Hella

Hitachi Automotive

Hyundai Mobis

Infineon Technologies Ag

Intel

Magna International

Microsemi Corporation

Nvidia

Nxp Semiconductors

Renesas Electronics Corporation

Robert Bosch

Samsung Electronics

Texas Instruments

Valeo

Voxx International Corp

Xilinx

Zf Friedrichshafen

For more information about this report visit https://www.researchandmarkets.com/r/xibmmx

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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Dublin, March 03, 2023 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- The "Finland Social Commerce Market Intelligence and Future Growth Dynamics Databook - 50+ KPIs on Social Commerce Trends by End-Use Sectors, Operational KPIs, Retail Product Dynamics, and Consumer Demographics - Q1 2023 Update" report has been added to ResearchAndMarkets.com's offering.



According to the publisher, social commerce industry in Finland is expected to grow by 22.7% on annual basis to reach US$1033.1 million in 2023.



The social commerce industry is expected to grow steadily over the forecast period, recording a CAGR of 12.8% during 2022-2028. The social commerce GMV in the country will increase from US$1033.1 million in 2023 to reach US$2122.6 million by 2028.



This report provides a detailed data centric analysis of social commerce industry, covering market opportunities and risks. With over 50+ KPIs at country level, this report provides a comprehensive understanding of social commerce market dynamics, market size and forecast, and market share statistics.



The research methodology is based on industry best practices. Its unbiased analysis leverages a proprietary analytics platform to offer a detailed view on emerging business and investment market opportunities.

Reasons to buy

In-depth Understanding of Social Commerce Market Dynamics: Understand market opportunities and key trends along with forecast (2019-2028).

Insights into Opportunity by end-use sectors - Get market dynamics by end-use sectors to assess emerging opportunity across various end-use sectors.

Develop Market Specific Strategies: Identify growth segments and target specific opportunities to formulate social commerce strategy; assess market specific key trends, drivers, and risks in the industry.

Scope



This report provides in-depth, data-centric analysis of social commerce in Finland. Below is a summary of key market segments:



Finland Ecommerce Industry Market Size and Future Growth Dynamics by Key Performance Indicators, 2019-2028

Finland Social Commerce Industry Market Size and Future Growth Dynamics by Key Performance Indicators, 2019-2028

Finland Social Commerce Industry Market Size and Forecast by Retail Product Categories, 2019-2028

Clothing & Footwear

Beauty and Personal Care

Food & Grocery

Appliances and Electronics

Home Improvement

Travel

Hospitality

Finland Social Commerce Industry Market Size and Forecast by End Use Segment, 2019-2028

B2B

B2C

C2C

Finland Social Commerce Industry Market Size and Forecast by End Use Device, 2019-2028

Mobile

Desktop

Finland Social Commerce Industry Market Size and Forecast by Location, 2019-2028

Domestic

Cross Border

Finland Social Commerce Industry Market Size and Forecast by Location, 2019-2028

Tier-1 Cities

Tier-2 Cities

Tier-3 Cities

Finland Social Commerce Industry Market Size and Forecast by Payment Method, 2019-2028

Credit Card

Debit Card

Bank Transfer

Prepaid Card

Digital & Mobile Wallet

Other Digital Payment

Cash

Finland Social Commerce Industry Market Size and Forecast by Platforms

Video Commerce

Social Network-Led Commerce

Social Reselling

Group Buying

Product Review Platforms

Finland Social Commerce Industry Market Size and Forecast by Consumer Demographics & Behaviour,2022

By Age

By Income Level

By Gender

For more information about this report visit https://www.researchandmarkets.com/r/53pch3

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.
Dublin, March 03, 2023 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- The "Global Smart Container Market Size, Share & Industry Trends Analysis Report By Vertical, By Offering, By Technology (Global Positioning System (GPS), Cellular, Long Range Wide Area Network (LoRa Wan) and Others), By Regional Outlook and Forecast, 2022 - 2028" report has been added to ResearchAndMarkets.com's offering.



The Global Smart Container Market size is expected to reach $10.8 billion by 2028, rising at a market growth of 18.2% CAGR during the forecast period.

Key Market Players

A.P. Moller - Maersk A/S

Orbcomm, Inc. (GI Partners L.P.)

SkyCell AG

TRAXENS

AirDAO

ZillionSource Technologies

Berlinger & Co. AG

Globe Tracker, ApS.

Nexxiot AG

Phillips Connect (Phillips Industries, Inc.)

Smart containers refer to shipping containers equipped with IoT (Internet of Things), GPS tracking, and sensors that are used for logistics & freight. These containers are developed to regulate internal temperature, enhance the security of goods stored in containers, and keep a track of real-time location via GPS. The main aim of smart containers is to alter the risk of potential issues with cargo.



Smart containers are considered crucial in making the supply chain more efficient, sustainable, and safer. These are similar to regular containers with additional sensors connected to them for keeping regular track of real time information. The data collected through these sensors may result in optimizing the supply chain.



Sensor data help in getting hyper-accurate information regarding the inside temperature, container's location, and other conditions, which helps businesses in the efficient management of goods within spending fewer resources. Furthermore, data provided by these sensors help in avoiding possible hazards that may occur due to the climatic and changes in conditions. Another benefit of these sensors is that the stakeholder would be able know the progress of containers with shipping.



This further enables customers as well as operators to predict the estimated time at which goods may reach the destination, thereby preventing disruptions in the supply chain. Smart containers serve certain benefits to logistic companies. In the past, the required data to ensure the safety of goods was collected manually. Still, smart technologies used in these containers could efficiently substitute this, which would result in reducing the expenditure along with saving time.



COVID-19 Impact Analysis



The widespread of novel coronavirus has severely affected the world's economy and almost all industries. The pandemic resulted in the implementation of lockdown and travel restrictions by governments of various affected nations, leading to disruption in the working of multiple sectors.

The supply chains were severely disrupted due to the trade restrictions imposed with the aim of curbing the spread of the virus. Furthermore, the production of smart containers also decreased, which resulted in raising the overall prices of containers. These increased prices further resulted in lowering the adoption of smart containers, thereby declining sales.



Market Growth Factors

Rising acceptance of IoT devices by companies in shipping industry



Maritime transportation is the most used mode of shipping. With the rising adoption of technologies in the logistics industry due to the arrival of smart logistics facilities, most logistics shipping businesses are implementing IoT devices. The trucking & logistics businesses are integrating data analytics, self-driving technologies, and robotics with the aim of increasing the effectiveness of operations and addressing other issues in the industry.



Rising demand for logistics 4.0



The emergence of logistics 4.0 in the shipping and freight sector brings an essential upgrade to the supply chain, which has been operated conventionally since the past. Furthermore, growing penetration of the internet, increasing demand for automation, rising integration of smart technologies, and adoption of advanced logistic solutions across the globe with the aim to enhance efficiency are resulting in the growing adoption of logistic 4.0 trends.



Marketing Restraining Factor

Shipping industry is not capable enough to deal with cyber threats



One of the major risks for the shipping industry in the integration of smart technologies is cyberattacks. This is mainly because of the less awareness and inefficient tools implemented within the industry. The shipping industry is a major target for cyber attackers, as the industry is flourishing continuously. Furthermore, it is observed by a number of researchers that the industry is not capable enough to efficiently work with the technologies by dealing with these cyber threats.

Key Topics Covered:



Chapter 1. Market Scope & Methodology

Chapter 2. Market Overview

2.1 Introduction

2.1.1 Overview

2.1.1.1 Market Composition & Scenario

2.2 Key Factors Impacting the Market

2.2.1 Market Drivers

2.2.2 Market Restraints



Chapter 3. Strategies Deployed in Smart Container Market



Chapter 4. Global Smart Container Market by Vertical

4.1 Global Food & Beverages Market by Region

4.2 Global Pharmaceuticals Market by Region

4.3 Global Oil & Gas Market by Region

4.4 Global Chemicals Market by Region

4.5 Global Others Market by Region



Chapter 5. Global Smart Container Market by Offering

5.1 Global Hardware Market by Region

5.2 Global Software Market by Region

5.3 Global Services Market by Region



Chapter 6. Global Smart Container Market by Technology

6.1 Global Positioning System (GPS)MARKET by Region

6.2 Global Cellular Market by Region

6.3 Global Long Range Wide Area Network (LoRa Wan) Market by Region

6.4 Global Others Market by Region



Chapter 7. Global Smart Container Market by Region



Chapter 8. Company Profiles

For more information about this report visit https://www.researchandmarkets.com/r/b03cqm

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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TORONTO, March 03, 2023 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- The Board of Directors of Food For The Poor Canada (FFPC) is delighted to announce the appointment of Arlene Amitirigala as Executive Director, effective March 1, 2023.



The Board is excited to welcome Arlene to our organization, said Andre Bastian, board co-chair. Our hiring committee considered many extraordinary candidates for this position during an extensive search conducted by members of the board as well as leaders within our community. Arlene Amitirigala was a standout candidate from the very beginning. She has a passion for mission work, the experience to lead the organization, and the drive to make impactful change for those living with food and housing insecurity in the Caribbean and Central America.

Arlene has held several senior roles in marketing and communication in both the private and public sectors across various industries such as tourism, investment banking, and manufacturing. Her career experience includes directing corporate communications for Diageos West Latin America and Caribbean operations from Miami, Florida, and consulting with clients such as UNESCO, the Consulate of Jamaica at Toronto, and the Caribbean Development Bank.

Our outgoing Founder and Executive Director, Samantha Mahfood, has done tremendous work over many years to establish strong community ties and relationships, said board co-chair Cherie Payne. We are extremely excited to build on her leadership with Arlene Amitirigala at the helm and look forward to expanding our reach in Canada as well as in the Caribbean and Central America.

Over the last 15 years Canadians have made a huge impact working with Food For The Poor Canada in the Caribbean and Latin America:

38 new schools creating ideal learning spaces for 2,500 children

189 homes providing families with a safe and beautiful place to live

25 million meals to nourish the hungry

$44M million worth of medicine and medical supplies to help the sick in clinics and hospitals

I am grateful for this opportunity to lead FFPC into a new era and bring a strategic focus that will help extend our ability to create prosperous communities where children and their families can flourish, said Arlene. I look forward to working with our many partners, donors and volunteers to build on our incredible legacy and anticipate welcoming many more to join with us.

We are thrilled that Arlene is on board as our new Executive Director, shared Samantha Mahfood, outgoing Executive Director and FFPC Founder. Along with great management and communication skills, she brings enthusiasm and passion to our cause. I am confident that FFPC will grow its impact under her leadership. I look forward to working with Arlene to ensure a strong transition, continuing the work of helping families thrive in the Caribbean and Latin America.

About Food For the Poor Canada

Food For The Poor Canada works in international relief and sustainable development, empowering families and communities in Latin America and the Caribbean through five areas of programming: food, housing, health, education, and livelihood. FFPC responds to urgent needs while building community and social infrastructure and utilizes pre-existing networks of local affiliated organizations to better sustain and grow the communities they serve. FFPC ships and distributes food, medicines, and educational supplies, builds villages, homes and schools, provides scholarships, and supports income-generating projects. Over the last 14 years, FFPC and its donors have built 189 homes, 38 schools, as well as shipped and distributed $44,000,000 in food, educational and medical supplies to communities in LAC.

Contact:

Samantha Mahfood

Founder, Food For The Poor Canada

Samantham@foodforthepoor.ca

Arlene Amitirigala

Executive Director, Food For The Poor Canada

Arlenea@foodforthepoor.ca

https://foodforthepoor.ca/

Photos accompanying this announcement are available at https://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/9c0afaf4-0175-4e27-bade-3e669f7d0089

https://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/55da2529-5c2d-4968-bd99-a8ab36ab916d
COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo., March 03, 2023 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- In an annual State of Space 2023 keynote video and commentary, Tom Zelibor, CEO of Space Foundation, a nonprofit advocate organization founded in 1983 for the global space ecosystem, speaks to business and government leaders to showcase the diverse perspectives and experiences that are contributing to the growth of the space ecosystem and the pressing need to declare space a U.S. critical infrastructure.

With over 90 countries operating in space and more companies and participants than ever before taking their place in the $469 billion economic frontier, opportunities are flourishing.

Today, we are in a new renaissance for space with revolutionary opportunities for shared exploration, commerce, research, innovation and security.

In 2022, we saw the largest number of satellite deployments ever, the launch and lunar orbit of NASAs Space Launch System, and even altered the course of an asteroid.

Happening alongside these groundbreaking achievements were numerous private sector missions as well as the first revealing images and discoveries captured by the James Webb Space Telescope.

Were also experiencing firsthand how our dependence on space technology impacts everything from precision agriculture and environmental sustainability to medical care and national security.

Quite simply, space is an indispensable critical infrastructure, and its time it should be treated as such.

Declare Space a Critical Infrastructure  Heres Why

When most people think of infrastructure, they think of roads, dams, bridges and utilities. These elements of infrastructure are necessary for modern society to function and are appropriately treated as critical when it comes to policy, budgetary and legal decision-making. Space should be viewed the same way.

Space affords access and essential data and connectivity that is necessary for every country, industry and community to be part of the 21st century. And it should go without saying that the disruption or destruction of space assets and access would have a debilitating effect on national and economic security that would ripple across the globe.

The U.S. Department of Homeland Security has 16 defined critical infrastructure sectors. Space is not one of them. The reasons are both political and economic. Many still fail to see just how essential space is to everyday life, and if it were designated as critical infrastructure, the government would have to fund it in ways it is not prepared to do. That must change.

As a retired Rear Admiral, I cant help but harken back to the earliest days of the Navy to describe the role space plays. In 1794, Congress established the U.S. Navy to protect commercial ships from pirates in the Mediterranean and Atlantic waters. This branch of the service operated under Maritime Law, securing our borders and ensuring safe trade and commerce as well as international cooperation. Its difficult to imagine a world where the Navy hadnt performed this role.

Like our oceans, no single country owns space. Today, countries and companies operate in space cooperatively for research, exploration, commerce and security operations every day. As impressive as this is, it poses significant risks regarding our assets both up there and on Earth, as other countries possess and seek to acquire capabilities to adversely impact those assets.

Just as the oceans needed international guidelines as established by Maritime Law, we also need them for space. These guidelines are how we will cooperate with and support other nations in the future, regardless of who is asking for help. The lives of people across our planet depend on space, and as such, we have a responsibility to one another to fund and protect it.

Failure to appropriately exploit space will be a national and economic security downfall if we do not act strategically.

With the establishment of Space Force and the current administrations National Security Strategy, the U.S. government has declared our dependence upon space assets, systems and networks  and the need to protect them from a range of threats. But those recognitions do not go far enough. Space must be viewed, funded and resourced as critical infrastructure.

To be sure, a formal or official declaration of critical infrastructure will not on its own mitigate those threats. However, a declaration of space as critical infrastructure from the administration and U.S. Congress will allow the mobilization of policy and programmatic structures to better integrate space into the resilience planning and coordination efforts necessary to safeguard it. Those steps will secure the promise of a growing and enterprising space economy and all the services, resources and people that depend on it  today and for every generation.

That has always been the intent with every other critical infrastructure, and the same should be true for space. The state of space today demands a new status, and the time for action has come.

State of Space 2023

To see the complete State of Space 2023 keynote by Tom Zelibor and the entire event including guest speakers noted below, visit www.spacesymposium365.org/2023-state-of-space/.

National Security: Kari Bingen, Director of the Aerospace Security Project and Senior Fellow, Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS)

Media: Miriam Kramer, Senior Space Reporter, Axios

Business/Investment: Jeffrey Manber, President of International and Space Stations, Voyager Space Holdings

Education: Heidi Ragsdale, STEM educator and International Teacher Liaison

International: Dr. Simonetta Di Pippo, Director of the Space Economy Evolution Lab and former head of the United Nations Office for Outer Space Affairs (UNOOSA)

About Tom Zelibor

Tom Zelibor, Rear Admiral, USN (ret.), is the CEO for Space Foundation, a nonprofit advocate organization founded in 1983 for the global space ecosystem. Headquartered in Colorado Springs, Colorado, Zelibor manages a national staff with a global impact across the business, government, education and local communities. Before joining Space Foundation in April 2017, Zelibor served as chairman and chief executive officer for Lightwave Logic Inc., among other executive roles in commercial enterprises. Prior to his leadership tenure in the private sector, Zelibor had a distinguished 30-year career in the United States Navy.

About Space Foundation

Space Foundation is a nonprofit organization founded in 1983, offering information, education and collaboration for the global space ecosystem. Driven by partnerships, Space Foundation unites the entire spectrum of stakeholders  business, government, education and local communities  through support from corporate members, sponsors, fundraising and grants. Visit Space Foundation at www.SpaceFoundation.org, and follow us on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, LinkedIn and YouTube.

###

All brand names and product names are trademarks or registered trademarks of their respective companies.

Media Contact:

Rich Cooper

Vice President, Strategic Communications & Outreach

Space Foundation

(202) 596-0714

rcooper@spacefoundation.org

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Reading, Berkshire, March 03, 2023 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Oxford Immune Algorithmics (OIA) will launch its Algocyte end-to-end health solution harnessing artificial intelligence (AI) for its cloud-based predictive medicine platform.

While AI text and image generators have been gaining notoriety amid fears that they will replace humans in their jobs or are unable to provide accurate information, OIA believes that responsibly-used AI is an extremely beneficial tool that can help improve many people's quality of life. In this application, AI can speed up diagnostic processes and allow them to be safely conducted at home.

According to OIA founder Dr Hector Zenil, an expert in AI applied to cell and molecular biology, the idea beyond Algocyte stems from his frustration over the gap between research and clinical practice while working at the universities of Oxford and Cambridge. The way most GP check ups have been conducted has remained the same for decades, and the lack of quantitative data results in a large amount of guesswork. It is sometimes hard to determine whether some infections are bacterial or viral, leaving the clinician guessing whether to prescribe antibiotics, contributing to various problems such as antibiotic resistance.

Dr Zenil says that using AI-enabled systems such as Algocyte can help alleviate the strain on overburdened public health systems, such as the UK's NHS.

The Algocyte solution, which will be launched within this year, has handheld devices that will allow physicians to regularly monitor their patients' condition through blood tests conducted on the handheld device. Each test on the Algocyte platform will use a different cartridge, each requiring a small blood sample. Using sophisticated AI algorithms, Algocyte will analyze the sample and the results will be available for both patients and physicians, allowing the latter to quickly prescribe needed treatments and help avoid complications. OIA says its first product to be released is the complete blood count test, which is the most commonly conducted laboratory test.

Many health systems are suffering from a lack of clinicians and nurses. Even simple medical procedures can take months before they can be done due to lack of capacity. We can pitch in by tapping computational and artificial intelligence, helping health systems better manage clinicians' time by monitoring sick and healthy people from their own homes.

Algocyte can also help patients that are immune-compromised by minimizing visits to the hospital to get their blood work done. Dr Zenil says that between 10% and 20% of all infections are hospital-acquired. This risk rises further for people with conditions such as cancer, due to their weakened immune systems. Even small infections can spiral out of control and become fatal.

Dr Zenil believes that the adoption of AI and cloud computing in healthcare will bring about a transformation in the healthcare system. Currently, monitoring and interventions are aimed only at sick people. But, by using technology, these can be expanded to also include healthy people, allowing them to better maintain their health.

By making diagnostics easier to access, OIA will allow individuals to create their own personal health baseline, making it easier for clinicians to detect deviations and prescribe treatments to correct them.

The whole medical system is devoted only to those who are sick. Healthy people spend their lives without any health monitoring. And when they get sick, it's harder to determine where the sickness came from and what needs to be fixed. The Algocyte solution's principles are 3 Ps  personalized, precise, and predictive, and these will help transform what we call 'sick care' into true healthcare, Dr Zenil says.

About Oxford Immune Algorithmics

Oxford Immune Algorithmics is a health technology company headquartered in Reading, Berkshire that seeks to tap computational intelligence to advance medical understanding and diagnostics. It was founded in 2018 by Dr Hector Zenil, a laboratory leader at Karolinska Institute, the institution that awards the Nobel Prize in Medicine or Physiology. The OIA team is composed of individuals with extensive research experience at top-ranked institutions such as Oxford and Cambridge. Its leaders have published more than 200 papers in major journals in the areas of artificial intelligence, computational medicine, and systems immunology.

Media Contact:

Email: changetheworld@immunealgorithmics.com




Washington, DC, March 03, 2023 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Aristotle International, service provider for the leading prediction market, PredictIt, is responding to the latest actions by the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) against the site. The Commission issued a letter on Aug. 4, 2022 directing PredictIt to shut down. Yesterday the Commission withdrew their previous letter, which was challenged as illegal in pending legal proceedings, and issued an update.

This action is an acknowledgement that they havent treated PredictIt or its traders and education partners in a fair or just way so theyre trying to go back and change history, said David Mason, Aristotle General Counsel and former Federal Election Commission (FEC) Chairman.

The new letter was sent to PredictIt sponsor, Victoria University of Wellington, withdrawing its Aug. 4, 2022, letter and reissuing a preliminary shut down decision. At effectively the same time, the CFTC informed Aristotle International that it intends to use this letter to attempt to prematurely terminate pending legal proceedings in the Fifth Circuit, pursuant to a judicial complaint that the company along with more than a dozen PredictIt traders, educators and others have filed challenging the Aug. 4 shutdown order.

This move comes three weeks after a panel of the United States Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals asked CFTCs attorney a series of skeptical questions about the Aug. 4 shutdown order. One Judge described the CFTCs actions as a license to bully. The oral argument of that hearing can be listened to here.

Aristotle has the following statement in response to these developments:

The CFTCs letter on PredictIt today is an acknowledgment that its action last August to withdraw the no-action letter was illegal because it lacked basic procedural fairness and transparency. While this belated admission of wrongdoing is welcome, the Commissions new letter is a desperate attempt to escape the consequences of its prior ill-considered action by avoiding judicial review and the ruling we have requested requiring the Commission to treat those affected by its actions fairly.

We reject the CFTCs characterization of the facts. In particular, we note that we have been transparent with and responsive to the Commission about all the matters addressed in their letter for more than eight years. We are disappointed that the CFTC continues to insist that traders and others impacted by its regulatory decisions have no voice in decisions affecting them. We plan to continue to fight this prejudiced attempt to shut down this useful market, Mason said.

Press inquiries should be directed to press@aristotle.com.

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TORONTO, March 03, 2023 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Dore Copper Mining Corp. (the "Corporation" or "Dore Copper") (TSXV: DCMC; OTCQX: DRCMF; FRA: DCM) wishes to correct an error in reporting the gold assay in hole LDR-22-01W2 announced on March 2, 2023. The March 2, 2023 news release reported an interval of 3.98% Cu and 0.36 g/t Au over 2.35 meters, including 16.45% Cu and 0.7 g/t Au over 0.35 meter which was in error for the gold assay. The actual interval was:



LDR-22-01W2: 3.98% Cu, 3.59 g/t Au and 11.7 g/t Ag over 2.35 meters, including 16.45% Cu and 7.13 g/t Au, and 31.0 g/t Ag over 0.35 meter (Table 1 and Figure 1)

Drilling and Quality Control

The Company is using Miikan Drilling as the drilling contractor. Miikan is a joint venture between Chibougamau Diamond Drilling Ltd., the First Nations community of Ouje-Bougoumou and the First Nations community of Mistissini both located in the Eeyou Istchee territory.

Sample preparation was done at SGS Canada Inc. (SGS) in Val-dOr, Quebec and Burnaby, B.C. and fire assay and ICP analysis was done at SGS in Burnaby, B.C. Samples were weighed, dried, crushed to 75% passing 2 mm, split to 250 g, and pulverized to 85% passing 75 microns. Samples were then fire assayed for Au (50 g) and sodium peroxide fusion ICP-MS finish for 34 elements.

QA/QC is done in house by Dore Copper geologists with oversight from the Vice President Exploration. The check samples (blanks and standards  4% of total samples with another 2% of core duplicates taken on quarter split core) that were inserted into the sample batches are verified against their certified values and are deemed a pass if they are within 3 standard deviations of the certified value. The duplicates are evaluated against each other to determine mineralization distribution (nugget). If there are large discrepancies in the check samples, then the entire batch is requested to be re-assayed.

Sylvain Lepine, M.Sc, P.Geo, MBA, Vice President Exploration of the Corporation and a "Qualified Person" within the meaning of National Instrument 43-101, has reviewed and approved the technical information contained in this news release.

Table 1. Dore Ramp Drill Assays Highlights (LDR-22-01W2 corrected)

Hole From

(m) To

(m) Width1

(m) Cu (%) Au (g/t) Ag (g/t) Zone LDR-22-01 937.4 937.8 0.4 0.58 0.65 0.8 New quartz vein LDR-22-012 1,234.7 1,237.1 2.4 4.37 0.87 13.0 Dore Ramp zone Including 1,235.6 1,236.1 0.5 17.6 1.76 43.9  LDR-22-01W1 943.2 945.0 1.8 2.34 0.97 4.3 New quartz vein Including 943.2 944.6 1.4 3.01 1.24 4.8  LDR-22-01W1 1,263.4 1,265.0 1.6 0.60 2.85 4.9 Dore Ramp zone 1,264.4 1,265.0 0.6 1.61 7.57 9.0  LDR-22-01W2 950.8 953.15 2.35 3.98 3.59 11.7 New quartz vein Including 952.2 953.15 0.95 6.96 7.52 21.5  Including 952.2 952.55 0.35 16.45 7.13 31.0  Including 952.55 953.15 0.6 1.43 7.74 16.0  1,245.6 1,246.10 No significant mineralization Dore Ramp zone

The true width of the structures intersected is estimated at approximately 80% of the downhole width. Reported in news release dated September 12, 2022.

Figure 1. Isometric View and Cross-Section of the Dore Ramp Deposit Showing the Location of the New Copper-Gold Mineralized Zone (LDR-22-01W2 corrected)

About Dore Copper Mining Corp.

Dore Copper Mining Corp. aims to be the next copper producer in Quebec with an initial production target of +50 million pounds of copper equivalent annually by implementing a hub-and spoke operation model with multiple high-grade copper-gold assets feeding its centralized Copper Rand mill1. The Corporation has delivered its PEA in May 2022 and is proceeding with a feasibility study.

The Corporation has consolidated a large land package in the prolific Lac Dore/Chibougamau and Joe Mann mining camps that has historically produced 1.6 billion pounds of copper and 4.4 million ounces of gold2. The land package includes 13 former producing mines, deposits and resource target areas within a 60-kilometer radius of the Corporation's Copper Rand Mill.

For further information, please contact: Ernest Mast Laurie Gaborit President and Chief Executive Officer Vice President, Investor Relations Phone: (416) 792-2229 Phone: (416) 219-2049 Email: ernest.mast@dorecopper.com Email: laurie.gaborit@dorecopper.com

Visit: www.dorecopper.com

Facebook: Dore Copper Mining

LinkedIn: Dore Copper Mining Corp.

Twitter: @DoreCopper

Instagram: @DoreCopperMining

Technical report titled "Preliminary Economic Assessment for the Chibougamau Hub-and-Spoke Complex, Quebec, Canada" dated June 15, 2022, in accordance with National Instrument 43-101 Standards of Disclosure for Mineral Projects (NI 43-101). The Technical Report was prepared by BBA Inc. with several consulting firms contributing to sections of the study, including SLR Consulting (Canada) Ltd., SRK Consulting (Canada) Inc. and WSP Inc. Sources for historic production figures: Economic Geology, v. 107, pp. 963989 - Structural and Stratigraphic Controls on Magmatic, Volcanogenic, and Shear Zone-Hosted Mineralization in the Chapais-Chibougamau Mining Camp, Northeastern Abitibi, Canada by Francois Leclerc et al. (Lac Dore/Chibougamau mining camp) and NI 43-101 Technical Report on the Joe Mann Property dated January 11, 2016 by Geologica Groupe-Conseil Inc. for Jessie Ressources Inc. (Joe Mann mine).

Cautionary Note Regarding Forward-Looking Statements

This news release includes certain "forward-looking statements" under applicable Canadian securities legislation. Forward-looking statements include predictions, projections and forecasts and are often, but not always, identified by the use of words such as "seek", "anticipate", "believe", "plan", "estimate", "forecast", "expect", "potential", "project", "target", "schedule", "budget" and "intend" and statements that an event or result "may", "will", "should", "could" or "might" occur or be achieved and other similar expressions and includes the negatives thereof. Specific forward-looking statements in this press release include, but are not limited to aiming to be the next copper producer in Quebec with an initial production target of +50 Mlbs of copper equivalent annually, implementing a hub-and spoke operation model; and completing a feasibility study.

All statements other than statements of historical fact included in this release, including, without limitation, statements regarding the timing and ability of the Corporation to receive necessary regulatory approvals, and the plans, operations and prospects of the Corporation and its properties are forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements are necessarily based upon a number of estimates and assumptions that, while considered reasonable, are subject to known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors which may cause 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, actual exploration results, changes in project parameters as plans continue to be refined, future metal prices, availability of capital and financing on acceptable terms, general economic, market or business conditions, uninsured risks, regulatory changes, delays or inability to receive required regulatory approvals, health emergencies, pandemics and other exploration or other risks detailed herein and from time to time in the filings made by the Corporation with securities regulators. Although the Corporation has attempted to identify important factors that could cause actual actions, events or results to differ from those described in forward-looking statements, there may be other factors that cause such actions, events or results to differ materially from those anticipated. There can be no assurance that such statements will prove to be accurate, as actual results and future events could differ materially from those anticipated in such statements. Accordingly, readers should not place undue reliance on forward-looking statements. The Corporation disclaims any intention or obligation to update or revise any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, except as required by law.

Neither TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this news release.

A photo accompanying this announcement is available at https://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/180985fb-dc07-4e5d-b346-9d326d7256ad
Macao SAR, HKSAR chief executives pledge to jointly promote coordinated development

Xinhua) 11:35, March 03, 2023

Chief Executive of the Macao Special Administrative Region (SAR) Ho Iat Seng (R) and Chief Executive of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR) John Lee meet in Macao, south China, March 2, 2023. (Government Information Bureau of the Macao SAR/Handout via Xinhua)

MACAO, March 2 (Xinhua) -- Chief Executive of the Macao Special Administrative Region (SAR) Ho Iat Seng and Chief Executive of the HKSAR John Lee met Thursday in Macao, pledging to jointly promote coordinated development of the two SARs and integrate into overall national development.

Having also met Lee last week in Hong Kong, Ho said enhanced high-level exchanges between the two SARs would continue to inject strong vigor into mutual cooperation.

The two SARs could draw lessons from the experiences on the development of the Guangdong-Macao in-depth cooperation zone in Hengqin, Macao's neighboring Zhuhai city, said Ho, adding that Hong Kong investments are welcome in the zone.

Lee said the full resumption of travel between Hong Kong and Macao makes it the most appropriate for the two sides to deepen cooperation at the moment.

Hong Kong and Macao must leverage the unique advantages of "one country, two systems" to propel the quality development of the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area and make greater contributions to the country's prosperity and development.

Chief Executive of the Macao Special Administrative Region (SAR) Ho Iat Seng (R) and Chief Executive of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR) John Lee pose for a photo in Macao, south China, March 2, 2023. (Government Information Bureau of the Macao SAR/Handout via Xinhua)

(Web editor: Zhang Kaiwei, Liang Jun)
AJ Sarpong joins Media General

Edith Mensah Showbiz News Mar - 03 - 2023 , 10:33

Ghanaian radio and television personality, Nana Adjoa Akuoko-Sarpong, popularly known as AJ Sarpong has joined Media General after she resigned from Citi FM.

AJ Sarpong announced her resignation on social media on Wednesday, March 2, 2023.

AJ Sarpong adds to the list of renowned media personalities including Berla Bundi, Giovanni Caleb, Cookie Tee, who were poached from other media houses to Adesa We [Media General].

TV3 officially announced AJ's 'new home" earlier today, Friday, March 3, 2023 in a Facebook post.

"Comunicado Official, We are happy to have you join us @ajsarpong. Welcome to Media General ."

Citi FM

AJ worked with Citi FM and Citi TV, a privately owned media house in Accra until March 1, 2023.

She spent almost six years Citi FM where she hosted "Brunch In The Citi" on Citi FM and "Hall of Fame" on Citi TV.

She has over 14 years of journalism experience and she is admired for her fluency and command over the English language as well as great presentation skills.

AJ Sarpong

Before Citi, AJ Akuoko-Sarpong worked with some of the brands under the EIB Network, including Live FM, Starr FM and GHOne TV as a presenter, producer and host of Weekly Girl Talk Show, 'Tales from the Powder Room', 'Live from the Capital Radio Show' on Live FM among many other shows.

She has two Masters degrees: one in journalism from the Ghana Institute of Journalism and in Brands and Communication Management from the University of Professional Studies in Accra (UPSA).
Simi: I have lost respect for some people because of Nigerias election

Graphic Showbiz Showbiz News Mar - 02 - 2023 , 20:41

Simi, one of Nigerias most beloved musicians, has taken to social media to express her disappointment in some individuals who supported certain political parties during the just ended 2023 polls.

Simi, whose real name is Simisola Bolatito Kosoko, stated that the election had opened her eyes to the true nature of the said people.

While acknowledging that it was acceptable for people to support any political party of their choice, Simi said she was taken aback by the way some individuals could overlook the evil in others and still support them.

She called out those who continue to support corrupt politicians, stating that their actions are not brave, courageous or strong, but rather ignorant and proud.

In her post, Simi wrote, The 2023 polls have made me see some people for who they really are. Youre not courageous, or brave, or strong in the face of adversity. Youre ignorant. And proud. You can see evil in the open and still support it. Shame on you!

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Simi's post quickly went viral on social media, with many people expressing their support for her message.

Some individuals even went as far as to say that Simis words were a wake-up call for Nigerians to be more discerning in their political choices.

Simi has always been vocal about her beliefs and her desire for a better Nigeria.
Bosoa - The traditional, royal khebab

Emmanuel Baah Features Mar - 03 - 2023 , 14:42

BOSOA is a delicacy that one can easily buy from mostly people who roast meat to sell, usually along major streets.

It is very common along the street of the Kumasi Abattoir, popularly known as Manyanka, not too far from Brewery Junction, on ones way to Kaase.

The sellers, who are only males, have taken advantage of the nearby slaughter house and always have enough meat available to sell to buyers.

Bosoa is a delicacy made of offal or the intestines of either a cow, sheep or goat.

Once the meat is spiced and half boiled, it is inserted into an offal of either beef or mutton, and finally grilled with charcoal.

Just like khebab, it is served with powdered pepper and sliced onions to taste if requested by the buyer.

Manhyia delicacy

Unlike most of the roast meat traders mostly referred to as Abokye, who sell all kinds of meat at their stands, those at the Manhyia Palace are predominantly into the selling of Bosoa.

At the Manhyia Palace, the sale of Bosoa is a female dominated one, unlike that of Manyanka.

One would assume that Bosoa is a prescribed and traditionally accepted meat within the palace, but in reality, its just a favourite take away dish for most residents in Kumasi.

Aside the numerous food joints within the premises, many prefer Bosoa, since one can easily enjoy the delicacy by just using a tooth pick, and not necessarily having to sit or even wash their hands before enjoying it.

During festivals such as Akwasidae, Awukudae and Adaekese, Bosoa is the most sought-after meal for the numerous celebrants who visit the Manhyia Palace.

Garnished and just like the size of doughnuts, one can get two pieces of Bosoa for GH10.

Economic value

A 55-year-old woman, Maama Akosua Pokuwaa, who said she had been engaged in the trade for the past two decades, told this reporter, she inherited it from her late mother.

There has not been a single day that my Bosoa has not run out. In fact, but for this trade, I dont know how I would have been able to see my two daughters through university, she told the Daily Graphic.

Yaa Serwaa, another Bosoa seller at the Manhyia Palace, said although she could count as many as 10 competitors, business has always been good.

You just imagine the number of the traditional people and visitors who come to this Palace every day, she said.

A traditional leader at the Palace, who spoke on condition of anonymity, told this reporter, Bosoa has always been a delicacy in this Palace since time immemorial.

Bosoa is more or less a traditional meal to many of us, he explained, adding that considering the targeted customers- the traditional community and visitors - sellers had no option than to prepare it under hygienic condition.
Wildfires, Climate crisis: farmers lose out

Timothy Ngnenbe Features Mar - 03 - 2023 , 08:14

Since bushfire swept through his yam farm and consumed all the yams in the barn, life has been rough, tough and sour for Nkalbaan.

It was the hope of the 32-year-old that with the good harvest he had that year, he would break away from abject poverty. But the dream crushed when the 7,000 tubers of yam he had stored in the barn to sell at the opportune time were destroyed by wildfire.

Over 8,000 yam setts he had prepared for planting was also consumed by the wild fire.

This sad twist of life occurred in January 2022, but Nkalbaan is still living with painful memories of the disaster.

"I have struggled to build a future for myself through farming for many years now. But now, I have been reduced to ground zero. I have to start all over again," he said, looking dejected, devastated and hopeless.

To add insult to injury, the rains did not come at the right time, forcing some of the yam seedlings to rot in the mounds while those which sprouted struggled to survive.

The resident of Egambo-do, a farming community in the Nanumba South District in the Northern Region, said he had been psychological drained and lacked the urge to work.

Just like Nkalbaan, the over 8,000 residents of this community depend predominantly on yam farming for their livelihoods. Every child picks up the age-old craft of yam farming at birth, and that is what puts food on every family's table.

Their livelihoods are, however, threatened as changing rainfall patterns, rising temperatures, drought and other unfavourable weather conditions are causing the farmers to record low yields.

"About 20 years ago, we could plan our farming activities because we could predict when the rains will fall and when there dry season will set in; but that is not the case now. When you think the rains will fall, it does not fall; and when you do not need the rains, it falls heavily. This unreliable rainfall pattern affects our farming activities because when rains delay, they affect crop yield," 36-year-old Waja Upoalkpajor, another resident of Egambo-do, said.

Wider picture

While these farmers continue to record poor yields, many of them lose their farm produce to fire disasters.

As recently as January 18, this year, Kanjor Uyum, a farmer at Kpassa in the Nkwanta-North District in the Oti Region, lost over 8,000 tubers of yam and other planting materials to wildfire.

The Nkwanta-North district office of the National Disaster Management Organisation (NADMO) put the loss and damage of this fire incident at an estimated GH150,000.

Official statistics from the Ghana National Fire Service (GNFS) shows that a total of 59,933 fire incidents have been reported in Ghana in the past 10 years (2013 to 2022), leading to loss and damages amounting to GH402.1 million.

The figures revealed that apart from domestic fires, which were at 23,394, accounting for 39 per cent of the total reported fire incidents, bushfires came second with 8,948, representing 14.9 per cent of fire outbreaks in the country.

The Director of Public Relations at the GNFS, Assistant Chief Fire Officer Class One (ACFO1) Timothy Osafo-Affum, said staggering as this figures were, that was just a tip of the iceberg as most wild fires, go unreported.

"These wild fires are so devastating. They destroy large tracts of agricultural land; wipe out numerous acreage of cocoa, rubber, oil palm and other plantations; and destroy thousands of yams and other farm produce in Ghana," he added.

Triggers of bush fires

While there are many causes of wild fires, the senior officer of the GNFS attributed the main causes of bushfires to bad farming practices such as the slash and burn method, as well as failure on the part of farmers to create fire belts before burning weeds.

He also said bush fires occurred because cattle herders burn the bush for grazing purposes while hunters also set bushes on fire to hunt game.

Scientists have linked severe heat and drought that fuel wild fires to climate change, warning that if concrete actions are not taken to break the warming cycle, more and worse wildfires will occur in the years ahead.

The Environmental Defense Fund (EDF), a United States (US)-based nonprofit environmental advocacy group, stressed that although human activities such as lighting campfires and discarding lit cigarettes are mainly responsible for starting the fires, hotter weather makes forests drier and more susceptible to burning.

Again, EDF said rising temperatures, a key indicator of climate change, evaporate more moisture from the ground, drying out the soil, and making the vegetation more flammable.

"As drought and heat continue with rising greenhouse gas emissions, we expect more wildfires in years ahead, especially with the fire seasons getting longer," the group added.

The impact of climate change on agriculture remains a major concern as farmers are struggling to keep up with shifting weather patterns and increasingly unpredictable water supplies. Extreme events such as such flooding or reduced water supply also threaten crop yields.

Aside the destructions wild fires cause to farm produce, there is even a grimmer picture.

It is the expectation of governments and policy-makers that the forests and trees will counterbalance and offset continued fossil fuel use. This hope remains a wild goose chase because severe and large wildfires could derail that plan.

Experts say that most forests are carbon sinks, which means they take up more carbon than they release, with the amount of carbon taken up varying with age.

Science teaches us that as plants photosynthesise (prepare their food), they take carbon dioxide out of the atmosphere and integrate it into their leaves, roots and biomass. As this process continues over time, large carbon stocks are created in forests, stored in vegetation and the soils. However, wild fires and other disruptions discharge this carbon into the atmosphere, leading to a reduction in the carbon stocks that have accumulated over time. Experts say wild fires can also reduce the forests sink strength (capacity to pull carbon out of the atmosphere).

Additionally, severe wildfires can inhibit forest regrowth and can change the species composition of the forest.

Way forward

There is the need for collective efforts, involving all stakeholders, to address the triggers of wildfires. This calls for sensitisation and education of farmers on best farming practices to help curb the menace.

For Mr Osafo-Affum, the best way to deal with bushfires in the country was for the local government authorities in the 260 metropolitan, municipal and district assemblies (MMDAs) across the country to implement by-laws against irresponsible burning of the bush.

"There are fire volunteers across these MMDAs, so these volunteers must be supported and provided with the needed logistics to monitor and report possible drivers of fire outbreaks for prompt action to be taken," he added.

Meanwhile, Nkalbaan says traditional rulers and chiefs must also use their authority within the local communities to help stem the tides.

"During the dry season, when most of these bush burning is done, chiefs should send strong messages to all people in the community that anyone who sets the bush on fire will be severely punished.
Police arrest over 250 okada riders for jumping the red light

graphic.com.gh Mar - 03 - 2023 , 08:51

The police have arrested over 250 motorbike riders for jumping red lights traffic in Accra.

The move is part of the Police Action Against Rider Indiscipline (PAARI) programme, a road safety intervention to check indiscipline among motorcycle users on Ghanas roads.

Launched in April 2023, motorcycle users who were arrested in violation of road traffic regulations and other traffic offences within the period were sensitised and taken through some road traffic education and subsequently cautioned to be law-abiding.

A press statement issued by the Police Service on Friday, March 2023 said Following the introduction of the initiative, it has been observed that a good number of riders are now obeying traffic regulations, especially in the areas of not jumping the red light, avoiding riding on pedestrian walkways and facing oncoming traffic.

The benefit of Operation PAARI is reflected in available data on road traffic accidents in the country which indicates that for the first time in a long while, road traffic crashes involving motorbikes have reduced significantly.

While we commend all law-abiding riders for adhering to road traffic regulations, we would like to caution recalcitrant riders against the blatant disregard for traffic regulations since the law will definitely catch up with them", it added.
Vice President Bawumia hands over reconstructed Kumasi Central Mosque

Graphic Online Mar - 03 - 2023 , 15:28

The Vice President, Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia, has handed over the reconstructed Kumasi Central Mosque to the mosque's committee after it was commissioned today (March 3, 2023) amidst excitement.

The commissioning ceremony was graced by the Asantehene, Otumfuo Osei Tutu II; the National Chief Imam, Sheikh Osman Nuhu Sharubutu; and a host of distinguished dignitaries including Ministers, Members of Parliament, Members of the Diplomatic Corps, regional Imams, Zongo Chiefs, as well as top Muslim and Christian clerics.

Kumasi Central Mosque

The mosque was officially commissioned by the Vice President and the Asantehene in time for Jummah prayers. In no time after it was opened to the public, the 7,000-capacity mosque was filled with several worshippers praying outside.

As the excited people entered the mosque, some were seen shedding tears of joy in excitement and admiration of the sheer beauty of the mosque.

Reason

Speaking at the ceremony, Vice President Bawumia said he undertook the project "to the glory of Allah ", and expressed gratitude to God for giving him the strength and the will to be able to fund and complete it.

"I am really grateful to the Almighty Allah for giving me the vision, guidance and commitment to be able to undertake this massive project. I was touched by the Almighty Allah when I visited the mosque in 2020 and realised that it needed urgent attention."

Dr. Bawumia noted that, the Kumasi Central Mosque, as one of the oldest mosques in the country, represents the vision of "our forefathers" and expressed his delight at the transformation of the mosque into a modern edifice, befitting the status of Kumasi as a renowned city.

While acknowledging the roles of the founding fathers of the Kumasi Central Mosque, Vice President Bawumia also commended the Manhyia Palace and Asanteman for the peaceful co-existence and cooperation between Asanteman and the Muslim community, as well as the support Otumfuo Agyemang Prempeh II offered the Muslim Community in building the first Kumasi Central Mosque.

"As history beautifully captures, the Manhyia Palace played an instrumental role in the first Kumasi Central Mosque during the reign of Asantehene Otumfuo Sir Agyemang Prempeh II," Dr. Bawumia said.

"This clearly underlines how long-standing the relationship between Asanteman and the Muslim community has been, and the extent of support and cooperation, the Manhyia Palace in particular has offered.

"The Asante Kingdom, predating the days of Otumfuo Sir Agyemang Prempeh, is documented to have cooperated with Muslims within the Kingdom. This beautiful tradition has also continued under successive Asantehenes

"The presence of Otumfuo Osei Tutu II today signifies the premium the Asantehene and the Asante Kingdom place on the historic relationship."

Call for unity

While urging Muslims to continue to use the mosque as a converging point not only for prayers but also for community integration, he called for even greater tolerance and cooperation between Muslims and neighbours of the Christian faith.

"This is our beautiful Ghana, where we tolerate, respect and support each other as one people. God has blessed our country with peace and unity among us so let us be grateful to him. Let us also continue to uphold the religious tolerance we show, which has endeared our country."

Dr Bawumia commended

The Asantehene, Otumfuo Osei Tutu II commended Dr. Bawumia for the gift he had given to, not only the Muslim community but Asanteman as a whole.

Otumfuo Osei Tutu II added that Dr. Bawumia, as a responsible son, had done what he ought to do, and as a father, he could not thank him enough.

He urged the Zongo Community to take good care of the mosque and ensure it is well maintained at all times.

The custodians of the mosque, the Kumasi Central Mosque Committee also expressed immense gratitude to Dr. Bawumia for his remarkable gesture.
NDC primaries : Dumelo to contest in Ayawaso West Wuogon again

Getrude Ankah Nyavi Politics Mar - 02 - 2023 , 18:55

Ghanaian actor and politician, John Dumelo says he will contest in the opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC) Parliamentary primary in the Ayawaso West-Wuogon constituency.

He announced his intention on social media on Sunday, February 26, 2023.

In a Tweet, Mr. Dumelo said after some consultation he has decided to stage a comeback.

After extensive consultation with my God, my family, and our party faithful in Ayawaso West Wuogon! This is the second coming.

Dumelo lost the 2020 parliamentary election to NPPs Lydia Alhassan. He polled 37,478 representing 48.30% while Lydia Alhassan polled 39,851 representing 51.36%.
No new register for election 2024  EC

Timothy Ngnenbe Politics Mar - 03 - 2023 , 07:09

The Electoral Commission (EC) has stated that it will not compile a new register for the 2024 elections.

Rather, the commission said it would begin an all-year-round limited registration exercise for only people who would turn 18 years and persons who had not previously registered as voters.

The Chairperson of the EC, Jean Mensa, who made this known to the Daily Graphic yesterday, said the continuous registration exercise being rolled out by the commission must not be misunderstood as compilation of an entirely fresh voters register.

"I want to state emphatically that the EC will not create a new register. We have previously registered over 17 million voters and have all their details and features. Besides, we have not made any provision for a new register in our 2023 budget," she stressed.

She urged members of the public to disregard suggestions by some individuals and groups that the new Constitutional Instrument (C.I) the commission had sent to Parliament would lead to the creation of a new register.

Context

Mrs Mensa spoke to the Daily Graphic against the backdrop of information making the rounds that the commission was making a subtle attempt to compile a new voters register for the next general election.

The EC placed before Parliament a C.I. to guide its processes ahead of the conduct of the 2024 presidential and parliamentary elections.

The Public Elections (Registration of Voters) Instrument, 2022, seeks to make the Ghana card the sole document for the registration of voters.

Some persons, including the Minority in Parliament, have raised red flags that the use of the Ghana card as the sole document would disenfranchise many eligible Ghanaians since some of them have not got their cards.

Following those concerns, officials of the EC and the National Identification Authority (NIA) were summoned to a special committee in Parliament to respond to issues on the use of the Ghana card for voter registration.

Clarification

Mrs Mensa assured members of the public that the EC would not roll out a voter registration regime that sought to deprive any Ghanaian the right to vote. She said the use of Ghana card was rather meant to make the voters register more credible to guarantee integrity of elections.

Touching on the ECs plan to use its district offices across the country as the registration center for the continuous registration exercise, she said the move would not disenfranchise any eligible Ghanaian as was being speculated.

People who make the argument that the use of district offices of the EC would disenfranchise Ghanaians have cited long distances and cost of travel to the centres as their justification.

However, the EC Chairperson said the Commission had made adequate arrangements to cater for hard-to-access districts.

"When we were doing mass registration of voters in 2020, we used our district offices to register lactating mothers, persons with disabilities (PWDs) and the aged, and the system worked perfectly.

"Having the registration at district offices will not disenfranchise anyone. The EC knows that some districts are hard to reach for some people and we will look at such situations and adjust with appropriate arrangements," she said.

She added that since the registration was not for a limited period, potential registrants would not be under any pressure to register with the Commission.

"Anyone who turns 18 only needs to go to their district office of the EC to register and they will be placed in polling stations near to them," she added.

Caution

Mrs Mensa cautioned persons whose names were already on the poll book to stay away from the continuous registration exercise, as any attempt to register again would constitute double registration, to which sanctions would apply.

"If registered voters turn up at registration centres to register again, the system will identify them because we have biometrics, fingerprints, facial recognition and other details. Sanctions will apply on such people," she said.

Background

Since the beginning of the Fourth Republic in 1992, the Electoral Commission, the countrys constitutional electoral body, has periodically compiled voters registers for the conduct of elections. In between the wholesale voter registration, the commission organises limited voter registration exercises to capture new voters onto the poll book. The latest wholesale voter registration exercise was carried out in 2020, which saw the registration of over 17 million eligible voters.

With the nationwide rollout of the Ghana card by the NIA, the EC is seeking to rely on the Ghana card as the sole document for registering new voters, having declared the current voters register as a living document that only needs to be updated instead of compiling a fresh register.

The EC is of the view that the use of the Ghana card for voter registration presents an opportunity to scrap the guarantor system that had been used as a means of identifying potential eligible voters over the past three decades.

On September 11, 2022, the EC announced that it would switch from limited voter registration to continuous voter registration, beginning this year. The EC chairperson had explained that the continuous voter registration exercise would ensure an all-year-round registration of Ghanaians who turn 18 years and those who had not been previously registered. She had also said the new regime meant that eligible prospective registrants would go to a district office of the commission to be registered as voters.
Parliament passes Pensions Bill

Daniel Kenu and Nana Konadu Agyeman Politics Mar - 03 - 2023 , 07:47

Parliament has passed the National Pensions (Amendment) Bill, 2021. The object of the bill is to exclude the Police Service, the Immigration Service, the Prisons Service, the security and intelligence agencies and the Ghana National Fire Service from the unification pensions.

The bill seeks to amend the National Pensions Act, 2008 (Act 766) to exclude the security services from the pension unification process envisaged under section 213 of Act 766.

If assented to by the President, the bill will exclude the security agencies from the unification of the process to pave the way for establishing a separate regime to govern pensions in the security and intelligence sector.

The bill was presented to Parliament and read for the first time on December 10, 2021, by the Minister of Employment and Labour Relations.

The bill was referred to the Committee on Employment, Social Welfare and State Enterprises for consideration and report.

Observations

Per a report, the committee was informed that subsection (2) of section 213 of Act 766 mandated the board of the National Pensions Regulatory Authority (NPRA) to ensure the unification of all pension schemes and the full operationalisation of the three-tier pension scheme for all public sector workers, excluding the Ghana Armed Forces.

The committee noted that the Ministry of Employment and Labour Relations established a Joint technical committee on the unification of pensions to develop the required technical instruments for the unification process.

The committee, the report said, noted that although officers in the Police Service, Immigration Service, National Fire Service, Prisons Service, and other security and intelligence agencies faced the same or similar risks just as their counterparts in the Ghana Armed Forces, they were not excluded from the pension unification process and were treated the same way as other public sector workers.

The committee was informed that an attempt at the unification of pensions during the payment of lump-sum benefits to the first batch of retirees from the security services under Tier 2 of the Three-Tier Pension Scheme in 2020 was fraught with massive employee data verification challenges, which stalled the entire unification process.

As a result of the challenges that emerged during the pension unification exercise and the unique nature of the security services in general, the Employment Ministry recommended excluding the security agencies from the unification process to pave the way for establishing a separate regime to govern pensions in the security and intelligence sector, it said.

Reinstatement

Per the report, the committee observed that the amendment would automatically reinstate the previous occupational pension schemes of the security services under CAP 30, which was the source of inequities in the delivery of pensions in Ghana. They, therefore, seek to reinstate the enactment and schemes which ceased to be in force under Act 766.

It named them as the Ghana Police Pensions Act, 1985 (PNDCL 165), Immigration Service Pensions Act, 1986 (P.N.D.C.L. 226), Prisons Service Pensions Act, 1987 (P.N.D.C.L. 168), Section 34 of the Security and Intelligence Agencies Act, 1996 (Act 526); and Section 27 of the National Fire Service Act, 2000 (Act 537).

Background

In 2004, a Presidential Commission on pensions was established to examine existing pension schemes in Ghana and recommend a sustainable pension scheme that would ensure retirement income security for the Ghanaian worker.

The establishment of the commission was occasioned by agitations within the labour front concerning identified inequalities and disparities within the pension regime for public sector workers.

Under the same public sector employer, some people were contributing to the pension scheme while others were not contributing.

The commission also conducted an actuarial valuation of the Pensions Ordinance No. 42 of 1950 (CAP 30) pension scheme to ascertain its impact on the Consolidated Fund.

The actuarial assessment conducted by the 2004 Presidential Commission on Pensions proved that the CAP 30 was unsustainable, inequitable, and exerting tremendous pressure on the Consolidated Fund.

The 2004 Presidential Commission on pensions, therefore, recommended that the CAP 30 be phased out.

The acceptance by the government of the proposed reforms culminated in the enactment of the National Pensions Act, 2008 (Act 766), which introduced the Three-Tier Pension Scheme and established the National Pensions Regulatory Authority as the main vehicle for enforcement.

The object of the Act 766 was to provide pension benefits to ensure retirement income security for workers, ensure that every worker receives retirement and related benefits as and when due, and establish a uniform set of rules, regulations, and standards for the administration of pensions and related benefits for workers in the public and private sectors.

Subsection (2) of section 213 of Act 766 mandates the board of the NPRA to ensure that pension schemes in the country are unified in accordance with Regulations made under the Act within four years after the commencement of the Act.

The government was expected to institute measures to migrate beneficiaries of the associated public pension schemes onto the Three-Tier Pension Scheme by the expiration of the transitional period in 2014.

However, by January 1, 2015, the government had not put in place adequate measures for the unification of public sector pensions.
Titus Glover appointed VALCO MD

Graphic.com.gh Politics Mar - 03 - 2023 , 19:28

Former Member of Parliament for Tema West, Daniel Nii Kwartei Titus-Glover has been nominated for appointment as the Managing Director of the Volta Aluminium Company Limited (VALCO).

A letter dated March 2, 2023 signed by the Secretary to the President, Nana Bediatuo Asante addressed to the Minister of Lands and Natural Resources asked the Minister to take steps to regularise the appointment.

"Kindly take the necessary steps to regularise the said appointment in accordance with the relevant provisions of the Companies Act, 2019 (Act 992) and the constitution of the company.
Use of Ghana Card will sanitise voters register

Daniel Kenu & Nana Konadu Agyeman Politics Mar - 03 - 2023 , 07:24

The Majority Caucus in Parliament has thrown its weight behind the decision by the Electoral Commission (EC) to use the Ghana Card as the sole identification document for continuous voter registration to ensure electoral integrity.

It said the use of the Ghana Card would help to sanitise the voters register and make it more robust, devoid of any leakages or fraud that could undermine polls.

Describing the National Identification Authority (NIA) system of issuance cards as being more robust than that of the EC, the caucus cited how in the compilation of its register the NIA discovered that 95,942 people attempted multiple registration for cards.

For the EC voters register, it turned out that about 44,000 people who tendered their voters ID cards to register had the numbers on their cards being the same. This means that the system that the EC operates has some leakages, he said.

Curbing fraud

Addressing a press conference on the use of the Ghana Card by the EC for the continuous voters register, the Majority Leader, Osei Kyei-Mensah-Bonsu said: Today, people who used passports to register with the NIA, over 11,000 people have been found out to have used passports that bear the same numbers.

This means there is fraud in the system and this is a system that today has come to sanitise our system for us, he said.

Credibility

The Majority Leader noted that many institutions had recognised the integrity of the NIA database due to its robustness and had resorted to the use of the Ghana Card.

He mentioned some of the institutions as the Bank of Ghana, 24 commercial banks, 146 rural and community banks, 16 savings and loans schemes, 16 financial technology companies (Fintechs), five finance houses, the Ghana Revenue Authority (GRA) and the Social Security and National Insurance Trust (SSNIT).

The others, he said, were the National Health Insurance Authority (NHIA), the Ghana Immigration Service, the telecommunication companies (telcos), the Students Loan Trust, the Passport Office, the Driver and Vehicle Licensing Authority and the EC.

Mr Kyei-Mensah-Bonsu indicated that the process of improving the voter register should be understood by all Ghanaians.

Hiving off previous instruments

The Majority Leader said the removal of other previous instruments of identification such as birth certificates, passports and health insurance cards did not restrain any Ghanaians right to register and vote in past elections.

There are many more Ghanaians with baptismal certificates than there are with passports; there are many more Ghanaians with health insurance cards than there are with passports.

So, if the EC wants to use the Ghana Card, what is wrong with this, he said.

Mr Kyei-Mensah-Bonsu recalled how former President John Dramani Mahama expressed happiness about the integrity of the Ghana Card system when he was registered and issued with the card not long ago.

Today, your people are shying away from it and saying we cannot use it, he said.

The EC has hived off the baptismal certificate, the birth certificate, the health insurance card and the passport and why are they not saying that these instruments should be brought back and the concentration is on the vouching system, he said.

Difference in systems

Dwelling on the decision to do away with the guarantor system, the MP for Suame argued that there was a material difference between the vouching system undertaken by the NIA and that of the EC.

For the NIA, he said, an applicant of Ghana Card would have to swear an oath before Commissioners of Oath that had dire consequences for those who breached the procedure.

The sanction is spelt out such that even after 10 years, you are found out to have lied, you go to prison and you will be disenfranchised internally and so people are afraid.

But the ECs vouching system is a bit loose as one person can swear by themselves and vouch for so many people, he said.

Why no Ghana Cards in past elections?

The Majority Leader said the EC, upon coming into force of the National Identity Register Regulation, 2012 (L.I. 2111), was required to conform to section 1 (j) of the enactment.

However, he said, the then Dr Kwadwo Afari-Gyan-led commission resorted not to the use of Ghana Card for the 2012 elections.

According to Mr Kyei-Mensah-Bonsu the EC at the time did not use the Ghana Card because of the small quantity of cards issued in the lead-up to the 2012 elections.

At the time, less than 10,000 Ghanaians across the country had been issued with voting cards against a voting population target of 12 million, he said.
Methanex Corporation and Mitsui OSK Lines (MOL) announced that the dual-fuel methanol carrier Cajun Sun successfully completed the first net-zero voyage fueled by bio-methanol. The voyage is an example of how Methanex and MOL are collaborating to demonstrate the viability of methanol as a marine fuel with a pathway to net-zero emissions.





The Cajun Sun is equipped with a 2-stroke dual-fueled low-rev main engineproduced by Mitsui Engineering & Shipbuildingcapable of running on methanol. Methanol also significantly reduces smog-causing emissions such as particulates, sulfur oxides and nitrogen oxides. The ship is also equipped with a ballast water treatment system, ahead of treaty requirements mandating such systems, and adopts energy-saving accessories in front of and astern of the propellers.

The, operated by Methanexs subsidiary Waterfront Shipping and chartered from MOL, departed from Geismar, US on 17 January and arrived in Antwerp, Belgium on 4 February. By blending ISCC-certified bio-methanol that has negative carbon intensity with natural gas-based methanol, net-zero greenhouse gas emissions on a lifecycle basis were achieved for the 18-day trans-Atlantic voyage.

This innovative fuel solution offers shipping companies the ability to achieve net-zero carbon emissions today, supporting the industrys transition to a low-carbon future.

The use of methanol as an alternative marine fuel was pioneered by Waterfront Shipping in 2016 when Methanex, Waterfront Shipping and MOL, in conjunction with other key partners, jointly built the worlds first ocean-going methanol dual-fuel tanker, Taranaki Sun.
Universal Hydrogen has flown a 40-passenger regional airliner using hydrogen fuel cell propulsion. The airplane, nicknamed Lightning McClean, took off at 8:41am PST from Grant County International Airport (KMWH) and flew for 15 minutes, reaching an altitude of 3,500 MSL. The flight, conducted under an FAA Special Airworthiness Certificate, was the first in a two-year flight test campaign expected to culminate in 2025 with entry into passenger service of ATR 72 regional aircraft converted to run on hydrogen.





In this first test flight, one of the airplanes turbine engines was replaced with Universal Hydrogens fuel cell-electric, megawatt-class powertrain. The other remained a conventional engine for safety of flight. The flight was piloted by Alex Kroll, an experienced former US Air Force test pilot and the companys chief test pilot.

During the second circuit over the airport, we were comfortable with the performance of the hydrogen powertrain, so we were able to throttle back the fossil fuel turbine engine to demonstrate cruise principally on hydrogen power. The airplane handled beautifully, and the noise and vibrations from the fuel cell powertrain are significantly lower than from the conventional turbine engine. Alex Kroll

Representatives from Connect Airlines and Amelia, the US and European launch customers for the hydrogen airplanes, respectively, were on hand to witness the historic flight. The company has a rapidly growing order book, today totaling 247 aircraft conversions from 16 customers worldwide, totaling more than $1 billion in conversions backlog and more ethan $2 billion in fuel services over the first ten years of operation.

Connect, which will begin regional turboprop service this spring, has placed a first-position US order with Universal Hydrogen to convert 75 ATR 72-600 regional airplanes to hydrogen powertrains with purchase rights for 25 additional aircraft conversions. Deliveries will start in 2025.

The companys powertrain is built around Plug Powers ProGen family of fuel cells specially modified for aviation use. The powertrain does not use a batterythe fuel cells drive the electric motor directlyreducing weight and cost significantly.

The motor, a modified magni650 electric propulsion unit, and power electronics were supplied by Everett-based magniX. Seattle-based AeroTEC assisted with engineering efforts, including design of the modified nacelle structure, aircraft systems design and integration, as well as aircraft modifications and installation of the Universal Hydrogen powertrain onto the flight test aircraft, accomplished in less than 12 months.

The test flight comes on the back of successful demonstrations in December 2022 of Universal Hydrogens modular hydrogen logistics system conducted at the companys engineering center in Toulouse, France.

Our business model resolves the chicken-and-egg problem between hydrogen airplanes and hydrogen infrastructure by developing both in parallel and with a uniquely low-cost approach. The airplanes are converted to hydrogen using an aftermarket retrofit conversion kit, tackling the existing fleet rather than developing a brand new airplane. And hydrogen fueling uses modular capsules compatible with existing freight networks and airport cargo handling equipment, making every airport in the world hydrogen-ready. Paul Eremenko, co-founder and CEO of Universal Hydrogen

The company, backed by GE Aviation, Airbus Ventures, Toyota Ventures, JetBlue Ventures, and American Airlines, as well as several of the worlds largest green hydrogen producers and top-tier financial investors, plans to springboard from regional airplanes to larger ones and to hydrogen fuel deliveries for other mobility applications using its modular logistics network.
Reports from Taiwan revealed Apple expects 35% improvement in power efficiency from the A17 Bionic chipset, reportedly built by TSMC on the 3 nm FinFet technology process. Insiders revealed this will be a key feature that will drive replacement demand among iPhone users, along with the new camera and the USB-C charging port.

According to DigiTimes, Apple has reportedly bought the whole first production run of TSMCs 3 nm chips, making it the only smartphone company with such a semiconductor in 2023. Qualcomm and Mediatek wont be developing their own solutions for now, with Mediatek quoting high production costs while the American company is holding back and assessing the situation.

Samsung is already betting a lot on its 3 nm process technology, and as the company told us, they will keep developing it without being at the expense of legacy 130-65 nm nodes.

Apple is expected to use the A17 Bionic for the iPhone 15 Pro and iPhone 15 Pro Max. These phones are also coming with a refreshed design, a periscope camera, and solid-state volume and power buttons.

The iPhone 15 and iPhone 15 Plus are likely sticking to the A16 Bionic, although they are also getting the USB-C treatment after the European Union effectively pushed Apple to ditch the Lighting port.

Source | Via
Google launched its Pixel Watch last year and priced it from $349 in the US. But just how much does it cost the company to make the smartwatch? A new report today from Counterpoint Research focuses on exactly that. The in-depth analysis reveals that the total Bill of Materials (BoM) for the Pixel Watch amounts to $123.

That number doesn't include R&D and marketing costs, bear in mind. Samsung is the primary financial beneficiary, netting around 20% of the BoM cost for itself, thanks to the supply of the chipset, LTE transceiver for the LTE-capable model, as well as "other paired components". There's an NXP co-processor in there too, as well as Kingston-made memory. The combined cost of the two processors and the memory accounts for nearly 27% of the BoM.

The second biggest supply-side beneficiary is BOE, which sells Google the custom 1.2-inch OLED display. This amounts to 14% of the BoM. The GPS chip is supplied by Broadcom, as is the Wi-Fi/Bluetooth combo chip, while STMicroelectronics supplies the component needed to support eSIM and Google Pay.

The six-axis inertial sensor and the digital compass come from STMicroelectronics too, while the heart rate monitoring system uses Texas Instruments parts.

If you're interested in learning more about the Google Pixel Watch, don't miss our full review!

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Gov. Lou Leon Guerrero and Lt. Gov. Josh Tenorio, along with the Bureau of Statistics and Plans, presented 10,000 coastal education coloring books to the Guam Department of Education Jan. 30 at M.U. Lujan Elementary School, according to a press release from Office of the Governor.

The Bureau of Statistics and Plans Guam Coastal Management Program received $25,000 through the Education Stabilization Fund  Governor's Youth Empowerment and Education Assistance Grant Program to produce 20,000 activity and coloring books.

The books provide an interactive experience while teaching about Guams unique marine and terrestrial environment, and identify important environmental issues such as invasive species, erosion control, marine debris, coral reefs and threat to the local ecosystem, the release stated.

As an island people, we have intimately experienced the effects of the climate crisis, which has moved us to increase our stewardship efforts through powerful educational outreach, said the governor.

In addition to the endeavors currently led by our teams at the University of Guam Center for Island Sustainability and Sea Grant, it is equally important that we invest in the future of sustainability and those who will continue to lead these efforts, said the lieutenant governor. Our administration is committed to rebuilding an island worthy of our children and an island that is more than capable of sustaining the progress and prosperity we are working towards together.

The Guam Coastal Adventure Activity Coloring book was written and illustrated by Cara Lin, a Guam Coral Reef Management fellow, and edited with input from local natural resource managers, including Whitney Hoot, Guam Coral Reef Initiative program manager, and Marie Auyong, a National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration affiliate.

The Chief Hurao Academy also provided input to ensure the book features accurate CHamoru language references.

The second activity book, Understanding Marine Debris, features information and activities for children to identify and learn about the importance of preventing marine debris from entering the ocean. The book is an original product of the NOAA Marine Debris Program.
To help employers meet candidates for openings they have been having trouble filling, Moylans Insurance hosted a job expo Friday at the Julale Shopping Center in Hagatna.

Eager job seekers, resumes in hand, visited booths of over 20 companies and government agencies to learn about open positions and take part in interviews on the spot.

We found that it was a little difficult finding applicants and we have been networking with other companies and found that they had the same issue, said Brandie Santos, human resources business partner for Moylans Insurance and subsidiaries.

A possible reason its having problems filling 18 open positions is because the workforce is shifting back to in-person work instead of working remotely, which people might not have been ready for, said Santos.

Tony Tenorio, advertising manager for Moylans Insurance, said so many employers were seeking to fill positions that it had to turn away 10 companies because the building was at full capacity.

Nissan Guam attended the expo to find candidates for six positions, according to Human Resources Manager Edbert Quintanilla.

Usually we post our positions on our website or to the website Guam Jobs Online, but we have seen a trend where people apply for a job but they do not show up for the interview, so we decided to venture into the job fairs to see more people in person, he said.

Ashlene Muna, 30, of Dededo, heard about the expo from her family WhatsApp group chat.

It was her first time attending a job fair, which she said was a bit overwhelming.

Ive been looking for work since January. Ive been applying everywhere and Im hoping someone here hires me. Its really hard looking for a job, she said.

Muna is open to any kind of work because of the high cost of living. Her family doesnt receive benefits like food assistance from the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program.

She applied to multiple hotels, day care services and janitorial positions.
A deal with the Navy for 102 acres of land in Mangilao the administration wants for a new medical campus should be scrutinized by the public, several lawmakers said during a session Friday.

The property has been a contentious issue, with many ancestral landowners desiring to see it returned to them. GovGuams lease for the land, possibly for as long as 99 years, could be finalized by this year. The subject led to fiery back and forth on the session floor as former landowners and their supporters stood on the balcony to listen in.

Speaker Therese Terlajes Bill 12 would require the Legislature to approve the lease  and any lease with the federal government that lasts for longer than five years.

Details about the lease have been scant. Many former landowners feel uninformed about whats going on, the speaker said. She said she still hasnt seen proof from the administration that the land wasnt eligible from return, as evidenced by a 2021 letter from the secretary of the Navy.

Im not saying were going to say no to any particular negotiation. But I am saying that I believe the Legislature should have a say, we should be able to look at it. The people of Guam and especially the landowners whose land were talking about should absolutely have a say in it, Terlaje said.

Vice Speaker Tina Muna Barnes raised doubt over whether the land could legally be returned to ancestral owners, pointing to a federal law from 2000 that requires that property returned to GovGuam must go to public use, not to individuals. With the threat of war with China growing, military officials expressed a desire to build a missile defense system on the property if no hospital was constructed, Barnes said.

I support giving the land (to) the original landowners, what was rightfully theirs. But if that option is not there, which of the better two would be provided for our people as a whole?

Gov. Lou Leon Guerrero has called land return a near impossibility and proposed to compensate ancestral landowners.

Sen. Tom Fisher said he supported the bill, which shouldnt be at odds with the administrations goals.

Madam speaker, I dont see any rational basis why the governor wouldnt support this bill. Its nothing more than opening a window and letting the people see whats going on.

Sen. Chris Duenas said all the bill would do was allow the negotiations over the project to be estimated by the public for the peoples voice to be heard on decisions that are made of this magnitude when theres nothing but confusion and bad faith.

The administration was drunk on power, said Sen. Chris Barnett, and the Legislature allowed it to have that by enabling it. Many families were duped by the federal government when their property was taken decades ago and lawmakers should go down fighting for their right to have their property returned.

Of course, we support the hospital. But when the governors people came to this building less than a year ago and testified on the billion-dollar health care complex and the location of it, ... we learned that Eagles Field wasnt even the top choice to build a new hospital. It was down the list. So it boggles my mind, and it angers me that we continue to go down this path, he said.

No lawmaker opposed Bill 12s placement onto the voting file. Lawmakers are recessed until 10 a.m. Tuesday.

Overdose medication

Bill 10 also moved to the voting file without objection.

It would allow for opioid-antagonists, capable of stopping an overdose of opiates, to be distributed without a prescription. Community groups and individuals at risk of overdosing would be able to obtain the medication.

It was introduced by the speaker due to concerns that a fentanyl epidemic could reach Guam.
Christopher Zink, the off-island visitor whose body was found near a hiking trail in Humatak, died of overheating and dehydration, according to the islands chief medical examiner.

According to the Guam Fire Department, Zink, 49, hiked the Sella Bay trail last Saturday afternoon and contacted a relative, stating he had completed the hike and was headed back to the trailhead.

The trail, which starts at an overlook area and parking lot along Route 2, is about two miles, round trip, down the valley to the bay, where there is a centuries-old stone Spanish bridge near the mouth of the Sella River. The trail is marked in some areas with ribbons tied to trees and other plants. The hike is considered moderately difficult.

Zink never returned to the trailhead, prompting a government search-and-rescue effort which started Saturday evening and ended Monday morning, when Zinks body was recovered.

Volunteers working with the Guam Fire Department found and retrieved Zinks body, which was about a half mile off the trail.

The Office of the Chief Medical Examiner on Friday reported Zinks cause of death as hyperthermia and dehydration.

According to the Mayo Clinic, dehydration can happen if you dont drink enough water during hot weather, especially if you're vigorously exercising. Hyperthermia, which is an abnormally high body temperature, usually is caused by overexertion in hot and humid weather.

There were scattered clouds over Guam last Saturday afternoon, with a high temperature of about 88 degrees Fahrenheit.
Two men are facing charges of burglary, auto and property theft, and attempted auto theft, according to a magistrates complaint filed in the Superior Court of Guam.

At 2:18 a.m. Thursday, police responded to a reported burglary in progress, at Green Park Condo in Mangilao.

The police found Anthony James Heflin leaning into a silver Lexus and then noticed another man, Mark James Sablan Quintanilla, inside the vehicle. The two men were asked to leave the car and were secured. According to Quintanilla, they were asked by the owner of the car to pick it up.

The person who called the police stated the Honda Civic that the two defendants were operating was his. The car was last seen at noon. The reporting person said he didnt report vehicle missing immediately because he thought it was towed by the Mayors Office and was waiting to call until the next morning.

According to the person who reported, the Honda Civic was purchased from another person. Police were able to confirm the vehicle described by the reporting person matched the Honda Civics description as well as the name under the registration, from whom the reporting person bought it.

Police also conducted a check of the Lexus and saw it was registered under the person who reported. An officer said the ignition appeared to be tampered with to drive the vehicle.

Heflin said he was helping Quintanilla pick up the Lexus from his friend and Quintanilla asked him to drive the Civic so he could pick up the Lexus.

Heflin denied any knowledge of stealing the Civic with Quintanilla. Heflin said Quintanilla was authorized to pick up the Lexus from a friend but denied any knowledge of said friend. Heflin admitted that Quintanilla didnt have the key for the Lexus and observed as Quintanilla entered through the passenger door, claiming it was unsecured.

Heflin was charged with attempted theft of a motor vehicle as a second-degree felony and burglary to a motor vehicle as a second-degree felony.

Quintanilla was charged with theft of a motor vehicle as a second-degree felony, burglary to a motor vehicle as a second-degree felony, attempted theft of a motor vehicle as a second-degree felony and misdemeanor theft of property.
MBABANE - Four bogus police officers have been arrested for demanding a bribe from an unsuspecting BMW driver at a filing station.

They are Mcolisi Simphiwe Vista Mbuyisa (38) of Vusweni, Emmanuel Boss Sengwayo (31) of Ngculwini, Nhlanhla Maphanga Dlamini (37) of Moneni and Sabelo Mdrai Mdluli (30) of Timbutini. It is said that the quartet misrepresented to Sikhumbuzo Matsebula that they were police officers who had come to seize his red motor vehicle, BMW E30 325i, he was driving.

Claimed

It is said that the quartet claimed that the motor vehicle had been used in the commission of serious crimes in Cape Town, South Africa.

They are said to have then demanded a bribe amounting to E4 000 in order to let him go, while at the Engen Filling Station in Mbabane. The quartet is said to have obtained from Matsebula the amount of E4 000 as a result of the misrepresentation. Appearing before Mbabane Magistrate Innocent Motsa charged with theft by false pretence, the quartet pleaded guilty. The Crown accepted the plea without leading evidence. The Crown also applied for the compensation of Matsebula.

Leniency

Through their lawyer, Sinakekelwe Mhlanga, the quartet pleaded for leniency and further made an undertaking to compensate the complainant. They stated that they considered paying back the money even before the Crown moved the application. They implored the court to consider that they hired a lawyer, meaning they took the charges levelled against them seriously. The quartet submitted that they had school-going children.

They stated that they had already apologised to Matsebula. They were sentenced to five months imprisonment with an option to pay a fine of E800 each. The court ordered the Crown to make sure that Matsebula was compensated.
By William Schwartz | Published on 2023/03/02

Following his arrest for possession of cocaine and ketamine, Netflix announced that Yoo Ah-in would be removed from "Hellbound - Season 2" later this year. The news announcement was made on March 2nd and also revealed other cast members in the fantasy drama's lineup. It is unclear how much advance knowledge Netflix may have had regarding Yoo Ah-in's drug problems, given how quickly his replacement was announced.

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In "Hellbound" Yoo Ah-in played Chairman Jeong Jin-soo, the leader of a cult that worships otherworldly entities which first tell a person the day of their death, and then send unstoppable monsters to murder them on that day. The role of Chairman Jeong Jin-soo will now be played by Kim Sung-cheol, who is perhaps best known for playing the second lead in "Our Beloved Summer" last year. He also played the Crown Prince in the dark Joseon thriller "The Night Owl" which is closer to "Hellbound" in tone.

Kim Hyun-joo will also return in her role as a lawyer who stands against the cult. Yang Ik-june and Lee Re will reprise their roles as a detective and his daughter, and Kim Shin-rok will also reprise her role as a mother condemned to die who becomes entangled with the cult. Yang Dong-geun will play a new role as the leader of a group who tries to fight the cult, while Im Sung-jae plays an important person in that group.

Cho Dong-in will make a special appearance as a character described as "Pinwheel" while Moon Geun-young as "Sunshine Section Teacher" will have a special appearance of her own. "Hellbound" is based on the webtoon of the same title by Choi Kyu-sok and writer/director Yeon Sang-ho, with the webtoon itself based on one of Yeon Sang-ho's old animated short films. Yeon Sang-ho will personally direct "Hellbound - Season 2" as he did the first season.

Written by William Schwartz
MANZINI  The long wait is over as on March 26, 2023, Eswatini Air will have its maiden flight to Johannesburg and tickets will range from E1 300.

The maiden flight shall form part of Phase I by Eswatini Air, which is a subsidiary of Royal Eswatini Airways Corporation (RENAC). This was said by the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of RENAC, Qiniso Dhlamini, in a press briefing yesterday announcing the planned operating schedule, fares and notice of reservations. This, according to Dhlamini, marked and brought to an end the long wait for the commencement date of Eswatini Air flights. He said the launch of Phase I was scheduled for flights to depart at King Mswati III International Airport to Johannesburg (O.R. Tambo International Airport).

Rotation

Dhlamini said Eswatini Air would be operating two flights per day (an early morning rotation and a late afternoon rotation) effective March 26, 2023. The morning rotation, he said, would depart from King Mswati III International Aiport at 7am to arrive in Johannesburg at 7:45am. The CEO said the return flight would depart at O.R. Tambo International Airport at 8:45am arriving at King Mswati III International Airport at 9:35am.

He said: We recognise that this is a brand-new operation, and thus requires caution to ensure a smooth entry in the market. In lieu of this, Eswatini Air has deemed it proper to introduce our service in four phases. The CEO said this would be followed by an introduction of the second rotation flights between King Mswati III International Airport and O.R. Tambo International Airport.

He said the flight would depart at King Mswati III International Airport at 4:05pm arriving at O.R. Tambo International Airport at 4:55pm, with the return leg departing from O.R. Tambo International Airport at 5:40pm and arriving at King Mswati III International Airport at 6:30pm. He said Phase II would be added to the schedule effective April 14, 2023 and would service Eswatini and Zimbabwe, Harare (HRE). This phase, he said, would be offering four flights per week on Mondays, Wednesdays, Fridays and Sundays.

Dhlamini said all flights would depart at King Mswati III International Airport at 10:15am and arrive at 11:45am in Harare, while the departure from there would be 2pm to arrive in Eswatini at 3:30pm. Subsequently, on May 5, 2023, he said they would introduce Phase III which would service King Mswati III International Airport and Durban, South Africa.

He said this route would be offering a flight each day of the week. The CEO also said the flight would depart locally at 5:30pm to arrive in Durban at 6:30pm, while the return flight would depart in Durban at 7:55am to arrive at King Mswati III International Airport at 8:55am. Phase III also includes introduction of a third daily flight between King Mswati III International Airport and O.R. Tambo International Airport to be operated in the afternoon. Timings for this flight are such that departure from King Mswati III International Airport is 11:30am arriving at O.R. Tambo International Airport at 12:20pm, and departure from O.R. Tambo International Airport is 2:10pm arriving at King Mswati III International Airport at 3pm, he said.

Lastly, Dhlamini said Phase IV, which would be the final launch phase entailed an addition of the destination of Cape Town to the route network, effective June 2, 2023. He said Cape Town would be operated three times per week on Wednesdays, Fridays and Sundays. The departure time, he said, from King Mswati III International Airport would be 10:20am arriving at Cape Town at 12:50pm. The CEO said the return flight would depart from Cape Town at 1:40pm and arrive at King Mswati III International Airport at 4:10pm.

He said: Our reservations and ticketing system is now open for bookings and ticket purchases. Details of our contact information are as follows: Email: reservations@eswatiniair.co.sz: available immediately; Telephone or (+268) 2518 0100 (Eswatini customer service centre), effective March 6, 2023 or website:www.eswatiniair.co.sz, effective March 20, 2023 or visit our Customer Service Centre located at Ground Floor, Shops 6; 7 & 8, Manzini Junction, Manzini, Kingdom of Eswatini and alternatively contact your nearest travel agent. Travel agency-based bookings are also accessible via our partners APG Airlines (A1) and Hahn Air.

Resolution

Dhlamini invited all prospective clients to book and fly with Eswatini Air for all their travels in and out of the Kingdom. He said their resolution, as expressed in the Everyone Must Fly slogan, was to ensure that travel by air inbound and outbound Eswatini was affordable to all. Dhlamini explained that their launch special fares were on offer for one-way flights inclusive of taxes ranging from: E1 300 on flights between Eswatini and Johannesburg or Durban, E2 100 on flights between Eswatini and Cape Town, while it would be E2 200 on flights between Eswatini and Harare. He said their schedule was designed to also offer connections via their hub, King Mswati III International Airport for travellers between Durban and Harare, as well as between Johannesburg and Harare.
LOBAMBA  In support of the calls for the national dialogue, Members of Parliament (MP) have implored government to initiate community outreach (vusela exercise) under Operation Alibuye.

The MPs called for the setting of the date for the envisaged national dialogue as the situation on the ground seemed to have now improved. The MPs made the call during the sitting of the Portfolio Committee of the Prime Ministers Office, for the debate on the ministrys annual performance report for the current year (April 2022  March 2023).

Madlangempisi MP Sibusiso Scorpion Nxumalo said government should utilise the E30 million budgeted for the national dialogue in conducting the community outreach in all the over 300 imiphakatsi in the country.

Nxumalo said through these community outreach initiatives, government might find that the issues that were troubling the people were simply the lack of jobs and poverty, which could be addressed. He encouraged government to go to the people to hear their concerns ahead of the dialogue. He said such would help to understand what really needed to be addressed during the dialogue.

Impasse

The MP opined that by so doing, government might also be able to win the trust of the people and in that way the political impasse could come to an end. The legislator appreciated the police for restoring peace in the country.

Nkilongo MP Timothy Myeni asked Prime Minister (PM) Cleopas Sipho Dlamini what was stopping government from convening the dialogue as it was able to commence the processes for the national elections.

Myeni said it was worth noting that these days there had been calm in the country and this made one believe that the environment was now conducive. He said there had been less incidents of violence reported these days. It is worth noting that due to the acts of violence, government was of the view that the environment was not conducive for the dialogue.

Peacefully

Mhlangatane MP Madala Mhlanga observed that there was calm, such that emaSwati were able to even sleep peacefully at night. He further appreciated members of the Royal Eswatini Police Service (REPS) for their tireless efforts in providing security to the nation, despite the attacks against them. Elected MP Princess Phumelele also appreciated the police for their work even when it put their lives at risk. The Princess, however, wondered how the dialogue would be convened as it was not provided for in the Constitution. She said the only thing she noted was that provided for in Constitution was Sibaya.

Princess Phumelele highlighted that transition to the democratic reforms should be done amicably, unlike what was currently happening where people were seemingly forced to move from the current system to the suggested democratic State. She said people were currently victimised for wearing their traditional regalia and attending cultural events. The princess said that was not the democracy they would appreciate.

Ndzingeni MP Lutfo Dlamini echoed the other MPs submission, stating that the allocation of budgets for the dialogue might be unnecessary, as what mattered was the willingness to commit to the dialogue. In response to the MPs submissions, the PM said government remained a firm believer in dialogue and peaceful means of resolving disagreements.

He said as evident by the allocation of the budget, government was proving to be committed to the national dialogue.

Prior to the MPs submissions, the premier presented a preamble of his offices annual performance report.

He started off by congratulating Their Majesties and Parliament for the successful opening of the 5th and last session of the 11th Parliament on Friday, February 17, 2023. He noted that Parliament executed its core function of representing the interests of emaSwati, passing laws and monitoring the actions of government.

He said portfolio committees were able to consider and debate on quarterly reports, as well as hold the Executive accountable through the various Parliament committees. The PM said Parliament continued to pass Bills and subordinate legislation. He pointed out that the 18 pending Bills would have to be given priority in the remaining period of the 11th Parliament. He said the process was aligned to international and regional principles, commitments and standards. The PM also highlighted that Parliament received a budget of E120 517 223. Released budget to date is E114 304 678.00. He said the actual expenditure as at February 2023 amounted to E107 536 705.00.

The unused funds as at February, 2023 will be used for payment of pending accounts of service providers and staff salaries for the month of March 2023, he said. On private and Cabinet office issues, the PM noted that 25 Cabinet meetings were held and 130 policy documents were debated and approved. He said 22 Cabinet Sub-Committee of Public Enterprises meetings (SCOPE) and eight Executive Leadership Forums were successfully held. He further mentioned that Cabinet facilitated the negotiation and award of three per cent CoLA and one per cent once-off payment to civil servants backdated to April 1, 2022.

He continued to state that the Government Press Office, coordinated government public communication to ensure that government spoke in one voice and interacted with local and international media and other stakeholders on government programmes, projects and general policy direction. He said the Government Press Office also worked on defending the country in international fora.The PM added that the Private and Cabinet Office received a budget allocation of E76 183 261 for 2022/2023 and E58 389 698 was released as at December 30, 2022. The PM went on to speak about REPS as it fell under his office.

Environment

He said the operational environment was challenging due to higher than normal safety and security threats, marked by various acts of violence, arson attacks, cold-blooded killings of members of the public and police officers in the line of duty. The head of government said despite the challenges, the REPS managed to carry out its mandate of providing security to the nation through vigorous crime prevention initiatives, detection interventions, as well as traffic policing.

He stated that to enhance the operational and administrative frameworks, government has made provision for the recruitment of novice Police officers. He also highlighted that government implemented a four per cent salary adjustment to address the long outstanding issue of Phase II of the restructuring of pay scales exercise. He also noted that the volume of crime stood at 41 013, compared to 44 058 cases recorded in the parallel period last year, reflecting a 7.0 per cent decrease.

He said the detection rate stood at 34.7 per cent with a total of 14 242 suspects arrested for various crimes including murder, attempted murder, car theft, house breaking and theft as well as gender-based violence (GBV). There were major breakthroughs on terrorism inclined cases, where suspects were arrested. The PM said government was extremely concerned by the permeating culture of violence in the country and the apparent disrespect for the value of human life, which was seen by the rate at which murder cases were reported.

He said rape and other GBV violence cases were another serious concern for government and as a nation there was need to come up with tangible solutions to end this scourge. The premier also condemned the increasing incidents of mob killings. He said taking the law into your own hands was not only uncivilised but a serious criminal offence.

We must put a stop to this errant practice, which has the propensity of sowing seeds of continuing violence, he said. He also highlighted that the REPS collected a total amount of E9 318 015 as at January 31, 2023; as a sub-revenue collector for government. He said the REPS was allocated a sum of E59 million for various projects which include construction of Buhleni Police Station, equipment for State security and the rehabilitation of police buildings and fencing.
The study, conducted by Monika Haanpaa , a master of education, found that the ability to speak Finnish, a strong sense of professional and personal self-confidence,

New research from Turku University suggests that the experience of belonging to a work community for early childhood educators with an immigrant background is linked to language proficiency and the quality of social relationships in the workplace.

social relationships in the workplace, and acceptance and recognition by the work community are directly related to how well early childhood educators with an immigrant background feel they belong in their daycare center's work community.

Haanpaa's study involved examining the views of both early childhood educators with an immigrant background and Finnish-born educators and daycare center managers on daycare center operational culture, membership, and activities in relation to the diversity of early childhood educators.

The research also found that differences in understanding and interpreting stated work community practices, such as agreements, practices, norms, cues, and assumptions, may affect work community functioning.

The study's author suggests that daycare centers can be places for many practice communities and that the daycare center as a whole can be a practice community committed to jointly implementing the principles of the early childhood education curriculum and producing various practices.

The study's aim is to provide new insights into the operation of early childhood educators with an immigrant background, leadership of diverse work communities, and practice community operations in Finnish daycare centers. With the increase in immigration to Finland, this research is essential in understanding how best to support immigrant early childhood educators and how to manage diverse work communities.

Haanpaa's doctoral dissertation "A Triangulated Study of Early Childhood Educators with an Immigrant Background in a Finnish Daycare Center" will be publicly examined at the University of Turku on March 10, 2023.

HT
"The key challenge for the judicial system is still the long-term resource shortage due to inadequate basic funding,

The number of criminal cases and extensive civil cases pending in district courts, as well as their processing times, remained at a higher level than before the pandemic. The number of cases pending in appellate courts has also increased slightly in recent years, while the number of cases pending in administrative courts has decreased.

which has led to generally unreasonable processing times," said Riku Jaakkola, Director General of the Court Administration.

According to the Court Administration's calculations, as the largest actor in the Ministry of Justice's administration, the judiciary needs a permanent additional funding of approximately 30 million euros annually for personnel expenses. In addition, to alleviate the backlog and speed up processing times, the judiciary requires approximately 8 million euros in annual additional funding for the years 2023-2026.

"It is also important to remember to take care of the training and well-being of the staff working in the judiciary. Development is only possible with skilled, professional, and well-being personnel," added Director General Jaakkola.

Average processing times are increasing in general courts

In 2022, a total of 511,715 cases (2021: 545,327) were brought to district courts. There were 375,039 cases brought with a summary application, or 32,000 (-8%) fewer cases than the previous year. The number of cases decreased by a total of 33,612 cases, which is almost entirely explained by the change in the number of summary cases. In 2022, there were 51,566 criminal cases brought to district courts. The average processing time for criminal cases was 6.0 months (2021: 5.8 months). Until 2012, the processing times for criminal cases were under 4 months, and in recent years, the processing time has increased slightly almost annually. At the end of 2022, there were 5,532 criminal cases pending for over 12 months (2021: 4,658). The proportion of cases pending for a long time was 21% of all pending criminal cases (2021: 20%).

In appellate courts, 7,899 cases (2021: 8,226) were brought in. The average processing time was 6.5 months. Processing times have increased slightly every year over the past five years. The processing time was 5.5 months in 2017. The number of pending cases increased by about 50 cases from the previous year.

Long processing times also in administrative courts

There were 17,365 cases (2021: 17,479 cases) brought to administrative courts, which is about 100 cases less than in 2021. Of these cases, 24% were immigration cases (2021: 24%), which also include asylum cases. In 2022, there were a total of 1,218 asylum cases brought to administrative courts, which is only slightly less (-2%) than the previous year (2021: 1,248 cases).

In administrative courts, processing times for environmental and construction cases are particularly worrying. However, the situation should improve with additional funding for the so-called green transition.

The average processing time in administrative courts was 9.9 months (2021: 9.6 months). The longest delays were in complaints related to the environment (19.3 months), construction (13.2 months), self-government (13.1 months), and taxation (12.5 months). The average processing time for social and health care cases was 6.4 months. The average processing time for child protection cases was 9.2 months.

HT
The city of Helsinki is preparing to sell eleven buildings that no longer serve its own service production needs. The list of buildings includes Kaivohuone and Klippan, both of which are currently used as restaurants, as well as Kulosaari Manor's buildings. The sale plan will be reviewed by the City Environment Committee on March 7th.

Some of the buildings will be sold through a bidding process, while others will be sold through negotiation.

The sale of the buildings is planned to begin this year if the committee approves the plan.

The buildings being sold include restaurants, rehabilitation facilities, and residential buildings. The Kaivohuone and Klippan, both located in Kaivopuisto Park, will be sold through a bidding process and will continue to be used as restaurants.

The Kulosaari Manor buildings, which are protected, are planned to be sold for tourism and event use. The sale plan also includes two historic buildings in East Helsinki, Villa Solvik and Rastilan Manor.

The buildings currently used for rehabilitation in Malmi are also planned to be sold. Malmikoti Kunnantiella and Malmin paivatoimintakeskus Vanhalla Helsingintiella are suggested to be sold through negotiation for social and health care use.

The city of Helsinki plans to divest itself of buildings that it no longer needs for its services or for which there are no other strategic reasons to maintain ownership. The city's assets can thus be directed primarily towards the maintenance and renovation of schools, day-care centers, and other service buildings.

The buildings will be selected for sale based on their condition and development potential. The eleven buildings being proposed for sale will require significant renovations or have immediate renovation needs. The city estimates that the buildings' calculated repair debt is approximately EUR 7.7 million. Repair debt refers to the amount required to renovate the buildings to a reasonable state of use.

In addition to the buildings being proposed for sale, the city of Helsinki plans to sell more buildings in the future as part of its divestment program. This program aims to ensure that the city's assets are used more efficiently and effectively. The sale of these buildings will provide an opportunity for new businesses and investors to invest in Helsinki's real estate market.

HT
Only 260 candidates under the age of 30 are running in the upcoming Finnish parliamentary elections in spring 2023, making up just 10.7% of all candidates. This means that young candidates are once again underrepresented in candidate selection, as 18-29-year-olds make up 13.9% of Finland's population. The Green Party put forth the highest number of young candidates, both in absolute numbers and as a percentage of their total candidates.

While the number of young candidates has increased slightly since the 2019 parliamentary elections, where there were 259 under-30 candidates (10.5% of all candidates), only eight of these candidates (4% of all elected MPs) were successful in gaining a seat in parliament.

In the upcoming 2023 parliamentary elections, the Green Party has put forth the most young candidates with 37. They are followed by the Center Party with 30 and the Left Alliance with 27. In contrast, the Movement Now party has only put forth nine young candidates, while the Finns Party has only put forth ten. These two parties also have the lowest percentage of young candidates at just 5%, while the Green Party has the highest at 17%.

The lack of young candidates is particularly surprising for the Finns Party, as the party is popular among young voters. According to a survey conducted by Helsingin Sanomat, the Finns Party is the preferred party among first-time young voters in the upcoming elections.

"Political parties and our society as a whole have a lot of room for improvement if young people continue to be underrepresented in candidate lists from one election to the next. For the future of democracy, it is essential that we have young decision-makers, which requires us to nominate more young candidates. Without young people, we will not have future decision-makers - or future voters, if faith in democracy is eroded at a young age. A wise party thinks ahead and includes young people now," demands Silja Uusikangas, an expert in youth participation.

Young voices need to be heard in parliament

As with all decision-making positions, young people are also underrepresented in parliament. Currently, the average age of MPs is 50 years old. While 18-29-year-olds make up 13.9% of the population, there is only one MP in that age group at the end of this parliamentary term: Iiris Suomela (Green), who is 28 years old.

Although decisions made in parliament affect young people's lives in many ways, young people's voter turnout is often lower than other age groups. This may be partly due to the relatively small number of young candidates.

"To increase young people's voter turnout, we need young candidates who can also appeal to young voters. Currently, many young people find it difficult to find a suitable candidate or party," stresses Uusikangas.

The parliamentary elections will be held on Sunday, April 2, 2023, and will elect MPs for the parliamentary term 2023-2027. Early voting is available domestically from March 22-28 and abroad from March 22-25.

HT
RESIDENTS in Henley and the surrounding area are being urged to register for photo ID ahead of the forthcoming local elections.

New rules are in place which means voters must produce photo ID in order to cast their ballot at polling stations on Thursday, May 4.

The Government has said that the new measures will combat the extremely rare cases of electoral registration or voter fraud.

Accepted forms of photo ID include a passport, driving licence, disabled blue badge, an older persons bus pass and a disabled persons bus pass.

Residents without any form of photo ID can apply to South Oxfordshire District Council, the electoral authority, for a voter authority certificate that will enable them to vote.

Councillor Stefan Gawrysiak, who sits on the town, district and county council, said: At the election on May 4 all voters will have to have photo ID. Its government legislation and theres nothing we can do about it. We want to get the message out to all the people that they need photo ID to vote as just a polling card is no longer sufficient.

Town councillor Sarah Miller said: We really want people to engage in local democracy so its important to have photo ID.

Its important that people are aware of the change as we dont want people turning up and not being able to vote.

Councillor Kellie Hinton said: The name on your photo ID must match your polling card. If you dont have photo ID or youve had a change in your name there is still time. These are issues that can be sorted well in advance of the vote.

Critics of the reform, including the main opposition parties, have estimated that the change will mean more than one million voters being disenfranchised because they dont have voter ID or find out too late to apply for a voter authority certificate. vThe cabinet office ran voter ID pilots in the 2018/19 local elections which it hailed as a success.

But several of these used light touch ID requirements, such as requiring people to produce polling cards, which will not be permitted this time.

The Local Government Association has now warned that staff running the elections may be overwhelmed by bureaucracy and complaints before and on polling day. It is worried that many voters who are unaware of the changes might have to be turned away and requests for substitute certificates will flood in at the last minute, causing chaos.

Local government minister Lee Rowley defended the new system in parliament, saying the plans had been in the Conservatives 2019 election manifesto.

He said: We will not shirk our responsibilities to protect the integrity of the ballot box. According to government research, about 98 per cent of the electorate already have an accepted voter ID, whether it is a passport, a driving licence or one of nearly 20 other eligible types of identification. That includes, for some, expired identification, in order to maximise participation.

The reality is that the overwhelming majority of people already have what they need to fulfil this new protection at the ballot box. For those who do not, the Government has made available a voter authority certificate, which can be applied for today. It is free of charge and can be issued to everyone who wants it in readiness for May.

The deadline for applying for voter authority certificate from the district council is 5pm on April 25.

For more information, visit https://www.southoxon.gov.uk/

south-oxfordshire-district-council/local-democracy-and-elections/elections-and-voting/

current-and-upcoming-elections/local-elections-thursday-4-may-2023/
THE revised Sonning Common neighbourhood plan has been approved by villagers.

Ninety-five per cent voted in favour of the document in a referendum on Thursday last week.

The turnout was 27.7 per cent, which was down on the 47.6 per cent that voted in the referendum on the original plan in 2016.

A working party had been working on the revisions for about five years.

The changes included the addition of a settlement boundary for the village outside of which development shouldnt take place.

This follows approval of a development of 133 retirement flats at Little Sparrows by Inspired Villages.

This land was not earmarked for development in the plan and South Oxfordshire District Council refused planning permission but that decision was overturned by a planning inspector on appeal.

Tom Fort, who chairs the working party and resigned as a parish councillor in protest at the inspectors decision, said: The turnout was pretty good for a neighbourhood plan.

It didnt do as well as last time but this time it was much harder to get people enthused. The Henley and Harpsden referendum turnout was 15.3 per cent so it was a lot better than that.

Im very pleased with the way it turned out. It has been a struggle and often unrewarding to get this far but at least the process ended on a high.

The plan now needs to be endorsed by South Oxfordshire District Council, the planning authority, before it is officially adopted. Mr Fort said: It will then mean that whatever planning applications come through, the neighbourhood plan has to be taken into account in determining the outcome of the application.

The plan will be crucial for future housebuilding around here. If the area is in the plan it will be likely to go through and if it is not in the plan it will be a lot less likely. It gives a degree of protection.

After the results came through at the last referendum, we ended the night drinking champagne but this time we did not drink anything. We just walked out and said, Well that wasnt too bad.

The plan includes policies on smaller family homes and proposals which meet specialist needs such as assisted living accommodation. There is also a policy on affordable housing.
THREE defibrillators were installed around Henley by a charity on Tuesday.

The life-saving devices are at St Marys School in St Andrews Road, the scout hut in Greys Road and a portable one has been given to Henley Hawks Netball.

These bring the total number of devices in the Henley area to 85.

The defibrillators were installed by Millies Dream, a charity founded in 2013 by Sarah Roberts after her daughter was diagnosed with a heart and lung condition, thanks to a donation from the Tony Lane Foundation.

Ms Roberts, of Kings Road, Henley said: We had fantastic support from the foundation alongside requests from the Henley Hawks to install a defibrillator in a community box for 24-hour access.

The late Tony Lane, a former mayor of Henley, left his estate in trust to be used for beneficiaries of Henley. Money has gone towards benches and trees in the town centre and we are local and benefit the Henley community.

The defibrillators have been placed in recognised black spots by head volunteer David Wright, of St Marks Road, Henley, who himself was saved by one in 2019 after suffering a cardiac arrest while playing squash at Henley leisure centre.

It is important to cover these areas as a patients odds of survival drop by about 10 per cent with every minute that they arent treated.

Ms Roberts, who is the clinical director of the Active VIII physiotherapy clinic in West Lane, said: They are heavy boxes to install, with heat systems and lighting. We have a map of the area and where they are installed.

We also have black spots in various villages and I am currently in communication with Fawley to get one installed there.

Mss Roberts said her dream was to install 100 devices and she wanted to increase the publics knowledge of the devices.

She said: With the NHS in a state of crisis, it is even more important that people know how to perform CPR and use the devices, especially when we have to wait longer for an ambulance.

It is important that people who are terrified to access them are taught. On a paramedic strike day, which I 100 per cent support, who am I going to call who will know what to do?

There have been a number of high profile cardiac arrests recently which have resulted in fatalities.

I am not saying they could have been prevented but if you're living around here and someone collapses, it is absolutely crucial you know where the nearest defibrillator is and how to use it.

Some people are too terrified to put them on the patient because they are frightened that they will cause harm but they are life-saving devices. It is important people know that they cannot harm someone and they automatically give the patient a chance to survive.

It is also important to know the chain of events if someone does collapse after calling 999. The aim is to increase peoples access and understanding.

There are going to be tragic times where despite all efforts, we still lose people but we can limit possible deaths if people have basic training.

I was witness to a cardiac arrest outside Waitrose and even with all my knowledge and training, it was still a very frightening situation.

Ms Roberts is working alongside Susan Stickley, a former paramedic from Stoke Row, who founded First Aid Matters. She said: Susan runs the most fantastic first aid courses which take you through everything from burns to fainting and has done a lot of my education programmes in primary schools.

Hugh Whitfield, a retired urology surgeon and consultant who was first on the scene at the death of Tim Senior, a rower who collapsed and died after competing at the Henley Fours and Eights Head earlier this month, has also set up first aid classes and will hold one in Crazies Hill tomorrow (Saturday).

Ms Roberts said: There are lots of good YouTube courses but they are no substitute for handling a defibrillator.

I didnt know Tim but I knew his crewmate and if something tragic happens, it is nice for something positive to come out of it. In this case, it ensures another 100 people have interest and knowledge in knowing about the devices and can be saved.

Ms Roberts added: I could never imagine from the first 10 defibrillators being installed in primary schools that nine years later we have saved lives and have 85 boxes.

People still have brothers, dads and grandparents thanks to the use of these devices. It is very humbling and I am enormously grateful to the Henley Standard, without which this never would have been possible, and the community for its support.

It is a bit like Sue Ryder. When local people donate money to something that has helped their friend or relative and they can see what their money has gone towards, they feel more engaged in it.

I have had the privilege to meet some of the people who have been saved and it is very humbling. It drives me to keep the charity alive.

Millie has just turned 16 and has got her GCSEs this year. She lives life to the full, although she has some limitations when doing endurance activities. She is incredibly proud to be the reason this all started.

Ms Roberts said the defibrillators were all registered with the South Central Ambulance Service, which means that if someone calls 999 and doesnt know where the nearest one is, the emergency services will be able to direct them to it.

Donations can be made online to the Millies Dream community account with Barclays using sort code: 20-39-53 and account number: 23727610.
MANZINI - The Government of Eswatini and the International Labour Organisation (ILO) are seemingly not in agreement over the customary practice of kuhlehla.

Kuhlehla is rendering services to the local chief or the King, such as ploughing the fields of traditional leaders and according to a report, it was still practised and enforced, allegedly with punitive measures for refusal to attend.

The clash over the Eswatini customary practice came to the fore as the government of Eswatini is on the verge of finalising its Employment Bill of 2018 and as ILO was analysing and comparing it with some of its conventions (where Eswatini is a signatory), mainly the Abolition of Forced Labour Convention No.5 of 1957 (ratification: 2000). ILO punched holes in the customary practice as it viewed it as forced labour.

Conventions

This is contained in a report of ILOs Committee of Experts on the application of conventions and recommendations, which was issued last week after the 11th Session of the International Labour Conference. In the report, the committee said it noted governments indication that the redrafting of the Employment Bill was finalised by the Labour Advisory Board (LAB), after technical comments which were provided by ILO.

The committee said it noted, more particularly, that Sections 19 to 21 of the Employment Bill prohibited forced labour and that Section 158(1) (b) of the Bill established the penalties in cases of forced labour. The committee said it also noted that Section 19 of the Bill, which referred to five situations in which the work or service imposed should not be considered forced labour, generally followed the exceptions under Article 2(2) of the Abolition of Forced Labour Convention, 1957 (No. 105) (ratification: 2000)

Interest

It said Section 19(d) of the Bill provided that; Communal services of a kind which are to be performed by the member of a community in the direct interest of the community and not being for the purposes of financial gain. It said government claimed that this did not constitute forced labour.

In this regard, the committee drew governments attention to the fact that Section 19(d) of the Bill goes beyond Article 2(2) (e) of the convention, which excludes from its scope minor communal services, provided they are performed by the members of the community in the direct interest of the said community and that the members of the community or their direct representatives shall have the right to be consulted in regard to the need for such services.

Furthermore, it said it noted that Section 19(e) of the Bill provided that; any work or service which forms part of the normal civic and cultural obligations of the citizens of a fully self-governing country do not constitute forced labour. In this regard, the committee said this Section purportedly went beyond Article 2(2) (b) of the convention as the exception of; normal civic obligations provided for under this provision of the convention should be understood in a very restrictive way.

Furthermore, the committee said Section 158(1)(b) of the Bill says; Exacting or imposing forced labour, or causing or permitting forced labour to be exacted or imposed is punishable by a fine or imprisonment for a period not exceeding one year or both.

Forced

It said according to its analysis, under this provision, a person committing the offence of forced labour might be sentenced to a fine only. Thereafter, it recalled that pursuant to Article 25 of the convention, the exaction of forced or compulsory labour should be punishable as a penal offence and when the envisaged sanction consists of a fine or a short prison sentence, it could not be considered as an effective penalty of a dissuasive nature in view of the gravity of the offence.

After that, the committee noted governments indication that, in August 2021, the final draft of the Employment Bill was submitted to the Minister of Labour and Social Security and forwarded to the Office of the Attorney General (AG). It said the Bill would then be forwarded to the Cabinet for approval and to the Parliament for adoption. It added that government stated that it was anticipated that the legislative process would be completed without any further delay, particularly taking into account the level and extent of consultations that had taken place within the LAB.

Therefore, the committee expressed the firm hope that government would take into account the above comments and adopt the necessary measures to ensure that the final version of the Employment Bill fully complied with the provisions of the convention.

It said government could do this by amending Sections 19 (d) and (e) of the Bill in order to limit the scope of the exclusions from the definition of forced labour to; minor communal services, while including a requirement to consult the members of the community or their direct representatives concerning the obligation to perform such minor community services and normal civic obligations, to be understood in a very restrictive way. Government needs to also amend Section 158(1) (b) of the Bill in order to establish sufficiently dissuasive penalties of imprisonment for the exaction of forced labour, the committee said.

Compulsory

On another note, regarding legislation concerning compulsory public works or services, the committee said for a number of years, it had been drawing governments attention to Swazi (Eswatini) Administration Order No. 6 of 1998 which provided for the duty of emaSwati (Swazis) to obey orders requiring participation in compulsory works. It said the compulsory works included cultivation, anti-soil erosion works and the making, maintenance and protection of roads, which was purportedly enforceable with severe penalties for non-compliance.

It added that it previously noted that, despite governments indication that this order had been declared null and void by the High Court of Swaziland (Eswatini) (Case No. 2823/2000); such practices supposedly persisted, as it was rooted in the well-established and institutionalised customary law, in particular through the customary practice of kuhlehla. This (kuhlehla) is rendering services to the local chief or the King, such as ploughing the fields of traditional leaders and according to the committees report, it was still practised and enforced allegedly with punitive measures for refusal to attend.

The committee said while noting governments explanation that this customary practice was not compulsory, it observed the absence of a text regulating the nature of this work or rules determining the conditions under which such work was required or organised. Therefore, it requested government to take steps in order to explicitly set out in the legislation the voluntary nature of participation in the customary practice of kuhlehla.

Again, it said it noted governments indication that the country had a dual legal system based on written Roman-Dutch common law and unwritten traditional and customary laws, as provided for under Articles 252 and 258 of the Constitution (Act No. 1 of 2005). It said government added that the customary practice of kuhlehla formed part of the unwritten traditional and customary laws which, therefore, made it impossible for the administration of the country to adopt a text regulating it.

On top of that, it said government indicated that in order to put an end to this issue, a new Section 19(e) had been incorporated into the Employment Bill, in order to exclude from the definition of forced labour any work which formed part of the cultural obligations of the citizens. In this regard, the committee said it noted with concern that despite its previous requests to government to ensure the voluntary nature of participation in work carried out pursuant to customary practices, such as kuhlehla, the administration envisaged explicitly excluding these practices from the scope of the legislation prohibiting forced labour.

Moreover, the committee drew governments attention to the fact that, as long as customary practices such as kuhlehla, failed to meet the criteria of the exceptions to forced labour set out in Article 2 of the convention for minor communal services, civic obligation or cases of emergency, it would be incompatible with the convention.

In that regard, it urged government to take the necessary steps to ensure compliance with the convention, whether by ensuring the voluntary nature of participation in work carried out under traditional and customary laws, more particularly under the customary practice of kuhlehla or by limiting the work exacted under such practices to the exceptions of the convention. It then requested government to provide information on any progress made in this regard.

Additionally, the committee requested government to provide information on the number of persons who had been working as a result of customary practices, including the practice of kuhlehla, as well as on the type and duration of services carried out.
Namibia commends Chinese Medical Team's dedication, services

Xinhua) 13:24, March 03, 2023

WINDHOEK, March 2 (Xinhua) -- Namibian Minister of Health and Social Services Kalumbi Shangula welcomed four new members of the 15th Chinese Medical Team to Namibia at a reception event held in Windhoek, the Namibian capital, on Thursday.

Shangula, on the occasion of the renewal ceremony of the Chinese Medical Team, said over the past one and half years, the 14th batch worked hard and made remarkable achievements, particularly when Namibia was faced with the challenges of responding to the COVID-19 pandemic.

"The presence of these teams in our health facilities has enriched the services delivered to our patients. We appreciate and value the services of the Chinese Medical Team and the contributions they have made to the health sector," he said.

Shangula said over the past 27 years, the generosity of the fraternal people of China has been demonstrated through the work of the medical teams that have given the gift of good health to thousands of Namibians at no cost.

"We believe that the delivery of public health care services is enhanced through strong partnerships. The partnership and cooperation between our two countries in the health sector are in line with this belief and ethos," he added.

The outgoing 14th Chinese Medical Team leader and doctor Zhou Haijiang thanked the Namibian hosts for the support and trust instilled over their tenure. "It is because of all of you that we do not feel lonely living and working in a foreign country."

During their tenure, the 14th batch assisted various Namibian government officials, including Namibian Founding President Sam Nujoma, as well as visited informal communities and schools to promote Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM).

The outgoing Chinese Medical Team also became the first team to introduce modern Chinese Medicine Music Therapy to the array of already popular TCM therapies in Namibia.

"I'm very happy to note that the project of the Chinese medical team in Namibia has become a special part of the China-Namibia friendship," said Chinese Ambassador to Namibia Zhao Weiping, noting that this year also marks the 60th anniversary of the dispatch of the Chinese medical teams to other developing countries.

Zhao said Namibia and China are also exploring and developing new cooperative models.

"Currently, the Walvis Bay Hospital and Zhejiang Provincial Hospital of TCM are establishing a partnership of Paired Hospitals," he said, adding that China will also provide more scholarships and training programs for Namibian health personnel.

Since 1996, the Chinese government has been sending medical teams to Namibia to help boost the provision of health care services in the southwestern African nation.

(Web editor: Zhang Kaiwei, Liang Jun)
Marr Contracting, a global leader in the design and delivery of heavy lift luffing tower cranes and key services, said it has been awarded the subcontract to deliver specialised heavy lifting crane services on the Kangaroo Point Green Bridge in Australia.

At a length of 460 metres, the bridge will be among the longest span cable stay pedestrian bridges in the world and a must-visit destination in Brisbane.

Located in Brisbanes busy river, the key challenge was how to construct the bridge mast while minimising potential impacts on the public ferries and private vessels that use the Brisbane River daily, said the statement from Marr.

Its scope of work will include more than 10 major lifts and general construction lifting requirements over a period of 12 months.

Following a detailed procurement process, Brisbane City Council awarded the contract to design and construct the Kangaroo Point Green Bridge to Connect Brisbane, led by Besix Watpac, in June 2021.

Connect Brisbane consists of bridge design, engineering and construction specialists including Rizzani de Eccher, WSP, Dissing + Weitling, Blight Rayner, Aspect Studios, Right Angle Studios and Rowland.

With experience spanning global and local projects, Marr was engaged by Connect Brisbane early in the design phase to develop a lifting strategy that supported their preferred construction methodology.

Besix Watpac Project Director Tim Deere said: "Our in-house engineering team was instrumental in identifying this crane at tender phase as the preferred lifting solution for the project. After comparing barge crane and tower crane options, the team confirmed the M2480D was the most suitable crane in the Australian market capable of lifting the fully assembled mast head."

Marrs experience working on the construction of the 318-metre towers on Turkeys 1915 Canakkale Bridge, Perths signature Matagarup Bridge, and Dubais landmark Water Canal Bridges provided Connect Brisbane with a frame of reference for addressing the challenges of constructing the 83-metre-tall mast of the Kangaroo Point Green Bridge.

Working with Marrs Brisbane-based engineers, Robert Bird Group, Marr developed a solution using an M2480D Heavy Lift Luffing (HLL) tower crane with a 64-m-long boom installed on a platform in the middle of Brisbane River.

The heaviest lift the tower crane will undertake for the project is 180 tonnes and will be the 28-metre-tall pre-fabricated steel masthead.

"Reaping the benefits of modularised construction with fewer, heavy lifts is not only helping to deliver a safer, more productive site; but also allowing our client to share the economic benefit delivered by the project by engaging more South East Queensland businesses away from the workfront," remarked its Managing Director Simon Marr.

Marrs M2480D arrived onsite in January, has been erected and commissioned, and completed its first lift  a 25 metre by 25-metre-wide working platform.

Construction of the Kangaroo Point Green Bridge started in late 2021 and is anticipated to be completed in 2024.-TradeArabia News Service
In the year 2017, a report of the Parliamentary Committee had said that there is a deep nexus at the border with Bangladesh, as a result of which cattle smuggling has become rampant.

On Sunday, February 26, two Border Security Force (BSF) guards were seriously injured and their weapons snatched after over a hundred Bangladeshi villagers attacked them with sharp weapons.

The incident took place along the India-Bangladesh border in West Bengal.

The BSF said that the incident took place at the Nirmalchar border outpost when the two Jawans were patrolling. The BSF Jawans had stopped the Bangladeshi farmers from bringing in cattle to India. The BSF also said that the Bangladeshis had tried to come in with an intention of destroying crops of the Indian farmers.

26 Feb 2023

Two Brave jawan of BOP-Nirmalchar,@BSF_SOUTHBENGAL, got severe injuries on the line of duty in the attack by Bangladeshi miscreants,who forcefully entered in Indian territory in large numbers with the intention of destroying the crops of Indian farmer's.#NationFirst pic.twitter.com/yJlqVUUZlw  BSF_SOUTH BENGAL: KOLKATA (@BSF_SOUTHBENGAL) February 26, 2023

The BSF also accused the Border Guards Bangladesh (BGB) of taking no concrete action to help in the recovery of the weapons that were snatched.

The incident also comes in the wake of the Indian farmers repeatedly complaining about the theft and damage to their crops by the Bangladeshi villagers.

The modus operandi

An official explains to OneIndia that this is a sustained modus operandi from the Bangladeshi side. Cattle smugglers have always been a menace and there have been various incidents of such nature.

The 2017 Parliamentary report had spoken about the nexus and added that cattle smuggling also helps terrorists and criminals. The operation by these elements continues to remain rampant despite the actions taken by the BSF, the panel had also pointed out.

The committee had also expressed anguish that the West Bengal government had failed to implement its own order dated September 1 2003 which outlaws the existence of any cattle haats within 8 kilometres of the border area. The committee further recommended that the Bengal government should take steps to cancel the licences of cattle haats which are illegally operating in the 8 kilometre radius of the border areas.

Aggression

In the past couple of years, the BSF has dealt with this issue with an iron fist. This probably explains the frustration of the Bangladeshis who have decided to become extremely aggressive.

Let us take a look at some statistics starting 2016. The fact that the issue is so rampant can be seen from the fact that the BSF had seized 1,68,801 cattle in the year 2016. The figure came down to 1,19,299 in the year 2017. It dipped further in 2018 with 63,716 cattle being seized. In 2017, there was a slight rise with the number of cattle being seized at 77,410. In 2020, the numbers dropped to 46,809.

The reason for the effective management of this issue can be attributed to various factors. One of them is the effective domination of the borders by carrying out round the clock patrolling, laying nakas, establishing observation posts along the International Border and strengthening the existing defences of the Border Out Posts. The installation of floodlights and deployment of technological solutions is also another factor.

Whenever the involvement of a BSF personnel comes to light for cattle smuggling along Indo-Bangladesh border, BSF carries out investigation and appropriate disciplinary action is taken as per the rules, Minister of State for Home Affairs, Nityanand Rai said in a written reply in the Rajya Sabha in 2021.

Cattle smuggling remains rampant in in the Eastern borders because of the high demand for meat and hide in Bangladesh. The trade runs into 100s of crores and the BSF has taken ample steps to stop this. This is why the aggression from the Bangladesh side has increased, explains another official.

Source: OneIndia
Islamabad, Mar 3 (UNI) At least two Pakistani nationals were killed and 17 others rescued in a tragic incident of a shipwreck off the coast of southern Italy, Pakistan's Ministry of Foreign Affairs said.

Two of those onboard are still missing, spokesperson for the Pakistani Foreign Ministry Mumtaz Zahra Baloch said at Thursday's weekly press briefing. "Our Embassy in Rome remains actively engaged with the Italian authorities for the welfare of the survivors and transportation of the mortal remains of the deceased," Baloch added.

Over 64 refugees were killed in the incident which took place on February 24. The ship reportedly carried more than 100 refugees, mainly from Iran, Pakistan and Afghanistan, when it began experiencing difficulties.

It broke up after hitting beneath-the-surface rocks in rough weather off the Calabrian Coast.

Separately, seven Pakistani nationals were killed in a tragic incident of a shipwreck off the Libyan coast in mid-February, said the spokesperson.

"Embassy of Pakistan in Libya is facilitating the process of identification of the bodies and transportation of the mortal remains to Pakistan with the support of local authorities and the International Committee of the Red Cross," she added.

The boat, carrying around 80 people, reportedly departed from Qasr Alkayar on Feb. 14 heading to Europe, according to the International Organization for Migration.

UNI/XINHUA GNK
New Delhi, Mar 3 (UNI) Continuing his bilateral meetings with visiting foreign ministers, External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar on Friday held talks with Catherine Colonna of France, Badr Albusaidi of Oman, Vivian Balakrishnan of Singapore, and Abdul Momen of Bangladesh.

On his meeting with his French counterpart, EAM tweeted that the two sides agreed to coordinate more closely on global and multilateral issues, and also reviewed the bilateral relationship.

Great meeting with FM @MinColonna of France.

Appreciated her support for our G20 Presidency.

Agreed to coordinate more closely on global and multilateral issues. Also reviewed our bilateral relationship.

French Foreign Minister Catherine Colonna, in a tweet, said that Prime Minister Narendra Modi might visit France soon at the invitation of President Emmanuel Macron to mark the celebrations of 25 years of their unique strategic partnership.

As France and #India will celebrate the 25th anniversary of their unique Strategic partnership, Prime minister @narendramodi might visit #France soon at the invitation of President @EmmanuelMacron, she said in a tweet.

EAM Jaishankar, on his meeting with his Singapore counterpart Vivian Balakrishnan, said the two had a good exchange of views on their ever-strengthening cooperation and more.

Always a pleasure to meet FM @VivianBala of Singapore.

A good exchange on our ever strengthening cooperation and more. Much done and lots of possibilities in a fast changing world.

On the meeting with the Oman Foreign Minister Badr Albusaidi, he posted that their bilateral cooperation is going from strength to strength.

A warm meeting with FM @badralbusaidi of Oman this evening. Value his #G20FMM and #RaisinaDialogue2023 participation.

Our bilateral cooperation is growing from strength to strength.

The Omani Foreign Minister in a tweet said that the two ministers exchanged views on the Oman-India Strategic relations.

Met today with my dear friend our host @DrSJaishankar, we exchanged views on the Oman-India Strategic relations and the importance of multilateral cooperation and promoting values of inclusivity and dialogue.

On his meeting with his Bangladesh counterpart Abdul Momen, EAM tweeted:

So nice to meet FM Dr. Abdul Momen of Bangladesh on #G20FMM and #RaisinaDialogue2023 sidelines.

Neighbourhood First, always.

Separately, EAM Jaishankar passed on the IBSA  India, Brazil, South Africa  Handover Report to chair Brazil.

Happy to pass on the IBSA Handover Report 2023 to chair Brazil today afternoon. Best wishes to colleague Mauro Vieira.

Our IBSA partnership will continue to work for the concerns of the Global South.

UNI RN
BTL offers professionals the opportunity to gain an in-depth understanding of the national and international market, since most of the exhibitors use BTL to present their main novelties.

It offers the general public the opportunity to choose new solutions and holiday destinations at highly competitive prices.

During the 5-day event, there will be a significant number of activities: conferences, workshops, demonstrations, business meetings and much more.

This event is organized by FIL  International Fair of Lisbon

For more information please contact BTL Lisbon
ITB Innovation Radar premieres in 2023 as a platform for showcasing exhibitors innovations  11 innovative solutions presented, from start-ups to industry majors, such as FREE NOW and Dorint  Participants receive additional promotional benefits in cooperation with ITB Berlin

ITB Innovation Radar is one of the many novelties introduced at ITB Berlin 2023, the worlds leading travel trade show making its comeback as an on-site event on 7-9 March 2023. It scouts for innovations capable of producing a sustainable impact on the future of the travel industry by fostering social, economic, or technical change. In the months leading up to ITB Berlin 2023, we invited the exhibitors to submit their innovative solutions for review by the ITB Innovation Radar team free of charge.

As a result, the innovators catalog of ITB Innovation Radar features 11 entries showcasing software solutions, innovative products, and disruptive concepts. All kinds of exhibitors have an equal representation  from vibrant start-up companies to established industry majors. You can browse all the entries here, including the information on locating the innovators' stands if you want to learn more in person during the show.

Here are the 2023 innovators:

Lato lets travel professionals streamline creating and sharing travel products and proposals. It allows users to collaborate and implement shared assets, producing attractive web-based digital travel apps. The cutting-edge translation and exporting technologies round up the profile.

lets travel professionals streamline creating and sharing travel products and proposals. It allows users to collaborate and implement shared assets, producing attractive web-based digital travel apps. The cutting-edge translation and exporting technologies round up the profile. TRZMO gives travelers freedom when it comes to seamless global roaming. It capitalizes on eSIM functionality, letting users go online within seconds. TRZMO also has a built-in travel journal feature, which lets travelers capture and revisit their favorite moments.

gives travelers freedom when it comes to seamless global roaming. It capitalizes on eSIM functionality, letting users go online within seconds. TRZMO also has a built-in travel journal feature, which lets travelers capture and revisit their favorite moments. RightFlight Robotics developed by RightRez is a flight booking engine that facilitates air sales while securing lower fares and cutting costs. It requires no GDS training for operation, and its built-in quality control rules make sure the optimal flights are booked as soon as the segments become available.

developed by is a flight booking engine that facilitates air sales while securing lower fares and cutting costs. It requires no GDS training for operation, and its built-in quality control rules make sure the optimal flights are booked as soon as the segments become available. Mobility Budget by FREE NOW for Business is an employee benefit designed for companies that want to give their staff flexibility beyond the workplace. Employers can set up a travel allowance for private trips, commuting to work, or other mobility-related expenses.

by is an employee benefit designed for companies that want to give their staff flexibility beyond the workplace. Employers can set up a travel allowance for private trips, commuting to work, or other mobility-related expenses. VR Payment Experience developed by Worldline provides a simultaneous multi-factor authentication method for payment in virtual reality. VR headset users dont have to take their devices off to conduct a purchase anymore, which creates a seamless augmented reality commerce experience.

developed by provides a simultaneous multi-factor authentication method for payment in virtual reality. VR headset users dont have to take their devices off to conduct a purchase anymore, which creates a seamless augmented reality commerce experience. GreenSquareConcept is an ambitious sustainability promise concept by the Dorint Hotel Group . It touches on each aspect of the hotelier business, from guest experience to resource allocation and employee work-life balance. GreenSquareConcept sets a clear development framework, offering the hotel group guidelines for sustainable growth.

is an ambitious sustainability promise concept by the . It touches on each aspect of the hotelier business, from guest experience to resource allocation and employee work-life balance. GreenSquareConcept sets a clear development framework, offering the hotel group guidelines for sustainable growth. Holipay is a payment method for holiday booking. It breaks down large payments into smaller transactions, reducing the end customers credit limit overextension. This approach leads to an increase in guaranteed bookings and lower cancellation rates.

is a payment method for holiday booking. It breaks down large payments into smaller transactions, reducing the end customers credit limit overextension. This approach leads to an increase in guaranteed bookings and lower cancellation rates. GauVendi is an AI-driven hotel sales system that decouples physical rooms from products offered to customers. It provides unmatched flexibility and hyper-personalization for tailoring offers across specific segments and channels. Inventory management becomes more dynamic and automated.

is an AI-driven hotel sales system that decouples physical rooms from products offered to customers. It provides unmatched flexibility and hyper-personalization for tailoring offers across specific segments and channels. Inventory management becomes more dynamic and automated. GPM by Tamara Leisure Experiences is a comprehensive project management tool for the hotel branch. It integrates various data tools and solutions, offering teams across the whole function spectrum the space to collaborate and track their progress, centralizing task management and feedback.

by is a comprehensive project management tool for the hotel branch. It integrates various data tools and solutions, offering teams across the whole function spectrum the space to collaborate and track their progress, centralizing task management and feedback. TripOptimizer by Nezasa lets travel agents, airlines, and online platforms optimize flight booking when it comes to complicated multi-segment and roundtrip routes. It relies on artificial intelligence and proprietary algorithms to create optimal flight itineraries within seconds.

by lets travel agents, airlines, and online platforms optimize flight booking when it comes to complicated multi-segment and roundtrip routes. It relies on artificial intelligence and proprietary algorithms to create optimal flight itineraries within seconds. better.energy is an existing energy management solution by Betterspace. The developer responds to emergent market trends by integrating cutting-edge LoRaWAN technology and extended hardware options into its flagship solution. This offers numerous advantages to the hotel branch.

The ITB Innovation Radar team will conduct on-site interviews with the innovators during ITB Berlin 2023 on 7-9 March 2023. This will let us tap into the exhibitors visions for the future of the travel industry. We will share our impressions via ITB Berlins official social media channels.

About ITB Berlin and the ITB Berlin Convention

ITB Berlin 2023 will take place for trade visitors only from Tuesday, 7 to Thursday, 9 March. Since 1966, ITB Berlin has been the World's Leading Travel Trade Show. As in previous years, the internationally renowned ITB Berlin Convention will take place live parallel with the exhibition on the Berlin Exhibition Grounds, with selected sessions live-streamed on itb.com. In 2022 it took place as a virtual event on the brand's website itb.com and registered 60,700 attendees from 125 countries who took part in more than 100 sessions featuring 223 speakers. Taking place on one day, the Digital Business Day gave 2,500 attendees from 96 countries an opportunity to exchange views and do business virtually from anywhere in the world. International attendance was high, with 78 per cent of buyers and providers taking part from abroad. A total of 20,000 business contacts were made, resulting in 14,000 leads and 3,200 business meetings being arranged. As a virtual industry platform, the Digital Business Day augmented the ITB brand family and rounded off the trade show concept. In 2022, under the heading 'TRVLX by ITB', ITB Berlin is planning a series of B2B networking events in European markets  the kick-off event took place in May in Georgia. Before the pandemic at ITB 2019, around 10,000 exhibitors from 181 countries displayed their products and services to some 160,000 visitors, including 113,500 trade visitors.
WASHINGTON, DC - More Americans are heading abroad this Spring Break. AAA booking data shows international travel this season is up 30% over 2022. Many families are also taking multigenerational vacations. A new AAA survey shows more than 40% of U.S. adults with Spring Break plans are traveling with three generations.

Families are making up for lost time. Weve seen a spike in international Spring Break bookings. Americans are taking advantage of the strong U.S. dollar and the exchange rate in Europe. Travelers looking for warm weather are flocking to the Caribbean and Mexico or sailing to tropical destinations while enjoying the amenities of a cruise vacation. Paula Twidale, AAA Senior Vice President of Travel

Beach vacations are the most popular among Spring Breakers, according to AAAs survey. Florida is the top domestic destination with its beaches, theme parks, and cruise ports. Hawaii is another Spring Break favorite, with six unique islands and stunning scenery. AAA tour partner Pleasant Holidays says bookings for Hawaiian hotels and cruises are popular this year, as many travelers are opting for warm-weather beach destinations.

Cruising is making a big splash this year. Ships leaving from Orlando, Fort Lauderdale, Miami, and Tampa  heading to the Caribbean, Mexico, and Central America  top the list of AAA cruise bookings for Spring Break. Cruises sailing to Alaska, Canada, Northern Europe, and the Persian Gulf are also seeing a spike in popularity.

Top Spring Break Destinations

Mexican Getaways

Cancun and Riviera Maya

Mexico City

Caribbean Vacations

Nassau, Bahamas

Punta Cana, Dominican Republic

Montego Bay, Jamaica

San Juan, Puerto Rico

European Escapes

Paris, France

London, England

Amsterdam, Netherlands

Rome, Italy

Barcelona, Spain

Unique Cruises

Bahrain

Papua New Guinea

Danube River

USA Hot Spots

Florida

Hawaii

Las Vegas

New York City

San Francisco

New Orleans

Survey Methodology: The survey was conducted February 16-20, 2023 using a probability-based panel designed to be representative of the U.S. household population overall. The panel provides sample coverage of approximately 97% of the U.S. household population. Most surveys were completed online; consumers without Internet access were surveyed over the phone.

A total of 1,196 interviews were completed among U.S. adults, 18 years of age or older. The margin of error for the study overall is 3.8% at the 95% confidence level. Smaller subgroups have larger error margins.

About AAA

Started in 1902 by automotive enthusiasts who wanted to chart a path for better roads in America and advocate for safe mobility, AAA has transformed into one of North America's largest membership organizations. Today, AAA provides roadside assistance, travel, discounts, and financial and insurance services to enhance the life journey of more than 63 million members across North America, including more than 56 million in the United States. To learn more about all AAA has to offer or to become a member, visit AAA.com.
Chicago, IL (60637)

Today

Rain early...then remaining cloudy with showers and windy conditions developing in the afternoon. Morning high of 60F with temps falling to near 40. Winds WSW at 20 to 30 mph. Chance of rain 80%. Rainfall near a quarter of an inch..

Tonight

Periods of rain and snow showers in the evening transitioning to snow showers late...windy. Low 34F. Winds WSW at 20 to 30 mph. Chance of precip 60%. Higher wind gusts possible.
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The Jewish Federation of the Berkshires Welcomes Development Officer

PITTSFIELD, Mass.  The Jewish Federation of the Berkshires announces the appointment of Mark Cohn as its development officer.

In this capacity, Mark will be responsible for working in partnership with the Executive Director, the Board of Directors, and the Development Committee to plan and implement Federation's annual campaign and major gifts fundraising effort.

Cohn, an ordained Reform Rabbi, previously served as rabbi of Temple Emanuel in Winston-Salem, NC, where he was honored with the title Rabbi Emeritus upon concluding his service. He also served as the assistant rabbi of Congregation Schaarai Zedek in Tampa, Fla.

"Having spent my professional life in the Jewish community, working at the Jewish Federation of the Berkshires is home, even in its newness to me," said Cohn. "I have already seen how this Federation serves a beautiful and important role in connecting synagogues and individuals, social services and families to one another so that we, collectively, may strengthen Jewish peoplehood and the surrounding community."

Originally from the San Francisco Bay area, Cohn earned his B.A. in History from UCLA and an M.A. in History from Lehigh University. In 1998, he received his rabbinic ordination through Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion having studied in Jerusalem and Cincinnati, OH.

Cohn has two children, his son Eitan, 25, and daughter Harli, 20. In 2022, he married Rabbi Amy Wallk, who serves as the rabbi of Temple Beth El in Springfield.

Mark Cohn, development officer of the Jewish Federation of the Berkshires, can be reached by email at mcohn@jewishberkshires.org or by calling (413) 442-4360, ext. 19.
Berkshire Harm Reduction Implementing Narcan Boxes in Pittsfield

PITTSFIELD, Mass.  Hoping to save lives from opioid overdose, Berkshire Harm Reduction is bringing Narcan to the streets.

Program Manager Sarah DeJesus updated the Board of Health on Wednesday on the organization's efforts to place Narcan or Naloxone boxes in public places that are readily available for use.

The medicine, which is administered nasally, blocks opiate receptors in the nervous system.

"One of the recent initiatives that we became involved in is through the HEALing Communities Study, and it has a very ambitious goal to reduce overdose deaths by 40 percent in the next 18 months that the program is in existence," DeJesus said about federal pilot the city and North Adams the participating in.

"One of the ways that we're looking to do that is to really get as much naloxone or Narcan into the community as possible and so we've been working with a couple of businesses or organizations who are willing to host these public naloxone boxes. Massachusetts has a standing order for Narcan so anybody can obtain it, anybody can possess it, administer it. You don't need a prescription to get it so it's really low threshold access for the public."

Some other counties throughout Massachusetts have already implemented this program and BHR has been consulting with them.

"What we have heard pretty consistently is that the boxes that are located outdoors are utilized more frequently than the boxes that are located indoors so we're really hoping to have the majority of these boxes located on public property," DeJesus said.

Ten boxes have been allocated for Pittsfield, five of which are for indoors and five for outdoors.

The Alternative Living Center, Pittsfield Community Television, the Zion Lutheran Church, and the Christian Center have agreed to host a box, all of which are indoors. The organization is seeking outdoor hosts.

The program manager compared the boxes' functionality to public book boxes.

"There is no electrical component, there is no payment source, there is no nothing. It's just, you open the door, you take a box, and you go," she explained.

"The hope is really for people to have it and take it when they see these boxes as opposed to being in an emergency situation and needing one. So either circumstance is OK but we're hoping that they get into the hands of people that will need them prior to in the moment."

The outdoor boxes hold nine kits and the indoor boxes hold 50 kits. A BHR staff member is responsible for supplying and maintaining the boxes.

"We have a designated staff member at Berkshire Harm Reduction who, once the boxes are installed, will visit them on a rotating schedule and make sure that they're maintained and restocked and resupplied and check in with staff at the locations about any feedback that they had on the boxes and how much they're being utilized," DeJesus said.

"So there is no cost to the organizations or to the city. There is no expectation on the organizations to do anything with the boxes other than to host them."

Berkshire Harm Reduction, which is within Berkshire Health Systems, is operating a parallel program in North Adams with 10 boxes.

Public Health Director Andy Cambi said the plan is to come back to the board after the boxes are implemented and provide education.

The organization also has a needle exchange program at 510 North St. and a mobile harm reduction unit that travels throughout the region.
Lanesborough Finance Committee Supports Public Safety Building Article

LANESBOROUGH, Mass.  A majority of the town's finance committee supports the nearly $6 million public safety building proposal.

On Tuesday the panel OKed applicable articles for the Special Town Meeting on March 9, one of which is to raise and appropriate, transfer, and/or borrow $5,989,100 for a new public safety complex at 405 South Main Street.

Chair Jodi-Lee Szczepaniak-Locke has concerns with the project and voted in opposition.

"I am leery of supporting the project as it is right now," she said. "I would be 100 percent for it if we could do it in stages."

Though she commended the Police Station Committee for its extensive work and acknowledged that they can't please everyone.

"I want to take time to thank the committee that devoted so much volunteer time over the last year to develop the plans for this building," Szczepaniak-Locke said.

"Volunteerism is very important to a community and it needs to be recognized that people have done this."

The 7,300-square-foot design prepared by Architect Brian Humes would include police, ambulance, and emergency medical services personnel, sleeping quarters, garage space, an emergency management center, and an in-house training room.

The site formerly housed the Skyline Country Club's driving range and is owned by Pittsfield's Mill Town Capital.

Committee member Ronald Tinkham recognized that the town has received $1 million from the state, leaving the current taxpayer burden at $4.9 million, and there is a good likelihood of other grants.

The Baker Hill Road District is also contributing $150,000 for the property purchase.

With a 40-year U.S. Department of Agriculture loan at 3.7 percent interest, the average taxpayer will see an annual increase of between $46 and $183 on their property tax bill.

Police Chief Robert Derksen said that they have heard positive implications from state representatives that more money will be available they are just not sure how much. EMS Director Jennifer Weber added that they would like to see a project approved by taxpayers before committing more money.

"They don't want to set money aside for something that will never take place," Derksen explained.

He said that the legislation that gave the town $1 million in bond money was originally written for $4 million and during discussions, it was settled down to $1 million and it could ask for more money in this upcoming legislative year.

His intention would be to ask for the full $4.9 million, without speaking for the committee.

There were initial discussions about hiring a grant writer but it was determined that it wouldn't make sense to spend that money before the project was approved.

"I have to say that the politicians that we've met with personally have been super supportive and really kind of have given us a really great direction and path not only the USDA loans but also a lot of grant options," Weber said, adding that the grants are competitive.

Szczepaniak-Locke asked the chief if the building satisfies all of his wants and needs. He would have liked to see a larger training room to host trainings with outside agencies to give his staff free training.

Derksen has received inquiries from officers about having a space to put fitness equipment and pointed out that the room could also have another purpose such as housing a social worker.

He also spoke to the design's lack of a holding cell, expelling that it opens up a "whole gamut" of things because it requires the department to house a person.

"If I have a holding cell basically I become a jail even though it's temporary housing, I still become a jail," he explained.

"So now I'm opening up to all those regulations, I have to be able to provide psychiatric screening, medical screening, I have to provide meals, and obviously 24/7 supervision."

Szczepaniak-Locke said there is no question that the town needs the police department but pointed to the cost concern before ambulatory services were involved.

"Most of these comments are not for the two of you," she said to the first responders.

"It's more of the broad-based things that I'm hearing with a larger facility we have those longer-term hidden costs that no one really seems to be talking about. More money to ensure the cost of the building itself, the electrical costs, your basic utilities I guess is what I am thinking of."

She is concerned about the viability of long-term ambulance services, adding that a lot of people think that they have a volunteer ambulance service and need to know that the town is paying for staff from 7 a.m. to 11 p.m. every day.

"I think a public safety complex is an excellent idea but I wish that we could do this in stages," Szczepaniak-Locke said.

"I think that with our new governor, I think that there is going to be money coming down the pike literally. I'm a fan of grants to the point where when you're gambling with taxpayer money then I think we need an out clause in this. If we don't get the money then what are we going to do? Because carrying all of this on the backs of the taxpayers is a lot. I think there is there should be time to look into a tri-town option of ambulance services with new Ashford and Hancock."

Weber said that there is an opportunity for regionalization but it is hard to have those conversations publicly because she is spread so thin in the department.

Derksen said that he does not want the people of Lanesborough to have to pay any more for taxes and cited his background in finance. He doesn't see how the town can do it any cheaper and pointed to the needs assessment done by Humes that looked into the community's population, call volume, and crime rate to determine what kind of facility will be needed for the next 40 years.

"We have really been as fiscally responsible as possible," Weber said. "I live in Lanesborough. I pay taxes. I don't want them to go up and I certainly don't want to put a burden on the elderly people."
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The International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) today joined its affiliate in Burundi, lUnion Burundaise des Journalistes (UBJ), in calling for the immediate and unconditional release of journalist Floriane Irangabiye who is serving a ten-year jail term, following her arrest six months ago and her conviction in January 2023 over "undermining the integrity of the national territory."

Floriane Irangabiye was arrested on 30 August by agents of the National Intelligence Service (SNR) upon her return to Burundi from Rwanda for a family visit. She was sentenced by the Mukaza High Court on 10 January to ten years imprisonment and a fine of 1 million Burundian francs.

The journalist works for the online radio Igicaniro set up by young Burundians who live in exile in Rwanda. The radio has been critical of the Burundian government and organises debates on politics, economics and culture. Irangabiye was accused of Undermining the integrity of the national territory under Article 611 which states: "Anyone who, outside the cases provided for in Articles 613 and 614 has undertaken by any means whatsoever to undermine the integrity of the national territory shall be punished by a penal servitude of five to ten years and a fine of one to three million Burundian Francs."

According to the IWACU online newspaper, Irangabiye's case was marred by irregularities, procedural flaws and failure to respect the laws. It seems that there is an invisible hand that is pulling the strings. The decisions seem to come from elsewhere but not from the court."

IFJ General Secretary Anthony Bellanger said that "the imprisonment of Floriane Irangabiye by the Mukaza High Court is a travesty of justice, a deliberate negation of the rule of law and a callous attack on freedom of expression and media freedom. She has not committed any offence in the exercise of her duties as an online radio host that anchors debates on the political and economic situation in Burundi."

The IFJ calls for the judgement and the fine against Irangabiye to be quashed for her immediate and unconditional release. The Federation urges the Burundian Government to repeal all the laws that pose a threat to freedom of expression, media freedom and access to information in accordance with the Declaration of Principles on Freedom of Expression and Access to Information which was adopted by the African Commission on Human and Peoples Rights in 2019.
Marvia Malik, Pakistans first transgender news anchor for Kohenoor TV, has survived an ambush by two gunmen on return to her Lahore home and previously receiving death threats from unknown individuals. The International Federation of Journalists (IFJ), and its Pakistan affiliate, the Pakistan Federal Union of Journalists (PFUJ), condemn the attack on Marvia Malik and urge the Pakistani government to expedite investigations into the incident to protect working journalists.

On February 25, a case was registered against unknown assailants for their attack on Marvia Malik, Pakistan's first transgender news anchor. According to a First Information Report launched by the anchor, she was fired upon by two suspects on return to her home from a nearby pharmacy. Malik has since left Lahore to ensure her safety, returning recently for a surgery.

According to her police statement, the television presenter said that she had received threatening phone calls and texts from unknown numbers for her advocacy for the transgender community. She also asserted that her activism was a major factor in the attempted killing,

Since 2013, journalists in Pakistan have faced increasing threats, violence and legal repression, with investigations often failing to identify perpetrators. In 2022, 80% of IFJ-documented deaths in Pakistan resulted from gun violence.

In 2018, Malik became Pakistans first transgender news anchor at the age of 21, after funding her way through journalism school by working as a make-up artist in the fashion sector. She previously made history by being the first transgender model to walk the runway at the Pakistan Fashion Design Council's annual fashion show.

The PFUJ said: The PFUJ strongly condemns the armed assault on Marvia Malik and requests the IG Punjab Police arrest and imprison the perpetrators. Violence in this manner is unacceptable, and the offenders should be apprehended and jailed.

The IFJ said: Pakistan's government must take appropriate measures to ensure media workers' safety and security, as required by law. Threats of assault, violence and death limit the capacity for journalists to operate without fear. The IFJ condemns the threats and attack against Marvia Malik and urges Pakistani authorities to investigate the incident swiftly and transparently.
Seiko Epson Corporation today launched a three-year international partnership with global conservation organization WWF focusing on forest restoration and conservation around the world. This partnership is the first of its kind for a Japanese corporation in the electronics and precision instruments sector and builds on the existing relationship between the two organizations that started in March 2022 working on marine conservation in Southeast Asia.

Based on a shared ambition to tackle common environmental concerns, the partnership will encompass three objectives:

Addressing Epsons environmental footprint, Supporting WWFs forest restoration and conservation projects in seven countries in four regions, and Communicating about environmental issues.

To make this possible, Epson is planning a contribution of 240 million Japanese Yen (approximately 97 million Pesos) over the next three years starting from March 2023 that will go towards WWF forestry projects.

Through the partnership, Epson will be supporting forest conservation activities and nature recovery efforts implemented by WWF across several Deforestation Fronts and will aim to improve sustainability in their supply chain as a participant of WWFs Forests Forward program. To realize a nature-positive world together, the collaboration will also promote the responsible use of forest resources (paper) in business, as well as future considerations for the conservation of freshwater ecosystems and activities that contribute to a circular economy.

Developing activities to promote sustainable agriculture. In addition to forest conservation and other environmental concerns, we aim to help improve the livelihoods of small-scale farmers. (Southeast Asia Mekong region)

Credits:  WWF-Japan

We are delighted to sign this agreement with the WWF, said Yasunori Ogawa, global president of Epson. The world is facing an environmental catastrophe and it is essential we act now to preserve the biodiversity of our planet before it is too late. This partnership reflects Epsons commitment to conserving the environment, reducing waste, and ensuring that the use of natural resources is sustainable. With a goal of realizing a future in which people can live in harmony with nature, the WWF is a perfect fit for Epson.

In 2021, Epson announced its Environmental Vision in which it pledged to become carbon negative and eliminate the use of non-renewable underground resources by 2050. To achieve these goals, the company is rolling out a series of initiatives aimed at achieving decarbonization, closing the resource loop, providing products and services that reduce environmental impacts and developing environmental technologies. Epson recognizes that the engagement of the whole community is necessary to achieve a sustainable society, and is working with like-minded partners such as WWF to raise awareness of and take bold actions to solve environmental issues facing our planet.

WWF welcomes this ambitious partnership with Epson for the future of the forest, said TOBAI, Sadayosi, CEO of WWF-Japan. It's not only a single companys commitment, but also reflects a significant step forward to accelerate efforts from the private sector to prevent the degradation of nature, in particular the forests, that we all depend on.

The protection and responsible management of forest ecosystems has been high on the agenda at recent global discussions such as UN COP27 for climate and UN COP15 for biodiversity. It is critical that we ride on this momentum by making robust commitments and urgent transformative changes necessary to reverse biodiversity loss and build a more sustainable society.

Through the partnership and participation in the Forests Forward program, Epson and WWF are together committed to saving threatened forest in vital landscapes within, and beyond, Epson's supply chain by improving forest management and restoring nature.
Run us through the companys business model.

Our business model is supported by stable and recurring revenues, with a consistent track record of revenue growth and profitability.

We are amongst the very few suppliers in India who have the capability to develop and provide system level transfer case, torque coupler and DCT solutions. We manufacture and supply a variety of products under the broad categories of (i) torque transfer systems (which includes four-wheel-drive (4WD) and all-wheel-drive (AWD) products); (ii) synchronizer systems for manual transmissions and DCT; and (iii) components for the above-mentioned product categories for torque transfer systems and synchronizer systems in manual transmission, DCT, and EVs. We have also developed (i) transmission systems for EVs; (ii) DCT systems; and (iii) rear wheel drive manual transmissions.

We have three manufacturing and assembling facilities across India located at Sirsi in Karnataka, and Shivare and Bhosari near Pune in Maharashtra, with the manufacturing facilities at Shivare and Bhosari being strategically located in proximity to our key clients, and one under-construction manufacturing facility located at Shirwal, Maharashtra.

We have long term relationships with OEMs such as Mahindra & Mahindra, an Indian supplier to global automotive OEM, and a USA based multi-national automotive supplier.

We have made investments in our R&D and in building production capacities for future growth. We have developed in-house capabilities to deliver evolving technologies for future mobility solutions.

What is the growth strategy of the company?

As part of our growth strategy, we plan to increase our market share in both the Indian and overseas markets by catering significantly to EV OEMs. We intend to further leverage our presence in yet another fast-developing trend, which is the increasing demand for automatics observed across the entire UV segment.

In our existing automotive powertrain solutions and products portfolio, we aim to consolidate and strengthen our market share in domestic and global markets by leveraging our long-standing customer relationships to enter into new products and vehicle programs, expand into new geographies for existing customers and develop new customers.

We are in the process of launching domestically manufactured DCT systems for the Indian market, post which we will be the only manufacturer of DCT systems in India. We are planning to localize and commercialize 7 Speed Dual Clutch Automatic Transmission.

Share with us the key macro opportunities for your company across all key markets.

As electrification of vehicles which continues to expand, driven by government regulations related to emissions, such as CAFE norms, as well as consumer demand and with the increasing penetration for automatics in passenger vehicles and with the emergence of EV, we believe that automotive drivetrains will shift from just mechanical systems to electronics control with embedded software to control the operation of these systems. The market for EV transmission is expected to increase by CAGR of 77-82% from Fiscal 2022 and 2027 in volume terms as well as value terms.

Provide us with a snapshot of the company's financial profile. What are the company's key strengths thereof?

Our focus on continuous efficiency improvements, improved productivity and cost rationalization has enabled us to deliver consistent and strong financial and operational performance. Despite the overall slowdown in the global automotive sector in Fiscal 2020 and the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, we were able to maintain our EBITDA margins. We have established a track record of growth and financial performance with steady cash flows from our operations. Between Fiscal 2020 and Fiscal 2022, our profit after tax increased at a CAGR of 28.30%. Our strong balance sheet and positive operating cash flows enable us to fund our strategic initiatives, pursue opportunities for growth and manage unanticipated cash flow variations.

How will you deploy the funds raised via the IPO?

We aim to capture the growth trend in revenue realization per system assembly and component with increasing electronics, embedded software and electrification by continuously investing in R&D to develop and deliver new innovative systems, components,. For achieving the same, we propose to purchase equipment/ machineries for our existing manufacturing facilities in Sirsi, Karnataka; Shivare, Maharashtra; and our under construction facility at Shirwal, Maharashtra. The equipments being procured will be used for the purpose of EV transmissions, DCT automatic transmissions and 4X4 transfer case

From the total net proceed of fresh issue of Rs. 180 crore, we intend to utilize Rs. 150.7 crore towards funding capital expenditure requirements to purchase equipments / machineries for our manufacturing facilities and the balance amount towards general corporate purpose.

Share with us the key challenges facing the company. How are you mitigating the same?

The market for electric vehicles is relatively new, rapidly evolving, characterized by rapidly changing technologies, price competition, additional competitors, evolving government regulation and industry standards, frequent new vehicle announcements and consumers willingness to adopt electric vehicles.

We are one of the very few suppliers in India having the capability to develop and provide system level transfer case, torque coupler, DCT solutions and transmission systems for EVs across a wide array of automotive vehicles and geographies, with leadership across select product categories.

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BJP MLA Madal Virupakshappa on Friday resigned as the chairman of Karnataka Soaps and Detergents Limited (KSDL), a day after his son was caught by the Lokayukta while accepting a bribe of Rs 40 lakh.

Madal, the MLA from Channagiri in the Davanagere district, sent a letter to Karnataka Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai, stating that he was stepping down from his post in KSDL, the maker of Mysore Sandal Soap.

BCCL

Son allegedly took bribe on MLA's behalf

"There is some conspiracy against my family. I'm submitting resignation under moral responsibility as there is an allegation against me," he claimed in the letter.



The MLA has been under pressure after his son Prasanth, who is Bengaluru Water Supply and Sewerage Board Chief Accountant, was caught by the Lokayukta accepting a bribe.

It is alleged that Prasanth was accepting the bribe on his father's behalf, a charge that the MLA has denied.

TWITTER

Rs 7.6 crore cash recovered from MLA's son

In a subsequent raid, Lokayukta officials recovered Rs 7.62 crore in cash from his residence in Bengaluru.



Lokayukta was on duty after getting a complaint about the demand for a bribe.

"The actual demand was for Rs 81 lakh and the individual was handing over Rs 40 lakh," Lokayukta stated.

The bribe was to win the tender allotment for providing raw materials to KSDL.

TWITTER

Accused sent to 14 days judicial custody

The Lokayukta arrested five persons, including Prashanth, on Thursday. The others have been identified as Siddesh, a relative of Prashanth, accountant Surendra, Nicolas, and Gangadhar. Nicolas and Gangadhar had come to hand over the cash of Rs 40 lakh.

BIG

K'taka Lokayukta sleuths have raided & trapped son of BJP MLA Madal Virupakshappa, the accused Prashanth works as Chief accountant in BWSSB, he was collecting bribe on behalf of his father/chairman KSDL for raw material procurement tender. Raids on at crescent road office. pic.twitter.com/5NWAbLDeId  Deepak Bopanna (@dpkBopanna) March 2, 2023

A Special Lokayukta Court on Friday remanded Prashanth and the other accused to 14 days of judicial custody.

Prashanth has been sent to judicial custody as raids are pending. The officials will seek his custody after the completion of preliminary investigations.

40 per cent commission allegation in Karnataka

The arrest is a major embarrassment for the ruling BJP ahead of the Assembly elections in Karnataka.

The Bommai government has faced several corruption allegations, with contractors even claiming that BJP MLAs and ministers were demanding a commission of up to 40 per cent on tenders.

PTI

The Karnataka State Contractors Association had even written to PM Modi about the 40 per cent commission demand.

Arrest shows Lokayukta is working: BJP

Under fire over the arrest of MLA's son, Karnataka BJP President Nalin Kumar Kateel on Friday said the party would initiate action against the legislator if he were found guilty in the bribery case.

Kateel also claimed that the arrest of an MLA's son shows that the Lokayukta is working independently.

"There is no question of protecting anyone. MLA's son is a government official. Lokayukta institution was reopened by the ruling BJP government," Kateel said.

For more on news and current affairs from around the world, please visit Indiatimes News.
On Thursday, when Nagaland Assembly election results were declared, Hekani Jakhalu created history by becoming the first woman to be elected.

Hekani Jakhalu, a candidate of the ruling NDPP, won from the Dimapur-III Assembly constituency.

Hekani Jakhalu

First woman MLA in Nagaland

Hekani Jakhalu defeated Azheto Zhimomi of Lok Janshakti Party (Ram Vilas) by a margin of 1,536 votes.



Jakhalu secured 14,395 votes, Zhimomi got 12,705 votes, while Indian National Congress (INC) candidate Vetetso Lasuh got just 357.

This is for the first time since Nagaland became a state in 1963 a woman has been elected to the assembly.

Who is Hekani Jakhalu?

Jakhalu, a Political Science graduate from Lady Shri Ram College in Delhi, also holds a Bachelor of Law from the University of Delhi.

After briefly working in the US, Jakhalu returned to India and started practising law in Delhi.

Later she moved back to her home state, where she founded an NGO which aims to create more business opportunities for the youth of Nagaland.

In recognition of her work, Hekani Jakhalu received the Nari Shakti Puraskar award in 2018, the highest civilian award given only to women.

Hekani Jakhalu

While Jakhalu may be the first woman candidate to be announced the winner on Thursday, she won't be alone when she makes her debut in the Nagaland Assembly.

Another woman candidate of the Nationalist Democratic Progressive Party, Salhoutuonuo Kruse, has also been declared the winner.

Salhoutuonuo Kruse won the Western Angami 8 constituency by a margin of just seven votes. She defeated Keneizhakho Nakhro, who contested as an Independent candidate.

Salhoutuonuo Kruse

NDPP retains power in Nagaland Assembly election

On Thursday, NDPP and its ally BJP retained power in Nagaland for a second successive term by winning 37 seats together in the 60-member state Assembly, for which elections were held on February 27.

The Congress, which governed the state till 2003, had contested 23 seats but drew a blank once again. The party had no legislator in the outgoing Assembly.

The NDPP won 25 seats, eight more than its 2018 tally, while the BJP secured 12 seats, the same as last elections.

NDPP leader and Nagaland's longest-serving Chief Minister, Neiphiu Rio, is now set to assume the CM's chair for a fifth straight term.

Rio defeated Congress' Seyievelie Sachu, a greenhorn in the political arena, in Northern Angami II by a record margin of 15,824 votes.

For more on news and current affairs from around the world, please visit Indiatimes News.
This is a sacred dutyIll work day and night to make Nigeria better, President-Elect Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu says after INEC issued him a certificate of return.

Mr Tinubu was a political kingmaker who helped many into political offices. Now he has his turn in the highest political office in Nigeria.

In the Yoruba monarchical system, a kingmaker can never become king. Any kingmaker who attempts to become a king risks committing suicide.

By tradition, kingmakers come from a lineage that does not produce kings just as princes who can become kings can never be kingmakers. The essence of this demarcation in responsibilities and functions is to ensure transparency and honesty in the selection of a king without bias.

In many parts of Yorubaland, at the passing of a king, the kingmakers come together to pick from princes from different ruling houses entitled to the throne after consultation with Ifa.

But a Yoruba man, who is now the President-elect of Nigeria after the 25th February presidential election, Bola Tinubu, appears to have transmuted from being a kingmaker to the king himself.

Mr Tinubu, the City Boy from the country's commercial nerve centre, Lagos, appears to have broken with tradition as the new leader of Nigeria, which is completely at variance with the long-held tradition in Yoruba cosmology that a kingmaker never becomes king.

His latest win perhaps underscores why he is sometimes described as 'akanbi,' an unusual child, especially by his core admirers like the Fuji maestro, Wasiu Ayinde.

To be clear, Mr Tinubu, a former two-term governor of Lagos State on the ticket of the defunct Alliance for Democracy, is neither a Yoruba prince nor a kingmaker as far as the history of his known lineage is concerned. But he has been a political kingmaker, a term loosely associated with politicians who help others - usually their associates and mentees - to acquire political power, first for the benefit of their group and then for the larger interest of the society. They are also called political godfathers in some local parlances.

At the last count, as a kingmaker, he installed quite a handful of political kings, especially in the southern part of the country and was also one of those who supported the election of Muhammadu Buhari to become president. Mr Buhari, a retired military general, had contested three times and failed, before the historic election of 2015 which saw him defeat the then-incumbent President, Goodluck Jonathan, of the PDP.

As a kingmaker playing on the topsy-turvy political firmament of the country, it has not been a rosy tale of successes in Mr Tinubu's adventures and exploits alone. He has also recorded major losses with some kings he installed or helped to install later turning against him in their own quest for emancipation or to build their own independent kingdoms.

In the beginning

After the return to civil rule in 1999, as one of the political returnees from exile, who were interested in political offices, Mr Tinubu won the ticket of the defunct AD and later defeated his closest rival, Dapo Sarumi of the PDP, by a wide margin in the governorship election

He secured his reelection in 2003 as the last man standing in the Class of 1999 AD governors following the PDP tsunami that swept away the other five governors in the country's South-west region. He defeated the candidate of the PDP in the election, Funsho Williams, a defector from the AD, whom he had defeated to clinch the AD ticket in 1999.

The AD governors, with the exception of Mr Tinubu, had reportedly entered into a pact with then President Olusegun Obasanjo to allow him to win handsomely in the presidential election of 2003 in the geopolitical zone while they retained their seats as governors for a second term.

The AD governors who went with the PDP-engineered wind of change in the region were Olusegun Osoba of Ogun State, Bisi Akande of Osun State, Adeniyi Adebayo of Ekiti State, Lam Adesina of Oyo State and Adebayo Adefarati of Ondo State.

How Mr Tinubu survived the landmine believed to have been planted by Mr Obasanjo who wanted the South-west to be railroaded into the PDP fold remains a classic lesson in the art and act of political manoeuvring and eternal vigilance as the ultimate gateway to freedom.

He remains the first civilian governor of Lagos State who won two terms in office and finished them. The first civilian governor of the state, Lateef Jakande, could not serve out his second term which he secured in 1983 on the platform of the defunct Unity Party of Nigeria. He was swept out of office by a coup that ushered in the military administration of Muhammadu Buhari.

His first gig as kingmaker.

At the end of his tenure in 2007, Mr Tinubu influenced the election of a relatively unknown and politically inexperienced Babatunde Fashola as his successor in office against many odds stacked against him

Mr Fashola, a lawyer, had served as Mr Tinubu's chief of staff and was on the verge of returning to private law practice, according to him, when the man fondly called the Asiwaju of Lagos tapped him for the most exalted seat in the state of aquatic splendour. This was much to the consternation and surprise of many party dignitaries who felt Mr Fashola would be a hard sell for them to retain the state given his relative obscurity in the political circuit of the state.After corralling him to win the ticket of the Action Congress, which later metamorphosed into ACN, as a consensus candidate, Mr Tinubu also went all out to install him as the governor of the state. Mr Fashola polled 599,300 to beat his closest rival, Musiliu Obanikoro of the PDP, who got 383,000 votes in the election.

Mr Fashola arguably proved his mettle and sealed the lips of critics. He won the hearts of many doubters and committed to his gubernatorial duties with a studied passion and the dedication of an impassioned workaholic.

Mr Tinubu, reported to have some issues with Mr Fashola, had no alternative than to back him for reelection in 2011 for a second and final term in office.

With Mr Fashola's reign over, Mr Tinubu also went for another relatively unknown figure, Akinwunmi Ambode, a former accountant general of the state, and installed him as the governor, having secured him the ticket of the APC in 2015 via an indirect delegate system of primary elections. He beat the likes of Obafemi Hamzat and Olasupo Shashore to win the APC ticket.

Mr Ambode did not, arguably, fail as governor in terms of good governance but was accused of not "carrying party stakeholders" along in terms of patronage.

Mr Tinubu fell out with him and thus denied him a second term in 2019. Mr Ambode was replaced with Babajide Sanwo-Olu, who is gunning for his second term as the candidate of the APC in the forthcoming 11 March election.

It is also on record that everyone who has become a senator, House of Representatives member, state house of assembly lawmaker or even a council chairperson in the state from as far back as 2003 had the approval of Mr Tinubu.

His strong grip on the political landscape of the state has also earned him criticism, hatred and scorn from those who believe he has turned the state into his personal estate and fiefdom, installing and removing kings at will.

Spreading tentacles beyond Lagos

As of the time, Mr Tinubu was working hard to install a political greenhorn, Mr Fashola, as his successor in 2007, he had also farmed out his erstwhile dependable ally and former commissioner for works, Rauf Aregbesola, to contest for the governorship of Osun State on the platform of the ACN.

Mr Aregbesola, a new entrant into the politics of Osun State as of then, contested the election against Olagunsoye Oyinlola, a retired army general who was seeking reelection for a second term on the platform of PDP.

Although INEC declared Mr Oyinlola as the winner of the election, Mr Aregbesola retrieved his mandate via the courts in 2010 and went on to do two terms in office. He left office in 2018 and was succeeded by Gboyega Oyetola, Mr Tinubu's nephew.

Besides Mr Aregbesola, who is the minister of interior in the now lame-duck administration of Mr Buhari, Mr Tinubu also mobilised support for a former associate of his in the pro-democracy movement, Kayode Fayemi, a PhD holder in War Studies, to vie for the governorship of Ekiti State on the platform of the ACN in 2007.

Like Mr Aregbesola, Mr Fayemi only became the governor of the state after the court retrieved his mandate from then-governor, Segun Oni of the PDP in 2010.

Mr Fayemi failed to secure a second term in 2014 but made a stunning comeback in 2018 by defeating the preferred successor of the then-outgoing governor Ayo Fayose, Dapo Eleka, a professor.

In Edo State, Mr Tinubu also helped Adams Oshiomhole, a former national chairperson of the Nigerian Labour Congress (NLC), to retrieve his mandate from Oserheimen Osunbor, who was initially declared as the winner of the 2007 gubernatorial election in the state. Mr Osunbor, a professor of constitutional law, was the candidate of the PDP in the election.

Mr Oshiomhole, who is now the senator-elect for Edo North, went on to serve two terms as governor and has remained a close political ally of Mr Tinubu till today, always on the side of the President-elect, generally fighting the same political battles

Mr Tinubu also extended a hand of fellowship to Olusegun Mimiko who was in the trenches in 2007 to retrieve his mandate from the PDP led by the late governor of Ondo State, Olusegun Agagu.

Mr Mimiko was declared governor in 2009 following a court of appeal judgement in Benin City, Edo State. Mr Tinubu is believed to have helped facilitate the services of a forensic expert, Adrian Forty, whose forensic report provided a substantial basis for the nullification of the victory of Mr Agagu as declared by INEC.

Mr Mimiko and Mr Tinubu are no longer on the same political page. The bromance between the two did not last long.

The man popularly called the 'Lion of Bourdillon,' was also instrumental to the late Abiola Ajimobi becoming the governor of Oyo State in 2011 on the platform of ACN, a creation of the President-elect. They remained as political allies until the passing of Mr Ajimobi in 2020 from COVID-19.

Mr Tinubu also extended the same hand of fellowship to Ibikunle Amosun, who contested for the Ogun State gubernatorial seat in 2011 on the platform of the ACN. Mr Amosun, a chartered accountant, defeated Tunji Olurin, a retired general and candidate of the PDP, in the election.

Some kingmaking adventures failed

Mr Tinubu, a veteran of many political battles, also attempted to install Oluwarotimi Akeredolu, a senior lawyer, as the governor of Ondo State on the platform of the ACN in 2012.

Mr Akeredolu, SAN, who was relatively new on the political terrain of the Sunshine State, came third in the election that was won by the candidate of the Labour Party, Olusegun Mimiko, who was, by then, seeking his second term in office.

A former national president of the Nigerian Bar Association, Mr Akeredolu eventually became the governor of the state in 2016, though without the support of Mr Tinubu, who supported another person, Segun Abraham, in the APC primaries won by Mr Akeredolu.

Mr Tinubu, however, supported Mr Akeredolu in his 2020 re-election bid after they had reconciled their differences. Little wonder that Mr Akeredolu was one of the chief campaigners for Tinubu in the 2023 presidential election.

Mr Tinubu in his quest to solidify his kingmaking bonafide also failed to make Lai Mohammed, his erstwhile Chief of Staff, the governor of Kwara State in 2003. Mr Mohammed, now information minister, vied for the governorship of the North-central state on the platform of the AD.

The same thing happened in 2011 when he tried to platform James Akpan Udo-Edehe to be the governor of Akwa Ibom State through the instrumentality of the ACN.

Mr Udo-Edehe lost to Godswill Akpabio, who was seeking re-election on the ticket of the PDP. The election was characterised by so much violence.

Mr Akpabio is one of the strong men who helped Mr Tinubu's APC make some inroads into Akwa Ibom, a traditional stronghold of the PDP, in the just concluded presidential election.

Kingmaking beyond sub-national level

Mr Tinubu, who's now the fifth president-elect in the Fourth Republic, has always had his eyes on the bigger pie at the national level but kept the card close to his chest while trying to build political bridges across the country's divides.

In 2007, he offered succour to then Vice President Atiku Abubakar, who had become a politically displaced person in the PDP after a prolonged fight with his principal, Mr Obasanjo.

Atiku was the presidential candidate of the ACN but posted a miserable performance in the election, which has been adjudged as one of the worst in the history of elections in Nigeria.

The eventual winner of the charade, Umaru Musa Yar'dua, candidate of the PDP, later said the election was heavily flawed.

Although Mr Yar'Adua, a former governor of Katsina State, acknowledged the flaw in the election, he nevertheless held onto the blemished mandate until he passed on in office in 2010.

Aside from Atiku, who incidentally came second in the election that transformed the kingmaker into the king on 25 February, Mr Tinubu also supported Nuhu Ribadu, a former anti-corruption czar, to be the presidential candidate of the ACN in 2011.

As projected by many bookmakers, Mr Ribadu, like Atiku, who is from Adamawa, did not do well in the election.

There were rumours that Mr Tinubu negotiated with then-President Goodluck Jonathan, the candidate of the PDP in the 2011 presidential election, thus contributing to the loss of Mr Ribadu.

Mr Jonathan went ahead to win the election in Lagos State. The only ACN state that stood by Mr Ribadu was Osun State, then under the leadership of Mr Aregbesola as governor.

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Mr Tinubu also helped in installing Aminu Tambuwal as the Speaker of the House of Representatives in 2011, though Mr Tambuwal was of the PDP then. He repeated the same role in 2019 when he helped to install his long-term political associate, Femi Gbajabiamila, as the Speaker of the 9th House of Representatives. He reportedly played the same role in making Ahmad Lawan emerge as the Senate President in 2019

Sealing credentials as national kingmaker

For a long while, Mr Tinubu had the reputation of being a regional kingmaker despite his attempts to make a foray into the national hemisphere.

He eventually got the opportunity in 2015 when he contributed immensely to the victory of Muhammadu Buhari, who defeated a sitting president, Mr Jonathan, in a historic election, on the platform of the APC.

Before the main election, Mr Tinubu had acquiesced to the solicitation of Mr Buhari, a serial contestant, to form a pan-Nigerian party that could really challenge for power nationally. Their collaboration and the support of others eventually culminated in the establishment and registration of APC as a political party in December 2013.

Mr Tinubu threw everything into the ring in 2014 to ensure that Mr Buhari emerged as the presidential candidate of the APC ahead of the 2015 election. Mr Buhari emerged as a candidate and later won the main election, the first time a sitting president would lose in an election.

Mr Tinubu is also believed to have nominated Yemi Osinbajo, a professor of law, as the vice presidential candidate of the APC in 2014. Mr Osinbajo was justice commissioner for eight years in Lagos, when Mr Tinubu was governor.

Mr Tinubu also provided support for Mr Buhari to win his second term in office in 2019 despite the alleged cold treatment the Buhari administration gave to Mr Tinubu, according to those familiar with the issues between the two.

The kingmaker is now the king

To those who are close to Mr Tinubu, his ambition all the while since he debuted his political career circa 1992 or thereabouts was to become Nigeria's President.

Thirty-one years after the then debutant's ultimate ambition, the kingmaker is now king, against all odds, starting from the obstacles that he survived to win the ticket of the APC.

Incidentally, the President-elect started his political career at about the same time the late MKO Abiola contested on the platform of the SDP to become president. That election was later annulled by Ibrahim Babangida, the then military head of state, when results were being collated and counted with Mr Abiola comfortably coasting to victory. Mr Tinubu had been elected as a senator for Lagos West on the platform of the SDP.

By some stroke of coincidence or fate, Mr Abiola's deputy in the 12 June 1993 election was Gana Kingibe, a Kanuri, from Borno State. The Vice President-elect n the 25 February election is Kashim Shettima, also a Kanuri from Borno State.

While Mr Abiola, a business mogul, campaigned using 'Hope '93 as his mantra, the erstwhile kingmaker, who is now king, campaigned using 'Renewed Hope 2023'. Now the nation awaits in bated breath for his kingship.

As the Yoruba people will say, history remembers both the king whose reign brought succour to the people and the one whose reign brought agony and pain. Mr Tinubu has a chance to determine how history will remember his time.
After a massive social media campaign, the US food company Heinz finally found the man who spent 24 days lost at sea and survived by eating ketchup. And now the ketchup manufacturer will gift the man a new boat.

Representational Image

Elvis Francois, the 47-year-old survivor, has been contacted by the Pittsburgh-based Heinz food company about buying him a new sailing vessel, The Guardian reported. Francois had to abandon his old boat at the time of his rescue.



'It was an incredible group effort'

In a statement issued to the publication on Tuesday, Heinz revealed that the company and Francois ''are working out the logistical details of [getting] him his new boat''. The official communication did not provide any other details on the matter.



''We received thousands of likes, shares, and messages of kindness in our search to find Elvis Francois. It was an incredible group effort across six continents that led to the hundreds of articles and leads and our eventual contact with Elvis,'' a statement on Heinz's Instagram page said on Monday.

Campaign launched last month

The campaign to track down Francois, called #FindTheKetchupBoatGuy, was launched by Heinz last month and it garnered huge traction on social media.

''You may remember Elvis Francois as the brave sailor who survived on nothing but ketchup and spices while adrift at sea for 24 days. Well, Heinz wants to celebrate his safe return home and help him buy a new boat but we can't seem to find him,'' the ketchup manufacturer said in an Instagram post, asking the public to help track down the brave sailor.

Emo News, a media outlet in Dominica, noticed the company's appeal to find Francois and finally tracked him down.



How the man survived for 24 days

On 19 January 2023, the Colombian Navy rescued Francois, who claimed he survived on ketchup, garlic powder and Maggi cubes for 24 days when he was lost and alone at sea.



AP

As per the Navy, Francois was working to fix a sailboat off a port on the Caribbean island of St. Maarten in December last year when he was swept out to the sea due to the weather turning nasty.



To avoid sinking, he had to remove water from his boat manually. Francois has outlined his ordeal in a video released by the Colombian Navy.



"24 days, no land. Nobody to talk to. Don't know what to do. Don't know where you are. It was rough. A certain time I lose hope. I think about my family."



He even tried to start a small fire onboard in the form of a distress signal, but his efforts were unsuccessful.



He also carved the word "help" on the hull of his boat, which proved more effective.



Francois explained, "The final days, about 15 January, I saw a plane. I had a mirror. I was making some signals," he said, explaining how he placed the glass to capture the sunlight.



"They passed over the boat twice so I realised they saw me," he continued. "I am grateful for being alive today because of them."



The aircraft crew informed the Navy, who then rescued Francois with the help of a merchant ship.



(With AFP inputs)

For more on news and current affairs from around the world, please visit Indiatimes News.
Microsoft's proposed takeover of Activision Blizzard has put the US giant at odds with Sony, the maker of Playstation 5. Recently, Microsoft announced partnerships with Nintendo and NVIDIA to promise access to the Call of Duty series and to bring Xbox games to NVIDIA GeForce NOW.

Now, it appears that Sony is being forced to feed its trade secrets to the Xbox maker. While's Sony's pushback to Microsoft's potential Activision Blizzard takeover continues, the company subpoenaed Sony mid-January 2023, requesting access to years of sensitive company filings, including trade secrets.

Reuters

Sony vs. Microsoft for Activision

Even amid Sony's protests, it appears that Microsoft's request has been granted. Essentially, now Sony would have to reveal information about its exclusivity deals and four years worth of company records to help make Microsoft's case about why this acquisition should be allowed to go through, GameRant reported.

While Microsoft requested information from the last 10 years, the US Federal Trade Commission (FTC) limited the scope of required disclosure to deals after 2019.

Reuters

Also read: Microsoft Strikes Deals With Nintendo, Nvidia To Bolster Activision Acquisition

This is all part of Microsoft's pending trial with the US Federal Trade Commission that sued the company to block its Activision Blizzard acquisition on antitrust grounds in December 2022. The goal is to assess whether this proposed takeover would give Xbox too much power.

Reuters

It appears that the Microsoft-Activision deal will go through. According to Reuters, the deal is likely to be approved by EU regulators, in the backdrop of Microsoft's deals with Nintendo and NVIDIA. So, the $68.7 billion deal will most likely be approved.

Also read: The $69 Billion Microsoft-Activision Deal Now Faces EU Probe



Microsoft has also offered a licencing deal to Sony, but the company has vehemently protested it. Even if EU regulators approve the deal, Microsoft is not out of the woods yet - in the US and the UK.

What do you think about this Microsoft and Sony drama? Let us know in the comments below. For more in the world of technology and science, keep reading Indiatimes.com.
Worrying about tomorrow is a waste of today, so one should enjoy life today to the utmost. This was exemplified by a 76-year-old cancer patient who threw a party instead of planning a funeral.

The BBC claimed that Linda Williams, exhausted following her terminal cancer treatment, threw a party instead of a burial as she didn't want to see her loved ones cry.

The woman's renewed optimism after "the best night of her life" can be seen on social media.

High Wycombe, United Kingdom's septuagenarian, wanted a party to honor her life since she despises funerals.

She was handed a fatal cancer diagnosis a year ago and began creating a bucket list.

Linda finally got to ride in a Royal Air Force jet like the ones that often pass over her Walters Ash home just in time for the party.



The October 1940s-themed party's theme was the Battle of Britain.

BBC

In case she couldn't make it, she made sure to have a cardboard replica of herself ready in case her health worsened before the party. It was reported in The Times that she had pushed her friends to hold the party even in her absence.



Veterans' Foundation

"I very nearly died just before it, but I thought, I am going to flipping well get there. I just decided I would go for it, and everybody had a phenomenal time," she told the BBC.



"I was so excited I arrived at 6 pm; it didnt start until half seven. My legs were swollen, but I still managed to dance all night and had lots of lovely cuddlesI didnt leave until one in the morning, I was high on adrenaline, and I slept for nearly two days after," she added.

The way Linda carried herself was praised on the internet, and many people held her as a role model to admire.



(For more trending stories, follow us on Telegram.)


It was back in January when it was confirmed that Saga was looking to offload AICL, which at present underwrites about 25% to 30% of the groups insurance business.
Mariannes strong passion for our people has been a hallmark of her tenure. Throughout her time leading John Hancock, she has helped transform the business with an unwavering focus on our customers, shareholders, and the communities in which we operate, said Gori.
A grandmother has received a 16-week jail term for causing a scene at a hotel accommodating Ukrainian refugees, with a court hearing she was shouting they were rapists and criminals.

Margaret Buttimer, 68, and of no fixed abode but with a previous address in Bandon in Co Cork, pleaded not guilty at Bandon District Court to two charges regarding an incident at the Munster Arms Hotel in the town on January 26 last.

Detective Garda Nigel Whelton told Judge James McNulty that he and a colleague attended at the hotel at 3.05pm on January 26 following reports of a female causing a disturbance there.

He said they observed Ms Buttimer shouting in the reception area.

She wanted to know how many Ukrainian nationals were staying in this hotel, what was the cost to the Irish people, and saying these Ukrainians are rapists and criminals.

Det Garda Whelton said he asked Ms Buttimer to desist but she continued, asking to speak to the manager. He said the situation was escalating, adding she was making a scene.

Ms Buttimer was was escorted outside and advised of the need to desist and comply with Garda direction. Following numerous attempts to get her to desist, Det Garda Whelton arrested Ms Buttimer, telling the court he had no option.

Ms Buttimer was later charged at Bandon Garda Station.

Plunkett Taaffe, solicitor for Ms Buttimer, said his instructions were that his client had asked if those in the hotel had been vetted, as opposed to calling them rapists and criminals. Det Garda Whelton said no, I heard clearly.

Margaret Buttimer's evidence

In her evidence, Margaret Buttimer said she had sought answers from the manager of the hotel and admitted she had no other business at the hotel.

As to whether she would refrain from going back to the hotel, she said: I just take each day as it comes.

Judge McNulty found both charges, of offensive conduct and of failing to comply with a direction from gardai, proven.

The court heard she had 13 previous convictions, including for repeated failure to comply with covid regulations and more recently, similar incidents at the Munster Arms Hotel.

She was already under Probation Service supervision and a psychiatric report requested at an earlier court date was not ready in time for this hearing.

The judge said: I suspect that she has been influenced by others, some of them are close to her and who have a warped and non-conformist agenda.

I suspect she is under a malign influence. Mr Taaffe said he agreed.

Judge McNulty sentenced her to 16 weeks in prison, backdated to when she entered custody and with half of the sentence suspended on condition she keep the peace and stay away from the Munster Arms hotel and any other facility accommodating Ukrainian refugee or asylum seekers.

The court heard efforts would be made to secure accommodation for her on her release.

She is a pity, but she is also obliged to behave, the judge said.
THE Indigenous People of Biafra, IPoB yesterday reacted to an alleged statement credited to Amnesty International, AI, and other groups alleging that it is working against Ndigbo in the 2023 election.

IPoB, while not believing that such a statement could be coming from AI, it urge AI not to allow Nigerian government tarnish its hard earned reputation, adding that Amnesty International Nigeria knows better than any other human rights organisation in the world about its activities since 2009 and does not believe that such a statement could be coming from the respectable human right group unless they have been bought over.

IPoB in a statement by it's Media SBD Publicity Secretary. Emma Powerful, entitled "IPoB works for Ndigbo (Biafra) and will not be blackmailed by anyone," said that it has worked tirelessly to let the world know Ndigbo's predicaments in this Nigeria, adding that it has consistently let those who care to understand know that it has no faction, let alone having a factional leader.

IPoB's statement read, "The attention of the global movement and family of the Indigenous People of Biafra, IPoB, under the command and leadership of our great leader Mazi Nnamdi Kanu, has been drawn to the purported statement from Amnesty International, AI, and others saying that IPoB is working against Ndigbo in the 2023 election.

"Amnesty International Nigeria should have known better than any other human rights organisation in the world about IPoB activities since 2009 unless they have also been bought over. We have remained peaceful even in the face of the highest levels of provocations.

"IPoB has worked tirelessly to let the world know our predicaments in this contraption called Nigeria. We have also consistently let those who care to understand now that IPoB has no faction, let alone having a factional leader. IPOB is one big family with Mazi Nnamdi Okwuchukwu Kanu as the ONLY leader.

"IPoB has always condemned the criminal activities of those who claim to be Autopilot led by one self- acclaimed Mazi Nnamdi Kanu's disciple in Finland. Mazi Nnamdi Kanu has no disciple whatsoever anywhere in the world. IPoB has members worldwide, and the self-aclaimed disciple is not a member of this worldwide family.

'IPoB has never kept quiet to let the world know that it is not part of the Autopilot group. In our several press releases, we have distanced ourselves, from the self-acclaimed disciple and his violent followers, but these paid and compromised agents kept on linking themselves to IPoB because they are paid by some Nigeria agents to do so.

"We don't know what Autopilot group is doing, and they don't know what IPoB is doing or how IPoB operates. Whatever the Autopilot criminal group is planning and doing, we in IPoB don't know. Reputable human rights organization, such as Amnesty International Nigeria, knows that IPoB has never been part of an autopilot group terrorising the Eastern Region.

There is no other group as passionate as IPoB or one that has worked as hard as IPoB to defend the interest of Ndigbo. Originally, IPoB was formed to secure the right of Ndigbo. For Amnesty International to say, although we do not believe that such a statement is coming from them, IPoB is working against the interest of Ndigbo, shows that they are playing double standards and speaking from both sides of their mouth.

"IPoB was formed and built with one purpose, which is the peaceful restoration of the Biafra Nation through a United Nations, UN-supervised referendum. The Nigerian government and politicians sponsoring criminals and agents provocateurs to impersonate and discredit IPIPoBB's peaceful movement is callous.

"IPoB is a decent organisation and movement seeking the freedom of their people. Nobody who understands the politics of the Nigerian government and its murderous security agents should accuse IPoB of violence unless those paid by the Nigerian government to sabotage Ndigbo and IPoB agitation.

"We have consistently maintained that IPoB has nothing against Nigeria's election. We haven't called for any boycott or any sit-at-home. We have said that voting is an individual right. We have encouraged Ndigbo, who wants to vote to go out in mass and vote for any candidate of their choice, IPoB didn't call for an election boycott or "no election" or sit-at-home.

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"The period we knew that Amnesty International had compromised their position was when they had secret meetings last year with some propagandists and evil media people to join to blackmail IPoB in 2022.

"IPoB is aware that the Nigerian government has bought over some nations and organizations to blackmail the IPoB movement. Amnesty International Nigeria, in their recent statement, has shown the world that it has been compromised.

"We urge Amnesty International Nigeria, to open their eyes to know that the Nigerian government has moved against you in the past and is trying to tarnish your reputation. Do not allow them to tarnish your expected reputation.
Court declarations that the State breached the rights of the adult male asylum seekers left homeless upon arrival in Ireland would assist with future damages claims, the High Court has been told.

Colm ODwyer SC, instructed by the Irish Refugee Council Independent Law Centre, said the cases of two Afghan male asylum seekers brought earlier this week are not moot due to them since receiving State-provided accommodation.

There was now no need to proceed with the applications for orders that would force the State to provide the males with housing, but the applicants are still asking the court to declare that their rights have been breached, he said.

Mr Justice Charles Meenan said he will prioritise hearing these cases, which could act as test actions for future similar proceedings. The two male asylum seekers who both separately sought international protection on February 8, alleged they were left left homeless and given a 28 Dunnes Stores voucher upon arrival in the State.

One of these applicants claims he is a minor, but there is an ongoing dispute about his age and he has now been housed in an adult-only centre, said Mr ODwyer.

Counsel for the Child and Family Agency (CFA), Leanora Frawley BL, told the court this applicant was found to be not eligible for CFA services. The agency had assessed him to see if he was, indeed, a child.

Previously, lawyers for the State told the court that all women, children and family applicants seeking international protection have been accommodated since the Citywest processing centre ceased taking new arrivals on January 19.

Adult males are receiving accommodation in chronological order from the date of their arrival. In pursuing court declarations, Mr ODwyer said it is a breach of asylum seekers dignity to leave them destitute.

He said there has for some reason been a decision not to accommodate adult male international protection applicants, while Ukrainian adult males are being housed.

Declarations from the court would assist in future similar cases, including two recently filed in the court, and indicate what remedy the court would give for the alleged breach of rights. They would also assist people in bringing claims for damages for these alleged breaches, he added.

Minister's legal obligation

Mr Justice Charles Meenan said there is a difference between a failure to accommodate people and an inability to accommodate them. He noted that news reports on Friday say the Cabinet has agreed funding of 20 million to accommodate international protection applicants and Ukrainian refugees.

The Minister for Integration is also not disputing his legal obligation to provide reception accommodation to asylum seekers, the judge said, adding: When you put all that together, how does a declaration benefit you? Mr ODwyer said there was a difference between the Minister admitting there is a duty on him to accommodate asylum seekers and the court declaring that the Minister has breached his duty in that regard.

David Conlan Smyth SC said his client, the Minister, has unambiguously accepted his legal requirement to accommodate the applicants and did so at the first possible opportunity. There is no question of a failure or refusal to act, he added.

The State is dealing with a 600% increase in international protection applications since the start of 2021, with emergency reception centres increasing from 32 to 128 over the period, he said.

He rejected a suggestion from the applicants lawyers that the fact a hotel booking website showed available rooms meant the State was not exhausting all possibilities. He said many accommodation providers only accept personal credit cards.

Moot?

Mr Conlan Smyth submitted that there was no damages claim before the court, which was only dealing with the two actions before it. There is no practical benefit to the two applicants in continuing their cases, which he said are now moot.

He also said the two cases do not allege that there has been an unlawful distinction made between Ukrainians and other international protection applicants. The State does not accept there is any form of unlawful discrimination, he added.

Mr Justice Meenan said the applicants are entitled to proceed with their cases. The first issue to be addressed will be whether or not the actions are now moot.

The judge said he will prioritise hearing these cases, which could act as test actions for future similar proceedings. He adjourned the matters for two weeks when they will be mentioned before him.
As we mark International Women's Day 2023 this Wednesday, with everything from sound baths and sea swim fundraisers, to brands posting pithy quotes on social media, it would be interesting to know what its founder, Clara Zetkin, might think of 2023s proceedings.

Zetkin was a communist activist. So if socialism is still a dirty word to some  and it is to many in America  imagine if those businesses hosting luncheons and talks on Wednesday were to find out that their proceedings were inspired by a communist.

And its not just that it was a communist who suggested the idea all the way back in 1910; International Womens Days true origins arose two years earlier, in 1908, at a march of 15,000 women in New York city, over labour rights. In 1909, the Socialist Party of America declared the first National Womans Day.

Making it international was Zetkins idea. The German activist tabled the motion at an International Conference of Working Women in Copenhagen in 1910. With 17 countries represented, her suggestion was unanimously agreed upon and celebrated in Austria, Denmark, Germany, and Switzerland in 1911.

Communist activist and International Womens Day founder Clara Zetkin.

That New York march of 1908 was about labour rights, yes, with female workers looking for equal pay and shorter hours, but it was also about the right to vote. The march, and its ideology, were therefore tied to key objectives.

There was no virtue signalling in sight. It was action and outcome based.

And that Switzerland was one of the first countries in the world to mark International Womens Day, all the way back in 1911, is rather ironic; it took men in Switzerland, until the 1970s, to allow their female citizens the right to vote.

In a referendum held on February 7, 1971, 65.7% of voters approved the right of Swiss women to vote and stand for election at the federal level, just shy of 60 years after the country marked International Womens Day.

In Switzerland  or anywhere for that matter  rights were not handed out on a silver platter.

Its always been the opposite, rights are rarely given freely, but instead requested, then demanded and then fought for until finally won and feminism  with which International Womens Day is currently aligned  is often the vehicle.

Women in Switzerland, for example, had been demanding the right to vote as far back as 1868, without success.

It wasnt until 1959, that the country held its first referendum on womens right to vote. The result of that referendum was the polar opposite to the subsequent one 12 years later. In 1959, 66.9% of the male Swiss electorate voted no to giving Swiss women the vote.

To this day, Switzerland with its high-functioning infrastructure, isnt much of a leader when it comes to womens rights and trails Ireland considerably. If you become a mother in Switzerland, youre only entitled to 14 weeks maternity benefit, versus our 26 weeks.

Feminism, which some believe is often eating or attacking itself, is really in a state of constant evolution, an ever-evolving social movement that must shift to meet the demands of the day.

Important to retain origins

So 2023s versions of International Womens Day and feminism, is obviously going to be a lot different to 1911s versions of International Womens Day and feminism, but retaining origins is important.

If, however, change is a key trait of feminism, so too is the movements ability to affect change; it has a long and strong track record in winning collective rights in areas such as voting, land ownership, credit and capital, labour, reproductive control and marital rights, or the right to divorce. These were all rights that International Womens Day and those who originally marched for it, firmly believed in.

Few social movements have ever affected so much change, in so many countries, over such a long period of time. So when you wonder where the antipathy towards feminism might originate, consider the very real threat the movement has posed, and continues to pose, to those whose world view is very much that of traditional power-holding and maintaining the status quo.

If we take International Womens Day as a day to mark the beginnings of the movement of feminism, it wasnt actually until 1975 that it made it big time, when the UN began celebrating the day.

To some its tokenistic, to others its virtue signalling, but for many its a significant and important marker in the calendar, a global and shared platform from which to speak.

But this International Womens Day, lets not lose sight of its origins, its commitment to action and to key objectives.

Two questions are worth asking. How could I affect change this International Womens Day? And who is not at this table?

Lets Match Mums is an organisation operating across Ireland by ordinary, everyday people. Their elevator pitch is: We match refugees in need of kids goods with local mums who have those items. A positive action for International Womans Day would be to follow them on social media looking for their regular shoutouts for specific equipment needed for women and children in direct provision in Ireland.

If youre holding an event, a fundraiser, is it accessible? Feminism is about accessibility  will your friends sister who uses a wheelchair be able to attend? And does it assume just one experience or several?

If youre an employer and are hosting an event next Wednesday what are your policies in areas such as reproductive health, miscarriage, the gender pay or pension gap and maternity leave or flexi-time? You might have a really inspiring female speaker booked for an hour in the morning, but how does your organisation impact its people the other 364.5 days of the year?

Political party? Next year we have local elections. There is no gender quota mandating 30%, 20%, even 10% of candidates be female.

International research shows, when women run, they fare as well as their male counterparts. The Irish electorate is not sexist at the polls, yet just 24% of local council seats are held by women. Its not that we voters arent voting for them; its that parties arent selecting enough of them to even run. If theyre not in, they literally cannot win.

A lot has changed in the intervening years since that New York march of 1908 and communist Clara Zetkin, much of it for the better, and benefiting us all, the collective, and not just women. Lets make this International Womens Day more about real action and less about token gestures.
I am disappointed by the latest missed opportunity to call the necessary referendum on allowing all Irish citizens to vote for the next president of the Global Irish Nation.

On a visit to London before Christmas, I asked the then diaspora minister Colm Brophy about the Governments conspicuous reluctance to convene the referendum.

He replied: We are dealing with that separately to engage more with the Global Irish.

I presumed he meant the pending Global Irish Civic Forum, convened for Dublin Castle on April 20-21.

I do hope that very soon after that a campaign strategy is started and a date for the referendum announced.

The first Irish Constitutional Convention was held 10 years ago in 2013 and discussed several issues.

As a result, same-sex marriage and abortion rights were put to referendums.

At that 2013 Constitutional Convention, Irish people at home and abroad also engaged, positively, with the issue of extending the right to vote in future presidential elections to all Irish citizens.

Some 79% of the conventions delegates supported the principle.

Yet here we are, 10 years later, and my worry is  facing a presidential election next year (and a general election in 2025)  that short-term party political considerations will once again kick the matter into the long grass.

This could rumble on and on into further delay and indecision.

The next president of Ireland may potentially serve for 14 years which, in practical terms, means I will forever be denied my right to vote for the next president of the Global Irish Nation.

The Good Friday Agreement celebrates and upholds the right of people in Northern Ireland to be Irish or British or both.

Is the Irish Government worried (should the referendum result be yes) about how Northern Irelands Irish citizens would vote in a presidential election?

Obviously, the existing electorate of the Republic  26 of 32 counties  is crucial in deciding whether or not the Global Irish can never be taken for granted.

But all these delays and hesitation is delaying our campaign time.

To be able to vote in next years presidential election means a referendum would need to be called this year.

All candidates in that election will have to be nominated by either: At least 20 members of the Oireachtas; or at least four local authorities within the Republic.

A candidate meeting that threshold will already have a mandate of sorts from many people in Ireland.

Enda Kenny, when taoiseach, promised the referendum in Philadelphia in 2017; it is agreed in legislation by the Oireachtas.

As an Irish person in Britain since 1980, I have campaigned for this for a long time.

In my experience, there is something about the emigrant experience, whether chosen or imposed by economic necessity, which focuses ones identity very clearly and quickly.

I have always taken my Irishness as a given despite living here in Britain  my sense of being Irish has always been to the fore.

The president of Ireland is a unifying head of the Irish nation at home and abroad and represents Ireland internationally.

Since the election of Mary Robinson, the presidency has been defined as global and maintains positive cultural and business links with the diaspora  hence the pertinence of allowing Irish citizens who live outside Ireland a choice in electing the president.

Ireland will gain much by fully cherishing its exiled children (as per the 1916 Proclamation).

We are a powerful resource for good, by our own example we encourage Irish people (and others) to connect with Ireland.

A large, English-speaking, successful, diaspora invested in Irish affairs is an asset of which many other small nations could only dream.

That strong bond can only be enhanced by allowing Irish people abroad to vote for the head of State, a win-win situation.

For seven years prior to emigrating, I had full voting rights for my nations president. I want my vote back. This is personal for me.

I believe in equality of citizenship; one is either an Irish citizen or not.

Gerry Molumby

Derbyshire

UK

Tourist visas for Colombian people

In an interview with the then-tanaiste Leo Varadkar in Bogota last St Patricks Day, the now Taoiseach told me that the main reason why Ireland required Colombians to obtain a visa to simply visit the country as tourists was the Common Travel Area with the UK.

At the time, the UK had the same visa requirement. However, our neighbours scrapped it last November.

This means Ireland is now the only country in Europe where Colombians need a visa to enter for tourism purposes.

The Department of Justice is not for turning, though. It seems to think  wrongly, I believe  that Ireland would become flooded with Colombians if this visa requirement was removed. In an email reply to my contention (one in which Colombia was spelt incorrectly, with a u), a department official wrote: I fully appreciate your wish to move to a visa-free arrangement however, we are currently facing an exceptional migration situation, including the humanitarian situation arising from the war in Ukraine and the unprecedented numbers seeking international protection in the State.

Do note, Irish passport holders can land in Colombia and get the standard 90-day tourist pass with hardly a question asked.

We Irish do like to promote ourselves as a freedom-loving, open, and welcoming people. Alas, from a Colombian perspective, Ireland is the least-welcoming country in Europe.

Even those bumbling Brexiteers are viewed in a more favourable light.

Come on official Ireland, you can do better.

Brendan Corrigan

Bogota

Colombia

Trickle-down policy and child poverty

The economic policies of trickle-down economics espoused by neo-liberals like Ronald Reagan and Margaret Thatcher was a chancers trope. The idea should never have been allowed to see the light of day. There was no evidence, no proof, and nothing to substantiate it.

However, numerous respectable Western democracies were deceived into trying it.

One of the most disgraceful consequences is child poverty. I do not blame politicians for this. Every generation of professional politicians is susceptible to the influence of hyper-confident self-appointed charlatan priests.

The largest group of people living in poverty today in this country is children; they cannot vote, they must eat what they are given, and they must go where they are told. Their horizons are defined and given to them by others.

They are the only group in society that is utterly powerless. They are also the group most reliant upon the wisdom and conscience of others. It is the same in every country that flirted with trickle-down economics.

To make matters worse, children receive images of prosperity and excess from every angle nowadays in a way that previous generations never did.

Humiliation and belittlement pours into their eyes and minds day and night in our modern Western culture when they experience poverty.

This is not a uniquely Irish problem. So lets have some pride and find a uniquely Irish solution. For a start, give Barnardos more money. They are experts in this field  they must look at our Vat rate debates for the hospitality sector in dumbfounded bafflement. Dont get me wrong, hotels and restaurants are vitally-important businesses, employing people and generating economic activity. But my goodness, imagine what Barnardos could do with a fraction of that money for children living in poverty.

Mol an oige agus tiocfaidh si (praise the young and they will flourish). The future does not begin tomorrow. It begins today.

Michael Deasy

Bandon,

Co Cork

Landlords taking unfair advantage

I read with some dismay that a landlord is asking 2,250 a month for a two-bedroom apartment in Oliver Plunkett St, Cork. In my opinion this is both an excessive rent and is a typical example of a landlord taking unfair advantage of young people who are trying to live and work in our city.

For a double accommodation unit, which carries a rent in excess of 1,300 per month, anything in excess of that should attract an income tax of 70%. Similarly with a one-bed unit carrying a rent over 800 per month.

Furthermore, REITS and vulture funds should have the same income tax regime as that levied on private landlords.

Landlords of properties on our streets which are unoccupied on the upper floors should be given conversion incentives, and in the absence of landlord co-operation, the local council should be empowered to take possession of unoccupied space, not by compulsory purchase order but following the Dutch cities model.

Contrary to Tanaiste Micheal Martins opinion, the stay on eviction notices should be extended until our Government is in a position to provide social/ affordable houses for our citizens. Landlords only exit the property market when there is a significant uplift in attainable house prices, provided they have another form of investment for that exit money.

Daniel Teegan

Monkstown

Co Cork
He's the go-to creative for big-ticket revamps. But ask interior designer Tullio Orlandi and hell tell you whether hes transforming palatial bedrooms, or a communal zone at a homelessness service, and the brief and job satisfaction are no different.

Proportion is key  that and introducing a focal point, he says. Have fun with scale and proportion. Play with the scale of all different aspects of the space, and mix different pieces of furniture to add interest.

The Savoy Hotel.

His native Limerick city set the scene for two career highlights to date for Tullio.

First, when he designed the ground-floor area of The Savoy Hotel  honestly a highlight of my career so far. I was shortlisted for an IDI [Institute of Designers in Ireland] award for the interior, he says.

Tullio created the interior design look for The Savoy in Limerick.

The unveiling of the hotels new look led, in turn, to that second professional showreel moment for Tullio, as he was requested to give the five-star treatment to Oak Lodge.

In this space for the Simon Community, Tullio used the French Connection Camden three-seater teal sofa, DFS, 1,299, and vegan cow-print chairs, 419, www.dfs.ie. Picture: Mulcaire

Run by Mid West Simon Community, this Limerick centre provides emergency accommodation for 50 men who are experiencing homelessness.

I got involved in the project when a good friend of mine, Jackie Leonard, asked me to assist her with choosing paint colours for the communal space there, says Tullio. After our first meeting, I knew it wasnt just a paint job that was needed but a full overhaul.

And a stunning makeover was duly delivered, Tullio having set to work with furniture retailer DFS and other local suppliers.

Tullio Orlandi in the space her revamped with DFS for the Simon Community. Picture: Mulcaire

As a designer, I really believe that your space has a strong bearing on how you feel, so this project has been very important to me, he says.

Your home environment impacts your physical and mental health and has the ability to boost your mood and how you feel.

Tullio's redesign for the Simon Community with DFS. Picture: Mulcaire

Just recently, Tullio designed the new premises in Carrigaline, Co Cork, for Aroi Asian Fusion, a multi-award-winning restaurant whose flagship is in Friary Street in Kilkenny.

It first opened its doors in 2015 and most recently in Carrigaline, he says. After working with the restaurant on their Loft space in Kilkenny I was asked to come onboard and design their new Cork location, says Tullio.

The main objective of the design was to bring a hint of Kilkenny to Carrigaline with a new twist to its interior. The restaurant is situated on the main street in what I can only describe as very deceiving building.

From the front, it might not look like a largescale restaurant but once you enter the space it really opens up.

Tullio's living room. Picture: Brendan Gleeson

Q&A

Where is your happy space at home?

I adore my living room. Its an eclectic mix of furniture and treasured art and accessories with the main focus of the room around a Lola Donoghue [Galway visual artist] print which centres the room. Its hung on a dark navy/grey custom bookcase.

Who do you share your home with?

I live alone.

Read More Italian lifestyle inspires Limerick woman's dream kitchen spaces

Describe your interiors

My home really is an expression of my personality, it is a curated mix of everything I love and treasured pieces I have collected over the years. I really wanted my home to be an expression of myself so it took a lot of time to make sure I made the right decisions.

Best bargain ever for you?

A mustard accent chair from Sits, a sofa company which I have loved for as long as I can remember. I had my eye on this chair for a client of mine a few years back, they decided not to purchase and when the store told me they were selling off floor models I swooped in and purchased it.

Tullio's kitchen. Picture: Brendan Gleeson

Biggest extravagance?

My Buster & Punch kitchen hardware  again, something I have loved again for many years so when I finally got the chance to design my kitchen I knew these were the handles I wanted. The smoked bronze colour tone against the black olive-green kitchen cabinetry still gets me!

Favourite chore?

If Im honest, I actually love ironing  I think I might be one of the few who enjoys it, but I find it so therapeutic. Some mellow music on a Sunday morning, getting those creases out of Egyptian cotton sheets  name something better!

Least favourite task?

Washing floors  its one thing I detest. In my bathroom, I have polished porcelain tiles (its yet to be renovated) and trying to get a streak-free finishes stresses me out. Half the time Im on my hands and knees buffing the tiles after mopping.

Are you a DIY whizz?

Im actually not, I once hung a wall-mounted table and the drill went through the wall slab so I try avoid DIY at all costs. I dont think I have the patience for it.

The Savoy by Tullio Orlandi.

Fridge must-have?

Pasta and parmesan cheese  its food I could live on for the rest of my days.

Do you like cooking and whats your signature dish?

I love to cook. My father is Italian so we have always had Italian food in our house. I learned to cook from my mother and it was one of the greatest things shes taught me. My signature dish is penne arrabbiata  the spicier the better!

Ideal dinner-party guests?

Andy Warhol (Ive always had a fascination with him but even more so after watching the Netflix documentary on his life, a genius!); Beyonce (because shes Beyonce!); Julie Andrews (the child in me has always had an obsession with her ever since watching The Sound of Music; Prince Harry (to get the real truth); and Alexander McQueen (a great visionary).

The best advice you got at home growing up?

Stay true to yourself and always be the best version of yourself.

Interiors advice you would like to give others?

Your interior is supposed to be an expression of yourself  dont get caught up in a trend but instead find what you love and build around it.

A room in The George designed by Tullio.

What would your superpower be?

Time travel: Ive always adored the 80s and Studio 54 so to be able to experience that would be amazing.

How do you unwind?

I love to walk our family dog; every Sunday I bring him on The Three Bridges walk in Limerick.

The Savoy by Tullio Orlandi.

Key piece of advice for homeowners on a budget?

Trust your gut: It can be a bit daunting keeping up with the in trends and achieving the perfection you might see online so trust your decision and make sure it is true to you. At the end of the day, you want your space to ooze your own personal style and personality.
Burma Myanmar Junta Rapes and Kills During Sagaing Raid

Residents retrieve the bodies of villagers killed by junta troops in Sagaing Township, Sagaing Region, on Thursday. / CJ

Myanmars junta has raided a resistance stronghold in Sagaing Region, killing 17 detainees, including two resistance members, according to resistance groups.

Three mothers, aged between 30 and 40, who were used as human shields along with 11 other villagers, were reportedly raped by soldiers before being killed.

On Wednesday at around 1am a clash broke out at Tar Taing village as resistance forces tried to fight off around 100 junta troops attacking from the riverbank near the confluence of the Ayeyarwady and Mu rivers, according to a representative of the Demon King Defence Force that coordinated the defense.

It is the second raid on the village after junta forces burned down around a third of Tar Taings 80 houses last month.

During Wednesdays clash, U Kyaw Zaw, the leader of Tar Taing villages defense force, was detained and killed by soldiers.

A photo showed the resistance leader beheaded with his legs and arms chopped to pieces.

The regime forces killed another detained resistance fighter and a resident on the same day.

The junta troops detained 70 villagers as human shields and occupied the village on Wednesday night.

Resistance groups said 14 villagers, including three females, were taken as human shields by junta troops while traveling to nearby Myinmu Township on Thursday.

Residents and resistance forces discovered 14 bodies in mango plantations in Nyaung Yin village outside Myinmu town.

A Demon King member said the bodies were found in small groups.

Onions were found in the three female victims underwear, resistance members told The Irrawaddy.

Relatives reported that the three women were raped before being stabbed and shot.

On Sunday the same troops beheaded two children, aged 12 and 13, abducted as human shields and guides from nearby Nyaung Pin Kan village during their raid on a resistance stronghold Kan Taw village in Myinmu Township.

Junta troops also beheaded two resistance detainees defending the village.

The Demon King representative said resistance forces could not stop the raids because they lacked automatic rifles.

The more junta oppresses us, the more we revolt. We need proper weapons. We dare to fight and die for democracy and to uproot the dictatorship, he said.

The resistance groups urged the civilian National Unity Government to arm them properly.

The NUG and many ethnic armed organizations vowed in January to topple the regime during this year but the junta attacks continue.

Since the 2021 coup, the junta has killed 3,075 people and detained 19,969, according to the Assistance Association for Political Prisoners, a rights group which monitors deaths and arrests.
Burma NLD Expels Four Members for Collaborating With Myanmar Junta

U Phyo Min Thein (left) and Daw Sandar Min.

Myanmars ousted National League for Democracy (NLD) on Friday expelled its central executive committee member and former Yangon chief minister U Phyo Min Thein along with three central committee members for defying the will of the people and NLD policies by backing the terrorist regimes sham election.

The three central committee members dismissed are Daw Sandar Min, U Toe Lwin and U Win Myint Aung.

The NLD said in a statement that it has received strong evidence that they are working out of self-interest while pleasing the military dictator and misusing the name of the party.

U Phyo Min Thein and former Yangon Regional lawmaker Daw Sandar Min recently made headlines for betraying the party.

U Phyo Min Thien testified against State Counselor Daw Aung San Suu Kyi in a corruption case filed by the junta, claiming that he gave her seven viss (around 11.4kg) of gold and US$600,000 in 2017 and 2018. Daw Aung San Suu Kyi said his claims were totally absurd. The jailed leader was quoted saying: The allegations are completely false. I had no reason to take it, no reason to accept it.

Later he was let off with a fine and released, the only arrested NLD chief minister to be freed.

Fellow central committee member Daw Sandar Min, who reportedly has close ties to junta spokesman Zaw Min Tun and other high-ranking military officers, visited Daw Aung San Suu Kyi in prison to ask her to back the juntas plan for a general election this year.

She is one of the few NLD members who is looking to run in the junta election. Most NLD members have been in hiding since the 2021 coup and many have been killed by the junta.

The other person at the meeting might have been U Toe Lwin, the deputy chairman of the NLD in Ayeyarwady Region, who was also dismissed on Friday.

The NLD statement said the central working committee was expelling members who defied party policies.

The party said it had followed the will of the people since its formation in 1988 and the committee was managing the party while most of the leadership was in prison.

It said the four members, have been suspended from all duties assigned to them by the party, as well as permanently expelled from the party and that their communication and activities have nothing to do with the NLD.

Since the 2021 coup, 84 NLD members have been killed, including two lawmakers, and 1,583 arrested, according to the NLD with more than 1,200 still under detention.
War Against the Junta Nearly 70 Myanmar Junta Forces Killed in Three Days of Resistance Attacks

Weapons and ammunition seized from a military checkpoint in Budalin town on Thursday / Depayin-LMT PDF

At least 66 Myanmar junta forces as well as some resistance forces were killed in the last three days as Peoples Defense Forces (PDFs) and an ethnic armed organization (EAO) stepped up attacks on regime targets across the country.

PDF groups raided a pro-regime militia village and a gold mining company owned by an army officer in Mandalay and Sagaing regions, while an EAO occupied a junta outpost in Kayah State.

Incidents were reported in Sagaing, Mandalay and Magwe regions and Kayah State.

The Irrawaddy has collected the following reports of significant attacks from the PDFs and the EAO.

Some military casualties could not be independently verified.

Pro-regime village raided by PDF groups in Sagaing

At least 30 regime forces and pro-regime militia members were killed in Kanbalu Township, Sagaing Region on Thursday when four PDF groups raided the pro-regime village of Chat Thin, where junta forces and Pyu Saw Htee militia members have been stationed for a year, according to the PDF groups.

After three hours, the resistance groups managed to occupy the village and torch a military camp, a resistance member told The Irrawaddy.

PDF groups also used land mines to ambush two vehicles of regime reinforcements sent to the PDF-targeted village from Kyunhla Township. Many regime forces are believed to have been killed or injured when the two vehicles were damaged.

After the raid, a military Mi-35 helicopter gunship attacked villages near Chat Thin on Thursday afternoon, the PDF group said.

Military detachment torching villages ambushed in Sagaing



Residents welcome PDF fighters who attacked a military detachment in Yinmabin Township on Wednesday. / KLG PDF

Kyauk Lone Gyi PDF said it and 16 other PDF groups killed five junta soldiers and injured many others when they ambushed a military detachment torching houses in Kone Ywar Village in Yinmabin Township, Sagaing Region on Wednesday morning.

The regime forces were attacked by the PDF groups after they burned down Kone Ywar.

A military unit based in the town of Yinmabin also used 120-mm artillery rounds to help its ground troops attack resistance forces. A PDF fighter suffered minor injuries in the junta shelling.

Military checkpoint raided in Sagaing

Local PDF group Depayin Local Mobile Team said it and other resistance groups conducted a surprise raid on a military checkpoint in the town of Budalin in Sagaing Region on Thursday.

In the raid, three junta soldiers were killed and two weapons and some ammunition were seized by the PDF groups.

10 junta troops, two resistance fighters killed in clash in Sagaing

At least 10 regime forces were killed and seven injured in Khin U Township, Sagaing Region on Monday when a scout team of two PDF groups attacked 30 regime forces that were raiding Magyi Oak Village, said Khin-U Regional Defense Alliance Force, which joined the attacks.

In the clash, two PDF fighters aged 32 and 25 were killed.

Regime forces ambushed with land mines in Sagaing



Junta forces carry an injured soldier in Myinmu Township on Tuesday. / PAFD

PDF group Peoples Army to Fight Dictatorship claimed to have killed three junta soldiers and injured four others as they used land mines to ambush a military detachment near the town of Myinmu in Sagaing Region on Thursday.

The military detachment was returning to the town after killing over a dozen civilian detainees during their raids on villages in Myinmu and neighboring Sagaing Township.

A PDF video shows regime forces carrying an injured soldier.

Five regime forces killed in PDF ambush in Sagaing

Khin U Special Force Organization claimed to have killed five regime forces in Khin U Township, Sagaing Region on Wednesday when it used a cluster of land mines to ambush 10 regime troops, an advance unit of a military detachment heading to Yar Taw Village.

Five remaining regime forces responded with firearms but the PDF forces retreated from the ambush site without any casualties.

Police outpost bombed by PDF drones in Sagaing



A PDF drone drops bombs on a junta police base in Kyar Tat Village in Salingyi Township on Wednesday / SSTF

Four regime soldiers including policemen were injured in Salingyi Township, Sagaing Region on Wednesday when Salingyi Special Task Forces used drones to drop bombs on a military camp in Kyar Tat Village, claimed the PDF group.

Junta outpost seized by resistance groups in Kayah

At least 10 regime forces were killed in Bawlakhe Township, Kayah State on Monday when the Karenni Army (KA) and the Karenni Nationalities Defense Forces (KNDF) jointly occupied a military outpost on a mountain, said the Karenni Military Information Center, the media unit of the KA.

The resistance groups seized heavy weapons and ammunition from the base.

Some resistance fighters were killed and 15 injured when five junta fighter jets attacked while the resistance groups were planning to raid another military outpost nearby.

PDF groups conduct series of attacks on regime forces in Magwe

A military vehicle is ambushed with land mines in Myaing Township on Thursday.

Many regime forces including pro-regime Pyu Saw Htee militia members are thought to have been killed or injured as Myaing-PDF group and two other resistance groups conducted four attacks on regime forces in Myaing Township, Magwe Region on Thursday, the resistance group said.

On Thursday morning, the PDF groups conducted drone strikes and mine ambushes against junta forces and their militia allies in the pro-regime village of Twinma. At least three junta forces suffered serious injuries.

The PDF groups also used land mines to ambush five military vehicles near a village in the township.

The five military vehicles continued to face land mine ambushes between the two pro-regime villages of Thayat Kan and Twinma.

The combined PDF groups used land mines and rocket-launched explosives to attack the same military convoy on the way to Kan Ma police outpost in the township.

Junta gold mine raided by PDF groups in Mandalay

Pyin Oo Liwn District PDF said two of its member resistance groups raided a gold mine of Kyaw Zaw Thu company owned by army Major Myo Khine in Thabeikkyin Township, Mandalay Region on Wednesday.

The management of the gold mine is supervised by two army officers, Major Aung San Oo and Captain Min Naing. The two managers escaped during the PDF raid.

The mining company pays an army unit 3 million kyats (about US$1,040 according to the black market exchange rate) a month to guard the mine.

The company has also been allowing the military to use its vehicles to transport military detachments during their raids on nearby areas. During the raid, the PDF groups urged the mine workers not to work for businesses owned by regime forces and encouraged them to work for the peoples revolution as much as they can, said Pyin Oo Lwin District PDF.
UN chief calls for harnessing innovation to promote gender equality

Xinhua) 13:42, March 03, 2023

UNITED NATIONS, March 2 (Xinhua) -- UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on Thursday called for harnessing technology and innovation to advance gender equality in a message to mark the upcoming International Women's Day.

According to the UN, the theme of International Women's Day this year, to be observed on March 8, is "DigitALL: Innovation and technology for gender equality."

In his message, Guterres pointed out that technology can expand pathways to education and opportunities for women and girls, but can also be used to amplify abuse and hatred.

Today, women make up under a third of the workforce in science, technology, engineering and maths. When women are underrepresented in developing new technologies, discrimination may be baked in from the start, he said.

"That is why we must close the digital divide and increase the representation of women and girls in science and technology," said the UN chief.

He noted that women's exclusion from the digital world has shaved an estimated 1 trillion U.S. dollars from the gross domestic product (GDP) of low- and middle-income countries in the last decade, warning the loss could grow to 1.5 trillion dollars by 2025 without action.

"Investing in women uplifts all people, communities and countries," Guterres said.

(Web editor: Zhang Kaiwei, Liang Jun)
The bank described the claim as "completely false".

Guaranty Trust Bank has denied giving N500 million new notes to any of the presidential candidates in Saturday's general election.

The bank reacted to a Twitter user, @ifygold21, who claimed that the bank gave the new notes to Bola Tinubu of the All Progressives Congress on Friday.

The user quoted Segun Agbaje, the CEO of the bank, as saying the cash was released on President Muhammadu Buhari's order.

The post gained almost a thousand comments and about 6,995 retweets, with many threatening to discontinue their services and tagging the bank to confirm the claim.

In a statement on Wednesday, GTBank described the claim as "completely false", adding that the allegation was aimed at tarnishing the image of the bank and its officers.

"The attention of Guaranty Trust Bank Ltd (the "Bank") has been drawn to a spurious post on Twitter by @ifygold21 alleging that the bank gave the new naira notes in the total sum of 500 million to one of the leading presidential candidates in the ongoing general elections on the eve of the elections and at the order of a high-ranking government official," the bank said.

"The bank wishes to refute this claim in its entirety and state categorically that it is completely false and is designed to bring the image of the bank and its officers to disrepute.

READ ALS0: GTB appoints new board chairpersons

"The fact that the post refers to Segun Agbaje as managing director of the bank further exposes the sponsors of the content as uninformed and malicious. Accordingly, we would like to clarify that Miriam Olusanya is the managing director of the bank and has been at the helm of affairs of the bank in that capacity since her appointment in August 2021."

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The bank also noted that its preliminary findings show that the post was made using a faceless bot account "evidently operated by unscrupulous persons intent on propagating falsehood and inciting well-meaning Nigerians to their malicious ends."

"This is clearly unwarranted and poses a serious threat to our continuing operations, with incalculable risks to lives and property," it said.

The bank said that the post has been brought to the attention of all concerned parties including Twitter, for the identification of the owner of the fake account and consequent legal action.

It urged its customers to disregard the unsubstantiated claim in its entirety.

"Guaranty Trust Bank hereby restates its commitment to being a responsible, non-partisan corporate citizen with strict adherence to the highest standards of global best practice as well as sound corporate governance in all aspects of our business operations," the bank said.
The United States National Cybersecurity Strategy's non-voluntary requirements for critical infrastructure to increase cybersecurity posture will be met with varying responses from CEOs and boards alike, including in Australia, according to Edgard Capdevielle, CEO for cybersecurity company, Nozomi Networks.

Nozomi Networks'.Capdevielles comments follow the release of the US national cybersecurity strategy by the Biden-Harris Administration, which also highights the importance of international partnership, including with Australia via AUKUS and the Quadrilateral Security Dialogue or Quad, and recognises the importance of Australia leading the International Counter Ransomware Task Force.

The National Cyber Strategy's non-voluntary requirements for critical infrastructure to increase cybersecurity posture will be met with varying responses from CEOs and boards alike. While the impetus for a better cyber posture to defend against potential nation-state adversaries is wise and necessary, the ability for these entities to identify the budget and personnel to manage these pieces will take time, as it is for most companies in this macroeconomic climate," said Capdevielle,



We look forward to working with our U.S. critical infrastructure partners, just as we have with their international counterparts, to meet changing regulatory guidelines with the best defenses and visibility possible.

Further critical points raised by Capdevielle include:



Even with the large market share and vast amount of resources, we are outmanned in cyberspace. The strategy is the first concerted effort to streamline U.S. public, private, and defence sector cybersecurity resources, something our adversaries very much do not want.

There is a ton of healthy debate in the cybersecurity industry, but we sometimes fail to see the biggest picture. The new strategy underscores the fact that we are all on the same team, while calling out exactly where we need to strengthen muscle memory or develop new strength.

The strategy recognises the importance of continuing to forge international partnerships to pursue shared goals that includes extending U.S. capabilities to assist allies and partners.

Trust and verification for operational technology (OT) cybersecurity are not mutually exclusive. The National Cybersecurity Strategy mentions trust a total of 19 times. That said, those tasked with implementation also owe the industries impacted by this strategy a promise: stop moving goal posts for what success looks like, and define what failure looks like. This is easier said than done.

Capdevielle points to comments by US President Joe Biden on cybersecurity, including that digital technologies today touch nearly every aspect of American life. and the openness and connection enabled by access to the Internet are game-changers for communities everywhere, as we have all experienced throughout the COVID-19 pandemic.

Heres what Biden said: Thats why, thanks to the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, my Administration is investing $65 billion to make sure every American has access to reliable, high-speed Internet.

And when we pick up our smart phones to keep in touch with loved ones, log on to social media to share our ideas with one another, or connect to the Internet to run a business or take care of any of our basic needs, we need to be able to trust that the underlying digital ecosystem is safe, reliable, and secure.

This National Cybersecurity Strategy details the comprehensive approach my Administration is taking to better secure cyberspace and ensure the United States is in the strongest possible position to realize all the benefits and potential of our digital future.

Cybersecurity is essential to the basic functioning of our economy, the operation of our critical infrastructure, the strength of our democracy and democratic institutions, the privacy of our data and communications, and our national defense. From the very beginning of my Administration, we have moved decisively to strengthen cybersecurity. I appointed senior cybersecurity officials at the White House and issued an Executive Order on Improving the Nations Cybersecurity.

Working in close cooperation with the private sector, my Administration has taken steps to protect the American people from hackers, hold bad actors and cybercriminals accountable, and defend against the increasingly malicious cyber campaigns targeting our security and privacy. And weve worked with our allies and partners around the world to improve our capacity to collectively defend against and respond to cyber threats from authoritarian states that go against our national interests.

This strategy recognizes that robust collaboration, particularly between the public and private sectors, is essential to securing cyberspace. It also takes on the systemic challenge that too much of the responsibility for cybersecurity has fallen on individual users and small organizations. By working in partnership with industry; civil society; and State, local, Tribal, and territorial governments, we will rebalance the responsibility for cybersecurity to be more effective and more equitable.

We will realign incentives to favor long-term investments in security, resilience, and promising new technologies. We will collaborate with our allies and partners to strengthen norms of responsible state behavior, hold countries accountable for irresponsible behavior in cyberspace, and disrupt the networks of criminals behind dangerous cyberattacks around the globe.

And we will work with the Congress to provide the resources and tools necessary to ensure effective cybersecurity practices are implemented across our most critical infrastructure. As I have often said, our world is at an inflection point. That includes our digital world. The steps we take and choices we make today will determine the direction of our world for decades to come. This is particularly true as we develop and enforce rules and norms for conduct in cyberspace.

We must ensure the Internet remains open, free, global, interoperable, reliable, and secureanchored in universal values that respect human rights and fundamental freedoms. Digital connectivity should be a tool that uplifts and empowers people everywhere, not one used for repression and coercion. As this strategy details, the United States is prepared to meet this challenge from a position of strength, leading in lockstep with our closest allies and working with partners everywhere who share our vision for a brighter digital future.
GUEST OPINION: The pricing of todays technology, if it is an enterprise technology, is one of the most important factors to consider prior to purchase. If you dont know approximately how the price of a particular product is built, you wont be able to adequately select a good option with the necessary features that your company needs in order to grow product is built, you wont be able to adequately select a good option with the necessary features that your company needs in order to grow.

Today, we will cover this aspect to raise awareness of VDR technology and provide you with the knowledge to take your company to the next level.

Evaluate the right technology when choosing

Choosing the right application for your company is a straightforward process. You simply need to evaluate factors that are specific to your business and its requirements. Consider the following questions:

When selecting a virtual online data room software, its crucial to consider how your company will use it. Will it be a regular or situational solution for complex business transactions? This decision affects the price and productivity of your company. For situational needs, an expensive VDR with advanced tools may be necessary, while a budget-friendly option may be more suitable for regular use. While pricier VDRs offer more advanced features, they may not be feasible for permanent use. Opting for a budget-friendly option provides good features without breaking the bank.

To determine if a virtual data room is right for your business, consider your teams document usage. If your team regularly handles a large volume of documents, a virtual data room is likely a wise investment. However, if your team does not handle a significant amount of documentation, it may not be necessary to invest in this technology.

To find the right virtual data room for your company, its important to consider your budget. Virtual data rooms can vary in price and features, so its essential to determine how much youre willing to spend. Cheaper options may offer fewer features and limited storage, while premium versions may provide more advanced features and greater storage capacity. Keep in mind that investing in a high-quality virtual data room can offer long-term benefits for your business, so its important to strike a balance between cost and value.

To ensure a smooth adoption of a virtual data room, its important to consider the level of training your employees may need. Ask yourself whether your team will require assistance in getting familiar with the tool. If so, look for a product that offers offline lectures, as online sessions may not be effective for everyone. Additionally, make sure the product offers ongoing technical support through an online widget or phone call. This will ensure that your team can get help when needed and that the transition to using the tool is as seamless as possible.

By asking yourself these questions and doing data room pricing comparison, you can easily find the one that best fits your needs.

VDR pricing principles

Virtual data rooms can vary in price due to several factors, as they are complex products within a highly competitive market. Some of the factors that can affect the price of a virtual data room include:

The cost of a VDR may vary depending on the set of data room services provided by each software developer. Tariffs are typically tailored to a companys specific needs, with smaller companies paying lower prices for basic tools and larger organizations with more complex requirements paying more. Additional features, such as artificial intelligence and enhanced security measures to prevent cyber-attacks, may also come at an extra cost, which may not be necessary for some companies.

The reputation and experience of the developer also affect the price of virtual data rooms. Established developers who have been in the market for a long time and cater to large organizations typically charge higher prices. This is because they have established themselves as industry leaders and have extensive technology development resources that their competitors may not have. On the other hand, less well-known developers may offer more affordable prices for their virtual data rooms, but their products may not have the same level of features and security as those from established developers.

The pricing of virtual data rooms is influenced by the subscription system used by each developer. Different companies have varying needs, which require developers to offer a range of subscription options based on factors such as the amount of storage needed, the number of users who require access, or the level of functionality required. Companies with larger storage needs or more users may have to pay more for their virtual dataroom subscription. Additionally, some developers may offer separate licenses for employees, which also contributes to the price.

In the world of virtual data rooms, the saying You get what you pay for holds true. While some newer, smaller development companies may offer discounted prices to gain traction in the market, the quality of their services may be comparable to more established, pricier options. Its important to carefully browse and compare different options before making a final decision, taking into account factors such as the services provided, the reputation of the developer, and the subscription system offered. Ultimately, investing in a reputable virtual data room that meets your companys specific needs and requirements can provide numerous benefits and efficiencies in the long run.

Virtual data room examples

We promised you specific examples, so here they are:

iDeals is a popular choice for many entrepreneurs. They offer top-notch solutions that can help with the due diligence process and are available as both cloud-based and full-fledged software for various platforms. What sets them apart is their own labs, where they research the impact of technological advances on enterprises and use the findings to create high-end products for their customers. Despite their premium features, their price range is reasonable, making them a great option for short-term transactions or long-term use. They are also certified for security, which is especially important for businesses operating in countries that have strict data privacy laws, such as the US, UK, and Europe.

DD360 is one of the most high-end virtual data rooms available in the market. It offers advanced artificial intelligence technology, technical support with a vast array of learning resources, and top-notch encryption. However, it comes at a steep price point and is typically only used by large corporations with significant financial resources. Small to medium-sized companies may find that the extensive features offered by DD360 are unnecessary and cost-prohibitive. While DD360 serves as an example of an expensive virtual data room, its ultimately up to individual companies to determine if the price justifies the benefits.

With these two examples, we can see that prices, depending on the quality, can vary quite a bit. You should always keep this in mind.
This Week in Review

A weekly review of the best and most popular stories published in the Imperial Valley Press. Also, featured upcoming events, new movies at local theaters, the week in photos and much more.
"We will explore all legal and peaceful options to reclaim our mandate. We won the election and we will prove it to Nigerians. We were asked to go to the court. Is that not what they said? So let's go there."

In his first official reaction to the results of the 2023 presidential election, the candidate of the Labour Party (LP), Peter Obi, on Thursday, vowed to challenge the outcome of the 25 February election in court.

INEC Chairman and Returning Officer for the presidential election, Mahmood Yakubu, on Wednesday, declared the candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Bola Tinubu, as the winner of the elections, having polled the majority votes of 8,794,726.

While PDP's Atiku Abubakar polled 6,984,520, Mr Obi came third with 6,101,533 votes, the INEC Chairman said.

Altogether, 18 candidates contested the presidential election.

Earlier on Monday, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and LP agents at the National Collation Centre, protested the continuation of the collation of results by INEC, insisting that the result must first of all be uploaded on the election viewing portal, IREV.

In a joint press briefing on Tuesday, before the official declaration of the result, the two opposition parties did not only ask INEC to conduct another election, they asked Mr Yakubu to step down.

After receiving the certificate or return from INEC on Wednesday, Mr Tinubu asked Mr Obi and other contestants to work with him to reposition the country.

"I am asking you to work with me, I may be the president in the election, but I need you. More importantly, Nigeria needs you a lot more," the president-elect said.

Explore legal option and peaceful options

Speaking at a press conference in Abuja, Mr Obi, who was flanked by the National Chairman of the LP, Julius Abure, and the Director General of his campaign, Akin Osuntokun, claimed he was the actual winner of the election.

The LP candidate said the will of the people had been suppressed and vowed to explore all legal and peaceful options to reclaim his mandate.

"We will explore all legal and peaceful options to reclaim our mandate. We won the election and we will prove it to Nigerians," he said at the press briefing in Abuja. "We were asked to go to the court. Is that not what they said? So let's go there."

He asked his supporters to remain calm and peaceful, urging them to go out and vote in the forthcoming gubernatorial and state houses of assembly elections.

"Please do not despair, we have elections coming up on 11th, I enjoin you to go and campaign and urge people to come out and vote in an election, we still have so many massive supporters out there that we need for our sub national and state house of assembly election," he said

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"Elections have been conducted and results announced as programmed. It is a clear version from electoral rules and guidelines as we were promised. This election as you know did not meet the minimum standard expected of a free, transparent, credible, fair election. It would go down as one of the most controversial elections ever conducted in Nigeria.

"The good and hardworking people of Nigeria have again been robbed by our supposed leaders whom they trusted. However, let me humbly appeal to most Nigerians to remain peaceful, law abiding and conduct themselves in the most responsible manner," Mr Obi stated.

I am a beneficiary of the court - Obi

When asked about his confidence in the judiciary, Mr Obi said he has been a beneficiary of the judiciary since his time as the governor of Anambra state.

"From 2003, I've always been in the court. I was there (for) three years to reclaim my mandate. I was there to come back from impeachment, I was there to do interpretation, I was there to challenge my second tenure election. And in all, I've been successful without in any way compromising or doing the wrong thing," he said.

The National Chairman of the New Nigeria Peoples Party (NNPP), Rufai Alkali, had also on Wednesday rejected the result of the presidential election and demanded its cancellation.
"Among the financial phishing attempts in Nigeria 31.1% were through websites of fake payment systems."

About seven per cent of internet users in Nigeria were affected by phishing in 2022, top anti-virus provider Kaspersky, said in a Thursday statement.

Phishing is the practice of sending emails or messages to individuals or firms in order to induce them to reveal private information that can then be used for nefarious purposes.

"Kaspersky experts discovered that throughout 2022 cybercriminals increasingly turned to phishing," the company said.

A lot of the phishing was financial phishing which is targeted at getting people to lose their money.

"Among the financial phishing attempts in Nigeria 31.1% were through websites of fake payment systems, 51.2% through fake online stores and 17.8% through fake online bank portals," the firm said.

Read the full statement by Kaspersky below.

8.7% of users encountered phishing attacks in Africa in 2022, global number of attacks exceeds 500 million Kaspersky experts discovered that throughout 2022 cybercriminals increasingly turned to phishing

Kaspersky's (www.Kaspersky.co.za) anti-phishing system prevented more than 500 million attempts at accessing fraudulent websites globally in 2022. This is twice more compared to 2021 figures. In Africa, 8.7% of individuals and corporate users were affected by phishing: attacks on their devices were detected and stopped. In South Africa, the share of users affected by phishing stands at 9.7%, followed by Kenya at 8.4% and Nigeria at 7%. Detailed information on the global situation with spam and phishing can be found in Kaspersky's Spam and Phishing in 2022 report.

Although spam and phishing attacks are not necessarily complex from a technological standpoint, they rely on sophisticated social engineering tactics, making them highly dangerous to those who are not aware of them. Fraudsters are skilled at creating phishing web pages identical to the original websites that collect private user data or encourage the transfer of money to fraudsters targeting both individuals and organisations. Kaspersky experts discovered that throughout 2022 cybercriminals increasingly turned to phishing. The company's anti-phishing system successfully blocked 507,851,735 attempts to access fraudulent content globally in 2022, twice the number of attacks thwarted in 2021.

The sphere most frequently targeted with phishing attacks was delivery services. Fraudsters send fake emails pretending to be from well-known delivery companies and claim there is an issue with a delivery. The email includes a link to a fake website, which asks for personal information or financial details. If the victim falls for the scam, they could lose their identity and banking information, which may be sold to websites on the dark web.

With financial phishing, the most commonly targeted categories were online stores and online financial services. Among the financial phishing attempts in South Africa 15.4% were through websites of fake payment systems, 68.4% through fake online stores and 16.2% through fake online bank portals. Among the financial phishing attempts in Kenya 22.5% were through websites of fake payment systems, 54.9% through fake online stores and 22.6% through fake online bank portals. And among the financial phishing attempts in Nigeria 31.1% were through websites of fake payment systems, 51.2% through fake online stores and 17.8% through fake online bank portals.

Kaspersky experts have also highlighted a global trend in the phishing landscape of 2022: an increase in the distribution of attacks through messengers, with the majority of blocked attempts coming from WhatsApp, followed by Telegram and Viber.

There is also growing demand among cybercriminals for social media credentials, with criminals exploiting people's curiosity and desire for privacy by offering fake updates and verified account status on social media platforms.

Moreover, the experts found that cryptocurrency scams and market events, like the pandemic, are still being used by phishing attackers to steal sensitive information from people who are afraid and worried. These scammers are taking advantage of people's fears and concerns to steal their sensitive information.

"Phishing is one of the most prevalent and pernicious threats in the cybersecurity landscape. Being the gateway to many of the worst cyber threats, phishing pages are the first step in a long chain of events that can result in identity theft, financial loss, and reputational damage for both individual consumers and businesses. It's crucial for everyone to understand the threat and take action to protect themselves," comments Olga Svistunova, security expert at Kaspersky.

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In order to avoid becoming a victim of spam or phishing-based scams, Kaspersky experts advise the following:

Only open emails and click links if you are sure you can trust the sender.

When a sender is legitimate, but the content of the message seems strange, it is worth checking with the sender via an alternative communication channel.

Check the spelling of a website's URL if you suspect that you are faced with a phishing page. If you are, the URL may contain mistakes that are hard to spot at first glance, such as a 1 instead of I or 0 instead of O.

Use a proven security solution when surfing the web. Thanks to access to international threat intelligence sources, these solutions are capable of spotting and blocking spam and phishing campaigns.
This is a sacred dutyIll work day and night to make Nigeria better, President-Elect Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu says after INEC issued him a certificate of return.

Mr Tinubu won after polling 8,794,726 to win the polls while his closest rival Atiku Abubakar of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), came second with 6,984,520 while Peter Obi of Labour party came third with

Nigeria's President-elect, Bola Tinubu, has begun a move to reach out to his opponents still aggrieved over their defeat in Saturday's presidential election.

Mr Tinubu won the election but his three main opponents have complained about lapses in the conduct of the election by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).

Mr Tinubu won the poll with 8,794,726 votes while Atiku Abubakar of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) came second with 6,984,520 and Peter Obi of Labour Party third with 6,101,533 votes.

The candidates of the PDP, LP and the New Nigeria Peoples Party (NNPP) have rejected the outcome of the poll, saying INEC failed to comply with the provisions of the Electoral Act 2022 on electronic transmission of results.

The oppositions have also announced that they will go to court to challenge the outcome of the poll.

But the Governor of Ondo State, Rotimi Akeredolu, in a statement signed by his Chief Press Secretary, Richard Olatunde, on Wednesday said the president-elect has asked a committee to reach out to his aggrieved rivals.

Mr Olatunde said a committee of elders of the APC would soon begin to meet with the defeated presidential candidates in a bid to ensure peace after the election.

He added that every aggrieved person will be met for reconciliation.

The statement reads, "The President-elect has set up committees to meet with the gentlemen who contested in the election for us to start the healing process. I belong to one of the committees. We are going to meet them and appeal to them so that we can work together."

In his acceptance speech on Wednesday morning, Mr Tinubu appealed to other contestants to work with him to make Nigeria a better place.

His words, "I take this opportunity to appeal to my fellow contestants to let us team up together. It is the only nation we have. It is one country and we must build together.

"Whether you are Batified or Atikulated, Obidients, Kwankwasiyya or have any other political affiliation, you voted and struggled for a better Nigeria, more hopeful nation and I thank you for you participation and dedication to our democracy.

"You decided to place your trust in the democratic vision of a Nigerian founded on a shared prosperity and one nurtured by the ideas of unity, justice, peace and tolerance."
The gas plant was constructed by NNPC Ltd to supply 50 megawatts of electricity to Maiduguri and its environs.

President Muhammadu Buhari on Thursday inaugurated the Maiduguri Emergency Power Project, describing the feat as another testament towards achieving a stable, uninterrupted power supply aimed at improving the economy and lives of Nigerians.

The gas plant was constructed by the Nigeria National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPC Ltd) to supply 50 megawatts of electricity to Maiduguri and its environs.

Speaking at the occasion, the president said his administration has worked hard to fulfil the promise of tackling the nation's electricity challenges and has succeeded in laying the foundation for a strong, prosperous country through the Economic Recovery and Growth Plan.

He noted that a key execution priority of the ERGP is ensuring national energy sufficiency for Nigerians.

"The Maiduguri Emergency Power Project is part of an incremental 4,000MW of power generating assets that this administration embarked upon to improve national power supply and stimulate economic growth.

"The aggressive project strategy deployed to complete this project on schedule is a total reflection of Federal Government sensitivities in identifying and easing the plight of the Nigerians; particularly those recovering from the adverse impact of the insurgency in this North-east region.

"Over the past few years, insurgents had attacked power supply lines along Maiduguri-Damaturu and Maiduguri-Damboa-Biu roads leading to acute power supply shortages to the city of Maiduguri and its environs and crippling the economic activities in the region.

"For this purposeful response, I want to commend the NNPC Ltd for following my directive to ensure the immediate restoration of reliable power supply to Maiduguri within the shortest possible time," he said.

President Buhari reassured Nigerians of the federal government's resolve to implement programmes, particularly in the power sector, that deepen domestic gas utilization, expand national power generation capacity, revitalize industries and create multiple jobs for economic growth.

He directed the Ministry of Power and other relevant Agencies namely, the Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission, Nigerian Bulk Electricity Trading Plc, and Transmission Company of Nigeria to continue to collaborate with NNPC Ltd to ensure that millions of Nigerians access affordable electricity in the short term.

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He expressed confidence that the undaunting spirit of the New NNPC Ltd would continue to engender affordable energy for all Nigerians, not just for the immediate, but for the years ahead.

President Buhari, who is making his fifth visit to the state since the administration of Babagana Zulum, thanked the governor for keeping his campaign promises to the people of the state.

He declared that the governor, who is seeking a second term in office, deserves to be re-elected.

"Your Excellency, I cannot remember the number of projects I commissioned during your first tenure, these laudable projects are impressive. I thank you.

"We also acknowledge the excellent work that you have done, working closely with the Federal Government and other stakeholders, to bring back the IDPs and refugees from Cameroon and other neighbouring countries. I think the governor deserves another term," he said.

While in Maiduguri, the president inaugurated the dualized Ahmadu Bello Way; Shehu Sanda Kura Road; Lafiya Road and Mogoram Road; Ultra-Modern Market, Bama Road; newly constructed Staff Quarters for the University of Maiduguri Teaching Hospital; Hon. Muktar Betara Aliyu Cancer Centre, and the newly constructed Bolari Market Road.

Garba Shehu

Senior Special Assistant to the President

(Media & Publicity)
"The event will bring together policymakers and implementers alongside health professional associations and council executives, who are critical stakeholders in the health systems strengthening process"

The development Research and Project Centre (dRPC) in collaboration with the National Institute for Policy and Strategic Studies (NIPSS) is holding a symposium to discuss recent brain drain in Nigeria's health sector and its implications on health service delivery.

The high-level symposium themed "Nigeria's health sector brain drain and its implications for sustainable child and family health service delivery and financing in the context of new national priorities" is taking place in Abuja.

The event will bring together policymakers and implementers alongside health professional associations and council executives, who are critical stakeholders in the health systems strengthening process.

The high-level symposium will focus on discussing current figures related to the health sector's human capital loss to migration at National and sub-national levels.

The organisers said this is timely as the country's health sector is facing financing and human resource gap.

It said the challenges in the sector is leading to continuous migration trend of health workers to other countries in search of better work conditions.

The symposium will also explore the implications of brain drain for new national health priorities for maternal and family planning services and identify strategies and mechanisms for sustainable financing as part of wider search for immediate solutions.

Stay on this page as PREMIUM TIMES provides live updates of the event scheduled to commence by 9:45 a.m.

9:45 a.m.- It's a bright morning here at Fraser suites, Abuja. We are live at the one-day high-level symposium on Nigeria's health sector brain drain and its implications for sustainable child and family health service delivery.

Although the event was scheduled to commence by 9:45 a.m., it will be starting some minutes late as few of the participants are yet to settle in.

All is set for the commencement of the event. The facilitator, Moji Makanjuola, takes the podium and the event commences with the National Anthem.

10:05 a.m: Ms Makanjuola welcomes everyone to today's event. She said the deliberations should be productive and effective for the benefit of Nigeria. She invites the Director-General of NIPSS, Ayo Omotayo, to deliver the welcome remarks

Mr Omotayo takes the podium. He said NIPSS is established to find solutions to the country's problems, noting that the institute has focused on the health sector in the past three years.

He said the theme of the event is timely as more and more persons are leaving the country to settle in developed countries.

He said all sectors in Nigeria have one problem or another, including health which is a critical sector in every country.

Mr Omotayo said the government must act now and fast. "When doctors leave the country, it means we are having existential problems."

He said the statistics of doctors and nurses leaving the country is high, hence creating a huge gap in the health system.

Mr Omotayo said Nigeria's population is increasing massively and so is the need for more health professionals. He said "the young Nigerians will tell you that Nigeria has done nothing to them - Is it fair to this generation?

He said the government is spending so much on educating doctors and nurses, hence it's a major loss when they leave the country.

He explained that NIPSS will seat next to the government representative to discuss takeaways from today's event. He ended his speech by encouraging everyone to pay attention to today's message.

10:22 a.m: The facilitator, Ms Makanjuola, invites the chairman of the Nigerian Medical Association (NMA), Uche Rowland, to give the keynote presentation.

Mr Rowland takes the podium. He said the term brain drain refers to losing a major strength. He said official statistics show that as of 2019, Nigeria's doctors-to-patient ratio is at one to 4,900.

He said this number has increased as the country continues to lose medical practitioners to developed countries. He explained that Nigeria is in dire need of health workers.

He said from 1963 to date, Nigeria produced only 93,000 doctors; which is inadequate to cater for the general population. "The real shock comes when you know majority of physicians we are training will not remain in the country," he said.

He said research among health workers shows that the UK and the United States of America are the top two destinations for Nigerian medical doctors to seek work opportunities, with 93 per cent and 83 per cent.

He said Nigerian doctors are also migrating to Middle Eastern countries like Saudi Arabia, Qatar and Oman. "We are not just losing the consultants, we are losing fresh graduate doctors too," he said.

Mr Rowland said currently, Nigeria has the highest number of doctors in the UK after India and Pakistan.

He said India contributes the largest number of foreign doctors to the UK health sector. He said, unlike Nigeria, as of 2018 India achieved the WHO-recommended doctor-to-population ratio of 1:1,000.

He noted that India produces 50,000 medical doctors per annum from more than 479 medical schools, with an annual capacity intake of 67,218 MBBS students at medical colleges regulated by the medical council of India.

He said in 2015, 233 Nigerian doctors moved to the UK; in 2016 the number increased to 279; in 2017 the figure was 475, in 2019, the figure rose to 852, in 2019 it jumped to 1,347; in 2020, the figure was 833 and in 2021 was put at 932.

He said the General Medical Council (GMC), the body responsible for licensing and maintaining the official register of medical practitioners in the UK, reportedly licensed 200 Nigerian-trained doctors in one month between August 31- September 30, this year.

He explained that the data further shows that an average of three Nigerian doctors per day were licensed within June and July this year to work in the UK. This is equivalent to 266 Nigerian doctors in the space of two months.

11:00 a.m: Ejiro Eyaru, a Nigerian doctor in the UK, gives his goodwill message virtually. Mr Eyaru said Nigeria's challenges are peculiar and every country has its own challenges.

He said the Nigerian government can make more efforts in the health sector to prevent doctors from leaving the country.

He said based on analysis, at least 40 doctors leave Nigeria every week. He said the problems have been highlighted and identified but providing solutions is more important. He ends his speech.

11:05 a.m: The representative of the Population Association of Nigeria (PAN), Godwin Aidenagbon, takes the podium to give a goodwill message.

Mr Aidenagbon said the aim of PAN is to promote the advancement of demographic knowledge and control the population question in Nigeria's developmental process through the promotion of scientific research on population issues.

He said the theme of today's discourse falls within the strategic interests of PAN in a number of ways. He said brain drain across all sectors has a significant impact on population dynamics.

He said brain drain in the sector may have negative implications for the health of the population. He ends his speech and leaves the podium.

11:15 a.m: Oyewale Tomori, a virologist, takes the podium to give his goodwill message. Mr Tomori said brain drain is in every sector, not just health.

Mr Tomori said the government must invest more in the health sector to protect the health of the people.

He said his goodwill message today is "Let's do what we can for this country."

That's the end of his remarks, he leaves the podium.

11:23 a.m: A representative of the office of the Vice President, Nicholas Audifferen. takes the podium to give a goodwill message. Mr Audifferen said the engagement with NIPSS on issues of policies regarding Universal Health Coverage has yielded positive results.

He said the health workforce has a critical role to play in ensuring Nigeria achieves UHC by 2030.

He said the presidential health reform committee will review and implement recommendations that will improve the country's workforce. He ends his speech.

11:30 a.m: The minister of health, Osagie Ehanire, takes the podium to give the opening remarks. He is represented by Sydney Ibeanusi, an official at the ministry.

Mr Ehanire said the healthcare workforce plays a critical role in the development of a country. He noted that the majority of doctors are leaving Nigeria forgetting that every country has its own problem.

He said some persons that have left are willing to come back to the country but an enabling environment must be created

He explained that increased welfare for health workers will help in addressing issues of doctors' migration. "We must have a way to reintegrate them and bring them back into the country," he said.

He said "We need to look at the countries taking our best brains. We can tax countries that our doctors are relocating to."

He said he looks forward to the recommendations from this event that will help in forming workable policies. He ends his speech.

11:43 a.m: It's time for a group photo session and tea break. We will be back in 30 minutes, please stay with us.

12: 25 p.m.: The tea break is over and participants are all seated. Ms Makanjuola takes the podium to invite the first set of panellists. The panel facilitator is Kanyinsola Oyeyinka, coordinator, presidential health reform committee. The first panel will be deliberating on "Brain drain in the health sector-the facts and figures and implications for Nigeria meeting new health priorities."

12:27 p.m: The first panellist is the Registrar of the Medical and Dental Council of Nigeria, Tajudeen Sanusi. He is represented by Henry Ogunleye. He said the impact of brain drain will affect Nigeria's aim to achieve UHC.

12:28 p.m: Mr Sanusi said the doctors left in the country are overburdened with little or no pay. He said the issue of welfare and funding for the medical world must be addressed for the country to achieve UHC.

12:30 p.m: The next panellist is Ibrahim Ahmed, Registrar Pharmacy Council of Nigeria. Mr Ahmed said there is a need to look at the policy for human resources for health. "That way we can compare what we have today to see if it's in line."

12:32 p.m: He said the majority of pharmacists are leaving the country just like the doctors. He said over 783 pharmacists left Nigeria in 2021.

12:33 p.m: He explained that the government must move to halt more exodus of health practitioners. "We must go back to the basis to address this problem."

12:35 p.m: He said there are concerns that the country no longer guarantees pharmacists well fare.

12:37 p.m: The next panellist is the Secretary General of the pharmacists society, Olumide Akintayo. Mr Akintayo said the country has less than 50 per cent of registered pharmacists practising in the country.

12:39 p.m: He said the government needs to come up with a concept call for pharmacists based on ante-natal care. He said this exists in many developed countries. "You can address maternal and child mortality problems through this initiative," he said

12:40 p.m: Mr Audifferen, the representative of the VP office, is the next panellist. He said the challenge of being a Nigerian is the reason why many young Nigerians are leaving.

12:42 p.m: He said 70 per cent of the health problems are about financing. He said the government needs to start thinking about health as a business.

12:43 p.m: He said healthcare reforms involve everybody as the federal government alone cannot meet up with all the finance of the health sector.

12:45 p.m: The next panellist is the President, Association of Public Health Physicians of Nigeria, Alphonsus Isara. Mr Isara said brain drain is a problem of human development.

12:46 p.m: He said it is not impossible for Nigeria to achieve UHC but more effort is required. "The question is what approach are we using to achieve this milestone?"

12:48 p.m: He said the data are available and the problems are visible but the issue is addressing these challenges. He said the damage caused in Nigeria's health sector cannot be revived in 30 years.

12:50 p.m: He said the country needs planning and strategy to achieve any change.

12:52 p.m: The panel facilitator, Ms Oyeyinka, asks the panellist to proffer solutions to the problem of brain drain. Mr Ahmed, Registrar of Pharmacy Council of Nigeria, said the government must look critically into the aspect of reform. He said the earlier the government acts, the better.

12:57 p.m: He also said there must be harmony between doctors, nurses, midwives, pharmacists and others. "Getting this right is critical to achieving health reforms," he said.

12:59 p.m: Mr Akintayo takes the mic. He said money is needed to address the challenges of the health sector but "we don't need finances from the government to achieve this."

01:00 p.m: He said the country needs to innovate and be strategic with health investments.

01:03 p.m: Mr Audifferen said there are two ways to address the brain drain in the country. "You can be resistive or adaptive. If you want to be resistive, you have to address the problem of funding, staffing and harmony," he said.

01:06 p.m: Mr Isara said the country needs to forget about pushback factors and focus on brain drain and how it can be addressed. This brings us to the end of the first-panel session.

01:12 p.m: The second and third panel session is merged and will commence now. The panel facilitator is Habib Sadauki, the president of the Society of Obstetrics and Gynaecology of Nigeria (SOGON).

The second panellists will deliberate on "Brain drain in the health sector - the facts and figures and implications for Nigeria meeting new maternal health priorities."

The third panellists will discuss "sustainable financing options for health sector expenditure in infrastructure, systems strengthening and human capital development in the context of shrinking fiscal space-implications for CSO policy advocacy."

01:17 p.m: The first speaker is the director of the daily trust foundation, Theophilus Abbah. He is represented by Ojoma Akor, the health editor for the organisation.

01:18 p.m: Mr Abbah said the brain drain situation is worsening but the degree varies. He said there is also a brain drain within the rural communities as medical practitioners are relocating to urban areas.

01:21 p.m: He said a visit to PHCs in the country will provide a clearer picture of the damage caused in the health sector. Mr Abbah said the statistics of health workers leaving the country have no doubt created a shortage of manpower.

01:24 p.m: He said the gap created is obvious in health service delivery.

01:26 p.m: The next speaker is the president of the National Association of Nigeria Nurses and Midwives (NANNM), Micheal Nnachi. Mr Nnachi said although many nurses are leaving the country, there is no exact figure of those that have left.

01:29 p.m: He said nurses are no doubt the worst hit of the damage caused in the health sector. He noted that nurses are the most marginalised and underappreciated health practitioners. "The nurses need to be recognised as other health workers are," he said.

01:32 p.m: Mr Nnachi said UHC cannot be achieved without nurses. He appeals to the Nigerian government to prioritise the welfare of nurses.

01:36 p.m: The next speaker is the director of family health, FMOH, Salma Ibrahim. Ms Ibrahim said the Nigerian government is not relenting in its efforts to improve the health system.

01:38 p.m: She said medical practitioners seeking greener pastures in other countries will definitely come back to Nigeria. She, however, said the government must do something drastic to bring them back.

01:41 p.m: She said women and children are the worst affected by the exodus of doctors from the country. She said the government is doing all it can to improve allocations to the health sector.

01:43 p.m: "I'm happy to mention that the government is improving its health allocation despite the economic condition because the government recognised the importance of healthcare," she said.

01:45 p.m: Ms Ibrahim said the country has learnt great lessons from the COVID-19 pandemic and is looking inwards to achieve sustainable financing of family planning.

01:47 p.m: The next speaker is the President of the National Association of Community Health Practitioners, Kabir Ahmed. He is represented by Aminu Hassan. Mr Ahmed said brain drain has affected both primary and secondary health institutions.

01:50 p.m: He said the country's PHCs are abandoned at the mercy of community health assistants and environment workers. He explained that the lower level of the health sector caters for 70 per cent of health services.

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01:53 p.m: He calls on the government to prioritise the health of the people.

01:55 p.m: The next speaker is Ekenem Isichei. Mr Isichei said the public should learn to hold politicians accountable. "We must ask politicians questions about their manifesto and plan for health."

01:59 p.m: He said the country must get serious with advocacy and institutionalise accountability.

02:08 p.m: The next speaker is Gabriel Okeowo, a representative of BudgIT. Mr Okeowo said the issue of healthcare funding is paramount at all levels of government.

02:07 p.m: He said political will is also required for the country to achieve set goals.

02:12 p.m:The next speaker is the CEO of the private sector health alliance of Nigeria, Tinuola Akinbolagbe. Ms Akinbolagbe said there are various partnerships with the government to increase public healthcare access in the 774 LGAs.

02:15 p.m: She said there are new policies to ensure PHCs don't rot again after revitalisation. "It's important we invite the right stakeholder to listen to some of these important conversations and if we have them on board, they must have the political will to implement policies recommended."

02:19 p.m: The panellists are having a recap of the session. They agreed that the government must work with the private sector and stakeholders if it's to make a change in the health sector.

02:23 p.m:They also reached a consensus that without the revitalisation of the PHCs, the country cannot attain UHC. The panellists said PHCs are the bedrock of any developed country. They said a country is not fully developed until a strong health system is put in place.

02:25 p.m: In his recap, Mr Abbah, the director of Daily Trust Foundation, said the welfare of health workers must also be prioritised. He said without the health workers, the PHC system will crumble.

02:28 p.m: The panel session has ended and it's time for questions and answers.

02:31 p.m: Participants are raising questions and making recommendations for the government on ways to improve health sector financing and curb doctor's exodus.

02:35 p.m: Some participants said the government cannot achieve set goals without collaborating with the private sector.

02:37 p.m: "We need doctors in the country and to keep them here, we have to look for homegrown solutions in achieving this," a participant said.

02:40 p.m: Mr Ibeanusi, the representative of the minister of health, takes the mic. He said the ministry is involving all relevant stakeholders and working assiduously to build a strong health system for the country.

02:43 p.m: He said the government is investing a lot in training these doctors and they are leaving the country. He said this is a major loss to the Nigerian government.

02:47 p.m:He said health education is heavily subsidised in Nigeria. "Let's remove the subsidy so if the doctors are paying heavily, they are free to leave without any moral obligation to stay," he said.

02:47 p.m: The panel facilitator, Mr Sadauki, takes the mic to announce the end of this session.

02:50 p.m: The lead facilitator, Ms Makanjuolatakes the mic to call for a photo session with the panellists.

02:55 p.m: The director general of NIPSS, Mr Omotayo, takes the podium to give the closing remarks. He said there are major takeaways from today's event.

02:58 p.m: The takeaways are "We must accept there is serious brain drain in the health sector; we need to have harmony and good relationship between doctors, nurses, physicians, pharmacists and others."

03:00 p.m: Mr Omotayo said other takeaways are "Increased funding for the health sector; training of health workers; we need to produce as many health workers as possible; we must control the outflow."

03:01 p.m: He said the health sector must be seen as a business. He also said critical stakeholders must be allowed to sit at the table.

03:05 p.m: He also calls for improved remuneration of medical workers.

03:08 p.m: The facilitator, Ms Makanjuola, takes the mic to announce the end of today's event.

Thank you for staying with us all through.
Today

Partly cloudy early. Thunderstorms developing this afternoon. Storms may contain strong gusty winds. High around 75F. Winds SSW at 10 to 15 mph. Chance of rain 70%.

Tonight

Clearing skies after some evening rain. Low 43F. Winds W at 5 to 10 mph. Chance of rain 70%.

Tomorrow

Sunny. High 67F. Winds W at 10 to 20 mph.
For only 17.000 Ukrainian Hryvnia [435 euros], according to what the investigation has found Sergei Govorukha, a 32-year-old SBU counter-intelligence officer has betrayed his country, Ukraine, while it was under threat of a full-scale invasion. On 15 February, a court in the western city of Lviv found him guilty of state treason and sentenced him to 14 years and 6 months in prison. A first conviction, which should be followed by more, as the clean-up of the military intelligence agency is reportedly a priority for the Ukrainian state.

He was arrested in Kropyvnytskyi  the capital city of Kirovohrad region, central Ukraine  almost a year before on February 28, 2022, during the first days of the full-scale military invasion by the Russian Federation. According to the investigation, on the day of the invasion, he disclosed the location of the Ukrainian SU-25 military aircraft. The SBU officer has allegedly been passing on defence-related internal and classified information to Russian special services since December 2021.

Suppose I know the entire secret staff of Kherson

Govorukha was born in the Kirovohrad region. Since 2019, he has worked as an operative of the SBU Military Counterintelligence Department, stationed in Kherson. But in late September 2021, he was transferred to Kropyvnytskyi, where he became a senior operative.

According to the prosecution, as early as December 28, 2021, Govorukha started to use his own mailbox mamangogo...@rambler.ru to write to viktor...@yandex.ru, an address belonging to a representative of the Russian special services going by the nickname "Viktor Suvorov", offering secret information that he had acquired in the course of his service.

- "I know you are interested in the SBU Counterintelligence Department in Kherson. There is a lot of interesting information if you are of course interested," started Govorukha.

- "Very interested, but there will be no conversation until you explain how you got my contacts," the Russian representative replied.

- "It depends on what you are interested in and what benefit I can get from it... Suppose I know the entire secret staff of Kherson, the State Department of Military Counterintelligence, their ranks, full names, current phone numbers, who is supervising what. What can you offer me for this information?" Govorukha asked.

- "For my part, I confirm preparedness to pay for your services, the amount of which will depend on the importance, accuracy, and relevance of the material," replied the representative of the special services of the Russian Federation.

- "I can provide the current list for Kherson, full names, ranks, number, current phone number, potentially dangerous facilities, and also one warehouse in Kherson where ammunition is stored."

According to the investigation, on January 4, 2022, Govorukha informed the Russians about the formation of a 43-person territory defence unit in Kropyvnytskyi. Two days later, he sent the list of the persons along with background information and characteristics of the SBU officers in Kherson.

The gift will be delivered within two hours

On January 12, Govorukha communicated a bank account number to be paid for the work he had done and asked about further collaboration.

- "The gift will be delivered within two hours, work goes on. Expect further instructions," the Russian special services representative answered.

On January 13, while in Kyiv, Govorukha communicated that he was heading to Kropyvnytskyi. The next day, he wrote that there were four potentially dangerous facilities in the city (warehouses with ammunition, aircraft missiles and tactic Bayraktars drones). On January 24, Govorukha sent data on the number of employees, with personal backgrounds and characteristics of the SBU officers in Kropyvnytskyi. On the same day, he allegedly sent the numbers of military divisions located in Kropyvnytskyi. On January 25, he wrote that military divisions had been put on high alert and that lists of families to be evacuated in the event of a Russian invasion were being drafted. On January 26, prior to the outbreak of the war, he sent information about military bases in the Kirovohrad region and their supervisors.

Birds sleep on site

In the first days of Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine, Govorukha, according to the prosecution, continued to work for Russian special services. On February 24, while at a military airfield in the Kirovohrad region, he sent the Russians information that 25 military aircraft were there and that they would remain at the airfield overnight - "birds sleep on site", he wrote. The last information Govorukha reported to the Russians was that missiles for military aircraft were being delivered to the military base and that all the aircraft were located there. On March 1, 2022, Russians shelled the airfield in the Kirovohrad region, states the prosecution case.

Between the end of December 2021 and February 24, 2022, the accused allegedly received 17, 000 Ukrainian Hryvnia [435 euros] in reward for his work  an amount presumably less than one month of his salary, given that income declarations of SBU officers are not publicly available for security reasons. To do so, he used the bank account of his under-age nephew. The money was received in four instalments - from 3 to 5 thousand hryvnias.

Govorukha's sister, who managed the account, was interrogated during the court hearing. She claimed that her brother did not have access to the account and only knew the number because he would occasionally send gifts to his nephew.

Prosecution's plea in the court in Lviv (western Ukraine) that convicted SBU agent Sergei Govorukha (back in the picture) of state treason, on 15 February.  Kateryna Trokhymchuk

"I was carrying on a conversation to expose traitors"

Shortly after his arrest Govorukha sent on March 24, 2022, a petition to the court, in which he shared the following story of receiving an email address from the Russian special services.

"I was approached by a soldier who said that he was receiving text messages from a Russian phone number, on WhatsApp, and was offered to cooperate. I, on my part, reported it to my superiors. But around September 28, 2021, I got curious about those who were writing, so I wrote a couple of texts from another number, and to catch their attention, I said I was a military officer, and they gave me an email address, "viktor..@yandex.ru". I carried on a conversation with them to expose the traitors - an infiltration network. I wrote them a couple of names and phone numbers, which were all made up, and said that they belonged to high-ranking officials. They wrote that this was great and that I should send them [bank] numbers so that they could reward me. I immediately realized that it was not the Russian special services, as Russian transactions in Ukraine, financial transactions, are forbidden. But I still wanted to know who was doing it. I asked my sister to give me a number of an unused account, and she sent it to me, so I gave it to them and asked for a meeting."

Govorukha then allegedly brought the incident to the attention of his Kherson superiors, but was advised to forget about this matter. Therefore, he claims that he simply logged out of his mail on rambler.ru and never entered it again. Govorukha's immediate superior said during interrogation in court that he did not instruct him to conduct any special operations or document any infiltration networks.

A case fabricated by SBU officers in Kherson (defence)

Before the court, Govorukha pleaded not guilty and claimed that at the time he was allegedly informing the Russian special services he was in fact in Kyiv, studying at the National Academy of the Security Service of Ukraine. According to him, between January 10 and February 10, 2022, he took advanced training courses in counter-intelligence. "We only watched movies... precisely on Article 111 [high treason], and we were given lectures."

Govorukha initially claimed that he was on sick leave from February 24 until February 28, 2022. But when asked by the prosecutor, he said that on the morning of the 24th, his supervisor called him and told him to get an assault rifle at the SBU in Kropyvnytskyi. So he went to the headquarters, received the weapon, and then the supervisor told him to head to the military base, so he did.

Four days later, Govorukha was arrested in Kropyvnytskyi, during a work meeting.

- "Unknown people came in, I stood up to greet them, and they hit me in the face and knocked me down. They started hitting me on the head, handcuffed me, and tied my hands behind my back. They told everyone to leave. Only my supervisor, the head of the internal security of Kropyvnytskyi and one staff member remained," Govorukha told the court.

During the arrest, according to the prosecutor, an opened e-mail account on the Russian service rambler.ru, which is banned in Ukraine, was found on his phone. But he assured the court that he had nothing to do with it, that it did not belong to him, and that all of that was defamatory. He said he only used his phone for his official activity, and that he could not rule out the possibility that SBU officers had forged access to that e-mail account on his phone.

Another text message from a representative of the Russian secret services came to the already confiscated phone on February 28, 2022: "I need the exact geo-location of the Turkish products [Bayraktars], and their quantity". But during the court hearing, that correspondence referred to in the indictment could not be found on the phone.

Defence lawyer Yuriy Panchuk says that the case is based exclusively on assumptions and it has not been proven that this phone was used to access the email address "mamangogo...@rambler.ru" and that it was Govorukha who used it. The Ukrainian defence lawyer underlines that the criminal offence report on Govorukha was submitted and signed by the former head of the SBU in the Kherson region, Serhiy Kryvoruchko, who is now also suspected of treason and has been stripped of his rank of general by a presidential decree.

In court, Govorukha said he was convinced that the case was fabricated by the SBU officers in the Kherson region.

- "I began serving in the internal troops of Ukraine in 2013. From 2014 to 2021, I was in the ATO/JFO zone [the Ukrainian territory of Donetsk and Luhansk regions), defending my land, my people, my country from the invaders. I was wounded, went through two surgeries and then returned to defend my country. I have never compromised or betrayed anyone, nor have I violated the law of Ukraine. The actions of the SBU officers who illegally arrested me in Kropyvnytskyi while I was on duty were aimed at making themselves look good in the service and possibly hiding their illegal departure from Kherson. It is since unknown when these employees left Kherson, and I do not know what they were doing in Kropyvnytskyi," Govorukha said in his closing statement.

High prison sentence and confiscation of property

But the court remained unconvinced. It found the former SBU military counter-intelligence officer guilty, and that his direct intent was evidenced by the content of the emails. The court deemed that Govorukhas initiative to conduct subversive activities against Ukraine was clearly apparent: the offer to transfer information to representatives of the Russian special services in exchange for financial gain came from non-other but himself. In an email dated January 6, 2022, he states that he is in great need of money, which indicates for the court his lucrative motives.

According to the court, the evidence and witness statements refute the allegations of the accused. While working for the SBU, Govorukha could not ignore the consequences of his actions during the armed attack by the Russian Federation, it said. Therefore, the court sentenced him to a prison sentence close to the highest limit, with confiscation of his property.

This report is part of our coverage of war crimes justice produced in partnership with Ukrainian journalists. A first version of this article was published on the "Sudovyi Reporter" website. .
The upcoming romance drama "Joseon Attorney," starring Woo Do Hwan and WJSN Bona, released new stills, featuring the actors' two-shot moments.

Marking the two stars' first ever project, fans can't wait for the premiere of MBC's newest period-legal drama.

'Joseon Attorney' Unveils Woo Do Hwan & WJSN Bona's New Stills

Broadcast network MBC raises fans' excitement for "Joseon Attorney" with the new character stills of Woo Do Hwan and WJSN Bona!

On March 2, Woo Do Hwan and WJSN Bona transformed into a lawyer and a princess, respectively, who meet for the first time in the newly-published stills.

In the series, Woo Do Hwan plays Kang Han Soo, an attorney who has a unique charm. With his knowledge, he extends his hands to people who need help when it comes to law.

Meanwhile, WJSN Bona takes on the role of Lee Yeon Joo, a princess who has a sincere heart for her people.

The newly-released photos capture Kang Han Soo and Lee Yeon Joo's first magical meeting, exchanging meaningful glances with each other.

While the other has nothing to lose, the other fears for her life as she hides her noble identity to avenge her parents' sudden death.

Kang Han Soo and Lee Yeon Joo's knowing looks raise anticipation to a new level. Fans also grow curious about what kind of friendship the two will have while fulfilling their individual goals together.

IN CASE YOU MISSED IT: Seol In Ah, Jang Dong Yoon & Chu Young Woo Caught Up In Love Triangle In New Drama 'Oasis'

Meanwhile, "Joseon Attorney" meets the public on March 31 on MBC at 8:50 p.m. KST, following the conclusion of "Kokdu: Season of Deity"!

Woo Do Hwan & WJSN Bona's Other Works To Check Out

While "Joseon Attorney" marks the first project of Woo Do Hwan and WJSN Bona together, the two have starred in many high scale dramas in the past.

Just last year, WJSN Bona cemented her name as a rising actress after she transformed into a gold medalist fencer in Kim Tae Ri and Nam Joo Hyuk's youth drama "Twenty Five, Twenty One."

Meanwhile, Woo Do Hwan is currently preparing for his webtoon-based series "Bloodhounds" with Lee Sang Yi, which tells the stories of individuals who engage in private loans to change their lives.

"Bloodhounds" is expected to be released within the year on Netflix so stay tuned for more updates!

YOU MIGHT ALSO BE INTERESTED IN THIS: Son Na Eun Reveals Honest Feelings On Acting Performance Following 'Agency' Conclusion

Meanwhile, watch the teaser for "Joseon Attorney" here, ICYMI.

KDramaStars owns this article.

Written by Elijah Mully.
Yoo Ah In is reportedly leaving the cast of "Hellbound 2" and will be replaced by rising star Kim Sung Cheol.

In a report, the award-winning star continue to face consequences after he gets caught up in drug-related controversy.

Yoo Ah In Withdraws from 'Hellbound 2' Amid Drug Scandal

As the investigation continues, Yoo Ah In has decided to step down from his role in the upcoming Netflix sequel.

According to a report cited by DongA, the South Korean top star's role will be taken over by Kim Sung Cheol who recently gained praise for his role in "Our Beloved Summer."

To recall, "Hellbound" is among the most-watched K-dramas of 2021 that made it to Netflix's top 10 global charts.

Based on the webcomic of the same name, the mystery horror series focuses on human beings witnessing supernatural events after individuals were condemned to hell.

Yoo Ah In took the role of Jung Jin Soo, the founder of the religious group The New Truth who gets involved in mysterious incidents.

Now, as "Hellbound 2" gears up for its much-awaited return, Kim Sung Cheol will play the role of cult leader Jung Jin Soo.

The changes regarding the upcoming sequel come after Yoo Ah In was investigated for habitual use of an illegal substance.

READ MORE: Yoo Ah In Highly Likely to Never Come Back to Showbiz, According to Media Outlets

Initially, he was suspected of using propofol but found out that he also use other substances after Yoo Ah In tested positive for hemp, ketamine, and cocaine.

At the height of the controversy, his agency, United Artists Agency (UAA) shared that the actor is "actively cooperating in all investigations."

'Hellbound 2' Release Date, Cast and What We Know So Far

In September 2022, Netflix officially confirmed "Hellbound 2" after season 1 became a huge success.

At the time of the announcement, the streaming giant hinted at an intriguing plot as teh tease featured Kim Shin Rok's character.

Viewers could expect a series of intense scenes with Park Jung Ja returning as a human.

This raises speculations if the victims who were sent to hell through a decree will return like Park Jung Ja.

In addition, will the former New Truth chairman Jung Jin Soo, use his newfound resurrection to spread new information?

Due to the public's questions, "Hellbound" creator Yeon Sang Ho tells Variety about his plans for season 2.

He says that he and his partner Choi Kyu Seok "have decided that the story afterward will be told first through the webtoon and, as for whether we would want to turn that into another live-action series."

As for the returning cast, it is yet to be confirmed who among the actors who appeared in season 1 will join Kim Sung Cheol in "Hellbound 2."

IN CASE YOU MISSED IT: Yoo Ah In Drug Charges Update: Actor Receives Summon Amid Investigation for Substance Use



KDramastars owns this article

Written by Geca Wills
The new Disney+ drama "Call It Love" released its third episode, giving the viewers a deep dive into the complicated relationship of Lee Sung Kyung and Kim Young Kwang.

In episode 3, a sizzling news drives the former mad as her hatred for Kim Young Kwang and his mother triples.

Han Dong Jin Discovers Identity of the Company Culprit

In the previous episode, Shim Woo Joo (Lee Sung Kyung) pushed a strange man who planned to attack Han Dong Jin (Kim Young Kwang).

"Call It Love" episode 3 reveals that the man knows the attacker. After Shim Woo Joo leaves, Han Dong Jin and Ju Ho go out for a drink.

At work, Han Dong Jin reveals that he saw Cha Young Min (Seo Dong Won) and Shin Sung Man (Shin Mun Sung), the CEO, talking after the company's important files got leaked.

Much to their disappointment, they realize that the people closest to them are the first ones to betray them once put in a sticky situation.

Shim Woo Joo Keeps Her New Job

At a restaurant, Shim Woo Joo pours her heart out to her best friend Yoon Jun (Sung Joon) who has been with her since the beginning.

He convinces her to quit the company after being humiliated in front of her colleagues. Yoon Jun also assures her that she has work waiting for her at the pharmacy in case she changes her mind.

While contemplating, Han Dong Jin, who was once cold to her, helps her settle into work when the others try to bring her down. She is also offered to work with the business team even after what happened.

Han Dong Jin also warns her about Cha Young Min, reminding her to keep an eye on him. Due to her stubbornness and pride, Shim Woo Joo doesn't listen.

Cha Young Min continues to torment Shim Woo Joo but she doesn't let him bully her. When he leaves a pile of work on her desk despite not being her immediate boss, she calls him out for it.

Shim Woo Joo Meets Her Late Father's Mistress

After work, Han Dong Jin follows Shim Woo Joo to a restaurant who doesn't mind at all. However, she's still wary of his presence. She then gets to know the other more.

Shim Woo Joo also learns that he's a patient guy that he even lets his girlfriend cheat on him for a year, raising intrigue. Because of this, she's given a new perspective of the son of her late father's mistress.

Shim Woo Joo learns that Ma Hee Ja (Nam Gi Ae) is in Han Dong Jin's office, shocking her. The other then offers her coffee while delivering a news to Han Dong Jin that drives her mad.

She reveals that she is in a new happy relationship, following Shim Woo Joo's father's demise. However, Ma Hee Ja acts as if she doesn't remember Shim Woo Joo after she sells her childhood home off.

After Han Dong Jin sends her mother off, Shim Woo Joo gives him a piece of her mind, not leaving a single insult unsaid.

At the end of the episode, Shim Woo Joo follows Cha Young Min to the parking lot and reveals that Han Dong Jin knows what he had done, and that if he wishes to take down the company, he should try his best.

KDramaStars owns this article.

Written by Elijah Mully.
Lee Je Hoon's "Taxi Driver 2" is gaining attention from viewers as the sequel returns with familiar faces and new cast members. However, some fans express how they miss seeing Esom along with the Rainbow Taxi team, causing dismay for failing to join the second season.

The SBS series returns with the beloved anti-hero Kim Do Gi as the group sets out on missions to avenge the victims that the law couldn't protect.

After getting much love from viewers in 2021, Lee Je Hoon is back with a bolder and feistier season 2.

Unfortunately, one cast member failed to join the much-awaited season.

Viewers Saddened At Esom's Absense in 'Taxi Driver 2'

As mentioned in a news portal, viewers are saddened that Esom, with the character Prosecutor Kang Ha Na, is not included in season 2.

To recall, her character played a significant role in Season 1 since she was after Kim Do Ki's team. In fact, Season 1 finale featured Kang Ha Na at the Rainbow Taxi team's hideout, hinting that she has decided to join the group.

Viewers were also delighted at the chemistry between Lee Je Hoon and Esom as the drama highlighted Kang Ha Na's love-hate relationship with Kim Do Gi.

Why Esom Did Not Join 'Taxi Driver 2'

After "Taxi Driver 2" officially gets the green light, outlets mentioned that Esom would not join the series. With this, her agency Artist Company explained that the actress couldn't make it due to a conflict in her schedule.

"Her casting was discussed, but it is difficult for her to star in the new season due to scheduling issues," a representative from the agency shared.

At the time, the actress was gearing for a slew of upcoming projects, which include the webcomic-based K-drama "Black Knight" along with Kim Woo Bin, Song Seung Heon, and Kang Yoo Seok.

Interestingly, the forthcoming series is her reunion project with "Taxi Driver" co-star Kim Eui Sung.

Adding to the list of Esom's new movies, she will also join the cast of "Starlight Is Falling," "Kill Bok Soon," "Possesion" and "Singe in Seoul" starring Lee Dong Wook and Im Soo Jung.

Where to Watch 'Taxi Driver 2'

After more than a year of waiting, finally, viewers get to see the team reunited in "Taxi Driver 2."

Lee Je Hoon, Pyo Ye Jin, Kim Eui Sung, and more reprised their roles as "Rainbow Taxi" team members while, Shin Jae Ha joined as the rookie driver On Ha Joon.

Airing every Friday and Saturday, "Taxi Driver 2" can be streamed on SBS and VIU TV for global viewers.

IN CASE YOU MISSED IT: 6 Non-Romantic K-dramas to Watch if You're Not Into Heart-fluttering Love Stories [Updated 2022]KDramastars owns this article

Written by Geca Wills
Amid Yoo Ah In's drug scandal, a rumor sparked that he is faking his pain to receive propofol.

The prolific actor is in the middle of a controversy after he underwent an investigation due to habitual use of the illegal substance. Due to this, the Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency summoned Yoo Ah In for suspicion of violating the Narcotics Control Act.

As the investigation continues, he is barred from leaving the country and did a series of tests including urine and hair strand evaluation to confirm whether he is using illegal substances.

Results then came in citing that the actor tested positive for four substance. Yoo Ah In's agency, United Artists Agency (UAA), briefly spoke about the reason why the "Seoul Vibe" star consumes illegal substances.

Yoo Ah In's Agency Explains Actor's Use of Propofol, Other Sedatives

According to a media outlet, a representative explained that the award-winning top star is suffering from health issues.

"Yoo Ah In suffers from a skin disease," the agency revealed, adding that he also has a "phobia of needles" known as trypanophobia.

Moreover, his reps said that he "only requested sleep anesthesia during treatment." Unfortunately, authorities are suspicious of the actor's intention.

In the same outlet, authorities are accusing the actor of faking his pain to receive treatment, particularly with sedative substances.

Police Think Yoo Ah In 'Exaggerated' Pain to Get Propofol

As noted by MBC, police think that "Yoo Ah In is exaggerated the pain of a simple procedure and asked for sedatives and received propofol."

Moreover, the dermatology department, which the "Chicago Typewriter" star visited for his treatment in 2021, confirmed that he underwent treatment but "he only went to sleep during the painful procedure."

With this, the director of the dermatology hospital reportedly sent the actor messages along with caution regarding the use of the sedative drug. It includes phrases, such as, "You shouldn't use too much sleep anesthesia," and, "You shouldn't move from one hospital to another."

Based on the results, Yoo Ah In tested positive in marijuana for his urine test, while the results also conclude that he is positive for propofol, ketamine, and cocaine.

Furthermore, the investigation also states that he has been using propofol since 2021 and reportedly took 4400 ml, with the number of times reaching a total of 73, and has administered three times the required dosage.

Celebrities Linked to Propofol Use

While Yoo Ah In is making headlines for his drug-related issue, there are a handful of celebrities who also faced the same fate as the award-winning star.

"Narco Saints" star Ha Jung Woo was indicted by the Seoul Central District Court in 2021 for his illegal use of propofol.

Although he denied using it, the authorities found evidence that the actor had propofol several times, under his manager or brother's name.

In addition, Michael Jackson's death was also linked to propofol use after reports say that the "king of pop" died after his doctor, Conrad Murray gave him a large dose of propofol.

KDramastars owns this article

Written by Geca Wills
The president was also at the palace of the Shehu of Borno, Abubakar El-Kanemi.

President Muhammadu Buhari on Thursday toured the ruins of Maiduguri Monday Market, destroyed by fire recently, commiserating with the government and people of the state on the unfortunate incident.

The president was also at the palace of the Shehu of Borno, Abubakar El-Kanemi, to register his profound condolences to indigenes of the state who lost property and means of livelihood in the disaster.

The president visited the market, still smouldering five days after, with Governor Babagana Zulum of Borno State, Vice President-elect Kashim Shettima, members of the Federal Executive Council and some eminent citizens of the State.

The Minister of Humanitarian Affairs, Disaster Management and Social Development, Sadiya Farouq, told the president that an assessment of the level of damage is still ongoing.

She announced that the federal government has provided immediate relief materials to the victims of the fire incident, including 20,000 bags of rice, and 20,000 bags of maize and condiments.

The minister pledged that the ministry, in collaboration with the Borno State Government, would provide building materials to rebuild the market.

"After the assessment, the Ministry will submit a full report to Mr President to seek special intervention," she said.

Mr Zulum said the market, which was built in the 1970s, with no fewer than 20,000 beneficiaries was completely destroyed by the fire.

Acknowledging the support from the Federal Ministry of Humanitarian Affairs, he said the state government has provided immediate support of N1 billion.

"Even the N1 billion, if the traders share N50,000 each, I do not think that will be enough for them," he said.

The Chairman of the Market Association, Awaji Bukar, expressed deep appreciation to the president for the visit, appealing for more support from the federal government.

Earlier at the palace of the Shehu of Borno, President Buhari said he was also in the state to commission projects executed by the Mr Zulum-led administration.

"I am delighted to be here with the Shehu and the good people of Borno State, to commiserate with you on the unfortunate Monday Market fire incident.

"I'm pleased to be back to commission projects and be part of the unstoppable development drive of this great state.

"I'm equally happy that the state continues to strive for the normalization of its affairs following the enormous successes achieved in tackling the problem of security that had reached worrying heights in the past.

"I like to put on record my deep and sincere appreciation of the love and support of the people of Borno State. I don't take this for granted.

"May Allah increase His blessings upon the Shehu and his people. God bless the Federal Republic of Nigeria," he wrote in the visitor's notebook.

The Shehu of Borno thanked the President for overseeing the return of peace and normalcy to the State.

Lauding the improved security situation in the state, Mr El-Kanemi declared that "no single local government area in the state is under the control of Boko Haram terrorists."

He said the president has successfully carried out his mission in office and that as far as Borno State is concerned, he had done far more than anyone had expected.

He expressed their appreciation to the president for his sympathies following the devastating fire that consumed the entire Monday Market and went on to state the blessings of the Buhari administration in its eight years of office to the state:

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"When you came in, we had more than two million Internally Displaced Persons, IDPs mostly women and children roaming the streets in Maiduguri. We had no power for two years; we had no GSM. We had no outgoing roads except that to Kano. Boko Haram had taken over the other roads.

"We had no airport as the one here was damaged and therefore no commercial flights. Seventeen of the 27 local government councils were under Boko Haram. Today, no single local government area is under their control.

"You changed everything by transferring the Command-and-Control Center of the anti-terrorism war to this place. We thank you for standing with us in our trying times. Together, we remain with you, in or out of office."

Garba Shehu

Senior Special Assistant to the President

(Media & Publicity)
...Says INEC's action is a rape of democracy

...We won't sit idly by and watch your right taken from you

By Nwafor Sunday

The candidate of the People's Democratic Party, PDP, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, has faulted the conduct of the 2023 presidential election, by the Independent Electoral Commission, INEC.

INEC through the Chief Returning Officer and its Chairman Prof. Mahmood Yakubu, declared the candidate of the All Progressives Congress, APC , Bola Ahmed Tinubu having won in 12 states and pulled 8, 794, 726 votes.

Recall that Tinubu emerged winner of the election having polled 8, 794, 726 votes, while Alhaji Atiku Abubakar of the People's Democratic Party PDP got 6,984,520. Presidential Candidate of the Labour Party LP, Mr Peter Obi scored 6,101,533 votes; Candidate of the New Nigeria Peoples Party NNPP, Engr. Rabiu Musa Kwankwaso garnered 1, 496, 687.

However, in his press conference on Thursday, Atiku condemn the action of INEC, noting that its mode of operation during the presidential election was a rape of democracy.

He vociferously noted that INEC failed woeful in the conduct of the election.

Faulting Tinubu's emergence, Atiku said that the former Lagos state governor 'who is a drug baron has become the president'. "Nigeria drug baron has become the president-elect."

Renewing the fate of his supporters Atiku opined that his party will not sit idly by and watch their rights taken away from them. "We will not sit idly by and watch your right taken away from you".

He noted that he would fight constitutionally to reclaim the mandate.
Subscribe to The Podcast by KevinMD. Catch up on old episodes!

Join us on this episode, where we welcome Dennis Hursh, a physician contract lawyer, to discuss the ins and outs of academic physician employment agreements. Dennis will share his expertise on the common pitfalls and what to look out for when accepting an academic appointment. He will also delve into the key differences between academic and hospital physician employment agreements, the importance of having the appropriate academic title, and the flexibility of compensation packages. If youre considering a move to academia, this episode is a must-listen. Dennis will provide valuable insights on protecting yourself and ensuring that youre treated fairly in your academic physician employment agreement. Dont miss this informative discussion on the world of academic medicine.

Dennis Hursh is a veteran attorney with over 40 years of experience in health law. He is founder, Physician Agreements Health Law, which offers a fixed fee review of physician employment agreements to protect physicians in one of the biggest transactions of their careers. He can also be reached on Facebook and LinkedIn.

He shares his story and discusses his KevinMD article, Things to know before signing an academic physician employment agreement.

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Sira, a film directed by Apolline Traore, is in the running for the Yennenga Gold Stallion at the 28th Fespaco.

analysis

As conflict and violence spread across the Sahel, Africa's biggest film festival, hosted in Burkina Faso, promotes fellowship in times of crisis.

In Burkina Faso's capital Ouagadougou, the atmosphere is vibrant. The West African nation is hosting the 28th edition of the Ouagadougou Film and Television Festival (FESPACO).

Africa's biggest film festival, which takes place every two years, honors and promotes African filmmakers and showcases hundreds of African films in various categories.

This year's edition was officially launched by both the Prime Ministers of Burkina Faso, Apollinaire Joachimson Kyelem de Tambela, and Mali, Choguel Kokalla Maiga.

According to the organizers, inviting Mali as guest of honor to FESPACO was due to its geographical and socio-cultural proximity to Burkina Faso.

"[Mali] is a country with a cinematographic tradition," FESPACO advisor Guy Desire Yameogo told DW. "The choice of the country was not dictated by politics or external pressure. Mali has won the Etalon de Yennenga award three times."

Yameogo added that both countries also feel a kinship within their wider struggles.

"At a time when both countries are going through the same problems, it seemed necessary to turn to a brother country, a friend country."

United in conflict

This year's chosen theme -- "Cinema of Africa and Culture of Peace" -- also reflects the tense security context in Burkina Faso and Mali.

Last month, over 70 soldiers were killed, dozens wounded and give taken hostage following an ambush on a military convoy in northern Burkina Faso. The Islamic State group has claimed responsibility. Over the past seven years, violence linked to Islamist extremists in Burkina Faso has killed thousands and displaced nearly two million people.

Malian Prime Minister Choguel Maiga used his visit to Ouagadougou to address the shared security threat in the region.

"We have been through this stage, he said. "At one point, in Mali, every day villages were razed to the ground."

"We knew very well why this was happening. The Malians stood their ground, and we ask you to stand your ground. We are sure that one day terrorism will be defeated in the Sahel."

Mali was plunged into its own security crisis in 2012 following a separatist rebellion. According to the European Commission, over 3.9 million people now require protection assistance

Burkinabe diplomat Antoine Somdah hopes that Africans can still enjoy the cultural element of the FESPACO festival amid difficult times.

"Some people wonder why we organize this kind of meeting when we have security problems, she told DW. "We must not politicise this kind of thing. It is a cultural component."

Women behind and in front of the camera

Fifteen films are up for the "Golden Stallion of Yennega" award for the best African film, chaired this year by Tunisian producer Dora Bouchoucha.

Just as many women as mean are competing for the award. But Bouchoucha says that's not surprising in her film industry.

"I'm not surprised because in this region, on this continent especially, there are many women working as filmmakers," she told DW.

"When I started, there were very few."

Sahel drama "Sira" from Burkinabe director Apolline Traore is one of the entries in the running for the top prize. The film about a young woman kidnapped by jihadists was also shown at the Berlinale film festival in Berlin, Germany earlier this month.

For Traore, it was important to stop painting women purely as victims in the ongoing conflict.

"[The women] are the ones in the camps," he told DW. "And they have to take their kids and then run. And that journey can be very long and difficult. How do they cope? How do they survive? And how do they keep those kids from going and getting enrolled in the terrorist groups themselves? Those women are such a big part of fighting against terrorists that we need to talk about it."

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The importance of African stories

Traore's movie conveys a deep message about resilience and the place of women in the film industry. Her other message: Let African filmmakers tell African stories.

"I think that other places in the world have kind of lost or used their stories," she said. "They don't have any more stories to tell. They're coming to get it from us now, and they're taking our stories and they're telling our stories on the surface, but not going deep inside."

"We have to stand up and and show the West that we are able to tell our own stories."

Edited by: Ineke Mules
analysis

Technology nearly derailed the conclusion of the 2023 presidential elections in Nigeria. The Independent National Electoral Commission could not fulfil its promise to transmit election results from the polling units on its result viewing portal (IReV). This led to calls by some political parties for cancellation and fresh elections. The Conversation Africa asked political scientist Abiodun Fatai how Nigeria can improve its election digitisation.

Nigeria has been digitising the voting process for 12 years. How has this worked?

Nigeria started using digital technology in the electoral process in 2011 when the Independent National Electoral Commission introduced the automated fingerprint identification system to stop voters registering more than once.

The permanent voter's card and smart card reader were introduced in the 2015 general elections. At the polling station, a voter's identity is verified by matching his or her biometrics to the voter's card. The voter is then allowed to vote and the votes are counted manually.

In 2022, it introduced the Bimodal Voter Accreditation System, which is an electronic device designed to read permanent voter cards and authenticate voters - using the voters' fingerprints - to prove that they are eligible to vote at a particular polling unit. This was used in the Ekiti and Osun states' governorship elections in June 2022 and July 2022. The technology worked to its design in both states and was the basis for an election tribunal sacking the Osun State winner in January 2023.

The commission also introduced the result viewing portal, IReV, to guarantee transparent accreditation and uploading of polling unit results. It said this would enable citizens to view results in real-time on election day. But the results could not be uploaded onto the portal because of technical glitches. This caused some party agents to walk out of the collation centre in Abuja.

Did digital technologies help reduce fraud and promote the credibility of the elections?

It did to a large extent. It has been a long journey since 2011 and we are making improvements. The biometric technology actually worked. It has eliminated multiple voter registrations. If your biometrics are not captured, you can no longer vote. These are improvements. Look at the figures from the states - we did not see the huge figures of voters that were out of proportion to the number of registered voters, as happened in previous elections. The 2007 presidential election was so bad that even the winner, Umaru Musa Yar'Adua, acknowledged this and set up a panel to reform elections. But the report of the committee, chaired by a former chief justice, Mohammed Uwais, did not see the light of day after Yar'Adua died.

The logistics could still be improved but some of the glitches we saw in the 2023 elections cannot be attributed to technology. They were operational issues. Some of the biometric machines malfunctioned or electoral officials didn't know how to use them.

More importantly, the goal of technology was to enhance the quality and integrity of the elections and reduce electoral fraud. This was achieved.

Read more: Digital technology can improve Nigeria's elections: lessons from 2019

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What are the limitations to digitisation?

Technology is operated by humans and so whatever is put in place can always be defeated by unscrupulous people. Technology does not operate in a vacuum. It is apparent that Nigeria doesn't have enough capacity to deploy technology fully.

Nigeria has weak broadband internet, and connectivity is patchy. Some parts of Nigeria are still running on 3G networks when some countries are already on 5G. Some parts of Nigeria are not even connected to the internet.

So, conducting elections in Nigeria by deploying technology is a complex exercise. This was a reason for the commission not being able to transmit results in real time.

Digital elections are not cheap either as technology infrastructure costs a lot. Then there was the issue of inadequate preparation, evident in the late arrival of materials in some voting stations and inadequate training of ad hoc staff in operating the biometric machines. All these must have limiting effects on the elections.

What should Nigeria do to improve digitisation of its elections?

The electoral commission must follow the electoral law strictly, especially on the transmission of results in real time. This will enhance the credibility of our elections. The results must also be machine readable, with a clear image, and must be generated from the polling units.

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The commission staff must be well trained in operating the machines for elections. Some of them don't have the capacity and skills needed to function in a digital environment. This must change.

Nigeria must also upgrade its broadband networks to improve connectivity. Without these two, the country can't enjoy the benefits of digital elections. There must be forensic screening of staff hired for election duties so that they are not easily compromised. Their integrity and character must be ascertained.

The country also needs more technical experts to work with the electoral commission than has been the case thus far. It is apparent that the commission lacks enough competent hands to deal with emerging technical issues during the election.

Lastly, Nigerian politicians must allow full digitisation of elections. They must embrace and support it.

Abiodun Fatai, Senior Lecturer, Lagos State University
Where are the institutions that should be supporting the people of Callan, one local demanded at a meeting to highlight the loss of banking services in the town.



It looks like the government has abandoned small towns, another said.



Minister for State Neale Richmond met with a group of local people last Friday, and was told in stark terms that the closure of one bank and serious scaling back of services at another, in the town, was giving the impression there is a growing urban-rural divide in banking.



The meeting was hosted by local Fine Gael councillor Joe Lyons, and was also attended by Deputy John Paul Phelan.

Cllr Lyons said that the town has benefitted from Town and Village Renewal, the Town Centre First scheme and people are being urged to use Active Travel. Taking this into consideration, and the environmental awareness at this time, we are being asked to drive to Kilkenny and Clonmel to avail of full banking facilities.



Describing the situation as very frustrating, Deputy Phelan said the government has invested hugely in Callan but nothing improves a town more than businesses.



Minister Richmond said the number of ATMs in Ireland peaked 10 years ago and people are not using cash to the same extent. Banks want to move business online, he said, but it is his opinion that they are trying to force that prematurely.

Telling everyone everything can be done online doesnt work, he told the meeting.



Cllr Lyons pointed out that many groups still use coin and they are sent into Kilkenny City. He also said that bank charges have not reduced, while services in the town have.



Were not getting the same service, Mary Foley told the Minister. Were paying the same fees as people who have facilities. She said it was a rural- urban divide.



However, Minister Richmond, who is from Dublin, said all branches in his own constituency have been closed. He said its not an urban-rural divide but a generational one.



Ms Foley also raised the concerns of people who now use the post office in Callan for financial transactions. People can be watched by anybody, she said of the lack of privacy at the counter which is located inside the local SuperValu supermarket.



She said there is a perception that the government is a major shareholder in the banks and should be able to prevent rural branch closures. You cant disadvantage people who want to deal with cash.

How can we expect towns like ours to progress when facilities are being taken away?



Minister Richmond said the government cant direct the banks, who are fully independent. What will drive change in policy in the banks is not instructions from government but pressure from the people, he said. He advised the meeting that if communities drive traffic into banks it will show there is a need for branches to stay open.

The minister of state said he and John Paul Phelan can shout until we are blue in the face to the Minister for Finance, who can shout until he is blue in the face to the banks but it will be getting the CEO and boards of banks to hear communities saying if you put in a useful service we will use it.



What sickens me is this is the bank we bailed out, Sr Kate Morris said. She said the bank had to get over the idea of branches being worth their while keeping open. We have been betrayed by the very people we bailed out at enormous expense and embarrassment.

Its a joke whats happening, she said.



Sr Kate said she supports the government but is asking herself: Who am I supporting? A bunch of mopes?

She said they could talk politely forever, to no end. You say we should fight, but we shouldnt have to fight. People are bursting themselves trying to make this town work, under very difficult circumstances.

She asked where are the institutions who should be supporting this town?



Teckie Brett said there is a big push for a cashless society, but, she asked, who is pushing for it?

She said she has to drive from Mullinahone to Kilkenny City if she wants to get change for a business.

She said banking is moving too fast towards being cashless and the government has a role to play in slowing this.

How can a small business in the likes of Callan survive if we cant get cash? It looks like the government has abandoned small towns.



Other speakers at the meeting informed the minister that members of the LArche Community in Callan now have to be brought into Kilkenny City to facilitate them getting cash from the bank.

A local school principal also pointed out that a lot of coin cash still comes into the school and its a nightmare for the school secretary to lodge that to a bank.

It was pointed out to the Minister that grandparents like to give children a few bob and on any Saturday children can ve seen spending cash at toy shops, not tapping cards.



Jane Lowth, who runs a cafe in the town, said a majority of her customers do tap to pay but, she said, while banks choose to go with the majority they still need to serve the minority as well.



Minister Richmond agreed, pointing out there are lots of financial tasks and services you cant do on your phone, including mortgages. He gave a commitment to the Callan meeting that he will take every point, made in good faith, back to the government.

Callan, a parish of nearly 5,000 people, has a hinterland including the communities of Kells, Kilmanagh, Ballingarry, Mullinahone, Windgap and Cuffesgrange.

Branches of both Bank of Ireland and AIB were located in the town until the closure of the Bank of Ireland in October 2021. The AIB branch is now cashless. There is no facility in the town to lodge or withdraw coin and no foreign currency.
Fingers have been pointed at Uisce Eireann (formerly Irish Water) for creating a barrier to housing development in the county.



At the recent meeting of the Castlecomer municipal district councillors, Cllr Pat Fitzpatrick said there is now a major problem in north Kilkenny with the lack of houses being built. He went on to say getting water services to houses is the issue.



Planning applications are being turned down in other parts of Kilkenny for the same reason, he said.

He said he would like to see officials from the Housing and Environment Sections of the county council report on the issue to councillors.



District chairperson, Cllr Mary Hilda Cavanagh, said they would do a bit of research on planning refusals in the area and the reason for that, to see if it is a water problem.



Its very clear, the infrastructure is not there, Cllr Fitzpatrick said.

Housing lists are going to get larger, he warned.

He asked that the research include what the problems for planning permission are and if they are affecting both private and council developments.

Cllr Cavanagh said she would include the matter on the municipal districts April meeting and if it is one, single issue they will have to bring it to the notice of government.



Cllr John Brennan supported Cllr Fitzpatricks call.

He said at a recent Zoom meeting with Uisce Eireann the quality of water in the Castlecomer area was discussed. Its a huge issue, he said.



The time scale for Irish Water to invest in infrastructure in the area is five to 10 years. We cant wait that long, Cllr Brennan said. We will have to fast-track proper water development supply in the area or we will come to a standstill with development.
A man has told Kilkenny District Court that he was afraid for his life when he was slapped and later was busted straight across the side of the head with a glass bottle as he stood at his front door, in the middle of the afternoon.



The assault charge was denied by Annie McCarthy, 4A John Street South, Dublin 8, who told a garda: I assaulted him because he insulted me.



Eoin Bergin said he had lived, with his partner, at a house on Colliers Lane for two years before this incident.

He said there were some issues towards the end of the tenancy and on more than one occasion they had found Ms McCarthy in the property without notice.



On the day of the incident, Mr Bergin said Ms McCarthy arrived and was banging on the door loudly. He said he opened the door and she demanded to enter to acquire a gas bill.

Mr Bergin gave her permission to come in and went to the drawer where he kept correspondence and bills. He found what she wanted and said she was shouting all the time.



He said she told him you go, you will leave here. He said they would but they were entitled to 90 days notice, bearing in mind it was a difficult time to find a new place.

Mr Bergin said Ms McCarthy then struck him many times around the head.



He started laughing at her and said will you stop please. In court he described it as like a grandmother hitting a bold child. He said it was silly and unnecessary and felt comical.



He opened the front door and begged Ms McCarthy to get out, which she did. At that point, he said, he was afraid for his life because he was alone in the house with her. The whole situation was unbelievable.



Mr Bergin said Ms McCarthy was shouting and called him every name under the sun. He said he called her names. He said Ms McCarthy shouted at him that he was a rubbish person and called him an uneducated fool.



When the door closed Mr Bergin rang Jimmy McCarthy, the defendants husband. He told him to come down and sort it out. Mr Bergin said he would have to call the gardai as it had gone too far and he had been assaulted in his own accommodation.

Mr Bergin said Mr McCarthy had always been a peaceful influence and he had not one bad thing to say about him.



Ms McCarthy came back to the house and at this point Mr Bergin started filming on his phone. He said she was roaring at him and he didnt think people would believe him and because he knew it would protect him as he had no witnesses.

Mr McCarthy was with his wife.



Mr Bergin was standing at the door as they approached and Ms McCarthy walked straight up to him and clocked me in the head with a bottle. She busted me straight across the side of the head with a glass bottle.

From that point on he was in total shock, Mr Bergin told the court. I knew then I was under threat. He said hed never been hit with a bottle before.



Mr Bergin said he wanted to sort out the whole argument and invited them into the house.

He said he was evicted after 28 days.



Mr Bergin said he contacted the gardai and went to the station to make a statement.

He said he was not physically hurt and did not need to attend a doctor, but he was upset. He didnt want to make a bigger deal of it than it was.



The phone footage recorded by Mr Bergin, and given to gardai, was played in court. Ms McCarthy could be seen and heard shouting and swinging a large, glass bottle at Mr Bergin, while he was standing in the doorway. Mr McCarthy was seen and heard trying to calm her down, while Mr Bergin could be heard asking them to come inside off the street.



In court, Mr Bergin said they were inside for about 10 minutes. Mr McCarthy asked him not to be annoying his wife.

Answering questions from solicitor Chris Hogan, for Ms McCarthy, Mr Bergin agreed the tenancy dispute was over utility bills.

Mr Bergin said hed had lunch with his father that day and had two pints with the meal.

He accepted hed used abusive language but said he had absolutely not called Ms McCarthy a yellow b*tch.

He denied he was ageist for describing Ms Carthy as hitting him like a grandmother. He said that was what it felt like. A grandmother never hit me with a bottle though.



He said he was not aggressive but was giving as good as I got in terms of verbals. He reacted with frustration because he felt the roof over his head was being threatened and he was accused of being a rubbish person.



Mr Hogan said his client said Mr Bergin caused an injury to her arm. He rejected that claim.

Mr Hogan asked Mr Bergin why he felt threatened by a woman hed described as a grandmother. In reply the witness said: A grandmother with a gun could shoot you dead.

Mr Hogan put to Mr Bergin that he was the aggressor on the day and a victim of his own misfortune.



Garda Aidan Fitzpatrick took Mr Bergins statement at the garda station and was sent the phone video.

The garda took a voluntary, cautioned statement from Ms McCarthy at the garda station on February 28, in the presence of her husband. He said Ms McCarthy speaks good English but to make sure everything was right they also used a Chinese translation service, via a phone speaker.



Garda Fitzpatrick read the memo of Ms McCarthys interview to the court.

He started by reading Mr Bergins statement to her.

Ms McCarthy said her husband was not the landlord, she was, and the matter was causing a lot of stress. She said her husband had been kind to this person and she did not expect him to act like this.



She told the garda that Mr Bergin was always late with the rent. She said he was threatening and intimidating and she believed he had intentionally set her up.

Ms McCarthy said she believed everything Mr Bergin said was a lie and she had all the evidence to prove this.



She denied she had hit him and only showed the bottle because she was angry. She said she did slap him with her hand. She said he as looking for money.

Ms McCarthy told the garda she was holding her husbands hand and the bottle was in her other hand.

There is no way he is hurt. I never struck him with the bottle. I was only brandishing the bottle to scare him.

She told the garda she believed Mr Bergin was trying to stay in her house for free.



Garda Fitzpatrick then showed Ms McCarthy the video from Mr Bergins phone, and asked her if she had anything to say.

I assaulted him because he insulted me, Ms McCarthy told the garda. She added that she hit him with her hand and didnt hit him with the bottle. The bottle was water for her to drink.



He called me a Chinese yellow b*tch. I am a great mother and I am famous in China. He was being extremely insulting towards me so I hit him to teach him a lesson, Ms McCarthy said in her statement.



She told the garda her hand got lodged in a door frame and was injured, when she was inside the house the first time.

Ms McCarthy said she believed the incident was premeditated and orchestrated. She spoke to the garda about issues with rent and utility bills.

She told the garda she had hit my bottom line with him and that he makes me angry all the time.



Garda Fitzpatrick said he saw a picture on Ms McCarthys phone of a bruise on her hand. He did not see a bruise on her hand as it was nine days after the incident.



She said she felt extremely insulted. I believe I did the right thing slapping him more than 10 times because in Chinese culture this is not acceptable. I believe I did the right thing to do this because he needs to learn a lesson, she said, adding: I believe he had a bad upbringing.

She said she bruised her hand when Mr Bergin pushed her out the door.



When the interview concluded the garda invited both Ms and Mr McCarthy to sign the memo. Ms McCarthy did but Mr McCarthy declined.



CCTV from a neighbouring building was also shown in court. It was pointing away from the house and only showed Ms and Mr McCarthy approaching.

In answer to a question from Mr Hogan about the quality of the translation service, Garda Fitzpatrick said any service with a Garda Siochana contract is good.



Annie McCarthy also gave sworn testimony in court. She said she is from China and is a journalist, she also does cultural exchange work between Ireland and China.

Through an interpreter she repeated the evidence she gave in her garda interview.



She said when she was in the house she wanted a letter Mr Bergin had and they started pushing each other.

She denied hitting him with the water bottle when she returned to the house.

Ms McCarthy said the interpreter used by the gardai had made translation errors.



Answering questions from Inspector Alma Molloy, Ms McCarthy said she did not ring the gardai because she had left her phone in the car.

When asked why she went back to the house Ms McCarthy said Mr Bergin had phoned her husband and said he rang the gardai.



Mr Hogan said if his client did hit Mr Bergin inside the house it was to protect herself. Putting ourselves in her shoes, her actions were completely reasonable on the day, he said.

Inspector Molloy disagreed, saying even if Mr Bergin was renting his home was a safe place.



She said CCTV from outside, of the second incident, quite clearly showed Ms McCarthy walk past her husband, with a bottle in her hand. She didnt look to her husband for protection.



Judge Patricia Cronin watched the mobile phone video again before making her judgement.

She said she had listened very carefully to the evidence and watched the footage.

The court relied on the phone footage and admissions made by Ms McCarthy. When Mr Bergin said you hit me Ms McCarthy said yes, because you have a dirty mouth, the judge observed.



Looking at the footage, Ms McCarthy didnt show any fear or concern for her own safety, Judge Cronin said, in fact when her husband asked her to step back she brushed past him.

She said it was an extremely unfortunate set of circumstances, finding the case proven.



Mr Hogan said his client is in her early 50s and a wife and mother. She works as a journalist and has some income from her work as an artist.

Judge Cronin said she didnt think either party dealt well with the situation. Taking into account all the circumstances, she imposed Section 1.1 of the Probation Act. Recognisance was fixed in the event of an appeal.
The legendary Kilfenora Ceili Band, who have established themselves as a unique force in Irish traditional music, will perform in the Watergate Theatre in Kilkenny on St Patricks Night.

Originally formed in 1909, deriving from musician families in and around historic Kilfenora in the Burren area of Co Clare, the band has constantly been refreshed with young talent.

In concert, their powerful instrumental sound is accompanied by spectacular dancers and great songs. Their core repertoire of dance music, demonstrating incomparable lift and rhythm, reflects an unbroken tradition  many Irish musicians have grown up learning Kilfenora tunes that the band made famous.

The bands catalogue also includes diverse collaborations and dynamic experimentations, ensuring an exciting and cutting-edge live performance. While acknowledging and incorporating the past, the Kilfenora thrives on creativity and innovation.

The Kilfenora Ceili Band has travelled extensively, visiting Britain, Northern Ireland, Europe and the US. They have performed at Glastonbury twice, once headlining the Acoustic Stage. They are also renowned for winning the All-Ireland Ceili Band competition many times (including two three-in-a rows). Ten albums have been recorded since 1958, the most recent being Both Sides Now in 2019.

The band features fiddles, bass, cello, flutes, banjo, concertina and accordion, with what Folk Roots magazine called one of the tightest rhythm sections in the world.

Tickets are 32 and can be booked online at watergatetheatre.com or on 056-7761674 Thursday, Friday or Saturday between 3 and 6pm.
Tullaroan native Paddy Cleere has been playing music all his life. The youngest of nine, Paddy recalls many sing-songs and sessions of traditional music and song at home.

At the age of 10, he started on guitar, banjo and mandolin, and by his 20s was an expert on the bouzouki.

Siobhan Donohoe with Paddy Cleere at the launch of Kilkenny Tradfest

When Paddy is not playing traditional music, he is a luthier, making musical instruments to the highest quality. He specialises in bouzouki and mandolins with customers all over the world. His workshop is in Tullaroan and he is regarded as one of Irelands leading stringed instrument makers. He has even been described as the cardiologist of the guitar world!

Paddy is a member of Reel to Reel, which was formed in Kilkenny over 30 years ago. Reel to Reel will be performing at this years Kilkenny Tradfest on March 17 on the Festival Stage, for an outdoor free concert at 4pm. Paddy will also be playing extensively on Kilkenny Tradfest's Music Trail and all year round, Paddy plays every Saturday night in Kytelers Inn with Rosin Dubh.

Paddy married Ellen in 1995. They have three children - Aidan who plays guitar, Leanne who also plays guitar and Amy who plays thee whistle concertina and mandola.

Here is a glimpse into Paddys world of trad

You grew up in a very musical family. What is your first memory of learning tunes?

It was after one of our house sessions or singsongs, when I said to our neighbour Paddy Fitzpatrick that I wanted to learn the guitar. I was 10 years of age at the time.

The following week Paddy called with a guitar. He showed me three chords and taught me my first song. My brother Billy took over teaching me chords when Paddy Fitz wasnt around and that was my start in music.

I went on to play Bodhran on a breadboard with a butter knife, I nearly drove my mother insane with the racket!

My brother Jerry who plays the button accordion showed how to play my first chords and tunes on the banjo. We played a bit around Kilkenny in the late 1980s along with his son Damian in bodhran and Mary Moore. Jerry and myself still meet up and have a few tunes every now and then in Tullaroan and Kilmanagh.

Its hard to believe that bouzouki and even mandolins are such recent additions to traditional Irish music. What do you think makes them so popular now?

Johnny Moynihan brought the Greek bouzouki to Ireland in the mid-60s. At that time, he played in a group with Andy Irvine called Sweeney's Men and he introduced the bouzouki to Andy Irvine.

Andy introduced this to Donal Lunny who changed the octave strings to unison strings. Donal and Andy then commissioned Peter Abnett who was a luthier to build a bouzouki. The Greek Bouzoukis have a round or bowled back. Peter Abnett made the first flat back bouzouki which has become known as the Irish bouzouki of today.

Mandolin, bouzouki, and banjos became really popular in the 70s and 80s when they were played by the likes of Planxty with Andy Irvine and Donal Lunny, De Dannan with Alec Finn and Stocktons Wing with Kieran Hanrahan. Every group wants a bouzouki, mandolin or banjo now of some sorts.

How did you get into instrument making?

When I was in the vocational school in Kilkenny, I enquired about apprenticeships to make instruments but could not find any in Ireland.

Back then and even now most people dont know what a luthier is. So, I left school at 16 and served my time as a bricklayer with my brother Billy. It was not until 2012 when I had a knee operation and couldnt do heavy work that I got the opportunity to learn about instrument making.

In 2012, I completed a course in musical instrument making and repair in Cork. I was married with three young children, so I completed the one-year course while driving up and back every day.

In 2013 I started my own business. I started making just bouzoukis and then moved to mandolins, mandolas and guitars. I also do repairs, set-ups, re-fretting etc on all string instruments.

Which is better, a gig for which you have rehearsed or a good session?

This is an easy one, its definitely a session. Dont get me wrong, if you are rehearsing for a gig at a festival like the Fleadh Cheoil or the Kilkenny Tradfest you have the best of both worlds because you know you can meet up and have a few tunes with friends when the gig is done.

Every trad musician looks forward to the likes of the Fleadh Cheoil or the Kilkenny Tradfest to meet with other musicians, to play a few tunes and enjoy the crack without any pressure.

People often say that sessions in full flow have a magical or mysterious effect on the player. What session has taken you to another level?

It was the Fleadh Cheoil in Sligo 1989. I was 18 and arrived in my red Renault 5 with a small tent for 3 of us - Eddie Hennessy, Marty Ramsbottom and myself.

We met my brothers in a pub called Holly Mc Loughlins on the Friday night. Within an hour the whole of Kilkenny and probably half of Ireland were there!

It got so full, and the crack and music were so good, that the barman took the door off the hinges and anyone who came in had to dance on it! That went on until Monday and it's where I met most of the Kilkenny musicians I still play with today.

Youve been involved with Kilkenny Tradfest since it started ten years ago. Whats so special about it for Kilkenny?

Kilkenny is probably known for hurling more than anywhere in Ireland, which is great as Im from Tullaroan - the home of hurling and proud to be. But Kilkenny is also home to some of the best musicians in Ireland.

Also, the best musicians in Ireland move to Kilkenny to live. Since Tradfest started in Kilkenny, more musicians are arriving to it every year and more musicians are moving to Kilkenny as well.

Its always great to see different musicians, especially young musicians and kids hearing and wanting to learn music from this. If I hadn't had the privilege of hearing and listening to music when I was growing up, I probably wouldnt be playing music today.

What would be your desert island disc - the one album you would take if you were stranded on a desert island?

This is a hard one, Ive been inspired by so many albums since Ive started playing music. I learned to play bodhran on a breadboard and knife to the Wolfe tones around 1980. Been inspired by Barney McKenna from the Dubliners playing the banjo and later Kieran Hanrahan from Stocktons Wing early mid 80s and then Planxty and De Dannon in the late 80s on Bouzouki.

But in 2012 when I was driving every day up and down to college in Cork, I got hold of a CD that was originally released in December 1976. The CD was Andy Irvine, Paul Brady, joined by Donal Lunny and Kevin Burke. I listened to this CD every day driving up and back and I still could listen to it every day.

Little did I know then that I would meet Andy Irvine and Donal Lunny in 2015 and become good friends. So, if I was stranded on a desert island, I would take that album because I already know I can listen to it forever.

Did you enjoy the process of making the Snug Cheoil and Geantrai programmes for TG4? Is it a much different process from your normal musical life?

Of course, I enjoy the process of making recordings for TG4. If it wasnt for them Irish traditional music would not be as popular as it is now. They give the normal musician like me the chance to promote the music of Ireland, be it professional or non-professional, be it original or non-original it doesnt matter.

Its not like my music life as a session player because it must be rehearsed, but as a performer it must be right.

Music for me is always learning, it never stops, you learn something new every time you play, be it a new tune, a new song or a new musician putting a new twist, chord, note or variation in a different place that changes everything for the better or worse.

Visit Kilkenny Tradfest https://kilkennytradfestconcerts2023 for a fantastic line-up of musicians coming to Kilkenny this St. Patricks weekend.

For information on Cleere Instruments visit http://www.cleereinstruments. ie/
Taoiseach Leo Varadkar has said it 'is a matter of great concern to me and the Government' that approximately 6,000 people in the south east have been waiting several months for laboratory test results, including patients from St Luke's Hospital in Kilkenny.

Work is underway to reduce a backlog in the reporting times for routine histopathology specimens in South East Regional Laboratory Service based in University Hospital Waterford (UHW). The backlog currently is in the reporting of routine samples between September 2022 and February 2023.

Histopathology services are based in UHW and all samples are sent directly there from General Practitioners and the hospitals in the region, including Tipperary University Hospital (TippUH); St. Lukes General Hospital (SLGH); Wexford General Hospital (WGH); Kilcreene Orthopaedic Hospital; and Ely Hospital.

Speaking in the Dail the Taoiseach said the backlog ' is below the standard of care that we seek to provide'.

"I know that causes great anxiety for patients and runs the risk of delayed diagnoses and poorer outcomes, even though the samples are based on routine tests and are not urgent. While the risk is small, and we want to reassure people of that, it is not negligible. That people should have to wait several months for the result of any test is below the standard of care that we seek to provide.

"The hospital group has confirmed that corrective measures have been put in place, and the hospital has confirmed that all urgent samples have been, and continue to be, processed without delay. Corrective actions include the transfer of histopathology samples and reporting to other laboratories, additional histopathology reporting sessions by consultant pathologists in Waterford, the engagement of agency medical scientists and additional sessions by medical scientists in the hospital. Further additional resources are required, though, to meet the demand for the vital regional service. Approval for the recruitment of additional consultant histopathologists has been granted," he said.

A serious incident management team, involving both the South/Southwest Hospital Group and the Ireland East Hospital Group, has been established to ensure all available supports are provided to the hospital to manage the backlog and involves samples being taken to other laboratories in other hospitals where they can be reported on.

UHW, the South/South West Hospital Group and Ireland East Hospital Group would like to apologise for any anxiety or distress this delay is causing to patients and wish to reassure patients that we are making progress in reducing this backlog. Any patient who may be negatively impacted by this issue will be informed.
Tanaiste and Minister for Defence, Micheal Martin, has pledged to commit further funding to James Stephens Barracks in Kilkenny.

"I visited a new gym facility here, a great facility, and we will investing more in the barracks here," the Defence Minister said earlier today during his whistle-stop tour of Kilkenny.

The Tanaiste further stated that on a national level 'more has been done in the last two and a half years than perhaps the previous decade in terms of investment and infrastructure'.

"There have been recent pay increases and we'll be looking at further measures to improve the quality of life for members of the Defence Forces," he said.

One pressing local issue raised to the Tanaiste was the fact that members of Kilkenny Squash Club are no longer permitted to use the squash courts in the barracks.

The Tanaiste committed to talks with local squash club members to further discuss the issue and some of the remediation concerns around the squash court facilities.

"There's a lot of unsatisfactory aspects to the physical configuration of the courts at present, fire escapes, certain safety issues like that," the Tanaiste stated.

When quizzed about issues around the communication of information between government departments and local authorities on the accommodation of asylum seekers and refugees, the Tanaiste acknowledged that there have 'been issues'.

"These are unprecedented numbers that we have never experienced since the foundation of the State," he said.

"I want to pay tribute to all those working in various government departments, to civil servants, public servants, those who have worked very hard to try and deal with the current situation."
Interview: China boosts global economic growth, stabilizes supply chains: Saudi entrepreneur

Xinhua) 13:50, March 03, 2023

RIYADH, March 3 (Xinhua) -- China serves as a strong driving force for the growth of the global economy and an important contributor to supply chain stability, a Saudi Arabian businessman has said.

The COVID-19 pandemic had disrupted supply chains in many countries, but China's proper response to the pandemic allowed its supply chains to run in an orderly manner, said Mohammed Al Ajlan, chairman of the Saudi Chinese Business Council in a recent interview with Xinhua.

China, through maintaining its supply to the world, contributed to the continuous availability of products in the market, said the Saudi entrepreneur, who is also deputy chairman of Ajlan &Bros Holding Group.

This reflects the willpower of the Chinese people and the management capabilities of the Chinese government, he said.

The optimization of China's COVID-19 pandemic response benefits both China and the rest of the world, and it will have positive effects on the global economy, said Al Ajlan.

In an update to its World Economic Outlook report, the International Monetary Fund revised its projection of Chinese growth in 2023 up to 5.2 percent, a 0.8-percentage-point rise from the 2022 forecast.

With its large population, and enormous industrial and economic potential, China provides strong motivation for the growth of the global economy and the continuity of supply chains, he said.

As an attractive country for investment, China supports foreign investment and offers incentives to overseas companies, he said, adding that Chinese corporations also go abroad for business opportunities.

"We aspire to receive greater support and help from Chinese companies, and to serve the industry and the exports," said the business insider.

The veteran businessman believed that cooperation between major and emerging economies is the best approach to the growth and prosperity of the global economy.

(Web editor: Zhang Kaiwei, Liang Jun)
analysis

It is now 14 years since Boko Haram and other armed groups began to operate in the Lake Chad Basin. The region, which includes Niger, Nigeria, Chad and Cameroon, has become unstable and the people who live there are in dire need of humanitarian assistance.

Out of the 30 million people in the Lake Chad region, 11.3 million have been displaced by the conflict and over 11 million urgently need aid.

Drought and flooding are adding to the problem. Lake Chad, the primary source of water in the region, has shrunk significantly due to drought since the 1960s. In 2022, the region was hit by a severe flood. More than 600,000 people and large areas of agricultural land were affected. These climate-related disasters pose a serious challenge to food security. Over 5 million people in the region are struggling to get enough food to survive and half a million children are suffering from acute malnutrition.

The Lake Chad Basin conflict affects everyone who lives there. But evidence suggests that young people experience the greatest impact. The majority of the people who join Boko Haram are young men. Poverty, absence of basic services like education and healthcare, and loss of livelihoods push young men to join Boko Haram.

With the region's population expected to double in the next two decades, the insecurity has serious implications for development and people's well-being.

Five focus areas for Lake Chad

For many years, the governments of the affected countries have worked together with the international community to find solutions. Several high level conferences have been organised to raise funds and discuss the crisis. In 2018, the affected countries adopted a five-year regional strategy to address the root causes of Boko Haram's emergence and its consequences. But the crisis has continued, largely due to limited collaboration and underfunding.

In January 2023, as researchers and practitioners working in the fields of stabilisation and displacement we visited Niamey, the capital of Niger, for the 3rd High Level Conference on the Lake Chad Basin Region.

The aim of the conference was to take stock of the progress made in addressing the crisis and to forge pathways for a more coherent and collaborative response. A diverse range of voices was represented, from government officials to international agencies, researchers and civil society groups.

The importance of local ownership, social inclusion, civilian protection and climate action are key points that emerged from the conference.

Regional and national ownership

International partners, donors and other actors involved in stabilisation, peace, development and humanitarian aid agreed to work with the local communities, national governments and regional institutions to foster regional and national ownership of intervention programmes. This idea isn't new: it was mooted in 2021 at the third governors' forum. Yet progress has been slow.

The idea is that the local communities who suffer the impact of the crisis and who know the context must participate actively in finding and implementing solutions, rather than having external solutions imposed. Solutions that are shaped by the culture and values of the affected populations are more likely to be relevant to them. This will help to build trust and sustain peace and development.

Including young people, women and girls

Young men face higher risk of joining Boko Haram. Women and girls face the risk of sexual violation and gender-based violence, including rape and forced marriage at the hands of extremist groups. The key message of this high-level conference was "leave no one behind". Participants emphasised the need to create employment opportunities for young people to restore their hope and build shared prosperity. This can be achieved through entrepreneurship programmes, skills training and engaging youths in productive agriculture. Victims of sexual violations should receive mental health and psychosocial support.

However, research has shown that youth interventions can reinforce inequality if elites or youth representatives "capture" the programmes and less powerful youth groups are excluded. This must be avoided.

Managing mass exit from Boko Haram

Some programmes have been implemented to facilitate the voluntary exit of Boko Haram recruits and reintegrate them into the society. Nigeria's Operation Safe Corridor is one.

But if exits from violent groups are not handled well, social cohesion and community security could be undermined. Critics point out that Operation Safe Corridor does not provide enough screening, training, support and reparations for Boko Haram members before reintegrating them into the community.

Transitional justice mechanisms will be needed to address the legacy of the conflict (including human rights violations and abuses) and ensure accountability, justice and reconciliation. The root causes of the conflict, such as poverty and lack of economic opportunities, must also be addressed so that those who return home can live dignified and better lives.

Consultation with the wider community is necessary to improve acceptance and to ensure peaceful reintegration. Prioritising the needs of former Boko Haram members over those of the victims is unfair.

Protection of civilians

Many civilians continue to face violent attacks not just from Boko Haram but also from military officials. In recent years, civilians' access to humanitarian assistance has decreased. In part, this is due to immigration obstacles and increasing attacks on humanitarian workers. Civilians could be better protected through training more military officers on human rights and by supporting communities to build their own coping mechanisms.

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Climate action

Conference participants explained that more work is needed to address the link between climate change, violence and displacement in response planning. Drought and flooding are increasing competition for land, water and food. This has led to conflict and displacement, as seen in Nigeria and Cameroon.

An important first step will be to amend the Regional Stabilisation Strategy to respond to this link. More funds will also be required to manage the harmful consequences of climate change. Yet funding continues to shrink. In 2022, the International Organization for Migration reported an 87% funding gap in addressing the drivers and longer term impacts of crises and displacement in the region, including climate change.

Achieving a peaceful future in the Lake Chad Basin requires more collaboration and financial commitment. Time, however, is running short.

This article was co-authored with Dr. Chika Charles Aniekwe. He is the Senior Advisor and Head of Stabilisation for the UNDP/Lake Chad Basin Stabilisation Strategy

Modesta Tochukwu Alozie, Lead Research Fellow, Department of Politics and International Studies, University of Warwick
AIB has denied offering special debt write-down deals for high-profile customers, saying each loan is approached on a case-by-case basis.

It comes after RTE reported that former Kilkenny hurler DJ Carey secured a significant settlement with AIB in 2017 on a loan worth more than 9.5 million euro.

Representatives of AIB appeared before the Oireachtas finance committee following requests from TDs that questions be answered about its debt write-down policy.

AIBs managing director of retail banking Jim OKeeffe told the committee they were aware of recent commentary about its approach to debt write-downs, but were unable to discuss the details of an individuals case.

Unfortunately, many aspects of this commentary have been incomplete and have not presented the full picture, he added.

Sinn Fein TD Pearse Doherty said that people had been asking if the bank has a policy for the top 1% in the country that differs for the rest of the population.

We do not, Mr OKeeffe said.

We deal with every case consistently and fairly, we have a governing set of policies that are reviewed internally, right up to the board. We have a regulator who quite correctly monitors our activity.

I can categorically tell you, there are no special deals for special individuals coming to AIB.

And I do apologise to our customers who have been put through torture over the past week to 10 days, where theyve been made to feel that they have been subjected to something that doesnt happen for a wider group.

I can assure you, that is not the case.

In its opening statement, the majority state-owned bank said that, excluding those who went through a bankruptcy or insolvency process, about 1,900 borrowers received a reduction of more than 90% of their loan.

The bank said that this represents just over 1% of 150,000 customer resolutions reached since 2015.

They were subjected to the same consistent policy application, there were no special deals in that 1,900, Mr OKeeffe told the committee.

When asked how many of the 1,900 loans were worth more than one million euro, or what was the total value of the write-downs, Mr OKeeffe said it is not a number that we disclose today.

He said that the 1,900 would have included loans worth over a million euro, but they were not the majority.

Questioned further on the nature of those loans, Mr OKeeffe said that the bank would consider disclosing more information, but there were concerns about commercial sensitivity.

The details just on the 1,900 cases is not disclosed. In fairness, that was new information that was requested by the committee, we provided the information to give you a sense as to the scale of the write-down that was taking on in relation to the 90% plus, he said.

There is an element that is commercially sensitive because we have to look at what is the way that we operate our write-down policy, etc. So I need to take that away.

He said that the total value of all write-downs between 2015 and 2021 is 3.5 billion euro, and was publicly available.

Labour senator Marie Sherlock said that the committee appearance was important because despite the state having a majority stake in AIB, taxpayers have little or no transparency as to the type and scale of write-downs that you offer your customers.

Fine Gael TD Bernard Durkan said that it should be clearly illustrated to the general public why debt is written off.

I think its very important that the general public get to know that the rules that are being applied are the same rules for everybody and that there is no suggestion anywhere of a special deal for special people or for preferential borrowers.

Mr OKeeffe said that if Mr Durkan had examples of where the bank had not been consistent about writing down debt, that it would be concerning.

Responding to Fianna Fail TD Robert Troy, Mr OKeeffe said that he could understand the frustration of some people who could not reach a resolution with the bank, but they have certain obligations in recovering debt.

Youre owed a million, somebody says well pay you half a million, you wont get any better than that anywhere else, he said.

That is irrelevant to us, because we have to work through the financial standing of the customer. And very often we dont get the right information shared with us.

We dont get the sworn statements shared with us. We dont get the information to prove that were not leaving debt on the table.

If we are not getting the full disclosure, we cannot take the risk of leaving money on the table at a later date at a committee such as this being accused of not being consistent across the board.

Chairman of the finance committee and Kilkenny Fianna Fail TD John McGuinness said there had been significant disquiet from the public about how debt write-down is approached.

Ive found every engagement with your bank and every other bank to be robust and very challenging, and with no certainty of any outcome, and I think thats the way it should be.

Because that challenges your systems. It also challenges the customer thats in difficulty  if it were to be easier than that, then we would really be asking questions.

So the real question is, is it fair? Is the system fair to everyone? And is the playing field level for everyone? Thats the reassurance that we were seeking from your bank today.

He asked the bank to allay the fears that people have expressed since media reports of a significant debt write-down for a high-profile person.

I think that will be hugely important not just for your bank and for other banks, but for the general consistency in quieting the significant public disquiet for people who have maybe settled with you or gone through processes and reflected If I had known that, I would have approached it quite differently.

So I think you owe it to customers that youve settled with as much as you owe it to the customers that are looking for debt resolution, he said, asking the bank to flesh out answers to some questions that had been asked by TDs.
This week marks the launch of a new multimedia campaign aimed at combatting loneliness and isolation among older people and we all have a part to play in its success.

Entitled Hello Again World', the campaign was created to address the growing problem of loneliness. The issue has been exacerbated by the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic, as many older people have not re-established their social connections since they were asked to cocoon for their safety. The effects of successive lockdowns have been immense on our wellbeing.

While many of us have returned to relative normality and have left the pandemic in the past, many of the older members in our community remain fearful of the virus and are slow to return to social activities as they worry about catching Covid.

This new campaign is actively encouraging the elderly in our community to get out and about and to connect and spend time with other. We need to help and support each other in doing this - simple gestures and acts of kindness can gently make it all a lot easier so be mindful of others and check in on them as we move forward and engage and connect with each other.



Chief Medical Officer, Professor Breda Smyth spoke at the launch and reassured people that if you are fully vaccinated against Covid-19 and take normal sensible precautions, you can be assured that you have a high level of protection, so you can safely enjoy social occasions and activities in your local community.

Also launching the campaign was the Minister for Health Stephen Donnelly; Minister for Mental Health and Older People, Mary Butler and the Minister for Public Health, Wellbeing and the National Drugs Strategy, Hildegarde Naughton.

Loneliness has a significant impact on physical and mental health and is linked to multiple chronic health conditions.

Supported by Healthy Ireland, the Hello Again World campaign aims to empower and motivate older people to do something positive for their health by re-engaging with their communities and increasing their social connections.

Reconnecting with others is so important for overall health and wellbeing, said Minister for Health, Stephen Donnelly. I know that older people, in particular, paid a high price during the pandemic as they were the first group that were asked to cocoon. Understandably, they may feel nervous about re-engaging socially but its a very positive step for health as it helps combat loneliness.

Communities around the country offer so many wonderful activities for older people and Ive experienced first-hand the vibrant atmosphere that helps promote positive ageing. Today Im encouraging them to make a healthy decision and reconnect with the world around them.

Minister for Mental Health and Older People Mary Butler said:

This campaign is especially aimed at older members of our society, who may have found themselves at a great risk of loneliness and isolation over the past couple of years. They dont have to continue feeling lonely, as there are so many opportunities to connect with others in communities around the country.

We can all play our part in helping older people to feel more connected and encouraging them to get involved in enjoyable activities that help promote good health.

Minister for Public Health, Wellbeing and the National Drugs Strategy, Hildegarde Naughton said:

Loneliness and isolation affect people of all ages and from all walks of life. The negative impact on physical and mental health should not be under-estimated.

Equally, the positive effect of social connections needs to be appreciated, so we can all help spread the message that engaging with your community is the best thing you can do for your health today.

Chief Medical Officer, Professor Breda Smyth said:

There are many behaviours that impact on the health challenges we face, and in taking steps to reduce loneliness we can help make a big difference to our physical and mental health and reduce our risk of chronic conditions.

Socialising is good for us, and Id like to reassure people that it is safe to do so while taking sensible precautions.

Now is a good time for us all to take the time to talk to each other and make an effort to spend quality with friends and family. If the pandemic taught us anything it is that time is the currency which matters most and the value of relationships with each other."
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A colorised transmission electron micrograph of hepatitis B virus particles (colorised in orange and yellow). Transmission electron micrograph image courtesy of CDC; colorisation by NIAID.

Blantyre  Researchers have found that cheaper and more accessible blood testing methods can improve the care of patients with chronic hepatitis B in Africa.

In a study published in Nature Communications, the researchers recommend revising the current World Health Organization (WHO) guidelines on managing the condition.

"Our data are important for informing clinical practice in [Sub-Saharan Africa] and should be considered in the next revision of the WHO hepatitis B guidelines," say the researchers who make up the Hepatitis B in Africa Collaborative Network (HEPSANET).

Lead author of the study, Asgeir Johannessen, tells IPS that clinicians working in Africa have "repeatedly reported that very few patients in Africa" are eligible for treatment using the current WHO guidelines published in 2015.

"The lack of data from Africa is a major challenge, and we wanted to use African data from African patients to inform African treatment guidelines," says Johannessen, a specialist in internal medicine and infectious diseases at the Institute of Clinical Medicine, University of Oslo in Norway.

According to the study, Africa represents one of the high-burden regions for chronic hepatitis B virus. Of the estimated 316 million people that live with chronic hepatitis B virus infection worldwide, 82 million are in Africa.

The research further says that antiviral therapy effectively reduces the risk of complications resulting from hepatitis B virus infection.

But with current WHO-recommended guidelines, early diagnosis and treatment are impacted because often only picked up when there is advanced liver damage.

The challenge in clinical practice in Africa has been to identify patients at risk of progressive liver disease who should start antiviral therapy in good time.

"In resource-limited settings, however, these fibrosis assessment tools are rarely available, and antiviral treatment is therefore often delayed until the patients have developed symptoms of advanced chronic liver disease," the research paper says.

So, the researchers set out to deal with this question: "Can we diagnose advanced liver fibrosis in the Africa region, using routinely available and low-cost blood tests for patients with hepatitis B?" says Alexander Stockdale, a member of the team and senior clinical lecturer at the University of Liverpool and Malawi Liverpool Wellcome Programme.

In the study, the 23 researchers reviewed data for 3,548 chronic hepatitis B patients living in eight sub-Saharan African countries, namely Burkina Faso, Ethiopia, The Gambia, Malawi, Nigeria, Senegal, South Africa, and Zambia.

They evaluated the existing WHO treatment guidelines and a simple liver damage biomarker developed in West Africa.

They established that the conventional hepatitis B care standards are unsuitable for patient management in Africa. They found that the diagnosis level as set by the WHO "is inappropriately high in sub-Saharan Africa," which is often constrained by a lack of resources.

The problem, the researchers say, is that the existing WHO guidelines are not adapted for the African population.

The study that informed these guidelines was performed among active chronic hepatitis C patients in the USA, much older than Africa's hepatitis B virus population and on a very different patient population compared to African chronic hepatitis B patients.

"Our data are important for informing clinical practice in SSA [Sub-Saharan Africa] and should be considered in the next revision of the WHO hepatitis B guidelines," says Johannessen.

He says they have shared their findings with the WHO and the Centre for Disease Control (CDC) in Africa.

"We believe our findings will inspire the first ever African hepatitis B treatment guidelines, and even the WHO is now changing their guidelines because of our work," he tells IPS.

"Africa is now the epicenter of the hepatitis B epidemic. In fact, 2 of 3 new infections occur on the African continent. To combat the hepatitis B pandemic in Africa, we need African data to inform practice," Johannessen says.

Initially, the researchers thought their main challenge would be to get people to share data.

"But in fact, everyone we reached out to were eager to participate. It is obvious that this is a topic that feels like a priority to colleagues working throughout Africa," he says.

The study is the largest, most comprehensive, and geographically representative analysis ever conducted in Africa.

"We, therefore, believe our results are generalizable," the researchers conclude.

However, they admit some limitations of their study. For example, the method used to assess liver damage has been associated with technical limitations, including unsuccessful measurements reported in patients with certain health conditions such as obesity. The researchers did not ascertain the rates of failure of these tests.

"This may affect the overall applicability of our findings to the entire population with HBV," they say.

But Adamson Muula, Professor and Head of Community and Environmental Health at the Kamuzu University of Health Sciences (KUHES) in Malawi, says in terms of the methodology used in this study, the systematic review of data was relevant in answering the question at hand.

"In the hierarchy of evidence, systematic reviews and meta-analyses are high up with respect to the rigor of the findings," says Muula, who was not part of the research.

He noted, however, that there are downsides to this approach, including the fact that in the interpretation of the findings, there is an implicit sense that Africa is one place. Muula argues that African health systems can be different even within the same country.

Within a country, you can find a health system comparable with developed countries; others are more closely aligned to developing countries. The studies applied more to those with less sophisticated health systems.

Regardless, the study is vital, he acknowledges.

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Hepatitis B diagnosis on the continent has been a luxury. In Malawi, for example, where 5 percent of the adults are estimated to be infected, virtually no screening or diagnostic system exists.

Individual patients may interact with the health system, but more so when things are already out of hand when irreversible liver damage has already happened.

"Efforts to reduce the time at which diagnosis can happen are therefore commendable. This study adds guidance as to when such earlier diagnosis may be attained.

"However, research is one thing, health systems strengthening another. Studies like this one add to the impetus and arm the policymakers to make the right decisions," he says.

But he urges communities to take charge of these findings instead of leaving action in the hands of "sometimes incapacitated policymakers' hands."

"The question should be, what is the community saying about findings such as these? If we wait for policymakers to decide when they are going to invest in hepatitis B interventions, we will wait for the rest of our lifetimes.

"Time has come for community groups to work with the duty-bearers to the extent that hepatitis B is not a neglected tropical disease anymore," he says.

The WHO's goal is to have hepatitis eliminated by 2030.

IPS UN Bureau Report

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Shenandoah, IA (51601)

Today

Decreasing cloudiness and windy. High near 55F. Winds NW at 25 to 35 mph. Winds could occasionally gust over 40 mph..

Tonight

Clear. Gusty winds diminishing after midnight. Low 32F. NW winds at 20 to 30 mph, decreasing to 10 to 15 mph. Higher wind gusts possible.
opinion

Bonn  When global crises are interlinked, they overlap and compound each other. In such cases, the most effective solutions are those that work at the nexus of all these challenges.

In September, almost every Government on Earth will gather at the UN Sustainable Development Summit in New York to take stock at the halfway mark of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) of what has been achieved and what remains to be done.

Despite some progress, global development efforts have been hamstrung by unprecedented environmental, social and economic crises, in particular biodiversity loss and climate change, compounded of course by the COVID-19 pandemic.

Tackling these interlinked challenges separately risks creating situations even more damaging to people and communities around the world, and exacerbates the already high risk of not meeting the goals and targets of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.

This is especially true because the myriad drivers of risk and damage affect many different sectors at once, across scales from local to global, and can result in negative impacts being compounded. For example, when demands for food and timber combine with the effects of pollution and climate change, they can decimate already degraded ecosystems, driving species to extinction and severely reducing nature's contributions to people.

The global food system offers another example of this negative spiral of interlocking crises - where food that is produced unsustainably leads to water overconsumption and waste, pollution, increased health risks and loss of biodiversity. It also leads to excessive greenhouse gas emissions, contributing to climate change.

Yet policies often treat each of these global threats in isolation, resulting in separate, uncoordinated actions that typically address only one of the root causes and fail to take advantage of the many potential solution synergies. In the worst cases, actions taken on one challenge directly undermine those needed to tackle another because they fail to account for trade-offs, resulting in unintended consequences, or the impacts being externalised, as someone else's problem.

This is why almost 140 Governments turned to the Intergovernmental Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES) - requesting IPBES to undertake a major multiyear assessment of the interlinkages among biodiversity, water, food and health in the context of the rapidly-changing climate. This 'Nexus Assessment' is among the most complex and important expert assessments ever undertaken - crossing key biophysical domains of climate and biodiversity and elements central to human wellbeing like food, water and health. It will also address how interactions are affected by energy, pollution, conflict and other socio-political challenges.

To fully address this 'nexus', the assessment is considering interactions across scales, geographic regions and ecosystems. It also covers past, present and future trends in these interlinkages. And, most importantly, it will offer concrete options for responses to the crises that address the interactions of risk and damage jointly and equitably - providing a vital set of possible solutions for the more sustainable future we want for people and our planet.

One example of the mutifunctional solutions that will be explored is nature-based solutions - such as coastal wetland protection and restoration. When coastal wetland ecosystems are healthy - whether conserved or where necessary, restored - they are a refuge and habitat for biodiversity, improving fish stocks for greater food security and contributing to improve human health and wellbeing. They can also sequester carbon, helping to mitigate climate change, and protect adjacent communities and settlements from flooding and sea level rise.

To develop and implement these kinds of multi-functional solutions, responses for dealing with the major global crises need to be better coordinated, integrated, and made more synergistic across sectors, both public and private. Decision-makers at all levels need better evidence and knowledge to implement such solutions.

Work on the nexus assessment began in 2021 - with the final report expected to be considered and adopted by IPBES member States in 2024. A majority of the 170 expert authors and review editors from around the world are meeting in March in the Kruger National Park in South Africa to further strengthen the draft report, responding to the many thousands of comments received during a first external review period.

The assessment will also include evidence and expertise contributed by indigenous peoples and local communities - whose rich and varied direct experiences and knowledge systems that consider humans and nature as an interconnected whole have embodied a nexus approach for generations.

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The Paris Agreement on Climate Change and the recently-agreed Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework provide the roadmaps for tackling the climate and biodiversity crises. The IPBES nexus assessment will offer policymakers a practical guide to bridge the vital interlinkages across the two challenges, to other relevant frameworks, and link to the sustainable development agenda.

For more information about IPBES or about the ongoing progress on the nexus assessment, go to www.ipbes.net or follow @ipbes on social media.

Prof. Paula Harrison is a Principal Natural Capital Scientist and Professor of Land and Water Modelling at the UK Centre for Ecology & Hydrology, United Kingdom.

Prof. Pamela McElwee is a Professor in the Department of Human Ecology in the School of Environmental and Biological Sciences at Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey, USA.

Dr. David Obura is a Founding Director of CORDIO (Coastal Oceans Research and Development - Indian Ocean) East Africa, Kenya.

IPS UN Bureau

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Attorney General Merrick Garland, here in Washington, DC, in 2022, made an unannounced trip to Ukraine on Friday, March 3.
analysis

From supporting Barbados' plan to transform global climate finance, to pursuing G20 membership, climate was a key issue at the recent summit.

From 17- 19 February, heads of state of the African Union (AU) met at the body's 36th annual assembly in Addis Ababa to discuss a profusion of challenges facing the continent. Climate was high on the agenda, with Macky Sall, Senegal's President and the AU's outgoing chairperson, emphasising that Africa continues to bear the brunt of global warming, an unprecedented health crisis, and a major war.

To tackle these difficulties, the heads of state emphasised the need for the AU to be represented at the UN Security Council, calling for at least two permanent and five non-permanent seats. The importance of G20 membership was also reiterated, with Sall announcing that 50% of the intergovernmental group had already expressed support for the AU and that accession to full membership was on track.

G20 membership would not only strengthen Africa's participation within key multilateral forums but would provide an opportunity for African input into the G20 Initiative on the suspension of debt servicing and the partial reallocation of Special Drawing Rights (international reserve assets created by the International Monetary Fund[IMF]). These instruments could be used in "debt for climate" swaps - in which a country's debt is cancelled in return for commitments to finance domestic climate projects - or could free up fiscal space for African countries to spend on climate change related measures.

At the AU assembly, President Sall called out the inequity of African countries' having their credit ratings downgraded during the pandemic and thereafter, while developed countries were spared, and emphasised the need for IMF and World Bank reform to better take account of Africa's interests. To this end, he called for African countries and the AU Commission to participate actively in the Bridgetown Initiative on the reform of the global financial architecture. Led by Barbados' Prime Minister Mia Mottley, the Bridgetown Initiative proposes bold changes to how global finance institutions to provide climate finance to the Global South.

Committee on Climate Change

On 18 February, the AU's Committee of African Heads of State and Government on Climate Change (CAHOSCC) met in parallel with the assembly. Its coordinator, Kenya's President William Ruto called on African countries to leverage their substantial capacity for renewable energy and abundance of minerals required for green technologies. He called on African countries to contribute their voice to the leadership transition underway at the World Bank to make the institution responsive, climate sensitive, and fit for purpose. His direct message to the World Bank, IMF and International Finance Corporation (IFC) was "Africanise or perish!"

The African leaders of CAHOSCC also endorsed a decision to participate in the legal proceedings initiated by the Commission on Small Island States on Climate Change and International Law (COSIS) at the International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea (ITLOS). The proceedings were launched in December 2022, when COSIS submitted a request for an advisory opinion on the legal obligations of States to the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea to prevent, reduce and control ocean warming, sea level rise, and ocean acidification. While a legal opinion from ITLOS would not be binding, it would be highly influential in subsequent litigation between states and would contribute towards the development of customary (uncodified) international law on the legal liability of states for climate change. The AU's position on this issue demonstrates the continent's appetite to tackle the inequality of being the primary bearer of climate losses and damages and may support its negotiation positions in other forums.

Preparing for COP28

Looking to COP28 later this year, CAHOSCC urged the African Group of Negotiators (AGN) to continue to argue for formal recognition of Africa's special needs and circumstances to unlock additional financial flows. It stressed that developed countries need to honour their commitment to double adaptation finance and scale up their climate finance pledges to at least $6 trillion/year in the period leading up to 2030. The African leaders also called for $4 trillion/year in investments in renewable energy and urged negotiators to seek a "substantive milestone outcome" at COP28 on the global goal on adaptation - i.e. something more than just an agreement to keep discussing the possible contents of an adaptation goal.

CAHOSCC also underscored the urgency of operationalising the Loss and Damage Fund and for the transitional committee, which is in the process of establishing the fund, to be guided by existing principles of the Paris Agreement (such as common but differentiated responsibilities).

The climate change committee further welcomed the work programme on Just Transitions established at COP27 and invited African countries to consider their own unique pathways to low carbon and climate resilient development. This was to push against the suggestion that there is a one-size-fits-all solution. Member states were encouraged to continue preparing for the global stocktake where countries will assess their collective progress in implementing the Paris Agreement at COP28 and were advised to put forward recommendations to inform the mitigation, adaptation, and climate finance goals.

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Finally, the AU welcomed a proposal by the Republic of the Congo to launch an African and World Decade of Afforestation to combat climate change. An international conference on this issue will be held in the Republic of Congo in November 2023. As coordinator of CAHOSCC, Kenya will host the African Climate Summit on 4-6 September 2023.

A version of this piece was originally published on African Climate Wire.

Olivia Rumble is a climate change policy and legal specialist and a Director at Climate Legal. She writes for African Climate Wire, an independent news resource, collating and commenting on global climate change current affairs relevant to Africa. Andrew Gilder is a Director at Climate Legal, specialising in climate change law and governance, carbon markets and climate policy. He also writes for African Climate Wire on matters relating to the international climate negotiations, carbon markets and climate finance.
On March 2, the House Ethics Committee announced it is officially moving forward with a probe into embattled Rep. George Santos, seen here in Washington, DC, on January 31, as the New York Republican faces mounting legal issues and calls to resign.
Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee, here on February 6, 2023, in Nashville, signed a law that prohibits gender-affirming care for minors on Thursday.




Korea's exports of skincare devices hit a fresh high in 2022, data showed Friday, as people around the globe spent more money on beauty products amid eased social distancing rules.







Exports of skincare devices, including light-emitting diode (LED) masks and massage tools, reached $353 million last year, up 35.2 percent from $261 million tallied in 2021, according to the data compiled by the Korea Customs Service.







The strong demand for such devices also came as more people experienced skin problems after wearing protective masks amid the COVID-19 pandemic, the agency added.







Exports of skincare devices for clinics surged 49.6 percent to hit $264 million, and those for households reached $89 million, up 5.3 percent on-year in 2022.







The United States accounted for $73.4 million of the total outbound shipments in the sector, trailed by Japan and France with $50 million and $24.5 million, respectively. (Yonhap)


Angola, IN (46703)

Today

Showers early, then becoming windy with a steady light rain for the afternoon. Morning high of 66F with temps falling to near 45. Winds SSW at 20 to 30 mph. Chance of rain 70%. Higher wind gusts possible..

Tonight

Cloudy skies with late-night snow showers. Low 33F. Winds SW at 15 to 25 mph. Chance of snow 60%. Higher wind gusts possible.
Kendallville, IN (46755)

Today

Overcast with showers. Becoming windy for the afternoon. Morning high of 65F with temps falling to near 45. Winds SW at 20 to 30 mph. Chance of rain 60%. Higher wind gusts possible..

Tonight

Cloudy and windy this evening. A mixture of rain and snow developing overnight. Low 33F. Winds SW at 20 to 30 mph. Chance of precip 60%. Higher wind gusts possible.
Auburn, IN (46706)

Today

Rain showers early becoming a steady light rain for the afternoon. Morning high of 66F with temps falling to near 45. Winds SSW at 15 to 25 mph. Chance of rain 70%. Higher wind gusts possible..

Tonight

Cloudy skies with late-night snow showers. Low 34F. Winds SW at 15 to 25 mph. Chance of snow 60%. Higher wind gusts possible.
analysis

About 25 million kilometres of new roads are expected to be built around the world by 2050. Along with power lines and railways, roads cut through the landscape everywhere, disrupting ecosystems. This linear infrastructure prevents animals from moving safely around their habitat. It also reduces access to the resources they need, like food, sufficient space and mating partners.

This threat to biodiversity is a conservation issue globally, but especially in developing nations, where 90% of new road construction is expected.

The African continent is home to unique biodiversity and extraordinary landscapes. Planned infrastructure developments will certainly threaten some of the last, unspoilt wildernesses on the continent.

We're particularly concerned about the future of primates. The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) lists half of the continent's 107 primate species as threatened.

According to the IUCN 18% of the world's primates are directly affected by roads and railroads and 3% by utility and service infrastructure. These figures are based on limited research, though. The true impact is likely to be higher.

South Africa's case shows why. None of the South African primate species currently have linear infrastructure listed as a threat under the IUCN. But this doesn't mean they are not negatively affected. It just means that the lists need to be better informed.

South Africa is the only African country that has long-term, country-wide mortality datasets for both wildlife roadkill and wildlife electrocution. It's collected by patrol staff, scientists and the general public (citizen scientists).

Using this data, we investigated how roads and power lines affect South Africa's five primate species: the chacma baboon (Papio ursinus), the vervet monkey (Chlorocebus pygerythrus), the samango monkey (Cercopithecus mitis), the lesser bushbaby (Galago moholi) and the greater or thick tailed bushbaby (Otolemur crassicaudatus).

All species were affected, mostly by roads. We found a total of 483 deaths captured in the databases between 1996 and 2021. The number of deaths is likely to be a lot higher, due to under-reporting. Targeted species- and area-specific surveys are needed to refine this dataset.

The more mortality data is available, the better we will understand impacts, know where to focus interventions and inform future infrastructure developments to lessen the human impact on biodiversity.

We recommend that infrastructure like roads and power lines be more prominently recognised as a direct threat when developing Red List assessments.

Primate deaths

Most of the electrocution data used in our study was accessed from the Eskom Central Incident Register.

Roadkill data for our study was available from two sources: the national database from the Endangered Wildlife Trust's Wildlife and Transport Programme and our own observations.

Since 2011, the Endangered Wildlife Trust has received records from systematic patrols on certain highways and species -and area-specific expert research surveys. Citizen science data comes from all over the country including national and regional roads, with differing speed limits, widths and vehicle usage.

The area surveyed by systematic patrols amounts to 1,370 km, covering 0.2% of the country's entire road network and 0.9% of the paved road network.

The highest number of deaths recorded was for vervet monkeys. This was to be expected as vervet monkeys have a much wider geographic range in South Africa than both bushbaby species and the samango monkey, so they have a greater chance of encountering roads and power lines. The greater (or thick tailed) bushbaby and the samango monkey are forest associated and forests cover only about 0.1% of South Africa's land surface area.

Although the total of 483 primate deaths over 25 years may not appear very high, we can assume that many remain undetected. For example scavengers might remove the dead animals, or they could be hidden by dense vegetation on road verges. They could be in remote places, in the case of power lines, or severely injured animals might die later, a distance away from the road. For roads, the actual mortality rate could be 12-16 times higher than the detection rate.

Read more: Statistical ecology can unlock the power of biodiversity data in Africa

Solutions

Encouragingly, there is more and more research showing that primates, as well as many other tree-dwelling species, accept man-made canopy bridges as a means to cross gaps in their habitat.

In South Africa we conducted an experiment in the field to test what kind of canopy bridge primates would use to cross gaps between trees. We found that all five South African primate species used the canopy bridges offered to them. The design they preferred was a solid pole bridge, rather than a ladder bridge.

More and more canopy bridges of various kinds are being provided in different countries. But research shows that Africa is lagging behind other continents in doing this, and there are no canopy bridges in South Africa. We suggest that all infrastructure development projects should try to give attention to maintaining the integrity of landscapes, for example by providing bridges for animals.

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Public participation

We all need and use linear infrastructure in our day to day lives, so we all carry some level of responsibility. Hence, we encourage people to record wildlife mortalities and submit them to publicly available repositories such as iNaturalist or the Global Biodiversity Information Facility.

A new Global Primate Roadkill Database is also being developed by Laura Praill at Oxford Brookes University and colleagues and should be available to the public by April 2023.

Public awareness and participation is essential to lessen the human impact on biodiversity.

Birthe (Bibi) Linden, Postdoctoral Researcher (University of Venda) & Associated Researcher (Lajuma Research Centre), University of Venda

Wendy Collinson, Research Fellow: South African Research Chair in Biodiversity Value & Change, University of Venda
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An estimated 45,000 people fled the drought in Somalia in 2022, seeking refuge at the Daadab refugee camps of Hagadera, Ifo, and Dagahaley.

analysis

With the war in Ukraine now in its second year, nearly a third of the country's population has been displaced, including 8 million people who have sought refuge beyond its borders.

International support for the plight of these refugees has been heartening. Nearly 4.5 million Ukrainians having been granted temporary protection status across the European Union (EU).

But we also need to ask: how does this response compare to the countless other humanitarian crises around the world right now?

Last year, the Norwegian Refugee Council (NRC) reported there were ten "forgotten crises" in the world, all in Africa. The suffering of people in these countries or regions rarely makes international headlines. And there is seemingly little political interest or will from the international community to address the situation.

Furthermore, the war in Ukraine has redirected humanitarian assistance and resources away from these other crises. While children in Ukraine have been supported, millions of young people in countries like Sudan and Yemen have lost access to vital food aid. They are now at heightened risk of malnutrition and starvation.

NRC Secretary-General Jan Egeland put it like this:

The war in Ukraine has demonstrated the immense gap between what is possible when the international community rallies behind a crisis, and the daily reality for millions of people suffering in silence [from crises] that the world has chosen to ignore. [This is] not only unjust [...] but comes with a tremendous cost.

A recent report from Save the Children compared the EU's response to Ukrainians seeking temporary protection and asylum to those from elsewhere. Syrian refugees, for example, described being detained in inhumane or substandard conditions until their asylum claims were considered.

They certainly weren't granted the temporary protection status afforded Ukrainian refugees. The report called this "dysfunctional at best and cruel at worst", part of a policy designed to "contain those who arrived and deter others from coming".

Us and them

As Oxford University researcher Hugo Slim has argued, humanitarian principles are "ethically simplistic and routinely fall victim to bias". Decisions on allocations of humanitarian funding are increasingly politicised and driven by the interests of the "powerful West".

This was particularly apparent in 2016, when the EU committed 6 billion to supporting Turkey's response to the Syrian crisis, in return for Turkey stopping irregular migration of those refugees into Europe. Why the open-door policy to Ukrainian refugees as opposed to a containment approach for others?

Read more: Why has New Zealand welcomed Ukrainians fleeing war and not others trying to do the same?

Some argue it is because of the economic and geopolitical implications of Russia's invasion, not only for Europe, but the entire world. But the idea that some crises have bigger implications for the West than for others (and hence "we" should respond differently) signals an inability to impartially identify and address the most acute needs.

For example, only months after starting construction of a steel wall along its border with Belarus to keep out asylum seekers from the Middle East and Africa, Poland opened its borders to Ukrainian refugees. There have also been numerous accounts of people of colour fleeing Ukraine but being turned around at the border by Polish nationalists or border officials.

Media reporting has sometimes played into such prejudice, referring to Ukrainian refugees as "civilised" and "so much like us".

White saviour complex

As has been argued elsewhere, the global humanitarian apparatus is underpinned by often unspoken racial distinctions and hierarchies based on notions of expertise and competency. The majority of those in high-paid, decision-making positions are from developed nations and mostly white. Field workers tend to come from the developing world and are often brown or black.

The Nigerian-American writer Teju Cole has called this the "white-saviour industrial complex", not unlike the attitudes of missionaries and early colonisers. The American-Iranian scholar Reza Aslan defined this as the "all-too-familiar pattern of white people of privilege seeking personal catharsis by attempting to liberate, rescue or otherwise uplift underprivileged people of colour."

Read more: Ukraine: survey shows British people, and especially Tory voters, feel very differently about some refugees than others

Cynical perhaps, but most humanitarian organisations make very little mention of race. The "commitments to action" from the 2016 World Humanitarian Summit are notably silent on the topic. Humanitarian principles of neutrality and impartiality, which erase race as a concern and shut off dissent, perpetuate "global white ignorance", as philosopher Charles Mills labels it.

Perhaps we should not be surprised. Acknowledging structural racism within humanitarianism would require ceding power and authority to those who have been marginalised.

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Read more: Ukraine refugee crisis exposes racism and contradictions in the definition of human

What can be done?

The first step towards changing this would be an acknowledgement by the UN, other agencies, media and politicians that racial and cultural bias within humanitarian structures exists. Much greater care needs to be taken with the language used to describe and depict those living through crises.

Practically, there needs to be a greater representation, in all decision making within large humanitarian organisations, of voices and perspectives from the Global South, especially those directly affected by crisis.

Humanitarian aid would also need to be depoliticised. Money should be channelled through pooled funds like the UN's Central Emergency Response Fund, which directly responds to the most acute and underfunded humanitarian needs globally.

These are not quick fixes. But to do nothing will leave millions largely invisible. As one Palestinian refugee described their feelings to me recently: "The entire world has forgotten about us and has left us to fight our struggles alone."

Ritesh Shah, Senior Lecturer in Education, University of Auckland
Nairobi  The Cooperative Bank has been ranked the best bank in customer satisfaction by the Kenya Bankers Association (KBA).

The bank was honored for offering quality services to clients.

KBA is mandated to survey and collect views on customer service satisfaction in the country's banking sector.

On the other hand, Family Bank was named the second-best with the Kenya Commercial Bank (KCB) coming third. The ranking of banks came into effect in 2018.

KBA CEO Tabil Olaka said challenges facing the sector currently is satisfying people living with disabilities. "Considering the privacy required to the people."

"In order to know on how to improve various services within the place while conducting other banking services, the banking industry is putting much efforts and measures to ensure full independent access to banking services for persons living with disabilities," Olaka said.
Nairobi  Senators have urged the Ministry of Trade to have a structured engagement with investors so as to resolve the ongoing tiff between local and foreign investors that has led to the closure of China Square.

A raging debate has been ongoing with elicit reaction emerging after a Chinese Trader rented a mall store along Thika Road that has received warm reception from customers.

Led by Nandi Senator Samson Cherargei the legislators insisted on the need to have no bias strategy in promoting foreign business, faulting Trade CS Moses Kuria for the closure of the Chinese enterprise.

"It is my humble plea to the Ministry of Trade and Industrialization to have a structured engagement with the Investors to resolve the matter without hurting their businesses since Kenya has a Policy enabling an equitable no-bias and protective to business environment for trade and investment in the Country," Cherargei said.

According to the senators, details from the Kenya Investment Authority (KIA) shows that the Foreign Direct Investment to Kenya now stands at over Sh 200Billion which is invested annually.

They questioned why Chinese Traders were being frustrated yet we had well established operating Kenya such as Carrefour chain of supermarkets, Java House and Quickmatt supermarket.

"The foreign investors have created employment to the youth and contributed to the Growth of Kenyan economy and especially at a time when we were being faced with hard economic times," Cherargei stated.

He was flanked by Senators Alexander Mundigi (Embu), Mohammed Faki (Mombasa), Issa Juma (Kwale), James Lomenen (Turkana) , Mohammed Chute (Marsabit) and Mumias East MP Peter Salasya.

Faki expressed that the economic crisis globally and therefore the nation cannot afford to chase away foreign investors who extensively contributed to economic growth.

"The economy is dilapidated not only in the country but globally to the extent that we cannot borrow funds from other nations. It's not possible that we are going to look for investors on one end and on the other end we are chasing them away," the Mombasa Senator said.

The statement by Peng comes amidst wrangles between a Chinese businessman and Kenya's Trade Cabinet Secretary Moses Kuria on the operations of the China Square, a retail store at Kenyatta University's Unicity Mall.

The ongoing drama has threatened to cause a diplomatic tiff between the two countries who have heavily invested in the country in the recent years.

On 26th February, China Square extended the suspension of its operations citing public safety challenges.

The store owned by Chinese businessman Lei Cheng announced the move on after hours of escalating drama following deportation threats by Trade Cabinet Secretary Moses Kuria.

"As a supermarket, we are unable to handle the high volume of traffic, which has become a severe concern for the public safety of all our customers, we are arranging more security guards onsite," China Square said in a statement.

The supermarket also cited inability to provide sufficient payment processing facilities, a situation it noted had resulted in long queues which had negatively impacted customer experience.

Earlier on Lei had dismissed calls for him to close shop as malicious.Lei said his business is compliant to all legal requirements.

"My business is legal and is centered on health competition," he said. "We followed all government requirements for setting up a business and here to break monopolies."

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Lei blamed his accusers saying they were seeking to perpetuate the continued exploitation of the Kenyan consumer by rogue businesspersons.

He responded even as Kuria vowed to deport him and any foreign national engaged in retail trade, terming his Unicity Mall store as a threat to local traders.

Kuria's intervention followed a protest memorandum by a business association bringing together representatives of traders in Nairobi's leading markets.

China said a non-arbitrary and non-discriminatory investment environment is vital to the healthy development of bilateral practical cooperation between the two countries.

Wu Peng Director-General, Department of African Affairs, MFA, China said Monday that through collective efforts, the cooperation will also benefit Kenya.
New Delhi [India], March 3 (ANI): Conditions of wheat crops in major growing states in India are normal as of date, said the Ministry of Agriculture & Farmers Welfare on Thursday.

A meeting of the committee constituted by the Department of Agriculture & Farmers' Welfare (DA&FW) to monitor the situation of wheat crops was held recently at ICAR - Indian Institute of Wheat and Barley Research, Karnal.

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The wheat crop condition was presented and discussed in detail by the states of Punjab, Haryana, Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh, which account for more than 85 per cent of wheat acreage in the country.

Wheat, a rabi crop in an advanced maturing stage, is expected to hit mandis in the next few weeks.

Also Read | Uttar Pradesh: Fearing Poor Score in Physics Exam, Class 12 Student Dies by Suicide in Badaun District.

"Due to intensive efforts of ICAR and SAUs, large numbers of terminal heat stress tolerant varieties were developed and are now under cultivation in an estimated area of more than 50% particularly in North Western plain zone. Also, about 75% area is under early and timely sowing conditions in Haryana and Punjab and therefore, the crop area with early sowing, will not be affected by heat conditions in the month of March," government said in a statement.

At the Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers' Welfare, Crop Weather Watch Group Meetings are being conducted every week to monitor the crop situation.

"It was also decided that all extension agencies from Central and State Governments along with ICAR/SAUs should visit the farmers' fields regularly and provide timely advisories to the farmers, wherever heat stress conditions occur," the government said.

Notably, multiple rounds of heat waves in several wheat-growing regions in India ahead of the rabi harvest this year affected crop production, though with varying degrees. Wheat pods in the mature stage typically shrink if overexposed to heat.

As the tensions between Russia and Ukraine turned into a full-blown war in 2022, export demand for wheat got a boost, resulting in lifetime high prices of the staple food grain in the local mandis.

To manage the overall food security of the country as well as meet the needs of the neighbouring and other vulnerable countries, India then amended the export policy of wheat by putting its export under the "prohibited" category.

Global wheat prices have shown substantial volatility in the past one year as both the countries -- Ukraine and Russia -- are two major suppliers of wheat. The Indian government did not stop at just restricting exports of wheat.

After a ban on exports of wheat grain, the Centre has now put restrictions on the exports of wheat flour (atta) exports and other related products like maida, semolina (rava / sirgi), wholemeal atta and resultant atta.

While banning exports of wheat, the government stated that the move was made to manage the country's overall food security and meet the needs of the neighbouring and other vulnerable countries. (ANI)

(This is an unedited and auto-generated story from Syndicated News feed, LatestLY Staff may not have modified or edited the content body)
Washington [US], March 3 (ANI): United States boutique investment firm GQG Partners has bought shares worth USD 1.87 billion in four Adani group companies, Reuters reported.

The decision of GQG marks the first major investment in the Adani group since a short-sellers critical report resulted in a stock rout.

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GQG took a 3.4 per cent stake in Adani Enterprises for around 662 million, 4.1 per cent in Adani Ports for USD 640 million, 2.5 per cent in Adani Transmission for USD 230 million, and a 3.5 per cent stake in Adani Green Energy for USD 340 million, Reuters reported citing the filing.

Seven listed Adani companies have lost around USD 135 billion in market value since January 24, when Hindenburg Research accused it of improper use of offshore tax havens and stock manipulation. The group, led by Gautam Adani, refuted the allegations. Adani group later called off a USD 2.5 billion share sale.

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The development came after Supreme Court asked market regulator SEBI to probe the group for any lapses with respect to public shareholding norms or regulatory disclosures, as per the Reuters report. The Adani Group has been attempting to reassure investors with road shows and calls with bondholders.

Adani group has told creditors that it has secured a USD 3 billion loan from a sovereign wealth fund. US-based GQG has bought shares worth Rs 154.46 billion in four Adani group companies, including the conglomerate's flagship firm Adani Enterprises, Reuters reported citing a regulatory filing. Adani family trust sold the shares using Jefferies as a broker.

GQG, which is based in Florida, manages USD 88 billion in assets, in global, US and emerging markets equities funds. In early Australian trade, GQG Partners shares witnessed a drop by 2.3 per cent while the S&P/ASX200 witnessed a rise of 0.4 per cent on Friday. (ANI)

(This is an unedited and auto-generated story from Syndicated News feed, LatestLY Staff may not have modified or edited the content body)
Hollywood star Tom Cruise recently helicoptered onto a US aircraft carrier off the eastern coast of Italy to film sequences for his upcoming film Mission: Impossible - Dead Reckoning Part Two, confirmed the chairman of the Apulia Film Commission., reported Fox News, a USA-based news outlet. According to the outlet, Tom flew into the port of Bari on the country's southeastern coast where he spent the night at a five-star hotel before choppering to the floating set the next day, revealed Antonio Parente, Apulia Film Commission's chairman. Mission Impossible Star Tom Cruise Makes a Couples Day by Filming a Dangerous Stunt in Front of Them.

Cruise is expected to depart from Bari at the end of the week, according to Parente, who told Variety, an American media company, that the ship was sailing north towards Croatia during the shoot. "We are proud that [the] Apulia [region] has been chosen as the operational base for this rather complex shoot," Parente told the outlet. The 60-year-old first played the franchise's protagonist, spy Ethan Hunt, nearly 30 years ago in 1996's Mission: Impossible. Mission Impossible: Dead Reckoning Part One  Tom Cruises MI7 Title Unveiled at Cinemcon 2022.

Mission Impossible: Dead Reckoning: Part One is slated to be released in July and in its trailer Cruise can be seen driving through European cities and riding a horse in the desert. He can also be seen getting ready to fly a warplane, running on top of a rushing train, and riding a motorcycle down a cliff in other scenes from the action-packed trailer. As per Fox News, Dead Reckoning: Part Two is expected to be a direct sequel to Part One and is scheduled to premiere in June 2024. Christopher McQuarrie has directed the movie which will also star Nick Offerman, Rebecca Ferguson, Vanessa Kirby and Hayley Atwell.
New Delhi, Mar 3 (PTI) The Jamia Millia Islamia has decided not to implement the Common University Entrance Test (CUET) for admission to undergraduate and postgraduate courses except for 20 programmes, citing lack of time to change the university rules, a senior official said Friday.

Twenty courses including B.Sc.(Hons) Physics, B.Sc.(Hons) Chemistry this year will allow admission through the CUET, 10 more than the last academic year.

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The varsity has written to the University Grants Commission (UGC), informing it about the latest decision and also apprised that it will implement CUET-UG in all courses from the academic year 2024-25 as it requires sufficient time to change admission rules.

The UGC introduced the CUET last year for admission to undergraduate and postgraduate programmes.

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The Jamia Millia Islamia (JMI), however, did not adopt the CUET for all its undergraduate and postgraduate courses. Recently, UGC asked the JMI to implement CUET UG from the academic session 2023-24 in all courses.

In its reply to the UGC, the university informed that it will take admission through CUET UG and PG in only 20 courses-- 15 undergraduate courses and 5 postgraduate courses.

The JMI offers admission into several programmes based on merit determined by an entrance test conducted by the university, and wherever applicable, followed by an interview and or other components

"We have received the UGC letter. And we have replied to them that this year will not be adopting the CUET wholly but for 20 courses. As there is not much time left to make changes in the university rules. But for the next academic year, we will implement the CUET UG. All the admission to undergraduate courses in university would be taken through CUET. We have informed the UGC about it," JMI Registrar Nazim Husain Al-Jafri told PTI.

"Our Executive Council (highest decision-making body of the varsity) decided that it won't be possible to implement the CUET this year as admission to several courses takes place through interviews. In those courses in which interviews are not required, we will allow admission through the CUET," the registrar said.

As CUET PG is not mandatory, the university has no plans to implement it completely even from the next academic year.

Last month, the UGC had written to the Aligarh Muslim University and the Jamia Millia Islamia, reiterating that all central universities have to mandatorily adopt the Common University Entrance Test for admission to undergraduate programmes. The JMI also issued a prospectus for admission for the academic year 2023-24.

The UG courses in which admission would be taken through the CUET are: B.A.(Hons.) (Turkish Lang.& Literature)* (Hons) Sanskrit, B.A. (Hons) French & Francophone Studies, B.A. (Hons) Spanish & Latin American Studies, B.A.( Hons) History, B.A.(Hons) Hindi, B.A. (Hons.) Urdu, B.A. (Hons.) Korean Language, B.A. (Hons.) Persian, B.Sc. Biotechnology, B.Voc. (Solar Energy), B.Sc.(Hons) Physics, B.Sc.(Hons) Chemistry, B.Sc.(Hons) Applied Mathematics and B.A.( Hons) Economics.

Likewise, the PG course allowing admissions through the CUET are: MA (Persian), MA (Sanskrit), MA (Educational Planning and Administration), M.Sc. (Disaster Management and Climate Sustainability(Self Finance) and P.G. Diploma in Disaster Management (Self Finance).

(This is an unedited and auto-generated story from Syndicated News feed, LatestLY Staff may not have modified or edited the content body)
Atiku spoke publicly on the election for the first time in Abuja after he was defeated by the All Progressives Congress (APC) presidential candidate, Bola Tinubu, in the Saturday's election.

The presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Atiku Abubakar, on Thursday, vowed to challenge the outcome of the just-concluded election but also expressed doubts about the Nigerian judiciary.

Atiku spoke publicly on the election for the first time in Abuja after he was defeated by the All Progressives Congress (APC) presidential candidate, Bola Tinubu, in Saturday's election.

Mr Tinubu, according to the results declared by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) early Wednesday, won the election with 8.8 million votes.

Atiku came second behind Mr Tinubu with 6.7 million votes while the Labour Party (LP) candidate, Peter Obi, who scored 6.1 million, came third in the election.

The two opposition candidates described the election as flawed and vowed to challenge the outcomes in court at separate press conferences in Abuja on Thursday.

Responding to a question, Atiku said he had doubts if the judiciary was still credible as when he got judgements against the sitting President in 2007.

Atiku, who was then the vice-president, said he fought the President, then Olusegun Obasanjo, in court and won 11 times right from the High Court to the Supreme Court without seeing a judge.

"I took my boss the (then) President (Olusegun Obasanjo) to court eleven times from the trial court up to the Supreme Court."

The former vice president who said he could swear by the Holy Quoran that he never had to see any judge defeat his then-boss, expressed doubt if the judiciary was still as credible.

"I swear, I never saw any judge, yet I got a judgement against a sitting President. Do you think it is possible today to do it? Let us tell ourselves the truth. So, I cannot say whether it is the same judiciary or not until I test them," he said.

When asked what he would do if he did not get a favourable judgement from the court in his challenge of the outcome of the presidential election, Atiku said: "What will I do? I will appeal to God."

With Atiku's displeasure over the outcome of the presidential election, his party is expected to lodge a petition at the Presidential Election Petition Tribunal that is already open in Abuja.

The law provides that a candidate dissatisfied with an election outcome is required to file their complaint at the tribunal within 45 days from the date of the announcement of results.
New Delhi [India], March 3 (ANI): The BJP created history on Thursday by returning to power in Tripura and the NDPP-BJP alliance swept the polls in Nagalanad. The BJP is also part of the sweepstakes to form government in Meghalaya having decided to extend support to the National People's Party which emerged as the single-largest party with 26 seats.

BJP and NPP were partners in the outgoing government but had contested the polls separately.

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BJP's performance in the assembly polls in the three northeastern states showed its continued dominance in the region, which was once a Congress stronghold. The outcome meant that there will be no change of government in the three northeastern states in the results declared on Thursday. Assembly polls in the three states were held last month.

The parties opposed to BJP did relatively better in the results of assembly bypolls.

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The BJP which had created a big splash in 2018 elections by ousting the Left parties from power in Tripura, returned to power in the state with absolute majority. Its ally Indigenous People's Front of Tripura (IPFT) won one seat of the six it contested.

Tipra Motha, which fought the polls on its demand of 'greater Tipraland' made a mark by winning 13 seats.

The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) won 32 seats with a vote share of around 39 per cent. The Left parties and Congress had forged an alliance to keep BJP out of power in the border state but it did not yield results as in West Bengal earlier. CPI-M and Congerss are arch rivals in Kerala. Together polled around 33 per cent votes in Tripura and bagged 14 seats (CPI-M 11, Congress 3). The Left had contested on 47 and Congress on 13 seats. The Left Front had been in power in Tripura for 35 years since 1978.

The BJP tally is marginally lower than its number in 2018 election when it had won 36 seats in Tripura and IPFT had also done well.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi said that vote in Tripura was that for "progress and stability".

"Thank you Tripura! This is a vote for progress and stability. @BJP4Tripura will continue to boost the state's growth trajectory. I am proud of all Tripura BJP Karyakartas for their spectacular efforts at the grassroots," PM Modi said in a tweet.

He later addressed BJP workers at party headquarters here over the resutls in the three northeastern states.

Chief Minister Manik Saha defeated Congress' Asish Kumar Saha from the Town Bordowali seat by a margin of 1,257 votes.

In Nagaland, BJP secured 12 seats, Nationalist Democratic Progressive Party (NDPP) won 25 seats.

Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) bagged seven seats, National People's Party (NPP) won five seats, Naga Peoples Front, Lok Janshakti Party (Ram Vilas) and Republican Party of India (Athawale) won two seats each. Nitish Kumar's Janata Dal (United) got one seat.BJP had earlier won a seat uncontested in the 60-member Nagaland assembly.

Nagaland Chief Minister and NDPP candidate Neiphiu Rio won from the Northern Angami seat.

In Meghalaya, National People's Party (NPP) led by Chief Minister Conrad Sangma surprised its rivals by winning 26 seats. The party is poised to lead second successive government in the state. Election was held on 59 seats in the state.

United Democratic Party (UDP) bagged 11 seats.

Congress won five seats. Trinamool Congress, which had inducted all Congress MLAs in the previous assembly, also got five seats.

BJP, People's Democratic Front and Hill State People's Democratic Party bagged two seats each. Voice of the People Party got four seats. Two seats were won by independent candidates.

Congress won a seat each in the assembly bypolls in West Bengal, Maharashtra and Tamil Nadu.

Congress is part of DMK-led alliance in Tamil Nadu and the result is a setback for AIADMK which is grappling with internal tussles.

Congress candidate Ravindra Dhangekar won Pune's Kasba Assembly seat, considered a BJP bastion. Chinchwad seat was won by the BJP. These were the first elections since the Election Commission recognised the faction led by Maharashtra Chief Minister Eknath Shinde as the real Shiv Sena giving it the party name and symbol. The faction led by Uddhav Thackeray had supported Congress and NCP candidates on the two seats.

In Jharkhand, the assembly bypoll to Ramgarh seat was won by All Jharkhand Students Union (AJSU) an ally of BJP.

Home Minister Amit Shah hailed the party's performance in Tripura and Nagaland and said it was a historic day for the northeast.

"A historic day for the Northeast. I thank Tripura for placing trust in BJP once again. It is a victory of pro-development politics that the BJP has delivered in Tripura under PM @narendramodi Ji's leadership. Together we will move ahead and build a prosperous Tripura," he said.

He thanked people of Nagaland and Meghalaya for their support and lauded the work of party workers.

The BJP will hope to carry its election momentum in the six other assembly polls to be held later this year. (ANI)

(This is an unedited and auto-generated story from Syndicated News feed, LatestLY Staff may not have modified or edited the content body)
New Delhi, Mar 3 (PTI) The BJP on Thursday claimed that the Delhi government has set up 'I love Manish Sisodia' desks in state-run schools to rally support for the arrested leader, a charge denied by the AAP dispensation.

Sisodia, who had 18 portfolios in the Delhi government, including education, resigned from the Cabinet following his arrest by the CBI in connection with alleged corruption in the formulation and implementation of the now-scrapped liquor policy for 2021-22.

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According to an AAP functionary, thousands of students from Delhi government as well as private schools have submitted letters to a special I love Manish Sisodia desk set up by parents outside their schools.

Delhi government's Directorate of Education (DoE) denied its involvement in the campaign and said it was an initiative launched by parents of school kids.

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"It is regrettable that even after Sisodia's arrest, the Delhi government is not stopping its dirty politics in the name of education and has now stooped as low as to involve innocent school kids in it," Delhi BJP spokesperson Praveen Shankar Kapoor said.

"Under the patronage of Delhi government, special 'I love Manish Sisodia' desks will be set up in government schools to garner forced support for Sisodia from students."

"Delhi BJP strongly condemns this dirty politics of forcing school kids to support Sisodia and urge that this 'I love Manish Sisodia' desk scheme be immediately shelved," he said.

In response, the Delhi government issued a statement saying, "There is no involvement of any government department or government employee in any such activity. It is just BJP agenda."

A senior official from the DoE said the department had no role in it.

The DoE has no role in teh students sending letters to the leader. The parents and students are doing it on their own. Some of the parents had approached us but we asked them to get in touch with other parents for the same, the official said.

The AAP functionary said more than 20,000 letters to Manish Sisodia were collected on the first day at the special desks that were set up for just one-and-a-half hours.

In their letters to the former minister, students wrote that they are studying well. Through these letters, some of them even questioned why their Manish Chacha' has been put behind bars if he hasn't done anything wrong, said the functionary.

Children accompanied their parents to the helpdesks to reach out to their favourite 'Manish Chacha', he claimed.

Several senior AAP leaders, meanwhile, shared messages penned by students for Sisodia on social media.

Atishi, who will soon be included in the Cabinet as a minister, shared images of the messages on Twitter.

"BJP people: No matter how many false allegations you make, but the love that the children of Delhi have got Manish Sisodia, you cannot shake it," she said.

MLA Somnath Bharti tweeted,"Today Manish Sisodia has taken the form of an idea and his ideas have reached every house through children! There are 18 lakh Manish Sisodias in Delhi schools. How will you stop? Make an effort, no matter how many parrots you blow away, the education revolution is not going to stop."

Jasmine Shah also retweeted similar messages and said: "Wow... Children of Delhi are showing an unprecedented outpouring of love for their favourite Education minister with messages of #ILoveManishSisodia."

Kapoor, however, urged Delhi LG V K Saxena to stop the campaign.

In another tweet, the BJP leader tagged NCPCR chairperson Priyank Kanoongo and alleged that parents were being pressured by AAP to get such messages penned for Sisodia.

"@NCPCR_ & @KanoongoPriyank ji Please see how shamelessly AAP is campaigning for Manish Sisodia by pressurising government school students. Parents are being pressurised to write letters otherwise students will be failed in exams."

(This is an unedited and auto-generated story from Syndicated News feed, LatestLY Staff may not have modified or edited the content body)
West Jaintia Hills (Meghalaya) [India], March 3 (ANI): The district administration of West Jaintia Hills has imposed curfew in Meghalaya's Sahsniang village till further orders, following reports of post-vote counting violence on Thursday.

In an order issued from the office of District Magistrate B.S. Sohliya on March 2, the administration said that it has received information regarding the post-counting violence in Sahsniang village.

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"There is an apprehension that the violence may spread and intensify if left unattended and may result in the destruction of property and a possibility of a loss of lives," the order said.

"I am satisfied that the news of the same is prejudicial to the maintenance of law and order. Whereas I am satisfied that curfew may be declared in these areas to ensure that the violence is stopped immediately and that public peace is restored in the area," the order said.

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"In exercise of the powers conferred upon me under Section 144 Cr. PC, I, B.S. Sohliya, IAS, District Magistrate, West Jaintia Hills District do hereby imposed CURFEW in Sahsniang, village with immediate effect and until further orders," the order stated.

The counting of votes for the Meghalaya Assembly polls was done on Thursday in which the National People's Party emerged as the single-largest party winning 26 seats.

Meanwhile, the BJP created history on Thursday by returning to power in Tripura and the NDPP-BJP alliance swept the polls in Nagaland.

The BJP is also part of the sweepstakes to form government in Meghalaya having decided to extend support to the National People's Party which emerged as the single-largest party with 26 seats.

BJP and NPP were partners in the outgoing government but had contested the polls separately.

In Nagaland, BJP secured 12 seats, Nationalist Democratic Progressive Party (NDPP) won 25 seats. Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) bagged seven seats, National People's Party (NPP) won five seats, Naga Peoples Front, Lok Janshakti Party (Ram Vilas) and Republican Party of India (Athawale) won two seats each. Nitish Kumar's Janata Dal (United) got one seat. (ANI)

(This is an unedited and auto-generated story from Syndicated News feed, LatestLY Staff may not have modified or edited the content body)
New Delhi, Mar 3 (PTI) Delhi will soon get its fourth jail in Narela to house high-risk prisoners, with the Centre allocating Rs 120 crore for the prison complex modelled on the Cellular Jail in the Andaman and Nicobar Islands, officials said on Friday.

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"The idea behind the project is to ensure that those prisoners, who are in jail because of offences committed against the state, remain in isolation. Although there are isolation facilities in the other three jails in Tihar, Rohini and Mandoli, the new prison complex will solely house such prisoners who are a threat to society," an official privy to the development said.

The Ministry of Home Affairs will be allocating Rs 120 crore for the construction of this prison complex, he said.

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He said funds will also be sought from the Delhi government in the upcoming budget for the project.

"The Delhi Development Authority (DDA) has allotted land for the jail in Narela. According to the rough plan, the prison will have 250 cells and has been modelled on the Cellular Jail in the Andaman and Nicobar Islands," the official noted.

According to officials, the prison will also have reformative facilities like Yoga, a factory where inmates can engage themselves in making certain things, among others.

"The purpose of a jail is to serve as a reformation centre. This jail, even though it will house the likes of terrorists and gangsters, will have such facilities like yoga. We will soon chalk out a plan to have more of these engagements," the official said.

He, however, said the project is at a nascent stage and after the funds arrive from the Centre, the work on the project will be expedited.

Asked if the new prison will house high-profile prisoners from other neighbouring states as well, the official said, "The priority is to house prisoners lodged in Delhi jails, but if we receive a request or some directions, it will have to be followed."

Security features of the jail will include CCTV cameras, round-the-clock surveillance, isolation rooms with facilities to ensure that inmates do not interact much, high walls, and mobile jammers of superior technology to ensure that the prisoners do not get a whiff of the outside world.

Delhi has three prison complexes, namely Tihar, Rohini and Mandoli. All of these comprise central jails.

Tihar, which is considered one of the largest prison complexes in the world comprising nine central prisons, has a capacity to house 5,200 inmates, but 13,183 inmates are currently lodged in its different central jails.

Mandoli, which has six central jails, has a capacity of 1,050 but 2,037 inmates are currently staying there. Rohini, which has only one central jail, has a capacity of 3,776, but 4,355 inmates are lodged there, according to official data.

Some of the high risk inmates lodged in these jails are Olympic silver medallist Sushil Kumar, conman Sukesh Chandrasekhar and Kashmiri separatist leader Yasin Malik.

(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, Mar 3 (PTI) The country's largest airline IndiGo, which is focusing on internationalisation, has received approval from the civil aviation ministry to wet lease up to two planes for operating flights to the United States and Canada, according to a senior official.

For the first time, IndiGo started operating wide-body Boeing 777 on Delhi-Istanbul route in February. The plane has been taken on wet lease from Turkish Airlines.

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The airline has received nod from the ministry to wet lease two aircraft that can be utilised on this route.

The official, on the condition of anonymity, said on Friday the ministry has also given approval for IndiGo to wet lease up to two wide-body aircraft which can be used for flying to the US and Canada.

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Queries sent to IndiGo on this issue remained unanswered.

It could not be immediately ascertained whether IndiGo has firmed up plans on operating flights to the US and Canada.

Indian carriers require approval from the ministry to wet lease aircraft.

Under the wet lease arrangement, planes are leased along with the operating crew and engineers. Generally, wet leasing of planes is allowed for short periods to tackle supply constraints and ensure that airfares do not surge significantly.

In an interview to PTI last month, IndiGo CEO Pieter Elbers said the airline has always kept the option of wide-body aircraft open but did not divulge specific details.

"IndiGo has never ruled out any option. We do have a significant order book. We have almost 500 aircraft on order... we have a steady stream of deliveries coming. Our focus and emphasis will be on that part. We do have the XLRs order that will further stretch the range of operations for IndiGo," he had said.

Meanwhile, IndiGo in a statement said the airline is constantly in talks with the manufacturers as "we plan our next phase of growth" amid reports that it is looking to place a significant order for planes.

"However, we haven't finalised anything till now. We do not comment on speculations and will share information as and when we have an update," the spokesperson said in a statement on Friday.

Last month, aviation consultancy CAPA said that IndiGo could place orders for 500 aircraft.

IndiGo had been planning to place a significant order of around 300 aircraft prior to COVID-19, but deferred it due to the pandemic. This is now likely to proceed, and could be even larger than previously envisaged, increasing to around 500 aircraft now, it had said.

Currently, IndiGo has more than 300 planes in its fleet.

In a separate statement on Friday, IndiGo said its "application with Turkish Airlines is part of our codeshare expansion to offer access to a wider network".

According to reports, the airline and Turkish Airlines have sought the US authority's approval for codeshare flights to the US.

"We are constantly exploring opportunities to cater to customer demand for air travel to newer geographies," the airline said in the statement.

Codesharing allows an airline to book its passengers on its partner carriers and provide seamless travel to destinations where it has no presence.

(This is an unedited and auto-generated story from Syndicated News feed, LatestLY Staff may not have modified or edited the content body)
Agartala (Tripura) [India], March 3 (ANI): A day after the BJP created history by returning to power in Tripura, Chief Minister Manik Saha on Friday submitted his resignation to Governor Satyadev Narayan Arya at Raj Bhavan in Agartala and the Governor asked him to continue till the new government is sworn in.

"Today I have submitted my resignation to the Governor and the Governor has asked me to continue as CM till the new government is formed. Swearing-in ceremony most likely to be held on March 8," said Saha to reporters.

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"Today met Hon'ble Governor of Tripura Shri Satyadeo Narain Arya Ji at Raj Bhavan and submitted my resignation as Chief Minister. He accepted the resignation and asked me to continue as caretaker CM till formation of the new government," Saha said in a tweet.

Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) returned to power in the state by winning an absolute majority.

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According to the Election Commission of India, BJP won 32 seats with a vote share of around 39 per cent. Tipra Motha Party came second by winning 13 seats. Communist Party of India (Marxist) got 11 seats while Congress bagged three seats. The Indigenous People's Front of Tripura (IPFT) managed to open its account by winning one seat.

The CPI(M) and the Congress, arch rivals in Kerala, came together in the Northeast this time in a bid to oust the BJP from power. The combined vote share of CPI(M) and Congress remained around 33 per cent.

Chief Minister Saha defeated Congress' Asish Kumar Saha from the Town Bordowali seat by a margin of 1,257 votes. In the 60-member Tripura assembly, the majority mark is 31.

The BJP, which had never won a single seat in Tripura before 2018, stormed to power in the last election in alliance with IPFT and had ousted the Left Front which had been in power in the border state for 35 years since 1978.

The BJP contested on 55 seats and its ally, IPFT, on six seats. But both allies had fielded candidates in the Ampinagar constituency in the Gomati district.

The Left contested on 47 and Congress on 13 seats, respectively. Of the total 47 seats, the CPM contested 43 seats while the Forward Bloc, Communist Party of India (CPI) and Revolutionary Socialist Party (RSP) contested one seat each.

The CPI(M)-led Left Front ruled the state for nearly four decades, with a gap between 1988 and 1993, when the Congress was in power but now both parties joined hands with the intention to oust BJP from power. (ANI)

(This is an unedited and auto-generated story from Syndicated News feed, LatestLY Staff may not have modified or edited the content body)
Kohima (Nagaland) [India], March 3 (ANI): Nationalist Democratic Progressive Party (NDPP) will meet in Kohima on Friday to elect its leader after the ruling NDPP and BJP retained power in the state with a comfortable victory.

Addressing a press conference on Thursday, advisor to CM Neiphiu Rio Abu Mehta said, "We thank the electorate of #Nagaland for reposing their faith in NDPP and returning the party to power again."

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"The party has won 25 of the 40 seats it contested. This is a success rate of 62.5 per cent. BJP has won 12 seats," he added.

He said that an early resolution of the Naga political problem will be the agenda of the new government.

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"NDPP is in touch with BJP's central leadership in Delhi, to form the next govt with BJP. NDPP Legislature party meeting is to be held on Friday. The new government's agenda will be development and peace and early resolution of the Naga political problem," he added.

Earlier in the day, as the results were declared for all 60 seats, the NDPP-BJP alliance crossed the halfway mark (31 seats) and is poised to form the government in Nagaland with 37 seats, as the NDPP won 25 and BJP secured victory on 12 seats.

The Nagaland political stalwart and its longest-serving chief minister Neiphiu Rio is also set to assume office for a fifth consecutive term after the convincing win.

According to the Election Commission of India, Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) has won 7 seats while Janata Dal (United) has one seat.

"National People's Party won 5 seats, and independent has secured four seats in the state," ECI said.

However, history was scripted in Nagaland when the state elected its first women legislators in its 60 years of statehood. The state, which has had 13 Assemblies so far, never had a woman MLA before Thursday's result.

The two women lawmakers - Hekhani Jakhalu and Salhoutuonuo Kruse of the ruling NDPP defeated the sitting MLAs in Western Angami and Dimapur-III seats respectively.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi thanked the people of Nagaland for the NDPP-BJP alliance's win. "I thank the people of Nagaland for blessing the @NDPPofficial @BJP4Nagaland alliance with yet another mandate to serve the state. The double-engine government will keep working for the state's progress. I laud our party workers for their hard work which ensured this result," Modi wrote in his tweet.

Union Minister Amit Shah also said that the newly elected government of the state would continue to advance peace and development in the state and fulfil people's aspirations.

"I thank the people of Nagaland from the bottom of my heart for choosing peace and progress. The duo of PM @narendramodi and CM @Neiphiu_Rio will continue to advance peace & development in the state and fulfil people's aspirations," Shah said in his tweets. (ANI)

(This is an unedited and auto-generated story from Syndicated News feed, LatestLY Staff may not have modified or edited the content body)
New Delhi, Mar 3 (PTI) The National Green Tribunal has directed Rajasthan's additional chief secretary, Mines and Geology, to look into alleged illegal mining of gypsum near the Indo-Pakistan border in Bikaner district and take remedial action.

The NGT was hearing a matter it had initiated on its own after taking cognisance of a media report about alleged illegal mining and issued a notice to the Rajasthan state pollution control board (PCB).

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A bench of Chairperson Justice A K Goel noted the board's response according to which though mining was prohibited within one km of the international border, it was found that illegal mining by an individual owner of land took place within 250 metres of the frontier to the extent of 172.5 tonnes of gypsum for which a penalty of Rs 2.96 lakh was collected.

The bench, also comprising Judicial Members Justice Sudhir Agarwal and Justice Arun Kumar Tyagi, and Expert Member Afroz Ahmad said the compensation for environmental violation could not be assessed according to the established norms.

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"In the absence thereof, apart from the issue of damage to the environment, loss of revenue of the state remains unaddressed. This may call for intervention at a higher level," the bench said.

"Accordingly, we direct the additional chief secretary (ACS) Mines and Geology, Rajasthan to look into the matter and take remedial action in coordination with other authorities concerned in respect of the incident in question as well as any other such incidents," the bench added.

It directed a copy of the order be also sent to the state's Chief Secretary, senior superintendent of police (SSP) and District Magistrate of Bikaner district for compliance.

Crude gypsum is used as a fluxing agent, fertilizer, filler in paper and textiles, and retarder in portland cement. About three-fourths of the total production is calcined for use as plaster of paris and as building material in plaster, Keene's cement, board products, and tiles and blocks.

(This is an unedited and auto-generated story from Syndicated News feed, LatestLY Staff may not have modified or edited the content body)
By Shalini Bhardwaj

New Delhi [India], March 3 (ANI): With an aim to galvanize private hospitals from across Delhi-NCR to contribute to the National Tuberculosis Elimination Programme (NTEP), and expand the impact of Mission TB Free India, Medanta and other private hospitals in association with the Centre, under the guidance of Central TB Division, Ministry of Health and Family Welfare organized a multi-stakeholder event engaging private hospitals and state health officials.

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As part of the programme, deliberation was held with Apollo Medical College, Yashoda Super Specialty Hospital, Amrita Hospital and stakeholders from a number of other hospitals. They were encouraged to support the national initiative by adopting the 'Active Case Finding' model of TB detection.

Towards the Pradhan Mantri TB Mukt Bharat Abhiyan, Deputy Director General of Central TB Division, MoHFW, Rajender P Joshi, announced the private hospitals' engagement program in the presence of Dr Naresh Trehan (Chairman and Managing Director, Medanta), Dr Anand Jaiswal (Senior Director) and Dr Bornali Datta (Director) from the Department of Respiratory and Sleep Medicine, Medanta, Gurugram. The event was also graced by Dr Kuldeep Sachdeva (Regional Director - SE Asia, International Union Against Tuberculosis and Lung Diseases).

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The objective of this engagement program is to encourage private hospitals to actively contribute to TB screening and assist the state in bridging the gap in TB care services. This will further strengthen the robust NTEP that works to detect TB in unscreened population pockets and establish linkages between identified patients and government treatment services.

Speaking on occasion, Rajender P Joshi, deputy director general (TB), Central TB division said, "We have made significant progress in strengthening the infrastructure for TB treatment. However, we must recognize that to scale access to therapy, multi-stakeholder models through partnerships with private hospitals are the way forward. Collaboration with Medanta and other private hospitals is a great step towards achieving the national goal of TB elimination by 2025."

Dr Naresh Trehan, Chairman and Managing Director, Medanta Gurugram said, "Detection and treatment play a crucial role in the prevention and management of tuberculosis. Currently, a vast majority of patients go undetected and untreated in India, significantly increasing the disease burden. The private hospital sector can play an important role in the prevention and treatment of TB by taking on a larger, more active role in screening. We are delighted to share our learnings with other private hospitals and scale the TB-Free initiative through widespread adoption of the cost-effective screening model developed by Medanta." (ANI)

(This is an unedited and auto-generated story from Syndicated News feed, LatestLY Staff may not have modified or edited the content body)
New Delhi [India], March 3 (ANI): The Supreme Court on Friday issued notice to Uttar Pradesh State Election Commission on a petition by the All India Council of Mayors in the matter concerning OBC quotas in the UP local body poll.

A bench of Chief Justice of India DY Chandrachud and justice PS Narasimha issued notice and listed the matter on March 24.

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The petitioner All India Council of Mayors has challenged Allahabad High Court December 27, 2012, order which directed that a three-member committee shall take over the affairs of the Municipal Body till the new elected body is formed.

The affected parties in the present case are 16 Mayors who were elected for their terms between 2017 and 2022. Their terms are to expire in January 2023.

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The petition was filed through the advocate on record Dhananjay Garg. According to petitioner, as a consequence of the Impugned Judgment dated 27.12.2022 and the consequential Notification dated 4.01.2023, 16 elected Mayors, who are the members of the Petitioner Society, shall be impacted, as they shall be replaced by the 3-Member Committee.

"This direction is in complete disregard of the mandate laid down under Section 15(3) of the UP Municipal Corporation Act, 1959," the petitioner said adding that the direction is directly in conflict with Section 15(3) which provides that a Mayor continues to be in office, till such time the successor Mayor does not take charge.

The Petitioner Society was constituted in the year 1962 and said the organisation was known as 'Akhil Bhartiya Mahapaur Parishad'.

Similar provisions are also available for other constitutional posts such as President (Article 56), Vice President (Article 67) and Governor (Article 156), to ensure continuity in administrative functions, the petitioner 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)
Accra  In response to Nigerian authorities' release of WikkiTimes publisher Haruna Mohammed Salisu on bail Thursday, following his arrest while covering national elections on February 25, the Committee to Protect Journalists issued the following statement calling for all charges against him to be dropped:

"The release of Nigerian journalist Haruna Mohammed Salisu on bail is welcome news, but he should never have been arrested in the first place, and authorities should stop pursuing criminal charges against him for his work," said Muthoki Mumo, CPJ's sub-Saharan Africa representative, in Nairobi. "Covering the public sentiment during elections, or any form of journalism, should never land a journalist in jail."

On February 28, authorities charged Salisu with inciting the public to disturb the Bauchi state governor, according to his lawyer Idrees Gambo and Bauchi Attorney General Abubakar Abdulhamid Bununu, both of whom spoke to CPJ by phone. If convicted under Section 114 of the Nigerian penal code, Salisu could face up to three years in prison with a fine of 600 naira (around US$1.30), according to CPJ's review of the code.

Police granted Salisu's bail on Wednesday, March 1, on the condition that he provide a bond of 500,000 naira (US$1,085) and two sureties, including one from a director in the Nigerian Civil Service and a second from a leader of his local community, Gambo told CPJ, adding that the journalist was released after he met those conditions.

He is next due in court on March 13, his lawyer said.
New Delhi [India], March 3 (ANI): Telangana Chief Minister K Chandrashekar Rao-led Telangana government has moved the Supreme Court against the state Governor Tamilisai Soundararajan for not giving assent to Bills despite clearance by the legislature.

Telangana government mentioned that 10 Bills are pending with the governor for assent since September 14, 2022.

Also Read | Raisina Dialogue 2023: PM Narendra Modi, Italian Counterpart Giorgia Meloni Inaugurate India's Flagship Conference on Geopolitics and Geoeconomics.

The petitioner urged the top court to declare that the inaction, omission and failure tocomply with the constitutional mandate qua the assent of the bills by the Constitutional functionary the Governor as highly irregular, illegal and against the Constitutional mandate.

Telangana government also urged the top court to issue an appropriate direction, to the Governor of Telangana, to forthwith give assent to the Bills pending, namely, the Azamabad Industrial Area (Termination and Regulation of Leases) (Amendment) Bill, 2022, The Telangana Municipal Laws (Amendment) Bill, 2022, The Telangana Public Employment (Regulation of Age of Superannuation) (Amendment) Bill, 2022, The University of Forestry Telangana Bill, 2022, The Telangana Universities Common Recruitment Board Bill, 2022, The Telangana Motor Vehicles Taxation (Amendment) Bill, 2022, The Telangana State Private Universities (Establishment and Regulation (Amendment) Bill, 2022, The Professor Jayashankar Telangana State Agricultural University (Amendment) Bill, 2023, The Telangana Panchayat Raj (Amendment) Bill, 2023 and The Telangana Municipalities (Amendment) Bill, 2023.

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In the petition, the state government said that it is constrained to move before the top court in view of a very frequent constitutional impasse created on account of the refusal of the Governor of the State of Telangana to act on several Bills passed by the State Legislature. These bills are pending since September 14, 2022, till date for the assent of the Governor.

"Article 200 is couched in mandatory language as it repeatedly uses the word "shall" thereby clearly suggesting that the Governor must act as soon as possible to either grant assent or withhold the assent and return the bill as envisaged only on the advice of the council of ministers. In a parliamentary democracy, the Governor has no discretion to differ or delay necessary assent as required on the bills presented for assent. Any refusal on the part of the Governor including any delay will defeat the parliamentary democracy and the will of the people," the petition read.

Pointing out the role of the Governor in the matter of assent to the Bills passed byboth the houses of the state legislature of the state of Telangana, state govt said the State Legislature passed 7 Bills on September 13, 2022, and sent them to the Secretary to the Governor for the assent of the Governor on September 14 2022.

Similarly, 3 other bills were passed in February 2023 by the State Assembly and on February 12 2023 by the State Legislative Council and sent to the secretary to the Governor for assent.

"The legislature in its wisdom has decided to amend certain provisions to the existingStatutes keeping in view the mandate of the people and the requirement to make changes to the appropriate law conforming to the present needs of the State," the petition said. (ANI)

(This is an unedited and auto-generated story from Syndicated News feed, LatestLY Staff may not have modified or edited the content body)
New Delhi [India], March 3 (ANI): Two snatchers who operated interstate have been arrested from the Shahdara district of the national capital, Delhi Police said on Friday.

The arrests happened a few days ago

Also Read | #Lucknow: Treatment & Tests at Sanjay Gandhi Postgraduate Institute of Medical   Latest Tweet by IANS India.

Delhi Police tracked via CCTV visuals for 25 km the route taken by the snatchers.

"Delhi police arrested two inter-state snatchers after tracking their 25 km route through CCTV visuals. Snatchers were released from jail a month ago and had committed a crime again in Delhi," said Rohit Meena, DCP Shahdara.

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A few days ago Delhi police launched an operation against the two snatchers and nabbed them from Shahdara district, police said

Further details are awaited. (ANI)

(This is an unedited and auto-generated story from Syndicated News feed, LatestLY Staff may not have modified or edited the content body)
Washington, Mar 2 (AP) President Joe Biden isn't expected to veto Republican-sponsored resolutions that would block new District of Columbia laws that change how the nation's capital votes and how the city prosecutes and punishes crime, according to people familiar with the matter.

City officials have spent nearly two decades trying to redo Washington's criminal laws, including redefining crimes, changing criminal justice policies and reworking how sentences should be handed down after convictions. Voting law revisions would make it easier for noncitizens to vote in local races.

Also Read | US Secretary of State Antony Blinken Says 'Urged Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov To End War and Engage in Meaningful Diplomacy'.

The Republican-controlled House decided to wade into city matters, claiming the district's changes will contribute to already-rising crime in Washington  the number of murders in 2021 was the highest in nearly 20 years  and make it easier for some criminals to get out of prison or evade punishment all together.

The resolutions passed the House with some Democratic support and appear poised to clear Senate on a bipartisan basis as well, perhaps as early as next week.

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By not vetoing the measures, Biden would allow Congress to nullify the city's laws for the first time in more than three decades. It was not clear whether Biden would sign the resolutions or let them take effect without his veto or signature.

Biden has promised to veto other bills pushed by Republicans, but isn't expected to do that for the district resolutions, particularly if enough Democrats sign on and send it to him, according to four people familiar with the matter who spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity to discuss the White House's thinking before final congressional action.

The GOP effort is part of a growing political backlash against Democratic-led criminal justice changes that picked up pace after the murder of George Floyd by a Minneapolis police officer. Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot lost her bid this week for reelection as some of her Democratic challengers argued that the nation's third-largest city needed tough-on-crime policies.

On Thursday, Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell cited crimes in his home state of Kentucky as he tried to blame Democrats for rising crime, including an incident two days ago when masked thieves stormed an auto showroom and drove off with a half dozen cars.

Getting murderers off our streets and foreign poison out of our neighbourhoods are among the most basic governing responsibilities you can possibly think of, McConnell added, a reference to the country's fentanyl crisis. Evidently the Biden administration does not agree or just cannot deliver.

Washington's criminal code hasn't been updated substantially since it was first drafted in 1901. Criminal justice experts have said it is outdated, confusing and not in touch with how crimes are punished today. In the city, like most places in the United States, Black people are disproportionately affected by the criminal laws.

The revisions passed the DC Council late last year would do away with mandatory minimum sentences for many crimes and expand jury trials for lower-level charges. The changes also would reduce the maximum penalties for burglary, carjacking and robbery.

The district is not a state, and because of that, it lacks the same rights that the 50 states have to make and amend laws. Also, district residents do not have voting members in Congress. While Congress has allowed the city's residents some powers of home rule, it has retained veto powers over district government actions.

Earlier this month, House Republicans voted 250-173 to overturn the rewrite of the criminal code. The voting rights measure also was overturned, by a 260-173 vote.

The local legislation, which would take effect in 2025, created some friction within district government. In January, Mayor Muriel Bowser vetoed it, writing in a letter that she had very significant concerns about some of the bill's proposals. She later proposed changes after the council overrrode her veto.

In 2022, there were 203 homicides in the district, about a 10 per cent drop after years of steady increases. Homicides in the city had risen for four years straight, and the 2021 murder count of 227 was the highest since 2003.

The city's police union said in a statement that the council's bill would lead to violent crime rates exploding even more than they already have.

But the issue is broader than simply about crime: DC officials say it's a local matter and the federal government should keep out.

The insult of limited home rule is that the 700,000 D.C. residents and taxpaying Americans, and their duly elected officials, must endure the review and oversight of our laws by officials not elected to represent our interests or values, Bowser wrote in a letter to Congress.

While it has been more than three decades since Congress outright nullified a DC law, Congress has frequently used alternative methods to alter laws on issues from abortion funding to marijuana legalization. (

AP)

(This is an unedited and auto-generated story from Syndicated News feed, LatestLY Staff may not have modified or edited the content body)
Washington, Mar 3 (AP) German Chancellor Olaf Scholz is visiting the White House on Friday for a private meeting with President Joe Biden as both allies become increasingly vocal about their concerns that China may step off the sidelines and supply weapons to Russia for its invasion of Ukraine.

Such a step could dramatically change the war's trajectory by allowing Moscow to replenish its depleted stockpiles.

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China is Germany's top trading partner, and European nations have generally been more cautious than the United States in taking a hard line with Beijing. However, there are signs that may be shifting as global rivalries grow more tense.

In a speech to the German parliament on Thursday, Scholz called on China to use your influence in Moscow to press for the withdrawal of Russian troops, and do not supply weapons to the aggressor Russia.

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The US and Germany have worked closely together to supply Ukraine with military and humanitarian assistance. But there has also been friction over issues such as providing tanks, and Washington has occasionally grown frustrated with Berlin's hesitance.

Maintaining a steady flow of weapons to Kyiv will be critical in the war's second year, especially with both sides planning spring offensives.

We're proud of the collective efforts that we've taken together," John Kirby, a White House national security spokesman, said Thursday.

He said the US has not seen any indication that China has made a decision on whether to provide weapons to Russia.

Scholz last visited the White House a little more than a year ago, shortly before Russia invaded Ukraine. Very little of Friday's meeting will be open to the public, and no announcements are expected afterward.

Unlike formal state visits, such as when French President Emmanuel Macron came to Washington last year, there will be no pomp and ceremony. Scholz's trip will lack the customary press conference where the two leaders take questions from reporters representing both countries.

Kirby described it as a true working visit between these two leaders."

The meeting will be intimate, according to a senior German official and a US official. Rather than being constantly flanked by advisers, the officials said, Biden and Scholz are likely to be the only people in the room for much of the time. The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because of the confidential nature of the talks.

In an interview with German broadcaster Welt, opposition leader Friedrich Merz accused Scholz of being secretive about his trip to Washington, which will take place without the customary press pack in tow. Merz suggested that Scholz had to smooth ruffled feathers over the deal to provide tanks to Ukraine.

Scholz dismissed any notion of discord between allies.

Asked by The Associated Press about the circumstances of his visit, Scholz said he and Biden want to talk directly with each other," and he described a global situation where things have become very difficult."

It is important that such close friends can talk about all of these questions together, continually, he said.

Jake Sullivan, Biden's national security adviser, hinted at some tension between the two countries on Sunday when appearing on ABC's This Week.

He said Biden originally decided against sending Abrams tanks to Ukraine, believing they wouldn't be immediately useful for Ukrainian forces. However, Sullivan said, Germany would not send its Leopard tanks until the president also agreed to send Abrams.

So, in the interest of alliance unity and to insure that Ukraine got what it wanted, despite the fact that the Abrams aren't the tool they need, the president said, 'OK, I'm going to be the leader of the free world,' Sullivan said. 'I will send Abrams down the road if you send Leopards now.' Those Leopards are getting sent now.

Scholz's government has denied there was any such demand made of the US.

Max Bergmann, a former State Department official who leads the Europe Programme at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, said the US has often wanted Germany, the world's fifth-largest economy, to be more forceful on the global stage.

There's a hope that, instead of us having to push all the time, that Germany would take a leadership role," he said.

Bergmann said Germany has gone a long way toward strengthening its defence, but added that there's more work to do.

The German way of seeing the world doesn't always align with the US way of seeing the world, he said. (AP)

(This is an unedited and auto-generated story from Syndicated News feed, LatestLY Staff may not have modified or edited the content body)
London, Mar 3 (PTI) An influential UK parliamentary committee examining former British prime minister Boris Johnson's conduct related to the party gate scandal of COVID lockdown law-breaching parties at Downing Street said on Friday that he may have misled the House of Commons multiple times.

The House of Commons Privileges Committee has published a summary of its findings and called in Johnson to give oral evidence later this month before decisively concluding whether he knowingly misled Parliament and submitting its complete findings to Parliament.

Also Read | Raisina Dialogue 2023: G20 Quad Is Like The Beatles But Soft, Says Japans Foreign Minister Yoshimasa Hayashi In Delhi.

The 58-year-old former prime minister, whose exit from 10 Downing Street last year had been hastened by the party gate scandal, repeatedly denied COVID lockdown rules were broken within government quarters when asked in the Commons.

The evidence strongly suggests that breaches of guidance would have been obvious to Johnson at the time he was at the gatherings, reads the cross-party committee's report.

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There is evidence that those who were advising Mr Johnson about what to say to the press and in the House were themselves struggling to contend that some gatherings were within the rules. The Director of Communications stated in a WhatsApp on January 25 last year to a No. 10 official in relation to the gathering of June 19 in 2020 that: Haven't heard any explanation of how it's in the rules', it notes.

The interim report goes on to highlight specific instances over the course of 2020 and 2021, during successive COVID lockdowns in the UK, when the House of Commons may have been misled by Johnson's claims that no rules or guidance had been broken.

It [Parliament] may have been misled when Johnson failed to tell the House about his own knowledge of the gatherings where the rules or guidance had been broken. That is because there is evidence that he attended them, it reads.

It appears that Johnson did not correct the statements that he repeatedly made and did not use the well-established procedures of the House to correct something that is wrong at the earliest opportunity, it adds.

Members of Parliament on the Commons Privileges Committee were tasked with investigating whether Johnson misled Parliament over party gate allegations after Opposition Labour Party Leader Sir Keir Starmer tabled a motion in April 2022.

Johnson has claimed the committee's interim report showed he was being "vindicated" and it is "clear from this report that I have not committed any contempt of Parliament".

That is because there is no evidence in the report that I knowingly or recklessly misled Parliament, or that I failed to update Parliament in a timely manner," he said. "Nor is there any evidence in the report that I was aware that any events taking place in No. 10 or the Cabinet Office were in breach of the rules or the guidance," he claimed.

Johnson, now a backbench Conservative Party MP, is scheduled to give oral evidence to the committee in the week starting March 20.

Meanwhile, he has sought to cast doubts over the official party gate inquiry conducted by senior civil servant Sue Gray, which is being used as evidence by the parliamentary inquiry.

After reports emerged that the Labour Party is considering hiring Gray as its chief of staff, Johnson said: "I leave it to others to decide how much confidence may now be placed in her inquiry."

Labour has vehemently countered such allegations, saying Gray has been offered the political role long after the conclusion of her party gate inquiry concluded last year.

(This is an unedited and auto-generated story from Syndicated News feed, LatestLY Staff may not have modified or edited the content body)
Beijing, Mar 3 (PTI) China on Friday renewed its criticism of the Quad grouping comprising the US, India, Australia and Japan, saying that state-to-state cooperation should be consistent with the trend of peace and development, rather than putting up "exclusionary blocs."

The Quad foreign ministers carried out a comprehensive review of the situation in the Indo-Pacific at a meeting in New Delhi on Friday. Presided over by External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar, the meeting was attended by US Secretary of State Antony Blinken, his Japanese counterpart Yoshimasa Hayashi and Australian foreign minister Penny Wong.

Also Read | Raisina Dialogue 2023: G20 Quad Is Like The Beatles But Soft, Says Japans Foreign Minister Yoshimasa Hayashi In Delhi.

The meeting came against the backdrop of growing global concerns over increasing Chinese assertiveness in the strategically-vital region.

A joint statement issued after the meeting reaffirmed the four-nation grouping's commitment to a free and open Indo-Pacific and said it strongly supports the principles of rule of law, sovereignty and territorial integrity and peaceful settlement of disputes.

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Responding to the Quad statement at a media briefing here, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Mao Ning said China has stated its position on QUAD on multiple occasions.

"We believe that state-to-state cooperation needs to be consistent with the trend of peace and development, rather than be about putting up exclusionary blocs," she said.

"We hope certain countries can do more things that contribute to security and mutual trust between regional countries and that help to maintain regional peace and stability," Mao said, reaffirming Beijing's oft-repeated opposition to the Quad that it is an exclusive bloc aimed at containing China's rise.

In November 2017, India, Japan, the US, and Australia gave shape to the long-pending proposal of setting up the Quad to develop a new strategy to keep the critical sea routes in the Indo-Pacific free of any influence.

US President Joe Biden hosted the first-ever summit of the Quad leaders in the virtual format in March 2021 that vowed to strive for an Indo-Pacific region that is free, open, inclusive, anchored by democratic values, and unconstrained by coercion, sending a subtle message to China.

Beijing claims almost all of the 1.3 million square miles of the South China Sea as its sovereign territory. China has been building military bases on artificial islands in the region also claimed by Brunei, Malaysia, the Philippines, Taiwan, and Vietnam.

On China's reluctance, along with Russia, to endorse a joint statement on the Ukraine war at the G20 Foreign Ministers meeting in New Delhi on Thursday, spokesperson Mao said G20 is a premier forum for international economic cooperation.

The G20 foreign ministers' meeting in New Delhi was unable to come out with a joint communique due to a bitterly increasing rift between the US-led Western powers and Russia over the Ukraine conflict despite consistent efforts by host India to bridge the differences.

"The G20 is the premier forum for international economic cooperation. Leaders of member states made it clear in the G20 Bali Leaders' Declaration last year that the G20 is not the forum to resolve security issues," Mao said.

China believes that the G20 should work to follow through on the leaders' consensus, focus on its mandate and main function, and contribute to promoting stable, inclusive and sustainable economic recovery, she added.

"We also noted that G20 members have varying views on the Ukraine issue. We hope that G20 members will respect each other's concerns and send a message of solidarity and cooperation instead of division and mutual recrimination," she added.

About China's views on the outcome of the New Delhi meeting of the G20 Foreign Ministers, she said: It was an important event, especially considering the uncertainties and challenges facing today's world.

"China hopes that the G20 will demonstrate its sense of responsibility and contribute to global development and prosperity," she added.

Chinese Foreign Minister Qin Gang took part in the meeting.

The G20 or Group of 20 is an intergovernmental forum of the world's major developed and developing economies.

The members represent around 85 per cent of the global GDP, over 75 per cent of the global trade, and about two-thirds of the world population.

The grouping comprises Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Canada, China, France, Germany, India, Indonesia, Italy, Japan, the Republic of Korea, Mexico, Russia, Saudi Arabia, South Africa, Turkey, the UK, the US and the European Union.

(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], March 3 (ANI): French Minister for Europe and Foreign Affairs Catherine Colonna on Friday inaugurated the 'Villa Swagatam' network of residencies in India during a special event at the French Institute in India (IFI), with the residency representatives in attendance.

The initiative represents an important milestone for the French cultural network in India, consisting of the French Institute and the network of 15 Alliances Francaises in the country.

Also Read | Raisina Dialogue 2023: G20 Quad Is Like The Beatles But Soft, Says Japans Foreign Minister Yoshimasa Hayashi In Delhi.

Constantly, evolving to be mindful of the needs of the times, the French cultural network has adopted sustainability, community engagement, as well as greater diversity and inclusion as its core principles. From this was born 'Villa Swagatam', a network of residencies in India aimed at creating more profound, more meaningful relationships between artistic and literary actors of the two countries for the long term.

With the launch of this programme, India joins a list of international French residency-based initiatives worldwide, including Villa Albertine in the United States, Villa Kujoyama in Japan, Casa de Velazquez in Spain, and the Nouveau Grand Tour and the Villa Medicis in Italy.

Also Read | Who Is Vijayapriya Nithyananda? Know All About the Representative of Nithyanandas United States of Kailasa Who Attended UN Meet in Geneva.

The French Institute in India & the Alliances Francaises in India have long been organising residencies, including renowned French dancer-choreographer Amala Dianor, who gave a dazzling performance on the evening of the launch.

To attract more and more French artists and writers to India, Villa Swagatam has partnered with several French cultural institutions, such as literary residencies and centres, art schools, theatres and festivals, as well as private foundations.

A call for applications will be launched in April to welcome the first residents to India in mid-2023. Hence, Villa Swagatam will pave the way for the constant presence of French artists and writers across India throughout the year.

In stage two, Villa Swagatam will expand to send Indian residents to France: the 16 residencies in France added to the 16 residencies in India will generate no fewer than 320 Villa Swagatam alumni.

For the next 10 years, this will be a new pillar for the French Institute and the Alliances francaises network for developing their cultural programming.

At the event, French Foreign Affairs Minister Catherine Colonna said, "There is a deep friendship and mutual cultural admiration between the French and Indian people. We are both nations with rich histories, and extremely talented artists and innovators. It is our endeavour to bring them closer together and build a true Indo-French community of artists. That is the purpose of the Villa Swagatam initiative, which I have the pleasure of inaugurating today. I warmly thank the Indian partners who will open their residencies to French writers and artists all over India." (ANI)

(This is an unedited and auto-generated story from Syndicated News feed, LatestLY Staff may not have modified or edited the content body)
Tokyo [Japan], March 3(ANI): Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida plans to visit India later this month for talks with his counterpart Narendra Modi, a government source said on Friday, even as Tokyo holds the presidency of the Group of Seven nations this year, the Nikkei Asia reported.

Kishida's trip to India, currently chair of the Group of 20 economies for 2023, would come weeks after his government did not send Foreign Minister Yoshimasa Hayashi to a meeting of the G-20 top diplomats, held for two days through Thursday in New Delhi.

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Hayashi's absence triggered a backlash that Japan's decision not to dispatch the country's foreign minister to the G-20 gathering could cast a shadow over relations between the two Asian nations.

Nikkei Asia reported that Kishida, who is likely to visit India for three days from March 19, has been eager to confirm with Modi that Tokyo and New Delhi, as this year's G-7 and G-20 presidents, will work together more closely to tackle issues stemming from Russia's war in Ukraine, the source said.

Also Read | Raisina Dialogue 2023: G20 Quad Is Like The Beatles But Soft, Says Japans Foreign Minister Yoshimasa Hayashi In Delhi.

In tandem with other G-7 members, Japan has been bolstering economic sanctions on Russia. But India has abstained from implementing punitive measures against Russia.

India has also emerged as a key nation of the "Global South," a term that collectively refers to developing countries in areas such as Asia, Africa and Latin America.

Nikkei Asia reported that Kishida has been keen to deepen ties with such countries to pave the way for the success of the G-7 in-person summit scheduled for May in Japan's western city of Hiroshima, which was devastated by a U.S. atomic bomb in World War II, the source said.

During the envisioned meeting, Kishida is expected to invite Modi to participate in the G-7 summit, the source added.

Along with the G-7, Britain, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan and the United States, plus the European Union, the G-20 also includes Argentina, Australia, Brazil, China, India, Indonesia, Mexico, Russia, Saudi Arabia, South Africa, South Korea and Turkey. (ANI)

(This is an unedited and auto-generated story from Syndicated News feed, LatestLY Staff may not have modified or edited the content body)
New Delhi [India], March 3 (ANI): While addressing the Raisina Dialogue as the chief guest and a keynote speaker, Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni said that Italy and India are connected like never before. The geographical identities of India and Italy are similar because of the common "peninsularity" of both nations.

She also said that Italy is working to be the bridge connecting the eastern Mediterranean, Africa and Europe. Producer countries should benefit from their resources.

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"In the first few months of my tenure, I gave priority to developing equal partnerships on common priorities such as energy. Italy is working to be the bridge connecting the eastern Mediterranean, Africa and Europe. Producer countries should benefit from their resources, for their own prosperity and stability. Green energy, hydrogen and electricity will more and more be locally produced for the own citizens and for Europe," Meloni added.

"For centuries our maritime flows have looked towards the south and to the rest of the Mediterranean, which is our natural neighbour. And with whom we continue to build mutually beneficial relations. This is the spirit that shines in our vision and also dabbed in the plan for the Mediterranean and all of the African continent with its growing population, challenges and opportunities."

Also Read | G20 Summit 2023: India Off to Very Promising Start With Its Stewardship of G20, Says US.

She said that the Mediterranean is a vast region which has resources and energy that is crucial for Europe first of all, it should benefit the people who are the owners of these commodities. Italy aims at providing tangible benefits for all without "predatory ambitions".

"There are important similarities between the wide and profound world of the Indian and Italian ancient cultures in contemporary interests. If one can speak of the concept of "peninsularity" which could have been placed next to "insularity "and "continentality". Italy is deeply European. Our rules and history are European," she said.

The Italian Prime Minister said that Italy with its peninsula that lies in the centre of the Mediterranean sea continues to be a fully integrated part of the Euro-Atlantic community and of the cultural and political west. But it is more and more projected towards the Indo-Pacific regaining the history of the maritime republics and the Marco Polo, especially after the opening of the Suez canal.

"150 years later, the Indo-Pacific has again become a crucial centre of gravity for the global economy. 40 per cent of the used foreign trade passes through the south china sea. And much more transits through the Indian Ocean. Our 2 regions are connected like never before. Together we account for 70 per cent of world trade and the EU has become the biggest investor in the Indo-Pacific contributing to two-thirds of global economic growth," she said.

She said that the oceans of the world connect India and Italy and they are essential to global commerce. Shipping makes up 90 per cent of international trade and freedom of navigation is crucial for the world economies. Global interconnection has enabled economies of the world to incorporate and flourish.

But it comes at a cost, she said. "Especially in times of turbulence in the international community. What happens in Europe affects the Indo-Pacific in ways it would not have in the past. And what happens in the Indo-Pacific has direct repercussions in Europe. This is not a surprise, not a black swan. It is instead a grey rhino we should have seen. And it is something we need to keep in mind as we move forward. This implies a new approach to how we move together. We need to see the world through a progressive lens, to focus with the same level of attention on both long and short terms," she said while speaking on the impacts of the Russia-Ukraine conflict.

She said that like energy transition, the digital transition is also based on connectivity.

Data are the energy of our digital societies. And that will flow from India to Europe across the Mediterranean and Italy. The blue ramen project will lead the Indo-Pacific through our European economies.

As much as India, the peninsula factor has given benefits to Italy too, crucial results, being both a continental and a maritime nation.

She also appreciated Prime Minister Modi's hard work in handling the presidency and she reiterated Italy's full support for his success.

She said that naming Raisina Dialogue after the Raisina hills in New Delhi grants a broader view of India's capital city.

"In troubled times it is a fitting metaphor for the vision that leaders, thinkers, and civil servants need to adopt," she added.

She said that she didn't want to climb the institutions to gain power, but because it was the only way to have a better view of what was happening and get the best solutions.

Hinting at the Ukraine conflict, she said that nothing is more certain than the uncertainty of our "historic" times. It is an era of uncertainty and a period of unprecedented turbulence. (ANI)

(This is an unedited and auto-generated story from Syndicated News feed, LatestLY Staff may not have modified or edited the content body)
New Delhi, March 3: Japanese foreign minister Yoshimasa Hayashi on Friday sought to draw an analogy between legendary English rock band The Beatles with the Quad referring to the grouping of Japan, Australia, the US and India as more of a "soft Beatles" where "every member may release a solo album of their own"!

Hayashi who was not present at yesterday's G20 Foreign Ministers' Meeting arrived in the national capital Delhi early this moring to attend the meeting of foreign ministers from the Quad nations. Raisina Dialogue 2023: PM Narendra Modi, Italian Counterpart Giorgia Meloni Inaugurate Indias Flagship Conference on Geopolitics and Geoeconomics.

Speaking at a panel discussion at the Raisina Dialogue 2023 where all Quad foreign ministers participated, Hayashi said, "This is not a band like the Beatles where everyone jointly releases an album every few years as a rock band... The members are fixed and they always play together for 10 years. This is more like a soft group within the Beatles, and like Paul McCartney may release a solo of their own."

Hayashi picked up from US Secretary of State Antony Blinken referring to ORF president Samir Saran who was moderating the discussion as "an honorary member of the Quad... A sort of fifth Beatle." Incidentally while Hayashi is a skilled pianist, Blinken has been referred to as an amateur guitarist.

"This is the situation we are facing. It is nice to talk over Asia and the surrounding area because we have a trust between the four of us [Quad]. Like I said in the beginning, ...such as democracy, freedom and everything. So, without worrying about "big conditions", we can really freely talk and communicate," the Japanese minister said. Raisina Dialogue 2023: Nobody Asks Volodymyr Zelenskyy When Hes Going To Negotiate, Says Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov (Watch Video).

The Japanese minister said, "for ASEAN we had the 50th Anniversary...That information we can share with four of us here. So any idea relating to that, I can talk with three friends [present] here. He also said that the Quad group is not a military group and they don't try to exclude anybody including China.

"We don't try to exclude anybody (including China). As long as China abides by international norms and laws then there are no conflicting issues between China and the Quad," the Japanese FM asserted.

China views the Quadrilateral Security Dialogue or the Quad with concern and has referred to the grouping as the "Indo-Pacific NATO" and anti-China. The joint statement issued after the Quad ministerial meeting here today stated that the grouping strongly oppose any "unilateral actions that seek to change the status quo or increase tensions" in the South and East China Seas.

"We recognize that peace and security in the maritime domain underpins the development and prosperity of the Indo-Pacific, and reiterate the importance of respect for sovereignty, consistent with international law. We reiterate the importance of adherence to international law, as reflected in the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS), to meet challenges to the maritime rules-based order, including in the South and East China Seas," the statement said

"We express serious concern at the militarization of disputed features, the dangerous use of coast guard vessels and maritime militia, and efforts to disrupt other countries' offshore resource exploitation activities," it said.

The Quad joint statement agreed to strengthen co-operation on maritime surveillance to counter China's influence across the Indo-Pacific. Meanwhile, Blinken speaking at the same panel as the Japanese foreign minister said that Quad is not a military grouping but is now engaged in working together to help countries to deal with humanitarian situations in natural disasters.

"We are working on things that are really critical," Blinken said at a panel discussion of the Quad Foreign Ministers themed "The Quad Squad: Power and Purpose of the Polygon" in the national capital.

The Quad Foreign Ministers meet on the sidelines of the eighth edition of the Raisina Dialogue the flagship conference on geopolitics and geo-strategy organised by the Ministry of External Affairs with the Observer Research Foundation. India, the US, Japan and Australia are members of the Quad grouping.

(This is an unedited and auto-generated story from Syndicated News feed, LatestLY Staff may not have modified or edited the content body)
Chinese, French FMs discuss bilateral ties, Ukraine crisis

Xinhua) 13:51, March 03, 2023

NEW DELHI, March 3 (Xinhua) -- Chinese Foreign Minister Qin Gang met here with his French counterpart Catherine Colonna Thursday on the sidelines of the Group of 20 (G20) Foreign Ministers' Meeting, and they discussed the prospect of cooperation in new areas and the Ukraine crisis.

Qin said that as two major countries with international influence, China and France are two major forces of safeguarding peace. The two countries will embrace the 60th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic ties next year, and the Chinese side is willing to prepare with the French side the important agenda for the next-phase bilateral relationship, let the high-level exchanges play a guiding role, and push forward the China-France comprehensive strategic partnership to yield more fruits.

For her part, Colonna said the French side highly values the strategic communication and major-country coordination between France and China, and is willing to frequent high-level exchanges with the Chinese side, enrich the connotation of bilateral relations, and expand cooperation in new areas on science and research, innovation and climate change, among others.

Next year is an important year for France-China relations, and the French side is willing to successfully hold the Year of Culture and Tourism with the Chinese side, and fully resume people-to-people and cultural exchanges, said the French foreign minister.

She said French President Emmanuel Macron highly appreciates China's twelve-point position on the political settlement of the Ukraine crisis. The crisis has lingered and escalated, with all parties paying a high price. The French side hopes that the Chinese side could play a vital role in ending the war as soon as possible, she said.

In the meeting, Qin introduced China's position on the Ukraine crisis. He said that relevant parties should seriously reflect on the hard lessons from the crisis, insist on the right direction of peaceful negotiation, and truly build a balanced, effective and sustainable European security architecture.

(Web editor: Zhang Kaiwei, Liang Jun)
South Africa Confirms Sixth Cholera Case

South Africa has registered one more laboratory-confirmed case of cholera, bringing the total to six, reports eNCA. The Department of Health says the latest patient is a 19-year-old woman residing in Emandleni informal settlement in Benoni in the Ekurhuleni District in Gauteng. She was one of two people who exhibited signs and symptoms of cholera and were referred to the hospital for testing. Her test results came back positive and she was given treatment, and recovering well, the department added. Health officials will intensify contact tracing and health education in the affected areas. According to the department, there was no need for the public to panic. It is, however, concerned about the rising number of cholera cases. In February, the country reported its first death linked to cholera in the latest outbreak. Cholera can cause acute diarrhoea, vomiting, and weakness and is mainly spread by contaminated food or water. It can kill within hours if untreated.

De Ruyter Briefed Highest-Ranking Police Official on Eskom Corruption - News24

Former Eskom chief executive Andre de Ruyter personally briefed the highest-ranking police officer in the country - national police commissioner General Fannie Masemola - on allegations of corruption at Eskom and the alleged involvement of two senior ANC government officials, News24 reports. In an exclusive article, the news website says it understands that the briefing included information around four syndicates operating in Mpumalanga, where most of Eskom's coal-fired power stations are located. Earlier, De Ruyter said in an explosive interview with e.TV journalist Annika Larsen that there was rampant corruption at the power utility. President Cyril Ramaphosa then called on De Ruyter to report the matter to the police. The ANC threatened to lay charges against De Ruyter if he failed to report the matter to the police within seven days.

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Climate Change Behind the 2021 Table Mountain Fire - Study

Climate change played a major role in the weather conditions that contributed to the wildfire that raged through Cape Town's Table Mountain area in April 2021, according to a new study. According to Mail & Guardian, researchers found that climate models suggested that extreme fire weather associated with Cape Town wildfires "has become 90% more likely in a warmer world". The study described how in April 2021, a devastating wildfire tore through the Table Mountain area. Following a human-induced ignition on the morning of April 18, worsening weather conditions led to increased fire spread that lasted until the afternoon of April 20 when the fire was eventually extinguished. The researchers said the results of their analysis complement existing efforts to attribute hydro-climatological extremes around Cape Town, including droughts, and add to the growing set of attribution studies on wildfires and extreme fire weather in different parts of the world.

More South African news
New Delhi [India], March 3 (ANI): US Secretary of State Antony Blinken on Friday arrived at Taj Palace to attend the Quad Foreign Ministers meet on the sidelines of Raisina Dialogue.

https://twitter.com/ANI/status/1631488296105787393

Also Read | Winter Storm: Tornadoes, Power Outages Hit Texas, Louisiana, Hundreds of Flights Cancelled.

A panel discussion on "The Quad Squad: Power and Purpose of the Polygon," is going to be held today where Quad Foreign Ministers will be participating at the event from 9:10-9:50 am, which will be moderated by the President of the Observer Research Foundation (ORF) Samir Saran.

The meeting will be chaired by External Affairs Minister, S Jaishankar, and will see the participation of Foreign Ministers of Australia, Penny Wong and Japan's Foreign Minister Yoshimasa Hayashi and the US Secretary of State, Antony Blinken.

Also Read | G20 Summit 2023: India Off to Very Promising Start With Its Stewardship of G20, Says US.

The meeting will be an opportunity for the Ministers to continue their discussions held at their last meeting in New York in September 2022, read the MEA press release.

They will exchange views on recent developments in the Indo-Pacific region and regional issues of mutual interest, guided by their vision of a free, open and inclusive Indo-Pacific.

The Ministers will also review progress made by the Quad in pursuit of its constructive agenda and implementation of initiatives aimed at addressing contemporary priorities of the region, added the release.

The Quad evokes images of security partnership, of a development alliance, and even of a consultative committee. One and a half years since the first Leaders' Summit, the Quad is now facing a choice between focusing on its core identity, or seeking the benefits that might come from being a more amorphous and reactive grouping.

As nations shift their attention to growth and the reconfiguration of their global economic partnerships, how will the Quad remain relevant? How does the re-emergence of land war in Europe implicate the future of a maritime grouping in the Indo-Pacific? will be the topic of panel discussion.

The US has signed an ambitious tech partnership with Australia and the UK; is part of the I2U2 focused on West Asia; has entered into a new bilateral technology agreement with India; and has a close tech alliance with Japan.

The panel will also discuss, how do these overlapping agreements and partnerships integrate with the Quad's tech agenda? What path can it pick between a tight, action-focused coalition and a relatively minimalist ambition that might more easily incorporate other actors in the Indo-Pacific? (ANI)

(This is an unedited and auto-generated story from Syndicated News feed, LatestLY Staff may not have modified or edited the content body)
Mumbai, March 3: The Central government will be celebrating 'Jan Aushadhi Diwas' on March 7 this year. This will be the fifth 'Jan Aushadhi Diwas' which is being celebrated under the Pradhan Mantri Bhartiya Janaushadhi Pariyojana (PMBJP). Last month, the Ministry of Chemicals and Fertilizers said that the Department of Pharmaceuticals has planned events across the country to raise awareness about the Jan Aushadhi Scheme.

Starting March 1, various events are already under way across the country and are creating quite a buzz while raising awareness at the same time. Notably, the Narendra Modi-led government will mark Janaushadhi Diwas for a week. Last year, the theme of Janaushadhi Diwas was "Jan Aushadhi-Jan Upyogi". Department of Pharmaceuticals to Celebrate 5th Jan Aushadhi Diwas on March 7.

Here Are Some Fact Sheet About the Janaushadhi Diwas Week:

Women doctors will interact with other females on women's health issues on Day 3 to mark Janaushadhi Diwas week

Thirty-four Pratigya Yatras were conducted on March 2 across the country to mark Janaushadhi Diwas

Of these, eight Pratigya Yatras were led by Members of Parliament

Over five thousand citizens across the country including doctors have taken a pledge on MyGov platform to use generic medicines.

The Centre has also organised seminars, programs for children, women to engage PMBJKs owners and beneficiaries.

Besides, heritage walks and health camps have also been organised to create awareness Jan Aushadhi Scheme.

The Janaushadhi Diwas week is being observed to create awareness about the usages of generic medicines.

The Department of Pharmaceuticals under the Ministry of Chemicals and Fertilizers had launched the Pradhan Mantri Bhartiya Janaushadhi Pariyojana (PMBJP) in November 2008. The government opened Jan Aushadhi Kendras across the country to provide generic medicines to the people. Centre Targets to Complete 10,000 Janaushadhi Centres by Dec This Year: Union Health Minister.

Till January 31, 2023, the Centre has opened 9082 Pradhan Mantri Bhartiya Janaushadhi Kendras (PMBJKs). Notably, the Narendra Modi-led government has covered 743 districts out of 764 districts under the PMBJP scheme.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Mar 03, 2023 02:46 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).
Happy World Wildlife Day 2023! March 3 is celebrated as World Wildlife Day. It is a United Nations International day to celebrate all the world's wild animals and plants and the contribution that they make to our lives and the health of the planet. This date was chosen as it is the birthday of CITES, the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora, signed in 1973. This World Wildlife Day is also a celebration of CITES as it turns 50. World Wildlife Day 2023 Date and Theme: Know History and Significance of the Day That Raises Awareness About the World's Wild Fauna and Flora.

In recognition of the work CITES does and the collaborative work for conservation that is going on globally, the theme for World Wildlife Day this year is 'Partnerships for Wildlife Conservation'. An annual event called World Wildlife Day seeks to increase public awareness of the need to save some of the most seriously endangered species of wild fauna and flora.

In order to recognise and promote awareness of the world's wild flora and fauna, the United Nations General Assembly's Sixty-eighth session voted on December 20, 2013, to declare March 3 as World Wildlife Day. The Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES), which is crucial in ensuring that commerce does not endanger the survival of the species, was adopted on this day in 1973.

All life on the world, including us, is in danger due to the continued loss of species, ecosystems, and habitats. The top wildlife quotes, messages, sayings, and ideas from wise people are listed below for reading and downloading. Please send it across to your friends, family and loved ones:

World Wildlife Day messages (Photo Credits: File Image)

Message reads: On the Occasion of World Wildlife Day, Sending Warm Wishes to You. Let Us Join Hands to Save Wildlife to Save Our Future. Happy World Wildlife Day.

World Wildlife Day message and wishes (Photo Credits: File Image)

Message reads: We All Are Inter-Connected and Inter-Related. With Detreating Wildlife, Humans Will Be Left With a Dark Future. Happy World Wildlife Day.

World Wildlife Day wishes (Photo Credits: File Image)

Message reads: World Wildlife Day Reminds Us All That the Onus of Saving the Wildlife Lies on Us Because We Are the Ones Who Destroyed It As Well.

World Wildlife Day 2020 wishes (Photo Credits: File Image)

Message reads: It Will Not Change the World if You Will Save One Animal but It Will Certainly Change the World for That One Animal. Warm Wishes on World Wildlife Day.

Happy World Wildlife Day messages and wishes (Photo Credits: File Image)

Message reads: We Cannot Bring Back Those Who Are Extinct but We Still Have Time to Save Those Who Are Still Alive. Wishing You All Happy World Wildlife Day.

World Wildlife Day GIFs

The primary goal of this theme is to honour and pay respect to those who are working to protect wildlife and are making a difference. World Wildlife Day is promoted by the Secretary of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES), in coordination with other pertinent United Nations agencies. With 183 Member States, CITES continues to be one of the most effective organisations in the world for preserving biodiversity by controlling the traffic in wild animals and plants.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Mar 03, 2023 08:35 AM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).
A Lufthansa flight from Austin, Texas, to Frankfurt, Germany, was forced to make an emergency landing at Washington Dulles International Airport due to severe turbulence.

Seven individuals were injured on board and were brought to the hospital, according to the Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority.

Officials at IAD have confirmed that flight 469 from Lufthansa Airlines has landed safely. After receiving the call, authority workers boarded the plane and took the injured to nearby medical facilities.

This comment was issued by a Lufthansa Airlines spokesperson to 7News:

"Lufthansa flight LH469 on March 1 from Austin, Texas (AUS) to Frankfurt, Germany (FRA) encountered brief but severe turbulence about 90 minutes after takeoff. The Lufthansa flight made an unscheduled landing at Washington Dulles International Airport as a precautionary measure," the statement said.

Medical assistance was provided to anyone who needed it after the Airbus A330-300 landed safely. Lufthansa ground workers at Dulles International Airport are considering the needs of stranded passengers and rebooking them on alternative flights.

The company's employees and national and international authorities are investigating the incident's specifics.

The passengers were put up in nearby motels and rebooked on alternative flights.

"Lufthansa regrets the inconvenience caused to passengers. The safety and well-being of passengers and crew members is Lufthansa's top priority at all times," the statement concluded.

READ NEXT: Nevada Medical Flight Crash Kills Five

What Happened to Lufthansa Flight Passengers?

The plane reportedly fell into "free fall" just as the meal service was starting, according to one passenger.

People and food were thrown into the air, damaging the plane's ceiling, the passenger claimed, requesting to be anonymous out of fear that Lufthansa would not offer compensation, Washington Post noted.

A person on the seat in front of the passenger was severely harmed, according to the passenger, and blood was all over the seat. The injured passenger was taken from the plane in a wheelchair.

The passenger and their traveling partner were unharmed, though their attire had been ruined by spilled food and drink. However, while the airline covered the cost of a hotel room and a taxi, they did not assist with additional costs, said the passenger.

During the turbulence, passengers' belongings were thrown all over the aisle, and photos taken after the flight revealed a chaotic scene, according to PEOPLE.

"People who didn't have the seat belts fastened got hurt mostly cause it came as surprise without seat belt sign on," recalled Stryker Fadhel, whose wife was on the flight.

My wife was on that flight she sent this pic This is what the inside looked like food everywhere, people who didn't have the seat belts fastened got hurt mostly cause it came as surprise without seat belt sign on and lighting hit the plane badly went 1k ft down & up pilot said pic.twitter.com/NJi2JC6shk  Stryker Fadhel (@ModerMuna) March 2, 2023

Turbulence is an uneven air motion arising from eddies and vertical currents" caused by fronts, wind shear, thunderstorms, and other weather phenomena, as the National Weather Service describes.

Severe turbulence can result in vast and sudden fluctuations in altitude and significant variations in indicated velocity, which can force people to "be forced violently against their seat belts," and the plane can momentarily be out of control, according to the agency.

Meanwhile, Lufthansa stated its ground workers at Dulles International Airport were looking into customers' well-being and rebooking them accordingly. However, the airline did not immediately elaborate on whether they will compensate travelers.

The airline apologized for any inconvenience this may have caused its customers.

The FAA has promised to investigate what happened.

READ MORE: California Teen Stabbed to Death

This article is owned by Latin Post.

Written by: Bert Hoover

WATCH: Several passengers hospitalized after extreme turbulence, emergency landing l GMA - From ABC News
Border Patrol has been finding ways to detect drugs smuggled across the U.S.-Mexico Border for decades now. However, drug cartels have been innovative in their efforts to smuggle illegal drugs like fentanyl, meth, and cocaine across.

News Nation has reported that these cartels, most notorious being the Sinaloa Cartel and the Jalisco New Generation Cartel (CJNG), have used a lot of things to smuggle these illicit narcotics passed Border Patrol, including coconuts, crutches, car batteries, coffee cans, and even carrots.

Port Director Michael W. Humphries of the Nogales Port of Entry in Arizona noted that CBP officers have been able to stop the entry of 14,000 fentanyl pills that were smuggled inside crutches used by a pedestrian. He noted that they appeared to be excessively heavy, so they underwent an X-ray examination and were also sniffed by a K9, both of which confirmed that the crutches had drugs in them. The incident happened last August.

8/23 new concealment: CBP Officers at the Nogales POE discovered approx 14,000 fentanyl pills hidden in crutches being used by a pedestrian. During inspection, a CBP Officer found the crutches to be excessively heavy. K9 and X-Ray examination confirmed suspicions. pic.twitter.com/Vx3hZU7Pgh  Port Director Michael W. Humphries (@CBPPortDirNOG) August 25, 2022

Border Patrol Agents Make Historic Drug Bust in Andrade Port of Entry to California

Earlier this week. CBP officials over at the Andrade Port of Entry in California managed to have one of the biggest drug busts there as they managed to stop over 54 pounds of fentanyl and more than 32 pounds of meth from hitting the streets. The drugs were found hidden inside a fuel tank of a vehicle that was being driven by a 37-year-old U.S. citizen. However, it has been noted that hiding narcotics inside car parts is not a new strategy anymore as drug cartels continue to find ways of hiding their illegal products.

CA: 232 lbs of #fentanyl seized by San Diego Sector Border Patrol Agents & LEO partners3 were arrested in the bust.



BP reports, This amount of Fentanyl had the potential to kill over 50 million people. We continue to take the fight to the cartels and narcotics smugglers!

BP pic.twitter.com/ewvGkO63in  Ali Bradley (@AliBradleyTV) February 28, 2023

READ MORE: Mexican President Urges Citizens to Reject Gifts from Drug Cartels

The Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) has reported all sorts of methods in drug smuggling, including lollipops, furniture, and wax candles. They also found that lawn ornaments, produce, and even pet food have also been used as vehicles for drug trafficking.

Drug Smuggling Across the U.S.-Mexico Border More Dangerous for the Drug Mules

Over in Yuma County, Arizona, around 52% of the drugs seized by border patrol officers are stopped at the port of entry. However, the remaining 48% are found only after these narcotics have already been smuggled within the United States.

The drug mules who do these dangerous smuggling operations are not willing either, as the many innovative ways cartels try to smuggle their narcotics across the border may be dangerous.

These drug mules are often victims of human trafficking who have been forced to become drug mules. The United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) noted that they often endure "immense physical abuse and mental torture" when they are coerced into transporting these drugs.

In a 3-day period, last Wednesday through Friday, CBP officers stopped 7 loads totaling 48 pounds of meth and approximately 597,640 fentanyl pills. Concealment methods included inside a person, strapped to three pedestrians bodies dash, panels, floor and throughout a car. pic.twitter.com/k6rmjmTgq8  Port Director Michael W. Humphries (@CBPPortDirNOG) March 1, 2023

The U.N. organization noted that they are often made to swallow balloons containing the drugs. However, it was noted in a 2012 report that "Stomach acids can sometimes cause the rupture of the balloons and death is very quick."

READ NEXT: Clandestine Graveyard Found in Michoacan Avocado Orchard

This article is owned by Latin Post.

Written by: Rick Martin

WATCH: Border Patrol officers discover new methods of drug smuggling - 12 News
Former U.S. President Donald Trump's claims of having immunity from facing lawsuits for the Jan. 6 Capitol riot are refuted after Justice Department told the federal appeals court to reject Trump's assertions.

The department wrote in its brief that "no part of a President's official responsibilities includes the incitement of imminent private violence" despite a president having the privilege to wield broad legal latitude to communicate to the public, as reported by Al Jazeera News.

The lawyers from the Justice Department noted that they are not "taking a position" when it comes to possible criminal liability for Trump or anyone else.

The Justice Department also cleared that it takes no view on a lower court judge's conclusion that those who sued the former president have "plausibly" alleged that his speech caused the riot.

However, the department said that an appeals court should junk Trump's claims that he is immune from the lawsuits.

Trump is appealing a decision by a federal judge in Washington, D.C., who dismissed Trump's efforts to toss out the civil lawsuits against him filed by legislators and two Capitol police officers.

The federal judge, U.S. Judge Amit Mehta, ruled that the former president's words on Jan. 6 were likely "words of incitement" that the judge categorized as "not protected by the First Amendment."

READ NEXT: Donald Trump Visits Ohio Town After Train Derailment, Says Officials 'Indifferent'

Donald Trump No Immunity

The Justice Department confirmed in its brief that Trump does not have absolute immunity from civil lawsuits seeking damages over his alleged incitement of the Jan. 6 Capitol riot.

Trump posted a statement on his social media network Truth Social that courts in the District of Columbia "should rule in favor of President Trump" and dismiss the lawsuits, which was described as "frivolous," as cited by The New York Times.

Trump's lawyers appealed Mehta's ruling to the D.C. Circuit, leading the appeals court to ask the Justice Department to place its view on the matter.

The lawsuit against Trump has also named other defendants, such as the Proud Boys and the Oath Keepers. The groups are not part of the current appeal.

Donald Trump Jan. 6 Capitol Riot

The lawsuit U.S. Capitol Police officers filed against the former president claimed that Trump and the other defendants violated both federal and Washington, D.C. law for conduct linked to the riot, which interrupted Congress' certification of the 2020 election.

CNN reported that Mehta decided that the case could move forward against several other individuals, including members of far-right militia groups such as the Oath Keepers, Three Percenters, and the Proud Boys.

However, the judge dismissed the lawsuit's case against Roger Stone and Ali Alexander, who are known to be far-right figures.

Mehta argued that the alleged conduct of the said far-right figures that was stated in the lawsuit was "protected by the First Amendment."

BBC News noted that the Jan. 6 panel investigating the Capitol riot accused the former president of a "multi-part conspiracy" to overturn election results.

It also recommended Trump should be barred from holding public office in the future.

READ MORE: Donald Trump Slams Fox News for 'Promoting' Ron DeSantis 'So Hard and So Much' After Rupert Murdoch Testimony

This article is owned by Latin Post.

Written by: Mary Webber

WATCH: Trump could be sued by DOJ over his role in Jan. 6 - from WUSA9


The notorious Jalisco New Generation Cartel (CJNG) has been running a timeshare fraud network scheme that targeted tourists in Jalisco state. Now, the Biden administration revealed that the U.S. Department of Treasury is imposing sanctions on that timeshare fraud scheme.

The Treasury Department coordinated with the Mexican government to sanction the cartel with traffics a "significant proportion" of the illegal fentanyl and other drugs that enter the US."

The Mexican government has found that perpetrators of the scheme have falsely claimed to be U.S. government entities at times. The sanctions were announced on Thursday, with an alert from the Office of Foreign Assets Control to "make the public aware of telephone, email, and letter scams involving individuals falsely claiming to represent OFAC and requesting payments."

WENY News reported that the agency clarified that it does not collect this type of payment from the public. OFAC director Andrea Gacki even released a statement saying that the CJNG has been "heavily engaged in timeshare fraud, which often targets U.S. citizens" in various tourist destinations, including Puerto Vallarta.

Gacki also warned that the infamous "four-letter cartel" can "defraud victims of their life savings," resulting in the cartel getting more money into its revenue stream and making its overall criminal enterprise even stronger.

The OFAC director added that the Biden administration's sanctioning of the cartel for this practice has exposed the CJNG and serves as a warning for potential victims. He also pointed out that most of the victims targeted by the cartel are the elderly.

READ MORE: Familia Michoacana Cartel Sanctioned Over Rainbow Fentanyl

Treasury Department Announces Companies Involved in Jalisco New Generation Cartel's Fraud Scheme

The U.S. Department of Treasury released a list of companies allegedly involved in the CJNG's scheme to defraud U.S. citizens in Mexico: Corporativo Title I, S.A. de C.V., Corporativo TS Business Inc, S.A. de C.V., and TS Business Corporativo, S.A. de C.V.

According to the Treasury Department press release, they are all based in Guadalajara, Mexico, which is the largest city in Jalisco state. Five other companies sanctioned, Servicios Administrativos Fordtwoo, S.A. de C.V.; Integracion Badeva, S.A. de C.V.; JM Providers Office, S.A. de C.V.; Promotora Vallarta One, S.A. de C.V.; and Recservi, S.A. de C.V., are based in or near Puerto Vallarta.

How the Jalisco New Generation Cartel Runs Its Timeshare Fraud Scheme

According to UPI, third-party scammers often approach tourists and make unsolicited purchase offers to timeshare owners by claiming that they have ready buyers. They then make requests for payments of advance fees and taxes, supposedly to facilitate or expedite the sale. These are often made with assurances of reimbursement when the deal is done.

However, once the payments have been completed, the timeshare owners often realize that they have been scammed as there were no actual buyers.

As a result, all properties from the named companies within the United States, as well as any possessions in control of American citizens that have been linked to these companies, have been blocked and must be reported to OFAC.

READ MORE: El Mencho's Notorious Jalisco Cartel Hands Out Christmas Gifts to Children During a Parade in Mexico City of Guadalajara

This article is owned by Latin Post.

Written by: Rick Martin

WATCH: The Truth Behind Timeshares and Travel Clubs | Corporate Casket - iilluminaughtii
The government of Argentina has requested the United Kingdom to reopen talks about the sovereignty of the Falkland Islands, said Argentine Foreign Ministry Thursday

Argentina has long claimed the British-controlled islands as its own, including during a war in 1982, and its wish to resume discussions is the latest chapter in that lengthy story. Over 600 kilometers separate the islands in the South Atlantic from the Argentine continent.

Following a meeting with his British colleague James Cleverly at a summit in India, Argentine Foreign Minister Santiago Cafiero "formulated a proposal to restart negotiations for sovereignty over the Falklands Island," according to the Foreign Ministry.

The Argentine government has extended an invitation to the United Kingdom to have a meeting to resolve the dispute before the United Nations, Reuters reported.

Cleverly responded in a tweet: "The Falkland Islands are British. Islanders have the right to decide their future - they have chosen to remain a self-governing UK Overseas Territory."

READ NEXT: Argentina Government Wants to Talk With Great Britain Over Falkland Islands

Argentina's Withdrawal from Falkland Islands Pact Disappoints United Kingdom

Notwithstanding Argentina's withdrawal from a cooperation accord and Argentina's desire for new discussions over the sovereignty of the Falkland Islands, the British government reiterated on Thursday that the islands would stay British.

During Argentina's 1982 invasion of the islands, which are called the Malvinas in Spanish, a brief but bloody battle ensued. British naval forces successfully repelled the invading assault, Barron's noted.

The two nations settled their differences in 2016, agreeing to disagree on sovereignty while agreeing to work together on matters including energy, shipping, fishing, and identifying the remains of unknown Argentine troops slain in war.

Santiago Cafiero, the foreign minister of Argentina, informed James Cleverly, his counterpart from the United Kingdom, that his country was leaving the agreement during the G20 summit in New Delhi.

He reaffirmed Argentina's long-standing demands in tweets, urging UN negotiations about the islands' sovereignty instead.

The announcement came while David Rutley, Britain's minister for the Americas, was in Buenos Aires for what he called "productive" negotiations.

"Argentina has chosen to step away from an agreement that has brought comfort to the families of those who died in the 1982 conflict," Rutley tweeted, calling the decision "disappointing."

"Argentina, the UK, and the Falklands all benefited from this agreement," he said.

The 1982 Falkland Islands War Between Argentina and the United Kingdom

During that war, long-simmering tensions between the United Kingdom and Argentina erupted when the South American country launched a military invasion to impose its dominance over the group of islands.

In response, the United Kingdom dispatched its navy. Death tolls from the 10-week war totaled 649 Argentinian servicemen, 255 British troops, and three female civilians, per Al Jazeera.

The government believes that 3,200 individuals from 60 different nations call this archipelago home, located around 600 kilometers (373 miles) off the coast of Argentina. The United Kingdom recognizes the islands as an overseas territory with its government.

A vote on the Falkland Islands' population' choice of staying a British territory was conducted in 2013 to find out their preferences. Almost 99.8 percent of those who voted did so in the affirmative.

READ MORE: 3 Kansas City Police Officers Shot While Executing Search Warrant

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Written by: Bert Hoover

WATCH: How has the Falklands War changed Argentina, 40 years on? - From BBC News
Nicaragua's government had been found to have committed human rights abuses, including torture and murder, similar to the Nazi regime, according to a United Nations report.

The U.N. investigative team's report noted that the rights abuses were so serious that they amounted to crimes against humanity. According to The New York Times, the U.N. report laid out the evidence for any efforts to try Nicaragua's president Daniel Ortega, his wife, Vice President Rosario Murillo, and other top government officials overseas.

On Thursday, the head of the U.N. investigation called for international sanctions against Nicaragua's government and compared the country's human rights abuses to those committed during the Nazi regime.

Jan-Michael Simon, head of the team of U.N.-appointed criminal justice experts, noted that the current government of Nicaragua used tactics to remain in power since 2018 were similar to those seen during the Nuremberg trials.

Simon told The Times that "weaponizing" the justice system against political opponents is similar to what the Nazi regime did. He added that Nazis also resorted to stripping people of their nationality, including expelling them out of the country.

READ NEXT: Chile, Argentina Offer Citizenship to Nicaraguans Exiled by Daniel Ortega's Government

Nicaragua's Government

Jan-Michael Simon said in a Reuters report that the Nicaraguan government's objective is to "eliminate by different means" any of those opposing the country's leadership. He went on to say that the Nicaraguan population has been living in fear due to the means used by the government.

The group of U.N. experts said it sent 12 letters to the Nicaraguan government since it started working a year ago. A final report was also sent to the government, but it has yet to receive a response.

Simon noted that Nicaragua carrying out crimes against humanity could also affect its government's ability to secure international financing. U.N. investigators said police forces and pro-government groups acting in concert with deadly results were among the many ways it used to crack down on the protesters.

They further noted that the police shot demonstrators "in a systematic manner," along with armed groups that were not authorized to use force. The U.N. report found that 40 extrajudicial executions showed that law enforcement agents and pro-government groups acted in a "coordinated manner."

Nicaragua Opposition Figures

In February, around 222 inmates from Nicaragua flew to Washington, according to a senior official from U.S. President Joe Biden's administration.

Nicaragua's government decided "unilaterally" to release 222 individuals. The senior official said that some of the released prisoners had spent years imprisoned "under terrible conditions" for exercising their rights.

Thousands of people have fled into exile since Nicaraguan security forces violently cracked down on anti-government protests. Octavio Rothschuh, a magistrate in the Managua Appeals court, said the deportation was done under an order that declared the opposition figures "traitors to the country," France 24 reported.

According to Jan-Michael Simon, the government systematically committed arbitrary detentions and prosecutions of its opponents using multiple government institutions. It also included sexual violence, and people in custody were also tortured.

Daniel Ortega noted that the imprisoned opponents of his regime were behind the 2018 street demonstrations that he claimed to be a plot to overthrow him. Ortega first rose to power as a left-wing leader of Sandinista, a guerilla movement that ousted the Anastasio Somoza dictatorship in the 1970s.

READ MORE: Nicaragua President Daniel Ortega's Critic Edgard Paralles Picked Up by Two People Not in Police Uniform and Was Detained

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Written by: Mary Webber

WATCH: Nicaragua Sends 222 Political Prisoners to the U.S. - From NBC News
Embattled New York Representative George Santos is facing a House Ethics Committee investigation even though Republicans had the majority in the House.

Santos, a Republican, has been facing criticism even from members of his own party over "lies" about his background and questions about his campaign finances. The New York representative previously campaigned as a gay of Brazilian descent and Jewish ancestry.

However, his claims of Jewish heritage are reportedly unfounded. Aside from his educational background, he also lied about working for business giants like Goldman Sachs.

According to The New York Times, the House Ethics Committee unanimously voted to open a probe into whether Santos broke some laws or engaged in sexual misconduct. The investigation will cover some accusations in the formal misconduct complaints against Santos, including one filed by two House members.

In a statement, the House committee's top-ranking Republican and Democratic members noted that they would seek to determine whether Santos had failed to properly fill out his House financial disclosure forms.

They will also investigate whether he violated federal conflict of interest laws or engaged in other unlawful activity during his congressional campaign in 2022.

READ NEXT: George Santos Admits to Piers Morgan That He is a Liar

House Ethics Committee Also Looking Into Sexual Misconduct Allegations vs. George Santos

The Guardian reported that the committee will also investigate if George Santos engaged in sexual misconduct towards a former aide. Santos is facing a complaint from a former aide accusing him of sexual harassment. However, the lawmaker denied the allegations.

Derek Myers previously said it was an unfortunate series of events, adding that he hoped the matter will be handled by the "appropriate bodies and not litigated through the news media."

In a letter to the House Ethics Committee, Myers said he started working in Santos' D.C. office on January 24, with duties including answering phones, reading mail, corresponding, and writing to constituents.

Myers noted that Santos hit on him the day after he started working as a volunteer. He also alleged that the lawmaker asked him if he had a hookup app popular in the gay community, which is Grindr. Myers also accused Santos of inviting him to sit with him on a small sofa.

He noted that Santos also called him "buddy" and alleged that the lawmaker placed his leg on Myers' left leg and asked him if he would like to go to a karaoke night. Myers declined, but Santos still allegedly moved his hand down his leg into the inner thigh and proceeded to touch his groin.

George Santos Also Being Investigated by Federal and Local Authorities

George Santos is not just facing an inquiry from the House Ethics Committee but also from federal and local prosecutors, who are looking into his lies about his background and alleged stealing of money from a veteran's dying dog and scamming some Amish dog breeders.

Federal prosecutors are investigating Santos, with the U.S. Attorney's office for the Eastern District of New York looking into his finances and financial disclosures. The Republican district attorney for Nassau County is also reviewing the alleged embellishments on his resume.

He is also in trouble in Brazil, as Brazilian authorities plan to revive fraud charges against him. It is related to a 2008 incident involving using a stolen checkbook and a false name.

According to Al Jazeera, Santos has already admitted to lying about his professional and personal background. The House committee could recommend penalties such as a fine or formal censure based on its findings. The panel has four members composed of two Democrats and two Republicans.

Representatives David Joyce, a Republican from Ohio, and Susan Wild of Pennsylvania, the highest-ranking Democrat on the House Ethics Committee, will lead the probe. Santos has repeatedly said he will not heed calls to resign from office.

READ MORE: Top Republicans Plot George Santos' Ouster

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Written by: Rick Martin

WATCH: House Ethics Committee Moves Forward With Investigation Into Rep. George Santos - From MSNBC
President of the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC), Comrade Joseph Ajaero has said the body is fully in support of the national carrier project, while condemning federal government's plan to concession the four major airports in the country.

The Minister of Aviation, Senator Hadi Sirika, had at various fora, explained that government's plan to concession the airports was to inject private sector funding to develop state-of-the-art airport facilities that can meet international standards, so that Nigeria, which has the highest flight traffic in West Africa could be sun-regional hub.

He said government also insisted on establishing a national carrier in order to have an airline that could be effectively competitive and could harness the benefits of the Bilateral Air Service Agreements (BASA) through reciprocity by operating to such destinations like London, New York, Paris, Dubai and other destinations whose airlines also operate to Nigeria.

But NLC has insisted it would support the national carrier project and that it is against airport concession. While Nigerian airlines could be alternatives to a national carrier, government has reiterated that it does not have funds to upgrade and modernise the international airports, insisting it wants to concession the terminal facilities at airports in Lagos, Abuja, Port Harcourt and Kano and that work is already at advanced stage in the two projects.

However, speaking during a visit to one of the aviation unions, the Association of Nigeria Aviation Professionals (ANAP), in Lagos, Wednesday, Ajaero explained that Nigeria needed a national carrier because the country cannot continue to depend on foreign airlines and stressed that the country establishing a national carrier was long overdue, but insisted that due process must be followed in establishing one.

He said the country cannot be supporting foreign airlines to rip off the country to the detriment of its local airlines. "We would demand as a matter of right, a national carrier. Nigeria must have a national carrier and we can't be depending on foreign carriers," Ajaero said.

He assured the union not to fret over the proposed concession of the four major international airports in the country and the demolition of the office buildings of the Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria (FAAN), the Nigeria Airspace Management Agency (NAMA), the Nigeria Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA) and others in Lagos to pave way for the airport city project called Aerotropolis, insisting that the idea is a joke of the century and will be dead on arrival.

"I don't think any human can concession here without paying entitlement. Anybody that takes over here as a concessionaire is spending his money for nothing. We have passed through privatization and so we know how it works and we know the dangers, so they are joking.

"I equally saw the Minister of Aviation talking about illegalizing the unions in the aviation and that is the highest joke of the century because he doesn't have such powers. Don't listen to anybody that is telling you he wants to take over the aviation industry, he cant without following due process and then, you cant shave somebody's hair in his absence, you can't say that you concession here and there, there can't be an abortion without pregnancy, things must follow due process, that is the way it is, so nobody should panic", he said.

The NLC President also condemned the failure of the Aviation Minister to inaugurate Boards of Aviation Agencies, alleging that all contacts awarded and appointments made are illegal, null and void.

He expressed surprise that there was no Board of Directors in the different agencies and said this, no doubt, has led to some strange practices in the sector like the appointment of some persons from outside the aviation industry to head some directorates, stressing that this does not allow growth of career civil servants in the system.

He said: "The issue of interim board is an illegality, because an interim Board is not the same thing as a Board. A properly constituted Board by the Act and even in the Act, you see people who are supposed to be the Board members and their responsibility. If anybody is running his office, with his wife, his children, his personal assistant (PA) as a Board, he can't take over the responsibility of a properly constituted board and until that is done, he can't even take any major decision including the decision to concession airports. He cannot, so whatever they might have done as at now is void ab-initio; it is not only voidable but void ab-initio so, it is good we understand it."

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Earlier in his welcome address, Secretary General, ANAP, Comrade Abdulrasaq Saidu said they were elated to have the NLC President visit the union describing his visit as a great honour to them.

He listed the challenges the union wanted to be addressed by the national body to include the concession of airports, Condition of Service (CoS), planned demolition of agencies buildings, weakening the power of the unions as regards aviation workers and the absence of Boards of Directors in the past eight years.The President General ANAP, Comrade Kabir Gusau, also added his voice calling on the NLC to urgently address these issues.He applauded the NLC President's call for the establishment of a national carrier, saying it will not only create jobs for the teeming unemployed pilots, engineers and technical staff, but will also help to stimulate business activities in the industry.
An Argentine model was found dead inside an apartment in Mexico's popular resort town of Playa del Carmen with bruises on her body and her hands tied.

The Argentine model was identified as 31-year-old Agostina Jalabert, whose body was discovered by her sister hanging by a belt from the towel rack in the bathroom on February 18.

According to the Daily Mail, initial investigation findings from the Quintana Roo State Attorney General's Office said Jalabert had committed suicide. However, the Argentine model's family disagreed with this finding.

Jalabert's family lawyer Betina Teuly had reviewed the autopsy and been in contact with Argentina's Foreign Ministry to pressure authorities in Mexico to reclassify the case as a femicide.

The model's father, Edgardo Jalabert, told the news network TN in Argentina that their lawyer said the autopsy showed that this was a femicide because of his daughter's injuries.

Police had also reportedly visited the apartment twice after neighbors reported screams coming from the home hours before Jalabert was discovered dead.

READ NEXT: Los Angeles Bishop Murder: Suspect in the Killing of Bishop David O'Connell Arrested

Argentine Model May Have Been Murdered By Her Boyfriend

Betina Teuly noted that while they did not want to interfere with the investigation, Agostina Jalabert's boyfriend, Juan Reverter, may have killed the Argentine model, adding that "there is sufficient evidence" to prove it.

Edgardo Jalabert has also spoken with Argentina's ambassador to Mexico, Carlos Tomada, who told him that the prosecutor's office was looking into the investigation to make sure that it was not a suicide.

The father noted that his daughter broke up with Reverter in June 2021 but got back with him in December 2022, which ended up with Reverter moving in with Jalabert after visiting her for Christmas.

According to Infobae, the model lived in the Playa del Carmen apartment with her sister, Candela Jalabert, and Reverter. Her sister revealed that Reverter, also from Argentina, recently got back with her sister.

She said he followed her to Mexico, where Jalabert relocated to pursue better opportunities in modeling. According to Candela, she last saw her sister alive on February 17.

Candela said she returned to the apartment the next morning and started banging on the door when the security code she entered at the door was rejected. Reverter eventually opened the door and claimed that Jalabert was sleeping.

However, her sister's dog guided Candela to the bathroom, where she found her sister sitting in the bathtub with a towel wrapped around her hands, Daily Mail reported.

Edgardo noted Candela found her sister "hanging from the towel rack, sitting or semi-sitting" in the bathtub. The towel rack was reportedly about four feet from the floor.

"It's hard to think that a person can hang from a height lower than their own height," Jalabert's uncle, German Jalabert, told Pagina 12.

After his girlfriend was found dead, Reverter reportedly vanished and is nowhere to be found. That is why the family accused him of murdering the Argentine model.

Who Is Argentine Model Agostina Jalabert?

According to Pagina 12, Agostina Jalabert, the eldest of three sisters, hails from Carmen de Patagones, part of Buenos Aires. She moved to Mexico last year to pursue her modeling career.

"Agostina was not depressed, she had rebuilt her life in Mexico and her job was going well," said Jalabert's family. The family asked for the intervention of Argentina's government as they believed that the investigation process initiated by authorities in Mexico was filled with flaws.

"None of the basic protocols were applied to investigate and find out the real causes of his death... The boyfriend was not arrested, his phone was not seized, nor were toxicological tests carried out, nor was it verified if he had any injuries," said German Jalabert, a former provincial Minister of Tourism.

According to the family's lawyer, Reverter had scratches on his face when the Argentine model was found dead. The family thinks he may be in Canada, where he once lived, or in Asia or San Francisco in the United States.

READ MORE: 'Jealous' Texas Man Admits to Killing, Decapitating Nicaraguan Wife

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Written by: Rick Martin

WATCH: Argentina Encontrada Muerta en Playa del Carmen - From A24com
Green Party leader and Government Minister Eamon Ryan must give bigger grants to Laois people to replace broken septic tanks, according to the Fine Gael Cathaoirleach of Laois County Council.

Cllr Thomasina Connell, made the appeal to the Minister for the Environment, Climate and Communications to increase the grant provided through Local Authorities for the replacement of defective tanks.

She explained why working tanks are so important.

Septic tanks are a necessity for rural communities, for obvious reasons, when it comes to domestic sewage treatment. As we all know, its extremely important from a safety point of view that the sewage infrastructure that is set up around our homes is managed in the correct way, to ensure that it doesnt contaminate our domestic water supply," she said.

However, she said families are facing huge bills if something goes wrong.

Re-registering your septic tank every couple of years thankfully carries no fee, but upon inspection, homeowners can be faced with the extortionate cost of replacing their tank if it is not up to scratch. Obviously, the bigger the household, the bigger the tank, and on average a new septic tank for a standard 3-bedroom dwelling could set you back as much as 9,000 to 10,000, in some cases. Depending on the soil conditions around your home, you can of course, end up paying more.

Im mindful families here in Laois and across rural Ireland already struggling with the ever-rising cost of living, and if their septic tank is damaged, thats another enormous cost theyre faced with. Yes, there are grants available - which is great - but in the current climate, they dont cut it. A lot of what is out there is out of reach of the vast majority of homeowners," she said.

The 2016 general election candidate outlined what she wants from her party's partner in government.

What Im calling for here, and what Im asking Minister Eamon Ryan to do, is to increase the current grant provided by every local authority across the country, including ourselves here in Laois, for the replacement or upgrade of all septic tanks. The current maximum grant is 5,000 but once again, with the cost of everything - including the cost of construction - increasing, its really important that we increase the grants we offer to homeowners to help make essential utilities, like septic tanks, more affordable for everyone, concluded Cllr Connell.

The Portlaoise Municipal District representative raised the issue at a recent meeting of Laois County Council.
A sample cell with toilet facilities is being trialled with a view to ending slopping out in Portlaoise Prison.

Only eight prisoners are still slopping out in Ireland and all of them are in Portlaoise Prison.

It remains the only facility in the country where the outdated practice remains as some prisoners dont have working toilets in their cells.

Inmates in E Block in Portlaoise, which is reserved for republican prisoners, still have to use containers if they need to go to the toilet in their cells and these containers then have to be taken from the cells and emptied in the practice known as slopping out.

In a parliamentary question last month, Deputy Thomas Pringle asked the Minister for Justice Simon Harris if there are plans to end the practice.

In response, Minister Harris said a sample cell had been built in E Block with in cell sanitation.

The Irish Prison Service has committed to the elimination of the practice referred colloquially as slopping out, through the provision of in cell sanitation in the older parts of the prison estate where that practice remained, said Minister Harris.

He said upgrades had taken place to end the practice in other prisons in recent years.

A major refurbishment of Mountjoy Prison was completed in 2014 which included the provision of in cell sanitation and upgrade of the accommodation and in 2016 a new purpose designed modern prison opened in Cork, replacing the old prison facility, he said.

Slopping out was ended in Limerick Prison, at the beginning of this year, with the completion of a project to deliver new accommodation at that location, said Minister Harris.

As a result there are only eight prisoners, accommodated in the Portlaoise Prison E Block who do not have access to toilet facilities in their cell and must "slop out" on a daily basis.

The Deputy will be aware that the Irish Prison Service has been completing engineering surveys on the E Block to explore the options of providing in-cell sanitation along with other work to upgrade the cellular accommodation having regard to the age and fabric of the building, Minister Harris explained.

Works on the construction of a sample cell at E Block have taken place and the outcome of these works is being examined to determine the feasibility of installing in-cell sanitation to the Block. Any decision to commence a project to install in-cell sanitation to the E Block would be subject to a cost benefit analysis, he added.
Nairobi  The Chinese Embassy in Kenya is now calling on the government to intervene and protect Chinese enterprises and Chinese citizens amid the unfolding controvesy around the China Square.

The Embassy issued a statement last evening in which it noted that a conducive environment would bolster China-Kenya for the benefit of both countries.

Chinese nationals conducting business in the country have been further urged to operate within Kenyan laws and regulations.

This comes a day after China's Director-General of the Department of African Affairs of the Foreign Ministry, Wu Peng, called for the creation of a non-arbitrary and non-discriminatory investment environmentenvironment between the two nations.

China Square's business model has been a matter of public discourse after Trade and Investment Cabinet Secretary Moses Kuria led small scale traders in Nairobi in claiming that Kenyan businesses are being forced to shut down due to unhealth competition.

The retail shop which located in UniCity Mall along Thika Superhighway has the most affordable items, according to Kenyans on social media; all you could want at cheaper prices.
Kildare-based Fianna Fail Senator Fiona OLoughlin remembered the late photographer Pat Tinsley on Rare Disease Day this week.

Newbridge resident Pat passed away at Beech Park Nursing Home near Kildare town in April 2022 after his very courageous four-year battle with rare genetic condition, amyloidosis.

Senator OLoughlin said, In Ireland, it is estimated that 300,000 people are living with a rare disease.

"However, Irish rare disease patients are forced to wait over one third longer than their EU counterparts to access approved orphan drugs. This is an appeal on behalf of those who need better access to life-saving treatments.

I have spoken many times about my friend, Pat Tinsley in the Oireachtas, who sadly passed away last year from amyloidosis. The patisiran drug just did not come in time for him.

Fiona concluded by saying I also want to shout out to Stephen Sheil, a Rathangan man who worked in the Houses of the Oireachtas, and who is not just surviving but is thriving.

"Stephen was diagnosed with intestinal neuronal dysplasia, IND, when he was just six months old. We need to continue to fight for those with rare diseases.
The Social Democrats have formally nominated Maynooth resident Peter Melrose to contest the May 2024 local elections.

From Ballina, Co. Mayo originally, 34-year-old Melrose is a primary school teacher and will contest the election in the Maynooth Local Electoral Area.

He and his wife Maebh, a psychologist working locally, live in Moyglare Hall. Mr Melrose is an active member of the INTO, and is the organiser of the Navan branch, the largest in the country.

The Kildare North branch of the party formally approved the nomination of Mr Melrose, who is also an award-winning filmmaker, on Monday night.

Speaking after the formal selection he said he was delighted to be selected as a candidate, and immediately paid tribute to outgoing party leader and Kildare north TD Catherine Murphy.

None of us would be here without Catherine - as a TD and as co-leader of the party she has brought innovation, fresh and new thinking to politics.

He said he was under no illusions about the difficult task ahead.

When the Social Democrats formed in 2015 I was instantly interested, in particular due to their Nordic-style policies: I had studied the Finnish education model in college and saw it as an aspirational one for Ireland.

I am particularly interested in policies that affect the local Maynooth area. In 2021, Maebh and I were looking at houses in Mullen Park when we learned it was to be sold to an investment fund.

We were very disappointed, and I ended up speaking on Prime Time to express my outrage at the decision to sell the estate, a decision that was ultimately overturned.

I first met Catherine at that time and it was clear we took the same view on it. It really made me wonder about the lack of foresight of those in government who didnt see the danger of this happening.

Transport policy is another issue that is hugely influential in our town and I am dismayed at some of short-sighted and ill-conceived elements of the proposed Maynooth Transport Strategy.

I hope to start a campaign to save the Maynooth Town Square from being converted into a bus depot, and use it as a cultural hub, as was outlined in previous area plans.

I enjoy being an advocate for people and in this particularly caustic political atmosphere, I want to stand and be counted and help as many people as I can that are struggling.

I know what it feels like to struggle  we did not have much money growing up, and it is not a feeling I would wish on any family.

Deputy Murphy said she was delighted Mr Melrose had put himself forward to run in the next local elections.

Im immensely proud of the group of Social Democrat councillors on Kildare County Council and the work they have done. We are ambitious to increase that representation so that we have an even greater influence on the future of our county, and I can see Peter playing a strong role in that also.
A researcher from Queens University Belfast has been awarded a 1.3 million grant to develop antibiotics that will fight bacteria that are resistant to drugs currently used.

Antibiotic resistance results in more than five million deaths a year and means that previously preventable diseases such as pneumonia and wound or bloodstream infections are becoming fatal.

The five-year project at Queens University is led by Dr Stephen Cochrane from the School of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering.

Dr Cochrane explained: Antimicrobial resistance (AMR) is one of the greatest challenges to human health.

If it continues to develop at the current rate, the negative impact on global health and the economy could be much worse than the impact of Covid-19.

Funding for the project has been awarded by the European Research Council (ERC). Dr Cochranes project titled NEW HOPE marks the 12th ERC award which has been given to a Queens University Belfast academic since the scheme opened in 2007.

The President of the European Research Council, Professor Maria Leptin, said: It is a pleasure to see this new group of bright minds at the start of their careers, set to take their research to new heights.

I cannot emphasise enough that Europe as a whole  both at national and at EU level  has to continue to back and empower its promising talent.

Dr Cochrane added: Im hugely honoured to have been awarded an ERC Starting Grant. I look forward to building a new research team and tackling such an important global challenge.
The Sligo Engineering Fair will return for its fifth annual event on Sunday, March 5, at Atlantic Technological University Sligo campus from 12pm to 5pm. The Sligo Engineering Fair is produced by ATU in association with Science Foundation Ireland, Engineers Ireland NW and global healthcare company Abbott.

This years fair has a robotic focus and will examine how robots and automation are changing the way we work, live and play!

Attendees will be greeted by some intergalactic celebrity robots including Star Wars RTD2 and a Dalek from Dr Who!

The Engineering Fair at ATU Sligo will also include a wide range of performances, interactive displays workshops and demonstrations for all the family to enjoy. Design, Build, Discovery and lots of fun is guaranteed for both children and adults.

Highlights of the packed programme of events will be a mini Robots War, fan-powered car workshops, 3D printing demonstrations and Lego workshops with Bricks4Kids.

This year will also see the return of Abbotts Engineering Room. This will give attendees an exciting experience with hands-on engineering experiments and interactive stations for attendees to learn about different aspects of STEM.

Niall Plunkett, site director of Abbotts diagnostics business in Sligo, welcomed the return of the fair. At Abbott we are committed to building the diverse, innovative workforce of tomorrow, and an important part of this work is inspiring the youth of today to become the innovators and inventors that will lead the future of healthcare.

Creating enthusiasm and excitement for engineering in our young people is a fantastic way to support this goal. We are delighted to be working with ATU Sligo once again and look forward to welcoming the community to the Sligo Engineering Fair.

Dr Ruth Freeman, Director of SFIs Science for Society Programme said: SFI is delighted to work with the Atlantic Technological University and support the Sligo Engineering Fair through the SFI Discover Programme.

Family-friendly events such as these provide important opportunities for a diversity of audiences to enjoy science, technology, engineering and maths (STEM), and awaken their curiosity. They can also inspire our young people to explore exciting careers in STEM, which in turn supports Irelands future skills needs, shaping a better tomorrow for all.

Head of College and Head of Faculty of Engineering & Design at ATU Sligo, Una Parsons said the event will highlight the breadth and scale of engineering activity in the region,

Automation and robotics are no longer a thing of sci-fi movies but are part of our everyday life. While the primary aim of this event is to promote engineering and technology careers to young people, particularly female students who we want to get more involved in STEM. This event aims to illuminate the public about the developments in robotic engineering and how Sligo and the western region are at the forefront of automated manufacturing in Ireland.

The event will also equip the younger generation with a better understanding of just how expansive and fun engineering can be.

This event is free to all however please note that to ensure your spot in the fair, you must book your tickets at sligoengineeringfair.ie. The website also highlights some of the fascinating exhibits and activities the fair has to offer.
Czech Prime Minister Petr Fiala at Excalibur Army's weapons and military production plant in Sternberk, Czech Republic, on January 9, 2023. LUDEK PERINA / AP

The Czech defense sector has responded diligently to Ukraine's increased needs in response to the war waged by Russia to the point of overflowing its order books.

The Czech Republic has had a solid industry established on its soil since the 19th century when it concentrated the Austro-Hungarian Empire's arsenal. The practice continued even after the transition to a market economy in the 1990s.

"This is definitely a record year," said Tomas Kopecny, who until the end of 2022 was deputy minister of defense in charge of industrial cooperation. He now coordinates the Czech Republic's efforts to rebuild the country.

"Contracts signed for Ukraine reached 40 billion korunas [nearly 1.7 billion] in 2022," he said, which is twice the peak of activity in 2016. "Most of the military aid provided by the Czech Republic comes from contracts that were paid for by the Ukrainian government or by others, including the Czech government," the senior official added.

In the first weeks of the war, back in April 2022, the country was the first to send Ukraine a dozen Soviet-made T-72 tanks. For Prague, Kyiv's defense is a key to its own security. "We followed this first delivery with anxiety. The fact that we did not encounter any incidents was a strong argument for most NATO capitals [to do the same]," Kopecny said.

The Czech Republic was also the first to deliver multiple rocket launchers and combat helicopters. It was also with a missile mounted on a Czech-made Tatra chassis that the Russian cruiser Moskva was sunk in the Black Sea by the Ukrainian army last year.

Since then, military support from the Central European country has been steady: In January, Prime Minister Petr Fiala said a new batch of 90 T-72 tanks had been modernized by the Czech company Excalibur, with contributions from the Netherlands and the United States.

Read more Article reserve a nos abonnes Czech Republic: Petr Pavel's election brings back a pro-European moderate to the presidency

Soviet weapons pool

The Czech Defense and Security Industry Association (AOBP), to which more than half of the 250 companies in the sector belong, confirmed that "Export has doubled in 2022." But as raw materials and energy costs rose, profits are almost lower than last year's," Jiri Hynek, its president, said.

The share of shipments to Ukraine from an industry primarily directed to export is also growing. "I would say that 50-60% of exports went to Ukraine in 2022 while it was no more than 5% before," he said.

Two companies are at the top of the table: the Czechoslovak group (which owns Excalibur), followed by the STV group. "Both companies produce heavy equipment: tanks, howitzers, and deal with their modernization. [They also manufacture] ammunition and heavy vehicles," Hynek said.

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German Chancellor Olaf Scholz and US President Joe Biden at the White House in Washington, DC, on February 7, 2022. BRENDAN SMIALOWSKI / AFP

A simple working visit, where the focus will be on Western mobilization against Russia and getting over a minor issue on both sides. This is how Olaf Scholz's trip to Washington on Friday, March 3, looks. The German chancellor, due to meet with Joe Biden at the White House, last visited on February 7, 2022, less than three weeks before the invasion of Ukraine. At the time, the man who had picked up the reins from Angela Merkel just two months earlier was still talking about the benefit of diplomatic contacts with Moscow, especially in the Normandy Format (Ukraine, Russia, France and Germany). "There are ways of getting out of this difficult situation," he believed then. A year later, the situation has changed radically.

Constanze Stelzenmuller, an expert on the transatlantic relationship at the Brookings Institution, said, "What's interesting about this visit is the stark contrast between the massive display of friendship between the Biden administration and the German chancellery, on the one hand, and what Jake Sullivan's [Biden's national security adviser] saying in public about tanks, on the other. Sullivan said in the most public way possible that Germany's presentation of the facts was wrong. That's pretty remarkable. I can't recall any such precedent."

Read more Article reserve a nos abonnes Germany: Scholz called upon to keep his promises to increase army resources

'Sure of support' from the US

In an interview with the ABC channel on February 26, Sullivan referred back to the transatlantic talks held before the announcement in late January that combat tanks would be sent to Ukraine. According to him, Berlin had made the delivery of German Leopard 2s conditional on Washington also sending American Abrams, but the Pentagon deemed them of little use in the Ukrainian context. "So, in the interest of alliance unity and to insure that Ukraine got what it wanted (...), the president [Biden] said 'Okay, I'm going to be the leader of the free world'," said the senior American official, challenging the way this sequence of events had been presented by Berlin.

"In terms of sending Leopard 2s, we did not make our green light conditional on the White House's green light for the Abrams," said German MP Nils Schmid, the foreign policy spokesman for the Bundestag's Social Democrat group. "But before we said yes, it was important for us to be sure that there would be political and security support from Washington so that Europeans would not be overexposed to threats from Russia," added the MP, a member of Scholz's party.

Before flying to the United States, Scholz was due to address the Bundestag on Thursday on the first anniversary of his Zeitenwende ("change of era") speech. On February 27, 2022, three days after the invasion of Ukraine, he announced a historic shift in the country's security policy, promising, among other things, the creation of a "special fund" of 100 billion to modernize the Bundeswehr, the German army. But one year on, that seems mostly rhetorical, with barely more than a tenth of that sum having been assigned to concrete investments. Unlike neighboring Poland, pandered to by the US, Germany has not significantly increased its military spending as a share of its gross domestic product. Currently at 1.44%, its GDP is still far from the 2% target set for NATO members by 2024.

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French President Emmanuel Macron is welcomed by Angolan President Joao Lourenco at the Casa Rosada presidential palace in Luanda on March 3, 2023. LUDOVIC MARIN / AFP

Traversing three capital cities in hours, French President Emmanuel Macron on Friday, March 3, pursued his African tour aimed at renewing frayed ties. In the Angolan capital Luanda, Macron chaired an economic forum, attended by more than 50 French companies, and focused on agriculture.

"This fits in with the idea I have of this economic partnership between the African continent and France," Macron told around 100 delegates.

Read more Article reserve a nos abonnes Macron visits Angola to promote economic partnership beyond oil

"Mindsets have changed," he said, adding France wanted to find solutions that benefited both parties, rather than "impose ready-made" ones. France has for decades been involved in the petroleum industry in the Portuguese-speaking southern African country, which is one of the continent's top two crude oil producers.

Macron's visit offered an opportunity to explore cooperation in other areas. The two governments penned an agreement to boost Angola's agricultural sector, particularly "climate resilience and water security" in addition to helping revamp the coffee industry, said Macron.

Angola, which imports a large share of the food it consumes, wants to strengthen its "sovereignty" and find new sources of income in the sector, according to the French presidency.

Macron was due to meet his Angolan counterpart, Joao Lourenco, before heading to the neighboring Republic of Congo. The visit comes as part of a drive to enhance French ties with anglophone and Portuguese-speaking Africa.

Read more Article reserve a nos abonnes Macron defends 'renewal' of military cooperation in Africa

Anti-French sentiment

He arrived in Luanda late Thursday from Gabon on the second leg of his tour. Anti-French sentiment runs high in some former African colonies as the continent becomes a renewed diplomatic battleground, with Russian and Chinese influence growing.

On Thursday Macron said the era of French interference in Africa had ended and there was no desire to return to the past.

"The age of Francafrique is well over," Macron said in Gabon's capital Libreville, referring to the post-colonization strategy of supporting authoritarian leaders to defend Paris' interests.

After leaving Luanda, Macron will head to the Congo, another former French colony, where Denis Sassou-Nguesso has ruled with an iron fist for almost four decades. On Thursday, Congolese rights groups asked the French president to relay their concerns to Sassou-Nguesso and pleaded for the release of former presidential candidates Jean-Marie Michel Mokoko and Andre Okombi Salissa.

The pair were each jailed for 20 years in 2016 for endangering state security after they ran against Sassou-Nguesso in disputed presidential elections that were followed by violence. Macron will go on to visit the neighboring Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), which was ruled by Belgium during the colonial era.

President Felix Tshisekedi has been at the helm of DRC since January 2019, but he is up for re-election later this year, and here too the opposition has voiced reservations about the French leader's visit. The DRC accuses its smaller neighbor Rwanda of backing the M23 rebel group in the east of the country, a charge denied by Kigali.

Dozens of young Congolese demonstrators holding Russian flags rallied outside the French embassy in the capital Kinshasa on Wednesday to denounce Macron's visit. France and Western allies accuse the Russian mercenary group Wagner, which is heavily involved in fighting in Ukraine, of being active in Mali and the Central African Republic, also once ruled by France.

Read more Article reserve a nos abonnes US engages in strategy to remove Wagner Group from Africa

Le Monde with AFP
Emmanuel Macron addresses the French community at the French ambassador's residence in Libreville, Gabon, on March 2, 2023, before flying to Angola for a half-day visit on March 3. LUDOVIC MARIN / AFP

French President Emmanuel Macron is expected in Luanda, the capital of Angola on Friday, March 3. This nation is vying with Nigeria to become the largest oil producer in sub-Saharan Africa. However, the Elysee Palace insists that it is not the immense offshore reserves  which have been the source of TotalEnergies' wealth for years  that are driving France's ambitions toward this country. Quite the contrary: The oil business and diplomacy via the major oil companies are supposed to belong to the past, to the bygone days of French influence over its former colonies in sub-Saharan Africa.

The relations that France is seeking to develop with this Portuguese-speaking former colony, which has been independent since 1975, are meant to demonstrate the new French approach to the continent. It's the same relationship it is seeking to develop with other "regional pivotal countries," such as Ethiopia, Nigeria and Kenya. These nation-states are responding to France's ambition to diversify its partnerships outside of its historical backyard, where Paris has suffered one political and diplomatic setback after another.

In Angola, Macron will not be stuck with the "very uncomfortable situation [of being] accountable for the past." After coming from Gabon the day before, he will be in Luanda, where "the central nature of the military issue and the pre-eminence of security," as Macron has described the situation in former French colonies, have never defined the framework of relations between the two countries. There will, however, be a sensitive regional security concern hanging over his meeting with his counterpart, Joao Lourenco.

This is the situation in the eastern part of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), where deadly violence has been raging for more than a year between the Congolese army, aided by some of the local militias that swarm in the region (more than a hundred), and the rebel movement of the March 23 Movement (M23), at least partly supported and armed by neighboring Rwanda, according to United Nations expert reports.

Read more The Democratic Republic of Congo, a helpless giant against Rwandan interference

'A sense of chemistry'

Angola has been engaged in bilateral mediation between the DRC and Rwanda for several months. This so-called Luanda process has not so far succeeded in containing the advance of M23 or in forcing Kigali to restrain the rebels. The Elysee Palace is concerned: "The deterioration of the situation brings with it a new seriousness linked to the significant risk of a regional conflict." There are, indeed, many actors involved in this conflict, the umpteenth in 30 years in this region. In addition to the presence of Rwandan soldiers on Congolese soil (denied by Kigali), the eastern DRC is home to troop contingents from Kenya, Burundi, Uganda and soon South Sudan, who are supposed to intervene between the belligerents, although it is not clear how.

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Nairobi  Defence Cabinet Secretary Aden Duale and his Interior counterpart Kindiki Kithure will on Thursday appear before a joint Parliamentary committee on Defense, Intelligence and Foreign affairs to answer to queries concerning deployment of Kenya Defense Forces (KDF) in the North Rift region.

The two Cabinet Secretaries will be expected to explain the progress made so far, since the officers were deployed to complement the police operation against bandit attacks

On February 13, President William Ruto announced the start of a major operation to mop up illegal arms in the North Rift.

Ruto said the security operation will be conducted by a multi-agency security team including officers drawn from the Kenya Defence Forces (KDF).

The Head of State stated that he had instructed Defense CS Aden Duale and his Interior counterpart Kithure Kindiki to draw a joint strategy.

He said the operation will seek to end banditry that has rocked parts of the country including the Kerio Valley Belt.

President's directive was received with mixed reactions from the public and members of independent organizations such as the Law Society of Kenya who argued that the deployment of KDF was hurriedly done.

LSK faulted the government for not seeking the approval of the National Assembly.

The society's President Eric Theuri pointed out to Article 241(3) of the constitution which stipulates that KDF troops may be deployed to restore peace in any part of Kenya affected by unrest or instability only with the approval of the National Assembly.

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"Even as the government takes measures to restore peace and security in the areas mentioned above, it cannot employ extra-constitutional means," he said.

"Therefore, it is fully within the remit of Article 241(3) (c) of the Constitution," Theuri added.

LSK mentioned that the operation in the six counties of Turkana, Elgeyo Marakwet, Samburu, Baringo, Pokot and Laikipia was not an emergency.

On Wednesday while appearing before the Senate Security and Cohesion Committee, Interior CS Kindiki said that security troops will remain in the war-torn Northern Kenya on a permanent basis to ensure economic prosperity in the region.

The CS stated that he is confident President William Ruto's administration will silence banditry in the prone areas.

The Interior boss told Senators that the disarmament is yet to begin despite the amnesty period having ended.

Bandits and cattle rustlers have in the recent weeks wreaked havoc in the North Rift region leading to loss of lives, loss of livestock and displacement of people with the counties of Baringo, Samburu, Turkana and Elgeyo Marakwet being the most affected.
A KIND-HEARTED Limerick girl has locks of love for her school after getting her long hair cut to raise money for an autism sensory unit.

Nine-year-old Sofia Hourigan, from Scanlon Park in Castleconnell cut her unique reddish, gingerish brown hair which went down 15 inches to her waist.

In doing so, she has raised 5,000 to help Castleconnell National Schools wish to open a sensory unit.

And the generous youngsters act will not just benefit her school: for her long locks  which Sofia says sometimes sparkle golden in the sunlight  will now be sent off to be made into a wig for a child who has lost their hair.

Her mother Maura Hourigan-Sims said Sofia would often get stopped in shops by strangers describing her hair as gorgeous.

People praised it as unique from when she was young, so she grew up saying her hair was unique. I wasnt sure we should cut that much off her hair, but then Sofia said it would be lovely for a child who had lost their hair to be stopped and get those same compliments, she said.

A family friend, Emily Healy, chopped off Sofias long hair, and the family had a party to celebrate her brave act.

Having been diagnosed with autism before Christmas, it was this which inspired her to help fundraise for her schools planned sensory unit, which will cost 27,000 to complete.

Asked how she feels without her long hair now, the nine-year-old said: Its a lot easier to wash, easier to dry and do a lot of stuff with it now. I think I want to keep it short!

Just before the scissors came out, she said: I was feeling excited  only a small bit scared! I wondered what would happen if I didnt like how I looked. But luckily I did like it.

While Castleconnell National School were grateful for Sofias gesture  presenting her with a certificate in a morning assembly  her classmates were even more thrilled.

Thats because not one of them was given homework on the day after she had the cut.

Her friends have also given her short haircut their seal of approval too.

They say they really like my new look, they say it suits me, Sofia smiled.

The youngster wasnt the only member of their family who got in on the fundraising act.

Her stepfather Matthew Sims completed the David Goggins challenge, which saw him run four miles every four hours over the course of 48 hours with all money raised also going to the school appeal.

Maura revealed her daughter had wanted to cut her hair for a while  and it was just a case of waiting until it was lengthy enough.

Sofia has always been a very kind-hearted little girl so this is nothing out of the ordinary for her to want to do. Since shes been very small, shes asked about cutting her hair. There was a girl she saw doing it when she was young, and since then, shed asked and asked. But we did want to have a significant amount so it was enough to make enough of a wig, she explained.

You can donate to Sofias appeal online at GoFundMe or telephone 061-377594.
COUNCIL director Nuala Gallagher is to leave Limericks local authority to take up a new role in Liverpool.

Ms Gallagher, who hails from Donegal, has, for the last number of years, worked as director of place-making, planning and environment.

In that role, she was responsible for the redevelopment of parts of the Limerick city waterfront, most notably in the last year around Honans Quay.

Having previously worked in Bristol, and Newham, East London, which hosted the 2012 Olympics, she is heading back cross-channel to take up the role of corporate director of city development at the City Council in Liverpool, which was the 2008 European Capital of Culture.

Local councillors believe shell be a tough act to follow.

Former mayor Daniel Butler said: Nuala brought an expertise and experience in particular to the public realm that we needed as a city and will now be a huge loss for us. Her creativity, energy and openness to engagement made her very popular on the ground.

Metropolitan district leader, Cllr Olivia OSullivan, added: Limericks loss is Liverpools gain.

Nuala's vision for Limerick was a very exciting one, she really 'got' our city,

A director at Limerick Twenty Thirty, the local authority's development arm, Ms Gallagher has amassed over two decades of experience in development and placemaking internationally, having also worked in New York.
OVER 1,300 people have signed a petition entitled Stop modular homes in Kilmallock - our systems are overloaded.

Cllr PJ Carey said he received the signatures on Sunday from a number of residents of the town's Radharc na Cille housing estate who organised the petition.

The plan, being led by the Office of Public Works (OPW), is to construct 30 two-bed semi-detached units for Ukrainians fleeing the ongoing war. They will have a 60-year lifespan, with each accommodating a family of four.

The units are to be located on council-owned lands at the rear of Radharc Na Cille subject to successful site tests, including an environmental impact assessment.

Cllr Carey praised the group of residents for the dignified manner that they have conducted themselves in seeking a democratic mandate.

I fully support their right to have a voice in the absence of a normal planning process. I believe that no development should go ahead without a full planning process. This emergency legislation is the lrish government's response to its own lack of preparedness and dire lack of housing going back to an EU directive in 2003.

The petition is asking the government to stop this proposed development which is being forced on local people without any consultation. By consultation, l mean where there is input on the part of the recipient and not just giving information on decisions already taken, said Cllr Carey, who has called on all politicians to take this petition, and these peoples clearly expressed wishes, seriously and to put democracy into action.

The Sinn Fein councillor said locals have numerous valid concerns including a lack of services and infrastructure.

He says the proposed development would mean a 7% increase in the population of the town overnight and a population increase of school-aged children of nearly 25%, a type of population increase that typically takes over a decade.

This is not a strategy. It is very poor governance, he commented.

The residents also provided a statement accompanying the petition which reads: We, as a group of residents, feel we were given no voice or consulted on the proposed site at Radharc na Cille being used for modular homes.

It continues: Our concerns are valid and over time we have met with so many people with valid concerns - cant get a doctors appointment or no child places available in the local school where these people reside all their lives, who have families that go back decades. Our school and health system is overloaded. We hope this does not go ahead as it will add to an already stretched system.

The statement concludes by thanking the people of Kilmallock for their support and the residents calling for a meeting with the Minister for the OPW Patrick ODonovan.

Cllr Carey says he intends delivering the petition to Mr O'Donovan's Newcastle West offic
DAIRY farmers in the midst of calving season are going around like sleep-deprived zombies so all help is greatly appreciated.

Seamus ORiordan, from Patrickswell, got a hand calving a cow by no less than the Minister for Agriculture Charlie McConalogue last week.

The minister, who was down in Limerick for the IFA Aquaculture annual conference and AGM, wanted to visit a local farm.

Mr ORiordan said it isnt every day that the minister of agriculture visits your farm and he was delighted to welcome him despite it being the busiest time of the year.

He was here for about an hour last Thursday afternoon. There was a cow calving at the time and he gave me a hand. He went over the very minute it was born to make sure it was OK, said Mr ORiordan.

The Patrickswell man told Farm Leader Mr McConalogue wanted to see his cows and calves.

He wanted me to separate his Angus calves from the Friesians as he wanted a picture of the Angus calves for a beef scheme that is coming up. He scattered a bale of straw himself. Id say he is into his farming, said Mr ORiordan, who had the opportunity to ask the minister about the Targeted Agricultural Modernisation Scheme (TAMS ) scheme.

TAMS 3, which is worth 370m, has an investment ceiling of 90,000 for almost 100 new investment on farm items including underpasses, farm roadways, supports for the equine sector, cattle fencing, milk recording equipment, PTO generators, and pasture management machinery.

New solar panels and battery storage measures have a separate 90,000 ceiling with a 60% grant. Solar panels can now be placed on farm homes as well as on sheds and buildings.

I said to him that the closing date of June 16 is too late  it could be September by the time you could get approval. It is too late then if you are going building, said Mr ORiordan, who believes it should be brought forward to May 1.

Minister McConologue's Fianna Fail colleague, Minister of State Niall Collins organised the trip to Mr ORiordans farm.

The minister was on hand to give Seamie a hand calving a cow.

Its part of his job to keep in touch with farmers on the ground and he enjoys doing farm visits. We were delighted to facilitate him with a visit to Seamies farm, said the Limerick TD.

Among those in attendance on the day were Trina ODea, Gerard Ward and Cllr Fergus Kilcoyne.
A PROMINENT Limerick vet is supporting the campaign for a new school of veterinary medicine at the University of Limerick.

UL is being tipped to become the site of the new school to cater for demand from students.

Currently, UCD is the only third-level institution to offer veterinary training in Ireland, with demand far outstripping places every year.

The Government has confirmed it's seeking to expand the number of places available and that a number of options are being considered. It is hoped the new school of veterinary medicine, when approved, could be open in time for the 2024/2025 academic year.

The matter was raised in the Seanad this Tuesday with Senator Maria Byrne calling on Minister Simon Harris to clarify when a decision will be finalised.

Meanwhile, a member of a local Veterinary Working Group has been explaining why she believes UL should be picked.

Kathy Enright of Rockhall Veterinary, Limerick & Clare says UL is favoured because of the location of its campus, its accessibility, the fact it is located in the Golden Vale, the reputation for its existing faculties and the co-location with a School of Medicine.

Attracting competent teaching staff and to facilitate accreditation requirements from both the Veterinary Council of Ireland and the Royal College of Veterinary Surgeons makes it the obvious choice, she said.

A chronic shortage of graduate places has left Ireland's strategic agri-food sector increasingly dependent on vets who are trained overseas. The low number of places available currently, at the highly-respected UCD Veterinary school means more than 100 of our graduates have to go abroad each year to gain training in Poland, Hungary, Slovakia and the United Kingdom.

We should be able to train our people at home and solve our own vet shortages, added Kathy Enright.

The UCD veterinary school was established in 1901 and can cater for a maximum of 82 undergraduate and 50 graduate-entry students each year.

Under the UL proposal, at least 80 students will be facilitated annually rising to 120 over time.

UL has declined to comment on its ongoing engagement as the process to decide the location of the new school remains live.
A GROUND-BREAKING conference at Mary Immaculate College (MIC) will chronicle the experiences of women in Afghanistan under oppressive laws.

On International Womens Day, a free public conference in Limerick will highlight the plight of women in Afghanistan since the Taliban reclaimed a hold on the country in 2021.

The Women in Education: Afghanistan and Ireland conference on March 8 will aim to draw awareness to the situation by hearing from people who continuously suffer and are directly affected by the change of leadership in Afghanistan.

Afghan native and MA in Media Studies student at MIC, Nasratullah Taban, commented: The Taliban's oppressive laws have denied Afghan women the right to an education. As an Afghan student at MIC, I am encouraged to see the international world, including Ireland and the Irish people, speak out against the Taliban's heinous laws that hinder women from obtaining an education.

The Limerick-based student stated that we can effect good change together and contribute to a brighter future for Afghanistan and its people.

By taking a stand and working together, we can make a real and lasting impact on the lives of Afghan women and girls, said Nasratullah.

Following the Western withdrawal from the landlocked country, the Taliban have reversed their commitment to be more inclusive and respectful of womens rights. Since then, Afghan women have seen their rights being stripped away, and are now facing a complete loss of access to jobs and education.

At the event, exiled Afghans will share first-hand accounts of the decline of womens rights and the challenges faced by the people of Afghanistan.

The speakers will include former Commissioner for Womens Rights at the Afghanistan Independent Human Rights

Organisation, Latifa Jawadi, former Afghan Government advisor on womens Reproductive Health Director with the Afghan Ministry of Public Health, Harun Najafizada.

The conference will take place at MIC on Wednesday, March 8 from 9.45am. Tickets can be booked for free via eventbrite.ie
THREE more people have been charged in connection with an incident in Monasterevin, County Kildare last summer following which Limerick man Dylan McCarthy died.

Glen Brogan, aged 23, who has an address at Ardullen, Kilmallock, County Limerick faces allegations of violent disorder and criminal damage (of a pub window) at Dublin Road, Monasterevin on August 21, 2022.

Orla McCarthy, aged 23, who also has an address at Ardvullen, Kilmallock and Aoife Talty, aged 25, of Knockdangan, Kilmaley, Ennis, County Clare each face allegations of violent disorder on the same date. Ms McCarthy is a sister of the deceased.

At Naas District Court, Garda Kenneth McDonald gave evidence of charging the trio and said the State had no objection to bail being granted.

A number of conditions were imposed including that they each provide a phone number, reside at their home addresses and sign on once weekly at nominated garda stations.

The defendants were also directed not to interfere with witnesses directly or indirectly.

Following the procedural hearing, the matter was adjourned by Judge Desmond Zaidan to May 3, next.

Separately, two men appeared in court last month after they were charged with the murder of Dylan McCarthy, who was 29 and from Kilmallock.

Sean Kavanagh, 24, of St Marys Lane, Monasterevin and Calvin Dunne, aged 22, of Abbey View, Monasterevin are also accused of engaging in violent disorder while Sean Kavanagh has been charged with assault causing harm.

Six other men have also been charged in relation to the incident and they are currently before the courts.

Darren Harrison, aged 30, and his brother Tadhg Harrison, aged 25, both of Rosglas Avenue, Monasterevin, are accused of engaging in violent disorder on August 22 last.

Adam Ford, aged 25, with an address at Togher Avenue, Monasterevin, is accused of engaging in violent disorder and of assaulting the father of the late Mr McCarthy on the date of the incident.

Jordan Kevin, aged 30, of St Evin's Park, Monasterevin and his brother Shane Kevin, aged 38, also of St Evins Park, Monasterevin, are accused of engaging in violent disorder on the same date.

Shane Foley, aged 29, who has an address at Cowpasture, Monasterevin, is also accused of engaging violent disorder on the date of the incident.

A file has been prepared for the Director of Public Prosecutions in relation to the incident.
Nairobi  President William Ruto has clarified that there are no plans to privatize public universities in the country anytime soon.

The President said Wednesday in a speech read on his behalf by the Education Cabinet Secretary, Ezekiel Machogu during the University of Kabianga 10th anniversary celebrations and its endowment fund drive at Kabianga, Kericho County.

The President maintained that his administration will continue to support public universities by enhancing governing policy structures and allocation of HELB loans for students to ensure access to university education.

He expressed the need to re-engineer the Universities in-line with the demands of global trends and create global citizens.

"Our universities must adapt the posture of 21st century and be at the forefront on its vital role in integrating research and innovation in areas of national development. Tertiary institutions should work on the regional integration agenda aimed at transforming the African continent to a global powerhouse, " the President said.

The Head of State pointed out that the Presidential Working Party on Education Reforms will provide recommendations that will address the current financial and management challenges facing the public universities.

"The reforms will revitalize our university education in the Country," he said.

During the event CS Machogu thanked the President for timely appointment of a Working Party on Education reforms which immediately addressed the crisis on where to place Junior Secondary School learners.

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He said the team on education reforms gave a timely recommendation after engaging Kenyans across the 47 Counties on their views on where to place JSS.

"Domiciling of JSS in Primary Schools is the wish of Kenyans and other key major stakeholders in the education sector which was considered by the Education reforms team," said Machogu.

The CS said already 17.8 million books have been distributed to public JSS across the country and reaffirmed that the capitation monies will be send any time as the data on enrollment of learners has been done per school.

On JSS infrastructure, Machogu said the Ministry of Education through World Bank funding with will construct 40% of integrated labs and 60% to be done by the MPs through allocation of NG-CDF.

He said the National Government is working hand in hand with the Governors to improve the quality of Technical, Vocational and Education Institutions to match the international standards.

At the same time the CS led the University's fund drive raising over Ksh. 7.5 million which will cater for scholarships to the bright but needy students who are continuing and those joining University of Kabianga.

University of Kabianga was first chartered in the year 2013. It has since established modern infrastructure with a student capacity currently at 8,128. The University has maintained the teaching and non-teaching staff at the ratio of 1:2.

Present during the event were Kericho County Governor Erick Mutai, Principal Secretary for Higher Education and Research, Beatrice Inyangala, University of Kabianga Vice Chancellor, Wilson Ngeno, University Council among Government officials.
THE DECISION of the Minister for Justice to approve the request of convicted murderer Logan Jackson to be transferred from Limerick Prison to a prison in the UK has been strongly criticised.

Logan Jackson, aged in his mid-30s, of Longford Road, Coventry, England was sentenced to life imprisonment, in December 2021, after he was convicted, by a jury, of murdering champion Limerick boxer Kevin Sheehy.

The 20-year-old, who was tipped as a future Olympian, died after he was repeatedly run over by Jackson who was driving a 4x4 vehicle at Hyde Road, Limerick, on July 1, 2019.

Last year, his mother Tracey Tully initiated High Court proceedings in an effort to halt Jackson's proposed transfer to a prison in England.

While those proceedings were 'resolved' last November, it has now been confirmed that the current Minister for Justice, Simon Harris has approved Mr Jackson's application for a transfer.

In a statement, confirming the decision, a spokesperson for the Department of Justice said: "The Minister has with great difficulty acceded to the request of Mr Jackson to serve the remainder of his term in a UK prison. Minister Harris is acutely aware that news of this development will be difficult for the family of Kevin Sheehy. In arriving at this decision, and with the feelings of the family of Kevin Sheehy at the forefront of his mind, Minister Harris sought to explore all possible options."

The statement, issued to Limerick Live this Friday morning, added: "The Minister is obliged to act in a manner consistent with obligations under international law, specifically the Council of Europe Convention on the transfer of prisoners and the European Convention on Human Rights. Having considered those obligations, the clear legal advice of the Attorney General, and the particular circumstances of the case, it was necessary to accede to Mr Jacksons application for transfer."

Noting that the decision (in 2022) to transfer Logan Jackson was entirely set aside (by the High Court) to ensure Ms Tully was given the opportunity to make a submission, the Department of Justice says the issue has now been considered "from the beginning" by the Minister.

"In doing so, and taking into account the clear legal advice from the Attorney General, the Minister is satisfied that Mr Jackson can expect to spend many more years in prison, as is just given the horrific nature of the crime he committed and the pain he has caused. The Minister is also satisfied that Ms Tully will be entitled to engage with the Victim Contact Scheme in the UK, and the Irish Prison Service will be available to support Ms Tully in engaging with the UK authorities."

Reacting to the decision to approve the transfer request, Limerick City TD Willie O'Dea, says it's not satisfactory.

"It's a bolt from the blue to me that the government, without any advance notice to anybody that they were reconsidering the matter, have now gone ahead and made a decision to transfer Mr Jackson," he said.

Speaking on Live 95's Limerick Today programme, Mr O'Dea, who spoke with Tracey Tully on Thursday night, said he does not accept the reasons put forward by the Department of Justice.

While accepting that Logan Jackson is entitled to request a transfer, he said he is of the belief that there is no entitlement for such applications to be granted.

The Fianna Fail TD added that it's unclear if the transfer, from Limerick Prison to the UK, has already taken place or, if not, when it will occur.

In response to a media query, a spokesperson for the Irish Prison Service said it does not comment on individual prison cases.

However, they added: "The Irish Prison Service administer the Transfer of Sentenced Persons function on behalf of the Department of Justice. The Transfer of Sentenced Persons Acts, 1995 and 1997 provide a mechanism whereby non-Irish nationals serving sentences in Ireland may apply to serve the remainder of their sentences in their home countries, where those countries are party to the Council of Europe Convention on the Transfer of Sentenced Persons.

"Similarly, Irish persons who are imprisoned overseas in such countries may apply to serve the remainder of their sentences in Ireland. The Convention is open to States outside Europe and the Government supports the Council of Europe policy of encouraging states to ratify and operate the Convention."

Applications for transfers are administered and considered by the Irish Prison Service who submit same to the Minister with a recommendation for decision.
A WOODEN sculpture of a knight in a county Limerick town has been disarmed of his sword, with the perpetrator remaining a mystery.

Over a year old, the carving of the knight located in Hospital, County Limerick was done by a native of the town - Fear na Coillte, chainsaw sculptor, Will Fogarty.

Hospital was founded by knights over 800 years ago and is a deeply historical town. As a tribute to the knights who gave hospital their name while returning from the Crusades and subsequently, set up an abbey (religious dwelling) in the Limerick town.

Probably about a week or two ago, it was noticed that the knight's sword was missing. I decided to replace it for free of charge, as I was the person who carved it, Will said.

Somebody obviously got their hands on the sword and took it - I was blaming the fairies, but Im not quite sure it was the fairies!

I carved another blade for it yesterday and glued it on - it was in my own interest that it looked as well as it can, so I was always going to replace it accordingly.

I wanted to do something for my local town and groups in the town organised the timber to do the statue - Ive done carvings for places all over the country, including schools and cathedrals in Limerick, and Ive been doing this for the last nine years.

Fear na Coillte is the Irish for man of the woods, and examples of Wills other work are available on his Facebook page.
DEEP sadness looms over Kilfinane and the wider Limerick community at the passing of "everyone's friend", Donie O'Sullivan Snr.

In his 85th year, and "a friend to all", Donie had a huge influence in his community of Kilfinane as a lifelong member of Blackrock GAA, while also founding the Kilfinane Photographic Society.

After he was made caretaker of the local school, Scoil Pol, in the 1980s, he retired and was afterwards succeeded by his son Thomas who currently fills the role.

Blackrock GAA club expressed their condolences on Facebook, saying: "Donie was a lifelong member of Blackrock GAA, a hurler, officer, caretaker of the field for many many years and Club President for many years.

"Donie never missed a meeting or a match and would be found in the middle of the field to celebrate our victories. We are heartbroken at his passing but he will join his beloved Kathleen.

"To the wide and extensive OSullivan and Kennedy families, especially Donie Jnr, Marie, Jose, Tommy and Brid, his beloved sons and daughters in law, grandchildren and great grand child, brothers and sisters, nephews, nieces, cousins and all relations and friends we extend our deepest sympathy.

"Many of the family are very active in the club and our thoughts are with you all."

A friend, through the GAA and photographic society, Hugh Murphy spoke highly of late Donie, saying: "He was very active in the community, including with the South GAA board.

"Kilfinane Photographic Society was formed in 2011 and Donie was a founding member. We publish books for Kilfinane every year and he was involved in all productions, and was still a member up until the time of his death."

"He died as he lived, he was everyone's friend," he stated. "He was community orientated, and very well known because he was very obliging to all he was concerned with."

Recently predeceased by his wife Kathleen, Donie is survived by his five children, Donie Jnr, Marie, Jose, Tommy, and Brid, his sons and daughters in law, brothers and sisters, nieces, nephews, cousins, grandchildren, and great grand child.

Funeral arrangements have not yet been announced.
Macra has said that its young farmers across the country are extremely angry and disappointed that the Department of Agriculture is actively pursuing a land exit scheme for dairy farmers, according to Macra na Feirme president John Keane.

The farm organisation said the Minister for Agriculture, Food and The Marine Charlie McConalogue confirmed on Friday to the Joint Oireachtas Committee on the Environment and Climate Action that he would introduce an exit scheme for dairy farmers in 2024.

Under the proposals seen by Macra the land that would enter this scheme would no longer be available for use to breed animals.

"This will undoubtedly reduce the stock of land available for farmers who wish to rear breeding animals, it will further increase the price of land paid for lease and sale. It will put pressure on our tillage sector to compete for land and negatively affect the government's targets to increase the tillage area in Ireland," the Macra president said.

"With less than 6% of active farmers under 35, the Minister needs to pursue a succession policy in farming and not an exit policy. This measure, if proceeded with in a manner that is excluding the future of farming in Ireland will further reduce the amount of young farmers who are the future of both the agricultural industry and food production in Ireland," Mr Keane said.
A landmark Belfast city centre office building has reopened following a multimillion-pound refurbishment.

The Riverside Tower building at Lanyon Place houses over 2,000 employees of BT Group.

The new building boasts state-of-the-art technology and marks Belfast as a significant long-term location for the communication company.

Northern Ireland Secretary of State Chris Heaton Harris said: This is great news, with BT Groups significant investment in its Belfast base showing just what an attractive place for business Northern Ireland is.

BTs fantastic new office will provide a boost for the local economy, creating jobs and increasing footfall in the city centre.

Brent Matthews, BT Groups property and facilities services director, said: As a major employer in the city, our presence will support local economic growth and employment opportunities.

We recently announced plans to recruit 100 people into digital roles, such as artificial intelligence (AI), as well as graduates and apprentice roles.

The rejuvenation of Riverside Tower comes as part of the companys better workplace programme.

Programme director Sue Glew said: This is such a perfect location and an iconic building, the Riverside Tower.

In an era of increased remote working, Ms Glew stressed the value of such a large investment into office space.

Here we felt the size was perfect. We havent wavered from the investment. We think now with this lovely physical environment with a focus on what colleagues want and need, weve got more chance of enticing colleagues to come in.

The benefits of the investment at Riverside Tower is predicted to extend beyond BT, with Paul Murnaghan, the regional sales director for NI, saying: I often say that Northern Ireland is very important to BT but today BT is very important to Northern Ireland.

Its not just about our colleagues, its also about all of the external stakeholders, customers, public and private utilising this facility that is now here for us, but also for them.

BT Group is responsible for directly generating 1 in every 110 produced in Northern Ireland, according to an independent report from consultancy firm Hatch.
Honda Cars has recently launched the latest iteration of their popular City compact sedan in India, marking the sixth generation of the model. The Japanese automaker has made significant updates to the car's design, features, and powertrain, representing the first major facelift since 2020.

The 2023 Honda City will be available in four different variants, including the SV, V, VX, and ZX trims, with petrol-only options ranging from 11.49 lakh to 15.97 lakh (ex-showroom). In addition, the City e:HEV facelift model will be offered at a price point between 18.89 lakh and 20.39 lakh (ex-showroom).

The 2023 Honda City is set to reignite its competition with popular models such as the Maruti Suzuki Ciaz, as well as the highly-anticipated release of the 2023 Hyundai Verna on March 21st. Along with these rivals, the revamped City will also face off against the Volkswagen Virtus and Skoda Slavia in the competitive compact sedan segment.

The 2023 Honda City has undergone a few cosmetic updates on its exterior, including a slimmer chrome bar at the front to accommodate a larger grille with a honeycomb pattern. The front bumper has also been tweaked, while the LED headlights resemble those used in the strong hybrid version launched last year. The car's profile remains largely unchanged from its predecessor, but the newly-designed 16-inch alloy wheels are a noticeable addition. In addition to these, Honda will also offer a smaller 15-inch alloy option. At the rear, the bumper design has been updated, and a new blue exterior color called "Obsidian Blue" has been introduced for the new generation City.

While the exterior of the 2023 Honda City has undergone a few updates, the interior remains mostly similar to its predecessor. The car still features a dual-tone theme and new upholstery options. It comes equipped with an 8-inch touchscreen infotainment system, a 7-inch digital driver display, automatic climate control, and a panoramic sunroof, among other features. However, Honda has introduced some new amenities to the interior, such as wireless charging and wireless connectivity for Apple CarPlay and Android Auto.

One of the biggest updates to the 2023 Honda City is the addition of Advanced Driver Assistance System (ADAS) that utilizes the Honda Sensing technology. This system is similar to the one introduced in the strong hybrid version of the sedan last year and includes a range of safety features such as adaptive cruise control, lane keep assist, and autonomous emergency braking. With these advanced safety features, the new Honda City is expected to provide an even safer and more secure driving experience for its passengers.

Under the hood, in order to comply with the stricter BS6 phase 2 emission norms, Honda has discontinued its popular 1.5-liter diesel engine for the 2023 Honda City. Instead, the carmaker has opted to stick with its reliable 1.5-liter petrol engine, which is now compatible with E20 ethanol-blend fuel. This engine is capable of generating up to 121 horsepower and 145 Nm of peak torque, and it can be paired with either a 6-speed manual or a CVT gearbox. Additionally, Honda will also offer the City with a 1.5-liter Atkinson cycle hybrid engine, which can produce 126 horsepower and is paired with an e-CVT gearbox.
The Dutch arm of Air France-KLM and several other airlines are going to court to challenge the Dutch governments decision to reduce flight capacity at Amsterdams Schiphol airport.

Delta Air Lines Inc and EasyJet Plc are among airlines joining forces with KLM, which accounts for close to 60% of traffic at Schiphol, to safeguard the future capacity" of the airport, according to a joint statement published on Friday.

The Dutch government announced last year it is planning cut the Amsterdam hubs flight capacity in a bid to reduce noise pollution. The cabinet will impose a limit of 460,000 flights this year with the ultimate goal of reducing the capacity to 440,000 by 2024.

ALSO READ: Air France-KLM sees robust bookings after better-than-expected Q4

The brewing confrontation comes amid increasingly tense relationship between airports and airlines. Last year, traffic across hubs in Europe endured chaotic weeks of disruption because of a lack of ground personnel, forcing airlines to cut capacity. KLM said earlier this month that operations last year were held back as a result of the disruptions at Schiphol.

Amsterdams Schiphol airport lost 28 million last year despite what it called a strong recovery in traffic, and the hubs efforts to mitigate the chaos led to additional costs of about 120 million, it said.

KLM said the governments decision to cut back operations is unnecessary" and violates national, European and international legislation. Last month, Air France-KLMs Chief Executive Officer Ben Smith warned limiting capacity at Schiphol would hurt the Dutch economy.

International Air Transport Association is also joining the legal action against the Dutch government, it said in a separate statement.

This story has been published from a wire agency feed without modifications to the text. Only the headline has been changed.
Amid the grim outlook for the global economy in the coming months, there is no end to the layoff news coming from big tech giants and other multinational firms. The unprecedented loss of jobs has left many professionals with an uncertain future. One such Indian-American techie shared his story of sudden layoff and lessons learned from it on Linkedin. Engineer Vishal Arora had worked at Google for more than one and a half years. He got the news of his layoff when he was preparing for his office meeting at 7 am.

Also Read: Layoff drive: Alphabet's Waymo fires 137 employees

Vishal Arora shared his layoff story on Google where he told that he was among one the 12,000 employees who were laid off by Google. He said the process of the layoff was more shocking than the news itself.

Most of all, I'm surprised at how unexpected this was. And every unexpected outage deserves a blameless post-mortem, so here is mine, along with my lessons learned: https://lnkd.in/gjB7Yscc," said Vishal Arora in his Linkedin post.

Also Read: Joining the layoff trend, General Motors sacks hundreds of employees to reduce cost

In the document link he shared with his post, he mentioned how things started with a mail, which he thought was spam, and ended the next morning when he was not able to login into his laptop.

Receives an email at 2:00 am about his layoff

Months ago, Vishal Arora received an email from 'Direct report in India' about the message being the last chat message. He received the mail at 2:00 am on 20 January. Vishal thought it to be a spam email. The next morning, when he tried logging in at the computer for his meeting at 7:00 am, he was denied access by the system. That was the time when he realised that he was laid off by the company.

Also Read: Tech layoffs: Over 2,700 people lost their jobs per day so far in 2023. When will layoff winter end?

Expected smoother outage with better communication

The process of laying off a large number of employees could have been smoother through better communication and transparency." He also mentioned how other organisations have terminated employees with an in-person notification, along with a limited opportunity to bid farewell to close colleagues. He also pointed out creative options used by other companies to avoid layoffs like temporary employee pay cuts, or temporary reductions in benefits."

Lessons learned from layoff

-Vishal Arora also shared some of the things he will take care of in his next job. He said how his wife turned down the opportunity to join Google some time ago. The decision has helped the couple in diversifying their income. Vishal also mentioned how his stock portfolio was highly skewed with Google stock. He also mentioned the importance of building a financial cushion for such situations as there is no guarantee of severance packages. Employees should also work on enhancing their skills and not being limited to their job, as they can be taken from them anytime. It is important to equally prioritise family, personal health, friends, etc.
Nairobi  Yatta Member of Parliament Robert Basil has joined other leaders who are against the legalising of LGBTQ in the country, saying the practise is foreign and doesn't correspond with the country's traditions and laws.

MP Basil said allowing it will lead to increased HIV infections in the country, citing a research by Centre for Disease Control which revealed that gay, bisexual, and other men who have sex with men are the population most affected by HIV.

Other MPs and religious groups have also faulted the Supreme Court ruling that the LGBTQ community has a right to form a lobby group.

"As a Member of Yatta I want to state that I am against legalising LGBTQ community in Kenya because it's against our practises . Also when you look at research this community is at high risk of contracting HIV and this shouldn't be allowed," MP Basil stated.

The Yatta MP also welcomed the move to have laws enacted outlawing unnatural sex acts.

According to Basil, having such a law will affirm Kenya's stand against such practices.

Already MPs George Kaluma (Homabay Town) Mohammed Ali (Nyali) have proposed to have the LGBTQ community outlawed in the country.

MP Kaluma in his proposed law wants have homosexuality and other unnatural sexual acts criminalized in Kenya, and increase the penalty of those convicted of engaging or promoting the acts to imprisonment for life.

On his part MP Ali through a motion wants the government to bar the community and other propagators of the LGBTQ agenda from doing so.

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The LGBTQ debate in the country was revived after the Supreme Court last week affirmed a decision by lower courts that quashed the decision by the NGO Board to decline an LGBT lobby group's formal registration.

The decision by the apex court on Friday followed an appeal arising form the Court of Appeal by the lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) had successfully challenged an appeal by the board against a favorable High Court decision.

The Supreme Court held the board violated the right to non-discrimination by refusing to accept the names proposed, as the respondent was entitled to exercise their constitutionally guaranteed freedom to associate by being able to form an association.

The court however pointed out that all persons, whether heterosexual, lesbian, gay, intersex or otherwise, will be subject to sanctions if they contravene existing laws, including Sections 162, 163 and 165 of the Penal Code.

The Penal Code provisions prohibit same-sex relations.

Justices Mohamed Ibrahim and William Ouko however wrote dissenting opinions against a majority decision by Justices Philomena Mwilu (DCJ), Smokin Wanjala, and Njoki Ndung'u.

Ibrahim and Ouko held the decision by the NGO Board was not discriminatory and that it did not infringe Article 27 of the Constitution (2010).

The two also argued that the board has the discretion to refuse to register any association if the association does not meet certain specified conditions spelt in the law.
MUMBAI : The Supreme Court on Friday put on hold the implementation of the Bombay high court order that quashed Yes Bank Ltds decision to write off additional tier-one (AT1) bonds worth 8,400 crore.

Admitting the petition, a bench headed by Chief Justice of India Dhananjaya Y. Chandrachud issued notice to the bondholders of Yes Bank Ltd after the private lender and Reserve Bank of India (RBI) challenged the January ruling of the Bombay high court.

The bench, which included justice P.S. Narasimha, said that the six-week interim stay granted by the high court should continue till its further orders, as it agreed to examine a bundle of legal issues surrounding the power of the administrator and the reconstruction of the bank.

The high court on 20 January directed Yes Bank to pay the bondholders but stayed its order till 17 February to enable the filing of an appeal, after which the lender and RBI on 13 February approached the top court. However, with the SC issuing notices to hear the case on 28 March, the stay gets extended till then. AT1 or perpetual bonds are unsecured securities with no maturity date and are used by banks to bolster their capital base and comply with Basel III norms.

During the proceedings on Friday, the court observed that small bondholders must not suffer and directed Yes Bank to give a break-up of different classes of bondholders based on their exposure to the bonds.

The private lender and RBI have also been asked by the court to explain which legal provisions empower them to issue a complete write-off.

Yes Bank and RBI, represented by senior counsel Kapil Sibal and solicitor general Tushar Mehta, respectively, argued that a write-off is essential for the reconstruction and, if not permitted, could lead to Yes Bank becoming unviable again. They argued that State Bank of India (SBI) and seven other banks invested public money into Yes Bank based on the write-off. They also argued that the administrator, appointed by the central bank, had the power to fully write down AT1 bonds. Further, RBI submitted that bonds were high-interest-bearing, high-risk instruments, and the subscribers were rich people" who understood the risks. It was also argued that the high court erred in acknowledging the correct date of reconstruction of the bank.

Appearing for a group of individual bondholders, senior advocate Mukul Rohatgi contended that writing off the bonds was not correct in law and that RBI had changed its stance on the matter over time. Assisted by advocate Srijan Sinha, Rohatgi added that not all bondholders are rich people" and cannot wait indefinitely for payments. They are not Birlas and Tatas who have invested in these bonds. How is 9% risky?" he asked. The lender sold the perpetual AT1 bonds in three tranches in 2013, 2016 and 2017.

In March 2020, a moratorium was imposed on the bank, superseding the then board of directors, and an administrator was appointed to manage the bank. The AT1 bonds were written off as part of a restructuring plan to rescue Yes Bank. Equity holders, on the other hand, did not face a similar write-down.

RBI directed the Yes Bank administrator to write off these bonds as part of a restructuring scheme to save the lender from collapse.

A set of individual and institutional bondholders filed a petition before the Bombay high court challenging this decision. In January, the high court ruled against the write-off, holding that the decision was not valid as it was taken after the moratorium period of Yes Bank was completed. It appears that the administrator exceeded his powers and authority in writing off AT1 bonds after the bank was reconstructed on 13 March 2020," the high court said.

Post the Yes Bank fiasco, the capital markets regulator ruled that AT1 bonds should henceforth be sold only in minimum ticket sizes of 1 crore and above to institutional investors. Older tranches of AT1 bonds, however, continue to trade at smaller lot sizes of 10 lakh in the market.
Indian startups and developers are considering legal action against Google for allegedly charging excessive fees on sales of digital goods through the Android Play Store.

Google, on 24 February, opened its alternative billing policy to all developers in India. This allows firms selling digital items and subscriptions through the Play Store to integrate billing methods other than Googles built- in systems.

However, startups are crying foul, accusing the company of overcharging for these payments. Google charges 15% for using its own billing systems for any payments on apps earning less than $1 million in revenue annually. For others, the fee is 30%. Under the new policy, if users choose third-party billing, app developers still have to pay 11% and 26%, respectively.

Startup founders and industry stakeholders met on 27 February to discuss the way forward. Two founders, who were part of the discussions, said requesting anonymity that they are exploring all legal avenues, which include filing another complaint with the Competition Commission of India (CCI), going to courts, and approaching the government. The startups are accusing Google of discriminatory pricing, which they said affects market competition. One of the founders said they are planning to file a case of contempt with the CCI, claiming that Googles new policy violates the CCI order.

To be sure, Google updated its Play Store policy in January to comply with another CCI order, which found the US tech firm in violation of Indias competition laws. The CCI slapped Google with a 936 crore fine last October, and ordered it to allow third-party billing on Play Store.

Though third-party billing is now available to all developers, since last month, startups feel that Google is still charging high commissions on third-party billing.

"Google Play's service fee has never been simply a fee for payment processing, and even when a user chooses an alternative billing system, developers receive significant value from Google Play and Android," a Google spokesperson said in a statement.
Apple Inc.s main manufacturer, Foxconn Technology Group, is considering a major expansion in India, including possibly assembling millions more iPhones and setting up new production sites as it seeks to further diversify beyond China.
In the 1980s, everybody was working for the weekend, or so a hit song from the period proclaimed.

Now, working on the weekend is becoming more commonplace in some sectors as layoffs increase and workers seek time to focus, free from the deluge of meetings and other distractions.

The average hours worked on Saturday and Sunday last year increased 5% to 6.6, according to ActivTrak, which analyzed almost 175 million hours of work across 134,260 anonymized users of its productivity-management software worldwide. While just 5% of all workers tracked toiled on the weekend, certain industries, like technology and media, saw a spike of 25% or more hours worked in 2022 compared with a year earlier. The reasons are twofold: Job cuts that have heaped more work on fewer staffers, along with a need to escape the constant interruptions from the likes of Zoom calls and Slack chats that are part of todays increasingly hybrid workplace.

With more and more layoff announcements, companies are doing more with less, so where you see an increase in weekend work, its in industries that are contracting," said Gabriela Mauch, vice president of ActivTraks productivity lab, which researches trends in its datasets. As people become more comfortable with flexibility, its acceptable to log off at 3pm on a Friday and deal with the work on the weekend."

The weekend shifts are the latest example of the breakdown in long-held workplace norms wrought by the pandemic, as demands for increased flexibility among employees clash with some employers desires to see workers in person at the office more often. While remote work has freed up desk workers in many respects, allowing many to do their job where and when they choose, its also tethered them to collaboration and communication tools that can divert their attention with constant notifications. Rising job cuts of late across technology, media and other sectors have also complicated the picture, creating more stress on staffers who are already grappling with record rates of burnout.

The most common weekend warriors were technology staffers in computer hardware and services, according to ActivTraks data, along with media workers and those in consumer goods. All of those groups increased their weekend hours last year compared with 2021, most by double-digit percentages. Technology firms have laid off more than 122,000 workers so far this year, according to tracker Layoffs.fyi, and industry leaders like Elon Musk, Mark Zuckerberg and Marc Benioff have said their workforces need to get more out of fewer workers. Musk, in particular, has told workers to embrace a hardcore" culture or leave the company.

Other sectors, like energy, hospitality and health care, saw a decline in weekend toiling. One theory behind the divergence, Mauch said, is that industries with a greater share of creative types could see more value in working over the weekend. Service-focused sectors were also more likely to boost their weekend hours. A broader government survey found Americans spent just 1.1 hours working on the weekend in 2021.

The ActivTrak report also found that the average workday in 2022 spanned ten hours and nine minutes, defined by the stretch between the first and last activity on a workers computer. Time spent on focused work declined slightly last year, while minutes spent multi-tasking increased by a similar amount. Workers were more productive and focused in the first half of the year compared with the back half, and Tuesday was the most productive day.

Every culture is different," Mauch said. At one organization, seven hours of work might be appropriate, but in others its 12."

This story has been published from a wire agency feed without modifications to the text.
New Delhi: Union minister for Road Transport and Highways Nitin Gadkari on Friday said there were 70 projects, totalling 2,014 km and costing  33,540 crore, underway in Andhra Pradesh.

Addressing the Andhra Pradesh Global Investment Summit 2023, at Visakhapatnam, Gadkari said efforts were being made to establish five green highways and two expressways at a total cost of 32,430 crore.

Gadkari said so far in 2022-23, about 27 projects worth an estimated 15,400 crore have awarded totalling a length of 777 km. He added that two multimodal logistics parks (MMLPs) have also been sanctioned in Visakhapatnam and Anantapur at a cost of 1,797 crore.

These MMLPs will serve as a key hub for centralising freight cargo consolidation in the region, he said.

He also said that over the last eight years under Prime Minister Narendra Modi, there has been a significant increase in the length of national highways in Andhra Pradesh, which have risen to 8,744 km from 4,193 km.

The Centre has also approved a six-lane Vizag Port highway on NH 16 near Bhogapuram with a length of 55 Km at a cost of 63,00 crore.

Gadkari said in line with PM Modi's commitment to promoting sustainable practices, the government is focused on converting farmers to Urjadata while continuing to support them as Annadata.

The minister said the government also advocates swadeshi manufacturing, which prioritises safety, recyclability, and sustainability. He said the goal was to create opportunities for green energy and a green economy in the mobility sector.
Its the first song from an Indian film ever nominated for an Academy Award, and it has a good shot at beating numbers from pop heavyweights including Lady Gaga and Rihanna at next Sundays Oscars.
Adani Group: The Adani Family, through its trust, sold 15,446 crore worth of its stake in four group companies to US-based investment firm GQG Partners, founded by investment manager Rajiv Jain. The transaction will provide much-needed respite to the conglomerates promoters and its stocks, which have plummeted since the release of a US short-sellers report alleging stick manipulation and accounting fraud, said fund managers. The share sales, involving Adani Ports, Adani Green Energy, Adani Transmission and Adani Enterprises, were done through a series of secondary block transactions, the group said in a statement to the stock exchanges.

Vedanta/Hindustan Zinc: Hindustan Zinc's plan to buy two of Vedanta Group subsidiaries may get a setback as it is known that the Indian government has written to the market regulator underlining its opposition to the proposed deal. Officials told Reuters that in a letter that was sent in February, the Ministry of Mines said, that the government was "kept in the dark" about the deal. According to the official, the proposed deal between Hindustan Zinc and Vedanta has jeopardized the government's plans for divesting its stake in the former as investors have turned jittery leading to a drop in the HZL's share price.

Natco Pharma: Hyderabad-based drug firm Natco Pharma on Thursday said the board of directors will consider a proposal for the buyback of fully paid-up equity shares of the company of face value of 2 each on Wednesday, 8 March 2023. "A meeting of the Board of Directors of the Company is scheduled to be held on Wednesday, the 8th day of March 2023, inter alia, to consider a proposal for buyback of fully paid up equity shares of the Company of the face value of Rs. 2 each as well as matters related/ incidental thereto," the drug firm said in an exchange filing.

Mahindra & Mahindra Financial Services: Mahindra & Mahindra Financial Services, the Indian rural non-banking financial company popularly known as Mahindra Finance, on Thursday released its monthly business performance for February month. The company's total disbursements climbed by a whopping 53% year-on-year to 4,185 crore in February 2023. On a month-on-month basis, Mahindra Finance's disbursement surged by over 4.6%. In January month, the disbursement stood at 4,000 crore. As per the regulatory filing, the company's loan book consequently rose further by 1.5% in the month under review over January 2023 performance.

Ramco Systems: Indian enterprise software major, Ramco Systems signed a contract on Thursday with Etihad Airways Engineers, the worlds leading provider of commercial aircraft, to implement its Aviation Suite V5.9 software, according to an exchange filing. The project was officially announced at the 2023 edition of MRO Middle East, held at Dubai World Trade Centre, Dubai. Ramco's integrated Aviation Suite will streamline multiple operations across Etihad Airways Engineering, providing the organisation with a single source of information with real-time visibility.

India Grid Trust: India Grid Trust (IndiGrid) on Thursday announced completing the acquisition of 100 per cent "shareholding and economic interest" in Khargone Transmission Ltd from Sterlite Power Transmission Ltd (SPTL). IndiGrid is India's first listed power sector infrastructure investment trust (InvIT) and STL is one of the sponsors of IndiGrid. "IndiGrid announces the completion of the acquisition of 100 per cent shareholding and economic interest in Khargone Transmission Ltd (KTL) from SPTL," it said in a statement.

NHPC: State-owned hydro power giant NHPC on Thursday said it has paid an interim dividend of 997.75 crore to the government for the financial year 2022-23. On Thursday, NHPC Chairman and Managing Director R.K. Vishnoi handed over dividend payout advice of 997.75 crore to Minister of State for Power and New & Renewable Energy RK Singh in the presence of Power Secretary Alok Kumar, NHPC Director (Finance) R.P. Goyal and NHPC Executive Director (Finance) S.N. Upadhyay, the company said in a statement.

MOIL: With a production of 1.31 lakh tonnes of Manganese (Mn) Ore in February 2023, MOIL registered 10% growth over the same period last year. Sales at 1.32 lakh tonnes of manganese ore during February 2023 was higher by 19% vis-a-vis February 2022," the Ministry of Steel said. CMD MOIL Ajit Kumar Saxena congratulated MOIL collective on maintaining an upward trend in production and mentioned that it is fully geared up for a much higher production level in the coming months. The company has an ambitious vision of doubling its production to 3.00 million tonnes by 2030.

Indiabulls Housing Finance: Indiabulls Housing Finance on Thursday announced a 900-crore debt sale through a public issue of secured, redeemable, non-convertible debentures. The base size of the issue is only 100 crore with a greenshoe option for an additional 800 crore. The public issue opens on Friday and closes on March 17, the company said in a statement. The company is offering coupon rates ranging from 8.88 per cent to 10.15 per cent per annum and post-close, the issue will be listed on BSE and NSE.

CG Power and Industrial Solutions: CG Power and Industrial Solutions board on Thursday approved an interim dividend of 1.5 per share of the face value of 2 each for the fiscal year 2022-23. The board of directors of the company at its meeting held today i.e. 2nd March 2023 has considered and approved the payment of interim dividend at 1.50 per equity share i.e. 75 per cent on the face value of 2 per share for the financial year 2022-23, a BSE filing said. The record date for determining the members eligible to receive the interim dividend is Wednesday, 15th March 2023.
SoftBanks choice of New York for a listing of British microchip designer Arm has led to predictable hand-wringing about national decline in the U.K. capital.
A day after BJP MLA's son was caught for taking 40 lakh fine, The Karnataka Lokayukta on 3 March raided the residence of Prashant Maadal and recovered 6 crore cash.

Prashant Maadal is a chief accountant at Bangalore Water Supply and Sewerage Board (BWSSB) and son of BJP MLA Maadal Virupakshappa. Virupakshappa is also the chairman of Karnataka Soaps and Detergents Limited (KSDL).

As per ANI report, the search operation at his residence is still on.

On 2 March, anti-corruption wing of Lokayukta caught Virupakshappa's son while taking a bribe of 40 lakh from a contractor at the Karnataka Soap and Detergent office.

Also Read: Amit Shah to flag off BJP's Vijay Sankalp Yatra in Bengaluru today

"The anti-corruption branch of Lokayukta yesterday caught Prashanth Maadal, son of BJP MLA Maadal Virupakshappa while taking a bribe of 40 lakh. Over 1.7 crore in cash was recovered from his office," Karnataka Lokayukta told ANI.

Lokayukta sources told PTI that Prashanth was allegedly receiving 'first instalment' of the bribe on behalf of his father. The MLA's son had demanded 81 lakh and 40 lakh was the first instalment. The contractor had approached the Lokayukta a week ago and the trap was laid.

According to Lokayukta, more than 1.7 crore in cash was found at Prashanth Madal's office.

Speaking about the incident, Karnataka Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai said, Lokayukta has raided the son of an MLA. All I can say is that the reason for restarting the Lokayukta is to curb corruption in the state, without Lokayukta many such cases were found and closed during Congress rule."

Lokayukta has raided the son of an MLA. All I can say is that the reason for restarting the Lokayukta is to curb corruption in the state, without Lokayukta many such cases were found and closed during Congress rule: Karnataka CM Basavaraj Bommai https://t.co/cpRXbEYDS4 pic.twitter.com/oNbIlJJf8y  ANI (@ANI) March 3, 2023

"I have said earlier also that an independent and fair investigation will be done. That's why our aim is to punish the culprits. Lokayukta has all the details, whose money was it, where did it come from, everything should come out," Bommai said.

Congress MLA Priyank Kharge hit out at CM Bommai and said Karnataka CM keeps asking us to produce documents, what more documents does he require...all can be found in BJP MLA's house and ministers' offices."

Kharge further said that its high time CM Bommai should resign. It's high time that CM should resign...if he thinks he's done great work then dissolve the assembly and go for election right now. Where is CBI, where is the IT, where is the ED now...Mr Amit Shah is coming right? he should get his team and come."

(With inputs from agencies)
Former Delhi Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia, who was sent to CBI custody for five days on February 27, will come out today, Friday, after being questioned in the matter regarding alleged irregularities in the framing and implementation of the liquor excise policy case .

The Central Bureau of Investigation arrested Sisodia on Sunday and sought five days of police custody citing that he was not cooperating with the investigation and not revealing facts.

AAP leaders and workers held protests in several states against the arrest of Sisodia by the CBI, with the party alleging that it was done to divert public attention from the Adani issue.

He even moved the Supreme Court of India against his arrest by the federal agency, however, it refused to entertain his plea and suggested Sisodia move the High Court.

Just because the incident happened in Delhi, you cannot come hereyou have your remedies," the apex court told the arrested AAP leader.

Following SC's decision, Sisodia and Satyendar Jain quit the Delhi cabinet on 28 February. Satyendar Jain has been in Tihar jail for 10 months after being arrested on money laundering charges.

Sisodia's arrest, one of the high-profile actions against an opposition leader, came about eight months after that of Satyendar Jain, who was then the Delhi health minister, in June last year.

In a lengthy resignation letter, the Aam Aadmi Party insisted that the allegations were lies perpetuated by people who were scared of Arvind Kejriwals politics of truth'.

I am not their target, you are. Because today not only Delhi, the people of the whole country view you as a leader who has a vision for the country and by implementing that vision, also has the ability to bring big changes in the lives of the people," the Delhi CM's top lieutenant asserted in a letter to the CM.

The excise policy was scrapped in August last year and the Delhi lieutenant governor subsequently asked the CBI to probe the alleged irregularities and corruption involving government authorities, bureaucrats and liquor traders, among others.

(With inputs from agencies)
Nairobi  A section of the members of the public on Wednesday staged demonstrations at the Milimani Law Courts protesting the prosecution of police officer Ahmed Rashid who is being investigated over the murder of two teenagers in 2017.

The shooting incident happened in Nairobi's Eastleigh neighborhood.

Police say, the demonstrators who were 25 in number gathered at the court buildings Wednesday evening before leaving around 9;30 pm.

"Commandant of Judicial Police Unit one Opicho addressed and calmed them and advised on a better way of airing their grievances," reads a police report in part.

The demonstrators later dispersed without any incident.

In January this year, the High Court ordered Ahmed to surrender to nearest Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI) office.

Justice Kanyi Kimondo directed the Pangani-based crime buster to surrender himself to Garissa Township DCI where he was said to be engaged in family matters at the time.

The judge said upon surrender to DCI he should be escorted to Nairobi and booked at Capitol Hill police station before he is taken to the Mathare Mental Hospital for a psychiatric examination.

His lawyer Danstan Omari had informed the court that his client was unable to attend the court because of family engagements.

He said his client would abide with the directions issued by the court.

The judge further directed that failure comply with directions a warrant of arrest will be issued automatically.

The Director of Public Prosecutions approved murder charges against Rashid in November last year for the alleged extra-judicial killing of Jamal Mohamed and Mohamed Khari who were shot in Eastleigh on March 31, 2017.

This is after Independent Policing Oversight Authority concluded its investigations into their murder and they recommended the prosecution of Rashid.
Taiwanese electronics giant, Foxconn will establish a manufacturing facility in Telangana which will create employment generation potential for over 1,00,000 people. According to an official release, Foxconn which is the original equipment manufacturer for various electronics and mobile companies including Apple will create around 100000 jobs which will help in generating direct and indirect employment for the youths of Telangana.

The 'historic deal' has the potential to generate employment to over one lakh people over a period of 10 years, it noted. The CM said his government is on a mission to transform Telangana for better and has undertaken several marquee projects to realise the vision of Bangaru Telangana. Foxconns unit will help in generating large scale employment to youth and will help attract more such industries to the state." Rao emphasized that Telangana considers Taiwan as a natural partner and that the state is glad to be a part of Foxconns growth story. He called Foxconn's huge investment and the opportunity to create more than one lakh jobs like never before in Telangana 'commendable.

The state government is on a mission to transform Telangana for better and has undertaken several marquee projects to realise vision of 'Bangaru Telangana'. Foxconns unit will help in generating large scale employment to youth and will help in attracting more such industries to the State:," Said Telangana CM.

We will ensure that as many jobs as possible out of the one lakh to be created are available to the local Telangana youth. Assure Chairman Young Liu that the State Govt. will provide all kinds of support to Foxconn for its operations in Telangana," CM rao said further.

During his meeting with Chief Minister Sri K. Chandrashekar Rao, @HonHai_Foxconn Chairman, Mr. Young Liu has announced the company's decision to set up electronics manufacturing facilities in Hyderabad. pic.twitter.com/Epmox5pgfg  Telangana CMO (@TelanganaCMO) March 2, 2023

' The Chief Minister further said steps will be taken to ensure that one lakh jobs are available to the state's youth and assured Young Liu that his government will provide necessary support to Foxconn for its operations in the state. The Foxconn Chairman lauded the friendly industrial development eco system created in Telangana and expressed happiness over the progress achieved by the state in the industrial sector, especially in IT and related electronics sectors, in just eight years. Rao hosted lunch for the Young Liu and his team. Later in the evening, Liu along with Telangana Minister KT Rama Rao inaugurated T Works a prototyping facility here. Speaking to reporters, Liu said his company is looking at sites and is currently evaluating the kind of products to be made in Telangana. The amount of investment depends on the products they plan to make.

The investment is one of Foxconns biggest single outlays to date in India and underscores how Chinas at risk of losing its status as the worlds largest producer of consumer electronics. Apple and other US brands are leaning on their Chinese-based suppliers to explore alternative locations such as India and Vietnam. Its a rethink of the global supply chain thats accelerated during the pandemic and the war in Ukraine and could reshape the way global electronics are made.
The G20 foreign ministers' meeting on Thursday was unable to come out with a joint communique due to bitterly increasing rift between the US-led Western powers and Russia over the Ukraine conflict despite consistent efforts by host India to bridge the differences.

India as President of the G20 hosted the Foreign Ministers Meeting on Thursday in New Delhi, attended by US Secretary of State Antony Blinken, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, and Chinese Foreign Minister Qin Gang among counterparts from other G20 nations. Overall 40 delegations, including of 13 international organisations, participated in the meeting. Nine guest countries participating at the level of Foreign Ministers were Bangladesh, Egypt, Mauritius, Netherlands, Nigeria, Oman, Singapore, Spain and the United Arab Emirates.

At a media briefing, External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar said there were differences over the Ukraine conflict because of which the meeting could not agree on the joint communique, but noted that there was consensus on the bulk of the concerns including those relating to the developing countries.

"If we had a perfect meeting of minds on all issues and captured it fully, then obviously, it would have been a collective statement, but there were issues and I think the issues, I would say, very frankly, concerned the Ukraine conflict on which there were divergences," he said.

"So on the bulk of the issues, we were able to get an outcome document. There was a chair summary because there were differences on the Ukraine issue, which we could not reconcile between various parties who held differing positions," he said.

Though Jaishankar did not mention names of the countries opposed to the two paragraphs, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said at a press conference that Russia and China did not support the joint communique.

Jaishankar said it was just on two paragraphs "that we were not able to get everybody on the same page or same para as you might call it."

The Outcome Document at the end of the G20 Foreign Ministers meeting held in Delhi said supply chains of both food and agricultural products including fertilizers should be kept reliable, open and transparent.

It said G20 Foreign Ministers met in New Delhi on March 1 and 2 at a time when the world faces multi-dimensional challenges ranging from insufficient progress towards Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), climate change, pollution and biodiversity loss, to economic slowdown, debt distress, uneven pandemic recovery, growing poverty and inequality, food and energy insecurity and global supply chain disruptions, aggravated by geo-political tensions and conflicts.

"Meeting under India's G20 Presidency, with the theme 'Vasudhaiva Kutumbakam' - 'One Earth. One Family. One Future', the G20 Foreign Ministers deliberated upon current global challenges. They brought focus on strengthening multilateralism, food and energy security, ambitious climate and environmental action, deepening cooperation on sustainable development, counter-terrorism, counter-narcotics, global health, global talent pool, humanitarian assistance and disaster risk reduction, as well as gender equality and women's empowerment," the Outcome document said.

It said the global order has undergone dramatic changes since the Second World War due to economic growth and prosperity, decolonization, demographic dividends, technological achievements, emergence of new economic powers and deeper international cooperation.

"The United Nations must be responsive to the entire membership, faithful to its founding purposes and principles of its Charter and adapted to carrying out its mandate. In this context, we recall the Declaration on the Commemoration of the 75th anniversary of the United Nations (UNGA 75/1) which reaffirmed that our challenges are inter-connected and can only be addressed through reinvigorated multilateralism, reforms and international cooperation," it said.

G20 Foreign Ministers said the need for revitalized multilateralism to adequately address contemporary global challenges of the 21st Century, and to make global governance more representative, effective, transparent and accountable, has been voiced at multiple fora.

"In this context, a more inclusive and reinvigorated multilateralism and reform aimed at implementing the 2030 agenda is essential. We will step up efforts to make a meaningful contribution for the success of the SDG Summit in September 2023, COP28 in December 2023, and the Summit of the Future in 2024. We are supportive of further deepening cooperation between the G20 and regional partners, including African partners," it said.
Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis has blamed 'tragic human error' for the train collision just before midnight Tuesday that killed at least 48 people according to official estimates. CCTV footage of the accident captures the moment the fright train collided with the passenger train. Following public outrage over the incident, the transport minister of Greece Kostas Karamanlis has resigned from his position.

APR (LNN): Greece Train Crash



CCTV Footage of two trains had a head on collision in Greece. pic.twitter.com/tpdI8MkdxC  AnonHeel (@AnonHeel) March 1, 2023

The government of Greece has acknowledged the failures in the management of rail systems and the local station master also admitted negligence. After officials determined the human error" for the crash, the 59-year-old station manager was arrested.

The rescue workers worked all night in search of more survivors but the chances of finding more are reducing with time.

According to local sources, the warnings about the safety of railway lines were ignored for years. Amid public pressure, the transport minister resigned on Wednesday and Giorgos Gerapetritis is appointed as his replacement.

Gerapetritis on Thursday apologized to the families of the victims and promised a "complete evaluation of the political system and the state." "I want to say while looking these people straight in the eye, that there will be an inquiry and everything will be presented to Greek citizens," he said.

The restaurant car of the train erupted in flames after the collision and the temperatures inside reached 1,300 degrees Celsius, according to the fire department. Initially, the number of people on board was not clear, which complicated the efforts to account for the missing.

"It was a student train, full of kids... in their 20s," Costas Bargiotas, a senior orthopaedic doctor at Larissa General Hospital said as per the news agency AFP.

The doctors added that many bodies were charred beyond recognition and the victims were identified from their remains.

As the protests erupted outside the Athens office of Hellenic Train on Wednesday evening, the police used tear gas to disperse the protestors.

(With inputs from AFP)
With some overseas electricity utilities not accepting Indias certification of electrical equipment manufactured in the country, the union government is pulling out all the stops to promote Central Power Research Institute (CPRI) equipment in overseas markets including those of Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean) countries, said two people aware of the development.

This comes in the backdrop of Bangladesh Dhaka Electric Supply Company Limited (DESCO) that supplies electricity to the eastern neighbours capital not accepting CPRI certification in a global tender floated by it. At play is $1503.21 billion global electrical equipment market, of which China accounts for around $500 billion. The strategy involves sensitising heads of Indias foreign missions in the Asean countries about CPRI certification, that is carried out in accordance with national and international standards, and gives assurance that a product fulfils specified requirements. Asean countries include Indonesia, Vietnam, Thailand, Philippines, Myanmar, Malaysia, Cambodia, Brunei, Lao and Singapore.

Indian Electrical Equipment Manufacturing Industry expressed concerns regarding non-acceptance of CPRI test Certificates by certain overseas Utilities. In this context, Ministry of Power held a meeting on 16.02.2023 with Indian Missions/Embassies of the concerned countries. The challenges informed by Industry were shared with the Missions. In the meeting, the Credentials and Accreditations of CPRI along with its comparison with other International Laboratories were shared and it was informed that the facilities at CPRI laboratories are at par with the other International Laboratories," union power ministry said in an emailed response to Mint.

The Indian Missions have informed that they will also be taking up the matter with the concerned countries in order to resolve the issues," added in its response.

Power is a strategically important sector, and cross-border energy links is a key part of Prime Minister Narendra Modis neighbourhood-first policy, with includes building energy links to check Chinas growing influence. Indias energy diplomacy ranges from cross-border electricity trade to supplying petroleum products and setting up liquefied natural gas terminals. This also comes in the backdrop of the G20 summit to be held in September 2023, under Indias presidency, expected to pass a marquee declaration to ensure supply chain security, in the wake of supply disruptions in China.

The plan involves promoting CPRI in overseas market with potential for export of electrical equipments manufactured in India. It also involves CPRI to work with major utilities in identified countries," said a person aware of the development cited above who did not wish to be named.

This development assumes importance given that India is setting up dedicated Manufacturing Zones under the Atmanirbhar Bharat package, primarily aimed at curbing the use of Chinese-made equipment and attracting firms across power generation, distribution and transmission both in conventional and green energy spaces.

Last year, the Central Power Research Institute (CPRI) an autonomous Society under the Union Ministry of Power, was granted the prestigious accreditation from National Accreditation Board for Certifying Bodies (NABCB) - for certification of electrical equipment as per ISO/IEC 17065. This accreditation meant that Manufacturers who have obtained test Certificates from CPRI would be able to export their products without the requirement of retesting or authentication by any other body outside the country. This has provided a significant boost to the already robust indigenous development and manufacturing of electrical products in India and thereby strengthen Aatmanirbhar Bharat," union power ministry said in in its response.

As a result of various interventions, in the fiscal year of 2022, the value of electrical machinery and equipment exports from India amounted to nearly 758 billion Indian rupees. This was a significant increase from just 68 billion rupees in fiscal year 2014," union power ministry added in its response.

Queries emailed to the spokespersons of Indias ministry of external affairs, CPRI, DESCO and Bangladesh High Commission in New Delhi on Monday morning remained unanswered till press time.

With an eye on China, India has already notified cross-border electricity trading regulations, and is also working to have a regional power grid and market, which includes Myanmar, Bhutan, Bangladesh, Nepal and Sri Lanka. India is also moving ahead with its ambitious global electricity grid plan to take on Chinas Belt and Road Initiative. The global grid planOne Sun, One World, One Grid" (OSOWOG) has been spread across three phases. The first phase deals with the Middle East-South Asia-South-East Asia (MESASEA) interconnection for sharing green energy sources such as solar for meeting electricity needs, including peak demand. The second phase connects MESASEA grid with African power pools; the third and final phase is about global interconnection.

The global electrical equipment market grew from $1503.21 billion in 2022, expected to grow at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 8.5%. China accounts for about $ 400-500 billion market size whereas India still accounts for over USD 50-60 billion. The electrical equipment markets largest region is Asia Pacific (45% in 2021) followed by Western Europe (22% in 2021)," said lobby group Indian Electrical and Electronics Manufacturers Association (IEEMA) president Rohit Pathak.
The Lokayukta police on Friday raided the residence of BJP MLA Madaal Virupakshappa's son Prashanth Kumar and recovered 6 crore in cash. The action by Lokayukta police came a day after Prashanth Kumar was caught taking 40 lakh in bribe from a contractor. After receiving a complaint about the demand for a bribe, the anti-corruption wing of Lokayukta police laid a trap to catch Prashanth Kumar red-handed while taking the bribe.

Prashanth Kumar, a KAS officer, works as the chief accounts officer of the Bangalore Water Supply and Sewerage Board and is also chairman of Karnataka Soaps and Detergents Limited.

After receiving the complaint, Lokayukta acted on the information and deployed its personnel around the KSDL office. With the confirmation from its source, the police went to his office at KSDL and caught Prashanth red-handed while taking the bribe. They found three bags full of cash in his office.

Immediately after he was caught taking a bribe, the Lokayukta police raided Prashanth Kumar's house on Thursday evening and the searches continued till Friday.

The sources of Lokayukta claimed that Prashanth Kumar was taking the 'first installment of the bribe on behalf of his father. The sources alleged that the total amount demanded as a bribe was 81 lakh and the 40 lakh was just the first installment.

Karnataka Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai said that the trap laid by Lokayukta police is proof that the agency has been revived in the state to contain corruption. He also attacked the previous Congress regime and said that they created a separate anti-corruption bureau apart from the Lokayukta institution to cover up their wrong deeds.

"We have been repeatedly saying that we will conduct the impartial probe. Our stand in this case as well is that the independent Lokayukta institution will carry out an impartial investigation and whoever has done wrong will face action. There is no change in our stand," Bommai said.

"All the information and the money found there everything is now with the Lokayukta. Let an independent and justified investigation take place. Our objective is that the truth should come out like whose money it was and for what purpose it was meant," he added.

(With inputs from PTI)
New Delhi: Parle-Agros dairy beverage brand Smoodh crossed 685 crore in turnover in less than two years into its launch as the brand made inroads into the countrys rural markets.

In 2021the Mumbai based beverage maker re-entered the dairy beverages market with Smoodh flavoured milk price at 10 per 85ml pack targeting the mass end of the consumer basket. Smoodh has now grown to become a 685 crore brand, as of February 2023, said a top executive at the company.

This category has been dominated primarily with large packs, and high price points and that really ends up being a hurdle to actually expand the consumer base. The 10 price point has allowed us to actually take this category to new markets where flavoured milk had not really penetrated. We found that 50% of our business was coming from the rural segment," said Nadia Chauhan, joint managing director and CMO, Parle Agro. The product has a retail reach of over a million outlets pan-India.

When launched, Chauhan had said the brand was geared to target mass market consumers with its entry-level price point and draw more consumers into the dairy-beverages market. While the brand has continued to maintain the 10 price point, earlier this month, Parle Agro launched Smoodh fruit lassi at a price point of 10 for a carton pack and 15 for PET.

Launch of Smoodh fruit lassi is in line with making Smoodh a 5,000 crore brand by 2025, the company said earlier.

We have continued to maintain the 10 price point. Right now, with fruit lassi we have introduced the PET formatWe will continue to expand this space with newer pack format, within the 10, 15 and 20 price points as we keep going forward. The idea is to really be able to get more consumers to sort of taste and try new product categories," Chauhan said.

Parle-Agros beverage portfolio of fruit-based beverages, sparkling drinks and bottled water competes with beverage majors such as Coca-Cola, Dabur, PepsiCo, Amul and Britannia. It recently also on-boarded actor Dulquer Salmaan as the brand ambassador of Smoodh for markets in south India. Actor Varun Dhawan endorses the brand nationally.

At the moment, were completely geared up from production and capacity perspective for the short-and-mid term vision that we have for our dairy beverages. Were really looking at just being able to continue to build on what weve created with flavoured milk and also establish the new range of fruit smoothies that weve launched and also establish the new price point of 15 with our range of PET. We will also see our flavoured milk launch in PET shortly," Chauhan said.
In the wake of post-vote counting violence, the West Jaintia Hills district administration imposed a curfew in Sahsniang village, Meghalaya till next order. The district administration received information regarding the post-vote violence in Sahsniang village on Thursday, following which the decision was taken.

Also Read: Assembly polls Highlights: BJP wins Tripura and Nagaland, joins NPP in Meghalaya

"There is an apprehension that the violence may spread and intensify if left unattended and may result in the destruction of property and a possibility of a loss of lives," stated the order issued from the office of District Magistrate B.S. Sohliya on March 2

Also Read: Meghalaya CM likely to meet governor on Friday to stake claim to form govt

The order further informed about the imposition of curfew in the places from where incidence of violence were reported.

"I am satisfied that the news of the same is prejudicial to the maintenance of law and order. Whereas I am satisfied that curfew may be declared in these areas to ensure that the violence is stopped immediately and that public peace is restored in the area," the order said.

Also Read: N-E poll results show region is distant from neither 'Dilli' nor 'Dil': PM Modi

The West Jaintia Hills District administration IAS, BS Sohliya imposed the curfew under Section 144 Cr.PC. "In exercise of the powers conferred upon me under Section 144 Cr. PC, I, B.S. Sohliya, IAS, District Magistrate, West Jaintia Hills District do hereby imposed CURFEW in Sahsniang, village with immediate effect and until further orders," the order stated.

Notably, the vote counting in Meghalaya for assembly polls was done on Thursday. The National People's Party emerged as the single-largest party winning 26 seats in the state. The BJP has extended its support to the NPP to form the government in the state. Earlier, BJP and NPP came together to form the government in previous tenure.

In Nagaland, BJP created history by sweeping polls and returning to power in Tripura. With this, BJP becomes the single biggest party in the region. The BJP has secured a total of 12 seats in Nagaland. Whereas, the Nationalist Democratic Progressive Party (NDPP) secured 25 seats.

Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) won seven seats, National People's Party (NPP) won five seats, Naga Peoples Front, Lok Janshakti Party (Ram Vilas) and Republican Party of India (Athawale) won two seats each. Nitish Kumar's Janata Dal (United) got one seat in the state.

(With inputs from ANI)
Quad Group on Friday announced the establishment of a Working Group on Counter-Terrorism in sharpening its focus to combat terror. A joint statement of the Quad leaders, comprising the US, Japan, Australia, and India, was issued in New Delhi today, according to the news agency ANI.

The statement denounced the use of terrorist proxies and committed to promoting accountability for terrorist attacks including the 26/11 attack in Mumbai, "which claimed lives of citizens from all Quad countries".

Heavily-armed terrorists from Pakistan struck Mumbai on November 26, 2008, in which at least 174 people, including 26 foreign nationals, were killed and over 300 people injured.

"We announce the establishment of the Quad Working Group on Counter-Terrorism, which will explore cooperation amongst the Quad and with Indo-Pacific partners, to counter new and emerging forms of terrorism, radicalization to violence and violent extremism," the statement read.

It noted that terrorism has become increasingly diffuse, aided by terrorists' adaptation to, and the use of emerging and evolving technologies such as unmanned aerial systems (UAS) and the internet, including social media platforms for recruitment and incitement to commit terrorist acts, as well as for the financing, planning, and preparation of terrorist activities, ANI reported.

The group also welcomed the focused discussions on these themes at the Quad Counter-Terrorism Policy meeting and tabletop exercise hosted by Australia in October 2022 and looked forward to its first meeting in the United States in March 2023 to continue discussions on this global issue.

Earlier during a panel discussion on "The Quad Squad: Power and Purpose of the Polygon," External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar said that new things have come out during the Quad Foreign Ministers' Meeting.

"If you ask me what were the new things which came out today, we agreed on a counter-terrorism working group. We agreed on cooperating more closely with Indian Ocean Rim Association. We agreed that we had earlier worked out a Humanitarian Assistance and Disaster Relief (HADR) Quad initiative," Jaishankar said.

"We are pleased to note the progress made under the Quad Humanitarian Assistance and Disaster Relief Partnership (HADR) for the Indo-Pacific, since our last meeting in September 2022, when we signed the Guidelines for the Partnership," he added.

(With ANI inputs)
India is hosting a Quad Foreign Ministers' meeting in New Delhi today, March 3. External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar will chair the meeting on Friday, while the Foreign Minister of Australia, the Foreign Minister of Japan, and the Secretary of State of the United States of America will participate.

It comes as an opportunity for the ministers to continue their discussions held at their last meeting in New York in September 2022. The foreign ministers will exchange views on recent developments in the Indo-Pacific region and regional issues of mutual interest, guided by their vision of a free, open, and inclusive Indo-Pacific, according to the news agency ANI.

In the meeting, they will also review progress made by the Quad in pursuit of its constructive agenda and implementation of initiatives to address contemporary priorities of the region.

United States Secretary of State Antony Blinken, Foreign Affairs Minister of Japan Hayashi Yoshimasa, Australian Foreign Minister Penny Wong, and Indian External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar will participate in the Quad Summit.

Earlier in February, the Quadrilateral Security Dialogue, or Quad comprising India, the United States, Japan, and Australia launched a public campaign 'Quad Cyber Challenge' to improve cyber security across their nations. It invited Internet users across the Indo-Pacific and beyond to become part of the challenge and practice "safe and responsible cyber habits.

The 'Quad Cyber Challenge' shows the continuous efforts of Quad nations to bolster cyber security awareness and action and to foster a more secure and resilient cyber ecosystem to benefit economies and users, ANI reported.

In an official statement, the National Security Council Secretariat said that internet users are being invited across the Indo-Pacific and beyond to join the challenge and pledge to practice safe and responsible cyber habits.

The Challenge reflects the continuing Quad efforts to strengthen individuals' and communities' cyber security awareness and action, as well as to foster a more secure and resilient cyber ecosystem to benefit economies and users everywhere," it further stated.

After the Quad Senior Cyber Group meeting in New Delhi on January 30 and 31, the Group said it was working on identifying best security practices for software services and products and minimum critical infrastructure cyber security requirements.

The Group also endorsed the Counter Ransomware Initiative (CRI) efforts (of which Quad countries are members) to drive international cooperation and joint action to tackle ransomware including through information and intelligence exchanges, sharing best practices regarding policy and legal authority frameworks, and collaboration between law enforcement and cyber authorities to conduct counter ransomware activities, it added.

(With ANI inputs)
As US President Joe Biden met German Chancellor Olaf Scholz on Friday, Russia has warned against more Western arms for Ukraine. The meeting between Biden and Scholz comes as both countries are vocally voicing their concerns about China getting involved and supporting Russia with military support against Ukraine.

While warning against the arms supply to Ukraine, the Kremlin spokesperson expressed concerns about the well-being of citizens of the US and Germany and said it will prolong the conflict.

"(Arms deliveries) place a significant burden on the economies of these countries and negatively affect the well-being of citizens of these countries, including Germany," Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters.

"It is obvious that this will prolong the conflict and have sad consequences for the Ukrainian people," he added.

The leaders from many countries have expressed concerns about China getting involved in the Ukrainian conflict with Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelensky even warning that it could trigger another world war. US Secretary of State Antony Blinken has also warned China on several occasions against providing any kind of material support to Ukraine.

During his speech in German Parliament on Thursday, Scholz called on China to use your influence in Moscow to press for the withdrawal of Russian troops, and do not supply weapons to the aggressor Russia."

US and Germany have worked together to provide Ukraine with military and humanitarian assistance in its fight against Russia. Some friction also erupted between both nations after Germany displayed some hesitance in supplying tanks to Ukraine.

Scholz agreed to send main battle tanks to Ukraine, only after Biden announced the supply of American tanks. The efforts are still in trouble as European countries are facing problems to deliver the tanks they promised.

We're proud of the collective efforts that we've taken together," John Kirby, a White House national security spokesman, said Thursday.
Nairobi  Police officers attached to the Ethics and Anti-Corruption (EACC) have arrested Tana River County's Chief Finance Officer with Sh2.7 million in cash.

Mariam Abdalla Bunu was arrested on Tuesday at Malindi International Airport while on her way to Nairobi for official duty.

Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission (EACC) said she had not declare the money and failed to offer any explanation upon questioning.

"The Chief Officer was unable to explain at the Airport and did not declare as required," the agency stated on Thursday.

The EACC said it suspected that the money was corruptly obtained from Tana River County.

Bunu was escorted to EACC Malindi Offices to record a statement.

The EACC said it was investigating Bunu for possible embezzlement of public funds, abuse of office and dealing with suspect property.

The law required any person entering or leaving Kenya to declare monies in cash above Sh500,000.

"Any person leaving or entering Kenya may take out or bring into Kenya currency up to a maximum of five hundred thousand (KSh. 500,000) shillings or the equivalent of five thousand United States dollars (US$ 5,000) in foreign currency," the Central Bank of Kenya (Declaration of Currency) Regulations, state in part.

"Any person in possession of currency exceeding the limits specified in regulation 2 shall declare the amount to the Customs Officer at the point of entry or departure," the regulations further provide.
The Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) will be auctioning off 22 properties belonging to six companies including MPS Group, Tower Infotech, Vibgyor Group, Prayag Group, Multipurpose BIOS India Group and Waris Finance International Group, with a total reserve price of 91 crore, in a bid to recover investors' money. The auction will take place on March 3 through online mode from 11 am to 1 pm.

The properties being auctioned include land parcels, storied buildings, flats, and a commercial space situated across West Bengal, according to SEBI. Of the 22 properties, 11 belong to MPS Group, three each belong to Multipurpose BIOS India Group and Vibgyor Group, two each belong to Prayag Group and Tower Infotech Group, and one property belongs to Waris Finance International Group. Quikr Realty has been engaged by SEBI to assist in the sale of these properties.

These companies had raised funds from investors without complying with regulatory norms, prompting SEBI to take action. Earlier, SEBI had attached some of their properties after directives asking them to refund investors money along with interest did not materialise. In this matter, the markets regulator had also attached demat and bank accounts.

Also Read: Short circuit: After SEBI ban, Arshad Warsi claims to have zero knowledge about stocks

Going by SEBI's orders, MPS Group of companies includes MPS Greenery Developers that collected 1,520 crore from investors through illegal Collective Investment Schemes (CIS). Prayag Infotech had made an offer of redeemable preference shares between 2007-2008 and 2011-12 and mobilised at least 131.37 crore from over 1.57 lakh investors. Vibgyor Allied Infrastructure had issued optionally fully convertible debentures to 49,562 investors in 2009 and raised 61.76 crore.

Tower Infotech had raised nearly 46 crore from more than 49,000 investors through issuance of non-convertible debentures (NCDs) and redeemable preference shares between 2005 and 2010. Multi Purpose Bios collected 5.97 crore from more than 1,460 people through redeemable preference shares between the financial year 2007-08 and 2011-12, and Waris Finance had raised 5.12 crore by issuing NCDs from 2010-12.

Also Read: How Axis MF fraud case was executed

SEBI has stated that the bidders should make their own independent enquiries regarding the encumbrances, title of properties put on auction and claims, among others, prior to submitting their bids.

SEBI has also announced that it will auction a flat belonging to Uma Saminathan on February 23 for a reserve price of 51.5 lakh through online mode. The flat is located in Tamil Nadu. The recovery proceedings have been initiated against Saminathan in the matter of Pyramid Saimira Theatre Ltd.

(With agency inputs)

ABOUT THE AUTHOR Sounak Mukhopadhyay Sounak Mukhopadhyay, who also goes by the name Sounak Mukherjee, has been producing digital news since 2012. He's worked for the International Business Times, The Inquisitr, and Moneycontrol in the past. He's also contributed to Free Press Journal and TheRichest with feature articles. He covers news for a wide range of subjects including business, finance, economy, politics and social media. Before working with digital news publications, he worked as a freelance content writer. Read more from this author
The World Bank and India on Friday signed two complementary loans of $500 million each to support and enhance the country's healthcare infrastructure.

The combined financing of $1 billion (about 8,200 crore) by World Bank will support Indias flagship Pradhan Mantri-Ayushman Bharat Health Infrastructure Mission (PM-ABHIM).

The Pradhan Mantri-Ayushman Bharat Health Infrastructure Mission (PM-ABHIM) launched in October 2021, to improve the public healthcare infrastructure across the country, the agency said in a statement.

In addition to this, one of the loans will prioritize delivery of health service in seven states including Andhra Pradesh, Kerala, Meghalaya, Odisha, Punjab, Tamil Nadu, and Uttar Pradesh, it said.

The agreement was signed by Rajat Kumar Mishra, Additional Secretary, Department of Economic Affairs and World Bank India country director Auguste Tano Kouame, it said.

The Covid-19 pandemic brought to the fore the urgent need for pandemic preparedness and health system strengthening around the world and was a stark reminder that pandemic preparedness is a global public good, said Auguste Tano Kouame.

The two projects are supporting Indias decision to increase the resilience and preparedness of the countrys health systems against future pandemics, it said. World Bank said that this will be of great benefit for the population of the states participating in the projects and will generate positive spillovers for other states.

Indias performance in health has improved over time. According to the World Bank estimates, Indias life expectancyat 69.8 in 2020, up from 58 in 1990is higher than the average for the countrys income level.

The under-five mortality rate (36 per 1,000 live births), infant mortality rate (30 per 1,000 live births), and maternal mortality ratio (103 per 100,000 live births) are all close to the average for Indias income level, reflecting significant achievements in access to skilled birth attendance, immunizations, and other priority services.

Despite these advances in the health of the Indian population, COVID-19 has underscored the need for revitalizing, reforming, and developing capacity for core public health functions, as well as for improving the quality and comprehensiveness of health service delivery, it said.

(with inputs from PTI)
Los Angeles (LA) Tourism, the non-profit sales and marketing organization of the west coast city in the US, expects to welcome 110,000 visitors from India this year, a sharp increase from 80,000 in 2022. However, it will be only in 2024 when the figure is expected to top the pre-covid record of 130,000 in 2019.

Chief executive Adam Burke, on his first visit to India since setting up the LA Tourism office in Mumbai in 2019, is hopeful that India will rank among the top five source countries for inbound travellers in the next three years. India is currently ninth on the list. In the next five years, the number of visitors will grow to half a million and one million in the next decade, he said. To boost air connectivity, the organization also met with the Tata group after Air Indias historic aircraft order.

India is the fastest emerging travel and tourism market on the planet if you look at the growth curve. Right now, were expecting that well see roughly almost $300 million in visitor spending from India this year, which will grow to almost $350 million next year, which will be a full recovery in the market. But that is just a fraction of the potential for the market," Burke said. So when I look forward, five years down the road, my expectation is that we will probably start to approach 500,000 annual visitors from India. I think its very conceivable that within the next 10 years, it will easily exceed a million visitors a year." He said the lack of a direct flight from India is one a major hurdle to unlocking the potential.

We do not have a non-stop service. Besides the visa processing issue this is an impediment to exponential growth from India. We were supposed to get a non-stop service in 2020, but then the world came to a halt. Given how lucrative the LA route is, were optimistic that well see non-stop service."
A top Democratic Senator has said that the absence of a US Ambassador to India for more than two years now is an embarrassment.

Eric Garcetti, 52, a former Mayor of Los Angeles, was nominated by Biden for US Ambassador to India in July 2021. His nomination was not brought to the Senate floor for a vote as the ruling Democratic Party did not have enough support to get him through. Recently in January 2023, Biden had re-nominated Eric Garcetti as an ambassador to India.

While speaking to PTI about the issue, Senator Mark Warner, Chairman of the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence said, "It is an embarrassment that we say this is one of the most valuable relationships in the world, and yet we've not appointed an ambassador."

Warner further added that, I think that the message was relayed. I think our acting Charles affair is doing a good job."

Warner is also Co-Chair of the Senate India Caucus, the largest and only country-specific caucus in the Senate. "One other thing our Indian friends have said is, you say these things (about strong ties with India), but you don't even have an ambassador. Now that (confirmation) has been caught up in domestic politics, but I think we all came away committed that Mr. Garcetti, who's been nominated by the president, needs to have a vote," he told PTI.

If he gets in, great. If he doesn't get in, we need to have an equally qualified, competent person right behind. We cannot continue this relationship without a Senate confirmed ambassador here. It is disrespectful if we don't do that," Warner said in response to a question," he told PTI.

Earlier, in December, White House had also said that Garcetti is well-qualified to serve as the US Ambassador to India. The statement from the White House had come days after influential senator Chuck Grassley opposed Garcettis nomination as he faced an allegation of sexual harassment by one of his staff members. India currently chairs G20, resulting in scores of diplomatic activities between the two countries, and the Biden administration wants to have its envoy in New Delhi at the earliest.

White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre had told reporters at that a diplomat in India is a priority. As you know, this is a priority and continues to be a priority for us. Mayor Garcetti is well-qualified to serve in this vital role," she had said.

According to CNN, for more than a year, Garcetti's nomination to be US ambassador to India announced in July 2021 was still in limbo. His nomination was been held up for months because of concerns among senators on both sides about allegations that he ignored alleged sexual harassment and bullying by one of his former senior political aides. Garcetti has repeatedly denied that he ignored those allegations

Recently, Senate Foreign Relations Committee Chairman Bob Menendez scheduled a vote on his nomination on February 28. However, Republican Senator Marco Rubio placed a hold on his nomination. The vote by the committee has now been postponed till March 8.

"One of these nominees has ignored credible sexual assault accusations in his prior office. I will not turn a blind eye to these absurd nominations, which will hasten Americas decline," said Rubio, who is the vice chair of Senate Select Committee on Intelligence.

(With inputs from PTI)
With the Russia-Ukraine conflict recently marked its first anniversary on February 24, 2023, Russian President Vladimir Putin is now planning mass suicidal attacks" on Ukrainians, a report by Mirror has claimed.

The report has cited confidential assessment of Russias invasion of Ukraine which claimed that Putin's attack is allegedly trapped in a rut caused by alarming military weakness, failure, inability, death and injury.

In this one year, both the sides saw over tens of thousands civilian deaths and injuries, millions of internal or external displacements and devastations in cities and towns. According to the UN estimates, over 8 civilians have been killed in the bloodiest conflict.

Also Read: China shores up Russia, Pakistan- two nations isolated by the West

According to report, a western expert on Putins Russia has warned of three scenarios, the first being Russian military action threatening more of Russias neighbours with attacks.

As per the expert, the second scenario could be if Ukrainian military gets massive speeding up of arms delivery to the country by the west while the third scenario could be the collapse of Russia's invasion following a creeping Russian military stagnation and domestic loss of faith in Putins war," as stated by Mirror.

The latest assessment, which is provided to western governments, as per the report states, Nowhere have the Russians been able to mass force densities to mount an effective offensive. has developed over the past few weeks is more of the same", i.e. grinding attrition stepped up."

It further stated that So far, the Russians have shown that they cannot successfully organise a combined weapons attack or offer sufficient logistical support for a breakthrough.

It added that the Putin army has not practised this for 30 years and it appears to be beyond their ability.

The main ground forces tactic remains the near-suicidal mass infantry attack with inadequately trained troops under cover of heavy artillery," the assessment stated as quoted by Mirror.

However, this is not the first time such a threat has been interpreted. Earlier too the threat of nuclear war was thrown by Putin. Recently in January, an ally of President Vladimir Putin had warned NATO that a defeat of Russia in Ukraine could trigger a nuclear war, while the head of the Russian Orthodox Church said the world would end if the West tried to destroy Russia.

Such apocalyptic rhetoric is intended to deter the US-led NATO military alliance from getting even more involved in the war, on the eve of a meeting of Ukraine's allies to discuss sending Kyiv more weapons.

The Kremlin chief has sought in recent months to gird Russians for a much tougher battle while promising eventual victory in a war that the leaders of the West say they will never let him win. Russia and the United States, by far the largest nuclear powers, hold around 90% of the world's nuclear warheads.

In the war entered second year, it is also seeing China trying to take more prominent role into the conflict. Though Beijing affirmed to be neutral in the matter, there are claims that Beijing mulling to sell weapons to Russia. Moreover, President Xi's upcoming meeting with Moscow allies has further thrown more fuel to the fire. US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said last month that the US had evidence that China was considering helping arm Russia. German Chancellor Olaf Scholz also warned China not to arm Russia in its war on Ukraine and expressed disappointment that the government in Beijing has dialed down its condemnation of the Kremlins aggression

Recently, Russia's foreign minister Sergey Lavrov during the G20 Foreign Ministers meet said, This invasion (of Ukraine as per the West) reflects the reaction to the war the West was preparing for many years and that is why it was arming the Ukrainian regime", hinting at the supply of weapons by the West to the East European country.
Once the third-largest city in the Roman empire, Antakya has withstood the rise and fall of civilizations for 2,400 years, building back after wars, sieges and plagues. Now it faces a challenge that rivals any in its history after suffering near-total destruction from last months earthquakes.
The green lights that occur oh-so-many times on your Instagram reels must not be an alien to you. Several googling later one must have figured out these are the northern lights or the shimmer of the aurora borealis often seen in the sky of Iceland.

But what if we told you, the northern lights, or the shimmer of the aurora borealis has transgressed the boundaries of the arctics, the Iceland and now been spotted in more countries?

Exciting, right?

In recent days, photographers and night sky watchers have been capturing the colorful display further south (or north if youre in the southern hemisphere) than usual  places like the state of Colorado, the southeast of England and New South Wales, according to a report by CNN.

Pilots have also reportedly circled their planes mid-flight to give their passengers a closer look at the phenomenon.

How auroras occur?

Auroras are caused by activity on the sun  particularly a type of solar storm called a coronal mass ejection, which emits electrified gas and particles into space.

When these electrified particles reach magnetic field lines at the north and south poles, which usually takes around three days, they enter into Earths atmosphere.

Clear weather can also help make the auroras more visible.

Why are the Shimmer colourful?

Once there, the particles and energy interact with gases in the atmosphere, producing different colored light in the sky. Oxygen gives off green, the most commonly seen color, as well as red light, according to Aurora Watch at Lancaster University.

Nitrogen glows blue and purple, according to NASA.

How frequent are auroras and where can they be seen?

Over the next few years, the northern lights might appear further south more regularly, CNN quoted Robert Massey, executive director at the Royal Astronomical Society.

The sun goes through an 11-year solar cycle where the flare activity level fluctuates. Cycle 25, the latest one, began in December 2019 with a solar minimum  a period when the sun is still active, but its quieter and has fewer sunspots.

A coronal hole high speed stream arrived this evening combined with a rather fast coronal mass ejection leading to #Aurora sightings across the UK@MadMike123 in North Uist@Jon9tea in North Wales@paulhaworth in Cambridgeshire@alex_murison in Shropshire pic.twitter.com/8JhqxPbcFK  Met Office (@metoffice) February 26, 2023

Were now approaching a solar maximum, expected to occur in July 2025, which will be a time when there are a large number of sunspots and increased solar activity.

Massey said the solar events that cause auroras will become more common as we head toward the solar maximum.

Other planets in the solar system also experience auroras.

Jupiter is bathed in spectacular color at its poles, although its powerful auroras are caused by a different mechanism that those on Earth, according to research published in 2021.
Back in 1997, Geri Halliwell went and did the unthinkable - she puckered up and planted a kiss right on Prince Charles' cheek. For those of you not familiar with Royal protocol and etiquette, that's a big no-no.

The moment became a scandalous bit of pop culture history and The Spice Girls were left with a bit of a conundrum. Would they dare one another to follow in Ginger Spice's footsteps? Nope. Instead, they're avoiding Charles altogether.

Fast forward to the present times and Charles - now the King - is gearing up for his coronation in May. All the big British pop stars were on the invite list: Adele, Harry Styles, Robbie Williams, Elton John, and of course, The Spice Girls. But here's the thing: they all said "no thanks".

Also Read: Charles pushed Queen Elizabeth for 17 years to make Camilla Queen

Speculations have been rife that the Prince of Wales had requested the Spice Girls for a grand performance, complete with a reunion. The Sun, however, reported that all the members turned down the invitation. Similarly, news outlets reported that Robbie Williams also declined the offer, citing his jam-packed schedule.

Elton John, who was a dear friend of Princess Diana, was also approached to perform at Prince Charles' coronation. However, as per media reports, the celebrated musician had to decline due to issues with his tour. Elton was reportedly one of the first people to comfort Diana after her separation from Charles in the early 1990s. He even performed a special version of "Candle in the Wind" at Diana's funeral in 1997.

Also Read: Camilla goes against Queen Elizabeth, refuses Queen Consort title

It's a far cry from the days when musicians would clamour for the opportunity to perform at a Royal event. But, for many millennials and Gen Zs in the UK, Royalism just doesn't sit well. Take Adele, for example. She's all about representing her working-class roots from Tottenham, which is one of the most ethnically diverse areas in the country. She's got bigger fish to fry than playing for a bunch of Royals.

Meg, who runs a big-time music PR company, reckons that for artists like Adele and Harry Styles, telling stories is more important than playing at some fancy coronation, she told Rolling Stone. The thing is, these kinds of events are etched into the history books, so it's a big deal. You can bet there's a ton of PR talk going on about whether it's a good idea for artists to perform for the Royals or not.

Also Read: King Charles takes away Queen Elizabeths wedding gift to Harry-Meghan, their UK home

So, there you have it. The snubbing of Prince Charles' coronation is just another sign of the changing times. The younger generation is all about inclusivity and diversity, and aligning themselves with those values is just as important as making music.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR Sounak Mukhopadhyay Sounak Mukhopadhyay, who also goes by the name Sounak Mukherjee, has been producing digital news since 2012. He's worked for the International Business Times, The Inquisitr, and Moneycontrol in the past. He's also contributed to Free Press Journal and TheRichest with feature articles. He covers news for a wide range of subjects including business, finance, economy, politics and social media. Before working with digital news publications, he worked as a freelance content writer. Read more from this author
King Charles has allegedly been campaigning for years to have his wife, Camilla, officially recognized as Queen, according to Christopher Andersen, author of "The King: The Life of Charles III". This comes after media reports suggested that Buckingham Palace would describe Camilla as "Queen" rather than "Queen Consort".

Andersen, who spoke to insiders about Queen Elizabeth IIs eldest son, claims that Charles has been pleading with the late Queen for 17 years to endorse Camilla as Queen and not just "Queen Consort," a title that has never really existed. The king's wife, while being his consort, is known simply as the Queen, Andersen said.

Camilla's title has long been a source of controversy due to her relationship with Charles, which was a contributing factor in the breakdown of his marriage to Princess Diana. The late princess's sons, William and Harry, allegedly believed that Charles would honour his original pledge not to have Camilla recognised as Queen out of respect for their mother.

Also Read: Camilla goes against Queen Elizabeth, refuses Queen Consort title

Despite support from Queen Elizabeth II, many in Britain have struggled to forgive Charles for his admitted infidelity and long-time links to Camilla, which led to the end of his marriage to Diana. The princess died in a Paris car crash in 1997, five years after her public split from Charles.

After her affair with Charles was made public, Camilla faced intense backlash and never received the title of Princess of Wales. She made it clear she wanted to be Charles' "Princess Consort" when he became king when they got married. Since then, Camilla's popularity has increased.

Also Read: King Charles takes away Queen Elizabeths wedding gift to Harry-Meghan, their UK home

In a letter written in February 2022, Queen Elizabeth II stated that she supported calling Camilla "Queen Consort". This announcement was a surprise to many, as it went against what was previously believed to be the Queen's wishes. However, it has now been reported that Camilla, instead of being called Queen Consort, is likely to be called Queen.

According to Andersen, Charles never intended to keep his promise to the British people, who have always held a special place in their hearts for Diana. Andersen claimed that the British press and public were gullible on the issue. Charles and Camilla have eventually gotten everything they always wanted; he told Fox News Digital.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR Sounak Mukhopadhyay Sounak Mukhopadhyay, who also goes by the name Sounak Mukherjee, has been producing digital news since 2012. He's worked for the International Business Times, The Inquisitr, and Moneycontrol in the past. He's also contributed to Free Press Journal and TheRichest with feature articles. He covers news for a wide range of subjects including business, finance, economy, politics and social media. Before working with digital news publications, he worked as a freelance content writer. Read more from this author
Late last year, Chinese leader Xi Jinping confronted a wave of protests in cities across the country decrying his zero-tolerance Covid-19 controlsa rare rebuke of his centralization of power that included, in some cases, calls for him to step down.
Nairobi  The Kenya Human Rights Commission (KHRC) has asked for a status update on an investigation into a deadly blast at a mine in Nandi that claimed three lives on January 23.

The rights commission made the request on Thursday in a letter addressed to the Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI) and the Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions (ODPP).

The collapse of mining shafts in Nandi's Tinderet Sub-County resulted in six injuries.

KHRC said that the victims, who were employees of Karebe Gold Mining, were working in the underground tunnel at the time of the explosion.

The Commission is seeking information on the status of the DCI file, including whether investigations were carried out and whether charges of murder were recommended against the suspects.

It was also requesting information on the current position of the file that was forwarded to the ODPP for further action in court, and why there has been a delay in bringing charges.

3-day ultimatum

Brian Olang, KHRC's Associate Human Rights Monitoring and Rapid Response Programme, urged the offices to respond within three days, failing which the Commission will explore other legal options to compel action.

"Therefore, we write on behalf of the victims whose family members died due to the deadly blast with great concern seeking answers to pertinent questions," he said.

Police made ten arrests in connection with the blast on February 7 and held them at Songhor Police Station for questioning.

Alfred Magut, Simon Cheruiyot, Henry Kiptoo Ruto, Wilson Arap Tirgoi, Philemon Kipchumba Too, Shadrack Kipkoech Melilei, Daniel Kiplagat, Kennedy Kipkoech Kurgat, Zakayo Kimeli Korir and Hillary Kipchirchir had reportedly fled their home and were smoked out from a hideout following a tip off from the public.

The ten were arrested a day after they were charged in absentia during a virtual court sitting presided by Chief Magistrate sitting in Kapsabet.

The court subsequently allowed the detention of suspects for 14 days to allow further investigations and later, on February 24, freed them on a Sh100,000 cash bail each with an alternative of Sh200,000 bond.
Transmission of deadly coronavirus, including severe delta variant, is seen among dogs and now, many scientists are worried that new variants can emerge if it is not tackled tactfully.

Omicron and Delta infection among dog

A recent study conducted by South Korean researchers has found that certain variants of Covid-19, including the severe Delta variant, can be transmitted between dogs. Led by Professor Song Dae-sub of Seoul National Universitys College of Veterinary Medicine and researcher Yoo Kwang-soo of Jeonbuk National University, the study is the first of its kind to find transmission among dogs.

In the study, Beagle dogs were infected with the Delta and Omicron variants of the virus through their noses. After 24 hours, the infected dogs were kept with virus-naive dogs in large animal isolators. Over the course of a week, the researchers observed both the infected and virus-naive dogs, but could not detect any visible symptoms. However, after 10 days of cohousing, the lung tissue of the dogs was collected for histopathologic examination and viral load measurement. An analysis of the lungs showed microscopic lesions were present in both the infected and transmission canines.

"Our results demonstrate that the dogs were susceptible to infection with and could transmit both strains to other dogs through direct contact," the study found.

More Covid variants may arise

Now, scientists worry that that Covid infection transmitting between species can give rise to new variants.

If infection between species and individuals is repeated, the possibility of another variant increases," professor Song was quoted by the Korean Herald as saying.

It is time to consider the use of animal vaccines to prevent the reverse zoonosis of pets."

The study also found that proliferative viruses can be spread through dogs nasal discharge. The researchers suggest that pet vaccinations should be actively considered to prevent animal-to-human infection. According to the study, Sars-CoV-2 or Middle East respiratory syndrome (Mers-CoV) can be transmitted to other species, and the team has suggested that the use of animal vaccines should be considered to prevent the reverse zoonosis of pets.

The study was funded by the Korea Centres for Disease Control and Prevention and was published by the United States Centre for Disease Control and Prevention. The research team has warned that if infection between species and individuals is repeated, the possibility of another variant increases. Therefore, it is time to consider the use of animal vaccines to prevent the reverse zoonosis of pets.
In connection the tragic train accident in Greece, the authorities on Thursday released dispatch audio recordings that appear to show one of the train drivers being instructed to ignore a red light.

Proceed through red traffic light exit until traffic light entry of Neon Poron," the station master is heard saying, a CNN report cited.

Vasilis, am I good to go?" the train driver responds, to which the train master says Go, go."

In a second conversation, the station master can be heard ordering an employee to keep one of the trains on the same track.

Shall I turn it now?" the employee asks.

No, no, because 1564 is on this route," the station master says.

The station master who gave the instruction has been arrested and charged with mass deaths through negligence and causing grievous bodily harm through negligence. He initially blamed the collision on a technical fault, but later admitted to "making a mistake".

The lawyer for the 59-year-old station master said his client has admitted partial responsibility for the crash, but stressed there were other factors at play. "My client has assumed his share of responsibility. But we must not focus on a tree when there is a forest behind it," lawyer Stefanos Pantzartzidis said on Thursday.

Massive protest in Athens

On Tuesday evening, a head-on collision between a passenger train and a freight train near the city of Larissa in Greece left 57 people dead and another 48 in hospital. The incident has sparked anger across the country, with protesters taking to the streets and a rail workers' union going on strike. The transport minister has resigned in the wake of the tragedy.

Protesters have gathered outside the headquarters of Greek rail company Hellenic Train in Athens in a demonstration organized by student and worker unions. The protest has been largely peaceful, although there were clashes between demonstrators and police on Wednesday.

Most of the passengers involved in the accident were young, according to a local hospital. The incident has raised concerns about railway safety in Greece and led to calls for greater investment in the sector
India on Friday rubbished Pakistan's comments that the current government is punishing Kashmiris by demolishing residential homes and terminating land leases to deprive Kashmiris of their livelihoods. Using its rights in the United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC) to respond, the Indian representative called it to be "malicious propaganda" against India and asserted that Pakistan is obsessed with India.

India's representative Seema Pujani, who was speaking at the council, said, an NDTV report cited, "Pakistan's obsession with India while its population battle for their lives, livelihood and freedom is an indication of the state's misplaced priorities. I would advise its leadership and officials to focus their energies on working for the benefit of their own population instead of baseless propaganda."

This comes in response to Pakistan's Minister of State for Foreign Affairs Hina Rabbani Khar's comments. Khar on Thursday had said "political expediency has condoned the Hindutva regime to dehumanise the Kashmiri people by falsely equating their legitimate pursuit of rights with the canard of terrorism."

"The Indian occupying authorities have stepped up collective punishment of Kashmiris by demolishing residential homes and terminating land leases to deprive Kashmiris of their livelihoods," Khar said.

Meanwhile, Pujani also condemned Turkish representative's comments on issues related to Jammu and Kashmir.

"We regret the comments made by Turkiye on a matter that is an internal affair of India and advise it to refrain from making unsolicited comments on our internal matters," Seema Pujani said.

"As regards the OIC statement, we reject the unwarranted references to the Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir. The fact is that the entire territories of the Union Territories of Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh have been, are, and shall always be part of India. Pakistan is in illegal occupation of Indian territory. Instead of calling upon its member Pakistan to give up state-sponsored terrorism and to lift its occupation of Indian territory, OIC has let Pakistan hijack and misuse its platform for carrying out its nefarious agenda of engaging in malicious propaganda against India," she added.
Elvis Francois was lost at sea for more than 20 days with nothing to eat but ketchup and seasoning. When he closed his eyes and went to sleep, he mostly dreamed of limes.
A court in Belarus sentenced Nobel Peace Prize winner and human rights activist Ales Bialiatski to 10 years in prison, the latest effort in a campaign to silence critics of the countrys authoritarian ruler President Alexander Lukashenko.
Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich raked up a controversy by saying that the Palestinian village of Huwara should be wiped out." This comes days after violence erupted in the occupied West Bank villages and several houses were torched fire following the death of two Israeli brothers.

I think the village of Huwara needs to be wiped out. I think the state of Israel should do it," was quoted by Israeli media on Wednesday. Smotrich also look after the civil administration in the occupied West Bank.

Ned Price, the spokesperson of the state department called the comments by the finance minister irresponsible. "They were repugnant. They were disgusting," Price said. "And just as we condemn Palestinian incitement to violence, we condemn these provocative remarks that also amount to incitement to violence," he added.

Later, Smotrich released a statement claiming that the media has misinterpreted his words. The minister, however, did not retract his statement or issue any sort of apology for it.

"I spoke about how Huwara is a hostile village that has become a terrorist outpost" where attacks against Jews are launched daily, Smotrich said. He added that it is forbidden to take laws into one's own hands.

"I support a disproportionate response by the (Israeli military) and the security forces to every act of terrorism," including the "deportation of the families of the terrorists," Smotrich added.

After a gun attack on two Israeli brothers, violence erupted in the area in which one Palestinian was killed while several houses were also destroyed. The Israeli police informed on Wednesday that they have arrested 10 suspects in the attack.

On Wednesday, the Palestinian health ministry reported that an Israeli raid in the occupied West Bank resulted in the death of a Palestinian man. The raid was conducted as a response to the recent fatal shooting of an Israeli-American motorist.

The Israeli army stated that two individuals attempted to escape after entering the Aqabat Jabr refugee camp near Jericho, where soldiers were trying to arrest suspects related to the Monday shooting attack. As a result, soldiers fired at them.
Tom Hanks starred The Terminal a widely acclaimed movie loved by millions of people who connected with the story of Viktor Navorski who was stuck at a US airport for months after war breaks out in his country, and the American government refused to validate his passport. Dmitry and four other Russian men have similar stories who are stuck at South Korea's Incheon International Airport for almost five months now.

The five Russian men escaped the country after the regime of President Vladimir Putin started military mobilization for the war in Ukraine. Their application for refugee status was rejected by the South Korean authorities, after which they are stuck at the international airport.

According to CNN reports, Dmitry is one of the five people who has left his wife and 7-year-old son back in Russia. His name was changed as he requested to be anonymous fearing any actions by the Russian regime.

Out of the five, two (including Dmitry) were allowed to leave the airport this week and the Immigration Reception Center is their new home. The government facility also has some restrictions like a 6:00 PM curfew and a ban on working, but still, it is better than living at an airport.

The other three still remain at the airport, waiting for the long bureaucratic process regarding their legal status in the country.

After his invasion of Ukraine didn't go as planned, Russian President Vladimir Putin called for a mobilization of 3,00,000 men to join the war in Ukraine. The announcement invoked fear in many Russian cities and hundreds escaped the country.

Dmitry has a record of dissent and has participated in anti-war rallies which makes him more concerned about the possibility of ending up in a war zone.

Initially, Dmitry planned to land in Kazakhstan but then he heard that the country is deporting those Russians back who are escaping military call-ups.

In South Korea, he has a long fight to go as the asylum-seeking process is very long and tedious. After challenging the Justice ministry's decision at Incheon District Court, Dmitry has won the right to apply for refugee status, but South Korea has one of the lowest approval rates when it comes to refugee applications.
A British financial watchdog on Friday launched its first ever investigation of a UK exchange for possible misconduct after the London Metal Exchange's decision last year to halt nickel trading.

It was unclear, however, whether the probe would look at the exchange's controversial decision to cancel billions of dollars of trades.

The world's largest and oldest metals market annulled all nickel trades in March last year after chaotic price action and suspended trading for the first time since 1988.

The March 8 suspension occurred after prices doubled to more than $100,000 a tonne in a matter of hours in a surge sources blamed on short-covering by one of the world's top producers.

Read all market stories here

The move has prompted investor lawsuits while the nickel contract remains broken with volumes sliding, leaving the industry without an effective global reference price.

A statement from the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) said it had launched an "enforcement investigation" into the conduct and systems and controls that the LME had in place between Jan. 1 and the suspension of trade on March 8, 2022.

Two lawyers said it appeared the watchdog was limiting its probe to the decision to stop trading, and would not cover the more contentious one to cancel trades.

"It does look from the statement that the FCA is not going to look at the cancelled trades," said a regulation lawyer who declined to be named.

The watchdog said it would not make any further comment about the investigation.

Its website says of enforcement investigations: "We will start an investigation where we have reason to believe serious misconduct may have taken place."

This was the first such action the FCA has launched against an exchange, a spokesperson said.

"The FCA's decision to open this investigation into an exchange is a bold step," said James Alleyne, legal director at law firm Kingsley Napley.

"That the FCA has decided to investigate means it considers there are circumstances suggesting that LME may have committed serious misconduct. Such a finding would certainly have significant cost and reputational implications for the LME."

The FCA did not give any timeline, but Alleyne said the case could take years to conclude.

ACTIVE STEPS

The 146-year-old LME said it had taken active steps to enhance nickel market liquidity and transparency, including 15% daily price limits and over-the-counter (OTC) position reporting for all physically delivered metals.

"The LME will cooperate fully with this process and will continue to take the appropriate steps to ensure the long-term health, efficiency and resilience of its market," its statement added.

In its statement, the FCA acknowledged that the LME had committed to a wider package of market reform, adding that it was encouraged by the exchange's focus on transparency.

The FCA and Bank of England (BoE) began a review last April into the trading halt by the LME, owned by Hong Kong Exchanges and Clearing.

On Friday, the BoE separately said its reviews had pointed to several shortcomings at LME clearing house LME Clear, adding that it would name an independent monitor to assess and report on its remedial actions.

"The dual-pronged approach of the FCA and the Bank represents a significant and possibly unprecedented development," said Adam Topping, a commodities and financial regulation specialist at law firm Holman Fenwick Willan.

Topping added that it demonstrated how seriously they view any perceived compliance shortcomings.

In January, management consulting firm Oliver Wyman released an independent review of the nickel trading debacle, and the exchange said it would set out an implementation plan for the report's recommendations by the end of March.

The nickel crisis, spurred partly by large OTC short nickel positions, shone a light on the failure of a core reform from the global financial crisis to help regulators quickly spot destabilising risks in markets.
In the Right o Reply in response to the statement delivered by Pakistan at Human Rights Council, United Nations, India stated, "underage girls from the community are converted to Islam abetted by a predatory state and an apathetic judiciary. Hindu and Sikh communities face similar issues of frequent attack on their places of worship and forced conversion of their underage girls."

Marking the case of forced conversion meted out on underage girls, India at the UNHRC slammed Pakistan for misusing forum for its malicious propaganda'.

According to a report by news agency ANI, India at the United National Human Rights Council platform said that no religious minority can freely live or practice its religion in Pakistan today.

"Underage girls from the community are converted to Islam abetted by a predatory state & an apathetic judiciary. Hindu & Sikh communities face similar issues of frequent attack on their places of worship and forced conversion of their underage girls.": India at UNHRC  ANI (@ANI) March 3, 2023

"In last decade, Pakistans own Commission of Inquiry on Enforced Disappearances has received 8,463 complaints. The Baloch people have borne the brunt of this cruel policy. Students, doctors, engineers, teachers and community leaders are regularly disappeared by the State". India mentioned highlighting the Pakistan governance's blasphemy laws.

"Equally worse is the treatment of the Christian community. It is frequently targeted through draconian blasphemy laws. State institutions officially reserve sanitation jobs for Christians." India added in their response to the statement delivered by Pak at HRC, United Nations.

The reply from India comes after Pakistan's foreign minister Hina Rabbani Khar, while addressing the United Nations Human Rights Council, said urged states to be consistent in their support for the protection of Kashmiris' rights. "Pakistan reiterated strong condemnation for the recent intentional burning of the Holy Quran in three countries. International financial institutions needed to undertake special measures to support developing countries in protecting basic rights to food, livelihood, and a decent living," she stated.

Meanwhile, a report published about the debt-stricken country Pakistan in the daily Dawn, states that Pakistan witnessed a rise in terrorist attacks in February this year.

The outlawed Tehreek-e-Taliban (TTP)'s attack on the Karachi police headquarters was the most high-profile attack in February, as per the news report. According to the statistics released by Pakistan Institute for Conflict and Security Studies (PICSS), 58 terrorist attacks were reported in February, which claimed the lives of 62 people, including 27 civilians, 18 security personnel and 17 terrorists while 134 people were injured, including 54 civilians and 80 security personnel.
The US government will continue paying benefits to victims of the unexplained illness known as Havana Syndrome, following an intelligence report that found it unlikely the symptoms had been caused by a foreign adversary.
Nairobi  Due to the high cost of living in Kenya, Kenyans have welcomed Netflix's 20-60% price reduction.

The video streaming site last week announced that it will be cutting prices in Kenya, including in 100 global territories.

Ian Kiprop, a subscriber, welcomes the move while saying that it became hard for him to pay the monthly fee that he argues was too high.

He argues that the price cut will enable him to enjoy the services without any interruptions.

The slashing also comes at a time when the firm is facing competition from players such as Showmax, among others.

Brian Wamugi also says that he was forced to stop paying a monthly subscription fee that he says was too exorbitant.

He says the cut will enable the firm to get more customers amid fierce competition.

This also comes at a time when the firm is planning to roll out password-sharing rules, which have already been implemented in Canada and Spain.

Only last year, DStv said it would limit streaming services to only one device at a time as part of an effort to curb fraud and piracy and grow revenues.

The South African-based company said in a statement that it will no longer allow multiple users to stream on a DStv account as of March 22, this year, in Kenya, alongside other markets that they operate in such as Nigeria, among others.

The company, however, said that it will not limit the number of logins. The number of devices registered for streaming will also not be affected, it added in the statement.

The drop was also reported in Thailand, Malaysia, Egypt, and Ecuador, among others.
The much-anticipated G20 foreign ministers meeting concluded in New Delhi on Thursday. Over 40 delegations, including the foreign ministers of almost all the G20 nations, travelled to India, which holds the G20 presidency this year. The meetings outcomes were a mixed bag. Mint breaks them down for you.
China, Spain vow to strengthen friendly exchanges, open up new prospects for bilateral ties

Xinhua) 13:55, March 03, 2023

NEW DELHI, March 3 (Xinhua) -- China and Spain have pledged to take the 50th anniversary of establishing diplomatic ties as an opportunity to strengthen friendly exchanges and open up new prospects for bilateral relations.

Chinese Foreign Minister Qin Gang and his Spanish counterpart Jose Manuel Albares made the remarks on Thursday during their meeting on the sidelines of the Group of 20 Foreign Ministers' Meeting held in India's capital New Delhi from Wednesday to Thursday.

Qin said the two sides should speed up the resumption of exchanges between government departments, legislatures and local governments, and prepare for meetings such as the China-Spain joint commission on scientific and technological cooperation, the joint commission on economic and industrial cooperation, and the China-Spain Forum.

The two sides should expand cooperation areas and strengthen industrial partnership in green energy, electric vehicles and digital economy, Qin said, adding that China is ready to import more quality Spanish products and hopes that the Spanish side continue granting fair and equitable market treatment to Chinese companies.

The two sides should also strengthen communication and cooperation in international affairs and enrich the strategic connotation of bilateral relations, he said.

For his part, Albares said Spain and China are important economic and trade partners with fruitful results in mutually beneficial cooperation. Spain is ready to work with China to provide convenience for companies from both sides to invest in each other's countries.

The two sides will jointly hold a series of activities for the Spain-China Year of Culture and Tourism, set up more Spanish cultural centers in China, and enhance the friendship between the two peoples, Albares said.

Spain will take over the rotating presidency of the European Union (EU) in the second half of this year and is ready to actively promote the development of EU-China relations, he said.

Albares noted that the Spanish side appreciates China's position paper on the Ukraine crisis, attaches importance to China's status and influence as a major country, and looks forward to China's help in restoring peace in Europe.

Qin said China always supports the European side in upholding strategic independence and welcomes Spain to play the role of the rotating presidency of the EU to promote the sound and stable development of China-EU relations.

China is committed to the political settlement of the Ukraine crisis and promoting talks for peace, Qin said, adding that under the current circumstances, all parties should be calm and rational, and find a solution that truly respects the legitimate security concerns of all countries and is conducive to long-term peace and stability in Europe.

(Web editor: Zhang Kaiwei, Liang Jun)
Nairobi  Deputy President Rigathi Gachagua has finally broken his silence on the Supreme Court ruling on LGBTQ rights and the ongoing debate surrounding the subject, terming it demonic.

Speaking during the International Women's day on Thursday, DP Gachagua said LGBTQ practices will not be tolerated in Kenya, as they are satanic and don't conform with the country's traditions and beliefs.

DP Gachagua Gachagua who is known not to mince his words said the Supreme Court ruling left him speechless, and that's why he didn't have an immediate response to the issue.

"Our President is a man of faith and he will do what needs to be done and in any case we have our traditions and customs. What they are suggesting is repugnant morality and injustice in our way of life," Gachagua stated.

The Deputy President's sentiments concur with similar views given by several leaders and religious groups who are against the legalising of LGBTQ in the country.

Already MPs George Kaluma (Homabay Town) Mohammed Ali (Nyali) have proposed to have the LGBTQ community outlawed in the country.

MP Kaluma in his proposed law wants have homosexuality and other unnatural sexual acts criminalized in Kenya, and increase the penalty of those convicted of engaging or promoting the acts to imprisonment for life.

On his part MP Ali through a motion wants the government to bar the community and other propagators of the LGBTQ agenda from doing so.

The LGBTQ debate in the country was revived after the Supreme Court last week affirmed a decision by lower courts that quashed the decision by the NGO Board to decline an LGBT lobby group's formal registration.

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The decision by the apex court on Friday followed an appeal arising form the Court of Appeal by the lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) had successfully challenged an appeal by the board against a favorable High Court decision.

The Supreme Court held the board violated the right to non-discrimination by refusing to accept the names proposed, as the respondent was entitled to exercise their constitutionally guaranteed freedom to associate by being able to form an association.

The court however pointed out that all persons, whether heterosexual, lesbian, gay, intersex or otherwise, will be subject to sanctions if they contravene existing laws, including Sections 162, 163 and 165 of the Penal Code.

The Penal Code provisions prohibit same-sex relations.

Justices Mohamed Ibrahim and William Ouko however wrote dissenting opinions against a majority decision by Justices Philomena Mwilu (DCJ), Smokin Wanjala, and Njoki Ndung'u.

Ibrahim and Ouko held the decision by the NGO Board was not discriminatory and that it did not infringe Article 27 of the Constitution (2010).

The two also argued that the board has the discretion to refuse to register any association if the association does not meet certain specified conditions spelt in the law.
Amazon is pausing construction on its second headquarters in Virginia
A woman accused of money laundering will return before Longford District Court in May to find out if Judge Bernadette Owens will accept jurisdiction of her case.

In the jurisdiction hearing of Andrea Kalejova (34) of 45 The Glen, Waterford, County Waterford the court heard the defendant is facing 24 charges.

At last weeks court sitting Judge Owens was assessing whether she should accept jurisdiction over the case where the defendant is accused of engaging in the converting /transferring /handling /acquiring /possessing or using the proceeds of crime (a Covid 19 Pandemic Unemployment Payment of 350) while knowing that the property was the proceeds of criminal conduct.

The 24 charges relate to 12 different dates. Sergeant Mark Mahon said it's alleged by the prosecution that Ms Kalejova allowed her bank account to be used by her brother and step brother who are not resident in this country to receive a PUP payment during the Covid pandemic. Sgt Mahon said the alleged loss to the State was 6,048.

Solicitor John Quinn agreed with Judge Owens that clarification on who was the benefactor of the money was at the heart of the case. Sgt Mahon said it will be alleged the defendant allowed the money to be lodged in her account after the application was made online.

Sgt Mahon explained that the Garda investigating the incident is based in Wexford and he would need some time to make arrangements to bring him before the court. Judge Owens said: I need to know who is the mastermind behind this for the purpose of jurisdiction.

The judge then adjourned the matter to May 16 to allow the investigating Garda to be present, at which time a Czech interpreter will also attend court.
A senior figure from a leading agency set up to combat crime and anti social behaviour has told of the "grave concerns" he harbours over the repeated "doling out" of suspended sentences at local district and circuit court level.

Cllr Seamus Butler, who occupies the role of vice chaiperson on Longford's Local Community Safety Partnership, launched a stinging attack on the length and types of sentences which have been recorded locally in relation to serious crime over the past number of months.

The Fianna Fail local politician and former chairperson of Longford's now defunct Joint Policing Committee (JPC) said the current trend of sentencing practices was only serving to further undermine both the public's and Gardai's confidence in the judiciary.

"I have grave concerns regarding sentencing practice in both the Longford District and Circuit Courts," he said.

"I have the greatest respect for the independence of our Judiciary as a cornerstone of our Democracy as a Republic.

"However, the Judges must be aware of the reputational damage inflicted on Longford by frequent public violent incidents.

"The doling out of suspended sentences and fines to repeat offenders dismays the general public, does not deter further offending and surely saps Garda morale.

"This is especially so when members of the force are assaulted. Surely cases such as these warrant custodial sentences."

Longford Superintendent Seamus Boyle, when asked to respond to Cllr Butler's remarks, said he was not in a position to comment on the ways in which sentences are passed down.

Cllr Butler, meanwhile, asked senior members of the judiciary at local level to "reflect" on those concerns in order to break "the endemic cycle of violence that is plaguing Longford."

The Leader has reached out to the Department of Justice and is currently awaiting a response.
Kisumu  Sugarcane farmers in Chemelil have agreed to continue delivering cane to Chemelil Sugar Company in the wake of a leadership tussle in the factory.

The farmers who met the new management after the removal of former managing director Gabriel Nyangweso agreed to resume delivery.

In the past couple of weeks, farmers had stopped delivering cane citing the tussle at the leadership.

Noah Cheruiyot, the Chairman Chemelil branch of Kenya Sugarcane Farmers Federation says they have resolved to stand with the company.

"We have agreed to supply cane here and not to the other competing sugar mills, this will continue until we get a court direction next week on the fate of Nyangweso," he said.

A team of farmers had moved to the Court of Appeal to stay orders by the Labour Court that found Nyangweso to be holding the position illegally.

Cheruiyot says after the court verdict they will again meet to give direction depending on the court's outcome.

The farmers agreed on a number of issues touching on their welfare that they implored the management to look into for the benefit of the factory.

A farmer, Tom Okal, who read the resolutions, said they have requested the factory harvesting department to go out in the fields and look for cane.

Currently, there is a cane shortage being experienced and mills in the region, both public and private, are competing for the little cane within the sugar belt region.

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Okal says the harvesting department must stop sitting in the offices and instead go out to the farms and talk to the farmers to supply them with cane since enhanced cane supply is the only sure way to keep the factory crushing.

"I have received numerous calls from other mills to take my cane, I will stick to Chemelil and this is a wakeup call to the management to source for cane or else they will have none," he said.

Joseph Kiilu, the acting head of factory who represented the acting managing director Jacqueline Kotonya says they will strive to address the issues raised by the farmers and other stakeholders.

Kiilu noted that the company will not deviate from the earlier arrangements the farmers' entered into with the management under the patronage of the former MD.

"We will stick to the payment schedule as was the case during the reign of Nyangweso, the former MD. We will not disappoint our stakeholders," he said.

He says the payments of farmers will be every week for every supply of cane delivered.

Under the new management, the cumulative amount of Sh93.6 million has been disbursed to farmers, transporters and cane harvesters covering payments that were outstanding for the weeks ending February 5, 12, and 19.

"Out of the total payments of Sh93.6 million payments we have equally made weekly payments of Sh7.5 million as farmers' cane arrears for the year 2022," said Kotonya in a statement.
The producers behind bargain-hunting property show Cheap Irish Homes are on the hunt for people to take part in Season 4, which will shortly go into production.

The first three seasons of the show, presented by cheap property guru Maggie Molloy, has won audiences the world over following its airing on RTE, with the first two seasons subsequently appearing on streaming service Amazon Prime. The episodes, shot on location around Ireland, follow Maggie as she sets out to find Ireland's cheapest homes, meeting with prospective buyers who are open to acquiring properties that need a bit of work, and fall within surprisingly small budgets.



Cheap Irish Homes is created by award-winning Cork based production company AV3 Media / Cameo Productions, and CEO Michael Lynch says the new season offers great opportunities for house hunters.

Theres a huge appetite for property programmes, but Cheap Irish Homes offer audiences something extra because the properties we select are actually affordable so its more than just aspirational. Those who take part in the show are always pleasantly surprised at whats available and we know that Season 4 will lead to more successful purchases as Maggie scopes out properties in beautiful parts of Ireland with fantastic potential, Mr Lynch said.

The callout comes as spinoff show Cheap European Homes is set to air on RTE 1 this month. The show will follow a similar premise but is shot abroad, showcasing properties in three different countries.

Over six episodes, Maggie Molloy travels to France, Spain and Portugal in search of affordable and attractive houses for Irish people seeking a new adventure. Maggie also enlists the help of local architects and engineers to help with selecting the properties.

Frederica Pereira is a Lisbon-based architect who consulted on the Cheap European Homes episodes set in Portugal. She says she loved the experience: I work mostly in renovation, which is my favourite layer of architecture, as in essence you are bringing something back to life.

Renovating older homes in keeping with nature and surroundings is very popular in Portugal at the moment. My involvement in Cheap European Homes was really enjoyable as I also got to help choose the location of the properties, which were in a small city called Tomar not far from Lisbon. The houses featured on the show are both scenic and good value. It was so interesting to see how we could renovate homes to make them stylish, comfortable and safe.

Frederica says she loved working with the Irish crew on AV3, I think were very similar, Irish and Portuguese people, we have the same easy, laid back attitude. The whole team was great to work with, it was all very fluid. Maggie and I complemented each other very well too.



Cheap European Homes airs on RTE 1 on March 9th at 7pm.

Season 4 of Cheap Irish Homes will shortly go into production and AV3 Media / Cameo Production is actively seeking participants. if you are interested in taking part in the new series, please send your details to casting@av3.ie
Music, Movies & Entertainment

By Chris Boyle Published: March 03 2023

The Sound Symphony Orchestra was a fantastic event that was enjoyed by all, said Legislator Anker.

Suffolk County Legislator Sarah Anker attended the Sound Symphony Orchestra concert, directed by Dorothy Savitch and Alex Wen, at Comsewogue Middle School. Celebrating their 39th season, the group dedicated the performance to the memory of Joe Murgia.

They performed compositions including Carmen Suite No. 1 by Georges Bizet, Hoe-Down by Aaron Copland, The Young Persons Guide to the Orchestra by Benjamin Britten and narrated by Kathryn Loddengaard, Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them by J.N. Howard and arranged by Roszell, The Complete Harry Potter arranged by Jerry Brubaker, Video Games Live arranged by Ralph Ford, and A Tribute to John Williams arranged by Paul Lavender.

The Sound Symphony Orchestra was a fantastic event that was enjoyed by all, said Legislator Anker. Thank you to the conductors, performers, and staff, that continue to share the joys and intricacies of music making with our community. The talent of these artists is unmatched!

The Sound Symphony Orchestra will be preforming on March 19th and June 11th at Comsewogue High School. Since their founding in 1984, they have offered a series of outstanding programs of both classical and contemporary composers. They often encourage talented young musicians to participate with their family friendly concert every January and solo competition every May. The Sound Symphony is a unique and exciting orchestra that presents concerts throughout the entire year, performed by members of the community, for the community.
Arrest Made in Connection with Murder of Woman Found Dead Behind South Hempstead Dumpster

Crime

By Chris Boyle Published: March 03 2023

Andrew D. Avila, 25, is charged with Murder 2nd Degree.

Crime Stoppers and the Nassau County Police Departments Homicide Squad have announced that an arrest has been made in connection with a homicide that occurred in South Hempstead, New York.

On Tuesday, February 14, 2023, at approximately 7:40 A.M., the victim - Rebecca Carlson, 39, of Hempstead - was found lying deceased on the ground next to a dumpster in the rear of Advanced Auto Parts located at 1140 Grand Avenue in South Hempstead.

Homicide detectives report upon further examination by the Nassau County Medical Examiners Office it was determined that the death is a homicide.
Crime

By Chris Boyle Published: March 03 2023

Human Rights Commission to Provide Civilian Oversight of SCPD.

Suffolk County Executive Steve Bellone has announced a step forward in the ongoing implementation of Suffolk Countys Police Reform & Reinvention Plan in our vision to build community trust through transparency and accountability.

The Suffolk County Human Rights Commission will officially begin taking in all complaints of SCPD Police Misconduct and reviewing internal Affairs investigations of police misconduct starting March 6th, 2023.

It has been almost two years since we adopted the most comprehensive police reform plan of any County in the state of New York and we continue to make historic progress, said Suffolk County Executive Steve Bellone. Allowing the Human Rights Commission to begin reviewing complaints of police misconduct in tandem with the Internal Affairs Bureau will insure the publics confidence in the IAB investigatory process and allow for transparency and accountability within the police department and the communities they serve.

Suffolk County Legislature Minority Leader Jason Richberg said: "From the beginning, one of the main goals of Suffolks Police Reform & Reinvention Task Force, on which I proudly served as a member, was including the county's Human Rights Commission in the process of investigating complaints against officers. I'm thrilled to be able to say that moving forward, the Suffolk County Human Rights Commission will officially be working alongside Internal Affairs in reviewing accusations of police misconduct. We heard over and over again that this was a change residents wanted, and Im proud that the task force was able to make it a reality. Thank you to County Executive Bellone for his steadfast support and advocacy for implementing the task force's suggested policy changes and helping to make Suffolk County a safer place for all."

In preparation, the Human Rights Commission (HRC) hired 5 investigators and on-boarded them last year for a total compliment of 7 investigators. All investigators were trained in the police misconduct investigatory process by the SCPD Internal Affairs Bureau as well as an external, independent, former Civilian Oversight Professional on investigatory practices, policies and procedures.

Human Rights Investigators have shadowed IAB investigators in an effort to expose HRC investigators to current IA investigations and the investigatory review process. Additionally, HRC has become a member of the National Association of Civilian Oversight for Law Enforcement (NACOLE) and has attended its national conferences as well as participating in various training modules. The HRC will have access to a shared data platform Evidence.com, as part of the Body Worn Camera program which will serve as the shared data platform for IAB and HRC investigators managing all types of data, including body-worn video, interview room video, CCTV, photographs, audio, documents and more.

Crucial to transparency and accountability, Suffolk County is one of the first municipalities to begin using online platform Oversight by SIVIL for the public to submit police misconduct complaints and compliments. Other municipalities using the SIVIL platform include: City of Philadelphia Citizens Police Oversight Commission, the City of Long beach Citizen Police Complaint Commission (CPCC) and City of Charlottesville Police Civilian Oversight Board (PCOB).

SIVIL is a cutting-edge company whose mission is to produce civilian-focused public safety software like Oversight. A sophisticated case management solution to transparency of police misconduct complaints and investigations, this platform serves three powerful functions:

Its an online public portal to submit police complaints or compliments. As a member of the public, if you submit a complaint, youll receive a confirmation of receipt of your complaint, confirmation that the investigation of your complaint is in process and when your complaint investigation is complete.

It modernizes and streamlines how Human Rights Commission investigators take in police misconduct complaints. Instead of cumbersome processes involving sending paper forms to the police department, HRC investigators upload the complaints they take in to Sivil, where IAB investigators can see and receive the new intake for their end of the work.

It facilitates independent review by the HRC assigned investigators to review the case progression from its very beginning, giving them the ability to ensure the quality of police misconduct investigations and intervene when necessary.

Upon completion of the investigation, the HRC will also conduct a final review of the complaint and investigation. Prior to a final determination of the complaint, IAB will share its recommended disposition (substantiated, unsubstantiated, exonerated, unfounded) with HRC Investigators.

In the event that an HRC Investigator and AOJ member disagree with the recommended disposition, it will be submitted in writing to the IAB investigator and Chief of IAB. In the instance where IAB and HRC reach an impasse regarding the final disposition, the HRC can notify the County Executive Police Accountability Liaison to address the matter. Once the disposition is finalized, the Human Rights investigator and/or police department will provide the final determination and actions to be taken to the complainant.

Statement from Suffolk County Human Rights Commission Administration of Justice Subcommittee: As you know, the Suffolk County Police Reform and Reinvention Task Force recommended that the Suffolk County Human Rights Commission and its Administration of Justice subcommittee in particular, be given the responsibility for providing civilian oversight of the investigation of complaints about police misconduct. Speaking on behalf of myself and my fellow Commissioners, we are deeply committed to ensuring that the civilian oversight process is one built and conducted with integrity, and that it is fully transparent and accountable to the people of Suffolk County.

Members of the Administration of Justice subcommittee have been meeting regularly with the Commissions Executive Director Dawn Lott, and the Chair, Lynda Perdomo-Ayala to monitor the evolving structure and procedures as they have been developed, as well as the hiring and training of investigators who will be conducting the first line of oversight of the investigations being undertaken by the police investigators of SCPD Internal Affairs Bureau. Like the Human Rights Commission investigators, members of the Administration of Justice subcommittee have received training from multiple sources related to Internal Affairs policies and procedures including best practices and standards of civilian oversight from experts in the field.

In particular, I want to call attention to the fact that we like the Human Rights Commission Investigators have participated in the same training that police officers are receiving in the use of body worn cameras which we are very hopeful will have a positive effect on police and community interactions and that they will provide a critical element of evidence in the investigation of complaints of police misconduct.

Our role as defined in our mission statement is:

1st to Provide an independent, third-party review of complaints filed against Suffolk County Police officers to ensure that civil and human rights have been protected;

2nd to Solicit community feedback and input regarding the publics experiences and interactions with the Suffolk County Police Officers through community engagement and outreach efforts; 3rd, to Actively provide the community with pertinent information about the SCPD Internal Affairs investigation process and outcomes; And 4th to Monitor progress made in fostering positive relationships between the SCPD and the public of Suffolk County, providing feedback and insights on emerging progress and/or problems to the County Executive and Legislature.

This newly expanded role for the Suffolk County Human Rights Commission is very significant.

Thus, we approach this responsibility with humility knowing that any process needs to have a mechanism for improvement and for incorporating best practices from what is learned in other parts of the nation facing the important challenge of restoring a sense of mutual respect and civic responsibility between Peace Officers and the communities they are charged with serving and protecting.

No system will be perfect, especially one that is newly constructed. However, we will be monitoring the process to see how transparent and integrity-based it is over the course of our work, particularly over the next few months. It is our commitment to you, the people of Suffolk, that if changes are needed to ensure the integrity of the process, we will address them accordingly.

The Human Rights Commission investigators and Administration of Justice subcommittee commissioners will be reviewing all police misconduct complaints in tandem with Internal Affairs. Throughout the process we may make recommendations to the Internal Affairs investigators to pursue additional lines of inquiry. Moreover, after thorough case review by the Human Rights Commission Investigators and the Administration of Justice subcommittee, we will issue our own findings whether it is in agreement with the Internal Affairs decision or not. In the event that the Internal Affairs decision is not in keeping with the Human Rights Commission findings, we will pursue all necessary steps to ensure accountability.

Due to the excellent cooperation, collaboration and leadership of deputy county executive Vanessa Baird Streeter, Deputy Police Commissioner Riscoe Mention-Lewis, and Assistant Chief of Internal Affairs, Millie Soto, we are very hopeful about the effectiveness of this new civilian oversight process. In addition, Police Commissioner Rodney Harrison has consistently assured us of his support welcoming the Administration of Justice Committee to bring unresolved challenges to him directly.

It is our commitment to communicate with Suffolk County residents. We will seek feedback from community members on their experience with the complaint process. We will share our experience and findings with the community and convey the feedback to the County Executive, to his deputy, to the Police Commissioner and his deputies, to the legislature, and to the public.

In closing, we are particularly grateful to the entire Police Reform and Reinvention Task Force, and all of the Suffolk County communities and advocacy groups that laid the foundation for this moment. We affirm our commitment to ensure that complaints of police misconduct are appropriately and accurately investigated so that we all, and every member of every community, can be assured of the trustworthiness of the complaint process for examining police misconduct in Suffolk County.
(Alliance News) - The following is a round-up of share dealings by London-listed company directors and managers announced on Friday and not separately reported by Alliance News:

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Kitwave Group PLC - North Shields, England-based food wholesaler - Commercial Director Michael Young sells 323,627 shares at 233 pence, worth GBP754,051, on Wednesday. Retains 451,811 shares, a 0.7% stake.

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Croda International PLC - Yorkshire, England-based chemicals maker - Sandra Breene, president of Regional Delivery, sells 8,637 shares at 6,716p, worth GBP580,061, on Friday.

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Beazley PLC - London-based insurer - Chair-Designate Clive Bannister buys 78,000 shares at 635.70p, worth GBP495,846, on Thursday. The former chief executive officer of Phoenix Group Holdings PLC will become Beazley's chair at its annual general meeting in April.

----------

Weir Group PLC - Glasgow-based mining technology - Chief People Officer Rosemary McGinness sells 8,000 shares at GBP20.32, worth GBP162,567, on Thursday.

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By Tom Waite, Alliance News editor

Comments and questions to newsroom@alliancenews.com

Copyright 2023 Alliance News Ltd. All Rights Reserved.
Shell PLC - London-based oil and gas company - Says its subsidiary, Shell Salym Development BV, has completed its withdrawal from its 50% interest in the Salym project in Russia. The project had been jointly developed with Gazprom Neft, a subsidiary of Russian majority state-owned energy company PJSC Gazprom. Shell's share in the venture, along with associated interests, have been acquired by Gazprom. Shell says this marks its "latest milestone" in its withdrawal from Russian oil and gas following the invasion of Ukraine.

Current stock price: 2,582.50 pence

12-month change: up 41%

By Heather Rydings, Alliance News senior economics reporter

Comments and questions to newsroom@alliancenews.com

Copyright 2022 Alliance News Ltd. All Rights Reserved.
(Sharecast News) - London stocks ended flat on Friday, unable to hold on to earlier gains despite reassuring comments from a Fed official and encouraging Chinese and UK data.

The FTSE 100 closed unchanged at 7,947.11, having opened in the black and spent most of the day there as investors welcomed comments from Atlanta Federal Reserve President Raphael Bostic, who said on Thursday that he was in favour of "slow and steady" quarter-point US rate increases to limit risk to the economy.

Neil Wilson, chief market analyst at Finalto said: "This seemed to placate markets somewhat after being on a relentless 'higher for longer' train for the last few days."

The latest data out of China also helped to underpin the mood as it showed that activity in the services sector picked up more than expected in February amid a recovery in demand.

The Caixin services purchasing managers' index rose to 55.0 from 52.9 in January. This was above consensus expectations for a reading of 54.5 and comfortably above the 50.0 mark that separates contraction from expansion.

Wilson said: "The Chinese recovery is important...a smart exit from Covid and surge in demand from Chinese consumers could be all that's needed to get the global economy out of its funk".

On home shores, a survey showed the service sector returned to growth in February as business activity expanded at the fastest pace since June 2022.

The S&P Global/CIPS services purchasing managers' index rose to 53.5 from 48.7 in January, coming in above the 50.0 mark that separates contraction from expansion for the first time in six months. The reading was above the initial estimate of 53.3.

The composite PMI, which measures activity in services and manufacturing, ticked up to 53.1 in February from 48.5 the month before. This was above the initial estimate of 53.0.

In the US, the Institute for Supply Management's services PMI for February came in at 55.1%, down a touch from 55.2% the previous month but above consensus expectations of 54.5%. The survey showed that business activity, new orders and employment rose last month.

Chris Beauchamp, chief market analyst at IG, said: "This afternoon has seen yet another strong piece of data, this time in the form of the ISM services PMI for the US, but this time around the mood appears to have shifted.

"Recent declines in equities, even the modest ones seen in Europe, appear to have removed some of the hesitancy among investors about putting more money into stocks, having trimmed valuations a touch. This combines with some less hawkish commentary from the Atlanta Fed chair and hopes that China's parliament will lay out a solid growth target next week."

In equity markets, miners rallied as metals prices rose on the back of the Chinese services data, with Antofagasta, Glencore and Rio Tinto all up.

Persimmon was the top gainer on the FTSE 100, however, having tumbled earlier in the week after a profit warning.

Airlines flew higher after solid received results from Lufthansa, with IAG, Wizz Air and easyJet all up. Cruise operator Carnival also advanced.

On the downside, heavily-weighted BP and Shell were down but off earlier lows, as oil prices slid after the Wall Street Journal reported that the United Arab Emirates is considering leaving the Opec cartel of oil producing countries.

Educational publisher Pearson fell despite reporting a better-than-expected rise in annual profits driven by revenue growth and cost savings and saying it would grow sales by low to mid-single digits this year.

Property portal Rightmove lost ground after it posted a rise in full-year operating profit, pointing to "resilient traffic despite a significantly less frenetic property market than 2021". In the year to the end of December 2022, operating profit was up 7% at 241.3m, with revenues 9% higher at 332.6m.

Rightmove said a total of 16.3bn minutes were spent on the platform during the year, down from 18.3bn in 2021 but still 34% higher than the pre-pandemic record of 2019.

IMI slipped even after the engineering group reported a rise in full-year profits and revenue and hiked its dividend as it said all three divisions had achieved organic revenue growth.

In broker note action, Admiral was knocked lower by a downgrade to 'neutral' from 'buy' at Citi, while Hunting slumped after a downgrade to 'hold' from 'buy' at Berenberg.

Market Movers

FTSE 100 (UKX) 7,947.11 0.04%

FTSE 250 (MCX) 19,937.55 0.43%

techMARK (TASX) 4,643.59 0.13%

FTSE 100 - Risers

Persimmon (PSN) 1,290.00p 4.54%

Ocado Group (OCDO) 550.20p 4.48%

Legal & General Group (LGEN) 263.90p 3.29%

Barratt Developments (BDEV) 447.90p 2.75%

Antofagasta (ANTO) 1,664.00p 2.65%

Severn Trent (SVT) 2,750.00p 2.46%

Ashtead Group (AHT) 5,722.00p 2.40%

BT Group (BT.A) 144.85p 2.37%

Glencore (GLEN) 523.00p 2.35%

International Consolidated Airlines Group SA (CDI) (IAG) 154.70p 2.29%

FTSE 100 - Fallers

Pearson (PSON) 888.00p -3.75%

Frasers Group (FRAS) 778.50p -2.20%

Bunzl (BNZL) 2,939.00p -2.20%

Hiscox Limited (DI) (HSX) 1,097.00p -2.05%

Admiral Group (ADM) 2,111.00p -1.86%

Land Securities Group (LAND) 661.40p -1.40%

BAE Systems (BA.) 908.00p -1.26%

Burberry Group (BRBY) 2,498.00p -1.11%

Rightmove (RMV) 557.80p -1.06%

BP (BP.) 555.30p -1.05%

FTSE 250 - Risers

Aston Martin Lagonda Global Holdings (AML) 239.00p 9.38%

Pennon Group (PNN) 857.50p 6.52%

ASOS (ASC) 925.00p 6.14%

Carnival (CCL) 821.20p 5.72%

International Distributions Services (IDS) 246.60p 5.07%

Wizz Air Holdings (WIZZ) 2,865.00p 4.91%

easyJet (EZJ) 505.00p 4.19%

Watches of Switzerland Group (WOSG) 818.50p 3.15%

AJ Bell (AJB) 335.20p 3.14%

W.A.G Payment Solutions (WPS) 82.50p 3.12%

FTSE 250 - Fallers

Hunting (HTG) 282.00p -7.69%

Coats Group (COA) 74.40p -5.82%

Baltic Classifieds Group (BCG) 155.20p -5.25%

Just Group (JUST) 79.85p -5.17%

Apax Global Alpha Limited (APAX) 177.40p -4.11%

Bakkavor Group (BAKK) 107.00p -3.08%

Vietnam Enterprise Investments (DI) (VEIL) 554.00p -2.64%

Oxford Instruments (OXIG) 2,565.00p -2.29%

Mitie Group (MTO) 79.40p -2.22%

TBC Bank Group (TBCG) 2,465.00p -2.18%
Nairobi  Opposition Leader Raila Odinga has faulted the Supreme Court ruling that paved way for the lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer (LGBTQ) community the rights to form a lobby group.

During a meeting with the Muslim Community Thursday, Odinga stated that the five-judge bench had overstepped its mandate in the separation of powers between the three arms of government by upholding non-existent laws.

He pointed out that without any proper legislation made on matters concerning the LGBTQ community, the Supreme Court had no role imposing the right for the embattled community to form a lobby group.

"Every arm of government has its own mandate. Parliament is the law-making organ and to ensure the government follows the constitution. The Executive mandate is to govern the people guided by the law," he said.

"The Judiciary has the mandate to protect the existent law and that's why those aggrieved on the context of the law move to the courts. It's not their responsibility to create any law," he said.

Odinga insisted that the jurisdiction of the Supreme Court is to protect the implementation of the existent laws in the country and incase of gaps they should give an advisory opinion recommending the bicarmel to legislate on such matters.

"What the judges should have done is to tell the gay community to go to Parliament. We are recommending Parliament to make laws in accordance with Article 45 so that we don't have concerns on the issue," Odinga said.

Proposed legislations

Homabay Town MP Peter Kaluma is seeking to sponsor a bill that would impose a life sentence on those convicted of engaging in homosexuality and other unnatural sexual acts.

The Penal Code prohibits same-sex relations and criminalizes acts of "gross indecency" and "carnal knowledge against the order of nature".

The law stipulates a 14-year jail term for those found guilty of engaging in homosexuality.

"I've been receiving a lot of threats from people pushing this demonic agenda. I don't care if they denied me access to travel to foreign countries," Kaluma stated.

"I take courage on the fact on 3 judges out of five supported the decision. We are going to request the Supreme Court in their full bench of seven to review that decision," the lawmaker stated.

Kaluma asserted that was not a coincidence that the shocking supreme court verdict was issued on a day that Jill Biden landed in the country for a three day visit.

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He linked the Ksh16 billion from U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) for food assistance as bait to have the country support homosexuality, something that they will not allow.

"We cannot permit immorality expressly prohibited by our laws. It is interesting that the Supreme Court determination was issued when the US First Lady was coming. It is not coincidental that they are giving us Ksh16 billion," Kaluma said.

Kaluma said that they will be going back to the Supreme Court for a review as the ruling was only backed by three judges.

Supreme Court Ruling

Deputy Chief Justice Philomena Mwilu, justices Smokin Wanjala and Njoki Ndung'u ruled in favour of the LGBTQ while justices William Ouko and Mohammed Ibrahim gave dissenting opinions.

The decision by the apex court followed an appeal arising form the Court of Appeal by the lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) had successfully challenged an appeal by the board against a favorable High Court decision.

The Supreme Court held the board violated the right to non-discrimination by refusing to accept the names proposed.

"The court was of the view that the appellant's decision was discriminatory and that it would be unconstitutional to limit the right to associate, through denial of registration of an association, purely on the basis of the sexual orientation of the applicants," the court ruled.

The court however pointed out that all persons, whether heterosexual, lesbian, gay, intersex or otherwise, will be subject to sanctions if they contravene existing laws, including Sections 162, 163 and 165 of the Penal Code.
(Alliance News) - Rightmove PLC on Friday hailed "pricing actions" as it praised the resilience of customers for its profit growth in 2022, and paid out a higher dividend to shareholders.

Shares in the Milton-Keynes based online real estate agency fell 2.4% to 550.20 pence each on Friday morning, as operating profit and revenue fell short of market expectations.

Rightmove said pretax profit grew 6.9% in 2022 to GBP241.3 million from GBP225.6 million a year prior. Operating profit rose 6.7% to GBP241.3 million from GBP226.1 million, underperforming against company-compiled consensus of GBP242.2 million by 0.4%.

Revenue climbed 9.1% to GBP332.6 million from GBP304.9 million, beating company-compiled consensus of GBP330.8 million by 0.5%. It fell 5.5% short however of a revenue expectation of GBP352.0 million by UBS analysts.

The company paid a final dividend of 5.2 pence per share for 2022, up 8.3% from 4.8p paid for 2021. This brings the total dividend to 8.5p, up 9.0% from 7.8p a year ago.

Outgoing Chief Executive Officer Peter Brooks-Johnson said: "The year's changing housing market conditions demonstrated our customers' resilience and ability to adapt and to continue to succeed. The softening from the Covid-induced frenetic market towards a more normal market earlier in the year was disrupted in the final few months by the unexpected rapid mortgage rate increases.

"The strength of our results is a reminder of how effective and integral our new and existing products and services are in helping our customers in both faster and slower markets."

2022's results were the last set reported with Peter Brooks-Johnson as chief executive officer. He will be replaced by Johan Svanstrom from Monday.

Average revenue per advertiser, a key metric, grew 11% to GBP1,314 from GBP1,189, and beating company-compiled consensus of GBP1,300 by 1.1%. Rightmove said it was "not materially impacted by the property market cycle," as it noted increased confidence in average revenue per advertiser growth in 2023.

The company said 16.3 billion minutes were spent on its platform, down from 18.3 billion in 2022, as the UK housing market cooled off.

Mortgage lender Nationwide on Wednesday reported that UK house prices fell 1.1% annually in February, compared to a 1.1% rise in January.

On a monthly basis, prices fell 0.5% in February from January, slowing slightly from a 0.6% decline in January from December. It was the sixth consecutive monthly decline in UK house prices, however.

By Tom Budszus, Alliance News reporter

Comments and questions to newsroom@alliancenews.com

Copyright 2023 Alliance News Ltd. All Rights Reserved.
(Alliance News) - The following is a round-up of updates by London-listed companies, issued on Wednesday and not separately reported by Alliance News:

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Wheelsure Holdings PLC - Fareham, England-based industrial engineering company - Requests a temporary suspension of its shares on the AQSE Growth Market from Wednesday due to a delay to the publication of its financial results for the year ended August 31. Says the audit work is expected to conclude "in the coming weeks." Adds that conversations regarding raising further working capital are ongoing with a number of providers. In the meantime, says capital remains "severely constrained" but is optimistic the conversations will conclude positively.

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ECR Minerals PLC - exploration and development company focused on gold in Australia - Completes the purchase of a new Cortech CMR1000 multi-purpose drilling rig for USD402,957. Purchase of rig was delayed in July 2021 to allow the appointment of Chief Executive Andrew Haythrope and the completion of a new strategic plan which was originally announced in July 2022. Chief Executive Andrew Haythorpe says: "I am delighted that our long awaited second drill rig has finally arrived in Melbourne. As I stated previously this new Cortech multi-purpose rig will significantly enhance our on-the-ground capabilities, offering both RC and diamond drilling systems. As previously reported, our drill schedule for 2023 is ramping up considerably, and the rig will be put to work following a period of commissioning. The board are also greatly encouraged by expressions of interest from companies regarding leasing the rig outside of ECR's own schedule. In this regard, it is anticipated that the fees from leasing, if agreed, will fund a significant portion of our planned work at Creswick. I look forward to providing further details in due course."

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Polymetal International PLC - gold and silver producer with assets in Russia and Kazakhstan - Chief Executive Vitaly Nesis says that the company did not replace its ore depletion and recorded declining ore reserves in 2022. Explains the exploration season was severely affected by the indirect impact of sanctions placed on, amongst other things, imports of diamond drilling spares and materials into Russia. "We remain confident in the groups ability to grow our high-quality reserve base and expect the resumption of the upward trend in 2023," he says. In 2022, the company ore reserves fell 9% year-on-year to 27.3 million ounces of gold equivalent from 29.9 Moz of GE. Mineral resources, additional to ore reserves, grew 5% year-on-year to 25.8 Moz of GE from 24.6 Moz of GE.

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One Heritage Group PLC - Manchester-based residential developer focused on the north of England - Announces the practical completion of Country House, Oldman. Says this is its first completion of a development management project. Chief Executive Jason Upton says: "We are thrilled to see the completion of County House. The scheme marks the completion of our first partnership with a housing association, and we are grateful to the entire project team for their work on the scheme. Not only are we really pleased with the quality of the product provided, but we are also delighted to have transformed a local landmark building which is centrally located."

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By Heather Rydings, Alliance News senior economics reporter

Comments and questions to newsroom@alliancenews.com

Copyright 2023 Alliance News Ltd. All Rights Reserved.
Manchester, VT (05254)

Today

Mostly cloudy skies early, then partly cloudy this afternoon. Slight chance of a rain shower. High around 75F. Winds SE at 5 to 10 mph..

Tonight

Mostly cloudy with some showers after midnight. Low around 55F. Winds SE at 5 to 10 mph. Chance of rain 50%.
Nairobi  President William Ruto has finally broken his silence on the Supreme Court ruling on LGBTQ rights and the ongoing debate surrounding the subject, saying that Kenya will never accept such practices.

Speaking during the International Women's day on Thursday, President Ruto said LGBTQ practices will not be tolerated in Kenya, as they do not conform with the country's traditions and beliefs.

The President said even though they respect the courts, Kenya wouldn't allow same sex relationships.

"We respect our courts but our traditions and beliefs do not allow same sex relationships. That will not happen in Kenya, it may happen elsewhere but not in this country," President Ruto stated.

"I will not allow men to compete with women for other men," he added.

President Ruto also called upon religious leaders to intervene and take a firm stand in the fight against the LGBTQ agenda which is being propagated in various platforms.

"I want to ask our religious leaders to stand firm and educate our children, our people so that we don't lose our beliefs and way of life to foreign practices," the President added.

Deputy President Rigathi Gachagua also commented on the issue, terming the ruling of the Supreme Court ruling on LGBTQ rights demonic.

DP Gachagua Gachagua who is known not to mince his words said the Supreme Court ruling left him speechless, and that's why he didn't have an immediate response to the issue.

The Heads Of State sentiments and that of his deputy concur with similar views given by several leaders and religious groups who are against the legalising of LGBTQ in the country.

Already MPs George Kaluma (Homabay Town) Mohammed Ali (Nyali) have proposed to have the LGBTQ community outlawed in the country.

MP Kaluma in his proposed law wants have homosexuality and other unnatural sexual acts criminalized in Kenya, and increase the penalty of those convicted of engaging or promoting the acts to imprisonment for life.

On his part MP Ali through a motion wants the government to bar the community and other propagators of the LGBTQ agenda from doing so.

The LGBTQ debate in the country was revived after the Supreme Court last week affirmed a decision by lower courts that quashed the decision by the NGO Board to decline an LGBT lobby group's formal registration.

The decision by the apex court on Friday followed an appeal arising form the Court of Appeal by the lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) had successfully challenged an appeal by the board against a favorable High Court decision.

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The Supreme Court held the board violated the right to non-discrimination by refusing to accept the names proposed, as the respondent was entitled to exercise their constitutionally guaranteed freedom to associate by being able to form an association.

The court however pointed out that all persons, whether heterosexual, lesbian, gay, intersex or otherwise, will be subject to sanctions if they contravene existing laws, including Sections 162, 163 and 165 of the Penal Code.

The Penal Code provisions prohibit same-sex relations.

Justices Mohamed Ibrahim and William Ouko however wrote dissenting opinions against a majority decision by Justices Philomena Mwilu (DCJ), Smokin Wanjala, and Njoki Ndung'u.

Ibrahim and Ouko held the decision by the NGO Board was not discriminatory and that it did not infringe Article 27 of the Constitution (2010).

The two also argued that the board has the discretion to refuse to register any association if the association does not meet certain specified conditions spelt in the law.
Northwestern Engineerings Samir Khuller, the Peter and Adrienne Barris Chair of Computer Science, has been elected to the Computing Research Association (CRA) Board of Directors for a three-year term, effective July 1.

The CRA represents more than 250 North American academic, industry, and government organizations advancing computing research, including departments of computer science and computer engineering, research laboratories and centers, and affiliated professional societies.

As a board member, Khuller is eager to help better integrate research and educational activities through strong partnerships between academia and industry.

I am keen on finding ways to provide more research opportunities for our students, and ways for students to find internship and mentoring opportunities with researchers and industry professionals outside their own schools and colleges who they might not have access to, Khuller said. I look forward to serving the computing community and serving with this amazingly distinguished and dedicated team that will be leading CRA through the years. CRA has had major impact in the field of computing by constantly improving the climate, and striving to address issues impacting both our field and community.

Nominated by the CRA Elections Committee and elected by vote of CRA member institutions, the Board of Directors is a distinguished group of leaders in computing research from academia and industry.

Khuller joins the following new cohort of directors:

Sandhya Dwarkadas, Walter N. Munster Professor and Chair of Computer Science, University of Virginia

Kinnis Gosha, Hortinius I. Chenault Endowed Associate Professor of Computer Science, Morehouse College

Ming Lin, Barry Mersky and Capital One Endowed Professor and Distinguished University Professor of Computer Science, University of Maryland

Lydia Tapia, professor and chair of computer science, University of New Mexico

In 2022, Khuller was elevated to an Association for Computing Machinery (ACM) Fellow for contributions to algorithm design with real-world implications and for mentoring and community-building.

Khuller was named a 2021 Fellow of the European Association for Theoretical Computer Science (EATCS). He also received the 2020 CRA-E Undergraduate Research Faculty Mentoring Award. Additional awards and honors include the NSF CAREER Award, Google Research Award, and CTE-Lilly Teaching Fellowship.

In 2016, Khuller earned the inaugural European Symposium on Algorithms (ESA) Test-of-Time Award for his work with collaborator Sudipto Guha on approximation algorithms for connected dominating sets.

From 2018-2021, Khuller served as chair of the ACM Special Interest Group on Algorithms and Computation Theory (SIGACT).

Prior to joining Northwestern in 2019, Khuller was a faculty member at the University of Maryland for 27 years, most recently as the Elizabeth Stevinson Iribe Chair of Computer Science in the University of Marylands Department of Computer Science. Khuller received the University of Marylands Distinguished Scholar Teacher Award and Deans Award for Teaching Excellence.

The CRA Board of Directors will convene for a meeting July 13-14 in Portland, Oregon.
Nairobi  The Ministry of Foreign Affairs has cleared Foreign Missions in the country to engage ministries directly without its pre-authorization as envisaged in the Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations.

The decision conveyed by the Foreign Office on Wednesday seeks to promote efficiency by reduce bureaucracy.

"Missions may communicate directly with Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs) of the Government of Kenya without going through Ministry of Foreign and Diaspora Affairs," in a diplomatic note.

MFA however noted that correspondence should be shared with the Ministry.

The Foreign Office will further require Foreign Missions, United Nations Agencies and International Organizations to relay the outcomes of deliberations with ministries within three days.

"In the interest of coordination, the forgoing is subject to requirement by the Missions to avail a report to the Ministry of Foreign and Diaspora Affairs on the held deliberation and decision undertaken within three days of the meeting," MFA advised.

Further, the ministry ceded the coordination of diplomatic engagements involving multiple ministries to the Office of the Deputy President.

"Requests of meetings of cross cutting nature and that involve more than one Ministry, it is advised that such requests should be made through the office of the Deputy President for the coordination purposes," MFA stated.

Performance Management

The realignment in cooperation between government ministries and foreign missions comes at a time President William Ruto's administration has committed Cabinet Secretaries to performance contracting in a bid to secure the realization of campaign pledges through an outcome-based approach.

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The diplomatic note was issued a day after a Cabinet meeting at State House, Nairobi, reviewed appraisals for FY2021/22 contracting cycle for ministries, State departments and agencies.

Ruto elevated performance management to the Office of Prime Cabinet Secretary.

"This is expected to entrench productivity as the Administration's Mantra while also enhance accountability," a public memo containing the outcomes of the Cabinet meeting read in part.

"To realize this objective, the Administration's first contracting cycle will crystalize the Ministerial Priorities approved during the Cabinet Retreat held at the

beginning of the year," it added.
Nairobi  President William Ruto has announced that the Government will subsidise the cost of the 6kg gas cylinder by more than Sh2,000.

Currently, a 6kg cylinder costs about Sh2,800.

With the subsidy, the price will fall to about Sh500 in the next financial year beginning this July.

"This is in line with the Government's plan to increase the use of clean energy and reduce the use of fuel wood," he said.

The President, who was speaking at the relaunch of the 15-year-old Women Enterprise Fund in Nairobi on Thursday, also announced that 8 per cent VAT on gas will be abolished.

This will equally bring the prices of the product down significantly.

He also warned unscrupulous businessmen against selling and filling faulty gas cylinders, saying they would be dealt with according to the law.
Nairobi  Defense Cabinet Secretary Aden Duale and his Interior counterpart Kithure Kindiki on Thursday announced that the National Security Council (NSC) will consider a full-scale deployment of Kenya Defense Forces (KDF) in bandit prone areas.

Speaking while they appeared before the joint Parliamentary Committee to shed more light on KDF deployment, Duale said discussions are underway and the NSC will give the way forward.

Duale assured that when the NSC gives a nod, the ministry will seek approval of the National Assembly.

"The deployment was necessitated by persistent insecurity in the gazetted areas. The bandits were targeting police officers in order to advance their activities which include killing and stealing livestock. The police officers in the area faced limited mobility protection hence the need to for support and assistance from the KDF," Duale said.

"We are cooperating with the interior ministry, when and if we feel the KDF needs to take over the mantle we will draft a motion to bring to the House seeking your approval. We will brief the National Security Council and soon we will have a way forward."

The CSs defended governments move to send KDF to the North Rift without Parliament 's approval saying it was a matter of national security which was an emergency and they did not break any law as they only relied on Article 241 section 3 (a) and (b).

The Article 241 indicates that The Defence Forces:

(a) are responsible for the Defence and protection of the sovereignty and territorial integrity of the Republic;

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(b) shall assist and cooperate with other authorities in situations of emergency or disaster, and report to the National Assembly whenever deployed in such circumstances; and

(c) may be deployed to restore peace in any part of Kenya affected by unrest or instability only with the approval of the National Assembly.

"This administration will end this problem of the bandits. I am convinced that this is a National Emergency and I am convinced that if we do not finish this here and now, it can develop to be a cancer that would affect our Nation in the future," Kindiki told MPs.

"We are willing to listen to all stakeholders but also, we have decided to serve national interests and remove all other things especially politics from this operation."

The two spoke while they appeared before a joint parliamentary committee on Defense, intelligence and Foreign relations.

CS duale further pointed out that that the presence of the KDF in banditry prone areas is only focused on bridging capacity gap in police service for now.

Bandits and cattle rustlers have in the recent weeks wreaked havoc in the North Rift region leading to loss of lives, loss of livestock and displacement of people with the counties of Baringo, Samburu, Turkana and Elgeyo Marakwet being the most affected.
"Having consulted leaders of our parties who are seated here with me and Nigerians from different walks of life, I have concluded that the processes and outcome of the presidential and National Assembly election last Saturday is grossly flawed in every material particular and as such must be challenged by all of us."

The presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Atiku Abubakar, has rejected the outcome of the 2023 presidential election, describing it as the worst election since Nigeria's return to Democracy in 1999.

Atiku stated this at a press conference in Abuja on Thursday.

It was the first time he would be commenting on the 25 February election after the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) on Wednesday declared the candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Bola Tinubu, was declared the winner of the poll.

INEC Chairman, Mahmood Yakubu, who announced the result, said Mr Tinubu polled a total of 8,794,726 while Atiku polled 6,984,520.

Peter Obi of the Labour Party (LP) came third with 6,101,533 votes.

Altogether, 18 candidates contested the presidential election.

Earlier protest, call for cancellation

The PDP was the first to protest the collation of the presidential result and the subsequent announcement of Mr Tinubu as the winner of the election.

On Monday, during the collation of results at the National Collation Centre, the PDP Agent and member of the party's presidential campaign council, Dino Melaye, insisted that INEC must upload the result of all polling units to the election viewing portal (IReV).

When the INEC Chairman attempted to continue the collation without uploading the results, he walked out of the collation centre in protest. He was joined by the LP's agent.

The next day, while the collation of results was ongoing, the PDP called for the cancellation of the election results and the conduct of another election under the supervision of another person other than Mr Yakubu.

The LP, and the New Nigerian Peoples Party (NNPP), who came third and fourth respectively in the election, have also rejected the results.

Mr Obi said on Thursday that he would seek redress in court to reclaim his mandate.

Worst election since return of democracy

However, at the press conference at the PDP national secretariat, Atiku faulted the conduct of the elections, saying INEC, shattered the hope of Nigerians with the conduct of the election.

He said the election was neither free nor fair, adding that preliminary assessment has placed it as the worst conducted election since the country's return to democracy.

He said the fraud and manipulation experienced in the election were unprecedented in the history of the country.

"The 2023 presidential election presented our nation and its people, with the greatest opportunity for a reset. We had everything going for us, the legal framework in the 2022 Electoral Act and the BVAS technology, the enthusiasm of Nigerians to turn out and in large numbers was a bonus," he said.

"However, the dreams and aspirations of Nigerians who brave all the challenges to go and cast their votes on Saturday 25th February were shattered with the conduct of INEC which failed woefully to leave up to its expectations."

The PDP candidate said he has consulted with the leaders of the PDP and other Nigerians and has resolved to challenge the elections.

He said his lawyers are reviewing the results for legal advice.

"I can still not understand why the electoral umpire was in such a hurry to conclude collation and announcement of results, given the number of complaints of irregularities, of bypassing of the BVAS, failure of uploading to the IREV and unprecedented cancellation and disenfranchisement of millions of voters in breach of the Electoral Act in the commission's guidelines was indeed a rape on democracy," he said.

"Having consulted leaders of our parties who are seated here with me and Nigerians in different walks of life, I have come to the conclusion that the processes and outcome of the presidential and National Assembly election last Saturday is grossly flawed in every material particular and as such must be challenged by all of us."

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Atiku also said he hoped the judiciary would redeem itself and rise to society's expectations, saying it is the last hope of the people.

He also called on Nigerians to remain peaceful as the party take the steps to seek redress

He said: "In the end, who wins is not as important as the credibility of our elections and electoral process. I call on all men and women of goodwill to join hands with us in the vanguard to defend our constitution from brigandage of anti-democratic forces. Finally, I urge Nigerians to remain vigilant and resolute."

The press conference was attended by the National Chairman of the PDP, Iyorchia Ayu, National Secretary, Sylvester Anyanwu, Governor Ahmadu Fintiri of Adamawa State, former Governors Emeka Ihedioha of Imo State, Olagunsoye Oyinlola of Osun State, Boni Haruna of Adamawa State, Celestine Omehia of Rivers State and several other party faithful.
03.03.2023 LISTEN

Stakeholders with the Millar Institute for Transdisciplinary and Development Studies in the new grass charcoal innovation have given some exciting testimonies, following the grass charcoal training they have acquired from the Millar Institute.

Grass charcoal also known as briquettes is a new innovation introduced by Prof. Millar of the Millar Institute for Transdisciplinary and Development Studies. The new innovation came along with huge benefits and some communities have described it as a life changer, especially for the people living in rural communities.

Through this innovation, bush fire burning and even farmers who continuously cry about losing their farm produce to bush burning will cry no more. This is because what is being known as a nuisance grass has now become an essential commodity to landowners across the Savannah ecological zones.

Stakeholders, who were part of the dialogue engagement organized by the Millar Institute on Friday, February 24, 2023, say they are particularly excited because the innovation makes use of a very simple material and also makes use of locally available materials.

Mr. Mark Akparibo, Executive Director of Tere- Bere lauded Millar Institute for the new innovation.

According to Mr. Akparibo, they are looking at how they can improve upon the environment and key issues are basically fire and its environmental effects.

The Millar Institute has been able to develop through research brought about grass charcoal which has also been translated into the training of various Forest and Farm Producers. My organization Tere-bere is one of the organizations that benefited from the training program and we are quite excited to be sharing some of the results we are having in grass charcoal production and other Organic matter from crops that are also been used for grass charcoal.

We are particularly excited because the innovation makes use of a very simple material and also makes use of locally available materials.

I can say that for my group, we decided that we will go beyond just grass and to look for other locally available materials to be able to produce the grass briquette and I must say that we have been able to produce some grass charcoal which our members are using within their localities.

Through our various research programs, we have realized that close to about 90% of biodiversity in the northern savannah ecological zone is been reduced through bush burning. So, a lot of what is happening is as a result of bush burning which also reduces the tree cover in the ecological zone but also prevents another biodiversity from thriving. So, we believe that if bush burning is able to stop, close to 90% of our forest resources will grow up, Mr. Akparibo stated.

Executive Director of Community Action in Development and Research Eric Dalinpuo, told this reporter that his group members received the new innovation with excitement. According to him, his members were able to produce what they are using daily in their various households. However, stressing they are now looking at producing in a commercial quantity.

We had a project with FAO called the FFF project and under the FFF project, we have a number of organizations that comes together as beneficiaries of FFF project and these organizations come together and formed what we called Ghana Federation of Forest and Farm Producers GhaFFAP and under the umbrella of GhaFFAP, the Millar Institute has gotten also some funding from FAO to take us through this lovely new product thats coming up call grass briquette and fortunately all the organization under GHaFFAP were eligible to get training from Millar Institute and they did well, they went round and train all the organizations and these organizations that have huge membership are also trickling down the training to their membership. So, we are beneficiaries.

"Since we received the training from Millar Institute, we have to replicate it to so many member groups and the member groups are so happy and so much interested in the new learning and some of them are making the charcoal at their household level.

"Now, what we want to do, is to see how we can go commercial because this is something we have the material available everywhere and they can fetch this grass to begin to make income for themselves. So, is the income-making aspect that is important to us as an organization, It is true they can use it for their house cocking but how will they make extra income for themselves? So, we will see how we can get a potential buyer and see if we can also bring our women together to produce in the commercial quantity we can supply," he stated.

Nana Kwame Paul Executive Director of Organic Farming Association (ABOFA)

Nana Kwame Paul Executive Director of Organic Farming Association (ABOFA) who was also part of the dialogue meeting organized by the Millar Institute on Friday said, with regards to the production of the grass briquette which was introduced to them in the year 2022, they took the initiative and decided to expand and train more on the briquettes innovation.

Initially when the call came, people had some perceptions and they were asking whether is possible to produce charcoal with grass but luckily for us, we had training at the Ofrokrom at the Chief Palace.

We started with a few women that were committed to producing the grass, we try to bring in other things that were not used and were thrown away by people such as coconut hats, maize stalls, maize sticks, and the normal grass.

A lot of stakeholders have come on board hopefully to be trained and other NGOs want us to train their groups in these charcoal briquettes.

Honestly speaking, I have tested it, I have used it in my house and I have seen the difference because I have the normal charcoal and the briquettes and when you compare the period of using it, will tell you that you have to go for grass briquette. It takes a longer time to reduce in size and have more of the dust. It also has a contact that heats very fast. So, as compared to the normal charcoal it goes very fast. So, when you are cooking and you want it fast, use the briquettes instead of using the normal charcoal," he intimated.

Meanwhile, Mr. Ngamegbulam Chidozie Stephen a media personality in the Upper East Region who fell in love with the grass charcoal innovation also shared his experience during the grass charcoal dialogue meeting after going through the grass charcoal practical exercise in Winkongo, a community in the Talensi District.

Mr. Ngamegbulam who expressed optimism and excitement about the innovation also used the medium to encourage people of the north to embrace the one-in-a-million innovation by Prof. Millar because it has a lot of benefits to humanity and the environment.

Ghana National Facilitator Forest and Farm Facility of the FAO Elvis Kwuudar who was part of the dialogue program also laud Prof. David Millar for such a innovation.

Professor David Millar, President of Millar Institute for Transdisciplinary and Development Studies, advised Assemblies in the various regions of the north to take up the project.

If an assembly picks this up, those who are at the Senior High Schools are under the assembly. All need you need as an Assembly is to come out with a bye-law that says, heads of those in Senior High Schools to use grass charcoal and no longer tree charcoal and as an Assembly, you also establish the industry and take some of your unemployed youth or graduates and put them in that sector and they will be producing the charcoal and supplying to the school," he stressed.

According to Prof. Millar, if a such step is taken, money that will go into buying charcoal for the schools will be paid to the Assembly. He described the project as a big opportunity for the Assemblies, especially in this part of the country to generate revenues.
Mountain Research Institute (MRI), a research and consultancy organization as part of its corporate social responsibility registered over 100 people under the National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS).

The beneficiaries were drawn from Obosomase and Ahwerase in the Akuapim North and South District Assemblies of the Eastern region.

This is an annual event that MRI holds to give back to the community where the office is located.

Sampson Atiemo (PHD), the Executive Chairman of MRI mentioned that "If you give these people money to go the hospital when they sick, it will just be a onetime activity, but if they are insured under the scheme, they will be covered for a year."

"Obosomase and Ahwerase are our immediate communities and we want to do something that will be very beneficial and impactful to the community. This is part of our corporate social responsibility to the two communities," he emphasised.

He added that if anything happens to the office building in the absence of the staff, or if the organization finds itself in any situation, it is more likely that people from these communities will be the first to render any form of assistance to them.

The PRO for the NHIS team, Mr. Frederick Okai Jnr was happy that the Institute chose this initiative as there are other options the organization would have chosen from, but they chose this instead.

He added that a lot of people around the two communities have to either travel to Nsawam or Akropong to do their registration or renewal of NHIS cards, which is discouraging a lot of people from being insured.

This initiative he said was a good one and came at the right time.

The Assemblymen for the two communities, Hon. Seth Ebenezer Bekoe (Obosomase) and Hon. Owusu (Ahwerase) mobilized the less privileged and assisted the staff of MRI and NHIS to do the registration. The entire process was financed through internal generated funds from the organization.
THE OVERLORD of the Asante Kingdom, Otumfuo Osei-Tutu II has blessed Francis Addai Nimoh as the latter seeks to contest the flagbearer race of the New Patriotic Party (NPP).

The King who received the aspirant at the Manhyia Palace during a courtesy call, also admonished Mr Nimoh to conduct a clean campaign ahead of the upcoming internal elections of the NPP.

Otumfuo asked Mr Nimoh to show to the delegates what he stands for and can do when given the nod as flagbearer.

"This is not your first time contesting as aspirant and so conduct yourself well just as you have done and win the hearts of your delegates, Otumfuo admonished.

Otumfuo advised the NPP to choose a candidate that would be accepted by Ghanaians.

The King said Ghanaians were looking for someone who they could trust to seek their welfare.

This, he noted, makes it important to elect a person whose credibility can be attested to by all Ghanaians.

I would urge the NPP to elect a person who can be accepted by all Ghanaians and whose credibility is positive, the Asante King stated.

Hon Addai Nimoh addressing the media at the Manhyia Palace express his delight over the blessings he received from Otumfuo.

He also noted his desire to begin campaign of insults as he seeks the endorsement of delegates in the region.

I appeal to NPP members especially delegates to look to me to lead the party to win the 2024 polls since in me lies the vision to make Ghana work again with the implementation of transformational and job creating policies for the betterment of all Ghanaians, Mr Nimoh stated.
02.03.2023 LISTEN

Regional Chairmen of the National Democratic Congress (NDC) across the country have declared their support and endorsed John Dramani Mahama as their flagbearer for the 2024 elections.

The regional party chairmen made the endorsement during the campaign launch of John Mahama at the University of Health and Allied Sciences (UHAS) at Ho in the Volta region on Thursday, March 2.

According to the 16 chairmen, it is only the former President who can lead and win the elections for the NDC in 2024.

The Chairmen took turns to assure Mr Mahama that they would work hard to ensure victory for their respective regions for the NDC in next years election.

Former president Mahama, start his campaign today in an effort to become the National Democratic Congress (NDC) flagbearer in the general elections of 2024.

'Building the Ghana we want together' is the theme for Mr Mahamas 2024 campaign.

Aside from the former president, Dr. Kwabena Duffour, a former Finance Minister, Kojo Bonsu, a former Mayor of Kumasi, and Ernest Kobeah, a 43-year-old businessman based in the United Kingdom, are all running for the job.

The party is anticipated to conduct its presidential primaries on May 13, 2023.

After losing the previous two elections in 2016 and 2020, John Mahama intends to run for president again in the 2024 polls.

The former President, however, is confident that he has what it takes to assist the nation out of its current economic crisis.

By Citi Newsroom
The National Communications Director of the governing new patriotic party has waded into former President Mahama's bid to rule Ghana for the second time.

He said trying to sell the one-time President again will be the most difficult task ever for the NDC.

He claims Ghanaians already know Mahama's bad record.

In a tweet spotted by Modernghana News on Thursday, March 2, the ruling partys spokesperson claimed that Mr. Mahama has already been "tried, tested, and disapproved" by Ghanaians.

"Reselling H.E. John Mahama... Ghana knows his dismal record; there is nothing new to add with an expensive campaign launch...Tried, tested, and disapproved," the tweet reads.

Meanwhile, the former president officially launched his presidential primary campaign at the Cedi Auditorium of the University of Health and Allied Sciences (UHAS), Ho on Thursday, March 2.

Speaking at the event, the NDC flagbearer hopeful asserted that his next government will scrap the most contentious ex-gratia.

He also promised to change the dire state of the economy and never repeat the flaws of the NPP when given the nod one more time.

Among other things, Mr. Mahama stated that government must be full of actions and not slogans like the MPP administration has been doing over the years.

The NDC flagbearer hopeful acknowledged the need to put aside differences and work in unison to achieve the needed development, asking people to believe in him because he knows how to deliver a positive change.

"We must work together in such a way that there is no NPP or NDC; there must be no tribal differences  You and I must work together, hand in hand, with grit and determination.

The former president continued, "I know how to deliver that badly needed change because, over the past four to five years, Ive studied our problems."
Bukoba  KAGERA Regional Commissioner (RC), Mr Albert Chalamila has tasked school owners to take necessary precautions in controlling immoral acts that are against the country's cultural norms, morals and good practices in upbringing children.

He made the remarks following a report by Tanzania Fire and Rescue Force (TFRF), after conducting safety inspection on several schools in Kyerwa and Ngara districts and learnt of immoral acts in the institutions.

TFRF Assistant Inspector, Mr Peter Mmbare explained that during the inspection it was revealed that in some of the boarding schools, two students share the same bed, something that is against the country's norms as it could lead to homosexuality.

Minister for Education, Science and Technology, Professor Adolf Mkenda recently banned 16 supplementary books from being used in schools and education institutions citing immoral content that violates the country's cultural norms, morals and good practices in upbringing children.

He warned schools with the stray books in their shelves, saying failure to remove them will attract disciplinary measures including risking the institution's deregistration. Moreover, he said, teachers, parents, guardians and students must ensure they do not use the books and report to the relevant authorities, when they find them with their colleagues or in schools.

In the list, 13 books are titled Diary of a Wimpy Kid, Diary of a Wimpy Kid-Rodrick Rules, Diary of a Wimpy Kid-The Last Straw, Diary of a Wimpy Kid-Dog Days and Diary of a Wimpy Kid-The Ugly Truth, among others.

The government said any book content that is immoral, cultivating cruel, abuse, violence or immoral habits in schools is not allowed thus introducing children to educational materials or information that promote such conduct will not be tolerated

Mr Chalamila elaborated that more efforts were also needed to install modern fire-fighting equipment for emergency following recent fire accidents thatdestroyed some dormitories in the country resulting in the loss of lives and properties.

"We recently heard of fire accidents thatdestroyed some dormitories in the country resulting in the loss of lives and properties. So, we think school owners have to learn and install modern fire-fighting equipment for emergency," he said.
Samuel Bryan Buabeng, an Assistant Technical Officer at the Office of the President has taken a swipe at former President John Dramani Mahama over his decision to scrap ex-gratia.

The aspiring NDC flagbearer has promised to scrap the payment of the Article 71 office holders ex-gratia when given the mandate again in January 2025.

While launching his presidential primaries campaign at the Cedi Auditorium of the University of Health and Allied Sciences (UHAS), Ho on Thursday, March 2, the 2020 presidential candidate said he will also convince the other arms of government into accepting the removal of the ex-gratia.

"The payment of ex-gratia to members of the executive under Article 71 will be scrappedwe will also begin the process of persuading the other arms of government to accept the removal," the former President said.

But this, according to the presidential staffer, is a sign of dishonesty and a desperate attempt to win power at all costs.

In a tweet spotted by Modernghana News on Thursday, March 2, Mr. Buabeng told the former ex-gratia beneficiary to return all the money he has received through his service as an MP, Minister, Vice President, and President before he can be taken seriously.

He also demanded that Mr. Mahama stop taking the GHS40,000 monthly salary he receives as former President and return every penny he has already received.

SCAM ALERT Dishonest John Dramani Mahama should first return all the ex-gratia he has received from his days as MP for Bole Bamboi, Veep and the President as well as the over 40k monthly salary as a former President, then we will take him serious. Ghanaians are wide awake! he wrote.
Until you help the NDC win your region, dont try aspiring to become President, Dean of the National Regional Chairmen Caucus of the NDC, John Kwadwo Gyapong has told Dr. Kwabena Duffuor and Kojo Bonsu.

He told the two stalwarts fighting to lead the party instead of Mr. Mahama to take a break and focus on doing the "donkey job" first.

Speaking at the launch of former President John Dramani Mahamas campaign in Ho at the University of Allied Sciences Cedi Auditorium on Thursday, March 2, he said until the two Ashantis do the right thing, they shouldnt try troubling the NDC party.

"Dr. Duffuor, have you won your seat before? Charity begins at home. Have you won it before? Who should do the donkey job for you to become a president of this country? ... you have never won it; never have you won the regional chairman," he said.

To the former Kumasi Mayor, he said, "Kojo Bonsu is from Offinso. I'm wondering why the Ashantis are so eager to become president when they are not doing their homework well. Charity begins at home; go there and win the seats for us before we can think about you."

"But if you don't do it and you're showing your face, I mean, you are just giving us trouble," he added.

All 16 regional chairmen of the NDC, led by Mr. Kwadwo Gyapong, who is the Oti regional chair, have declared their support for former President John Dramani Mahama.

They say the 2024 general election is based on experience and not an experiment.

The party has slated its parliamentary and presidential primaries for May 13, 2023.
The Editorial of the Wednesday 22nd February 2023 Edition of the Daily Graphic was about the protection of biodiversity. It was captioned: Protecting our biodiversity is crucial. The piece highlighted the commitment of two countries: the United Kingdom (UK) and our beloved country Ghana to work to promote and preserve biodiversity. At the Nature Action-a private sector mobilization event, held at the Lancaster House in London in the UK on Friday, February 17, the two countries resolved to work hand in glove to deliver the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework (GBF). it said.

It was indicated that, the Minister of Lands and Natural resources, Samuel Abu Jinapor, expressed worry that despite its importance to human well-being and a healthy planet, the worlds biodiversity was deteriorating at unprecedented rates, posing a serious threat to lives. As a biological scientist, it is quite worrying to hear about some of the environmental issues developing around us. It is understandable that development and modernization have affected the environment through habitat destruction and fragmentation. Through the ages, construction of roads and other governmental projects have caused loss of biodiversity to some extent. Though such cases are usually unavoidable, they have significantly caused loss of biodiversity in the country. In addition, urbanization has driven loss of biodiversity to such a level that, the abundance of some plant and animal species has been tremendously reduced, with some of them on the brink of extinction.

Whenever we talk about the protection and preservation of biological resources, one phenomenon that keeps resonating in mind is the issue of illegal mining, also known as Galamsey. Unfortunately, our beautiful rivers and their biodiversity have come under tremendous attack due to the activities of illegal miners. Excessively toxic chemicals such as mercury and cyanide that are released into the environment are known to pollute the environment and make it unhealthy for humans and animals.

On 21st September, 2022, an online article published by businessghana.com highlighted a statement made by Dr. Seth Koranteng Agyakwa of the CSIR Water Research Institute about contaminated fish on the Ghanaian market. He is reported to have said that, As for fishes, they are contaminated in those areas, and you need not hide about it. We can provide you with all the information about contaminants in fish. If they dont stop it, they will continue to be there. The danger is that, we might not know where the fish we consume come from and chances are that, some of us have already been exposed to such contaminated fish. According to an article from the website of the Business and Financial Times (2018), the fisheries sector of Ghana has been suggested to employ about 10% of the countrys population and has a direct effect on employment mainly along the four coastal regions.

During my undergraduate research project work some years ago, I had the privilege to work in one fishing community to observe and assess whether the fishing practices used were conservation-friendly and environmentally-friendly. To my amazement, many of the fishing methods that were used did not segregate between fingerlings and mature fish. One major observation I made was that indiscriminate fishing was going on and that small-sized and immature fish were caught and sold almost every day. In addition, the level of pollution in that estuarine ecosystem which doubles as a tourist site was overwhelming. I found that many of the fishing practices undertaken there were against the laws of artisanal fishing in Ghana. Unfortunately, I do not know whether my recommendations were considered or not. A casual visit to the same site in December 2022 revealed that the place had deteriorated further and the fish stock had reduced tremendously.

On February 27, 2023, the Daily Graphic reported a story entitled Cocoa industry under threat - illegal miners destroy rehabilitated farms. It was stated by the Executive Director of Cocoa Health and Extension Services, Rev. Edwin Afari that about 36.5 hectares of rehabilitated cocoa farms had been destroyed by illegal miners. He also added that On a larger scale, many forest areas where cocoa was grown had been taken over by illegal mining activities and that, apart from the rehabilitated farms, illegal miners were buying out huge tracts of land meant for cocoa farming for illegal mining. Even if you dont sell your farm to them, they dig around it, preventing you from accessing the farm. In the long run, the toxic chemicals used in illegal mining could negatively affect the quality of our cocoa beans. What future do we want to embrace, and leave for our children and grandchildren?

Again, according to the National Geographic (2018), In 2011, Ghana produced a record-setting amount of cocoa, weighing in at over one million tonnes. Since then, as illegal mining steadily ramped up, cocoa production has trended downwards, with a drop to 740,000 tonnes in 2015. We know what cocoa has done for our parents and grandparents. I believe many of us have, in one way or the other, benefited from the proceeds from cocoa farming. Whenever I hear anything about cocoa and cocoa farming, I remember my grandparents who spent their lives toiling in the Western Region to support their family with the proceeds from their toils. Some of us benefited from the CMB Scholarship during our senior high school education-all thanks to our hardworking relatives who were cocoa farmers. Though the CMB Scholarship is no longer in existence, cocoa has too many economic benefits to be mishandled by this generation.

Furthermore, with regards to the conservation of biodiversity, Maney et al. (2022) suggested that Cocoa-based agroforestry systems are an intermediate-complexity system hosting biodiversity greater than that of open-land systems. In support of ongoing cocoa sustainability efforts, both types of agroforests can play a role in improving and maintaining biodiversity in cocoa landscapes This means cocoa farming could be targeted to restore some of the depleted environmental resources of our country. Unfortunately, we are sacrificing the existing cocoa plantations we have, on the altar of galamsey.

We have succeeded in depleting our forest resources over the years, destroying the habitats of enormous numbers of plants and animals. Consequently, we have also lost a lot of ecosystem services that were tied to these plants and animals. Activities such as rampant bush burning for farming and hunting; deforestation due to timber, firewood and charcoal production; and now galamsey activities, have caused environmental degradation of various forms ranging from water pollution to air pollution.

In addition, though pesticides, weedicides, fungicides and all the chemicals used in agriculture in recent times have been helpful, their negative impact on harming nontarget species is worrying. Most of these chemicals fail to differentiate between good and bad plants and animals. It seems our education for farmers on effective use of these chemicals has not gone down very well and as a result, some of the chemicals have been abused over the years. Conversations with older folks will reveal the changes that have occurred in the composition of plant and animal communities in their farms since the introduction of inorganic chemicals. Mention is usually made of this or that helpful insect or herb that is no longer present in the environment.

Finally, in my view, the problem of biodiversity loss is so serious that stringent measures have to be put in place to address it. If not checked now, we are likely to face dire and irreversible environmental and economic consequences in the future. I am pleading with the stakeholders of the environmental, forestry and fisheries sectors, NGOs and CSOs, as well as traditional and religious authorities to intensify the education on protection of our environment and the conservation of biodiversity. I strongly believe that, if people become fully aware of the economic and health implications of some of the unhealthy environmental activities they undertake, we can restore what has been lost, through our collective efforts, and prevent further deterioration of the environment.

References

Galamsey activities stalling sustainable fishery efforts. Available online at https://thebftonline.com/2018/04/05/galamsey-activities-stalling-sustainable-fishery-efforts/ (Published: April 5, 2018). Date accessed: March 1, 2023.

CSIR Water Research Institute calls for action against galamsey. https://www.businessghana.com/site/news/general/270941/CSIR-Water-Research-Institute-calls-for-action-against-galamsey. Date Published: 21st September, 2022. Date retrieved: 1st March, 2023.

Akomaning, Y. O., Hlavackova, P., Darkwah, S. A., Zivelova, I., & Sujova, A. (2021). Socioeconomic Impact of Mining in the Atiwa Forest Reserve of Ghana on Fringe Communities and the Achievement of SDGs: Analysis from the Residents Perspective. Forests, 12(10), 1395.

Maney, C., Sassen, M., & Hill, S. L. (2022). Modelling biodiversity responses to land use in areas of cocoa cultivation. Agriculture, Ecosystems & Environment, 324, 107712.

Cocoa industry under threat - illegal miners destroy rehabilitated farms. Available online at https://www.graphic.com.gh/news/general-news/cocoa-industry-under-threat-illegal-miners-destroy-rehabilitated-farms.html. Date published: 27th February, 2023. Date Retrieved: 1st March, 2023.

The writer is a Biological Scientist and Development Worker based in Accra.
Mahama Ayariga, Member of Parliament (MP) for Bawku Central, is asking why the Majority Leader, Osei Kyei Mensa Bonsu is suddenly organizing press conferences in defence of the Electoral Commission over its new proposed C.I.

He doesnt understand why the Majority Caucus in parliament will make it seem like making Ghana card the sole document for voter registration is the only thing they are interested in than focusing on restoring the ailing economy.

Speaking on Accra-based JoyNews Upfront, Mr. Ayariga averred that the Minority Caucus will see to it that the right thing is done.

We all want the good of the country so if anything good is coming, we will all push for it. The EC is not the government so I don't understand why the majority Leader is speaking for the EC, he said.

He added, The Majority side should distance themselves from this and allow the relevant authority to do their work. They are not the ones bringing the C.I.

Meanwhile, the minority in Parliament has been defending its position on the grounds that the action only seeks to disenfranchise over 3 million Ghanaians who are of voting age but do not have Ghana cards.

They have proposed that a guarantor system needs to be added so that people with no Ghana card will have the opportunity to be registered.

But, speaking on the floor of Parliament on Tuesday, February 28, the EC boss, Jean Mensa explained that the guarantor system gives way for minors and foreigners to be registered.

She also stressed that the new C.I., if approved by Parliament, will help secure a credible register.
Prof. Ken Attafuah, Executive Secretary, of the National Identification Authority (NIA) has told citizens who may be waiting to receive their Ghana card at the registration centres to come for them at their offices.

Prof. Attafuah noted that his outfit cannot go back to every centre to distribute the cards but can only notify them via text message for collection.

The NIA expect the owners of the already printed card to visit their offices for them once they receive the text message.

Speaking on Accra-based JoyNews Upfront show, the NIA boss stated, NIA as an institution doesn't have the wherewithal to go back to the places of registration to give back cards to people. What we can do is send text messages to ask people to come for their cards.

He continued, These people got registered at our district offices so they know where to go when the cards are ready for collection.

He explained that, unlike the mass registration exercise, the NIA will no more establish additional centres but will be registering people at their offices.

We are not operating registration centres anywhere. We are operating from our regional and district centres, he stated.

Meanwhile, the Electoral Commission has proposed to use the Ghana card as the sole requirement for voter registration.

The Commission added that doing so without a guarantor system will also ensure a credible voter register for free and fair elections.
French citizen Benjamin Briere is still in an Iranian jail despite his recent acquittal by an appeals court, his lawyer has said.

Incarcerated in May 2020, Briere was sentenced to eight years in prison for espionage.

He is one of several foreigners who campaigners say Iran has jailed in a strategy of hostage-taking to extract concessions from the West.

His France-based lawyer, Philippe Valent, said in a statement sent to French news agency AFP that an Iranian appeals court had cleared his client of all charges and ordered his release on 15 February.

But Iran's Revolutionary Guards, the branch of the security forces entrusted with the preservation of the regime, "are keeping him imprisoned despite this declaration of innocence", he said.

"His release was prevented at the last moment," he said.

Held in the prison of Vakilabad in the eastern city of Mashhad, Briere is continuing a hunger strike which he started a month ago, and is "exhausted physically and mentally", Valent said.

Valent, who had previously described the espionage charges against his client as "fiction", said Thursday their "arbitrary nature" was "blatantly obvious".

He said Briere's family was demanding his immediate release.

"This situation is completely incomprehensible," Blandine Briere, said his sister.

She said the family had decided not to report the appeals court's verdict earlier in the hope that the situation might be resolved quietly.

Six French nationals are currently held in Iran.

The French foreign ministry has repeatedly condemned Iran for what it calls "hostage diplomacy".
03.03.2023 LISTEN

A spokesperson for John Mahamas 2024 presidential campaign, Felix Kwakye Ofosu has stated that the former president is the right candidate to rescue Ghana from all the problems brought on by the New Patriotic Party government.

Mr. Ofosu said the mismanagement of the Akufo-Addo-led government has derailed Ghana from the course of prosperity and growth that the country was charting before the NPP came into power in 2016.

The NPP has destroyed the Ghanaian economy and taken Ghana back to centuries ago, and we must do everything we can to chase them away because of the damage that they have done to this country. We need to get control of the administration and steer the affairs of this country in a manner that gets us out of the mess and reposition us on the trajectory of growth and sheer prosperity for all.

Mr. Kwakye Ofosu also admonished Ghanaians saying: The point is that when the time comes for Ghanaians to choose their leaders, they must examine the performance of the people they kept in charge of their country, and we have all seen what the NPP has done with the power given them, and you dont even need a soothsayer to tell you that they have caused so much damage to this country.

He further intimated that, unlike the NPP which has taken Ghanaians for granted and has caused so much destruction, a Mahama-led government will ensure development is evenly distributed to every part of the country upon assuming office.

The party of choice which is the NDC will not take Ghanaians for granted and that is why former president John Dramani Mahama announced his intention and the objective is to demonstrate to the people of Ghana that he has what it takes to rescue the country from the economic mess.

-Citinewsroom
The Concerned Youth of Asante (CYA) in the Ashanti Region has unanimously endorsed the candidature of John Dramani Mahama as the National Democratic Congress (NDC) flagbearer for the 2024 general elections.

"We, members of the Concerned Youth of Asante, have observed with keen interest the ongoing political activities regarding the internal elections within the two major political parties as they prepare for the general elections in 2024.

"We wish to, first and foremost, register our disappointment with the neglect of the developmental needs of our region by the New Patriotic Party [NPP] government and place on record that the Ashanti Region benefits immensely from infrastructure development anytime the NDC [is] in office.

"This is a fact that cannot be ignored even as the region remains the stronghold of the NPP," the group pointed out.

"We particularly commend former President John Mahama for the numerous projects, he embarked on when he was president," the group said.

The President of Concerned Youth of Asante (CYA), Dr Nana Agyenim Boateng, made this endorsement at a press conference held in Kumasi on March 2, 2023.

The CYA said some of the NDC's developmental works in the region include upgrading the Kumasi domestic airport into an international airport, the Kumasi Kajetia Market, among others.

"He indeed demonstrated that he is a man of vision and a transformational leader.

"So, as he seeks to lead our dear country again, on the ticket of the NDC, we the members of the Concerned Youth of Asante, do endorse his candidature and wish him well," the group declared.

Source: Classfmonline.com
Former Deputy Information Minister, Felix Kwakye Ofosu has accused the ruling New Patriotic Party (NPP) government of poorly governing the country in the last six years.

According to him, Ghanaians must reject the rubbish governance of the party and kick the NPP out in the 2024 general elections.

He is of the view that the middle class should especially know this and help boot out the NPP government in 2024.

If the middle class do not clearly see that the NPP must be thrown out for this rubbish governance which has led to the expropriation of their money locked up in bonds, then they are the problem, not the NDC, Felix Kwakye Ofosu said in a post on Twitter.

This follows the concern that although ex-President John Dramani Mahama had a good message for Ghanaians during the launch of his campaign, it may be difficult for him to convince the middle class.

The leading member of the NDC on Thursday, March 3, formally launched his presidential campaign.

He is reportedly leading the race of the NDC Presidential polls ahead of the partys primaries in May.

In the next few weeks, he will be touring parts of the country to campaign to delegates to vote for him to become the flagbearer of the largest opposition party.

During the launch of the campaign, he promised to run a government of action and not a government of slogans when he becomes Ghana's President after the 2024 general elections.
The Monrovia Tech Summit is an event designed to provide discussion, news ideas and solutions regarding the digital economy transformation of Liberia. This summit brings together key industry players from around the world to discuss the challenges and opportunities presented by this process. It will provide attendees with a unique platform to share their knowledge and experiences in order to develop strategies that can help countries, communities and businesses adapt to a changing digital landscape.

The goal of this summit is not only to provide valuable information about the digital revolution but also build strong networks between tech professionals both locally and abroad who are dedicated towards helping Liberia's digital economy reach its full potential. During the summit, topics such as artificial intelligence, blockchain technology, cybersecurity, data science and e-commerce will be explored in depth. The overarching theme for this years event is  Our Digital Future: Transforming Liberias Digital Economy through Technology at the Monrovia City Hall from 29th March to 31st March

Major partner and sponsor confirmed are Lonestarcell MTN , IOT Hub Africa , Ministry Post and Telecommunication , MCC Youth Division ,BlueCrest University , Exclusive Multimedia Agency , New Breed Tech among other leading technology firms /company.

The Monrovia Tech Summit has the potential to be a game-changer in Liberias digital transformation process. The event will bring together key industry players from all sectors of the tech industry, including business owners, entrepreneurs, developers and policy makers. Through a series of panels, presentations and networking events, these professionals can openly discuss the challenges that they face when it comes to digital transformation. The summit also provides an opportunity for participants to have an interactive dialogue about possible solutions to these issues, such as improved access to technology for rural communities or initiatives that facilitate better collaboration between businesses and government organizations. Additionally, participants will have access to inspiring talks from thought leaders in these fields who can offer insights on how best leverage technology for economic growth.

The Monrovia Tech Summit will bring together some of the best creative minds and industry leaders to develop innovative strategies towards digital transformation in the Liberian economy. The event will focus on how new technologies can be used to promote economic growth and development, as well as provide access to financial services. Additionally, attendees at the summit will discuss ways in which digital infrastructure can be improved in order to facilitate better communication between businesses and consumers. Moreover, participants will discuss how technological advances can help reduce poverty by providing more opportunities for entrepreneurs, small businesses and citizens alike. In this way, the Tech Summit seeks to empower individuals with tools that allow them to take advantage of modern technology for their benefit.

Furthermore, it includes discussion about encouraging start-ups with incentives and funding options so that they have a chance at success in a competitive market. By promoting such measures amongst its attendees, the Monrovia Tech Summit hopes to make a positive impact on Liberias digital economy transformation agenda by presenting viable solutions from various perspectives. The Monrovia Tech Summit promises to introduce new ideas and solutions that will help Liberia realize the potential of its digital economy. This is an exciting opportunity for the country, as it can bring about positive changes for citizens, businesses and the government alike. The summit will be a platform for participants to exchange innovative ideas, develop strategies and create tools to improve access to digital services. It provides a chance for the public sector, private sector and civil society organizations to come together and collaborate on projects that will drive economic growth in Liberia through digital means. Speakers from around the world are likely to attend this event bringing with them expertise in information technology, telecommunications industry, cloud computing, data protection, e-commerce and more.

The summit also presents an opportunity for students across all disciplines who are interested in enhancing their knowledge on how best they can leverage new technologies available today to contribute towards improving Liberias digital economy. With such a diverse agenda at hand there is no doubt that attendees will leave feeling equipped with fresh ideas about how best Liberia can maximize its potential when it comes to harnessing technology as a tool for economic development.

Furthermore, by engaging with leading experts from around the world, attendees can gain valuable insight into best practices and innovative ideas that could help drive their own growth. The summit will provide an important platform for open dialogue on how Liberia can harness the power of technology for economic advancement in the digital age.

In conclusion, the Monrovia Tech Summit is a unique opportunity to bring together key industry players to discuss the challenges and opportunities of the digital transformation process in Liberia. It provides an essential platform for experts to share their ideas and solutions for improving the digital economy of this West African nation. By creating effective partnerships between public and private sectors, as well as engaging civic society, this summit can help Liberia become more digitally competitive. This will lead to greater economic prosperity for its citizens and contribute positively towards making Liberia a global leader in technology innovation. As experts and attendees from around the sub-region in Africa come together at this summit, it is my hope that they make decisions that will result in tangible benefits for all Liberians. To be part of this event visit all social media and website at : www.monroviatechsummit.com
Mwanza  AS the World commemorates World Hearing Day today, the Ear, Nose and Throat Surgeon (ENT), Dr Samson Kichaba based in Bugando Lake Zonal Referral Hospital has pointed out that people staying in noise areas or using devices with high sound are at risk of suffering hearing disorder and loss.

Dr Kichaba who is also Acting Head ENT Department in the Lake Zone Referral Hospital, revealed that yesterday in an interview with Daily news.

The ENT specialist, who is also the coordinator of the ongoing hearing screening and treatment programme provided for free, attributed the hearing loss among youth as high volume sound while using earphone and any other devices such as radio, television with amplified high sound volume by sound speaker.

"You find that someone is listening to music, news or any program with high volume sound amplified by headphones or headset for a long time to the point that even the nearby person hears what he or she is following, this is harmful , it directly damages the ear," Dr Kichaba said.

He noted that 8 hours spent on listening or just staying to high volume endanger danger the ears, health and human hearing capability at large adding high volume above 80 decibles (db), a sound measuring unit can lead to noise induced hearing.

Furthermore, Dr Kichaba said even staying for a short time in a noise environment such as room and bars among others can also result in hearing damage known as phono trauma.

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He mentioned other causes of hearing loss including birth known as congenital causes for example to a child born with low weight , when someone takes in medicine without any doctor or nurse prescription as well as prolonged illness or diseases to any person can also lead to hearing disorder.

Dr Kichaba noted that every ear medicine can cure specific hearing disorder urging citizens to be careful and contact hospitals for appropriate hearing medications.

He told the 'Daily News' that so far the Bugando Medical Centre that host the national event in collaboration with other ENT specialists across the country, including those from the Muhimbili National Hospital and the Mbeya Zonal Referral Hospital, have received 230 people (for two days, between Tuesday and Wednesday) of which 75 people who undertook hearing check up, 40 were found with hearing disorders.

"The Minister for Health, Ms. Ummy Mwalimu is expected to grace the event in marking the country commemoration of World Hearing Day which is observed every year on March 3," he revealed.

A Mwanza resident, Ms Rehema Khamisi (40) said national commemoration for the World Hearing Day is necessary, as it brings many citizens to obtain free hearing checkup while getting awareness on ear health protection, she called fellow citizens to show up.

According to the World Health Organization (WHO), by 2050 over one billion young adults are at risk of permanent hearing loss due to unsafe listening practices.
I am putting forth the proposition that former President John Dramani Mahama, like all our former Presidents, is not eligible to context election 2024, and indeed any other election in Ghana, henceforth, because the law says that they are officials of the State.

The counter argument to this proposition would arise from two constitutional provisions, which are Articles 62, and 66 of the 1992 Constitution.

Article 62 of the 1992 Constitution states;

A person shall not be qualified for election as the President of Ghana unless-

(a) he is a citizen of Ghana by birth;

(b) He has attained the age of forty years; and

(c) he is a person who is otherwise qualified to be elected a Member of Parliament, except that disqualifications set out in paragraphs (c), (d), and (e) of clause (2) of article 94 of this Constitution shall not be removed, in respect of any such person, by a presidential pardon or by lapse of time as provided for in cause (5) of that article.

(Article 94 is not germane to this discussion and would therefore not be further referenced).

Notable in this discussion with reference to Article 62, are the following principles with regard to eligibility to become President of Ghana;

(a) You must be a citizen of Ghana by birth;

(b) You must have attained the age of forty years; and

(c) You must be a person who is otherwise qualified to be elected a Member of Parliament.

That is the rule. Everybody who is born a Ghanaian, remains a citizen, have attained the age of forty years and qualified to be a member of parliament, is qualified to vie to become President of Ghana.

In brief, a person who qualifies under Article 62, is eligible to contest to become President.

This is a principle. However, as the lawyers will tell you, for almost every rule or principle, there are exceptions, or there can be exceptions. In other words, it means that it is not everybody who qualifies under Article 62, who is eligible to contest to become President. There are exceptions to the rule under Article 62.

For instance, the Ga Mantse is a citizen of Ghana by birth. He is over forty years, and he is otherwise qualified to be a Member of Parliament, but he cannot pick up forms to contest to become the President of Ghana. This is because of Article 276, titled Chiefs not to take part in active politics.

Article 276 (1) states;

A chief shall not take part in active party politics; and any chief wishing to do so and seeking election to Parliament shall abdicate his stool or skin.

Therefore, if the Ga Mantse wants to seek election to go to parliament, he must first abdicate his thrown. Otherwise, he is debarred from seeking office to become a Member of Parliament and a President.

So one can say that Article 276 (1) is an exception to Article 62 of the 1992 Constitution. I am sure that there are other exceptions to Article 62 to be found in the 1992 Constitution, if we were inclined to delve further into this pursuit, an activity I am disinclined to pursue for now. However, it is trite that military personnel, police personnel, members of the judiciary, the Electoral Commissioner and his officials, and many other classes of Ghanaians cannot vie to become President, even though otherwise qualified under Article 62.

In this piece, I would argue and establish that Mr. John Mahama falls among these exceptions to Article 62.

Mr. Mahama is currently vying, once again, to become the President of Ghana under the fallacious assumption that under the 1992 Constitution, he is entitled to a second term having served a first term. I say that this assumption is a fallacy, stemming from a misreading of Article 66 of the 1992 Constitution.

Article 66 (1), (2) and (3) of the 1992 Constitution states;

(1) A person elected as President shall, subject to clause (3) of this article, hold office for a term of four years beginning from the date on which he is sworn in as President.

(2) A person shall not be elected to hold office as President for more than two terms.

(3) The office of President shall become vacant-

on expiration of the period specified in clause (1) of this article ; or

; or (b) if the incumbent does or resigns from office or ceases to hold office under Article 69 of this Constitution.

Certain principles can be crystalized from Article 66. They are as follows;

The Presidential term is four years (Articles 66. (1) and 66.(3(a)). After four years, beginning from the date a President is first sworn in, it becomes vacant; unless

The person in office is elected to hold office for a second term, granting him or her a cumulative two terms (Article 66. (2)).

For now, the first principle does not raise any controversies, but the second formulation does raise serious controversies.

First, is whether the second term of the President, is dependent on he or she being elected as President for the first term (66. (1). In other words, the President must already be in office as President, before he can vie for a second term. This is a point that some legal advocates have been pushing, that once a person is elected President, he is entitled to seek a second term (even if he has served a previous term in the past). This is a point worth noting at this point. I would revert to it again as we go along. (For instance, some legal advocates suggest, even today, that once Mr. Mahama becomes President at some putative future date, they would go to court to seek a second term, because to their understanding, a person elected into office as President in Ghana for a first term, is entitled to a second term whilst in office. This is a view I share.)

The second controversy, is whether a person who is not already elected, or to put it better, currently holding office as President, is entitled to a second term.

If we read Article 66 (1), (2) and (3) together as one, then one interpretation is that it is the person who has been elected President for a first term, who is currently holding office, who is entitled to a second term, and no other person is otherwise so entitled. In other words, the right to a second term, is dependent on having been elected and holding office for a first term.

We can however also read clause (2) of Article 66 in isolation; that is, give the clause the interpretation that a person shall not be elected to hold office for more than two terms. Read in isolation, it means that each individual Ghanaian by birth, is entitled to hold office for at least two presidential terms, and no more. Ergo, John Mahama has a right to a second term, because he has served a first term before.

The question or issue would be, which would be the correct formulation, to read Article 66 as a whole, or to read clause (2) of Article 66 in isolation?

The lawyers would tell you that it is trite knowledge that in Interpretation of Statutes, laws and statutes are to be read (construed or interpreted) as a whole. One cannot take clause (2) as a stand-alone clause without taking into consideration the other clauses in Article 66, or indeed the other clauses to do with the Presidency, or indeed the entirety of the 1992 Constitution.

If that is so, then the right to a second term is dependent on already being elected and holding office for a first term.

If I am right, then Article 66 of the 1992 Constitution also throws up a second category of persons apart from chiefs under Article 276(1) who are not eligible to contest for President under Article 62; that is persons who have already held Office as Presidents of Ghana.

That would in sync with the widely held body of thought that ex-President John Kufuor, for instance, is not entitled to hold office ever again in his life as President of Ghana. The same would apply to the incumbent President Akufo Addo when he leaves office. It is my proposition that the same holds for ex-President John Dramani Mahama. And that would jibe with the provisions of Article 68, for instance.

If we read Article 66 any other way, then it opens the door for persons who have held the Office of President before, with sufficient energy and resources, to attempt another effort on the Presidency. This may seem far-fetched, but assuming that in future we had a President who retires at age fifty, young, charismatic, well-resourced and willing, which other constitutional provisions can really stop him from starting out again as an assemblyman, a member of parliament, and a flag bearer and hence another attempt on the Presidency?

It is my proposition that the 1992 Constitution envisages such a development, and therefore made provision in Article 66. (1) ((1) A person elected as President shall, subject to clause (3) of this article, hold office for a term of FOUR YEARS beginning from the date on which he is sworn in as President.) meaning that if one fails to secure a second term whilst one is in office, one joins the coterie of ex-presidents.

It is why I stated earlier that laws are to be read as a whole, and so that even though the words are not explicitly written, the clear intimations are obvious in the 1992 Constitution. Former Presidents are not expected to seek the Presidency after leaving office, whether they served one term, or two.

WHY JOHN MAHAMA, AND ALL EX-PRESIDENTS, ARE NOT ELIGIBLE TO CONTEXT ANY OTHER ELECTION IN GHANA

Chapter 8 of the 1992 Constitution governs Executive power in Ghana, that is, it is the go-to Chapter that governs issues of eligibility, conduct and all matters to do with the Presidency in Ghana. The President, whilst he remains in office, is not at liberty to engage in business or any activity that brings him a profit or emolument.

Article 68. (1) of the 1992 Constitution states;

The President shall not, whilst he continues in office as President-

Hold any other office of profit or emolument whether private or public and whether directly or indirectly; or

whether private or public and whether directly or indirectly; or Hold the office of Chancellor or head of any university in Ghana.

So that from the above, it is clear the President, whilst in office, cannot be a shareholder in a company. Imagine such a company existing in the realm, and what it can do, or will be allowed to do merely from the fact of its association with the President.

Article 68. (2) of the 1992 Constitution further states;

The President shall not, on leaving office as President, hold any office of profit or emolument, except with the permission of parliament, in any establishment, either directly or indirectly, other than that of the State.

The principles we can crystalize from Article 68. (2) of the 1992 Constitution are these;

The President, upon leaving office, is to keep himself occupied in the affairs of the State.

He is not to hold any office where he would receive a profit or emolument (salary, allowances, and things of such nature) OTHER THAN AN OFFICE TO DO WITH THE STATE.

If it is necessary that he hold such office, then he de facto and de jure requires the permission of parliament.

The invocation of Article 68. (2) of the 1992 Constitution has become necessary, because on Tuesday, February 21st, ex-President John Dramani Mahama met members of parliament of his party and declared his intention to context for the Presidency. Following that, a group of leading members of his party went to buy nomination forms on his behalf from the headquarters of the National Democratic Congress party.

It immediately becomes clear, that he is seeking office in an establishment called the National Democratic Congress (NDC) party, first, as a flag bearer of that party, and secondly, as President of Ghana.

I have been asked the question; is the President not working on behalf of the State? Would that not make Mr. Mahamas latest adventure legitimate?

I have countered with the answer whether the various candidates currently traversing Ghana, seeking to become Presidents, are working on behalf of the State. The obvious answer would be no. They are on a complete frolic of their own. Unfortunately for Mr. Mahama, he is an Article 68. (2) Office Holder, and is expected and required to live up to the aspirations of that clause.

Article 68. (2) of the 1992 Constitution is clear. The actions of Mr. Mahama are in complete conflict with Article 68. (2) of the 1992 Constitution. For now, as a President who has left office, he requires permission from parliament to engage with any establishment, including his political party and as a functionary of that party. This is clear and explicit

This is being brought to his attention, and that of his fellow political adventurers, in a timeous manner. He has time to do a number of things. He can;

Take up his position a Statesman as the constitution expects of him, and withdraw from the race; He can apply to parliament to be allowed to contest the position of flag bearer of NDC; He can test the efficacy of these arguments in the Supreme Court; or He can play ostrich and hope this would go away, some way, somehow.

Whatever happens, we wait to see. But it is not over yet. Not by a long shot.
03.03.2023 LISTEN

Libreville, Gabon - Collaborative action is vital to prevent the runaway effects of climate change and loss of biodiversity, the Commonwealth Secretary-General, the Rt Hon Patricia Scotland KC, has told a conference of global leaders and experts on Thursday.

Speaking at the One Forest Summit in Libreville, Gabon, the Secretary-General said it is clear a regenerative and inclusive approach is needed to tackle the burgeoning issues.

She urged Heads of Government, Ministers of State and world experts to utilise co-operation and partnership to work together on finding the solutions needed to build a stable, peaceful and prosperous future for subsequent generations.

She added: It is clear [that reversing biodiversity loss] is going to take a regenerative approach and it is also clear that it is going to take all of us.

If you look at what the experts have been saying  they have all been saying the same things. Number one, that we need to collaborate more, number two, we are not going to be able tackle these crises unless we really understand the data, and number three that solutions are going to demand the inclusion of every sector and a multilateral, multinational approach.

So, I am glad that most of the countries who have spoken at the Summit are members of the Commonwealth family. We have 56 countries, 2.5 billion people  60% of whom are under the age of 30 - but the rest are our friends, and we need our friends to solve this crisis.

The conference, held by the President of Gabon, HE Ali Bongo Ondimba, and the President of France, HE President Emmanuel Macron, seeks to secure commitments around the protection of vital forest ecosystems like the Congo Basin, and see the inception of initiatives to reverse the global loss of biodiversity.

Gabon became the 55th member of the Commonwealth at the Commonwealth Heads of Government meeting in Rwanda last June, joining alongside Togo.

It is now one of 56 countries representing 2.5 billion people, of which over 60% are under the age of 30.

The Secretary-General used her speech to commend Gabon for its world-leading work on the environment, and from which other Commonwealth countries can learn from.

Gabon is 88% covered by forests, making it at the forefront in the fight against global warming and the protection of biodiversity.

It has pledged to protect its land and ocean areas and is making strides in monetising carbon credits.

She also thanked and praised President Ali Bongo and President Macron for their decisive leadership on the issue and their heartfelt partnerships with the Commonwealth.

Biodiversity is particularly important for the Commonwealth as it is home to to 23% of the worlds land area, 8.8 million km of forest land, nearly one third of all oceans and critical biodiversity ecosystems like the tropical forests of Papua New Guinea and keystone species like savanna elephants.

The Commonwealth also includes 400 endemic species  those restricted to geographical areas. Nearly a third (29%) of the worlds megadiverse countries are members of the Commonwealth, with many in tropical regions.

The Commonwealth helps member countries protect their environments and use their natural resources sustainably through programmes such as The Blue Charter, The Living Lands Charter, the Commonwealth Sustainable Energy Transition Agenda and the Commonwealth Climate Finance Access Hub, which helps countries unlock climate finance.

As of January 2023, the initiative has unlocked $67.5 million US dollars, and an additional $2.9 million US dollars in co-financing.
Traversing three capital cities in hours, French President Emmanuel Macron on Friday pursued his African tour aimed at renewing frayed ties.

In the Angolan capital Luanda, Macron chaired an economic forum, attended by more than 50 French companies, and focused on agriculture.

"This fits in with the idea I have of this economic partnership between the African continent and France," Macron told around 100 delegates.

"Mindsets have changed," he said, adding France wanted to find solutions that benefited both parties, rather than "impose ready-made" ones.

France has for decades been involved in the petroleum industry in the Portuguese-speaking southern African country, which is one of the continent's top two crude oil producers.

Macron's visit offered an opportunity to explore cooperation in other sectors.

The two governments penned an agreement to boost Angola's agricultural sector, particularly "climate resilience and water security" in addition to help revamp the coffee sector, said Macron.

Angola, which imports a large share of the food it consumes, wants to strengthen its "sovereignty" and find new sources of income in the sector, according to the French presidency.

Macron was due to meet Angolan counterpart Joao LourenAo before heading to the neighbouring Republic of Congo (also known as Congo-Brazzaville).

The visit comes as part of a drive to enhance French ties with anglophone and Portuguese-speaking Africa.

Anti-French sentiment

He arrived in Luanda late Thursday from Gabon on the second leg of his tour.

Anti-French sentiment runs high in some former African colonies as the continent becomes a renewed diplomatic battleground, with Russian and Chinese influence growing.

On Thursday Macron said the era of French interference in Africa had ended and there was no desire to return to the past.

"The age of Francafrique is well over," Macron said in Gabon's capital Libreville, referring to the post-colonisation strategy of supporting authoritarian leaders to defend Paris' interests.

After leaving Luanda, Macron will head to the Congo, another former French colony, where Denis Sassou-Nguesso has ruled with an iron fist for almost four decades.

On Thursday, Congolese rights groups asked the French president to relay their concerns to Sassou-Nguesso and pleaded for the release of former presidential candidates Jean-Marie Michel Mokoko and Andre Okombi Salissa.

The pair were each jailed for 20 years in 2016 for endangering state security after they ran against Sassou-Nguesso in disputed presidential elections that were followed by violence.

Macron will go on to visit neighbouring Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), which was ruled by Belgium during the colonial era.

President Felix Tshisekedi has been at the helm of DRC since January 2019, but he is up for re-election later this year, and here too the opposition has voiced reservations about the French leader's visit.

The DRC accuses its smaller neighbour Rwanda of backing the M23 rebel group in the east of the country, a charge denied by Kigali.

Dozens of young Congolese demonstrators holding Russian flags rallied outside the French embassy in the capital Kinshasa on Wednesday to denounce Macron's visit.

France and Western allies accuse Russian mercenary group Wagner, heavily involved in fighting in Ukraine, of being active in Mali and the Central African Republic, also once ruled by France.
A line of cars and motorcycles cuts across the arid West African landscape, kicking up clouds of dust on the unpaved road.

Their destination: Toeghin Peulh, a village 30 kilometres (18 miles) south of Burkina Faso's capital Ouagadougou that has become a magnet for the sick and the desperate.

Thousands of people have come to seek help, either for themselves or for a loved-one, from a 20-year-old woman named Adja whose reputation for healing powers has spread across the country.

At the end of track is a sea of parked motorbikes, tents and pilgrims, many dressed in white.

Thousands gathered at Toeghin Peulh on February 26 in a quest for a healing or blessing. By OLYMPIA DE MAISMONT (AFP)

Among the rivers of humanity are men whose feet have been chained, people who have been crippled, others who are said to be possessed, cursed by bad luck or haunted by spirits.

They are the desperate of a nation buffeted by poverty and ravaged by a bloody jihadist insurgency, with only the thinnest social safety net.

"We tried every kind of treatment, but none of them worked," said Awa Tiendrebeogo, a relative of a man suffering from chronic dizziness.

"Then someone we know told us of Adja, and we came here."

Adja is the nickname for Amsetou Nikiema, a young woman who says that she was haunted by visions during her childhood in rural Burkina -- and suffered cruelly at the hands of her family as a result.

Burkina Faso. By (AFP)

Three years ago, word spread that she had carried out a miraculous healing. From there, her reputation snowballed.

Today, drawing on traditional medicine and what she says is a spiritual guide, she practices in an open compound built in the bush with the help of wealthy donors -- she does not charge, but donations and other offerings are discreetly encouraged.

Skirt and T-shirt

On this Sunday, thousands had come for help.

They firstly gathered for prayers, repeating in a chorus, "There is no divinity but God."

After a while, Adja appeared -- a young woman with braided hair, simply dressed in a long skirt and an orange T-shirt, walking barefoot in the dust and whose only accessory is a cane stick.

Adja began by looking at the sun, her face contorted by spasms, and then looked around at the congregation.

Flanked by her assistants, Adja walks on a man in a healing ritual -- she admits some cases that are beyond her powers. By OLYMPIA DE MAISMONT (AFP)

"Him over there, wearing the pink sweatshirt, he will have an accident soon," she predicted. "Over there is a man who has come to investigate me," she added, without identifying the individual.

Officially, just nine percent of Burkina Faso's population say they are animist.

But this figure is widely considered to be an underestimate. Traditional beliefs run deep, often co-existing among the country's Muslim majority and Christians, and the authorities are tolerant of claimed healers.

"The saying here is that people criticise the tradition by day and practice it by night," said one of Adja's assistants.

Among those seeking her help are people said to have been victims of evil spirits, such as Fatoumata, a young woman who suddenly lost the use of her legs.

She lay motionless on the ground as Adja splashed her with holy water and slowly walked on her body, barefoot.

A man at the gathering prepares traditional medicine prescribed by Adja. By OLYMPIA DE MAISMONT (AFP)

The prayers of the crowd rose a notch, mixing with the cries of other "possessed" people who were waiting their turn.

In Fatoumata's case, Adja failed. The patient did not get up, but the following case, also a woman, recovered the use of her legs.

'Suffer'

Adja's believers say that her honesty in admitting failure to cure conditions that are beyond her powers is what attracts them to her.

"Adja's fame comes from her integrity," said Awa Tiendrebeogo, who said she had healed a relative from dizzy spells.

Experts in mental health says Burkina -- one of the poorest countries in the world -- can offer little support in conventional medicine for people with psychological problems.

Popularity: A man shows a picture of Adja that he has downloaded on to his phone. By OLYMPIA DE MAISMONT (AFP)

A study by Burkinabe clinicians, published in the French-language medical journal l'Encephale in 2018, said 41 percent of the population could be described as having "mental disorders", but "only a small minority... received treatment."

Adja told AFP her powers came from a "spiritual" entity that commanded her life and forbade her to lie.

Her sensitivity to the spirit world, she added, meant that at night those who were jealous of her would cast spells on her. She pointed to what she said were painful, invisible wounds on her arms and legs and body.

She was surrounded by a host of bodyguards, assistants and biographers, but seemed cheerful and spontaneous.

"The reason why I laugh all the time is to ease people's plight," she said. "People used to hate me when I was a child, and so I wanted people to like me."

"Because of my family, because of the way I was mistreated by them, I became the person I am today, and I know how to take care of someone," she said.

"And if you don't suffer during your childhood, you will never succeed in life."
03.03.2023 LISTEN

The parliamentary aspirant for Ayawaso Central Constituency in the Greater Accra Region on the ticket of the opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC) is questioning why the people of the area continue to vote for the governing New Patriotic Party (NPP) when they have nothing to show for it.

Abdul-Razak Yakubu is worried why his constituents have been voting for the NPP for the past 22 years yet there is no development.

According to him, people in the area start to panick whenever there is an indication of rain.

The former political advisor to the British High Commission expressed this worry about the pattern of voting in the Ayawaso Central Constituency in an interview on the Ghana Yensom morning show hosted by Odeyeeba Kofi Essuman on Accra 100.5 on Friday, March 3, 2023.

It beats my imagination why my people continue to vote in this direction, he said, stating that: But if [I am] elected the Parliament Candidate on May 13, 2023, I am ready to change the narrative.

He said, to date, people get their properties like electronic gadgets among others carried away at the least downpour in the area.

When it rains then you see people sitting on tenterhooks and praying because properties will be submerged, he said.

Come to Alajo, a suburb in the constituency, people have high windows and doors just to avoid the gushing waters when the area floods.

This situation has been with us for ages yet my people dont want to change, he bemoaned.

He appealed to the electorate to change the pattern of voting in the 2024 general elections by voting massively for the NDC to come and address their problems.

He said the NPP has taken the people for granted because they always win when there is an election.

Source: Classfmonline.com
03.03.2023 LISTEN

The Oti Regional Chairman of the opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC), Mr John Kwadow Gyapon, has thrown jabs at the personalities seeking to be elected presidential candidates on the ticket of the party.

"You can only be a presidential candidate after being a Member of Parliament or after having served in the position of Minister of State," he said, adding that this is the criteria for qualifying to be elected as flagbearer in the NDC.

According to him, the NDC has a tradition where personalities seeking to lead the party as flagbearers have to go through the mill.

He said one needs to be elected to Parliament or serve in the position of a minister before becoming the presidential candidate of the party.

Mr Gyapon said this on the evening news on Accra 100.5 FM on March 2, 2023.

He said the NDC has a tradition and these traditions must be jealously guarded.

He added that the tradition cannot be frowned on.

He stressed that the partys tradition has it that if you are a branch executive, you can graduate to become an Assembly member or a constituency executive.

From there you can further graduate to become a Member of Parliament.

He noted that this is an indication that one has gone through the mill and is abreast of the partys tradition.

He advised the aspirants in the race to go to their hometowns and contest to be elected MPs before attempting to be presidential candidates.

He singled out Ernest Kweku Krobea, a businessman who has also picked forms to contest to go and vie for the parliamentary seat in Asante Mampong and not the presidential slot.

Source: Classfmonline.com
The Ghana Mineworkers' Union has issued a press release expressing concern over the dismissal of some workers of Sunon Asogli over their decision to become members of the union.

In its release, the Union accused Sunon Asogli Power (Ghana) Limited of economically, emotionally, physically, and psychologically assaulting the workers in question on March 2, when it hounded them out of their workplaces in broad daylight for the only offense of deciding to exercise their inalienable right to freedom guaranteed under the Constitution of the Republic of Ghana as well as the Labour Act 2003 (Act 651).

The affected workers whose contracts have been terminated by Sunon Asogli Power (Ghana) Limited include the Branch Union Secretary, Assistant Secretary, and Chairperson, as well as many other workers.

It follows the decision by over 68 workers of the Company to join the Ghana Mineworkers Union (TUC) way back in February 2021.

The Union and the workers went through the necessary legal processes to acquire a Collective Bargaining Certificate that empowers the Union to represent and negotiate with the Company on behalf of the workers.

Attempts by the Ghana Mineworkers' Union to negotiate on behalf of the workers of Sunon Asogli Power did not sit well with the company leading to the termination of the contracts of the Branch Union Secretary, Assistant Secretary, Chairperson, and many others.

In a press release from the Ghana Mineworkers' Union stated, For the record, the workers have not committed any crime and not broken any Company rule but decided to join a trade union as by law established. The Union remains resolute and law abiding at this stage as it has brought the unfolding gross and naked abuses that touches the core of our fundamental human rights to the attention of state authorities and some persons associated with the company.

Its General Secretary Abdul-Moomin Gbana stresses that it hopes the issue would be resolved within three (3) days in keeping with Section 162 (1) of the Labour Act (2003 Act 651) to avoid any further escalation with unpredictable consequences.

Find more from the release below:

3rd March 2023

PRESS RELEASE

SUNON ASOGLI WORKERS UNIONIZATION: DISREGARD FOR THE FUNDAMENTAL RIGHTS OF WORKERS, COMPANY THREATS, INTERFERENCE, UNFAIR TERMINATION AND DISRESPECT TO NATIONAL INSTITUTIONS

Three days from today will be the 66th birth day of Ghana but quite coincidentally it was the same year that Dr. Kwame Nkrumah, the founder of modern Ghana who told us how neo-colonialism was going to take over Ghana and render it powerless against the surrogates of colonial and imperialist interests all in the name of globalization, international investments and multinationalism was to happen.

March 2, 2023 is one such dark and sad day when the workers of Sunon Asogli Power (Ghana) Limited have been economically, emotionally, physically and psychologically assaulted and hounded out of their workplaces in broad day light for the only offense of deciding to exercise their inalienable right to freedom of association and collective bargaining guaranteed under the Constitution of the Republic of Ghana as well as the Labour Act 2003 (Act 651).

Background to this unfortunate situation is that, over 68 workers of the Company took the decision to join the Ghana Mineworkers Union (TUC) way back in February 2021. The Union and the workers went through the necessary legal processes to acquire a Collective Bargaining Certificate that empowers the Union to represent and negotiate with the Company on behalf of the workers. The Company through its lawyers Fugah and Company right from the outset demanded to know the names of the workers as a condition for the recognition of the Collective Bargaining Certificate issued by the Labour Department.

The issue ended at the National Labour Commission and the Commission on two occasions Directed and Ruled that the names of the workers did not arise at this stage and that the Certificate was properly and legally acquired so the Company should comply and enter negotiations with the Union. The Company and its lawyers disregarded the decisions of the Commission with careless impunity and since then never responded to any correspondence from the Union.

The Union on the bases of the Commissions Ruling and in accordance with the Labour Act, wrote in January 2023 to the Company inviting it to enter negotiations with it and also in February 2023 the Union wrote to the Company with the list of unionized workers requesting for the deduction of monthly subscriptions and payment of same to the Union. In a rather shocking response, the Company refused to comply with the request of the Union citing concerns over the Bargaining Certificate, a matter which was long-settled by the National Labour Commission.

Based on the Companys intransigence and blatant refusal to comply with sections 102 and 111 of the Labour Act 2003 (Act 651) as well as its refusal to respond to any correspondence from the Union, a notice of intention to embark on strike was served by the Union on both the Company and the National Labour Commission.

The National Labour Commission summoned the Parties to appear before it on March 1, 2023 given the essential nature of the Companys operations. The Company, typical of its disregard for national institutions failed to appear before the Commission but got its lawyers to send a note to the Commission indicating their unavailability because they were appearing before another high court. Meanwhile, the Union had gotten evidence of query letters being issued to its members who were all off duty and had attended a short meeting at the instance of the Union on Friday February 13, 2023 after work (5:30pm) in a public space close to the Companys gate to fraternize and also inform them of an impending election of their leaders at the enterprise level. This development was also brought to the attention of the Commission.

Following the absence of the Company the Commission rescheduled the hearing to March 8, 2023 but directed both parties to stay all ongoing and/or any intended action(s). The actions the Commission referred to were intended strike by the Complainant Union, the issuance of queries and the request for responses to same by the Respondent Management, including any other action(s) that may be directly or indirectly related to the issue(s) in dispute. This notwithstanding, the Company without regard to the authority of the National Labour Commission, on March 2, 2023, a day after the Commissions directive terminated the employment of the Branch Union Secretary, Assistant Secretary and the Chairperson for the reason that they have joined a trade union, and have been elected to lead workers at the enterprise level.

For the record, the workers have not committed any crime and not broken any Company rule but decided to join a trade union as by law established. The Union remains resolute and law abiding at this stage as it has brought the unfolding gross and naked abuses that touches the core of our fundamental human rights to the attention of state authorities and some persons associated with the company viz:

The Hon. Minister, Ministry of Energy, Accra

The Hon. Minister, Ministry of Employment and Labour Relations, Accra

Executive Secretary, National Labour Commission

Ag. Chief Labour Officer, Labour Department

The Executive Secretary, Energy Commission Ghana.

The Ambassador, Chinese Embassy, Accra

The Hon. Minister, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Republic of Ghana.

General Secretary, International Trades Union Confederation, Lome  Togo

The Secretary General, Trades Union Congress (Ghana)

His Royal Majesty, Togbe Afede IV

It is our hope that the issue would be resolved within three (3) days in keeping with Section 162 (1) of the Labour Act (2003 Act 651) to avoid any further escalation with unpredictable consequences.
The Ga Traditional Council has opposed the construction of the hostel for head porters (Kayayei) at Agbogbloshie in Accra Central.

As part of the fulfillment of a campaign promise the governing New Patrityoci Party (NPP0 started building the hotel in Accra.

But in a statement signed by King Tackie Teiko Tsuru II, Ga Mantse and President of the Ga Traditional Council, the Council said in that any person or group that wish to proceed with the hostel project for Kayayei, should seek a new site outside the city.

The Ga Traditional Council under the leadership of its President, Ga Mantse and the people of The Ga State, remain vehemently opposed to this Project, the statement said.

Below is the full statement
Former President John Mahama on Thursday, March 2 visited five constituencies in the Volta Region to meet and interact with branch and constituency executives of his National Democratic Congress (NDC).

Mr. Mahama, who is contesting the flagbearer slot of the NDC scheduled for May 13 this year, moved straight into campaign mode after launching the campaign earlier in the morning.

Constituencies visited included Afadzato South, Hohoe, Kpando, North Dayi and South Dayi. It brings the number of constituencies covered on day one of his "Building the Ghana We want" campaign to eight. Three constituencies, Adaklu, Ho West and Ho Central were at the campaign launch at the University of Health and Allied Sciences (UHAS).

Campaigning for the votes of the delegates, Mr Mahama, who is considered the presumptive presidential candidate of the NDC, appealed to the delegates to all come out and vote, noting if you give me 99 per cent of your votes, it will be a clear statement that the NDC is solidly behind one candidate.

Three other members of the NDC including a former Metropolitan Chief Executive have picked forms to contest the 2020 flagbearer.

At his launch, President Mahama received endorsement from various structures of the party, who continue to stress that he does not need to campaign but the former president maintains that he will visit all regions and interact with the partys structures and delegates as part of deepening his engagements with the rank and file.

Day two of the campaign today, Friday, 3 March 2023, will take Mr. Mahama to the Central Tongu, Akatsi South and North, Ketu North and the Agotime Ziope constituencies.

Source: Classfmonline.com
Deputy Communications Director of the New Patriotic Party (NPP), Ernest Owusu Bempah has hit out at John Dramani Mahama after he revealed plans to cancel the payment of exgratia.

At his campaign launch in the Volta Region on Thursday, March 2, the former President said he will scrap payment of exgratia when he becomes President again.

The payment of ex gratia to members of the executive will be scrapped.

The necessary constitutional steps to take this will start in earnest in 2025. We will also persuade members of the other arms of government to accept its removal, John Dramani Mahama indicated.

Speaking to TV3 on the matter, Ernest Owusu Bempah stressed that the former President should be ashamed of himself.

According to him, if John Dramani Mahama wants to be taken seriously, he should return the exgratia he has taken since he left office.

John Mahama is consistently inconsistent and he has no shame to be telling Ghanaians about the exgratia. He is the only President since independence or the only politician since independence who has taken exgratia more than any other body in Ghanaian politics since independence, John Dramani Mahama.

As Deputy Ministry, Cabinet Minister, MP, to Vice President to President he has taken exgratia more than anyone. As a former president, he is even taking exgratia. He is the first president who increased his ex gratia and that of his wife. He should return all the exgratia that he has taken, Ernest Owusu Bempah said.

This view is shared by many who have expressed doubt about the ability of John Dramani Mahama to scrap exgratia.

Some who have welcomed the idea insist that the ex-president must show commitment by returning his exgratia.
China, India promise to improve bilateral relations

Xinhua) 13:58, March 03, 2023

Chinese Foreign Minister Qin Gang meets with External Affairs Minister Subrahmanyam Jaishankar of the Group of 20 (G20) President India on the sidelines of the G20 Foreign Ministers' Meeting in New Delhi, India, March 2, 2023. (Xinhua/Javed Dar)

NEW DELHI, March 3 (Xinhua) -- Chinese Foreign Minister Qin Gang met with Indian External Affairs Minister Subrahmanyam Jaishankar here on Thursday, with both sides vowing to improve bilateral ties.

The duo held the meeting on the sidelines of the Group of 20 (G20) Foreign Ministers' Meeting held from Wednesday to Thursday.

Qin said during the meeting that as neighbor countries and major emerging economies, China and India have far more common interests than differences.

The development and revitalization of China and India display the strength of developing countries, which will change the future of one-third of the world's population, the future of Asia and even the whole world, Qin noted.

The two sides, said Qin, should view their bilateral relations in the context of the once-in-a-century changes in the world, understand bilateral cooperation from the perspective of their respective national rejuvenation, and be partners on the path to modernization.

He said the two sides should implement the important consensus of the leaders of the two countries, maintain dialogue and properly resolve disputes, and promote the improvement of bilateral relations and the steady moving forward of the relations.

The boundary issue should be put in the proper place in bilateral relations, Qin said, adding that the situation on the borders should be brought under normalized management as soon as possible.

China is willing to speed up the resumption of exchanges and cooperation with India in various fields, resume direct flights at the earliest date and facilitate people-to-people exchanges, said the Chinese foreign minister.

He said China and India have shared interests in many areas including safeguarding the rights and interests of developing countries, promoting South-South cooperation, and addressing global challenges such as climate change.

China supports the Indian side in fulfilling its chairmanship of the G20 and is ready to strengthen communication and cooperation to safeguard the common interests of developing countries and international equity and justice, so as to inject stability and positive energy into the world, Qin said.

Jaishankar said for his part that India and China are both great ancient civilizations and important partners of each other. Thus the two countries have and can continue to achieve positive results in areas such as economic and trade cooperation and people-to-people exchanges.

The Indian side, Jaishankar said, agrees that bilateral relations should be understood and improved from a historical perspective and strategic height, and more cooperation platforms should be established to promote India-China relations along the right track.

Jaishankar said the current situation on the borders is gradually stabilizing, and both sides should work together to maintain peace and tranquility in the border areas.

He expressed gratitude for China's support for India's chairmanship of the G20, and willingness to maintain communication and coordination in multilateral affairs.

(Web editor: Zhang Kaiwei, Liang Jun)
IN Tanzania, Radio continues to be one of the most listened media outlets, especially in rural areas as it is not only cheaper to maintain but also mobile where one can even go with it wherever they want, be it at a local joint, farm, motorbikes boat or a coffee spot.

According to the Tanzania Communications Regulatory Authority (TCRA) report issued in November 2022, Tanzania has 218 registered radios and online radio stations, a number which is good enough to relay relevant information on diseases outbreak, farming, climate change and all information relevant to development.

Tanzania, like the rest of the countries in the world, was hit hard by Covid- 19 a situation that saw it embark in community sensitization on health protocols as well as vaccination. The Sunday News managed to conduct an interview with Cosmas Lupoja, the Coordinator for the Network of Community Media in Tanzania (TADIO) to see what has been done so far to sensitize the community on COVID protocols and vaccination to save lives. Read on:

Q: Can you please explain a bit what TADIO is?

A: Tanzania Development Information Organization (TADIO) is a network of 42 community radio stations from all over Tanzania. Our member radio stations currently reach over 30 million listeners across Tanzania mainland and Zanzibar. Most of the covered areas are those not reached by the mainstream media. TADIO promotes the interests of rural radio stations and citizens' access to information by advocacy work for better broadcasting policies, training and networking among radio stations, and by providing a channel for partners to reach rural audiences. Soon, we will also operate a community radio online platform, Radio TADIO, with news and live streams from rural radio stations.

Q: As a network of community radios what role did you and do you still play when it comes to disease outbreaks such as COVID?

A: Being the network with more than 200 journalists, TADIO in collaboration with UNESCO early 2020 conducted a number of capacity building sessions on how to write stories during pandemic, where we also distributed some protective equipment to all our community radios in 2020. In 2021 also with the support of IMS we capacitated our journalism with skills on how they should work to ensure that citizens get information which will encourage them to proceed with their daily activities amid COVID.

The network also is a member of the Risk Communication and Community Engagement Committee which is under PO-RALG whereby we are always active to disseminate information to the community when it comes to diseases outbreaks and currently we have a program with UNICEF dealing with them especially on the issue of promoting Covid-19 vaccination nation wise. We also have Internews-Tanzania as one of the partners supporting this agenda in Simiyu region.

Q: COVID 19 came with a lot of myths especially when it came to vaccinations? What role has the network and/or its member radio stations played to address this challenge?

A: TADIO in cooperation with the Ministry of Health in Tanzania and international partners prepared a series of radio programmes about the coronavirus and how to prevent its spread. These series were known "Know the facts about Corona " and were prepared early 2020 and are still available on our website. www.tadio.co.tz, where they played a big role to educate the community about the pandemic and when it comes to the importance of taking vaccines.

Q: What notable achievements have you been able to record when it comes to COVID 19 if any?

A:The community appreciates the contribution of our work to their self- development. This has led to the increase of community radios which apply for membership to join the network

Q: Did TADIO or any of its member radio stations receive any support to create community sensitization on COVID 19 if so from whom?

A:Yes, since the rise of the pandemic our members have been receiving support from different partners, including a subsidy for the production of radio programmes, protective gears, capacity building on how to report the pandemic and others. Partners who have been providing us the support include; UNESCO, UNICEF, IMS, IDEM, MICT, Internews-Tanzania, The Open University of Tanzania as well as the National Bureau of Statistics.

Close Sign up for free AllAfrica Newsletters Get the latest in African news delivered straight to your inbox Top Headlines Tanzania Media By submitting above, you agree to our privacy policy. Success! Almost finished... We need to confirm your email address. To complete the process, please follow the instructions in the email we just sent you. Error! Error! There was a problem processing your submission. Please try again later.

Q: It is reported that the Covid protocol, especially handwashing has seen Tanzania do away with Cholera and other waterborne diseases, any plans for TADIO and its member radio stations to continue with public education?

A: As we speak, all our radio member stations still promote the hand washing campaign and sensitize the community on the importance of prevention against emerging diseases. We work closely with our partners who are directly responsible for the sector to ensure that we receive appropriate and useful information to deliver to the community for their well-being as well as their self - development.

Q: What more should we expect from TADIO and its member radio stations?

A:Our goal is to expand the network to ensure that at least we cover the whole population of our country for the citizens to enjoy their right to access timely information for their self- development.
Kampala, Uganda  District leaders from Karamoja sub-region have called on government to embrace what they termed as 'disarmament of the mind' as a possible lasting solution to the insecurity that has prevailed in the region.

In a meeting with the Committee on Defence and Internal Affairs, district chairpersons and mayors from the region argued that the Karimojong warriors must not only be disarmed by withdraw of guns but also with mindset change.

"It is an issue of poverty, lack of what to do and if they could be utilized in productive ventures such as skilling programmes, they will abandon the raids," said Mohammed Ismail, the Mayor of Moroto Municipality.

Ismail said government had established a skilling industry in Moroto as part of the disarmament programme and asked that the same be scaled up in the entire Karamoja sub-region.

The Karenga District Chairman, Felix Lochaale said youth are engaged in cattle rustling proposing that government should absorb them in the education system.

"When people are disarmed, they must find an alternative way of life; if we can drag the youth between 15-25 years to boarding schools, we shall destroy this warrior thing," said Lochaale.

He proposed that at least each district be given one boarding school targeting warriors.

The Kotido District Chairman, Paul Lotee Komol said students from the region should be considered for State House scholarships under the affirmative action ticket.

"Karamoja needs affirmative action to encourage more students to embrace education," said Komol.

The Committee Chairperson, Rosemary Nyakikongoro said there is need to take an account of all the government development programmes in Karamoja and their impact before the committee can give guidance to Parliament.

"We are aware there have been several initiatives in the region especially when the First Lady was the minister in-charge of Karamoja; we want to know their contribution in eliminating insecurity?" said Nyakikongoro.
March 03, 2023 Reality Based People Can Fact Check The 'Fact-Checkers' Stavroula Pabst, a writer in Greece, has published an interesting piece on the nefarious purpose of fact-checking and 'dis-information' debunking. Guy Debords Warning of The Role of the Expert: A Philosophical Perspective on the Rise of Fact-Checking The piece explains this by going back to the writings of the French philosopher Guy Debord and his musings about 'spectacles'. While anti-disinformation efforts proliferate, whats missing from the conversation is a discussion about power. Of course, the powerful have reasons for wanting to combat what they consider to be disinformation  they want their version of the truth to become ours. Many commentators observe as such, noting that so-called disinformation researchers, fact-checkers, and experts are often partisan in nature, and themselves frequently disseminate things that are not true. Basically, anyone calling themselves a misinformation expert or disinformation reporter is a partisan fraud, trying to make their activism seem scientific: https://t.co/5gbDf2WJoD  Glenn Greenwald (@ggreenwald) November 21, 2022 But a larger force is at work within the rise of fact-checking and other counter-disinformation efforts. That force is our societys current arrangement of appearances, the totality of social relations mediated by images, or spectacle. Spectacle, as elucidated in Debords The Society of the Spectacle, is a concept that can help us to understand seemingly unconnected, yet deeply intertwined phenomena that have come to fruition as the economy has subjugated society to its needs (as opposed to the other way around), and thus recover our ability to experience life directly. As its dominance over our everyday lives grows complete, the spectacle has become powerful enough to turn our understanding of what is true upside down. Because spectacle replaces real life with a mere mediated representation of life that cannot be experienced directly, it provides a framework where mass deceptions and lies can consistently and convincingly appear as true. Thus, spectacle is perhaps one of the most effective tools we have to explain how elite deceptions, including fabrications and lies about imperialist wars like those in Iraq and Syria, can consistently go unpunished and even unnoticed. As such, it follows that spectacle can help us understand how modern fact-checks and counter-disinformation initiatives can consistently do the opposite of what they claim, as many have observed. In Germany one provider of the daily spectacle is the premier news program of public TV, 'Die Tagesschau'. It has an online presence which includes a section for 'fact checking' deceptively called Faktenfinder - fact finder. Its current main purpose is to promote the NATO war in Ukraine and to blame Russia for waging it. It is quite embarrassing to read its highly manipulative pieces. Last week though it topped its usual nonsense with a mistake that exposed it to a wider audience and led to lots of taunts and jeering. Its main writer was tasked with debunking Symour Hersh's piece about the U.S. terror attack on the Nord Stream pipeline. Not being sufficiently capable of understanding the original English text, the writer used Google Translate to convert it to German. Google Translate is quite good if you need some base to work from but it is far from perfect:

bigger The original sentence in question: That would be well within the range of the divers, who, operating from a Norwegian Alta class mine hunter, would dive with a mixture of oxygen, nitrogen and helium streaming from their tanks, and plant shaped C4 charges on the four pipelines with concrete protective covers. The 'translation': Das ware gut im Bereich der Taucher, die von einem norwegischen Minenjager der Alta-Klasse aus mit einer Mischung aus Sauerstoff, Stickstoff und Helium tauchen wurden, die aus ihren Tanks stromt, und pflanzenformigen C4-Ladungen auf den vier Pipelines mit Betonschutz Abdeckungen. The descriptive "plant shaped C4 charges" had become "pflanzenformigen C4-Ladungen" which I would translate back into English as "plant like C4 explosives" or "C4 explosives formed like plants". The verb 'to plant' had suddenly turned into the noun 'the plant'. But outside of the spectacle, in reality, "C4 explosives formed like plants" do not make sense. So what did the fact-finder do? He could have turned to a different site like Deepl which, in this case, produces a correct translation. Or he could have turned to the original English text to recheck that sentence. He would have found that without the verb 'plant' it would have no other one and would make no grammatical sense. But that is not what he did. His task was to reinforce the spectacle, to hide the truth of Hersh's report. He thus called a German explosives expert and asked him about "C4 explosives formed like plants". The expert (he actually is one) knew of course that there were no such explosives and that camouflaging pipeline explosives as plants would not make sense to anyone. He responded in length and thus helped to debunked the alleged Hersh claim. The fact finder writer was happy to learn that explosives formed like plants do not make sense. He wrote that up and published it.

bigger The headline says "Further Discrepancies in Hersh Report", the sub-headline "Explosives formed like plants are unlikely". My back-translation: The details related to the detonations are also not clear. Hersh writes the divers had placed the C4 plastic explosives "in form of plants onto the 4 pipelines with concrete protected covers". That is of course not what Hersh wrote but what a cognition challenged fact-checker with rudimentary English skills made of a report written in that language. A few hours after it the 'fact finding' piece was published the German Twitter world erupted in laughter. Someone contacted the explosives expert who had been quoted in that piece. He of course was embarrassed when he learned that his musings about 'explosives formed like plants' were caused by a false translation. He contacted the fact finder which only then corrected the error. The whole 'plant based' part was removed from the piece but no remark or explanation was attached to it. That can only be found on a separate correction page where it is simply noted as 'translation error'. The spectacle lost that one when itself got debunked by people who live in reality and talk to each other. As Stavroula Pabst concludes in her piece: The spectacles totality of domination over our lives is an amazing yet shocking feat that forces those recognizing the phenomenon to reckon with the un-lives we live. Thus, while ignorance knows it has nothing to say, overriding and dismantling the spectacle requires finding something to say: as Debord writes, a practical force must be set in motion. This practical force needs the meaningful dialogue that spectacles creep into our lives has largely eliminated, if not wholly erased, via phenomena including todays fact-checking and anti-disinformation crazes. And that dialogue and communication cannot be initiated by atomized individuals or by lonely crowds susceptible to spectacles influence, but by people who share community and a meaningful connection to what Debord describes as universal history, where dialogue arms itself to make its own conditions victorious. And that is perhaps what this Moon of Alabama is about. Despite all the pessimism that nothing ever changes I continue to believe that a steady uncovering of spectacle nonsense, and talking about it, will over time change things - even if only a bit. Posted by b on March 3, 2023 at 18:11 UTC | Permalink Comments next page  next page 
London, UK  The Co-Financing, Syndications and Client Solutions department of the African Development Bank Group has met with London-based insurers to galvanize continued support of the Bank's balance sheet optimization and mobilization ambitions, in line with its 2023 lending program.

The Bank held an investor relationship event on 28 February, attended by representatives from over 30 insurance companies from the London, Bermudan and other international markets, including many Lloyd's Syndicates. The meeting took place in London on the margins of the upcoming ExCred International conference.

The Texel Group, one of the Bank Group's major brokers, hosted the event, continuing its support of multilateral development banks' sustainable development finance goals.

The interactive session was an opportunity for the insurance market practitioners to learn more about the Bank Group and its mobilisation plans for 2023 and beyond. In a presentation, Max Ndiaye, Acting Director of the Co-Financing, Syndications and Client Solutions department, highlighted the evolution of the Bank's risk transfer activities and the importance of the preferred creditor status in the asset quality of the Bank's sovereign loan book. He also spoke on the origination and approval process of new transactions.

The Bank reinforced the benefits of its preferred credit status with respect to pricing and elaborated on the lack of sovereign defaults on the Bank's loans or credit enhanced facilities.

Simon Bessant, Global Head of Insurance at The Texel Group said: "It is important for the African Development Bank to deepen its relationship with institutional investors by explaining their origination processes and excellent risk management framework to crowd them in to projects they may normally not be able to accommodate at a pricing that is palatable to AfDB borrowers."

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"This year is particularly exciting because we are increasingly exploring multi-instrument approaches with insurers through syndication and guarantees in support of sovereign borrowings in line with their newly adopted ESG Frameworks", said Nana Spio-Garbrah, Acting Manager of the Client Solutions Division.

The G20 Capital Adequacy Framework Report notes that increased private capital mobilization is critical to achieving the UN Sustainable Development Goals and Agenda 2063. The report's recommendations include scaling up the transfer of risks embedded in multilateral development bank loan portfolios to private sector counterparties. Therefore, the Bank is continuing its engagement with asset managers and institutional investors to innovate new risk sharing structures.

The African Development Bank has already concluded many balance sheet optimisation and risk sharing structures with pools of private capital and/or unfunded credit protection providers, but it recognises that regular dialogue will help strengthen its partnerships in this area. Examples of transactions following the success of the Bank's innovative "Room to Run" (R2R) initiative, include the conclusion of Room 2 Run Sovereign in October 2022, featuring participation from Axa, Axis and HDI Specialty.

The door has since been widened to mobilize more institutional investors to maximize the benefits of the Bank's landmark GCI-7 capitalization, and further leverage the Bank's capital.
THE Supreme Court of Namibia will this month hear two cases regarding spousal rights for non-Namibians in same-sex marriages with Namibian citizens.

This is the first time since 2001 that the court will hear a case in which the focus is on the rights of same-sex couples, and is a pivotal moment for lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer and intersex (LGBTQI+) rights in Namibia.

The cases involve the foreign spouses of Namibian nationals who are appealing to be granted the same spousal immigration rights as partners in opposite-sex marriages.

Same-sex marriage remains a highly controversial and contentious issue in Namibia. In the two cases to be heard by the Supreme Court, the married couples are not fighting for the legalisation of same-sex marriage, but rather for the recognition of marriages concluded outside the country.

Speaking to The Namibian, a couple involved in one case - German citizen Anita Seiler-Lilles and her Namibian spouse Anette Seiler - said their case was prompted when Seiler-Lilles' application for permanent residence was rejected by Namibia's home affairs and immigration ministry.

"I asked for the reason [...] and we were confused because they said it was because Anita didn't have enough money, which was not true," Seiler explained.

"They later came back to say that the real reason is that our marriage is not recognised and we wondered what our marriage had to do with anything because that is not a criterion for permanent residence," Seiler said.

The couple applied for Seiler-Lilles' permanent residence in 2016 and filed a case in the Windhoek High Court in 2018.

It was around this time that they encountered Daniel Digashu, a South African citizen who is married to Namibian national Johann Potgieter. The two were in a similar predicament.

They married in South Africa in 2015 and moved to Namibia thereafter. However, upon applying for a work permit in the country, Digashu's marital status marred the process.

He has since lived a life in uncertainty, taking his case to court and remaining in the country through visitor's visas.

"It has been a challenge [...] the renewal of the visitor's visa every three months and sometimes you don't get the full three months," Digashu said.

In January 2022, the High Court dismissed the couples' application to have their same-sex marriages recognised in Namibia, stating that it was bound by a previous decision of the Supreme Court in 2001.

In the 2001 judgement, the appeals court stated that domestic law did not recognise same-sex relationships.

In its judgement in January last year, the High Court agreed in principle that LGBTQI+ persons in Namibia have the right not to be discriminated against based on their sexual orientation. The final word on that will have to come from the Supreme Court, though.

Legal Assistance Centre lawyer Dianne Hubbard says these cases involve discrimination against same-sex couples and will establish important jurisprudence for the rights of people in same-sex marriages.

"[The cases] involve recognising marriages validly concluded in other countries for immigration purposes - which is in itself a sign of the changes in the world in the ensuing years, in terms of equality and tolerance - and we certainly hope that Namibia will not be left behind in this regard," she said.

"We should all remember that it was not so long ago that marriages between people of different races were considered to be both immoral and illegal in colonial Namibia. Let us hope that Namibia will learn from its past and leave behind all forms of discrimination," said Hubbard.

She added that the Constitution does not speak specifically on this immigration issue, but does prohibit discrimination and promises that all people are equal under the law.

"It seems that society at large may well be more accepting of differences than political leadership," Hubbard said.

"At the same time, it is also important to remember that the Constitution is particularly important for protecting minorities and people with unpopular views. Parliament expresses the will of the majority, while the Constitution ensures that the rights of all persons are protected and respected."

With only a few days to go until their cases are heard, the couples say they are nervous and anxious as they ready themselves for the fight of their lives.

"I'm very nervous about the whole thing because it's our life that is before court. We don't know what the judges will decide and how our life will go on in the next years," Lilles said.

Adding to that, Digashu said: "I am so overwhelmed I got physically ill a couple of days ago from all the nerves, the anticipation and waiting, and obviously overthinking it as well.

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"I am nervous and terrified but also excited because it has been a long, long time coming."

LIVES 'HANGING IN

THE BALANCE'

As they anticipate the impending hearing, the couple says they worry about what will happen if the Supreme Court does not rule in their favour.

For both, this would mean uprooting the lives they have built in Namibia.

"Should we lose, Anita has to leave the country and I have to go with her. We are married and we want to stay together," Seiler said.

"But, I am also Namibian and for me it would be like exile to go to a place where I'm forced to leave my country of birth," she added.

For Digashu and his husband, the prospect of separating or uprooting their family seems inconceivable.

"We've invested so much in our lives here. My fear would be of breaking down our family potentially. It would just bring about uncertainty and chaos, so I'm terrified of that," Digashu said.

The two couples' cases will be heard in the Supreme Court tomorrow.
Alex Murdaugh gives testimony in his murder trial at the Colleton County Courthouse in Walterboro, South Carolina, Feb. 23, 2023.
CITY of Windhoek contractors yesterday said their work exposes them to health risks.

A group of contractors yesterday took to the streets in protest and handed over a petition to the city's acting strategic executive for human capital and corporate services, Archie Nikanor, demanding better medical care.

The employees have been striking since 13 February, although the city has dismissed the labour action as illegal.

The petition was yesterday read by group spokesperson Tilanus Kavaara.

He said as contractors they are constantly exposed to hazardous matter in the execution of their duties.

Kavaara said they are also demanding a pension fund contribution as the custodian of all local authorities to house their retirement fund.

"We too should be catered for under this option to allow for just and fair labour practices. Without access to a pension fund, we are deprived of an opportunity to prepare for life after retirement," he said.

Kavaara said they want a danger allowance as they comb the city on a daily basis.

"We thus find ourselves in dangerous crime-infested riverbeds and locations without much choice. As such, we request that the management takes our lack of safety into consideration and provides us with some danger allowance or benefit," he said.

He said they need health and safety training, as well as psychosocial support.

'GNARLY SECRETS'

"As ward cleaners, we are unfortunately the first point of contact to some of the most gnarly secrets of the city, disguised as rubbish. We see things no normal citizen may ever see in their lifetime," he said.

This includes corpses, body parts, abandoned babies, ejected foetuses and diseased or discarded animals, Kavaara said.

"We need psychological support to terms with the objects that come with the field. We need to receive support generally in the execution of our duties and any other matter relating thereto," he said.

Nikanor said the group's demands are noted.

"I am glad to see that some of the demands are within the management's mandate. Those we need to push all the way to the council, we will do so," he said.

Nikanor assured the workers that their demands would receive the undivided attention of the management of the council, and that the council will strive towards communicating with them by "at least" Monday.

The workers embarked on a strike as some say they have been working for longer than 20 years with "nothing to show for it".
Luanda  France President, Emmanuel Macron, is to arrive Thursday in Luanda for an official visit, at the invitation of the Angolan Head of State, Joao Lourenco.

The mission of the French President will be completed Friday, says a note from the President's Press Office, ANGOP has learnt.

According to the document, on Friday, Emmanuel Macron's agenda will start with a visit to the Coin Museum in downtown Luanda and will close the France-Angola Business Forum that started Thursday.

The French Head of State will then go to the Presidential Palace for a private meeting with President Joao Lourenco.

The two heads of state are due to make statements to the press, with the French President set to leave the Angolan soil Friday mid-afternoon, the note says.

Bilateral relations

Angola and France established diplomatic relations on February 17 1976. The two countries have cooperation relations in several areas.

The cooperation between the two countries has seen new developments after the official visit of President Joao Lourenco to France on May 28, 2018.

Within the framework of bilateral cooperation, more than 70 French companies operate in this African country. Angola's oil exports to France are around 400 million US dollars.

France intends to change and deepen trade relations with Angola, as part of the economic diversification underway in the country.

Priorities include issues linked to industrialisation, particularly in the logistics, distribution and agribusiness sectors.
The National Resistance Movement (NRM) secretary general, Richard Todwong has defended the party's decision to back Philip Oucor, their candidate in the recent concluded Serere County by-election.

Prior to the election, over 250 NRM leaders from Serere district had asked the party top executive to front and back Emmanuel Omoding, the son to the late MP Patrick Okabe in the by-election, but the party preferred Oucor.

Oucor, lost to Omoding who came on independent card in the hotly contested race, polling 13, 306 votes against the latter's 15,638.

Speaking to the press on Wednesday, Todwong defended NRM's decision to back Oucor, saying supporting another aspirant would breach the party's constitution.

He added that they supported Oucor purposely to show voters and population that the NRM has guiding principles which are followed.

"Oucor became our flag bearer two years ago and so he was the rightful candidate to represent the party even in the by-election contest," Todwong said, noting that was the reason the party stood very firm behind Oucor.

"This principle is what we shall be following in each and every by-election that is coming. We shall stand firm by our flag bearer. We shall be committed to him or her regardless of the circumstances," Todwong revealed.

President Yoweri Museveni and Chairman of NRM went to Serere County on the last day of campaigns where he campaigned for Oucor on two separate venues in Ocaapa and Serere town councils.

Todwong congratulated the people of Serere for being steadfast and supporting NRM candidate with votes despite falling short of victory.

"We appreciate your love and support, despite securing second position. We are however happy that the winner has expression willingness to work with us in service delivery to his people," he said.

According to Todwong, the secretariat expects Omoding to visit the party office to chart the way forward in a bid to help his constituents improve livelihoods.
Snow pile high at the Meadowmont Shopping Center in the Arnold area of Calaveras County View Photo

Sacramento, CA  Following the federal governments lead and extending the 2022 tax filing deadline due to the December and January storms, Californians impacted will get an extra seven months to file their taxes, including those in the Mother Lode.

The original federal and state tax filing and payment deadline was April 18th; the new date is October 16, 2023.

As communities across the state continue recovering from the damage caused by the winter storms, California is working swiftly to help recovering Californians get back on their feet, said Governor Newsom.

51 counties, including Alpine, Amador, Calaveras, Mariposa, and Tuolumne are eligible for this extended tax relief. Additionally, on Wednesday, Governor Gavin Newsom proclaimed a state of emergency after this weeks storms to support disaster response and relief in 13 counties, including Amador, Mariposa, Madera, and Mono. To view this emergency proclamation, click here. Newsoms office provided this additional tax relief information:

TAX EXTENSION

To help alleviate some of the hardship many have endured during this trying period, the FTB has extended the filing and payment deadlines for individuals and businesses in California until October 16, 2023.

This relief applies to deadlines falling on or after January 8, 2023, and before October 16, 2023, including the 2022 individual income tax returns due on April 18 and the quarterly estimated tax payments, typically due on January 17, 2023, and April 18, 2023. Those payments were previously extended to May 15, 2023, for those impacted by winter storms.

The IRS announced tax relief for Californians affected by these winter storms. Taxpayers affected by these storms qualify for an extension to October 16, 2023, to file individual and business tax returns and make certain tax payments. This includes:

Individuals whose tax returns and payments are due on April 18, 2023.

Quarterly estimated tax payments due January 17, 2023, April 18, 2023, June 15, 2023, and September 15, 2023.

Business entities whose tax returns are normally due on March 15 and April 18.

PTE Elective Tax payments due on June 15, 2023.

CLAIMING DISASTER LOSSES

Taxpayers affected by a presidentially declared disaster may claim a deduction for a disaster loss. Taxpayers may claim a disaster loss when filing either an original or amended tax year 2022 tax return.

When filing their return, taxpayers should write the name of the disaster in blue or black ink at the top of their tax return to alert FTB. If filing electronically, taxpayers should follow the software instructions to enter disaster information. If a taxpayer receives a late filing or payment penalty notice related to the postponement period, they should call the number on the notice to have the penalty abated.

Additional information and instructions are available in FTB Publication 1034, 2022 Disaster Loss: How to Claim a State Tax Deduction.

Disaster victims can receive free copies of their state returns to replace those lost or damaged. To do so, they should use form FTB 3516 and write the name of the disaster in blue or black ink at the top of the request.

For a complete list of all disasters declared in California, see the chart on FTBs disaster loss webpage.
CHESHIRE  More details about proposed commercial developments at Stone Bridge Crossing in the north end of Cheshire came into focus this week at a meeting of the Planning and Zoning Commission.

The Feb. 27 public hearing gave commissioners and the one member of the public who attended an opportunity to see images of the architectural plans for the easterly side of the project and hear discussion of its likely impacts on the Ten Mile River watershed, traffic patterns along Route 10, and Cheshires economy more broadly. The PZC is evaluating a series of special permits relating to Stone Bridges status as an Interchange Special Development Project.

As Andrew Martelli, Cheshires coordinator of economic development, reported to the towns Economic Development Commission at a recent meeting, the developers have already secured letters of intent with interested tenants for about 70% of its available retail spaces. Those arrangements can be made official following PZC approval of the permits.

Tom Scott, one of the project architects, presented an overview of the likely grocery, restaurant, and retail spaces located at 1973 and 1989 Highland Ave., which are slated to include amenities like outdoor dining.

Some commissioners worried about adherence to the proposed design, however, Scott did acknowledge that, once actual construction begins, corporate tenants might have their own requirements for signage and appearance.

Although we havent addressed those standalone buildings yet, it depends on who the operator is. Sometimes they come in and they have a prototype they want to use, but of course the town has the ability to review that and make modifications, Scott said. Well work with them and well try to get them to be in tune with the design that weve come up with for the rest of the center.

Project attorney Anthony Fazzone commented that it will be compatible with this and consistent with this (design).

Commissioner Tom Selmont mentioned that national franchises come in and negotiate their design because their construction company is used to outfitting it a certain way. Unfortunately, I think those national franchises try to come in and cheapen it up a little bit because its cookie-cutter.

They showed you an architectural theme throughout the site based on what Mr. Scott proposed. Now, if they propose something that doesnt meet what youre seeing tonight  lets say the architecture changes and its more modern, its not a farm house look  thats something that would then have to come back to this Commission to get a blessing, because you have a very specific setup thats been approved, Town Planner Michael Glidden told the PZC.

This is a complicated project, as you can imagine, said Paul Bowman, of Miller, Napolitano, Wolff, the projects developer. We have a Town of Cheshire sewer line that comes through (the area) and we have to work around that as well. So, we really have to almost build everything in order to make it all work and thats the trick of this.

Consultant Donald Poland presented on some of the likely economic impacts that Cheshire could experience as a result of the commercial development.

Calling this work much more straightforward than his prior residential analysis for Stone Bridge Crossing, which involved projecting school enrolments, Poland forecast an appraised value of $20 million for the 136,000-square-foot plaza. That means an assessed value of $14 million that works out to about $488,000 per year in taxes, Poland concluded. A convenience store and gas station aspect  a separate lot that is also under consideration  was included in his study as well. Poland estimated $33,000 a year in tax revenue from that business, or about $520,000 total in taxes.

Poland cited research from the Connecticut Conference of Municipalities that shows 27% of taxes generated from commercial-industrial uses go toward government services, including police, fire and public works. So, you end up with essentially a net positive of about $380,000 in real property taxes, Poland indicated. Additional one-time fees, such as building permits, would add about $210,000, said Poland.

We estimate 40 full-time-equivalent construction jobs. Permanent jobs for the mix of retail uses runs around 429 jobs  127 are probably full-time, 302 part-time, with a wealth creation of approximately $11.7 million in wages being paid overall, Poland stated. You have this phase of the development as very much fiscally positive, he said.

When asked by Selmont about what the new developments might mean for police and fire coverage, Poland characterized the impact as minor, saying, You will most likely absorb this development.

Commissioner Casey Downes criticized that answer as cavalier, saying It will impact, we just dont know how yet.

Poland defended his point of view as derived from his experience, including time in municipal government. Glidden brought up the mutual aid agreement with Southingtons fire services, saying it could supplement coverage.

The final presentation relating to Stone Bridge involved the proposed gas station and convenience store to be sited on the southeastern corner of the development, known as Lot 1.

We do have a portion of this property that is located over the north Cheshire aquifer, Central Connecticut Regional Water Authority aquifer. None of the aspects of the gas station are located over the aquifer, Fazzone said.

Project engineer Darin Overton elaborated, saying, We have an aquifer protection zone along the Route 10 frontage on the eastern part of the site. So, as part of that, some of the discussions we had with the Regional Water Authority, recognizing that they have authority over that aquifer protection zone, it kind of dictates what we can do with this parcel, particularly with the major aspects of it.

The gas canopies and storage tanks, for example, cannot be located within the aquifer protection zone, per Overton.

Because its a gas station use where we may have an opportunity for higher level of contaminants on the pavement, we actually have hooded catch basins so that we can trap any sort of spills or any sort of floatables right at individual catch basins. Theres also a hydrodynamic separator that will again separate debris and floatables in it. Then we have an isolator row in our underground storm water management in our northwestern corner, Overton explained.

During the hearing, Commissioner Woody Dawson offered his opinion that, with a project of this size, the PZC might not be equipped to make all the necessary judgments about technical matters.

In big projects like this, we should have a consultant helping us (on) things were probably not capable of doing, said Dawson. Youve got laymen up here making decisions. I know weve got a building inspector, but I personally think that we should have an engineer go and make sure that everything is done as approved. We do have a lot of powers that we seem to let go.
Yves here. At the risk of overloading on a nevertheless important topic, were featuring two complimentary posts on China, the first below, on the prospects of war over Taiwan. The other is geopolitical, on the Collective West ire over China presenting a thin statement of principles on negotiations to end the war in Ukraine.

Alfred McCoys article below contains some useful but also troubling parts. It accepts the US spin that China is planning to conquer Taiwan and bizarrely contends that no one wants this war. Hun?

The US made its hostility clear from the start of the Biden Administration, when the State Department invited China to a summit in Anchorage and then in a sharp departure from diplomatic norms, opened by hectoring Chinese officials. From Bloomberg:

U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken began his remarks at the meeting in Anchorage, Alaska, by vowing to raise concerns about recent cyber attacks, the treatment of Muslim minorities in Xinjiang and Beijings increasing control over Hong Kong. He said Chinas actions threatened the international order and human rights. The alternative to a rules-based order is a world in which might makes right and winner takes all and that would be a far more violent and unstable world, Blinken said.

So it looks as if Blinken and Jake Sullivan, who was also at the summit, set out to increase hostilities and succeeded.

Note that in Blinkens opening blast, Taiwan was not on the list. Until the Pelosi trip to Taiwan, Chinas position was that it sought political reunification by 2049. Thats a full generation away. China may have hoped that continuing rises in standards of living in China compared to Taiwan would lead more Taiwanese to work in mainland China, undercutting the isolationists. Taiwan has higher income per person, but even now, some job categories are better paid on the mainland than on Taiwan.

A second question is the war gaming. Given how supposed US experts have not covered themselves with glory with respect to their assessment of Russian capabilities, theres similarly reason to look hard at their forecasts of how a hot conflict would play out. McCoy does start with the option of a blockade, which Brian Berletic has argued is the most China would need to do. Berletic has claimed that all China would need to do is bar imports from and exports to Taiwan, since the island depends on the mainland, particularly for food (although how much port and sea policing that would take is an open question). But it also touts the idea of a full bore invasion and depicts the US as unable to respond quickly enough. The piece oddly skips over Americas glass jaw, its over-use of sitting duck aircraft carriers. Scott Ritter has argued that China could easily sink one or more, and the US would feel compelled to retaliate with a tactical strike on Chinese hinterlands. You can guess how this movie ends.

Third is (at least according to some readers) the US perception of Chinas dependence Taiwans chip industry may be overstated. Andrew Stegman responded to speculation that the US might try a Nord Steam on TSMC:

Few US semiconductor companies operate their own wafer fabs. If TSMC fabs were to be destroyed or otherwise taken offline the majority of US semiconductor companies would be SOL. So would companies such as Apple, Facebook, Google, and other monopoly companies that design their own chips but have them fabbed outside. China is not desperate for TSMC. Its not the trump card that some in the West may think. Destroying TSMC fabs will hurt the collective west far more than it will hurt China.

Expert readers are encouraged to sanity-check the chip industry take expressed below, and the somewhat less bullish one in a recent Barrons article.

Finally, I will leave it to readers to dissect the bizarre discussion of funding the war in Ukraine as having no impact on spending for a hot China conflict, as well as statements like China needs a humbled Putin.

By Alfred McCoy. Originally published at TomDispatch

While the world has been distracted, even amused, by the diplomatic tussle around Chinas recent high-altitude balloon flights across North America, there are signs that Beijing and Washington are preparing for something so much more serious: armed conflict over Taiwan. Reviewing recent developments in the Asia-Pacific region raises a tried-and-true historical lesson that bears repeating at this dangerous moment in history: when nations prepare for war, they are far more likely to go to war.

In The Guns of August, her magisterial account of another conflict nobody wanted, Barbara Tuchman attributed the start of World War I in 1914 to French and German plans already in place. Appalled upon the brink, she wrote, the chiefs of state who would be ultimately responsible for their countrys fate attempted to back away, but the pull of military schedules dragged them forward. In a similar fashion, Beijing and Washington have been making military, diplomatic, and semi-secretive moves that could drag us into a calamitous conflict that, once again, nobody wants.

At the apex of power, national leaders in Beijing and Washington have staked out starkly contrasting positions on Taiwans future. For nearly a year now, President Joe Biden has been trying to resolve the underlying ambiguity in previous U.S. policy toward that island by stating repeatedly that he would indeed defend it from any mainland attack. In May of last year, in response to a reporters question about a possible Chinese invasion of Taiwan, he said, Yes, the U.S. would intervene militarily. He then added: We agree with the One China policy. We signed on to it and all the attendant agreements made from there, but the idea that it can be taken by force, just taken by force, is [just not] appropriate.

As Biden acknowledged, by extending diplomatic recognition to Beijing in 1979, Washington had indeed accepted Chinas future sovereignty over Taiwan. For the next 40 years, presidents from both parties made public statements opposing Taiwans independence. In effect, they conceded that the island was a Chinese province and its fate a domestic matter (even if they opposed the Peoples Republic doing anything about it in the immediate future).

Nonetheless, Biden has persisted in his aggressive rhetoric. He told CBS News last September, for instance, that he would indeed send U.S. troops to defend Taiwan if, in fact, there was an unprecedented attack. Then, in a significant break with longstanding U.S. policy, he added: Taiwan makes their own judgments about their independence Thats their decision.

Within weeks, at a Communist Party Congress, Chinese President Xi Jinping responded with a strong personal commitment to the unification of Taiwan  by force if necessary. We insist on striving for the prospect of peaceful reunification, he said, but we will never promise to give up the use of force and reserve the option to take all necessary measures.

After a long burst of applause from the 2,000 party officials massed in Beijings Great Hall of the People, he then invoked the inevitability of Marxian dialectical forces that would insure the victory he was promising. The historical wheels of national reunification and national rejuvenation are rolling forward, he said, and the complete reunification of the motherland must be achieved.

As the political philosopher Hannah Arendt once reminded us, a sense of historical inevitability is a dangerous ideological trigger that can plunge authoritarian states like China into otherwise unthinkable wars or unimaginable mass slaughter.

War Preparations Move Down the Chain of Command

Not surprisingly, the forceful statements of Biden and Xi have been working their way down the chain of command in both countries. In January, a four-star U.S. Air Force general, Mike Minihan, sent a formal memo to his massive Air Mobility Command of 500 aircraft and 50,000 troops, ordering them to ramp up their training for war with China. My gut tells me, he concluded, that we will fight in 2025. Instead of repudiating the generals statement, a Pentagon spokesman simply added, The National Defense Strategy makes clear that China is the pacing challenge for the Department of Defense.

Nor is General Minihan even the first senior officer to have made such foreboding statements. As early as March 2021, the head of the Indo-Pacific Command, Admiral Philip Davidson, warned Congress that China was planning to invade the island by 2027: Taiwan is clearly one of their ambitions And I think the threat is manifest during this decade, in fact, in the next six years.

Unlike their American opposites, Chinas service chiefs have been publicly silent on the subject, but their aircraft have been eloquent indeed. After President Biden signed a defense appropriation bill last December with $10 billion in military aid for Taiwan, an unprecedented armada of 71 Chinese aircraft and many more military drones swarmed that islands air defenses in a single 24-hour period.

As such tit-for-tat escalation only increases, Washington has matched Chinas aggression with major diplomatic and military initiatives. Indeed, the assistant defense secretary for the Indo-Pacific, Ely Ratner, has promised, ominously enough, that 2023 is likely to stand as the most transformative year in U.S. force posture in the region in a generation.

During a recent tour of Asian allies, Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin claimed some significant strategic gains. On a stopover in Seoul, he and his South Korean counterpart announced that the U.S. would deploy aircraft carriers and additional jets for expanded live-fire exercises  a distinctly escalatory move after the curtailment of such joint operations during the Trump years.

Moving on to Manila, Austin revealed that the Philippines had just granted U.S. troops access to four more military bases, several facing Taiwan across a narrow strait. These were needed, he said, because the Peoples Republic of China continues to advance its illegitimate claims in the South China Sea.

Chinas Foreign Ministry seemed stung by the news. After a successful diplomatic courtship of the previous Philippine president, Rodrigo Duterte, that had checked U.S. influence while accepting the Chinese occupation of islands in Philippine waters, Beijing could now do little more than condemn Washingtons access to those bases for endangering regional peace and stability. Although some Filipino nationalists objected that an American presence might invite a nuclear attack, according to reliable polling, 84% of Filipinos felt that their country should cooperate with the United States to defend their territorial waters from China.

Both of those announcements were dividends from months of diplomacy and down payments on major military deployments to come. The annual U.S. defense bill for 2023 is funding the construction of military installations across the Pacific. And even as Japan is doubling its defense budget, in part to protect its southern Islands from China, U.S. Marines in Okinawa plan to trade their tanks and heavy artillery for agile drones and shoulder-fired missiles as they form littoral regiments capable of rapid deployment to the smallest of islands in the region.

Secret Strategies

In contrast to those public statements, semi-secret strategies on both sides of the Pacific have generally escaped much notice. If the U.S. military commitment to Taiwan remains at least somewhat ambiguous, this countrys economic dependence on that islands computer-chip production is almost absolute. As the epicenter of a global supply chain, Taiwan manufactures 90% of the worlds advanced chips and 65% of all semiconductors. (In comparison, Chinas share of chips is 5% and the U.S. slice only 10%.) As the worlds top producer of the most critical component in everything from consumer cell phones to military missiles, the Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC) is the leading innovator, supplying Apple and other U.S. tech firms.

Now, American officials are moving to change that. Having overseen the breaking of ground for a $12 billion TSMC chip-production factory in Phoenix in 2020, only two years later, Arizonas governor announced that TSMC has completed construction of its main facility. Last August, just before President Biden signed the $52 billion CHIPS and Science Act, Secretary of Commerce Gina Raimondo insisted that our dependence on Taiwan for chips is untenable and unsafe.

Only three months later, TSMC reached for a large slice of those federal funds by investing $28 billion in a second Phoenix factory that, when opened in 2026, will produce what the New York Times has called more advanced  though not the most advanced  chip-making technology. At a ceremony featuring President Biden last December, Apples CEO Tim Cook proclaimed, This is an incredibly significant moment.

That might be true, but the focus on Phoenix obscured equally significant chip factory projects being put in place by Samsung in Texas, Intel in Ohio, and Micron Technology in New York. Add it all up and the U.S. is already about halfway to the minimum of three years and a $350 billion investment to replace the Taiwanese [chip] foundries, according to the Semiconductor Industry Association.

In other words, if Beijing did decide to invade Taiwan after 2026, TSMCs intellectual capital, in the form of its top computer scientists, would undoubtedly be on outbound flights for Phoenix, leaving little more than a few concrete shells and some sabotaged equipment behind. The global supply chain for silicon chips involving Dutch machines (for extreme ultraviolet lithography), American designs, and Taiwanese production would probably continue without much of a hitch in the United States, Japan, and Europe, leaving the Peoples Republic of China with little more than its minimalist 5% of the worlds $570 billion semiconductor industry.

Chinas secret calculus over an invasion of Taiwan is undoubtedly more complex. In mid-February at Munich, Secretary of State Antony Blinken charged that Beijing was considering giving Moscow lethal support for its war in Ukraine, adding that weve made very clear to them that that would cause a serious problem for our relationship.

But China is faced with a far more difficult choice than Blinkens blithe rhetoric suggests. From its impressive arsenal, Beijing could readily supply Moscow with enough of its Hong Niao cruise missiles to destroy most of Ukraines armored vehicles (with plenty left over to demolish Kyivs faltering electrical infrastructure).

Bleeding NATO in that way would, however, pay limited dividends for any possible future Chinese plans vis-a-vis Taiwan. In contrast, the types of ground-warfare armaments Washington and its allies continue to pour into Ukraine would do little to strain the U.S. naval capacity in the Western Pacific.

Moreover, the diplomatic and economic price Beijing would pay for a significant involvement in the Ukraine War might well prove prohibitive. As the worlds largest consumer of imported cheap oil and wheat, which Russia exports in abundance, China needs a humbled Putin, desperate for markets and compliant with its designs for greater dominion over Eurasia. A triumphant Putin, bending the will of timorous states in Eastern Europe and Central Asia while negotiating ever-tougher deals for his exports, is hardly in Beijings interest.

Ignoring the existential threat Putins war poses for the European Union would also cost Beijing decades of diplomacy and billions in infrastructure funds already invested to knit all of Eurasia, from the North Sea to the South China Sea, into an integrated economy. In addition, siding with a distinctly secondary power that has blatantly violated the core principle of the international order  which bars the acquisition of territory by armed conquest  is hardly likely to advance Beijings sustained bid for global leadership.

Vladimir Putin might indeed try to equate Chinas claim to a breakaway province in Taiwan with his own bid for former Soviet territory in Ukraine, but the analogy is anathema to Beijing. Taiwan is not Ukraine, the Chinese Foreign Ministry announced last year, the day before Putin invaded Ukraine. Taiwan has always been an inalienable part of China. This is an indisputable legal and historical fact.

The Costs of War

With both Beijing and Washington contemplating a possible future war over Taiwan, its important (especially in light of Ukraine) to consider the likely costs of such a conflict. In November 2021, the venerable Reuters News Agency compiled a series of credible scenarios for a China-U.S. war over Taiwan. If the United States decided to fight for the island, said Reuters, there is no guarantee it would defeat an increasingly powerful PLA [Peoples Liberation Army].

In its least violent scenario, Reuters speculated that Beijing could use its navy to impose a customs quarantine around Taiwan, while announcing an Air Defense Identification Zone over the island and warning the world not to violate its sovereignty. Then, to tighten the noose, it could move to a full blockade, laying mines at major ports and cutting underwater cables. Should Washington decide to intervene, its submarines would undoubtedly sink numerous PLA warships, while its surface vessels could launch aircraft and missiles as well. But Chinas powerful air-defense system would undoubtedly fire thousands of its own missiles, inflicting heavy losses on the U.S. Navy. Rather than attempting a difficult amphibious invasion, Beijing might complete this staged escalation with saturation missile attacks on Taiwans cities until its leaders capitulated.

In the Reuters scenario for all-out war, Beijing decides to mount the biggest and most complex amphibious and airborne landing ever attempted, seeking to overwhelm the island before the United States and its allies can respond. To hold off a U.S. counterattack, the PLA might fire missiles at American bases in Japan and Guam. While Taiwan launched jets and missiles to deter the invasion fleet, U.S. carrier battle groups would steam toward the island and, within hours, a major war [would be] raging in East Asia.

In August 2022, the Brookings Institution released more precise estimates of likely losses from various scenarios in such a war. Although Chinas recent and dramatic military modernizations have sharply reduced Americas ability to defend the island, the complexities of such a clash, wrote the Brookings analyst, make the outcome inherently unknowable. Only one thing would be certain: the losses on both sides (including in Taiwan itself) would be devastating.

In Brookings first scenario involving a maritime fight centered on submarines, Beijing would impose a blockade and Washington would respond with naval convoys to sustain the island. If the United States were to knock out Beijings communications, the U.S. Navy would lose just 12 warships, while sinking all 60 of Chinas subs. If, by contrast, China maintained its communications, it could possibly sink 100 vessels, mostly U.S. warships, while losing only 29 subs.

In Brookings second scenario for a broader subregional war, both sides would use jets and missiles in a struggle that would engulf southeastern China, Taiwan, and U.S. bases in Japan, Okinawa, and Guam. If Chinas attacks proved successful, it might destroy 40 to 80 U.S. and Taiwanese warships at a cost of some 400 Chinese aircraft. If the U.S. got the upper hand, it could destroy much of Chinas military in southeastern China, while shooting down more than 400 PLA aircraft, even as it suffered heavy losses of its own jets.

By focusing largely on military losses, which are chilling enough, both studies grossly underestimate the real costs and potential devastation to Taiwan and much of East Asia. My own instinct tells me that, should China impose a customs blockade on the island, Washington would blink hard at the thought of losing hundreds of aircraft and dozens of warships, including an aircraft carrier or two, and retreat to its longstanding policy of regarding Taiwan as Chinas territory. If the U.S. did challenge that customs interdiction zone, however, it would have to attack the Chinese blockade and might, in the eyes of much of the world, become the aggressor  a real disincentive from Washingtons point of view.

Should China launch an all-out invasion, however, Taiwan would likely succumb within a few days once its air force of just 470 combat aircraft was overwhelmed by the PLAs 2,900 jet fighters, 2,100 supersonic missiles, and its massive navy, now the worlds largest. Reflecting Chinas clear strategic advantage of simple proximity to Taiwan, the islands occupation might well be a fait accompli before the U.S. Navy ships could arrive from Japan and Hawaii in sufficient numbers to challenge the massive Chinese armada.

If Beijing and Washington somehow let the pull of policy and planning drag them into such an ever-widening war, however, the damage could still prove incalculable  with cities devastated, untold thousands dead, and the global economy, with its epicenter in Asia, left in ruins. Let us only hope that todays leaders in both Washington and Beijing prove more restrained than did their counterparts in Berlin and Paris in August 1914 when plans for victory unleashed a war that would leave 20 million dead in its wake.
The leader of the National Unity Platform (NUP) Robert Kyagulanyi alias Bobi Wine has challenged Uganda Peoples' Defence Forces (UPDF) to produce the CCTV footage of Eric Mwesigwa's abduction.

Kyagulanyi claimed that UPDF is now in a panic mood for fear of sanctions and prosecution, wondering how they could abduct their supporters.

Mwesigwa, a man who recently claimed he was tortured by security officers during detention yesterday backtracked on his claims, saying the injuries were self-inflicted for the promise of Shs 50 million by some leaders of NUP.

Mwesigwa, who at the time showed horrific burns on his chest, is reported to have filed a complaint to Uganda Human Rights Commission (UHRC) saying he was abducted by armed security personnel and gravely tortured.

He also reportedly made a report at Kabalagala Police and stated that since he returned from the torture chambers, unknown people had been following him.

But while speaking to the media on Wednesday, UPDF spokesperson Brig. General Felix Kulayigye said that NUP has been using social media to blackmail and demonise the government over false allegations of torture by security agencies.

"These elements have embarked on a deliberate campaign to malign the government and attempted to isolate it at regional and international fora, as well as among the development partners using the usual rhetoric of human rights abuses and socio-economic challenges," he said.

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He claimed that NUP has overtime made it a norm to parade people with bodily defects occasioned by normal accidents to masquerade as victims of torture inflicted on them by security personnel.

However, Kyagulanyi dismissed the allegations as amateur concoctions by the UPDF to spin the unfortunate torture of a citizen which he claimed confirms that the torture meted out on Mwesigwa and others like him is sanctioned by the force and other security agencies.

"I am sure nobody in Uganda can fall for this nonsense. They know so well how Museveni's regime of blood came through violence and deception, and continues to hold onto power using the same tools," he said in a statement.

Kyagulanyi asked Ugandans to look at the past records of UPDF, saying that when Yasin Kawuma, his driver who was shot dead in Arua, the force claimed that the murder was carried out by them, an allegation which was not true. To date Kyagulanyi noted that no one has ever been arrested or prosecuted in this regard.

"The country is also aware of the contradictory statements that former President of NUP Mzee Moses Kibalama made in court after meeting the Chief of Defense Forces. Recently when they abducted and raped comrade Marinos, they quickly called a press conference and downplayed the heinous crimes. They did the same for novelist Kakwenza Rukirabashaija among others," he claimed.

"There are some comrades who they tried to conscript into these kinds of games after torturing them, and when they refused, they threatened to kill them. Many of them are in exile," he said.
Yves here. CODEPINK is attempting to raise the alarms over US warmongering, now with China. CODEPINK sent two protestors to the newly-formed China-bashing Select Committee on the Strategic Competition Between the United States and the Chinese Communist Party, whose first meeting depicted the US and China as engaged in an existential struggle over what life will look like in the 21st century. The CODEPINK representatives, with their message of China is not the enemy were quickly ushered out.

One has to wonder if the CODEPINK authors are reflecting a change in the zeitgeist, at least outside the US. Heretofore, articles co-authored by Medea Benjamin on the Ukraine conflict have been largely critical of Russia while taking the realist stance of needing to make concessions to save lives. This piece calls out the US threats to Russias security and the cost of Western sanctions on countries all over the world. I wonder if the change in stance is the result of the Munich Security Conference, where US/NATO efforts to rally support for their opposition to Russia backfired. The new invitees from the so-called Global South complained that the war was diverting resources and attention from far more pressing needs, like global warming and hunger.

China may be waiting for the ripples of its peace ploy to settle down before it makes another move. However, the intensity of the Western reaction reveals the US as threatened by the prospect of China inserting itself into the debate, and even worse, a resolution to the conflict.

China could play up sanctions, and say that the Wests economic war on Russia has turned completely uninvolved nations into participants, escalating it well beyond its natural European boundaries. I am sure that will go over well.

By Medea Benjamin, cofounder of CODEPINK, and author of several books, including War in Ukraine: Making Sense of a Senseless Conflict; Marcy Winograd serves as Co-Chair of the Peace in Ukraine Coalition, which calls for a ceasefire, diplomacy and an end to weapons shipments that escalate the war in Ukraine; and Wei Yu is the China Is Not Our Enemy campaign coordinator for CODEPINK

Theres something irrational about President Bidens knee-jerk dismissal of Chinas 12-point peace proposal titled Chinas Position on the Political Settlement of the Ukraine Crisis.

Not rational is how Biden described the plan that calls for de-escalation toward a ceasefire, respect for national sovereignty, establishment of humanitarian corridors and resumption of peace talks.

Dialogue and negotiation are the only viable solution to the Ukraine crisis, reads the plan. All efforts conducive to the peaceful settlement of the crisis must be encouraged and supported.

Biden turned thumbs down.

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, Biden told the press.

In a brutal conflict that has left thousands of dead Ukrainian civilians, hundreds of thousands of dead soldiers, eight million Ukrainians displaced from their homes, contamination of land, air and water, increased greenhouse gasses and disruption of the global food supply, Chinas call for de-escalation would surely benefit someone in Ukraine.

Other points in Chinas plan, which is really more a set of principles rather than a detailed proposal, call for protection for prisoners of war, cessation of attacks on civilians, safeguards for nuclear power plants and facilitation of grain exports.

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, said Biden.

Instead of engaging Chinaa country of 1.5 billion people, the worlds largest exporter, the owner of a trillion dollars in US debt and an industrial giantin negotiating an end to the crisis in Ukraine, the Biden administration prefers to wag its finger and bark at China, warning it not to arm Russia in the conflict.

Psychologists might call this finger-wagging projectionthe old pot calling the kettle black routine. It is the US, not China, that is fueling the conflict with at least $45 billion dollars in ammunition, drones, tanks and rockets in a proxy war that riskswith one miscalculationturning the world to ash in a nuclear holocaust.

It is the US, not China, that has provoked this crisis by encouraging Ukraine to join NATO, a hostile military alliance that targets Russia in mock nuclear strikes, and by backing a 2014 coup of Ukraines democratically elected Russia-friendly president Viktor Yanukovych, thus triggering a civil war between Ukrainian nationalists and ethnic Russians in eastern Ukraine, regions Russia has more recently annexed.

Bidens sour attitude toward the Chinese peace framework hardly comes as a surprise. After all, even former Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett candidly acknowledged in a five-hour interview on YouTube that it was the West that last March blocked a near-peace deal he had mediated between Ukraine and Russia.

Why did the US block a peace deal? Why wont President Biden provide a serious response to the Chinese peace plan, let alone engage the Chinese at a negotiating table?

President Biden and his coterie of neo-conservatives, among them Undersecretary of State Victoria Nuland, have no interest in peace if it means the US concedes hegemonic power to a multi-polar world untethered from the all-mighty dollar.

What may have gotten Biden unnervedbesides the possibility that China might emerge the hero in this bloody sagais Chinas call for the lifting of unilateral sanctions. The US imposes unilateral sanctions on officials and companies from Russia, China and Iran. It imposes sanctions on whole countries, too, like Cuba, where a cruel 60-year embargo, plus assignment to the State Sponsor of Terrorism list, made it difficult for Cuba to obtain syringes to administer its own vaccines during the COVID pandemic. Oh, and lets not forget Syria, where after an earthquake killed tens of thousands and left hundreds of thousands homeless, the country struggles to receive medicine and blankets due to US sanctions that discourage humanitarian aid workers fromoperating inside Syria.

Despite Chinas insistence it is not considering weapons shipments to Russia, Reuters reports the Biden administration is taking the pulse of G-7 countries to see if they would approve new sanctions against China if that country provides Russia with military support.

The idea that China could play a positive role was also dismissed by NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg, who said, China doesnt have much credibility because they have not been able to condemn the illegal invasion of Ukraine.

Ditto from US Secretary of State Antony Blinken, who told ABCs Good Morning America, China has been trying to have it both ways: Its on the one hand trying to present itself publicly as neutral and seeking peace, while at the same time it is talking up Russias false narrative about the war.

False narrative or different perspective?

In August of 2022, Chinas ambassador to Moscow charged that the United States was the main instigatorof the Ukraine war, provoking Russia with NATO expansion to Russias borders.

This is not an uncommon perspective and is one shared by economist Jeffrey Sachs who, in a February 25, 2023 video directed at thousands of anti-war protesters in Berlin, said the war in Ukraine did not start a year ago, but nine years ago when the US backed the coup that overthrew Yanukovych after he preferred Russias loan terms to the European Unions offer.

Shortly after China released its peace framework, the Kremlin responded cautiously, lauding the Chinese effort to help but adding that the details need to be painstakingly analyzed taking into account the interests of all the different sides. As for Ukraine, President Zelinsky hopes to meet soon with Chinese President Xi Jinping to explore Chinas peace proposal and dissuade China from supplying weapons to Russia.

The peace proposal garnered more positive response from countries neighboring the warring states. Putins ally in Belarus, leader Alexander Lukashenko, said his country fully supports the Beijing plan. Kazakhstan approved of Chinas peace framework in a statement describing it as worthy of support. Prime Minister of Hungary Viktor Orbanwho wants his country to stay out of the war also showed support for the proposal.

Chinas call for a peaceful solution stands in stark contrast to US warmongering this past year, when Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin, a former Raytheon board member, said the US aims to weaken Russia, presumably for regime changea strategy that failed miserably in Afghanistan where a near 20-year US occupation left the country broke and starving.

Chinas support for de-escalation is consistent with its long-standing opposition to US/NATO expansion, now extending into the Pacific with hundreds of US bases encircling China, including a new base in Guam to house 5,000 marines. From Chinas perspective, US militarism jeopardizes the peaceful reunification of the Peoples Republic of China with its break-away province of Taiwan. For China, Taiwan is unfinished business, left over from the civil war 70 years ago.

In provocations reminiscent of US meddling in Ukraine, a hawkish Congress last year approved $10 billion in weapons and military training for Taiwan, while House leader Nancy Pelosi flew to Taipei  over protestsfrom her constituentsto whip up tension in a move that brought US-China climate cooperation to a halt.

A US willingness to work with China on a peace plan for Ukraine might not only help stop the daily loss of lives in Ukraine and prevent a nuclear confrontation, but also pave the way for cooperation with China on all kinds of other issuesfrom medicine to education to climatethat would benefit the entire globe.
(Natural News) Experts from Texas A&M University and Carnegie Mellon University say that the air quality in and around East Palestine, Ohio, is poor, containing higher than normal concentrations of as many as nine different harmful chemicals.

Using their own mobile testing unit, the scientists have been collecting air samples near the site of the Norfolk Southern train crash. Meanwhile, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) continues to reassure the public that East Palestine is safe.

While the nine detected chemicals are not necessarily an immediate health concern, the experts warn that repeated and continued exposure to them over a prolonged period of time could damage peoples health.

What we know now is that in additional to vinyl chloride, the other chemicals on the derailed train that underwent a controlled explosion include butyl acrylate, benzene residue, glycol monobutyl ether, ethylhexyl acrylate, and isobutylene. The toxic byproducts of these chemicals when burned are numerous.

That material thats dumped onto the ground or into the water could reemit from the ground whenever the temperature changes or whenever its windy, said Dr. Albert Presto, an associate research professor of mechanical engineering at Carnegie Mellons Wilton E. Scott Institute for Energy Innovation and one of the experts monitoring air quality in East Palestine.

Its not elevated to the point where its necessarily like an immediate evacuate the building health concern. But we dont know necessarily what the long-term risk is or how long that concentration that causes that risk will persist.

(Related: Animals are reportedly dying at state parks across Ohio ever since the disaster.)

Independent scientists say East Palestine air quality is polluted; EPA says everything is just fine

The mobile testing van that is collecting air samples has traveled all around the region, including in Pittsburgh and even Baltimore. The experts then compared these samples to those collected in and around East Palestine to compare and contrast.

At the same time, the EPA has only screened the air inside 578 homes, declaring its chemical pollution levels to be below what is considered safe in terms of residential air quality standards.

The most concerning chemical detected was actually acrolein, which is either a clear, colorless gas or a pale, yellow, strong-smelling liquid. It easily evaporates at room temperature, producing toxic concentrations of the chemical.

It is poisonous no matter what the exposure route is, one report explains. It causes inflammation and irritation of the skin, respiratory tract and mucus membranes.

After it is inhaled, it can cause delayed pulmonary edema  excess fluid in the lungs  This can lead to coughs, chest pain and fatigue  It is formed when fossil fuels are burnt and is also a by-product of fires.

The other eight chemicals detected include benzene, vinyl chloride, butadiene, naphthalene, o-Xylene, trichloroethylene, trichloroethane and butadiene.

The International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) classifies vinyl chloride as carcinogenic to humans, meaning it causes cancer. Prolonged exposure to vinyl chloride over many years is likely to induce liver damage and cancer.

In addition to being breathable as a toxic gas, vinyl chloride can also be ingested via contaminated drinking water. This remains a concern throughout Ohio, and really anywhere that relies on drinking water potentially contaminated by the explosion.

A five-minute exposure to over twice the level it can be smelt at can cause dizziness, reports explain. At levels five times that high, exposure can cause drowsiness, a loss of coordination, issues with sight and hearing, disorientation, nausea, headache, and burning or tingling in the arms and legs.

The latest news about the situation in East Palestine can be found at Disaster.news.

Sources for this article include:

DailyMail.co.uk

NaturalNews.com
(Natural News) Newly released emails reveal that in January 2020, Dr. Anthony Fauci possessed crucial information regarding the origins of COVID-19. However, during that critical period when the nation was just beginning to comprehend the virus, Dr. Fauci opted not to disclose the information to the American people. Rather, he worked to keep it hidden, The Federalist reported this week.

At 10:32 p.m. on January 31, 2020, Dr. Kristian Andersen, a British researcher who has received millions of dollars in grants from the NIH, sent an email to Dr. Fauci. In the email, Dr. Andersen cautioned Dr. Fauci about certain matters:

[O]ne has to look really closely at all the sequences to see that some of the features (potentially) look engineered . . . Eddie [Holmes], Bob [Garry], Mike [Ferguson] and myself all find the genome inconsistent with evolutionary theory.

At 12:29 a.m. on February 1, two hours after receiving the email from Dr. Andersen, Dr. Fauci emailed his longtime deputy, Dr. Hugh Auchincloss. The email contained a paper co-authored by Dr. Ralph Baric and Dr. Zhengli-Li Shi, also known as the bat woman from Wuhan Institute of Virology (WIV). The paper emphasized NIH-funded gain-of-function research on coronaviruses carried out by the WIV. Dr. Fauci informed Dr. Auchincloss that he should read the paper immediately:

It is essential that we speak this [morning]. Keep your cell phone on . . . read this paper . . . you will have tasks today that must be done.

Urgency. Intensity, noted The Federalist.

At 2:48 a.m., two hours after emailing Dr. Auchincloss, Dr. Fauci sent another email, this time to Dr. Robert Kadlec, who was the Assistant Secretary for Preparedness and Response at the Department of Health and Human Services under the Trump administration. The email included an article that minimized the possibility of a lab leak and argued in favor of a natural origin of COVID-19. Dr. Faucis email contained only a brief message: Bob, this came out today. Gives a balanced view.

Suddenly, there was no urgency or intensity in the former top immunologists tone.

Why was Dr. Fauci so concerned when emailing his deputy but so calm when emailing his boss? Why didnt he send Dr. Kadlec the Baric-Shi paper? The paper that supported the original message from Dr. Andersen that COVID-19 looked engineered, was inconsistent with evolutionary theory, and linked American tax dollars to gain of function research at the WIV [Wuhan Institute of Virology], The Federalist noted.

Later that morning, at 11:47 a.m., Dr. Auchincloss replied to Dr. Fauci:

The paper you sent me says the experiments were performed before the gain-of-function pause but have since been reviewed and approved by NIH. Not sure what this means since [we are] sure that no coronavirus work has gone through the P3 framework. [We] will try to determine if we have any distant ties to this work abroad.

That email from Dr. Auchincloss appears to substantiate Dr. Faucis concerns: The email suggested that gain-of-function research at the WIV had been financed with American tax dollars and had not received appropriate oversight through the P3 framework.

At the time of the emails, Dr. Fauci was already aware of a deadly virus spreading in Wuhan, China. Within a span of just 13 hours, between 10:32 p.m. on January 31, 2020, and 11:47 a.m. on February 1, 2020, Dr. Fauci became aware of three additional facts.

The first fact that Dr. Fauci became aware of was that American taxpayers had contributed funding for potentially hazardous gain-of-function research in Wuhan, China. Secondly, he learned that this research had not undergone the necessary safety review process, known as the P3 framework. Finally, Dr. Fauci became aware that the virus responsible for the pandemic appeared to have been artificially engineered and did not conform to what would be expected through natural evolution, the outlet reported.

Fauci then organized a conference call for the evening of February 1, 2020. On the call were 11 virologists from around the world, including Dr. Andersen who sent Dr. Fauci the email less than 24 hours earlier. Almost all the participants on the call had previously been awarded American taxpayer-funded grants by Dr. Fauci, The Federalist reported.

Not on the call were Trump administration officials such as the then-CDC director, or Faucis boss at the NIH, or Dr. Brett Giroir, Assistant Secretary for Health, or Dr. Deborah Birx, the soon-to-be COVID-19 Response Coordinator.

Its unclear what was discussed on the conference call because all of the information has been redacted from the official documents and emails related to the call, the outlet reported.

We think we know why.

Fauci has to be held accountable. Will Republicans step up?

Sources include:

TheFederalist.com

NaturalNews.com
(Natural News) An examination of a mummified Japanese mermaid or ningyo conducted by a university yielded surprising details about the specimen.

Researchers from the Okayama Folklore Society (OFS) first discovered the ningyo mummy, which measured around 12 inches long, lying inside a sealed wooden box within the Enjuin Temple in Japans Okayama Prefecture. They initially thought it was made from the torso and head of a monkey sewed onto a decapitated fishs body. The mummy had previously been displayed in a glass case at the temple for people to worship, before being stored away more than 40 years ago.

Ningyo, the equivalent of mermaids in Japanese mythology, are widely believed to help cure disease and increase longevity. According to a letter inside the mummified ningyos box, it was reportedly caught by a fisherman sometime between 1736 and 1741.

However, another team of researchers from the Kurashiki University of Science and the Arts (KUSA) took possession of the mermaid in early February 2022 with the consent of the temples priests. They then analyzed the ningyo mummy using X-ray, CT scan, radiocarbon dating, electron microscopy and DNA analysis. The KUSA researchers then released their findings about the mummy in a Feb. 7, 2023 statement.

They found that the mermaids torso was not from a monkey. Instead, it was made predominantly from cloth, paper and cotton held together by metal pins running from the neck to the lower back. The torso had also been painted with a paste made from a combination of sand and charcoal. (Related: Mermaid mummy in Japan could be a terrifying monkey-fish hoax, researchers say.)

The torso was also covered in components stripped from other animals  with mammalian hair and what is likely skin from a puffer fish covering parts of the mummys arms, shoulders, neck and cheeks. The mermaids jaw and teeth were likely taken from a predatory fish, while its claws were made from keratin likely taken from a real but unidentifiable animal. The mermaids lower half did come from a fish, likely a species of croaker.

While the researchers were unable to identify any complete DNA from the mermaid, radiocarbon dating of the scales indicated they could date back as far as the early 1800s. This essentially debunked the claim of the ningyo being caught between the 1730s and the 1740s, and attested to the possibility of it being created decades later to dupe rich people wanting to improve their health.

Ningyo believed to have healing, life-extending properties

Japanese literature is rife with the supposed healing benefits of ningyo. The most famous story is that of Yao Bikuni, whose father acquired meat from the creature. She then ate the meat and gained centuries of beauty and life, eventually becoming a Buddhist nun.

The 1709 treatise Yamato Honzo (Japanese Medicinal Herbs) by Kaibara Ekken recorded the medicinal properties of ningyo bones, which include the prevention of bloody bowel discharges. The 1713 Wakan Sansai Zue (Japanese-Chinese Illustrated Assemblage of the Three Components of the Universe) also noted that ningyo bones were used in the Netherlands as an antidote.

Japanese scholar Hirata Atsutane attested to the existence of these ningyo and their healing powers more than a century after the two works were published. In an 1842 letter, he recounted obtaining a ningyo bone and choosing an auspicious day with friends to grind it up. Atsutane wrote that he and his friends then added the powdered ningyo bone to water and drank it, with the aim of achieving a longer life.

The meaning and role assigned to ningyo changed through different times and situations, said OFS board member Hiroshi Kinoshita. They were often seen as ill-omened during the medieval period, but they might also be viewed as auspicious.

Today, ningyo mummies, such as the one found in Okayama Prefecture, remain at similar temples and shrines across Japan. They continue to be attributed with various powers such as warding off bad luck and blessing worshipers with good health, long life and safe deliveries.

Check out Discoveries.news for more stories about interesting discoveries.

Watch this footage of a mermaid-like creature seen in Mexico.

This video is from the ZGoldenReport channel on Brighteon.com.

More related stories:

Unlocking the secrets of Ancient Egypt: Archaeologists uncover dozens of mummified animals in the Tomb of Tutu.

Archaeologists discover RARE and possibly the OLDEST gold-covered Egyptian mummy.

CT scan reveals 49 amulets worn by 2,300-year-old golden boy mummy.

Sources include:

LiveScience.com

Nippon.com

Brighteon.com
(Natural News) On Friday night, February 24th, Canadian grassroots activist group, Action4Canada, hosted Robert Lyman and Tom Harris, who discussed the science of climate change (weather and revealed how it has been weaponized to attack freedom and line the pockets of globalists).

(Article republished from RairFoundation.com)

Robert Lyman

The first to speak was Robert Lyman, a career Canadian Policy architect whose presentation is The need to rethink the Ottawa Climate Policy Plan. Lyman discussed the series of draconian measures recently voted in by Ottawa, which will dramatically decrease residents quality of living and liberties while doing nothing to affect the climate.

Among other major attacks on liberty, Robert explains that the city of Ottawa is planning to accelerate the schedule of banning all internal combustion vehicles. As part of the citys plans, they will spend roughly CDN: $1,000,000,000.00 to buy electric buses and public vehicles. The ban was originally to take effect in 2035, but they hope to have the ban implemented by 2030.

Robert stresses that Ottawa is one of the coldest capitals in the world, and cold weather drains batteries very quicklya common problem for current electric buses.

Climate Change Realist Tom Harris

The second speaker, Tom Harris, is the executive director of the International Climate Science Coalition. Harris describes himself as changing from a climate alarmist to a climate realist. He previously gave powerful interviews (see here and here) with RAIR Foundation USA.

During his presentation, he discusses the multi-layers of the Climate Change fraud that is enriching the globalist elites and deceiving humanity. Climate change is another way to create green billionaires and decrease the worlds population, explains Action4Canada.

Watch the following presentation, which will arm viewers with a personal arsenal of information and verifiable facts to debunk climate alarmists disinformation campaigns.

Read more at: RairFoundation.com
(Natural News) Physician and podcaster Dr. Lee Merritt has accused the federal government of lying about the Feb. 3 Ohio train derailment and chemical spill.

The issue is [that] the cure theyre trying to give us is going to be worse than the problem, because theyre lying about about what happened, she said during the Feb. 27 edition of the Sons of Liberty podcast with host Tim Brown.

Thats what Im afraid of, because theres clearly an agenda here. That part we can spot a mile away now. And by that, I mean the fact that the EPA [Environmental Protection Agency] uses its power and  its codes in order to try and take peoples livelihoods and their land. We know thats going on.

According to the Merritt, it is very hard to untangle the truth with the American people not being told about what really happened. She also mentioned to Brown that the Feb. 3 disaster is very suspicious. Merritt noted how the 2022 movie White Noise showed a resemblance to what happened in the town of East Palestine.

Washington coming after Americas food supply, natural resources

The former Navy physician and surgeon, who hosts the Merritt Medical Hour on Brighteon.TV, noted that the Buckeye State is rich in minerals and farm land. The train derailment and chemical spill  alongside the burning of the vinyl chloride that leaked out from one of the railcars  is also being used for land grabbing. (Related: Dr. Lee Merritt: Ohio train crash is being used as a scare tactic to take down food supply  Brighteon.TV.)

I think this is a land grab for the purpose of cutting out our agricultural base and possibly to get the minerals underneath that base, Merritt told Brown. She added that authorities are also coming after Americas food supply by poisoning the soil. Prior to this, they initially targeted Amish farmers producing raw milk and farming cleanly.

The Sons of Liberty podcast host agreed, telling his guest that the globalist cabal wants to drive people out of their own land and round them up into cities.

Merritt remarked that this same cabal is responsible for the Wuhan coronavirus (COVID-19) catastrophe. This cabal has subverted America following World War II, though it goes back much further.

According to the former military doctor, Americans are engaged in a multidimensional war that is affecting every aspect of American society. She mentioned that people need to wake up and realize what is going on  America is now being under attack in a stealthy manner. People also need to realize that they have been led to believe a lot of lies in medicine, science and the way the world works in general.

The Medical Rebel ultimately called on Americans to understand why these globalists are doing these things. This cabal is using trickery to deceive people, and those who are playing their game must be careful.

Watch the full Feb. 27 edition of the Sons of Liberty podcast with Tim Brown and Dr. Lee Merritt below.

This video is from the Sons of Liberty channel on Brighteon.com.

More related stories:

Eight alarming cover-ups and contradictions in the East Palestine train wreck chemical nightmare now spreading across multiple states.

Dumb and Dumber! Gov. DeWine, EPA Director (pretend to) drink tap water at home in East Palestine.

Government Regulatory Agency Dictatorship  How the US federal agencies are armed-to-the-teeth for the war against Americans.

Federal government raids Amish farm for raising livestock and growing crops the natural way.

Govt. officials continue lying about East Palestine chemical spill, claiming no risks to health despite overwhelming evidence of harm from chemical exposure.

Sources include:

Brighteon.com

SonsOfLibertyMedia.com

DrLeeMerritt.com
(Natural News) A train carrying over 30,000 gallons of propane fuel derailed in Florida along the Gulf Coast.

The freight train, operated by Seminole Gulf Railway, derailed on Tuesday, Feb. 28, in an industrial area just a few miles from Sarasota Bradenton International Airport in Manatee County. The airport itself is just 52 miles to the south of Tampa. (Related: ANOTHER ONE: Norfolk Southern train with one car carrying hazardous chemicals CRASHES outside Detroit.)

Emergency responders noted that the train was traveling south when the derailment occurred. The cause is currently not known and an investigation is ongoing. The crash affected at least seven rail cars, five of which contained sheetrock and two were filled with propane fuel.

The five rail cars with sheetrock tipped over, along with one of the two rail cars containing propane. The seventh affected rail car was off the tracks, but upright, according to Southern Manatee Fire and Rescue Chief Robert Bounds, who led the immediate response to contain the disaster.

Southern Manatee Fire and Rescue was joined by personnel from Manatee County Emergency Medical Services and the Manatee County Sheriffs Office.

Bounds estimated that emergency services personnel could remain at the site for up to five to seven days as the mitigation process could take that long. He added that they need to bring over heavy equipment to deal with the train cars and fix the tracks.

Well be on the scene when they do upright it with all of our personnel and equipment ready to act in the event that something does go wrong, said Bounds. Local media outlets added that the crash caused significant damage to the train tracks, which could leave the railway line inoperable for days even after the tipped-over cars have been cleared.

Bounds added that the crash poses no immediate threat to the public, but evacuations would immediately be ordered if the situation changed. Emergency crews are also regularly monitoring the air quality in the immediate environment.

Rail companies pushing back against safety rules could make rail accidents more likely

The Manatee County train derailment is the fifth significant train derailment to occur since the devastating Norfolk Southern train disaster that occurred in East Palestine, Ohio on Feb. 3.

On Feb. 13, three rail cars in Enoree, South Carolina were derailed. On the same day, a truck driver was killed following a crash involving a Union Pacific train in Splendora, Texas, less than 40 miles north of Houston. Multiple rail cars were affected, including five that contained vinyl chloride.

On Feb. 16, another Norfolk Southern train derailed in Michigan, with over 30 cars derailed. And on Feb. 21, another Union Pacific train carrying coal derailed in Nebraska, affecting more than two dozen rail cars.

Data from the Federal Railroad Administration shows that over 1,000 train derailments happen every year, with most of these incidents classified as minor and causing little to no damage to people and the surrounding environment.

But industry experts have warned that the devastating kinds of train derailments, including the one that just occurred in Manatee County and the one in East Palestine, are more likely to happen now.

This is due to longer trains, the weight of their cargo, potential malfunctions with train equipment, fewer and more overworked rail workers providing services and heavy industry lobbying limiting and pushing back against existing regulations on train safety in an effort to reduce costs.

Get the latest updates regarding train derailments around the country at Disaster.news.

Watch this episode of Evolutionary Energy Arts discussing the latest news, including the train derailment that occurred in Florida.

This video is from the Evolutionary Energy Arts channel on Brighteon.com.

More related stories:

More and more East Palestine residents reporting health issues following train derailment and toxic chemical spill.

200 Million Americans face the constant risk of experiencing chemical disasters like the East Palestine train derailment.

Over 43,000 aquatic animals DIED in the aftermath of Norfolk Southern train derailment in East Palestine.

Trains carrying hazardous materials continue to derail around the country  is the US under attack?

Truck driver killed, hazardous materials found as train and truck collide in Houston.

Sources include:

DailyMail.co.uk

APNews.com

NBCNews.com

Poynter.com

Brighteon.com
(Natural News) Following an intense Russian offensive, Ukraine is seriously considering retreating from the strategically important city of Bakhmut in the disputed Donetsk Peoples Republic.

This is according to Alexander Rodnyansky, an adviser to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, who said in an interview with CNN that the Ukrainian Armed Forces in the city have not yet pulled out, but the countrys top brass are considering if the cost of holding Bakhmut outweighs the benefits.

But when talking about a potential retreat from Bakhmut, known by the Russians as Artyomovsk, Rodnyansky refuses to call the situation a defeat and instead referred to it as a strategic pull back. (Related: German intelligence agency: Ukraine losing HUNDREDS of soldiers daily the situation is not sustainable.)

Our military is obviously going to weigh all of the options, said Rodnyansky. So far theyve held the city, but if need be, they will strategically pull back because were not going to sacrifice all of our people just for nothing.

This sentiment is shared by many other top Ukrainian officials. Serhiy Rakhmanin, a member of the Verkhovna Rada (parliament), said: I believe that, sooner or later, we will probably have to leave Bakhmut. There is no sense in holding it at any cost.

Even Zelensky has admitted that his country could lose the fight in Bakhmut, stating that he would not hold onto Bakhmut at any cost, and that the city was the most difficult posting for the countrys soldiers.

The intensity of fighting is only increasing.

The Battle for Bakhmut has entered its seventh month as of March 1. Kyiv considers the city extremely valuable as a gateway to a large swathe of the disputed Donbas region.

Fighting in the city intensified after the Russian Armed Forces mobilized some 300,000 soldiers for a renewed offensive into the Donbas earlier this year. The Ukrainian militarys own reports of the situation in the city note that the enemy continues to advance.

Despite Rodnyansky and the Ukrainian army attempting to downplay the situation in Bakhmut, reports coming out of this exceptionally deadly and protracted engagement note that the current frontline in the city has turned into a meat grinder where Ukrainian soldiers survive for an average of four hours.

This is according to Troy Offenbecker, a retired member of the United States Marine Corps who has volunteered to fight alongside Ukrainian forces. His comments strongly suggest that the situation may be getting worse for Ukrainian soldiers.

Its been pretty bad on the ground. A lot of casualties. The life expectancy is around four hours on the frontline, he said, adding that the Russian attack on the city is not letting up and had turned into a meat grinder.

[Artillery] is nonstop, said Offenbecker. [The Russians] have maybe run into a shortage of shells lately, but the past couple of weeks, its been nonstop. All day and night.

Kyiv still intent on launching counteroffensive

Kyiv is still intent on launching a counteroffensive despite the dire situation, with Rodnyansky, Zelensky and other officials claiming that this coming counterattack is just around the corner.

Rodnyansky used the deaths of thousands of Ukranian servicemembers in Bakhmut to point out that the country needs more military aid shipments, and Western weaponry already sent out is arriving far too late to make a difference.

That was the whole tragedy about it, he said in his CNN interview. We could have started training our troops, preparing our troops, equipping them, sending them to Germany months ago in order to prepare. But now, were facing this lag and Russia is trying to exploit that time lag for its own benefit.

Still, Rodnyansky did concede that the tanks, ammunition and artillery systems the West has already committed to providing will help Ukraine in the coming months.

Learn more about the current situation in Ukraine at UkraineWitness.com.

Watch this short clip from No Comment showing the devastation the fighting has caused on the city of Bakhmut, which before the war had a population of over 75,000.

This video is from the channel The Prisoner on Brighteon.com.

More related stories:

RINO ALERT: Sen. Graham wants the US to send F-16s to Ukraine and declare Russia a state sponsor of terrorism.

Matt Gaetz introduces House resolution urging Biden to end all taxpayer-funded aid for Ukraine.

UN secretary-general warns: World is heading toward wider war due to escalating conflict in Ukraine.

US, NATO using discredited domino theory to justify sending even more taxpayer-funded arms shipments to Ukraine.

Defense Department to boost production of artillery ammunition by 500% for Ukraine but will take two years just to build the new factories.

Sources include:

SHTFPlan.com

TheHill.com

Reuters.com

USAToday.com

DefendDemocracy.press

Brighteon.com
(Natural News) Speaking to the House Democratic Caucus Issues Conference Wednesday in Baltimore, President Joe Biden once again vowed to ban so-called assault weapons as the Democrat audience cheered.

(Article by Dave Workman republished from AmmoLand.com)

The reaction Biden received only serves to reinforce what the Second Amendment Foundation said recently in the organizations 2023 advertising effort: Your Second Amendment rights are under attack like no other time in history.

Biden had been speaking for 24 minutes before he told the audience, I know it may make some of you uncomfortable, but that little state above me, Delaware is one of them, has the highest rate, one of the highest rates of gun ownership. But guess what? Were going to ban assault weapons again come hell or high water and high capacity magazines.

However, Ammoland checked and discovered Bidens remarks about Delaware are not true, according to a chart posted online by World Population Review, which lists Bidens home state near the bottom of the list with 34.4 percent gun ownership. Putting this in perspective, Montana is at the top with 66.3 percent, followed by neighboring Wyoming at 66.2 percent and Alaska at 64.5 percent.

Going down the Top Ten list, Idaho is fourth at 60.1 percent, West Virginia is next with 58.5 percent, Arkansas at 57.2 percent, followed by Mississippi at 55.8 percent, Alabama with 55.5 percent, South Dakota at 55.3 percent and North Dakota 55.1 percent.

While the remark is yet one more example of Biden fibbing about guns, his remark inadvertently recognized how uncomfortable some members of his party are about the rate of gun ownership in the country.

Thanks to the SAF advertising effort, Biden has become infamous for telling a CNN Townhall audience in 2021 that he not only wants to ban semiautomatic riflesthe so-called assault weapons against which has crusaded for decadesbut also 9mm pistols, the most popular personal protection handgun in the country. The film clip of Biden actually saying so is at the heart of the SAF 60-second advertisement.

SAF founder and Executive Vice President Alan Gottlieb noted recently that their advertisements were aired more than 1,000 times last year, and were viewed by more than 85 million people, including those who saw the ad multiple times. The message is broadcast on several different cable networks.

While Fox News reported Bidens remarks, other news outlets have overlooked his promise, instead focusing on other parts of the presidents 34-minute speech.

Biden has repeated the vow to ban assault weapons since the Feb. 13 attack at Michigan State University left three students dead and others wounded. The man believed responsible, Anthony McRae, was not a student or staffer at the university in Lansing, Mich. Authorities still havent publicized a motive, and McRae left the campus only to take his own life a couple of hours later. He used a handgun, not a rifle, in the attack.

That attack came almost five years to the day (Feb. 14, 2018) that 17 students and adults were murdered at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Fla.

But Biden may be unable to fulfill his threat to ban semi-auto rifles for a couple of reasons:

Republicans now control the U.S. House of Representatives, and the caucus appears in no mood to entertain the presidents anti-gun agenda.

Federal courts in Maryland and California are currently in the throes of re-examining bans in those states under the new guidelines established by the Supreme Court last June in the Bruen ruling.

Biden has been a leading proponent of gun control since he arrived on Capitol Hill some 50 years ago. He claims credit for shepherding the Clinton ban through Congress in the mid-1990s, but never mentions that passage of that legislationduring Bill Clintons first term as presidentcost Democrats the majority in both the House and Senate in the 1994 mid-term elections.

His promise to ban high capacity magazines is also in trouble, as state-level bans are being challenged in federal courts by SAF and other gun rights organizations.

According to the World Population Review report, Estimates show that there are anywhere from over 200 million to more than 350 million guns in the U.S. Because of variances in regulations throughout the nation, its impossible to get exact numbers when it comes to the total number of guns in the nation and the number of guns in each state.

Read more at: AmmoLand.com
Alleged suspects of the extremist group Al-Shabaab are guarded by soldiers of the Somali National Army in Kismayo, Somalia in October 2012.

Washington  The three neighboring countries of Somalia are to send new troops to support Somali forces against al-Shabab in the next phase of military operations, the national security adviser for the Somali president said.

In an interview with VOA's Somali Service on Wednesday, Hussein Sheikh-Ali said Djibouti, Ethiopia and Kenya will be sending troops in addition to the soldiers they already have serving as part of the African Transitional Mission in Somalia, or ATMIS. He said the new troops will not be part of the ATMIS mission.

"It is their plan to be coming inside Somalia within eight weeks," he said.

Ali declined to give specific number of the incoming troops, citing "operational purposes."

"Their role is to jointly plan and jointly operate under the command of the Somali security forces," he said. "So, they will be fighting against al-Shabab alongside Somali forces. That is the plan."

The leaders of the three countries attended a summit hosted by Somali President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud on February 1 in Mogadishu. In a communique at the time, they said they have agreed to jointly plan and organize a robust operational campaign to "search and destroy" al-Shabab on multiple frontlines.

"The time-sensitive campaign will prevent any future infiltrating elements into the wider region," the communique read.

Asked why the military operations against al-Shabab have paused recently, Ali said the government is concluding the first phase of the operations.

"It is a calm before the storm," he said. "We are preparing the second phase ... and with the support of the extra non-ATMIS forces from our neighboring countries joining the fight, it is a planning time, that's why it looks it is quiet."

He said the objective of the second phase is to be able to take over "every village and town" that al-Shabab is now controlling.

Matt Bryden, a Horn of Africa regional security expert, said the intervention of additional, non-ATMIS forces "could certainly accelerate efforts to degrade and defeat" al-Shabab.

But, he added, "Since the FGS [Federal Government of Somalia] and partners have telegraphed their intentions, al-Shabab is likely to disperse its fighters and avoid direct military engagements as far as possible."

Bryden warned that the success of the second phase offensive will hinge on two key considerations.

"First, planning," he said. "Counterinsurgency operations should be intelligence-led, with clearly defined objectives such as dismantling specific al-Shabab bases and neutralizing high-value jihadist leaders."

The second factor is the availability of holding forces to secure newly recovered territory after the clearing forces have passed through, he said.

"Recent FGS operations against al-Shabab in central Somalia have highlighted the absence of capable holding forces," he added.

Arms embargo

Meanwhile, the Somali government has received a boost in its quest to have the decades-old weapons embargo lifted.

This week, representatives from the United States, United Kingdom, Turkey, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates -- five countries that provide security assistance to Somalia -- met in Washington, D.C., with Somali officials.

In a statement, the countries said they are committed to supporting Somalia's effort to meet benchmarks on weapons and ammunition management with a view to "fully lift" the arms embargo by the United Nations.

Ali, who attended the meeting, said that to have the backing of the five countries was "significant."

"It was the first time that two Security Council members have openly came up supporting Somalia in lifting arms embargo," he said.

"And it's a very promising five important countries with us to help achieve all the benchmarks that is required for Somalia to achieve before November this year, but also to lobby for Somalia politically within the Security Council."

The U.N. weapons embargo was imposed in 1992 at the height of the civil war in Somalia. In 2013, the U.N. slightly eased the embargo allowing the government to buy light weapons.

Bryden, who previously served as the coordinator for the United Nations Monitoring for Somalia, said lifting the embargo would not alter Somali government access to military hardware.

"Because it is already exempt from many aspects of the embargo or is simply required to notify the U.N. Security Council of arms imports," he said.

Close Sign up for free AllAfrica Newsletters Get the latest in African news delivered straight to your inbox Top Headlines Somalia East Africa Kenya By submitting above, you agree to our privacy policy. Success! Almost finished... We need to confirm your email address. To complete the process, please follow the instructions in the email we just sent you. Error! Error! There was a problem processing your submission. Please try again later.

"But since the FGS does not directly control any of Somalia's land borders or its major ports, other than Mogadishu, lifting the embargo would potentially make it easier for non-state actors, as well as Somalia's federal member states, to obtain arms and ammunition with no fear of consequences."

Some might say that this is already the case, but it is hard to see how lifting the arms embargo would improve this situation, Bryden added.

This week, the United States delivered the second shipment of weapons to Somalia this year. The 61 tons of AK-47, heavy machine guns, and ammunition arrived off two U.S. Airforce C-17 aircraft at Mogadishu airport.

On January 8, the U.S. announced the donation of $9 million of heavy weapons, equipment including support and construction vehicles, explosive ordinance disposal kits, medical supplies, and maintenance equipment for vehicles and weapons, according to the U.S. Africa Command, or AFRICOM.
(Natural News) American corporations are continuing to go woke as they are increasingly being run by left-wing libtards who care only about virtue signaling over diversity and equity even at the cost of quality and safety.

Count United Airlines among them. The company was ripped online after posting a video showing a jet being adorned with an LGBTQ rainbow that was flying from San Francisco to Sydney, Australia, with an all-LGBTQ crew.

This ? flew from San Francisco ?? Sydney with an all-LGBTQ+ crew for ? Pride in partnership with @VirginAustralia. ???????? pic.twitter.com/7gNkZN4Iqw  United Airlines (@united) February 28, 2023

The airline was immediately blasted online.

I dont care how many boxes your crew checks, but what I do care about is their qualifications. You made it clear that an all-LGBTQ+ crew was your number one priority above safety and qualifications. I will never fly United Airlines again, one user wrote.

I dont care how many boxes your crew checks, but what I do care about is their qualifications. You made it clear that an all-LGBTQ+ crew was your number one priority above safety and qualifications. I will never fly United Airlines again.  Michelle Whitzel ? (@MichelleWhitzel) March 1, 2023

Everybody wants the finest pilots possible flying their aircraft. Nobody cares what their pronouns are or who they sleep with. Get a grip United and stop this extremely unsafe insanity, said another user.

Everybody wants the finest pilots possible flying their aircraft. Nobody cares what their pronouns are or who they sleep with. Get a grip United and stop this extremely unsafe insanity.  Kyle Hunter, FRMetS (@KyleHunter) March 2, 2023

As a 1K member and business owner, I just want to know what someones sexual preference has to do with getting me to my destination safely and on time? asked another user.

As a 1K member and business owner, I just want to know what someones sexual preference has to do with getting me to my destination safely and on time?  ? Sir Lord Joel Comm ? (@joelcomm) March 1, 2023

Actor Matthew Marsden added: More virtue signaling bullshit. Just do a good job. No one cares about the sexual orientation of your crew.

More virtue signaling bullshit. Just do a good job. No one cares about the sexual orientation of your crew.  Matthew Marsden (@matthewdmarsden) March 1, 2023

In April 2021, Reuters reported that United Airlines disclosed its aspiration to train a minimum of half of the 5,000 pilots it plans to train this decade at its new flight school from among women and people of color. The move is aimed at diversifying a profession that has historically been dominated by white men. The announcement coincided with U.S. airlines resumption of pilot recruitment, which was put on hold during the pandemic, and as they became preoccupied with politically correct issues surrounding race.

We want to make sure that we are tapping into a big deep talent pool and not limiting ourselves to just one section of the pond, Chief Communications Officer Josh Earnest said on a Zoom call with journalists.

Reuters added:

Chicago-based United joined Delta Air Lines and American Airlines on Monday in speaking out against voting restrictions following recent legislation in states like Georgia that activist groups say unfairly target black and other racial minority voters.

United is the only major U.S. airline to own a flight school, the United Aviate Academy, which it bought last year just before vanishing demand because of the pandemic forced the industry to scale back its operations.

For the record, the concern over Georgias voter ID enhancement law was misplaced; more people voted in 2022, including people of color but did so without generating as much controversy because they were verified.

Find more stories like this at Wokies.news.

Sources include:

Reuters.com

NaturalNews.com
(Natural News) One of the first medical professionals to be targeted and hunted down by the medical establishment for using a D-Dimer test to prove Wuhan coronavirus (Covid-19) vaccine damage, Dr. Charles Hoffe is once again speaking out about the dangers of getting covid injected.

The southern British Columbia-based emergency room and family doctor says he has seen an influx of vaccine-damaged patients ever since the launch of Operation Warp Speed. A whistleblower of sorts, Hoffe continues to tell it like it is at much risk to his life and livelihood.

We were told that this was safety tested, Hoffe says about the injection. Normally, it takes five to 10 years to say whether some new treatment is safe. And when its a completely new technology, they would need longer than that. This was completely new technology, so the fact that they rolled it out so fast gave a lot of people grounds for concern.

We were assured that this had gone through all of the normal safety testing, which, of course, was completely untrue. We were literally falsely assured of their safety and their effectiveness. And because people want to be able to trust the media and the government, they believed. But I had my doubts, and so I was watching carefully.

(Related: In 2021, Hoffe warned that most people who get vaccinated for covid will die of heart failure within a few years.)

Many of Hoffes patients developed severe neurological problems after getting jabbed

Almost immediately after the Trump administration unleashed the covid injections, Hoffe began to see firsthand the neurological problems they cause. Hoffe had just returned from a vacation in South Africa when this spate of injuries started to emerge, and it shocked him.

I was quite alarmed that these people had serious neurological side effects that had not resolved, and they were showing no signs of resolution, he says. And I was deeply concerned that these shots were clearly not as safe as we had been told and that other doctors werent even reporting them.

Some of the earliest signs of a problem were patients showing pronounced dizziness, ringing in the ears (tinnitus), light and sound sensitivity, and bodily weakness. Then came the electric shock-life feelings down their limbs, as well as pain and nerve palsy in some.

I have never seen so many serious side effects from any treatment, let alone a vaccine, Hoffe says. Vaccines are a treatment given to healthy people to keep them well. There should be zero tolerance for causing harm.

Of the 900 or so patients of Hoffes who got injected, at least six of them developed serious neurological side effects with no signs of resolution. Some of them went to see other doctors during Hoffes holiday absence to seek help, only to find that there are no known solutions to this jab damage.

Hoffe then took it upon himself to contact 18 medical colleagues in his area to inquire about what they were seeing with their patients. He was issued a gag order by local health authorities and was also threatened by the College of Physicians and Surgeons to keep quiet, or else.

I realized that, obviously, there was a big cover-up happening here, Hoffe says about what he ended up learning throughout this horrific saga.

It was absolutely astounding that doctors were no longer allowed to use their scientific knowledge or their medical acumen to assess what was going on in their own patients. This is not medicine. This is not science. This is medical tyranny.

The latest news about the covid wars can be found at Plague.info.

Sources for this article include:

RAIRFoundation.com

NaturalNews.com
(Natural News) When the artificial intelligence chatbot ChatGPT launched in November, it shook up the tech industry and started an AI race around the world. Google was quick to follow suit with its own offering, Bard, although its tool suffered public embarrassment after making a factual error during a public demonstration, leading to a $100 billion loss in market value. Several Chinese companies have also thrown their names into the mix, including Alibaba, Baidu and Tencent.

ChatGPT is officially banned in China on the pretense of national security concerns, but the Chinese Communist Party has said it will support homegrown apps that follow its strict censorship laws.

Chinese tech firm Tencent unveiled plans this week to develop a bot that functions like ChatGPT known as Hunyuan Aide. It will be built on their existing AI model, which is considered one of the most advanced in the world when it comes to human language understanding and that gives it a significant edge in the Chinese-speaking market.

Alibaba announced last month that its research institute, Damo Academy, is working on ChatGTP-like service.

Alibabas chief executive officer, Daniel Zhang, said in his firms last earnings call that theyre expecting exponential growth in the demand for computing power to support various artificial intelligence applications, something he says will present a big opportunity for his company.

Rival tech firm and search giant Baidu is preparing to launch its ChatGPT competitor, Ernie Bot, this month. CEO Robin Li has said that Ernie Bot will soon be integrated in all of the companys operations, including cloud services and their search engine. It will also be integrated in their smart speaker and smart car operating system. The companys stock jumped 7 percent following the announcement.

Baidu is hoping that Ernie Bot will give their already strong presence in the Chinese online search market a boost; Google is blocked there, and Bing has a minor presence.

The state-backed Beijing News has said it will use Ernie Bot for news planning and story pitching. Although it is not expected to be as robust and capable as ChatGPT, some experts expect it to do well compared to its domestic competition.

Tianjin-based independent developer Hao Peiqiang said: Baidus answer to ChatGPT may live well within the Great Firewall because it doesnt have to compete with international counterparts. As long as it can satisfy the needs of the domestic market, it will still generate money.

Some Chinese developers are reportedly waiting for GPT-3, which underlies ChatGPT, to become open source so that they can use it as the basis for their own offerings.

Chatbots in China face challenges due to censorship laws

Chinese companies face a unique challenge that their Silicon Valley counterparts will likely never be able to tackle. In addition to trying to create a cutting-edge smart chat bot that is competitive with its rivals, their rendition must also comply with the Chinese Communist Partys strict internet censorship rules. Chinese chatbots will face a seriously limited pool of information to draw upon, which means they are unlikely to perform at the level of ChatGPT.

Some believe that tools like Baidus Ernie Bot will rely on traditional keyword filtering systems used to censor internet content in China. Any question or answer that contains sensitive keywords would effectively be blocked.

Earlier this month, the Hangzhou-based startup YuanYu Intelligence suspended its chatbot after it supplied answers that painted the Chinese economy in a negative light, although representatives of the company insisted the real reason was technical errors.

Sources for this article include:

MarketWatch.com

APNews.com

Asia.Nikkei.com
(Natural News) Prominent Japanese scientist Dr. Masanori Fukushima has warned that the harms caused by the Wuhan coronavirus (COVID-19) vaccines, especially those of the mRNA variety, are now a worldwide problem.

Fukushima is the chairman of the Translational Research Informatics Center and also serves as professor emeritus at Kyoto University. He has nearly three decades of experience in cancer research and overarching medical care.

According to Fukushima, the extensiveness of adverse health outcomes caused by the mRNA injections ultimately put billions of innocent people in harms way.

As early as March last year, data from the U.S. Vaccine Adverse Event Reporting System (VAERS) revealed that deaths caused by the Wuhan coronavirus (COVID-19) vaccines have surpassed those caused by all other vaccines in the past 30 years.

VAERS recorded a total of 26,059 deaths caused by the COVID-19 vaccines in the first 15 months of rollout, nearly three times the 9,066 people killed by non-COVID vaccines in the previous 30 years. (Related: VAERS data show COVID vaccine deaths SURPASS those caused by other shots.)

COVID-19 vaccines also caused permanent disabilities in 48,342 people in just 15 months, more than double the 20,096 people who suffered from permanent disabilities after being injected with non-COVID vaccines in the past three decades.

With more nations getting access to the vaccines now, its easy to see why Fukushima thinks vaccine-induced harms are now a global concern.

The doctor also slammed those who promote the mRNA vaccines to the masses, particularly those who lack the proper academic credentials to do so. Fukushima was obviously referring to politicians like President Joe Biden, who are quick to mandate vaccinations despite limited knowledge about the vaccines.

Fukushimas expert analysis of mRNA shots and human health holds sway throughout the worldwide medical community. Based on his analysis, the negative health consequences of the mRNA shots are already a global issue. The vaccines can potentially spur a wave of heart attacks, strokes and sudden deaths.

Vaccinated people are like a ticking time bomb

Daniel Horowitz, senior editor at the Blaze, made a similar point in an article nearly a year ago.

Reports of myocarditis and pericarditis are so prevalent now that just in the first eight weeks of 2022, were already at 47 percent of the total VAERS submissions for 2021. There were 24,177 reports of pericarditis [and] myocarditis submitted to VAERS in 2021. In 2022, just through Feb. 25, there were 11,289 reports  which is nearly half of last years total, he wrote.

Horowitz proposed two possible explanations for the sudden influx of VAERS reports in the first two months of 2022. Either more people and doctors know about VAERS and know [how] to look for myocarditis, or there is a time bomb with many more people now realizing they have heart problems months later, he said.

Either way, this means that the initial estimates of case prevalence were just the tip of the iceberg, and we are likely to see young hearts damaged for years to come.

To stop that from happening, Fukushima offered a simple solution: Stop all COVID-19 vaccination programs across the globe.

But Fukushima said public health agencies first need to acknowledge the problems caused by the vaccines and make it clear that those issues are a direct threat to public health.

Read more stories about COVID-19 vaccines at Vaccines.news.

Watch Dr. Masanori Fukushima discuss his lawsuit against the Japanese government for concealing the truth about the COVID-19 injections below.

This video is from the Red Voice Media channel on Brighteon.com.

More related stories:

Untested bivalent COVID jab being rolled out.

Mysterious clots that are killing people caused by covid jab spike proteins, paper reveals.

Texas doctor sues hospital for punishing her over covid jab criticisms.

Twitter scrubs footage showing Emergencies Act lawyer COLLAPSE after taking covid jab.

U.S. citizens are trapped in Australia, being forced to take covid jab.

Sources include:

NaturalHealth365.com

GlobalResearch.ca

TheBlaze.com

Brighteon.com
(Natural News) For whatever reason, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is refusing to test for dioxins in East Palestine following the Norfolk Southern train derailment incident.

Local media outlet WKBN reported that the EPA is not going to test for dioxins even though the controlled explosion more than likely released the worlds largest dioxin plume. (Related: Park animals all across Ohio are dying at alarming rates.)

EPA Region 5 administrator Debra Shore confirmed that no dioxin testing will take place at the current time because her agency is unable to determine how many dioxins were present before the disaster to establish a baseline.

Dioxins are ubiquitous in the environment, Shore is quoted as saying.

They were here before the accident; they will be here after, and we dont have baseline information in this area to do a proper test. But we are talking to our toxicologist and looking into it.

The EPA has since conducted air and water quality tests, maintaining that the chemical levels detected are safe. Locals, meanwhile, are getting sick with headaches, rashes, and other concerning symptoms.

EPA doesnt want to test for dioxins because then it would have to address the reality of the situation

Stephen Lester, the science director at the Center for Health, Environment, and Justice (CHEJ), stated at a February 23 town hall meeting in East Palestine that the EPAs ignoring of dioxin testing is one major mistake.

The level of dioxin that gets into a body, a person, an animal, a cow, that could lead to health problems is extraordinarily low, he added. It does not take very much.

Id be very concerned if I had a farm, especially if I was aware, as some people described in that meeting, that the black cloud from the burning had settle onto their property.

The reason the EPA is refusing to test for toxins, in Lesters view, is because the agency would then be put in a place where they have to address it. The EPA also does not have any baseline information about the levels of dioxins which are produced also by wildfires, by backyard grilling, by a host of other things, he added.

Ive never heard anybody, any researcher, talk about cookouts, Lester added. Because thats an infinitesimal concentration, if at all. Because dioxins form not just cause theres burning, you need a chlorine source.

On February 18, Ohio Republican Sen. J.D. Vance and Ohio Democrat Sen. Sherrod Brown sent a letter to the EPA requesting that the agency test for dioxins in an around East Palestine.

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 large[r] area.

Shore confirmed that the EPA did, in fact, receive the letter. The agency is refusing to honor the request, though, and seems to have no plans to ever test for dioxins.

Of course little will be done to aid the people around the Ohio train derailment and chemical spill because there is nothing out there but rural conservative rubes, one commenter wrote about how little the government thinks of those who live in East Palestine.

They deserve whatever happens to them because they didnt follow the narrative and drink the woke Kool-Aid, this person added tongue-in-cheek. EPA is going to get the remains and ash cleaned up but not do any more than they absolutely have to, to get by. The rail company will pay lip service and dole out as little compensation as possible and the folks living there will end up screwed by both the feds and the rail company.

More up-to-the-minute news about the East Palestine train disaster can be found at Disaster.news.

Sources for this article include:

WesternJournal.com

NaturalNews.com
(Natural News) An NBC News correspondent has managed to do what no other mainstream outlet has managed: Report from inside Crimea, which has been held by Russian forces since the region was taken from Ukraine in 2014 on Barack Obamas watch.

Recently the region became noteworthy again after the neocons running Joe Bidens regime suggested that Ukraine could and should take it back from Russia. But according to NBC News chief international correspondent Keir Simmons, that is not gonna happen.

Reporting from Sevastapol this week during a live segment, Simmons acknowledged that the region is surrounded by a substantial Russian military presence, as it is the location of the Russian Navys Black Sea Fleet. He also admitted that it is not realistic for Zelensky and Ukrainian forces to expect to retake Crimea.

Simmons pointed out that the local population in Crimea identifies as Russian, which makes it even more challenging for Ukraine to regain control of the region. He also mentioned that his news crew had managed to get closer to the Russian Black Sea Fleet than any other US media outlet in many years. According to Simmons, Putin would be determined to defend the port and may resort to extreme measures to prevent it from being taken away from him.

Vladimir Putin will be determined to defend that port  to not have it take it away from him  he may well do pretty much anything to try to achieve that, Simmons said.

WATCH:

BREAKING: NBC News / MSNBC concedes that Zelenskys goal of retaking Crimea is unrealistic and dangerous.pic.twitter.com/fb2RCRBHOn  David Sacks (@DavidSacks) March 1, 2023

It is a very, very dangerous standoff.. its hard to see how you reach a negotiation over that. Theres military absolutely everywhere, it is a military town, he continued before saying, When for example [Biden State Dept. official] Victoria Nuland talks about that at the very least we [the US] want Crimea to be demilitarized, I find myself standing there and wondering, how on earth does that happen?

Ukrainian officials and pro-Kyiv media pundits have expressed anger over the segment, as it repeatedly stated that Crimeans identify themselves as Russians. A separate article previously published on NBCs website and filed from inside Crimea also acknowledged the strong identification of the Crimean population with Russia:

This is not Russia, according to Kyiv, its Western allies and the United Nations. It was annexed by the Kremlin in 2014, with the U.N. calling on Russia to return to its internationally recognized borders. And following Moscows broader invasion launched a year ago, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has vowed Ukraine will take Crimea back.

But Praskovya Baranova, 73, speaks Russian, feels Russian and lives here.

However, it seems that the NBC journalist, after arriving at a location that very few Western reporters ever visit, couldnt ignore the obvious truth that was evident all around him.

NBC told Americans the truth about Crimea for the first time and its reporter wound up on the Ukrainian governments kill list alongside several other US citizens, journos, clergy and even children. Will NBC now report on this list? Will press freedom groups denounce it? https://t.co/rHLxjYdqos  Max Blumenthal (@MaxBlumenthal) March 2, 2023

David Sacks remarked of the refreshingly truthful segment, Not long ago, these were denounced as Putin talking points. And, as noted by Zero Hedge, Sacks also says regarding NBC clearly conceding that Zelenskys goal of retaking Crimea remains unrealistic and dangerous.

At the same time that MSNBC is suddenly airing the truth about Crimea, its chief Ukraine pundit is lobbying for an all-out attack. Its getting easier to see who are the real fanatics in this war. https://t.co/oWBCU3jyi2  David Sacks (@DavidSacks) March 1, 2023

Things are definitely going to get out of hand in Ukraine very soon if the Biden regime isnt made to pull back its support.

Sources include:

ZeroHedge.com

NaturalNews.com
(Natural News) According to a study published in the journal Nature, experts have discovered a supermassive black hole that has been hiding inside a cloud of cosmic dust.

The researchers used the European Southern Observatorys Very Large Telescope Interferometer (ESOs VLTI) in Chile to take detailed images of the dust cloud. They also studied data from the Atacama Large Millimeter/Submillimeter Array, co-owned by ESO and the National Radio Astronomy Observatorys Very Long Baseline Array (VLBA), to construct their picture.

The research team turned the VLTI to the galaxy Messier 77 and they found a thick ring of cosmic dust that was hiding a supermassive black hole.

Messier 77 (M77) is about 47 million light-years away. It is one of the largest galaxies in the Messier catalog. Messier 77 was initially identified as a nebula by the French astronomer Pierre Mechain in 1780. The galaxy is located in the constellation Cetus.

For decades, the location of the black hole within the cloud of dust remained a mystery. To learn more about the black hole, scientists used detailed images from VLTI to measure the temperature at different points within the cloud to create a map.

Called an active galactic nuclei (AGN), the cloud surrounding the black hole fed it and gave off intense light that can outshine the stars in the galaxy.

AGNs are some of the brightest and most mysterious objects in the universe and they can be found at the heart of galaxies. According to experts, the findings could help them confirm the history of the supermassive black hole at the center of the Milky Way, Sagittarius A* (Sgr A*). (Related: Mysterious radio circles in outer space could be newfound remnants of black hole mergers, study suggests.)

Finding the black hole is a difficult task

Before the gas and dust in an AGN are eaten up by the black hole, the material spirals toward it.

This process then releases huge amounts of energy in the process and often outshines all the stars in the galaxy, a phenomenon that can be viewed by telescopes on Earth.

But locating the black hole, which emits no light of its own, can be as difficult as solving a complicated puzzle. To do this, scientists used detailed images and analysis of changes in dust temperature.

The research team used the data at hand to build a picture of the dust and pinpoint where the black hole could be located. The astronomers think the dust with the black hole at its core supports a decades-old model called the Unified Model of AGNs.

Violeta Gamez Rosas, the studys lead researcher, explained that the real nature of the dust clouds and their role in both feeding the black hole and determining how it looks when viewed from Earth have been central questions in AGN studies for the last three decades.

AGNs were first spotted in the 1950s. Since then, astronomers have tried to learn more about them.

With the help of the VLTI, the research team conducting the study is one step closer to understanding how AGNs work and what they look like up close.

Astronomers have confirmed that there are different types of AGN and that some appear brighter than others. The model states that despite these differences, all AGNs have the same basic structure: a supermassive black hole encircled by a thick dust ring.

These observations validate the 30-year-old Unified Model of AGNs, which states that any difference in appearance between AGNs is due to the angle at which the black hole and its thick ring are viewed from Earth.

The type of AGN seen depends on how much of the space dust ring blocks the black hole from view. In some cases, the dust ring can also completely hide a black hole.

Experts stumbled upon some evidence to support the Unified Model before, including discovering warm dust at the center of Messier 77.

But it was uncertain whether this dust could completely hide a black hole. This also explains why this AGN doesnt shine as brightly in visible light than other AGNs.

Gamez Rosas explained that the study findings could be used to learn more about the inner workings of AGNs. Additionally, the data could help researchers figure out the history of the Milky Way, which also has a supermassive black hole at its center that may have been active in the past.

The scientists are now planning to use ESOs VLTI to gather more supporting evidence of the Unified Model of AGNs by considering a larger sample of galaxies.

Bruno Lopez, the MATISSE principal investigator at the Observatoire de la Cote dAzur in Nice, France, explained that Messier 77 is an important prototype AGN. The galaxy can also help motivate other researchers to expand their observing program and optimize MATISSE to tackle a bigger sample of AGNs.

Visit Space.news to read more articles about fascinating space discoveries.

Watch the video below to watch a video showcasing the Milky Way from the Mauna Kea Observatories.



This video is from Cynthias Pursuit of Truth channel on Brighteon.com.

More related stories:

Supermassive black hole at the center of our galaxy emits mysterious burst of radiation, growing brighter.

Scientists use computer simulations to understand the possibility of hyperspace travel via black holes.

Straight out of sci-fi? Researchers say that aliens use black holes to travel.

Sources include:

DailyMail.co.uk

NASA.gov

Brighteon.com
(Natural News) Jonathon Long, a union representative, told CNBC this week that rail workers in East Palestine are falling ill as they deal with all the rubble and waste from the train crash and explosion.

In a letter, Long explained that many rail employees are continuing to experience migraines and nausea, which they blame on chemical exposure from the wreckage.

This lack of concern for the Workers safety and well-being is, again, a basic tenet of NSs (Norfolk Southern) cost-cutting business model, Long wrote, blasting Norfolk Southern for putting peoples lives and livelihoods in danger.

The letter addresses one specific situation in which a rail worker was ignored by his supervisor after requesting to be taken off the site due to concerns about his safety. Other workers who requested personal protective equipment (PPE) receive little or no response from their superiors.

In conclusion, Long called in Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg to bring about necessary changes to prevent this kind of disaster from ever again happening in the future. (Related: The East Palestine train wreck and controlled explosion created the largest dioxin plume in world history.)

Buttigieg says higher fines for railroad safety violations will help to prevent future disasters

Long sent this letter on the same day that the leaders of 12 railroad unions met with Buttigieg and Federal Railroad Administration (FRA) administrator Amit Bose.

Buttigieg and other White House officials are now calling for higher fines for railroad safety violations after visiting the crash site.

My hope is the stakeholders in this industry can work towards the same goals related to safety when transporting hazardous materials by rail, said Mike Baldwin, president of the Brotherhood of Railroad Signalmen.

Todays meeting is an opportunity for labor to share what our members are seeing and dealing with day to day. The railroaders labor represents are the employees who make it safe and they must have the tools to do so.

This week, a bipartisan group of senators also introduced the Railway Safety Act of 2023, which calls for increased regulations on the transportation of hazardous, flammable chemicals.

Through this legislation, Congress has a real opportunity to ensure that what happened in East Palestine will never happen again, said Ohio Sen. J.D. Vance, a Republican and one of the senators backing the bill.

We owe every American the peace of mind that their community is protected from a catastrophe of this kind.

Norfolk Southern says it is coordinating with hazardous material professionals to monitor and improve the air quality in East Palestine.

Norfolk Southern was on-scene immediately after the derailment and coordinated our response with hazardous material professionals who were on site continuously to ensure the work area was safe to enter and the required PPE was utilized, all in addition to air monitoring that was established within an hour, a spokesperson is quoted as saying.

In the comment section on an article about all these developments, someone wrote that money exchanged hands on this disaster, suggesting an added layer of conspiratorial corruption.

A lifelong friend was on that cleanup site trucking soil out, this person wrote.

He said virtually nobody was in PPE. Less than half were even donning paper masks. He said zero safety officers on site (means no safety plan was in place)  this cleanup was done like no hazmats were present. In fact, it was done as if there were no OSHA regs.

Someone else responded that this is par for the course, and that the same thing happened after the fly ash spill in Kingston, Tenn. from a few years back.

More related news about the East Palestine disaster can be found at Disaster.news.

Sources for this article include:

FoxNews.com

NaturalNews.com
(Natural News) Barack Obama left behind a lot of damage to our country and the world after spending eight years in the White House, but probably his most destructive move of all was providing Iran with enough leeway to advance its nuclear weapons program.

During a House of Representatives hearing, Under Secretary of Defense for Policy Colin Kahl stated this week that the Islamic republic could produce sufficient fissile material to create a single nuclear bomb in approximately 12 days. This is significantly shorter than the approximately one-year timeframe it would have taken under the 2015 Iran nuclear deal.

Kahl made the remark in response to a Republican lawmakers inquiry regarding why the Biden administration had pursued the revival of the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), the agreement that was in place previously.

Because Irans nuclear progress since we left the JCPOA has been remarkable. Back in 2018, when the previous administration decided to leave the JCPOA it would have taken Iran about 12 months to produce one bombs worth of fissile material. Now it would take about 12 days, Kahl, the third ranking Defense Department official, told lawmakers.

And so I think there is still the view that if you could resolve this issue diplomatically and put constraints back on their nuclear program, it is better than the other options. But right now, the JCPOA is on ice, Kahl added.

The Iranian nuclear program is an ongoing effort by the country to develop nuclear weapons capability. The program began in the 1970s, when Iran first acquired nuclear technology from the United States and the Soviet Union. Since then, the program has grown and evolved, with Iran investing heavily in nuclear research, uranium enrichment, and heavy water production.

In July 2015, the Iranian government reached an agreement with the US, UK, France, China, and Russia, collectively known as the P5+1, to limit its nuclear activities and allow international monitoring of its nuclear sites in exchange for the lifting of economic sanctions. Under the agreement, Iran was subject to the most comprehensive set of restrictions ever imposed on a nations nuclear program. Known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), the agreement ultimately failed.

Despite the agreement and Kahls attempt to blame the Trump administration, the Iranian government continued to expand its nuclear activities even before Trump left the pact, including the enrichment of uranium and the construction of advanced centrifuges. In response, the former president ended the agreement and warned Iran what would happen if the country either built a nuclear weapon or threatened to use it.

American officials have previously approximated the duration it would take Iran to acquire the materials required to make one nuclear bomb in weeks, but have not specified a precise timeframe, as Kahl did.

Although U.S. officials have stated that Iran is closer to acquiring the fissile material necessary for creating a bomb, they do not think that Iran has the expertise to construct a nuclear weapon. But of course, U.S. intelligence has been wrong before  usually intentionally.

Since negotiations to restore the 2015 nuclear deal, known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), stalled in late August, the political space for reaching an agreement to resurrect the accord has narrowed and prospects for reviving the JCPOA have diminished, says a November report from the Arms Control Association.

Tehrans brutal repression of protesters following the death of Mahsa Amini and Irans military support for Russias war against Ukraine, including the illegal transfer of drones, has shifted U.S. and European focus away from the nuclear talks and increased pressure on the Biden administration to refrain from any further negotiations with the Raisi government, the report added.

U.S. Special Envoy for Iran Robert Malley made clear in an Oct. 31 event at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace that the United States still supports restoring the JCPOA, but that talks are not the U.S. focus at this time given Irans negotiating position. During the stalemate, the United States continues to enforce nuclear-related sanctions, but these actions are not aimed at stabilizing the current crisis, nor can they, the report said.

This is on Obama, no one else.

Sources include:

ArmsControl.org

Reuters.com
The rapid rise of heat and intense heatwaves is considered a global health concern because of the impact on health.

Climate change and global warming contribute to the problem of global heating, aggravated by human-caused activities and greenhouse gas emissions.

In addition, the prolonged exposure to hot temperatures and intense heat waves could result in heat-related heat risks that are considered dangerous.

Global heating and health concern

According to Associated Press (AP) latest reports, experts from Columbia University explained how the record-breaking heat has a significant impact, especially on health.

The warming of the planet, wildfires and prolonged drought conditions are a severe impact that could affect humans and animals.

Meanwhile, associate professor Cecilia Sorensen explained that changing climate change could impact on health. The report added the importance of hospitals that could deal with patients with heat-related risks, including strokes and heat fatigue.Sorensen is from Environmental Health Sciences at the Columbia University Medical Center

Moreover, the World Health Organization (WHO) reported that heat exposure could increase due to the significant effect of climate change.

WHO said about 175 million people became exposed to challenging heatwaves in 2015.

The report also noted that the rising global heating could harm all people, especially those with pre-existing health risks.

Older adults, homeless people, pregnant people and outdoor workers are also at risk.

As the La Nina ends, there is optimism that El Nino could unleash hotter temperatures in 2024. In the latest report, CNBC explained that the return of El Nino could soar the global temperatures.

Warmest January

In a recent report, Axios explained that January 2023 recorded the warmest temperatures.

The report said New York City (NYC) recorded the warmest January. Climate change played a significant role in the milder temperatures in the region.

Washington, DC, Philadelphia and Boston also recorded the warmest beginning of the year.

In addition, the Guardian reported that European countries had the warmest January due to warming events and global heating.

Also Read: Earthquake Emergency: How Homeowners Can Prepare

According to The Guardian, climatologist Maximiliano Herrera's data showed countries with the warmest start.

Poland, the Netherlands, Lithuania, Latvia, Denmark, Belarus and the Czech Republic.

What to do during extreme heat

The American Red Cross and the WHO emphasized staying cool during extreme weather events. Drinking enough water is also crucial to prevent dehydration.

Heat stroke and heat fatigue are dangerous if not taken seriously.

According to American Red Cross, heat waves and extreme heat preparedness would help prevent possible impacts on health. Here are important reminders.

Have enough water supplies

Drought conditions and declining water reservoirs could become a challenge during intense heat. Homeowners should always ensure that they have enough drinking water.

As mentioned, staying hydrated is vital during extreme heat. Always bring bottled water when you leave your house.

Avoid alcohol and coffee consumption as possible.

Wear comfortable clothes

Wearing comfortable clothes that could cool your body is recommendable.

Look for a cool place

Keep your place cool during extreme heat, especially during prolonged power outages.

You can visit the websites of the WHO and the American Red Cross for more heat-related safety tips.

Related Article: How Saving Water Helps Address Problems of Climate Crisis

For more similar stories, don't forget to follow Nature News.
United Nations  American Cindy McCain will take over as executive director of the United Nations World Food Program when current director David Beasley steps down next month.

"Ms. McCain, a champion for human rights, has a long history of giving a voice to the voiceless through her humanitarian and philanthropic work," said U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres and Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) Director-General Qu Dongyu in a statement announcing the appointment.

McCain is a prominent Republican Party member who is currently U.S. ambassador to United Nations agencies in Rome, which include the FAO, the WFP, and the International Fund for Agricultural Development.

She has been active in U.S. politics for decades as the wife of Arizona Senator John McCain, who died of brain cancer in August 2018. Since then, she has forged her own political profile, including backing Democrat Joe Biden in his presidential bid against then-incumbent Republican president Donald Trump in 2020.

Biden appointed McCain to the Rome post in November 2021. Typically, the White House is involved in nominating the U.S. candidate to head the WFP, which is often a U.S.-held post.

McCain has worked in philanthropy, starting the American Voluntary Medical Team in 1988, which provides emergency medical and surgical care to poor children across the world. She has also traveled in her personal capacity on behalf of the WFP, visiting mother and child feeding programs in Cambodia, Sierra Leone, Chad and the Democratic Republic of the Congo.

Mammoth challenges

McCain, 68, takes over the agency at a time of unprecedented global need. The WFP says 349 million people across 79 countries are acutely food insecure. The agency is attempting to raise $23 billion this year to reach almost 150 million people worldwide.

In 2022, the WFP reached 160 million people with humanitarian assistance.

"McCain takes over as head of the World Food Program at a moment when the world confronts the most serious food security crisis in modern history and this leadership role has never been more important," the president of the WFP's executive board, Polish Ambassador Artur Andrzej Pollok, said in a statement. "We wish her well and can assure her she will have the full support of the Executive Board."

U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken offered his congratulations and said Washington is "deeply invested" in the WFP's continuing success.

"I am confident that she will bring renewed energy, optimism, and success to the World Food Program," Blinken said of McCain.

The Republican chairman of the U.S. House Foreign Affairs Committee, Michael McCaul, and the highest-ranking Democrat, Gregory Meeks, welcomed McCain's appointment saying she is "an exceptionally qualified leader."

"At a time when food insecurity and fuel costs are at an all-time high and there is soaring global hunger, the task of leading the World Food Program is more significant and consequential than ever," they said in a joint statement.

Former leader warns against partisanship

The United States is the WFP's largest contributor, providing about 40% of its budget or $7 billion in 2022, so McCain's political clout will be an asset in securing funding.

But former U.S. ambassador Ertharin Cousin, who headed the WFP from 2012-2017 and is now CEO of the Chicago-based Food Systems for the Future, cautioned that McCain is serving as an international civil servant, not as member of the Republican Party.

"She must serve on a non-partisan basis in order to effectively support the work of the organization," Cousin told VOA. "But having said that, of course, I am not naive that she will need to continue to work with both sides of the aisle in order to secure the commitment from the U.S. for the level of contribution that is required to meet the global food insecurity needs."

Cousin also said it will be important for McCain to keep the organization fit for its purpose.

"You are stewards of taxpayers' dollars from across the globe, and as a result you have a responsibility to make sure the organization remains the efficient behemoth that the world needs," Cousin said.

Outgoing chief Beasley offered his congratulations on Twitter Wednesday, a day ahead of the official announcement.

Outgoing WFP leader praised

Beasley said in mid-December that he would be leaving in April. He has served as the food agency's chief since 2017. In 2020, the World Food Program was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize "for its efforts to combat hunger, for its contribution to bettering conditions for peace in conflict-affected areas and for acting as a driving force in efforts to prevent the use of hunger as a weapon of war and conflict."

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Guterres and the FAO Director-General expressed deep appreciation for Beasley's leadership.

"He has led WFP with a deep compassion for the world's hungry and most vulnerable during what can only be described as unprecedented crises that severely impacted global food security," Guterres and Qu said. "He has humanized for the world the women and children most affected by hunger and has used his powerful voice to bring awareness and substantial resources to one crisis after another."

Beasley's tenure has coincided with the COVID-19 pandemic, unprecedented droughts and floods in several developing countries, as well as a steady stream of conflicts, including Russia's invasion last year of Ukraine.

Despite tremendous levels of fundraising, a number of the agency's programs are hurting for cash and facing cutbacks as needs continue to rise.
According to the latest reports, the population of Red Goshawks in Australia showed a significant decline that needs urgent conservation and protection efforts.

Researchers raised concerns over Australia's possible extinction of the Red Goshawk population.

The research title is Rapid and recent range collapse of Australia's Red Goshawk. The findings were published in the Emu-Austral Ornithology.

Red Goshawk

Ph.D. candidate Chris MacColl conducted the study that revealed the current status of Australia's rare bird. MacColl is from The University of Queensland's School of Earth and Environmental Sciences.

According to eBird, Red Goshawk has the scientific name of Erythrotriorchis radiatus, and thrives in tropical forests in Australia.

Red Goshawk is a known red raptor that could attack its prey.

According to Australian Wildlife, the national conservation status is vulnerable, and the species is critically endangered in parts of Australia.

Furthermore, Australia wildlife explained that red goshawk suffered from threats:

Threats of wildfires

Habitat loss impact on nesting trees

Declining population

Meanwhile, the researchers explained that they complied data set of about 1,679 occurrences and trends of the Red Goshawks between 1978 and 2020.

The report is also published on the Phys.org website. Habitat loss and habitat change might have contributed to the decline.

After studying, the researchers found the following. The researchers estimated that about 34% of the breeding range was impacted (In the last four decades).

Red Goshawk showed extinct in parts of Queensland and New South Wales (NSW). NSW had a rapid decline and loss of Red Goshawk.

In Queensland, the report added that Cape York is considered a place where they could be a chance of breeding for the said species.

The report added that the Red Goshawk could be found in parts of Northern Australia, Cape York, Tiwi Island and Sydney.

Meanwhile, North Queensland revealed a decline in the Red Goshawk population.

Kimberly, Top End and Tiwi Islands are crucial areas for conservation efforts.

The researchers noted that the bird significantly declined in eastern Australia

The researchers analyzed the sightings and possible status of the Red Goshawk population.

Also Read: How Labyrinthine Shape in Lake Saimaa Helps Save Endangered Saimaa Ringed Seal From Population Decline

Furthermore, the researchers showed the significance of making the Red Goshawk's Australian conservation status Endangered due to the rapid population decline.

Ultimately, the researchers emphasized the role of conservation and protection efforts to save the decline of the bird species.

Tracking or monitoring the bird's movement is essential.

Areas with rare birds should be protected and monitored for improvement.

However, the researchers recognized the need for more studies to determine the cause of the Red Goshawk population decline.

According to the Phys.org report, there is a need for coordination with communications and government agencies to develop policies protecting the Red Goshawk population.

Indeed, the alarming scale of decline is a pressing concern in Australia. Targeted surveying of the bird is also helpful.

Related Article: How Arctic Geese Population Adapts To Extreme Temperatures, Warming Threat

For more similar stories, don't forget to follow Nature News.
Fukushima's nuclear wastewater capable of producing cancers after release: scientists

Xinhua) 14:04, March 03, 2023

WELLINGTON, March 3 (Xinhua) -- Treated nuclear wastewater from Japan's damaged Fukushima power plant, which, if released into the Pacific Ocean as planned will ultimately reach the High Seas, is "capable of producing cancers," New Zealand scientists said on Friday.

Japan has planned to release treated nuclear wastewater from the damaged Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant into the Pacific Ocean.

Jamie Quinton, head of School of Natural Sciences, Massey University, said that in this original unprocessed wastewater, radioactive isotopes of concern were iodine-131 and caesium-137, and that they being used in nuclear medicine radiotherapy means that they have sufficient energy to cause cell death and mutation.

"In other words, they are capable of producing cancers," Quinton said.

International law expert Duncan Currie told Xinhua that Advanced Liquid Processing System (ALPS) treatment at best does not remove tritium, and there is next to no scientific information of the effects of tritium on the marine environment, including on different species.

Currie noted that planned target in treatment of Fukushima nuclear wastewater is only to remove other radioactive isotopes to "regulatory," rather than detectable, levels.

Tests of ALPS treatment systems have not been encouraging, Currie said.

"There were several other radioactive products in the unprocessed water that are hazardous to living species and ecosystems. As organisms consume other organisms, more of these radioactive products accumulate in their bodies, which can in turn, end up in humans. So these radioactive elements must be kept out of natural ecosystems as much as possible, especially the ocean," Quinton said.

David Krofcheck, senior lecturer in Physics at the University of Auckland, agreed by saying the danger of indiscriminately releasing nuclear fission products into the ocean is that the products can find their way into the food chain.

"Once in the food chain the long-lived nuclear fission heavy nuclei like cesium-137, strontium-90, and iodine-131 tend to concentrate in human muscle, bones, and thyroid, respectively. Cancers can be the result," Krofcheck said.

New Zealand should be concerned over nuclear wastewater effects on the Pacific, Currie said, citing modeling that shows movement of radioactive water to the North Pacific, including for instance through uptake in highly migratory fish and marine mammals.

Currently, an independent panel of global experts on nuclear issues are supporting Pacific Islands Forum nations in their consultations with Japan over its plans to discharge treated nuclear wastewater into the Pacific Ocean.

Quinton noted that if the release of wastewater into the ocean is to proceed, "getting the process correct and within regulations is of particular importance to Japan's aquaculture-based industries."

It is in Japan's economic interest to ensure that waterways remain below internationally acceptable levels for background radiation so that food safety is assured, and their capacity for international trade remains unaffected, he said.

(Web editor: Zhang Kaiwei, Liang Jun)
Paris  Sub-Saharan African migrants are leaving Tunisia amid an increase in racist attacks, following controversial comments by the country's president, Kais Saied.

Saied and his government deny his remarks were racist. At issue are his comments last week, when he called for urgent measures against what he called "hordes" of sub-Saharan migrants. He urged Tunisian security forces to halt illegal immigration and has described the migrant influx as a conspiracy to change the North African country's democratic makeup.

Saied's remarks have sparked an uproar and criticism from the African Union. Hundreds protested in Tunis on February 25.

Speaking to Agence France-Presse Monday, Tunisian Foreign Minister Nabil Amar said authorities were trying to reassure sub-Saharan Africans. There was no question of apologizing, he said, as the government hadn't attacked anyone.

But Africans living in Tunisia say they are facing a surge of racist acts.

Christian Kwongang from Cameroon, heads AESAT, an African student association in Tunisia. He said fellow students and other African migrants have been targeted in arbitrary arrests, physical attacks and slurs, including on social media. Many want to leave the country.

Sub-Saharan African workers are reportedly losing their jobs and getting kicked out of rented homes. Black Tunisians, who make up about 10% of the country's population, are also targeted in racist attacks.

"What we are seeing right now is really an increase of violence against sub-Saharan violence or students, and, really, a climate of fear," said Salsabil Chellali, Tunisia's office director for Human Rights watch. "People are scared to go out from their houses, scared to go to work."

Chellali said while racism is not new in Tunisia, the president's statements have inflamed things.

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This is just the latest controversy surrounding Saied, who grabbed far-reaching powers in 2021, dissolving the country's democratically elected parliament. A new parliament is set to take office later this month with vastly reduced powers in a country that was once an Arab Spring champion. Only 11% of eligible voters cast their ballots in legislative elections.

Tunisian authorities have also detained or sidelined a raft of critics, including journalists, opposition politicians and civil society activists.

Human Rights Watch has also called on Saied to halt what it describes as a crackdown against judicial independence and reinstate dozens of magistrates and prosecutors who were dismissed or fired in recent months for various reasons, including alleged corruption.

"I think this also shows the willingness of the president today to toughen the tone against his opponents and also his desire to rule alone," Chellali said.

Both Washington and the European Union have expressed concern about recent developments. Saied has previously rejected what he calls foreign interference.
If youre sitting at your Linux computer and feeling curious about some word or term, you dont have to jump up and grab a dictionary. Instead, you can install the dict command and youll probably be amazed by the wealth of information that will be available to you on the command line.

You will be able to find multiple definitions for nearly any term you ask about, often with considerable depth. Just looking up the word seven, I was provided with four definitions. They included references to the Pleiades (a star cluster that is also known as the "Seven Sisters"), a mention of the seven wonders of the world, scriptural references to the number seven, a note about how many days are in a week, and an explanation that seven is one greater than six.

The dict command is one of the most widely used command-line dictionaries available on Linux and one of the most far reaching; it reaches out to get information from dictionaries that are scattered around the globe.

How to use dict to find definititions

To install dict, use a command like one of the following depending on your Linux distribution:

$ sudo dnf install dictd $ sudo apt-get install dictd

After installing dict myself, I used the command below to count the number of dictionaries available to me:

$ dict -D | wc -l 167

The output does includes a heading, but thats still a lot of resources. The dict -D command will provide the list of dictionaries available to you. Heres the top of the list presented when I asked:

$ dict -D | head -11 Databases available: gcide The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48 wn WordNet (r) 3.0 (2006) moby-thesaurus Moby Thesaurus II by Grady Ward, 1.0 elements The Elements (07Nov00) vera V.E.R.A. -- Virtual Entity of Relevant Acronyms (February 2016) jargon The Jargon File (version 4.4.7, 29 Dec 2003) foldoc The Free On-line Dictionary of Computing (30 December 2018) easton Easton's 1897 Bible Dictionary hitchcock Hitchcock's Bible Names Dictionary (late 1800's) bouvier Bouvier's Law Dictionary, Revised 6th Ed (1856)

One of the first things I asked about was Linux itself. Notice that the definitions include pronunciations along with the definitions. NOTE: The output below is truncated in several places.

$ dict Linux 3 definitions found From WordNet (r) 3.0 (2006) [wn]: Linux n 1: an open-source version of the UNIX operating system From The Jargon File (version 4.4.7, 29 Dec 2003) [jargon]: Linux /lee'nuhks/, /li?nuks/, not, /li:?nuhks/, n. The free Unix workalike created by Linus Torvalds and friends starting about 1991. The pronunciation /li'nuhks/ is preferred because the name ?Linus? has an /ee/ sound in Swedish (Linus's family is part of Finland's 6% ethnic-Swedish minority) and Linus considers English short /i/ to be closer to /ee/ than English long /i:/. This may be the most remarkable hacker project in history ? an entire clone of Unix for 386, 486 and Pentium micros, distributed for free with sources over the net (ports to Alpha and Sparc and many other machines are also in use).  From The Free On-line Dictionary of Computing (30 December 2018) [foldoc]: Linux <operating system> ("Linus Unix") /li'nuks/ (but see below) An implementation of the {Unix} {kernel} originally written from scratch with no proprietary code. The kernel runs on {Intel} and {Alpha} hardware in the general release, with {SPARC}, {PowerPC}, {MIPS}, {ARM}, {Amiga}, {Atari}, and {SGI} in active development. The SPARC, PowerPC, ARM, {PowerMAC} - {OSF}, and 68k ports all support {shells}, {X} and {networking}. The Intel and SPARC versions have reliable {symmetric multiprocessing}. Work on the kernel is coordinated by Linus Torvalds, who holds the copyright on a large part of it. The rest of the copyright is held by a large number of other contributors (or their employers). Regardless of the copyright ownerships, the kernel as a whole is available under the {GNU} {General Public License}. The GNU project supports Linux as its kernel until the research {Hurd} kernel is completed.  {More on pronunciation (/pub/misc/linux-pronunciation)}. {LinuxHQ (http://linuxhq.com/)}. {slashdot (http://slashdot.org/)}. {freshmeat (http://freshmeat.net/)}. {Woven Goods (http://fokus.gmd.de/linux/)}. {Linux Gazette (http://ssc.com/lg)}. {funet Linux Archive (ftp://ftp.funet.fi/pub/Linux)}, {US mirror (ftp://sunsite.unc.edu/pub/Linux/)}, {UK Mirror (ftp://sunsite.doc.ic.ac.uk/packages/Linux/)}. (2000-06-09)

You can also access the many definitions available by going through a browser to dict.org/bin/Dict.

Translating words with the dict command

In addition to looking up words or terms, you use the dict command to translate some words and phrases into some other languages. Heres an example that translates from English to French:

$ dict -d fd-eng-fra "thank you" 1 definition found From English-French FreeDict Dictionary ver. 0.1.6 [fd-eng-fra]: thank you /kjau/ <== pronunciation for "thank you" merci

Note that the English pronunciation is provided using the phonetic alphabet. You can find a reference for English phonemes at phonetic chart.

This next example translates thank you into German:

$ dict -d fd-eng-deu "thank you" 1 definition found From English-German FreeDict Dictionary ver. 0.3.7 [fd-eng-deu]: thank you /kjau/ Danke, danke gleichfalls

The response will depend on whether the sources contain translations for the particular word or phrase you are asking about. Most phrases will likely not be available.

$ dict -d fd-eng-fra "Why not?" No definitions found for "Why not?"

To list the languages, you can use for translations from English, use this command:

$ dict -D | grep fd-eng-

To view all of the available translation sources, use this command:

$ dict -D | grep fd-

The fd appears to stand for FreeDict, the source of the translations.

To use a specific server, use -h or --host

$ dict -h dict.org happy 5 definitions found From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48 [gcide]: Happy \Hap"py\ (h[a^]p"p[y^]), a. [Compar. {Happier} (-p[i^]*[~e]r); superl. {Happiest}.] [From {Hap} chance.] 1. Favored by hap, luck, or fortune; lucky; fortunate; successful; prosperous; satisfying desire; as, a happy expedient; a happy effort; a happy venture; a happy omen. [1913 Webster] 

To use a specific database, use -d or --database.

$ dict -d elements helium 1 definition found From The Elements (07Nov00) [elements]: helium Symbol: He Atomic number: 2 Atomic weight: 4.0026 Colourless, odourless gaseous nonmetallic element. Belongs to group 18 of the periodic table. Lowest boiling point of all elements and can only be solidified under pressure. Chemically inert, no known compounds. Discovered in the solar spectrum in 1868 by Lockyer.

Wrap-Up

The Linux dict command can provide a lot of information. Dont forget to take a look at the man page to explore the many other options that the command provides.
Big challenges dont usually suddenly explode on the scene. There are little symptoms, warning signs that signal developing issues. One place to look for them is a trade show, because there are a lot of buyers and sellers collected in one place. The Mobile World Congress (MWC) that just ended is a good example, because it validated some little signals that networking might be facing a big challenge.

Back in 2007, Australia created a National Broadband Network (NBN) as a national infrastructure project because access infrastructure was too expensive to support competition and reasonable consumer prices. At MWC, Telecom Italia said that retail pricing pressure and exploding data consumption meant it was facing a perfect storm. Ericsson said that the 200 operators in Europe need to consolidate significantly in order to be financially efficient and stable.

Last year, because consumer willingness to pay for broadband hasnt grown and their appetite for bandwidth has exploded, European Union operators have asked the union to approve subsidies to them from big tech. Stories spread through MWC that the EU favored the subsidies, called the fair share. An EU regulator suggested that fair-share policies were essential to assure gigabit connectivity by 2030.

Mobile operators, long the profit stars of carrier services, are looking for a revenue boost or cost reduction. At MWC, Telefonica announced a partnership with Microsoft to support an API program called Open Gateway that the GSMA announced as a means of raising new revenues and perhaps avoid subsidies.

Equipment vendors earnings from service provides have been dropping. At MWC, Nokias announced rebranding created a buzz, because it includes less emphasis on service provider networks and more on enterprise networks. But over the last 20 years, the portion of enterprise network budgets that represent new spending to achieve new benefits has dipped from almost half to about 10%.

These are not the signs of a healthy industry. Remember the story of the little Dutch boy who stuck his finger in a hole in the dike and saved the country from a flood? Well, were seeing, in all these data points, the signs of a real problem in networking, a lot of leaks in the dike of its business model. Where are the fingers?

Cost management isnt the answer. All the easy opportunities have been picked, and it will soon be impossible as all cost excesses are wrung out. The EU operators who want subsidies know further cost management wont save them. Enterprises have been constraining network spending for two decades. But new revenues and benefits can come only if customers want to pay more for network service and enterprises can find new productivity benefits to justify network spending.

Connectivity isnt that needed something; experiences and new information relationships with users are the only answer. And why is nobody building those information relationships to create new benefits and generate new revenues? Ask a good Wall Street analyst that question, and youll hear them say socks.

No, not socks, but SOX, the abbreviation for Sarbanes-Oxley, a law passed in the wake of the dot-com bubble to prevent Wall Street from kiting the value of tech companies by promising extravagant future revenues. SOX focuses stock performance on the current quarter or current year, not beyond. Since companies are obligated to their shareholders, that means that they focus their R&D and marketing on stuff that will make their next quarterly financial announcement look rosy. Creating a new information relationship with consumers and workers to justify more network spending will simply take too long.

Network operators need a new revenue plan.

The good news is that MWC proved that the network operators, at least, are starting to realize that they need a new business strategy, based on something above the network. All that API focus we mentioned relates to their desire to get software developers engaged in creating long-term information relationship value.

The bad news is that the API focus of MWC was aimed mostly at exposing providers OSS/BSS features to developers or exploiting things like knowing device location, things that given the GPS in smartphones could be as easily exploited by a cloud provider or even a smartphone vendor. Its a one-speed bike to a market that wants and needs a flying car. The good news within the bad news is that these MWC API stories at least demonstrate that the future of the network, both for service providers and enterprises, lies in creating a partnership between connectivity and hosted features and applications. But realizing any network benefit from that good news still has to break two barriers.

The first barrier is that of circular dependency. We dont have applications that create those new information relationships. We dont have the architectural elements in place to create them, that provide hosting capabilities, connectivity, and so forth. Absent the applications, theres no motivation to create the platform architectures, and absent those architectures theres no way to create the applications.

The second barrier is that of value of the network role. If all the network does is carry the traffic of these new information relationships, then the applications only create more pressure on network providers. Think social media. But for network operators and network vendors to gain from the new information relationships, theyll have to become part of creating the information, not just carrying it.

What was missing from MWC was any idea of how to address these barriers. The only novel service concept that got any play was the metaverse, and the focus there was on virtual reality. Its hard to see how that would help network operators, network services, or equipment vendors, because all the network would do is deliver stuff...again.

What, then, and who, might break down the barriers? Think of the challenge of building a skyscraper. Starting from the basement means you have no idea whats supposed to be up there toward the observation deck. Starting with the observation deck, you have no idea whats supporting you. But start in the middle and you can see a bit of the top and the foundation. Cloud providers are the logical source of the middleware that would have to be the foundation of new information-to-user relationships. If that happens, theyll not only block operator paths to higher revenues, theyll also absorb more and more of enterprise network features.

If I were a cloud provider, Id set a dozen of my best software architects to the task of defining what that Next Great Information Relationship looked like for both consumers and enterprises, and a giant team of developers to build the cloud platform-as-a-service that would support it. Id find a room in my skyscraper basement to connect to the operators GSMA APIs to keep them happy and occupied, while I stole the keys to the kingdom. Then I wouldnt just be putting my fingers in holes in the market dike, Id be putting them in the pocket of the market and grabbing what could be nearly a trillion-dollar wallet. They may be doing just that, and thats the lesson of MWC.
Khartoum  A member in the Unified Doctors' Office in Sudan attributed the dengue fever epidemic in Khartoum and other states to the Ministry of Health's failure in stemming the spread with "sound scientific methods".

In an interview with Radio Dabanga, Dr Alaa Nugud stated that the ministry's announcement of the first wave of the epidemic that began last year, as well as their actions in closing certain areas off to contain the spread, was far too late.

According to him, the only reason the ministry took any steps in announcing the fever's emergence in the fist place, was due to the news that had surfaced of dengue-related deaths in Khartoum.

As well as the poorly timed announcement and cordoning-off of fever stricken areas, Nugud stated that the doctor's strike and lack of available blood bags was another serious issue that exacerbated the epidemic. He added that the ministry should have done more in the way of funding an awareness campaign.

The Higher Committee for Health Emergencies in Khartoum earlier announced a state of alert and mobilisation of support from all capable states and partners, to contain dengue fever in the capital.

Khartoum and El Gedaref

Sudan's Federal Minister of Health, Dr Haisam Ibrahim, announced earlier this month that *dengue fever had emerged in the Khartoum and El Gedaref for the first time, noting that two separate deaths from symptoms related to dengue fever, also referred to as haemorrhagic fever, were recorded in both locations.

At a press conference held in Khartoum on February 23, the minster stated Khartoum had recorded 110 confirmed cases and 169 suspected cases, while El Gedaref had recorded 59 confirmed cases and 80 suspected cases.

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Dr Ibrahim stated that 104 cases were confirmed in Ombadda in Omdurman, as well as five cases in the Karari locality.

He emphasised that the cases had nothing to do with *Rift Valley fever, which affects animals.

Haitham pointed out that entomological surveys confirmed the presence of vector-borne mosquitoes in most states, attributing the extensive spread of the disease to the "cessation of routine operations related to disease control during the last three years", as a result of Sudan's economic, political, and security conditions.

*Severe forms of dengue fever, also called dengue haemorrhagic fevers, are severe acute viral infections, usually with a sudden onset of fever, malaise, headache, and myalgia followed by pharyngitis, vomiting, diarrhoea, skin rash, and haemorrhagic manifestations. The outcome is fatal in more than 50 percent of the cases, the World Health Organisation reports.

*Among the fevers recently recorded in Sudan are dengue fever and Rift Valley fever (RVF). Viruses that cause dengue fever are transmitted by mosquitoes. RVF can be acquired either by a mosquito bite or by direct contact with blood or tissues of infected animals (mainly sheep), including consumption of unpasteurised milk.
Apparently disturbed by the performance of the ruling All Progressives Congress, APC, in the just concluded presidential and National Assembly election in Kaduna State, President Muhammadu Buhari, has apologised to Nigerians over the cash crunch caused by naira redesign policy.

He also begged the people of Kaduna State to vote for the gubernatorial candidate of the APC, Senator Uba Sani.

The President, who spoke in a viral video in Hausa yesterday, said the naira redesign policy was not meant to cause hardship on Nigerians but enhance the economy.

He said: "First of all, I want to once again thank you for the confidence you have in me by electing me president on the platform of our party, the APC.

"I want to use this opportunity to inform you that Uba Sani is our candidate for the governorship election in Kaduna State. I am begging you to vote for him and all APC candidates for the House of Assembly to help him work.

"Uba is a leading member of this journey. We worked together in the Senate and he demonstrated capacity and competence. He will perform better than expected.

"Kaduna is home to me. Therefore, I urge you to vote for Uba Sani and all our APC candidates for the State Assembly."

Meanwhile, plans for an alliance between the opposition PDP and the Labour Party to wrestle power in Kaduna State are currently in progress.

Already, the chairman of PDP in Kaduna State and former Minister of Aviation, Felix Hassan Hyet, has called on the people to unite and chase out the APC government in state by voting for the PDP gubernatorial candidate, Isa Ashiru, to rescue the state.
Champaign, IL (61820)

Today

Mostly cloudy and windy with showers developing this afternoon. High around 45F. Winds WSW at 20 to 30 mph. Chance of rain 40%. Winds could occasionally gust over 40 mph..

Tonight

Rain showers this evening mixing with snow showers overnight. Low around 35F. Winds W at 15 to 25 mph. Chance of precip 40%. Higher wind gusts possible.
Khartoum  The death of 16-year-old protester, Ibrahim Majzoub, who was shot in the chest, allegedly by a police officer, during the February 28 pro-democracy processions in East Nile in Khartoum North, has sparked widespread condemnation from both the national and international community.

A suspect has reportedly been arrested and is being questioned, and had his immunity lifted. Activist groups in Sudan have called for the accused to be tried for premeditated murder.

In a press release by the head of the Martyrs' and Violations Prosecution Office, El Taher Abdelrahman, he states that procedures for Majzoub's autopsy have been completed and an official report under Article 130 of the Criminal Code has been registered.

Abdelrahman added that events surrounding the killing have been caught on the viral video depicting Majzoub's death and "a number of witnesses, as well as the weapon used in his killing" will be used as evidence against the accused.

In an interview with Radio Dabanga, lawyer Ishraga Sultan stated that this incident should be treated as a "premeditated execution". She demanded that charges under Article 130 of the criminal code be escalated to premeditated murder and crimes against humanity. According to the lawyer, a statement issued by the Khartoum state police press office depicted the killing as a response to "demonstrators using violence".

Khartoum Resistance Committee member, El Fateh Hussein, also denounced the police statement which excused the accused's actions as a response to violence on the part of the demonstrators. Hussein stated that the "police had shown a total disregard" for protesters, and that the accused "pointed his weapon at the demonstrator and fired with intent to kill".

He added that this issue was endemic and Majzoub's killing was not simply "individual behaviour on the part of the policeman".

Unified Doctors' Office member and leader in the mainstream Forces for Freedom and Change (FFC-Central Council), Dr Alaa Nugud, echoed the endemic issue of violence on the part of the junta. He stated that these crimes were "aimed at thwarting the political process and pressuring civilians to withdraw from it".

Nugud told Radio Dabanga that the "political process represents the only way out of the country's crises" and stressed that "since the signing of the Framework Agreement, we expected an escalation of violence". The FFC-Central Council leader stated that authorities resorted to violence "after the failure of their other options".

The Unified Doctors' Office also stated that the culture of security apparatus suppression during peaceful processions, "led to the accused daring to commit such a crime".

The head of the National Human Rights Commission, Dr Rifat Mirghani, called on the authorities to take all measures to protect demonstrators from all forms of violence.

Mirghani underlined that peaceful assembly and freedom of expression are unequivocal rights "guaranteed under the constitutional document, as well as international and regional treaties ratified by the state, and as such, the state must respect and protect these rights".

The commission reiterated its observation about the persistence of impunity in all cases of violence committed against demonstrators and stressed the importance of the public interest in this current investigation.

International reaction

The Troika member states (USA, UK, and Norway) expressed their deep concern over the continued killing of peaceful demonstrators, now making Ibrahim Majzoub the 125th protester to have died, since the military coup on October 25, 2021.

In their statement, the Troika representatives strongly condemned the use of excessive force against peaceful demonstrators, "stressing the need for perpetrators to not go unpunished".

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They expressed their appreciation for the prompt action taken by the Ministry of Interior in condemning the killing of the protester, and confirming that necessary legal measures were being taken against the accused officer.

Troika stated that they were steadfast in their support in the restoration of a transitional government led by civilians to meet the demands of the Sudanese people for a free, peaceful, and just future for Sudan.

The United Nations Integrated Transition Assistance Mission in Sudan (UNITAMS) also issued a condemnation of the shooting of a young demonstrator, stating that "the use of live bullets against demonstrators is unacceptable and contradicts Sudan's human rights obligations".

In a statement by UNITAMS, they urged the "authorities to conduct a prompt and transparent investigation into this death", and all other human rights violations that occurred in the context of the protests since October 25, 2021, to hold those responsible accountable.
In a recent article published in JAMA Pediatrics, researchers conducted a population-based cohort study among 12 to 17-year-old adolescents in Ontario, Canada, to estimate the incidence of myocarditis or pericarditis after BNT162b2 vaccination. In addition, they determined whether these estimates varied with age, sex, and the interval between vaccine doses.

Background

In Canada, they extensively used BNT162b2, a coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) messenger ribonucleic acid (mRNA) vaccine, for vaccinating those aged 12 to 17 years (younger adolescents). Though clinical trials did not identify these rare outcomes, real-world data have demonstrated that young male individuals were at a higher risk of myocarditis after mRNA vaccination, particularly the second dose.

Studies also showed that these events were less severe than myocarditis or pericarditis after severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) infection and resolved quickly with nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs). Yet, there is an urgent need to understand the repercussions of the adolescent vaccine program that began in Canada in May 2021, especially concerning the interval between vaccine doses.

About the study

In the present study, researchers pursued clinical information associated with reported cases of myocarditis or pericarditis in 12 to 17-year-old adolescents who received BNT162b2 vaccination.

All adolescent participants had received one or more doses of the BNT162b2 vaccine between December 14, 2020, and November 21, 2021. They also reported experiencing at least one incidence of myocarditis or pericarditis post-vaccination. The team used data from passive vaccine safety surveillance data of Ontario province.

The researchers first estimated the incidence of myocarditis or pericarditis after BNT162b2 vaccination in all study participants. Next, they examined clinical symptoms and characterized them to compare how these events manifested differently across age groups. (12 to 15 years vs. 16 to 17 years). They emphasized gathering a better understanding of the epidemiology of myocarditis/pericarditis events to inform future vaccination strategies for adolescents.

At present, Canadas National Advisory Committee on Immunization recommends an eight-week interval between two vaccine doses.

Results

During the study period, 1.65 million doses of BNT162b2 were administered in Canada. However, only 77 myocarditis/pericarditis events among 12 to 17-year-olds met the inclusion criteria.

The study results suggested that the incidence of myocarditis or pericarditis post-BNT162b2 vaccination was rare, i.e., <0.01% in participating adolescents; however, slightly greater in the 16 to 17-year age group than the 12 to 15-year age group. Thankfully, emergency departments (EDs) handled nearly all these incidents (96.1%), with less than 50% of adolescents seeking hospital admission; even hospitalized cases experienced a one-day stay on average. Nearly 74% of adolescents received NSAIDs, and 14.3% of cases did not even need treatment.

Among these cases, the most reported symptom was chest pain, and 18% of them also reported a fever. In addition, these patients had elevated troponin levels; however, further investigations of the same were unfeasible owing to inadequate details for the troponin assay. Most individuals also had no regional wall motion aberrations or ventricular dysfunction. EDs handled most cases, so clearly, these cases were mild and resolved quickly. However, the researchers had no clue about the long-term consequences of these individuals, though data is emerging now.

Furthermore, the researchers noted the incidence of the excess number of cases of myocarditis/pericarditis post receipt of the first dose of BNT162b2 vaccination was two or less per 100,000 for all participating adolescents, irrespective of gender. After dose 2, the incidence of excess myocarditis/pericarditis cases was higher in males aged 12 to 15 years compared to those in the 16 to 17-year age group (7.6 vs. 4.7 per 100 000). However, it was highest for male adolescents in the 16 to 17-year age group, i.e., 15.4 per 100 000. This group also had the highest background incidence of myocarditis/pericarditis events.

Though the exact reasons remain unclear, researchers postulated that hormonal differences caused a higher incidence of myocarditis or pericarditis in male adolescents. However, the findings also suggested that a longer interval between vaccine doses decreased this risk among 16 to 17-year-olds.

Conclusions

Overall, the study results confirmed that the risk of myocarditis or pericarditis after BNT162b2 vaccination among adolescent age groups is rare. However, adolescents aged 16 to 17 were more prone to experiencing these events than 12 to 15-year-olds.

Thus, future studies should consider doing a long-term follow-up on individuals with myocarditis or pericarditis post-vaccination because these events occurred among individuals with confirmed COVID-19, especially after receiving the first dose of BNT162b2.
Conventionally, refrigerators or freezers use refrigerants to generate their cold temperatures. To effectively cool the contents inside, refrigerants make use of a cycle of evaporation and condensation. Evaporation is an endothermic process, absorbing heat from the surrounding environment, which results in a cool refrigerator interior.

Image Credit: inTEST Thermal Solutions

As the refrigerant warms up, it is transformed into a gas. A compressor then pressurizes the gaseous refrigerant, and it will eventually be condensed back into a liquid to cool the interior of the refrigerator over again. This refrigeration cycle is the driving force behind the cooling effect in modern fridges and freezers. Now, a new innovation may revolutionize how refrigeration works.

Metal shapeshifter

Nitinol is an alloy made of nickel and titanium. It is a pliable shapeshifting metal that can be manipulated and contorted, and when exposed to heat, it can snap back into its original shape. Nitinol has the capacity to remember its original form no matter how much bending and warping it experiences. This behavior is known as the shape memory effect.

Hot and cold

Another key and fascinating feature of nitinol, as it is manipulated into other shapes, deviating from its original form, is that it absorbs heat from its surrounding environment. Conversely, when it snaps back into its original shape, it demonstrates the capacity to release heat.

Nitinol coolant

Academics are now proposing to use nitinol instead of a gaseous refrigerant, and a team of researchers from Saarland University in Germany has developed a proof of concept.

The team amassed bundles of nitinol wire, wrapping it around a cylinder. On one side of the cylinder, the wires were being manipulated and bent; on the other, they were being snapped back. Fans were then placed on either side as cool air flowed out of the side where the wires were bent while warm air was expelled from the other side.

Simply put, the shape memory effect of nitinol acts as a heat pump. When bent, the wire absorbed heat from one side of the cylinder and was then able to transfer it to the other side as the wire returned to its original shape.

Is this the future of refrigeration?

The nitinol-powered cooling system could radically simplify refrigeration systems by eliminating the need for refrigerants and compressors. In turn, this would make such systems much easier to construct and maintain. Moreover, it could cut costs by making refrigeration systems less expensive, as fewer parts are required.

The results of the scientists experiments with nitinol cooling are extraordinary, as the team reports that the cooling output is up to 30 times greater than the mechanical energy required to bend and snap back the wires.

The Saarland team also believes this system can be up to three times more efficient than a conventional refrigerator. Moreover, it is also environmentally compatible as no chemical refrigerants are needed, making it a greener solution.

Once this system has been scaled and is ready for commercialization, a new breed of refrigerators, chillers, and ultralow temperature freezers could be on the horizon.

About inTEST Thermal Solutions

inTEST Thermal Solutions (iTS) specializes in the design and manufacture of precision temperature control systems. Our breadth of products and in-house engineering capabilities allow us to be a single-partner-solution for thermal test, process cooling, and cold storage applications. We are recognized globally for our expertise in precise temperature control and simulation of extreme thermal environments, from -185 to +500 C, with rapid transitions or long dwell times. The iTS family includes four product brands: Temptronic, Sigma Systems, Thermonics, and North Sciences. inTEST Thermal Solutions is a wholly owned subsidiary of inTEST Corp, Mount Laurel, New Jersey, USA.

Sponsored Content Policy: News-Medical.net publishes articles and related content that may be derived from sources where we have existing commercial relationships, provided such content adds value to the core editorial ethos of News-Medical.Net which is to educate and inform site visitors interested in medical research, science, medical devices and treatments.
The National Salvation Front had planned to protest the recent arrests of critics of President Kais Saied. Tunisia's national trade union federation also has its own demonstration planned.

Tunisian authorities on Thursday banned an upcoming protest by the country's main opposition coalition, the National Salvation Front (NSF), but the group has vowed to press ahead with its planned demonstration on Sunday.

The governor of Tunis, Kamel Feki, said the NSF's request to hold a march on Sunday had "not been approved as some of its leaders are suspected of plotting against state security."

What is the protest about?

The NSF planned to protest on Sunday against "political arrests and violations against public and individual freedoms."

Around 20 critics and rivals of President Kais Saied have been arrested in recent weeks.

The arrests, which also include the owner of a major media outlet and a prominent businessman, represent the biggest crackdown on opponents of Saied since he seized most powers in 2021.

He has variously accused the detainees of terrorism, plotting against the state and causing recent food shortages.

On Thursday, Tunisian media reported that two members of the Islamist-leaning Ennahda party, Sadok Chourou and Habib Ellouz, were also arrested.

Ennahda -- the main group within the NSF's former member of governing coalitions -- said the arrests were designed to "terrorize the opposition."

Amnesty International also called the arrests a "politically motivated witch hunt."

Trade union federation plans separate protest

The Tunisian General Labor Union (UGTT) has its own protest planned for Saturday against Saied's "one-man rule."

On Thursday, it said a senior official from a Spanish trade union had been denied entry at the airport in Tunis.

The UGTT called it "a further violation of trade union rights and the basic principles of freedoms and human rights."

It comes less than two weeks after Saied expelled Europe's top union official Esther Lynch after she spoke in support of Tunisian workers at a UGTT rally.

zc/sms (AFP, Reuters)
Victoria Falls, Zimbabwe  Zimbabwean vendors enjoyed a monopoly during pandemic closures. They see their Zambian competitors a little differently now.

While waiting for customers, Sikhulile Ngwenya, a local vendor at the Mkhosana market, carefully loads her stall with cabbages, carrots, avocados, tomatoes and choumolier, a dark green, spinach-like vegetable with slightly crumpled leaves. A faint sound of local music playing on the radio at a shop not too far away reverberates through the market. Housed in a red-brick structure, the market -- one of two in Zimbabwe's Victoria Falls city -- is divided into 20 stalls, including Ngwenya's, all displaying a variety of vegetables and fruit, neatly and attractively packed. It is a busy area just behind a small shopping center where taxis drop off and pick up Mkhosana residents. This has been Ngwenya's source of livelihood for more than 10 years.

"I have raised my four children from this vegetable stall," she says. But today she feels a constant threat and uncertainty looming over her livelihood.

The reopening of the Zimbabwe-Zambia border, more than two years after it was closed in 2020 as a precautionary measure to combat the coronavirus pandemic, paved the way for the return of vegetable vendors from neighboring Zambia. And even though the informal cross-trading relationship between Zambia and Zimbabwe has long been mutually beneficial, the return of Zambians has rattled vendors like Ngwenya, who say that their profits plummeted since the opening and that the competition is no longer fair. The "good business" during the pandemic has made Zimbabwean vendors realize, Ngwenya says, that Zambians are making money illegally "in our territory at no cost" and demand they be brought under the purview of law.

Zambia and Zimbabwe share similar social and cultural practices, making the movement of people between the countries easy. Zambian vendors cross over from the nearby city of Livingstone in their country to sell vegetables to residents of Victoria Falls, a tourism city on the Zimbabwean side. In the early mornings, the Zambian vendors, popularly known as omzanga, a Nyanja term meaning "friend," cross the Victoria Falls Bridge -- the only route from Zambia to Zimbabwe. The omzangas can easily be identified by the effortless way in which they balance the containers loaded with vegetables on their heads, or the carefully tied merchandise on their backs, wrapped with bright, colorful fabric in bold designs, popularly known as zambias.

When borders were closed here like elsewhere globally, cross-border trade was allowed only for the movement of large commercial goods, not for people. As a result, local vendors enjoyed a monopoly over the market because customers had no option but to buy vegetables from them, even if their prices were higher than those of their Zambian competitors.

But local vendors say locals know and understand the reasons for the higher prices.

The farms in Zambia are close by. As a result, the Zambian vendors always have easy access to fresh fruit and vegetables. Local vendors, on the other hand, have to get their vegetables from places like Lupane, 264 kilometers (164 miles) away; Bulawayo, 435 kilometers (270 miles) away; and sometimes as far as Harare, 874 kilometers (543 miles) away, because those are the closest farms to Victoria Falls. This forces them to sell at higher prices because it costs more to acquire the produce.

It doesn't help that local vendors must operate from their designated spots in the markets, for which they pay rent to the municipality, while the Zambian vendors can move door to door.

Ngwenya, who pays the Victoria Falls municipality $16 a month for her stall, says during the first government-mandated coronavirus lockdown, she made $15 to $25 a day, but now she makes $10 to $15 a day.

"Because vendors sell door to door, our customers no longer visit the market," says Ngwenya. "This is now a threat to our livelihoods as we no longer sell much, because residents would rather wait for the Zambian vendors sitting in their homes."

The pandemic gravely affected tourism here, and many people were laid off. With no Zambian vendors in the picture then, many Zimbabweans took up selling vegetables as a means of livelihood.

But after the border opened, and months later when restrictions were lifted completely, they realized that Zambians were "stealing" the local clientele and they needed to address the issue, says Grace Shoko, vice chairperson of the Zambezi Informal Cross Border Traders Association. Shoko, whose organization was founded in late 2021 in Victoria Falls to resolve issues between local and Zambian traders, says representatives of the association have spoken with authorities and vendors from both sides of the border, to try to find a workable solution.

Naomi, a Zambian vendor who prefers that only her first name be used for fear of being targeted, says when she sells in Zimbabwe, she makes more money than when selling in Zambia because in Zimbabwe she sells in United States dollars, which she converts to Zambian kwacha back in her country, giving her a substantial amount.

"I understand that it is unfair that locals are not allowed to sell door to door, and we can," she says. "However ... I am also doing what I can to support my family in Zambia."

Exact figures for informal cross-border trade are hard to come by because of its unrecorded nature, but such trade constitutes a major form of informal activity in most African countries. In fact, in the Southern African Development Community (SADC), which includes Democratic Republic of Congo, Zambia and Zimbabwe, cross-border trading has an estimated value of about $17.6 billion, which accounts for 30% to 40% of intra-SADC trade. Even though informal cross-border traders carry different types of goods, trade in sub-Saharan Africa is dominated by food, particularly groceries and fresh produce.

Until recently, Zambian vendors coexisted with local vendors, without any large-scale resentment or demands. But now, as most coronavirus restrictions have been lifted, easing the movement of people, some vendors have come together to express this displeasure collectively, with the help of organizations like the Mkhosana vendors association, lobbying for a level playing field and an end to what they say is an undue advantage for Zambians.

Mercy Mushare, a member of the Mkhosana vendors association, says the group is in talks with the municipality to put in place bylaws that protect local vendors or build stalls for Zambian vendors. "We are not saying Zambians should not come and sell, but they should abide by the same bylaws which we abide by. They should not be at an advantage over locals," says Mushare. (The association has a membership of about 300 vendors.)

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The city's bylaws stipulate that vendors should sell from designated places and not move around the city. But the laws apply only to local vendors.

Mandla Dingani, spokesperson for the Victoria Falls municipality, says the municipality is well aware of the tension between omzangas and local vendors. "We are in the process of coming up with a way of ensuring that even Zambian vendors sell from designated stalls and also pay a monthly fee for selling in Victoria Falls," Dingani says.

Sibusiso Dube, a resident of Chinotimba, worries that strict action against Zambian vendors might eventually hurt the common Zimbabwean. "It is unfair for Zambian traders to have more freedom ... but if Zambian traders are barred totally, we will suffer because local vendors will increase their prices of vegetables beyond the reach of many, as we experienced when borders were closed during COVID-19," he says.

Standing in front of her stall, Ngwenya says what she knows is that she is suffering losses. Despite that, this is the only work she has known over the years, and switching to anything else now is out of the question for her.

Fortune Moyo is a Global Press Journal reporter based in Victoria Falls, Zimbabwe.

TRANSLATION NOTE - Fortune Moyo, GPJ, translated some interviews from isiNdebele.
Fewer than half say help for vulnerable children is available in their community.

Key findings

A slim majority (54%) of Angolans say it is "never justified" for parents to use physical force to discipline their children, although more than four in 10 (44%) don't object to the practice.

More than half (54%) of citizens say child abuse, mistreatment, and neglect occur "somewhat frequently" (32%) or "very frequently" (22%) in their community.

About half (49%) of Angolans say resources are generally available in their community to help abused and neglected children.

Overall, almost two-thirds (64%) of Angolans think the government is doing a poor job of protecting and promoting the well-being of vulnerable children.

In 2007, the government of Angola adopted "11 Commitments to Children," a country-level framework for the values expressed in the United Nations (1989) Convention on the Rights of the Child (Conselho Nacional da Crianca, 2011).

These commitments, which guide government action on child welfare, establish a legal basis for the protection of children's rights to education, health, and freedom from neglect, abuse, physical and psychological violence, discrimination, child labour, sexual exploitation, and other threats to well-being.

But progress in ensuring these rights is slow. According to the World Bank (2021), half of Angolan children below age 5 are anaemic, while more than one-third are stunted and nearly one-fifth are underweight. As the country battles its most severe drought in decades, Angola's children face extremely high exposure to the effects of climate change (UNICEF, 2023; Phillips, 2021).

The 2015-16 Multiple Indicator and Health Survey revealed that almost one-quarter (23%) of Angolan children aged 5-17 engaged in child labour, including 12% who had worked in dangerous conditions (Instituto Nacional de Estatistica, 2017). Drought forces many children to exit the education system to herd cattle, dig wells, and collect water; more than 2 million school-age children do not attend school (U.S. Department of Labor, 2021).

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According to the National Children's Institute, more than 4,000 children below age 14 suffered sexual abuse during the 12-month period between June 2020 and June 2021 - a number that does not include the many cases of sexual violence that are never reported (Human Rights Watch, 2022).

This dispatch reports on a special survey module included in the Afrobarometer Round 9 (2021/2023) questionnaire to explore Africans' attitudes and perceptions related to child welfare.

While a majority of Angolans reject the use of physical force to discipline children, most say this is a frequent phenomenon in their communities. Many also describe child abuse, neglect, and out-of-school children as common. Only half say abused or neglected children can find help in the community, and even fewer report that support is available for children with disability or mental-health problems. Most citizens believe the government is doing a poor job of protecting and promoting the well-being of vulnerable children.

Edmundo da Costa Francisco Edmundo da Costa Francisco is a psychologist and lecturer at the Instituto Superior Politecnico Sol Nascente, Huambo, Angola

Carlos Pacatolo Carlos Pacatolo is the national investigator for Angola.
Agencies | Geneva

The Daily Tribune  www.newsofbahrain.com

Bahrain is committed to respecting human rights as well as civil, political, economic, social and cultural freedoms for all. This was affirmed by Foreign Affairs Minister Dr Abdullatif bin Rashid Al Zayani as he took part in the High-Level Segment  52nd regular session of the Human Rights Council in Geneva.

Dr Al Zayani noted that His Majesty King Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa laid the foundations for democracy and promoted the values of tolerance and peaceful coexistence among all religions, civilisations and cultures, with the support of His Royal Highness Prince Salman bin Hamad Al Khalifa, Crown Prince and Prime Minister.

The Minister affirmed Bahrains pride in the constructive cooperation and close partnership with the United Nations and its specialised bodies, including the Human Rights Council and the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights.

Bahrain has fulfilled its commitment to its international human rights obligations, he said, through its transparent and effective discussion of the fourth national report within the Universal Periodic Review of Human Rights last November, and its comprehensive report before the Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination in the same month, and the fourth report on the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW) on February 14, and other reports.

He expressed Bahrains aspiration to present the second voluntary report on the implementation of the sustainable development goals before the high-level political forum of the Economic and Social Council next June.

The Kingdom is constantly keen to consolidate partnership and exchange of experiences in human rights and development fields, by working to continue appointing a permanent coordinator for human rights in Manama in cooperation with the High Commissioner for Human Rights, Dr Al Zayani noted.

He said that other aspects of cooperation and joint coordination are underway in implementation the strategic cooperation and sustainable development framework document signed with 21 United Nations agencies.

Bahrain in terms of democratic practice, is working within the framework of cooperation between the legislative and executive authorities to implement the government program (2023-2026) for the sixth legislative term entitled From Recovery to Sustainable Growth, which was discussed and approved by the House of Representatives in January 2023.

Dr Al Zayani also noted that Bahrain places at the forefront of its priorities the promotion of human rights in security, justice and sustainable development, through the development of legislation, litigation mechanisms and services under the rule of law.
First Lady Jeannette Kagame has urged members of the Rwanda Women Leaders Network (RWLN) to continue innovating and protecting the progress that has been made, so that future generations can benefit and build on what has been achieved.

She made the remarks on March 1 during the launch of African Women Leaders Network (AWLN) Rwanda Chapter at Intare Conference Arena. The launch coincided with RWLN Summit was held under the theme "Building the Next Generation of Women Leaders".

The First Lady emphasized the importance of matching the terms "women leaders" with equality and equity, highlighting that it took leadership that placed citizens, especially women, at the forefront to recognise the value of women in the country.

She said that Rwanda has implemented laws and policies that prioritise gender equality and provide equal opportunities for men and women, including a national budget that allocates funds for women's development, capacity building, and advocacy institutions.

The First Lady also noted that building a strong family is a significant role for women, but it cannot be achieved alone, thus women need support, respect for their value, and peaceful living conditions to thrive and build strong families.

"We must take time to introspect and engage in numerous acts of kindness, so that the generations to come, born of our sons and daughters, will inherit a country where their aspirations and desires will know no bounds," she urged the women leaders.

To enhance the effectiveness of RWLN, the First Lady emphasised the importance of having a clear and achievable goal.

She urged the members to be intentional about what they want, understand the reasons for their fight, and have a well-planned strategy to achieve their goals. She also stressed the need for collaboration, support, and learning among members to create strong and visible changes.

Jeannette Bayisenge, Minister of Gender and Family Promotion, highlighted the goals of the Rwandan Women Leaders Network (RWLN), which includes sharing knowledge and expertise while maintaining their roles as mothers and educators.

She emphasized the importance of supporting new women in leadership by holding their hands and guiding them to success.

Bayisenge also discussed the need to implement gender equality and equity in decision-making positions and suggested that members of the network should approach this goal differently.

She expressed gratitude to the steering committee and members for their efforts and encouraged them to continue supporting the network to achieve its goals, leaving a legacy for the next generation.

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Bayisenge also announced that the RWLN would be launching a website to allow new women leaders to apply for mentors in their respective fields.

She said that the move is aimed at creating and shaping future leaders and ensuring that the network continues to make a positive impact.

UN Women Country Representative, Jennet Kem, emphasized the importance of values and principles in guiding women leaders.

According to her, it is essential for women to define their values and ensure that they live by them. She suggested that values such as hard work, family, faith, excellence, and personal drive could guide them.

Kem also urged women leaders to scan their environment for challenges and co-create solutions to make their leadership impactful.

She emphasized the need for networking, communication, and collaboration, as women always need one another.

Kem also advised women leaders to be humble and modest, yet confident in speaking up about their results, encouraging them to make their results visible and known, as this would demonstrate their achievements as leaders.
KITCHENER, ON, March 3, 2023 /CNW/ -

HIGHLIGHTS:

Waterloo Guava Lime Radler and Waterloo Signature Series Premium Collection (CNW Group/Waterloo Brewing Ltd.)

Waterloo Brewing is releasing two new products, Waterloo Guava Lime Radler and a new installment of the Waterloo Signature Series Premium Collection featuring three intriguing new flavours: Waterloo Saison, Waterloo Passionfruit Wheat and Waterloo Grapefruit Hibiscus IPA

Both products will be available at the LCBO, The Beer Store, select grocers and The Waterloo Brewing Beer Store

Celebrate the start of a new season with Waterloo Brewing's two new offerings this spring: Waterloo Guava Lime Radler and a new release of the award-winning Waterloo Signature Series Premium Collection.

Waterloo Guava Lime Radler is bursting with bright citrus flavour and a delicious tropical guava aroma. This seasonal sipper is tart, sweet and refreshing all at once  and at only 2.5% you'll have no problem reaching for another. It is the perfect addition to the already juicy lineup of Waterloo Radlers  featuring Waterloo Tart Cherry Radler and classic Waterloo Grapefruit Radler.

Additionally, the newest release of the Waterloo Signature Series Premium Collection features two cans of each new beer: Waterloo Saison, Waterloo Passionfruit Wheat and Waterloo Grapefruit Hibiscus IPA. The new Waterloo Saison is true to style  slightly dry with subtle hints of clove. Waterloo Passionfruit Wheat blends bright aromas and tart flavours of tropical passionfruit juice. Finally, juicy grapefruit meets floral hibiscus tea in Waterloo Grapefruit Hibiscus IPA to create a perfectly balanced IPA. This new 6-pack is the perfect crowd pleaser with something for everyone!

"Our Waterloo Signature Series Premium Collection has been recognized in the past by both the Canadian Brewing Awards and the Ontario Brewing Awards," said Trish Benne, Director of Brewing and Blending for Waterloo Brewing. "With this series comes an incredible opportunity for our team of talented brewers to flex their creativity and innovation. We are incredibly excited to be releasing this new collection!"

As Ontario's first craft brewery, Waterloo Brewing is a leader when it comes to quality, taste and innovation. Their portfolio includes a wide array of styles and flavours, which will become more diverse with these delicious new additions.

"Waterloo Radlers have always been a fan favourite," said Kim Mannerow, Director of Marketing for Waterloo Brewing. "The Waterloo Signature Series Premium Collection, although still a relatively new series, has been very well received. We're thrilled to extend both our line of radlers and Signature Series this spring!"

Both products became available at The Waterloo Brewing Beer Store, The Beer Store and select grocers at the end of February, and will be hitting the shelves of the LCBO at the end of March  just in time for spring!

About Waterloo Brewing

Waterloo Brewing is Ontario's largest Canadian-owned brewery. The Company is a regional brewer of award-winning premium quality and value beers and is officially certified under the Global Food Safety Standard, one of the highest and most internationally recognized standards for safe food production. Founded in 1984, Waterloo Brewing Ltd. was the first craft brewery to start up in Ontario and is credited with pioneering the present-day craft brewing renaissance in Canada. Waterloo Brewing has complemented its Waterloo premium craft beers with the popular Laker brand. In 2011, Waterloo Brewing purchased the Canadian rights to Seagram Coolers and in 2015, secured the exclusive Canadian rights to both LandShark and Margaritaville. In addition, Waterloo Brewing utilizes its leading-edge brewing, blending, and packaging capabilities to provide an extensive array of contract manufacturing services in beer, coolers, and ciders. Waterloo Brewing trades on the TSX under the symbol WBR. Visit us at www.WaterlooBrewing.com.

Forward-Looking Statements

All statements in this press release that do not directly and exclusively relate to historical facts constitute forward-looking statements as of the date of this press release. Forward-looking statements generally can be identified by the use of forward-looking terminology such as "may", "will", "expect", "intend", "anticipate", "seek", "plan", "believe" or "continue" or the negatives of these terms or variations of them or similar terminology, and include statements with respect to the estimated revenue per year. Although the Company believes that the expectations and assumptions reflected in these forward-looking statements are reasonable, undue reliance should not be placed on these forward-looking statements, which are not guarantees and are subject to certain risks, uncertainties, and assumptions, which may cause actual performance and financial results to differ materially from such forward-looking statements. The forward-looking statements, including the statement of estimated revenue, are based on, among other things, the following material factors and assumptions: no early termination of the agreement, no material change in consumer preferences, input costs for blending and packaging materials, competitive activity, and regulatory environment, and no material supply, cost or quality control issues with vendors. The forward-looking statements included in this press release are made only at the date of this press release and, except as required by applicable securities laws, the Company does not undertake to publicly update such forward-looking statements to reflect new information, future events or otherwise.

SOURCE Waterloo Brewing Ltd.

For further information: Kim Mannerow, Waterloo Brewing, Director of Marketing, 519-742-2732, x105, [email protected]
Stempower, a non-governmental organization promoting science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) education across Sub-Saharan Africa, has encouraged girls and women in Rwanda to embrace sciences and not perceive it as a men's thing.

"Women in Africa have been left out in science excavations for a long time. At STEMpower we want to have girls in science as part of our DNA and strive to ensure they are being elevated and equipped, doing what their brothers are doing, because we believe they are all equal," Espoir Serukiza, Country Representative of STEMpower in Rwanda, said at the occasion of celebrating the International Day of Women and Girls in Science.

"We want to see them making robots, excelling in mathematics, technology and more," he added.

The event brought together high school and university students, representatives of STEMpower and Ines Ruhengeri, as well as women who are already working in STEM related professions, on February 22 at Ines Ruhengeri, Musanze District.

The university hosts one of the eight STEM centers established by STEMpower across the country.

The facilities composed of a computer laboratory and an electronic laboratory, to help students gain hands-on skills and enhance innovation.

The centers are established in secondary schools or universities to help bridge the digital divide by serving students in the given school, neighbouring schools and the surrounding community.

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Serukiza emphasized that STEMpower understands the importance of having well educated women and girls.

"We are proud," he added, "to see how the established STEM centers are already helping women and girls get hands-on computer and electronic skills."

Sabrine Iragena, a senior six student at St Vincent Secondary School in Musanze District, said the STEM center at Ines Ruhengeri is of great importance to her.

"As a young girl aspiring to become a software engineer, the STEM center helps me to gain practical skills of what we are taught in class and allows me to do research and become innovative," she said.

Jean Bosco Baribeshya, Vice chancellor of Ines Ruhengeri, commended the strides already made by the country in bridging the digital divide between boys and girls.

"Nowadays we have girls performing well in sciences and this was not the case before, because many girls would fear STEM studies. This should be proof to fellow women and girls that there is really nothing to fear in sciences," Baribeshya said.

Since expanding its footprint in Rwanda in May 2021, STEMpower has so far established eight STEM centers across the country, and plans to open up five additional centers before the end of this year. The existing centers are located in University of Rwanda- College of Science and Technology, Ines Ruhengeri, Kibogora Polytechnic and University of Rwanda- College of Education among others. The organization partners with the Israel Embassy in Rwanda.

Besides Rwanda, STEMpower has already established STEM centers in many Sub-Saharan African countries such as Ethiopia, South Sudan, Kenya and Burundi among others.
The National Vice Chairman (North-West) of the All Progressives Congress, Mallam Salihu Lukman, on Friday called for the resignation of the Governor of Central Bank of Nigeria, Godwin Emefiele and the Attorney General of the Federation, Abubakar Malami for misleading the president, Muhammadu Buhari to flout the Supreme Court order on the new naira redesign policy.

The development comes hours after the apex court invalidated the CBN policy on the grounds that it was implemented without due consultation, adding that it was also not in line with constitutional provisions.

Consequently, the Supreme Court ruled that the old N200, N500 and N1,000 naira notes should co-exists with the new ones until December 31.

Reacting to the news, Lukman lamented that the sudden implementation of the cash swap policy and tight deadline had brought untold hardship to Nigerians.

The Kaduna politician, therefore, noted that the right thing for public office holders like Emefiele and Malami to do after such public office abuse was to accept their limitations and resign honourably.

In a statement titled Cashless Policy: Supreme Court Invalidates Actions of the Federal Government, Lukman expressed delight in the ruling of the Court declaring the FGs cashless policy as unconstitutional and an utter violation of the fundamental rights of Nigerians.

He said, It is also unfortunate that President Muhammadu Buhari could be misled into such acts of illegality and abuse of executive powers as pronounced by the Supreme Court. We, and indeed all Nigerians, are grateful to the Supreme Court Justices led by Justice Akomaye for this landmark judicial intervention.

Given the injurious nature of the consequences of the cashless policy of the Federal Government as was implemented thus far, and the damage of the Supreme Court ruling to the profile of President Buhari, Godwin Emefiele and Abubakar Malami must take personal responsibility for this act of illegality by the Federal Government. In advanced democracies, public officers who commit such acts of illegality voluntarily resign from their appointments.

Therefore, if indeed, the cashless policy of the Federal Government was supposedly designed to conform with extant legal provisions of the Nigerian Federation, now that it turned out in the direct opposite, both the CBN Governor, Mr. Emefiele and the Attorney General of the Federation, Mr. Malami should accept the limitations of both their knowledge of the law and commitment to democracy by resigning from their respective offices forthwith. Rule of law is fundamental to democracy and individuals who flagrantly violate the laws or promote acts that breach the constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria must not be tolerated.

The APC vice chair also saluted the resilience of Governors Nasir El-Rufai (Kaduna), Yahaya Bello (Kogi) and Bello Matawalle (Zamfara) for challenging the Federal Government on behalf of the masses.

He noted that they have shown true heroics through their action alleviating the sufferings of the people.

On behalf of our party leaders and members from North-West, we salute our three Governors, Mallam Nasir Ahmed El-Rufai, Alh. Yahaya Bello and Alh. Bello Matawalle, respectively of Kaduna, Kogi and Zamfara states for their courage and initiative to challenge the action of the Federal Government in the Supreme Court. It is a patriotic duty to challenge the policy of government, which unfortunately plunge Nigerians into hardship and unimaginable shock, notwithstanding partisan affiliations.

By doing so, our leaders in APC led by Mallam Nasir, Alh. Yahaya Bello and Alh. Matawalle has once again demonstrated superior commitment to democracy. We call on Nigerians to take note of the fact that the crusade against the Federal Government cashless policy was led by APC, not minding the attempt to sensationally politicise it to the benefit of opposition political parties and their candidates in this election season.

It is gratifying that Nigerians resisted the antics of subversive politicians who wanted to use such crude methods, including inflicting untold hardship and pains on Nigerians to provoke citizens into voting against the APC during the February 25 Presidential and National Assembly elections. We commend and salute Nigerians for their faith in our party, APC and determination to support our party and our candidates during the 2023 elections. We are indeed confident that Nigerians across all the 36 states of the Federation will reaffirm this confidence during the Governorship and States Houses of Assembly election on Saturday, March 11, he stated.
The All Progressives Congress presidential campaign council says it is not intimidated by Atiku Abubakars threat to contest the result of the election announced by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).

The commission, on Wednesday, declared Bola Tinubu, candidate of the APC, as the winner of the presidential poll.

Tinubu secured 8,794,726 votes while Abubakar of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) had the second-highest figure with 6,984,52 votes and Peter Obi of the Labour Party (LP) polled 6,101,533 votes.

During the collation of the results on Tuesday, the LP and PDP asked Yakubu Mahmood to resign as the chairman of INEC.

The parties also demanded that the presidential election be conducted afresh.

Abubakar on Thursday alleged that the election was characterised by fraud and vowed to challenge the result.

In a statement on Thursday, Festus Keyamo, the campaign council spokesperson, said Abubakars presidential bid was dead on arrival as his successive failure showed he is unelectable.

Firstly, Atiku Abubakar breached the zoning principle within his own party by insisting on running for President when that was clearly against the mood of the nation; even after emerging as a candidate, the PDP itself continued to rub insult on the faces of southern leaders in the Party by insisting on keeping the position of National Chairman in the North, the statement reads.

This obviously led to the rebellion of the G5 Governors and their subsequent sabotage of the PDP before the polls and at the polls by campaigning against ATIKUS candidature. His failure to unite his party and manage this post-primaries fall-out was his eventual undoing.

Atikus bid for the Presidency this time around was dead on arrival when his inordinate ambition fractured his party into 3 parts, with Alhaji Rabiu Kwankwanso and Mr. Peter Obi breaking away to the NNPP and the Labour Party respectively.

The massive loss he suffered in traditional PDP zones and States is a clear testament to this. One wonders, then, how he expected to have won the election. It is also comical to see that he claims victory at the polls together with Mr. Peter Obi with whom his party has been holding press conferences.

Following his successive failures and rejection by Nigerians in different elections, it should be clear to him by now that he is simply UNELECTABLE. The expositions relating to his self-confessed mode of siphoning public funds whilst in office through SPVs further dented his aspiration before Nigerians.

Atiku Abubakars decision to challenge the outcome of the results is welcome. We are prepared to meet his challenge, no matter the nature of the challenge, anywhere and anytime.

If Atiku Abubakar is not embracing the olive branch extended to him and other losers in the 2023 elections by the President-elect, ASIWAJU Bola Ahmed Tinubu, the least he can do is to quietly relocate to Dubai which has become his traditional home base.
The Supreme Court of Nigeria has issued a restraining order to President Muhammadu Buhari, to stop him from withdrawing old N200, N500 and N1000 banknotes in circulation.

They supreme court faulted the entire policy of the CBN, saying the timing and implementation were defective.





The apex court ruled that the president did not follow the provisions of the constitution before implementing the policy, by consulting the National Security Council and National Economic Council before implementing

The judgement was read by Justice Emmanuel Agim on Friday morning in the presence of governors Nasir El-Rufai (Kaduna), Yahaya Bello (Kogi) and Bello Matawalle (Zamfara) who first instituted the suit.

The Court faulted Mr Buharis statement in his February 16 broadcast where he said the naira redesign was in line with global practices, noting countries like UK and Australia allowed both old and new notes to co-exist for not less than one year.

The court ruled that the old and the new banknotes should be allowed to be in circulation until December 31, 2023.

In October 2022, Godwin Emefiele, CBN governor, announced the plan to redesign the naira to control money supply and aid security agencies in tackling illicit financial flows.

The redesigned naira notes were unveiled on December 23, 2022.

The deadline for the implementation of the policy was fixed for January 31, 2023, but it was further extended to February 10.

On February 3, a suit was initiated by Kaduna, Kogi, and Zamfara before the supreme court challenging the implementation of the policy.

Five days later, the supreme court restrained the CBN from giving effect to the deadline on the use of old notes following an ex parte application brought by the three states.

Thirteen (13) other states later joined the suit as co-plaintiffs. The states argued that the implementation of the policy has caused untold hardship for Nigerians.

Abubakar Malami, the attorney-general of the federation (AGF), who is the sole respondent, had, however, filed a preliminary objection to the suit.

The AGF argued that the supreme court lacks the jurisdiction to entertain the matter and that the suit ought to have been filed before a federal high court.

Malami also said the plaintiffs failed to join the CBN in the suit.
The Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, candidate in the just concluded presidential election has admitted that his Labour Party counterpart, Peter Obi took their votes in the South-east, South-south.

Atiku, who spoke while addressing the press in Abuja on Thursday, asserted that the votes Obi garnered from the two geo-political regions cannot make him a president of the country.

The former vice president called on Obi to dialogue with PDP on how to reclaim the victory from the ruling All Progressives Congress, APC.

He said, At the time Peter decided to leave PDP and join Labour Party, we had not even began our primary process so the question of whether he was going to get the ticket or not did not arise.

Yes, agreed and it is a fact that he took our votes from the south-east, south-south but that of course will not make him a president.

You all know that to be a president in this country you need votes from everywhere so as far as Im concerned, Peter is welcome to dialogue with PDP. We are ready to dialogue with him.
Atiku Abubakar, the presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), has explained why his Labour Party counterpart, Peter Obi, dumped the main opposition party in the build-up to the PDPs presidential primary election in 2022.

Speaking at a press conference on the outcome of the February 25 Presidential election in Abuja on Thursday, Atiku claimed Obi left the PDP because he was afraid of the demands of the partys governors, adding that he was in a rush.

Atiku said, I think Peter [Obi] was in a rush. When the campaign started, and our PDP governors sat down and said they must produce the presidential and vice presidential candidates, the chief of staff among themselves, Peter, got scared and left.

I didnt get scared. I stood up against the governors. When we founded the PDP, some of them were perhaps in secondary schools or universities. So, why should I be afraid? So, I stood up and I fought them. They fought me and I fought them and I won the primary election.

So, if he was there, nothing couldve stopped him from becoming a running mate because I had the right to choose whoever I wanted as my running mate.

Recall that Obi had, on May 27, 2022, dumped PDP for the Labour Party.

The former Anambra governor had claimed that the LP is the right platform that aligns with his aspirations and my mantra of taking the country from consumption to production.

Meanwhile, both Atiku and Obi lost the 2023 Presidential election conducted last Saturday.

Both men came second and third position, respectively, behind APCs Bola Tinubu, who was announced the winner of the Presidential election by the INEC.

Tinubu has since received his Certificate of Return.
IN SHORT: Politicians in Nigeria might still be scrambling to win votes ahead of the 11 March elections for governor, but there's no evidence the governor of Lagos state is holding special dinners for "Igbo captains of industry" to curry favour.

What looks like an invitation from Lagos state governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu to "a dinner" and "one-on-one interaction" has been shared on Facebook and WhatsApp in Nigeria. It is addressed to "Igbo captains of industry".

One of the Facebook posts reads: "With the growing fear he could lose his Governorship seat to LP's GRV, Gov. Sanwo-Olu is set to meet with Igbo captains of Industry in Lagos".

Gbadebo Rhodes-Vivour, or GRV, is the Labour Party candidate for governor of Lagos in the 11 March 2023 elections.

In Nigeria's 25 February presidential elections, Bola Tinubu, the presidential candidate of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) lost Lagos state, his historical stronghold, to Peter Obi, the Labour Party candidate.

Obi received 575,735 votes to defeat his rival Tinubu, who had 573,001 votes. Tinubu was declared the winner of the presidential election on 1 March.

The post suggests Sanwo-Olu, who is from the same party as Tinubu, could lose to the candidate of the Labour Party on 11 March. The dinner would be to curry favour with Igbo people in the state.

The same claim appeared on Facebook here, here and here.

But is the invite legit? We checked.

'Fake news' says governor's assistant

Jubril Gawat, Sanwo-Olu's senior special assistant, debunked the claim in a tweet on 27 February 2023. He shared a version of the invitation stamped "Fake News" in red and tweeted "FAKE NEWS".

We also checked the verified Twitter handle of the governor and didn't find any evidence of the invitation or such a dinner.

We then searched through the Lagos state government website and Twitter handle and also found no results.




The Ohanaeze Ndigbo in Lagos State on Thursday denied calling for the resignation of Governor Sanwo-Olu.





The groups President, Chief Sunday Ossai issued a rebuttal at a press conference by the Lagos State Leaders of Thoughts.





Ossai also said the people of South-East were supporting Sanwo-Olus re-election because he had fulfilled his campaign promises to them.





The Igbo leader declared that any vote outside of the All Progressives Congress (APC) on March 11 would amount to a waste.





I am a representative of Ndigbo in the state and as their mouthpiece, NAN quoted him





I hereby debunk the so-called statement that the Igbo body asked Sanwo-Olu to resign.





President of Igbo Speaking Community, Chief Sunday Udeh; President of Yoruba Council Worldwide, Aare Oladotun Hassan and State Women Leader, Ohanaeze Ndigbo, Dr Chioma Okoro also addressed reporters.




The presidential candidate of the Social Democratic Party, Adebayo Adewole, has accused the Labour Party, LP; the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP; and the All Progressives Congress, APC; of cheating during the last presidential and National Assembly election.





According to him, all the political parties, even those complaining after the election, cheated through different means, especially vote-buying.





Adewole, who appeared on Arise Televisions The Morning Show on Friday, specifically accused the Labour Party of sharing dollars to the electorate in his own polling unit in Ondo State during the polls.





A victim cannot be blaming other victims. I never said nothing is wrong with the election. Everything is wrong with the election. Anyone who wants to go and challenge the election should do so because everything is wrong with the election, Adewole said.





But its not only what happened that day that was wrong with the election. People (political parties] cheated. Many of those who are complaining now cheated in the election. In the polling unit where I voted, Labour Party cheated, PDP cheated and the APC cheated more because vote buying is cheating.





APC used recharge cards to cheat, the Labour Party brought dollars and PDP shared money. Why will I not complain? Atiku Abubakar cheated me of my vote in Katsina and Adamawa State, he was buying votes with N200. What Im saying is that the election is flawed. Its not an honest process.




Manchester United has been handed an important double boost ahead of their Premier League clash with Liverpool on Sunday evening at Anfield.





Man United manager, Erik ten Hag, on Friday confirmed that Luke Shaw and Jadon Sancho are expected to be available for Manchester Uniteds clash with Liverpool this weekend.





Shaw missed Man Uniteds FA Cup fifth-round victory over West Ham United on Wednesday as a result of a knock picked up last Sunday in the Carabao Cup final against Newcastle United.





Sancho, meanwhile, also sat out of the 3-1 comeback win against West Ham United through illness.





Speaking at a press conference ahead of Man Uniteds clash with Liverpool, Ten Hag offered a positive update on both players.





The Dutchman said, I think we will have players back, but I am not sure. Luke Shaw was not available, so we expect him back [for the Liverpool clash]. Sancho, yeah, he was ill, but you have to wait how that develops, but yeah, I think as well.




Nasir el-Rufai, governor of Kaduna state, says the ruling of the supreme court on old naira notes is a victory for Nigerians.

Recall that few hours ago, the supreme court invalidated the naira redesign policy introduced by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN).

A seven-member panel of the apex court held that the old N200, N500 and N1000 notes remain legal tender until December 31, 2023.

The supreme court faulted the policy of the CBN, saying the timing and implementation were defective.

Speaking with journalists after the ruling of the apex court on Friday, the Kaduna governor reiterated that the policy was designed to prevent the All Progressives Congress (APC) from winning the elections.

A full court of seven justices gave a unanimous judgement 7-0 that all our prayers to the court have been accepted. This is a victory for Nigerians, el-Rufai said.

But this policy which was designed and targeted at a political party and its candidates has brought hardship on our people, this is why the three of us took the decision to come to the supreme court.

We are APC members, the president of Nigeria is from the APC, but we disagreed with him on this policy and its implementation and when we tried everything to settle this behind closed doors, we had no option but to come to the supreme court.

We are very grateful to the court for this unanimous decision and the orders it has given to the Federal Government of Nigeria to ensure that from today to the 31st of December 2023, the old naira notes of all denominations shall continue to circulate with the new naira notes. That is the major decision of the supreme court.

The other decision of the supreme court is that the policy of currency confiscation where you deposit money in the bank and the bank chooses what to give you is unlawful and illegal.

Nigerians can go to the bank and collect whatever they have deposited and get on with their lives.

Those that said we went to the court because of elections are wrong. We went to court because our people in our states are suffering and businesses in our states are coming to a halt, lives were being destroyed, thats why we went to court.

We left elections in the hands of God and we all know the result. Although this policy was designed to ensure that we did not give them the essential edge in the elections, we have won.




Human rights activist, Ebun-Olu Adegboruwa has expressed disappointment over the conduct of Nigerias presidential poll.





The presidential election of February 25, 2023 cannot be portrayed as a worthy legacy for our dear country, the Senior Advocate declared in a statement sent to newsmen.





Adegboruwa berated the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, over administrative and logistical inadequacies.





The legal luminary recalled that for the general election, funding was provided ahead of time to enable the umpire create a free, fair and credible process.





He lamented cases of intimidation, harassment of voters, corruption of the process, manipulation of results by politicians, among others.





Adegboruwa said the constitution made it clear that sovereignty belongs to Nigerians, thus the legitimacy of any government belongs to the people through their votes.





To this end, no legitimacy can spring forth from any process that is devoid of transparency and accountability.





Threat to voters, physical injury and even death in some cases, all indicate some form of deliberate design to compromise the electoral process of the last presidential election.





The statement said the electoral process has not gained any advantage from the robust efforts of well-meaning Nigerians, leading to the enactment of the Electoral Act, 2022.





It added that INEC has a big burden to demonstrate integrity, accountability and transparent adherence to the laws regulating the electoral process and its own guidelines.





Noting that the desire for peace and progress can only be achieved through the pursuit of truth and justice, Adegboruwa advised aggrieved persons to embrace legitimate avenues to achieve lawful remedies.




Police Detectives attached to the Egbeda Police Division in Emohua Local Government Area of Rivers State have arrested an alleged repentant cultist identified as James, over the death of two people in Ubimini Community last weekend.





James, who is popularly called Cross and Die, is alleged to be the mastermind of the crisis that erupted in Ubimini community during the Presidential and National Assembly elections, which led to the death of a pregnant woman, Ruth Osage and a member of a local vigilante group, Mark Orduize.





The President of Ubimini Youth Council, Ikechukwu Wordu confirmed the development to newsmen.





He said James, who is a repentant cultist, went back to his old life, and was arrested following credible intelligence.





He is currently being detained at Egbeda Police Division.





Wordu accused James of recruiting and arming boys for nefarious activities in the community, which led to his attempted arrest by members of the local vigilante and the death of a pregnant woman.





The Public Relations Officer of the Rivers State Police command, SP Grace Iringe-Koko is yet to react to the development.





Iringe-Koko had confirmed the killing in Ubimini, on Saturday 25 February, during the Presidential and National Assembly elections.





She assured that efforts were being made to bring the perpetrators to justice, but stated that the death had no connection with election violence.
Former Aviation Minister, Femi Fani-Kayode has criticized the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, presidential candidate, Atiku Abubakar over his reaction to the outcome of the 2023 presidential election.

Fani-Kayode described Atiku as hopelessly delusional.

Atiku had lost the election to Bola Tinubu of the All Progressives Congress, APC, who polled the highest votes.

The PDP presidential candidate had 6,984,520, while polled Tinubu 8,794,726 votes to emerge winner of the presidential election.

Irked by his defeat, Atiku had vowed to contest the outcome of the election in court.

Addressing a press conference yesterday, Atiku vowed to reclaim his alleged stolen mandate in court.

Reacting, Fani-Kayode assured Atiku that he would be crushed in court.

In a tweet, Fani-Kayode wrote: I have never seen a man that is as hopelessly delusional as @atiku. I watched his press conference & laughed.

He says he is going to court & I say the sooner the better. I commend him for that. That is his right. Be rest assured that he will meet a crushing defeat there too.
Mrs Aisha Buhari, wife of the President, on Thursday, described the victory of Senator Bola Tinubu in the recently concluded presidential election as the will of God.





Aisha also expressed confidence that Tinubu will not betray the trust and confidence Nigerians reposed in him.

The First Lady spoke when she received the wife of the President-elect, Sen. Oluremi Tinubu, and the wife of the Vice President-elect, Hajiya Nana Shettima, on a thank-you visit to the Presidential Villa, Abuja.

Aisha said: Regardless of our interests and diversity, we should all accept it as a will of Almighty God; we would not have done it without his grace.

Its a victory for all Nigerians. Im optimistic that the President-Elect will not betray the trust and confidence that Nigerians reposed in him. Its now time to move on and focus on the path of a renewed hope for Nigerian women and youths.

So, my sister, we count on your experience and interest in promoting the cause of women, youths and girl-child education.

She added, I pray that come May 29, your position as first lady will be marked with joy and continued success.

Tinubu was announced the winner of the February 25 presidential poll on Wednesday morning.

He defeated the main opposition candidates, Peoples Democratic Party, PDPs Atiku Abubakar and Labour Partys Peter Obi and New Nigeria Peoples Party, NNPPs Rabiu Kwankwaso.

The former Lagos State governor received his Certificate of Return in Abuja on Wednesday.
The Labour Party (LP) presidential candidate in the just concluded election, Peter Obi, has filed a suit at the Presidential Election Petition Tribunal, Abuja, against the declaration of Bola Ahmed Tinubu of the All Progressives Congress, APC, as the winner by the electoral commission.

Our correspondent sighted the petition marked CA/PEC/02m/2023 with Peter Obi, Labour Party, LP as plaintiff, while the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, Bola Tinubu, and the All Progressives Congress are the defendants.

Recall that the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, declared Tinubu as having won the presidential election on Wednesday. The electoral body had also issued Tinubu the certificate of return.

However, Obi declared he won the 2023 presidential election.

According to him, he was robbed of his mandate, which he can only retrieve in a court of law.

Recall that the former Anambra State governor spoke on Thursday in a world press conference.

Well explore all legal options to retrieve our mandate. We won the election. Im fully committed to a better future for the country, and nothing can stop that, he said.
The president-elect, Bola Tinubu has reacted to the statement made by the presidential candidate of the Labour Party, LP, Mr Peter Obi.

Obi, during a press conference on Thursday, argued that he won the just concluded presidential election.

In a statement signed by the Director of Public Affairs and Chief Spokesperson, Tinubu/Shettima Presidential Campaign Council, Festus Keyamo advised the former governor of Anambra State to stop misleading the gullible, noting that Tinubu won the election and not him.

According to him: We make this brief statement in reaction to the Press briefing held earlier today by the defeated candidate of the Labour Party, Mr. Peter Obi, wherein (in his now well-acknowledged penchant for spewing falsehood) he made the outlandish claim before the world that he won the 2023 Presidential Election, but he was robbed of the victory.

Having been officially declared winner of the 2023 Presidential Election by the Independent National Electoral Commission and having received his Certificate of Return (along with his Vice-President Elect), the President-Elect, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu would have ignored this continuous false claims being peddled by Mr. Peter Obi and his supporters. But we recognise his motive of doing this is to simply delegitimise the mandate freely given to the President-Elect by majority of Nigerians.

Mr. Peter Obi is always quick to cite some isolated incidents of irregularities outside his strongholds that could not have SUBSTANTIALLY affected the outcome of the results in those areas, whereas he DELIBERATELY fails to comment on tons and tons of evidence circulating everywhere wherein his supporters in his strongholds engaged in thuggery, hooliganism, violence and outright falsification of figures against our Party and our supporters. He pretends to play the victim, whereas he is the greatest culprit in this game of brickbats.

Mr. Peter Obi knows HE COULD NOT HAVE won having played the most divisive religious politics in our history and the pattern of the votes clearly show that; Mr. Obi KNOWS HE COULD NOT HAVE WON having broken out as a fragment of the main opposition, the PDP and all he could hope for was to harvest a portion of the votes of PDP in a section of the country and the results do NOT tell a lie; Mr. Obi knows HE COULD NOT HAVE WON, when he presented himself as a tribal candidate and was only campaigning in settlements of his tribesmen in other States outside the South East instead of appealing to all and sundry; Mr. Obi knows he could not have won having joined the Labour Party few months ago and bought the ticket of the Party without valid Primaries and thereby polarised his party; Mr. Peter Obi KNOWS HE DID NOT WIN because he did not even fulfil the minimum requirement of our constitution which requires a spread of 25 percent in two-thirds of the States of the Federation. He did not come close. With his divisive rhetorics, he could not have ever come close.

It is also ludicrous that Mr. Peter Obi is laying claim to victory along with his new-found partner, the PDP, that is also laying claim to victory. I tweeted this morning, thus: This is the first time in my entire life that I am seeing people who came 2nd and 3rd in an exam both claiming they took first and then agreeing to protest together to the examiner to record that both of them took first, yet they are not seeing the contradiction in their actions. We stand by that comment.

The President-Elect, ASIWAJU Bola Ahmed Tinubu has extended a hand of fellowship to his defeated opponents, including Mr. Peter Obi to join hands with him in nation-building.

Mr. Peter Obi should embrace that hand of fellowship and brotherhood by the President-elect as a committed patriot instead of engaging in this crass grandstanding
South Africa: Murder of traditional leaders an attack on the State, says Dube-Ncube

KwaZulu-Natal Premier, Nomusa Dube-Ncube, says the killing of traditional leaders and Izinduna is an attack on the State, as it threatens to destabilise an institution critical to the stability and order of society.

It is also a symptom of the poison that has entered the core of our societal values, where crime has become the order of the day and where murders go unresolved, Dube-Ncube said

Dube-Ncube said in a meeting with the South African Police Service in January 2022, it emerged that the police are investigating 51 murder cases going back to 2012, and to-date, 30 people have been arrested, while 18 cases are still pending in court.

In two of these cases, the accused were found guilty. Six remain undetected, Dube-Ncube said.

Briefing media following a Provincial Executive Council (EXCO) meeting, Dube-Ncube said possible motives behind the killings of traditional leaders include the struggle for chieftaincy, land disputes, family disputes and even taxi-related disputes.

She said the province of KwaZulu-Natal takes the safety and security of Amakhosi and Izinduna seriously, and during meetings with Provincial Commissioner, Lieutenant-General Nhlanhla Mkhwanazi, EXCO made it clear that all stops must be pulled to end these murders.

We have asked that the Security Cluster explore the feasibility of setting up specialised units such as a Traditional Leaders' Safety Unit, whose task will be to look after the safety of traditional leaders, especially those whose assessments reveal a security threat. We have many traditional leaders who have mobilised safety committees in their areas to work with police in the fight against crime.

As announced in the State of the Province Address, we as the province through the Department of Community Safety and Liaison, we are establishing the Community Safety Intervention Unit which will focus on the safety of Amakhosi and Izinduna.

This unit will conduct security analysis on Amakhosi and Izinduna; engage with law enforcement agencies to facilitate deployments and investigations. It will recommend tactical security measures to be taken and monitor intervention plans working with the SAPS, Dube-Ncube said.

The Premier reiterated a call on all traditional leaders to collaborate and support government, as we seek together to build a better KwaZulu-Natal for all.

Backdated pay for Izinduna

Meanwhile, the Premier announced that the provincial government will start disbursing the funds for qualifying Izinduna, and they are going to receive their back pay.

She said the matter has been outstanding for quite some time and government has been seized with the task, not only restoring the dignity of traditional leadership institutions, but also adequately resourcing them as a way of affirming the role of traditional leadership institutions as a critical pillar of the systems of governance.

We are moved by the fact that we have had a number of Izinduna who have passed on, who have been working with government to ensure the payment of Izinduna, even those that have passed on, receive their backdated payment.

KwaZulu-Natal Treasury and the Department of Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs together with the Office of the Premier have been seized with this matter and had several engagements with national government with a view to making available the funds to meet this obligation, Dube-Ncube said.

She said the province has about 2 229 Izinduna and are the majority in the country.  SAnews.gov.za

This story has been published on: 2023-03-03. To contact the author, please use the contact details within the article.
Spring brings cherry blossom back to Wuhan University

(People's Daily App) 15:19, March 03, 2023

Cherry blossom returned to Wuhan University campus on Saturday. The university beside East Lake and Luojia Mountain promotes itself as China's most beautiful university.

There are more than 10 cherry blossom trees of six different varieties on campus. The main variety is the dwarf cherry blossom tree.

(Produced by Luo Jie and Dong Feng)

(Web editor: Zhang Kaiwei, Liang Jun)
IN SHORT: The Kenyan government is ramping up its tax collection efforts, but rumours that Sacco dividends will be taxed 15%, up from 5%, are not true.

According to a claim circulating on Facebook, Sacco dividends earned in Kenya are now attracting a 15% tax, having risen from a 5% rate previously.

"It's just pointless to save in this country!" reads one post.

Sacco is an abbreviation for savings and credit co-operative. Saccos are member-owned financial institutions that offer both savings and credit services to their members.

Since assuming office in August 2022, William Ruto's government has been under pressure to reduce the high cost of living, amid criticism of a proposal to raise taxes and cut costs.

In a bid to cut down on borrowing, the Kenyan government has been ramping up its tax collection, including considering monitoring mobile money transactions. The national treasury also wants to raise the price of excise stamps, also known as sin tax, which will see a rise in prices of excisable goods, such as alcohol and cigarettes.

The claim has been posted here, here, here, here, here, here, here and here.

But has the tax rate for Sacco dividends risen to 15% from 5%? We checked.

Resident tax rate for dividends remains 5%

According to Kenya's Income Tax Act 2021, the resident tax rate for dividends is 5% of the amount payable, but 15% for non-residents. This is an unchanged tax regimen for Sacco dividends.

To confirm the actual taxes, Africa Check reached out to Safaricom Sacco, Sheria Sacco and Mhasibu Sacco to ask how much their Sacco members were taxed on their dividends.

The three Saccos confirmed that the withholding tax rate remains the same, as stipulated in the 2021 Tax Act.
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PLANS to form the Russia-Zimbabwe Business Council (RZBC) which will foster synergies between the two countries' private sectors are currently underway, Industry Minister, Sekai Nzenza revealed Thursday.

The United Nations COMTRADE database on international trade states that in the year 2021 alone, Russia exported goods worth US$7, 92 million with a huge chunk of the export bill dominated by fertilisers.

In the reverse, Zimbabwe's exports to Russia currently stands at US$5.66 Million during 2021 amid market considerations that with deepened ties, trade between the two countries could be multiplied taking advantage of the cordial relations.

Speaking during a meeting with Russia's Economic Relations Minister of the Sverdlovsk Region of Yarin Vyacheslav who is currently on three days long visit to the Southern Africa nation, Nzenza revealed plans to form the high-level council.

"The formation of a Russia-Zimbabwe Business Council is in the pipeline and this initiative will go a long way in enhancing the level of economic cooperation between our two countries.

"The Government of Zimbabwe supports such boldness from the private sector, and we would want to see through the success of such efforts.

"It is our fervent hope, that the RZBC will help foster synergies amongst our private sectors as they explore and harness business and investment opportunities that are in Zimbabwe and Russia," she said.

She underscored that Zimbabwe's thrust is on industrialisation that facilitates value addition and beneficiation by transforming value chains such as leather, cotton, and horticulture as clearly outlined under the National Development Strategy (NDS1) 2021-2025.

The Industry Minister recalled that during her visit to the Sverdlovsk Region, she noticed that it is one of the biggest producers of hybrid machinery for industrial and mechanical use on the back of rising two-way trade between Russia and Zimbabwe stressing the need for beneficial cooperation.

"Our sincere hope is that we will have more Russian business players coming to set up assembly plants for machinery and equipment here in Zimbabwe, a country that is strategically positioned to service the whole of Southern Africa and beyond.

"Zimbabwe is a member of the AfCFTA which presents an opportunity for any company to produce here and export to any part of Africa duty free," added Nzenza.
What is more luxurious than reclining in a warm bathtub, surrounded by a mountain range of fragrant foam, while sipping from a glittering flute of Champagne?

And what is more enchantingly absurd than watching a fleet of rolling tubs occupied by luxuriating women, motoring through the city streets in the midst of a Carnival parade?

Two weeks ago, Les Bonnes Vivantes, which translates roughly as those who enjoy good living, charmed crowds along the Krewe of Muses parade, leaving drifting bubbles, hand-decorated Champagne glasses, and a craving for more information in their wake.

Who were these bathing beauties? How did their tubs seem to drift so smoothly along? And, most importantly, is there room for more members?

Dim the lights, drop another bath bomb, dear readers, and prepare for elucidation.

It was 2021 and Metairie native Anne-Marie Crifasi Riley was jealous. Her boyfriend belonged to the popular Laissez Boys, a group of languid gentlemen who participate in Mardi Gras parades in the comfort of motorized, lamp-lit reclining chairs.

Wouldnt it be fun, Riley thought, if there was a female answer to the Laissez Boys concept. Searching her mind for a tongue-in-cheek analog to the Boys relaxed, smoking jacket, cigar, and-brandy snifter aesthetic, she hit on the concept of the mobile bathtub.

After a few cocktails, Riley recalls, I said somebody needs to do this.

After a few more cocktails, I said, Ill do it!

And thus, like Venus emerging from the frothy sea, the Bonnes Vivantes parade element was born.

Riley, who was a medical equipment salesperson at the time, enlisted female pals to join the nascent club. The members, she said, are mostly professionals and entrepreneurs whose demanding lives put relaxation at a premium.

Riley said that joining the group, just like taking a long, quiet bath after a hard day, is one of those rare just for me indulgences among the women.
Sounds good. Swiping a card is convenient

I just hope tech problems won't back up the lines

Cash is easy. I don't see why they can't accept both

I'd rather the vendor get all my money instead of the credit card companies

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The New Orleans City Council Thursday passed the first measure in in a series of reforms to the citys residential short-term rental rules as it rushes to meet a court-imposed deadline set for the end of the month.

The council passed a zoning motion, which is the first step toward getting rid of city regulations deemed unconstitutional and replacing them with new ones.

Last August, the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals struck down a key part of the short-term rental rules the city passed in 2019. The court said a provision requiring property owners in residential areas to live full-time on a lot in order to operate a short-term rental was unconstitutional because it discriminated against out-of-state property owners.

Thats left the council with a limited amount of time to come up with new rules on a hot-button issue that significantly impacts the citys housing market and residents quality of life.

There is absolutely no way to solve this issue in light of the Fifth Circuit decision thats not going to result in pain for somebody, Council President JP Morrell said. There is no solution that this council can do legally that is not going to pick winners and losers and result in somebody being on the losing end of this conversation.

The motion passed Thursday would let an operator live on-site at a property with a short-term rental in lieu of an owner. An amendment by Council Members Eugene Green, Oliver Thomas and Joe Giarrusso would cap the number of short-term rentals at one per square block, a stricter limit than the City Planning Commissions recommendation of one per block face. Bed and breakfasts would also count toward the short-term rental cap.

The council was divided on the amendment, but ultimately passed it 4-3, with Morrell, Vice President Helena Moreno and Council Member Freddie King voting against it.

Morrell said at the meeting that he was "very conflicted on capping the number of short-term rentals but ultimately said he wouldnt support the measure without a trial-run to see if the city has the capacity to even enforcing those caps.

It would not be appropriate to consider it in a vacuum, he said.

Though in recent months the city has ramped up its staff to crack down on illegal operators, there are still a significant number of illegal short-term rentals in the city.

Almost every single email Ive gotten is: Enforcement has to be better, more comprehensive, Giarrusso said.

Morrell said the council would discuss more details about new penalties for short-term rentals and how the city will enforce them in the other two meetings it will have on the issue later this month.

That could include a three strikes system where repeat offending properties would get a four-year ban. If that offense was a partial home short-term illegally operating a whole-home short-term rental, theyd get a ban on the first strike.

Moreno also said she'd be open to possible exceptions to having a max of one short-term rental per square block should a potential short-term rental operator have the support of neighbors.

Morrell withdrew an amendment that would have required short-term rental owners and operators to post a two foot by two foot sign in their yards with their contact information. Many short-term rental owners voiced privacy and safety concerns with that provision.

Morrell said hed look into alternatives, like having a sign with a QR code instead that would link to a public dashboard of short-term rentals in the city. The QR code language is certainly something that can be a great compromise, he said.

Though the council passed a motion Thursday, nothing is set in stone. The next step is to pass two ordinances, which will be discussed on Tuesday, March 14, and need to be passed at the Thursday, March 23 meeting. The council can amend both ordinances along the way.

For New Orleans residents, many who are at risk of being unable to afford to live in the city, the stakes are high. Thomas said he worries that if the city doesnt solve its affordable housing crisis, its population will continue to decline.

The only way to stabilize this city is to get it where people want to stay here, work here and be able to afford to live here, Thomas said. This is our greatest test moving forward.

It looks like New Orleans is finally starting to enforce short-term rental rules The city has sent 670 letters to property owners over potential violations, with an estimated 2,000 or more properties expected to be in the queue.
A New Orleans magistrate judge on Thursday set a $2.8 million bond for a convicted felon accused in a brutal shooting on I-10 that killed an Uber driver and his passenger and injured three others.

Prosecutors had sought a bond of $1.3 million for 33-year-old Tyree Quinn, who police say opened fire on a black Dodge near the intersection of Bundy Road in New Orleans East.

Magistrate Commissioner Jay Daniels, however, more than doubled that amount, setting his bail at $1.5 million for two second-degree murder counts, $1.2 million for three counts of attempted second-degree murder, and another $100,000 for other charges.

A week prior, Daniels doubled prosecutors' bond request for Mansour Mbodj, 21, who allegedly shot into the crowd during the Bacchus parade on Feb. 19, killing one person and wounding four others. Mbodj was slammed with a $1 million bail instead of the $500,000 requested by the Orleans Parish District Attorney's Office.

In both cases, Daniels said the suspects posed a grave threat to the public.

"After the vehicle containing the decedents was struck, it traveled into lanes of travel and hit other innocent folks," Daniels said. "I find Quinn's alleged activities, along with his co-perpetrators, to be recklessness in the highest order. The bond set reflects the danger Mr. Quinn poses to community."

At the time of the Feb. 20 interstate shooting, Quinn was out on $250,000 bail in connection with charges of armed robbery with a gun, being a felon with a gun, possession of a stolen car and hit-and-run driving. His ankle monitor allowed police to peg him at the scene of the shooting and track his whereabouts in the following days.
President Paul Kagame on March 2 appointed Ildephonse Musafiri as the new Minister of Agriculture and Animal Resources, replacing Gerardine Mukeshimana. Musafiri previously served as the Minister of State in the same ministry.

The Head of State also appointed Telesphore Ndabamenye, as the Director General of Rwanda Agriculture and Animal Resources Development Board (RAB). He replaces Alexandre Rutikanga.

In the new appointments made in the Agriculture sector, Clarrisse Umutoni was also appointed as chief financial officer at RAB.
UPCOMING harmonized elections and the contentious Private Voluntary Organisation (PVO) bill topped the agenda of the engagement between Zimbabwe and the United States of America with the delegation proffering concern for the proposed law.

Zimbabwe's minister of foreign affairs Fredrick Shava held a closed meeting with visiting US Deputy Assistant Secretary of State in the Bureau of African Affairs, Robert Scott as the latter began his series of engagements.

Addressing the media after the engagement Scott said the envoy expressed concern over the proposed PVO bill that is awaiting presidential approval to become law.

"I just wanted to say that it was important to have this dialogue today. We spoke about the upcoming elections. We all agreed on the need for non-violence for leaders to continue to call for clear, transparent elections and we spoke about the PVO bill and some of the concerns that we expressed on that," said Scott.

The PVO bill recently sailed through the national assembly and upper house without hiccups.

Calls have been growing from civic society for President Emmerson Mnangagwa not to append his signature on the bill.

The PVO bill is perceived a hindrance in the running of non-governmental organisations as it will grant government power to interfere in their affairs.

Scott's visit coincided with the renewal of economic sanctions by the US and European Union.

However he was mum on the embargo when quizzed by the press.

Shava said the visit by Scott provides a platform for Zimbabwe and US to deliberate on the relationship between two countries which has been frosty since early 2000s.

"We thank you for the warm welcome that was extended to me when I attended the US-Africa summit in December last year. That visit was a very positive step in the trajectory of our relations and I see your visit which closely follows the convening of US-Africa leaders' summit in the same light as that to your country. It is significant as it affords our two countries an opportunity to share ideas on issues of mutual interest," said Shava.

Scott will wind up his visit Friday after meeting members of Civic society and the opposition parties.
Benin midfielder Hassane Imourane says the Cheetahs were not lucky when they lost to Senegal in the quarter-finals of the TotalEnergies U-20 Africa Cup of Nations in Cairo.

Samba Diallo headed Senegal into the semi-finals six minutes into the second half of the closely contested match.

The young midfielder was named the TotalEnergies Man of the Match for his strong performance against the impressive Teranga Cubs of Malick Daf.

"It was a very strong match from the two teams but unfortunately we were not lucky and we suffered a defeat," Hassane Imourane told journalists.

"It is good that I won the Man of the Match award but I cannot be happy after the defeat."

The Cheetahs defended well in the first half to restrict the Senegalese forwards but they failed to threaten Landing Badji in the Teranga Cubs goal.

"The team put in a very strong performance but in the end success was in favour of Senegal and they qualify for the semi-finals," Hassane added.
EXTERNAL auditors exposed the alleged underhand dealings involving the sale of commonage stands belonging to Delatfin Civil Engineering by the company's finance director Jacob Muyambo and two Harare car dealers, Amos Kagona and Saymore Mutakura, the head of Deltafin testified yesterday.

Testifying in the trial where the three are charged with fraud, Delatfin Civil Engineering director Mr Felix Munyaradzi said he smelt a rat after Muyambo presented a report to him over the stands.

Mr Munyaradzi said Muyambo had claimed that all was in order before he invited in external auditors.

"I was briefed by the accountant and I had to hire external auditors. External auditors told me that there were some stolen stands and they had not been paid for," he said.

Mr Munyaradzi then invited Mutakura to his offices to explain the findings of the external auditors and he visited the office four times, but their meetings yielded nothing, which prompted him to take the matter to the police.

Mr Munyaradzi told the court that it was not the first time that Muyambo had stolen from his company, as he was once arrested before he dropped the charges against him.

"I had a good working relationship with them. He once stole from me and I dropped the charges. "He (Muyambo) stole a house from me and changed ownership into his name. He later returned the property," he said.

Muyambo, who was represented by lawyer Mrs Rekayi Maphosa denied the charges saying his arrest was as a result of Mr Munyaradzi, who wanted revenge for Muyambo testifying against him sometime in 2018.

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Muyambo was State witness whose evidence was considered crucial in a prosecution of Mr Munyaradzi in 2018.

Muyambo told the court that he worked at Delatfin as a professional assistant to Mr Munyaradzi and he has no powers to supervise anyone, let alone give instructions. He denied knowing Kagona and Mutakura saying he was introduced to them by Mr Munyaradzi.

Kagona and Mutakura, who were represented by Mrs G Sithole, told the court that they were not privy to how stands were allocated at Delatfin and did not know what were called commonage stands.

"The Court will be told that Mr Munyaradzi agreed and authorized barter trade transactions to be entered with car dealers and other commodity suppliers who would exchange cars, cattle and other immovable properties among other things," they said.

They told the court that they would barter trade the cars in exchange for residential stands, which they would sell for cash when trading with third parties.

Kagona and Mutakura claimed that the purchasers of the stands would conduct a due diligence with Delatfin in person or through their agencies.

"The Court will be told that on other occasions accused 2 and 3 would find clients for Delatfin who would become purchasers and accused 2 and 3 would be given residential stands as commission," they claimed.

Kagona and Mutakura told the court that all the agreements of sale were signed by Mr Munyaradzi personally.

They are expected back in court on March 6.

Magistrate Stanford Mambanje presided while Mr Tafara Chirambira appeared for the State.
Domestic tourism in Zimbabwe will increase as fastjet Zimbabwe welcomed the first of three Embraer 120, a 30-seater aircraft, to its Harare base.

The arrival of the first of three Embraer 120 aircraft will be used to operate domestic flights to Kariba and Hwange National Park in Zimbabwe.

fastjet spokesperson Mr Nunurai Ndawana said the new routes will bring the domestic destinations that the airline operates in Zimbabwe to five after Harare, Victoria Falls and Bulawayo offering customers seamless connections to Zimbabwe's top domestic tourism destinations.

"We are delighted to welcome this aircraft to serve our domestic new routes to Kariba and Hwange National Park," he said.

"Air connectivity is a key enabler for tourism development, and we continue to demonstrate our commitment to the development of tourism in Zimbabwe and the region.

"We are finalising our preparations for the launch of flights to Kariba and Hwange National Park.

"The arrival of this aircraft will see us concluding the mandatory regulatory processes in operating flights to these strategic destinations in the development of tourism in Zimbabwe.

"In preparation for these route launches the aircraft will operate a series of ad-hoc charter flights around Zimbabwe ahead of the full scheduled launch."

The new flights are available for booking via the fastjet website, App and the usual online trade portals.

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Airports Companies of Zimbabwe public relations and communications manager Mr Tonderai Mangombe said the introduction of new aircraft destinations by fastjet was a boost in domestic tourism.

"We have eight airports in Zimbabwe of which five are small airports not being serviced by scheduled operations and the coming in of this Embraer 120 is good news to us. We are going to use all our airports and this is evidence.

"They have announced that they will be starting services on March 23 to Kariba and Hwange but now seeing the aircraft already on the ground and it shows their seriousness to operate. We are excited as the Airports Company of Zimbabwe," he said.

fastjet is a multi-award winning African airline that began flight operations in 2012.

The airline will connects five centres in Zimbabwe by flying between Harare and Victoria Falls, Harare and Bulawayo, Harare and Kariba, Victoria Falls and Hwange National Park and Victoria Falls to Kariba.

In addition, fastjet offers international flights from Harare, Bulawayo and Victoria Falls to Johannesburg in South Africa, and from Victoria Falls to Mbombela (Kruger), Nelspruit, Mpumalanga in South Africa and Maun in Botswana.
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When he was in high school, he admired actors and aspired to be one someday. Fortunately, Ronald Junior Shema's dreams came true in 2019 when he met renowned local comedian Nyaxo, and everything has since changed.

"After graduating from high school in 2017, I considered how I could pursue comedy as a career. While I was in Tanzania, I texted Nyaxo on Instagram, and we agreed to meet when I returned to Rwanda. I first met him on a Saturday in Nyamirambo, and we have been working together ever since," Shema said.

Born on November 16, 1999, Shema, commonly known by RamyBoy is among the talented young comedians in the local scene, mostly known for 'Nyaxo Comedy', a series that he is part of.

He recalls that since joining the comedy series, it has been an amazing experience and makes a living out of comedy. His participation in the comedy series brought him opportunities to perform in Burundi and Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC).

"I envision myself developing professionally and assuming more responsibilities within the team over the next five years. I've improved my acting abilities in this field in the previous few years. I'll be juggling career and family life because I want to start a family in a few years," said RamyBoy.

As someone part of the comedy industry in Rwanda, RamyBoy believes that the comedy sector has greatly developed significantly in recent years, largely due to the ease with which viewers may access them unlike before, enabling the actors to support themselves through their profession.

He has only been acting in the Nyaxo series on a contract that runs out in 2024. Besides acting he is also a gamer and hopes that the field will grow in future.
Northwest HealthPorter hospital in Valparaiso recently honored its team members of the year.

The hospital honored exceptional team members who were nominated by their peers for their performance and service to the community.

Northwest Health CEO Ashley Dickinson said the health care system aims to celebrate its caregivers. She said the annual awards have become a special tradition that reinforces Northwest Health's priority of delivering quality care and great experience for patients.

Id like to congratulate each of our team members of the year and thank them for their ongoing dedication to compassionate, quality care, said Dickinson. We value their commitment to excellence and are proud to have each of them as part of our Northwest Health team.

Northwest HealthPorter honored Clinical Liason and Lead Educator Kelli Bos, a registered nurse, as Team Member of the Year.

Bos was recognized by peers as someone who "makes others feel completely comfortable and one that helps build their confidence" and who "makes her team members and the organization better each and every day," according to Northwest Health.

Northwest Health Director of Facilities Joe Ortt was named Non-Clinical Manager of the Year-Porter. He coordinates staff to tackle ongoing maintenance issues at large healthcare facilities. The hospital recognized him for "stepping into a large leadership role this past year and immediately working to make it better" and for being "dedicated in supporting his team and patient care, while continuously advocating for quality and safety."

Manager of Diagnostic Imaging Melissa Rainwater was named Clinical Manager of the Year-Porter.

"She is actively known throughout the organization as a friend, upstanding co-worker and great leader," Northwest Health said in a press release. "She has been described as 'supportive to her team and the organization while eager to learn new things.' Another team member stated she is kind, compassionate, trustworthy, and offers great feedback, which leads to her being well respected by all staff, peers, physicians and leadership."

For more information, visit www.NWHealthIN.com.
ArcelorMittal reached a tentative deal with a German automotive supplier to provide low carbon-emissions steel for cars and trucks.

The Luxembourg-based steelmaker, whose North American headquarters is in Schererville and which operates ArcelorMittal Global R&D in East Chicago, signed a memorandum of understanding with Kirchhoff Automotive, which supplies metal and hybrid structures for automotive bodies and chassis.

Steelmakers, especially those that burn coke in blast furnaces, have faced a growing amount of pressure to reduce carbon emissions as governments around the world work to fight climate change. ArcelorMittal aims to become net zero by 2050.

ArcelorMittal reached an understanding on a project that would put recycled steel made with renewable electricity in high-strength car parts that Kirchhoff Automotive supplies to automotive companies in Europe, Asia and North America.

It would supply the Usibor it formerly made at its integrated mills in Northwest Indiana but is now produced at a minimill in Spain that results in a 70% lower carbon footprint.

ArcelorMittal, a multinational that divested most of its North American production capacity in 2020, is looking to decarbonize its steelmaking in Europe, where it seeks to reduce its CO2 emissions by 35% by 2030.

It's getting state funding for decarbonization projects in Spain and Germany and pursuing similar products in Belgium and France.

I am delighted that, together with the world's leading steel producer, ArcelorMittal, we will be taking a further and decisive step toward more sustainable mobility. With our body-in-white solutions, we ensure safe mobility, thanks in particular to the high strength of special steel grades," Kirchhoff Automotive CEO Wolfgang Kirchhoff said. "The future use of low carbon-emissions steel will enable us to make production significantly more sustainable, as 90% of our carbon footprint is currently determined by the use of conventionally produced steel and aluminum. Based on the orders for upcoming vehicle generations from international car manufacturers, we see that the demand for such safe and sustainable body-in-white parts will increase strongly in the coming years."

ArcelorMittal's customers like Kirchhoff automotive have been looking to reduce greenhouse gas emissions in their own supply chain.

Kirchhoff Automotive is a widely respected company both here in Germany, and worldwide, so ArcelorMittal Europe-Flat Products is very pleased to have further strengthened our relationship with them through the signing of the memorandum of understanding," said Yves Koeberle, CEO of ArcelorMittal Europe-Flat Products. "The agreement will guide the work we are doing to expand the use of low carbon-emissions steel in complex, highly engineered vehicle parts. We will also work with them on other vital sustainability topics as a result of the memorandum of understanding, specifically steels role in the circular economy.
A new history book is the first to chronicle the Latino experience in Indiana on a state level, including its "historical epicenter" in the Calumet Region.

Northwest Indiana native Nicole Martinez-LeGrand and Daniel Gonzales wrote "Hoosier Latinos: A Century of Struggle, Service and Success," which was recently published by the Indiana Historical Society Press. It's meant to be used in classrooms and comes with an accompanying educational guide.

It covers a significant amount of Northwest Indiana history, particularly from East Chicago, where the state's first Mexican community settled. The book begins and ends with a photo of Maria del Refugio Ramirez, East Chicago's first Fiestas Patrias Queen in 1926.

Fiestas Patrias is East Chicago's annual celebration of Mexican Independence Day in which a parade marches across the city.

"The Fiestas Patrias parade has its roots beginning in 1923, one record the first large scale parade began in 1924, the queen tradition in 1926. I grew up attending this parade and one year I was in the parade as a 7-year-old in the 1980s," Martinez-LeGrand said.

"This is Indianas longest Hispanic Hoosier tradition. The queen tradition is a special point of pride among a select group of Northwest Indiana women. Marias daughter Sandra Valdez was one of my interviewees and she brought several photos of her mother as queen. These photos had never been exhibited publicly before. I was completely stunned when she presented them to me. It was easy to select this image as the cover image for the book, I wanted the Latino community of Indiana to see themselves represented in a position of regality and pride, surrounded by their community."

She and Gonzales sought to fill in historical gaps in the record for the Indiana Historical Society. Since 1830, the nonprofit has collected books, letters, diaries, transcripts, photos and organizational documents that outline Hoosier history. It also serves as "Indiana's Storyteller," operating a museum in downtown Indianapolis, publishing works of state history and putting out local history blogs.

"After 186 years of existence and an examination of the voices we were missing, I was hired on a grant to help fill in the historical gap of Indianas largest growing ethnic populations  Latino and Asian," she said. "I then launched and spearheaded their Multicultural Collecting Initiative, traveling the state and connecting with organization, families, and individuals.

"I primarily conducted audio-recorded oral history interviews, [with] private photographs or items to illustrate the interview. Items were digitally scanned or are permanently housed in our public archives. The Latino and Asian communities had historically retrospective exhibits as part of our Be Heard exhibit series, in 2018 and 2019. Each spanned a century of history in Indiana, establishing them as Hoosier centennial communities."

No one previously set out to chronicle Latino history statewide in Indiana, Martinez-LeGrand said. All the books on Hoosier Latinos were more narrow in scope.

"This is the first book to document the Latino experience on a statewide level. Other great books have been written but only focus on select areas or time period. This book illustrates local, regional, national policies and laws that have shaped this history in Indiana and the United States."

Hispanics made up more than 8% of Indiana's population in 2020 U.S. census. It was one of the fastest-growing groups, increasing by 42.2% over the past decade, according to the Census Bureau.

"Latinos and Hispanics are the largest and fastest-growing population in the United States and in Indiana. It became clear to me that a lot of people in Indiana did not know the history of this community in the state," she said.

"Growing up in Hammond and in the Northwest Indiana area, I had little to no knowledge of my own history in this state. It was not until I was a young adult in college that I slowly began to realize that no one else knew either. The general understanding of Latino and Hispanic history in Indiana existed on the spectrum of farmworker on one end or as foreigner on the other, with little context in between."

The Region has long been a destination for Latino immigrants seeking opportunity and a center of Latino culture in the state.

Martinez-LeGrand's paternal great-grandparents ran P.H. Bakery on Pulaski Street in East Chicago's Indiana Harbor neighborhood. Another family member was a photographer and cartoonist for the Latin Times.

"Northwest Indiana is the historical epicenter of Latino history in Indiana, with the original Mexican colony settling in Block and Pennsy neighborhood"  short for the street names Block and Pennsylvania  "in Indiana Harbor during World War I," she said. "It was hard for my non-northern Indiana classmates to conceptualize that my family had settled in Indiana in the early 1920s, along with thousands of others. Some were in utter disbelief. I was able to incorporate my family history this book."

She's been researching and writing for the Indiana Historical Society for years, kicking off her research in 2016. She collected a lot of new material, including extensive oral histories and hundreds of digital and physical photos.

"I examined our collection to see what we had available for researchers, to get an understanding of where I needed to begin to fill in those gaps. From 2016 to 2019 we were able to add about 1,000-plus images to our collection. This includes several of the processed oral history transcripts," she said.

"With the transcripts, I include historical and genealogical footnotes, so the reader has a full understanding of the conversation, to ensure that they will stand the test of time. Before conducting oral history interviews with individuals, I would do a genealogical work-up on their family. Tracing their roots to Indiana, mostly those who were from Mexico.

"As of now, records from limited Latin American locations are available through Ancestry.com. However, I interviewed others from South America and the Caribbean to present a clearer picture of the diversity of Latin Americans in this state."

Martinez-LeGrand and Gonzales also co-wrote a book about the Asian experience in Indiana. She publishes on the Indiana Historical Society blog and tours the state regularly, giving talks to classrooms, libraries and genealogy groups.

She plumbed deeply into the Indiana Historical Society's records for the book. She dug through through a century's worth of census records, border-crossing records, immigration manifests, economic reports, legal statutes, church records, organizational papers, city directories and newspaper archives.

"I did a lot of research within our collection, reading books and reports of the area or of the Midwest. A lot of my research ... focuses on immigration law and federal policy, which had strong influence in migration-settlement patterns and community growth," she said. "I even researched Panama Canal employment records from the turn of the 20th century via Ancestry.

"The angles and paper trail of my research is very broad. I still have a healthy stack of unprocessed and unresearched transcripts to work on, so my research is ongoing. I am a contributor to the Digital Encyclopedia of Indianapolis, so my work is, as they say, never done."

She made some surprising discoveries while researching the book, including that the Mexican Consulate was in Indiana much longer than anyone realized.

"A lot of things were surprising, and that definition of 'surprising findings' changes over time. ... In 2002 the Mexican Consulate opened its doors to Mexican nationals living in Indiana," she said. "But no one knew, almost 100 years earlier, from 1907 to 1927 that Russel B. Harrison served as vice consul of Mexico and later Portugal in Indianapolis. The first documented celebration of Cinco de Mayo was in 1910, organized by Mexican students from Notre Dame University. More recently, how the Mexican Repatriation Movement affected the Northwest Indiana area, I wrote an in-depth two-part blog about what that looked like in Northwest Indiana. It was pretty shocking to me."

She hopes readers will come away with a deeper appreciation of Hoosier Latinos and all they have contributed to the state.

"I want readers to know and understand that Latinos and Hispanics are not a new community to Indiana, that we have been a part of Indianas legacy for well over 100 years. Latinos and Hispanics have contributed to the quality of life of all Hoosiers, not just our own community," she said.

"This book will give others a deeper understanding and appreciation of this centennial community. I am a mother, so it gives me great pride to know that my daughter, as well as my niece and nephew, will have a better understanding of their identity, culture and Hoosier heritage. I hope that others will share in that pride too. Latino History in Indiana is silent no more."

For more information, visit indianahistory.org or email Nmartinez-legrand@indianahistory.org.
Numerous school districts around Northwest Indiana and all locations of the Lake County Public Library System are closing their buildings or dismissing students early Friday because of heavy snow and high winds in the forecast.

Cedar Lake

Students who are part of the Hanover Community School Corp. will be learning remotely Friday, according to a post on the district's website.

Crown Point

Students in the Crown Point Schools Corp. will be "distance learning" Friday because of the incoming weather. Distance-learning guidelines are available on the district's website.

East Chicago

Students will be dismissed early, according to a post on the School City of East Chicago's website. Central High School and preschool students will be dismissed at 12:30 p.m. Elementary school students will be dismissed at 1 p.m. Block Middle School students will be dismissed at 1:30 p.m.

Highland

All students in the School Town of Highland will be learning remotely, according to a post on the district's website. Teachers will have assignments posted in Google Classroom by 9 a.m.

Hobart

The River Forest Community School Corp. in Hobart was the first to announce that it would be closing, citing weather-related reasons. All students will pivot to remote learning.

Michigan City

Michigan City Area Schools declared early dismissal for all students. Middle and high school students will be dismissed at 11 a.m. Elementary students will be dismissed at noon. Students will receive assignments to complete at home, said Betsy Kohn, director of communications.

Hammond

Students of Bishop Noll High School in Hammond will move to remote learning Friday, according to a message from a school representative. There will be no after-school activities.

Gary

All schools in the Gary Community School Corp. will be closed Friday, according to a message on its website. Students will be learning asynchronously.

Merrillville

All students will engage in remote or independent learning, according to a message from the district. All after-school activities will be canceled.

Munster

The School Town of Munster will be dismissing students early, per a message posted on its website. Middle school and high school students will be dismissed around 11:30 a.m., and elementary students will be dismissed at 12:15 p.m.

St. John

The Lake Central School Corp. will close because of the expected inclement weather, according to a post on its website. Students will pivot to remote learning.

Whiting

Students in kindergarten through 12th grade will be e-learning Friday, according to a post from Superintendent Cynthia Scroggins. Teachers will have their assignments and office hours posted by 8 a.m. Pre-K classes and all extracurricular activities are canceled for the day.
Word by word.

This is how ChatGPT and other artificial intelligence writing tools operate, according to a webinar I attended Wednesday with a panel of international experts.

Tools such as ChatGPT are a wake-up call for newsrooms about the rewards and risks of artificial intelligence capabilities, according to the webinar hosted by The Associated Press.

ChatGPT and other generative AI tools should be a wake-up call for all of us. If youre not familiar with it, you will be eventually. ChatGPT is a chat-bot developed by OpenAI. It was launched last fall and can essentially write anything that users prompt it to write. Instantly.

For example, would you like to see a four-page essay on William Shakespeares works? Done. How about a business proposal for a new software program? Just give it a second. Or maybe a social media post to market your business? No problem. Its all about AIs ever-growing capabilities of memorization and regurgitation.

Its becoming the new Google, the CEO of an engineering firm told me.

He uses it regularly for social media posts, internal emails to his staff and just about anything else for writing purposes. He wondered whether ChatGPT and other generative AI tools will someday replace what a professional writer or news journalist does daily.

Lets find out, the CEO suggested.

He asked me the focus of an upcoming column. I told him about the debate about obesity being a disease or a lifestyle choice. (Saturday is World Obesity Day, and Im intrigued by the differing and opinionated perspectives about obesity.)

Within seconds, ChatGPT spit out a themed 100-word essay on clinical obesity, citing the very debate Im talking about. With another click, the app expanded the essay to 500 words, then 800. (The average length of my column is 900 words.)

Each version was impressive. But it was missing something. It was missing a voice, a heart, a soul. Describe it however you wish. For my job as a columnist, it also was missing a perspective and context in relation to you, our readers. Ive depended on this crucial aspect throughout my writing career. Ill continue to rely on this with the emergence of ChatGPT.

Although its hailed as a revolutionary technological breakthrough, its causing serious concerns for teachers and educators whose students can use it in place of their own writing and the critical thinking needed to develop it. My colleague, Will Skipworth, recently examined this topic with insights from Region educators.

"One major risk associated with ChatGPT is plagiarism. Students may use the tool to generate text or responses that are then passed off as their own work, Hammond Superintendent Scott Miller wrote to his staff last month. His lengthy email was written entirely by ChatPGT.

The news world has similar concerns that were explored by Wednesdays webinar.

We explain the technology behind these tools, how newsrooms might take advantage of them and what to look out for as the industry begins to grapple with the emerging potential around Generative AI, the outline stated.

Nicholas Diakopoulos, one of the expert panelists, is an associate professor of communication studies and computer science at Northwestern University.

Top of mind for many journalists is the accuracy issue," he said. "In my evaluation, I found that almost half of the responses had some kind of accuracy issue.

Other issues include privacy, copyright, plagiarism, confidentiality, social biases and terms of service for third-party users.

How should ChatGPT be used for journalistic needs? Would these kind of tools blur the lines for readers? Or is it similar to using a calculator for math? The questions are endless. The answers are a work in progress.

As we know, these are just statistical text generators, Diakopoulos said. They dont have feelings. They dont have intents and motivations. They dont take initiative. They dont have big abstract ideas. They just work one word at a time.

Miranda Marcus, head of BBC News Labs, said the impact of ChatGPT and similar programs goes far beyond journalism. This technology ventures into the usage of metadata, coding applications, copyrights management and responsible usage.

Hank Sims, an editor at Lost Coast Communications in California, has been using generative AI tools for months.

Were not replacing people, he said. Were using it to do things that werent possible for us to do before.

Edward Tian, a 22-year-old Princeton University student and journalist, created GPTZero, a free and publicly available app that can detect whether a bot or a human is the author of a piece of text. His viral tool has since attracted millions of users.

Generative AI is here to stay, but we need to use it responsibly, he said.

With journalism, most technology has been adopted and utilized from the back end, he pointed out, including social media marketing and search engine optimization techniques. Generative AI will follow a similar route.

However, in turn, these AI tools are already tapping into journalists writings and regurgitating excerpts for public usage. Professional writers shouldnt be surprised if their work, in some form, pops up for other users.

When it comes to using such tools as ChatGPT for professional writing and journalism, this is where it gets a little dicey, Diakopoulos said. Youre definitely going to want to have humans integrated in the loop before publication.

Im one of these humans. I write with indelibly human aspects that ChapGPT and chatbots dont possess with their instant collection of factoids, as he said. Emotion. Opinion. Feelings. Abstract ideas. More importantly, authenticity.

Columns such as this one may someday be able to be fully generated by artificial intelligence. But not today. This writing is all me. Word by word.
LAPORTE  Police say alcohol is believed to be a factor in a single-vehicle crash along U.S. 35 that left a 7-year-old girl dead and three people injured.

The tan 2000 Chevrolet was headed south on the highway when, for an unknown reason, it left the road and traveled to the west, where it struck a tree.

"The vehicle continued and struck a second tree before coming to rest in a wooded area," police said.

Police were called at 12:04 a.m. Sunday to the 3000 North block of U.S. 35.

The girl was taken to a nearby hospital, where she died, police said.

The driver, a 42-year-old woman from Walkerton, was taken to a nearby hospital and then transported to a regional hospital for treatment of serious injuries, according to police.

A 45-year-old man from Chicago, who was a passenger in the vehicle, was reportedly flown to a regional hospital for treatment of critical injuries.

An 8-year-old boy, who with the girl is a child of the adult couple, was treated for minor injuries at a nearby hospital and released.
LAPORTE  A 64-year-old Michigan City man was arrested less than a week after he robbed a La Crosse bank, LaPorte County police say.

Charles R. Rootes Jr. was taken into custody Wednesday in Michigan City after an investigation by the FBI and the countys criminal investigations division, LaPorte Sheriffs Department Capt. Derek J. Allen said.

Police say Rootes walked into the 1st Source Bank in La Crosse around 3:03 p.m. Feb. 24, spoke instructions to an employee and walked out a short time later with an undisclosed amount of cash.

In the days thereafter, detectives began to process leads and developed a suspect, Allen said.

Rootes is charged with a felony count of robbery and remains at the LaPorte County Jail on a $15,000 cash-only bond.
A winter storm is expected to yield lots of snow and strong winds Friday morning through evening in portions of Illinois and in Lake, Porter LaPorte, Newton and Jasper counties, according to a winter-storm watch alert from the National Weather Service.

Total accumulation will be in excess of 6 inches, according to the weather service.

Snowfall rates of 1 to 2 inches an hour are possible in the afternoon, causing snow to build up on roads. The "heavy, wet nature of snow" and strong winds could cause hazardous conditions in the afternoon and evening, the NWS said. Motorists should plan accordingly.

Temperatures will remain steady, in the low to mid-30s. Winds could gust as high as 40 mph, and dispersed power outages are possible.

Purdue University Northwest's Hammond and Westville campuses will conduct classes remotely Friday, according to a statement from the university.

The River Forest Community School Corp. announced that all buildings will be closed Friday and will pivot to remote learning. Michigan City Area Schools plan to dismiss high school at 11 a.m. and elementary school at noon to avoid the snowy weather.

Newton County residents who live on or near the Iroquois River should prepare for floods, the National Weather Service said. A flood warning was issued around 11 a.m. Thursday and is expected to remain for the next 48 hours. Those in the area should "take immediate precautions to protect all life and property."

On the shores of Lake Michigan, a small-craft advisory and gale watch are in place. The small-craft advisory will last from 6 a.m. to 2 p.m. Friday and the gale watch will immediately follow, ceasing in the evening. Mariners should remain in port as to avoid potential waves of 6 to 13 feet.

Gary, Hammond, Merrillville, Portage, Valparaiso, Chesterton, Michigan City, LaPorte, Roselawn, Kentland, Morocco, Rensselaer, DeMotte and surrounding areas will be affected. Residents in those areas are encouraged to monitor the forecast for updates.

Gallery: The Times Photos of the Week Polar Plunge at Valpo University Polar Plunge at Valpo University Polar Plunge at Valpo University Polar Plunge at Valpo University 022623-spt-gym-val_6 022623-spt-gym-val_1 022623-spt-gym-val_3 022623-spt-gym-val_7 yoy_03.jpg yoy_04.jpg yoy_06.jpg 022523-spt-bbk-bn-21_8 022523-spt-bbk-bn-21_9 022523-spt-bbk-bn-21_1 022523-spt-bbk-bn-21_5 022523-spt-bbk-bn-21_7 Hammond Central at Valparaiso boys basketball Hammond Central at Valparaiso boys basketball Hammond Central at Valparaiso boys basketball Hammond Central at Valparaiso boys basketball Hammond Central at Valparaiso boys basketball Mrvan tours Opportunity Enterprises Mrvan tours Opportunity Enterprises SWAT training at the Majestic Star Casino Hotel SWAT training at the Majestic Star Casino Hotel SWAT training at the Majestic Star Casino Hotel Gov. Eric Holcomb and State Rep. Ed Soliday visit Valparaiso High School Gov. Eric Holcomb and State Rep. Ed Soliday visit Valparaiso High School Gov. Eric Holcomb and State Rep. Ed Soliday visit Valparaiso High School For many, holy season of Lent begins with ashes For many, holy season of Lent begins with ashes For many, holy season of Lent begins with ashes Prayer vigil and balloon release for Orie Dodson Prayer vigil and balloon release for Orie Dodson Prayer vigil and balloon release for Orie Dodson Porter County Fair officials pump millions into fairgrounds Porter County Fair officials pump millions into fairgrounds Gallery HTML code
Zimbabwe is now food secure after achieving bumper maize and wheat harvests in the last few cropping seasons, but the Government remains determined to transform agricultural systems for the sector to contribute positively towards Vision 2030 of an upper middle income society, Ministry of Lands, Agriculture, Fisheries, Water and Rural Development Permanent Secretary Dr John Basera said.

Speaking during the Long Service Awards ceremony at SeedCo's Mt Hampden offices just outside Harare, Dr Basera said food security will only be achieved through efficiently producing enough food crops.

Dr Basera applauded farmers for working hard last year to achieve a milestone in wheat production, after attaining a record-breaking 375 000 tonnes of wheat and 1,5 million tonnes of maize last season.

Zimbabwe requires 360 000 tonnes of wheat per annum, and the huge harvest, which is the biggest since 1966, means there will be no shortages of bread and other confectionery.

"Yes we are food secure because in the recent past, I have seen applications for permits to import seed, that is maize seed and traditional grains," said Dr Basera.

"We started to operationalise the Agriculture Recovery Growth Plan and we managed to score 2,7 million tonnes of maize during the 2020-2021 cropping season. So, generally we are food secure and l know SeedCo contributed almost 90 percent and this was a big score.

"We recorded 375 000 tonnes of wheat (last season) and for the first time since 1966, we are flour self-sufficient and that's incredible."

The Government has initiated public-private sector engagements to ensure its projections of a harvest of about 3 million tonnes of maize from the present season, are realised.

The huge maize output would be coming from a targeted hectarage of 1 940 969ha, representing a 3 percent rise from 1,9 million hectares planted last year.

Soyabean growing rose from 52 000ha to 56 000ha, a move that will also ensure Zimbabwe has reasonable quantities of raw materials for the production of cooking oil, thereby reducing the import bill.

Tobacco production surged by 19 percent from 110 000 hectares to about 181 000ha this year.

The Second Republic has put in place measures to ensure food sufficiency through various agricultural transformation programmes.

After attaining food self-sufficiency, Zimbabwe is now pushing to have a bigger share on the export market.

Dr Basera said from the crops and livestock assessment they conducted, there are indications that the sectors are growing.

In the next summer cropping season, the Government is targeting a cereal production of 3,7 million tonnes to ensure national food and nutrition security.

The target areas for the major crops have only been increased by 10 percent since the major thrust of the ministry is to increase production per unit area, rather than drastically expand the cultivated area.

The agriculture sector has already hit the initial 2025 target of becoming an US$8,2 billion industry. This target was achieved in 2021, as the industry grew by 36,2 percent.

Dr Basera applauded SeedCo for honouring its 25 workers who have served between 10 and 40 years, saying the gesture demonstrates commitment towards the welfare of workers.

"Recognising employees is a paramount gesture which assures growth. If you empower and capacitate your people, you will have half of your work done, hence commitment and consistency is needed in the organisation," he said.

Seed Co managing director Mr Terrence Chimanya said it was crucial to honour workers who have played a pivotal role in transforming and upgrading the organisation's standards.

"As a career milestone, we feel it is important that we honour these men and women for the part they played in maintaining and performing standards and commitment to the company," he said.

Workers who served for 10 years were given a water tank and a pump, one month's salary, a grocery hamper and 40kg seed, while those that have served for 15 years received gas stoves and a water tank, one month's salary, a grocery hamper and 60kg maize seed.

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Those who served for 20 years received a solar geyser, one month's salary, 80kg seed and a grocery hamper, while those that have worked for 25 years received 3kVA solar system, one month's salary and a grocery hamper and 100kg maize seed.

For serving the company for 35 to 40 years, workers received a grinding mill, 140kg maize seed, a grocery hamper and one month's salary and a solar system.

Mr Bornface Nyarugwe, the longest serving member with 40 years, thanked SeedCo for recognising their efforts.

He said the gesture will motivate other workers to commit themselves to work hard, doing the right thing, for the company to grow.

"Doing the right thing is needed in the company. I was employed in 1982 but now I'm still in the company. I started working in the fields, weeding there but l was elevated to a tractor driver, which is still my job today," he said.
MICHIGAN CITY  The city should budget enough money next year to hire a full-time city engineer, City Council Vice President Don Przybylinski suggested.

The council approved spending $200,000 on consulting services with two engineering firms  $50,000 for Haas & Associates and $150,000 for Primera Engineers.

Council members had a series of questions about that ordinance.

Councilwoman Angie Deuitch, D-at large, said she and Przybylinski, D-at large, questioned whether the citys vacancy for a part-time engineer is being posted differently. For months, the city has been seeking someone for that position but has failed to find a satisfactory candidate.

Engineers are in high demand, and candidates arent looking for part-time positions. That leaves the city in the position of outsourcing engineering work once done in-house.

Deuitch hopes the $200,000 would be enough, at least for now. We thought this would be adequate, and if they need more money, they should come back to us, she said.

Councilman Bryant Dabney, D-1st, asked how long that money would last.

If we use Primera like we did in 2022, we would run through this money by the end of June, Controller Yvonne Hoffmaster said.

In one year, the city spent $450,000 for outside engineering work, Councilman Paul Przybylinski, D-2nd, said. I think that was absolutely over the top. At this amount, we could probably contract three firms from the Michigan City area. Live here, shop here.

I think we really need to take a hard look at this and see what were getting, because thats a heck of a lot of money to go through.

The citys Board of Works used Primera for the study on converting Franklin Street to a two-way road, eliminating the one-way restriction between 10th and Fourth streets.

Are we paying for the city, out of our funds, to Primera to do the reconstruction of Franklin Street, or is that being done out of the Redevelopment Commission? Paul Przybylinski asked. The Redevelopment Commission is paying for it, Deuitch told him. Shes a member of the commission.

Planning and Development Director Skyler York defended using Primera for the project. Primeras Brad Minnick is the lead on that work. Brad lives here. He is a local engineer, York said.

Next year, when we set up the budget, we set up the engineering budget next year, eliminate this part-time engineering position, fund it with a full-time salary for an engineer and be done with this, Don Przybylinski urged.

We could take maybe $140,000 and have one person sitting in there doing all the work and maybe getting more return on our investment.

The average salary for a professional engineer in Michigan City is more than $104,000, according to salary.com. Fringe benefits offered to a full-time employee adds to the citys cost.

Gallery: The Times Photos of the Week Polar Plunge at Valpo University Polar Plunge at Valpo University Polar Plunge at Valpo University Polar Plunge at Valpo University 022623-spt-gym-val_6 022623-spt-gym-val_1 022623-spt-gym-val_3 022623-spt-gym-val_7 yoy_03.jpg yoy_04.jpg yoy_06.jpg 022523-spt-bbk-bn-21_8 022523-spt-bbk-bn-21_9 022523-spt-bbk-bn-21_1 022523-spt-bbk-bn-21_5 022523-spt-bbk-bn-21_7 Hammond Central at Valparaiso boys basketball Hammond Central at Valparaiso boys basketball Hammond Central at Valparaiso boys basketball Hammond Central at Valparaiso boys basketball Hammond Central at Valparaiso boys basketball Mrvan tours Opportunity Enterprises Mrvan tours Opportunity Enterprises SWAT training at the Majestic Star Casino Hotel SWAT training at the Majestic Star Casino Hotel SWAT training at the Majestic Star Casino Hotel Gov. Eric Holcomb and State Rep. Ed Soliday visit Valparaiso High School Gov. Eric Holcomb and State Rep. Ed Soliday visit Valparaiso High School Gov. Eric Holcomb and State Rep. Ed Soliday visit Valparaiso High School For many, holy season of Lent begins with ashes For many, holy season of Lent begins with ashes For many, holy season of Lent begins with ashes Prayer vigil and balloon release for Orie Dodson Prayer vigil and balloon release for Orie Dodson Prayer vigil and balloon release for Orie Dodson Porter County Fair officials pump millions into fairgrounds Porter County Fair officials pump millions into fairgrounds Gallery HTML code
In the early 70s, partly responding to the direction Daviss music was taking, jazz steered toward a marriage with rock and funk. Shorter and the pianist Joe Zawinul teamed up to start Weather Report, arguably the quintessential band of the fusion era, and kept it going for 15 solid years. In that time, Shorter also made it into the studio with rock and Brazilian popular musicians, like Joni Mitchell, Santana and Milton Nascimento. Maybe Shorters mind took to fusion not just out of aesthetic affinity, but because he was always a high-tech thinker and an alchemist; electronics never scared him, and authenticity felt relative. Synths? Amp stacks? Jaco Pastoriuss flanged-up electric bass taking the melody out of your hands? What was the harm?

Growing up in downtown Newark, Shorter read and wrote comics about superheroes confronting threats from the cosmos, and he and his brother Alan, also a musician, caught every movie they could at the local theater. He listened on the radio to the newest sounds in bebop, Western classical and popular music. As weird as Wayne became a saying in the neighborhood, as the poet and critic Amiri Baraka famously remembered, and Shorter turned it into an honorific, dubbing himself Mr. Weird.

Throughout his life, Shorter was a fierce and articulate defender of the right to stand alone  or better yet, to take risks in reliable company. Speaking in 2018 about his approach to playing with his quartet, Shorter was (as usual) both metaphorical and direct. Its a little thing we call trust and faith, he said. To me, the definition of faith is to fear nothing.

If there is one immortal distinction Shorter can certainly claim, its that of being jazzs all-time greatest aphorist. Thats not an easily earned title, in a music community full of philosophers. Blakey, for one, famously said that jazz washes away the dust of everyday life. Davis reminded us that its about the notes you dont play.
As a corrections officer stood outside his cell door in November 2020, Ryan Wilson took a long white bedsheet, looped it around a light fixture, tied it around his neck and stood on a small stool. He began counting down from five.

The officer ran to find Capt. Rebecca Hillman, the supervisor on duty at the Manhattan Detention Complex, and told her what was happening.

How a jury interprets what she did during the ensuing 15 minutes will determine the outcome of her trial on one count of criminally negligent homicide, which opened Thursday in Manhattan Criminal Court.

Prosecutors say that when Captain Hillman walked to the cell, she saw Mr. Wilson, his head hanging at an unnatural angle, his arms dangling and his feet grazing the floor. She did not call for help, and when the officer, Oscar Rojo, pleaded with her to go into the cell and cut him down, she refused, said Matthew Sears, a prosecutor in the Manhattan district attorneys office.
It took the Covid-19 pandemic and a class held on Zoom for the entomologist to give a long-forgotten insect specimen another look.

With the world in lockdown in the fall of 2020, Michael Skvarla, an assistant research professor at Penn State University, turned to his private collection, the two cabinets full of insects he kept at home, to show students how to compare insect characteristics.

He unearthed for the camera-connected microscope a specimen he had found back in 2012 clinging to the outside wall of a Walmart in Fayetteville, Ark., and asked students to examine the characteristics of the antlion, a dragonfly-like predator.

Except that this bug, with its nearly two-inch wingspan, was way too big to be an antlion.

It didnt have clubbed antennae like it should. It didnt have lots of cross-veins in the wing like it should, Dr. Skvarla recalled in an interview.
Mr. Waters told jurors that a perfect storm had been approaching Mr. Murdaugh  and, by extension, his wife and son  on the day of the murders. Earlier that day, Mr. Murdaugh had been confronted by his law firms financial chief, who accused him of pocketing a six-figure check that he was supposed to pass along to the law firm.

That confrontation, Mr. Waters said, was one of two inquiries into Mr. Murdaughs finances that led him to fear the walls were closing in. The other was an effort by another lawyer, Mark B. Tinsley, who had sued Mr. Murdaugh over his sons involvement in a drunken boat crash in 2019 that resulted in the death of a 19-year-old woman. The authorities said the boat was driven by Paul Murdaugh, and Mr. Tinsley had been asking a lawyer to force Mr. Murdaugh to disclose detailed financial records so that he could go after Mr. Murdaughs personal assets.

Initially, prosecutors said, Mr. Murdaughs scheme worked: For several months after the murders, the inquiries into his finances were halted. But then, in September 2021, an employee at his law firm found a missing check in Mr. Murdaughs office, leading to the firms discovery that he had siphoned off millions of dollars. They forced him to resign.

The next day, in a bizarre series of events, Mr. Murdaugh reported that he had been shot in the head on the side of a rural road. It turned out, as Mr. Murdaugh admitted from a detox facility days later, that he had actually asked a distant cousin, Curtis Eddie Smith, to kill him. Mr. Murdaugh said he had wanted to frame his death as a murder so that his surviving son, Buster, could collect on his insurance policy.

Much of the trial focused on Mr. Murdaughs lies, including the one that he repeated to police in three interviews after the murders, in which he claimed to have not been at the familys dog kennels.
Two Kansas men were arrested on Thursday on federal charges that they broke U.S. export laws by selling aviation-related technology to Russia, the Justice Department said.

The men, Cyril Gregory Buyanovsky, 59, of Lawrence, Kan., and Douglas Edward Robertson, 55, of Olathe, Kan., owned and operated KanRus Trading Company, which supplied electronics installed in aircraft to Russian companies and provided repair services for equipment used in Russian-manufactured aircraft.

The scheme, which also included repairing equipment, was already illegal when it started in 2020, the Justice Department said in a statement. But it was uncovered as the United States has cracked down on illegal exports to Russia since it invaded Ukraine a year ago.

After the invasion in February 2022, the men continued exporting Wester avionics  the electronics that include communications, navigation, flight control and threat detection systems  without seeking or obtaining a license from the U.S. Commerce Department.
WASHINGTON  House Republicans have spent months promising to use their majority to uncover an insidious bias against conservatives on the part of the federal government, vowing to produce a roster of brave whistle-blowers who would come forward to provide damning evidence of abuses aimed at the right.

But the first three witnesses to testify privately before the new Republican-led House committee investigating the weaponization of the federal government have offered little firsthand knowledge of any wrongdoing or violation of the law, according to Democrats on the panel who have listened to their accounts. Instead, the trio appears to be a group of aggrieved former F.B.I. officials who have trafficked in right-wing conspiracy theories, including about the Jan. 6, 2021, attack at the Capitol, and received financial support from a top ally of former President Donald J. Trump.

The roster of witnesses, whose interviews and statements are detailed in a 316-page report compiled by Democrats that was obtained by The New York Times, suggests that Representative Jim Jordan of Ohio, the chairman of the panel, has so far relied on people who do not meet the definition of a whistle-blower and who have engaged in partisan conduct that calls into question their credibility. And it raises questions about whether Republicans, who have said that investigating the Biden administration is a top goal, will be able to deliver on their ambitious plans to uncover misdeeds at the highest levels.

Each endorses an alarming series of conspiracy theories related to the Jan. 6 Capitol attack, the Covid vaccine, and the validity of the 2020 election, Democrats wrote in the heavily footnoted report, which cites scores of statements made by the witnesses. One has called repeatedly for the dismantling of the F.B.I. Another suggested that it would be better for Americans to die than to have any kind of domestic intelligence program.
Greeces rail system consistently ranks among the continents most dangerous despite receiving $700 million in modernization money from the European Union over the past decade. And the installation of the new safety system became so bogged down that a senior government official quit last year to protest what he called unjustifiable delays.

The European Union expects its 27 member countries to put in place sophisticated new procedures known as the European Train Control System by the end of the decade. That system monitors trains and takes control when they go too fast, blow through red lights or end up on the wrong tracks. The European Union wants to expand cross-border train travel, and harmonizing safety standards across the bloc is part of that strategy.

But putting it into effect has been inconsistent, as evidenced by this weeks crash.

If the European Train Control System would have been installed and working properly, it should have absolutely prevented something like this from happening, said Jedde Hollewijn, the railways policy officer for the European Transport Workers Federation. The intention is that all European countries implement this, and we know that Greece has been lagging significantly.

Luxembourg, the blocs smallest and richest country, is already using the new system across its rails. Belgium plans to be fully operational by 2025. Others have upgraded their major routes. But even without the new technology, most rail systems have safety features to prevent head-on collisions. The French National Railway Safety Authority, for example, uses automatic braking systems and other technology.
A brief armed incursion into a Russian border village by partisans claiming to fight for Ukraine drew an emergency response from the Kremlin on Thursday, prompting President Vladimir V. Putin to cancel a trip and convene his security council over a rare known case of a raid inside Russia.

What actually happened was immediately shrouded by conflicting claims from pro-Kremlin voices and their opponents, though by the end of the day, the Russian authorities had asserted that the incursion was over and that the group had been driven back into Ukraine.

Mr. Putin, who called off a trip to the Caucasus region to be briefed, denounced the episode as a terrorist attack, a label Russia frequently applies to military setbacks in the war in Ukraine, and to the periodic explosions on Russian territory believed to be Ukrainian strikes.

In a televised address, Mr. Putin said, without offering any evidence, that the group had opened fire on civilians. The governor of Bryansk, Aleksandr V. Bogomaz, said on the Telegram messaging app that the group had fired on a vehicle, killing two civilians and injuring a child.
WIESBADEN, Germany  With winter almost behind them, senior American generals hosted Ukrainian military officials this week for a set of tabletop exercises designed to help Kyiv map out the next stage of its battle to reclaim territory from dug-in Russian troops.

During a war-game session at the headquarters of U.S. Army Europe and Africa, the military officials rehearsed a range of options for an offensive that Ukraines leader, President Volodymyr Zelensky, has been telegraphing for some time.

The sessions, attended on Thursday by President Bidens most senior generals responsible for American efforts to help Ukraine, were meant to strategize, officials said, mapping out the risks and benefits of a variety of moves that Ukraine might make against Russian positions in the coming months.

Ukrainian officials will ultimately decide which course to follow, with the American military officials described as serving like a sounding board.
The visit by a delegation from the Russian Federation serves to indicate the strong bilateral relations that exist between the two countries, Russia's Minister of Foreign Economic Relations of the Sverdlovsk Region, Mr Vyacheslav Yarin said yesterday.

Minister Yarin said their delegation is in Zimbabwe to explore business opportunities, while also marketing opportunities that exist in their country for local businesspeople to explore.

Speaking at a stakeholder meeting with businesspeople in Harare yesterday, Minister Yarin said the interaction between the Sverdlovsk Region and Zimbabwe "is dynamic and fruitful".

"Today, Zimbabwe is among the top 20 African countries which the Sverdlovsk Region has foreign trade relations with.

"I am told that today's forum will be a useful platform for the development of our cooperation," Minister Yarin said.

He said the Sverdlovsk Region is a major industrial hub of Russia located in the central part of Russia, on the border of Europe and Asia, at the intersection of major railway, road and air routes.

"There are almost 13 000 industrial enterprises operating there. Traditionally, strong industries are metallurgy and machinery.

"Chemistry, pharmaceuticals, logistics, information, technology and medical equipment manufacturing, are also successfully developed in the Sverdlovsk Region.

"The Sverdlovsk Region's foreign trade includes more than 150 foreign countries and we are in the top 10 constituency building of the Russian Federation, which constitutes more than half the whole industry and production shift in the country," said Minister Yarin.

Russia's Deputy Minister of Industry and Trade of the Sverdlovsk Region, Igor Zelenkin, said they were ready to cooperate with their Zimbabwean counterparts.

"Our region is defined by the development of its industry and rich resources. About 76 percent of this is based on metallurgy, machinery and chemicals.

"Mechanical engineering enterprises have a high innovation and investment potential in Russia. We are also leaders in the production of titanium alloy and other copper and aluminium products. We also produce precious metals," he said.

Deputy Minister Igor said machinery was one of the areas they were interested in, on their cooperation with Zimbabwe.

He said they were producing machinery for the mining industry and they also provide power solutions for energy production of up to 700MW.

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Minister of Provincial Affairs and Devolution for Midlands Province, Larry Mavima, said the delegation was in the country to explore business opportunities and economic cooperation.

"It is critical to underscore that the visit by the Russian delegation is coming at the backdrop of the excellent bilateral ties between Zimbabwe and Russia.

"The relationship dates back to the era of Zimbabwe's liberation struggle. On behalf of the Government of Zimbabwe, let me express our utmost appreciation to the Russian Federation who recently stood by Zimbabwe at the United Nations against the imperialist machinations by the West for imposing illegal sanctions against Zimbabwe."

Minister Mavima said it had become imperative for the cordial relations between Russia and Zimbabwe to be further enriched through implementation of concrete economic programmes and projects for the two countries' mutual benefit.

In a speech read on her behalf, Industry and Commerce Minister Dr Sekai Nzenza said Russia and Zimbabwe have enjoyed a mutually beneficial relationship that dates back to the pre-independence era and during the liberation struggle.

"This relationship has cascaded into a good standing with Russia's neighbours such as the Republic of Belarus who visited Zimbabwe just over a month ago," she said.

"We are excited to experience an expansion of a window of opportunity in the Eurasian region for our exporters. In this regard, I exhort the private sector to take advantage of such a corridor to explore new markets in this region."

During the visit, the Russian delegation is expected to tour industrial sites specialising in machinery and equipment for timber processing, the production of rubber and pharmaceutical substances.
When the landmark Abstract Expressionism show The New American Painting arrived at Londons Tate gallery in 1959, it featured work by 17 artists: all of them American, and 16 of them men. Financed in part by the C.I.A. to promote liberty and independence as American ideals, the show toured throughout Europe.

In London, the audience was receptive. The show drew record visitors to the museum, and while not everyone appreciated the radical new works with aggressively applied paint, everyone was talking about them: British critics responded in more than 30 reviews. Had the Americans finally hit upon an autonomous artistic language that wasnt derivative of European styles? Critics seemed to agree that they had, and that New York, for the first time, had superseded Paris as avant-garde arts new frontier.

Sixty-four years later, a very different version of the Abstract Expressionist story is being told in London. The Whitechapel Gallery show Action, Gesture, Paint unravels the American myth of AbEx in 150 gestural paintings by 81 women artists from all over the world. The exhibition, which runs through May 7, then travels to the Fondation Vincent Van Gogh in Arles, France, and the Kunsthalle Bielefeld, in Bielefeld, Germany.
Jesse Trevino, a lauded Mexican American artist who lost the use of his dominant right arm in a land mine explosion as a soldier in the Vietnam War, but who went on to conjure vast murals and dramatic paintings with his left arm that were displayed in three presidential libraries and the Smithsonian Institution, died on Feb. 13 in San Antonio. He was 76.

The death, in a hospice facility, was confirmed by Anthony Head, the author of the 2019 book Spirit: The Life and Art of Jesse Trevino. Mr. Head said that the cause had not been determined, but that Mr. Trevino had been hospitalized for pneumonia in recent months and had had cancer but was in remission.

Mr. Trevino became famous in San Antonio and beyond for his large-scale paintings depicting the hard realities and soaring aspirations of the Chicano culture of his home city. Though they were rendered in a photorealistic style, they were nevertheless exuberant, even dreamlike.

His art is hard to miss; Spirit of Healing, for instance, which portrays a boy holding a dove as an angel watches over him, is a nine-story mural made from hand-cut tiles that adorns the exterior of the Childrens Hospital of San Antonio.
A program like this ought to be big news on its own. But the Philharmonic amped up the proceedings by inviting the video artist Rasean Davonte Johnson to create a visual accompaniment for each work, multimedia playing in parallel with the music. (Thompson, the librettist for Bryans premiere, was credited as the shows director.)

This was tastefully done, but I tended to feel that the music didnt need the help. From the outset, Bryans work proved thrilling in its polish and expressive range. In its early going, triumphal writing for brass was tugged at  and moodily complicated  by descending string motifs that traipsed across unpredictable intervals. It had the calmly challenging poise of the composer and saxophonist Wayne Shorter, who died on Thursday at 89.

Thompsons text is voiced by a griot character, on Thursday the bass-baritone Ryan Speedo Green, who calls out to the audience and initiates the pieces titular sense of gathering. The lines unfurl in short lines, which Bryan paces generously in the music. Green relished every morsel, with a bright sound in his higher range and burnished roundness in lower-slung passages. (He is soon to be heard in Terence Blanchards Champion at the Metropolitan Opera, so his performance here was also something of a promising preview.)

Later in the Bryan, there are fillips of Afro-Cuban rhythm and moments of thick orchestral modernism, as well as traces of stentorian, post-Minimalist American opera. But the score does not come off as a stylistic grab bag. Though prismatic, it feels carefully woven as it touches on gospel and jazz traditions as well as contemporary idioms.

In Stills Second Symphony, the Philharmonic strings in particular seemed to savor the down-home, pastoral airs of the first movement  even as flutes (one doubling on piccolo) executed their oscillations and divebombing phrases with terrific energy and articulation. Dunner sagaciously managed the call-and-response qualities of the score, though his suave, controlled reading also seemed to glide past stray bursts of piquant personality in Stills writing.
Shackles from the film Cool Hand Luke; a script from the 1963 comedy A New Kind of Love; the wedding dress that Joanne Woodward wore the day she married Paul Newman in 1958.

These artifacts, along with some 300 others, tell the story of a union between two of Hollywoods most enduring film stars that lasted more than a half century. It began in 1953 and lasted until Mr. Newman, a magnetic titan of the screen, died in 2008 at the age of 83. Ms. Woodward, 93, a formidable talent, has kept a private life since she was diagnosed with Alzheimers disease in 2007.

The objects will also take on another kind of value later this year, when they are put up for sale in a series of auctions by Sothebys. If previous demand for Mr. Newmans belongings is any measure, the events are likely to be lucrative: A Rolex he owned sold in 2017 for a record $17.8 million. Three years later, another of Mr. Newmans watches sold for more than $5.4 million.

The auctions, which will take place both online and in person in New York, follow the recent release of The Last Movie Stars, a six-part HBO Max documentary series directed by Ethan Hawke and based on audio transcripts of interviews with the couples friends, colleagues and family members.
Why wasnt he in custody? asks the MI5 officer Lily Thomas. It is January 1963, and Thomas is talking about Kim Philby, a British intelligence agent who, after being exposed as a Soviet spy, has escaped to Moscow. Nicholas Elliott, Philbys closest friend and a fellow member of the foreign intelligence agency MI6, looks slightly nonplused. Well, thats not how we  he begins, before coming to an abrupt halt.

That we is at the heart of A Spy Among Friends, a six-part series based on the book of the same name by Ben Macintyre, and starring Guy Pearce as Philby, Damian Lewis as Elliott and Anna Maxwell Martin as Thomas. The series, produced by Sony Pictures Television, premieres March 12 on MGM+.

Its the we of the old boys club, of men bonded by private schools, an Oxbridge education, members-only clubs and the confident assumption of their right to power. The show explores the psychological shock of the realization that a figure considered one of us was something quite different all along.

MI6 tended to attract those public schoolboys, people who had no hesitation about bending the rules because they thought they were above the rules, Macintyre said in a recent interview. They believed they were born to lead, and they couldnt imagine that one of their own could be a traitor.
Roughly 900 miners went out on strike on April 1, 2021, and most were able to start the process of returning to the mine this week. Some unionized workers had crossed the picket line and returned to work already, while others took jobs at other companies, including an Amazon warehouse less than 30 miles away that was the site of a failed union drive last year.

The Amazon union drive drew a flurry of national attention, with even President Biden weighing in at one point. But the miners strike, which received much less notice, was seen as a show of old-line labor solidarity amid new organizing efforts across modern industries like tech.

The strike was heated, with both sides accusing the other of violence and vandalism. The miners were also upset that, after they accepted pay cuts when the company emerged from a 2015 bankruptcy, their previous wages had not been restored to match what other mines paid. Warrior Met said on its website during the strike that it had never promised it would do so, and that it had given workers multiple raises in recent years.

In a statement, a spokesman for Warrior Met said the company was working to ensure a seamless return to work for our striking miners. He added that we strongly believe that partnering with the U.M.W.A. is critical to achieving our shared goal of maintaining a constructive and mutually beneficial relationship.

Labor unions across the world voiced support for the miners, but the group failed to muster broad political support. Coal mining in the deeply red state of Alabama was not a popular cause for many prominent Democrats, who are trying to encourage less carbon-intensive industries. Most national Republicans, despite promises by former President Donald J. Trump to save the coal industry, did not publicly back the Alabama strike.
The Biden administrations nominee to be the next president of the World Bank, the international development and climate institution, is embarking on a monthlong sprint around the globe to solidify support for his candidacy.

It will be the first opportunity for the nominee, Ajay Banga, to share his vision for the bank, which has been aiming to take on a more ambitious role in combating climate change while maintaining its core commitment to alleviating poverty.

Mr. Banga, who has had a long career in finance, faces the challenge of convincing nations that his decades of private-sector experience will help him transform the World Bank.

He will begin his global listening tour on Monday with stops in Ivory Coast and Kenya, the Treasury Department said on Friday. In Ivory Coast, he will meet with senior government officials, leaders of the African Development Bank and civil society organizations. In Kenya, he will visit the Kenya Climate Innovation Center and a World Bank-backed project that helps local entrepreneurs find ways to address climate change.
Bernadette Carey Smith, who in the 1960s was one of the first Black women to be hired as a reporter at The New York Times and The Washington Post, died on Dec. 5 at an assisted living complex in Tuckahoe, N.Y. She was 83.

Her nephew Scott Taylor said the cause was arteriosclerotic cardiovascular disease. Her death was brought to the attention of The New York Times only last week.

Ms. Smith, who married Bruce Smith, an executive at the American Communications Group, in 1980, was still Bernadette Carey when, in October 1965, The Times hired her to work on its womens news section, which at the time was called Food, Fashions, Family, Furnishings.

She may well have been the newspapers first Black woman reporter, although records are inconclusive; certainly she was one of only a handful of Black journalists, male or female, hired by The Times before the late 1960s.
Getting rid of coal is often seen as the easier part of the global transition to renewable energy. Developed countries have made great strides in abandoning coal, and investors have long avoided it.

But for some developing countries, it hasnt been so easy. Today, I asked my colleague Lynsey Chutel, whos based in South Africa and has been following the countrys shift to renewables, to help us understand why.

South Africa matters a lot in the global effort to curb climate change. According to Carbon Brief, a climate news site based in Britain, its the worlds 14th-largest emitter of greenhouse gases. The International Energy Agency estimates that coal accounts for about 70 percent of South Africas energy mix.

That makes the country a test of what a fair global energy transition could look like. As in richer countries, that will involve changing the political structures built on fossil fuels.
Ive just returned to New York from sun-soaked Miami, where the gray weather is hovering somewhere between meh and blah. Reader, Im over it. Im ready for spring.

I love soups and stews  if you havent read it yet, Julia Moskins story about beef stews from different cuisines, with recipes and tips, is great  but this week Im looking for food that veers away from heavy flavors and winter classics. And for those of you who live somewhere enviably warm all year round, I hope these dishes speak to you, too.

And one more thing: For a limited time, you can save on all of The Times, including New York Times Cooking, during our All Access sale. Subscribe now to get unlimited access to our recipes, in addition to everything The Times offers. (I personally love Spelling Bee, though I have never made Queen Bee!)
Kyrgyz parliament willing to deepen cooperation with China's top legislature

Xinhua) 16:42, March 03, 2023

BISHKEK, March 3 (Xinhua) -- The Kyrgyz parliament is ready to strengthen exchanges and cooperation with China's top legislature, the National People's Congress, chairman of the Committee on International Affairs, Defense, Security and Migration of the Kyrgyz Parliament Ulan Primov said.

In a recent meeting with Chinese Ambassador to Kyrgyzstan Du Dewen, Primov said that Kyrgyzstan and China are friendly neighbors and comprehensive strategic partners, which are connected by mountains and rivers. Cooperation between the two countries in various fields is developing rapidly, with closer personnel exchanges, he added.

"Inter-parliamentary cooperation is an important part of Kyrgyzstan-China relations," Primov said.

Du noted that the China-Kyrgyzstan comprehensive strategic partnership is at a historical high.

Practical cooperation in various fields between the two countries has maintained sound momentum, as evidenced by progress made in the China-Kyrgyzstan-Uzbekistan railway and other major projects under the Belt and Road Initiative, Du said.

"China is ready to continue developing inter-parliamentary ties with Kyrgyzstan, strengthen the traditional friendship between the two peoples and advance the building of a China-Kyrgyzstan community with a shared future," the diplomat said.

Du also raised issues including taxation and insurance that are of concern to Chinese enterprises in Kyrgyzstan, hoping that Kyrgyzstan will create a good business environment for foreign investors.

(Web editor: Zhang Kaiwei, Liang Jun)
NSSA acting chief executive Charles Shava, who was arrested by the Zimbabwe Anti-Corruption Commission (ZACC) yesterday for fraud involving $12 246 571,48, is expected to appear in court today.

It is alleged that Shava altered a board resolution, which had rejected the proposed allowances for four NSSA doctors and caused the human resources manager to pay the allowances without approval, claiming the board had approved the allowances.

Shava was detained at Avondale Police station pending his appearance in court today.

His lawyers were understood to be making frantic efforts to have him appear in court from home.

Efforts to establish if he eventually went home last night were fruitless.
Times Insider explains who we are and what we do and delivers behind-the-scenes insights into how our journalism comes together.

It was snowing, the heater in my rental car had broken, and I felt somewhat shady as I studied the faces of workers leaving a factory at midnight in Grand Rapids, Mich., last fall.

I had come to the heart of the industrial Midwest because I thought I might find migrant children working dangerous jobs. As the late shift ended and people in hairnets began to emerge from the building, I saw that many of them were short and baby faced. But there was another problem: The workers didnt have coats and they were running through a November cold snap to find their car pools. I asked myself how I was going to talk to them without seeming like a stranger chasing children through the snow.

This was my last stop for a project that had led me to seven states and entailed interviews with more than 100 migrant children working exploitative jobs across the country.

In the last two years, more than 250,000 children have entered the United States by themselves, many of them from Central America. I found that thousands of them had ended up in punishing jobs that flouted child labor laws. Children as young as 12 and 13 year olds are working in commercial laundromats, industrial bakeries and sock mills.
Nearly five years after a construction worker was crushed to death by 15,000 pounds of building materials at a work site in Sunset Park, Brooklyn, the contractor who oversaw the site was found guilty Thursday of homicide, in a rare instance of a construction company being held criminally liable in the death of a laborer.

The death of the worker, Luis Almonte Sanchez, 47, was a preventable tragedy that could have been avoided, said Eric Gonzalez, the Brooklyn district attorney, had the operator followed safety protocols or addressed repeated warnings about unsafe conditions.

The conviction, Mr. Gonzalez said, should send a strong message that when contractors cut corners and put their workers safety at risk  they will face serious and criminal repercussions.

The verdict, which was first reported by The City, comes just months after Gov. Kathy Hochul signed a long-pending bill known as Carloss Law, which is designed to better protect construction workers, who frequently do dangerous work with few safeguards. The legislation dramatically raised the fines faced by corporations for construction accidents that result in criminal convictions, to up to $500,000.
In spring 2021, Saadah Masoud traveled to a pro-Israel rally in Manhattan, asked a man wearing a necklace with a large Star of David whether he was Jewish and then punched him in the face.

About two weeks later, Mr. Masoud, 29, of Staten Island, threatened a Jewish man with whom he had argued previously at a Black Lives Matter event. Then one of Mr. Masouds associates hit the man. In 2022, Mr. Masoud was at a pro-Palestine march in Manhattan when he assaulted a counterprotester who had an Israeli flag draped over his shoulders like a cape.

On Friday, Mr. Masoud, who pleaded guilty in federal court in November to one count of conspiring to commit hate crimes, was sentenced to 18 months in prison.

Jewish organizations have warned for years about a rise in antisemitism and violence. In 2017, torch-carrying marchers chanted Jews will not replace us in Charlottesville, Va. The next year, a man who had posted antisemitic comments on social media fatally shot 11 people at a Pittsburgh synagogue.
Shouts and expletives rang out at a station in Jamaica, Queens, on Thursday morning as commuters raced to catch connecting trains during the first week of a Long Island Rail Road schedule that has benefited some passengers but upended rush hour for those traveling to Brooklyn.

The service changes offer some commuters who used to have to travel to Pennsylvania Station, on the West Side of Manhattan, a shortcut to a new station on the East Side, shaving travel times by as much as 40 minutes, according to transit officials. The project, known as East Side Access, is a long-awaited expansion of the regions transit network and includes a gleaming new station on Madison Avenue, Grand Central Madison.

But other frustrated travelers, most of them headed for Brooklyn, say that they now have longer and more stressful commutes because the hastily drawn-up new schedule includes a number of mismatched connections.

The chaos in the days after the full kickoff on Monday of one of the Metropolitan Transportation Authoritys biggest and longest-running expansion efforts illustrates the challenges of changing the countrys most complex transit system. Even after years of planning, unintended ripple effects can disrupt commuters trips.
What did you find out about who is spending so much money to disparage a hospital?

It remains a mystery.

The hospital believes the campaign is being led by Eliezer Scheiner, a wealthy nursing home operator based around Monsey, N.Y., who had been collaborating with the hospital to bring changes to its board of directors until about a year ago. Scheiner and the Save Maimonides campaign deny his involvement.

On the other hand, Scheiner, speaking through a spokesman, does say he is supportive of the aims of the group, which it says is simply to improve the struggling hospital by changing its management.

He is one of more than a dozen Orthodox Jewish community leaders and philanthropists who have said publicly that they support the campaigns efforts, including David Lichtenstein, a billionaire real estate investor who is the chief executive of the Lighthouse Group and who recently wrote an op-ed backing Save Maimonides.

But Save Maimonides wont say if these people are donating the funds or directing its efforts.

Save Maimonides has organized petitions seeking the replacement of the hospitals management and independent oversight by the state Department of Health. What else has Save Maimonides done to spread its message?
By 8:49 p.m. Paul Murdaughs phone battery was down to 2 percent  wouldnt that have been a perfectly good reason for him to put down his phone? And while Maggie Murdaughs phone was not unlocked after 8:49, it did record some usage after that time  its backlight went on and off, its orientation changed from sideways to vertical and it recorded moving about 59 steps. Did that mean Maggie was not yet dead? Or that the killer was moving her phone? (It was found using Apples find my phone feature the day after the murders on the side of the road leading to the Murdaugh property; the prosecution alleged he threw her phone out of his car on his way to his mothers house.) To complicate matters, both Alex and his brother testified that it was Alex who provided the police with the password to Maggies phone  but if Alex knew Maggies password, why didnt he unlock her phone after the killing, if he was the murderer, just to complicate the time of death?

Also, if Alex Murdaugh was speeding away from his house to flee the crime scene, why did he drive at more than 80 miles per hour on the way back from his mothers house? Could it be that he just had a heavy foot?

Then theres all the walking and phone calling he did at around 9 p.m. and later at his moms house  couldnt he have just been pacing while on the phone, something I find myself doing all the time? Could it also be possible that his phones step data was inaccurate? Studies have found that the iPhones activity measurements are far from perfect. When Im on a plane, my iPhone sometimes thinks Im driving; when Im in a car, my Apple Watch sometimes praises me for working out. Why should we believe these devices are good enough for a murder conviction?

Murdaughs speedy guilty verdict suggests that the legal system may have a hard time teasing out such complexities. Murdaughs defense team pointed out some of these issues, but because technology is complicated and its idiosyncrasies difficult to explain  and most likely because Alex Murdaughs lies were tough to explain away  their arguments clearly did not land.

Yes, our devices now capture everything about what everyone is doing, but making sense of that data isnt trivial. In the Murdaugh case, both sides pointed to the digital record  but by the end of the trial, I felt like I had no real idea what actually happened. The jury was hardly so cautious.
Dead birds still fall from the sky near my hometown. Their bodies hit the ground as part of the fallout of an environmental disaster that dates back to the 1970s, the result of corporate pollution that made the county I grew up in the home of one of Michigans most notorious Superfund sites.

Its impossible to know what environmental and health challenges the residents of East Palestine, Ohio, will face in the years to come, but my worry is that they will know what I experienced from childhood onward: unease, loved ones getting sick and a fear of natural landscapes that should be local treasures.

In East Palestine, the derailment of a freight train last month, which was carrying toxic chemicals, including vinyl chloride, has already had a clear impact on wildlife and residents. The Environmental Protection Agency continues to monitor the situation.
To thrive, ant colonies rely on everyone pulling their weight. For raider ants, this means diligent scouts track down other nests, then direct hundreds of savage foragers to attack. They return with pincers gripping dead young ants to feed the settlement. Clones are produced. The colony thrives.

But raider ants are among about 50 species plagued by impostors: parasitic ants that resemble queens. They greedily eat the colonys food, but shirk their own foraging duties, and can only hatch more parasites instead of workers when they reproduce. How the fake queens emerge has long puzzled scientists.

Its a real mystery how these things arrive, said Ken Ross, an evolutionary geneticist at the University of Georgia.

A study published Tuesday in Current Biology offers a solution. A supergene that mutates rapidly, between a single generation of raider ants, is likely responsible for the royal impostors. The discovery arose from a surprising observation in a lab at Rockefeller University, where Waring Trible and his graduate adviser, Daniel Kronauer, studied colonies of raider ants.
In the late 1800s, a teenage Guccio Gucci left Florence, Italy, and headed off to London, where he found work as a porter at the Savoy Hotel. Fascinated with the lifestyles of its international guests, he was inspired to inaugurate his own brand of leather travel goods. After apprenticing at the historic Milanese luggage manufacturer Franzi, he opened his first atelier in 1921 on Florences Via della Vigna Nuova, where he began making his own exquisite steamer trunks using Tuscan and imported leathers; he also designed walking sticks and umbrellas.

With the rise of automobiles during the 1930s, the demand for oversize cases diminished, so the house expanded into handbags. In 1947, its now-iconic bamboo-handled bag appeared in a shape reminiscent of a saddle. A few years later, the label debuted its signature vermilion-and-green grosgrain striped Web pattern, a nod to the woven straps that run underneath a horses body.
When Amazon said in 2018 that it planned to build a second headquarters in Virginia, along with a sister office complex in New York, it was a symbolic moment for the tech industrys increasing importance to the American economy.

But the companys decision made public on Friday to pause plans in Virginia  about four years after Amazon pulled out of its campus in New York  is the latest reminder that the tech industrys long boom has slowed.

It is also another indication that the pandemic may have permanently changed office work, presenting new challenges to communities that had counted on the growth of tech offices.

The decision to delay a large part of the prominent construction project, which it called HQ2, came as Amazon and other big tech employers have made the most significant cuts to their work forces in at least 15 years.
Tappita  The standard bearer of the Collaborating Political Parties (CPP), Alexander Benedict Cummings, has urged Nimbians (residents of Nimba) to register to vote when the voter registration gets underway next month in order to be able to vote on election day in October.

Cummings made the call during separate programs with Nimbians in Saclepia and Tappita.

He affirmed that he had faith in the resilience of Liberians to surmount challenges and that he believed they would overcome the current hardship confronting the country.

"As you came out en masse today, I implore you register to vote when the voter registration process begins next month, and use your voting card to our advantage on election day in October, because that is what will deliver you into the prosperity we have promised.

"You came out happily to welcome me and my team, God will make this our endeavor end in happiness. All you people here, you shall not go blind, you shall not go deaf, you shall not know bitterness, you shall all witness the greatness of our dear country, Liberia," he said.

Cummings, who traced a connection between education and employment, said both variables would be properly managed if elected as president.

The political leader of the Alternative National Congress noted that he not only had plans to engage technically oriented Liberians but also commercially savvy and academically gifted citizens to turn the fortune of the country around.

He said: "We will establish companies, we will set up registration centers for the unemployed in order to get them job placements.

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"We will establish vocational centers for those who want to learn crafts. Our children were not sent to school to suffer and waste away, they will become great.

In his short remarks, the Chairman of CPP and a prominent son of Nimba County, Musa Hassan Bility, expressed gratitude to the people of the county, particularly supporters and loyalists of the CPP, for their steadfastness and commitment.

He implored the crowd to continue to support CPP and its standard bearer, stressing that it was important for them to support Cummings in this year's election.

"I'm supporting Cummings because I feel he's the right man to lead Liberia. We have tried President George Weah and former Vice President Joseph Boakai in separate roles, and they haven't done the country any good. Cummings has been tested and proven globally evidenced by the successes he achieved during his stint as head of Coca-Cola. I believe if he can succeed in that role, he can succeed as president of Liberia," he said.

Accompanying Cummings in Nimba were Lewis Brown, an elite member of the Cummings for President Team, former Nimba County superintendent, Fong Zuagele, chiefs and elders of the county.

FrontPageAfrica's correspondent reports that Cummings and his team lived up to its billing as thousands of supporters besieged Zoulay in Tappita, venue of the first meeting, to listen to Cummings.

They had converged on the venue as early as 9am Wednesday, awaiting the arrival of Cummings and his team.

The rally eventually took off around 1pm with Cummings and his wife Teresa, acknowledging cheers from the crowd as they made their way into the venue.
In recent weeks, two members of Congress have sounded the alarm over the dangers of artificial intelligence.

Representative Ted Lieu, Democrat of California, wrote in a guest essay in The New York Times in January that he was freaked out by the ability of the ChatGPT chatbot to mimic human writers. Another Democrat, Representative Jake Auchincloss of Massachusetts, gave a one-minute speech  written by a chatbot  calling for regulation of A.I.

But even as lawmakers put a spotlight on the technology, few are taking action on it. No bill has been proposed to protect individuals or thwart the development of A.I.s potentially dangerous aspects. And legislation introduced in recent years to curb A.I. applications like facial recognition have withered in Congress.

The problem is that most lawmakers do not even know what A.I. is, said Representative Jay Obernolte, a California Republican and the only member of Congress with a masters degree in artificial intelligence.
A former U.S. Army private was sentenced on Friday to 45 years in prison after he pleaded guilty last year to charges that he had shared sensitive information with a Satanist neo-Nazi group in a plot to kill members of his own unit while they were serving overseas, federal prosecutors said.

The former soldier, Ethan Phelan Melzer, 24, of Louisville, Ky., was a member of the Order of the Nine Angles, or 09A, a white supremacist, neo-Nazi, Satanist, and jihadist group that promotes extreme violence to accelerate and cause the demise of Western civilization, prosecutors wrote in court documents.

The group, which expresses admiration for both Hitler and Osama bin Laden, instructs its followers to fulfill sinister objectives, including insight roles, in which they attempt to infiltrate various organizations, including the military and street gangs, to gain training and experience in violent tactics, prosecutors said.

Mr. Melzer enlisted in the Army in 2018 and infiltrated its ranks as part of an insight role to further his goals as an O9A adherent, prosecutors said in a statement.
As they built their case against Alex Murdaugh, law enforcement officials used a wealth of data to detail the key moments on the night his younger son, Paul Murdaugh, and his wife, Maggie Murdaugh, were murdered.

Here is a look at the roughly 25-minute period on June 7, 2021, that became the focus of the case.

8:44 to 8:45 p.m.: Paul Murdaugh records a video that captures Alex and Maggie Murdaughs voices near the dog kennels on their family hunting estate, where the shootings took place.

8:48: Paul Murdaugh and a friend text back and forth about movie recommendations.

8:49:01: The last moment when anyone unlocks Paul Murdaughs cellphone, which had a passcode. Prosecutors said this suggested that he was killed at or shortly after this moment.

8:49:31: The last moment when Maggie Murdaughs phone is unlocked.

8:53 to 8:55: Maggie Murdaughs phone records 59 steps.
A senior F.B.I. official separately characterized the drop in query numbers as a substantial decline in a statement to The Times but declined to identify the 2022 estimate, saying the number was classified. But the official said the Office of the Director of National Intelligence is expected to disclose that number next month as part of an annual transparency report about the governments use of surveillance.

In a speech urging the reauthorization of Section 702 at the Brookings Institution on Tuesday, Matthew G. Olsen, the chief of the departments national security division, also said there had been a dramatic decrease in the total number of F.B.I. queries about Americans and a significant reduction in the number of inadvertent queries since the 2021 changes.

There are rules that limit when analysts can search the warrantless surveillance repository. At the F.B.I., for example, analysts can use Americans identifiers to search the database only if there is a reason to believe it will return information about foreign intelligence or evidence of a crime.

But F.B.I. agents have repeatedly violated those constraints and searched for other purposes, such as vetting maintenance workers or potential informants. A recent report disclosed that one bureau analyst used the name of a member of Congress to search the repository without sufficient limiters to focus results on the task at hand.

In rulings made public in 2020 and 2021, the chief judge of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court, James E. Boasberg, declared that the bureau had committed apparent widespread violations of the querying standard.
The question still lingers: Could he, if asked, storm the castle himself? Mr. Pritzker is not one to hide his possible liabilities. He jokes constantly about his girth, which is ample. He refers often to his Judaism, which he places at the core of his liberal values and his empathy for societys underdogs. And he knows well that being a billionaire in the Democratic Party isnt a positive for many of the partys voters.

Id love to sit back, eat popcorn and watch J.B. Pritzker and Bernie Sanders on a debate stage, Mr. Davis quipped.

For all his privilege, Mr. Pritzker has struggled. His father, Donald, died of a heart attack at 39, when J.B., his youngest son, was only seven. His mother, Sue, sank into alcoholism  Mr. Pritzker has spoken of childhood fears that she would fall asleep with a cigarette and burn down their Atherton, Calif., house  then tragedy. In 1982, when J.B. was a teenager, she wrecked her car, then, apparently intoxicated, tumbled out of the tow truck she had called and was run over by it.

At 17 he was an orphan, raised in part by his older sister, Penny.

They had resources, but those dont make up for the absence of a father and the afflictions of his mother, said David Axelrod, who watched Mr. Pritzkers rise as an Illinois political consultant. Hes had every advantage, but he has suffered emotionally.

At 33, he made his first lunge into politics, plowing $500,000 of his own money into a House race in Chicagos heavily Democratic North Shore suburbs in 1998, only to come in third. From there, he devoted himself to business, a venture capital firm, a technology start-up incubator and Mayor Rahm Emanuels business and technology council in Chicago.
WASHINGTON  In the battle to become the countrys most senior military officer  a position inhabited at the moment by one of the most voluble of men and a frequent target of the right  it has come down to a choice between the fighter pilot and the Marine infantryman.

Gen. Mark A. Milleys term as chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff ends this fall, and President Biden is looking at one of two men to succeed him.

In some ways, they could not be more different  from each other, and from General Milley.

Gen. Charles Q. Brown Jr., known widely as C.Q., is the Air Force chief of staff  the first African American to rise to that position in a military where diversity in the ranks of officers has long trailed that of the enlisted men and women. He is the leading contender, according to senior administration officials.

General Browns colleagues say he is firm and methodical, and that he has a proven track record in the Pacific at a time when a potential war with China tops Pentagon concerns.
Members of Congress are pressing for stricter laws to prevent and penalize the use of child labor and tougher vetting by the Biden administration of adults who take custody of unaccompanied migrant children, as revelations about the exploitation of underage migrants by employers have prompted outrage among policymakers.

Days after an investigation by The New York Times revealed the explosive growth of migrant child labor in the United States, federal and state enforcement agencies have begun a crackdown on companies that employ children, and the Biden administration is under pressure to make broader changes to the way it deals with minors who arrive in the country without their parents.

Top Senate Democrats sent a letter Friday demanding answers from the secretaries of the federal health and labor agencies by April 1, saying they were deeply disturbed that large numbers of unaccompanied noncitizen children are being placed with exploitative sponsors and working long hours in dangerous conditions.
But the beauty of a resolution of disapproval is that it has special status in the Senate. It cant be kept off the floor by the majority leader and is not subject to the filibuster, providing a blunt political instrument for lawmakers if they can assemble a simple majority. That is because of the Congressional Review Act, enacted in 1996 after Republicans took power on Capitol Hill, which created the process that allows Congress to upend federal rules.

With little power to set the Senate agenda, Republicans regard the tactic as a handy way to score legislative victories and force Democrats to debate subjects they would rather avoid.

When you are in the minority, there is not a lot else you can do, said Senator John Cornyn, Republican of Texas. I think it is useful, and you are seeing some election-year conversions in terms of votes. You get to raise the visibility of some of this stuff and get to actually have a discussion of whether it works or not.

The technique also fits the Republican legislative mind-set, which tends more toward blocking policy rather than creating it.

We are built to disapprove, said Senator Kevin Cramer, Republican of North Dakota.

The current makeup of Congress makes the resolution of disapproval a potentially powerful weapon for Republicans. With their narrow control of the House, the G.O.P. can win approval of a resolution with no Democratic votes if necessary. Then, because of the legislations special status in the Senate, Republicans can force a vote there, presenting Democrats with the unpleasant choice of either casting a politically difficult vote in opposition or supporting the measure and allowing it to pass, thus sending it to Mr. Biden and prompting a veto showdown.
On Wednesday, Harvard Law School held a conference on the rankings that was largely critical and alluded to some of the schools complaints: that the rankings used a misleading measure of student debt that schools could game by admitting more paying students; that the emphasis on grades and test scores encouraged merit aid, to the detriment of need-based aid; and that the methodology undermined efforts to support public interest careers for graduates. (U.S. News has already promised to address some of those criticisms.)

At the conference, the keynote speaker, Miguel Cardona, the education secretary, attacked the publication. Its time to stop worshiping at the false altar of U.S. News & World Report, he said. Its time to focus on what truly matters  delivering value and upward mobility.

But U.S. News had already responded that morning, in a full-page advertisement in The Boston Globe. In an open letter to Mr. Cardona, the publication defended the rankings and called for law schools to release even more data. It took a dig at the high cost of getting a law degree, saying, As tuition continues to skyrocket, students require reliable information to guide them in their decision-making process.

Mr. Gertlers opinion essay, published the day before, was even sharper, suggesting that elite law and medical schools wanted to be able to admit students with lower test scores and grades if, as expected, the Supreme Court were to rule against affirmative action in two cases now pending against Harvard and the University of North Carolina.

The schools say their complaints are based on principle.

We have never paid attention to U.S. News and its rankings, Heather Gerken, the dean of Yale Law School, said in an interview on Thursday. What we are talking about are the values of legal education and the profession.
Kem Sokha, Cambodias most prominent opposition politician who is still in the country, was sentenced to 27 years of house arrest Friday on a charge of treason and barred from running or voting in elections.

Cambodian courts are not an independent branch of government, and the sentence is the latest step that Prime Minister Hun Sen has taken as he crushes what remains of a political opposition in advance of a July election. Mr. Hun Sen, who has been in power for 38 years, has said he is planning to run in that election and has anointed one of his sons, Lt. Gen. Hun Manet, to succeed him in the future.

It is not right, unfair and cant be accepted, said Ang Oudom, one of Mr. Kem Sokhas lawyers, after the sentence was announced. He said he would appeal but added, It is a political case, and only politicians can decide.

Outside the courthouse, where several ambassadors had gathered to hear the verdict, W. Patrick Murphy, the U.S. ambassador to Cambodia, said the case was fabricated and a miscarriage of justice.
document

Peter Obi vows to challenge the result of the election in court, saying he, rather than Bola Tinubu of the APC, won the election.

On 2 March, the candidate of the Labour Party in the just-concluded 2023 presidential election, addressed a press conference in Abuja, Nigeria's capital rejecting the outcome of the poll.

Peter Obi vowed to challenge the result f the election in court, saying he, rather than Bola Tinubu of the All Progressives Congress (APC), won the election.

In the result declared by INEC, Peter Obi came third behind Mr Tinubu and Atiku Abubakar of the Peoples Democratic Party.

Below is the full address delivered by Peter Obi before he fielded questions from journalists present at the presser.

====================================

Address to the Nation, By Peter Obi, Presidential Candidate of the Labour Party in the 2023 presidential election in Nigeria

Dear Nigerians,

1. On 25th February 2023, Nigerians trooped out en-masse to participate in what was promised and expected to be a free, fair and transparent Presidential and National Assembly elections. But in all things, we are enjoined to give thanks.

2. First to Almighty God for the privilege of making Datti Baba-Ahmed and I, the tools to champion the cause of a New Nigeria that will fundamentally enhance the fortunes of our dear country. Let me also appreciate and thank all Nigerians that participated in our last election especially those who believed and tirelessly worked for a New Nigeria and voted for us. My profound thanks go to the youths, 'Obidients' and support groups for your commitment and resilience for a better Nigeria. You truly showed that you can take back your country!

3. We continue to pray for the repose of the souls of all Nigerians killed during the campaigns and for those that were violently attacked, we pray for their quick recovery. We reiterate our total condemnation of such attacks and continue to demand that security agencies stop further attacks and bring perpetrators to book.

4. The commitment and resilience of Nigerians, even in the face of unwarranted and barbaric attacks is a testimony that a New Nigeria is Indeed POssible.

The Lady, Jennifer Efidi who was stabbed but insisted on exercising her right to vote and indeed all Nigerians who voted during the election are the shinning stars leading us to a New Nigeria!

5. The election has been conducted and results announced as programmed. It is a clear deviation from the electoral rules and guidelines as we were promised and did not meet the minimum criteria of a free, transparent, credible and fair election devoid of voter intimidation and suppression, and late commencement of voting in some specific states.

6. This will probably go down as one of the most controversial elections ever conducted in Nigeria. The good and hardworking people of Nigeria have again been robbed by the institutions and leaders whom we trusted.

7. However, let me humbly and most respectfully appeal to all Nigerians to remain peaceful, law-abiding and conduct themselves in a most responsible manner. Please be assured that for Datti and I, and indeed for all of us, this is not the end, but the beginning of the journey to birth a New Nigeria.

8. Datti Baba-Ahmed and I remain absolutely undaunted and deeply committed to this project of a New Nigeria that will be built on honesty, transparency, fairness, justice and equity. All of these starts with the process -The process through which people are elected to office is as important (if not more important) than what they do thereafter with the office and authority.

9. If we seek to be called Your Excellency, then the process through which we are elected should also be excellent or sufficiently credible to generate the required confidence and moral authority to govern and lead. As you all know, the destruction of a society can be a gradual or sudden process through acts such as deliberate refusal to obey the rule of law and via the suppression of the will of the people.

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10. Let me reiterate and assure my good people of Nigeria that we will follow all available legal and peaceful procedures to reclaim our mandate.

11. I urge you all to continue with your campaigns and troop out on Saturday 11th March 2023 to vote massively again for Labour Party-LP (Mama, Papa and Pikin) in the Governorship and State Assembly Elections. Please do not despair at a time when we can still achieve massive victories in the forthcoming elections on the 11th March 2023.

Thank you all and God bless The Federal Republic of Nigeria.

Mr Peter Obi

Labour Party Presidential Candidate
For President Biden and his aides, that tension came into sharp focus in recent weeks after a Chinese spy balloon began drifting over the continental United States, and when, in their telling, they came across intelligence that China is considering sending weapons to Russia for its war. That prospect has prompted American diplomats and those from allies and partners to deliver warnings to Chinese counterparts, including here in New Delhi.

The anxieties over both Chinas and Russias increasingly discordant roles on the world stage were perhaps wrapped into a lament on Thursday by Prime Minister Narendra Modi of India that multilateralism is in crisis today.

Global governance has failed in both its mandates of preventing wars and fostering international cooperation, he said in a video address to a conference of top diplomats from the Group of 20 nations, made up of the worlds major economies, including China and Russia.

The four Asia-Pacific countries represented on the panel one day later at the Raisina Dialogue form the Quad partnership, which was revived in 2017 after many years of dormancy and has gained momentum since, mainly because of shared strategic concerns over China. But in a sign of the delicate balance they are trying to strike in relations with Beijing, the diplomats took pains to stress in their public comments that the Quad is not a security or military organization. Mr. Hayashi was the sole panelist to mention China, and only after being prompted by the panels moderator.
A stream of protesters outside the Supreme Court in Bangkok held up the three-fingered salute  a symbol of defiance against the government. Fight, fight, fight, they yelled to two young women who were taken out of a makeshift tent in stretchers, both so weak that they could not open their eyes.

The women, Tantawan Tawan Tuatulanon, 21, and Orawan Bam Phuphong, 23, were taken to a hospital on Friday evening after their family members and lawyer said that they were on the brink of death. They were on their 44th day of a hunger strike, protesting the detention of Thai political prisoners, calling for judiciary changes and the repeal of a law that criminalizes criticizing the Thai monarchy.

Their plight has been discussed by Thailands House of Representatives and has drawn urgent expressions of concern from international human rights groups, which have called on the government to engage with the activists.

In 2022, both women were accused of violating the law against criticizing the monarchy after they conducted a poll asking whether the royal motorcade was an inconvenience to Bangkok residents. They were released on bail in March that year under the condition that they no longer participate in protests or organize activities that defame the royal family.
The essence of this kind of violent politics is that it happens at the local level, so Ive also been reading about specific cities, and how their particular flavors of machine politics have sometimes opened up space for crime and corruption to flourish, encouraged state violence, or both.

Longtime subscribers wont be surprised that my reading list starts with Joan Didion. She isnt a historian or political scientist, but she had a unique gift for describing the self-mythology of American cities and then finding, in plain sight for anyone who cared to look, the contradictions that fatally lacerate those myths.

Sentimental Journeys, her novella-length article for the New York Review of Books, was nominally a report on the Central Park Five rape trial, but was really an exploration of the deep corruption of New York City politics. Crimes are universally understood to be news to the extent that they offer, however erroneously, a story, a lesson, a high concept, she wrote. The Central Park rape case was a way to tell a story about who and what New Yorkers should fear, and who could protect them, in a way that distracted from the corrupt dealings that were more immediately relevant to New Yorkers lives.

The extent to which Los Angeles was literally invented by the Los Angeles Times and by its owners, Harrison Gray Otis and his descendants in the Chandler family, remains hard for people in less recent parts of the country to fully apprehend, Didion wrote in a 1990 Letter from Los Angeles column in The New Yorker. In her swift retelling of that invention, Los Angeles is little more than a series of sales pitches stacked on top of each other, each one making promises about endless opportunities that eventually crumble on contact with reality, leaving ordinary citizens in economic or mortal peril. (I followed that up with some of Mike Daviss work, particularly his classics City of Quartz: Excavating the Future in Los Angeles and The Case for Letting Malibu Burn.)

Didions Miami is usually seen as a book about Cuban expatriates in Florida. They are, to be fair, its main subjects. But I think that when paired with Salvador, her travelogue about a reporting trip during El Salvadors civil war, its better understood as a book about how much Americans were kidding themselves about being somehow categorically different from Latin America. It reminded me of Paths out of Dixie: The Democratization of Authoritarian Enclaves in Americas Deep South, by Robert Mickey, which makes a strong case that comparisons to Latin America, not Europe, are often the most informative way to understand U.S. history.
Unsettled by the war in neighboring Ukraine and the increasing militancy of some opposition groups, Belarus on Friday sentenced Ales Bialiatski  a veteran human rights activist who was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in October  to 10 years in prison, according to Viasna, the group that he helped found.

Mr. Bialiatski, 60, has been a pillar of the human rights movement in Eastern Europe since the late 1980s, when Belarus was part of the Soviet Union. He continued in that role after President Aleksandr G. Lukashenko, the countrys veteran strongman leader, took power in 1994, revived Soviet-era repression and turned his nation into a Russian satellite state.

Mr. Lukashenko, who allowed Belarus to serve as a staging ground for Russias abortive attack on the Ukrainian capital, Kyiv, last February, has been under intense pressure from Moscow in recent months to take a more direct role in the war. He has also been unnerved by militant opposition activists in exile, some of whom have joined Ukrainian forces fighting to repel Russia and have threatened to take the fight into Belarus.

An exiled opposition group last week claimed responsibility for an attack on a Russian surveillance aircraft based at a Belarusian military airfield east of Minsk, the capital. Most experts believe the attack was carried out by Ukraine but the incident caused alarm in the Belarusian leadership over potential threats to its tight grip on power.
The fire service in Greece started winding down a gruesome search on Friday at the scene of the countrys deadliest train crash on record as the authorities informed the relatives of some victims identified by their DNA and other families desperately sought information about missing loved ones.

The crash occurred late Tuesday near the Vale of Tempe, in northern Greece, after a passenger train carrying more than 350 people and a freight train raced toward each other on the same tracks for 12 minutes.

Railway workers in Greece were on strike for a second day, a reflection of the rising anger about the accident, which killed at least 57 people, and of the broader concerns about the countrys rail safety record, the worst in Europe.

As part of their investigation, investigators were combing through audio files, documents and notes from the Larissa train station, about 17 miles from the crash site.
LONDON  King Charles III and Camilla, the queen consort, will travel to France and Germany this month, making their first state visits since Charles ascended to the throne in September, Buckingham Palace said on Friday.

The visit will celebrate Britains relationship with France and Germany, marking our shared histories, culture and values, said a statement from the palace. It will also provide an opportunity to look forwards and demonstrate the many ways the U.K. is working in partnership with France and Germany, whether that be to tackle climate change; respond to the conflict in Ukraine; seize trade and investment opportunities or share the best of our arts and culture.

In choosing France and Germany, the two largest economies of the European Union, for his first official visits, King Charles is signaling Britains intention to strengthen ties after Brexit negotiations sowed divisions.

For the French portion of the trip, which begins March 26, the royal couple will join President Emmanuel Macron and his wife, Brigitte, in Paris for a ceremony of remembrance and wreath laying at the Arc de Triomphe. The king and queen consort will also attend a state banquet in their honor at the Palace of Versailles.
Attorney General Merrick B. Garland made an unannounced visit to Ukraine on Friday to reaffirm Americas commitment to help hold Russia responsible for war crimes, a Justice Department spokeswoman said.

Mr. Garland held several meetings with President Volodymyr Zelensky and foreign law enforcement officials in Lviv, while attending the United for Justice Conference, the department said in an email.

During the conference, Mr. Garland reaffirmed our determination to hold Russia accountable for crimes committed in its unjust and unprovoked invasion against its sovereign neighbor, the email said.

Mr. Zelensky, in his nightly address, said the thrust of the conference was to hold Russias leadership to account for atrocities committed by its army, a position he has hammered home repeatedly over the last year of war. The main issue of all these meetings and the Lviv conference is accountability, he said.
There will be no state dinners, no press entourage and little fanfare. On a two-day visit to Washington to see President Biden, Germanys chancellor, Olaf Scholz, wants to get straight to business. The question many in Berlin are asking is what that business is.

What is the purpose of your trip to Washington today? Why are you traveling there? You should have actually explained that here, Friedrich Merz, the leader of Germanys main opposition party, the Christian Democrats, said to Mr. Scholz in a speech at the German Parliament on Thursday.

Only a one-line statement announcing the visit to Washington was published by the chancellors press office in advance of the trip: The two leaders will discuss the Russian invasion of Ukraine, one year on, and Western support for Kyiv.

The quiet nature of the visit  with no traveling press invited, and no news conferences, and not even an outline of his plans in his speech to German Parliament before his journey  has led some within Berlins foreign policy circles to wonder whether it is a reflection of a growing sense of urgency, on both sides of the Atlantic, to find a new road map for ending the conflict in Ukraine.
There will be no state dinners, no press entourage and little fanfare. On a two-day visit to Washington to see President Biden, Germanys chancellor, Olaf Scholz, wants to get straight to business. The question many opposition leaders in Berlin have been asking is what that business is.

The chancellors press office published a one-line statement announcing the visit to Washington in advance of the trip: The two leaders will discuss the Russian invasion of Ukraine one year on, and support for Kyiv.

The quiet nature of the visit  with no traveling press invited, and no news conferences, and not even an outline of his plans in his speech to German Parliament before his journey  has led some within Berlins foreign policy circles to wonder whether it is a reflection of a growing sense of urgency, on both sides of the Atlantic, to find a new road map for ending the conflict in Ukraine.

I think we are at a difficult moment, because the question about the endgame is becoming louder, bigger and more important in the U.S., but also in Europe, said Ulrich Speck, a German foreign policy analyst. So I think it is one year on and looking back, its also looking forward, and to the question: How will this end?
The United States is set to send more aid to Ukraine, most of it ammunition for equipment such as HIMARS rocket launchers, before an anticipated Russian assault this spring.

At a press briefing in Washington on Thursday, John F. Kirby, the National Security Council spokesman, declined to give details on the size of the new aid package and did not offer a timeline for when it would be delivered. More information is expected to be released on Friday, he said.

Ukraine is running low on ammunition after a year of fighting Russia. The worlds biggest producers of ammunition cannot keep up with the pace of fighting, which is straining global arms production. Ukraines allies, including NATO members, are moving billions of dollars of equipment to Ukraine but are hampered by a patchwork of rules and the desire to replenish their own stockpiles.

Last week, the Pentagon said that it would spend $2 billion on equipment for the Ukrainian military so the country could sustain its long-term needs. The United States will buy that equipment, which includes ammunition for artillery and long-range rocket systems, from manufacturers instead of drawing from its own stockpile. That will delay the delivery by months or years.
WASHINGTON  President Biden and Chancellor Olaf Scholz of Germany on Friday showed a united front on the war in Ukraine during a meeting at the White House, vowing to keep Western support for Kyiv intact amid mounting concerns that China could move to supply weapons to Moscow.

Speaking to reporters before a private meeting in the Oval Office, the two leaders said they were working in lockstep on Ukraine, one year into a Russian invasion that has persisted despite losses on the battlefield and economic isolation.

As NATO allies, were making the alliance stronger and more capable, Mr. Biden said.

With their frequent visits and calls  they spoke several times in January  Mr. Biden and Mr. Scholz are trying to show the world that they are the stewards of a strong NATO alliance against Russian aggression and Chinese interference.

Neither leader publicly acknowledged the looming concerns over Chinese involvement in the conflict, and, at one point, Mr. Biden declined to answer a question about whether he and Mr. Scholz would discuss the matter.

In remarks to reporters before a private meeting, the two leaders acknowledged how much had changed since Mr. Scholz first visited Mr. Biden early last year and the two had promised to unleash economic sanctions against Russia if it invaded Ukraine.

The invasion and the sanctions both ended up happening, but the war has dragged on for a year despite Moscows losses on the battlefield and economic isolation.

We made it clear that if he moved, we would both respond, Mr. Biden said. And together we made good on that promise.

Shortly before the German and American leaders met in Washington, the Kremlins spokesman, Dmitry Peskov, again warned Western countries against providing more weapons to Ukraine, saying it would be a burden to their taxpayers and economies. It is a fact that this would make the conflict longer and will cause more tragic consequences for the Ukrainian people, Mr. Peskov said.

Washington announced another arms and ammunition delivery to Ukraine, a $400 million package that included howitzers  large firearms that are reloaded with ammunition  and HIMARS launchers, which fire satellite-guided rockets with a range of around 50 miles.

Mr. Biden has stressed the importance of working as an international collective as public support for arming the Ukrainians flags and some congressional Republicans continue to balk at the price tag of the war as an election year approaches. Mr. Scholz, who faces an election in 2025, needs to return to Germany with assurance from an American president that the two will continue to cooperate.

They need each other for domestic purposes, said Jackson Janes, a resident senior fellow at the German Marshall Fund. He added both leaders are going to be facing some headwinds with regard to the long-run sustainability of political support in both countries.
The United States will rush more precision-guided rockets and additional ammunition to Ukraine to help resupply what officials have described as Kyivs dangerously low artillery stockpile.

The additional medium-range rockets  known as GMLRS and pronounced Gimmlers  will be fired from 38 truck-mounted, multiple-rocket launchers that the United States already has provided. Known as HIMARS, those launchers have, over the past year, proved crucial in bolstering Ukraines momentum in the war.

U.S. officials said that the rockets are included in a new $400 million package of military aid announced on Friday by Secretary of State Antony J. Blinken.

The new package comes as President Biden hosts a short visit by Chancellor Olaf Scholz of Germany, bringing the total value of American military aid to Ukraine to more than $32 billion since February 2022.
The app has already been banned for three years on U.S. government devices used by the Army, the Marine Corps, the Air Force and the Coast Guard. But the bans typically dont extend to personal devices. And students often just switch to cellular data to use the app.

Is Congress trying to ban TikTok?

Some members would like to. In early March, the House Foreign Affairs Committee voted to approve a bill that could grant a president the authority to ban the platform entirely. (Courts previously stopped a Trump administration effort to do this.)

In January, a Republican senator, Josh Hawley of Missouri, introduced a bill to ban TikTok for all Americans after pushing for a measure, which passed in December as part of a spending package, that banned TikTok on all devices issued by the federal government. A separate bipartisan bill, introduced in December, also sought to ban TikTok and target any similar social media companies from countries like Russia and Iran.

What is the Biden administration doing?

TikTok said recently that the Biden administration wants its Chinese ownership to sell the app or face a possible ban. The administration has been largely quiet, though the White House recently pointed to an ongoing review, in response to questions about TikTok. TikTok has been in yearslong confidential talks with the administrations review panel, the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States, or CFIUS, to address questions about TikTok and ByteDances relationship with the Chinese government and the handling of user data.

TikTok said that in August it submitted a 90-page proposal detailing how it planned to operate in the United States while addressing national security concerns. On March 23, a spokeswoman for Chinas commerce ministry said China would firmly oppose the sale of the app.
They say real life is stranger than fiction and this bizarre Indian love square proves it. After his wife eloped with another man, a scorned husband decided to marry the lovers wife.

Neeraj and Rubi Devi, both from Indias Bihar state, tied the knot in 2009 and had four children together. At one point, Neeraj learned that his wife was having an affair with another man, named Mukesh, and despite his attempts to have Rubi cut ties with her lover, she ended up eloping with Mukesh last year and later marrying him. Neeraj turned to the elders in his Khagaria District village to hold a panchayat (special assembly) and resolve the matter, but Mukesh and Rubi declined to attempt and they have been on the run ever since. But the story doesnt end here

Photo: Michael Tucker/Unsplash+

Spouses elope with lovers all the time, and their partners either move on with their lives or wait for them to return, but in this particular case, Neeraj found a third option. His wifes lover was also married to a woman who happened to be named Rubi as well, and had two children of his own. After seeing that his wife had no intention of returning home, he asked Mukeshs wife to marry him. The couple tied the knot last month and the bizarre love story has been the talk of the town in Khagaria District ever since.

India Today reports that Neeraj and Mukeshs wife started speaking on the phone after their spouses eloped together, sort of crying on each others shoulders, and eventually fell in love. They got married on February 18 and Neeraj accepted Muskeshs children like the other man had accepted three of his four children (one of his daughters stayed with him).

Ruby Devis husband must be a commerce student. Its year end time, you gotta balance debit and credit pic.twitter.com/nihHGT9oxr  Sagar (@sagarcasm) March 2, 2023

Since Neeraj previously filed a police complaint against Mukesh for kidnapping his wife, Mukesh is still a wanted man and has been on the run with Rubi ever since.

As someone humorously commented on Twitter, these peoples children must be very confused right now


Pacific Surfliner Needs PR Engineer Mon., Apr. 10, 2023 The Los Angeles-San Diego-San Luis Obispo Rail Corridor Agency wants a digital marketing firm to promote visibility and recover ridership that the Pacific Surfliner brand lost during the COVID-19 pandemic. It has budgeted $200K for the one-year effort.
TEAM LEWIS is launching VIVID, a global reputation and impact practice. The new practice has been inspired and influenced by the work done by Team Lewis Foundation, which has shared the agencys services as well as millions of dollars,with a number of community causes, each nominated by an employee. VIVID will be led by Helen Ellis, the agencys global sustainability lead and reputation expert. It will assemble bespoke teams for each client. VIVID is designed to engineer new creative approaches to reputational content, engagement and brand experiences, said Team Lewis EVP Europe and APAC s Yvonne van Bokhoven. This approach is built on the understanding brands are an emotional experience, rooted in what stakeholders can feel and understand.

dna Communications, a global health comms agency, rebrands. The new branding and creative, executed in collaboration with IPG DXTRA Healths FutureBrand, includes an updated logo, tagline and visual identity, which can be seen on the agencys recently redesigned website. These efforts follow two years of significant expansion, during which dna has built an integrated media team, grown its creative and scientific communications specialties and elevated its strategy team across digital, paid, earned and client experience. The agency also established new satellite offices last year in Chicago and Boston. This launch is the culmination of a significant internal effort to capture the dna of today and reflect our commitment to using innovative science to uncover deep human centric insights that lead to meaningful programs, said dna Communications North America general manager Mike Rosich.

Stern IR, a Precision Value & Health company, launches an environmental, social and governance advisory practice. The new practice, which will work collaboratively with the agencys existing client-service teams, offers services including materiality assessments and ESG strategy as well as roadmap development, reporting and communications packages. Molly Podolefsky, who served as a director at Guidehouse and Navigant before coming to Stern, will be managing director ESG. "Our new practice will enable clients to develop ESG approaches that make sense from a business perspective and then leverage their ESG infrastructure and achievements to support visibility efforts, capture value, and attract additional investors who can support their businesses long term," said Stern IR founder and principal Lilian Stern.
COLAISTE Naomh Cormac's under 16 camogie team will be seeking All-Ireland success when they take on St Raphael's of Loughrea in the All-Ireland Post Primary Schools Junior 'C' camogie final at Padraig Pearses GAA grounds in South Roscommon on Saturday next.

It is a great achievement for the school to have reached an All-Ireland final and it will be an extremely busy weekend for the school as the senior hurling team will be playing the All-Ireland Senior 'B' Paddy Buggy Cup semi-final against St Louis of Ballymena on Sunday at 12.30pm at the Louth GAA Centre of Excellence in Darver.

The camogie team have had a great run to the final. In the first round stages of the competition they enjoyed victories over Loreto of Navan, Sacred Heart School, Tullamore and St Finian's of Mullingar to put themselves in the knock out stages.

In the Leinster semi-final they were victorious over Scoil Criost Ri from Portlaoise to advance to the provincial final. In the Leinster Final they had a very close contest with Heywood Community School before emerging victorious on a 3-6 to 2-4 scoreline.

They then progressed to the All-Ireland quarter final where they beat Our Lady's College from Terenure.

Colaiste Naomh Cormac then made the long journey to Fermoy to play Loreto College of Fermoy in the All-Ireland semi-final. After a very tight encounter the Kilcormac school came out on top by the narrowest of margins, 3-7 to 2-9.

They now face St Raphael's of Loughrea in the All-Ireland Final on Saturday next March 4th at 1pm in Padraig Pearses GAA pitch, Woodmount, Roscommon.

The Colaiste Naomh Cormac girls have done very well to reach this final. Under the management of Honor Kinsella and Ruth Hennessy they have answered all the questions asked of them and now stand just one step away from All-Ireland glory.

St Raphael's, who had an easy win over Ulster champions St Patrick's of Keady in the All-Ireland semi-final, will provide another test, but thus far Colaiste Naomh Cormac have been up for all the challenges put before them and they will be ready for this one as well.

Hopefully there will be plenty of support out for the girls in the final on Saturday which the school hopes will be the start of a great sporting weekend for the school.
A MAN who spat at a Garda repeatedly has been in custody since February 13, the district court heard last week.

In his evidence, Sgt James O'Sullivan said that on June 25, 2022, a Garda heard a noise outside the Kilbeggan Garda station.

When he went to investigate he saw Tibor Pohl (52) 57, Main Street, Kilbeggan, trying to break a Garda sign from the wall. He was threatening and abusive and was arrested.

On October 27, 2022,Gardai heard a knocking and banging on a door across the road. Mr Pohl was again threatening and abusive. While he was in the patrol car he spat several times at Garda Conor Wynne. An anti spit guard was used.

On May 24, 2022 at Tullamore Garda Station Mr Pohl handled stolen property namely one bottle of Scotch whiskey knowing it was stolen.

On the same date he had with him a knife which had a blade which was sharply pointed. He was also highly intoxicated on Main street on the same date. He had previously failed to show up in court on February 8, 2023,

He had 11 previous convictions, the last of which was in Athlone where he was sentenced to two months in the Midlands Prison.

Solicitor Donal Farrelly said the defendant was a 52-year-old Czechoslovakian native and was married with two children.

He had been in Castlerea prison since February 13. 2023. He had found himself out on the street when his landlord ''upped the rent'' and he was very distressed, said Mr Farrelly.

He is hopeful of getting back with his wife and back to the life he had before. He hopes he can re-engage and put his life back together again, he said.

On the charge of criminal damage Judge Andrew Cody sentenced the defendant to three months in prison which he suspended for three years. F

or assaulting Garda Conor Wynne,Mr Pohl received a three month suspended sentence to run consecutively.

If there are any further offences from this date Judge Cody said Mr Pohl will go to prison for six months.
BORD na Mona has begun a pre-application consultation in relation to its plan for a 600 MW gas-fired power station in north Offaly.

The pre-application process began with An Bord Pleanala on February 24 and the planning board says Bord na Mona Powergen Ltd is proposing a two-unit power plant on land in the Derrygreenagh Bog group, which lies between Rhode and Rochfortbridge.

There will be a combined cycle gas turbine (CCGT) unit and an open cycle gas turbine (OCGT) unit.

In April 2010 Bord na Mona was first granted planning permission for a natural gas-fired 430MW CCGT unit and and a distillate/natural gas-fired 170MW OCGT unit.

Speaking about that project in November 2021, a Bord na Mona spokesperson said: The company is reviewing options to develop new generation capacity on this site in light of the current pressure on the electricity system.

At that time a local Fine Gael councillor, Noel Cribbin, said that if the power plant got the go-ahead it would be absolutely massive for north Offaly and for the whole Midlands.

This isn't just big for the Midlands, it's big for Ireland. You can imagine what that would be worth to the Irish economy, said Cllr Cribbin.

Certainly we wouldn't have worries with rates from now on if we could get something like that.

In a combined cycle unit, the gas turbine generator generates electricity with the waste heat from the gas turbine used to make steam to generate additional electricity via a heat recovery steam generator and a steam turbine.

An open gas cycle unit involves linking a single gas turbine to a generator. It can be powered up within 20 minutes and such plants are often used for 'peaking' purposes when extra power is needed by the grid quickly.

Bord na Mona operates the 118 MW peat and biomass co-fired power station, Edenderry Power, near Clonbullogue. The burning of peat there is being phased out.

It also supplies electricity to the grid from two wind farms in north and east Offaly, one at Mountlucas and another at Cloncreen. It has begun work on another wind farm at Derrinlough in the west of the county.
It's a wrap from Tullamore DEW and Digans bar in Tullamore as filming comes to close on a major television and digital advert for the leading Irish whiskey brand.

Film crews descended on Tullamore's William St last Monday to shoot scenes for the advert in Clarke's barbers and Digans bar.

They also travelled outside the town later in the week to film at Lough Boora Discovery Park and in countryside near Ballinagar before returning to Digans.

In a post on Facebook Digans following the end of filming said: What a week of filming and still shots. Thank you to all involved, it was such a pleasure and honour for us here at Digans to have you all here this week. Give everyone of their DEW . . . just class.

Tight secrecy surrounded the advert and the Tullamore Tribune was not allowed to take photographs when filming was in progress.

It is understood the advert will be screened on television and broadcast digitally around the globe later this year providing huge publicity to Tullamore and Offaly as tourist destinations.
After a trial that involved a tape of a speech given in Melbourne, Sokha was found guilty of colluding with a foreign power to try to topple Hun Sens regime.
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Brisbane scored an amazing try of the year contender in its first-round clash with Penrith.
Newsy 23 Mar 2023

ViewSeveral household items which once belonged to Alex and Maggie Murdaugh were placed up for auction on Thursday..
As the farmers of the Liverpool Plains gear up to stop a gas pipeline, they are forging alliances with a new breed of activist.
Republican businessman Perry Johnson has announced his long-shot bid for president. Johnson's campaign says he announced his candidacy to supporters Thursday after speaking at the Conservative Political Action Conference in Maryland. Johnson did not mention his campaign when he spoke at CPAC, where a handful of other candidates and potential contenders including ex-President Donald Trump are slated to speak Friday and Saturday. Johnson tried to run for Michigan governor last year but was deemed by the state's elections bureau to have filed thousands of fraudulent signatures. He said his rights were violated during the process. Johnson earned a fortune starting Perry Johnson Registrars Inc., which certifies if businesses are meeting industrial standards.
King Charles will never be able to forgive his youngest son, Prince Harry, after he 'viciously attacked' Camilla in his memoir.
Alex Murdaugh has been sentenced. On Friday (March 3), the 54-year-old disgraced attorney returned to court in Walterboro, South Carolina were he received his prison sentence after he was found guilty of murdering wife Maggie and their son Paul the night before. Before the sentencing, Murdaugh was asked if he wanted to address the court. [...]
The one-day visit will be without pomp and ceremony  or even a joint press conference. The two leaders will discuss the war in Ukraine and China's possible involvement.
One in six children in Germany is overweight. Now, Food and Agriculture Minister Cem Ozdemir wants to ban advertising for unhealthy food. But the candy industry is fighting back.
Wales Online 07 Mar 2023

Negotiations to focus on pay but any payment for current financial year will only be in the form of a one-off payment
A court has sentenced Cambodian opposition leader Kem Sokha to 27 years in prison for treason. Critics say the trial was designed to keep him out of an upcoming election.
Kem Sokha is sentenced to 27 years under house arrest, five years after the dissolution of his party.
As Liverpool prepare to host Manchester United at Anfield, BBC Sport revisits some of the great matches between the two sides from the past 30 years.
Top US diplomat Blinken told his counterparts from the Quad group that Moscow's threat to use nuclear weapons is "inadmissible." Meanwhile, Germany's Scholz is traveling to Washington to meet Biden. DW has the latest.
Newsy 22 Mar 2023

ViewRussia launched exploding drones that killed at least four people at a student dormitory near Kyiv before dawn Wednesday, just..
A bus has crashed headfirst into an oncoming truck after it changed lanes in a southern German town. The injured are being treated in hospital.
King Charles III's first trip abroad as king will take him to major European partners France, and then Germany. The German president's office said he would visit from March 29-31 after several days in France.
A series of documents thought to be from Claus Schenk Graf von Stauffenberg, the army officer who tried to assassinate Hitler, have been declared probable fakes. A police raid turned up typewriters, ink, and old paper.
Buckingham Palace says the King will visit European neighbours on his first official visits.
Hundreds of schoolgirls in Iran have been reportedly poisoned. The United Nations and German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock have called for a thorough investigation.
Former women's world champion Alexandra Kosteniuk will play under the Swiss flag in future chess competitions. She's one of several top Russian players to have left the country or criticized the invasion of Ukraine.
A new poll in Germany suggests six people in 10 would approve of investing more still in the armed forces, even if it meant making cuts elsewhere or borrowing. They were much less keen on giving up a bank holiday for it.
Russian troops have made Bakhmut their primary objective in Donbas. How long can the Ukrainian army defend the city, and what direction is the war likely to take in the coming weeks and months?
Russians in the UK have been subjected to violent assaults, threats and vandalism in the last year, as new figures suggest a surge in hate crime linked to the war in Ukraine.
Four high school pupils were suspended over book incident but headteacher says there was no malicious intent
The Justice Department sad that the scheme was uncovered as the United States has cracked down on illegal exports to Russia since it invaded Ukraine a year ago.
Natalia Popova has created a shelter for many animals in Ukraine which have been rescued from the conflict which has engulfed the country. (Mar. 3)


In a quiet suburb on the edge of Hamburg, we get a glimpse into a small part of Germany's war machine.
The House Ethics Committee announced Thursday it is launching an investigation into embattled Republican Rep. George Santos, the New York congressman whose lies and embellishments about his resume and personal life have drawn deep scrutiny. The investigation appears to be far reaching. It seeks to



#houseethicscommittee #georgesantos #republicans #ethics #davidjoyce #rohio #susanwild #dpa #longisland #times
DULLES, Va. -- A Lufthansa flight that experienced significant turbulence was diverted to Washington Dulles International Airport and seven people on board were taken to area hospitals, officials said. Flight 469 from Austin, Texas, had been headed to Frankfurt, Germany, but landed safely



#dulles #lufthansa #flight469 #austin #frankfurt #virginia #michaelcabbage #crews #airbus #a330
Watch VideoFormer President Donald Trump can be sued by injured Capitol Police officers and Democratic lawmakers over the Jan. 6, 2021, insurrection at the U.S. Capitol, the Justice Department said Thursday in a federal court case testing Trump's legal vulnerability and the limits of executive power.



Although a president...
The federal Energy Department has now concluded that the COVID-19 pandemic began with a leak from a laboratory in China.



In a similar style, FBI Director Christopher Wray explains, The FBI has for quite some time now assessed that the origins of the pandemic are most likely a potential lab incident in Wuhan. Here you are...
Britains energy suppliers are expecting the government to U-turn on a planned cut to energy support for households  but have been told by officials to prepare two sets of bills for next month. Chancellor Jeremy Hunt is under pressure to extend the energy price guarantee, a government policy



#jeremyhunt #treasury #ofgem #ukraine #grantshapps #martinlewis
The governor of Bryansk region said "saboteurs from Ukraine" shot a civilian car in Lyubechane, injuring a 10-year-old and killing two adults.
Ales Bialiatski was one of the leaders of Belarus' pro-democracy movement, inspiring protests against what activists maintained were fraudulent presidential elections in 2020.
Greater effort vowed on foreign investment

16:47, March 03, 2023 By Liu Zhihua ( Chinadaily.com.cn

An employee works on the production line of a foreign-funded machinery manufacturer in Suzhou, Jiangsu province. [Photo by Zhai Huiyong/For China Daily]

China is a market foreign enterprises must go to, and the country will further strengthen efforts to retain and attract more high-quality foreign investment, Commerce Minister Wang Wentao said on Thursday.

He made the remarks at a news conference in Beijing to expound China's stance on promoting foreign investment.

Attracting and utilizing more foreign investment will be "a key task" this year, Wang said, adding that the country will make greater efforts to promote investment, improve services, expand opening-up and optimize the business environment, in order to retain high-quality foreign investment and attract more foreign investors.

"We will thoroughly implement the foreign investment law and its implementation regulations to apply national treatment to foreign enterprises with high standards," he said.

"Issues many foreign enterprises raise, such as those regarding government procurement, bidding and standards formulation, will be key focuses of our work," he added.

Wang said the ministry and other central government departments will conduct research and roll out policy measures to ensure foreign enterprises have equal access to those opportunities.

Cross-department complaint and coordination mechanisms at all government levels will also be established and improved to strengthen the protection of the legitimate rights and interests of foreign investors.

The ministry will also initiate a "Year of Investing in China" program, which will include a series of foreign investment promotional events and activities at home and abroad.

Wang said the ministry will enhance services for foreign investors including holding regular consultations and discussions with foreign enterprises and business chambers to help them solve problems.

Huo Jianguo, vice-chairman of the China Society for World Trade Organization Studies, said China faces serious challenges in attracting foreign direct investment this year against the backdrop of a gloomy global economy and the probable intensifying of the United States' moves to contain China.

To cope with the challenge, China is expected to further optimize the business environment, enhance policy consistency, firmly safeguard the legitimate interests of all enterprises and proactively expand opening-up in the services industry, Huo said.

China is also likely to enhance implementation of the negative lists system and the catalog of industries encouraging foreign investment, while further expanding market access to high-tech industries, he added.

On the back of China's steady economic rebound and firm commitment to opening-up, many multinational companies have shown strong confidence in China.

Mauro De Felip, general manager of Ferrero China, said a company cannot call itself a multinational if it is not successful in Asia. "To be successful in Asia means to be successful in China," he said.

Moody's Investors Service recently lifted its forecast for China's real GDP growth to 5 percent for both 2023 and 2024, up from its previous projection of 4 percent for both years. Deutsche Bank raised its forecast of China's growth to 6 percent this year, up from 4.5 percent in its previous estimate.

(Web editor: Zhang Kaiwei, Liang Jun)
Bangui, CAR (PANA) - Representatives of the African Development Bank (AfDB) and the United Nations Refugee Agency (UNHCR) have conducted a joint visit to Central African Republic (CAR) to explore the potential of joint initiatives for durable solutions to sustain the returns of refugees and internally displaced people
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
Tripoli, Libya (PANA) - Libyan Minister of Finance in the Government of National Unity, Khaled al-Mabrouk, stressed here Tuesday the health sector's need for a comprehensive strategy was one of the most important challenges facing the sector
Photo: (Photo : Pexel/ Tim Mossholder)

A two-year-old child from Alabama dies in the nation's first hot car death in 2023.

Advocacy group "Kids and Car Safety" reported the first hot car death in the U.S. on Monday in Atmore, Alabama. The victim was a two-year-old child left in the vehicle for eight hours by the father instead of being dropped at the daycare center, according to the Atmore Police Department.

The father was still able to bring the child to the hospital but was declared dead shortly by medical staff, The Atmore Advance reported.

The Atmore Community Hospital contacted authorities about the incident, and 51-year-old Shawn Rounsavall, the child's father, was arrested and charged with reckless murder. He is currently at the Escambia County Detention Center in Brewton.

The father thought he dropped the child at the daycare

"Atmore police officers responded to the hospital and discovered the child was supposed to be dropped off at a local daycare during the morning hours," Public Information Officer Sgt. Darrell McMann stated.

According to the officers, the father had gone to the daycare in the afternoon to pick the child up but was told the child was never dropped off that morning. The father found the child in the vehicle's backseat and rushed him to the hospital.

The National Weather Service cited the temperature in Atmore on Monday at 80 degrees. And, for an 80-degree day, the temperature inside a closed car can surge to 123 degrees in just an hour, as No Heat Stroke stated.

The website, managed by meteorologist Jan Null of Golden Gate Weather Services, further stated that when a "core body temperature" of 107 degrees or higher is reached, cells in the body are damaged, and internal organs begin to collapse, rapidly leading to death.

It was also surprising to have a hot car death in February as it was said to be "rare," with only six deaths since 1998, including Monday's recent incident.

Hot car deaths for the rest of the months of the year are, however, usual, as Amber Rollins, director of Kids and Care Safety, shared.

Read More: 12-year-old girl invented car seat device that prevents hot car deaths [wins $20,000]

38 kids die every year in hot cars

Since 1990, more than 1,052 kids have died due to hot car incidents, while at least 7,300 children have survived but with injuries.

On average, according to data gathered by Kids and Car Safety, 38 kids die in the nation every year due to being left inside hot cars.

Most children, specifically 88 percent, were three and below, and 55 percent were "unknowingly left by an otherwise loving, responsible parent or caregiver."

Rollins, however, expressed to USA Today her shock upon knowing that the child's father was immediately charged with murder. She said that it was "quite rare and heartbreaking."

She stated that they at Kids and Care Safety believe "strongly" that there should be a thorough investigation on "all child deaths," and to charge someone quickly before an investigation is "rare."

Related Article: New Jersey Mom Screams in Anguish After Toddler Daughter Tragically Dies in Hot Car
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Users of the email app BlueMail wont see the latest update on their iPhone for a while, as Apple has blocked the approval of the new A.I.-enhanced version, saying it could show content thats inappropriate for users under 17.

The Wall Street Journal reports that Apple is asking Blix, the company behind BlueMail, to adjust its age restrictions to 17 and older, but Blix is resisting the change.

The new version of BlueMail uses ChatGPT to automate the process of writing emails, based on a scan of the users previous emails and calendar. Apples app-review team, in an email viewed by the Journal, says the app does not appear to include content filtering, which is why it is pushing for the higher age restrictions.

Apple is making it really hard for us to bring innovation to our users, Ben Volach, cofounder of Blix, told the Journal, adding that the app does, in fact, have content filtering.

The Android version of the app was updated without any age restriction change request.

BlueMail is able to appeal the decision to Apple, and has done so. The move by Apple, though, is a clear sign that its paying close attention to generative A.I. chatbots, which have exploded in popularity over the past month. For more, read the full Yahoo! Finance report.
On Tuesday Patently Apple posted a report titled "Apple's main AirPods Supplier GoerTek claims that most Apple Suppliers are Racing to Exit China." Today we're learning that Foxconn Technology Co. Ltd. Has signed an agreement to invest in Indias southern Telangana state to manufacture electronics, as the Apple Inc. supplier looks to pivot beyond China.

The announcement follows a meeting between Foxconn Chairman Young Liu and Telangana chief minister K Chandrasekhar Rao. Liu, who is on a tour of India, also met with Prime Minister Narendra Modi earlier this week.

Foxconns investment is the largest in Indias electronics sector and will create 100,000 jobs, Raos office said.

The state government and Foxconn didnt disclose the size of the contract manufacturers investment or specify products that it would make in the state.

Modis flagship local manufacturing drive and financial incentives have led Apple suppliers Foxconn, Wistron Corp. and Pegatron Corp. to ramp up in the country. For more, read the full Bloomberg report.
Ahead of International Womens Day, new preliminary findings from the Apple Womens Health Study underscore the importance of paying attention to menstrual cycles and their connection to overall health.

Many physicians consider periods a vital sign, but this area of health is notably under-researched. The Apple Womens Health Study is a first-of-its-kind research study conducted with the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health and the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences (NIEHS) that aims to advance the understanding of menstrual cycles and how they relate to various health conditions such as polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS), infertility, and menopausal transition. The study is significant in its scope and scale because it invites anyone who has ever menstruated across the US to contribute to this research simply by using their iPhone.

New Preliminary Findings

Harvard Chan School researchers used survey data from the Apple Womens Health Study to advance the scientific understanding around the relationship between persistently abnormal periods, PCOS, and endometrial hyperplasia and cancer. Looking at a preliminary analysis cohort of over 50,000 study participants, the study team found:

12 percent of participants reported a PCOS diagnosis. Participants with PCOS had more than four times the risk of endometrial hyperplasia (precancer of the uterus) and more than 2.5 times the risk of uterine cancer.

5.7 percent of participants reported their cycles taking five or more years to reach cycle regularity after their first period. Participants in that group had more than twice the risk of endometrial hyperplasia and more than 3.5 times the risk of uterine cancer, compared to those who reported their cycles took less than one year to reach regularity.

These updates are a first step for helping people understand risk factors for these diseases, and encouraging people to have conversations with their healthcare providers about cycle irregularity earlier.

More awareness on menstrual cycle physiology and the impact of irregular periods and PCOS on uterine health is needed, said Dr. Shruthi Mahalingaiah, MS, Harvard Chan Schools assistant professor of Environmental Reproductive and Womens Health and co-principal investigator of the Apple Womens Health Study. This analysis highlights the importance of talking to a healthcare provider when menstruators are experiencing persistent changes to their period that span many months. Over time, we hope our research can lead to new strategies to reduce disease risk and improve health across the lifespan.

The study team will conduct further analyses on this preliminary data for scientific publication.

Cycle Tracking on Apple Watch and in the Health app on iPhone can help users have more informed conversations with their providers.

Previous Interim Updates

The Apple Womens Health Study team has previously shared a number of other interim research updates that highlight how large-scale, longitudinal research on menstruation can help advance the science around this topic.

Research published in the American Journal of Obstetrics and Gynecology focuses on cycle deviations, like irregular or prolonged periods, which can be a sign of underlying conditions including PCOS, fibroids, malignancies, or infections. The study found cycle deviations were found in 16.4 percent of the study population. Black participants had a 33 percent higher prevalence of infrequent periods compared to white, non-Hispanic participants, while Asian participants had a higher prevalence of irregular periods.

Demonstrating just how common menstrual symptoms really are, researchers found the most frequently tracked symptoms were abdominal cramps, bloating, and tiredness, all of which were experienced by more than 60 percent of participants who logged symptoms. More than half of the participants who logged symptoms reported acne and headaches. Some less widely recognized symptoms, like diarrhea and sleep changes, were also tracked by 37 percent of participants logging symptoms.

After analyzing over 125,000 menstrual cycles, researchers found that participants experienced slightly longer menstrual cycles for cycles in which they received a COVID-19 vaccine, but participants cycles typically returned to pre-vaccination lengths the cycle after getting a vaccine.

The Apple Womens Health Study invites anyone who has ever menstruated across the US to contribute to scientific research by enrolling via the Apple Research app. The study enables participants to share their cycle tracking data, along with other health data from iPhone, and Apple Watch if they have one. Participants can also provide a more well-rounded set of information about their personal and family history and lifestyle through occasional surveys. The Research app helps the study reach individuals across various stages of their life, varying races, and across the US. Participants control the data types shared with the study, with transparency into how the data will be used for the purposes of the study.

Anyone who has ever menstruated across the US can download the Apple Research app to enroll in the Apple Womens Health Study, which helps the study reach individuals across various stages of their life, of varying races, and in multiple locations.

Cycle Tracking on iPhone and Apple Watch

Cycle Tracking is available in the Health app on iPhone or the Cycle Tracking app on Apple Watch, allowing users to track their menstrual cycle along with details like symptoms or ovulation test results. Cycle Tracking uses information users have logged for previous periods and cycle length, plus heart rate data from Apple Watch, to offer period and fertile window predictions. Users can turn on notifications to tell them when their next period or fertile window is approaching.

With iOS 16 and watchOS 9, Cycle Tracking can inform users if their logged cycle history from the previous six months shows a pattern of irregular periods, infrequent periods, prolonged periods, or persistent spotting. Its important to know when these patterns occur, as they may be a sign of an underlying health condition. Users are also able to learn about the Cycle Deviation detected, and export the last 12 months of their cycle history as a PDF to share with their provider.

Cycle Tracking  available in the Health app on iPhone and in the Cycle Tracking app on Apple Watch  allows users to conveniently track their menstrual cycle and receive period and fertile window predictions, with the same strong privacy protections as with all other health data.

Additionally, the new temperature-sensing capabilities in Apple Watch Series 8 and Apple Watch Ultra allow users to receive retrospective ovulation estimates. New sensors gather overnight wrist temperature data that can be used to estimate the likely day of ovulation after it has occurred and improve period predictions. Knowing when ovulation has occurred can be helpful for family planning, and users can view these estimates in the Health app.

New temperature sensors in Apple Watch Series 8 and Apple Watch Ultra gather overnight wrist temperature data that can be used to estimate the likely day of ovulation after it has occurred, which can be helpful for family planning.

New temperature sensors in Apple Watch Series 8 and Apple Watch Ultra gather overnight wrist temperature data that can be used to estimate the likely day of ovulation after it has occurred, which can be helpful for family planning.

Privacy is fundamental in the design and development across all of Apples features. When a users iPhone is locked with a passcode, Touch ID, or Face ID, all of their health and fitness data in the Health app  other than Medical ID  is encrypted. Any Health data backed up to iCloud is encrypted both in transit and on Apple servers. When using iOS and watchOS with the default two-factor authentication and a passcode, Health app data synced to iCloud is encrypted end-to-end, meaning that Apple does not have the key to decrypt the data and therefore cannot read it.

New temperature sensors in Apple Watch Series 8 and Apple Watch Ultra gather overnight wrist temperature data that can be used to estimate the likely day of ovulation after it has occurred, which can be helpful for family planning.

Privacy is fundamental in the design and development across all of Apples features. When a users iPhone is locked with a passcode, Touch ID, or Face ID, all of their health and fitness data in the Health app  other than Medical ID  is encrypted. Any Health data backed up to iCloud is encrypted both in transit and on Apple servers. When using iOS and watchOS with the default two-factor authentication and a passcode, Health app data synced to iCloud is encrypted end-to-end, meaning that Apple does not have the key to decrypt the data and therefore cannot read it.






This is Chapter Three of my book, The Word Set in Stone: How Archaeology, Science, and History Back up the Bible (Catholic Answers Press, March 15, 2023: see further book and purchase information). Bible passages: RSV.

*****

Then the Lord appeared to Abram and said,

To your descendants I will give this land.

GENESIS 12:7

We cant find out much (if anything) specifically about the patriarch Abraham, revered in Christianity, Judaism, and Islam alike as the father of faith. Archaeologists have not yet found physical, or hard, evidence that he existed.

Nevertheless, if the purported accounts of Abraham in Genesis are verified as accurate, according to what we know from history and archaeology, then we have an objective and rational basis for believing that Abraham did exist in history, as opposed to being merely fictional or mythological (like Heracles of Greek mythology).

Particularlyas I will primarily contend in this chapter we can offer strong archaeological evidence that cities and regions mentioned in the Bible as having been visited or lived in by Abraham did indeed exist before and during the time period involved. If they didnt exist then, it would clearly present a problem.

Such verifications dont prove the Bibles inspiration, but they do support its historical accuracy and highly suggest that many biblical skeptics have gone too far in their negative or agnostic opinions.

According to the Bible, Abraham was a man who took many journeys. Joshua 24:23 states,

Thus says the Lord, the God of Israel . . . I took your father Abraham from beyond the River and led him through all the land of Canaan, and made his offspring many.

The usual or standard view is that Abraham came from Ur of the Chaldeans (see Gen. 11:2728, 31), which is close to the Persian Gulf, west of the Euphrates, in southern Mesopotamia (current-day Iraq). Some biblical evidences regarding Abrahams journey to Canaan, however, suggest another city: Urfa (also known as Sanliurfa and, in ancient times, Edessa) in present-day Turkey (southeastern Anatolian region).

Gary Rendsburg, professor of Jewish history in the Department of Jewish Studies at Rutgers University, makes the case for Urfa being the biblical Ur of the Chaldeans or Chaldees:

A serious geographical problem plagues the story: a journey from Ur to Canaan would not pass through Harran. . . . A more attractive suggestion is that Abrahams hometown is the city of Ur in northern Mesopotamia = modern-day Urfa in southeastern Turkey, 44 km [27 miles] north of Harran. Most likely, this city is the one mentioned as Ura in cuneiform tablets from Ugarit (fourteenth-thirteenth centuries BCE), where it is associated with the Hittite realm. A journey from Urfa to Canaan would indeed pass directly through Harran. Local (Turkish) Jewish, Christian, and Muslim tradition identifies this city as biblical Ur, the birthplace of Abraham. In fact, this notion was commonly accepted in nineteenth-century biblical scholarship. [42]

Cyrus H. Gordon, professor of Hebraic studies at New York University, adds,

The biblical evidence is by itself conclusive in placing Ur of the Chaldees in the Urfa-Haran region of south central Turkey, near the Syrian border, rather than in southern Mesopotamia . . . Genesis 24:4, Genesis 24:7, Genesis 24:10, and Genesis 24:29 tells us that Abrahams birthplace was in Aram-Naharayim where Laban lived. [43]

The journey from Ur to Haran (also spelled Harran see Gen. 12:45; Acts 7:34), undertaken by Abraham, was 27 miles. M. Bozdeniza et al. noted that the known written documents about Harran indicate that its history goes as far back as 2500 B.C. [44] Tamara M. Green placed the citys origin at around 2000 B.C. and observed that it was founded as a merchant outpost by Ur. [45] She noted that the abundance of goods that passed through the area must have proved a temptation, for raids upon the caravan were frequent. Either date is earlier than the estimated time of Abrahams birth: around 18801860 B.C., according to the copiously researched scholarly determinations of Egyptologist Kenneth A. Kitchen. [46] Haran was ideally located on a trade route between the Mediterranean and the plains of the Tigris River.

Genesis 12:6 Abram passed through the land to the place at Shechem, to the oak of Moreh. At that time the Canaanites were in the land (see also 33:18).

Archaeology informs us that Shechem was settled (or resettled) before Abraham was bornin around 1900 B.C.and that it had a two-hundred-year period of prominence as a city-state, covering the centuries from 1750 to 1540 B.C. [47] David G. Hansen observed,

Archaeological investigations have corroborated much of what the Bible has to say about Shechems physical and cultural aspects. Archaeology has confirmed Shechems location, its history, and many biblical details. . . . In the original Hebrew, the word translated in our English Bible as city meant a permanent, walled settlement. . . . Genesis 34:20 and 24 report that Shechem had a city gate; therefore it was fortified. [48]

The Bible refers to Abraham dwelling by the oaks of Mamre . . . at Hebron (Gen. 13:18; see also 14:13, 18:1, 35:27), and also to the burial of his wife Sarah there (23:2, 19). Archaeologists Avraham Negev and Shimon Gibson provide the evidence for Hebrons existence during Abrahams lifetime:

The earliest ancient settlement was established . . . during Early Bronze III [27002200 B.C.]. . . . This city was destroyed in a substantial conflagration. Not long afterwards and the same period the city was built anew. . . . Following a period of abandonment, settlement of the site was renewed in Middle Bronze IIB [17501650 B.C.]. [49]

A 2018 article on the city [50] at Hebron.org (including a video) notes the discovery in that year of stairs (recently opened to the public) from the time of Abraham:

Dr. Emmanual Eisenberg of the Israel Antiquities Authority led the dig in Tel Hevron. . . . In what is todays Admot Yishai neighborhood, near the Tomb of Jesse and Ruth is a flight of stairs, over 4,000 years old, leading from the valley below into the ancient city of Hebron.

Another location that the Bible claims Abraham visited and lived in is Beersheba (Gen. 21:14,2933; 22:19). Biblical scholar John J. Bimson noted about it:

Sarna has argued . . . The biblical passages refer only to a well and a cultic site. . . . No king or ruler is mentioned, and no patriarch ever has dealings with the inhabitants of Beersheba. . . . In 1967, Aharoni held the view that the absence of early archaeological evidence does not contradict the patriarchal narratives, which, he then suggested, have only the area of Beersheba in mind, not a town. [51]

The biblical data appear perfectly consistent with this scenario. Beersheba is mentioned eleven times in Genesis in the RSV. None of the passages requires the interpretation of even a town, let alone a city. The first mention, in Abrahams time (Gen. 21:14), refers to the wilderness of Beersheba.

Genesis 14:1718 After his return from the defeat of Ched-or-laomer and the kings who were with him, the king of Sodom went out to meet him at the Valley of Shaveh (that is, the Kings Valley). And Melchizedek king of Salem brought out bread and wine; he was priest of God Most High.

These two things have to do with Jerusalem. Most scholars think Salem was a name for ancient Jerusalem (one of several). Mt. Moriah is the spot in Jerusalem (currently the Temple Mount) where Solomons temple was built some 600700 years after Abraham was willing to sacrifice his son there. The traditional spot is currently covered by the Islamic Dome of the Rock.

Many seem to think that Jerusalem began, or first became a significant city, at the time David became king (c. 1000 B.C.). This is untrue. It was already very old by that time. Archaeological evidence exists for a settlement in the area as early as 45003500 B.C. The first mention of the city that we know of occurred around 2000 B.C. in the Egyptian Execration Texts [52] from the Middle Kingdom (2040 to 1782 B.C.). Massive walls (with four- and five-ton boulders) 26 feet high were built in Jerusalem by the seventeenth century B.C.some 600 years before King David. The famous Ebla discoveries (including 1,800 complete clay tablets), discovered in Syria in 19741975, date to between approximately 25002250 B.C. They refer to the name of ancient Jerusalem as Ye-ru-sa-lu-um. [53]

Thus, an abundance of undeniable evidence exists showing that Abrahams meeting with Melchizedek is a plausible event, given the known chronology of ancient Jerusalem. Nothing that we know would make such a meeting at that time and place impossible. In other words, the biblical account cant be casually ruled out as historically inaccurate or mythical, as not a few biblical skeptics or archaeological minimalists would claim.

FOOTNOTES

42 Gary Rendsburg, Ur Kasdim: Where Is Abrahams Birthplace?, Torah.com, 2019.

43 Cyrus H. Gordon, Where Is Abrahams Ur?, Biblical Archaeology Review 3.2 (1977): 2021, 52.

44 M. Bozdeniza et al, Vernacular domed houses of Harran, Turkey, Habitat International, vol. 22, no. 4 (December 1998), 477485. Citation from page 478.

45 Tamara M. Green, The City of the Moon God: Religious Traditions of Harran (Leiden, Netherlands: Brill, 1992), 19.

46 Kenneth A. Kitchen, On the Reliability of the Old Testament (Grand Rapids and Cambridge: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing, 2003), 359.

47 See Ephraim Stern (ed.), The New Encyclopedia of Archaeological Excavations in the Holy Land, Vol. 4 (Carta, Jerusalem: The Israel Exploration Society, 1993); Shechem, 1,3451,353. Citations from p. 1,347 and p. 1,352.

48 David G. Hansen, Shechem: Its Archaeological and Contextual Significance, Bible and Spade (Spring 2005).

49 Avraham Negev and Shimon Gibson, Archaeological Encyclopedia of the Holy Land (New York: Continuum, 2001), 224.

50 The History of the 4,000-Year-Old Steps in Hebron (October 26, 2018).

51 John J. Bimson, Archaeological Data and the Dating of the Patriarchs, chapter in A.R. Millard & D.J. Wiseman (ed.), Essays on the Patriarchal Narratives (Leicester, UK: InterVarsity Press, 1980), 5992 (citation from pp. 7576).

52 See The Execration Texts, City of David: Ancient Jerusalem.

53 For this and related information about pre-Davidic Jerusalem, see Ancient Jerusalem.

***

Practical Matters: Perhaps some of my 4,000+ free online articles (the most comprehensive one-stop Catholic apologetics site) or fifty-one books have helped you (by Gods grace) to decide to become Catholic or to return to the Church, or better understand some doctrines and why we believe them.

Or you may believe my work is worthy to support for the purpose of apologetics and evangelism in general. If so, please seriously consider a much-needed financial contribution. Im always in need of more funds: especially monthly support. The laborer is worthy of his wages (1 Tim 5:18, NKJV). 1 December 2021 was my 20th anniversary as a full-time Catholic apologist, and February 2022 marked the 25th anniversary of my blog. PayPal donations are the easiest: just send to my email address: apologistdave@gmail.com. Youll see the term Catholic Used Book Service, which is my old side-business. To learn about the different methods of contributing, including 100% tax deduction, etc., see my page: About Catholic Apologist Dave Armstrong / Donation Information. Thanks a million from the bottom of my heart!

***

Summary: Chapter Three of my book, The Word Set in Stone (March 15, 2023) surveys the archaeological evidence that is consistent with the accounts of Abraham in the Bible.
At a glance Expert's Rating Pros 16-inch 16:10 screen perfect for productivity

Great keyboard with full numpad

Decent battery life

Fast performance Cons Middling webcam

Weak stereo speakers

Jumpy trackpad Our Verdict The Lenovo ThinkPad T16 Gen 1 is a great option for business professionals thanks to its spacious keyboard, enormous screen, and zippy performance.

Sometimes all you need is a gigantic screen. Whether its to get a better look at a PowerPoint slide or blow up a dense Excel spreadsheet, its easier to get a lot of work done when youve got a larger canvas. In years past, that might have meant springing for a bulky 17-inch class laptop. Thanks to narrow bezels, Lenovos ThinkPad T16 Gen 1 has managed to cram a 16-inch display into a frame that wouldve housed a 15-inch just a few short years ago. With ultrabook thinness, plenty of ports, and a meaty Intel i7 chip, this business laptop is plenty productive even without external screens or desktop docks.

Lenovo ThinkPad T16: Specifications and features

Our review unit features an Intel Core i7-1270P CPU, Intel Iris Xe graphics, 16GB of DDR4 RAM, and 512GB of NVMe PCIe SSD storage. For more details, check out the specifications list below:

CPU : Intel Core i7-1270P (12 cores, 16 threads: 4 performance, 8 efficiency) with vPro

: Intel Core i7-1270P (12 cores, 16 threads: 4 performance, 8 efficiency) with vPro Memory : 16 GB DDR4 3200 MHz RAM soldered (up to 48 GB with additional SODIMM)

: 16 GB DDR4 3200 MHz RAM soldered (up to 48 GB with additional SODIMM) Graphics/GPU : Intel Iris Xe Graphics (Nvidia GeForce MX550 also available with i7-1260P)

: Intel Iris Xe Graphics (Nvidia GeForce MX550 also available with i7-1260P) Display : 16-inch 1610 WUXGA (19201200) matte IPS LCD

: 16-inch 1610 WUXGA (19201200) matte IPS LCD Storage : 512 GB M.2 2280 NVMe PCIe solid state drive

: 512 GB M.2 2280 NVMe PCIe solid state drive Webcam : 1080p with physical shutter

: 1080p with physical shutter Connectivity : 2x Thunderbolt 4, 1x 3.5mm combo audio, 2x USB-A 3.2 Gen 1, 1x HDMI

: 2x Thunderbolt 4, 1x 3.5mm combo audio, 2x USB-A 3.2 Gen 1, 1x HDMI Networking : Wi-Fi 6E, Bluetooth, 5G WWAN (optional)

: Wi-Fi 6E, Bluetooth, 5G WWAN (optional) Biometrics : Windows Hello facial recognition and fingerprint reader

: Windows Hello facial recognition and fingerprint reader Battery capacity : 86Wh

: 86Wh Dimensions : 14.25 W x 10.06 L x 0.81 H inches

: 14.25 W x 10.06 L x 0.81 H inches Weight : 3.9 pounds, 4.95 pounds with AC adapter

: 3.9 pounds, 4.95 pounds with AC adapter Price: $1,458.72

Lenovo ThinkPad T16: Design and build quality

IDG / Brendan Nystedt

If we can give Lenovo points for anything, its consistency. If you get a ThinkPad, it acts like a ThinkPad. Rarely does a slinky, fashionable computer get the ThinkPad badge but instead these are computers with few frills intended for years of use. The ThinkPad T16 Gen 1 embodies this no-nonsense, function-over-form design. Its most distinctive features are its big screen and wide keyboard, both of which make this big machine perfect for an all-in-one workstation.

Just about everything else about this big, slim wedge is made for getting down to your spreadsheets, emails, and Word docs. Its lightly textured plastic gives it a durable feeling, like itd be able to sustain some bumps and jostles during its service lifetime. Since it is such an expansive laptop, it has a little bit of flex, but very little of that matters once you place the T16 where youd likely use iton a desk. With its rubber feet sitting stably on a work surface, the T16 stays planted very nicely. In an office setting, I can see this working well on its own, or in a hotdesking scenario hooked up to external screens with a Thunderbolt hub.

While I found it to be a bit big for a cafe table (and you probably wont be using it on an airplanes tray table), the slim profile makes it easy to fit into a bag meant for a 15-inch laptop. If youve ever thought about getting a portable USB-C powered display for your small ultrabook, you actually might be better off toting one of these big-screened workstations instead.

Lenovo ThinkPad T16: Connectivity

IDG / Brendan Nystedt

Although its as thin as a smaller ultrabook, the Lenovo ThinkPad T16 manages to fit the ports youd want in 2023. It has not one but two Thunderbolt 4 ports, a full-size USB 3 port, a full-size HDMI port, a 3.5mm headset jack, and even a full-size RJ45 ethernet jack all along the left side of the device. On the right side, theres a well-placed USB 3 port, perfect for a corded mouse if youre righthanded. Overall, for a device in 2023, it represents a wide variety of options, meaning if you have few enough peripherals the T16 might even be suited for desk duty without a dock or dongle.

Wireless connectivity is exactly what wed expect from a modern, Intel-based laptop featuring WiFi 6E and Bluetooth 5.1. As some organizations might want mobile wireless as well, Lenovo offers up cellular, although our model didnt come with 4G or 5G. Finally, if your org uses smart cards, theres a spot for an optional smart card reader as well.

Lenovo ThinkPad T16: Keyboard and trackpad

IDG / Brendan Nystedt

Keyboard quality is a hallmark of the ThinkPad brand and the T16 is no exception. It has a light-but-precise-feeling keyboard with comfortable keycaps and I was happy to write the majority of this review on it. Given the big, 16-inch display inside the T16, theres extra space on the right side of the keyboard thats given over to a numpad. While Ive seen some laptop keypads crammed into smaller laptops with uncomfortable narrow buttons, the numpad on the T16 looks and works like a natural extension of the keyboard.

The big touchpad is perhaps less up to par here, and I found it to be overly sensitive and often hijacked my cursor while I was trying to work. The palm detection in particular wasnt well-tuned by default and since the trackpad takes up a good portion of the wrist rest, its an issue I ran into frequently. Its surface is supposedly made from a slippery mylar, which feels fine but its a definite downgrade from a glass material.

Real ones know that ThinkPads also come with an alternative to the trackpad, which is called a TrackPoint. This red nub in the middle of the keyboard lets you use the mouse without moving your hands down to the trackpad. Its an acquired taste, but the TrackPoint is pretty awesome once youve mastered it. With three buttons (the middle lets you scroll when held down), its a far better option for high-precision mouse use.

Lenovo ThinkPad T16: Display, speakers, and webcam

IDG / Brendan Nystedt

The star of the show here is the ThinkPad T16s honkin huge 16-inch widescreen IPS LCD. Although its not 4K or any other bananas high-resolution, at 19201200 and with a usefully-tall 16:10 aspect ratio, its still an excellent default option. The 300-nit peak brightness of this matte-finished panel was also just right, making glare a non-issue in every location. Assuming youre tackling ordinary business tasks and not video editing or graphic design jobs, the T16s big screen feels so much more expansive than a usual ultrabook than the extra 2 or 3 inches on paper may suggest.

While I was hoping for impressive audio performance from the ThinkPad T16 Gen 1, I came away disappointed. While the twin 2W speakers are fine, theyre blown away by other, smaller laptops packing twice the speakers with a offering far bigger sound. Its workable if youre mostly listening to meetings on Microsoft Teams, but if you like to crank up some jams while you get down to business you might want to grab a nice pair of headphones instead.

The webcam is another mixed bag. Although I loved that it has a physical shutter and supports Windows Hello face login, its not particularly great at making faces look their best or sharpest (it has a maximum resolution of 19201080, and looks rather noisy). I found that in a cafe involving mixed warm indoor and cool outdoor lighting, it was unable to make me look like anything but a ghost. Compared to other cameras Ive tried lately, this is passable but not ideal.

Lenovo ThinkPad T16: Performance

In terms of performance, the ThinkPad T16 Gen 1 is a bit of a sleeper. Although its a plain-looking business workstation, its quiet and powerful. The 12 core, 16 thread Intel Core i7-1270P has a 28W TDP, and the bigger laptop body means its kept cool and quiet even at full tilt. We put the T16 through its paces with our suite of benchmarks and found it to be competent and capable of ripping through typical business tasks, but probably not graphically intense chores like 3D games or creative work.

IDG / Brendan Nystedt

We use the PCMark 10 benchmark to get a repeatable, comparable look at a laptops abilities in a range of normal tasks. With all its cores, the ThinkPad T16 Gen 1 handily beat other thin business notebooks, and bested many of its smaller business rivals. Theres little doubt that for complex analysis work, you shouldnt end up waiting long at all.

IDG / Brendan Nystedt

In this performance test, we use Cinebench R15 to get a sense for how well all a laptops processors work together to render 3D graphics. With its dozen cores, the ThinkPad T16 held up quite well. Its clear that the extra threads as well as the bonus performance cores in the Intel P chips make a difference in these types of scenarios.

IDG / Brendan Nystedt

Your boss would love knowing that you have a ThinkPad T16 simply because its rather mediocre at graphically-challenging tasks like gaming. The i7 chip inside has Intels latest Xe Graphics onboard, but tested behind some other models with more graphics cores when we threw an the 3DMark Time Spy test at it. Rest assured that if you arent planning to secretly play Halo Infinite at work, the T16 should handle business-oriented tasks without struggle.

IDG / Brendan Nystedt

Our last performance comparison takes a look at video encoding, using a high-definition file ripped from a Blu-ray disk. Using Handbrake, we time how long it takes to turn the movie into a tablet-friendly file thats heavily compressed. In this test, the T16 was crushed by the high-powered Asus Zenbook Pro 14 Duo with its powerful i7-12700H chip, but bested the U-class processor seen in machines like the HP Dragonfly Folio G3.

Lenovo ThinkPad T16: Battery Life

IDG / Brendan Nystedt

Even though its a slim notebook, the ThinkPad T16 Gen 1 has a fairly large battery inside, clocking in at 86Wh. In our looping video test, we measured just under seven hours of runtime.

This means it can last a decent amount of time while away from a charger, although its big screen and higher performance P-class chip seem to suck down more battery. ARM-based like the Surface Pro 9, with the SQ3 chip, continue to offer the best battery life around, but we do wonder if there will ever be a big-screened laptop with that kind of processor inside.

Lenovo ThinkPad T16: Conclusion

It isnt surprising that the Lenovo ThinkPad T16 Gen 1 is a capable workhorse. After all, the ThinkPad name still stands for something and that something is getting work done. While I wouldnt recommend it for heavy graphics tasks or intensive editing in Adobe Premiere, this is a single machine that bridges the worlds of office desktop and laptop roles with aplomb and as little nonsense as possible.

If youre considering the T16 for yourself or people in your organization, youll appreciate the quality keyboard, full-sized numpad, capable processor, and big display. For people who manage databases, tackle a ton of email, or hardcore spreadsheet jockeying, this is the portable, powerful work laptop that can help you stay in the zone at a desk or on the jobsite.
Microsoft announced a pair of new builds for the Windows 11 Insider Preview channels todayand yes, you may see something in File Explorer that will cause your stomach to growl.

Windows 11 Insider Preview Build 25309 for the Dev Channel introduces a number of interesting tweaks to Windows, among them a better volume mixer, voice access improvements, and moreincluding the odd decision to include a pizza icon in File Explorer. The only hitch? Insider builds for the Dev Channel are considered experimental, so they may not show up in a final build. Not all Insiders will see these new features, eitherthats the trouble with Dev builds.

Heres what the new build includes:

A new volume mixer in Quick Settings: This addition looks genuinely useful, with more granular, informative details about what audio device your PC is using, and what spatial enhancement technology its being backed by. Microsofts mixer experience has been a little sparse, so this additional flyout detail seems useful.

A new Mixer option for Windows 11. Microsoft

Touch keyboard options: If you use a Surface Pro or a Surface Go and detach the keyboard, the tablet makes a choice: It either shows the touch keyboard in anticipation of you continuing to type; or hides it, believing that you want to use the screen to watch movies. Wouldnt you like to be able to make that decision yourself? Now you can, with a new Time & language > Typing option within the Windows Settings menu.

Auto Color Management expansion: Last October, Microsoft tipped plans to expand the color management in Windows, essentially allowing Windows to catch up with more advanced, color-managed displays. Now you can turn it on: go to Settings > Display > Advanced display, select correct display and turn on Automatically manage color for apps.

Start badging options: This isnt great news for those of you who dont like ads within Windows that promote various features. What Microsoft seems to be proposing here is that Microsoft intends to show more ads within the Start menu, and is looking for (less annoying? More informative?) ways to do it.

You may see this or something like it in Windows 11 Start. Microsoft

A second chance for you: Microsoft really wants you to set up your PC the way it wants, by linking your phone to your PC, using OneDrive, and making Edge your default browser. Not only does it do it during Windows setup, but also now in a second chance that addresses you by name.

Different Snap options: Microsoft is considering altering the time it takes for a new Snap orientation to fire, and may show you a descriptive title as well.

What Microsoft calls its Second Chance menu. Microsoft

Gday, Voice Access: Microsoft now accommodates UK, Australian, and Canadian accents in Voice Access, and has redesigned the in-app help page to make it more informative. If you want an exhaustive list of Voice Access commands and extra information about them, Microsoft recommends you visit this page. Microsoft has also added better support for selecting text, which you can find more details on its blog post on the new build.

Higher contrast Widgets and Search: New icons will make your local weather widget easier to pick up on the Taskbar. Ditto for the Search box.

Oh, and the pizza: Windows Insiders will begin noticing a pizza icon on the command bar in File Explorer, Microsoft says. This icon denotes that an Insider is previewing the Windows App SDK version of File Explorer. If you have no idea what that means, dont worryall we took away from it was that Microsoft may use the pizza icon to highlight a new UI thats in use. Nothing wrong with that!
Great Value, Kirkland, Signature Select, Husky  house brands, copied or repackaged products sold under a stores own label as cheap alternatives to name brands, have a long and storied history at retail. But perhaps no company has embraced the idea as completely and ruthlessly as Amazon has in the digital age. The corporations Amazon Basics brand will sell you everything from diapers to dining sets, and now its expanding into desktop PC components.

The first individual computer part to get the Amazon Basics label is a CPU cooler, a rather unassuming little number selling for $26.99 in the US. It boasts a relatively compact design for full-sized desktops, with four heat pipes and a single RGB 2000RPM 100mm cooling fan. Its compatible with the latest Intel and AMD CPU sockets: LGA 1700, 1200, 1156, 1155, 1151, 1150, plus AM4 and AM5. Theres even a handy installation video for both motherboard types, with and without RGB headers.

Amazon

Eagle-eyed readers might think the design looks a little familiar. As noted by Toms Hardware, the cooler appears to be either a rebadged version of the Cooler Master H410R, or a basically perfect copy of the design, minus some cosmetic badges and about 10mm in height. Neither move would be unprecedented for Amazon. The company has previously gone directly to Chinese white box manufacturers for rebadged products, similar to retail store brands all over the world. And its also commissioned flagrant copies of name-brand products, as in the case of Peak Designs EveryDay Sling bag.

While the Amazon Basics Computer Cooling Fan is less than half the price of the H410R on Amazon, its hardly the only option in its price range. Single-fan coolers from Arctic, Be Quiet, Thermaltake, and Zalman meet or beat its price, as do several entries from the usual weirdo brands that exist only on Amazon and other drop shipping sites. We may or may not see Amazon offer a further variety of PC components under the Amazon Basics brand  that will probably be decided by some maddeningly complex internal sales algorithm that man was not meant to wot of.
The Minister of Employment and Labour Relations, Ignatius Baffour -Awuah, says the government is committed to building a strong economy to help reduce the menace of illegal migration of Ghanaians to other countries.



According to him, although every country leveraged the expertise of foreigners to develop, illegal migration must not be countenanced.





What we should not be encouraging is using irregular and illegal means to achieve your goals in migration .In West Africa, for instance, most of our citizens risk walking through the desert to the Mediterranean to reach Europe. In the process, most of them lose their lives, he said.



The minister was speaking during a working visit of the Director-General of the International Labour Organisation (ILO), Gilbert F. Houngbo, to the ministry.



Root cause

Mr Baffour-Awuah said the best way to deal with illegal migration was to address the root cause, which was lack of jobs.



Many people are distressed and they think they do not have hope locally, because they are not finding jobs and even if they find jobs the incomes are very low, he said.



He said the government had made economic development a top priority in order to ensure that more jobs and opportunities were created for people.



He, however, acknowledged that the economy was having difficulties due to recent global events and therefore urged the public and the investment community to support the government in its drive to build a strong economy.



Investment

The minister urged investors to come into all sectors of the economy and invest their resources to create more job opportunities.



For instance, he said the cocoa sector, especially cocoa processing was a lucrative investment choice that would help the country in its development objectives.



To boost our local economy, theres the need for investors to invest in cocoa processing locally so that at least if it is not 100 per cent, processing, there will be some processing to provide more jobs and add value to our cocoa, he said.



Mr Baffour-Awuah noted that the country had a youthful, vibrant and educated population, which had further been enhanced by the Free SHS policy of the government.



The youth, he said, were ready and eager to work but unfortunately there were not enough jobs.



In view of that, he said, the government was exploring the possibility of having partnerships for people to work in other countries and come back with their expertise to help develop the country.



We want to take advantage of partnerships and explore the possibility of finding jobs in other countries.



Permanently

It should not be jobs that will make them stay in your country permanently.



They will work and learn and come back to implement those things, he said.



For his part, Mr Houngbo said illegal migration was a serious issue that must be addressed through concerted partnerships and collaborations by governments and state agencies.



He commended Ghana for its efforts both at the national and international levels to help deal with migration and labour- related issues.







Source: graphiconline.com









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

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President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo has expressed optimism that the country will conclude an agreement with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) by the close of this month in view of the cooperation being received from the Paris Club and China over debt relief.



He said a delegation from the China EXIM Bank was in Accra at the weekend to meet with officials of the Ministry of Finance, adding we shall be able to go to the board of the fund to conclude a final agreement by the end of March.



According to the President, the agreement would set the stage for a strong recovery of the economy.



Addressing the diplomatic corps at a Presidential retreat at the Peduase Lodge on the Aburi Hills in the Eastern Region last Monday night, the President said his confidence was strengthened by the fact that we managed to get the staff level agreement in record time in December last year, whose terms we are systematically fulfilling, including the difficult but ultimately highly successful process of the domestic debt exchange programme.



The annual event, which was organised by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Regional Integration, offered the diplomatic community and the leaders of accredited representatives of international organisations the opportunity to exchange pleasantries, interact with each other and firm up existing bonds of friendship and cooperation with the country.



Nigeria elections

The President also expressed the hope that the challenges facing Nigeria after its general election will be resolved peacefully in accordance with due process to allow the will of the people to prevail.



That, he explained, was necessary because events in Nigeria impacted democracy in West Africa and the continent of Africa.



President Akufo-Addo extended solidarity of the people and the nation to the brotherly people of our great neighbour. We wish them the best of luck and God's blessings.



At a joint press conference in Abuja, some Nigeria opposition parties called for fresh elections, describing results currently being announced by their electoral body as "heavily doctored and manipulated".



The parties that comprised the Peoples Democratic Party, the Labour Party, and the African Democratic Congress, advocated a new chairman for the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).



The parties said they would no longer be part of the ongoing collation process because they had lost confidence in the electoral body Chairman, Prof. Mahmood Yakubu.



President Akufo-Addo further mentioned how the Russia-Ukraine war had interrupted the studies of some 460 Ghanaian students in Ukraine, and thanked neighbouring countries such as Poland, Hungary, Romania, Slovakia and the Czech Republic who hosted the students in the initial stages of the war.



He said in collaboration with the International Organization for Migration (IOM), 253 of the students were evacuated from Ukraine for repatriation, while the government also helped with the integration and placement of 100 students into the nations public universities.



President Akufo-Addo also said that the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Regional Integration, in collaboration with the Consulate General in Dubai, extended consular assistance to stranded Ghanaians in detention centres.



He added that some 431 Ghanaians, made up of 341 males, 88 females and two children below the ages of three, including some African migrants were also evacuated from a medical centre.



The President further said that the government, together with the IOM, continued to repatriate voluntary migrants from Libya and that last year, 754 of them were brought home aboard five chartered flights. The exercise is expected to continue this year.

Source: graphiconline.com









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

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Dr. Benjamin Otchere-Ankrah has rebuked parents and guardians complaining bitterly about the prospectus given to them by the Senior High Schools of their children's.



Following the release of the BECE results, parents have been prepping to send their children to the secondary schools to further their education.



However, they are mandated to observe the school's prospectus by purchasing some items to complete the enrolment of their children in their various schools.



But the parents have registered their displeasure over the list of items that are supposed to get for their children and the amount of money involved.



For this matter, some parents have been questioning the importance of the Free SHS policy of the Akufo-Addo administration if they have to commit huge sums of money into buying school items.



Reacting to the parents' frustrations on Thursday edition of "Kokrokoo" on Peace FM, Dr. Benjamin Otchere-Ankrah asked them "how do you blame government for this?"



He noted that it has been a normal practice for parents to buy some school items when their children gain admission into Senior High School, therefore, to him, parents whose children are to benefit from the free SHS programme are even more fortunate than those whose wards are to attend private schools.



"Your child has got a chance to attend school for free and paying no school fees . . . Don't say the Free SHS is not good because you went to buy school things and they are expensive," he told host Nana Yaw Kesseh.



Dr. Otchere-Ankrah slammed the complainers saying they are being ungrateful and stressed the fact that government is giving their children free education doesn't mean the government should provide everything for them as well.





Source: Ameyaw Adu Gyamfi/Peacefmonline.com/Ghana









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

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The Vice-President, Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia has inspected works on the construction of a classroom block for the Kwaboanta Presbyterian Junior High School (JHS) in the Ayensuano District, in the Eastern Region. The project, which is nearing completion, is being sponsored by the Vice-President in fulfillment of his pledge to the Presbyterian Church.



Following the Church's decision to build legacy centenary anniversary projects during its centenary anniversary, Dr.Bawumia pledged to sponsor the construction of the JHS building for the Akuapem Presbytery to serve the people of Kwaboanta and its environs.



Dr. Bawumia who visited the project site to ascertain its progress instructed the contractor to include a computer laboratory to be furnished by him when the project is completed. He thanked the Almighty God for giving him the guidance and strength to personally undertake the project and commended the Presbyterian Church of Ghana for its immense contributions to the development of Ghana.



The Vice President was accompanied by the Eastern Regional Minister, Mr Seth Kwame Acheampong and some government officials https://t.ly/6lGM



Appreciation



In expressing appreciation to the Vice-President, the Coaltar District Minister for the Presby Church, Rev A.L. Odai, recalled how Dr. Bawumia was "touched by the Holy Spirit" to make the pledge to the Church and the community. "Mr. Vice President I want to say the children of this community are so excited about this project and we are sincerely thankful to you," he said.



"We know that the good Lord will help you to complete to the glory of His name," Rev Odai added.

The chief of Kwaboanta, on behalf of his people, also expressed appreciation to Dr. Bawumia for his thoughtfulness and generosity to the Church and the community.



Veep pledges support



As part of his commitment to the Ghanaian people, Dr. Bawumia who has in the last couple of years made donations to various groups and organisations, including a donation and sod-cutting ceremony for the construction of the Liberty Assemblies of God hospital in Accra in February 2023, has pledged his continuous support to the people of Ghana.



Philanthropic activities



The Vice-President has also made a GH200,000 donation towards the Anglican Church, Accra Dioceses 826-acre rubber plantation farm at Assin Nsuta in the Central Region, and a cash donation in support of the Charismatic Evangelistic Church (CEM)s Ability Village project for People Living with Disability (PLWD) in April and July 2022 respectively.



In supporting victims of the collapsed Church of Prosperity building at Akyem Batabi in the Eastern Region, Dr. Bawumia donated GH200,000 to the Church, as well as a brand new Pick-Up Vehicle to the Boys Brigade Ghana in October 2022.



In September 2021, he made separate donations of a mini bus and GH20,000 to the North East Council of Churches and Our Lady of Seven Sorrows Minor Basilica Church in Navrongo for the maintenance of the 101 year-old building. He also donated a bus to a church in Kumasi within the same period.



The Vice-President also donated a seed capital of GH100,000 towards the construction of Mother Theresa Soup Kitchen Centre in the Greater Accra Region, and supported the Christ The King Church's Soup kitchen in diverse ways in the last seven years.



He has also made a GH50,000 donation in June 2021 to the Catholic Church in Bolgatanga towards the construction of a new cathedral for the Church in the Upper East Regional Capital, and two separate donations of 500 pieces of chairs to the Makers House Chapel International, Accra; as well as a donation of over 500 bags of rice to support its COVID-19 support programme in May 2021 and 2020 respectively.



In the North East Region, Dr. Bawumia has made different contributions to the Church, including a GH10,000 donation in December 2020 in support of the construction of the Church of Christ building for the people of Gbaningbani in the Yunyoo district, and a GH20,000 donation towards the completion of the Catholic priests rectorate at the Walewale Parish, as well as some cash donations to Wulugu Assemblies of God Church in the same Region in August 2019.



The Vice-President who described the Church as development partners commended them for their contributions towards the countrys development and peace.

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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Municipal Chief Executive of Komenda-Edina-Eguafo-Abirem Municipality (KEEA), Solomon Ebow Appiah says when one looks at the Abraham Maslow hierarchy of needs, it talks about basic needs including sex and that when people are in the prison for as long as 15, 20, 60 years without sex, then one is depriving them of their basic need.



According to him, if the country is not careful the laws which forbid lesbianism and gayism will be flauted in prison because people may come to the prison to learn these acts, because there is no opportunity for them (Prisoners) to satisfy their basic needs, which is sex.



Mr Appiah made the appeal at the maiden non-formal education graduation ceremony of 43 inmates of the Ankaful Prisons in the Komenda-Edina-Eguafo-Abirem Municipality of the Central region.



He urged that the country must find a way to brainstorm to find ways to include sex as a basic need for the inmates after giving them all the other needs.



"We had a criminal libel law in the past, it took the then president who realised that the law have been in the books for so long; which hindered the works of the journalist and impeded on their rights of reportage. But it took the initiative of then president and the collective agreement of Ghanaians to revert that law, and today there is freedom of information. So, if journalist have the right to information and report, then prisoners ought to have theirs as well, although they are imprisoned, they are part of us, because no matter how long they serve they will be released one day after they have done serving their sentence, and they will be back home and back into the community, hence there is the need for a reform," he hinted.



He said the line between prisoners and the free man is very thin, hence those in the prisons are just like us, so if we do not make the prison yard and the lives of the inmates very conducive, then invariably we are creating problems for the country.



He called on all to come together to support the Prisoners as they were being trained to go out to change their lives, thus, "the prison is intended to reform and to reintegrate them into the community".



The Central Regional deputy Director of Prisons who also doubles as the OIC of the Maximum Security Prison, DDP Robin Kwesi Asamoah Fenning on his part thanked the non-formal education sector for the training and appealed for urgent help from stakeholders, benevolents, religious bodies, NGOs, corporate institutions among others to come to their aid to enable them to register the 43 inmates to sit for the Basic Education Certificate Examination this year.

Source: Sally Ngissah/Peace News









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

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The French President, Emmanuel Macron, has said his country has no intention of returning to past policies of interfering in Africa.



He was speaking in Gabon at the start of a visit to four countries on the continent.



President Macron appeared to be trying to draw a line under his country's experience in Africa by stating that the age of "La Francafrique" was over.



In its former colonies, there has long been a degree of resentment towards France.



Successive presidents in Paris have been accused of turning a blind eye to sham elections and embracing autocratic, corrupt leaders to suit France's economic interests on the continent.



Military leaders who seized power in Mali and Burkina Faso have been tapping into that resentment - cutting ties, expelling French troops and cozying up to Russia.



But few observers believe Moscow will have a stabilising effect or help stop the spread of jihadist violence in Africa.

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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The occupant of the Golden Stool, Otumfuo Osei Tutu II, has admonished members of the New Patriotic Party (NPP) to select a marketable individual in the choice of a Presidential candidate to lead the party come 2024.



According to him, choosing a candidate in the interest of the party without also factoring in the interest of the masses cannot help the party achieve its goals, thus seeking to maintain power. "You should choose a candidate that is also liked by the masses and not only party members. In this case, they'll support your course" he stated.



He also cautioned all aspirants to avoid politics of insults and character assassination as it would not augur well for the party.



His Royal Majesty Otumfuo Osei Tutu II was speaking at the Manhyia Palace when Mr. Francis Addai-Nimoh, NPP flagbearer hopeful, paid homage to him as he celebrated the Awukudae festival.



According to Sampson, the Asantehene further stated that he had no preferred candidate among all the aspirants, as they're all his sons and added that he would support and bless any candidate that will emerge winner in their primaries.



Mr. Francis Addai-Nimoh also spoke to Peacefmonline Sampson Kwame Nyamekye at the Manhyia, he said as the party desires to continue with governance, there is a need to find a unifier and a new face that is not part of the current government to woo the people to support them come 2024.



To the current government, Mr Addai Nimoh reminded him, he has a role to play in achieving the partys vision to continue power or to break the eight thus working harder to make life better and easier for Ghanaians with this



Mr. Francis Addai -Nimoh, a former Member of Parliament for Mampong Constituency, was also at the Palace to formally inform the Asantehene of his intention to contest the flagbearership of the NPP and seek for his blessings.



This is the second time the 57-year-old engineer had attempted to become the NPP flagbearer. He contested the 2014 contest where he came third.







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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A Deputy Communications Director of the governing New Patriotic Party (NPP), George Krobea Asante, has stated that the NPPs continuous stay in government offers the country better hope for a brighter future than the opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC).



He stressed that in spite of the considerable challenges that confront every government, he is confident that the partys record in office would put it in good stead before the electorate ahead of the 2024 general elections, and earn NPP a third term in office.



Speaking during the swearing-in ceremony of TESCON at Kings College University (KCU) in Accra, he recalled that the NPP won the December 7, 2020 elections because it delivered on most of its promises between 2017 and 2020.



He also indicated that, currently, the Akufo-Addo administration is doing all it takes to change the fortunes of Ghana.



Based on this reason, he appealed to Ghanaians to rally behind NPP for the improvement in the living their standards and the rapid transformation of the economy to continue earnestly.



Sell govt achievement



He further charged the TESCON executives to be missionaries in spreading the good news of development being rolled out by the Akufo-Addo administration.



I encourage the new leadership of TESCON and their members to take active interest in promoting and defending the enviable achievements of the NPPs government, led by Nana Akufo-Addo, on all platforms. I emphasize the need for the students to own the breaking the 8 agenda since the NPPs continuous stay in government offers them better hope for a brighter future, he stated.



He said it is part of the process to position the party to break the eight, adding such information will go a long way to convince the ordinary Ghanaian to appreciate the gains, and be encouraged to vote massively for the NPP in 2024.



Mr Krobea Asante also stressed the need for commitment in sustaining the fight to keep government in power, adding: We cannot accept the backsliding that takes place every now and then. It doesnt benefit our nation.



He told the students that the prospects for the global economy, including the giant economies, had been severely undermined in recent months because of the global turmoil caused by COVID-19 and Russian-Ukraine war.



All over the world, many countries, including giant economies, are going for one form of support or the other from the IMF. The truth of the matter is that there is global crisis, which has adversely affected the global economy, and Ghana is not an exception, he said added.





(Left) George Krobea Asante, NPP Deputy Communications Director with TESCON executive

Concern



That, he explained, had had a negative impact on commodity and fuel prices, stoking food crisis and provoking financial market volatility.



Although the bombs may be dropping on cities half a world away, they are hitting our pockets, not only in Ghana and Africa, but also much of the developing world. As Ghanaians, this is the time not to throw our hopes in despair. Dont lose hope in the ability of the current government to turn things remarkably around to provide you with a decent standard of living, he urged.



In his opinion, even though the citizens have the constitutional right to express their views on national matters like this, it should be done with decorum and in the spirit of nationalism.



He urged the students to encourage the partys rank and file that the NPP administration can be trusted to lead Ghanaians through the current economic challenges, and secure a better future for them.



He stated the performance of the current NPP government, in the midst of crisis, is far better than the opposition NDCs best administration in terms of economic management.



Thanking the leadership of TESCON-KUC, he called on Ghanaians to remain calm, and continue to have confidence in the Akufo-Addo government to engineer the necessary economic rebound.

Source: Peacefmonline.com









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

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The Vice President, Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia, has handed over the reconstructed Kumasi Central Mosque he undertook to the Mosque's committee after it was commissioned on Friday amidst excitement.



The commissioning ceremony was graced by the Asantehene, Otumfuo Osei Tutu II, the National Chief Imam Sheikh Osman Nuhu Sharubutu and a host of distinguished dignitaries including Ministers, MPs, Members of the Diplomatic Corps, regional Imams, Zongo Chiefs as well as top Muslim and Christian clerics.



The enthusiastic Muslim community from the Ashanti Region and beyond, turned up in their numbers to show appreciation to Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia for what is being hailed as a remarkable gesture of providing a breathtaking piece of architecture.



The mosque was officially commissioned by the Vice President and the Asantehene in time for Jummah prayers.



In no time after it was opened to the public, the 7000 capacity mosque was filled to capacity with several others praying outside.



As people entered the mosque, some were seen shedding tears of joy and showing admiration of the sheer beauty of the mosque.



TO THE GLORY OF GOD



Speaking at the ceremony, Vice President Bawumia said he undertook the project "to the glory of Allah" and expressed gratitude to God for giving him the strength and will to complete it single-handedly.



"I am really grateful to the Almighty Allah for giving me the vision, guidance and commitment to be able to undertake this massive project. I was touched by the Almighty Allah when I visited the mosque in 2020 and realised that it needed urgent attention."



Dr. Bawumia noted that the Kumasi Central Mosque, as one of the oldest mosques in the country, represents the vision of "our forefathers" and expressed his delight at the transformation of the mosque into a modern edifice, befitting the status of Kumasi as a renowned city.



ASANTEMAN'S COOPERATION WITH MUSLIM COMMUNITY



While acknowledging the roles of the founding fathers of the Kumasi Central Mosque, Vice President Bawumia also commended the Manhyia Palace and Asanteman for the peaceful co-existence and cooperation between Asanteman and the Muslim community as well as the support Otumfuo Agyemang Prempeh II offered the Muslim community in building the first Kumasi Central Mosque.



"As history beautifully captures, the Manhyia Palace played an instrumental role in the first Kumasi Central Mosque during the reign of Asantehene Otumfuo Sir Agyemang Prempeh II," Dr. Bawumia said.



"This clearly underlines how long-standing the relationship between Asanteman and the Muslim community has been, and the extent of support and cooperation, the Manhyia Palace in particular has offered."



"The Asante Kingdom, predating the days of Otumfuo Sir Agyemang Prempeh, is documented to have cooperated with Muslims within the Kingdom. This beautiful tradition has also continued under successive Asantehenes."



"The presence of Otumfuo Osei Tutu II today, signifies the premium the Asantehene and the Asante Kingdom place on the historic relationship."

A CALL FOR UNITY AND PEACEFUL CO-EXISTENCE



While urging Muslims to continue to use the mosque as a converging point not only for prayers but also for community integration, he called for even greater tolerance and cooperation between Muslims and neighbours of the Christian faith.



"This is our beautiful Ghana, where we tolerate, respect and support each other as one people. God has blessed our country with peace and unity amongst is so let us be grateful to him. Let us also continue to uphold the religious tolerance we show, which has endeared our country."



PLAUDITS FOR DR. BAWUMIA



The Asantehene, Otumfuo Osei Tutu II commended Dr. Bawumia for the gift he has given to not only the Muslim community but Asanteman as a whole.



Otumfuo Osei Tutu II added that Dr. Bawumia, as a responsible son, has done what he ought to do and as a father, he could not thank him enough.



He urged the Zongo Community to take good care of the mosque and ensure it is well maintained at all times.



The custodians of the mosque, the Kumasi Central Mosque Committee, also expressed immense gratitude to Dr. Bawumia for his remarkable gesture.

Source: Peacefmonline.com/Ghana









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

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An RCMP officer stands by as Prime Minister Justin Trudeau addresses new Canadians during a citizenship ceremony in Kelowna, B.C., Wednesday, Sept. 6, 2017. Trudeau says having an Indigenous person serve as the next RCMP commissioner is "an excellent idea." THE CANADIAN PRESS/Darryl Dyck
The author of a report evaluating the protocol of Canada's security services monitoring federal elections says there is no political consensus on when it is appropriate to notify the public of foreign interference. A voter casts their ballot in the advance polls, Friday, September 10, 2021 in Chambly, Que. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Ryan Remiorz
EPT Paris Hands of the Week: A Rare Quadruple Knockout, Grafton Gives a Free Dinner

March 02, 2023 Chad Holloway Executive Editor U.S.

The PokerStars European Poker Tour (EPT) Paris recently wrapped with PokerStars qualifier Razvan Belea cruising to victory in the 5,300 Main Event for 1,170,000. We also recently talked about the EPT Paris in latest episode of the PokerNews Podcast, which you can listen to here.

The PokerNews Live Reporting Team was on-site to captured live updates from a slew of EPT Paris tournaments, and there were some very memorable ones. Below is a look at five more exciting hands captured in our live updates from the EPT Paris.

Johan Guilbert's Antics Upset Poker World After Three Clocks Called in Same Hand

O'Dwyer Flops Nuts in Five-Bet Pot

Steve O'Dwyer

In the 10,300 EPT Paris High Roller, it was Level 8 (500/1,000/1,000) when Tauan De Oliveira Naves opened the action with a raise to 2,300 from the cutoff. Imad Derwiche responded with a three-bet to 5,400 from the button, after which big blind Steve O'Dwyer put in the four-bet to 14,000. De Oliveira Naves quickly folded to so many raises, and Derwiche engaged in some speech play.

''You want to win your money back?'' asked Derwiche to an ever-silent O'Dwyer. After waiting for an answer that never came, Derwiche put in the five-bet to 35,000, which O'Dwyer quickly called.

The flop fell and Derwiche protected his eyes so he could not see it until it was his turn. When O'Dwyer checked, Derwiche rapidly moved all in for roughly 65,000 chips. O'Dwyer snap-called, covering his opponent, declaring: ''I have the nuts.''

Imad Derwiche:

Steve O'Dwyer:

O'Dwyer was not lying, as he indeed flopped the nut flush. The turn spelled the end for Derwiche, and as the river fell, he left the tournament area frustratedly but had enough sportsmanship to give his opponent a fist bump beforehand.

Check out the EPT Hub on PokerNews here!

Mary Triples Up With Quads; Cracks Aces in Three-Way All In

Herve Mary

In the 1,100 FPS Paris Main Event, it was Level 9 (600/1,200/1,200) when Francky Magliocco opened to 2,400 from under the gun before Maciej Gut three-bet to 6,000 on his immediate left. Kevin Fluegel then reraised to 15,000 from the cutoff and then Herve Mary five-bet jammed for 41,200 from the button.

Magliocco then called off his stack of 40,500. Gut folded but Fluegel called to have both Magliocco and Mary at risk of elimination.

Francky Magliocco:

Herve Mary:

Kevin Fluegel:

All three players had premium hands but Magliocco had the best of it. However, Mary hopped into the lead after making a set on the flop.

The turn kept things as they were. The river gave Mary the checkmark as well as quads and he took down the massive pot to get a triple up and some change while securing an elimination.

Find out who won the 1,100 France Poker Series (FPS) Paris Main Event here.

Runner-Runner Cracks Aces of Ferreira Pais

Mauricio Ferreira Pais

On Day 2 of the 10,200 Mystery Bounty, Mauricio Ferreira Pais had a rare quadruple Knockout that we highlighted last week. That hand helped propel him to the final table, but that is where his good luck wore off.

With seven players remaining in Level 24 (50,000/100,000/100,000), Pablo Navarro raised to 200,000 from under the gun and it folded all the way back to Ferreira Pais in the big blind. He three-bet to 500,000 as one of the chip leaders with a stack of around 20 blinds. Navarro pushed all-in and Ferreira Pais beat him into the pot.

Mauricio Ferreira Pais:

Pablo Navarro:

The flop brought some equity to Navarro, who asked for running diamonds. With the turn, his outs were reduced to four but he spiked one of them with the river. Both stacks were counted and Navarro was ahead by three blinds.

Ferreira Pais earned a cash prize of 21,550 and 72,500 in bounties that he had collected along the way.

Andre Marques Wins Maiden EPT Title in the 10,200 Mystery Bounty

Petrangelo Loses Chips But Wins Free Dinner for Doubling Grafton

Nick Petrangelo

In the EPT Paris 25,000 High Roller, it was Level 13 (4,000/8,000/8,000) when Chris Brewer raised to 16,000 and was called by Ren Lin as well as Tom Orpaz on the button. PokerStars Ambassador Sam Grafton then moved all-in for 59,000 in the small blind and Nick Petrangelo reraised to 110,000.

Brewer quickly let go while Lin mulled it over for almost the entire 30-second shot clock to then fold. Orpaz also gave it some consideration but let go, too.

"How do you wake up with aces there, Nicky?" Grafton said, having been silent until then. When the cards were revealed, Grafton was suddenly all smiles, though.

Sam Grafton:

Nick Petrangelo:

"If I win this hand with king-high, you can pick dinner anywhere," the jovial Brit instantly offered and then meshed the cards of both players before the dealer separated them again.

Somehow, king-high indeed won the pot on the runout and Grafton then praised Petrangelo for more than three minutes despite having lost the hand. "That's how he wins all the money ... he just slapped you all," Grafton declared.

Petrangelo didn't say a single word and maintained a dry smile on his face throughout.

Chris Brewer Wins 25,000 No-Limit Hold'em for 357,180

Sharelines Check out some of the biggest hands from the recently-completed @PokerStars #EPTParis.
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House Judiciary Committee Democrats have released a report that exposes Jim Jordans DOJ whistleblowers as fake.

House Judiciary Committee Ranking Member Jerrold Nadler (D-NY) and Select Subcommittee on the Weaponization of the Federal Government Ranking Member Stacey Plaskett (D-VI) wrote in the forward to their report:

This partisan investigation, such as it is, rests in large part on what Chairman Jordan has

described as dozens and dozens of whistleblowers coming to us, talking about what is going

on, the political nature at the Justice Department.

To date, the House Judiciary Committee has held transcribed interviews with three of these individuals. Chairman Jordan has, of course, refused to name any of the other dozens and dozens who may have spoken with him. He has also refused to share any of the documents which these individuals may have provided to the Committee. Nevertheless, based on interviews of the three witnesses that have been made available to us, we are able to draw a number of striking conclusions about the state of the Republican investigation.

First, the three individuals we have met are not, in fact, whistleblowers. These individuals, who put forward a wide range of conspiracy theories, did not present actual evidence of any wrongdoing at the Department of Justice or the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI).

Second, the transcribed interviews we have held thus far refute House Republican narrative about bias at the Department of Justice. We urge Chairman Jordan to schedule the public testimony of these individuals without delay. The American public should be able to judge for themselves whether these witnesses or their allegations are remotely credible.

Third, these interviews also reveal the active engagement and orchestration of disturbing outside influence on the witnesses and, potentially, the Republican members of the Select Subcommittee. A network of organizations, led by former Trump administration officials like Kash Patel and Russell Vought, appears to have identified these witnesses, provided them with financial compensation, and found them employment after they left the FBI. These same individuals lobbied for the creation of the Select Subcommittee in the first place. They have a story to tell, and they appear to be using House Republicans to tell it.

Fourth, and finally, nearly all of the Republicans involved in this investigationthe witnesses, some of the Members, and certainly their outside operatorsare tied together by the attacks of January 6, 2021. The witnesses whom we have met objected to the arrest of individuals suspected to have laid siege to the United States Capitol. Others of the dozens and dozens, we suspect, participated directly in the riot. If this investigation is an attempt to whitewash the insurrection or hedge against pending indictments, it has been spectacularly ineffectivebut these extremists share a view antithetical to the safety of our republic, and the American public has a right to be concerned.

We note that, in the ordinary course of business, we would not disclose the substance of a transcribed interview at this stage of an investigation. Even when we do not agree with the aims of our Republican colleagues, we respect the importance of Congressional oversight. We directed our staff to prepare this report only after we learned that House Republicans had begun to share the contents of these interviews with the press. Full context and a reasonable rebuttal are necessary to protect the truth.

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The big takeaway is that the whistleblowers arent really whistleblowers. They are the usual Trump collection of oddities that have been assembled to help fool the public and push a political agenda. No one is exactly sure what the point of this investigation is beyond trying to hurt Biden and help Trump, but the whistleblowers have been a humiliating failure by Jim Jordan and Trump.

It hasnt been two months yet, but the big House Republican investigations are faceplanting.
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The Civil Division of the Department of Justice offered an opinion to a federal appeals court that Trump incited the 1/6 violence and can be sued by Capitol Police and members of Congress.

The DOJ Civil Division wrote as reported by The Washington Post:



Presidents may at times use strong rhetoric. And some who hear that rhetoric may overreact, or even respond with violence, the Justice Department attorneys said, referencing a concern raised at oral argument. They suggested looking to another Klan-inspired court case  the 1969 ruling that speech directed at inciting or producing imminent lawless action or likely to incite or produce such action is not protected by the First Amendment.

Just as denying First Amendment protection to incitement does not unduly chill speech in general, denying absolute immunity to incitement of imminent private violence should not unduly chill the President in the performance of his traditional function of speaking to the public on matters of public concern, the attorneys wrote.

Presidents do not have absolute immunity as Trump liked to claim. Presidents cant do whatever they want. Presidents dont have immunity when it comes to incitement of political violence. Another interesting part of the DOJ Civil Division opinion as quoted above suggests that Trump incited the violence on 1/6.

The DOJ opinion was asked for by a federal appeals court that is weighing Trumps immunity claims. If the court rejects Trumps immunity claims that means that he can be sued by Capitol Police officers and 11 members of Congress for the injuries that they sustained in the attack.

The ruling is terrible news for Trump and if the appeals court agrees it could help establish some guardrails to prevent a future president from inciting political violence.
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None of Rep. Jim Jordans DOJ whistleblowers have been able to validate their claims with facts, and others didnt disclose that they were at the Capitol on 1/6.

CNN reported:

Three of Jordans witnesses have come in for private interviews with committee staff so far. None of them appear to have had their claims validated by government entities that grant federal whistleblower protection, sources familiar with their testimony said. One who alleged there was FBI wrongdoing had their claims rejected. Another is retired and its unclear whether he has first-hand knowledge of the violations he alleges. The third has not revealed his direct disclosures or FBI suspension notice to House Democrats, according to transcripts reviewed by CNN.

Separately, several other supposed whistleblowers who have not come in for interviews were suspended from the FBI for being at the Capitol on January 6, 2021, according to multiple sources familiar with the committees work. This is a point Jordan has not shied away from, using the accounts of several whistleblowers in a May 2022 letter to accuse the FBI of retaliating against employees for engaging in protected First Amendment activity on January 6.

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Trump adviser Kash Patel is bankrolling and advising several of the whistleblowers, so Jim Jordans whistleblowers are another Donald Trump scam.

The whistleblowers are 1/6 terrorist sympathizers and people whose credibility and stories cant be validated with facts.

Jim Jordan has so far been a humiliating failure in his investigations that are designed to smear Biden and help Trump get back into the White House. Jordans antics dont seem to be fooling anybody outside of the conservative media bubble.

If Jordan cant get his manufactured smear campaign to catch on, it will be a humiliating failure for the Ohio congressman and Donald Trumps hopes of returning to the White House.
Aiken, SC (29801)

Today

Partly to mostly cloudy with a slight chance of showers and thunderstorms in the afternoon. Storms may contain strong gusty winds. High 79F. Winds SW at 10 to 20 mph. Chance of rain 30%..

Tonight

Considerable clouds this evening. Some decrease in clouds late. A stray shower or thunderstorm is possible. Low 48F. Winds W at 10 to 15 mph.
Moncks Corner, SC (29461)

Today

A few showers this morning with mostly cloudy conditions during the afternoon hours. High 83F. Winds SW at 10 to 15 mph. Chance of rain 30%..

Tonight

Scattered thunderstorms early, then partly cloudy after midnight. Low 53F. Winds W at 5 to 10 mph. Chance of rain 40%.
A chemical firm is shutting down a Moncks Corner plant that makes the raw material for products like water bottles and packaging, leaving 125 workers without a job.

DAK Americas LLC  a subsidiary of Monterrey, Mexico-based Alpek  will permanently close its plant along the Cooper River that producsd PET resin, a type of polyester that's derived from petroleum.

Layoffs will begin on April 28 and will conclude by the end of the year when the plant shuts down, according to a statement from Ricky Lane, the Charlotte company's director of public affairs, trade relations and corporate communications.

DAK Americas said it will be moving production from Bushy Park to another unidentified site. The Berkeley County plant, which was built in the early 1970s, had the capacity to make 170,000 pounds of the resin annually.

"This difficult decision was necessitated as we optimize our assets to remain competitive in the challenging global polyester markets," Lane said in a letter to the S.C. Department of Employment and Workforce.

That letter stated that DAK Americas "will formally and permanently close production operations on March 1, 2023."

Lane, in an email to The Post and Courier, said March 1 represents the beginning of the plant's shutdown and that the process will take at least 60 days to complete.

"It may be helpful to understand that these production operations are not like a light switch and cannot just be turned on and off," Lane said. "These are highly technical polymer processes that must be stopped in a very systematic manner that takes many days/weeks to accomplish. Only after the 60-day period and once the shutdown process is complete for employees in their area of work will the written notice of individual layoff dates be given."

The company said the shutdown will save it about $20 million a year.

Parent company Alpek said in a written statement that it is "constantly exploring ways to create value through optimization of its installed capacity and strengthening its cost competitiveness."

The company said it plans to grow "through more efficient utilization of its assets."

The closure notice was filed with state officials a day before Jorge Young Cerecedo took over as CEO of Alpek. Cerecedo, who has been with the company for 32 years, also will remain president of Alpek's polyester division, which accounts for two-thirds of the parent company's revenues.

Alpek acquired the Moncks Corner plant in a 2001 deal with DuPont, which was exiting the polyester market. Alpek created its DAK Americas subsidiary to operate the South Carolina site and other factories.

The planned plant closure comes less than two years after DAK Americas cut 200 full-time jobs and 40 contract workers at the Cooper River site as it wound down its polyester staple fibers business. The company blamed the decision on a flood of cheap imports.

Alpek, which is publicly traded on the Mexican Stock Exchange, reported revenues of $10.6 billion in 2022  an 37 percent increase from the previous year  and net income of $789 million. It has more than 7,000 employees at 35 plants in nine countries.

Note: This story was updated March 6 with additional comment from the company.
Thirty years after Beezer Molten launched outdoor gear retailer Half-Moon Outfitters in a small downtown Charleston storefront, the company that has grown into eight locations across two states with another on the way is under new ownership.

Molten announced March 2 he has sold the retailer that started on North Market Street on Feb. 13, 1993, to Concord, N.C.-based Shoe Show Inc., a privately owned footwear, handbag and accessories retailer with 1,100 stores in 47 states.

Financial terms were not disclosed.

Half-Moon Outfitters will continue to operate with the same name as an affiliate of Shoe Show, and Molten will remain with the company as executive vice president. Half-Moon employs 130 workers, and no positions are being eliminated under the transaction.

"All the operations will remain the same," said Molten, Half-Moon's former CEO. "It's pretty much status quo."

Molten noted he wasn't looking to sell the business when he received calls starting in late 2021 from Shoe Show CEO Lisa Tucker, who had visited the Half-Moon store in Mount Pleasant and liked the concept.

"She reached out for several months before I returned her call," Molten said.

He finally called her back last spring and visited Shoe Show's 1-million-square-foot warehouse last summer at the company's headquarters northeast of Charlotte. Negotiations began after that.

"It seemed like the right partner at the right time," Molten, 54, said of the sale of the company he founded and grew over the past three decades. "I wasn't dying to go out there and open new stores, and I felt like it was a great opportunity for my employees moving forward."

Tucker said the deal grew out of an admiration for the Half-Moon business since she had frequented the store as a customer.

"The strength and reputation of their organization speaks for itself, and we are excited to help facilitate future growth," Tucker said.

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"Beezer and his team have built a business with fierce loyalty among its consumers, and we look forward to working with them to provide an even wider range of fashion options with the best possible product and an enhanced shopping experience," she said.

Molten said Shoe Show intends to grow the Half-Moon brand in new markets.

"That's why they bought it, and they have the tools and wherewithal to do it," he said, noting the company's distribution capabilities and capital.

The company has no immediate expansion plans to announce, but Molten noted he decided to stay with the company to help point the new owners in the right direction and make sure any new stores are "done right."

"I love my job and the people I work with," he said.

Molten owns six of the 10 buildings that Half-Moon occupies. They will now be leased by Shoe Show.

Molten's ownership includes stores in downtown Charleston, Mount Pleasant, Greenville, Savannah, the main office in North Charleston and the new store location set to open in late fall in Summerville.

Four other store locations are leased sites. They are in West Ashley and Columbia, and in Augusta and Athens in Georgia. The new owner is taking over those leases.

Shoe Show, a family operation that started in 1960, operates three stores in the Charleston area. Shops in Goose Creek and Summerville operate under the Shoe Dept. label. The Moncks Corner store operates under the corporate name.

The company's other store brands include Burlington Shoes, Shoebilee, Shoe Dept. Encore, Burlington Shoes Encore and Shoe Show Mega.
COLUMBIA  As many as 450 new apartment units could be built close to Fort Jackson Army base and nearby residents are worried about the developments crowding in on their neighborhoods.

Columbia zoning officials gave initial approval March 2 to a new complex near Interstate 77 and Fort Jackson Boulevard. The apartment development is the second proposed near the Kings Grant and Brandon Acres neighborhoods to gain such approvals since Jan. 1.

City planning officials will still have to approve plans for the complex being developed by former S.C. Rep. Kirkman Finlay, a process which could help alleviate residents' concerns.

Finlay and his partners want the complex to be high-end, similar to The Cardinal apartments at Cardinal Crossing near Forest Acres, with a club house, pool and walking trails across the 36 acre site, preliminary drawings submitted to the city of Columbia show.

Half of the complex will be one-bedroom units. The other half will be split between two and three bedrooms, the partners told the city Board of Zoning Appeals.

But Sarah Nevarez, an adjacent homeowner, is worried about a building going up within 50 feet of her Cedar Terrace home in a neighborhood that's been around since the 1950s.

"We're not a neighborhood where we have a multi-story apartment complex looming over," Nevarez said. "They'll be able to see into my daughter's bedroom. That's not the neighborhood we want."

But zoning board members felt apartments were an appropriate use for the land that backs up to Interstate 77.

"This is where you would want something like this," board chairman John Gregory said.

In addition to the 300-unit development, plans are in the works for a $22 million, 150-unit complex called Cedar Cove at Drake Street, several blocks to the southeast.

Cedar Cove developer, Terra Alta Ventures of Utah, wants to build a pair of three-story buildings on more than 7 acres in the residential area behind the Landmark Square shopping center. The rents at that complex will fall more within the mid-market range, David Madsen of Terra Alta previously told The Post and Courier.

Amenities will include a dog park, pickleball court, gym and pool.

"There's growth out in that area," Madsen said. "That's one of the reasons why we picked this location."

Several other older multi-family developments already exist in the area, including Hampton Hills condominiums along Fort Jackson Boulevard and Huntington Place and Amanda Court near Drake Street.
Pop-Up Picks is a recurring series in The Post and Couriers Food Section that previews an upcoming pop-up breakfast, lunch or dinner and the chefs behind it.

White menus with "Harriets Delicatessen" written in burgundy and forest green script are spread across a granite countertop that is normally filled with laptops, notebooks and cups of coffee.

The coffee is still present, but bites coming from the kitchen have shifted from casual cafe fare to dishes one would expect to find at a Jewish deli.

That's the inspiration for the new Harriet's Delicatessen pop-up, located at Paula and Sam Kramer's 73 Spring St. downtown Charleston Baguette Magic location. It's an ode to their late grandmother, Harriet Keyserling, best known for her influential work as a politician.

The Kramer sisters remember her as a doting grandmother and fantastic host.

Born in New York City as Harriet Hirschfeld, Keyserling moved to Beaufort in 1946 with her husband Herbert, a physician in the Navy during World War II. She later helped organize a Beaufort branch of the League of Women Voters, helping her earn election to the Beaufort County Council in 1974. Thirty years after she moved to Beaufort, Keyserling became the first Beaufort County woman in the South Carolina House of Representatives, where she served for 16 years, focusing on women's issues, energy, nuclear waste, education and the arts.

Keyserling is memorialized inside the Harriets Delicatessen pop-up, with printed photos of the Kramers grandmother scattered across the white walls. The food menu honors her Jewish heritage, starting with the pastries.

Rugelach, hamantash, chocolate babka and strawberry cheesecake Danishes cover the sweets category, while knish  a baked pastry filled with a smooth stuffing of potatoes, onions and a little sour cream  is available for those who prefer savory.

The attachment to knish and other Harriets Delicatessen menu items like pastrami on rye, trout salad, challah bread, cabbage rolls, corned beef hash and matzo ball chicken soup appears to be about more than just the taste; multiple patrons express their nostalgic sentiments as they place their orders, with some purchasing in bulk.

Even Charleston Mayor John Tecklenburg stopped by Harriets last month.

The pop-up hits especially close to home for Sam Kramer, who for years operated a Jewish and Mexican-inspired pop-up called Matzo Y Masa.

Its just the food Ive always been interested in doing, Sam Kramer said. This is a concept that I've been developing in my head for two to three years.

The sisters realized Harriets Delicatessen needed more than just a handful of events, so it will stick around through April. During the pop-up, Baguette Magic favorites like the honey lavender latte and buttery croissants will still be available during opening hours, 8 a.m.-2 p.m. Wednesday through Monday.

For more information, visit harrietsdeli.com.
Kingstree, SC (29556)

Today

Rain showers this morning with mostly cloudy conditions during the afternoon hours. High 83F. Winds SW at 10 to 15 mph. Chance of rain 50%..

Tonight

Scattered thunderstorms during the evening. Partly cloudy skies after midnight. Low 52F. Winds WSW at 5 to 10 mph. Chance of rain 40%.
WALTERBORO  Disgraced former attorney Alex Murdaugh will spend the rest of his life behind bars after his conviction in the June 2021 murders of his wife and son, sealing his stunning downfall in a courtroom where his father, grandfather and great-grandfather once tried cases as this region's top prosecutors.

Judge Clifton Newman invoked the once-proud history of the Murdaugh name on March 3 as he sentenced the former Hampton lawyer and part-time prosecutor to consecutive life terms, noting that Murdaugh's ancestors had walked into that same room to seek the death penalty against others for less. Then, with a rap of his gavel, Newman brought to a close the six-week double-murder trial that brought the eyes of the world to South Carolinas Lowcountry.

Murdaugh, dressed in a khaki-colored prison jumpsuit and bright orange slides, stood emotionless in front of a packed courtroom that included his sister, youngest brother and surviving son Buster. Dismissed from service, 10 of the 12 jurors who voted to convict him joined the gallery to watch the conclusion as members of the public.

Murdaugh, 54, maintained his innocence in the grisly slayings of his wife, Maggie, and son Paul on the prominent familys nearly 1,800-acre Colleton County hunting estate.

"I respect this court," Murdaugh said, with a tone of insistence despite a slight tremble in his voice. "But I am innocent, and I would never under any circumstances hurt my wife, Maggie, and I would never under any circumstances hurt my son PawPaw."

In a press conference shortly after noon, Murdaugh's defense attorneys Dick Harpootlian and Jim Griffin said they would appeal the guilty verdict all the way up to the U.S. Supreme Court, if necessary.

They criticized Newman's decision to admit evidence of Murdaugh's alleged financial crimes, which in prosecutors' theory motivated the killings. Instead of establishing a logical motive for the slayings, his attorneys said, prosecutors used the evidence to bash Murdaugh for weeks as a monster who stole from his clients and others who trusted him.

Prosecutors won this case the day Newman "bought into" their notion that the imminent exposure of Murdaugh's financial crimes doubled as his motive to kill Maggie and Paul, Harpootlian said.

'It might have been the monster'

In a scathing assessment of Murdaugh and his precipitous fall from grace, Newman said that while the defendant may be able to convince himself of his innocence, hardly anyone else believes him.

Testifying in his own defense, Murdaugh admitted to leading a life filled with deceit: He lied to his law partners and family about his whereabouts the night of the killings, and to his clients, from whom he acknowledged stealing millions of dollars.

The judge accused Murdaugh of continuing to lie even when he took the witness stand in his own defense.

"And the question is, when will it end?" Newman asked.

Newman described the Murdaugh murders as one of the most troubling cases he's ever handled  not only for him as a judge, for the state and for Murdaughs defense team, but for "all of the citizens in this community, all the citizens in this state."

Newman has known Murdaugh, a once-respected fixture of South Carolina's legal community, for years. The defendant has argued cases before him.

"It was especially heartbreaking for me to see you go in the media from being a grieving father who lost a wife and a son to being a person indicted and convicted of killing them," the judge said.

Before handing down his sentence, Newman emphasized Murdaugh's legacy as a former lawyer and member of a family who has "controlled justice in this community for over a century." His father, grandfather and great-grandfather each served as the 14th Judicial Circuit's elected solicitor over a span of 86 years.

Newman recalled having to remove a portrait of Murdaughs grandfather, Buster Murdaugh Jr., from where it hung in the back of the 201-year-old courtroom to ensure a fair trial, leaving a blank wall for its 29-day duration.

Newman noted that prosecutors with the S.C. Attorney General's Office could have sought the death penalty and decided against it. Newman said he doesn't question their decision.

But he pointed out how three generations of Murdaugh men had successfully sought the death penalty for dozens of defendants  some of them in the same Colleton County courthouse and many "for lesser conduct" than the gruesome, close-range butchering of their family.

In a particularly chilling moment, the judge told Murdaugh he'll have to reckon with what he's done when he tries to sleep at night. He must see Maggie and Paul as he closes his eyes, Newman said: "I'm sure they come and visit you."

As Murdaugh once again denied his part in the killings, Newman supposed his drug addiction of some two decades could have transformed the defendant that night.

"It might not have been you," the judge said. "It might have been the monster you become when you take 15, 20, 30, 40, 50, 60 opioid pills. Maybe you become another person."

Consecutive life sentences

Murdaugh faced a minimum of 30 years behind bars on each of the murder counts.

Lead prosecutor Creighton Waters requested the life sentence, which was handed down a day after a Colleton County jury took less than three hours to reach a guilty verdict.

"A man like that should never be allowed to be among free, law-abiding citizens again," Waters said.

State Law Enforcement Division Chief Mark Keel, whose investigators were blasted as incompetent and ineffective by Murdaugh's defense attorneys throughout the trial, offered a brief statement just before Murdaugh was sentenced: "We're very proud of our agency."

Ten of the 12 jurors returned to court as members of the public to attend the hearing, escorted by court security at 9:30 a.m. sharp. They sat together in the wooden benches, some smiling and laughing as they chatted with one another.

Craig Moyer, a carpenter and member of the final panel, told ABC News late March 2 about how the jurors had arrived at their decision.

When they began deliberating, nine jurors believed Murdaugh was guilty, two thought he was not guilty and one wasn't sure, said Moyer, whose vote was guilty from the start. He said his mind was made up when he heard Murdaugh admit to being with Maggie and Paul at the family's dog kennels after claiming for more than a year he'd been asleep on the couch.

He said it took only about 45 minutes for everyone to reach the same conclusion. Moyer didn't explain what jurors were doing for the remaining two hours.

"The evidence was clear," he said, referencing a video filmed on Paul's cellphone at the kennels that captured Murdaugh's voice shortly before the killings. It placed the defendant at the crime scene minutes before 52-year-old Maggie and 22-year-old Paul were shot  a fact Murdaugh initially lied about.

And the juror wasn't swayed by the emotion Murdaugh displayed when he took the stand. Moyer said he never saw tears spill from his eyes: "All he did was blow snot."

'Nowhere we could go'

Murdaughs' attorneys said they don't regret their work on the case, including allowing their client to take the witness stand in his own defense and deciding not to try to move the case out of Colleton County. Much of the jury pool there had ties to the trial's witnesses and virtually everyone knew about the case.

One prospective juror said she was engaged to one of the first deputies on scene, for instance. One said his cousin was a deputy, and others said they went to church with first responders. Even the clerk of court's daughter was called, part of a jury pool that comprised more than 2 percent of the county's citizens.

The defense team conducted focus groups of potential jurors all over South Carolina. Everywhere they went, people had heard about the Murdaugh saga from news accounts, social media posts and true-crime documentaries, Harpootlian said.

"There was nowhere we could go," he said.

None of Murdaugh's family members spoke at his sentencing hearing, either for or against him. Griffin said it wouldn't have made a difference.

Mother Teresa herself could have appeared to speak on Murdaugh's behalf and Newman still would have given him two life sentences, Griffin said.

Following the half-hour hearing, a shackled Murdaugh was escorted from the courtroom, eyes cast down as he shuffled out for the final time.

He'll be transported to the Kirkland Reception and Evaluation Center, the S.C. Department of Corrections' processing center in Columbia. Murdaugh will undergo medical tests, as well as mental health and education assessments, spokeswoman Chrysti Shain said.

Murdaugh will be assigned a specific custody level and prison based on the test results, she added. The process will take about 45 days.

The move is a stark change for Murdaugh, a man who earned millions each year as a lawyer and stole millions more to fund a lavish lifestyle that included a sprawling country estate, a beachside home and sea islands along South Carolina's coast.

He has traded that opulence for a 10-by-8-foot prison cell of concrete and steel, outfitted with just a toilet, bed and sink.
Charleston, SC (29403)

Today

Partly to mostly cloudy. A stray shower or thunderstorm is possible. High near 80F. Winds SSW at 10 to 20 mph..

Tonight

Isolated thunderstorms this evening. Skies will become partly cloudy after midnight. Low around 55F. Winds WSW at 10 to 15 mph. Chance of rain 40%.
Charleston police are investigating after two men died in separate shootings just hours apart on March 2.

Adan Obed Aguilar-Suarez was killed around 7:30 p.m. near a West Ashley apartment. The 32-year-old from Mexico was shot in the head, according to a police incident report.

Officers responded to The Jaunt Apartments off Carriage Lane shortly after the shooting. At least two cars were also damaged by gunfire, according to the police report.

Earlier that same day, Charleston police were downtown investigating an unrelated shooting that left a 24-year-old man from Charleston dead.

Kyre Washington was taken to Medical University of South Carolina, where he was pronounced dead, according to Charleston County Coroner Bobbi Jo ONeal.

The fatal shooting occurred just after noon on Reid Street, between East Bay and Drake streets. Police charged 29-year-old Wayne McNeil in that shooting.

Police do not believe the incidents are related.

These deaths mark the city's second and third slayings in just the first 60 days of the year. At this point last year, police hadn't investigated any of the nine murders they'd eventually respond to in 2022.
NORTH CHARLESTON  Former Vice President Mike Pence harangued the defund the police movement at a roundtable discussion March 2 with a dozen Lowcountry law enforcement agency leaders.

Pence was hosted by North Charleston Police Chief Reggie Burgess, who related how his department's $40 million budget enables officers to help victims of crime, support grassroots organizations and curb gun violence.

But the local police chief said afterward he has not heard of any "hardcore" local messaging to defund police departments based on his meetings with area civil rights leaders.

"They just want us to police in the right way," Burgess told The Post and Courier.

Pence, who is expected to run for the White House in 2024, focused his comments on rejecting some reforms to bail and impulses to blame police and racism for fatal encounters.

Also, he denounced the trafficking of fentanyl across the Southern border.

Pence, who called South Carolina a "wonderful state" and "great patriotic area," cited efforts to defund the police by the "American left" throughout the conversation.

This was his ninth visit to the Palmetto State since he left the White House, and came two weeks after former Gov. Nikki Haley launched her presidential bid.

She joins former President Donald Trump as the only two candidates officially in the race.

In an interview with The Associated Press, Pence declined to say whether he would back Trump if his former boss were to be the Republican presidential nominee in 2024.

Pence suggested Trump's leadership style isnt what the party needs in the upcoming White House race.

I think we'll have better choices, Pence said. I'm persuaded that no one could have defeated Hillary Clinton in 2016 except Donald Trump, but I think we live in a different time and it calls for different leadership.

Pence and Trump have been estranged since the violent storming of the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, by Trumps supporters in an attempt to stop the congressional certification of Democrat Joe Bidens victory.

Pence shook hands with law enforcement members at City Hall representing Charleston County, Mount Pleasant, Charleston International Airport, Berkeley County, Kiawah Island, Dorchester County, the College of Charleston, the S.C. Ports Authority, Hanahan, Goose Creek and Yemassee.

He spot-called on police chiefs and sheriffs seated around tables inside a carpeted conference room.

Asked if law enforcement is struggling to recruit and retain officers in South Carolina, Berkeley County Sheriff Duane Lewis said yes.

"It's impacting all of us in this room," he said. "When one police officer does something wrong, we're all convicted and it has an impact on young police officers."

Pence said he rejects the impulse to blame cops and racism for tragic encounters. He said he supported authorities' responses to the fatal shooting of Walter Scott by a North Charleston police officer in 2015, and the investigation into the death of Tyre Nichols, who was killed by Memphis police officers.

"When tragedy occurs, justice should be swift and certain," Pence said.

Editor's Note: This article previously misstated the county Duane Lewis represents. He is the sheriff of Berkeley County.
Atiku Abubakar, the candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), rejected the result of the election at a press conference in Abuja on March 2, 2023.

Atiku read the speech below after which he fielded questions from journalists at the briefing.

Read the full speech below.

================================

Fellow Nigerians, it is with a heart full of sadness that I address you today.

I have in the last three decades devoted my life to the battle to birth and deepen democracy in our country.

It was a battle that started during the military era. It was a struggle that nearly caused me my life and that of my son, Adamu, in Kaduna. I survived the assassination only by the mercies and grace of God.

Following that attack, I was forced into exile. But that attack claimed the precious lives of some police officers. That was not all: my businesses were nearly crippled and my signature business was eventually appropriated by the maximum ruler of that era. My commitment to enthroning democracy ensured that I joined forces with other compatriots. As a leader of the defunct Social Democratic Party (SDP), we fought and won the 1993 presidential election, which was acclaimed as the fairest and freest election in our history. Sadly, Chief MKO Abiola, who embodied that hope for the birth of a new Nigeria, paid the ultimate price

Our fight to enthrone democracy continued. Indeed, the motivating factor for the birth of the Peoples Democratic Party was to force the exit of the military from government and their permanent return to the military barracks.

Following the exit of the military and the advent of democratic rule in 1999, I did not rest on my oars. I deployed the same level of commitment to advance and deepen our democracy. I did this because our democracy was bought at a huge price of human lives. My mentor and true Nigerian hero, who this venue in which we are gathered this evening is named for, was one of those who paid the ultimate price in that battle. So, also was Chief Alfred Rewane, Chief MKO Abiola and his dear wife, Chief (Mrs) Kudirat Abiola.

It was also for this reason that I sacrificed my political aspiration and fought against the actualisation of Third Term. Whether during the military or civilian era, I have, no matter how inconvenient, pitched my tent with the people against dictators. During the military regime, it nearly cost me my life and the near decimation of my businesses. In the civilian administration, it had serious adverse implications on my political life. But I have remained undaunted because I was, and still convinced, that the only reason why I am in politics is to work in tandem with other compatriots in the advancement of the wellbeing of the people.

The 2023 presidential election presented our nation and its people the greatest opportunity for a reset. We had everything going for us: a legal framework in the 2022 Electoral Act and the BVAS technology. The enthusiasm of Nigerians to turn out and in large numbers was an added bonus.

However, the dreams and aspirations of Nigerians who braced all the challenges to go and cast their votes on Saturday, 25th of February, 2023, were shattered by the conduct of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), which failed to live up to expectations. The weekend election was neither free nor fair. Preliminary assessments indicate that it is the worst conducted elections since the return to democratic rule. The manipulation and fraud that attended this election was unprecedented in the history of our nation. I can still not understand why the electoral umpire was in such a hurry to conclude collation and announcement of the result, given the number of complaints of irregularities of bypassing of the BVAS, failure of uploading to the IREV, and unprecedented cancellations and disenfranchisement of millions of voters in breach of the Electoral Act and the commissions own guidelines. It was indeed a rape of democracy.

Having consulted with leaders of our party and Nigerians from different walks of life, I have come to the conclusion that the processes and outcome of the Presidential and National Assembly election of last Saturday was grossly flawed in every material particular, and as such must be challenged. This has been attested to by both local and international observers. I want to believe that this was not the legacy that President Muhammadu Buhari had promised. For President Buhari, it is not too late to make amends for the good of our country and the future generations and indeed to assure his legacy.

This battle to right the wrongs of Saturday is not about me. It is a continuation of my battles to deepen democracy and for a better life for our people. It is about the future of Nigerian youths.

I know that Nigerians, especially the youth, are traumatised by the developments, but I want to urge them to conduct themselves peacefully. Like I have done over the years, I assure you that I will commit the rest of my life in ensuring that true democracy, which affirms the supremacy of your votes and your will, will take firm footing and guarantee a stable, prosperous and peaceful Nigeria. This is more so as Nigeria represents the hope of Africa and the Black World.

It is my hope that the judiciary will redeem itself this time around and rise to the societys expectation as the last HOPE. In the end, who wins is not as important as the credibility of our elections and electoral processes.

I call on all men and women of goodwill to join hands with us in the vanguard to defend our constitution from the brigandage of anti democratic forces. Finally I urge Nigerians to remain vigilant and resolute. You have the constitutionally guaranteed right of freedom to choose your leaders. We will not sit idly by and watch your rights taken from you.

Your voices will be heard.

May God bless you, and may God bless the Federal Republic of Nigeria.

Atiku Abubakar, GCON

Waziri Adamawa,

Vice President of Nigeria (1999  2007)

2023 PDP Presidential Candidate

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On 2 March, the candidate of the Labour Party in the just-concluded 2023 presidential election, addressed a press conference in Abuja, Nigerias capital rejecting the outcome of the poll.

Peter Obi vowed to challenge the result f the election in court, saying he, rather than Bola Tinubu of the All Progressives Congress (APC), won the election.

In the result declared by INEC, Peter Obi came third behind Mr Tinubu and Atiku Abubakar of the Peoples Democratic Party.

Below is the full address delivered by Peter Obi before he fielded questions from journalists present at the presser.

====================================

Address to the Nation, By Peter Obi, Presidential Candidate of the Labour Party in the 2023 presidential election in Nigeria

Dear Nigerians,

1. On 25th February 2023, Nigerians trooped out en-masse to participate in what was promised and expected to be a free, fair and transparent Presidential and National Assembly elections. But in all things, we are enjoined to give thanks.

2. First to Almighty God for the privilege of making Datti Baba-Ahmed and I, the tools to champion the cause of a New Nigeria that will fundamentally enhance the fortunes of our dear country. Let me also appreciate and thank all Nigerians that participated in our last election especially those who believed and tirelessly worked for a New Nigeria and voted for us. My profound thanks go to the youths, Obidients and support groups for your commitment and resilience for a better Nigeria. You truly showed that you can take back your country!

3. We continue to pray for the repose of the souls of all Nigerians killed during the campaigns and for those that were violently attacked, we pray for their quick recovery. We reiterate our total condemnation of such attacks and continue to demand that security agencies stop further attacks and bring perpetrators to book.

4. The commitment and resilience of Nigerians, even in the face of unwarranted and barbaric attacks is a testimony that a New Nigeria is Indeed POssible.

The Lady, Jennifer Efidi who was stabbed but insisted on exercising her right to vote and indeed all Nigerians who voted during the election are the shinning stars leading us to a New Nigeria!

5. The election has been conducted and results announced as programmed. It is a clear deviation from the electoral rules and guidelines as we were promised and did not meet the minimum criteria of a free, transparent, credible and fair election devoid of voter intimidation and suppression, and late commencement of voting in some specific states.

6. This will probably go down as one of the most controversial elections ever conducted in Nigeria. The good and hardworking people of Nigeria have again been robbed by the institutions and leaders whom we trusted.

7. However, let me humbly and most respectfully appeal to all Nigerians to remain peaceful, law-abiding and conduct themselves in a most responsible manner. Please be assured that for Datti and I, and indeed for all of us, this is not the end, but the beginning of the journey to birth a New Nigeria.

8. Datti Baba-Ahmed and I remain absolutely undaunted and deeply committed to this project of a New Nigeria that will be built on honesty, transparency, fairness, justice and equity. All of these starts with the process -The process through which people are elected to office is as important (if not more important) than what they do thereafter with the office and authority.

9. If we seek to be called Your Excellency, then the process through which we are elected should also be excellent or sufficiently credible to generate the required confidence and moral authority to govern and lead. As you all know, the destruction of a society can be a gradual or sudden process through acts such as deliberate refusal to obey the rule of law and via the suppression of the will of the people.

10. Let me reiterate and assure my good people of Nigeria that we will follow all available legal and peaceful procedures to reclaim our mandate.

11. I urge you all to continue with your campaigns and troop out on Saturday 11th March 2023 to vote massively again for Labour Party-LP (Mama, Papa and Pikin) in the Governorship and State Assembly Elections. Please do not despair at a time when we can still achieve massive victories in the forthcoming elections on the 11th March 2023.

Thank you all and God bless The Federal Republic of Nigeria.

Mr Peter Obi

Labour Party Presidential Candidate

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A former Lagos State governor and candidate of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC), Bola Tinubu, was on Wednesday morning declared the winner of the keenly contested 25 February presidential election and was issued the certificate of return later in the day.

In his first go at the presidency, Mr Tinubu beat 17 other contenders and was declared as the president-elect by the Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Mahmood Yakubu, who is the returning officer for the election. Mr Tinubu polled 8,794,726 votes, which was just 36 per cent of the totals vote cast but also about 1.8 million more than his closest rival, Atiku Abubakar of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), garnered in the poll.

The president-elect also scored at least 25 per cent and above votes cast across 30 of Nigerias 36 States and Abuja, exceeding the 25 states constitutionally required to be declared the winner.

Among the other major candidates, Atiku recorded 6,984,520 (29 per cent) votes, Peter Obi of the Labour Party got 6,101,533 (25 per cent) votes while Rabiu Kwankwaso of the NNPP came fourth with 1,496,687 votes.

With his victory, Mr Tinubu is poised to become Nigerias fifth president of the Fourth Republic and the 16th leader of Africas most populous country since its independence in 1960.

Interestingly, the three leading candidates, Mr Tinubu and Atiku won the majority of the votes cast in 12 states each, Mr Obi in 11 states and the Federal Capital Territory, while Mr Kwankwaso won in only his home Kano State.

Mr Tinubu won in Rivers (44 per cent), Borno (54 per cent), Jigawa (46 per cent), Zamfara (59 per cent), Benue (40 per cent), Kogi (53 per cent), Kwara (56 per cent), Niger (48 per cent), Ekiti (65 per cent), Ondo (67 per cent), Oyo (56 per cent) and Ogun (59 per cent).

Atiku won in Katsina (46 per cent), Kebbi (51 per cent), Sokoto (49 per cent), Kaduna (41 per cent), Gombe (63 per cent), Yobe (52 per cent), Bauchi (50 per cent), Adamawa (57 per cent) and Taraba(38 per cent).

The former Vice President also won in Osun (48 per cent), Akwa Ibom (39 per cent) and Bayelsa (42 per cent).

On his part, Mr Obi won in Edo (57 per cent ), Cross River (43 per cent) Delta (56 per cent) , Lagos (46 per cent), FCT (61 per cent), Plateau (43 per cent), Imo (77 per cent), Ebonyi ( 80 per cent) Nasarawa (35 per cent), Anambra (95 per cent), Abia (88 per cent) and Enugu (94 per cent) states.

Mr Kwankwaso won in only Kano State (59 per cent).

However, five major factors contributed to Mr Tinubus victory on Saturday.

1. Big wins in the South-west

In spite of being beaten by Mr Obi in his home Lagos State and by Atiku in Osun, Mr Tinubu got most of the votes in the South-west region after recording impressive victory in the four other states of the zone  Oyo, Ondo, Ogun and Ekiti.

The votes indicate that a large majority of his kinsmen supported the presidential ambition of the 70-year-old former Lagos governor and most influential politician in the zone.

In Ekiti, Mr Tinubu cruised to victory in all 16 local government areas (LGAs) of the state to defeat his closest rivals, Atiku and Obi.

He polled 201,486 votes while the candidate of the PDP and LP got 89,554 and 11,397 votes respectively.

Similarly, Mr Tinubu floored his rivals in Ogun State. He amassed 341,554 votes from across the 20 local government areas of the state. Atiku and Mr Obi got 123,831 and 85,829 votes to come in second and third positions respectively.

Mr Tinubu polled 369,924 votes to win Ondo State and was trailed by Atiku, who garnered 115,463 votes and Mr Obi who got 47,350 votes.

Despite having a PDP governor, Seyi Makinde, a member of the G5 governors of the opposition party, Mr Tinubu won in all 33 LGAs of Oyo State.

He polled 449,884 votes, followed by Atiku with 182,977 and Mr Obi with 99,110 votes.

2. Narrow losses in Northwest

In 2019, the APC won in the seven Northwestern states Jigawa, Kaduna, Kano, Katsina, Kebbi, Sokoto, and Zamfara. On Saturday, Mr Tinubu lost five of them to Atiku. However, the defeat did not hurt him much as they were narrow which allowed him to make up for the deficits in Kano, Jigawa and Kano over the PDP candidate.

Mr Tinubu lost three of the four K states ( Kebbi, Katsina and Kaduna) states to Atiku and the other one (Kano) to Kwankwaso.

The president-elect won Jigawa with 421,390 votes, defeating Atiku, who scored 386,587 votes.

In Zamfara, he won in 12 of the 14 LGAs of the state. Mr Tinubu polled 298,396 votes, Atiku scored 193,978 votes, and Mr Kwankwaso scored 4,044 votes. Mr Obi came fourth with 1,660 votes.

Mr Tinubus dogged performance across the Northwestern states proved vital in the race as it helped him to protect the lead he gained over his closest rival, Atiku, in the South-west and North-central zones.

3. APC grassroots structure

The president-elects victory in some states and narrow losses in others reflect the presence of APC supporters across all the states and regions of the country.

This is most poignantly reflected in Mr Tinubus ability to cross the 25 per cent threshold in 30 of Nigerias 36 states. Crossing that threshold in two-thirds of the states and the federal capital is required to win the presidency. Mr Tinubu was the only candidate who met that requirement on Saturday as his closest rival, Atiku, could only do it in 21 states. The feat clearly affirmed the APCs strong base of supporters and their commitment to the victory of their candidate In the race.

Despite losing major states (Kano, Nasarawa, Kebbi, Katsina, Kaduna and Lagos) currently being governed by his party to his rivals, Mr Tinubu still won with about 1.8 million votes.

4. Fractured PDP

Unresolved disputes among the leaders of the main opposition party, PDP, clearly handed an advantage to Mr Tinubu on Saturday.

Peter Obi who eventually became the third force in this election was a member of the party until a few weeks before its primary. Mr Obi was also a running mate to Atiku in the 2019 election.

The PDP learnt nothing from Mr Obis exit. Its crises continued after the conclusion of its National Convention in Abuja last year. Atikus victory at the primary election and the candidates subsequent choice of a running mate in the person of Delta State Governor Ifeanyi Okowa left the PDP bitterly divided.

Several efforts by Atiku to reconcile with the aggrieved individuals were unsuccessful. Instead, the G5 governors who led the dispute with Atiku stuck to their guns. Thus, the PDP went into the election divided and this was fully reflected in the outcome of the election.

For instance, states like Rivers, Oyo and Benue under PDP governors  Nyesom Wike, Seyi Makinde and Samuel Ortom  fell to Mr Tinubu, while Abia and Enugu went to Mr Obi.

Mr Tinubu on Saturday got a whopping 80,239 votes in Mr Wikes Obio-Akpor LGA home base, which helped him to take a state that had heavily voted PDP in every previous presidential election since 1999. This indicated that Governor Wike worked against the candidate of his party, just like his G5 associates in Oyo and Benue states.

While Mr Makinde threw his weight behind the APC candidate, Mr Ortom supported Mr Obi.

The inability of the PDP to unite after disputes over zoning and power rotation proved costly for Atiku as it stripped him of crucial support in the partys traditional strongholds.

5. Managing relationship with Buhari

In the runup to the 25 February election, several actions and decisions of President Buhari, especially some of the policies rolled out in the campaign season, were widely interpreted to mean the president did not want Mr Tinubu as his successor.

The implementation of the controversial naira redesigning policy plunged millions of Nigerians into hardship and anger against the APC.

Political analysts and even APC party faithful said this situation was a deliberate de-marketing of the APC and its candidates to make them vulnerable at the polls.

Many APC faithful and state governors rose to challenge the president and even sued the federal government and the Central Bank of Nigeria in a bid to curb the cash crunch but the president refused to change course.

Despite all of these, Mr Tinubu managed his relationship with President Buhari well. He refused to attack or criticise the president, instead blaming the people around the latter. Doing so could have worsened the situation for the candidate. He kept his temperament and remained focused on his campaign across the states. That kept the party united.

Mr Tinubus calmness and effective management of the partys leadership worked to his advantage across the northern region.

Although Atiku eventually won in more northern states, Mr Tinubu amassed significant votes largely due to the support of the northern governors.

But in northern states that Atiku lost, such as Kano and Borno, Mr Tinubu recorded massive votes due to having the APC governors solidly behind him.

In the end, the internal conditions of their different parties significantly determined the performances of the president-elect and the runner-up in Nigerias 2023 presidential election.

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The Supreme Court is set to deliver judgement on the suit filed by some state governments to challenge the federal governments naira redesign policy today (Friday).

A seven-member panel of the Supreme Court had on 22 February heard the case and adjourned till today for judgement.

Members of the panel led by John Okoro are expected to file into the courtroom at 9 a.m. Friday.

The controversial monetary policy being challenged at the Supreme Court had last year introduced newly redesigned 200, N500, and N1,000 notes with tight deadline to mop up the old notes from circulation.

The policy has led to scarcity of currency notes, bringing untold hardship to millions of citizens in an economy significantly driven by the informal sector with a large proportion of unbanked persons.

A 31January deadline intially set for ending the legal tender status of the old notes was extended to 10 February as the supply of the new notes fell far short of the volume needed by citizens to meet their most basic needs across the country.

On 3 February, three statement governments  Kaduna, Kogi, and Zamfara  citing the hardships the continued scarcity of naira notes brought to their people, sued the federal government at the Supreme Court for a reversal of the policy.

Five days later, the court issued an interim order suspending the implementation of the deadline set by the federal government, and directed that the old and new notes should continue to circulate pending the resolution of the case.

Unmoved by the courts order, the CBN insisted that the old notes had stopped being legal tender after the 8 February deadline while the scarcity of the new notes persisted.

In defiance to the Supreme Courts order, Mr Buhari on 16 February, restored the validity of the old N200 notes, insisted that the N500 and N1000 notes had ceased to be legal tender.

At the resumed hearing of the suit on 22 February, the number of plaintiffs rose to 16 after six new states were added to the three initial plaintiffs.

The 16 states now on the list of plaintiffs include: the original plaintiffs  Kaduna, Kogi, Zamfara  and the seven that were joined on 15 February  Cross River, Sokoto, Lagos, Ogun, Katsina, Ondo, and Ekiti states.

The rest are the six others that were joined on Wednesday  Nasarawa, Niger, Kano, Jigawa, Rivers and Abia states.

Rivers and Abia states had filed separate suits that were consolidated with the main one.

Before then, two states  Edo and Bayelsa  joined the side of the federal government to oppose the suit.

The six-member panel of the Supreme Court promised during the 22 February hearing that it would do justice in the suit.

PREMIUM TIMES is in court to bring to you live updates as the panel of justices delivers its decision on the landmark case today.

8.46 a.m.: Governor Yahaya Bello of Kogi State, whose state is one of the 16 plaintiffs arrives the court room.

8.50 a.m.: Governor Nasir El-Rufai of Kaduna State arrives the court room. Kaduna State is also one of the plaintiffs.

8.52 a.m: A court official announces that the proceedings scheduled to begin at 9.am. have been postponed till 10.am.

8.55 a.m.: Governors El-Rufai and Yahaya Bello left the courtroom following the postponement of the judgement till 10 a.m.

9.56 a.m.: Governors El-Rufai and Yahaya Bello, both decked in white attires, return to the courtroom ahead of the filing of the seven members of the Supreme Courts panel expected at 10 a.m.

10.03a.m.: The members of the Supreme Court led by John Okoro file in. Each of the justices holds an envelope presumed to contain their respective opinions on the case.

10.04a.m. Court official calls the case naming through 16 states that filed the suit as plaintiffs, and the Attorney-General of the Federation along with Bayelsa and Edo State as defendants.

10.07a.m. Lawyers begin announcement of their appearances.

Roll call of the lead counsel parties in two consolidated suits.

First suit

Plaintiffs:

A.U Mustapha (SAN)  Kaduna and Kogi states

*Junaid Aliyu (SAN)  Zamfara State (2nd plaintiff)

*F.K Salami  Ondo State

*Moyosore Onigbanjo (SAN)  Lagos State

*K. O Fagbemi  Katsina State

*Tanko Ashang (SAN)  Cross River State

*Adenoma Abimbola  Ogun State

*S.S Kayode  Ekiti State

*Georgia Ude  Sokoto State

Defendants:

*Kanu Agabi (SAN)  Attorney General of the Federation

*Audu Auuga  Bayelsa State

*S.O Osadolor  Edo State

Second Suit

Plaintiffs:

Okey Wali (SAN)  Rivers State

Defendant

T.D Agbe  Attorney-General of the Federation

Third Suit

Plaintiffs:

Senusi Musa  Nasarawa State

Defendant:

Christian Nevo  AGF

Fourth Suit

Plaintiffs:

F.K Salami  Ondo State

Defendant

T.D Agbe  Attorney General of the Federation

Fifth Suit

Plaintiff

A.I Lemu  Niger State

Defendant:

T.D Agbe  AGF

Sixth Suit

Plaintiffs:

Adamu Aliyu (SAN)  Jigawa State

Defendant:

Christian Nevo  AGF

Seventh Suit

Plaintiff:

Abdulkareem Kana (SAN)

Defendant:

Christian Nevo  AGF

Eighth Suit

Plaintiff:

Udochi Iheanacho  Abia Stat3

Defendant:

T.D Agbe  AGF

Members of the seven-member panel of the Supreme Court are:

*John Okoro (presiding)

*Amina Augie

*Mohammed Garba

*Ibrahim Saulawa

*Adamu Jauro

*Tijanni Abubakar

*Emmanuel Agim

10.47 a.m. Justice Emmanuel Agim begins reading the lead judgement.

Highlights of the case of plaintiffs

By 15 December 2022, the new naira notes were bot available despite assurances of the CBN.

Many citizens had submitted their old notes to their banks, therefore, having their expectations dashed as the new naira notes were scarcely available.

CBN never stated how much of the new notes it printed and released into circulation.

It is not doubt that none of the banks had received enough to pay their customers and meet the cash withdrawal limits

Days running into weeks, long queues remained at ATM machines with many returning home empty handed.

The president failed to consult with Council of States, the National Economic Council, banks, CSOs and others before embarking on the demonetisation policy.

The security implications of the policy were not considered.

The implementation has hampered trade, small and medium scale enterprises.

No adequate structures were put in place for smooth implementation of the demonetisation policy.

The policy has unlawfully impeded the executive power of the states.

The approval of the policy by President Buhari without consultation with National Economic Council, which has state governors as members, violated section 23 (3) CBN Act.

Highlights of defendants preliminary objection

Supreme Court lacks jurisdiction to hear the case

The case us not within the ambit of original jurisdiction of the court.

Official Secret Act requires suit to be filed against any public within three months.

The suit is statute barred and speculative.

11. 10 a.m. Justice Agim recalls the Supreme Court order of 8 February directing that the old N200, N500, and N1,000 remained legal tender.

On 15 February, plaintiffs filed a affidavit of non-compliance with the court order. The plaintiffs said the defendant, through the CBN, released statement that old notes ceased to be legal tender on 10 Feb.

Defendants lawyer said the allegation was a mere rumour.

11.14a.m. The lead judgment now begins to consider the defendants argument that the court lacks jurisdiction to decide on the case.

Justice Agim says the government of Nigeria is an agent of the federation to govern Nigeria to its benefit and well being.

The act of the President and government of Nigerian is an act of the federation.

11.19a.m. The government of the federation in implementing the policy should have held adequate consultation to avoid massive disruption of government operations and trades.

The dispute is between the states and the government of the Federation.

The dispute is within the original jurisdiction of the court.

The argument that it is the CBN was the peoper party to be sued is invalid. It is not the action of the CBN that is being challenged.

The suit challenges the validity of the decison of he President to redesign naira, release the new notes into circulationandn withdraw the old notes without consultation with Nigeriana through th3 Council of states and the National Economic Council without prior notice or giving reasonable notice to the public

The CBN only carried out the directive of the president.

It is glaring from the law that the CBN has no power to to carry out the policy without the directive of the president

The policy is directed by the President.

The CBN does not have to be joined as a party.

This suit is not an action against the banks or the CBN.

11.30a.m. The subject matter of this suit can be entertained under the original jurisdiction of the Supreme Court.

11.39a.m. The constitution having issued unlimited subject matter jurisdiction, no court including this court has the power to exclude from the original jurisdiction of the court.

All the preliminary objections are dismissed.

I hold that the this court has jurisdiction to determine all the suits.

11.39 a.m. It is obvious that the president did not consult with the Council of States, the National Economic Council and other stakeholders including the National Security Council.

The constitution does not expressly state that the president must hold such consultation

The duty is implicit in section 5 of the Constitution that makes the President an agent of the federation.

Such duty is inherent in a democracy.

The first defendant belatedly realised that it needed to consult with the Council of States.

President acknowlesged the widespread problems of the policy.

There is nothing to show either through newspapers and gazetted that reasonable notice was given to the public.

Notice was given only by a way of press remark by CBN governors on 26 October 2022.

It is this press remark that that the president relied on to redesign naira notes and withdraw the old ones.

This press remark cannot constitute a reasonable notice to the public

It is what it is  meere press remark.

The directive given by President is invalid.

11.51 am. Such directive is not just handed down after personal conversation with the governor of CBN.

11.51a.m. In other countries, old and new currency notes are allowed to circulate simultaneously for not less than one year.

11.53a.m. In the light of the above, I hold that no reasonable notice was given to the public in line with Section 20 of CBN Act 2007 before the president gave the directive of the redesign of new naira and the withdrawal of new notes.

Therefore the directive is invalid and the implementing invalid.

11.58a.m. It is not in doubt that the President refused to comply with the order of the court that the old 200, 500, and 1,000 naira notes should continue to be legal tender.

Interestingly, there is not even nothing to show that that the Presidents directive for the release of N200 notes was implemented.

I agree that the first defendant ought not to be heard when the president has refused to obey the authority of this court.

Dispobeneice of of order of court shows the country democracy a mere pretension and now repalced by autocracy.

This suit is meritorious.

BREAKING: Supreme Court extends old niara notes validity till December

The Supreme Court has extended the the validity of the N200, N500, and N1,000 notes till 31 December.

A seven-member panel of the court led by John Okoro unanimously directed that the CBN must continue to receive the old notes from Nigerians

The court held that the directive of President Muhammadu Buhari for the redesign of the new notes and withdrawal of the old notes without due consultation is invalid.

Emmanuel Agim, a member of the panel, who read the lead judgement, also condemned the Presidents disobedience of the courts 8 February order that the old N200, N500, and N1,000 notes should continue to circulate alongside the new ones.

He said the presidents broadcast of 16 February that only N200 notes should remain legal tender made Nigerias democracy look like a mere pretension while democracy is replaced with autocracy.

More details later.

Page planning and content production by Kaduna George and Ogala George

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The Supreme Court has extended the validity of the N200, N500, and N1,000 Naira notes till 31 December.

A seven-member panel of the court led by John Okoro unanimously directed that the CBN must continue to receive the old notes from Nigerians

The court held that the directive of President Muhammadu Buhari for the redesign of the new notes and withdrawal of the old notes without due consultation is invalid.

Emmanuel Agim, a member of the panel, who read the lead judgement, also condemned the Presidents disobedience of the courts 8 February order that the old N200, N500, and N1,000 notes should continue to circulate alongside the new ones.

He said the presidents broadcast of 16 February that only N200 notes should remain legal tender made Nigerias democracy look like a mere pretension while democracy is replaced with autocracy.

It is not in doubt that the President refused to comply with the order of the court that the old 200, 500, and 1,000 naira notes should continue to be legal tender, the court said.

Interestingly, there is even nothing to show that that the Presidents directive for the release of N200 notes was implemented.

I agree that the first defendant ought not to be heard when the president has refused to obey the authority of this court.

Disobedience of order of court shows the country democracy a mere pretension and now repalced by autocracy. This suit is meritorious.

The controversial monetary policy that was challenged at the Supreme Court had last year introduced newly redesigned 200, N500, and N1,000 notes with tight deadline to mop up the old notes from circulation.

The policy has led to scarcity of currency notes, bringing untold hardship to millions of citizens in an economy significantly driven by the informal sector with a large proportion of unbanked persons.

A 31January deadline intially set for ending the legal tender status of the old Naira notes was extended to 10 February as the supply of the new notes fell far short of the volume needed by citizens to meet their most basic needs across the country.

On 3 February, three stat governments  Kaduna, Kogi, and Zamfara  citing the hardships the continued scarcity of naira notes brought to their people  sued the federal government at the Supreme Court for a reversal of the policy.

Five days later, the court issued an interim order suspending the implementation of the deadline set by the federal government, and directed that the old and new Naira notes should continue to circulate pending the resolution of the case.

Unmoved by the courts order, the CBN insisted that the old notes had stopped being legal tender after the 8 February deadline while the scarcity of the new notes persisted.

In defiance of the Supreme Courts order, Mr Buhari, on 16 February, restored the validity of the old N200 notes, insisting that the N500 and N1000 notes had ceased to be legal tender.

At the resumed hearing of the suit on 22 February, the number of plaintiffs rose to 16 after six new states joined the three initial plaintiffs.

The 16 states that became plaintiffs in the Naira redesign suit include: the original plaintiffs  Kaduna, Kogi, Zamfara  and the seven that were joined on 15 February  Cross River, Sokoto, Lagos, Ogun, Katsina, Ondo and Ekiti states.

The rest are the six others that were joined on Wednesday  Nasarawa, Niger, Kano, Jigawa, Rivers and Abia states.

Rivers and Abia states had filed separate suits that were consolidated with the main one.

Before then, two states  Edo and Bayelsa  joined the side of the federal government to oppose the suit.

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The Supreme Court has adjudged President Muhammadu Buhari a disobeyer of court order over his handling of the federal governments currency notes redesign policy.

A seven-member panel of the court led by John Okoro made the pronouncement on Friday in a unanimous judgement on a suit filed by some state governors to challenge what they described as the federal governments demonetisation policy.

The disobedience of orders of courts by the President in a constitutional democracy as ours is a sign of the failure of the constitution and that democratic governance has become a mere pretension and is now replaced by autocracy or dictatorship, Emmanuel Agim, a member of the Supreme Court panel, said in the courts lead judgement.

The policy, introduced by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) in October last year, includes issuing newly redesigned N200, N500, and N1,000 bank notes and withdrawing their old versions from circulation within a short period.

It initially set 31 January to end the legal tender status of the old notes but had to shift it to 10 February when it was obvious that the CBN lacked the capacity to supply enough of the new notes into circulation.

The policy approved and directed by Mr Buhari has led to the scarcity of banknotes. This has, in turn, created chaos, disrupting economic activities and bringing hardships to millions of citizens in Nigerias cash-dependent economy.

Three state governments  Kaduna, Kogi, and Zamfara  sued the federal government at the Supreme Court over the issue on 3 February, seeking an order invalidating the policy.

On 8 February, two days ahead of the 10 February deadline set by the CBN to end the use of the old N200, N500, and N1,000 notes, the Supreme Court granted an interim order suspending the implementation of the policy.

The court ordered that both the old notes and their newly designed versions should remain legal pending further hearings in the suit.

Buharis disobedience

But in violation of the courts order, President Buhari, in a broadcast on 16 February, restored the validity of the old N200 notes and insisted that the old N500 and N1,000 banknotes had ceased to be valid.

It is not in dispute that the 1st defendant refused to obey the said order. The Presidents 16 February 2023 national broadcast reproduced here on pages 27-31 demonstrates this disobedience, Mr Agim held.

He added, In disobedience of the order, he directed that only the old N200 naira notes be recirculated.

Interestingly, there is nothing to show the implementation of even that directive. I agree with the 9th plaintiff, that the 1st defendant is not entitled to be heard by this court when it has effused to respect the authority of this court and the authority of law from which the authority of the President and the Government of Nigeria derives.

Mr Agim said Mr Buharis disobedience to the court order makes democratic governance illusory.

The rule of law upon which our democratic governance is founded becomes illusory if the President of the country or any authority or person refuses to obey the orders of courts, the Supreme Court justice held.

The court invalidated the policy on Friday as it was issued by the President without consultation as expected in a democracy.

The court then extended the validity of the old naira notes till 31 December and ordered that they remained legal tender alongside the old notes up till the new deadlines.

Mr Buhari, a former military dictator with a poor human rights profile in the 1980s, campaigned to be elected as a democratic president in 2015, promising that he had become a reformed democrat.

But since coming to office in May 2015, Mr Buhari has hardly lived up to his promise, as his administration consistently picks and chooses which court orders to obey in the last seven and half years of its coming to power.

Fridays pronouncement was the first time a court would specifically adjudge him as disobedient to a court order.

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The Supreme Court on Friday nullified the federal governments illegal withdrawal of N200, N500, and N1,000 banknotes from circulation.

A seven-member panel of the court led by John Okoro said in a unanimous judgement that President Muhammadu Buhari issued the directive without consultation.

The court said the federal government ought to have consulted with the state government through the relevant bodies such as the National Council of States and the National Economic Council before embarking on such a policy.

The Constitution did not expressly require the President to make such consultations with the constituent states or seek advice from bodies mentioned above before issuing the directive in question, here or before exercising any executive powers of the federation, said Emmanuel Agim, a member of the Supreme Court panel who read the lead judgement.

He added: The duty is implicit in the provisions of section 5(1) of the 1999 Constitution that makes the President an agent of the Federation.

The court said without such consultation the federation loses its sovereignty and the President becomes the sovereign and the governor of Nigeria a dictatorship.

Mr Agim added that good governance and economic prosperity of a nation cannot thrive in a plural society like ours if executive power of the federation with far-reaching impact is exercised without inputs from the constituent states on how it affects them.

The Supreme Court went on to declare Mr Buharis directive withdrawing the old notes from circulation as illegal. It also issued another order nullifying it and extended the legal tender status of the currency notes till 31 December.

The pronouncement is among nine declarations and orders issued by the Supreme Court in a judgement on the suit filed by some state governors challenging the Presidents directive.

Mr Buhari, late last year, ordered the withdrawal of the N200, N500, and N1,000 notes by 31 January 2021, after introducing the newly designed versions of the banknotes which were short in supply.

The directive, described as a demonetisation policy by some state governors opposed to it, has created a scarcity of banknotes, creating disruption in the financial system and hardships for millions of citizens.

The federal government in late January extended the validity of the old notes till 10 February.

Three state governments sued the federal government calling for the Supreme Court to set aside Mr Buharis directive.

More states joined the suit, bringing the total number of plaintiffs to 16, as the cash crunch took a harsher toll on citizens.

On 8 February, the Supreme Court issued an interim order suspending the implementation of the 10 February deadline set by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) to end the validity of the old N200, N500, and N1,000 notes.

But the order was violated by President Buhari who defiantly restored the validity of the old N200 notes, and insisted that the old N500 and N1,000 notes had ceased to be legal tender.

Delivering its final judgement on Friday, the Supreme Court condemned Mr Buharis act of disobedience to the court order.

Mr Agim, a member of the Supreme Courts panel who read the Supreme Courts lead judgement, said Mr Buharis conduct is a sign of the failure of the constitution and that democratic governance has become a mere pretension and is now replaced by autocracy or dictatorship.

The court ordered that the old version of 200, 500 and 1000 naira notes shall continue to be legal tender alongside the new or redesigned version until 31 December 2023.

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The Court of Appeal in Abuja on Friday acceded to requests by Atiku Abubakar and Peter Obi to inspect electoral materials used in the conduct of the presidential election.

Atiku and Mr Obi are presidential candidates of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and Labour Party (LP), respectively, for the 25 February presidential poll.

The duo, who lost to the All Progressives Congress (APC)s presidential candidate and president-elect, Bola Tinubu, have alleged that the election was flawed.

Mr Tinubu polled 8.8 million votes to defeat both Atiku and Mr Obi in the contest.

Atiku and Obi have commenced their separate legal actions to challenge the outcome of the elections at the Court of Appeal in Abuja. The Court of Appeal acts as the Presidential Election Petition Court where the outcomes of presidential elections are challenged by aggrieved candidates.

They have both filed separate ex parte applications, praying to be granted access to inspect sensitive materials that INEC used for the conduct of the presidential poll last Saturday.

Mr Obi, on Friday, secured leave of the Court of Appeal sitting in Abuja to have access to all the sensitive materials the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, deployed for the conduct of the presidential election held on 25 February.

Joseph Ikyegh, who led a panel of the appellate court, ordered INEC to allow Atiku and Mr Obi to inspect the electoral materials.

The plaintiffs listed the electoral umpire, INEC, APC and Mr Tinubu as defendants in the suit.

Prayers

The plaintiffs based their requests on provisions of the Electoral Act and the constitution in demanding an inspection of the poll materials.

At both joint and separate press conferences, Atiku and Mr Obi queried INECs failure to electronically transmit the results of the presidential election from polling units to its IREV portal.

Alex Ejesieme, Mr Obis lawyer, sought six prayers while Atikus lawyer, Ademola Faloku, put forward seven prayers.

They urged the court to order INEC to allow them access to sensitive materials that were deployed for the presidential election.

Justifying their requests, the duo argued that the documents would assist them in lodging petitions to challenge Mr Tinubus emergence as president-elect at the Presidential Election Petition Tribunal in Abuja.

PREMIUM TIMES reported last week that the registry of the Presidential Election Petition Tribunal is now open in Abuja.

On 1 March, INEC Chairman, Mahmood Yakubu, declared Mr Tinubu as president-elect after beating 17 candidates in the race.

The election results as announced by INEC showed Mr Tinubu garnered a total of 8,794,726 votes to beat Atiku who scored a total of 6,984,520 votes, and Mr Obi who came third with a total of 6,101,533 votes.

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The presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Atiku Abubakar, on Thursday, vowed to challenge the outcome of the just-concluded election but also expressed doubts about the Nigerian judiciary.

Atiku spoke publicly on the election for the first time in Abuja after he was defeated by the All Progressives Congress (APC) presidential candidate, Bola Tinubu, in Saturdays election.

Mr Tinubu, according to the results declared by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) early Wednesday, won the election with 8.8 million votes.

Atiku came second behind Mr Tinubu with 6.7 million votes while the Labour Party (LP) candidate, Peter Obi, who scored 6.1 million, came third in the election.

The two opposition candidates described the election as flawed and vowed to challenge the outcomes in court at separate press conferences in Abuja on Thursday.

Responding to a question, Atiku said he had doubts if the judiciary was still credible as when he got judgements against the sitting President in 2007.

Atiku, who was then the vice-president, said he fought the President, then Olusegun Obasanjo, in court and won 11 times right from the High Court to the Supreme Court without seeing a judge.

I took my boss the (then) President (Olusegun Obasanjo) to court eleven times from the trial court up to the Supreme Court.

The former vice president who said he could swear by the Holy Quoran that he never had to see any judge defeat his then-boss, expressed doubt if the judiciary was still as credible.

I swear, I never saw any judge, yet I got a judgement against a sitting President. Do you think it is possible today to do it? Let us tell ourselves the truth. So, I cannot say whether it is the same judiciary or not until I test them, he said.

When asked what he would do if he did not get a favourable judgement from the court in his challenge of the outcome of the presidential election, Atiku said: What will I do? I will appeal to God.

With Atikus displeasure over the outcome of the presidential election, his party is expected to lodge a petition at the Presidential Election Petition Tribunal that is already open in Abuja.

The law provides that a candidate dissatisfied with an election outcome is required to file their complaint at the tribunal within 45 days from the date of the announcement of results.

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An explosion from a crude oil tapping point has killed many people, including women, in Rivers State, South-south Nigeria.

The incident occurred in the early hours of Friday in Rumuekpe community, Emohua Local Government Area of the state.

The police spokesperson in the state, Grace Iringe-Koko, has confirmed the incident to PREMIUM TIMES.

Mrs Iringe-Koko did not disclose the cause of the incident and the number of victims. She said the police would soon issue a statement on the incident.

Details later..

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The Network of African Parliamentarians for Defence and Security Committees has concluded its 7th Extraordinary Session in Abuja, Nigeria.

The four days event was held at Frazier Suite in Abuja with members of the network from across the continent in attendance.

In his opening remarks on Wednesday, the outgoing President of the Network, Shabban Sharada, the Chairman of Nigerias House of Representatives Committee on National Security and Intelligence, said the session was convened to formally transition to new leadership.

The networks new president is Berting Mobanzi, who is the chairman of Defence in the National Assembly of the Democratic Republic of Congo.

Mr Sharada also outlined some of the achievements of the current administration in the area of defence and national security as well as legislative interventions aimed at improving social political and economic life in the country.

it is significant to note that the Buhari administration has not only prioritised security on its governance agenda but has committed more time, logistics and resources to address the national security challenges than any regime in the history of democratic governance in Nigeria, he said.

Some of the legislative frameworks mentioned by Mr Sharada include; the Petroleum Industry Act, 2021, Electoral Act, 2022, Police Act, 2020, the Mutual Assistance in Criminal Matters Act, the Terrorism (Amendment Act), 2015, the Administration of Criminal Justice Act, 2015, the Money Laundering Prohibition Act, and the Cyber Crime Act

He said the network has its membership from over 50 African countries.

Speaking to journalists on the sideline of the event, Vice President-General 1 of the network, Jimmy Smith of the parliament of Liberia, said leaders across the country must address the challenges of vulnerable youths in the continent in order to address security challenges.

Today in Liberia, the single national security to the country is the vulnerable youth; this is where the responsibilities come to us all as leaders, this is a phenomenon I have seen across Africa.

It seems we have the same challenge that we need to pay attention to for peace to reign on this continent and for the transformation and growth of our young people, he said.

On Tuesday, the lawmakers paid a visit to President Muhammadu Buhari, but were received by Vice President Yemi Osinbajo.

The lawmakers will depart Abuja on Friday for their respective countries.

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The National Chairman of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Abdullahi Adamu, has tasked the opposition parties to join hands with the party to take Nigeria to a greater height.

Mr Adamu said this on Thursday in Abuja, when he spoke with journalists in Abuja, saying that Mr Tinubu clearly won the 25 February presidential election fair and square.

Some opposition parties in the contest have since rejected the result of the election.

The presidential candidates of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Atiku Abubakar, and that of Labour Party (LP), Peter Obi, who came second and third in the election, have vowed to challenge its result in court.

On its part, the New Nigeria Peoples Party (NNPP) called for the cancellation of the result.

But Mr Adamu asked the parties to join the APC to tackle the challenges they offer.

I offer him my very hearty congratulations. Mr President-elect, with your victory, the people have also renewed the tenancy of our political party in Aso Rock, ours is the party the people can trust.

As APC national chairman, our victory is a humbling, but proud experience for me.

We recognise the victors, but we do not recognise the vanquished, our party extends its hands of patriotism to them.

We enjoin them to join our party so that together, we shall take up the same challenges for which they offered their services, he said.

Mr Adamu said the judgement of the electorate was informed and supreme, saying that the choice they made was the choice they could live with.

We salute them, we salute their free and fair decision, we accept the victory of our presidential candidate and the party with humility and gratitude to the almighty God and the entire people of this great nation.

We join millions of our compatriots in congratulating the president-elect and indeed all our members in celebrating the resounding victory of our party at the polls, Mr Adamu said.

He also congratulated President Muhammadu Buhari for the peaceful conduct of the elections, saying that he delivered on his promise to provide an enabling level field for all the political parties and their candidates.

Mr Adamu said Mr Buhari stood for freedom of choice and action, adding that his legacy of abiding by the rule of law shall be the hallmark of APC leadership in the country.

He thanked the president for standing by the party, especially its presidential candidate Mr Tinubu, adding that he had cemented his place in national history.

We have all run the good race, the victory has gone to one man, but the race was not run by him alone. He won because we stood by him.

He won because we as members of the party were committed to his victory and the victory of our party at all levels in the general elections.

He won because the electorate trust him and believe he has the capacity to heal the nations wounds and set it along the path of unity and prosperity.

The people have trusted their weal and welfare to the able hands of the president-elect and the vice-president-elect, the national chairman said.

He added that Mr Tinubu`s victory belonged to the less previladged and the security agencies who put their lives on the line and ensured the peaceful conduct of the election at all levels.

He said the victory also belonged to all Nigerians who collectively showed a determination to birth a new national leadership.

It belongs especially to the chairman and the members of INEC, they laboured under a dark cloud of sabotage. Its offices were torched in several states, its personnel were similarly attacked.

But its chairman, Prof. Mahmood Yakubu, the man who has done more than anyone else in that difficult office, refused to be intimidated and be deflected from doing his duty to his country and his compatriots, Mr Adamu said.

This, he said, was because the INEC chairman and members of the commission were committed to ensuring a free, fair, transparent, and credible elections.

Mr Adamu said they found sustenance in the courage to serve the nation and its people and help the people institute a government of their choice, adding that Nigerians must remain grateful to the commission.

He thanked the mass media for their role in the conduct of the elections, saying that they too ran the good race and must share in the victory.

Mr Adamu congratulated the candidates of opposition political parties, saying that their loss was not a rejection of what they stood for by the people.

It is in the nature of competitions among political parties that out of the many that offer themselves to serve the people, only one is chosen at any one time, he said.

(NAN)

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President Muhammadu Buhari has joined leaders and members of the Redeemed Christian Church of God (RCCG) in celebrating the General Overseer, Enoch Adeboye, a pastor, on his 81st birthday.

In a congratulatory message by his spokesman, Femi Adesina, on Thursday in Abuja, Mr Buhari rejoiced with the religious leader, who left his academic career to fully commit to serving the Lord.

The president equally felicitated family, friends and other church leaders within and outside the country, thankful for Mr Adeboyes positive influence on people and institutions, with a focus on expanding the kingdom of God on earth.

While recalling the visits and prayers, especially when he was ill and recuperating, Mr Buhari said he remained grateful for the friendliness and wise counsels of the general overseer over many years.

The president prayed that the God would continue to bless and guide Mr Adeboye and his family.

In a similar development, Mr Buhari shared the joy of the milestone with renowned journalist, Liad Tella, who turns 75 on 3 March, 2023.

The president said in over five decades Mr Tella had invested in journalism, rising to the top of his career as Deputy Editor of National Concord, and Editor-in-Chief of The Monitor Newspapers.

He also celebrated Tellys contribution to knowledge as Senior Research Fellow, Department of Mass Communication, University of Ilorin, and his commitment to Islam.

Mr Tella was one of the founding fathers of Muslim Students Society of Nigeria (MSSN), and a federal commissioner at the National Hajj Commission, for many years.

Mr Buhari rejoiced with the Tella family, the media community, especially the Nigerian Union of Journalists (NUJ), the Nigerian Guild of Editors (NGE), and the Newspapers Proprietors Association of Nigeria (NPAN).

He wished the Asiwaju Musulumi of Iwo land longer life in good health, to further serve God, society, and humanity at large.

(NAN)

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The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has restored Umo Eno as the governorship candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) for the 11 March election in Akwa Ibom State.

The commission in its amendment (number five) to the final list of candidates for the election dated 24 February cited court order as reason for the restoration.

A check on the commission website Thursday evening shows that Mr Eno has been restored as the PDP candidate in the state.

The restoration followed a judgment by an Appeal Court in Abuja which nullified the 20 January ruling of the Federal High Court which sacked Mr Eno.

A three-member panel of the appellate court led by Hamman Barka had in its ruling on the appeal filed by the PDP held that the lower courts decision was based on errors.

Backstory

PREMIUM TIMES last month reported how INEC published the name of a federal lawmaker from the state, Michael Enyong, as the PDP governorship flag bearer in the state, replacing Mr Eno, Governor Udom Emmanuels preferred successor.

The commission had in its amendment number four cited court order as reason for the replacement.

Mr Enyong, 54 is currently doing a second term as member representing Uyo Federal Constituency in the National Assembly.

The PDP conducted its governorship primary in the state on 25 May last year at the Godswill Akpabio International Stadium, which Mr Eno, a former commissioner for Lands and Water Resources in the state, polled 993 votes to clinch the party ticket.

His closest rivals, Onofiok Luke and Akan Okon, tied on three votes each in a primary that recorded two void votes from the 1, 018 delegates accredited for the exercise.

Mr Enyong, who boycotted the exercise, conducted a parallel PDP primary in his residence in Ewet Housing Estate, Uyo where he emerged the winner.

He, thereafter, got the results of his primary validated by an Abuja Federal High Court, which declared him as the authentic PDP governorship candidate in the state.

Dissatisfied with the judgment, the PDP filed an appeal and got the judgment upturned by the Court of Appeal which ordered the restoration of Mr Eno as the PDP governorship flag bearer on the basis that the lower court.

Forgery allegations, expulsion

The police in Akwa Ibom State had invited Mr Enyong for questioning for alleged forgery after the lawmaker got the results of a parallel PDP primary conducted in his house validated by the court.

Mr Enyong conducted his primary in his own house in Uyo and after the charade he went and forged what he claimed was the results of the primary, spread the results across, shared the votes and forged the letterhead paper of PDP and signatures of the PDP National Chairman, Secretary, Organising secretary, Electoral Officer and the Returning Officer.

He forged the document to create the impression that he has the result sheet in his hand and these are the issues they (police) are asking him to answer. How Mr Enyong came about the documents hes handling which he used to file a false affidavit before the court, said the director of litigations in the PDP campaign council in the state, Uwemedimo Nwoko.

Mr Enyongs lawyer, NyaknoAbasi Etuk had admitted to PREMIUM TIMES that his client did not participate in the PDP primary that was conducted at the Godswill Akpabio International Stadium but argued that the PDP was served with the court process but they (PDP) kept mute.

Following his invitation by the police, Mr Enyong obtained a court order restraining the police from inviting, arresting and detaining him.

The federal lawmaker was, thereafter, expelled by a local chapter of the party over the forgery allegations.

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Former South African president and Head of the Commonwealth Observer Mission to Nigeria, Thabo Mbeki, has urged President-elect Bola Tinubu, not to forget the African continent when he assumes office in May.

A statement signed by Tunde Rahman for the office of the President-elected noted that Mr Mbeki spoke on Thursday when he visited Mr Tinubu in his Abuja residence on completion of the Commonwealth Observer Mission.

Mr Mbeki, who noted that the election was fair and credible, asked the president-elect to make the entire African continent his compass when he takes over the reins of government.

Nigeria is the most populous country in Africa with a big economy. Whatever happens here sets the pace for the rest of Africa.

We need a strong Nigerian presidency that will also focus on the African region, he said.

Your opponent will be looking for a smallest thing to throw stones at. That is the way of democracy, he added.

The president-elect assured the former South African president of his commitment to further African integration and economic development and promised to work with Mr Mbeki and other leaders of the continent in this direction.

He added: Please Mr President, dont be far from us.

Mr Tinubu, a former two-term governor of Lagos State, was returned elected as the president-elect according to INEC in the 25 February presidential election.

The first and second runner-ups in the election  Atiku Abubakar of the PDP and Peter Obi of the Labour Party have vowed to challenge the victory of the APC candidate in court.

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Amnesty International has called for the immediate uplifting of the expulsion of non-governmental organisations(NGOs) in Zamfara and Adamawa States as ordered by the State governors.

The Director of Amnesty International, Osai Ojigbo, in a statement said the decision would hurt vulnerable communities in the two states.

In February, the Zamfara State government ordered that all NGOs should leave the state.

The states Commissioner for Security and Home Affairs, Mamman Safe, accused NGOs of engaging in activities fueling insecurity in the state.

The Adamawa state government also banned the activities of NGOs in the state. It accused the organisations of trying to influence voters during the just concluded presidential and national assembly elections.

But Mrs Ojigbo said the crackdown on organisations providing support and or defending human rights in states must be brought to end.

Amnesty International calls for the immediate reversal of the arbitrary expulsion of non-governmental organizations by the governors of Adamawa and Zamfara states in northern Nigeria. Targeting organizations solely for carrying out their normal activities, when they are saving lives, will mostly hurt the vulnerable communities they are serving.

This crackdown on independent organizations and human rights defenders must stop. The governors of Adamawa and Zamfara states must allow independent organizations and human rights defenders to freely carry out their work.

Mrs Ojigbo added that the state government must focus on rebuilding and resettling communities displaced by terrorists.

READ ALSO: New opportunities await farmers as Tingo expands across Africa

The suspension of NGOs in the two states, both ravaged by insecurity and conflict, is repressive and a direct attack on the civic space. Authorities of the two states must desist from the such arbitrary exercise of powers and focus more on rebuilding and resettling communities displaced by years of attacks by bandits and insurgents, she said.

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The presidential candidate of the African Democratic Congress (ADC), Dumebi Kachikwu, has described the victory of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Bola Tinubu, in last Saturdays election as well deserved.

Mr Kachikwu also alleged that all the four major parties, namely APC, PDP, LP and NNPP, committed fraud during the election.

The ADC candidate said this in a statement in Abuja on Friday.

Mr Tinubu won the poll with 8,794,726 votes while Atiku Abubakar of the Peoples Democratic (PDP) came second with 6,984,520 and Peter Obi of the Labour Party third with 6,101,533 votes.

The three candidates won 12 states each.

Mr Kachikwu polled 81,919 votes in the election.

However, both the PDP and the LP candidates said they would challenge the outcome of the poll in court.

The failure of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to upload the results to the viewing platform has raised questions about the integrity of the process.

Mr Kachikwu said Mr Tinubus victory was a clear case of consistency and preparation meets opportunity, adding that the president-elect was a dogged fighter with a mastery of the Nigerian political system and took advantage of a disunited opposition some of whom were running purely on the divisive platforms of ethnicity and religion.

He said though the four major parties rigged the election, it was not sufficient to alter the outcome of the process.

The distortions occasioned by the rigging done by the four so-called leading parties were not significant enough to have altered the outcome of this election, he said.

The ADC candidate recalled that he ahead of the poll, he warned the PDP and LP to forge a common front to fight the APC but that they refused to put aside their petty differences in order to do.

He said, I long warned that any vote for the Labour Party was a vote in support of an APC victory. The PDP and Labour Party candidates failed to show leadership when they refused to put aside petty differences to build a formidable opposition to take on a non-performing sitting government. They now seek to form an alliance of sore losers after defeat.

Mr Kachikwu also faulted religious organisations that allowed their platforms to be used for political campaigns.

Read the full statement

A VICTORY WELL DESERVED

The victory of Asiwaju Ahmed Bola Tinubu in the just concluded Presidential Polls is a clear case of consistency and preparation meets opportunity. Asiwaju, a dogged fighter with a mastery of the Nigerian political system took advantage of a disunited opposition some of whom were running purely on the divisive platforms of ethnicity and religion.

The distortions occasioned by the rigging done by the four so-called leading parties were not significant enough to have altered the outcome of this election. I long warned that any vote for the Labour Party was a vote in support of an APC victory. The PDP and Labour Party candidates failed to show leadership when they refused to put aside petty differences to build a formidable opposition to take on a non-performing sitting government. They now seek to form an alliance of sore losers after defeat.

Asiwajus victory is a lesson to segments of the clergy who provided their places of worship as campaign platforms. We must separate thus saith the Lord from our biases and personal convictions. If they seek to clean up the political space, they must first look within. Most of those who lead us can be found there on Fridays and Sundays.

Are we a nation of sinners in search of a saint or a nation of the lost in search of a leader? Asiwajus victory answers this question.

This election has been won and lost, Nigeria and Nigerians must now move forward. All hands must be on deck in this onerous task of nation-building. We remain Nigerians. God bless us all.

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In the name of Allah, the Most Merciful, the Bestower of Mercy

All praise is due to Allah, the Lord of all creation  may He extol the Messenger in the highest company of Angels and send His peace and blessings upon him  likewise upon his family, Companions, and true followers. To proceed:

Dear brothers and sisters! As you are all aware, the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has declared the presidential candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Alhaji Bola Ahmed Tinubu as the winner of the 2023 presidential election in Nigeria.

The Chairman of INEC, Professor Mahmud Yakubu declared Alhaji Bola Ahmed Tinubu the winner at exactly 4:10 a.m on Wednesday, 1st of March in Abuja.

Alhaji Bola Ahmed Tinubu polled a total votes of 8,794,726 to defeat his closest rival and the presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Alhaji Atiku Abubakar who scored 6,984,520 votes, and Mr. Peter Obi of Labour party who polled 6,101,533 votes.

The presidential candidate of New Nigerian Peoples Party (NNPP), Alhaji Rabiu Kwankwaso came a distant fourth with the total of 1,496,687 votes.

INEC Chairman, Professor Yakubu said the registered voters for the election were 93,469,008, while 25,286,616 voters were accredited.

He added that the total valid votes was 24,025,940, while total rejected votes was 939,278.

The chairman said the total number of votes cast was 24,965,218.

Dear brothers and sisters! Allah the Most High says:

Say, O Allah, Owner of Sovereignty/power/authority, You give sovereignty/power/authority to whom You will and You take sovereignty/power/authority away from whom You will. You honour whom You will and You humble whom You will. In Your hand is [all] good. Indeed, You are over all things competent. [Quran, 3:26]

Respected brothers and sisters! Living in a time where the majority of Muslims have been enthralled by the worldly life and distanced themselves from the scholars, the correct set of beliefs has become something unknown to the average Muslim. From the set of beliefs that many of the Muslims have strayed in, is the belief in predestination, otherwise known as al-Qada and al-Qadr. So in this sermon the correct beliefs pertaining to al-Qada and al-Qadr will become clear to the reader, by the will of Allah, the Most High.

In order to study any matter properly, one must first be aware of the terminology involved. So in order to properly understand predestination (al-Qada and al-Qadr) one must, firstly, understand what it means. When mentioned separately, both al-Qada and al-Qadr mean the predestination of an action or an event. However if they are combined then al-Qadr means the predestination of an act or event before it occurs and al-Qada refers to act or event after it takes place. Sheikh Salih Uthaimin said:

The Scholars differed in the difference between them. From them is the one who said: al-Qadr is Allahs decree in eternity and al-Qada is the ruling of Allah on something when it occurs. If Allah decrees that something specific will occur in its time, then this is al-qadr. If the time for this thing comes then this is al-Qada. This is [found] a lot in the Noble Quran. For example, Allahs statement: Thus is the case judged. [Quran, 12:41] And His statement: And Allah judges with truth. [Quran, 40:20] So al-Qadr is the decree of Allah in eternity and al-Qada is when it occurs. Some say the meaning is the same. But the stronger opinion is that there is a difference between them as preceded. If one of the two word is mentioned alone, then it has one meaning and Allah knows best. [See Majmu al-Fatawa wa-Rasail, vol. 2, page 79]

The scholars of Islam are in ijmah (consensus) that the belief in al-Qada and al-Qadr (Kaddarar Allah) is mandatory upon every Muslim, and he who rejects it has left the fold of Islam. The proofs of this are many in the Quran and the Sunnah. Allah Almighty said:

We have created all things according to a measure. [Quran, 54:49]

And the famous Hadith of Jibril (Gabriel), where he came to the Prophet (Peace be upon him) and asked him, What is Iman (faith/belief)?, and the Prophet (Peace be upon him) replied:

Iman (faith/belief) is to believe in Allah, His angels, His books, His messengers, the Day of Judgment and al-Qadr, the good of it and the evil of it. [Bukhari and Muslim]

And the Hadith of the Prophet (Peace be upon him):

No servant of Allah will truly believe until he believes in al-Qadr its good and evil, and until he realises that what has befallen him was not going to miss him and that which missed him was not going to befall him. [At-Tirmidhi]

And the Hadith of Ibn Umar, may Allah be pleased with him, where two men came to him and informed him, There has appeared before us a people who recite the Quran and seek knowledge, and they proclaim that there is no Qadr and verily this affair is scornful, to which Ibn Umar responded:

When you meet these people tell them that I am free from them and that they are free from me, for verily by Him in whose hand is the soul of Abdullah Ibn Umar, were they to give Mount Uhud in gold (as charity) it would never be accepted from them until they believe in Qadr. [Muslim]

The scholars of Islam have derived four main principles pertaining to al-Qada and al-Qadr as follows:

1. That Allah, the Most High, has absolute knowledge of all affairs. Whether it be past, present, or future.

2. That Allah, the Most High, has written all matters that would ever occur in a preserved tablet (al-Lauhul-Mahfuz).

3. That nothing occurs except by the will of Allah, the Most High.

4. That Allah, the Magnificent, created everything.

The above four points will be briefly explained in the following passages, by the will of Allah:

1. That Allah, the Most High, has absolute knowledge of all affairs. Whether it be past, present, or future.

Allahs knowledge encompasses all affairs. He knew that which was, He knows what is, and He knows what will be. He knows that which we hide in the midst of our souls and He knows that which we publicise to all of mankind. He knows when we were born, how we will live, and where and when we will die. He knows which of us will be in Jannah (Paradise) and which of us will be in the Hell-Fire. He is the all knowing and the all aware. Imam al-Ajurri states in his blessed book ash-Shariah:

He (Allah) created for Jannah (Paradise) its inhabitants and for the hellfire its inhabitants, before he brought them into this world. No one whom Islam has prevailed and overcome and has tasted the sweetness of Iman (Faith) will differ in this. The Quran and the Sunnah have indicated this, and we seek refuge in Allah from the one who rejects this  

Allah Almighty states:

  Indeed, Allah knows all things. [Quran, 8:75]

  so that you may know that Allah has power over all things, and that He has encompassed everything in knowledge. [Quran, 65:12]

2. That Allah, the Most High, has written all matters that would ever occur in a preserved tablet (al-Lauhul-Mahfuz).

From the wisdom of Allah is that He wrote everything that would occur before He created the heavens and the earth in a preserved tablet known as al-Lauhul-Mahfuz. As Muslims it is upon us to believe this whether it agrees with our intellect or not, and to not ask why? When? And how?

Allah Almighty says:

Do you not know that Allah knows what is in the heaven and the earth? This is in a Book. This is easy for Allah. [Quran, 22:70]

The Prophet (Peace be upon him) said:

Allah wrote what was ordained for creation, fifty thousand years before the creation of the heavens and the earth and His Throne was on the water. [Muslim]

3. That nothing occurs except by the will of Allah, the Most High.

From the belief of the Muslim pertaining to al-Qadr is that he believes that nothing occurs except by the Will of Allah. If Allah, the Most High, has permitted it to happen it will take place without a doubt. Whether we like it or not. Allah Almighty says:

But you cannot will unless Allah wills; Allah is Knowing, Wise. [Quran, 76:30]

The Prophet (Peace be upon him) also said:

If the whole Ummah (nation) were to unite and try to benefit you in something, they would never benefit you except by that which Allah has written for you. And if the whole Ummah were to unite and try to harm you in something, they would never be able to harm you except that Allah had written it upon you. [At-Tirmidhi and Ahmad]

Allahs Will here is of two types, al-Kauni and ash-Shari. Al-Kauni is all that Allah wills and hasnt given man total control over, the likes of the orbiting of the earth around the sun, the appearance of the stars at night, the waves in the ocean, the ability to ride a bicycle, etc.

Ash-Shari is all that Allah is pleased with and has ordered mankind with. It is in the hands of mankind to fulfill. Such as praying five times a day, fasting in Ramadan, not associating partners with Him, being obedient to our parents etc.

4. That Allah, the Magnificent, created everything.

It is upon the Muslim to know and realise that Allah is the Creator of all things, including his (the Muslims) actions. Not an atom on this earth nor a planet that orbits the sun exists except that Allah is the one who created it. Allah the Most High says:

Allah is the Creator of everything; and He is the Guardian over all things. [Quran, 39:62]

And Prophet (Peace be upon him) said: Do you worship what you yourselves carve, when Allah has created you and what you make?' [Quran, 37:96]

Imam Muslim narrates in the introduction to the first Hadith of his Sahih that the first person to ever speak about (in a deviant manner) Qadr was a man from Al-Basarah by the name of Muaz al-Juhni. It was from his deviance that the stray sects started to take their methodology in Qadr. Over the passage of time a lot of sects have strayed in their understanding of Qadr, from them are the Mutazilah, the Jahmiyyah and some of the Ashairah, but their deviant understanding goes back to the two main groups of the Qadariyyah and the Jabariyyah.

The Qadarriyah are those people who believe that predestination does not exist, and that we are free to act as we will, and that Allah, the Creator, does not have knowledge of an affair until its occurrence. The Jabariyyah are those people who believe that we have no free will, and that we are forced to do everything.

So the stance of Ahlus-Sunnah pertaining to the understanding our actions and al-Qadr is the middle course between the two sects. We believe that Allah knows everything we do before it happens, and has given us the free will to do as we wish. Whether it be good or bad, and we will be held accountable for that which we used to do. So it is upon us to continue doing good deeds and continue distancing ourselves from sins and evil acts, and not be like those who say that we are compelled to do everything, and that the doing of righteous acts will not make a difference. We seek refuge in Allah from such ignorance. Allah Almighty says:

Those who ascribe partners [to Allah] will say: If Allah had wished, we would not have ascribed partners to Him, nor would our fathers, nor we have forbidden anything. Thus did those who came before them argue falsely, until they tasted of Our wrath. Say: Have you any [certain] knowledge that you can produce before us? You follow nothing but conjecture. You do nothing but guess. [Quran, 6:148]

In another verse, Allah Almighty warns those who took Qadr as their reason for falling into shirk (polytheism) when He says:

Messengers of good news and of warning, in order that mankind might have no argument against Allah after the Messengers. And Allah was August, Wise. [Quran, 4:165]

Such that they cannot say that it was Allahs Will that we committed shirk with Him.

The Messenger of Allah was once sitting with a wooden stick in his hand with which he was scraping the ground. He raised his head and said:

There is none of you except that his place has been assigned either in the Hell-Fire or in Paradise.

The Companions, may Allah be pleased with them, said:

O Allahs Messenger why should we carry on doing good deeds then? Shall we not be dependent (on al-Qadr) and give up actions? The Prophet (Peace be upon him) said:

No, but rather carry on doing good deeds, for every person will find easy (to do) the deeds which will lead him to the place he has been created for. [Muslim]

And many people have come to understand that if Qadr has already been written for us, and we will receive that which has been prescribed for us then what is the benefit of making Dua? The answer to this question lies in the understanding of the principle that events will take place if the appropriate steps are taken to make them happen. Thus since we know that Allah is in charge of all affairs and is able to do all things, He is the one we ask when we are in need. He already knew we were going to ask him, but waited till we actually do the act of asking before he answers our Dua. So in order to achieve that final goal (to get what we asked for in our Dua) we have to take the step of actually making Dua.

The Prophet (Peace be upon him) said:

Nothing increases ones life-span except good deeds, and nothing repels divine decree except Dua. And verily, a person may be deprived of sustenance due to a sin that he commits. [Ibn Majah]

So if one were to ask how does Dua change decree? We would respond to this with the example of the farmer whose field has gone dry due to the lack of rain (Divine Decree of Allah), so he prays Salatul-Istisqah (a prayer from the Sunnah, which is performed to ask for rain) and thus it rains and his crops cultivate. Thus as a result of his prayer Allah sent down the rain.

Imam Ibn al-Qayyim, may Allah have mercy upon him, had some wisdom filled words concerning those people who dont take the appropriate steps to make the desired event happen:

The logical consequences of such a reasoning leads to a rejection of all efforts. It can, therefore, be said to a person who holds this view, if the satisfaction of your hunger and thirst has already been destined for you, then it will be fulfilled, whether you eat or not. On the other hand, if it has not been destined for you, it will never occur, whether you eat or not. And, if a son has been destined for you, then you will be granted one, whether you have intercourse with your wife or not. On the other hand, if a son has not been destined for you, then you will never be granted one. In this case, there is no point in you getting married! [See Jawab al-Kafi]

Allah the Most High tells us in many places through out the Quran that man will be tested and tried, and will face tribulations that man thinks he will never be able to over come. On the other hand Allah, the Most High, also puts us in times of ease where we think that there isnt a problem in the world. So how is the Muslim to react in these scenarios? Allah Almighty says:

We shall surely test you with fear and hunger, and loss of property and lives and crops; but give glad tidings to those who have fortitude. Who when struck by misfortune, say: We belong to Allah, and surely to Him we shall return.' [Quran, 2:155-156]

Allah Almighty also says prior to these two Quranic verses:

O Believers, seek help in patience and in the ritual prayer. Allah is with those that are patient. [Quran, 2:154]

In the above verses Allah Almighty guides us to those actions that should be performed, when faced with trials and tribulations: Firstly, we should be patient. Secondly, we should not get over emotional and forget who created us but rather we should remember that to Allah we belong and to Him we shall return. Lastly, we should seek assistance in as-Salah (Prayer), which when referred to linguistically means Dua, and ask Allah to relieve us of this trial and reward us for our patience. Like our Salaf (Pious Predecessors) would say:

There is no protection from the Qadr of Allah, except with Allah.

 Benefits of believing in predestination (al-Qadr):

1. It grants its believer the peace of mind and sense of relaxation to know, that which has befallen him, was never meant to pass him by and that which has passed him was never meant to befall him.

2. It gives its believer the will and determination to do righteous deeds and grants him the knowledge of the fact that nothing can harm him or stop him except that which Allah has willed.

3. Teaches its believer not to be arrogant and vain but rather to be modest and humble because he realises that his actions are created by Allah and that such and such an event occurred, not because he was rich or was given beauty and good lineage but rather because it was the Will of Allah.

4. Teaches its believer to do as much as is in his capability and then leave the rest up to Allah, and then to be satisfied with the result as he did as much as his ability permitted him to do so.

Dear servants of Allah! Also Allah Almighty says:

And it may be that you dislike a thing which is good for you and that you like a thing which is bad for you. Allah knows but you do not know. [Quran, 2:216]

In this Quranic verse, there are several judgments, meanings and benefits for the servant of Allah. If the servant of Allah knows that misfortune can produce a desirable thing, and that the desirable thing can produce a misfortune, he would not feel secure against the harm that can come from delight, and he would not lose hope of delight to come from harm, for he does not know the outcomes of things. Verily, it is Allah Who knows about that which the servant of Allah does not know, and in this context the following issues must be noted:

Nothing is more beneficial for him than abiding by the judgments of Allah, even if it is difficult for him at the beginning, because all its outcomes are good, delightful, and pleasurable. In the same way, nothing is more harmful for him than committing what is forbidden, even if he loves it. All its outcomes are pain, grief, evil and misfortune.

Furthermore, the mind bears little pain in comparison to the great pleasure and abundant good that it will experience, and likewise man is expected to avoid little in exchange for great rewards and preventing great pain and long term evil.

In this way, we can see that the perception of the ignorant does not go beyond the basics of life; his perception does not reach the goals, but the intelligent person always keeps his eye on the goals behind his actions in life.

The intelligent person perceives forbidden things like delicious food, which contain fatal poison. Whenever its pleasure arouses his interest, the reality of the poison would push him away from it. Also, he perceives the orders of Allah as bitter medicine that leads to good health and recovery.

Whenever its bitterness urges him not to take it, the reality of its usefulness leads him to comply. This requires knowledge that is more than the rudiments of the religion in order to understand the essential goals. It also requires strong patience to adjust oneself to it, in order to bear the difficulties that will be encountered for the sake of the goal. So if he loses certainty and patience, it would be difficult to achieve the goal, and on the other hand if his certainty and patience is strong, every difficulty would be rendered easy for him for the sake of permanent good and eternal pleasure.

There are other meanings of this Quranic verse. It also requires the servant to leave all his affairs in the Hands of the One Who knows the outcomes of all things (Allah), and to be pleased with whatever He chooses for him.

Also, the meanings of the Quranic verse include the fact that he should not propose or choose for his Lord, and should not ask Him for that which he has no knowledge of, for his harm and ruin may be in it and yet he does not know. He should simply ask his Lord to choose good for him and make him pleased with His choice, for that indeed would be the best ending. Also when he leaves all his affairs to his Lord, and is satisfied with His choice for him, Allah will support him by providing him with ability, determination and patience. He, the Almighty would also keep him away from the evil that the servant would have encountered if he had chosen for himself. He would show him some of the positive outcomes of His Choice, which he would not have attained if he had chosen for himself.

Such thinking relieves him of the burdens of trying to choose for himself as Allah frees his heart from estimations and arrangements, which fluctuate in difficulty. And in spite of this, the servant would always be surrounded by what was initially preordained for him. If he is pleased with the Choice of Allah, the preordainment would grant him what is praiseworthy, worthy of thanks and worthy of Allahs Mercy. Otherwise, the preordainment would incur on him all that is dispraised and unworthy of Allahs Mercy, because it was his own choice. When he truly leaves his affairs to Allah and truly becomes pleased with that, he would be surrounded by kindness and care in the preordainment, and he would be under the care and kindness of Allah. His Kindness protects him from that which he fears and His Care makes it easy for him to bear that which He preordained.

When the pre-ordainment is implemented upon the servant of Allah, the greatest cause of its implementation would be his trying to avoid it. Therefore, there is nothing more beneficial for him than submission.

Lastly, I urge the President Elect, Alhaji Bola Ahmed Tinubu, to join hands with the remaining contestants and all Nigerians to work hard in order to make Nigeria great. Let him be a servant leader, as he promised.

I also call on Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, Mr. Peter Obi and Alhaji Rabiu Musa Kwankwaso to team up with the president elect in order to make our country great.

I pray, may Allah Almighty help them all, ameen.

Ya Allah, Who created and brought the heavens and earth into existence, Who does not pass away or depart. He, Who knows all about our conditions and is fully aware of all our movements and period of rest, helps our President Elect, Alhaji Bola Ahmed Tinubu to solve the problems of insecurity bedeviling Nigeria, assist him to rectify the economy of our country, use him to unite the Nigerian citizens and hold his hand to bring an end to all the Nigerias problems. Ya Rahman Ya Raheem!

Ya Allah, Who creates, sustains and controls the affairs within the universe. He Who protects and preserves us and controls our affairs, the Sole Creator, Sustainer and Brilliant Planner. We call on You to forgive us, have sympathy for us and give our President Elect, Alhaji Bola Ahmed Tinubu good health, strength, power, energy, wisdom, knowledge and grace to stop and defeat the armed bandits, and the extremists (Boko Haram), a group which destroys, and does not build, corrupts much, and does not rectify, and all the related terror activities from this our beloved and great country, Nigeria. Ya Rabb!

Ya Allah, Use Alhaji Bola Ahmed Tinubu, and his vice Alhaji Kashim Shettimah, and all our other leaders to transform and salvage Nigeria, so that they lead us to all that is good for us and our country. Ya Hayyu ya Qayyum!

Our Lord! Let not their hearts deviate after You have guided them, grant them and us mercy from You, truly, You are the Bestower of Mercy.

Ya Allah, Nigerians are powerless, speechless and helpless, we pray through You to protect us and our leaders from falling into mistakes and guide them Ya Allah, to all that which is good for all of us. Guide them, so that they will work for the unity, peace, progress, development and stability of Nigeria. Guide them also to provide quality and responsible leadership, and to bring Nigerias vast resources together to tackle a series of deep-seated, interconnected challenges and put the country on a road to better governance, increased security, and greater prosperity. Ya Ar-hamar Rahimeen Ya Rabbal Alameen!

Ya Allah, Give them the zeal to overcome daunting and threatening challenges; instill in them Your fear, so that they will lead justly and fairly towards the development of our people and country.

Ya Allah! Protect us all and our country, bless this country, forgive and have mercy, and destroy whoever that has a bad intention against our leaders, against us and our great country, Nigeria. Just as you protected us before, we seek for more of such protection, Ya Zal Jalali wal Ikram!

Ya Allah, make our country, Nigeria safe and the other Muslim countries in general, Oh Lord of the universe (jinn and mankind). Ya Allah protect our safety, our Iman and our peace in our native lands and rectify those placed in authority over our affairs (our leaders) and dont hold us to account for that which the foolish amongst us have done, and protect us from trials the apparent and hidden of it.

Ya Allah, show us the truth for the truth and help us to follow it, and show us the falsehood for falsehood and help us to stay away from it, and make Iman the most beloved to us and beautify it in our hearts, and make disbelief, lewdness and rebellion most hated to us and make us from those who are guided.

Ya Allah, rectify our leaders, Ya Allah guide them to that which is good for themselves and to that which is good for us. Ya Allah make them a means for our safety, and make them a means for our word (unity) to be one, and make them a cause for our coming together, Ya Al-Hayyu (Oh The Ever Living, The One who cannot die), Ya Al-Qayyum (The Self Sustainer), Ya Sami (The Hearer) of the supplication. Ya Allah safeguard our country. Ya Allah bring ease to the Nigerians from that which they face from sufferings. Ya Allah give us immediate ease. Ya Allah give us victory with a happy outcome. Ya Allah make ease for the Nigerians from every difficulty and from every suffering, Oh Hearer of the supplication, Oh Reliever from every distress, Oh answerer of the supplication, Oh Helper of the grieving, Oh ever living, Self Sustaining, Oh Hearer of the supplication, Oh Owner of Loftiness and Nobility!

Our Lord! Accept (this prayer) from us. Indeed you are the Hearing, the knowing Ameen.

All praise is due to Allah, the Lord of all creation; may Allah extol the mention of our noble Prophet Muhammad in the highest company of Angels, bless him and give him peace and securityand his family, his Companions and all those who follow him correctly and sincerely until the establishment of the Hour.

Murtadha Muhammad Gusau is the Chief Imam of Nagazi-Uvete Jumuah and the late Alhaji Abdur-Rahman Okenes Mosques, Okene, Kogi State, Nigeria. He can be reached via: gusauimam@gmail.com or +2348038289761.

This Jumuah Khutbah (Friday sermon) was prepared for delivery today Friday, Shaaban 10, 1444 AH (March 03, 2023).

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At least 12 people have been confirmed dead following an oil pipeline explosion from an illegal oil bunkering site in Rivers State, South-south Nigeria.

The incident occurred in the early hours of Friday in the Rumuekpe community, in the Emohua Local Government Area of the state.

The police spokesperson in the state, Grace Iringe-Koko, said in a statement in Port Harcourt on Friday that the identities of the victim were unknown.

Preliminary investigation by the Police Command indicates that the victims were scooping crude products when the site caught fire.

Five vehicles, four Tricycles (Keke NAPEPs), and one motorcycle were all burned to ashes, Mrs Iringe-Koko, a police superintendent, said.

Pipeline sabotage, illegal oil bunkering and refining have been on the increase in the oil-producing Niger Delta despite efforts by the government at tackling the menace.

Security agents have frequently discovered crude oil being tapped from a web of pipelines owned by oil companies in the area and refined into products in makeshift tanks.

The illegal oil business has resulted in severe pollution of the environment and many fatal accidents.

The latest incident brings to 32 the number of people that have died in the Rumuekpe community because of illegal bunkering in less than two years.

Guardian newspaper reported in October 2021 how the illegal refining of petroleum products killed 20 people in the Rumuekpe community.

READ ALSO: Oil explosion kills many in Rivers

According to the newspaper, youths of the community were siphoning petroleum products from several pipelines within the stretch of the community when an explosion occurred.

Business Day newspaper reported in April last year that over 60 persons were killed in Imo-Rivers illegal refinery explosion. The incident occurred at the boundary area of Rivers and Imo States.

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Governor Nyesom Wike of Rivers State on Friday said he had ended his relationship with the All Progressives Congress (APC) after the 25 February presidential election.

He said this on Friday in Oyo State while appealing to the residents in the state to support the second-term ambition of the Oyo State Governor Seyi Makinde.

The Rivers governor was in the state, under the invitation of Mr Makinde, to take part in the inauguration of the Oyo State 5,000,000-litre Aviation Fuel Dispensing Depot at the Ibadan Airport in the Alakia area of the state.

Channel TV broadcast the event live, and PREMIUM TIMES monitored it.

Messrs Wike and Makinde are members of the G5, a group of aggrieved Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) governors who rebelled against the PDP and its presidential candidate Atiku Abubakar on the grounds that it was the turn of the south to produce President Muhammadu Buharis successor.

Mr Buhari is from Katsina State, north-west Nigeria.

Broom ended (on) Saturday

Theres no relationship with anybody again, Mr Wike said in Oyo State, apparently referring to his brief endorsement and support for Bola Tinubu, the APC presidential candidate in the just concluded election.

The only relationship we have on 11 March is umbrella. Nothing like broom. Broom had ended Saturday, last week, he added.

Umbrella is the logo of the PDP, while broom is that of the APC.

Mr Tinubu defeated the PDP candidate, Atiku, the Labour Partys Peter Obi, and others to become the 16th president of Nigeria.

The way the APC won the election in Rivers appeared quite dramatic.

Mr Obi was leading Mr Tinubu, earlier in the day, with over 23,000 votes in Rivers, when the results from 21 out of 23 local government areas in the state were released by the Independent National Electoral Commission.

By then, Mr Obi polled 169,414 votes, while Mr Tinubu scored 148,979 votes.

But Mr Tinubu overtook Mr Obi when the results from the two remaining local government areas  Obio-Akpor and Degema  came in.

Mr Tinubu scored 80,239 votes in the Obio-Akpor Local Government Area, while Mr Obi scored 3,829, followed by Atiku with 368 votes.

Rabiu Kwankwaso of the New Nigeria Peoples Party scored 161 votes.

In Degema Local Government Area, Mr Tinubu scored 2,375 votes, while Mr Obi scored 2,212 votes. Atiku scored 3,108 votes, while Mr Kwankwaso scored 44 votes.

Mr Tinubu polled 231,591 votes in Rivers State as against Mr Obis 175,071 votes.

Yiaga Africa, a civil society organisation, had faulted the election results in Rivers, saying they were inconsistent with its observations.

The group, in its statement on Wednesday, suggested that the Labour Party won the election in Rivers.

Mr Tinubu, with the support of Governor Makinde, also won in Oyo State.

Makinde a dependable ally

Governor Wike praised Mr Makinde whom he described as a dependable ally.

I am not surprised at the performance of Seyi Makinde. You can only belong to G5, stamp your feet on the ground because you know what you are doing.

Its only those who are afraid, who have nothing to offer that cannot stand firm and be bold and take a decision and say that we must put things right, it doesnt matter who is involved.

Your governor has shown that he has the capacity, he has shown that he is the man that you can depend on. I am happy he is one of those that have made history by making sure that power shifts to the south, Mr Wike said.

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Governor Ikpeazu contested the Abia South District under the platform of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), but lost to Enyinnaya Abaribe of the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA), who represents the district.

Mr Ikpeazu contested the Abia South District under the platform of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), but lost to Enyinnaya Abaribe of the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA), who represents the district.

In a statement on Wednesday by his spokesperson, Onyebuchi Ememanka, Mr Ikpeazu said, irrespective of whether or not the election was flawed, his government would prioritise peace and security in the state.

Our government is resolutely committed to ensuring continuing security and peace that Abia has consistently enjoyed under my watch, he said.

We are grateful to God that so far, there is no single account of any loss of life during the presidential and national assembly elections. There were no reports of electoral violence, Mr Ikpeazu stated.

Ive won many battles, elections

The governor boasted that he was a fulfilled man who has won many battles and elections in the past.

He added that, as a two-term governor, he was grateful to God for his past and future electoral victories, pointing out that a candidate was bound to win some and lose some elections.

To our detractors, the events of last few days are enough to put us down but we are even more focused and determined now than ever before, to ensure victory for our party, the PDP, and our candidates including Chief Okey Ahiwe, who is our flag bearer as we approach the governorship and state house assembly elections, Mr Ikpeazu said.

The governor vowed to replicate the peace and security enjoyed in the last elections during the 11 March elections in the state.

He assured that he would work hard to ensure victory for candidates of his party.

READ ALSO:

Background

Mr Abaribe, who won the Abia South District election, was a member of the PDP, but defected to APGA, where he later emerged the partys candidate for the district.

Before his defection to the APGA, the senator was among the governorship aspirants of the PDP in the state in May, last year.

He withdrew from the race after accusing Mr Ikpeazu and the PDP in the state of holding the primary with a fake list of ad-hoc delegates across the 184 wards of the state.

Mr Ikpeazu is a member of G5, a group of PDP governors who rebelled against to the national leadership of the PDP and its presidential candidate, Atiku Abubakar.

Apart from Mr Ikpeazu, two other members of the G5  Samuel Ortom (Benue State) and Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi (Enugu State)  also lost in their senatorial bids.

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The All Progressives Grand Alliance governorship candidate in the Enugu State, Frank Nweke Jr, has dismissed rumours of his withdrawal from the 11 March election.

Mr Nweke, in a statement by his Media Manager, Uchenna Igboeme, described the rumour as the handwork of political desperados determined to keep Enugu in a web of lies and ineptitude.

The governorship candidate said there has been an upsurge of misinformation and fake news targeted at him within the last 72 hours.

(It) is a testament to the acceptance of my message of awakening in Enugu State, Mr Nweke said in the statement made available to reporters in Enugu on Thursday.

According to him, apart from the fake news of his withdrawal, there was also an allegation that he had congratulated Bola Tinubu, the President-elect.

There is also an allegation that I am planning to approve cattle ranches for herdsmen if elected. This is another lie.

Their anger is that the citizens have woken up and are ready to take back our state.

Through my campaign, I have not, and I will not, engage in their politics of character assassination and bitterness.

Instead, I will focus on how Enugu will have water, how Enugu will be clean, how our roads will be smooth, how our youths can begin to dream again, how technology will be harnessed for the progress of everyone.

My focus is on getting Enugu residents to know that the Okuko Igbo-Igbo cock symbol on the ballot paper is where their fingerprint must go on March 11, Mr Nweke stated.

(NAN)

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Online survey reveals publics greatest interest in "two sessions"

People's Daily Online) 16:58, March 03, 2023

(Photo/People's Daily Online)

A survey carried out by People's Daily Online has found that "education and talents," "social security," "combating corruption," "rural vitalization," "giving priority to employment," "medical and health care," "law-based national governance," "social governance, "expanding domestic demand and boosting consumption, and "whole-process people's democracy" are the 10 topics Chinese internet users are most interested in ahead of this year's "two sessions", the annual meetings of China's top legislature and the top political advisory body.

The survey, the 22nd of its kind conducted by People's Daily Online from Feb. 1 to 27, 2023, was participated by more than 5.81 million people.

"Education and talents" is the hottest topic of public interest, the survey shows.

The report to the 20th National Congress of the Communist Party of China (CPC) included promoting the digitalization of education for the first time.

As the survey indicates, Chinese internet users are interested in such topics as upgrading the national intelligent education public service platform, improving the digital literacy of teachers and their ability to apply digital technologies, and building a national big data center for education.

In terms of deepening reform on the mechanisms regarding the development of talent, 59.1 percent of the respondents hope that more efforts will be taken to cultivate top-notch sci-tech talent and innovation teams, 50.2 percent of them hope that the talent evaluation mechanism can be refined, and 49.3 percent of those surveyed think it is necessary to build an environment in which talents are identified, cherished, respected and used.

"Social security" entered the list of the top 10 "two sessions" buzzwords for the 19th time of all surveys carried out by People's Daily Online.

As the survey shows, Chinese internet users pay attention to the implementation of the private pension plan, the payment standard for old-age pensions for urban and rural residents, dynamic adjustment of basic pension funds, and other topics.

On social security, 53.9 percent think efforts should be made to put in place a housing system that ensures supply through multiple sources, provides housing support through multiple channels, and encourages both housing purchase and renting, and 51.8 percent hope that a multi-tiered and multi-pillar old-age insurance system can be developed.

The Chinese netizens also pay special attention to "combating corruption.

On the topic "giving priority to employment," the Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security and People's Daily Online jointly conducted a survey this year, which found that the implementation of policies for protecting the rights of workers engaged in new forms of employment and promoting flexible employment and the gig work market were among the hot topics.

(Web editor: Hongyu, Du Mingming)
An increase in demand for effective packaging, owing to health concern of the consumers drives the growth of the global antimicrobial packaging market.

PORTLAND, Ore., March 3, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Allied Market Research published a report, titled, "Antimicrobial packaging Market by Material Type (Paperboard, Plastic, Biopolymers, Others), by Technology (Active Release, Controlled Release), by Packaging Type (Cartons, Bags, Pouches, Others) and Region (North America, Europe, Asia-Pacific, and LAMEA): Global Opportunity Analysis and Industry Forecast, 2022-2031" According to the report, the global antimicrobial packaging market size was valued at $10.3 billion in 2021, and is projected to reach $17.9 billion by 2031, growing at a CAGR of 5.6% from 2022 to 2031. The report offers a detailed analysis of changing market trends, top segments, key investment pockets, value chains, regional landscapes, and competitive scenarios.

Download Free Sample Report @

https://www.alliedmarketresearch.com/request-sample/16875

Drivers, Restraints, and Opportunities-

There is a rise in the demand for packaged food, owing to the surge in disposable income of people worldwide. In addition, R&D and advances in drug formulation are the two biggest market drivers for antimicrobial packaging market globally. However, the fluctuation in the cost of raw materials used in the manufacturing of antimicrobial packaging is one of the restraining factors hindering the growth of the market.

Covid-19 scenario-

Volatility in prices of raw materials such as paper, fabric, plastics, and other materials lowered the market demand, thus impacting the growth of the antimicrobial packaging industry negatively.

However, rise in organic growth strategies by the major key players has helped the market recover post-pandemic.

The plastic segment to rule the market-

By material type, the plastic segment held the major share in 2021, garnering around 60% of the global antimicrobial packaging market revenue. The biopolymers segment would showcase the fastest CAGR of 6.4% during the forecast period. The large-scale application of plastic packaging for retail and logistics industry is driving the segment growth.

The active release segment to maintain its dominance during the forecast period-

By technology, the active release segment contributed to the highest share in 2021, accounting for around 90% of the global antimicrobial packaging market revenue. The controlled release segment would showcase the fastest CAGR of 7.4% throughout the forecast period owing to growing food & beverage industry which is growing the adoption of controlled release in order to keep the products fresh and extend the life of food products.



Buy This Research Report (210 Pages PDF with Insights, Charts, Tables, Figures):

https://www.alliedmarketresearch.com/checkout-final/dfcaac8a081957a4e4bdf8bf8debe498

The pouches segment to dominate by 2031-

By packaging type, the pouches segment accounted for nearly 40% of the global antimicrobial packaging market share in 2021, and is expected to rule the roost by 2031. The cartons segment would display the fastest CAGR of 7.1% throughout the forecast period. This is due to the fact that antimicrobial packaging for food products increases their shelf life.

Europe garnered the major share in 2021-

By region, Europe garnered the highest share in 2021, holding nearly 35% of the global antimicrobial packaging market revenue in 2021, and is projected to retain its dominance by 2031. The LAMEA region would also portray the fastest CAGR of 8.0% during the forecast period. Growing acquisitions by antimicrobial packaging manufacturing companies in different countries of LAMEA have propelled the market growth.



Enquire Before Buying: https://www.alliedmarketresearch.com/purchase-enquiry/16875

Leading Market Players-

Avient Corporation

BASF SE

BioCote Limited

Dow

Dunmore

Klockner Pentaplast

Microban International

Mondi

Sciessent

Takex labo Co., Ltd.

The report analyzes these key players in the global antimicrobial packaging market. These players have adopted various strategies such business expansion, and acquisition and others to increase their market penetration and strengthen their position in the industry. The report is helpful in determining the business performance, operating segments, developments, and product portfolios of every market player.

Trending Reports in Antimicrobial Packaging Industry (Book Now with 10% Discount):



Anti-Corrosive Packaging Market is projected to reach $1223.6 million by 2031.

Global packaging design services market is projected to reach $31.9 billion by 2030.

Global packaging machinery market is projected to reach $69,218.0 million by 2030.

Aseptic packaging market is expected to reach $32,301.4 million by 2028.

Global passive temperature controlled packaging market is projected to reach $24.5 billion by 2031.



Packaging Testing Equipment Market - Global Opportunity Analysis and Industry Forecast, 2021-2031

Cosmetic and Perfume Glass Packaging Market: Global opportunity analysis and industry forecast, 2021-2031

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Allied Market Research (AMR) is a full-service market research and business-consulting wing of Allied Analytics LLP based in Portland, Oregon. Allied Market Research provides global enterprises as well as medium and small businesses with unmatched quality of "Market Research Reports" and "Business Intelligence Solutions." AMR has a targeted view to provide business insights and consulting to assist its clients to make strategic business decisions and achieve sustainable growth in their respective market domain.

We are in professional corporate relations with various companies and this helps us in digging out market data that helps us generate accurate research data tables and confirms utmost accuracy in our market forecasting. Allied Market Research CEO Pawan Kumar is instrumental in inspiring and encouraging everyone associated with the company to maintain high quality of data and help clients in every way possible to achieve success. Each and every data presented in the reports published by us is extracted through primary interviews with top officials from leading companies of domain concerned. Our secondary data procurement methodology includes deep online and offline research and discussion with knowledgeable professionals and analysts in the industry.

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SOURCE Allied Market Research
DUBLIN, March 3, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- The "Australia UPS Systems Market: Market Forecast By KVA Ratings, By Applications, By Regions And Competitive Landscape" report has been added to ResearchAndMarkets.com's offering.

Australia UPS Systems Market size is projected to grow at a CAGR of 5.3% during 2022-2028.

Australia UPS Systems Market report comprehensively covers the market by kVA rating, applications, phases, and regions. Australia UPS systems market report provides an unbiased and detailed analysis of the on-going trends, opportunities/high growth areas, market drivers which would help the stakeholders to devise and align their market strategies according to the current and future market dynamics.

Australia UPS Systems Market Synopsis

Australia UPS Systems market is anticipated to grow significantly on the back of rapidly growing commercial sector. Also, presence of major industrial projects such as New South Wales Housing Project, Sydney Metro and Western Sydney Airport would boost the demand for UPS systems market in the region.

However, the outbreak of COVID-19 pandemic led to a halt in the business operations, manufacturing activities and the stringent lockdown imposed in Australia decreased the overall output of the country. Additionally, the growth of the information technology sector along with construction of data centers and office spaces would drive the Australia UPS systems market growth in coming years.

Due to the outbreak of coronavirus in 2020, which impacted the supply chain disruptions and difficulties in sourcing products which halted construction activities in the commercial and hospitality sector resulted in decline for UPS market. However, the market revived soon on the back of increasing government support towards growth and strengthening of healthcare system as well as data centers.

Market by Phases

3 phase UPS systems dominated the market revenue share in 2021, owing to their wide applicability across several domains such as the industrial and BFSI sectors. The growing number of data centers and the expanding industrial sector are expected to fuel demand for three-phase UPS systems across the country, and the segment is expected to continue to lead the market in the coming years.

Market by Applications

The commercial segment is dominating in Australia UPS systems market share in terms of revenue on account of its high application in data centers, and IT sector.

Government efforts to strengthen the healthcare sector on account of pandemic also contributed to the rise in the application of UPS systems in the commercial sector. In the coming years, the commercial sector would continue to maintain a dominant position in the market on account of increasing investments in services such as BFSI, healthcare, communications & media services.

Key Highlights of the Report

Australia UPS Systems Market Outlook

Australia UPS Systems Market Overview

Australia UPS Systems Market Forecast

Historical Data and Forecast of Australia UPS Systems Market Revenues and Volume, for the Period 2018-2028F

Historical Data and Forecast of Australia UPS Systems Market Revenues and Volume, By kVA Rating, for the Period 2018-2028F

Historical Data and Forecast of Australia UPS Systems Market Revenues, By Phases, for the Period 2018-2028F

Historical Data and Forecast of Australia UPS Systems Market Revenues, By Applications, for the Period 2018-2028F

Historical Data and Forecast of Australia UPS Systems Market Revenues, By Regions, for the Period 2018-2028F

Australia UPS Systems Market Drivers and Restraints

Australia UPS Systems Market Trends

Porter's Five Forces Analysis

Market Opportunity Assessment

Australia UPS Systems Market Revenue Share, By Companies

Competitive Benchmarking

Company Profiles

Key Strategic Recommendations

Company Profiles

ABB Group

Cyberpower Systems Inc.

Delta Electronics (NZ) Ltd.

Eaton Corporation plc

Helios Power Solutions

Riello UPS Ltd.

Schneider Electric (NZ) Ltd.

Socomec Group

Legrand Group

Vertiv Holdings LLC

Market Scope and Segmentation

By kVA Rating

Below 1kVA

1.1-5kVA

5.1-20kVA

20.1-50kVA

50.1-200kVA

Above 200kVA

By Phase

1 - Phase

3 - Phase

By Applications

Residential

Industrial

Commercial

By Regions

Northern

Southern

Central

For more information about this report visit https://www.researchandmarkets.com/r/d6n9cf

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

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SOURCE Research and Markets
MONTREAL, March 3, 2023 /PRNewswire/ - BCE Inc. (TSX: BCE) (NYSE: BCE) today announced the filing of its 2022 annual report on Form 40-F with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

BCE's Form 40-F includes audited financial statements for the year ended December 31, 2022, and is available on BCE's website at BCE.ca in the Investors section and on the SEC's website at SEC.gov.

Holders of BCE securities may receive a printed copy of BCE's audited financial statements at no charge by contacting BCE Investor Relations by phone at 1-800-339-6353, by email at [email protected] or by mail at 1, carrefour Alexander-Graham-Bell, Building A, 8th Floor, Verdun, Quebec H3E 3B3.

About Bell

Bell is Canada's largest communications company, providing advanced broadband wireless, TV, Internet, media and business communication services throughout the country. Founded in Montreal in 1880, Bell is wholly owned by BCE Inc. To learn more, please visit Bell.ca or BCE.ca.

Through Bell for Better, we are investing to create a better today and a better tomorrow by supporting the social and economic prosperity of our communities with a commitment to the highest environmental, social and governance (ESG) standards. This includes the Bell Let's Talk initiative, which promotes Canadian mental health with national awareness and anti-stigma campaigns like Bell Let's Talk Day and significant Bell funding of community care and access, research and workplace leadership initiatives throughout the country. To learn more, please visit Bell.ca/LetsTalk.

Media inquiries:

Ellen Murphy

[email protected]

Investor inquiries:

Richard Bengian

[email protected]

SOURCE BCE Inc.
Benchmark Intends to Invest $20M and Hire up to 100 People to Support the New 64,000 Sq. Ft. Facility Focused on Semiconductor Industry Growth in the U.S.

TEMPE, Ariz., March 3, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Benchmark Electronics, Inc. (NYSE: BHE), a global provider of engineering, design, and manufacturing services, today celebrated the grand opening of its new Precision Technologies facility in Mesa, Arizona. The facility is designed to provide a number of key engineering and manufacturing solution services, most notably supporting the production of semiconductor capital equipment building blocks and solutions. Benchmark intends to invest roughly $20 million into capabilities and technology at the new facility, in addition to hiring 100 people to support this facility as the company ramps up with customers.

"Benchmark is a key solution partner to the capital equipment market worldwide and this new facility will enable us to support our customers in the U.S. and across the globe with next generation manufacturing and engineering solutions," said Jeff Benck, president and CEO, Benchmark. "The investments we're making to serve these customers will be critical to meeting the increasing demand for semiconductor capital equipment, especially with the growth in demand for semiconductors and new domestic fabs being built supported by the CHIPS Act incentives."

Benchmark celebrated the grand opening alongside Arizona Governor Katie Hobbs, Mesa Mayor John Giles, ACA President and CEO Sandra Watson, Benchmark customers, and Arizona dignitaries across the technology and economic development sectors who have been critical to Benchmark's expansion in Arizona.

"We are proud to celebrate the grand opening of Benchmark's new facility alongside the best and brightest technology leaders in Arizona," said Governor Katie Hobbs. "Since joining Arizona's thriving technology community, Benchmark has been an incredible partner, creating skilled jobs and advancing Arizona's innovation reputation. We look forward to seeing the great work done here at Benchmark Mesa to further enhance our growing semiconductor industry."

Benchmark is expanding its footprint in Arizona and bringing the new facility online today. The facility significantly expands the existing cleanroom capacity across its Precision Technologies group with additional opportunity for the vertical integration of key processes. These processes will include unique metal joining applications such as TIG welding and electron beam welding, precision cleaning and other chemical finishes. The expanded capacity will also bring new job opportunities in the region to support the growth of the industries Benchmark serves.

"Because of years of hard work and targeted investments at the local, state, and federal level, Arizona is well positioned to continue to lead our country in advanced manufacturing," Rep. Greg Stanton said. "There's no better example than Benchmark expanding their operations here in the East Valley. This new cutting-edge facility will help us take control of our semiconductor supply chains, protect our national security, and create good-paying jobs here at home."

"There is a significant amount of momentum for the semiconductor industry in Arizona and Mesa is a big part of that story," said Mesa Mayor John Giles. "The expanding footprint of Benchmark into Mesa further solidifies our city's role in helping to supply the Valley's growing semiconductor industry."

Benchmark retains one of the largest U.S. electronics manufacturing footprints, with major production facilities in California, Minnesota, Alabama, New Hampshire, and Arizona. In addition to its global headquarters in Tempe, the company now boasts three other manufacturing facilities in the valley including Phoenix, Tempe, and now Mesa. The company's manufacturing services, and global footprint are closely aligned to the semiconductor industry's geographic needs and facilitate the ability for customers to meet the rising demand. Benchmark's strategic investments in facilities, capabilities, and technologies also enhance engineering and manufacturing solutions close to the point of consumption for the U.S., European, and Asian markets.

"Today's exciting grand opening represents Benchmark's third since relocating its headquarters to Arizona in 2017," said Sandra Watson, President and CEO of the Arizona Commerce Authority. "With a global reputation for excellence, Benchmark Electronics' state-of-the-art operations will further enhance Mesa's vibrant technology industry and shows once again that Arizona is the nation's leading destination for advanced manufacturing."

To learn more about Benchmark's services and capabilities in semiconductor capital equipment, please visit the website at www.bench.com.

About Benchmark Electronics, Inc.

Benchmark provides comprehensive solutions across the entire product life cycle; leading through its innovative technology and engineering design services; leveraging its optimized global supply chain; and delivering world-class manufacturing services in the following industries: commercial aerospace, defense, advanced computing, next-generation telecommunications, medical, complex industrials, and semiconductor capital equipment. Benchmark's global operations include facilities in seven countries and its common shares trade on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol BHE.

SOURCE Benchmark Electronics, Inc.
Companies on the 2023 Inc. 5000 Regionals: Southeast list had an average growth rate of 673 percent.

FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla., March 3, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Inc. magazine today revealed that Blue Compass RV is No. 99 on its third annual Inc. 5000 Regionals: Southeast list, the most prestigious ranking of the fastest-growing Southeast private companies, based in Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, Puerto Rico, South Carolina, and Tennessee. Born of the annual Inc. 5000 franchise, this regional list represents a unique look at the most successful companies within the Southeast economy's most dynamic segmentits independent small businesses.

"We are honored to be recognized for our growth. Since Blue Compass RV was founded in 2018, we've been the fastest growing company in the RV industry. Today, we have over 100 full-service RV dealerships in 33 states," said Jon Ferrando, Founder, CEO and President of Blue Compass RV. "Thank you to our thousands of passionate associates for providing an exceptional sales, service and RV ownership experience for our customers."

The companies on this list show a remarkable rate of growth across all industries in the Southeast region. Between 2019 and 2021, these 199 private companies had an average growth rate of 673 percent and, in 2021 alone, they added 25,844 jobs and nearly $7 billion to the Southeast region's economy. Companies based in the Miami, Florida, Fairhope, Alabama and Covington, Louisiana areas had the highest growth rate overall.

Complete results of the Inc. 5000 Regionals: Southeast, including company profiles and an interactive database that can be sorted by industry, metro area, and other criteria, can be found at inc.com/southeast starting February 28, 2023.

"This year's Inc. 5000 Regional winners represent one of the most exceptional and exciting lists of America's off-the-charts growth companies. They're disrupters and job creators, and all delivered an outsize impact on the economy. Remember their names and follow their lead. These are the companies you'll be hearing about for years to come," said Scott Omelianuk, editor-in-chief of Inc. magazine.

To learn more about Blue Compass RV or Motor Home Specialist, please visit: https://bluecompassrv.com/ or https://mhsrv.com/

Blue Compass RV

Blue Compass RV is the fastest growing RV retail company in the United States with a mission to provide an exceptional sales, service and RV ownership experience for its customers. Blue Compass RV has over 100 RV stores in 33 states. Blue Compass RV is led by Jon Ferrando, Founder, Chief Executive Officer and President. Jon Ferrando was instrumental in building America's largest automotive retailer from start-up to over $20 billion in revenue. Blue Compass RV's leadership team has over 300 years of automotive and RV retail industry experience.

More about Inc. and the Inc. 5000 Regionals

Methodology

The 2023 Inc. 5000 Regionals are ranked according to percentage revenue growth when comparing 2019 and 2021. To qualify, companies must have been founded and generating revenue by March 31, 2019. They had to be U.S.-based, privately held, for-profit, and independentnot subsidiaries or divisions of other companiesas of December 31, 2021. (Since then, a number of companies on the list have gone public or been acquired.) The minimum revenue required for 2019 is $100,000; the minimum for 2021 is $1 million. As always, Inc. reserves the right to decline applicants for subjective reasons.

About Inc. Media

The world's most trusted business-media brand, Inc. offers entrepreneurs the knowledge, tools, connections, and community to build great companies. Its award-winning multiplatform content reaches more than 50 million people each month across a variety of channels including websites, newsletters, social media, podcasts, and print. Its prestigious Inc. 5000 list, produced every year since 1982, analyzes company data to recognize the fastest-growing privately held businesses in the United States. The global recognition that comes with inclusion in the 5000 gives the founders of the best businesses an opportunity to engage with an exclusive community of their peers and the credibility that helps them drive sales and recruit talent.

The associated Inc. 5000 Conference is part of a highly acclaimed portfolio of bespoke events produced by Inc. For more information, visit www.inc.com .

SOURCE Blue Compass RV
Marianne Harrison to Retire After Twenty Distinguished Years at Manulife and Five as President and CEO of John Hancock

TSX/NYSE/PSE: MFC SEHK: 945

BOSTON, March 3, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Today, John Hancock , a unit of Manulife (NYSE: MFC), announced that Marianne Harrison has decided to retire after twenty distinguished years with the company and that Brooks Tingle will become President and CEO of John Hancock, effective April 1st, 2023. Mr. Tingle will join Manulife's executive leadership team and report to Roy Gori, President and CEO of Manulife.

Ms. Harrison has led numerous leadership positions throughout her tenure, including as President and CEO of John Hancock since 2017. Before that, she served as President and CEO of Manulife's Canada division, President and General Manager of John Hancock's Long-Term Care business, and Manulife's Corporate Controller. She has been a constant champion for colleagues, a valued member of Manulife's executive leadership team, a strong DEI advocate, and successfully led John Hancock through the complexities of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Mr. Tingle currently serves as President and CEO of John Hancock Insurance and as the global leader of behavioral insurance for Manulife. Notably, he led John Hancock to embrace and implement the company's now market-leading position in behavioral insurance, which offers customers significant savings and rewards for living healthy. Prior to his current role, Mr. Tingle held various leadership roles across Marketing, Strategy, and Operations for John Hancock Insurance, building strong advanced analytics and overseeing new business, underwriting, claims, information technology, policy administration, customer service, and reinsurance administration.

Mr. Tingle serves on the boards of John Hancock's insurance companies, including John Hancock Life Insurance Company and John Hancock Life Insurance Company of New York. He is a member of the Board of The Partnership, Inc., LL Global, and the Tufts Nutrition Council for the Gerald J. and Dorothy R. Friedman School of Nutrition Science and Policy. He received an MBA from Boston University and a B.A. in Economics from the University of New Hampshire.

Roy Gori, President and CEO of Manulife said: "Marianne's strong passion for our people has been a hallmark of her tenure. Throughout her time leading John Hancock, she has helped transform the business with an unwavering focus on our customers, shareholders, and the communities in which we operate. I'm confident that she and Brooks will smoothly transition leadership of John Hancock, given their shared passion for our mission. Brooks is a highly respected leader in our industry who brings a deep passion for the work we do. Thanks to his creativity, Brooks has led the evolution of our approach to behavioral insurance and introduced innovations to our product line, like our recently announced collaboration with GRAIL. I'm excited to welcome him to the Executive Leadership Team, and on behalf of our entire organization, wish Marianne the best in retirement."

Ms. Harrison said: "It has been an honor working with my colleagues across Manulife over the last twenty years, and to have led John Hancock these past five years. I can't think of a better person than Brooks to lead John Hancock. He has a bold vision for our industry and an unsurpassed commitment to customers. I'm confident he will make John Hancock an even stronger organization poised for future success."

Mr. Tingle said: "It's a privilege to be John Hancock's next President and CEO and join Manulife's leadership team. I am grateful to have learned so much from Marianne and look forward to working with her on a seamless transition. As a life insurer, we have a unique opportunity and responsibility to help people live longer, healthier, better lives. Doing so means we can create shared value between our shareholders, customers, and society  all aligned to improved longevity and better health outcomes. This is a concept we believe in so fundamentally that it is now a cornerstone of how we do business, and one that we intend to help shape the future of our company and industry."

About John Hancock and Manulife

John Hancock is a unit of Manulife Financial Corporation, a leading international financial services provider that helps people make their decisions easier and lives better by providing financial advice, insurance, and wealth and asset management solutions. Manulife Financial Corporation trades as MFC on the TSX, NYSE, and PSE, and under 945 on the SEHK. Manulife can be found at manulife.com .

One of the largest life insurers in the United States, John Hancock supports more than ten million Americans with a broad range of financial products, including life insurance and annuities . John Hancock also supports US investors by bringing leading investment capabilities and retirement planning and administration expertise to individuals and institutions. Additional information about John Hancock may be found at johnhancock.com .

SOURCE John Hancock
Initial Planning Phase & FrameWork Mentor Recruitment Launching at CONEXPO/CON-AGG

RACINE, Wis., March 3, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- CASE Construction Equipment is teaming up with nonprofit Crew Collaborative to sponsor and help build from the ground-up an-all new career counseling and mentoring program for high school students interested in the construction industry trades: FrameWork.

CASE & Crew Collab to Build First-Ever Mentoring & Counseling Bridge Between High Schoolers & the Construction Industry Tweet this CASE Partners with Crew Collab to Build FrameWork, a First-Ever Nationwide Career Mentoring & Counseling Bridge Between High Schoolers and the Construction Industry

"At CASE, we are customer-led in all we do," says Terry Dolan, vice president, CASE Construction Equipment, North America. "It's no secret that our industry has faced labor shortage issues over the past several years, and we can't think of a better way to support our customers than to help identify enthusiastic students who will make incredible contributions to the construction industry."

Crew Collaborative will join CASE in their CONEXPO/CON-AGG booth (#W40800 in West Hall at Las Vegas Convention Center) to solicit stories of how mentors have changed the lives of those in the construction industry and what paths industry veterans would recommend to best begin a career in the trades. They will also gather names of those interested in potentially serving as mentors to interested high school students.

"A couple of months ago, FrameWork was merely an idea on a sheet of paper," says Kristina McMillan, Crew Collaborative Founder and Board Member. "When we brought the initial concept to CASE leadership and asked about their potential partnership on it, they replied 'We're all in.'"

Post CONEXPO/CON-AGG, Crew Collaborative will host an in-person retreat with CASE employees and other industry insiders to build out the program and begin beta testing. A full FrameWork program launch is slated for first quarter of 2024.

"Although CASE has 180 years of experience in the earthmoving business, we are making moves with the speed and agility of a startup," says Dolan. "Partnering with Crew Collaborative to bring the cutting-edge concept of FrameWork to life will have a true impact on the construction industry here in North America and beyond for years to come."

Those interested in potentially mentoring high schoolers about the construction industry can find more information and sign up for updates at https://crewcollab.org/framework/.

About CASE Construction Equipment

CASE Construction Equipment is a global full-line manufacturer of construction equipment that combines generations of manufacturing expertise with practical innovation. CASE is dedicated to improving productivity, simplifying operation and maintenance while achieving lower total cost of ownership for fleets around the world. The CASE dealer network sells and supports this world-class equipment, by offering customized aftermarket support packages, hundreds of attachments, genuine parts and fluids as well as industry-leading warranties and flexible financing. More than a manufacturer, CASE is committed to giving back by dedicating time, resources and equipment to building communities. This includes supporting disaster response, infrastructure investment, and non-profit organizations that provide housing and resources for those in need.

CASE Construction Equipment is a brand of CNH Industrial N.V., a World leader in Capital Goods listed on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE: CNHI) and on the Mercato Telematico Azionario of the Borsa Italiana (MI: CNHI). More information about CNH Industrial can be found online at http://www.cnhindustrial.com/.

About Crew Collaborative

Crew Collaborative is a 501(c)3 nonprofit with an eye towards shaking up workforce development practices within the construction, skilled trade and engineering spaces. The mission to "Empower Construction's Next Generation" speaks to the energy and passion being poured into gaining traction within schools and communities with a message of opportunity within industry. Membership is free and all operating funds are raised through partnerships with industry businesses.

Founded in 2020, Crew Collaborative was originally formed as a women in construction initiative. The founding team quickly agreed that they the problems facing our industry did not just apply to women and in order to have a true impact, they would need to focus on recruiting everyone into our industry.

Learn more about the Crew Collaborative Mission, Values and leadership team here: Crew | About Us - Crew Collaborative.

SOURCE CASE Construction Equipment
BEIJING, March 3, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- The relations between China and Europe undoubtedly are one of the most important in the world. China's top diplomat Wang Yi just wrapped up his trip to Europe, China and the EU are set to see frequent high-level mutual visits soon, which will send a strong signal of China-EU cooperation. Meanwhile, the European economy is set to narrowly avoid a recession, while China's changes of COVID policies pave the way for a solid recovery.

China-Europe ties: exploring new heights

What is the economic outlook of the two major economies and how should China and the EU work together to promote economic recovery? How can the China and EU renew the strategic partnership? In what areas should the two sides deepen cooperation and advance our shared interests? How would the EU balance its policies amid rising geopolitical tensions?

In this TV panel co-organized by CGTN Think Tank and the Schiller Institute, eminent former policymakers, economists, geopolitical strategists, law and trade experts, and other stakeholders, discuss China-Europe relations in a challenging time.

https://news.cgtn.com/news/2023-02-28/Live-China-Europe-ties-exploring-new-heights-1hNq6fpOcSs/index.html

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DDNp8PlrZ8Q

Video - https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/2015234/0302_video.mp4

SOURCE CGTN Think Tank
- First 100 Guests at March 8th Grand Opening Receive Free Chicken Salad for a Year -

ATLANTA, March 3, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Chicken Salad Chick , the nation's only fast casual chicken salad restaurant concept, announced today the grand opening of its second San Antonio, Texas, location. Owned by the same experienced franchising team that introduced the brand to San Antonio last month in Stone Oak, the newest Chicken Salad Chick is located at 9610 State Highway 151 Access Road, Suite 101 in Westover Hills. Chicken Salad Chick Westover Hills will celebrate its grand opening on Wednesday, March 8 by giving away free chicken salad for a year to the first 100 guests.

During grand opening week, guests can expect to experience the Southern hospitality that Chicken Salad Chick is known for with specials and giveaways that include:

Wednesday, March 8  Free Chicken Salad for a Year  The first 100 guests will receive one large Quick Chick of chicken salad per month for an entire year, with one of those lucky guests randomly selected to win one large Quick Chick of chicken salad per week.* Guests may arrive starting at 7am for grand opening day only.

  The first 100 guests will receive one large Quick Chick of chicken salad per month for an entire year, with one of those lucky guests randomly selected to win one large Quick Chick of chicken salad per week.* Guests may arrive starting at for grand opening day only. Thursday, March 9  The first 50 guests to purchase at least one large Quick Chick will receive a FREE Small Chick Cooler.**

 The first 50 guests to purchase at least one large Quick Chick will receive a FREE Small Chick Cooler.** Friday, March 10  The first 50 guests to purchase a Chick Trio will receive a FREE Chicken Salad Chick Tote Bag.**

 The first 50 guests to purchase a Chick Trio will receive a FREE Chicken Salad Chick Tote Bag.** Saturday, March 11  The first 50 guests to purchase two or more large Quick Chicks will receive a FREE Large Chick Cooler.**

Franchise industry veterans James Oberg, Jeff Rochelle and George Shaw of South Texas Chick are behind Chicken Salad Chick's San Antonio development. This Westover Hills location is the second of eight Chick restaurants the trio plans to bring to their hometown over the next several years. After owning multiple Freddy's over the last two decades, this group has a deep knowledge of and appreciation for serving their communities with genuine hospitality and quality food.

"As Chicken Salad Chick grows throughout Texas and further west, the brand never loses sight of its core values to spread joy and enrich the community. After just a few weeks of having our doors open in Stone Oak, we have already seen these values in action. We can't wait to introduce more of our San Antonio neighbors to our fresh ingredients and made-from-scratch daily flavors," said Jeff Rochelle, co-owner of Chicken Salad Chick in San Antonio.

As part of its focus on enriching the community, Chicken Salad Chick Westover Hills will be raising funds for The Children's Hospital of San Antonio Foundation, CHRISTUS Health during a Friends & Family pre-opening event.

Chicken Salad Chick Westover Hills will be open Monday  Saturday from 10 a.m.  8 p.m. For more information, visit www.chickensaladchick.com . Follow Chicken Salad Chick on Facebook , Twitter and Instagram for the latest news and trends.

*Guests should start arriving at 7 a.m. to get checked in. The first 100 guests will be assigned a number and a designated return time between 9:45 a.m. - 11:15 a.m. Upon return, guests will make a purchase of "The Chick" or anything of greater value and enter a code on the Chicken Salad Chick app to officially secure your spot. If you are late, or miss the return time, your spot will be awarded to the next in-line. Guests will receive their first free Large Quick Chick electronically to your App the Monday following Grand Opening Day.

**Must download the CSC App and be 16 years or older to purchase. Not valid with any other offers. Limit 1 reward per guest present.

For more information on giveaways and specials, visit https://www.facebook.com/ChickenSaladChickWestoverHillsTX .

About Chicken Salad Chick

Chicken Salad Chick serves full-flavored, Southern-style chicken salad made from scratch and served from the heart. With more than a dozen original chicken salad flavors as well as fresh side salads, gourmet soups, signature sandwiches and delicious desserts, Chicken Salad Chick's robust menu is a perfect fit for any guest. Founded in Auburn, Alabama by Stacy and Kevin Brown, in 2008, Chicken Salad Chick has grown to more than 225 restaurants in 17 states. Today, under the leadership of Scott Deviney and the Chicken Salad Chick team, the brand is continuing its rapid expansion with both franchise and company locations. Chicken Salad Chick has received numerous accolades including rankings in the 2022 Entrepreneur Franchise 500, Franchise Times' Fast & Serious for the second consecutive year, Fast Casual.com's top Movers and Shakers from 2018 to 2022, QSR's Best Franchise Deals in 2019, 2020 and 2022, and Franchise Business Review's Top Food Franchises in 2020. See www.chickensaladchick.com for additional information.

Contact:

Anna Lake

Fish Consulting

954-893-9150

[email protected]

SOURCE Chicken Salad Chick
Paulina Porizkova Stars in First 40th Anniversary Campaign, Debuting Today

FORT MYERS, Fla., March 3, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Forty and Fabulous. Fashion retailer Chico's is celebrating its 40th anniversary with a full year of surprises ahead. From their beginnings as a small gallery in Sanibel Island, Florida that celebrated originality and design, Chico's has evolved into a household name with a mission to prove that women can express their uniqueness through fashion regardless of age or their stage in life. And after four decades, over 500 boutiques and countless memories later, they're just getting started.

Paulina Porizkova stars in Chico's 40th Anniversary Limited Edition Collection Campaign

Four Fabulous Capsules

Today, marking this incredible milestone, Chico's unveiled the first of four Limited Edition 40th Anniversary Collection capsules. Known for their signature prints, each capsule will boast its own exclusive, limited-edition heritage print and a coinciding theme so customers will have the opportunity to collect all four prints throughout the year to cherish for years to come. All styles in these capsules feature the globally-inspired designs, quality, comfort and versatility that the brand has proudly created for the past four decades.

"We are looking forward to a year of celebrating this significant milestone with our customers. Their loyalty, support and intimate relationship with the brand is what continues to inspire us." - Chico's FAS SVP of Marketing, Leana Less

The Face of the Celebration

Alongside the first capsule from the 40th Anniversary Limited Edition Collection, Chico's unveiled the first 40th Anniversary Campaign starring iconic model, Paulina Porizkova. Porizkova recently published a series of intimate, compelling essays: No Filter that dives into the complexities of womanhood at every age. Shattering the notion of being defined by age, Paulina is the perfect reflection of the spirit of the Chico's brand.

"I just realized that women of a certain age become invisible in the world. And now my purpose is to shatter that notion. We should celebrate the second coming of age. Now it's our turn." says Porizkova

Capsule One: TRAVEL

The first capsule features 10 travel-friendly styles and coordinating accessories with a bold Ikat print sweeping the entire assortment. Inspired by a vintage Uzbekistan robe, the print was modernized and brought to life by Chico's in-house design team.

"I loved how dramatic the artwork was. To me, it represented the Chico's woman  she's bold, beautiful, and loves to be uniquely herself" says Chico's VP of Design, Melloney Birkett.

The collection introduces a new kimono silhouette, a vacation-ready maxi dress and fun details such as fringe bringing a fresh, modern flair to the brand's core aesthetic. New limited-edition items such as carry-on luggage, cosmetics bags, passport holders and luggage tags complement this travel-focused capsule and are ready for multi-destination travel with the versatility and functionality that Chico's is known for.

The first 40th Anniversary Limited Edition Collection is available online and in-stores to shop today, March 3, 2023. Prices range from $19.50 - $199.00.

ABOUT CHICO'S

ABOUT CHICO'S FAS, INC.

Chico's FAS is a Florida-based fashion company founded in 1983 on Sanibel Island, Fla. The Company reinvented the fashion retail experience by creating fashion communities anchored by service, which put the customer at the center of everything we do. As one of the leading fashion retailers in North America, Chico's FAS is a company of three unique brands - Chico's, White House Black Market and Soma - each thriving in their own white space, founded by women, led by women, providing solutions that millions of women say give them confidence and joy.

Our Company has a passion for fashion, and each day, we provide clothing, shoes and accessories, intimate apparel and expert styling in our brick-and-mortar boutiques, digital online boutiques and through StyleConnect, the Company's customized, branded, digital styling tool that enables customers to conveniently shop wherever, whenever, and however they prefer.

As of January 28, 2023, the Company operated 1,269 stores in the U.S. and sold merchandise through 58 international franchise locations in Mexico and 2 domestic franchise airport locations. The Company's merchandise is also available at www.chicos.com, www.chicosofftherack.com, www.whbm.com and www.soma.com. To learn more about Chico's FAS, please visit our corporate website at www.chicosfas.com. The information on our corporate website is not, and shall not be deemed to be, a part of this press release or incorporated into our federal securities law filings.

MEDIA CONTACT:

Alyssa Bleakley, SEQUEL

[email protected]

SOURCE Chicos FAS, Inc.
DUBLIN , March 3, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- The "China Social Commerce Market Intelligence and Future Growth Dynamics Databook - 50+ KPIs on Social Commerce Trends by End-Use Sectors, Operational KPIs, Retail Product Dynamics, and Consumer Demographics - Q1 2023 Update" report has been added to ResearchAndMarkets.com's offering.

Social commerce industry in China is expected to grow by 13.5% on annual basis to reach US$429,751.8 million in 2023.

The social commerce industry is expected to grow steadily over the forecast period, recording a CAGR of 9.6% during 2022-2028. The social commerce GMV in the country will increase from US$429751.8 million in 2023 to reach US$743312.8 million by 2028.

This report provides a detailed data centric analysis of social commerce industry, covering market opportunities and risks. With over 50+ KPIs at country level, this report provides a comprehensive understanding of social commerce market dynamics, market size and forecast, and market share statistics.

The research methodology is based on industry best practices. Its unbiased analysis leverages a proprietary analytics platform to offer a detailed view on emerging business and investment market opportunities.

Reasons to buy

In-depth Understanding of Social Commerce Market Dynamics: Understand market opportunities and key trends along with forecast (2019-2028).

Insights into Opportunity by end-use sectors - Get market dynamics by end-use sectors to assess emerging opportunity across various end-use sectors.

Develop Market Specific Strategies: Identify growth segments and target specific opportunities to formulate social commerce strategy; assess market specific key trends, drivers, and risks in the industry.

Scope

China Ecommerce Industry Market Size and Future Growth Dynamics by Key Performance Indicators, 2019-2028

China Social Commerce Industry Market Size and Future Growth Dynamics by Key Performance Indicators, 2019-2028

China Social Commerce Industry Market Size and Forecast by Retail Product Categories, 2019-2028

Clothing & Footwear

Beauty and Personal Care

Food & Grocery

Appliances and Electronics

Home Improvement

Travel

Hospitality

China Social Commerce Industry Market Size and Forecast by End Use Segment, 2019-2028

B2B

B2C

C2C

China Social Commerce Industry Market Size and Forecast by End Use Device, 2019-2028

Mobile

Desktop

China Social Commerce Industry Market Size and Forecast by Location, 2019-2028

Domestic

Cross Border

China Social Commerce Industry Market Size and Forecast by Location, 2019-2028

Tier-1 Cities

Tier-2 Cities

Tier-3 Cities

China Social Commerce Industry Market Size and Forecast by Payment Method, 2019-2028

Credit Card

Debit Card

Bank Transfer

Prepaid Card

Digital & Mobile Wallet

Other Digital Payment

Cash

China Social Commerce Industry Market Size and Forecast by Platforms

Video Commerce

Social Network-Led Commerce

Social Reselling

Group Buying

Product Review Platforms

China Social Commerce Industry Market Size and Forecast by Consumer Demographics & Behaviour,2022

By Age

By Income Level

By Gender

For more information about this report visit https://www.researchandmarkets.com/r/sjwozw

About ResearchAndMarkets.com

ResearchAndMarkets.com is the world's leading source for international market research reports and market data. We provide you with the latest data on international and regional markets, key industries, the top companies, new products and the latest trends.

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SOURCE Research and Markets
FRANKLIN, Tenn., March 3, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Community Healthcare Trust Incorporated (NYSE: CHCT) (the "Company") today announced with great sadness that Timothy G. Wallace, Chairman of the Board, Chief Executive Officer and President of the Company, passed away on March 3, 2023.

Alan Gardner, the Company's Lead Independent Director, commented, "Tim's guidance, leadership and business acumen will be greatly missed and his contributions to the growth of CHCT cannot be overstated. On behalf of the entire Company, I want to send our deepest condolences to the Wallace family."

The Board of Directors previously appointed David H. Dupuy, the Company's Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer, as Interim Chief Executive Officer, effective as of February 10, 2023. The Company will provide further information on succession once the Board of Directors has had an opportunity to determine the best path forward.

About Community Healthcare Trust Incorporated

Community Healthcare Trust Incorporated is a real estate investment trust that focuses on owning income-producing real estate properties associated primarily with the delivery of outpatient healthcare services in our target sub-markets throughout the United States.

Cautionary Note Regarding Forward-Looking Statements

In addition to the historical information contained within, the matters discussed in this press release may contain "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933, as amended, and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended, pursuant to the safe harbor provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Forward-looking statements are generally identifiable by use of forward-looking terminology such as "believes", "expects", "may", "will," "should", "seeks", "approximately", "intends", "plans", "estimates", "anticipates" or other similar words or expressions, including the negative thereof. Forward-looking statements are based on certain assumptions and can include future expectations, future plans and strategies, financial and operating projections or other forward-looking information. Such forward-looking statements reflect management's current beliefs and are based on information currently available to management. Because forward-looking statements relate to future events, they are subject to inherent uncertainties, risks and changes in circumstances that are difficult to predict and many of which are outside of the control of Community Healthcare Trust Incorporated (the "Company"). Thus, the Company's actual results and financial condition may differ materially from those indicated in such forward-looking statements. Some factors that might cause such a difference include the following: general volatility of the capital markets and the market price of the Company's common stock, changes in the Company's business strategy, availability, terms and deployment of capital, the Company's ability to refinance existing indebtedness at or prior to maturity on favorable terms, or at all, changes in the real estate industry in general, interest rates or the general economy, adverse developments related to the healthcare industry, changes in governmental regulations, the degree and nature of the Company's competition, the ability to consummate acquisitions under contract, catastrophic or extreme weather and other natural events and the physical effects of climate change, the occurrence of cyber incidents, effects on global and national markets as well as businesses resulting from increased inflation, rising interest rates, supply chain disruptions, labor conditions, the COVID-19 pandemic and/or the conflict between Russia and Ukraine, and the other factors described in the section entitled "Risk Factors" in the Company's Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2022, and the Company's other filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission from time to time. Readers are therefore cautioned not to place undue reliance on the forward-looking statements contained herein which speak only as of the date hereof. The Company intends these forward-looking statements to speak only as of the time of this press release and undertakes no obligation to update forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future developments, or otherwise, except as may be required by law.

CONTACT David H. Dupuy, 615-771-3052

SOURCE Community Healthcare Trust, Inc.
CHICAGO, March 3, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- The cryo-electron microscopy (cryo-EM) industry is expected to grow significantly in the coming years. This growth is due to the increasing use of cryo-EM in various fields, such as drug discovery, structural biology, and material science. Additionally, the development of new technologies, such as automated sample preparation, improved electron detectors, and better electron microscopes, are expected to further promote the growth of the cryo-EM industry. Furthermore, government funding and the increasing use of cryo-EM in the academic and industrial sectors are also likely to fuel the industry's growth in the near future.

Cryo-electron Microscopy Market in terms of revenue was estimated to be worth $1.1 billion in 2022 and is poised to reach $2.1 billion by 2028, growing at a CAGR of 11.6% from 2022 to 2028 according to a new report by MarketsandMarkets. The major factors driving the growth of this market includes increasing use of high-end instruments in life science, nanotechnology, material science, healthcare, and lucrative opportunities in emerging markets.

Download an Illustrative overview: https://www.marketsandmarkets.com/pdfdownloadNew.asp?id=217602093

Browse in-depth TOC on "Cryo-electron Microscopy Market"

130 - Tables

33 - Figures

187 - Pages

Cryo-electron Microscopy Market Scope:

Report Coverage Details Market Revenue in 2022 $1.1 billion Estimated Value by 2028 $2.1 billion Growth Rate Poised to grow at a CAGR of 11.6% Market Size Available for 20202028 Forecast Period 20222028 Forecast Units Value (USD Billion) Report Coverage Revenue Forecast, Competitive Landscape, Growth Factors, and Trends Segments Covered Product & Service, Technology, Voltage, Application, and Region Geographies Covered North America, Europe, Asia Pacific, Latin America, and Middle East and Africa Report Highlights Updated financial information / product portfolio of players Key Market Opportunities Growing opportunities in emerging markets Key Market Drivers Technological advancements in cryo-electron microscopes

Services segment to register significant growth rate over the forecast period of 2022-2028

Based on the product & service, the global cryo-electron microscopy market is segmented into instruments, software, and services. The services segment is anticipated to register the highest growth rate over the forecast period. Instruments segment accounted for the highest share of the cryo-electron microscopy market in 2021.

Single particle analysis segment accounted for the largest share of the cryo-electron microscopy market, by Technology in 2021.

Based on technology, the global cryo-electron microscopy market is segmented into electron crystallography, single particle analysis, cryo-electron tomography, and other technologies. Single particle analysis accounted for the largest share of the market in 2021, whereas cryo-electron tomography segment is expected to grow at the highest CAGR during the forecast period.

Factors such as the growing use of cryo-electron microscopy in cell biology, virology, and infectious disease research along with launch of high-end instruments by major players are driving the growth of the market for cryo-electron microscopy.

300 kV segment accounted for the largest share of the cryo-electron microscopy market, by voltage in 2021

Based on voltage, the global cryo-electron microscopy market is segmented into 300 kV, 200 kV, and 120 kV. 300 kV segment accounted for the largest share of the market in 2021. Factors such as rising healthcare expenditure and consistent increase in the installation of high-end instruments by different end users for 3-dimensional visualization of biological samples is driving the growth of this segment.

The Asia Pacific market to register the highest growth in the market during the forecast period

The Asia Pacific cryo-electron microscopy market is anticipated to register the highest growth over the forecast period of 2022 to 2028. Major players in the market are focusing on expanding their manufacturing capabilities in the APAC region. This region is consistently witnessing a rise in the installation of cryo-electron microscopes, offering a significant growth opportunity for the key players.

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Cryo-electron Microscopy Market Dynamics:

Drivers:

Technological advancements in cryo-electron microscopes Growing focus on nanotechnology Increasing use of cryo-electron microscopy in drug discovery Rising funding and grants for cryo-EM installations

Restraints:

High equipment costs

Opportunities:

Growing opportunities in emerging markets

Challenges:

Shortage of skilled professionals Ambiguous regulatory network

Key Market Players:

As of 2021, prominent players in the cryo-electron microscopy market are Thermo Fisher Scientific (US), Danaher (US), JEOL Ltd. (Japan), Intertek Group Plc (UK), and Charles River Laboratories (US).

Recent Developments

In 2022, Thermo Fisher Scientific (US) launched the Glacios 2 Cryo-Transmission Electron Microscope (Cryo-TEM). The product features high-resolution capabilities and helps in drug discovery research.

In 2022, Leica Microsystems (US), a subsidiary of Danaher launched a new Coral Cryo-electron workflow solution to support researchers with high-precision confocal 3D targeting

In 2021, JEOL Ltd. ( Japan ) launched CRYO ARM 300 II. It is a cold emission cryo-electron microscope. It aims to enable the observation of biological specimens under high resolution

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Cryo-electron Microscopy Market Advantages:

High-resolution imaging: Cryo-electron microscopy (cryo-EM) provides high-resolution imaging of biological structures down to the sub-nanometer level, making it an ideal tool for structural and functional studies of proteins and other macromolecules.

Fast data acquisition: Cryo-EM data can be collected much faster than traditional X-ray crystallography, allowing researchers to quickly and easily obtain structural information on their target molecules.

Non-destructive imaging: Cryo-EM is a non-destructive technique, meaning that the sample is not destroyed in the process of imaging. This makes it an ideal tool for studying fragile biological samples.

Low-cost imaging: Cryo-EM is much less expensive than X-ray crystallography, making it an attractive option for researchers with limited budgets.

Wide applications: Cryo-EM can be used to study a wide range of biological structures, from small proteins to large viruses, making it a versatile tool for researchers in many different fields.

Objectives of the Study:

To define, describe, and forecast cryo-electron microscopy market on the basis of product & service, technology, application, and region

To provide detailed information regarding the major factors influencing the growth potential of the global cryo-electron microscopy market (drivers, restraints, opportunities, challenges, and trends)

To analyze the micro markets with respect to individual growth trends, future prospects, and contributions to the global cryo-electron microscopy market.

To analyze key growth opportunities in the global cryo-electron microscopy market for key stakeholders and provide details of the competitive landscape for market leaders

To forecast the size of market segments and/or subsegments with respect to five major regions, namely, North America (US and Canada ), Europe ( Germany , France , the UK, Italy , Spain , and the RoE), Asia Pacific ( Japan , China , India , Australia , South Korea and the RoAPAC), Latin America , and the Middle East & Africa

(US and ), ( , , the UK, , , and the RoE), ( , , , , and the RoAPAC), , and the & To profile the key players in the cryo-electron microscopy market and comprehensively analyze their market shares and core competencies

To track and analyze the competitive developments undertaken in the global cryo-electron microscopy market, such as product launches; agreements; expansions; and mergers & acquisitions

Related Reports:

Microscopy Market - Global Forecasts to 2027

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APAC Spatial Genomics & Transcriptomics Market - Global Forecasts to 2027

Infrared Spectroscopy Market - Global Forecasts to 2025

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SOURCE MarketsandMarkets
QUZHOU, China, March 3, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- On February 20, 2023, DAS Solar announced its collaboration with Munich Re Green Tech Solutions Team (hereinafter, "Munich Re) and Willis insurance broker Power and New Energy Team on PV Module Warranty Insurance. DAS Solar 2023 PV module production sold regionally and internationally will be protected under the insurance by Munich Re and it's primary insurance partner.

Picture1

As the reinsurance market leader, Munich Re's policy acts as a strong backbone to DAS Solar PV module and enhances the credibility of the company. To match with international PV warranty requirements, Munich Re's PV Module Warranty Policy offers a 25-year warranty for single-glass modules and a 30-year warranty for dual-glass module. The product and performance warranty risks for the whole life cycle will be largely transferred to this insurance policy.

Kollsman Chan, Deputy Director of Munich Re, stressed that Munich Re cares about the manufacturers' quality, who actually avoided offering a policy to manufacturers of poor quality control thorough risk assessment and factory auditing. DAS Solar passed the assessment demonstrated their dedication to high quality products and adopting only trust-worthy technology. Kollsman wished that DAS Solar will achieve commercial success through the collaboration with Munich Re.

"As one of the earliest insurance brokers to establish a new energy department," said Lv Yuxiang, Director of Willis Insurance Brokers, "Willis mainly serves first-tier PV brands and is Munich Re's largest partners in China. In recent years, with the rapid development of the photovoltaic industry, DAS Solar has become a new top-tier brand in the photovoltaic industry in four years. I hope we can enhance DAS Solar's brand influence in the global market through this three-way cooperation.

Vincent Cao, Senior Vice President of DAS Solar said, "with Munich Re as a risk transfer partner for this year, DAS Solar can dedicate more resources to improve our products and services. Both DAS Solar regional and international clients will gain the insurance benefits brought by Munich Re." In the future, DAS Solar will continue to expanding footprint and developing more high-quality and high-efficiency PV products to support international clients.

Photo - https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/2014799/Picture1.jpg

SOURCE DAS Solar
DUBLIN, March 3, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- The "Denmark Social Commerce Market Intelligence and Future Growth Dynamics Databook - 50+ KPIs on Social Commerce Trends by End-Use Sectors, Operational KPIs, Retail Product Dynamics, and Consumer Demographics - Q1 2023 Update" report has been added to ResearchAndMarkets.com's offering.





Social commerce industry in Denmark is expected to grow by 27.4% on annual basis to reach US$1019.8 million in 2023.



The social commerce industry is expected to grow steadily over the forecast period, recording a CAGR of 17.7% during 2022-2028. The social commerce GMV in the country will increase from US$1019.8 million in 2023 to reach US$2712.6 million by 2028.



This report provides a detailed data centric analysis of social commerce industry, covering market opportunities and risks. With over 50+ KPIs at country level, this report provides a comprehensive understanding of social commerce market dynamics, market size and forecast, and market share statistics.



The research methodology is based on industry best practices. Its unbiased analysis leverages a proprietary analytics platform to offer a detailed view on emerging business and investment market opportunities.

Reasons to buy

In-depth Understanding of Social Commerce Market Dynamics: Understand market opportunities and key trends along with forecast (2019-2028).

Insights into Opportunity by end-use sectors - Get market dynamics by end-use sectors to assess emerging opportunity across various end-use sectors.

Develop Market Specific Strategies: Identify growth segments and target specific opportunities to formulate social commerce strategy; assess market specific key trends, drivers, and risks in the industry.

Scope



Denmark Ecommerce Industry Market Size and Future Growth Dynamics by Key Performance Indicators, 2019-2028

Denmark Social Commerce Industry Market Size and Future Growth Dynamics by Key Performance Indicators, 2019-2028

Denmark Social Commerce Industry Market Size and Forecast by Retail Product Categories, 2019-2028

Clothing & Footwear

Beauty and Personal Care

Food & Grocery

Appliances and Electronics

Home Improvement

Travel

Hospitality

Denmark Social Commerce Industry Market Size and Forecast by End Use Segment, 2019-2028

B2B

B2C

C2C

Denmark Social Commerce Industry Market Size and Forecast by End Use Device, 2019-2028

Mobile

Desktop

Denmark Social Commerce Industry Market Size and Forecast by Location, 2019-2028

Domestic

Cross Border

Denmark Social Commerce Industry Market Size and Forecast by Location, 2019-2028

Tier-1 Cities

Tier-2 Cities

Tier-3 Cities

Denmark Social Commerce Industry Market Size and Forecast by Payment Method, 2019-2028

Credit Card

Debit Card

Bank Transfer

Prepaid Card

Digital & Mobile Wallet

Other Digital Payment

Cash

Denmark Social Commerce Industry Market Size and Forecast by Platforms

Video Commerce

Social Network-Led Commerce

Social Reselling

Group Buying

Product Review Platforms

Denmark Social Commerce Industry Market Size and Forecast by Consumer Demographics & Behaviour,2022

By Age

By Income Level

By Gender

For more information about this report visit https://www.researchandmarkets.com/r/hyof10

About ResearchAndMarkets.com

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BEIJING, March 3, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- As China's important annual political gatherings, the National People's Congress (NPC) and Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC), known as the "Two Sessions," will convene on March 5 and March 4 respectively. The Two Sessions are of enormous importance in the country's political calendar, during which development targets will be determined for the year and beyond. The upcoming Two Sessions offer observers, especially foreign experts, a window into the idea and practice of whole-process people's democracy, its openness to embrace international talent, as well their own expectations on this year's meetings. On the eve of the Two Sessions opening, Science and Technology Daily had the opportunity to interview three foreign experts who shared their thoughts on China's Two Sessions. As part of our commitment to providing diverse perspectives, each of them brought unique and valuable insights into China's development and its role in global growth. We hope that this series of unique viewpoints will offer our readers a deeper understanding of China and the issues that matter to those who live and work in the country.

Gaining Useful Knowledge from China's Development

Having been committed to strengthening exchanges and cooperation between China and Azerbaijan through language and culture teaching in both countries for many years, Dr. Agshin Aliyev, an Azerbaijani sinologist, has gained an insightful perspective on China's rapid development at all levels.

He hails China as a country that assumes greater responsibility for enhancing regional connectivity and embracing a brighter future, especially with the launch of Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) in 2013.

Azerbaijan is one of the first countries to join the BRI and is now an indispensable link in the Initiative.

"China and Azerbaijan have a very long history of cultural exchanges dating back to the establishment of the Silk Road. Now the cooperation between the two countries has been deepened since the BRI," said Aliyev, adding that not only economic and trade cooperation, but also educational and cultural exchanges between the two countries are improved in leaps and bounds, and tangible benefits have been brought to their people.

Commenting on the upcoming Two Sessions, Aliyev emphasized their importance not only for the Chinese people, but also for the world. "The great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation is the expectation of ordinary people. The Chinese government is made up of experienced politicians and administrators who understand the feelings of the people and work for the benefit of the people," he said.

As China remains committed to its reform and opening-up policy, more fruitful results will be achieved in the future. The whole world will gain useful knowledge as China continues to share its experience in lifting millions of people out of poverty and mitigating climate change, said Aliyev.

Aliyev is a founder and head of the Department of Azerbaijani Language at Beijing Foreign Studies University (BFSU) and a visiting scholar at the Chinese Culture Research Center of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences. He is also the founder and director of the China Research Center at Khazar University.

Global Significance of Two Sessions

Professor Goh Hui Hwang has followed China's Two Sessions for a number of years. As a Malaysian scientist living and working in China, Goh is fully aware of the significance of these meetings and their impact on China's and the world's future.

Goh explained that the Two Sessions, which are held in March each year, address significant concerns in various aspects of China, and the outcomes receive extensive attention both domestically and internationally. He believes that the purpose of the Two Sessions is to convey the suggestions and opinions of the Chinese people to the government, so that the party and government can truly comprehend the desires and ideas of the people and protect their tangible interests.

As an educator currently working at Guangxi University (GXU), Goh is particularly concerned about China's significant steps in sci-tech innovation and talent cultivation. He hopes that the Two Sessions will address the way to expand funding for scientific research, which he sees as a key issue for foreign experts in China. He lauded the fact that China has intensified its efforts to promote international sci-tech collaborations and exchanges, and also established a variety of programs to support the brightest minds in an effort to become a global magnet for talent and innovation.

"Science has no borders," said Goh, adding that the Chinese government's efforts in fostering a healthy atmosphere for sci-tech innovation have attracted many scholars to China, including himself, to serve the sci-tech community. As a foreign expert, his perspectives showcased the importance of international exchanges and cooperation in addressing common issues and challenges.

Goh said the Two Sessions not only provide a platform for the government to listen to its people's desires and ideas, but also play a vital role in shaping the country's policies and decisions. He applauds the positive measures in China's opening-up to the world, especially in talent exchanges. "This is a significant issue closely related to foreign experts," he said.

China's Democracy: Institutional Guarantee of People's Power

Italian scholar Rocco Lacorte described his impression of China as "Democratic, promising and socialist." He currently serves as an associate professor at Nankai University (NKU).

Based on his observation, Lacorte considered China's whole-process people's democracy covers all sectors of society through electoral democracy, consultative democracy, and community-level democracy. He said that this whole-process people's democracy embodies the Communist Party of China's innovation in advancing China's democratic theories, systems and practices and guarantees the "principal position of the people."

According to Lacorte, the NPC is different from the legislative systems in many Western countries. It is designed to provide "an institutional guarantee" for the people to wield power that they have gained after the revolution and developed through the years, creating a stable and vital balance system of political decision-making. As the Two Sessions approach, Lacorte expects that the focus will be on addressing key issues related to social and economic development, as well as environmental problems. He said that China is already ahead of the West in terms of green policies.

On China's policies in promoting international cooperation, Lacorte applauded China's contribution to common development via global initiatives such as Belt and Road Initiative. "It is essential to recognize that true development and security cannot be achieved by a single country alone, but require joint efforts of many countries," he said, adding that, "Development and security are only true if they are true for all."

SOURCE Science and Technology Daily
CHICAGO, March 3, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- The directed energy weapon market is projected to grow from USD 5.3 Billion in 2022 to USD 12.9 Billion by 2027, at a CAGR of 19.6% from 2022 to 2027 according to a new report by MarketsandMarkets. The market growth can be attributed to the rising modernization and investments in military platforms and increasing demand for modern warfare solutions to boost nation security and defense capabilities.

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The Research Development Test and Evaluation (RDT&E) program for the development and weaponization of directed energy systems is attracting huge investments for homeland security and defense applications. The program is also responsible for developing defensive and offensive-directed energy technologies, which are required to characterize and exploit vulnerabilities and protect against threats or attacks.

High-powered microwave lasers can destroy targets directly or indirectly and target personnel or equipment not visible due to climatic conditions. High-powered microwave lasers use electromagnetic waves that can be carried on multiple platforms. They can either be built-in in cruise missiles, warheads, and unmanned airplanes or installed on a fixed platform. DEWs are used to either destroy, damage, or disable precise targets and, depending on this, can be high-powered or low-powered.

Based on product, the lethal weapons segment to witness higher growth during forecast period

Based on product, the directed energy weapon market has been segmented into lethal and non-lethal weapons. The lethal segment is projected to account for a largest share in 2021 and is projected to grow at the highest CAGR during the forecast period. Directed energy weapons can select a discrete target to transfer a beam or a field of electromagnetic energy, laser, radiofrequency, acoustic energy, and atomic energy particles, which causes disruption or damage to the target. Speed is the fundamental difference between directed energy weapons and conventional projectiles, as directed energy weapons operate at the speed of light rather than the subsonic or supersonic speeds of projectile weapons. Directed energy weapons offer significant advantages, such as the attack at the speed of light, precision, wider coverage, destroying multiple targets, and low operational cost.

Based on range, more than 1 km segment is projected to lead during forecast period

Based on the range, the directed energy weapon market has been subdivided into less than 1 km and more than 1 km. The lethality of a weapon depends on the concentrated power and the range of the target.

The range is important when it comes to the battlefield as it places an advantage in targeting enemies, and weapon systems like laser, plasma, and sonic achieved this technology in the direct weapon systems market. The long-range weapons are used in anti-UAV operations, defense against rockets, artillery, propelled grenades, missiles, and laser-guided ammunition with a range of 5-6 kilometers with 50-kW laser systems and 8-10 kilometers with 100 kW of laser power. The long-range operations include ballistic missile defense, space-based lasers, and anti-satellite applications with a power range of 1 MW to 20 MW and an operational range of thousands of kilometers.

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North America expected to register largest share in 2022

Based on geography, the directed energy weapon market is classified into North America, Europe, Asia Pacific, and the Rest of the World. North America contributed the largest share in directed energy weapon market in 2022. The growth of the directed energy weapons market in various regions is primarily driven by cross-border disputes and terrorist attacks in different parts of the world, along with advancements in technologies, such as high energy laser and high-power radio frequency technology, among others. High energy laser systems form an important part of directed energy systems technology. Apart from this, high-power microwave lasers are also developed to combat the threats posed by enemies worldwide.

The major players in the directed energy weapon market are Raytheon Technologies Corporation (US), Northrop Grumman Corporation (US), Lockheed Martin Corporation (US), Thales Group (France), and BAE Systems plc (UK).

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Browse Adjacent Market: Aerospace and Defence Market Research Reports &Consulting

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About MarketsandMarkets

MarketsandMarkets is a blue ocean alternative in growth consulting and program management, leveraging a man-machine offering to drive supernormal growth for progressive organizations in the B2B space. We have the widest lens on emerging technologies, making us proficient in co-creating supernormal growth for clients.

The B2B economy is witnessing the emergence of $25 trillion of new revenue streams that are substituting existing revenue streams in this decade alone. We work with clients on growth programs, helping them monetize this $25 trillion opportunity through our service lines - TAM Expansion, Go-to-Market (GTM) Strategy to Execution, Market Share Gain, Account Enablement, and Thought Leadership Marketing.

Built on the 'GIVE Growth' principle, we work with several Forbes Global 2000 B2B companies - helping them stay relevant in a disruptive ecosystem. Our insights and strategies are molded by our industry experts, cutting-edge AI-powered Market Intelligence Cloud, and years of research. The KnowledgeStore (our Market Intelligence Cloud) integrates our research, facilitates an analysis of interconnections through a set of applications, helping clients look at the entire ecosystem and understand the revenue shifts happening in their industry.

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SOURCE MarketsandMarkets
WASHINGTON, March 3, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Today Eagle Academy Public Charter School celebrates two decades of educational excellence. On March 3, 2003, Eagle was granted the first early childhood educational charter in the District. At the time of its founding, there were no charter schools in the nation's capital serving the Pre-Kindergarten 3-year-old ("PK3") population. The school was also unique in its dedication to special education from the very beginning. Twenty years later, Eagle now operates two state-of-the-art campuses in the Congress Heights and Capitol Riverfront neighborhoods of Washington, D.C., serving young scholars of all colors and creeds across the city.

"I am incredibly proud to reach this milestone," said Eagle Co-Founder Dr. Joe Smith. "Many charter schools don't make it to ten years, let alone twenty. Making it this far is a testament to our incredible staff, students, and community. It also speaks to the immense passion my late Co-Founder Cassandra S. Pinkney and I put into this project over two decades ago  a fervor that ensured our life's work would live on beyond our own time on this planet."

As the school enters its third decade in operation, Eagle Academy continues to be a leader in both early and special education, offering unique features such as a "Dean of Positive Behavior," an on-site pool and swimming lessons for all students, as well as a sensory room to calm scholars in moments of crisis.

To mark this momentous milestone, Eagle Academy will honor its staff with a "Roaring Twenties" themed gala at Gallaudet University Kellogg Conference Hotel at the end of the month and release a documentary to the public later this year.

About Eagle Academy

Eagle Academy Public Charter School was founded by Cassandra S. Pinkney, Dr. Joe Smith, and a diverse group of education, business, and medical leaders in 2003. Eagle Academy was Washington, D.C.'s first charter school focused on early childhood education that also catered to children with special needs. Eagle operates two campuses in Washington, D.C.'s Congress Heights and Capitol Riverfront neighborhoods. The school is celebrating its 20th anniversary in 2023.

MEDIA CONTACT

Taylor C. Pearson

[email protected]

202-235-3482

SOURCE Eagle Academy Public Charter School
The IFA Recognized Notable Franchisees from the Authority Brands Portfolio

COLUMBIA, Md., March 3, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Authority Brands , a premier home service portfolio, announced today that multiple brands within their system were honored as part of the International Franchise Association's (IFA) Franchisees of the Year. The annual IFA awards recognize dozens of franchise owners and operators across the country who exemplify excellence in community, workforce, diversity, and veteran affairs.

"Our franchisees recognized by this prestigious industry award have exemplified tremendous entrepreneurial skills in their respective brands. They continue to showcase the drive for growth while offering top-of-the-line customer service. We're proud to help amplify their contributions to the teams and communities they serve," said Heather McLeod, Chief Growth Officer at Authority Brands. "Seeing valued members of our Authority Brands portfolio being honored by the IFA is a testament to our system. We are excited to see what is next for each of them as they continue to evolve alongside our brand."

As part of the IFA Franchisee of the Year Awards, honored Authority Brands' franchisees include:

America's Swimming Pool: Miguel Macias operating in Reno, Nevada

operating in Benjamin Franklin Plumbing: Lenny Siers operating in Niceville, Florida

operating in The Cleaning Authority: Chris and Jen Lanagan operating in Cedarburg , Madison , and Kenosha, Wisconsin

operating in , , and Homewatch CareGivers: Bindu Agarwal operating in Lower Bucks County and Elkins Park, Pennsylvania

operating in Lower Bucks County and Mister Sparky: Aaron Hagan operating in Tulsa, Oklahoma

operating in Monster Tree Service: Don Elliott operating in Knoxville, Tennessee

operating in Mosquito Squad: Tom and Maryellen Heinemann operating in North New Jersey

operating in One Hour Heating & Air Conditioning: Richie Drew operating in Myrtle Beach , South Carolina

The Franchisee of the Year Award, sponsored by IFA's partner Paychex, recognizes leading franchise owners from IFA member brands whose outstanding performance and contributions help protect, enhance, and promote the franchise business model. Nominated by their parent company, individuals are selected for their service to their communities, fostering a strong and vibrant workforce, opening the doors for career growth and entrepreneurship, and supporting their fellow franchisees.

"Franchisee of the Year recipients represent the best in franchising," said Matthew Haller, president and CEO of the International Franchise Association. "This is the highest honor IFA awards to individual franchisees, and local business owners like these Authority Brands' franchisees exemplify the power of franchising and its positive contributions to communities around the world."

To learn more about franchise development opportunities within the Authority Brands portfolio, please visit: https://www.authoritybrands.com/franchising/ .

About Authority Brands

Headquartered in Columbia, Maryland, Authority Brands' companies include 15 leading home service franchise brands: America's Swimming Pool Company, Benjamin Franklin Plumbing, The Cleaning Authority, Color World Painting, DoodyCalls, DRYmedic Restoration Services, Homewatch CareGivers, The Junkluggers, Mister Sparky, Monster Tree Service, Mosquito Squad, One Hour Heating & Air Conditioning, Screenmobile, STOP Restoration, and Woofie's. Together, these brands provide home services through more than 2,000 territories operated by more than 1,000 franchise owners. Authority Brands is dedicated to supporting individual franchise owner growth by providing strong marketing, technology, and operational support. See fran for more information.

About the International Franchise Association:

Celebrating over 60 years of excellence, education, and advocacy, the International Franchise Association (IFA) is the world's oldest and largest organization representing franchising worldwide. IFA works through its government relations and public policy, media relations, and educational programs to protect, enhance and promote franchising and the approximately 790,492 franchise establishments that support nearly 8.4 million direct jobs, $825.4 billion of economic output for the U.S. economy, and almost 3 percent of the Gross Domestic Product (GDP). IFA members include franchise companies in over 300 different business format categories, individual franchisees, and companies that support the industry in marketing, law, technology, and business development.

Contact:

Sarah Guffey

Fish Consulting

954-893-9150

[email protected]

SOURCE Authority Brands, LLC
WUHU, China, March 2, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Jetour Auto welcomed Vikram Channa, Warner Bros. Discovery's Vice President and Head of Content & Products for Greater China and Southeast Asia, to the SUV brand's second Travel+ Conference in the Chinese resort city of Guiyang in southwestern Guizhou province on March 1st, 2023. The renowned industry figure was on hand to deliver a keynote speech at the event.

As China's fastest-growing up-and-coming SUV brand, Jetour has set its sights on the "Travel+" segment, exporting its vehicles to more than 30 countries and regions across the Middle East, Africa, Central and South America, and Asia Pacific. The company's models have gained the adoration of more than 660,000 motorists worldwide and over 23 million fans. During Jetour's development, the company has always upheld the concept of "Travel+", instilling in its user a fearless attitude toward the rugged road ahead, just like its SUVs.

Discovery Channel remains a flagship channel under Warner Bros. Discovery, delivering glimpses of the wonders, diversity, and excitement that the world has to offer in more than 220 countries and regions globally. Discovery has consistently promoted the exploration of the unknown and breaking boundaries when it comes to travel, encouraging its viewers to embrace the wonder found all around the world. This purview aligns well with Jetour's brand spirit and development.

In 2023, Jetour Auto will join hands with Discovery Channel to embark on a journey of exploration, jointly pursuing the wonders of civilization and nature, presenting the beauty of the world's polar regions by making a documentary film. The pair will also work on broadcasting in Latin America, Southeast Asia, Africa, and the Middle East, bringing the magnificence of nature and the charm of Jetour Auto to a broader audience.

The cooperation agreement will further strengthen Jetour's "Travel+" concept, providing this aspect of the company's DNA with even stronger impetus. The global influence of the Discovery Channel will bring even stronger awareness to the Jetour brand and help with its internationalization. Let's go out and see the world together with Jetour and Discovery Channel!

SOURCE Jetour
Sold out by Rupert Murdoch, scorned by DeSantis, and spurned by Putin, Trump's bad week has a silver lining!

BRONX, N.Y., March 3, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- #BadSeedBook announced today that TRUMP'S WET KISS, a limited edition of 100 NFTs, has been added to its exclusive collection of 100,000 Non-Fungible-Trump satirical trading cards. The exclusive Non-Fungible-Trump satirizes Donald Trump's close relationship with Vladimir Putin with a moment of intimacy.

If the sum of the unique ID#'s of your Non-Fungible-Trump purchases equals 11,780 you'll get TRUMP'S WET KISS NFT free. Tweet this Trump smooching with a terrorist

"In the span of a week Rupert Murdoch admitted under oath that Fox and its star anchors had marketed Trump's voter fraud claims, knowing that they were baseless," explained Adam Kidron, the writer/producer of #Badseedbook. "And we now know, thanks to a lose-lipped jury foreman, that Trump is likely to be indicted for his slapstick attempt to 'find 11,780' votes in Georgia and overturn the result of the 2020 Presidential election. So, we added TRUMP'S WET KISS to the Bad Seed Book collection of 100,000 Non-Fungible-Trumps to remind people that democracy is fragile in a narcissists hands."

To get the limited-edition TRUMP'S WET KISS NFT, valued at $1000 USD, simply purchase two Non-Fungible-Trumps from the original collections. If the sum of their unique ID#'s equals 11,780, you will be airdropped the NFT absolutely free.

The Bad Seed Book collection has 100,000 Non-Fungible-Trumps for sale, each one derived from 10 classic illustrations by Catalan Artist Ivan Cuadros, the illustrator for the #Badseedbook, a legendary online satire of the Trump administration. The book is being prepared for publication as an illustrated novel, aiming to release on Trump's birthday, June 14, 2023. Popular illustrations from the series include, Trump Baby, Trump (statue of) Liberty, Trump Dictator, Trump Godzilla and Trump Slapped (by Stormy Daniels).

The entire #BadSeedBook 100k collection can be securely purchased on Upstream, the revolutionary trading app for digital securities and NFTs powered by Horizon Fintex ("Horizon") and MERJ Exchange Limited ("MERJ").

For more information about the collection, visit www.badseedbook.com

ABOUT THE BAD SEED BOOK

The Bad Seed Book is an illustrated online satire of the Trump Administration, for which we have commissioned and produced an extensive collection of 1,500 original images, GIFs, and animated movie shorts that we share across our social platforms. The book was originally published online as 40-chapter story, and is now currently being prepared for publication as an illustrated novel on Trump's birthday, June 14, 2023.

In the book, Elia Degas, a bold but disillusioned lawyer from the Bronx is searching for a distraction from a career going nowhere and a stack of bills he can't afford to pay. His life turned upside down when Monica Rivera, a dangerously addictive journalist san provocateur, tells Degas a story big enough to rock the world --- that he is the stepbrother of James Alexander Hunt. Hunt's unlikely victory in the 2016 Presidential Election had opened the floodgates of bigotry and infected America.

Prior to the election, Hunt, a master manipulator of public opinion, had been bought and sold himself, by many powerful men including Russian President and dictator, Vladimir Putin, who is blackmailing him.

When Degas discovers that Hunt had disinherited him through fraud, he vows to bring him down no matter the consequence, no matter the cost, and together, Degas and Monica take on Hunt, the powers that be and the conspiracy that we were never supposed to see.

BORN OF EXTREME VIOLENCE. ROBBED OF HIS BIRTHRIGHT. DEGAS IS THE BASTARD THAT GOING TO TAKE THE PRESIDENT DOWN AND SAVE US FROM OURSELVES

About Adam Kidron

As a record producer, Adam was responsible for many seminal records and soundtracks. As a TV producer, Adam was responsible for innovative series such as CATWALK (the cult show that broke out Neve Campbell). As an entrepreneur, Adam founded UBO.com, which foretold YouTube, recorded the Star-Spangled Banner in Spanish (which trod on the sensitive toes of President George W. Bush), brought iPad and unlimited personalization to (almost) fast food at 4food, and democratized the business of music at Yonder Music. Adam is currently building global, mobile platforms for connected (on and offline) experiences at Yonder Media Mobile.

Adam Plus Company is a pop-up investment firm Adam founded to instigate and incubate transformative ideas and organize them into ventures, with The Bad Seed Book, being one of such ventures. For a peek at the others visit: www.adamplusco.com

SOURCE Bad Seed Book
Neuromuscular Clinic Will Provide Dedicated Services, Eliminating Barriers Facing Hundreds of Patients Living with Rare, Fatal Genetic Disease

DENTON, Texas, March 3, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- CureDuchenne , a global nonprofit committed to finding and funding a cure for Duchenne muscular dystrophy, today announced the opening of The CureDuchenne Clinic , providing dedicated care and services to underserved and uninsured individuals with Duchenne and Becker muscular dystrophy. Located at the Neurology & Neuromuscular Care Center in Denton, Texas, the clinic will remove significant barriers of access for patients requiring highly specialized care, filling a gap in existing care for patients with the fatal neuromuscular disease.

The goal of the CureDuchenne Clinic is to provide high quality care for patients living with Duchenne or Becker muscular dystrophy from childhood through adulthood and to never deny care due to lack of insurance. Duchenne muscular dystrophy is a progressive, muscle-wasting disease in children, affecting 15,000 individuals in the United States. Usually, patients are diagnosed before age 5 and require lifelong care.

While there is not yet a cure for Duchenne, comprehensive care from an experienced, multidisciplinary healthcare team is essential to manage the unique needs of an individual living with the disease. Because of the complexity of the disease, patients and caregivers traditionally must navigate significant hurdles to obtain quality care. Insurance coverage, or lack thereof, is one of the most significant limiting factors for patients to access care. Texas has the highest percentage of uninsured residents in the nation, with Dallas being the second least-insured large city in the country. Large racial disparities also exist in insurance rates with Hispanic individuals being uninsured at a rate of nearly 38 percent , nearly double the state average.

"Imagine getting a devastating diagnosis like Duchenne muscular dystrophy, and then wondering how you will access the highly specialized, and often very costly, care that is required for your child," said CureDuchenne Founder and CEO Debra Miller. "We must eliminate these barriers to care and improve the lives of everyone affected by Duchenne, while also offering hope for families as we strive for a cure. We're honored to partner with Dr. Castro and the team at the Neurology & Neuromuscular Care Center to ensure that high quality care is available to those who need it most."

The CureDuchenne Clinic at the Neurology & Neuromuscular Care Center, led by Dr. Diana Castro, will provide neurology, cardiology, pulmonology, nutrition, physical therapy, durable medical equipment, diagnostics, and chest radiography for both pediatric and adult Duchenne and Becker muscular dystrophy patients. The clinic will provide care and resources in both Spanish and English, for insured and uninsured patients. Dr. Castro sees great need for such services in the Dallas area, estimating that 30 percent of the families she sees are uninsured and 45 percent are on Medicaid, which is not accepted at all care centers but will be accepted at the CureDuchenne Clinic. CureDuchenne has granted $900,000 over three years to support the clinic's Duchenne and Becker operations.

"Our ultimate goal is to help patients to the best of our ability, and we do that by offering specialized and inclusive care for all patients, especially the most vulnerable and underserved populations," Dr. Diana Castro said. "The CureDuchenne Clinic will bring compassionate care to everyone with Duchenne and Becker and would not be possible without CureDuchenne, who is not only focused on accelerating a cure, but also improving the health and wellbeing of patients living with Duchenne."

Neurology and Neuromuscular Care Center (NNCC) is a nonprofit private practice clinic started by Dr. Diana Castro to provide care to all patients, including the underserved population, with neuromuscular conditions. Dr. Castro, a board-certified neurologist and neuromuscular physician, is a pioneer in research and management of patients with spinal muscular atrophy (SMA), Duchenne muscular dystrophy (DMD), myasthenia gravis, and acquired neuropathies. Since completing training in pediatric neuromuscular medicine, Dr. Castro has conducted multiple clinical research trials in SMA, DMD, and Charcot-Marie-Tooth (CMT) disease, among other conditions. After more than ten years, Dr. Castro left academia with the objective of creating a nonprofit private practice and research institute for neuromuscular conditions.

CureDuchenne was founded by Debra and Paul Miller in 2003 after their son was diagnosed with Duchenne muscular dystrophy. The organization combines fundraising and venture philanthropy, leveraging donor dollars to maximize support for promising research into transformative treatments for those living with Duchenne. CureDuchenne also provides resources and guidance for families affected by the fatal genetic neuromuscular disorder, which affects more than 300,000 individuals worldwide, and delivers the education and programs needed to support Duchenne patients and their families, caregivers, and healthcare providers. To date, the organization has funded 17 research projects that have advanced to human clinical trials and invested $25 million in research projects.

About CureDuchenne

Twenty years ago, CureDuchenne was created with one goal: to find and fund a cure for Duchenne muscular dystrophy, the leading genetic killer of young boys. Today, CureDuchenne is recognized as a global leader in research, patient care, and innovation for improving and extending the lives of those with Duchenne. CureDuchenne's innovative venture philanthropy model has advanced transformative treatments for Duchenne muscular dystrophy, including 17 projects that advanced to human clinical trials and multiple projects to overcome the limitations of exon-skipping and gene therapy. In addition, CureDuchenne contributed early funding to the first FDA-approved Duchenne drug, pioneered the first and only Duchenne physical and occupational therapist certification program and created an innovative biobank and data registry, accelerating research toward a cure. For more information on how to help raise awareness and funds needed for research, please visit cureduchenne.org .

SOURCE CureDuchenne
VANCOUVER, BC, March 3, 2023 /PRNewswire/ - Forte Minerals Corp. ("Forte" or the "Company") (CSE: CUAU) (OTQB: FOMNF) (Frankfurt: 2OA) has finalized a property transfer agreement with Compania Minera Ares SAC, ("Ares") to acquire 300 ha contiguous with the existing concessions to protect the northern extension of the Esperanza porphyry system in that direction. The property was transferred to Forte Minerals' subsidiary Amaru Resources SAC, ("Amaru") with Ares retaining a 0.5% NSR royalty, subject to a buyback by Amaru for US$500,000. In conjunction, Forte, through Amaru, has staked an additional claim block of 1000 ha in the adjacent area to the northeast and contiguous with the main property to protect the possible northeastern extension of the porphyry system undercover. For the first time in a decade, Forte now controls the entire porphyry alteration area at the Esperanza project ("Esperanza") which encompasses 4000 ha.

Figure 1 - Esperanza Rock Geochemistry and Concession Map (CNW Group/Forte Minerals Corp.) Figure 2 - Esperanza Geochemistry and Alteration Map (CNW Group/Forte Minerals Corp.)

President and CEO Patrick Elliott comments, "it has taken a while since the initial negotiations began with Ares, but perseverance has paid off. We are delighted to finalize a deal on this critical ground at Esperanza. In the end, our team was successful in closing a deal that was beneficial to both parties. The recent political conditions and the post-Covid situation in Peru have created a wealth of opportunity regarding acquisitions, negotiations, and re-negotiations that the Company embraces."

Amaru successfully completed the social and environmental studies for the drilling application at Esperanza which was submitted to the Peruvian Mining Ministry (MINEM) in late 2022. Approval for drilling is expected by end of Q2 2023.

The next exploration step at Esperanza is to deploy a magnetotellurics (MT) ground geophysical survey consisting of 68 stations of which 40 stations are separated by 250m over the core of the system and 28 stations are separated by 500m on the periphery. The objective of this survey is to explore for deeper conductive targets associated with porphyry hydrothermal alteration and secondary Cu enrichment below the Miocene post-mineral volcanic cover. The MT results will be integrated with the results from previous geological and geophysical evaluations to help guide the exploration drilling for a partially buried, well preserved porphyry Cu-Mo system.

Exploration Manager Manuel Montoya comments, "the Esperanza Cu-Mo Project is an exceptional undrilled Paleocene aged porphyry system in the Southern Peru Copper Belt that exhibits all the alteration and mineralization signatures and scale of a robust and preserved porphyry copper system comparable to those seen at Cerro Verde, Quellaveco and Cuajone. We are very excited to drill this project and look forward to deploying a sizable phase 1 drill program to properly test this unexplored porphyry Cu-Mo system."

About Esperanza

Esperanza is a 100% owned 4000 ha porphyry Cu-Mo project located in the northern extension of the Southern Peru Copper belt. The Paleocene magmatic arc is well endowed with some of the worlds largest copper deposits. Existing porphyry Cu mines, coupled with recent discoveries, make this a highly prospective region of Peru for Cu exploration, discovery, and future mine development.

Esperanza consists of a large, porphyry Cu-Mo system measuring 4.2 x 3.1 km in area and partially buried under Miocene post-mineral volcanic cover. The center of the porphyry system consists of a 2.8 x 1.7 km potassic alteration zone that is poorly exposed and inferred from the interpretation of existing geological, geochemical, and geophysical data. Geological mapping and sampling along the edge of the post-mineral cover outline Cu-bearing vein patterns typical of the potassic alteration. Exposures of debris from an eroded phyllic altered jarositic leached capping zone mapped at the base of the post-mineral cover also suggests the potential for supergene enrichment associated with this buried potassic altered porphyry center. This in conjunction with the geophysical data supports the presence of a large, mineralized porphyry complex buried beneath post-mineral volcanic cover which is highly prospective for supergene-enriched and hypogene (sulphide) mineralization which remains untested by drilling.

QUALIFIED PERSON AND NI 43-101 DISCLOSURE

Richard Osmond, P.Geo., is the Company's Qualified Person as defined by National Instrument 43-101 and has reviewed and approved the technical information contained in this news release.

PDAC 2023

Forte Minerals is pleased to announce that the Company will attend the Prospectors and Developers Association of Canada (PDAC) Conference in Toronto from March 5 - 8, 2023.

Forte Minerals will be exhibiting at the PDAC in Booth 2949.

This PDAC is a premier annual mineral exploration & mining convention and is the leading event for people, companies, and organizations connected to mineral exploration. It attracts up to 30,000 attendees from over 130 countries for its educational programming, networking events and outstanding business opportunities.

ABOUT FORTE MINERALS CORP

The Company is committed to maximizing shareholder value through acquiring, exploring, discovering, and developing copper and gold projects in Peru. Moving rapidly along the line of opportunity towards a value maxima is very attractive to investors. Significant value growth is generated when early-stage exploration moves towards resource definition while zoning in on target development and eliminating the early-stage grassroots risk. All three of Forte's properties offer this opportunity, with tremendous upside considering their geological potential.

On behalf of FORTE MINERALS CORP.

(signed) "Patrick Elliott"

Chief Executive Officer

Certain statements included in this press release constitute forward-looking information or statements (collectively, "forward-looking statements"), including those identified by the expressions "anticipate", "believe", "plan", "estimate", "expect", "intend", "may", "should" and similar expressions to the extent they relate to the Company or its management. The forward-looking statements are not historical facts but reflect current expectations regarding future results or events. This press release contains forward looking statements. These forward-looking statements are based on current expectations and various estimates, factors and assumptions and involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors.

Forward-looking statements are not a guarantee of future performance and involve risks, uncertainties and assumptions which are difficult to predict. Factors that could cause the actual results to differ materially from those in forward-looking statements include the continued availability of capital and financing, and general economic, market or business conditions, including the effects of COVID-19. Forward-looking statements contained in this press release are expressly qualified by this cautionary statement. These statements should not be read as guarantees of future performance or results. Such statements involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors that may cause actual results, performance or achievements to be materially different from those implied by such statements. Although such statements are based on management's reasonable assumptions, there can be no assurance that the statements will prove to be accurate or that management's expectations or estimates of future developments, circumstances or results will materialize. The Company assumes no responsibility to update or revise forward-looking information to reflect new events or circumstances unless required by law. Readers should not place undue reliance on the Company's forward-looking statements.

Neither the Canadian Securities Exchange (the "CSE") nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the CSE) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.

SOURCE Forte Minerals Corp.
TORONTO, March 3, 2023 /PRNewswire/ - SQI Diagnostics Inc. (TSX-V: SQD) (OTCQB: SQIDF), a leader in the science of lung health that develops and manufactures respiratory health and precision medicine tests, today announced it is developing three diagnostic products based on University Health Network (UHN) innovations and is exploring an initiative with Owlstone Medical and UHN on a fourth diagnostic product. The first three products include RALI-Dx IL-6 Severity Triage Test, TORdx LUNG, and RALI-fast IL-6 Severity Triage POC Test, as well as a preliminary study of Owlstone Medical's Breathe Biopsy platform.

"At UHN, we are proud to be the home for some of the most groundbreaking work in lung transplantation. We have been working with SQI Diagnostics for more than five years on a number of projects in respiratory health," said Dr. Brad Wouters, Executive Vice President, Science and Research, University Health Network. "Our collaboration with SQI is an example of industry partnerships that work effectively to help clinicians and surgeons improve the number and quality of lungs potentially available for transplant."

Here is what SQI is working on:

1. RALI-Dx Triage Test Clinical Evaluation

RALI-Dx has been approved under Health Canada's Interim Order for testing in COVID-19 positive patientsthe first interleukin-6 (IL-6) diagnostic test of its kind approved in Canada, and that success has led to translate into positive progress towards multiple projects now in development. UHN is currently conducting a research implementation study of RALI-Dx across an expanded patient population experiencing flu, RSV and other respiratory symptoms. A positive investigation could lead to eventual commercial adoption of RALI-Dx at hospitals.

"As the leading research commercialization hospital in Canada, the University Health Network frequently acts as an incubator for the development of medical technologies, which can include evaluating industry medical products for viability of future clinical use. Our ongoing partnership with SQI includes the investigation of RALI-Dx for wider use, "said Mark Taylor, Director, Commercialization at UHN. "We continue to work closely with them to further validate the impact of RALI-Dx in respiratory care."

2. TORdx LUNG Transplant Clinical Study

SQI is planning on entering into clinical study agreements with UHN and three US-based lung transplant centers. This work could lead to a US FDA regulatory submission that will enable TORdx LUNG use to aid in lung transplant decision making in the US market. The proposed TORdx LUNG clinical study is an important step in bringing to market SQI's TORdx LUNG Test, an advanced diagnostic that could increase the number of successful transplants. The test detects inflammation at the molecular level to help assess the quality of donor lungs. This study will elevate the status quo for inflammatory biomarkers to assess the quality of potential transplants.

"Our co-development partnership is intended to significantly increase the number of lung transplants performed, and thus positively impacts the many patients currently stuck on the transplant waiting list," said Dr. Shaf Keshavjee, MD, Chief of Innovation at UHN.

3) RALI-fast Clinical Evaluation

In North America, up to 40 per cent of ICU admissions are related to respiratory issues. A 15-minute bedside test that provides an inflammatory profile of the patient (i.e., IL-6 levels) would be a valuable monitoring tool for Intensivists and other healthcare providers. To address this need, SQI Diagnostics has developed RALI-fasta point-of-care device that rapidly analyzes IL-6 in patient plasma samples. In proof-of-concept work, UHN has evaluated a prototype of RALI-fast with encouraging results. Formal clinical studies are needed to enable the optimization of product performance and to support regulatory filings in US and Canada.

"RALI-fast is intended to help me more closely monitor the ICU patient inflammation status at the molecular level. This test has the potential to provide insights when the patient care can be de-intensified or when patient care needs to be escalated," said Dr. Lorenzo del Sorbo, Director of Research at the Toronto General Hospital Medical Surgical Intensive Care Unit (MS-ICU) at UHN, and Assistant Professor, Department of Medicine/Critical Care Medicine, Temerty Faculty of Medicine at the University of Toronto.

4) Fungal Infection Breathe Study

SQI has also begun a preliminary clinical study of non-invasive breath diagnostic technology for the early and accurate detection of organ rejection. This would help to confirm the use model and biomarker validity in the diagnosis of aspergillosis in post-lung transplant patients.

Fungal lung infection is a large risk for people like transplant patients, whose one-year survival rates for invasive aspergillosis following lung transplant is only 59 per cent. Because antifungal therapies are not appropriate for patients who are on immunosuppressants, early and reliable diagnosis of fungal infection is critical. Right now, the best available diagnostic procedures for lung transplant rejection require the regular collection of tissue samples from the lung, which is invasive, expensive and can lead to serious complications. Owlstone Medical's non-invasive Breathe Biopsy platform represents a better approach which, alongside SQI's deep experience in lung transplant diagnostics, will be used to identify and deploy novel breath-based biomarkers that can detect early rejection of organs in lung transplant patients.

"With UHN's strategic interest in lung transplant biomarkers, we're excited to collaborate with UHN and Owlstone in applying the discovery, development and commercialisation of biomarkers of fungal infection," said Andrew Morris, President and CEO of SQI Diagnostics. "An extended partnership with UHN and Owlstone can help further establish SQI's leadership in commercialising diagnostic testing for healthcare professionals and patients as we extend SQI's diagnostics across the continuum of care for organ transplant patients."

More About RALI-Dx IL-6

The RALI-Dx IL-6 Severity Triage Test and the RALI-fast IL-6 Severity Triage POC Test each help clinicians identify which patients with SARS-CoV-2 will have a severe inflammatory response and should be admitted to the hospital to help determine the risk of intubation with mechanical ventilation. Both tests measure the critical biomarker IL-6 which plays a key role in the cytokine storm phase of COVID-19.

The RALI-Dx IL-6 Severity Triage Test delivers results from the lab in about 60 minutes while the RALI-fast IL-6 Severity Triage POC test that is currently in development, delivers results at the patient point-of-care in about 15 minutes.

More About the TORdx Lung Test

Only 20-25 per cent of the available donor lungs are deemed suitable by surgeons for transplant to the recipient. This donor lung scarcity means patients face long wait times, potential deterioration while on the wait list, and complications post-transplant because the patient was not as healthy because of long wait times for donor lungs.

Transplant surgeons are concerned about damage and trauma to the lung  damage that is visible, and damage, primarily inflammation, which is at the molecular level. A lack of quantitative and objective decision-making tools about lung damage  especially at the molecular level, where inflammation is a grave concern  lead many donor lungs to be rejected for transplant.

New technologies have been adopted where donor lungs are placed on a system called Ex Vivo Lung Perfusion (EVLP) before transplanting to the recipient. EVLP allows the transplant team to quantitatively assess the lung's oxygenation capability before transplant. However, even with EVLP, until now there has been no precision medicine measurements to measure inflammation of the donor lungs within viable time frames.

SQI Diagnostics' TORdx LUNG Test measures up to four inflammation biomarkers in a series of samples drawn from the EVLP circuit. In 2018, SQI Diagnostics began collaborating with Dr. Shaf Keshavjee, who is Chief of Innovation at Toronto's University Health Network (UHN) and a global leader in lung transplantation.

About SQI Diagnostics

SQI Diagnostics is a leader in the science of lung health. The Company develops and manufactures respiratory health and precision medicine tests that run on SQI's fully automated systems. The Company's tests simplify and improve COVID19 antibody monitoring, Rapid Acute Lung Injury testing, donor organ transplant informatics, and immunological protein and antibody testing. SQI Diagnostics is driven to create and market life-saving testing technologies that help more people in more places live longer, healthier lives. For more information, please visit www.sqidiagnostics.com.

Contact:

Chief Financial Officer

Morlan Reddock

416.674.9500 ext. 277

[email protected]

FORWARD-LOOKING INFORMATION

This press release contains certain words and statements, which may constitute "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of applicable securities laws relating to future events or future performance and reflect the current expectations and assumptions of the Company regarding its growth, results of operations, performance, business prospects and opportunities. These statements generally can be identified by use of forward-looking words such as "may", "would", "could", "will", "should", "expect", "plan", "estimate", "anticipate", "intends", "believe", "potential", or "continue" or the negative thereof or similar variations. The Company's actual results and performance discussed herein could differ materially from those expressed or implied by such statements. Such statements are qualified in their entirety by the inherent risks and uncertainties surrounding future expectations. Important factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from expectations include, among other things, general economic and market factors, competition, the effect of the global pandemic and consequent economic disruption, and the factors detailed in the Company's ongoing filings with the securities regulatory authorities, available at www.sedar.com. Although the forward-looking statements contained herein are based on what we consider to be reasonable assumptions based on information currently available to us, there can be no assurance that actual events, performance or results will be consistent with these forward looking statements, and our assumptions may prove to be incorrect. Readers are cautioned not to place undue reliance on these forward-looking statements. The Company undertakes no obligation to publicly update or revise any forward-looking statements either as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, except as required by applicable law.

SOURCE SQI Diagnostics Inc.
Global CEO, Laura Maness makes latest high-profile addition to Grey leadership team

NEW YORK, March 3, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Today Grey Group announces the latest addition to its global leadership team: Gabriel Schmitt joins as Global Chief Creative Officer. He will report to Global CEO Laura Maness.

Gabriel Schmitt, Global CCO Grey Group and Laura Maness, Global CEO Grey Group

Among the most successful creative leaders in our industry and recently recognized by Adweek50, Gabriel joins Grey Group from FCB NY, where he was Co-Chief Creative Officer. There, he led the agency's creative resurgence on the heels of campaigns including "Whopper Detour," "Michelob Ultra Courtside", "Contract for Change", "McEnroe vs McEnroe," helping FCB earn Cannes' NA Network of the Year accolades for four consecutive years.

Originally from Sao Paulo and completing an Executive MBA at the Berlin School of Creative Leadership, Gabriel is known throughout the industry as a creative partner who consistently delivers brand and business growth through creativity. At Grey Group, Gabriel will be responsible for fueling a creative-led culture that delivers breakthrough performance and adds to its reputation for pioneering industry firsts.

"Gabriel is a brilliant creative mind, coupled with transformational business acumen and a genuine instinct for partnership," said Maness. "Under his stewardship I am confident Grey will enter its next golden era of creativity, innovation and impact."

Upon his appointment, Gabriel Schmitt said, "Grey is built on the belief that fame and effectiveness are not mutually exclusive; quite the opposite, as one feeds the other. This is 100% what I believe and have always worked towards. I am incredibly excited about the opportunity to lead this amazing group of people and I look forward to shaping an environment that allows us and our clients to do the best work of our careers."

With an entrepreneurial spirit, international experience, and a desire to unify, inspire and support Grey's global creative community across 50+ countries, Gabriel will be based in New York where he currently resides and will be working closely with recently appointed Chief Creative Officer of Grey New York, Thiago Cruz.

Laura added, "I've been on the hunt for a world-class creative partner that shares my ambition, values, and desire to lead this iconic creative company that shapes culture and enriches people's lives. Grey has a 105-year track record and reputation for creative excellence and trusted client relationships that are 3x the industry norm. With Gab by my side, I am more confident than ever in our future. This is the beginning of a new era of creativity for Grey, our clients, and our industry."

About Grey

Grey, the global communications network, is part of AKQA Group. Its parent company is WPP (NYSE: WPP). Under the banner of "Grey Famously Effective Since 1917" the agency serves a blue-chip roster of many of the world's best-known companies: Procter & Gamble, GlaxoSmithKline, The Coca-Cola Company, Haleon, Kellogg's, Pfizer, HSBC, Genentech, MassMutual, Nestle, Google, Volvo, and Applebee's. In recent years, Grey has been named ADWEEK'S "Global Agency of the Year" twice; ADVERTISING AGE's "Agency of the Year" and CAMPAIGN magazine's "Global Network of the Year" in recognition of its creative and business performance ( www.grey.com ).

Contact:

Alice Norcia

[email protected]

SOURCE Grey Global Group
RICHMOND, Va., March 3, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- The Hilb Group announced today that it has acquired E/G of Florida, further expanding the company's growing presence in the Southeast region and building upon its property and casualty expertise. The acquisition took effect January 1, 2023.

Based in Fort Lauderdale, with additional locations in Delray and Port Saint Lucie, E/G of Florida offers comprehensive, customized solutions to meet individual client needs, through both personal and commercial coverage. The agency was founded 25 years ago with a commitment to focus on the best interests of each customer. Agency principal Patrick Mulligan and his team of insurance professionals will become part of Hilb Group's Southeast regional operations.

"This move represents a tremendous next step for us  we are excited to join the Hilb Group and to have access to the broader support and resources that this partnership delivers," said Patrick Mulligan. "As we move forward, we will continue our emphasis on tailored solutions for our clients, while expanding our access to greater products and offerings to benefit those we serve."

"E/G of Florida represents a terrific addition to our company, aligned with our growth strategy by adding greater expertise in vital markets, as well as enhancing opportunities for the agencies who join us," Hilb Group CEO Ricky Spiro said. "We look forward to continuing to grow throughout Florida and beyond, in order to best meet the needs of the customers and communities who depend on us."

About Hilb Group: The Hilb Group is a leading property and casualty and employee benefits insurance brokerage and advisory firm headquartered in Richmond, Virginia. Hilb Group is a portfolio company of The Carlyle Group, a global investment firm. Hilb Group seeks to grow through strategic acquisitions and by leveraging its resources and expertise to drive organic growth in its acquired agencies. The company has completed more than 150 acquisitions with over 100 offices in 27 states. Hilb Group is rated as one of the Fastest Growing Brokers by Business Insurance, a Top P/C Agency by Insurance Journal, and one of America's Fastest Growing Private Companies in the Inc. 5000. For more information on Hilb Group's growth as well as career opportunities, please visit our website at http://hilbgroup.com.

Media Contact:

Peter Lobred

804.548.4629

[email protected]

M&A Contact:

Ryan Havermann

804.414.6508

[email protected]

SOURCE The Hilb Group, LLC
The Maryland location will be the meal solutions company's first East Coast center

CHICAGO, March 3, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Home Chef, the leading meal solutions brand available online and in retail, plans to open its fourth production facility in Baltimore this summer. The new center at 1701 East Patapsco Avenue will create more than 500 jobs in Baltimore by 2024 and will be Home Chef's first East Coast site to provide meals to the company's growing customer base.

"Our new facility will put us even closer to our customers, allowing us to deliver fresher ingredients and a wider range of meal options to East Coast homes," said Erik Jensen, Home Chef's CEO. "Maryland is a great place for our first home in this part of the country, and we look forward to making a positive impact in the Baltimore community."

The new Baltimore facility will be Home Chef's largest by volume, accounting for more than 30% of Home Chef's meal solutions delivered nationwide. The production and distribution center was designed specifically to meet Home Chef's high food safety standards and will provide increased efficiencies for docking, storage, and facility flow.

Home Chef offers approachable, tasty recipes in many formats  from Classic Meal Kits to minimal-mess Oven-Ready and Fast & Fresh meals, family-friendly options, and Culinary Collection recipes for more adventurous home cooks  plus add-ons like protein packs, beverages, salads, desserts, and more. Home Chef's new 170,000-square-foot space will accommodate the brand's online meal delivery service, which rotates more than 30 meal options weekly.

"Home Chef's move to Baltimore City to expand its manufacturing and distribution center is yet another example of how the city's strategic location and easy access via rail, highway, port and air makes it a great manufacturing and logistics hub," said Colin Tarbert, president and CEO of the Baltimore Development Corporation. "We are excited to see Home Chef grow in Baltimore and offer city residents employment."

The Maryland Department of Commerce, in partnership with the Maryland Economic Development Assistance Authority and Fund (MEDAAF), and Baltimore Development Corporation, worked proactively with Home Chef to assist with project costs, location services, and more.

"Home Chef's entrance into Maryland will help diversify the state's business community, expand local job opportunities, and reflect new investment in Maryland's economic competitiveness," said Governor Wes Moore. "We are working diligently with our partners across the state and in local communities to create work, wages, and wealth for all Marylanders and believe deeply in the potential and opportunities that lie ahead for Baltimore City."

To learn more about Home Chef, please visit homechef.com .

About Home Chef

Founded in 2013, Home Chef is the leading meal solutions company with both a retail and online presence. The meal delivery service is available via www.homechef.com and in retail at more than 2,400 stores in the Kroger Family of Companies. Home Chef is committed to bringing ease and convenience to home cooking through simple, delicious meals, so home cooks can enjoy their time at home, both in and out of the kitchen. The Chicago-based meal kit company was ranked #1 in Customer Service among Meal Kits by Newsweek. Home Chef is a subsidiary of The Kroger Co. (NYSE: KR). Find out more and get cooking at homechef.com . Follow us on Twitter, Instagram and Facebook for updates and inspiration.

About Maryland Commerce

The Maryland Department of Commerce stimulates private investment and creates jobs by attracting new businesses, encouraging the expansion and retention of existing companies, and providing financial assistance to Maryland companies. The Department promotes the State's many economic advantages and markets local products and services at home and abroad to spur economic development and international investment, trade and tourism. Because they are major economic generators, the Department also supports the arts, film production, sports and other special events. For more information, visit commerce.maryland.gov .

SOURCE Home Chef
DUBLIN, March 2, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- The "Australia E-Commerce in Automotive Aftermarket Research Report: by Component, Channel, Consumer - Industry Revenue Estimation and Demand Forecast to 2030" report has been added to ResearchAndMarkets.com's offering.

The Australia e-commerce in automotive aftermarket was worth around USD 1,503.5 million in 2022, and it will grow at a CAGR of 12.2% from 2022 to 2030, to touch USD 3,822.2 million by 2030.

Companies Covered

Alibaba Group Holding Ltd.

Robert Bosch GmbH

Amazon.com Inc.

eBay Inc.

Carparts2u

Belipart

HELLA GmbH & Co. KGaA

Meritor Inc.

Car Mods Australia Pty Ltd.

Ubuy Co.

This is due to the booming automotive aftermarket, escalating count of DIY customers, and convenience offered by online shopping platforms.



Third-Party Retailers Account for Higher Product Sales



The category of third-party retailers accounts for a share of 69.1% in the market. Access to a wide variety of products, simplicity of transactions, and promptness of deliveries are leading to a transition away from the traditional brick-and-mortar storefronts to online retailers for replacement automobile parts.



Moreover, the garage owners category accounted for the largest share, of 45.6%, in the industry in 2022. This is primarily because these organizations offer vehicle owners ease, accessibility, and low cost.



Furthermore, the ninth-largest market for U.S. vehicle parts exports is Australia. Domestic producers and importers both contribute nearly equal amounts to the USD 9.2-billion Australian aftermarket. Furthermore, a number of Australian companies, including Repco, Car Mods Australia, Carparts2u, and Pro Speed Racing, provide a selection of car replacement parts via online platforms.



Key Trend Is Click-and-Mortar Retailing



Click-and-mortar shopping is popular in the automotive aftermarket, but it is unclear how consumers feel about an all-online automotive aftermarket platform. This business model consists of conventional merchants with an internet presence, enabling consumers to purchase parts online, pay for them, and pick them up in-store.



Moreover, retailers may more easily contact customers by using e-commerce platforms, which also allows them to create an online presence, upload their inventory, and sell their products. On the demand side, customers benefit from a seamless and simple shopping experience as a result of not having to physically search for certain items in different stores.



Automotive Aftermarket Expansion Biggest Revenue Boost for Players



According to Macrotrends, Australia's urban population reached over 22.1 million in 2020, an increase of 1.43% from 2019; and 22.2 million in 2021, an increase of 0.32% from 2020. The rise in car ownership is being driven by the growing urbanization and rising disposable income. As a result, there is a high need for aftermarket components, as the VIO keeps increasing.



Additionally, Australia's automotive aftermarket would experience considerable growth due to the rising average age of cars. Car loans, which may last up to 5 or 6 years, and better-quality automobiles, which last longer themselves, are the major causes of the increase in their average age.



Key Topics Covered:



Chapter 1. Research Background



Chapter 2. Research Methodology



Chapter 3. Executive Summary



Chapter 4. Definition of Market Segments

4.1 By Component

4.1.1 Engine Parts

4.1.1.1 Pistons and piston rings

4.1.1.2 Engine valves and parts

4.1.1.3 Fuel injection systems and carburetors

4.1.1.4 Powertrain components and others

4.1.2 Drive Transmission and Steering Parts

4.1.2.1 Gearboxes

4.1.2.2 Wheels

4.1.2.3 Steering systems

4.1.2.4 Axles

4.1.2.5 Clutch assembly systems and others

4.1.3 Suspension and Braking Parts

4.1.3.1 Brake calipers

4.1.3.2 Brake pads

4.1.3.3 Suspension systems

4.1.3.4 Others

4.1.4 Equipment

4.1.4.1 Headlights and lighting components

4.1.4.2 Wiper and washer systems

4.1.4.3 Dashboard instruments

4.1.4.4 Others

4.1.5 Electrical Parts

4.1.5.1 Starter motors

4.1.5.2 Spark plugs

4.1.5.3 Electric ignition systems

4.1.5.4 Batteries and others

4.1.6 Miscellaneous

4.2 By Channel

4.2.1 Third-party retailer

4.2.2 Direct to consumer

4.3 By Consumer

4.3.1 Garage Owners

4.3.2 Mechanics

4.3.3 Spare parts retailers

4.3.4 B2C



Chapter 5. Industry Outlook

5.1 Market Dynamics

5.1.1 Trends

5.1.1.1 Click-and-mortar retailing

5.1.2 Drivers

5.1.2.1 Convenience offered by online shopping channels

5.1.2.2 Increasing number of DIY customers

5.1.2.3 Growing automotive aftermarket

5.1.2.3.1 Increasing number of VIO

5.1.2.3.2 Increasing average age of vehicles

5.1.2.3.3 Rising number of road accidents

5.1.3 Impact Analysis of Drivers on Market Forecast

5.1.4 Restraints

5.1.4.1 Inability of e-commerce to tend to immediate consumer needs

5.1.4.2 Increasing complexity of vehicles

5.1.5 Impact Analysis of Restraints on Market Forecast

5.1.6 Opportunities

5.1.6.1 Increasing number of private-label brands

5.1.6.2 Growing rate of digitization

5.2 Impact of COVID-19

5.3 Value Chain Analysis

5.4 Porter's Five Forces Analysis

5.4.1 Bargaining Power of Buyers

5.4.2 Bargaining Power of Suppliers

5.4.3 Intensity of Rivalry

5.4.4 Threat of New Entrants

5.4.5 Threat of Substitutes



Chapter 6. Australia Market Size and Forecast

6.1 Overview

6.2 By Component

6.2.1 Engine Parts, by Component

6.2.2 Drive Transmission and Steering Parts, by Component

6.2.3 Suspension and Braking Parts, by Component

6.2.4 Equipment, by Component

6.2.5 Electrical Parts, by Component

6.3 By Channel

6.4 By Consumer



Chapter 7. Competitive Landscape

7.1 List of Other Players and Their Offerings

7.2 Competitive Analysis of Key Players

7.3 Comparison of Key Players

7.4 Strategic Developments in Market

7.4.1 Mergers and Acquisitions

7.4.2 Product Launches

7.4.3 Partnerships

7.4.4 Other Developments



Chapter 8. Company Profiles



For more information about this report visit https://www.researchandmarkets.com/r/3je201-on-the?w=5-e?w=5

About ResearchAndMarkets.com

ResearchAndMarkets.com is the world's leading source for international market research reports and market data. We provide you with the latest data on international and regional markets, key industries, the top companies, new products and the latest trends.

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SOURCE Research and Markets
MATERIAL FACT

SAO PAULO , March 2, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Itau Unibanco Holding S.A. ("Itau Unibanco"), as the controlling stockholder, directly or indirectly through its affiliates, of Itau Corpbanca (a financial entity headquartered in Santiago, Chile), in which it currently holds 65.62% of Itau Corpbanca's total and voting capital, hereby informs its stockholders and the market in general that at the meeting of Itau Unibanco's Board of Directors held on this date, Itau Unibanco approved the engagement of advisors to initiate the work related to the intention of making a voluntary tender offer for the acquisition by Itau Unibanco or its affiliates, of up to all of the outstanding shares issued by Itau Corpbanca ("Shares"), including those in the form of American Depositary Shares, each of which represents 1,500 Shares ("ADSs"), i.e., Shares (including in the form of ADSs) corresponding up to approximately 34.38% of Itau Corpbanca's total and voting capital. The purchase price is going to be CLP 2.00 (two Chilean pesos) per Share which reflects, on this date, a premium of approximately 10% over the average trading price per Share on the Santiago Stock Exchange over the past 60 trade sessions. The purchase price will be adjusted to reflect the declaration and/or payment of dividends by Itau Corpbanca prior to the settlement of the offer. Due to the reverse stock split approved by Itau Corpbanca at its extraordinary stockholders' meeting held on January 19, 2023, which is under review by the Comision para el Mercado Financiero de Chile ("CMF"), the purchase price per Share and/or ADS and the number of Shares/ADSs object of the offer may be adjusted to account for the reverse stock split.

The tender offer described herein has not yet commenced. The tender offer is expected to be conducted still in the first half of 2023 concurrently (i) in Chile, for all stockholders of Itau Corpbanca; and (ii) in the United States of America for all holders of ADSs and U.S. holders who hold Shares directly in Itau Corpbanca. The acquisition of the Shares shall be subject to compliance with customary conditions for this type of transaction, including obtaining the applicable regulatory approvals from the Central Bank of Brazil and CMF.

Itau Unibanco will keep its stockholders and the market informed about the progress and developments of this transaction as it unfolds. We emphasize that the material fact disclosed is exclusively informational purposes about the decision made on this date by the Board of Directors of Itau Unibanco and does not constitute a tender offer for the acquisition of any securities.

RENATO LULIA JACOB

Group Head of Investor Relations and Market Intelligence



ITAU UNIBANCO HOLDING S.A.

A Publicly-Held Company

CNPJ 60.872.504/0001-23

NIRE 35300010230



CONTACT: Itau Unibanco - Corporate Communication, Phone: (11) 5019-8880 / 8881, E-mail: [email protected]

SOURCE Itau Unibanco Holding S.A.
MUMBAI, India, March 3, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- The Alumni Association, N.C.E Bengal & Jadavpur University, Mumbai Branch, will hold its National Conference on Saturday, 4th March 2023, at the hotel Lalit, Mumbai. The Conference titled 'New India @ 2030  Tailoring for Sustainable Growth' will be organised in association with the Associated Chambers of Commerce & Industry of India (ASSOCHAM), India's oldest Apex Chamber.

The Organising team of the 2019 National Seminar of Jadavpur University Alumni Association, Mumbai.

Nearly 200 people from Mumbai and other parts of the country are expected to attend this year's Conference, including alumni of Jadavpur University, academicians, policymakers, business executives, and alumni of other leading educational institutions.

Former Principal Scientific Advisor to the Government of India and Former Chairman of the Atomic Energy Commission, Padma Vibhushan Dr. R Chidambaram, will be the Chief Guest of the Conference. The Guests of Honour will be Ms. Marja Einig, Deputy Consul General, German Consulate General Mumbai, and Mr. S S Mundra, Former Deputy Governor, Reserve Bank of India. Mr. Shailesh Haribhakti, Chairman of Shailesh Haribhakti & Associates will deliver the keynote address.

India, the home of 140 crore people, is also the largest democracy in the world. With the nation approaching its 76th anniversary, there is much to be proud of in terms of its achievements since independence. The GDP of India grew at an average rate of 5.5% during the past decade, making it the world's fastest-growing major economy. Considering the sluggish growth in the global economy that shows no signs of rebounding, India needs to step up to lead the way. The question remains as to how India, once synonymous with red tape, can become the new powerhouse of growth we expect it to be. This single important question is the theme of our conference this year, which has been appropriately worded as New India @ 2030: Tailoring for Sustainable Growth: Reform, Perform, Transform.

"The Indian economy is projected to become the third largest in the world by 2030. India, however, must correct a few important things. Our National Conference aims to examine those issues that India must address if India is to be the economic powerhouse the world expects her to be. We are extremely fortunate that some of India's best minds and thinkers from science, technology, education, engineering, banking, and finance will enlighten us about what Reforms are required in order to deliver Performance that is consistent with our expectations that will transform the country's vast potential into reality," said Mr Dibyendu Chakraborty, Convenor of Conference Committee and former President of Jadavpur University Alumni Association, Mumbai Branch.

Leading companies from across the country and other parts of the world have stepped forward to support the event as donors. Some of these organisations include Phoenix Contact, Zenitel, MSA Indian Oil, ONGC, Winsteel, JSW Cement, Tally solutions, Deutsche Bank, Chemtrol, Bauer, JNK India, Advanced Systek, Global Group, New Fire, Vinngtor Stentofon, Beekay Corp, OOMS India, Power Gilt, AGGCON, Gita Group and Mobile Communication.

Thanking the donors for their support, Mr. Ashok Adhikary, Chairman of the Conference Committee, said, "Our donors have been extremely generous, and we are grateful for their kind support. This will enable us to achieve our goals of supporting meritorious but needy students in Mumbai and those from Jadavpur University, Kolkata. Currently, we offer 15 scholarships and stipends to such students through the Jadavpur University Alumni Association Company Branch Trust. To fulfil our obligation to promote education, we have disbursed over Rs.50 lakhs for educational purposes over the last 20 years."

Mr. Rudranath Banerjee, President, Jadavpur University Alumni Association, Mumbai, said, "As the oldest alumni association in India, the Alumni Association, N.C.E Bengal & Jadavpur University, has played a major role in nation-building and furthering the objectives of our alma mater since 1921. To achieve its goal of becoming one of the world's leading economies by 2030, India must maximize the benefits of its inherent advantages and take advantage of opportunities that emerge. During the Conference, we will develop actionable insights that will strengthen the Indian journey towards sustainable growth."

About the Alumni Association NCE Bengal & Jadavpur University (Mumbai):

The Mumbai branch of the Alumni Association, N.C.E Bengal and Jadavpur University was established in the year 1956 with the short-term objective of providing an umbrella under which Alumni could meet, interact and socialise. Soon after, the objective was enlarged to include contributing to society at large through knowledge sharing and charitable activities. The Association Organized Seminars, with the active participation and support of Corporates, on topical themes of national interest and organised cultural events to raise funds for charitable activities. The Mumbai branch has over 500 active members who are connected with various core and knowledge-based industries, professional organisations and Government agencies in and around Mumbai.

Along with the firm belief in integration and solidarity, our Alumni Association is focused on the spiritof Indian heritage and culture and is committed to the overall welfare of the people of the nation. Professionally, the organization maintains close relationship with eminent academic institutions, reputed industrial houses and organizes workshops, conferences and technical debates on topical themes.

For more information, please contact:

Mr. Ashok Adhikary

Chairman of the Conference Committee

Email: [email protected]

Tel: 9820190336

Photo: https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/2015397/Organising_Team_2019.jpg

Logo: https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/2015401/Jadavpur_University_Logo.jpg

SOURCE The Alumni Association, N.C.E Bengal & Jadavpur University (Mumbai Branch)
The Detroit-Style Pizza Chain is embracing National Ranch Day with some exciting giveaways

STERLING HEIGHTS, Mich., March 3, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Calling all ranch lovers, specifically Jet's Ranch lovers! This year on National Ranch Day, all Jet's Pizza locations will be offering a delicious deal, plus a chance to win a year's worth of free ranch.

all Jet's Pizza locations will be offering a delicious deal, plus a chance to win a year's worth of free ranch. Tweet this Jet's Detroit-Style Pizza with their famous ranch dipping sauce. Jet's Ranch

On Friday, March 10, Jet's Pizza customers who spend $30 or more will receive a FREE 12 oz. bottle of Jet's Ranch (online orders only, using code Ranch23, while supplies last). Plus, customers can head to the Jet's Pizza social media pages to enter in a giveaway where five lucky Jet's Fans will win a year's worth of free Jet's Ranch. Other prizes will also be available to those who participate, including Jet's Ranch T-Shirts, and Jet's Pizza Ranch Ramekins.

Jet's Ranch has developed a huge fan base of ranch lovers. The creamy, flavorful ranch is made in house every single day. It perfectly complements Jet's signature Detroit-Style Crust.

"At Jet's Pizza, we take pride in our ranch and we know our customers love it. The craze for our ranch got so big, about 10 years ago we had to start selling it in 12-ounce bottles," said John Jetts, CEO and President of Jet's America, Inc. "We couldn't pass up on going all out for National Ranch Day. Whether you dunk your pizza in it, your wings, or dress your salad, it really is the best ranch."

For all your National Ranch Day Jet's Pizza merch, check out the Jet's Pizza Shop. For rules and regulations on the Jet's Pizza National Ranch Day Giveaway, please click here.

About Jet's Pizza

Jet's Pizza is based in Sterling Heights, Michigan. It was founded as Jetts Party Shoppe and Pizzeria in 1978 by brothers, John and Eugene Jetts. Since then, it has now grown to over 400 stores in 20 states. Jet's Pizza is known for its Detroit-style, deep-dish pizzas, and fresh, high-quality ingredients. Every morning the dough is prepared by hand, premium mozzarella is grated, vegetables are hand-cut, and sauce is made with fresh vine-ripened tomatoes mixed with Jet's proprietary spice and herb blend.

Media Contact: Gabriella Galloway

Jet's America

586-795-8403

[email protected]

SOURCE Jet's Pizza
Avia Labs at Millbrae Station caters to tenants seeking purpose-built space in a transit-oriented location

SAN FRANCISCO, March 3, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- JLL's Capital Markets group announced today that it arranged a $310 million construction loan for the development of Avia Labs at Millbrae Station, a best-in-class life sciences development totaling 315,000 square feet at the Bart and Caltrain station in Millbrae, California. The project will be the first all-electric life sciences development in California.

JLL worked on behalf of the borrower, Longfellow Real Estate Partners, to secure the loan through Otera Capital, a leader in commercial real estate debt.

Avia Labs at Millbrae Station

"The Bay Area remains one of the crucial global hubs for life science innovation within our international portfolio. As we continue to expand our presence in the region, we look forward to delivering ground-up projects that are built to accommodate the robust requirements of our tenants," said Longfellow Co-Founder & CEO Adam Sichol. "Avia Labs will not only provide top-quality lab and office space but reflect Longfellow's commitment to environmental sustainability across our portfolio."

Longfellow broke ground on Avia Labs on March 1, 2023. The six-story, Class A building is targeting LEED Gold and Fitwel certifications and emphasizes both energy efficiency and quality of life for tenants. The on-site amenity package includes a fitness center, a public cafe open to the community, large conference spaces, bike storage, two levels of underground parking and a large terrace with city and mountain views.

The property is positioned on 2.1 acres at 210 Adrian Rd. in Millbrae, which is in the North County submarket of the Mid-Peninsula. The North County submarket is extremely undersupplied with a vacancy rate of 1.8% as of 4Q 2022, positioning the project well for lease-up. In addition, Avia Labs is directly adjacent to the Millbrae BART and CalTrain station and in close proximity to the world-class research institutions at Stanford, Berkeley and UCSF.

According to JLL's 2022 Life Sciences Lab Real Estate Outlook, emerging markets such as Millbrae are planting the seeds for long-term opportunities for life sciences companies, investors and developers.

The JLL Capital Markets Debt Advisory team representing the borrower was led by Silicon Valley based Senior Managing Director Jordan Angel, Director Lillian Roos and Analyst Pat Aslanian.

"Millbrae is the only transit station in the greater Bay Area where both BART and CalTrain come together in one station, providing an incredible opportunity for tenants to have public transit options to the East Bay, San Francisco, the Peninsula and Greater Silicon Valley, while being in the epicenter of one of the top life sciences markets in the world," Angel added.

JLL's Capital Markets group is a full-service global provider of capital solutions for real estate investors and occupiers. The group's in-depth local market and global investor knowledge delivers the best-in-class solutions for clients  whether investment and sales advisory, debt advisory, equity advisory or a recapitalization. The firm has more than 3,000 Capital Markets specialists worldwide with offices in nearly 50 countries.

For more news, videos, and research resources on JLL, please visit our newsroom.

Jones Lang LaSalle Americas, Inc. ("JLL") is a real estate broker licensed with the California Department of Real Estate, license #01223413.

About Longfellow Real Estate Partners

Longfellow Real Estate Partners is a real estate investment company founded in Boston, Massachusetts in 2009. With over 200 employees in bio-innovation clusters across the U.S. and UK, Longfellow partners with renowned universities and pioneering life sciences and technology companies to help bring visionary ideas to life. Driven by a passion to support those working to advance the human condition, Longfellow continues to grow and expand in the name of scientific progress. For more information, visit lfrep.com.

About Otera Capital

With over $21 billion in assets under management and a vertically integrated team of commercial real estate lending professionals, Otera Capital is a major institutional investor active in commercial real estate financing across North America. Headquartered in Montreal with offices in New York and Toronto, Otera is a subsidiary of CDPQ, a global investment group with $297 billion in assets under management. Otera offers a wide range of commercial real estate financing solutions tailored to the needs of clients and partners in a variety of markets and asset classes including multi-family, office, life sciences, industrial, mixed-use and selective alternative sectors. For more information, visit oteracapital.com.

About JLL

JLL (NYSE: JLL) is a leading professional services firm that specializes in real estate and investment management. JLL shapes the future of real estate for a better world by using the most advanced technology to create rewarding opportunities, amazing spaces and sustainable real estate solutions for our clients, our people and our communities. JLL is a Fortune 500 company with annual revenue of $20.9 billion, operations in over 80 countries and a global workforce of more than 103,000 as of December 31, 2022. JLL is the brand name, and a registered trademark, of Jones Lang LaSalle Incorporated. For further information, visit jll.com.

Contact: Kristen Murphy, JLL Director, Public Relations

Phone: +1 617 543 4873

Email: [email protected]

SOURCE JLL
PITTSBURGH, March 3, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Kennametal Inc. (NYSE: KMT) announced today that they will attend the J. P. Morgan 2023 Industrials Conference.

Details of the conference are as follows:

When: Thursday, March 16, 2023 Attendees: Patrick Watson, Vice President and Chief Financial Officer Michael Pici, Vice President, Investor Relations

About Kennametal

With over 80 years as an industrial technology leader, Kennametal Inc. delivers productivity to customers through materials science, tooling and wear-resistant solutions. Customers across aerospace, earthworks, energy, general engineering and transportation turn to Kennametal to help them manufacture with precision and efficiency. Every day approximately 8,700 employees are helping customers in more than 60 countries stay competitive. Kennametal generated $2 billion in revenues in fiscal 2022. Learn more at www.kennametal.com . Follow @Kennametal: Twitter, Instagram, Facebook, LinkedIn and YouTube.

SOURCE Kennametal Inc.
ZHUHAI, China, March 3, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- On March 3, 2023, Zhuhai Kingsware Information Technology Co. LTD (hereinafter referred to as "Kingsware") successfully held its series C funding and new product conference in Zhuhai city with the theme of "new productivity  new chapter". At the meeting, Kingsware officially announced that the company has raised around RMB500 million in series C funding in December 2022. With CDB Capital leading the investment, Wenrun Investment (Wens capital), Guangdong Finance Fund, CICC Capital, SGUNWEI capital, JUNSAN capital, ZHENGLING VENTURE CAPITAL and other institutions participating as follow investors, the financing amount ranked the top in Chinese enterprise services financing amount in 2022.

According to Kingsware, the funds will mainly be used to accelerate the R&D of "RPA+X" product matrix, thus improving the company's "1+N" ecological layout. On top of its leading position in financial industry, Kingsware will further extend its competencies to other industries and sustain its leadership in RPA arena.

In new product release session, Kingsware introduced the core product K-RPA's newly upgraded enterprise-level functions and features, and centrally released new products of virtual digital human secretary, bank intelligent internal control management system, bank regulatory submission centralized management platform, data center on-site management system, and K-EE Kingsware digital transformation teaching and training platform, and it continued to build and improve Kingsware's "RPA+X" product matrix, and once again, it demonstrated to the industry the innovative ability of Kingsware as an enterprise-level RPA expert and its determination to implement the corporate strategy of "serving thousands of industries, helping digital economy, and building a digital China".

In addition, Kingsware also announced that it had become a member unit of the Information Technology Application Innovation Working Committee in 2022. At present, its products have fully supported the information and innovation ecosystem. Under the guidance of "independent innovation of core technology" and other national relevant policies, the company will gradually complete compatibility mutual certification of information and innovation products in the whole industrial chain from IT infrastructure, basic softwares to application softwares.

SOURCE Kingsware
Still photos released from the upcoming "The Secret to My Health and Beauty" advertising campaign, pairing flagship K-herb brand Korea Ginseng Corp. with Arden Cho, the star of Netflix's Partner Track.

CERRITOS, Calif., March 2, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Korea Ginseng Corp., the world's no.1 ginseng brand and K-herb brand, has teamed up with Hollywood star Arden Cho to promote its place in the U.S. market. To tease the debut of their upcoming advertising campaign, entitled "The Secret to My Health and Beauty", the company has released snapshots of Arden at work in her new position.

"We believe Arden Cho's energetic and healthy image, in tandem with CheongKwanJang's rapid US market growth, create the perfect synergy," noted Korea Ginseng Corp. CEO Heung-sil Lee.

Korea Ginseng Corp., the Worlds No. 1 Ginseng Brand, selects Hollywood actress Arden Cho to be their brand ambassador. (PRNewsfoto/KGC (Korea Ginseng Corp.))

Korea Ginseng Corp., which aims to parlay its 123-year-old legacy as the world's no.1 ginseng brand into a major position as a global healthy lifestyle company, made its first splash in the U.S. market last year with Koreselect, a product line specifically tailored to the American consumer's needs. This year, the company plans to build on that launch with the introduction of HSW, five brand-new Korean red ginseng-based beverages, at New Product Expo West 2023. What's more, Korea Ginseng Corp. established an American R&D center as a key part of its bid to transform itself into a comprehensive American health brand.

Korean American actress Arden Cho began her Hollywood career in 2006 and quickly gained recognition for her stellar work in The Honor List, Teen Wolf, Chicago Med, and CSI: NY. She most recently starred in the Netflix drama Partner Track, garnering acclaim for her portrayal of a confident, young Asian lawyer trying hard to break through the glass ceiling at her male-dominated New York law firm. Cho will make even more headlines this year with her part in the much-anticipated new Netflix series, Avatar: The Last Airbender.

The new "The Secret to My Health and Beauty" campaign was filmed in mid-February and will debut in mid-March. Its goal is to dramatically increase awareness of the Korea Ginseng Corp. brand throughout the U.S.

About Korea Ginseng Corp.

Korea Ginseng Corporation (KGC) is the world's number one ginseng brand and herbal dietary company. Established in 1899, it is one of the most proven and trusted herbal dietary supplement manufacturers, providing the highest quality, traditionally harvested Korean Red Ginseng products to support health and well-being. KGC runs four regional headquarters in the United States, China, Japan, and Taiwan, in addition to South Korea, and exports products to over 40 countries. With over 40% world market share, its presence spans Asia, Europe, the Middle East region and the U.S. KGC's family of brands include KORESELECT, CheongKwanJang, Good Base, and Donginbi. The KGC brands, inclusive of over 250 products, use the most exceptional ginseng combined with the finest herbs and ingredients to deliver superior products to meet everyone's needs.

SOURCE KGC (Korea Ginseng Corp.)
Cuyes West Drilling Highlights:

CU23-17  27.0 metres grading 3.71 g/t Au Eq including 5.0 metres grading 14.47 g/t Au Eq

CU23-18  3.0 metres grading 39.87 g/t Au Eq and 31.0 metres grading 1.47 g/t Au Eq

VANCOUVER, BC, March 3, 2023 /PRNewswire/ - Luminex Resources Corp. (TSXV: LR) (OTCQX: LUMIF) (the "Company" or "Luminex") is pleased to announce drill results from three holes (CU22-16 to CU23-18) at the Cuyes West structure. The latest results continue to delineate a zone of higher-grade gold mineralization within the Cuyes West structure that extends into the hanging wall to form a widening mineralization zone at depth. Holes CU23-17 and CU23-18 have intersected the Cuyes West hanging wall mineralization at depth in a fault bound package of rocks to the southwest of the main structure (see Figure 2). Luminex is currently drilling hole CU23-22 at Cuyes West and the maiden hole at Prometedor, which commenced on February 24, 2023. Holes CU23-19 to CU23-21 are pending results.

Figure 1. Plan map showing location of the Camp, Cuyes, and Cuyes West deposits. (CNW Group/Luminex Resources Corp.) Figure 2. Drill cross section showing mineralization highlights. (CNW Group/Luminex Resources Corp.)

Hole CU23-18 intersected multiple hanging wall high-grade structures, notably 3.0 metres from 128 metres grading 39.13 g/t gold and 61.67 g/t silver (39.87 g/t Au Eq) and a wider intercept of 31 metres from 263 metres grading 1.31 g/t gold and 13.09 g/t silver (1.47 g/t Au Eq). The Cuyes West structure was intersected from 325 metres over 8 metres grading 2.46 g/t gold and 19.7 g/t silver (2.69 g/t Au Eq). The hole intercepted increasingly broader sections of mineralization at depth.

CU23-17 intersected 5.0 metres grading 12.40 g/t gold and 172.7 g/t silver (14.47 g/t Au Eq) from 263.0 metres in the hanging wall package, within a broader intercept of 27.0 metres from 248.0 metres grading 3.15 g/t gold and 46.25 g/t silver (3.71 g/t Au Eq). The Cuyes West structure was intersected over 14.0 metres from 314.0 metres and graded 2.29 g/t gold and 9.4 g/t silver (2.40 g/t Au Eq). This hole stepped out approximately 50 metres vertically on Cuyes West, below hole CU22-13, which intersected 6.0 metres grading 4.01 g/t gold and 10.9 g/t silver (4.14 g/t Au Eq) from 267 metres within a broader mineralized intercept of 36.0 metres from 245 metres grading 2.17 g/t gold and 10.4 g/t silver (2.29 g/t Au Eq). These results are part of an increasingly broad zone of mineralization at depth comprising 165.0 metres of 1.40 g/t gold and 15.8 g/t silver (1.58 g/t Au Eq) from 187.0 metres. Results from CU23-17 indicate that this broader zone is continuous and open to depth.

Hole CU22-16, stepped out approximately 105 metres west of CU22-05 and approximately 115 metres below hole CU22-10 and intersected only weak mineralization in the Cuyes West structure at 158 metres, which may indicate a pinching of the structure to the west and to depth. At a depth of 338.0 metres the hole intersected 1.0 metre grading 1.49 g/t gold, 651.0 g/t silver (9.30 g/t Au Eq) in the Ruiz structure.

Other intervals are present in additional structures in holes CU22-16, CU23-17 and CU23-18 and are detailed in Table 1.

The style of mineralization at Cuyes West and in the hanging wall package is identical to that at the Camp deposit, 600 metres to the west. At a property scale, these mineralized structures are interpreted to be hosted in ring and radial fractures around the Los Cuyes Diatreme (See Figure 1).

Table 1. Drill intercepts for Cuyes West drill holes. Asterisked intervals are shallower and belong to the diatreme at Los Cuyes (see note below).

Hole Azimuth / Dip / Length From (m) To (m) Interval (m) Au (g/t) Ag (g/t) Au Eq (g/t) Comment CU22-16 320/- 45 / 737.65m 1.0 13.0 12.0* 0.63 11.0 0.76 Veins in diatreme And 338.0 339.0 1.0 1.49 651.0 9.30 Ruiz Structure

CU23-17 331 / -39 / 400.70m 28.0 175.0 147.0* 0.72 4.4 0.78 Veins in diatreme And 187.0 352.0 165.0* 1.39 15.8 1.58 Cuyes Hanging Wall Incl 206.0 220.0 14.0 1.56 12.8 1.72 Cuyes Hanging Wall Incl 228.0 230.0 2.0 4.08 201.8 6.50 Cuyes Hanging Wall Incl 239.8 241.2 1.4 1.03 7.3 1.11 Cuyes Hanging Wall Incl 248.0 275.0 27.0 3.15 46.3 3.71 Cuyes Hanging Wall Incl 263.0 268.0 5.0 12.4 172.7 14.47 Cuyes Hanging Wall Incl 287.0 289.0 2.0 3.69 11.8 3.83 Cuyes Hanging Wall Incl 300.0 306.0 6.0 1.62 9.1 1.73 Cuyes Hanging Wall Incl 314.0 328.0 14.0 2.29 9.4 2.40 Cuyes West structure Incl 336.0 342.0 6.0 3.41 3.9 3.46 Cuyes West structure Incl 351.0 352.0 1.0 1.73 19.0 1.96 Vein in diatreme

CU23-18 345 / -37 / 423.55m 28.0 345.0 317.0* 0.97 5.7 1.04 Veins in diatreme Incl 49.0 68.0 19.0 1.85 3.4 1.89 Veins in diatreme Incl 128.0 131.0 3.0 39.13 61.7 39.87 Cuyes Hanging Wall Incl 263.0 294.0 31.0 1.31 13.1 1.47 Cuyes Hanging Wall Incl 301.9 303.0 1.1 1.49 8.9 1.60 Vein in diatreme Incl 313.0 314.0 1.0 6.11 40.2 6.59 Vein in diatreme Incl 325.0 333.0 8.0 2.46 19.7 2.69 Cuyes West structure And 377.0 384.0 7.0 1.16 9.3 1.28 Veins in diatreme

Asterisked (*) intervals are "Shallower" intervals calculated using a lower limit of 0.20 g/t Au with a maximum inclusion of ten continuous metres below cut-off occurring within the stated intercept and the highest gold value used in the reported weighted averages is 48.60 g/t Au. Remaining intervals not marked with an asterisk are for "Deeper" intervals calculated using a lower limit of 1.0 g/t Au with a maximum inclusion of up to six continuous metres below cut-off and the highest gold value used in the reported weighted averages is 31.30 g/t Au. Au Eq values assume $1,500 gold and $18.00 silver (Au Eq= Au g/t + (Ag g/t *0.012)).

Quality Assurance

All Luminex sample assay results have been independently monitored through a quality control / quality assurance ("QA/QC") protocol which includes the insertion of blind standards, blanks as well as pulp and reject duplicate samples. Logging and sampling are completed at Luminex's core handling facility located at the Condor property. Drill core is diamond sawn on site and half drill-core samples are securely transported to ALS Laboratories' ("ALS") sample preparation facility in Quito, Ecuador. Sample pulps are sent to ALS's lab in Lima, Peru for analysis where gold content is determined by fire assay of a 50-gram charge with ICP finish.

Silver and other elements are also determined by ICP methods. Over-limit samples assaying greater than 10 g/t gold and 100 g/t silver are re-analyzed by ALS using fire assay with a gravimetric finish. Luminex is not aware of any drilling, sampling, recovery, or other factors that could materially affect the accuracy or reliability of the data referred to herein. ALS Laboratories is independent of Luminex.

Qualified Persons

Leo Hathaway, P. Geo, Senior Vice President Exploration of Luminex and the Qualified Person as defined by National Instrument 43-101 Standards of Disclosure for Mineral Projects, has reviewed, verified and approved the scientific and technical information concerning the Condor Project in this news release and has verified the data underlying that scientific and technical information.

About Luminex Resources

Luminex Resources Corp. (TSXV:LR, OTCQX:LUMIF) is a Vancouver, Canada based precious and base metals exploration and development company focused on gold and copper projects in Ecuador. Luminex's inferred and indicated mineral resources are located at the Condor Gold-Copper project in Zamora-Chinchipe Province, southeast Ecuador. Luminex also holds a large and highly prospective land package in Ecuador, including the Pegasus and Orquideas projects, which are being co-developed with Anglo American and JOGMEC respectively.

Further details are available on the Company's website at https://luminexresources.com/.

To receive news releases please sign up at https://www.luminexresources.com/contact/contact-us/.

Follow us on: Twitter, Linkedin or Facebook.

LUMINEX RESOURCES CORP.

Signed: "Marshall Koval"

Marshall Koval, CEO and Director|

Neither the TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this news release.

Cautionary Note Regarding Forward-Looking Information

Certain statements and information herein, including all statements that are not historical facts, contain forward-looking statements and forward-looking information within the meaning of applicable securities laws. Such forward-looking statements or information include, but are not limited to, statements regarding future drilling and work programs at Condor. Often, but not always, forward-looking statements or information can be identified by the use of phrases or statements that certain actions, events or results "will" occur or be achieved.

With respect to forward-looking statements and information contained herein, the Company has made numerous assumptions including among other things, assumptions about general business and economic conditions, the prices of gold and copper, and anticipated costs and expenditures. The foregoing list of assumptions is not exhaustive.

Although management of the Company believes that the assumptions made and the expectations represented by such statements or information are reasonable, there can be no assurance that a forward-looking statement or information herein will prove to be accurate. Forward-looking statements and information by their nature are based on assumptions and involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors which may cause the Company's actual results, performance or achievements, or industry results, to be materially different from any future results, performance or achievements expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements or information. These factors include, but are not limited to: risks associated with the business of the Company; business and economic conditions in the mining industry generally; the supply and demand for labour and other project inputs; changes in commodity prices; changes in interest and currency exchange rates; risks relating to inaccurate geological and engineering assumptions (including with respect to the tonnage, grade and recoverability of reserves and resources); risks relating to unanticipated operational difficulties (including failure of equipment or processes to operate in accordance with specifications or expectations, cost escalation, unavailability of materials and equipment, government action or delays in the receipt of government approvals, industrial disturbances or other job action, and unanticipated events related to health, safety and environmental matters); risks relating to adverse weather conditions; political risk and social unrest; changes in general economic conditions or conditions in the financial markets; changes in laws (including regulations respecting mining concessions); and other risk factors as detailed from time to time in the Company's continuous disclosure documents filed with Canadian securities administrators. The Company does not undertake to update any forward-looking information, except in accordance with applicable securities laws.

SOURCE Luminex Resources Corp.
Hotel Fauchere Celebrates Milford's Conservation History with Immersive Weekend Getaways Featuring Forest Bathing, Grey Towers Tour, and Chef-Designed Dinner

MILFORD, Pa., March 3, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- In honor of World Forestry Day (March 21) and Earth Day (April 22), Hotel Fauchere , a luxury boutique hotel in the Poconos, is introducing a unique new experience where guests can explore the outdoors while learning about Milford's critical role in conservation history.

Hotel Fauchere, a historic boutique hotel in Milford, PA, celebrates World Forestry Day and Earth Day with a series of immersive weekend getaways that feature guided forest bathing, a private tour of Grey Towers, and chef-designed dinner. Guests can learn about Milford's role in conservation history, and the legacy of Gifford Pinchot and Teddy Roosevelt and their advocacy for sustainable forestry practices. For details, visit the Hotel Fauchere website at https://hotelfauchere.com/specials/. Hotel Fauchere, a boutique hotel in Milford, PA, is offering a new, immersive Forest Field Trip experience in honor of World Forestry Day and Earth Day. Starting March 24, guests can explore the outdoors while learning about Milford's history as the birthplace of American conservation. The Forest Field trip includes a guided forest bathing excursion, two nights' accommodations, a tour of Grey Towers, and dining credit for the hotel's Bar Louis. For details and booking, visit the Hotel Fauchere website at https://hotelfauchere.com/specials/.

Beginning March 24, Hotel Fauchere will offer a series of Forest Field Trip weekend getaways. Guests will be treated to an immersive experience that includes a forest bathing excursion with a local guide, a tour of Grey Towers to learn about Gifford Pinchot and his role as the "father of conservation," and dinner at the hotel's Bar Louis, newly redesigned space with a new menu by chef Bobby Varua.

Milford's role as the birthplace of conservation dates back to the early 20th century, when Gifford Pinchot and President Teddy Roosevelt worked together to promote sustainable forestry practices in the United States.

Gifford Pinchot, a conservationist and politician, was the first Chief of the United States Forest Service and an advocate for sustainable forestry practices. He was a resident of Milford, where he owned a large estate, Grey Towers, which he used to experiment with sustainable forestry practices and train others in the art of forestry. Roosevelt, during his presidency, established the United States Forest Service and created several national parks, including Yosemite and Grand Canyon.

Together, Pinchot and Roosevelt were instrumental in promoting the idea of conservation and sustainable forestry practices in the United States. They believed that it was possible to use natural resources in a responsible way that would allow them to be enjoyed by future generations. Today, their legacy lives on in Milford and other communities around the country where sustainable forestry and conservation practices are still being promoted and celebrated.

The Forest Field Trip experience includes:

Two nights' accommodations at Hotel Fauchere with breakfast

Friday night welcome glass of wine

Saturday morning guided forest bathing excursion with a local guide

A "Field Trip Kit": A booklet about forest bathing, and other hiking essentials

A guided tour of Grey Towers or the Columns Museum

A $100 dining credit at Bar Louis

The Forest Field Trip Weekend starts at $1,000 for two (based on double occupancy). Interested parties can contact Hotel Fauchere for booking, dates, pricing, restrictions, and exclusions.

About Hotel Fauchere

Hotel Fauchere is a historic luxury boutique hotel located in the heart of Milford, Pennsylvania. Founded in 1852, it has been meticulously restored to offer a blend of classic elegance and modern amenities. With 16 rooms and suites, it is renowned for its exceptional hospitality, fine dining, and elegant accommodations. On site restaurants include The Delmonico Room, an elegant dining experience featuring regional American dishes and Parisian classics, and Bar Louis, a stylishly casual space with a sophisticated menu and hand-crafted cocktails. The hotel is part of The Milford Hospitality Group .

Media Contact:

Helen Patrikis

[email protected]

631-553-1370

SOURCE Milford Hospitality Group
TOKYO, March 3, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Minato City has released a guidebook aimed to help foreign visitors better enjoy the experiences available in the central Tokyo district and deepen their understanding of Japan's unique customs, manners and culture. "Minato City Guide and Etiquette," published by Minato City, has been designed to respond to a shift in the needs of inbound tourists in Japan from those that are consumption-based to those that are experience-based. The 64-page guide takes visitors through the geography of Minato City and how to get around the area, local cultural experiences, encounters with cuisine, shopping, and other information useful to visitors from overseas. This guide is available in English, Chinese (simplified), Korean, and Japanese.

Image: https://kyodonewsprwire.jp/prwfile/release/M105748/202302203087/_prw_PI1fl_22Kc0qpK.jpg

Interviews with the people who live and work in Minato provide visitors with unique and practical insights into the city's cultural and culinary experiences, including tea ceremony, public baths, getting a taste for "sushi" and traditional Japanese sweets, dining on "yakatabune" houseboats, and other experiences, many of which can satisfyingly be encountered in Minato City. By deepening understanding of Japan's unique manners, customs, and culture, including smoking rules, safe bicycle use, and how to visit shrines and temples, the guide also aims to eliminate any confusion and anxiety felt by visitors and further enhance their experience of the city.

A PDF version of each section of "Minato City Guide and Etiquette" can be accessed via the respective URLs below:

- Cover, Table of Contents, Outline of Minato City, and Part 1: Travel far and wide through Minato City https://www.city.minato.tokyo.jp/citypromotion/welcome/documents/guide_p1-18_2022.pdf

- Part 2: Japanese experiences in Minato City https://www.city.minato.tokyo.jp/citypromotion/welcome/documents/guide_p19-28_2022.pdf

- Part 3: Trying Tokyo's contemporary cuisine https://www.city.minato.tokyo.jp/citypromotion/welcome/documents/guide_p29-48_2022.pdf

- Part 4: Enjoying Japanese shopping https://www.city.minato.tokyo.jp/citypromotion/welcome/documents/guide_p49-56_2022.pdf

- Useful travel information https://www.city.minato.tokyo.jp/citypromotion/welcome/documents/guide_p57-64_2022.pdf

Trying Tokyo's contemporary cuisine:

Minato City's guide helps visitors to explore the city's vast diversity of dining experiences, explaining how to place orders, understand the culture, and smoothly get to grips with the table manners at different styles of restaurant. In the city's Shimbashi district, visitors can sample the Japanese businessperson spirit and enjoy inexpensive "izakaya" (Japanese-style pub) dining in Tokyo's leading business district where the "real work starts after 5 p.m.," or so some local workers like to joke.

The guide also introduces a variety of soba noodles from "seiro soba" noodles served on a bamboo steamer to "kake-soba" noodles in broth soup through insights. Minato City is the ideal place to try buckwheat soba noodles, much loved by Tokyoites since the Edo period (1603-1862). Restaurant owners and chefs across the city have been serving the noodles for generations and well understand the phrase, "true Tokyoites eat soba."

Akasaka is home to Minato's famous "hana machi," a "geisha" (professional female entertainer) district where fancy "ryotei" Japanese-style restaurants offer visitors a chance to experience the essence of Japanese cuisine. Here, restaurant "Akasaka Asada" welcomes diners with traditional "kaiseki" multiple-course cuisine and beautifully furnished rooms. "We invite you to experience ryotei dining in a 'tatami' room. There are also geisha performances with singing and dancing for those looking to enjoy a Japanese cultural experience," Shota Asada, the restaurant's representative director commented in the guide.

Information for having a safer and more pleasant trip:

"Minato City Guide and Etiquette" helps travelers stay informed during their time in Japan with information that includes an event calendar covering local culture activities, the locations of tourist information centers and the availability of guide services in the city, and details about other sightseeing tools. The guide also includes information about staying prepared during an emergency through the city's multi-language disaster information e-mail service, among other emergency resources.

Copies of "Minato City Guide and Etiquette" are available at the following locations:

- Minato City Tourist Information Center Hamamatsucho Station Address: Tokyo Monorail Hamamatsucho Station, 2-4-12, Hamamatsu-cho, Minato-ku

- Minato City Tourist Information Center Fudanotsuji Square Address: 1F Fudanotsuji Square, 5-36-4, Shiba, Minato-ku

SOURCE Minato City
HOUSTON, March 3, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Nan and Company Properties, Houston's premier luxury real estate firm, is excited to announce the addition of Morad Fiki, Texas' #1 Realtor on Social Media, to their team of distinguished real estate professionals. Following an honorable discharge from the U.S. Navy in 2013, Morad set his sights on the high-end luxury Houston residential real estate market, where he has become known for his innovative and creative marketing strategies that push the boundaries of convention to deliver superior results for his clients.

Morad Fiki joins Nan and Company Properties. Pictured from left to right: Morad Fiki, Nancy Almodovar (CEO of Nan and Company Properties), Patricia Fiki

Morad Fiki's visionary approach to luxury real estate has earned him the title of the Future of Houston Luxury Real Estate, and he has been recognized as one of Houston's Top Luxury Real Estate Professionals in the latest issue of Houston Luxury Magazine. With an unwavering commitment to staying ahead of the curve, Morad understands that marketing luxury real estate requires not only an understanding of the local market but also a global reach to connect with international buyers.

"We are thrilled to have Morad Fiki join our team at Nan and Company Properties," said Nancy Almodovar, CEO of Nan and Company Properties. "Morad's experience, dedication, and passion for luxury real estate make him an excellent fit for our brokerage. We are confident that his visionary approach to marketing and his commitment to delivering exceptional results for his clients will be an invaluable asset to our team."

Morad Fiki is excited to join Nan and Company Properties, a digital-driven real estate firm that has established itself as a market leader in Houston's luxury real estate market.

"I am excited to join the team at Nan and Company Properties, where I can leverage my innovative marketing strategies to connect with affluent buyers worldwide and deliver superior results for my clients," said Morad Fiki. "I look forward to working alongside the distinguished real estate professionals at Nan and Company Properties, and I am committed to upholding the firm's reputation for excellence."

About Nan and Company Properties

Nan and Company Properties, founded by Nancy Almodovar in 2014, is a digital-driven real estate firm with supreme market awareness and focus on customer service. Their services include representing residential buyers and sellers, developer services, builder services, and relocation through their exclusive partnership with LeadingRE.

https://www.nanproperties.com/

Media Contact: [email protected]

SOURCE Nan and Company Properties
International scientists discussed innovative "phytocapture" technology in Kazakhstan

ALMATY, Kazakhstan, March 3, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- The international conference ''Nature Based Solutions to Mine Industry Waste: From Research to Practice'' was held in Almaty on the initiative of the Sustainable Kazakhstan Research Institute, a part of Narxoz University, the best private university in Kazakhstan according to the 2022 Times Higher Education Impact Rankings. In 2007, with the support of the Kazakh businessman and philanthropist Bulat Utemuratov, Narxoz University began a transformation process, and has attracted international experts, upgraded the academic curricula and research capacity, and reformed its corporate governance.

Brendan Duprey, Director of the Sustainable Kazakhstan Research Institute, presented the center's latest development, "phytocapture", a green barrier method which works by planting trees and shrubs at specific locations to capture toxic dust from industrial plants and transport. The type of vegetation and distance from the pollutant is determined by measuring air quality and using advanced computer modeling in order to prevent the maximum amount of particulate matter from entering the air. Scientists are now working on exploring the potential for broader application of the "phytocapture" technology around the world.

In 2022, the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe (ECE) recognized Brendan Duprey's project as one of the best global practices. "Phytocapture" technology has already been tested at the Aksu gold mine in Kazakhstan under a commercial contract. Results showed that the technology will reduce the air pollution from one of the mine tailings by approximately 40%.

According to the World Health Organization (WHO), 99% of the world's population breathes in air with levels of pollution that exceed acceptable standards. Small particulate matter contained in the air like dust, combustion products of fossil fuels, etc., penetrate human lungs, affecting the cardiovascular and respiratory systems. The WHO estimates that 7 million people die each year from air pollution.

The Sustainable Kazakhstan Research Institute was established in 2019. It has been involved in the design of the new campus at Narxoz University, which is home to 30,000 newly planted trees and which uses sustainable materials and energy-saving lighting. Sustainability is part of Narxoz University's curriculum and campus life.

The developments of the Sustainable Kazakhstan Research Institute at Narxoz University, including the "phytocapture" technology, are planned to be applied to both national and international companies in the future.

SOURCE Narxoz University
HOOVER, Ala., March 3, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- The National Road Safety Foundation (NRSF) and The National Association of School Resource Officers (NASRO) are looking for school resource officers (SROs) who are using innovative methods to teach students about safe driving behavior. They announced that nominations are now open for the 2023 Innovation in the Classroom Award.

The recipient of the Innovation in the Classroom Award will be honored with a choice of prizes including registration and travel to the NASRO National School Safety Conference in Indianapolis in July or registration and travel to one of several for-credit training programs run by NASRO throughout the year. The winner will also be invited to present to participants at the NASRO National School Safety Conference and will be featured in the fall issue of the Journal of School Safety.

"The Innovation in the Classroom program is a way to identify and reward teaching excellence in traffic safety, as well as share best practices with school resource officers in classrooms nationwide," said Mo Canady, executive director of NASRO.

"School resource officers can have a life-long impact on young people and how they drive," said Michelle Anderson of The National Road Safety Foundation, a non-profit group that partners with NASRO and provides funding for the Innovation in the Classroom prizes. "The behavior that SROs encourage helps keep students safe as they learn to drive or, for the younger ones, as they observe driving behavior."

Nominations may be made by submitting a brief video explaining the SRO's teaching techniques and why they are effective. Nomination deadline is April 7, 2023. Details and rules are at https://www.nasro.org/conference/award-nominations/.

Last year's honoree was Deputy Sheriff John Shallenberger of Tazewell County, IL. Dep. Shallenberger is a founding member and currently chairs the Tazewell Teen Initiative, which runs Operation Teen Safe Driving, a multifaceted safety education program in all seven county high schools that has been expanded statewide into 105 schools.

National Association of School Resource Officers (NASRO) is the world's leader in school-based policing, is a not-for-profit organization founded in 1991 for school-based law enforcement officers, school administrators and school security and/or safety professionals who work as partners to protect schools and their students, faculty and staff members. NASRO developed the "triad" concept of school-based policing, which divides SRO responsibilities into three areas: educator, informal counselor/mentor and law enforcement officer. By training law enforcement officers to educate, counsel and protect school communities, the more than 3,000 men and women of NASRO continuously lead by example and promote a positive image of law enforcement to school children and school communities. For more information, go to www.nasro.org

The National Road Safety Foundation, Inc. (NRSF) is a 501 (c)(3) non-profit organization that for more than 60 years has been dedicated to reducing crashes, deaths and injuries on our nation's highways by promoting safe driving habits through greater public awareness. NRSF programs deal with distracted driving, speed and aggression, impaired driving, drowsy driving, driver proficiency and pedestrian safety. The Foundation also works with major youth advocacy groups and sponsors contests to engage teens in promoting safe driving to their peers and in their communities. For more information or to download free programs, visit www.nrsf.org.

Media Contact:

David Reich

914 325-9997

[email protected]

SOURCE The National Road Safety Foundation
NeutraDC has entered an MOU with NAVER Cloud and Cisco to offer advanced, secure cloud solutions and services to businesses in Indonesia, accelerating their opportunity for digital transformation.

JAKARTA, Indonesia, March 3, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- NeutraDC, a brand of direct subsidiary of Telkom Indonesia, PT Telkom Data Ekosistem (TDE), entered a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with NAVER Cloud and Cisco to accelerate the digital transformation of businesses in Indonesia by providing them with advanced cloud solutions and services.

CEO Wholesale & International Business TelkomGroup, Bogi Witjaksono (center) after the signing Memorandum of Understanding between NeutraDC, Cisco, and NAVER Cloud by CEO Telkom Data Ekosistem (NeutraDC) Andreuw Th.A.F (third right), President, Service Provider, Asia Pacific and Japan Cisco, Sanjay Kaul (fourth left), and CEO of APAC Development at NAVER Cloud, Weongi Park (fourth right) on Wednesday (1/3).

Businesses in Indonesia will benefit from the collaboration as NAVER Cloud and Cisco provide reliable, secure and efficient cloud-based services. The MOU enables all parties to leverage TDE's local knowledge and data centre infrastructure to deliver reliable and secure cloud services to businesses in Indonesia.

"We are happy to have NAVER Cloud & Cisco to support our flagship hyperscale data centre in Cikarang, Indonesia. The MoU will promote collaboration and knowledge-sharing between the three companies, which will result in developing talent and skills in cloud computing in Indonesia," remarked Andreuw Th.A.F, Chief Executive Officer of TDE (NeutraDC). "The benefit to local companies in Indonesia is enhanced agility, scalability, and cost efficiency to better compete in the digital economy," said Andreuw.

NeutraDC offers a pathway for international companies to access Indonesia's eyeballs and digital economy. A hub for TDE's data centre resources in Indonesia, NeutraDC offers a robust digital ecosystem where any party, including hyperscale players supported by Telkom Indonesia, can tap integrated digital infrastructure with comprehensive network connectivity.

"NAVER Cloud is proud to bring our knowledge and experience in cloud technology to the Indonesian market in collaboration with PT Telkom and Cisco. This partnership will help to drive innovation and deliver the benefits of cloud technology to businesses and consumers in Indonesia," said Weongi Park, CEO of APAC Development at NAVER Cloud.

"At Cisco, partnerships are at the heart of everything that we do, which is why we are excited to be working with NAVER Cloud and PT Telkom on this innovative venture. With their unparalleled industry expertise and our cutting-edge technology, we believe we can offer a premier telco cloud solution to Indonesia, driving economic growth to new levels," said Sanjay Kaul, President, Service Provider, Asia Pacific and Japan, Cisco.

#DigitalBisa

#UntukIndonesiaLebihBaik

Ahmad Reza

SVP Corporate Communication & Investor Relation

[email protected]

[email protected]

www.telkom.co.id

SOURCE PT Telkom Indonesia (Persero) Tbk
FELTHAM, England, March 3, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Nomad Foods Limited (NYSE: NOMD), announced today that its annual report on Form 20-F, including its audited financial statements for the fiscal year ended December 31, 2022 (the "Annual Report"), filed with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (the "SEC") on February 23, 2023, can be accessed through the Investors  SEC filings link on its website, www.nomadfoods.com, as well as on the SEC's website at www.sec.gov. Shareholders may request a hard copy of the Company's Annual Report, free of charge, by contacting the Company at Nomad Foods, No. 1 New Square, Bedfont Lakes Business Park, Feltham, Middlesex TW14 8HA, Attention: Investor Relations. If shareholders prefer, they can also request a hard copy by emailing [email protected].

About Nomad Foods

Nomad Foods (NYSE: NOMD) is Europe's leading frozen food company. The company's portfolio of iconic brands, which includes Birds Eye, Findus, iglo, Ledo and Frikom, have been a part of consumers' meals for generations, standing for great tasting food that is convenient, high quality and nutritious. Nomad Foods is headquartered in the United Kingdom. Additional information may be found at www.nomadfoods.com.

Nomad Foods Contact

Investor Relations Contact

Anthony Bucalo

Nomad Foods Limited

+1-914-907-8724

SOURCE Nomad Foods Limited
LISBON, Portugal, March 3, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- PORTUGAL CERAMICS, a brand created to promote Portuguese ceramics, will be attending "The Inspired Home Show" in Chicago from 4-7 March. Bordallo Pinheiro, Byfly, Ceramirupe, Costa Nova, Jomaze, Loucicentro, Matceramica, Mesa Ceramics, Nosse Ceramics, Porcel, Proceramica and Vista Alegre are the companies that will be representing Portuguese ceramics at the event, presenting pieces inspired by PORTUGAL CERAMICS' motto: "The Art of Possibility".

PORTUGAL CERAMICS attends The Inspired Home Show"

With a contemporary and minimalist stand, with white as the chosen background to highlight the ceramic pieces, PORTUGAL CERAMICS will be exhibiting the very best Portugal has to offer in the "Tabletop, Kitchen Essentials & Home Decor" area, through a collection of innovative and authentic Portuguese decorative and tableware ceramic pieces, showcasing the positioning of Portuguese ceramics - The Art of Possibility - which in turn reveals its true essence, i.e., the distinctive and unique ability of Portuguese companies to positively address customer challenges, even those that seem impossible. The Art of Possibility manifests itself in the ability to deliver the exceptional each and every day.

The space will also be supported by graphic, audiovisual and multimedia materials, including a promotional video conveying the positioning and value proposition of PORTUGAL CERAMICS.

Note that the brand PORTUGAL CERAMICS was recently distinguished in the German Design Awards with an honorable mention in the category of 'Excellent Communication'. After "The Inspired Home Show", the brand will be attending a number of trade fairs in Europe to continue promoting Portuguese ceramics. More information about PORTUGAL CERAMICS is available at www.portugal-ceramics.com.

PORTUGAL CERAMICS PRESS KIT HERE

PORTUGAL CERAMICS IN THE SOCIAL MEDIA

Instagram: @portugalceramics

Facebook: @portugal.ceramics.official

Pinterest: @portugalceramicsofficial

Linkedin: @company/portugal-ceramics-official/

Youtube: @portugalceramics8812

Photo - https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/2015511/Portugal_Ceramics_IHShow.jpg

Logo - https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/2015512/PORTUGAL_CERAMICS_logo.jpg

SOURCE Apicer
The largest-ever genetic study of prostate cancer in Black men identified nine new gene variants that increase risk, determined polygenic risk score can predict more aggressive disease.

LOS ANGELES, March 3, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- One in six Black men in the United States will be diagnosed with prostate cancer in his lifetime versus one in eight white men. Black men are more likely to be diagnosed at a younger age, with more aggressive disease, and are more than twice as likely to die of prostate cancer. New findings from Prostate Cancer Foundation (PCF)-funded investigators shed light on the genetic underpinnings of this racial disparity and point the way toward more effective screening strategies.

Studies have identified close to 270 genetic variants linked to prostate cancer risk, but genetic researchers have yet to explain the disproportionate risk among men of African ancestry. Nor have they been able to predict which Black men face a high risk for aggressive prostate cancer.

To address these questions, Christopher Haiman, ScD, director of the Center for Genetic Epidemiology at the Keck School of Medicine of USC and AFLAC Chair of Cancer Research at the USC Norris Comprehensive Cancer Center, led a meta-analysis of 10 genome-wide association studies pooling data representing more than 80,000 men of African ancestry (19,378 men with prostate cancer and 61,620 healthy controls) collected in the U.S., Africa and the Caribbean.

The researchers found nine previously undiscovered genetic variants that increased the risk for prostate cancer in men of African ancestry, seven of which are found either largely or exclusively in Black men. One new variant in the 8q24 region, long known to influence prostate cancer risk, is found only in men of African ancestry. This variant influences the risk of higher rates of aggressive disease among Black men, researchers concluded. They also showed that a multiancestry polygenic risk score was able to differentiate between the risks of developing aggressive and nonaggressive prostate cancer in men of African ancestry. Their study was published March 3 in the peer reviewed journal European Urology.

The newly identified variants can be used to refine polygenic risk scores, genetic tests that assess a person's risk for developing a condition based on the combined influence of multiple genetic factors and can help patients decide how early and often to get screened.

"Addressing African American disparity in prostate cancer is a critical focus for the Prostate Cancer Foundation and we congratulate Dr. Haiman and colleagues on their findings which will lead to more effective precision screening strategies for men of African ancestry," said PCF President and CEO Charles J. Ryan, MD. "Through the Robert F. Smith-PCF Special Challenge Award for the Smith Polygenic Risk Test, we are proud to invest in the vital work of Dr. Haiman and all of the RESPOND investigators to understand and address the reasons why Black men disproportionately experience aggressive prostate cancer."

Haiman and collaborators study prostate cancer among Black men through the $26.5 million, multi-center RESPOND (Research on Prostate Cancer in African American Men: Defining the Roles of Genetics, Tumor Markers and Social Stress) study, funded by the PCF, the National Cancer Institute, and the National Institute on Minority Health and Health Disparities. This work is ongoing, including research into how social determinants, access to care, genetics, and tumor characteristics affect prostate cancer diagnosis, progression, recurrence and survival rates.

With funding support from PCF and Robert F. Smith, Haiman and colleagues also are working to develop the Smith Polygenic Risk Test for Prostate Cancer, a non-invasive, early detection test that will identify a man's lifetime prostate cancer risk using a combination of the nearly 270 genetic variants obtained from a single sample of saliva or blood.

"The results of this research will markedly change the ways physicians test for prostate cancer. We now have the ability to identify at-risk men before they develop the disease and proactively implement the most effective preventive measures and treatments," said Robert F. Smith, Founder, Chairman and CEO of Vista Equity Partners. "We must continue to make investments in health equity research and transform prostate cancer from a life-altering diagnosis into a manageable condition."

Since its founding in 1993, PCF has invested over $30 million in health disparities research through 48 different research programs with more than 20 institutional collaborators.

About the Prostate Cancer Foundation

The Prostate Cancer Foundation (PCF) is the world's leading philanthropic organization dedicated to funding life-saving prostate cancer research. Founded in 1993 by Mike Milken, PCF has been responsible for raising close to $1 billion in support of cutting-edge research by more than 2,250 research projects at 245 leading cancer centers in 28 countries around the world. Since PCF's inception, and through its efforts, patients around the world are living longer, suffering fewer complications, and enjoying better quality of life. PCF is committed to creating a global public square for prostate cancer, in service to our mission of ending death and suffering from the disease. Learn more at pcf.org.

MEDIA CONTACT:

Staci L. Vernick

Prostate Cancer Foundation

[email protected]

[email protected]

610-812-6092

SOURCE Prostate Cancer Foundation
SECAUCUS, N.J., March 3, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Quest Diagnostics (NYSE: DGX), the world's leading provider of diagnostic information services, today announced that its Board of Directors elected James E. Davis, the company's Chief Executive Officer and President, to serve in the additional position of Chairman of the Board of Directors, effective April 1, 2023.

"The Board carefully considered our governance structure and determined that combining the roles of Chairman and CEO under Jim Davis's leadership is in the best interest of shareholders to successfully continue to execute Quest Diagnostics' strategy," said Tim Ring, Quest's Lead Independent Director.

Mr. Davis, who joined the company in 2013 and assumed the role of Chief Executive Officer, President and Director on November 1, 2022, will succeed former CEO Steve Rusckowski, who remains Chairman through March 31, 2023.

"I am honored to assume these additional responsibilities as I continue to work together with the Board, Quest's nearly 50,000 colleagues and our many customers and partners to create a healthier world and build value," said Mr. Davis. "I want to thank Steve for his many years of stewardship as Chairman and CEO. I look forward to building on his contributions and working closely with Tim Ring in my new capacity as Chairman."

Mr. Ring added: "On behalf of the full Board, I want to thank Steve Rusckowski for his leadership over the past decade and his tremendous dedication and commitment to making Quest Diagnostics the exceptional company it is today."

Jim Davis Biography

Jim Davis is Chief Executive Officer and President of Quest Diagnostics, a role he assumed on November 1, 2022, after a gradual leadership transition plan, succeeding Quest's long-time CEO Steve Rusckowski.

Previously, Jim served as Executive Vice President for General Diagnostics since 2017. Jim joined Quest in April 2013 as Senior Vice President, Diagnostic Services and was named Senior Vice President, Operations in February 2014.

Before joining Quest, Jim served as CEO of InSightec, Inc., a medical device company. Prior to that, he held senior management positions in a two-decade career in General Electric's aviation and healthcare businesses, including leading GE's MRI business for five years. Before GE, Jim led the development of strategic and operating initiatives for clients of McKinsey & Company, Inc. He holds a master's degree in management from the Sloan School of Management at Massachusetts Institute of Technology, a master's degree in science from MIT and a bachelor's degree in aeronautical engineering from the University of Michigan.

Steve Rusckowski Biography

Steve Rusckowski joined Quest Diagnostics as Chief Executive Officer in May 2012. At that time Quest was not growing, and he led the transformation of the company into the leader in diagnostic information services with strong financial performance. Steve focused Quest on accelerating growth and driving operational excellence by improving relationships with health plans and hospital health systems and expanding faster-growing businesses in advanced diagnostics and consumer testing.

Steve also drove Quest to be more inclusive. Today the company is overseen by a board of directors that is made up of 40% women and two people of color. In 2020, Mr. Rusckowski spearheaded the launch of Quest for Health Equity, a $100 million commitment to reduce health disparities among the underserved in the U.S.

At the outset of the COVID-19 pandemic, Steve became deeply involved in the national response, partnering with elected officials and public health authorities, as well as healthcare providers, payers and retailers, to quickly expand access to COVID-19 testing.

Prior to joining Quest Diagnostics, Steve was CEO of Philips Healthcare, which became the largest unit of Royal Philips Electronics under his leadership. He joined Philips in 2001 when it acquired the Healthcare Solutions Group he was leading at Hewlett-Packard/Agilent Technologies.

Steve served as Chairman of the Board of Directors of the American Clinical Laboratory Association from 2014 to 2017. He is also an Emeritus Director of Project Hope, a global health education and humanitarian assistance organization. He earned a Master of Science degree in Management from the Sloan School of Management at Massachusetts Institute of Technology and a Bachelor of Science degree in Mechanical Engineering from Worcester Polytechnic Institute, where he serves on the Board of Trustees.

About Quest Diagnostics

Quest Diagnostics empowers people to take action to improve health outcomes. Derived from the world's largest database of clinical lab results, our diagnostic insights reveal new avenues to identify and treat disease, inspire healthy behaviors and improve health care management. Quest annually serves one in three adult Americans and half the physicians and hospitals in the United States, and our 50,000 employees understand that, in the right hands and with the right context, our diagnostic insights can inspire actions that transform lives. www.QuestDiagnostics.com

SOURCE Quest Diagnostics
Urges All Shareholders to Vote "FOR" All Proposals Listed on the WHITE Proxy Card

VANCOUVER, BC, March 3, 2023 /PRNewswire/ - Ritchie Bros. Auctioneers Incorporated (NYSE: RBA) (TSX: RBA) ("Ritchie Bros.") today issued the following letter reinforcing the outstanding value creation opportunity presented by the acquisition of IAA, Inc. (NYSE: IAA) ("IAA") and highlighting support the Company is receiving from many shareholders and independent third-party industry analysts.

The Company's Special Meeting of Shareholders to vote on proposals necessary to complete the IAA acquisition is scheduled for March 14, 2023. The letter, which is also being mailed to shareholders, and additional materials related to the Special Meeting can be found at www.RBASpecialMeeting.com.

March 3, 2023

Dear Ritchie Bros. Shareholders,

We are writing to reinforce the outstanding value creation opportunity presented by the acquisition of IAA. Despite this significant upside opportunity, Luxor Capital Group continues to repeat distorting assertions in their attempt to derail the Ritchie Bros. + IAA combination. We note that while Luxor owns shares today, Luxor sold out of all of its Ritchie Bros. shares in the first quarter of 2022i. We do not believe Luxor's interests are aligned with the interests of Ritchie Bros.' long-term shareholders.

We have received strong support for the IAA acquisition from many of our shareholders, both privately and publicly  including Independent Franchise Partners, Eagle Asset Management and Vontobel Asset Management, who are among our largest shareholders  as well as from independent third-party industry analysts and other stakeholders. Stakeholders recognize the outstanding strategic and financial benefits and substantial, sustainable shareholder returns the transaction is expected to generate.

The numbers do indeed tell a compelling story, including:



$350 million to $900 million total estimated potential EBITDA opportunity comprising ii :

to total estimated potential EBITDA opportunity comprising :

$100 million to $120 million in expected cost savings

to in expected cost savings



$250 million to $780 million in potential incremental EBITDA growth from revenue opportunities

to in potential incremental EBITDA growth from revenue opportunities



Taken together, this EBITDA opportunity represents up to an additional $76 per share iii in potential value comprising:

per share in potential value comprising:



Up to $61 per share of potential value from cost savings and incremental revenue opportunities at the pre-transaction blended multiple

per share of potential value from cost savings and incremental revenue opportunities at the pre-transaction blended multiple





Up to $15 per share of potential value from multiple expansion to the average IAA - Ritchie Bros. blended multiple since IAA spin

per share of potential value from multiple expansion to the average IAA - Ritchie Bros. blended multiple since IAA spin

$14.3 billion in gross transaction value (GTV) iv , more than doubling Ritchie Bros.' GTV as of year-end 2022

in gross transaction value (GTV) , more than doubling Ritchie Bros.' GTV as of year-end 2022

$2.5 billion of estimated cumulative free cash flow from 2023 to 2026v

Ritchie Bros.' leadership team is proven and has the right experience to successfully execute on this transactionvi.



"We've got a lot of confidence in Ann. We think based on her success and her strategic initiatives that she put in place already, that she deserves the opportunity to execute on this."  Eric Mintz , managing director of small cap growth and mid cap growth portfolios at Eagle Asset Management, Reuters, January 30, 2023





 , managing director of small cap growth and mid cap growth portfolios at Eagle Asset Management, Reuters,

"Both Ritchie CEO Ann Fandozzi and COO Jim Kessler know the automotive business very well, having served at ABRA Auto Body and Glass, as CEO and COO, respectively IAA gets a top management team with experience in the industry who would be an excellent team to oversee the turnaround and integration of IAA."  Kenneth Squire , 13D Monitor, January 26, 2023





 , 13D Monitor,

"We believe the merger will lead to significant upside in the share price in the next couple of years."  Scotiabank, February 9, 2023





 Scotiabank,

"We see a path to $100 [share price for RBA] over the next several years if management executes well. We like what RBA brings to IAA and what IAA brings to RBA."  Northcoast Research, January 27, 2023

Luxor's flawed and self-serving comments maligning Ritchie Bros.' management team are unjustified, misplaced and detract from value creation.

The Ritchie Bros. management team, under the oversight of the Ritchie Bros. Board of Directors, has transformed the Company's business and delivered exceptional, superior returns for shareholders  in particular, a 48% shareholder return, outperforming all relevant indicesvii.

The Board and management team have always prioritized shareholders' best interests. We view the IAA acquisition as the next logical step in a transformative strategy that has created substantial shareholder value.

Personal attacks on Ritchie Bros.' proven team who have a record of execution are unwarranted. Luxor's attempt to derail the Company's current strategy  which even Luxor concedes is working  is based on flawed analysis and ongoing misleading statements. If the IAA transaction is not approved as Luxor is seeking, we believe there is a significant risk of value destruction, and the Company's future growth could be compromised.

Detailed information correcting Luxor's distortions and flawed analysis is available in the Company's February 22, 2023 presentation, which is available at www.RBASpecialMeeting.com.

Time Is Short. Vote Electronically by Internet or Telephone Prior to March 10, 2023 to Be Sure Your Vote Is Received in Time to Be Counted

Please Vote Now on the WHITE Proxy Card!

As we continue to progress towards completing the transaction with IAA, we want to remind shareholders what's at stake: a unique opportunity to accelerate our strategy and create a long runway for significant, sustainable value creation. With integration planning well underway, we are ready to hit the ground running upon the transaction's close to begin realizing the substantial upside potential generated by the Ritchie Bros. + IAA combination.

We urge you to support your management team and Board as we embark on this important next step by voting "FOR" on the WHITE proxy card for all proposals being considered at the Special Meeting. Any green proxy card should be discarded. If you have voted your shares on the green proxy card, you can simply change your vote by voting on the WHITE proxy card.

Sincerely,

/s/ Ann Fandozzi

Ann Fandozzi

CEO



Any shareholder with questions about the Special Meeting or in

need of assistance in voting their shares should contact:

Laurel Hill MacKenzie Partners, Inc. North American Toll Free: 1-877-452-7184 North American Toll Free: 1-800-322-2885

Outside North America: 416-304-0211 Email: [email protected] Email: [email protected]

Information about the meeting is also available at www.RBASpecialMeeting.com



About Ritchie Bros.

Established in 1958, Ritchie Bros. (NYSE and TSX: RBA) is a global asset management and disposition company, offering customers end-to-end solutions for buying and selling used heavy equipment, trucks and other assets. Operating in a number of sectors, including construction, transportation, agriculture, energy, mining, and forestry, the company's selling channels include: Ritchie Bros. Auctioneers, the world's largest industrial auctioneer offering live auction events with online bidding; IronPlanet, an online marketplace with weekly featured auctions and providing the exclusive IronClad Assurance(R) equipment condition certification; Marketplace-E, a controlled marketplace offering multiple price and timing options; Ritchie List, a self-serve listing service for North America; Mascus, a leading European online equipment listing service; Ritchie Bros. Private Treaty, offering privately negotiated sales; and sector-specific solutions GovPlanet, TruckPlanet, and Ritchie Bros. Energy. The company's suite of solutions also includes Ritchie Bros. Asset Solutions and Rouse Services LLC, which together provides a complete end-to-end asset management, data-driven intelligence and performance benchmarking system; SmartEquip, an innovative technology platform that supports customers' management of the equipment lifecycle and integrates parts procurement with both OEMs and dealers; plus equipment financing and leasing through Ritchie Bros. Financial Services. For more information about Ritchie Bros., visit RitchieBros.com.

Photos and video for embedding in media stories are available at rbauction.com/media.

Forward-Looking Statements

This communication contains information relating to a proposed business combination transaction between Ritchie Bros. Auctioneers Incorporated ("RBA") and IAA, Inc. ("IAA"). This communication includes forward-looking information within the meaning of Canadian securities legislation and forward-looking statements within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933, as amended, and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended (collectively, "forward-looking statements"). Forward-looking statements may include statements relating to future events and anticipated results of operations, business strategies, the anticipated benefits of the proposed IAA transaction, the anticipated impact of the proposed IAA transaction on the combined company's business and future financial and operating results, the expected or estimated amount, achievability, sources, impact and timing of cost synergies and revenue, EBITDA, growth, operational enhancement, expansion and other value creation opportunities from the proposed IAA transaction, the expected debt, de-leveraging, cash flow generation and capital allocation of the combined company, the anticipated closing date for the proposed IAA transaction, other aspects of RBA's or IAA's respective businesses, operations, financial condition or operating results and other statements that are not historical facts. There can be no assurance that the proposed IAA transaction will in fact be consummated. These forward-looking statements generally can be identified by phrases such as "will," "should," "expects," "plans," "anticipates," "could," "can," "intends," "target," "goal," "projects," "contemplates," "believes," "predicts," "potential," "continue," "foresees," "forecasts," "estimates," "opportunity" or other words or phrases of similar import.

It is uncertain whether any of the events anticipated by the forward-looking statements will transpire or occur, or if any of them do, what impact they will have on the results of operations and financial condition of the combined companies or the price of RBA's common shares or IAA's common stock. Therefore, you should not place undue reliance on any such statements and caution must be exercised in relying on forward-looking statements. While RBA's management believes the assumptions underlying the forward-looking statements are reasonable, these forward-looking statements involve certain risks and uncertainties, many of which are beyond the parties' control, that could cause actual results to differ materially from those indicated in such forward-looking statements, including but not limited to: the possibility that shareholders of RBA may not approve the issuance of new common shares of RBA in the transaction or that stockholders of IAA may not approve the adoption of the merger agreement; the risk that a condition to closing of the proposed IAA transaction may not be satisfied (or waived), that either party may terminate the merger agreement or that the closing of the proposed IAA transaction might be delayed or not occur at all; the anticipated tax treatment of the proposed IAA transaction; potential adverse reactions or changes to business or employee relationships, including those resulting from the announcement or completion of the proposed IAA transaction; the diversion of management time on transaction-related issues; the response of competitors to the proposed IAA transaction; the ultimate difficulty, timing, cost and results of integrating the operations of RBA and IAA; the effects of the business combination of RBA and IAA, including the combined company's future financial condition, results of operations, strategy and plans; the failure (or delay) to receive the required regulatory approval of the transaction; the fact that operating costs and business disruption may be greater than expected following the public announcement or consummation of the proposed IAA transaction; the effect of the announcement, pendency or consummation of the proposed IAA transaction on the trading price of RBA's common shares or IAA's common stock; the ability of RBA and/or IAA to retain and hire key personnel and employees; the significant costs associated with the proposed IAA transaction; the outcome of any legal proceedings that could be instituted against RBA, IAA and/or others relating to the proposed IAA transaction; restrictions during the pendency of the proposed IAA transaction that may impact the ability of RBA and/or IAA to pursue non-ordinary course transactions, including certain business opportunities or strategic transactions; the ability of the combined company to realize anticipated synergies in the amount, manner or timeframe expected or at all; the failure of the combined company to realize potential revenue, EBITDA, growth, operational enhancement, expansion or other value creation opportunities from the sources or in the amount, manner or timeframe expected or at all; the failure of the trading multiple of the combined company to normalize or re-rate and other fluctuations in such trading multiple; changes in capital markets and the ability of the combined company to generate cash flow and/or finance operations in the manner expected or to de-lever in the timeframe expected; the failure of RBA or the combined company to meet financial forecasts and/or KPI targets; any legal impediment to the payment of the special dividend by RBA, including TSX consent to the dividend record date; legislative, regulatory and economic developments affecting the business of RBA and IAA; general economic and market developments and conditions; the evolving legal, regulatory and tax regimes under which RBA and IAA operates; unpredictability and severity of catastrophic events, including, but not limited to, pandemics, acts of terrorism or outbreak of war or hostilities, as well as RBA's or IAA's response to any of the aforementioned factors. These risks, as well as other risks related to the proposed IAA transaction, are included in the Registration Statement (as defined below) and joint proxy statement/prospectus filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission (the "SEC") and applicable Canadian securities regulatory authorities in connection with the proposed IAA transaction. While the list of factors presented here is, and the list of factors presented in the Registration Statement are, considered representative, no such list should be considered to be a complete statement of all potential risks and uncertainties.

For additional information about other factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those described in the forward-looking statements, please refer to RBA's and IAA's respective periodic reports and other filings with the SEC and/or applicable Canadian securities regulatory authorities, including the risk factors identified in RBA's most recent Quarterly Reports on Form 10-Q and Annual Report on Form 10-K and IAA's most recent Quarterly Reports on Form 10-Q and Annual Report on Form 10-K. The forward-looking statements included in this communication are made only as of the date hereof. Neither RBA nor IAA undertakes any obligation to update any forward-looking statements to reflect actual results, new information, future events, changes in its expectations or other circumstances that exist after the date as of which the forward-looking statements were made, except as required by law.

No Offer or Solicitation

This communication is not intended to and shall not constitute an offer to buy or sell or the solicitation of an offer to buy or sell any securities, or a solicitation of any vote or approval, nor shall there be any offer, solicitation or sale of securities in any jurisdiction in which such offer, solicitation or sale would be unlawful prior to registration or qualification under the securities laws of any such jurisdiction. No offer of securities shall be made except by means of a prospectus meeting the requirements of Section 10 of the U.S. Securities Act of 1933, as amended, or pursuant to an exemption from, or in a transaction not subject to, such registration requirements.

Important Additional Information and Where to Find It

In connection with the proposed IAA transaction, RBA filed with the SEC and applicable Canadian securities regulatory authorities a registration statement on Form S-4 to register the common shares of RBA to be issued in connection with the proposed IAA transaction on December 14, 2022 (the "Initial Registration Statement"), as amended by Amendment No. 1 and Amendment No. 2 to the Initial Registration Statement filed with the SEC and applicable Canadian securities regulatory authorities on February 1, 2023 and February 9, 2023, respectively (together with the Initial Registration Statement, the "Registration Statement"). The Registration Statement was declared effective by the SEC on February 10, 2023. The Registration Statement includes a joint proxy statement/prospectus which will be sent to the shareholders of RBA and stockholders of IAA seeking their approval of their respective transaction-related proposals. Each of RBA and IAA may also file other relevant documents with the SEC and/or applicable Canadian securities regulatory authorities regarding the proposed IAA transaction. This document is not a substitute for the proxy statement/prospectus or Registration Statement or any other document that RBA or IAA may file with the SEC and/or applicable Canadian securities regulatory authorities. INVESTORS AND SECURITY HOLDERS ARE URGED TO READ THE REGISTRATION STATEMENT ON FORM S-4 AND THE RELATED JOINT PROXY STATEMENT/PROSPECTUS, AS WELL AS ANY AMENDMENTS OR SUPPLEMENTS TO THOSE DOCUMENTS AND ANY OTHER RELEVANT DOCUMENTS FILED OR TO BE FILED WITH THE SEC AND APPLICABLE CANADIAN SECURITIES REGULATORY AUTHORITIES IN CONNECTION WITH THE PROPOSED IAA TRANSACTION OR INCORPORATED BY REFERENCE IN THE PROXY STATEMENT/PROSPECTUS, CAREFULLY AND IN THEIR ENTIRETY IF AND WHEN THEY BECOME AVAILABLE, BECAUSE THEY CONTAIN OR WILL CONTAIN IMPORTANT INFORMATION ABOUT RBA, IAA AND THE PROPOSED IAA TRANSACTION.

Investors and security holders may obtain copies of these documents (when they are available) free of charge through the website maintained by the SEC at www.sec.gov, SEDAR at www.sedar.com or from RBA at its website, investor.ritchiebros.com, or from IAA at its website, investors.iaai.com. Documents filed with the SEC and applicable Canadian securities regulatory authorities by RBA (when they are available) will be available free of charge by accessing RBA's website at investor.ritchiebros.com under the heading Financials/SEC Filings, or, alternatively, by directing a request by telephone or mail to RBA at 9500 Glenlyon Parkway, Burnaby, BC, V5J 0C6, Canada, and documents filed with the SEC by IAA (when they are available) will be available free of charge by accessing IAA's website at investors.iaai.com or by contacting IAA's Investor Relations at [email protected].

Participants in the Solicitation

RBA and IAA, certain of their respective directors and executive officers and other members of management and employees, and Jeffrey C. Smith and potentially other Starboard employees, may be deemed to be participants in the solicitation of proxies from the stockholders of RBA and IAA in respect of the proposed IAA transaction under the rules of the SEC. Information about RBA's directors and executive officers is available in RBA's definitive proxy statement on Schedule 14A for its 2022 Annual Meeting of Shareholders, which was filed with the SEC and applicable Canadian securities regulatory authorities on March 15, 2022, and certain of its Current Reports on Form 8-K. Information about IAA's directors and executive officers is available in IAA's definitive proxy statement on Schedule 14A for its 2022 Annual Meeting of Stockholders, which was filed with the SEC on May 2, 2022, and certain of its Current Reports on Form 8-K. Other information regarding persons who may be deemed participants in the proxy solicitation and a description of their direct and indirect interests, by security holdings or otherwise, including information with respect to Mr. Smith, are contained or will be contained in the joint proxy statement/prospectus and other relevant materials filed or to be filed with the SEC and applicable Canadian securities regulatory authorities regarding the proposed IAA transaction when they become available. Investors should read the joint proxy statement/prospectus carefully before making any voting or investment decisions. You may obtain free copies of these documents from RBA or IAA free of charge using the sources indicated above.

Non-GAAP Financial Measures

This communication contains certain non-GAAP financial measures, including EBITDA and free cash flow. These non-GAAP financial measures are not calculated in accordance with GAAP and may exclude items that are significant in understanding and assessing a company's financial condition or operating results. Therefore, these measures should not be considered in isolation or as alternatives to financial measures under GAAP. In addition, these measures may not be comparable to similarly-titled measures used by other companies. Further information regarding non-GAAP financial measures is included in the SEC filings of RBA.

Ritchie Bros. Contacts

Investors

Sameer Rathod Vice President, Investor Relations & Market Intelligence

(510) 381-7584

[email protected]

Media

Barrett Golden / Lucas Pers / Haley Salas

Joele Frank, Wilkinson Brimmer Katcher

(212) 355-4449

__________________________________ i Source: 13F filings ii Potential opportunities and related information included for illustrative purposes only and do not imply future targets, expectations or guidance. Estimates do not incorporate potential costs to achieve or specific timeframes. Figures are illustrative and un-discounted iii Potential opportunities and related information included in this communication are for illustrative purposes only and do not imply future targets, expectations or guidance. Estimates do not incorporate potential costs to achieve or specific timeframes. Value per share upside reflects illustrative EV / NTM EBITDA range of 13  16x, based on pre-transaction blend at the low end and illustrative ~3.0x re-rating at the high end, informed by both (i) observed historical average blended multiple since IAA spin and (ii) blend of top decile observed EV / NTM EBITDA multiples for Ritchie Bros. and IAA over last twelve-month period ending November 4, 2022. Figures are illustrative and un-discounted iv Represents sum of Ritchie Bros. and IAA FY22 annual GTV. GTV represents gross transaction value, which is the total proceeds from all items sold at the company's auctions and online marketplaces. GTV is not a measure of financial performance, liquidity, or revenue, and is not presented in the company's consolidated financial statements v Represents estimated cumulative unlevered free cash flow generated from '23E '26E. Unlevered free cash flow defined as adj. EBITDA including net realizable synergies less cash taxes, less capital expenditures and less changes in net working capital inclusive of estimated integration costs vi Permission to use quotes neither sought nor obtained vii The period from January 3, 2020, the last trading day prior to Ann Fandozzi's appointment as CEO, through January 31, 2023

SOURCE Ritchie Bros. Auctioneers
Vontobel Asset Management, Which Owns 2.15% of Ritchie Bros. Shares, is Yet Another Ritchie Bros. Shareholder to Publicly Support the IAA Acquisition

VANCOUVER, BC, March 3, 2023 /PRNewswire/ - Ritchie Bros. Auctioneers Incorporated (NYSE: RBA) (TSX: RBA) ("Ritchie Bros.") today issued the following statement regarding the support it is receiving from many shareholders, including among the Company's largest shareholders, as well as industry analysts regarding the acquisition of IAA, Inc. (NYSE: IAA) ("IAA"):

Vontobel Asset Management, which owns 2.15% of Ritchie Bros. shares, has joined many other Ritchie Bros.' shareholders, including a number of our largest shareholders, in publicly supporting the IAA acquisition.

We thank Ritchie Bros. shareholders for their strong support, which has been expressed both publicly and in our private conversations.

This shareholder support, the positive commentary from independent third-party industry analysts and the increase in Ritchie Bros. stock price since the transaction was announced are all evidence that shareholders and analysts share our enthusiasm for the benefits and upside opportunities that a Ritchie Bros. + IAA combination creates. Importantly, employees and customers are also excited about bringing Ritchie Bros. and IAA together.

The Ritchie Bros. management team has a proven record of execution. Integration planning is progressing well, and we are confident in our ability to deliver even greater shareholder value with IAA.

In addition to the support announced yesterday by Vontobel Asset Management, Independent Franchise Partners and Eagle Asset Management, who are also among Ritchie Bros.' largest shareholders, have publicly announced their support for the IAA acquisition.

Independent third-party industry analysts also recognize the expected benefits and value creation opportunities enabled by the IAA acquisition. For examplei:

"In looking ahead, we remain upbeat on the potential of an RBA/IAA combination as salvage auctions are our preferred area to find value in the 2023 and 2024 auto ecosystemwe have long felt IAA had margin potential to be unleashed compared to rival Copart and have no reason to think this margin gap cannot be narrowed under the watchful eye of the Ritchie team."  Northcoast Research, February 21, 2023

 Northcoast Research, February 21, 2023 "Genuine enthusiasm about the opportunity to execute against the revenue and cost synergies broader sphere of auto auctions could be a viable growth market We continue to like the potential of an RBA/IAA combination."  Northcoast Research, February 9, 2023

 Northcoast Research, February 9, 2023 "We see a path to $100 [share price for RBA] over the next several years if management executes well. We like what RBA brings to IAA and what IAA brings to RBAwe believe the company's $100 - $120 million cost synergy projection is credible."  Northcoast Research, January 27, 2023

 Northcoast Research, "RBA shareholders get a slightly higher ownership and a special dividend while IAA shareholders will receive a larger cash payment and maintain the upside potential. Additionally, the amended offer now includes a special dividend and remains accretive to EPS after the first full year. Clearly, the announcement and conference call strengthen RBA's case for acquiring IAA. Additionally, the deal's chances of closing have moved up above 80%."  William Blair , January 23, 2023

 , "The combination offers strategic opportunities for RBA and IAA unique to this transaction: for RBA, IAA adds scale, brings complementary capabilities (i.e. process, transaction automation), and enables it to accelerate its marketplace transformation; for IAA, RBA may facilitate the expansion (or recovery) of its market share. We dug in. And, we dig it."  Scotiabank, December 5, 2022

 Scotiabank, December 5, 2022 "The deal makes sense from a bottom-line perspective because of the weakness of IAA's share price YTD and the combined financial earnings power of the proforma entity We also appreciate the secular growth dynamics present in salvage auto auction market that has seen a growing number of vehicles being auctioned off every year."  National Bank of Canada , November 21, 2022

 National Bank of , "The pending acquisition has an attractive financial profile that on a combined TTM basis generates $14.5 billion of GTV Based on this acquisition and RBA's strong fundamental outlook, we are raising our investment rating."  Barrington Research Associates, November 7, 2022

Ritchie Bros. will hold a Special Meeting of Shareholders on March 14, 2023 to vote on proposals necessary to approve the IAA acquisition. The Ritchie Bros. Board of Directors unanimously recommends that all shareholders vote "FOR" on the WHITE proxy card for each proposal. Shareholders should discard any green proxy card received from Luxor Capital Group. Additional information about the expected benefits of the IAA acquisition and instructions on how to vote "FOR" at the Special Meeting can be found at www.RBASpecialMeeting.com.

Any shareholder with questions about the Special Meeting or in

need of assistance in voting their shares should contact:



Laurel Hill MacKenzie Partners, Inc. North American Toll Free: 1-877-452-7184 North American Toll Free: 1-800-322-2885 Outside North America: 416-304-0211 Email: [email protected] Email: [email protected]





Information about the meeting is also available at www.RBASpecialMeeting.com

About Ritchie Bros.

Established in 1958, Ritchie Bros. (NYSE and TSX: RBA) is a global asset management and disposition company, offering customers end-to-end solutions for buying and selling used heavy equipment, trucks and other assets. Operating in a number of sectors, including construction, transportation, agriculture, energy, mining, and forestry, the company's selling channels include: Ritchie Bros. Auctioneers, the world's largest industrial auctioneer offering live auction events with online bidding; IronPlanet, an online marketplace with weekly featured auctions and providing the exclusive IronClad Assurance(R) equipment condition certification; Marketplace-E, a controlled marketplace offering multiple price and timing options; Ritchie List, a self-serve listing service for North America; Mascus, a leading European online equipment listing service; Ritchie Bros. Private Treaty, offering privately negotiated sales; and sector-specific solutions GovPlanet, TruckPlanet, and Ritchie Bros. Energy. The company's suite of solutions also includes Ritchie Bros. Asset Solutions and Rouse Services LLC, which together provides a complete end-to-end asset management, data-driven intelligence and performance benchmarking system; SmartEquip, an innovative technology platform that supports customers' management of the equipment lifecycle and integrates parts procurement with both OEMs and dealers; plus equipment financing and leasing through Ritchie Bros. Financial Services. For more information about Ritchie Bros., visit RitchieBros.com.

Photos and video for embedding in media stories are available at rbauction.com/media.

Forward-Looking Statements

This communication contains information relating to a proposed business combination transaction between Ritchie Bros. Auctioneers Incorporated ("RBA") and IAA, Inc. ("IAA"). This communication includes forward-looking information within the meaning of Canadian securities legislation and forward-looking statements within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933, as amended, and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended (collectively, "forward-looking statements"). Forward-looking statements may include statements relating to future events and anticipated results of operations, business strategies, the anticipated benefits of the proposed IAA transaction, the anticipated impact of the proposed IAA transaction on the combined company's business and future financial and operating results, the expected or estimated amount, achievability, sources, impact and timing of cost synergies and revenue, EBITDA, growth, operational enhancement, expansion and other value creation opportunities from the proposed IAA transaction, the expected debt, de-leveraging, cash flow generation and capital allocation of the combined company, the anticipated closing date for the proposed IAA transaction, other aspects of RBA's or IAA's respective businesses, operations, financial condition or operating results and other statements that are not historical facts. There can be no assurance that the proposed IAA transaction will in fact be consummated. These forward-looking statements generally can be identified by phrases such as "will," "should," "expects," "plans," "anticipates," "could," "can," "intends," "target," "goal," "projects," "contemplates," "believes," "predicts," "potential," "continue," "foresees," "forecasts," "estimates," "opportunity" or other words or phrases of similar import.

It is uncertain whether any of the events anticipated by the forward-looking statements will transpire or occur, or if any of them do, what impact they will have on the results of operations and financial condition of the combined companies or the price of RBA's common shares or IAA's common stock. Therefore, you should not place undue reliance on any such statements and caution must be exercised in relying on forward-looking statements. While RBA's and IAA's management believe the assumptions underlying the forward-looking statements are reasonable, these forward-looking statements involve certain risks and uncertainties, many of which are beyond the parties' control, that could cause actual results to differ materially from those indicated in such forward-looking statements, including but not limited to: the possibility that shareholders of RBA may not approve the issuance of new common shares of RBA in the transaction or that stockholders of IAA may not approve the adoption of the merger agreement; the risk that a condition to closing of the proposed IAA transaction may not be satisfied (or waived), that either party may terminate the merger agreement or that the closing of the proposed IAA transaction might be delayed or not occur at all; the anticipated tax treatment of the proposed IAA transaction; potential adverse reactions or changes to business or employee relationships, including those resulting from the announcement or completion of the proposed IAA transaction; the diversion of management time on transaction-related issues; the response of competitors to the proposed IAA transaction; the ultimate difficulty, timing, cost and results of integrating the operations of RBA and IAA; the effects of the business combination of RBA and IAA, including the combined company's future financial condition, results of operations, strategy and plans; the failure (or delay) to receive the required regulatory approval of the transaction; the fact that operating costs and business disruption may be greater than expected following the public announcement or consummation of the proposed IAA transaction; the effect of the announcement, pendency or consummation of the proposed IAA transaction on the trading price of RBA's common shares or IAA's common stock; the ability of RBA and/or IAA to retain and hire key personnel and employees; the significant costs associated with the proposed IAA transaction; the outcome of any legal proceedings that could be instituted against RBA, IAA and/or others relating to the proposed IAA transaction; restrictions during the pendency of the proposed IAA transaction that may impact the ability of RBA and/or IAA to pursue non-ordinary course transactions, including certain business opportunities or strategic transactions; the ability of the combined company to realize anticipated synergies in the amount, manner or timeframe expected or at all; the failure of the combined company to realize potential revenue, EBITDA, growth, operational enhancement, expansion or other value creation opportunities from the sources or in the amount, manner or timeframe expected or at all; the failure of the trading multiple of the combined company to normalize or re-rate and other fluctuations in such trading multiple; changes in capital markets and the ability of the combined company to generate cash flow and/or finance operations in the manner expected or to de-lever in the timeframe expected; the failure of RBA or the combined company to meet financial forecasts and/or KPI targets; any legal impediment to the payment of the special dividend by RBA, including TSX consent to the dividend record date; legislative, regulatory and economic developments affecting the business of RBA and IAA; general economic and market developments and conditions; the evolving legal, regulatory and tax regimes under which RBA and IAA operates; unpredictability and severity of catastrophic events, including, but not limited to, pandemics, acts of terrorism or outbreak of war or hostilities, as well as RBA's or IAA's response to any of the aforementioned factors. These risks, as well as other risks related to the proposed IAA transaction, are included in the Registration Statement (as defined below) and joint proxy statement/prospectus filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission (the "SEC") and applicable Canadian securities regulatory authorities in connection with the proposed IAA transaction. While the list of factors presented here is, and the list of factors presented in the Registration Statement are, considered representative, no such list should be considered to be a complete statement of all potential risks and uncertainties.

For additional information about other factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those described in the forward-looking statements, please refer to RBA's and IAA's respective periodic reports and other filings with the SEC and/or applicable Canadian securities regulatory authorities, including the risk factors identified in RBA's most recent Quarterly Reports on Form 10-Q and Annual Report on Form 10-K and IAA's most recent Quarterly Reports on Form 10-Q and Annual Report on Form 10-K. The forward-looking statements included in this communication are made only as of the date hereof. Neither RBA nor IAA undertakes any obligation to update any forward-looking statements to reflect actual results, new information, future events, changes in its expectations or other circumstances that exist after the date as of which the forward-looking statements were made, except as required by law.

No Offer or Solicitation

This communication is not intended to and shall not constitute an offer to buy or sell or the solicitation of an offer to buy or sell any securities, or a solicitation of any vote or approval, nor shall there be any offer, solicitation or sale of securities in any jurisdiction in which such offer, solicitation or sale would be unlawful prior to registration or qualification under the securities laws of any such jurisdiction. No offer of securities shall be made except by means of a prospectus meeting the requirements of Section 10 of the U.S. Securities Act of 1933, as amended, or pursuant to an exemption from, or in a transaction not subject to, such registration requirements.

Important Additional Information and Where to Find It

In connection with the proposed IAA transaction, RBA filed with the SEC and applicable Canadian securities regulatory authorities a registration statement on Form S-4 to register the common shares of RBA to be issued in connection with the proposed IAA transaction on December 14, 2022 (the "Initial Registration Statement"), as amended by Amendment No. 1 and Amendment No. 2 to the Initial Registration Statement filed with the SEC and applicable Canadian securities regulatory authorities on February 1, 2023 and February 9, 2023, respectively (together with the Initial Registration Statement, the "Registration Statement"). The Registration Statement was declared effective by the SEC on February 10, 2023. The Registration Statement includes a joint proxy statement/prospectus which will be sent to the shareholders of RBA and stockholders of IAA seeking their approval of their respective transaction-related proposals. Each of RBA and IAA may also file other relevant documents with the SEC and/or applicable Canadian securities regulatory authorities regarding the proposed IAA transaction. This document is not a substitute for the proxy statement/prospectus or Registration Statement or any other document that RBA or IAA may file with the SEC and/or applicable Canadian securities regulatory authorities. INVESTORS AND SECURITY HOLDERS ARE URGED TO READ THE REGISTRATION STATEMENT ON FORM S-4 AND THE RELATED JOINT PROXY STATEMENT/PROSPECTUS, AS WELL AS ANY AMENDMENTS OR SUPPLEMENTS TO THOSE DOCUMENTS AND ANY OTHER RELEVANT DOCUMENTS FILED OR TO BE FILED WITH THE SEC AND APPLICABLE CANADIAN SECURITIES REGULATORY AUTHORITIES IN CONNECTION WITH THE PROPOSED IAA TRANSACTION OR INCORPORATED BY REFERENCE IN THE PROXY STATEMENT/PROSPECTUS, CAREFULLY AND IN THEIR ENTIRETY IF AND WHEN THEY BECOME AVAILABLE, BECAUSE THEY CONTAIN OR WILL CONTAIN IMPORTANT INFORMATION ABOUT RBA, IAA AND THE PROPOSED IAA TRANSACTION.

Investors and security holders may obtain copies of these documents (when they are available) free of charge through the website maintained by the SEC at www.sec.gov, SEDAR at www.sedar.com or from RBA at its website, investor.ritchiebros.com, or from IAA at its website, investors.iaai.com. Documents filed with the SEC and applicable Canadian securities regulatory authorities by RBA (when they are available) will be available free of charge by accessing RBA's website at investor.ritchiebros.com under the heading Financials/SEC Filings, or, alternatively, by directing a request by telephone or mail to RBA at 9500 Glenlyon Parkway, Burnaby, BC, V5J 0C6, Canada, and documents filed with the SEC by IAA (when they are available) will be available free of charge by accessing IAA's website at investors.iaai.com or by contacting IAA's Investor Relations at [email protected].

Participants in the Solicitation

RBA and IAA, certain of their respective directors and executive officers and other members of management and employees, and Jeffrey C. Smith and potentially other Starboard employees, may be deemed to be participants in the solicitation of proxies from the stockholders of RBA and IAA in respect of the proposed IAA transaction under the rules of the SEC. Information about RBA's directors and executive officers is available in RBA's definitive proxy statement on Schedule 14A for its 2022 Annual Meeting of Shareholders, which was filed with the SEC and applicable Canadian securities regulatory authorities on March 15, 2022, and certain of its Current Reports on Form 8-K. Information about IAA's directors and executive officers is available in IAA's definitive proxy statement on Schedule 14A for its 2022 Annual Meeting of Stockholders, which was filed with the SEC on May 2, 2022, and certain of its Current Reports on Form 8-K. Other information regarding persons who may be deemed participants in the proxy solicitation and a description of their direct and indirect interests, by security holdings or otherwise, including information with respect to Mr. Smith, are contained or will be contained in the joint proxy statement/prospectus and other relevant materials filed or to be filed with the SEC and applicable Canadian securities regulatory authorities regarding the proposed IAA transaction when they become available. Investors should read the joint proxy statement/prospectus carefully before making any voting or investment decisions. You may obtain free copies of these documents from RBA or IAA free of charge using the sources indicated above.

Ritchie Bros. Contacts

Investors

Sameer Rathod Vice President, Investor Relations & Market Intelligence

(510) 381-7584

[email protected]

Media

Barrett Golden / Lucas Pers / Haley Salas

Joele Frank, Wilkinson Brimmer Katcher

(212) 355-4449

__________________________ i Permission to use quotes neither sought nor obtained

SOURCE Ritchie Bros. Auctioneers
NEW YORK, March 2, 2023 /PRNewswire/ --

WHY: Rosen Law Firm, a global investor rights law firm, continues to investigate 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.
BALTIMORE, March 3, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Later this year, the nation's largest off-price retail chain, Ross Dress for Less  ("Ross") will occupy approximately 21,000 square feet at Lansdowne Station in the Arbutus neighborhood of Halethorpe, MD. Ross provides customers a constant stream of first-quality brands at extraordinary savings in a convenient and easy to shop environment. Shoppers will find brand name apparel, accessories, footwear, and home fashions at 20% to 60% off department and specialty store regular prices. Ross Dress for Less currently has almost 1,700 locations across 40 states, the District of Columbia and Guam.

Lansdowne Station is a trade area dominant retail center with convenient access to I-95, I-695 and I-895. The site has 190,000 square feet of Retail Space and 55,000 square feet of Office Space.

"Ross is a terrific new addition to Lansdowne Station as a prominent anchor with a track record of demonstrated success" said Ken Bernstein, Senior Vice President of Retail Leasing at David S. Brown Enterprises. "We are happy to bring another national retailer to the center and look forward to a long lasting partnership."

Lansdowne Station is a trade area dominant retail center with convenient access to I-95, I-695 and I-895. The site has 190,000 square feet of Retail Space and 55,000 square feet of Office Space. This thriving mixed use project includes tenants such as Walmart Supercenter, Petco, Dollar Tree, LA Fitness , Chick-fil-A, IHOP, Aspen Dental, Panda Express and a host of restaurants and retail businesses.

About David S. Brown Enterprises, LTD.

Established in 1933 and headquartered in Owings Mills, Maryland, we are a full-service real estate company. Our mission is to serve our community through socially conscious development, high-quality construction, and innovative design. For additional information, please visit www.davidsbrown.com.

SOURCE David S. Brown Enterprises, LTD.
DALLAS, March 3, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Argent Trust Company, as Trustee of the Sabine Royalty Trust (NYSE: SBR), today declared a cash distribution to the holders of its units of beneficial interest of $0.465470 per unit, payable on March 29, 2023, to unit holders of record on March 15, 2023. Sabine's cash distribution history, current and prior year financial reports and tax information booklets, a link to filings made with the Securities and Exchange Commission and more can be found on its website at http://www.sbr-sabine.com/. Additionally, printed reports can be requested and are mailed free of charge.

This distribution reflects primarily the oil production for December 2022 and the gas production for November 2022. Preliminary production volumes are approximately 41,257 barrels of oil and 978,107 Mcf of gas. Preliminary prices are approximately $76.76 per barrel of oil and $4.72 per Mcf of gas.

This month's distribution is lower than the previous month's primarily due to decreased production due to the timing of receipts through the end of the month as compared to the previous month's timing of receipts, including a decrease in both oil and gas pricing.

The production from all the new horizontal gas wells in Panola County, Texas, has contributed approximately $1,230,000 reflecting October production including the recent new wells. All volumes and pricing are included in the tables below.

Additionally, for the other three horizontal wells, also in Panola County, there were no receipts posted for this month's distribution.

As more regular monthly receipts are made in the months to come, additional information will be made available.

The table below compares this month's production and prices to the previous month's:





Net to Trust Sales







Volumes

Average Price



Oil (bbls)

Gas (Mcf)

Oil (per bbl)

Gas (per Mcf)

















Current Month

41,257

978,107

$76.76

$4.72

















Prior Month

49,802

1,121,523

$84.75

$5.53









































Revenues are only distributed after they are received, verified, and posted. Most energy companies normally issue payment of royalties on or about the 25th of every month, and depending on mail delivery, a varying amount of royalties are not received until after the revenue posting on the last business day of the month. The revenues received after that date will be posted within 30 days of receipt.

Due to the timing of the end of the month of February, approximately $2,894,000 of revenue received will be posted in the following month of March in addition to normal receipts during March. Since the close of business in February and prior to this press release, $258,000 in revenue has been received.

The 2022 tax information packets will begin mailing directly to unitholders this week. A copy of Sabine's 2022 tax information booklet is now available on Sabine's website. In addition to the tax booklet the Sabine website will also offers two simple calculators for computing the income and expense amounts and the cost depletion. The calculators have been updated with the 2022 tax information.

The 2021 Annual Report with Form 10-K and the January 1, 2022 Reserve Summary are available on the Sabine website at http://www.sbr-sabine.com/.

SOURCE Sabine Royalty Trust
SAN DIEGO, March 3, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- On World Wildlife Day, San Diego Zoo Wildlife Alliance (SDZWA) is proud to celebrate our nearly 500 partnerships across 17 countries that support the values of this special United Nations' day recognizing vulnerable plants and animals  and the people working together to save them amid changing landscapes.

"We collaborate with people, communities, corporations, NGOs, and governments, all of whom share our mission to save species and ecosystems, and our vision for a world where all life thrives," said SDZWA President and CEO Paul A. Baribault. "We approach all our efforts and partnerships with the critical understanding that collaboration is fundamental for effective and sustainable conservation action."

"Partnerships for Wildlife Conservation" is the theme of this year's World Wildlife Day, which also is a celebration of CITES, the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of wild fauna and flora, which was signed 50 years ago today. SDZWA is celebrating two years of adding "Wildlife Alliance" to its title, emphasizing the importance of its conservation partnerships.

"San Diego Zoo Wildlife Alliance partnerships are a living and growing representation of what CITES stands for, and those involved with its inception hoped to achieve," Baribault said. "From the savannas of Kenya to the Amazonian forests to classrooms in Hawai'i, our network of global conservation partners makes our collective work possible."

Here are just some of our thriving partnerships:

Community Partnerships in Northern Kenya

SDZWA supports and empowers local people and leaders in community-led conservation. Our partnerships prioritize inclusive participation in conservation activities and decisions, so that we can work to protect biodiversity while elevating and supporting community needs and goals.

Collaborations and Results:

Chui Mamas ("Leopard Mothers") is a community-based women's organization founded and led by local women. We are partnering with Chui Mamas and Loisaba Conservancy to build the Chui Mamas Center, a headquarters for over 300 women from the surrounding community conservancies. The center will support local enterprise and conservation planning, mirroring the goals of our partnership to enhance capacity and income opportunities linked to wildlife and habitat conservation.

is a community-based women's organization founded and led by local women. We are partnering with Chui Mamas and Loisaba Conservancy to build the Chui Mamas Center, a headquarters for over 300 women from the surrounding community conservancies. The center will support local enterprise and conservation planning, mirroring the goals of our partnership to enhance capacity and income opportunities linked to wildlife and habitat conservation. SDZWA is supporting Grevy's Zebra Trust to expand their Healing Rangelands program, which works to revitalize local grazing management and rangeland restoration. Partnering to restore healthy rangelands benefits livestock-based livelihoods, provides better water access for zebras, and advances protection of natural spaces for all who depend on them.

to expand their Healing Rangelands program, which works to revitalize local grazing management and rangeland restoration. Partnering to restore healthy rangelands benefits livestock-based livelihoods, provides better water access for zebras, and advances protection of natural spaces for all who depend on them. Lion Governors is an Ewaso Lions program designed to empower former Samburu warriors who recently became elders to mentor younger men in their communities in the coexistence work they have been leading for years - creating conservation continuity through generational knowledge and skill transfer and engagement in conservation across age sets. SDZWA supports Lion Governors as they respond to lion conflict, monitor lions, and stimulate dialogue around lion conservation, which together promote coexistence with wildlife and the well-being of both people and animals across communities.

program designed to empower former Samburu warriors who recently became elders to mentor younger men in their communities in the coexistence work they have been leading for years - creating conservation continuity through generational knowledge and skill transfer and engagement in conservation across age sets. SDZWA supports Lion Governors as they respond to lion conflict, monitor lions, and stimulate dialogue around lion conservation, which together promote coexistence with wildlife and the well-being of both people and animals across communities. Our partnership with Kenya Wildlife Service and Northern Rangelands Trust is a collaboration to integrate conservation science, wildlife health and wildlife care into conservation management. Through our shared initiatives, we work to foster human-wildlife coexistence and sustainable wildlife population management. We also participate in mutual exchange of technical expertise and training opportunities, focused on improved health for both wild animals and those being cared for. With projects including addressing giraffe habitat needs with conservancies and understanding elephant behavioral ecology, we advance our shared goal to protect wildlife across their native habitats.

Partnerships with Teachers and Students in Hawai'i

Engaging science teachers and students with scientifically relevant and culturally significant curricular activities to inspire interest in conservation of endemic wildlife.

Collaborations and Results:

SDZWA partners with schools on Hawai'i Island for the 'Alala Reintroduction Community Inquiry Program, which empowers students to ask and investigate original questions focused on the 'alala (Hawaiian crow). The program not only equips teachers with conservation education resources, but it also enhances students' critical thinking skills and interest in STEM and conservation careers. Further, the program inspires participants to appreciate their unique natural heritage, encouraging teachers, students, and their communities to advocate for its preservation and protection.

Our Hawai'i Teacher Workshops in Conservation Science engage formal and informal educators on Hawai'i Island and Maui in a free professional development program. During these workshops, we partner with educators to frame content standards in the context of wildlife conservation, making biodiversity relevant in the classroom and in students' lives. Since 2018, we have worked with over 50 teachers in Hawai'i; they, in turn, inspire thousands of students to make a difference through conservation.

engage formal and informal educators on Hawai'i Island and in a free professional development program. During these workshops, we partner with educators to frame content standards in the context of wildlife conservation, making biodiversity relevant in the classroom and in students' lives. Since 2018, we have worked with over 50 teachers in Hawai'i; they, in turn, inspire thousands of students to make a difference through conservation. These workshops are an extension of our San Diego -based Teacher Workshops in Conservation Science program, which has welcomed more than 1,700 national and international teachers as partners since 2006.

Partnerships in Academia

SDZWA combines our diverse skills, expertise and resources to collaboratively advance multi-faceted conservation projects that target species facing growing threats at the human-wildlife interface.

Collaborations and Results:

We partner with California Mountain Lion Project through the University of California, Davis , to address modern threats to mountain lions. Together, we are navigating noninvasive methods to support human-wildlife coexistence and safely deter mountain lions from livestock, pets and people  thus protecting both human and animal lives. Our San Diego Zoo Safari Park Biodiversity Reserve provides 900 acres on which we can better understand mountain lions; we leverage our expertise in wildlife movement, tracking, and behavior to measure the needs of wild cats and their adaptability to shared ecosystems.

Government Partnerships in Peru

SDZWA assists National Service of Natural Areas Protected by the State (SERNANP) in safeguarding and managing protected areas and threatened species through collaborative research projects, capacity building, and the development of monitoring and action plans.

Collaborations and Results:

SDZWA contributed to the development of the official jaguar monitoring protocol to be used by SERNANP, the Peruvian national parks service, at Tambopata National Reserve. Together with SERNANP, we have also launched a human-jaguar coexistence survey to study the interactions between jaguars and thousands of people in rural Amazonian villages. This survey is the largest-ever of its kind and will provide us with crucial information for developing strategies to reduce conflicts with jaguars, benefitting jaguar conservation, communities and surrounding wildlife.

Working with SERNANP, we applied our expertise in conservation science to develop the official monitoring plans for mountain tapir and Andean bear at Peru's Tabaconas Namballe National Sanctuary. Our partnership will implement the first wildlife surveys in the area in 2023.

International Partnerships

SDZWA contributes to broadscale, worldwide efforts to exchange learnings, advance knowledge and galvanize conservation action. The breadth of these partnerships allows us to engage people across sectors and communities.

Collaborations and Results:

SDZWA team members collaborate with hundreds of scientists and wildlife professionals around the world through the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Species Survival Commission . Our team serves on multiple Specialist Groups, ranging in taxa (e.g., orchid, crocodile, bear) and theme (e.g., animal biobanking, conservation planning). These partnerships magnify our collective impact by enabling information exchange and synergizing our activities and approaches.

. Our team serves on multiple Specialist Groups, ranging in taxa (e.g., orchid, crocodile, bear) and theme (e.g., animal biobanking, conservation planning). These partnerships magnify our collective impact by enabling information exchange and synergizing our activities and approaches. Our partnership with Reverse the Red ignites cooperation to halt biodiversity decline. As an executive committee member, SDZWA is helping guide collaborators to achieve conservation goals; we gather and share tools to drive conservation optimism and efforts worldwide. We also adopt Reverse the Red messaging throughout SDZWA communications, engaging our audiences in the power of collaboration and encouraging them to be partners for conservation.

About San Diego Zoo Wildlife Alliance

San Diego Zoo Wildlife Alliance is a nonprofit international conservation leader, committed to inspiring a passion for nature and creating a world where all life thrives. The Alliance empowers people from around the globe to support their mission to conserve wildlife through innovation and partnerships. San Diego Zoo Wildlife Alliance supports cutting-edge conservation and brings the stories of their work back to the San Diego Zoo and San Diego Zoo Safari Parkgiving millions of guests, in person and virtually, the opportunity to experience conservation in action. The work of San Diego Zoo Wildlife Alliance extends from San Diego to strategic and regional conservation "hubs" across the globe, where their strengthsvia their "Conservation Toolbox," including the renowned Wildlife Biodiversity Bankare able to effectively align with hundreds of regional partners to improve outcomes for wildlife in more coordinated efforts. By leveraging these tools in wildlife care and conservation science, and through collaboration with hundreds of partners, San Diego Zoo Wildlife Alliance has reintroduced more than 44 endangered species to native habitats. Each year, San Diego Zoo Wildlife Alliance's work reaches over 1 billion people in 150 countries via news media, social media, their websites, educational resources and the Wildlife Explorers Kids channel, which is in children's hospitals in 13 countries. Success is made possible by the support of members, donors and guests to the San Diego Zoo and San Diego Zoo Safari Park, who are Wildlife Allies committed to ensuring all life thrives.

CONTACT:

San Diego Zoo Wildlife Alliance

Public Relations

619-685-3291

[email protected]

WEBSITE:

www.sdzwa.org

SOURCE San Diego Zoo Wildlife Alliance
DETROIT, March 3, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Building a culture of belonging makes schools and communities stronger. On Feb. 25, Meridian of Michigan and Faith Redemption Center/SW MI AGAPE Ecclesiastical Jurisdiction Youth Department celebrated a positive prevention initiative designed to promote inclusion among school-age children in Detroit.

Azaria and Jamel Barksdale attended No One Eats Alone Day at Faith Redemption Center, a positive prevention initiative designed to promote inclusion among school-age children in Detroit. The day's events were hosted by Meridian and promoted the importance of being kind to peers, meeting new friends, eating lunch together and combating social isolation. The theme for No One Eats Alone Day focused on "My Recipe for Empathy" and explored the root of social isolation by teaching students about empathy to build connection and belonging.

Representatives from Meridian hosted an event in honor of No One Eats Alone Day, created by the nonprofit Beyond Differences. Youths ranging in age from 6-17 participated in activities designed to teach them about social isolation and the negative impact it can have on health and academic performance. Under the guidance of adult volunteers, children participated in several activities which promoted being kind to their peers, meeting new friends, eating lunch together and combating social isolation. The theme was "My Recipe for Empathy."

Several other youth organizations and schools have also signed up to participate in No One Eats Alone Day. In March, four Detroit Parks and Recreation centers as well as the Boys & Girls Club/Baseline Middle School in South Haven, MI, and the Boys & Girls Club/South Haven High School will hold events to teach kids the importance of being kind.

"At Meridian, we're committed to helping children lead healthier lives, and that includes educating and empowering youth to promote inclusion," said Patricia Graham, Plan President and CEO in Michigan. "We are proud to partner with Beyond Difference to celebrate No One Eats Alone Day and give students in Michigan the tools they need to remain focused on their health and social lives."

"This year's No One Eats Alone lesson plans get to the root of social isolation by teaching students about empathy to build connection and belonging," said Laura Talmus, co-founder and executive director of Beyond Differences. "Our Social-Emotional Learning (SEL) Teacher's Guide also includes FIRE: Fostering Immigrant + Refugee Empowerment, a featured curriculum from our National Teen Board of high school students who have first-hand experience with these struggles and created exercises and activities to promote acceptance and belonging for these communities."

Faith Redemption Center/SW MI AGAPE Ecclesiastical Jurisdiction Youth Department joined thousands of community-based organizations and schools across the country that celebrated No One Eats Alone Day. The initiative reached more than 1 million students in all 50 states. Faith Redemption has been a community-based partner with Meridian for three years and regularly hosts community health fairs and other events.

No One Eats Alone Day is sponsored by the Centene Charitable Foundation.

About Meridian

Meridian in Michigan provides government-sponsored managed care services to families, children, seniors, and individuals with complex medical needs primarily through Medicaid (Meridian), Medicare Advantage and Medicare Prescription Drug Plans (Wellcare), Medicare-Medicaid Plans (MeridianComplete), and the Health Insurance Marketplace (Ambetter from Meridian). Meridian is a wholly owned subsidiary of Centene Corporation, a leading healthcare enterprise committed to helping people live healthier lives. For more information about Meridian, please visit mimeridian.com.

About Beyond Differences

Nonprofit Beyond Differences' mission is to inspire students to end social isolation in middle schools and create a culture of belonging for everyone. Founded in 2010, Beyond Differences has created year-round programs to tackle a wide range of issues that lead to social isolation, including Know Your Classmates with lessons that focus on Stand Up for AAPI Youth, No One Eats Alone and Be Kind Online. All curriculum and activity kits are provided free for schools. Currently, more than 9,500 schools use Beyond Differences programs and materials. For more information, visit nooneeatsalone.org.

SOURCE Meridian of Michigan
KENNEWICK, Wash., March 3, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Senske Services, a leading provider of recurring residential lawn care, pest control, and other home services, is pleased to announce the acquisition of Liqui-Lawn. Located in Longmont, Colorado, Liqui-Lawn has been providing professional lawn care to customers in Longmont, Boulder and Loveland since 1975.

When Liqui-Lawn owner Ed Gollaher began contemplating retirement, he searched out a partner that would take care of his customers and employees. He found that partner in Senske Services. Per Gollaher "Senske was the right choice and their team made the selling process easy. I have no doubt that Liqui-Lawn customers and employees are in good hands."

Current employees have joined the Senske team and will service customers from the Longmont location. Services will continue for customers uninterrupted with expanded offerings such as tree care and pest control.

This is the sixth acquisition that Senske has completed in the state of Colorado since entering the market in 2020. "Adding Liqui-Lawn to Senske sets us up to expand further north of Denver," said Casey Taylor, CEO, Senske Services. "As we expand our reach across the country, our newly added team members will enable us to maintain our position as industry leaders by delivering exceptional customer service and expertise."

More on Senske's M&A process can be found at www.senske.com/why-senske/mergers-and-acquisitions/ or by reaching out directly to our M&A team.

SOURCE Senske Lawn & Tree Care Inc
NEW YORK, March 3, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Pomerantz LLP announces that a class action lawsuit has been filed against Honda Motor Co., Ltd. (NYSE: HMC), and certain officers. The class action, filed in the United States District Court for the Central District of California, and docketed under 23-cv-00794, is on behalf of a class consisting of all persons and entities other than Defendants that purchased or otherwise acquired Honda American Depository Shares ("ADSs") between June 20, 2018 and September 28, 2022, both dates inclusive (the "Class Period"), seeking to recover damages caused by Defendants' violations of the federal securities laws and to pursue remedies under Sections 10(b) and 20(a) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 (the "Exchange Act") and Rule 10b-5 promulgated thereunder, against the Company and certain of its top officials.

If you are a shareholder who purchased or otherwise acquired Honda ADSs securities during the Class Period, you have until April 3, 2023 to ask the Court to appoint you as Lead Plaintiff for the class. A copy of the Complaint can be obtained at www.pomerantzlaw.com. To discuss this action, contact Robert S. Willoughby at [email protected] or 888.476.6529 (or 888.4-POMLAW), toll-free, Ext. 7980. Those who inquire by e-mail are encouraged to include their mailing address, telephone number, and the number of shares purchased.

[Click here for information about joining the class action]

Honda is a multinational conglomerate manufacturer of automobiles, motorcycles and power equipment. The Company's U.S.-based operations are conducted through its North American subsidiary, American Honda Motor Company, Inc. ("American Honda").

Certain of Honda's vehiclesincluding the 2018-2020MY Honda Odyssey, 2016-2020MY Honda Pilot, 2019-2020MY Honda Passport, 2015-2020MY Acura TLX, and 2015-2020MY Acura MDXinclude a so-called "Idle Stop" engine feature, purportedly to enhance fuel efficiency. In marketing these vehicles, Honda and/or its subsidiaries have highlighted the Idle Stop system's purported capacity to automatically shut off a vehicle's engine to save fuel when the vehicle brakes to a stop for at least two secondsfor example, at a traffic lightand to automatically restart the engine when the driver releases the vehicle's brake pedal.

The complaint alleges that, Throughout the Class Period, Defendants made materially false and misleading statements regarding the Company's business, operations, and compliance policies. Specifically, Defendants made false and/or misleading statements and/or failed to disclose that: (i) Honda had overstated the safety and effectiveness of the Idle Stop engine feature; (ii) Honda maintained deficient disclosure controls and procedures with respect to product quality and safety; (iii) as a result of the foregoing deficiencies, Honda failed to prevent American Honda from marketing and selling thousands of vehicles that contained a defective Idle Stop feature; (iv) the foregoing conduct subjected the Company and/or its subsidiaries to a heightened risk of litigation, as well as financial and/or reputational harm; and (v) as a result, the Company's public statements were materially false and misleading at all relevant times.

On September 28, 2022, a putative class action was filed against American Honda alleging that it had sold thousands of vehiclesincluding the 2018-2020 Honda Odyssey, 2016-2020 Honda Pilot, 2019-2020 Honda Passport, 2015-2020 Acura TLX, and 2015-2020 Acura MDXequipped with a flawed Idle Stop feature.[1] Per the allegations in the class action complaint, after initially shutting off a vehicle's engine, the Idle Stop system in the affected vehicles routinely fails to restart the engine as designed, leaving drivers unable to move their vehicles. The lawsuit further alleges that American Honda was fully aware of the defect before marketing the vehicles. [[1] Cooper et al v. American Honda Motor Co., Inc., No. 1:22-cv-05299 (N.D. Ill.)]

On this news, Honda's ADS price fell $0.74 per share, or 3.23%, to close at $22.19 per ADS on September 29, 2022.

Pomerantz LLP, with offices in New York, Chicago, Los Angeles, London, Paris, and Tel Aviv, is acknowledged as one of the premier firms in the areas of corporate, securities, and antitrust class litigation. Founded by the late Abraham L. Pomerantz, known as the dean of the class action bar, Pomerantz pioneered the field of securities class actions. Today, more than 85 years later, Pomerantz continues in the tradition he established, fighting for the rights of the victims of securities fraud, breaches of fiduciary duty, and corporate misconduct. The Firm has recovered numerous multimillion-dollar damages awards on behalf of class members. See www.pomlaw.com

CONTACT:

Robert S. Willoughby

Pomerantz LLP

[email protected]

888-476-6529 ext. 7980

SOURCE Pomerantz LLP
" Filing of this Technical Report marks a major milestone for both the RC Gold Project and Sitka", stated Cor Coe, P.Geo, Director and CEO of Sitka Gold. " This 1,340,000 gold resource at RC Gold will provide Sitka with an important new benchmark for valuation which we intend to leverage as we work toward growing this Mineral Resource. With our 2023 winter diamond drilling program beginning soon, we expect to see meaningful advancement at RC Gold over the coming months with drilling primarily focused on expanding both the Blackjack and Eiger gold deposits, which remain open in all directions (see Figure 1). A 1.5 kilometre long mineralized corridor still remains between these deposits with the potential for gold mineralization to link the Blackjack and Eiger zones together (see Figures 1 and 2). With an average grade similar to that of Victoria Gold's nearby producing Eagle Gold Mine, metallurgical testing that shows the gold is amenable to heap leaching, with recoveries of up to 94%, year-round road access and proximity to other key infrastructure such as powerlines, highway and Dawson City proper, the potential for future mine development at RC Gold is quite attractive."

As announced on January 19, 2023 the pit-constrained Mineral Resource is classified as inferred and contained in two near/on-surface zones: The Blackjack and Eiger deposits. The Mineral Resource estimate is presented in the following table at a base case cut-off grade of 0.25 g/t Au:

COG g/t

Au Blackjack Zone

Eiger Zone

Combined Tonnes

000's Au g/t 0z Au

000's

Tonnes

000's Au g/t 0z Au

000's

Tonnes

000's Au g/t 0z Au

000's 0.20 35,798 0.80 921

32,523 0.45 471

68,321 0.63 1,391 0.25 33,743 0.83 900

27,362 0.50 440

61,105 0.68 1,340 0.30 31,282 0.88 885

22,253 0.55 393

53,535 0.74 1,279 0.35 29,065 0.92 860

17,817 0.60 344

46,882 0.80 1,203 0.40 26,975 0.96 833

14,506 0.66 308

41,481 0.86 1,140



Notes 1. Mineral resource estimate prepared by Ronald G. Simpson of GeoSim Services Inc. with an effective date of January 19, 2023. Mineral Resources are classified using the 2014 CIM Definition Standards. 2. The cut-off grade of 0.25 g/t Au is believed to provide a reasonable margin over operating and sustaining costs for open-pit mining and processing 3. Mineral resources are constrained by an optimized pit shell using the following assumptions: US$1800/oz Au price; a 45 pit slope; assumed metallurgical recovery of 85%; mining costs of US$2.00 per tonne; processing costs of US$8.00 per tonne; G&A of US$1.50/t. 4. Mineral resources are not mineral reserves and do not have demonstrated economic viability. 5. Totals may not sum due to rounding.

The resource estimate is based on analytical data from 34 drill holes representing 11,630m of drilling.

The Blackjack and Eiger zones are typified by intrusion-hosted mineralization within the 2 km x 500 metre extensional corridor (see news release dated June 13, 2022) that provides a structural and genetic link between the Blackjack zone and Eiger zone intrusions (see Figure 2). The Blackjack and Eiger deposits remain open in all directions and have excellent potential for resource expansion. The Saddle zone, located midway between the Blackjack and Eiger is characterised by metasedimentary rocks intruded by dykes and sills. This zone remains relatively untested but contains significant mineralization with the potential to add additional resources as demonstrated by drill hole DDRCCC20-01 which returned 0.52 g/t gold over 84.8 m from surface and DDRCCC21-19 which intersected 80.0 m grading 0.59 g/t gold from 48.0 m depth that included 16.0 m grading 2.18 g/t gold (see news releases dated November 23, 2020 and January 20, 2022 respectively).

Drilling at the RC Gold project has been planned to provide Sitka geologists with a solid database of drilling data to understand controls on mineralization observed in both intrusive and metasedimentary host rocks while also providing the necessary spatial density to generate the initial resource estimate. Assay results from drilling along with structural information obtained from oriented drilling, data from detailed core logging, geological mapping, reprocessed Lidar data and interpretation of an airborne magnetic geophysical survey have been instrumental in forming the basis for targeting high priority areas within the RC Gold Project, including the discovery of the Backjack and Eiger deposits. This methodology will continue to form the basis for future exploration work on the RC Gold Project. The 2023 drilling program will be focused on expansion drilling at the Blackjack and Eiger deposits and will consist of both a winter and summer phase with up to 10,000 metres of drilling planned. Mobilization is currently underway at RC Gold and winter diamond drilling is planned to commence in the next couple of weeks.

Quality assurance/quality control

On receipt from the drill site, the HQ-sized drill core was systematically logged for geological attributes, photographed and sampled at Sitka's 2022 field camp. Sample lengths as small as 0.3 m were used to isolate features of interest, otherwise a default 2 m downhole sample length was used. Core was cut in half lengthwise along a predetermined line, with one-half (same half, consistently) collected for analysis and one-half stored as a record. Standard reference materials, blanks and duplicate samples were inserted by Sitka personnel at regular intervals into the sample stream. Bagged samples were placed in secure bins to ensure integrity during transport. They were delivered by Sitka personnel or a contract expeditor to ALS Laboratories' preparatory facility in Whitehorse, Yukon, with analyses completed in North Vancouver.

ALS is accredited to ISO 17025:2005 UKAS ref. 4028 for its laboratory analysis. Samples were crushed by ALS to over 70 per cent passing below two millimetres and split using a riffle splitter. One-thousand-gram splits were pulverized to over 85 per cent passing below 75 microns. Gold determinations are by fire assay with an inductively coupled plasma mass spectroscopy (ICP-MS) finish on 50 g subsamples of the prepared pulp (ALS code: Au-ICP-22). Any sample returning over 10 g/t Au was re-analyzed by fire assay with a gravimetric finish on a 50 g subsample (ALS code: Au-GRA21). In addition, a 51-element analysis was performed on a 0.5 g subsample of the prepared pulps by an aqua regia digestion followed by an inductively coupled plasma mass spectroscopy (ICP-MS) finish (ALS code: ME-MS41).

About the RC Gold Project

The RC Gold Project (RC Gold) consists of a 376 square kilometre contiguous district-scale land package located in the newly road accessible Clear Creek, Big Creek, and Sprague Creek districts in the heart of Yukon's Tombstone Gold Belt. It is the largest consolidated land package strategically positioned mid-way between Victoria Gold's Eagle Gold Mine - Yukon's newest gold mine which reached commercial production in the summer of 2020 - and Sabre Gold Mine's Brewery Creek Gold Mine. The RC Gold Project land package comprises five underlying properties, namely, the RC, Bee Bop, Mahtin, Clear Creek, and Barney Ridge properties*.

Several high priority intrusion related gold targets exist at RC Gold with nine outcropped intrusions identified to date over the 376 sq km property, however Sitka's main focus at the RC Gold Project has been on the underlying Clear Creek Property where a large 500 metre by 2000 metre intrusion related gold system covering the area over the Blackjack, Saddle and Eiger zones was identified. To date the Company has drilled 38 diamond drill holes into this system for a total of approximately 13,000 metres. This drilling culminated in the discovery of the Blackjack and Eiger deposits with an initial inferred mineral resource estimate of 1,340,000 gold ounces(1).

The Company has the right to acquire a 100% interest in the Clear Creek Property which hosts the Blackjack and Eiger deposits by paying $230,000 ($75,000 paid to date), issuing 600,000 shares (150,000 shares issued to date) and completing $1,250,000 in exploration over 5 years (~$6,500,000 exploration expenditures have been incurred to date). An additional $200,000 cash is payable and 1,000,000 shares issuable upon Sitka publicly disclosing an Inferred Mineral Resource or greater category of 750,000 ounces of gold or greater (as such term is defined in National Instrument 43-101 - Standards of Disclosure for Mineral Projects ("NI 43-101"). This cash payment of $200,000 has been made and 1,000,000 shares have been issued pursuant to the public announcement of an initial inferred mineral resource of 1,340,000 gold ounces (see news release dated January 19, 2023). The property is subject to a 2% NSR, one-half of which can be purchased for $1,500,000 at any time prior to commencement of commercial production (see news release dated July 6, 2020).

Sitka Gold inherited a wealth of historical and current data from these properties from work spanning the last 40 years. Recent exploration work and the compilation of historical data have defined several mineralized zones with both bulk tonnage, intrusion-related gold deposit targets and high-grade, vein- and breccia-hosted gold targets. The RC Gold Project also has a common border with Victoria Gold's Clear Creek property at its western boundary and Florin Resources' Florin Gold property at its northern boundary.

(1) Simpson, R. January 19, 2023. Clear Creek Property, RC Gold Project, NI 43-101 Technical Report, Dawson Mining District, Yukon Territory.

*For more detailed information on the underlying properties please visit our website at www.sitkagoldcorp.com.

Deposit Model

Exploration on the Property has mainly focused on identifying an intrusion-related gold system ("IRGS"). The property is part of the Tombstone Gold Belt which is the prominent host to IRGS deposits within the Tintina Gold Province in Yukon and Alaska. Notable deposits from the belt include: Fort Knox Mine in Alaska with current Proven and Probable Reserves of 230 million tonnes at 0.3 g/t Au (2.471 million ounces; Sims 2018)(1); Eagle Gold Mine with current Proven and Probable Reserves of 155 million tonnes at a diluted grade of 0.65 g/t Au at the Eagle and Olive deposits (3.261 million ounces; Goodwin et al. 2019)(2); the Brewery Creek deposit with current Indicated Mineral Resource of 22.2 million tonnes at a gold grade of 1.11 g/t (0.789 million ounces; Hulse et al. 2020)(3); the Florin Gold deposit, located adjacent to Sitka's RC Gold project, with a current Inferred Mineral Resource of 170.99 million tonnes grading 0.45 g/t (2.47 million ounces; Simpson 2021)(4) and the AurMac Project with an Inferred Mineral Resource of 207.0 million tonnes grading 0.60 gram per tonne gold (3.99 million ounces; Jutras 2022)(5).

(1) Sims J. Fort Knox Mine Fairbanks North Star Borough, Alaska, USA National Instrument 43-101 Technical Report. June 11, 2018. https://s2.q4cdn.com/496390694/files/doc_downloads/2018/Fort-Knox-June-2018-Technical-Report.pdf



(2) Goodwin R, Gray P, Jutras M, Tang S, Wilbur S. Technical Report for the Eagle Gold Mine, Yukon Territory, Canada. JDS Energy & Mining Inc. December 6, 2019.

https://vitgoldcorp.com/site/assets/files/6480/jds-vit-eagle-gold-ni-43-101-fs-report-20191206.pdf



(3) Hulse D, Emanuel C, Cook C. NI43-101 Technical Report on Mineral Resources. Gustavson Associates. May 31, 2020.

https://www.goldenpredator.com/_resources/Brewery-Creek_NI-43-101-05OCT2020-File.pdf



(4) Simpson R. Florin Gold Project NI43-101 Technical Report. Geosim Services Inc. April 21, 2021. https://sedar.com/GetFile.do?lang=EN&docClass=24&issuerNo=00005795&issuerType=03&projectNo=03236138&docId=4984158



(5) Banyan Gold News Release Dated May 17, 2022 (Technical Report to be filed within 45 days of news release) https://www.banyangold.com/news-releases/2022/banyan-announces-4-million-ounce-gold-mineral-resource-estimate-for-the-aurmac-property-yukon-canada/

About Sitka Gold Corp.

Sitka Gold Corp. is a well-funded mineral exploration company headquartered in Canada. The Company is managed by a team of experienced industry professionals and is focused on exploring for economically viable mineral deposits with its primary emphasis on gold, silver and copper mineral properties of merit. Sitka currently has an option to acquire a 100% interest in the RC, Barney Ridge, Clear Creek and OGI properties in the Yukon and the Burro Creek Gold property in Arizona. Sitka owns a 100% interest in its Alpha Gold property in Nevada, its Mahtin Gold property in the Yukon and its Coppermine River project in Nunavut.

Sitka has received all assay results from its 2022 diamond drill program at its RC Gold Project in the Yukon and announced a 43-101 compliant Initial Mineral Resource Estimate of 1,340,000 ounces of gold(1) beginning at surface and grading 0.68 g/t (see news release dated January 19, 2023). A resource expansion diamond drilling program is scheduled to commence this month (March, 2023).

Results from 2022 drilling at the Company's Alpha Gold Property in Nevada where a new Carlin-type gold system was recently discovered have all been received. The Company is focused on vectoring towards the high-grade core of this newly discovered system, which is located in the Cortez Trend just 40 km southeast of the Cortez Mine Complex of Barrick/Newmont, and plans for a 2023 drilling program at Alpha are currently underway.

(1) Simpson, R. January 19, 2023. Clear Creek Property, RC Gold Project, NI 43-101 Technical Report, Dawson Mining District, Yukon Territory.

Upcoming Events

Sitka Gold will be attending and/or presenting at the following events:

PDAC, Toronto : March 5 - 8, 2023

: Investor's Exchange Booth #2346



Core Shack Booth #3110A

Swiss Mining Institute Conference, Zurich : March 21 - 22, 2023

: Dawson Gold Show , Dawson City , Yukon : May 19 - 20, 2023

, , : TakeStock Calgary Capital Event, Calgary, AB : July 5, 2023

: YMA Property Tours, Dawson City , Yukon : July 16-22, 2023

, : Precious Metals Summit, Beaver Creek, Colorado : September 12 - 15, 2023

All events are subject to change.

The Initial Mineral Resource Estimate for the Clear Creek Property, RC Gold Project, was prepared by Ronald G. Simpson, P.Geo., GeoSim Services Inc., an independent Qualified Person in accordance with the requirements of NI 43-101, who has reviewed and approved the contents of this release.

The scientific and technical content of this news release has been reviewed and approved by Cor Coe, P.Geo., Director and CEO of the Company, and a Qualified Person (QP) as defined by National Instrument 43-101.

ON BEHALF OF THE BOARD OF DIRECTORS OF

SITKA GOLD CORP.

"Donald Penner"

President and Director

Cautionary and Forward-Looking Statements

This news release contains forward-looking statements and forward looking information within the meaning of applicable securities laws. These statements relate to future events or future performance. All statements other than statements of historical fact may be forward-looking statements or information. Forward-looking statements and information are often, but not always, identified by the use of words such as "appear", "seek", "anticipate", "plan", "continue", "estimate", "approximate", "expect", "may", "will", "project", "predict", "potential", "targeting", "intend", "could", "might", "should", "believe", "would" and similar expressions.

Forward-looking statements and information are provided for the purpose of providing information about the current expectations and plans of management of the Company relating to the future. Readers are cautioned that reliance on such statements and information may not be appropriate for other purposes, such as making investment decisions. Since forward-looking statements and information address future events and conditions, by their very nature they involve inherent risks and uncertainties. Actual results could differ materially from those currently anticipated due to a number of factors and risks. These include, but are not limited to, the expected timing and terms of the private placement, use of proceeds, anticipated work program, required approvals in connection with the work program and the ability to obtain such approvals. Accordingly, readers should not place undue reliance on the forward-looking statements, timelines and information contained in this news release. Readers are cautioned that the foregoing list of factors is not exhaustive.

The forward-looking statements and information contained in this news release are made as of the date of this news release and no undertaking is given to update publicly or revise any forward-looking statements or information, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, unless so required by applicable securities laws or the CSE. The forward-looking statements or information contained in this news release are expressly qualified by this cautionary statement.

Neither the CSE nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the CSE) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release. No stock exchange, securities commission or other regulatory authority has approved or disapproved the information contained herein.

SOURCE Sitka Gold Corp.
The prestigious annual list recognizes Study.com for its mission-driven brand, products, and initiatives

MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif., March 2, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Study.com, a leading online education platform, has been named to Fast Company's list of the World's Most Innovative Companies for 2023. Study.com ranked #4 in the Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) category , highlighting its mission-driven brand, products, and initiatives that increase access to education for underserved learners and educators. Study.com is the only award recipient in the category whose product is the impact.

Study.com helps over 30 million learners and educators every month achieve their breakthrough moments at every stage of the learning journey. Study.com is used in more than 10,000 districts across the nation. The core of Study.com's ability to deliver social impact is rooted in its products  from concept to design and implementation.

All of Study.com's products, which span K-12, higher education, high-dosage tutoring, and professional test preparation, are designed with the understanding that all learners learn differently. The learning platform is built on the critical need for diverse learning modalities to support all learners in achieving their educational goals.

"I am honored that Study.com has been recognized by Fast Company for delivering exceptional impact through our products," said Adrian Ridner, co-founder and CEO of Study.com. "We believe that education is the ultimate equalizer, and our team works hard every day to make education accessible and open the door to the life-changing impact of education for all learners."

Donating over $27M to date, Study.com's evidence-based social impact initiatives provide access to education for underserved learners. In 2022, in an effort to combat the teacher shortage nationwide, the company launched Keys to the Classroom , a program that seeks to bolster and diversify the educator pipeline. Through the initiative, Study.com partners with school districts, colleges and universities, and education nonprofits to access Study.com's world-class test preparation adaptive curriculum  so aspiring teachers can prepare and get certified on their first attempt. The Keys to the Classroom initiative was specifically highlighted by Fast Company for its innovative approach.

"We're so proud of the recognition of Study.com's Keys to the Classroom program, which aims to place more diverse educators into America's classrooms," said Dana Bryson, senior vice president of social impact at Study.com. "By partnering with these innovative and forward-thinking programs, our goal is to remove barriers and bolster the national educator workforce to be comprised of teachers from diverse backgrounds and experiences, ultimately improving student outcomes and success."

In just one year, Keys to the Classroom has scaled to 20 states with thousands of aspiring teacher candidates enrolled, including 60% as first-generation college students and 50% as people of color. Current partners include some of the nation's largest school districts, departments of education, and education nonprofits, such as Clark County School District, The West Virginia Department of Education, TNTP, and Tennessee Department of Education.

In addition to the Keys to the Classroom program, Study.com leverages its platform to help non-traditional students graduate from college debt-free. Its College Accelerator, which has saved students over $280 million in tuition, has enabled the company to implement other social impact initiatives, including the Working Scholars program, which offers debt-free bachelor's degrees at no cost to working adults.

One of the year's most highly anticipated editorial efforts, Fast Company's annual World's Most Innovative Companies list honors businesses that are making the most significant impact on their industries and culture. The list spotlights companies of varying sizes, industries, and economic sectors that represent the future of innovation. Fast Company's editors and reporters sought out the companies making the biggest strides around the globe and evaluated nominations across 54 sectors and regions.

See the full 2023 World's Most Innovative Companies: Corporate Social Responsibility list at https://www.fastcompany.com/90846914/most-innovative-companies-corporate-social-responsibility-2023 .

About Study.com



Study.com helps over 30 million learners and educators to meet their academic and professional goals through K12 curriculum, college courses, tutoring and test preparation. Used in over 10,000 school districts across the nation, Study.com is recognized by Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA) for meeting Level IV evidence standards. Headquartered in Mountain View, CA, Study.com is named on the 2022 and 2023 GSV 150, a list of the world's most transformative private companies in education. The company has donated over $27 million across social impact programs committed to the mission of Making Education Accessible. These programs include Working Scholars, an accelerated pathway for working adults to earn a debt-free bachelor's degree, and Keys to the Classroom, which seeks to help aspiring educators prepare for and pass their teacher certification exams.

SOURCE Study.com
CAMDEN, N.J., March 3, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Subaru of America, Inc. (SOA) today announced a change in its top management structure. Effective April 1, Thomas J. Doll, President and Chief Executive Officer, will step down from the day-to-day management of the company and will assume the role of Corporate Advisor based at the Camden headquarters.

Thomas J. Doll

"I would like to express my sincere gratitude for the contributions Tom has made over the past 40 years. I fondly remember the days we spent working together at Subaru of America from 2014 to 2017," said Tomomi Nakamura, President and CEO of Subaru Corporation (SBR). "He is truly a great contributor. I am deeply grateful for his long-time dedication that has made Subaru what we are today. His commitment and friendship have helped to grow Subaru of America into a very strong position in the U.S. market and has created a strong and valued brand. But his leadership and the creation of the Love Promise initiative have truly elevated Subaru to be more than a car company."

Also effective April 1, Tadashi "Tady" Yoshida will be promoted to the role of Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Subaru of America, Inc. from his current position of Executive Vice President. Yoshida is a 34-year veteran with SBR and he has been with SOA for two years. He previously held executive positions within SBR in Overseas Sales and Marketing, Global Marketing and the Customer Service Division.

In addition, Jeffrey A. Walters, currently Senior Vice President of Sales, will be promoted to President and Chief Operating Officer. Walters has more than 30 years of experience with SOA. Prior to his promotion to Senior Vice President in 2014, Walters worked as Vice President, Field Operations. Previously, he served as Director, Field Operations, Regional Sales Manager and Brand Strategy Manager.

"The Subaru brand and Subaru of America hold a special place in my heart. Since the day I arrived here 41 years ago, we have worked tirelessly to make Subaru more than a car company. The growth of this company has been nothing if not spectacular, but I am most proud of the good we have done with our Love Promise programs and the lives we have impacted. It is the employees of Subaru of America, the great friendships we have developed and our amazing customers and retailers who are the secret of our success," said Doll. "We are headed into an exciting new time of growth for the industry, and I know we have an incredibly strong team in place to guide Subaru of America forward."

Under Doll's leadership, SOA experienced unprecedented growth. Since being named Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer in 2009, and subsequently President in 2013 and CEO in 2018, he led Subaru of America to 12 consecutive years of sales records from 2008 to 2019 when the arrival of the COVID-19 pandemic shut down production. A more than 40-year veteran of SOA, Doll also served as Chief Financial Officer, Vice President of Business and Strategic Planning, Director of Accounting, Director of Treasury Operations and Manager of Treasury Operations.

About Subaru of America, Inc.

Subaru of America, Inc. (SOA) is a wholly owned subsidiary of Subaru Corporation of Japan. Headquartered at a zero-landfill office in Camden, N.J., the company markets and distributes Subaru vehicles, parts and accessories through a network of more than 630 retailers across the United States. All Subaru products are manufactured in zero-landfill plants and Subaru of Indiana Automotive, Inc. is the only U.S. automobile manufacturing plant to be designated a backyard wildlife habitat by the National Wildlife Federation. SOA is guided by the Subaru Love Promise, which is the company's vision to show love and respect to everyone, and to support its communities and customers nationwide. Over the past 20 years, SOA and the SOA Foundation have donated more than $270 million to causes the Subaru family cares about, and its employees have logged nearly 78,000 volunteer hours. As a company, Subaru believes it is important to do its part in making a positive impact in the world because it is the right thing to do. For additional information visit media.subaru.com. Follow us on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.

Dominick Infante

Director, Corporate Communications

(856) 488-8615

[email protected]

Diane Anton

Corporate Communications Manager

(856) 488-5093

[email protected]

SOURCE Subaru of America, Inc.
ATLANTA, March 3, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Symmetry Lending, LLC ("Symmetry" or the "Company") announces the following change in its pricing associated with piggyback and post-close Home Equity Line of Credit ("HELOC") products for qualified buyers. As a result, concurrent or post-close HELOCs with line amounts of $150,000 or more are at prime LESS 0.25%, line amounts of $100,000 - $149,999 are at Prime plus 0.50% and line amounts of $25,000 - $99,999 are at prime plus 1.25%. Standalone HELOCs with line amounts of $100,000 - $149,000 are at prime plus 0.25% and line amounts of $50,000 - $99,999 are at prime plus 0.50%.

Symmetry's SVP of Sales, Joe Phalen, says, "The reduction in rates is very timely as we enter the spring market. We are seeing significant buildup of pre-purchase activity because of first mortgage rates settling in. As one of the market leaders in HELOC financing, we are focused on supporting independent Mortgage Bankers and Brokers with our HELOC programs across the nation."

About Symmetry Lending

Symmetry is a credit union service organization ("CUSO") headquartered in Atlanta, GA. Symmetry has assisted in the origination of over 43,000 HELOCs with total funded dollars of over $6.3 billion since its inception in 2018. Symmetry serves as the master servicer of loans originated and has over $3.7 billion in its existing servicing book. Symmetry operates in 37 states and has more than 200 employees with offices in Atlanta, Georgia; Denver, Colorado; Eden Prairie, Minnesota; Las Vegas, Nevada; Orlando, Florida; Phoenix, Arizona; Anaheim, California; and Honolulu, Hawaii. For additional information, visit https://symmetrylending.com/.

Contacts

Media:

Symmetry Lending, LLC

Eric Smetana

(678) 391-7054

[email protected]

SOURCE Symmetry Lending
Tampa General Hospital is ranked among the Nation's top 100 hospitals on the list.

TAMPA, Fla., March 2, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Tampa General Hospital (TGH) has been named the number one hospital in Tampa Bay and the number three hospital in Florida as well as one of the top 100 hospitals in the United States, according to Newsweek. The 1,040-bed academic medical center was recently ranked as one of the news magazine's "World's Best Hospitals 2023" and was listed among the Best Hospitals for Infection Prevention.

The USF Health and Tampa General Hospital pulmonary and critical care medicine program earned two national designations: as a founding member of the Foundation for Sarcoidosis Research Global Sarcoidosis Clinic Alliance and selection as a Pulmonary Fibrosis Foundation Care Center Network.

"This recognition is a true testament to our exceptional team at Tampa General Hospital, who tirelessly deliver world-class patient care every day," said John Couris, president and CEO of Tampa General Hospital. "I am honored to lead and work side by side with such dedicated health care professionals who work relentlessly to ensure that Tampa General Hospital is one of the safest and most innovative health systems in the nation."

The "World's Best Hospitals 2023" list recognizes the best medical institutions across 28 countries: the United States, Germany, Japan, South Korea, France, Italy, the United Kingdom, Spain, Brazil, Canada, India, Australia, Mexico, the Netherlands, Austria, Thailand, Switzerland, Sweden, Belgium, Finland, Norway, Denmark, Israel, Singapore, the United Arab Emirates, Colombia, Saudi Arabia, and Taiwan. The countries were selected based on multiple comparability factors, including standard of living/life expectancy, population size, number of hospitals, and data availability.

Hospitals were selected based on four data sources:

Over 80,000 medical experts  Doctors, hospital managers and health care professionals in 28 countries were invited to participate in the online survey. Participants were asked to recommend hospitals in their own country as well as in other countries. Recommendations for a participant's own employer/hospital were not allowed.

 Doctors, hospital managers and health care professionals in 28 countries were invited to participate in the online survey. Participants were asked to recommend hospitals in their own country as well as in other countries. Recommendations for a participant's own employer/hospital were not allowed. Results from patient experience surveys  Publicly available data from existing patient surveys was used to analyze the patient experience. Patient surveys are typically conducted by insurance companies following hospital services. Examples of survey topics include general satisfaction with the hospital, patients' recommendation of the hospital, satisfaction with medical care and satisfaction with the service and organization.

 Publicly available data from existing patient surveys was used to analyze the patient experience. Patient surveys are typically conducted by insurance companies following hospital services. Examples of survey topics include general satisfaction with the hospital, patients' recommendation of the hospital, satisfaction with medical care and satisfaction with the service and organization. Hospital quality metrics  Hospital quality metrics from a variety of public sources were collected for most of the countries. Some examples of indicators include data on the quality of care for specific treatments, data on hygiene measures and patient safety, and data on staffing, such as the number of patients per doctor/per nurse.

 Hospital quality metrics from a variety of public sources were collected for most of the countries. Some examples of indicators include data on the quality of care for specific treatments, data on hygiene measures and patient safety, and data on staffing, such as the number of patients per doctor/per nurse. Patient-reported outcome measures  For the first time, Statista and Newsweek surveyed hospitals regarding the implementation and use of patient-reported experience measures to assess the quality of health care experiences, focusing on patients. Patient-reported outcome measures are defined as standardized, validated questionnaires completed by patients to measure their perception of their functional well-being and quality of life.

"Among the hallmarks of great hospitals, however, are not just first-class care, first-class research and first-class innovation. The very best institutions also share another quality: consistency. The world's best hospitals consistently attract the best people and provide the best outcomes for patients as well as the most important new therapies and research. Of all the hospitals in the world, relatively few can do all those things year in and year out. The best belong to a very exclusive club," said Nancy Cooper, Global editor-in-chief, Newsweek.

Newsweek compared scores among hospitals in the same country because different sources for patient experience and medical Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) were examined in each country. The U.S. ranking listed 414 participating hospitals with Tampa General at No. 84.

ABOUT TAMPA GENERAL HOSPITAL

Tampa General Hospital, a 1,040-bed, not-for-profit, academic medical center, is one of the largest hospitals in America and delivers world-class care as the region's only center for Level l trauma and comprehensive burn care. Tampa General Hospital is the highest-ranked hospital in the market in U.S. News & World Report's 2022-23 Best Hospitals, and is tied as the third highest-ranked hospital in Florida, with seven specialties ranking among the best programs in the United States. Tampa General Hospital has been designated as a model of excellence by the 2022 Fortune/Merative 100 Top Hospitals list. The academic medical center's commitment to growing and developing its team members is recognized by two prestigious Forbes magazine rankings  first nationally in the 2022 America's Best Employers for Women and sixth out of 100 Florida companies in the 2022 America's Best Employers by State. Tampa General is the safety net hospital for the region, caring for everyone regardless of their ability to pay, and in fiscal year 2021, provided a net community benefit worth more than $224.5 million in the form of health care for underinsured patients, community education, and financial support to community health organizations in Tampa Bay. It is one of the nation's busiest adult solid organ transplant centers and is the primary teaching hospital for the USF Health Morsani College of Medicine. With six medical helicopters, Tampa General Hospital transports critically injured or ill patients from 23 surrounding counties to receive the advanced care they need. Tampa General houses a nationally accredited comprehensive stroke center, and its 32-bed Neuroscience, Intensive Care Unit is the largest on the West Coast of Florida. It also is home to the Jennifer Leigh Muma 82-bed neonatal intensive care unit, and a nationally accredited rehabilitation center. Tampa General Hospital's footprint includes 17 Tampa General Medical Group Primary Care offices, TGH Family Care Center Kennedy, TGH Brandon Healthplex, TGH Virtual Health, and 21 TGH Imaging powered by Tower outpatient radiology centers throughout Hillsborough, Pasco, Pinellas and Palm Beach counties. Tampa Bay area residents also receive world-class care from the TGH Urgent Care powered by Fast Track network of clinics. To see a medical care professional live anytime, anywhere on a smartphone, tablet or computer, visit Virtual Health | Tampa General Hospital (tgh.org). As one of the largest hospitals in the country, Tampa General Hospital is the first in Florida to partner with GE Healthcare and open a clinical command center that provides real-time situational awareness to improve and better coordinate patient care at a lower cost. For more information, go to www.tgh.org.

Media Contact: Beth Hardy

Senior Communications Specialist

(813) 844-7322 (direct)

[email protected]

SOURCE Tampa General Hospital
The academic medical center continues to set records with the number of transplants

performed, which translates into world-class patient care before, during, and after a transplant.

TAMPA, Fla., March 3, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- For close to 50 years, Tampa General Hospital (TGH) has been a national leader in life-saving organ transplantation. In 2022, the TGH Transplant Institute performed 682 transplants, a 20% increase in the number of procedures over 2021. According to the United Network for Organ Sharing (UNOS), the national rate of transplants grew by 3.7% in 2022 over 2021.

A national leader in life-saving organ transplantation, Tampa General Hospitals (TGH) Transplant Institute achieved a record number of organ transplants in 2022. The TGH Transplant Institute performed 682 transplants, a 20% increase in the number of procedures over 2021. According to the United Network for Organ Sharing (UNOS), the national rate of transplants grew by 3.7% in 2022 over 2021.

"As a leading and nationally recognized academic medical center, Tampa General continues to lead the state and the country in world-class transplantation care," said John Couris, president and CEO, Tampa General. "Our ability to continue to increase our transplant volume year after year is directly correlated to the exceptional level of care we continue to provide. Studies continue to show that the greater number of procedures performed  in this case, the number of transplants conducted at Tampa General  lead to increased proficiency. Better proficiency, in turn, means better quality and improved outcomes for our patients."

In 2022, the TGH Transplant Institute ranked #1 in the state of Florida for living-donor kidney transplants, #1 in the state for pediatric kidney transplants, and #3 in the nation for all kidney transplants. The academic medical center also ranked #7 in the nation for all liver transplants last year and performed more than 100 total heart and lung transplants.

"In our nearly 50-year history of performing organ transplantation, we have deeply embraced innovation," said Dr. Kiran Dhanireddy, vice president and chief of the TGH Transplant Institute. "This past year, we implemented new organ perfusion technology that has led to an increased usage of marginal donor organs and allowed us to travel farther to bring organs to our patients. As early adopters of machine perfusion technology, we are expanding access to transplantation for the sickest members of our community." Organ perfusion is technology that helps keep donor organs healthy prior to transplant.

Close to 20% of residents in Tampa General's home county of Hillsborough are of Hispanic heritage and to help better serve Hispanic patients, Tampa General initiated a Hispanic Kidney Transplant program in 2022. The goal of the program is to help create a clear, compassionate and personalized process for Spanish-speaking patients and their families. The TGH Transplant Institute has assembled a bilingual team comprised of surgeons, physicians, social workers, financial coordinators, and support staff. The program begins with the transplant referral phase and continues through evaluation, transplant, and post-transplant to ensure that Hispanic patients and their families feel as comfortable as possible. For more information, visit Programa de trasplante de rinon en espanol | Tampa General Hospital (tgh.org) or Tampa General Hospital (tgh.org).

The TGH Transplant Institute performed its first transplant in 1974 and in 1985 became the first hospital in Florida to successfully perform a life-saving heart transplant. Today, the Institute has completed more than 12,500 transplants.

To become an organ donor, Florida residents can visit Donate Life Florida.

ABOUT TAMPA GENERAL HOSPITAL

Tampa General Hospital, a 1,040-bed, not-for-profit, academic medical center, is one of the largest hospitals in America and delivers world-class care as the region's only center for Level l trauma and comprehensive burn care. Tampa General Hospital is the highest-ranked hospital in the market in U.S. News & World Report's 2022-23 Best Hospitals, and is tied as the third highest-ranked hospital in Florida, with seven specialties ranking among the best programs in the United States. Tampa General Hospital has been designated as a model of excellence by the 2022 Fortune/Merative 100 Top Hospitals list. The academic medical center's commitment to growing and developing its team members is recognized by two prestigious Forbes magazine rankings  first nationally in the 2022 America's Best Employers for Women and sixth out of 100 Florida companies in the 2022 America's Best Employers by State. Tampa General is the safety net hospital for the region, caring for everyone regardless of their ability to pay, and in fiscal year 2021, provided a net community benefit worth more than $224.5 million in the form of health care for underinsured patients, community education, and financial support to community health organizations in Tampa Bay. It is one of the nation's busiest adult solid organ transplant centers and is the primary teaching hospital for the USF Health Morsani College of Medicine. With six medical helicopters, Tampa General Hospital transports critically injured or ill patients from 23 surrounding counties to receive the advanced care they need. Tampa General houses a nationally accredited comprehensive stroke center, and its 32-bed Neuroscience, Intensive Care Unit is the largest on the West Coast of Florida. It also is home to the Jennifer Leigh Muma 82-bed neonatal intensive care unit, and a nationally accredited rehabilitation center. Tampa General Hospital's footprint includes 17 Tampa General Medical Group Primary Care offices, TGH Family Care Center Kennedy, TGH Brandon Healthplex, TGH Virtual Health, and 21 TGH Imaging powered by Tower outpatient radiology centers throughout Hillsborough, Pasco, Pinellas and Palm Beach counties. Tampa Bay area residents also receive world-class care from the TGH Urgent Care powered by Fast Track network of clinics. To see a medical care professional live anytime, anywhere on a smartphone, tablet or computer, visit Virtual Health | Tampa General Hospital (tgh.org). As one of the largest hospitals in the country, Tampa General Hospital is the first in Florida to partner with GE Healthcare and open a clinical command center that provides real-time situational awareness to improve and better coordinate patient care at a lower cost. For more information, go to www.tgh.org.

Media Contact: Beth Hardy, APR

Senior Communications Specialist

(813) 844-7322 (direct)

(813) 510-6363 (cell)

[email protected]

SOURCE Tampa General Hospital
HOUSTON, March 3, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- The Dream Team Media Company, a full-service marketing and consulting firm, announces its official launch to transform the independent automotive marketing landscape. The company offers a unique and innovative solution to the challenges faced by businesses and customers in the automotive industry, specifically the small, independent dealer focused on financing solutions. The Dream Team Media Company intends to provide a fresh marketing experience to an underserved automotive industry segment. The start-up marketing agency will expand its services to small retailers, intending to grow revenue through eCommerce.

The Dream Team Media Company will provide a fresh marketing experience to an underserved automotive industry segment. Tweet this Kendra Scott Brown is the Founder of The Dream Team Media Company and Owner-Operator of Brown Family Auto Sales in Houston, TX.

Kendra Brown, native Houstonian and owner-operator of a buy-here pay-here dealership, founded The Dream Team Media Company alongside a team of experts with years of experience in analytics, marketing, and paid media management. The company aims to provide custom solutions for small dealerships that offer their clients in-house financing. Also, The Dream Team Media Company will serve retailers needing an online eCommerce solution. The Dream Team Media Company comprises industry veterans who deeply understand the unique needs of the buy-here-pay-here dealer operation and the pain points associated with small operating retailers.

The Dream Team Media Company's approach to marketing relies on a solid foundation of local market research, brand identity, and data analytics. Beyond the unparalleled service The Dream Team Media Company provides to small dealerships and small retailers, the marketing company seeks to build a company culture that allows top, multi-generational talent to flourish in the ever-evolving global economy.

"We are excited to launch The Dream Team Media Company and bring our expertise to the independent retailers' market," said The Dream Team Media Company's Founder, Kendra Scott Brown. "Our team has been working meticulously to develop a solution that addresses the unique challenges businesses face in these industry segments. We are confident that our breadth of services will deliver the necessary tools to help our clients achieve their goals."

The Dream Team Media Company is committed to delivering exceptional service and value to its clients. The company's mission is to help empower the entrepreneurial ambition of its clients.

For more information about The Dream Team Media Company, visit www.dreamteammediaco.com.

CONTACT: Kendra Brown, [email protected]

SOURCE The Dream Team Media Company
NEW YORK, March 3, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- The infection surveillance solutions market is anticipated to grow from an estimated USD 577 million in 2022 to USD 1,100 million in 2027, at a CAGR of 13.8% during the forecast period. The market has a promising growth potential due to increased demand the increasing prevalence of hospital-acquired infections, increasing surgical procedures, and rising healthcare expenditure among other factors. However, the Shortage of skilled healthcare IT professionals and Data security concerns are expected to limit the growth of this market to a certain extent.

Source: ReportLinker

Read the full report: https://www.reportlinker.com/p03912481/?utm_source=PRN

Training & Consulting Services: The fastest-growing segment of the infection surveillance services market, by type"

Training & consulting services are expected to witness the fastest growth in the infection surveillance services market during the forecast.Training and consulting services increase healthcare providers' awareness of the latest infection surveillance solutions available in the market.

Most large and mid-size companies actively provide technical assistance to hospitals, independent laboratories, and physician office laboratories that use infection surveillance software. Factors such as the increasing importance of value-based care, technological advancements, and growing consolidation in healthcare are driving the market for consulting services.

The large hospitals is anticipated to be the largest infection surveillance solutions market for hospitals, by type, during the forecast period

Based on type (the number of beds), hospitals are segmented into large (>450 beds), medium-sized (250449 beds), and small (<249 beds) hospitals. The large hospitals segment accounted for the largest share of the infection surveillance solutions market for hospitals. The rising number of private hospitals in China and other developing countries is expected to drive the demand for technologically advanced HCIT solutions deployed in ICUs and other departments of hospitals. Furthermore, the complexity of managing HAIs rises with the size of hospitals, as more patients need to be monitored continuously; this is the primary reason for the large share of this end-user segment.

Europe accounted for the second-largest share in the infection surveillance solutions market during the forecast period

Europe accounted for the second-largest share of the infection surveillance solutions market during the forecast period.Growth in the European market can be attributed to the increasing adoption of HCIT solutions, the increasing incidence of HAIs, the increasing number of surgeries, and the rising geriatric population.

The increasing need to improve patient outcomes has contributed to the adoption of infection surveillance solutions across the region. Several policies and guidelines have been implemented in Europe as infection prevention strategies for hospitals and long-term care facilities which are propelling the demand for infection surveillance solutions in the region.

Break of primary participants was as mentioned below:

By Company Type  Tier 140%, Tier 235%, and Tier 325%

By Designation  C-level35%, Director-level25%, Others40%

By Region  North America45%, Europe30%, Asia Pacific20%, Latin America - 3%, Middle East and Africa2%

Key players in the Infection Surveillance Solutions Market

The key players operating in the infection surveillance solutions market include Becton, Dickinson and Company (US), Premier, Inc. (US), Wolters Kluwer N.V. (Netherlands), Cerner Corporation (US), Baxter International Inc. (US), GOJO Industries, Inc. (US), Clinisys (US), Deb Group Ltd. (UK), BioVigil Healthcare Systems (US), RLDatix (UK), Merative (US), Vecna Technologies, Inc. (US), VigiLanz Corporation (US), Ecolab (US), Harris Healthcare (US), PeraHealth (US), Medexter Healthcare (Austria), CenTrak, Inc. (US), bioMerieux SA (France), CKM Healthcare (Canada), Asolva Inc. (US), PointClickCare (Canada), STANLEY Healthcare (US), Vitalacy Inc. (US), and VIZZIA Technologies (US).

Research Coverage:

The report analyzes the infection surveillance solutions market and aims at estimating the market size and future growth potential of this market based on various segments such as product & service, end user, and region.The report also includes a product portfolio matrix of various infection surveillance solutions products & services available in the market.

The report also provides a competitive analysis of the key players in this market, along with their company profiles, product offerings, and key market strategies.

Reasons to Buy the Report

The report will enrich established firms as well as new entrants/smaller firms to gauge the pulse of the market, which in turn would help them, garner a more significant share of the market. Firms purchasing the report could use one or any combination of the below-mentioned strategies to strengthen their position in the market.

This report provides insights into the following pointers:

Market Penetration: Comprehensive information on product portfolios offered by the top players in the global infection surveillance solutions market. The report analyzes this market by product & service and end user.

Product Enhancement/Innovation: Detailed insights on upcoming trends and product launches in the global infection surveillance solutions market

Market Development: Comprehensive information on the lucrative emerging markets by products & services and end user

Market Diversification: Exhaustive information about new products or product enhancements, growing geographies, recent developments, and investments in the global infection surveillance solutions market

Competitive Assessment: In-depth assessment of market shares, growth strategies, product offerings, competitive leadership mapping, and capabilities of leading players in the global infection surveillance solutions market.

Read the full report: https://www.reportlinker.com/p03912481/?utm_source=PRN

About Reportlinker

ReportLinker is an award-winning market research solution. Reportlinker finds and organizes the latest industry data so you get all the market research you need - instantly, in one place.

Contact Clare: [email protected]

US: (339)-368-6001

Intl: +1 339-368-6001

SOURCE Reportlinker
NEW YORK, March 3, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- The product engineering services market size is expected to grow from USD 1056.2 billion in 2022 to USD 1510.0 billion by 2027 at a Compound Annual Growth Rate (CAGR) of 7.4% during the forecast period. ISVs that specialize in developing and selling software designed for the masses are the primary market drivers for product engineering services. In response to the growing demand for IoT, many service providers have established a separate IoT engineering portfolio. Because of agile development methodologies, there has been a shift towards leveraging automation for testing activities.

Source: ReportLinker

Read the full report: https://www.reportlinker.com/p04818997/?utm_source=PRN

Product Engineering segment to have significant growth during the forecast period

The process of innovating, designing, developing, testing, and deploying a software product is known as product engineering. With the advent of Web 2.0 technologies and utility-based software delivery via Software as a Service (SaaS), client enabling engineering services have gradually shifted from traditional software engineering to product engineering. Product engineering is responsible for the entire product life cycle, beginning with the innovation phase and continuing through the deployment and user acceptance testing phases. The term "product engineering" typically refers to a large set of actions performed to organize and run the product development process as efficiently as possible. In other words, it is used to describe the design and execution of a successful product. These technologies are used in a variety of fields, including software development and business models.

Automotive & Transportation vertical to grow at a highest market size during the forecast period

The automotive & transportation segment holds the largest market size during the forecast period.The design and development of a system, device, assembly, or functionality are examples of product engineering services.

Product engineering also includes testing and deployment activities, as well as the subsequent transition to product manufacturing.The automotive industry is undergoing a significant technological transformation.

Modern automobiles can do far more than drive and park.Introducing various innovative products and services has upended the industry's status quo.

When it comes to new onboard automotive technologies, consumers are now spoiled for choice. Connected cars, electric vehicles with improved battery technology, predictive maintenance that monitors vehicle operational performance, and other innovations have significantly altered the mobility landscape. Transitioning from a traditional car to an automotive ecosystema kind of smartphone on wheelsrequires modifications to the vehicle's electronics and software architecture. This entails moving away from the traditional use of dispersed, embedded electronic-control units (ECUs) and toward a domain-focused system with central vehicle controllers. It necessitates more sophisticated software, such as a software abstraction layer, Ethernet usage, and scalable connectivity. It also implies a greater reliance on advanced microprocessors rather than embedded microcontrollers to improve performance, reduce power consumption, and centralize control.

Product engineering services market in Asia Pacific to grow at the highest market size during the forecast period

During the forecast period, the Asia-Pacific product engineering services market is expected to grow significantly.The widespread presence of the end-use industry of product engineering services is one of the major factors driving market growth.

Furthermore, the governments of Asia-emerging Pacific's economies, such as India and China, are constantly thriving for the growth of their respective economies' manufacturing sectors.Governments provide subsidies and funds to small and medium-sized businesses (SMEs).

As a result, significant growth in the Asia-Pacific market is expected during the forecast period.Currently, there is very little artificial intelligence in the market for product engineering services (AI).

However, artificial intelligence has the potential to automate and accelerate the process of creating and developing products, which means it has the potential to greatly advance and advance product engineering. Artificial intelligence in product engineering also reduces processing times and helps companies or industries increase productivity. As a result of incorporating artificial intelligence into the development of better product engineering services, productivity would significantly increase in order to meet current engineering demands, resulting in growth prospects for the product engineering services market. In the manufacturing sector, India has historically prioritized domestic production and consumption. The availability of cheap labour and the high cost of technology created challenges such as a price-conscious market, insufficient infrastructure and supply networks, and a preference for labor-intensive procedures. As a result of the Indian government's Make in India strategy, the domestic manufacturing sector is expected to increase its demand for and consumption of machinery and equipment.

Further, in-depth interviews were conducted with the Chief Executive Officers (CEOs), Chief Marketing Officers (CMO), Chief Technology Officers (CTOs), Chief Operating Officers (COOs), Vice Presidents (VPs), Managing Directors (MDs), technology and innovation directors, and related key executives from various key companies and organizations operating in the product engineering services market.

By Company  Tier 145%, Tier 230%, and Tier 325%

By Designation  C-Level40%, Director Level35%, and Others25%

By Region  North America40%, Europe25%, Asia Pacific25%, RoW  10%

Product Engineering Services vendors include Alten (France), AVL (Austria), HCL (India), Akka Technologies (France), IBM (US), Capgemini (France), TCS (India), Wipro (India), Accenture (Ireland), Happiest Minds (India), NeST Digital (India), Tvs Next (US), Mphasis (India), Luxoft Holdings (Switzerland), Nuos Infosystems (India), Pactera Edge (US), EPAM Systems (US), Tech Mahindra (India), Trigent Software (US), Segula Technologies (France). The study includes an in-depth competitive analysis of these key players in the product engineering services market with their company profiles, recent developments, and key market strategies.

Research Coverage

The research study covered inputs, insights, trends, happenings, from secondary sources, primary sources, stakeholders' interviews and surveys.Secondary sources include information from databases and repositories such as D&B Hoovers, Bloomberg, Factiva, CoinDesk, among others.

Primary data was fetched from supply side industry experts who hold the chair of Chief Executive Officer (CEO), Chief Technological Officer (CTO), Chief Operating Officer (COO), Vice-President (VP) of IT, Managing Director (MD), among others.Few of our key primary respondents are IBM, Microsoft, Oracle, among others.

Few startups are also included during our primary interviews. Additionally, we have taken information and statistical and historical data from few government associations, public sources, webinar and seminar transcripts, journals, conferences and events.

Key benefits of the report

The report would help the market leaders/new entrants in this market with information on the nearest and best possible accurate approximations of the revenue numbers for the overall product engineering services market and the subsegments therein.This report would help stakeholders understand the competitive landscape wherein we have a section that provides competitive benchmarking, and gain insights to better position their businesses and plan suitable go-to-market strategies.

Industry experts who have long served this market including both large-sized and SMEs have provided both qualitative and quantitative insights, critical and crucial data, which would also assist businesses in qualifying the suspects and prospects. The report also helps stakeholders understand the pulse of the market and provides them with information on the key market drivers, restraints, challenges, and opportunities, thereby portraying a clear and vivid image of methods and measures to excel in this market and position self at the zenith along with top players in the segment, sub-segment and the market as a whole.

Read the full report: https://www.reportlinker.com/p04818997/?utm_source=PRN

About Reportlinker

ReportLinker is an award-winning market research solution. Reportlinker finds and organizes the latest industry data so you get all the market research you need - instantly, in one place.

Contact Clare: [email protected]

US: (339)-368-6001

Intl: +1 339-368-6001

SOURCE Reportlinker
NEW YORK, March 3, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- The Royal Oak Foundation announces a series of in-person lectures, "Vita Sackville-West and A Sense of Place" with Robert Sackville-West, 7th Baron Sackville

Vita Sackville-West was a Bloomsbury writer and poet and lover of Virginia Woolf. In this lecture, Robert Sackville-West, a cousin of Vita's and 7th Baron Sackville, will describe Vita Sackville-West's life and illustrate the places that were important to her.

A search for a sense of place as well as a longing for home permeates the life and writings of Vita Sackville-West. Born in 1892 at Knole, Kent, she died 70 years later at Sissinghurst, only 31 miles from where she was born. Vita's writings chronicle a remarkable life that spanned the gilded Edwardian era, two World Wars and the dawn of a more democratic age.

Throughout her writing she revealed stories about her tempestuous love life and the saga of the Sackville familywhom she described as "a race too prodigal, too amorous, too weak, too indolent, and too melancholy; in short, a rotten lot, and nearly all stark staring mad." Her obsession with Knole, the 365-room house in which she grew up but which she did not, as a woman, inherit, came to dominate her life. She often wrote about the legacy denied to her, and described places that fostered a sense of human attachment and belonging.

These thoughts also were immortalized in Orlando, the novel written by Vita's lover Virginia Woolf. Two years later, Vita left Knole, moving to Sissinghurst, a nearby castle ruin and tumbledown farm. Despite her feelings about Knole, Sissinghurst is arguably Vita's greatest creation and most enduring legacy.

Both Knole and Sissinghurst are today owned by Britain's National Trust. Established 50 years ago, in 1973, the Royal Oak Foundation is proud to partner with the National Trust, helping to support the Trust's vital conservation work.

Join us IN-PERSON on Wednesday, March 15 at 6:00 p.m. (ET)

20 W. 44th Street, NYC (Bet. 5th and 6th)

Reception and book-signing following

For other locations and dates as well as more upcoming events, visit: https://www.royal-oak.org/events/

SOURCE The Royal Oak Foundation
JINAN, SHANDONG, China, March 3, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- On February 18, 2023, Weichai announced the global commercialization of its high-power metal-supported solid oxide fuel cell (SOFC) product, which has achieved a record-breaking combined heat and power (CHP) efficiency of 92.55% for high-power SOFC systems.

At the press conference, Tan Xuguang, director of the National Key Laboratory of Internal Combustion Engines and Powertrain Systems, introduced the technology and application of Weichai's SOFC product. The product has also received the European CE certification from the international testing institution, TUV SUD.

As a new generation of fuel cell technology, SOFCs are highly efficient, low-carbon, and environmentally friendly devices that convert the chemical energy of fuels into electrical energy at high temperatures. They are currently the most efficient new energy technology for power generation worldwide, with an electricity generation efficiency of over 60% and a CHP efficiency of over 85%. In addition, SOFCs have the advantages of fuel flexibility, green and low-carbon emissions, and no use of precious metals. They can use various fuels such as natural gas, hydrogen, coal gas, biomass gas, and methanol. SOFCs using natural gas can achieve more than 30% reduction in carbon emissions compared to traditional natural gas generators.

Weichai's latest product is the world's first commercialized high-power metal-supported SOFC product with a system power of 120 kW, which supports modular installation and can be scaled up to megawatt-level power. It has achieved significant technological breakthroughs:

The product's CHP efficiency has reached 92.55%, the highest in high-power SOFC systems worldwide. Weichai is the first in the world to use the latest generation of metal-supported SOFC technology, which has outstanding advantages such as low operating temperature and strong resistance to thermal shocks compared to traditional electrolyte-supported and anode-supported technologies. The product has overcome the technical difficulties of operating temperatures from 800 to 600. The system's number of start-stop cycles is more than four times that of international competitors, and its start-up speed is more than three times that of international competitors, reaching the international leading level. The product has passed 39 certification tests for the European CE certification by the international authoritative testing institution TUV SUD.

Weichai's SOFC product has the advantages of high CHP efficiency, good reliability, wide fuel adaptability, stable output of electrical and thermal energy, and is suitable for multiple applications such as industrial parks, buildings, and data centers. It can provide green and low-carbon solutions for distributed energy and microgrids, and is a revolutionary new energy technology that will be widely used in the future.

Weichai's SOFC product has been demonstrated in the Weichai Fuel Cell Industry Park and the Weifang Energy Group, accumulating more than 30,000 hours of operation, achieving a breakthrough in commercial operation. The product can provide efficient electricity and thermal energy supply, greatly reducing customer energy costs and has good economic benefits.

SOURCE Weichai America
A roundup of the week's most newsworthy energy industry press releases from PR Newswire, including companies' efforts to help lower consumers' energy bills across the U.S.

NEW YORK, March 3, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- With thousands of press releases published each week, it can be difficult to keep up with everything on PR Newswire. To help journalists covering the energy and natural resources industry stay on top of the week's most newsworthy and popular releases, here's a roundup of stories from the week that shouldn't be missed.

The list below includes the headline (with a link to the full text) and an excerpt from each story. Click on the press release headlines to access accompanying multimedia assets that are available for download.

PR Newswire Weekly Energy Press Release Roundup, Feb. 27-March 3, 2023. Photo provided by American Battery Technology Company. https://prn.to/3Z6GqEH

Read more of the latest energy-related releases from PR Newswire and stay caught up on the top press releases by following @PRNenergy on Twitter.

Can't-Miss Earnings

In addition to these popular releases, several must-read earnings reports crossed the wire this week, including the quarterly results for Southwestern Gas and Talos Energy.

Catch up on all the latest earnings reports here.

Helping Journalists Stay Up to Date on Industry News

These are just a few of the recent press releases that consumers and the media should know about. To be notified of releases relevant to their coverage area, journalists can set up a custom newsfeed with PR Newswire for Journalists.

Once they're signed up, reporters, bloggers and freelancers have access to the following free features:

Customization: Create a customized newsfeed that will deliver relevant news right to your inbox. Customize the newsfeed by keywords, industry, subject, geography, and more.

Create a customized newsfeed that will deliver relevant news right to your inbox. Customize the newsfeed by keywords, industry, subject, geography, and more. Photos and Videos: Thousands of multimedia assets are available to download and include with your next story.

Thousands of multimedia assets are available to download and include with your next story. Subject Matter Experts: Access ProfNet, a database of industry experts to connect with as sources or for quotes in your articles.

Access ProfNet, a database of industry experts to connect with as sources or for quotes in your articles. Related Resources: Read and subscribe to our journalist- and blogger-focused blog, Beyond Bylines, for media news roundups, writing tips, upcoming events, and more.

About PR Newswire and PR Newswire for Journalists

For more than 65 years, PR Newswire has been the industry leader with the largest, most comprehensive distribution network of print, radio, magazine, television stations, financial portals and trade publications. PR Newswire has an unparalleled global reach of more than 200,000 publications and 10,000 websites and is available in more than 170 countries and 40 languages.

PR Newswire for Journalists (PRNJ) is an exclusive community that includes over 20,000 journalists, bloggers and influencers who are logging into their PRNJ accounts specifically looking for story ideas. PR Newswire thoroughly researches and vets this community to verify their identity as a member of the press, blogger or influencer. PRNJ users cover more than 200 beats and verticals.

For questions, contact the team at [email protected].

SOURCE PR Newswire
A roundup of the week's most newsworthy environment industry press releases from PR Newswire, including conservation grants from SeaWorld and a new water reuse facility in L.A.

NEW YORK, March 3, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- With thousands of press releases published each week, it can be difficult to keep up with everything on PR Newswire. To help journalists covering the environment industry stay on top of the week's most newsworthy and popular releases, here's a roundup of stories from the week that shouldn't be missed.

The list below includes the headline (with a link to the full text) and an excerpt from each story. Click on the press release headlines to access accompanying multimedia assets that are available for download.

PR Newswire Weekly Environment Press Release Roundup, Feb. 27-March 3, 2023. Photo provided by Jacobs. https://prn.to/3J2s1DK

Read more of the latest environment-related releases from PR Newswire and stay caught up on the top press releases by following @PRNenv on Twitter.

Can't-Miss Earnings

In addition to these popular releases, several must-read earnings reports crossed the wire this week, including the quarterly results for Daqo New Energy.

Catch up on all the latest earnings reports here.

Helping Journalists Stay Up to Date on Industry News

These are just a few of the recent press releases that consumers and the media should know about. To be notified of releases relevant to their coverage area, journalists can set up a custom newsfeed with PR Newswire for Journalists.

Once they're signed up, reporters, bloggers and freelancers have access to the following free features:

Customization: Create a customized newsfeed that will deliver relevant news right to your inbox. Customize the newsfeed by keywords, industry, subject, geography, and more.

Create a customized newsfeed that will deliver relevant news right to your inbox. Customize the newsfeed by keywords, industry, subject, geography, and more. Photos and Videos: Thousands of multimedia assets are available to download and include with your next story.

Thousands of multimedia assets are available to download and include with your next story. Subject Matter Experts: Access ProfNet, a database of industry experts to connect with as sources or for quotes in your articles.

Access ProfNet, a database of industry experts to connect with as sources or for quotes in your articles. Related Resources: Read and subscribe to our journalist- and blogger-focused blog, Beyond Bylines, for media news roundups, writing tips, upcoming events, and more.

About PR Newswire and PR Newswire for Journalists

For more than 65 years, PR Newswire has been the industry leader with the largest, most comprehensive distribution network of print, radio, magazine, television stations, financial portals and trade publications. PR Newswire has an unparalleled global reach of more than 200,000 publications and 10,000 websites and is available in more than 170 countries and 40 languages.

PR Newswire for Journalists (PRNJ) is an exclusive community that includes over 20,000 journalists, bloggers and influencers who are logging into their PRNJ accounts specifically looking for story ideas. PR Newswire thoroughly researches and vets this community to verify their identity as a member of the press, blogger or influencer. PRNJ users cover more than 200 beats and verticals.

For questions, contact the team at [email protected].

SOURCE PR Newswire
A roundup of the week's most newsworthy health industry press releases from PR Newswire, including new insulin prices from Lilly and a focus on women's health in March.

NEW YORK, March 3, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- With thousands of press releases published each week, it can be difficult to keep up with everything on PR Newswire. To help journalists covering the healthcare industry stay on top of the week's most newsworthy and popular releases, here's a roundup of stories from the week that shouldn't be missed.

The list below includes the headline (with a link to the full text) and an excerpt from each story. Click on the press release headlines to access accompanying multimedia assets that are available for download.

PR Newswire Weekly Health Press Release Roundup, Feb. 27-March 3, 2023. Photo provided by Hard Rock International. https://prn.to/3IGBJKB

Read more of the latest health-related releases from PR Newswire and stay caught up on the top press releases by following @PRNhealth on Twitter.

Can't-Miss Earnings

In addition to these popular releases, several must-read earnings reports crossed the wire this week, including the quarterly results for Nektar Therapeutics and Novavax.

Catch up on all the latest earnings reports here.

Helping Journalists Stay Up to Date on Industry News

These are just a few of the recent press releases that consumers and the media should know about. To be notified of releases relevant to their coverage area, journalists can set up a custom newsfeed with PR Newswire for Journalists.

Once they're signed up, reporters, bloggers and freelancers have access to the following free features:

Customization: Create a customized newsfeed that will deliver relevant news right to your inbox. Customize the newsfeed by keywords, industry, subject, geography, and more.

Create a customized newsfeed that will deliver relevant news right to your inbox. Customize the newsfeed by keywords, industry, subject, geography, and more. Photos and Videos: Thousands of multimedia assets are available to download and include with your next story.

Thousands of multimedia assets are available to download and include with your next story. Subject Matter Experts: Access ProfNet, a database of industry experts to connect with as sources or for quotes in your articles.

Access ProfNet, a database of industry experts to connect with as sources or for quotes in your articles. Related Resources: Read and subscribe to our journalist- and blogger-focused blog, Beyond Bylines, for media news roundups, writing tips, upcoming events, and more.

About PR Newswire and PR Newswire for Journalists

For more than 65 years, PR Newswire has been the industry leader with the largest, most comprehensive distribution network of print, radio, magazine, television stations, financial portals and trade publications. PR Newswire has an unparalleled global reach of more than 200,000 publications and 10,000 websites and is available in more than 170 countries and 40 languages.

PR Newswire for Journalists (PRNJ) is an exclusive community that includes over 20,000 journalists, bloggers and influencers who are logging into their PRNJ accounts specifically looking for story ideas. PR Newswire thoroughly researches and vets this community to verify their identity as a member of the press, blogger or influencer. PRNJ users cover more than 200 beats and verticals.

For questions, contact the team at [email protected].

SOURCE PR Newswire
Grand opening celebration event on March 3

TALLAHASSEE, Fla., March 3, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Trulieve Cannabis Corp. (CSE: TRUL ) (OTCQX: TCNNF ) ("Trulieve" or "the Company"), a leading and top-performing cannabis company in the United States, today announced the opening of its Beckley, West Virginia dispensary on March 3. Located at 1000 N Eisenhower Dr., the medical dispensary will have operating hours of 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. from Monday through Saturday and 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. on Sunday.

Located at 1000 N Eisenhower Dr., the medical dispensary will have operating hours of 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. from Monday through Saturday and 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. on Sunday.

Grand opening festivities, held throughout the day on March 3, will include partner giveaways, food, specials, plus all registered patients will receive a 25% discount. Representatives from Releaf Specialists will be on site from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. assisting West Virginia residents with medical card registration.

"We are excited to continue expanding our West Virginia presence to include this new location in Beckley and look forward to serving patients in the surrounding area," said Trulieve CEO Kim Rivers . "Trulieve is committed to providing the best quality services and products for the state's registered medical cannabis patients while strengthening community connections in this developing market."

Trulieve patients across West Virginia can choose from a large selection of THC products available in a variety of consumption methods, including flower, concentrates, tinctures, topicals, ingestibles, and more. Designed to meet every patient's needs, our portfolio of in-house brands available in Beckley include Cultivar Collection, Momenta, Muse and more.

Trulieve operates medical dispensaries across West Virginia in Belle, Huntington, Hurricane, Milton, Parkersburg, South Charleston, Weston, and two locations in Morgantown.

For more information on dispensary locations, please visit trulieve.com/dispensaries/west-virginia .

About Trulieve

Trulieve is an industry leading, vertically integrated cannabis company and multi-state operator in the U.S., with established hubs in the Northeast, Southeast, and Southwest, anchored by leading market positions in Arizona, Florida, and Pennsylvania. Trulieve is poised for accelerated growth and expansion, building scale in retail and distribution in new and existing markets through its hub strategy. By providing innovative, high-quality products across its brand portfolio, Trulieve delivers optimal customer experiences and increases access to cannabis, helping patients and customers to live without limits. Trulieve is listed on the CSE under the symbol TRUL and trades on the OTCQX market under the symbol TCNNF. For more information, please visit Trulieve.com .

Facebook: @Trulieve

Instagram: @Trulieve_

Twitter: @Trulieve

Investor Contact

Christine Hersey, Vice President of Investor Relations

+1 (424) 202-0210

[email protected]

Media Contact

Rob Kremer, Executive Director of Corporate Communications

+1 (404) 218-3077

[email protected]

SOURCE Trulieve Cannabis Corp.
SINGAPORE, March 3, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Twenty20 Energy, an integrated international energy provider enabling decarbonization and energy transition solutions through innovative technologies, today announced the completion of a private capital raise totaling circa US$8.4 million. Proceeds have been deployed for use as direct investments in projects and are also expected to be used for working capital.

Geoff Lawrence, Chief Executive Officer of Twenty20 Energy, said, "We are pleased to complete this private capital raise with the new investors in Twenty20 Energy. We appreciate the confidence displayed by those participating in this private capital raise and we believe the future of T20 is bright as demonstrated by these passionate investors."

About Twenty20 Energy

Twenty20 Energy delivers innovative energy solutions that enable clients, partners, and stakeholders to accelerate the transition to a cleaner energy future. From concept development to operations and maintenance, Twenty20 Energy provides engineering, project execution and asset management through long term operations and management solutions, coupled with the capacity to provide funding or participate in shared project ownership. Uniquely positioned in the energy landscape, Twenty20 Energy has a global reach with local sensitivity, developing projects that deliver cleaner energy while empowering economic growth for today and beyond.

Forward-Looking Statement

This press release contains forward-looking statements as defined by the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Forward-looking statements include statements concerning plans, objectives, goals, strategies, future events or performance, and underlying assumptions and other statements that are other than statements of historical facts. When the Company uses words such as "may, "will, "intend," "should," "believe," "expect," "anticipate," "project," "estimate" or similar expressions that do not relate solely to historical matters, it is making forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements are not guarantees of future performance and involve risks and uncertainties that may cause the actual results to differ materially from the Company's expectations discussed in the forward-looking statements. These statements are subject to uncertainties and risks including, but not limited to, the uncertainties related to market conditions and the completion of the initial public offering on the anticipated terms or at all, and other factors discussed in the "Risk Factors" section of the registration statement filed with the SEC. For these reasons, among others, investors are cautioned not to place undue reliance upon any forward-looking statements in this press release. Additional factors are discussed in the Company's filings with the SEC, which are available for review at www.sec.gov. The Company undertakes no obligation to publicly revise these forward-looking statements to reflect events or circumstances that arise after the date hereof.

Contact:

Joe Diaz

Lytham Partners, LLC

(602) 889-9700

[email protected]

SOURCE Twenty20 Energy
"Doug has become a part of the USMR family since beginning monthly visits to our Scottsdale office for IV treatments for some of our staff, so I was devastated to hear the tragic news of the shooting and his hospitalization," Roberts said. "It's heartening to see how so many people have rallied behind Doug and his family to provide support by any means possible. We do what we can for those in need because that's what the human spirit is all about."

The suspected gunman aimed to injure a different person the day Mr. Cordano was shot, said Scottsdale police. The client to whom Mr. Cordano was scheduled to provide an IV treatment on Feb. 18 manages a business dealing with mortgages and foreclosures and has received threats as a result. Police said the suspect arrested in connection with the shooting was among a list of people who in the past six months had their homes foreclosed by the business and had made veiled threats.

Mr. Cordano is uninsured and, given the severity of his injuries, doctors say his medical bills are expected to rise into the seven-figure range.

Mr. Cordano has been in nursing for almost 15 years. Much of his career until recent years was spent in the NICU, where he worked with premature babies and developed his gentle touch for IV insertions. While he loved his time in the NICU, IV therapy has been the most exciting period of Mr. Cordano's nursing career, providing him an opportunity to work with long-time clients at their homes and businesses on a daily basis to develop holistic approaches to health and wellness. In his free time, he plays drums, snowboards, works out, and games.

Mr. Cordano has three children over the age of 18, and a 9-year-old stepson. Last year, he proposed to his girlfriend of eight years. They planned to wed later this year.

"We hope our donation inspires other Scottsdale-area businesses, and people everywhere, to contribute to the GoFundMe campaign we have launched to ensure Doug can get the life-saving care he needs to return to his fiancee, family, and friends," Roberts said.

To donate to the GoFundMe campaign launched by USMR to help cover Mr. Cordano's medical bills, please visit: https://gofund.me/83054925 .

About U.S. Money Reserve, America's Gold Authority

U.S. Money Reserve is one of the nation's largest private distributors of U.S. governmentissued gold, silver, and platinum products.

Founded in 2001, U.S. Money Reserve has grown into one of the world's largest private distributors of U.S. and foreign government-issued gold, silver, and platinum legal-tender products. Hundreds of thousands of clients across the country rely on U.S. Money Reserve to diversify their assets with physical precious metals .

U.S. Money Reserve's uniquely trained team includes coin research and numismatic professionals equipped with market knowledge to find products for precious metals buyers at every level. U.S. Money Reserve goes above the industry standard to provide superior customer service, with the goal of establishing a long-term relationship with each and every one of its customers. U.S. Money Reserve is based in Austin, Texas . Like them on Facebook, connect on LinkedIn , and follow them on Twitter.

Contact: Christol Farris

[email protected]

512-568-9991

Debora Lima

[email protected]

SOURCE U.S. Money Reserve
Community non-profit recognized for support of disadvantaged microentrepreneurs through Program for Investment in Microentrepreneurs Act (PRIME) grant

LOS ANGELES, March 3, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Vermont Slauson Economic Development Corporation was selected to receive a grant award totaling $200,000 from the U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) Program for Investment in Microentrepreneurs Act (PRIME), for the Fiscal Year 2022 competition.

With SBA PRIME funding, VSEDC will launch a comprehensive business resiliency-focused program designed to help minority-owned, disinvested businesses become contracts-ready for procurement opportunities in the post-pandemic world. The program, "Post Pandemic Entrepreneurship and Growth,"will include at least ten broad-based webinars reaching 300 new or existing small business owners, and two facilitated cohorts focusing on neighborhood-based businesses. Funds for this award will be available for eligible expenses incurred between September 30, 2022 and September 29, 2023.

VSEDC was one of 38 organizations selected to receive the SBA PRIME grant award. The PRIME award will support these nonprofit organizations as they help low-income entrepreneurs get financing to establish and expand their small businesses or provide capacity-building training for other organizations that provide capital to underserved small businesses.

"Our SBA PRIME grants provide critical support for nonprofit organizations that are delivering needed technical assistance and training to America's small businesses so they can continue to power our nation's strong economic recovery and transition to strong, stable growth," said SBA Administrator Isabella Casillas Guzman. "This year, the SBA focused our PRIME grant selection process on our nonprofit partners who can best bring federal resources to life, especially in the regions and communities where they are needed most. I look forward to working with these organizations as they help us connect America's entrepreneurs with the capital they need to start, grow and build resilient businesses."

Vermont Slauson Economic Development Corporation (VSEDC) is a community-based nonprofit and Community Development Financial Institution (CDFI) recognized for decades of technical and entrepreneurial assistance to South LA small businesses, start-ups and entrepreneurs. The services VSEDC provides services to drive community self-sufficiency, facilitate business growth, access to affordable housing, goods and services, and job creation. VSEDC achieves this through youth education, a core curriculum of business education, one-on-one business assistance, and small business loans. Find out more about VSEDC at www.vsedc.org, Facebook and Twitter.

The U.S. Small Business Administration helps power the American dream of business ownership. As the only go-to resource and voice for small businesses backed by the strength of the federal government, the SBA empowers entrepreneurs and small business owners with the resources and support they need to start, grow, expand their businesses, or recover from a declared disaster. It delivers services through an extensive network of SBA field offices and partnerships with public and private organizations. To learn more, visit www.sba.gov.

SOURCE Vermont Slauson Economic Development Corporation
NEW YORK, March 3, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Tyler Okun packed his bags and landed in the Big Apple to make his mark in the music industry. Since 2018, from his hometown of Buffalo, he has worked endlessly perfecting his craft, churning out numerous singles, an EP and a full-length album. All produced a theme from Tyler that employed uniqueness in writing, producing, and singing covering many genres. All from his personal stories with words that so many have related to. Now on March 3rd he releases to all music platforms a single called "Evermore" that when you hear it, will be surely in line to be the next Rock Anthem.

New Single Evermore cover Tyler Okun

Listen to Evermore right now here:

https://www.tylerokun.com

Tyler tells us, "I love performing and being here in the Big Apple allows me to be right where I need to be to show my talents."

Tyler has been recently performing live at venues such as Berlin Under A and Manhattan's Apple Fest.

For his new release he is having an "Evermore" release party on March 3rd at 9pm Est, performing "Evermore" for the first time at the Popular Delancey NYC.

Justyn W. Brodsky from Artist Reach wrote this about Tyler's last EP "The City." "Tyler Okun comes out to the forefront with unwavering talent behind the mic and gives it all without any reservations."

Listen to Tyler's music and you will hear his anthemic and powerful vocal performances that feature complex but catchy instrumentation. Tyler tells us, "This song is very emotional for me. 'Evermore' is from a personal mental health struggle in my life where I was laying at the front door with paramedics working on me. I did not see themI saw demons. I knew I was in for the fight of my life. 'Evermore' portrays my battle. Now complete, it's been a culmination of countless hours in the studio writing, recording, and producing to create a musical rollercoaster that expands on what rock music is and can be."

From all perspectives, Tyler strives to create a positive impact on the world through his message in his music and hopes to give others the strength to persevere through any personal battle they may be facing.

Contact Information:

Michael Paul

Marketing Director

1-800-996-7461

[email protected]

https://www.tylerokun.com

SOURCE Tyler Okun
WUXI, China, March 3, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- On March 2, Wuxi Science and Technology Innovation Conference announced that in 2022, the number of science and technology-based SMEs in Wuxi exceeded 10,000 for the first time, reaching 10,651; the city's high-tech industry output value accounted for 50.4% of industrial output value, breaking the 50% watershed for the first time.

Wuxi's science and technology-based SMEs and high-tech enterprises reached 10,651 and 5,546, an increase of 2.87 times and 1.99 times respectively compared to data of 2019; the number of effective invention patents increased from 29,000 to 45,000, three-quarters of which were born in enterprises; the proportion of output value of high-tech industry and strategic emerging industry to industrial output value rose to 50.4% and 41.3%, up 4.8 and 13.2 percentage points respectively from 2019.

More enterprises are speeding up the promotion of R&D institutions to expand their capacity and take up the role as the main force of innovation. 161 new enterprise R&D institutions above the provincial level were established in 2022, a record high in previous years. Three enterprises, including ZKICME, FASTEN and NCAP China, were shortlisted for the provincial innovation construction pilot, and the number of shortlisted enterprises in Wuxi ranked first in Jiangsu Province.

Wuxi, located in the geometric center of the Yangtze River Delta, is taking advantage of location to highlight its center role in the Taihu Lake Science and Innovation Community. On February 21, a delegation from Wuxi went to Hong Kong to set up the Wuxi (Hong Kong) Science and Technology Innovation Center and sign 43 projects on talent, industry, innovation and finance.

"Wuxi will firmly promote enterprises to become the main body of innovation decision-making, R&D investment, scientific research organization and transformation of results, and empower the city of industry and commerce in the new era with the power of science and innovation." Du Xiaogang, Secretary of the Wuxi Municipal Committee of the CPC, said that in the current and future period, Wuxi will accelerate the cultivation of high-level innovative enterprises, through the implementation of a new round of innovative multiplication plan. By 2025, Wuxi will have 15,000 new science and technology-based SMEs, 10,000 new high-tech enterprises, and 1,300 new provincial-level or higher enterprises. It aims to build a first-class industrial innovation highland with international influence.

SOURCE Wuxi Science and Technology Innovation Conference
SHANGHAI, March 2, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- ZTO Express (Cayman) Inc. (NYSE: ZTO and SEHK: 2057), a leading and fast-growing express delivery company in China ("ZTO" or the "Company"), today issued the following statement in response to allegations made in a report by Grizzly Research LLC, a short seller.

The Company believes the report is without merit and contains numerous errors, unsupported speculations, and misleading conclusions and interpretations. It also shows a lack of basic understanding of the Company's business model and financial reporting structure, and a lack of thorough reading of the Company's public filings. The Company's board of directors, including the audit committee, is reviewing the allegations and considering the appropriate course of action to take to safeguard the interests of all shareholders. The Company will make additional disclosures in due course consistent with the requirements of applicable rules and regulations of the Securities and Exchange Commission, the New York Stock Exchange, and The Stock Exchange of Hong Kong Limited.

The Company reiterates its continued and unwavering commitment to maintaining high standards of corporate governance and internal controls, as well as transparent and timely disclosure in compliance with applicable rules and regulations. The Company reserves all rights to take appropriate actions to protect the rights of the Company and those of its shareholders.

About ZTO

ZTO Express (Cayman) Inc. (NYSE: ZTO and SEHK:2057) ( " ZTO " or the " Company " ) is a leading and fast-growing express delivery company in China. ZTO provides express delivery service as well as other value-added logistics services through its extensive and reliable nationwide network coverage in China.

ZTO operates a highly scalable network partner model, which the Company believes is best suited to support the significant growth of e-commerce in China. The Company leverages its network partners to provide pickup and last-mile delivery services, while controlling the mission-critical line-haul transportation and sorting network within the express delivery service value chain.

For more information, please visit http://zto.investorroom.com.

Safe Harbor Statement

This press release contains statements that may constitute "forward-looking" statements pursuant to the "safe harbor" provisions of the U.S. Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. ZTO may also make forward-looking statements in the Company's periodic reports to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (the "SEC"), in its interim and annual reports to shareholders, in announcements, circulars or other publications made on the website of The Stock Exchange of Hong Kong Limited (the "Hong Kong Stock Exchange" ), in press releases and other written materials and in oral statements made by its officers, directors or employees to third parties. Statements that are not historical facts, including statements about the Company's beliefs and expectations, are forward-looking statements. These forward-looking statements can be identified by terminology, such as "will," " expects," " anticipates," " future," " intends," " plans," " believes," " confidence," " estimates," "likely to" and similar statements. Forward-looking statements involve inherent risks and uncertainties. A number of important factors could cause actual results to differ materially from those contained in any forward-looking statement. Potential risks and uncertainties include, but are not limited to, the development of the e-commerce industry in China, its significant reliance on the Alibaba ecosystem, risks associated with its network partners and their employees and personnel, intense competition which could adversely affect the Company's results of operations and market share, any service disruption of the Company's sorting hubs or the outlets operated by its network partners or its technology system. Further information regarding these and other risks is included in ZTO's annual report on Form 20-Fs and other filings with the SEC and the Hong Kong Stock Exchange. All information provided in this press release is current as of the date hereof, and ZTO assumes no obligation to update such information, except as required under applicable law.

SOURCE ZTO Express (Cayman) Inc.
Beirut, March 3 : One person was killed and seven others were injured in armed clashes at a refugee camp in southern Lebanon, local media reported.

According to the National News Agency on Thursday, the fights that broke out in the Ain al-Hilweh camp, a Palestinian refugee camp in Saida, began as a personal argument and escalated into an armed fight which took place on Wednesday.

Besides casualties, the clashes also resulted in significant damage to a number of cars and shops, the L'Orient Today, an English news outlet in Lebanon, reported on its website as quoted by Xinhua news agency report.

The shooting renewed Thursday morning after a period of calm through Wednesday night. Schools in the Ain al-Hilweh camp, run by the UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA), issued a decision to close their doors on Thursday "due to the security conditions and the ongoing clashes".

Schools and universities close to the camp also shut down on Thursday to "preserve the safety of students".

Several Palestinian factions have stepped in to intervene in the deadly clash while the Palestinian ambassador in Lebanon Ashraf Dabbour has been working on mediation, local media reported.
Badaun : , March 3 (IANS) A 17-year-old student of class 12 in Uttar Pradesh's Badaun district consumed rat poison under the Alapur police circle, after he felt that he had fared poorly in Physics examination, police said.

The police added the victim had been identified as Raghav Pathak, son of Bhaskar Pathak, a farmer.

According to police, the 17-year-old victim was a student at a private school in Badaun. He took his Physics exam on March 1 and had been fretting over not securing a good score.

The stress over his performance may have eventually led him to take the extreme step, police added.

The victim's father said, "My son was very bright in studies and wanted to get admission to a top college. He was upset since he returned after giving the exam on Wednesday. I consoled him and advised him not to worry about his grades but he remained upset and locked himself in his room. In the evening, we found that Raghav had consumed poison and then immediately rushed him to a private hospital where his condition did not improve. We then rushed him to a government medical college where he breathed his last." Station House Officer, Alapur police station, Sanjeev Shukla, said, "It is a case of suicide and the body was handed over to the family after autopsy."
New Delhi, March 3 : Shop buyers are still awaiting possession in a commercial tower which was being built in Gurugram's Sector-78, but its construction stopped in 2017 due to a dispute between the land owner and the builder.

The builder of Spaze Towers Private Limited was building a commercial space named 'Spaze Arrow' in Gurugram's Sector-78 on a 3.5-acre land, the project is however, still not completed due to various reasons, and the buyers are still awaiting possession.

Piyush Singh, the advocate who appears for a number of buyers, told IANS that despite making 90 per cent payments, his clients were suffering as the possession was not handed over.

A number of complaints have been filed with different agencies, including in courts for the registration of the FIR against the builder.

In one of the complaints, a Delhi court has ordered the Delhi Police to file a fresh report in the case till the next date of hearing.

According to official information, the builder had promised the buyers to deliver the whole project by 2016, however, the project has not been completed till now. The builder entered into a collaboration agreement to build the tower in 2010. The buyers made the payments to the builder between 2012 and 2013.

An action taken report (ATR) of the Delhi Police states that the buyers told them that around 90 per cent of the total amount was paid by them but also the possession was handed over.

The construction of the project has been stopped since 2017. The ATR filed in March 2022 also stated that the project was once sealed by Haryana State Pollution Control Board (HSPCB) which was later released in 2019.

When contacted, the Delhi Police official only said that they were not in a position to share information.

Ishan Singh, the land owner, said that in its report the Economic Offences Wing (EOW) said that no offence was committed by the builder which was nothing but a contradictory statement.

"Report of the EOW is contradictory itself because they are admitting that the building was once sealed due to non-compliance of the rules. Units were sold to innocent persons even though they did not have all kinds of permission, it was a fraud committed by the builder," Singh alleged.
Ramallah, March 3 : Palestine has condemned the Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's visit to the Israeli settlement of Har Brakha near the northern West Bank city of Nablus.

The Palestinian Foreign Ministry on Thursday said in a press statement that "the provocative visit of Netanyahu into the West Bank and the hostile statements and stances he made are rejected and condemned".

A statement issued by Netanyahu's office said that he and his wife Sara arrived in the settlement to condole the family of the two Israelis who were killed in a shooting attack carried out by Palestinians in the town of Hawara, south of Nablus on Sunday.

On Sunday, a Palestinian gunman opened fire at a vehicle of two Israelis in Hawara and killed them. In response, Israeli settlers attacked the town and burned dozens of cars and homes, Xinhua news agency reported.

The Palestinian Foreign Ministry added, "Netanyahu's visit has no legitimate or legal characteristic, contrary to the rules of international law, UN resolutions, and the signed agreements." It said that "the visit reveals the true face of the Israeli government and its Prime Minister, who leads a government of settlements and settlers and sabotages the opportunity to revive the peace process".

The Israeli Prime Minister's visit comes amid tensions between the Palestinians and Israelis since January 1.

Israel took control of the West Bank in 1967 and established dozens of settlements on it. The settlement issue is one of the most prominent aspects of the Palestinian-Israeli conflict and one of the main reasons for suspending the last direct peace negotiations between the two sides in 2014.
New York, March 3 : Indian-American Sonya Christian has been named the 11th permanent Chancellor of the California Community College system, the largest and most diverse system of public higher education in the US.

With her appointment, Christian, a Kerala University graduate, becomes the first woman and the first person of South Asian origin to lead the college system that serves 1.8 million students every year.

"Dr. Christian is one of our nation's most dynamic college leaders, with a demonstrated record of collaboration and results in the Central Valley," California Governor Gavin Newsom said in a statement.

"She understands what is needed to deliver on record levels of higher education investment to make real improvements to the lived reality of our students. I look forward to continuing to partner with Dr. Christian to ensure our community colleges are engines of equity and opportunity." Christian, who is Kern Community College District Chancellor, will step into her new role on June 1, 2023. She replaces Chancellor Eloy Ortiz Oakley, who stepped down in August after leading the community college system for nearly six years.

For more than 30 years, Christian has actively engaged in policies and practices related to state and national completion, quality and equity agendas.

"I am honoured to be selected to lead the most important system of higher education in the country and grateful to the Board of Governors for their confidence," Christian said.

"We continue to face many challenges, but I truly believe our greatest challenges enable us to do our greatest work. We are called to design the most vibrant, resilient, and effective learning environment ever. We are called to do this work at scale, not eventually, but now. And we will work with a shared vision that keeps students first." In July 2021, Christian was named the sixth chancellor of the Kern Community College District, where she implemented a call to action with a focus on advancing student success and closing achievement and equity gaps.

She also spearheaded a statewide coalition in 2015 that led to securing philanthropic funding for the 20-college Guided Pathways demonstration project in California, leading to a $150 million state investment in Guided Pathways and broad adoption of the framework throughout the college system, according to a press statement.

The distinguished educationist started her career in higher education as a mathematics faculty and later as division chair, then Dean of science, engineering, allied health and mathematics at Bakersfield College.

She served as an administrator at Lane Community College in Oregon for several years before returning home to Kern Community College District in 2013 after being selected as the 10th president of Bakersfield College.

Christian earned her Bachelor of Science degree from University of Kerala; her Master of Science in Applied Mathematics from University of Southern California; and her doctorate from University of California, Los Angeles.
Prayagraj, March 3 : Police in Prayagraj denied having detained two sons of jailed gangster Atiq Ahmad in connection with the Umesh Pal murder case.

Ahmad's wife Shaista Parveen had alleged that her sons were picked up by the police on February 24 from her residence and their whereabouts were not known since then.

She said no information regarding her sons was being provided by cops at the Dhoomanganj police station.

Hence, she requested the Chief Judicial Magistrate (CJM) to ask for a report from police.

"No persons with the name of Aizan Ahmad and Aban Ahmad (two sons of Atiq) are in police custody. Neither persons with such names are registered in the general diary (GD) of the police nor have they been kept in police custody," stated the report of the Dhoomanganj police presented in the court of Prayagraj CJM Dinesh Kumar Gautam.

In the report, it was made clear that details were not available in this connection.

According to it, the SHO, who is investigation officer (IO) of Umesh Pal murder case, is out in the field for investigation.

The CJM has asked for a clearer report.

On February 28, he had sought a report from the Dhumanganj police in response to an application moved by Shaista Parveen.
Lucknow, March 3 : The Uttar Pradesh Assembly will turn into a court on Friday and hold a hearing to decide the period of imprisonment to be awarded to a retired IAS officer (former circle officer, Kanpur Nagar) and five serving policemen for breach of privilege of a member of the house -- Salil Vishnoi, the then BJP MLA from Kanpur -- in Kanpur Nagar on September 15, 2004.

According to Assembly officials, a dock will be placed in the House and principal secretary (home) and DGP have been asked to hand over the accused to the House.

This will be after 34 years that the House will turn into a court to hold a hearing in a breach of privilege case.

On March 2, 1989, the Assembly had summoned Shankar Dutt Ojha, an officer of the then UP Terai Vikas Janjati Nigam, who was accused of misbehaving with Hardev, member of the House.

It may be recalled that on September 15, 2004, Vishnoi was leading a delegation to submit a memorandum against power cuts in Kanpur to the district magistrate (Kanpur Nagar) when police personnel misbehaved with him.

Assembly speaker Satish Mahana directed principal secretary (home) and the DGP to produce the police personnel before the assembly after a resolution was adopted in this regard.

Minister for parliamentary affairs Suresh Khanna had moved the resolution in the House recommending that these personnel be produced before the House and their imprisonment be considered.

Those to be produced before the House on Friday include the then CO Babupurva, Kanpur Nagar, Abdul Samad (who switched over to another service and has retired as an IAS officer), then SHO, Kidwai Nagar police station, Rishikant Shukla, then S-I at Kotwali police station Triloki Singh, then constable at Kidwai Nagar police station Chhotey Singh Yadav, then constable at Kakadev police station Vinod Mishra and then constable at Kakadev police station Meharban Singh Yadav.

Vishnoi had given information about the breach of privilege to the House on October 25, 2004.

He enclosed newspaper clippings, photographs and medical report, along with his notice, informing the House about the breach of privilege.

On July 28, 2005, then deputy speaker of the state legislative assembly and then chairman of the privilege committee Rajesh Agarwal had submitted recommendations to award imprisonment to then CO (Babupurwa) Abdul Samad and reprimand other policemen by summoning them to the House.

The Assembly will now consider imprisonment of all the six accused and termination of services of five amongst them.
Prayagraj, March 3 : The Uttar Pradesh Secondary Education Board (UPSEB) has started the process of withdrawing the recognition of 67 schools where proxy candidates were nabbed taking exams in high school and intermediate board exams.

A total of 120 impersonators, known as 'Munna Bhai' in local parlance, have been caught from these schools and after registering an FIR against them, they have been sent to jail.

"We have identified 67 colleges in the state from where proxy candidates were nabbed. However, due to the vigilance of the board, 120 such proxy candidates have been caught," said the UP Board Secretary, Divya Kant Shukla.

Legal action has been taken against all, he added.

The Board has prepared a list of such schools on the basis of the report received through DIOS and these schools, having enrolled proxy candidates, have not followed the prescribed conditions for recognition.

"These schools have committed serious irregularities in the conduct of examinations and have violated the clause given in Regulation-11 of Chapter VII of the Secondary Education Act, 1921. Under this, the recognition of the institutions will be withdrawn," said Shukla.

The process of withdrawal of recognition has been started against all the 67 schools, he said.

Meanwhile, the annual home examinations of Class 1 to 8 in government and aided schools of the state will be held from March 20-24.

The evaluation of answer sheets and preparation of results will be done till March 30, while report cards will be distributed on March 31.

The exams are being held after a gap of two years.

Secretary, Uttar Pradesh Basic Education Council, Pratap Singh Baghel said while oral examinations will be held for Class 1 students, both oral and written examinations will be held from Class 2 to 5.

There will be only written exams for Class 6 to 8.
Prayagraj : , March 3 (IANS) The Allahabad High Court has rejected the bail application of Ali Ahmed, son of Atiq Ahmed, in an alleged case of attempt to murder and extortion.

Ali is presently lodged in Naini jail.

The court termed Ali as a "mafia don in making", as his name has also figured in Umesh Pal murder case.

"If he comes out of jail, he would be a threat to the witnesses and society," added the court.

Justice Dinesh Kumar Singh observed, "The accused applicant Ali Ahmad is himself a mafia don in the making, as his role has figured in the murder of Umesh Pal." Coming down heavily on the criminal antecedents of Ali and his father Atiq, the court said, "Accused-applicant is the son of one of the most dreaded criminals and mafia dons, Atiq Ahmed, who has to his credit, more than a hundred criminal cases of murder, abduction, extortion, ransom, property grabbing and other heinous offences.

The present bail application relates to a criminal case registered against Ali on December 31, 2022, at police station Kareli of Prayagraj district under charges of murder, extortion and other sections of IPC.
Hathras : , March 3 (IANS) The family of the 19-year-old girl who was allegedly raped and murdered in September 2020, is upset after the special court acquitted three of the four accused.

The girl's brother told reporters, "Is this justice? Which door should we knock now? The entire world had witnessed what the accused had done to my sister." Her sister in-law said, "It is the upper castes that have got justice, not us. We have not immersed her ashes in the Ganga yet. We will do it when all four are convicted and not rest till then." The Dalit family's lawyer, Seema Kushwaha, said, "We will appeal in the high court. I have full faith that the other three will also be convicted. It is strange that the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), after its investigation, had filed charge sheet under 376-D (gangrape), 376-A (rape and inflicting injury which cause death), 302 (murder), 34 (criminal act done by several persons) and yet no conviction took place of the other three. Political influence may have had a role in the exoneration." Earlier, the girl's family had alleged that her body was hurriedly cremated past midnight in an open field near their home, with senior police officers and administration officials overseeing it.

They had alleged that they were "forced" by the local police to conduct her last rites quietly and quickly. It was carried out "without their consent", they said, and "they were not even allowed to bring home the body one last time".

The local police had said the cremation was carried out 'as per the wishes of the family'.

The Supreme Court (SC), while hearing a PIL earlier, had termed it "shocking" and "horrible' and had asked the state to file an affidavit detailing the witness protection efforts on the ground in this case.

On October 1, 2020, the Allahabad High Court, taking suo motu cognisance had said the crime had "shocked its conscience", and about 10 days later, the case was transferred from the UP Police to the CBI that filed a charge sheet against all four accused.

They were, subsequently, charged with "gang-rape" and "murder".

Meanwhile, after her son's exoneration, Munni Devi, the mother of Luv Kush who was acquitted on Thursday, said, "I had left everything on the court. I have full faith in the judiciary. I want my son back now." Calling the case 'politically-driven', Munna Singh Pundir, the lawyer of Sandeep, who has been convicted, said, "The four youngsters were framed. The CBI had charge sheeted all of them for gang-rape and murder, but none of it (evidence) could stand before the court. The only conviction was for culpable homicide. We will appeal in the HC against it too. He will also be acquitted." Welcoming the judgment, a UP government spokesperson said, "It was an unfortunate incident. But the stand of the state police had always been that no rape took place in the Hathras case. The court has convicted the main accused for culpable homicide not amounting to murder and under the SC/ST Act. It vindicates the UP Police's stand." It may be recalled that in her dying declaration before a magistrate in Aligarh, the victim had named the four accused. Her family had then alleged that she was gang-raped. It alleged that the girl was dragged into a farm and assaulted by four upper-caste men.

The special judge Trilok Pal, however, said that the rape charge against the main accused Sandeep could not be proved.
Amaravati, March 3 : Andhra Pradesh's main opposition Telugu Desam Party (TDP) has alleged that the industrial summit being organised in Visakhapatnam by the state government from Friday is not in the interest of the state but only for political gains.

The TDP also alleged that for the past four years several industrialists have been harassed and now holding the industrial summit is only to mislead the public.

The opposition party claimed that several noted industrialists and businessmen fell victim to the corrupt practices of the Chief Minister Jagan Mohan Reddy. With the destructive policies and the hatred adopted by the Jagan Reddy government, not even a single industrialist has shown interest to set up unit in the state for the past four years, the TDP said in a 'fact sheet'.

Pointing out that foundation stone has been laid for the Kadapa steel plant twice, the party mentioned that the works of the plant did not move any further. Soon after YSRCP came to power, the Mylavaram Solar Plants were attacked and the Kia management was subjected to blackmail while a conspiracy has been hatched to shutdown the Amara Raja batteries.

Scared of the massive corruption, the Jockey unit migrated to the neighbouring state from Rapthadu in Ananthapur district while the Reliance Electronic Industry has shifted from Tirupati to other state. The Franklin Templeton, Data Centre, Lulu and the Titan Electrical Vehicles unit, all left Visakhapatnam, the TDP mentioned in the fact-sheet.

The Mega Seeds unit at Kurnool was totally debilitated while the Singapore-based Ankura Industriea, the XLR Academics and several other industries left Amaravathi. Similarly, Appolo Tyres, paper pulp unit from Ramayapatnam, Best Battery unit and many such companies deserted the state.

Power holidays have been declared for companies during the YSRCP rule while power charges too have been increased heavily. Industrial subsidy amounting to Rs 850 crore has not been paid and the state government has miserably failed to encourage industrialisation, the party stated.

It claimed that during its regime three industrial summits have been organised at Visakhapatnam and Memorandums of Understanding (MoUs) were signed for an investment of Rs 16 lakh crore to create employment for 32 lakh youth.

As the chief minister of the state, Chandrababu Naidu, visited Davos four times and attracted Rs 5 lakh crore investments and generated employment for 5.13 lakh.

The TDP asked the Chief Minister to desist from cheating the public in the name of Visakhapatnam summit keeping in view the coming elections and mend the ways to adopt vengeful attitude towards industrialists. It also asked him release the dues to the companies to win their confidence.

Observing that industrialisation plays a key role in the economic progress of the state, TDP fact-sheet mentioned that the businessmen who have been paying the taxes as per norms are not beingA given subsidy while the godowns of the YSRCP MLA, Dwarampudi Chandrasekhar Reddy, have been released the subsidy much against the norms.

The state government has miserably failed to utilise the opportunities for industrial development and harassing even those who have already set up their units forcing them to desert the State. The funds for welfare and development can be generated only through industrialisation, the TDP said in the fact-sheet and felt that the future generations will not excuse Jagan as he is completely destroying the sector for his political and personal gains.
Bengaluru, March 3 : Continuing with raids after catching BJP MLA's son red-handed while accepting Rs 40 lakh bribe, the Lokayukta authorities have recovered Rs 7.62 crore in his and his aides' residences, sources confirmed on Friday, adding that raids are going on at MLA's places.

Lokayukta sleuths have found the cash at the residence and office of BJP MLA Madal Virupakshappa's son, Prashanth, who worked as the Bengaluru Water Supply and Sewerage Board (BWSSB) Chief Accountant.

The authorities have arrested five persons in this connection, including Prashanth.

Siddesh, a relative of Prashanth, accountant Surendra, and two others named Nicholas and Gangadhar, who came to hand over the cash of Rs 40 lakh have been arrested, Lokayukta sources said.

The accused will be produced before the Lokayukta Special Court and will be taken into their custody for further probe.

The raids have also been conducted at the residence and office of BJP MLA from Channagiri constituency, Madal Virupakshappa at K.M.V. Mansion in Sanjaynagar locality of Bengaluru. The authorities have seized documents and other evidence from the residences.

Prashanth was caught red-handed by the Lokayukta while accepting Rs 40 lakh bribe on Thursday.

The development is seen as a serious setback to the ruling BJP. The incident has come to light at a time when the opposition is launching attacks of "40 per cent commission" and kickbacks in government tenders. Congress has stated that the raids proved their allegations of corruption and commission charges.

Prashanth had demanded Rs 80 lakh bribe in connection with a tender process and was caught while accepting Rs 40 lakh at his office.

The complaint was filed regarding the allotment of tender for providing raw materials to the Karnataka Soaps and Detergents Limited (KSDL). Prashath's father Madal Virupakshappa is the Chairman of KSDL.

The authorities are preparing to question BJP MLA Madal Virupakshappa as the bribe money was received on behalf of Chairman of KSDL for raw material procurement tender.

The Lokayukta has lodged a case under the Prevention of Corruption Act and taken up the investigation.

Sources explained that Prashanth was an accused in a Rs 55 crore misappropriation case in Karnataka Rural Infrastructure Development Limited (KIRDL). Prashanth and two others were suspended by the government and the case was handed over to the Criminal Investigation Department (CID). The case in this regard was lodged at Surathkal police station.
Washington, March 3 : US President Joe Biden said he will sign off on a Republican-backed resolution that seeks to override Washington's District of Columbia's new controversial crime laws on sentencing.

Initially, the Biden administration had some reservations on the Republican resolution on grounds of Congressional intervention in the laws.

The District of Columbia has sought to rewrite the crime laws on the period of sentencing for crimes.

For the first time in 30 years, the President's signature would allow Congress to overturn a D.C. decision.

"I support D.C. statehood and home-rule," Biden said in a statement.

"But I don't support some of the changes D.C. Council put forward over the mayor's objections -- such as lowering penalties for carjacking. If the Senate votes to overturn what D.C. Council did - I'll sign it," the USA today quoted the President as saying.

What actually led to the D.C. rewriting the laws for reducing sentences for specific offences? Late last year, the D.C. City Council approved a new local criminal code that includes the elimination of mandatory minimum sentences for many crimes and the reduction of maximum sentences for crimes such as robbery and burglary, media reports said.

The Council overrode a veto from D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser, who has expressed serious concerns over reduction of sentences for crimes.

The local ordinance's passage has been in the works for almost two decades to redo D.C.'s crime laws. Republicans were quick to oppose it.

In recent years, they have been very critical of Democrats going soft on crime. Washington reportedly had its highest number of murders in 2022 in nearly 20 years, the reports said.

Some 31 Democrats crossed the floor joining republicans to vote against the new legislation which is expected to secure bipartisan support in the Senate that could happen as early as next week.

Under the US Constitution, Congress is vested with powers to overturn local D.C. legislation.

Biden's rejection of the new law and some Democrats' decision to override it is an about turn on the White House Office of Management statement on February 6 this year, that "Congress should respect the District of Columbia's autonomy to govern its own local affairs".

It was indeed a major political dilemma for President Biden to oppose his own partymen.

He was faced with a political question on whether to let the resolution become law or veto it and face criticism that he was going soft on crime during the 2024 presidential election. Obviously, it was a shrewd political decision to go against the latter option.

Biden, had been distancing himself from the "defund the police" campaign of the left.

If he had penned the D.C. legislation, he would have been the but end of Republican propaganda in an election year of 2024.

The question is whether Biden's decision will please many activists who have been trying to influence him to introduce police and justice reforms in the country.

White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre did some tight rope walking with reporters on the issue when she said Biden believes every city "has the right to self-government" but also wants to keep communities safe.

"This is different," Jean-Pierre said. "The D.C. Council put changes forward over the mayor's objections, and the president doesn't support changes like lowering penalties for carjacking." The Republican sponsor Senatir Bill Hagerty from Tennessee was quite happy with Biden's decision.

"I hope these reports are true and that President Biden is no longer threatening to veto my common sense resolution to block the soft-on-crime DC Crime Bill. Reducing violent crime should not be controversial."
New York, March 3 : AThe US has received a sufficient number of applications to meet the congressionally-mandated H-2B cap for the second half of fiscal year 2023, the country's federal agency for immigration services announced.

The US Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) said February 27 was the final receipt date for new cap-subject H-2B worker petitions requesting an employment start date on or after April 1 and before October 1.

Currently, the congressionally-mandated cap for H-2B visa is set at 66,000 per fiscal year, with 33,000 for workers who begin employment in the first half of the fiscal year (October 1-March 31) and 33,000 for workers who begin employment in the second half of the fiscal year (April 1-September 30).

The agency also announced the filing dates for the supplemental H-2B visas for FY 2023, made available under the supplemental visa temporary final rule.Under this rule, the USCIS began accepting H-2B petitions increasing the cap by up to 64,716 additional H-2B non-immigrant visas for FY-2023.

These supplemental H-2B visas are for US employers seeking to petition for additional workers at certain periods of the fiscal year before September 15.

They are available only to US businesses that are suffering irreparable harm or will suffer impending irreparable harm without the ability to employ all the H-2B workers requested in their petition, the USCIS said.

The agency further said that it will continue to accept H-2B petitions that are exempt from the congressionally mandated cap, which includes current holders of this visa in the US who wish to extend their stay and, if applicable, change the terms of their employment or change their employers.

Others who are exempt include, fish roe processors, fish roe technicians and/or supervisors of fish roe processing; and workers performing labor or services in the Commonwealth of Northern Mariana Islands and/or Guam (until December 31, 2029).

The H-2B visas are issued for seasonal/temporary jobs which allow employers to hire skilled or unskilled workers to fulfil the shortage of workers in the US.

The employer must obtain a Department of Labor certification before the visa application can be initiated.
Los Angeles, March 3 : Actress Emma Stone, who hasn't acted in a film since 2021, that will soon change thanks to two new collaborations with her 'The Favourite' director Yorgos Lanthimos.

The first is 'Poor Things', a Frankenstein-inspired story in which Stone plays a woman whose brain gets replaced by that of her unborn child, and the second is "And," plot details for which remain under wraps.

In both films, Stone stars opposite Willem Dafoe. But it was only 'And' that required Stone to slap Dafoe across the face 20 times.

In a new Dafoe profile published by The New York Times, it's revealed that Dafoe asked to be slapped repeatedly for a scene in which he does not even appear on camera.

Stone slaps Dafoe's character, who is off camera in the shot. But that didn't stop Dafoe from wanting to be present on set even though he wasn't required to be there.

"That's what you want from actors," Lanthimos said about Dafoe being on set even when he's not in the shot. "To want to be part of it in any way." "There's this instinct to perform that many actors have - the 'look at me, look at me!' kind of performer," Stone added.

"He's the opposite of that. Maybe it's changed through the years. A lot of actors I bond with have been doing this for a long time, and you know they've gone from 'I' to 'We'." 'Poor Things' will most likely arrive in theatres ahead of 'And'.

Both films have the backing of Searchlight Pictures, which previously released Lanthimos' 'The Favourite' in 2018 to the tune of $95 million worldwide and 10 Academy Award nominations, including best picture.

Stone earned a nomination in the supporting actress category for her work on 'The Favourite', while Olivia Colman won the best actress prize.

Dafoe next stars in Focus Features' thriller 'Inside', opening in theatres on March 17.
New Delhi, March 3 : A woman journalist with a leading media house alleged that she was sexually harassed by an Uber auto-rickshaw driver during a ride from her residence to her friend's place in southeast Delhi.

The incident occurred on Wednesday and the journalist also shared a video of the incident on social media.

Delhi Commission for Women (DCW) chairperson Swati Maliwal issued a notice to Uber India and Delhi Police over the incident.

"Notice has been issued to Uber India and Delhi Police over the unfortunate incident of molestation of a female journalist in an Uber Auto in Delhi," Maliwal tweeted.

Narrating her ordeal on Twitter, the woman journalist said that when she boarded an auto-rickshaw from her residence in New Friends Colony to Malviya Nagar to visit her friend, the driver, identified as Vinod Kumar, started staring at her inappropriately through the side mirrors of the auto, precisely at her breasts.

"I took an auto from my home to a friend's place. After a while, I noticed that the driver was looking at me through the side mirrors of the auto, precisely at my breasts. I shifted a bit towards right and wasn't visible in the left side mirror," she said in a tweet.

"He then started looking into the right side of the mirror. I then shifted to the extreme left and wasn't visible in any of the mirrors. He then started looking back again and again to see me. I first tried using the safety feature of @uber, but to no avail," she said in another tweet.

"The first time I dialled the number, the audio wasn't clear. I then confronted him and said that I would raise a complaint. I even asked him to focus on driving. To this, he said, "kardo" (do it) and I then redialed the number but couldn't hear the audio due to poor network," she said in another tweet.

According to police, on March 2, at about 11.00 p.m., the journalist, a resident of Bharat Nagar, approached NFC police station and filed a complaint against one TSR driver.

"She levelled allegations of indecent behaviour as well as lascivious staring by him, while she was travelling from NFC to Malviya Nagar on March 1 at about 4.40 p.m. Accordingly a case under relevant sections of IPC was registered and investigation taken up," said a senior police official.

"The owner of the TSR, Mohd Yunus Khan is being questioned to nab the auto-driver," said the official.
Los Angeles, March 3 : Actress Jenna Ortega has shared her two cents on stereotypes about Gen Z. In a new interview, the breakout 'Wednesday' star spoke out against the stereotypes about teenagers that irk her.

The former Disney Channel star addressed the issue when making an appearance on 'Hot Ones' with host Sean Evans, reports aceshowbiz.com.

In the Thursday, March 2 episode, she was asked if there's a Gen Z Trope or stereotype about teens in scripts that "gets under" her skin.

Unsurprisingly, Jenna was quick to call out some misconceptions about high schoolers.

The 'Scream VI' actress noticed that teenagers are often depicted as "unintelligent," which does not reflect her generation because so much is "accessible to them on the Internet." She went on to insist, "I wish that they were given a bit more credit. We can be smart, sometimes!" After "a little over a decade" in Hollywood and acknowledging that she does "look a bit younger" than her peers, the 20-year-old actress also said she's over plotlines about "bratty" teens that "bad mouth" everything.

Prior to this, Jenna talked about how she feels that "a lot of" Hollywood bosses still lack awareness of today's issues. Speaking to New York Magazine's The Cut, the "You" star addressed the challenges of meeting "expectations" of what a Latina actress should look like or the kind of roles she should be taking on.

"It goes back to the 'your own worst critic' thing. Nothing anybody else could say is gonna bother me as much as something I could say," Jenna said. "When it comes to Latina expectations, it's so easy for me to brush those off because the people who are in positions of power right now or who have been in positions of power for so long in the industry, a lot of them are out of touch or just not necessarily familiar because they grew up in a very different time." "So I think that I personally have so much fun pushing the boundaries and doing all of the things that, you know, the Latina character 'shouldn't' do. We were never the hero of the story or the lead of the story, and I love to be able to push back on that," she elaborated.
Washington, March 3 : The Joe Biden-Kamala Harris administration in the US has issued a new cybersecurity strategy that puts the onus on Big Tech companies in preventing cyber attacks.

The National Cybersecurity Strategy stressed on rebalancing the responsibility to defend cyberspace by "shifting the burden for cybersecurity away from individuals, small businesses, and local governments, and onto the organisations that are most capable and best-positioned to reduce risks for all of us".

The strategy also singled out China as "the broadest, most active, and most persistent threat to both government and private sector networks." The strategy said that we must realign incentives to favour long-term investments by "striking a careful balance between defending ourselves against urgent threats today and simultaneously strategically planning for and investing in a resilient future".

It said that while using all instruments of national power, "we will make malicious cyber actors incapable of threatening the national security or public safety of the United States" and address ransomware threat through a comprehensive Federal approach and in "lockstep with our international partners".

The country will place responsibility on those within its digital ecosystem that are best positioned to reduce risk and shift the consequences of poor cybersecurity away from the most vulnerable "in order to make our digital ecosystem more trustworthy".

The US has lately seen several nation-state cyber attacks on its industry and government institutions, especially from China-backed bad actors.

The US "seeks a world where responsible state behaviour in cyberspace is expected and reinforced and where irresponsible behaviour is isolating and costly".
Beirut, March 3 : The International Support Group for Lebanon (ISG) is concerned the country's political leadership has failed for four months to elect a President, a UN spokesman said.

"It is gravely concerned about the ramifications of a prolonged presidential vacuum," said Stephane Dujarric, the chief spokesman for UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres.

Representatives from the UN, key countries and regional organisations comprise the ISG, reports Xinhua news agency.

"The group urged the political leadership and members of parliament to assume their responsibilities, act in line with the Constitution, and uphold the Taif Agreement by electing a new President without delay," Dujarric said.

The spokesman said the group strongly condemned the December attack against a UN Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) convoy, which killed an Irish peacekeeper, Sean Rooney.

He said the ISG expects the perpetrators to be brought to justice.

Lebanon's state commissioner to the military court, Judge Fadi Akiki, charged in January one man with Rooney's murder and six others with destroying a UNIFIL vehicle.

The UNIFIL has been operating in southern Lebanon since 1978 to monitor the withdrawal of Israeli forces and ensure peace and security along the Israel-Lebanon border.
Kolkata, March 3 : Leader of Opposition in West Bengal Assembly and a BJP MLA, Suvendu Adhikari has urged the Election Commission of India (EC) to derecognise the Trinamool Congress as a national party.

In his letter to the EC, Adhikari has given a number of arguments in favour of his plea.

According to him, to get the national party status, a party needs to have two per cent of the total Lok Sabha seats in at least three states. "TMC has more than the required 11 Lok Sabha MPs, but they all are from the one state, West Bengal only. So, this criterion is not being fulfilled as the required number of MPs are not from at least three states and are from one state only," Adhikari's letter to EC read.

Moreover, the party should have six per cent of the total valid votes in any four or more states with at least two MLAs from each state. He pointed out that Trinamool Congress also does not meet this criterion of getting the national party status.

Trinamool Congress, he said, contested in three states other than West Bengal in the last five years. Of the three other states, its vote percentage 5.2 per cent in Goa without a single MLA, 0.88 per cent in Tripura without a single MLA and 13.78 per cent in Meghalaya with five legislators.

So it could only secure the minimum requirement of six per cent votes and minimum two MLAs in just West Bengal and Meghalaya," the letter read.

In the letter, he pointed out that ECI has already placed Trinamool Congress on notice asking why it should not be derecognised as a national party. "Trinamool Congress has requested for the continuation of the national party status till 2024, when India votes to elect the new government. The decision seems to be pending. In my opinion Trinamool Congress party should be scrapped of their national party status as of now and if in the future (which seems unlikely) they can meet the criterion, their undeserving national party status as of now could be restored," it further read.
New Delhi, March 3 : Chief Economic Adviser V. Anantha Nageswaran on Friday said that there is a need to differentiate between competition and free markets.

Nageswaran, while delivering a keynote address at the National Conference on Economics of Competition Law, said that regulators and competition agencies can work in tandem to set up a framework to prevent barriers in markets.

He further noted that it is competition which drives innovation.

However at the same time, he added that there is a distinction between competition and free markets.

Nageswaran further said that there is always competition between competition regulators, and firms as well as markets.
Kochi, March 3 : Union Home Minister Amit Shah's visit to Kerala's Trissur on March 5 address party's rally has been postponed, said state BJP president K.Surendran.

All arrangements for his visit and the party programmes had been finalised when the change in plans came.

Even though the state party unit said that Shah is presently tied up with the post-election activities in the northeast states where the BJP is busy forming governments, speculation is the visit has been postponed as the statewide yatra of the CPI(M) state secretary M.V. Govindan is also reaching Trissur on the day.

Incidentally, Trissur is a stronghold of the BJP as superstar Suresh Gopi put up a spirited fight at the 2019 Lok Sabha polls and also in the 2021 Assembly polls.

The state BJP unit said that Shah will be coming soon.
Wellington, March 3 : Two Indian Sikh tow truck drivers in New Zealand are taking their former boss to the Human Rights Commission over "all Sikhs are terrorists" and other racial abuses, which were hurled at them by a manager in the company.

Raminder Singh and Sumit Nandpuri said Pam Watson, owner and managing director of Southern Districts Towing in Auckland, neither took any action nor gave any apology after racial abuse by a manager in the company, stuff.co.nz reported.

Singh said he resigned in November 2022 after his new manager told him "all Sikhs are terrorists".

Nandpuri added that the manager overheard a discussion with a colleague and chimed in to say "Is that why your Punjab is f****d? Is that why you guys are going backwards?", the website reported.

Nandpuri, who had worked with the company for over five years, said it was the fifth incident of racism he had experienced there, and he quit because he felt their complaints were not taken seriously.

Nandpuri said when he told Watson that he intends to take legal advice, she shouted: "Do you want to ruin my business?", and asked him to file a complaint in writing to her.

According to the report, she also told him that he shouldn't "dictate her business", when he asked how he could keep working under the manager.

At a meeting with Watson and her deputy, Singh said he was asked if he had discussed the Queen's death and whether it would mean an extra day's leave.

Days after the meeting, Watson wrote to them that she had conducted a "thorough investigation and review of this matter" and had "taken appropriate action to prevent this matter from occurring again", the stuff.co.nz reported.

She did not divulge what action had been taken and told them both that the incident has to be kept confidential.

Watson did not give any apology and the manager continued to work for the company.

Singh said that both he and Nandpuri were made to feel like criminals.

"This outcome is like a slap in the face... It has hurt me mentally and emotionally," Singh told stuff.co.nz.

The Human Rights Commission will hold a mediation hearing in March.

In case a conclusion is not reached, the complaint will then be referred to the Human Rights Review Tribunal.
Ramallah, March 3 : A Palestinian teenager was shot dead wby Israeli soldiers in a village near the West Bank city of Qalqilya, the Palestinian Health Ministry said in a statement.

Mohamed Islim, 15, died after he was shot in the back by Israeli soldiers who stormed the village of Azzun, Xinhua news agency reported citing the statement as saying.

Of the two injured teenagers, one was in serious conditions and has been admitted to the intensive care unit at the governmental hospital in the city, where doctors tried to save his life, it added.

The statement not not however prove further details.

But, Qalqilya's governor Rafeh Rawajbeh told Xinhua that Israeli soldiers opened fire at the teenagers during clashes that broke out near the city's main road.

"It is an awful crime that should be condemned as Israeli forces directly targeted the boys," he said.

Israeli authorities have not commented on the development.

Israeli Radio, which quoted army sources, said that soldiers opened fire at the Palestinians after they threw Molotov cocktail bottles at Jewish settlers near Qalqilya.

Islim's death came amid mounting tension between Israelis and the Palestinians that has been going on since January 1.

Official Palestinian figures show that 68 Palestinians have been killed by Israeli soldiers so far this year.

Meanwhile, official Israeli figures reveal that 13 Israelis were killed in attacks carried out by Palestinians.
Lucknow, March 3 : Almost 19 years after the incident took place, the UP Vidhan Sabha on Friday punished six police personnel for breach of privilege on the complaint of then MLA Salil Bishnoi.

The Vidhan Sabha was converted into a court by resolution, after which parliamentary affairs minister Suresh Khanna announced the punishment for the convicted policemen.

The six police personnel would remain in custody till midnight Friday in a special cell in the Vidhan Bhawan complex.

The six are Abdul Samad (who switched over to another service and has retired as an IAS officer), then circle officer Babupurva, SHO, Kidwai Nagar police station; Rishikant Shukla, then S-I at Kotwali police station; Triloki Singh, then constable at Kidwai Nagar police station; Chhotey Singh Yadav, then constable at Kakadev police station; Vinod Mishra and Meharban Singh Yadav then constables at Kakadev police station.

All six were present in the House in a specially erected deck, when the decision was announced.

The police personnel were also given an opportunity to explain their conduct and they apologised for the behaviour and said that they hold elected representatives in high esteem.

On September 15, 2004, BJP leader Salil Bishnoi was leading a delegation to submit a memorandum against power cuts in Kanpur to the district magistrate (Kanpur Nagar) when police personnel misbehaved with him.

Bishnoi had given information about the breach of privilege to the House on October 25, 2004. He enclosed newspaper clippings, photographs and medical report, along with his notice, informing the House about the breach of privilege.

On July 28, 2005, then deputy speaker of the state legislative Assembly and then chairman of the privilege committee Rajesh Agarwal had submitted recommendations to award imprisonment to then CO (Babupurwa) Abdul Samad and reprimand other policemen by summoning them to the House.
Mumbai, March 3 : The Maharashtra Legislative Assembly has sought Shiv Sena (UBT) MP Sanjay Raut's reply to the breach of privilege notice moved by the ruling ally Bharatiya Janata Party members, by Friday (March 3) evening.

Raut, who is currently touring Sangli, told mediapersons that he has "not received any notice" so far, adding that this is a legal matter and he would require time to file his reply.

"I have already been to jail... If I don't submit the reply, shall I be hanged?" countered Raut, who is under fire for his purported 'chor mandal' remarks that enraged the state's legislators.

On Thursday, the Maharashtra Legislative Council Deputy Chairperson Dr. Neelam Gorhe directed him to file his reply to a similar notice from the Upper House within seven days.

The Opposition Sena (UBT) Leader of Opposition in the Council Ambadas Danve has moved a separate breach of privilege notice against Chief Minister Eknath Shinde for his remarks calling the Opposition as 'anti-nationals' (desh-drohi) after they boycotted his session-eve tea-party last Sunday.

On Thursday, the Chief Minister clarified that his statement was intended at the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) MLA Nawab Malik, who is currently in jail for alleged deals with the mafia.

Quickly reacting to this, Raut said that even his statement ('chor mandal') was directed at the CM Shinde's Shiv Sena MLAs and not at the entire legislature.

A day before, Nationalist Congress Party President Sharad Pawar expressed his reservations on the formation of the committee excluding Sena (UBT) members, but including the complainant on the panel, besides the legality and guidelines for such a move since Raut is a Member of Rajya Sabha.
Jhansi : , March 3 (IANS) A 101-year-old jail inmate, convicted for dacoity, died on Friday at the Jhansi Medical College due to illness.

Hiralal was serving a five-year term in Jhansi Central Jail since 2021.

Hiralal, from village Chirkana in Jhansi, was convicted for looting a temple in 1973 and was the oldest inmate in Jhansi jail.

He was convicted by a special dacoity court after 40 years of trial on February 9, 2021, and awarded a five-year jail term.

Since then, he was in jail, except for two terms of parole of six months each, during the Covid pandemic.

Rang Bahadur, jail superintendent, said, "Hiralal complained of haematuria (blood in urine) for which he was admitted to a medical college a few days ago, where he died during treatment." His body has been handed over to his nephew, his only surviving close relative."
New Delhi, March 3 : In an addition to the list of Delhi High Court permanent judges, the Centre has issued a notification for the appointment of Justice Amit Sharma, who was earlier practicing as an Additional Judge.

Law Minister Kiren Rijiju on Friday took to Twitter to greet and post the list of additional judges, who have been appointed as permanent judges in the high courts of Allahabad, Bombay, Delhi and Madras.

Rijiju tweeted: "As per relevant provisions under the Constitution, the following Additional Judges are appointed as Permanent Judges of respective High Courts. I extend my best wishes to them." On May 31, 2022, the Centre had notified the appointment of Justice Sharma following which, he took oath on June 1, 2022.

The apex court Collegium had recommended his name for elevation as judges of the Delhi High Court in November 2021 and last month, it recommended that Justice Sharma be made a permanent judge against an existing vacancy.

The Collegium had said: "Having regard to all the relevant factors, the Collegium is of the considered view that Shri Justice Amit Sharma, Additional Judge, is suitable for being appointed as a Permanent Judge of the High Court of Delhi." "In order to ascertain the fitness and suitability of Shri Justice Amit Sharma, for being appointed as a Permanent Judge, consultation was held with a view to ascertain his suitability for elevation in terms of the Memorandum of Procedure, with Judges of the Supreme Court conversant with the affairs of the High Court of Delhi," the Supreme Court Collegium said in the resolution dated February 15.

In January, even the Delhi High Court had unanimously recommended his name for the same.
Mumbai, March 3 : TV actor Hitesh Bharadwaj, who plays the lead role of Ekam in 'Udaariyaan', continued shooting even after meeting with an accident recently on the set of the show. He said professionalism and dedication at work mean everything to him, and finished his day's work without a break.

He said: "It all happened while shooting a scene. During one of the sequences, Ekam comes home after a fight with Advait, and in anger, he starts throwing things around, accidentally he hurts himself. And, Harleen (Isha Malviya) comes to his rescue. Although, it turned real and I got a deep cut on my hand and it started bleeding. The entire team was extremely worried and gave me first aid." Hitesh, however, without losing his patience continued to shoot and shared that the best part was because of the injury the scene looked very real.

Hitesh shared: "Such accidents happen. We all were engrossed in the work and never saw this coming. I am doing better now. The best part is that the scene came out well and the accident, wound, and my expression were up to the mark as all of it is real. I had even requested our director to retain the scene, which he did." "The show right now is going through a very interesting phase. I hope the audience keeps enjoying our performances and continue to give us love and support," concluded the actor known for his roles in 'Agar Tum Saath Ho', 'Choti Sarrdaarni', and 'Iss Mod Se Jaate Hain', among others.
Udhampur, March 3 : When the administration let them down citing the topography, the residents of Naki village in Jammu's Udhampur district did what they thought was the best bet. They constructed a four-km road to Khairi on the Jammu-Srinagar National Highway (NH) on their own, but lack of funds and subsequent rains poured water on their efforts.

Mostly cattle-rearers and labourers, the villagers pooled together Rs 14 lakh and took up the herculean task of carving the road through the hilly terrain. The more affluent Gujjar families contributed in cash to hire JCBs and other equipment, while the poor donated their labour. They also got help from engineers involved in the NH work.

"Though we completed the Naki-Khairi road, it was uneven and bumpy as we could not clear some of the big boulders due to paucity of funds to hire equipment. And when it rained, the kutcha (unmetalled) road just got washed away," said retired government employee Sardar Khan (62).

Reham Ali still eagerly awaits the day when Naki would be connected to NH by a pucca (metalled) road. "I can definitely save around Rs 6,000 every month then. Right now, I have to pay labourers every alternate day to get fodder on horseback. Each trip costs anywhere between Rs 400 and Rs 600," Ali, who has 30 milch animals, told 101Reporters.

Around 700 Gujjars reside in Naki and those into cattle-rearing arrange fodder from the plains of Jammu and neighbouring Punjab. According to Ali, they have to offer bribes at police checkpoints to transport hay and other items over and beyond the permitted quantities. Toll tax and labour costs are added burdens.

"If the government had constructed even a levelled kutcha road for us, Naki would have been connected with the district headquarters and the rest of the country," Ali lamented.

Knocking on all doors The villagers had raised the issue of road construction with the panchayat officials and during the much-hyped Back to Village Programme of the Jammu and Kashmir government.

On August 5, 2020, they discussed the problem with Sofia Bano, the then Narsoo Block Development Officer (BDO). Subsequently, the latter sanctioned Rs 10 lakh for an unmetalled road to Naki.

"However, after assessing the ground situation, a junior engineer associated with the Pradhan Mantri Gram Sadak Yojana (PMGSY) concluded in his report that a road to Naki was not feasible due to its tough topography," informed Khan, who cannot see any logic in the report.

"If roads can be constructed in the remotest and hilliest Dachhan block of Kishtwar district, a four-km stretch is very well possible in Naki," he remarked.

Claiming that he was not aware of the report, Vishal Atri, the present BDO, told 101Reporters that his office has no power to sanction any road project that exceeded a km in length. "The villagers could have got the amount sanctioned from the public works department," he added.

On September 28, 2020, the villagers had raised the matter with Indu Kanwal Chib, the then Deputy Commissioner (DC) for Udhampur. Though the DC directed the assistant director (planning) to look into the matter urgently, nothing changed on the ground.

Asked about the road, incumbent DC Krittika Jyotsna told 101Reporters that she was not aware of the status of the road.

When villagers finally decided to stage a sit-in protest on November 8 last year, both Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) leaders promised help but in vain.

"While AAP leader Harsh Dev Singh asked us to join him for a dharna outside the Divisional Commissioner's Jammu office, BJP's Balwant Singh Mankotia assured us that he will raise the issue with the Prime Minister's Office and area MP Dr Jitendra Singh," added Ali.

Administrative roadblocks 101Reporters contacted Udhampur's Chief Planning Officer (CPO) Muddassir Yaqoob, who washed his hands of the fiasco. "A three-tier system of administration is functional in the Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir. In such a scenario, why blame the DC office alone?" Listing out the options that the villagers could have utilised to get the road constructed, Yaqoob blamed the panchayat for not prioritising the matter. "The villagers should have got the project sanctioned either through the panchayat, block development council, district development council, or under the 14th Finance Commission or MGNREGA plans. Even Back to Village Programme was a good option," he said.

"Representations that reach the DC office are addressed through a set procedure. In this particular case, we have done the initial planning, but the issue of shooting stones and other environmental challenges failed the efforts," he added.

Bali Nallah panchayat sarpanch Rukhsana Kouser said the panchayat got the NABARD to fund a two-km road from NH to Shardha Mata last month, but the final approval is awaited. "We want to extend this road to Naki. But it would take some time as the file related to this road is still at the Secretariat," she said.

She also suggested that another road from NH to Malwari could help Khairi and Naki residents, but it needed clearing of forests.

Arteev Sharma, a journalist based in Jammu, opined that the project should be included in the PMGSY phase-4, as the panchayat is not in a position to take it up due to fund crunch.

"To get a four-km road sanctioned under the scheme, Naki villagers first need to get a resolution passed in the panchayat and then forward it to the chief engineer of either the PMGSY or PWD (roads and bridges)," he said.

(Bivek Mathur is a Jammu and Kashmir-based journalist and a member of 101Reporters, a pan-India network of grassroots reporters)
As a young girl, Professor Dr Sumathi Rao was interested in anything that involved deductive logic. She spent her time doing puzzles and reading detective stories. Organically, she found herself gravitating towards the sciences and started reading popular science books and about scientists from across the world.

While her parents were always encouraging of her interests and aspirations, she observed that the earlier generation did not share their views. Her mother was criticised and ridiculed for bringing up her two girls as 'boys', which basically meant they were allowed to study, voice their opinions, pursue higher education, without being forced to do societally mandated activities suitable for women.

Dr Rao's grandmother was even bothered that her brother was not shown favouritism. Despite the pressure from the elders, and because she was never allowed to pursue her academic goals, Dr Rao's mother always wanted her daughters to study as much they wanted. Observing these acts of discrimination at a young age was crucial in inspiring the important work Dr Rao did towards establishing gender parity in science, later in life.

After her undergraduate studies at the Maharaja Sayajirao University in Vadodara, Dr Rao pursued a master's degree in physics from the Indian Institute of Technology, Mumbai. Though she was anxious and in tears during her shift to Mumbai, she was certain that going to IIT would put her on the path of becoming a scientist.

Women were (still are) a scarcity in the field of physics in India, a fact that was clear as day to anyone who stepped onto an IIT campus. However, Dr Rao was luckily part of a rare batch that had an equal gender ratio, despite the selection committee being advised not to take any women as the only ladies' hostel on campus was already full! Thankfully, the committee did not comply.

"They viewed the lack of accommodation as an administrative problem that the administration should solve and stuck to their merit-based admission process, ignoring the advisory," writes Prof Prajval Shastri in Scroll.in.

Being surrounded by women with similar interests and ambitions was crucial in Dr Rao's growth as a scientist.

"One of the reasons I had to work for gender parity was my realisation that having other women around mattered. Sharing experiences and knowing that others have gone through similar things are important. I wanted groups of women, instead of isolated women," says Dr Rao.

The gender disparity in physics is the starkest among all STEM fields. A striking drop is seen in percentages of women winning the INSPIRE fellowship in physics (50 per cent) to those enrolled in graduate school (30 per cent) to those employed in the higher education sector (19 per cent as of 2015). These numbers can be attributed to the roadblocks such as bias at the selection level and lack of access to elite universities, which has a domino effect on success later in life.

"We need to make sure enough women apply, get selected and are allowed to do their PhDs in good places, so that they learn well and get ahead to make it in the job market," Dr Rao explains. The bias can also be tackled by holding gender sensitivity workshops and gender audits.

But from her personal experience, Dr Rao says, "As younger faces, who have working spouses and sisters, make it to the selection committees, they automatically tend to be more sensitive than the older generation, who are often patronising and insensitive." Rao herself faced gender bias from colleagues and students. She completed her PhD in High Energy Physics from the State University of New York at Stonybrook, the US, did postdocs from Fermilab and the University of Wisconsin-Madison and returned to India with her husband to accept a faculty job at the Institute of Physics in Bhubaneswar.

She soon realised that she was being accused of taking advantage of her husband's fame, a well-known physicist, essentially belittling her work. With a desire to prove her mettle, Rao switched to condensed matter physics, a field completely new to her. She also took up a faculty position at the Harish-Chandra Research Institute, where she worked for 25 years before retiring in December 2020.

Even here, biased opinions about her teaching abilities were also floating around - from students saying, "we do not think women are as good in physics as men" to some telling her that "being taught by a woman makes them feel they are back in kindergarten".

Despite being surrounded by doubtful eyes and negative comments, Rao chased her passion, and was elected a fellow of the National Academy of Sciences, Allahabad, in 2001, and of the Indian Academy of Sciences in 2017. She served as the Divisional Associate Editor for Physical Review Letters during 2018-2021.

The bias Dr Rao faced stoked the fire that was ignited long back. So naturally, when Prof Nandini Trivedi, who was a Professor at the Tata Institute of Fundamental Research and was moving to the Ohio State University after a decade in Mumbai, asked Dr Rao to take her place as the representative from India at the International Union of Pure and Applied Physics (IUPAP) working group on Women in Physics, she said "yes". The group did tremendous work in identifying systemic discrimination against women in physics in many countries, not just India.

Dr Rao led the group in surveying Indian women in the field to determine the extent of bias and the ways to tackle it. Several initiatives were born from the consistent efforts of the IUPAP, and the parallel work done by women physicists.

In 2004, Dr Rohini Godbole brought out a report on the access Indian women had to scientific careers, inspiration for which was seeded by the IUPAP Women in Physics conferences. As they gained momentum, women physicists started organising events - notably the one headed by Neelima Gupte at 'Statphys' in 2004, and by Dr Pratibha Jolly in 2005 - to widely discuss gender disparity.

In 2005, the Indian Academy of Sciences formed the women in science panel, which led to the publication of a compilation of essays titled Lilavati's daughters.

Based on their interactions and learnings over the years, the Indian contingent of Women in Physics came up with a set of recommendations in 2002, mostly with a focus on improving childcare leave policies and childcare facilities at institutes, besides pushing for the recognition, and tackling of sexual harassment.

Fifteen years later, the Gender in Physics Working Group (GIPWG) of the Indian Physics Association was set up in 2017, with Prof Prajval Shastri as its founding chair. It came up with the Hyderabad Charter for Gender Equity in Physics and worked towards establishing equal representation of all genders in physics.

The charter comprises 29 well-thought-out recommendations, coming from the work done by the GIPWG, as well as feedback received at Pressing for Progress 2019, an interdisciplinary conference towards gender equity in physics in India. It advocates for gender-neutral work-life balance policies, transparency in the hiring process, inclusion of diversity officers in hiring committees and internal complaints committees, gender sensitization for everyone, revision of educational material to include gender-balanced role models and more. So far, the charter has been endorsed by over 350 physicists in India.

If there is one thing even a biologist like me remembers, it is that every action has an opposite reaction. Not everyone is on board with these initiatives, but one has to look for those who are on the fence and initiate dialogues with them.

As Nandini Trivedi aptly puts it: "In a material, there are magnetic moments, that are fluctuating randomly at high temperatures. When a magnetic field is applied, some of the magnetic moments start to align with the field. This forms a good analogy to understand changes in the STEM fields that bring in greater diversity and inclusivity. Initially many of the magnetic moments are turned away, just like people are turned away from the new ideas. But then bit by bit, a few people start flipping. And, you know, as few people flip, they also add to the field and become the impetus to change more minds." Dr Rao has been fundamental in laying the foundation for these initiatives. With a penchant for interacting with colleagues as well as students, she has helped establish new dialogues and engage people towards these goals. Her students rave about her mentoring skills and her approachability outside the lab. "When guiding students, I try to emulate the mentoring I received from Dr Rao," says Dr Priyanka Mohan, a former postdoc in Dr Rao's group.

"Dr Rao has always been the first to agree to every step that I have taken, and has been a very, very strong ally," Prajval Shastri says.

While she is no longer an active member of the working group, she continues to support their activities and initiatives. She currently works as an emeritus scientist at the International Centre for Theoretical Sciences, Bengaluru, continuing to be a condensed matter physicist and a gender parity champion in science.
Lucknow, March : After staying away from Uttar Pradesh for seven months, BJP national general secretary Sunil Bansal is back in Lucknow to take stock of the party's preparedness for the 2024 Lok Sabha elections.

Bansal has sought a detailed feedback from BJP leaders for seats in state which the party lost in the 2019 general elections.

The former state general secretary (organisation), is learnt to have focused on the Assembly segments of the parliamentary seats where the party's performance came down after peaking in 2014 Lok Sabha and 2017 assembly elections.

State leaders have been asked to step up work in the key assembly segments at the earliest.

The BJP plans to line up rallies of Union Home Minister Amit Shah and party chief J.P. Nadda on 14 Lok Sabha seats in the days to come.

Nadda, who has already addressed a public rally in Ghazipur is expected to visit Saharanpur and Amroha in the next few days, which will be followed by Shah's visit to some constituencies primarily held by BSP.

The BJP has already deployed a host of union ministers to coordinate on the said constituencies.

Sources said BJP leaders also deliberated on holding campaigns/public meetings of Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath and some of his cabinet colleagues in the weaker Assembly segments.

"The party plans to replicate the strategy of 2022 Assembly elections when it returned to power with a thumping majority despite a partial resurrection of the Samajwadi Party," said a senior party functionary.

Bansal has stressed on devising public outreach campaigns while bolstering the coordination between the state government and the party organisation.

The BJP has been banking on public welfare schemes initiated by the Modi government to deepen its footprints in the regions where the party faces a resurgent opposition.

The strategy had worked to some extent in Rampur and Azamgarh which the BJP wrested from the SP in the by polls held last year.

The ruling party, however, failed to breach the SP bastion of Mainpuri, the seat that fell vacant after the demise of Mulayam Singh Yadav.

BJP lost Khatauli, which was won by SP-backed RLD candidate Madan Bhaiyya last year.
Mumbai, March 3 : A day after nabbing two youths from Gujarat's Surat for allegedly trespassing into the iconic 'Mannat' bungalow of Bollywood mega-star Shah Rukh Khan here, the Bandra Police are probing the 'motives' of the duo's action, official sources said here on Friday.

The Bandra Police swung into action after an alert from the actor's team late on Thursday night that they had caught the duo -- who claimed to be fans of the actor -- jumped over the boundary wall and sneaked into the bungalow on Bandra Bandstand ostensibly to meet and greet SRK.

In what is considered as a major security breach, the two youngsters, aged in their early 20s, managed to reach the third floor of the bungalow, but were apprehended by the startled security personnel after they espied them sauntering on the premises late last evening.

It is not immediately clear if the actor or his family was present in the bungalow, or whether anything was damaged or stolen, but the Bandra Police are understood to have 'advised' Khan to carry out a review cum audit of his security detail.
Washington, March 3 : The US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) said it has ordered railroad company Norfolk Southern to test directly for dioxins in East Palestine, Ohio, where a train carrying hazardous chemicals derailed last month.

Thursday's announcement came nearly a month after the Norfolk Southern train carrying hazardous chemicals derailed in East Palestine.

Responders later conducted a "controlled release" of some of those chemicals to avert a larger explosion at the site, raising concerns of pollution in the region, reports Xinhua news agency.

"If dioxins are found at a level that poses any unacceptable risk to human health and the environment, EPA will direct the immediate cleanup of the area as needed," the agency said in a release.

In addition, the EPA said it will require Norfolk Southern to conduct a background study to compare any dioxin levels around East Palestine to dioxin levels in other areas not impacted by the train derailment.

"Over the last few weeks, I've sat with East Palestine residents and community leaders in their homes, businesses, churches, and schools," EPA Administrator Michael Regan said in a statement. "I've heard their fears and concerns directly." The EPA said that, as of February 28, it has collected at least 115 samples in the potentially impacted area, which include samples of air, soils, surface water, and sediments.

"To date, EPA's monitoring for indicator chemicals has suggested a low probability for release of dioxin from this incident," it said. "EPA's air has detected only low levels of 1,4-dichlorobenzene typical of ambient background concentrations." Dioxins may be found in any urban or rural environment as a result of common processes such as burning wood or coal, according to the EPA.

Dioxins break down slowly in the environment so the source ofound in any area may be uncertain, it noted.

The incident, which occurred on the night of February 3, involved 11 tank cars carrying hazardous materials that subsequently ignited, fueling fires that damaged an additional 12 non-derailed railcars.

First responders implemented a one-mile evacuation zone surrounding the derailment site that affected up to 2,000 residents.

There were no reported fatalities or injuries, according to a report issued by the National Transportation Security Board (NTSB) last week.

Responders mitigated the fire on February 5, the NTSB report stated. But five derailed "specification tank cars carrying 115,580 gallons of vinyl chloride" continued to concern authorities because the temperature inside one tank car was still rising.

The NTSB said responders later scheduled a "controlled venting" of the five vinyl chloride tank cars to release and burn the vinyl chloride and dug ditches to contain released vinyl chloride liquid while it vaporised and burned.

The controlled venting began on February 6, which discharged toxic and potentially deadly fumes into the air.

While residents were allowed to return to their homes in East Palestine two days later, they remain concerned about the handling of the incident as well as the health impact of exposure to those chemicals.

President Joe Biden said on Thursday that he will visit East Palestine "at some point".

"I've spoken with every official in Ohio, Democrat and Republican, on a continuing basis, as in Pennsylvania," he told reporters.

"I laid out a little bit in there what I think the answers are and we will be implementing an awful lot to the legislation here... I will be out there at some point."
Wellington, March 3 : Treated nuclear wastewater from Japan's damaged Fukushima power plant, which, if released into the Pacific Ocean as planned will ultimately reach the High Seas, is "capable of producing cancers", New Zealand scientists said on Friday.

Japan has planned to release treated nuclear wastewater from the damaged Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant into the Pacific Ocean, reports Xinhua news agency.

Jamie Quinton, head of School of Natural Sciences, Massey University, said that in this original unprocessed wastewater, radioactive isotopes of concern were iodine-131 and caesium-137, and that they being used in nuclear medicine radiotherapy means that they have sufficient energy to cause cell death and mutation.

"In other words, they are capable of producing cancers," Quinton said.

International law expert Duncan Currie told Xinhua that Advanced Liquid Processing System (ALPS) treatment at best does not remove tritium, and there is next to no scientific information of the effects of tritium on the marine environment, including on different species.

Currie noted that planned target in treatment of Fukushima nuclear wastewater is only to remove other radioactive isotopes to "regulatory," rather than detectable, levels.

Tests of ALPS treatment systems have not been encouraging, Currie said.

"There were several other radioactive products in the unprocessed water that are hazardous to living species and ecosystems. As organisms consume other organisms, more of these radioactive products accumulate in their bodies, which can in turn, end up in humans. So these radioactive elements must be kept out of natural ecosystems as much as possible, especially the ocean," Quinton said.

David Krofcheck, senior lecturer in Physics at the University of Auckland, agreed by saying the danger of indiscriminately releasing nuclear fission products into the ocean is that the products can find their way into the food chain.

"Once in the food chain the long-lived nuclear fission heavy nuclei like cesium-137, strontium-90, and iodine-131 tend to concentrate in human muscle, bones, and thyroid, respectively. Cancers can be the result," Krofcheck said.

New Zealand should be concerned over nuclear wastewater effects on the Pacific, Currie said, citing modeling that shows movement of radioactive water to the North Pacific, including for instance through uptake in highly migratory fish and marine mammals.

Currently, an independent panel of global experts on nuclear issues are supporting Pacific Islands Forum nations in their consultations with Japan over its plans to discharge treated nuclear wastewater into the Pacific Ocean.

Quinton noted that if the release of wastewater into the ocean is to proceed, "getting the process correct and within regulations is of particular importance to Japan's aquaculture-based industries".

It is in Japan's economic interest to ensure that waterways remain below internationally acceptable levels for background radiation so that food safety is assured, and their capacity for international trade remains unaffected, he said.
New Delhi, March 3 : In a latest development in the MGNREGA fund scam involving suspended IAS official Pooja Singhal and others, the Enforcement Directorate (ED) on Friday said that they conducted raids in Jharkhand's Hazaribagh at the premises of Mohammad Izhar Ansari and recovered cash around Rs 3.5 crore.

Ansari is said to be an aide of one of the accused in scam.

The ED had on February 23 arrested Virender Ram, the chief engineer working with Rural Development Department of Jharkhand Government in connection with the case. The ED team took him to Ranchi where his arrest was made.

The ED had initiated money laundering investigation on the basis of multiple FIRs registered by Jharkhand Police and Vigilance Bureau Jharkhand.

"Investigation revealed that the Proceeds of Crime (POC) generated from the MGNREGA scam in the form of commission was deposited in different bank accounts belonging to Pooja Singhal and her relatives. The said POC was mixed and layered with the other unaccounted money generated by Singhal, by misusing her official position," the ED claimed.

The probe agency has said that initially the POC was generated from MGNREGA scam only, which was subsequently intermixed with other unaccounted funds generated from the corrupt practices of Pooja Singhal and these funds were layered as investment and further funds were generated from these funds, both as legitimate profit as well as by further infusion of POC.

"By this modus-operandi, Singhal amassed huge wealth disproportionate to her known source of income, and source of funds invested in these immovable properties were primarily from the unaccounted cash profits generated from these POC and therefore termed as POC," the ED has alleged.

The Supreme Court on January 3 had granted interim bail to Pooja Singhal, Jharkhand cadre IAS officer suspended in a money laundering case, to look after her ailing daughter. The former state mines department secretary in Jharkhand, had been in custody since May last year, after raids were conducted at properties connected with her. She has been accused of money laundering.
Bengaluru, March 3 : BJP MLA Madal Virupakshappa tendered his resignation from post of Chairperson, Karnataka Soaps and Detergents Limited (KSDL) on Friday, following the arrest of his son while accepting a bribe of Rs 40 lakh.

The resignation was sent to the CM's office through his friends. "There is no connection between the Lokayukta raids with me. This is a conspiracy against my family. I am tendering my resignation as per the moral obligation and since the allegations have surfaced against me," the BJP MLA stated in his resignation letter.

Meanwhile, state Home Minister Araga Jnanendra said that the case of trap against BJP MLA Madal Virupakshappa's son Prashanth Madal is under investigation. "I won't give any reaction now," he said.

Sources said that Lokayukta sleuths are getting ready to question BJP MLA Madal Virupakshappa.

Prashanth Madal, Chief Accountant in Bengaluru Water Supply and Sewerage Board (BWSSB), was caught red-handed by the Lokayukta sleuths while accepting Rs 40 lakh bribe on Thursday.

It is alleged that Prashanth had demanded Rs 80 lakh bribe in connection with a tender and money was received on behalf of his father BJP MLA Madal Virupakshappa, who was the Chairman of KSDL for raw material procurement tender.

Lokayukta Justice B.S. Patil had stated that "during the raid Rs 2.2 crore was recovered. Rs 6.10 crore was recovered from the residences later." The development is seen as a serious setback to the ruling BJP. The incident has come to light at a time when the opposition is launching attacks with regards to 40 per cent commission and kickbacks in the government tenders.

Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai, BJP state President Nalinkumar Kateel have stated that there is no question of protecting anyone and assured action against the MLA if found guilty.

The Congress launched an all out attack on the ruling BJP and demanded resignations of Chief Minister Bommai and state BJP chief Nalinkumar Kateel. The Congress leaders have stated that their allegations of 40 per cent commission and corruption charges have been proved by the incident.
New Delhi, March 3 : Union Minister Anurag Thakur while criticising former Congress president Rahul Gandhi over his statement regarding Pegasus, said that Pegasus existed in Gandhi's heart and mind and it had become his habit to defame India in foreign lands using the foreign media, agencies and friends.

Thakur on Friday demanded an answer to Gandhi not submitting his mobile phone for the investigation into the Pegasus issue.

He added: "What did the leader (Gandhi), who is out on bail in a corruption case had in his phone that he needed to hide? Why did he and the other leaders not submit their phones?" Thakur said that the Congress leader should at least listen to what the Prime Minister of Italy had to say about Prime Minister Narendra Modi if not anyone else.

Italy's Prime Minister said that Modi had emerged as a big leader today and has received love from all over the world, stated Thakur.

He added that Gandhi and the Congress party are unable to digest this.

Referring to the Assembly election results in Tripura, Nagaland and Meghalaya, the Union Minister said that the Congress had been defeated again.

Thakur added that Gandhi probably expected the loss but is still not able to accept the mandate in the northeastern states.

Thakur questioned: "What is the Congress' agenda?"
Mumbai, March 3 : Filmmaker Anubhav Sinha, who entertained the audience with his movies like 'Ra.One', 'Tum Bin', 'Dus', 'Thappad', is all set to come up with his next intriguing project 'Bheed' which will depict the problems faced by common people during the 2020 Covid-19 lockdown.

The film focuses on social disparity and shows how the situation was similar to the Partition in 1947, and decided to shoot the film in black and white.

Talking about the reason behind shooting the film in black and white, he explained: "'Bheed' is a story of the most perilous times which changed everything for humanity. The key objective of shooting the film in black and white was to showcase how the visuals of the social disparity during India's Lockdown were strikingly similar to what people went through during the 1947 Partition." The director went on about how through this film, he is going to show real stories of people losing their jobs and the lives of their family members because of the pandemic and lockdown.

"This story is about people whose lives changed in a snap and the colours from their lives were lost when the border was drawn within the country," he added.

Producer Bhushan Kumar also mentioned that as the movie brings out the struggle of people, it was appropriate to shoot it in black and white.

"'Bheed' is a special film as it communicates the story of the toughest times people had to face just to reach their homes. It is a very important story and who better than Anubhav to direct it? The film has been shot in black and white as it depicts the struggle in our society that we often overlook. I'm glad that we are able to bring such an important story to our audiences with a unique cinematic experience," he shared.

Directed by Anubhav Sinha, 'Bheed' features Rajkummar Rao, Pankaj Kapur, Bhumi Pednekar, Ashutosh Rana, and Dia Mirza. The film is jointly produced by Bhushan Kumar's T-Series and Anubhav Sinha's Benaras Mediaworks. It also stars Virendra Saxena, Aditya Shrivastav, Kritika Kamra, and Karan Pandit. The film is all set for a theatrical release on March 24.

-- Except for the title, this story has not been edited by Prokerala team and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed
New Delhi, March 3 : One of the biggest names in emerging market investing is betting US$1.87 billion (S$2.5 billion) on Indian tycoon Gautam Adani's empire, in the most significant show of support from a major money manager since a short-seller report lopped US$153 billion off the conglomerate's market value, Bloomberg reported.

Rajiv Jain's GQG Partners bought shares in four firms from an Adani family trust at discounts to Thursday's closing prices, according to a statement from the Adani Group and exchange filings.

Jain's investment comes as a vote of confidence at a crucial time for the beleaguered group, which has spent the past few weeks trying to repair an image damaged by Hindenburg Research's accusations of accounting fraud and share price manipulation, Bloomberg reported.

The Adani Group will hold additional fixed income meetings with investors after such gatherings this week in Hong Kong and Singapore. It will hold meetings from March 7 to 15 in Dubai, London and the US, according to a person familiar with the matter.

Adani is a bold wager for Jain, the chairman of GQG, who is known to broadly prefer safe, defensive stocks of companies that have what he calls bulletproof balance sheets, Bloomberg reported.

Born and raised in India, Jain made his name as a star emerging market fund manager at Swiss firm Vontobel Asset Management. He later co-founded GQG and built it into a US$88 billion powerhouse with investments in industries like oil, tobacco and banking. In 2022, when most asset managers watched clients yank cash from their funds as markets cratered, Florida-based GQG thrived. The firm lured US$8 billion in fresh investment and three of its four flagship funds beat benchmark indexes by wide margins, Bloomberg reported.
Mumbai, March 3 : 'A Thursday' actress Prachi Hada, who plays the character of Keerat in the show 'Teri Meri Doriyaann', shared her experience of driving an autorickshaw for a sequence where she went out in search for her elder sister.

She said: "The auto driver trained me to drive the rickshaw. But eventually, during the ride, there was a mishap that had taken place while driving the vehicle. It was a major accident but we are grateful that we did not get hurt that much and that all are safe and sound." Prachi was also seen in a short film, 'Nazariyan' that was released in 2021. She shared further about getting injured while shooting for the sequence.

"I received some injuries on my arms and head. The scene had around four to five people involved and everyone somehow got injured but we are glad to have a cooperative production house that acted promptly and made sure we received immediate aid. I took three rounds, and it was a fun experience riding the rickshaw, it is not that tough though to start the vehicle even after all the tragedy, I did take some time but later succeeded," she concluded.

'Teri Meri Doriyaann' airs on Star Plus.
New Delhi, March 3 : Another letter by incarcerated alleged conman, Sukesh Chandrashekhar has now surfaced, which is addressed to the media and social media pages, making fresh allegations against Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, Manish Sisodia and Satyendar Jain.

Chandrashekhar, who is lodged in the national capital's Mandoli jail, has alleged in his five-page letter that Sisosdia's arrest by CBI is just a starting and that he has "looted commissions" in every department that he was heading as being a Deputy Chief Minister.

"All that matters to them (AAP leaders Kejriwal, Sisodia and Jain) is commission," he wrote.

Referring to a tablet scam, Chandrashekhar has alleged that he had bought tablets (for distribution to children) from a Chinese company, which the Kejriwal government decided to hand over the tender to someone else in exchange for 20 per cent extra commission.

Conman Sukesh Chandrashekhar on Friday said that Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, senior AAP leader Manish Sisodia and Satyendar Jain reportedly sang "Ye dosti hum nhi todenge" on his birthday on March 25, 2017.

He said that every single decision in terms of commission and kickbacks were always discussed in Kejriwal's presence and were finally decided and proved by him (Kejriwal).

Chadrashekhar has claimed that kickbacks more than a "1000 odd crore" were decided and routed to Kejriwal through various person's nationally and internationally.

Recalling how Kejriwal and Jain in 2017 sang "Ye dosti hum nahi todenge" on his (Sukesh) birthday to "persuade" him to bring in contributions from Middle East and South India, Chandrashekhar wrote that there is only "payback" now and no friendship.

In reference to an international newspaper article backing the government, Sukesh claimed the same was published through him and was used by the AAP leaders to their benefit.

On Jain's recent resignation, Chandrashekhar has alleged that Kejriwal made Jain resign only now after the alleged conman challenged him during the ED custody four days ago.

He weote: "As you knew I was taken to ED custody, and you got to know through reports that Mr. Chaturvedi who is yours and Satyender Jain's hawala operator and shell entry operator has been summoned by ED in my case, you, and Mr. Jain got spooked to what all disclosures I must be making in ED against Satyender Jain, Chaturvedi and you, 4 days ago." "You know I have disclosed the role of Satyender Jain in my case, and both of you know very clearly whats going to hit you on this regards, that's why you decided to make Satyender Jain also resign along with Mr. Sisodia, or else why 9 months not this step and now suddenly when I have made disclosures and Chatturvedi summoned by ED, in my case," he added.

Chandrashekhar has ended his letter by sending Holi greetings to his well-wishers and actor Jacqueline Fernandez.

"I wish all media friends, my family, well-wishers, supporters, and my love, my princess ever beautiful Jacquiline a very Happy Holi... I love you my baby girl, my bomma (doll) forever," he said.
Patna, March 3 : After Upendra Kushwaha, two-time MP Meena Singh also left the Bihar's ruling Janata Dal-United on Friday.

Meena Singh won the bypoll to the Bikramganj Lok Sabha seat in 2008 after the death of her husband and sitting MP Ajit Kumar Singh, and won from Arrah in the 2009 Lok Sabha elections. She contested the 2014 elections from Arrah but lost and did not fight in 2019.

She sent her resignation letter to party as state President Umesh Kushwaha.

"I have resigned from the primary membership of the party. The resignation letter is sent to the JD-U state President. I have not decided to join any party. My priority is to go among the people of the constituency and then decide further course of action," Singh said.

Sources, however, said that she is expected to join the BJP.
Lucknow, March 3 : As a Holi gift for senior citizens, Divyangs and young mothers, Additional Deputy Commissioner of Police (ADCP) Chiranjeev Sinha has gifted ten wheelchairs and as many prams to the Lucknow zoo.

Sinha, the brand ambassador of Lucknow zoo, had made headlines when he took the initiative of feeding stray animals during the lockdown.

Forest minister Arun Saxena handed over the wheelchairs and prams to zoo director R.K. Mishra on Friday.

These articles will be available free of cost for the visitors at the gates.
Chennai, March 3 : Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M.K. Stalin on Friday announced that his government will soon release data on department-wise carbon emissions.

Delivering the inaugural speech of the first meeting of the Tamil Nadu Governing Council on Climate Change, Stalin also said that the state government is aiming to achieve the 'net zero' levels much before the national goal.

"The Tamil Nadu Governing Council on Climate Change or a sub-committee will study the data and set a target so that Tamil Nadu realises the goal of 'net zero' much before 2070, when India aims to realise it," he elaborated.

Noting that development and ecological interests are equally important, Stalin urged his ministers to implement development programmes after evaluating their implications on climate change.

The state government is planning to launch a climate literacy campaign to percolate the message to the younger generations, Stalin informed. Also on the cards, are ten 'climate resilient villages' by planting palmyra trees to prevent seashore erosion and to protect biodiversity," he added.

With as many as nine Indian states listed in the 50 states/provinces worldwide susceptible to highest climate risk, Stalin pointed out that Tamil Nadu is the only Indian state to constitute a climate change council.

Among others, members of the governing council include economist Montek Singh Ahluwalia, former Executive Director of United Nations Environment Programme Erik Solheim, Chairperson of M.S. Swaminathan Research Foundation Soumya Swaminathan, and Founder-Director of the National Centre for Sustainable Coastal Management Ramesh Ramachandran.
Shillong, March 3 : Though National People's Party (NPP) chief Conrad Sangma has staked claim in Meghalaya with the BJP support, Trinamool Congress leader Mukul Sangma on Friday asserted that the next government might be formed without the NPP-BJP combine.

Talking to IANS, Mukul Sangma said: "We are in talks with every political party except the NPP and BJP. All have expressed their desire to come along for the better interest of the state." As per the Trinamool leader, discussions are underway with Congress and other regional parties in the state like the United Democratic Party, the Hill State People's Democratic Party, and other smaller parties.

The NPP won 26 seats, and the BJP got two. The Congress and Trinamool won five seats each, whereas UDP got 11 seats, Voice of the People Party four seats, People's Democratic Front and Hill State People's Democratic Party two seats each, and two independent candidates also won.

If all political parties, including two independents, barring the NPP and BJP, come together, they can cross the magic number in the 60-member house.

"The mandate was not decisive. It was a fractured one. Therefore, we are holding discussions," Mukul Sangma said.

Asked about the possible Chief Minister, he replied: "Right now, we are only concerned about the interests of the state. Meghalaya has witnessed large-scale corruption during the tenure of the previous government, and people do not want to see a repetition of the same in the coming years. So, Chief Minister, and the rest of the things can be decided later."
Jaipur, March 3 : Amid a heat wave warning in Rajasthan, the Met Department on Friday announced change of weather on the weekend with rains likely in some parts of the state.

It said that there will be a change from Friday evening itself.

"There is a possibility of rain with cloud cover in the districts of Jodhpur division. Besides Jodhpur, the weather will also change in the districts of Ajmer, Jaipur, Udaipur, Kota and Bharatpur divisions on March 4 and 5. There is a possibility of rain in a total of 14 districts," an official said.

Jaipur Meteorological Centre Director Radheshyam Sharma said: "An anti-cyclonic system arising in the Bay of Bengal, which is active in North India, is bringing a new weather system in parts of Rajasthan, Gujarat and Madhya Pradesh. The effect of this system will change the weather in south-west and southeast parts of Rajasthan. Although there will be no more rain from this system, but light rain may occur in many places, which will give people some relief from the heat." According to the Met office, clouds can be seen in Jaisalmer, Barmer and Jodhpur districts of Jodhpur division from Friday evening. At the same time, there may be light rain or drizzle at some places.

On March 4, apart from Jodhpur, and Bikaner divisions, weather will change in the districts of Ajmer, Jaipur, Udaipur, and Kota divisions. Light rain may occur in Ajmer, Nagaur, Pali, Jaipur, Tonk, Sawai Madhopur, Rajsamand, Udaipur, Dungarpur, Kota, and Bundi districts.

On March 5, there is a possibility of light rain in the districts of Jaipur, and Udaipur division till noon. After this, the weather will start drying from late evening and once again the temperature will start rising from March 6.

February was quite warm in Rajasthan and the Met Department had predicted severe heat in March.
Bengaluru, March 3 : Karnataka Education Minister B.C. Nagesh on Friday asserted that students wearing hijab will not be allowed inside the examination centres.

The II PUC (class 12) examinations are set to begin from March 9 in the state.

Speaking to reporters he maintained that it has been clarified that all students should attend exams wearing uniforms. Hijab is not part of it. Those who want to write exams wearing hijab won't be allowed into the examination hall, he added.

Minister Nagesh further claimed that there is an increase in the number of Muslim students who appeared for the examinations after the hijab ban. "After hijab ban, more number of Muslim sisters appeared for examinations and the enrolment of Muslim girl students has increased," he added.

The hijab case, which is in the Supreme Court, is likely to be taken up after Holi vacation. Many students abstained from attending the examination as they were not allowed to wear hijab and write exams.

The Hijab crisis in Karnataka became international news as it turned into a law and order problem and communal issue. Hindu activists and minority groups came to a confrontational position. The crisis also had a deep impact on the psyche of the students and divided them on the basis of religion in campuses.

The Karnataka High Court has rejected the applications in this regard by students and upheld the government order on uniforms. It also said hijab is not an essential part of Islam.
New Delhi, March 3 : Prime Minister Narendra Modi will address the post-Budget webinar on 'Infrastructure and Investment - Improving Logistics Efficiency with PM Gati Shakti National Master Plan' on March 4 (Saturday), an official said on Friday.

It is a part of 12 post-Budget webinars being organised by the Central government to seek ideas for implementation of the budgetary announcements.

The Union Budget adopts seven priorities which complement each other and act as the 'Saptarishi' guiding us through the "Amrit Kaal".

The webinar is being organised by the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways (MoRTH) as the 'lead ministry', in association with DPIIT, Ministry of Commerce and Industry as the co-lead ministry.

The webinar will be structured in the format of plenary inaugural and concluding sessions and split into three parallel breakout sessions.

The breakout sessions will cover suggestions on Budget announcements related to infrastructure and investment, their implementation and the way forward.

The three parallel breakout sessions will be - "Improving Logistics Efficiency via Multi-Modality & Filling Critical Infrastructure Gaps", anchored by the Ministry of Ports, Shipping and Waterways; "Planning on PM Gati Shakti National Master Plan", anchored by the DPIIT and "Infrastructure Development & Investment Opportunities", which will be anchored by MoRTH.

Some of the industry leaders and experts who are likely to address during the event include Dhruv Kotak (MD, JM Baxi Group), R. Dinesh (MD, TVS Logistics & CII President Designate), Ashok Sethi (Chairman, Tata Consulting Engineers Ltd) among others.
Islamabad, March 3 : An anti-terrorism court's (ATC) judge issued remarks regarding Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Chairman Imran Khan after he appeared before the courts at the judicial complex in Islamabad with a swarm of people, media reports said.

On February 28, the former Prime Minister appeared before three courts to attend the hearing in four cases filed against him, Geo News reported.

Khan secured interim bail in three cases, while a non-bailable arrest warrant was issued against him in one of the cases.

During the hearing of a case at the ATC, the judge - without taking Khan's name - said that the PTI chief had appeared before the court along with 2,000 people, Geo News reported.

"He [Imran Khan] has named his party on 'Insaf' but they chant slogans of 'Zindabad' and 'Murdabad'," he said.

The judge also said that Khan gives examples of Britain but does not respect the court.

"He did not respect the court during his appearance and brought goons along with him," said the judge, Geo News reported.

"Now he will keep me busy with the court hearings for the next year," said the ATC judge, adding that he has the CCTV footage of the incident.

Earlier this week, when Khan arrived at the judicial complex in Islamabad, a large number of PTI workers had forcibly entered the building by knocking its gate down.

Security arrangements at Sector G-11 of the judicial complex were disrupted as the PTI workers removed all barriers, Geo News reported.
March 03 : Bollywoods girl Kiara Advani is one Superstar who is ticking all the right boxes on the rise of her Superstardom. From consecutive streak of successful films to peaking with popularity on the internet, and signing a long list of brands, the girl with a golden touch is leaving no stone unturned. Adding to the soaring superstardom, the actor has been roped in as the new face of Slice, an iconic brand that resonates with the masses for its wide popularity across the nation.

Bringing in her personal touch of elegance and poise to the newly launched TVC for the brand, Kiara Advani looks every bit of gorgeous and stunning offering a perfect mix of hot and cute in the advertisement.

Rising upwards with every step, Kiara Advani has dived deep into work soon after her dreamy wedding with Sidharth Malhotra. Her wedding post on social media was touted to be the most liked wedding picture of any celebrity wedding in India. Looking forward to a packed schedule yet again, filled with films shoots and back-to-back brand announcements, all this amidst a winning spree of awards and accolades, where Kiara was adjudged the Star Of The Year and Performer Of The Year at various awards shows recently. She has undoubtedly spread her magic all around.

Considered among the most impactful performers of 2022, the versatile actress has won immense appreciation for her consecutive hits, right from Shershaah in 2021 to Bhool Bhulaiyaa 2 and Jugjugg Jeeyo, which was followed by Govinda Naam Mera last year. The actress is also in high demand to be signed on as the face of a range of reputed national and international brands. Her popularity among the masses has resulted in her being the ambassador of a variety of brands - from beverages to female hygiene products.

Kiara now resumes her busy routine by rejoining the set of S Shankars upcoming film RC-15 co-starring Ram Charan and also Satyaprem Ki Katha opposite Kartik Aaryan.
Chandigarh, March 3 : The first day of the Budget session of the Punjab Assembly on Friday witnessed heated exchanges as Leader of Opposition Partap Singh Bajwa objected to Governor Banwarilal Purohit's reference to the state as "my government" and finally ended with he and his Congress MLAs walking out.

As Purohit began his address, Bajwa got up and said this government has not replied to his letters seeking answers on several issues and he was referring to it as "my government".

"They (AAP government) have not accepted you as one of them and have not responded to issues raised by you," Bajwa said.

At this, Purohit advised Bajwa and Congress members to argue on this issue after his address, not now. "Please let me complete the speech," he said. "There should be no controversy as this is a very important session." In the meantime, there was a sharp exchange of words between the treasury and Opposition benches and the Governor said: "Okay, I will say government and not my government," adding it "is better to avoid controversy".

Intervening during the ruckus, Leader of the House and Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann told the Governor that it was "his government and that he has called the Budget session".

Mann told Bajwa that he could debate on the issue when there is a discussion on the Governor's Address and they should not interrupt the Governor.

On the intervention of Speaker Kultar Singh Sandhwan, Purohit resumed his address, but he omitted the words "my government" in the speech.

Again the Chief Minister intervened and emphasized that the Governor must use the words "my government" in his speech.

At this, Purohit said: "Ek minute meri baat suniye (Listen to me first). This is not the first time I am Governor. I was Governor of Tamil Nadu, Assam, and Meghalaya. In some states, there is 'government' mentioned and in some states, 'my government' in the address. It is not that important," Purohit clarified.

Later, the Governor said that the Chief Minister was also correct as the Cabinet had passed the text on the address.

He resumed his address by referring to "my government" on several instances.

As during over one-hour address in English, the Governor was referring to 36 government school principals being sent on a five-day leadership development programme to Singapore, Bajwa again stood up and reminding Purohit about his letter to Mann on the issue.

He asked the Governor if the government had provided the information he had sought. Purohit said he was confident they would provide.

Angered over the repeated usage of words "my government", Congress MLAs then got up and walked out of the house shouting that there was no point in listening to the speech since the government considered him a "selected Governor" and themselves "elected representatives".

In the end, the Governor advised all members to maintain decorum and dignity of the assembly during the House proceedings.

At loggerheads with each other for long, the latest flashpoint between the Chief Minister and the Governor is the latter's refusal to give consent to the Cabinet's decision to summon the Budget session from March 3.

In his letter on February 23, Purohit said he would take decision only after getting a legal advice over Mann's "derogatory" and "unconstitutional" tweet and letter addressed to him on February 13 and 14, respectively.
New Delhi, March 3 : The Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) on Friday said if it's march in Tamil Nadu is being attacked by a terrorist organisation, then state government has to protect it, as the state government contended before the Supreme Court that it will come up with a "workable solution" for the proposed route march.

Senior advocate Mukul Rohatgi, representing Tamil Nadu, submitted before a bench headed by Justice V. Ramasubramanian that "We are not totally opposed to having route marches and public meetings across the state, but it cannot be in every street, every mohalla." He argued that the RSS cannot seek a carte blanche in conducting the marches and added that the high court had agreed that the situation of security in the state offered a mixed bag. He stressed that the state government cannot shut its eyes to law and order concerns.

The bench orally observed that a balance should be struck between the language of power and the language of democracy.

Senior advocate Mahesh Jethmalani, representing the RSS, submitted that the state government cannot stop an organisation from holding peaceful marches citing apprehensions in connection with a banned outfit.

He contended that they are unable to control a terrorist organisation there and that is why they want to ban the march, and after the PFI ban, there have been no incidents.

"What is your apprehension?......If I am being attacked by a terrorist organisation then the state has to protect me." The RSS said it may not hold the marches scheduled on March 5.

Jethmalani informed the bench that they are not going to do anything till March 11 or March 12, while insisting that the government cannot ban the march.

He said the RSS cannot be singled out against the backdrop that marches have been held by Dalit Panthers and the ruling DMK, and pressed that state cannot abdicate its responsibilities.

The state government said it would, in the meanwhile, communicate with the other inputs it had received about threats and suggest routes for the marches. "We will work it out," said Rohatgi.

After hearing arguments, the top court scheduled the matter for further hearing on March 17.

During the hearing, the state government contended that it was not pressing for an absolute ban on the marches, rather only highlighting the issue of security to participants in certain sensitive areas, which has a presence of the banned Popular Front of India (PFI), which have witnessed bomb blasts in the past.

On March 1, the Supreme Court agreed to examine, on March 3, Tamil Nadu government plea challenging the Madras High Court order, which allowed the RSS to conduct a route march across the state.

Rohatgi had then submitted that the state government wants to restrict the march and is not inclined to allow it in six districts affected by activities of banned outfit PFI and bomb blasts. He further submitted that the single judge agreed with the state's contentions, however the division bench of the high court permitted it while dealing with a contempt petition.

The state government's plea contended that its decision against the march was within reasonable restrictions on the fundamental rights under Article 19(2) of the Constitution to maintain public order.

The high court, in its order last month, had said: "We are of the view that the state authorities must act in a manner to uphold the fundamental right to freedom of speech, expression, and assembly as regarded one of the most sacrosanct and inviolable rights envisaged in our Constitution." The state government had pointed at the apprehension for disturbance of public peace against the backdrop of the ban on Popular Front of India in September, last year.
New Delhi, March 3 : Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates has shown his culinary skills by giving 'tadka' to 'khichdi' under the direction of Union minister Smriti Irani at a programme focused on 'Empowerment through nourishment campaign.

Smriti Irani shared a video on Twitter, which shows Bill Gates giving "tadka to Shree Ann khichdi".

"Recognising the Super Food of India and its POSHAN component. When @BillGates gave tadka to Shree Ann Khichdi!," Irani captioned the video.

Social media users praised the Union minister for drawing attention to the untapped potential of Indian meals.

"Finally added the flavour to khichdi. Khichdi is all about the final step of tadka. How humble of our union minister Smriti Z Irani and world's business icon Bill gates to be so grounded and nailing the tadka for a perfect khichdi," a user wrote on Twitter.

"Now this khichdi will be called Microsoft Khichdi," another user commented.

Last month, Gates had made 'roti' along with celebrity chef Eitan Bernath, who recently visited Bihar, and ate it with 'ghee'.

The video was shared by Gates on Instagram, which showed Bernath teaching Gates how to make a roti.

"We had a blast making Indian roti together. Eitan just got back from a trip to Bihar, where he met wheat farmers whose yields have been dramatically increased thanks to new early sowing technologies," Gates wrote in the caption.
London, March 3 : British researchers are developing a novel technology based on Artificial Intelligence (AI) that will pick donor organs for transplant on a much better level than humans, the media reported.

The new technology known as OrQA -- Organ Quality Assessment -- uses AI and its "memory" of tens of thousands of images of donor organs to identify the ones that offer the best chance of success during transplant, the Evening Standard reported.

Currently, doctors physically examine the organs that have the best chance of a success during transplant.

The OrQA assessment will majorly look for damage, pre-existing conditions and how well blood has been flushed out of the organ.

The technology, once rolled out, can result in up to 200 more patients receiving kidney transplants and 100 more receiving liver transplants every year in the UK, according to researchers, which include from the University of Oxford.

"Currently, when an organ becomes available, it is assessed by a surgical team by sight, which means, occasionally, organs will be deemed not suitable for transplant," Prof. Hassan Ugail, director of the centre for visual computing at the University of Bradford, was quoted as saying.

"We are developing a deep machine learning algorithm which will be trained using thousands of images of human organs to assess images of donor organs more effectively than what the human eye can see," he said.

"This will ultimately mean a surgeon could take a photo of the donated organ, upload it to OrQA and get an immediate answer as to how best to use the donated organ," Ugail said.

The project is backed by ministers, NHS Blood and Transplant (NHSBT) and the National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR) Blood and Transplant Research Unit. Researchers have also secured more than 1 million pounds in funding from NIHR, the report said.

"This is a really important step for professionals and patients to make sure people can get the right transplant as soon as possible," Colin Wilson, transplant surgeon at Newcastle upon Tyne Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, was quoted as saying.

"The software we have developed 'scores' the quality of the organ and aims to support surgeons to assess if the organ is healthy enough to be transplanted," he added.
Washington, March 3 : The brain and the heart can work in tandem to produce anxiety, according to a new mice study.

The study, published in the journal Nature, detangles the link whether emotions drive bodily functions or vice versa. It showed that while fear and anxiety can make your heart beat faster, the reverse is also true.

To understand, the team increased the heart rate of a mouse. The results showed that speeding up a mouse's heart rate made otherwise calm animals act more anxious. The finding suggests that lowering heart rate may be a way to treat mood disorders such as anxiety and depression.

Karl Deisseroth, a neuroscientist at Stanford University in California and his colleagues bioengineered mice to make muscle cells in the rodents' hearts sensitive to light.

The team also designed tiny vests for the animals that emitted red light, which could pass through the rodents' bodies all the way to their hearts.

When a mouse's vest emitted a pulse of light, the animal's engineered heart muscles fired, causing the heart to beat.

The team trained the animals to expect a shock if they pressed a lever for a water reward. Using the optogenetic system, the team raised the animals' heart rates from their normal 660 beats per minute to 900. When their hearts started racing, mice became less willing to press the lever or to explore open areas, suggesting that they were more anxious.

But for animals in other contexts, the externally increased heart rate had no effect, suggesting that the brain and the heart worked together to produce anxiety, Nature reported.

The finding could have implications for the treatment of chronic anxiety conditions, Sahib Khalsa, a psychiatrist at the Laureate Institute for Brain Research in Tulsa, Oklahoma, was quoted as saying.
New Delhi, March 3 : Tech giant Apple on Friday announced a new initiative to support improved water, sanitation and hygiene outcomes in India.

In partnership with environmental NGO Frank Water, Apple is supporting the development of an innovative, scalable approach that strengthens local water management and decision making, and expands equitable access to water quality data.

"Some of the most powerful solutions to climate change and the global water crisis come from the communities living every day with these challenges," said Lisa Jackson, Apple's vice president of Environment, Policy, and Social Initiatives.

"By supporting innovative, community-based approaches in India and around the world, Apple is making progress toward our global climate goals while doing our part to help people improve their lives," she added.

Beginning with a pilot in Anekal taluk on the outskirts of Bengaluru, Frank Water is surveying households and analysing multiple data sources to map how water is used in the area.

The organisation uses hydrological modeling and is developing a state-of-the-art decision support process, which puts tools in the hands of the community.

Together, Apple, Frank Water, and local partners aim to use the enhanced data and expanded partnerships to demonstrate how collective water stewardship, working alongside businesses, can be a model to replicate across India and beyond.

Apple also continues to work with the Applied Environmental Research Foundation (AERF) to preserve mangroves along India's coast.

Mangroves are an especially powerful nature-based solution for carbon removal, with the capacity to store up to 10 times more carbon per acre than terrestrial forests.

Since the partnership launched in 2021, local villagers signed conservation agreements that helped over 200 marginal fishing community members across Roha, Pen, and Alibaug blocks in the Raigad district of Maharashtra.

Under the agreements, village members receive sustained support in exchange for conserving privately owned mangrove forests. This effort is helping to transition the local economy while preserving the mangroves, keeping them intact and healthy, said Apple.

In India, Apple also works with the Barefoot College, which trains rural women to become solar engineers in their communities.

Already carbon neutral for its global corporate operations, Apple is focused on its ambitious 2030 goal to become carbon neutral across its entire global supply chain.
Agartala/Shillong/Kohima, March 3 : Days ahead of the International Women's Day on March 8, good news from three northeastern states -- Tripura, Meghalaya and Nagaland -- that 14 women were elected to the state assemblies in the recent polls against six women legislators in the outgoing houses.

The highest number of nine women were elected to the Tripura assembly followed by three in Meghalaya and two in Nagaland.

Scripting history in 60 years of statehood, two women, Hekhani Jakhalu and Salhoutuonuo Kruse of the ruling Nationalist Democratic Progressive Party (NDPP), were for the first time elected to the Nagaland assembly from Western Angami and Dimapur-III assembly constituencies respectively.

In all 183 candidates including four women nominees contested the February 27 assembly elections in Nagaland.

With nine of the 31 women contestants winning, the Tripura assembly now has the highest number of women legislators since it became a full-fledged state in 1972.

In 2013, five of the 15 women contestants became lawmakers in Tripura, while three women were elected in the assembly polls in 2018.

In Meghalaya three women, the same number as in the previous election (2018), were elected in the February 27 assembly elections when 36 women fought the poll battle.

In the 2018 assembly elections, five women contested in Nagaland and none was elected while in Tripura 24 women fought and three women won. In Meghalaya 32 women tried their electoral fortunes and three were successful.

In Tripura, BJP candidates Mina Rani Sarkar (from Badharghat assembly constituency), Pratima Bhowmik (Dhanpur), Antara Sarkar Deb (Kamalasagar), Santana Chakma (Pecharthal), Swapna Majumder (Rajnagar), Swapna Das Paul (Surma), Kalyani Saha Roy (Teliamura) and Tipra Motha Party nominees Swapna Debbarma (Mandai Bazar) and Nandita Debbarma Reang (Raima Valley) were elected to the state assembly in the February 16 elections.

In Meghalaya, former state minister Mazel Ampareen Lyngdoh and Santa Mary Shylla, both from the ruling National People's Party (NPP) and Miani D. Shira of the Trinamool Congress, were elected to the assembly.

Congress turned NPP leader Lyngdoh retained her East Shillong constituency while Shira made it to the Assembly once again from Ampati.

Shylla marked one of the biggest upsets of this election by defeating Lok Sabha member from Shillong parliamentary constituency and Meghalaya state Congress president Vincent H. Pala in the Sutnga-Saipung assembly seat.

In the assembly elections in the three northeastern states, women voters' turnout was higher than men.

For the past many years, women voters have outnumbered their male counterparts in the electoral lists of several northeastern states.

Of the total 21,61,729 voters in Meghalaya, the number of male voters is 10,68,801 and that of female voters is 10,92,326.

In Nagaland, the number of male voters is 6,52,938 and that of female voters is 6,55,144.

In Tripura, in seven of the 60 assembly constituencies, women voters outnumbered their male counterparts.

The number of women ministers, MPs and MLAs in several northeastern states is very less compared to their percentage in population.

Mizoram in the last 50 years saw only one minister and three MLAs with a similar situation in the other northeastern states.

Currently, there are no women ministers in four of the seven northeastern states -- Meghalaya, Mizoram, Nagaland and Arunachal Pradesh.

The number of women in many autonomous bodies of the seven northeastern states is equally depressing, if not worse.

Of the total of 466 seats in the assemblies of these northeastern states, only around 5 per cent are currently occupied by women.

Social activist and writer Nandita Datta said: "Women are deprived of sharing governance and policy making despite female voters being more than 50 per cent in the voters' list of several northeastern states. They are also in the forefront in both domestic and societal affairs." "Many issues of northeast India including the drug menace would be resolved more easily if women get the appropriate political empowerment and governance," Datta told IANS.

She said that northeast India traditionally is a woman-empowered society, though the women are given very less scope in politics, governance and policy making.

"Women of the region are educated, efficient and conscious of all basic issues. We are successfully able to take care of our family, society and administration collectively. But male political leaders thought that we are not capable," said Datta, who has received several prestigious awards for her social work.

(Sujit Chakraborty can be contacted at sujit.c@ians.in)
New Delhi, March 3 : The Assam government contended before the Supreme Court that Congress spokesperson Pawan Khera's statement against Prime Minister Narendra Modi is a part of a "wider conspiracy to degrade and destabilise the nation" and also opposed his plea to club the three FIRs against him at one place.

In an affidavit, the Assam government said: "The verbal defamatory attack on a high constitutional functionary is part of a wider conspiracy to degrade and destabilise the nation." It added that "at the outset it is pointed out that apart from the fact that there cannot be any apology for having committed a criminal offence, it is manifest that only the counsel for the petitioner has stated that the petitioner tenders an apology. The petitioner has neither tendered any apology in the petition nor has tendered any apology after this court passed an order on February 23, 2023".

The affidavit said the submission made before the court tendering an apology clearly appears to be a tactical submission to get a preventive order without any genuine remorse or repentance. "A closer look at the available audio video clearly reveals that the petitioner has mischievously uttered sentences not only with an extreme degree of irresponsibility but reducing the level of discourse at its lowest," it added.

The affidavit contended that Assam FIR is wider in scope and may be treated as the leading FIR and other FIRs (two registered in UP) may be transferred and clubbed.

"It is seen that the FIR registered at Dima Hasao, Assam is qualitatively different in its scope, as compared to the FIRS at Lucknow and Varanasi. Thus, even the scope of investigation, especially the criminal conspiracy being a distinct offence, would need to be independently investigated," said the affidavit, opposing the transfer and clubbing of Assam FIR with the FIR at Lucknow.

The Uttar Pradesh government, in a counter affidavit, argued that the petitioner is also seeking indulgence of the apex court to stall due investigations into deliberate utterances of defamatory words relating to one of the highest constitutional functionaries of the country.

In reference to Lucknow FIR, the affidavit said: "It was stated in the FIR that the name of the Late father of the Prime Minister has deliberately been uttered as Gautam Das by the petitioner and he has further deliberately sarcastically stated that though the name is 'Damodar Das' but his work is similar to that of 'Gautam Das'." It added that investigating agencies at Lucknow and Varanasi are in the process of ascertaining the truth and in that process have recorded statements of complainants and other witnesses. The investigating agencies are following due mandate of law as enshrined in the Code of Criminal Procedure as well as directions passed by the apex court in a catena of judgments, it said.

Seeking dismissal of Khera's plea, the affidavit said, "It is submitted that the petition under Article 32 constitutes an attempt of leapfrogging the routine normal procedure available under the Cr.P.C." On Friday, the Supreme Court extended the interim bail granted to Khera and listed the matter for further hearing on March 17.

On February 27, Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, representing Assam, and Additional Advocate General Garima Prasad, representing Uttar Pradesh, had sought time to file their response in the matter. The apex court had then extended the interim bail till March 3.

On February 23, the Supreme Court protected Khera, saying that he will be released on interim bail upon production before the magistrate in Delhi and the interim relief is till Tuesday.

The top court had then told senior advocate Abhishek Manu Singhvi, representing Khera, that: "We have protected you but there has to be some level of discourse...". The court agreed to hear Khera's plea to club all FIRs at one place.

Khera was arrested after he was forced to de-board an IndiGo flight to Raipur, where the Congress was holding a plenary session.

After Khera was stopped from boarding the flight, Congress leaders and workers staged a protest at the airport.

Within hours the top court was approached and a bench headed by Chief Justice D.Y. Chandrachud granted him interim protection from arrest.
New Delhi, March 3 : The Centre on Friday told the Delhi High Court that the Passport Authority in Srinagar has been directed to take a fresh decision on Peoples Democratic Party President and former Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti's request for issuance of passport.

A single-judge bench of Justice Prathiba M. Singh was hearing Mehbooba Mufti's petition seeking quick decision on her appeal challenging the rejection of her application for renewal of the passport.

The PDP chief had, in 2020, approached Srinagar passport office for renewal, but was denied it.

She then moved the Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh High Court.

In 2021, the High Court dismissed her petition saying that the scope of the court in the matter of grant or otherwise of passport in favour of an individual is very limited as it can only direct the authorities concerned to expeditiously consider the case of an individual in the light of the mandate of the scheme of law governing the subject.

During the hearing in the Delhi High Court on Friday, advocate Kirtiman Singh, appearing for the Centre, informed the court that a decision was taken on Thursday on her appeal and the matter has been remanded to the Srinagar passport office.

Notung that the matter has been remanded back to the regional passport officer after almost a two-year delay since the rejection of her application, the judge directed the officer to take the decision expeditiously.

Justice Singh ordered: "Let the concerned passport officer take a decision within three months. The petition is disposed of." In November last year, Mehbooba Mufti withdrew her plea against the Prevention of Money Laundering Act, 2002 (PMLA) from the Delhi High Court in view of the ruling of the Supreme Court on the anti-money laundering law.

She had challenged Section 50 of the PMLA claiming that ever since her release from custody after the formal abrogation of Article 370 of the Constitution, the state has been hostile against her, her acquaintances, and old family friends, who have all been summoned by the Enforcement Directorate. "Their personal devices were seized in the course," she had complained.
Mumbai, March 3 : The Bombay High Court has ordered the Navi Mumbai police to probe the death of a minor victim of sexual abuse who was knocked down by a truck under mysterious circumstances in September last year.

A division bench of Justices A.S. Gadkari and P.D. Naik has directed the Uran police to conduct a time-bound probe within two weeks and posted the matter for further hearing on March 9.

The prime accused in the sexual abuse case booked under the POCSO Act in January 2020 is local social worker Abdul R. Anjariya, who was a former office-bearer of the Vanchit Bahujan Aghadi (VBA), and is on the run since 2020.

The case was filed by the minor victim's brother, Noor Aalam alias Matiuddin Khan against Anjariya.

The judges directed the Joint Commissioner of Police (Crime), Navi Mumbai, to probe the matter registered with the Uran police in context with Khan's allegations regarding the motive of the crime, and also the role of the case's Investigating Officer.

Coming down heavily on the IO who had filed a closure report in the case, the judges said its "not only astonishing but flabbergasting" as the IO, without understanding the gravity of the matter and reading the contents of the present petition, has surreptitiously filed the Summary Report on February 17, 2023".

The judges also said "the deplorable practice adopted by the IO is thereby deprecated".

The boy, who was killed in a road accident on September 28, 2022 in Uran, was allegedly sexually abused several times during 2019-2020 by Anjariya, a resident of Vikhroli in northeast Mumbai.

After the POCSO case was registered by the Saki Naka Police Station, the Bombay High Court and the Supreme Court had rejected the anticipatory bail application of the accused, and he remains untraceable.

Khan contended through his lawyers Ghanshyam Upadhyay and Manoj Singh, that the circumstances behind his younger brother's death in the road accident were suspicious, and pointed fingers at the missing accused.

Among other things, he said that the vehicle's number plate was blurred and not visible, the driver was never caught, and alleged that his brother was eliminated at the behest of the accused-absconder Anjariya.
Visakhapatnam, March 3 : Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy on Friday said that Visakhapatnam will be the executive capital of the state in the days to come.

Making the announcement at Global Investors Summit 2023, which began in the port city, he also said that he would also be shortly moving over to Visakhapatnam.

The Chief Minister this time was categorical that Visakhapatnam will be the executive capital.

At the curtain raiser event in Delhi on January 31, he had announced that Visakhapatnam will soon be the state capital.

Subsequently, Finance Minister B. Rajendranath Reddy had stated at another curtain raiser in Bengaluru that the YSRCP government decided on Visakhapatnam as the next capital of Andhra Pradesh. He had reportedly remarked that the state will not have three capitals.

This had triggered speculations in political circles that the Jagan Mohan Reddy-led government had given up the plan of three state capitals.

It was on December 17, 2019 that Jagan Mohan Reddy had announced in the state Assembly that three state capitals will be developed reversing the decision of the previous TDP government to develop Amaravati as the state capital.

The YSRCP government mooted Visakhapatnam as administrative capital, Kurnool as judicial capital, and Amaravati as legislative capital.

However, the protest by farmers of Amaravati over shifting of the capital and the High Court order directing the government to develop Amaravati as the state capital had delayed the process.

On March 3, 2022, the Andhra Pradesh High Court had directed the state government to develop Amaravati as the state capital in six months. A bench of three judges had pronounced the judgment on 75 petitions filed by Amaravati farmers and others challenging the government's move on three capitals.

However, the state government filed an appeal in the Supreme Court. In November last year, the Supreme Court stayed the High Court order saying the court cannot act like a town planner or an engineer.

Meanwhile, the Chief Minister announced at the investors' summit that the state has received 340 investment proposals involving an investment of Rs 13 lakh crore and employment to almost 6 lakh people across 20 sectors.

On the first day, 92 MoUs will be signed with an investment of 11.5 lakh crore and employment potential for almost 4 lakh people.

Remaining 248 MoUs will be executed on Saturday for an investment of 1.15 lakh crore and employment to 2 lakh people.

Jagan Mohan Reddy told the investors that his government was committed to facilitating a business-friendly environment and ensuring sustainable economic development. "We will facilitate the most conducive business ecosystem. We are only a phone call away for whatever you need," he said.

The Chief Minister stated that Visakhapatnam has emerged as strong economic hub with the presence of multiple public and private sector units, port led infrastructure and a tourist hotspot.

He said Visakhapatnam is a city known not only for industrial strengths but also for its picturesque beauty and serene landscape.

He said 2023 will be an important year for India as the country will be hosting the G20 summit with the theme 'one earth one family one future'. He pointed out that Visakhapatnam will also be hosting one of the important G20 working committee meetings as well.
New Delhi, March 3 : A Google India worker who was among more than 400 terminated employees which got laid off last month, took to LinkedIn to share his plight, in which he described the feeling of losing the job same as a "breakup".

Priyang Davey, a Creative Lead for APAC GTM Creative Works at Google in Mumbai, who worked for nine months, wrote on LinkedIn: "My last couple of weeks have been pretty eventful. I got a new Bluetooth speaker, watched the night manager which was not that bad, and oh also! I got laid off from Google." "It's like a breakup. Sure, it kinda sucks, but you'll choose your next partner who's wise enough to not break up with you over a text (or an email)," he added.

He graduated from Nirma Institute of Management with a degree in Business Administration and Management.

Moreover, recalling his time at Google, Davey mentioned that before leaving Google, he stole something valuable that he can't be sued for - "learnings".

"I got to learn digital advertising from the internet's source code, ad products that very few use correctly in APAC, work with the best agencies and brands across the region, explore the depths of AI/ML, and form relationships with pretty cool people." In conclusion, he said: "I am #OpenToWork - ing anywhere across the world, from my home, your home, or that weird alley where kids skate at night."
Jammu, March 3 : Jammu and Kashmir Lieutenant Governor Manoj Sinha said on Friday that we need to be vigilant and determined to neutralise the ecosystem providing ideological and financial support to terrorists and added that we are committed to dealing with challenges of narco-terror in a comprehensive manner.

The Lieutenant Governor said that while attending the Attestation-cum-Passing out Parade of Recruit Constables of 29th BRTC Batch at S.Prithinandan Singh Police Training School in Kathua district of Jammu and Kashmir.

The Lt Governor congratulated and welcomed new recruits to one of the finest police forces in the country.

I am confident that you will discharge your responsibility towards the nation with utmost sensitivity, commitment and dedication, added the Lt Governor.

"The integrity, dedication and professionalism of J&K Police are pivotal in the fight against terrorism. We all take pride in the excellence and professionalism displayed by J&K Police in handling narco-terrorism and enforcing the rule of law," said the Lt Governor.

The Lt Governor stressed upon the future-ready policing strategies to tackle the new forms of internal security challenges.

"These are challenging times for our police forces as the world today is facing conventional and non-conventional threats. We need to be vigilant and determined to neutralise the ecosystem providing ideological and financial support to terrorists," the Lt Governor said.

"We believe in 'Vasudhaiva Kutumbakam' and peaceful coexistence. There is no place for subversive elements in a civilised society," observed the Lt Governor.

"Today, narco-terrorism has become one of the biggest threats to the society. The UT Administration, J&K Police and our Security Forces are committed to dealing with challenges of narco-terror in a comprehensive manner. J&K UT is on the march and is being transformed. It is our sacred duty to provide a safe, secure and right environment to fulfill the aspirations of the common man," he said.
New Delhi, March 3 : The Supreme Court Friday dismissed a plea by businessman Vijay Mallya, facing extradition, against proceedings in a Mumbai court to declare him a fugitive economic offender and confiscate his properties.

Counsel, representing Mallya, contended before the court that he was not receiving any instructions from him in the matter.

A bench of Justices Abhay S. Oka and Rajesh Bindal said counsel for the petitioner states that Mallya is not giving any instructions. "In view of this statement, the petition is dismissed for non-prosecution," said the bench.

In December 2018, the apex court had issued notice to the Enforcement Directorate (ED) on Mallya's plea but declined to stay the proceedings before a special Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) court at Mumbai, where the probe agency sought a 'fugitive' tag for him under the Fugitive Economic Offenders' Act, 2018.

The prosecuting agency has the powers to confiscate his property, once a person is declared a fugitive economic offender under the provisions of the Act.

Mallya was declared a fugitive under the Act in January 2019, by a Mumbai special court.

On November 3 last year, in another matter, Mallya's counsel had told the apex court he has been incommunicado for a long time and requested the court to discharge him from representing Mallya in the matter. The apex court was considering a plea filed by Mallya in relation to a monetary dispute with the State Bank of India.

The top court had then asked the lawyer to provide Mallya's email and residential address in the UK to the court registry. Counsel submitted that he wants to be discharged from the case since he is not receiving any instructions from Mallya. The top court permitted the lawyer to initiate the procedure for withdrawing his legal representation for the fugitive.

In July last year, the Supreme Court sentenced Mallya to four months' imprisonment for contempt of court in 2017, as he suppressed information from the court. The top court also ordered Mallya to deposit $40 million -- which he had transferred to his family members in violation of the court orders - failing which attachment of his properties will begin.
Bhubaneswar, March 3 : In protest of the alleged police excesses on its youth wing activists during a recent rally, the BJP in Odisha on Friday filed complaints in different police stations across the state.

To counter it, the ruling Biju Janata Dal (BJD) staged a demonstration here over the LPG price hike.

The Bharatiya Janata Yuva Morcha (BJYM) activists engaged in a scuffle with the police personnel while they were marching towards the Assembly on February 28 over the alleged deteriorating law and order situation, including the murder of minister Naba Das.

Following the face-off, 22 BJYM activists, including state president Irasish Acharya were arrested.

Though the BJP has lodged a complaint at a Bhubaneswar police station on the same night, the police were yet to register a case in this regard.

Hence, the BJP leaders and workers took out protest rallies in different places of Odisha, including capital city Bhubaneswar on Friday, and lodged complaints in the police stations against the DGP, the Cuttack-Bhubaneswar twin city police commissioner and the Bhubaneswar DCP.

"The BJD government was on the back foot over rising crime and a deteriorating law and order situation in Odisha. It was exposed when minister Naba Das was murdered in broad daylight. To divert the attention of people from the murder case, the police resorted to violence during the BJYM protest," said BJP leader Pinky Pradhan.

The saffron party has also decided to stage demonstrations in front of all Superintendent of Police offices across the state on March 4. If no case is registered on the 'police excess', the BJP will knock on the doors of the court.

On the other hand, the women's wing of the ruling BJD has staged a protest against the LPG price hike here before the Raj Bhawan.

BJD leader and Bhubaneswar mayor Sulochana Das said the price of one domestic LPG cylinder (14.2 kg cylinder) has been increased from Rs 410 in 2014 to Rs 1,129 now.

However, the Odisha BJP leaders, instead of requesting their government at the centre to reduce the price, are creating law and order problems in the state, she alleged.
New Delhi, March 3 : Union Minister for Road Transport and Highways Nitin Gadkari said there are currently 70 projects underway in Andhra Pradesh, totalling 2,014 km and costing Rs 33,540 crore.

Addressing Andhra Pradesh's Global Investment Summit 2023 at Visakhapatnam on Friday, the Minister said efforts are being made to establish five Green Highways and two Expressways at a total cost of Rs 32,430 crore .

Gadkari said during 2022-23, total work costing Rs 15,400 crore has been awarded for a length of 777 km across 27 projects.

He said additionally, two Multimodal Logistics Parks (MMLPs) have been sanctioned in Visakhapatnam and Anantapur at a cost of Rs 1,797 crore.

These MMLPs will serve as a key hub for centralizing freight cargo consolidation in the region, he added.

Gadkari said over the past eight and half years (2014-23) of the Narendra Modi-led government, there has been a significant increase in the length of NHs (National Highways) in Andhra Pradesh.

The Minister said the length has expanded from 4,193 km to 8,744 km.

Gadkari said that in line with Prime Minister Modi's commitment to promoting sustainable practices, "we are focused on converting our farmers to Urjadata while continuing to support them as Annadata".

He said: "We also advocate for Swadeshi manufacturing, which prioritises safety, recyclability, and sustainability. He said our goal is to create opportunities for green energy and a green economy in the mobility sector." Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy, Finance Minister Buggana Rajendranath Reddy, Minister for Industry, Infrastructure and Investment, Gudivada Amarnath and other senior officials were also present on the occasion.
New Delhi, March 3 : The northeast states which were once the strongholds of the Congress have now turned into BJP citadels where the saffron party has gradually thrown the Congress out of the political game with the help of it's regional allies. In the just concluded elections to three states there, the BJP has captured Tripura for the second time in a row, in Nagaland it has won with the NDPP and in Meghalaya the party was quick to support the NPP.

The Congress is in crisis with the party splitting in various states. In Meghalaya Mukul Sangma walked over to the Trinamool Congress with all his MLAs and the result was that the TMC and the Congress split their votes. Sangma was the former chief minister and after his departure, Vincent Pala became the face of the Congress party in the assembly polls.

Overall, the Congress party put up a poor show in Meghalaya, managing to win only five seats this time. In 2018, the Congress had won 21 seats and was the single largest party in the state.

However, the grand old party could not form the government then and Conrad Sangma's National People's Party along with the BJP and some smaller regional parties had been ruling the hill state for the last five years.

Similarly in Tripura former Congress leader Pradyut Manakya formed the Tipra Motha and got 13 seats, denting the Congress. According to the results declared by the Election Commission on Thursday, the tribal-based Tipra Motha Party (TMP), which for the first time contested 42 seats on its own, emerged as the second largest party securing 13 seats. The CPI-M won 11 seats while the Congress bagged three.

The CPI-M led Left Front, which contested the elections in a seat-sharing arrangement with the Congress, had fielded 47 candidates while 13 seats were allotted to the Congress.

A Congress leader comparing the results said if you compare the results of 2018 the Congress has improved but it was not able to match the BJP's money power.

The ruling Nationalist Democratic Progressive Party (NDPP) and its ally the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) retained power in Nagaland for a second successive term by winning 37 seats together in the 60-member Assembly, The Congress, which governed the state for many years till 2003, had contested 23 seats but drew a blank once again. The grand old party had no legislator in the outgoing Assembly also.

The NDPP won 25 seats, eight more than its 2018 tally, while the BJP secured 12 seats, the same as in the last elections.

The Congress loss in the entire region is due to former Congressman and Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma who had been at the forefront of the BJP campaign and prepared the ground for the saffron party.

Sarma said that BJP national president J.P. Nadda has advised the Meghalaya unit of the party to support the NPP in forming the next government.

He wrote on Twitter: "@SangmaConrad, Chief Minister of Meghalaya, called @AmitShahji, Home Minister, and sought his support and blessings in forming the new government." Notably, Conrad Sangma and Sarma held a meeting on Wednesday at a Guwahati hotel a day ahead of the counting of votes.

But apart from election strategy, the real reason lies in the fact that Prime Minister Narendra Modi has visited the northeast region more than 50 times in the last eight years, while various ministers have visited the region over 400 times.

The government has approved schemes of the Ministry of Development of North Eastern Region (MDoNER) with an outlay of Rs 12,882.2 crore for the balance period of the 15th Finance Commission (2022-23 to 2025-26).

According to the government there has been a 74 per cent reduction in insurgency incidents, 60 per cent reduction in attacks on security forces and 89 per cent reduction in civilian casualties in the northeast. About 8,000 youth have surrendered and joined the mainstream, ushering in a better future for themselves and their families.

The actual expenditure in the last four years under MDoNER schemes was Rs 7,534.46 crore, whereas the funds available for the next four years till 2025-26 are Rs 19,482.20 crore (2.6 times approx).

While the Congress woke up only during the elections the BJP's ground work continued in these states and it's active politics in Assam influenced the people of other states.
New Delhi, March 3 : The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) has filed an FIR against the users of three email IDs for using PMO.in as their domain name.

The Prime Minister's Office (PMO) lodged a complaint in this respect on the basis of which the CBI filed the FIR under section 170 and 419 of the Indian Penal Code (IPC).

"The accused who created email IDs using the PMO.in as their domain name sent emails to different persons. It came into the notice of the Prime Ministers' Office and they decided to take action against the culprits as the matter was serious in nature," a CBI official said.

The official said that three email IDs were pradeep.s@pm.o.in, hetal-gandhi@pmo.in, and indradeep.ghosh@pmo.in and they were trying to find out who were the accused behind the matter.

"The PMO had said that prima facie it was a case of fraud and misuse of the name of Prime Minister's Office (PMO), and its officials as neither the domain names used to send the emails nor the persons mentioned as senders of the said emails were from PMO. Initially we initiated a preliminary inquiry into the matter. The findings of the same also corroborated the facts mentioned in the complaint lodged by the PMO. A crime is made out by the accused by creating email IDS by creating a domain name in the name of PMO, and hence we have lodged an FIR," the official said, adding that probe was on.
Agartala/Shillong, March 3 : The Trinamool Congress which contested 56 of the 60 seats in Meghalaya and 28 of the 60 seats in Tripura secured five seats and 13.78 per cent votes in Meghalaya and only 1.03 per cent votes in Tripura, where 1.36 per cent votes were polled for NOTA (None Of The Above).

Former Chief Minister Mukul Sangma (2010-2018), one of the key leaders of the Trinamool Congress in Meghalaya, contested from two assembly seats -- Songsak and Tikrikilla - both in the Garo hills.

Sangma, opposition leader in the outgoing assembly, won the Songsak seat by a thin margin of 372 votes defeating ruling National People's Party (NPP) candidate Nihim D Shira but lost the Tikrikilla seat to NPP's Jimmy D. Sangma by a margin of 5313 votes.

The Trinamool Congress candidate for Meghalaya's Rajabala seat, Mizanur Rahman Kazi, won the seat by a narrow margin of just 10 votes against NPP nominee Abdus Saleh.

In all the 28 seats the Trinamool Congress contested in Tripura, the party secured fourth or fifth position and the deposit of most party nominees was forfeited.

Election analysts said that the Trinamool Congress spoiled the non-BJP vote share and it could not even mark its presence in the BJP ruled state.

Trinamool Congress candidate Pujan Biswas, son of the party's Tripura state president and senior lawyer Pijush Kanti Biswas, secured the highest number of 2029 votes in the Ramnagar assembly constituency. In the other constituencies the party managed a paltry number of votes.

In the high profile Ramnagar constituency, BJP candidate and former minister Surajit Datta won the seat for a record eight times by securing 46.2 per cent of the votes defeating the CPI-M supported independent candidate and senior lawyer Purushuttam Roy Barman, who got 43.83 per cent votes while Pujan Biswas managed only 5.5 per cent votes.

Like the BJP, the Trinamool Congress supremo and West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee set up party organisations in Assam, Tripura and Meghalaya headed by former Congress leaders.

Former Assam Congress president and former Rajya Sabha member Ripun Bora was made the TMC's Assam unit chief while former Tripura Congress president Pijush Kanti Biswas was appointed the Tripura unit president. Former Congress Chief Minister Mukul Sangma (2010-2018) led the party unit in Meghalaya.

Mamata Banerjee accompanied by the party's national general secretary Abhishek Banerjee visited both Meghalaya and Tripura for campaigning and announced that most of the schemes introduced in West Bengal by the TMC government would be launched in the two northeastern states if the party comes to power in these states.

To woo the electorate, the TMC promised to roll out the Meghalaya Financial Inclusion for Women Empowerment (MFI WE) scheme that would provide an assured monthly income support of Rs 1,000 per woman per household in the state, if the party was voted to power.

The MFI WE, also called 'WE Card', was announced by TMC supremo Mamata Banerjee in Shillong in December last year, sparking a controversy in the state.

After the TMC was founded in 1997-1998, it had set up bases in Tripura, Manipur and Assam but they could not maintain the political tempo in these states.

There were seven MLAs of other parties that once joined the TMC in Manipur but eventually, they quit one by one.

Former Tripura Chief Minister late Sudhir Majumder, incumbent Tripura Assembly Speaker and former Congress leader Ratan Chakraborty, Ashish Saha, Subal Bhowmik and others went to the TMC in 1998 but most of them returned to the Congress in 2001-2002.

Majumder contested from the West Lok Sabha constituency in 1999 on a TMC ticket and secured second position.

Congress MLA and the party's former state president in Tripura Sudip Roy Barman, six other MLAs and many leaders quit the Congress in 2016 and joined the TMC and next year (2017) they joined the BJP.

Roy Barman, also a former minister, quit the BJP early last year and was re-elected to the Assembly in last year's June by-election and February 16 general elections as a Congress nominee.

After the TMC started its organisational work in the third phase in Tripura in early 2021, it had been searching for a candidate for the party president's post in the state and finally appointed Subal Bhowmik, a former Congress MLA and BJP leader, in April 2022.

But due to internal feuds, the TMC removed Bhowmik from the post on August 24, 2022, and appointed former Tripura Congress president Pijush Kanti Biswas as president of the party's Tripura unit on December 11 last year.

(Sujit Chakraborty can be contacted at sujit.c@ians.in)
Bhopal, March 3 : The Madhya Pradesh Assembly on Friday witnessed uproarious scenes over the 'no confidence' against Speaker Girish Gautam, leading to disruption of the House's functioning, and eventually the adjournment of the fifth day of the Budget Session without any business.

The continuous ruckus in the Assembly prompted Speaker Girish Gautam to adjourn the House till March 13.

As the opposition Congress was already prepared to bring a 'no confidence' motion against the Speaker following his decision to suspend former minister and Congress MLA Jitu Patwari from the House for the remaining Budget Session on Thursday, they (Congress MLAs) raised slogans and demanded a debate on the matter.

Gautam tried to control the situation and begin the House's proceedings. However, relentless noisy scenes prompted him to adjourn the Assembly first for 10 minutes, soon after the House met.

When the House resumed its business for the day again, the Congress MLAs continued their demand to have a debate over the 'no confidence' motion brought against the Speaker.

The Congress legislators led by the Leader of the Opposition (LoP) Govind Singh, an MLA from the Lahar seat, reached the Speaker's podium, and shouted slogans against him.

The Speaker tried to calm down the situation and requested the legislators to go back to their seats, saying he had not received any information regarding a 'no confidence' motion.

The Opposition tabled a 'no confidence' motion against Speaker Girish Gautam, accusing him of acting on behalf of the ruling BJP, and "shrinking the duration of the session".

However, the ruling BJP hit back on them for not having the signature of the Madhya Pradesh unit Congress president Kamal Nath.

Meanwhile, Madhya Pradesh Parliamentary Affairs Minister Narottam Mishra intervened into the matter by showing the 'rule book' of the House.

As the Congress MLAs had already approached the Speaker's podium, the BJP MLAs stood in the Speaker's support, and eventually, the MLAs from both sides came face to face against each other briefly.

Further, LoP Govind Singh alleged that Narottam Mishra had thrown a book at him to hurt him.

This again created an uproar in the house. The LoP demanded suspension of the minister for the entire Budget Session, on the lines of the suspension of Jitu Patwari.

Mishra, however, tried to clarify that he was trying to move the peon when the 'rules book' accidentally slipped from his hand.

"I had no intention of hurting anyone. I have apologised for this in the House," Mishra said.
New Delhi, March 3 : The Delhi High Court on Friday refused to hear a plea against the Animal Welfare Board India (AWBI)'s decision to withdraw its notification for celebration of the Cow Hug Day on February 14, which is Valentine's Day too.

Justice Prathiba M. Singh said that it cannot give directions and remarked: "How can the court say that you celebrate cow hug day on Valentine's Day?" The judge said that it is not fair of her to interfere with Article 226 of the Indian Constitution and that the celebration of any particular event by the AWBI is in the domain of the board and the government only.

This stems back to an appeal issued by AWBI on February 6 urging people to hug cows on Valentine's Day as it would bring happiness and positivity.

The AWBI had said: "In view of the immense benefit of the cow, hugging with cow will bring emotional richness hence will increase our individual & collective happiness. Therefore, all the cow lovers may also celebrate the February 14 as Cow Hug day keeping in mind the importance of mother cow and make life happy and full of positive energy." After the announcement received heavy trolling, the AWBI withdrew it on February 10.

"As directed by the Competent Authority and Ministry of Fisheries, Animal Husbandry and Dairying, the appeal issued by the Animal Welfare Board of India for the celebration of Cow Hug Day on 14th February 2023 stands withdrawn," the AWBI order read.
New Delhi, March 3 : The government on Friday said that the issue price for the sovereign gold bonds scheme 2022-23 (Series-IV), during the subscription period will be Rs 5,611 per gram.

The scheme will open for subscription between March 6-10, while the settlement date would be March 14, official sources said.

The government, in consultation with the Reserve Bank of India, has decided to allow a discount of Rs 50 per gram from the issue price to those investors who apply online and the payment is made through digital mode.

For such investors the issue price of gold bond will be Rs 5,561 per gram of gold.
Islamabad, March 3 : Pakistan's Finance Minister Ishaq Dar said on Friday that the country is expecting $1.3 billion in financing from the Industrial and Commercial Bank of China Ltd (ICBC) in the coming days to help shore up its foreign exchange reserves, media reports said.

Addressing a press conference on the country's prevailing economic situation here, Dar said he is holding the presser to clear the "ambiguity" amid the current scenario, Dawn reported.

"All our formalities with the ICBC are complete as of last night. We returned them $1.3 billion in the last few months... They are giving it back and have renewed this facility," Dar said, adding that it is possible that $500 million will come in the next few days -- by Monday or Tuesday -- and a further $500 million within 10 days, Dawn reported.

The minister said all the documentation work for the process has been completed.

On whether the country would default, Dar said: "We have never defaulted and we won't now. Yes, we were in a precarious situation and are going through it currently." He said the current government had made a "principled decision" whether to save the state or its own politics around the time of last year's vote of no confidence against Imran Khan, Dawn reported.

Dar said the state's interest was prioritised over political interests at the time, adding that it was the "right decision".

He also criticised PTI chief Imran Khan, calling on him to reflect on his own past and his government's performance.

"They keep going on and on about default [but] their ministers called their provincial finance ministers that 'you don't allow the IMF matter to be resolved'," Dar added.

The Finance Minister also said that Khan's attitude is "selfish", adding that oppositions around the world worked together with the government on national issues, Dawn reported.
New Delhi, March 3 : The Ministry of Rural Development on Friday extended its Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the National Institute of Fashion Technology (NIFT) which will provide design support for the products made by Self Help Groups of the Deendayal Antyodaya Yojana -- National Rural Livelihood Mission (NRLM), an official said.

A non-financial MoU was signed between NRLM-MoRD and NIFT on October 23, 2019, initially for three years. The MoU provisions have been extended as due to the effect of the Covid pandemic, nothing much was done under the MoU between NRLM/ SRLMs and NIFT, a statement noted.

However, NRLM engaged the services of NIFT for the designing and renovation of the 'Saras Gallery' in Delhi.

The gallery is now operational since December 17, 2021 for marketing of Self Help Groups products from all the states and union territories.

According to a government statement, the Saras Gallery, till March 1, has generated sales of Rs 1,17,05,240 since renovation.

The team from NIFT has been engaged with the NRLM during various occasions in guiding the SHG members about their product design and packaging.
Kolkata, March 3 : As the Supreme Court upheld the order for the termination of services of 1,911 non-teaching staff of Group D category employed illegally in different state-run schools in West Bengal, proofs of massive irregularities through tampering of optical mark recognition (OMR) sheets in Group C category of non-teaching staff surfaced at the Calcutta High Court on Friday.

The West Bengal School Service Commission (WBSSC) informed the single-judge bench of Justice Abhijit Gangopadhyay that there were rampant differences between the marks noted on the OMR sheets and that noted in the commission's servers for a number of candidates appearing for the written examination for Group C posts.

The WBSSC also admitted that without the involvement of some commission insiders, such irregularity would not have been possible.

As per the commission's estimates, such irregularities have been detected in 3,478 OMR sheets used in written examinations in case of Group C recruitment.

Justice Gangopadhyay, after hearing the commission's submission, directed the latter to immediately upload and publish these MOR sheets in question on its website. He also directed it to complete the process by March 9.

In fact, Justice Gangopadhyay also expressed surprise over the commission's submission on this count. "Probably, Subiresh Bhattacharya has a lot to say about this rampant irregularity since it took place during his tenure as the Chairman of the commission.A Central Bureau of Investigation should immediately interrogate Bhattacharya in the matter," he observed.
Hyderabad, March 3 : Iranian Ambassador to India Dr Iraj Elahi on Friday visited the Telangana State Archives and Research Institute to see the work being undertaken by an Iranian organisation for conservation of historic records.

Accompanied by Mehdi Shahrokhi, Iran's Counsel General at Hyderabad, he visited the institute which has joined hands with Noor Microfilm International Centre (NMIC) at Culture House of Iran in New Delhi for digitisation, conservation and cataloguing of the old archival records, particularly in Persian language.

The Iranian envoy released the first facsimile copy of the farmans or royal orders of VIIth Nizam Mir Osman Ali Khan.

The institute has requested that all the 355 chicket (bounded books) f Farmans of Nizam VI & VII and other necessary books be made into facsimile copies for the usage of the scholars and others.

An MoU between the Telangana State Archives and Research Institute and the Noor International Microfilm was signed on September 7, 2022 in Hyderabad in the presence of state Information Technology and Industries Minister K.T. Rama Rao and then Iranian Ambassador Dr. Ali Chegini.

The MoU was aimed at taking up the conservation, digitisation, and cataloguing work of classical Persian and Urdu language documents of non-confidential nature on a voluntary basis with no financial burden on the government treasury.

During his visit to the institute on Friday, the Ambassador said that Iran's relations with India had always been friendly and there have been many cultural exchanges between the two countries. He said as Persian is the national language of Iran, they are eager to save the heritage of Persian language in India which was once the national language of this country too.

He visited the unit set up in the premises with the state-of-the-art equipment and specialised manpower in the field of conservation and digitisation. He witnessed the demonstration of the conservation method of treating old historic documents by using herbal ingredients and was very much impressed. He praised the quality of work completed so far.

NMIC Director, Dr Khajapiri said that it has already rendered its services to major government institutions of India including National Archives of India, Jamia Millia Islamia, Rampur Raza Library and other 25 big institutions. As Iran is famous for herbal treatment of paper and cloth, its conservation method for the archival paper is very rare.

He informed the Ambassador that so far, work relating to three lakh pages of the old Persian records pertaining to Daftar-Darul Insha, treaties, manuscripts (handwritten), Awarjaas (ledgers), Baba Shah Musaafir (a Sufi saint of Hyderabad) & Inayat Nama (letters), Farmans (royal orders) of Nizam VI and VII has been completed. Repair of the brittle documents has also been done. The cataloguing of the ornamental Persian records is also being done simultaneously. There were 14 'daftars' of the Nizam government which were all taken up for conservationA apart from farmans, muntakhabs, old maps, and gazettes.

State Archives Director, Dr Zareena Parveen, said that the institute has millions of records dating back to 1406 A.D. As they are not of confidential nature and largely in ornamental Persian language till 1885, the NMIC was entrusted with the work to safeguard records which are very fragile.

She said the records are centuries-old and getting delicate and brittle day by day despite routine maintenance and need professional curative treatment by experienced hands. After the conservation of the said records, their longevity may increase and the glorious and precious history of Hyderabad Deccan may be secured for the posterity, she said.
Bhubaneswar, March 3 : A court in Odisha on Friday rejected the state crime branch's plea to examine the mental condition of Gopal Das, an accused in the minister Naba Das murder case, at Nimhans in Bengaluru.

According to sources, the Odisha crime branch sought permission of the district and session court, Jharsuguda, to send the accused to the National Institute of Mental Health and Neuroscience (NIMHANS) in Bengaluru to undergo various psychological tests.

However, the court rejected the plea of the police.

A lower court had earlier rejected the same prayer of the crime branch on February 20.

The crime branch wanted to conduct a comprehensive psychological evaluation of accused Gopal Das at Nimhans.

In a media statement, the crime branch (CB) has earlier said that the accused had a prolonged history of mental illness. Taking that into consideration, a special medical board was constituted consisting of four psychiatric experts.

After examining the accused, the board opined that there is a need to have a detailed examination of the accused to come to a definite conclusion about his mental health.

Accordingly, the crime branch police moved one court to another to get permission for Das's mental evaluation at Nimhans, sources said.

Notably, minister Naba Das was killed by the sacked police ASI Gopal Das on January 29.

The former police officer had fired a bullet on the chest of the minister from a very close range.

Though the police arrested the accused from the spot, it is yet to find out the motive behind the high-profile murder case.
Taxpayers were expecting some form of an SVLDRS -- Sabka Vishwas (Legacy Dispute Resolution) Scheme -- to be announced in the Union Budget targeted at disputes in service tax or Customs.

SVLDRS was widely acclaimed in providing relief to the taxpayers, reducing litigation as well as mobilising revenue. However, with the onset of the Covid pandemic in March 2020, a large number of taxpayers suffering physical as well as financial distress could not avail of a closure under the scheme due to failure in paying dues in time.

Now that there does not seem to be an intention of reviving the window, taxpayers need to focus on other statutory mechanisms for effective dispute resolution.

To give a big fillip to voluntary disclosures and reducing litigation, the government has re-activated the Customs, Excise & Service Tax Settlement Commission, which had not been functional since May 2021. The Department of Revenue has appointed a chairman and two members to the Settlement Commission. As per a public notice issued by the Commission in December 2022, all four benches at Delhi, Chennai, Kolkata and Mumbai are now functional.

As an alternate dispute resolution mechanism, the process of Settlement Commission has inherent advantages over all other statutory concessions under the Customs Act or Finance Act (Service tax).

Firstly, the order of the Commission is final and not subject to review by the department. This brings finality in ending a tax dispute from the government's side. Also, the powers of the Commission to grant immunity from prosecution and waiver of penalties and fines make for good and straight forward business economics.

Members of the Settlement Commission are very senior functionaries of CBIC, usually in the rank of Principal Chief Commissioner. Taxpayers get the fullest opportunity to make arguments in a formal court setting and can expect delivery of well-balanced orders. This addresses the often-repeated complaint of a revenue bias in departmental proceedings.

Over the last two months, the Chief Commissioners of Customs in Mumbai, Delhi, Chennai and Kolkata have all organised public seminars for advocacy of the settlement process.

Laudably, the Principal Chief Commissioner of Customs in Mumbai has issued a public notice creating a cell to assist and educate taxpayers about the provisions for settlement of cases before the Commission.

The only drawback of the settlement scheme is its time-limited window. The taxpayer must approach the Commission before the case is adjudicated, failing which the option is no longer available. It would be a progressive step towards alternative dispute resolution to allow taxpayers to approach the Commission at any stage of the dispute cycle, subject concurrence by the field formations. However, this will require a change in law, which can now only be considered during the budget exercise in 2024.
Kolkata, March 3 : The Enforcement Directorate (ED) on Friday submitted to a special PMLA court the details on the proceeds of the multi-crore teachers' recruitment scam in West Bengal received by an arrested youth Trinamool Congress leader Kuntal Ghosh.

The ED has also informed the court of the details of the portion of the scam proceeds of Ghosh that he had forwarded to former West Bengal education minister and ex-Trinamool Congress secretary general Partha Chatterjee, who is currently in the judicial custody for his alleged involvement in the scam.

The ED told the court that these details have been available after examining Ghosh's bank accounts and other related documents in connection with the scam.

"ED sleuths have questioned 10 individuals who acted as agents in collecting scam proceeds on behalf of Kuntal Ghosh. These 10 individuals have informed the investigating officers that they collected a total amount of Rs 16 crore from a total of 200 candidates for providing them teaching jobs in the state-run schools. Each candidate paid Rs 6 lakh," the ED counsel told the court on Friday.

He also said that from checking the bank accounts of Ghosh, the ED sleuths have come to know that he had transferred a "massive amount" in different phases to a particular woman since 2020.

"The investigating officers have summoned the woman for questioning," the ED counsel said.

He also said that Kuntal Ghosh, besides collecting money for primary teachers' aspirants, also collected money from those willing to join state-run schools as secondary teachers.

"He also collected money from private teacher's training colleges," the ED counsel added.
New Delhi, March 3 : The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) has lodged an FIR against six persons, including four officials of the East Coast Railway, for allegedly accepting bribes in lieu of passing a railway tender in the favour of an accused firm.

A senior CBI official said that in 2015, a tender was floated for the execution of signalling and telecommunication works and supply of critical materials in connection with the railway electrification work in the Angul-Sambalpur section in Sambalpur division of East Coast Railway in Odisha.

The tender was given to a Jaipur-based firm -- Kiran Infra Engineers limited -- which quoted a value of Rs 7,10,87,7901.

Kishore Sharma, the Director of Kiran lnfra, then authorised Sorabh Dhanuka, a resident of Visakhapatnam, for the execution of tender work.

According to the CBI, Dhanuka and his father Raj Kumar Dhanuka were partners in the firm B.K. Enterprise.

It was also learnt that Raj Kumar ran another firm, Raj Kumar & Co., having its office at the same office address as that of B.K. Enterprise.

"Four officials of the East Coast Railway -- Subhas Chandra Das, Jalasutra Sumurtti, Sanjib Kumar Sahoo and Gopabandhu Bhoi -- obtained undue pecuniary advantage to the tune of Rs 13,32,0001 from B.K. Enterprise and Raj Kumar & Co through banking transactions in their names as well as in the names of their family members, without consideration from the concerned person (Sorabh Dhanuka), with whom they had official transaction," the CBI said.

The CBI has lodged the FIR under the relevant sections of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) and Prevention of Corruption Act against the accused persons.
New Delhi, March 3 : The Delhi High Court on Friday rejected a plea against Sujan R. Chinoy's appointment as the Director General of Manohar Parrikar Institute for Defence Studies and Analyses (MP-IDSA) in January 2019.

A division bench of Chief Justice Satish Chandra Sharma and Subramonium Prasad was hearing lawyer petitioner Subhash Chandran K.R.'s Public Interest Litigation (PIL) contending that it concerns a prominent post in defence for which no advertisement was published.

The bench said that since it relates to a service matter, it cannot be maintained and no case for interference can be made out.

"In the considered opinion of this court, as the present PIL is in relation to a service matter, no case is made out for interference in the matter. Admission is declined," it said.

Solicitor General Tushar Mehta has said that this appointment is made by a committee consisting of the Cabinet Secretary, the Defence Secretary, and two persons of eminence and the "petitioner has no connection. He is a stranger".

Noting that there is no advertisement for a lot of high offices, the bench dismissed the PIL.

The PIL claimed that the institute did not obey to the rules for a public appointment which was "an act of lawlessness cutting at the very root of the strict mandate of Articles 14 and 16 of the Constitution".
New Delhi, March 3 : The first meeting of the G20 Anti-corruption Working Group (ACWG) that began on March 1, concluded on Friday with a call for strengthening law enforcement cooperation for action against corruption and related economic crimes.

Rahul Singh, Additional Secretary, DoPT & Chair, G20 ACWG said that over the past three days, there have been intensive and productive deliberations on several key focal areas pertaining to asset recovery, fugitive economic offenders, formal and informal channels of cooperation for information sharing, institutional frameworks for combating corruption and mutual legal assistance, among others.

This included presentations and interventions by country delegates and experts from UNODC, OECD, Egmont Group, Interpol and IMF.

Rahul Singh along with Giovanni Tartaglia Polcini, Head of Task Force, Co-chair, G20 ACWG, Italy, addressed the media at the end of the ACWG meeting.

The ACWG meeting was enriched by keynote addresses by dignitaries including Girish Chandra Murmu, the Comptroller and Auditor General of India, Praveen Kumar Srivastava, Central Vigilance Commissioner of India, Nitin Gupta, Chairman, Central Board of Direct Taxes, Sanjay Kumar Mishra, Director Enforcement Directorate and Subodh Kumar Jaiswal, Director, Central Bureau of Investigation.

Rahul Singh further said that it has been the endeavour of the delegates during the deliberations to arrive at a consensus on the draft text of the High-Level Principles that are on the agenda for the ACWG during India's G20 Presidency.

He said that considerable progress has been made in discussing the high-level principles on improving information sharing for fighting corruption and related economic crimes, strengthening asset recovery mechanisms related to corruption and related economic crimes, strengthening law enforcement cooperation for action against corruption and related economic crime, and promoting the integrity and effectiveness of public bodies responsible for Preventing and Combating Corruption.

The official further said that on the first day of the ACWG, a side event was held on leveraging ICT to curb corruption in the public sector, an area in which India's recent initiatives like the GEM Portal and DBT have been globally recognised.

During this event, leading experts from India showcased how India has adapted the power of the ICT to curb corruption in public service delivery.

Over 90 delegates participating from 20 member countries, 10 invitee countries and 9 international organisations attended the first meeting of the G20 ACWG.

An official said that India placed on record sincere appreciation and gratitude for the presence of Italy as the co-chair of the G20 ACWG.
New Delhi, March 3 : The Foreign Ministers of Quad member nations on Friday called for lasting peace in Ukraine, and said without naming Russia that the use or threat of use of nuclear weapons is "inadmissible".

The Ukraine conflict was discussed during the Quad Foreign Ministers' meet which took place here on Friday.

The Quadrilateral Security Dialogue (Quad) is a strategic security dialogue between Australia, India, Japan and the United States that is maintained by talks between member countries.

The meeting was attended by External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken, his Japanese counterpart Yoshimasa Hayashi and Australia's Foreign Affairs Minister Penny Wong.

"We continued to discuss our responses to the conflict in Ukraine and the immense human suffering it is causing, and concurred that the use or threat of use of nuclear weapons is inadmissible. We underscored the need for comprehensive, just and lasting peace in Ukraine in accordance with international law, including the UN Charter," the Quad ministers said in a joint statement issued after the meeting.

The Quad Foreign Ministers further emphasised that the "rules-based international order must respect sovereignty, territorial integrity, transparency and peaceful resolution of disputes".

The Quad also opposed any unilateral actions that seek to change the status quo or increase tensions in South and East China seas.

"Our meeting today reaffirms the Quad's steadfast commitment to supporting a free and open Indo-Pacific, which is inclusive and resilient. We strongly support the principles of freedom, rule of law, sovereignty and territorial integrity, peaceful settlement of disputes without resorting to threat or use of force and freedom of navigation and overflight, and oppose any unilateral attempt to change the status quo, all of which are essential to the peace, stability and prosperity of the Indo-Pacific region and beyond," the statement noted.

The ministers underlined that the rules-based international order is anchored in international law, including the UN Charter, and the principles of sovereignty, political independence, and territorial integrity of all states.

"We are committed to cooperate to address attempts to unilaterally subvert the UN and international system, in consultation with our partners and through multilateral and international platforms. We reiterate our unwavering support for the UN Charter, including its three pillars, and our steadfast commitment to strengthening the UN and international system through a comprehensive reform agenda, including through expansion in permanent and non-permanent seats of the UN Security Council," the statement said.

"In this regard, we commit to active and constructive engagement in the Inter-Governmental Negotiations (IGN) process on Security Council Reforms with an overall objective of making the UN Security Council more effective, representative and credible," the Quad ministers noted.
Hyderabad, March 3 : The Civil Aviation Research Organisation (CARO), which is coming up at Begumpet airport here, will be ready by July 2023, Union Minister G. Kishan Reddy announced on Friday.

The minister for tourism, culture and development of the northeast said that the facility is being constructed at a cost of Rs 400 crore.

He said CARO would be a platform for advanced research in civil aviation and the facility would be equipped with the most advanced technology in Asia.

Reddy, who is a Member of Parliament from Secunderabad, described this as another gift from the Narendra Modi government for Telangana.

The minister stated that CARO will undertake research required for technical advancements in the civil aviation sector in the coming days. The facility with international standards is coming up under the auspices of the Airports Authority of India.

The organisation will be equipped with research and development facilities for air navigation, air traffic management and communications.

The facilities will include domain simulators, network emulators, surveillance labs, navigation systems, emulation and simulation labs, cyber security and threat analysis labs.

Kishan Reddy also thanked Prime Minister Narendra Modi on behalf of the people of Telangana for deciding to set up this world-class research centre at Begumpet airport in Hyderabad.
New Delhi, March 3 : An Uber auto-rickshaw driver has been arrested for sexually harassing a journalist during a ride from her residence to her friend's place in south Delhi, police said on Friday.

The accused was identified as Vinod Kumar Yadav, 24, a resident of Noida's Sector 123 and native of Bihar's Madhubani.

The incident occurred on Wednesday and the journalist also shared the video of the incident on social media.

According to police, on March 2, at about 11.00 pm,, the journalist, a resident of Bharat Nagar, approached New Friends Colony police station and filed a complaint against a TSR (auto-rickshaw) driver.

"She levelled allegations of indecent behaviour as well as lascivious staring by him, while she was travelling from New Friends Colony to Malviya Nagar on March 1 about 4.40 p.m.. Accordingly, a case under relevant sections of IPC was registered and investigation taken up," said a senior police official.

"The ownership of the auto-rickshaw was procured which was found in the name of Mohd Yunus Khan, a resident of Nehru Camp, Govindpuri. Yunus was questioned and it came to light that the TSR was already purchased by Vinod," said the official.

"Meanwhile technical surveillance was also applied and Vinod was detained and interrogated and he was confirmed to be the alleged and hence arrested. All legal formalities including statement under section 164 Code of Criminal Procedure was completed," said the official, adding that further investigation is in progress.

Earlier, Delhi Commission for Women (DCW) Chairperson Swati Maliwal has also issued notice to Uber India and Delhi Police over the incident.

"Notice has been issued to Uber India and Delhi Police over the unfortunate incident of molestation of a female journalist in an Uber Auto in Delhi," Maliwal tweeted.

Narrating her ordeal on Twitter, the woman journalist said that when she boarded an auto-rickshaw from her residence in New Friends Colony to Malviya Nagar to visit her friend, the driver, identified as Vinod Kumar, started staring at her inappropriately through the side mirrors of the auto, "precisely at her breasts".

"I took an auto from my home to a friend's place. After a while, I noticed that the driver was looking at me through the side mirrors of the auto, precisely at my breasts. I shifted a bit towards the right and wasn't visible in the left side mirror," she said.

"He then started looking into the right side of the mirror. I then shifted to the extreme left and wasn't visible in any of the mirrors. He then started looking back again and again to see me. I first tried using the safety feature of @uber, but to no avail".

"The first time I dialled the number, the audio wasn't clear. I then confronted him and said that I would raise a complaint. I even asked him to focus on driving. To this, he said, "kardo" (do it) and I then redialed the number but couldn't hear the audio due to poor network".
Jaipur, March 3 : The Rajasthan government's decision to impose prohibitory orders under Section 144 on the CrPC in Barmer on Holi was questioned by the opposition BJP in the Assembly.

Deputy Leader of Opposition Rajendra Rathore said that they cannot even celebrate Holi now.

Raising the issue in the Assembly, he said that the Barmer Collector has imposed Section 144 on Holi festival. "The festival of Holi is a festival of gaiety. How will people celebrate Holi amid Section 144 on Holi? Imposing section 144 on Holi is a stigma on the government," he said.

The order issued by the Barmer Collector says that prohibitory orders have been issued in the district to maintain law and order and communal harmony in the district.

Meanwhile, Chief Minister's OSD Lokesh Sharma hit back at the BJP on Twitter, citing the same measure being taken in Uttar Pradesh's Noida and Lucknow as well.

Sharing the news clippings of these two developements in UP, he tweeted: "Holi is a festival of colors, abir, gulal and gaiety and harmony... You are requested, please do not create a negative atmosphere in Rajasthan.

"Section 144 on festivals is applicable even in BJP ruled states, see that too..!"

Latest updates on Holi Festival 2023
New Delhi, March 3 : Defence Minister Rajnath Singh on Friday held a telephonic conversation with his Israeli counterpart Yoav Gallant, the first between the two senior leaders.

After congratulating Gallant on his appointment as the Defence Minister of Israel, Singh underlined the Government of India's priority for indigenisation and domestic manufacturing of defence equipment under the 'Aatmanirbhar Bharat' initiative, according to the Defence Ministry.

Singh acknowledged the cooperation of Israeli industries towards nurturing a vibrant and world-class defence manufacturing ecosystem in India, and invited Israeli industries to deepen their investments in joint ventures with Indian companies with an aim to identify areas for collaboration, particularly in niche technologies.

He also expressed pleasure at the signing of some important MoUs between Indian and Israeli companies during the recently-concluded Aero India 2023.

The Defence Minister of Israel highlighted the positive role played by India in the region and conveyed his government's keen interest in enhancing the strategic partnership between the two countries.

Both ministers affirmed their commitment to further deepen bilateral defence relationship under the framework of 'Vision Statement' adopted last year, a Defence Ministry official said.

Last month, Singh had held a telephonic conversation with UK Secretary of State for Defence, Ben Wallace. According to the Defence Ministry, the conversation was cordial, positive and focused on future growth of the bilateral defence relationship.
New Delhi, March 3 : A high-level Canadian delegation led by Scott Moe, premier of the Canadian province of Saskatchewan, on Friday called on Union Minister of State (Independent Charge) Science and Technology Jitendra Singh.

During the meeting, a discussion was held on co-operation and joint ventures in areas like electric vehicles, quantum technologies, green hydrogen fuel, deep ocean mining, among others.

Singh said that the 23 lakh-strong Indian diaspora was reinforcing Indo-Canadian relations, and contributing to the development of both nations.

Welcoming the delegation, the Minister said: "India has one of the largest diaspora anywhere in the world at 2.3 million in Canada, and they have achieved success in all walks of life." "The diaspora which contributes positively to both countries, would be a good bridge between the two nations, as Canada is one of the most favoured destinations for Indian students for higher education," he added.

The Minister also told the delegation that last week, on the occasion of National Science Day, the Central government announced the VAIBHAV Fellowship for the Indian diaspora to connect the Indian researchers/academicians with Indian diaspora researchers/academicians.

Singh said that India is keen to develop research collaborations with the Canadian R&D institutions.

Moe said that Canada-India relations have made great strides in recent years and have become truly multi-dimensional, spurred by a significant convergence of interests, mutual goodwill and exchange.

He said: "Science and technology cooperation is one of the strategic pillars of the bilateral relationship between the two countries. Academia, Research Institutions and Industries of both countries have strong bonding and are playing the role of catalyst in our strategic research and development partnerships."
New Delhi, March 3 : The National Investigation Agency (NIA) said on Friday that it has attached 152 bank accounts (including 124 STDRs) and one SBI mutual fund account containing a total of Rs 20,65,20,496 belonging to Santosh Construction and its different partners under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA).

The NIA said that these accounts had earlier been frozen under the provisions of Cr.PC, but they were found to be 'proceeds of terrorism' during investigation, warranting their attachment under UAPA.

"Our investigation has established that the accused, Mrityunjay Kumar Singh alias Sonu Singh, one of the partners of Santosh Construction, had a close nexus with top CPI (Maoist) cadres. He had provided funds to Maoist cadre Ravindra Ganjhu, a regional committee member of CPI (Maoist) for furtherance of Maoist activities," the NIA said.

The NIA said the attachment of over Rs 20 crore is the largest to be attached by the agency in a Left-Wing Extremism case.

These facts came to light during the investigation of a case pertaining to an attack on a PCR vehicle in Jharkhand on November 22, 2019, in which four policemen were killed, by the armed cadres of CPI (Maoist) led by Ravindra Ganjhu.

The NIA took over the investigation in June 2020.

"A day before the incident at Beerjangha forest, Mrityunjay Kumar Singh had met Ravindra Ganjhu and gave him Rs 2 lakh, which was used for preparation and execution of the above-mentioned attack. In October 2020, the NIA had seized over Rs 2.5 lakh from Mrityunjay's house, which was also found to be proceeds of terrorism," the NIA said.

The NIA has learnt that Mrityunjay continued to fund CPI (Maoist) activities even after the 2019 incident. He gave Rs 5 lakh to the couriers of Ravindra Ganjhu, namely Baijnath Ganjhu, Rajesh Ganjhu and Kunwar Ganjhu, in January 2020.

The couriers were intercepted with this money and a case was registered at the Chandwa police station in Jharkhand.

"Digging into their deep pockets, Santosh Construction initially moved the Ranchi High Court by way of a writ petition for unfreezing the six major bank accounts. The court had dismissed their plea in August 2022. The accused had also filed an SLP before the Supreme Court, which was also dismissed on January 3," the NIA said.
New Delhi, March 3 : The Supreme Court on Friday granted protection from arrest to the Vice Chancellor and the Director of a private agriculture university at UP's Prayagraj in connection with a mass religious conversion case.

Senior lawyer Siddharth Dave, representing the officials of the deemed university, submitted before a bench headed by Chief Justice of India D.Y. Chandrachud that his clients were facing the imminent danger of getting arrested in the case, though they were not named accused in the FIR.

The allegations are that close to 100 Hindus were asked to assemble at the Evangelical Church of India at Hariharganj in Fatehpur for the purpose of converting them to Christianity.

Earlier in the day, Dave had mentioned the case and sought urgent hearing in the matter. He submitted that Allahabad High Court has refused to grant them the relief of bail in the case to VC Rajendra Bihari Lal and Director Vinod Bihari Lal of Sam Higginbottom University of Agriculture, Technology and Sciences, formerly the Allahabad Agricultural Institute. The institute is a government-aided agricultural university at Prayagraj.

The bench, also comprising Justices P S Narasimha and J B Pardiwala, heard the plea around 4 p.m. and granted the relief to the petitioners. Dave cited that police have raided the university and non-bailable warrants have been issued.

He further submitted that his client is the VC and the second one is director and added that in Fatehpur, some FIR is lodged that some religious conversion is going on. "I am in Allahabad. I am not even named in the FIR," he said, adding that they have been asked to join the investigation after eight months of lodging the FIR.

The top court also sought response of the Uttar Pradesh government in the case. "Pending further orders, there shall be a stay on the arrest of the petitioners," the bench ordered.

The FIR was lodged in April last year.
New Delhi, March 3 : On the third day of the week-long celebrations of Jan Aushadhi week, Union Health Minister Mansukh Mandaviya and Railway Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw flagged off a Jan Aushadhi Train (Chhattisgarh Samparkranti Express) from the Hazrat Nizamuddin Railway Station here on Friday.

The train has been wrapped with the branding of the Jan Aushadhi scheme to spread awareness about Jan Aushadhi Generic medicines, which are available through more than 9,000 Kendras at affordable prices.

This train will travel to more than four states for two months.

Also, a similar train from Pune to Danapur has been flagged off, covering four states for two months to generate awareness among the general public about the Jan Aushadhi scheme.

The third day of Jan Aushadhi Diwas 2023 was observed as 'Jan Aushadhi - Ek Kadam Matri Shakti Ki Ore' across the country.

Mandaviya said: "Over 9,000 Jan Aushadhi Kendras are working to ensure that people would get quality medicines at affordable prices and these Kendras are gaining popularity amongst public. He said that the Railways is also carrying a special campaign for the publicity of the affordable generic medicines which in turn will create awareness among the public and will also save their money.

"Railway Ministry has decided to open Jan Aushadhi kendras at some big railway stations. This will prove beneficial for the commuters as they can buy medicines from these kendras at stations and they don't need to go anywhere," he added.

The Department of Pharmaceuticals has planned various events in different cities starting from March 1-7, which will focus on awareness about the Jan Aushadhi Scheme.

Seminars, participation of children, women and NGOs, heritage walks, health camps and many other activities engaging Pradhan Mantri Bhartiya Janaushadhi Kendras' owners, beneficiaries at different locations across the country.
Kolkata, March 3 : The Border Security Force (BSF) personnel on Friday apprehended two cross-border smugglers and seized 2.56 kg gold biscuits valued at Rs 1.5 crore from them.

The smugglers were nabbed at the Haridaspur-Jayantipur border at Bongaon sub-division in North 24 Parganas district of West Bengal.

A source said that the patrolling team of the BSF tracked the two arrested individuals whose movements looked suspicious.

When the patrolling team questioned them about their whereabouts, they gave "irrelevant and inconsistent answers", and suddenly tried to escape.

However, the BSF personnel quickly nabbed them.

The arrested persons have been identified as Zahir Hossain Mollah and Giasuddin Mondal. Both are residents of North 24 Parganas district.

During questioning, they admitted that they crossed the border to Bangladesh to get the gold biscuits from one Karim Mondal -- a resident of Jessore district there.

They were supposed to smuggle those gold biscuits from Bangladesh to India and hand them over to one Raju Biswas, who is also a resident of North 24 Parganas district.

The arrested duo were supposed to get Rs 20,000 each for carrying out the assignment.
Dhaka, March 3 : Hundreds of members Islamist organisations carried out arson attacks on homes and vandalised shops during protests against an event announced by the Ahmadiyya community in Panchagarh district in northern Bangladesh.

The agitators blocked the Dhaka-Panchagarh highway and attacked Ahmadiya people as well as the police. Several people, including three policemen, were injured in the attacks.

The police had beefed up security in the area in the wake of the protest call given by the agitators after the Ahmadiyya community announced a three-day 'Jalsa Salana', a religious gathering of the minority Muslim community.

Militant leaders and members of various Islamist organisations led the protest but were stopped by the police in front of the Jama Masjid along the highway at the Chowrangi junction of the district.

The militants torched a traffic police box at Dhakkamara in Panchagarh. Police and Border Guard Bangladesh vehicles were also damaged in the attacks by the Islamists.

More than 100 houses and shops belonging to the Ahmadiyya community members were torched and vandalised during the attack.

Abdul Latif Mia, chief of Panchagarh Sadar police station, told IANS that the attack began after the Islamists started throwing brickbats at the law enforcers.

As tension mounted, shop owners pulled down their shutters across the town. The militants also burnt tyres on some roads.

S.M. Sirajul Huda, Superintendent of Police in the northern district, said the law enforcers were trying their best to bring the situation under control.
New Delhi, March 3 : The Delhi Police has arrested a fraudster from Ghaziabad for allegedly duping over 50 people in the last eight months on the pretext of providing jobs in a reputed company, said an official on Friday.

The arrested individual, identified as Sachin Dhaka (31), also used to charge the victims in the name of verification, security deposits etc., and even issued fake job offer letters.

According to police, on February 27, a complaint was received from the general manager of an Agro Company in NSP Complex, Subhash Place, wherein he alleged that recently many victims approached their company, and told that they were cheated on the pretext of providing jobs in the company.

In the complaint, it was alleged that Sachin Dhaka impersonated director of the company, and contacted innocent job seekers online to provide them jobs.

"He also used to take online interviews of job seekers to provide different kinds of jobs. He also took money from victims for various reasons i.e., verification charges, file processing fees, security deposits etc. and sent fake offer letters to the victims. The complainant also provided details of some such victims who reported to their company," said Jitendra Kumar Meena, Deputy Commissioner of Police.

During the investigation, a money trail was established in the case and, on the basis of technical details, Sachin was nabbed from Ghaziabad on Friday.

On questioning, Sachin told the investigators that he used to get details of job seekers from social media. He then used to contact them, impersonating himself as director at a reputed company.

"He also used to take online interviews of job seekers and also used to give them offer letters online for jobs at the company. During this process, he used to take money from victims for various reasons i.e. verification charges, file processing fees, security deposits etc. He has cheated many innocent people by promising to provide different types of jobs," said the DCP.
New Delhi, March 3 : The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) has filed a fresh FIR against an Assam-based private firm -- Seba Real Estate Limited -- and its directors who allegedly collected money through their agents from common people on the pretext of selling them policies, but cheated them by not giving them the matured amount.

An FIR was lodged in the matter on February 25, 2013 in Tripura, where the firm had its branch. The CBI has now taken over the probe into the matter.

According to sources, Seba had reportedly raised Rs 25.34 crore from 41,298 investors between 2006 and 2011. Capital markets regulator Sebi had in 2016 ordered Seba to return the amount to the investors with an interest of 15 per cent per annum.

As many as 17 complainants had approached a local Tripura court, which ordered the filing of an FIR with Tripura police against the firm and its directors.

The 17 complainants were working as agents of the firm. They stated in their complaint that they were engaged and appointed by the accused persons (board of directors of the firm) to work as agents in the firm.

"The agents of Seba Real Estate Limited deposited a total amount of Rs 9,06,332 with the firm's branch in Tripura. This amount was collected from a number of persons in the name of selling them different policies. But no one was given a single penny by the firm even after the completion of the said period. The policy holders contacted the accused persons a number of times but they refused to pay the matured amount and locked up the branch of the firm. The board of directors also threatened the policy holders of dire consequences if they dared to take any legal action against them," read the complaint of agents who were working for the firm.

The agents of the firm, who later turned complainants, also learnt that the board of directors of the firm had been planning to flee abroad, either to Nepal or China, with the money collected from the policy holders.
Dhaka, March 3 : Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina's "zero tolerance" policy towards terrorism continues to contribute to maintaining peace and stability in the region, Bangladesh Foreign Minister A.K. Abdul Momen said on Friday.

Addressing the G20 Foreign Ministers' Meeting (G20FMM) in New Delhi, he also briefed his counterparts about Bangladesh's remarkable progress in the socio-economic sphere under the dynamic leadership of Sheikh Hasina.

The G20 Foreign Ministers' Meeting was held in New Delhi under India's presidency with the theme of - "One Earth, One Family, One Future".

Abdul Momen also met his Indian counterpart Dr. S. Jaishankar and congratulated him on the successful completion of the G20 Foreign Ministers' Meeting.

Regarding bilateral relations, both Momen and Jaishankar expressed satisfaction at the existing relations between the two countries and discussed various issues of bilateral interest.

The visiting Bangladesh Foreign Minister also held bilateral meetings with his counterparts from Brazil, Mexico, Slovenia, and Sweden. During the meetings, they discussed issues of mutual interest to further deepening bilateral cooperation and exchanged views on the ongoing geopolitical issues and enhancing multilateral cooperation, including in the UN.
Bhopal, March 4 : President Draupadi Murmu said that understanding the cause of suffering of humanity and showing the way to remove that suffering is the specialty of humanism of the past, which has become more important in today's era.

Murmu made this statement while addressing the gathering, including foreign delegates on the inaugural day of the seventh International Dharma-Dhamma Conference organised in Madhya Pradesh's state capital Bhopal on Friday.

She asserted that the concept of 'Dharma-Dhamma' has been the basic voice of Indian consciousness.

"It is said in our tradition that the one who holds everyone, is religion. The entire humanity rests on the foundation stone of religion," Murmu said, adding that development of individual and society with the spirit of friendship, compassion and non-violence etc. has been the main message of humanism of the East.

Murmu also said that personal conduct and social order based on morality is the practical form of earlier humanism. It has been considered the duty of every person to preserve and strengthen this system based on morality.

"Prayer has been a part of our life. This is the essence of humanism of the past and also the biggest need of today's era," she added.

Murmu wished that the entire world community should be benefitted by the humanism of the East.

Meanwhile, she congratulated the Madhya Pradesh government and India Foundation for organising the 'Dharma-Dhamma' conference.

"In India, religion has occupied a central place in the social system and political activities since ancient times. The deep impact of 'Dharma-Dhamma' is clearly visible on the democratic system we adopted after independence. This is clearly reflected in our national symbols. Representatives from various countries are participating in the International Dharma-Dhamma Conference, which symbolises the global appeal of the idea of Dharma-Dhamma," Murmu said while addressing the inaugural session of the event.

The three-day conference under the theme 'Eastern Humanism for the New Era' began on Friday at Bhopal's Kushabhau Thakre auditorium in a bid to bring together religious, political and thought leaders from Dharma-Dhamma traditions to ponder over building a philosophical framework for the emerging new world order.
Cairo, March 4 : The Egyptian Foreign Ministry has condemned an Israeli Minister's call for wiping out the Palestinian village of Hawara in the northern West Bank.

Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, also the leader of the Religious Zionist Party, said on Wednesday that the village of Hawara, south of the West Bank city of Nablus, "needs to be erased." He made the remarks after two Israeli brothers were shot dead by Palestinians in Hawara on Sunday, prompting attacks from Israeli settlers against Palestinians in the village that caused at least one death and numerous injuries, Xinhua news agency reported.

"Such remarks constitute an unacceptable and serious incitement for violence," the Egyptian Foreign Ministry said in a statement on Friday, lambasting Smotrich for "irresponsible comments that contradict laws, norms and moral values".

The Ministry statement called for an immediate end to provocative actions against the Palestinian people and the resumption of the peace process on the basis of the two-state solution.

Smotrich's comments were harshly condemned by the US State Department Spokesperson Ned Price on Wednesday, who described his remarks as "repugnant" and "irresponsible," according to a CNN report.
It has been a pleasure to work with some of the brightest minds in consulting as we have collectively grown the firm, says Eric Neef, CEO of evolv Consulting. The amazing work of the evolv Team Members and our clients has enabled our growth and afforded us this wonderful recognition."

Inc. magazine today revealed that evolv Consulting is No. 26 on its fourth annual Inc. 5000 Regionals Southwest list, the most prestigious ranking of the fastest-growing private companies based in Arizona, New Mexico, Oklahoma, and Texas. Born of the annual Inc. 5000 franchise, this regional list represents a unique look at the most successful companies within the Southwest economys most dynamic segmentits independent small businesses.

It has been a pleasure to work with some of the brightest minds in consulting as we have collectively grown the firm, says Eric Neef, CEO of evolv Consulting. The amazing work of the evolv Team Members and our clients has enabled our growth and afforded us this wonderful recognition. Were looking forward to continued success in the Southwest and beyond!

The companies on this list show a remarkable rate of growth across all industries in the Southwest region. Between 2019 and 2021, these 165 private companies had an average growth rate of 557 percent and, in 2021 alone, they added 16,116 jobs and nearly $5.5 billion to the Southwest regions economy. Companies based in the Austin, Texas, Scottsdale, Arizona, and Fort Worth, Texas, areas had the highest growth rates overall. Complete results of the Inc. 5000 Regionals Southwest, including company profiles and an interactive database that can be sorted by industry, metro area, and other criteria, can be found at inc.com/southwest starting February 28, 2023.This years Inc. 5000 Regional winners represent one of the most exceptional and exciting lists of Americas off-the-charts growth companies. Theyre disrupters and job creators, and all delivered an outsize impact on the economy. Remember their names and follow their lead. These are the companies youll be hearing about for years to come, says Scott Omelianuk, editor-in-chief of Inc. magazine.

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evolv Consulting, headquartered in Dallas, TX, is a firm specializing in bringing innovative technology solutions, expertise, and fresh perspectives to their clients emerging and traditional business challenges. To learn more about evolv Consultings services and expertise visit evolvconsulting.com.

Contact: Mackenzie Terry, Director of Strategic Growth and Partnerships, evolv Consulting; mackenzie.terry@evolvconsulting.com

More about Inc. and the Inc. 5000 Regionals

Methodology

The 2023 Inc. 5000 Regionals are ranked according to percentage revenue growth when comparing 2019 and 2021. To qualify, companies must have been founded and generating revenue by March 31, 2019. They had to be U.S.-based, privately held, for-profit, and independentnot subsidiaries or divisions of other companiesas of December 31, 2021. (Since then, a number of companies on the list have gone public or been acquired.) The minimum revenue required for 2019 is $100,000; the minimum for 2021 is $1 million. As always, Inc. reserves the right to decline applicants for subjective reasons.

About Inc. Media

The worlds most trusted business-media brand, Inc. offers entrepreneurs the knowledge, tools, connections, and community to build great companies. Its award-winning multiplatform content reaches more than 50 million people each month across a variety of channels including websites, newsletters, social media, podcasts, and print. Its prestigious Inc. 5000 list, produced every year since 1982, analyzes company data to recognize the fastest-growing privately held businesses in the United States. The global recognition that comes with inclusion in the 5000 gives the founders of the best businesses an opportunity to engage with an exclusive community of their peers and the credibility that helps them drive sales and recruit talent.

The associated Inc. 5000 Conference is part of a highly acclaimed portfolio of bespoke events produced by Inc. For more information, visit http://www.inc.com.
ArtClass Founders: Vincent Peone, Geno Imbriale, Vinnie Imbriale ArtClass has always emphasized the importance of running a multi-disciplinary model that meets the needs of each job fairly and consistently. By sticking to this strategy, we have experienced a two-year revenue growth of over 150% and continue to build our dynamic roster of talent and staff."

Inc. Magazine revealed that next-gen live action and post production studio ArtClass is included on its third annual Inc. 5000 Regionals: Pacific list, the most prestigious ranking of the fastest-growing Pacific private companies, based in Alaska, Hawaii, California, Oregon, and Washington. Born of the annual Inc. 5000 franchise, this regional list represents a unique look at the most successful private companies within the Pacific economy generating sustainable growth and jobs.

ArtClass has always emphasized the importance of running a multi-disciplinary model that meets the needs of each unique job fairly and consistently. By sticking to this strategy, we have experienced a two-year revenue growth of over 150% and continue to build our dynamic roster of talent and staff. We are thrilled to be included in Inc. Magazines Regional List and look forward to continued success. notes Geno Imbriale, Vinnie Imbriale and Vincent Peone, founders of ArtClass.

Complete results of the Inc. 5000 Regionals: Pacific, including company profiles and an interactive database that can be sorted by industry, metro area, and other criteria, can be found at inc.com/pacific

This years Inc. 5000 Regional winners represent one of the most exceptional and exciting lists of Americas off-the-charts growth companies. Theyre disruptors and job creators, and all delivered an outsize impact on the economy. Remember their names and follow their lead. These are the companies youll be hearing about for years to come, said Scott Omelianuk, editor-in-chief of Inc. magazine.

ArtClass is a next-gen production & post studio founded by Emmy award-winning director Vincent Peone, veteran producer Geno Imbriale and Vinnie Imbriale. As a team of directors, producers, editors, writers, and designers, ArtClass is dedicated to creating boundary-breaking work with agencies and brands. With artistry at the forefront, ArtClass delivers branded content and projects of every size & scale from traditional commercials to digital activations and long-form feature films. Recent projects include the first commercial to fuse live action with AI visual effects for GoFundMe x AKQA, the viral spot for Peloton x Maximum Effort starring Chris Meloni, ESPN x Creed III featuring Michael B. Jordan and the 2022 Super Bowl LVI Commercial for Carvana.
TCD has grown very quickly as a guide to help people find climate-friendly solutions that are right for them and their families. We look forward to helping tens of millions of Americans take positive climate actions" stated Dave Finocchio, co-founder and CEO.

The Cool Down has been named to Fast Companys prestigious annual list of the Worlds Most Innovative Companies for 2023.This years list highlights the businesses at the forefront of their respective industries, paving the way for the innovations of tomorrow. These companies are setting the standard with some of the greatest accomplishments of the modern world. In addition to the Worlds 50 Most Innovative Companies, 540 organizations are recognized across 54 sectors and regions.

With broader awareness about whats happening to our communities and planet, most Americans want to find ways to pollute less, and where possible, pick up cost savings and health benefits along the way, stated Dave Finocchio, CEO and co-founder. TCD has grown very quickly as a guide to help people find climate-friendly solutions that are right for them and their families. We appreciate this early acknowledgement from Fast Company and look forward to helping tens of millions of Americans take positive climate actions as we all transition to a cleaner and healthier future.

The Cool Down (TCD) is the first mainstream climate brand and a guide for the millions of Americans transitioning to a cleaner and healthier future.

Only eight months after their public launch in July 2022, The Cool Downs content has been viewed over 20 million times and is reaching over 5 million unique readers per month. TCD has established itself as an early leader in the space by cracking the code around mainstream climate content. By utilizing a proprietary data stack, GreenScreen, which integrates quantitative reach and engagement statistics with qualitative classifications around content type, tone, and sentiment, The Cool Down has gone beyond opinion surveys and conventional wisdom to inform its content strategy through ground-level truths about consumer behavior in the climate space: the information people actually seek, the stories they actually engage with, the choices they actually make. The Cool Down is widely distributed across the web, Instagram, and via two weekly newsletters, Here on Earth, which provides a weekly dose of brand-new innovation and good news, and Play It Cool, a guide to sustainable products and recommendations for your daily life that can make a big impact.

Fast Companys editors and writers sought out the companies making the biggest strides around the globe. They also judged nominations received through their application process. The Worlds Most Innovative Companies is Fast Companys signature franchise and one of its most highly anticipated editorial efforts of the year. It provides a firsthand look at the inspiring and innovative efforts of companies across all sectors of the economy.

What a strange and thrilling year it has been to honor this years Most Innovative Companies. This years list compiles some of the most cutting-edge groundbreakers who are changing our world every single day, from legacy organizations like McDonalds to upstarts like Mr. Beast and institutions such as NASA. Everyone on this list does something completely, uniquely different, yet, they all have one thing in common: innovation, said Fast Company editor-in-chief Brendan Vaughan. Fast Companys Most Innovative Companies issue (March/April 2023) is available online here, as well as in app form via iTunes and on newsstands beginning March 14. The hashtag is #FCMostInnovative.

ABOUT THE COOL DOWN

The Cool Down (TCD) is Americas first mainstream climate brand. Powered by content, community, and commerce, TCD encourages and empowers Americans to make transformative choices for themselves and their planet. The company was started in 2022 by Bleacher Report co-founder and longtime CEO Dave Finocchio, former Army Ranger Ryan Alberti, and former ABC / Yahoo News executive and innovator Anna Robertson, who lead a remote team located in some of America's most beautiful corners. Join the conversation at thecooldown.com.

ABOUT FAST COMPANY

Fast Company is the only media brand fully dedicated to the vital intersection of business, innovation, and design, engaging the most influential leaders, companies, and thinkers on the future of business. Headquartered in New York City, Fast Company is published by Mansueto Ventures LLC, along with our sister publication Inc., and can be found online at http://www.fastcompany.com.
Some of the Axela Construction team members at a recent project designed by owners, for owners

Inc. magazine today revealed that out of 1125 companies, Axela Construction ranks No. 82 on its third annual Inc. Regionals Northeast list, the most prestigious list of the fastest-growing private companies in the Northeast. Born of the annual Inc. 5000 franchise, this list represents an eye-opening look at the most successful companies within the Northeast economys most dynamic segment  its independent small businesses.

We are excited and honored, said Mark Shteierman, President. Axela has generated millions of dollars each year since its founding in 2002. Yet in the past two years, weve grown our revenue by 212%  a rate thats rare even for young companies starting from zero.

Shteierman, an industry veteran and father of one who calls Waterbury, Connecticut home, explains that this massive growth  $19 million of revenue in 2022 alone  resulted from an unconventional company journey.

Unlike most general contracting firms, Axela was founded by investors: real estate owners who needed more than a GC. As their construction needs grew, they wanted a GC who would serve as their strategic advisor and long-term collaborator, with an owner-focused perspective  so they built their own GC firm to do exactly that.

For years, Axela operated in a limited fashion, building only the projects of its founders. And over time, the company built a powerful foundation: a unique, owner-centric process that prioritized strict adherence to timetables, careful strategic spending, and an eye on long-term maintenance and management.

It was designed by owners, for owners, explained CEO Yitz Rabinowitz, one of Axelas founders. Rabinowitz, a busy property owner in the tristate area continues Most GCs are just not involved in end user maintenance, so they dont know the long-term effects of a given system or material. At Axela, every decision was made from an owner mindset: how will this affect tenants, management, and our investment?

In 2021, after nearly two decades of honing their process to perfection, Axela opened its services to the broader market  and the company exploded.

In a matter of months, we went from 3 employees to 20, reported President Shteierman. The demand was real. Owners want to work with other owners  people who deeply understand their unique needs, priorities, and goals.

Since the start of 2023, Axela has already accepted 12 new projects in cities like Hartford, Bridgeport & Waterbury in CT and other states including one in Burton, Michigan. The group has expanded its reach throughout Connecticut, moving into Darien and Fairfield with multiple high-profile projects  including phase 1 of The Crossings At Fairfield Metro two multifamily builds worth $26M and $14M, respectively. Over the past two years alone, Axela has completed upwards of 25 projects.

Scott Omelianuk, editor-in-chief of Inc. magazine, says the companies on this Regionals Northeast list are companies to be watched.

This years Inc. winners represent one of the most exceptional and exciting lists of Americas off-the-charts growth companies. Theyre disruptors and job creators, and all delivered an outsize impact on the economy. Remember their names and follow their lead. These are the companies youll be hearing about over the next decade  and beyond.

Shteierman, for one, is grateful for the honor  and even more grateful to the team that made it happen.

We have an exceptional team of A-players who work hard, play hard, and have a lot of fun. Our process is owner-built and proven  and we look forward to using it to help many more owners, for years to come.
Livesay & Myers, P.C. has stood the test of time and continues to grow because we do things the right way. That means always putting clients first with quality legal representation, trying to resolve matters out of court when possible and being prepared and zealous in the courtroom when necessary.

Livesay & Myers, P.C. proudly announces that it has reached a new milestone: 20 years in business.

"Livesay & Myers, P.C. has stood the test of time and continues to grow because we do things the right way, said partner Matthew Smith. That means always putting clients first with quality legal representation, trying to resolve matters out of court when possible and being prepared and zealous in the courtroom when necessary."

Livesay & Myers, P.C. opened its doors for business on March 3rd, 2003. James Livesay and Kevin Myers were its founding partners. The firms first office was in Woodbridge, Virginia. Mr. Myers practiced personal injury law, while Mr. Livesay practiced family law.

The firm quickly began growing, adding associates and expanding into new office locations. By 2016, the firm had made the annual Virginia Lawyers Weekly list of Virginias Largest Law Firms, debuting at #64. By 2022, the firm had moved up to #46 on that list, and numbered 25 attorneys by the end of the year. The firm now has five office locations across Northern Virginia: Fairfax, Ashburn, Manassas, Arlington and Fredericksburg.

Livesay & Myers, P.C. now practices exclusively family law, and is one of the largest, if not the largest family-law-only firm in Virginia.

As the firm grew, it became known for providing quality legal services to residents of Northern Virginia. Its team of attorneys built a long track record of outstanding performance, both inside the courtroom and at the negotiating table. This was reflected in their large number of 5-star client reviews and recognition by various legal organizations.

Many of the firms attorneys have been named Super Lawyers, and several of them have received the prestigious AV Preeminent rating (the highest possible rating) for ethical standards and legal ability from Martindale-Hubbell. A large number of the firms attorneys have also received perfect 10.0 ratings from Justia and/or Avvo.

By 2018, the firm had made the U.S. News - Best Lawyers listing of Best Law Firms. It has appeared now in five consecutive editions (20182023). By the 2022 Edition, the firm had moved into Tier 1the highest ranking availablein Family Law for the Washington, D.C. region. Several attorneys at the firm have also received individual recognition by Best Lawyers.

The firm is now led by four partners: founding partners James Livesay and Kevin Myers, along with junior partners Matthew Smith and Ariel Baniowski. Mr. Smith joined Livesay & Myers, P.C. as an associate attorney in 2010, and was promoted to the position of junior partner in 2016. Ms. Baniowski joined the firm as an associate in 2013, and was promoted to the position of junior partner in 2022.

"Matt and Ariel have been outstanding additions to the partner ranks, said partner Kevin Myers. They bring a valued perspective as two exceptional individuals that rose through the ranks at the firm. They are both outstanding attorneys in their own right with different skill sets but more importantly, they are even better people that will serve the firm, the people we employ, and our clients well for years to come."

I am honored to be a part of this firm, said partner Ariel Baniowski. I am proud of our team and what they have accomplished. Our continued excellence in the field of family law is exceptional, and I look forward to many more years with this team, and serving our communities the best way we can.

Over the past few years, the firm has created a new leadership role: that of lead senior associate. These attorneys, now numbering six, have distinguished themselves in practice, professionalism and service to the firm, and are the next generation of potential leaders at Livesay & Myers, P.C.

In addition to its team of attorneys, Livesay & Myers, P.C. has assembled a large, diverse and talented team of support staff, including firm management, paralegals, receptionists and other professionals across its five offices. Between attorneys and staff, the firm now numbers well over 50 individuals.

"It's truly about everyone that we employ, said Mr. Myers. The success of the firm would not have been possible without them. It's their hard work, teamwork, compassion, and honesty that have propelled Livesay & Myers, P.C. to reach 20 years of successful legal service. We've been truly blessed to employ so many wonderful professionals through the years."

Looking at how far weve come in these 20 years, Kevin and I are tremendously grateful for all the hard work of our outstanding attorneys and staff, said partner James Livesay. But with the team we have assembled, the most exciting thing is looking ahead at where were going next. I for one cant wait to see it.

About Livesay & Myers, P.C.

Founded in 2003, Livesay & Myers, P.C. is an award-winning law firm with offices in Fairfax, Ashburn, Manassas, Arlington and Fredericksburg, Virginia. Attorneys at the firm practice exclusively family law, including separation, divorce, adoption, custody, visitation and support cases. Learn more at https://www.livesaymyers.com/.
Its an honor to be included in such an impressive group. Im looking forward to contributing my insights in cyber risk management. While cybersecurity is often discussed in technical terms, Im keen to expand that to include the perspective of the board and senior officers, said Walker.

Brian Walker, CEO of The CAP Group, a cybersecurity advisory firm serving boards of directors, has been accepted into Forbes Technology Council, an invitation-only community for world-class CIOs, CTOs, and technology executives.

Brian was vetted and selected by a review committee based on the depth and diversity of his experience. Criteria for acceptance include a track record of successfully impacting business growth metrics, as well as personal and professional achievements and honors.

We are honored to welcome Brian into the community, said Scott Gerber, founder of Forbes Councils, the collective that includes Forbes Technology Council. Our mission with Forbes Councils is to bring together proven leaders from every industry, creating a curated, social capital-driven network that helps every member grow professionally and make an even greater impact on the business world.

As an accepted member of the Council, Brian has access to a variety of exclusive opportunities designed to help him reach peak professional influence. He will connect and collaborate with other respected local leaders in a private forum. Brian will also be invited to work with a professional editorial team to share his expert insights in original business articles on Forbes.com, and to contribute to published Q&A panels alongside other experts.

Finally, Brian will benefit from exclusive access to vetted business service partners, membership-branded marketing collateral, and the high-touch support of the Forbes Councils member concierge team.

Its an honor to be included in such an impressive group. Im looking forward to contributing my insights and expertise in cyber risk management. While cybersecurity is often discussed in technical terms, Im keen to expand that conversation to include the perspective of the board and senior officers, said Walker.

ABOUT FORBES COUNCILS

Forbes Councils is a collective of invitation-only communities created in partnership with Forbes and the expert community builders who founded Young Entrepreneur Council (YEC). In Forbes Councils, exceptional business owners and leaders come together with the people and resources that can help them thrive.

For more information about Forbes Technology Council, visit forbestechcouncil.com.

To learn more about Forbes Councils, visit forbescouncils.com

ABOUT THE CAP GROUP

The CAP Group is a senior advisory firm providing cyber risk insights to board directors and senior officers. Founded in 2017 and headquartered in Dallas, the firm supports clients ranging from the Fortune 500 to regional G2000.

For more information about The CAP Group, visit http://www.thecap.group.
Adapt2 Solutions, a trusted provider of leading technology for multi-market power operations and trading software, today announced that Clean Power Alliance (CPA), the fourth largest electricity provider in California, selected Adapt2 to provide a software settlements product and energy data repository for California ISO (CAISO) operations. Selecting Adapt2will allow CPA to utilize Adapt2s a back-office Bid-to-Bill (B2B) solution, coupled with Adapt2s Trade-to-Tag (T2T) Tag Viewer to automate data retrieval, shadow and reconcile energy settlements, view energy tagging data, and have greater insights into the operational data required for Community Choice Aggregators (CCAs) to report and analyze ISO data.

CPA was in need of a solution to serve as a system of truth and tracking for our CAISO settlements. said Cody Walding, Settlements Manager at Clean Power Alliance. Adapt2 has one of the leading ISO settlement solutions and a proven track record of success with other Community Choice Aggregators. They became the clear choice due to the functionality, friendly user-interface, and robust reporting options.

CPA will utilize Adapt2s flagship Bid-to-Bill (Adapt2 B2B) solution as a repository for bill determinants, CAISO settlements, and CAISO invoicing. The ability to take settlement data and utilize granular reporting for interval data and charge codes will help CPA more strategically analyze the data for invoicing and reconciliation, while staying ahead of CAISO charge code market changes. Coupling this with Adapt2 Trade-to-Tag (Adapt2 T2T)s Tag Viewer enables access to data required for managing sustainable energy assets and reporting on Greenhouse Gas (GHG) Emissions.

Clean Power Alliance, along with other CCAs are leading the clean electricity movement in Southern California said Adapt2 Solutions Executive Vice President, Jason Kram. We are looking forward to working with the team at CPA as they continue to innovate and expand to deliver clean energy products to the residents of California.

To learn more about how Adapt2 is accelerating cross border and international power and gas market operations, visit adapt2solutions.com/ or follow Adapt2 on Linkedin (@Adapt2 Solutions) for more information on upcoming energy market operations and management webinars.

About Adapt2 Solutions:

Adapt2 Solutions(Adapt2) is the leading provider of AI enabled multi-market operations software designed to help market participants streamline all of their front and back office operations. Founded in 2008, Adapt2 delivers market-based solutions on the latest and most current technologies providing customers with fast, intuitive and stable user experience and performance. With over 190 market implementations representing over 3000 market participants, Adapt2 is a leading solution provider in the energy industry. Adapt2 Solutions is a privately held company based in Houston, Texas. To learn more about Adapt2, please visit http://www.adapt2.com

About Clean Power Alliance (CPA)

Founded in 2017, Clean Power Alliance is the locally operated not-for-profit electricity provider for 30 cities across Los Angeles County and Ventura County, as well as the unincorporated areas of both counties. CPA is the fourth largest electricity provider in California and has the most customers receiving 100% renewable energy in the nation. CPA serves approximately three million people via one million customer accounts, providing clean renewable energy at competitive rates.
Amid a tight labor market, intense competition for talent, and tremendous investments flowing into climatetech, energy companies need to know everything they can about how to compete for the best employees, says ALLY CEO Katie Mehnert. This report provides new and important insights.

Building a diverse, inclusive workforce to power the energy transition is one of the most important tasks the world faces. Bringing together people of different backgrounds, skills and perspectives is a necessity for innovation and creativity in building a lower carbon, more sustainable future. When industry leaders in Houston attend ALLY Energys 5th Annual Energy Workforce of the Future Summit on March 6, theyll see the results of a new global study showing what it takes to achieve that task.

The 2023 Energy Transition Outlook from NES Fircroft surveyed more than 11,000 people across the sector, from oil and gas to renewables. Packed with detailed analysis, the report shows what it takes to attract and retain highly skilled employees.

Amid a tight labor market, intense competition for talent, and tremendous investments flowing into climatetech, energy companies need to know everything they can about how to compete for the best employees, says ALLY Chief Executive Officer Katie Mehnert. This report provides new and important insights.

The study features a message from Mehnert: We need to understand the workforce now, and how it is changing rapidly. We need to know what makes people satisfied or dissatisfied in different parts of the sector; what theyre looking for; what their challenges are; and what will help attract and retain new recruits.

Were delighted to profile our 2nd Energy Transition Report at ALLYs event, says Vicki Codd, group marketing director at NES Fircroft. As the energy sector transforms into a decarbonised, digitalised industry, it is crucial that we ensure the talent pools are available and that we have the right balance of skills and experience to deliver the projects of the future. With this report, we hope to offer energy employers unique insight into the current temperature of the talent landscape and how they can attract, retain and develop the expertise they need.

The report adds to other studies providing energy leaders important data, such as the U.S. Energy & Employment Jobs Report from the U.S. Department of Energy.

The Energy Workforce of the Future Summit will be held March 6 from 8 a.m. to 2 p.m. CST at the historic Petroleum Club of Houston and online. That evening, the Cleantech Leaders Roundtable will take place at the same location (in person only) from 6 p.m. to 9 p.m. CST.

Mehnert will discuss ALLYs Energy Workforce of the Future roadmap, the result of work by 80 companies, affinity groups, startups and schools, providing guidance on four critical areas: attraction, retention, culture and community.

Other speakers include:



Dr. Vanessa Chan, Chief Commercialization Officer, Director of the Office of Technology Transitions at the U.S. Department of Energy

Christine Todd Whitman, co-chair of the Forward Party and former EPA administrator

Paula Glover, CEO of Alliance to Save Energy and board member of Talos Energy

Kevin Taylor, CEO of Greentown Labs

Dr. Jennifer Holmgren, CEO of LanzaTech

Limited tickets are on sale. To register, visit:



ALLY Energy Workforce of the Future Summit: Register

Cleantech Leaders Roundtable Evening Event: Register

The 2023 Energy Transition Outlook can be found here.

About ALLY Energy

ALLY Energy is an online workforce development platform for professionals seeking work in the global energy industry. Dozens of companies have joined the ALLY Community. It has been named a 2023 Outstanding Diverse Organization by the Houston Business Journal. CEO and founder Katie Mehnert is also an ambassador for the U.S. Department of Energys Equity in Energy Initiative and a representative for the National Petroleum Council. A former executive in Big Oil, she started ALLY in 2014 and has bootstrapped the company to record growth. For more information, visit allyenergy.com.


Law Office of Blumenthal Nordrehaug Bhowmik De Blouw LLP For more information about the class action lawsuit against Floor And Decor Outlets of America, Inc., call (800) 568-8020 to speak to an experienced California employment attorney today.

The San Diego employment law attorneys, at Blumenthal Nordrehaug Bhowmik De Blouw LLP, filed a class action complaint alleging that Floor And Decor Outlets of America, Inc. violated the California Labor Code. The Floor And Decor Outlets of America, Inc. class action lawsuit, Case No. 37-2023-00005276-CU-OE-CTL, is currently pending in the San Diego County Superior Court of the State of California. A copy of the Complaint can be read here.

According to the lawsuit filed, Defendant's policy allegedly restricted employees from unconstrained walks. The applicable California Wage Order requires employers to provide employees with off-duty rest periods, which the California Supreme Court defined as time during which an employee is relieved from all work related duties and free from employer control. Employers cannot impose controls that prohibit an employee from taking a brief walk - five minutes out, five minutes back.

Additionally, Floor And Decor Outlets of America, Inc. allegedly failed to reimburse employees for required business expenses. California Labor Code  2802 expressly states that "an employer shall indemnify his or her employee for all necessary expenditures or losses incurred by the employee in direct consequence of the discharge of his or her duties..." During employment, Plaintiff and other California Class Members were allegedly required to use their personal cellular phones as a result of and in furtherance of their job duties.

For more information about the class action lawsuit against Floor And Decor Outlets of America, Inc., call (800) 568-8020 to speak to an experienced California employment attorney today.

Blumenthal Nordrehaug Bhowmik De Blouw LLP is an employment law firm with offices located in San Diego, San Francisco, Sacramento, Los Angeles, Riverside and Chicago that dedicates its practice to helping employees, investors and consumers fight back against unfair business practices, including violations of the California Labor Code and Fair Labor Standards Act. If you need help in collecting unpaid overtime wages, unpaid commissions, being wrongfully terminated from work, and other employment law claims, contact one of their attorneys today.

***THIS IS AN ATTORNEY ADVERTISEMENT***
Chapters Health System President and CEO Andrew Molosky Our affiliation with Hope Healthcare will provide opportunities for both not-for-profit organizations to function more efficiently in todays healthcare world. ---Andrew Molosky, president and chief executive officer for Chapters Health.

Chapters Health System and Hope Healthcare jointly announce today the signing of a final affiliation agreement. Chapters Health is one of the nations premier not-for-profit, community-based healthcare organizations headquartered in Temple Terrace. Hope Healthcare is a not-for-profit organization recognized as a leader in providing comprehensive, coordinated care in southwest Florida.

Our affiliation with Hope Healthcare will provide opportunities for both not-for-profit organizations to function more efficiently in todays healthcare world, said Andrew Molosky, MBA, FACHE, CHPCA, president and chief executive officer for Chapters Health. The ability to gain economy of scale, intellectual capital and best practice while preserving brand legacy, board governance and executive presence is our collective future.

Affiliation with Chapters Health enables us to further Hopes vital mission in an ever-evolving healthcare landscape. Through this relationship, Hope will continue its promise to provide comforting, compassionate care to everyone who needs our help for generations to come, said Samira K. Beckwith, who will transition from her role as Hope president and chief executive officer into one where she focuses on policy, advocacy and advancing industry thought leadership for Chapters Health.

This affiliation is yet another opportunity for Chapters Health to preserve, as well as enhance, the not-for-profit end-of-life model of comprehensive, community-based care. It demonstrates the strength of Chapters Healths unrivaled business model representing an elevation in not-for-profit, chronic illness care. With combined resources of all Chapters Health affiliates, healthcare services will be provided to residents in 34 Florida counties and four Georgia counties, allowing more than 72,400 lives to be touched annually.

For Chapters Health, the most exciting part about the affiliation with Hope is it represents another step in elevating home and community-based, end-of-life care. If your organization wants to learn more about securing its future, we stand ready to assist. Lets talk about what could be, added Molosky.

About Chapters Health System

As a progressive leader and premier healthcare organization, Chapters Health System is dedicated to delivering innovative care throughout chronic illness progression and beyond. Since 1983 as a community-based, not-for-profit organization, Chapters Health has provided choices, education and guidance through its managed affiliates. All offerings are provided to improve the patient/family experience well in advance of end-of-life needs. In 2023, Chapters Health was named a Top Workplaces USA award-winner; in 2022, earned certified status for information security from HITRUST and for the fifth consecutive year was recognized as a great workplace in the Aging Services category by the independent analysts at the Great Place to Work Institute. To learn more, visit http://www.chaptershealth.org, like us on Facebook or follow us on Twitter and LinkedIn.

About Hope Healthcare

As a local, not-for-profit, community-based, safety net organization, Hope Healthcare has served Glades, Hendry and Lee counties since 1979. Help is available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week for people facing issues related to serious illness. Hope Hospice is one of many programs and services provided by Hope Healthcare. For more information, visit http://www.HopeHCS.org.
Michael Miller

The Haute Design Network, well known for its exclusive and luxurious lifestyle publication Haute Living, is privileged to announce that Michael Miller, principal and founder of CI Design + Build, has renewed his commitment as member and expert in the interior design field in the Chicago market for a third year. As a Haute Design partner, CI Design + Build exclusively represents the Interior Design market of New York, NY.

Designed as a partnership-driven luxury design portal featuring two leading interior designers in each prominent market across the world, Haute Design focuses on growing its members brands as key influencers on design and deemed to be the best in their specific market.

ABOUT CI DESIGN + BUILD

With a passion for art and luxury design, in 2010 principal Michael Miller established CI Design + Build, a boutique firm specializing in turnkey solutions for high-end residential renovation.

Michaels entrepreneurial outlook, technical education, experience, and architectural & mechanical background make him the ideal leader for all aspects from Conceptual Design-to Construction Completion.

Michael created a collaborative environment and network of industry experts; craftsmen, licensed tradesmen, architects, designers, and project managers, working in harmony to produce superior results. CI Design + Build is redefining the art of building with their services including development, consulting, design-build, construction management, general contracting, interior architecture/design, furnishings, and art procurement.

Michaels love of art led him to launch an art gallery within the studio's showroom giving clients premier access to globally accomplished fine artists. Michael continues to innovate by uniting the design/build, art, and technology worlds with a breakout way to view the finest digital art, known as Apollo.

With a meticulous attention to detail, Michael is committed to delivering innovation, precise execution, extraordinary design, and superior customer service to each client. The integrated services, unique skill set, and enthusiasm makes CI Design + Build unparalleled in the industry.
Over 62% of businesses like being contacted by vendors at the right time with relevant opportunities

Global research by IDC shows that 62.6% of brands prefer being contacted by vendors at the right time with relevant opportunities. It is why businesses post their projects on DesignRush Marketplace to get connected with the right partner that matches their expertise and budgetary requirements  for free.

It is a simple and verified matchmaking process that benefits both brands and agencies searching for qualified leads, as is the case with Consensus Interactive, a Boston-based digital agency.

According to James Burke, managing partner at Consensus Interactive, the company picked the Marketplace because of quality experience for quality prospecting.

Weve followed DesignRush for quite some time and noticed its remarkable growth and success, said Burke. Once we talked to [the] team and realized the quality of experience and lead generation opportunities for Consensus Interactive, it was an easy choice. At Consensus, we find the Account Management and Marketplace teams exceptional. Not only do they provide fantastic support, [but] they also advocate on behalf of our company  they want us to know success.

Consensus Interactive joined the Marketplace recently, and the quality of leads they received has exceeded their expectations. Burke also notes that the process of getting connected with quality leads is quite straightforward.

The project types may vary in size and scope, but they always meet our minimum budget requirements, as well as [our] technology, vertical and business expertise. The process works seamlessly and efficiently. The combination of targeted leads (based on our profile) and our assigned Client Relationship Manager makes for a very proactive experience.

Burke believes that the ability to participate in bids for highly qualified opportunities on DesignRush Marketplace is unmatched. Therefore, the company would highly recommend the service to other businesses and fellow agencies.

About DesignRush:

DesignRush.com is a B2B marketplace connecting businesses with agencies through expert reviews and agency ranking lists, awards, knowledge resources and personalized agency recommendations for vetted projects.
Law Office of Blumenthal Nordrehaug Bhowmik De Blouw LLP For more information about the class action lawsuit against Saputo Dairy Foods USA, LLC, call (800) 568-8020 to speak to an experienced California employment attorney today.

The San Francisco employment law attorneys, at Blumenthal Nordrehaug Bhowmik De Blouw LLP, filed a class action complaint alleging that Saputo Dairy Foods USA, LLC violated the California Labor Code. The Saputo Dairy Foods USA, LLC class action lawsuit, Case No. 23CV-00403, is currently pending in the Merced County Superior Court of the State of California. A copy of the Complaint can be read here.

According to the lawsuit filed, Defendant allegedly (a) failed to pay minimum wages, (b) failed to pay overtime wages, (c) failed to provide legally required meal and rest periods, (d) failed to provide accurate itemized wage statements, (e) failed to reimburse employees for required expenses, and (f) failed to pay sick wages, all in violation of the applicable Labor Code sections listed in California Labor Code Sections  201-204, 226, 226.7, 233, 510, 512, 1194, 1197, 1197.1, 2802, and the applicable Wage Order(s), and thereby gives rise to civil penalties as a result of such alleged conduct.

Saputo Dairy Foods USA, LLC allegedly failed to reimburse employees for required business expenses. California Labor Code  2802 expressly states that "an employer shall indemnify his or her employee for all necessary expenditures or losses incurred by the employee in direct consequence of the discharge of his or her duties..." During employment, Plaintiff and other California Class Members were allegedly required to use their personal cellular phones as a result of and in furtherance of their job duties.

For more information about the class action lawsuit against Saputo Dairy Foods USA, LLC, call (800) 568-8020 to speak to an experienced California employment attorney today.

Blumenthal Nordrehaug Bhowmik De Blouw LLP is an employment law firm with offices located in San Diego, San Francisco, Sacramento, Los Angeles, Riverside and Chicago that dedicates its practice to helping employees, investors and consumers fight back against unfair business practices, including violations of the California Labor Code and Fair Labor Standards Act. If you need help in collecting unpaid overtime wages, unpaid commissions, being wrongfully terminated from work, and other employment law claims, contact one of their attorneys today.

***THIS IS AN ATTORNEY ADVERTISEMENT***
Law Office of Blumenthal Nordrehaug Bhowmik De Blouw LLP For more information about the class action lawsuit against The Coca-Cola Company, call (800) 568-8020 to speak to an experienced California employment attorney today.

The Los Angeles employment law attorneys, at Blumenthal Nordrehaug Bhowmik De Blouw LLP, filed a class action lawsuit against The Coca-Cola Company alleging the company violated the California Labor Code. The lawsuit against The Coca-Cola Company is currently pending in the Orange County Superior Court, Case No. 30-2023-01305257-CU-OE-CXC. To read a copy of the Complaint, please click here.

According to the class action complaint, the company's non-exempt employees were allegedly unable to take off-duty meal breaks due to their rigorous work schedules. California labor laws require an employer to provide an employee required to perform work for more than five (5) hours during a shift with, a thirty (30) minute uninterrupted meal break prior to the end of the employee's fifth (5th) hour of work and a second uninterrupted meal break when employees are required to work ten (10) hours. The Complaint claims that the company did not provide their employees who forfeited meal breaks additional compensation.

Additionally, Plaintiff went on protected leave for health reasons. In alleged retaliation for taking the protected leave, Defendant terminated Plaintiff's employment. Allegedly, DEFENDANTs decision and real motivation to terminate PLAINTIFF was in retaliation for PLAINTIFF for taking the protected leave for her worsening stress condition.

For more information about the class action lawsuit against The Coca-Cola Company, call (800) 568-8020 to speak to an experienced California employment attorney today.

Blumenthal Nordrehaug Bhowmik De Blouw LLP is a labor law firm with law offices located in San Diego County, Riverside County, Los Angeles County, Sacramento County, Santa Clara County, Orange County, and San Francisco County. The firm has a statewide practice of representing employees on a contingency basis for violations involving unpaid wages, overtime pay, discrimination, harassment, wrongful termination, and other types of illegal workplace conduct.

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2023 Music In Our Schools Month logo Music, through its inherent virtues and unlike any other area of study, impacts the creator, the re-creator(s), and the listener emotionally, intellectually, as well as physically and spiritually, in ways that are deeply personal to every individual.

National Association for Music Education (NAfME) recognizes March as the thirty-eighth annual Music In Our Schools Month (MIOSM). This March, music educators and music students will be celebrating music education in their school communities demonstrating how the theme Music Is All of Us resonates with them.

It is because of musics unique way of bringing people together, creating a sense of belonging, and cultivating relationships that I chose Music Is All of Us as the theme for this years Music In Our Schools Month celebration, shared NAfME President Scott R. Sheehan. Music, through its inherent virtues and unlike any other area of study, impacts the creator, the re-creator(s), and the listener emotionally, intellectually, as well as physically and spiritually, in ways that are deeply personal to every individual. Music in its fullest context gives people a pathway to discovery, both personally and globally, and contributes to the greater good of society. We need music! Every person on the planet needs music and its indescribable power to instill meaning in our lives. Thank you to everyone who believes music is an essential component of every child's education and advocates for equitable access for music education in schools.

Throughout the month of March, NAfME-affiliated state music education associations will be participating in advocacy activities, including holding meetings with state and local elected officials, sharing why music education must continue to be funded and supported. This month of music education advocacy will culminate in a virtual MIOSM Advocacy Celebration on March 28, 7:00PM ET, and all are welcome to register and attend.

This year, Sen. Cory Booker (NJ) and Rep. Nydia Velazquez (NY-07) have introduced a federal resolution recognizing March as Music In Our Schools Month (S.Res 54 and H.Res.119). Music education advocates are asking their U.S. Senators and Representatives to join in cosponsoring the resolution and voting to pass it.* Sen. Booker and Rep. Velazquez have also both introduced the Guarantee Access to Arts and Music Education (GAAME) Act (S.364 and H.R. 969), which would amend the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965 to further specify the eligibility of Title I funds to be used for music and the arts.**

Since 1985, MIOSM has been observed as an annual month-long celebration when schools and communities celebrate music in their local schools and the educators who dedicate themselves to bring music into the lives of students every day. The NAfME Council for General Music Education has provided teachers resources to demonstrate the musical learning process throughout the whole school year. The Music In Our Schools Month: Process into Product document explains this direction, which began in 2018. NAfME is also proud to once again partner with Young Voices Education in Music Foundation and American Young Voices, which hosts the biggest school concerts in the world, to provide music educators with sheet music and teaching resources for Take Time for Fun.

NAfME encourages teachers and music education advocates to share on social media how their schools are celebrating music education, using the hashtags #MusicIsAllOfUs and #MIOSM and tagging @NAfME.

This year NAfME has provided MIOSM lesson plans for 36 songs, including resources from the Library of Congress, instructional goals and objectives, connections to the National Core Arts Standards learned in each lesson, worksheets, and more. NAfME has also provided classroom materials for MIOSM that teachers can share with their students as they celebrate how Music Is All of Us connects with students and communities. All of these items are available at nafme.org/MIOSM.

Coinciding with MIOSM 2023, NAfME is pleased to announce a new partnership with SBO Magazine to provide NAfME members with a free monthly publication, SBO+, which will include a monthly column from NAfME.

Music In Our Schools Month and MIOSM are trademarks of NAfME and may not be used for fundraising or materials produced for profit.

*These organizations support the Music In Our Schools Month federal resolution: American Federation of Teachers; AASA, The School Superintendents Association; The American Orff-Schulwerk Association; American String Teachers Association; Association for Popular Music Education; College Band Directors National Association; CMA Foundation; Drum Corps International; Education Through Music; Kindermusik International; Music Publishers Association of the United States; Music Teachers National Association; Music Travel Consultants; National Art Education Association; National Association for Music Education; National Association for the Study and Performance of African American Music; National Association of Elementary School Principals; National Association of Music Merchants; National Association of Secondary School Principals; National Education Association; National Federation of State High School Associations; National Music Council; National PTA; Nuvo Instrumental; Quadrant Research; Recording Academy; Rock and Soul Forever Foundation; Save the Music Foundation; State Education Agency Directors of Arts Education; Wurrly, LLC; Young Audiences Arts for Learning.

**The following organizations support the GAAME Act: American Federation of Teachers;; The American Orff-Schulwerk Association: American String Teachers Association; Association for Popular Music Education; College Band Directors National Association; CMA Foundation; Drum Corps International; Education Through Music; Educational Theatre Association; Kindermusik International; Music Publishers Association of the United States; Music Teachers National Association; Music Travel Consultants; National Art Education Association; National Association for Music Education; National Association for the Study and Performance of African American Music; National Association of Elementary School Principals; National Association of Music Merchants; National Association of Secondary School Principals; National Concerts; National Dance Education Organization; National Education Association; National Federation of State High School Associations; National Music Council; Nuvo Instrumental; Quadrant Research; Rock and Soul Forever Foundation; Save the Music Foundation; State Education Agency Directors of Arts Education; Wurrly, LLC; Young Audiences Arts for Learning.

###

The National Association for Music Education (NAfME) is a collaborative community that supports music educators and advocates for equitable access to music education. The only association that addresses all aspects of music education, NAfME, together with its affiliated state music education associations, advocates at the national, state, and local levels and provides resources and opportunities for teachers, students, parents, and administrators. Founded in 1907 and representing more than 53,000 members teaching millions of students, NAfME advances the music education profession and promotes lifelong experiences in music.

Follow NAfME on Twitter (twitter.com/nafme) and on Facebook (facebook.com/nafme).

For additional information, contact Catherina Hurlburt at catherinah@nafme.org or 703-860-4000.
Mercy Medical Center in Baltimore, Maryland "Mercy has a strong commitment to diversity and inclusion among all staff. This recognition from Newsweek is indicative of our commitment to providing opportunity and support to women..." -- David N. Maine, President and CEO, Mercy Health Services, Mercy Medical Center.

(Baltimore, MD)  Mercy Medical Center has been named one of Americas Greatest Workplaces for Women in 2023 by Newsweek. Mercy earned 4.5 out of 5 stars on a scored list of the top 600 companies in the U.S. for women in the workplace.

The list is based on a large study and a survey of a sample set with more than 37,000 women, working in the U.S. for companies that employ at least 1,000 employees. The study collected, in total, more than 224,000 company reviews of companies in the U.S. that employ at least 1,000 employees, across all industry sectors.

According to Newsweek, companies were ranked the highest on criteria like "compensation and benefits," "work-life balance" and "proactive management of a diverse workforce."

Mercy Medical Center was founded by women, the Sisters of Mercy, nearly 150 years ago. In that time, Mercy has developed a national reputation for womens health care. So it is only fitting that Mercy should establish itself as one of the nations best for women to work, to thrive and grow in their careers, said Sister Helen Amos, RSM, Executive Chair, Mercy Health Services Board of Trustees.

Mercy has a strong commitment to diversity and inclusion among all staff. This recognition from Newsweek is indicative of our commitment to providing opportunity and support to women. At Mercy, we endeavor to create an environment where everyone, no matter their gender, race or sexual orientation, has an opportunity to succeed, said David N. Maine, President and CEO, Mercy Health Services, Mercy Medical Center.

Newsweek and data firm Plant-A Insights Group weighted the responses from women who are single mothers and/or in leadership positions to capture this facet of the workplace and scored companies where women make up a significant share of the management board or are female founded.

The list of Americas Greatest Workplaces for Women 2023 will be published in the Newsweek print issue in timing with International Womens Day, a global day celebrating the social, economic, cultural and political achievements of women, recognized this year on Wed., March 8th.

Newsweek is a premier news magazine and website that has delivered high-quality journalism to readers around the globe for more than 90 years.

Founded in 1874 by the Sisters of Mercy, Mercy Medical Center is located in downtown Baltimore City, about six blocks from Baltimore's famed Inner Harbor. A university-affiliated teaching facility, Mercy is a Catholic hospital with a national reputation for women's health care, orthopedics, and other specialties. Mercy is home to the renowned Weinberg Center for Women's Health & Medicine, and the $400+ million Mary Catherine Bunting Center. For more information, visit http://www.mdmercy.com, and MDMercyMedia on Facebook and Twitter, or call 1-800-M.D.-Mercy.
What explains persistent racial disparities in policing, despite police departments repeated investments in bias-training programs? A wide range of data indicate that police in the United States tend to stop, arrest, injure, or kill more Black people than White people. Calvin K. Lai (Washington University in St. Louis) and Jaclyn A. Lisnek (University of Virginia) analyzed the effectiveness of a day-long implicit-bias-oriented diversity training session designed to increase U.S. police officers knowledge of bias, concerns about bias, and use of evidence-based strategies to mitigate bias. Their findings, recently published in Psychological Science, suggest that diversity trainings as they are currently practiced are unlikely to change police behavior.

Immediately after these trainings, police officers have strong intentions to use the strategies theyve learned, explained Lai in a forthcoming interview on Under the Cortex, the APS podcast. But one month later there wasnt that kind of follow through.

In 2020 and 2021, Lai and Lisnek evaluated 251 training sessions (in-person or remote) in which 24 different educators taught the Managing Bias programdeveloped by the Anti-Defamation League to reduce the influence of biases in the behaviors of police officers, improve the relationship between the community and the police, and increase safetyto different police departments with a history of BlackWhite racial disparities in policing. This day-long training consists of an interactive workshop, led by two educators, that uses activities to educate officers about the origins and differences between explicit and implicit bias, how biases may affect their behavior, and gaps in understanding between police and the community. After learning about biases, officers were trained on strategies and skills to reduce biased behavior.

Lai, a recipient of the APS 2023 Janet Taylor Spence Award for Early Career Contributions, and Lisnek surveyed police officers immediately before the training to establish a baseline, assessing knowledge and concern about bias, usage of strategies to manage bias, and characteristics relevant to police training (e.g., centrality of police identity, expectations of respect from community members). A second survey, administered immediately after the training, evaluated knowledge and concern about bias plus the intention to use the strategies to manage bias.

Results indicated that before the training, officers showed low understanding of and concern about bias, but the training immediately increased their knowledge and concern about bias. Right after the training, officers reported feeling empowered and motivated to use the strategies they learned to manage bias. However, another survey one month later found that officers concerns about bias had returned to pre-intervention levels and their use of these strategies had declined compared with their reported intentions immediately after training. Nevertheless, their general understanding of biases remained as high as immediately after the training.

Future research, Lai said, will attempt to close that gap between officers really being motivated but not finding ways to follow through using some of these bias mitigation strategies.

The researchers also identified characteristics of diversity training that might affect its efficacy. For instance, previous literature has suggested embedding such efforts with other organizational initiatives, having managers reinforce them, and evaluating expected behavior as a part of job performance. The training examined in this study was implemented and administered by an external organization. Adding booster sessions instead of a one-and-done training model could also increase effectiveness, Lai and Lisnek said.

Finally, the strategies taught could have had low applicability outside of a lab in real-world policing, another factor that can also undermine training effectiveness. One of the things were finding is that there might not be these great one-size-fits-all solutions for combating bias at work, said Lai. It may be necessary to think very concretely and specifically about the daily work activities where police officers may be inclined to discriminateand then provide super-tailored strategies to mitigate those behaviors.

Feedback on this article? Email apsobserver@psychologicalscience.org or login to comment. Interested in writing for us? Read our contributor guidelines.

Reference

Lai, C. K., & Lisnek, J. A. (2023). The impact of implicit-bias-oriented diversity training on police officers beliefs, motivations, and actions. Psychological Science. https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/09567976221150617
The 58th annual PEN Literary Awards were held March 2 at the Town Hall in midtown Manhattan, awarding more than $350,000 in prizes to writers, editors, and translators. The ceremony was hosted by Kal Penn, who in his opening remarks noted that this year marked the centennial of PEN America's founding. He stressed that the organization's mission is just as important day as it was 100 years ago, and set the tone for the evening with topical jokes about book bans and the recent controversies surrounding Roald Dahl, Scott Adams, and J.K. Rowling.

Among the 17 literary awards and grants presented throughout the evening, the biggest winner was Percival Everett, who received the $75,000 PEN/Jean Stein Book Award for his novel Dr. No (Graywolf Press), about a professor of mathematics who researches "nothingness" and the aspiring supervillain who attempts to recruit him. In his acceptance speech, Everett thanked Graywolf, which he said he has been with for the past 29 years, during which time he has "had one editor: Fiona McCrae." (McCrae retired last summer.)

The night's other major winners were Morgan Talty, whose Night of the Living Rez (Tin House Books) won the $25,000 PEN/Robert W. Bingham Prize for Debut Story Collection, and Judith Thurman, whose essay collection A Left-Handed Woman (FSG) won the $15,000 PEN/Diamonstein-Spielvogel Award for the Art of the Essay.

Other winners include Hafizah Augustus Geter, whose memoir The Black Period: On Personhood, Race, and Origin (Random House) won the Open Book Award for authors of color; Oscar Hokeah, whose Calling for a Blanket Dance (Algonquin) won the PEN/Hemingway Award for Debut Novel; Eve Fairbanks, whose The Inheritors: An Intimate Portrait of South Africa's Racial Reckoning (S&S) won the PEN/John Kenneth Galbraith Award for Nonfiction; and Florence Williams, whose Heartbreak: A Personal and Scientific Journey (Norton) won the PEN/E.O. Wilson Literary Science Writing Award. All four awards come with $10,000 purses.

Dan Charnas's Dilla Time: The Life and Afterlife of J Dilla, the Hip-Hop Producer Who Reinvented Rhythm (MCD) received the PEN/Jacqueline Bograd Weld Award for Biography and Robin Coste Lewis's To the Realization of Perfect Helplessness (Knopf) won the PEN/Voelcker Award for Poetry Collection. Both awards come with $5,000 purses.

In the awards' two translation categories Tiffany Tsao won the $3,000 PEN Translation Prize for her translation of People from Bloomington by Budi Darma (Penguin Classics), and Daniel Borzutzky won the $3,000 PEN Award for Poetry in Translation for his translation of The Loose Pearl by Paula Ilabaca Nunez (Coimpress). Actor, author, and translator Molly Ringwald presented Borzutzky with his award; "I can't believe you're a translator!" Borzutzky remarked to Ringwald. "I feel like my entire childhood is redefined to find out that Molly Ringwald is a translator."

Morgan Talty, Oscar Hokeah, and Tiffany Tsao were unable to attend the ceremony, so Tin House publisher Craig Popelars, Algonquin associate publisher Michael McKenzie, and Penguin Classics publisher Elda Rotor accepted the authors' respective awards on their behalf.

Indian writer Vinod Kumar Shukla, who also could not attend the ceremony, was awarded the $50,000 PEN/Nabokov Award for Achievement in International Literature, recognizing his novels, poetry, and short stories in Hindi and in translation. Scholar-playwright Erika Dickerson-Despenza won $10,000 the PEN/Laura Pels International Foundation for Theater Award; actor Lizan Mitchell performed a selection from Dickerson-Despenza's play shadow/land.

Writer, actor, comedian, and playwright Tina Fey was awarded the $25,000 PEN/Mike Nichols Writing for Performance Award. Actor, comedian, and writer Rachel Dratch introduced the award, fondly recalling her early days working with Fey in the Chicago improv comedy scene in the mid-nineties. In her acceptance speech, Fey said it was an honor to be recognized "by this organization that does so much to protect free expression and journalistic freedom," and admitted she was intimated to be in a room with what she jokingly called "all these proper writers."
The March/April issue of American Libraries marks a milestone: "This March marks three years since COVID-19 brought the country to a standstill. While the pandemic is still ongoingtens of thousands of cases continue to be recorded daily in the USthe effects it has had on our everyday lives, and our libraries, have abated and become somewhat normalized." The issue offers "a brief look at the choices and challenges the profession faced, as well as the resilience and dedication of its workers."

Of course, one of the many challenges ALA faced in the first two years of the pandemic was the cancellation of in-person conferences. But after last year's successful annual conference in Washington, D.C., and the first in-person LibLearnX in New Orleans this past January, hopes are high that the ALA 2023 Annual Conference & Exhibition, set for June in the ALA's hometown of Chicago, can get back to pre-pandemic levels. Registration is now open. And this week ALA president Lessa Kananiopua Pelayo-Lozada sent a message to potential attendees announcing that the 2023 annual conference will be dedicated to library workers. "It has been a challenging year: Many of us are facing book bans and challenges for daring to share diverse stories, while also dealing with the difficulties of the ongoing pandemic. But where there is darkness, there is also light," she writes, sharing a preview of the conference's education program.

Challenging, indeed. From the Washington Post this week, a look this week at the fear librarians are feeling having been pulled by the right wing into a culture war. "In Idaho, a librarian resigned last fall after a bullying campaign that included armed men standing in the back of board meetings. At a public library in East Texas, according to news reports and the state library association, an alarmed patron recorded video of a uniformed officer behind the circulation desk sorting through frequently challenged books. A librarian in Louisiana who received a death threat after opposing censorship said she installed a home-security system, bought a Taser and sleeps 'with a shotgun under my bed,'" the article notes. "You would never think that something like that would happen in the United States, but it is, it has, and its here," said Shirley Robinson, the executive director of the Texas Library Association.

PBS Newshour has a similar report focused on Louisiana. "Typically quiet libraries and board meetings have been transformed into anxiety-filled spaces in several parishes of the state," reports Roby Chavez.

From the Tampa Bay Times, a Hillsborough County commissioner pushing for "parental control" of school and library resources is calling for the countys libraries to cut ties with with the American Library Association, calling it an activist organization that has "clearly gone radical. The call comes a week after a commissioner in Manatee County also targeted ALA over its defense of the freedom to read.

In Virginia, the Capital News Service reports that a bill that would have required librarians and schools to catalog materials with "visual depictions of graphic sexual content" failed to get out of committee in the Senate. House Bill 1379, introduced by Virginia Beach delegate Timothy Anderson, "died on a 9-6 vote in the Senate Education and Health committee." Anderson was the lawyer who, in a case that drew national attention last year, argued that that two books (the graphic memoir Gender Queer by Maia Kobabe and A Court of Mist and Fury by bestselling author Sarah J. Maas) should be removed from library and bookstore shelves under an obscure state obscenity law. In August, 2022, a state judge dismissed the suit and declared the state law unconstitutional.

Idaho EdNews reports that two controversial library bills have stalled in committee after a "heated" debate this week. "House Bill 139 bans 'harmful materials' from libraries and imposes fines on libraries that violate the ban. House Bill 227 requires libraries to implement policies for selecting and removing materials, and for parents to question materials or restrict their childs access," the report notes. "After a winding discussion, committee members voted 9-8 to hold HB139, and adjourned Wednesday before voting on HB227. Committee Chair Julie Yamamoto, R-Caldwell, told EdNews she doesnt know when, or if, the bills will come back for further discussion." Smart money says the bills will be back.

In Maine, the local Press Herald, reports on how school librarians are joining the fight against a proposal in the Maine Legislature that would ban schools from providing access to materials deemed obscene. One librarian told reporters that "the political environment" is making it harder for librarians to "connect students with content that can help them learn about themselves, process their experiences, and understand the world around them," adding that there is "a lot of fear and a lot of worry" among school librarians. "Its definitely been stressful.

In Indiana, local station WNDU reports that the Indiana Senate this week passed by a 37-12 margin a bill this week that would ban "inappropriate" books from K-12 school libraries and open up educators and librarians to criminal prosecution. Of course, no one knows how "inappropriate" material is defined. "If Im a parent with a lot of time on my hands and Ive got a political axe to grind, you know, I stand against any, any book that has [been] written by somebody that supports the opposing party or supports a cause that I dont believe in, whats to stop me from filing every single complaint I can?" one senator asked. The bill now heads to the House.

Ars Technica reports on a new bill in Texas that would force Internet service providers to block websites containing information on how to obtain abortion services: "The abortion bill would raise concerns about the government deciding which websites people may visit, particularly as federal net neutrality rules were eliminated by the Trump-era Federal Communications Commission."

From the St. Paul Star Tribune, Jennifer Brooks writes about the St. Paul Public Library's Read Brave program, which selects and highlights books that deal with topics including "trauma, anxiety, depression, [and] bullying," hosting two weeks of programs, author talks, and discussions. "We really see this program as an opportunity to share different lived experiences and build empathy for others," Gao Yang, the library's community partnerships and programs coordinator, told Brooks.

From local station KVRR in North Dakota, where two bills that would ban so-called sexually explicit materials from public libraries are poised to become law, library workers from Fargos three public libraries have created displays to show which books could no longer be offered. "Signs on book carts say 'Read em before theyre gone,'" the report notes, with titles including classics like The Grapes of Wrath and popular fiction like Where The Crawdads Sing. If we choose to live in a free and open society, we have to know that all of us will run into things that we dont agree with and we find offensive, Fargo Public Library director Tim Dirks told reporters.

A fiery column this week from Kelly Jensen at Book Riot, whose must-read weekly roundup of censorship new warns against the exhaustion that inevitably comes in the midst of a long fight, and urges allies and freedom to read advocates to step up their efforts. "Mealy mouthed neutrality is what the censors want," Jensen writes. "Solutions are only lacking if youre not looking, and the only looking that seems to be happening is at money. Not people."

And news this week that Connecticut has updated its proposed library e-book bill, RB6800. Among the new bill's provisions, it states that "no contract or license agreement between any publisher and any library in this state shall preclude, limit, or restrict the library from performing customary operational or lending functions." And, in language not seen before, the bill appears to restrict the use of time-limited licenses, unless the publisher also offers a pay-per-view option or a perpetual access model on "reasonable terms."

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.
ABC/Ricky Middlesworth

By Elizabeth Kwiatkowski, 03/02/2023



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Elizabeth Kwiatkowski is Associate Editor of Reality TV World and has been covering the reality TV genre for more than a decade.

bachelorette Jess Girod has admitted she was "blindsided" by her breakup with Zach Shallcross and how their relationship came to a fiery and emotional end."I definitely was blindsided," Jess, 23, told Us Weekly at the recent : The Women Tell All taping in Los Angeles, CA.During the February 27 episode of , Jess expressed to Zach how she was disappointed, frustrated and losing confidence in her herself and their relationship because Zach had yet to invite her on a one-on-one date.Other than Greer Blitzer -- who was diagnosed with COVID-19 after visiting London and had to quarantine -- Jess was the only woman who had yet to accompany Zach on a solo date by the time they traveled to Estonia, which was Week 6 of Zach's journey to find love.Instead of comforting Jess and validating her concerns, Zach criticized how her focus was on the wrong thing, which led to a tense exchange."Throughout our journey, he always reassured me and validated me. He always told me everything's going to be okay and to just kind of hold out, hold on," Jess explained."So as time went on and I wasn't getting that special quality time with him, I was definitely in my head of like, 'What am I missing here? There's nothing being communicated, that's wrong.'"The E-commerce coordinator from Winter Springs, FL, reasoned, "So in a way, I saw it coming because it just wasn't adding it up, but yeah, I definitely was blindsided still."Jess explained that a bachelorette got to spend a whole day with Zach on a one-on-one and she had been waiting for that time to tell her story and be more vulnerable with star.Zach seemed bothered and surprised by Jess' emotion over her string of group dates, which she insisted to Zach was "a big deal" to her and every other woman on the show."That shouldn't be a thing," Zach snapped, later adding, "I never want you to think of this as a process, where you can only open up on a one-on-one."Zach ultimately pointed out how he and Jess had "a disconnect," and so they seemingly mutually agreed to part ways.Jess told Zach that she wasn't going to fight for him because she deserved and needed a man -- after painful failed relationships in her past -- to fight for her, and Zach told the cameras that he and Jess were "butting heads" and he never expected their romance would end that way."The exit was frustrating on both ends," Jess said, adding how she and Zach were both "confused" about how things had fallen apart so quickly.For Jess' part, she left the show in tears and a bit angry, venting in a confessional, "This doesn't feel fair... I have done everything that he has asked, and... all I needed was quality time, and he wasn't processing that."Jess continued, "Is it the craziest thing to want to go on a date with somebody I could potentially marry? Like, it's the craziest thing that I'm upset that I'm the last one [without a solo date]?"Jess complained in her final words about how she wanted to feel chosen and it was "crazy" that Zach was so "shocked" by her hurt.Jess admitted to Us that her tense and emotional departure "wasn't a good feeling to sit with.""Because it was like, 'Well, what could I have done better? What could I have said better? Should I have fought for him?'" Jess said."But also, I want someone to fight for me. So it was a very weird place that we left off."However, Jess confirmed that she believes it was "100 percent" a misunderstanding between the pair."I think he's an amazing guy. I think he was doing the best he could in the moment," Jess shared of Zach."I was doing the best that I could in the moment. We both just weren't understanding each other, and it doesn't mean that I was in the right and he was in the wrong."Jess insisted there was actually "no right or wrong," especially since Zach was just "speaking his truth.""I was speaking mine the best that we could, so I was not ever upset with him. It was more of just, like, I wish we could have understood each other," she concluded.While Jess didn't seem to think Zach had treated her poorly or acted too harshly, 's Season 21 star Nick Viall called Zach "a total d-ck" on Twitter."It's literally all about the one on one. Zach knows that. He made Jess feel like she messed up for expressing a valid concern," Nick tweeted.He later added, "Zach is acting like the guy who gets mad at his girlfriend for not letting him know she wanted validation on her birthday."Zach also eliminated Aly Jacobs during 's latest episode. That leaves only seven women heading into the next episode, which will feature the cast in Budapest for Week 7 of Zach's journey to find his best friend and future wife.Interested in more news? Join our The Bachelor Facebook Group
Women in Media, a student-run organization affiliated with the University of Georgias Grady College of Journalism and Mass Communication, works to create an empowering and diverse community for pre-professional women with dreams of a career in media or affiliated industries.
The University of Georgia School of Public & International Affairs Student Union hosted the UGA chapters of College Republicans and Young Democrats on Wednesday evening in the UGA Miller Learning Center.

This event was titled The Future of the Parties, and three panelists from each party answered questions provided by Annsley Anglin, the events coordinator for SPIA Student Union.
The Cambodia National Rescue Party co-founder has been placed under house arrest.

UPDATED AT 04:15 p.m. ET ON 03-03-2023

Cambodian opposition leader Kem Sokha was found guilty of treason on Friday and sentenced to 27 years imprisonment -- a verdict the U.S. Embassy called "deeply troubling" and said was based on a "fabricated conspiracy."

The Phnom Penh Municipal Court's sentence comes five years after his arrest. The court said he had colluded with a foreign power beginning in 2010. It said he had one month to file an appeal against its ruling.

Kem Sokhas lawyer, Meng Sopheary, told RFA that he plans to appeal the judgment.

After the verdict, Kem Sokha was taken out of the courtroom and placed under house arrest. Authorities took control of his house and all personal bodyguards were kicked out, Meng Sopheary said. Security has been tightened around the house.

His daughter posted on Twitter that he is also barred from meeting anyone but his lawyers and family members. She also clarified that the sentence was not 27 years under house arrest, which should be considered a temporary measure.

The court also stripped him of the right to vote or run as a candidate for an indefinite period.

The Phnom Penh Municipal Court defended its decision, saying in a statement that promoting human rights and democracy is legitimate and is protected by the Constitution.

But the court found out that promoting human rights and democracy with help and collusion in secret  and planning with foreign countries and foreign agents to topple the legal government through mass demonstration and color revolution  is illegal, the statement said.

Soeung Sengkaruna, spokesman for the Cambodian Human Rights and Development Association said he was not surprised with the outcome.

"This is a serious verdict, he said. The verdict will affect younger politicians, they have a difficult time competing in Cambodia's political environment. I am concerned about human rights and democracy in Cambodia.

Five-year wait

Kem Sokha has always denied the charges which led to his arrest in September 2017, when more than 100 armed police officers stormed his home.

Several months earlier his Cambodia National Rescue Party had made large gains in local commune elections.

The 69-year-old was put on trial in January 2020 but the hearings were suspended two months later on the pretext of the coronavirus pandemic. The trial resumed last year.

The charges against him relate partly to a video recorded in 2013 in which he discusses a strategy to win power with the help of U.S. experts. The United States Embassy has rejected any suggestion that Washington was trying to interfere in Cambodian politics.

On Friday, the court said in its statement that it omitted the alleged foreign countries that colluded with Kem Sokha from its decision for the sake of national interest and to maintain Cambodias relationship with those countries. The court will keep related documents confidential to maintain cooperation between foreign countries, it said.

After his arrest, Kem Sokha spent a year in Trapeang Phlong Prison near the border with Vietnam. He was transferred to house arrest in Phnom Penh in October 2018. More than a year later, the court eased some of the restrictions by allowing him to travel inside the country but still banning him from participating in politics.

The ban proved superfluous. Shortly after his arrest Cambodias Supreme Court dissolved and outlawed the CNRP, paving the way for Prime Minister Hun Sens ruling Cambodian Peoples Party to take all 125 National Assembly seats in the 2018 general election.

The multi-year process to silence Kem Sokha, based on a fabricated conspiracy, is a miscarriage of justice, the U.S. Embassy said in a statement. Denying Kem Sokha and other political figures their freedom of expression and association undermines Cambodias constitution, international commitments, and past progress to develop as a pluralist and inclusive society.

Amnesty International Deputy Regional Director Ming Yu Hah said Fridays judgment revealed the jaw-dropping lack of independence of the Cambodian justice system.

Sokha is one of many opposition figures who has been put through a physically and psychologically taxing ordeal which will continue after todays unjust verdict. There can be no right to a fair trial when the courts have been co-opted by the heavy hand of the government, she said.

Sokha has spent years in detention, moved in and out of prison, and endured house arrest in a virtually ceaseless attempt to silence him. He has also been prevented from leaving the country due to unnecessary restrictions on his freedom of movement, she said. The Cambodian government should drop these fabricated charges and immediately and unconditionally release Kem Sokha.

Statements from ministers, businessmen

After the verdict, government ministers and several prominent business people issued statements in support of the verdict and sentence. The courts decision was based on the law and the evidence presented by the prosecution, CPP spokesman Sok Ey San said.

Kem Sokha can behave during house arrest, he said. Kem Sokha must comply with the court's verdict.

The verdict is part of a well-planned strategy to ensure smooth power transfer to Hun Sen's son and political heir, Hun Manet, political analyst Seng Sary said.

This is a one party government hidden under pluralism. It is very sensitive during the transition to eliminate rivals for his successor to grow, he said.

Silencing the opposition

Kem Sokha was hoping a not-guilty verdict would clear the way for a return to politics. His daughter told the AFP news agency he was keen to return to the fray ahead of Julys general elections.

With four months to go until that vote, he has become the latest threat to be silenced by Hun Sen.

It was obvious from the start that the charges against Kem Sokha were nothing but a politically motivated ploy by Prime Minister Hun Sen to sideline Cambodias major opposition leader and eliminate the countrys democratic system, Phil Robertson, deputy Asia director at Human Rights Watch said in a statement released immediately after the verdict.

Sending Kem Sokha to prison isnt just about destroying his political party, but about squashing any hope that there can be a genuine general election in July.

Kem Sokha, then leader of the Human Rights party, speaks during a rally in Phnom Penh on July 9, 2008. Credit: Reuters/Chor Sokunthea

But acting CNRP President Sam Rainsy told RFA that Kem Sokha's verdict won't break people's commitment toward democracy.

"If people are demanding justice, democracy will continue to strive, he said. We need to ask the voters. The sunset of dictators is coming closer. Hun Sen is revealing himself. He is getting worse, it is pushing Hun Sen to the end.

Last month, Cambodias Supreme Court upheld the conviction of Candlelight Party Vice President Son Chhay, who has been ordered to pay U.S.$1 million in damages to the CPP and the National Election Commission after saying last years local commune elections were marred by irregularities.

Also in February Hun Sen shut down Cambodias last fully-independent news outlet after Voice of Democracy published a story about Hun Manet. A clever tactician, he then said VoD staff could apply for government jobs without having to sit the entrance examination. On Tuesday the government announced that at least 25 former staffers had applied.

Translated by Samean Yun. Edited by Mike Firn and Matt Reed.

Story updated with statement from court, interview with Sam Rainsy.
Three Burmese companies have also been added to the Entity List, banning American exports to them.

The Chinese firm BGI Group was added to the U.S. Commerce Departments blacklist on Friday, March 3, 2023.

The U.S. Department of Commerce on Thursday added to its export blacklist 28 Chinese and three Burmese entities, accusing them of supplying security equipment to the militaries of Iran and Myanmar and helping to promote Beijings military modernization.

The new additions to the Entity List means U.S. firms need licenses to export goods to the companies, which are rarely if ever granted. The entities are accused of taking part in activities contrary to the national security or foreign policy interests of the United States.

A Commerce Department press release says 18 of the 28 Chinese firms were blacklisted for acquiring and attempting to acquire U.S.-origin items in support of [Chinas] military modernization efforts, and for supplying or attempting to supply a sanctioned entity in Iran.

But the blacklisted firms also include cloud computing giant Inspur and BGI Research and BGI Tech Solutions (Hongkong) Co., Ltd., two subsidiaries of genetics company BGI, which has been accused of working with Chinas military to secure DNA data of American citizens.

The Burmese entities are the countrys Department of Transport and Communications, as well as the surveillance firms FISCA Security & Communication Co. and Naung Yoe Technologies Co., Ltd., both of which the listing accuses of aiding Myanmars military junta.

The 28 Chinese and three Burmese companies were among 37 new firms blacklisted, including others from Russia, Belarus and Pakistan.

Regular cadence

Blacklisting of foreign firms came under the spotlight in Congress this week with House Foreign Affairs Committee chairman Michael McCaul, a Republican from Texas, on Tuesday grilling Commerce undersecretary of state Alan Estevez about $23 billion in exports to blacklisted firms he said had wrongly been allowed to go ahead.

Estevez replied it was a matter of policing, and that companies found to have exported goods to Entity Listed firms would be prosecuted.

But the practice has also come under fire from Beijing, with new additions to the Entity List being made on an increasingly regular cadence in the years since the Trump administrations high-profile blacklisting of Chinese telecoms giant Huawei in May 2019.

Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Mao Ning speaks during a press conference in Beijing, Friday, March 3, 2023. (Associated Press)

Speaking at the Chinese Foreign Ministrys press briefing on Friday, spokesperson Mao Ning slammed the blacklisting of BGI and Inspur, in particular, saying they were legitimate and lawful companies.

The U.S. is once again cracking down on Chinese companies under false pretexts through unfair means. China strongly deplores and firmly rejects this, the spokesperson said, calling on the U.S. government to respect basic facts, abandon ideological bias [and] stop suppressing Chinese companies under false pretexts.

Edited by Malcolm Foster.
The reshuffle also means Beijing wants Hong Kong to play a role in any military action targeting democratic Taiwan

China's President Xi Jinping gives a speech following a swearing-in ceremony to inaugurate the city's new government in Hong Kong, July 1, 2022, on the 25th anniversary of the city's handover from Britain to China.

Reports are emerging that the Chinese government department in charge of Hong Kong will likely be placed under the direct control of the ruling Communist Party leadership in Beijing, who will then take a more active role in the day-to-day running of the former British colony.

Party leader Xi Jinping will table some of the restructuring plans at the first session of the country's rubber-stamp parliament, the National People's Congress, which opens in Beijing on March 5, state news agency Xinhua reported.

Hong Kong newspapers said the plan includes changes to the way Beijing exercises power in Hong Kong and Macau to allow stronger top-down leadership by the ruling party, despite promises that both former colonies would be left to govern their own affairs under Chinese rule.

"One proposal is to upgrade the Hong Kong and Macao Affairs Office from an institution, currently under the State Council, to a body directly under the party and the central government," Hong Kong's The Standard newspaper reported.

The Chinese-language Sing Tao Daily said the new arrangement would be "an upgrade and expansion" of the office's power, while the English-language South China Morning Post said congress delegates, the vast majority of whom always vote for government proposals, would "deliberate" the proposals on Sunday.

It quoted experts as saying that the office would likely report directly to the Communist Party Central Committee, with Wang Huning or Ding Xuexiang -- both of whom sit on the all-powerful Politburo standing committee -- the most likely candidates to head the new body.

Commentators said the plan, if implemented, will mean that Beijing can respond at will to events in Hong Kong without having to justify its actions with references to the cities' mini-constitutions, known as their Basic Law.

National Security Law

In 2020, Beijing imposed a draconian national security law on Hong Kong by inserting it into Annex III of the Basic Law, bypassing the need to have it pass in the city's own legislature.

By 2022, changes to Hong Kong's electoral system had barred opposition candidates from running for the legislature, with a compliant Legislative Council ready and willing to nod through any government proposal.

The Chinese national flag flies on the offices of the Hong Kong and Macau Affairs Office of the State Council and National Bureau of Statistics in Beijing, Aug. 12, 2019. Credit: Reuters





Both those changes were implemented by the National People's Congress standing committee, involving yet another high-ranking state body in the running of Hong Kong. The reported restructuring would likely streamline that process, commentators said.

Veteran journalist and current affairs analyst Ching Cheong said rumors that Beijing was planning such a move first began to emerge five years ago, around the same time that the National People's Congress nodded through amendments to the Chinese constitution abolishing presidential term limits, paving the way for indefinite rule by Xi Jinping.

"Xi Jinping has quoted Mao Zedong's words on a regular basis during the past few years ... [saying that] the party should control everything, from the workers and farmers to businesses and the military," he said. "Now it wants to get [directly] involved in the running of Hong Kong."

While Hong Kong has long been expected to follow diktats from Beijing, officials have been somewhat limited by the legacy approach of the State Council, which relies on references to the Basic Law to justify any changes made in the city.

"It will be easier for them to govern at will if they can get rid of the constraints under the Basic Law," Ching said. "The central government will then be able to govern Hong Kong more directly, and with more flexibility."

Taiwan

Current affairs commentator Johnny Lau said the move could also mean that Beijing tries to control the relationship between Hong Kong and the democratic island of Taiwan, which it has threatened to annex with military force in the absence of moves towards peaceful "unification" under Chinese.

Taiwan, which has never been ruled by the Chinese Communist Party, nor formed part of the 73-year-old People's Republic of China, has repeatedly said it has no wish to give up its sovereignty or democratic way of life under the "one country, two systems" that has led to a wholesale erosion of Hong Kong's traditional freedoms.

"If there is military conflict across the Taiwan Strait ... then Beijing would definitely expect Hong Kong to be involved," Lau said.

"That's why Hong Kong is now being brought under the direct management of the Chinese Communist Party, so it can better manage or control it," he said.

A TV screen shows Chinese President Xi Jinping during the live broadcast of the closing ceremony of the 20th National Congress of the Communist Party of China, at a restaurant in Hong Kong, China October 22, 2022. Credit: Reuters





Current affairs commentator Sang Pu said the restructuring, if implemented as reported, is tantamount to abolishing the promises that Hong Kong would retain its way of life under the "one country, two systems" framework promised by Beijing.

"Hong Kong still has a certain amount of residual value [to Beijing], particularly when it comes to financial integration and breaking through technology embargoes [imposed by the United States]," Sang said.

"But one country, two systems has long existed in name only, and I don't think it will continue," he said. "The residual value of Hong Kong lies in [opportunities] for money-making while maintaining security for party and country."

He said if party ideologue Wang Huning is put in charge of a new body governing Hong Kong, it will likely herald a sharp turn to the left -- away from market economics -- in the way the city is run.

Translated by Luisetta Mudie. Edited by Malcolm Foster.
Dozens of rights activists, petitioners and dissidents are under detention or surveillance as Beijing cracks down

Chinese lawyer Liu Xiaoyuan, seen in this 2007 file photo, wrote in a WeChat post that "I was stopped by police from the Ganzhou West Railway Station public security station in Jiangxi province, en route to Zhuhai." He has not been heard from since.

A human rights lawyer who represented Ai Weiwei against the Chinese government has "disappeared" after trying to board a train to the southern province of Guangdong, according to rights activists.

Liu Xiaoyuan was stopped by police on March 1 as he tried to travel to Zhuhai city from Ganzhou in the eastern province of Jiangxi, the Weiquanwang rights website reported.

"I was stopped by police from the Ganzhou West Railway Station public security station in Jiangxi province, en route to Zhuhai," Liu wrote in a WeChat post before going incommunicado.

"I asked for a written record [of this interaction], but they refused."

The incident comes as China has stepped up detentions of dissidents and religious figures ahead of the annual session of its rubber-stamp parliament, the National People's Congress.

Liu, a former member of the now-shuttered public interest law firm Beijing Fengrui, went incommunicado on the eve of the annual session in Beijing, a time when the authorities typically target critics of the ruling Chinese Communist Party.

Liu represented dissident artist Ai Weiwei after he was detained by police at Beijings airport on April 3, 2011, and held for 78 days in an undisclosed location. The Chinese authorities eventually said Ai was detained over alleged tax evasion.

Other clients have included journalists and activists accused of subverting the Chinese Communist Party.

Ai, who is currently in Germany, said Liu was a rare breed of rights attorney in today's China.

Lawyers like Liu Xiaoyuan are very hard to come by in China  there are only a few others like him  such as the lawyers who were targeted [in a nationwide crackdown] on July 9, 2015, Ai said in response to Liu's disappearance.

But Liu is still the most outstanding, in terms of his actions. Maybe it's down to his personality  he just doesn't give up.

Stopped by rail police

Before going missing, Liu wrote that he had been stopped by rail police while attempting to travel.

The Civil Rights and Livelihood Watch website also reported concerns about Liu's whereabouts, tweeting a message from the lawyer on the day of his "disappearance."

"My ID card showed up as invalid when I went through the [automatic security] gates, and it wouldn't let me through with just a train ticket," Liu said in comments posted by the group to Twitter.

"Then four railway policemen surrounded me and wouldn't let me go, and the duty supervisor even wanted to confiscate my ID card," he wrote.

"[They said] they were assisting the state security police in my hometown of Suichuan county with their investigation," Liu said.

Police officers watch over passengers waiting for a public bus ahead of the annual National People's Congress in Beijing, Thursday, March 2, 2023. Credit: Associated Press

A fellow rights lawyer who asked to remain anonymous confirmed the rights groups' accounts.

"Liu [told me] last night that he didn't eat, because he was waiting for them to give him an explanation," the lawyer said. "I haven't been able to contact him since [Wednesday] afternoon."

"His mobile phone is switched on, but nobody is picking up," he said.

He said Liu has been repeatedly harassed and persecuted by the government since he was targeted in a 2015 nationwide police operation that saw hundreds of lawyers, law firm staff and rights activists detained, hauled in for questioning and even jailed for subversion.

Ai said Liu was already under tight police surveillance and banned from traveling outside of his home province of Jiangxi.

The lawyer had tweeted before going incommunicado that the state security police would likely come for him, Ai said.

Stripped of license

Authorities in Beijing stripped Liu of his license to practice as a lawyer in October 2019 after he published a photo of himself selling insecticide as a street vendor - an image that could be considered a kind of art[and] a complaint against the abuse of power by authorities who had forced the shutdown of his law firm he told RFA at the time.

An employee who answered the phone at the Ganzhou municipal railway police department declined to comment when contacted by Radio Free Asia on Thursday about Lius disappearance.

They shouldn't be putting restrictions on lawyers, who are one of the most basic signs that a country has a healthy respect for the law, Ai said.

If they keep disappearing lawyers, it only demonstrates how sick their society is when it comes to the rule of law, he said.

Meanwhile, veteran journalist Gao Yu has been taken to the eastern province of Shandong under police escort, while police in the southwestern province of Guizhou have placed more than a dozen members of the banned Guizhou Human Rights Forum under detention or house arrest, activists told Radio Free Asia.

Prominent dissidents Zha Jianguo and Ji Feng are both under house arrest or close surveillance, as is rights activist Li Wei, who posted that he was "going out to walk around and shop, with personal carers alongside," in an apparent reference to state security police minders.

Guizhou rights activists Chen Xi, Li Renke, Liao Shuangyuan, and Shen Youlian have all been placed under close surveillance, while a local Protestant church member said Guizhou pastor Yang Hua is currently under travel restrictions that will likely end in mid-March, after the National People's Congress closes.

Translated by Luisetta Mudie. Edited by Boer Deng, Malcolm Foster and Matt Reed.
The National People's Congress will likely see a reshuffle of security, intelligence and financial powers.

Chinese President Xi Jinping is expected to announce a political restructuring that will give him more concentrated power over the daily affairs of the country.

Ruling Chinese Communist Party leader Xi Jinping will be looking to eliminate high-profile rivals and other influential figures from the political scene, while taking a firmer grip of the country's purse-strings at the forthcoming National People's Congress annual session in Beijing, analysts told Radio Free Asia in recent interviews.

Xi is widely expected to announce thorough-going political restructuring that will give him still more concentrated power over the daily affairs of the country, including the downgrading of the State Council in favor of special committees controlled by the highest echelons of party leaders in Beijing.

He also presides over a flagging economy, a massive hole in public finances following three years of the zero-COVID policy and flatlining business confidence, amid an ongoing crackdown on private companies and prominent members of the financial elite.

Plans are underway to hive off the ministries of public security and state security from the government hierarchy, and run their portfolios under a party Central Internal Affairs Commission similar to the structure used by Moscow in the days of the Soviet Union, Hong Kong's Ming Pao newspaper reported recently.

Other State Council functions could also migrate to direct party control, including the departments in charge of Hong Kong and Macau, and of managing ties with democratic Taiwan.

New members of the Politburo Standing Committee, front to back, President Xi Jinping, Li Qiang, Zhao Leji, Wang Huning, Cai Qi, Ding Xuexiang, and Li Xi arrive at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing, Sunday, Oct. 23, 2022. Political commentator Cai Shenkun believes Xi worries that one of the Politburo members could one day take him down. Credit: Associated Press Independent political commentator Cai Shenkun said much of the expected restructuring, public details of which will likely emerge at the National People's Congress, will be aimed at ensuring that no effective or popular political figure can rise to challenge Xi's personal power and influence.

"Downgrading the State Council would actually make it impossible for anyone to rise to a place of prominence from within its ranks," Cai said.

He said Xi may have succeeded in stacking the ruling party's Politburo and its all-powerful, seven-member standing committee with officials loyal to him, but he still has a nagging worry that one of them could become powerful enough to bring him down.

"He won't be totally trusting of those people, even of someone as loyal to him as Li Qiang," Cai said, in a reference to the Politburo standing committee member widely expected to be made premier at the forthcoming National People's Congress.

"This may now become the norm for China's political structure, going forward."

Financial challenges ahead

U.S.-based journalist Deng Yuwen, a former editor of Communist Party school publication, said Xi is likely more focused on gearing up for financial challenges, however.

"He has been in power for a long time now, so there isn't anyone who could challenge his position," Deng said. "Given the current environment, his top priority will be ensuring that certain problems don't arise, such as in the financial sector."

Deng said Xi had already taken much of the State Council's power for himself during his last five-year term in office, taking the responsibility for running the economy away from his premier Li Keqiang, in a break with decades of collective leadership at the top of the party.

"The State Council is just an administrative department now," Deng said, although he said Li Keqiang did have a seat on Xi's powerful committees governing financial and economic affairs as well as state reforms, and that he expects that to continue under Li Qiang.

Yi Gang, governor of the People's Bank of China, speaks to journalists after a press conference at the State Council Information Office in Beijing, Friday, March 3, 2023. There are concerns that Chinese President Xi Jinping is moving away from appointing economic technocrats to run the economy. Credit: Associated Press Scott Kennedy, senior adviser at the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington, said there are concerns that Xi is moving away from the tendency in recent decades to appoint economic technocrats to run the economy.

"For the last 30-plus years, Chinas economic performance has depended on very smart, wise, economic bureaucrats who have [been] given political space to implement a whole variety of economic policies that are pragmatic," Kennedy said.

"Theres a worry that this era is coming to an end, certainly because of the overall direction and trajectory Xi Jinping wants to take the country, his emphasis on political loyalty above expertise," he said.

He said the officials currently heading the central bank, banking regulators and security market regulars are all scheduled for retirement or redeployment, with their more powerful political mentors also expected to step down at this parliament.

"Their replacements, who have not been named yet, may understand math, but they may not understand economies, and they may understand who their boss is even more," Kennedy said. "The economy looks really problematic  short term and long term."

Jude Blanchette, who holds the Freeman Chair in China Studies at the same institution, said Xi will likely build on the significant restructuring he began at the 2018 National People's Congress.

"We saw significant transfer of power vertically from the State Council up into the Communist Party," Blanchette said. "So we saw party organizations take over roles that had previously been held by state council ministries and bureaucracies. "

Mounting debt burden

He said Xi has a tendency to elevate party-led "working groups," which used to play a coordinating role within the party hierarchy, to the status of commissions, or ministries, in a significant expansion of their power.

"The indications are that the reform plan thats going to be announced this year will be, roughly, equal in its importance," he said.

Cai agreed that the financial sector is going to be a key priority for Xi, noting the recent detention of China Renaissance private banker Bao Fan, who is "assisting the authorities with an investigation," according to a company notice filed with the Hong Kong Stock Exchange.

"Xi Jinping wants to set up a new Central Financial Work Committee," he said. "It may be that he thinks that Li Qiang isn't up to the job of cleaning up the financial system, or that Xi has reservations about him."

A woman has her routine COVID-19 test at a coronavirus testing site setup inside a residential compound in Beijing, Nov. 24, 2022. "A lot of money was wasted" with zero-COVID, says a resident of Jianjun. Credit: Associated Press Official figures released ahead of the National People's Congress showed that China's public revenue totaled more than 20 trillion yuan last year, while expenditure topped 26 trillion yuan, an increase of 6.1% on the previous year, finance minister Liu Kun told a March 1 news conference in Beijing.

Cai said he estimates that around one third of public expenditure last year went on the rolling lockdowns, mass quarantines and compulsory daily COVID-19 testing programs of Xis zero-COVID policy.

The policy has left local governments struggling with an ever-mounting debt burden, prompting officials to borrow more to pay back old debts, and to raid the coffers of medical insurance funds to make ends meet, resulting in cuts to medical benefits and mass protests in major cities last month.

"Local governments and officials were forced into borrowing desperately so as to lock down their cities, without regard to cost," Cai said. "Local officials were fired ... in Guangdong ... for failing to implement the zero-COVID restrictions."

"According to my understanding, a lot of local governments have been dipping into medical insurance funds, so they have been unable to make normal payouts for medical insurance as in previous years," he said. "This year's medical insurance reforms were fueled in large part by the fact that much of that funding has been leached away."

Costly pandemic policies

Finance minister Liu Kun warned on March 1 that the government would continue to insist that party and government officials "keep a tight rein" on their finances.

Hu Jianjun, a resident of a small city in the eastern province of Shandong, said the zero-COVID policy had sparked a huge amount of waste.

"A lot of money was wasted," Hu said. "For example, in my residential community, where one of the leaders is a friend of mine, that small community was spending 500,000 yuan a day just on pandemic restrictions."

"Communities in bigger cities spent even more frightening amounts."

Bloomberg cited official data in a Feb. 27 report as saying that at least 17 of China's 31 provinces and municipalities are facing severe fiscal deficits, with local borrowing exceeding 120% of income, which the ministry of finance set as a "warning level" for local government debt in 2020.

Xie Tian, a professor at the Aiken School of Business at the University of South Carolina, said 10 provinces currently have a debt-to-income ratio of more than 200%, with one running at more than 300%.

U.S.-based economist Li Hengqing said local governments have also had to deal with increased tax reductions, exemptions and early tax refunds, while the ongoing downturn in the real estate industry has led to a sharp drop in land transfer fees, which once accounted for 40% of local fiscal revenues.

"Every tax rebate is a form of expenditure, which is made to maintain the overall economy and to comply with requirements from the central government," Li said.

"The other cost is the pandemic, with local governments bearing most of the costs of pandemic restrictions, especially where it relates to local organization and the hiring of personnel like pandemic prevention staff and police and community workers who maintained order," he said.

But he said there is currently little scope to boost government finances through overall economic growth.

"There isn't much likelihood of an economic recovery in China, which means there isn't much likelihood that local governments will be able to pay back their debts, either," he said.



Translated by Luisetta Mudie.
The NLD says they supported graft claims against Aung San Suu Kyi and upcoming sham elections.

Yangon Chief Minister Phyo Min Thein testified as a prosecution witness on behalf of Myanmars military junta in a case against deposed State Counsellor Aung San Suu Kyi.

Myanmars deposed National League for Democracy on Friday expelled four top officials, including the partys head of Yangon, for supporting the juntas case against Chairwoman Aung San Suu Kyi and the militarys planned election for later this year.

The NLD said in a statement that it had permanently banned Yangon Chief Minister Phyo Min Thein and three other members of the Central Committee  Sandar Min, Toe Lwin, and Win Myint Aung  for bolstering false evidence of bribery against Suu Kyi and using the partys name to back sham polls it claims the junta will use to justify its grip on power.

The party won Myanmars 2020 general election in a landslide, receiving more than 82% of public support. But the military staged a coup in February 2021 after accusing the NLD of election fraud  claims it has yet to provide evidence of more than two years later.

Bo Bo Oo, who prior to the military takeover represented Yangons Dala township as an NLD lawmaker in the National Assembly, said the decision demonstrates the partys ironclad opposition to military rule.

The NLD has proved with this statement that it is going to stand firmly against the sham election that the terrorist military junta is preparing to hold because the people who have been expelled are believed to have approached and cooperated with the military on its upcoming election in the hope of getting whatever position of power they can, he said.

The NLDs announcement follows Phyo Min Theins testimony last year as a witness for the prosecution that Suu Kyi accepted 11.4 kilograms (402 ounces) of gold and cash payments from him totaling U.S.$600,000.

Suu Kyi, 77, had dismissed the claims as absurd, but in April a military court found her guilty of violating the countrys Anti-corruption Law and sentenced her to five years in jail.

It was the first of 11 corruption cases brought by the junta against the Nobel laureate, who served as Myanmars state counsellor from 2016 up until the militarys February 2021 coup.

In December, a junta court sentenced Suu Kyi to another seven years in prison on five counts of alleged corruption, bringing the total number of years she must serve in detention to 33.

Suu Kyi was arrested with former President Win Myint in Naypyidaw shortly after the military seized power. She had already spent 15 of 21 years under house arrest following her detention by the military State Peace and Development Council government in 1989 until her release in 2010.

The NLDs announcement on Friday also followed reports that Suu Kyi refused requests by Sandar Min and Toe Lwin to visit her at Naypyidaw Prison in November.

Attempts by RFA to reach NLD representatives for comment on the decision to expel the four party leaders went unanswered, as did attempts to reach the banned members.

According to the NLD's Human Rights Documentation Team, in the two years since the coup authorities have killed 84 party members, including three former lawmakers, and arrested at least 1,232 others.

Translated by Myo Min Aung. Edited by Joshua Lipes and Malcolm Foster.
Pho Ke, 17, [left] and La Min Sein, 15, were beheaded by Myanmar junta troops in Sagaings Myinmu township on Feb. 26, 2023.

Two teenagers found beheaded last week were two of the most gruesome victims of an escalating number of violent incidents that the United Nations special rapporteur says are consistent with patterns of brutality among forces affiliated with the military junta.

The teenagers were Peoples Defense Force members who were trying to plant a mine while retreating after a battle with junta forces in the northern Sagaing region, the leader of a PDF Force force told Radio Free Asia. They were captured near Nyaung Pin Kan village on Feb. 25 and killed the following day in Myinmu township, the PDF leader said.

We found their bodies on the morning of the 27th, he said. The scene suggested that they were beheaded alive by the military soldiers.

The victims were 15-year-old La Min Sein, also known as Pho Sein, and 17-year-old Pho Ke. Photographs seen by RFA show the heads, along with other bloodstained body parts. The PDF leader said the two teens didnt have any gunshot wounds.

He said he went to ask local villagers about the incident, but there was no one in the village following a military raid.

In a separate incident, another PDF leader told RFA that two soldiers from his force were found beheaded following a Feb. 27 battle with military troops.

His forces had to retreat from the battle at Kan Taw village due to lack of ammunition. When they returned the next morning, they found the bodies of the two fighters with their heads left hanging on a fence post and from a bamboo hut, he said.

The two separate beheading incidents took place in the same general area.

Generating fear and terror

Mass killings suspected to be carried out by the military have increased significantly in 14 townships in Sagaing since martial law was imposed in February, according to local residents.

Tom Andrews, the U.N. special rapporteur for Myanmar, told RFA on Friday that this pattern of brutality from the junta has included using extreme violence to generate fear and terror, especially in areas where opposition to the junta is particularly strong.

Documentation of these and other atrocities is critical, he said. Those who commit war crimes and crimes against humanity must know that they will be held accountable.

Earlier this week, junta troops razed an entire village in Sagaing region, leaving three people dead and nearly all the villages 700 homes destroyed.

And in another incident in Sagaing, 16 bodies were found in Nyaung Yin village in Myinmu township. Military troops had abducted 17 civilians from the nearby Tar Taing village early on March 1.

Residents told RFA that a military force of nearly 100 soldiers took part in the raid on Tar Taing village.

Tar Taing village and Nyaung Yin village in Myinmu are separated only by the Mu River, said a resident, who refused to be named for security reasons. Tar Taing villagers didnt flee as they thought that the military forces would not come in their direction.

Victims wore longyi and other civilian clothing

The bodies of seven men were found in Nyaung Yin. The bodies of six men and three women were found at another location. They all appeared to be shot dead from behind, the resident said.

The 16 victims were all between the ages of 30 and 50. It was unknown if the final missing person was still alive, the resident said.

Military troops also mutilated and killed a local defense force leader during the March 1 raid on Tar Taing, according to local residents.

Junta spokesman for Sagaing region, Aye Hlaing, said that he wasnt aware of the incidents when contacted by RFA.

A Telegram account controlled by pro-military writers reported that a battle broke out between military forces in Sagaing and PDF forces near Tar Taing village on March 1. The account reported that another fight broke out near Nyaung Yin village, and that 15 PDF members were arrested on March 2.

Locals said that those arrested and killed were innocent civilians.

According to video footage and photos of the victims circulating on social media, the bodies of the victims had civilian clothes, such as regular longyi (sarong) and shirts, and some of the victims had been shot in the head.

The Assistance Association for Political Prisoners said there have been 3,073 deaths due to arrests and killings of the junta forces since the 2021 military coup detat, according to statistics released by the group on March 1.

Translated by Myo Min Aung. Edited by Matt Reed and Malcolm Foster.
No one is believed to have been injured in the attacks in central Naypyidaw.

The aftermath of the bomb attack on the Mandalay Palace restaurant, Ayeyarwady Road, Naypyidaw on March 1, 2023.

Myanmars capital city Naypyidaw  seat of the junta leadership  has been rattled by explosions for three days in a row.

On Tuesday, attackers threw a grenade at the home of Mya Nyein, residents of his densely populated Shwe Kyar Pin neighborhood told RFA. Nobody was injured.

Mya Nyein was the National Assembly vice speaker in Myanmars first democratically elected government under then-president Thein Sein.

He is now a consultant to the military-backed Union Solidarity and Development Party.

The Sittaung Urban Guerrilla Group  Nay Pyi Taw (Naypyidaw) on Friday claimed responsibility for the attack, saying Mya Nyein was helping the junta behind the scenes.

On Wednesday, a bomb exploded at the Mandalay Paradise restaurant on Naypyidaws bustling Ayeyarwady Road. Again no one was injured despite it being the capitals busiest dining street.

The loud explosion at the intersection of Mandalay Paradise and Chai Ywa road could be heard from far away, said a local who didnt want to be named for fear of reprisals, adding that the blast damaged nearby buildings.

On Thursday evening bombers struck again, setting off a blast at a checkpoint staffed by junta troops and police officers in Naypyidaws central Za Bu Thi Ri township.

It's not clear which group is responsible for the bombings on Wednesday and Thursday. The junta has not released a statement on any of the attacks.

Nowadays, bomb blasts are frequent, said the local who heard Wednesdays explosion.

On Feb. 4, a local administrators home in the Shwe Kyar Pin neighborhood was hit by a bomb, residents said.

On February 22, a local Peoples Defense Force attacked the No. 2030 Air Defense Force unit in Naypyidaw with long-range heavy artillery.

Residents said the junta has stepped up security in areas of the capital where junta members and military units are based.

Translated by RFA Burmese. Edited by Mike Firn.
Setiwaldi Kerim was passionate about teaching Uyghur literature at a middle school in Atush, in Chinas far-western Xinjiang region, where he worked his entire career.

He even collaborated with a group of educators who specialized in the Turkic language spoken by the more than 11 million inhabitants of the region to work on literature textbook project for middle-school and high-school students. Kerim worked with other scholars under the leadership of Sattar Sawut, the head of Xinjiangs Education Bureau.

Kerim, now about 52, loved teaching so much that he also wrote a book on his own titled My New Classroom, based on his classroom experiences while teaching the material in the textbooks at Atushs No. 1 Middle School.

He also wrote stories for the Uyghur publication Kezilsu Literature and was a social activist who gave public talks on his book of recollections and teaching methods at literature and art events.

Just before Kerim was about to retire in 2017, his career came to an abrupt halt when authorities arrested him for promoting separatism in his books, local police told Radio Free Asia, without mentioning specific texts.

Setiwaldi Kerims only so-called crime was his exemplary role of teaching these new textbooks, said Abdulweli Ayup, a Norway-based Uyghur activist and linguist, originally from Xinjiangs Kashgar, who maintains a database of detained Uyghurs. He represented a group of teachers who supported the new textbooks.

Attempts to erase Uyghur culture

In 2017, Chinese authorities intensified their crackdown on Uyghurs and other Muslim Turkic minorities and began detaining them in prisons or re-education camps to receive what they said was vocational training to prevent religious extremism and terrorism in the restive region.

They targeted Uyghur intellectuals, including language and literature teachers, prominent businesspeople and Muslim clerics in a wider effort to erase Uyghur culture.

Kerim was sentenced to 19 years in prison, a public security employee in Atush, capital of the Kezilsu Kyrgyz Autonomous Prefecture in western Xinjiang, recently told Radio Free Asia.

We arrested him when he was about to retire in 2017, said the person, who declined to be named so she could speak freely about Kerim.

I cannot tell you why we arrested him, she added.

The teachers name is included on the list of detained and missing Uyghurs compiled by Ayups Uyghuryar Foundation, an advocacy and aid organization also known as Uyghur Hjelp in Norwegian. The organization has identified more than 20 teachers and listed their names on a list of imprisoned Uyghur scholars.

Setiwaldi Kerim was an outstanding implementer and interpreter of the newly compiled Uyghur literature textbooks, said Ayup, the organization's founder.

Kerim, who hailed from Otyagh village Ustunatush township began teaching at the middle school in Atush shortly after he graduated from Xinjiang University with a degree in literature, and taught the subject until his arrest.

Ayup said his detention was likely due to the Uyghur literature textbook project for middle-school and high-school students during the late 1990s and early 2000s.

Excellent teacher award

Kerim was an outstanding pedagogue who played an exemplary role in demonstrating the success of the newly compiled textbooks, Ayup said. Kerim even won an Excellent Teacher award at a conference on the new textbooks in Atush in 2004.

The impact of the newly compiled textbooks had been deep and wide, Ayup told RFA. These textbooks became the Chinese governments target because they described Uyghur history, culture and customs very well.

The Chinese authorities used these textbooks as an excuse to directly target and attack Uyghur scholars and writers like Setiwaldi Kerim, he said. People like him supported these textbooks, and they passionately taught their contents in their classrooms.

As part of the widespread crackdown on Uyghurs in Xinjiang, Chinese authorities not only prohibited school textbooks they had previously approved, but also arrested scholars who participated in their writing and compilation.

Chinese authorities also handed down jail sentences to Yalqun Rozi, Tahir Nasir and Wahitjan Osman, other Uyghur scholars who worked on the textbooks, according to Ayup.

Authorities also imprisoned Abdurazaq Sayim and Alimjan Memtimin, former publishers who directed the compiling of the textbooks, while Sawut Sattar, head of Xinjiangs Education Bureau, received a death sentence with a reprieve.

Translated by RFA Uyghur. Edited by Roseanne Gerin and Malcolm Foster.


A rights group says there is no acceptable reason for the move and called for his release.

Activist Le Minh The, 60, was arrested by Vietnamese police last month for posts he made on his Facebook page.

Vietnamese authorities have barred relatives and legal counsel from meeting with a detained Facebook user under investigation for posting illegal content, prompting criticism from an international rights group, which called the move a clear rights violation.

Late last month, police in southern Vietnams Can Tho city arrested activist Le Minh The, 60, for posts on his Facebook page they allege were in violation of a vaguely worded law routinely used to suppress independent bloggers and journalists.

The was charged with abusing the rights to freedom and democracy to violate the States interests and legitimate rights and interests of organizations and individuals under Article 331, state media reported at the time.

On Friday, Thes younger sister, Le Thi Binh, told RFA Vietnamese that guards at the Long Tuyen Detention Center had refused her family the right to see him, although they agreed to let them deposit money for him to buy food and other necessities, as well as deliver him some meals.

On [Wednesday], I went to the detention center to see my brother The and send him some food, she said. However, the detention centers staff said I could not see him while he is under investigation. I called the investigation team, but they did not answer.

Binh, who completed a two-year jail term on the same charge in late 2022, said that the Binh Thuy District Police had yet to provide her family with any documents related to Thes arrest, including a report detailing a search of their home on Feb. 22.

RFA called Officer Ky, who is investigating Thes case, but he refused to confirm Binhs claims and referred further inquiries to the Binh Thuy Police Department. A staff member at the Binh Thuy Police Department told RFA that a reporter would have to meet with senior officers in person for any information about the case.

State media reports detailing Thes arrest claimed he had posted illegal content on Facebook, but did not specify what post had violated the law. The last post on Thes Facebook account concerned U.S. President Joe Bidens visit to Ukraine on Feb. 21, while other posts included content about Vietnam, a police summons for his sister, information about homegrown electric car maker VinFast, and a recent RFA article about a fortune teller-turned-priest.

Looking at his livestreams and other content [on Facebook], I didnt see anything against the State, Binh told RFA, noting that most of the articles he shared were published by state media.

He talked about some corrupt government officials who had already been arrested. He also livestreamed a video about polluted wastewater in his neighborhood.

Prior sentence on same charges

The charges facing The are the same ones he was sentenced to two years in prison for in March 2019. He completed his jail term in July 2020, accounting for time spent in detention prior to his conviction.

Both The and his sister were refused visits from their families while they were under investigation for their earlier charges  a policy Hanoi Bar Association lawyer Ha Huy Son told RFA is only applicable to people accused of committing offenses against national security, which they were not.

Phil Robertson, deputy director for Human Rights Watchs Asia division, said there is no acceptable reason for authorities to prevent legal counsel and relatives from visiting The.

Every time the authorities commit such a clear rights violation, it undermines Hanoi's claims to be providing free and fair trials to those it prosecutes in court, he said in an emailed statement to RFA. What's clear is that the police believe they enjoy impunity to do whatever they want, and that laws do not necessarily apply to them."

Robertson said the fact that The was arrested for expressing his opinions on his Facebook page demonstrates the Vietnamese governments intolerance of dissent.

Although freedom of speech is a universal human right and should not be criminalized, in Vietnam the authorities often harass, intimidate, and arrest anyone speaking up against government policy, he said.

Anticipating another significant jail term for The, Robertson called on the international community to take action. Foreign diplomats should be demanding that Hanoi stop these kinds of arrests, and immediately and unconditionally release Le Minh The, he said.

Translated by Anna Vu. Edited by Joshua Lipes and Malcolm Foster.
Welcome to The Azadi Briefing, an RFE/RL newsletter that unpacks the key issues in Afghanistan. To subscribe, click here.

I'm Abubakar Siddique, a senior correspondent at RFE/RL's Radio Azadi. Here's what I've been tracking and what I'm keeping an eye on in the days ahead.

The Key Issue

The Taliban on March 1 celebrated the third anniversary of the controversial U.S.-Taliban agreement, hailing it as a "great victory" and the "last nail in the coffin" of the "imperial invader."

Under the 2020 deal, Washington agreed to the unconditional withdrawal of all foreign forces from Afghanistan in exchange for counterterrorism guarantees from the Taliban, which pledged to negotiate a peace settlement with the internationally recognized Afghan government.

But the Taliban took advantage of the rapid drawdown of foreign troops by launching a major offensive against Afghan security forces. Within weeks, the militants had seized Kabul.

U.S. State Department Spokesman Ned Price on March 1 conceded that the agreement "empowered the Taliban [and] it weakened our partners in the Afghan government," which was excluded from the bilateral U.S.-Taliban deal.

In a new report, the Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction (SIGAR), a U.S. government watchdog, concluded that the agreement "set in motion a series of events" that led to the collapse of the U.S.-funded Afghan armed forces.

Why It's Important: Since returning to power, the Taliban has appeared to renege on its key commitments under the U.S.-Taliban deal, including denying sanctuary to extremist groups.

The Taliban has been accused of sheltering the leadership of the Tehrik-e Taliban Pakistan (TTP) militant group, which has staged deadly attacks in neighboring Pakistan in recent years.

Meanwhile, a U.S. drone strike in July killed Al-Qaeda chief Ayman al-Zawahri in the heart of Kabul, where he was believed to have lived under the protection of the Taliban.

The Taliban's failure to abide by the bilateral deal with the United States has undermined its efforts to gain international recognition and secure foreign assistance.

What's Next: The Taliban's violations of the agreement as well as its human rights abuses and repression of women have once again made it an international pariah.

The international community has sanctioned and blacklisted key Taliban members and cut off the militant group from the international financial system.

But it is ordinary Afghans, reeling from a devastating humanitarian and economic crisis, who are most affected by the Taliban's growing isolation.

The Week's Best Stories

The snowy slopes of Bamiyan in central Afghanistan had become a high-altitude safe space for amateur women skiers over the past two decades. But everything has gone downhill since the return of Taliban rule and the hard-line Islamist group's ban on women participating in sports.

Samira Mohammadi's restaurant in the Afghan capital is run exclusively by and for women. It serves as a rare haven in a society where the Taliban has restricted women's basic freedoms since coming to power in 2021.

What To Keep An Eye On

The Taliban on February 28 announced that it killed two senior members of the Islamic State-Khorasan (IS-K) extremist group in recent weeks.

Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid said Qari Fateh, who he described as IS-K's intelligence and operations chief, was killed in a raid in Kabul on February 26.

The Taliban said it killed Ijaz Amin Ahangar, who was believed to be the leader of IS-K on the Indian subcontinent, in a separate operation last month in Kabul.

Why It's Important: Since seizing power, the Taliban has waged a brutal war against IS-K, its rival.

But the extremists have continued to carry out high-profile attacks against religious minorities, Taliban officials, and foreign missions in Afghanistan.

The attacks have undermined the Taliban-led government and highlighted the enduring threat from IS-K militants.

That's all from me for now. Don't forget to send me any questions, comments, or tips that you have.

Until next time,

Abubakar Siddique

If you enjoyed this briefing and don't want to miss the next edition, subscribe here. It will be sent to your inbox every Friday.
KYIV -- Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy has called for "effective security guarantees for Ukraine" immediately, even as rescue work continues following a Russian air strike in the Donetsk region city of Slovyansk that left at least 11 civilians dead.

In his nightly video address on April 15, Zelenskiy said he had held a 90-minute phone call with French President Emmanuel Macron during which the two leaders affirmed "those principles that unite our entire anti-war coalition," including that Russia must withdraw from all Ukrainian territory, that all points of the UN Charter must be enforced, and that "none of Russia's violations of international law can be ignored."

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.

"It is upon such principles that security and peace will be restored in international relations," Zelenskiy said.

He urged NATO leaders to extend "effective security guarantees for Ukraine" ahead of the NATO summit in Vilnius in July, "even before we join the alliance." Ukraine in September asked NATO to consider it for an accelerated membership path.

Speaking at a Black Sea regional security conference in Bucharest on April 15, Defense Minister Oleksiy Resnikov called on the international community to seize "the strategic initiative and be ready to act quickly and preemptively" in the face of security threats.

Such an approach, he said, "will be the best sobering factor for any aggressor." He also called for a "system of guarantees" that he said could curb "the desire of the Russian Federation to solve things by force."

In his video address, Zelenskiy said over 50 buildings had been damaged or destroyed in the Slovyansk air strike on April 14 and that "there are still bodies" under the rubble. One of the victims was an "boy born in 2021," he said. At least 23 people were reportedly injured in the attack.

"None of those who are guilty of this aggression can be forgiven or forgotten," he concluded.

WATCH: Both Slovyansk and neighboring Kramatorsk are facing intensified attacks by Russian invading forces, currently bogged down in nearby Bakhmut, which they have tried to seize for months, taking heavy casualties but advancing slowly.

The Ukrainian military on April 16 reported more than 60 Russian attacks along the contested front around the Donetsk region city of Bakhmut, which has seen the most intense fighting of the war over the past several months.

In addition, the General Staff reported in its daily briefing, there were attacks in the Kherson and Zaporizhzhya areas.

The military administration in the Zaporizhzhya region reported a "massive attack" overnight that damaged a church in the settlement of Komyshuvakha. The extent of the damage and number of possible casualties was being determined, administration head Yuriy Malashko wrote on Telegram.
Many observers were caught off guard when Belarusian autocrat Alyaksandr Lukashenka was invited to China for a three-day state visit, but the motives for the visit are coming into focus.

While Belarus courting more Chinese investment was a clear reason for the visit, the war in Ukraine is a shared concern for both Lukashenka and Chinese leader Xi Jinping.

During his trip, Lukashenka endorsed Chinas 12-point proposal to broker a cease-fire between Kyiv and Moscow and signed a range of bilateral agreements on trade and technology that total $3.5 billion, according to Belarusian authorities.

But the timing of the visit amid U.S. allegations that Beijing is considering providing military aid to Russia has fueled speculation the trip was an opportunity to chart a diplomatic path forward for the yearlong war in Ukraine.

RFE/RL spoke with Nigel Gould-Davies, former British ambassador to Belarus and a senior fellow at the International Institute for Strategic Studies, to find out more.

RFE/RL: We saw some vague mentions of economic cooperation, that Lukashenka endorsed the Chinese position paper on the Ukraine war, and that Minsk is apparently leaving with a combined $3.5 billion in future Chinese investment. What's your takeaway on the visit, and against what backdrop do you think it should be seen?

Nigel Gould-Davies: I think that the broader context is key and there are some dots that need to be joined, however speculative, to get to the essence of this visit.

On the surface, this was mostly about economics, trade, investment, car manufacturing, and further developing some of the joint initiatives like Great Stone Park, the large Chinese-funded industrial area outside of Minsk. But you don't really need a three-day visit by a head of state to accomplish all of that.

With few exceptions, Lukashenka rarely travels abroad and -- particularly with everything going on in Belarus's neighborhood -- he needs a good reason to travel all the way to China and spend that amount of time outside the country. So, it makes it hard to avoid this suspicion that this visit was really about the war in Ukraine.

This also comes just after China unveiled its so-called peace plan, which in my view just applies a set of principles or things that it would like to happen rather than an actual outline of how you get from here to there. But it's a significant Chinese diplomatic intervention, and I think it amplifies Chinas anxiety about the war and its desire for it to end sooner than later.

Lukashenka also has compelling reasons for wanting the war to end as well. In particular, he wants to resist growing Russian pressure for Belarusian forces to become co-combatants and shift from only allowing Belarus to be used to base Russian forces and launch Russian attacks.

So, this trip is interesting because we see the two countries closest to Russia -- China and Belarus -- both meeting and saying publicly that they want the war to end as quickly as possible.



RFE/RL: The timing of the visit seems to have caught many off-guard and certainly got lots of attention given that it came amid U.S. allegations that China is considering sending weapons to Russia. Im curious for your thoughts on the timing and also on some of the speculation that perhaps this trip was about exploring options for Belarus to help China skirt sanctions and deliver military aid to Russia.

Gould-Davies: We can't really go beyond what the available evidence can reasonably suggest.

Belarus is feeling the pressure of Western sanctions and is in need of aid, trade, and investment from China. But sending Russia aid through Belarus would push things in a very different direction and risk escalating the war by equipping Russia with fresh supplies. Doing something like this certainly wouldn't be conducive to ending the war, and I guess this ultimately comes down to what Chinese priorities are.

We've seen these American concerns that China might be preparing to not only help Russia's economy but to supply its military with things like ammunition and drones. So far there's no evidence that I'm aware of that this has taken place and, if it did, it would be a very serious step.

There isn't much at the moment to suggest that China might somehow supply weapons to Belarus for Russian use. That doesn't make much sense to me. If Russia and China were to do that, then why not just give them to Russia directly? There's no particular reason in my mind why Belarus would need to be involved, and they would need to go through Russia anyways.

Another thought is that it's widely expected that Xi Jinping will make a state visit to Moscow later this year and this has been telegraphed by Putin himself recently. So, is Lukashenka's visit some form of preparation for that?

It's hard to say, of course, but Lukashenka is a frequent visitor to Moscow, and he made some eccentric comments [on February 16] that Biden would soon be visiting the region and that he'd be happy to host a meeting between him and Putin in Minsk to try and end the war. I don't think that Putin was especially happy about those comments.

RFE/RL: You mentioned before this idea that Russias closest partners -- China and Belarus -- are maybe trying to get a sense of a possible path out of the war. But I think that raises some questions about Lukashenka and how much room he has to maneuver these days. Minsk has always been dependent on Moscow, but after Putin coming to his aid after the 2020 protests, hes more beholden than ever. So how much space does Lukashenka actually have to engage with Xi as an independent leader right now?



Gould-Davies: Lukashenka's position in respect to Moscow has been very weak since late 2020 after he essentially burned all his bridges with the West as a consequence of the brutal crackdown on peaceful demands for change in the country. He also continued burning them in various ways after that with things like diverting the Ryanair flight and flying in migrants to create pressure on the Polish border.

So, his position is certainly much weaker than before, but he's still not a puppet. He still has some room to maneuver, and there are certain things he's still able to resist from Russia. Granted, that room might be more limited than in the past.

What's harder to tell is how much of this trip to Beijing was carried out independently of Moscow or whether it's serving some purpose for Moscow that they had set up. If you're Beijing, you're setting three days aside for a state visit with the head of Belarus amid a long list of priorities at home and abroad, so you wouldnt do that if it wasn't important to some wider agenda. Although what exactly that [might be] is genuinely difficult to establish at this point.

This interview has been edited and condensed for clarity.
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.
ALMATY, Kazakhstan -- Nobody can accuse Lukpan Akhmedyarov of being a system candidate.



His campaign video ahead of March 19 parliamentary elections in Kazakhstan details his journey through Kazakhstans independence -- uncovering graft in media investigations, participating in anti-government rallies and, most famously, surviving an assassination attempt that saw him stabbed eight times and shot twice with an air gun.



A recent Facebook broadside against a candidate for Kazakhstans ruling party, Amanat, offers a flavor of the career journalists rhetoric.



"Previously, this party was a collection of corrupt officials. Now this party is promoting a man who hid his son from law enforcement agencies for more than a month after he accidentally killed a woman while driving a boat. And this person and party member assures us he will guarantee THE RULE OF LAW!" Akhmedyarov wrote.



The former editor of a legendary newspaper in the northwestern city of Oral, Akhmedyarov is one of more than 700 people competing for a place in the 98-seat lower house known as the Mazhlis.



More than 400 people are competing in single-member district races that are returning to parliament for the first time since 2004 but which account for just 29 of the seats.



These changes to the electoral law are part of a broader constitutional overhaul initiated by President Qasym-Zhomart Toqaev on the back of a political crisis of unprecedented scale that left at least 238 people dead in January 2022.



Toqaev, who said he ordered government troops to shoot to kill during the unrest, has emerged from the crisis as Kazakhstan's ultimate decider, eclipsing his aging and once-meddling predecessor, Nursultan Nazarbaev.

The head of state hailed "new, fairer, and more competitive rules for forming the representative branch of government" in a speech in January that claimed Kazakhstan was "undergoing a dynamic and comprehensive process of renewal."



But while these elections look to be rather different from recent votes monopolized by pro-government parties and their candidates, Akhmedyarov said the playing field feels far from even.



"We nonestablishment candidates are constantly looking at each other and asking each other when will we be ejected from the race and on what basis," Akhmedyarov said of his battle for the only one of three seats in the West Kazakhstan region that is reserved for single-district members.



Already, checks on the financial declarations of independents have resulted in the exclusion of several of these candidates aiming for parliament and city councils, which are also holding elections.



Candidates better connected to the political mainstream, however, got off to a flying start, observed Akhmedyarov of the first day of campaigning (February 18) in his native city, Oral.



"Within hours of the start of the campaign they already had expensive banners all over the city, expensive advertisements on TV," Akhmedyarov said.



"That is, they seem to be benefiting from administrative resources."



In, Out, And In Again



One element that the Kazakh election campaign team has had so far in spades is drama.



Zhibek Amenova, a candidate for Almaty's city council, was one of several eyewitnesses who saw parliamentary candidate Aigerim Tleuzhanova detained by police on February 28 at a branch of the Central Election Commission, where Tleuzhanova had just collected her candidacy documents.

Tleuzhanova, under investigation for what prosecutors say was her role in the brief seizure of Almaty airport during the unrest last year, was last month removed from the race after electoral authorities suggested one of her bank statements was fake.



"This was a completely illegal detention. By law, nothing can interfere with her status as a candidate, which was reinstated by the Supreme Court the day before," said Amenova who, like Tleuzhanova, is part of an informal support network of independents called Derbes Deputat.



Tleuzhanova was released hours after her arrest.



For Akhmedyarov, the first hurdle to becoming a candidate was the payment of more than 1 million tenges (around $2,300) to the state to participate in the elections, a figure he says is "inflated" in a country where average monthly incomes are just over $700 and even lower outside Almaty and the capital, Astana.



I wanted to crowdfund this money. But I found you have to set up a special fund and you can only do that in one bank -- Halyk. But Halyk tells you that supporters cant simply transfer money to you using mobile apps or Internet banking. No -- they have to come into a branch of the bank on their feet. Then, in order to make the contribution, they need a notarized power of attorney from me, their candidate. So crowdfunding is not really an option.

Despite limited campaign finances, the journalist has been getting around, but he complained that government officials have tried to derail his audiences with villagers in the West Kazakhstan region.



"There would always be someone in the audience that would ask me what foreign grants I accepted, or how I can consider myself a patriot if I plan to send my daughter to study at a university abroad," he said.



Akhmedyarov characterized the questions about his 17-year-old daughter, who is currently at school in Kazakhstan but has applied to a foreign university, as a form of top-down pressure likely leaked to provincial officials by security services.



The people asking these questions were employees of the village administrations -- they admitted it. I told them that I hoped that they asked the same questions about Toqaev and Nazarbaev's children, and their families properties abroad. The voters laughed. Then, when the question about my daughter was raised at a third meeting, voters started shouting the official down and she had to leave before she could finish the question.



New Parties But Not A New Path?



Whatever happens in the single-member districts, the Mazhlis will be dominated by parties and likely by one in particular -- the ruling Amanat party.



Formerly called Nur Otan in a nod to its founder, Nazarbaev, the party has seen a lot of turnover since the crisis, with Toqaevs constitutional changes prohibiting presidents from being party members and top officials from following his lead in leaving Amanat.



Yet the Amanat machine remains gargantuan and many observers believe that the six other parties competing -- two registered in recent months -- are essentially making up the numbers.



The pro-government English-language newspaper The Astana Times argued to the contrary, describing the registration in November of a party called Baitak a positive signal of the countrys expanding political plurality.



Baitak was the first new party to be registered in Kazakhstan in two decades and heads to the elections with a robust environmental agenda in tow, the newspaper said.

One very well-known voice on environmental issues has been blocked from standing for a seat on Almaty's city council for a second time, meanwhile, after her bid to win a seat in 2016 was foiled by electoral authorities claims of an infringement on her financial declaration.



Seven years ago, authorities said that clean air campaigner Asya Tulesova had detailed funds in her bank account amounting to 78 tiyin, or about one-fifth of a cent, more than was actually the case.



This time she was informed of her exclusion from the race last month after a check of her declaration found that a patent that was registered in her name by a company that she once worked for was missing -- a registration she said she knew nothing about.



For the moment, Tulesova is unsure whether she will appeal the decision and told RFE/RL that authorities are trying to create an appearance that reforms are going full steam ahead, while minimizing risks to the existing system.



They know that, if even a few truly independent candidates like [Akhmedyarov] were allowed to get into parliament or other independents onto councils, then it could really change the situation, because behind those few candidates would be massive support, Tulesova said.



Shavkhat Temisov, a member of the Central Election Commission, maintained at a press event this week that there was no connection between the de-registration of candidates and their public activities and said de-registered candidates could challenge the decisions in court or reapply.
Moldovan lawmakers have approved the first reading of a bill that will introduce the syntagma "Romanian language" in all official pieces of legislation during a stormy session that led to scuffles between the parliamentary majority and the opposition pro-Russian bloc.

The bill, introduced by pro-Western President Maia Sandu's ruling Action and Solidarity Party (PAS), was voted in favor of by 56 lawmakers in the 101-member parliament. The term "Romanian language" is intended to replace the currently used "Moldovan language," "official language," "state language," and "maternal language" in the constitution and all official documents. More than 80 percent of Moldovans speak Romanian as their mother tongue.

The naming of the country's official language is a hot political topic with "Romanian" favored by those who want closer relations or even unification with Romania, a European Union and NATO member.

Meanwhile, pro-Russians such as former President Igor Dodon want to keep the official language name "Moldovan," even though Moldovan isn't actually considered a language.

The measure was vocally opposed by the Moscow-backed opposition grouped in the Communists and Socialists' Bloc (BCS), who displayed banners reading "Referendum," "Moldova, Moldovans, Moldovan way," and "Do not mock the constitution."

Some PAS and BCS lawmakers engaged in scuffles and even exchanging blows. BCS lawmakers said they will challenge the move at the Constitutional Court.



Moldova, a country of roughly 2.7 million, is located between Romania and Ukraine and has a history that is deeply intertwined with Romania.

The two neighbors share a common history, culture, and language. The eastern region of Romania is also called Moldova.

Most of Moldova was annexed by tsarist Russia in 1812 and was part of the Russian empire under the name Bessarabia until the end of World War I, when it voted to unite with Romania.

It was again annexed by Moscow and turned into a Soviet republic at the end of World War II, before declaring independence in 1991 amid the collapse of the Soviet Union.

One of Europe's poorest countries, Moldova has been confronted with further instability by Russia's war in Ukraine, receiving thousands of Ukrainian refugees and fearing a potential Russian invasion aided by Moscow's troops stationed in its breakaway Transdniester region.

U.S.-educated Sandu has sought to bring Moldova closer to the European Union and the United States ever since she defeated Moscow-backed Communist incumbent Igor Dodon in a December 2020 election.

Earlier this month, U.S. President Joe Biden met with Sandu in Poland and "reaffirmed strong U.S. support for Moldova's sovereignty and territorial integrity."

If the bill gains final approval in a subsequent reading, it will replace in the constitution the "Moldovan language" with Romanian as being the country's official language.

The bill is based on a decision by the Constitutional Court from 2013 that ruled that the 1991 Moldovan Declaration of Independence that declared Romanian as the official language takes precedence over the constitution, where the language is described as "Moldovan."
Russia and Ukraine completed a prisoner exchange that resulted in the return of 130 Ukrainian prisoners, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiys chief of staff, Andriy Yermak, wrote on Telegram on April 16.

He did not say how many Russians were released in what he called a "great Easter exchange."

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.

Earlier in the week, 106 Russian prisoners were swapped for 100 Ukrainians, the two governments reported.

Despite the Easter holiday, fighting continued to rage in eastern Ukraine, with Ukraine's military reporting dozens of attacks over the past 24 hours.

Zelenskiy congratulated Orthodox Christian Ukrainians on the occasion of Easter, noting that after 417 days of war with Russia, the country retains an "unshakeable faith" in victory.

"We are not only waiting and asking, but we are winning and creating this victory ourselves," Zelenskiy said in a video address on April 16. "With all our strength, we fight for our land and ask for the help of heavenly forces."

In Moscow, Russian President Vladimir Putin attended an Easter service at Moscows Cathedral of Christ the Savior with Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin and Russian Orthodox Patriarch Kirill, both of whom have been outspoken supporters of Russias February 2022 massive invasion of Ukraine.

Putin praised the Russian Orthodox Church for its "active commitment to mercy and charity in the face of serious challenges" in a statement posted by the Kremlin.

He added that Easter "gives hope to believers, inspires good thoughts and deeds, and serves to reaffirm high moral ideals and values in society."

Putin, 70, is the subject of an arrest warrant by the International Criminal Court for alleged war crimes in Ukraine, including the mass deportation of Ukrainian children.

During the service Patriarch Kirill described the Russian invasion and the war, which has killed tens of thousands and left millions of people displaced, as "sad events that may be described as an internal feud that are now taking place on our historic Russian land."

With reporting by RFE/RL's Ukrainian and Russian services
I'm Steve Gutterman, the editor of RFE/RL's Russia/Ukraine/Belarus Desk.

Welcome to The Week In Russia, in which I dissect the key developments in Russian politics and society over the previous week and look at what's ahead. To receive The Week In Russia newsletter in your inbox, click here.

Nine years ago, Boris Nemtsov spoke out against Russian aggression in Ukraine. Then he was killed -- and now, a year after Moscow launched its large-scale invasion, some of his closest allies are being jailed for their criticism of what one called a "criminal, unprovoked, and aggressive war."

Here are some of the key developments in Russia over the past week and some of the takeaways going forward.

A Killing Near The Kremlin

At a rally in Moscow nine years ago this month, opposition politician Boris Nemtsov spoke out clearly and adamantly against Moscow's aggression in Ukraine, where Russian forces had occupied Crimea and the Kremlin was fomenting discord in the Donbas.

Less than a year later, Nemtsov was dead -- gunned down on a bridge in the shadow of the Kremlin on February 27, 2015. He was 55.

Not long afterward, it emerged that Nemtsov had been matching his vocal criticism of Russia's actions in Ukraine with efforts to provide damning evidence: He and associates had been working on a report detailing evidence of the extent of Moscow's interference in the neighboring country, which -- like Russia -- became an independent nation with internationally accepted borders when the Soviet Union collapsed in 1991.

With hindsight, it is reasonable to suspect -- as many do -- that Nemtsov was killed to silence perhaps the most prominent Russian critic of Moscow's growing interference in Ukraine. When he spoke at the rally on March 15, 2014, Russia was about to stage a plebiscite that it used -- despite broad international condemnation -- to justify its armed takeover of Crimea.



By the time of his assassination, the Ukrainian Black Sea peninsula was firmly in Moscow's grip and war between Kyiv's forces and Russian-backed separatists -- supported at crucial times by regular Russian troops sent across the border -- was raging in the Donbas, further northeast.

Today, such suspicions seem all the more reasonable in light of the large-scale invasion President Vladimir Putin launched on February 24, 2022.

There's no conclusive evidence that Nemtsov was killed because of his opposition to Russian aggression against Ukraine. That's in part because while five men from the Chechnya region were convicted in 2017, the person or people who ordered the crime have not been identified, let alone arrested or prosecuted -- with many observers suspecting a genuine investigation would likely lead to the Kremlin or the Kremlin-backed leader of Chechnya, Ramzan Kadyrov.

In any case, though, some of Nemtsov's remarks at the rally now seem as prescient as they were passionate.

"I believe that we have no right to behave this way toward a friendly country," Nemtsov said. "It's despicable, it's impudent -- and most important, it is harmful for Russia."

Creating An Enemy

Putin would get "an enemy in the form of Ukraine," he said, and Russia would get a flood of body bags being shipped home to the families of soldiers thrown into battle.

"I have thought for a long time about what arguments Putin has for conducting himself this way -- any argument at all. The simplest answer: He is a sick person, a very mentally ill person," Nemtsov went on. "And then I thought, no, he is not just a sick person. He is also a cynical and despicable person. Using the operation for the occupation and annexation of Crimea, he wants to rule us forever, until Russia dies.... He has decided on open dictatorship."

"We should say no to war!" he thundered. "We should say enough of idiocy! We should say Russia and Ukraine without Putin! Russia and Ukraine without Putin!"

Tens of thousands of people attended the anti-war march and rally at which Nemtsov spoke -- the biggest opposition demonstration since the series of protests in 2011-12 sparked by anger over election fraud and Putin's decision to return to the presidency after a stint as prime minister.

The Kremlin clampdown on dissent that came in response to that challenge intensified after Putin took office in May 2012. The state turned the screws even tighter in 2021, targeting opposition leader Aleksei Navalny and others, and took further steps to crush dissent when it launched the large-scale invasion of Ukraine.

Navalny, who barely survived a nerve-agent poisoning in 2020 that he blames on Putin, is serving a lengthy prison term on charges he says are fabricated. Ahead of the anniversary of the invasion, he issued a 15-point statement condemning the "unjust war of aggression" that he said Putin "unleashed...under ridiculous pretexts."

'Nothing To Discuss'

Navalny called for a Russian withdrawal from all of Ukraine and respect for its borders as "internationally recognized and defined in 1991," writing: "Russia also recognized these borders back then, and it must recognize them today as well. There is nothing to discuss here."

He echoed some of the arguments Nemtsov made nine years ago, writing that the "real reasons for this war are the political and economic problems within Russia, Putin's desire to hold on to power at any cost, and his obsession with his own historical legacy."

Months after Nemtsov's killing, his friend and fellow opposition politician Ilya Yashin presented the report on Russian involvement in the Donbas war, which had been completed by allies of the slain former regional governor and first deputy prime minister.

Yashin, a local lawmaker who was chairman of his Moscow district council in 2017-21, was sentenced to 8 1/2 years in prison in December over criticism of what he has called Russia's "monstrous war" in Ukraine, after being convicted under a law signed by Putin days after the invasion.

The charge stemmed from YouTube posts in which Yashin spoke about the killings of civilians in Bucha, a city outside Kyiv where survivors, rights activists, and Ukrainian authorities say Russian forces committed atrocities before withdrawing following Russia's failure to capture the capital.

Another close Nemtsov associate who is now behind bars is Vladimir Kara-Murza, who has been jailed in Moscow since April 2022 and faces up to 24 years in prison on charges of treason and other crimes. He and allies and Western governments have denounced the charges, saying they are politically motivated.

'A Straitjacket Of False Unanimity'

At an Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) meeting in Vienna on March 2, U.S. Ambassador Michael Carpenter read out a letter from Kara-Murza, whom he called one of "a number of brave Russian citizens within Russia" who "spoke the truth to a brutally oppressive regime that they knew would severely punish them for daring to challenge its lies and propaganda."

In the handwritten letter, Kara-Murza condemned what he called Putin's "criminal, unprovoked, and aggressive war against Ukraine" as well as the clampdown on dissent in Russia, writing: "Just as the goal of Putin's war on Ukraine was to subdue a proud and sovereign nation, the goal of his internal war was to impose a straitjacket of false unanimity on Russian society."

"Today is a very dark time -- for Ukraine, for Russia and for the whole of this organization. But Soviet dissidents liked to say that 'night is darkest before the dawn' and history proved them right," he wrote. "Let us keep faith in a better tomorrow, a time when Russia can have a democratically elected government that will live in peace both with its own citizens and with its neighbors."

That's it from me this week.

If you want to know more, catch up on my podcast The Week Ahead In Russia, out every Monday, here on our site or wherever you get your podcasts (Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Spotify, Pocket Casts).

Yours,

Steve Gutterman

RFE/RL intern Ella Jaffe contributed to this report
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Russian officials alleged that a group of Ukrainian saboteurs crossed into western Russia and fired on civilians in villages in the Bryansk region. A group calling itself the Russian Volunteer Crops claimed responsibility. Kyiv suggested Moscow might be seeking a "false flag" pretext to stage new attacks on Ukraine.
Ukrainian crews being trained on British Challenger 2 tanks in England say the vehicle's power, mass, and operating controls will be a welcome addition on the battlefield in the Donbas region. Although the 20-year-old tanks are seen as needing updates in the United Kingdom, they make for a powerful improvement over the Soviet-era T-80 tanks Ukrainian soldiers have been using up to now. With 14 Challengers headed to Ukraine, British instructors hope to have Ukrainian crews up to speed by the end of March.
The United States has sanctioned six Russian nationals -- including judges and government officials -- for what it calls the "arbitrary detention" and "serious human rights abuses" against jailed Russian opposition politician Vladimir Kara-Murza, who was imprisoned in April 2022 after speaking out against Russia's invasion of Ukraine.

U.S. authorities on March 3 said they were designating the individuals pursuant to the Global Magnitsky Human Rights Accountability Act, which targets perpetrators of serious human rights abuse and corruption around the globe.

Among other penalties, the new sanctions mean that access to all property and interests in property under U.S. jurisdiction of the designated persons will be blocked.

The U.S. Treasury Department said it was slapping sanctions on Elena Anatolievna Lenskaya, a judge; Andrei Andreevich Zadachin, special prosecutor; and Danila Yurievich Mikheev, a special witness, for their alleged involvement in the prosecution of Kara-Murza and alleged rights abuse against the activist.

At the same time, the State Department said it had designated Russian government officials Oleg Mikhailovich Sviridenko, Diana Igorevna Mishchenko, and Ilya Pavlovich Kozlov in matters related to Kara-Murza.

It said Sviridenko is Russias current deputy minister of justice who oversees criminal prosecution cases, including those involving Kara-Murza.

Mishchenko, a judge, issued the initial ruling approving Kara-Murza's arrest and sentenced him to 15 days in jail, the State Department added, while saying that Kozlov, also a judge, denied Kara-Murza's appeal of Mishchenko's administrative arrest ruling.

"Kara-Murza was subjected to arbitrary detention for speaking the truth about [President Vladimir Putin's] regime and its actionsfalsely claiming Kara-Murza was spreading disinformation and determining he should remain in pre-trial detention pending his trial," the Treasury statement said.

"Since that time, the Russian government has ramped up its pressure on Kara-Murza by bringing two additional criminal charges against him, for involvement in an 'undesirable' foreign organization and for high treason," it added.

The 41-year-old Kara-Murza was detained in April and sentenced to 15 days in jail on a charge of disobeying police. He was later charged with spreading false information about the Russian Army for talks he held with lawmakers in the U.S. state of Arizona.

In October 2022, a high treason charge was added to the list of offenses he faced over his alleged cooperation with organizations in a NATO member nation for many years.

Kara-Murza has rejected the charges, calling them politically motivated.

Putin has moved to silence his opponents over the years through legislation that has restricted free speech and civil society in Russia. That campaign has intensified since he launched an invasion of Ukraine in late February 2022.
A woman works at a workshop of a poverty relief relocation site in Zhenxiong county, Southwest China's Yunnan province, Nov 13, 2020. [Photo/Xinhua] An increasing number of people who participated in State-sponsored mass relocation projects, aimed at curbing some of China's most entrenched poverty, have landed jobs near their new homes, with their income rising much faster than the average for rural residents nationwide, authorities said. The employment rate of the 9.6 million people who moved out of their isolated hometowns to live closer to factories and schools during the 13th Five-Year Plan (2016-20) period, as part of the nation's sweeping poverty-alleviation drive, reached 94.46 percent by the end of 2022, up 2.54 percentage points year-on-year, Xinhua News Agency reported on Tuesday. Quoting an unnamed official from the National Development and Reform Commission, China's top economic planner, the report said that of the 5.03 million relocated farmers who are of working age  between 16 and 59 years old  4.76 million were employed as of the end of last year. This means that almost all relocated families have at least one earning member, the official said, adding that since 2021, local authorities have attached great significance to supporting the migrants through policy measures, which effectively consolidated the country's achievements in poverty alleviation and also accelerated rural vitalization. The NDRC official said that salaries and wages account for nearly 80 percent of the total income of the migrant families and, therefore, helping such groups find employment is considered a priority. A total of 25,400 supportive projects, ranging from farm produce processing bases and schools to hospitals and clinics, have been built around the new homes of the relocated families, according to the report. Mass relocations have been used as an effective means of alleviating poverty in China since the early 1980s, when residents in water-deficient areas in Gansu province and the Ningxia Hui autonomous region moved en masse in search of better dwellings. The NDRC earmarked 36.3 billion yuan ($5.3 billion) between 2001 and 2015 to support the relocation projects, which benefited more than 6.8 million impoverished rural residents.
La presidenta fue recibida por el gobernador regional Luis Neyra y estuvo acompanada por ministros Estado, quienes desde sus sectores atienden las necesidades de la poblacion en esta emergencia.#ConPunchePeru pic.twitter.com/n7QEKKwYhW
BJP MLA Son Arrested

Prashant is the Chief Accounts Officer at Bengaluru Water Supply and Sewerage Board (BWSSB)

BENGALURU: Prashant Kumar, son of BJP MLA Madal Virupakshappa in Karnataka, was arrested on the charge of accepting a bribe of Rs 40 lakh. The arrest was made from his father's Bengaluru office Karnataka Soap and Detergent Limited (KSDL). Lokayukta Police of Karnataka has caught him red-handed while taking bribe.

BJP MLA Son

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Prashant is the Chief Accounts Officer at Bengaluru Water Supply and Sewerage Board (BWSSB). According to information, three bags full of cash have been recovered from them. The Lokayukta has also made the BJP MLA an accused in this case. However, BJP MLA Virupakshappa has refused to involved in any tender matter.

According to Lokayukta officials, Prashant is a 2008 batch officer of the Karnataka Administrative Service. He had demanded Rs 80 lakh from a contractor to buy the raw material needed to make soap and other detergents. The contractor complained about the matter to the Lokayukta. After which a plan was made to arrest Prashant red-handed.

The official said that huge amount has been taken from KSDL chairman and BJP MLA Madal Virupakshappa. Notably, Prashant's father Madal Virupakshappa is an MLA from Channagiri in Davangere district of Karnataka. He said, "I have no information about it. I came to know about this through the media. I have not discussed this with my son as he is now in Lokayukta custody. I am not involved in any tender."
?? Actividad Oficial | Presidenta Dina Boluarte anuncia medidas para impulsar el crecimiento y desarrollo de la region Puno.https://t.co/Y01WxuRtgu
YEREVAN, MARCH 3, ARMENPRESS. Azerbaijani military units violated the Nagorno Karabakh ceasefire on March 2 and overnight March 3 with small arms fire, the Artsakh (Nagorno Karabakh) authorities announced Friday.

The units of the Azerbaijani Armed Forces deployed in the occupied territories of the regions of Askeran, Martakert and Martuni of the Republic of Artsakh violated the ceasefire on March 2 and overnight March 3 with the use of small arms, the Ministry of Defense of Artsakh said in a statement, adding that Artsakh did not suffer casualties.

The Russian peacekeeping contingent has been notified on the violation, it said.

As of Friday morning the situation in the line of contact was relatively stable, according to the defense ministry.
YEREVAN, MARCH 3, ARMENPRESS. The United States Senior Advisor for Caucasus Negotiations Louis Bono will be traveling to Armenia and the other countries in the region next week, the US State Department announced.

State Department spokesperson Ned Price said Bono will kick off his regional trip  the first since taking office on February 1  from Azerbaijan and will then travel to Armenia and Georgia.

The Senior Advisor for Caucasus Negotiations [Louis] Bono is traveling to the region next week on his first trip in this role. This is the first of what we will  what we expect will be regular travel to all three countries of the South Caucasus. Mr. Bono plans to meet with senior leaders to support the Armenia-Azerbaijan peace process and our sustained commitment to Georgias sovereignty and territorial integrity. As I mentioned before, he will visit all three South Caucasus countries as part of his visit. Hell travel to Baku, to Yerevan, Tbilisi as well, in that order. This, we believe, will be an opportunity for Mr. Bono to build on the meeting between Secretary Blinken, Armenias prime minister, and Azerbaijans president at the Munich Security Conference a couple of weeks ago now, in mid-February. We  as we said at the conclusion of that trilateral engagement, we are encouraged by recent efforts by Armenia and Azerbaijan to engage productively on the peace process. And Mr. Bono hopes to be in a position to build on that effort, and to see that progress continue. In all three of these cities, Mr. Bono will emphasize the United States is committed to promoting a peaceful, democratic, and prosperous future for the South Caucasus region, Price said at a press briefing.
A new moai statue, which is iconic to Easter Island, has been spotted in a dry lake in a volcanic crater of a Chilean Easter Island volcanic crater.

New Moai Statue Found

CBS News reports that the Ma'u Henua Indigenous community mentioned in a statement that the Moai has remarkable potential for natural and scientific study. The discovery is unique because it was the first to be found inside a lake at the crater of the Rano Raraku volcano.

The moai was spotted on February 21 by a scientific volunteer team from three universities in Chile. They worked together on a project to restore the marshland inside the Rano Raraku volcanic crater.

According to Yahoo, the lake inside the crater started drying up in 2018. This was reported by Ninoska Avareipua Huki Cuadros, who serves as the director of the Ma'u Henua community, which manages Rapa Nui National Park, where the volcano is also situated.

Huki mentions that what is interesting is that in the last two or three centuries, the lake had a depth of three meters. This meant that no humans could have left any moais within it during such times.

ALSO READ: Pieces of Evidence Pointing to the Existence of A Phantom Crater Found in Laos

Iconic Moais

These century-old statues, dubbed moai, are part of a Polynesian custom to bring honor to their ancestors. According to archaeologist Terry Hunt from the University of Arizona, no moai was previously found in a dry bed or in an area that used to be a lake.

The statues have unique long faces, and they do not have any legs. Several of them were caused by volcanic ash. Many statues can also be spotted close to freshwater areas on the island.

According to Good Morning America, there are close to a thousand moai across Easter Island that are made of volcanic tuff. The tallest one on Easter Island has a height of 33 feet. The statues also have an average weight of three to five tons, but they could go as heavy as 80 tons.

These unique statues are vital because they symbolize the Rapa Nui people's history. Moreover, they are globally iconic and represent the island's rich archaeological heritage.

The newly found moai is smaller compared to others that can be found on the island. Nevertheless, the discovery within the dry lake is remarkably significant in the field of archaeology.

Huki mentions that there are no plans to remove the Moai from its present location. She further adds that the Rapa Nui community needs to be consulted regarding what they would do with the Moai. The oldest individuals want the statue to stay there.

The Rano Raraku volcano, as well as its moai, is considered a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

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RELATED ARTICLE: Ivindo National Park Becomes Second UNESCO World Heritage Site in Gabon, Securing International Support for Conservation

Check out more news and information on Archaeology in Science Times.
Marseille : Un Senegalais de 25 ans accuse de viols sur une soixantenaire

Un jeune senegalais a ete arrete a Marseille, en France. Le suspect age de 25 ans a ete interpelle le 19 fevrier dernier, pour abus sexuels, sur une femme de 64 ans. Dapres la presse francaise reprise par les Echos, le mis en cause est presente comme un sans-abri. Sa victime presumee lavait invite chez elle pour se rechauffer apres lavoir trouve dans la rue, dans le 5e arrondissement de la ville.



Lorsque la vieille dame la invite a quitter sa maison, lhomme aurait non seulement categoriquement refuse de sexecuter, mais il aurait commence a la violer. Et cela, a plusieurs reprises.



La soixantenaire a profite de la visite dune infirmiere communautaire pour une consultation pour demander de laide. En compagnie de sa fille, elle sest rendue, par la suite, au commissariat central de Marseille, pour deposer sa plainte. Le suspect sera interpelle peu apres suite a une descente des policiers sur les lieux.



Dapres les premiers elements de lenquete, le suspect vivait illegalement en France. Sa victime presumee a ete transportee a lhopital pour examen.


YEREVAN, MARCH 3, ARMENPRESS. The authorities of Artsakh (Nagorno Karabakh) released details on the latest meeting with the Azerbaijani side which took place on March 1.

The Security Council of Artsakh issued a statement on Friday regarding the meeting. It said that Secretary of the Security Council Samvel Shahramanyan led the talks.

We inform that in accordance with the decision made at the session of the Security Council of the Republic of Artsakh on February 28, 2023, a working group has been established, the purpose of which is to discuss URGENT humanitarian issues with the Azerbaijani side.

The head of the group is Samvel Shahramanyan, Secretary of the Security Council of the Republic of Artsakh.

In accordance with the agreement reached through mediation of the command staff of the peacekeeping troops of the Russian Federation deployed in the Republic of Artsakh, on March 1, 2023, at 11 a.m., a meeting was held at the headquarters of the peacekeeping mission with participation of the commander of the troops, Major General Andrey Volkov, which was attended by a similar working group formed by the Republic of Azerbaijan, headed by Ramin Mammadov, member of the Milli Majlis of Azerbaijan.

The following issues were on the meeting agenda:

Ensuring uninterrupted supply of natural gas to the Republic of Artsakh and excluding further disruption of the gas supply; Ensuring the possibility of inspecting the section of the only high-voltage line entering Artsakh from the Republic of Armenia, which is under the control of the Azerbaijani armed forces, in order to carry out restoration works by the specialists of "Artsakh Energy" CJSC and restore the electricity supply to the Republic of Artsakh; Conducting an one-time visual tour by an Azerbaijani specialized group on the territories of Kashen and Drmbon mines; Complete opening of the Stepanakert-Goris highway.

In the opening remarks, the commander of the peacekeeping troops presented the participants of the meeting as parties of the Republic of Artsakh and the Republic of Azerbaijan. After that, the head of the Artsakh group clarified to the Azerbaijani side the powers of the group he leads, that is the discussion of the above-mentioned specific issues and finding solutions on them.

At the beginning of the discussions, the head of the Azerbaijani group tried to lead the conversation towards the need for integration of Artsakh people with Azerbaijan, presenting prospects of obtaining possible socio-economic benefits in that case. However, the head of the Artsakh group called for discussion on clearly defined issues. The latter also emphasized that these contacts on urgent humanitarian and infrastructural issues cannot address the main issues of comprehensive settlement of the conflict, and for this it is necessary to establish a format with broad international support.

It should be noted that the other members of the Azerbaijani group were engaged in the discussion of the above-mentioned four specific issues and the search for solutions, accordingly, the subsequent course of the meeting was fully complied with the framework defined by the agenda.

As a result of the discussion of all the above-mentioned issues, specific agreements were reached, which the Azerbaijani side undertook to report to the higher authorities, and in the coming days to inform the Artsakh side about the results through the peacekeeping mission.

During the meeting, an agreement was reached on establishment of the stable two-way communication mechanism between the parties.

At the meeting, the parties agreed to publish only general information for the time being, given that the process is still in the working stage. However, shortly after the meeting, the head of the Azerbaijani group gave interviews on various information platforms of his country, in which he spread disinformation, completely deviating from the actual content and process, in particular announcing that the meeting discussed "issues of the reintegration of the Armenian population of the Karabakh region into Azerbaijan." Unfortunately, some representatives of the Armenian media took this trick of Azerbaijani officials and media, thereby creating a false impression that issues related to the comprehensive settlement of the conflict are allegedly being discussed in Artsakh-Azerbaijani contacts. Meanwhile, as we mentioned, the meeting on March 1, in which the commander of the Russian peacekeeping troops participated as well, was dedicated only to the discussion of steps aimed at lifting the blockade of Artsakh and relating issues.

Another misinformation of Azerbaijan, according to which the next meeting of the official representatives of the parties "may take place in Ganja or Aghdam" and without the participation of the Russian peacekeeping troops, is without substance as well.

We urge the public not to succumb to the fabrications of the Azerbaijani propaganda machine and to be sure that the public will be given exhaustive information about the above-mentioned process and its results, the statement reads.
YEREVAN, MARCH 3, ARMENPRESS. Armenian Foreign Minister Ararat Mirzoyan and Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov discussed the Armenian-Azerbaijani settlement during their meeting in New Delhi within the framework of the Raisina Dialogue, the Russian foreign ministry said in a read-out.

FM Mirzoyan and FM Lavrov stressed the urgency to intensify efforts in all directions of the settlement of Armenian-Azerbaijani relations, according to the read-out released by the Russian foreign ministry.

An exchange of ideas around regional issues took place. The urgency to intensify efforts in all directions of the settlement of Armenian-Azerbaijani relations in accordance with the 9 November 2020, 11 January and 26 November 2021 and 31 October 2022 agreements between the leaders of Russia, Armenia and Azerbaijan was stressed, the Russian Foreign Ministry said.

Relevant issues of the bilateral agenda were also discussed.

The approaches for intensifying cooperation in international platforms as part of common integration unions were combined, the ministry added. It said that the talks were held in an atmosphere of trust and friendship, and that an agreement on future diplomatic contacts was reached.
YEREVAN, MARCH 3, ARMENPRESS. Armenian Foreign Minister Ararat Mirzoyan and High Representative of the EU for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy/Vice-President of the European Commission Josep Borrell met on March 3 in New Delhi, India.

Mirzoyan and Borrell exchanged ideas around the Armenia-EU partnership agenda, according to a readout issued by the foreign ministry. Both sides attached importance to the deployment of the EU civilian monitoring mission in Armenia which was officially launched on February 20.

Regional and international security issues were also discussed. FM Mirzoyan presented the latest developments in the Armenia-Azerbaijan settlement process.

Speaking about the humanitarian crisis in Nagorno Karabakh resulting from the blockade of Lachin corridor by Azerbaijan, the Armenian foreign minister underscored the imperative of lifting the blockade without preconditions in accordance with the terms of the 9 November 2020 statement. In this context the international communitys hands-on involvement was highlighted in order for Azerbaijan to comply with the February 22 binding ruling by the International Court of Justice.

The United Nations highest court  the International Court of Justice - ordered Azerbaijan on February 22 to take all steps at its disposal to ensure unimpeded movement of persons, vehicles and cargo along the Lachin Corridor in both directions. The Lachin Corridor is blocked by Azerbaijan since 12 December 2022.
The victim in a fatal crash in Fountain Springs has been identified.

Friday morning's crash occurred just before 7:00am, in the area of 620 Fountain Street on Route 61.

The crash just before 7:00am in the area of 620 Fountain Street/Route 61 and involved a Chevrolet Colorado and a Ford Sedan that struck head-on.

The drivers of both vehicles were heavily entrapped. The driver of the Colorado, identified as Wade Bucher, 46, of Ashland, was extricated from the vehicle and transported to the helipad near the former Ashland Hospital and flown to an area hospital.

The driver of the Ford, Frank Gronski, 65, of Wilburton, died from his injuries and was pronounced at the scene by Deputy Schuylkill County Coroner Andrew Szczyglak.

Route 61 was closed in the area but has since reopened.

Butler Township Police and the Pennsylvania State Police continue to investigate the crash. More information when it becomes available.

UPDATE: This article was updated from its original posting to include the driver of the pickup truck.




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File photo shows a clerk counts RMB bank notes in a bank in Nantong, East China's Jiangsu province. [Photo/Xinhua] Finance minister says uneven local govt debt will be tackled to protect recovery China is capable of preempting systemic fiscal risks, Minister of Finance Liu Kun said on Wednesday. China's government debt to GDP ratio was about 50 percent last year, a relatively low level by global standards, Liu said. However, the distribution of local government debt in the country is uneven, with some regions having higher debt risks and greater pressure to repay principal and interest, Liu said at a news conference held by the State Council Information Office. "We have already urged relevant local authorities to take primary responsibility and effectively defuse government debt risks to ensure that no systemic risks arise," he said. As China has optimized its COVID-19 containment policies and has been making continuous efforts to provide a package of economic stabilization policies and follow-up measures, which are taking effect, the overall Chinese economy is expected to recover this year, and the local fiscal situation is expected to improve gradually, he said. However, it should also be noted that the foundation of China's economic recovery is not yet solid, and there is uncertainty in fiscal revenue this year, he said. Last year, local governments' general public budget revenue reached 10.88 trillion yuan ($1.58 trillion), up 5.9 percent year-on-year after deducting the factor of value-added tax credit refunds. Local governments' general public budget expenditure was 22.5 trillion yuan, increasing by 6.4 percent from the previous year. The overall local finance is running smoothly, Liu said. In 2023, essential expenditure, including that on key technology research and development programs, rural vitalization and ecological protection, will continue to increase. Weak links in basic livelihoods such as pensions, education and healthcare need to be further strengthened. It is also necessary to support coordinated regional development and maintain the necessary intensity of central government transfer payments made to local governments, Liu said. "Although the contradiction between fiscal revenue and expenditure will still be prominent in 2023, we will not step back on expenditure on people's livelihoods. We will do our best to continue increasing investment in people's livelihoods according to our capability," he said. One of the major tasks for this year is to implement the "employment first" strategy. The Ministry of Finance will use central government employment subsidy funds to support job creation. It will help key groups such as college graduates, migrant workers, people lifted out of poverty and veterans to find jobs or start their own businesses. At the same time, the ministry will also continue to support vocational training, he said. Xu Hongcai, vice-minister of finance, said China will step up the proactive fiscal policy and increase policy effectiveness this year. The annual Central Economic Work Conference in mid-December stressed the optimization of a combination of fiscal policy tools, including deficit, special bonds and interest subsidies, to safeguard fiscal sustainability and ensure that local government debt risks are controllable while effectively supporting China's high-quality development. The Ministry of Finance will implement the conference's decisions in letter and spirit, reasonably arrange the scale of special bonds, and ensure that government investment will remain unabated, Xu said. In 2023, China will expand the key areas of funds to be invested based on the existing 11 areas of projects, and continue to strengthen the implementation of key projects to boost investments and effectively support high-quality development. These tasks will be deployed subsequently, Xu said. Last year, China's general public budget expenditure rose 6.1 percent year-on-year to 26.06 trillion yuan. The country will increase government spending appropriately this year, Liu said. In addition, the government will further improve tax and fee reduction policies, with a focus on giving support to micro, small and medium-sized enterprises, self-employed businesses and industries in dire straits, Liu said.
YEREVAN, MARCH 3, ARMENPRESS. Prime Minister of Armenia Nikol Pashinyan and his wife Anna Hakobyan were hosted by the President of Germany Frank-Walter Steinmeier and his wife Elke Budenbender at the presidential residence in Berlin.

PM Pashinyan and Anna Hakobyan signed the guestbook and then PM Pashinyan had a meeting with President Frank-Walter Steinmeier, while Anna Hakobyan had a meeting with Elke Budenbender, the Prime Ministers Office said in a press release.

PM Pashinyan and President Frank-Walter Steinmeiers meeting then proceeded in an enlarged format.

Nikol Pashinyan and Frank-Walter Steinmeier discussed a number of issues related to the Armenian-German cooperation. The development of partnership in the political and economic sectors was discussed. In this context, the active partnership between the governments of the two countries was highlighted.

President Steinmeier expressed readiness to contribute to the strengthening of bilateral ties and underscored the importance of the reforms aimed at developing democracy in Armenia.

PM Pashinyan presented details on the institutional reforms process and said that democracy is of strategic significance for the Armenian government.

The ongoing processes in the South Caucasus region, the humanitarian crisis in Nagorno Karabakh resulting from the illegal blockade of Lachin Corridor by Azerbaijan and other issues of mutual interest were also discussed.

Anna Hakobyan and Elke Budenbender attached importance to the active involvement of first ladies in various directions.

The Spouse of the President of Germany attached importance to the development of the dual education sector and the programs implemented in this direction, presenting details on the steps taken in Germany. The Spouse of the Prime Minister of Armenia said that the My Step Foundation is also implementing projects in the dual education area. The important role of women in establishing and strengthening peace was underscored. In this context Mrs. Hakobyan invited Mrs. Budenbender to attend the Womens Role in Promoting Democracy, Peace and Security international summit which will take place in Yerevan this year.
This trio has to come to terms with BWXs bank this month  which had been forced to lend it fresh funds and agree not to act on loan breaches in December  or face the collapse of the business. It is why BWX  worth as much as $750 million as recently as 2021 when it paid $89 million for 51 per cent of Foster Blakes Go-To  is currently valued at just $36 million. The latest financial accounts indicate that the BWX deal valued Go-To at $73 million more than it is now worth. It is one of the reasons why BWX reported a $335 million loss last financial year as the company slashed the valuation of businesses acquired in a buying spree by previous management.

Go-To is not the only celebrity venture that has created problems. Purely Byron, the joint venture with Chris Hemsworths model/actor wife Elsa Pataky, suffered a $2.8 million writedown for the December half year. With so many fresh faces on board, it was Fisher who was forced to acknowledge the mess presented to shareholders on Monday. I realise this has frustrated you and caused considerable concern, the chairman said. He was largely referring to the disasters of 2022. This included a four-month suspension from trading on the ASX while the company worked through erroneous financial statements from the previous year. There was also the discontinuation of its practice of channel stuffing, which threatened to financially unravel the group in July before billionaire Andrew Forrest helped rescue the group.

Channel stuffing is where retailers inflate sales by selling more products to their distributors than they can readily sell to consumers. Unwinding the excess inventory in warehouses across Australia and the United States was another contributor to BWXs financial woes. Loading As independent chairman, I would like to assure shareholders that we have spent considerable time reviewing the events that led to the problems that the company faced in financial year 22. Its my intention to make sure these events do not occur in the future, Fisher said. But new problems have emerged as a result of cash constraints that forced BWS to seek further debt funding. In a tour de force of retail speak, Fisher revealed BWX had got itself into quite an unusual pickle. These problems included customers destocking key channels, cash constraints leading to out-of-stock as well as the effect of promotional campaigns which continued in channels even where the destocking occurred, Fisher told investors.

Translated, this means BWX suffered from its retailers having to sell the backlog of goods in their distribution centres, which meant it did not get any fresh cash for these already paid-for sales, but it still had to fork out cash to promote them. This helped create a cash shortage, which meant it did not have the money to produce enough of the goods that would have brought money through the door. The cash constraints affected raw material purchases as well as promotional and marketing programs in other channels, which in turn impacted sales results as some of our key selling lines were not able to be replenished in a timely manner, the company explained in its accounts. Foster Blakes Go-To declined to comment, and would not say if it had been affected by product shortages. BWX declined to clarify the issue further.

The cash shortage also cruelled its ability to pay creditors on normal terms  as its financial accounts also spelt out. This is another issue that raises doubts about its ability to trade out of trouble. The $23 million emergency capital raising last June was not enough to cope with these new problems. The ability of the group to continue as a going concern is dependent on its ability to generate sufficient funds from its operating activities, to secure additional debt financing as required, to operate within the requirements of its banking facilities and have the ongoing support of its bankers or other financiers. In addition, there is a need for asset sales in the near term as well as the continued support of creditors, the company said in its half-year report. Andrew Forrests investment vehicle Tattarang swooped in on BWX last June. Credit: Faruk Pinjo If there is any good news for investors who have watched the share price plunge from above the $5 mark to below 20 this week, it is that the current management team are confident they can still turn things around.

I wouldnt be here if I didnt think I could get us to a much better place. I have a firm belief in the company and its recovery, Keeve said in the only public statement since taking on the new role this week. He would not comment further. His freshly appointed chairman remains confident as well. I believe that our brands are strong and supported by leading retailers and the product is desired by the consumer. With a new board, refreshed management team and focus placed on the core business, the company is well placed to return to profitability, Fisher said. No analysts or investors would go on the record with a view on whether this confidence was misplaced. But the only view which matters is that of billionaire Andrew Forrest and his private investment group, Tattarang.

Forrest swooped in at the worst possible time last June, acquiring a 16.9 per cent stake in BWX for $30 million  or $1.10 a share. Barely a week later, BWX announced a massively dilutive equity raising at 60 a share to raise $23 million of desperately needed cash and a board-renewal process.

All up, Forrest spent about $36 million on a 20 per cent stake in BWX, which is now worth about $7 million. Loading Tattarang declined to comment but has privately expressed support for the clean sweep of BWXs board and executive suite over the past six months. The big question is whether Tattarang would step in if the Commonwealth Bank, and other financiers, baulk at the necessary financial support for BWX.
Her current show, Bobby Dazzler, is her sixth, and the countries on the tour have included, somewhat improbably, Iceland, where the title (a northern expression connoting praise or approval) proved confusing. Loading They all thought it was the name of my support act because its on the backdrop as well, she says. And I was like, I wouldnt have the name of the support the same size as my name. Im not that nice. Like all her shows, Bobby Dazzler relies heavily on mining her own personal experiences. My shows are always just about me, she says. I have no other knowledge. Some people have other subjects they can talk about. Mine is just me. I always want to call every show, More Of The Same, but my agent wont allow it.

Her style of confessional comedy means she is constantly on the look-out for fresh material, examining everything in her daily life through the lens of, Is this funny? Could it work on stage? Not long ago I was doing that thing that we all do where you need to see a part of you that you cant see because there might be a spot there, she says. Now Im away from home and without my partner whose job it is to look at things like that. Instead, Im using my phone as a mirror and Im thinking dont take a photo because if you take a photo its in the Cloud forever and I dont know how to get things out of the Cloud. So while Im struggling to see various angles of myself Im thinking it might be funny. You make a little note and try it out at a new material gig and sometimes you find out its everybody and sometimes you find out its only you. Now that can be funny, but ideally you want something that people can identify with, otherwise they are just laughing at you and that doesnt feel so nice. For all her effortlessly home-spun, chatty style, Millican works incredibly hard writing, road-testing, discarding and refining material to ensure her audiences have a lovely time. During the current tour she is already deep into writing for the next.

There are obviously universal themes that let her material appeal to a worldwide audience, although she says thats not top-of-mind when shes writing. Loading I want to make stuff that I find funny work rather than write stuff that I think everybody will like, she says. But themes of life are universal. Especially when I talk about being a woman, I dont think it matters where you are from or who you are. There are things that happen to me that I bloody hope happen to everybody else and if they dont then Ive got problems. She was a little worried about how her material would land in the US, mainly because of her prolific use of the word f**k in all its inventive variations. But they were absolutely fine with it because clearly the small amount of people who are aware of me in America also like swearing. Hooray!

She is occasionally told its mainly her accent that makes her funny. And Im like, OK, but I dont think just my accent would keep me going for an hour-and-a-half every night for two years on tour, she says. But it is a fact that northern accents are regarded as more genuine and trustworthy than most others in the UK. Thats why were always in the call centres, you know. If this job doesnt work out for me I could always get a job in the complaints department at O2 [a phone company], trying to encourage people not to leave. Millicans Bobby Dazzler is in Melbourne on March 6; and Sydney on March 7.
Read our reviews of the 10 best picture nominees, including Elvis, Top Gun: Maverick and Everything Everywhere All At Once. See all 9 stories .

All Quiet on the Western Front 

(MA) 147 minutes This new adaptation of a classic book about young German soldiers in the First World War does everything well, except keep faith with Erich Maria Remarques novel. The book has been adapted three times. The first version by Lewis Milestone won the Oscar for best picture in 1931 and has earned its place as one of the greatest depictions of war on film. Hitler hated it and sent Goebbels to disrupt its screenings in Berlin with white mice and stink bombs. Its now almost forgotten that the film was banned in Victoria from 1930 to 1941 on the grounds of pacifism. In these same years, Remarque fled the Nazis for the US. Felix Kammerer delivers an uncanny performance as soldier Paul Baumer in All Quiet on the Western Front. Credit: Reiner Bajo/Netflix Pacifism is an interesting accusation. At the start of the novel, Remarque wrote that it was neither accusation nor confession - simply an attempt to give an account of the generation that was destroyed by the war - even those of it who survived the shelling. Both the left and right attacked it for being too anti-war, too pro-war, too disrespectful to the glorious dead. It pleased no one who had a hand in waging war, but the people loved it. The first run sold 2 million copies.
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A NSW Labor government will keep the $5 billion Western Harbour Tunnel in public hands as part of a long-term strategy to increase the number of state-owned toll roads and reduce Transurbans stranglehold on Sydneys motorway network.

Seizing on Sydneys sprawling patchwork of motorways as a key example of the Coalitions privatisation agenda, Labor leader Chris Minns has promised to build a third harbour crossing without selling its tolling concession.

Transurban operates all of Sydneys toll roads apart from the Sydney Harbour Bridge and Tunnel. Credit: Louie Douvis

Well build the tunnel, but we wont sell it, Minns told the Herald. Any revenue from tolls goes straight back into public hands to build for the future.

Keeping the future harbour tunnel in public hands will mark the beginning of a long-term, concerted effort by a Labor government to increase the number of state-owned toll roads in a bid to counter private company Transurbans perceived monopoly on the network.
I hear this gripe constantly from Sydneysiders and visitors alike; theres nowhere good to eat after 9.30pm in Sydney. In fact, it wouldnt be unusual to hear sorry, kitchens closed at 8.45pm.

Late night dining does exist in Sydney, but you have to know where to go - and hope youre nearby when the occasion strikes. Credit: Brook Mitchell

Politicians fear big ideas, perhaps with good reason, but journalists can lob crazy proposals into the ether without consequence. So, here are six things Id do to fix Sydney if given half the chance.

Another state election, another bland campaign. On one side, a 12-year-old government trying to appear fresh and future-facing; on the other, a careful opposition hoping to fall over the line as a small target.

This is now so culturally ingrained that you cant blame operators for assuming there is no demand to justify opening later. And yet, every night people pour out of theatres and concert venues, hungry and in want of somewhere convivial thats not a kebab joint to discuss the show.

To turn this around, the state should compel venues near theatres to open their kitchens until at least midnight and throw subsidies (wages or rent assistance, perhaps) at them to make it viable. And there should be a program for any venue to receive financial help if they open later.

This is chicken-and-egg stuff. Once people are confident they will be able to find something nearby thats open, behaviour will change, but government has to grease the wheels.

Turn the harbour into Hong Kong

We talk a lot about increasing housing density and where all these apartments should go  around train stations, in the western suburbs, near universities. But what about right next to the harbour?
Never meet your heroes, the saying goes. That idiom could equally apply to litigation.

For Kanye West-themed burger joint owner Mark Elkhouri his courtroom brush with his idol, Ye, was a journey of self-reflection that left him philosophical about his former hero.

Ye (formerly known as Kanye West) and Mark Elkhouri, the Melbourne burger shop owner, were locked in a legal battle. Credit: Jason Davis, Getty Images / Paul Jeffers

Yes legal action against Elkhouris Ivanhoe burger joint, College Dropout Burgers, permanently crumbled in the Federal Court on Friday after the international rap star repeatedly failed to meet legal requirements for the action to continue.

The legal stoush broke out in early 2022 when Ye accused Elkhouri and his restaurant of misleading and deceptive conduct for, among other things, using the name of his 2004 album The College Dropout without his permission.
Arent they gorgeous! Who wouldnt want to live in such a space? exclaimed Booth as she pointed up at building after beautiful building whose ground floors were occupied by businesses but whose upper levels were empty (in some sad cases the whole building was unoccupied). London Court offers an opportunity to create unique living spaces, says Spacemarkets Sarah Booth. Credit: Mark Naglazas Included in this roll-call of heritage-listed properties lying dormant is the Savoy Hotel which, according to those who have been up there, is a stunning space crying out to be taken over by individuals or organisations (not unlike Melbournes legendary Nicholas Building). Booth then guided me toward London Court, the iconic open-roofed Tudor-style retail lane that was built in 1937 by prominent WA businessman and wealthy gold financier Claude De Bernale and, in 2021, bought by the Singaporean property developer Fragrance Group. Perth evolved into a Modernist city where the areas we work is separated from where live and where we shop. This has been retained in European cities, which is why we find them so attractive. It is the mix of activities that create a great community, says Booth.

When London Court was built it had 55 commercial tenancies, 53 offices and 25 residencies. It had all the ingredients for a good community. Since then, the residences have been turned into commercial spaces because of changes in affordability. But with some kind of assistance the residential aspect could be reinstated and filled with occupants, argues Booth. Imagine if the upper floors of London Court was filled with, for example, young city workers or WAAPA students, with a buzzing late-night cafe on the ground floor. It could transform the place and give us glimpse of the vitality we all keep talking about. Returning these first floors to residential spaces wont be easy, admits Booth. The cost of renovation and conversion and the rents that can reasonably be charged dont make them attractive propositions for landlords, which is why so many of the upper floors of heritage buildings on the Hay Street Mall and throughout the CBD are empty. But there must be ways of showing owners the value of upgrading their beautiful properties and filling them with tenants. Perhaps incentives like matched funding or rate relief could be explored at all levels of government. These kinds of investments have the potential to help make the CBD sing again, she says. The Savoy Hotel in Hay Street. Those who have been inside say its a stunning space ripe for activation. Credit: Mark Naglazas

Great communities attract people and in a more sustainable way because they become safer, more vibrant around-the-clock. They eventually attract healthier types of investment, which is a pathway towards the genuine revitalisation. This means all the festivals and fireworks become the cherry on top rather than the only revitalisation mechanism we have at our disposal. The property owners say the citys hard work. Theres not enough people coming in; we cant rent our space. But they havent tried lowering their rents. They have to look within first. They have a significant role in our citys rebirth. Lord Mayor Basil Zempilas Property developer Adrian Fini, whose company has a long and lauded history of reviving heritage properties (the Treasury Buildings are among his celebrated projects), says that so many properties being left empty in the centre of a city would be unthinkable in Europe. They have a range of laws to fix rents and prevent tenants from being ejected. They did this because they had a housing crisis. We now have a housing crisis, which is new for us. We had housing crisis before but not this big. And it will last for some time, Fini tells me during a wide-ranging discussion in his Subiaco offices. The key to activating empty and under-utilised buildings in the city is for all tiers of government to agree on a policy of achieving revitalisation through filling it with people, argues Fini. A firm commitment allows stakeholders to plan and invest confident in the knowledge that there is a shared vision, with everyone involved moving in one direction.

The developer also believes that some simple mechanisms could be used to encourage owners of empty buildings to transform their commercial properties into accommodation. If they restore a property in a valid way they might get a rates holiday, he posits. And if you could involve not just state government and the City of Perth but also the federal government you would have a raft of means, such as reductions in GST and land tax, to persuade owners to improve their properties and make them available for renters. But the biggest attraction for the owners of the empty buildings that blight the CBD is improving the city, therefore improving their investment. The carrot or the stick? Which is the best way to persuade owners to bring life to their languishing buildings. Credit: Mark Naglazas Revitalising a city makes commercial sense. A property sitting in the middle of an area that nobody wants to go near will be worth a lot less than a building filled with people in a precinct that is alive with activity. If you can bring 20,000 or 30, 000 extra people into the city everyone is better off. Cities need people in them.

If the ABC forum is any guide our high-profile mayor, who came into office with the promise of injecting life back into dicky heart of our metropolis, is prepared to use both a carrot and a stick to fill those notorious boarded-up buildings and first floors. Perth Lord Mayor Basil Zempilas Credit: Peter de Kruijff Converting empty or under-utilised commercial spaces into affordable housing is a challenge because of technical issues, admits Zempilas. And because of financial encumbrances, such as loans, landlord are reluctant to lower their rents. However, Zempilas believes that pressure should be applied to landlords to activate empty spaces because its not doing anyone any good. We are in this together, Zempilas said. The property owners say the citys hard work. Theres not enough people coming in; we cant rent our space. But they havent tried lowering their rents. They have to look within first. They have a significant role in our citys rebirth.
Martyn Iles has left the Australian Christian Lobby after a difference of opinion over direction. Credit:Facebook/Supplied 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 The Facebook post went up at 4.56pm on Friday afternoon. After five years as the firebrand managing director of the Australian Christian Lobby, Martyn Iles had some news. He had been sacked. After five incredible years  my employment has been terminated by the board, Iles, the 34-year-old cultural commentator, Israel Folau supporter and occasional Q+A guest told his 219,000 followers, before also emailing every ACL supporter on the groups mailing list with the subject Im moving on. There is no question of misconduct, he wrote. The board has reviewed ACLs strategic direction and decided I am not the right person to lead the revised strategy. The board was extremely hurt and disappointed by what happened, said its chair, Jim Wallace, in an email to the Herald. But the Board is very satisfied it has acted appropriately. The ACL grew rapidly under Iles  its membership tripled, Iles said  but its size wasnt the boards problem. It was struggling for political impact. In a few short years, it recorded losses on virtually every single key issue: same-sex marriage was legalised in 2017, just months before Iles took the post; almost every state in the country has loosened laws on abortion and voluntary assisted dying; and major steps against gay conversion therapy have been made in Victoria, WA and NSW. And faced with the potential for a multi-term Labor government that saw the group as  at best  irrelevant, the Australian Christian Lobby needed a major strategic reset. The decision about strategy was made by the board. The decision about timing was not.

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Multiple sources told the Herald the lobby groups board (the makeup of which, apart from the responsible people listed on the charities register, is secret) asked Iles to stay in the position for six months as they orchestrated a transition plan. But Iles Facebook post made it clear he wasnt sticking around. It took the weekend, and half of Monday, for ACLs leaders to react to the news. The first communication came in the form of a three-minute selfie video from its national politics director, Wendy Francis, that confirmed Iles was moving on and said the lobby groups mission had not changed. A lengthier statement came that evening from the groups chairman, Jim Wallace  a former SAS commander of the Australian Army, and the founding managing director of the lobby group. I write reluctantly following Martyns email, Wallace wrote. I apologise for the delay in this official response, but we on the board did not want to act reflexively to what has been a huge disappointment. Jim Wallace speaks at a rally in support of marriage at Parliament House in 2011. Credit:Graham Tidy The objectives of the ACL had not changed, Wallace said. But it was clear that the strategy had. We believe that engagement must be on two levels, the relational and campaigning. In our view, political engagement and relationship-building in the parliaments should be reflective of the same humble relational style modelled by Jesus Christ. In that single sentence, Wallace summarised his issue with Iles leadership. The ACL had become almost entirely grassroots focussed: Iles would host rallies in the furthest ends of the country  from Tasmania to Cairns  to sold-out crowds, eager to hear him talk on faith and politics.

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He would also share countless videos and posts on his personal Facebook page discussing issues of the day. Nothing was off limits: Donald Trump (Thanks President Trump, from an Aussie who still likes you and is happy to admit it), the Voice to parliament (the wrong answer to a genuine problem), and Harry and Meghans split from the family (two wrongs dont make a right) all featured heavily. But chief among his complaints was Scott Morrison. After several years of restraint, Iles wrote in January last year, I am struggling to contain my disaffection with the Morrison government any longer. He gave 12 reasons, and invited his followers to add more. There were over 1000 comments. The activism stirred a base  many of whom had first come to the ACL for its work during the same-sex marriage plebiscite and the Israel Folau saga  but alienated the people required to win legislative change: government ministers. Australian Christian Lobby managing director Martyn Iless activism stirred a base. The ACL ended up targeting Liberal MPs who crossed the floor to change the religious discrimination bill last year. The result was a significantly reduced number of high-level government meetings. What was the point of meeting with a representative group who, come election time, would not support your party either way?

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And a Labor government, relying on even fewer Christian votes than the Coalition (in the 2016 election 41 per cent of church attenders voted for the Coalition and 24 per cent voted for Labor), made the access problem even harder. Fading influence It wasnt always this way. The Australian Christian Lobby once had the ears of leaders from both sides of politics. Ahead of the 2007 election both Kevin Rudd and John Howard spoke at an ACL-organised event that was said to have reached up to 100,000 Christians watching in 700 locations (mostly churches) across the country. Then-managing director Jim Wallace said the event was an acknowledgment that there was a Christian constituency after the last election. The fact that we had both leaders there is definitely indicative of the importance of it, he said at the time. Kevin Rudd and John Howard both spoke at an ACL event before the 2007 election. Credit:Andrew Taylor But things changed in 2012. Wallace, who is known to be personable but not media-savvy, compared the dangers of smoking with that of same-sex marriage in a debate with then-Greens leader Christine Milne at the University of Tasmania.

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Julia Gillard, then-prime minister, was due to make a keynote presentation at the groups annual conference. She hastily pulled out, labelling the comments heartless and wrong. From that point, politicians didnt stop engaging entirely with the group, but they did so on a more cautious footing. Lyle Shelton, a regional journalist-turned-conservative lobbyist took the reins the following year, shaping the ACLs campaign heavily around same-sex marriage. The group went on to play a major role in the No campaign ahead of the 2017 marriage plebiscite, and it was in this year that the lobby garnered its highest-ever number of mentions in the Australian media. The campaign  which saw Sydneys Anglican church donate $1 million to the cause  ushered in a flood of new members, providing financial and volunteer support. So when Shelton left to attempt to enter federal politics under Cory Bernardis Australian Conservatives party, incoming managing director Martyn Iles  who joined the group as a 24-year-old chief of staff  had a problem: what to do with all the new members? By the time its prominence peaked, [the Australian Christian Lobby] was associated with one side of one side of politics: conservatives in the coalition, and parties to the right, says Associate Professor David Smith, who researches religion and politics at the University of Sydney. This more conservative base of followers meant the ACL had to narrowcast its message. Iles spoke more about faith than politics, and led hundreds of volunteers in distributing a million small books containing the Gospel of John to households across Australia.

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A Strathfield Labor councillor, who has been an executive for embattled property developer Jean Nassif, says he was astounded to be targeted by Australian Border Force officials after landing at Sydney Airport on Thursday.

Officials seized Sharangan Maheswarans mobile phone and laptop when he arrived on a flight from Singapore just two days after dramatic police raids on Nassifs Sydney home and office.

Sharangan Maheswaran, a Strathfield councillor and former executive for property developer Jean Nassif, on Friday. Credit: Nick Moir

The seizures are understood to be related to the investigation of an alleged $150 million financial crime that has enveloped Nassif, 55, and his property development company Toplace.

Nassifs daughter Ashlyn, a 27-year-old lawyer, spent a night in custody charged with fraud offences before posting $2.6 million bail.
YEREVAN, MARCH 2, ARMENPRESS. On 2 March and on the night of 2 to 3 March, units of the Azerbaijani armed forces stationed in the occupied territories of the Askeran, Martakert and Martuni regions of the Republic of Artsakh violated the ceasefire established by the Trilateral Statement of 9 November 2020, ARMENPRESS was informed from MFA Artsakh.



"We strongly condemn the provocations of the Azerbaijani side, committed immediately after another meeting between representatives of the Republic of Artsakh and the Republic of Azerbaijan through the mediation of the Commander of the Russian Peacekeeping Contingent in Artsakh.



Against the backdrop of the discussion by the parties of humanitarian and infrastructural issues in the context of the need to immediately lift the illegal blockade of Artsakh, the actions of the Azerbaijani side clearly indicate the unwillingness to unconditionally implement their obligations to unblock the Lachin Corridor, including in accordance with the Order of the International Court of Justice.



In this regard, we consider it necessary for the international community to continue the implementation of specific measures to put pressure on Azerbaijan in order to curb its destructive actions and intentions aimed at resolving issues by force", reads the statement of the Foreign Ministry of Artsakh
Police Minister Paul Papalia is ramping up efforts to draw British Bobbies down under by appealing to their hearts and other organs, declaring Western Australia is the new Love Island.

Papalia is leading a delegation of West Australians on a nine-day tour of the UK to recruit people to fill the states 30,000 job vacancies across a range of industries including the police force, hospitals and the hospitality sector.

Paul Papalia reckons the Perth singles scene is on fire. Credit: Getty Images

Recruiting new police is a particular concern for Papalia, who has been spruiking WAs idyllic lifestyle in British media.

Papalia told The Times newspaper WA was a great place to bring up kids and, for those without partners, it could result in blossoming love  referencing the British reality show that plonks attractive people together in a lavish, isolated villa.
Singapore: A new Quad alliance  comprising Australia, the United States, Japan and the Philippines  is being proposed to counter a rising Beijing amid escalating tensions in the Indo-Pacific.

Situated near geopolitical hotspots such as the South China Sea and Taiwan, the Philippines is beefing up defence ties with the US and Japan and is in talks with Australia about joint naval and coast guard patrols.

But as south-east Asias second most populous nation deals with increasingly menacing conduct from China at sea, a new four-way security alliance is being proposed in Manila.

Philippine Senator Francis Tolentino is pushing to deepen links with like-minded countries. Credit: AP

In an interview with The Sydney Morning Herald and The Age, Francis Tolentino, the deputy chair of the Philippine Senate foreign relations committee, said a new quadrilateral pact between Australia, the US, Japan and the Philippines could be effective in pushing back against Beijing.
Tallinn, Estonia: A court has sentenced Belarus top human rights advocate and one of the winners of the 2022 Nobel Peace Prize to 10 years in prison, the latest move in a years-long crackdown on dissent that has engulfed the ex-Soviet nation since 2020.

The harsh punishment of Ales Bialiatski and three of his colleagues was delivered on Friday (Belarus time) in response to massive protests over a 2020 election that gave authoritarian President Alexander Lukashenko a new term in office.

Ales Bialiatski, the head of Belarusian Vyasna rights group, sits in a defendants cage during a court session in January. Credit: AP

Lukashenko, a longtime ally of Russian President Vladimir Putin who backed Putins invasion of Ukraine, has ruled the ex-Soviet country with an iron fist since 1994. More than 35,000 people were arrested, and thousands were beaten by police amid the protests, the largest ever held in the country.

Belarus is an outlier in its support of the year-old Russian invasion, with other countries in the region not backing Moscow publicly.
~ Accused of circulating scandalous Whatsapp messages.~

PHILIPSBURG:---- The executive board of the Windward Island Civil Servants Union (WICSU/PSU) told members of the media on Thursday afternoon that the Communication Specialist of the Princess Juliana International Airport (PJIAE) Audrey St. Luce Jack has been ambushed by the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Brian Mingo who invited her to a meeting and questioned her prior to suspending her until Monday. In that meeting were the outgoing CFO, the CEO and the company's legal advisor, and Audrey St. Luce Jack.

President of the WICSU Sharon Cannegieter did not divulge the reasons for the suspension since the matter is under investigation by PJIAE management and IT specialists. However, the WICSU board said that they have issues with the way in which the suspension took place. She said that St. Luce Jack was invited to a meeting where she was questioned and then immediately suspended even though she had no legal representatives.

The CEO of PJIAE asked airport security to take away her telephone, laptop, and badges and then have her escorted out of the building. Cannegieter said the CEO of PJIAE Brian Mingo humiliated and embarrassed St. Luce Jack as if she stole from the company. The trade unionist said she has known St. Luce-Jack for years and knows her to be a professional since she has seen her working in the media fraternity for years.

The WICSU said that St. Luce Jack has worked for PJIAE for the past twelve years, and only now she is described as being unqualified and lacking proper writing skills. Cannegieter said when she was called on Thursday she met with the CEO of PJIAE who had nothing good to say about the companys communication specialist, Mingo is saying she is unqualified and that she cannot write properly yet she does not have a bad evaluation over the past 12 years on her file. Mingo who has been appointed CEO of PJIAE for the past four years has never issued a warning letter to St. Luce Jack, however, the things he said in their meeting on Thursday are very much degrading.

The union felt that their member is being targeted because the CEO of PJIAE wants to replace her since only recently her function was advertised. They said Minigo has someone lined up for the position already and now he has to make St. Luce Jack his scapegoat in order to full fill his promises to a former colleague.

President of the WICSU Sharon Cannegieter said that St. Luce Jack was a member of the ABVO but recently resigned from that union and joined the WICSU/PSU. She explained that recently she received a Whatsapp message in which St. Luce Jack's name was mentioned. Cannegieter said that upon seeing the message she contacted St. Luce Jack even though she was not yet a member of WISCU/PSU after that conversation she said she contacted the CEO of PJAIE and was assured that St. Luce-Jack was going to be given a second chance.

Cannegieter said that the union was scheduled to have a meeting with PJIAE management next week and Mingo promised her that he was going to appoint St. Luce-Jack to her position and also give her a second chance. She said she was shocked at the developments on Thursday because she is of the opinion that everyone can have an investigation while employees can make mistakes. The trade unionist said that the management team of PJIAE are all locals and so is St. Luce Jack.

Cannegieter said in the meeting on Thursday Mingo told them that St. Luce Jack is not entitled to have union representation because she is above the pay grade. She said that the union was informed that Collective Labor Agreement does not cover the Communication Specialists due to her pay grade. The WICSU/PSU board said that St. Luce Jack has been a member of ABVO for 12 years, while the company's human resource department was notified that she is now represented by WICSU/PSU.

Cannegieter said that the WICSU/PSU is not only about putting out fires but they are also there to guide their members who may have committed any errors. We are not here to empower our members and guide them with the need arises. This is a sad day in the labor force on St. Maarten because if a CEO or Manager thinks that they can defame or embarrass an employee and does not take responsibility for his or her action then it's sad. She asked if the management team of PJIAE are really locals and if are they working for PJIAE or are they working for Schipol.

Cannegieter said that St. Luce Jack was accused of circulating a WhatsApp message to a politician whom she did not identify. She explained that she asked the CEO to apologize to St. Luce Jack for the humiliation and embarrassment but he refused. The trade unionist said that while in the meeting security officers were also guarding the doors.

SMN News contacted the CEO of PJIAE for a comment but he said he cannot comment on the ongoing matter because St. Luce-Jack is an employee and there is an investigation underway.
ION Energy resumes water well drilling at Urgakh Naran

ION Energy Limited (TSXV: ION) (OTCQB: IONGF) (FRA: 5YB) (aIONa or the aCompanya  https://www.commodity-tv.com/ondemand/companies/profil/ion-energy-ltd/ ), Mongoliaa?s first lithium brine explorer and developer, is very pleased to share that water well drilling has resumed at the 100%-owned Urgakh Naran project, to complete the UNWH-03 program.

Highlights:

Three water wells on site drilled to a total of 682m

 UNWH-01 drilled to 300m

 UNWH-02 drilled to 300m

 UNWH-03 currently at 82m

Previously stated results on the drilling of three lithological diamond core drill holes for a total depth of 954m: notable two metre drill core results Include:

 UNDH-01: 123m at 278ppm lithium from 122m, with maximum lithium reported at 832ppm over 2m;

 UNDH-02: 100m at 362ppm lithium from 65m, with maximum lithium at 601ppm over 2m; and

 UNDH-03: 71.4m at 360ppm lithium from 3.6m with maximum lithium at 911ppm over 2m.

aHaving previously reported strong results from the lithological holes, the Company is now pleased to share that we are completing our third water well at the highly encouraging Urgakh Naran projecta, said Ali Haji, CEO & Director of ION Energy. aUntil recently, IONa?s team had anticipated not being able to return to the site and resume this phase of our drilling program until much warmer weather, later in March. Wea?re excited to already be in possession of the equipment necessary for bailer sampling, pump testing and hydrogeological testing, to advance the inferred resource calculations at Urgakh Naran. Work on sampling will commence in the coming weeks.a

A

The Company alsoA announces that it has completed a non-brokered private placement for aggregate gross proceeds of $40,000 (the aOfferinga). The Offering consisted of the sale of 100,000 common shares (the aSharesa) at a price of $0.40 per Share.

The proceeds from the issuance of the Shares will be usedA primarily for exploration activities at the Companya?s properties, as well as for general corporate purposes. The Offering is subject to receipt of all necessary regulatory approvals, including approval of the TSX Venture Exchange. The securities issued pursuant to the Offering will be subject to a statutory hold period of four months and one day in accordance with applicable securities laws.

The Company also announces that it has granted to certain consultants and insiders of the Company an aggregate of 2,072,000 incentive stock options (the aStock Optionsa) to purchase common shares under the Companya?s incentive stock option plan (the aPlana). Each Stock Option is exercisable into a common share of the Company at a price of $0.30 for a period of two years from the date of grant. The Stock Options will vest immediately and be subject to the terms and conditions of the Plan and the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange.

The Company also announces that it has retained the services of Red Cloud Securities Inc. (aRed Clouda) to provide market stabilization and liquidity services, effective March 1, 2023. Red Cloud will be paid a monthly fee of $5,000, plus applicable taxes. Red Cloud has agreed to comply with all applicable securities laws and the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange (the aTSXVa) in providing the Services.A The agreement with Red Cloud is subject to approval of the TSXV.

All technical information disclosed in this press release has been reviewed and approved by Khurelbaatar Lamzav, P.Geo., an independent consultant to the Company and a aQualified Persona under National Instrument 43-101.

About ION Energy Ltd.

ION Energy Ltd. (TSXV: ION) (OTCQB: IONGF) (FRA: 5YB) is committed to exploring and developing Mongoliaa?s lithium salars. IONa?s flagship, 81,000+ hectare Baavhai Uul lithium brine project, represents the largest and first lithium brine exploration licence award in Mongolia. ION also holds the 29,000+ hectare Urgakh Naran highly prospective Lithium Brine licence in Dorngovi Province in Mongolia. ION is well-poised to be a key player in the clean energy revolution, positioned well to service the worlda?s increased demand for lithium. Information about the Company is available on its website,A www.ionenergy.ca, or under its profile on SEDAR atA www.sedar.com.

For further information:

COMPANY CONTACT: Ali Haji, ali@ionenergy.ca, 647-871-4571

MEDIA CONTACT: Siloni Waraich,A siloni@ionenergy.ca,A 416-432-4920

In Europe:

Swiss Resource Capital AG

Jochen Staiger & Marc Ollinger

info@resource-capital.ch

www.resource-capital.ch

Cautionary Note Regarding Forward-Looking Information

Neither the TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this news release.

Information set forth in this news release contains forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements include estimates and statements that describe the Companya?s future plans, objectives or goals, including words to the effect that the Company or management expects a stated condition or result to occur. Forward-looking statements may be identified by such terms as abelievesa, aanticipatesa, aexpectsa, aestimatesa, amaya, acoulda, awoulda, awilla, or aplana. Since forward-looking statements are based on assumptions and address future events and conditions, by their very nature they involve inherent risks and uncertainties. Although these statements are based on information currently available to the Company, the Company provides no assurance that actual results will meet managementa?s expectations. Risks, uncertainties and other factors involved with forward-looking information could cause actual events, results, performance, prospects and opportunities to differ materially from those expressed or implied by such forward-looking information. Forward looking information in this news release includes, but is not limited to, the Companya?s objectives, goals or future plans, statements, potential mineralization, exploration and development results, the estimation of mineral resources, exploration and mine development plans, timing of the commencement of operations and estimates of market conditions. Important factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from ION Energya?s expectations include, among others, uncertainties relating to availability and costs of financing needed in the future, changes in equity markets, risks related to international operations, the actual results of current exploration activities, delays in the development of projects, conclusions of economic evaluations and changes in project parameters as plans continue to be refined as well as future prices of lithium, and ability to predict or counteract potential impact of COVID-19 coronavirus on factors relevant to the Companya?s business. There can be no assurance that forward-looking statements will prove to be accurate and actual results and future events could differ materially from those anticipated in such statements. Accordingly, readers should not place undue reliance on forward-looking statements.
Poultry and silver

According to forecasts, by 2050 most silver will go into the production of solar cells. Among gold and silver loving Indians, the selection of silver products is just increasing. Even in photography, silver is making a comeback as a sought-after raw material. Silver is often used in medicine, for example on test strips. Silver can also make poultry waste and excrement less hazardous. Almost 40 percent of the world\-s meat supply comes from poultry. As a result, poultry farming is one of the fastest growing agricultural sectors in the world. Huge poultry farms produce large amounts of waste, which includes many dangerous bacteria that can enter water. To counteract this, but not with harmful chemicals, research is being done using silver as a substitute. The antibacterial silver can kill germs and does not harm the environment or the poultry. If the most commonly used calcium hypochlorite is used together with silver nanoparticles, 100 percent of the dangerous microbes can be killed.

Silver as an investment is appreciated by many investors. New opportunities are now opening up for Indian investors. Besides physical silver, they can invest in exchange-traded silver products and also in digital silver, which is new. This also saves storage problems. India is the world\-s largest producer of silver products. Of all Indian physical silver (bars and coins), about one-third is purchased by Indian investors. Investors in this country could bet on the precious metal by investing in silver companies. That would be where MAG Silver  https://www.commodity-tv.com/play/mag-silver-further-ramping-up-at-juanicipio-and-exploration-at-deer-trail-and-larder/up-at-juanicipio-and-exploration-at-deer-trail-and-larder/  could be considered. Among high-grade projects in North and South America, the Juanicipio silver mine in Mexico is the main project. It is located in the Fresnillo Trend in a world-leading silver area, and Fresnillo is the partner. Tier One Silver  https://www.commodity-tv.com/play/tier-one-silver-new-rock-samples-from-magdalena-target-indicate-an-intrusive-system/  takes care of silver, gold and base metal properties in Peru. Flagship project is the Curibaya project, which already has excellent drill results.

Latest corporate information and press releases from MAG Silver (https://www.resource-capital.ch/de/unternehmen/mag-silver-corp/) and Tier One Silver (https://www.resource-capital.ch/de/unternehmen/tier-one-silver-inc/)

In accordance with A34 of the German Securities Trading Act (WpHG), I would like to point out that partners, authors and employees may hold shares in the respective companies addressed and that there is therefore a possible conflict of interest. No guarantee for the translation into German. Only the English version of this news is valid.

Disclaimer: The information provided does not constitute any form of recommendation or advice. Express reference is made to the risks involved in securities trading. No liability can be accepted for any damages arising from the use of this blog. I would like to point out that shares and especially warrant investments are generally associated with risk. The total loss of the invested capital cannot be excluded. All information and sources are carefully researched. However, no guarantee is given for the correctness of all contents. Despite the greatest care, I expressly reserve the right to make a mistake, especially with regard to figures and prices. The information contained herein has been obtained from sources believed to be reliable, but in no way claims to be accurate or complete. Due to judicial decisions the contents of linked external pages are to be answered for (so among other things regional court Hamburg, in the judgement of 12.05.1998  312 O 85/98), as long as no explicit dissociation from these takes place. Despite careful control of the contents, I do not assume any liability for the contents of linked external pages. The respective operators are exclusively responsible for their content. The disclaimer of Swiss Resource Capital AG applies additionally: https://www.resource-capital.ch/de/disclaimer-agb/
YEREVAN, MARCH 3, ARMENPRESS. Prime Minister of Armenia Nikol Pashinyan assesses the results of his working visit to Germany as very effective, ARMENPRESS reports, Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan said during a meeting with the representatives of the Armenian community in Germany.

"My visit to the Federal Republic of Germany is coming to an end, and summing it up, I must say that I consider it very productive. We had an open conversation with the Chancellor and President of the Federal Republic of Germany. The main purpose of the visit is to try to better understand the view and perception of our German partners towards the Republic of Armenia, to try to make our positions on a number of issues more understandable," Pashinyan emphasized.

In general, according to the Prime Minister, he will return from Germany with very warm impressions.

"The meetings were held in a very friendly atmosphere, including the meetings with the Bundestag's Foreign Relations Committee, the Bundestag's Germany-South Caucasus Friendship Group, and we also recently had a very warm meeting with representatives of the business community. Also, there was a good public meeting yesterday at the German Council on Foreign Relations.

In general, I have to say, I don't want to draw conclusions prematurely, but one thing is clear that when we look at the events that happened following the Lachin Corridor blockade, the resolutions of the European Council, as well as the statements of a number of our partners in the international community, there is a certain change in perception towards our views, our positions, our problems. Also, the perception of our country in the European Union has changed significantly," the Prime Minister emphasized.
On the edge of the solar system away from the warmth of the sun is a vast ring of millions or even trillions of icy bodies, known as the Kuiper Belt,

The Kuiper Belt is a cold donut-shaped region of icy objects that circles the outer solar system beyond the orbit of the eighth planet from the sun, Neptune.

It is similar to the main asteroid belt, found between Mars and Jupiter, in that its objects are comprised of material leftover from the formation of the solar system around 4.6 billion years ago, according to NASA (opens in new tab).



The Kuiper Belt is far larger than the main asteroid belt, up to 20 times as wide and 20 to 100 times it's mass according to Nine Planets. (opens in new tab)

Related: Why is Pluto not a planet?

Like the main asteroid belt, the Kuiper Belt was shaped by the orbit of a giant planet. While the gas giant Jupiter fabricated the structure of the main asteroid belt, it was the orbit of Neptune that prevented material from coalescing into a large planet and thus that carved out the thin disk of the Kuiper Belt.

Humanity is only just beginning to explore the Kuiper Belt with just two spacecraft traveling out there thus far. In 1983, the Kuiper Belt region was visited by NASA's Pioneer 10 spacecraft, which crossed into the belt but didn't visit any of its worlds. It was followed by the New Horizons spacecraft which conducted an investigation (opens in new tab) of Pluto and its companion Charon in 2015 after a decade-long journey from Earth . The spacecraft went on to visit other Kuiper Belt objects including Arrokoth , the icy 'space snowman'.

NASA writes (opens in new tab): "The Kuiper Belt is truly a frontier in space  it's a place we're still just beginning to explore and our understanding is still evolving."

A composite image of the Kuiper Belt object Arrokoth. (Image credit: NASA/Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory/Southwest Research Institute/Roman Tkachenko)

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Kuiper Belt FAQs answered by an expert

Image credit: Campion College at the University of Regina Image credit: Campion College at the University of Regina Samatha Lawler Astronomer Dr. Samatha Lawler is an astronomer at the University of Regina in the United States who studies objects at the edge of the solar system.

We asked Dr. Samatha Lawler, an astronomer in the United States a few questions about the Kuiper Belt and objects at the edge of the solar system.

What is the Kuiper Belt? The Kuiper Belt is a collection of small, icy bodies that orbit the sun farther away than Neptune. It's very similar to the asteroid belt, but colder and farther away from the sun.

What kind of objects are found in the Kuiper Belt? The icy bodies in the Kuiper Belt are called "Kuiper Belt Objects" (I know, creative), or KBOs for short. Pluto is the best-known KBO, and one of the reasons it was demoted from being a planet was that thousands of other KBOs have been discovered orbiting in the same region. Only Pluto and one other KBO, Arrokoth, have ever had close-up pictures taken by a space probe. Pluto was visited by the New Horizons probe in 2015, and Arrokoth in 2019. Pluto is very round, made of water ice mountains and nitrogen ice glaciers, and has 5 moons. Arrokoth is only 18 miles (30 km) across, very red, and shaped like a snowman. All other KBOs have only been studied using telescopes, and even the best telescopes on Earth and in orbit still see them as dots, so we don't know as much about their shapes and colors as Pluto and Arrokoth.

What makes these Kuiper Belt objects interesting? There are thousands of them that we know of, and probably hundreds of thousands bigger than 62 miles (100 km) across, waiting to be discovered and measured by astronomers. Each one of them is a little leftover bit of planetary material that formed somewhere in the solar system and was placed on its current orbit by gentle nudges from the planets or even the galaxy.

What can the Kuiper Belt tell us about the solar system? By carefully measuring the orbits and information about the composition, we can learn where everything in the solar system formed, and how it may have been reorganized. Studying the Kuiper Belt has taught us that Neptune formed much closer to the sun than where it is today, and it migrated outward. Computer simulations have shown us that the KBOs we see today were shoved onto those orbits as Neptune moved.

What is the most surprising discovery made regarding the Kuiper Belt since you began studying it? Seeing the shape of Arrokoth was completely shocking to me. I think it's safe to say that no one expected it to be snowman-shaped. But just knowing that one snowman-shaped object exists means that we need a way to form it, and many astronomers have worked on computer simulations to reproduce that shape, which tells us much more about the detailed steps of planet formation.

Where is the Kuiper Belt?

The Kuiper Belt and the Oort Cloud are the two main reservoirs of comets in the solar system. (Image credit: ESA)

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NASA says that the inner edge of the doughnut-shaped Kuiper Belt begins at the orbit of Neptune and a distance of around 2.8 billion miles (4.8 billion kilometers) from the sun, with its main concentration of bodies ending at around 4.6 billion miles (7.4 billion km) from the star.

Astronomers usually measure vast distances like this within the solar system in "Astronomical Units" (AU) with 1 AU equivalent to around 93 million miles, the average distance between the Earth and the sun.

This puts the inner of the Kuiper Belt at 30 AU from the sun and the end of its main region at about 50 AU. There is another more disordered region (opens in new tab) of the Kuiper belt called the "scattered disc" that continues out to around 1,000 AU away from the solar system's central star. Those distances mean that the Kuiper Belt is one of the largest structures in the solar system. (opens in new tab)

The Kuiper Belt may not be the most distant band of icy bodies in the solar system, however. Scientists hypothesize that even further out than the Kuiper Belt is a collection of objects called the Oort Cloud that is often confused with the Kuiper Belt.

While short-period objects are believed to originate from the Kuiper Belt, according to NASA (opens in new tab) the Oort Cloud is believed to be the source of long-period comets that take longer than 200 years to circle the sun.

The inner edge of the Oort is believed to exist between 2,000 and 5,000 AU from the sun, while the outer edge could be 10,000 or even 100,000 AU from our star, which NASA says (opens in new tab) is one-quarter to halfway between the sun and the nearest neighboring star.

The Kuiper Belt is shown beyond the orbit of Neptune. One of its inhabitants is Eris, on a highly tilted and elliptical orbit. (Image credit: NASA)

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Who discovered the Kuiper Belt?

The Kuiper Belt is named for Dutch astronomer Gerard Kuiper (19051973) who in 1951, proposed the existence of a disc-shaped region of icy objects beyond Neptune from which comets originate.

Prior to the work of Kuiper, the first Kuiper Belt inhabitant to be discovered was Pluto found by Clyde Tombaugh (opens in new tab) at the Lowell observatory in February 1930. This means astronomers had discovered the Kuiper Belt long before they knew about it, though finding Pluto did lead to speculation about other objects existing out past Neptune .

In 1943 Irish astronomer Kenneth Edgeworth (opens in new tab) published a paper arguing that solar system bodies and their distribution were not bounded by the orbit of Pluto, which can be seen as the genesis of the Kuiper Belt concept. Though Kuiper presented a much stronger case in favor of this idea 8 years later, many astronomers called this band of icy bodies the "Edgeworth-Kuiper" in reference to that contribution.

Confirmation of the existence of the Kuiper Belt would have to wait for another four decades. According to John Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory (opens in new tab) in 1992 University of Hawaii researchers Dave Jewitt and Jane Luu discovered a small body orbiting the sun beyond Neptune.

This object, the first "classical TNO (Trans-Neptunian Object)," was eventually designated 1992QB1 and triggered the discovery of thousands more Kuiper Belt Objects (KBOs). NASA points out that since the discovery of 1992QB1 astronomers have discovered over 2,000 KBOs.

The reason it took so long to discover Kuiper Belt belt objects is that they are so small and so far away (opens in new tab).

Classifying Kuiper Belt objects

John Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory says Kuiper Belt bodies are classified as follows:

Cold Classical KBOs (Kuiper Belt Objects)

Cold refers not to temperature but to circular uninclined orbits. These objects are located in a band 6 AU wide between 42 and 48 AU from the sun and 3 AU.



These KBOs tend to be small, with none 500 miles across or wider. They are also redder in color than other KBOs.



The term "classical" refers to the fact these objects are on the type of obit Kuiper spoke about.



These are likely to be comprised of the original material that comprised the Kuiper Belt, unperturbed by the orbit of planets.

Hot Classical KBOs

"Hot" refers to the fact these KBOs have non-circular and inclined orbits.



This means these objects while usually located, at similar distances from the sun as cold classical KBOs can travel much further from the sun during their orbit.



Their sizes and colors vary, greyer than cold classicals, they also tend to be larger. They are found in a band around 12 AU thick.

Resonant KBOs

These KBOs are locked into a resonant dance with Neptune. 3:2 resonants make two orbits of the sun for every 3 orbits of the ice giant.

The 2;1 resonants, sometimes called "little Plutos" because the dwarf planet is a member of this group, make one orbit for every two orbits of Neptune.

Scattered KBOs

These KBOs possess unstable orbits, possibly because they have passed too close to Neptune and the ice giant's gravity has knocked them off-course.



These chaotic orbits can carry these bodies as far as 100s of AU away from the sun at their most distance, and closer than Neptune to the star at their closest.

Extreme TNOs (Trans-Neptunian Objects)

A very new grouping, there are only a few members of this category. These objects may eventually be revealed to not be part of the Kuiper belt at all as they can travel as far as 1,000 AU from the sun.

Famous inhabitants of the Kuiper Belt

The Kuiper Belt is home to millions of rocky and icy objects referred to as either Kuiper Belt objects (KBOs) or trans-Neptunian objects (TNOs). The frigid condition of these objects is due to their vast distance from the sun. NASA says (opens in new tab) there may be trillions of icy objects in the Kuiper Belt, with hundreds of thousands of these objects having diameters larger than 62 miles (100 km). It is home to at least five known dwarf planets , Eris, Haumea, Makemake, Quaoar, and of course Pluto.

Many of these dwarf planets have their own moons and even their own faint ring systems, with scientists recently spotting a ring around Quaoar (opens in new tab) which also has its own moon Weywot. Around 80 KBOs have been discovered to have binary companions of similar sizes meaning it can't be accurately determined which is the main body and which is the moon, these are referred to as "binary KBOs."

Swipe to scroll horizontally The dwarf planets of the Kuiper Belt Name Radius (miles) Orbital period (Earth years) Average distance from the sun (AU) Known moons Rings? Discovered Pluto 715 248 5.9 Charon, Nix, Styx, Kerberos & Hydra No Feb 1930 Eris 722 557 68 Dysnomia No Jan 2005 from data collected in 2003 Haumea 385 285 43 Namaka & Hi'iaka Yes, Discovered in 2017 2003 Makemake 444 305 45.8 S/2015 (136472) or MK 2 (Provisional) No 2005 Quaoar 345 65.3 44 Weywot Yes discovered in 2023 2002

Kuiper Belt objects come in all shapes and sizes

This artist's impression shows the distant dwarf planet Eris. New observations have shown that Eris is smaller than previously thought and almost exactly the same size as Pluto. (Image credit: ESO/L. Calcada)

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The largest Kuiper Belt objects are Pluto and Eris , Pluto has a diameter of around 1,430 miles (2,380 km) while Eris's diameter is slightly larger at around 1,444 miles (2,330 km). There are as many as seven other Kuiper Belt objects known with diameters between around 600900 miles (9501,500 km). Only these larger KBOs are expected to have their own atmospheres.

The smallest KBO (opens in new tab) ever seen in visible light has a diameter of just 3,200 feet and was spotted at a distance of 4.2 billion miles away, but the constant collision of these objects means the Kuiper Belt is a population by a multitude of much smaller fragments.

KBOs can vary in color and surface reflectivity (opens in new tab). Pluto, for example, reflects around 60% of incident sunlight that falls upon it, as a comparison Earth reflects just 10%.

Other KBOs have darker surfaces with reflectivity ranging from 20% to as low as 4%. John Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory suggests that the darkest (opens in new tab) of these objects could be rich in complex carbon-rich polymers. The color of Kuiper Belt objects is believed to range from dark grey to red, with this the result of a wide range of chemical compositions and their evolution though this is difficult to determine at such great distances.

KBOs also come in a range of shapes, with arguably the most unusual being that of (486958) 2014 MU69 (opens in new tab) or Arrokoth  meaning "sky" in Powhatan/Algonquian language  which is also referred to as the "space snowman" due to its shape.

Discovered by the New Horizons science team in 2014 using the Hubble Space Telescope , Arrokoth is double-lobed and partially flattened. The "head" and "body" of this 22 miles (35 kilometers) long, 12 miles (20 km) wide, and 6 miles (10 km) thick snowman are composed of two separate bodies that have merged into one, a so-called "contact binary." Unlike its snowman namesake, however, the object which went by the name "Ultima Thule" prior to its official naming in 2019, is extremely red in color.

Perhaps the most infamous hypothesized tenant of the solar system is " Planet X " or "Planet 9" following the demotion of Pluto to a dwarf planet. Proposed to exist way beyond Pluto, this Neptune-sized world would have a highly elongated orbit.

The primary line of evidence (opens in new tab) for this planet as it was proposed in 2015 is the strange elongated orbit of some smaller KBOs at the outskirts of the Kuiper Belt. This could be caused by the gravitational influence of an undiscovered massive object, though evidence beyond this has been scarce and controversial.

The Kuiper Belt is losing weight

The Kuiper Belt as we see it today might actually be a lot more empty than it used to be. The University of California Los Angeles (UCLA) (opens in new tab) says observations of the Kuiper Belt have led to the development of the "Nice Model" which suggests that the mass now in the Kuiper Belt, around 0.1 times the mass of Earth, is too great to have grown by accretion over the age of the solar system.

This means that the Kuiper Belt may have once contained material equivalent to 10 or even 100 times the mass of Earth, 100 to 1,000 times more than the mass it has today. The loss of this mass likely occurred due to shifting in the orbits of the giant planets, Jupiter , Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune.

According to NASA (opens in new tab) as the latter two planets were forced to drift outwards by Saturn and Jupiter they bent the path of many icy objects inwards. The massive gravity of Jupiter slingshotted out to the edge of the solar system, probably forming the Oort Cloud, or out of the solar system entirely.

NASA adds (opens in new tab) that the Kuiper Belt is still eroding today, objects there collide creating smaller collisional fragments which collide again grinding these objects to dust. This dust is then blown out of the solar system by streams of charged particles from the sun known as the solar wind.

Additional resources

The most infamous object in the Kuiper Belt is Pluto which is at the heart of a debate surrounding what should be considered a planet or what should not. The justification for downgrading Pluto to a dwarf planet, a decision made by the International Astronomical Union (IAU) in 2016, is explained here in this piece published here on the Library of Congress (opens in new tab) website.

Even further out in the solar system than the Kuiper Belt is an icy shell of billions or even trillions of objects called the Oort Cloud. You can chill and read about in more detail with these resources from NASA (opens in new tab).

Thus far only one spacecraft has visited the Kuiper Belt when in 2015 the New Horizons mission flew past Pluto and its moons. You can read about the mission in more detail here on the official NASA website (opens in new tab).

Bibliography

Kuiper Belt, Nine Planets, [accessed 02/22/23], [ https://nineplanets.org/kuiper-belt/ (opens in new tab)]

10 things to know about the Kuiper Belt, NASA, [Acessed 02/22/23] [ https://solarsystem.nasa.gov/news/792/10-things-to-know-about-the-kuiper-belt/ (opens in new tab)]

The Kuiper Belt, NASA, [Accessed 02/21/23] [ https://solarsystem.nasa.gov/solar-system/kuiper-belt/overview/ (opens in new tab)]

Arrokoth, NASA, [Accessed 02/21/23] [ https://solarsystem.nasa.gov/solar-system/kuiper-belt/arrokoth-2014-mu69/overview/ (opens in new tab)]

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Pluto, NASA, [Accessed 02/21/23], [ https://solarsystem.nasa.gov/planets/dwarf-planets/pluto/overview/ (opens in new tab)]

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Pluto, NASA, [Accessed 02/27/23], [ https://solarsystem.nasa.gov/planets/dwarf-planets/pluto/in-depth/ (opens in new tab)]

Eris, NASA, [Accessed 02/27/23], [ https://solarsystem.nasa.gov/planets/dwarf-planets/eris/in-depth/#:~:text=Eris%20is%20one%20of%20the,to%20be%20larger%20than%20Pluto (opens in new tab).]

Makemate, NASA, [Accessed 02/27/23], [ https://solarsystem.nasa.gov/planets/dwarf-planets/makemake/in-depth/ (opens in new tab)]

Haumea, NASA, [Accessed 02/27/23], [ https://solarsystem.nasa.gov/planets/dwarf-planets/haumea/in-depth/ (opens in new tab)]

Frequently Asked Questions About Quaoar, Northern Arizona, [Accessed 02/27/23], [ https://www.physics.nau.edu/~trujillo/quaoar/ (opens in new tab)]
An event horizon marks the boundary at the outer edge of a black hole. This black hole visualization shows a turbulent disk of gas churning around the cosmic beast.

The event horizon is the spherical outer boundary of a black hole loosely considered to be its "surface."

It is the point, according to NASA (opens in new tab), that the gravitational influence of the black hole becomes so great that not even light is fast enough to escape it. As a result of the fact that Albert Einstein's theory of special relativity tells us that no signal can exceed the speed of light in a vacuum (c) humanity can never hope to obtain a signal from the one-way boundary that is an event horizon.

As such event horizons effectively act as cosmic gatekeepers preventing us from ever directly observing the secrets that lie at the heart of black holes. Yet they can reveal a great deal about the environment around them.

Related: What happens at the center of a black hole?

"The event horizon is the ultimate prison wall  one can get in but never get out," Avi Loeb, chair of astronomy at Harvard University, told Space.com.

When an item gets near an event horizon, a witness would see the item's image redden and dim as gravity distorted light coming from that item. At the event horizon, this image would effectively fade to invisibility.

Within the event horizon, one would find the black hole's singularity, where previous research suggests all of the object's mass has collapsed to an infinitely dense extent. This means the fabric of space and time around the singularity has also curved to an infinite degree, so the laws of physics as we currently know them break down.

"The event horizon protects us from the unknown physics near a singularity," Loeb said.

Event horizon and black Hole FAQs answered by an expert

Image credit: University of Sussex. Image credit: University of Sussex. Xavier Calmet Professor Xavier Calmet is a professor of physics and astronomy in the School of Mathematical and Physical Sciences at the University of Sussex, U.K.

We asked Xavier Calmet, a professor of physics in the United Kingdom a few questions about black holes and event horizons.

What is a black hole event horizon? It marks the boundary between the black hole and the rest of the universe.

What is special about this boundary? Nothing inside the horizon can ever escape or come back across this boundary, not even light. This implies that nothing that enters the black hole horizon can be observed from outside this horizon.

Could we ever see past an event horizon? It is a matter of viewpoint. From that of a distant observer, we never see anything fall into the black hole, i.e., enter the event horizon. The object approaching the event horizon would simply fade away over time and ultimately disappear. However, from the point of view of an observer falling into the black hole, he would not notice anything when crossing the horizon of an astrophysical black hole. Because the curvature at the horizon of astrophysical or large black holes is small, there are no strong tidal forces and the free-falling observer would simply enter the black hole without noticing that he passed the horizon.

What lies past the event horizon? Empty space and nothing remarkable until one gets very close to the singularity at the center of the black hole. At that stage, tidal forces become extremely strong, and the observer would experience spaghettification  they would be stretched into a long pasta and would eventually be ripped apart by the strong gravitational forces.

Could anything ever escape the event horizon of a black hole? This is a fascinating question and is linked to the infamous Hawking information paradox. In 2022, along with my colleague Stephen Hsu, we demonstrated in a series of papers how information can escape a black hole. We theorized that information is encoded in the quantum state of the gravitational field outside the black hole and imprinted in Hawking radiation and thus fully available to an outside observer. In that sense, information about what fell into a black hole can always be recovered.

Einstein, black holes, and event horizons: A tale of two singularities

A NASA illustration of a black hole with the pitch black heart ringed by the event horizon. (Image credit: NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center/ background, ESA/Gaia/DPAC )

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The black hole and event horizon concepts were born from the 1915 theory of gravity conceived by Albert Einstein known as general relativity and solutions to the tensor equations that define it. A tenor is a mathematical equation that is similar to a vector but with four values rather than two. As a result, tensors are also sometimes called "four-vectors."

General relativity is also known as the "geometric theory of gravity" because it says that the presence of mass causes the very fabric of spacetime (the unification of space and time into a 4 dimension entity) to warp.

Think of this as being similar to placing balls of varying masses onto a stretched rubber sheet. The greater the mass of the ball, the more extreme the curvature, so a bowling ball warps the sheet far more than a marble. The same for celestial objects, a star creates more of a warp than a planet. Black holes are created when a massive star completely collapses as a result of its own gravity. The star's mass is compressed into an infinitely small space, causing an extreme warping of spacetime.

Because the term "black hole" refers to that entire warp, not just the infinite mass that dwells at its heart, (Lambourne. R. J. A, 2010 (opens in new tab), pg 171) it's more accurate to call black holes "spacetime events" rather than objects. And event horizons are the outer edge of these events where spacetime curves so much that anything that passes them is destined to make a one-way trip to the center of the black hole.

In 1915, less than a month after general relativity was first published astrophysicist Karl Schwarzschild became the first person to solve general relativity's field tensor equations, according to the Institute of Physics. (opens in new tab)

Schwarzschild studied general relativity while serving with the German army on the Eastern Front in the First World War in 191. He wrote to Einstein with his simple and exact solutions which Einstein feared might never be (opens in new tab) achieved as he himself had only managed approximate solutions. Schwarzschild passed away in 1916, the same year his solutions were published.

The mathematics of general relativity (Lambourne. R. J. A, 2010, pg 171) predicts two singularities. A coordinate singularity, which is the event horizon  the black hole's outer boundary, and a gravitational singularity, which represents the heart of the black hole.

Schwarzschild's solution gave the coordinate singularity and thus the event horizon a solid location around a black hole known as "Schwarzschild radius."

The coordinate singularity can be removed with a clever application of mathematics and transforming the coordinate system. But the gravitational singularity or "real singularity" can't be removed. It challenges physicists to this day, as it represents the point at which the physics that describes the universe completely breaks down.

Where is the event horizon and how big is it?

The anatomy of a black hole. (Image credit: AFP Photo/NASA/JPL-Caltech)

(opens in new tab)

The Schwarzschild radius (Rs) is a sphere located at the radius from the central "real" singularity of a black hole, which has a radius (r) of r = 0, equal to radius equals 2 times Newton's gravitational constant or "big G" (G) times the mass of the body (M) divided by the speed of light squared (c) [Lambourne. R. J. A, 2010, pg 172]. The equation for the Schwartzchild radius looks like this Rs = 2GM/c.

That equation implies that the size of the event horizon depends on the black hole's mass. The larger the mass the further out from the central singularity the event horizon will be.

It isn't just black holes that have a Schwarzschild radius all massive bodies like planets and stars do, but these aren't event horizons because these points are usually well within the bodies.

For example, given the sun's mass of 1.989  10 kg, its Schwarzschild radius occurs at about 1.86 miles (3 kilometers) from its central point, that's compared to the sun's radius of around 432,450 miles (696,000 kms). Earth's Schwarzschild radius is even closer to its central point, with our planet having a Schwarzschild radius of no more than 9 millimeters!

To see why the Schwartzchild radius constitutes a light-trapping surface consider that the escape velocity required to race away from the gravitational influence of a body is equal to the square root of 2 times the "big G" (G) times the mass of the body (M) divided by the radius of the body  so Ves = (2GM/r)/. For Earth that gives a speed of around 7 miles per second (11.2 kms per second).

For a body with a radius less than 2GM/c the escape velocity increases to more than 3.0 x 10 meters per second, the speed of light in a vacuum tells us that not even light can outrace gravity at this point.

Another consequence of the Schwartzchild radius is that to become a black hole the radius of a body with mass must shrink to within Rs. If the sun were compressed enough to become a black hole its radius would have to shrink from over 400,000 miles to just 1.86 miles (3 kms). Meanwhile, for our planet to become a black hole the Earth's radius would have to shrink from around 4000 miles (6,400 kms) to just 0.35 inches (0.9 centimeters)!

Sagittarius A *, the supermassive black hole at the center of the Milky Way , is about 4.3 million times the mass of our sun and has a diameter of about 7.9 million miles (12.7 million km), while M87 at the heart of the Virgo A galaxy is about 6 billion solar masses and 11 billion miles (17.7 billion km) wide.

Imaging event horizons

An image of the supermassive black hole at the center of the Milky Way, a behemoth dubbed Sagittarius A*, revealed by the Event Horizon Telescope on May 12, 2022. (Image credit: Event Horizon Telescope collaboration)

(opens in new tab)

In 2019 the Event Horizon Telescope (EHT) made history by capturing humanity's first direct image of a black hole, or as you'll realize by now more accurately, the environment immediately surrounding the black hole.

The image featured the supermassive black hole at the heart of Messier 87 (M87), located 53 million light-years away with a mass equivalent to around six and a half billion suns according to the EHT collaboration (opens in new tab). The image shows a glowing ring of material traveling around the event horizon close to light speed.

The array of telescopes across the globe that comprise the EHT and make an Earth-size virtual telescope (opens in new tab) made history again in 2022 when it imaged the supermassive black hole at the heart of our own galaxy, known as Sagittarius A* (Sgr A*).

"We were stunned by how well the size of the ring agreed with predictions from Einstein's Theory of General Relativity," EHT Project Scientist and Institute of Astronomy and Astrophysics astronomer Geoffrey Bower said in a statement. (opens in new tab) "These unprecedented observations have greatly improved our understanding of what happens at the very center of our galaxy, and offer new insights on how these giant black holes interact with their surroundings."

Thus, the image of the black holes at the heart of M87 and the Milky Way demonstrates that while event horizons protect many secrets that lurk behind them, shielding the central singularity at the heart of these spacetime events from scrutiny, they also help reveal a wealth of information about their surroundings and the extreme physics that shape galaxies.

Additional resources

Astrophysicist Karl Schwarzschild is the man who first solved the field tensor equations of general relativity and for whom the location of the event horizon is named. You can read about this extraordinary life in this article published (opens in new tab) on the science communication website Secrets of the Universe. Read more about the Event Horizon Telescope and the capture of the first black hole image in 2019 with these resources from the Event Horizon Telescope (opens in new tab). If you want to learn more about how massive stars die and collapse to form black holes check out these resources from NASA (opens in new tab). The agency also explains how it studies these regions of space.

Bibliography

Lambourne. R. J. A., Relativity, Gravitation, and Cosmology, Cambridge University Press, [2010], ISBN: 978-0-521-13138-4 https://www.amazon.co.uk/Relativity-Gravitation-Cosmology-Robert-Lambourne/dp/0521131383 (opens in new tab)

Ta-Pei Cheng, Relativity, Gravitation, and Cosmology: A basic introduction, Oxford University Press, [2010], ISBN 978-0-19-957364



Event Horizon, Swinburne Center for Astrophysics and Supercomputing, [accessed 02/18/23], [ https://astronomy.swin.edu.au/cosmos/e/Event+Horizon (opens in new tab)]

Astronomers Reveal First Image of the Black Hole at the Heart of Our Galaxy, Event Horizon Telescope, [2022], [ https://eventhorizontelescope.org/blog/astronomers-reveal-first-image-black-hole-heart-our-galaxy (opens in new tab)]

Astronomers Image Magnetic Fields at the Edge of M87's Black Hole, Event Horizon Telescope, [2021], [ https://eventhorizontelescope.org/blog/astronomers-image-magnetic-fields-edge-m87s-black-hole (opens in new tab)]



Astronomers Capture First Image of a Black Hole, Event Horizon Telescope, [2019], [ https://eventhorizontelescope.org/press-release-april-10-2019-astronomers-capture-first-image-black-hole (opens in new tab)]

What Are Black Holes? NASA, [accessed 02/18/23], [ https://www.nasa.gov/vision/universe/starsgalaxies/black_hole_description.html (opens in new tab)]

Eisenstaedt, D. Howard, J. Stachel (eds), The Early Interpretation of the Schwarzschild Solution, Einstein and the History of General Relativity: Einstein Studies, Vol. 1, pp. 213-234. Boston: Birkhauser, [1989]
Azerbaijani military units violated the Artsakh ceasefire on March 2 and overnight March 3 with small arms fire, the Ministry of Defense of Artsakh said.

March 3, 2023, 10:08 Azerbaijan violates Artsakh ceasefire

STEPANAKERT, MARCH 3, ARTSAKHPRESS: The units of the Azerbaijani Armed Forces deployed in the occupied territories of the regions of Askeran, Martakert and Martuni of the Republic of Artsakh violated the ceasefire on March 2 and overnight March 3 with the use of small arms, the Ministry of Defense of Artsakh said in a statement, adding that Artsakh did not suffer casualties.

The Russian peacekeeping contingent has been notified on the violation, it said.

As of now the situation in the line of contact was relatively stable, according to the defense ministry.
The minister of Agriculture, Petre Daea, declared on Friday in northeastern Iasi that the grains imported from Ukraine comply with the quality parameters, with the 8,500 samples taken by the National Veterinary Sanitary and Food Safety Authority (ANSVSA) proving this.

Minister Daea added that the ANSVSA constantly monitors the quality of the products that enter the territory of Romania.

The minister of Agriculture explained that the current military conflict in Ukraine created problems for Romanian farmers, as large quantities of grains arrived in Romania on the solidarity corridor.

"We took the necessary steps. In the meeting we had with the European Commissioner for Agriculture, we insisted on this situation. Together with other states, namely Poland, the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Hungary and Bulgaria, we presented an information to the Council of Ministers with the situation that exists. I requested that the commissioner activate the crisis reserve so that we can help the farmers overcome this difficult moment. It is not easy to achieve. Until the next meeting of the Council of Ministers I hope we will have an answer from European Commission", explained minister Petre Daea.AGERPRES
The county authorities of western cities of Arad and Timis are trying to draw labor force from the east of Hungary, in order to cover part of the existing deficit in the industrial areas of the west of Romania, and will organize meetings in this view in Csongrad, between employers in Romania and workers or students of the vocational schools there.

The president of the Arad County Council, Iustin Cionca, made the announcement on Friday, following a meeting of the executive of the Danube-Cris-Mures-Tisza Euroregion (DKMT), which took place in Arad, to discuss the projects in progress and the prospects for the European funding cycle.

Iustin Cionca is the acting president of the Euroregion and he discussed with officials from the partner counties - Arad, Timis, Caras-Severin (from Romania), the Autonomous Province of Vojvodina (Serbia) and Csongrad-Csanad, Bacs-Kiskun (Hungary) - a series of current topics, such as the railway project between Szeged (Hungary) and Subotica (Serbia), for which the DKMT Euroregion took care of the technical documentation.

Arad County requested, during the meeting, "a more active involvement of the business operators from the cross-border area" in order to attract the labor force from Hungary to the industrial areas in Romania. In this sense, there will be a total of 14 meetings between workers and employers in the counties of Arad, Timis and Csongrad, "the aim being to fill the lack of labor force in the west of Romania with workers from the east of Hungary".

"We have requests in this regard from Chisinau-Cris and from the municipality of Arad. The salaries offered by the companies in the west of Romania are higher than those in the east of Hungary and this makes our industrial areas a destination for the Hungarian workforce. The Arad County Council has modernized the entire network of cross-border roads, through a 13.8 million EUR project, on the Interreg Romania-Hungary program, to facilitate the influx of employees to Arad companies," declared Iustin Cionca at the end of the meeting.

Employers from Romania will also discuss directly with students of vocational schools in Hungary about employment opportunities in Arad or Timis.

At the same time, it was proposed to issue a Euroregional health card, in order to facilitate the cross-border interventions of ambulances in case of accidents or acute diseases. The European Commission has designated for this purpose two groups of experts, who will create, according to the functional model already in some European countries, a set of proposals applicable in Romania, Hungary and Serbia.

On May 20, in Pecica, the general assembly of the DKMT Euroregion will be organized, in which the presidents of the member counties, as well as other officials, will participate.AGERPRES
Irvine City Council voted unanimously on Tuesday to proceed with dedicating an Armenian Genocide Memorial at the Great Park in Irvine (Orange County, California), the Armenian National Committee of America (ANCA) Orange County reported.

March 3, 2023, 10:33 Irvine, California City Council unanimously approves Armenian Genocide Memorial at Great Park

STEPANAKERT, MARCH 3, ARTSAKHPRESS: Professor of Physics & Astronomy and the Director of the Center for Cosmology at the University of California, Irvine, ANCA OCs Kev Abazajian gave testimony in support of the initiative during the City Council meeting.

Abazajian gave testimony as an Irvine resident and as a descendant of survivors of the Armenian Genocide.
The President of the Romanian Chamber of Commerce and Industry (CCIR), Mihai Daraban, together with a delegation of businessmen made up of representatives of the most powerful Romanian companies that could get involved in the import-export activity with South America, participated in a working meeting with the Deputy Minister for Foreign Trade, Industry and Tourism of Colombia, Luis Felipe Quintero Suarez, told Agerpres.

According to a press release of the CCIR, the working meeting had the purpose of identifying investment areas of common interest for the two states.

"Between Romania and Colombia, there are certainly a number of economic similarities that manage to bring the business communities of the two countries closer together. There are common concerns regarding industrial modernization, digitalization and the implementation of sustainability in the economy. In Colombia, the energy field benefits from a separate policy, as it also happens in Europe and, obviously, in Romania. Apart from this field, we have identified common points in terms of investments in transport, especially railway and sea transport. I also sent the message received from the Ministry of Defence in Colombia regarding the possibility of collaboration in this field," said the head of the CCIR, Mihai Daraban.

The meeting was mediated by the Romanian Embassy in Bogota.

"I believe that I had an extremely useful meeting both with the leadership of the CCIR and with the businessmen from Romania who are part of this delegation because we managed to draw up an investment plan that can benefit both countries. Obviously, the energy field is a priority, both for Colombia and Romania and, in this respect, we must establish together the stages that will lead to a collaboration in this field. In the next period, we will establish at the ministry level all the details prior to the organization of a Colombian economic mission in Bucharest, relying, obviously, on the support of the CCIR," said the Deputy Minister for Foreign Trade, Industry and Tourism from Colombia, Luis Felipe Quintero Suarez.
Interior Minister Lucian Bode stated on Friday that through the quick and efficient response provided following the requests for support coming from the countries affected by various emergency situations, Romania has proven that it is a credible partner within the cooperation formats, told Agerpres.

"Alongside the other structures of the national defence system, public order and national security, the professionals of the civil protection have participated with devotion to rescue and material damage reduction missions. In recent years, we have witnessed the intensification of risks that threaten the life and health of the population and the environment. The optimal management of interventions, even in extreme conditions, required a considerable effort on your part. Both this year and in previous years, Romania responded to the calls received through the European Civil Protection Mechanism or through other international support mechanisms, the help offered having been appreciated by the governments and citizens of the respective countries. Through the quick and efficient response provided following the requests for support from countries affected by various emergency situations, Romania has proven that it is a credible partner in cooperation formats," Lucian Bode stated at the Interior Ministry (MAI) headquarters, on the occasion of the Civil Protection Day.

According to him, the situation generated by the management of the flow of Ukrainian citizens coming to our country from the conflict area is one of the "complex and large actions" relevant for 2022, which needed this time "the real testing" of response procedures in an integrated system on behalf of all the institutions which are part of the National Emergency Situations Management System, along with government support, local authorities and civil society, international organizations and NGOs.

On Friday, at the MAI headquarters, on the occasion of the Civil Protection Day, it took place the award ceremony of the "Honor insignia of the Emergency Situations Department (DSU)" to the DSU representatives and personnel within the structures under the coordination and operational coordination (the Inspectorate General for Emergency Situations - IGSU, General Aviation Inspectorate - IGAV, County Ambulance Service - SAJ, Emergency Unit/ Emergency Compartment - UPU/CPU, Mountain Rescue), namely the international and non-governmental organizations for special services brought to the emergency system of Romania.

The distinctions were handed out by Lucian Bode and the state secretary, DSU head Raed Arafat.
A detachment of approximately 100 troops and four F-16 Fighting Falcon aircraft of the Romanian Air Force will participate in an enhanced air policing mission in the Baltic states between April and July, told Agerpres.

According to the Defence Ministry (MApN), the main objective of the mission to be carried out in the airspace of Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia is to prevent the violation of the NATO airspace and to provide assistance to military and civilian aircraft in flight emergencies.

The troops to be dispatched to Lithuania at the air base in Siauliai, mostly come from the 53rd Warhawks Fighter Squadron of the 86th Lieutenant aviator Gheorghe Mociornita Air Base.

The commander of the detachment, which bears the symbolic name of "Carpathian Vipers", is Cosmin Vlad. He is an experienced pilot, a member of the Air Force Defence Staff team and he has represented the Romania Air Force in numerous national and international missions.

MApN says that between February 27 and March 3, a team from the Joint Forces Command and the Air Force Defence Staff tested the preparedness of the Carpathian Vipers detachment at the 86th Air Force Base.

The test comprised verifying and assessing operational procedures, equipping and staffing and testing the operational capacity.

The Enhanced Air Police Mission in the Baltic States under the command of NATO - Baltic Air Policing (BAP), as part of the military surveillance of the airspace of the Baltic states, is carried out on a rotation of tasks bases carried out by the NATO countries since 2004. In 2007, the Romanian Air Force also participated in this mission with four MiG-21 LanceRs of the 71st General Emanoil Ionescu Air Base at Campia Turzii.
The first rapid visual evaluations of buildings in Bucharest should start until September, and among the buildings that will have priority will be the blocks with at least three floors built before 1968 and the constructions with functions in the field education and health.

The clarifications were made, on Friday, by the head of the Urbanism Department within the Bucharest Metropolitan Area Intercommunity Development Association, Bogdan Suditu, at the end of a technical discussion attended by representatives of the Bucharest City Hall, the sector municipalities, the Ministry of Development, the General Inspectorate for Emergency Situations, of the Technical University of Construction and some NGOs.

Suditu emphasized, during a press conference, that although the 10,000 blocks built before 1968 meet the criteria for rapid evaluation, they are not necessarily vulnerable. He mentioned that the type of building structure will play an important role in the rapid visual assessment.

"Buildings with a flexible ground floor are very vulnerable. And then, knowing this information from official sources, even if they were covered up, if a building has a flexible ground floor, a block that has shops on the ground floor, (...) we don't necessarily have to we see a crack to understand that it is potentially vulnerable," he said.

The Department of Urbanism highlighted that, according to the new legislation, the consent of all owners is no longer necessary in order to consolidate a building, but it is sufficient for half plus one of the members of the tenants' association to agree. When the consolidation program starts, the building will be disconnected from the utilities.

"With the new law, we resumed the interaction with the owners' associations, we convinced them of the need to enter the consolidation programs and we already have buildings submitted to the PNRR and the National Plan for the Consolidation of Seismic Buildings (PNCCRS), we have buildings already approved in the amount of 50 million euros in the PNRR. The buildings submitted to the PNCCRS are being evaluated", he mentioned.

The general mayor, Nicusor Dan, estimated that, as the design stage will be finished, the pace of building consolidation will increase considerably.AGERPRES
The number of registrations of natural and legal persons increased by 6.47pct in January 2023 compared to the first month of 2022, up to 11,841, of which 7,993 were limited liability companies (SRL), according to the data centralized by the National Trade Register Office (ONRC), consulted by AGERPRES.

Most registrations were reported in Bucharest, namely 2,331 (plus 17.55pct, compared to January 2022), and in the counties of Cluj - 600 (-8.28pct), Ilfov - 603 (+5.42pct) and Timis - 552 (+6.56pct).

At the opposite pole, the lowest number of registrations was recorded in the counties of Tulcea - 71 (7.79pct decrease compared to January 2022), Covasna - 72 (+26.32pct) and Mehedinti - 83 (minus 13.54 pct).

According to the ONRC, the areas in which most registrations were made are the following: wholesale and retail trade; motor vehicle and motorcycle repair (2,343; +5.4pct, compared to January 2022), transport and storage (1,424; +15.58pct) and construction (1,329; -5.94pct).
As many as 68,159 people, including 7,929 Ukrainian citizens, entered Romania on Thursday, March 2, the General Border Police Inspectorate (IGPF) reported on Friday.

According to IGPF, at the border points nationwide on Thursday, nearly 139,700 people, Romanian and foreign citizens, were checked both on the way in and on the way out of Romania, as well as more than 42,800 means of transport, told Agerpres.

Starting February 10, 2022 (pre-conflict time) 3,662,354 Ukrainian citizens entered Romania.

The border police detected 41 illegal acts (15 crimes and 26 misdemeanors) in the areas under their jurisdiction - the crossing points and the green border - committed by both Romanian and foreign citizens, levying more than RON 32,200 in fines in the process.

Assets of an estimated value of RON 12,800 were impounded.

Sixteen foreign citizens who did not meet the conditions provided by the law were denied entry.

Also on Thursday, 15 Romanian citizens were not allowed to leave for various legal reasons.
PNL (National Liberal Party) proposes an alternative measure to the alleged introduction of a tax of 1pct on business turnover, a 10pct tax cut for the part of the extra profit declared, compared to the profit of the previous year, and a 16pct normal tax on the rest of the fiscal obligations, Deputy Raluca Turcan informs on Friday, told Agerpres.

"Furthermore, corporate tax payers and microenterprise income tax payers, who pay the quarterly tax due/quarterly advance payment by the due dates, will benefit from a 10pct bonus calculated on the tax due. But only if they do not register debits at the level of the general consolidated budget," Raluca Turcan told a press conference.

According to Raluca Turcan, the proposal of the Liberals "encourages economic operators to declare their profits in full, stimulates companies to pay tax obligations on time."

"The impact of these measures on the revenues of the general consolidated budget (in the short, medium and long term) will be strongly positive for the following reasons: it will generate a strong incentive for the declaration, in Romania, of the real value of the profit obtained, in order to benefit of the reduced tax rate for the difference in profit; it will determine the decrease of the "export" of profits in advantageous fiscal areas (lower tax rates), because it will be more advantageous to declare the taxable profit and pay the tax in Romania; the additional taxable profit declared in the year n+1 [higher than in the previous year - editor's note] and taxed at 10pct, will be taxed in year n+2 at 16pct, causing a significant increase in budget revenues from the long-term profit tax," said Raluca Turcan.

Turcan beleives that "any taxpayer who wants to benefit again from the 10pct rate in the year n+2, will have to obtain, calculate and declare an even higher tax than in the year n+1, and the rate of 10pct will only apply to the additional profit in the year n+2. Taxpayers who do not declare higher taxes than in the previous year will still pay only the 16pct tax rate. The 10pct bonus does not only represent a non-discriminatory treatment against the bonus that natural persons benefit from for the early payment of fiscal obligations (local taxes), but also an additional incentive for observing the quarterly calendar of budget receipts, in order to cover, in real time, the sources of financing for budget expenses. Whenever the government decision-makers considered that additional budget revenues would be obtained through increases in the taxation regime and through coercive measures, it turned out to be an error."

Former Deputy Prime Minister Raluca Turcan also stated that: "economic reality has proven the opposite - whenever simplification measures and tax rebates have been applied, voluntary tax compliance has increased, and the level of receipts from tax revenues to the general consolidated budget has increased. It would be particularly serious to adopt, once again, erroneous measures aimed at companies with foreign capital, under false nationalist arguments and in a simple and erroneous electoral logic. The data provided by the National Bank of Romania and the Chamber of Commerce and Industry of Romania shows very clearly the fact that foreign investments have an overwhelming weight in the national economy, that tens of thousands of Romanian companies depend on the orders of large foreign companies, that tens of thousands of companies have appeared and developed thanks to foreign companies, that hundreds of thousands of superior jobs are ensured in these companies and that the technological leaps of the Romanian economy were supported by the transfer know-how and technology made by foreign companies. More than that, a differentiated treatment of economic operators contravenes both the Romanian Constitution and the Treaty of Romania's Accession to the European Union."
Romanian MEP Corina Cretu said on Thursday that she applied for Moldovan citizenship in memory of her grandparents, refugees from Bessarabia to Romania, told Agerpres.

It is the second time that Cretu is trying to get the Moldovan citizenship.

"First time I applied for Moldovan citizenship was at the beginning of the year. Unfortunately, I was asked for additional documents because, for example, my grandfather was called Alexe in some documents and Alexie in other documents. I am a little surprised by this excessive bureaucracy when it comes to documents. It is obvious that they were the same names of the parents. I was a little disappointed, but I spoke again with the consul of the Republic of Moldova, I submitted the documents again and I do not give up. Because I do not understand how it is very easy for some to get the citizenship and for others less easily, although I have always been with Moldova. Let's hope that the second application I sent will receive a positive consideration," Cretu told AGERPRES.

She added that she wants to get the Moldovan citizenship in memory of his maternal grandparents, who fled from Bessarabia to Romania, where they had to start from scratch.

"My grandfather studied at Toulouse and then came to marry my grandmother. Their idea was to go to France, but they couldn't get past Romania. They came to Romania when my mother was 2 years old and, in the end, they had to start all over in Romania, although in Moldova they were well-off, accomplished people. I grew up with the idea that we are from Transylvania, because my father is from Salaj and I spent all the holidays there. My mother and grandmother did not talk much about the fact that they were refugees from Bessarabia. I found out, of course, with the passage of time. I remember my grandmother in 1978, when she was given permission to visit Moldova once more, and I remember that I was at the North Railway Station and my grandmother said that she could die now because she returned from Chisinau," Corina Cretu recalls.

The war in Ukraine had a lot to do with her decision.

"When the war broke out in Ukraine, I said to myself that in their memory, because my mother was somehow forced to hide all the time that they were refugees, I must try to get the Moldovan citizenship. I only want this for the peace of my grandparents. It's all I could do for them to consider themselves reconciled; because they suffered a lot. My family and I feel somehow guilty because we didn't know all these dramas they went through, and now, when we see what the Ukrainian people are going through, we realise what they also went through before they settled somewhere," said Cretu.

Cretu attended the release of the English edition of the book "Hostage in your own country", written by Ion Iovcev, which took place on Thursday at the European Parliament.
Femicides, domestic violence, cyber-stalking: the Istanbul Convention aims to prevent and eliminate violence against women. While some EU members and other European nations have ratified it, others have yet to agree, the European Newsroom (enr) media platform reports in a key article released Friday.

On Tuesday, a week ahead of International Women's Day, the European Parliament once again urged the EU to ratify the Council of Europe Convention on preventing and combating violence against women and domestic violence as soon as possible. One in three women in the EU had already experienced physical or sexual violence, necessitating a swift ratification by the 27-country bloc, several MEPs said, according to Agerpres.

Several of the countries that have already ratified the document also redefined their laws to protect women. Others still lack a national plan to implement the Convention.

The Istanbul Convention was drafted by the Council of Europe, a non-EU organization monitoring human rights, in 2011. The ratification of the Convention needed 10 ratifications by 10 States. Of these 10 States which were first to ratify it, 8 were members of the Council of Europe. By signing it, the countries committed themselves to prevent, prosecute and eliminate violence against women. It entered into force on 1 August 2014 and was signed by the EU on 13 June 2017.

Nearly six years after signing the Convention, the EU has still not ratified it, because six members - Bulgaria, the Czech Republic, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania and Slovakia - have refused to do so in the EU Council. However, the European Court of Justice (ECJ) ruled in 2021 that the EU could proceed with ratification even without unanimity.

Poland, which ratified the Convention in 2015, is currently trying to revoke it, deeming it 'harmful' because it requires schools to teach children about gender. Turkey withdrew from the Convention in 2021. Despite the war, Ukraine was able to ratify the Istanbul Convention, the first international treaty to set legally binding standards to prevent violence against women, last year.

Yes means yes': Progressive laws in Spain and Slovenia

Slovenia and Spain have both ratified the Istanbul Convention (Spain in 2014, Slovenia in 2015) and even redefined the crimes of rape and sexual violence to adopt the 'yes means yes' concept. This means that if a person does not clearly express their will to engage in sexual activity, this has to be considered as a 'no'. The new legislation, therefore, does not necessarily contemplate the use of force as a requirement to punish an aggression.

According to a report by the European Women's Lobby from 2020, Spain has improved in the field of prevention and prosecution of crimes against women since the ratification. The country increased financial support for affected women and created refuge centers.

Complying with the guidelines of the Istanbul Convention, Spain also became the first country in the European Union to officially record all types of femicides in 2022. Even so, the eradication of violence against women continues to be a challenge in Spain, where 49 women were killed by gender-based violence last year.

The Spanish Minister of Equality, Irene Montero, during the closing ceremony of the International Feminist Meeting organized by the Ministry of Equality, with a panel of leading women from different corners of the world, at the Faculty of Medicine of the Complutense University of Madrid. Photo: EFE/ Borja Sanchez Trillo

Slovenia has had no major problems complying with the Convention, when in mid-2020 the Polish government started to examine the possibility to withdraw from the Convention, at that time said it saw no need to do so. According to the report for 2021 of the Council of Europe's Grevio Group of Experts, which is responsible for monitoring the implementation of the Convention, Slovenia had made progress in establishing a legal, institutional and policy framework.

However, more attention should be paid to women from vulnerable groups and the improvement of data collection, and the criminal justice system should take stronger action against all forms of violence against women. Domestic violence against women increased significantly during the Covid 19 pandemic. In 2020, there were ten cases of femicide. According to the latest data, every fifth woman in Slovenia has experienced some form of violence.

Germany lacks a national action plan

The Istanbul Convention came into force in Germany on February 1, 2018. However, for the Convention to be implemented according to the guidelines, there is a shortage of thousands of women's shelter places.

The latest Grevio report on Germany stated in October 2022 that there had been a lack of a national action plan so far, even though the Convention indicates one. Women's shelters and counseling centers are very unevenly distributed and there is a shortage of them in rural areas. In larger cities, there are often long waiting lists. The experts further called for a review mechanism to analyze all gender-based killings of women and to identify where institutions need to respond differently.

However, the experts welcomed some developments in the German criminal law. This included, for example, the explicit criminalization of technology-based abuse such as cyber-stalking or the unauthorized photographing of intimate body parts.

Italy: Resistance to gender topics

In 2013, Italy was the fifth country to ratify the Istanbul Convention. According to the 2020 Grevio report, Italy's laws are in many cases 'innovative', but too often not implemented effectively and uniformly throughout the country. In addition, the report raised various concerns regarding gender equality, data collection in courts and custody cases after women became victims of domestic violence.

Furthermore, the report states, the country must 'provide adequate financial and human resources' to implement existing laws and policies. Policies should be coordinated and monitored 'between national, regional and local authorities.' In addition, the experts call for action in establishing basic and specialized services for female victims of violence, which should be accessible throughout the country.

The Grevio report notes a 'resistance regarding gender equality' in Italy. This has for example manifested itself in both schools and universities through a delegitimization of gender studies. Some cities have 'censored' events that were to be held in public libraries and aimed at raising awareness on gender issues.

Croatia: Controversy over ratification

Like in other Central and Eastern European countries, the Istanbul Convention was divisive for Croatian society. Croatia signed the agreement on January 22, 2013, and the Croatian parliament, the Sabor, eventually ratified it on April 13, 2018. But the ratification shook the center-right ruling party Croatian Democratic Union (HDZ).

Prime Minister Andrej Plenkovic attempted to appease critics, within and outside the party, by including a statement in the law stating that the convention is consistent with the Constitution of the Republic of Croatia, and that it does not contain the so-called gender ideology. Opponents, mainly circles close to the Catholic Church, pointed out that the Istanbul Convention was being misused to introduce the so-called 'gender ideology', i.e., the separation between gender and biological gender, into Croatian legislation, education, and the media. Others pointed out that science also distinguishes between sex and gender.

Women's rights activists believe that the Istanbul Convention has been inadequately implemented in Croatia. At a roundtable discussion in the Croatian parliament last November, they said the system is inadequate because judges do not know what gender-based violence is. They were particularly critical of court procedures that impose symbolic sentences for domestic violence.

Another problem is that women find it difficult to report an abusive partner, being afraid they will not be believed. If they decide to report, they often do so years after the fact when they file for a divorce, and are then often confronted with doubts as to whether any violence occurred at all. Psychological violence against women is also often not acknowledged.

A delegation of the Council of Europe's Group of Experts on Action against Violence against Women and Domestic Violence (GREVIO) carried out an evaluation visit to Croatia from 17 to 21 October 2022.GREVIO plans to publish its evaluation report on Croatia during 2023.

Bulgaria: Pushing for laws against domestic violence without ratification

In 2018, Bulgaria's Constitutional Court adopted a decision stating that the Istanbul Convention advances legal concepts related to the notion of gender that are incompatible with the fundamental principles of the Bulgarian Constitution. In line with this decision, Bulgaria did not support the two draft Council decisions on EU ratification of the Istanbul Convention, by which the Council seeks the consent of the European Parliament, the Bulgarian Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MFA) explained earlier in February.

The Bulgarian government and civil society were working actively to prevent forms of violence against women and provide protection and support to the victims, the MFA added. Last December, the Bulgarian Ministry of the Interior said that a total of 3,085 protection orders had been issued under the Protection Against Domestic Violence Act between January 1 and October 31 of 2022. In these 10 months 2,656 women, 349 men and 873 children were victims of domestic violence, perpetrated by 2,713 men and 283 women.

In November, the Bulgarian Justice Ministry presented a draft bill with amendments to the Protection Against Domestic Violence Act, envisaging the creation of a national information system and a national register of domestic violence cases.

Bosnia and Herzegovina: Every fourth woman victim of domestic violence

Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH) was among the first countries in Europe to ratify the Istanbul Convention in 2013. However, the convention has not been fully incorporated into the country's legal framework, even though some parts are included in entity laws.

The Agency for Gender Equality of BiH is responsible for the implementation of the Convention and for ensuring that there is a uniform system of prevention and protection of victims of violence, without discrimination based on which entity, canton or municipality the victims live in. BiH suffers the consequences of the constitutional division of the country's jurisdiction. This results in different practices, causing inequality in the implementation of the right to protection, but also in the availability of help and support for the victims.

According to a report by the Gender Equality agency of BiH, every fourth woman in BiH is a victim of domestic violence. Increasingly, violent behavior ends in femicides, without being legally recognized as such. In total, one in two women over the age of 15 have experienced some form of physical, psychological or sexual violence.

The content of this article is based on news by AFP, ANSA, BTA, dpa, EFE, FENA, HINA, STA agencies participating in the enr.
Despite the limited opportunities due to the blockade, the construction works of the new residential district being built for the displaced people in the area adjacent to the Hovsepavan community of Askerani region is underway.

March 3, 2023, 13:11 Due to the blockade, the construction of private houses in Hovsepavan has slowed down, but still continues

STEPANAKERT, MARCH 3, ARTSAKHPRESS: "Artsakhpress" visited the construction site and got acquainted with the progress of the works.

The new residential district consists of 59 private houses. The construction of 32 is financed by the Hayastan All-Armenian Fund, and 27 by the state budget of the Republic of Artsakh. The apartments consist of 3 and 4 rooms. Each will have 1,200 square meters of land. Appropriate infrastructures will be created in the neighborhood; a playground will be built, and the area will be improved," informed Aram Gasparyan, Deputy Minister of Urban Development of the Republic of Artsakh.

According to him, the construction of the district should have been completed at the beginning of 2023, but due to the blockade of Artsakh, the construction works have slowed down, which are now being carried out on a very small scale.
ST. LOUIS  Nursing home workers represented by the Service Employees International Union spoke out Thursday against the closure of a 130-bed facility in the Carondelet neighborhood of St. Louis.

Yamura Smith, a certified medication technician who has worked at Riverview Care Center since March 2022, said workers were at first told that they would be able to transfer to Dutchtown Care Center, which is under the same ownership as Riverview.

But the SEIU said that of the 21 union-represented workers at Riverview, only five have been hired by the Dutchtown facility. Smith said others were told there werent positions available for them.

Lisa Cox, spokesperson for the Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services, confirmed that on Feb. 17 the state was notified of the facilitys plans to close. DHSS approved its plan to temporarily close on Feb. 21, and the last resident moved out on Tuesday.

The workers at Riverview voted to form a union in 2021, but had not reached a collective bargaining agreement with the nursing home.

The owners of Riverview could not be reached for comment on Thursday.

Riverview Care Center reported 38 residents in mid-February, down from 80 in May 2020, according to data from the U.S. Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, or CMS. The facility provides residential and assisted living, rehabilitation and skilled nursing. Riverview has a one-star rating from CMS. Dutchtown Care Center has a two-star rating.

Deborah Hickman said she worked as a housekeeper at Riverview for about two years, and was told Tuesday that there were no positions available at Dutchtown. Shes looking for a job now, applying at hotels and restaurants.

Smith, the certified medication technician, said she had previously worked for about a decade at the Little Sisters of the Poor nursing home, which closed in 2018. In that case, she said workers were given months of warning, and the facility held a job fair on site to help people find other work. At the fair, she found a job at the Mary, Queen and Mother Center.

She said at Riverview Care Center, she was notified on Feb. 20 that the nursing home would be closing.

Within a week, we were out of jobs, Smith said.
A somewhat true tale of an alligator on a road trip from West Virginia to Florida and a mostly true memoir by a popular blogger brought tears of laughter, while a novel about a split-second decision that altered a familys life trajectory hit a more serious note in novels that I read in February for my three book clubs.

Carrying Albert Home

By Homer Hickam

What I thought  Based on tall tales from his West Virginia family, Homer Hickam tells the story of his parents 1935 road trip from a coal mining town in West Virginia to, eventually, Key West, Florida. The purpose of the trip is to return a wedding gift  Albert. Hes an alligator, not a crocodile, though he does play a crocodile in a movie along the way.

Hickams parents, Homer Sr. and Elsie, join strikebreakers in blowing up a textile mill, pick up a rooster who remains nameless, foil a bank robbery, meet a few famous authors and survive a deadly hurricane among other nonstop adventures on the trip that seems to take months and months. The young couple also learn about themselves and each other along the way.

This madcap, well-told story left me wondering at times what was true, but mostly it just made me laugh.

At book club  If readers arent clued in by the subtitle The Somewhat True Story of a Man, His Wife, and Their Alligator and are expecting a factual story, this book may be a disappointment. A few members were put off at first by the exaggerated tales, but they ended up liking the book. One member, who gave it five stars on Goodreads, said it was easy to suspend disbelief, jump into the backseat of Homers Buick with Albert and the unnamed rooster, and go along on every well-embellished, hilarious adventure with Homer and Elsie.

Our host found recipes on a blog (kahakaikitchen.blogspot.com) for Fried Potato Pancakes and Old Bay Boiled Shrimp  dishes similar to what Elsie might have made in 1935. Homer Hickam himself approved, commenting on the post: Its making me hungry for Elsies famous fried potato cakes and boiled shrimp!  Albert likes it, too, especially since he isnt on the menu! Yeah, yeah, yeah!

Signal Fires

By Dani Shapiro

What I thought  On a summer night in 1985, a tragic car accident and the lie that follows leaves one teenager dead and two others  brother and sister Theo and Sarah  forever marked.

Fast forward to 2010, and Theo and Sarah are grown and have successful careers. Their mother has dementia and is in a memory care facility. Their father, Dr. Ben Wilf, is preparing to sell the family home. Across the street live the Shenkmans with their son, Waldo, a brilliant but lonely child who has a fascination with stars and the universe but struggles to relate to the people around him, including his father and mother.

A story of the consequences a secret can create, Shapiros first work of fiction in 15 years is told in bits by various family members going back and forth in time. If you like stories told chronologically, the dizzying timeline may be a turnoff, but I enjoyed this spiritual novel with deeply written characters.

At book club  This was a short book and easy to get through, one member said, but it is also heavy with the weight of intense feelings of regret and sadness. Signal Fires is a reminder of how people are connected and that lives can intertwine in unexpected ways. One member liked the parallels of the two families and how they overlapped at intense moments.

Lets Pretend This Never Happened

By Jenny Lawson

What I thought  I admit, when I saw the word memoir, I groaned. But Lawsons mostly true memoir about her upbringing in rural Texas, though seriously messed up, was also very funny.

Lawson tells stories of growing up with her dad, an overly enthusiastic taxidermist, who in one instance uses the bloody carcass of a squirrel as a ventriloquist puppet. Its funny  at least the way Lawson tells it. Taxidermy follows Lawson into adulthood as she confesses a love for tiny, stuffed animals in period clothing.

Dysfunction thrives in Lawsons life  and sometimes in her writing. With lots of swear words, some parenthetical ramblings and many postscript notes, the book sometimes reads like a rambling blog, which is where Lawson gained her fame.

At book club  Some members related to Lawsons anxiety. One felt a kinship with Lawson over her social awkwardness at parties and blurting out inappropriate things. Others related to her weird family. It reminded one member of going to school and realizing you were always going to be that kid from the weird family, no matter what you did.

Published in 2012, Lets Pretend This Never Happened was Lawsons first book. The author struggles with social anxiety, depression and rheumatoid arthritis and has since written two more books about her life  Furiously Happy: A Funny Book About Horrible Things and her latest, Broken (in the Best Possible Way), which was released in 2021. Two members who are big fans of Lawson had read all of her books and noticed a maturity in her writing in later novels.

Bonus book

Its 1952 in San Francisco, and Andy Mills has just been fired by the police department after being caught with his pants down in a raid on a gay bar. Andy is drowning his sorrows and contemplating jumping into the Bay when he is approached by an older woman who needs an investigator to look into the possible murder of Irene Lamontaine, the founder of a successful soap-making empire. At Lavender House  Irenes estate and the title of Lev AC Rosens cozy mystery  Andy finds a unique living arrangement for its mostly gay inhabitants. The mystery and murder in this book were pretty standard, but the struggles the characters faced in a time when it was unsafe to be queer elevated the story. Rosen has set this up to be the first in a series following detective Andy Mills.
The United States ended combat operations in Vietnam 50 years ago this month, setting the stage for its withdrawal two years later  and the end of what was then the nations longest war and costliest defeat.

St. Louis played a major role. It sent its young men to fight and die. Its big employers  companies like McDonnell Douglas and Monsanto  were major military contractors. And its universities  especially Washington University  saw their share of antiwar protests, some violent.

The antiwar movement  the biggest and most organized in U.S. history  is the focus of just two of 15 chapters of Left in the Midwest, a new scholarly look at progressive activism in St. Louis in the 1960s and 70s.

The Vietnam chapters are largely about Washington University activists, the destruction of the ROTC buildings there and Howard Mechanic, the student protester turned fugitive.

The rest of the book  edited by two St. Louis University faculty members, Amanda Izzo, associate professor of Womens and Gender Studies, and Benjamin Looker, associate professor of American Studies  deals with other battles.

Some will be familiar to most St. Louisans. The newspapers covered them as they unfolded. The famous Baby Tooth Survey of the early 1960s that helped confirm alarming levels of strontium-90 caused by above-ground atomic testing. The long campaign by Percy Greens ACTION to shame the Veiled Prophet organization. The unsuccessful effort to keep City Hall from closing Homer G. Phillips, the northside hospital that served the African American community.

Less familiar are stories of how gay St. Louisans fought discrimination  and their allies in the religious community. How women networked to support access to abortion before the Roe v. Wade decision in 1973. How they called out rape culture and organized the first Take Back the Night march in 1979. How the lesbian community, facing constant harassment, created and defended safe spaces.

Its hard to exaggerate the hostility the gay community faced in the 1970s. As the book recounts, A Womans Place  a Lesbian Alliance-sponsored venue near Gravois Park  didnt last a year before it was firebombed. Four years later, Mor or Les, a new lesbian bar in Dutchtown, also was hit by an arsonist. A police sergeant told the Post-Dispatch at the time, South St. Louis just isnt ready for a lesbian bar.

The book is a reminder that the groundwork for some stories was laid many years earlier. Long before Ferguson erupted in 2014, St. Louis activists worked to end police violence. One long-ago case mentioned in the book: Dennis Benson, a 23-year-old man who died July 9, 1980, two days after he struggled with police responding to a disturbance call. Fourteen witnesses told the Post-Dispatch that officers beat Benson repeatedly with flashlights and nightsticks after he was handcuffed. The case sparked protests, but a grand jury refused to indict any officers.

While it covers a lot of ground, Left in the Midwest leaves a lot out. For example, the push for economic conversion, trying to get manufacturers like McDonnell Douglas to shift away from military production. Activists  not all progressives or left-wingers  opposed Union Electrics nuclear plant in Callaway County (and lost) and the Meramec Dam (and won). Groups like ACORN (the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now) fought redlining in the 1970s. And late in the decade came campaigns to end apartheid in South Africa and against U.S. meddling in Central America.

The book also could have benefited from a deeper look at some of the economic changes that were transforming St. Louis during this time, the loss of major employers, local ownership, offshoring and plant closings.

For most of Missouri, especially the GOP leadership in the Legislature, St. Louis is a hotbed of progressive tomfoolery. At the same time, some progressives who live here think the place is culturally conservative and politically stagnant  and they despair.

As one longtime activist quoted in the book says, Its a great place to organize, but a tough place to make a difference.

Still, Left in the Midwest shows a lot can be accomplished by regular folks, pushing to make things a little better.
Q  Whatever happened to Leverage: Redemption starring Noah Wyle? I was really enjoying the show.

A  The series completed telecasts of a 13-episode second season in January on Freevee (which is also available via Prime Video). It looked as if the caper series was ready for a third season, but I have not seen an announcement about one yet.

Q  In a December column, you said Alaska Daily would be returning Feb. 23. That does not seem to be the case. Do you have an update?

A  ABC moved the dramas return to March 2. According to TVLine.com, The move will allow viewers to watch the remainder of Season 1 uninterrupted over the course of five consecutive weeks.

Q  Will there be any more Dexter episodes with Michael C. Hall?

A  As you know, Halls serial killer character, Dexter Morgan, was killed at the end of Dexter: New Blood last year. But Showtime has announced plans for a Dexter: Origins series about the character as a young man; a return of New Blood focusing on Dexters son Harrison, and possibly projects based on other characters from the Dexter universe.

Q  We recently watched The Hammer with Reba McEntire. Is there any possibility a series will follow instead of just the one movie?

A  For those of you tuning in late, the Lifetime movie starred McEntire as traveling judge Kim Wheeler, a character inspired by real-life judge Kimberly Wanker. McEntire has reportedly said shed like to play Wheeler again in more movies or a series, because I just fell in love with the character. And, she told Showbiz Cheat Sheet, Wanker has plenty of stories to inspire new productions.

Q  What happened to Mr. Inbetween? Is there a new season? It was very quirky and original.

A  The drama about a hitman, and inspired by the movie The Magician, aired on FX for three seasons, ending in 2021. You can find the old episodes on Hulu.

Q  My daughter and I really loved a show on ABC years ago called The Crossing. It was canceled and disappeared. Is there anywhere you know of to find it?

A  The science-fiction drama starring Steve Zahn ran on ABC for a single season in 2018. One place you can find the episodes is Prime Video.

Send questions to Rich Heldenfels, P.O. Box 417, Mogadore, OH 44260, or brenfels@gmail.com.
THURSDAY, March 2, 2023 (HealthDay News) -- Premature births dropped during lockdowns in the early months of the COVID-19 pandemic.

A groundbreaking study, which included a group of mostly high-income countries  including the United States, Belgium, Canada, Chile, Denmark and Switzerland  found there were about 4% fewer preterm births than would have been expected in spring 2020.

Thats nearly 50,000 babies not born early in just one month alone, The New York Times reported.

This is a unique natural experiment, where the whole world experienced this pretty drastic lockdown at the same time, said one of the study leaders, Meghan Azad, an associate professor of pediatrics and child health at the University of Manitoba. So, it was a neat opportunity to look at what that might mean for maternal-child health.

The study was inspired by the observations of doctors in places like Denmark, where numbers of the smallest preemies were down by 90%, and Ireland, where early births dropped by 75% or more, the Times reported.

Authors of an Irish study wondered if lower stress, reduced air pollution or exposure to fewer viruses and bacterial infections in lockdown might make a woman less likely to delivery early. The causes of preterm birth remain elusive.

Azad wondered if doctors were seeing fewer premature births that spring because some of those babies were lost to stillbirth or miscarriage, the Times reported.

Soon, more than 100 scientists, including Azad, were studying this phenomenon.

It was this kind of crazy time, she said. A bunch of researchers had a lot of time on their hands, because their projects were slowed down or their conferences were canceled.

The researchers used data covering 52 million births between 2015 and 2020. They focused in on data sets that covered an entire country or entire region of a large country to avoid skewed data for individual hospitals that might have fewer preterm births because of COVID-related diversions, according to the Times.

The study ended up including 18 high- and upper-middle-income nations.

It found that preterm births dropped by an average of 4% in the first and second months of the lockdown.

As lockdowns loosened and country guidelines varied, the drop in preterm births was gone by the pandemic's fourth month, the Times reported.

While the study authors found small increases in stillbirths in Brazil and Canada during some of the months, it wasnt enough to explain the overall decrease in preterm births, Azad said.

The causes of preterm birth have been so elusive, despite considerable efforts, said Dr. Denise Jamieson, an obstetrician at Emory University School of Medicine in Atlanta, who was not involved in the study.

I think any reduction in preterm birth is noteworthy and important, Jamieson said. The next step is to really look at the why.

That answer may vary, depending on a persons circumstances during the pandemic. Much is still unknown.

Even if there are 52 million births in the study, it is not going to immediately answer all the questions, said co-author Dr. Roy Philip, a neonatologist at University Maternity Hospital Limerick, in Ireland. But at least this should trigger people to look more closely at what is ideal during pregnancy.

In one example cited by the Times, Massachusetts lawyer Elizabeth Decker quit her job to stay home during her last trimester of her stressful second pregnancy. While her first child was delivered preterm, this second baby was born a week after her due date, according to the paper.

Decker had spent that last trimester during lockdown resting and sleeping as her husband taught school online and cared for their toddler.

I was able to really not do anything for the last three months of my pregnancy, said Decker, 36, who noted her blood pressure didnt spike until a week after her babys due date.

Although Azad said she would have liked to have studied the reasons for this drop in early births, she lacked funding to continue, and other projects deferred early in the pandemic took over, the Times reported.

In spring 2020, people had this burning desire to do something, to either help the pandemic or make something of it, Azad said.

We dont all have that extra time anymore, she added.

The study findings were published online Feb. 27 in the journal Nature Human Behaviour.

More information

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has more on COVID-19 and pregnancy.

SOURCE: The New York Times
When drugmaker Eli Lilly announced Wednesday it will slash the list price for some of its insulin products following years of criticism from lawmakers and activists that the price of the lifesaving hormone had become unaffordable, the news raised questions about what will happen to other efforts to provide low-cost insulin.

Civica, a nonprofit drugmaker based in Utah, for example, has said it plans to begin selling biosimilar insulin for roughly $30 per vial by 2024  $5 more than the new price of Eli Lillys generic insulin.

In December, billionaire entrepreneur Mark Cuban said his new company, the Mark Cuban Cost Plus Drug Co., planned to sell low-cost insulin. And California is poised to launch an ambitious program to manufacture its own brand of the hormone, as well as generics of other high-priced prescription drugs.

Drug pricing experts welcomed the Eli Lilly news, predicting the move wont undercut those efforts. And these other initiatives to bring lower-cost insulin to market, in turn, would put pressure on Eli Lilly to keep its prices down. Together these will help, not hamper, what could become a race to the bottom on insulin prices.

The more competition, the more stable this solution will be so that five to 10 years from now the prices wont go up again, said Dr. Vincent Rajkumar, a Mayo Clinic oncologist who has been a critic of high drug costs.

The pressure could cause further ripples. Following Eli Lillys news, Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) sent letters to the two other major insulin makers, Sanofi and Novo Nordisk, calling on them to follow suit.

People with diabetes, especially those with Type 1 who need the drug to survive, will benefit. Yet even while some of Eli Lillys persistent critics praised the move, they noted work remains to make insulin widely affordable.

Additional competition and other accountability moves are still incredibly necessary because the companies can raise their list price again at any time, said Elizabeth Pfiester, founder of T1International, a nonprofit that advocates for people with diabetes. Thats why the government also needs to regulate insulin manufacturers to hold them accountable.

Cubans company did not respond to requests for comment on how the Eli Lilly cuts might affect its efforts. But Civicas plan remains unchanged following the news, said spokesperson Debbi Ford.

From the beginning, we have said we are not entering medicine markets for market share, Ford said. We are participating for market impact.

Democratic California Gov. Gavin Newsom tweeted Wednesday that sky high prices for insulin have put it out of reach for too many and his state will manufacture its OWN insulin and ensure all who need access to this medicine can afford it.

Now, Eli Lilly is lowering their cost, Newsom wrote. Lets keep it up.

Last year, California lawmakers approved $100 million for the state to contract for cheaper insulin and make the lifesaving drug, cutting out drugmakers and go-between companies that add to the price consumers pay. Newsom has said that Californias insulin would be available at a cheaper price, close to at cost. Officials havent said when the states insulin will be available, though, or exactly how much it will cost.

Californias goal was to get competition into the market however they can manage it, said Robin Feldman, a professor at the University of California College of the Law-San Francisco who studies the insulin market. If Californias entry results in bringing prices down from other manufacturers, that will be a good thing.

Eli Lillys price cuts apply to what it described as its most commonly prescribed insulins, but Feldman noted those are older insulin products. Although California officials havent released details about which insulin products would be included in its program, Feldman said she expects the state will offer a variety to cover the market.

Its not aimed at any one company or any one drug, she said. Its aimed at making affordable insulin available to market and putting pressure on other companies.

Washington and Maine are also exploring ways to bring cheap insulin to consumers, and large insurance companies pledged millions in an agreement with Civica to manufacture cheaper insulin.

The cadre of newcomers aim to break open the insulin market because three pharmaceutical companies  Eli Lilly and Co., Sanofi, and Novo Nordisk  have long dominated the U.S. insulin supply and allowed their prices to escalate. The price of one of Eli Lillys products, for example, rose from $21 to $255 per vial between 1996 and 2016.

St. Louis University law professor Dr. Michael Sinha said Eli Lilly may have seen a threat from the discount insulin initiatives.

This might be a response to some of those initiatives and the looming threat of really steep losses in terms of market share, Sinha said.

Beginning in 2024, Hernandez said, drugmakers could be on the hook to pay fees, known as rebates, to Medicaid for drugs like insulin that have had steep price hikes. By lowering the list price of insulin, Eli Lilly could avoid those costs, Hernandez said.

Hernandez said that understanding the incentives behind Eli Lillys decision to cut list prices could help lower the price of other drugs that patients have trouble affording. If the makers of those other drugs also slash their list prices ahead of 2024, it could show the effectiveness of the new federal policy. If they dont, it might underscore the importance of factors unique to insulin like public pressure by politicians and activists or market competition from initiatives like Californias.

___

10 small, healthy things you should do for yourself every day 1. Find one small way to add more steps to your day. 2. Just be  even for five minutes a day. 3. Make sleep a top priority. 4. Refill your water bottle. 5. Take a few deep breaths. 6. Wear something you love. 7. Make something in the kitchen. 8. Deliberately choose a healthy ingredient. 9. Pay attention to your needs. 10. Tell the truth as often as you can.
Armenian Foreign Minister Ararat Mirzoyan and Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov discussed the Armenian-Azerbaijani settlement during their meeting in New Delhi within the framework of the Raisina Dialogue, the Russian foreign ministry said.

March 3, 2023, 13:55 FM Mirzoyan, FM Lavrov discuss Armenia-Azerbaijan settlement

STEPANAKERT, MARCH 3, ARTSAKHPRESS: FM Mirzoyan and FM Lavrov stressed the urgency to intensify efforts in all directions of the settlement of Armenian-Azerbaijani relations, according to the read-out released by the Russian foreign ministry.

"There was an exchange of opinions on regional issues. The urgency of intensifying efforts in all directions of the normalization of Armenian-Azerbaijani relations was noted, in accordance with the agreements of the leaders of Russia, Armenia and Azerbaijan on November 9, 2020, January 11, 26, 2021, and October 31, 2022," the statement of the ministry noted.

Relevant issues of the bilateral agenda were also discussed.

The approaches for intensifying cooperation in international platforms as part of common integration unions were combined, the ministry added. It said that the talks were held in an atmosphere of trust and friendship, and that an agreement on future diplomatic contacts was reached.
FRIDAY, March 3, 2023 (HealthDay News) -- Genicular nerve radiofrequency ablation (RFA) is associated with a significant reduction in pain for patients with knee osteoarthritis, according to a study presented at the annual meeting of the Society of Interventional Radiology, held from March 4 to 9 in Phoenix.

Kaitlin Carrato, M.D., from MedStar Georgetown University Hospital in Washington, D.C., and colleagues assessed data from 36 patients who underwent 47 primary genicular nerve RFAs (13 male and 21 female) for knee osteoarthritis from February 2022 to August 2022 and were followed for a mean 75.5 days.

The researchers observed an overall statistically significant reduction in visual analog scale (VAS) and Western Ontario McMaster Universities Osteoarthritis (WOMAC) pain scores after RFA. Among patients aged 50 years or older versus those younger than 50 years, there was a statistically significant reduction in VAS. Gender, body mass index, history of prior knee surgery, and history of fibromyalgia did not significantly impact VAS or WOMAC reduction.

"Roughly one in four U.S. adults have knee pain," a coauthor said in a statement. "This treatment can offer many of those people a chance to enjoy everyday activities and regain a higher quality of life by decreasing the pain that they experience on a daily basis."
ST. LOUIS  Leaders at Washington University have largely been silent amid investigations of its pediatric transgender clinic, but the universitys social justice policy institute this week weighed in on the controversy, releasing a statement that sharply attacks the credibility of a former clinic employee who raised concerns about the quality of care provided to children.

Jamie Reed, a former case manager at the Washington University Transgender Center at St. Louis Childrens Hospital, last month alleged, among other things, that puberty blockers and hormone therapies were too freely given to children and teens, some of whom suffered with mental illness or other issues. Parents, she said in an article published online by The Free Press and also a sworn affidavit provided to Missouri Attorney General Andrew Bailey, were not told about the medications risks, lied to and coerced into continuing treatment.

But, a 1,355-word response sent out this week by the Clark-Fox Policy Institute questions Reeds qualifications and asserts her article is filled with fallacies that are often misused to spread subjective opinions about gender-affirming care.

The rhetoric follows many common tropes peddled by those who oppose the social affirmation and medical treatment of transgender adolescents and adults, Jeremy Goldbach and Shannon Dunlap write. By centering the perspective of only one individual, the article leaves medical and mental health professionals, academics, and most importantly, trans adolescents and their families voiceless while purporting to advocate for them.

Goldbach, an expert in LGBTQ mental health, is the Masters & Johnson Distinguished Professor of Sexual Health and Education at Washington Universitys Brown School. Dunlap is a researcher at UCLA and clinician who has worked with transgender adolescents and their families for more than 10 years.

Their response to Reed appeared on the Clark-Fox Policy Institutes website and was distributed in an email newsletter to subscribers.

Goldbach and Gary Parker, director of the Clark-Fox Policy Institute, stressed the statement should not be viewed as reflecting the position or views of Washington University.

My goal is always to ensure there is a balanced discussion of affirming care that includes empirical research and clinical expertise. As a faculty member with extensive experience in this area, I have the autonomy to disseminate my writing through the channels available to me, Goldbach said.

The Clark-Fox Policy Institute is dedicated to the dissemination of evidence-informed policy aimed at improving the lives of children and their caretakers. Whenever possible, we capitalize on the research of Brown School scholars, Parker said. Although the statement is his own and does not necessarily reflect the views of Washington University, Professor Goldbachs expertise on this matter is critically important as he brings empirical data to this discussion. We are proud to provide a platform for his scholarship.

Reeds attorney, Ernie Trakas with the Child and Parental Rights Campaign, called the researchers dismissiveness of Reeds claims and defense of the transgender clinic a sophomoric, duplicitous apology worthy of condemnation that will be exposed once investigations are complete.

More troubling is Washington Universitys support of their diatribe. This too will have consequences, Trakas, a member of the St. Louis County Council, said.

Washington Universitys response to Reeds allegations has so far been limited to a joint statement by Chancellor Andrew Martin and BJC HealthCare CEO Richard Liekweg, who said they were concerned by Reeds allegations, were continuing an internal review of practices at the WU center and pledged additional oversight.

Asked about Goldbach and Dunlaps statement, a Washington University spokeswoman said faculty are free to comment on matters, but dont speak for the university.

The op-ed you reference was written by a faculty member as an individual and based on his scholarly expertise, Julie Flory, vice chancellor for marketing and communications, said in a statement Thursday. We fully support academic freedom and our faculty are welcome to share their personal opinions as they see fit, in whatever format they choose. They do not speak for the university.

Goldbach and Dunlap, among other criticisms, challenge Reeds claim that the clinic is pushing youths toward transitioning, resulting in a recent increase in patients reporting gender dysphoria. Reed said therapists were provided pre-written approval templates to sign off on.

The researchers wrote that such templates are routine in a variety of specialty care setting to ensure that the information is clear, appropriate and complete.

There is no evidence for the floodgates being opened, the report stated, Instead, research suggests that many trans youth continue to face significant barriers to accessing gender-affirming care, such as lack of health insurance coverage, high cost of care, limited availability of knowledgeable providers and fear of retaliation.

The authors also challenge Reeds allegation that no reliable studies show treating gender dysphoria improves patients mental health.

The researchers say numerous studies show that access to gender-affirming care reduces behavioral health problems among transgender youths, including a recent study that found youths who receive the care report 60% lower odds of moderate or severe depression and 74% lower odds of suicidal ideation or intent.

Their sharpest attack is on Reeds credibility, arguing that as a case manager responsible for patient intake, she lacked the expertise to comment on clinical decisions made by doctors, nurses, social workers and others with clinical training in transgender adolescent health.

Would you rely on the person checking you in at an emergency room for their medical advice? To triage for urgency, of course. But to determine the course of treatment? We think not, their report stated.

Trakas said Goldbach and Dunlaps statement purposefully misrepresents and demeans Ms. Reeds credentials, experience, and critical role as part of the multi-disciplinary team at the WU center.

While its fine to debate the appropriateness of medical treatment for minors experiencing gender dysphoria, Trakas said Goldbach and Dunlap instead produced an ad hominem attack on Reed.

Debate about gender-affirming care for children comes as lawmakers in Republican-led states, including Missouri, push legislation to ban such treatment for patients younger than 18.

So far this year, governors in South Dakota, Utah and Mississippi have signed bills into law banning the provision of gender-affirming care to transgender minors.

Videos: Some testimony before the House committee about bills to criminalize transgender health care It makes me feel hated. It really does, transgender teen testifies House representative calls puberty blockers child abuse; transgender woman says thats offensive This bill will harm me, transgender child tells Missouri House committee Will our kids and grandkids see that we were on the side of love or hate? Parent asks committee Missouri senator says doctors treating transgender children are evil If I were your kid, I would not be comfortable coming out to you, senator tells colleague Bill would keep teachers from convincing children they are transgender or gay, senator says
The Host

Julie Rovner KHN

Julie Rovner is chief Washington correspondent and host of KHNs weekly health policy news podcast, What the Health? A noted expert on health policy issues, Julie is the author of the critically praised reference book Health Care Politics and Policy A to Z, now in its third edition.

With Medicare and Social Security apparently off the table for federal budget cuts, the focus has turned to Medicaid, the federal-state health program for those with low incomes. President Joe Biden has made it clear he wants to protect the program, along with the Affordable Care Act, but Republicans will likely propose cuts to both when they present a proposed budget in the next several weeks.

Meanwhile, confusion over abortion restrictions continues, particularly at the FDA. One lawsuit in Texas calls for a federal judge to temporarily halt distribution of the abortion pill mifepristone. A separate suit, though, asks a different federal judge to temporarily make the drug easier to get, by removing some of the FDAs safety restrictions.

This weeks panelists are Julie Rovner of Kaiser Health News, Alice Miranda Ollstein of Politico, Rachel Cohrs of STAT News, and Lauren Weber of The Washington Post.

Panelists

Rachel Cohrs Stat News

Alice Miranda Ollstein Politico

Lauren Weber The Washington Post

Among the takeaways from this weeks episode:

States are working to review Medicaid eligibility for millions of people as pandemic-era coverage rules lapse at the end of March, amid fears that many Americans kicked off Medicaid who are eligible for free or near-free coverage under the ACA wont know their options and will go uninsured.

Biden promised this week to stop Republicans from gutting Medicaid and the ACA. But not all Republicans are on board with cuts to Medicaid. Between the partys narrow majority in the House and the fact that Medicaid pays for nursing homes for many seniors, cutting the program is a politically dicey move.

A national group that pushed the use of ivermectin to treat covid-19 is now hyping the drug as a treatment for flu and RSV  despite a lack of clinical evidence to support their claims that it is effective against any of those illnesses. Nonetheless, there is a movement of people, many of them doctors, who believe ivermectin works.

In reproductive health news, a federal judge recently ruled that a Texas law cannot be used to prosecute groups that help women travel out of state to obtain abortions. And the abortion issue has highlighted the role of attorneys general around the country  politicizing a formerly nonpartisan state post. And Eli Lilly announced plans to cut the price of some insulin products and cap out-of-pocket costs, though their reasons may not be completely altruistic: An expert pointed out that a change to Medicaid rebates next year means drugmakers soon will have to pay the government every time a patient fills a prescription for insulin, meaning Eli Lillys plan could save the company money.

Plus, for extra credit, the panelists suggest health policy stories they read this week that they think you should read, too:

Julie Rovner: The New York Times A Drug Company Exploited a Safety Requirement to Make Money, by Rebecca Robbins.

Alice Miranda Ollstein: The New York Times Alone and Exploited, Migrant Children Work Brutal Jobs Across the U.S., by Hannah Dreier.

Rachel Cohrs: STAT News Nonprofit Hospitals Are Failing Americans. Their Boards May Be a Reason Why, by Sanjay Kishore and Suhas Gondi.

Lauren Weber: KHN and CBS News This Dental Device Was Sold to Fix Patients Jaws. Lawsuits Claim It Wrecked Their Teeth, by Brett Kelman and Anna Werner.

Also mentioned in this weeks podcast:

Credits

Francis Ying Audio producer Emmarie Huetteman Editor

To hear all our podcasts, click here.

And subscribe to KHNs What the Health? on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Stitcher, Pocket Casts, or wherever you listen to podcasts.

KHN (Kaiser Health News) is a national newsroom that produces in-depth journalism about health issues. Together with Policy Analysis and Polling, KHN is one of the three major operating programs at KFF (Kaiser Family Foundation). KFF is an endowed nonprofit organization providing information on health issues to the nation.

USE OUR CONTENT

This story can be republished for free (details).
Aisha Sultan Aisha Sultan is a columnist and features writer for the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. Follow Aisha Sultan 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

A few weeks before Christmas, Amanda Mullen was up late at night with the family calendars out trying to plan their school-aged kids summer activities  more than six months away.

Dawn Morgan sets alarms an hour in advance of when camp registration begins in the winter.

As February inches closer, Ben Westhoff feels his blood pressure start to rise.

I know camp applications are coming up, the father of two said.

Parents of school-aged children across the country are familiar with the anxiety and stress that comes with finding summer childcare  and its only getting worse.

Parents are dealing with summer camps facing staff shortages, rising prices and waitlists as soon as registration opens. Its an indictment of Americas broken childcare infrastructure, which is vital to keeping people working.

Mullen, who lives in Eureka, said her daughter has participated in a Girl Scouts camp every year since kindergarten. This past month, Mullen logged in to sign her up a few hours after the registration began. Now, shes on a waitlist.

Its really hard to find a full day program, she said. She tries to keep track of the different registration times for each of the four or five different camps her children do over the summer. She has to juggle pick up and drop off times for the various locations and relies on her parents, who live locally, to help out during the weeks when camps arent available. Even though she sets a series of alarms for each registration  15 minutes before, then 5 minutes before  things can slip through the cracks.

Its pretty cutthroat, she said. For now, her son is signed up for an astronaut camp about 45 minutes away from where they live.

We just have to figure out a way to get him there, she said.

Westhoff, who has two elementary-school-aged children, said the stakes are high for working parents: If kids dont get into camp, you cant work that week.

Many camp offerings are from 9 a.m. to noon.

Who only wants their kids in camp for three hours a day? he asked. The process of signing up is a byzantine hodge-podge of paperwork and dated websites. He has to gather medical records, information from doctors for five different sets of forms for the various camps his children will be attending.

One of the forms has an extensive section for parents to describe their kids personality traits, fears, activities, hopes and dreams for the camp experience.

It feels like a Myers-Briggs test, Westhoff said. Who is going to fill this all out?

He doesnt understand why there cant be a universal camp form, like colleges use for applicants.

Part of the problem is that America expects families with full-time working parents to figure out childcare with little support or resources. The need for affordable, full-day summer care options has been a persistent problem for years.

Morgan, who lives in Webster Groves and works as a paralegal, says she coordinates with another parent so they can share carpool duties. The camp they are trying to get their children into gives preference to local residents, so Morgan has to wait a week before she can even sign up.

If I cant get in, she has to cancel, and we have to find something somewhere else, she said, because they need the transportation help from each other.

Its a pure struggle, she said. Most parents work nowadays, and no one understands that.

According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, 81.2 percent of employed mothers with children ages 6 to 17 worked full time in 2021 compared with 77.2 percent of mothers with children under age 6. Among employed fathers, 95.7 percent of those with older children and 95.3 percent of those with younger children worked full time.

Plus, theres the guilt of having to send children to a camp all summer that they may not want to attend simply because of logistics, timing, location and cost.

This isnt a new problem, Morgan said. Its been going on for years. No one seems to care to help or fix anything.
Tony Messenger Tony Messenger is the metro columnist for the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. Follow Tony Messenger Close Get email notifications on {{subject}} daily! Your notification has been saved. There was a problem saving your notification. {{description}} Email notifications are only sent once a day, and only if there are new matching items. Save Manage followed notifications Close Followed notifications Please log in to use this feature Log In Don't have an account? Sign Up Today

Missouri Supreme Court Judge W. Brent Powell had a simple question for Heath Hardman, the assistant prosecuting attorney in Howell County.

What does this have to do with the dispensation of justice?

Hardman was before the states top court to defend his client, Steven Privette, the judge in the 37th Judicial Circuit, in southeast Missouri. Last year, Privette asked Oregon County Circuit Clerk Betty Grooms to prepare a spreadsheet showing all the outstanding cases in the county, and how much money the defendants owed in court costs. The largest of these costs is nearly always the board bill, a pay-to-stay fee that most rural counties in Missouri charge for rent while a person is in jail.

When Privette didnt like the list Grooms produced for him, the judge held the clerk in contempt. Grooms hired attorney David Duree to fight the legal action, and Duree argued that the judge had exceeded his authority in trying to punish Grooms. He filed a writ of prohibition to stop the judge, and that case ended up before the Missouri Supreme Court. In the writ, Duree pointed out an obvious conflict in the case: Privettes wife lost the last circuit clerk election to Grooms.

But its the underlying issue that caught the attention of Powell, the Supreme Court judge. Why was Privette so interested in the board bills?

Those bills can add up to tens of thousands of dollars for counties, and many judges have gone as far as threatening defendants with more jail time if they cant pay. Powell was on the states high court in 2019 when it unanimously put an end to that type of board-bill collection, in effect calling it an operation of modern-day debtors prisons.

The judges question of Hardman was less about whether Privette had exceeded his authority and more about why he cared so much about collecting a back-door tax.

The way the bills are collected is a scourge upon the criminal justice system. It isnt just a problem in Oregon County or Missouri. Its a problem nationally. Last year, the American Civil Liberties Union, Americans for Prosperity and the Fines and Fees Justice Center kicked off a national campaign called End Justice Fees.

Most of the folks who make their way into a county jail because of a minor crime are poor and struggle to pay a board bill, which can run several thousand dollars, even in misdemeanor cases. Missouri is one of the only states in the nation that will reimburse counties for board bills of convicted felons. That creates a perverse incentive for county prosecutors to overcharge people so they get state money. And that leads to overcrowding in county jails and ultimately state prisons.

The collection of board bills is a constant issue in the Missouri Legislature because the state never has enough money to reimburse the full costs. So counties and state lawmakers are constantly arguing over who is going to pay for the rent in county jails, which are filled with people who cant afford to pay the bills in the first place.

Privette, who thinks so much of his singular authority that he banned citizens from taking photos or videos on public property outside the courthouse, wants Grooms to do a better job of making sure he can collect money. And hes willing to threaten her with jail time to make it happen.

Ms. Grooms is kind of the keeper of the keys of her own cell, Hardman argued to Powell and the other judges, suggesting if the clerk just did what Privette wanted, she wouldnt face a contempt charge.

But thats not how the system is supposed to work, Duree argued. Grooms is an independently elected official. The judge cant use a judicial process  contempt of court  to try to enforce what is an administrative dispute.

Contempt is the cudgel a judge can use to enforce an order that came out of a case in which all of the parties had due process. But theres no due process here, Duree argued, because theres no underlying case.

Privette is the complaining witness, the complaining party, and the judge of the case.

Its an argument Duree has won before. In a similar case, the Missouri Supreme Court ruled in 2021 that a Lincoln County judge improperly removed County Clerk Karla Allsberry from her elected position. The judge in that case, 45th Circuit Presiding Judge Patrick Flynn, was issued a rare reprimand from the Missouri Supreme Court last year for neglecting his duties while conducting his very public battle with Allsberry.

On Tuesday, that same court took the case of another judge vs. clerk battle under advisement.

The dispensation of justice awaits.
ST. LOUIS  St. Louis Circuit Attorney Kimberly M. Gardners office has about half the number of prosecutors as when she took office, her smallest team yet as shes struggled for years to hire and retain employees.

The remaining attorneys have roughly 130 years of cumulative experience prosecuting cases in St. Louis. Before Gardner took office in 2017, the lawyers had 500 years of cumulative experience.

Now, just five staff attorneys and a supervisor are handling the majority of serious felony cases in the city. Overall, the number of prosecutors in the office has fallen from 58 in August 2016 to 30 as of February.

Experts and former city prosecutors say its clear the office is overloaded. Prosecutors often drop and refile charges because they arent ready for trial  a maneuver they used at least a dozen times in murder cases last year, according to a Post-Dispatch analysis.

In one of those cases last fall, former assistant circuit attorney Marlo Lamb, a prosecutor for more than 20 years, teared up in court as she explained to a judge that caseloads had left her seriously underwater and unready to proceed with trial on a murder case.

I am literally trying to hold it together and do the best that I can, Lamb told the judge.

She left the office weeks later to become the top assistant prosecutor in St. Francois County.

It was unsustainable there, Lamb said Thursday of her time in St. Louis.

A 2002 study funded by the U.S. Department of Justice found prosecutors, on average, can handle about 20 homicide cases a year with no other assignments. The survey found that attorneys spent about 246 hours on a homicide case that went to trial, and 110 hours on one that didnt.

In St. Louis, one prosecutor is handling 45 open murder or manslaughter cases and roughly 60 other, mostly violent felonies, according to data obtained by the Post-Dispatch. Even if none of those cases went to trial, that prosecutor would need more than a year and a half of 60-hour work weeks to clear their murder cases under the averages outlined in the study.

Peter Joy, a Washington University professor who leads the law schools Criminal Justice Clinic, noted that many prosecutors offices nationwide would likely fail to meet the 20-homicide threshold. A spokesman for the district attorneys office in Milwaukee, for example, said six homicide prosecutors are handling about 50 cases apiece.

Still, Joy said, St. Louis caseloads appear to be very high.

Marvin Teer, a former judge who now leads Gardners trial team, acknowledged it would be nice to have more attorneys but said its typical for city prosecutors to handle large caseloads during murder spikes. Teer said in the 1990s, the last time homicide rates were comparable to today, he handled 65 to 75 murder cases at a time. He said he is not concerned about the current load.

Im incredibly proud of my trial staff, he said. These young lawyers come in here and they work tirelessly, sometimes facing the worst events imaginable. I think thats the biggest thing that keeps me coming back.

But former Circuit Attorney Jennifer Joyce, whom Gardner succeeded, said her attorneys handled at most 20 murder or manslaughter cases at a time during her 16 years in office.

There were fewer homicides in the city during Joyces tenure, so Gardners office is handling more murder cases than her predecessor. But Joyce said the current prosecutor caseloads were horrific.

Gardner has been a frequent target for attacks from Republican lawmakers, who have blamed the offices mismanagement for high crime rates in the city. But calls for Gardners resignation reached a new peak last month when Daniel Riley  a 21-year-old who was free on bond in a robbery case despite having several dozen GPS monitor violations  was accused of causing a crash that pinned a 17-year-old girl between two cars. Both of the teens legs were amputated.

Mayor Tishaura O. Jones urged Gardner to do soul-searching about staying in office. State lawmakers and the Missouri attorney general have filed bills and a lawsuit that would strip Gardner of some of her prosecutorial power. Critics complained shes bungled prosecutions and left victims in the dark during the prosecutions. Theyve also joined a chorus of voices criticizing her staff turnover.

Staff turnover

The longest-tenured attorneys in Gardners office work in the child support division  one was hired in 1977 and others were hired in 2003 and 2005. After that, the most experienced attorneys were hired by the office in 2017.

But Gardners aides and experts say thats not necessarily the circuit attorneys fault. Across the country, public offices that cant offer as much money as the private sector are struggling to hire and keep good employees.

Recruitment is at an all-time low for prosecutors, the Platte County, Missouri, prosecutor, Eric Zahnd, said in a recent Senate hearing.

Miriam Krinsky, who leads a national organization that promotes prosecutors seeking to reform the justice system, agreed. She said pressure can be even more intense for progressive prosecutors who are trying to diversify their staffs. District attorneys offices in Manhattan and Brooklyn have lost 20% of their workforces over the past year, she said, and Miami lost a total of 80 prosecutors.

Its a particularly tough time to be running a government office where standards need to be kept high, she said. You cant just hire anyone to fill those jobs.

In her first two years in office, Gardner had a more than 100% turnover rate for attorneys, shedding hundreds of years of experience. Critics said it meant serious cases were getting reassigned to prosecutors who didnt have the experience or time necessary to prepare for trial. Dismissal rates increased.

Patrick Hamacher started as an assistant circuit attorney in 2011 and ran against Gardner in the 2016 Democratic primary. He stayed on board even after she was elected because he welcomed her new approach, he said. But the work environment quickly became toxic and the workload became untenable, he said.

Hamachers caseload ballooned from 50 to 60, roughly six to eight of which were homicides, to double, or even triple, that amount, he said.

Its like an avalanche, said Hamacher, who left in 2018. Our obligation as prosecutors is to keep victims informed, and it was becoming almost impossible to do.

The pandemic shut down trials and in-person hearings in 2020 just as the city was experiencing a record homicide rate. Cases languished in the system, and a backlog developed.

By 2021, the circuit attorneys office had just over 30 staff prosecutors with about 150 years of combined tenure.

In one murder case, prosecutors didnt show up for three consecutive hearings. A judge cited mismanagement by the circuit attorneys office and dropped the charges. The Post-Dispatch later reported that the case, along with nearly 30 others, had been assigned to a prosecutor while she was on maternity leave. She later resigned.

Higher caseloads

As prosecutors continued to leave, a dwindling group has taken on their caseloads. Experts and former St. Louis prosecutors expressed concerns about the result.

One St. Louis prosecutor, for example, was handling more than 40 murder or manslaughter cases and an additional 30 felonies in February. Bennett Gershman, a law professor at Pace University in New York, said he had seen that kind of workload only on misdemeanor or lesser felony cases, which take far less time to clear.

Its insane, he said. How can you handle a criminal justice system with integrity when you have one lawyer with so many cases that its almost impossible to navigate and manage in a fair, responsible, professional way?

Joy, the Washington U. professor, said that kind of workload can have ripple effects across the system.

Overworked prosecutors often need to request trial delays for more time to prepare, or they run into problems finding witnesses, he said. If judges dont allow for those delays, prosecutors may dismiss and refile cases to restart the clock, like in St. Louis. That can hurt both victims and defendants, who are stuck waiting months or even years for the cases to be resolved.

Not everyone charged with a crime is guilty, Joy said. So you have people who might be innocent going from waiting 9 months to 2 or 3 years for trial.

The citys chief public defender, Matthew Mahaffey, said having so few prosecutors available for trials has slowed down the process. Each week, a list of cases shows roughly a dozen trials set to begin, most of which cant happen because the same prosecutor has multiple cases on the list.

Mahaffey said he doesnt blame the prosecutors themselves  they cant be in two places at once  but the delays increase the amount of time that defendants and their families have to be involved.

The longer someone has to be involved, the more it impacts their lives, he said.

In 2022, Gardners office closed nearly 1,475 criminal cases  about 200 more than in 2021 but still roughly half the number closed in 2016, before she took office, according to a summary report.

Fifty-seven cases were resolved by jury trials, data show. Gardners aides said at a Missouri House hearing earlier this year that the office has a conviction rate of more than 85%, including guilty pleas.

But recent trial outcomes have been mixed: In a six-month period between August and February, St. Louis prosecutors got convictions on just 11 of the 20 murder cases they tried. Six of those convictions were for a lesser offense, such as manslaughter, when the initial charge was murder.

Five of the trials resulted in not-guilty verdicts. In four cases, juries were hung on a main charge or a mistrial was declared.

Prosecutors with the Missouri Prosecuting Attorneys Association noted at a recent Missouri Senate hearing that St. Louis can be a particularly difficult place to try cases because witnesses tend to not be as cooperative as in other jurisdictions. Juries, in general, can also be fickle.

And Teer, the trial supervisor, noted that the St. Louis circuit handles more jury trials than any other jurisdiction in the state, meaning attorneys are frequently taking a case to trial. He emphasized that he and his trial team are working as hard as they can to clear cases and get convictions. Theyre committed to the work, he said.

When I talk to them, they always say, Judge, we aint going anywhere, he said. And I know it sounds almost cliche, but ... its a team. And theyre OK.
JEFFERSON CITY  The office of Attorney General Andrew Bailey on Thursday issued subpoenas to the St. Louis mayor and comptroller, seeking records as part of the Republicans quest to remove St. Louis Circuit Attorney Kimberly M. Gardner, a Democrat, from office.

A spokesman for Mayor Tishaura O. Jones confirmed Friday the mayors office received the subpoena and didnt offer further comment.

Comptroller Darlene Greens office did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Friday.

Madeline Sieren, a spokeswoman for the attorney general, said Bailey is upholding his commitment to move as expeditiously as possible to remove Circuit Attorney Gardner for her willful neglect of office.

On Wednesday, Baileys office sent a 34-point subpoena to the circuit attorneys office for documents ranging from victim complaints since 2021, to copies of Gardners personnel file including timesheets, to documents showing the number of warrant applications taken under advisement and refused.

The subpoena commands the circuit attorneys office to provide the records on March 16.

The subpoena to Jones asks for records of communications between the mayor and the circuit attorney since 2017, including communications on personal devices. It also asks for communications about or concerning Gardner since then.

The subpoena to Green seeks records of communications with or about Gardner, as well as records of payments to Brown, Goldstein & Levy LLP; Dentons US LLP; Harris, Wiltshire & Grannis LLP; Spencer Fane LLP and/or Shaffer Lombardo Shurin since Jan. 1, 2017.

Bailey also asked for office communications with the circuit attorneys office since the beginning of 2017. Both Jones and Green were directed to provide the records on March 13.

Baileys office on Wednesday also filed notices to depose Gardner at 9 a.m. on April 14 at the St. Louis circuit attorneys office.

The state also filed notices to depose Marvin Teer, a former judge who leads Gardners trial team, First Assistant Circuit Attorney Serena Wilson-Griffin, and Chris Hinckley, the circuit attorneys chief warrant officer.
US Senior Advisor for Caucasus Negotiations and new US Co-Chair of the OSCE Minsk Group Louis Bono will visit the South Caucasus for the first time in this capacity; the trip will take place next week, US Department of State spokesperson Ned Price noted at Thursdays Department press briefing.

March 3, 2023, 15:18 Ned Price: OSCE Minsk Groups new US Co-Chair will visit South Caucasus next week

STEPANAKERT, MARCH 3, ARTSAKHPRESS: He added that Washington expects his visits to the three countries of the region to be regular.

"Mr. Bono plans to meet with senior leaders to support the Armenia-Azerbaijan peace process and our sustained commitment to Georgias sovereignty and territorial integrity. As I mentioned before, he will visit all three South Caucasus countries as part of his visit. Hell travel to Baku, to Yerevan, Tbilisi as well, in that order," said Price.

According to him, Washington believes that the visit to the region will be an opportunity for Bono to build on the meeting between US Secretary of State Antony Blinken, Armenias prime minister, and Azerbaijans president at the Munich Security Conference.

"As we said at the conclusion of that trilateral engagement, we are encouraged by recent efforts by Armenia and Azerbaijan to engage productively on the peace process. And Mr. Bono helps tohopes to be in a position to build on that effort, and to see that progress continue. In all three of these cities, Mr. Bono will emphasize the United States is committed to promoting a peaceful, democratic, and prosperous future for the South Caucasus region," added the US Department of State spokesperson.
JEFFERSON CITY  Two state lawmakers are attempting to get federal compensation for Missouri residents affected by the St. Louis regions role in developing the atomic bomb.

On Tuesday, a House committee will hear testimony on a resolution filed by Wentzville-area Republican Reps. Tricia Byrnes and Richard West, each of whom have relatives who had cancer.

The duo want the General Assembly to approve legislation urging the attorney general, the Missouri Department of Natural Resources and the state health department to investigate the health effects of the production of radioactive and other hazardous contaminants from the Manhattan Project, which developed the first nuclear weapons in the 1940s.

And they are urging Missouris congressional delegation to press for more Missourians to qualify for compensation related to the health effects of the toxic aftermath of weapons production.

I believe we have a duty to serve Missourians injured by the radioactive and hazardous waste created by our federal government during the Manhattan Project and the Cold War era, Byrnes said. Rarely a week has gone by in five years in which I have not been notified of a person with a rare cancer. When I hear of a 45-year-old who has been diagnosed with brain cancer, I can usually guess which high school they attended.

This is about making things right, West said. This is a matter of public safety. Our citizens are facing this fight, and it is up to us to give them as much assistance as we can to aid in this battle.

The hearing before the House General Laws Committee is the latest attempt to put a spotlight on the damage left behind by uranium processing plants that produced explosive and nuclear weapons.

While much of the focus has been on radioactive contamination in and along Coldwater Creek, which runs through north St. Louis County, Byrnes and West say residents in Weldon Spring in St. Charles County also should be compensated for cancers associated with bomb-related processing operations there.

The United States Government damaged property and harmed residents of St. Louis, north St. Louis County, and St. Charles County through the improper handling of 2.3 million cubic yards of mixed radioactive contamination during the nations race to produce the atomic bomb in World War II and from the subsequent push to make more nuclear weapons during the Cold War, the legislation notes.

In an announcement outlining the legislation, West and Byrnes said they first met in 2018 while West was serving as mayor of New Melle.

Both said their families have been harmed by hazardous waste. Byrnes son has fought cancer and Wests mother passed away from cancer. Wests brother also has been exposed to hazardous and atomic bomb waste, he said.

We cannot continue looking away, and its beyond time to start taking the steps to address this issue, protect our families and do what we can to make their lives whole, West said.

The legislation calls for the state attorney generals office and the two agencies compile a report outlining the effects of the military operations in the area by Dec. 31, 2023.
The Mali military government use of Russian Wagner Group mercenaries has been a disaster for northern and central Mali because the Russians cant halt the expansion of Islamic terror groups. The military government expelled the more effective French counter-terrorism forces and troops from neighboring countries that still work with the French. While the French presence was good for the average Mali citizen, it was bad for the military government because the French troops protected journalists reporting on the situation in Mali. This included the corruption and poor administrative skills of the military government.

Without the French-led counterterrorism effort in Mali, the Islamic terrorists are expanding the territory they control while also terrorizing civilians, killing soldiers and peacekeepers. They are also fighting each other. The larger Islamic terror group, an al Qaeda coalition called JNIM (Jamaah Nusrah al Islam wal Muslimin, or Group for the support of Islam and Moslems), is gaining control over more of Mali and even making more frequent attacks near the capital Bamako down south.

In the north ISGS (Islamic States in Greater Sahara) Islamic terrorists near the Niger border have taken advantage of the departure of French counterterrorism forces in 2021 by seizing and holding territory in Mali. This began with more attacks on the Niger border. The departing French and G5 counter-terrorism forces had kept the Islamic terrorists out of Mali. The Mali army and a small number of Russian (Wagner Group) military contractors have been unable to carry on with that effort or prevent the Islamic terror groups from crossing the border and advancing into Mali. ISGS is one of the two ISIL (Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant) groups in the region. When they showed up in 2018, ISGS operated mainly in Mali, Burkina Faso, and Niger, especially the area where the three borders meet.

Since late 2022 ISGS have been working to take control of the border between Mali and Niger. Mali responded with soldiers and a handful of Wagner Group mercenaries but that was unsuccessful. After that Mali did nothing about the situation as its security forces and the UN peacekeepers were needed elsewhere. The Niger government was also unable to respond and sought to negotiate a deal with ISGS. Appearing in 2015 as an affiliate of ISIL and part of ISWAP (Islamic State West Africa Province) that changed in 2021 when ISGS declared itself separate from ISWAP and declared northern Mali and some areas in Niger and Burkina Faso its future caliphate. The ISIL affiliated Islamic terrorists are far more violent than the more numerous al Qaeda. This also means casualties for the 12,000 UN peacekeepers. ISGS violence involves attacks on Islamic terror groups that refuse to take orders from ISIL.

The tri-border (Niger, Mali and Burkina Faso) area has been a terrorist hotspot since 2018 because Islamic terror groups can just cross the border to escape any effective counterterrorism efforts. For that reason, this area has been called the Menaka Region. Previously this area was just part of the larger Gao Region, centered on one of the few cities in the north. The area being fought over is near where the borders of Mali, Niger and Burkina Faso meet. Menaka has become ungovernable because so many Islamic terrorists and bandits now operate here. The French counterterrorism forces regularly searched for and attacked specific Islamic terrorist targets. The Mali government underestimated how important the French forces, with their airmobile troops, UAV surveillance and ground attack aircraft were in keeping the Islamic terrorists from establishing themselves inside Mali. The current Mali military government has no clear plan for dealing with this situation and are withdrawing their counterterrorism forces south, to protect the capital and the more prosperous and populous south.

The neighbors see the reliance on Wagner Group as the main cause for more Islamic terrorists operating in Mali and spreading to neighboring countries. This includes Algeria, which has been largely Islamic terrorism free for over a decade. Now Algeria is seeing a return of Islamic terrorist activity because of the growing number of active Islamic terrorists across the border in northern Mali. Despite this, Mali does not want the French back because that makes it easier for foreigners to document the growing corruption of the military government. These corruption reports lead to more countries imposing individual sanctions on officers running the military government and profiting from the corruption. So far the Mali military officers running the government strategy is to abandon northern, and portions of central, Mali to the Islamic terror groups. Complaints from the neighbors are ignored even though that means less foreign aid for Mali. The source of all these problems is corruption.

Measuring The Mess

Corruption has long been a major problem for Mali. Corruption and misuse of foreign aid are the main reasons for many other problems. The international aspect of this can be seen in the worldwide surveys of nations by Transparency International to determine who is clean and who is corrupt. The most recent (2022) corruption rankings had Mali a dismal 137th out of 180 countries. This was a three-way tie with Russia and Paraguay. All three had a CPI (Corruption Perception Index) of 28. The five most corrupt nations have CPIs of between 12 (for Somalia) and 16 (for Yemen. The five least corrupt nations had CPIs of between 90 (for Denmark) and 83 (Singapore). In 2018 Mali ranked 120 and that declined to 130 in 120 in 2019. Back in 2016 the Mali rank was 116 and a decade ago it was 105. Increasing corruption, more frequent military governments and more Islamic terrorism all seem to travel together.

February 27, 2023: The head of the Mali military government visited neighboring Burkina Faso, which also has a military government because of a September, 2022 coup. As with Mali, the Burkina Faso coup was justified by paranoia about France planning to intervene militarily to reinstate the ousted president. That was not true, but the Russian Wagner Group promptly stepped up and offered military assistance, for a price. The new military government accepted the Russian offer, becoming the fourth African to hire Wagner. Mali and Burkina Faso brought in Wagner, at great expense, to deal with the growing Islamic terrorist threat in both countries. France carried out operations to suppress Islamic terrorism more effectively than Wagner and did it for free. But the French troops witnessed the corruption and atrocities committed by the military governments and reported that to international and local organizations that could recommend sanctions. Mali and Guinea, there were already sanctions problems with ECOWAS (Economic Community of fifteen West African States) and the international community. The Mali military government was feeling the pressure and members of the military government were concerned about their growing economic problems and losing control over more and more of the country because of Islamic terrorists. The military governments accused ECOWAS of doing the bidding of foreign countries, particularly France, the former colonial ruler. ECOWAS acted according to what its African members wanted. Those African countries wanted fewer corrupt military governments that lose control of counter-terrorism efforts because they are too busy enriching themselves.

February 24, 2023: In central Mali, Islamic terrorists attacked a village and killed thirteen people.

February 23, 2023: American aviation authorities issued an upgraded warning about private or commercial flights operating over Mali at any altitude. Previously aircraft were warned to stay above 20,000 feet (six kilometers) except when landing or taking off. This is an advisory notice and does not ban commercial flights into or over Mali, if points out the increased risk to aircraft because of the growing number of heavily armed factions operating in Mali.

February 21, 2023: In central Mali, three peacekeepers were killed and five others wounded when their convoy was hit by a roadside bomb. Being a peacekeeper is a dangerous job in Mali, where peacekeeper casualties since mid-2013 have left 168 peacekeepers dead and over 300 wounded. Mali is the most dangerous peacekeeping operation the UN operates. Losses were much heavier among the Islamic terrorists. Part of this was due to the efforts of the separate French Barkhane counterterrorism force which is now gone from Mali. The 5,100 French counterterrorism troops were always separate from the UN Mali peacekeepers because the French force deals with Islamic terrorism throughout the region and has a license to kill. UN peacekeepers mainly defend and are rarely given permission to search and destroy. Since 2018 popular support for Barkhane in France declined and that led to efforts to get other nations to replace the French force completely or partially. Because of all this, the official end of Barkhane was not surprising. Neighboring nations that contributed peacekeepers as part of the G5 coalition to deal with Islamic terrorists in Mali have also left, even though those operations were paid for by European nations. It was not a matter of if, but when. Western nations have long contributed small contingents who operate transport helicopters and surveillance UAVs. Sometimes they send small teams of special operations troops. The growing Russian presence is what threatens the continued presence of the peacekeepers. This is because the UN presence also enables investigations of alleged atrocities committed by Mali soldiers or police. This has been a problem for decades and led to the 2011 rebellion in the north, then the military coup, and finally military intervention by France to keep the north part of Mali. The military government can now block some of those investigations because Russia will use its UN veto to block certain investigations.

February 19, 2023: The AU (African Union) completed a summit meeting in Ethiopia and announced that Mali, along with Burkina Faso, Guinea and Sudan would remain suspended from the AU.

February 8, 2023: In the north, the CMA (Coordination of Azawad Movements) coalition has agreed to put aside their disagreements and form a unified group. CAM had long been a pro-government Tuareg coalition that had not resolved all their clan and family disputes. Azawad is the Tuareg term for their homeland in northern Mali (and several other North African nations). The 2015 peace deal ended the Tuareg support for Islamic terrorism, but not the tribal animosities. These local, and often ancient, disagreements and feuds are often not connected with the 2012 rebellion in the north nor the continuing Islamic terrorism problems, but they do cause security problems that interfere with rebuilding the economy and much else. The Tuareg peace deal was stalled for years because the black majority in the south did not want to even consider granting as much autonomy as the Tuaregs demanded. The two groups have always been at odds but were only united in the same country by the colonial French in the 19th century. Like most African countries, dividing the nation is not an acceptable option and the colonial borders are considered sacrosanct. The current mess began when France took swift action in January 2013 by leading a military operation to clear Islamic terrorists out of northern Mali. Aided by Chad and a growing number of other African peacekeeping contingents, this effort continues and is somewhat open ended. The French acted because in 2012 Tuareg tribal rebels (with the help of al Qaeda affiliated Islamic terrorists) in northern Mali chased out government forces and declared a separate Tuareg state. The Mali army mutinied (because of lack of support from the corrupt government) down south and took control of the capital. The army is still in charge and not showing any signs of confirming the old peace deals with the CMA.

February 5, 2023: Mali expelled UN officials for criticizing the presence of the Russian Wagner Group in Mali. This is not the only way the military government of Mali assists Russia. Mali is one of the few countries that support Russia and its invasion of Ukraine. Those supporters have a lot in common with Russia as they tend to be aggressive and warlike dictatorships or those with ideological or economic reasons to back Russia. In addition to Mali, these supporters include Belarus, China, Eritrea, India, Iran, Myanmar, Nicaragua, North Korea and Syria. All these supporters agree that the West is a problem for them and Russia and this is why Russia continues to insist that its operations in Ukraine are part of an effort to defend Russia from growing NATO efforts to destroy Russia.
Pitney Bowes (NYSE: PBI), a global shipping and mailing company that provides technology, logistics, and financial services, today announced that it has filed its preliminary proxy materials with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) in connection with its upcoming 2023 Annual Meeting of Stockholders (the 2023 Annual Meeting). The preliminary proxy statement is available on the Investor Relations section of the Companys website at https://www.investorrelations.pitneybowes.com.

The Board of Directors has appointed Darrell Thomas, former Treasurer and interim CFO at Harley Davidson, and Steve Brill, retired President of Corporate Strategy at United Parcel Service (UPS), as independent directors of the Board, effective immediately. Directors Michael I. Roth, S. Douglas Hutcheson, and David L. Shedlarz will not stand for re-election at the Companys 2023 Annual Meeting. With the foregoing changes, there will be eight current directors seeking re-election at the 2023 Annual Meeting. The Board will also recommend that stockholders vote for the election of Katie May, who has been nominated by a stockholder, Hestia Capital Partners, LP (Hestia), to the Board. Following the 2023 Annual Meeting, the size of the Board will revert to nine directors.

Michael Roth has also decided to step down from the Chairmanship, effective immediately, rather than at the end of his term as director, in light of the limited time between now and the end of his term and because he believes the incoming Non-Executive Chairman should lead discussions on future Board leadership in support of the Companys next phase of transformation. Accordingly, the Board has elected director Robert M. Dutkowsky to the role of Non-Executive Chairman, effective immediately. The Company greatly appreciates the support and leadership Messrs. Roth, Hutcheson, and Shedlarz have provided during the significant transformation the Company has undergone in recent years.

The Pitney Bowes Board also issued a letter to stockholders today. The full text of the letter follows:

Dear Fellow Stockholder,

We want to inform you that today we announced important changes to our Board of Directors and filed our preliminary proxy materials with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) in connection with our 2023 Annual Meeting of Stockholders.

In connection with the filing of the preliminary proxy materials, the Board disclosed its slate of director candidates for the 2023 Annual Meeting, including two new independent directors, Darrell Thomas and Steve Brill, who have been appointed to the Board, effective immediately. Directors Michael I. Roth, S. Douglas Hutcheson, and David L. Shedlarz will not stand for re-election at the Companys 2023 Annual Meeting. Michael Roth has also decided to step down from the Chairmanship now, rather than at the end of his term as director, in light of the limited time between now and the end of his term and because he believes the incoming Non-Executive Chairman should lead discussions on future Board leadership in support of the Companys next phase of transformation. Accordingly, the Board has elected Robert M. Dutkowsky to assume the role of Non-Executive Chairman, effective immediately.

We are excited to welcome Darrell and Steve to our Board  both possess deep leadership experience and relevant expertise, which will be of tremendous value to our Board and management team.

We also want to sincerely thank Michael, Doug, and David for their leadership, service, and many contributions over the years. They have been instrumental in helping lead and support Pitney Bowes strategic transformation into a company whose foundation is now primed for sustainable, profitable growth, and stockholder value creation. Through their efforts, and the efforts of our Board, CEO, and management team, we have positioned the Company for long-term success by optimizing our portfolio, which is now comprised of an appropriate mix of steady revenue and high-growth businesses.

In addition, Pitney Bowes has become more financially flexible as we have significantly reduced our debt, paying down $1.7 billion over the last nine years. At the same time, we have also returned $1.5 billion in capital to stockholders in the form of dividends and share repurchases, while also actively investing $2.6 billion in our businesses. We took these actions with a singular focus on long-term stockholder value creation.

Darrell Thomas brings a wealth of valuable experience to the Board, particularly in finance and treasury. He most recently served as Vice President and Treasurer for Harley-Davidson, Inc., having previously held several senior finance positions including interim CFO for Harley-Davidson. Like Pitney Bowes, Harley-Davidson owns an Industrial Loan Corporation, and we look forward to leveraging Darrells experience in this regard and applying it to our own Pitney Bowes Bank. Prior to Harley-Davidson, Darrell served as Vice President and Assistant Treasurer of PepsiCo. Before that, Darrell spent nearly two decades working in banking with Commerzbank Securities, Swiss Re New Markets, ABN Amro Bank, and Citicorp/Citibank, where he held various capital markets and corporate finance roles. Darrell also has significant board experience; he currently serves on the boards of British American Tobacco, Dorman Products, Scotia Holdings (US), and Sojourner Family Peace Center.

Steve Brill has a long career working in logistics, operations, marketing, sales, and strategy, establishing him as an industry expert. Steve retired from UPS in 2020 after 33 years, where he last served as the President Corporate Strategy, working on the long-term direction of the enterprise to drive sustainable profitable growth. This role included developing strategic imperatives as well as organic and M&A strategies across global markets, business units, and verticals. With over 33 years experience in logistics and ecommerce, Steve served in a variety of transformational leadership roles at UPS. Steve has served as a strategic advisor for the past two years, building upon his extensive experience in freight and logistics services. He brings to the Board a deep expertise in the nuances of the shipping industry, with a focus on the rise of global ecommerce and cross-border operations.

By virtue of the retirement of Michael, Doug, and David, and additions of Darrell and Steve, we have left open one vacant seat on the Board. We believe that Hestia nominee Katie May would make an excellent addition to the Pitney Bowes Board and recommend that stockholders vote FOR her election as director at the 2023 Annual Meeting.

Katie May most recently served as Chief Executive Officer of ecommerce SaaS company, ShippingEasy.com, before being acquired by Stamps.com. Prior to ShippingEasy, Katie founded Kidspot.com.au, where she served as Chief Executive Officer and Executive Director from 2005-2011 until its sale to News Corp. Katie also served as Chief Marketing Officer of SEEK.com.au. Earlier in her career, Katie served in several marketing and financial roles at Arthur Anderson, Philip Morris, and Booz & Company.

These changes reflect the Companys ongoing commitment to ensuring we have a strong, engaged, and diverse set of directors, with a balanced mix of experience, skills, leadership expertise, and fresh, new perspectives to execute the Companys strategy and enhance value for stockholders. The changes announced today are in line with the significant refreshment we have undertaken before today, which included the departure of five longer tenured directors and the addition of three new directors since 2018.

The Pitney Bowes Board continues to engage in good faith with Hestia, and is disappointed with the lack of resolution.

As you know, Pitney Bowes engages in open and regular communication with stockholders and welcomes constructive input on how to enhance long-term stockholder value. To that end, we have been in regular communication with Hestia Capital since 2021. However, despite our best efforts to find a reasonable path forward, and over the course of our extensive engagement, we have found that Hestia has continuously changed its views on the company and its proposals to resolve our disagreements.

As set forth in more detail in the background section of the proxy statement, it appears to us that Hestia has not engaged in good faith in our discussions and has made numerous pivots which have impeded an amicable resolution. Pitney Bowes has made every effort to work amicably with Hestia for the benefit of all stockholders and to avoid a disruptive and unnecessary proxy fight, including by offering the appointment of three new independent directors and the departure of at least two incumbent directors. However, Hestia has been unwilling to accept any proposal and most recently has insisted on the departure of our CEO and the appointment of three of its own nominees to our Board. This latest demand represented a significant departure from all of Hestias prior demands, suggesting that Hestia has never been sincere about trying to resolve this matter short of a distracting proxy fight. Further, it is recommending a slate of nominees, some of whose business experience appears to be adverse either to us or our key partners, some who are not additive, and/or other still who appear to lack the necessary skills to oversee execution of our long-term strategy. As always, the Board remains open to constructive dialogue with the goal of enhancing value for all stockholders and we will continue to act in their best interests.

Pitney Bowes stockholders will receive a proxy statement and accompanying GOLD proxy card from the Board in the coming weeks. Please disregard any materials and accompanying white proxy card sent to you by Hestia.

Stockholders who have any questions or need assistance voting may contact the Companys proxy solicitor, Morrow Sodali LLC, toll-free at 1 (800) 662-5200.

Thank you for your continued support of Pitney Bowes.

Sincerely,

The Pitney Bowes Board of Directors

J.P. Morgan Securities LLC is acting as financial advisor to Pitney Bowes. Sidley Austin LLP and Cravath, Swaine & Moore LLP are serving as legal counsel to Pitney Bowes.

About Pitney Bowes

Pitney Bowes (NYSE: PBI) is a global shipping and mailing company that provides technology, logistics, and financial services to more than 90 percent of the Fortune 500. Small business, retail, enterprise, and government clients around the world rely on Pitney Bowes to remove the complexity of sending mail and parcels. For the latest news, corporate announcements and financial results visit https://www.pitneybowes.com/us/newsroom.html. For additional information visit Pitney Bowes at www.pitneybowes.com.

Forward-Looking Statements

This document contains forward-looking statements about the Companys expected or potential future business and financial performance. Forward-looking statements include, but are not limited to, statements about future revenue and earnings guidance and future events or conditions. Forward-looking statements are not guarantees of future performance and involve risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from those projected. In particular, we continue to navigate the impacts of the Covid-19 pandemic (Covid-19) as well as the risk of a global recession, and the effects that they may have on our and our clients business. Other factors which could cause future financial performance to differ materially from expectations, and which may also be exacerbated by Covid-19 or the risk of a global recession or a negative change in the economy, include, without limitation, declining physical mail volumes; changes in postal regulations or the operations and financial health of posts in the U.S. or other major markets or changes to the broader postal or shipping markets; the loss of, or significant changes to, United States Postal Service (USPS) commercial programs, or our contractual relationships with the USPS or USPSs performance under those contracts; our ability to continue to grow and manage volumes, gain additional economies of scale and improve profitability within our Global Ecommerce segment; changes in labor and transportation availability and costs; and other factors as more fully outlined in the Companys 2022 Form 10-K Annual Report and other reports filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission. Pitney Bowes assumes no obligation to update any forward-looking statements contained in this document as a result of new information, events or developments.

Important Additional Information and Where to Find It

In connection with the forthcoming solicitation of proxies from stockholders in respect of Pitney Bowess 2023 annual meeting of stockholders, Pitney Bowes intends to file with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (the SEC) a proxy statement on Schedule 14A (the proxy statement), a form of GOLD proxy card and other relevant information. BEFORE MAKING ANY VOTING DECISION, STOCKHOLDERS ARE URGED TO READ ALL RELEVANT DOCUMENTS, INCLUDING PITNEY BOWESS PROXY STATEMENT AND ANY AMENDMENTS AND SUPPLEMENTS THERETO, FILED WITH THE SEC WHEN THEY BECOME AVAILABLE BECAUSE THEY CONTAIN, OR WILL CONTAIN, IMPORTANT INFORMATION. Stockholders may obtain free copies of the proxy statement and other relevant documents on Pitney Bowess website at www.pitneybowes.com or from the SECs website at www.sec.gov.

Certain Information Regarding Participants to the Solicitation

Pitney Bowes, its directors and certain of its executive officers are participants in the solicitation of proxies from stockholders in respect of Pitney Bowess 2023 annual meeting of stockholders. Information regarding the direct and indirect interests, by security holdings or otherwise, of the directors and executive officers of Pitney Bowes is contained in the Companys proxy statement for its 2022 annual meeting of stockholders, filed with the SEC on March 18, 2022, the Companys Annual report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2022, filed with the SEC on February 17, 2023, and in the Companys Current Reports on Form 8-K filed with the SEC from time to time. Changes in the direct or indirect interests of the Companys directors and executive officers are set forth in Initial Statements of Beneficial Ownership on Form 3 or Statements of Change in Ownership on Form 4 filed with the SEC. These documents are available free of charge as described above. Updated information regarding the identities of participants and their respective direct or indirect interests in the Company, by security holdings or otherwise, will be included in Pitney Bowess proxy statement and other relevant documents filed with the SEC in connection with Pitney Bowess 2023 annual meeting of stockholders, if and when they become available.

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20230302005730/en/

Editorial -



Bill Hughes



Chief Communications Officer



203.351.6785







Financial -



Ned Zachar, CFA



VP, Investor Relations



203.614.1092







Alex Brown



Senior Manager, Investor Relations



203.351.7639

Source: Pitney Bowes Inc.
PARIS--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- Regulatory News:

ACTICOR BIOTECH (ISIN: FR0014005OJ5  ALACT) (Paris: ALACT), a clinical stage biopharmaceutical company dedicated to the development of innovative treatments for cardiovascular emergencies, including ischemic stroke, today discloses the total number of voting rights and shares as of February 28, 2023 (pursuant to Article L. 233-8 II of the French Commercial Code and Article 223-16 of the General Regulation of the French Financial Markets Authority).

Listing Place: Euronext Growth Paris

ISIN Code : FR0014005OJ5

Web site: acticor-biotech.com

Date Number of shares making up the share capital Theoretical number of voting rights (1) Number of voting rights excluding

shares stripped of voting rights (2) February 28, 2023 10.545.776 10.545.776 10.525.158

In accordance with Article 223-111 of the AMFs General Regulation, this number of shares is calculated based on all shares carrying the right to vote, including those stripped of voting rights. The actual voting rights correspond to the total number of voting rights that can be exercised in a general meeting. They are calculated on the basis of the total number of voting rights attached to the total number of shares minus the shares without voting rights.

About ACTICOR BIOTECH

Acticor Biotech is a clinical stage biopharmaceutical company, a spin-off from INSERM (the French National Institute of Health and Medical Research), which is aiming to develop an innovative treatment for cardiovascular emergencies, including ischemic stroke.

Acticor Biotech is developing glenzocimab (ACT017), a humanized monoclonal antibody (mAb) fragment directed against a novel target of major interest, platelet glycoprotein VI (GPVI). Glenzocimab inhibits platelet binding to the thrombus without affecting physiological hemostasis, thereby limiting the bleeding risk, particularly in the brain.

In May 2022, Acticor Biotech presented positive results from its Phase 1b/2a study, ACTIMIS, at the ESOC, confirming the safety profile and showing a reduction in mortality and intracerebral hemorrhage in the glenzocimab-treated group in patients with stroke. The efficacy of glenzocimab is now being evaluated in an international Phase 2/3 study, ACTISAVE, which will include 1,000 patients. In July 2022, Acticor Biotech was granted "PRIME" status by the European Medicines Agency (EMA) for glenzocimab in the treatment of stroke. This designation will allow the company to strengthen its interactions and obtain early dialogues with regulatory authorities.

Acticor Biotech is supported by a panel of European and international investors (Karista, Go Capital, Newton Biocapital, CMS Medical Venture Investment (HK) Limited, A&B (HK) Limited, Mirae Asset Capital, Anaxago, Primer Capital, Mediolanum farmaceutici and the Armesa foundation). Acticor Biotech is listed on Euronext Growth Paris since November 2021 (ISIN: FR0014005OJ5  ALACT).

For more information, visit: www.acticor-biotech.com

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20230303005257/en/

ACTICOR BIOTECH

Gilles AVENARD, MD

CEO and Founder

[email protected]

T. : +33 (0)6 76 23 38 13

Sophie BINAY, PhD

General Manager and CSO

[email protected]

T. : +33 (0)6 76 23 38 13

NewCap

Mathilde BOHIN / Quentin MASSE

Investor Relations

[email protected]

T. : +33 (0)1 44 71 94 95

NewCap

Arthur ROUILLE

Media Relations

[email protected]

T. : +33 (0)1 44 71 00 15

Source: Acticor Biotech
Amazon Hiring for HQ2 Reaches 8,000 Workers, a 60% Increase Since April 2022

BETHESDA, Md.--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- JBG SMITH today announced that work on the first phase of Amazons new National Landing headquarters remains on schedule for a summer 2023 opening without interruption or delay. Amazons new offices at Met Park will accommodate up to 14,000 Amazon employees, including the 8,000 workers that Amazon has already hired  which represents a 60 percent increase in its local workforce since its previous disclosure in spring 2022.

The 2.1 million square-foot development at Met Park represents phase one of Amazons long-term commitment to National Landing in Northern Virginia. In May 2022, Amazon completed the acquisition of JBG SMITHs adjacent Pen Place development site. JBG SMITH continues to partner with Amazon in planning for the second phase of the development, which is expected to encompass 3.3 million square feet across three office buildings and The Helix, a unique biophilic double helix amenity center with plantings native to the Mid-Atlantic region.

We are greatly encouraged by Amazons recently reaffirmed commitment to its second headquarters project and to hiring at least 25,000 workers at HQ2. This project continues to serve as a major catalyst for National Landings transformation into a global hub of innovation and a vibrant mixed-use urban community, said JBG SMITH CEO Matt Kelly. In addition to welcoming Amazon employees to its new 2.1 million square-foot headquarters this summer, we are moving eagerly ahead on Virginia Techs $1 billion Innovation Campus. JBG SMITH also remains on track to deliver 1,500 new apartments currently under construction in National Landing and expects to welcome 55 new retailers to the neighborhood over the next 18 months alone. All of these projects, along with billions of dollars in infrastructure improvements, have been made possible by Amazons commitment to National Landing.

Kelly added, We continue to work with Amazon to advance plans for Pen Place, and look forward to helping Amazon realize its complete vision for HQ2.

About JBG SMITH

JBG SMITH owns, operates, invests in, and develops mixed-use properties in high growth and high barrier-to-entry submarkets in and around Washington, DC. Through an intense focus on placemaking, JBG SMITH cultivates vibrant, amenity-rich, walkable neighborhoods throughout the Washington, DC metropolitan area. Approximately two-thirds of JBG SMITH's holdings are in the National Landing submarket in Northern Virginia, which is anchored by four key demand drivers: Amazon's new headquarters, which is being developed by JBG SMITH; Virginia Tech's under-construction $1 billion Innovation Campus; the submarkets proximity to the Pentagon; and JBG SMITHs deployment of next-generation public and private 5G digital infrastructure. JBG SMITH's dynamic portfolio currently comprises 15.3 million square feet of high-growth office, multifamily, and retail assets at share, 98% of which are metro-served. It also maintains a development pipeline encompassing 9.7 million square feet of mixed-use development opportunities. JBG SMITHs capital allocation strategy is to shift the majority of its portfolio to multifamily and concentrate its office assets in National Landing. JBG SMITH is committed to the operation and development of green, smart, and healthy buildings and plans to maintain carbon neutral operations annually. For more information on JBG SMITH please visit www.jbgsmith.com.

Forward-Looking Statements

Certain statements contained herein may constitute forward-looking statements as such term is defined in Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933, as amended, and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended. Forward-looking statements are not guarantees of performance. They represent our intentions, plans, expectations and beliefs and are subject to numerous assumptions, risks and uncertainties. Consequently, the future results of JBG SMITH Properties (JBG SMITH or the Company) may differ materially from those expressed in these forward-looking statements. You can find many of these statements by looking for words such as approximate, believes, expects, anticipates, intends, plans, proposed, would, may, or similar expressions in this press release. We also note the following forward-looking statements: estimated delivery and employee move in dates and estimated total project size. Many of the factors that will determine the outcome of these and our other forward-looking statements and plans are beyond our ability to control or predict. These factors include, among others: adverse economic conditions in the Washington, DC metropolitan area, the timing of and costs associated with development and property improvements, financing commitments, and general competitive factors. For further discussion of factors that could materially affect the outcome of our forward-looking statements and other risks and uncertainties, see Risk Factors and the Cautionary Statement Concerning Forward-Looking Statements in the Company's Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2022, and other periodic reports the Company files with the Securities and Exchange Commission. For these statements, we claim the protection of the safe harbor for forward looking statements contained in the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. You are cautioned not to place undue reliance on our forward-looking statements. All subsequent written and oral forward-looking statements attributable to us or any person acting on our behalf are expressly qualified in their entirety by the cautionary statements contained or referred to in this section. We do not undertake any obligation to release publicly any revisions to our forward-looking statements after the date hereof.

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20230303005350/en/

Media

Bud Perrone

Rubenstein

Managing Director

(212) 843-8068

[email protected]

Samantha Schmieder

JBG SMITH

Corporate Communications Manager

(240) 333-7706

[email protected]

Investor Relations

Barbat Rodgers

JBG SMITH

Senior Vice President, Investor Relations

(240) 333-3805

[email protected]

Source: JBG SMITH
CLEVELAND--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- Cleveland-Cliffs Inc. (NYSE: CLF) today applauded the U.S. International Trade Commissions unanimous affirmative preliminary determination on all countries in response to antidumping and countervailing duty petitions on tin and chromium coated sheet steel products (tin mill products) filed by Cleveland-Cliffs and the United Steelworkers (USW). This affirmative preliminary determination relates to petitions seeking antidumping duties on U.S. imports of tin mill products from Canada, China, Germany, the Netherlands, South Korea, Taiwan, Turkey, and the United Kingdom. The petitions also seek the imposition of countervailing duties on U.S. imports of tin mill products from China.

Lourenco Goncalves, Cleveland-Cliffs' Chairman, President and Chief Executive Officer, stated, "Todays affirmative vote by the U.S. International Trade Commission signals real progress on our joint effort with the USW to remedy surging imports of dumped and subsidized tin mill products in the U.S. market. Cleveland-Cliffs is committed to this antidumping and countervailing duty action and we are optimistic that we will see continued progress in this case before both the U.S. Department of Commerce and the U.S. International Trade Commission. Todays vote should give pause to those facilitating the import of dumped and subsidized tin mill products from the countries at issue in this case.

The eight countries covered by the antidumping petitions and their respective alleged margins are as follows:

Country Dumping Margins Canada 79.59% China 122.52% Germany 70.15% Netherlands 125.10 - 296.04% South Korea 13.28  110.5% Taiwan 46.76 - 59.61% Turkey 87.73 - 97.21% United Kingdom 111.92%

Census data indicates that the United States imported over 1.42 million short tons of tin mill products from the eight subject countries in 2022, an increase of 37.7 percent since 2019.

About Cleveland-Cliffs Inc.

Cleveland-Cliffs is the largest flat-rolled steel producer in North America. Founded in 1847 as a mine operator, Cliffs also is the largest manufacturer of iron ore pellets in North America. The Company is vertically integrated from mined raw materials, direct reduced iron, and ferrous scrap to primary steelmaking and downstream finishing, stamping, tooling, and tubing. Cleveland-Cliffs is the largest supplier of steel to the automotive industry in North America and serves a diverse range of other markets due to its comprehensive offering of flat-rolled steel products. Headquartered in Cleveland, Ohio, Cleveland-Cliffs employs approximately 27,000 people across its operations in the United States and Canada.

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20230303005259/en/

MEDIA CONTACT:

Patricia Persico

Senior Director, Corporate Communications

(216) 694-5316

INVESTOR CONTACT:

James Kerr

Manager, Investor Relations

(216) 694-7719

Source: Cleveland-Cliffs Inc.
NEW YORK--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- CohnReznick, a leading advisory, assurance, and tax firm, today announced the partners and employees of Daszkal Bolton (DB), a prestigious, regional South Florida accounting, tax, and advisory firm, have joined CohnReznick effective March 1. This is the latest strategic expansion for CohnReznick to support geographic and client growth. CohnReznick now has approximately 350 Florida-based team members with offices in Boca Raton, Fort Lauderdale (Sunrise), Jupiter, and Miami.

DBs managing partner Tim Devlin will continue to lead the Boca Raton, Fort Lauderdale, and Jupiter offices in collaboration with CohnReznicks Mike Micholas who leads the Miami office and the Mid-Atlantic Region for CohnReznick. Fellow DB Executive Committee members, Teri Kaye, Scott Walters, and Brett Burgan will continue to lead in their respective practice areas. CohnReznick has robust growth and hiring plans to expand the Florida team across advisory, assurance, and tax disciplines.

Weve been invested in Florida for a long time supporting our clients in the public and private sectors. Florida is a critical market for our clients, we are thrilled to be adding the talented DB team to our firm so we can meet the demands of the market, support our clients investment and expansion throughout South Florida with our deep industry expertise and specialized services, and continue to attract and retain world-class talent. We share the same values when it comes to our culture, creating an environment where our people can thrive personally and professionally, said CohnReznick CEO David Kessler.

Devlin added, Daszkal Bolton just celebrated its 30th anniversary as a firm. As we look to build upon our legacy and create the best opportunities for our clients and team members in the future, we are confident CohnReznicks culture, leadership, and capabilities will accelerate our success.

Allan D. Koltin, CEO of Koltin Consulting Group, who advised both firms on the combination commented, CohnReznick is quickly becoming the preferred firm for high performing, entrepreneurial CPA and Advisory firms to combine with.

Daszkal Bolton is one of the most prominent and respected CPA firms in South Florida and was courted by many regional and national firms. In the end, they picked CohnReznick based on similar cultures, depth of resources, technology advancements, and tremendous growth opportunities for Daszkal Boltons people.

From a client perspective, CohnReznicks depth of technical expertise, industry specialization, and their broad array of advisory and consulting services were a key differentiator.

In addition to an impressive two-year organic growth trajectory, CohnReznick has been expanding its presence in several strategic markets, recently adding the team from BKM Sowan Horan in Dallas, TX and before that, extended its Northeast footprint in Massachusetts with the addition of the team from Kevin P. Martin and Associates.

Highlights of CohnReznicks reputation include:

For the second consecutive year, the firm was recognized by Newsweek as one of its 100 Most Loved Companies  the only public accounting firm on the list

as one of its 100 Most Loved Companies  the only public accounting firm on the list The firm was recently certified as a Great Place to Work

CohnReznick was recognized by Global M&A Network as the Transactions Advisor of the Year for 2022

CohnReznicks Florida offices include:

2401 NW Boca Raton Blvd., in Boca Raton

490 Sawgrass Corporate Parkway, in Sunrise

4455 Military Trail, in Jupiter

1221 Brickell Avenue, in Miami

About CohnReznick

As a leading advisory, assurance, and tax firm, CohnReznick helps forward-thinking organizations achieve their vision by optimizing performance, maximizing value, and managing risk. Clients benefit from the right team with the right capabilities; proven processes customized to their individual needs; and leaders with vital industry knowledge and relationships. Headquartered in New York, NY with offices nationwide, the firm serves organizations around the world through its global subsidiaries and membership in Nexia International. For more information, visit www.cohnreznick.com.

About Daszkal Bolton

Founded in 1992 in Boca Raton by Michael Daszkal and Jeff Bolton, Daszkal Bolton has a long history of standing alongside clients and working with them to grow and develop. What began with two partners has grown into a leading accounting and advisory firm in South Florida, serving clients in Miami-Dade, Broward and Palm Beach, as well as around the country and world. With approximately 250 people and offices in Boca Raton, Fort Lauderdale (Sunrise) and Jupiter, Daszkal Bolton continues to work with growth-oriented companies and their principals, as well as high-net-worth families.

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20230301006173/en/

Julie Murawski

Director, Corporate Marketing

CohnReznick LLP

[email protected]

973-364-6693

Source: CohnReznick
The delegation from Western Australia Police is touring the UK and Ireland hoping for new recruits (Supplied)

At a central London hotel, a room of British and Irish police officers are considering whether to move to the other side of the world.

Around 70 officers and relatives turned out on a Monday afternoon to hear from several former UK officers at Western Australia Police who flew 17 hours from Perth with a simple message: Come join us.

Higher pay, sunny weather, and a greater work-life balance are being promised. Leaflets showing smiling officers in scuba-diving gear and sandy beaches are placed on chairs, along with packs of the iconic Australian chocolate bar, Tim Tams.

The most senior officers in the force are backing the poaching effort, including WA deputy commissioner Kylie Whiteley. She says that the force had received more than a thousand expressions of interest, and more than 820 applications - the majority from the UK.

To be honest, the most common question we get is, How quickly can we come? she told the Standard, adding: We have opportunities in Western Australia that I dont think are necessarily available in the current environment in the UK and Ireland.

Benefits of the scheme open to those who have three years service include a 47,000 starting salary, and six weeks paid annual leave.

Around 70 officers and relatives came to one of the events (Supplied)

The event is just one of a number of multiple open days Western Australia Police is holding across London, Manchester, Edinburgh and Dublin until March 9. WA minister Paul Papalia also landed in the UK on Saturday for an eight-day mission hoping to entice Brits, including teachers and nurses, to fill 31,000 vacancies across the state.

Among those selling life Down Under is former Met detective Tanya Tidey, who relocated in an earlier overseas recruitment campaign 15 years ago. She was happy at the Met, but says she had to jump at the adventure of a lifetime.

The beaches sell themselves, you see exactly what you see on the videos and the photos, she says.

[Perth] is a very clean city, theres plenty to do for families, lots to do for a single person, youre living life and really are switching off from work.

Story continues

She adds: I feel healthy, plenty of sun, and I feel its good to be in the UK but its made me know that my decision is the right one.

Deputy Commissioner of Western Australia Police Kylie Whiteley and Tanya Tidey (Supplied)

It could be an appealing pitch for many UK officers, who report low morale amid the cost-of-living crisis.

A survey by the Police Federation, which represents rank-and-file officers in England and Wales, found in January that nine in ten police officers feel financially worse off than they were five years ago, and nearly one in five officers plan to resign in the next two years for reasons including pay.

Last week, Met Police chief Sir Mark Rowley admitted it was increasingly hard to recruit and retain talented officers over pay, raising fears he could be a thousand officers short by April. He is among the senior policing figures calling upon the Government to increase salaries in response.

Police officers in England and Wales have suffered a real-terms pay cut of 28.7 per cent at the lowest end of the pay scale over the last decade, and are presently battling an excruciating rise in the cost of living, says Police Federation chair, Steve Hartshorn.

Then they are all tarnished with the same brush because of some individuals who should never have been in the job in the first place. Its therefore unsurprising that a number of my colleagues are seriously considering leaving UK policing and moving to a different working environment overseas.

Some British officers who have spoken to Supt Dominic Wood, who moved to Australia in 2006 after stints at Sussex and Manchester police, have echoed those concerns.

Theyre obviously concerned about the cost of living, theyre seeing the price of oil going up, he says of UK officers speaking to him. They feel theres a lot of officers leaving the police here, so its putting a lot of pressure on the existing officers.

I heard from some guy yesterday, that hes working something ridiculous like an extra eight hours, so a 16-hour day, because theres no-one to cover the car. So in some areas, I get the sense theyre tired, theyre exhausted, and they need more staff.

Former Met officer Tanya Tidey moved Down Under in a previous recruitment round (Western Australia Police)

Ms Whiteley is candid that the prospect of more money in their pockets is tempting UK and Irish officers. Certainly weve noted that the pay is different, and we offer a very competitive pay in comparison to whats available to officers here so I think thats probably a significant driver, she says.

The Home Office points to its aim of recruiting 20,000 new officers on the beat by March, of which 16,753 had been recruited by December, as a unique opportunity to change the face of policing and help rebuild public trust in the profession.

The overwhelming majority of new recruits recently surveyed report positive job satisfaction and want to remain officers for the rest of their working lives, says a spokesperson.

We recognise the increased pressures with cost of living which is why we accepted the Police Remuneration Review Bodys recommendation to award a consolidated increase of 1,900 to all ranks of police officers.

Aussie police concede, too, that they are recruiting internationally because they are confronted with their own staffing challenges.

For those considering relocating, the process is lengthy, involving background checks and a fitness test. There are costs associated, such as the visa application fee.

Im not aware of a policing agency that isnt being confronted with some sort of decision at this point in time and it would be silly to even suggest thats the case, admits Ms Whiteley.

[But] what we work hard to do is to make sure that our frontline operation is as well supported and is as lucrative for our officers as they possibly can be.
PARIS--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- Regulatory News:

The shareholders of Gecina (Paris: GFC) (the Company) are invited to attend the Ordinary General Meeting to be held on:

Thursday April 20, 2023 from 3pm,

at Hotel Kimpton Saint-Honore, 20 rue Daunou, 75002 Paris

A meeting notice containing the agenda, the full text for the proposed resolutions and the main conditions for attending and voting at the Ordinary General Meeting on April 20, 2023 has been published in the French official gazette (Bulletin des Annonces Legales Obligatoires) today. This meeting notice and the Board of Directors report on the proposed resolutions can be consulted on Gecina's website at www.gecina.fr.

The meeting notice will be followed by an invitation to attend, which will be published in the French official gazette (BALO) and a French legal announcement journal within the legal and regulatory timeframes.

The preparatory documents for this General Meeting will be made available to the Companys shareholders in accordance with the regulatory conditions and timeframes applicable.

All shareholders may ask the Company to send them these documents with written requests to be sent by post to the Companys registered office or by email to titres&[email protected] until the fifth day (inclusive) before the Ordinary General Meeting on April 20, 2023, i.e. April 15, 2023. For bearer shareholders, they will need to be accompanied by a certificate of registration in the securities accounts held by an intermediary mentioned in Article L. 211-3 of the French monetary and financial code (Code monetaire et financier).

They may also be consulted at the Companys registered office and will be available on the Companys website (www.gecina.fr).

Shareholders are invited to regularly consult the dedicated section for the 2023 General Meeting on the Companys website (www.gecina.fr), which could be updated to provide further information on the definitive arrangements for participation in the General Meeting.

The Board of Directors

Gecina

French limited company (societe anonyme) with capital of 574,673,940

Registered office: 14-16, rue des Capucines - 75002 Paris - France

Paris trade and companies register: 592 014 476

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20230303005176/en/

Gecina

Source: Gecina
HANGZHOU, China--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- MOGU Inc. (NYSE: MOGU) (MOGU or the Company), a KOL-driven online fashion and lifestyle destination in China, today announced its unaudited financial results for the six months ended September 30, 2022.

Mr. Chen Qi, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of MOGU, commented, In 2022, the Live eCommerce industry faced many challenges, including ongoing macro environment uncertainty, the impact of the COVID-19 resurgence in China on consumption demand and an intensifying competition amongst the major live platforms. In particular, COVID-19 travel restrictions affected the fulfillment of orders nationwide resulting in both sales volume and revenue coming in below expectations. The Gross Merchandise Value (GMV2) and revenue of MOGU decreased by 48.1% and 32.2% to RMB2,828 million (US$397.6 million1) and RMB114.8 million (US$16.1 million) period-over-period, respectively. Despite these challenges, we proactively explored new opportunities.

During the first half of fiscal year of 2023, our total revenues decreased by 32.2% to RMB114.8 million. We continued to take a holistic approach to improve our operating efficiency and optimize costs throughout the Company to reduce loss from operations. The adjusted EBITDA and loss from operations were negative RMB17.1 million and RMB48.1 million, compared with negative RMB72.7 million and RMB430.1 million, respectively, for the same period of fiscal year 2022. We are continuing to explore new business opportunities to diversify our revenue structure. added Ms. Qi Feng, Financial Controller.

Highlights for the Six Months ended September 30, 2022

Total revenues for the six months ended September 30, 2022 decreased by 32.2% to RMB114.8 million (US$16.1 million) from RMB169.5 million during the same period of the fiscal year 2022.

for the six months ended September 30, 2022 decreased by 32.2% to RMB114.8 million (US$16.1 million) from RMB169.5 million during the same period of the fiscal year 2022. Live Video Broadcast (LVB) associated GMV for the six months ended September 30, 2022 decreased by 45.6% period-over-period to RMB2,703 million (US$379.9 million1). LVB associated GMV for the six months ended September 30, 2022 accounted for 95.6% of our total GMV.

associated GMV for the six months ended September 30, 2022 decreased by 45.6% period-over-period to RMB2,703 million (US$379.9 million1). LVB associated GMV for the six months ended September 30, 2022 accounted for 95.6% of our total GMV. Gross Merchandise Value (GMV2) for the six months ended September 30, 2022 was RMB2,828 million (US$397.6 million), a decrease of 48.1% period-over-period.

Financial Results for the Six Months ended September 30, 2022

Total revenues for the six months ended September 30, 2022 decreased by 32.2% to RMB114.8 million (US$16.1 million) from RMB169.5 million during the same period of the fiscal year 2022.

Commission revenues for the six months ended September 30, 2022 decreased by 38.6% to RMB71.7 million (US$10.1 million) from RMB116.8 million in the same period of the fiscal year 2022, primarily attributable to the lower GMV due to the heightened competitive environment and the COVID-19 pandemic resurgence.

for the six months ended September 30, 2022 decreased by 38.6% to RMB71.7 million (US$10.1 million) from RMB116.8 million in the same period of the fiscal year 2022, primarily attributable to the lower GMV due to the heightened competitive environment and the COVID-19 pandemic resurgence. Marketing services revenues for the six months ended September 30, 2022 decreased by 77.1% to RMB3.0 million (US$0.4 million) from RMB13.0 million in the same period of the fiscal year 2022, primarily due to the challenging competitive environment.

for the six months ended September 30, 2022 decreased by 77.1% to RMB3.0 million (US$0.4 million) from RMB13.0 million in the same period of the fiscal year 2022, primarily due to the challenging competitive environment. Financing solutions revenues for the six months ended September 30, 2022 decreased by 67.7% to RMB6.9 million (US$1.0 million) from RMB21.5 million in the same period of the fiscal year 2022. The decrease was primarily due to the decrease in the service fee of loans to users in line with the lower GMV.

for the six months ended September 30, 2022 decreased by 67.7% to RMB6.9 million (US$1.0 million) from RMB21.5 million in the same period of the fiscal year 2022. The decrease was primarily due to the decrease in the service fee of loans to users in line with the lower GMV. Technology service revenues for the six months ended September 30, 2022 increased by 170.8% to RMB28.1 million(US$3.9 million) from RMB10.4 million in the same period of fiscal year 2022, primarily attributable to the combination of Hangzhou Ruisha Technology Co. Ltd. (Ruisha) in July 2021, which is committed to providing brands merchants with one-stop and customized services for full-domain operations, including a wide variety of operational services, data platforms, and other software services, as well as value-added services such as traffic placement.

for the six months ended September 30, 2022 increased by 170.8% to RMB28.1 million(US$3.9 million) from RMB10.4 million in the same period of fiscal year 2022, primarily attributable to the combination of Hangzhou Ruisha Technology Co. Ltd. (Ruisha) in July 2021, which is committed to providing brands merchants with one-stop and customized services for full-domain operations, including a wide variety of operational services, data platforms, and other software services, as well as value-added services such as traffic placement. Other revenues for the six months ended September 30, 2022 decreased by 34.0% to RMB5.2 million (US$0.7 million) from RMB7.8 million in the same period of the fiscal year 2022.

Cost of revenues for the six months ended September 30, 2022 decreased by 29.9% to RMB59.6 million (US$8.4 million) from RMB85.1 million in the same period of the fiscal year 2022, which was primarily due to the decrease in payroll, IT-related expenses and payment handling and outsourcing costs, correlating with overall reduction in revenue.

Sales and marketing expenses for the six months ended September 30, 2022 decreased by 64.8% to RMB32.6 million (US$4.6 million) from RMB92.8 million in the same period of the fiscal year 2022, primarily due to optimized spending on branding and user acquisition activities, in line with reduction in revenue.

Research and development expenses for the six months ended September 30, 2022 decreased by 53.7% to RMB20.9 million (US$2.9 million) from RMB45.2 million in the same period of the fiscal year 2022, primarily due to a decrease in payroll costs.

General and administrative expenses for the six months ended September 30, 2022 decreased by 22.2% to RMB32.7 million (US$4.6 million) from RMB42.1 million in the same period of the fiscal year 2022, primarily due to a decrease in professional service fees and payroll costs.

Amortization of intangible assets for the six months ended September 30, 2022 decreased by 87.5% to RMB20.0 million (US$2.8 million) from RMB160.2 million in the same period of the fiscal year 2022, primarily because the majority of the intangible assets recorded as a result of the business cooperation agreement MOGU entered into with Tencent in July 2018 have been fully amortized as of March 31, 2022.

Loss from operations for the six months ended September 30, 2022 was RMB48.1 million (US$6.8 million), compared to a loss from operations of RMB430.1 million in the same period of the fiscal year 2022, primarily attributable to the goodwill impairment of RMB186.5 million and more amortization of intangible assets incurred in the first half of the fiscal year 2022.

Net loss attributable to MOGU Inc. for the six months ended September 30, 2022 was RMB57.4 million (US$8.1 million), compared to a net loss attributable to MOGU Inc. of RMB411.9 million in the same period of the fiscal year 2022.

Adjusted EBITDA3 for the six months ended September 30, 2022 was negative RMB17.1 million (US$2.4 million), compared to negative RMB72.7 million in the same period of the fiscal year 2022.

Adjusted net loss4 for the six months ended September 30, 2022 was RMB11.8 million (US$1.7 million), compared to an adjusted net loss of RMB69.9 million in the same period of the fiscal year 2022.

Basic and diluted loss per ADS for the six months ended September 30, 2022 were RMB6.79 (US$0.95) and RMB6.79 (US$0.95), respectively, compared with RMB49.07 and RMB49.07, respectively, in the same period of the fiscal year 2022. Each ADS represents 300 Class A ordinary shares.

Cash and cash equivalents, Restricted cash and Short-term investments were RMB604.8 million (US$85.0 million) as of September 30, 2022, compared with RMB636.3 million as of March 31, 2022.

Use of Non-GAAP Financial Measures

In evaluating the business, the Company considers and uses non-GAAP measures, such as Adjusted EBITDA and Adjusted net loss as supplemental measures to review and assess operating performance. The presentation of these non-GAAP financial measures is not intended to be considered in isolation or as a substitute for the financial information prepared and presented in accordance with accounting principles generally accepted in the United States of America (U.S. GAAP). The Company defines Adjusted EBITDA as net loss before interest income, interest expense, (gain)/loss from investments, net, income tax benefits, share of results of equity investees, goodwill impairment, share-based compensation expenses, amortization of intangible assets, and depreciation of property and equipment. The Company defines Adjusted net loss as net loss excluding (gain)/loss from investments, net, goodwill impairment, share-based compensation expenses, amortization of intangible assets, and adjustments for tax effects. See Unaudited Reconciliations of GAAP and Non-GAAP Results at the end of this press release.

The Company presents these non-GAAP financial measures because they are used by management to evaluate operating performance and formulate business plans. The Company believes that the non-GAAP financial measures help identify underlying trends in its business by excluding certain expenses, gain/loss and other items that are not expected to result in future cash payments or that are non-recurring in nature or may not be indicative of the Companys core operating results and business outlook. The Company also believes that the non-GAAP financial measures could provide further information about the Companys results of operations, enhance the overall understanding of the Companys past performance and future prospects.

The non-GAAP financial measures are not defined under U.S. GAAP and are not presented in accordance with U.S. GAAP. The non-GAAP financial measures have limitations as analytical tools. The Companys non-GAAP financial measures do not reflect all items of income and expense that affect the Companys operations and do not represent the residual cash flow available for discretionary expenditures. Further, these non-GAAP measures may differ from the non-GAAP information used by other companies, including peer companies, and therefore their comparability may be limited. The Company compensates for these limitations by reconciling the non-GAAP financial measures to the nearest U.S. GAAP performance measure, all of which should be considered when evaluating performance. The Company encourages you to review the Companys financial information in its entirety and not rely on a single financial measure.

For more information on the non-GAAP financial measures, please see the table captioned Unaudited Reconciliations of GAAP and Non-GAAP Results set forth at the end of this press release.

Safe Harbor Statement

This announcement contains forward-looking statements. These statements are made under the safe harbor provisions of the U.S. Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. These forward-looking statements can be identified by terminology such as will, expects, anticipates, aims, future, intends, plans, believes, estimates, confident, potential, continue or other similar expressions. Among other things, the business outlook and quotations from management in this announcement, as well as MOGUs strategic and operational plans, contain forward-looking statements. MOGU may also make written or oral forward-looking statements in its periodic reports to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (the SEC), in its annual report to shareholders, in press releases and other written materials and in oral statements made by its officers, directors or employees to third parties. Statements that are not historical facts, including but not limited to statements about MOGUs beliefs and expectations, are forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements involve inherent risks and uncertainties. A number of factors could cause actual results to differ materially from those contained in any forward-looking statement, including but not limited to the following: MOGUs growth strategies; the risk that COVID-19 or other health risks in China or globally could adversely affect its operations or financial results; its future business development, results of operations and financial condition; its ability to understand buyer needs and provide products and services to attract and retain buyers; its ability to maintain and enhance the recognition and reputation of its brand; its ability to rely on merchants and third-party logistics service providers to provide delivery services to buyers; its ability to maintain and improve quality control policies and measures; its ability to establish and maintain relationships with merchants; trends and competition in Chinas ecommerce market; changes in its revenues and certain cost or expense items; the expected growth of Chinas ecommerce market; PRC governmental policies and regulations relating to MOGUs industry, and general economic and business conditions globally and in China and assumptions underlying or related to any of the foregoing. Further information regarding these and other risks is included in MOGUs filings with the SEC. All information provided in this press release and in the attachments is as of the date of this press release, and MOGU undertakes no obligation to update any forward-looking statement, except as required under applicable law.

About MOGU Inc.

MOGU Inc. (NYSE: MOGU) is a KOL-driven online fashion and lifestyle destination in China. MOGU provides people with a more accessible and enjoyable shopping experience for everyday fashion, particularly as they increasingly live their lives online. By connecting merchants, KOLs and users together, MOGUs platform serves as a valuable marketing channel for merchants, a powerful incubator for KOLs, and a vibrant and dynamic community for people to discover and share the latest fashion trends with others, where users can enjoy a truly comprehensive online shopping experience.

MOGU INC. Unaudited Interim Condensed Consolidated Balance Sheets (All amounts in thousands, except for share and per share data) As of March 31, As of September 30, 2022 2022 RMB RMB US$ ASSETS Current assets: Cash and cash equivalents 438,608 392,970 55,243 Restricted cash 809 809 114 Short-term investments 196,853 211,049 29,669 Inventories, net 79 84 12 Loan receivables, net 26,788 9,739 1,369 Prepayments and other current assets 55,135 54,073 7,600 Amounts due from related parties 640 779 110 Total current assets 718,912 669,503 94,117 Non-current assets: Property, equipment and software, net 7,702 5,881 827 Intangible assets, net 89,822 74,414 10,461 Right-of-use assets* - 12,394 1,742 Goodwill 63,460 63,460 8,921 Investments 72,120 61,392 8,630 Other non-current assets 214,964 236,363 33,227 Total non-current assets 448,068 453,904 63,808 Total assets 1,166,980 1,123,407 157,925 LIABILITIES AND SHAREHOLDERS EQUITY Current liabilities: Short-term borrowings 10,064 11,635 1,636 Accounts payable 17,950 15,564 2,188 Salaries and welfare payable 12,311 9,455 1,329 Advances from customers 901 326 46 Taxes payable 3,265 2,171 305 Amounts due to related parties 4,694 2,990 420 Current portion of lease liabilities* - 6,675 938 Accruals and other current liabilities 272,638 262,085 36,845 Total current liabilities 321,823 310,901 43,707 Non-current liabilities: Non-current lease liabilities* - 3,175 446 Deferred tax liabilities 12,112 10,877 1,529 Other non-current liabilities 890 332 47 Total non-current liabilities 13,002 14,384 2,022 Total liabilities 334,825 325,285 45,729 SHAREHOLDERS EQUITY Ordinary shares 181 181 25 Treasury stock (136,113 ) (137,446 ) (19,322 ) Statutory reserves 3,331 3,331 468 Additional paid-in capital 9,471,101 9,479,937 1,332,668 Accumulated other comprehensive income 69,016 86,325 12,135 Accumulated deficit (8,617,780 ) (8,675,218 ) (1,219,543 ) Total MOGU Inc. shareholders equity 789,736 757,110 106,431 Non-controlling interests 42,419 41,012 5,765 Total shareholders equity 832,155 798,122 112,196 Total liabilities and shareholders equity 1,166,980 1,123,407 157,925 *On April 1, 2022, the Company adopted ASC 842, Leases and used the additional transition method to initially apply this new lease standard at the adoption date. Right-of-use assets and lease liabilities were recognized on the Company's consolidated financial statements.

MOGU INC. Unaudited Interim Condensed Consolidated Statements of Operations and Comprehensive Loss (All amounts in thousands, except for share and per share data) For the six months ended September 30, 2021 2022 RMB RMB US$ Net revenues Commission revenues 116,807 71,700 10,079 Marketing services revenues 13,006 2,982 419 Financing solutions revenues 21,485 6,930 974 Technology service revenues 10,368 28,077 3,947 Other revenues 7,808 5,157 725 Total revenues 169,474 114,846 16,144 Cost of revenues (exclusive of amortization of intangible assets shown separately below) (85,133 ) (59,641 ) (8,384 ) Sales and marketing expenses (92,772 ) (32,646 ) (4,589 ) Research and development expenses (45,227 ) (20,922 ) (2,941 ) General and administrative expenses (42,095 ) (32,741 ) (4,603 ) Amortization of intangible assets (160,190 ) (20,022 ) (2,815 ) Goodwill impairment (186,504 ) - - Other income, net 12,310 3,066 431 Loss from operations (430,137 ) (48,060 ) (6,757 ) Interest income 7,001 9,013 1,267 Interest expense - (328 ) (46 ) Gain/(loss) from investments, net 7,822 (19,431 ) (2,732 ) Loss before income tax and share of results of equity investees (415,314 ) (58,806 ) (8,268 ) Income tax benefits 1,715 1,086 153 Share of results of equity investee (418 ) (1,125 ) (158 ) Net loss (414,017 ) (58,845 ) (8,273 ) Net loss attributable to non-controlling interests (2,091 ) (1,407 ) (198 ) Net loss attributable to MOGU Inc. (411,926 ) (57,438 ) (8,075 ) Net loss (414,017 ) (58,845 ) (8,273 ) Other comprehensive income/(loss): Foreign currency translation adjustments, net of nil tax (10,656 ) 18,495 2,600 Unrealized securities holding losses, net of tax (10,213 ) (1,186 ) (167 ) Total comprehensive loss (434,886 ) (41,536 ) (5,840 ) Total comprehensive loss attributable to non-controlling interests (2,091 ) (1,407 ) (198 ) Total comprehensive loss attributable to MOGU Inc. (432,795 ) (40,129 ) (5,642 ) Net loss per share attributable to ordinary shareholders Basic (0.16 ) (0.02 ) (0.00 ) Diluted (0.16 ) (0.02 ) (0.00 ) Net loss per ADS Basic (49.07 ) (6.79 ) (0.95 ) Diluted (49.07 ) (6.79 ) (0.95 ) Weighted average number of shares used in computing net loss per share Basic 2,518,428,173 2,537,852,017 2,537,852,017 Diluted 2,518,428,173 2,537,852,017 2,537,852,017 Share-based compensation expenses included in: Cost of revenues 1,241 808 114 General and administrative expenses 3,668 5,069 713 Sales and marketing expenses 2,762 2,448 344 Research and development expenses 244 511 71

MOGU INC. Unaudited Interim Condensed Consolidated Statements of Cash Flows (All amounts in thousands, except for share and per share data) For the six months ended September 30, 2021 2022 RMB RMB US$ Net cash used in operating activities (73,528 ) (16,020 ) (2,252 ) Net cash provided by/(used in) investing activities 49,458 (28,155 ) (3,957 ) Net cash used in financing activities (8,365 ) (2,972 ) (418 ) Effect of foreign exchange rate changes on cash and cash equivalents and restricted cash (2,594 ) 1,509 212 Net decrease in cash and cash equivalents and restricted cash (35,029 ) (45,638 ) (6,415 ) Cash and cash equivalents and restricted cash at beginning of period 542,884 439,417 61,772 Cash and cash equivalents and restricted cash at end of period 507,855 393,779 55,357

MOGU INC. Reconciliations of GAAP and Non-GAAP Results (All amounts in thousands, except for share and per share data) For the six months ended September 30, 2021 2022 RMB RMB US$ Net loss (414,017 ) (58,845 ) (8,273 ) Add: Interest expense - 328 46 Less: Income tax benefits (1,715 ) (1,086 ) (153 ) Less: Interest income (7,001 ) (9,013 ) (1,267 ) Add: Amortization of intangible assets 160,190 20,022 2,815 Add: Depreciation of property and equipment 2,797 2,067 291 EBITDA (259,746 ) (46,527 ) (6,541 ) Add: Goodwill impairment 186,504 - - Add: Share-based compensation expenses 7,915 8,836 1,242 Add: Share of result of equity investees 418 1,125 158 Less: (Gain)/loss from investments, net (7,822 ) 19,431 2,732 Adjusted EBITDA (72,731 ) (17,135 ) (2,409 ) Net loss (414,017 ) (58,845 ) (8,273 ) Less: (Gain)/loss from investments, net (7,822 ) 19,431 2,732 Add: Share-based compensation expenses 7,915 8,836 1,242 Add: Goodwill impairment 186,504 - - Add: Amortization of intangible assets 160,190 20,022 2,815 Less: Adjusted for tax effects (2,672 ) (1,235 ) (174 ) Adjusted net loss (69,902 ) (11,791 ) (1,658 )

1 The U.S. dollar (US$) amounts disclosed in this press release, except for those transaction amounts that were actually settled in U.S. dollars, are presented solely for the convenience of the readers. The conversion of Renminbi (RMB) into US$ in this press release is based on the exchange rate set forth in the H.10 statistical release of the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System as of September 30, 2022, which was RMB7.1135 to US$1.00. The percentages stated in this press release are calculated based on the RMB amounts.

2 GMV refers to the total value of orders placed on the MOGU platform regardless of whether the products are sold, delivered or returned, calculated based on the listed prices of the ordered products without taking into consideration any discounts on the listed prices. Buyers on the MOGU platform are not charged for separate shipping fees over the listed price of a product. If merchants include certain shipping fees in the listed price of a product, such shipping fees will be included in GMV. As a prudent matter aiming at eliminating any influence on MOGUs GMV of irregular transactions, the Company excludes from its calculation of GMV transactions over a certain amount (RMB100,000) and transactions by users over a certain amount (RMB1,000,000) per day.

3 Adjusted EBITDA represents net loss before (i) interest income, interest expense, (gain)/Loss from investments, net, income tax benefits and share of results of equity investee, goodwill impairment and (ii) certain non-cash expenses, consisting of share-based compensation expenses, amortization of intangible assets, and depreciation of property and equipment. See Unaudited Reconciliations of GAAP and NonGAAP Results at the end of this press release.

4 Adjusted net loss represents net loss excluding (i) (gain)/Loss from investments, net, (ii) share-based compensation expenses, (iii) goodwill impairment, (iv)amortization of intangible assets, (v) adjustments for tax effects. See Unaudited Reconciliations of GAAP and NonGAAP Results at the end of this press release.

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20230303005111/en/

For investor and media inquiries:

MOGU Inc.

Ms. Qi Feng

Phone: +86-571-8530-8201

E-mail: [email protected]

Christensen Advisory

In China

Mr. Eric Yuan

Phone: +86-10-5900-1548

E-mail: [email protected]

In the United States

Ms. Linda Bergkamp

Phone: +1-480-614-3004

Email: [email protected]

Source: MOGU Inc.
Anesthesiologist creates AI-driven solution for preventing in-surgery adverse events through a remote monitoring app

ATLANTA--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- A first-of-its-kind mobile app and medical device solution will provide in-hospital anesthesiologists with alerts of real-time changes in their patients vitals on their smartphone. Guardian, created by Vigilant Medical Solutions, LLC, enables anesthesiologists to monitor and quickly respond to changes in any of their patients vital signs, across multiple operating rooms.

The AI-driven Guardian technologys patient-specific parameters and proactive updates on vitals can decrease the risk of adverse outcomes, such as acute kidney injury (AKI), postoperative delirium, stroke and death. The Guardian technology also helps counter distractions in the OR, such as noise levels and alarm fatigue by sending real-time alerts to the supervising anesthesiologist.

Dr. Justin Scott, M.D., FASA, founder of Vigilant Medical Solutions, LLC, and a practicing anesthesiologist for more than 17 years, understood the challenges associated with concurrently tracking vital signs of multiple patients. This desire to enhance vigilance and patient care drove the creation and development of hand-held, real-time case visibility.

The purpose of creating the Guardian app was to provide clinicians easy access to patient vitals, which is crucial when doctors are working with several patients across multiple operating rooms, said Dr. Scott. In the OR, every second counts. With the Guardian app, we are working to prevent adverse patient events and provide better outcomes by staying on top of any critical changes to our patients vitals.

Guardian addresses current anesthesiologist staffing shortages by allowing anesthesiologists to monitor more operating rooms simultaneously, despite increased work demands on their time and attention, in a safer and more efficient manner.

More about Vigilant Medical Solutions, LLC

Vigilant Medical Solutions, LLC. was founded in 2014 by Dr. Justin Scott, a practicing M.D. anesthesiologist for more than 17 years. Guardian provides safer care of patients undergoing surgery and improves the practice of anesthesia with real-time alerts and enabling faster and more efficient communication between members of the anesthesia care team. The patients specific needs can be monitored anywhere, enhancing response time and driving better outcomes. For more information visit https://www.guardianvitals.com/.

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20230303005323/en/

Molly Mannes

469-831-5444

[email protected]

Source: Vigilant Medical Solutions, LLC
BOSTON--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- State Street Corporation (NYSE: STT) plans to announce its first-quarter 2023 financial results on Monday, April 17, 2023 at approximately 7:30 a.m. ET. The results will be reviewed via webcast and teleconference at 9:00 a.m. ET.

The conference call will be accessible via audio webcast on State Streets Investor Relations website, http://investors.statestreet.com, and by telephone at (+1) 888-886-7786 (Conference ID: 24159898). Materials will be available on State Streets Investor Relations website prior to the call.

Following the call, a replay will be available via audio webcast on State Streets Investor Relations website, http://investors.statestreet.com, or by telephone, which will be available for approximately one month, at (+1) 877 674 7070 (Conference ID: 24159898, Playback Passcode: 159898 #).

About State Street Corporation

State Street Corporation (NYSE: STT) is one of the world's leading providers of financial services to institutional investors including investment servicing, investment management and investment research and trading. With $36.7 trillion in assets under custody and/or administration and $3.5 trillion* in assets under management as of December 31, 2022. State Street operates globally in more than 100 geographic markets and employs approximately 42,000 worldwide. For more information, visit State Street's website at www.statestreet.com.

*Assets under management as of December 31, 2022 includes approximately $59 billion of assets with respect to SPDR products for which State Street Global Advisors Funds Distributors, LLC (SSGA FD) acts solely as the marketing agent. SSGA FD and State Street Global Advisors are affiliated.

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20230303005069/en/

Media Contact:

Carolyn Cichon

+1 617 664 8672

Investor Contact:

Ilene Fiszel Bieler

+1 617 664 3477

Source: State Street Corporation
Saturday, March 4, 11 a.m. rally, and 1 p.m. march

TORONTO--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- Back in-person for the first time since 2020, Torontos International Womens Day rally and march bring thousands of people to the streets of Toronto.

This year our movement is back in the streets and our voices will be louder than ever, said rally Co-Chair Jenny Ahn.

This years rally theme is Women, Life, Freedom to show global solidarity with Iranian and Kurdish womens struggles for their fundamental rights.

The annual rally and march highlight both local and global issues impacting women, non-binary, and gender-diverse people, including the gendered impact of the privatization of health care, the housing crisis and climate change.

Starting at 11:00 a.m., Eastern, a dynamic rally will feature cultural performances and a powerful line-up of speakers including:

Dr. Catherine Brooks, Anishnawbe Kwe Elder

Chloe Tse, Ontario Health Coalition

Gloria Turney, Personal Support Worker, Service Employees International Union (SEIU)

Laura Walton, President of Ontario School Board Council of Unions

Leny Rose, President of Migrante Ontario

Minoo Derashan, Iranian activist

Ria Renne, ACORN, housing activist

Yolanda McLean Secretary Treasurer of CUPE Ontario and President of the Coalition of Black Trade Unionists (CBTU)

We know our struggles are all connected  we are speaking out against the Ford governments attempts to privatize health care and destroy our Greenbelt. We are standing in solidarity with Kurdish and Iranian women and with women and gender-diverse folks around the world who are standing up for their rights, said rally Co-Chair Alisha Alam.

Organized by a diverse coalition of community groups, students and trade unions, and sponsored by Women Working with Immigrant Women, the event normally brings together thousands of women, men, non-binary, and gender-diverse people to march for equality and justice.

Toronto is the only city in North America to have an annual IWD rally every year since 1978.

When: Saturday, March 4, 2023, 11 a.m. rally, 1 p.m. march (Eastern)

Where: OISE/University of Toronto, 252 Bloor St. W. The march travels east along Bloor St. W., and south on Yonge St. to Toronto Metropolitan University (TMU)

For more information on the International Womens Day 2023 event visit iwdtoronto.ca.

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20230303005349/en/

Carolyn Ferns, 647-218-1275

Jenny Ahn, 416-271-3489

Source: International Womens Day Toronto
HDLB: linked to the Solactive US High Dividend Low Volatility Index Series B

SMHB: linked to the Solactive US Small Cap High Dividend Index Series B

PFFL: linked to the Solactive Preferred Stock ETF Index

CEFD: linked to the S-Network Composite Closed-End Fund Index

MVRL: linked to the Market Vectors Global Mortgage REITs Index

NEW YORK--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- UBS Investment Bank today announced coupon payments for 5 ETRACS Exchange Traded Notes (the ETNs), all traded on the NYSE Arca.

* The table above provides a hyperlink to the relevant prospectus and supplements thereto for each of our ETRACS ETNs, which are identified by their names. For more information on each ETRACS ETN, see List of ETNs.

** Current Yield (annualized) equals the current Coupon Amount and the two immediately preceding Coupon Amounts, multiplied by four (to annualize such coupons), divided by the closing Current Indicative Value of the ETN on its current Coupon Valuation Date rounded to two decimal places for ease of analysis. The Current Yield is not indicative of future coupon payments, if any, on the ETN. You are not guaranteed any coupon or distribution amount under the ETN.

Note: HDLB, SMHB and PFFL pay a variable monthly coupon linked to 2 times the cash distributions, if any, on the respective underlying index constituents, less withholding taxes, if any. CEFD and MVRL pay a variable monthly coupon linked to 1.5 times the cash distributions, if any, on the respective underlying index constituents, less withholding taxes, if any. Variations in the amount of monthly distributions will lead to large variations in the Current Yield as calculated above. As such, the Current Yield is not indicative of future coupon payments, if any, on these ETNs.

About ETRACS

ETRACS ETNs are senior unsecured notes issued by UBS AG, are traded on NYSE Arca, and can be bought and sold through a broker or financial advisor. An investment in ETRACS ETNs is subject to a number of risks, including the risk of loss of some or all of the investors principal, and is subject to the creditworthiness of UBS AG. Investors are not guaranteed any coupon or distribution amount under the ETNs. We urge you to read the more detailed explanation of risks described under Risk Factors in the applicable prospectus supplement for the ETRACS ETN.

UBS AG has filed a registration statement (including a prospectus and supplements thereto) with the Securities and Exchange Commission, or SEC, for the offerings of securities to which this communication relates. Before you invest, you should read the prospectus, along with the applicable prospectus supplement to understand fully the terms of the securities and other considerations that are important in making a decision about investing in the ETRACS. The applicable offering document for each ETRACS may be obtained by clicking on the name of each ETRACS identified above. You may also get these documents without cost by visiting EDGAR on the SEC website at www.sec.gov. The securities related to the offerings are not deposit liabilities and are not insured or guaranteed by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation or any other governmental agency of the United States, Switzerland or any other jurisdiction.

About UBS

UBS convenes the global ecosystem for investing, where people and ideas are connected and opportunities brought to life, and provides financial advice and solutions to wealthy, institutional and corporate clients worldwide, as well as to private clients in Switzerland. UBS offers investment solutions, products and impactful thought leadership, is the leading global wealth manager, provides large-scale and diversified asset management, focused investment banking capabilities, and personal and corporate banking services in Switzerland. The firm focuses on businesses that have a strong competitive position in their target markets, are capital efficient and have an attractive long-term structural growth or profitability outlook.

UBS is present in all major financial centers worldwide. It has offices in more than 50 regions and locations, with about 30% of its employees working in the Americas, 30% in Switzerland, 19% in the rest of Europe, the Middle East and Africa and 21% in Asia Pacific. UBS Group AG employs more than 72,000 people around the world. Its shares are listed on the SIX Swiss Exchange and the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE).

This material is issued by UBS AG and/or any of its subsidiaries and/or any of its affiliates ("UBS"). Products and services mentioned in this material may not be available for residents of certain jurisdictions. Past performance is not necessarily indicative of future results. Please consult the restrictions relating to the product or service in question for further information. Activities with respect to US securities are conducted through UBS Securities LLC, a US broker/dealer. Member of SIPC (http://www.sipc.org/).

ETRACS ETNs are sold only in conjunction with the relevant offering materials. UBS has filed a registration statement (including a prospectus, as supplemented by the applicable prospectus supplement, for the offering of the ETRACS ETNs) with the Securities and Exchange Commission (the SEC) for the offering to which this communication relates. Before you invest, you should read these documents and any other documents that UBS has filed with the SEC for more complete information about UBS and the offering to which this communication relates. You may get these documents for free by visiting EDGAR on the SEC website at www.sec.gov. Alternatively, you can request the prospectus and applicable prospectus supplement, by calling toll-free (+1-877-387 2275). In the US, securities underwriting, trading and brokerage activities and M&A advisor activities are provided by UBS Securities LLC, a registered broker/dealer that is a wholly owned subsidiary of UBS AG, a member of the New York Stock Exchange and other principal exchanges, and a member of SIPC. UBS Financial Services Inc. is a registered broker/dealer and affiliate of UBS Securities LLC.

The financial instrument is not sponsored, promoted, sold or supported in any other manner by Solactive AG nor does Solactive AG offer any express or implicit guarantee or assurance either with regard to the results of using the Index and/or Index trade mark or the Index Price at any time or in any other respect.

The S-Network Composite Closed-End Fund Index is a service mark of S-Network Global Indexes, Inc. (S-Network) and its use is granted under a license from S-Network. S-Network does not guarantee the accuracy and/or completeness of the S-Network Composite Closed-End Fund Index or any data included therein, and S-Network shall have no liability for any errors, omissions, interruptions, or defects therein. S-Network makes no warranty, express or implied, representations or promises, as to results to be obtained by UBS AG, or any other person or entity from the use of the S-Network Composite Closed-End Fund Index or any data included therein. S-Network makes no express or implied warranties, representations or promises, regarding the originality, merchantability, suitability, non-infringement, or fitness for a particular purpose or use with respect to the S-Network Composite Closed-End Fund Index or any data included therein. Without limiting any of the foregoing, in no event shall S-Network have any liability for any direct, indirect, special, incidental, punitive, consequential, or other damages (including lost profits), even if notified of the possibility of such damages.

The ETRACS Monthly Pay 1.5x Leveraged Mortgage REIT ETN (ETN) is not sponsored, endorsed, sold or promoted by Market Vectors Index Solutions GmbH (Licensor) and Licensor makes no representation or warranty, express or implied, to the owners of the ETN or any member of the public regarding the advisability of investing in securities generally or in the ETN particularly or the ability of the Market Vectors US Mortgage REITs Index to track the performance of the US mortgage REIT market. The ETRACS Monthly Pay 1.5x Leveraged Mortgage REIT ETN (ETN) is not sponsored, endorsed, sold or promoted by Market Vectors Index Solutions GmbH (Licensor) and Licensor makes no representation or warranty, express or implied, to the owners of the ETN or any member of the public regarding the advisability of investing in securities generally or in the ETN particularly or the ability of the Market Vectors US Mortgage REITs Index to track the performance of the US mortgage REIT market.

UBS specifically prohibits the redistribution or reproduction of this communication in whole or in part without the prior written permission of UBS and UBS accepts no liability whatsoever for the actions of third parties in this respect.

 UBS 2023. The key symbol, UBS and ETRACS are among the registered and unregistered trademarks of UBS. Other marks may be trademarks of their respective owners. All rights reserved.

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20230303005378/en/

Media contact

Alison Keunen

+1-212-713-2296

[email protected]

Institutional Investor contact1

+1-877-387 2275

________________

1 Individual investors should instruct their broker/advisor/custodian to call us or should call together with their broker/advisor/custodian.

Source: UBS
American vehicle maker, Ford (NYSE: F) is increasing production of its most popular vehicles, including the Mustang Mach-E, F-150 Lightning, Bronco Sport and Maverick. The company is also preparing to launch all-new versions of four significant vehicles in 2023: Super Duty, Ranger, Mustang and Escape.

We have had a strong start to 2023 sales and we are moving to fast-track quality production, said Kumar Galhotra, president, Ford Blue. Increasing production benefits both our customers and our business.

Fords Mustang Mach-E helped propel Ford to No. 2 in U.S. EV sales in 2022, and is bringing new customers to Ford, with more than two-thirds of customers coming from other makes. Changes at the companys Mach-E plant will allow Ford to nearly double its hourly production and bring its annual manufacturing run rate to a targeted 210,000 units by year's end.

Production on the Bronco Sport and Maverick is targeted to increase by more than 80,000 units this year, helping to meet demand in both North and South America. In the U.S., Ford brand SUV sales totaled 777,770, up 4.6% in 2022 versus 2021 while the Maverick was the No. 1 small truck in America in 2022.

The F-150 Lightning, the best-selling electric truck in the U.S., had sales of 3,600 through February, in addition to the 15,617 sales recorded in 2022. In Michigan, production of the F-150 Lightning at the Rouge Electric Vehicle Center is on track to triple this year, targeting an annual production run rate of 150,000 by the end of 2023. F-150 Lightning production will resume on March 13. Overall, for the F-150 Lightning production increase, Ford is investing $2 billion across three plants in Michigan and adding 3,200 union jobs.

Ford is also looking at ways to increase production at the Dearborn Truck Plant of the F-150 gas and hybrid trucks to meet continued strong demand. The F-Series holds the title of Americas best-selling truck for 46 consecutive years.

For the Transit and E-Transit Ford is targeting an annual production increase of 38,000. Ford is investing $95 million and adding 1,100 union jobs as part of the production increase.

Ford has been Americas number 1 selling brand, as well as the top truck manufacturer and SUV brand, through February. The companys EV sales are also up 68%.

In February, Fords U.S. market share increased by 1.4 percentage points to 13.3 percent, powered by a 21.9 percent sales increase.

Shares of F are up 3.47% in mid-day trading on Friday.

By Michael Elkins | [email protected]
FILE PHOTO: The Ford logo is pictured at the 2019 Frankfurt Motor Show (IAA) in Frankfurt, Germany. REUTERS/Wolfgang Rattay/File Photo

By Joseph White and David Shepardson

DETROIT/WASHINGTON (Reuters) -Ford Motor Co on Friday said it was studying ways to boost output of gasoline-powered and hybrid F-150 trucks at a Michigan factory as part of a broader plan to boost production of several models.

The No. 2 U.S. automaker said it is increasing production by more than 80,000 vehicles for its Bronco Sport and Maverick this year, up from 225,000 in 2022.

The automaker reiterated that it is still on track to triple F-150 Lightning EV production this year, targeting an annual production run rate of 150,000 by the end of 2023. The automaker was forced to halt production in early February after a battery fire, and plans to resume production on March 13.

Ford shares rose 3.6% in early trading on Friday.

Ford's U.S. F-150 sales fell 9.9% in 2022 to about 654,000, including 15,617 F-150 EV trucks, as the company struggled with production and supply chain problems.

General Motors last month said it would idle the Fort Wayne, Indiana, assembly plant that builds Chevrolet Silverado and GMC Sierra pickup trucks for two weeks starting March 27 to maintain "optimal inventory levels with our dealerships."

GM, Ford and Chrysler parent Stellantis dominate the U.S. large pickup market, and for the past two years have been raising prices on their trucks to record levels as supply-chain snags limited production.

The U.S. Postal Service this week said it would buy 9,250 E-Transit delivery vehicles from Ford starting later this year.

Ford began increasing production of the Mustang Mach-E this week and plans to nearly double its hourly production and bring its annual manufacturing run rate to a targeted 210,000 units by the end of 2023.

(Reporting by Joseph White and David Shepardson; Editing by Mark Porter)
FILE PHOTO: Zhao Changpeng, founder and chief executive officer of Binance, at the Viva Technology conference in Paris, France June 16, 2022. REUTERS/Benoit Tessier

(Reuters) -Binance Chief Executive Officer Changpeng Zhao on Friday reiterated support for the exchange's U.S. partner to acquire Voyager Digital, after an earlier tweet indicated he was weighing walking away from the offer.

Voyager, a crypto lender which went bankrupt last year, signed an agreement to be acquired by Binance.US in December.

But the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and the New York Department of Financial Services later opposed the deal.

At a court hearing on Thursday, a U.S. bankruptcy judge criticized the SEC for its vague objections to the proposed acquisition.

"We are still in support of the deal and helping returning funds to users as quickly as possible, if allowed to do so," Zhao tweeted.

In an earlier tweet on Friday, Zhao had signaled the possibility of calling off the deal.

"Binance.US remains committed to the Voyager transaction," a spokesperson for the exchange said.

(Reporting by Niket Nishant in Bengaluru; Editing by Krishna Chandra Eluri)
FILE PHOTO: Apple logo is seen on the Apple store at The Marche Saint Germain in Paris, France July 15, 2020. REUTERS/Gonzalo Fuentes/File Photo

(Reuters) -Apple Inc's top executive Michael Abbott, who is in charge of cloud services, is leaving the company in April, Bloomberg News reported on Friday citing people familiar with the matter.

The iPhone maker did not immediately respond to a Reuters request for comment.

Abbott, who joined Apple in 2018, heads the iCloud service and is in charge of the platform that powers features such as Emergency SOS and Find My on iPhones as well as new features including iCloud data encryption.

He previously held top roles at Twitter and Palm, and was a partner at venture capital firm Kleiner Perkins.

Jeff Robbin, long-time Apple engineer, will take on Abbott's responsibilities, Bloomberg News reported.

Earlier this year, Insider reported that vice president of services Peter Stern, who oversaw an expansion of Apple's paid subscription businesses, particularly its television offering Apple TV+, would be leaving the company.

Shares in Apple were up about 3.4% in afternoon trading.

(Reporting by Leroy Leo and Eva Mathews in Bengaluru; Editing by Krishna Chandra Eluri)
President Joe Biden and first lady Jill Bidens restaurant order on a recent date night has sparked intense debate, and not because they ordered an elitist dish made with exotic ingredients.

The president and first lady raised eyebrows when they dined at the citys famed Red Hen restaurant because they ordered exactly the same main course dishes.

Mr and Mrs Biden chose a chicory salad, grilled bread and butter and two bowls of rigatoni, reported The Washington Post.

And the presidential decision to not have different entrees to share has kicked off a firestorm of culinary reaction.

Getting the same thing as the person youre eating dinner with is silly, Hannah Madden, a 24-year-old Washington resident who does fundraising for a political nonprofit told the newspaper. The whole point of going out to eat is getting to try as many things as possible.

And she added: At first, I thought, its funny that everyone is in such a twist about this. And then I realised, Oh wait, Im in a twist about this.

Red Hen chef and owner Michael Friedman admitted he had also enjoyed the discussion of the presidents order.

Its such an honour to have a presidential visit, but its funny that this is what came out of it, he told the Post. Its a fascinating thread people have chosen to follow, and Im just really enjoying the banter.

He says that the rigatoni is the restaurants signature dish and that they sell 50 to 70 orders of it a night.

When I worked the pasta line, I would dream about it. But Im still passionate about it because of the love its gotten from around the world, he said.

He admitted that he and his wife mainly order different dishes, because of their particular tastes.

Im the guy ordering the offal, while shes getting the salmon. But maybe wed get the same thing if its what we both wanted, he said.

Christine Gwinn, a 31-year-old lawyer, told the newspaper that she was less strict on the issue and that she and her husband had soft guidelines about not ordering the same dish.

Story continues

If its our first visit to a restaurant, I would want to try more things, she said. But for a second or third visit Im not opposed to it, if theres something we thought was really delicious and if one of us would be sad that we didnt have all of it.

The Post article sparked more than 1,300 comments, with many people saying that the president and first lady were right to order whatever they wanted, regardless of their partners choice.

Eat what you love. If your partner of 30 years happens to share the same tastes, well then you likely picked well in both areas, wrote one commentator.

Id eat that rigatoni all day instead of a well-done steak doused in ketchup, wrote another in a shot at one-term president Donald Trump.

But another commentator added: My wife and I always find the 2 most appealing dishes on the menu. She gets one, I the other, and we share.
FILE PHOTO: Dave Calhoun, CEO of Boeing, speaks on stage during the delivery of the final 747 jet at their plant in Everett, Washington, U.S. January 31, 2023. REUTERS/David Ryder/File Photo

By Valerie Insinna

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Boeing Co. Chief Executive Dave Calhoun will not receive a $7 million bonus due to the company's failure to enter the 777X into service by the end of 2023, Boeing said Friday.

Boeing offered the performance-based incentive to Calhoun when he replaced former CEO Dennis Muilenburg in January 2020 and required that Calhoun achieve seven milestones by the end of this year.

Boeing's compensation committee determined in August 2022 that the award would not vest when it became clear that Calhoun would not meet the 777X entry into service goal by 2023, according to a company filing posted on Friday afternoon ahead of an April 18 shareholder meeting.

Calhoun took home $7 million in pay last year, slightly less than his $7.4 million compensation in 2021, Boeing stated in the filing. His total compensation, which includes longterm incentives that have not yet vested, measured $22.5 million in 2022, an increase from about $21 million the previous year.

In 2022, Boeing confirmed that first delivery of the widebody 777X had slipped to 2025, most recently because of a setback in the aircraft certification timeline. The aircraft, also known as the 777-9, is a larger version of the original 777 aircraft and has been in development since 2013.

Boeing's board of directors said Calhoun "substantially achieved, or is on track to substantially achieve" most of the award's performance goals, which include the return to service of the 737 MAX in 2020. The board also praised Calhoun's leadership in the filing, saying the CEO made several decisions on the 777X program that were in the company's long term interests but came at the expense of the goal being met.

In February, Boeing awarded Calhoun an incentive worth approximately $5.3 million - made in restricted stock units that vest in 2024 and 2025 - in order to induce the CEO to stay through the company's projected recovery period.

While the company pointed to the 777X program as the reason Calhoun will not receive his bonus, other milestones associated with the incentive have yet to be successfully completed, such as the first crewed Starliner launch currently projected for April. The terms of the award also called for Calhoun to meet certain milestones on the Boeing-Embraer joint venture, which dissolved in 2020.

(Reporting by Valerie Insinna; Editing by Josie Kao)
FILE PHOTO: A representation of the cryptocurrency is seen in front of Coinbase logo in this illustration taken, March 4, 2022. REUTERS/Dado Ruvic/Illustration//File Photo

(Reuters) -Coinbase Inc has acquired One River Digital Asset Management (ORDAM), the cryptocurrency exchange said on Friday as it aims to beef up services and take advantage of weak valuations of digital asset companies.

The company did not disclose the financial details of the deal, in which ORDAM will become Coinbase Asset Management and operate as a fully-owned unit of Coinbase.

ORDAM is a digital asset manager that provides institutional clients exposure to digital assets through investment products.

Eric Peters will continue to serve as chief executive of Coinbase Asset Management as well as One River Asset Management, the parent company of ORDAM.

"Coinbase and ORDAM share an ethos grounded in prudent risk management, a trait which has enabled both firms to successfully navigate the recent market turmoil," Coinbase said in a blog.

(Reporting by Mehnaz Yasmin in Bengaluru; Editing by Anil D'Silva and Arun Koyyur)
Budget airline IndiGo is in discussions with Boeing (NYSE: BA) and Airbus, its current supplier, to order over 500 passenger jets, according to Reuters on Friday.

If true, the Indian carrier could smash an industry record set by domestic rival Air India just a few weeks ago, Reuters said, citing industry sources.

IndiGo has exclusively purchased Airbus narrow-body jets, and last month, French Finance Minister Bruno Le Maire said the company was close to ordering several hundred planes from the European planemaker.

However, Reuters said sources told them that negotiations to renew the budget carrier's fleet from the end of the decade have widened to contain mid-sized wide-body jets, resulting in a contest between Boeing's 787 Dreamliner and the Airbus A330neo.

In addition, IndiGo, which has a 55% share of its domestic market, is said to be comparing Airbus' A320neo with the Boeing 737 MAX as it looks at a significant new order for narrow-body jets.

Reuters revealed an IndiGo representative told them that they are constantly in talks with manufacturers as it plans its next phase of growth, but it hasn't finalized anything till now. The publication added that IndiGo is expected to keep Airbus as its narrow-body jets supplier.

By Sam Boughedda
FILE PHOTO: The Rivian name is shown on one of their new electric SUV vehicles in San Diego, U.S., December 16, 2022. REUTERS/Mike Blake//File Photo

(Reuters) -Rivian Automotive Inc on Friday said it was sticking to its official production forecast of 50,000 electric vehicles in 2023 after a Bloomberg news report said its executives had told employees it could possibly produce as many as 62,000 this year.

The 62,000 figure was said in an internal meeting and was taken out of context, the Rivian spokesperson said.

Bloomberg later said that the figure was given at an all- hands meeting as part of a "production master plan" for the year. The Rivian spokesperson declined to comment on the context in which the number was given or about a company master plan.

Earlier this week, the Irvine, California-based maker of electric pickup trucks and SUVs said it aimed to produce 50,000 cars this year, below analysts' estimate of 67,170 units, according to Visible Alpha.

The company cited persistent supply-chain snarls sparked by the pandemic and bad weather that hampered production, adding it expected the issues to continue through 2023.

Investors are also concerned around weakening demand for EVs as interest rates rise and fears of a looming recession force customers to look for deals or even hold off on purchases.

Shares of Rivian closed up 7.6% at $16.92 on Friday after rising more than 11% on the Bloomberg report.

(Reporting by Abhirup Roy in San Francisco and Eva Mathews in BengaluruEditing by Peter Henderson, Bill Berkrot and Matthew Lewis)
VANCOUVER, British Columbia, March 03, 2023 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- A.I.S. Resources Limited (TSX.V: AIS, OTCQB: AISSF) (the Company or AIS) congratulates Recharge Resources (Recharge, CSE: RR) on signing an option agreement with Spey Resources Corp. (Spey) whereby Recharge may acquire up to a 100% undivided interest in the Pocitos 2 Project.

AIS retains a 7.5% royalty of the FOB price of lithium carbonate or other lithium compounds sold on Pocitos 1 & 2 pursuant to AIS' underlying Option Agreement with Spey Resources. If the Pocitos 1 and 2 options are exercised AIS will receive $1,000,000 and $732,000 respectively on or before June 30, 2023. Both Pocitos 1 and 2 have been optioned by Recharge from Spey.

Martyn Element CEO, stated, I congratulate Recharge on successfully acquiring the Pocitos 2 Option and increasing the size of its potential resource. AIS looks forward to continuing to facilitate exploration work with Recharge as it proceeds with its 2023 Pocitos drilling program. This is another great result for AIS in Argentina.

About Pocitos 1 & 2Pocitos 1 and Pocitos 2 are 800 hectares and 532 hectares contiguous lithium brine projects on the Pocitos Salar located just outside of Salta, Argentina.

Previous surface sampling, trenching and VTEM Geophysics carried out in 2018 suggest the continuity of the targeted lithium brine aquifer continuing from the Pocitos 1 block through the Pocitos 2 block with Pit 10 from trenching on the Pocitos 2 block having the highest trench sample at 181 PPM lithium, the highest lithium value found on the Pocitos salar to date.

Drilling from the Recharges 2022 drill campaign at Pocitos 1 assayed 169 PPM and over a two-week period averaging 161 PPM Lithium. The 2022 well exceeded Recharges technical teams expectations and that of the measured lithium content of the 2018 discovery wells. Pocitos 2 is permitted to drill two additional wells immediately at Recharges go ahead (see Recharges news release dated February 27, 2023).

About A.I.S. Resources LimitedA.I.S. Resources Limited is a publicly traded investment issuer listed on the TSX Venture Exchange focused on lithium, gold, precious and base metals exploration. AIS value add strategy is to acquire prospective exploration projects and enhance their value by better defining the mineral resource with a view to attracting joint venture partners and enhancing the value of our portfolio. The Company is managed by a team of experienced geologists and investment bankers, with a track-record of successful capital markets achievements.

AIS has a 20% joint venture interest with Spey Resources Corp. in the Incahuasi lithium brine project in Argentina. AIS has further options to acquire four lithium concessions in the Pocitos Salar and one lithium concession in the Cauchari Salar in Argentina. AIS has granted the option to acquire the Pocitos 1 and 2 licences to Spey Resources by June 30, 2023 (subsequently optioned by Spey to Recharge). If exercised AIS will retain a 7.5% royalty. AIS has granted an option to acquire an 80% interest in the Pocitos 7 and 9 licences to C29 Resources by June 30, 2023. AIS owns 100% of the 28 sq km Fosterville-Toolleen Gold Project located 9.9 km from Kirkland Lakes Fosterville gold mine, a 60% interest in the 57 sq km Bright Gold Project (with the right to acquire 100%), a 40% interest in the 58 sq km New South Wales Yalgogrin Gold Project, and 100% interest in the 167 sq km Kingston Gold Project in Victoria Australia near Stawell and Navarre.

On Behalf of the Board of Directors,A.I.S. Resources Limited

Martyn ElementPresident, CEO, Chairman

Corporate ContactFor further information, please contact:Martyn Element. ChairmanT: +1-604-220-6266E:[email protected]Website:www.aisresources.com

Neither the TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.

ADVISORY: This press release contains forward-looking statements. Although the Company believes that the expectations reflected in these forward-looking statements are reasonable, undue reliance should not be placed on them because the Company can give no assurance that they will prove to be correct. Since forward-looking statements address future events and conditions, by their very nature they involve inherent risks and uncertainties. The forward-looking statements contained in this press release are made as of the date hereof and the Company undertakes no obligations to update publicly or revise any forward-looking statements or information, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, unless so required by applicable securities laws. Neither TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.

Source: A.I.S. Resources Limited
PANAMA CITY, Panama, March 02, 2023 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- The Coalition for Fisheries Transparency  a new international community of civil society organizations  today launched the Global Charter for Fisheries Transparency. The Charter pinpoints the most essential policy priorities needed to combat fisheries mismanagement, illegal fishing, and human rights abuses at sea. Experts, ministers, and delegates from international organizations and companies around the world discussed the benefits of the Global Charter for Fisheries Transparency at Our Ocean conference in Panama this Thursday and Friday  an annual meeting for countries, civil society and industry to announce significant actions to safeguard the worlds oceans.

Ghana recognizes the critical role that transparency plays in the fight against illegal fishing to protect livelihoods and provide food security to our coastal communities, said Hon. Mavis Hawa Koomson, Ghanas Minister of Fisheries and Aquaculture Development. With the significant progress Ghana has made in the last year on ending harmful fishing practices that have encouraged illegal fishing in our waters, we are now working towards making greater efforts towards sustaining fisheries transparency in Ghana.

Prof. Maxine Burkett, Deputy Assistant Secretary for Oceans, Fisheries and Polar Affairs at the U.S. Department of State, highlighted how the U.S. plays a leading role in increasing transparency in global fisheries.

Last year, President Biden released a National Security Memorandum that recognizes the importance of transparency for combating illegal, unreported, and unregulated (IUU) fishing and associated forced labor abuses, she said. By enhancing productive information-sharing, the Global Charter for Fisheries Transparency will serve as an important complement to the U.S. governments activities to end IUU fishing through improving fisheries and ocean governance, increasing enforcement efforts, and raising ambition to end IUU fishing globally.

Additionally, global partnership initiatives, like the Fisheries Transparency Initiative (FiTI), emphasized the importance of equal, multi-stakeholder collaboration to increase transparency in coastal countries for achieving sustainably managed marine fisheries.

Given the complexity of fisheries governance, multiple transparency efforts are needed to address the various challenges of unsustainable marine fisheries, such as overfishing, IUU fishing, unequal access to fisheries resources, and unfair benefit sharing, said Dr. Valeria Merino, Chair of the International Board of the Fisheries Transparency Initiative (FiTI). The 10 principles of the Global Charter for Fisheries Transparency recognize the need for a comprehensive and coordinated approach to fisheries transparency, and has the potential to support existing global endeavors, such as the FiTI, through a much-needed mobilization of civil society organizations to ensure that marine fishing activities are legal, ethical, and sustainable.

Finally, the role of the civil society to maximize collective impact to improve transparency has been underlined by Mr. Wakao Hanaoka, Chief Executive Officer of Seafood Legacy (Japan), and a steering committee member of the Coalition for Fisheries Transparency. Our membership in the Coalition for Fisheries Transparency represents a voice of an international community that allows us to strengthen and amplify our efforts amongst the seafood industry and government towards achieving our goal of making Japan a global leader in environmental sustainability and social responsibility, he explained.

The Global Charter for Fisheries Transparency lays out a new roadmap to advance marine governance internationally, by providing a set of advocacy principles that are both effective and achievable by all stakeholders involved in fisheries governance and management.

Continuous advocacy efforts by civil society organizations are critical to improving fisheries governance internationally as well as protecting the ocean and the people who depend on its resources, commented Maisie Pigeon, Director of the Coalition for Fisheries Transparency. The Coalitions mission to deliver an urgent shift towards greater transparency in fisheries will be achieved through supporting our members in developing joint strategies, harmonizing and strengthening efforts, and finally  closing transparency policy gaps in fisheries governance, she concluded.

Through civil society organizations from around the world, the Coalition for Fisheries Transparency calls on governments to apply the Charters principles in legislation and practice.

Press contact: Agata Mrowiec [email protected] +34 608 517 552

Source: Coalition for Fisheries Transparency
Correction: Company Announcement  No. 2 / 2023

Zealand convenes its Annual General Meeting 2023 Notice to convene the Annual General Meeting of Zealand Pharma A/S (CVR no. 20 04 50 78) (the "Company").

The Board of Directors of the Company hereby convenes the Annual General Meeting of the Company to be held on:

Wednesday, March 29 2023 at 3:00 pm (CEST)

The Annual General Meeting will be held as a partly electronic general meeting with the possibility of attending electronically or in person (hybrid meeting).

The Annual General Meeting will be held electronically via the virtual portal hosted by Computershare A/S, and physically at the Company's registered address Sydmarken 11, DK-2860 Sborg.
SAN FRANCISCO, CA , March 03, 2023 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Diamond Real Estate Group, whose suite of real estate services utilizes artificial intelligence, is debuting its proprietary, AI-powered platform and revamped website. The luxury and investment real estate brokerage, founded in 2021 by CEO Matthew Martinez, seeks to use the latest technology to streamline how premium properties are purchased or sold in the Bay Area and Napa Valley.

Matthew Martinez, creator of Diamond Real Estate Groups AI platform

Martinez, who was #30 on Property Sparks Top Real Estate Agents on Social Media, says that his team has spent the last few years developing the new AI platform, which leverages big data, social media, and artificial intelligence. It also utilizes advanced algorithms and data analysis to identify potential investment properties or buyers based on specific criteria, including location, price, and other factors.

We wanted to explore more opportunities in the Northern California real estate market, and we believed AI could help us, he explains. Now that our platform is operational, we are using it to compile data on potential luxury residential and commercial properties, vacant land to develop, and properties to flip.

Martinez says that on Diamond Real Estate Groups website, visitors can try out the AI platform, which helps them find off-market investment opportunities and market their homes to potential buyers.

Diamond Real Estate Groups updated website now also has additional resources for real estate investors and new business owners, including blog articles, white papers, case studies, and other educational content. The focus is on networking, expanding industry knowledge, and providing insights into emerging trends and developments.

We redesigned our website and prioritized navigation, functionality, and usefulness, Martinez states. Some of the updates include advanced search capabilities, personalized recommendations, and integrated tools and resources.

Diamond Real Estate Group, using AI to reinvent the luxury real estate market

To help foster a positive business environment in Northern California, Diamond Real Estate Groups blog will feature local businesses so that readers can learn more about their products and services, backgrounds, accomplishments, contributions to the community, and selling points.

Additional blog topics will be centered on real estate, investing, and entrepreneurship, such as how to start, run, market, and brand a business; how to manage inventory levels and set rental rates; how to understand traditional loans, private lending, and crowdfunding; and how AI can be used in real estate.

21st-century technology is a tool that can help streamline how we conduct real estate transactions, including the everyday investor, says Martinez. We invite anyone interested in premium properties to visit our website and learn about the role of artificial intelligence in buying, selling, and investing in luxury real estate.

Diamond Real Estate Group, an international, tech-powered brokerage that specializes in the sale and lease of premium real estate, was founded by Matthew Martinez, who was included in the list of Top 100 Luxury Real Estate Agents on Social Media and the Top 100 Real Estate Agents on Instagram. Diamond Real Estate Group makes the process of buying, selling, and investing in real estate as streamlined and stress-free as possible. The company also runs a special program to help investors find private, under-market investment opportunities. It has purchased and renovated dozens of properties and regularly shares on social media its suggestions for how to maximize resale value with all buyers and sellers.

For more information about Diamond Real Estate Group, please see the companys website or contact:

CEO/Founder Matthew Martinez

Matthew Martinez, Diamond Real Estate Group1-800-661-5080[email protected]

Matthew Martinez, Diamond Real Estate Group 1-800-661-5080 matthew at diamondgroupestates.com

Source: Diamond Real Estate
Wilmington, DE, March 03, 2023 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Enovis Corporation (NYSE: ENOV), an innovation-driven medical technology company, announced that it will feature its next generation of medical technology at the upcoming American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons (AAOS) Annual Meeting March 7-11, 2023 in Las Vegas. Aligned with AAOS, Enovis will also introduce its Better Is corporate brand campaign that emphasizes the companys ongoing collaboration with healthcare professionals, customers, and their patients, and how these partnerships advance medtech.

For more than 40 years, Enovis  formerly DJO  has worked to make the impossible possible through our groundbreaking products, services and software. But we know this great work cant be accomplished alone, said Matt Trerotola, CEO of Enovis. At AAOS and beyond, we are excited to highlight how these partnerships are shaping the next generation of medtech.

The Better Is campaign represents the invaluable collaboration Ive experienced with Enovis as we revolutionized shoulder arthroplasty together through the design, development, research, and continued refinement of the AltiVate Reverse Shoulder System  ground-breaking medical technology that now has 10 years of proven clinical data showing no decline in patient outcomesi, said Mark A. Frankle*, M.D., Florida Orthopedic Institute. I look forward to continuing to collaborate with Enovis on research that will help our development of even more next-generation orthopedic solutions that aim to improve patient results.

Enovis is planning to feature a number of its products from across multiple business units at this years AAOS Annual Meeting, including:

Enovis Surgical will spotlight its EMPOWR Revision Knee, which is redefining revision with just one additional instrument tray and stackable augments for the femur and tibia, and AltiVate Anatomic Augmented Glenoid (AG) System, which maximizes treatment solutions and is the only system available with both pegged symmetric and half-wedge augments. Live demos of the next generation ARVIS Augmented Reality System will also be available showcasing real-time, hands-free surgical guidance that is both efficient and space conserving for knee and hip arthroplasty.

will spotlight its EMPOWR Revision Knee, which is redefining revision with just one additional instrument tray and stackable augments for the femur and tibia, and AltiVate Anatomic Augmented Glenoid (AG) System, which maximizes treatment solutions and is the only system available with both pegged symmetric and half-wedge augments. Live demos of the next generation ARVIS Augmented Reality System will also be available showcasing real-time, hands-free surgical guidance that is both efficient and space conserving for knee and hip arthroplasty. Enovis Bracing & Supports will showcase its industry-leading Kelvi Proe and EXCYABIR Hip Brace as the company targets a quickly growing hip arthroscopy market segment.

will showcase its industry-leading Kelvi Proe and EXCYABIR Hip Brace as the company targets a quickly growing hip arthroscopy market segment. Enovis Healthcare Solutions will exhibit its OaraScore Outpatient Arthroplasty Risk Assessment software as a part of Enovis industry-leading Healthcare Solutions platform, MotionMD.

will exhibit its OaraScore Outpatient Arthroplasty Risk Assessment software as a part of Enovis industry-leading Healthcare Solutions platform, MotionMD. Enovis Foot & Ankle will feature its DynaNail Helix with disruptive NiTinNOL technology and recently approved STAR Ankle Patient Specific Instrumentation (PSI).

Find Enovis at AAOS

Enovis will be exhibiting at booth #821 in the Venetian Convention & Expo Center at AAOS. The companys events at the meeting include:

Educational event focused on upper extremities titled Maximizing Your aTSA Glenoid Solutions on March 7 at 7:00 pm PT. Registration is available here.

Educational event titled Education with the Experts: Dual Pivot TKA, Revisions and Advanced Technology on March 9 at 6:00 pm PT. Registration for this event is available here.

Educational event to hear Ariel Palanca*, M.D. present biomechanical data from Enovis researchers regarding advances in total ankle polyethylene longevity on March 8 at 11:40am. This presentation is part of the AAOS Foot and Ankle I Papers session occurring from 11:00am to 12:30pm PT in Room 2103.

*Drs. Frankle and Palanca are paid consultants of Enovis.

About EnovisEnovis Corporation (NYSE: ENOV) is an innovation-driven, medical technology growth company dedicated to developing clinically differentiated solutions that generate measurably better patient outcomes and transform workflows. Powered by a culture of continuous improvement, global talent and innovation, the Companys extensive range of products, services, and integrated technologies fuels active lifestyles in orthopedics and beyond. For more information about Enovis, please visit www.enovis.com.

i Cuff et al. Reverse shoulder arthroplasty for the treatment of rotator cuff deficiency: a concise follow-up, at a minimum of 10 years, of previous reports. Journal of Bone and Joint Surgery. 2017

Kelvi is a registered trademark of HYPOTHERMIA DEVICES, INC. dba Kelvi

Source: Enovis Corporation
PASCAGOULA, Miss., March 02, 2023 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- HIIs (NYSE: HII) Ingalls Shipbuilding division hosted U.S. Reps. Trent Kelly, R-Miss.; Joe Courtney, D-Conn.; and Jerry Carl, R-Ala. who were accompanied by U.S. Marine Corps Lt. Gen. Karsten Heckl and Lt. Gen. Christopher Mahoney today for a meeting with Ingalls Shipbuilding leadership and a shipyard tour visit.



It is always a privilege to host members of the House and our Marine Corps partners, Ingalls Shipbuilding President Kari Wilkinson said. We make the best decisions and investments as collaborative partners aligned in our understanding of the opportunities to forward our common mission of providing for our service men and women.

For 85 years, Ingalls has designed, built and maintained amphibious ships, destroyers, and cutters for the U.S. Navy and the U.S. Coast Guard. During this official visit, the Ingalls Shipbuilding team lead their guests on a shipyard tour including visits aboard amphibious transport dock ship Richard M. McCool Jr. (LPD 29) and large deck amphibious assault ship Bougainville (LHA 8).





Photos accompanying this release are available at: https://hii.com/news/hii-hosts-congressional-delegation-and-usmc-officers-at-ingalls-shipbuilding/

"It's always great to be back at Ingalls Shipbuilding, and I remain impressed with the talent, dedication and teamwork of Ingalls shipbuilders as they construct the next generation of ships for our Navy and Marine Corps, Kelly said. Congress has been clear about the requirement for amphibious warships, including the establishment of a minimum 31 amphibious warships in our Navy fleet in last years NDAA. I was especially pleased to visit and see construction progress on both LPD 29 and LHA 8 today, and I look forward to working with my colleagues on HASC to provide for the future of amphibious warships in the FY24 National Defense Authorization Act.

The work being done by Mississippis shipbuilders and engineers at the Ingalls shipyard in Pascagoula is absolutely critical to the mission of our U.S. Navy, and the national security of America and its allies, Courtney said. What I saw at the shipyard should inspire confidence in every American focused on the success of our Marine Corps and Navy  this workforce is sharp, highly skilled and has taken full advantage of the investments Congress made into LPD 32 and LHA9 procurement. Our 2023 NDAA authorized full funding for both programs while also providing advance procurement for the next ships in both classes, all in support of the statutory floor for 31 amphibious ships authorized by the Seapower subcommittee. The volume, pace and capability of what is being built at HIIs Pascagoula shipyard is a huge achievement, and Im grateful to Chairman Kelly for organizing this opportunity for us to see their impressive workforce in action.

Its an honor to visit and engage industry on how best I can support our Mississippi and Alabama shipbuilders and Marine Corps, Carl said. The volume, pace and capability of what is being built at this shipyard is impressive. The workforce should be very proud of building these amphibious ships that are critical to the Navy and Marine Corps who protect our security interests around the globe.

Ingalls Shipbuilding is the sole builder of the entire San Antonio class of ships and has delivered 12 San Antonio-class ships to the Navy and has three more under construction, including Richard M. McCool, Harrisburg (LPD 30) the first Flight II LPD, and Pittsburgh (LPD 31). The shipyard is also building large-deck amphibious ships for the Navy and Marine Corps, delivering a total of 15 ships, and the production remains online and efficient with the ongoing construction of Bougainville and Fallujah (LHA 9), which started fabrication in December 2022.

It is great to be able to see the level of construction taking place on amphibious ships currently being built at Ingalls, Mahoney said. These amphibious ships are crucial to our national security.

Heckl echoed the sentiments of Mahoney on the critical need for amphibious ships. The reality is that the diverse set of missions our amphibs are most likely to execute are very real, occur fairly regularly, and could occur anywhere on the globe, Heckl said. The naval force must advocate for a larger Department of the Navy budget. This will enable congressionally authorized multi-ship buys, provide cost savings through industrial base stability, and improve current maintenance and readiness levels."

HII recently invested nearly $1 billion in infrastructure, facility and toolsets at Ingalls Shipbuilding enabling shipbuilders to improve product flow and process and efficiency, and enhancing product quality. Ingalls is supported by over 1,200 suppliers across 49 states and is the largest manufacturing employer in Mississippi and a major contributor to the economic growth of Alabama.

About HII

HII is a global, all-domain defense provider. HIIs mission is to deliver the worlds most powerful ships and all-domain solutions in service of the nation, creating the advantage for our customers to protect peace and freedom around the world.

As the nations largest military shipbuilder, and with a more than 135-year history of advancing U.S. national security, HII delivers critical capabilities extending from ships to unmanned systems, cyber, ISR, AI/ML and synthetic training. Headquartered in Virginia, HIIs workforce is 43,000 strong. For more information, visit:

HII on the web: hii.com

HII on Facebook: facebook.com/TeamHII

HII on Twitter: twitter.com/WeAreHII

HII on Instagram: instagram.com/WeAreHII

Contact:

Kimberly Aguillard

[email protected]

(228) 935-6821

A photo accompanying this announcement is available at https://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/b5c90abd-2089-4468-82ac-95ccf4be85d2
China's new energy vehicle market, despite a lackluster start, will maintain its rapid growth momentum thanks to rising demand and a cornucopia of new models, said experts and industry executives.

In January, sales of electric vehicles and plug-in hybrids fell 6.3 percent year-on-year in the country to 408,000 units, ending the 30-month growth span unbroken since July 2020, according to the China Association of Automobile Manufacturers.

The fall was primarily the result of NEV buyers' rush to place orders in late 2022 to be eligible for financial stimuli and the earlier-than-usual Spring Festival, which took place in January this year, said Chen Shihua, CAAM's deputy secretary-general.

China introduced subsidies for NEV buyers in 2009 and ended them on the last day of 2022 after several rounds of cuts since 2017.

"The fall in January was expected and there is no need to read too much into it. If you really want to make a comparison, it will be more appropriate to wait and compare the first quarter's performance," Chen said.

CAAM's estimate for NEV sales in China this year is 9 million units, up from 6.89 million in 2022.

Many automakers saw year-on-year sales declines in January. Leading electric car startup Nio sold 8,506 cars, down 11.87 percent year-on-year and 46.22 percent from December.

"Spring Festival this year fell in January, which means we had one less working week than usual," said the New York-listed startup.

Nio CEO Li Bin said the first quarter, if not the first half, will be tough, as some car buyers placed orders late last year for the subsidies that could reach over 12,600 yuan ($1,818).

But Li said he is confident of Nio's performance for the year, adding that it should outsell Toyota's premium Lexus models in China, which will require Nio to double its sales from 2022.

Another NEV startup Li Auto is even more ambitious. CEO Li Xiang said the company has set a goal to seize a 20 percent share of China's 300,000-500,000 yuan SUV segment, including both gasoline-powered and electric vehicles.

Li said the segment, which includes rivals like the Audi Q5 and BMW X3, has a volume of 1.4 million to 1.5 million units. That means Li Auto is aiming to sell 280,000 to 300,000 units in China this year, up from 130,000 in 2022.

Leading brands like BYD and Tesla did not see falls at all in January. BYD sold 151,000 units in the month, up 62.4 percent from a year earlier.

Tesla's Shanghai plant delivered 66,000 units in January, registering a 10.3 percent growth year-on-year, according to statistics from the China Passenger Car Association.

Analysts at Cinda Securities wrote in a research note that January would be the lowest point for the year and vehicle sales will rise again starting from February to April.

Up to 27 percent of car owners in China said their next vehicle will be an NEV, citing a better driving experience and lower costs as the top reasons, said Deloitte in an annual report in late February.

The findings were based on a survey of 1,012 respondents in late 2022. The figure was 17 percent in the previous year.

Along with rising demand come more choices. Deloitte said there were 280 electric models available in the Chinese market last year.

Zhang Yongwei, vice-president of China EV 100, a major think tank in the industry, said at least 100 EV models will hit the market in 2023 based on an in-house domestic survey.

Charging infrastructure helps encourage potential NEV buyers as well. China now boasts 5.2 million charging pillars, the most in the world, said the National Energy Administration.
AUBURN  Auburn is proceeding on an estimated $22 million dollar sewer improvement project, as city council approved taking the lead on a state-required environmental review.

At a meeting Thursday night, the Auburn City Council unanimously accepted a resolution on the body's intent to declare itself the lead agency for a coordinated review in accordance with the New York State Environmental Quality Review Act, which is meant to ensure the project won't cause any significant adverse impacts on the environment.

The resolution states the council plans to undertake work such as rehabilitating the city's four existing combined sewer overflow treatment facilities  which are along the Owasco River  and the storage and release facility, separating sewers in tributary areas to the North Interceptor Sewer by building new storm and sanitary sewers and upgrading existing sewers and manholes through trenchless construction methods.

The council intends to be the lead agency "for the purposes of completing a Coordinated Environmental Review in accordance with SEQR and NYS Revolving Fund Equivalency Guidance," the resolution said.

Speaking after the meeting, Director of Municipal Utilities Seth Jensen said a construction start date has not been finalized.

"Our engineers are still working on 100% design documents and I don't anticipate them being completed until later this summer, and then it's just all about timing for when it makes most sense to go out to bid for the project," he said. "So we're still a little ways out on being able to finalize the decision on that."

Sewer lines are set to be separated in targeted areas where storm water and sanitary wastewater are combined, according to a Jan. 23 memo on the sewer project. During heavy rainfalls, the combined system can result in discharge of partially treated sewage directly into the river.

Jensen told the council during a Jan. 26 meeting the project was estimated to cost approximately $22 million. The city recently secured an $11 million grant from the state Environmental Facilities Corp. for the undertaking, along with having a $11 million state loan with 0% interest.

Planned work for the endeavor includes adding a new stormwater outfall to the Owasco River, creating new storm sewers and sanitary sewers at different areas, implementing major advancements to the treatment processes of overflow facilities on Genesee and Miller streets and undergoing minimal improvements to the facilities on Venice and Wadsworth streets, which will eventually be phased out of use.

Several aspects of the project are anticipated to cause disruptions in the city, Jensen previously said, adding some portions of street will be completely excavated. Other expected neighborhood impacts are temporary sewer disruptions, traffic detours and some temporary access restrictions to residences.

In other news

 The council also sold a surplus property.

Council members unanimously voted for a resolution to sell the property of 34 Maple St. to Steven Weaver for $65,000. The resolution said the city acquired the title to the property, a single-family home, in August due to tax foreclosure. The city listed the property for sale last month, with a purchase price of $65,000. Weaver proposed a cash purchase offer and sale contract to buy the property for that same amount, the resolution said, noting that the property is not needed for city purposes and Weaver plans to renovate the property in order to sell it.

Conditions as part of the agreement include the buyer be responsible for any title and closing costs necessary to close the transaction and that "the deed transferred to the buyer shall include a reversionary clause to provide that if the buyer fails to satisfy the conditions relating to the renovation of the Property within one year of the closing, then title and ownership of the Property shall automatically and immediately revert back to the City," the resolution said.
PASCAGOULA, Miss., March 02, 2023 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- HIIs (NYSE: HII) Ingalls Shipbuilding division hosted U.S. Reps. Trent Kelly, R-Miss.; Joe Courtney, D-Conn.; and Jerry Carl, R-Ala. who were accompanied by U.S. Marine Corps Lt. Gen. Karsten Heckl and Lt. Gen. Christopher Mahoney today for a meeting with Ingalls Shipbuilding leadership and a shipyard tour visit.

It is always a privilege to host members of the House and our Marine Corps partners, Ingalls Shipbuilding President Kari Wilkinson said. We make the best decisions and investments as collaborative partners aligned in our understanding of the opportunities to forward our common mission of providing for our service men and women.

For 85 years, Ingalls has designed, built and maintained amphibious ships, destroyers, and cutters for the U.S. Navy and the U.S. Coast Guard. During this official visit, the Ingalls Shipbuilding team lead their guests on a shipyard tour including visits aboard amphibious transport dock ship Richard M. McCool Jr. (LPD 29) and large deck amphibious assault ship Bougainville (LHA 8).

Photos accompanying this release are available at: https://hii.com/news/hii-hosts-congressional-delegation-and-usmc-officers-at-ingalls-shipbuilding/

"It's always great to be back at Ingalls Shipbuilding, and I remain impressed with the talent, dedication and teamwork of Ingalls shipbuilders as they construct the next generation of ships for our Navy and Marine Corps, Kelly said. Congress has been clear about the requirement for amphibious warships, including the establishment of a minimum 31 amphibious warships in our Navy fleet in last years NDAA. I was especially pleased to visit and see construction progress on both LPD 29 and LHA 8 today, and I look forward to working with my colleagues on HASC to provide for the future of amphibious warships in the FY24 National Defense Authorization Act.

The work being done by Mississippis shipbuilders and engineers at the Ingalls shipyard in Pascagoula is absolutely critical to the mission of our U.S. Navy, and the national security of America and its allies, Courtney said. What I saw at the shipyard should inspire confidence in every American focused on the success of our Marine Corps and Navy  this workforce is sharp, highly skilled and has taken full advantage of the investments Congress made into LPD 32 and LHA9 procurement. Our 2023 NDAA authorized full funding for both programs while also providing advance procurement for the next ships in both classes, all in support of the statutory floor for 31 amphibious ships authorized by the Seapower subcommittee. The volume, pace and capability of what is being built at HIIs Pascagoula shipyard is a huge achievement, and Im grateful to Chairman Kelly for organizing this opportunity for us to see their impressive workforce in action.

Its an honor to visit and engage industry on how best I can support our Mississippi and Alabama shipbuilders and Marine Corps, Carl said. The volume, pace and capability of what is being built at this shipyard is impressive. The workforce should be very proud of building these amphibious ships that are critical to the Navy and Marine Corps who protect our security interests around the globe.

Ingalls Shipbuilding is the sole builder of the entire San Antonio class of ships and has delivered 12 San Antonio-class ships to the Navy and has three more under construction, including Richard M. McCool, Harrisburg (LPD 30) the first Flight II LPD, and Pittsburgh (LPD 31). The shipyard is also building large-deck amphibious ships for the Navy and Marine Corps, delivering a total of 15 ships, and the production remains online and efficient with the ongoing construction of Bougainville and Fallujah (LHA 9), which started fabrication in December 2022.

It is great to be able to see the level of construction taking place on amphibious ships currently being built at Ingalls, Mahoney said. These amphibious ships are crucial to our national security.

Heckl echoed the sentiments of Mahoney on the critical need for amphibious ships. The reality is that the diverse set of missions our amphibs are most likely to execute are very real, occur fairly regularly, and could occur anywhere on the globe, Heckl said. The naval force must advocate for a larger Department of the Navy budget. This will enable congressionally authorized multi-ship buys, provide cost savings through industrial base stability, and improve current maintenance and readiness levels."

HII recently invested nearly $1 billion in infrastructure, facility and toolsets at Ingalls Shipbuilding enabling shipbuilders to improve product flow and process and efficiency, and enhancing product quality. Ingalls is supported by over 1,200 suppliers across 49 states and is the largest manufacturing employer in Mississippi and a major contributor to the economic growth of Alabama.

About HII

HII is a global, all-domain defense provider. HIIs mission is to deliver the worlds most powerful ships and all-domain solutions in service of the nation, creating the advantage for our customers to protect peace and freedom around the world.

As the nations largest military shipbuilder, and with a more than 135-year history of advancing U.S. national security, HII delivers critical capabilities extending from ships to unmanned systems, cyber, ISR, AI/ML and synthetic training. Headquartered in Virginia, HIIs workforce is 43,000 strong. For more information, visit:

HII on the web: hii.com

HII on Facebook: facebook.com/TeamHII

HII on Twitter: twitter.com/WeAreHII

HII on Instagram: instagram.com/WeAreHII

Contact:

Kimberly Aguillard [email protected] (228) 935-6821

A photo accompanying this announcement is available at https://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/b5c90abd-2089-4468-82ac-95ccf4be85d2

Congressional Tour at Ingalls Shipbuilding - March 2023 U.S. Reps. Trent Kelly, R-Miss.; Joe Courtney, D-Conn.; and Jerry Carl, R-Ala. accompanied by U.S. Marine Corps Lt. Gen. Karsten Heckl and Lt. Gen. Christopher Mahoney, join Ingalls Shipbuilding leadership for a tour of the shipyard on Thursday including large deck amphibious assault ship Bougainville (LHA 8).

Source: Huntington Ingalls Industries, Inc.
Minneapolis, March 03, 2023 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- In recognition of Colorectal Cancer Awareness Month, civic, public, and private buildings and landmarks across the United States are slated to go BLUE (the awareness color for colorectal cancer). In the coming days and weeks the country will rally to honor and support the nations colorectal cancer (CRC) community, including over one million colorectal cancer survivors. Minnesota-based Colon Cancer Coalition is leading the effort with help from countless volunteers representing 11 colorectal cancer advocacy organizations.

Throughout Colorectal Cancer Awareness Month, landmarks, health care communities, and private businesses across the country will go blue with either lights or awareness efforts. In addition, businesses and health care facilities are encouraging employees and patients to wear blue, share information, and encourage screening for the nations no. 2 cancer killer. Highlights include the 35W Bridge in Minneapolis, the Leonard P. Zakim Bunker Hill Memorial Bridge in Boston, George Bush Intercontinental and William P. Hobby Airports in Houston, Willis Tower in Chicago, Niagara Falls, and dozens of others. A list of landmarks, public spaces, health care facilities, and other businesses confirmed to date is available at ColonCancerCoalition.org/BlueForCRC.

As a colorectal cancer survivor and advocate, I hope that by helping to turn my city blue it will shine a light on the importance of screening. Seeing my community support colorectal cancer patients, survivors, and their caregivers also gives me hope for the future, says Tim McDonald, Tampa, FL-resident and colorectal cancer patient. McDonald is coordinating landmarks in Tampa, FL, and working with his city and local governments to raise awareness through proclamations. My hope is to ensure no one else has to go through what I am going through. That is why I share my story and encourage others to get screened. Since my diagnosis and through my advocacy I have become aware of over two dozen people who have had colonoscopies where they removed precancerous polyps. They credit me for saving their lives. Not many people can say they have saved over two dozen lives!

The goal of the #BlueforCRC campaign is to show support for patients, survivors, and caregivers and educate Americans about the importance of colorectal cancer screening starting at age 45 for average risk adults.

Colorectal cancer is the No. 2 cancer killer for men and women in the United States, and the numbers are trending upward for adults under 45, states Chris Evans, president of the Colon Cancer Coalition. In fact, new research from the American Cancer Society shows 20% of colorectal cancer is occurring in adults under 55, while only 20% of adults 45-49 have been screened for the disease. We hope that by shining a blue light on colorectal cancer screening and educating about signs and symptoms of the disease, we can make an impact on screening rates.

There is still time to get involved. Submit a landmark, business, or other facility going blue at any time in March through the form on the webpage. The general public is invited to participate by simply wearing a favorite shade of blue or lighting their home or businesses with blue lights, then sharing their story and participation on social media. Photos and the stories behind them should be shared using #BlueForCRC.

This initiative is supported by AliveAndKickn, American Cancer Society, American Society of Gastroenterology, Colon Cancer Stars, Colorectal Cancer Alliance, Fight Colorectal Cancer, GI Cancer Alliance, National Colorectal Cancer Roundtable, Raymond Foundation, The Colon Club, and the countless number of patients, survivors, advocates, and volunteers.

About Colon Cancer CoalitionThe Colon Cancer Coalition is dedicated to encouraging screening and raising awareness of colorectal cancer. The organizations signature Get Your Rear in Gear event series is volunteer driven in communities throughout the United States. Annually, the Colon Cancer Coalition grants over 1 million dollars to local communities to build and sustain programs promoting early prevention, screening, and research, as well as patient support efforts for those living with this disease. By making the words colon, colorectal and colonoscopy a part of everyday language, we believe we can overcome the fear and decrease deaths from this largely preventable cancer. For more information visit ColonCancerCoalition.org.

Attachments

Erin Peterson Colon Cancer Coalition 6512474023 [email protected]

Source: Colon Cancer Coalition
TORONTO, March 03, 2023 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- MacDonald Mines Exploration Ltd. (TSX-V: BMK, OTC: MCDMF) (MacDonald Mines or the Company) is pleased to share the highlights from a broad gravity survey completed over the Alwyn Copper-Gold (Cu-Au) Trend (Alwyn) on its 100% owned SPJ Property (SPJ) near Sudbury, Ontario.

Survey Highlights:

ALS GoldSpot Discoveries Ltd. (ALS GoldSpot) has identified 5 high priority gravity targets potentially representing zones of iron-rich alteration associated along the prospective McLaren Lake Fault Zone (MLFZ) (see Figure 1) by integrating MacDonald Mines newly completed Alwyn gravity survey with regional magnetic surveys All anomalous gravity high zones are spatially associated to the MLFZ, as well as intersections of structural lineaments that provide the primary plumbing for mineralizing fluids in this system.

by integrating MacDonald Mines newly completed Alwyn gravity survey with regional magnetic surveys A 250 m long, northwest trending positive gravity target was identified immediately adjacent to the 2022 Alwyn drilling Combined with observations of increasing iron enrichment at depth with the persistence of Cu mineralization in drilling, this anomaly supports the hypothesis for a zone of iron-rich alteration with potential to host Iron-Oxide-Copper-Gold (IOCG) mineralization at Alwyn.

Magnetic lows highlighted by ALS GoldSpots MinusONE inversion methods outline possible regions of strong albitization associated with the MLFZ

Greg Romain, President & CEO, commented: these results exhibit the size, shape, and density expected from our original hypothesis, that the SPJ Project has the potential to host IOCG and affiliated mineralization. What is even more exciting is the fact that there appears to be several new opportunities along the MLFZ, with one of the largest anomalies extending outside of the survey area at the southwestern margin. We are now preparing to begin drilling the target identified northwest of the 2022 drillholes at Alwyn.

Figure 1. Gravity survey results from ALS GoldSpots inversion.

The 321.9 Ha gravity survey positioned along the 2.5 km Alwyn Cu-Au trend was testing for zones of stronger iron alteration under the Alwyn prospect, in which Cu-Au mineralization could be associated with specular hematite to form IOCG mineralization. The survey was completed with 100 m line spacing at a line azimuth of 45/225. The survey extended 3.2 km along the McLaren Lake Fault Zone to cover the high and moderate priority targets proposed by ALS GoldSpot in May 2022. The MLFZ is highly prospective for polymetallic and critical metals mineralization. In addition to Alwyn, along the MLFZ on the SPJ Project the primary targets include the historic Ashigami mine and the Crerar showing, located 4.5 km and 9.5 km southeast of the Alwyn mine, respectively (Figure 2). Exploration along this structure will continue to be a primary focus for MacDonald Mines throughout 2023.

The results of the survey will now be integrated into ALS GoldSpots machine learning technology to generate additional targets for future drilling and exploration beyond what we have already planned.

Figure 2. Polymetallic mineralization along the McLaren Lake Fault Zone and location of Alwyn gravity survey.

About MacDonald Mines Exploration Ltd.MacDonald Mines is a Canadian gold and base metal exploration company focused on exploring its 100%-owned, 19,720ha (197km2) SPJ Project, 20km southeast of the prolific Sudbury Mining Camp in Northern Ontario. The Companys focus is to locate what it theorizes to be large gold systems with high-grade gold surrounding the past producing Scadding Gold Mine and potential large gold and polymetallic structures surrounding Alwyn, Glade, MacLeod and Norstar. The Company is also focusing on key critical metal systems surrounding Candore and Jerome within the SPJ Project to supply the renewable energy transition, particularly nickel, copper, and PGEs. The demand and need for critical metals is at an all-time high, and Macdonald Mines believes the SPJ Property Area has the potential to be part of the solution.

Qualified PersonJean-Francois Montreuil, P.Geo., Chief Geologist of MacDonald Mines, is the qualified person as defined by National Instrument 43-101 Standards of Disclosure for Mineral Projects, responsible for preparing, supervising, and approving this news release's scientific and technical content.

Forward-Looking StatementsThis news release may contain certain forward looking statements. Forward-looking statements involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties, assumptions, and other factors that may cause the actual results, performance or achievements of the Company to be materially different from any future results, performance or achievements expressed or implied by the forward-looking statements. Any forward-looking statement speaks only as of the date of this news release and, except as may be required by applicable securities laws, the Company disclaims any intent or obligation to update any forward-looking statement, whether as a result of new information, future events or results or otherwise.

NEITHER THE TSX VENTURE EXCHANGE NOR ITS REGULATION SERVICES PROVIDER (AS THAT TERM IS DEFINED IN THE POLICIES OF THE TSX VENTURE EXCHANGE) ACCEPTS RESPONSIBILITY FOR THE ADEQUACY OR ACCURACY OF THIS RELEASE.

To learn more about MacDonald Mines, please visit www.macdonaldmines.com

For more information, please contact:

Greg Romain, President & CEO Phone: +1 (416) 364-7024 Email: [email protected]

Photos accompanying this announcement are available at:

https://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/17f90559-0802-431f-9a85-7d9d76675c56

https://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/3c8a1206-ce50-469a-b868-3b689872086f

Figure 1. Gravity survey results from ALS GoldSpots inversion. Figure 2. Polymetallic mineralization along the McLaren Lake Fault Zone and location of Alwyn gravity survey.

Source: MacDonald Mines Exploration Ltd.
Toronto, March 03, 2023 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- WWF-Canada is celebrating World Wildlife Day today by setting its panda mascot loose on the TTC to raise awareness about wildlife loss and how people can help at-risk species by joining its CN Tower Climb for Nature.

Need some extra motivation to take the stairs? WWFs panda, a global symbol for conservation, will be at Queen Station cheering on people skipping the escalator and taking the steps, which have been adorned with the names of species that need our help.

Media are invited to join in the fun by racing our panda up and down the stairs as it trains for the climb. WWF-Canadas big cat expert Rinjan Shrestha will be on hand to talk about the CN Tower Climb for Nature and answer questions about the state of wildlife in Canada and around the globe.

WHAT: WWFs panda mascot will be loose in Queen Station to raise awareness about wildlife loss and how people can step up this spring.

WHEN: Friday, March 3 from 11 a.m. to noon

WHERE: Queen subway station, main stairwell.

WHO:

WWF panda mascot

Dr. Rinjan Shrestha, WWF-Canadas lead specialist, Asian big cats

WHY:

Globally, wildlife populations have dropped 69 per cent on average since 1970. And its not just tigers, pandas and other far away species. Here in Canada, we have more than 800 species at risk of extinction. Most of them  from humpback whales to bumblebees  are not recovering. WWFs CN Tower Climb for Nature is one way people can step up for wildlife by supporting crucial conservation work.

About World Wildlife Day:

March 3 is World Wildlife Day. It is a United Nations international day to celebrate the world's wild animals and plants and the contribution that they make to our lives and the health of our planet.

About WWFs CN Tower Climb for Nature:

Visit wwf.ca/cntower to register as an individual or with a team.

WWFs CN Tower Climb for Nature is a two-day event that brings together thousands of people to raise funds that will help halt and reverse wildlife loss.

The climb takes place on Saturday, April 15 from 6 a.m. to 9:30 a.m. and Sunday, April 16, 2023, from 7 a.m. to 9:30 a.m.

WWF-Canada is one of only two charities that hosts climbs in the iconic landmarks 144-floor stairwell. The 2023 CN Tower Climb for Nature will be the first time the stairwell has been open to climbers since 2019.

In 2019, the event raised $1.4 million for conservation efforts in Canada.

Since WWF-Canada held its first-ever climb in 1991, more than 135,000 people have stepped up for wildlife and helped deliver big conservation results from nearly tripling Nepals wild tiger population to advancing protection for hundreds of thousands of square kilometres of critical habitat for Arctic species.

About World Wildlife Fund Canada WWF-Canada is committed to equitable and effective conservation actions that restore nature, reverse wildlife loss and fight climate change. We draw on scientific analysis and Indigenous guidance to ensure all our efforts connect to a single goal: a future where wildlife, nature and people thrive. For more information visit wwf.ca.

Emily Vandermeer WWF-Canada 5196161556 [email protected]

Source: WWF-Canada
FILE PHOTO: People visit the Verizon stand at the Mobile World Congress (MWC) in Barcelona, Spain February 27, 2023. REUTERS/Nacho Doce

(Reuters) -Verizon Communications Inc finance chief Matt Ellis will leave the wireless carrier in May, it said on Friday in a slew of senior leadership changes.

The move comes at a time when Verizon is facing tough competition from rivals T-Mobile US Inc and AT&T Inc for new customers and is investing heavily in new technologies such as 5G.

Senior Vice President Tony Skiadas will replace Ellis, the company said while announcing new leaders to its key verticals.

Sowmyanarayan Sampath, who leads Verizon Business Group, will be executive vice president and chief executive of Verizon Consumer Group.

The business group will be led by Kyle Malady, currently head of Global Networks and Technology.

Verizon's consumer and business divisions include wireless and wireline operations focused at retail customers and enterprises, respectively.

Joe Russo, senior vice president and chief network officer, will replace Malady as president of Global Networks and Technology, which looks over 5G, 4G, Fiber and Edge computing services.

In its latest quarterly report in January, Verizon forecast annual profit below expectations hurt by higher costs, tepid growth in wireless customers and high competition.

Verizon has lost subscribers to cheaper plans and promotions by rivals most of last year, with investors raising concerns over its ability to win them back.

Its stock has lost 24% of its value in 2022, compared with a 1% drop in AT&T and 21% gain in T-Mobile.

(Reporting by Yuvraj Malik in Bengaluru; Editing by Arun Koyyur)
Vancouver, British Columbia--(Newsfile Corp. - March 3, 2023) - Bravada Gold Corporation(TSXV: BVA) (OTCQB: BGAVF) (FSE: BRTN) (the "Company" or "Bravada") reports that it has received the results of an evaluation of a second pad site, not considered in its recent technical report (the "Report", see news release dated January 23, 2023). The Report may be found under the Company's profile at www.sedar.com and on Bravada's website https://bravadagold.com.

Economics reported in the Report improved significantly compared to the Company's 2012 PEA due to utilizing a near-mine, heap-leach Pad I site, which is of limited size, for a portion of the Pit-constrained resource and due to higher grades for early mining, which were predicted and then verified by drilling during 2021. To add additional mine life, a Phase II pad site was identified due north of the Phase I site (see Figure 1) but was not considered in the January 20th PEA. An internal evaluation by RESPEC demonstrates that the Pad II site is sufficient in size to process the remainder of the In-pit Resource, adding approximately 45% more resource tons and potentially increasing mine life by more than 2 years. Although Pad II is somewhat farther from the currently identified Pit-constrained resource than the Pad I site, it is located very close to outcropping mineralization at the North Hill target, which has only been tested with minor drilling. Other potential additions to mine life that the Phase I PEA did not consider, but which might be added to a Phase II or later Pad, include mineralization at the South End target, historic "waste rock piles" and partially spent heaps where the Company has identified potentially recoverable gold and silver.

The Company is in the planning stage to permit drill holes to better delineate additional shallow oxide gold mineralization in the region between the Breeze pit north to the North Hill target, all of which may add resource feed to a nearby Pad II site.





Figure 1 showing Pad II site, PEA Pad I model operation, and soil samples showing North Hill Target.



To view an enhanced version of this graphic, please visit:

https://images.newsfilecorp.com/files/5343/157116_25decff1c44d4bb4_001full.jpg

The Report dated January 20, 2023 and entitled "Updated Technical Report and Preliminary Economic Assessment, Wind Mountain Gold-Silver Project", located in Washoe County, Nevada, was prepared by RESPEC Company LLC ("RESPEC", formerly Mine Development Associates), Woods Process Services, and Debra Struhsacker, Bravada's Environmental Permitting and Government Relations Consultant.

About Wind Mountain

The past-producing Wind Mountain gold/silver project is located approximately 160km northeast of Reno, Nevada in a sparsely populated region with excellent logistics, including county-maintained road access and a power line to the property. AMAX Gold/Kinross Gold recovered nearly 300,000 ounces of gold and over 1,700,000 ounces of silver between 1989 and 1999 from two small open pits and a heap-leach operation (reported data based on Kinross Gold files). Rio Fortuna Exploration (U.S.) Inc., a wholly owned US subsidiary of Bravada Gold Corporation, acquired 100% of the property through an earn-in agreement with Agnico-Eagle (USA) Limited, a subsidiary of Agnico-Eagle Mines Limited, which retains a 2% NSR royalty interest, of which 1% may be purchased for $1,000,000 at any time prior to commencement of production (purchase to reduce royalty is assumed in PEA calculations). The resource and PEA for Wind Mountain were updated in April 2012 and further updated in November 2022.

About Bravada

Bravada is an exploration company with a portfolio of high-quality properties in Nevada, one of the best mining jurisdictions in the World. Bravada has successfully identified and advanced properties with the potential to host high-margin deposits while successfully attracting partners to fund later stages of project development. Bravada's value is underpinned by a substantial gold and silver resource with a positive PEA at Wind Mountain, and the Company has significant upside potential from possible new discoveries at its exploration properties.

Since 2005, the Company entered into 32 earn-in joint-venture agreements for its properties with 19 publicly traded companies, as well as a similar number of property-acquisition agreements with private individuals. Bravada currently has 10 projects in its portfolio, consisting of 810 claims for approximately 6,500 ha in the Battle Mountain/Eureka and Walker Lane Trends, two of Nevada's most prolific gold trends. Most of the projects host encouraging drill intercepts of gold and already have drill targets developed. Several videos are available on the Company's website that describe Bravada's major properties, responding to investor's commonly asked questions. Simply click on this link https://bravadagold.com/projects/project-videos/.

Joseph Anthony Kizis, Jr. (AIPG CPG-11513) is the qualified person for the Company and is responsible for reviewing and preparing the technical data presented in this release and has approved its disclosure.

-30-

On behalf of the Board of Directors of Bravada Gold Corporation

"Joseph A. Kizis, Jr."

Joseph A. Kizis, Jr., Director, President, Bravada Gold Corporation

For further information, please visit Bravada Gold Corporation's website at bravadagold.com or contact the Company at 604.684.9384 or 775.746.3780.

Neither TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.

This news release may contain forward-looking statements including but not limited to comments regarding the timing and content of upcoming work programs, geological interpretations, receipt of property titles, potential mineral recovery processes, etc. Forward-looking statements address future events and conditions and therefore involve inherent risks and uncertainties. Actual results may differ materially from those currently anticipated in such statements. These statements are based on a number of assumptions, including, but not limited to, assumptions regarding general economic conditions, interest rates, commodity markets, regulatory and governmental approvals for the company's projects, and the availability of financing for the company's development projects on reasonable terms. Factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those in forward-looking statements include market prices, exploitation and exploration successes, the timing and receipt of government and regulatory approvals, and continued availability of capital and financing and general economic, market or business conditions. Bravada Gold Corporation does not assume any obligation to update or revise its forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, except to the extent required by applicable law.

To view the source version of this press release, please visit https://www.newsfilecorp.com/release/157116
Vancouver, British Columbia--(Newsfile Corp. - March 3, 2023) - Pan Global Resources Inc. (TSXV: PGZ) (OTCQB: PGNRF) - Pan Global Resources, a Vancouver-based junior resource company, has announced an exciting year ahead with several catalysts for their advanced copper discovery in the Iberian Pyrite Belt and southern Spain. The company is working toward access to the western extension of their maiden discovery, which will allow for follow-up drilling and a continuation of a stage two metallurgical test program. The results of a 20,000-meter drill program are also expected this year, offering plenty of opportunities for exploration and growth. Pan Global Resources is listing on the TSXV under the symbol PGZ.

If you cannot view the video above, please visit:

https://www.b-tv.com/post/tsxv-pgz-investor-alert-pan-global-exploring-copper-tin-in-spain-30sec

Pan Global Resources Inc. (TSXV: PGZ) (OTCQB: PGNRF)

https://www.panglobalresources.com/

About BTV:

BTV-Business Television is Canada's longest running business show. With Hosts Taylor Thoen and Jessica Katrichak, BTV features emerging companies across the country to bring viewers investment opportunities. BTV also produces News Alerts and branding/ awareness spots for issuers broadcast on BNN Bloomberg, Fox Business News, Bloomberg TV US and Bloomberg Terminals. www.b-tv.com

BTV - Business Television/CEO Clips Contact: Trina Schlingmann (604) 664-7401 x 5 [email protected]

To view the source version of this press release, please visit https://www.newsfilecorp.com/release/156638
San Francisco, California--(Newsfile Corp. - March 3, 2023) - FlashCloud Intelligence, a leading provider of Go-to-Market intelligence solutions, is proud to announce the launch of its latest feature, Social Intent, a powerful buying intent signal data that enables B2B sellers to identify prospects talking about specific keywords or topics on social media.





FlashCloud Intelligence Launches



With Social Intent, B2B sellers can now identify interested prospects. The feature is designed to provide real-time insights on social media activities of prospects, helping sellers to tailor their sales pitch and engage with them at the right time.

"Social Intent is a game-changer for B2B sellers," said Jerry Limber, SVP of Product Strategy and Revenue Operations of FlashCloud Intelligence. "We understand the challenges that sellers face in identifying and engaging with prospects on social media. Social Intent is designed to provide real-time insights on social media activities of prospects, helping sellers to tailor their sales pitch and engage with them at the right time."

Social Intent uses advanced machine learning algorithms to analyze social media conversations and identify buying signals that indicate a prospect's interest in a specific product or service. The feature can track and analyze social media conversations on various platforms.

With Social Intent, B2B sellers can:

Identify prospects who are actively talking about specific keywords or topics on social media

Engage with prospects at the right time with a tailored sales pitch

Increase the chances of closing a deal by targeting interested prospects

FlashCloud Intelligence's Social Intent feature is now available to all customers of its flagship product,FlashInfo. FlashInfo provides real-time insights on market trends, competitor activities, and customer behavior, helping B2B sellers to make informed decisions.

"Our goal at FlashCloud Intelligence is to provide our customers with the best Go-to-Market intelligence solutions that enable them to make informed decisions," said Jerry Limber. "We are confident that Social Intent will help our customers to identify interested prospects and maximize the chances of closing a deal."

About FlashCloud Intelligence:

FlashCloud Intelligence is a leading provider of Go-to-Market intelligence solutions that enable B2B sellers to make informed decisions and stay ahead of the competition. Its flagship product, FlashInfo, provides real-time insights on sales intelligence, competitor activities, and prospect behavior, helping sellers to identify opportunities and maximize revenue.

Contact Media:

Company Name: FlashCloud Intelligence

Contact Person Name: Nina Zhao

Email Address: [email protected]

Location: San Francisco, CA, US

Website: https://www.myflashcloud.com/

To view the source version of this press release, please visit https://www.newsfilecorp.com/release/157080
Sudbury, Ontario--(Newsfile Corp. - March 3, 2023) - Visit McFarlane Lake Mining(NEO: MLM) (OTCQB: MLMLF) at Booth #3208 at the Prospectors & Developers Association of Canadas (PDAC) Convention at the Metro Toronto Convention Centre (MTCC) from Sunday, March 5 to Wednesday, March 8, 2023.

About McFarlane Lake Mining

McFarlane Lake Mining is a mineral exploration company focused on the exploration and development of the High Lake mineral property located immediately east of the Ontario-Manitoba border and the West Hawk Lake mineral property located immediately west of the Ontario-Manitoba border. In addition, McFarlane holds the McMillan and Mongowin mineral property located 70 km west of Sudbury, which hosts the past-producing McMillan Gold Mine. McFarlane also owns the Michaud/Munro mineral property situated 115 km east of Timmins along the so-called Golden Highway. McFarlane is a reporting issuer under applicable securities legislation in the provinces of, British Columbia, Alberta and Ontario.The Company has recently completed a drilling campaign at its West Hawk Lake property, and another is underway at its High Lake property. Please visit our website to see up-to-date news of our results.

About PDAC

PDAC 2023: The Worlds Premier Mineral Exploration & Mining Convention is the leading event for people, companies and organizations connected to mineral exploration.

This annual convention in Toronto, Canada is known for attracting up to 30,000 attendees from over 130+ countries for its educational programming, networking events, outstanding business opportunities and fun. Since it began in 1932, the PDAC Convention has grown in size, stature and influence. Today, it is the event of choice for the worlds mineral industry hosting more than 1,100 exhibitors and 2,500 investors.

For more information and/or to register for the conference please visit: https://www.pdac.ca/convention/attend/registration.

We look forward to seeing you there.

For further information:

McFarlane Lake Mining

Craig MacPhail

416-525-5709

[email protected]

https://mcfarlanelakemining.com/
Thunder Bay, Ontario--(Newsfile Corp. - March 3, 2023) - MetalCorp Limited (TSXV: MTC)("MetalCorp" or the "Company") provides the following additional information relating to the annual and special meeting of shareholders of the Company (the "AGM") called for Friday, March 10, 2023.

As set out in the notice of the AGM and accompanying management information circular of the Company dated February 6, 2023 (the "Circular") sent to shareholders of the Company and filed on SEDAR, the purposes for which the AGM is being held include the following special business items (the "Special Business Items"):

1. to consider and, if deemed advisable, to pass, with or without variation, a resolution to approve amendments to the stock option plan of the Company (the "Plan") (a) permitting stock options to continue to be exercisable until the earlier of (i) the maximum term permissible under the policies of any applicable stock exchange or other securities regulatory authority having jurisdiction, and (ii) their original expiry dates, notwithstanding the termination of the office of the holder of such stock options, and (b) increasing the maximum number of common shares of the Company issuable under the Plan, as described in the Circular;

2. to consider and, if deemed advisable, to pass, with or without variation, a resolution confirming the making of a new by-law of the Company amending section 72 of By-Law 1995-1 of the Company to increase the maximum time period between the record date and the meeting date for shareholder meetings from 50 days to 60 days to conform with section 95(2) of the Business Corporations Act (Ontario);

3. to consider and, if deemed advisable, to pass, with or without variation, a resolution to approve the issuance of 3,809,610 common shares of the Company, in aggregate, to return that number of common shares borrowed by the Company from its Chief Executive Officer and entities controlled by him pursuant to Share Loan Agreements entered into in October 2013 and November 2019, as described in the Circular; and

4. to consider and, if deemed advisable, to pass, with or without variation, a resolution (the "Delisting Resolution") to authorize and approve the delisting of the common shares of the Company from the TSX Venture Exchange (the "TSXV") at such time as may be determined by the board of directors of the Company.

The Company confirms that each of the above Special Business Items requires, and is subject to receipt of, TSXV acceptance. The Company also confirms that the Delisting Approval requires majority of the minority approval in accordance with the rules of the TSXV, which means that the Delisting Resolution requires the affirmative vote of a majority of the votes of shareholders cast on the Delisting Resolution, excluding the votes attached to shares held by insiders of the Company ("Insiders"). To the knowledge of the Company, Insiders hold a total of 48,493,936 common shares of the Company, which will be excluded from the vote on the Delisting Resolution to the extent such votes are cast.

About MetalCorp

MetalCorp is a mineral exploration company based in Thunder Bay, Ontario, with gold and base metal projects in the Canadian Shield of Northern Ontario, Canada, one of the most prolific mineral districts in the world. To find out more about MetalCorp visit its website at www.metalcorp.ca.

For further information, please contact:

Donald Sheldon, CEO

[email protected]

Caution Regarding Forward-Looking Information

Except for statements of historical fact contained herein, information in this news release may constitute "forward-looking information" within the meaning of Canadian securities laws. Other than statements of historical fact, all statements herein that involve various known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors are "forward-looking information" (such forward-looking information includes, without limitation, statements regarding the requirement for TSX Venture Exchange acceptance of each of the Special Business Items). There can be no assurance that such statements will prove accurate. Results and future events could differ materially from those anticipated in such statements. Factors that could cause actual results or events to differ materially from current expectations include, among other things, failure to obtain TSX Venture Exchange acceptance of each of the Special Business Items. Readers of this news release are cautioned not to place undue reliance on these "forward-looking statements". Except as otherwise required by applicable securities statutes or regulation, MetalCorp expressly disclaims any intention or obligation to update publicly any forward-looking information, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise.

Caution Regarding Regulatory Matters

Neither TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy, accuracy or contents of this news release.

To view the source version of this press release, please visit https://www.newsfilecorp.com/release/157243
AUBURN  State Sen. Rachel May went back to school on Thursday.

May, D-Syracuse, toured Seward Elementary School with Melissa O'Donnell, the school's principal. She also met with administrators, parents, students and teachers for nearly an hour to discuss the district's funding needs.

Auburn school officials are pleased that the district will receive full foundation aid from the state. However, they have long criticized the state aid formula because it shortchanges the district.

"Our kids have gone without for a long time," said Jeff Pirozzolo, Auburn's superintendent. "This is a good first step because we're still way below where we need to be."

Pirozzolo's points were highlighted by two eighth-graders, Alivia Aubin and Sean Ringwood. Aubin, who is a student at Auburn Junior High School, told May that more funding is needed to boost the district's arts programs. Specifically, she said the auditorium at her school is in need of improvements.

With those upgrades, Aubin said the school can "showcase our growing musicians."

May is a proponent of the arts and pledged to work with the school district on securing state funding for the music program. She also noted that she has introduced a bill that would ensure music education is offered in all New York schools.

"I really feel that music, art, dance, theater, those are really, really important," she said. "We tend to think about reading, writing, math as the fundamental skills that we need to get ahead in life. But I think the arts are how we get to be the people we want to be."

May expressed support for Ringwood's request  that more funding is needed to bolster the school district's science and technology programs. Ringwood, who is also a student at Auburn Junior High, hopes that the school can expand its home and careers offerings by providing more space for cooking classes.

Additional state aid would also support the district's ongoing social-emotional learning efforts. Michele Hopp, a social worker at Auburn Junior High School, touted the benefits of these programs. Every $1 invested in social-emotional learning, she said, generates an $11 return.

"We're investing in our youth," Hopp said.

May was reelected in November to represent the 48th Senate District, which includes all of Cayuga County. She told The Citizen in December that her top priorities included addressing the flawed aid formula.

At the start of the roundtable discussion, May shared a story about one of her colleagues, state Sen. Robert Jackson. Jackson walked from Harlem to Albany twice to advocate for increased state school aid funding.

While she acknowledges the specific problem affecting Auburn, she also celebrated that full foundation aid will be provided to the school district.

"We are finally going to get the amount of money that we're supposed to be at according to the law," she said.
Vancouver, British Columbia--(Newsfile Corp. - March 2, 2023) - Rome Resources Ltd. (TSXV: RMR) (FSE: 33R) ("Rome" or the "Company") is pleased to announce a non-brokered private placement offering ("Offering") of up to 10,000,000 common shares in the capital of the Company at a price of $0.30 per share, for gross proceeds of up to $3,000,000. The Company intends to use the net proceeds from the Offering for exploration of the Bisie North Tin Project and for working capital. The shares issued pursuant to the Offering will be subject to a four-month statutory hold period.

One or more insiders of the Company may participate in the Offering. If so, then the Company will rely on an exemption from the related party requirements of MI 61-101 for any participation by insiders of the Company in the Offering.

The private placement is subject to acceptance for filing by the TSX Venture Exchange.

About Rome Resources

Rome Resources Ltd. is a mineral exploration company that has entered into two option agreements to acquire 51% indirect interests in two contiguous properties situated in the Walikale District of the North Kivu Province in eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo, which are referred to collectively as the "Bisie North Tin Project". Rome intends to fund exploration on the project up to the completion of a definitive feasibility study.

For further information, please contact:

Dr. Georg Schnura

President, CEO and Director

Telephone: (604) 687-6140

Email: [email protected]

Cautionary Note Regarding Forward-Looking Statements

The information in this news release may include certain information and statements about management's view of future events, expectations, plans and prospects that may constitute forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements are based upon assumptions that are subject to significant risks and uncertainties. Because of these risks and uncertainties and as a result of a variety of factors, the actual results, expectations, achievements or performance may differ materially from those anticipated and indicated by these forward-looking statements. Although Rome Resources Ltd believes that the expectations reflected in forward-looking statements are reasonable, it can give no assurances that the expectations of any forward-looking statements will prove to be correct. Except as required by law, Rome Resources Ltd disclaims any intention and assumes no obligation to update or revise any forward-looking statements to reflect actual results, whether as a result of new information, future events, changes in assumptions, changes in factors affecting such forward-looking statements or otherwise.

Neither TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.

Not for distribution to United States newswire services or for dissemination in the United States.

To view the source version of this press release, please visit https://www.newsfilecorp.com/release/157024
Summary: SAE Dubai is a creative media institute. Recently, the company has partnered with Metacom to provide the learners with Web3 Certified Courses.

Dubai, United Arab Emirates--(Newsfile Corp. - March 3, 2023) - SAE Institute Dubai, an established institution in Creative Media Industries education, has partnered with Metacom, the steadfast Web3 strategy and marketing consultants in the region, to offer Metaverse courses at their Dubai campus. The Web3 Certified Course will provide students with the skills and knowledge to plan, create, and manage experiences in the Metaverse, one of the fastest-growing industries in the world today.

The course will cover all aspects of the Metaverse, with a focus on practical business and professional applications. Metacom will bring its expertise in Web3 technology to simplify complex new concepts such as blockchain, NFTs, and interoperability of the Metaverse.

SAE Institute focuses on the fact that Dubai and Saudi Arabia are capitalizing heavily in the Metaverse space, and the Dubai Metaverse Strategy is a clear indication of the industry's importance to the region's future. Therefore, the Web3 Certified Course generated by the partnerships of both companies is designed to meet the needs of this rapidly growing industry, and to prepare students for careers in this exciting new field.

SAE Institute Dubai is licensed in Dubai by the Knowledge and Human Development Authority (KHDA) and is the international campus of SAE Institute, with 47 campuses worldwide and a presence in 23 countries. SAE's courses emphasize practical experience, the needs of students and industry credibility, making it the perfect partner for Metacom's innovative Web3 courses.

The Web3 Certified Course is in the Gulf region, and is a viable opportunity for those interested in building their skills and knowledge in the Metaverse and Web3 technologies.

About SAE Institute Dubai:

SAE Institute Dubai is a globally recognized institution that provides education in the Creative Media Industries. It is the international campus of SAE Institute (Australia) and has a presence in 23 countries with 47 campuses worldwide. The courses offered by SAE Dubai focus on practical experience, industry credibility, and the needs of students, making it an ideal choice for those who aspire to build a career in the creative media industries.

For more information on the Web3 Certified Course, please visit the SAE Dubai website at https://dubai.sae.edu/training-courses/web3-certified-course/.

About the Metacom

Metacom is a consulting firm that specializes in Web3 strategy and marketing, and is in the Gulf region. The company has its headquarters in Singapore and Dubai, and is a regional partner of Verse Digital Studios, which is known for creating experiences in the Metaverse. With its in-depth knowledge and expertise in Web3 technology, Metacom is well-suited to equip students with the necessary skills and knowledge to succeed in this exciting new field.

For more information on Metacom, please visit the company's website at https://www.metacom.sg/.

Media Details:

Company name: METACOM

Contact name: Shyair Ganglani

Email: [email protected]

Website: Metacom.sg

Company name: SAE Institute Dubai

Contact name: Paul Dominguez

Email: [email protected]

Website: https://dubai.sae.edu/training-courses/web3-certified-course/

To view the source version of this press release, please visit https://www.newsfilecorp.com/release/155539
LOUIS PARK, Minn., March 2, 2023 (SEND2PRESS NEWSWIRE) The NGPA strongly condemns Sen. Cruzs transphobic statement. Safety of flight is threatened by statements like Sen. Cruz. NGPA recognizes that inclusivity and CRM are fundamental safety of flight issues. When pilots and aviation professionals across disciplines are unable to bring their whole selves to work, CRM breaks down, and so does safety.

On March 1, 2023, during the Senate Commerce Committee hearing for President Bidens pick to lead the Federal Aviation Administration, Senator Ted Cruz (R-TX) is quoted claiming, It gives no comfort to the flying public that their pilot might be a transgender witch but doesnt actually know how to prevent a plane from crashing

One of the most basic, fundamental principles of aviation safety is effective Crew Resource Management (CRM). Sen. Cruz admits he is not a pilot, thus, not an expert in aviation safety matters. It is understandable that the senator is egregiously ill-informed in his understanding of the dynamic relationship between pilots in the flight deck, and how critical CRM is to the safe execution of any air mission.

NGPA is committed to ensuring every pilot, and aviation professional is empowered to freely express and bring their whole selves to work. When aviation professionals exercise their judgment and expertise without fear of discrimination or harassment based on their gender identity, aviation safety is upheld at the highest standard.

NGPA & its Transgender & Non-binary Committee welcome the opportunity to educate Sen. Cruz and members of the Senate Commerce Committee on effective Crew Resource Management, how an inclusive flight deck is a safe flight deck, and how to be a supportive ally to Transgender aviators across the industry.

Justin Ellixson-Andrews

Executive Director

Parker Morgan

Transgender & Non-Binary Committee Co-Chair

Kori Necker

Transgender & Non-Binary Committee Co-Chair

ABOUT NGPA:

The NGPA is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization based in Minneapolis. Founded in 1990, NGPA is an international organization of Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, and Queer (LGBTQ) aviation professionals and enthusiasts. Our organization aims to encourage individuals to begin aviation careers, foster an environment of equality for LGBTQ+ aviators, promote safety, and establish personal and professional networks. The NGPA makes this a reality through education, outreach, and social events. Our organization is run by a board of directors, executive leadership, and volunteers!

For more information, visit https://www.ngpa.org/.

NEWS SOURCE: NGPA



This press release was issued on behalf of the news source (NGPA), who is solely responsible for its accuracy, by Send2Press Newswire.

To view the original story, visit: https://www.send2press.com/wire/ngpa-stands-with-transgender-aviation-community/

Copr.  2023 Send2Press Newswire, a service of NEOTROPE, Calif., USA. -- REF: S2P STORY ID: 88972SI.03
DALLAS, March 3, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- BAL is honored to be named a Most Innovative Company by iconic media institution, Fast Company. BAL is ranked fifth most innovative global business services company thanks to a relentless focus on exceptional client services, a unique business model and the use of proprietary technology that transforms the practice of immigration law.

How did a law firm secure a spot on Fast Company's Most Innovative Companies list? "By constantly asking how can we do this better, faster, more efficiently, with greater quality, service, expertise and technology" said BAL's CEO, Jeremy Fudge. "We're in the business of helping companies secure the right talent to change the world, and constant innovation is the key to our mission."

BAL's Pursue the Exceptional mantra permeates throughout the firm from supporting our people to legal services to technology and business operations. "We are intentionally structured as one team, one brand, one PNL, one standard of excellence and one unifying technology" said Managing Partner, Frieda Garcia. "This unified, team first approach incentivizes us to collaborate and innovate to better serve our people and our clients."

For more than 25 years, BAL has consistently evolved our technology to transform the practice of immigration law. "We're passionate about harnessing the limitless power of technology to innovate immigration and the business as a whole," said Chief Information Officer, Jason Chancellor. Powered by our technology teams, BAL transformed the legal tech industry by creating Cobalt, a proprietary case management platform. The first to use AI and machine learning in the management of immigration cases, Cobalt has empowered the immigration journey of nearly 2 million people. The ever-evolving system allows BAL legal teams to operate seamlessly, provides clients 24/7 case monitoring, analytics, benchmarking, and crucial, up-to-the-minute immigration intel.

About BAL

BAL powers human achievement through immigration expertise, people centered client services and innovative technology. Established in 1980, BAL has consistently provided immigration expertise, people-centered client services and leading technology innovation. BAL operates as a single firm, with 13 offices across the U.S. and global coverage in more than 185 countries around. This united approach enables us to always deliver the highest level of knowledge, insights and resources from across the entire organization. In 2018, BAL entered into a first-of-its-kind strategic alliance with Deloitte U.K. to create the world's first global immigration service delivery model. We employ a uniquely holistic approach, as we are intentionally structured as one team, one brand, one PNL, one standard of excellence and one unifying technology.At BAL we Pursue the Exceptional to learn more visit: https://www.bal.com/

Press Releases

View original content to download multimedia:https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/bal-honored-by-fast-company-as-most-innovative-company-301762347.html

SOURCE Berry Appleman & Leiden LLP
Benchmark Intends to Invest $20M and Hire up to 100 People to Support the New 64,000 Sq. Ft. Facility Focused on Semiconductor Industry Growth in the U.S.

TEMPE, Ariz., March 3, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Benchmark Electronics, Inc. (NYSE: BHE), a global provider of engineering, design, and manufacturing services, today celebrated the grand opening of its new Precision Technologies facility in Mesa, Arizona. The facility is designed to provide a number of key engineering and manufacturing solution services, most notably supporting the production of semiconductor capital equipment building blocks and solutions. Benchmark intends to invest roughly $20 million into capabilities and technology at the new facility, in addition to hiring 100 people to support this facility as the company ramps up with customers.

"Benchmark is a key solution partner to the capital equipment market worldwide and this new facility will enable us to support our customers in the U.S. and across the globe with next generation manufacturing and engineering solutions," said Jeff Benck, president and CEO, Benchmark. "The investments we're making to serve these customers will be critical to meeting the increasing demand for semiconductor capital equipment, especially with the growth in demand for semiconductors and new domestic fabs being built supported by the CHIPS Act incentives."

Benchmark celebrated the grand opening alongside Arizona Governor Katie Hobbs, Mesa Mayor John Giles, ACA President and CEO Sandra Watson, Benchmark customers, and Arizona dignitaries across the technology and economic development sectors who have been critical to Benchmark's expansion in Arizona.

"We are proud to celebrate the grand opening of Benchmark's new facility alongside the best and brightest technology leaders in Arizona," said Governor Katie Hobbs. "Since joining Arizona's thriving technology community, Benchmark has been an incredible partner, creating skilled jobs and advancing Arizona's innovation reputation. We look forward to seeing the great work done here at Benchmark Mesa to further enhance our growing semiconductor industry."

Benchmark is expanding its footprint in Arizona and bringing the new facility online today. The facility significantly expands the existing cleanroom capacity across its Precision Technologies group with additional opportunity for the vertical integration of key processes. These processes will include unique metal joining applications such as TIG welding and electron beam welding, precision cleaning and other chemical finishes. The expanded capacity will also bring new job opportunities in the region to support the growth of the industries Benchmark serves.

"Because of years of hard work and targeted investments at the local, state, and federal level, Arizona is well positioned to continue to lead our country in advanced manufacturing," Rep. Greg Stanton said. "There's no better example than Benchmark expanding their operations here in the East Valley. This new cutting-edge facility will help us take control of our semiconductor supply chains, protect our national security, and create good-paying jobs here at home."

"There is a significant amount of momentum for the semiconductor industry in Arizona and Mesa is a big part of that story," said Mesa Mayor John Giles. "The expanding footprint of Benchmark into Mesa further solidifies our city's role in helping to supply the Valley's growing semiconductor industry."

Benchmark retains one of the largest U.S. electronics manufacturing footprints, with major production facilities in California, Minnesota, Alabama, New Hampshire, and Arizona. In addition to its global headquarters in Tempe, the company now boasts three other manufacturing facilities in the valley including Phoenix, Tempe, and now Mesa. The company's manufacturing services, and global footprint are closely aligned to the semiconductor industry's geographic needs and facilitate the ability for customers to meet the rising demand. Benchmark's strategic investments in facilities, capabilities, and technologies also enhance engineering and manufacturing solutions close to the point of consumption for the U.S., European, and Asian markets.

"Today's exciting grand opening represents Benchmark's third since relocating its headquarters to Arizona in 2017," said Sandra Watson, President and CEO of the Arizona Commerce Authority. "With a global reputation for excellence, Benchmark Electronics' state-of-the-art operations will further enhance Mesa's vibrant technology industry and shows once again that Arizona is the nation's leading destination for advanced manufacturing."

To learn more about Benchmark's services and capabilities in semiconductor capital equipment, please visit the website at www.bench.com.

About Benchmark Electronics, Inc.Benchmark provides comprehensive solutions across the entire product life cycle; leading through its innovative technology and engineering design services; leveraging its optimized global supply chain; and delivering world-class manufacturing services in the following industries: commercial aerospace, defense, advanced computing, next-generation telecommunications, medical, complex industrials, and semiconductor capital equipment. Benchmark's global operations include facilities in seven countries and its common shares trade on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol BHE.

View original content to download multimedia:https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/benchmark-celebrates-grand-opening-of-new-precision-technologies-facility-in-mesa-arizona-301762291.html

SOURCE Benchmark Electronics, Inc.
CHICAGO, March 3, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Cboe Global Markets, Inc. (Cboe: CBOE), a leading provider of global market infrastructure and tradable products, today reported February monthly trading volume statistics across its global business lines.

The data sheet "Cboe Global Markets Monthly Volume & RPC/Net Revenue Capture Report" contains an overview of certain February trading statistics and market share by business segment, volume in select index products, and RPC/net capture, which is reported on a one-month lag, across business lines.

Average Daily Trading Volume (ADV) by Month Year-To-Date Feb 2023 Feb 2022 % Chg Jan 2023 % Chg Feb 2023 Feb 2022 % Chg Multiply-listed options (contracts, k) 11,219 10,805 3.8 % 11,219 0.0 % 11,219 11,199 0.2 % Index options (contracts, k) 3,502 2,403 45.8 % 3,371 3.9 % 3,435 2,480 38.5 % Futures (contracts, k) 227 270 -16.0 % 194 17.0 % 210 287 -26.8 % U.S. Equities - On-Exchange (matched shares, mn) 1,427 1,758 -18.8 % 1,425 0.1 % 1,426 1,777 -19.7 % U.S. Equities - Off-Exchange (matched shares, mn) 87 105 -16.7 % 92 -4.7 % 90 106 -15.8 % Canadian Equities1 (matched shares, k) 157,861 37,792 317.7 % 149,307 5.7 % 153,370 40,284 280.7 % European Equities (, mn) 11,531 12,672 -9.0 % 10,290 12.1 % 10,881 12,193 -10.8 % Cboe Clear Europe Cleared Trades2 (k) 112,446 140,562 -20.0 % 112,593 -0.1 % 225,040 272,889 -17.5 % Cboe Clear Europe Net Settlements2 (k) 827 874 -5.4 % 865 -4.4 % 1,692 1,763 -4.0 % Australian Equities3 (AUD, mn) 785 893 -12.1 % 667 17.7 % 726 868 -16.4 % Japanese Equities3 (JPY, bn) 194 162 19.7 % 166 17.2 % 180 160 12.4 % Global FX ($, mn) 42,991 42,926 0.2 % 42,037 2.3 % 42,491 40,055 6.1 %

1 Canadian Equities data include MATCHNow and NEO from June 2022 onwards. Before June 2022 it included MATCHNow only. "Net capture per 10,000 touched shares" refers to transaction fees divided by the product of one-ten thousandth ADV of shares for NEO and MATCHNow and the number of trading days for the period. 2 Cboe Clear Europe figures are totals (not ADV) for the months and years-to-date. 3 Australian Equities and Japanese Equities data reflects Cboe's acquisition of Cboe Asia Pacific (formerly Chi-X Asia Pacific) effective on July 1, 2021.

February 2023 Trading Volume Highlights

U.S. Options

A total of 22.1 million contracts were traded across Cboe's four options exchanges on February 2, 2023, setting a new single-day volume record, and surpassing the previous daily record of 21.1 million on September 23, 2022.

Total volume in Cboe Volatility Index (VIX) options was 13.3 million contracts, with an ADV of 698,000 contracts, the highest monthly volume since March 2022.

European Equities and Derivatives

Cboe Europe Equities had an overall market share of 24.8 percent in February, making it Europe's largest stock exchange.

Cboe BIDS Europe, Cboe's European block trading platform, had a 36.3 percent share of the LIS (large-in-scale) market, a record high and making it the largest platform of its type for the eleventh successive month (Source: big xyt).

Global FX

CboeSEF (Swap Execution Facility) set a new monthly ADV record of $1.03 billion.

Japanese Equities

Cboe Japan's lit market share reached a record high of 5.2 percent in February.

About Cboe Global Markets, Inc.

Cboe Global Markets (Cboe: CBOE), a leading provider of market infrastructure and tradable products, delivers cutting-edge trading, clearing and investment solutions to market participants around the world. The company is committed to operating a trusted, inclusive global marketplace, providing leading products, technology and data solutions that enable participants to define a sustainable financial future. Cboe provides trading solutions and products in multiple asset classes, including equities, derivatives, FX and digital assets, across North America, Europe and Asia Pacific. To learn more, visit www.cboe.com.

CBOE-V

Cboe, Cboe Global Markets, Cboe Volatility Index, and VIX are registered trademarks of Cboe Exchange, Inc. or its affiliates. Standard & Poor's, S&P, SPX, and S&P 500 are registered trademarks of Standard & Poor's Financial Services, LLC, and have been licensed for use by Cboe Exchange, Inc. All other trademarks and service marks are the property of their respective owners.

Any products that have the S&P Index or Indexes as their underlying interest are not sponsored, endorsed, sold or promoted by Standard & Poor's or Cboe and neither Standard & Poor's nor Cboe make any representations or recommendations concerning the advisability of investing in products that have S&P indexes as their underlying interests. All other trademarks and service marks are the property of their respective owners.

Cboe Global Markets, Inc. and its affiliates do not recommend or make any representation as to possible benefits from any securities, futures or investments, or third-party products or services. Cboe Global Markets, Inc. is not affiliated with S&P. Investors should undertake their own due diligence regarding their securities, futures, and investment practices. This press release speaks only as of this date. Cboe Global Markets, Inc. disclaims any duty to update the information herein.

Nothing in this announcement should be considered a solicitation to buy or an offer to sell any securities or futures in any jurisdiction where the offer or solicitation would be unlawful under the laws of such jurisdiction. Nothing contained in this communication constitutes tax, legal or investment advice. Investors must consult their tax adviser or legal counsel for advice and information concerning their particular situation.

Cboe Global Markets, Inc. and its affiliates make no warranty, expressed or implied, including, without limitation, any warranties as of merchantability, fitness for a particular purpose, accuracy, completeness or timeliness, the results to be obtained by recipients of the products and services described herein, or as to the ability of the indices referenced in this press release to track the performance of their respective securities, generally, or the performance of the indices referenced in this press release or any subset of their respective securities, and shall not in any way be liable for any inaccuracies, errors. Cboe Global Markets, Inc. and its affiliates have not calculated, composed or determined the constituents or weightings of the securities that comprise the third-party indices referenced in this press release and shall not in any way be liable for any inaccuracies or errors in any of the indices referenced in this press release.

Options involve risk and are not suitable for all market participants. Prior to buying or selling an option, a person should review the Characteristics and Risks of Standardized Options (ODD), which is required to be provided to all such persons. Copies of the ODD are available from your broker or from The Options Clearing Corporation, 125 S. Franklin Street, Suite 1200, Chicago, IL 60606.

Futures trading is not suitable for all investors and involves the risk of loss. That risk of loss can be substantial and can exceed the amount of money deposited for a futures position. You should, therefore, carefully consider whether futures trading is suitable for you in light of your circumstances and financial resources. You should put at risk only funds that you can afford to lose without affecting your lifestyle. For additional information regarding futures trading risks, see the Risk Disclosure Statement set forth in Appendix A to CFTC Regulation 1.55(c) and the Risk Disclosure Statement for Security Futures Contracts.

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SOURCE Cboe Global Markets, Inc.
THUNDER BAY, ON, March 3, 2023 /PRNewswire/ - Clean Air Metals Inc. ("Clean Air Metals" or the "Company") (TSXV: AIR) (OTCQB: CLRMF) (FRA: CKU), is pleased to provide an update on the preparation of a new mineral resource estimate at the Thunder Bay North Project by SLR Consulting (Canada) Ltd. ("SLR") (see press release dated February 15, 2023).

The Company continues to work with SLR Consulting, with the cooperation of Nordmin Engineering, to determine the nature, cause, and extent of the discrepancy, if confirmed, as outlined in the Company's February 15, 2023, news release. This work includes a review of the Company's geological framework, as well as modeling approaches, mineralogy, geochemistry and mineral assemblages employed as controls on mineralization in preparing the geological interpretation.

SLR has also been commissioned by the Company, at the completion of this review, to complete a full and independent mineral resource update of the Thunder Bay North project which includes both the Current and Escape deposits. Review work for the Escape deposit, which has had over 38,000 metres of additional infill drilling since the previous mineral resource estimate was published, do not suggest a discrepancy in metal content.

It should be further noted that Todd McCracken, P.Geo Director  Mine and Geology at BBA E&C Inc. and a recognized expert in resource estimation, has been appointed as an owner representative to the Company to assist senior management and the board of directors with the technical issues under review.

Abraham Drost, Chief Executive Officer of Clean Air Metals, commented: "The parties are engaged in a robust process to reconcile the mineral resource at the Current Deposit. The continued collaboration of the parties towards resolution of the discrepancy is appreciated and recognizes the efficacy of disclosure requirements under NI 43-101."

Qualified Person

Dr. Geoff Heggie, Ph.D., P.Geo., a Qualified Person under National Instrument 43-101 and Vice President - Exploration for the Company, has reviewed and approved all technical information in this press release.

Social Engagement

Clean Air Metals Inc. and its wholly owned subsidiary Panoramic PGMs (Canada) Ltd. acknowledge that the Thunder Bay North Critical Minerals Project is on the traditional territories of the Fort William First Nation, Red Rock Indian Band and Biinjitiwabik Zaaging Anishinabek. The parties together are the Cooperating Participants in a Memorandum of Agreement dated January 9, 2021 (press release January 11, 2021) and Exploration Agreement signed April 13, 2022 (press release April 14, 2022).

The Company appreciates the opportunity to work in these territories and remains committed to the recognition and respect of those who have lived, traveled, and gathered on the lands since time immemorial. Clean Air Metals is committed to stewarding Indigenous heritage and remains committed to building, fostering and encouraging a respectful relationship with First Nations and Metis peoples based upon principles of mutual trust, respect, reciprocity and collaboration in the spirit of reconciliation.

About Clean Air Metals Inc.

Clean Air Metals' flagship asset is the 100% owned, high grade Thunder Bay North Critical Minerals Project, a platinum, palladium, copper, nickel project located near the City of Thunder Bay, Ontario and the Lac des Iles Mine owned by Impala Platinum.

Email: [email protected]Website: www.cleanairmetals.ca

Neither TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.

Cautionary Note Regarding Forward-Looking Information

The information contained herein contains "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of applicable securities legislation. Forward-looking statements relate to information that is based on assumptions of management, forecasts of future results, and estimates of amounts not yet determinable. Any statements that express predictions, expectations, beliefs, plans, projections, objectives, assumptions or future events or performance are not statements of historical fact and may be "forward-looking statements." Forward-looking statements in this press release include statements related the expected reduction in metal content, mineral resources and the preliminary economic assessment and timing of the updated resource estimate are subject to a variety of risks and uncertainties which could cause actual events or results to differ from those reflected in the forward-looking statements, including, without limitation: risks related to the failure to obtain adequate financing on a timely basis and on acceptable terms; risks related to the outcome of legal proceedings; political and regulatory risks associated with mining and exploration; risks related to the maintenance of stock exchange listings; risks related to environmental regulation and liability; the potential for delays in exploration or development activities or the completion of feasibility studies; the uncertainty of profitability; risks and uncertainties relating to the interpretation of drill results, the geology, grade and continuity of mineral deposits; risks related to the inherent uncertainty of production and cost estimates and the potential for unexpected costs and expenses; results of prefeasibility and feasibility studies, and the possibility that future exploration, development or mining results will not be consistent with the Company's expectations; risks related to commodity price fluctuations; and other risks and uncertainties related to the Company's prospects, properties and business detailed elsewhere in the Company's disclosure record. Should one or more of these risks and uncertainties materialize, or should underlying assumptions prove incorrect, actual results may vary materially from those described in forward-looking statements. Investors are cautioned against attributing undue certainty to forward-looking statements. These forward-looking statements are made as of the date hereof and the Company does not assume any obligation to update or revise them to reflect new events or circumstances, except in accordance with applicable securities laws. Actual events or results could differ materially from the Company's expectations or projections.

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SOURCE Clean Air Metals Inc.
WASHINGTON, March 3, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Common Sense America has called on the House Committee on Natural Resources to renew and expand its investigations into foreign funding of American nonprofit environmental groups. In 2018 Congress began investigating foreign nations, including China and Russia, for their influence over domestic non-profits, Center for Biological Diversity, EarthJustice, and others.

Common Sense America calls on Congress to renew investigations into foreign funding of US environmental groups.

"China has had a tremendous amount of success infiltrating our nation in ways we have never even expected - buying up critical farmland, owning some of our most popular social media apps, and most recently spying on Americans using seemingly innocuous balloons," says Steve Crim, founder of Common Sense America. "Now we learn from a recent Bloomberg article that China could have even more influence over our food supply than ever anticipated."

In light of these developments, renewing and expanding the Committee on Natural Resources investigation is a prudent action to fully understand China's influence in the environmental lobby and our food supply.

To learn more on how Common Sense America is bringing a common sense approach to our government on our website.

Download Common Sense America's letter to Congress here: Read our Letter to Congress

Common Sense America is a 501c4 grassroots organization committed to bringing a common sense approach to our government. Our mission is to highlight failed extremism on both ends of the political spectrum and hold our leaders accountable to the overwhelming majority of Americans who do not feel represented by the extremist policies being forced upon them.

As an organization, we advocate for a common sense approach to policies and solutions. We support efforts that will strengthen the economy, promote energy diversification and innovation and drive mainstream solutions that make our communities safer.

Media Contact:Steven Crim[email protected]

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SOURCE A Common Sense America
Two facilities selected to provide power pending regulatory approval

BATON ROUGE, La., March 2, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- To meet customers' growing demands for renewable energy and support economic development in the state, Entergy Louisiana this week filed a request with the Louisiana Public Service Commission to approve the purchase, construction and operation of nearly 225 megawatts of new solar power resources.

Entergy Louisiana has selected two projects to source additional solar energy, including one in Iberville Parish that would account for approximately 175 megawatts and another in Ouachita Parish that would account for approximately 49 megawatts. If approved by the Commission, Entergy Louisiana will be able to increase its renewable portfolio and help meet the growing demand for clean generation.

"This is another step toward not only reaching our own sustainability goals, but also toward helping our customers reach their sustainability goals," said Phillip May, Entergy Louisiana president and CEO. "The desire for clean power is increasing and, at Entergy, we intend to meet that desire in a way that balances our ability to continue providing reliable and affordable power. We're excited about the potential addition of nearly 225 megawatts and look forward to further expanding our portfolio of renewables as demanded by our stakeholders."

Under Entergy Louisiana's proposal before the Commission, the company would enter a 20-year purchase power agreement with Coastal Prairie Solar, LLC, an indirect wholly owned subsidiary of NextEra Energy Resources, LLC, for energy produced by its solar facility to be built in Iberville Parish. Also, under the proposal before the Commission, Entergy Louisiana would build and operate what would become the Sterlington Solar Facility in Ouachita Parish.

If approved, construction would tentatively begin in the spring of 2024 with the Iberville facility fully operational in late 2025. The Iberville facility would be followed by the Sterlington Solar Facility, which is expected to deliver clean power to the grid in early 2026.

The proposal also includes a request for authorization to include the new solar resources within the recently approved green tariff Geaux Green Option, or Rider GGO. This is a voluntary program that allows customers the opportunity to subscribe to, and get benefits from, renewable energy resources. Adding these resources to the Rider GGO resource portfolio will further assist Entergy Louisiana customers with meeting their environmental and sustainability goals.

Entergy Louisiana currently has approximately 280 megawatts of renewable resources, including the Capital Region Solar facility, which began delivering power to the grid in October 2020. Along with nuclear generation, nearly 25% of the company's portfolio comes from renewable resources. In addition, the Commission recently approved 475 megawatts of solar power. To meet the growing demands of our stakeholders, Entergy Louisiana has several thousand megawatts of renewable capacity in various stages of planning and procurement that will be brought to the Commission for approval in the near future.

"We continue to work hand-in-hand with our local communities and elected officials across the state," added May. "I want to thank those who have assisted us in bringing these sites to fruition, especially at the parish level, and look forward to what's on the horizon for our state."

In June 2022, Entergy Corporation discussed plans for up to seven gigawatts of renewable resources by the end of 2025, and as much as 14 to 17 gigawatts of renewable resources by the end of 2031. The company previously announced a commitment to achieving net-zero carbon emissions by 2050.

These projects are another milestone in the modernization of Entergy's power generation portfolio, helping meet customers' needs for cleaner, more efficient and diverse energy solutions. Learn more about our renewable energy generation growth at entergy.com/renewable-energy.

About Entergy LouisianaEntergy Louisiana, LLC provides electric service to more than 1 million customers in 58 parishes and natural gas service to more than 94,000 customers in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. Entergy Louisiana is a subsidiary of Entergy Corporation (NYSE: ETR), an integrated energy company engaged in electric power production, transmission and retail distribution operations. Entergy delivers electricity to 3 million utility customers in Arkansas, Louisiana, Mississippi and Texas. Entergy owns and operates one of the cleanest large-scale U.S. power generating fleets with approximately 24,000 megawatts of electric generating capacity, including 5,000 megawatts of nuclear power. Headquartered in New Orleans, Louisiana, Entergy has annual revenues of $10 billion and approximately 12,000 employees.

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SOURCE Entergy Corporation
Donation to Address Lack of Racial, Ethnic, and Gender Diversity in Appraisal Field

HICKSVILLE, N.Y. and TROY, Mich., March 3, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- New York Community Bancorp, Inc. today announced that its subsidiary, Flagstar Bank, N.A., has donated $1 million to the Appraiser Diversity Initiative (ADI), a collaboration between the Appraisal Institute, the National Urban League, Fannie Mae, and Freddie Mac. The initiative aims to attract more diverse applicants to the appraisal field, overcome barriers, such as education and access, and provide support to help aspiring appraisers achieve professional success.

"Curbing racial bias in real estate and appraisals has not garnered the attention of more familiar barriers to homeownership for minorities, such as the lack of funds for a down payment and credit scores," said Thomas R. Cangemi, President and Chief Executive Officer of New York Community Bancorp, Inc. "Now with the involvement of a government task force and the advocacy of the Appraiser Diversity Initiative, paths for success are being developed for diverse, aspiring appraisers."

"As a leading national originator of home loans, Flagstar is deeply invested in the appraisal business," said Lee Smith, President of Mortgage at Flagstar. "We understand the damaging effects of appraisal bias and the importance of diversity in service professions such as appraisals. We're excited to be part of the team working to help make homeownership more accessible to more minorities and look for good things to come from Flagstar's involvement and support," Smith said.

Here's what Flagstar's funding will do:

Support recruiting, training, and credentialing of diverse appraiser trainees.

Support pathways to appraiser licensing through industry connections and experience, including simulations of the appraisal experience as an alternative to the traditional supervisory appraiser-trainee model.

Sponsor and support recruiting workshops in targeted markets.

"The Appraisal Institute is grateful for Flagstar's generous and important commitment to the Appraiser Diversity Initiative, which we expect will open doors to minorities and help diversify the appraisal field," said Appraisal Institute President Craig Steinley.

"Advancing diversity in the appraisal workforce is a key component to reducing instances of appraisal bias and knocking down barriers in the home valuation process," said Jake Williamson, Senior Vice President, Single-Family Collateral Risk Management, Fannie Mae. "We commend Flagstar Bank for their contribution to ADI, which reflects the growing industry commitment to expanding opportunities for new appraisal professionals to begin their careers."

"We appreciate the support of Flagstar Bank for this great initiative," said Pamela Perry, Single-Family Vice President of Equitable Housing at Freddie Mac. "Already, our ADI efforts have put hundreds of diverse candidates on the path to success and this commitment by Flagstar Bank will help us create even more opportunities for the next generation of appraisal professionals."

For more information about the Appraiser Diversity Initiative, please contact Sonia Siemaszko, ADI Coordinator, at [email protected].

About New York Community Bancorp, Inc.New York Community Bancorp, Inc. is the parent company of Flagstar Bank, N.A., one of the largest regional banks in the country. The Company is headquartered in Hicksville, New York, with regional headquarters in Troy, Michigan. At December 31, 2022, the Company had $90.1 billion of assets, $69.0 billion of loans, deposits of $58.7 billion, and total stockholders' equity of $8.8 billion.

Flagstar Bank, N.A. operates 395 branches across nine states, including strong footholds in the Northeast and Midwest and exposure to high growth markets in the Southeast and West Coast. Flagstar Mortgage operates nationally through a wholesale network of approximately 3,000 third-party mortgage originators.

New York Community Bancorp, Inc. has market-leading positions in several national businesses, including multi-family lending, mortgage origination and servicing, and warehouse lending. The Company is the second-largest multi-family portfolio lender in the country and the leading multi-family portfolio lender in the New York City market area, where it specializes in rent-regulated, nonluxury apartment buildings. Flagstar Mortgage is the 8th largest bank originator of residential mortgages for the 12-months ending December 31, 2022, while we are the industry's 6th largest sub-servicer of mortgage loans nationwide, servicing 1.4 million accounts with $346 billion in unpaid principal balances. Additionally, the Company is the 2nd largest mortgage warehouse lender nationally based on total commitments.

About the Appraisal InstituteThe Appraisal Institute is a global professional association of real estate appraisers, with over 16,000 professionals in almost 50 countries throughout the world. Its mission is to advance professionalism and ethics, global standards, methodologies, and practices through the professional development of property economics worldwide. Organized in 1932, the Appraisal Institute advocates equal opportunity and nondiscrimination in the appraisal profession and conducts its activities in accordance with applicable federal, state and local laws. Individuals of the Appraisal Institute benefit from an array of professional education and advocacy programs, and may hold the prestigious MAI, SRPA, SRA, AI-GRS and AI-RRS designations. Learn more at www.appraisalinstitute.org.

Investor Contact:Salvatore J. DiMartino(516) 683-4286

Media Contact: Susan Bergesen(248) 312-6237

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SOURCE New York Community Bancorp, Inc.
Shanghai (Gasgoo)- Kingsoft Corporation Limited (Kingsoft), a China-based and HK-listed leading software and Internet services company, announced on Mar. 2 that Kingsoft Wuhan (a subsidiary of Kingsoft), Xiaomi Beijing, Xiaomi Wuhan and the other investors entered into an agreement to form a fund with an expected subscription contribution amount of 10 billion yuan ($1.449 billion).

The said fund will be mainly engaged in the equity investment or quasi-equity investment (directly or indirectly), or carrying out investment-related activities, in unlisted companies that primarily focuses on the ICs (integrated circuits), and the related upstream and downstream fields, which cover new generation information technology, intelligent manufacturing, new materials, artificial intelligence, display and display devices, automotive electronics, as well as upstream and downstream applications and supply chains regarding consumer mobile terminals and smart devices.

Under the agreement, Kingsoft Wuhan shall take part in the fund as a limited partner and agreed to make a contribution in the amount of 500 million ($72.427 million). Xiaomi Beijing will act as a general partner, while Xiaomi Wuhan and the other investors will serve as other limited partners.

Photo credit: Xiaomi

Both Xiaomi Beijing and Xiaomi Wuhan are subsidiaries of Xiaomi Group, which is an associate of Mr. Jun Lei, a director and substantial shareholder of Kingsoft. Mr. Jun Lei holds a majority of voting power in Xiaomi, while other interests of Xiaomi are held by independent third parties. As such, each of Xiaomi Beijing and Xiaomi Wuhan constitutes an associate of Xiaomi and is a connected person of Kingsoft.

Xiaomi Beijing and Xiaomi Wuhan agreed to subscribe for 30 million ($4.346 million) and 3 billion yuan ($434.562 million) to the fund, representing a 0.33% and 33.22% partnership interest, respectively.
LONG ISLAND CITY, N.Y., March 3, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Hatchleaf, a healthcare artificial intelligence (AI) company, announced their partnership today with Weill Cornell Medicine to leverage machine learning and AI to efficiently match patients to the provider with the most appropriate experience to address their medical complaint.

Hatchleaf is in the business of solving the expensive problem of untimely and often inaccurate patient referrals that waste patient's time and healthcare dollars. The company expects that their novel and unique platform will efficiently and effectively identify the correct provider for any given patient across multiple medical specialties with lower cost and labor than is currently required. As such, patients, providers, and resources can be intelligently matched to optimize care delivery for patients.

"We are thrilled to be working with the office of the Chief Information Officer at WCM to help lower healthcare costs and increase provider and patient satisfaction," said Dr. Arun Rai, president and co-founder of Hatchleaf. "We firmly believe that our platform has the capacity and opportunity to truly change how patients receive care, achieve the quad aim of provider/patient satisfaction, decrease healthcare costs, and improve care delivery. As a provider myself, I believe this has the power to change the healthcare ecosystem as we know it".

About Hatchleaf

Hatchleaf is redefining how healthcare experts are identified, characterized, and matched to patients to transform the healthcare experience for patients, providers and healthcare systems. Our goal is to be the global leader in matching healthcare providers to patients in order to facilitate high-quality and convenient healthcare to reduce cost with optimal outcomes. For more information, please visit www.hatchleaf.com.

About Weill Cornell Medicine

Weill Cornell Medical Center is consistently recognized as a leader in medical education, groundbreaking research, and innovative patient care. Weill Cornell Medicine is committed to excellence in patient care, scientific discovery and the education of future physicians and scientists in New York City and around the world.

The doctors and scientists of Weill Cornell Medicine  faculty from Weill Cornell Medical College, Weill Cornell Graduate School of Medical Sciences, and Weill Cornell Physician Organizationare engaged in world-class clinical care and cutting-edge research that connect patients to the latest treatment innovations and prevention strategies.

For inquiries, please contact:

Nick MitilenesPrincipal and Co-Founder[email protected]

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SOURCE Hatchleaf
PHOENIX, March 3, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Hiru Corporation would like to announce its financial performance for fiscal year end December 31, 2022.

For the three months ended December 31, 2022, the Company generated gross revenues of $5,901,152 USD with net income of $873,106 USD. This is a 604% increase in top line revenue when compared to the three months ended December 31, 2021, of $876,544 USD. Additionally, the Company had a 374% increase in net income for the same period as compared to December 31, 2021, of $232,976 USD.

For the FYE of December 31, 2022, the Company generated gross revenues of $13,717,447 USD with net income of $4,463,211USD. This is over ten times the top line revenue made for FYE December 31, 2021, of $1,249,733. More importantly, the Company beat its projected fiscal year end 2022 top line revenue of $12,500,000 by $1,217,447 USD.

Ms. Kathryn Gavin (President and CEO of the Company), states"Our business and client base has been growing exponentially in the 18 months of revenue generating operation. Each quarter has been better than the previous and we continue to hit all our projected top line revenue projections along the way. While top line revenue is very important, the real question is how we are operating our core business. If you look at our FYE 2022 numbers, our profit margin is a healthy 32.5%. In the end, that is the most important number for any business. We expect that moving forward during calendar year 2023, we will continue the trend of each quarter being better than the last and pulling a profit margin very close to what we attained this past fiscal year. We will move forward by continuing to expand our operational footprint and bringing on new co-packing clients like we have had in the past 18 months. But more importantly, our main goal is continuing to meet the expectations of our growing client base and our shareholders. The Company fully expects that we will be able to hit our projected top line revenue mark of between $30,000,000 USD and $40,000,00 USD by the end of FYE 2023."

Disclaimer Regarding Forward Looking Statements

Certain statements that we make may constitute "forward-looking statements" under the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Forward-looking statements include information concerning future strategic objectives, business prospects, anticipated savings, financial results (including expenses, earnings, liquidity, cash flow and capital expenditures), industry or market conditions, demand for and pricing of our products, acquisitions and divestitures, anticipated results of litigation and regulatory developments or general economic conditions. In addition, words such as "believes," "expects," "anticipates," "intends," "plans," "estimates," "projects," "forecasts," and future or conditional verbs such as "will," "may," "could," "should," and "would," as well as any other statement that necessarily depends on future events, are intended to identify forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements are not guarantees, and they involve risks, uncertainties and assumptions. Although we make such statements based on assumptions that we believe to be reasonable, there can be no assurance that actual results will not differ materially from those expressed in the forward-looking statements. We caution investors not to rely unduly on any forward-looking statements.

ABOUT US

Hiru Corp. is a Georgia corporation, is a public quoted Pink Sheet OTC issuer under the ticker symbol "HIRU" (the "Company"). The Company reports as an alternative reporting issuer with OTC Markets Group, Inc. and is current in its mandatory required filings (e.g., Pink Sheet Current). Currently, the Company has one wholly owned, operational subsidiary, AZ Custom Bottled Water, Inc., a Nevada corporation ("AZ Water"), which owns and operates a commercial water bottling and labeling facility based in Phoenix, Arizona. AZ Water operates a B2C website at https://azcustombottledwater.com/.

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SOURCE Hiru Corporation
The Detroit-Style Pizza Chain is embracing National Ranch Day with some exciting giveaways

STERLING HEIGHTS, Mich., March 3, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Calling all ranch lovers, specifically Jet's Ranch lovers! This year on National Ranch Day, all Jet's Pizza locations will be offering a delicious deal, plus a chance to win a year's worth of free ranch.

all Jet's Pizza locations will be offering a delicious deal, plus a chance to win a year's worth of free ranch.

On Friday, March 10, Jet's Pizza customers who spend $30 or more will receive a FREE 12 oz. bottle of Jet's Ranch (online orders only, using code Ranch23, while supplies last). Plus, customers can head to the Jet's Pizza social media pages to enter in a giveaway where five lucky Jet's Fans will win a year's worth of free Jet's Ranch. Other prizes will also be available to those who participate, including Jet's Ranch T-Shirts, and Jet's Pizza Ranch Ramekins.

Jet's Ranch has developed a huge fan base of ranch lovers. The creamy, flavorful ranch is made in house every single day. It perfectly complements Jet's signature Detroit-Style Crust.

"At Jet's Pizza, we take pride in our ranch and we know our customers love it. The craze for our ranch got so big, about 10 years ago we had to start selling it in 12-ounce bottles," said John Jetts, CEO and President of Jet's America, Inc. "We couldn't pass up on going all out for National Ranch Day. Whether you dunk your pizza in it, your wings, or dress your salad, it really is the best ranch."

For all your National Ranch Day Jet's Pizza merch, check out the Jet's Pizza Shop. For rules and regulations on the Jet's Pizza National Ranch Day Giveaway, please click here.

About Jet's Pizza

Jet's Pizza is based in Sterling Heights, Michigan. It was founded as Jetts Party Shoppe and Pizzeria in 1978 by brothers, John and Eugene Jetts. Since then, it has now grown to over 400 stores in 20 states. Jet's Pizza is known for its Detroit-style, deep-dish pizzas, and fresh, high-quality ingredients. Every morning the dough is prepared by hand, premium mozzarella is grated, vegetables are hand-cut, and sauce is made with fresh vine-ripened tomatoes mixed with Jet's proprietary spice and herb blend.

Media Contact: Gabriella GallowayJet's America586-795-8403[email protected]

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SOURCE Jet's Pizza
BEIJING, March 3, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- A report from chinadaily.com.cn:

China's GDP growth was the top concern among global internet users, according to an online survey by China Daily's website and 10 global media outlets.

The survey's results are seen as a barometer of how people worldwide view the two sessions, which are the annual meetings of the National People's Congress, China's top legislature, and the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference, the country's top political advisory body. It asked respondents to choose the China-related topics they were most interested in ahead of the annual event.

In the survey, 20.06 percent of the respondents said that China's GDP growth was the most anticipated topic, followed by business and trade (16.66 percent), science-tech innovation (15.2 percent), environment (13.70 percent), politics (11.58 percent) and foreign policy (10.5 percent). A total of 8,290 people had submitted answers as of Monday.

The 10 participating overseas media organizations, including the Pakistan Observer and Viet Nam News, published the questionnaire online to collect responses from readers.

Among respondents, 51.02 percent said they have high confidence in China's growth.

The International Monetary Fund increased its forecast for China's economic growth to 5.2 percent in 2023 in its World Economic Outlook report. The updated number was 0.8 percentage point higher than the October forecast.

John Edwards, the United Kingdom's trade commissioner for China, said: "I think that's perfectly possible. In that report by the IMF, they said their revised growth figures for China were one of the reasons they were also revising the global figures as well in a more positive direction."

Regarding the two sessions, Edwards said, "We're expecting a kind of a raft of measures that will encourage consumption and stimulate the private sector, and keep the momentum of the Chinese economy, not just this year, but in subsequent years."

Roshan Khadka, editor-in-chief of the Nepalese website Kathmandu Pati, said the optimization of COVID-19 response and the recovery of consumption will underpin China's economic growth.

Global readers are also closely watching China's foreign policy. When asked what they wanted to know about China's diplomacy, 15.75 percent of survey respondents chose China-US ties as their main interest.

Aitizaz Hassan, a writer for Independent News Pakistan, said, "A normal China-US relationship could lead to increased trade and investment between the two countries, which could have economic benefits for both sides and help reduce tensions and improve political stability in the region."

"China and the US could have significant geopolitical implications, including the potential for greater cooperation on global issues such as economy, climate change and international security," Hassan added.

As this year marks the 10th anniversary of the China-proposed Belt and Road Initiative, 12.97 percent of the respondents said they will keep an eye on the BRI.

Necati Demircan, a journalist with the Turkish newspaper Aydinlik, noted that "a revival in world trade is provided by the BRI, which is one of the most important investment and development projects of the 21st century".

So far, 151 countries and 32 international organizations are participating in the BRI.

Visiting China is another big interest for global readers. In the survey, 76.74 percent of the respondents said they plan to visit China this year, with 46.87 percent planning to do so for leisure purposes and 18.03 percent for business.

Edwards said the optimization measures mean more tourism, more education exchange, more business exchange. "That is a wonderful thing, not just for our economies, but longer term for social interaction," he added.

Khadka said that he held business meetings in Beijing and Kunming, capital of Yunnan province, in Feb and will visit China again.

(By Zhang Chunyan and Yang Yang | China Daily)https://global.chinadaily.com.cn/a/202302/28/WS63fd3cf6a31057c47ebb1223.html

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SOURCE chinadaily.com.cn
BEIJING, Mar, 3, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- A news report from chinadaily.com.cn:

It is urgent to build a consensus on the notion that the real economy is the foundation of China's national economy and an important pillar ensuring the country's prosperity, and efforts are needed to boost the high-quality growth of the manufacturing industry, which is the principal part of the real economy, said Miao Wei, a member of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC) National Committee and vice-chairman of the Committee on Economic Affairs of the National Committee of the CPPCC.

China has maintained its status as the world's largest manufacturer for 12 consecutive years, with the value added of its manufacturing sector accounting for 27.4 percent of the country's GDP in 2021 and about one-third of the global manufacturing industry.

However, along with the solid development of the domestic manufacturing sector, there have been voices questioning the manufacturing industry, linking them with such problems as environmental pollution, overcapacity and backwardness, some even call for more emphasis on developing emerging industries and high-tech manufacturing industries while ignoring the technological transformation and upgrading of the traditional manufacturing sector.

Voicing his concern, Miao proposed at the second plenary meeting of the fourth session of the 13th CPPCC National Committee on March 7, 2021 to further unify the social understanding of the high-quality development of the manufacturing industry and speed up the improvement of the systems and mechanisms conducive to the high-quality development of the sector, in a bid to further promote the development of the real economy.

In the past few years, Miao has made promoting the real economy and accelerating the construction of a powerful manufacturing nation his top priority in performing his duties as a member of the CPPCC National Committee.

He said that even though China's manufacturing industry has made great achievements in recent years, it still faces the challenge of being big but not strong, and many fundamental capabilities are still weak, key core technologies are controlled by other economies and the business environment needs to be further optimized.

As the former head of a leading automaker in China and later as the minister of industry and information technology, Miao has spared no efforts in supporting the transformation and development of the automobile industry, a key pillar sector of the national economy, over the years.

Many of Miao's insightful views, such as those on the development of intelligent connected vehicles and on-board intelligent computing platforms, the importance of long-term strategic cooperation between automakers and integrated circuit enterprises, and the significance of developing automobile operating systems, have won wide praise from relevant authorities and automakers. A selection of these views has been incorporated into national industrial development plans or industrial administration policies.

Miao said that, in the long run, China needs to further encourage the cultivation of high-quality skilled workers, promote the spirit of craftsmanship, and give professional technicians the social status and treatment they deserve, to build itself into a manufacturing power.

He suggested the establishment of a mechanism that tilts the ownership of scientific research achievements to talents who have made major contributions, in addition to the development of a more relaxed and inclusive environment for scientific research, as well as an improved system for intellectual property rights protection.

Miao's footprints were also found in investigations and research on some major issues involving high-quality development, including development of digital government, the systematic layout of new infrastructure projects, the promotion of the sustainable and healthy development of the digital economy, the scientific and technological ethics and legal issues in developing artificial intelligence, the equal access to basic public services and improvement of social security and optimization of the business environment during the 14th Five-Year Plan (2021-25) period.

Miao is also concerned about Sino-US relations. He said he believes that the two countries can fully carry out cooperation based on common interests.

For example, when dealing with the issue of climate change, the two countries can give play to their respective expertise and advantages to achieve common development. While contributing to the green and low-carbon development of the two countries and the world, cooperation between the two sides will also effectively promote the cultivation of emerging industries and sustainable economic growth.

"It is my honor to be able to contribute to the Party's undertakings and to solve problems for the people through my own efforts," said Miao, who recently won national recognition for his outstanding performance as a CPPCC member in 2022.

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SOURCE chinadaily.com.cn
SECAUCUS, N.J., March 3, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Quest Diagnostics (NYSE: DGX), the world's leading provider of diagnostic information services, today announced that its Board of Directors elected James E. Davis, the company's Chief Executive Officer and President, to serve in the additional position of Chairman of the Board of Directors, effective April 1, 2023.

"The Board carefully considered our governance structure and determined that combining the roles of Chairman and CEO under Jim Davis's leadership is in the best interest of shareholders to successfully continue to execute Quest Diagnostics' strategy," said Tim Ring, Quest's Lead Independent Director.

Mr. Davis, who joined the company in 2013 and assumed the role of Chief Executive Officer, President and Director on November 1, 2022, will succeed former CEO Steve Rusckowski, who remains Chairman through March 31, 2023.

"I am honored to assume these additional responsibilities as I continue to work together with the Board, Quest's nearly 50,000 colleagues and our many customers and partners to create a healthier world and build value," said Mr. Davis. "I want to thank Steve for his many years of stewardship as Chairman and CEO. I look forward to building on his contributions and working closely with Tim Ring in my new capacity as Chairman."

Mr. Ring added: "On behalf of the full Board, I want to thank Steve Rusckowski for his leadership over the past decade and his tremendous dedication and commitment to making Quest Diagnostics the exceptional company it is today."

Jim Davis Biography

Jim Davis is Chief Executive Officer and President of Quest Diagnostics, a role he assumed on November 1, 2022, after a gradual leadership transition plan, succeeding Quest's long-time CEO Steve Rusckowski.

Previously, Jim served as Executive Vice President for General Diagnostics since 2017. Jim joined Quest in April 2013 as Senior Vice President, Diagnostic Services and was named Senior Vice President, Operations in February 2014.

Before joining Quest, Jim served as CEO of InSightec, Inc., a medical device company. Prior to that, he held senior management positions in a two-decade career in General Electric's aviation and healthcare businesses, including leading GE's MRI business for five years. Before GE, Jim led the development of strategic and operating initiatives for clients of McKinsey & Company, Inc. He holds a master's degree in management from the Sloan School of Management at Massachusetts Institute of Technology, a master's degree in science from MIT and a bachelor's degree in aeronautical engineering from the University of Michigan.

Steve Rusckowski Biography

Steve Rusckowski joined Quest Diagnostics as Chief Executive Officer in May 2012. At that time Quest was not growing, and he led the transformation of the company into the leader in diagnostic information services with strong financial performance. Steve focused Quest on accelerating growth and driving operational excellence by improving relationships with health plans and hospital health systems and expanding faster-growing businesses in advanced diagnostics and consumer testing.

Steve also drove Quest to be more inclusive. Today the company is overseen by a board of directors that is made up of 40% women and two people of color. In 2020, Mr. Rusckowski spearheaded the launch of Quest for Health Equity, a $100 million commitment to reduce health disparities among the underserved in the U.S.

At the outset of the COVID-19 pandemic, Steve became deeply involved in the national response, partnering with elected officials and public health authorities, as well as healthcare providers, payers and retailers, to quickly expand access to COVID-19 testing.

Prior to joining Quest Diagnostics, Steve was CEO of Philips Healthcare, which became the largest unit of Royal Philips Electronics under his leadership. He joined Philips in 2001 when it acquired the Healthcare Solutions Group he was leading at Hewlett-Packard/Agilent Technologies.

Steve served as Chairman of the Board of Directors of the American Clinical Laboratory Association from 2014 to 2017. He is also an Emeritus Director of Project Hope, a global health education and humanitarian assistance organization. He earned a Master of Science degree in Management from the Sloan School of Management at Massachusetts Institute of Technology and a Bachelor of Science degree in Mechanical Engineering from Worcester Polytechnic Institute, where he serves on the Board of Trustees.

About Quest Diagnostics Quest Diagnostics empowers people to take action to improve health outcomes. Derived from the world's largest database of clinical lab results, our diagnostic insights reveal new avenues to identify and treat disease, inspire healthy behaviors and improve health care management. Quest annually serves one in three adult Americans and half the physicians and hospitals in the United States, and our 50,000 employees understand that, in the right hands and with the right context, our diagnostic insights can inspire actions that transform lives. www.QuestDiagnostics.com

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SOURCE Quest Diagnostics
This partnership expands access to healthcare services available as an employee benefit.

PORTLAND, Maine, March 3, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- SoulBeing today announced that its complementary and alternative care services platform will now be available to clients of Cross Insurance, one of the largest independent insurance brokers in the Northeast region. The platform offers on-demand access to a network of services from conventional, complementary, and alternative healthcare professionals to help patients manage their overall health, both in person and virtually.

"Our communities are full of qualified providers offering evidence-based services that help keep people well, but access to these services is still an issue," says SoulBeing CEO, Colleen Kavanagh.

"Our clients are looking for solutions that better support the whole health of employees and their families," said Eric Jermyn, President of Employee Benefits for Cross Insurance.

Cross Insurance is proud to work with businesses throughout the Northeast to provide benefits for their employees, with offices located in Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, Massachusetts, Connecticut, Rhode Island, and New York.

"Launching this partnership in the Northeast is a big step toward improving the health and wellbeing of our communities," states Kavanagh. "Our goal is to remove the barriers to achieving whole person health for the whole family, and that starts with access to and education about the services available to us both locally and virtually."

About SoulBeing

SoulBeing is reimagining a healthcare infrastructure that incorporates every facet of health and wellness into one intuitive experience. By providing access to a high-quality network of complementary and alternative service providers, SoulBeing is focused on supplementing health plans and benefits packages to provide comprehensive healthcare options to their clients. Our provider care navigation platform integrates with strategic care partners as well as employee benefits plans offering a digital marketplace of more than sixty (60) categories of evidence-based therapies (examples include: acupuncture, massage, fitness, nutrition services, functional medicine, naturopathy, mental health counseling, and many more). Featuring care navigation, scheduling, and payment capability conducted through a HIPAA-compliant platform, SoulBeing ensures that these services are more logistically and financially accessible to employees and their families, whether they are focused on preventative health, chronic condition management, or anything in between. For more information, please visit www.soulbeing.com.

About Cross Insurance

Founded in 1954 by Woodrow Cross from his kitchen table, Cross Insurance has grown from a small, family-owned and operated insurance agency based in Bangor, Maine, into one of the largest insurance providers in the Northeast. Still family-owned and operated, Cross Insurance provides an extensive range of customized and innovative insurance products including personal and commercial insurance lines, employee benefits, surety bonds, comprehensive risk management services, and specialized products focused on higher education and high net worth needs. For more information about Cross Insurance, please visit www.crossagency.com.

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SOURCE Soul Being
SACRAMENTO, Calif., March 3, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Starwest Botanicals is joining forces with Sacramento neighbor and farmer-owned cooperative  Pachamama Coffee  to offer 100 percent organic and shade grown coffee.

Owned and governed by coffee farmers from Latin America to Africa, Pachamama Coffee Cooperative members tend to some of the most precious ecosystems on the planet. Their USDA-certified organic, shade grown coffee ranks as some of the highest grades of coffee available. Coffee shrubs thrive under the robust shade of a diverse ecosystem. The flora and fauna protected by land dedicated to shade grown coffee production shelters wildlife, like birds, and provides food to farmer families.

"This is a success story of two local companies known for ethical sourcing and sustainability coming together to do business in a new way," said Cole Daily, CEO Starwest Botanicals. "This business model changes the narrative for coffee farmers. They set their own prices for coffee and all profits made from the business are allocated back to the cooperatives."

Starwest Coffee will be packaged in earth-friendly 10 ounce or 2 pound compostable Biotre1.0 bags. Made from 60 percent renewable wood pulp, bags will disintegrate into healthy compost in a backyard, home composting environment.

Starwest coffee is available in five, whole bean varieties for both wholesale and retail customers.

Pachamama Coffee was founded by visionaries in coffee communities around the world. The founding farmers and partners knew they could build a better future and better supply chain that benefitted coffee farmers and coffee drinkers alike. It was time to change the industry and take control of their own business: truly seed to cup.

"As a consumer you have a choice when you go to the grocery store or a coffee shop to choose something better for your own health and better for all of those involved throughout the supply chain," said Thaleon. "Our hope is to bring light to better ways of doing business by buying your products with the planet and people in mind."

Roasting, packing, and shipping coffee is the foundation of Pachamama Coffee. Based in El Dorado Hills, CA the production and roasting team make sure that every bag of coffee packed is filled with the freshest coffee possible. Learn more about Starwest Botanicals and our Partnership with Pachamama Organic Coffee here.

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SOURCE Starwest Botanicals Inc
The prestigious annual list recognizes Study.com for its mission-driven brand, products, and initiatives

MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif., March 2, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Study.com, a leading online education platform, has been named to Fast Company's list of the World's Most Innovative Companies for 2023. Study.com ranked #4 in the Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) category, highlighting its mission-driven brand, products, and initiatives that increase access to education for underserved learners and educators. Study.com is the only award recipient in the category whose product is the impact.

Study.com helps over 30 million learners and educators every month achieve their breakthrough moments at every stage of the learning journey. Study.com is used in more than 10,000 districts across the nation. The core of Study.com's ability to deliver social impact is rooted in its products  from concept to design and implementation.

All of Study.com's products, which span K-12, higher education, high-dosage tutoring, and professional test preparation, are designed with the understanding that all learners learn differently. The learning platform is built on the critical need for diverse learning modalities to support all learners in achieving their educational goals.

"I am honored that Study.com has been recognized by Fast Company for delivering exceptional impact through our products," said Adrian Ridner, co-founder and CEO of Study.com. "We believe that education is the ultimate equalizer, and our team works hard every day to make education accessible and open the door to the life-changing impact of education for all learners."

Donating over $27M to date, Study.com's evidence-based social impact initiatives provide access to education for underserved learners. In 2022, in an effort to combat the teacher shortage nationwide, the company launched Keys to the Classroom, a program that seeks to bolster and diversify the educator pipeline. Through the initiative, Study.com partners with school districts, colleges and universities, and education nonprofits to access Study.com's world-class test preparation adaptive curriculum  so aspiring teachers can prepare and get certified on their first attempt. The Keys to the Classroom initiative was specifically highlighted by Fast Company for its innovative approach.

"We're so proud of the recognition of Study.com's Keys to the Classroom program, which aims to place more diverse educators into America's classrooms," said Dana Bryson, senior vice president of social impact at Study.com. "By partnering with these innovative and forward-thinking programs, our goal is to remove barriers and bolster the national educator workforce to be comprised of teachers from diverse backgrounds and experiences, ultimately improving student outcomes and success."

In just one year, Keys to the Classroom has scaled to 20 states with thousands of aspiring teacher candidates enrolled, including 60% as first-generation college students and 50% as people of color. Current partners include some of the nation's largest school districts, departments of education, and education nonprofits, such as Clark County School District, The West Virginia Department of Education, TNTP, and Tennessee Department of Education.

In addition to the Keys to the Classroom program, Study.com leverages its platform to help non-traditional students graduate from college debt-free. Its College Accelerator, which has saved students over $280 million in tuition, has enabled the company to implement other social impact initiatives, including the Working Scholars program, which offers debt-free bachelor's degrees at no cost to working adults.

One of the year's most highly anticipated editorial efforts, Fast Company's annual World's Most Innovative Companies list honors businesses that are making the most significant impact on their industries and culture. The list spotlights companies of varying sizes, industries, and economic sectors that represent the future of innovation. Fast Company's editors and reporters sought out the companies making the biggest strides around the globe and evaluated nominations across 54 sectors and regions.

See the full 2023 World's Most Innovative Companies: Corporate Social Responsibility list at https://www.fastcompany.com/90846914/most-innovative-companies-corporate-social-responsibility-2023.

About Study.com

Study.com helps over 30 million learners and educators to meet their academic and professional goals through K12 curriculum, college courses, tutoring and test preparation. Used in over 10,000 school districts across the nation, Study.com is recognized by Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA) for meeting Level IV evidence standards. Headquartered in Mountain View, CA, Study.com is named on the 2022 and 2023 GSV 150, a list of the world's most transformative private companies in education. The company has donated over $27 million across social impact programs committed to the mission of Making Education Accessible. These programs include Working Scholars, an accelerated pathway for working adults to earn a debt-free bachelor's degree, and Keys to the Classroom, which seeks to help aspiring educators prepare for and pass their teacher certification exams.

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SOURCE Study.com
TORONTO, March 3, 2023 /PRNewswire/ - SoftwareReviews, a leading source for insights on the software provider landscape, has published its 2023 Data Quadrant Report on the top cloud infrastructure solutions. The comprehensive report is ready for download from the firm's website, which is updated in real time to reflect new reviews and ratings. Three providers have been identified as Gold Medalists.

Cloud infrastructure-as-a-service (IaaS) platforms offer a wide array of "hosting" features in varying degrees and can be thought of as "data centers in the cloud." However, unlike traditional data center infrastructure, Cloud IaaS allows for compute, storage, and networking resource consumption via a utility cost model that enables resources to be scaled up or down as required to balance performance against cost effectiveness.

"At this point, many organizations have achieved a reasonable level of maturity for adopting and operating cloud services and understand that the cloud isn't a magic answer to every problem," says Nabeel Sherif, Principal Advisory Director at Info-Tech Research Group and SoftwareReviews. "The focus is now on being 'cloud smart'; that is, making sure you have the right visibility and tooling to understand and keep control of a more diverse IT footprint and costs while still realizing the speed and agility that brought companies to the cloud in the first place."

The top cloud infrastructure software providers of the year have been identified by SoftwareReviews based on verified survey data collected from 837 end users. These providers have received high scores on SoftwareReviews' Data Quadrant.

Providers are ranked by a composite satisfaction score, called a Composite Score (CS). The CS is the average of four different areas of evaluation: Net Emotional Footprint, Vendor Capabilities, Product Features, and Likeliness to Recommend.

The 2023 Cloud Infrastructure Software Gold Medalists are as follows:

Google Cloud, 8.8 CS, ranked high for analytics and reporting.

Amazon EC2, 8.7 CS, ranked high for cloud integrations.

Microsoft Azure, 8.7 CS, ranked high for its quality of features.

SoftwareReviews' comprehensive user reviews provide an accurate and detailed view of a complicated and ever-changing market. The data comes from individuals who use the software day in and day out and IT professionals who have worked with it intimately through procurement, implementation, and maintenance.

For more information about SoftwareReviews, the Data Quadrant, or the Emotional Footprint, or to access resources to support the software selection process, visit softwarereviews.com

About SoftwareReviews

SoftwareReviews empowers organizations with the best data, insights, and advice to improve the software buying and selling experience.

For buyers, SoftwareReviews' proven software selection methodologies, customer insights, and technology advisors help maximize success with technology decisions. For providers, the firm helps build more effective marketing, product, and sales processes with expert analysts, how-to research, customer-centric marketing content, and comprehensive analysis of the buyer landscape.

SoftwareReviews is a division of Info-Tech Research Group, a world-class technology research and advisory firm.

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SOURCE SoftwareReviews
MIAMINew York based, red-headed performer Brody Kayman has signed a 12-month deal with SayUncle as its newest exclusive model.

Brody is a handsome ginger top with a huge package, a SayUncle rep said. Hes a versatile actor and a top-notch performer who likes it rough. He matches our brand perfectly!

Kayman says he looks in his performances to make a connection with his scene partners on set. I learn what they like and dont like so that we can have the best experience possible, he explains.

He also reveals that, I have only been having sex with men for less than five years, as I spent 14 years married to my ex-wife. My experiences are new and I learn more each day about the community and myself.

Kayman's first scene with SayUncle went live on June 11, 2022 and since then, he has shot over 18 fan-favorite scenes with the network, even becoming a SayUncle All-Star in December of 2022 and starring in his first skinematic feature, Ill Be Hole for Christmas.

Starting March 1, Kayman will be appearing exclusively on SayUncle.com. Keep up with him on Twitter @Rough_Ginger and Instagram @kaymanbrody.

Some upcoming scenes with Kayman include:

March 14, 2023 - Missionary Boys with Sam Ledger

March 21, 2023 - Missionary Boys with Dakota Lovell

March 28, 2023 - Missionary Boys with Sam Ledger and Dakota Lovell

April 11, 2023 - Missionary Boys with Dakota Lovell

For more, visit SayUncle.com and follow on Twitter @sayunclenetwork and Instagram @thesayunclenetwork.
JINAN, SHANDONG, China , March 3, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- On February 18th-19th, the 11th International Symposium on Engine Reliability Technology was grandly held in Jinan, Shandong, China, hosted by the National Key Laboratory of Engine and Power System Reliability. Over 1,000 experts, scholars, and industry representatives from nearly 200 domestic and foreign research institutions, universities, and well-known companies discussed the development of key common technologies for engine reliability through online and offline methods, jointly promoting global industry technological progress and industrial chain transformation and upgrading.

In 2015, Weichai Power undertook the construction of the only national key laboratory of engine reliability in China's engine industry. Since 2020, Weichai has successively released the world's first commercial diesel engines with body thermal efficiency of 50.23%, 51.09%, and 52.28%, setting a new benchmark for diesel engine thermal efficiency globally, and leading China's engine industry towards a world-class level.

In November 2022, the National Key Laboratory of Engine and Power System, which was led by Weichai Power, officially obtained approval from the Ministry of Science and Technology, becoming one of the first batch of national key laboratories to complete the restructuring. Starting from this year's symposium, the International Symposium on Engine Reliability Technology will be hosted by the National Key Laboratory of Engine and Power System. In addition, in conjunction with the new research direction of the National Key Laboratory of Engine and Power System, a new platform for technological exchange in the power system industry, the "International Symposium on Power System Technology", will be organized in the future.

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SOURCE Weichai America
BEIJING, March 3, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- A news report from Beijing Review:

Qin Yanbei, general manager of a private company, attended a special meeting in China's capital where he met Premier Li Keqiang in February. Li chaired the seminar, soliciting opinions on the draft government work report, which reviews the government's performance in 2022 and outlines priorities for the coming year.

Qin's company, in Ningbo, Zhejiang Province, manufactures and sells household items such as toys, festive decorations, candles and lamps. During the gathering, he shared his suggestions drawn from the perspective of his work, such as further relieving the financial difficulties of small and medium-sized companies, and increasing subsidies for research and development projects of these enterprises.

Noting the challenges private companies face in China, Li urged more efforts to stabilize the economy and boost economic recovery.

Aside from Qin, representatives from a range of other fields also expressed their thoughts and opinions. Similar gatherings take place every year in the lead-up to the annual session of the National People's Congress (NPC). This year's session will get underway on March 5 in Beijing. The NPC is China's supreme state authority, composed of deputies elected by provinces, autonomous regions, municipalities, special administrative regions and armed forces.

There is an online opinion-seeking campaign as well, inviting the general public to offer advice and suggestions. All suggestions will be considered or included in the government work report to be delivered by the premier at the session's opening meeting. This is a way people, regardless of social or professional status, can participate in their country's decision-making process.

"I have served as a representative of construction workers, especially migrant workers from rural areas, in the hopes of further improving their living and working conditions. I will continue to do so at the upcoming NPC session," Zou Bin, an NPC deputy and a quality control manager at China Construction Fifth Engineering Bureau in Hunan Province, said.

Approximately 30 percent of NPC deputies are officials, while workers and farmers account for less than 20 percent, but their proportion has been on the rise.

China's major policies and decisions are not rubber-stamped during the annual legislative session; they need to undergo several rounds of public solicitation, discussion and revision, Chai Baoyong, head of the Institution of Intraparty Rules and Regulations and State Supervisory Studies at the University of Chinese Academy of Social Sciences (UCASS), told Beijing Review. "It's a long incubation process," he said. "The reports presented to the public at the NPC session are relatively mature. But still, modifications will be made after deputies have discussed them."

NPC deputies serve as a link connecting government and public. Part of their role includes regularly carrying out field research to gain understanding of economic and social development, performance of duties by government agencies, as well as public opinion. Based on this insight, they formulate suggestions, which they then submit to the NPC. Government agencies are obligated to consider these suggestions and give feedback. As legislators, deputies can also put forward motions on making, amending and interpreting laws.

The proposed agenda items for the First Session of the 14th NPC this year include routine tasks such as reviewing the government work report and deliberating on the annual plan for social and economic development, as well as the plans for central and local budgets.

Lawmakers are also slated to review a draft amendment to the Legislation Law, which regulates the legislative process. In addition, the 14th NPC is expected to elect and appoint leaders of state institutions during this session.

The Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference National Committee, the country's top political advisory body that usually holds its annual session in tandem with the NPC, will also elect a new leadership this year.

Zhou Shaolai, Deputy Dean of the UCASS School of Government, believed one of the focuses at this year's sessions will be on the economy. "Following a three-year-long battle against COVID-19, economic recovery and employment are the government's top priorities," he said.

In February, the International Monetary Fund projected that China's economy will grow by 5.2 percent in 2023, 0.8 percentage points higher than its forecast in October last year.

"Boosting consumption is a key issue. It is crucial to boost consumer and market confidence and improve overall expectations for the future," Chai said.

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SOURCE Beijing Review
Mattinson joined the company in 2019 as its first female vice president

CHICAGO, March 3, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Zoro.com, an eCommerce company that sells millions of supplies, equipment and tools to small businesses nationwide, today announced Sandy Mattinson, who currently serves as Chief Revenue Officer, will become the company's new president on April 1, 2023. She succeeds Kevin Weadick, who stepped down after serving as the company's president since 2017.

"Sandy is a consummate leader who both inspires and challenges her teams in new and creative ways all with the goal of doing good for our team members, customers and communities," said D.G. Macpherson, Chairman and CEO of Grainger, Zoro's parent company. "Sandy's strategic vision, thought leadership, innovative bent and authenticity helped drive the company's success over the past four years, and as president she will continue to strengthen the Zoro brand and deliver value for our customers and suppliers."

Mattinson joined Zoro in 2019 as its first female vice president and has taken on roles of increasing responsibility across the company, including serving as the Chief Merchandising Officer. In that role, she provided strategic and operational leadership across Zoro's business development, category management, product information, pricing, and digital merchandising teams. She was instrumental in Zoro expanding its assortment to 11 million products and achieving $1 billion in annual revenue in 2022.

"I'm honored and energized by the opportunity to lead the Zoro team," said Mattinson. "Zoro is a special place. We are passionate about delivering a differentiated experience for our business customers, and thanks to the great talent at Zoro, I believe the best is yet to come."

Before joining Zoro, Mattinson held leadership roles in strategy, merchandising and marketing with Bain & Company and leading businesses including The Clorox Company, Victoria's Secret and Bath & Body Works. Mattinson holds a bachelor's in business administration from the University of California, Berkeley, and an MBA from Stanford University. She was selected as an International Women's Forum Leadership Fellow in 2021.

About Zoro.com: Zoro.com (a subsidiary of W.W. Grainger, Inc.) is an ecommerce experience, offering millions and millions of products  an endless aisle  where customers can find and buy more of what they need in one place. With fair pricing, quick delivery, and great customer service, Zoro exists to make small business customers' lives easier.

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SOURCE W.W. Grainger, Inc.
SHANGHAI, March 2, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- ZTO Express (Cayman) Inc. (NYSE: ZTO and SEHK: 2057), a leading and fast-growing express delivery company in China ("ZTO" or the "Company"), today issued the following statement in response to allegations made in a report by Grizzly Research LLC, a short seller.

The Company believes the report is without merit and contains numerous errors, unsupported speculations, and misleading conclusions and interpretations. It also shows a lack of basic understanding of the Company's business model and financial reporting structure, and a lack of thorough reading of the Company's public filings. The Company's board of directors, including the audit committee, is reviewing the allegations and considering the appropriate course of action to take to safeguard the interests of all shareholders. The Company will make additional disclosures in due course consistent with the requirements of applicable rules and regulations of the Securities and Exchange Commission, the New York Stock Exchange, and The Stock Exchange of Hong Kong Limited.

The Company reiterates its continued and unwavering commitment to maintaining high standards of corporate governance and internal controls, as well as transparent and timely disclosure in compliance with applicable rules and regulations. The Company reserves all rights to take appropriate actions to protect the rights of the Company and those of its shareholders.

About ZTO

ZTO Express (Cayman) Inc. (NYSE: ZTO and SEHK: 2057) ( " ZTO " or the " Company " ) is a leading and fast-growing express delivery company in China. ZTO provides express delivery service as well as other value-added logistics services through its extensive and reliable nationwide network coverage in China.

ZTO operates a highly scalable network partner model, which the Company believes is best suited to support the significant growth of e-commerce in China. The Company leverages its network partners to provide pickup and last-mile delivery services, while controlling the mission-critical line-haul transportation and sorting network within the express delivery service value chain.

For more information, please visit http://zto.investorroom.com.

Safe Harbor Statement

This press release contains statements that may constitute "forward-looking" statements pursuant to the "safe harbor" provisions of the U.S. Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. ZTO may also make forward-looking statements in the Company's periodic reports to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (the "SEC"), in its interim and annual reports to shareholders, in announcements, circulars or other publications made on the website of The Stock Exchange of Hong Kong Limited (the "Hong Kong Stock Exchange" ), in press releases and other written materials and in oral statements made by its officers, directors or employees to third parties. Statements that are not historical facts, including statements about the Company's beliefs and expectations, are forward-looking statements. These forward-looking statements can be identified by terminology, such as "will," " expects," " anticipates," " future," " intends," " plans," " believes," " confidence," " estimates," "likely to" and similar statements. Forward-looking statements involve inherent risks and uncertainties. A number of important factors could cause actual results to differ materially from those contained in any forward-looking statement. Potential risks and uncertainties include, but are not limited to, the development of the e-commerce industry in China, its significant reliance on the Alibaba ecosystem, risks associated with its network partners and their employees and personnel, intense competition which could adversely affect the Company's results of operations and market share, any service disruption of the Company's sorting hubs or the outlets operated by its network partners or its technology system. Further information regarding these and other risks is included in ZTO's annual report on Form 20-Fs and other filings with the SEC and the Hong Kong Stock Exchange. All information provided in this press release is current as of the date hereof, and ZTO assumes no obligation to update such information, except as required under applicable law.

View original content:https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/zto-responds-to-short-seller-report-301761831.html

SOURCE ZTO Express (Cayman) Inc.
By Aditi Shah and Tim Hepher

DELHI/PARIS (Reuters) - Indian budget carrier IndiGo is in talks with both Boeing and its current supplier Airbus to order more than 500 passenger jets, potentially smashing an industry record set by domestic rival Air India a few weeks ago, industry sources said.

India's largest airline has until now been an exclusive buyer of narrow-body jets from Airbus and French Finance Minister Bruno Le Maire said last month that IndiGo was close to ordering several hundred planes from the European planemaker.

But negotiations to keep renewing the budget carrier's fleet from the end of the decade have also broadened to include mid-sized wide-body jets, sparking a contest between Boeing's 787 Dreamliner and the upgraded Airbus A330neo, the sources said.

IndiGo, owned by InterGlobe Aviation Ltd, is also comparing the A320neo with the Boeing 737 MAX as it weighs a major new order for narrow-body jets, they added. The split between wide- and narrow-body jets was not immediately clear.

An IndiGo representative told Reuters the airline is constantly in talks with manufacturers as it plans its next phase of growth. "However, we haven't finalised anything till now."

Airbus declined to comment on any talks, saying it is "always in contact with existing and potential customers". Boeing had no immediate comment.

IndiGo, which counts a 55% share of the domestic market, is widely expected to maintain Airbus as its supplier of narrow-body jets to squeeze out further economies of scale.

It is already one of Airbus's largest customers and has so far ordered a total of 830 Airbus A320-family jets of which 488 are still to be delivered.

But Indian analysts say Airbus will face a tougher fight for the wide-body order. In a departure from its single-aisle strategy, IndiGo last month began international operations with a Boeing 777, its first wide-body aircraft, taken from codeshare partner Turkish Airlines, which provides the pilots.

RECORD DEMAND

Efforts by Indian carriers to keep pace with the world's fastest-growing aviation market, serving what is soon to become the largest population, have sent industry records tumbling even though manufacturers are struggling to meet output goals.

Tata-owned Air India last month sealed deals for a record 470 jets from Airbus and Boeing and plans to lease another 25 for immediate needs, bringing the acquisition to 495 aircraft.

The head of budget airline Akasa Air told Reuters last month it would place a "substantially" large order for new narrowbody jets this year on top of an existing Boeing 737 MAX order.

Industry publication CAPA reported last month that IndiGo was looking at around 500 jets as Air India closed its own deal.

Indian aviation has been hobbled in the past by airline failures, weak infrastructure and questions over the rights of foreign leasing companies that step in to finance the sales.

While analysts have warned the market could overheat again, Dublin-based Avolon, one of the largest lessors, has said consolidation and airport upgrades have improved the outlook and India is set to remain a major source of growth.

Indigo began operations in 2006 and flies to more than 75 Indian cities including to remote destinations in the country's northeast. It also flies internationally to nearby places including Dubai, Singapore, Hanoi and Maldives and is expanding into Europe through its partnership with Turkish Airlines.

(Reporting by Aditi Shah, Tim Hepher; Editing by Kirsten Donovan)
[CHAPMAN AND CUTLER LETTERHEAD]

March 3, 2023

Securities and Exchange Commission

100 F Street, N.E.

Washington, DC 20549

Re: Innovator ETFs Trust

(Registration Nos. 333-146827 and 811-22135)

Ladies and Gentlemen:

On behalf of the Innovator ETFs Trust (the Registrant), in accordance with the provisions of Rule 497(j) of Regulation C under the Securities Act of 1933 (the Securities Act), this letter serves to certify that the most recent amendment to the Registration Statement on Form N-1A (the Registration Statement) of the Registrant for the below funds, each of which is a series of the Registrant, does not differ from that which would have been filed pursuant to Rule 497(c) of the Securities Act:

Innovator 20+ Year Treasury Bond 9 Buffer ETF  July Innovator 20+ Year Treasury Bond 5 Floor ETF  Quarterly Innovator Defined Wealth Shield ETF Innovator Buffer Step-Up Strategy ETF Innovator Power Buffer Step-Up Strategy ETF Innovator Hedged TSLA Strategy ETF

Post-Effective Amendment No. 917 was filed electronically with the Securities and Exchange Commission on February 27, 2023.

If we may cooperate with you in any way in the processing of this registration statement, please telephone the undersigned at (312) 8453273.
WARNER ROBINS, Ga. (Tribune News Service)  Robins Air Force Base officials are celebrating the launch of the base's newest mission, the first Battle Management Control Squadron in Air Force history.

The 728th Battle Management Control Squadron (BMCS) was activated on Feb. 13 and is the first of four new missions coming to Robins Air Force Base since it began retiring the E-8 JSTARS mission last year. The BMCS currently has more than 50 members and will grow to more than 315 members by 2025, when the unit is set to be fully operational.

The BMCS will provide command and control of aircraft and 24/7 surveillance of airspace across the world remotely and its first mission is focused on controlling the airspace in the Middle East, said Lt. Col. Joshua Gulbranson, the commander of the newly activated squadron.

"What we do is in some respects a parallel to what we have been doing on the E-8 JSTARS, which has been at Robins for the last few decades," Gulbranson said. "The difference being that they were doing their mission airborne, while we are doing it from a fixed location on the ground here, but still being able to do that mission anywhere on the planet."

Also in contrast to the JSTARS mission, which was led by the Georgia Air National Guard with active duty support, the BMCS will be led by active duty airmen with support from the Georgia Air National Guard.

Gulbranson said many of the mission's members will have previously been part of the JSTARS mission.

Before it was reactivated this month as the Air Force's first Battle Management Control Squadron, the 728th was originally activated in 1950 and served various roles in different locations across the U.S. until it deactivated in 2013.

"[The 728th] most recently ended its mission as an Air Control Squadron, which was essentially a mobile command and control facility," Gulbranson said. "They were the first command and control entity in Iraq during Operation Iraqi Freedom back in 2003.  Then they closed shop about 10 years ago and folded the flag and it's been closed since until they were able to bring it back now.

"Being the first squadron of its kind, there are definitely some tie-ins to the past and some things that we're going to carry and bring forward, but it's not a mere replica of what it used to be."

Adapting to a changing world

Gulbranson said controlling airspace across the world from a fixed location will provide greater resilience for command and control operations for the Air Force and the Department of Defense overall.

"The world is becoming more and more challenging and our adversaries are becoming more assertive and aggressive," he said. " The United States has to adapt to deal with those challenges as they come and we as a nation, as a force, are looking to accelerate change and make sure that we meet those operational requirements to overcome the challenges when we're faced with them."

The three other new missions on their way to Robins Air Force Base are a Spectrum Warfare Group, E-11A Battlefield Airborne Communications Node (BACN) squadron and an Advanced Battle Management System (ABMS) Family of Systems (FoS).

The BMCS will eventually be housed in a new facility, the Battle Management Combined Operations Center, alongside two of the other new missions once it is constructed.

Robins Air Force Base's JSTARS mission is expected to be fully divested by 2024.

(c)2023 The Macon Telegraph (Macon, Ga.)

Visit The Macon Telegraph (Macon, Ga.) at www.macon.com

Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.
WASHINGTON  Retired Army Col. Paris Davis is not comfortable being labeled a hero, though he repeatedly risked his life in the face of maximum danger on the southeastern coast of Vietnam in June 1965.

Now 58 years since his acts of heroism on the battlefield, the former Green Beret and Army Ranger is getting the U.S. militarys highest honor for his exemplary leadership and selflessness.

I am really, extremely elated about being an American, Davis, 83, said Thursday, a day before he is scheduled to be presented with the Medal of Honor by President Joe Biden at the White House.

In 1965, Davis was a captain and a commander with the 5th Special Forces Group. His unit took part in an assault on the North Vietnamese camp at Bong Son in the Binh Dinh province. Leading a group of soldiers in the attack on June 17, Davis and his unit encountered fierce enemy gunfire from a large North Vietnamese unit that pinned some of the U.S. troops down. Within moments after a sudden enemy attack, Davis found himself charging straight into North Vietnamese gunfire to help his company maneuver and target enemy positions. During the fight, he engaged in hand-to-hand combat with enemy fighters.

The passage of almost 60 years has done nothing to dim his memories of that day, Davis said.

Blood was everywhere, he said. You could smell the sweetness of blood.

The heavy gunfire and artillery from North Vietnamese forces was intense and wounded many soldiers in the company, including Davis, who received several wounds during the battle. He was shot twice as he defended other troops and struck by fragments from an enemy grenade. But his wounds didnt persuade Davis to give up the fight.

What youre trying to do is stay conscious, stay mission-oriented and help where you could, Davis said. It wasnt one of those things when you think, Im bleeding. Its one of those things when you say, I can still move.

By the end of the battle, Davis had repeatedly risked his life to rescue wounded American troops and get them to a medical helicopter, and refused treatment for his own wounds until all his men were out of harms way.

Davis mentioned Thursday that doctors had removed the last of the grenade fragments from his body only a few days ago.

They pulled the last piece of shrapnel out of my kidney," he said.

During the chaos of the battle, a ranking officer had demanded Davis withdraw from the area  an order Davis refused so he could rescue his men.

He refused to leave the battlefield, said Ron Deis, a Special Forces soldier who was in the Bong Son area that day.

Deis, who helped coordinate air and artillery support, said he remembers someone on the battlefield that day was already talking about a Medal of Honor for Davis gallantry under fire.

Davis was first recommended for the Medal of Honor in the 1960s. That nomination package, which includes all kinds of information so the Pentagon can confirm the recipient is worthy, was eventually lost. A second nomination package years later also failed, having also gotten lost in military bureaucracy.

I think thats unacceptable, Deis said. No nomination should ever be not resolved.

This was long overdue, said Army Command Sgt. Michael Weimer, a senior enlisted leader with Special Operations Command at Fort Bragg, N.C. But holy cow, Col. Davis deserves this one. Hes just unbelievable.

Some have speculated Davis first two recommendations were possibly sidetracked due to the difficult social and political divides of the 1960s. Davis, one of the first Black soldiers to enter the Special Forces, was an American hero during a time of great racial strife in the United States.

I dont think anyone will know for certain what happened back then, said Regan Hopper, Davis daughter. But he was nominated twice and it was lost twice.

She said heroes are important in the African-American community.

We love having heroes to look up to  to help bring us the hope when we feel hopeless. He is that kind of man, and I am just so grateful now that his story is being told, Hopper said of her father.

Davis and his family were notified last month that Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin had formally signed off on the Medal of Honor and they received a personal call from Biden.

[Davis and Biden] talked milestones that they had in common. And Dad was just stoic and calm and just said, Thank you about 50 times, Hopper said. The president was so gracious.

Davis, who left military service in 1985, will speak with Biden once again on Friday when theyre both at the White House for the Medal of Honor ceremony.

Davis began his military service as a Reserve officer in 1959. He received airborne and Ranger qualifications in 1960 and Special Forces qualification in 1962. He served overseas tours in Vietnam and Korea and over his career received the Silver Star, Bronze Star with V device, a Purple Heart with one Bronze Oak Leaf Cluster and the Air Medal with V device. Following his service, he was the publisher of a small newspaper in Virginia, where he still lives today. He was inducted into the Ranger Hall of Fame in 2019.

Inspiring and valor were the words that Army Maj. Gen. Patrick Roberson, deputy commander of the Armys Special Operations Command, used to describe Davis.

Weimer used selfless and humble.

Just dont call him a hero, Hopper said.

He doesnt like to be called a hero. He likes the title of soldier, she said. He wears that with pride.
The U.S. is expanding efforts to prepare European allies to fight using a mobile rocket system that has played a key role in the war in Ukraine and now is factoring heavily into crisis response plans for NATO's eastern flank.

The Armys V Corps said that it is launching a new initiative that will bring together senior military leaders in Europe for a summit this spring on all things related to the High Mobility Artillery Rocket System, or HIMARS. Following the summit, the Army will begin an apprenticeship program in which foreign soldiers will embed with U.S. units, V Corps said.

Lt. Gen. John Kolasheski, the V Corps commander, said HIMARS enables allies to rapidly mass-fire from a distance, thereby allowing units to maneuver with greater flexibility.

This gives us an operational advantage over an adversary and is critical during large-scale ground combat, he said in the V Corps statement Thursday.

Amid the Russia-Ukraine war, interest in the mobile rocket system has surged as countries such as Poland and the Baltic states add such weaponry to their arsenals.

During the past year, the Army in particular has sought to showcase ways that HIMARS can be used to extend the combat reach of units in crisis scenarios. From the Arctic to the Baltics and the Black Sea region, U.S. Army Europe and Africa has presented demonstrations in which the rockets are flown to landing zones and offloaded for quick-strike targeting.

V Corps said its so-called European HIMARS Initiative will pull together field artillery experts from countries that have procured HIMARS or expressed interest in the system.

While the summit and subsequent engagements are intended to take place across several central and Eastern European countries, it is up to the nation receiving the equipment to determine where they will conduct the fielding (of the system), the command said in the statement.

The Army units that will be part of the HIMARS push include U.S. Army Europe and Africas 41st Field Artillery Brigade and 56th Artillery Command as well as elements from the 101st Airborne Division and 4th Infantry Division.

V Corps, which is based out of Fort Knox, Ky., and has a forward permanent headquarters in Poznan, Poland, was reestablished by the Army in 2020 to help USAREUR-AF manage an expanding mission in Europe.

A main task for the headquarters is overseeing the day-to-day operations of Army units operating up and down NATOs eastern flank.
STUTTGART, Germany  Top U.S. generals met with Ukrainian military officials in Germany this week, where they evaluated battlefield options in tabletop drills ahead of an anticipated Ukrainian spring offensive meant to free their territory from Russias grasp.

Gen. Mark Milley, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, and U.S. European Commands Gen. Christopher Cavoli met with dozens of members of the Ukrainian military for the weeklong drills in Wiesbaden, a U.S. military official told Stars and Stripes on Friday on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak on the matter.

The meeting between two of the U.S.s top military leaders and Ukrainian officers comes at a critical time in the war, which has entered its second year. For months, Russia and Ukraine have been locked in a virtual stalemate, with much of the most intense fighting now happening around the eastern city of Bakhmut.

What were doing is providing them an opportunity and the mechanisms to conduct a decision-making exercise, Milley told The Wall Street Journal on Thursday. These are exercises on options, courses of action, that they are considering.

Milley said the U.S.s role isnt to direct Ukrainian forces or tell them to go left and go right. Instead, the aim of the tabletop exercises was to help Ukrainian commanders self-learn, Milley told the Journal.

Russia and Ukraine are expected to launch offensives as the weather warms in Ukraine. Meanwhile, the U.S. and its allies in Europe are trying to get more military hardware into Ukraine in time for the heavier fighting to come.

Maj. Gen. Kyrylo Budanov, Ukraine's top military intelligence official, told USA Today on Thursday that Russia and Ukraine will fight "a decisive battle this spring, and this battle will be the final one before this war ends." Budanov did not elaborate on where such a battle could take place.

During the discussions in Wiesbaden, home to U.S. Army Europe and Africa headquarters, military officials gamed out scenarios on a huge table with maps and military icons meant to represent potential battles, Milley told The New York Times.

The Ukrainians are moving things around on these maps to determine what is their best course of action, and they determine the advantages and disadvantages of the risks associated. Its a common thing that all militaries do, Milley told the Times, which along with The Wall Street Journal had exclusive access to the event.
LOS ANGELESSusan Billotte, the sister of disgraced porn legend Ron Jeremy, has filed a petition asking that attorney Ellen Finkelberg be appointed as a conservator to him as he awaits transfer to a California mental health facility, TMZ reports.

Jeremy in early February was found unfit to stand trial in the 30-count case against him for rape and other sexual misconduct spanning decades. The Los Angeles District Attorney said at the time that Jeremy was being committed to a state-run mental health hospital, where he could be held for up to two years. According to Billotte's filing, Jeremy is "concurrently incarcerated at the Twin Towers-Mens Central Jail. He has been found incompetent to stand trial in a criminal case due to a diagnosis with symptoms of Lewy body dementia and has a pending transfer to a state hospital."

The document goes on to note that the need for a conservator to make decisions about Jeremy's health care and finances is urgent to ensure that he's sent to a "private secured perimeter facility specializing in treatment of dementia."
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MARINE CORPS AIR STATION IWAKUNI, Japan  Nearly four years after it last welcomed the general public through its gates, MCAS Iwakuni is preparing for its first open house since the COVID-19 pandemic began.

The 44th Friendship Day is scheduled April 15 in conjunction with Fleet Air Wing 31 of the Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force, which shares the base south of Hiroshima with the U.S. Navy Carrier Air Wing 5 and the Marine Corps Marine Aircraft Group 12.

As members of the greater Iwakuni community, it is our pleasure to open our gates, in concert with JMSDF, to the gracious people of our host nation in order to share our two cultures, MCAS Iwakuni announced in a recent news release.

The Navy squadrons of F/A-18 Super Hornets and other aircraft are based at MCAS Iwakuni unless theyre at sea aboard the carrier USS Ronald Reagan, homeported at Yokosuka Naval Base south of Tokyo. The Marines fly F-35B Lightning II stealth fighters and KC-130J refuelers from the air station.

The base hosted its first Friendship Day 50 years ago; the release described the event as an exciting, fun-filled event, which will consist of both static displays and aerial performances."

An estimated 165,000 people attended the last Friendship Day in 2019; the event, which includes live music and food and souvenir stands, typically draws more than 200,000 visitors.

The air station is not alone in welcoming its Japanese neighbors at least once a year. For example, Yokota Air Base will host a similar event May 20-21 in western Tokyo.

Last year, Yokotas Friendship Festival attracted more than 110,000 visitors.
Editors note: This article has been updated to include a response from Sen. Mike Lee, R-Utah.

TOKYO  A U.S. senators claim that the Japanese reneged on a promise to transfer a Navy officer imprisoned in Japan was false and inappropriate, Japans Ministry of Foreign affairs said Friday.

Sen. Mike Lee on the Senate floor Wednesday criticized Japans handling of the conviction and imprisonment of Lt. Ridge Alkonis, whos serving three years for a May 2021 car crash that killed two Japanese citizens. During his speech, Lee accused Foreign Minister Yoshimasa Hayashi of backtracking on a deal for the sailors release to U.S. custody.

Lee said he met in August with Hayashi in Tokyo, where the foreign minister made an unequivocal commitment to transfer Alkonis. However, a junior member of the Japanese embassy contacted Lees staff and denied Hayashi ever made the commitment, the senator said.

Lees remarks were contrary to the facts and cannot be accepted, and the ministry lodged an official complaint through the U.S. government over the matter, a ministry spokesperson told Stars and Stripes by email Friday.

Some government officials in Japan are required to speak to reporters only on condition of anonymity.

Lee made a courtesy call on Hayashi on Aug. 31, the spokesperson said, but Hayashi stressed that he could make no commitments on a prisoner transfer. The two governments were discussing the issue prior to Lee and Hayashis meeting.

Minister Hayashi made remarks that he cannot make any commitments at that time on whether its possible or not to transfer Lt. Alkonis, the spokesperson said. This case should be handled appropriately under the law between the law-enforcing authorities.

The U.S. Embassy in Japan declined to comment on the statement and referred all questions to the Foreign Ministry. U.S. Forces Japan did not immediately return a request for comment.

Lees offices did not return multiple calls this week; however, the senator responded to the Foreign Ministry spokespersons remarks in a series of tweets from his personal account, @BasedMikeLee.

Hayashi can quibble over nuanced language and whether he *officially* agreed, or rely on customary disclaimers voiced in the meeting, Lee tweeted Friday. But at the end of it, it was unmistakably clear that if I convinced Alkonis to submit the application, Japan would process it without delay.

The senator continued: Looking back, I specifically addressed the fact that Japan normally would wait a year before processing a transfer request like this one. He agreed to circumvent that practice to process the request right away once they received the documents from Alkonis and the [U.S. Department of Justice].

Lees speech Wednesday followed an earlier barrage of tweets he leveled at Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida earlier this week, in which he called on Kishida to hand over Alkonis.

When Kishida failed to respond before Lees imposed 24-hour deadline, the senator followed through on his threat to begin a long series of conversations about Alkonis and the status of forces agreement that outlines the rights and responsibilities of the U.S. military population in Japan.

Patience in Washington has grown thin, Lee said in his Senate speech. The Japanese government has vastly underestimated the intensity of bipartisan support for Lt. Alkonis in Congress and every level of government.

Alkonis, of Claremont, Calif., is eight months into his sentence for negligent driving that caused the two deaths of two Japanese people and injured a third. Shizuoka District Court sentenced him in October 2021. Alkonis family also paid $1.65 million in restitution to the victims families, a common practice in Japan.

Lee said Alkonis, who was assigned at the time to a destroyer at Yokosuka Naval Base, was mistreated while under pretrial arrest.

USFJ said that it has continued to closely monitor Alkonis case and has remained in contact with its Japanese counterparts, as well as Naval Forces Japan and the U.S. Embassy in Japan, spokesman Marine Gunnery Sgt. Jonathan Wright told Stars and Stripes by email Thursday.

Formerly a weapons officer assigned to the destroyer USS Benfold, Alkonis was driving with his family through Fujinomiya after a trip to nearby Mount Fuji when he fell unconscious and crashed into the victims outside a soba restaurant.

The case sparked a movement to secure the officers release, spearheaded by his wife, Brittany Alkonis, who has demonstrated across the country, met with Vice President Kamala Harris in Washington, D.C., to plead her case and met President Joe Biden after his State of the Union address in Congress on Feb. 7.
YOKOSUKA NAVAL BASE, Japan  The aircraft carrier USS George Washington is expected in two years to return to Japan, its base of operations until eight years ago when it was replaced by the USS Ronald Reagan, according to a Japanese news agency.

Preparations are underway to replace the Ronald Reagan, which operates from the 7th Fleet homeport at Yokosuka, Nikkei Asia said Wednesday in a report that cited U.S. Pacific Fleet spokesman Lt. Brian Cunningham. Additional details are not available until proper coordination is complete, the report said.

Cunningham acknowledged Stars and Stripes' request for information Friday but did not respond further that day. A 7th Fleet spokesman had referred questions to Pacific Fleet on Thursday.

The George Washington is expected in Yokosuka by 2025, Nikkei reported.

The aircraft carrier, commissioned in July 1992, is undergoing mid-life nuclear refueling and maintenance at the Newport News shipyard in Virginia; it was homeported at Yokosuka from 2008 to 2015.

The carriers refit began in 2017 and was expected to last four years but has been significantly delayed by the COVID-19 pandemic and other setbacks.

Those improvements will permit the carrier to embark the MQ-25A Stingray, a 50-foot drone that can refuel other aircraft in flight and extend the carrier air wings range, Nikkei reported.

The Stingray can fly 500 nautical miles and deliver up to 16,000 pounds of fuel mid-air to F-18 Super Hornets, EA-18G Growlers and F-35C Lightning IIs, according to its manufacturer Boeings website.

The drone is the worlds first operational, carrier-based unmanned aircraft and a critical part of the future for carrier strike groups and air wings, according to U.S. Naval Air Systems Command.

The George Washingtons 2008 arrival in Yokosuka was preceded several months by more than 240 Navy families.

When the Ronald Reagan arrived to replace the George Washington in 2015, approximately two-thirds of the ships respective crews transferred between them.

The Ronald Reagan will have spent almost 10 years in Yokosuka by 2025, nearly the Navy limit for ships deployed overseas.

Congress set the 10-year limit in the fiscal 2019 Defense Department budget following the back-to-back collisions in 2017 of the destroyers USS John S. McCain and USS Fitzgerald, both based at Yokosuka more than a decade when they separately collided with commercial vessels.
(Tribune News Service)  Hawaii's congressional delegation is asking the IRS to back off of families that were affected by the Red Hill water crisis  many of them outraged that under current regulations the money they received from the military for temporary housing is considered income and that they are being slapped by the IRS with steep taxes.

In a letter to Acting IRS Commissioner Douglas O'Donnell signed by all four members of Hawaii's delegation, lawmakers called on the IRS to "use its administrative authority to exempt any assistance provided by the Department of Defense to ensure the equitable administration of the tax code."

In November 2021, fuel from the Navy's World War II-era Red Hill fuel storage facility contaminated the Navy's water system that serves Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam and several surrounding facilities and communities. The tainted water displaced many of those on the system and forced them to live in Waikiki hotels for months while they waited for clean water for drinking and bathing to be restored.

The military ultimately agreed to reimburse many families for the costs. During a visit to Hawaii in January, Army Secretary Christine Wormuth told reporters that for the Army "the bill for that was about $90 million, but it was absolutely the right thing to do and what we needed to do."

"(The crisis) also affected individuals not connected to the military, including homes, schools and businesses in the civilian community that use the Navy's water," the lawmakers' letter stated. "This fuel leak affected almost 100,000 residents; forcibly displaced more than 3,500 families into temporary lodging; and sickened many with rashes, sore throats, stomach pain, headaches, diarrhea, vomiting and oral chemical burns."

In the letter, the delegation told the IRS that "individuals dislocated by Red Hill should not have to take on additional tax burdens because of the emergency assistance provided to them in a time of great need due to a crisis caused by the federal government."

When reports of contaminated water and residents exhibiting symptoms first emerged, the state Department of Health advised families on the Navy water system to stop using it. Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam's then-commander Capt. Erik Spitzer initially pushed back and insisted to base residents the water was safe to drink, for which he later apologized in a Facebook post. Civilians in former military housing areas like the Kapilina Beach Homes were initially told they weren't on the Navy water system.

Now both military and state officials say that they successfully restored clear water to the Navy's Oahu system, but the Red Hill water crisis deeply damaged the confidence military families had in Navy leaders and soured relations with Hawaii residents. The Red Hill fuel tanks  which currently store about 104 million gallons of fuel  sit 100 feet above a critical aquifer that provides most of Honolulu's clean drinking water.

Local officials had called the facility a "ticking time bomb" that threatens the island's water supply well before the 2021 leak. After months of resisting a state emergency order in March 2022, the Pentagon announced it would defuel the tanks, though the facility has fallen into deep disrepair and requires extensive repairs and upgrades to safely remove the fuel.

More than a year later, many of those who drank the water say they continue to suffer a variety of symptoms running the gamut from fatigue to intestinal and breathing problems. The Defense Health Agency recently set up a special Red Hill Clinic to examine service members and military family members who say they still have symptoms, but services are not available for local civilians reporting symptoms.

While military families were able to get care at military medical facilities, local families without military ties often had to pay out of pocket when they began experiencing strange symptoms. Military officials say they are trying to resolve the bureaucratic roadblocks to provide medical care and evaluations to civilians who drank the water.

When it comes to the housing and rental assistance that many families received, the letter said members of the congressional delegation "understand (the IRS is) working with the Department of Defense to understand what happened to determine the tax implications of this assistance" and that "just as assistance provided to individuals by the Federal Emergency Management Agency under the Stafford Act is exempted under Section 139 of the Internal Revenue Code, we believe the Red Hill emergency assistance should also be exempted."

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SEOUL, South Korea  The U.S. and South Korean militaries have set the date for large-scaled joint exercises with the U.N. and Combined Forces commands that North Korea last month likened to a declaration of war.

Freedom Shield is scheduled March 13-23, U.S. Forces Korea spokesman Col. Isaac Taylor said Friday at a news briefing. The exercise is intended to strengthen the combined defensive capabilities of both countries armed forces in a changing security environment, he said.

USFK and the South Korean military are also scheduled to hold Warrior Shield, a series of large-scale field exercises that include amphibious landing drills, concurrently with Freedom Shield, according to a Ministry of National Defense news release Friday.

Freedom Shield will involve scenarios that include aggression by North Korea, Taylor said. It will also include lessons learned from current and ongoing conflicts, according to a Friday news release from USFK.

The exercise will refine the combined defensive systems and tactics of both militaries, Taylor and South Korean army Col. Lee Sung-jun said at the briefing.

U.N. Command and Combined Forces Command are also committing troops, service members and civilian personnel to the exercise, according to USFK. USFK spokesman Wesley Hayes, citing operational security reasons, declined to comment on the number of troops taking part.

The South Korea, U.S. and U.N. Command alliance remains at a high level of readiness and continues to maintain a robust combined defense posture to protect [South Korea] against any threat or adversary while implementing and maintaining prudent preventive control measures to protect the force, Hayes said in an email Friday.

Meanwhile, both nations armed forces will maintain a firm readiness posture in the event North Korea acts provocatively, Lee said at the briefing.

The [South Korean] military will not tolerate North Koreas actions which threaten the life and safety of the people , Lee said. The [South Korea] and U.S. alliance will respond with overwhelming capability and firmly respond to North Koreas such actions.

North Koreas Foreign Ministry last month described the upcoming military drills as an act of war. The communist regime for years has balked at the joint exercises and said they are a rehearsal for an invasion.

If the U.S. persists in its hostile and provocative practices  it can be regarded as a declaration of war against North Korea, according to a Feb. 24 Foreign Ministry statement in the state-run Korean Central News Agency.

North Koreas state media reported on Feb. 23 that the regime tested four cruise missiles that could strike a target over 1,200 miles away. South Koreas Joint Chiefs of Staff disputed the claim but did not provide specifics.

Three days earlier, North Korea test-fired two short-range ballistic missiles that landed in the East Sea, or Sea of Japan, its third such test so far this year.
Iran is seeking sophisticated new air-defense systems from Russia that Israeli officials believe will narrow the window for a potential strike on Tehrans nuclear program, according to people familiar with the matter.

The prospect of Iran getting the systems, the S-400s, would accelerate a decision on a possible attack, people in Israel and the U.S. with knowledge of the discussions said.

Russia hasnt said publicly if it will supply the weapons, but Moscow and Tehran have drawn closer since Moscows invasion of Ukraine. It would take less than two years for the S-400s to be operational.

The longer you wait, the harder that becomes, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said of a strike on Iran at a security conference in Tel Aviv last week. Weve waited very long. I can tell you that I will do everything in my power to prevent Iran from acquiring nuclear weapons.

Such open threats  daily occurrences now in Israel  are a complex mix of intent and messaging aimed at Tehran and Washington although Israel bombed nuclear sites in Iraq in 1981 and Syria in 2007. An open military conflict with Iran could trigger an unparalleled regional conflagration affecting global oil supplies.

Russia has offered Iran unprecedented defense cooperation, including on missiles, electronics and air defense and may provide Tehran with fighter jets, National Security Council spokesman John Kirby said Feb. 24.

The Kremlin and the Russian Defense Ministry didnt respond to requests for comment, Netanyahus office declined to comment.

Concern has grown over Irans nuclear work since international monitors detected uranium enriched to 84% purity  just below the 90% needed for weapons. By the end of 2023, Iran will have enough uranium enriched to 60% to produce 10 bombs, according to a senior Israeli official and a former senior U.S. official.

Israel continues to hope the U.S. will take the lead on any possible strike and while the Biden administration hasnt ruled out military action, it prefers diplomacy.

Iran accuses Israel of assassinating its nuclear scientists, most recently as in late 2020, as well as hacking and other nuclear sabotage. Israel doesnt publicly own up to them but they are widely acknowledged by officials both in the U.S. and in Israel.

Iran says its decades-long atomic program is for peaceful purposes, but Western powers say its building the capabilities to make a nuclear bomb.

In December, the U.S. said Russia was deepening military backing for Iran in return for Iranian supplies of drones for Moscows war on Ukraine. The next month, an Iranian lawmaker said Tehran expects a delivery of Su-35 fighter jets from Russia by mid-March.

Russia has very good ties with Iran and Tehran is looking for more support, said Elena Suponina, a Moscow-based Middle East expert.

After the U.S. and five other powers signed a deal with Iran in 2015 restricting its nuclear program in exchange for sanctions relief, Russia sold it a less advanced air defense system, the S-300s. The nuclear deal fell apart in 2018 when President Donald Trump withdrew the U.S.

The S-400s, which can hit aerial targets at a range of up to 150 miles, would create a red zone for high-altitude aircraft, said Jeremy Binnie, Middle East defense expert at Janes, the UK-based defense intelligence firm.

The more air defenses they have, the more difficult it is to hit them, said Yossi Kuperwasser, a former top Israeli military intelligence official and now a senior researcher at the Israel Defense and Security Forum, an association of former and reserve members of the security forces. We are analyzing when is the most convenient time to take action.

Israel has been here before. In 2015, Israeli TV played recorded conversations with Ehud Barak, who was Netanyahus defense minister in 2012, speaking explicitly of plans to attack Iran that were shelved after discussions with the U.S.

Israeli officials are watching not only Irans ability to withstand an air attack but its capacity to build a nuclear bomb.

They calculate that once Iran decides to weaponize, its anything between 18 to 24 months for them to build the first warhead, Mark Dubowitz, head of the Washington-based Foundation for Defense of Democracies, which lobbies for measures to counter Iran, said in an interview in Tel Aviv.

After Joe Biden defeated Trump, his administration tried to revive the Iran nuclear deal but blamed Tehran for walking away. US Ambassador to Israel, Tom Nides, recently indicated understanding for Israels approach.

Israel can and should do whatever they need to deal with (Iran) and weve got their back, he said at an event on Feb. 19.

The U.S. and Israel recently held highly publicized military exercises in the Mediterranean, the largest ever drills between the two allies in a demonstration of aerial force.

New U.S.-built air refueling aircraft which the Israelis are due to receive by 2025 would significantly increase their long-range capability, said Binnie at Janes.

Gulf nations would be at some risk but many are hoping Israel will act  even if it only sets back Iranian nuclear ambitions for a few years, said Riad Kahwagi, founder and chief executive officer of INEGMA, a Dubai-based security research group.

Jonathan Tirone, Courtney McBride, Jenny Leonard and Jordan Fabian contributed to this story.

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WASSERBILLIG, LuxembourgThe British edition of Marie Claire chose two pjur products in its list of seven best personal lubricants for anal sex. An article published on the magazines website in mid-February recommended pjur Analyse me! and pjur Back Door, two silicone-based personal lubricants.

Anal sex is becoming popular, particularly with women, so Marie Claire looked into the topic in-depth and put together a list of seven personal lubricants that are recommended by various experts. Ruby Payne, sex and relationships expert at UberKinky, is a fan of pjur Analyse Me! because its ingredients relax the anal muscles without numbing them. She likes the consistency as well.

Another expert, Stacy Rybchin, founder and CEO of My Secret Luxury, talked about her favorite product for anal sex, the pjur Back Door. Rybchin thinks pjur is the best brand for anal sex because the products are dermatologically tested and free from perfume.

As a supplier of premium "Made in Germany" personal lubricants, pjur has over 27 years of experience in manufacturing intimate products and fosters transparency, safety, and compliance with standards in the industry.

For more information, visit pjur.com.

Find and follow pjur on Instagram, Facebook, and YouTube.

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A former Ohio National Guard soldier, who had posted online about killing people at Jewish synagogues and a military base, was sentenced to nearly six years in prison for making and selling untraceable homemade weapons known as ghost guns, according to the Justice Department.

Columbus resident Thomas Develin, 25, pleaded guilty in October to one count of making a firearm, one count of unlawfully manufacturing and dealing machine guns and one count of manufacturing and dealing firearms without a license. He was sentenced Tuesday in a federal courtroom in Ohio, according to online court records.

Develin used a 3D printer to make ghost guns beginning in 2020 with the intent to sell them for profit, according to court documents. He also made accessories that convert weapons to shoot more than one shot automatically without manual reloading.

Develin posted messages about his gun-making in an online chat group made up of Guard members, and the Ohio National Guard reported Develins messages to the Columbus Police Departments Counter Terrorism Unit, according to court documents. The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives then became involved in the investigation.

Federal agents searched Develins home and vehicle in March 2022 and discovered more than 25 firearms, according to the Justice Department. In the months prior to that search, he had posted photos, videos and messages online about manufacturing illegal firearm accessories with a 3D printer. Using the name Patrick Bateman, the protagonist in the novel American Psycho, Develin also posted a large quantity of hateful messages toward Jewish people and women that the Justice Department described as white nationalist, racist, antisemitic and misogynistic.

When he was arrested later that month, agents found night-vision goggles, ballistic plates and a helmet, first-aid equipment and a large supply of ammunition.

At the time that he committed the crimes, he was in the Ohio National Guard, according to the Justice Department. Develin was discharged in August 2022 at the rank of specialist, according to Guard officials.

Develin was also employed at the time by a private security company and was tasked with providing armed security to Jewish facilities in the Columbus area. During his work, he would post hateful messages that threatened violence toward Jewish people, according to court documents.

In December 2021, he posted about conducting a mass shooting at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, which is about an hour drive from Columbus.

Develin enlisted as an air defense battle management system operator in the National Guard in October 2014, according to a five-page letter that he wrote to the court during his sentencing. He deployed to Afghanistan in 2017, according to the letter.

Develin also wrote he began to drink heavily after returning home, which he believes was a result of depression and disillusionment with the military. He then found respite in online discussions among veterans that included war as therapy for post-traumatic stress disorder, instructions on 3D printing weapons and hateful rhetoric.

At no time did I ever intend on performing these disgusting ideas or sharing these thoughts with anyone other than the members of our private group, he wrote. I never intended to put fear into the community. Now that our discussions have been made public, I realize the shock, fright, and pain it has caused others.
A former Army paratrooper was sentenced to 45 years in prison Friday for plotting with a violent extremist group to ambush and kill members of his own Italy-based unit, federal law enforcement officials said.

Ethan Phelan Melzer, a 24-year-old from Louisville, Ky., pleaded guilty in June in a federal courtroom in New York to charges of attempting to murder U.S. service members, providing and attempting to provide material support to terrorists, and illegally transmitting national defense information, according to the Justice Department.

Melzer, who was a private assigned to the 173rd Airborne Brigade in Vicenza, Italy, planned a jihadist attack on his Army unit in the days leading up to a deployment to Turkey and sent sensitive details about the unit  including information about its location, movements and security  to members of the extremist organization Order of the Nine Angles, according to court documents. The group is a white supremacist, neo-Nazi and pro-jihadist organization.

Ethan Melzer infiltrated the U.S. Army in service of a neo-Nazi, white supremacist and jihadist group, said U.S. Attorney Damian Williams for the Southern District of New York. Todays sentence makes clear that Melzers brazen actions backfired and that this office  along with our partners in law enforcement and the military  will work tirelessly to bring traitors like Melzer to justice and to protect the safety and integrity of our armed services.

Melzer, who also went by the name Etil Reggad, enlisted in the Army in 2018 as part of an insight role to further his goals as part of the terrorist organization, according to the Justice Department. He arrived in Italy in October 2019 and subscribed to encrypted online forums in which he downloaded and accessed videos of jihadist attacks on U.S. troops and facilities and jihadist executions of civilians and soldiers, in addition to far-right, neo-Nazi, and other white supremacist propaganda.

In May 2020, Melzer joined a unit set to deploy to Turkey, according to the Justice Department. He learned details about the deployment, mission and location, and then passed the information to members of his terrorist group.

He was arrested May 30 at Caserma Ederle in Vicenza.

Melzer and his co-conspirators used the information that he attained to plan what they referred to as a jihadi attack with the objective of causing a mass casualty event victimizing his fellow service members. He and others then passed these messages to a purported member of al-Qaida, according to the Justice Department.

Melzer was listed Friday as an inmate at Metropolitan Detention Center Brooklyn in New York, according to the Bureau of Prisons.

The Army did not immediately respond Friday to comment about when Melzer was discharged from the service.
MOSES LAKE, Wash. (Tribune News Service)  It was another day for the aviation record books at the Grant County International Airport on Thursday.

"We are, I think, the second-largest hydrogen airplane ever to fly after the Tupolev 155, which the Soviet (Union) flew in 1988," said Paul Eremenko, the co-founder and CEO of Hawthorne, California-based Universal Hydrogen. "But I think we can reasonably claim to the fact that we are the largest to cruise principally on hydrogen."

Eremenko spoke to a crowd of about 100 people gathered in the GCIA main terminal following a roughly 20-minute test flight of a special Dash 8 commuter airliner, which flew with one electric engine powered by a hydrogen fuel cell system created by Universal Hydrogen.

The twin-engine aircraft flew a series of wide figure-8s over GCIA while a helicopter followed, and at one point throttled down the conventional engine and flew entirely on electricity generated by the hydrogen fuel cell, Eremenko said.

"You are the leading edge, the spear's tip, in driving the single biggest transformation in commercial aviation, I think, since the birth of the jet age," Eremenko said as he addressed the handful of venture capital companies, aircraft manufacturers and airlines that invested in Universal Hydrogen.

The fuel cell system pioneered by Universal Hydrogen uses electricity to split water molecules into hydrogen and oxygen, liquefy and store the hydrogen in tanks contained in special pods designed to fit in planes about the size of the Dash-8, and then use that hydrogen in fuel cells to generate electricity. Fuel cells use metal catalysts to combine hydrogen and oxygen to create power, which is then used to drive an electric motor powering the aircraft.

The goal is to reduce the burning of fossil fuels and the emission of carbon dioxide, Eremenko said.

"When it comes to decarbonization, time is of the essence. So you've got to move fast, and  you've got to move early," he said. "And I think what we have here is the only serious solution, really. The only alternative to hydrogen, or to getting to zero emissions in aviation, is curtailing traffic volumes."

"And I'm guessing that's not the future that any of us want for the aviation industry," Eremenko added.

Universal Hydrogen came to Moses Lake to work with aviation testing and certification company AeroTEC and electric aircraft motor maker MagniX to customize the Dash-8 for flight testing.

"We're very excited to be part of the program with Universal Hydrogen," said AeroTEC CEO Lee Human. "We've been working on this project for about a year and a half now from cardboard box mock-up to a flying aircraft.  And now we'll show the world what's possible."

AeroTEC, which is based in Seattle but has its testing facility at the GCIA, is also involved in several other major electric aircraft projects, Human said. The company is part of a major, NASA-funded program with partner MagniX to create an electric aircraft propulsion system, and is working with California-based commuter airline Surf Air to certify and build a number of all-electric Cessna Caravan aircraft for commercial use.

In addition, AeroTEC has overseen the test flights of several all-electric aircraft over the last three years.

"We've done a lot of very ambitious test programs. But now is the time to bring it home with a real electric aircraft that the flying public will get to enjoy," Human said.

GCIA Director Rich Mueller said flight testing is very important to the Port of Moses Lake, which owns and operates the former Larson Air Force Base, and keeps the airport busy despite not having regularly scheduled passenger air service.

"It's a chance for us to be a part of the future of aviation. We're uniquely suited with our large airfield and open airspace," he said. "We've had to work hard to be that world-class test center."

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WASHINGTON  The U.S. is sending Ukraine another $400 million in arms and equipment from its military stockpiles, including armored vehicles that can launch bridges for rapid tank deployments, defense officials announced Friday.

The latest security assistance for Ukraine comes amid a two-day Washington visit by German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, who agreed last month to deliver German tanks to the battlefield only after the U.S. said it would eventually send its own Abrams tanks.

Armored vehicle-launched bridges are included for the first time in a security assistance package to help Ukrainian troops quickly deploy tanks and other armored vehicles across rivers and other gaps.

Russia alone could end its war today, Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in a statement. Until Russia does so, for as long as it takes, we will stand united with Ukraine and strengthen its military on the battlefield so that Ukraine will be in the strongest possible position at the negotiating table.

Much of the newest aid is dedicated to resupplying Ukraine with critical munitions as Kyivs artillery stockpile runs low. It includes additional artillery rounds for howitzers and rockets for High Mobility Artillery Rocket Systems, or HIMARS, which Ukraine has used to hit Russian ammunition depots, logistics supplies and command centers on Ukrainian territory.

The U.S. is also sending more ammunition for the 109 Bradley fighting vehicles pledged to Ukraine as well as demolition munitions and equipment for obstacle clearing, according to the Defense Department. In a sign of the wars intense toll on weapons systems, the U.S. is also delivering spare parts and testing and diagnostic equipment to support vehicle maintenance and repair.

Ukraine is widely expected to launch a counteroffensive in the spring as it seeks to retake territory occupied by Russian forces since 2014, when the Kremlin illegally annexed the Crimean Peninsula and fomented a separatist uprising in the eastern Donbas region.

Total U.S. military aid to Ukraine has exceeded $32 billion since Russias invasion of its neighbor last year. The latest aid package marks the 33rd time that the U.S. has reached into its weapons inventories to supply Ukraine since August 2021, according to the State Department.

The new announcement of military support comes a week after the one-year anniversary of the war and days after Blinken spoke to his Russian counterpart, Sergey Lavrov, for the first time since the invasion. Blinken said Friday that the U.S. will continue to rally the world to support Ukraine.

This week, as Russias war of aggression against Ukraine continues at great cost, we are again reminded of the boundless courage and steadfast resolve of the people of Ukraine as well as the strong support for Ukraine in the international community, Blinken said in a statement.
WASHINGTON  President Joe Biden said Friday that there is only one word to describe former Army Col. Paris Davis  gallantry.

Its not much used these days, Biden said at the White House, just moments before he bestowed the former Special Forces commander with the Medal of Honor. But I can think of no better word to describe Paris.

Biden used those words to open a ceremony in the East Room to recognize Davis heroics in battle with the nations highest military honor, nearly 60 years after the retired Green Beret boldly engaged enemy troops and rescued several wounded soldiers amid a bloody fight during the Vietnam War.

Davis, now 83, was a commander in the 5th Special Forces Group in June 1965 when his unit came under almost constant enemy fire for many hours near Bong Son on Vietnams southeastern coast. They had just carried out a pre-dawn raid on a North Vietnamese army camp in the area on June 18. But by the time the sun came up, they found themselves under full enemy attack and were trying to evade a constant barrage of bullets and artillery.

Within minutes, the jungle lit up with enemy fire, Biden said in his remarks at Fridays ceremony, with Davis seated to his right. [Then-]Capt. Davis rallied his team to fight back  getting so close to the enemy, he was battling them hand-to-hand.

One by one that day, soldiers in Davis unit were hit with enemy fire and laid wounded in a rice paddy in Hoai Nhon District in what was then South Vietnam. Without air support and because he was the last soldier in the unit standing, Davis said it was his duty to find his men and get them to a medical helicopter.

It took several attempts for Davis to reach the wounded troops, constantly dodging enemy fire. As he ducked in and out of cover, Davis was shot in the arm and leg  but his wounds didnt deter him. He said it wasnt the Green Beret way.

Blood was everywhere, Davis, who was also an Army Ranger, recalled in an interview Thursday. You could smell the sweetness of blood.

Several American troops were lying in the rice paddy, Davis said, including a sergeant and a medic. Once Davis managed to get the wounded men to the rescue helicopter, his colonel ordered him to get on the chopper.

Sir, Im just not going to leave, was Davis response, Biden said. I still have an American out there.

Davis got back to the wounded medic, and the frightened soldier asked Davis if he was going to die. Davis said his answer was brief and firm: Not before me.

Davis recalled he wasnt concerned about his own well-being as much as he was concerned about other U.S. troops in harms way.

What youre trying to do is stay conscious, stay mission-oriented and help where you could, Davis said. It wasnt one of those things when you think, Im bleeding. Its one of those things when you say, I can still move.

After almost 20 hours of fighting ended, Davis had rescued every wounded American soldier.

Every single one, Biden said.

The idea of Davis getting the Medal of Honor was first mentioned by his comrades on the battlefield that day in 1965. But it would take decades for the honor to happen. Twice his nominating paperwork  a package documenting a recipients worthiness for the award  was lost at the Pentagon somewhere during the process. It wasnt until just a few years ago that it regained traction, due to people who knew of Davis heroism  such as fellow soldier Ron Deis  and lobbied top Pentagon officials.

I was more than happy to participate in the team to see this wrong being righted, said Deis, who fought in the battle in 1965 with Davis and witnessed his actions on that day. So, Im just thrilled that this has happened, finally.

Davis, who said Thursday that hes elated to be an American, echoed those sentiments just moments after Biden placed the Medal of Honor around his neck at Fridays ceremony.

Thank you, President Biden. This medal reflects what teamwork, service and dedication can achieve, Davis said, wearing the Medal of Honor and a green Army service uniform covered with medals and ribbons. God bless you, God bless all, God bless America.

After Davis left military service as a colonel in 1985, he went on to publish a small newspaper, the Metro Herald, in his home state of Virginia, where he still lives. He also earned two masters degrees and a doctorate.

One of the first Black soldiers in the Armys Special Forces, Davis earned his Airborne and Ranger qualifications in 1960 and his Special Forces qualification in 1962. In two tours in Vietnam, he also earned the Silver Star, the Bronze Star with "V" device, a Purple Heart with one Bronze Oak Leaf Cluster and the Air Medal with "V" device. He was inducted into the Ranger Hall of Fame in 2019.

But with all the decorations and accomplishments, Davis is also known for his humility. Biden noted Davis doesnt like the word I, and prefers team.

He felt it was a group effort, Regan Hopper, Davis daughter, said of the battle at Bong Son. He doesnt like to be called a hero. He likes the title soldier. He wears that with pride.
(Tribune News Service)  Almost 50 years ago to the days that Gen. George Everette "Bud" Day and Master Sgt. John T. Anderson II were released from prisoner-of-war camps in North Vietnam, the two U.S. veterans were posthumously honored at the Niagara County Courthouse.

As part of Thursday's ceremony, pictures and brief biographies of the two men were set up. The displays will stay in place at the courthouse until March 31. Niagara Falls, N.Y., was both men's last stateside address before they were captured by the North Vietnam Army.

Robert Hull, president of Vietnam Veterans of America Chapter #268, spoke to the crowd about the former POWs and their lives.

Day was born in February of 1925 and served in World War II and Korea as a fighter pilot. Norm Pearson, a fellow Vietnam veteran, said he knew Day in the 1960s while he was an air adviser at the Niagara Falls air base and he was "a good man."

Day was awarded the Medal of Honor in 1976 by President Gerald Ford and is buried in the National Cemetery in Pensacola, Fla. He died on July 27, 2013.

The late U.S. Sen. John McCain, who also was a POW in Vietnam, once said Day was "the bravest man I ever knew, and his fierce resistance and resolute leadership set the example for us in prison of how to return home with honor."

Day spent five years and three months in captivity and was released on March 14, 1973. Following his release, he continued his law practice and wrote the book "Returned With Honor." Day was also known for bringing a lawsuit against the U.S. Army that eventually gave retired veterans health care through Tricare by Congressional decree.

In Vietnam, Anderson served at a television station in Hue. During the Tet Offensive he held his position for 16 hours and was awarded two Silver Stars.

Anderson spent five years and one month as a POW. On March 5, 1973, he was released and reunited with his family in Niagara Falls, where a celebration and a parade were organized in his honor.

In 1985, the Army renamed its Journalist of the Year award, which Anderson had previously won, as the Master Sergeant John T. Anderson Military Journalist of the Year award.

Anderson died on April 1, 1988, and is buried in Arlington National Cemetery.

Joining VVA-268 members in the brief ceremony were state Sen. Rob Ortt and Assembly member Mike Norris.

Ortt, who also is a veteran, said he's especially struck by the accomplishments of Day.

"What stuck out to me the most, as well as the heroic actions of General Day while in captivity, was the founding of the Tricare system. That's a huge thing that today my generation takes for granted," Ortt said.

Norris addressed all of the veterans in the audience.

"The reason we have a bright future in our country is because of you," he said. "Without your service we couldn't stand here today with free speech, free religion and freedom of assembly. On behalf my colleagues, I want to thank you for your service."

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The court heard how the men were involved in a series of incidents all brought on by alcohol.

Two drunken brothers who attacked Gardai following a series of street scrapes have appeared in court.

Patrick and Sean Molloy injured Gardai after one was viciously kicked in the back and another struck in the face in Co Donegal.

The young brothers from The Curragh in Lismonaghan, Letterkenny appeared before Letterkenny District Court.

Judge Eiteain Cunningham heard and accepted that Patrick Molloy's incidents were of a much less serious nature than that of his brother Sean.

Patrick Molloy's solicitor, Mr Kieran O'Gorman, said his client was pleading to a number of charges.

Garda Inspector Paul Gallagher told the court that on December 23rd, 2020 at 6.45am on the High Road in Letterkenny, Patrick Molloy was found fighting with his brother Sean.

Both were drunk and shouting obscenities.

When Gardai tried to arrest Patrick Molloy, he attempted to punch a Garda breaking his glasses before pepper-spray was used and Molloy taken to Letterkenny Garda station.

On another occasion on October 10th, 2021 at 7.16am at Fortwell, Letterkenny he was arrested under the Public Order Act for being drunk and a danger to himself and the public.

Solicitor O'Gorman said his client went to Gardai the following morning and apologised and that the compensation for his glasses had been paid.

"He is 22 and is employed and has two children. All these incidents involved alcohol and this is a good wake-up call for this man," he said.

Garda Inspector Gallagher outlined the charges against Sean Molloy.

Molloy was on High Road during the incident when his brother Patrick was being arrested.

As his brother was being arrested, Sean Molloy was also shouting obscenities and kicked a Garda in the back before lashing out striking a patrol van.

On another occasion on February 6th, 2021, Gardai found Sean Molloy trying to get into a flat at Burnside Park in Letterkenny and he was drunk and aggressive forcing Gardai to use pepper-spray.

On October 10th, 2021, Molloy was one of two males fighting at Fortwell. Sean Molloy was aggressive and had his top off trying to fight with Gardai and was again arrested.

During another serious incident outside McGettigan's Hotel in Letterkenny on June 6th, 2021, Sean Molloy was drunk and asked to leave the area.

As he abused Gardai and tried to leave he then struck Garda Sergeant Michael Kilcoyne in the head before kicking him leaving him injured but not seriously.

Another series of incidents involving Sean Molloy during which he was found with cocaine and also another occasion when he struck a passing car with his jack smashing the windscreen and causing 500 of damage were also read out in court.

His solicitor Mr Rory O'Brien said his client had no previous convictions and had not come up through the courts system as a juvenile offender.

He said that he was very much a Jekyll & Hyde character when he had alcohol taken and suggested he had an issue with alcohol but this was an issue which his client denied.

He said his client was a part-time builder who lived at home with his parents and was now 20 years old but was only two weeks past his 18th birthday when the most serious of these events occurred.

Mr O'Brien added that Gardai were entitled to go about their business without being assaulted and that his client had apologised in full but his recollection of the events was that he had little recollection of them.

He added that his client had compensation of 550 in court but that he considered a Probation and Welfare report on his client would benefit the Judge greatly.

None of the Gardai injured in the various attacks wanted to make victim impact statements.

Passing sentence, Judge Cunningham said that the court was fully aware of her stance on the verbal abuse of Gardai but to take it one step further to bring it to physical abuse was a very serious matter.

She accepted that Patrick's Molloy's incidents were of a much less serious nature than that of his brother.

However, he did attempt to punch a Garda and broke his glasses and fined him 500 for this and accepted that 170 in compensation had been paid for the glasses. Other charges were struck out or taken into consideration.

In the case of Sean Molloy, Judge Cunningham adjourned the case until July 20th to allow for compensation and also for the preparation of a Probation and Welfare Report on the accused.
Michael Scott told gardai he was in fair debt over the amount of money he had put into the farm he co-owned with his aunt, Chrissie Treacy.

He had spent 120,000 on building works and a further 10,000 on stakes to reclaim land around the house and said he meant to go up to 100 cows on the land.

In the garda interview after Ms Treacys death, he claimed to have received a phone call from Chrissie on the evening before her death in which she told him that he could work away and put up his shed at Derryhiney and he took it to mean the lease on her half of the 140 acres had been sorted out.

It is the prosecutions case that Michael Scott deliberately ran over his aunt Christine Chrissie Treacy (76) with an agricultural teleporter following a long-running dispute over land.

Mr Scott (58) of Gortanumera, Portumna, Co Galway, has pleaded not guilty to her murder on April 27, 2018, at her home in Derryhiney, Portumna.

The defence says that Miss Treacys death was a tragic accident.

Declan McHugh, an agricultural consultant and auctioneer employed by Ms Treacy told the Central Criminal Court he had valued the value of the lease of the 140 acres at Derryhiney in December 2017 at a total of 26,000 and so the approximate lease value for half of that land would be 13,000.

Chief State Pathologist Dr Linda Mulligan told the court that she had carried out a post mortem on the body of the late Chrissie Treacy on April 28, 2018.

That morning, she called to the farmyard at Derryhiney and was shown the teleporter with its wheels on the left covered by black plastic.

On removal of the plastic, there was biological tissue on the back wheel.

The elderly womans body was face down on the concrete courtyard, with her feet towards the teleporter and her head pointing away towards an adjacent field.

There were obvious crush injuries to her left forearm and hand as well as her right leg. There were tyre marks consistent with the teleporter over the back of her trousers.

The elderly womans panic button alarm was around her neck on a cord.

In a formal post mortem examination at University Hospital Galway, the pathologist found evidence of crush injuries travelling diagonally over the right leg, pelvis, the left lower abdomen, left chest and left forearm.

The injuries, which included a major tear to the aorta, were not compatible with survival and would have resulted in almost instantaneous death.

She gave the cause of death as multiple traumatic run-over or crush injuries.

Dr Mulligan agreed with Paul Greene SC for the Defence that it was a reasonable possibility that one pass by the vehicle over the body could have caused all these injuries, but could not exclude a second passing over the body.

Asked by Mr Kelly about post mortem twitching, Dr Mulligan said there can be twitching for a very short period after death of not more than a minute or two and it would normally be limited to the limbs and the smaller muscles of the face.

Agricultural consultant Joseph Carty, who worked with Mr Scott said he was aware of the farmers concern that he was going to lose his herd number  described as a licence to farm  if the lease was not in order for the land at Derryhiney and said that, in the long term, Mr Scotts existing herd was not sustainable on 70 acres and he needed the 140 acres.

In December 2017 he went through a letter from Ms Treacy solicitor with Mr Scott and his wife Cora, explaining that it meant that some of the land would stay with Mr Scott while other land would be taken into Chrissies ownership. Mr Scott was very annoyed by this and said this will end badly.

Mr Carty was taken aback by his level of anger and did not respond.

That evening, Mr Carty received a call from Mr Scott who told him that in the months prior to that, he had been accused of intimidating Ms Treacy.

Mr Carty warned him of his behaviour, saying: If you lay a finger on Chrissie that will finish you and me.

Mr Scott replied: You know what lads like me are like, were all talk.

In a further conversation in early 2018, he told him he had changed solicitors and that his new solicitor had advised him that he could call for the selling of the farm at Derryhiney and Mr Carty replied: Thats a better option than losing your mind over it.

Dt Sgt Paul Duane told the trial that in a garda interview on May 4 2018, Mr Scott had said the nicest thing that had happened on the evening before Chrissies death was that he had a phone call from her, telling that things were worked out now about the land and that all he would have to do was contact his solicitor and she would contact hers.

I was delighted, he said.

On the day of Chrissies death, he had worked on the farm in the morning before going home. After his wife Cora had collected their two young children from school, she brought back a letter from the post box at the pillar.

The letter was from Declan McHugh and it instructed him that he could not claim aid for three parcels of land.

The only thing that caused me grief was to see Declans name on it  I didnt like that man because I fell out with him years ago, he said.

He told gardai that he had enough land for his entitlements and it didnt bother him.

He left home and went to Derryhiney where he went to move a drinking trough on the land with the teleporter.

Reversing it out of the shed, he hit something  I thought it was a trailer I hit, he said.

He pulled up and saw Chrissie on the ground and then rang his neighbour, Francis Hardiman saying: Something terrible is after happening.

When Mr Hardiman arrived, Mr Scott went to get his gun, telling gardai: I wanted to take my own life. I wish to God I did.

I got the old gun out of the jeep, I don't know if Francis got it off me. I dont know did I black out then. Everything went pure dizzy on me.

He told gardai that he and Ms Treacy had co-owned the farm at Derryhiney and that it had worked out the finest.

After he hit Ms Treacy with the teleporter, he said he went over to check her, asking if she was alright and said he could see her moving her head and her right arm on the ground.

Asked if he checked her pulse, he said he had not as he wouldnt know anything the like of that, nor did he call the emergency services, saying he did not know the number.

The mirror on the left of the teleporter had broken off some time ago, while the one on the right did not have good visibility with the boom down, he said.

Paul Greene Sc for the Prosecution put it to Sgt Duane that his client became emotional in parts of the interview and he agreed that on a few different occasions, started to cry and indicated he felt sick.

The trial continues.
Race was planned on animal abusers farm

Janet Ball leaving court on Thursday after a judge heard of the appalling condition of animals discovered at her farm   Paddy Cummins - PCPhoto.ie

The Garda Siochana Motor Club (GSMC) organised an event on lands owned by convicted animal abuser Janet Ball  six months after officers accompanied an DSPCA inspection during which a dead dog was found on her kitchen floor.

The grass surface autocross event was advertised to take place at Reynoldstown in the Naul, Co. Dublin, on Sunday October 3 2021  with event literature from the GSMC noting the venue was being used by kind permission from Mrs Janet Ball.

Efforts to contact the GSMC yesterday to confirm the event went ahead were unsuccessful.

On Thursday, 74-year-old Ball of the Reynoldstown Farm, The Naul, in north County Dublin, pleaded guilty to 10 charges under the Animal Health and Welfare Act arising from the animal welfare inspection that had taken place the previous April.

She was given a six-month suspended sentence and disqualified from working with animals after Dublin District Court heard evidence detailing the appalling conditions on her farm where she kept about 140 animals.

The charges followed a two-day inspection of her home by the Dublin Society for Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (DSPCA) in April 2021.

DSPCA inspector Tony McGovern told the court that concerns grew for an unspecified amount of animals inside the house and on the surrounding grounds of the property.

Accompanied by gardai, he and colleagues entered the house by the back door and immediately noticed a smell of dog faeces and urine.

At that point, they had to go out to put on masks and protective white suits before re-entering the house.

Mr McGovern said he found 10 or 11 dogs in one room without ventilation or natural light.

There were 33 dogs inside the property, many in cages and without access to fresh water.

The DSPCA team left again due to the stench of what the inspector believed was long-term defecation and urination.

They went back in with high-powered torches and found some of the dogs had new-born puppies with no access to water.

Outside, they found 53 rabbits in hutches without water in filth-ridden old bedding.

A dead rabbits carcass was decomposing on one of the hutches.

A shed that had not been cleaned contained ducks and geese.

Veterinary surgeon Aideen Murphy told the court there was a decomposing dog on the floor of the kitchen.

She recalled a dog on the table and other dogs running around the kitchen. Their coats were matted and had fleas, but they were microchipped, vaccinated and generally in good condition.

The rabbits were also using their soiled hay bedding as food.

Sentencing, Judge Anthony Halpin said: This is a very distressing case of animal cruelty.

The facts outlined are appalling and beyond ones wildest supposition. I cannot comprehend how the accused could have stayed, given the fumes, smells and deleterious material that were on view.

It was so bad that animal welfare officers had to leave twice to get fresh air.

But for her guilty plea, he would have had no hesitation in imposing a custodial sentence.

The seriousness of this case cannot be understated, and the harm inflicted upon those animals is simply an outrageous abomination, he said.

He noted from prosecuting counsel Matthew Holmes that she had no prior convictions, and he took into account mitigation pleas on her behalf from the defence.

She had also cooperated with the DSPCA, which allowed them to rescue and re-home most of the dogs, rabbits, geese, ducks, and guinea pigs on the farm.

Patrick Jackson BL, for Ball, pleaded with the judge to consider her ill health at the time, the breakdown of her marriage and that it happened during the covid crisis while she was also caring for her brother.

In her 33 years of caring for animals, this was her first time before the court, he also submitted.

Judge Halpin added that he inferred that there was no deliberate malice in respect of the offence before the court.

He imposed a six-month suspended sentence on the condition she did not reoffend for the next two years.

He also acceded to a request from Mr Holmes to disqualify her from working with animals for five years.
This successful operation highlights strong international co-operation between An Garda Siochana and international partners

The Garda Extradition Unit surrendered 10 people to the Polish National Police in Dublin today.

Gardai, assisted by personnel from the Garda National Bureau of Criminal Investigation, surrendered nine males and one female to Polish National Police at the Baldonnell Aerodrome earlier today.

A garda spokesperson said all ten were detained on foot of European Arrest Warrants either yesterday or today.

The European Arrest Warrants were issued by Polish Authorities for offences ranging from assault, to drug trafficking, theft, fraud and inciting prostitution in Poland, the spokesperson said.

The operation involved coordinated activity by gardai from Garda National Bureau of Criminal Investigation, local Gardai across a number of Garda stations in the Dublin region, The Irish Prison Service, and the Air Corps, Oglaigh na hEireann.

Speaking today, Detective Superintendent Michael Mullen of the Garda Extradition Unit said: "This successful operation highlights strong international co-operation between An Garda Siochana and international partners resulting in the removal of fugitives who posed a risk to communities in Ireland.

"This operation also highlights the continued commitment of domestic stakeholders including the Department of Justice, The Defence Forces and the Irish Prison Service all of whom work in tandem to ensure wanted fugitives are brought to justice."
Jo-Emma Larvin (44) is on trial in the UK where she is accused of stashing the money in her luggage before flying from London Heathrow to Dubai

The British ex-glamour model who allegedly smuggled 5million packed in suitcases from the UK to Dubai was part of 100m money-laundering operation led by a glamorous kingpin, a London court has been told.

Jo-Emma Larvin (44) is on trial in the UK where she is accused of stashing the notes in her luggage before flying from London Heathrow to the Middle East.

The jury at Isleworth Crown Court has already been told how the smugglers would declare the cash once arriving in Dubai, handing over a letter authorising them to carry it from a company called Omnivest.

The authorities would check the amount and give them a currency declaration form.

The couriers would have a few days in Dubai before flying back with cases that were very considerably lighter than when they went out prosecutors claim.

They would fly business class so they could bring more luggage and all their expenses including hotel accommodation were covered while they were paid in the region of 3,000 each for the trip.

Tara Hanlon

It is alleged that members of Larvin's smuggling ring, including one Liam Rabone, were recruited into the scheme by glamorous kingpin Tara Hanlon, who jurors heard has admitted money-laundering offences.

In July of last year, Hanlon (30) of Pelham Court, Leeds, pleaded guilty at Isleworth Crown Court in June to money laundering offences worth more than 5m.

She was jailed for 34 months after being found at Heathrow Airport with five suitcases stuffed with nearly 2m in cash as she tried to board a flight to Dubai on October 3, 2020

It is claimed that Larvin, who once dated boxer Joe Calzaghe, and her partner Jonathan Johnson (55) carried 2.8m in September 2020, using holiday items to disguise the cash.

Larvin and 27-year-old Amy Harrison also smuggled an estimated 2.2m in seven cases, Isleworth Crown Court has heard.

Page Henry, who has admitted removing criminal property in relation to the scheme, said she was recruited to take large amounts of cash to Dubai on four different occasions.

When asked how much she was told was in the suitcase, Henry said: Multi-millions. Two to four or five million. In pounds.

She told how she was paid 3,000 for one trip to Dubai in 10, 20 and 50 notes which were sometimes Scottish.

The gang used work phones that were accessed through specific pin numbers.

During her second trip, Henry recalled using a code word 'Ninja' to refer to a man called Ali in a WhatsApp group chat used to organise the next trip to Dubai.

It was like a code word, it was a nickname in the group chat on WhatsApp, she said.

Henry said she was contacted by Michelle Clark who she knew through working together at Sky.

Larvin and Johnson, along with Harrison, Beatrice Auty (26) and Liam Rabone (29) all deny removing criminal property from the UK.

Auty took three trips to Dubai but is only charged with attempting to remove criminal cash on the third run as the cases were intercepted by the National Crime Agency. She is also accused of assisting on another 11 smuggling runs.

Harrison allegedly two other trips as well as the one she made with Larvin, smuggling 6million, while Rabone took three trips.

Julian Christopher KC, prosecuting, told jurors the defendants played a significant part in the transportation of very large amounts of cash to Dubai from Heathrow.

Millions of pounds in English and Scottish banknotes were carried in suitcases checked in as luggage, the court heard. Anything over 10,000 Euros leaving the EU has to be declared to HMRC, but the smugglers' suitcases usually contained up to 500,000, the prosecutor said.

The organiser, Abdulla Alfalasi (47) had arranged 83 successful trips over 18 months and these defendants were involved in 16 while two more were unsuccessful.

The total amount of cash taken out of the UK in those 83 trips as in the region of 100m, the court heard.

Messages accessed from Rabone's work phone had been deleted after he had shared his pin with a contact who was also travelling out to Dubai.

The pin number would obviously give access to the messages on the work phone, presumably the sort of message that says he would be travelling out with cash to Dubai,' the prosecutor said.

Just another inkling at his state of mind as of the need to keep secret [how] he is involved in with the communications in relation to these trips.

The court also heard how four videos were accessed from Auty's phone that documented her unpacking bundles of cash after a trip on 3 October 2020.

There are photos taken...of lots and lots of bundles of cash laid out on the floor, the video is the unpacking of the cash onto the carrier bags, prosecutors added.

Andrew Radcliffe, KC, defending Rabone, said: We can now see may things Mr Rabone did not know and could not know at the time.

He knew of some others flying but he could not of know of all of that back in July, August and September of 2020. We are told there are some 85 trips. But he could of only been aware of a small handful of each of these.

He was recruited by a woman he regarded at the time his closest friend, Tara Hanlon. We know she must've known what was really going on because she pleaded guilty to all of this.

She reassured him at all times the money belonged to a very wealth Qatari man and the money was all completely legitimate.

The trial continues.
We werent told anything at all. All we know is that the decision was made on the basis of his human rights.

Limerick mum Tracey Tully has said she was left absolutely soul-destroyed when she heard the man who murdered her son, Kevin Sheehy, is to be transferred back to a UK prison.

Speaking as she prepared to make a statement outside Roxboro Garda station this afternoon, Ms Tully said she was devastated  by the decision to allow her son's murderer to be moved from a Limerick prison to the UK so he can be closer to his family.

Im absolutely soul destroyed, she told the Sunday World.

At 3.30 yesterday I got the phone call to say the decision had already been made by the court.

We werent told anything at all. All we know is that the decision was made on the basis of his human rights."

Kevin Sheehy

It has been claimed that Jackson has been living under a death threat and is being held in solitary confinement in Limerick Prison away from the rest of the general prison population.

Tracey said that she had been told he had been on 23-hour lock up since he went into prison, but that this was at his own request.

"Basically he was saying he was being threatened, she said. Which tarnishes my own familys name.

Tracey had long campaigned for Jackson to be detained in an Irish jail for the remainder of his sentence.

Kevin, an Irish champion boxer, died after being repeatedly struck by a vehicle driven by Jackson of Longford Road, Coventry, England.

Jackson, (31), denied Mr Sheehys murder but admitted manslaughter, and was jailed for life in December 2021 after a jury at the Central Criminal Court unanimously rejected his defence of provocation.

Following his conviction Jackson successfully applied to the Justice Minister for a transfer from Ireland so he can serve out his sentence in an English prison.

Last year Tracey had been granted permission to legally challenge a decision by the Minister for Justice to sanction Logan's proposed transfer to his native UK.

She had claimed the Minister's decision amounted to a breach of her rights under the 2017 Victims of Crime Act.

Last year, the court was told that the parties had agreed that the case can now be struck out after the Minister for Justice decided to rescind her sanctioning of Jackson's transfer to a British prison.

The court also made an order that legal costs incurred by Tracey, and Jackson be paid by the State.

But speaking on Thursday night, Ms Tully said she had not been notified the Minister was deciding the matter today and had understood it might be dealt with in a number of years.

I was led to believe that the decision (to keep Jackson in Limerick) was for the foreseeable, she said.

"But now it looks like the only thing we won was on the legal fees. I can only try and do my best now to raise awareness and keep up the fight.

Logan Jackson

Earlier Tracey said she was left shocked and traumatised by the decision.

I cant believe it, this is a nightmare, I feel sick, and Im disgusted at the way the criminal justice system has treated me and my family."

She added that she would continue to investigate all legal avenues in trying to prevent Jacksons prison transfer.

I need answers, the real answers. As Kevins mother, I've every right, every right to these answers.

I was not notified. This is like the day my son was murdered, all over again, Im heartbroken Ms Tully said.

She said questions remain over the Minister's initial decision to transfer Jackson so early in his sentence.

Limerick Fianna Fail TD Willie ODea, who supported Ms Tullys challenge to the prison transfer described the Ministers decision as absolutely disgraceful.

Its a despicable decision by the Government. First of all, they wanted to transfer (Jackson) immediately without any consultation with the family, they were forced by the courts to get the familys views on the matter, and having done so, they have decoded to transfer him anyway.

Mr ODea said, in his view, the Department of Justice have treated the whole thing as a box-ticking exercise.

Mr ODea said he would be raising the matter in the Dail. I will ask the government to justify its decision, but in my view its totally unjustifiable, its wrong, and cruel and its piling injustice on top of injustice.

This is how we treat an Irish champion boxer? The Minister for Justice and the Government should be ashamed of themselves, Mr ODea said.

Two other men are wanted by gardai in connection with the murder.

In a statement issued on Thursday night, a spokesman for the Minister for Justice Simon Harris said: The Minister for Justice has expressed his sincere condolences to the family of Kevin Sheehy on their loss in such appalling circumstances, and wishes to do so again.

It said the Minister had "with great difficulty" acceded to the request of Mr Jackson to serve the remainder of his term in a UK prison.

The Minister "is acutely aware that news of this development will be difficult for the family of Kevin Sheehy, it stated.

In arriving at this decision, and with the feelings of the family of at the forefront of his mind, Minister Harris sought to explore all possible options.

However, the Minister is obliged to act in a manner consistent with the obligations under international law, specifically the Council of Europe Convention on the transfer of prisoners and the European Convention on Human Rights.
Courtney is a hate figure on in Belfasts Lower Shankill area, with the majority of hard-working residents resenting him for lining his pockets from their misery.

Mo Courtney is under pressure to quit the Shankill after it was revealed one of his most trusted lieutenants was caught with a substantial amount of heroin.

The Sunday World can reveal the man was caught in possession of the drug which the community refuse to accept on their streets.

Disgusted and terrified members of the Shankill area have taken to social media to expose Courtney and his gangs involvement in the heroin trade, branding them liars as they have continued to deny any involvement in plying the deadly drug.

Courtney, who runs a network of drug dealers, has always insisted he and his UDA cronies would never sell heroin.

However, the arrest of one of his main dealers for possession of the drug has caused outrage.

Courtney is a hate figure on the Lower Shankill, with the majority of hard-working residents resenting him for lining his pockets from their misery.

Cocaine and cannabis is sold on a daily basis  however, it appears Courtney and his gang have gone too far this time by bringing the soul-destroying drug onto the streets of the loyalist enclave.

Calls for Courtney to be kicked out of the area are being voiced by concerned parents who are sick of their children being exploited.

Not only does Courtney and Co sell their drugs to schoolchildren, they also recruit them to sell drugs to pay off their debts or face punishment beatings.

For almost 40 years, Courtney has held this area to ransom but sources say this latest development is too much to stomach.

Heroin is a no, no. Mo Courtney has gone too far this time. For years he has destroyed this area, making money off other peoples weakness.

Ruining lives, shootings, punishments beatings  you name it he has done it  but there is no way this community is going to sit back and watch our kids become heroin addicts just so he can make a few more quid, said one source.

We want him out, off the road. We have put up with enough of his blatant criminality. Every day we see kids go by on bikes selling his s**t but this is a whole new level.

Heroin  there is no way we are going to sit back and see this area become one of those drug estates like Ballymena or Dublin, kids lying on the streets with a needle hanging out of their arm, the source toldSunday World.

The supply and demand for heroin in Belfast has been increasing in recent years, however there was always an unwritten rule among paramilitaries that smack was a drug they would never touch.

This rule appears to have been broken and Courtney had full knowledge that some dealers working for him were branching out.

Courtney is trying to say it had nothing to do with him but nothing happens with his boys without him knowing.

Hes just sorry they got caught and their plans to start flooding the area with heroin was exposed because the cops got there first, another resident told Sunday World.

We have put up with enough, its time for Mo to go. We cant have him about this place anymore for the sake of our kids.

A notice posted on social media has been shared hundreds of times.

It reads: Seems Mo Courtney and the West Belfast UDA have stooped to a new low this week... The time is now to make a stand and get this guy out once and for all before his heroin business takes off and many more families and childrens lives are ruined.

The PSNI stated detectives from the Paramilitary Crime Task Force (PCTF) and officers from the Belfast District Support Team conducted a number of searches at addresses in south Belfast last Friday.

One flat was searched by PCTF detectives targeting West Belfast UDA drugs criminality, and quantities of suspected class A and B drugs were recovered along with a sum of cash and a mobile telephone. A 39-year-old man was arrested on suspicion of a number of offences including possession of class A and B drugs with intent to supply and possessing criminal property.

Three other properties in Raby Street were searched by District Support Team officers, assisted by officers from Central, Oldpark and Lisburn Road Neighbourhood Teams, where further quantities of suspected class A and B drugs were recovered.

Three men, aged 19, 41 and 62 and a 50-year-old woman were arrested on suspicion of a number of drugs-related offences. Approximately 6,000 in cash, 2,000 of suspected heroin, 1,500 of suspected cocaine and 2,000 of suspected cannabis was recovered.
The SDLP's Daniel McCrossan pictured with one of the threatening posters

Posters featuring Taoiseach Leo Varadkar, which threaten a return to violence, have been sighted in Co Tyrone this week.

The same posters, which include a background image of the Dublin/Monaghan bombs, started appearing in loyalist areas across NI days before he was installed as Taoiseach again in December.

They state: The possibility of a return to violence is very real.

Now, a new batch of the pictures have been plastered in the Artigarvan area of west Tyrone.

The SDLPs Daniel McCrossan said the local community is disgusted at the appearance of the sinister and threatening images.

Mr McCrossan said there was no place for this kind of intimidation and he would take steps to have the posters removed immediately.

Artigarvan is a peaceful village and the local community is disgusted that posters have been put up in the area, particularly outside a primary school where they will be seen by children, he added.

"A number of local residents and businesses owners have got in touch with me to express how unhappy they are that these posters have appeared and Ill be taking steps to seek their immediate removal.

The people who put up these posters have nothing to offer and do not speak for the people of Artigarvan who want to live in peace with their neighbours. My message is the same to everyone who threatens a return to our past  we wont be going back and our communities will be not be held to ransom by threats of violence and intimidation.

There is absolutely no support for this kind of message in the towns and villages of West Tyrone, we saw a very clear message in Omagh at the weekend of just how strongly this community rejects violence. I have reported these posters to the PSNI and spoke to the local council and hope to see these posters taken down soon.

Mr McCrossan was referring to a protest rally which was held in Omagh on Saturday in reaction to the attempted murder of PSNI Detective Chief Inspector John Caldwell.

Anton McCabe, the secretary of the Omagh Trades Union Council, which organised the rally, said he hoped it would send a clear message that the majority of people reject this attempt to send us back to the past.

Hundreds of people gathered in the towns main street to demand an end to paramilitary violence in Northern Ireland.
The woman accused of being the "Killer Clown" Sheila Keen-Warren

Marlene Warren had just finished having breakfast with her son and his pals. This was around 10:45 a.m. on May 26, 1990.

It would be her final meal.

The 40-year-old had noticed a Chrysler Le Baron pull into the driveway of her Palm Beach County, Florida home.

Exiting the vehicle was a woman dressed like a clown who walked casually to the front door.

"The person dressed as the clown was carrying a flower arrangement and two balloons," the sheriffs office said at the time.

One of the balloons featured an image of Snow White, the other carried the words, "You're the Greatest!"

Her son John Ahrens told 48 Hours that he recalled his mother saying: "Oh, how pretty." And then the boy heard a gun go off.

"At first we thought maybe it was a balloon that popped, but when we saw her fall, we knew something was definitely seriously wrong," Ahrens said. "I remember that being one of the worst days of my life."

Warren had been shot once in the face and died two days later in hospital.

The murder is one of the most bizarre in Florida history and the Sunshine State seldom has a shortage of twisted homicides.

Marlenes family has spent years without their special girl.

Everyone got robbed when she was killed," her stepfather Bill Twing said.

Marlene Warren

Now, more than three decades after Marlene Wallace breathed her last, the woman accused of being the "Killer Clown", Sheila Keen-Warren, is poised to go on trial for first-degree murder.

Cops had good reason to suspect Keen-Warren, 27 at the time of the murder. She worked for Marlene's husband Michael repossessing cars.and the two were engaged in a torrid affair. Sheila too was married but she and Michael were making plans to start a new life together.

But the evidence didn't stack up in the early 1990s and Sheila (now known as Debbie) and Michael got on with their lives and got married, first in Tennessee where they opened a restaurant and later Virginia.

Enter a Maine jailbird named Edward Bahr who boasted to a fellow convict "that he murdered a woman in Wellington, Florida" decades ago.

Detectives from Florida travelled north where they interviewed Bahr, who promised to tell them "everything he knows" if the cops could promise he wouldn't put him in the electric chair. The investigator said he couldn't promise that so the convict lawyered up.

As for her husband, the defence team claims that prosecutors have long suspected Marlene's hubby of being involved in the murder plot. He has never been charged in connection with the crime and denies any wrongdoing.

Still, Bahr possessed a number of titillating details including a bombshell - Bahr claimed that Marlene Warren's husband, who he knew from the Mermaid Bar, hired him to take his wife off the board because the couple were splitting and she was going to get the car lot.

In 2022, Bahr denied any involvement and said that he learned the details on TV. What he didn't mention was that there is no TV in solitary confinement.

Cold case detectives reopened the investigation in 2014. Advances in DNA technology would do the trick. DNA found in the stolen Chrysler Le Baron used in the hit was linked to Keen-Warren.

On Sept. 26, 2017, Palm Beach County finally arrested Sheila Keen-Warren in Virginia for murdering her love rival nearly three decades earlier.

Keen-Warren's defence team are fighting to have certain evidence  and the case itself  tossed because of the nearly six-year delay.

Expected to testify will be employees of the Spotlight Capezio, a West Palm Beach costume shop. Store employees said it was Keen-Warren who bought an orange wig, a "yellow and hot pink" clown suit and a makeup kit, but no mask, two days before Marlene Warrens brazen execution.

Keen-Warren's long-awaited trial is slated, to begin with, jury selection sometime in May.
Couple stunned as disgraced Duke is offered keys to Frogmore Cottage

Following the news of King Charles IIIs decision to request the Duke and Duchess of Sussex to vacate their UK residence, Piers Morgan has demanded that Harry and Meghan should also be stripped of their royal titles.

Prince Harry provoked his father King Charles III into evicting he and his wife Meghan Markle from their royal residence of Frogmore Cottage, a royal commentator has claimed.

The Sussexes confirmed they have been asked to vacate the residence handed to them by the late Queen after their marriage in 2018, and are said now said to be making arrangements to have their remaining belongings shipped from the 10-bedroom royal residence to California.

Instead, Prince Andrew has reportedly been offered the keys to Frogmore Cottage, but the Duke of York is claimed to be resisting calls to downsize from the Royal Lodge in Windsor, where he has lived for more than 20 years and shares with his ex-wife Sarah Ferguson.

Referencing Harrys tell-all memoir Spare, royal expert Tom Bower told Page Six: Harry and Meghan provoked him [King Charles] with Harrys disgraceful book and the interviews he gave.

Watch: 'Sign my shirt!' - Prince Harry on asking for autographs as he makes first TV appearance since South park controversy

A friend of the Duchess of Sussex was quoted as telling The Sun, which first reported the claims, that the Sussexes were stunned by the development, saying: It all feels very final and like a cruel punishment.

Following the news of King Charles IIIs decision to request the Duke and Duchess of Sussex to vacate their UK residence, Piers Morgan has demanded that Harry and Meghan should also be stripped of their royal titles.

Writing in The Sun, Piers Morgan said: There comes a point in every such dispute when a line must be drawn in the sand. And for [King] Charles, that line came in the shape of Harrys tell-all book Spare which dumped a Grand Canyon-sized load of rotten, stinking manure over his family.

He added: If one of my three sons publicly repeatedly trashed our family in the way Harrys trashed his, they wouldnt be getting the ash from my annual Christmas Day cigar, let alone a luxury home.

Morgan says the King must refuse to invite Harry and Meghan to his coronation in May, and then fully stripping them of their royal titles.

Morgan said: Theyve made their backstabbing, fork-tongued beds in their California mansion, and they can continue lying in them. In every sense.
The Wagatha Christie Trial is coming to Ireland, with tickets on sale next week

Jonathan Broadbent, Lucy May Barker (Rebekah Vardy), Laura Dos Santos (Coleen Rooney) and Tom Turner star in Vardy V Rooney, The Wagatha Christie Trial

Tickets go on sale next Friday for the Rebekah Vardy vs Coleen Rooney show, aka The Wagatha Christie Trial, which will be shown in the Gaiety Theatre.

Based on the stranger than fiction events of 2022, when the two famous wags went head to head in court, this verbatim production reveals what went on behind closed doors in the case that turned social media sleuthing into high drama.

Back in 2019, Coleen Rooney, wife of ex-Man United top scorer, Wayne, suspected that posts from her social media were being leaked to the papers.

To determine the source of the leaks, Coleen posted fabricated stories but restricted access to Rebekah, wife of Leicester F.C legend, Jamie Vardy.

These stories ended up in the tabloids, including one that Rooney had flown to Mexico to make a baby girl, and that Rooneys house was flooded.

Coleen publicly accused Vardy of the leaks and her tweet went viral, being dubbed Wagatha Christie, after the famed writer of detective books.

Vardy denied all involvement, claiming her Twitter account had been hacked. Now, its time to find out what really went on.

Audiences can see first-hand, and in the words of Rebekah Vardy and Coleen Rooney, how the extraordinary week in court played out.

Vardy v Rooney is a story stranger than fiction, with lurid one-liners and revelations blurring the boundaries of tabloid and court case, social media and soap opera.

A unique moment in media history captivated the country but while public debate raged, only a handful of people witnessed what happened in the trial.

Now audiences can watch the intrigue and intricacies of the case live on stage in the Gaiety Theatre.

The show stars Lucy May Barker (Mamma Mia!) as Rebekah Vardy and Laura Dos Santos (Liverpool Everyman) is Coleen Rooney, Jonathan Broadbent (The Comedy of Errors) is Hugh Tomlinson QC and Nathan McMullen (Misfits) plays multiple roles.

Tickets from 21.50 will go on sale on Friday 10th March at 10am. The show runs from June 5-7.
"When Michael went missing, by the time some people realised he was missing it was too late.

Spencer Matthews who is attempting to retrace the steps of his older brother Michael with the help of survivalist Bear Grylls and record-breaking mountaineer Nims Purja for the documentary Finding Michael (Disney+/PA)   Disney+

Spencer Matthews (34) has revealed the heartbreaking story of his search to find his late brothers body.

The Made in Chelsea star was just 10 years old when his older brother Michael was killed on Mount Everest.

Spencer has now retraced his siblings steps in a new Disney+ documentary, Finding Michael.

"When Michael went missing, by the time some people realised he was missing it was too late. Nobody survives the night, really. A couple of cases maybe, he told the One Show yesterday

Finding Michael documentary trailer

The reality star became choked up as he discussed his brother and his tragic death while descending through the death zone of Mount Everest in May 1999.

"In 2017, the family was sent a photo of a body on the mountain and they claimed that it could be Michael, he explained.

"In fact it did look like it could be, with similar summit suits. It's the first time really that I thought even a body recovery was possible.

'It continued to tick away in my head: What if it is him? I've certainly grown up with feelings that he's up there and died and was left there.

"Wouldn't it be nice if there was a body to mourn for my family?

Spencer Matthews with Nirmal Nims Purja (Disney+/PA)   Disney+

"We scrapped together any information we had. Some of the footage of Michael on the mountain I'd never seen before.

"It was the first time I'd seen him on camera, because as a kid we didn't do home movies or anything.

Spencer  who is married to Irish podcast sensation Vogue Williams  told The Sunday Times this week that the journey brought him the closest to his brother that hes felt since he died.

"He's frozen in time. I'm his big brother now. I was unable to stop thinking about it. I wanted to bring him home for my mum.

"I found the idea unbearable of him being out there on the mountain, alone, with people walking past him en route to the summit.

Michael was the youngest British person to ever reach the peak of the mountain when he set out on his expedition almost 24 years ago.

Vogue said she is so proud of her husband, calling the documentary incredible while at the premiere this week.
A new rural wonderland is ready to be explored and enjoyed  on foot, bike or horse  by Western Bay of Plenty residents and visitors alike with the official opening of the Waitekohekohe Recreational Park this weekend.

The recreational park located on Thompsons Track, about 15 minutes drive south of Katikati, opens this Saturday, March 4  six years after a concept for a park comprising of horse riding, mountain bike trails, and bush walks was initially proposed.

The park is a council-owned reserve in the upper hill slope catchments of the Kaimai-Mamaku Forest Park, covering an area of 87.982 hectares and includes an estimated 5km of the main Waitekohe Stream margins.

Horse riding space

In 2017 the previously-leased forestry block returned to Western Bay of Plenty District Council ownership at the same time as local horse riders were looking for spaces for horse riding.

Katch Katikati manager Jacqui Knight called a public meeting to gauge interest in building horse trails in the forestry block. We had about 80 people attend and half of them were mountain bikers. From this meeting we formed a small committee to start making plans, says Jacqui.

The plans were eventually adopted into WBOPDCs Long Term Plan, which came into effect in 2021 when funding was also available to start development of the reserve.

To date the park has five mountain bike tracks, an equestrian area where existing forestry tracks have been cleared and new trails created  offering about two hours worth of riding, along with a jumping alley and galloping track.

The mountain bike carpark at 360 Thompsons Track is complete and awaits a toilet and weather shelter, while the equestrian carpark at 252 Thompsons Track is finished and includes a toilet, corrals, weather shelter and washdown station.

The project, developed in partnership between Katch Katikati and WBOPDC, has involved a large and diverse group of locals. Our volunteers have put in hundreds of hours marking out tracks, installing signs, and meeting to discuss plans and management issues, says Jacqui.

Future plans for the park include building more mountain bike tracks and an additional equestrian track on the Lund Rd-side through the pines.

Hills to Ocean

With the distance from the reserve to the coast just 5.5km, the idea of linking ecological and archaeological significant areas in a Hills to Ocean concept is a goal for the reserve. The Waitekohekohe name was gifted by Ngai Tamawhariua in reference to the ancestral name for this area and its relation to spiritual waters, a sense of yearning and climbing tree and vines.

Pest control

Environmental group Project Parore is a project partner  with their volunteers already undertaking pest control on the Lund Rd side of the block and will look to extend this across the whole reserve. The aim is to enhance biodiversity and habitat of the Waitekohekohe Reserve.

The park has been created and will be managed by The Katikati Recreational Park Development Group, with its major partner WBOPDC contributing staff expertise and a budget of just under $1m million during five years for development of this project.

This is a project that will bring great benefits to Katikati in many ways and enjoyment for many locals and visitors, says Jacqui.

There arent many horse riding places in the district and weve heard people will be travelling from out of town to make use of the park. The mountain bike tracks offer about an hour of riding on exceptionally good tracks. Dog walkers are also catered for with many tracks available for walkers and dogs under control. Everyone is welcome to the official opening of Waitekohekohe Recreational Park this Saturday March 4 at 10am at 252 Thompsons Track, Katikati  its a great opportunity to explore the reserve on foot, check out a swimming hole or ride the mountain bike tracks.

The park is open seven days at 252 & 360 Thompsons Track. Visit: www.waitekohekohe.nz
Students across the country are ditching the classroom on this afternoon to join the latest school strike for climate, demanding immediate action on climate change from the government.

After the fallout from the Auckland floods and the devastating effects of Cyclone Gabrielle across the North Island, the organisers of the protest have five demands.

"We picked these after talking with scientists and experts and policy advisers on what they thought would be the key five legislative demands that government could put in place now to reduce emissions and protect our natural environment," School Strike for Climate Christchurch spokesperson Aurora Garner-Randolph, 17, told RNZ's Morning Report today.

No more fossil fuel mining or exploration is top of the list, if New Zealand was to play its part in 2015's Paris Agreement.

"Everybody is saying that in order to meet the 1.5C warming goal that we need to have no further coal, oil or gas exploration - but despite that, the government is still granting new exploration permits

"We have a huge untapped potential in renewables here in Aotearoa, and we need to focus on that and moving away from fossil fuels."

The group also wants the electric car rebate scheme expanded to include e-bikes.

"We've obviously seen the electric car rebate scheme be really successful and it's resulted in, you know, a real increase in people purchasing those cars," says Garner-Randolph.

"Trips in Aotearoa, the average one is incredibly short, people driving. So we think that this scheme would change the conversation we have around transport."

Other demands include greater marine protection, funding a transition to regenerative farming and lowering the voting age to 16.

"Obviously if we're able to pay taxes, you know, drive a car, join the army, have a child, we feel that we have the responsibility to be able to say where those taxes are spent

"It's our generation that's going to have to deal with these effects coming on in the future from extreme weather events, so we have a real vested interest in being able to say how our government acts now to prevent those things in the future."

New Zealanders on average in 2021 produced 6.59 tonnes of carbon dioxide each - about 40 percent above the world average, according to the Our World In Data Global Carbon Project. Climate Action Tracker, an international project which rates countries' efforts towards meeting their climate obligations, ranks New Zealand's efforts overall as "highly insufficient".

New Zealand's farming industry also produces a lot of methane, which though it does not remain in the atmosphere as long as CO2, traps a lot more heat.

But our small population means we contribute only about 0.09 percent of the world's total C02 emissions.

Garner-Randolph says it did not matter that Aotearoa only accounted for a tiny fraction of the world's emissions.

"Now isn't the time for finger-pointing and saying, 'Oh other countries are producing far more emissions.' It's our responsibility as global citizens, as players on the global stage, to step up and do our part, no matter how big or small it is.

"And we have incredibly high per capita emissions here in Aotearoa, so although we may be small, we are high individual emitters and that needs to change."

She was expecting a big turnout this afternoon, in the region of 15,000 to 20,000 people.

"We reckon it's going to be a really big strike. We've got over 10 locations around the country striking, not just the big cities this time, so it's going to be a really big event."

The last school strikes took place in September.

- RNZ.
An award-winning businesswoman has been ordered to sell her multi-million dollar Bay of Plenty homes to settle a debt of $10 million, involving what a judge described as her record profit from improper activities.

Attempting to bring an end to a 15-year bitter family saga and multiple court hearings in Maori Land Court jurisdiction, on March 1, High Court Judge Harvey agreed to an enforcement order against Rae Beverley Adlam, which includes the sale of two properties in Tauranga and Pukehina valued at $4 -5 million.

Proceeds of the sale would go to trustees of Savage Papakainga Land Trust to partly settle the money Adlam owed from syphoning money from geothermal plants on trust-owned land in Kawerau for her personal use.

Adlam was orignally ordered to repay the trust amounts totalling approximately $15m in a 2014 Maori Land Court judgement.

To date, the trust has received $4.7 million, and trustees sought the latest High Court judgement to enforce the outstanding judgment debt of $10,453,491, by way of sale of her two properties.

Adlam lives in one property, a home in Tauriko, while her son resides in the beachfront home in Pukehina. Her lawyers argued that a sale would leave her homeless as a 76-year-old superannuant with limited assets and income.

Adlam was made a Member of the New Zealand Order of Merit for services to business in 2008. She was named businesswoman of the year in 1986.

She was the driving force behind the $10.5m Ngati Tuwharetoa (Bay of Plenty) Treaty of Waitangi settlement in 2005, and became the settlement trust's chairwoman.

In 2008, she was suspended by the Maori Land Court as a trustee of the Savage Papakainga Land Trust after she admitted taking trust funds for her own use.

Adlam did not dispute that there were findings against her of breach of trust and accepted that the Maori Land Court found she profited from her role as a trustee, when she managed investments in geothermal properties in Kawerau.

She argued that without her skill and expertise the development would not have happened, and pointed out that the trust received annual income.

She disputed that she had used all the money for her own benefit, but the court heard that she may have received personally approximately $5 million, of which some $2 million was spent on legal costs.

Adlams lawyer said that due to issues over record keeping, she cannot account for what happened to the rest of the money.

Judge Harvey said this was not a a satisfactory situation.

Indeed, in the circumstances, given what was at stake, it seems surprising that more care was not taken to secure and preserve such important records.

Kawerau, Bay of Plenty, was the town where Adlam invested trust funds in geothermal businesses. Christel Yardley/Stuff.

Adlams lawyer also requested that principles of tikanga  which could involve resolution outside court  should apply, given that Adlam and the trustees were all close whanau, that she had acknowledged her error and had attempted within her present means to repay as much of the debt as possible.

Judge Harvey disagreed, noting previous attempts at mediation had failed, and that Adlams wrong doings were a record in Maori land court proceedings.

At a minimum, Mrs Adlam has acknowledged that she has profited by $3 million from her breaches of the most fundamental of trust obligationsthe duty of non-conflict and the duty not to profit. That must be a record in the Maori Land Court jurisdiction, in modern times at least, for any fiduciary to have profited from improper activities to such a degree, he said.

Tikanga cannot provide a haven for such misconduct.

The only just ruling under both tikanga and the law of the court, would be to allow the trustees to pursue the debt enforcing Adlam to sell her properties, he said.

The alternative would be to allow Mrs Adlam to effectively avoid responsibility to the trust for in excess of $10 million in circumstances where she continues to fail to provide a proper accounting for the loss or use of those funds. That can hardly be a just outcome, either in ture Pakeha or tikanga terms.

In delivering his ruling, Judge Harvey noted that the trustees had been deprived of their money, while Adlam and her family continued to live in the houses.

It is difficult to see how it can be justified that the trust, being deprived of so much of its money for so long, should countenance the prospect of Mrs Adlams family continuing to benefit from her misconduct in circumstances where, even if the properties are eventually sold, the trust will still be receiving less than the full amount of the judgment debt.

As well as the five court hearings involving the disputed debt, Adlam is a convicted fraudster.

In 2012, she was convicted of 24 charges brought under the Tax Administration Act and fined $75,000.

She was convicted and discharged on nine charges of knowingly filing false GST and income returns in the name of Onepu Geothermal Energy and was ordered to pay Inland Revenue $133,000 in reparations.

When asked for comment at her Bethlehem home, Adlam said: All is not as it seems, theres more truth to come out.

She declined to elaborate but when asked what she thought of her house having to be sold she said:

They will be.

- Annemarie Quill/Stuff.
Bay of Plenty

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China has demonstrated that "socialism with Chinese characteristics" can bring huge economic and social benefits to the Chinese people and those beyond.

The world is still adjusting to the 21st century reality of a unique system of governance practiced by 18.47 percent of the world's population producing economic and social miracles unequaled in human history, and greatly contributing to global economic growth.

China's unique system of governance has helped the country's GDP to increase from a paltry 367.9 billion yuan in 1978 to 121 trillion yuan ($17.44 trillion) in 2022.China's governance system has created the world's largest economy in terms of purchasing power parity and the second-largest economy in nominal GDP terms according to the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund.

The World Bank has said that over the past 40 years about 800 million people have been lifted out of poverty in China. "China has contributed close to three-quarters of the global reduction in the number of people living in extreme poverty," the World Bank said.

How did China's system of governance achieve such miracles?

Socialism with Chinese characteristics focuses on serving the Chinese people and facilitating their economic and social development. The Communist Party of China has more than 96.7 million members, and for more than 100 years of its existence, it has been the vanguard of the Chinese people, leading them toward a better future.

In fact, a survey by Harvard University published in 2020 found that the percentage of the Chinese people supporting the CPC increased 86 percent to 93 percent during the 13-year study.

How did this happen?

The CPC leads one of the most advanced and successful forms of representative governments in the world: socialism with Chinese characteristics and whole-process people's democracy.

The word "democracy "comes from the ancient Greek words "demos "meaning "people" and "kratos" meaning "rule", that is, people's rule. And the constitutions of both the US and China say sovereignty lies with "the people", so the over 330 million people in the US and the more than 1.4 billion people in China both need representatives in the government for it to operate.

However, a big challenge of practicing "democracy" is selecting "the people's" representatives and making them accountable to the people. Achieving the goals of a government of the people and for the people is very difficult. But China's government system can do so, because it is effective and designed to integrate representative and responsible governance with accountability to the people.

China's governance system has succeeded because the Party, the National People's Congress (the country's top legislature) and the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (China's top political advisory body) work together to serve the people and the country. More important, the system is designed to meet the needs of all the people, not just the rich and powerful, and uses a process to select, train and evaluate the performance of officials of the Party, the NPC and the CPPCC National Committee.

While the CPC holds a national congress every five years and the CPC Central Committee holds at least one plenary session every year to take stock of the political, social, economic and other developments, and make key decisions on important issues, the NPC and the CPPCC National Committee hold their annual sessions in the first quarter of the year to deliberate economic, social, diplomatic, educational, scientific and technological and other important issues and make important decisions.

Each of the three organizations  the CPC, the NPC and the CPPCC  has some members or delegates that are also delegates and members of one of the other organizations, and come from all walks of life and across the social, religious and ethnic divide.

China's governance model benefits from having diverse sources of information and good feedback, which help the country's leadership to identify the Chinese people's needs, and listen to people's policy suggestions and take action accordingly, if they are valuable or helpful. The governance model also makes the Chinese government accountable to the people.

This is something Americans will not readily understand. And perhaps they need a long time to adjust to the 21st century reality of China being a highly successful socialist country with a unique system of governance, designed to serve the people.

But since global economic growth and the global financial system's viability, to a large extent, depend on the US and China, and the way they deal with each other, the world's two largest economies should learn to coexist peacefully and continue contributing to global development.

Only when the US and China build mutual trust and the American people, especially politicians, accept that a country can be an economic powerhouse despite having a non-Western form of government and political system can the two sides help boost the global economy and enrich international relations.

The author is chairman of the America China Partnership Foundation.
The Beatrice Area Chamber of Commerce was recently presented with the Event of the Year award by the Nebraska Chamber Association.

The recognition was received for the Holiday Lighted Parade held in Beatrice the first weekend in December each year.

Executive Director Angie Bruna said the parade started as an idea during a random conversation almost a decade ago.

I remember looking at the other people involved in the conversation and said Why cant we do this? she said. The idea has grown into an amazing tradition that our community has come to love and look forward to attending in any type of weather.

Chairman of the parade committee Amber Ferguson said the holiday lighted parade is a dream that became a reality for our committee.

That dream has done nothing but grown by leaps and bounds, she said. Our committee has created an amazing community holiday event. Thanks to the committee and everyone in the community for helping to make this event the Nebraska Chamber event of the year.

Committee member Patrick Ethridge said early in the planning the committee knew they wanted to do a photo with Santa.

Its a memory that can last forever, and when you watch a small child see Santa and their face lights up, theres a little bit of magic in that moment, he said. I think those are the kind of memories that will last a long time. I like to think that for decades to come, every Christmas, as those kids grow up, theyll think about the parade in Beatrice, theyll tell their friends, bring their family, and its a great thing for Beatrice.

In 2020 the parade was done in reverse because of COVID. Ethridge said it turned into an epic traffic jam that had traffic backed up past Walmart.

We hope to never repeat that, he said.

The award was based on the 2021 event, however the parade grew to 33 lighted entries with attendance of approximately 7,200 people in attendance during the 2022 parade.

Other community organizations have become involved in what has become a full day of events in Beatrice. The Beatrice Public Library offers crafts at the library. Main Street works with the Beatrice Fire Department to offer fire truck rides with Santa and there are two showings of a movie at Beatrice Movies.

Bruna said she knows people come for the days activities from around the state and even out of state.

This year we counted license plates from all across the state and even Iowa, Kansas and Missouri, she said. They might shop or eat out. This brings outside revenues to our community.

Ferguson said in a previous interview that a lot of people in the community help with the activities surrounding the parade.

The live nativity, the reindeer, face painting, and hot chocolate stations are just a few things that people help with to make the day more special, she said.

Bruna noted that the Chamber relies on volunteers to make everything work.

There are things we would like to expand like Candy Cane Lane in Charles Park, but we have to have the right person to take that on, she said.

Ethridge said its not always easy to get volunteers so often they have recruited from within their own households.

Many of our children and spouses have also been helping with this since the start and I think that adds a degree of special to it, he said.

Ethridge said the parade is living proof that a small group of people can accomplish big things.

Im not saying a lighted parade is going to change anyones life in a drastic way, but I think it can make life a little better, at least for one day for a few kids. Thats good enough for me, he said.

The committee meets every month and has already started planning for the 9th Annual Holiday Lighted Parade on Dec. 2, 2023. They are always looking for additional volunteers to help with planning and staffing. Call the Beatrice Area Chamber of Commerce at 402-223-2338 or email info@beatricechamber.com to learn more.
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Aerial photo taken on Jan. 26, 2022 shows cargo vessels at Rizhao Port in Rizhao, east China's Shandong Province. (Xinhua/Guo Xulei) - As Joe Ngai, managing partner of McKinsey Greater China, put it: "As global investors and corporations look for growth, everyone is wondering: Where's the next China?" - "If you are looking for growth, the answer is very simple. The next China is China," he said. BEIJING, March 1 (Xinhua) -- China's economy grew 3 percent in 2022 despite downward pressures, exceeding 17 trillion U.S. dollars, its National Bureau of Statistics said Tuesday. With that, China leads the world in growth among major economies. This resilient performance once again echoes what Joerg Wuttke, president of the EU Chamber of Commerce in China, once said: the Chinese economy has a rebound gene. Since the beginning of this year, the Chinese economy has shown strong recovery and vitality. As international institutions have raised China's growth expectations, multinational companies have increased investment in China, and global commodity prices are also on the way up driven by the rebound of China's domestic demand. One may wonder why the Chinese economy can always bounce back. Effective policy coordination is among some of the key factors that help make it possible. Staff members operate at a workshop in a technology equipment company in Ganzhou, east China's Jiangxi Province, Feb. 13, 2023. (Photo by Hu Jiangtao/Xinhua) Thanks to China's institutional advantages, Beijing is capable of providing elements of stability for the effective operation of the market based on the country's evolving economic landscape. Vitor Gaspar, director of the Fiscal Affairs Department of the International Monetary Fund, said that China's overall price level is relatively low, and China still has ample policy space. For example, while China's monetary policy can ensure a reasonably abundant liquidity, it can also roll out supportive policies, like expanding tax and fee incentives to small and micro enterprises, to companies facing financial drought, as well as to green development and technological progress. Wichai Kinchong Choi, senior vice president of leading Thai bank Kasikornbank, pointed out that China's economy is resilient and its policies to address internal and external challenges are highly coordinated and long-term in nature. For Andy Rothman, an investment strategist at Matthews Asia, "with Beijing likely to remain the only major government engaged in serious easing of fiscal and monetary policy -- which much of the world is tightening -- China may once again be the engine of global economic growth." China's robust consumer market is another major factor. The market is underpinned by a population of 1.4 billion, an expanding middle-income group that exceeds 400 million, a set of pro-domestic demand measures, particularly seen with the country's optimized COVID-19 response as well as a high-quality growth strategy that prioritizes innovation. For the first time since the pandemic, China's consumption growth this year will outpace the country's economic expansion, and consumers are likely to spend more on services as they resume dining out and traveling, said Christine Peng, head of Greater China Consumer Research at Swiss banking giant UBS. A citizen buys film tickets at a cinema of a shopping mall in Beijing, capital of China, Dec. 25, 2022. (Xinhua/Ren Chao) In January, Bank of America estimated that Chinese households will unleash 1 trillion yuan (145 billion dollars) of excess savings in 2023. During China's weeklong Spring Festival holiday that ended on Jan. 27, the revenue of domestic tourism hit 375.8 billion yuan, up 30 percent from the holiday last year, China's Ministry of Culture and Tourism counted. Coupled with more policies to boost people's spending capacity, better housing, new energy vehicles, elderly care as well as other forms of new consumption demands are going to further unleash consumption potential. The 2023 McKinsey China Consumer Report identified "a continuously rising middle class" and "premiumization" as trends reshaping China's consumer market this year. Another factor that makes the Chinese economy different from others is its unique industrial ecology. It features the world's most complete industrial system, a stable and secure supply chain and highly connected infrastructure network, enabling domestic and foreign enterprises in China to enjoy incomparable advantages in cost, efficiency and innovation. According to statistics, the actual use of foreign investment in China's high-tech industry in 2022 increased 30.9 percent in dollar terms compared with the previous year. With the strengthening of China's economic recovery, it has become a global strategic choice for more and more multinational companies to strengthen their distribution of supply chain in China. On Jan. 28, U.S. multinational consumer goods retailer Procter & Gamble (P&G) announced its decision to move the product supply chain from its current base in Europe to south China's Guangdong province. Not coincidentally, top U.S. electric automaker Tesla Inc. also stated a concrete target to produce around 1.8 million cars in 2023. Apparently, its Gigafactory in Shanghai and other related supporting enterprises are why Tesla can announce such an ambitious goal. In addition, through its supply-side structural reform and high-quality economic development, China is continuously exploring new models of industrial development. The super-large single market in China and its manufacturing industry chain have paved the way for new technology application, integration and iteration. Michael Kirsch, president and CEO of Porsche China, said Porsche's presence in China goes far beyond a sales unit, as China is also its innovation powerhouse, helping set important trends with huge influence on the global economy. Some foreign media, including The Diplomat, have noted that China has made remarkable achievements in electric vehicles, artificial intelligence, digital economy and space technology, and that high-quality development is greatly enhancing innovations and the sustainability of China's economic growth. A China-Europe freight train arrives at Xi'an international port in Xi'an, northwest China's Shaanxi Province, Aug. 31, 2022. (Xinhua/Li Yibo) Of course, opening-up is also key to China's economic success. China continues to promote high-level opening up to the outside world and the full integration of domestic and international markets and resources. That creats new opportunities for countries in their economic cooperation with China. One year into the implementation of the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership, China's foreign trade with other members of the agreement grew by 7.5 percent year-on-year to 12.95 trillion yuan (1.93 trillion dollars) in 2022, statistics from China's General Administration of Customs showed. This year marks the 10th anniversary of the Belt and Road Initiative. Over the past decade, China has signed cooperation agreements with 151 countries and 32 international organizations, with its trade with countries along the Belt and Road up 19.4 percent in 2022 over the previous year. "We anticipate that with the reopening of China, there'll be a big recovery of demand among Chinese consumers. Since many countries in the region trade with China, that will benefit their exports to China. It should be beneficial to all the value chains that China is connected to," Albert Park, chief economist of the Asian Development Bank, was cited by media as saying. Meanwhile, China is also committed to improving its business environment, coordinating its internal and external markets and sharing factors of production and resources more efficiently. 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, the Ministry of Commerce said Monday. In U.S. dollar terms, the FDI inflow went up 10 percent year on year to 19.02 billion dollars. Beneath the data is the policy support for institutional openness. In 2022, China fully implemented the shortened negative list for foreign investment, expanded the encouraged investment catalog, and added more cities to the pilot program of opening the service sector. As Joe Ngai, managing partner of McKinsey Greater China, put it: "As global investors and corporations look for growth, everyone is wondering: Where's the next China?" "If you are looking for growth, the answer is very simple. The next China is China," he said.
The elephant baby boom at Omaha's Henry Doorly Zoo & Aquarium is in full swing.

The herd welcomed its third calf in a little over one year.

Lolly, who is about 11, gave birth to the male calf early Thursday morning.

The elephant care team had been monitoring Lolly 24 hours a day leading up to the birth.

The elephant family quarters will be temporarily closed to the public to allow Lolly some quiet bonding time with her calf, which does not have a name yet. Once the building is reopened, guests will be able to see all three young elephants with the herd.

A fourth calf is due in August or September.

Lolly's pregnancy was announced in March 2022. A fourth pregnancy announcement  for Jayei, the herd matriarch  was announced four months later in July.

Lolly's calf joins fellow youngsters Eugenia and Sonny. Eugenia was born to mom Kiki in January 2022. Sonny was born weeks later to mom Claire.

Jayei's calf is due in August or September. Jayei is mother to another herd member, Omma, who is now about 11 years old.

Callee is the father of both Lolly's and Jayei's calves as well as Eugenia and Sonny.

Callee joined the herd in 2019 from the Birmingham Zoo in Alabama. The zoo's five adult female African elephants, plus one male, arrived in Omaha in 2016 from Swaziland.

Since their arrival, the elephants have been housed in the zoos $73 million African Grasslands exhibit.

Photos: Two baby elephants make their public debut at Omaha Zoo 021522-owh-new-elephants-pic-cm001 021522-owh-new-elephants-pic-cm002 021522-owh-new-elephants-pic-cm003 021522-owh-new-elephants-pic-cm004 021522-owh-new-elephants-pic-cm005 elephants-cm006 021522-owh-new-elephants-pic-cm007.jpg 021522-owh-new-elephants-pic-cm008 021522-owh-new-elephants-pic-cm009.jpg 021522-owh-new-elephants-pic-cm010.jpg elephants-cm011 021522-owh-new-elephants-pic-cm012 021522-owh-new-elephants-pic-cm013 021522-owh-new-elephants-pic-cm014 021522-owh-new-elephants-pic-cm015 021522-owh-new-elephants-pic-cm016 Two baby elephant calves make debut in Omaha
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Take it from the Cheshire Cat  Were all mad here.

The cat, a real scene stealer from Lewis Carrolls 1865 novel Alices Adventures in Wonderland, was talking about the effect that becoming trapped in a fantasy alternate dimension might have on the fragile psyche of a young girl. But Tiffany Wardell sees a kinship there.

Wardell admits that it was a little bit of insanity that prompted her to produce a ballet version of Alices Adventures in Wonderland, which premieres at the Petro Theatre at Montana State University Billings on Friday and Saturday. The show is a collaboration between the School of Classical Ballet (SCB) and the MSUB Art Department.

It might be madness, but at least Wardell isnt alone. Shes a teacher and choreographer at SCB, and is co-directing their production of Alice alongside Leigh Schanfein, who shares those same credits.

The pair are also co-directors of the School of Classical Ballet Company, a cadre of the schools most advanced dancers, who are on a professional trajectory. There are six of them, from ages 13 to 16, and they take two extra classes a week. Schanfein and Wardell started the Company in May 2022.

Its to give them opportunities that lend themselves to becoming a dancer, or at least pursuing that higher level of dance education, Schanfein explained.

One of the most important of those opportunities is a chance to perform. But other than the annual Nutcracker, Billings hasnt had a proper story ballet  a piece of continuous dance that tells a cohesive narrative  put on by a local company since 2006, according to Wardell.

It really brings the dance community and the local community together, especially when its a local production, Wardell said.

There are six Company members, and each of them have a major role in Alice, like the white rabbit and Tweedledee and Tweedledum (complete with requisite propeller hats). And of course theres Alice herself, played by Audrey Mills, who has been dancing at SCB since she was nearly a toddler and starred as Clara in the 2021 presentation of The Nutcracker.

But there are nearly 60 total dancers in the ballet, portraying porcupines, bumblebees, flowers, vindictive playing cards, croquet playing flamingos and more. Plus, Billings dance scene veteran Morgan Dake plays the Mat Hatter. Her tap dancing style stands in direct contrast to the graceful ballet of everyone else.

This is Wonderland, Schanfein said. It might get a little weird.

Auditions began in December, after the Nutcracker hubbub cooled down. Most dancers are students at SCB, but some come from elsewhere in the community. Auditions were only held for ages 9 and up.

We felt like if theyre younger than that, well just work with them, Wardell said. The youngest dancer in Alice is 4 years old.

But that was just auditions. This idea has been in Wardell and Schanfeins mind since at least last spring, before theyd even started the SCB Company. Once they knew who was in the Company, they could start envisioning whod be right for which role, and what the choreography might look like.

They started planning movements in the ballet in earnest last summer, but Wardell said the nitty gritty of choreography began in September. Rehearsals started in January.

Besides the company dancers, weve put together the story ballet in two months of Saturdays, Wardell said.

Its actually pretty rapid, Schanfein added.

The music is mostly classical, drawing from great composters like Vivaldi, Beethoven and Tchaikovsky. Wardell compared the dissonance between the stately melodies and the frantic Wonderland portrayed on stage to Looney Tunes. As Alice gets deeper and deeper into the other world, the music changes until it reaches a robust peak when the character encounters the Queen of Hearts.

Wardell and Schanfein wanted to adapt Alices Adventures in Wonderland for a few reasons. For one, they just felt like they were seeing it everywhere.

Maybe in the cultural atmosphere following the pandemic, we were like Lets exit this world and do something crazy, Wardell suggested.

But just practically, Alice has a lot of roles. And a female lead. And the story is fun and accessible for kids, since theres no violence  other than what Wardell playfully called whimsical death.

This is a story that doesnt have a romance to it, Wardell said. It could just be whimsy.

Adding to that whimsy is MSUB arts professor Keeara Rhoades, a longtime Billings art standout who was recently the artist in residence at the Yellowstone Art Museum. Rhoades work, which is fantastical and otherworldly, lends itself naturally to capturing the essence of Wonderland. Rhoades is the art director for the SCB production of Alice.

It synchronized beautifully with my advanced new media class that I teach, Rhoades explained. I always try to integrate an artist with a professional, in a way that the students can collaborate with that professional.

So Rhoades and her students designed and built a world that acts as a fully immersive set for the dancers to inhabit. Itll be projected on the background at the Petro Theatre.

Rhoades teaches her students about six different ways of animating, and all of them are used in this production. There are various types of frame-by-frame animation, where animators draw every incremental movement in the dozen or so frames that are projected each second. There are sections that are made with cutout construction paper, and some stop motion, as well.

Mills even came to the class, dressed in character as Alice, and they worked with green screen and slow motion to capture her image. When Alice drinks a potion and grows enormous size, Mills likeness is projected, making her like a giant. When Alice shrinks, they have an easier fix: a smaller dancer.

They started animation in September. Rhoades was joined by Nathan Levine, Heather Oltrogge, Elizabeth Harp, Isabelle Carroll, and her fellow professor Robin Earles. There are 22 scenes in all, each with graphics. Rhoades herself designed 17 of them.

Its a labor of love, she said, emphasizing both labor and love.

It is for the dancers, too, who have to react perfectly to cues and moments of animation and music.

All in all, it allows the ballets version of Wonderland to look like an actual extra-terrestrial space, not just a dressed up theater.

The closest the art and dance sides got to a disagreement was over the Cheshire Cats teeth. The cat, who can disappear and reappear at whim, is all animation. Rhoades designed it to have a mouth full of many long and sharp fangs, like how Carroll described it.

But after consulting with Wardells three children, they decided to round off the teeth. But even without points, theyre still numerous

Wardell noted that Alice will be kid friendly, but still contain a healthy dose of fear.

Part of why this is good for a ballet is because Alice feels all the things a girls going to feel. She gets mad, she has fun, Schanfein continued. You get the whole spectrum of what a kid is going to go through when they have this weird experience.
The big picture: Remote work became a necessity during the pandemic, but it has since reshaped how American workers do their jobs. While working from home is a relatively new experience for the majority of people, most have taken to it like a duck to water, and are refusing to go back to their cubicles. As it turns out, they've got good reasons to want to continue working from home.

The "2023 State of Software Engineers Report" by job search portal Hired has revealed many interesting facts about software engineers in Silicon Valley and beyond. One telling result from the survey is the overwhelming preference for remote work, with as many as 39% of respondents saying they would prefer remote work over in-office work any day.

According to the report, salaries are almost identical for both remote and local work. In the San Francisco Bay Area, for example, where salaries are the highest, software engineers working remotely made $176,000 last year, while those working locally made $180,000. In some smaller markets, remote roles even commanded higher salaries than in-office work.

When asked what they would do if mandated to return to the office, 21% of respondents said they would quit, while 49% said that they will look for other remote work opportunities while continuing to work at their current company. Employers apparently already have an inkling of their employees' preferences, as many of them are offering 'flexible work schedules' as one of the top benefits alongside healthcare and paid time off.

Another notable finding was the optimism among engineers, despite the spate of high-profile layoffs during the second half of last year. 68% of the surveyed engineers said that they were not worried about getting fired in the next six months, even as tech giants Google, Meta, Microsoft, Amazon, Twitter and others fired a combined total of over 150,000 employees last year.

The report also reveals that backend engineers saw the highest demand among employers, while Natural Language Processing (NLP) engineers saw the highest salary growth during 2022. Despite the spectacular crypto crash, blockchain engineers were the second-highest paid group overall, though the total number of interviews for them reduced drastically.

Looking forward to 2023, 57% of surveyed engineers said they believe AI, machine learning and data science will be the hottest sector, followed by fintech and healthtech. Almost 2 out 3 (64%) surveyed engineering candidates also expected Python to be the top programming language to master in 2023.
Something to look forward to: The company that operates the DuckDuckGo privacy-centered search engine has offered a web browser for the same purpose on mobile devices for a while. Over the last year, it has worked to bring its browser to desktops, and a limited number of Windows users can now begin testing it.

DuckDuckGo started a closed beta for the Windows version of its privacy-oriented browser this week. Interested users can sign up through the browser's mobile version. To register, update or download the latest iOS or Android version of the DuckDuckGo browser. Then head to Settings > More From DuckDuckGo > DuckDuckGo Windows App, and tap the button to join the private waitlist.

The company warns that it hasn't tested the Windows browser on all types of machines yet, and it's missing some of the Mac version's features like the ad-free video player, Bitwarden autofill, and email protection autofill. However, it retains the Mac edition's ability to automatically skip those annoying cookie consent pop-ups recently appearing on websites. To send feedback, click on the three dots in the window's top right corner (masthead) and select send feedback.

The DuckDuckGo browser automatically blocks third-party trackers that collect and sell user data. It also forces sites to use HTTPS connections whenever possible and rates sites with a privacy grade. It also automatically tells sites not to share user data in specific territories with data protection laws like the European Union's GDPR. Additionally, it has a button that instantly deletes all browsing data.

DuckDuckGo launched the Mac version of its browser last year with a closed beta in April and an open beta in October. That timing suggests the Windows beta could reach the public before the end of this year.

A likely reason for the browser's slow expansion to Windows is that the company resisted forking Google's Chromium browser engine, which Chrome and Microsoft Edge use. The Mac version uses WebKit like the iOS version, but the Windows edition calls Windows' underlying rendering API through WebView2, which uses Blink. DuckDuckGo may move to another solution if enough beta testers call for it.

Last May, DuckDuckGo encountered some controversy when it admitted its browser allowed some Microsoft tracking scripts under certain conditions. The issue was due to the company's search syndication agreement with the Redmond giant, which it has since strived to rework.
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What just happened? PC giant Alienware has announced a slew of new products that could send gamers' hearts fluttering and, in the case of the monitor, their wallets weeping. In addition to a couple of headsets, the company's first wireless gaming keyboard, and a wireless mouse, the Dell subsidiary revealed a 500Hz monitor with an $829.99 price tag.

Starting with that display, the 24.5-inch Alienware AW2524H has a 480Hz refresh rate that is overclocked to 500Hz. As with most monitors that reach these sorts of blistering speeds, it has a maximum 1080p resolution, though it does use an IPS rather than the usual TN panel, which should offer better color accuracy and viewing angles.

The monitor also comes with Nvidia's G-Sync and Reflex Analyzer, Vesa DisplayHDR 400 certification, customizable RGB backlighting, and a headset hanger that pulls out of the side.

Port-wise, the Alienware AW2524H comes with two USB-A inputs (5Gbps), two 3.5mm audio jacks, a DisplayPort 1.4 connector, and two HDMI 2.1 ports. The DP input is required to reach that 500Hz refresh rate - HDMI is limited to 'just' 240Hz. The monitor launches on March 21 for $829.99

This isn't the first 500Hz monitor. Back in May, Nvidia used its Computex 2022 keynote to reveal an Asus monitor with the same refresh rate, though that one employs a TN panel. However, the company now says it has overclocked the ROG Swift Pro PG248QP to 540Hz. No word yet on the price, but it's set to launch in Q2.

Elsewhere, Alienware announced the mechanical AW920K Tri-Mode Wireless Gaming Keyboard. It uses Cherry MX Red switches and PBT double-shot keycaps. There are features such as a programmable rocker switch and dial, anti-ghosting, magnetic snap-on charging, Cherry switches, and N-key rollover. It connects to a device via a 2.4GHz wireless USB-C dongle, Bluetooth 5.1, or a detachable USB-A to USB-C paracord cable, which sounds a lot like the Asus ROG Azoth (review coming soon). Alienware's keyboard goes on sale in Q3 for $289.99.

There's also a tenkeyless version of the AW920K keyboard in lunar white, priced at $159.99.

Next is the headsets. Alienware is launching wired and wireless versions, both with 45mm sliding headbands and memory foam ear cups covered in fabric. The wireless version uses 40mm drivers, comes with Dolby Atmos support, and has 30 hours of battery life. It's available now for $160. The wired headset offers similar features, connecting via USB or a 3.5mm port. It costs $100 and launches on April 14 in North America and China and on May 19 in other parts of the world.

Finally, there's the Alienware AW610M Wireless Gaming Mouse. Available in "Lunar Light" and "Dark Side of the Moon" colors, the mouse has a 26,000 DPI optical sensor, seven programmable buttons, and three-zone RGB lighting. Users get 140 hours of use between charges, and it can be fast-charged in five minutes for ten hours of use. It's available in the US today for $99.
Editor's take: Does Mark Zuckerberg regret his decision to go all-in on the metaverse? In addition to the billions of dollars it's already cost the company and the general apathy from the public, the rise of AI has put a shadow over virtual/augmented reality universes. Now, the metaverse is facing more problems in the form of two Democratic senators who want to stop Meta from introducing teens to its Horizon Worlds VR app.

The Wall Street Journal last month reported that in an attempt to draw more users to Horizons Worlds, which is only available to those aged 18 and over, Meta planned to allow users aged 13-17 onto the app, possibly as soon as March.

Two lawmakers unhappy with Meta's plans are Massachusetts Sen. Ed Markey and Connecticut Sen. Richard Blumenthal. They wrote a letter addressed to Zuckerberg about the report, asking him to halt the plan to lower Horizon World's age limit to 13 in light of the company's record of failing to protect children and teens. The senators also noted a growing body of evidence that points to the threats younger people face in the metaverse.

Back in 2021, leaked documents showed that Facebook (as it was still called then) had spent the last few years examining the detrimental effects Instagram has on younger users' mental health but ignored the findings and kept them secret. "Other reports have documented Meta's failure to stop ads for tobacco, alcohol, and eating disorder content from targeting teens," the letter states.

The senators say that while research into the metaverse's impact on teens is in its early stages, initial findings suggest there are threats such as privacy invasion, manipulation, and psychological damage. The possibility of bullying, harassment, and exposure to sexual content is also mentioned.

The letter concludes with "Reporting suggests your company's push to engage young teens is part of a larger effort to salvage Meta's struggling metaverse practice. Any strategy to invite young users into a digital space rife with potential harms should not be driven by a goal to maximize profit."

Earlier this week, Zuckerberg announced that Meta is building a new top-level product group that will focus on implementing generative AI into its services, enabling "delightful experiences" for users. Some are taking this as a sign that the company is quietly moving the focus away from the metaverse and onto artificial intelligence. Reality Labs, the division behind the metaverse, has lost over $24 billion since 2021 trying to make Zuck's dream a reality, despite many teens showing no interest in the area. Generative AI, meanwhile, has become the next big thing in the tech industry.
A hot potato: Lawyers litigating a movie piracy case have demanded the identities of nine Reddit users who "might" have discussed piracy on the platform. Reddit turned over some of the information on one (or two) of the users that seemed to be engaging in a "how-to" discussion on bootlegging movies; the plaintiffs want all of the users exposed. Reddit says, "No. We'll see you in court."

On Tuesday, Reddit filed legal paperwork with the Northern District Court of California refusing to unmask users in response to a motion to compel submitted last week. The legal jousting stems from a lawsuit between movie studios and Astound Broadband (formerly RCN) over piracy.

Background: In 2021, Bodyguard Productions, Millennium Media, and several other film studios filed a lawsuit in a New Jersey federal court against RCN. The suit claims that RCN knowingly allowed its customers to illegally download 34 copyrighted movies, including Hellboy, Rambo V: Last Blood, and others.

The studios subpoenaed Reddit to turn over the "IP address registration and logs from 1/1/2016 to present, name, email address, and other account registration information" of nine Redditors. Its general basis for wanting the information was that it believed these users were involved with pirating movies through RCN because they had engaged in discussions on the subject.

After looking into the accounts, Reddit released some information on at least one user but said the rest were unrelated to the lawsuit. Its legal counsel claimed that the subpoena amounted to a "fishing expedition" and that Reddit would not violate users' First Amendment rights without solid evidence of their relevance to the case.

So last week, the plaintiffs filed a motion to compel with a California federal court. On Tuesday, Reddit's legal team responded with an opposition filing. In it, Reddit points out that the posts of the users in question are "completely irrelevant" to the lawsuit under litigation.

"Four of the seven users at issue do not appear to have ever even mentioned RCN, based on the evidence offered by Plaintiffs. They merely refer to 'my provider' or 'our ISP.' And those references are all made in a discussion about Comcast, not RCN. Two of the three remaining users did mention RCN but were discussing issues (such as their customer service experience) unrelated to copyright infringement or Plaintiffs' allegations. And the final user vaguely mentioned RCN arguably in the context of copyright infringement once nine years ago, well beyond any arguably relevant timeframe for Plaintiffs' allegations."

Reddit's legal team also asserted that the plaintiffs' claim that these users were "very likely" referring to RCN is speculative, and the court should reject the argument.

"A single RCN competitor, Comcast, has more than thirty times RCN's market share," Reddit's rebuttal reads. "This context is important to understanding just how absurd it is for Plaintiffs to suggest that any mention of an unnamed ISP in a discussion about Comcast is 'very likely' discussing RCN. It's akin to suggesting that whenever a user mentions a 'car' on a Reddit discussion about Ford, they are 'very likely' talking about an Alfa Romeo."

Reddit also maintains that the information the plaintiffs are fishing for could be more readily and accurately compelled from the defendant, RCN, during discovery. The platform's lawyers claim that the court should not force their client to unmask its customers based on the plaintiffs' "wild guesses about which Reddit users might be RCN customers or might have engaged in copyright infringement at some point in the last decade."

Throughout Reddit's rebuttal, the legal team references several instances of case precedence that set a legal bar the studios fail to meet in their argument. Courts have already affirmed that the First Amendment covers online anonymity. They have also established that litigants cannot unmask users who have nothing to do with the lawsuit unless a "compelling need" outweighs the user's First Amendment rights, citing Rich v. Butowsky and Doe v. 2TheMart.com.

Lawyers for both sides are set to argue the motion in the Northern District Court of California in San Francisco on March 23.

Image credit: Nick Youngson
Data entry is a critical component of many business operations, but it can be a time-consuming and tedious process. As a result, many companies are turning to data entry outsourcing companies to streamline their data entry processes.

Data entry outsourcing companies are professional service providers specializing in data entry services. They offer a range of data entry services, including manual data entry, data processing, data conversion, and data mining. By outsourcing data entry services to these companies, businesses can save time and resources while improving their data accuracy and quality.

In this digital age, accurate data entry is essential for effective business operations, making outsourcing to data entry companies a popular choice for businesses of all sizes and industries.

Why Outsource Data Entry?

Now that you know what data entry is, let's talk about third-party services. Outsourced data entry services are essential in many companies that many outsource their data entry needs to third-party providers. There are several reasons why companies choose to outsource their data entry.

Outsourcing data entry can be cost-effective for companies because it eliminates the need for additional staff and associated overhead costs. Professional data entry companies have trained staff and sophisticated tools to ensure data accuracy. They help minimize errors and improve the quality of the data entered. This can be especially beneficial for companies with high-volume or complex data entry needs.

Scalability is another reason companies choose to outsource their data entry. Outsourcing allows companies to quickly scale their operations up or down based on business needs. This is particularly useful for seasonal businesses or those with fluctuating data entry demands.

By outsourcing data entry, companies can free internal staff to focus on core business activities. This can help improve productivity and efficiency, as staff can dedicate their time and energy to tasks that directly impact the business.

Finally, outsourcing data entry to a specialized provider can give companies access to experts with specific knowledge and skills in data entry. This can help improve the quality and accuracy of the data being entered, which is crucial for data-driven businesses.

Who Are the Best Outsourced Data Entry Providers?

There are many outsourced data entry providers to choose from, and the best one for your business will depend on your specific needs and requirements. Here are some of the top outsourced data entry providers based on customer reviews and industry reputation:

1. Oworkers

This BPO (Business Process Outsourcing) provider is a 100% specialized, pure player in data and content-related services and offers services in over 20 languages. These services include data entry, data annotation, content moderation, and validation. They run their business from several distribution hubs in Egypt, Bulgaria, and Madagascar.

Their team comprises knowledgeable individuals from Eastern Europe and Africa who work as data entry operators, annotation specialists, and content moderation specialists. They have worked in the field for a considerable amount of time and developed reliable procedures to ensure quality and precision in their products. They provide quick, safe, and scalable services and are reasonably priced.

This service provider has completed over fifty significant projects for industry leaders, including those in the Fortune 500. In addition to the fact that they can provide services in multiple languages, their customers value that their solutions are affordable and of high quality. Because of their expertise and years of experience, they can assist companies of any size in streamlining and optimizing the management of their data and content requirements.

Services:

Catalogs of e-commerce products

Invoices processing

Customers' orders

Forms and documents of Healthcare, Banking & Insurance, Transportation industries, etc.

Civil records

Books, legal notices, etc.

2. Flatworld Solutions

Flatworld Solutions offers data entry and data cleansing services to its customers. Since its inception in 2002, this company has developed into a market leader in the business process outsourcing (BPO) sector by providing customers with comprehensive services worldwide.

The services offered by Flatworld Solutions include a wide variety of applications, such as data entry and processing, engineering services, virtual assistant services, call center services, and more. They provide services to various sectors, such as the legal, retail, financial, and real estate sectors.

The blended delivery model is one of the distinctive services that Flatworld Solutions has to offer. This strategy combines the benefits of onshore, offshore, and nearshore delivery, enabling them to provide cost-effective and high-quality services without compromising. They have a presence on a global scale, with distribution hubs located in India, the Philippines, and the United States.

Flatworld Solutions has instituted a stringent quality assurance procedure as part of its dedication to delivering services of the highest possible standard. They were also awarded multiple certifications, such as ISO 9001:2015 and HIPAA compliance, demonstrating their dedication to meeting quality standards and maintaining a high level of data security.

Services:

Service Tax

TDS / TCS

Tax Advisory Services

Personal Connection

Personal Accounting

Profit and Loss Statement

Tax Planning and Preparation

Bookkeeping Services

Tax Return

Payroll

3. Managed Outsourced Solutions (MOS)

Managed Outsourced Solutions, also known as MOS, is a BPO company that offers solutions for outsourcing, such as online data entry services, to companies of varying sizes. Since its inception in 2002, the company has rapidly expanded to become a preeminent player in the international outsourcing industry.

Outsourcing is one of the many services MOS provides, and its offerings include data entry, data processing, services for call centers, document scanning and indexing, and more. They provide services to a wide range of industries, such as healthcare, finance and insurance, legal, and manufacturing.

MOS's individualized outsourcing solutions stand out as one of the company's most distinctive specialties. They establish a close working relationship with their customers to better comprehend the specific requirements of their businesses and develop appropriate solutions. This enables companies to concentrate on their primary areas of expertise while MOS takes care of their requirements for outsourcing.

MOS maintains a presence on a global scale, with delivery hubs located in India and the United States. Because their delivery centers are outfitted with the most up-to-date technology and infrastructure, they can provide their customers with services of an exceptionally high standard.

Services:

Data Capture

Forms Processing

Data Conversion

Claims Processing and Entry

Intelligent Character Recognition

Image Entry and Processing

Document Scanning

OCR Cleanup

Survey Processing

Data Mining

Data Cleansing

E-catalog Processing

4. Peak Support

Peak Support is a leading provider of outsourced customer service to high-growth companies. It offers a wide array of services, including customer support, sales operations, and business process outsourcing. With a global delivery model, Peak Support can provide services from the Philippines, the U.S., and LATAM.

One of Peak Support's unique offerings is its team of highly skilled agents. They have a rigorous hiring process that ensures they hire the best agents in the business. This enables them to deliver exceptional customer service to their clients, which is essential in building and maintaining customer loyalty.

Peak Support is dedicated to helping its clients succeed. They work closely with their clients to understand their business needs and develop customized outsourcing solutions that address those needs. They also strongly focus on building long-term relationships with their clients, which enables them to provide ongoing support and guidance.

Peak Support has a global presence, with delivery centers in the Philippines, the United States, and LATAM. This allows them to provide 24/7 service and support to their clients. They also have a strong commitment to data security and have implemented strict security protocols to ensure the safety and privacy of their client's data.

Services:

Content Moderation and Review

Outsource Data Entry

Data Entry

Billing & Invoice Review

SaaS Customer Onboarding

Marketing

Research

Fraud Reduction

5. Invensis Inc

Introducing a leading data entry outsourcing expert service provider! Invensis Inc. offers a team of experts dedicated to providing top-notch data entry services that exceed expectations for businesses looking for a reliable and efficient partner to handle their data entry needs. Their primary customers are from the US, UK, Canada, and various countries from the European continent.

With more than two decades of experience, Invensis Inc. has developed a streamlined process that ensures high-quality results promptly. Equipped with the latest technology and software, their team can handle all types of data entry projects, from simple tasks to more complex projects requiring specialized skills, software, and expertise.

The commitment of Invensis Inc to customer satisfaction sets them apart from the rest. This has enabled them to bag ISO 9001:2015, ISO 27001:2017, and HIPPA compliance. Their team works closely with each client to understand their specific business needs and requirements, thus offering personalized solutions tailored to each business. This approach ensures that clients receive the best possible results.

Outsourcing data entry tasks to Invensis Inc saves global businesses time and money while ensuring accurate and reliable data. Their services are affordable and cost-effective, with flexible pricing options for different budgets.

Key Data Entry Services that they offer:

Online Data Entry Services

Product Data Entry Services

Data Processing Services

Transaction Processing Services

Data Conversion Services

Data Cleansing Services

Catalog Management Services

Data Extraction Services

OCR Services

Document Indexing Services

Forms Processing Services

Don't let data entry tasks hold back your business from growth. Let this expert service provider handle the work while you focus on what you do best. Contact them today to learn more about their data entry outsourcing services and how they can help your business.

Data Entry Outsourcing Companies such as Oworkers, Flatworld Solutions, Invensis Inc, etc., are reliable and cost-effective solutions for businesses looking to digitize their data.

By outsourcing data entry tasks, businesses can benefit from the expertise of highly skilled professionals, the latest technology and software, and streamlined data entry processes. This enables companies to save time, money, and resources while improving the accuracy and quality of their data. Data entry outsourcing companies offer a valuable service for businesses of all sizes and industries, allowing them to focus on their core activities and achieve their business objectives.

 2023 TECHTIMES.com All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission.
March out of your house this weekend (I'm sorry) and check out some of the exciting things Billings has to offer. Here's a rundown.

A fishy weekend at the Babcock

Start things off at Billings' best movie house by seeing "Big Fish" on Friday, March 3 at 7 p.m. Tim Burton's syrupy sweet comedy has one universal truism at its core: All fathers lie. It's one of the main perks of being a dad! The cast list includes Ewan McGregor (at peak impish and whimsy) alongside a host of Burton all stars like Helena Bonham Carter, Danny DeVito, Albert Finney, and an early performance from an actress named Destiny Hope Cyrus, who would later change her named to Miley and only do very normal things after that.

Things get a lot more literal on Saturday, March 4 as the Babcock hosts the Fly Fishing Film Tour. The annual production is a series of short films about, you guessed it, fly fishing. This year's iteration features locations from Cuba to Alaska to Massachusetts. Tickets are $19 at the door, but you can save a buck (and spend it on flies) at arthousebillings.com/f3t.

Monsters and Madness at the Yellowstone Art Museum

There's quite a bit going on at the YAM this weekend, with the closing of their 55th annual Art Auction. The museum's biggest fundraiser, includes pieces by Jon Lodge, Todd Forsgren, Jodi Lightner, Maria Isabel Bonilla, Sean Chandler and lots more. Check out the catalog at artmuseum.org.

At 5 p.m. on Friday, March 3, check out the YAM's first ever Monster Drawing Rally. The event combines art-making and performance, as artists create full works of art from start-to-finish in a one hour time limit, in front of a live audience. And then the audience can bid on the artworks they just watched get made. Tickets are $10, and $5 for college students. Plus there's a live DJ and food and drinks.

Saturday, March 4 is the Closing Celebration of the auction. Online bidding closed Thursday, and the only way to get in last minute bids is to go to the YAM on Saturday at 5 p.m. There will also be specialty cocktails, food and live music. Tickets are $25 at artmuseum.org.

Things officially end on Sunday, March 5, the last day for the public to view the art auction exhibition in person.

Billings Symphony Chorale presents 'The Test of Time'

Ring in the most Irish month by heading to St. Patrick Co-Cathedral at 7:30 p.m. on Saturday, March 4, and at 3 p.m. on Sunday, March 5, for the Billings Symphony Chorale's presentation of "The Rest of Time." Directed by Dr. Steven Hart, the chorale, along with the Billings Symphony's string and woodwind players will play works by composers like Antonio Vivaldi, Johannes Brahms, George Gershwin and more. Tickets are $15 - $40 at billingssymphony.org.

'Casablanca' at Shiloh 14

Here's a rare recommendation for our uncaring corporate multiplex. As part of a Fathom Event, the AMC Classic Shiloh 14 (that's the big one, and not the one at the mall, which was the big one until the big one opened) is showing "Casablanca" twice this week, at 1 p.m. on Sunday, March 5, and at 7 p.m. on Wednesday, March 8. You can't order beer, like you can at the Babcock, and the Fathom Events timing can be a little wonky  during last October's presentation of "Bram Stoker's Dracula" a full half hour of blank screen, with a clock counting backwards, played before the movie started. But this is still a wonderful opportunity to catch a classic on the big screen. Michael Curtiz's 1942 swooning epic stars Humphrey Bogart and Ingrid Bergman, and is one of those movies you're kind of not allowed to have never seen. Tickets will run you $12.50 at fathomevents.com.

Frail Body, Deathwish and Gorge Yourself at Craft Local

Get out of the house on a dreary midweek night and head to Craft Local at 7 p.m. on Wednesday, March 8, for music from a trio of great bands. Rockford, Illinois's finest Midwest screamo export, Frail Body will be headlining, with support from the excellent local punk rockers Deathwish and Gorge Yourself. One of the newest and most exciting young bands on the Billings scene, Gorge Yourself contains members of Bull Market, Hey, ILY and soaring vocals from Scarlet Greenfield. They played Kirks' recently and almost blew down the venue's few remaining walls. $5 at the door.

Honorable mentions

Nicholas Rogers brings the ParNicularly ReNiculous Variety Show to Kirks' Grocery at 7 p.m. on Friday, March 3. Tickets are $10 in advance and $12 at the door.

Aurora Fallen are celebrating their new single "Crows Own" with a show at Craft Local on Friday, March 3 at 7 p.m. Support from Zechariah Peabody and The Duality of Harmony. $5 cover.

Vocalist Elana Hayden is at the Thirsty Street Garage on Friday, March 3 from 7-9 p.m., along with Mike Leslie (bass), Erik Olson (piano), Alex Nauman (guitar) and Matt Devitt (drums). No cover.

Cimarron Band Father/Daughter Duo are performing at Levity Bar and Casino on Friday, March 3 and Saturday, March 4 from 7:30 - 10:30 p.m. each night.

It Could Be Worse and Sugarleaf Trio are at Craft Local on Saturday, March 4 at 7 p.m. $5 cover.

In case you've missed the billboards, know that you can celebrate Chinese culture at Shen Yun at the Alberta Bair. There are shows on Saturday, March 4 at 2 p.m. and 7 p.m. Tickets are $88-158 at albertabairtheater.org. Rumor is it's 5,000 years of civilization reborn.

Three Billings solo artists  Ashes Jessen, So Small and C4L  are at Kirks' from 7-9 p.m. on Saturday, March 4. $10 in advance, $12 at the door.

Expect things to get loud at Kirks' on Sunday, March 5, from 7-9 p.m. with music from Chicago-based quintet WHUT? are joined by PLVMES (N.I.A.T.'s Will Summers doing noise and sound processing). $10 in advance, $12 at the door.

BSCI is having a dance at the Columbia Club (2216 Grand Ave.) from 7-10 p.m. on Wednesday, March 8, with Cimarron Band providing country tunes. $5 gets you in at the door.

Kirks' big week comes to an end on Thursday, March 9 from 7-9 p.m. Music from Amanda Addy and David Raba. Tickets are $10 in advance, $12 at the door.
Exciting things are taking shape in the virtual world as Meta centers on its development, but it also puts massive focus on the devices needed to deliver this experience via its Quest lineup. In the recently obtained information from sources, Meta's AR/VR roadmap reveals many experiences to look forward to in the future, until 2027.

This includes different wearables that would add value to Meta's virtual experience for all, also integrating the augmented reality features available and coming soon from the company.

Meta's AR/VR Roadmap Reveals Plans Until 2027

(Photo : Meta Reality Labs via YouTube Screenshot)

The Verge claims that it obtained a Meta presentation that details the company's roadmap for AR and VR developments for up to four years, until 2027. And among the most iconic things present here is the list of the upcoming devices that it is working on for the world to see and use soon, all in focus to deliver a new virtual experience.

Meta Reality Labs is planning for a Quest 3 VR hardware that will be significantly smaller in size but perform almost twice as better compared to its predecessor. This device will be pricier than the $400 price tag of Quest 2.

Next would be the smartwatch with a neural interface that would pair well with Meta's AR/VR devices for better controls.

Lastly, the company unveiled its latest AR smart glasses that will have controls via the smart bands, coming by 2025.

Read Also: Meta Announces Next Generation Quest Headset After Just Releasing the Quest Pro, to be Launched in 2023

What to Expect from Meta Quest's Future?

There is a batch of new devices coming in from Meta and it entails a significant lineup for its AR/VR future under the Quest brand, to deliver more of what it envisions for the future. Among those is the previously revealed "wrist-based interactions" that point to a smartwatch that the public might finally see in reality.

(Photo : Meta Reality Labs via YouTube Screenshot)

Moreover, it is strengthening its wearables to integrate more of the augmented and virtual reality it aims to deliver.

Meta Quest and its Devices

Meta's Quest hardware is undeniably among the most famous devices in the market now, especially as it offers an immersive experience for its many users, as well as many products available. Tencent previously offered a deal with Meta to bring the famous Quest 2 VR headset to China, one which the famous Chinese tech company would market.

There are different features also available to the Meta Quest thanks to its regular updates and developments available for all users of the device.

Apart from games on the platform, Quest's VR experience also offers workouts in the virtual space, and it recently allowed Health Connect from Google and Android to integrate its data from workouts.

The Quest Pro is the latest there is from the company, but there are already talks behind a new VR device that would succeed the wearable to expand more of what Meta has to offer. This is part of the roadmap that was recently obtained, among other devices including AR glasses, a smaller VR headset, a smartwatch for VR, and more.

Related Article: Meta Quest Hand Tracking Update Allows Better Gestures, Typing on VR without Peripherals

 2023 TECHTIMES.com All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission.
Less than a month after the Galaxy Unpacked event, Samsung is not wasting time in the recent discovery of their patent applications for the latest XR devices coming soon from the company. There are two applications currently filed by the United States Patent and Trademark Office that center on the Galaxy Ring and Galaxy Glasses.

In Samsung's Unpacked announcement, there was no information as to what their new devices will center on, and it only centered on one device already available before, the Gear VR.

Samsung Galaxy Glasses, Galaxy Ring Files Trademark Application

(Photo : Samsung via YouTube Screenshot)

There are two patent filings from Samsung spotted on the USPTO, and it centers on the significant plans the company announced from its latest Unpacked this early February.

First off is the Galaxy Glasses which will center on an augmented and virtual reality (AR/VR) experience for the public, and will center on a smartphone accessory to bring the experience to the devices.

On the other hand, there is the so-called Galaxy Ring, and the company claims that it is "intended to cover the categories of wearable smart devices in the nature of a smart ring for tracking, measuring, monitoring, and uploading health, fitness and sleep related information; smart rings; smartphones."

Read Also: Samsung Mixed Reality Headset Roadmap Revealed?

Samsung's XR Experience Plans are Bearing Fruit Now

The latest trademark applications center on expanding Samsung's XR experience and wearables, and the original plan introduced during the Unpacked event is now bearing fruit and taking shape in the industry.

In one aspect, Samsung's XR experience would center on the mixed-reality glasses that will bring a combination of both the real world and digital platforms in one device.

Next is its fitness wearable that will help users with tracking their health and activities, including sleep, to complete the personalized experience.

Samsung's Wearables and AR/VR Experience

The famed South Korean company has different wearables available from the company that is already available on their list of devices up for sale in the market. There is the Galaxy Watch series that serves as an accessory to its smartphone devices to deliver health, fitness, and lifestyle features to its users, delivering the Samsung experience.

Another wearable from the company also centers on a smartphone accompaniment that brings a wireless audio experience for its user, the Galaxy Buds series.

Who could also forget Samsung's take on the virtual reality technology that is no longer available in the US market the South Korean company, the Gear VR series, powered by Oculus.

With the many wearables from Samsung already available, it is only high time for them to expand to what the market and trends are, which is the new digital reality experience for all, via its "XR" plans. It partnered up with Google and Qualcomm for its deliverables, and this patent shows significant promise on its upcoming plans for new AR/VR glasses, as well as a health tech wearable.

Related Article: Samsung is Working on XR Headset with Google and Qualcomm, Claims on Unpacked Event

 2023 TECHTIMES.com All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission.
Researchers from the University of Arizona have developed a new technology that uses the breadcrumbs method trick to guide robots through unusual environments, such as caves on Mars, drawing inspiration from the classic fairytale Hansel and Gretel.

"If you remember the book, you know how Hansel and Gretel dropped breadcrumbs to make sure they'd find their way back," Wolfgang Fink, founder and director of the Visual and Autonomous Exploration Systems Research Laboratory at Caltech and UArizona, said in a statement.

"In our scenario, the 'breadcrumbs' are miniaturized sensors that piggyback on the rovers, which deploy the sensors as they traverse a cave or other subsurface environment."

(Photo : Dean Treml/Red Bull via Getty Images)

IBIZA, SPAIN - JULY 04: (EDITORIAL USE ONLY) In this handout image provided by Red Bull, Rhiannan Iffland of Australia dives from 17 metres into the Cave of Light (S'Ullal de na Coloms) during a Red Bull Cliff Diving project in Ibiza, Spain on July 5, 2021 at Ibiza, Spain.

Mother Rover

The exploration system includes a primary ground-based rover, referred to as the "mother" rover, which would transport multiple smaller rovers to the entrance of a cave network. Once at the entrance, the smaller autonomous rovers would then venture off independently to explore various passages within the system, while the mother rover remains stationed at the entrance.

This technique enables the rovers to navigate and map the cave system even when the radio signals do not travel well through solid rock.

To map the cave system, the small rovers would transmit and receive radio signals to and from the "mother" rover parked at the entrance at regular intervals.



The radio signals would have to be transferred from one breadcrumb to the next because they could not pass through the solid rock. As the rover notices that the signal is waning, it will scatter another breadcrumb to pinpoint where the others are.

This method might be beneficial for mapping other types of terrain, such as disaster zones, dangerous environments, or other planetary surfaces.

The information transmitted by the small rovers would include data about their location in relation to the mother rover, as well as any data gathered by their onboard cameras and LiDAR sensors. Once all the information was collected, the mother rover could combine and process it to produce a detailed computer map of the cave system.

Read Also: NASA Perseverance Rover's Lightsaber Image Excites 'Star Wars' Fans; Here's What the Metal Tube Really Is

Disposable Small Rovers

The small rovers will be disposable, as each one would keep moving forward until it could no longer function due to depleted battery power, lack of breadcrumbs, or terrain obstacles.

By determining whether caverns and tunnels could be transformed into living quarters, the technology created by the researchers may potentially be used to analyze potential habitats for astronauts.

The researchers are now concentrating on developing a system for disseminating the breadcrumbs after successfully producing working rovers outfitted with communication gear.

The findings of the team were published in Advances in Space Research.

Related Article: Liquid Water on Mars? Scientists Reveal New Study Which May Prove This Claim About the Red Planet

 2023 TECHTIMES.com All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission.
Ford F-150 Lightning electric vehicle (EV) production is restarting this March after the renowned automaker paused manufacturing due to a battery issue that caught on fire last month.

The American carmaker confirmed that production of the all-electric pickup truck is set to kick off again in the middle of March.

(Photo : FREDERIC J. BROWN/AFP via Getty Images)

The all-electric F-150 Lightning from Ford is displayed at the Los Angeles Auto Show in Los Angeles, California on November 18, 2021

Ford F-150 Lightning EV Production Restarts March 2023

As per a report by CBS News, the spokesperson of Ford, Emma Bergg, confirmed in a statement that Ford is planning to restart the production of its F-150 Lightning EV on March 13.

It has been nearly a month since the Michigan-based firm discovered an issue in the battery of one of its electric trucks.

Engadget notes in its news story that one of the F-150 Lightning EVs caught fire in a holding last February 4. Although Ford admits there is a battery issue, it remains unclear what specifically ignited the electric truck to light up with flames.

(Photo : Image from Dan Dennis on Unsplash)

But despite that, the automaker says that they have worked with the supplier of its batteries, SK On, to address the issue. The giant firm further assures everyone that there is no charging fault at play.

Ford notes that "in the weeks ahead, we will continue to apply our learnings and work with SK On's team to ensure we continue delivering high-quality battery packs - down to the battery cells."

The carmaker announced that they are ramping up the production of the Rouge Electric Vehicle Center or shortly known as REVC. With that, Ford "will continue holding already-produced vehicles while we work through engineering and parts updates."

Read Also: Ford is Delaying it's Spain Manufacturing Plant Investment for EV Production

Ford Plans to Ramp Up F-150 Lightning Production This Year

The first-ever electric pickup truck of Ford, the F-150 Lightning, kicked off its production in April last year.

(Photo : Scott Olson/Getty Images)

CHICAGO, ILLINOIS - JUNE 24: Workers assemble Ford vehicles at the Chicago Assembly Plant on June 24, 2019 in Chicago, Illinois. Ford recently invested $1 billion to upgrade the facility where they build the Ford Explorer, Police Interceptor Utility and the Lincoln Aviator.

And since then, Engadget reports that the automaker has only sold roughly 20,000 units. It is thousands away from the reservations that the electric truck now holds, which goes beyond 200,000.

The Michigan firm is looking to ramp up the production of its electric pickup to keep up with the strong demand. It plans to manufacture around 150,000 trucks per year starting this 2023.

But with the recent setback, it remains to be seen if Ford is still on track with its production goals for the F-150 Lightning EV. After all, the battery issue paused its manufacturing for several weeks, now leading to more than a month.

Related Article: Ford F-150 Lightning EV Price Hikes for 2023 Model by 11% - Here's Why

 2023 TECHTIMES.com All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission.
Google Chrome autofill lets users easily log in to their accounts or pay online, as it saves email addresses, passwords, and credit card info.

But this time, it looks like the web browser of Google is likely to gain a new feature soon. It should allow users to delete their autofill data in single click.

(Photo : ISSOUF SANOGO/AFP via Getty Images)

A woman uses a laptop on April 3, 2019, in Abidjan.

Google Chrome Might Soon Make Deleting Autofill a Lot Easier

As per Fox News, Chrome offers an autofill feature, which makes life a whole lot easier. It helps people search for stuff on the internet more efficiently as it automatically fills what you might have in mind.

Not to mention it also stores your login info on various websites, letting you sign in to your accounts in a breeze.

Essentially, the autofill feature on Chrome seeks to help users easily search for something or log in to their accounts. If you are fond of online shopping, it can also automatically enter your credit card details when you are trying to check out.

(Photo : KIMIHIRO HOSHINO/AFP via Getty Images)

Sundar Pichai, senior vice president of Chrome, speaks at Google's annual developer conference, Google I/O, in San Francisco on June 28, 2012.

But sometimes, these autofill suggestions get a bit embarrassing when it suggests previous searches you have previously entered. And deleting them is quite complicated, requiring a couple of steps.

With that, it seems that Google is now addressing that issue. According to a report by Android Police, the tech giant seems to be quietly working on a new issue, which lets users delete their autofill data in a single click.

Web browser expert, who goes by the name Leopeva64, discovered that Chrome for desktop is experimenting with a new feature that lets users delete their autofill history. Unlike the previous option, the new option allows them to clear their autocomplete data by simply clicking a button.

How to Delete Autofill History on Chrome

Currently, deleting your autofill history on Google Chrome requires a few steps.

To do so, users have to go to the menu and select the "History option. From there, click the "History" section again. Then, select "Clear browsing data" and click the "Advanced tab." Check the "Autofill form data" option. And lastly, click the "Clear data" button.

Read Also: Google Chrome is Working on Double-Click Mouse Shortcut For Faster Tab Closing

How Chrome's New Autofill Delete Feature Works

On the other hand, the new autofill delete feature that Google is reportedly working on for Chrome is pretty straightforward.

(Photo : KIMIHIRO HOSHINO/AFP/GettyImages)

Google Chrome's logo is seen at Google's annual developer conference, Google I/O, at Moscone Center in San Francisco on June 28, 2012 in California.

Android Police notes that a new trash can icon sits beside the autofill suggestion. Users can select it to remove the entry they wish to get rid of.

It is worth noting that the feature is now available on version 113.0.5626.0. To enable the flag feature, enter this into the address bar: chrome://flags/#autofill-show-autocomplete-delete-button. After restarting the browser, it should be up and running.

Related Article: Google Works to Move Chrome Browser to Native Android System Share Sheet

 2023 TECHTIMES.com All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission.
Members of the US Congress have expressed concern about artificial intelligence (AI) but are yet to introduce legislation to regulate its use, reported first by The New York Times.

Despite the technology's growth and application, few lawmakers have a deep understanding of AI, says Jay Obernolte, a Republican member of Congress who is the only one with a master's degree in the subject.

"Before regulation, there needs to be agreement on what the dangers are, and that requires a deep understanding of what AI is," Obernolte said.

Lack of Regulation

A boom in AI has gripped Silicon Valley, with Microsoft, Google, Amazon, and Meta racing to develop the technology. AI's spread has sparked a debate over its limits, with concerns raised over its ability to replace human jobs and even become sentient.

A lack of regulation is also encouraging companies to prioritize financial and commercial interests over safety, according to Carly Kind, director of the Ada Lovelace Institute, an organization in London focused on responsible technology use. By failing to establish guardrails, policymakers are creating conditions for a race to the bottom in irresponsible AI, she warned.

In contrast to the US, the European Union (EU) has been taking a leadership role in regulating AI. In 2021, EU policymakers proposed a law aimed at regulating AI technologies that might cause the most harm, such as facial recognition and applications linked to critical public infrastructure.

The proposed law would require AI manufacturers to conduct risk assessments of how their applications could affect health, safety, and individual rights such as freedom of expression. Companies that breached the law could be fined up to 6% of their global revenue, which could total billions of dollars for the world's largest tech platforms.

However, the US is not entirely passive in AI regulation. The federal government has been deeply involved in AI for over six decades, with the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) funding research and development of the technology in the 1960s.

Read Also: New AI System Selects Donor Organs More Accurately Than Humans

US Efforts in Regulating AI

In November 2016, the Senate Subcommittee on Space, Science, and Competitiveness held the first congressional hearing on AI, following criticism from physicist Stephen Hawking and Tesla CEO Elon Musk that AI was becoming dangerously intelligent and could lead to the end of the human race.

In April 2021, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) released a set of guidelines for businesses using AI, outlining best practices for ensuring transparency and fairness in AI decision-making. The guidelines address issues such as bias, explainability, and data privacy.

In addition to the FTC guidelines, the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) is working on developing a framework for managing and mitigating AI risk. The framework is expected to cover issues such as trustworthiness, explainability, and security.

The US government has also introduced bills aimed at regulating AI in specific areas such as facial recognition technology. For example, the Facial Recognition and Biometric Technology Moratorium Act was introduced in the US House of Representatives in June 2021, which seeks to ban the use of facial recognition technology by federal law enforcement agencies.

However, the US is yet to establish federal law to regulate AI at an institutional level. This could mean that the tech's development and use are largely unchecked without concrete, institutionalized measures.

Related Article: FTC Warns Companies Regarding AI Capabilities Claims

 2023 TECHTIMES.com All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission.
MWC 2023 showed us a lot of exciting new devices to come out this year and the coming years. But what makes it worth the wait is that it also showcases some weird things.

(Photo : by JOSEP LAGO/AFP via Getty Images)

A lighted sign reads "5G Everywhere" at the Mobile World Congress (MWC), the telecom industry's biggest annual gathering, in Barcelona on March 1, 2023.

Smartwatch With Earbuds

For one, the Huawei Watch Buds is a bit weird-it's a smartwatch with TWS earphones concealed behind the screen. The earbuds are small, but they deliver great listening experience and features noise cancellation, wear detection, and more.

If you think about it, the Huawei Watch Buds is a space-saver, and you never have to worry about leaving something behind. Still, it's a weird to know of something like this, but it does make sense.

Removable Mobile Camera Lens

Next is the Xiaomi 12S Ultra Concept, which aims to change the quality of the camera on mobile phones. Say goodbye to bulky lens that are attached permanently to your phone with the Xiaomi 12S. It comes with removable Leica lens that will ensure the phone stays compact, sleek, and slim when the camera's not in use.

The 12S also has two other cameras that don't need bulky lens, which will let you to shoot images quickly. Xiaomi's 12S is still in concept, so it's unsure whether it will go into production.

Also read: Nokia Brings Durability Back to Smartphones With Latest Showcase at MWC 2023

Liquid Cooling to Avoid Overheating Mobile Phones

Intense games and other demanding tasks can cause mobile phones to overheat. OnePlus has a concept to solve this problem. The OnePlus 11 Concept features liquid cooling inside the body. Through liquid cooling, it can remove heat from the SoC and release it to environment effectively.

Similar to the 12S, this is still a concept phone and no one knows yet whether it will go into production.

Rollable Smartphone Screen

The Motorola Rizr is a bigger device, but what makes it unique (and weird) is its rollable screen. It's still early days for the device, and currently, there are still some issues that need to be ironed out for this.

Motorola also showed off is satellite link. The Motorola Defy Satellite Link is a Bluetooth dongle that opens two-way satellite communications for any smartphone.

This makes it easier for people who often go to areas out of coverage of cellular signals.

Now, these weird technologies seen on MWC really blew a lot of minds. While some may not be released, others could be a part of our everyday lives. This also paves the path to weirder tech, which may eventually be, a norm in the future. What do you think of these weird technologies? Share your thoughts on the comment section below.

Related article: Motorola 'Rizr' Rollable Concept Pops Up at MWC 2023, But How Does it Work?

 2023 TECHTIMES.com All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission.
Jacek Karnowski, the mayor of the Polish coastal town of Sopot, had his phone hacked in 2018-2019 using Pegasus spyware, Pegasus Project, a recent investigative journalism initiative recently found.

A local journalist reported on Friday, March 3, that Karnowski was collaborating on the opposition's Senate campaign at the time.

The Threat of Weaponized Spyware

Pegasus Project has been probing the software's use by governments, including Poland's. The software, created by the Israel-based NSO Group, has been alleged to be utilized to hack the phones of government critics.

Meanwhile, Amnesty International has forensically analyzed many mobile devices from activists and journalists worldwide. This research found widespread, persistent, and enduring unlawful surveillance and human rights abuses using NSO Group's Pegasus spyware.

Reuters tells us that Gazeta Wyborcza, a liberal daily critical of the ruling nationalist party Law and Justice (PiS), reported that Karnowski's name appeared on a list obtained as part of the investigation. The report has fueled claims that the country's special services used the technology against government critics.

"We will not allow the PiS machine to further destroy democracy, lead Poland to the East and sovietize our country," Karnowski wrote in a statement to Reuters. "The politicians who inspired and commissioned these activities belong in prison."

Read Also: Trezor's Hardware Wallet Faces Crypto Phishing Scam Campaigns, Posing as Data Breach to Steal Access

The PiS government has previously confirmed the purchase of sophisticated spyware but denied using it against political opponents.

Piotr Muller, a government spokesman, claimed that he was unaware of any actions taken by special services against specific individuals but that no laws had been broken.

More About Pegasus and Why It Is Flagged

Pegasus, a spyware software developed by the Israeli cybersecurity firm NSO Group, can be installed remotely without the targeted individual's interaction.

Scaringly, this will grant the NSO customers who control it access to text messages, photos, emails, videos, and contact lists. It can even record calls or activate a phone's microphone and cameras to create new recordings.

CNET reported that Apple itself had included a new Lockdown Mode in an iPhone software update, and the US Justice Department opened a criminal investigation into NSO Group because of the spyware.

Growing Concerns

There have been a lot of worries about the use of Pegasus, with concerns that it has been used to gather intelligence on activists, journalists, and politicians. As a result, Israel has received mounting pressure from governments and human rights organizations worldwide to investigate these allegations.

NSO has stated that it cannot confirm or deny any existing or potential Pegasus customers. It said that once sold to its governmental customers, it does not operate the system and is not involved in any way with its operation.

Human rights activists and opposition politicians in Poland have criticized the use of Pegasus, claiming it undermines democracy and free speech.

Karnowski's case is just one of several reported in recent years, implying that the government and others could use technology to target political opponents.

Related Article: U.S. Federal Reserve Governor Waller Cancels Speech After Experiencing Zoom Hijacked

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The US Air Force has awarded a $1.2 billion contract to Boeing for the development of new models of their E-7 Airborne Early Warning and Control (AEW&C) aircraft. These new variants will be replacing the outdated fleet of 31 E-3 "Sentry" AWACS early warning aircraft that were used during the Cold War era.

Originally introduced in 1977 and based on the Boeing 707, the E-3 "Sentry" was utilized by various countries including the United States, Britain, France, and NATO as a flying observation and air command center to identify hostile aircraft, according to Interesting Engineering.

Each Sentry was capable of monitoring air traffic over an area as large as Poland. However, the E-3 is now considered outdated and will be gradually phased out over the next two decades. The US government's decision to purchase the undeveloped E-7 variants indicates the end of the Air Force E-3 "Sentry" program.

All About the E-7

The E-7 was first developed in the 1990s for the Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF) under the name E-7A Wedgetail. One of the most noticeable differences between the E-3 and E-7 is the replacement of the E-3's rotating radar dome with a fixed active electronically scanned array radar antenna that protrudes from the fuselage like a fin, equipped with the Northrop Grumman Multi-role Electronically Scanned Array (MESA) sensor.

The new weapon system also has an advanced MESA sensor which improves airborne battle management and allows long-range kill chains against potential peer adversaries.

The DAF established an E-7A Program Management Office and selected the E-7A to replace the E-3 AWACS in the fiscal year 2022. The DAF has opted to acquire the first two E-7As using the rapid prototyping acquisition pathway.

"This contract award is a critical step in ensuring that the department continues delivering battlespace awareness and management capabilities to U.S. warfighters, allies, and partners for the next several decades," Andrew Hunter, assistant secretary of the Air Force for Acquisition, Technology, and Logistics said in a statement.

"The E-7A will enable greater airborne battlespace awareness through its precise, real-time air picture and will be able to control and direct individual aircraft under a wide range of environmental and operational conditions."

Read Also: US Air Force to Present B-21 Raider, World's Most Advanced Strike Aircraft With Stealth Technology

Deployment Date

The first E-7A is anticipated to be deployed by fiscal 2027, with the USAF planning to start manufacturing in fiscal 2025. The military plans to purchase 24 more E-7As by the end of the current fiscal year. There will be 26 E-7A aircraft in total, according to projections.

The E-3 AWACS' ongoing upgrading meets the goals of the 2022 National Defense Strategy by carrying out international Battle Management, Command and Control, and Airborne Moving Target Indication Activities as required by the Air Force.

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The Mississippi Senate has passed a bill aimed at restricting electric car manufacturers from opening new brick-and-mortar dealerships in the state, reported first by AP on Friday, March 3.

The bill would require such manufacturers to adhere to the same regulations as traditional automakers. It was introduced in the House by Republican Rep. Trey Lamar of Senatobia, and now awaits the signature of Republican Gov. Tate Reeves.

The proposed legislation has sparked a debate among Republican lawmakers, with some arguing that it goes against conservative values by introducing government intervention in the auto market. Others support the bill, saying that it would level the playing field for all car manufacturers, regardless of their business model.

While opponents of the bill have argued that it would prevent electric carmakers from bringing new technology and jobs to the state.

Read Also: US-based Toyota EV Mass Production Confirmed! Start Date, Average Annual Units, Other Details

How the Bill Could Impact Tesla

The legislation would require EV manufacturers to open physical dealerships instead of selling cars through company-owned stores. Critics argue that the bill unfairly hinders competition, as it would only apply to EVs, while traditional automakers would be unaffected.



The move could impact Tesla, which currently operates a single location in Jackson, classified as a store, allowing the company to operate outside of state laws governing franchise businesses.



Republican Senator Brice Wiggins accused traditional dealers of trying to stifle competition, while Senator Joey Fillingane warned that the bill could make Mississippi less attractive to EV manufacturers seeking investment opportunities.

Senator Sparks believes that the Biden administration's push for electric vehicle adoption, coupled with an exemption from state franchise laws, has created an uneven playing field that gives electric car manufacturers a competitive edge.



The proposed bill in Mississippi does not ban the direct sale of electric cars, as buyers can still purchase them online. However, the bill would prohibit the establishment of new brick-and-mortar dealerships in the state, requiring buyers to visit the only Tesla store in Pearl if they want to buy an electric car in person.



To open a new physical sales location, electric car companies would need to enter into franchise agreements. The bill was passed with bipartisan support in the Mississippi Senate, with a vote of 39-13.

Related Article: #TechCEO: Stellantis CEO Carlos Tavares Wants to Meet Customers' Expectations by Electriying All Maserati Models

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Rep. Mary Caferro, D-Helena, has introduced a bill that would increase the Medicaid reimbursement rates for providers in four essential health care areas.

Last session, legislators appropriated nearly $3 million for a provider rate study that examined the cost of delivering services in the wake of the pandemic. Health care expenses have soared in the last few years, and Montanas Medicaid reimbursement rates are falling woefully short of covering the heightened costs, effectively eroding Montanans access to health care.

Debates about how much lawmakers should increase reimbursement rates are front and center at the state legislature this year, as the final outcome will carry big picture implications for the sustainability of behavioral health services, developmental disabilities services, childrens mental health and senior and long term care.

Guidehouse, the outside consulting company that carried out the provider rate study, looked at various ways provider rates could be adjusted and made recommendations for increasing the reimbursement rates.

House Bill 649 would implement the benchmark rate developed by Guidehouse. Currently, the health and human services subcommittee has voted to fund half of the difference between the funding needed for full benchmark rates and the governor's proposed budget.

The study has provided us with the data demonstrating that the state is underpaying the businesses who provide services and supports for the most vulnerable people in Montana, Caferro said.

Guidehouse analysts estimated that, if fully funded to meet the benchmark rate, the total cost to the State of Montana would be $27.7 million. Since Medicaid is funded with both state and federal dollars, the federal match would raise the available funds by about $54.3 million. In total, $82 million would be set aside to increase the Medicaid reimbursement rates for providers.

As staffing shortages have proliferated across the state, facilities in these vulnerable departments have relied heavily on traveling workers, temporary staff who help fill in the gaps at health care facilities when there are employee shortages. At multiple times the cost of a permanent employee, many facilities have had to restrict or discontinue services as their budgets run dry.

Just over a week ago, 31 community-based, mental health stabilization beds were closed at the Western Montana Mental Health Center, according to Levi Anderson, CEO of the facility.

That represents 65% of the capacity in the entire state for that service and thats a direct result of a lack of funding for those services, he said.

Members from each health care sector included in the rate study testified in support of the bill, including social workers, senior care advocates, addiction services administrators and disability services providers.

No one spoke in opposition to the bill.
Foxconn, a supplier to Apple, reportedly plans to spend about $700 million on a new plant in India to increase local production.

According to Bloomberg, this highlights a rapid departure from China as a manufacturing hub amid rising tensions between Washington and Beijing.

New India Facility

Insiders said the facility to manufacture iPhone components would be constructed on a 300-acre site adjacent to the airport in Bengaluru, the capital of the southern Indian state of Karnataka.

Some of these sources also claimed that the plant might be used to build Apple's iPhones and that Foxconn may utilize the facility to manufacture components for its emerging electric car sector.

Over 100,000 new jobs are anticipated to be created at the new manufacturing plant in India. Over 200,000 people are now employed in the company's massive iPhone assembly plant in the Chinese city of Zhengzhou, with that number increasing during the peak production season.

On Friday, Mar. 3, many government officials, including India's deputy IT minister, tweeted confirmation of specifics around the impending factory. These include a remark that it would be completed immediately soon.

Foxconn is still finalizing investment and project specifics, so the plans might yet change, according to Bloomberg's sources. It is also unclear if the factory represents the additional capacity for Foxconn or if manufacturing is being moved there from somewhere else, maybe one of Foxconn's plants in China.

Related Story: Foxconn Introduces the New iPhone Division Head, Michael Chiang

Shift From China

This is one of Foxconn's greatest outlays in a single country so far, and it highlights the fact that China might soon lose its position as the world's top maker of consumer electronics.

Suppliers in China are under pressure from Apple and other American firms to expand operations to India and Vietnam. The global supply chain is undergoing a reevaluation in light of the pandemic and the conflict in Ukraine, which has the potential to alter the production of electronics throughout the world.

Covid-related delays at the Zhengzhou facility caused a steep drop in production just before the holidays, prompting Apple to reconsider its supply chain's reliance on China. The announcement by Foxconn is the latest indicator that suppliers may relocate production outside of China much more quickly than planned.

As Western investors and businesses turn against Beijing's crackdowns on the private sector, Foxconn's choice would be a triumph for the administration of India's Prime Minister Narendra Modi, which sees a chance to reduce India's tech imbalance with China.

India has provided subsidies to Apple suppliers like Foxconn, which has been producing the latest iPhone models in Tamil Nadu since last year. Wistron and Pegatron, two smaller competitors, have also expanded in India, and local manufacturers like Jabil have started producing AirPods.

Related Story: iPhone Maker Foxconn Diversifies Away From China, Enters Vietnam

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The Supreme Court of the UK has been urged to decide on whether or not artificial intelligence (AI) may be properly listed as an inventor in order to gain patent rights.

Dr. Stephen Thaler, a prominent figure in the field of technology, is involved in a lengthy debate with the Intellectual Property Office (IPO) over its refusal to recognize an AI he developed as the author of two patents.

American developer Dr. Thaler claims ownership of two innovations made by an AI system he calls DABUS, a container for holding food or drink and a light beacon.

'Plainly Ridiculous'

In the case now being heard in the UK Supreme Court, one lawyer claimed that considering AI to be an inventor is "plainly ridiculous," as reported by Bloomberg.

According to court documents obtained by The Independent, IPO attorney Stuart Baran argued that if AI could be considered an inventor, then "my cat Felix," "cosmic forces," or "134.87" would "all have simply to be waved through" as patent innovators as well.

Dr. Thaler filed the first lawsuit in 2019, disputing the patent office's decision to deny his applications for patents on a food container and a blinking light that credited his AI, DABUS, as the inventor.

After having his appeals rejected by the UK's High Court and Court of Appeal, Dr. Thaler has taken his case to the Supreme Court. Both US courts and the European Patent Office have denied similar applications.

Judges have so far ruled that a human must be designated as the inventor, but Dr. Thaler is certain that he is authorized to the copyrights on inventions by his AI system, of which he is the sole creator and user.

However, Baran, the IPO's lawyer, says that recognizing AI as an inventor might pave the way for other non-human entities, such as animals or abstract concepts, to be recognized in the same way.

See Also: MIT Researchers Create Automated Design System that Seeks Human Feedback

Further Analysis

Even though the Supreme Court heard oral arguments on Thursday, Mar. 2, Business Insider has learned that the IPO is not anticipating a ruling until much later. There have been several intellectual property conflicts around the development of AI software, and this decision might have far-reaching consequences.

Attorney for Dr. Thaler reportedly informed the Supreme Court that his client is "entitled to the rights of the DABUS inventions" since there is no requirement in the UK that an idea must be created by a human author to be patented," as per Reuters' report.

UK officials agree, after a consultation in 2021, that AI-created works are eligible for patent protection, so long as a person is considered the creator. Judges in Dr. Thaler's prior appeals regarded the Patents Act 1977 to mean that an inventor had to be a "natural person."

See Also: AI Vs. Human: Some German Publishers Plan to Replace Journalists With AI

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People all over the world have been getting a kick out of the new products powered by generative AI, such as ChatGPT and Bings AI. But what happens when bad actors  people bent on doing harm  harness the technology for their own negative uses?

At ITEXPO 2023, one presenter compared the move to generative AI with the introduction of automobiles. "It sure is exciting," she said, "but the horses are scared to death."

"It's amazing it's here, but we will need some traffic lights, and maybe some drivers' licenses," metaphorized Barbel Wetenkamp, CEO of The Swiss Quality Consulting GmbH. Wetenkamp is also a professor in master studies at a university in Munich, Germany.

In 2021, just 1% of content on the internet was created using generative AI. That figure is expected to zoom to more than 10% of all content in two years. "Yes, I think there will be some lost jobs," she said, "but I also think there will be new jobs created."

"Generative AI will help us to scale our businesses and get more output," Wetenkamp asserted.

On the other hand, the possible use of generative AI to create despicable content is worrisome. "There will be abuse," she projected. "Imagine hard-working mothers and fathers pictured doing the unthinkable, and then their children see it online."

Wetenkamp's three top fears for the immediate future of generative AI include:

Deep Fakes  Right now, it's nearly impossible to determine whether an image is real or if its a Deep Fake image, she said. As the victim herself of a photo that was altered and shared, she realizes firsthand the damage a Deep Fake can do.

Copyright  What are the rules regarding copyright infringement made by a robot? What is your recourse if you are slandered or libeled by a robot? Copyright law as its written is not ready for generative AI, she said.

Malicious Use  With generative AI, bullies and bad actors now have another avenue for damaging somebody's reputation. The malicious use of generative AI is another lawful issue that hasn't yet been addressed.

Wetenkamp told the expo sessions audience she harbors no grudge against generative AI itself. "There's nothing wrong with it," she said. "We just need to mitigate the risk of using it."

Wetenkamp's three top tips for mitigating the immediate dangers posed by generative AI include:

Ethics Adoption  Developers and users need to agree upon an ethical framework for employing generative AI, Wetenkamp said. The recent report by Garner on AI Trust, Risk and Security Management is a good place to begin.

Bill of Rights  People who are affected by AI  i.e. all of us - need protection from bad actors. "Everyone who crates and uses generative AI should be held responsible for what happens, Wetenkamp said.

Awareness Campaigns  Business in the generative AI world should be required to fund awareness campaigns, just like tobacco companies were.

She noted that Open AI, the company behind ChatGPT, said they are working on a way for users to distinguish between generative AI content and original human content. "I think it's a good thing. Its something we need.

Overall, regulation needs to precede development, because the issue is so important to us all.

Edited by Alex Passett
On the eve of the transmittal deadline in the state legislature, a pair of bills looking to amend parental notifications for public sex education passed out of the House of Representatives Friday morning.

The two bills, House Bill 502 and House Bill 566, look to amend 2021's Senate Bill 99 which gives parents at least a 48-hour notice of any human sexuality instruction planned for a school class or event along with the option to withdraw their kids from it without penalty.

Both passed their third readings on the House floor, despite widely differing propositions to amending the law.

Since its passage during the last session, SB 99 has resulted in curriculum overviews and legal consultation by school districts over what exactly would qualify as human sexuality and how to best inform parents. Curriculum under the laws current language includes lessons that contain or mention, intimate relationships, human sexual anatomy, sexual reproduction, sexually transmitted infections, sexual acts, sexual orientation, gender identity, abstinence, contraception, or reproductive rights and responsibilities.

To act in compliance with the law, many school districts sent parents either one annual notice or individual notices throughout the year detailing any lesson plans that would fall under SB 99 along with alternatives to them. For School District 2 in Billings, this included the novels Romeo and Juliet and The Great Gatsby in English Literature courses and Supreme Court cases like Roe V. Wade in U.S. Government classes along with its human biology and health courses.

This sessions bill sponsors felt the need for additional legislation to address SB 99's shortcomings following complaints from parents saying they were given either too much or too little notice on these lessons.

HB 566, sponsored by Rep. Fred Anderson, R-Great Falls, would update human sexuality instruction by removing topics involving intimate relationships, sexual orientation, gender identity and reproductive rights from its classification. The bill would also remove the 48-hour notice enacted by SB 99 and revert back to a single annual notice and opt-out choice to parents.

I dont believe the bill was ever intended to have individual teachers send letters home on every individual lesson that they were teaching that might have some interpretation of relationship or sexuality, Anderson told the House Education Committee.

Anderson went on to say that a Great Falls teacher had sent out over 500 letters and that it was from the the parents that he was hearing complaints over their frequency. He added that the letters were being sent out during instructional time the teacher could have spent on preparing for classes or working with students.

Conversely, HB 502s sponsor Rep. Kerri Seekins Crowe, R-Billings, said she felt the need to introduce this bill after hearing from Yellowstone County parents who felt SB 99 either wasnt being enforced by school districts or that it was inadequate.

It immediately became apparent that there would be a lack of compliance and an apprehension by the school districts to take parental rights in human sexuality instruction seriously, she said during the bills first hearing. This issue has gotten more controversial since then and, instead of feeling informed and involved, parents are feeling pushed aside and dismissed.

Unlike HB 566, the bill would keep the current classification of human sexuality instruction and add that parents are given more of an advance notice of any sexual instruction thats no later than 48 hours and no sooner than ten days before its scheduled. Its first draft also included the provision that any violation of these notifications would constitute a gross neglect of duty and potentially cost an educator their teaching license.

Supporters for the bill included representatives with the conservative nonprofits Moms for Liberty Yellowstone County and Montana Family Foundation along with Sen. Cary Smith, who was the original sponsor for SB 99.

All expressed their belief that parents need to be more involved with their childrens education, stating that many hold beliefs and views on human sexuality contrary to what is taught with public education.

As parents, we absolutely want to be notified each and every time sex ed or sexually explicit material is being taught in school. Yearly is not good enough, said Jessie Browning with Moms for Liberty Yellowstone County. We want to either be aware and pull our kids out of class that day or know what topic is covered in class so that we can have discussion later at home with our kids.

All those in favor of HB 502 also expressed opposition to HB 566, believing that it would negate the progress started by SB 99.

Supporters for HB 566 included state union and educator representatives who agreed that the adjustments would benefit the teachers and administrators who struggled to abide by it over the last two years.

Speaking in opposition to HB 502, Lance Melton with the Montana School Boards Association said it would bring back many of the potential concerns deliberated with SB 99 initially regarding the amount of oversight required for districts and teachers to obey the law. Under the risk of taking teachers licenses and livelihoods, Melton warned lawmakers the clause enforcing a gross neglect of duty is a pandoras box you dont wont to open.

He also pointed to a line in the bill that would have school staff and administrators responsible for notifying parents of any sexual discussion started by students on school property, which would include monitoring conversations on playgrounds and in the hallways.

Even in the unlikely event that someone were to lose their job for overhearing a students conversation, he argued it should remain out of state law.

Dont ever give to the state government something that they could do but promise you that they wont, Melton said.

In her stated opposition to HB 566, Superintendent of Public Instruction Elsie Arntzen said she had revoked teachers licenses this school year, based on information that has flown in sexual nature to children following investigations by their school districts. At a later committee meeting, she voiced her support for HB 502, stating that it would provide a partnership between parents and teachers.

The two bills were not the only ones looking to amend sex education this session. In the Senate, SB 413 aimed to prohibit any sex ed instruction before the sixth grade in public schools while SB 315 sought to establish criteria for Comprehensive personal health and safety education, which would have included further definition and instruction to sexual education starting as early as fourth grade in public schools. Both bills were tabled in their respective committees following their initial hearings.

Amended versions of HB 502 had the gross neglect of duty provision removed along with the educators' liability for student conversations while HB 566 was amended slightly by Seekins-Crowe before they passed out of committee. Both bills sponsors agreed that, due to their similarities, they would likely get consolidated to a single bill if they were to both pass the house.
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With the demolition of the Village Inn Pizza parlor in Billings Thursday, the city loses a civic monument.

For more than 55 years, the A-framed pizza joint at 2048 Grand Avenue was a neighborhood hangout, and a destination from all over the region. Inside the restaurant, with its wood beams, its avocado greens and mustard yellows, it was still 1975. Until its dying day last May, you could still play a Pac-Man machine.

The good news is, the cherished restaurant will live again.

Dane Jorgenson-Smith and some family members bought the restaurant and everything good about it. They got the recipes, the ovens, a dough mixer that looks like its been in service all five decades, and even the red cups, the iconic front door, the booths, and the stained glass fixtures.

And, we got the lady who used to run it, Jorgenson-Smith said. Shell help us get started at the new location.

The plan is to move Village Inn into the building with CJs Bar and Grill at 2455 Central Avenue.

We want to have it look and feel like the old Village Inn as much as possible, he added. We could be slinging pizzas there by the end of summer.

The Village Inn site on Grand Avenue has been purchased by its longtime neighbor, Dana Motors. Actually, Dana Motors has been a neighbor on both sides of the restaurant, which hasnt been easy for longtime owner Del McCormick.

Hes grown tired of running back and forth between the two lots, depending on what model of car customers wanted to see.

What he never tired of was the Village Inns Marshall Special, a pizza stacked immodestly high with Canadian bacon, pepperoni and Italian sausage.

Ive eaten untold number of those, he said. Hes as pleased as anyone that the restaurant, and its generous specials, will survive.

Dana Motors has been on Grand Avenue since the early 1980s, and when it needed to expand, it had no choice but to hop over the restaurant to a lot on the other side.

With the tall restaurant gone, the dealership will have more visibility and better access for customers.

The hooray for us is that well have just one lot and thats exciting, McCormick said. But the more exciting part is that the Village Inn will rise again.
A Roundup man admitted in federal court earlier this week to grooming a teenage girl.

Marshall Vincent Lucas, 42, pleaded guilty Tuesday in U.S. District Court for the District of Montana to coercion and enticement. Lucas, who was indicted last fall, pressured an underage girl into sending him sexually explicit photos.

In September 2021, according to court documents, Lucas gave the girl a laptop and started exchanging messages with her online using an alias. He had previously met the girl and knew she was underage.

However, he soon began asking her in person and in online exchanges for nude pictures. Lucas also sent the girl nude photos of himself and asked the girl to delete their online exchanges, court documents said.

By last summer members of the girls family reported the abuse to the Musselshell County Sheriffs Office and the FBI. Investigators interviewed Lucas in November, according to court documents, where he admitted to exchanging messages with the girl online and that these discussions were, at times, sexual in nature.

He was indicted in federal court in December on one count of production of child pornography and one count of coercion and enticement. Lucas reached a plea agreement with federal prosecutors the following month.

Lucas made his guilty plea before U.S. Magistrate Judge Timothy J. Cavan, according to a statement from the U.S. Attorneys Office, and was released from custody until his sentencing hearing. He is currently scheduled to be sentenced in September of this year. He faces a mandatory minimum of 10 years in prison, followed by a lifetime of supervised release.

Grooming, as defined by the non-profit Rape, Abuse & Incest National Network, is when an abuser manipulates a victim into agreeing to abuse and uses that trust to avoid being caught. While children and teens are particularly vulnerable to grooming, some adults are also at risk. Grooming can take place online or in-person, according to RAINN, and typically involves a family member or anyone else within the victims circle of trust.

Tips of possible online child exploitation can be sent directly to the FBI and local law enforcement agencies at https://report.cybertip.org/ or by dialing 1-800-843-5678.
One year after a federal court ruled the political districts of Montana's utility commission were unconstitutional, the state Senate aprpoved a controversial redraw that saps the voting power of Montanas largest cities by breaking them up.

Lawmakers, facing a pass-or-perish Friday deadline for non-revenue bills, approved new political districts for the Public Service Commission. Senate Bill 109 passed out of the Senate on third reading 30-20 late Thursday. The districts approved would, for the first time in at least 20 years, split the states largest cities into two districts.

That split sparked objections on the Senate floor about breaking up communities of interest, meaning communities with common policy concerns. Splitting up communities is largely regarded as a gerrymandering tool.

I want to encourage all my colleagues to look at this map and look at how it splits communities, said Janet Ellis. ...I want you to consider before you vote on this bill today, if this is the best way to draw five districts, I don't believe this map is the best choice for our state.

The political districts of the PSC, the states regulator of monopolies, are the only political districts drawn by the Legislature.

The job of drawing legislative and congressional districts belongs to the independent Districting and Apportionment Commission. That commission as a rule avoids splitting up communities. Montana is one of 24 states that address communities of interest directly, according the non-partisan Brennan Center for Justice. In Montana, keeping communities of interest whole is the guideline for drawing political districts.

Several lawmakers voting in favor of the PSC map previously spoke strongly about keeping communities of interest intact as the state Districting and Apportionment Commission drew new legislative districts based on 2020 Census population data.

The senator responsible for the map, Keith Regier, a Kalispell Republican, told the lawmakers Thursday they were under no obligation to keep cities whole. Regier said cities were better off divided.

By using House districts, major cities like Missoula, Kalispell, Billings and Bozeman are split. You might think that's a disadvantage, but not really, Regier told his peers. That gives them the advantage of being represented by two commissioners.

The map Regier produced days before the transmittal deadline and weeks after the publics opportunity to comment on the matter, relies on Montanas 100 state House districts as a foundation. There are 5 PSC districts, each in Regiers map has 20 state House districts.

If Regiers map passes the Senate and House, it would replace a map proposed by Montana Secretory of State Christie Jacobsen in February 2022 in response to a lawsuit brought by voters in late 2020.

The voters, including two from Gallatin County, and one from Flathead County, sued because the states PSC district's, which the Legislature hadnt redrawn in two decades, were so out of balance in population that the one person, one vote right of the 14th Amendment was being ignored. The states least populated district, which included the Hi-Line region, had 53,000 fewer people than its most populated district, which included Bozeman and southwest Montana, but same amount of political representation on the commission.

The PSC regulates monopolies, more specifically the states largest utilities NorthWestern Energy and Montana Dakota Utilities. In that capacity, the PSC affects the household budgets of more than 400,000 Montana utility customers. Those customers are legally recognized as captive, meaning they lack the free-market choice of shopping around for a better deal. The commission is charged with ensuring captive customers have reasonably priced, reliable electric and natural gas service, while utilities receive a fixed rate of return.

A federal panel of three justices accepted Jacobsens map, which adhered to the Legislature's previous practice of not dividing counties when drawing PSC districts. By default, the whole-county policy also kept cities intact. By shuffling four counties, Jacobsens map brought the five PSC districts within a 5.5% population difference. The U.S. Supreme Court had previously accepted a 10% difference as constitutional.

However, the judicial panel comprised of Ninth Circuit Judge Paul Watford and U.S. District judges Donald Molloy and Brian Morris, made one change to Jacobsens map. The justices kept the Blackfeet Reservation in a single district. In doing so, justices reasoned that the Blackfeet, as a community of interest would have more votes in a single district to advance their interests when electing a commissioner.

The voters who sued had proposed a map with the largest difference in population being 1.5%, but also split counties. Regier on Thursday said that his map would also balance the districts with a 1.5% difference or less.

A lawmaker who does two four-year terms on the PSC retires with a substantial state pension.

Before giving Regiers map a vote on second reading, lawmakers rejected an amendment that would have cut the number of PSC seats from five to three.

If we change this, I don't know where all the old, termed-out legislators will go to go to work, said John Esp, a Big Timber Republican. So I think we ought to leave it just the way it is.

Esps was wry joke that drew brief applause.

The PSC has been dominated by Republican candidates for more than 12 years, but not for a lack of Democrat-leaning voters in PSC districts. Former Republican Commissioner Roger Koopman, for example shares the win column with top ticket Democrats like U.S. Sen Jon Tester and former Gov. Steve Bullock in the southwestern PSC district anchored by Bozeman and Gallatin County, which tops the state in Democratic votes. Current Republican Commissioner Jim Brown won the district in 2020. Democratic votes faded down ballot.

Current Commissioner Jennifer Fielder finished strong in her 2020 race in northwest Montana. Fielders district is anchored by Missoula and Missoula County, which was second in the state for Democratic voters in 2020 and the largest community in the district.
LSU students Dora Rasulova, left, of Uzbekistan, and Violeta Kovalemko, right, of Ukraine, carry the flag of Ukraine as they march with others on the steps of the State Capitol during a demonstation to show support for Ukraine, which is at war with Russia, Tuesday, March 1, 2022. Jake Muriillo, an American from New Orleans, is just behind them, at center. ORG XMIT: BAT2203011100140815
The battle for the best rooftop bar, the shiniest new office with upmarket amenities and luxury hotel rooms is heating up amid the $100 billion building boom across Sydneys city, that ranges from infrastructure projects to commercial, residential and development sites.

It has underpinned the latest wave of demand for the next three new towers that are set to hit the already busy Sydney city skyline.

Despite the global pandemic that caused delays for many projects, the new buildings are now opening at a rapid rate - including the Salesforce Tower by Lendlease, the Quay Quarter Tower and the $3.1 billion Waldorf Astoria Hotel and apartment complex - and are now being followed by another wave of construction.

The Holdmark mixed-use development proposed for 4-6 Bligh Street.

The latest is by developer Holdmark which has lodged a State Significant Development Application for a sculptural 59-storey hotel and commercial tower at 4-6 Bligh Street, in the heart of Sydneys CBD. It has been designed by global architecture studio Woods Bagot with an estimated end value of $700 million.
Laura McPhee-Brownes second novel is about a pregnant young woman who has an inner life thats as rich and colourful as a precious stone. In fact, all the novels characters  theyre an alluring and multifaceted bunch  are named after semi-precious stones and have their own particular energy.

Coral finds herself pregnant after a two-night stand with Jasper, to the mystification of her friend Amber and Corals mother Topaz. Little Plum evokes with a jewel-like clarity and luminescence the process of nurturing a new life within your body and finding your consciousness transformed by it.

Laura McPhee-Browne writes as vividly about life in the outside world as she does about life in the womb. Credit: Sarah Walker

McPhee-Brownes first novel, Cherry Beach, was also a domestic, introspective novel with a focus on the hopes and dreams you take with you when you travel, the friends you make along the way, and what happens when you fall in love with friends whom you know inside-out. Queer love and female friendship are a signature theme for her, and she uses her influences with confidence.

A McPhee-Browne novel is a bit like an Australian twist on an Alice Adams story. The American published Careless Love in 1966, a pioneering novel about divorce that was criticised by Saul Bellow for showing characters who live completely in relationships.
As the ASIC investigation dragged into 2023, Ridgway texted Kerrilyn in February to encourage her to mislead authorities. In one of several texts obtained by the Herald and The Age, he tells her: You dont have to lie you just gotta say I dont know and be vague and confuse them. You are a smart girl. It is unclear whether Ridgway, who worked in Shaw and Partners Brisbane office, profited from any forged documents. The new details in the Ridgway case can be revealed as ASIC faces a parliamentary inquiry into long-running concerns that it is a slow, timid and ineffective regulator. Liberal senator Andrew Bragg, who spearheaded the inquiry, said ASIC was too slow to respond to warnings and didnt secure enough prosecutions. Ridgways unauthorised trading came to light in January 2022 when a client complained to Shaw and Partners head office about an investment he had signed up for that had failed to deliver on any of its promises. It raised red flags as the product wasnt on the groups approved product list.

An internal investigation found Ridgway had systematically breached compliance rules outside of the Shaw and Partners systems over an eight-year period, including engaging in trading in unauthorised products and taking secret commissions of up to 17 per cent, well above the usual commission charged of 0.05 per cent and 1 per cent. The commissions were paid directly to Ridgway. All up, he collected secret commissions of more than $1.5 million, which werent disclosed to Shaw and Partners or the clients, according to bank deposit confirmations and internal documents. The unauthorised products include Marshall Islands company Trinus Impact Capital, British Columbia company ASAF Critical Metals and the British Virgin Islands-based Steppes Alternative Asset Management, which claims to have almost $4 billion in assets under management. It was last audited in 2018. Ridgway introduced more than 90 families to financial services firm McFaddens Securities, which then put them into the unlisted products. Shaw and Partners said in a statement it was planning to remediate the families that had been put into these products. The remediation costs will be an estimated $9 million and the firm said it was happy that the process was well under way.

Shaw and Partners chief executive officer Earl Evans said the scandal had had devastating consequences for the clients. He said: They were unsuspecting of Ridgways behaviour and a year on from his dismissal, we would like to think the regulator is getting close to dealing with this individual and more light will come on these questionable products. Ridgway was sacked in February 2022 and days later walked out on his wife and three children, leaving them with a credit card bill of $40,000 and rent they couldnt afford to pay. A year on, Kerrilyn is still grappling with the emotional and financial deception. It will be a year on Monday he walked out on someone who gave his whole life to. I was a sitting duck who he kept in the dark, she said. Im heartbroken and the kids are heartbroken. We feel like he threw us out with the trash, while he is off surfing, taking women to dinner at French restaurants, and we arent even allowed to know where he lives.

Company records list Kerrilyn as a director for short periods, while other records list her as a director for longer durations with other directors that she said she had never had anything to do with. She said there were also minutes with her signature relating to meetings she claims she never attended. Kerrilyn told the Herald and The Age it was confronting to see so many documents with her forged signature. One was a loan agreement between Ridgy Enterprises and KKR Holdings as Trustee for Ridgway Family Trust. It includes her signature, which she says she didnt sign. Another is a deed of assignment of debt and release, which includes her signature and her mothers signature as a witness, both of which she says were forged. It isnt my signature and its not my mums, she said. I know what my mums signature looks like and my mum has been in high-level care for many years. She said she met Ridgway 35 years ago when she was 18. She said she never got involved in his business affairs. He left us in a bad place financially and struggling emotionally, she said.

She declined to comment on a series of text messages obtained by this masthead between herself and Ridgway relating to the alleged forged signatures and directorships and what she will tell the authorities. In one text, sent on February 22 this year, Ridgway tells her: Just remember I have looked after you and protected the kids all my life. Now I need your help to protect me from my evil boss and the shit he has stirred up. In other texts, Kerrilyn tells her estranged husband: I knew nothing of these companies and directorships. I dont want to lie and get in trouble. Thats not my mums signature. He replied: Say you cant remember as it was a long time ago and you signed a lot of papers over the years. In a text on February 26, Kerrilyn returns to the use of her mothers signature. You have clearly signed for mum. Do you want me to say you had her authority? Even though we know she didnt. He replies: They cant check on her signature; just say it is hers. Ridgway was sent a series of questions but didnt respond.
Hidden tiny doors in Brisbanes alleyways, reminiscent of an Alice in Wonderland scene, lie in wait to be found by observant and curious passersby.

A tiny door in the city made by Brisbane artist Mace Robertson. Credit: Ben Bissett, Brisbane Times

There are so many doors that artist Mace Robertson cannot remember how many have been installed across the city.

But he promises if you look in the quieter lanes and alleyways off Brisbane city streets they will be there.

Robertson said the idea to make them was sparked by a world phenomenon of what was known as fairy doors.
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 Imagine Brisbane, specifically the stretch of the river opposite South Bank, in a decades time. We can see glimpses of the future now: new bridges, railways, busways, venues, a new casino and hotels. But some of the planned 2032 Olympic Games legacy is being still explored, mostly out of the public gaze. For First Nations people, the Brisbane River  Meanjin  is central to their creation stories for at least 32,000 years. For European Australians, that history dates back to 1825 and centres on the site of Queens Wharf Brisbane. How should Brisbane acknowledge its evolution from a penal colony in 1825? Credit:Tony Moore The new $3.6 billion casino, hospitality, retail and resort complex is being built by the Destination Brisbane Consortium and is scheduled to have an official opening this year. As Brisbane Times reported this week, the consortium has no specific plans to recognise the citys first colonial site. However, there will be a subtle acknowledgement of the 1825 transformation  in words in riverfront seating.

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The Destination Brisbane Consortium will make its money on the site where, in May 1825, the city evolved  originally as a penal colony  from the land of the Jagera and Turrbul First Nations people. Queenslands Royal Historical Society (based, ironically, at Queens Wharf) was disappointed and asked for consultation, while the National Trust of Queensland sought more formal recognition of the past. The consortium provided samples of words to be used on seats. One will say: Queens Wharf  originally known as Kings Wharf  built in 1827 Convicts and military disembarked, provisions unloaded Brisbanes only landing place in the early 19th century. The Brisbane Stairs under construction as part of Queens Wharf Brisbane. They lead from the main retail centre of the resort and casino down to the Brisbane River. Credit:Destination Brisbane Consortium. Another will say: From the 1840s to the 1860s, many Aboriginal people with local knowledge and experience worked along the Brisbane River as pilots, boatmen and ferrymen. The small finger wharves  under the Riverside Expressway pointing towards South Bank  will also have words and seating blocks, or crates, which tell stories of early wharf life. The words will point back to the two main heritage buildings  the 1829 Commissariat Store and the 1865 Immigration Depot - which are being incorporated into the vast complex.

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One will say: A wide range of the essential cargo  from tea and flour to liquor and munitions  made its way from the wharf to the Customs and Immigration Office in the nearby Commissariat Building. Wording on seating at South Bank is similar to displays at the under-construction Queens Wharf Brisbane complex. Credit:Tony Moore However, Quandamooka elder Cameron Costello, the deputy chair of Queensland Tourism Industry Council and chair of the First Nations Tourism Council, sees a missed opportunity. I think it should be part of a layered truth-telling tale all over the state, Costello said. I think there is potential for major pieces  say potentially 10 or 12 major art pieces around the state. And then there is various truth-telling in the park exercises all around the state that we could have. The final choice of Queensland sites would be made by traditional owners, but Queens Wharf should be among them, Costello said.

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Part of the legacy of the 2032 Games is known. We now have Brisbane City Council inner-city plans, we have the SEQ City Deal, and weve got the Olympic venue upgrades, he said. Cameron Costello. Credit:AAP If we integrate with that, Indigenous design principles  which is at its heart storytelling and truth-telling  we should commit to that as state and local governments. Loading And if we have a [First Nations] Cultural Centre as part of that, that is a further layer as well. The Brisbane River flows through it all. Our stories start with the creation of the river. So from there is also the history of when there was colonisation. So to me there is all these different layers of story-telling that are all beautiful.

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Another truth-telling site Costello suggested could tell the story of how Quandamooka people cared for shipwrecked castaway Thomas Pamphlett in Moreton Bay until found in November 1823 by explorer John Oxley. It was Pamphlett who showed Oxley to the Brisbane River, leading to the eventual decision to forgo Redcliffe (1824) and settle instead in what we now know is the CBD. An artists impression of Millers Park at Queens Wharf Brisbane. It recognises Lt Henry Miller, the first commandant of the original Brisbane penal colony. The building on the right is Queenslands second-oldest, the Commissariat Store, built by convicts in 1828-9. Credit:Destination Brisbane Consortium. We can tell hard stories about colonisation, but also stories of where we interacted and rescued each other, Costello said. It is an amazing opportunity. We want every visitor to connect to country, and for country to connect with people, and this is a great way of doing this. His idea won support from Stuart Lummis, the National Trusts chair of heritage and advocacy, and former chair of the Queensland Heritage Council. There needs to be more formal storytelling. I think the idea of it being linked into something bigger around the state is excellent, Lummis said.
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 A silent handshake between bosses of crime syndicates. Corruption at the highest level. People of authority willing to gain something. In Italy, criminologists call it a grey area; the often murky and ambiguous relationship between the mafia and the countrys law enforcement. Some researchers prefer to label it a grey zone, of complicity and collusion. Under that grey hue are those who ordinarily would not be involved in crime  say, for example, a shooting  but who benefit by looking the other way. The grey has long since crept into Australia: organised crime is borderless, says University of Queensland Professor Andreas Schloenhardt, and it crossed our borders years ago. And as Australian authorities deal with youth crime, that grey area could cast longer shadows. The Yakuza on the Gold Coast in the 80s; Russian organised crime infiltrating Australia since the fall of the Soviet Union; the ever-present scourge of outlaw motorcycle gangs.

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More recently, Australian casinos ties to Chinese high-roller criminals have been exposed. Its a balancing act, Schloenhardt says. We want foreign investment ... we want high rollers to come here and gamble and we fly them in for that and so that means, you know, dont ask too many questions about that. University of Queensland criminal law professor Andreas Schloenhardt. Serena Forlati, an international law professor focused on organised crime and mafia groups in Italy, flew to Brisbane to join Schloenhardt in UQs Transnational Organised Crime course this month. Several universities around the world participate to raise awareness and educate students on the weaknesses in legislation around organised crime. A gaping hole, Schloenhardt says, is the previous lack of a federal anti-corruption commission.

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The Australian government has made moves to implement the National Anti-Corruption Commission, which is expected to begin operations mid-2023. What I think makes Australia a particular target, or a very attractive for organised crimes, is you can make a lot of money here and theres a very high demand for illicit drugs, Schloenhardt says. Australians use a lot of drugs, and we pay a lot for that. If youre a Colombian drug cartel, you say, Hey, thats an easy target. The supply of cocaine in particular is through the roof. Forlati, who teaches at Italys University of Ferrara, says the mafia has infiltrated many aspects of that countrys criminal justice system, with several judges killed in recent decades. People place light tributes during a silent protest in memory of murdered journalist Jan Kuciak and his girlfriend Martina Kusnirova in Bratislava, Slovakia. Credit:AP The gang lifestyle reaches into family homes, as mothers try to co-operate with police to stop sons following in their fathers footsteps, she says.

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And youth crime, a topic on the lips of many politicians, lawyers, and victims of crime in Queensland at present, is far more serious in Italy. Syndicates recruit children to do their work because sentencing is less harsh for a juvenile, compared with longer terms of imprisonment for an adult. There are criminal organisations which are deliberately using minors to commit crimes, drug offences or even shootings because of the leniency of penalties, because of the fact they may not be punishable under a certain age, Forlati says. Professor Serena Forlati, from the University of Ferrara, says she has met people whose father was killed, and people who were trafficked from Nigeria, as part of her research on organised crime. It is obvious there is a strong link between situations of deprivation in terms of education and the easiness into getting into these kinds of frameworks. Prison is not the way out. Minors are often a problem, but they are often also the key to unsettling old patterns of silence [not speaking about the mafia], and so on.

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The treatment of minors and more generally youth policies are, I think, a key element to a successful struggle against organised crime. Following a heated forum in Toowoomba over youth crime, Queenslands government has announced dedicated teams of police and youth justice workers would patrol hotspots to engage with at-risk youth in the region. But Schloenhardt is adamant youth crime across Australia does not have the same scale, or inflict the damage, as organised crime. Luciano Leggio (left), the reputed boss of bosses of Italian Cosa Nostra, smiles from behind the bars during the mafia trials in Sicily in 1986. Credit:AP I think if you want to give criminal organisations more fuel and more members, send young people to prison, because thats where theyll make the connections and come out, Schloenhardt says. If they werent criminal before, then theyll come out as criminal. Its so counterproductive. We have these debates about why young offenders should not be locked away in the 21st century ... [its] really frightening because [prison] is a breeding ground for organised crime.

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Free public activities commemorating National Quilting Day will be held March 10-12 at the North Dakota Heritage Center & State Museum on the state Capitol grounds in Bismarck.

All activities are co-sponsored by the State Historical Society of North Dakota and Capital Quilters of Bismarck.

A quilt exhibit by the Capital Quilters is open to the public on Friday, March 10, from noon to 5 p.m., and that Saturday and Sunday from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Free quilting classes and open sewing times are available that Saturday.

Preregistration and more information is at ndcapitalquilters.com. For more information, contact Jenny Yearous at 701-328-2099.
Respected journalist Andrew Rule, Read and my good self conspired to publish a series of crime books that, while an affront to good taste and grammar, became bestsellers. Read had delighted in referring to well-known Sydney crooks as hoons and pimps who were protected by crooked cops. I liked Read and always found him engaging company, but a live interview would be as risky as a high-wire act over a pool of sharks. If nothing went wrong, it would be entertaining. If something went wrong, it would be deadly. I told them that if he was left to his own devices in Sydney, it could end badly. The McFeast team decided to press on. It did end badly. They hired some form of security to protect Read and to protect people from Read. What they didnt do was protect Read from the booze in the VIP green room, which meant he committed grievous bodily harm on the beer fridge.

When he staggered on stage, he leered at the hosts breasts, joked about killing people and told a story of the dangers of putting a victim in a cement mixer. Elle McFeast with Chopper Read. The earless was legless. Credit: ABC I remember thinking how game Gorr was not to flee from the stage. It emerges now there was an emergency guest in the green room and if anyone had known how drunk Read was, they could have made a switch. As the interview started, a floor manager madly gave the wind-up sign but Gorr, unaware Read was hammered, continued: I was taught the show should go on.

When he moved in for a grope, she knocked his hands away and continued the interview. Thats what you did back then. It was a long time before the MeToo movement. Gorr did slap a mans face for copping an unsolicited feel of her bottom. He was a captain of industry once touted as a possible prime minister. She pushed through, leaving Read to sit in the corner dozing and occasionally interject for the remainder of the program. After the show, Read made an unusual offer, telling Gorr: I dont know anyone in Sydney but if you ever need anyone knocked off in Melbourne ... The response to her program was immediate. She wanted to ruffle feathers, but the interview left her show a dead duck.

There were more than 100 complaints and the ABC apologised, conceding the interview was an error of judgment. Libbi Gorr - unlike some of Choppers victims, a survivor. Credit: Justin McManus Then-communications minister Richard Alston blasted: I think it is appropriate for the government to express its outrage at the appalling way in which I think this episode has been conducted. Gorr and Read were to pay a price. She was commissioned to host 32 programs, but the show was shelved after 16. I was cancelled before they invented cancel culture, she says. Many who had been in her corner disappeared after the Read interview. Brave and a natural risk-taker, the aftermath to the Read interview shook her confidence with a microphone. A comedian/interviewer requires split-second timing and if you second-guess yourself, the moment has passed.

The Read interview was big news and the Midday show, with Kerri-Anne Kennerley, wanted a piece of the action, believing it was a perfect subject for a blast from broadcaster Alan Jones. Loading Trouble was to invite Read in for a chat would open them up to the very criticisms they had planned to make of the ABC. In fact, more than a month before the Gorr fiasco, and the day after Read was released from Tasmanias Risdon Prison, Midday had written to him asking him to come on the program, adding: We can put you on the telly [and you can] hold your books up while Kerri-Anne asks you relatively mild questions. Then the backroom boys hatched a plot: Drive Read to the Nine studios in Hobart, where he would just happen to ring in as Jones was condemning the already infamous interview.

That morning, Read rang to tell me of the plot and his plan to rebut Jones by raising an unfortunate incident when the broadcaster was arrested (and later released) in London. Read rang again from the television station to complain that the fridge was locked and that he had broken into a cupboard to steal (and drink) a couple of long-necked beers. Sure enough, right on cue Read was on the phone to Jones, informing him that people in glass houses shouldnt throw stones and recalling the events of London. It was the television equivalent of a drive-by shooting. An outraged Kennerley terminated the interview. Jones remained silent.

Five years later, Denton, Gorrs colleague on Live and Sweaty, hosted an interview program called Enough Rope. He interviewed Read, but it was not a light chat about his life in crime. It was a deep dive, taking Read to places where he was not comfortable, including his brutal childhood. It was compelling and part of a package that won Denton the 2003 Walkley Award for broadcasting. Reflecting on the interview, Denton said: There was a lot of debate within the Enough Rope team about putting someone with this sort of record on television. Initially, I wasnt sure, but remembering the Elle McFeast fiasco, Choppers last TV appearance and the way in which many interviewers tended to giggle at the violence of the stories rather than addressing it, I thought it was worth a try at a different approach. Dentons attitude had changed markedly from February 12, 1998, when he wrote to Read (the same day as Midday did) with a different proposal.

Then on FM radio, he offered Read the opportunity to shamelessly promote your latest book and take Sydney listeners inside your humour-filled world. For a while, Gorr felt her career was destroyed. Since then, she has come back as a successful writer, broadcaster, radio host, lawyer and performer. No cash here. Im still up for taking risks, but they need to be considered, she says. If you plan to hang out the window, be sure of who is holding your legs. For Read, it was an expensive exercise. The movie, Chopper, was just getting off the ground but the government made it clear that if Read was paid, any funding would disappear.

Loading Read donated his payment of $22,000 to the Royal Childrens Hospital. They refused to accept it, and so we slipped it through a police charity that sent it onto the hospital. It amused Read that the police were laundering his take. While Read said it was good karma to help sick kids, we knew there would be a massive spike in book sales. Much later, when Read surrounded himself with bottom feeders, he was convinced he had been ripped off, to the point he sent heavies around to co-producer Michael Gudinskis home. As the character Neville Bartos said in Chopper: Theres no cash here. Here theres no cash. Cash no. Read always said his biggest success in crime was to write a series of bestsellers. He died in 2013 a household name. Libbi Gorr will be discussing the Read interview, among other things, in her Bold Conversations show, My Favourite Failure, at the Malthouse on March 16.
I like seizing the moment, says Liu Qingfeng, an engineer at a manufacturing company in Shanghai. I love travelling. It will take up the biggest part of my spending. Id like to travel to western China, such as Xinjiang, somewhere far away from cities. I also hope to travel to Japan this year. But it all depends on how long annual leave I can get. Chinese consumers are spending big on eating out, cinemas and travel. Credit: Sanghee Liu Chinese tourists are big money both for domestic operators and those abroad. Tourism Australias chief executive Phillipa Harrison landed in Guangzhou this week to lure back Australias biggest market after years of political, economic and diplomatic tension between Beijing and Canberra. Pre-COVID, Chinese tourists spent $12 billion in Australia each year, making it our third-biggest export to China behind only iron ore and coal. Now is the right time to visit our No. 1 tourism market, said Harrison.

Liu does not normally pay much attention to the annual political gala, the National Peoples Congress, which starts in Beijing on Sunday, but this year she is focused on potential changes to national holidays. Workers get public holidays across the Spring Festival, National Day and Mid-Autumn periods but, due to a policy implemented during the Asian financial crisis in the 1990s to keep employers happy, some of these holidays have to be compensated by working extra days on weekends, reducing the number of days off workers get in an already meagre annual leave allowance. When will China stop such a system? Liu asks. All together, we only have 11 days for national holidays each year, which puts us at the bottom worldwide. As the second-largest economy in the world, our holidays are too limited. More holidays mean more consumption. I also think its a China-unique policy. It really lowers peoples happiness. If everyone is busy working, no one will have the desire to enjoy life and no plan for kids.

Shanghai and the countrys sudden economic resurgence risks masking longer-term pain that the 3000 delegates in the Great Hall of the People will have to contend with for a week. China has been battling entrenched structural issues of government debt, inefficient productivity and population decline for the past decade and now needs to convince international markets that it is working to resolve them at the same time as it gets a post-COVID bounce. China injected too much money into the market in January, thus causing a rapid rise in prices. It is estimated that the economy may grow in the second and third quarters but fall in the fourth. I dont think the growth momentum is sustainable, said Peter Li, a 44-year-old steel trader from Shanghai. The three engines of the Chinese economy - namely export, consumption, and investment - are all not performing well now. Exports are falling rapidly, consumption is not strong as expected, and where investment can be made, such as in the real estate market, it has been faltering. What can China do? I dont see any hope.

Two of those pistons  export and investment  are likely to fire again once the global economy recovers from the economic crisis fuelled by Russias war on Ukraine. But the third  consumption  its current economic saviour, is heading off a demographic cliff. Loading The National Peoples Congress has been attempting to find a way out of the population trap for the past three years, but no policy shift has made young people want to have more children. Sichuan province  Chinas third most populous  became the first province in January to abolish birth limits completely after the three-child policy failed to boost baby numbers. Others are likely to follow. For the first time in six decades, Chinas population fell last year. That decline is expected to get worse. In a survey of 20,000 Chinese people aged between 18 and 25 last year, two-thirds said they did not want to have children. By 2035, 400 million of its residents will be aged over 60, a third of its entire population.

In Shanghai, that problem is particularly acute. Its birth rate of 0.7 per couple last year is well below the replacement level of the population. I may give not give birth at all, says Liu. The decision is primarily an economic one in a city that had seen one-child industries flourish, pushing up the cost and expectation of raising children exponentially over decades. Chinas current national policy on second and third children gives me no desire for childbirth, Liu says. The majority of young Chinese say they do not want to have children according to a recent survey. Credit: Sanghee Liu In Western countries, when a woman has a second child, she may stay at home for years without having to work at all. If one has many children, she can even get higher pay than one who goes to work. Subsidies in China, such as a one-time allowance of 30,000 yuan ($6000), are nothing.

Loading I wouldnt give birth because of such a tiny subsidy. Today, raising a kid in China costs a couple of million yuan. Those costs rise sharply as children get older and more competitive. Our college entrance exam system is still in practice. So, parents have to spend a lot of money on and accompany children to extracurricular classes, says Liu. It brings great pressure both financially and mentally. Yang, 24, has never contemplated having two children, let alone three.
The city of Bismarck is seeking help from businesses and organizations in spreading the word about an initiative aimed at addressing some of the root causes of crisis homelessness.

The city launched the public-private Better Bismarck campaign last year to help address addiction and mental health issues that can lead to homelessness. The city will match text-to-give-donations dollar-for-dollar using up to $17,396 it received through a multidistrict lawsuit against opioid manufacturers and distributors.

Up to this point the Better Bismarck campaign has received about $13,000 in donations. Our goal with the next phase of this project is to engage local businesses to make this campaign more visible in the community, Bismarck-Burleigh Public Health Director Renae Moch said.

An online toolkit that can be downloaded at https://bismarcknd.gov/2091/Better-Bismarck will assist community partners with marketing and promotion of the campaign. It contains a table topper with a QR code link to the Better Bismarck donation page, as well as a summary of the program. Fundraising ideas businesses could implement with their staff also are included.

This toolkit puts the ball in the court of our community and gives them options for how we can make a Better Bismarck, Moch said.

People wishing to contribute can text BetterBis to 801801, or go to https://donorbox.org/better-bismarck.

The application period for organizations seeking to receive funds through the effort will open April 1 and close May 1. Funds will be awarded on June 1.
South Africa: Total tax revenue collection increased over five years

The South African Revenue Service (SARS) has over the past five years increased the total tax revenue collection.

Over this period, the revenue collector said, collection has increased from R1 216.5 billion in 2017/18 to R1 563.8 billion in 2021/22, representing a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 6.5%.

This is significantly lower than the CAGR of 8.4% attained in the previous five-year period from 2012/13 to 2017/18, National Treasury and the South African Revenue Service (SARS) said in a joint statement.

The figures are contained in the 15th annual edition of the Tax Statistics published by National Treasury and SARS on Friday.

The 2022 edition provides an overview of tax revenue collections and tax return information for the 2018 to 2022 tax years, as well as the 2017/18 to 2021/22 fiscal years.

The economic recovery from the pandemic differs from previous negative shocks to the economy. After the 2008/09 global financial crisis, it was several years before tax revenue collections recovered to pre-crisis levels as a proportion of income and consumption.

Due to the strong economic recovery from the pandemic, tax revenue increased by R314.1 billion to R1 563.8 billion for the year ending 31 March 2022, Treasury and SARS said.

The document indicated that the recovery in tax revenue was noticeable across all tax types, but especially for corporate income tax due to the escalation in commodity prices, as well as domestic taxes on goods and services, that were most impacted on by the lockdown measures induced by the pandemic.

The document revealed that Personal Income Tax (PIT), at 35.5%, Value-added Tax (VAT), at 25.0% and Corporate Income Tax (CIT), at 20.7%, in aggregate remain the largest sources of tax revenue and comprise 81.2% of total tax revenue collections.

It also stated that the tax-to-GDP ratio moderated from 23.8% in 2019/20 to 22.3% in 2020/21, followed by an increase to 24.9% in the year under review.

Among the key points in the 2022 edition were that the Personal Income Tax (PIT) register had grown on an annual basis by 4.1% to 23.9 million individuals, by 31 March 2021.

The number of individuals expected to submit income tax returns was 7.1 million for the 2018 tax year. This count decreased to 6.8 million for 2020 and then to 6.4 million for 2021, due to the increase in the threshold for submission of returns, over the past few years, the statement read.

Chapter 2 of the document further revealed that the population of taxpayers who were identified to be auto-assessed in the 2020 filing season was significantly expanded to just more than 3.4 million.

Meanwhile, assessed data for individual taxpayers indicated that, of the 6 388 532 taxpayers expected to submit returns for the 2021 tax year, 5 508 525 (86.2%) taxpayers have been assessed.

Chapter 2 of the document on PIT, geographic, demographic and other analysis of the assessments of the taxpayers who had been assessed as at the end of August 2022 for the 2021-tax year showed that:

2 177 191 (39.5%) of assessed taxpayers were registered in Gauteng;

726 663 of assessed taxpayers lived in the Johannesburg Metro and were taxed on an average taxable income of R446 739;

1 432 673 (26.0%) of assessed taxpayers were aged between 35 to 44 years;

2 859 926 (51.9%) of assessed taxpayers were male; 2 613 130 (47.4%) were female and 35 469 (0.6%) taxpayers couldnt be identified in terms of gender;

Assessed taxpayers had aggregate taxable income of R1.8 trillion and tax liability of R388.1 billion. The average tax rate was 21.4% compared to 22.3% the previous tax year; and

Income from salaries, wages and other remuneration as well as pension, overtime and annuities accounted for 77.2% of total taxable income.

Statistics in Chapter 3 regarding Company Income Tax (CIT) reveal that out of the 1 028 832 companies assessed as at August 2022 for tax year 2020, 21.4% declared a positive taxable income, whilst 53.2% had taxable income equal to zero and the remaining 25.4% reported an assessed loss.

Chapter 4 indicates that that in 2021/22, 80.0% of active Value-added Tax (VAT) vendors were companies and close corporations. They contributed 92.7% to Domestic VAT payments and accounted for 91.9% of VAT refunds paid out. Although individuals (sole proprietors) comprised 14.8% of active VAT vendors, they only contributed 2.3% of Domestic VAT payments and received just 1.2% of VAT refunds.

As detailed in Chapter 5, Import VAT and Customs Duties accounted for 13.1% and 3.7% of the years total tax revenue respectively; resulting in a 16.8% aggregate, which was below the 17.2% average over the preceding five fiscal years.

The combined share of these taxes to GDP increased to 4.2% from the preceding five-year average of 4.0%; with Import VAT and Customs Duties contributing 3.3% and 0.9% for the year respectively, Treasury and SARS said.

For the 2020/21 fiscal year, the two said the largest contributors to Customs Duties, were Vehicles, Aircraft and Vessels (22.7%); Textiles and Clothing (17.3%); Food, Beverages and Tobacco (14.8%) as well as Machinery and Electronics (13.3%).

They said Import VAT was collected mostly from the importation of Machinery and Electronics (25.6%); Chemical Products (14.2%); Vehicles, Aircraft and Vessels (9.7%); Special Provisions (8.9%); Base Metals (7.5%); Plastics and Rubber (5.5%); Textiles and Clothing (5.0%) as well as Mineral Products (4.0%).

The overall effective tax rate for Total Import Tax was 11.9% compared to previous years 12.0%. Key commodities with the highest effective Total Import Tax rates were Footwear and Accessories at 43.6%; Hides, Skins and Leather at 37.0% and Textiles and Clothing at 30.0%, Treasury and SARS said.

Other Taxes and Collections provide information about taxes such as Capital Gains Tax (CGT), Transfer Duty, Mineral and Petroleum Resources Royalty (MPRR), Southern African Customs Union (SACU) payments and Diesel refunds.

In 2021/22, CGT of R16.2 billion was raised, of which R7.7 billion was attributable to individuals and trusts and R8.5 billion to companies. An aggregate of R189.3 billion has been raised since the introduction of CGT in October 2001, with R88.6 billion from individuals and trusts and R100.6 billion from companies.

Mineral and Petroleum Resources Royalty (MPRR) payments by extractors grew quite substantially by R14.2 billion (100.0%) to R28.5 billion due to a significant improvement in the commodity prices such as platinum, iron ore as well as coal.

This growth was at an exponential growth rate when compared to the growth achieved in the 2016/17 financial year of R2.1 billion (56.5%).

The 2022 Tax Statistics documents are available on the SARS and National Treasury website at www.sars.gov.za and www.treasury.gov.za.  SAnews.gov.za

This story has been published on: 2023-03-03. To contact the author, please use the contact details within the article.
Aerial photo taken on June 29, 2022 shows a view of the Nansha Bridge, which links Guangzhou City and Dongguan City, in south China's Guangdong Province.(Xinhua/Liu Dawei) BEIJING, March 2 (Xinhua) -- With China's "two sessions" around the corner, the global community has once again turned its eyes towards some of the hot-button topics expected to be discussed over the coming days. This year's version is of special relevance, as 2023 marks the first year for China to fully implement the guiding principles of the 20th National Congress of the Communist Party of China (CPC). More importantly, how China will get off to a good start and provide the world with new opportunities through its own development has captured global attention. BOOSTING GLOBAL RECOVERY At a time when the world economy is still plagued with growing and overlapping uncertainties and risks, China's economic recovery has become the sliver lining of the prolonged global recession. During the Spring Festival holiday, China witnessed a booming domestic market and expanding consumption in various sectors. International institutions like the International Monetary Fund have raised China's growth expectations, and multinational companies have increased investment in China. China is arguably the only major economy set anticipated to see faster economic growth this year, Yi David Wang, chief China economist at Credit Suisse Group AG, told Xinhua. An accelerated recovery of the Chinese economy has sent a positive signal to the world, and gives more reasons for observers to be confident in a stronger economic outlook. After China optimized its COVID response, cross-border movements of personnel and materials are returning to normal, which will significantly improve global expectations for the stability of China's industrial and supply chains, Ding Ke, senior research fellow at the Institute of Developing Economies of the Japan External Trade Organization, told Xinhua in a written interview. Aerial photo taken on Dec. 16, 2021 shows the automated production line of a technology company in the Economic Development Zone of Anji County in Huzhou, east China's Zhejiang Province. (Photo by Xia Pengfei/Xinhua) The rapid growth of digital economy, new energy and other emerging industries will equally bring greater dynamism for China's economic development, he added. Such a good start, stemming from the fundamentals supporting China's steady economic growth, sheds light on the country's economic resilience, potential and vitality. Given the fact that China is the world's second-largest consumer market and the largest trader of goods, the international community expects China to further consolidate its economic comeback and continue to inject confidence, stability and vitality into the global economic recovery. "China will undoubtedly continue to be an important 'engine' for world economic growth," said Liang Guoyong, a senior economist with the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development. Focusing on economic policies expected at the "two sessions," Liang believes a rational use of macroeconomic policy tools will play a more active role in promoting China's economic growth. For other economies, China's expanding import demand means new trade opportunities, and the surge in outbound trips by Chinese tourists will also give a boost to the global service industry, he said. Khairy Tourk, a professor of economics with the Stuart School of Business at the Illinois Institute of Technology in Chicago, said that the swelling consumption market in China entails "a tremendous demand for new products, say refrigerators, the durable goods, housing that kind of thing." "My expectations in the short term is that property market will gradually rejuvenate, and foreign direct investment to continue, it is growth unabated," he added. This aerial photo taken on Jan. 30, 2023 shows a view of the Ningbo-Zhoushan port in east China's Zhejiang Province.(Photo by Jiang Xiaodong/Xinhua) RAISING ALL BOATS This year marks the 45th anniversary of China's reform and opening-up. How China will continue to open up its door means a lot for both itself and the wider world, particularly at a time when the economic globalization is under serious pressure. The reform and opening-up has prompted the Chinese economy to grow at high rates over decades, with a giant leap in per capita income and living standards, Lewis M. Ndichu, a researcher at Nairobi-based think tank Africa Policy Institute, told Xinhua. The expert said he believes that during this year's "two sessions," there will be much deliberation concerning how to continue to expand opening up, lift market confidence and defuse major risks. Noting that China's Ministry of Commerce has pledged to fully resume offline trade fairs and support Chinese enterprises to go global, among other policies, Koh Chin Yee, president of Singapore's South Seas Society, said that many business delegations of Chinese local governments have recently headed to Singapore in search of new opportunities for trade and investment, attesting to China's commitment to further strengthening foreign cooperation. From holding such international fairs as China International Import Expo and Canton Fair and pushing forward free trade projects like the Hainan Free Trade Port, to joining multilateral mechanisms such as the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership ... China is opening its door wider, further expanding international cooperation and sharing its development dividends with the rest of the world. From the perspective of an exporter, Nicolas Perinetti, export manager for Asia at Argentina's Casarena winery, noted that China's import categories have been increasing in parallel with the expansion of its economic openness. Noting that products of agricultural trade between Argentina and China have extended from grains to fruits, meat, wine, etc., Perinetti believes the trade of goods with higher added value will help boost Argentina's economic development. China's further opening-up in the new era has caught high attention from the international community, said Yuri Tavrovsky, a professor of the Russian University of Peoples' Friendship. He has long been following China's development and published in 2017 the book One Belt, One Road: Traveling Westward. Noting this year also marks the 10th anniversary of the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), Tavrovsky said how the initiative will foster common development of the partner countries is also an interesting topic to which he has paid much heed. Over the past decade, China has signed Belt and Road cooperation agreements with 151 countries and 32 international organizations in the principles of extensive consultation, joint contribution and shared benefits. Take Uzbekistan, one of the first countries joining the BRI. It has collaborated with China in multiple major projects such as the China-Central Asia Gas Pipeline and the Qamchiq Tunnel on the Angren-Pap railway line. The initiative acts as a crucial venue to consolidate cooperation through infrastructure connecting land and sea; simultaneously, it is becoming an important platform for global economic growth, said Azamat Seitov, a scholar of Uzbekistan's University of World Economy and Diplomacy, who hopes that new measures to be declared at the "two sessions" will bring new opportunities to expand cooperation between the two countries. Tourists view the scenery of cole flower fields in Panzhou, southwest China's Guizhou Province, March 7, 2022. (Xinhua/Yang Wenbin) NEW CHOICE TO MODERNIZE Since the 20th CPC National Congress, the "Chinese path to modernization" has spurred worldwide discussions. Many believe that it has offered another option for developing countries to modernize, and embodies Chinese thinking on the cause of peace and development of humanity. The forthcoming "two sessions" have become an important window for observers to have a deeper understanding of the Chinese path to modernization and keep pace with China's future development. "The proposal of the Chinese path to modernization is a pioneering work for the development of human society," said Yersultan Zhanseitov, a senior expert at the Institute of World Economics and Politics in Kazakhstan, who believes the new ideas and practices provide new choices, which shows that countries can independently explore their own modernization paths and achieve leapfrog development. Joseph Matthews, a senior professor at the BELTEI International University in Phnom Penh, said China's modernization is unique in the sense that it is based on inclusive development, common prosperity, people-centered and friendly policies, and a community with a shared future for mankind. As the world's second-largest economy, China's modernization drive will bring positive changes to the world and promote multilateralism and economic globalization, he told Xinhua, adding China's economic development in the last four decades is a great inspiration for other developing countries such as Cambodia. Abdoulaye Ba, general secretary of the Foreign Press Association in Senegal, said many African countries, including Senegal, are beneficiaries of China's modernization, which promotes high-quality development in the world. Applauding several Belt and Road projects in Senegal, such as the Foundiougne Bridge and the Ila-Touba highway, he said, "I am very concerned about the two sessions this year. I want to know how China will further promote and expand Chinese modernization, and how to further promote high-quality development in the world, including African countries." "Without the slightest doubt, China is a successful case that serves as an inspiration for all developing countries aspiring to become more developed," said Luis Antonio Paulino, director of the Confucius Institute at Sao Paulo State University. It's hoped that the upcoming two sessions will not only help China forge ahead toward its goals, but also contribute to upholding a fair and equitable global order so as to bring peace and development to the rest of the world, he said.
Hoax reports of active shooter threats impacted numerous North Dakota schools including Bismarck and Mandan on Thursday, along with other schools around the country.

It was the second such instance in five months. A wave of active shooter hoax calls also hit North Dakota schools last October, impacting Bismarck, Minot, Grand Forks, Jamestown, Fargo, West Fargo, Williston and Watford City. Several South Dakota schools were hit during the same month.

Rashes of so-called "swatting" calls have been reported at schools in several states this week, including Minnesota. The FBI says such calls are a form of harassment meant to deceive an emergency service provider into dispatching a police and emergency response team -- or SWAT team.

BHS administration was made aware of rumors relating to a reported shooting at the school and initiated emergency response protocols. Students at the high school and at the BECEP preschool, Pioneer Elementary and Will-Moore Elementary sheltered in place.

The school asked the public to not tie up phone lines by calling 911, the police or the school, and to not impede emergency responders. A short time later school officials reported that law enforcement had deemed the threat not credible.

"Given the substantial disruption caused by this incident, BHS will close for the day. Counseling services will be made available to students and staff," district spokesman Steve Koontz said in an afternoon statement, adding that "BPS is requesting that all parents have a conversation with their students and reach out to BHS if they need support."

Police responded to BHS about 9:45 a.m. after dispatchers received a phone call from a person claiming to be an active shooter.

"In the background, gunfire could be heard," the Police Department said in a statement, adding that "other schools throughout the U.S. received similar calls today."

Officers completed a room-by-room search at BHS and were on the scene until 12:30. More than 30 officers were tied up by the hoax, according to Lt. Luke Gardiner.

Police also responded to a similar threat at Mandan High, and students at all district schools sheltered in place before the threat was found to be not credible, according to Assistant Superintendent Jeff Fastnacht.

"Mandan PD conducted a room-by-room sweep of MHS and the Brave Center to ensure the students and staff were safe," the district said in a statement.

The threat in Mandan occurred shortly after 10 a.m., and classes and other school activities resumed about 11:15, the district said.

Police in Minot reported that an active shooter threat at that city's Central Campus was fake.

"We are aware of multiple school threats throughout our region and are assisting in investigating these incidents," the department said.

In eastern North Dakota, schools in Jamestown, Fargo and Grand Forks received similar threats.

It wasn't immediately clear how many schools in the state were impacted.

"Threats of this nature are not normally reported to NDDPI," North Dakota Department of Public Instruction spokesman Dale Wetzel said.

The state Department of Emergency Services could not immediately provide details with local law enforcement investigations still active, spokesman Eric Jensen said.
On Tuesday, March 21, Wyoming students are encouraged to hop online for an engaging, one-of-a-kind career night featuring speakers from across the country, including Ryan Cal Callaghan of the MeatEater podcast and Netflix series.

The free virtual event, hosted by University of Wyoming Extension 4-H educators via Zoom, offers young people an opportunity to interact with professionals in fields ranging from zookeeping and dog training to leatherwork design, landscaping and the culinary arts.

We cant always bring people to Worland, but we can bring them online, comments Washakie County 4-H educator Amber Armajo.

The 2023 career fair begins at 6 p.m. Mountain time. The event is open to all youth interested in learning about possible career paths, not just those enrolled in 4-H. To register, visit wyoming4h.org/virtual-career-night.

I encourage people to sign up, Armajo says. In small-town, rural Wyoming we dont always know whats out there as far as careers. This is a great opportunity to explore outside of what we have here.

After years of organizing in-person career fairs for local youth, she quickly pivoted to offer a virtual event during the pandemic. The new format was a hit, attracting students from across Wyoming and beyond.

This year, the event will kick off with 15-minute presentations by several featured speakers, including Callaghan and a recent college graduate from Lusk. Students will then have the opportunity to attend two additional presentations of their choice before a group wrap-up and Q&A session at 7:30 p.m.

All sessions, including those from previous years, are recorded and can be viewed at wyoming4h.org/virtual-career-night.

Contact Armajo at amwall@uwyo.edu or (307) 347-3431 with questions.
A group hoping to save the 140-year-old Bismarck-Mandan Rail Bridge accused BNSF Railway on Friday of being unreasonable and arrogant, and of working to derail its efforts to secure state support for preserving the structure it believes is state property.

But separately, Attorney General Drew Wrigley informed the State Historical Board that he does not believe it has the authority under state law to stop demolition of the bridge because the structure "has always been owned privately."

Members of the Friends of the Rail Bridge nonprofit urged the state Department of Water Resources to reject a permit that would allow the railroad to raze the bridge over the Missouri River to make way for a modern structure. They touted the bridge's historical, cultural and aesthetic attributes and listed what they said were legal reasons for keeping it.

They also painted the railroad as being selfish and out for its own gain.

"Burlington Northern Sante Fe has built its empire with the help of this structure and with the investment of our national government. Time to give back," said Amy Sakariassen, a consultant for FORB and an adviser to the National Trust for Historic Preservation.

Railroad officials countered that BNSF has clear title to the bridge, and has worked with federal and local officials in good faith for five years on the effort to start construction on a modern structure needed for commerce.

"This is a critical project for BNSF to continue to safely and efficiently serve our customers across North Dakota and throughout our network," BNSF Environmental Attorney Laura Mona said. "Replacement of our bridge between Bismarck and Mandan is an example of the significant investments BNSF makes in our infrastructure to safely transport the commodities we all depend on."

FORB has said it does not oppose a new bridge  it just wants to keep the existing one and turn it into a pedestrian bridge. A 2019 feasibility study conducted by North Dakota State University estimated the cost to do that at just under $7 million. The U.S. Coast Guard has said that side-by-side bridges in the river channel would result in a floodplain rise.

Final permits

BNSF has secured nearly all of the approvals it needs to build a new structure and remove the old. They include permits from the U.S. Coast Guard and U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, a North Dakota Department of Environmental Quality water quality certification, and an agreement with the Bismarck City Commission giving the railroad the right to access certain portions of city property and to obtain soil from city property.

North Dakota's Department of Water Resources is now considering whether to issue two sovereign lands permits -- one for construction of a new bridge, and one for removal of the old. Sovereign lands of North Dakota are defined as areas lying within the ordinary high-water marks of navigable lakes and streams. A public hearing on the construction permit was held last month; a hearing on the removal permit was conducted Friday.

Last October the Coast Guard finished a nearly three-year environmental review of the BNSF plan, concluding the bridge is approaching the end of its useful life and needs to be replaced. Federal officials determined the best alternative is to build a new bridge about 20 feet upstream and remove the existing bridge.

Members of FORB on Friday argued that another alternative -- building a new bridge 92.5 feet upstream -- would have been feasible.

"If FORB had been able to secure a public partner to take ownership of the bridge during the federal permitting process, it's likely that the alternative I just described is the one that would have been the one presented to you for permitting," FORB Secretary Ann Richardson told Water Resources officials.

She accused BNSF of pressuring Gov. Doug Burgum and said the railroad "directly interfered with FORB's pursuit of the state of North Dakota as a public partner," citing and displaying what she said was a handwritten note by a state Department of Transportation employee obtained through a public records request.

BNSF Bridge Construction Director Mike Herzog countered that "BNSF started the permitting process over five years ago and came to the table negotiating in good faith."

Herzog said the alternative 92.5 feet upstream was not feasible for financial, logistical and environmental reasons. He said it would result in a substantial increase in cost, and would be near the Missouri River State Natural Area -- which the state Parks and Recreation Department calls "a pristine floodplain woodlands."

Mona also maintained that State Historic Preservation Officer Bill Peterson has already signed off on removal of the bridge. She cited a June 2021 letter from Peterson to the Coast Guard in which he states, "FORB has not provided the information to support the technical or economic feasibility of retaining the bridge. While we are saddened by these developments, we do concur with the need at this time to move on to Stipulation VI."

That stipulation in a working agreement involving the railroad, Peterson, the Coast Guard and FORB focused on removal of the bridge.

The State Historical Board during a Friday afternoon meeting discussed whether it had the authority to block destruction of the bridge under state law that protects historical and archaeological sites. Wrigley informed the group that it did not have that authority, since "it is a private entity that owns the bridge."

"It doesn't mean you can't weigh in," he said.

The board passed a resolution expressing support for preserving the historic bridge but noting that it does not have authority or expertise to determine ownership. The resolution will be sent to the Water Resources Department.

Bridge ownership

FORB and BNSF on Friday once again sparred over who owns the bridge.

BNSF maintains it has ownership under an 1864 act of Congress, long before North Dakota became a state in 1889. Mona said "134 years have passed since North Dakota achieved statehood, and in that time, the state has never claimed to own the bridge," and that any claim now would be illegal.

FORB maintains that the state has held ownership of the Missouri River bed up to the high-water mark since statehood, along with any permanent fixtures attached.

"The language of the 1864 act grants (the railroad) a right of way and the right to build the bridge but does not address ownership," Richardson said. "Until they've shown language specifically addressing the fundamental constitutional rights reserved to the states on navigable waterways under the Public Trust and Equal Footing doctrines, they have no claim."

Those doctrines include in part the principle that the government owns and protects certain natural resources for public use.

The state Attorney Generals Office in the past has declined to issue a formal opinion on bridge ownership, suggesting that the courts would be the proper venue for the dispute. But Wrigley during the State Historical Board meeting Friday said the state owns the riverbed but "it is a private entity that owns the bridge."

Mona said BNSF is seeking the sovereign land permits "on a voluntary basis in an effort to work in partnership with the state."

Richardson said if the state approves the permits, it "will result almost exclusively in a private benefit to BNSF, a company with billions in annual profits, with virtually no discernible benefit to Bismarck-Mandan or the people of North Dakota." FORB member Margie Zalk Enerson accused BNSF of an "arrogant sense of entitlement."

Herzog said BNSF is committed to being "a good neighbor in the communities we work in."

BNSF has provided $500,000 for a grant program to help document the history and legacy of the rail bridge, according to the State Historical Society, which is overseeing the Bis-Man Rail Bridge Fund and accepting applications for salvage, exhibits, special projects and educational activities directly related to the history of the bridge.

Applications and guidelines for the grant programs are available at history.nd.gov or can be requested by contacting Grants and Contracts Officer Amy Munson at 701-328-3573.

The bridge is eligible for inclusion on the National Register of Historic Places, the federal governments list of properties it deems worthy of preservation and recognition. The National Trust for Historic Preservation named the bridge one of Americas 11 Most Endangered Historic Places in 2019.

The bridge is part of the Northern Plains National Heritage Area, one of 55 congressionally designated areas in the United States, encompassing five counties along an 80-mile stretch of the Missouri River in central North Dakota. Congress dedicated the heritage area in 2009.

"It is a bridge to our past, a bridge between cultures and people and places. It is a bridge to our future, if we have the courage to save it," FORB member Erik Sakariassen said.

The railroad expects construction of a new Bismarck-Mandan bridge to take 2-3 years once physical work begins. The existing bridge will be left in service until the new one is operational. The cost of construction and removal is estimated at more than $64 million.

BNSF says it plans to build a single-track bridge with the capability of carrying a second track in the future if train volume made it necessary. FORB has expressed worries about the impact of a two-track system through Bismarck. The group also has indicated its considering a lawsuit to try to save the existing bridge.
Batavia, NY (14020)

Today

Sun and clouds mixed. High 83F. Winds SE at 10 to 15 mph..

Tonight

Showers with a possible thunderstorm early, then variable clouds overnight with still a chance of showers. Low 44F. Winds SW at 15 to 25 mph. Chance of rain 80%.
Supporters of a proposed measure to change how citizens can petition for ballot measures and amend the North Dakota constitution paint their effort as a compromise.

Opponents say the proposal is an attack on citizens' abilities to propose such measures.

The House Government and Veterans Affairs Committee on Friday heard House Concurrent Resolution 3031 by Rep. Steve Vetter, R-Grand Forks. Voters in November 2024 would decide the measure if it passes the House and Senate.

Vetter and measure backer Dustin Gawrylow, of Bismarck, say their proposal is a compromise, allowing electronic signature gathering for measure petitions, but adding restrictions such as more signatures needed for ballot placement and two majority votes to pass.

"The Legislature doesn't want it easy to change the constitution, and ... the people don't want power taken away from them," Vetter told the Tribune.

The measure would require the secretary of state to set up an online signature gathering system, effective in 2026, for voters to sign forms and petitions for initiated and referred measures, recall petitions and candidate nominations. Vetter said such a system would benefit "grassroots people" and those with little money, and would mitigate petition fraud.

Secretary of State Michael Howe testified neutrally on the proposal, but said an electronic signature system "has great appeal for our office, just the ease of doing things ... but can we implement this and implement it with integrity?"

Gawrylow told lawmakers the measure "is my attempt to create an olive branch to say let's come up with a solution that is a compromise." Electronic signatures would "push out 90% of the money on the petition side because there would be no reason to hire petitioners to run around the state collecting signatures," he said.

Vetter's measure also would limit all initiated measures to one subject. He said he would like to further amend that component to clarify the definition of a single subject.

His proposal also would increase the number of signatures petitioners would need to get a measure on the ballot, from 4% to 10% of the state's population at the last federal decennial census for constitutional initiatives, and from 2% to 5% for all other initiatives.

The resolution also would require constitutional initiatives to pass both the primary and general elections with a majority of votes and in a majority of legislative districts, which Vetter said would ensure widespread geographic support. Two elections "give the people and the Legislature plenty of time to dive into this," he said.

Opponents to Vetter's measure, who include the League of Women Voters of North Dakota, say it is an attack on the constitution's powers reserved to the people, and puts forth unnecessary and unjustified changes.

"Citizen-led initiated measures have a long history in North Dakota and play an important role in supporting citizen participation in the governance of the state. HCR 3031 intends to bring an end to that role," League Board Member Carol Sawicki wrote in testimony.

Vetter's measure is similar to one passed last month by the Senate and sent to the House. That measure also would raise signature requirements, require majority vote approvals at the primary and general elections, and limit constitutional initiatives to one subject, among its provisions.

The House panel will take up Vetter's measure again at another time.

North Dakota lawmakers in recent years have grumbled about certain constitutional initiatives voters have approved, including measures for a state Ethics Commission in 2018 and for term limits on the governor and state lawmakers last year.

Nearly 62% of voters in 2020 rejected a measure proposed by lawmakers that would have given the Legislature a say in passing constitutional initiatives.
Legislation to aid pregnant women is advancing through the Legislature, proposals aligned with a call by the North Dakota Catholic Conference in the wake of Roe v. Wade being overturned.

The U.S. Supreme Court's Dobbs decision last year overturned the constitutional right to an abortion. The Catholic Conference, which represents the Bismarck and Fargo dioceses, has pitched the proposals as "Responding with Love."

"Building a culture of life means making abortion unthinkable," the organization said in a statement last year. "This will require all parts of society to reexamine and address what they can do so that no woman ever feels that the death of her child is the answer to any situation. Businesses, families, churches, charities, and governments must support and implement policies and practices that are pro-family, pro-woman, and pro-child.

The state House of Representatives has passed:

House Bill 1036, advanced from an interim legislative study, to increase the eligibility level for the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families program.

House Bill 1171 by Rep. Vicky Steiner, R-Dickinson, to ban "forced or coerced" abortions.

House Bill 1176 by Rep. SuAnn Olson, R-Baldwin, to create an adoption tax credit and a tax credit for contributions to a maternity home, child-placing agency or pregnancy help center.

Olson's House Bill 1177, to exempt children's diapers from sales taxes.

House Bill 1375 by Rep. Jay Fisher, R-Minot, to provide $262,000 for the state Department of Health and Human Services to reimburse nonprofit child-placing agencies for costs of completing home study reports.

House Bill 1450 by Rep. Shannon Roers Jones, R-Fargo, to make clear that the state's employment discrimination law protecting pregnant workers covers those with medical conditions related to pregnancy or childbirth.

The bills now go to the Senate.

The Senate has passed:

Senate Bill 2071 by Sen. Tim Mathern, D-Fargo, to expand Medicaid coverage for low-income pregnant women.

Senate Bill 2129 by Sen. Janne Myrdal, R-Edinburg, to provide an additional $400,000 for alternatives to abortion.

Senate Bill 2181 by Sen. Kristin Roers, R-Fargo, to expand Medicaid assistance and Temporary Assistance for Needy Families for pregnant women.

Myrdal's Senate Bill 2185, to provide $100,000 for a pregnancy and parenting resource website run by HHS.

The bills now go to the House.

The House also will be taking up Myrdal's Senate Bill 2150, which would revise language of the state's 2007 abortion trigger ban and 2013 "heartbeat bill" in the wake of the Dobbs ruling.

The former bans virtually all abortions in North Dakota, but is temporarily blocked in state district court; the state Supreme Court will rule soon on the temporary block by a judge.

The latter bans abortions as soon as a fetal heartbeat is detected -- as early as six weeks, when some women don't yet know they're pregnant -- except when a medical emergency exists that prevents compliance with the law. Attorney General Drew Wrigley is appealing a federal block on the law.
Colorado may not be the best-known hop growing region in the U.S., but according to experts, it is producing some of the best crops.

This month, Billy Goat Hop Farm in Montrose took the top accolade at the annual Cascade Cup competition and became the first grower outside of the Pacific Northwest to do so.

Hosted by the trade association the Hop Quality Group, the Cascade Cup is an annual contest in which experts, fittingly, judge Cascade hops based on their appearance, aroma, and other factors. The event has taken place during the associations yearly Hop Convention since 2013.

Cascade hops have long been an important part of craft brewing, Matt Gallagher, spokesperson for the Hop Quality Group, said in a statement. For the first time in its history, the Cascade Cup is leaving the states of Washington and Oregon and heading to the Rocky Mountain State.

Thats notable because the Pacific Northwest is the countrys undisputed powerhouse of hops, the ingredient used to add bitterness and aroma to beer. About 99% of those grown last year in the United States come from Washington, Idaho and Oregon, according to the Hop Growers of America.

Cascade hops are one of the backbones of American-style IPAs and can be found in thousands of IPAs across the county.

While Billy Goat Hop Farm co-owners Chris DellaBianca and Audrey Gehlhausen have previously attended the Hop Convention, 2023 marks the first time they entered the Cascade Cup.

When Chris told me that we won, I thought he was just trying to fool me, said Gehlhausen in a statement. Then Vinnie Cilurzo, the co-founder of Russian River Brewery, called to congratulate us. Weve been flying high ever since.

At 32 acres, Billy Goat is among the largest independently owned hop farms in the state. Drinkers can often find their bounty of bittering and aromatic hops in beers during the fall when local brewers showcase fresh hop recipes. In 2022, the farm also hosted its inaugural Southwest Fresh Fest, featuring about a dozen craft breweries pouring beers made with Billy Goat hops.

Copyright 2023 MediaNews Group, Inc. Visit at denverpost.com. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.
A Veterans Perspective: Peace Enforcement Is Not the Same as Peacekeeping

Commentary

Peace enforcement is a much more difficult kind of operation than peacekeeping.  Harri Holkeri

Internal armed conflict constitutes the most significant challenge to the United Nations (U.N.) in its pursuit of global peace and stability. U.N. operations, in order to deal with these complex international issues, have evolved over time with ever-expanding roles blurring the lines of what the U.N. should realistically seek to accomplish. This morphing of roles has resulted in several notable disasters. Continuing to fill a niche for which the U.N. is intrinsically ill-fitted will likely lead to similar results. Despite its checkered past, however, the U.N. remains the chief architecture around which the international community can coalesce to address these multifarious problems.

Past failures aside, an alternative to the previous methods of U.N. support for peace operations is emerging, one that has the potential for unqualified success. The recent achievements of Security Council Resolution 2016, addressing the conflict in Libya, is a manifestation of what is arguably a new paradigm and the quintessence of what the U.N.s role in peace operations ought to begrowing a more utilitarian approach to addressing internal conflicts, one based on the U.N.s inherent strengths rather than its weaknesses. Capitalizing on its organizational structure, the U.N. is best served by focusing efforts in three areas: pre-conflict prevention, post-conflict peace building, and marshaling regional champions. These regional coalitions of willing partners, under U.N. auspices, are best suited to perform the more dangerous and demanding missions of peacemaking, peace enforcement, and non-traditional peacekeeping operations.

As stated, efforts in U.N. peace operations in the last 50 years have evolved rapidly, from a traditional, primarily military model, to incorporate a complex model of many elements, military and civilian, working together. History has shown, however, this evolution to be nominally successful. Recently released U.N. reports document two of its worst stumbles. U.N. peacekeepers in Rwanda stood by as Hutu slaughtered some 800,000 Tutsi. In Bosnia, the U.N. declared safe areas for Muslims but did nothing to secure them, letting the Serbs slaughter thousands in Srebrenica. The organizations meddling was worse than useless: its blue-helmeted troops were used as hostages by the Serbs to deter a military response from the West. More recently, the mass rape of women in the Democratic Republic of the Congo occurred with U.N. peacekeeping forces in close proximity.

These tragedies amplify that the U.N. is ill-equipped to conduct peacekeeping and inserting U.N. forces into such operations has proven to be beyond its scope and capabilities. The complexity of these conflicts calls for a force that is well trained, well equipped, and sufficiently motivated for the task, tenets typically lacking in a U.N. peacekeeping force cobbled together from multiple countries, with varying degrees of competence and resources. Further complicating the matter, the U.N. often creates the conditions for failure, issues mandates that are unrealistic, and establishes conflict terms of reference and rules of engagement that hamstring and undercut the authority of the peacekeepers it seeks to serve. The U.N. also noticeably lacks the planning capacity under the Department for Peacekeeping Operations (DPKO) and resources commensurate with abilities needed for the command, control, and logistical support of these operations.

Clearly, the U.N. must play to its fundamental strengths. The U.N. has a significant role to play in pre-conflict prevention. As an organization of diplomacy, the U.N. is best suited for this task and can make use of its resources to prevent conflict. The U.N. can employ a wide range of structural and diplomatic measures to ameliorate the conditions of conflict prior to their eruption. Additionally, the U.N. can also perform post-conflict support through peace building, employing an array of measures targeted to reduce the risk of lapsing or relapsing into conflict. The U.N. has the resources and institutional structures that allow it to play a preeminent role in these areas for which it has shown considerable acumen.

What has recently proven to be successfuland is arguably a more significant role for the U.N.is the brokering of regional coalitions of the willing, led by champion nations who possess the requisite skills to successfully accomplish the more difficult peacemaking and peace enforcement mission. This can be achieved, along the lines employed in dealing with the crisis in Libya, through a clearly defined U.N. Security Council mandate.

These coalitions of the willing can center around regional communities of interested states such as Union of African States (UAE) and the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) or through Defense Alliances like North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) or European Defense and Security components of the European Union (EU). Regardless of the organization, it must possess the necessary leadership through a champion lead nation, have the unity of command, capabilities, and resources at its disposal but also have clear regional security interests needed to make the mission a success. Once stability is achieved through the actions of these coalitions of the willing and post-conflict status achieved, traditional U.N. peacekeeping can be implemented.

In an increasingly disrupted world, racked by conflict, the U.N. stands as the supranational body to adequately address many of the problems in the worlds disputed areas. However, the core business of the U.N. in peacekeeping operations should continue to follow an emergent path, away from ad hoc and detrimental peacemaking and peace enforcement missions, and instead capitalize on its strengths to implement peacekeeping.

This article was authored by an anonymous former special forces officer.

The appearance of U.S. Department of Defense (DoD) visual information does not imply or constitute DoD endorsement.

This article first appeared in The Havok Journal.

Views expressed in this article are the opinions of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of The Epoch Times.
Activists Seek to Resuscitate 1972 Equal Rights Amendment

A coalition of feminist and transgender groups is turning to Congress to breathe new life into the twice-dead Equal Rights Amendment (ERA).

First introduced in 1972, the ill-fated amendment failed to be ratified by the constitutionally required 38 states within the seven years Congress allotted for the process.

It fell short again even after Congress, by a simple majority vote, extended the time limit by another three years.

Over the first seven years, 35 states ratified the amendment but five of them rescinded their ratification before the deadline expired.

Forty years elapsed between the time Indiana ratified the ERA in 1977 and another state did the same.

Attorney Kris Ullman, president of the Eagle Forum, a national pro-family advocacy group, told The Epoch Times that radical ERA promoters have never recognized the validity of the five rescissions.

Since Indianas ratification, which fell within the legal time limit, no state ratified the ERA until the Nevada state legislature did so in 2017, 40 years later, said Ullman.

The Three State Strategy

Nevadas ratification was the first salvo in what became known as the Three State Strategy, a plan adopted by ERA promoters to add three states to the 35 ratifications they claim are still valid, thus arriving at the 38 required for adoption of the amendment.

Illinois ratified the ERA in 2018, followed by Virginia in 2020, setting the stage for a showdown in Congress.

Today, advocates say all that stands in the way of the ERA from becoming the 28th Amendment to the United States Constitution is a vote by Congress.

President Kris Ullman (Left) and Chairwoman Anne Cori of Eagle Forum. (Courtesy of Eagle Forum)

They want Congress to disavow the 1982 expiration date, recognize that the required 38 states have now ratified the amendment, and declare ERA the law of the land, said Ullman.

The text of the amendment approved by Congress in 1972 reads:

Equality of rights under the law shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any state on account of sex. The Congress shall have the power to enforce, by appropriate legislation, the provisions of this article.

Add Gender Identity and Sexual Orientation

According to Ullman, pro-trans and pro-abortion groups are the strongest supporters of the ERA.

In my opinion, they want to use the ERA to insert gender identity and sexual orientation into the Constitution and use it to strike down all restrictions on abortion, she said.

Adoption of the ERA would jeopardize the existence of female-only spaces. It could eliminate single-sex womens domestic violence shelters, single-sex prisons, schools, and sports, according to Ullman.

Im also concerned about the possible elimination of the military draft exemption for women, she said.

Other common arguments against the ERA are that it could adversely affect womens life insurance rates, some womens social welfare programs, certain aspects of immigration law, accommodations for pregnant women in the workplace, and state labor law protections for women doing heavy work.

A Raucous Senate Hearing

The first step in the most recent effort to adopt the ERA began on Jan. 24 with the introduction of Senate Joint Resolution 4 by Sens. Ben Cardin (D-Md.) and Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska)

The Senate Judiciary Committee held a hearing on the resolution on Feb. 28.

Ullman, who was at the hearing, told The Epoch Times that several Democrats on the committee opened the proceedings by asserting that women in the United States are discriminated against.

The committee then heard from representatives of several groups demanding the amendment be immediately recognized by Congress as ratified.

When opponents of the resurrected ERA tried to testify, some in the audience became so disruptive that three unruly protesters were removed from the room by security while shouting Women are dying! said Ullman.

LGBT Leaders Weigh In

LGBT activists are among the leading proponents of the ERA. In social media posts, they express fear of losing many of their recently hard-won rights at the hands of a conservative Supreme Court and conservative state legislatures.

One LGBT online post said the ERA is needed in order to provide a wider tent of constitutional protection.

Other ERA promoters say they worry that the right of equal protection under the law as outlined in the Fifth and 14th Amendments does not go far enough and the numerous state civil rights laws already on the books protecting the rights of women are inadequate and vulnerable to change.

Changing Definitions

The word sex today has many different definitions and connotations than it had in the 1970s, said Chairwoman Anne Cori of the Eagle Forum.

Ullman said that the objective of the political left has been to redefine what the word sex means.

I do not trust people who cannot even define the word woman to determine that, she said.

Phyllis Schlafly is interviewed by a television reporter while attending the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) in Washington, Friday, Feb. 19, 2010. (AP Photo/Cliff Owen)

Cori, daughter of the late conservative political activist and ERA nemesis Phyliss Schlafly, told The Epoch Times, The ERA would make illegal any kind of distinctions on the basis of sex. It cuts across every aspect of the law and makes everything sex neutral.

The ERA makes males and females interchangeable in every aspect of life. Everybody knows there are fundamental biological differences between men and women. Its folly to pretend they can be interchanged.

We dont want it, she said. We must prevent the government from forcing it down our throats.

Will it Pass?

Ullman told The Epoch Times she is confident that the ERA promoters will not get 15 Republican senators to join the 51 Democrats in order to pass Senate Joint Resolution 4 with the two-thirds majority needed for adoption.

Its clear they dont have the votes, Cori said. If they did, it would have been passed already.

Ullman said she has no doubt that the losing side will take the issue to the Supreme Court.

That may prove a tall order for ERA proponents because, on the very day of the hearing, it was announced that a federal appeals court had just upheld a prior federal district court ruling that found that deadlines for the ratification of the amendment had expired long ago.
Anti-CCP Activist Drew Pavlou Facing Court Over Protesting Against Xi Jinping

Drew Pavlou is seen arriving at the Brisbane District Court in Brisbane on Nov, 25, 2022. (AAP Image/Darren England)

Australian human rights activist Drew Pavlou is facing a court hearing over his protest against Chinese leader Xi Jinping last year.

Pavlou, a vocal critic of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), was arrested by New South Wales (NSW) police at an anti-CCP rally in Eastwood, a Chinese community in northwest Sydney, in May 2022 and was detained for five hours in a cell.

Holding a sign that read F**k Xi Jinping in Mandarin at a busy shopping street in Eastwood, which boasts the states highest Chinese population, the former senate candidate sparked a strong reaction from Chinese nationals who cursed him as motherf**ker and son of a b**ch.

F** you, motherf***er, one yelled at him repeatedly. Its free speech!

America has genocide, not Xi Jinping.

We are against the dictatorship. We believe in democracy. Free Hong Kong. Free Taiwan, Pavlou, who was supporting Kyinzom Dhongdue, the Tibetan candidate of Drew Pavlou Democratic Alliance running for the Bennelong seat in the 2022 federal election, told the crowd.

The 23-year-old was arrested after allegedly failing to comply with a move-on direction by the police at the site and later charged with behaving offensively in public.

More footage of violent Chinese ultra-nationalists assaulting me and an independent protest journalist because I held up a sign saying F*** Xi Jinping in the middle of Sydney while campaigning with my party for the Australian elections. @Chriscoveries attacked from behind pic.twitter.com/UUh7bc8oW7  Drew Pavlou (@DrewPavlou) April 30, 2022

He was bailed on the condition that he does not visit Eastwood or Epping.

Parramatta local court confirmed to The Epoch Times that the matter is listed on March 15 at the court for a hearing.

Pavlou: Keep Standing up For Free Speech

Pavlou said he would not back down from his activism against the CCP despite the challenges he had been facing.

Many powerful players have tried to censor me over the past few years. From the University of Queensland attempting to expel me for protests against the CCP to the Chinese Embassy in London getting me arrested with a fake bomb threat, he wrote in an email to his subscribers titled On Trial For Insulting Xi-How you can support me ahead of my Sydney trial.

Now Im facing court in March for insulting Xi Jinping with a sign in Sydney. The maximum penalty for the charge I am defending is three months in prison. The NSW Police apparently want to argue that holding a sign reading F*** Xi Jinping is a hate crime.

The young activist said with his activism, he is trying to stand up for free speech and resist attempts by the CCP to censor people in Australia, his own country.

I am trying to speak up for victims of the CCP who have no voice to speak-Uyghurs, Tibetans, Hong Kongers, Taiwanese, and Chinese dissidents. So many of my friends in these communities cannot speak publicly because the CCP threatens their families back home, he wrote.

Anti-CCP activist Drew Pavlou facing with Chinese nationals in Eastwood, Sydney in 2022. (Image by Drew Pavlous Iceberg Lounge)

I want to keep standing up for free speech in this country, full time. I want to continue devoting all my energies to speaking up for the victims of the CCP and exposing the cruelty of the regime so that no Australian is unaware of what we are facing.

Chinese Activist: Doing the Same to Morrison Wont Get One Charged

Dr. Zhang Xiaogang, a Sydney-based Chinese democracy activist, said that in Australias legal system, if chanting F** you Scott Morrison will not cause one to be charged, then doing the same thing to Xi Jinping should not get one charged either.

Its equal. When Scott Morrison was the Prime Minister, there were people parading and chanting F** you Scott Morrison [What Pavlou did] was nothing more offensive, Zhang told The Epoch Times on Feb. 28 in an interview conducted in Mandarin. Thousands of people chanting F** you Scott Morrison in CBD. No police went there to manage and neither did the organizer get sued.

Its purely a political expression. It is not an insult to Morrison individually but a discontent to his government. It may be used on the Labor government now or someone else. Its all normal and Australians are used to it.

Zhang, who once sprayed graffiti on the front gate of the CCPs Consulate-General in Sydney and was prosecuted by the police, stressed that Pavlous sign is purely a political protest to the CCPs persecution of human rights in China, and the protest is prevalent online.

Including the White Paper movement in China last year, there were also people shouting F** you Xi Jinping on the street of Shanghai, he said.

University of Queensland student and activist Drew Pavlou takes part in a protest in support of Hong Kong, outside the Chinese consulate in Brisbane, Australia, on May 30, 2020. (Dan Peled/AAP Image)

Pavlou has just got cleared over the Chinese embassys bomb threat allegation in London last month.

All my family members and loved ones urged me to stop when the CCP had me arrested in London on false charges, he wrote in the email.

Ive been going for four years now and Ive had a lot of dark moments in that time. Moments where I thought there was no future left in what I was doing. Moments where I felt like my efforts were going to waste, where I felt like I was simply destroying my life.

But if theres one thing you must know about me by now, I am a fighter. I will get back up every single time no matter what punches they throw my way.

A spokesperson of NSW police told The Epoch Times that with matters before the court, the police were not able to comment further.
Commentary

As glasses help people focus their eyes to see, medical experts from the American Academy of Pediatrics rule, medications help children with ADHD focus their thoughts better and ignore distractions. In their view, as well as in the view of multiple other expert consortiums, the most appropriate way to treat the lifelong impairing condition of Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) is by taking stimulant medications on a daily basis.

Although stimulants, as suggested by their name, are frequently abused for stimulating (potentially addictive) sensations of high energy, euphoria, and potency, they are often compared to harmless medical aids, such as eyeglasses or walking crutches. Numerous studies, we are told, support their efficacy and safety, and evidence-based medicine dictates that these substances will be administered to children with ADHD as the first-line treatment.

There is only one, huge problem. ADHD is currently the most common childhood disorder in Western-oriented countries. Its ever-increasing rates are now skyrocketing. The documented prevalence of ADHD is not about 3 percent, as it used to be when the disorder was first introduced in 1980. In 2014, a survey by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) revealed that over 20 percent of 12-year-old boys were diagnosed with this lifelong condition.

In 2020, thousands of real-life medical records from Israel suggested that over 20 percent of all children and young adults (520 years) received a formal diagnosis of ADHD. This means that hundreds of millions of children around the world are eligible for this diagnosis and that most of them (about 80 percent), including very young, preschool children, will be prescribed with its treatment-of-choice, as if regular use of stimulants is indeed comparable to eyeglasses.

Stimulant brands for ADHD, such as Ritalin, Concerta, Adderall, or Vyvanse rank at the top of the best-selling lists of medications for children. Indeed, the American dream may play a significant role in the proliferation of such cognitive enhancers in the United States, but the rush for the magic pills crosses national borders. In fact, the semi-final countries that are currently winning the Ritalin Olympics, according to the International Narcotics Control Board, are: Iceland, Israel, Canada, and Holland.

But what if the scientific consensus is wrong? What if the medications for ADHD are not as effective and as safe as we are told? After all, stimulant medications are powerful psychoactive substances, which are prohibited to use without medical prescriptions, under federal drug laws. Like all psychoactive drugs, which affect the central nervous system, stimulant medications are designed to penetrate the blood-brain barrierthe specialized tissue and blood vessels that normally prevent harmful substances from reaching the brain. In this way, stimulant medications are essentially impacting the biochemical processes of our brainthat miraculous organ that makes us who we are.

In my new book ADHD is Not an Illness and Ritalin is Not a Cure: A Comprehensive Rebuttal of the (alleged) Scientific Consensus, I do my best to answer these disturbing questions. The first part of the book offers a step-by-step refutation of the notion that ADHD meets the required criteria for a neuropsychiatric condition. In fact, a close reading of the available science suggests that the vast majority of the diagnoses simply reflects common and pretty normative childhood behaviors that underwent unjustified medicalization. The second part of the book uncovers the massive evidence that exists against the efficacy and safety of the treatment-of-choice for ADHD.

Hundreds of studies, published in well-recognized, mainstream academic journals tell a totally different story than the one told by the American Academy of Pediatrics. Stimulant medications are nothing like eyeglasses. Of course, it is impossible to summarize an entire book here, but I do wish to outline three principal failures in the common comparison between stimulant medications and eyeglassesor any other daily used, harmless medical aids for that matter, such as walking crutches.

Even without considering the specific criticism about the validity of ADHD, the very comparison between organic/bodily conditions, which are typically measured through objective tools, to amorphic psychiatric labels that rely exclusively on subjective assessments of behaviors, is inappropriate and misleading. The brain deficit and the chemical imbalance that have been associated with ADHD are unproven myths. Stimulants do not fix biochemical imbalances and they can easily be used also by non-ADHD individuals to enhance cognitive performance (even though these individuals are not assumed to have this alleged brain deficit). As opposed to visual impairments that restrict the individuals everyday functioning, regardless of school demands, the primary impairment in ADHD is manifested in school settings. Eyeglasses and walking crutches are needed outside of school premises as well, even during weekends and holidays. ADHD, in contrast, seems to be a seasonal disease (despite endless efforts to exaggerate and extend its negative outcomes to non-school-related settings). When schools are closed, its daily medical management is often no longer needed. This simple real-life fact is even acknowledged, to some extent, in the official Ritalin leaflet, which states that: During the course of treatment for ADHD, the doctor may tell you to stop taking Ritalin for certain periods of time (e.g., every weekend or school vacations) to see if it is still necessary to take it. Incidentally, these treatment breaks, according to the leaflet, also help prevent a slow-down in growth that sometimes occurs when children take this medicine for a long timea noteworthy point that brings us to the third, and most important error in the comparison between stimulant medications and other daily, physical/medical aids, such as eyeglasses. The benign examples used by proponents of the medications, such as eyeglasses or walking crutches are not regulated by the Dangerous Drugs Ordinance. Typically, these medical aids do not cause serious physiological and emotional adverse reactions. If stimulant drugs are as safe as experts say, like Tylenol and aspirin, why do we insist that they will be medically prescribed by licensed physicians? This question has philosophical and societal implications. After all, if the medications are safe and helpful to various populations (i.e., not only to people with ADHD), what is the moral justification to prohibit their usage among non-diagnosed individuals? This is unjustified discrimination. Moreover, why are we condemning (non-diagnosed) students who use these medications to improve their grades? If regular use of Ritalin and alike is so safe, why not place them on the pharmacies shelves, next to the non-prescription pain relievers, moisturizers, and chocolate energy bars?

The last rhetorical questions illustrate how far the eyeglasses metaphor is from the clinical reality and the scientific evidence regarding ADHD and stimulant medications. ADHD medications are not fundamentally different from other psychoactive drugs that cross the blood-brain barrier. At first usage, they may trigger intense sensations of potency or euphoria, but when used for prolonged periods, their desired effects subside, and their unwanted negative effects start to emerge. The brain recognizes these psychoactive substances as neurotoxins and activates a compensatory mechanism in an attempt to fight the harmful invaders. It is this activation of the compensatory mechanism, not the ADHD, that might cause the biochemical imbalance in the brain.

I realize that these last sentences may sound provocative. I therefore encourage readers not to trust this short article blindly, but to dive with me into the deep (and sometimes dirty) water of the scientific literature. Despite the academic orientation of my book, I made sure to make the science available to most readers through plain language, illustrative stories, and real-life examples. And even if you disagree with some of its content, I am positive that, by the end of the reading, you will ask yourself, like I did: How is it possible that such critical information about ADHD and stimulant medications is being hidden from us? Does it really make sense to compare these drugs to eyeglasses? Are we medicating millions of ADHD children without proper scientific justification?

From the Brownstone Institute

Views expressed in this article are the opinions of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of The Epoch Times.
Argentina Asks UK to Resume Negotiations Over Falklands Sovereignty

The flag of the Falkland Islands flies over Number 10 Downing Street in central London, on June 14, 2012. (Leon Neal/AFP/GettyImages)

Argentina has again asked the UK to restart negotiations over the sovereignty of the Falkland Islands, the Argentine Foreign Ministry has said.

Argentina has continued to lay territorial claims to the British-run islands in the South Atlantic, over which the two countries fought a war in 1982, costing hundreds of lives.

Argentine Foreign Minister Santiago Cafiero formulated a proposal to restart negotiations for sovereignty over the Falklands Question in a meeting with his British counterpart James Cleverly during the G20 summit in India, the Foreign Ministry said on March 2.

Cafiero said the Argentine government is ending the 2016 agreement which pledged to improve cooperation on South Atlantic issues of mutual interests.

The Argentine government also invited the UK to hold a meeting to settle the debate at the United Nations.

View of Darwin, Falkland islands (Malvinas) on Oct.10, 2019. (Pablo Porciuncula Brune/AFP via Getty Images)

UK ministers have expressed disappointment at Argentinas decision to tear up the cooperation agreement and push for fresh talks on sovereignty.

Cleverly, the British foreign minister, responded on Twitter: The Falkland Islands are British. Islanders have the right to decide their own futurethey have chosen to remain a self-governing UK Overseas Territory.

David Rutley, Foreign Office minister for the Americas, said it was a disappointing decision after he had had a constructive visit to Buenos Aires.

Argentina has chosen to step away from an agreement that has brought comfort to the families of those who died in the 1982 conflict, he said. Argentina, the UK, and the Falklands all benefited from this agreement.

Costly Conflict

Argentina has long claimed sovereignty over the islands it calls Las Malvinas.

Argentine forces invaded the Falklands on April 2, 1982, prompting a war that lasted for 74 days.

A taskforce set sail from the UK three days after the invasion, eventually involving almost 26,000 armed forces personnel and 3,000 civilian crew.

Several weeks of intense fighting followed and Argentine forces surrendered on June 14, 1982, a date that has since been known in the Falkland Islands as Liberation Day and is a national holiday.

A total of 649 Argentine military personnel died, as well as 255 British military personnel, and three Falkland Islanders.

A 2013 referendum on the islandswith a turnout of over 90 percentresulted in a 99.8 percent vote to remain British.

Islanders celebrate after the announcement of the referendums result in Port Stanley, Falkland (Malvinas for Argentina) Islands, on March 11, 2013. (Tony Chater/AFP via Getty Images)

China Backs Argentina

But Argentina has recently been raising its voice again on the sovereignty issue with support from the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) regime.

The current Argentine president Alberto Fernandez promised to strengthen Argentinas claims over the Falklands when he took office in 2019.

When Fernandez met with Chinese leader Xi Jinping on the fringes of the Beijing winter Olympics in February 2022, the two countries signed an agreement in which China reasserted its support for Argentinas claim to the Falklands, while Fernandez backed Xis one-China policy, which claims Taiwan as its own.

According to a statement on Londons Chinese Embassy website, Xi agreed that Argentina should be able to fully exercise its sovereignty over the Malvinas (Falklands) Islands issue.

The two leaders spoke of their deep friendship and Argentina signed up to Chinas Belt and Road infrastructure initiative, a state-backed campaign for global influence.

Britains then-foreign secretary Liz Truss responded on Twitter: The Falklands are part of the British family and we will defend their right to self-determination. China must respect the Falklands sovereignty.

Legacy of Colonialism

The Chinese regime has been supporting the Argentine claim in the United Nations by using the decolonization narrative.

In June 2021, Geng Shuang, Chinas deputy permanent representative to the United Nations, said the question of the Malvinas Islands is essentially a legacy of colonialism.

He said China firmly supports Argentinas sovereignty claim on the Malvinas Islands.

Chinas Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokesman Geng Shuang answers a question during a briefing in Beijing on Nov. 28, 2019. (Wang Zhao/AFP via Getty Images)

We hope Britain will actively respond to Argentinas request, start dialogue and negotiations as soon as possible with a view to finding a peaceful, just, and lasting solution in accordance with relevant U.N. resolutions.

Sun Qi, a Chinese international relations expert, revealed that Gengs U.N. statement was hitting back at Britain for its support of human rights and freedom of the seas.

The UK has recently been making military movesincluding carrying U.S. fighters on its carriers and intervening over the South China Sea issueand also making a fuss about Hong Kong, he told the South China Morning Post. China is attempting to reverse the narrative to hit back at them.

Sovereignty Not in Question

The British government has repeatedly rejected Argentinas territorial claims.

At the G7 summit in Germany in June 2022, Britains then-prime minister Boris Johnson told Fernandez that the sovereignty of the Falkland Islands is not in question.

According to Downing Street, when Fernandez raised the Falklands issue, Johnson was firm that their sovereignty is not in question and stressed that the Falkland Islanders, like all people, have a right to self-determination.

Giving his own account of the conversation later, Johnson said: I made the point that we were spending a lot of our time talking about Ukraine, where the principle at stake was the right of sovereign, independent people to determine their future.

That was the principle that was at stake in the Falklands. It had been decided decisively over many, many, many years and I still see no reason for us to engage in a substantive discussion about it.

He added: I just said that it had been 40 years ago since the UK had at a cost of the sacrifice of many lives vindicated the principle that the Falkland Islanders should have the right to determine their future under basic democratic principles and had the right to be British.

That as far as I was concerned was the end of the matter.

Reuters and PA Media contributed to this report.
Armenian Genocide Memorial Planned in Irvine Great Park

The City of Irvine voted unanimously Feb. 28 to dedicate a space in its Great Park for a memorial in remembrance of the Armenian Genocide of the early 1900s.

A presentation by city staff suggested its location could potentially be in the heart of the park neighboring a lake, the Great Meadow, and surrounding open spaces to provide a space of solemn reflection.

The idea was first requested by Vice Mayor Tammy Kim, who said that working hand in hand with the community, on the memorials design would be important in the process.

This needs to be community-led, because the community knows what it needs, she said.

The Civic Center in Irvine, Calif., on Jan. 12, 2021. (John Fredricks/The Epoch Times)

Councilman Larry Agran said with the memorial being the first at the park, extra planning should be done to pave the way for potentially others in the future.

Communities are going to come forward and theyre going to ask for recognition and a place in our Great Park  we need to be prepared for that, he said.

One Irvine resident, who said he is a US Navy veteran, son of a genocide survivor, and retired from law enforcement said during the meeting the memorial could become a gathering place for the Armenian community.

Every April 24 the Armenian community throughout the United States remembers their ancestral members, he said. If theres hope that we can get together at this site  we will owe the city council a big thank you.

Armenians worldwide honor Genocide Remembrance Day on April 24.

The Great Park in Irvine, Calif., on May 5, 2021. (John Fredricks/The Epoch Times)

Now with the councils approval, city staff will coordinate with local representatives of the Armenian-American community to gather feedback on a conceptual design.

The projects Environmental Impact Report is slated to be completed this summer and presented to the Great Park Board and city council this fall, officials said.

The Orange County Board of Supervisors also acted Feb. 28 to support the Armenian community by adopting a resolution to Support Armenian Human Rights and End the Blockade of the Lachin Corridor.

According to media reports, on December 12, 2022, citizens from the country of Azerbaijanlocated adjacent to Armeniawere sent by their government under the guise of eco-activists to blockade whats known as the Lachin Corridor.

The corridor is the only route of travel for the predominantly Armenian-populated Artsakh region of Azerbaijan to the rest of the outside world. Residents there, reportedly, have been without food for nearly 90 days.

Orange County Supervisor Katrina Foley speaks on the opening day of a coronavirus vaccination site at the Orange County Fairgrounds in Costa Mesa, Calif., on March 31, 2021. (John Fredricks/The Epoch Times)

Supervisor Katrina Foley compared the blockade to disconnecting Costa Mesa from the rest of the county.

Think about if everyone in Costa Mesa was suddenly stuck there and unable to leave, unable to buy groceries, get food, water [or] medicine, she said. Thats the crisis. The Armenian people are suffering.

In April of 1915, the Ottoman government set out to decimate its civilian Armenian population according to the Armenian National Institute, a Washington D.C.-based organization that researches the genocide.

The persecutions continued with varying intensity until 1923 when the Ottoman Empire ceased to exist and was replaced by the Republic of Turkey, according to the institute.

In 1915, the Armenian population there was reportedly 2 million. Authorities estimate 1 million were killed by 1918.
Auditors Are Finding Millions in Mishandled COVID-Era Education Funds

Millions of dollars in pandemic-era relief spending that went to K-12 public education and universities was misspent, according to federal and state audits.

As COVID-19 spread around the world in 2020, federal, state, and local officials encouraged or ordered policies that led to the closures of businesses and schools around the United States. Between 2020 and 2021, Congress appropriated about $7 trillion in economic stimulus spending, including about $280 billion for states, K12 schools, school districts, and institutions of higher education.

The U.S. Department of Educations (DoE) Office of Inspector General has compiled audit reports from several states, at times finding state governments had insufficient procedures for distributing pandemic-era funds given to them by the federal government.

For example, a DoE audit of funds (pdf) given to Oklahoma through the Governors Emergency Education Relief (GEER) fund found that the state lacked assurances that $31 million, out of the $40 million appropriated to the state, was used appropriately. An audit of Michigans GEER-related spending (pdf) found potentially insufficient assurances that $5.4 million, of the $89.4 million the state received, was used properly.

In a comment to the Wall Street Journal, Republican Oklahoma Governor Kevin Stitt blamed the lack of accounting for pandemic-relief money in part on pressure from the federal government to quickly disburse education relief money without clear guidance on how it was to be awarded.

Thats what happens when big government goes out just throwing money around, Stitt told the publication.

A DoE audit of pandemic relief money for the University of Cincinnati (pdf) determined the university did not provide complete and accurate student eligibility and financial data to support 3,297 (totaling $3.4 million), or 6 percent, of its award determinations.

Local officials have also uncovered evidence of mishandled COVID relief. In February, Californias Fiscal Crisis and Management Assistance Team (FCMAT) published a report (pdf) faulting the Stockton Unified School District for awarding a $6.6 million contract to install air purification systems in schools to an out-of-state firm without a competitive bidding process.

Fraud and Scams

While the DoE found some states and schools lacked a sufficient documentary process to ensure the eligibility of their pandemic-era relief fund awards, some individuals have been charged with outright fraud in their handling of education relief money.

In January, a Louisiana man was sentenced to 11 years in prison and ordered to pay restitution of millions of dollars. Prosecutors alleged the man, who ran an education consulting firm, used the information of 180 of his student clients to enrol them in education programs that received pandemic-era relief funding; and instead, directed all of that funding to his personal bank account. The Louisiana man received $1,468,239 in pandemic-era federal student aid loans through this scheme.

The DoE has issued a warning that the pandemic-era scams can take many shapes, like missing school funds or property, irregularities in contracts or undue influence by people in decision-making positions, identity theft and fraudsters posing as students to steal student aid, or scammers targeting student loan borrowers offering to provide services related to coronavirus student loan relief for a fee.

Even without being able to directly defraud education relief spending programs, fraudsters have appeared to take advantage of the confusion surrounding pandemic education relief to scam students out of their money.

In September, the Central Connecticut State University Police Department warned students of a scam in which the perpetrator would contact individual students, telling them that they were eligible for financial aid through a Covid Relief Fund. Victims would receive a check and believe it to be real, only for the fraudsters to claim that there was an error and request that the money be returned. The victim student would repay out of their own funds only to see the original check they had been issued bounce, leaving them short the amount of money they originally believed they had been awarded. The university warned that one student had already fallen victim to the scam.

On Thursday, President Joe Bidens administration joined calls for Congress to approve more funding and resources and extend statutes of limitations to investigate and prosecute pandemic-era fraud.

From NTD News
BC Councillor Attends Lunar New Year Party Alongside Donor to Chinese Military

A Richmond, B.C., city councillor recently attended a Chinese Lunar New Year house party also attended by a Chinese associations senior member who is a prominent donor-supporter of the Chinese military.

A video of the party was reportedly published to Liberal MP Joyce Murrays WeChat account on Jan. 23, according to Richmond News, which posted a portion of the original video. It shows councillor Alexa Loo chatting with others in a kitchen in what appears to be a private home. Later, she is seen dancing to Lunar New Year music.

Also attending was Wang Dianqi, an honorary chair of the Canadian Alliance of Chinese Associations (CACA), an umbrella group of over 130 Chinese associations.

In a 2017 interview with chinaqw.com, Wang said he had in the past few decades donated nearly 2 million yuan (C$393,000) to express appreciation to the soldiers of the motherland and help disabled veterans from the old [communist] revolutionary base resolve hardship. That year, he said he also brought many cases of health products to soldiers in his hometown in Chinas southwestern coastal Zhejiang Province.

Wangs association has frequently echoed Beijings party line, such as being among 87 groups in Canada to sign an open letter in support of Beijings resolution to reunify with Taiwan, a self-ruled democracy that it deems part of Chinese territory. The letter was published in last August 2022 by B.C.-based Chinese-language outlet Dawa News after U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi visited the island, an event that saw the regime launch ballistic missiles around Taiwan, among other aggressive actions.

Wang provided more than monetary support for the Chinese military. In a July 2021 article published on sohu.com, a China-based online media platform, Wang is seen in photos at an event where he gifted items including books on the history of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), describing them as food for thought, to the veteran affairs office of his hometownTiantai County, Taizhou City, Zhejiang Province.

The article said Wangs gesture was to pay sincere respects to the various local military and armed police forces. It cited him as saying it was his 33rd consecutive year of a journey in support of the [Chinese] military.

It added that, as president of an overseas business association, [Wang] will give full play to his advantages and engage in practical actions to actively participate in the modernization and international friendship exchanges of his motherland and hometown.

Foreign Mission Designation in US

Apart from being a CACA honorary chair, the July 2021 article identified Wang as president of two other organizations, the North America Zhejiang (Taizhou) Chamber of Commerce and the Canada Chinese Peaceful and Unification Association (CCPUA), both found to be non-profits registered in B.C.

The unification associations Chinese name resembles that of the China Council for the Promotion of Peaceful National Reunification (CCPPNR), a China-based organization directly supervised by officials in the Politburo, the CCPs highest decision-making body.

On the CCPPNR website is posted a list of articles involving domestic and overseas associations for promoting unification. One of the articles, posted July 2022, quoted Wangs speech at a seminar discussion on the 25th anniversary of the British handover of Hong Kongs sovereignty to Chinaan event allegedly hosted by Wangs CCPUA and supported by over 40 Vancouver-area Chinese organizations.

CCPPNR has branches in many countries, including over 20 in the United States and two in Canada, according to open-source information.

In October 2020, the U.S. State Department designated one of the CCPPNRs U.S. branches, the Washington, D.C.-based National Association for Chinas Peaceful Unification, as a foreign mission of the Chinese regime. The department called it a front organization controlled by the CCPs United Front Work Department (UFWD), describing the UFWD as the CCP organ tasked with co-opting and neutralizing threats to the partys rule and spreading its influence and propaganda overseas.

A Variety of Worldviews

Wangs name appears in Loos Elections BC campaign finance disclosure as a $500 donor to her 2022 re-election campaign.

Loo told The Epoch Times that she was only at [a] Richmond friends home and that her attendance of the Lunar New Year party does not in any way endorse the personal views of the other people in attendance.

I am hopeful that by keeping dialogue open and sharing my personal views on the benefits of peace, democracy and fair economic policies that I can be a positive influence, she wrote in an email statement. I will continue to engage with people who have a variety of worldviews as we can all learn things from each other.

Its unclear whether the video was directly taken by MP Murray, who didnt respond to The Epoch Times inquiry.

The Epoch Times also reached out to Wang for comment but didnt hear back.

Carol Day, another Richmond councillor, said in a Feb. 23 Twitter post that Canadas Integrated National Security Enforcement Teams (INSE) and the Canadian Security Intelligence Service (CSIS) are investigating and will clear up any confusion around Loo being in party video with campaign backer who supports Chinas military. Day included a link to the Richmond News article.

Loo subsequently tweeted that she wasnt under any investigation and that Days post was an effort to cause confusion.

To be clear: I am not under investigation for attending house parties, singing, or anything else. INSE and CSIS are investigating the Wenzhou Friendship Society and whether it is operating a foreign police station, Loo wrote. I do appreciate my colleagues attempt to create confusion.

To be clear: I am not under investigation for attending house parties, singing, or anything else. INSE and CSIS are investigating the Wenzhou Friendship Society and whether it is operating a foreign police station. I do appreciate my colleagues attempt to create confusion. https://t.co/f0JYQpmAjo  Alexa Loo  (@alexaloo) February 23, 2023

Libraries That Spread the Voice of CCP

The Lunar New Year party wasnt the first time Loo had attended an event hosted by individuals or groups that have consistently taken Beijing-aligning stances.

Loo attended a Chinese Mid-Autumn Festival event, also in Richmond, just south of Vancouver, on Sept. 10, 2022. It was organized by Xu Ling, who, like Wang, is a CACA honorary chair. Xu is affiliated with at least two other Chinese-Canadian organizations that also signed the August 2022 open letter in support of Beijings claims over Taiwan.

That Mid-Autumn Festival event also celebrated the establishment of several Chinese-language libraries in B.C. that are part of a program spearheaded by a China-based organization seeking to spread the voice of the CCP. Wang was listed as one of the guests at the event, according to a Sept. 12, 2022, article by a local Chinese-language media.

Replying to an Epoch Times inquiry at the time, Loo said her presence at the event celebrating the opening of libraries that promote communism is not an endorsement of a particular belief. She said the celebration was a multicultural art event.

Our public library has many books with different views, and opinions on myriad topics, including fascism, Nazi, apartheid, gender issues, inclusivity etc. Ideas are not the enemy; ignorance is the enemy, Loo said.

Besides Loos attendance, a number of federal, provincial, and municipal politicians sent greetings to the event organizer, including Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and B.C.s Liberal MP Parm Bains, according to the September 2022 article.

That Is Their Decision

Loo also attended a Chinese cultural celebration at the Vancouver Art Gallery on Oct. 1, 2022, titled The 4th Chinese Culture and Art Festival. Chinas Consul-General in Vancouver Yang Shu and Deputy Consul-General Wang Chengjun both attended, as reported by several Chinese-language media outlets, including Phoenix Television, an outlet partially owned by Beijing.

On the same day, multiple civil rights organizations demonstrated in major Canadian cities including Toronto, Calgary, and Vancouver in support of a global anti-CCP protest to coincide with Chinas National Day celebration.

In her Feb. 22 emailed response to The Epoch Times, Loo didnt directly answer a question on whether her mingling with Beijing-aligned groups would raise concerns for other communities, such as Hongkongers who fled the autonomous region after CCP authorities suppressed the democracy movement there.

While I have never been to Hong Kong or China, I understand that many people choose to continue to live and work in Hong Kong despite it being under control of China for the last 25 years. That is their decision, Loo wrote.
Beijing Ramps Up Anti-US Rhetoric After Top Diplomats Munich Speech

CCP mouthpieces follow up with accusations of profiteering, 'blatant plunder'

China's Director of the Office of the Central Foreign Affairs Commission Wang Yi speaks at the Munich Security Conference in Munich, on Feb. 18, 2023. (Petr David Josek/AP Photo)

News Analysis

China has been quite busy denouncing the United States in the past two weeks, through both diplomatic and propaganda channels.

Its top diplomat Wang Yi sternly criticized the United States at the Munich Security Conference in Germany on Feb. 17-19.

That was followed by attacks in Chinese state media, including a popular TV news anchor slamming the United States for blatant plunder. Finally, a Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman accused the United States of profiteering, claiming the U.S. is the biggest supplier of weapons for the Russia-Ukraine war.

A China expert believes that the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) is revealing a stance of open confrontation with the United States.

Top Diplomat Demands US Correct Its Mistakes

The CCPs recently appointed foreign affairs chief Wang Yi spoke at the Munich Security Meeting on Feb. 18, blaming the United States for damaging the U.S.China relations with hysterical behavior.

Wang was commenting on the Chinese spy balloon shot down by the Pentagon.

To have dispatched an advanced fighter jet to shoot down a balloon with a missile, such behavior is unbelievable, almost hysterical, he said.

There are so many balloons all over the world, and various countries have them, so is the United States going to shoot all of them down? Wang continued. We ask the U.S. to show its sincerity and correct its mistakes, face up and resolve this incident, which has damaged Sino-U.S. relations.

After the meeting, the CCPs Xinhua News Agency issued a statement reiterating that Wang made Beijings position clear on the so-called airship incident and called on the White House to change course and acknowledge and repair the damage that its excessive use of force caused to ChinaU.S. relations.

Wang Stresses Strength of ChinaRussia Relationship

Wang stressed that both sides should be committed to openness and cooperation, against decoupling and severing industrial and supply chains, and work together to ensure the stability of the global industrial and supply chain, said a Chinese embassy statement.

Earlier, speaking at a panel at the conference, Wang reiterated a call for dialogue and suggested that European countries think calmly about how to end the war.

He also said there were some forces that seemingly dont want negotiations to succeed, or for the war to end soon, without specifying to whom he was referring.

After the Munich conference, Wang traveled to Moscow and met with Russian President Vladimir Putin on Feb. 22. According to Russian sources, Putin praised the friendship and cooperation between China and Russia, and said that he is looking forward to the visit of Xi Jinping. During the meeting, Wang said that Russian-Chinese relations were mature, resilient and stable, according to Chinese media.

Foreign Ministry: US Biggest Source of Weaponry in Ukraine

On Feb. 23, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Wang Wenbin hosted a regular press conference. In response to a question about the Biden administrations intelligence that the CCP may be considering providing arms support to Russia, Wang said that the United States was chasing shadows and smearing China, and claimed that the United States was the biggest source of weaponry on the battlefield in Ukraine.

In a previous press conference on Feb. 21, Wang alleged that the U.S. defense industry was profiting from the war, and said the United States should stop fanning the flames or profiting from the conflict.

A $100 Bill Is Worth Only 17 Cents

On Feb. 21, the CCPs Xinhua News Agency published a commentary claiming that the United States has abused its hegemony to the extreme and has stood on the opposite side of the worlds progressive trend. It accused the United States of being the biggest troublemaker, order destroyer, and tragedy maker on the world stage.

Shortly after, state-run CCTV host Kang Hui criticized the United States for its hegemony on many fronts. He echoed a statement about U.S. currency from Chinas Foreign Ministry, and ratcheted it up a notch.

With a $100 bill which costs only 17 cents to print, the United States makes other countries provide it with goods or services worth $100. Isnt it blatant plunder? he said, criticizing the economic hegemony of the United States.

His remarks sparked widespread discussion on the Chinese internet. Soon after, Chinese news portal NetEase published a netizens rebuttal article against Kang.

The cost of production of a $100 bill and the value of $100 are two different concepts, as any junior high school graduates should know, the article said. The value of a sovereign countrys currency lies in its national credit. It is precisely because all countries in the world trust the credit of the U.S. government, so a $100 U.S. bill with a production cost of 17 cents is worth $100 in goods and services. Conversely, what is the cost of production of your 100 yuan bill? Dont you also ask people to provide goods or services equivalent to 100 yuan when you pay in RMB?

The article also said, If you feel that the U.S. currency is hegemonic and the United States is plundering you, you may choose not to use the U.S. dollar  Why dont other countries want to use your currency? Your scolding gesture is actually a criticism of yourself!

China Expert: CCPs Strategy Is Three Fold

U.S.-based China expert and current affairs commentator Shi Shan recently told NTD Television that the Munich conference reflected the CCPs three major positions. First, the CCP and the United States are engaged in a full-scale confrontation, with escalating conflicts; Second, China hopes to sow discord between Europe and United States. Finally, China is cementing ties with Russia and Iran.

Shi said Wangs Munich speech suggested that all countries should be vigilant about their own security concerns, referring to Ukraines bid to join NATO. The implication: Russia is the victim in a war provoked by NATO and the United States.

Reading between the lines, Shi said, When Wang Yi said he supports the autonomy of European policy, he meant that Europes policies are not drafted independently and are controlled by the United States and NATO.

Further, Shi said, Wangs statement that peace should be achieved through dialogue and negotiation was similar to a recent statement by the Russian Foreign Ministry.

Wangs statement that China opposes attacks on nuclear power stations could be seen as a reference to the Russian armys occupation of Ukraines Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant. However, Shi said the statement could also refer to Iran, because it is Irans nuclear facilities and laboratories that always get destroyed or attacked. So the CCPs proposal is tantamount to speaking for Iran.

Chinas strategic aims are revealed in Wangs speech, Shi stressed, saying that the CCP is determined to confront the United States, the UK, and Japan. Further, it hopes to form an authoritarian group together with Russia and Iran; and finally, it hopes to win over Europe, dividing the Western camp.

Reuters contributed to this report.
The billionaire investor who built the worlds largest hedge fund paints a dire scenario in his new book.

N o empire lasts forever, says Ray Dalio. Humble words for a man whos built the worlds largest hedge fund, with assets in excess of $150 billion. But the billionaire founder of Bridgewater Associates, 72, isnt talking about the empire he created and stepped down from managing as CEO in 2017. (Dalio remains Co-Chairman and Co-CIO.) Instead, the empire that worries Dalio is the one in which he resides: the United States.

Right now, money and credit and how its behaving are affecting the financial markets, its affecting inflation, says Dalio in an interview with Forbes as U.S. inflation has spiked to its highest rate in over 30 years.

Americas domestic issues and decline as the worlds leading superpower are more than simply a matter for debate to Dalio. They underpin the core thesis of his latest book, Principles for Dealing with the Changing World Order: How and Why Nations Succeed and Fail, that comes out on November 30. In it, he builds the case that the confluence of rising U.S. debt and income disparities, along with Americas diminished influence, has put the country at risk of not just economic hardship but war. Specifically, he points to growing debt and near-zero interest rates that have led to a massive printing of money ($16 trillion of debt at negative interest rates this year, by Dalios estimates), increased conflict and polarization due to widening wealth gaps and Chinas increased ability to challenge U.S. hegemony on the world stage.

Dalio believes theres a 30% chance that the U.S. will enter into a major civil-war-type conflict within the next five years. While other countries face similar challenges, America looks especially vulnerable. Its very important that we deal with this now, he says. We can have a type of civil war or international war based on how we are behaving with each other and our financial conditions. Whats more, the U.S. is not alone in facing this dire scenario.

Its very important that we deal with this now. We can have a type of civil war or international war based on how we are behaving with each other and our financial conditions. Ray Dalio, Founder of Bridgewater Associates

Dalio has built his business and net worth, which Forbes estimates at roughly $20 billion, on figuring out where the world is going and designing investment strategies to profit from it. Former U.S. Treasury Secretary Hank Paulson describes him as a big thinker and brilliant academic disguised as an investment manager. Moreover, Paulson adds, Dalios assessment of macroeconomic risks and strategies is often right. He famously made money during the 1987 stock market crash and predicted the 2008 financial crisis, which enabled his fund to outperform during that crash, too.

Whats different now is not just the scope of the problem but Dalios ability to amplify it. Instead of writing up his views on the global business landscape for an audience of clients whove bought into his fund and stand to profit from his investment strategy, Dalio is sharing them with the wider world. Thanks to his bestselling 2017 book Principles, Dalio has become something of a celebrity and cult hero to the millions of readers drawn to his leadership philosophy of radical transparency. As a result, Dalios new book could attract an audience far bigger than the usual fans of his macroeconomic missives.

[Hes] a big thinker and brilliant academic disguised as an investment manager. Hank Paulson, former U.S. Treasury Secretary on Ray Dalio.

Those readers may find The Changing World Order to be both eye-opening and potentially frustratingit is more an academic study versus investment playbook. While Dalio inspired readers with his life story and leadership philosophy in Principles, his new book raises alarm bells about problems for which there are no clear solutions. If Dalio has a clear strategy for how to invest and hedge risk in this environment, hes not going to explain it here. After all, creating strategies to build wealth amid seismic global shifts is why companies like Bridgewater exist. Rather, Dalios modus operandi typically is to establish an economic framework (usually in the context of cycles or the economic machine) and then provide key broader principles on how best to navigate the path forward. Anyone who has read Dalios writing on the rise of populism in 2017 or his two-part missive on why capitalism needs to be reformed two years later will be familiar with this approach. If theyre hedge fund investors, theyre used to reading pieces that explain how a manager sees the investment landscape.

In this new book, Dalio offers a deeper analysis and some new tools to measure and navigate the risks. Dalio says he felt compelled to write a book because of how swifty the economic climate has changed. As co-chief investment officer at Bridgewater, he explains, I need to make decisions now. Theres also an altruistic instinct to educate people about whats around the corner. Says Dalio: I'm at a stage in my life where I'm passing along the most important things I've learned, so I decided to put it out as a book for that reason.

Dalio has created a Health Index in the book that rates around a dozen nations on 18 different factors ranging from debt burdens and economic output to military strength and innovation. Its the kind of tool that readers can use themselves to assess risks and form strategies. He plans to create a website for people to assess objective data in real-time, much like doctors do when evaluating patients.

Dalio is as much a student of history as science. As the title suggests, his assessment of the current threats to economic health comes from years of studying the rise and fall of great empires. The U.S. is not the first nation to experience rising debt levels and income inequality while facing diminished power and influence on the world stage. The last time those three things happened was in the 1930 to 1945 period, says Dalio. When they happen together, its a very telling story.

To a boy born in Brooklyn during the post-war baby boom that followed Americas success in World War II, the threat of devastating consequences isnt simply a compelling investment scenario. Its a call to action. Through his writing and conversations with leaders like former U.S. Secretary of State Henry Kissinger and JPMorgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon, Dalio hopes astute leaders and citizens can take action to stave off the worst outcome. The issues, after all, have been percolating for years. It's high time we actually look at these things and take the warnings and deal with it, he says.

As he has done for decades in writing about macroeconomic risk, Dalio is careful to clarify that the exact scope and timing of the risks he sees remain unclear. Much like a hurricane, he explains in the book, knowing the conditions for an economic storm and the signals that one is coming makes it easier to prepare and get out of harms way. Im not interested in making any more money, he says. Im just trying to pass along now the things that have been valuable to me and to help others.

One piece of advice on the safest hedge against whats coming? Not cash!, he exclaims. In early 2020, Dalio caused a stir in Davos by saying cash is trash as people were pulling out of markets amid concerns that included a then-new coronavirus. Dalios argument then, as now, was to diversify across different asset classes, currencies and markets. Betting big on one or two things is rarely a winning strategy.

I worry, too many Bitcoin holders, they better be right that its Bitcoin and its not something else, he says. What youre seeing is in all assets, youre seeing it in real estate, stocks, gold, silver, Bitcoin, and so on. From all of that [economic] stimulation they have all gone up, he says. In his view, many investors overweight U.S. assets at the expense of attractive alternatives. If I were to give it in a nutshell, Id pick countries [to invest in] that are earning more than they are spending so that they have a good income statement and balance sheet.

What youre seeing is in all assets, youre seeing it in real estate, stocks, gold, silver, Bitcoin, and so on. From all of that [economic] stimulation they have all gone up. Ray Dalio, Founder of Bridgewater Associates

And if you want to know more, well buy the book. Dalio says its likely to be his second-last, as he plans to write one more book about economic and investment principles. Once I get past that, I wont have anything to say and Ill be quiet, says Dalio. Maybe so, but that doesnt mean hell abandon his day job anytime soon. I love the game I playthe markets. While he wants to help improve the odds for continued growth in the U.S., Dalio knows theres money to be made when you know how to play what comes next.
Beijing Seeks More Control Over How Its Residents Invest Their Money, Expert Says

China bans new investors from speculating in foreign exchange markets

New Analysis

U.S. stocks have made 10 times more gains in the past decade than Chinas domestic stocks. In preventing further capital outflow, Beijing banned new investors in mainland China from speculating in foreign exchange markets. Experts suggest the regime seeks more control over how its residents invest their money.

According to the monthly market operation report the Chinese central bank released on Feb. 23, the Shanghai Composite Index closed at 3,255.7 points at the end of January, a 5.4 percent increase month-on-month, while the Shenzhen Component Index closed at 12,001.3 points, an 8.9 percent increase month-on-month.

The Shanghai Composite Index (SSE Index) is a stock market index of all stocks traded at the Shanghai Stock Exchange (SSE). It has been released in real time since July 15, 1991, and is one of the most influential indices in Chinas capital markets. Meanwhile, the Shenzhen Component Index (SZSE Index) is an index of 500 stocks traded at the Shenzhen Stock Exchange (SZSE), also a strong point of reference for the Chinese financial markets.

US Stocks Made 10X More Gain Than Chinese Stocks in Over a Decade

On the other hand, the CSI 300 index, launched in April 2005, is a capitalization-weighted index based on the top 300 stocks traded on SSE and SZSE.

The rise and fall of the indices describe the trends of the respective stock markets. While SSE and SZSE Indices reflect the conditions of the specific markets, the CSI 300 Index comprehensively reflects the overall trend of Chinas A-share market.

The CSI 300 closed at 3,204.16 points on Jan. 1, 2010, and 12 years later, on Feb. 1, 2023, it closed at 4,061.05 points, marking a total increase of 856.89 points, or a 27 percent increase, in a 12-year period.

The S&P 500, one of the most followed equity indices measuring the U.S. stock market performance, closed at 1,073.87 on Jan. 1, 2010, and 12 years later, on Feb. 1, 2023, it closed at 4,061.05. The increase was 2,987.18 points, or 278 percent, more than 10 times the gain of Chinas CSI 300 over the same period.

China Bans Cross-Border Brokers to Prevent Capital Outflow

China has targeted cross-border online brokerage firms in a regulatory storm, and now it is making it impossible for onshore investors to open new accounts to speculate in foreign exchange markets.

The China Securities Regulatory Commission (CSRS) began to rectify the cross-border securities business of Futu Holdings and UP Fintech Holding (Tiger Securities) on Dec. 30, 2022.

The ministry claimed that the two companies conducted cross-border securities business for domestic investors without approval, which constituted illegal business operations according to the countrys relevant laws and regulations.

On Feb. 15, the CSRSs spokesperson told reporters that Futu Holdings and Tiger Securities were ordered not to take on new onshore investors or open new accounts for them. Meanwhile, existing onshore clients can still trade via the brokerages, but additional fund transfers, via non-compliant channels, to their accounts will be banned.

The Chinese Communist Party (CCP) wants to control the flow of the funds of ordinary people in China. It has cut off the investment channels of ordinary people, hoping to drive their money back to the Chinese economy through preferred channels, such as the recently launched real estate private equity investment fund, Fang Qi, a UK-based senior Chinese financial specialist, told The Epoch Times on Feb. 24.

He said dual-currency credit cards have also been suspended in addition to the restrictions placed on Futu Holdings and Tiger Securities. Now, this type of credit card can only be settled in Chinese yuan at home and abroad.

The CCP cannot stop the outflow of capital because all foreign-funded enterprises are leaving, such as Apple, Sony, and Toyota, have started moving their industrial supply chains out of the country while temporarily retaining the production capacity in China. They will definitely pull out their funds when they leave, Fang said.

The CCP is more worried that this trend will spread to Taiwanese, Korean, German, or other foreign-based companies operating in mainland China. However, this kind of outflow is inevitable due to geopolitical reasons.

Overseas investment has been withdrawing from the Chinese market on a large scale since 2022.

According to a research report released in December 2022 by Xiong Yi, Chief Economist at Deutsche Bank China, in the first half of 2022, capital outflows from Chinas bond and stock markets had reached $100 billion per month and fell to around $50 billion a month in the second half of the year.

An investor looks at screens showing stock market movements at a securities company in Beijing on Jan. 8, 2016. (Wang Zhao/AFP via Getty Images)

Analysis: There is Rigid Demand for Cross-Border Stock Trading in China

Chinese authorities stipulated that residents in mainland China can only invest indirectly in overseas capital markets through Qualified Domestic Institutional Investors (QDII) or directly buy and sell stocks via cross-boundary investment channels, such as the Shanghai-Hong Kong Stock Connect and Shenzhen-Hong Kong Stock Connect with certain thresholds.

However, Futu Holdings and Tiger Securities have a much lower investment threshold than the stock connects and QDII, with much lower commissions and fewer restrictions.

According to a report in August 2013 by the state-owned China Economic Weekly, at the time, over 300,000 people in China had bypassed the state-approved channels to invest in U.S. stocks. Investors in mainland China had reportedly opened accounts directly with foreign brokers via the internet. Meanwhile, the securities accounts provided by brokerages in Hong Kong allow clients to invest in securities markets in other regions on top of the United States and Hong Kong.

The report said the sentiment to invest in U.S. stocks is high, showing a greater potential than Chinas A-share. And even Chinas Securities Regulatory Commission had a different attitude at the time. It was planning to launch a qualified domestic individual investor system as soon as possible.

But now, the attitude of the Chinese regulator has reversed.

Yang Bo, the founder of Qingbo Tech, a Shanghai-based information technology company, published an article on Fortune China on Feb. 15 titled The supervision of cross-border stock trading has been strengthened. What is the understanding of the overseas stock investment needs of Chinese people?

The article said that although the authorities suspended the opening of new brokerage accounts, the real difficulty lies in the existing clients, and there is a reason why they havent been suspended.

If the trading authority of these brokerage accounts is closed across the board, considering these accounts are in overseas markets, if overseas exchanges do not cooperate [with the new Chinese regulatory rules], I am afraid they will not be able to land, Yang wrote. He is saying that the CCP will not be able to implement them

,,, if the [foreign] exchanges are willing to cooperate, considering that many of these accounts are investment stocks for the company, under the wave of selling, it is unpredictable whether the Hang Seng Tech Index or the Chinese concept stocks that have just come out of the ICU, will experience another sharp drop.

Hang Seng Tech Index represents the 30 largest technology companies listed in Hong Kong.

Yang added that some residents in mainland China need cross-border financial management, such as those who work for technology companies listed on Hong Kong or U.S. stock exchanges. Most of these employees have stock options or even shares of their companies.

Chinese peoples overseas financial management needs are actual needs, including but not limited to cross-border investments such as stocks and real estate. However, under the existing regulatory logic, it is also a gray area. From all kinds of gray or even underground channels to legal channels, I am afraid it is probably a topic that urgently needs in-depth consideration.
Beijing Should Stop Supplying Weapons to Russia and Lift Australian Trade Bans: Foreign Minister

Australian Foreign Minister Penny Wong meeting Chinese Foreign Minister Qin Gang on the sidelines of the G20 summit in New Delhi, India, on March 2, 2023. (AAP Image/Office of the Minister for Foreign Affairs)

Australian Foreign Minister Penny Wong met with her new Chinese counterpart and again urged for the lifting of trade barriers, as well as calling on the regime to stop supplying weapons to Russia.

Following her visit to Beijing in December, Wong met Foreign Minister Qin Gang on the sidelines of the recent G20 summit meeting in New Delhi.

I was grateful for the opportunity to engage on important matters, including trade, human rights and consular matters, as well as Russias invasion of Ukraine, she told reporters in the Indian capital.

She also backed Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyys call for the Chinese regime to do the right thing and stop its supply of weapons to Russia.

The responsibility for what is occurring in Ukraine and its consequent effects on global energy and food insecurity as well as the devastation we are seeing and the suffering of the Ukrainian people, lies at the feet of Russia, Wong said.

Ive previously said that the world does look to China for its responsible leadership when it comes to Ukraine, particularly given its close relationship with Russia.

While trade was high on the agenda, Wong did not provide further details on her trade discussions with Qin, saying it was in line with what had been said previously.

Weve expressed the view that it would be in both countries interests for those trade impediments to be removed, she said.

And while Im not going to go into chapter and verse, you should anticipate that what I said in the meeting was consistent with what I have said publicly.

Beijing placed bans on about $20 billion (US$14 billion) worth of trade goods, including wine, lobster, barley, and coal, in retaliation to the previous Morrison governments call for an independent investigation into the origins of COVID-19.

Former Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull has said Beijing will lift the bans because their trade coercion campaign failed to achieve its goal of forcing Australia to knuckle down.

I would expect these trade sanctions to be lifted. They havent worked, he said. Its cost the wine industry, made no difference to barley  really made no difference to coal at all. Coal prices are at an all-time high.

The trade sanctions had a very modest impact overall. It failed as a counterproductive policy.

Amid the coercion campaign, the Chinese regime also leaked a document listing 14 grievances that the Australian needed to deal with before relations could be restored, including overturning the 5G ban on Huawei and repealing foreign interference laws.

Australian Government Calls for Engagement Despite Difficult Past

Wong continues to claim that both Canberra and Beijing can grow our bilateral relationship while safeguarding our national interests, if we both navigate our differences wisely.

Following the downing of the spy balloon in February, she said that despite concerns about international laws being violated, the Australian government would continue to engage with the Chinese Communist Party (CCP).

We have come to government with a very clear view about the importance of stabilising the relationship with China, and weve taken many steps to seek to achieve that, she said on Feb. 6.

We will cooperate where we can, we will disagree where we must, but well continue to engage in our national interest.

The minister also urged the United States to do the same, believing it to be important that competition does not escalate into conflict.

We share the U.S. concerns about the infringement or the violation of international law, but what we would now encourage is continued dialogue because the world wants a peaceful, stable, prosperous world. And that means the great powers will need to continue to engage, she said.

Meanwhile, Trade Minister Don Farrell said he also received an invitation to meet his Chinese counterpart, indicating that bilateral ties appeared to be improving.

One of the things [Wang Wentao] said at that meeting was that the freeze is over and were moving to a warm spring. I took that as a very positive sign, he told the ABC.

When I go to China, I want to make sure that weve got as much work done to make that a successful visit to ensure that we get things back to a stable working relationship.

This is despite the CCPs long list of human rights abuses and continued violations of international norms.

While the Australian government has continued bring up and advocate for universal human rights with the regime, Beijing has shown no indication or attempt to address these issues, telling Australia not to interfere with their internal affairs.

US and Russia Also Hold Talks

During the sidelines of the G20 summit, the United States and Russia held their highest face-to-face talks since the Ukraine invasion began.

U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken briefly met with Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, but there was no indication of an easing of tensions.

The exchange came amid heightened global tensions surrounding Russias nuclear threats.

[Russian] President Putin has demonstrated zero interest in engaging, saying theres nothing to even talk about unless and until Ukraine accepts, and I quote, the new territorial reality, Blinken said during a press conference.

Despite the failure to achieve consensus on Ukraine, Blinken said it was a promising sign that 18 of the 20 nations had agreed on a statement calling for an end to the war.

For his part, Lavrov said that Russia would continue its military campaign in Ukraine, accused the United States of conducting blackmail, and mocked the U.S. dismissal of a so-called peace plan issued by China which blamed the West for Russias invasion.

Andrew Thornebrooke contributed to this report.
Biden and Germanys Scholz Vow to Support Ukraine As Long as It Takes

President Joe Biden meets with German Chancellor Olaf Scholz in the Oval Office of the White House on March 3, 2023 in Washington. (Win McNamee/Getty Images)

U.S. President Joe Biden is meeting with German Chancellor Olaf Scholz to discuss the war in Ukraine and the challenges posed by Chinas communist regime.

Scholz met Biden in the Oval Office for an extended one-on-one discussion about Russias attempted conquest in Ukraine, during which both leaders reaffirmed their commitment to supplying military and humanitarian aid to Ukraine.

It is really important that we act together, that we organize in lockstep, and that we make it feasible that we can give the necessary support to Ukraine during all this time, Scholz said.

At this time, I think its very important that we give the message that we will continue to do so as long as it takes  and that we are ready also to stay with the Ukrainians as long as it is necessary.

Scholz said that U.S.-German relations were in very good shape, and that the two nations were prepared to follow through on their commitments to help Ukraine defend itself from Russian aggression.

Biden also described the U.S.-German partnership to support Ukraine as working in lockstep, and said that the nations had followed through on their vow to impose costs on Moscow for its hostilities.

We made it clear that if [Russia] moved, we would both respond, Biden said to Scholz. And together we made good on that promise.

Working Hand in Hand to Aid Ukraine



Shortly before the meeting took place, the United States announced a 33rd Presidential Drawdown of security assistance for Ukraine, which has relied heavily on international aid to maintain its defense against Russia.

The new package will provide Ukraine with $400 million worth of artillery systems and munitions, as well as spare parts for the maintenance of damaged equipment, and bring the total amount of U.S. military aid to Ukraine to more than $30 billion since Russias full-scale invasion last year.

The United States is just one nation supporting Ukraines right to sovereignty, A Department of Defense (DOD) statement said.

According to DOD figures, more than 54 countries from around the world have pledged more than 1,000 tanks and other armored vehicles. Theyve delivered or pledged more than 800 artillery systems, and theyve delivered more than 2 million rounds of artillery ammunition and more than 50 advanced Multiple Rocket Launch Systems.

White House National Security Council Coordinator for Strategic Communications John Kirby said that other efforts to deliver military and humanitarian aid to Ukraine relied upon the vital partnership between the United States and Germany.

Scholzs visit, Kirby said, was bound to bring that close relationship even closer.

The visit comes as we mark one year since that invasion started, and were proud of the collective efforts that weve taken together to provide Ukraine with the capabilities they need, Kirby said during a March 2 press briefing.

Weve worked hand in hand with Germany and the Quad, the G7, and allies and partners all over the world, including through the Ukraine Defense Contact Group, to do exactly that.

Kirby said that Biden and Scholz would likely use their time in private discussion to exchange views on the upcoming NATO Summit in Vilnius, Lithuania, in July, as well as other global issues like the challenges posed by communist China.

China Casts Shadow with Possible Russia Support



Scholzs visit comes at a tense time in international relations, as the Biden administration has expressed increasing concern that Chinas communist regime could supply lethal military aid to Russia for its war of conquest.

Kirby noted that Scholz and Biden may discuss the issue in private but underscored that the United States had not seen concrete evidence that the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) has supplied such aid to Russia.

We havent seen the Chinese make this decision, Kirby said. We dont think theyve taken it off the table, but we havent seen them make a decision to go forward.

Despite U.S. reluctance to formally accuse the CCP of providing Russia with arms, various reports have alleged that Beijing is already doing so.

A Feb. 23 report by Der Spiegel claimed that the regime transferred military aviation equipment to Russia by disguising it as civilian technology. Likewise, the report claimed, the regime used intermediaries in the UAE to deliver dual-use drones to Russia for its war.

Relatedly, the CCP has held high-level talks with key Russia ally Belarus and issued a so-called peace plan, which largely regurgitates Russian propaganda claiming the United States and NATO are at fault for the war.

On the issue of lethal aid, a Reuters report citing anonymous government officials claimed that the United States was currently holding backroom discussions with its allies to prepare a suite of sanctions against China should evidence emerge of its malign behavior.

It obviously is very much a situation that were tracking, a senior Biden administration official told reporters before Biden and Scholzs meeting.

Russias war in Ukraine has put China in a difficult position, and every step that China takes toward Russia makes it harder for China.

The official also said that the United States was aligned with the German view and that both nations were ultimately willing to sanction any country that delivered lethal aid to Russia.

The official would neither confirm nor deny the report that such sanctions were already in the works, but said that the United States and Germany had made their opinions known to the CCP.

We have been clear with China from the beginning about our concerns and the implications of providing this kind of support to Russia, the official said.

Chancellor Scholz spoke to his parliament earlier today and similarly said publicly that he was very much cautioning against Chinese support for Russias war in Ukraine and calling on Beijing to use its influence with the Kremlin to encourage Moscow to withdraw from Ukrainian territory.
Biden Finds No Olive Branches on Alaskas North Slope in Pending Willow Decision

Alaskas Republican U.S. Sens. Lisa Murkowski and Dan Sullivan, and Democratic U.S. Rep. Mary Peltola stand together before a contingent of Alaskans who traveled more than 4,000 miles to Washington on March 1 to call on President Joe Biden to approve the state's $8 billion Willow Project. (Madalina Vasiliu/The Epoch Times)

President Joe Biden is stuck between Alaskas North Slope and a hard place in pondering his pending decision to deny or endorse Conoco-Phillips $8 billion Willow Project, the largest new oil field development proposed in the United States in decades.

Among Bidens 2020 campaign pledges was no, no, no more new oil drilling on federal public lands, a key component in his plan to halve the nations carbon emissions by 2030.

But under his administration, federal agencies have defended the massive projects Trump Era approval in court. After a judge stayed the approval in 2021, it endorsed a scaled-down version that would still be the largest single-project oil extraction on federal lands in the nations history.

Approving the compromise three-pad proposal would anger many Lower 48 Democrats and environmental groupsincluding the League of Conservation Voters, Sierra Club, and Earthjusticewhich were among key vote-generators for Bidens presidential campaign.

Alaska state Rep. Josiah Patkotak (I-Barrow) said during its 30-year lifespan, Conoco-Phillips is committed to paying $3.7 billion to communities within the National Petroleum Reserve Alaska. (Madalina Vasiliu/The Epoch Times)

Opponents have launched a #StopWillow petition blitz, convincing more than 50 million Tik-Tok respondents to demand the president kills the project.

Nixing the reapproval would equally enrage a bipartisan amalgamation of conservatives, who see it as vital for national energy security, and a majority of Alaskans, including many from Democrat-leaning constituencies such as trade union members, Native Americans, and Alaska Natives along the North Slope, who say it would benefit, not harm, their communities and subsistence lifestyle.

Both chambers of the Alaska Legislature have unanimously adopted a resolution approving the Willow Project, Gov. Mike Dunleavy is a proponent, and the states congressional delegationRepublican Sens. Lisa Murkowski and Dan Sullivan, and Democratic Rep. Mary Peltolasupport the project.

On March 1, an amazing constellation of Alaska royalty including state lawmakers, union representatives, Native Americans, and Alaskan Natives joined Murkowski, Sullivan, and Peltola in Washington to call on Biden to approve Willow.

When we talk about environmental justice and protecting the environment, U.S. Alaskan Natives are part of that environment, we always have been and we always will be, Rep. Josiah Patkotak (I-Barrow) said.

Were asking the president, his cabinet, all of those involved in the decision-making process, to keep that in mind because, if theres any good highlight to environmental social governance (ESG), this Willow project represents that.

Texas-based Conoco-Phillips proposed Willow Project is within the 23 million-acre National Petroleum Reserve-Alaska (NPRA) on Alaskas North Slope. (Courtesy Conoco-Phillips)

The Biden administration must listen to Alaskas indigenous voices, said Dorian Levitz, natural resources director for the Inupiat community of Arctic Slope. Not supporting and passing Willow would not be in support of our indigenous people.

Mr. President, hear our voices, this is a no-brainer on so many fronts, Sullivan beseeched. Mr. President, if youre for the working men and women of this country, this is a no-brainerplease let us produce American oil with American workers.

Alaska AFL-CIO president Joelle Hall, who represents 55 unions and 55,000 workers, called the gathering quite an interesting event.

This is management and labor, Alaska Native corporations, all manner of Alaska organizations standing together, asking the same questionPut us to work, put us to work, she said. Mr. President, we want to build this job. We want to build for American security. We want to build American jobs.

Job-Generating Carbon Bomb

The proposed Willow Project is within the nations largest expanse of federal public landsthe 23-million-acre National Petroleum Reserve-Alaska (NPRA)on leases granted Conoco-Phillips by the U.S. Bureau of Land Management (BLM) since 1999.

The compromise outlines three 12-acre gravel pads across 556 acres. Each pad, where the projects 300 workers will live, has a 55-square-mile horizontal drilling radius at 22,000 feet deep. The company plans to extent pad drilling radius to 154-square-miles, and go as deep as 37,000 feet below the tundra, during the projects 30-year lifespan.

Texas-based Conoco-Phillips will spend up to $8 billion to build the roads, pipelines, and 219 wells that will stem downward from the three pads that will require hiring 2,500 Alaskan construction workers, the toughest humans on the planet, Hall said.

Vice President Kamala Harris (C) and special presidential envoy for climate John Kerry (L) watch as President Joe Biden signs executive orders related to climate change, including one directing a pause on new oil and natural gas leases on public land, on Jan. 27, 2021. (Mandel Ngan/AFP via Getty Images)

The company forecasts Willow will produce up to 180,000 barrels of oil a day, about 1.5 percent of total U.S. oil production. Over its three-decade lifespan, it will produce more than 600 million barrels of oil and generate up to $17 billion in revenues for the federal government, Alaska, the North Slope Borough, and North Slope communities, Conoco-Phillips maintains.

Opponents call the Willow Project a carbon bomb noting, by the BLMs analysis, it would produce enough oil to release 9.2 million metric tons of carbon into the atmosphere a year, the equivalent to the combined emissions of 2 million gas-powered cars.

Over the course of 30 years, the BLM calculates, Willow would release an estimated 278 million metric tons of carbon, which opponents say is more than 70 coal-fired power plants could produce every year.

Any Day Now

Conoco-Phillips submitted its initial five-pad proposal in 2018. It was approved by the Trump administrations Department of the Interior (DOI) in October 2020.

Earthjustice was among the groups that legally challenged the BLMs environmental impact statement (EIS) approving the project. The Biden administrations Justice Department defended the EIS in court proceedings.

In August 2021, a federal judge stayed approval and returned the EIS to the BLM for revision, ordering it be ready within 18 months.

The BLM issued its renewed review on Feb. 1, recommending in its preferred alternative to the original approval that Willow be re-approved, but scaled back from five to three pads.

Alaska U.S. Sen. Dan Sullivan warns President Joe Biden that trying to have it both waysapproving the Willow Project, but scaling it back to a financially infeasible two padswould be a deceitful avoidance of making a tough decision and will elicit a landslide of lawsuits. (Madalina Vasiliu/The Epoch Times)

The BLMs recommendation prompted the DOI to issue a statement identifying substantial concerns with Willow, including direct and indirect greenhouse gas emissions and impacts to wildlife and Alaska Native subsistence.

The DOI said BLMs preferred alternative does not constitute a decision about whether to approve the Willow Project, which it said will be made by Secretary of the Interior Deb Haaland.

Following a 30-day public comment period after the BLM published its revised EIS on Feb. 1, which expired on March 2, a decision could come anytime in the coming days.

And that decision wont come from Haalands DOI office in the Stewart Lee Udall Building in Washingtons Foggy Bottom neighborhood but from the Oval Office in the White House.

Two-Pad Deal-Killer Ahead?

There is widespread speculation based on alleged comments from unnamed White House officials that Biden may approve the project, but further reduce it to two pads while imposing a new ban on drilling in the Arctic Ocean off Alaskas North Slope and implementing a range of mitigative efforts across the state.

Proponents argue that by reducing the Willow Project to two pads, the Biden administration would be trying to have it both waysa deceitful approach that technically approves the project, but makes it economically unviable.

If they go to two pads, we have told them we will view it 100 percent as a full denial, Sullivan said. Conoco has made it clear it would not be economically viable, and we have warned the White House: Dont try to be cute.

They seem to be agonizing over whether or not they should allow for a reapproval. This is a reapproval. There is nothing to agonize here, Murkowski said.

This is about security for America, security for Alaskans. Get off the dime, administration, approve the Willow Project. It shouldnt be this hard. Its doing the right thing. Thats what were asking the Biden administration to do.

Sullivan said a denial or reduction to two pads will elicit legal challenges. Of course, regardless what the decision, lawsuits are guaranteedEarthjustice already has a new suit teed up.

Conoco-Phillips pays $100 million annually in lease payments and has invested more than $600 million into Willow Project exploration and development.

So this is not some kind of whim that [the administration] can just say, You know, were not going to do it, Sullivan said. They have an obligation under law to do this. And thats why were all here saying approve the EIS that the Biden administration scientists have already approved.

Denying the project would be buckling to radical environmental groups that are demanding Biden kill this one, he said, which would serve no purpose other than the display of political power.

Denial of this project would be horrible for America, Alaska, our environment, our workers, Sullivan said.

And again, it would make no sense. It wouldnt be based on any science. It would be based on raw political power, that people are trying to influence the president and others to kill the project. And unfortunately, two pads would win the day on killing the project.
Biden Says He Will Visit East Palestines Toxic Train Derailment Site At Some Point

President Joe Biden said on Thursday that he would travel to East Palestine, Ohio, to see the site of the Feb. 3 train derailment and subsequent environmental and health disaster at some point.

Biden made the comment to reporters when asked if he had plans to visit the town as he was leaving a lunch with Senate Democrats, ABC News reported.

Ive spoken with every official in OhioDemocrat and Republicanon a continuous basis, as in Pennsylvania, Biden said. I laid out a little bit  what I think the answers are, and we will be implementing an awful lot into the legislation here.

And I will be out there at some point, he said before abruptly turning away. He didnt elaborate on when.

Bidens statement comes hours after Republican Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine urged Biden to visit East Palestine as residents concerns grow over their health and uncertainty about the federal governments long-term commitment to their safety.

He should come; theres no doubt about it, DeWine told Fox and Friends on March 2. He needs to come. The people want to see the president. He should be there.

However, Biden had previously said as recently as last week that he had no immediate plans to visit the village where 5,000 residents are suffering from adverse health effects and displacement as a result of the disaster.

At this point, Im not, Biden told a group of reporters on the White House lawn last week when asked if he was planning on traveling to East Palestine.

The president went on to say in his defense that hed had a long meeting with my team as to what theyre doing on Zoom and have spoken with every single major figure in both Pennsylvania and Ohio.

I mean, we were there two hours after the train went down, two hours  and so, the idea that were not engaged is simply not there, Biden added.

DeWine told Fox that the last time he had actually spoken with Biden was over two weeks ago when the president was in Poland during his surprise visit to Ukraine. There, he pledged $500 million in aid and to reaffirm to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy his unwavering and unflagging commitment to Ukraines democracy, sovereignty, and territorial integrity.

While in Poland, He called me directly, DeWine told Fox. Ive talked to him several times. I do talk to the White House, you know, on issues, things that were trying to get done.

When Fox asked if the president has given him any explanation for why he hasnt shown up, the governor simply said, No.

I just think now is the time, DeWine continued. The president needs to come. Its just important.

Republican criticism has only intensified since Biden went to Europe, yet didnt, in the four weeks since disaster struck, take the relatively short trip to the Northeast Ohio town.

Former President Donald Trumps Feb. 22 visit to the village to donate food and water and show his support has only added fuel to the growing discontent.

On Feb. 28, Rep. Bill Johnson (R-Ohio), who represents the congressional district that includes East Palestine, blasted Biden during a press conference for remaining conspicuously silent, calling it past time for him to make the short trip to East Palestine and show up for the 5,000 Americans who call that little, small Appalachian village home.

You pride yourself on your Lunch Bucket Joe nickname and tout your blue-collar Scranton, Pennsylvania, roots, but Mr. President, there is nowhere more blue collar than Northeast Ohio, and no people more deserving of hearing directly from their president right now than the residents of East Palestine, he said.

They want comfort, they want to know you care, and they want your assurance that the federal government will see this cleanup through long after the cameras go away.

East Palestine Mayor Trent Conaway has long criticized Biden for his lack of personal support and presence, telling Foxs Jesse Watters on Presidents Day that he was furious when he saw Biden all the way in Ukraine giving millions of dollars away to people over there and not to us.

That was the biggest slap in the face, he said.

U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Administrator Michael Regan was the first Biden administration official to visit East Palestine on Feb. 16, nearly two weeks after the incident, and it took nearly three weeks for U.S. Department of Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg to show up on Feb. 23.

From NTD News
Biden Should Not Surrender American Sovereignty to WHO: Rep. Smith

Rep. Chris Smith speaks as US Secretary of State Antony Blinken testifies before the House Committee on Foreign Affairs in Washington on March 10, 2021. (Ken Cedeno/POOL/AFP via Getty Images)

Rep. Chris Smith (R-N.J.) has warned the Biden administration not to hand over U.S. sovereignty to the World Health Organization (WHO) as negotiations move forward for a global pandemic accord for its member nations.

The Biden Administration must not empower bureaucrats of the WHOa troubled United Nations body that took disastrous missteps in the initial stages of the COVID-19 outbreakwith a new binding agreement that would tie our hands in the event of a future pandemic, Smith said in a March 2 statement.

Smith added, Many American citizens remain rightfully alarmed that the Biden Administration is poised to cede our US sovereignty to a corrupt UN bureaucracy and its Chinese-backed Director-General, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesusand I share their grave concerns.

The WHO repeated the Chinese regimes talking points and praised its response during the early months of the COVID-19 outbreak. In one example the health body repeated Beijings claim that the virus causing COVID-19 was not contagious, despite an email warning from Taiwan.

Read More INFOGRAPHIC: How the Chinese Regime Colluded With WHO During the Pandemic

Another example was their shared stance against travel restrictions. On Jan. 30, 2020, the WHO announced that it does not recommend any travel or trade restriction based on the current information available. Beijing then used the WHOs recommendation to criticize the United States for raising a travel advisory on China.

The Biden Administration must commit to protecting US sovereignty and not cede decision-making to global elites who seek to override the American people, Smith added.

Instead of subjecting our great American government to an agenda-driven global bureaucracy, the Biden Administration must push for top-to-bottom reform at the WHO starting with the immediate ouster of Tedrossomething I have repeatedly argued that is urgently needed now more than ever, he concluded.

In response to Smiths statement, a State Department spokesperson told The Epoch Times in an email that the Biden administration will not support any measure at the World Health Organization, including in these negotiations, that in any way undermines U.S. sovereignty or security.

We will never compromise the right of American citizens to make their own health care decisions, the spokesperson said. Any accord resulting from these negotiations would be designed to increase the transparency and effectiveness of cooperation among nations during global pandemics and would in no way empower the World Health Organization or any other international body to impose, direct, or oversee national actions.

WHO Accord

The United States and other WHO member states set up an Intergovernmental Negotiating Body (INB) in December 2021, with the aim of drafting an agreement to strengthen pandemic prevention, preparedness and response.

The Zero Draft of the agreement (pdf), known as WHO CA+, was released on Feb. 1. The INB is holding a meeting this week and another in April to consider the draft, and the body will issue a report on the development of the accord to the 76th World Health Assembly in May, with a final report expected in 2024.

The draft agreement says it recognizes the central role of WHO as the directing and coordinating authority on international health work, including pandemic prevention, preparedness, response and health systems recovery at national, regional and international levels.

According to the text of the draft agreement, the WHO would appear not to have authority over member nations domestic pandemic policies.

States have, in accordance with the Charter of the United Nations and the principles of international law, the sovereign right to determine and manage their approach to public health, notably pandemic prevention, preparedness, response and recovery of health systems, pursuant to their own policies and legislation, provided that activities within their jurisdiction or control do not cause damage to their peoples and other countries, the draft agreement reads. Sovereignty also covers the rights of States over their biological resources.

Read More US Committed to WHO Pandemic Accord, Ambassador Says

The Biden administration has also denied that the draft agreement will give the health body any authority over U.S. health policies.

It is false to claim that the World Health Organization has now, or will have by virtue of these activities, any authority to direct U.S. health policy or national health emergency response actions, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services wrote in a statement to the press.

The department added, The WHO has no such enforcement mechanisms, and its non-binding recommendations to member states are just that: non-binding. Any associated actions at the national level will remain reserved to sovereign states, including the United States.

Legislation

Many Republicans have recently introduced legislation aiming to protect U.S. sovereignty against the WHO.

On Feb. 15, Sens. Marsha Blackburn (R-Tenn.), Ron Johnson (R-Wis.), Thom Tillis (R-N.C.), and several of their GOP colleagues introduced a bill titled No WHO Pandemic Preparedness Treaty Without Senate Approval Act.

This legislation would require any convention or agreement resulting from the work of the [WHOs] intergovernmental negotiating body be deemed a treaty, requiring the advice and consent of a supermajority of the Senate, according to a statement accompanying the legislation.

On Feb. 28, Sen. Jim Risch (R-Idaho), ranking member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, along with 14 of his GOP colleagues, introduced a Senate resolution, with a similar aim of preventing the president from ceding U.S. sovereignty to the WHO and other entities.

The United States is a sovereign nation that cannot cede power to the deeply-flawed World Health Organization for any future health emergency. The WHO failed to hold China accountable for the global spread of COVID-19, which killed over 1 million Americans and thousands of Idahoans, Risch said.

This resolution makes clear the Senate must approve an international agreementin any formthat requires new or expanded legal obligations in the U.S.

This article has been updated with a comment from the State Department.
Big Lies, Big Data, and the Rise of Bigger Brother

Commentary

The Guardians Oliver Wainwright recently discussed a new international socialist conspiracy that has taken the world by storm.

Fringe forces of the far left, he noted, are plotting to take away our freedom to be stuck in traffic jams, to crawl along clogged ring roads and trawl the streets in search of a parking spot.

The name of this chilling global movement? he asked, sarcastically and somewhat contemptuously: The 15-minute city.

Wainwright believes that these cities are simply part of a mundane planning theory. Hes wrong.

A few days after Wainwrights piece was published, three academics called 15-minute cities (FMCs) the hottest conspiracy theory of 2023. In a truly elitist manner, they poked fun at those who dared to question the motive behind FMCs.

One neednt be a card-carrying QAnon member to have fears over these Trojan-like creations. Before going any further, its important to get our definitions in order. As the political scientist Kelly M. Greenhill has noted, not all conspiracy theories are wacky, and not all conspiracy theories are wrong. Take the Watergate conspiracy theory, for instance, or the fact that Edith Wilson made most of the executive decisions after her husband, President Woodrow Wilson, suffered a stroke.

Quite often conspiracy theories turn out to be accurate.

Also known as smart cities, FMCs are places where everything imaginable, from your place of work to your favorite pizzeria, is accessible either by foot or bike (not by car, though; theyll be verboten) in 15 minutes or less. Whats so bad about this?

On first inspection, very little. We are, after all, creatures of comfort. We live in a world where the mantra too long, didnt read (TL;DR) now reigns supreme. We crave convenience; we crave expediency. However, expediency isnt always a good thing; sometimes its downright dangerous. This is especially true when people, either consciously or otherwise, trade their freedom for ease of access to certain services.

While FMCs may make it easier for citizens to get from A to B, these creations will also make it easier for those in power to spy on us, harvest our data, and enable Big Brother to become Bigger Brother.

As I write this, FMCs are being actively championed by the World Economic Forum (WEF), the group behind the Great Reset and the idea of owning nothing, having absolutely no privacy, and being very happy. This fact alone should concern all readers.

Want to discuss the WEF?

To many, Im sure FMCs sound incredibly cool. But dont be fooled by the name. FMCs are actually smart cities. As Ive noted elsewhere, the word smart is really just a synonym for surveillance. These ultra-modern, tech-saturated monstrosities use hundreds of thousands of sensors to vacuum up copious amounts of personal data. FMC policies are currently being rolled out in cities such as Barcelona, Spain; Bogota, Colombia; Melbourne, Australia; Paris; and the dystopian wasteland known as Portland, Oregon. What do these cities have in common? Surveillance technology.

Between now and 2040, cities all across the United States (and beyond) are predicted to spend trillions of dollars on the installation of additional cameras and biometric sensors. Sure, surveillance is bad now. But, as Randy Bachman famously hollered, you aint seen nothing yet.

By 2050, more than two-thirds of the worlds population will live in closely surveilled urban centers, like glorified rats in cramped cages. Contrary to popular belief, we no longer live in a panoptic society. When Jeremy Bentham, the English philosopher and social theorist, put forward the idea of this prison system, there was no internet. In truth, there werent even cars. We now live in a post-panoptic worlda digital panopticon, if you willwith huge social media platforms collecting personal user data before selling it to the highest bidder.

The companies running these platforms often work closely with government officials, identifying supposed sinners and punishing them in the swiftest of manners. As the writer Kylie Lynch has noted, these companies know absolutely everything about you; they have instant access to your browser history, your activity online, and now, rather worryingly, even your biometrics. Not surprisingly, these Big Tech companies will have a big impact on the FMCs of the future by providing the underlying digital infrastructure needed to monitor us and ensure mass compliance.

FMCs are wolves in sheeps clothing. Dont believe the countless stories telling you otherwise. It has become common for elitist, mainstream media outlets to poke fun at those who dare to question the we have your best interests at heart narratives. Weve been burned too many times before.

Views expressed in this article are the opinions of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of The Epoch Times.
Bill Prohibiting Ranked Choice Voting Narrowly Passes In Arizona Senate

Arizona Democrat Gov. Katie Hobbs (R) pauses during taking the oath of office in a ceremony as she laughs with her mother Linda Hobbs, as U.S. Circuit Judge for the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals Roopali Desai (L) administers the oath at the state Capitol in Phoenix, on Jan. 2, 2023. (Ross D. Franklin, Pool/AP Photo)

A Republican-sponsored bill prohibiting Ranked Choice Voting (RCV) in Arizona passed in the state Senate by a slim majority vote on Feb. 28.

All 16 Republicans in the GOP-dominated chamber voted in favor of the bills adoption, with 13 Democrats voting against it. One Democrat abstained from voting.

SB1265 seeks to prohibit RCV in Arizona while maintaining the status quo of candidates receiving the most legal votes in an election being the declared winner.

Arizona Sen. Anthony Kern, the bills lead Republican sponsor, said the legislation would prevent confusion voting in Arizonas elections.

Map of states and U.S. cities using ranked-choice voting (SOURCE: FairVote)

RCV is an alternative voting method where voters can rank their preferred candidates in order of preference, according to an Arizona State Senate press release.

In RCV, if no candidate receives a majority of the first-choice votes, the candidate with the fewest votes is eliminated, and their votes are redistributed based on the voters second choice. This process continues until a candidate receives a majority of votes.

This can be confusing for voters, is more difficult to administer, and may always result in the candidate with the most first-choice votes winning the election, Kern said in a statement.

In addition, implementing RCV may require substantial changes to the electoral process and may be impractical in some jurisdictions. I am aware that there are groups in Arizona advocating for RCV, but this will only lead to chaos, and we must ensure that our constituents have easy and fair access to the ballot box.

The bill now goes before the Arizona House for reading and a vote. The House has 31 Republicans and 29 Democrats.

A favorable vote will send the legislation to Gov. Katie Hobbs for her signature or veto.

More than 60 jurisdictions across the United States have adopted RCV, including Maine and Alaska, in federal elections.

Arizona Senate Minority Leader Raquel Teran, a Democrat, did not respond immediately to a request for comment from The Epoch Times.

In the meantime, Hobbs announced that she is committing $500,000 through fund-raising to flipping the Arizona House and Senate blue in 2024.

Team Hobbs states, GOP legislators are sending widely out-of-touch, do-nothing bills to Katies desk [which, thankfully, she can veto!] that arent addressing the pressing issues Arizonans are facing.

In 2024, Democrats have the once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to finally retake control of the legislature if we win just two more seats in both chambers.

Hobbs announced the effort in association with the Arizona Democratic Legislative Campaign Committee (ADLCC).

As the ADLCC maps out their strategy to flip the state House and Senate blue, theyll need the support of this grassroots team to get the job done.
Blinken Stalling Congress on Withdrawal From Afghanistan: Rep. McCaul

U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken delivers a speech during a visit at the Romanian Athenaeum in Bucharest, Romania, on Nov. 29, 2022. (Vadim Ghirda/Pool/AFP via Getty Images)

Secretary of State Anthony Blinken has not fully complied with a request for information on the U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan made by the House Foreign Relations Committee, according to Chairman Michael T. McCaul (R-Texas).

Similar requests were made to Blinken and four other administration officials by the House Committee on Oversight and Accountability, but its unclear whether or not they have responded.

McCaul had requested the information be provided by Jan. 26 but said on March 3 that only two small document productions had been provided and that those had been redacted in a way that severely limited their usefulness.

McCaul repeated his request for three pieces of information in a March 3 letter (pdf) to Blinken. According to McCaul, this material has been requested multiple times dating back to August 2021:

1. The Dissent Channel cable reportedly sent on July 13, 2021, by 23 State Department officials and the Departments response to it; 2. The After-Action Report prepared under Ambassador Daniel Smith; and 3. Two iterations of U.S. Embassy Kabuls Emergency Action Plan (EAP): The one in existence on January 1, 2021, and the final iteration of the plan before the Embassys closure.

Taliban terrorists walk in front of a military plane a day after the U.S. troop withdrawal from Hamid Karzai International Airport in Kabul, Afghanistan, on Aug. 31, 2021. (Stringer/Reuters)

McCaul quoted a portion of federal law to the Secretary of State related to cooperation with congressional oversight.

The Department of State shall keep the Committee on Foreign Relations of the Senate and the Committee on Foreign Affairs of the House of Representatives fully and currently informed with respect to all activities and responsibilities within the jurisdiction of these committees. Any Federal department, agency, or independent establishment shall furnish any information requested by either such committee relating to any such activity or responsibility. [Emphasis in the McCaul letter.]

Request From Oversight Chair

On behalf of the Oversight Committee, Chairman James Comer (R-Ky.) queried the Departments of State, Defense, and Homeland Security, the administrator of USAID, and the presidents national security adviser, for similar information on the U.S. withdrawal.

We are concerned that the Biden Administration continues to delay long-overdue transparency to the American people about the disastrous Afghanistan withdrawal and evacuation, Comer wrote to each official on Feb. 17, requesting that specific documents be produced by March 3.

A State Department spokesperson told The Epoch Times: While the State Department generally does not comment on Congressional correspondence, we are aware of this inquiry, and the State Department is committed to working with all Congressional committees with jurisdiction to appropriately accommodate their legitimate need for information to help them conduct oversight for legislative purposes.

The Department of Homeland Security would not say whether the agency had responded to Comer. DHS responds to Congressional correspondence directly via official channels, and the Department will continue to respond appropriately to Congressional oversight, a department spokesperson told The Epoch times on March 3.

The Pentagon likewise refused to say whether the Secretary of Defense had responded to Comers request. As with all congressional correspondence, we will respond directly to the authors of the letter, a spokesperson told The Epoch Times.

USAID did not respond to a question about whether it had replied to Comers request, nor did the White House respond when asked if Jake Sullivan, the presidents national security adviser, had replied to Comer.
How to prepare the northern Italian region's famed meat-heavy ragu, the traditional way, according to a local cooking instructor

I dont know why the name Bolognese became so famous, because the recipe you have in your country is not exactly what we call ragu, says Barbara Zaccagni. She is not only a gourmet cooking instructor and founder of a cooking schoolIl Salotto di Penelopebut also lives and teaches in Bologna, Italy. First of all, we [the people of Bologna] dont eat spaghetti with meatballs.

A century or more ago, the vast majority of the Italian immigration to America was from the poorer southSicily, Napoli, Calabriawhere dry pasta and tomato sauces were the norm. We say ragu; they say sugo, she explains. Ours is based on meat. There is tomato, but just a little bit. Our ragu is drier, and not so red. Not swimming in tomato sauce.

At cooking school Il Salotto di Penelope in Bologna, Italy, founder and instructor Barbara Zaccagni shares her home regions dishes with her students. (Kevin Revolinski)

Authentic Ingredients

At the heart of Bolognese sauce is a 50-50 blend of ground beef and ground pork. Many recipes also call for milk in the sauce, but as Zaccagni points out, this was a dish of the common people. Often the choicest cuts of meat werent going into it, so the milk was often added to tenderize. She leaves it out of her recipe.

But the meat sauce begins with veggies: soffritto, an aromatic blend of diced onions, carrots, and celery, slowly sauteed in olive oil or butterbasically the Italian version of French mirepoix. This is more of a brunoise, she says, considering the comparison: Its the same vegetable blend but finerjulienned and then diced. She shrugs, Doesnt matter.

Soffritto means fried. This is fried in a type of fat. We dont care what kind of fat, whether butter, olive oil, or even some fat rendered out of pancetta in a pan. But then she gets specific again: There is no garlic! We do not use the onion, or in particular, the garlic, as you do! Garlic too is more of a southern influence. It lends its flavor a bit more quickly in the pan, while with soffritto, you need more time45 minutes or one hourbut the taste is more complete.

One might expect extra-virgin olive oil for the fat, and indeed, Zaccagnis recipe calls for it. But the south is better suited for olive trees while northern cooking often relies more on the use of butter. In her region of Emilia-Romagna, pork is famous (see prosciutto of Parma, a city just west of Bologna), so Zaccagni shares that option as well: Skip the ground pork in the meat mix, but then cube up some pancetta (salt-cured and dried pork belly) and render out the fat in the pan before stirring in the soffritto ingredients. In any case, the soffritto is browned in the fat, before she adds that 50-50 blend of ground beef and pork and browns that as well, stirring constantly.

Next comes the wine. Red wine is in general better than the white wine, because it matches better with the red meat. It is usually less acidic. Sangiovese is a common variety in her region. And it must be something you would drink! It can even be an opened bottle left in the fridge for a week, but dont use a cooking wine; Zaccagni says that really isnt good for anything at all. Simmer long enough that the alcohol cooks off, about three or four minutesyour nose knows.

Then theres that bit of tomato paste. In Italy, it comes in varying concentrations, and Zaccagni uses a triple concentrate. In the United States, we often get tiny six-ounce cans at the grocery store, when so many recipes call for merely a tablespoon, leaving so much to grow moldy in the back of the fridge. Look for the tube variety that can be dispensed like toothpaste and recapped so you can use it for the next recipe.

The sauce starts with a soffritto, meaning fried, is an aromatic blend of diced onions, carrots, and celery, slowly sauteed in fat. (Kevin Revolinski)

Perfecting the Pasta

From there, its the long cooking. The typical recipe you have to cook really slowly, Zaccagni saystwo to three hours. During this process, the ragu will simmer down and can burn if you dont periodically tend to it. But rather than adding beef broth to keep the liquid level up, she uses only hot water. Broth becomes more and more concentrated, which makes the ragu too salty; she recommends ragu without any added salt in the recipe, adding it to taste only at the very end.

Also, the added water needs to be hot; cold water wont do because it shocks the pan, potentially warping or damaging even expensive cookware, and slowing the cooking. Keep a pot of hot water on another burner and add just enough to keep the ragu from burning.

Thicker sauces such as Bolognese want more surface area from the pasta choice, so spaghetti doesnt cut it. The name on an Italian menu says it all: tagliatelle alla Bolognese. Traditionally, the dish is served with tagliatelle, a flat, ribbon-like pasta cut long like fettuccine but just a bit wider, about a third of an inch. Tagliatelle contains some semolina along with typical flour and eggs, which are often absent from southern-style pastas. Another option is pappardelle, which is even wider (about an inch) but thinner than tagliatelle.

The pasta should be cooked al dente, and the sauce and pasta are finished together in the pan, with a bit of starchy pasta water so that the sauce thickens a bit and sticks better to the noodles.

The resulting sauce is slightly thick, and will thicken further when mixed with the pasta and a little starchy pasta cooking water right before serving. (Kevin Revolinski)

Traditional Ragu di Bolognese

Serves 6

Extra-virgin olive oil

1 cup (50 grams) finely diced carrot

1 cup (50 grams) finely diced celery

1 cup (50 grams) finely diced onion

10 1/2 ounces (300 grams) ground beef

10 1/2 ounces (300 grams) ground pork

1/2 glass red wine

2 teaspoons (30 grams) tomato triple extract

Hot water (or vegetable or meat stock)

Salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste

If you prefer, you can skip the ground pork and use 5 ounces (150 grams) of pancetta, while increasing the ground beef to 15 ounces (450 grams) for a total of 21 ounces (600 grams) of meat.

If you decide to use the pancetta, cut it into cubes and render it over medium heat in the pan. Otherwise, start with some olive oil. Add the finely diced vegetables and let them soften over low heat.

Add the ground meat, mix together, and leave it until it sizzles and browns a bit. Add the wine and let simmer until the alcohol has evaporated. Now add the tomato paste, and stir it into the meat with a little hot water.

Turn the heat to low and let the sauce simmer for about 2 1/2 to 3 hours. Keep a pot of water warm on another burner, and regularly stir hot water into the sauce as neededjust enough to keep it from drying out and burning.

Salt to taste and add freshly ground pepper. Serve this with tagliatelle, preferably made fresh with egg, cooked to al dente and mixed together with the sauce and a little pasta cooking water in the pannot on the plate.

Adapted from a recipe from Il Salotto di Penelope.

The writer was hosted by Il Salotto di Penelope and Emilia-Romagna Turismo.
Republican congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene made a transparently stupid mistake yesterday, trying to blame President Joe Biden for fentanyl deaths that occurred during the administration of Donald Trump, his predecessor. He did not resist the invitation to mock her today.

While sharing the clip, Greene claimed that "both of [Kiessling's] son's murders" were caused by "the Biden administrations refusal to secure our border," an impossibility since the Biden administration did not exist at the time.  During a speech at a gathering of Democrats in Maryland on Wednesday, Biden mocked Greene while speaking about bipartisanship, provoking laughter from the crowd by suggesting that Republicans would flock to become Democrats if there were more GOP lawmakers like Greene.

"You know, a little bit more Marjorie Taylor Greene, a few more and you're gonna have a lot of Republicans running our way," Biden said while chuckling. "Isn't she amazing? Oof!"
Candace Owens Urges CPAC: No Middle Ground on Leftist Policies That Hurt Families

WASHINGTON, D.C.A lot of leftist policies seem nonsensical and unrelated, but conservative activist Candace Owens says she has found the common thread among them. She also advocates an uncompromising stance when confronting these issues.

When conservatives consider the agenda items being pushed, We look up and we go, How? Why? Owens told the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) on March 2.

The truth is that their intentions are to go after the one thing that stands between them and absolute power, and that is the family unit, she said, drawing a round of applause from the crowd at the Gaylord National Resort & Convention Center.

Owens described how three leftist agenda items undermine the American family, a reality that became more apparent to her recently. During the past five years, she became a married mother of two children.

The first issue Owens cited was climate change. Humans are being blamed for causing environmental temperature changes that threaten our planets existence. In connection with that, children are being taught that it would be irresponsible for them to become parents, adding to the alleged burden on the climate, Owens said.

The second was transgenderism, a trend that also hurts the family, she said. It encourages people to mutilate their bodies so that they cannot reproduce, Owens said. What better way to annihilate families?

The third was feminism, which she said espouses a hatred of men, while also encouraging women to be just like men and to climb the corporate ladder, Owens said. Women are told they shouldnt worry about their children because the government will raise them, Owens said.

Damage to Society

Parenting duties are therefore being shifted to the Department of Education, which, by the way, should be abolished, Owens said, drawing more applause.

This has larger negative effects on society, too, she said.

Youre telling men that any demonstration of masculinity is wrong and backward, producing a society where they want men like dogs with their tails between their legs, Owens said.

This is the goal of the left, she said, because they know that there is no society that can survive without strong men, and there is no family that can survive without both strong men and strong women committed to their children.

Non-Negotiable

As she wrapped up her 17-minute speech, Owens told the crowd that certain issues in the battle between the right and left should be non-negotiable.

If you are somebody who believes that we need to meet and sit down and break bread with the left on these various topics, to figure out how we can come together, we dont need you, Owens declared. We need fighters.

The audience clapped upon hearing that.

Owens said that there can be no compromise on issues of morality, particularly with regard to children.

There is no middle ground on transgenderism. There is no middle ground on child grooming. There is no middle ground on coming up with fluffy terms for pedophilia. There is no middle ground, she said. And if you are offended because some of us have the courage to say what needs to be said, we simply dont need you. We dont need you.

She drew cheers by ending her speech on a strong note: I will never stop fighting, myself, especially when it comes to family.

Other Strong Conservative Voices

As the conference heads into its second full day on March 3, former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo is among the headliners. He had originally been scheduled to speak on March 2.

Also on the agenda are the two candidates who have announced they will challenge former President Donald Trump as they seek the Republican nomination for president: former U.S. ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley and entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy. Trump is scheduled to speak on March 4.

Other March 3 speakers include Reps. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.), Matt Gaetz (R-Fla.), and James Comer (R-Ky.), chairman of the House Oversight Committee; Trumps son, Donald Trump Jr.; people who were prosecuted for protesting election integrity at the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021; and Chloe Cole, a California teen who became nationally known for disavowing gender-transition procedures she underwent.
The Department of Justice says former President Donald Trump will not have absolute immunity from civil lawsuits in connection to the Jan. 6 Capitol breach.

The Senate passed a bill to declassify intelligence on the origin of COVID-19. What are lawmakers saying, and how is the White House responding?

A House Republican says some countries use their media outlets as a tool for espionage in the United States.

AI technology, such as ChatGPT, is gaining prominence. A tech expert joins us to discuss some concerns regarding this new technology and walking the tightrope of regulation.

A new poll shows what Americans think about President Joe Bidens age and whether hes too old to run again. He would be 86 by the time a second term in the White House would end.

Liz Cheney was voted out of Congress this past election cycle, but the former Wyoming congresswoman is not headed for Virginia.
CDCs Risk-Benefit Assessment for New COVID-19 Vaccines Flawed: Experts

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention headquarters in Atlanta on April 23, 2020. (Tami Chappell/AFP via Getty Images)

A new U.S. government comparison of COVID-19 vaccine risks and benefits exaggerated benefits and downplayed risks, experts say.

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) recently provided a risk-benefit assessment for the updated bivalent vaccines. One assessment was for adolescents aged 12 to 17.

The CDC estimated that a million doses in the age group, over a period of six months, would prevent up to 136 hospitalizations and zero or one death. But it relied on effectiveness estimates from an outdated, non-peer-reviewed CDC study that analyzed only data for adults. Hospitalization rates included hospitalizations for which COVID-19 was an incidental reason, not a primary reason, for admission.

When we look at both the potential benefits and harms for adolescents together, using the hospitalization ranges from the sensitivity analyses, we see that per million doses we would expect to prevent between 31 and 136 hospitalizations, nine to 40 ICU admissions, and one death, Megan Wallace, a CDC official, said while presenting the assessment.

A second version, which took into account incidental hospitalizations, lowered the estimate of hospitalizations prevented to between 17 and 75.

Both versions noted that, in a single CDC-run surveillance system, there have been zero myocarditis cases among young people who received a bivalent booster. But fewer than 100,000 doses have been given to adolescents in the system, and as many as 62 cases per million doses could occur in young males, a footnote reads.

Myocarditis, or heart inflammation, is one of the side effects of the COVID-19 vaccines, and its most prevalent in young males.

Critics took issue with the presentation.

Its definitely flawed, Allison Krug, an epidemiologist, told The Epoch Times.

Among the issues: using hospitalization rates from COVID-NET, which dont include rates for children, and not including outpatient medical encounters, as some researchers have done, when searching for myocarditis cases.

The risk-benefit analysis is a marketing strategy to maximize uptake of the vaccine, Krug said. It is not an honest effort to estimate risks and benefits because it ignores the most durable protection on the marketimmunity from prior infectionwhich is near universal now.

She has performed risk-benefit analyses of the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines for adolescent boys and for booster mandates at colleges.

Dr. Tracy Hoeg, another epidemiologist, described the assessment as top level incompetence as the CDC, she said, tried to justify giving bivalent boosters to children. She pointed out that the CDC study used to estimate hospitalizations prevented didnt include adjustments for factors such as the likelihood of being tested.

The CDC and Wallace didnt respond to requests for comment.

No Clinical Data

U.S. authorities have had to rely on observational data for the bivalent boosters from Pfizer and Moderna, which were authorized and recommended in fall 2022, because there are still no clinical effectiveness data available six months later. Mice data were used to justify authorizing the vaccines.

Pfizer and Moderna havent responded to requests for comment about when the data from their trials will be available.

Pfizer and its partner, BioNTech, announced on March 1 that it had asked U.S. regulators to authorize a bivalent booster for children younger than 5 years old based on data from its trials, claiming that the data show that the bivalent elicited a higher level of neutralizing antibodies and that the safety profile remained similar to that of the original vaccine.

Multiple members of the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices, to whom the CDC presented the risk-benefit assessment, noted the lack of trial data after they were asked whether authorities should transition to an annual booster moving forward.

I would like to see a study saying, OK, youve just got one bivalent vaccine. What is the benefit? And how long does that last? I think that would enhance the confidence in making a change rather than inferring the data, Dr. Camille Kotton, one of the advisers, said.

Both Kotton and Dr. Matthew Daley said they wanted trials examining the vaccines, although Daley floated one comparing coadministration of influenza and COVID-19 vaccines with administering each of the vaccines separately.

We would learn a lot about immunogenicity and safety, Daley said. That might be valuable for this conversation.

Inflated Death Toll

Officials have repeatedly pointed to how some children have died from COVID-19 as justification for recommending that children get vaccinated, despite the dearth of effectiveness data for even the original shots in the population.

The CDC has used inflated childrens death data before and has refused requests to make a correction.

Dr. Sara Oliver, a CDC official, presented death data on a slide during the recent meeting. The claim was that 1,489 COVID-19 deaths had occurred in children aged 6 months to 17 years, but the total included children aged 0 to 5 months.

Oliver didnt respond to a request for comment.

Kelley Krohnert, a Georgia mother who has repeatedly fact-checked false CDC claims, noted that the slide also included deaths of which COVID-19 was a contributing cause, not the underlying cause.

Yet another example of why I argue CDC acts more as a sales/marketing agency than a health agency, she wrote on Twitter.

New Myocarditis Study

The presentations happened after researchers in Canada reported a higher incidence of myocarditis or pericarditis, a related condition, after Pfizer or Moderna vaccination, particularly after the second dose of a primary series.

Analyzing health records from Quebec, Canada, the researchers found that there was a 15 times higher incidence than expected within seven days of a second dose among males aged 16 and 17 and a 7.6 times higher incidence among males aged 12 to 15.

Of 77 incidents, 63 occurred among males, and 51 occurred after dose two. All but three of the adolescents were assessed in the emergency department, and 34 were hospitalized.

Myocarditis can lead to long-term problems, including heart failure and death, other research has shown.
China Adjusts Martial Law Rules in Preparation For War: Experts

Chinese military officers are pictured marching down the steps of the Great Hall of the People in Beijing, on Sept. 27, 2022. (AP Photo/Ng Han Guan)

The Chinese communist regimes rubber stamp Peoples National Congress passed a resolution on Feb. 24 to adjust the application of some provisions of Criminal Procedure Law for the military during wartime. China experts believe the move shows that the regime is preparing for war and the imposition of martial law.

According to the regimes official mouthpiece, Xinhua, the provisions include those relating to jurisdiction, defense, investigation, prosecution, trial, and enforcement. The adjustments took effect on Feb. 25, and the specifics are to be set out by Chinas ruling Communist Partys (CCP) Central Military Commission.

Li Zhengxiu, a military expert at Taiwans National Policy Research Foundation, told The Epoch Times on Feb. 27 that the move indicates the Chinese regime is likely preparing for military conflicts with other countries, such as an invasion of Taiwan. If war were to break out, there would be situations where wartime legal proceedings would have to apply.

The Epoch Times columnist Zhou Xiaohui wrote an article on Feb. 26 that shared a similar view. Zhou wrote that Beijing is preparing to launch a war at a point in the near future, and mostly likely a war in the Taiwan Strait.

He pointed out that military criminal proceedings punish crimes committed by military personnel, and that the new adjustments aimed at crimes of a military nature that might pose a threat to the CCP.

Chinese military delegates leave the closing session of the 20th National Congress of the Communist Party of China, at The Great Hall of the People on October 22, 2022 in Beijing, China. (Kevin Frayer/Getty Images)

Zhou noted that the CCP top circle cant rule out the occurrence of defection and desertion in the military during wartime. After all, the dissent and disloyalty in the military against the CCP head have not been eliminated since the Partys 20th National Congress last year, he said. The new adjustments are for the prevention of the betrayal of military personnel in wartime and the leaking of the CCPs confidential military intelligenceand to prepare in advance for the disposal of captured personnel in war.

Yao Cheng, a former Chinese navy lieutenant colonel, told The Epoch Times on Feb. 27 that the CCPs adjustments to Criminal Procedure Law for the military application during wartime not only aimed at Taiwan, but was simultaneously its preparation to impose martial law in China. If it needs to, it will have a legal basis for declaring martial law, because there are many domestic conflicts, and the CCP needs its military to control the domestic situation and maintain its regime.

Yao added that adjustment of the criminal law for the military during wartime would put a lot of pressure on the Peoples Liberation Army. Actually, the military and Xi Jinping are not of one mind.

Series of Actions to Prepare for War

The move is the latest in a series of actions taken by the CCP that are related to the military and its preparation for war.

Various provinces and cities in China have set up national defense mobilization offices one after another to strengthen national defense mobilization and reserve force building, since the CCPs 20th National Congress proposed to improve the national defense mobilization system last October.

Most recently, Shanghai opened a National Defense Mobilization Office on Feb. 20.

Fujian Province on the southeast coast of Chinawhich faces Taiwan across the Taiwan Straitset up a provincial-level National Defense Mobilization Office on Dec. 15, 2022, which was among the first in the country. In just two months since the CCPs 20th National Congress last year, 9 district cities and 83 counties in Fujian Province had set up national defense mobilization offices.

The CCPs new military reserve personnel law, which will take effect on Mar. 1, raises the upper age limits for military reservists.

Ning Haizhong and Luo Ya contributed to this report.
Chinese-Made Cameras Found at ABCs Headquarters in Sydney

The logo for Australia's public broadcaster ABC is seen on its head office building in Sydney, Australia, on Sept. 27, 2018. (Saeed Khan/AFP via Getty Images)

Surveillance equipment made by companies linked to Chinas communist regime has been found at Australias national broadcaster and is being dismantled, an internal audit has confirmed.

Cameras made by Hikvision and Dahua were found to have been installed at Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC)s headquarters in Ultimo, Sydney and two other locations.

An ABC spokesman said that work was underway to remove the cameras but would not confirm how many had been installed.

The public broadcasters headquarters is home to some high-profile news programs, such as 7:30, Q&A, ABC Radio National, and the investigative news program Four Corners.

ABC did not confirm whether the CCTV cameras were connected to the Internet.

The cameras were provided by Chinese companies Hangzhou Hikvision Digital Technology Co. and Zhejiang Dahua Technology, both accused of being involved in the Chinese Communist Party (CCP)s human rights atrocities against Uyghurs in the western region of Xinjiang and have been banned by the United Kingdom and the United States in November 2022.

Dahua Technology camera at MTR Kowloon Tong Station in Hong Kong. File photo. (Song Bi-lung/The Epoch Times)

Hikvision has been revealed to have close ties to the CCP and its military. Partly owned by the CCP regime, the group is the worlds largest video surveillance manufacturer.

According to the CCPs National Intelligence Law enacted in 2017, the communist regime can compel any organisation or citizen to support, assist, and cooperate with state intelligence work.

Shadow Minister: Ironic that ABC Reporting on the Matter

James Paterson, the Shadow Minister for Cyber Security & Countering Foreign Interference, called for the devices to be taken down urgently and questioned why ABC had not done so, as it was reporting on the matter itself.

It is ironic the ABC has Hikvision cameras given they have reported themselves on the national security risks and human rights implications of these Chinese Communist Party linked companies, he told NCA NewsWire.

Now that they have been identified, they must be immediately removed, like in all other Commonwealth entities.

In February, it was revealed that almost 1000 Chinese-made surveillance cameras were installed across over 250 sites of Commonwealth departments and agencies, including foreign affairs and defence sites.

This comes after Paterson released the findings of a six-month audit of all commonwealth departments, which found the federal government buildings riddled with CCP spyware.

Senator James Paterson of the centre-right Liberal Party before a press conference at Parliament House in Canberra, Australia on Sept. 5, 2022. (AAP Image/Mick Tsikas)

In response, the Labor government confirmed that it had launched an audit of the equipment.

Deputy Prime Minister and Defence Minister Richard Marles has ordered the removal of Chinese-made surveillance equipment from his department.

That (risk has) obviously been there, I might say, for some time and predates us coming into office but, that said, its important that we go through this exercise and make sure that our facilities are completely secure, Marles said last month.

Officials at the Department of Finance also confirmed that Chinese-made cameras and intercom systems are being removed from 65 offices of nearly 100 federal lawmakers.

Hikvision previously said that suggestions that its equipment poses a threat to national security are categorically false.

However, Paterson pointed out that, as providers of facial recognition technology, both Hikvision and Dahua were involved in the ongoing persecution of Uyghurs.

Its important that all Australians understand the risks that they are personally exposed to whether theres one of these devices in a private home or business or in a public area, let alone government, he said on Feb. 21.
Conservative Party Admits Error in Failing to Give Notice of Patrick Brown Fundraiser

Brampton Mayor Patrick Brown speaks during a press conference to announce his intention to re-run for mayorship, at city hall in Brampton, Ont., on July 18, 2022. (The Canadian Press/Cole Burston)

The Conservative Party of Canada says it made a mistake in failing to give notice of a fundraiser held by disqualified leadership contestant Patrick Brown.

Spokeswoman Sarah Fischer said Thursday the party mistakenly did not post details of the $1,700-per-ticket event Brown held last week on its website, which is required by Elections Canada.

Brown, who is currently mayor of Brampton, Ont., held the fundraiser to help pay down the campaign debt he accumulated during last years leadership bid.

When the error was realized, the Conservative party self-reported this oversight to Elections Canada and is working to address this matter. The party has notified the Brown campaign of the mistake, Fischer said in a written statement.

The party stunned many last July when it ousted Brown from the race over allegations he broke the rules and possibly the Canada Elections Act. Brown denies any wrongdoing and was later informed by the party he would be losing the $100,000 compliance deposit he paid to enter.

His disqualification makes paying down campaign debt more complicated. The Conservative party has said it is not accepting donations to his campaign, citing internal rules that prevent it from doing so for candidates who did not meet the leadership contest criteria.

What that has meant for Brown, according to his campaign manager John Mykytyshyn, is that his campaign has set up an account in the name of its official agent to collect donations. Those donations are ineligible for the federal tax credit for political contributions.

Elections Canada rules for fundraisers hosted by leadership contestants, political parties and their affiliated entities require the party to post details of a coming event on its website and notify the agency.

Those 2018 guidelines were ushered in through a law the Liberal government introduced. At the time Prime Minister Justin Trudeau had been under pressure to end the practice of so-called cash-for-access political fundraisers, where wealthy donors could rub shoulders with Trudeau and cabinet ministers behind closed doors.

Trudeau had himself been in the hot seat for having attended exclusive fundraisers in private homes, where wealthy individuals paid the maximum donation amount to attend.

Under the current rules, events that meet a certain set of criteria must be disclosed publicly along with the guest list of those who attended. The criteria include that at least one person paid or contributed over $200 to attend, or to have a guest attend.

Elections Canada confirmed it only received notice of Browns fundraiser on Wednesday, six days after it happened.

A spokesman said the agency will review the notice and decide on the next steps.

According to its own rules, a political party failing to provide an event notice and tell Elections Canada about a fundraiser five days in advance could mean contributions have to be returned.

On Thursday, Mykytyshyn said he believes the party is dealing with the matter.

I have full confidence that the party will do the right thing to work it out with Elections Canada and rectify its mistake.

By Stephanie Taylor
County Legislature Approves Revised $75 Million ARPA Spending Plan

The Legislature of Orange County, New York, unanimously passed a revised spending plan of close to $75 million in federal COVID-19 dollars on March 2.

The money was allocated to the county under the American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA)a $1.9 trillion federal pandemic stimulus package signed into law two years ago.

By law, the funds can be used in four primary ways: to replace lost government revenue, respond to the health and economic impacts brought by the pandemic, provide premium pay for essential workers, and invest in infrastructure such as water, sewer, and broadband.

The countys revised spending plan focuses on buildings, technology infrastructure, and staff salaries.

About 30 percent of the money, or $24 million, goes to a new building for the medical examiners office, which currently uses trailers as morgues and autopsy rooms.

Another $5 million is earmarked to remove the asbestos from the former Webb Horton house in Middletown, which houses the administrative offices of Community College of Orange County.

In terms of technology infrastructure, $6 million is set aside for new advanced antennas in about 30 school buildings for emergency radio coverage, $4.5 million for laptops and docking stations for remote work by county employees, and $6 million for enhanced security systems at county buildings.

$16 million is for sign-on bonuses, overtime payments, and salaries for county employees.

Equipment purchases for the department of public works take up about $6 million, including big-ticket items such as plow trucks, mowing tractors, and excavators.

Orange County legislators during a regular legislative session on Dec. 1, 2022. (Cara Ding/The Epoch Times)

Republican County Executive Steve Neuhaus, who proposed the revised spending plan, said in a press release: These projects will greatly benefit the county government and our residents. I look forward to collaborating with the legislature and our department heads on moving these initiatives forward.

I applaud our department heads, who, along with our consultants, formulated a solid list of projects, County Legislature Chair Katie Bonelli said in a press release. They addressed the challenges of the criteria and eligibility set forth by the [ARPA] program with careful consideration.

Disappointments of Minority Party

Before casting a yes vote for the spending plan, Democratic Minority Leader Michael Paduch expressed his disappointment over not being part of the negotiations.

Orange County has not promoted or encouraged any community involvement, or even included the entire legislatureits governing bodyto be involved in the best uses of our share of those $75 million, he said during the March 2 legislative session.

He cited examples of other counties across the country that had assembled advisory committees and hosted community town halls to seek public input on spending ARPA dollars.

Democratic legislators Genesis Ramos and Kevindaryan Lujan echoed the sentiment, with the latter adding that it would be a good idea to use some money to tackle the housing shortage.

About seven Democrats sit on the 21-member county Legislature.

Paduch said he hoped for more public input sessions down the road to further revise the plan, which by law must be finalized by December 2024.

Changes to the Original Plan

James ODonnell, a Conservative Party lawmaker, said he was disappointed over the exclusion of a new health department building in the revised plan.

The building was included in the original ARPA spending plan, with a price tag of $23 million.

It was embarrassing to me as a member of the Legislature and the former deputy county executive that their reasoning is that they couldnt get it done in four years, ODonnell said on March 2.

During a February Ways and Means Committee meeting, county budget director Deborah Slesinski contributed many of the changes in the original plan to timeline constraints.

Under federal regulations, local governments have until December 2026 to spend ARPA money for full reimbursements.

Our major concern [is] to not return any money to the federal government, Slesinski said.

As a result, the proposed health building and another $6 million Valley View nursing center sewer plant project were taken off the original plan for fear of not meeting the deadline.

About $8 million in unspent COVID-19 response money (such as test kits, communications, and exposures) was also reallocated to new projects in the revised plan.
Couple Appear in Court After Babys Remains Found in Allotment

Mark Gordon and Constance Marten in this handout combination photo provided on Jan. 18, 2023. (Metropolitan Police via AP)

Constance Marten and Mark Gordon have been remanded into custody after a court heard the remains of a baby were found in a plastic bag under some nappies in an allotment shed.

The couple appeared at Crawley Magistrates Court on Friday accused of three charges: gross negligent manslaughter, concealing the birth of a child, and perverting the course of justice.

Marten, 35, and Gordon, 48, spoke only to confirm their names, dates of birth, and that they were of no fixed abode during a short hearing in front of a packed courtroom.

Gordon wore a grey jumper over his head throughout the hearing.

The aristocrat and her partner were charged with the offences on Thursday after the remains of the infant were found the day before following a major two-day search operation.

The pair will appear at the Old Bailey on March 31.

Marten and Gordon were arrested in Stanmer Villas in Brighton on Monday after police attempted to establish their whereabouts over the course of several weeks.

A post-mortem examination on the babys remains is due to take place on Friday.

According to the BBC, Barry Hughes, chief crown prosecutor for CPS London North, told the court, The Crown Prosecution Service reminds all concerned that criminal proceedings against Constance Marten and Mark Gordon are active and that they have the right to a fair trial.

Police officers work in an urgent search operation to find the missing baby of Constance Marten, who has not had any medical attention since birth in early January, in Roedale Valley Allotments, Brighton, UK, on Feb. 28, 2023. (Jordan Pettitt/PA via AP)

Unknown Gender

Marten and Gordon were detained following a 53-day missing persons search that led to a wooded area in East Sussex.

Hundreds of officers using sniffer dogs, thermal cameras, helicopters, and drones were drafted in to look for the infant.

Detective Superintendent Lewis Basford, from the Met, previously said officers have been unable to determine the infants cause of death or gender.

The case was referred to the police watchdog by the force, and the Independent Office for Police Conduct said in a statement that it is currently assessing the referral to determine what, if any, further action is required from us.

Remanding Marten and Gordon into custody, chairwoman of the bench of magistrates Carol Lintott said: You are both here today  on charges of manslaughter, concealment of the birth of a child, and perverting the course of justice.

We are sending the case to the crown court sitting at the Old Bailey.

We are remanding you in custody until that time.

Timeline

Their court appearance comes almost eight weeks after the couples blazing car was found abandoned on the hard shoulder of the M61 in Bolton on Jan. 5.

Greater Manchester police discovered they had walked away from the car to the Anchor Lane Bridge.

The family are then reported to have travelled to Liverpool and on to Essex before making their way into London. They later travelled to east Sussex.

On Jan. 18 the Metropolitan Police made a public appeal for help finding the family and later offered a 10,000 reward for information leading to the family being found safe.

On Feb. 7, Martens mother Virginie de Selliers published an open letter to her daughter, pledging to support her and telling her you are not alone.

On Feb. 21, the Metropolitan Police made yet another public appeal to find the family, including a plea from midwife Shereen Nimmo to Marten to get her baby medical attention.

The couple were arrested less than a week later, on Feb. 27, after a tip-off from a member of the public.

After a massive search involving hundreds of police officers and search teams scouring a 90-square-mile area, Basford confirmed on Wednesday that the remains of a baby were found in a wooded area.

PA Media contributed to this report.
Dangerous and Regretful: US, Israel Concerned Over Iranian Warships in Brazil

A missile is launched by Iran's military during a navy exercise in the Gulf of Oman, in this picture obtained on Jan. 14, 2021. (West Asia News Agency)/Handout via Reuters)

The two Iranian warships recently authorized by Brazils government to dock in Rio de Janeiro have sparked concern among Israel and the United States.

Brazils government, which is now under the leadership of Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, authorized the two Iranian naval shipsthe Iris Dena and Iris Makranto dock in January.

Both of the ships are part of the Iranian Navy, which works closely and synchronizes its actions with the IRGC (Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps fleet) Navy, which has been designated a terror entity by the United States.

In February, the U.S. Department of the Treasurys Office of Foreign Assets Control designated both ships for sanctions.

However, Brazil is allowing the warships to stay until Saturday, and on Thursday one ship was spotted offshore Rios world-famous south zone of beaches, while the other was docked downtown.

Following the sighting of the warships on Thursday, the spokesperson of Israels foreign relations ministry, Lior Haiat, said on Twitter that Israel sees the docking of the ships as a dangerous and regretful development.

Iran Regime a Terror Entity

Brazil should not grant any prize to a malign state, responsible for numerous violations of Human Rights against its own citizens, executing terror attacks all over the world, Haiat continued. And proliferating weaponry to terrorist organizations all over the Middle East. The Iranian regime has executed dozens of terror attacks against ships, putting in danger the maritime freedom of navigation. Two of the attacks occurred in recent weeks.

Haiat described Iran as a terror entity.

It is still not too late to order the ships to leave the port, Haiat added.

U.S. State Department spokesman Ned Price said at a press conference on Wednesday that Washington wanted to make sure that the IRGC, and Iran more broadly, are not able get a foothold in the Western Hemisphere.

It is certainly not the case that the Brazilian Government or the Brazilian people would want to do anything that would in turn assist, that would aid a government, a regime that is responsible for a brutal crackdown and violent repression against its own people, Price said.

Brazilian authorities have not commented on the statements from the United States or Israel.

Israel Bolstering Nuclear Program

In February, Mojtaba Babaei, a spokesperson for the Iran mission at the United Nations, told Fox News Digital that Irans presence in international waters is in accordance with international laws and to gain knowledge, experience and increase capabilities, not against any country.

The arrival of the warships in Brazil comes after Irans navy commander, Rear Admiral Shahram Irani, announced in January that Tehran plans to extend its area of operation to the Panama Canal that divides South and North America, citing a geopolitical advantage.

Washington had previously said it was monitoring the possible attempt by Iran to establish a military presence in the Western Hemisphere.

Their arrival also comes as both Washingtons and Israels relations with Iran have become increasingly strained amid reports that Tehran is continuing to bolster its nuclear program and enrich uranium close to weapons-grade levels.

In November, Maj. Gen. Aharon Haliva, the head of Israeli military intelligence, warned that Iran is moving closer to reaching 90-percent-enriched uranium, and in February, the U.N. nuclear watchdogthe International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA)said it was in communication with Tehran after inspectors found particles with a purity of higher than 60 percent in Tehran.

Behrouz Kamalvandi, a spokesperson for the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran, downplayed the alleged findings in a statement at the time.

The existence of a uranium particle or particles with a purity of over 60 percent in the enrichment process does not mean that there has been enrichment over 60 percent, he said.
Deadly Greek Train Crash Prompts Strike; Relatives Give DNA

Workers supported by a crane try to remove debris from the rail lines after a collision in Tempe, about 376 kilometres (235 miles) north of Athens, near Larissa city, Greece, on March 2, 2023. (Vaggelis Kousioras/AP Photo)

THESSALONIKI, GreeceFamily members awaited the results of DNA testing to identify victims of a train crash that killed nearly 60 people in Greece, as workers went on strike Thursday saying the rail system is outdated, underfunded, and dangerous.

The government has blamed human error, and a railway official was charged with manslaughter.

Emergency crews, meanwhile, inched through the mangled remains of passenger carriages in their search for the dead from Tuesday nights head-on collision, which has left 57 confirmed deada number that rescuers fear will increase.

The collision of a passenger train and a freight train was the countrys deadliest ever, and more than 48 people remained hospitalizedwith six in intensive caremost in the central Greek city of Larissa.

Residents Line Up in Rain to Give Blood

Larissa residents lined up to give blood, many waiting in heavy rain for more than an hour, while the citys hotel association provided free accommodation to relatives of the crash victims.

DNA matching was going fast, with at least four familiesin the presence of psychologistsreceiving confirmation Thursday that their relatives were among the dead, said police spokeswoman Constandia Dimoglidou.

Dimoglidou said the process usually takes several days but authorities are making an effort to finish by Friday. She said 24 bodies have been identified through DNA so far. The testing was necessary because many of the bodies were burned or mangled beyond recognition.

Among the dozens of grieving relatives who spent a second day at the hospital awaiting results Thursday was Dimitris Bournazis, whose father and 15-year-old brother remain unaccounted for. He said phone calls to Italian-owned train operator Hellenic Train have been fruitless.

Ive been trying since yesterday afternoon to communicate with the company to find out what seat my father was in, he said. Nobody has called me back.

Workers, Relatives Say Train System Unsafe

Railway workers associations called strikes, halting national rail services, and the subway in Athens to protest working conditions and what they described as a dangerous failure to modernize the rail system. A second 24-hour strike was called for Friday.

Two separate protests in central Athens were held by left-wing groups, with one resulting in clashes between stone-throwing youths and riot police. Protests were also held in Thessaloniki and Larissa.

Greece has a limited rail network that doesnt reach much of the country. Despite years of modernization projects, much of the key rail control work is still manually operated.

The head of the engine drivers union, Costas Genidounias, said an up-to-date traffic control system was supposed to have been ready three years ago. He said that starting in 2020, union representatives sent legal notices to the company responsible for Greeces railway infrastructure, OSE, as well as government and regulatory officials, but received no reply.

OSE issued a statement Thursday expressing condolences to the victims families but it has not publicly commented on the criticism.

Markos Bekris, a union representative who took part in the peaceful Athens protest Thursday, said the collision was a crime waiting to happen.

He argued that Hellenic Train, OSE and the current and previous governments share responsibility, as they ignored requests from employees who weekly, daily, raised concerns over health and safety issues and the possibility of a serious accident.

Cranes remove debris after a trains collision in Tempe, about 376 kilometres (235 miles) north of Athens, near Larissa city, Greece, on March 2, 2023. (Vaggelis Kousioras/AP Photo)

A Forest of Responsibility

Transportation Minister Kostas Karamanlis resigned following the crash and officials launched a judicial inquiry to determine how two trains traveled in opposite directions on the same track for more than 10 minutes without anyone raising the alarm.

The Larissa station manager was charged Thursday with multiple counts of manslaughter and causing serious physical harm through negligence. His name was not released.

The stationmasters lawyer, Stefanos Pandzardzidis, said his client was devastated and accepted his portion of the responsibility.

But beyond that  we must not focus on the tree while theres a whole forest beyond it, he said. Theres a forest of responsibility.

Bournazis agreed that the responsibility for the crash should go far beyond the stationmaster.

We cant dump all the blame on one person for making one mistake, he said.

He said the crash should lead to a full safety overhaul of the countrys rail system.

Ive lost my brother, my father. That cant change, I know it, he said. But the point is for us not to mourn victims like that again. They bought 50 tickets to death.

Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis pledged in a televised statement Wednesday night to get to the bottom of the disaster.

Responsibility will be assigned. We will work so that the words never again  will not remain an empty pledge, he said. That I promise you.

Centimeter by Centimeter

Amid the growing criticism, emergency workers continued their grim recovery effort, proceeding centimeter by centimeter through mounds of twisted steel, shattered glass, and scattered luggage, said Fire Service spokesman Yiannis Artopios.

We can see that there are more [bodies] of people there. Unfortunately they are in a very bad condition, he told state television.

Rescuers were focusing on the restaurant car, which was crushed under the first carriage from the force of the collision, said fire official Vassilios Vathrakogiannis.

This morning we removed seven burned bodies from that carriage, he said.

He added that the entire operation was expected to be concluded by midday Friday.

Crash Survivors Describes Fiery Escape

About 350 people were on the passenger train, many of them students returning from a holiday weekend and annual Carnival celebrations around Greece.

Andreas Alikaniotis, a 20-year-old survivor, described how he and fellow students escaped from a jackknifed train car as the fire approached, smashing windows and throwing luggage outside to use as a makeshift landing pad.

It was a steep drop, into a ditch, Alikaniotis, who suffered a knee injury, told reporters from his hospital bed in Larissa.

The lights went out.  The smoke was suffocating inside the rail car but also outside, Alikaniotis said.

He said he was one of the few around who had not been seriously injured.

Me and my friends helped people get out.
Fisher-Price's Pocket Rockers, a personal stereo brand that was popular among elementary school-aged children in the late 1980s, played a unique type of miniature cassette tape that was exclusive to Fisher-Price. Jason Scott, archivist at Internet Archive, created a collection of Fisher-Price Pocket Rockers songs. He writes:

Pocket Rockers was a brand of personal stereo produced by Fisher-Price in the late 1980s, aimed at elementary school-age children. They played a proprietary variety of miniature cassette (appearing to be a smaller version of the 8-track tape) which was released only by Fisher-Price themselves. Designed to be as much of a fashion accessory as a music player, the devices were enough of a youth craze to even be banned in some schools for a brief period. Housed in a variety of stylish, translucent colors, each tape had two songs in mono which could be clipped to clothing to showcase one's musical taste. Tapes were available from several pop stars, including Michael Jackson, Whitney Houston, Tiffany, or Debbie Gibson and even rock stars like Bon Jovi or The Bangles. The commercials featured an original theme song which was a parody of "Down on the Corner" by Creedence Clearwater Revival. In addition to standard blue on black and pink on black color schemes, 3 variations of Pocket Rockers were released utilizing Memphis Milano (a popular and contemporary design style at the time). A collectors set was released featuring one such design, and a deluxe system was also released which included speakers and a display stand with an amplifier. Other official Pocket Rockers branded accessories included bracelets, a bandana, a multitude of tape storage options (cases, frames, and clips), mini tape clip-ons, a carrying case, a purse, and headphones. Following a sharp decline in sales, the Pocket Rockers line was discontinued in 1991 until ultimately being removed from Fisher-Price's toy catalog in 1992. Today, the player and cassettes are sought after by collectors for their unique novelty and design.

Here's a Pocket Rockers of musicians trying to sound like The Bangles doing "Walk Like An Egyptian" and "Manic Monday":

"Some of the Pocket Rockers provided songs recorded by anonymous studio musicians instead of the original artists due to license issues. This is an example of that."
Decolonisation Hampers Research in Islamist Counter-Terrorism: Expert

A mural bears the logo of the ISIS terrorist group in this undated photo. (Ahmad Al-Rubaye/AFP via Getty Images)

Academics could be self-censoring as universities are increasingly adopting decolonisation policies which some argue are at odds with counter-terrorism research into Islamism and Jihadism.

In February, Steven Greer, a professor at the University of Bristol and a leading authority on human rights, particularly with respect to counter-terrorism legislation, spoke to multiple media outlets about being forced into hiding in fear for his life after students made false Islamophobia accusations.

Greer said he was forced to wear a disguise and carry a weapon for his own protection after Bristol Universitys Islamic Society (BriSoc) at the University of Bristol Law School complained that elements of his course were racist and discriminatory.

In October 2021 the university said its investigation into a module taught by Greer found no evidence of Islamophobic speech. Bristol Law School still decided to remove his Islam, China, and the Far East module from the syllabus to avoid upsetting Muslims.

Greer has since warned that he also fears for academic freedom.

Many academics, fearing being falsely labelled as hostile to minorities by woke campaigners, are already actively self-censoring to avoid any potential backlash, he told The Telegraph.

Decolonisation

Henry Jackson Society research fellow and former Prevent practitioner Charlotte Littlewood warned there are funding opportunities attached to decolonisation measures at universities that could hamper counter-terrorism studies.

Prevent is a government-led, multi-agency programme that aims to stop individuals from radicalising and becoming terrorists.

Around seventy percent of UK universities, including Bristol University, are undertaking some form of decolonisation. The term doesnt have a concrete definition, but it seeks to rewrite academic curricula as well as reorder the university as an institution, in the name of making them more inclusive.

It means that universities are now under considerable pressure to comply and to acknowledge concepts such as colonialism and racial bias in all courses.

Littlewood said that teaching through the lens of decolonisation will have a negative impact on being able to talk about terrorism and radicalisation whilst looking at the Islamist ideology.

And if you do look at that, and then its negative about Islam in some way, do you then run counter to the decolonisation network? she asked.

She added that decolonisation advocates are prone to say that the UK is institutionally racist, racist, rather than actually looking at how we teach things from different perspectives.

According to an article called Tracing the Coloniality of Britains Counterterrorism Strategy from the Centre for Analysis of the Radical Right (CARR), Prevents overt focus on Muslims and Islam in the War on Terror has imposed surveillance infrastructures on Muslim communities, serving to energise Islamophobia and the precariousness of the Muslim experience in Britain.

Prevent

Last month, an independent review of the British governments Prevent strategy found it is not doing enough to counter non-violent Islamist extremism and has a double standard when dealing with the extreme right-wing and Islamism.

The report showed that the Prevent strategy had been influenced by cultural timidity and institutional hesitancy for fear of being accused of Islamophobia.

It concluded that Prevent too often ignores the threat posed by Islamism and disproportionately focuses on right-wing extremism.

This is despite the UK being a high-priority target for Islamist extremists who pose a significant threat to the country.

According to the domestic counter-intelligence and security agency Mi5, terrorist groups in Syria and Iraq, including Al Qaeda and ISIS possess both the intention and the capability to direct attacks against the West.

It added that the majority of terrorist attack plots in this country have been planned by British residents. The security service said there are several thousand individuals in the UK who support violent extremism or are engaged in Islamist extremist activity.

Many major universities that offer international security, security and terrorism courses do not mention specifically Islamism or Jihadism in their course details. Kings College London does mention jihadist terrorist attacks around the world for its Terrorism, Security & Society MA.

Flowers and placards are displayed outside Mireille Knolls apartment during a silent march in Paris, on March 28, 2018. (Thibault Camus/AP Photo file)

Antisemitism

Harry Saul Markham, a junior research fellow at Study of Global Antisemitism and Policy Advisory Board, Academics for Academic Freedom told The Epoch Times that there was a reluctance to study what he called the normalisation of Islamist thinking in swathes of our Muslim communities.

He said it meant a stark lack of understanding, calling it antisemitism distortion.

Markham said that once he gave a talk in a synagogue in Germany, which was surrounded by armed police in 2017. Its like going into a prison, he said.

Markham pointed to a report by the New York Times that said police statistics in Germany attributed 89 percent of all anti-Semitic crimes to right-wing extremists. However, an EU survey in 2019 found that 41 percent perceived the perpetrator of the most serious incident to be someone with a Muslim extremist view.

He said that this was highly problematic as such information leads policymakers and lawmakers to have an inaccurate understanding of what is going on, rendering policies to combat antisemitism ineffective.

We are up against it, he said, adding that If you dont have an understanding of whats actually going on, you cant put policies in place to resolve it.

Chris Summers contributed to this report.
Democratic Mayoral Candidates Place Focus on Crime in Wake of Chicago Upset

Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoots surprise loss for reelection has been largely attributed to the high level of crime in the Windy City, and in the wake of her loss several Democratic strategists and candidates for mayor across the country say a lesson can be learned.

Anyone paying attention didnt need the Chicago mayors race to know that crime and public safety are at the front of voters minds, Democratic strategist and founder of the Texas Lone Star Project Matt Angle told The Epoch Times. Chicago does, though, show that Democrats who communicate well and address crime directly and honestly do well.

Lightfoot received only 17 percent of the vote in the mayoral race, coming in third place, while Paul Vallas, a former CEO of Chicago Public Schools, won over 30 percent making him the front-runner in Aprils run-off election against Cook County Commissioner Brandon Johnson, who earned 20 percent of the vote.

Vallass tough-on-crime approach seemed to resonate with Chicago voters amid a crime wave that has haunted Lightfoots term in office. So far Chicago has had over 70 murders this year alone, according to the Chicago Police Department.

Violent crime remains a major challenge whether a community is led by a Democrat or Republican and requires urgent action to address it, Democratic Mayors Association President and Richmond Mayor Levar Stoney told The Epoch Times.

Democratic mayors are committed to holding people who commit violent crimes accountable and ensuring police are supported with the resources they need.

Were using every tool in our toolbox to reduce crime and improve safetyinvesting in mental health and substance abuse treatment, making it harder for criminals to get guns, and investing in solutions that prevent crime, like good schools and affordable housing.

Chicago police officers and firefighters salute a procession carrying the remains of a Chicago police officer who was shot and killed as it arrives at the Cook County Medical Examiners Office, on March 1, 2023. (Tyler Pasciak LaRiviere/Sun-Times/Chicago Sun-Times via AP)

After Democrats saw huge down-ballot losses in 2020 when Republicans tried to tie them to the defund the police movement, the Democratic Party has had to convince voters that it is not soft on crime by coming up with creative solutions to reduce shootings while also supporting law enforcement.

Despite these efforts to mitigate gun violence and keep our communities safe, Democratic mayors continue to face uphill battles, especially in states controlled by Republican governors and legislatures that often thwart our efforts, Stoney said.

State and federal leaders must rise to the occasion to pass commonsense gun reforms, like stronger background checks, red flag laws, cracking down on illegal guns, and banning assault weapons from our streets to improve safety, he added.

There are several high-profile mayoral races in 2023 for Democrats in major cities like Houston and Denver. The Epoch Times spoke to Democratic mayoral candidates from both cities who have a tough-on-crime approach.

Houston

Houston, the nations fourth-largest city is already looking at a crowded race to replace term-limited Mayor Sylvester Turner. Five candidates have tossed their hats into the ring in the mayoral election so far.

As in Chicago, a defining issue in the Houston mayors race is that of violent crime. For a time in 2022, the Bayou City led the nation for having the most homicides, according to data collected from the Houston Police Department.

Weve had a public safety crime issue nationwide, certainly in our urban centers; Houston is no different and I think what is required of our big city mayors is to be very transparent and discuss crime, state Sen. John Whitmire, a Democrat and candidate for Houston Mayor, told The Epoch Times. I think you need to be very transparent and talk about whats causing the crime.

Whitmire is the longest-serving current member in the Texas State Senate, having represented District 15 in Harris County since 1983. He also serves as chair of the Senate Criminal Justice Committee.

I was robbed at gunpoint in my garage with my family in 1992 and then I became chairman of criminal justice in 1993, so I go to work every day to make sure that my constituents dont go through the horrible experience I went through of begging for my life, Whitmire said. Public safety was my highest priority and it continues to be.

A protester holds a sign during a rally outside of the Federal Courthouse in Houston, Texas, on Jan. 28, 2023. (Mark Felix/AFP via Getty Images)

The state senator has already racked up plenty of endorsements from law enforcement groups in the community like the Houston Police Officers Union, Afro-American Police Officers League, Harris County Deputies Organization, and the Houston Retired Police Officers Association.

The police unions have reviewed all the candidates; they know I have a history of being smart and tough on crime, he said.

Whitmire believes in a smart-on-crime approach that includes early intervention and rehabilitation programs.

Somebody told me I shouldve copyrighted smart on crime when I started talking about it in the early 90s. You cant just be tough, you should be smart, and that means dont waste your resources. Have rehabilitation programs lock up people youre afraid of, not those that youre mad at, he said.

He believes his message is resonating with Houston voters, who Whitmire says are sometimes even afraid to leave their homes at night.

I know its resonating because I have crossed Houston, I work in criminal justice, I have senior citizensthe honest truthseniors come up to me at restaurants and say, Senator you have to help us, we wont leave the house after five oclock, Whitmire said. We dont have to live under those conditions. When people start altering their lifestyles because theyre afraid of the criminals we got a serious problem and Im committed to fixing it.

But though Whitmire has received accolades from law enforcementand even from his Republican colleagues across the aislefor his work in public safety, some Texas Democrats think voters shouldnt rush to make a decision on who theyll be voting for.

Denvers State Capitol on Jan. 9, 2023. (David Zalubowski/AP Photo)

Denver

In Denver a whopping 17 candidates are vying for the top job, with crime also a major issue.

The Mile High City is facing a significant crime wave, according to a report from the Common Sense Institute, which said that Denver ranks in the top 10 U.S. cities for crime, including: 3rd motor vehicle theft; 6th property crime rate; 10th rape crime rate.

Aurelio Martinez, who is one of the Democratic candidates running for mayor of Denver, told The Epoch Times the city is broken.

Its very broken, you can take any issue and its bad; the homelessness is the worst that its ever been here in Denver, Martinez said. Car thefts are going up considerably, we also have youth crime that has skyrocketed where we have teenagers who are actually killing each other. Its gotten out of hand and if we dont take that bull by the horns its going to get away from us, so we have to attack it in a way where we can stop it from climbing and also reduce it.

Similar to Whitmire, Martinez has a smart-on-crime approach utilizing early intervention programs, prioritizing violent crime as opposed to non-violent crime, and increasing the amount of law enforcement.

We have to look at our Department of Safety here in Denver because that incorporates the Police Department as well as the Denver Sheriffs Department, and the problem now is [that] the Denver Police are basically a one-size-fits-all, they respond to everything right now.

Martinez said he stands out from the rest of the mayoral candidates in that as a former boxer he knows how to fight.

I was a prizefighter for 10 years so I do know what it means to engage in solid combat and to come out successful and win, he said.

Denvers election for mayor will be held on April 4 and Houstons will be held on Nov. 7.
The U.S. Energy Department now admits that a lab leak is the likely origin of COVID-19. However, anyone who suggested the lab leak theory during the height of the pandemic was censored and accused of spreading misinformation. Big Tech was so closely tied to the CDC and NIH that government agencies were able to control the narrative on several COVID-related issues. Together, social media and government agencies silenced health-based inquiry and opposition and promoted what later turned out to be false narratives. During the pandemic, Americans had no freedom of information or freedom of speech, which is rooted in freedom of thought. Without freedom of thought or information, we cannot discover the truth. Americans should learn from this and push back against one-sided narratives and overreaching governmental actions.
Deporting Fentanyl Dealers Violates Sanctuary City Policies, Says SF Supervisor

San Francisco County Supervisor Shamann Walton told San Franciscans this week the U.S. shouldnt deport illegal immigrant drug dealers for selling fentanyl, the deadly synthetic opioid that was largely responsible for nearly 2,000 drug overdose deaths in the city since 2020.

Theres been a drug issue in this country for a very long time. But theres no way were going to stand by and allow people to say that one race or immigrants are responsible for these fentanyl deaths, Walton said at a rally on the steps of City Hall on Feb. 28.

Walton defended the citys sanctuary policies that prohibit city authorities from assisting U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) in response to a proposal by Supervisor Matt Dorsey to add fentanyl crimes to a list of violent crimes the city uses for cooperating with ICE. Dorseys proposal aligns with a recent push for a crackdown on fentanyl dealers initiated by District Attorney Brooke Jenkins.

Homeless people gather near drug dealers in the Tenderloin District of San Francisco, Calif., on Feb. 22, 2023. (John Fredricks/The Epoch Times)

You cannot violate sanctuary policy for any reason. It goes against the morals of our fabric here in San Francisco, and it also allows people who dont share our values to persecute people that need us the most, Walton said at the rally. People are going crazy over fentanyl because were starting to see more white people die from this drug. Where the hell were these people when my mothers and my grandmothers were on crack?

J.J. Smith lives in the citys infamous Tenderloin district, a hotspot for drug use, and he lost his brother to a fentanyl overdose in October. He told The Epoch Times on March 2 that Waltons remarks came as a shock and didnt set well with a lot of people, even the black community.

Smith said its no secret that drug dealers with connections to Honduras largely control the illicit fentanyl trade in the Tenderloin, which is not directly affecting Waltons district.

Honduran dealers are the only people in San Francisco that have large quantities of fentanyl, he claimed. We should care because its killing everybody, not only white people. And, even if it does kill only white people, who is to say thats fair?

Smith questioned the logic behind lesser punishments for fentanyl dealers when crack dealers in the 1980s and 1990s, including African Americans, were handed long prison sentences for their crimes.

But now Walton is speaking about a deadly drug thats killing more people than any drug thats ever been on the market, he said.

A homeless man sits passed out in San Francisco, Calif., on Feb. 23, 2023. (John Fredricks/The Epoch Times)

Jacqui Berlinn, co-founder of Mothers Against Drug Addiction and Deaths, told The Epoch Times she was offended by Waltons comments.

Berlinn said she was a child during the crack cocaine epidemic of the 1980s, but that she is now fighting for her son Corey, who is addicted to fentanyl, and for all citizens of all races affected by the poison flooding our cities.

We have members fighting with us who are black, she told The Epoch Times in a text message. Fentanyl is killing U.S. citizens of all racesdisproportionately persons of color. Its also poisoning U.S. children that had no idea what they were getting. There has never been a drug market so deadly as the one we are experiencing now.

San Francisco was among the first 12 U.S. cities to declared itself a sanctuary city, prohibiting local police from stopping or arresting people based on their immigration status.

Walton was speaking at a noon rally in support of Supervisor Hillary Ronens proposed resolution denouncing criticism of sanctuary city policies at City Hall ahead of the Feb. 28 Board of Supervisors meeting. Supervisors Myrna Melgar and Dean Preston also attended the rally.

After nearly two hours of public comments, the board voted unanimously to continue debate on the issue at its next meeting on March 7.

San Francisco Public Defender Mano Raju said at the rally that city police unfairly target black and brown dealers and that the war on drugs was designed to target black and brown people for arrest and incarceration, while white dealers are rarely arrested.

We also know that Latin X community members who are targeted are young and often survivors of labor, trafficking, and exploitation. Using our local resources to funnel these individuals to ICE detention facilities will subject them to horrific conditions that can lead to a death sentence for deportation, he said. And, all this cruelty is going to do nothing to stem the overdoses.

Dorsey did not respond to requests for comment.
Detectives Seek Motive in Fatal California School Stabbing

Cameron Gonzalez, 15, hugs fellow student Izzy Sullivan 18, while Cameron's mother, Amy Gonzalez, stands nearby after students were released from the football field following a fatal stabbing at Montgomery High School in Santa Rosa, Calif., on March 1, 2023. (Beth Schlanker/The Press Democrat via AP)

SANTA ROSA, Calif.Detectives on Thursday were investigating what prompted a fight between three students at a Northern California high school that ended in one fatally stabbing another as more than two dozen classmates watched.

A 15-year-old freshman was booked on suspicion of homicide and other charges in connection with Wednesdays fatal stabbing in an art classroom at Montgomery High School in Santa Rosa, California. One 16-year-old junior was killed and another injured, police said.

The attack shocked Santa Rosaa community best known for its wineries about 50 miles north of San Franciscoand prompted lockdowns of several nearby schools as officers searched for the teenage suspect.

The school will be closed for the rest of the week. Principal Adam Paulson, in a message to parents, students and the school community, called the stabbing the darkest day anyone can remember at Montgomery High, according to the Press-Democrat.

The deceased victim was identified as Jayden Jess Pienta, 16, according to Santa Rosa police. He was a junior. The victim who survived the stabbing is also a 16-year-old junior.

Jaydens stepfather, Tom Lenwell, told KTVU he was reeling from the incident.

Im hurt. Im sad. Im never going to see Jayden again, Lenwell told reporters. Im not going to be able to joke and laugh with him. Those days are gone.

Santa Rosa Police Sgt. Christopher Mahurin on Thursday said investigators are working to interview the 27 students who were inside the classroom at the time, as well as the teacher and teachers aides.

Members of the New Vintage Church gathered Thursday morning to pray for the school community.

Officers will be on the schools campus Monday when it reopens, Mahurin said.

But some parents said they wanted to hear more about the schools plans and also would press the school board about childrens safety at next weeks meeting.

I dont feel like the school districts had any response, said Libby Dalton, whose 16-year-old son is a sophomore. They canceled school for two days but whats next? How are they going to keep our kids safe after that?

The violence started when the two juniors came into the classroom and started a fight with the freshman, police said. Teachers initially broke up the brawl but the freshman then pulled out a knife and allegedly stabbed the juniors.

Mahurin said detectives have not yet discovered why the upperclassmen began the brawl, though the three students appear to have known each other and had fought previously.

Dalton said her son knew the students involved but they werent in his grade and she didnt know what sparked the dispute.

Theres a lot of fights at Montgomery, she added. They just have that culture there that they fight. The kids fight there. They pick on each other and they try and stand up for themselves and then they all end up suspended.

Her son was suspended for a day after he fought back after being picked on in the boys locker room, she said.

Theres no discipline for the bullies, she said. I dont know what went on between those three boys but they definitely dont support the kids that do get picked on.

Santa Rosa police have not released the name of the 15-year-old student, a freshman, because he is a juvenile. He was booked on felony charges of homicide, attempted homicide, and having a weapon on a school campus. He was additionally booked on a misdemeanor charge of battery on a school campus.

The teenager was taken into custody Wednesday hiding in a creek bed after he fled the classroom. It was not immediately clear whether he had an attorney who could speak on his behalf.

The Sonoma County District Attorneys Office did not immediately have a comment Thursday about the potential filing of charges.

This is truly a sad day. The tragedy that happened here today is heartbreaking, Anna Trunnell, the Santa Rosa City Schools superintendent, said at a news conference.

Santa Rosa Police Chief John Cregan addresses the media alongside Santa Rosa City Schools Superintendent Anna Trunnel during a press conference about the fatal stabbing that occurred at Montgomery High School in Santa Rosa, Calif., on March 1, 2023. (Christopher Chung/The Press Democrat via AP)

Several students raised questions at the news conference about their safety and asked why school officials did not do more to stop the students behavior despite knowing there were problems between the three teens. The officials walked out instead of answering.

Officials had earlier said none of the campuses in the Santa Rosa City Schools District have metal detectors or police officers inside.

There were no mentions of the stabbing on the districts website or social media accounts on Thursday morning. A Facebook page for Montgomery High School appeared to have been taken down.

Paulson, the high schools principal, and Santa Rosa City School District spokeswoman Vanessa Wedderburn didnt answer voice and email messages seeking comment Thursday.

With more than 1,600 students, Montgomery High School is the second largest school in Santa Rosa and in need of major repairs, according to a report published by The Press-Democrat last week.

The school, built in 1958, has exposed wires hanging from the rafters in hallways, wooden skirting around the foundation of old portable classrooms is rotting and students often must wait to get home to go to the bathroom because the ones at the school are foul smelling and there arent enough available, according to students who spoke to the newspaper.

Lisa Cavin, associate superintendent of business services for the Santa Rosa City Schools district, told the newspaper the district hasnt had the funds for some projects over the years and that constant vandalism diverts money.
Discover Credit Cards Will Track Gun Purchases From April

Credit card provider Discover Financial Services will soon allow its network to track purchases made using payment cards at gun storestriggering criticism that such activity leads to targeting gun owners.

In September, the International Organization for Standardization (ISO) had launched a Merchant Category Code (MCC) for gun retailers. ISO is the organization responsible for classification of merchant categories used by payment cards. Discover told Reuters that it plans to implement the code beginning April. We remain focused on continuing to protect and support lawful purchases on our network while protecting the privacy of cardholders, the company said.

Discovers decision has attracted strong criticism online. This is a MASSIVE problem Congress needs to address, IMMEDIATELY! Lauren Boebert (R-Colo.) said in a March 3 tweet.

Discover Card will begin tracking firearm purchases starting next month. There are more than 50 million Discover cards in use right now. They are coming for your guns little by little, Congressman Troy E. Nehls (R-Texas) said in a March 3 tweet.

Its called a Social Credit System. I have been warning ppl this is coming. This is just the tip of the iceberg, said radio host Doll Arntzen.

Social Credit System is a national credit rating system used by Beijing that ranks and blacklists people in China based on criteria approved by the communist regime.

American citizens should be able to exercise their Second Amendment rights without fear of being tracked or discrimination against. Were solving this in West Virginia with the Second Amendment Financial Privacy Act. Congress needs to follow our lead, said Riley Moore (R-W.Va.) in a tweet.

Intrusive Action

In a Feb. 27 post, the National Rifle Associations (NRA) lobbying arm Institute for Legislative Action (ILA) pointed out that Discovers statement to Reuters did not provide an explanation as to how the company will determine which purchases are suspicious enough to warrant reporting.

Discover also did not reveal whether customers will be provided with any information in case their purchases have triggered an alert.

Use of the MCC can only inform a credit card company that a certain amount of money was spent at what is considered a firearm retailer. It cannot be used to track what was actually bought, much less determine why the purchase was made, the post said.

Thus, the program inherently poses a risk to consumers of needlessly intrusive and harassing consequences for completely lawful and innocent conduct.

Tagging Gun Purchases, Legislation

A Discover company spokesperson told Reuters that other payment network firms have also decided to impose the new MCC code in April, without naming the firms. We were following the industry for consistent implementation, the spokesperson said.

Back in September, Mastercard, Visa, and American Express also announced that they will be assigning category codes for sales that take place at gun stores and on gun-related purchases from stores dealing in sporting goods.

Discover is a minor player in the U.S. credit and debit card industry, only accounting for 2 percent of the $9.56 trillion in purchases made through the payment methods last year. Visa had a 61 percent share, followed by Mastercard with 26 percent, and American Express with 11 percent.

Meanwhile, states are taking action to counter payment firms moves to track gun purchases. On Jan. 12, West Virginia introduced the Second Amendment Financial Privacy Act which bars financial institutions from disclosing financial records in a manner that singles out or discriminates against any person based on activity protected by the Second Amendment to the United States Constitution.

The bill warned that the new MCC code for gun purchases will pave the way for unprecedented surveillance of individuals who abide by Second Amendment activity as well as unprecedented information sharing between the government and financial institutions.
Disgruntled Democrats Bemoan Bidens Vow to Block Washington Crime Law

Some Democrats on Capitol Hill are expressing frustration with President Joe Biden after he signaled his support for a Republican-led effort to reverse a local District of Columbia law that softens penalties on violent crimes.

The Revised Criminal Code Act, initially vetoed by Democrat Mayor Muriel Bowser, was passed by the districts city council in January in a 12-1 override vote.

The law represents an overhaul of the districts criminal code, removing most mandatory minimum sentences and reducing the penalties for violent offenses like carjacking, robbery, and sexual assault.

In February, Republicans in the House of Representatives jumped into the fray by passing two resolutions disapproving of the crime law and another local law that would allow non-citizens in the district to vote.

If passed by the Senate and signed by Biden, those resolutions would invalidate the local laws.

I support D.C. statehood and home rulebut I dont support some of the changes D.C. council put forward over the Mayors objectionssuch as lowering penalties for carjackings, Biden noted in a March 2 tweet.

If the Senate votes to overturn what D.C. council didIll sign it.

But while 31 House Democrats joined with their Republican colleagues to pass the resolution disapproving of the crime bill, the vast majority did not.

This aint it, Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) responded to the president in a tweet of her own.

D.C. has a right to govern itself, like any other state or municipality. If the president supports D.C. statehood, he should govern like it.

Plenty of places pass laws the president may disagree with, she added. He should respect the peoples gov of D.C. just as he does elsewhere.

Likewise, Democrat Rep. Eleanor Holmes Norton, who represents the District of Columbia, responded that it was a sad day for D.C. home rule and D.C. residents right to self-governance.

We had hoped that with more Senate support, we would have been able to ensure that neither disapproval resolution pending before the Senate would reach the presidents desk, but with the nationwide increase in crime, most senators do not want to be seen as supporting criminal justice reform, Norton said in a statement.

I will continue to do everything within my power to persuade the president that signing or failing to veto the resolution would empower the paternalistic, anti-democratic Republican opposition to the principle of local control over local affairs.

Meanwhile, some Senate Democrats, like Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.), have voiced support for the resolution, expressing concern over the potential consequences the crime law would have on public safety.

I dont support it [the crime law], Manchin told CNN on Feb. 27. I mean, I want to put people away, I dont want to let them out. I havent been briefed on it, but what I know about it, I would vote to rescind it.

And Manchins vote could make all the difference in passing the resolution, as the Democrats already slim majority in the Senate has been reduced to just one vote in the absence of Sen. John Fetterman (D-Penn.), who remains hospitalized as he receives treatment for clinical depression.

The Senate is expected to vote on the measure next week.
JACKSON, Miss.The group of physicians, vaccine-injured people, and whistleblowers speaking at the Mississippi Capitol building on Monday and Tuesday werent asking state officials to cease all COVID-19 vaccinations and to convene a grand jury to investigate its rollout in the state.

They were demanding it.

Stop the shots was the refrain of those who had treated COVID patients over the last three years and those injured by the vaccine.

On Monday and Tuesday, the medical freedom organization MS Against Mandates (MAM) held the Mississippi Medical Freedom Conference in Jackson, Mississippi, which included over a dozen physicians, several whistleblowers, six physician-confirmed vaccine-injured patients, and two parents whose sons died after receiving the vaccines.

Dr. John Witcher is the co-founder and former president of MAM. He stepped back from the leadership position to focus on his run for Mississippi governor in the 2023 gubernatorial election.

MAM orchestrated the event that gave a voice to many who are being silenced in media and the medical community, such as Dr. Peter McCullough, a practicing internist and cardiologist in Dallas who is also the national medical adviser for MAM.

McCullough told The Epoch Times that the purpose of the three-and-a-half-hour roundtablechaired by Republican state Rep. Randy Boydwas primarily to educate Mississippi officials about safety concerns regarding the vaccine.

The state must pull these products off the market, McCullough said. There can be no more administration of the COVID-19 vaccines in the state of Mississippi.

McCullough, author of The Courage to Face COVID-19: Preventing Hospitalization and Death While Battling the Bio-Pharmaceutical Complex, said the essential problem with the vaccines is the safety concern for the large number of people who have taken them without informed consent about adverse events.

The CDC now says 92 percent of Americans have taken at least one shot and that 79 percent have taken two shots, McCullough said. If there are safety concerns, thats a problem because the denominator is so big.

Because of those large numbers, any rare side effect isnt rare from a safety perspective and, as was heard in the testimonies, there are concerns that the state officials havent kept track of the full number of the injuries and has even undercounted them, McCullough said.

In Mississippi, which represents under 1 percent of the U.S. population, McCullough estimated that there are several hundred people who have been injured by the vaccines and that some have died from the vaccines.

Thats several hundred too many, and it didnt need to happen, McCullough said. None of this needed to happen.

Community Standard of Care

Physicians like Witcher and others on the panel have reported that their state health officials have only recited federal talking points instead of allowing them to cultivate what McCullough called their own community standard-of-care, which McCullough said is intended to evolve over time.

The community standard of care always comes from the doctors who are treating the patients, McCullough said. Under no circumstances does it come from federal or state agencies, pharmaceutical companies, or even from hospitals or hospital systems. It comes from the doctors in the field who are learning how to treat their patients based on the medical literature, clinical judgment, and the differences in the community.

This is why McCullough said each state needs its own doctor-in-charge, like in Florida, where Surgeon General Joseph Ladapo has refuted federal guidelines handed down by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and Dr. Anthony Fauci when he was director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases.

Were seeing how valuable it is for a state to have its own independent thinker who is not biased, influenced by the pharmaceutical industry, or influenced by any state or federal public health agency, McCullough said.

A doctor-in-charge in Mississippi would have acted as the representative for state officials to hear the testimonies given in the state Capitol on Monday, McCullough said.

The state of Mississippi needs an independent thinker who can attend medical panels like this, take them under consideration, and provide advising to the attorney general, McCullough said. In this case, it would be to get the vaccines off the market.

If Witcher were to become governor, he said he would create a position for a state surgeon general, and McCullough said he would entertain the appointment as a doctor and a public figure.

Noticeably, the Capitol chamber where the roundtable convened was absent of lawmakersaside from Boydwhich McCullough said wasnt surprising, as hes seen it over and over again.

The fear among legislators on both the state and federal levels is extraordinary, McCullough said. This is the biggest thing thats happened to our country over the last three years in modern history and youd think theyd be interested to hear from doctors who traveled from far distances and who have vast experience in this. Its not for my benefit. Its for their benefit, and its extremely disappointing that they found something else that they thought was a higher priority.

Dr. Peter McCullough speaks at the Mississippi Capitol about COVID-19 vaccine adverse events in Jackson, Miss., on Feb. 27, 2023. (Courtesy of Charlotte Stringer Photography)

Grossly Misled

The CDCs Vaccine Adverse Event Reporting System (VAERS) reflects an embarrassing gross underestimate of what is happening in America, McCullough told the audience in the Capitol chambers.

Through Feb. 17, 2023, the CDC is verifying that 16,967 Americans have died shortly after the vaccine, McCullough said. Most of these deaths occur on the day they took the shot or the next few days afterward.

There are 16,342 permanently disabled Americans in VAERS, he added, while 372,770 have been hospitalized for vaccine injuries, he said.

Our CDC V-Safe datawhich is the patient-reported data on the cell phonehas revealed that 7 to 8 percent of people who take the vaccine within a day or two have to go to the ER for acute care, McCullough said.

In Mississippi, this means there are hundreds of Mississippians who have died from the vaccine or are now disabled, he said.

Despite this, federal and state agencies continue to advocate for the vaccines and underreport their side effects, he said, even after federal agencies like the CDC and Food and Drug Administration (FDA) have acknowledged their adverse events.

The question is, McCullough said, who in Mississippi has known about the injuries, and what was done about it.

If you have a product that you use in your state that has this type of safety track record, there is a fiduciary responsibility lawmakers have to protect the people from further harm, McCullough said. Thats why we are here today. The people of this state have been grossly misled on the COVID-19 vaccines.

This Is Not Normal

Janci Lindsay, a Texas-based molecular biologist and biochemist, addressed the room after McCullough, stating that shes seen an increase in immune system impairment, as well as an explosion in autoimmunity, a decrease in fertility, and an increase in stillbirth and miscarriage.

Among the lies the public was told about the vaccines was that they were not gene therapies (GTs), she said.

I can tell you that these genetic vaccines are in fact gene therapies, Lindsay said. What does that mean? That means you are injected with a genetic sequence that causes your human cells to make a foreign viral protein and display it on the surface of your cells for your body to then mount an immune reaction against those proteins on your cells.

Another lie was that the gene therapies would stay in the arm, she said.

These GTs travel everywhere in the body to all organs, to all cells, Lindsay said. They even pass to your brain, into your bone marrow, and into your testes and ovaries.

From her research, she said its probablenot just possiblethat men who have received these shots are passing the GTs to their partners as well as their progeny either directly or by way of sperm-mediated gene transfer, Lindsay said.

Birth rates are plummeting and reports of miscarriages and stillbirths are increasing worldwide among those who have received these GTs, Lindsay said.

The longer the genetic sequences in the nucleus, the higher the chance it will be integrated into the genome, causing mutagenesis leading to an explosion in cancers, which she said are already being reported by multiple oncologists as well as pathologists.

Now children around the world are having heart attacks and strokes and dying in their sleep. This is not normal, she said. And the CDC and FDA are nowhere to be seen. We must protect Mississippi and we must protect our children. We must stop these shots.

Nothing Short of Catastrophic

Dr. James Thorp, a Florida-based OB-GYN who specializes in maternal-fetal medicine, supported Lindsays findings on the dangers of the vaccine on pregnant women, stating that what hes found is nothing short of catastrophic.

Its extremely dangerous to pregnancy, he said.

The FDA and CDC consider a twofold increase in adverse events to be a danger, Thorp said.

So, we compared the COVID-19 vaccines over 18 months to the influenza vaccines over 282 months, he said.

Thorp said menstrual abnormalities are 1,200 times higher, miscarriages are 57 times higher, and fetal deaths are 38 times higher, along with increases in 15 other serious pregnancy complications.

This is not Jim Thorp data, he said. This is your data from your government, from the CDC and the FDA, and theyre still pushing this vaccine.

Dr. James Thorp and molecular biologist Janci Lindsay address COVID-19 vaccine adverse events in pregnant women and infants at a round table discussion at the Mississippi Capitol in Jackson, Miss., on Feb. 27, 2023. (Courtesy of Charlotte Stringer Photography)

Never Seen Anything Like This

Dr. Reni Moon, a board-certified pediatrician based in Washington state, addressed the implementation of the childrens vaccine program. She said children were at statistically zero risk of becoming ill with COVID-19.

Moon said that she and other health care workers with whom shes communicated are seeing an uptick in myocarditis in children as well as a clear increase in health issues in young people that are very unusual.

Weve never seen anything like this in our careers, Moon said.

Increase in Cancer

Dr. Jeffrey Howard, a Mississippi-based diagnostic and interventional radiologist and the president of MS Against Mandates, said he had a unique perspective on what took place in his community after the vaccine rollout because of the large number of patient studies he interpreted.

Howard began seeing a significant increase in side effects such as stroke, myocarditis, heart attack, arrhythmia, neurological disorders, and sudden death, he said.

As the vaccination campaign continued throughout 2022, I have observed a sizable increase in the number of various types of cancers, including the dramatic increase in very rare types of cancers, Howard said, which he added is also being reported by his colleagues.

Many of these patients are being diagnosed with advanced stages of cancer at a younger age, he said.

Why? We believe that this is related to the damage these gene-altering shots are having on the immune system, Howard said.

(LR) Nurse Kimberly Overton, VAERS Whistleblower Deborah Conrad, Dr. Jeffrey Howard, Dr. Reni Moon, and Dr. James Thorp discuss COVID-19 vaccine adverse events at the Mississippi Capitol in Jackson, Miss., on Feb. 27, 2023. (Courtesy of Charlotte Stringer Photography)

An Astonishingly Bad Idea

Dr. Christina Parks, a Michigan-based cellular and molecular biologist who did her graduate work in cytokine signaling, followed Howard.

The degree that I hold is very much involved with how to manipulate genetic material as was done in the production of these new gene transfer vaccines for COVID, Parks said.

While there has been much media focus on gain-of-function research to create a more virulent strain of SARS-CoV-2, Parks said it appears weve missed seeing the hazard and immorality of using gene-transfer technology for vaccines.

The issue that we really need to be focusing on is why our scientists and governments decided to force millions, if not billions, of people to inject a product that forces the body to produce a toxic foreign viral protein that is known to cause all of the deleterious effects of COVID? Parks asked. Why would we have our cells produce this when we knew that the immune system would see cells that are producing this spike protein as a foreign invader and attack them? You dont need a Ph.D. to recognize that this is an astonishingly bad idea.

Free of Adverse Events

Dr. Robert Corkern said that in November 2020, he began treating COVID-19 patients who had comorbidities in what he called the underserved region of the Delta in Greenville, Mississippi. He used early treatment protocols, including ivermectin, that led to a rate of zero mortality and ICU admission for his patients.

Today, Ive treated over 10,000 COVID patients, Corkern said. Still, no ICU admissions or deaths.

Corkern reported that in his clinical observation, natural immunity has given more effective protection against COVID-19 than the vaccines, adding that natural immunity itself is free of adverse events.

Its much more effective than immunity from vaccines, Corkern said. In low-risk populations such as infants and children, its difficult to justify incurring risk from vaccination to combat a threat that is nonlethal to begin with.

Corkern added that there are many lessons to be learned from what went wrong in the response to COVID.

Perhaps the most egregious to me was the actual shutting down of collegial discourse among physicians, labeling all conclusions different from the majority as misinformation, Corkern said. Many lives would have been saved if voices were not censored.

A Physician Maligned

Dr. David Calderwood, a physician based in Huntsville, Alabama, faced what Corkern described regarding media censorship and attacks.

On the steps of the Mississippi Capitol building, Dr. John Witcher (back L) stands with people who have either been injured by or have had family members die from the COVID-19 vaccine, in Jackson, Miss., on Feb. 28, 2023. (Courtesy of Charlotte Stringer Photography)

Despite this, Calderwood said hes successfully treated over 500 patients using a multidrug therapy that includes hydroxychloroquine and ivermectin, and he said hes only lost one patient.

What he said hes found in his clinical observations of the COVID-19 vaccines is that theyre exactly the opposite of whats been advertised.

These vaccines are the most unsafe and ineffective vaccines that have ever come to market, Calderwood said. Almost three times as many deaths and permanent disabilities have been reported through the VAERS system than from all other vaccines in history.

The meeting in the chamber was followed by a press conference on Tuesday on the Capitol buildings steps, where the assembly continued their call for transparency and the removal of the vaccines from the market.

People are being injured and dying suddenly from these shots, and the state needs to recognize it, Witcher said.

Correction: A previous version of this article misquoted Dr. Peter McCulloughs statement about V-Safe data, specifically the percentage of people who reported going to the emergency room after receiving the vaccine. The Epoch Times regrets the error.
Education Minister Condemns Death Threats Against Pupils Who Dropped Quran in School

Minister of State for School Standards Nick Gibb arrives at the Cabinet Office ahead of a government COVID-19 Coronavirus Cobra meeting in London, on March 11, 2020. (Luke Dray/Getty Images)

The UKs Education minister has condemned reported death threats against pupils who caused slight damage to a copy of the Quran when it fell on the floor in a school, calling it totally unacceptable.

Minister for Schools Nick Gibb has said his department is working with Kettlethorpe High School in Wakefield, West Yorkshire after it suspended four students over the incident.

West Yorkshire Police became involved after a Year 10 boy, who is believed to be autistic, brought a copy of Islams holy book to Wakefields Kettlethorpe High School as part of a dare last week, and its cover was slightly torn while smears of dirt were found on some pages.

Kettlethorpe Headteacher Tudor Griffiths said in a statement at the time: We would like to reassure all our community that the holy book remains fully intact and that our initial enquiries indicate there was no malicious intent by those involved.

No Blasphemy Law

On Thursday, Gibb condemned reported death threats against the pupils, adding that there is no blasphemy law in the UK and schools should be supporting British values including individual liberty.

He said: My first priority is always the wellbeing of children and young people.

The death threats reportedly issued against the pupils are totally unacceptable.

There is no blasphemy law in this country and schools should be promoting the fundamental British values of the respect for rule of law, individual liberty, and tolerance of those with different faiths and beliefs.

The Department for Education is working closely with the school, and I will write to the headteacher and local authority to offer my support.

Our guidance for schools on how to manage suspensions is clear, stating that all decisions should be reasonable, fair, and proportionate.

In circumstances where parents feel discipline has not met these standards, they can follow the schools complaints procedure and raise the issue with the schools governors or the local authority, he added.

Inclusive School

At the time the schools headteacher said: We would like to reassure all our community that the holy book remains fully intact and that our initial inquiries indicate there was no malicious intent by those involved.

However, we have made it very clear that their actions did not treat the Koran with the respect it should have, so those involved have been suspended and we will be working with them to ensure they understand why their actions were unacceptable.

Griffiths said that Kettlethorpe High School is an inclusive school where we want all our pupils to feel safe and secure.

Understanding and respecting each other is a fundamental part of who we are and we are coming together and learning from this.

With the support of our local Muslim community leaders, we are continuing to investigate thoroughly, he added.

At a subsequent meeting at the local Jamia Masjid Swafia mosque called to address the incident, the boys mother pleaded her sons case to a panel that included imans, Tudor Griffiths, and Inspector Andy Thornton, who confirmed that the students treatment of the book has been recorded as a hate incident.

Free Speech Union

On Wednesday, a West Yorkshire Police spokesman told The Epoch Times by email that no hate crime has been recorded, but that a hate incident has been recorded as initial enquiries confirmed that minor damage was caused to a religious text.

The Free Speech Union (FSU) has since intervened and wrote on Twitter that it was hard pressed to imagine a sequence of events more likely to chill public debate and freedom of expression than recording this episode as a hate incident and attaching that data to the childrens records, in spite of the absence of any malicious intent.

In a letter addressed to Inspector Andy Thornton, FSU General Secretary Toby Young wrote: We are deeply concerned by the official response to the troubling events at Kettlethorpe High School in Wakefield, following an accusation that a Year 10 pupil caused slight damage to a copy of the Quran.

We understand that this has resulted in death threats being made against the pupil in question and that no police action is to be taken against those who have made these threats after the mother of the pupil who received them was visibly placed under pressure not to pursue the matter at an event held at a local mosque, he added.

Young noted that at that event, Thornton stated that this minor damage to the pupils private property was being treated as a hate incident despite an investigation by the school having concluded that there was no malicious intent behind the minor damage to one page of this book.

We know from dealing with other cases, that when the police conclude a non-crime hate incident has been committed by an individual or group of individuals, that information is kept on file and can show up when an enhanced criminal records check is shown up, said Young.

PA Media contributed to this report.
EPA Demands Norfolk Southern Test for Dioxins After Ohio Train Derailment

East Palestine residents confronted railroad company at town forum on Thursday night

A tank car sits on a trailer as the cleanup of portions of a Norfolk Southern freight train that derailed over a week ago continues in East Palestine, Ohio, on Feb. 15, 2023. (Gene J. Puskar/AP Photo)

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) on March 2 ordered freight train operator Norfolk Southern to test for dioxins after the company burned toxic pollutants last month from cargo on its derailed train in East Palestine, Ohio.

The railroad company burned the hazardous materials on Feb. 6 after some of its rail cars were assessed as being on the verge of potentially exploding following the derailment.

Dioxins are a group of chemically-related compounds known as persistent environmental pollutants, according to the World Health Organization.

The highly toxic substance is found in any environment worldwide owing to common processes like burning wood or coal.

Dioxins accumulate in the food chain and can remain stored in the bodys fat tissue for a half-life of 7 to 11 years owing to their chemical stability. It can cause reproductive and developmental problems, immune system damage, hormone interference, and cancer.

In a letter to Sens. Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio) and J.D. Vance (R-Ohio), the EPA said that from its collection of 115 samples of air, soil, surface water, and sediment, analyses of indicator chemicals at the site suggest the probability of dioxin contamination is low.

Indicator chemicals such as chlorobenzenes and chlorophenols would suggest the potential for the release of dioxins attributable to the derailment, the agency said.

A clean-up crew works alongside a stream as clean-up efforts continue in East Palestine, Ohio, on Feb. 16, 2023. (Michael Swensen/Getty Images)

Out of an Abundance of Caution

The EPA said its mandating the testing because the possible accumulation of dioxins in East Palestine could pose long-term risks.

To address any continuing concerns for potential release of dioxins in the local area resulting from the derailment, out of an abundance of caution EPA will continue to sample for indicator chemicals and will also require Norfolk Southern to begin sampling directly for dioxins, the agency wrote in the letter (pdf).

If dioxins are found in the area, the EPA said it will inform the public and determine if it poses any unacceptable risk to human health and the environment and direct the immediate cleanup of the area as needed.

Because dioxins are common, the EPA has required Norfolk Southern to conduct a background study comparing dioxin levels in East Palestine to other areas unaffected by the train derailment.

The EPA also said its reviewing a draft plan by Norfolk Southern to develop a dioxin fingerprint for soil sampling using certified laboratories to identify various isomers of dioxins. This fingerprint could help determine if the train derailment and controlled burn impacted the local environment.

If this dioxin fingerprint can be developed with reliable methodologies, it will help EPA determine whether any dioxin, particularly from the train derailment and controlled burn, impacted the local environment, the agency wrote.

The EPA advised the senators of its directions to carry out testing for toxic pollutants resulting from the burning of vinyl chloride from its derailed train to Norfolk Southern before a community meeting in East Palestine on Thursday night.

The railroad company previously pulled out of a similar town hall meeting last month, citing safety concerns.

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)

Residents Confront Officials at Town Forum

At a town forum in East Palestine on Thursday night, residents confronted representatives of Norfolk Southern, demanding to know whether they would be relocated from their homes.

Its not safe here, one man reportedly declared to representatives of Norfolk Southern. Im begging you, by the grace of God, please get our people out of here.

Darrell Wilson, the railroads assistant vice president of government relations, said that while the company is ready to move more contaminated soil from underneath the tracks, buying homes and relocating people out of East Palestine hasnt been discussed.

Why? someone shouted.

Some residents reported that they still suffer from illnesses nearly a month after the controlled release of toxic chemicals.

The EPAs assurances about the quality of the air and water were reportedly met with skepticism.

Debra Shore, an EPA regional administrator, faced opposition from some residents who booed, laughed, and shouted, Dont lie to us, after she reaffirmed that air tests have consistently shown that the air in the village is safe.

The long-term health impacts and the safety of their children remain a concern for residents, who said they fear undetected dioxins will cause long-term damage.

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)

Removing Contaminated Soil

Wilson, the railroads assistant vice president of government relations, reportedly told residents Thursday night that Norfolk Southern feels horrible about what happened.

He said that more than two million gallons (7.6 million liters) of water and liquid waste have so far been removed along with 1,400 tons (1,270 metric tonnes) of solid waste.

There were reportedly many complaints that the railroad opened the tracks less than a week after the derailment and didnt remove the soil underneath.

Wilson said Norfolk Southern plans to dig up the areas and should be able to remove all the contaminated soil by the end of April if it can start right away. Jeers and angry shouts met his comment.

You should have done it right the first time, someone yelled.

According to the National Transportation Safety Board, an overheating bearing is believed to have caused the derailment of the train carrying 38 cars, including 11 containing hazardous materials. The crew did not have sufficient time to stop the train despite a trackside sensor detecting the overheating bearing just before the derailment.

Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine has expressed his commitment to ensuring that Norfolk Southern cleans up the disaster while helping the town recover.

Norfolk Southern CEO Alan Shaw, who reportedly did not attend the town forum on Thursday night, has also agreed to testify in Congress next week at a hearing on the derailment.

The Epoch Times contacted Norfolk Southern for comment.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.
Has it finally happened? Has the world finally woken up to the brilliance of 80s Hong Kong action? Fans of 80s martial arts cinema have always been cognizant of the caliber of talent that fueled their favorite flicks. Nowadays, it feels like Hollywood is starting to understand that the stars behind one of the most explosive eras in action movie history have acting chops that outweigh their chopping blows. With Michelle Yeoh's recent groundbreaking spree of success, thanks to Everything Everywhere At Once, it feels like people have come to realize that the industry neglected some of the world's best actors while they were in their prime.

However, as the old saying goes, it's better late than never. In addition to Michelle Yeoh's success, her contemporary, Donnie Yen, has also started to gain the acclaim he deserved back in 1985 for his role in Mismatched Couples. In the video linked above, Yen discusses his most memorable and iconic roles.
This week, we feature a new biography of a nearly forgotten Civil War general and an absorbing history of a shipwreck that stunned Britain.

Biography

Union General: Samuel Ryan Curtis and Victory in the West

By William L. Shea

Samuel Ryan Curtis was one of the Norths most successful generals. He never lost a battle and was the victor at several key battles, including Pea Ridge. Late in the Civil War, he commanded Union forces in the Trans-Mississippi, managing to negotiate peace with the Sioux. He was a nationally known civil engineer, and he helped found the Republican Party. As the first biography of Curtis, it thoroughly examines the nearly forgotten Union generalhis political, engineering, and military feats.

Potomac Books, 2023, 368 pages

History

Samuel Pepys and the Strange Wrecking of the Gloucester: The Shipwreck that Shocked Restoration Britain

By Nigel Pickford

Its 1682 in Restoration Britain. Charles II is ailing and invites his younger brother, James, Duke of York, to return from exile and prepare to take his rightful place as heir to the throne. The future king sets sail with a fleet of ships for Edinburgh. However, disaster strikes when his ship, the Gloucester, sinks along the Norfolk Coast. He is spared, but hundreds die in the calamity. Conspiracies abound about this frigates fateful passing. Diarist Samuel Pepys plays a role in the retelling.

Pegasus Books, 2023, 304 pages

Commentary

Wind Sprints: Shorter Essays

By Joseph Epstein

Long known as one of our finest living essayists, this collection of 143 pieces, what Epstein calls casuals, offers brief, pungent, and spot-on thoughts on contemporary culture and society. Titles like Khaki-Pantsman, The Attack on the Hot Dog, and Spandexless reveal the writers wit and the breadth of topics he covers. On subjects as varied as death and love, literature and film, and food and exercise, Epstein delivers insights and wisdom, all accompanied by a good dose of wry humor.

Axios Press, 2016, 608 pages

Fiction

The Last Kingdom

By Bernard Cornwell

Its the first book of Cornwells medieval saga. The year is 866 A.D., and the Danes are rampaging through England, conquering town after town and humbling king after king. The narrator is the captured boy of English royalty who quickly gravitates to the ways of his captors, the Vikings. As his new friends march toward complete domination of England, hes caught between loyalties. Cornwell captures the essence of the Vikings brutality and their endearing qualities. A fascinating and fun read.

HarperCollins, 2006, 368 pages

Classics

The Intellectual Life: Its Spirit, Conditions, Methods

By A.G. Sertillanges, O.P., Mary Ryan (translator)

First published in 1920, this guide to thinking, study, and work has proven an invaluable resource to generations of students, professors, and writers. Sertillanges offers many practical, concrete recommendations for a satisfying scholarly life while never forgetting to point to its noble ideals. One remark near the books end serves as its heart: The reward of a work is to have produced it; the reward of effort is to have grown by it.

The Catholic University of America Press reprint, 1992, 264 pages

For Kids

The Jolly Barnyard

By Annie North Bedford

This classic is a celebration of kindness and generosity. While the farm animals banter about what to give the farmer for his birthday, the farmer celebrates by offering them their favorite treats. From horses to cows to chickens and more, each gets what it likes best. When the farmer returns home, he finds a special birthday treat awaits him.

Golden Books, 2004, 24 pages
Fatal Stabbing Rocks California High School, Leaves Students and Staff Reeling

Cameron Gonzalez, 15, hugs fellow student Izzy Sullivan 18, while Cameron's mom, Amy Gonzalez, stands nearby after students were released from the football field following a fatal stabbing at Montgomery High School in Santa Rosa, Calif., on March 1, 2023. (Beth Schlanker/The Press Democrat via AP)

SANTA ROSA, Calif.Detectives on Mar. 2 were investigating what prompted a fight between three students at a Northern California high school that ended in one fatally stabbing another as more than two dozen classmates watched.

A 15-year-old freshman was booked on suspicion of homicide and other charges in connection with Wednesdays fatal stabbing in an art classroom at Montgomery High School in Santa Rosa, California. One 16-year-old junior was killed and another injured, police said.

The attack shocked Santa Rosaa community best known for its wineries about 50 miles north of San Franciscoand prompted lockdowns of several nearby schools as officers searched for the teenage suspect.

The school will be closed for the rest of the week. Principal Adam Paulson, in a message to parents, students, and the school community, called the stabbing the darkest day anyone can remember at Montgomery High, according to the Press-Democrat.

The deceased victim was identified as Jayden Jess Pienta, 16, according to Santa Rosa police. He was a junior. The victim who survived the stabbing is also a 16-year-old junior.

Ana Canul embraces her eldest son Viktor, 17, while her son, Marko, 15, walks with his little brother, Karlos, 10, after the two elder children were released from the lockdown at Montgomery High School in Santa Rosa, Calif., on March 1, 2023. (Beth Schlanker/The Press Democrat via AP)

Jaydens stepfather, Tom Lenwell, told KTVU he was reeling from the violence.

Im hurt. Im sad. Im never going to see Jayden again, Lenwell told reporters. Im not going to be able to joke and laugh with him. Those days are gone.

Santa Rosa Police Sgt. Christopher Mahurin on Thursday said investigators are working to interview the 27 students who were inside the classroom at the time, as well as the teacher and teachers aides.

Members of the New Vintage Church gathered Thursday morning to pray for the school community.

Officers will be on the schools campus Monday when it reopens, Mahurin said.

But some parents said they wanted to hear more about the schools plans and also would press the school board about childrens safety at next weeks meeting.

I dont feel like the school districts had any response, said Libby Dalton, whose 16-year-old son is a sophomore. They canceled school for two days but whats next? How are they going to keep our kids safe after that?

Parents were feeling fear, anger, and a lot of frustration, Dalton said, adding that there were already safety concerns after a student brought a gun to school last year.

The violence started when the two juniors came into the classroom and started a fight with the freshman, police said. Teachers initially broke up the brawl but the freshman then pulled out a knife and allegedly stabbed the juniors.

People gather outside the main office after students were released for the day following a fight at Montgomery High School in Santa Rosa, Calif., on March 1, 2023. (Beth Schlanker/The Press Democrat via AP)

Mahurin said detectives have not yet discovered why the upperclassmen began the brawl, though the three students appear to have known each other and had fought previously.

Dalton said her son knew the students involved but they werent in his grade and she didnt know what sparked the dispute.

Theres a lot of fights at Montgomery, she added. They just have that culture there that they fight. The kids fight there. They pick on each other and they try and stand up for themselves and then they all end up suspended.

Her son was suspended for a day after he fought back after being picked on in the boys locker room, she said.

Theres no discipline for the bullies, she said. I dont know what went on between those three boys but they definitely dont support the kids that do get picked on.

Santa Rosa police have not released the name of the 15-year-old student, a freshman, because he is a juvenile. He was booked on felony charges of homicide, attempted homicide, and having a weapon on a school campus. He was additionally booked on a misdemeanor charge of battery on a school campus.

The teenager was taken into custody Wednesday hiding in a creek bed after he fled the classroom. It was not immediately clear whether he had an attorney who could speak on his behalf.

The Sonoma County District Attorneys Office did not immediately have a comment Thursday about the potential filing of charges.

This is truly a sad day. The tragedy that happened here today is heartbreaking, Anna Trunnell, the Santa Rosa City Schools superintendent, said at a news conference.

A hospital staff member consoles students while waiting outside Providence Santa Rosa Memorial Hospital after a student fight on the Montgomery High School campus resulted in one student being killed and another injured in Santa Rosa, Calif., on March 1, 2023.(Chad Surmick/The Press Democrat via AP)

Several students raised questions at the news conference about their safety and asked why school officials did not do more to stop the students behavior despite knowing there were problems between the three teens. The officials walked out instead of answering.

Officials had earlier said none of the campuses in the Santa Rosa City Schools District have metal detectors or police officers inside.

There were no mentions of the violence on the districts website or social media accounts on Thursday morning. A Facebook page for Montgomery High School appeared to have been taken down.

Paulson, the high schools principal, and Santa Rosa City School District spokeswoman Vanessa Wedderburn didnt answer voice and email messages seeking comment Thursday.

With more than 1,600 students, Montgomery High School is the second largest school in Santa Rosa and in need of major repairs, according to a report published by The Press-Democrat last week.

The school, built in 1958, has exposed wires hanging from the rafters in hallways, wooden skirting around the foundation of old portable classrooms is rotting and students often must wait to get home to go to the bathroom because the ones at the school are foul smelling and there arent enough available, according to students who spoke to the newspaper.

Lisa Cavin, associate superintendent of business services for the Santa Rosa City Schools district, told the newspaper the district hasnt had the funds for some projects over the years and that constant vandalism diverts money.
Federal Agency Advances Gas Stove Proposal From Commissioner Who Floated Ban

A U.S. agency has advanced a request for information on gas stove hazards after it was filed by a commissioner who has floated banning the appliances.

The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) announced on March 1 that its seeking information from the public on chronic chemical hazards from gas ranges.

The commission released a draft public notice on the request for information but hasnt released the final notice, which should be published in the Federal Register this month, a commission spokesperson told The Epoch Times via email.

Members of the public are being invited to submit comments on how many U.S. homes have gas ranges, how the commission should evaluate risks related to gas stove usage, and what information should be part of labels with warnings about hazards on stoves, among other aspects of the issue.

The commission is also requesting proposed solutions to those hazards.

The vote to approve publication of the notice was 31, a commission spokesperson told The Epoch Times in an email. Commissioners Mary Boyle, Richard Trumka Jr., and Chair Alexander Hoehn-Saric voted in favor, and Commissioner Peter Feldman voted against. Trumka, a Biden appointee, floated a ban on gas stoves in January.

Any option is on the table. Products that cant be made safe can be banned, he told Bloomberg at the time.

Trumka also wrote in an internal memorandum that the need for gas stove regulation has reached a boiling point and that the commission has the responsibility to ban consumer products that emit hazardous substances, particularly, when those emissions harm children, under the Federal Hazardous Substances Act.

There is sufficient information available for CPSC to issue [a notice of proposed rulemaking] in fiscal year 2023 proposing to ban gas stoves in homes, Trumka also wrote.

The White House and Hoehn-Saric later said they werent in favor of banning gas stoves. Some lawmakers have introduced proposals that would block the CPSC from banning gas stoves.

The approved request for information (RFI) does not constitute or propose any regulatory action or ban, Hoehn-Saric said in a statement on March 1. The chronic hazards that can arise from toxic emissions should be studied and that is what we are doing with this RFI. I welcome the publics input and data during the comment period.

The RFI was initiated by Trumka during an October 2022 meeting.

Trumka

Trumka was prepared to introduce a rule that would direct staff to prepare and submit to the commission a notice of proposed rulemaking for gas stoves. However, acknowledging a lack of support for the rule, Trumka offered a substitute amendment that would direct staff to prepare an RFI. The RFI was later approved.

Trumka said in a statement after the approval that step one in confronting a potential hazard is understanding its scope and the options for addressing it.

He said he was looking forward to learning more about the chronic health effects of nitrogen dioxide emissions and particulate matter emissions from gas stoves.

He added later: Are there technologies that can eliminate any unreasonable hazards? If technologies to improve the performance of gas stoves are not commercially viable or not demonstrated to be safe, what options remain?

Rep. Debbie Lesko (R-Ariz.) said in a statement that the administration is once again taking steps toward possibly regulating gas stoves.

She added, Make no mistakethis is NOT about product safety, its about government control.

Trumka and other critics of gas stoves have pointed to research including a study from the Rocky Mountain Institute, an environmental group, to support their efforts to restrict or ban the appliances. That group, though, later said the study didnt assume a causal relationship between the stoves and asthma.

Proposed Rules

The RFI comes after the Department of Energy proposed new rules for gas stoves and other cooking appliances.

As required by Congress, the Department of Energy is proposing efficiency standards for gas and electric cooktopswe are not proposing bans on either, a spokesperson for the department said in February.

The proposal would block approximately half of the gas cooking appliances currently on the market, the department said in a recent analysis.

Jill Notini, industry spokesperson for the Association of Home Appliance Manufacturers, told The Epoch Times that the proposed rules are stringent and that the department appears to be intending to eliminate gas products from the market.

Jack Phillips and Allen Zhong contributed to this report.
Federal Agency Warns: Charge Your Phones Amid Widespread Severe Weather

As of Friday morning, an National Weather Service map shows wind advisories, high wind watches, and tornado watches were in effect for most of the southeastern U.S., Midwest, and some Mid-Atlantic states. The brown and light brown sections are areas where wind advisories have been issued. (Weather.gov.)

Much of the Southeast United States is experiencing strong winds on Friday, with gusts blowing down trees and causing power outages as residents in Tennessee were warned to charge their cellphones, according to a National Weather Service bulletin.

With grounds already wet, some trees will come down much easier leading to power outages. Be sure to fully charge cell phones tonight so you will be able reliably receive any additional Severe Thunderstorm or Tornado Warnings that may be issued on Friday. Winds will begin to relax from west to east starting around sunset Friday evening, said the National Weather Services (NWS) bulletin that applies to all of Middle Tennessee.

It further advised residents to avoid being outside in forested areas or around trees, adding that people should try to remain in the lower levels of their homes and avoid windows if possible.

As of Friday morning, an NWS map shows wind advisories, high wind watches, and tornado watches were in effect for most of the southeastern U.S., Midwest, and some Mid-Atlantic states. Winds are expected to gust up to 60 mph in some areas, noted the NWS, adding that power outages are expected throughout the region.

About 83,000 Texas customers are without power, while some 23,000 people are without power in Mississippi and Louisiana as of Friday morning, according to tracking website PowerOutage.us.

What NWS Is Saying

A powerful storm will continue to affect the eastern third of the country with severe thunderstorms, strong winds, and heavy snow, the federal weather agency warned. This storm will exit the northeast corridor by Saturday evening. Another storm system approaching the west coast will bring additional heavy precipitation, especially for the higher terrain with more snow in the forecast. The snow tracks into the northern Plains Sunday.

That system, it added, will produce a multitude of weather hazards throughout the eastern third of the country over the next 24 hours starting Friday morning, adding that it is forecast to approach the all-time record low sea level pressure values for portions of the Ohio and Missouri valleys.

The ongoing severe weather and flash flood risk associated with the system will continue through the early Friday morning hours across the Lower Mississippi Valley, with the threat shifting northeastward throughout the day as the strengthening low lifts northward into the Ohio Valley, the bulletin stated. Thunderstorms developing ahead of the eastward progressing cold front will have the potential to produce damaging wind gusts, small hail, and isolated tornadoes on Friday, resulting in the Storm Prediction Center issuing an Enhanced Risk of Severe Thunderstorms for eastern portions of the Tennessee Valley.

A MODERATE risk is in effect in our Day 1 Excessive Rainfall Outlook. More details: https://t.co/FQU5sblUHQ pic.twitter.com/2TRldNEs2j  NWS Weather Prediction Center (@NWSWPC) March 3, 2023

Flash flood warnings were also issued around the mid-Mississippi states and Ohio Valley region, stretching east toward the Mid-Atlantic states, according to the NWS. A swath of heavy snow is expected in the Upper Midwest through New England on Friday and Saturday, with sleet and freezing rain possible south of the heaviest snow.

Weather Channel meteorologist Jonathan Belles wrote that the storm will keep pushing a squall line eastward through the night and into the Southeast on Friday before tracking to the Midwest states.

No deaths or injuries have been reported from the storms that struck Texas and Louisiana on Thursday night after slamming California earlier in the week with as much as 7 feet of snow.

Winds of nearly 80 mph were recorded near the Dallas suburb of Blue Mound. The roof of an apartment building in the suburb of Hurst was blown away, resident Michael Roberts told KDFW-TV.

The whole building started shaking.  the whole ceiling is gone, Roberts said. It got really crazy.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.
Feds Allowed Entry to Over 40% of Foreign Border-Crossers Deemed Risky: Audit

An asylum seeker is confronted by an RCMP officer as he crosses the border into Canada from the United States on Aug. 21, 2017 near Champlain, N.Y. (The Canadian Press/Paul Chiasson)

Over 40 percent of foreign border-crossers deemed by border agents to be security risks were still allowed into Canada by the Department of Immigration, according to a report.

Due to multiple factors and considerations, the Department of Immigration authorized entry or permission to stay in Canada to a significant proportion of applicants who had received a non-favourable recommendation or an inconclusive screening, wrote the Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA) in an internal audit obtained by Blacklocks Reporter.

The audit, titled Evaluation Of The Immigration National Security Screening Program, said that out of a total of over 7,600, more than 3,300 border-crossers deemed a security concern by the CBSA were allowed into the country by the Immigration Department.

The CBSA marked some border-crossers as a security risk according to the Immigration And Refugee Act on the grounds of suspicions like espionage, terrorism, danger to the security of Canada, subversion, and war crimes.

The agency said all individuals aged 18 and older who submit a refugee claim in Canada are subject to the front-end security screening process.

The CBSA also marked the files of over 14,200 foreign border-crossers as inconclusive, meaning the crossers were either missing paperwork or the agency had concerns about them that it said cannot be ruled out, Blacklocks reported.

Out of the migrants with such files, the Immigration Department admitted entry to over 11,500or about 81 percentfor reasons including national interest or disagreement with the CBSAs conclusions on their files.

Only 10 percent were refused, said the CBSAs audit. The remaining applications were withdrawn or were pending a decision.

The National Security Screening Program may issue an inconclusive finding result on an application, it added. There are various scenarios under which this could occur, e.g. missing information.

The audit did not mention any plans to carry out a follow-up on the thousands border-crossers flagged as security risks allowed into Canada.

Calls to Close Roxham Road

The CBSAs audit comes amid calls from the Official Opposition for the federal government to close the unofficial border-crossing at Roxham Road in Quebec, through which thousands of migrants seeking asylum have been entering Canada.

Over 39,000 migrants claimed asylum in Canada after being intercepted by the RCMP while crossing into Quebec in 2022, according to federal statistics, compared to just 369 across the rest of the country.

On Feb. 21, Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre called on Prime Minister Justin Trudeau to close the unofficial entry point within 30 days.

Quebec Premier Francois Legault has also called on Ottawa several times to close the border crossing, saying it will have to be closed one day or another, whether we like it or not.

However, Trudeau has maintained that closing the unofficial border would not slow the high numbers of asylum seekers from entering Canada as they would simply cross at another entry point.

The only way to effectively shut down not just Roxham Road but the entire border to these irregular crossings is to renegotiate the Safe Third Country Agreement, he said on Feb. 22.
Feinstein, Fetterman Hospitalizations May Mean Trouble for Democrats

Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) is seen speaking on Capitol Hill in Washington on May 5, 2020, and Sen. John Fetterman (D-Pa.)is seen at Belmont Water Treatment Center in Philadelphia on Feb. 3, 2023. (Andrew Harnik/ AP Photo; Andrew Caballero-Reynolds/AFP via Getty Images)

Senate Democrats have little room for error after Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) announced she was hospitalized with shingles on Thursday and amid Sen. John Fettermans (D-Penn.) ongoing treatment for clinical depression.

On Thursday, Feinstein, 89, said she was hospitalized with the virus and wont return until later this month, while Fetterman, 53, was hospitalized at Walter Reed National Military Medical Center to treat clinical depression last month. Its not clear when Fetterman will be released.

Two other senators this week missed votes, including Sen. Jeff Merkley (D-Ore.) and Sen. Mike Crapo (R-Idaho) Merkeley said in a statement that he is in Oregon to deal with a family matter, while Crapo reportedly is suffering from illness.

Because of absences this week, the Senate is deadlocked at 4848, forcing Vice President Kamala Harris to cast tie-breaking votes for Democrats. When Crapo and Merkley return, the Senate will be tied at 4949.

With no time-table provided for either Fettermans or Feinsteins respective returns to the Senate, some analysts say that Democrats could face problems when trying to confirm President Joe Bidens nominees.

This week, the Senate voted 4948 in favor of one of Bidens judicial picks, Margaret Guzman, and also voted 4948 to confirm Araceli Martinez-Olguin to serve as a federal judge in the Northern District of California.

Slim majorities are always challenging, but especially so in todays Senate, Sarah Binder, political science professor at George Washington Universitys Columbian College of Arts and Science, told Newsweek on Thursday. There are not many legislative measures on tap in the Senate, but Democrats will feel the pinch of a tied Senate whenever they try to confirm a controversial nominee.

In those cases, Democrats will need Vice President Harris back in the chair to break a tied vote to cut off debate on a confirmation vote, Binder added. That might slightly slow down Democrats and encourage them to focus on nominees who have some support from across the aisle.

In an interview with Fox News, strategist Doug Heye said that the danger of having such a small majority is that one or two illnesses can bring things to a halt, noting the White House has been aggressive and effective on judicial nominees, but thats all on hold for now.

Return Not Clear

Feinstein, the oldest member of the Senate, confirmed that I was diagnosed over the February recess with a case of shingles. I have been hospitalized and am receiving treatment in San Francisco and expect to make a full recovery. I hope to return to the Senate later this month. Shingles is a viral infection that develops into a rash, lasting for as long as four weeks.

Last month, the longtime Democrat confirmed that she would not be seeking reelection for the seat that shes held since the early 1990s. Several Democrat lawmakers, including Reps. Adam Schiff (D-Calif.) and Katie Porter (D-Calif.), have announced bids for her seat.

As for Fetterman, a timeline for return even less clear. Days before he was hospitalized for depression, Fetterman sought medical attention after feeling lightheadedcoming just months after he suffered a stroke while on the campaign trail.

On Monday, Fetterman spokesman Joe Calvello issued a statement saying he is on a path to recovery.

We dont have a lot to update folks with since theres no real news to report except that John is doing well, working with the wonderful doctors, and remains on a path to recovery, he said. He is visiting with staff and family daily, and his staff are keeping him updated on Senate business and news.

We understand the intense interest in Johns status and especially appreciate the flood of well-wishes. However, as we have said this will be a weeks-long process and while we will be sure to keep folks updated as it progresses, this is all there is to give by way of an update, Calvello added.

Before his latest stay in the hospital, Fetterman voted in the Senate to confirm three judicial nominees, including Gina R. Mendez-Miro of Puerto Rico to be a U.S. District Judge for the District of Puerto Rico; Lindsay C. Jenkins of Illinois to be a U.S. District Judge for the Northern District of Illinois; and Matthew L. Garcia of New Mexico to be a U.S. District Judge for the District of New Mexico.
First Lady Labels Nikki Haleys Call for Mental Competency Test for Politicians Over 75 Ridiculous

First Lady Jill Biden leaves the Church of the Society of Jesus in Quito, Ecuador, on May 20, 2022. (Erin Schaff/Pool via Reuters)

First Lady Jill Biden blasted as ridiculous GOP presidential candidate Nikki Haleys call for mandatory mental competency tests for politicians over the age of 75.

Biden gave this response during a CNN interview that partially aired on March 2 before being preempted for the Alex Murdaugh murder trial verdict.

When asked if her 80-year-old husband, President Joe Biden, would take such a test, Jill Biden demurred.

I mean, we havent even discussed [it], she said. We would never even discuss something like that.

The Haley campaign did not respond to a request from The Epoch Times seeking her reaction to the first ladys comments.

The president has not announced his reelection campaign but is expected to do so soon.

In the Feb. 15 speech announcing her run for the White House, Haley, 51, pledged mental competency tests for politicians over the age of 75.

In the America I see, the permanent politician will finally retire, said Haley. Well have term limits for Congress. And mandatory mental competency tests for politicians over 75 years old.

America is not past our prime, she added. Its just that our politicians are past theirs.

Jill Biden is not the only public figure to criticize Haleys call.

Appearing on CBSs Face the Nation on Feb. 19, 81-year-old Bernie Sanders, who ran for the White House in 2016 and 2020, called Haleys vow absurd.

We are fighting racism, were fighting sexism, were fighting homophobia, I think we should also be fighting ageism. Trust people, look at people and say, you know, this person is competent, this person is not competent, he added. There are a lot of 40-year-olds out there who aint particularly competent. Older people, you know, you look at the individual, I dont think you make a blanket statement.

Sanders remarked that those in office should be seen by what they do, not by how old they are.

Look at what they do, what they believe in. What are they fighting for? he said. What does Donald Trump stand for? Do you believe in that? Well, I certainly dont. What does Joe Biden stand for? What is he doing? Has he accomplishedlook at him in that way, not on age.

Haley, who served under Trump as U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations, fired back at Sanders.

Exactly what a career politician and socialist would say, she told The Epoch Times on Feb. 20. This is about transparency. The Washington establishment is afraid of the people finding out some of our leaders arent fit to serve.

In virtually all GOP primary polls, Haley, who served as governor of South Carolina between 2011 and 2017, is behind former president Trump and Gov. Ron DeSantis (R-Fla.). DeSantis has not yet announced his candidacy but is widely expected to do so.

At the annual Conservative Political Action Conference(CPAC) on March 3, Haley reiterated her pledge and expanded it to apply to judges. She also said she would not mind lowering the age requirement.

Every politician and judge over 75 years old should take a competency test, she said. If you want to start at age 50, Im good with that too.
Florida Bill Would Require Bloggers to Register With State Before Writing About Elected Officials

Florida State Sen. Jason Brodeur filed a bill on Tuesday that, if passed, would require bloggers to register with the Florida Office of Legislative Services before writing about elected state officials.

If a blogger posts to a blog about an elected state officer and receives, or will receive, compensation for that post, the blogger must register with the appropriate office within 5 days after the first post by the blogger which mentions an elected state officer, the bill reads.

Brodeurs SB 1316, titled Information Dissemination, defines an elected state officer as the Governor, the Lieutenant Governor, a Cabinet Officer, or any member of the Legislature.

The bill specifies a blog as a website or webpage that hosts any blogger and is frequently updated with opinion, commentary, or business content. The term does not include the website of a newspaper or other similar publication.

In addition to registering with the appropriate office, the bill states, the blogger must file monthly reports stating the entity that compensated the blogger as well as the amount of compensation.

If the compensation is for a series of blog posts or for a defined period of time, the bill reads, the blogger must disclose the total amount to be received upon the first blog post being published. Thereafter, the blogger must disclose the date or dates additional compensation is received, if any, for the series of blog posts.

The report must also include the date the blog post was published as well as the website and website address where the blog post can be found.

The bill elucidates bloggers be treated similarly to lobbyists.

Each house of the Legislature and the Commission on Ethics, the bill states, will adopt by rule the same procedure by which lobbyists are notified of the failure to timely file a report and the amount of the assessed fines.

The bill specifies a fine of $25 per day, per report for each day late, and must be paid within 30 days of the notice being transmitted.

Brodeur did not respond to a request for comment, but told Florida Politics that paid bloggers are lobbyists who write instead of talk.

They both are professional electioneers, Brodeur said. If lobbyists have to register and report, why shouldnt paid bloggers?

Attorney Jonah Dickstein, a member of the First Amendment Lawyers Association, said though he is skeptical the bill is a good idea, he does not question the motives of the politicians proposing it.

I think theyre trying to find solutions to a real problem, Dickstein said. Which I think there may already be laws that could be better used to deal with some of these situations.

Dickstein said there are problems with any requirement for registration of people in order to practice journalism.

For citizen journalists or smaller organizations, it has more than a chilling effect, Dickstein said. It absolutely has the risk of being used by authorities to shut them out completely from journalistic activity.

Dickstein said smaller journalists are what the First Amendment really is about.

It is worth withholding judgment on whether these particular legal approaches are good or bad until theyve made their way through the legislative process, he said.

I think its worth taking the time to get these things straightened out, Dickstein said. And it could make sense to withhold judgment until there have been the debates and the policy adjustments before we have a finished product.

In response to the bills proposal, Gov. Ron DeSantiss press secretary, Bryan Griffin, said legislation is derived from the legislature, and in recent years, over 3,000 bills have been filed each year in Florida.

As usual, the governor will consider the merits of a bill in final formif, and when, it passes the legislature, Griffin said.
Flynn Sues DOJ, FBI for Malicious Prosecution, Wants $50 Million

Retired Lt. Gen. Michael Flynn, former national security adviser to President Donald Trump, has filed a lawsuit against the Department of Justice (DOJ), FBI, and others, alleging he was maliciously prosecuted. He is demanding at least $50 million in compensation.

Defendant maliciously investigated and prosecuted General Flynn by initiating and continuing a basbeless counterintelligence investigation and by filing a criminal information lacking probable cause, says the suit, filed on March 3 with the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Florida (pdf).

The former head of the Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA) under the Obama administration was investigated by the FBI starting in August 2016 for supposed ties to Russia. In 2017, he was charged with lying to the FBI during an interview earlier that year.

The suit alleges that the FBI, and later prosecutors from the office of special counsel Robert Mueller, investigated and prosecuted him for political reasons, considering him a threat.

General Flynnwho already had a reputation as a hands-on disruptor at DIA, who had publicly excoriated the politicization of the intelligence community, and who had made clear his desire to overhaul the national security structure and the interagency processwas a direct threat, not only to the self-interest of entrenched intelligence bureaucracies and the federal officials involved, but to exposing their prior and ongoing efforts to derail and discredit President Trump, the suit says.

The case against Flynn was riddled with contradictions and inconsistencies. FBI agents had already decided to close his case by early January 2017, but higher-ups intervened to keep it open on the justification that Flynn may have violated an obscure and antiquated law called the Logan Act by discussing with a Russian ambassador the priorities of the incoming administration during the transition period. DOJ officials at the time rejected the legal theory. The 1799 Logan Act, which prohibits certain kinds of unauthorized diplomacy, may in fact be unconstitutional, several lawyers previously told The Epoch Times. It has never been successfully prosecuted, much less aimed at an incoming national security adviser.

The Flynn investigation, codenamed Crossfire Razor, continued only because of Defendants agents and agencies malicious, partisan, and unethical intent to investigate their political opponents generally and to destroy General Flynn specifically, the suit says.

Subsequent leaks to the media claimed that he may have violated the Logan Act by talking with the Russian ambassador, Sergei Kislyak, about sanctions imposed at the time on Russia by the outgoing Obama administration.

FBI top brass then meticulously prepared and arranged the interview to appear as an informal meeting, just to put the Kislyak calls being discussed in the press to bed, the suit says.

On Jan. 24, 2017, when two FBI agents interviewed Flynn, they asked him whether he talked with Kislyak about expulsions of Russian diplomats. He said no, which was not the truth. When asked again, he said he didnt remember.

This exchange then formed the core of the charge brought against Flynn by Mueller, who took over his case in May 2017.

Flynn initially pleaded guilty to the charge, but later withdrew the plea, saying he did not intentionally lie and entered the plea because he was misled by his lawyers and because the prosecutors threatened theyd go after his son.

Indeed, the first lawyer team noted in internal emails that they received an informal affirmation from the prosecutors that Flynns son would be left alone if he signed the plea.

The DOJ dropped the charge in 2020, after then-Attorney General William Barr ordered an outside prosecutor to review the case. Then-head of the District of Columbia U.S. Attorneys Office Timothy Shea concluded that it seemed the FBIs purpose for interviewing Flynn was to elicit  false statements and thereby criminalize Mr. Flynn.

The judge overseeing the case refused to dismiss the charges until Trump ultimately pardoned Flynn in 2020.

Aside from the malicious prosecution, Flynns suit alleges the government abused the legal process by coercing Flynn into a plea by threatening prosecution of his son as well as by targeting him with baseless investigation and charges.

As a direct and proximate result of Defendants actions, General Flynn suffered harm, the suit says.

He was falsely branded as a traitor to his country, lost at least tens of millions of dollars of business opportunities and future lifetime earning potential, was maliciously prosecuted and spent substantial monies in his own defense, and has suffered and will continue to suffer mental and emotional pain for the rest of his life, in addition to other pecuniary harms such as costs, fees, attorneys fees, and other losses.

It argues that ruling in Flynns favor would not only bring justice to him but also put the government on a path back to public trust.

Punitive damages are not only warranted but essential to deter any present or future  official from harming anyone else like they harmed General Flynn, it says.

Flynn lists as defendants the FBI, DOJ, the Executive Office of the President, the Office of Special Counsel, former FBI Director James Comey, former Special Counsel Robert Mueller, one of his former special prosecutors, Brandon Van Grack, former FBI Deputy Director Andrew McCabe, his former Special Counsel Lisa Page, as well as the two FBI officials that interviewed Flynn, Peter Strzok and Joseph Pientka. Strzok was fired by the FBI in 2018 after the discovery of his text messages with his paramour Lisa Page where they expressed strong animus toward Trump.

The FBI declined to comment citing pending litigation.

The DOJ and the White House didnt respond to requests for comment.

Update: The article was updated with further details from Flynns complaint as well as the results of requests for comment from the FBI, DOJ, and the White House.
Food and Soldiers: Chinas Strategic Weaknesses

Renowned geostrategist Edward Luttwak pinpoints Beijing's Achilles' heel

Tourists look on as a Chinese military helicopter flies past Pingtan island, one of mainland China's closest points to Taiwan, in Fujian Province, on Aug. 4, 2022. (Hector Retamal/AFP via Getty Images)

Commentary

On Dec. 7, 2022, Edward Luttwak, a strategy consultant to the U.S. government, gave the keynote speech at Japans National Institute of Defense Studies (NIDS) International Symposium on Security Affairs. The speech was entitled Can China Fight a War?

Most media outlets didnt cover the NIDS conference, and almost none of them mentioned Luttwaks speech. News sources missed an opportunity to highlight some of Chinas most important strategic weaknesses. These should be ferociously pursued if the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) orders the Peoples Liberation Army (PLA) to conduct a military operation against Taiwan.

Can China Wage a War?

Luttwak noted at the beginning of his speech that he cant answer the question: Would the Chinese government actually initiate war operations; would it go to war against Taiwan? He noted that leaders of countries (such as Russian President Vladimir Putin in the Ukraine or then-U.S. President George W. Bush in Iraq in 2003) are quite capable of starting wars they cannot possibly win.

That is true of Russians and Americans, and its even more true of China, he said.

Luttwak asked a simple question: Can the Peoples Republic of China as it now exists, actually wage a war  a small war  such as, for example, a war to take Taiwan?

Using the metaphor of sustainability, he argued that the CCP would be in trouble if it fought a war against Taiwan today, especially if the war continued for more than several months. His analysis wasnt based on standard military comparisons of the two countries military order of battle, weapon systems, or numbers of soldiers.

Instead, Luttwak focused on two key Chinese strategic weaknesses regarding sustainability: food supplies and dead soldiers.

Looking at Russia

Luttwak contrasted Russia and China. First of all, does Russia have a sustainable war?

According to Luttwak: Russia does not import food. Russia may import some special pate de foie gras from Paris, but the food the Russians make is the food they eat.

Second, Russia doesnt import energy; Russia exports energy.

Third, Russia has the most valuable commodity in wartime: Some families have extra sons.

The Importance of Food

In contrast, Luttwak noted that China annually imports several million tons of food. For example, in 2022, China imported more than 85 percent of its soybeans (95 million tons), mainly from the United States, Brazil, and Argentina.

China imports human food and animal feed, he said, including 95 million tons of soybeans, plus approximately 2030,000 tons of maize, wheat, sorghum, millet, and these other things to feed to animals. In addition to meat, there are of course dairy imports, a lot of dairy imports.

Consequently, according to Luttwak, China is a protein-eating country, and the protein is important. Now, whatever else may happen, the moment a fight of any kind starts, even a small war, G-7 type sanctions start, meaning that China will be cut off from imports such as soybeans from the United States and Canada.

Workers stand near a crane unloading sacks of imported soybeans from Russia at Heihe port in Heilongjiang Province, China, on Oct. 10, 2018. (Stringer/Reuters)

He argued that once a war starts, within about three months, theyll have to kill  most of the pigs and the chicken, the mutton, the beef.

Luttwak further claimed that during Maos rule over China, people survived because they ate more simply. They didnt have much meat and certainly no yogurt.

China used to be self-sufficient, he said. In other words, it used to be the way Russia is now for food. And now, it is completely different.

Luttwak noted that Chinese leadership failed to ensure that China would continue expanding local sources of food. Despite recent laws preventing the conversion of agricultural land to housing or industry, China has continued to lose its agricultural land, primarily due to land erosion, industrialization, and urbanization.

However, he noted that Russia has been in a war since February 2022, and still people in Russia  eat the same food they ate six months ago, a year ago.

Energy

Some analysts might predict that China would be challenged to procure energy resources during wartime. However, although China imports a great deal of petroleum and liquified natural gas, Luttwak said, those imports are not so important strategically as food is.

He noted that China has a large domestic production of petroleum and gas. In wartime, he argued, China would be able to divert energy resources used for the export trade to support its population.

And, in wartime, it is quite easy to ration some energy use, Luttwak said.

Dead Soldiers: The Past Can Inform the Future

Luttwak noted that the very lowest estimate of Russians killed in Ukraine as of December 2022 was 25,000 (while many estimates put the number at well above 100,000). He said the Russians can lose 25,000 soldiers in several months and it makes no difference.  Nobody is blocking the streets in Moscow in protest. It can continue like this for a long time.

He then compared the USSRs 1968 invasion of Czechoslovakia, Russias 2022 invasion of Ukraine, and the PLAs possible invasion of Taiwan.

According to Luttwak, when the Soviet Union invaded Czechoslovakia in 1968, it was able to put in 400,000 troops in the first 24 hours. And within 48 hours 800,000 troops.

However, when Russia invaded Ukraine in 2022, it made the big mistake of only using 135,000 troops to invade a country that is 4 1/2 times larger than Czechoslovakia (603,700 square kilometers versus 127,900 square kilometers) and four times more populous. (In 1968, Czechoslovakias population was 10 million people; in 2022, Ukraines population was about 41 million people.) In Luttwaks view, Russia should have planned to deploy four times the number of troops that the USSR sent into Czechoslovakia, or approximately 3.2 million.

Using similar population ratios, the PLA would need to deploy a minimum of 1.6 million soldiers within 48 hours of an invasion, since Taiwans population is about half of Ukraines population. The CCP would struggle with an inadequate number of ground forces, in the same way that Russia is struggling in Ukraine.

Post-Heroic Warfare

Luttwak said: If you want to fight the war, you need to have a supply of expendable soldiers, sailors, airmen.  You cannot start the war if youre not willing to tolerate casualties. Many years ago [1995], I published a theory called post-heroic warfare.  And my argument was terribly simple, really simple. The wars of history were fought by spare male children.

According to his theory of post-heroic warfare, the acceptance of casualties has gone down everywhere. Lets say  [on] June 6, 1944, on Omaha beach, there was a mistake  2,200 Americans died in one morning  but the war continued.

Vietnam veterans gather at the Vietnam War Memorial in Washington to commemorate the 20th anniversary of the end of the Vietnam War, on April 8, 1995. (Joyce Naltchayan/AFP/Getty Images)

[In] Vietnam, the United States lost 50,000 over 10 years  and that was considered very traumatic.  And, of course, since that time, society has changed further, Luttwak said. American families are smaller  so tolerance for casualties has gone down a lot. Now it doesnt mean, of course, that if you go into a place like Iraq or Afghanistan and you lose a few thousand, thats OK. But what you cant do is to lose 10,000 dead before breakfast and continue normally. That is the post-heroic change.

The following statistics for Afghanistan and Iraq support his argument. Almost 2,500 U.S. soldiers died in Afghanistan during the 20-year war (200120) and 4,400 U.S. soldiers died in Iraq during the seven-year war (200310). Additionally, more than 3,800 U.S. contractors were killed in Afghanistan and almost 3,600 in Iraq during the same respective time periods.

Chinas Lack of Sons

Luttwak cited statistics in what he called a post-heroic China. In 1980, the CCP instituted its one-child policy, which lasted until 2016. Most Chinese families today have only one child. Although thats supposed to change under new policies encouraging larger families, those policies wont have an impact for decades.

In a model in which families are very small, there are no spare male children, then families and society and the culture and the government all have to reduce casualties, he said.

Luttwak told a story about the clash between Chinese and Indian troops in the Galwan River Valley of Ladakh in 2020. Approximately 20 Indian soldiers were killed, and shortly after the fighting, the dead were given military funerals, including a brigadier general.

The CCP, however, announced its killed-in-action eight months after the fighting. The CCP acknowledged four soldiers had been killed: one officer and three enlisted. What happened during those seven months is the interesting part of the story.

The PLA officers wife, a local music teacher, was promoted to a position as a music professor at a major conservatory.

The three enlisted soldiers were also each given special propaganda value. One soldier who looked very young was made into a local hero. Another PLA soldier was made into the good guy who was reported to have said, I will give my life to defend the motherlandevery inch of the motherland; Im here to defend every inch. Of course, Ladakh was never part of Chinaan inconvenient truth.

The CCP presented the third enlisted soldier as very traditional. In a letter that he supposedly wrote before he died, he said, Dear Mom and Dad, Im very sorry that I will not be there for you when you need me, but if there is an afterlife  then I hope to be there with you. Luttwak noted the illogic of a reference to the afterlife by communist atheists.

In short, the Chinese were concerned about the public reaction.

This entire operation was to reduce the emotional impact of saying that four people died, he said.

Intolerance for Casualties

Luttwak argued that if the CCP took eight months to work out the details for four soldiers, how will it deal with the death of several thousand, or perhaps several tens of thousands? He estimated that 25,000 to 40,000 PLA soldiers would die in the first week of a conflict with Taiwan. Many would die on ships or airplanes trying to land in Taiwan. These PLA casualties would be caused by Taiwans anti-ship systems and U.S. and allied submarines.

He concluded that although China would be unable to win a war in the near- to mid-term timeframe, it might, nonetheless, start such a war.

I am not at all confident that the fact that China cannot fight a war means that they will not try to fight a war, Luttwak said.

However, he predicted that if China starts a war, it will have to stop quite quickly.

Views expressed in this article are the opinions of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of The Epoch Times.
Oh boy, this doesn't seem like good news. Asbury University, a Christian college in Wilmore, Kentucky, recently ended a revival that started on February 8 and went, non-stop, 24-hours a day, for the two weeks that followed. Thousands of worshippers from all over Kentucky and beyond joined insome folks traveled all the way from Singapore to join in, according to the Courier Journal. The Courier Journal also explains that the revival went viral on TikTok:

Videos of students participating in the nonstop prayer and worship service have made their way to social media, sparking international attention. As of Feb. 16, posts with the #AsburyRevival hashtag have generated 34.5 million views on TikTok.

But that's not the only thing that might be going viral. Anumita Kaur of The Washington Post reports that 20,000 folks who attended the revival might have been exposed to measles "after an unvaccinated worshiper was found to have the highly contagious virus that causes the illness." The Post further explains:

Thousands traveled across city, county and state lines to participate in what was called "the Asbury Revival," which stretched from Feb. 8 to Feb. 19 at the university's chapel. Videos shared on TikTok and Instagram showed people praying, holding hands and crying to worship music. The gathering drew national attention to the small Christian school, located about 30 minutes from Lexington.

The CDC doesn't currently know how many people have caught the measles from the event, but, according to CBS News, the CDC is:

urging doctors to "be on high alert for measles symptoms" among people who attended the gathering and is actively working with Kentucky authorities to search for additional cases.

And The Washington Post adds more information:
Ford Recalls 98,500 Ranger Trucks Over Replacement Air Bag Inflators

WASHINGTONFord Motor Co. said it is recalling 98,500 older Ranger pickup trucks in the United States because replacement front passenger air bag inflators may have been installed incorrectly.

The new recall covers 20042006 model year Ranger trucks recalled in 2017 and 2018 to replace a small number of inflators that were installed incorrectly. Those original replacement inflators were replacing Takata versions that are at risk of ruptures that could pose safety risks.

Ford said that through early February seven vehicles with incorrect inflator orientation have been identified and were re-repaired.

Dealers will inspect and reinstall the replacement front passenger air bag inflator as needed.

Ford said there were no injuries or crashes related to the new recall.

More than 30 deaths worldwideincluding 24 U.S. deaths and three in older Ranger pickup trucksare linked to Takata air bag inflators that can explode, unleashing metal shrapnel inside cars and trucks.

By David Shepardson
Foreign Minister Joly Says She Was Unequivocal With Chinese Counterpart on Interference Concerns

Foreign Affairs Minister Melanie Joly says she was unequivocal with her Chinese counterpart that Canada will not tolerate foreign interference amid recent reports on Beijings alleged election meddling.

Canada will never tolerate any form of foreign interference in our democracy and internal affairs by China, Joly said in a March 3 statement that was also posted on her Twitter account.

We will never accept any breach of our territorial integrity and sovereignty; we will never accept any breach by Chinese diplomats of the Vienna Convention on Canadas soil.

Joy said she was direct, firm and unequivocal with her Chinese counterpart Qin Gang when they held a meeting on the sidelines of the G20 summit in New Delhi, India.

Joly said she also reiterated Canadas firm position on China laid out in the Indo-Pacific Strategy, which labelled the communist regime as an increasingly disruptive global power, and pledges to join allies in confronting Beijing on a range of issues, from its disregard for international norms to undermining Canadian and its allies national security interests.

See the below statement on my meeting with my Chinese counterpart, Minister Qin Gang. pic.twitter.com/na8qbwynUu  Melanie Joly (@melaniejoly) March 3, 2023

During the meeting with Joly, Qin refuted the fallacy that the Chinese embassy and consulates in Canada tried to interfere in Canadian elections, describing the allegations as complete nonsense, said a Chinese-language statement released by the Chinese Foreign Affairs Ministry.

The statement further claimed that the communist regime never interferes in other countries internal affairs, while urging Ottawa to take actions ensuring the unhampered performance of Chinas diplomatic missions in Canada and preventing rumours and hype from interfering with bilateral relations.

Despite their clash, the ministers agreed to keep lines of communication open, Jolys statement said.

Interference

Chinas claims came counter to allegations stemming from a Globe and Mail report of top-secret documents leaked from the Canadian Security Intelligence Service (CSIS), illustrating Beijings strategy to meddle with Canadas 2019 and 2021 elections with the support of its consulates and politically active individuals and associations in the country.

The report noted that Beijings goals include the return of a Liberal minority and the defeat of Conservative candidates deemed as unfriendly to Beijing. The leaked CSIS documents also reveal a former Chinese consul-general in Vancouver, Tong Xiaoling, touting her role in defeating two Conservative MPs, the Globe reported.

The series of reports that followed prompted the Procedure and House Affairs Committee to pass a motion calling on the federal government to launch a public inquiry into Chinas interference that includes but is not limited to the reported election meddling.

Since last November, the committee has been studying Beijings interference in Canadas 2019 federal election, after a report by Global News revealed that national security officials had briefed Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and cabinet members on the regimes covert funding to at least 11 candidates.
Frances Widdowson: The University of Lethbridge Falls to Wokeism

Commentary

A few months ago Paul Viminitz, a philosophy professor at the University of Lethbridge (UL) in southern Alberta, invited me to give a talk on academic freedom. The talk originally intended to elaborate upon how wokeisma phenomenon in which identity politics becomes totalitarian by insisting that the subjective beliefs of designated groups replace the search for an objective truthhad undermined the academic character of Mount Royal University in Calgary, where I had taught for many years. This circumstance, which resulted in my firing, was even more pronounced at the UL. Its prominence, in fact, resulted in the cancellation of my talk, underlining the threat that wokeism poses.

The universitys president, Michael J. Mahon, originally said that, while my views were abhorrent, my talk would be allowed to proceed because of the institutions free speech policy. This changed, however, when Mahon came to believe that the harm that would be caused by my words was an impediment to meaningful reconciliation with indigenous peoples.

Mahon had changed his position because of intense lobbying from faculty and students. The most significant pressure came from the UL Students Union. The unions indigenous representative, Nathan Crow, asserted that he was appalled by me being invited to speak, as his support for freedom of expression did not include discriminat[ion against] a specific demographic or spreading false narratives.

Many faculty members also supported the cancellation, and the ULs entire Indigenous Studies Department put out a statement saying it vehemently condemns my anti-Indigenous rhetoric and deplores the fact that it was being legitimized. Even more surprising was the response of the ULs Faculty Association, which, instead of defending Viminitzs academic freedom to use university resources to organize a talk, expressed concern about the hurtful speech that was expected of me and the need to protect faculty and students from it.

The denunciation by the Indigenous Studies Department was especially instructive because it went on to argue that the Blackfoot people and their traditional ways of knowing must be honored by all people at UL. It appeared, therefore, that my scholarly questioning of the Truth and Reconciliation Commissions concept of cultural genocide and my critical analysis of the improbable claims about the unmarked graves at the Kamloops Indian Residential School were inconsistent with the ways of knowing of indigenous people. As wokeism demands that these ways of knowing must be accepted to politically support indigenous groups, any critical analysis disputing them is now forbidden.

All of this is a microcosm of what is happening in universities across the country. Starting about 20 years ago, activists began to take over the administrative machinery of universities. This reached a tipping point with the killing in the United States of George Floyd in 2020. While identity politics used to be one position among many, its totalitarian form now means that everyone must pretend to accept the views of the oppressed so that they supposedly can be empowered.

Opposing this takeover of universities is not going to be easy, and might not even be possible. The woke are now firmly in charge, and faculty activists and university diversicrats hire only those who are in agreement with the dogma. The only hope is through organization at the individual university, national and international levels. By bringing together faculty, students, and interested members of the public in organizations like the Society for Academic Freedom and Scholarship, serious efforts can be made to grapple with the problem and give support to those who want to protect the intellectual integrity of post-secondary education.

Unfortunately, it continues to be difficult to impress upon the public the importance of universities, as they are one of the main bulwarks against autocratic intrusions into society. Because wokeism demands cancellation of ideas that challenge its control, one correct view increasingly will be demanded. As we saw with MP Leah Gazans proposal to criminalize genocide denial in Canada, it wont be long before people are jailed for heretical beliefs.

The current woke assault on academic freedom, freedom of expression, and the very concepts of truth, objective facts, and empirical knowledge brings to mind the insights of George Orwell. Soon after his novel Nineteen Eighty-Four was published, Orwell gave the following warning in a BBC interview: The moral to be drawn from this dangerous nightmare situation is a simple one. Dont let it happen. It depends on you.

The unhinged reaction to my presence at the University of Lethbridge shows the prescient nature of Orwells warning. As I have said elsewhere, totalitarianism is on the move. We need to fight back against it with everything we have before it is too late.

The essay-length version of this column was recently published in C2C Journal.

Views expressed in this article are the opinions of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of The Epoch Times.
Free Speech Activists Wade Into Teenage Quran Row Treated as a Hate Incident by Police

The Free Speech Union has called on police to drop a hate incident record after a pupil caused slight damage to a copy of the Quran when it fell on the floor in a school.

Last Wednesday, the BBC reported that four pupils were suspended from a West Yorkshire secondary school after an accusation that slight damage in the form of a smudged page was caused to a copy of the Quran.

West Yorkshire Police became involved after a Year 10 boy, who is believed to be autistic, brought a copy of Islams holy book to Wakefields Kettlethorpe High School.

Kettlethorpe Headteacher Tudor Griffiths said in a statement at the time: We would like to reassure all our community that the holy book remains fully intact and that our initial enquiries indicate there was no malicious intent by those involved.

Chill Public Debate

At a subsequent meeting at the local Jamia Masjid Swafia mosque called to address the incident, the boys mother pleaded her sons case to a panel that included imans, Tudor Griffiths and Inspector Andy Thornton, who confirmed that the students treatment of the book has been recorded as a hate incident.

The Free Speech Union (FSU) said in a post on Twitter that it was hard pressed to imagine a sequence of events more likely to chill public debate and freedom of expression than recording this episode as a hate incident and attaching that data to the childrens records, in spite of the absence of any malicious intent.

The FSU supports self-styled defenders of free expression in England and Scotland.

A West Yorkshire Police spokesman told The Epoch Times by email that no hate crime has been recorded, but that a hate incident has been recorded.

British police encourage the public to report non-crime hate incidents (NCHIs), described as any non-crime incident which is perceived by the victim or any other person to be motivated by hostility or prejudice, on official hate crime sites.

In 2021, a top court ruled that The College of Policings (CoP) guidance on recording NCHIs violated former policeman Harry Millers freedom of expression as set out in Article 10 of the European Convention of Human Rights.

The updated guidance from CoP now says that NCHIs should not be recorded where they are trivial, irrational, or if there is no basis to conclude that an incident was motivated by hostility.

Death Threats

In a letter addressed to Inspector Andy Thornton, FSU General Secretary Toby Young wrote: We are deeply concerned by the official response to the troubling events at Kettlethorpe High School in Wakefield, following an accusation that a Year 10 pupil caused slight damage to a copy of the Quran.

We understand that this has resulted in death threats being made against the pupil in question, and that no police action is to be taken against those who have made these threats after the mother of the pupil who received them was visibly placed under pressure not to pursue the matter at an event held at a local mosque, he added.

Young noted that at that event, Thornton stated that this minor damage to the pupils private property was being treated as a hate incident despite an investigation by the school having concluded that there was no malicious intent behind the minor damage to one page of this book.

We know from dealing with other cases, that when the police conclude a non-crime hate incident has been committed by an individual or group of individuals, that information is kept on file and can show up when an enhanced criminal records check is shown up, said Young.

Former police officer Harry Miller speaks to the media outside the Royal Courts of Justice in London on Dec. 20, 2021. (Dominic Lipinski/PA)

Miller co-founded Fair Cop was set up in response to what it calls Big Brother overreach of various police forces and other authorities in England.

Miller told The Epoch Times that he believed the incident was backdoor sharia.

It was a public humiliation, wasnt it? They did everything short of putting them in stocks and pelting them with tomatoes, and the fact there was a chief inspector there endorsing it is something that is sickening, he added.

We have backdoor sharia, its as simple as that, said Miller.

He said that the potential issuing of NCHI shows absolute contempt by West Yorkshire police for the court and the public, it shows absolute obedience to sharia.

Hate Incident

A West Yorkshire Police spokesman told The Epoch Times by email: We are aware of local and national concerns following an incident at Kettlethorpe High School in Wakefield last week.

Police were made aware on the evening of Thursday, 23 February, of an incident that had occurred at the school earlier that day. Initial enquiries confirmed that minor damage was caused to a religious text. We have recorded a hate incident, but from our enquiries are satisfied that no criminal offences were committed, he said.

A report was also made of a malicious communications offence in relation to threats being made to a child in connection with this incident. A suspect was identified, who was also a child, and they were given words of advice by an officer, he added.

We are continuing to liaise with the school and our neighbourhood officers are conducting additional reassurance patrols in the area, said the spokesman.
George Santos Officially Under House Ethics Investigation

Rep. George Santos (R-N.Y.) leaves the Capitol Hill Club as members of the press follow him in Washington on Jan. 31, 2023. (Alex Wong/Getty Images)

The House Ethics Committee unanimously voted on March 2 to investigate allegations against Rep. George Santos (R-N.Y.) over claims he engaged in unlawful activity on the campaign trail.

Rep. Michael Guest (R-Miss.), chairman of the Ethics Committee, released a statement announcing the probe, noting that no other public comment would be made except per committee rules.

The investigative subcommittee will determine whether Santos may have failed to disclose properly required information on statements filed with the House, violated federal conflict of interest laws in connection with his role in a firm providing fiduciary services, and engaged in sexual misconduct toward an individual seeking employment in his congressional office.

Rep. David Joyce (R-Ohio) will chair the investigative panel, with Rep. Susan Wild (D-Pa.) serving as the ranking member. The other two members of the subcommittee are Reps. John Rutherford (R-Fla.) and Glenn Ivey (D-Md.).

The statement noted that launching the probe doesnt imply any violation but demonstrates the Committees commitment to upholding ethical standards in Congress.

The Ethics Committee will decide whether to take any further action depending on the recommendations made by the Investigative Subcommittee based on its findings.

Santoss office said he is fully cooperating with the investigation and that there will be no further comment made at this time, according to a statement on Santoss Twitter account.

The Epoch Times contacted Santoss office for further comment.

Terrible Liar

Santos, who was elected to represent New Yorks Third Congressional District in 2022, has faced allegations that he invented his family background, education, and work history.

In December, he confessed to lying about going to college, and in February he admitted to being a terrible liar and apologized.

During a Feb. 20 interview with Piers Morgan, Santos confessed to making up false stories about himself to gain the support of the GOP.

Santos admitted that hed been a terrible liar concerning unverifiable statements he made on the campaign trail, including one about his mothers presence at the World Trade Center during the Sept. 11 attacks.

The congressman apologized for his lies and explained that he thought he could get away with them because he had not been caught during his unsuccessful run for office in 2020.

Ive been a terrible liar on those subjects, and what I tried to convey to the American people is, I made mistakes, Santos said.

I ran in 2020 for the same exact seat for Congress, and I got away with it then, he added.

Earlier in February, a group of Democrat lawmakers introduced a resolution to the House Ethics Committee calling for Santoss expulsion.

They also accused Republican leaders of covering for Santos to maintain their slim majority in the House of Representatives.

Allegations

In December, Santos acknowledged that he had made some resume embellishments by falsely claiming in his biography to have graduated with degrees in finance and economics from Baruch College or any other college.

He also falsely claimed to have worked for two Wall Street firms when he had actually worked for Link Bridge, which had business dealings with both firms.

Further, Santos admitted to lying about owning 13 properties. Apart from these allegations, Santos was also accused of falsely claiming to be Jewish. However, in an interview with the New York Post, Santos denied having made such a claim.

Despite criticisms and calls for him to resign from Congress altogether, Santos was given relatively low-profile assignments on the House Committee on Small Business and the House Science, Space, and Technology Committee.

However, after facing intense scrutiny for several weeks, Santos temporarily stepped down from his congressional committee assignments toward the end of January.

He informed his fellow Republican House members of his decision during a private meeting. House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) agreed with Santoss choice, saying it was the appropriate decision.

Santos has repeatedly refused to resign, even when members of his own party have called for him to step down.

He has argued that he is being held to a different standard than Democratic Sens. Richard Blumenthal of Connecticut, who falsely claimed he served in the military in Vietnam, and Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts, who embellished her Native American heritage.

Michael Clements and Savannah Pointer contributed to this report.
Government Should Control Spending, Not Dip Into Our Retirement Nest Eggs

Australian Treasurer Jim Chalmers (L) speaks to the media during a press conference as Prime Minister Anthony Albanese looks on at Parliament House in Canberra, Australia, on Feb. 28, 2023. (AAP Image/Lukas Coch)

Commentary

The announcement by the federal government that it intends to change the tax structure on superannuation (pension funds) should be of concern to all Australians. Indeed, it should be concerning to all Australians as it is arguably retrospective.

We are once again seeing a federal treasurer targeting a soft target (superannuation) in an attempt to address current budget problems.

History shows that governments of all persuasions have trouble keeping their hands off the retirement nest eggs of Australians.

In summary, the announced changes are as follows:

If you have a superannuation fund balance of more than $3 million (US$2 million), then any earnings on your superannuation balance above this amount will be taxed at the new rate of 30 percent, rather than the current rate of 15 percent; and

This change will be effective from July 1, 2025, subject to the required legislation passing the federal parliament.

The Labor estimates this will affect about 80,000 Australians. However, this number will inevitably increase as existing funds grow and contributions are made.

However, with the average Australians superannuation fund balance being around $150,000 (US$100,000), most peopleat least in the short termwill not be affected.

Pedestrians move past a billboard along George Street in Sydney, Australia on Oct. 18, 2022. (Lisa Maree Williams/Getty Images)

Consequently, many people will see this and say, So what? as their superannuation balance is not and never will be $3 million.

Yet this arguably is a short-sighted view as the real issue is that some Australians will be financially punished despite the fact that they complied with the taxation requirements of the time and acted in good faith to accumulate their savings.

They will be victims of what is effectively a retrospective tax change, and the move will adversely impact the confidence and ability of Australians to plan for their future.

Broken Promises

In the lead up to last years May federal election, on March 27, 2022, the now treasurer, Jim Chalmers, stated that if elected: Weve said about superannuation that we would maintain the system. Australians shouldnt expect major changes.

On May 2, 2022, then opposition leader Anthony Albanese stated, We have no intention of making any super changes. One of the things we are doing in this campaign is we are making all of our policies clear.

However, on Feb. 28, 2023, Albanese stated in relation to his announced superannuation taxation changes, This is an important reform  I think this is the right thing to do.

If the prime minister is really serious about this reform, the question he must be asked is: Will the defined benefit payments for politicians elected before 2004 and eligible for a pension, be adjusted so the concessional tax treatment on their annual pension payment is also taxed?

I expect the likely answer will be no, but even if it is not, it will probably mean that the defined benefit superannuation fund will absorb any additional tax obligations, although this is still unclear.

Of even greater concern for all Australians should be the federal governments short-lived dalliance with removing the current capital gains tax exemption on the family home (forcing families to pay a tax if they sell their home). This should send shivers down the spine of every current and aspiring homeowner.

A general view of homes in the suburb of Balmain is seen in Sydney, Australia, on Sept. 7, 2022. (Lisa Maree Williams/Getty Images)

Should this exemption be removed, it would have a devastating effect on the future financial security of countless Australians.

Thankfully, at the behest of the prime minister, the treasurer quickly backtracked on this politically suicidal and socially repugnant idea.

Looking for the Easy Way Out

What we have seen is that when faced with a diabolical budget position, the federal government is looking at new ways to raise revenue.

Arguably, they are looking at the budget problem from the wrong directionrather than looking at how to increase taxes, they should be looking at expenditure.

Many Australians can readily identify examples of excess or irresponsible federal government expenditure. For example, the regular cost blowouts on major infrastructure projects.

The key issue to consider in this debate is the principle involvedretrospective tax changes create great uncertainty, are inherently unfair, and should be avoided.

Any changes to the taxation arrangements of superannuation should be prospective, thus allowing Australians to make informed decisions regarding their investment options, including superannuation.

With increasing pressures on the budget, the federal government should also be welcoming, and encouraging as many Australians as possible to provide for their own retirement via superannuation, rather than being reliant on the government funded aged pension.

Views expressed in this article are the opinions of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of The Epoch Times.
Half a Million Dollars of Stolen Goods Recovered in Orange County and LA

The California Highway Patrol (CHP) Border Division continues to crack down on organized retail theft after uncovering an organized group of thieves last month, operating in part, in Anaheim.

Anaheim resident Yolando De La Rosa, 49, and Jesus Ortiz, 48, of Lynwood were booked in Orange County jail Feb. 24 on charges of organized retail theft according to authorities. Officials said the pair had stolen nearly half a million dollars worth of items and were part of a retail theft ring.

In January, CHP and private investigators initiated a criminal investigation into an organized group of retail thieves, officials said in a social media post. Authorities did not respond to a request March 2 regarding where the group is based.

Their operation, according to authorities, involves a middleman who purchases stolen goods from an organized group of thieves and delivers them to locations to be sold to unknowing buyers. The two arrested in February served as go-betweens.

Authorities said investigators observed multiple suspects arriving and delivering suspected stolen property to an apartment in Anaheim, California.

After obtaining a search warrant, authorities searched the apartment and two other locations in Lynwood and Bellflower associated with the organized crew.

Some 14,000 items were recovered totaling $460,000. Stolen merchandise included still-tagged clothing, purses, cologne, shoes, perfume, and other miscellaneous items.

According to officials, such investigations since 2019 have resulted in 855 arrests and the recovery of over $28 million in stolen merchandise.
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has rejected a request to authorize a drug as a COVID-19 treatment for hospitalized patients.

Florida-based Veru said March 2 that the FDA informed the company it would not grant emergency use authorization (EUA) for sabizabulin, the drug.

Veru asked in 2022 for authorization for the drug as a treatment for hospitalized adults with moderate to severe COVID-19 who were deemed high risk for Acute Respiratory Distress Syndrome, a lung condition that proves fatal in some cases.

In communicating its decision, the FDA stated that despite the FDA declining to issue an EUA for sabizabulin at this time, the FDA remains committed to working with the Company for the development of sabizabulin, Veru said in a statement.

The FDA also provided feedback on a proposed Phase 3 study design and Veru expects to provide details about the study soon.

Panel Voted Against Drug

The FDA regularly consults with its advisory panels when considering requests for authorization. One of the panels met in 2022 and voted 85 to recommend the FDA not authorize sabizabulin.

Members who voted against the drug said they were concerned about the size of the study on which the application was based. It included just 210 patients, 70 of whom received a placebo.

I do think that given the small trial size, that there could be easy shifts in these things, depending upon what the baseline severity of disease might have been or any potential differences could have come through in the patient population, Daniel Gillen, chancellors professor and chair in the department of statistics at University of California, Irvine, and one of the members who voted no, said during the meeting. So because of that, my enthusiasm is certainly tempered.

I simply dont feel we have enough data, but feel that this has enough promise to deserve a future study, Jennifer Schwartzott, another member, who voted for the drug, said.

Members expressed hope that another, larger study would be conducted, after which the matter could be revisited.

Disappointed

Veru officials said they were disappointed with the FDAs decision.

We are disappointed in the FDAs decision to decline the request for an EUA because of the possibility of unknown influences, or uncertainties that may have affected the study, Dr. Mitchell Steiner, chairman, president, and CEO, said in a statement.

We will work closely with the FDA to gain clarity on advancing our sabizabulin program toward a potential new request for authorization, he added.

Regulators in Europe and Australia are still weighing whether to clear the drug.
After several rounds of treatment for a rare eye cancerweekly drug infusions that could cost nearly $50,000 eachPaul Davis learned Medicare had abruptly stopped paying the bills.

That left Davis, a retired physician in Findlay, Ohio, contemplating a horrific choice: risk saddling his family with huge medical debtif he has to pay those bills from the hospital out-of-pocketor halt treatments that help keep him alive.

Is it worth bankrupting my family for me to hang around for a couple of years? Davis pondered. I dont want to make that choice.

How much Davis will end up owing for his care remains unclear. One of the hospitals that has administered the costly drug is appealing Medicares initial payment denials. And the family might not even know their total balance until Medicare rejects all the appeals.

But the uncertainty has compounded the stress of living with an aggressive cancer.

Davis, 71, was diagnosed in November 2019 with uveal melanoma, which afflicts eye tissue and is one of the rarest tumors on the planet, he said.

The cancer spread from his eye to his liver, which typically proves fatal within a year. He was told a new rare-disease drug called Kimmtrak offered the only hope for prolonging his life.

Approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) in January 2022 as the first and only treatment for metastatic uveal melanoma, Kimmtrak has kept his tumors stable, according to Davis. His oncologist told him he should stay on the drug until it stops working. Its manufacturer markets the drugs power to deliver six-month improvement in median overall survival.

Davis said he started taking the medicine last summer at the Arthur G. James Cancer Hospital in Columbus.

The hospital billed a total of $49,367.70 for his intravenous chemotherapy administered on Sept. 13, 2022. The charge for the drug came to $47,838the rest covered fees for lab work and administering the drug. Medicare paid the provider $11,668.86 for those services, according to Medicare records explaining his benefits.

His subsequent treatments at the Columbus hospital were covered, too, according to Medicare billing statements Davis reviewed.

But things changed after he transferred his care to a hospital in Findlay in October to spare his wife, Jane, from driving him 100 miles each way to weekly appointments in Columbus.

Medicare has denied Kimmtrak coverage on claims submitted by Blanchard Valley Health System in Findlay, Davis said, pitching him into an agonizing dispute with hundreds of thousands of dollars in medical bills at stake.

After a Kaiser Health News reporter contacted Blanchard Valley, the hospital connected Davis with a patient relations liaison, who is working to resolve the billing problem. Davis said last week that Medicare apparently rejected the claims because the Findlay hospital mistakenly billed for using Kimmtrak to treat a different cancer, for which its use is not approved.

Davis said the patient relations liaison told him it might take at least 45 days to straighten out the bill, but the hospital would not demand payment, even if it lost the appeal.

Meanwhile, the charges for Kimmtrak are in limbo, Davis said.

Amy Leach, the hospitals director of public relations, said she could not comment on Davis case, but in an email wrote: Blanchard Valley Health System is committed to ensuring that accurate billing occurs and we work with our patients to promptly resolve any concerns.

Stacie Dusetzina, a health policy and drug pricing expert at Vanderbilt University Medical Center, said Davis is right to worry.

I hope the hospital will fix this for him and that they are communicating with him about it, she said.

Sebastien Desprez, a spokesperson for Oxfordshire, England-based Immunocore, which manufactures Kimmtrak, said its list price was $19,229 per weekly dose. He said the drugs approval by the FDA shows there is value for patients.

Cancer drug prices are outrageous, said Dr. Hagop Kantarjian, who chairs the Department of Leukemia at MD Anderson Cancer Center in Texas. Kantarjian said the prices manufacturers charge for cancer drugs have soared from less than $10,000 annually in the late 1990s to more than $200,000 annually today.

And thats not even the full cost. Dusetzina said hospitals often hugely inflate the price of drugs in the bills they issue so that if someone doesnt pay, [the hospital] can write it off.

Merith Basey, executive director of Patients for Affordable Drugs, an advocacy group, said no ordinary person can handle the price of these drugs.

Its simple: Drugs dont work if people cant afford them  no one should be poor because they are sick or be sick because they are poor, she said.

This is not Davis first time staring down a supersized medical bill.

Davis and his daughter, Elizabeth Moreno, were the subject of the 2018 debut article in the KHN-NPR Bill of the Month series over her $17,850 bill for a urine test.

Davis wound up paying a Texas lab $5,000 to settle that bill, which private insurers said should have cost a hundred dollars or less. Davis spoke at a May 2019 White House event to support legislation to crack down on surprise medical bills.

But at least he knew where he stood with the urine testing bill. Now hes facing escalating costs of his cancer care without knowing how it will affect his familys finances.

How do you make an informed choice if you have no information? Davis asked.

KHN (Kaiser Health News) is a national newsroom that produces in-depth journalism about health issues. Together with Policy Analysis and Polling, KHN is one of the three major operating programs at KFF (Kaiser Family Foundation). KFF is an endowed nonprofit organization providing information on health issues to the nation.
Story at a Glance

In January 2022, House Oversight Committee Republicans released a batch of emails sent to and from the National Institutes of Health (NIH). A Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) lawsuit brought by Jimmy Tobias at The Intercept also forced the release of unredacted NIH correspondence.

The emails reveal there was great concern among NIH leadership, as SARS-CoV-2 appeared to be a genetically engineered virus that somehow escaped from the Wuhan Institute of Virology (WIV) in China.

The emails show they were nervous about the possibility that theyd funded the creation of this virus, and that they were determined to suppress questions about its origin.

A group of scientists convened by Dr. Jeremy Farrar, director of the Wellcome Trust, published a paper in which they claimed the virus was decidedly not the result of intentional engineering. They did admit accidental creation in a lab could not be ruled out, but that natural evolution was the most likely scenario. Some of these same scientists had previously shared details indicative of genetic engineering in emails to Fauci.

The Proximal Origin paper, which was edited by Fauci and debunked the lab leak theory without any evidence, became the most read published paper in history. More than 2,000 media outlets have cited it to support their propaganda.

In January 2022, House Oversight Committee Republicans released a batch of emails sent to and from the National Institutes of Health (NIH). [1][2][3] A Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) lawsuit brought by Jimmy Tobias at The Intercept [4] also forced the release of unredacted NIH correspondence in late November 2022, just as Dr. Anthony Fauci prepared to retire from his position as director of the National Institutes of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID).

The emails reveal what many had suspected all along, namely that SARS-CoV-2 appeared to be a genetically engineered virus that somehow escaped from the Wuhan Institute of Virology (WIV) in China. (In a Jan. 17, 2023, Twitter thread, [5] molecular biologist Richard Ebright, who holds a doctorate in microbiology and molecular genetics, summarized the lab-origin hypothesis.)

The correspondence also revealed that a) NIH leaders were nervous about the possibility that theyd funded the creation of this virus, and b) they were determined to suppress questions about its origin.

Summary of Key Findings

As reported by the House Oversight Committee: [6]

Excerpts of emails released today reveal the following:

Jan. 27, 2020: Dr. [Anthony] Fauci knew NIAID had funded EcoHealth Alliance, the WIV was a subgrantee of EcoHealth, and EcoHealth was not in compliance with its grant reporting, in particular, a grant that NIAID knew had gain-of-function potential on novel bat coronaviruses.

Feb. 1, 2020: Dr. Fauci, [then-NIH director] Dr. [Francis] Collins, and at least 11 other scientists convened a conference call to discuss COVID-19. On the conference call, Drs. Fauci and Collins were first warned that COVID-19 may have leaked from the WIV and may have been intentionally genetically manipulated.

Feb. 4, 2020: After speaking with Drs. Fauci and Collins, four participants of the conference call abandoned their belief the virus originated from the Wuhan lab and authored a paper [7] entitled The Proximal Origin of SARS-CoV-2. Prior to final publication in Nature Medicine, the paper was sent to Dr. Fauci for editing and approval.

April 16, 2020: More than two months after the original conference call, Dr. Collins emailed Dr. Fauci expressing dismay that the Nature Medicine articlewhich they saw prior to publication and were given the opportunity to editdid not squash the lab leak hypothesis and asks if the NIH can do more to put down the lab leak hypothesis.

April 17, 2020: After Dr. Collins explicitly asked for more public pressure, Dr. Fauci cited the Nature Medicine paper from the White House podium likely in an effort to further stifle the hypothesis COVID-19 leaked from the Wuhan lab.

Fauci Tipped Off About Lab Leak Possibility

On Jan. 31, 2020, Fauci received an email from Dr. Jeremy Farrar, director of the Wellcome Trust, asking him to call Kristian Andersen, who holds a doctorate in immunology and is an evolutionary biologist and professor in the department of immunology and microbiology at the Scripps Research Institute in La Jolla, California. As reported by The Intercept on Jan. 19, 2023: [8]

Fauci had his phone call with Andersen that night, and what he heard clearly disturbed him. In an email to Farrar after the call, he wrote the following: I told [Andersen] that as soon as possible he and Eddie Holmes should get a group of evolutionary biologists together to examine carefully the data to determine if his concerns are validated. He should do this very quickly and if everyone agrees with this concern, they should report it to the appropriate authorities. I would imagine that in the USA this would be the FBI and in the UK it would be MI5  What were Andersens concerns? And why were they so dire they might merit a call to the FBI? Andersen laid them out plainly in an email to Fauci that same evening. The unusual features of the virus make up a really small part of the genome (<0.1 percent) so one has to look really closely at all the sequences to see that some of the features (potentially) look engineered, Andersen wrote in the email. I should mention, he added, that after discussions earlier today, Eddie, Bob, Mike, and myself all find the genome inconsistent with expectations from evolutionary theory. But we have to look at this much more closely and there are still further analyses to be done, so those opinions could still change.'

NIH Funded Risky Research at the WIV

The following day, Feb. 1, 2020, at 2 p.m., Fauci, Farrar, Collins, Andersen, and several other virologists had their conference call, and Andersen clearly wasnt the only one who had noticed tell-tale signs of genetic engineering. Farrar himself wrote, On a spectrum, if zero is nature and 100 is releaseI am honestly at 50![9]

According to The Intercept, [10] Fauci spent that morning brushing up on what sorts of grants and collaborations his agency was involved in with research institutions in China.

In all likelihood, he discovered (if he was somehow previously unaware, which seems doubtful) that the NIH had provided research grants to the EcoHealth Alliance, which in turn subcontracted coronavirus experiments to the WIVincluding an experiment involving humanized mice that were infected with chimeric hybrids of SARS-related bat coronaviruses. [11]

According to The Intercept, its highly unlikely that these experiments resulted in SARS-CoV-2, as the viruses are too dissimilar, but it does raise questions about what other kinds of experiments were going on in Wuhan and havent been disclosed.

NIH-Linked Scientists Suspected Lab Leak From the Start

On Feb. 2, 2020, Farrar circulated a set of notes summarizing the discussion, which he said was to be treated in total confidence. [12] Michael (Mike) Farzan, who holds a doctorate in pathology and is an expert on the entry processes of enveloped viruses, was bothered by the presence of a furin cleavage sitea novel feature that allows SARS-CoV-2 the ability to infect cells in the human airways.

According to Farrars note, Farzan has a hard time explain[ing] that as an event outside the lab. Farrars summary goes on to state that: [13]

 the likely explanation could be something as simple as passage SARS-live CoVs in tissue culture on human cell lines (under BSL-2) for an extended period of time, accidentally creating a virus that would be primed for rapid transmission between humans via gain of furin site (from tissue culture) and adoption to human ACE2 receptor via repeated passage  So I think it becomes a question of how do you put all this together, whether you believe in this series of coincidences, what you know of the lab in Wuhan, how much could be in natureaccidental release or natural event? I am 70:30 or 60:40.

A note from professor and microbiologist Robert (Bob) Garry, who has a doctorate in microbiology, [14] reveals he had similar concerns:

 I aligned the nCoV with the 96 percent bat CoV sequenced at WIV. Except for the RBD [receptor binding domain], the S proteins are essential [sic] identical at the amino acid levelwell all but the perfect insertion of 12 nucleotides that adds [sic] the furin site. S2 is over its whole length essentially identical. I really cant think of a plausible natural scenario where you get from the bat virus or one very similar to it to nCoV where you insert exactly four amino acids 12 nucleotide [sic] that all have to be added at the exact same time to gain this functionthat, and you dont change any other amino acids in S2? I just cant figure out how this gets accomplished in nature. Do the alignment of the spikes at the amino acid levelits [sic] stunning. Of course, in the lab it would be easy to generate the perfect 12 base insert that you wanted. Another scenario is that the progenitor of nCoV was a bat virus with the perfect furin cleavage site generated over evolutionary times. In this scenario, RaTG13 the WIV virus was generated by a perfect deletion of 12 nucleotides while essentially not changing any other S2 amino acid [sic]. Even more implausible IMO [in my opinion]. That is the big if.

In other words, in the earliest days of the pandemic, the general consensus among virologists in communication with the NIH was that a WIV lab leak was not only plausible, but also perhaps the most likely. The correspondence also leaves no doubt about the fact that Fauci and Collins wanted to silence this theory.

The Cover-Up Begins

In a Feb. 2, 2020, email, Collins stated that he was coming around to the view that a natural origin is more likely, and warned that voices of conspiracy will quickly dominate lest they convene a panel of experts to address the matter, and that such conspiracies could do great potential harm to science and international harmony.

Dutch virologist Ron Fouchier, who participated in the call, also warned his colleagues that continuing the discussion about a lab leak would unnecessarily distract top researchers from their active duties and do unnecessary harm to science in general and science in China in particular. [15]

Fauci, for his part, appears to have made the decision to suppress the lab leak theory that same day (Feb. 2). In an email, he wrote: [16]

Like all of us, I do not know how this evolved, but given the concerns of so many people and the threat of further distortions on social media, it is essential that we move quickly.

According to The Intercept, Fauci, Farrar, and Collins alerted officials at the World Health Organization (WHO) in the hopes theyd convene an expert panel to investigate, but WHO apparently declined to do so at the time. The group was well aware of the risks involved, though, were the lab leak theory to gain legs, so a plan to discourage further accusations was apparently hatched.

Hastily Written Paper Sought to Discourage Bioweapon Idea

Just two days later, on Feb. 4, 2020, Fauci and Collins received the first draft of the article, The Proximal Origin of SARS-CoV-2, later published in Nature Medicine. [17]

Three of the authors, Andersen, Robert Garry of Tulane University, and Edward Holmes of the University of Sydney, were on the Feb. 1, 2020, conference call. Andersen, Garry, and another Proximal Origin author, W. Ian Lipkin of Columbia University, have also received large NIH grants in recent years, [18] so this paper was not written by disinterested and independent parties.

The original draft is still secret. All we have is an email reply from Fauci, in which he appears to flag the inclusion of serial passage through humanized mice. This suggests the issue of animal passage was raised, but then immediately scrapped.

The Nature Medicine article roundly dismissed the idea that the virus was the result of deliberate engineering, proposing instead that, despite a dearth of evidence, it most likely evolved naturally. (Two potential natural-evolution theories were described.) They didnt conclusively dismiss the possibility of a lab leak, thoughonly the idea that it was deliberately engineered. As noted in the paper: [19]

Although the evidence shows that SARS-CoV-2 is not a purposefully manipulated virus, it is currently impossible to prove or disprove the other theories of its origin described here. However, since we observed all notable SARS-CoV-2 features, including the optimized RBD and polybasic cleavage site, in related coronaviruses in nature, we do not believe that any type of laboratory-based scenario is plausible.

Lab Origin Was Never Ruled Out

The other theories of its origin described in the Proximal Origin paper was the possibility that it might have been the result of selection during passage, which is a routine laboratory practice. In other words, it seems they were most concerned with dispelling any rumors about it being intentionally created, which would place it in the category of a bioweapon.

As reported by The Intercept, Farrar, Fauci, and Collins certainly had not ruled out the possibility of a lab origin altogether: [20]

The scientists seem by this point to have made a sharp distinction between a scenario in which the virus was deliberately engineered in a lab and a scenario in which the virus was generated during serial passage experiments in a lab. Eddie would be 60:40 lab side, Farrar added. I remain 50:50. Yes, Id be interested in the proposal of accidental lab passage in animals (which ones?), Collins wrote. ?? Serial passage in ACE2-transgenic mice, Fauci responded. Exactly! Farrar replied. Surely that wouldnt be done in a BSL-2 lab? wrote Collins, referring to biosafety level 2 labs, which do not have the most stringent safety protocols. Wild West, was Farrars response, an apparent reference to lab practices in China or possibly to the Wuhan Institute of Virology itself. In the above exchange, the health officials seem to be contemplating the possibility that the repeated passage of a coronavirus through genetically modified mice in an insufficiently secure lab could have resulted in the accidental emergence and release of SARS-CoV-2. In a later email exchange, Farrar, quoting Garry, noted that serial passage in animals had been proved to result in the appearance of furin cleavage sites in other viruses, specifically the H5N1 flu virus. There are a couple passage of H5N1 in chicken papersthe furin site appears in steps.'

Similarly, theres this exchange between virologist Christian Drosten and Andersen on Feb. 8, 2020. [21] Drosten wrote:

Can someone help me with one question: Didnt we congregate to challenge a certain theory, and if we could, drop it? Who came up with this story in the beginning? Are we working on debunking our own conspiracy theory?

Andersens reply read:

Our main work over the last couple of weeks has been focused on trying to disprove any type of lab theory, but we are at a crossroad where the scientific evidence isnt conclusive enough to say that we have high confidence in any of the three main theories considered. As to publishing this document in a journal, I am currently not in favor of doing so. I believe that publishing something that is open-ended could backfire at this stage.

Andersens reluctance notwithstanding, the paper was accepted for publication a month later on March 17, 2020and the possibility of the virus being the result of serial passage remained.

Most Read Propaganda Paper Ever

The influence of the Proximal Origin paper cannot be overstated. As reported by The Intercept, [22] its been accessed more than 5.7 million times and cited by more than 2,000 media outlets, making it one of the most read papers ever published. Its fair to say this propaganda piece was milked for all its worth to uphold the illusion of a natural evolution consensus.

Most media outlets also overstated the papers conclusion. While it did not present any actual evidence to support the natural evolution theory, and admitted the virus might have been created through serial passaging in a lab, outlets like ABC News boldly declared, Sorry, Conspiracy Theorists. Study Concludes COVID-19 Is Not a Laboratory Construct,' [23] as if the issue had been conclusively settled based on the scientific evidence at hand.

Questions Could Not Be Quelled

The Nature Medicine article didnt stem the flow of questions, though, a fact decried by Collins in a mid-April 2020 email to Fauci:

Wondering if there is something NIH can do to help put down this very destructive conspiracy, with what seems to be growing momentum  I hoped the Nature Medicine article on the genomic sequence of SARS-CoV-2 would settle this. But probably didnt get much visibility. Anything more we can do? Ask the National Academy to weigh in?

Fauci replied, I would not do anything about this right now. It is a shiny object that will go away in times [sic]. He was wrong, of course, and the reason questions didnt go away was that emerging evidence kept strengthening the lab leak theory, while there is nothing with which to support natural evolution.

As Sergei Pond, a computational virologist at Temple University, told The Intercept, [24] There was no data then, and there is no data now, that would definitively indicate that a lab origin like the one contemplated in Proximal Origin is not at least plausible. Having read the unredacted emails, David Relman, a professor of microbiology, immunology, and medicine at Stanford University, added: [25]

When I first saw it [the Proximal Origin paper] in March 2020, the paper read to me as a conclusion in search of an argument. Among its many problems, it failed to consider in a serious fashion the possibility of an unwitting and unrecognized accidental leak during aggressive efforts to grow coronaviruses from bat and other field samples. It also assumed that researchers in Wuhan have told the world about every virus and every sequence that was in their laboratories in 2019. But these [unredacted emails] actually provide evidence that the authors considered a few additional lab-associated scenarios, early in their discussions. But then they rushed to judgment, and the lab scenarios fell out of favor. It appears as if a combination of a scant amount of data and an unspoken bias against the [lab origin] scenario diminished the idea in their minds.

Virologists Under the Microscope

As reported by The Washington Post, [26] virologists are now under the microscope like never before, and the NIH is said to be preparing an overhaul of the policies on government-funded research. Draft recommendations [27] from the biosecurity advisory board were released on Jan. 20, 2023.

Clearly, paranoia is high, and theres a good reason for that. Not only do we have the unredacted NIH emails showing there were grave concerns about COVID-19 being the result of a lab leak, and that those concerns were allayed by passing propaganda for science, but researchers have also published research showing theyre now conducting gain-of-function research on SARS-CoV-2. [28]

If gain-of-function research contributed to COVID-19, then clearly we need to make sure it cannot happen again.

Who in their right mind would think that was a good idea? The fact that reckless dual-use research into dangerous pathogens is taking place on the daily is precisely why getting to the bottom of the origin of SARS-CoV-2 is so important. If this kind of research contributed to COVID-19, then clearly we need to make sure it cannot happen again.

I believe one of the primary reasons why the lab leak theory is being so heavily disputed is because acknowledging it as true would force Congress to rein in the research industry. But we cannot afford to ignore it, because gain-of-function research capabilities pose a truly existential threat to mankind as a whole. [29]

Inspector General Report Blasts NIH for String of Errors

Interestingly, on Jan. 25, 2023, the U.S. Office of Inspector General released a report [30] detailing the NIHs failure to properly monitor and review potentially hazardous coronavirus research. As reported by the Daily Mail: [31]

EcoHealth Alliance was awarded $8 million in government research grants between 2014 and 2021, which it subcontracted to research facilities. The WIV was one of eight teams awarded grants at that time. Todays audit said there was a lack of oversight by the NIH and EcoHealth at the Chinese facility and other labs that benefited from government grants. The report said: Despite identifying potential risks associated with research being performed under the EcoHealth awards, we found that NIH did not effectively monitor or take timely action to address EcoHealths compliance with some requirements. Although NIH and EcoHealth had established monitoring procedures, we found deficiencies in complying with those procedures limited NIH and EcoHealths ability to effectively monitor federal grant awards and subawards to understand the nature of the research conducted, identify potential problem areas, and take corrective action  Investigators say EcoHealth also did not submit proper progress reports on the use of its fund in a timely manner, with information coming in two years late. It also says the NIH failed to terminate its grant with EcoHealth after the nonprofit broke protocols.

Justin Goodman, senior vice president of Advocacy and Public Policy at the White Coat Waste Project, commented on the report: [32]

This audit confirms what we have been documenting since early 2020 when we first exposed NIHs funding of the Wuhan lab: EcoHealth Alliance shipped tax dollars to Wuhan for dangerous animal experiments that probably caused the pandemic, violated federal laws and policies, and wasted tax dollars. Yet the Wuhan lab remains eligible for even more taxpayer money for animal tests and just since the pandemic began, EcoHealth has raked in at least $46 million in new federal funds from the DoD, USAID, NIH, and NSF. As the group that first exposed and ended EcoHealths calamitous collaboration with the Wuhan animal lab, were calling on Congress to defund these rogue organizations once and for all. Taxpayers should not be forced to bankroll reckless white coats who waste money, break the law, and place public health in peril. Stop the money, stop the madness.

US Government Stonewalls FOIA Requests

As investigators try to get to the truth, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) is doing everything it can to prevent it from coming out. As reported by Gary Ruskin, [33] executive director and co-founder of U.S. Right to Know (USRTK), in 2022, as the HHS was slammed with FOIA requests relating to COVID-19, they added four extra layers of legal review within the HHS legal department.

These attorneys scoured each and every document to make sure anything potentially incriminating was properly redacted before release. This plainly appears to be an effort to delay or block release of documents about the origin of COVID-19, Ruskin wrote. What is HHS hiding? We hope Congress will investigate.

The good news is, the Republican House now has the ability to launch such investigations, and I hope they will. The problem is that it would be dangerous to prove a cover-up, as it would turn everything upside down. Health agencies, universities, and any number of other agencies would have to be retooled. So getting to the bottom of this affair will require people who believe the truth is worth the pain.

Originally published on Feb. 1, 2023, on Mercola.com.

 References

[1] Farrar Fauci Communications
Taking the lead in the red state race to make The Handmaid's Tale a documentary, South Carolina Republicans have introduced a bill that would impose the death penalty on women who get abortions.

Pro-choice groups, like Planned Parenthood, say this bill is a threat to women.

"This one is particularly concerning because it would impose the death penalty on women who have abortions. It removes all exceptions including for rape, fetal anomaly, and even the health of the pregnant person," Vicki Ringer, spokesperson for Planned Parenthood's Atlantic Region, told WPDE.

The bill's author, Rep. Rob Harris of Spartanburg (District 36), argues that if we consider an unborn child to be life, then it should be protected like any other life. "If we call it life and define it as life, then why should anyone, not just mothers, why should anybody be able to take that life?" said Harris.

This bill comes on the heels of the Supreme Court's decision to end constitutional protections for abortion.

If the bill passes, it would severely restrict access to abortion in the state, with the only exception being if the woman faces a threat of immediate danger, death, or serious bodily harm. And even then, she would have to testify to prove her case.
Homeless Industrial Complex Is Alive and Well: Former LA Sheriff

Over the past decade, $6.5 billion has been spent trying to solve Los Angeles Countys homelessness crisis. However, instead of decreasing, its homeless population has increased to nearly 70,000 from its 2011 total of 39,000, according to last years point-in-time count.

The worsening of the issue can be partially attributed to it being profitable for many organizations and individuals, Alex Villanueva, former Los Angeles County Sheriff, said in a recent Epoch Times California Insider interview.

Theyre not doing anything about it because the homeless industrial complex is alive and well, he said.

According to Villanueva, many nonprofit organizations receive county funding to help solve the issue, but there are no clear guidelines on how such funding should be used.

Theres no governance, theres no oversight, theres no accountability on the results. [The county] just keeps shoveling money at them, and the problem keeps getting worse and worse, he said.

A homeless encampment in Los Angeles, on Jan. 27, 2023. (John Fredricks/The Epoch Times)

Villanueva said the homeless crisis, in fact, provides employment for many.

If we get rid of the homeless, it ends a lot of careers, he said. The nonprofits need to be flexible enough to recognize that theres a time when youre done, stand down, and move on to something else.

Villanueva also said bad policies are creating an open door to invite the homeless population from all over the country to move to Los Angeles.

Theres a perception in the entire nationthat if youre homeless, and youd like to use drugs, go to L.A., he said.

Cheap illegal drugs, with little to no criminal consequences for using them on the street, along with the promise of free food and possible permanent housing have only made the city extra welcoming for homeless drug addicts, Villanueva said in the 30-minute episode.

Youre enabling the dependency and normalizing the deviancy. That is a very poor predictor for the future of L.A., he said.

He also said the countys Housing First policywhich prioritizes getting a roof over a homeless persons head before providing substance abuse or mental health servicesisnt the solution.

A homeless individual in Los Angeles, on Jan. 27, 2023. (John Fredricks/The Epoch Times)

He said such a model only provides more funding to the nonprofits and that the county cant build enough homeless housing fast enough to meet demand. He also said its a magnet attracting people from out of state, only burdening the system.

Instead, he said mental health facilities and substance abuse treatment centers are needed, as both can help get to the root of some of the fundamental issues of why people are living on the streets.

According to a 2022 report from the Los Angeles County Department of Public Health, there were nearly 2,000 transient deaths recorded in the county between April 2020 and March 2021an average of more than five deaths per day. Drug overdoses were the top cause of the deaths at 36 percent, according to the report.

[The politicians] dont understand that theyre killing the people they claim theyre trying to protect, Villanueva said.

He also said he isnt optimistic if current policies continue.

Its going to get worse, Villanueva said. Its engulfing every corner of life in L.A. County.

The Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors in February authorized its largest-ever annual budget to attack the issue: $609.7 million.

Villanueva was elected as the countys sheriff in 2018. He lost the seat to Robert Luna during the recent Nov. 8, 2022, election.
Hong Kong Firefighters Battle Blaze at High Rise Construction Site

A fire burns at a high-rise building under construction in the Tsim Sha Tsui district in Hong Kong on March 3, 2023. (Peter Parks/AFP via Getty Images)

More than 130 people were evacuated from a commercial area in Hong Kong after a 42-story building that was under construction caught fire on Thursday night, causing at least two injuries.

The fire broke out at a redevelopment project of the Mariners Club in the Tsim Sha Tsui district at 11.11 p.m. (local time) and quickly escalated to a level three fire alarm at 11.37 p.m., according to the Hong Kong Fire Services Department.

The department said the fire was upgraded to a level four fire alarm at 1.46 a.m. on Friday. Firefighters mobilized two jets and three breathing apparatus teams to extinguish the fire.

In addition to carrying out fire fighting operations at the site involved, fire officers have also been deployed to nearby buildings to prevent the spread of the fire, the department stated in a Facebook post.

Firefighters battle a fire at a construction site in Hong Kong on March 3, 2023. (Louise Delmotte/AP Photo)

At least two motorists were injured and taken to the hospital, local media RTHK reported. But their conditions are unknown.

Multiple floors of the structure, including the scaffolding, were engulfed in flames. Falling blazing debris caused small fires in nearby buildings, prompting the closure of some traffic on Middle Road in Tsim Sha Tsui.

The fire was brought under control at around 8 a.m. on Friday, according to the Fire Services Department, but the cause of the incident has not yet been determined.

Police said six adjacent buildings, including the three where the evacuation occurred and the Sheraton Hong Kong Hotel & Towers, also caught on fire, but those blazes were extinguished.

A firefighter sprays water onto a fire in Hong Kong on March 3, 2023. (Louise Delmotte/AP Photo)

The building is a 42-story project by the Empire Group to house the citys Mariners Club and a hotel, according to the companys website. Local media said the project was expected to be completed this year.

The site is surrounded by a shopping center, several hotels, and some residential and commercial buildings. Earlier in the night, crowds of onlookers gathered on the street to watch the firefighting operation.

As dawn broke, the fire was less serious than it had been hours earlier, although flames could still be seen on multiple floors. The structures exterior walls were blackened, and parts of its scaffolding appeared shaky.

The Mariners Club opened in 1967 to provide affordable accommodation to seafarers and was popular among maritime workers passing through Hong Kong.

Reuters and the Associated Press contributed to this report.
House Republican Calls for Congress to Cut Millions From Federal Intel, Law Enforcement Agency Budgets

Rep. Harriet Hageman (R-Wyo.) on March 2 called on her party to cut tens or hundreds of millions of dollars in funding from intelligence agencies as Republicans carry on with their investigations into the weaponization of federal law enforcement.

Hageman was joined by Rep. Kat Cammack (R-Fla.) at a discussion at the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) in National Harbor, Maryland, to discuss how Republicans should respond to ongoing concerns about the weaponization of federal law enforcement.

House Homeland Security Emergency Preparedness, Response and Recovery Subcommittee ranking member Rep. Kat Cammack (R-Fla.) questions Federal Emergency Management Agency Administrator Deanne Criswell during a hearing at the Cannon House Office Building on Capitol Hill in Washington on June 14, 2022. (Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)

Both congresswomen sit on the House Select Subcommittee on the Weaponization of the Federal Government, a GOP-led subcommittee investigating potential rights abuses by President Joe Bidens Department of Justice (DOJ).

Though these concerns go all the way back to the beginning of Bidens presidency, Republicans have picked up momentum in their investigations in recent months.

In November, House Republicans unveiled a 1,050-page report detailing whistleblower findings from FBI agents.

Since then, the House majority authorized the creation of the House Select Subcommittee on the Weaponization of the Federal Government, which held its inaugural hearing on Feb. 9.

Now, Hageman is calling on her party to use the power of the purse to continue the fight against federal weaponization. Hageman called for her party to consider budget cuts of tens or hundreds of millions of dollars to bring intel and law enforcement agencies back into step with the Constitution.

Sunshine is the best disinfectant, and the truth is [that] these agencies now believe theyre in charge, Hageman began.

She said that the problem is worse than a double standard, as many Republicans often say. Rather, Hageman said, Republicans should emphasize that its a violation of the core principles this country was founded on.

Governments fail when you have an unequal justice system, Hageman continued. You treat one segment of society one way and another segment of society another way, eventually you lose your ability to work together and to have a cohesive government, to have a cohesive society.

So its incredibly important that we challengewell it isnt just, Oh look, where are you going after this, its not fair that you treat Donald Trump differently,' Hageman said. Any three-year-old knows that you should treat everybody the same. Thats why we have an Equal Protection Clause in the Fifth Amendment, in the Fourteenth Amendment.

Hageman said that many of the DOJs decisions, it seems, have been politically motivated.

We need to call these things out for really what they are: the Department of Justice is engaging in blatant politics in violation of the oath of office, again, [which] those people took.

Hageman added, We need to name names.

Omnibus Bill

She made a reference to the $1.7 trillion which at the end of the 117th Congress was quickly passed by the lame-duck Democrat-held House and the evenly-split U.S. Senate. The passage of this bill, Hageman suggested, will help to enable further abuses by law enforcement in the federal government as it absolved intel agencies of the need to petition Congress for more money.

The spending bill was able to pass after Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) made a backroom deal with Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.), giving Democrats the votes to pass the measure. Though they were frustrated by the passage of the bill, there was little House Republicans could do to stop it after it won McConnells support.

Hageman told the crowd that the effect of this, in part, was to make it easier for federal law enforcement agencies to continue to violate American liberties.

Cammack also weighed in, explaining that the goal of intel agency heads when testifying to Congress is usually to run out the clock. She referenced a Senate Judiciary Hearing the other day, during which Attorney General Merrick Garland gave his first testimony to the 118th Congress.

Garland spoke slowly, Cammack contended, on purpose.

Members of Congress  have a small amount of timesometimes five minutes, sometimes 10 minutesto ask their questions, Cammack said. So the people [lawmakers are] questioning, theyre trying to run the clock out.

The two lawmakers referenced several instances of abuses, including federal law enforcements alleged collusion with Big Tech. Cammack further referenced the case of crisis pregnancy centers, which have faced a spurt of left-wing radical violence for their inherent, often faith-based opposition to abortion.

Federal law enforcement agencies have told Congress that part of the difficulty in finding these perpetrators is that the crimes are often committed at night, a position which both Hageman. and Cammack dismissed.

Hageman was then asked how Congress could respond to ensure Americans rights were being protected.

We have to do it through the power of the purse, Hageman replied. There are many reasons were very angry about what happened with the omnibus spending bill, which 18 Republicans voted for and [who] should be held accountable. She was met with a roar of boos after mentioning the Republicans who helped pass the nearly $2 trillion package.

Hageman continued: The omnibus spending bill in December basically limited what we can do in Congress in terms of some of these agencies, funding these agencies.

Part of the reason [intel agencies] are flipping their hand at us is, Hey, we got our money, we dont necessarily need to come in and talk to you,' Hageman said.

Hageman added that there is no reason intel agencies should be using any taxpayer funds for anything targeting First Amendment rights. To this end, she called for Republicans to cut funding from intelligence and federal law enforcement agencies by tens or hundreds of millions of dollars to rectify the rights violations.

I sound like a broken record: they are violating the First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution when they do anything to affect our ability to speak and to hear, Hageman said. We have the right to both.

So it is using the power of the purseif they have the money to do that, if they have tens of millions or hundreds of millions, then our next budget is gonna make sure they dont have any of that, Hageman said.
House Republicans Introduce Bill to Combat Foreign Espionage, Influence on College Campuses

Rep. Michelle Steel (R-Calif.) talks with reporters during a news conference following a House Republican caucus meeting at the U.S. Capitol Visitors Center in Washington on Oct. 20, 2021. (Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)

As threats from foreign influences in the U.S. educational system have started to receive national attention, two U.S. representatives introduced a House bill last week that would counter espionage and influence campaigns on American colleges and universities by foreign entities such as the Chinese Communist Party.

Rep. Michelle Steel (R-Calif.), announced the Stop Higher Education Espionage and Theft Actknown by the acronym SHEETFeb. 23 in partnership with House Republican Conference Chair Elise Stefanik (R-N.Y.).

The legislation directs the FBI to designate foreign intelligence threats to higher education, and empowers the Secretary of Homeland Security to begin removal proceedings against agents of such operations, according to a press release the same day from Steels office.

The bill would also require financial contributions from foreign entities, in the form of gifts or contracts, to be disclosed by American colleges and universities.

The CCP is actively engaged in efforts to spy on American citizens across every industry, field, and institution, including our college campuses, said Steel in the news release. We must combat these threats wherever they arise. College campuses should be places that foster academic freedom and sound, unbiased, researchvalues that the CCP seeks to undermine.

Chinas then-Vice President Xi Jinping (now Chinese leader) unveils a plaque at the opening of Australias first Chinese Medicine Confucius Institute at the RMIT University in Melbourne on June 20, 2010. (William West/AFP/Getty Images)

She said the Chinese Communist Party is the number one threat facing the United States, noting the presence of Confucius Institutesor China funded cultural educational programson American campuses as a major concern.

Steel said under the new legislation any bad actors looking to spy on sensitive research or influence youth in academic classrooms would be quickly and decisively expelled.

Stefanik also called Communist Chinas attempt to infiltrate classrooms a threat to national security.

As the Chinese Communist Party is actively spreading propaganda and engaging in intellectual property theft  Im working to combat their malign activities, she said in the news release.

On the Senate side, Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) reintroduced his own bill on the issue, which he had previously introduced in 2018, 2019, and 2021, with all three bills dying after never receiving a vote . His bill is a senate companionhaving similar or identical language to the house bill by Steel.

China is the single greatest geopolitical threat facing the United States, and the CCP is a profoundly malign influence on our university campuses, he said in the same news release. The SHEET Act advances U.S. security by countering the CCPs espionage efforts targeting American higher education.

Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) is seen on stage during the Turning Point USA Student Action Summit held at the Tampa Convention Center in Tampa, Fla., on July 22, 2022. (Joe Raedle/Getty Images)

The number of Confucius institutes in the United States has declined with over 100 closed or in the process of shutting down after federal policies have sought to terminate them in the last several years, according to the National Association of Scholars, a New York nonprofit that investigates issues affecting academic freedom.

In a report from last fall, the nonprofit identified only 15 remaining institutes in the United States.

Of those that have closed, the nonprofit said more than two-dozen were replaced with similar programs and nearly 60 have maintained close relationships with their former Confucius Institute partner.

Changing names to disguise operations is a familiar strategy to the CCP according to U.S. lawmakers, who asked for an end to the institutes in an April 2021 letter sent to the Department of Education Secretary Miguel Cardona.

The call was led by Sen. Marsha Blackburn (R-Tenn.). Several California lawmakers were among the all-Republican signatories, including Steel, Young Kim, Ken Calvert, and Doug LaMalfa.

In 2020 the U.S. State Department designated the Confucius Institute U.S. Centerwhich serves as the Washington D.C. based de facto headquarters of the Confucius Institute Networkan affiliate of Chinas Ministry of Education.

Since then, the institutes headquarters changed its name to the Center for Language Education and Cooperation, a move over 20 lawmakers called rebranding to avoid the designation as a foreign mission.
Indigenous Australian Communities Offered Flood Clean-Up Help

Flooding is shown by helicopter in New South Wales, Australia, on July 8, 2022. (David Swift-Pool/Getty Images)

When the catastrophic floods hit north-east New South Wales (NSW) one year ago, much of Bundjalung Country went under water.

And when flooding affected western NSW later last year, several Aboriginal communities, including in Walgett, were forced to evacuate.

Now, the NSW Environment Protection Authority is offering up to $10 million (US$6.77 million) to help Indigenous communities restore culturally significant land as part of a new Aboriginal Lands Flood Recovery program.

The program will be run in partnership with NSW Public Works and support flood-impacted communities to assess and manage the clean-up of waste generated by the 2022 floods on Indigenous lands.

Jali Local Aboriginal Land Council represents traditional owners from Ballina and surrounding areas including the community of Cabbage Tree Island.

Cabbage Tree Island was one of the places most severely affected by flooding, with Jali leading the evacuation and many homes and other buildings destroyed.

Jali chief executive Chris Binge told AAP that any support was welcome.

Were looking forward to working with all levels of government to ensure that all action is driven by the community, Binge said.

Environment Protection Authority chief executive Tony Chappel said the program aimed to help Indigenous communities avoid issues with flood waste on their lands.

The damage to community land and the environment over the past year has been extensive and we recognise the entire NSW landscape has spiritual and cultural significance to all Aboriginal people, Chappel said.

Chappel said the program would include clean-up and removal of waste at flood-damaged sites such as cultural centres and sheds, and restoration of fences and the natural environment.

An important part of this program, where possible, is engaging local Aboriginal contractors to increase employment opportunities and embed consistent and meaningful understanding across the wider community, Chappel said.

Recognising community needs and culture is something that must always be at the forefront of any recovery effort.

The program will partner with Aboriginal land councils and community land managers through an expression of interest to provide support in assessing the scope for restoring areas.

It is being co-funded through a joint Commonwealth and NSW government disaster recovery initiative.
IRS Warns Taxpayers of Consequences for Failure to Meet Certain Tax Obligations

The IRS has issued a notice to gig economy service workers and those who receive a foreign source of income that they have to report potential tax obligations on income.

An IRS statement issued on March 1 states that taxpayers have to report income from the gig economy on their tax returns, even if the income is from part-time, temporary, or side work; paid in any form, including cash, property, goods or digital assets; not reported on an information return form like a Form 1099-K, 1099-MISC, W-2, or other income statement.

The gig economy is defined as activities that people earn income from providing on-demand goods, services, or workand its often via an online platform such as an app or a website such as Instacart, Lyft, DoorDash, or Uber.

On Dec. 23, 2022, the IRS announced a one-year moratorium on implementing a controversial new reporting rule for online businesses for transactions exceeding $600. In the past, the threshold for 1099-K tax form reporting was 200 transactions with a total value of $20,000. Although still taxable, earnings that didnt meet that standard may have gone unnoticed by the IRS.

The new tax-reporting rule goes into effect in tax year 2023, the IRS stated. That rule was implemented under the American Rescue Plan, which was ultimately signed into law in early 2021.

If youre one of the millions of gig economy workers, such as a freelancer or contractor, you may have received payments totaling $600 or more from any one of your side jobs during the tax year, tax-filing service TurboTax stated in a recent article. If so, the individual or company that paid you generally must supply you with Form 1099-NEC for nonemployee compensation. If you receive payments through online payment services such as PayPal, you might also receive a form 1099-K. Payers will also send these forms to the IRS to report your income.

The IRS advises those workers to access the agencys Gig Economy Tax Center for more information.

Work for Tips

Individuals who work in restaurants, hotels, salons, and similar industries and who regularly receive tips also have to report those payments, according to the March 1 statement.

Cash tips include those received directly from customers, electronically paid tips distributed to the employee by their employer and tips received from other employees under any tip-sharing arrangement, the IRS stated. All cash tips must be reported to the employer, who must include them on the employees Form W-2, Wage and Tax Statement.

It noted that noncash tipsdefined as items of value such as passes, tickets, or goods and commodities given to the employeedont have to be reported to the employer. However, they must be reported on a tax return, the notice reads.

Tips that the worker didnt report to the employer have to be reported separately on Form 4137, Social Security and Medicare Tax on Unreported Tip Income, to include as additional wages along with their tax return, according to the notice. Employees have to pay their share of the Social Security and Medicare tax owed on tips, it notes.

Employees dont have to report tip amounts of less than $20 per month per employer. For larger amounts, employees must report tips to the employer by the 10th of the month following the month the tips were received, the IRS stated.

Foreign Source Income

The latest IRS notice also stipulated that taxpayers have to report their foreign source income regardless of where they live. Both American citizens and resident aliens or those who hold green cards must report unearned income, such as interest, dividends, and pensions from sources outside the United States unless exempt by law or a tax treaty. They also must report earnings from sources outside the United States.

Theyre also subject to the same income tax filing requirements that apply to U.S. citizens or resident aliens living in the United States, the IRS stated.

And it noted that federal law requires Americans to report their worldwide income, such as earnings from foreign trusts and foreign bank accounts. Those taxpayers may need to add Schedule B (Form 1040), Interest, and Ordinary Dividends to their tax returns.
Japan Selects Surgeon, World Bank Staffer as New Astronaut Candidates

The International Space Station (ISS) photographed by Expedition 56 crew members from a Soyuz spacecraft after undocking on Oct. 4, 2018. (NASA/Roscosmos/Handout via Reuters)

The Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) has chosen a surgeon and a World Bank staffer from over 4,000 applicants to become its new astronaut candidates amid plans to join NASAs Artemis lunar exploration mission.

The two candidates are Makoto Suwa, 46, a disaster prevention specialist at the World Bank, and Ayu Yoneda, 28, a surgeon at the Japanese Red Cross Medical Center, JAXA said on Tuesday.

Suwa and Yoneda became JAXAs first new astronaut candidates since 2009, when the agency recruited two candidates for International Space Station (ISS) missions. They will be joining JAXA next month.

Both candidates will undergo two years of training before being evaluated for certification as JAXA astronauts. They can then participate in the ISS missions and NASAs lunar exploration program, the agency said.

I dont think the path ahead will be easy, but I hope to go to the moon if possible, Yoneda was quoted as saying by Kyodo News.

Yoneda is the youngest candidate selected by JAXA, while Suwa is the oldest. According to local reports, the average age of JAXAs existing astronauts is 52 to 53 years old, and the retirement age is 60.

JAXA reopened astronaut recruitment in 2021 to revive its pool of aging astronauts. It received 4,127 applications, four times the number of applications received last time, after easing the criteria to welcome applicants without college degrees.

Japanese Astronaut to Join NASAs Artemis Mission

President Joe Biden and Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida announced last May that a Japanese astronaut would board NASAs Artemis mission to the moon as part of their efforts to expand U.S.-Japan civil space cooperation.

U.S. President Joe Biden speaks during a joint news conference with Japans Prime Minister Fumio Kishida after their bilateral meeting at Akasaka Palace in Tokyo on May 23, 2022. (Jonathan Ernst/Reuters)

Biden said the partners are committed to sending a Japanese astronaut to the Gateway Station, a planned international space station that would orbit the moon.

Im excited at the work we will do together on the Gateway Station around the moon, and I look forward to the first Japanese astronaut joining us on the mission to the lunar surface under the Artemis program, Biden said.

NASA said in a statement that Washington and Japan would formalize the Japanese astronauts inclusion on the Gateway project by the end of 2022.

The move is aligned with Japans goal of sending one of its astronauts to the lunar surfacethe first non-Americanin the latter half of the 2020s as part of NASAs Artemis program to return humans to the moon.

Japan has an extensive space program, mainly focused on developing launchers and space probes. But it doesnt have a human flight program and has relied on the United States and Russia to carry its astronauts into space.

Japanese billionaire Yusaku Maezawa became the first private passenger to visit the ISS in more than a decade after launching on a Soyuz rocket operated by Russias Roscosmos space agency in December 2021.

Japans space ambitions, and investment, are welcome by the United States as it tries to stay ahead of China in a potential new space race. Beijing sent three astronauts to make its first in-orbit crew rotation on the Tiangong space station last November.

Japan is due to help the European Space Agency build the main habitat module of the U.S.-planned orbiting lunar outpost, Gateway, that will be used in moon landings.

Japan also built the Kibo experiment module on the ISS and resupply missions have been lifted into space by its heavy launch rockets.

Reuters contributed to this report.
Judge Splits Trials of Couple Charged in Triple Murder Case

Chad Daybell, (L), sits with his defense attorney, John Prior, during his preliminary hearing in St. Anthony, Idaho on Aug. 4, 2020. (John Roark/Post Register via AP)

ST. ANTHONY, IdahoA married couple accused in a bizarre doomsday-focused triple murder case will be tried separately, an Idaho judge ruled Thursday.

Seventh District Judge Steven Boyce determined that Lori Vallow Daybell would stand trial as planned on April 3, but Chad Daybells trial would take place at a later date, EastIdahoNews.com reported.

Chad Daybell has waived his right to a speedy trial and his attorneys said they needed more time to review DNA evidence that recently came back from testing. But Vallow Daybell has not waived her right to a swift trial and so her case must proceed as planned, Boyce said.

I have to balance these rights of these defendants in this case, Boyce said. Severance is the only option I see.

Both of the defendants have pleaded not guilty to murder, conspiracy, and grand theft charges in connection with the deaths of Vallow Daybells children, 7-year-old Joshua JJ Vallow, and Tylee Ryan, who was last seen a few days before her 17th birthday. They are also charged in connection with the October 2019 death of Chad Daybells late wife, Tammy Daybell. They could face the death penalty if convicted.

Prosecutors had previously pushed for the couple to be tried together, citing in part the expense of holding two trials that are each expected to take weeks. But the judge noted the prosecutors didnt give the DNA evidencea hair found at the crime sceneto the defense attorneys in a timely matter. Chad Daybells attorney, John Prior, said he needed to have his own testing done on the hair because the results could be crucial to Daybells defense.

Lori Vallow Daybell (L) glances at the camera during her hearing in Rexburg, Idaho on March 6, 2020. (John Roark/Pool/The Idaho Post-Register via AP)

That evidence provides, at least from my perspective, an explanation potentially of where Mr. Daybell and I are going to go in this particular case, said Prior. I need to have an opportunity to test that evidence.

Prosecutors say the couple used doomsday-focused religious beliefs to further a plan to kill Lori Vallow Daybells two children and Chad Daybells previous wife as part of a plot to steal social security funds and insurance money.

Idaho law enforcement officers started investigating the couple in November 2019 after extended family members reported that the children were missing. During that period, police said the couple lied about the childrens whereabouts. Their bodies were found buried later on Chad Daybells property in rural Idaho.

The couple married just two weeks after Chad Daybells previous wife, Tammy Daybell, died unexpectedly. Tammy Daybells death was initially reported as due to natural causes, but investigators had her body exhumed after growing suspicious when Chad Daybell quickly remarried.

Lori Vallow Daybell is also separately charged with conspiracy to commit murder in Arizona in connection with the July 2019 death of her previous husband, Charles Vallow. He was shot and killed by Vallow Daybells brother, Alex Cox, who claimed it was self-defense.

The Arizona legal proceedings are on hold while the Idaho case is underway.
Judges Ruling That Sex Assaults Were Medical Malpractice Now Before Utah Supreme Court

Utah Supreme Court has agreed to retain a case dismissed by a lower court involving allegations by more than 100 women of sexual assault against an OB-GYN. (Utah Supreme Court)

A Utah judge ruled that sexual assaults alleged by more than 100 women against an OB-GYN falls under medical malpractice claims and dismissed their complaint in a civil suit they had filed against the doctor.

Fourth District Court Judge Robert Lunnen made the ruling in October, but the Utah Supreme Court, in a rare decision, recently agreed to retain the case and hear it on appeal.

In a recent interview with The Epoch Times, Attorney Adam Sorenson, who led efforts to get the case before the Utah Supreme Court, called the ruling offensive.

Lunnen had decided that the allegations were more along the line of medical injuries and were actions that should be brought under the Utah Health Care Malpractice Act.

In his ruling, Lunnen wrote because OBGYNs commonly examine sensitive, otherwise private areas of a womans person including the pelvic area generally, the vaginal area, and the breasts, the Court opines that the alleged misconduct occurred in the course of obstetrical treatment.

Utah trial court Judge Robert Lunnen dismissed a civil case involving 100 allegations of sexual assault against an OBGYN, claiming the claim fell under malpractice laws (COURTESY: State of Utah)

The ruling left the attorneys for the victims, the victims themselves, and the local community shocked.

Attorneys for the women recently told The Epoch Times they are equally shocked that there have been no criminal charges brought against Dr. David Broadbent even though dozens of the women filed complaints with local police more than a year ago.

There are at least 150 women in Utah who are wondering every day when and if the people who are in authority and hired by our society to protect them are going to bring charges on their behalf, Attorney G. Erick Nielson, who represents some of the women in the case, told The Epoch Times. I am mystified as to why Dr. Broadbent has not yet been charged.

Attorneys for Broadbent did not respond to inquiries from The Epoch Times. His Provo, Utah, practice, which is primarily gynecology, is listed as permanently closed.

On Jan. 17, Nielson, an attorney for some of the women, sent an eight-page letter to Utah District Attorney Jeff Gray detailing his shock and disgust with the way the womens allegations have been handled.

Nielson told The Epoch Times that his clients indicated to him that police were condescending and dismissive when they reported their alleged assaults.

He told The Epoch Times he suspects the number of alleged victims to be closer to 200.

Provo police did not respond to inquiries from The Epoch Times about the case.

Newly elected Utah County prosecutor Jeff Gray told The Epoch Times he too disagreed with Lunnens ruling and vowed he would criminally prosecute the case if there is enough evidence to do so. He is currently waiting for the police to complete their investigation and turn their findings over to his office.

These cases can take some time to investigate, said Gray.

Gray, who pointed out he is only seven weeks into the job as the countys top prosecutor, called on tougher prosecution of sex assault crimes in his campaign for Utah County district attorney.

Its not healthcare to sexually assault someone, thats all there is to it, he said. I dont care whether your a doctor or some other instance, it doesnt matter, if theres a sexual assault, then that needs to be prosecuted.

The civil suit filed against Broadbent last year details more than 100 allegations of sexual assault against the doctor including women who were minors at the time of the alleged assaults.

Court documents in the case show that it was Broadbents lawyers who raised the argument that the case should be argued as a medical malpractice action.

They also stated that since the very scope of a gynecologist entails ensuring the health of womens sexual and reproductive organs, Dr. Broadbent was within the course and scope of his employment at all relevant times.

Lunnen wrote in his order that accepting all allegations as true, Broadbents treatment of his patients is insensitive, disrespectful and degrading.

Some of the allegations against Broadbent date back 40 years, which has raised a legal question about Utahs statute of limitations in the case. Utah had a four-year statute of limitations on rape and other sexual assaults in Utah until 2013 when a new law was passed that eliminated the statute of limitations.

According to Gray, since some of the victims were minors at the time of the alleged assault, their cases can still be prosecuted because the statutes of limitations that did exist only applied to crimes against adults.

The first round of appellate briefs is being filed with the Utah Supreme Court this week in the case. Sorenson said he doesnt expect the case to be heard by the Court until sometime in the Fall.

Intermountain Health, Broadbents employer, and its parent company, Utah Valley Hospital, are also named in the suit. Neither the hospital nor its attorney responded to inquiries from The Epoch Times about the case. The complaint alleges the companies ignored complaints about Broadbent and allowed him to continue to practice under their names.
Los Angeles Police Union Says Officers Should No Longer Respond to Certain Calls

As the Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD) grapples with understaffing and slow emergency response times, the citys police unionthe Los Angeles Police Protective League representing more than 9,000 sworn personnelrecently submitted a list to the Los Angeles City Council of 28 nonemergency calls that it believes should be diverted to unarmed responders.

The listwhich includes nonviolent homeless and mental health-related callswill allow officers to prioritize and respond more swiftly to critical emergencies and higher profile crimes and allow nonprofit workers and other city agencies to respond instead, the union stated in a March 1 statement to the media. The outline was sent to the city as part of its labor contract negotiations.

Union spokesperson Tom Saggau told The Epoch Times that it took several months to put the list together and that it wasnt a joint effort with the LAPD.

Police officers are sent to too many calls that are better suited for unarmed service providers, Craig Lally, the unions president said in a statement to the media. We believe that in order to maximize the potential benefits of this new response model, its important that the initial list of calls where police officers will cease responding to is robust.

Other types of calls on the unions list include issues such as parking violations, tenant disputes, dog complaints where no attack has occurred, illegal gambling, public defecation or urination, panhandling, calls to schools for nonviolent juvenile disturbances, welfare checks, nonviolent incidents at city parks, under the influence cases where no other crime is involved, public drinking, and cleanups of encampments.

Los Angeles Police Department officers patrol on bicycles past a homeless man napping with a cigarette in hand at his encampment on a downtown sidewalk on June 7, 2017. (Frederic J. Brown/AFP via Getty Images)

Union Director and former LAPD officer Debbie Thomas said during a March 1 press conference that police officers are not psychologists, we are not psychiatrists, we are not mental health experts.

We are not social workers, doctors, nurses, or waste management experts, she said.

LAPD Chief Michel Moore said in a statement to the Associated Press that alternative policing has already diverted thousands of calls away from a police response, allowing officers to conserve limited resources for more serious calls.

Moore began asking retired officers in January to consider returning to the force amid a staffing shortage. As of mid-February, the department is down by 233 officers, according to a department personnel report.

It currently has roughly 9,200 officers, but 600 are expected to leave in 2024, a 20 percent increase over 2022.

Change in Policing Already Underway

The unions proposal aligns with the citys recent consideration of alternative means of policing in several categories, particularly when dealing with the homeless and mentally ill.

In October 2022, the Los Angeles City Council voted to consider establishing the Office of Unarmed Response and Safety to deploy trained mental health workers to respond to nonviolent situations. The proposal was backed by Moore.

And the effort has reached the mayors office, too, as Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass and the LAPD have recently agreed to collaborate on a list of nearly two dozen provisions, as reported previously by The Epoch Times. The provisions are part of the mayors reform plans for the police department.

One of the items on that list calls for assessing alternative policing programs currently operating in the city and recommends 911 call operators to triage calls requiring alternative response.

Saggau said the union has been calling for this for years.

Im unsure why this is taking as long as its taking, he said.

Other goals Bass wants the LAPD to implement include expanding its Mental Evaluation Unit and System-Wide Mental Assessment Team for a more rigorous response to mental health calls. The union has previously stated that the department has historically lacked support in these two bureaus.

It is time to end the debate about sending unarmed responders to appropriate 911 calls, Jerretta Sandoz, vice president of the police union said in a March 1 statement. Now is the time to roll up our sleeves and get to the hard work of implementing an alternative response model.

Los Angeles isnt the first to consider a shift to such.

New York; San Francisco; Portland, Oregon; and Olympia, Washington have also implemented or considered deploying unarmed response teams in recent years.

Dispatching mental health specialists instead of police officers to substance abuse and nonviolent emergencies in Denver showed a 34 percent reduction in low-level crime, according to a 2022 study published in Science Advances, a peer-reviewed research publisher.
BEIJING, March 1 (Xinhua) -- Since the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic in early 2020, the United States has been pursuing the most convenient and economical way in finding the origins of the novel coronavirus -- fabricating groundless allegations against China. The latest episode is that U.S. media outlets are hyping up an updated intelligence report by the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) saying the COVID pandemic "most likely" arose from a laboratory leak in China. Blaming China is nothing new in the U.S. politics given that the oversensitive Washington is obsessed with the illusion of threats from China. However, the U.S. China-chiding paradigm neither helped the country curb the spreading of the virus -- over 100 million people in the United States were contracted and more than 1 million died of the disease -- nor is conducive to finding the real cause of the pandemic and prevent possible crises in the future. A SELF-DOUBT REPORT Calling the DOE's new report "significant," the Wall Street Journal said: "The Energy Department now joins the Federal Bureau of Investigation in saying the virus likely spread via a mishap at a Chinese laboratory." Previously, the agency said it was unsure how the virus originated. However, the DOE changed its position and came up with the lab leak judgement with "low confidence," which means that the information it obtained "is not enough or is too fragmented to make a definitive analytic judgement or that there is not enough information available to draw a more robust conclusion," a CNN report explains. Also, U.S. National Security Council spokesman John Kirby said that the U.S. government and intelligence committee have not reached a "definitive conclusion." This is not the first time the current U.S. administration sought to knock together a COVID origins report via U.S. intelligence community, known around the world for its notorious credibility problem. U.S. President Joe Biden asked in May 2021 the country's intelligence agencies to look into the origins of the COVID-19 pandemic and come up with a report in 90 days. Yet U.S. intelligence officials remain divided on conclusion after three months. So here are the questions: How could the DOE use "too fragmented information" to conclude that the pandemic "most likely" arose from a lab leak incident in China? And why the DOE rushed to release such a shaky report when in fact there is no convincing conclusion at all? HIGHLY POLITICIZED SCIENTIFIC ISSUE Searching for the origins of COVID-19 will help humanity cope with future pandemics and related investigations should be conducted in a scientific approach. However, since former U.S. President Donald Trump labelled the virus as "China virus," such work has been facing challenges caused by political manipulation. By hyping up its so-called lab leak theory, and accusing China of covering up the truth right from the start of the outbreak, the United States attempted to shift blame for its own COVID prevention fiasco to China, and further demonize China as a "threat." Despite the outcomes of the scientific studies and a China-World Health Organization (WHO) joint study into origin-tracing and research by other countries, Washington continued to pressure the global health watchdog to stage a second-phase study into the origin of COVID-19 in China, and mobilized its intelligence agency to investigate COVID-19 origins. Gennady Onishchenko, first deputy chairman of the Committee on Education and Science of the State Duma, Russia's lower house of parliament, told Xinhua that "the topic of the lab origin of the coronavirus has been constantly raised. First, Trump started it and then Biden supported it. Obviously, the purpose is to blame China. All this is being done in order to politicize the topic of COVID-19 origins. Perhaps, other steps will follow. They don't need the truth." For years, U.S. politicians have created a narrative to contain China, making China an easy scapegoat when they talk about national security or try to shift public anger over their policy failure. U.S. economist Jeffrey Sachs, also head of the Lancet COVID-19 Commission, said that once the outbreak began, Washington blamed China entirely for the outbreak, and even refused to cooperate with China to stop the pandemic. In 2020, Trump repeatedly attacked China and even withdrew from the WHO by accusing the WHO of favoring China. Since the early 2010s, the United States has been escalating its containment efforts against China by taking unilateral trade measures, imposing technology barriers, investment and financial barriers, and other sanctions, and by forging new military alliances such as AUKUS, Sachs told Xinhua, adding that "the goal of the U.S. is to weaken China and to mobilize an alliance against China. This is a huge mistake and very dangerous." THE WORLD IS GETTING TIRED However, the political manipulation or even weaponization of the origin-tracing issue by the United States is not popular at the international level. More than 80 countries have stated their explicit opposition to politicization of origins tracing, and over 300 political parties, civil organizations and think tanks from more than 100 countries and regions have submitted a joint statement opposing politicization of origins tracing to the WHO Secretariat. Countries around the world are getting tired of such politics that some major powers are trying to play with regard to the COVID-19 pandemic. Politics does not have a constructive role to play in overcoming the human and economic toll that this virus has inflicted on different countries, said Cavince Adhere, a Kenya-based international relations scholar. Politicizing COVID-19 origin tracing is not helpful to the international community, and the level of blame game that we have seen from Washington really doesn't work well for the global anti-pandemic effort and the global responsibilities over the pandemic, he added.
Health programs at Niagara U, Canisius aim to increase workforce, diversity

Niagara University and Canisius College are bolstering their nursing programs and physician assistant programs to address a shortage of workers and diversity in Western New York health care programs.

Niagara has been expanding its nursing programs to ease a nurse shortage that has worsened since the Covid-19 pandemic  due largely to worker burnout that led to nurses retiring early or changing professions.

The university received a grant to hire a resource officer to work with its nursing and other health care students  as well as workers in the field  on developing skills and tools for reducing on-the-job stress and anxiety leading to burnout.

Proper self-care practices are crucial for nurses in reducing their stress, renewing their ability to provide compassion and empathy, and improving the quality of care, said Christine Verni, dean of the college of nursing.

Our resilience and resource officer will expand efforts to promote well-being by further developing critical thinking skills that make nurses more resilient when presented with stressors in the workplace, classroom and clinical settings as they transition from the structured educational setting to a hospital or other clinical environment, she said.

The $300,000 grant from the Mother Cabrini Health Foundation will also help enhance academic preparation for new students and improve quality of care across patient lifespans by expanding virtual reality, telemedicine training and other patient-care simulation educational experiences, Verni said.

These on-campus clinical experiences will enable students to develop sound critical thinking and clinical judgment skills, especially when caring for vulnerable patients with complex cases.

Niagara began enhancing the self-care and patient-care training in its nursing program last year, adding virtual reality technology to its health care simulation labs, expanding certification opportunities and adding specialized training such as end-of-life care.

Canisius, meanwhile, is launching an effort to increase diversity in the heath care workforce via scholarships for its physician assistant studies program. The college received a $300,000 Cabrini foundation grant to help fund scholarships to students from diverse backgrounds who pursue PA graduate degrees at Canisius.

Canisius welcomed its first cohort of 30 students to the program in January 2021, and new classes enter the 27-month masters degree program each spring. The program builds on the colleges pre-medical and general science programs, as well as partnerships with local hospitals and health systems.

The curriculum includes clinical assignments and service learning requirements in underserved communities to provide students with early exposure to vulnerable communities, and the social and medical issues that affect patient care and health outcomes of patients from diverse socioeconomic, religious and cultural backgrounds.

More information about the program can be found at canisius.edu/academics/programs/graduate/physician-assistant-studies.

NCCC nursing students get good grades

Niagara County Community College announced that its nursing student licensing test scores are well above state and national averages for the third year in a row. Its 2022 National Council Licensure Examination for Registered Nurses 2022 scores were 92.5%, and its licensed practical nursing program scores were 100%.

NCCC is among 11 SUNY campuses that will receive a total of $1.4 million in grants from SUNYs Nursing Emergency Training Fund to expand nursing degree programs in light of a widespread nursing shortage. Gov. Kathy Hochul included the 2023 funding as part of her goal to increase medical programs for health care jobs by 20% by 2027.

And SUNY Erie Community Colleges registered nursing program was ranked second best RN program in the state by the website registerednursing.org. The ranking was based on past and present pass rates for the NCLX-RN.

The top five RN programs in the ranking were LaGuardia Community College, SUNY ECCs City Campus RN program, Cayuga Community College, the University at Buffalo and Rockland Community College. ECCs North Campus RN program came in sixth.

Bengal program is back

A grant from Bank of America has allowed the Small Business Development Center at Buffalo State University to revive its Bengal Entrepreneurship Program for budding entrepreneurs on campus. Formerly called the Student INC.ubator, the program is back after nearly two years of in-person restrictions due to the Covid-19 pandemic.

The two-year, $57,000 Bank of America grant allowed the SBDC to hire a program coordinator and help students pay for travel expenses to a statewide competition. The program brings students interested in starting their own businesses to meet weekly and work on proposals to submit to the annual New York State Business Plan Competition.

The program is hosting weekly meetings from 12:15 to 1:30 p.m. Tuesdays in Buckham Hall A107 to teach students about business planning and help them prepare eight-minute pitch presentations for the regional round competition. For questions or more info, call 716-878-4030.

Want to know more? Three stories to catch you up:

Welcome to Buffalo Next. This newsletter from The Buffalo News will bring you the latest coverage on the changing Buffalo Niagara economy  from real estate to health care to startups. Read more at BuffaloNext.com.

THE LATEST

Catch up on the latest news from the Buffalo Niagara economy:

A federal agency says Starbucks must rehire some workers it fired in Buffalo and reopen a store it closed.

Buffalo development officials are hoping to pick a developer for the LaSalle Metro station project within a year.

The state is preparing new rules to crack down on price gouging.

A Buffalo Niagara union leader, who raised concerns about construction work going to out-of-town laborers, is dropping his opposition to Buffalo Bills stadium agreements.

An orthopedic surgeon is suing Wyoming County Community Health System and others over the termination of his firm's contract last year.

Yellow Freight is consolidating its Buffalo Niagara truck terminals in a move that is expected to lead to job losses.

A site in the Northland complex once was coveted by two businesses. Now, neither wants it and the search is on for a business that does.

Buffalo Mayor Byron Brown is touting $9 billion in development projects over the last decade for the city.

Uniland Development Co. backed out of its deal to buy The Buffalo News office building.

A series of apartment projects, involving more than 300 units, are moving forward.

Bitwise is getting $80 million in funding for its technology workforce development programs in 10 cities, including Buffalo.

Niagara University and Niagara Falls Memorial Medical Center are launching a career pathways program that will help students get paying jobs at the hospital.

Community health providers, like Evergreen and Neighborhood Health Center, are concerned about losing a critical funding stream if the state makes changes to its Medicaid pharmacy benefit program.

Ciminelli Real Estate Corp. hopes to increase the size of its planned new warehouse facility in Lackawanna's Renaissance Commerce Park by at least 25%.

ICYMI

Five reads from Buffalo Next:

1. Focusing on health equity in the City of Buffalo: After the traumatic events that hit the area last year, Rev. George F. Nicholas, CEO of the Buffalo Center for Health Equity, says now is the time to make it a priority.

2. UB resident doctors and fellows feeling 'overworked and underpaid': The group, which includes 810 residents, fellows and interns at the University at Buffalo, have launched a union campaign.

3. Buffalo Niagara struggles to find  and keep  tech workers: Local companies have plenty of open technology jobs, but can't fill them, as computer science grads from area schools move out of town for work.

4. Inside Brooks-TLC's seven-year push for a new hospital: Now, more than ever, it feels like Brooks-TLC Hospital System's plan for a new hospital in Fredonia is at a critical juncture. Could the long-delayed plan finally be moving forward?

5. Mechatronics, the new, in-demand tech field fueled by ECC and Northland Training Center: Despite ECCs struggles with declining enrollment, its mechatronics program is thriving and this spring will reach more than 200 graduates in four years.

The Buffalo Next team gives you the big picture on the regions economic revitalization. Email tips to buffalonext@buffnews.com or reachBuffalo Next Editor David Robinson at 716-849-4435.
Los Angeles Sheriffs Department Bolsters Training to Combat Active Shooters

Multipule law enforcement and first responder agencies participate in an active shooter excercise on the campus of Biola University in La Mirada, Calif., on Feb. 28, 2023. (John Fredricks/The Epoch Times)

Get ready, all units, first responder radios echoed across the Biola University campus early Feb. 28 just before the sound of gunfire and smoke bombs pierced the air.

GO GO GO!

About then, officers moved into formation across the universitys Meltzer Lawn area, as a simulated active shooter began to fire an assault rifleloaded with paint.

A mock shooter runs away from multiple law enforcement and first responder agencies participating in an active shooter exercise on the campus of Biola University in La Mirada, Calif., on Feb. 28, 2023. (John Fredricks/The Epoch Times)

The event was a shooting response exercise incorporating simulated gunfire, flashbangs, fire alarms, and smoke machines while police and sheriffs department personnel utilized mock medical trauma centers for role-playing victims played by campus students and university staff.

[Weve] been working diligently to put a robust preparedness plan in place, the universitys Safety Department Chief John Ojeisekoba said. This exercise is part of our effort for a unified response  to an active shooter event on our campus.

Multiple law enforcement and first responder agencies participate in an active shooter exercise on the campus of Biola University in La Mirada, Calif., on Feb. 28, 2023. (John Fredricks/The Epoch Times)

As the exercise continued to play outmoving to the campuss library areaofficers were then met with masked actors portraying panicking fleeing students.

The officers were soon backed up by the sheriffs equivalent of a SWAT unit via helicopter and an armored bearcat vehicle, eventually bringing the exercise to a close as the simulated shooters were eliminated.

Multiple law enforcement and first responder agencies participate in an active shooter exercise on the campus of Biola University in La Mirada, Calif., on Feb. 28, 2023. (John Fredricks/The Epoch Times)

During the exercise, people with mock injuries were assisted by first responders while some actors lay on the lawn feigning fatalities.

Unfortunately, its not if but when this kind of event will happen, Los Angeles Sheriff Robert Luna told onsite media. Its important that we work with our partners and be well-trained and prepared.

Los Angeles Sheriff Robert Luna attends an active shooter exercise on the campus of Biola University in La Mirada, Calif., on Feb. 28, 2023. (John Fredricks/The Epoch Times)
Majority of Canadians Concerned About Chinas Interference in Canadian Society: Poll

People line up to vote in the advance polls for the federal election in Chambly, Que., on Sept. 10, 2021. (Ryan Remiorz/The Canadian Press)

A majority of Canadians are concerned about the Chinese communist regimes interference in Canadian society, a new poll finds, and seven in ten view it as a major threat to the countrys democracy.

Conducted by Nanos Research, the poll found that over nine in ten Canadians say they are concerned (59 percent) or somewhat concerned (32 percent) about Beijings interference on Canadian soil.

The findings were based on 1,012 random online surveys of Canadians aged 18 and above from Feb. 26 to March 1.

Commissioned by CTV News and published on March 3, the poll noted that people of a higher age group worry more about the issue than younger ones.

Respondents aged 55 plus (68 percent concerned, 27 percent somewhat concerned) show a higher intensity of concern than those aged 18 to 34 (43 percent concerned, 44 percent somewhat concerned).

The poll comes amid cross-partisan calls for Prime Minister Justin Trudeau to launch a public inquiry to examine recent reports of Chinas alleged foreign interference operations in Canada that include but are not limited to its meddling in the 2019 and 2021 federal elections.

Among the allegations are a Nov. 7, 2022, report by Global News that China had provided funding to at least 11 candidates in the 2019 campaign, and a report last month by the Globe and Mail on leaked Canadian Security Intelligence Services (CSIS) documents saying that Beijing had interfered with Canadas elections with the aim in part to have a minority Liberal government elected.

Trudeau has insisted that the Canadian election process is intact.

Major Threat

Testifying before the Commons House Procedure and Affairs committee (PROC) on March 1, Jody Thomas, national security and intelligence adviser to Trudeau, said the prime minister was briefed multiple times about Beijings interference in both elections.

CSIS Director David Vigneault was also summoned to appear at the PROC hearing the next day in light of the leaked documents reportedly from his agency. The director said he is of the opinion there were no incidents that threatened the integrity of recent elections.

The Nanos poll found that nearly all respondents agreed that Beijings efforts to interfere in the 2021 federal election is a threat to the nations democracy. Seventy-one percent said it is a major threat while 23 percent viewed it as a minor threat.

As for Canadas ability to protect elections from foreign interference, only 18 percent said the country is doing a good (15 percent) or very good (3 percent) job.

These results were in stark contrast to those who disagreed. Just under 40 percent replied poor (20 percent) or very poor (19 percent) when it comes Canadas efforts to protect the integrity of elections against foreign state actors.

Another 30 percent answered average, while 13 percent said they were unsure.

On March 2, PROC passed a motion calling on the Trudeau government to launch a public inquiry to examine Chinas election interference. The motion, introduced by NDP MP Peter Julian, was passed through a 65 vote, with Liberal MPs voting against it.

Andrew Chen and Peter Wilson contributed to this report.
Man Declared Factually Innocent of 1983 Los Angeles Murder

LOS ANGELESA man who spent 38 years behind bars for the 1983 abduction and murder of a woman in Inglewood was declared factually innocent Mar. 2 of the crime.

Superior Court Judge William C. Ryan noted that the request for a finding of factual innocence for Maurice Hastings came in a motion jointly filed by the Los Angeles County District Attorneys Office and the Los Angeles Innocence Project.

 I find him factually innocent, the judge said during the brief hearing in a downtown Los Angeles courtroom.

Hastings, 69, was released from custody last October after his conviction was vacated for the abduction, sexual assault, and slaying of 30-year-old Roberta Wydermyer, along with the attempted murder of Wydermyers husband, Billy Ray, and his friend, George Pinson.

Martha Carrillo, deputy in charge of the District Attorneys Conviction Integrity Unit, told Hastings that he deserved to hear that he is factually innocent in a courtroom, and it comes with a long overdue apology.

You have fought for your innocence all these years, Carrillo told Hastings. You are, in fact, factually innocent.

She noted that Louis Sepeone of the attorneys who represented Hastings in his first trial in which jurors deadlocked  had been accused of putting up a false alibi and said she hopes that Hastings feels vindicated in the work that Sepe had done for him.

Sepe was among those in the downtown Los Angeles courtroom who hugged Hastings after the judges finding, which was met with a round of applause.

Ayesha Hussain, a staff attorney for Los Angeles Innocence Project, told the judge that the factual innocence finding was crucial to ensuring that justice is done.

Mr. Hastings has maintained his innocence from the very beginning, she said, noting that DNA testing that exonerated him proved he was right all along.

Hastingss Statement

Hastings said after the hearing the factual innocence ruling means a lot to me.

Its been wonderful today, he said. Im ready to move forward with my life. Im a happy man right now  Now I feel vindicated.

Hastings, who is in an entrepreneurship boot camp, said he plans to leave it up to attorneys regarding whether to seek compensation for the time he wrongly served behind bars

I just want to move forward. Im not thinking about compensation right now, he told reporters. I just want to enjoy my life. I dont think I have 69 more years.

District Attorney George Gascon told reporters Tuesday, Thanks to the DNA testing completed, Mr. Hastings DNA profile was excluded and someone else was determined to have been the assailant in this case  In this particular case, the assailant went on to continue to harm other victims before he was arrested and prosecuted.

Hastings submitted a claim of innocence in 2021 with the District Attorneys Conviction Integrity Unit, and DNA testing done last year matched another person, Kenneth Packnett, according to the District Attorneys Office.

He went on to commit other crimes after Mr. Hastings was arrested, but then he was arrested for other crimes, convicted, and died in prison, Gascon said.

The district attorney told reporters he is proud that we have corrected this injustice, but said the evidence, in this case, should have been tested two decades ago.

The Night in 1983

Wydermyer had made a late-night trip to a market in Inglewood, but she never returned home.

Authorities at the time said her assailant stole her cash and jewelry, assaulted her, and then shot her in the head. Her body was then placed in the trunk of her car, which the assailant took.

After his wife failed to come home, Wydermyers husband and Pinson went out looking for her, and they spotted her stolen vehicle being driven by the suspect. The assailant sped away, but the duo pursued him, authorities said. The suspect eventually fired shots toward the pursuing pair, with Billy Ray Wydermyer suffering a shrapnel wound.

Hastings was arrested months later. His initial trial ended with a hung jury, but he was convicted at his retrial. He had faced a potential death sentence, but jurors instead recommended that he be sentenced to life in prison without parole.
Maryland Mayor Resigns After Being Arrested for Possessing Child Pornography

A mayor in Maryland announced his resignation on March 2, after being charged with 56 counts of child pornography possession and distribution.

While this investigation does not involve any official city business of any kind, it is in the best interests of our community that I step aside and not serve as a distraction, Democrat College Park Mayor Patrick Wojahn said in his resignation letter.

Wojahn, 47, also cited a desire to deal with my own mental health.

Prince Georges County Police Department detectives serving a search warrant at Wojahns home on Feb. 28 recovered cellphones, a tablet, a computer, and a storage device, according to the department. After reviewing the devices, they arrested Wojahn on 40 counts of child porn possession and 16 counts of distributing child exploitative material.

More charges could come in the future, officials said. Wojahns husband has not been charged.

Investigation

The warrant was executed after the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children sent a tip about a social media account operating in Prince Georges County that possessed and distributed suspected child porn in January.

An investigation found that Wojahn controlled the Kik account, which had the name skippy_md, according to charging documents reviewed by The Epoch Times.

Under subpoenas, Yahoo provided information on the Yahoo email address associated with the account and Kik provided investigators with explicit profile images associated with the account. The same images were found when the search warrant was executed. Furthermore, the shoes depicted in one photograph were found in the home and unique features from the pictures were found to be a match to the Defendants kitchen and bedroom, respectively, the documents stated. Kik also provided child porn images associated with the account.

Speaking to detectives, Wojahn admitted that the account was his and that he has possessed and may have distributed child porn, according to the charging documents.

He advised that he has viewed and possessed files depicting child pornography, authorities wrote. He also indicated that when viewing these files, he may have passed it on, indicating he has distributed files depicting child pornography to other persons.

Authorities provided detailed descriptions of each picture and video they found in their investigation. They are still working on identifying the minors who are depicted.

A Total Surprise

Wojahn became mayor in 2015. He won election with 1,236 votes and reelection with 1,568 votes. He was on the City Council from 2007 to 2015.

Wojahn and his husband sued to remove the ban on gay marriage in Maryland in 2004.

He has been to the White House on multiple occasions, including when President Joe Biden signed the Respect for Marriage Act.

Wojahn has described Bidens Transportation Secretary Pete Buttieg as a mentor.

College Park officials said in a statement they were shocked and disturbed by the charges, describing them as a total surprise to us.

After Wojahn resigned, the city thanked the mayor for his many years of dedicated service and said that Mayor Pro Tem Denise Mitchell would replace him until a special election is held.

The special election date has not yet been set but it must be held within 65 days per city rules.

Today has been a very difficult day for the residents, staff and elected officials in College Park. Like our community, we are shocked and disturbed by the arrest and charges filed against the former mayor. As this is an on-going and active investigation, the City will respect the judicial process and cooperate fully with the investigation, Mitchell said in a statement.

While we continue to process everything that has happened today, City services and work cannot and will not stop. It is vital for our community and our residents to know that City services will continue to operate, uninterrupted, she added.

College Park, with about 35,000 residents, encompasses the University of Maryland campus. It is about a 35-minute drive north from Washington, D.C.

Shocks the Mind

Prince Georges County Police Chief Malik Aziz told a briefing that the charges show that child porn crimes will not be tolerated.

We send a clear message to anyone involved in this type of material that units like this are looking, theyre working every day to make sure that we have a safe county and a safe state, he said.

Aziz said what happened shocks the mind, shocks the value and the consciousness and honor of any person who considers themselves to be trustworthy to hold office or hold a position in society.

When people are entrusted to hold office, elected by citizens, then it is disturbing when they betray that trust, Aziz added.

The police chief said that people who are struggling, including people who are involved in criminal acts, should seek help before it escalates or goes into another zone that would be more disturbing.

Prince Georges law enforcement made 18 arrests involving child abuse crimes in 2022, after receiving more than 1,000 cyber tips, officials said.
Matt Gaetz Calls for Defunding FBI, CDC, ATF, DOJ

Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-Fla.) speaks at the Conservative Political Action Conference 2022 (CPAC) in Orlando, Florida, on Feb. 26, 2022. (Chandan Khanna/AFP via Getty Images)

Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-Fla.) on March 3 called for defunding numerous U.S. government agencies such as the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, and the Department of Justice.

This was on top of a previous call to defund the FBI.

Addressing the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC), Gaetz railed against U.S. government corruption and called for accountability. He touted being part of a group of 20 or so Republicans who got concessions from Rep. Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) in his battle to be speaker of the House, one of them being the formation of the Select Subcommittee on the Weaponization of the Federal Government.

Seems like every time I turn around, theyre engaged in surveillance or list-building or monitoring. And I dont care if it takes every second of our time and every ounce of our energy. We either get this government back on our side or we defund and get rid of abolish the FBI, CDC, ATF, DOJ, every last one of them, if they do not come to heel, Gaetz said to a standing ovation.

And I dont think its too much to ask. I really dont.

The call to defund the CDC exemplified the criticism the health agency has come under due to its guidance during the COVID-19 pandemic, when the CDC may have colluded with the American Federation of Teachers, the second-biggest teachers union in the United States, as it pertains to school reopenings.

In June 2021, Gaetz called for the FBI to be defunded.

If Democrats want to defund the police, they should start with the FBI, wrote Gaetz in a Twitter post that he immediately deleted.

Gaetz reiterated his call to defund the FBI after the agency raided former President Donald Trumps Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida on Aug. 8, 2022. He said that the antidote to the FBI going after Trump was not one more damn penny for this administrative state that has been weaponized against our people in a very fascist way.

At the time of his 2021 and 2022 remarks, Gaetz was under investigation by the DOJ, to which the FBI is responsible, over his alleged involvement in sex trafficking. Last month, Gaetzs lawyers said they were informed by the DOJ that the congressman would not be charged.

CPAC began March 2 and ends on March 4.

In addition to Gaetz, Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) and other GOP and conservative figures addressed the crowd.

GOP presidential candidates Nikki Haley, former U.S. ambassador to the United Nations and Governor of South Carolina, and Vivek Ramaswamy, a multimillionaire entrepreneur, were scheduled to address CPAC on March 3.

Trump is scheduled to speak on March 4.

CPAC is back in the Washington area for the first time since 2020, just before the COVID-19 pandemic.
Mayor Arrested on Child Porn Counts in Maryland College Town

BALTIMOREThe mayor of a Maryland college town was arrested Thursday morning on dozens of child pornography counts hours after he resigned from office.

Patrick Wojahn, 47, faces 56 counts of possession and distribution of child porn, the Prince Georges County Police Department said in a statement Thursday morning. Police searched his College Park home Tuesday and seized cell phones as well as a storage device, tablet and computer.

County officials said the department started investigating after the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children notified them on Feb. 17 that a social media account had distributed suspected child pornography. Detectives traced the account to Wojahn, authorities said.

Wojahn submitted his resignation after business hours on Wednesday, city officials said in a statement Thursday. He was serving his second term as mayor of College Park, which includes the University of Maryland campus, after winning election in 2015. He previously served eight years as a city councilman.

Mr. Wojahn resigned his position yesterday and has been cooperating fully with law enforcement, his attorney David Moyse said via email Thursday. While too early to comment on the allegations, we will continue to cooperate as the process unfolds.

In his resignation letter, which the city released, Wojahn said he plans to deal with my own mental health and asked residents to keep his family in their prayers.

While this investigation does not involve any official city business of any kind, it is in the best interests of our community that I step aside and not serve as a distraction, he wrote.

Originally from Wisconsin, Wojahn graduated from Georgetown University Law Center and has worked in legal advocacy and government relations.

The city will hold a special election to choose a new mayor.

By Lea Skene
MI5 Chief Publicly Apologises Over Failure to Thwart Manchester Arena Atrocity

Director general Ken McCallum makes rare public statement after inquiry found a 'slim' chance the security forces could have stopped 2017 bombing

MI5 chief Ken McCallum has publicly apologised over the security services failure to thwart the Manchester Arena terror attack.

In a rare public statement, the director-general acknowledged MI5 did not seize the slim chance it had to thwart the 2017 bombing that claimed the lives of 22 people.

Hundreds of others were also injured in the attack, carried out by suicide bomber Salman Abedi.

On Thursday, an inquiry found the bombing might have been prevented if MI5 had acted on intelligence received in the months before the attack when two pieces of information about Abedi were assessed at the time by the security service to not relate to terrorism.

But inquiry chairman Sir John Saunders said, having heard from MI5 witnesses at secret hearings, he considered that did not present an accurate picture.

Following the findings, McCallum publicly apologised for the failings identified and insisted improvements had been made.

Speaking in Manchester on Thursday, he said: Having examined all the evidence, the chair of the inquiry has found that there was a realistic possibility that actionable intelligence could have been obtained which might have led to actions preventing the attack.

I deeply regret that such intelligence was not obtained.

Gathering covert intelligence is difficultbut had we managed to seize the slim chance we had, those impacted might not have experienced such appalling loss and trauma. I am profoundly sorry that MI5 did not prevent the attack.

Neither MI5 nor the Home Office would say whether anyone at the security service had faced disciplinary action.

CCTV image of Salman Abedi at Victoria Station making his way to the Manchester Arena, where he detonated his bomb, in Manchester, England, on May. 22, 2017. (Greater Manchester Police/Handout via PA)

Missed Opportunity

It was heard on Thursday how one MI5 officer admitted to the inquiry they considered a possible pressing national security concern on one of the pieces of intelligence surrounding Abedi, but did not discuss it with colleagues straight away and did not write up a report on the same day.

In his 207-page report, Sir John said: The delay in providing the report led to the missing of an opportunity to take a potentially important investigative action.

Based on everything the security service knew or should have known, I am satisfied that such an investigative action would have been a proportionate and justified step to take. This should have happened.

He said that if the intelligence had been followed up immediately it could have led to Abedi, 22, being followed to the parked Nissan Micra where he stored the explosive, which he later moved to a rented city centre flat to assemble.

The chairman added that Abedi also could have been stopped at Manchester Airport on his return from Libya four days before the attack.

Questions also remain about Abedis links with the late Muslim preacher Mansour al-Anezi, who he visited before his death.

The inquirys report lists him as an associate of Abedi who was arrested in 2008 as part of the investigation into failed Exeter suicide bomb attacker Nicky Reilly.

Abedi and his brother Hashemwho was jailed for life after he was convicted of assisting the Manchester Arena plotwere in contact with al-Anezi between October 2016 and January 2017 and the pair went to his funeral, according to the findings.

While the details of the relationship were not known, the inquiry heard police considered it a connection of significance.

Earlier this week, the BBC reported al-Anezi had been suspected by MI5 of radicalising people more than a decade earlier. According to the PA news agency, it is not known whether the inquiry considered the unconfirmed reports.

Salman Abedi is pictured in an undated handout image (Greater Manchester Police/PA)

Deemed Low Risk

Abedi was recorded as a subject of interest (SOI) in 2014 and investigated by MI5 but later deemed low risk.

He was identified on six occasions as a contact of suspected extremists between 2013 and 2017.

The security service investigates around 3,000 active SOIs when it believes someone may pose a threat and has about 600 live investigations at any one time. Significant numbers of SOIs are overseas.

They are ranked by priority and resources will be dedicated to them depending on the level of threat they are judged to pose.

When they are no longer deemed to pose a threat, they are downgraded and marked as a closed SOI, joining a list of around 40,000 people who have at some point featured in probes.

McCallum did not take questions on the findings, but in his recorded statement he said since the attack MI5 has made more than 100 improvements as it continually works to better efforts to fight terrorism.

The Counter Terrorism Operations Centre (CTOC), which opened in June 2021, is considered by officials to be a major step forward in that mission because it brings together police, intelligence agencies, government departments, and other elements of the criminal justice system involved in counter-terror operations in one place for the first time.

The move was in a bid to speed up the response to threats and improve how terrorists are monitored.

MI5 will engage fully with the inquirys recommendations, McCallum said, adding: Where there are opportunities to strengthen the UKs defences further, MI5 will act. We will continue to do everything in our power to keep our country safe from hidden threats.

Describing the attack as a terrible tragedy, McCallum said his thoughts were with the families and friends of those killed, and with all those whose lives were changed by this appalling act of terrorism.

MI5 exists to stop atrocities. To all those whose lives were forever changed on that awful night: I am so sorry that MI5 did not prevent the attack at the Manchester Arena, he added.

Undated file photos of some of the 22 victims of the terror attack during the Ariana Grande concert at the Manchester Arena in May 2017. (Greater Manchester Police/Handout via PA)

Cataclysmic Failure

Following Thursdays publication of the report, bereaved families said they hoped lessons would be learned.

Andrew Roussos, whose daughter Saffie-Rose, 8, was killed in the blast, said: Our beautiful little girl lost her life because of the failings of the security services.

We all heard the evidence and knew there were failings, but hearing how this tragedy might have been avoided is devastating for us all.

This was a cataclysmic failure, and it is clear from all of the evidence we have heard about Abedi that there were many opportunities for the security services to have ensured the bombing never happened.

In my view the fact that MI5 failed to stop him despite all of the red flags available demonstrates they are not fit to keep us safe and therefore not fit for purpose.

The parents of Chloe Rutherford, 17, and Liam Curry, 19, both from South Shields, also voiced their anger at the Security Service.

Currys mother said: Those that played any part in the murder of our children will never, ever get forgiveness. From top to bottom, MI5 to the associates of the attacker, we will always believe you all played a part in the murder of our children.

Head of Counter Terrorism Policing Matt Jukes promised to act quickly on the inquirys findings and insisted officers remain relentless in our work to keep the public safe.

He said: I am sorry that, despite our determined partnership [with MI5], we did not stop the loss of life, nor the injury and trauma that happened close to here, almost six years ago.

I want those who have lost loved ones to know that their loss has steeled us to ensure our counter terrorism partnerships are stronger, faster, and more effective.

MI5 and the police disrupted at least 37 late-stage terror attack plots since the start of 2017.

Home Secretary Suella Braverman said: I am committed to working with MI5, policing, and partners to study the recommendations. Together we will do everything possible to prevent a repeat of this horrifying attack.

Security minister Tom Tugendhat said he shared the sorrow expressed by MI5, adding: I know that all of us are working to make sure that the improvements that need to be made are made.

PA contributed to this report.
Misunderstanding Caused BC Company to Say Health Canada Licensed It to Sell Cocaine, Trudeau Says

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau says it was a misunderstanding that caused a British Columbia-based company to say Health Canada granted it permission to produce, sell, and distribute cocaine.

Trudeau told reporters in Winnipeg on March 3 that he was as surprised as B.C. Premier David Eby when he heard that the company Adastra Holdings Ltd., which produces marijuana for adult use and medical sales out of its headquarters in Langley, B.C., announced on Feb. 22 that it was permitted by Health Canada to legally possess, produce, sell and distribute cocaine.

The company said in a news release that it had been granted a Health Canada amendment to its controlled substance dealers licence on Feb. 17.

Eby first responded to the companys statement on March 2, saying he was astonished that Health Canada would grant the amendment and that his government would be contacting Health Canada for answers.

I was as surprised as the premier of British Columbia was to see that company was talking about selling cocaine on the open market or commercializing it, Trudeau said on March 3.

There are limited and very restricted permissions for certain pharmaceutical companies to use that substance for research purposes and for very specific narrowly prescribed medical purposes, but it is not a permission to sell it commercially or provide it on an open market.

The prime minister said his government is actively addressing the issue.

We are working very quickly with this company to correct their misunderstanding that their press release has caused, he said, adding that decriminalizing the commercial sale of cocaine is not something that this government is looking at furthering.

Decriminalization

B.C. decriminalized possession of up to 2.5 grams of certain hard drugs, including cocaine, beginning on Jan. 31 following Health Canadas approval of three-year experimental decriminalization exemption program back in May 2022.

Federal Mental Health and Addictions Minister Carolyn Bennett has said that B.C.s decriminalization plan will reduce the stigma, the fear, and shame that keep people who use drugs silent about their use, or using alone.

In 2022, B.C. had an average of over six people dying from drug overdoses every day, and over 11,000 people in the province have died from illicit drug overdoses since the provincial government declared a public health emergency in 2016.

Federal Conservative Party Leader Pierre Poilievre has criticized the decriminalization policy, saying the solution to the issue of addiction is more treatment and recovery, rather than more poison.

Both Trudeau and Justice Minister David Lametti have said Ottawa has no plans for a national drug decriminalization policy.

The Canadian Press and Marnie Cathcart contributed to this report.
A mom of 17 and her husband, who feel blessed by their ever-expanding family, are continuing to uphold a tradition since giving birth for the 17th time: every baby has a name beginning with the letter C.

Patty Hernandez, 41, is originally from Guatemala, and her husband Carlos, 40, is from El Salvador. Theyve made their home in Charlotte, North Carolina, and have welcomed each of their children with open arms.

According to Patty, the familys special tradition of having every childs name begin with the letter C, all began with wanting to honor Christ and her husband, Carlos, 40 when their first baby was born. After that, the tradition just stuck.

Patty was pregnant with child number 16 when this family photo was taken. (Courtesy of Patty Hernandez)

Their latest arrival, Cannan Abraham Hernandez, was born on Feb. 26 at Presbyterian Hospital in Charlotte weighing 7 pounds 6 ounces (approx. 3.34 kg).

Everyone is anxious to meet him, super excited, Patty told The Epoch Times. Now we just leave everything to our Lord, and maybe we will be meeting baby 18 in 2024!

Baby Cannan Abraham Hernandez when he was born. (Courtesy of Patty Hernandez)

The couple has three sets of twins: Carla and Caitlyn, 12, Calvin and Catherine, 8, and Caleb and Caroline, 5. Their remaining children, descending in age from 14 to newborn, are: Carlos Jr, Chris, Cristian, Celeste, Cristina, Caroll, Camilla, Charlotte, Crystal, Clayton, and baby Cannan.

Sometimes we do get confused when calling names, Patty said.

(Courtesy of Patty Hernandez)

Patty and Carlos run their own business, Gods Cleaning Company, and do not receive government support. They always knew they wanted a big family but never thought God would bless them with so many kids.

As their brood grew to 15 kids in 2020, the couple was shocked to discover Patty was expecting again.

It was a big surprise how God was blessing us with one more, she said. I had a really good pregnancy, thanks to God  just that it was the longest pregnancy ever.

(Courtesy of Patty Hernandez)

Patty delivered baby number 16, Clayton, on May 5, 2021, at 42 weeks gestation. Hers and Carlos children, all close in age, share a unique and tight-knit bond.

They love each other, Patty said. The best thing [about] being a mother of 16 kids is that I feel blessed  because at the end of the day, we manage everything.

The Hernandez household wakes up at 5:30 a.m. to get ready for school. After the school run, Patty and Carlos return home to take care of their seven youngest before nap time in the early afternoon. Every child has their own chores, but running such a huge household incurs equally huge bills. They spend over $500 on food every week, not including diapers.

Their strong Christian faith makes taking care of 17 children a blessing, not a chore.

We love the Lord, Patty said. Everything is in teaching them about the Bible. We want them to be good people, that is one of the best bonds we share.

Patty shared that theyre open to having more children.

Wed be more than happy to welcome all the kids [God] wants to bless us with!

Patty and Carlos with their 15 children. (Courtesy of Patty Hernandez)

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
When Chase Bowman was 5 years old, he developed a sudden phobia of loud, booming sounds. He had no prior experience that would have induced such trauma.

Sitting on his mothers lap, eyes closed, he described matter-of-factly a scene that Chase Bowman would not have been exposed to in his five years.

He said Im crouching behind a rock, I have a dirty uniform, and I have a long gun with a sword at the end, said Carol Bowman, Chases mother, in an interview with NTD Television for the show Mysteries of Life.

Something fateful had led Bowman to come to realize her son was spontaneously experiencing a memory from a past life.

It was a long time in coming, Bowman said. From a young age, she knew from experiences that something within us doesnt die.

Then, in her 30s, Bowman spent half a decade battling chronic lung problems, and along with them, visions she couldnt make sense of. The disease had not responded to medical treatment, and Bowman took a chance with a hypnotherapist to see if she would be able to find relief some other way.

After one two-hour session, I saw two lives in which I died with trauma to the lungs, and they were very emotional experiences, Bowman said. She saw a life wherein she died from consumption, and another where she was a young mother who died in a Nazi concentration camp. She cried during the session, but it served as a catharsis, leaving her light and unburdened afterwards. To my amazement, my lungs cleared up after that one session.

Her medical doctor was amazed at the recovery, and wanted to try such a past-life regression himself. Bowman, living in Asheville, North Carolina at the time, invited the hypnotherapist Norman Inge to work with a number of her friends.

It was around this time that Chase Bowman had been experiencing terror at loud booming sounds, and she had hoped Inge could give her son some post-hypnotic suggestions to help conquer the phobia. However, when Inge asked Chase Bowman to close his eyes and describe what he saw when he heard the loud sounds, he told a tale that sent Bowman into a mild state of shock.

He went on to say that he didnt know what he was doing in battle. There was smoke everywhere, he didnt even know what he was shooting at. And he said, I miss my wife and family,' Bowman recounted. It was an electric moment for me. Everything changed.

Bowman, today a leading researcher in childrens past lives, would soon discover this phenomenon was not unique to her son, and many children around the world experience these spontaneous visions. More importantly, she would guide many to help them.

Catharsis

Inge, experienced in past-life therapy, calmly guided Chase Bowman through the vision.

Chase Bowman described how he had been shot in his right wrist and taken out of battle, placed in a tent with a bench-like bed long enough to be bandaged before being sent out onto the battlefield once more.

He said, I dont want to go there. There are other people there. Theyre killing people. I dont want to kill other people,' Bowman said. And Norman explained to Chase, in very simple language a 5-year-old can understand, he said, We live many very different lifetimes on Earth. In some lives, we play different roles. Sometimes we are soldiers, and sometimes, being a soldier, you have to kill others in battle and sometimes you are killed. But theres no blame.'

And I could feel Chases body relaxing on my lap when Norman said that. Something changed, something shifted. And a couple minutes later, he just jumped off my lap, grabbed a cookie, went to play with his Legos, Bowman said. She was still stunned when Sarah, her 9-year-old daughter, pointed out that the place her brother indicated hed been shot was where he had his chronic severe eczema.

A few days later, the eczema that had not responded to any medical treatment cleared up completely. The phobia, too, was gone.

In fact, he asked for a drum kit his sixth birthday, so he could make loud booming sounds all the time, Bowman said.

Both Bowman and her sons experiences had been healing on emotional and physical levels, and she started wondering whether other children had these past life memories floating so close to the surface.

She started asking other parents in her community, and the anecdotes popped up, with one notable commonality.

They remembered their deaths, usually traumatic deaths, Bowman said. The collection of stories set her off on her research.

I understood the implications, I understood that yes, we can heal emotionally, and even physically, from recalling past lives, she said. As in my case, the traumatic deaths kind of sealed in the memories, froze in the trauma in the current life.

We can have trauma from the past that follows us into our present livesand that was a big revelation when I saw it in children too, she said.

Natural Phenomenon

Some parents are surprised when their young child starts to describe a life they lived before they came into their current one. The memories sometimes sound benign, even mundane. Most of these can be brushed off as fantasy, a moment of make-believe the child decides to share. Other times the child describes how they died, making the parents take pause. But its mostly the cases where these deaths were traumatic, and the young child is plagued by lingering trauma, that the stories start to circulate.

Bowman, a pioneer in the field of past life therapy, says, in fact, its natural for children under the age of 7 to remember their past life, or lives.

In cultures where reincarnation is a given belief, families can easily discuss the memories with the children. But reincarnation, or the belief that the soul lives on and is born again in a new body, can be an unknown or written off as superstition in America.

I noticed that a lot of American mothers needed help in guidance in talking to their children who seemed to be having a past life memory, she said.

Bowman is the author of Childrens Past Lives, which has been published in 22 foreign editions, and since the books publication in 1997 she has received emails, forum messages, and phone calls from people across America asking for help and insight into such cases. Most preface the conversations with an apology, with the fact that what they are about to say must sound crazy, but the stories can actually be strikingly similar.

Bowmans work follows that of Dr. Ian Stevenson (19182007) of the University of Virginia, whose documentation of 2,600-some verified cases of people recalling past lives was groundbreaking in moving the idea of reincarnation into mainstream medical science.

From the hundreds of stories Bowman has collected herself, and the thousands Stevenson documented, they both could see distinct patterns.

Children most often remember their deaths when they talk about past life memories, usually up until about the age of 5 or 7, and then memories tend to fade, Bowman said. This is universal across cultures, families where they believe in reincarnation and dont believe in reincarnation. So its a natural phenomenon.

As the children remember their deaths, they are matter-of-fact when recounting them, often describing them from what seems to be an aerial view, and the deaths themselves are neither scary nor painful. But some of the deaths happened under traumatic circumstances, and the children display phobias related to those circumstances. When the children describe these memories, they share details only someone on the scene could have known, capturing details nothing in their own experience could have provided material for, and even use vocabulary beyond what they are usually capable of.

Some researchers set their sights on proving the existence of reincarnation. Stevenson did not, but thought of his work as unique addition to the medical field, offering explanation to rare, sometimes one-of-a-kind birthmarks and birth defects that there have been no other medical explanation for (in his cases, these marks bear uncanny resemblance to cause-of-deaths in the past lives remembered).

Bowman, who says shes yet to hear anyone give her a better explanation than reincarnation, says she is not interested in proof either. Her mission lies in helping the families who, whether due to cultural or religious limitations, lack knowledge and guidance when these past life memories spontaneously emerge. These cases often involve trauma and phobias, and Bowman knows from her own experience how healing is possible, and how powerful it can be.

I feel that my job has been to educate parents, that this is a real phenomenon. Its a natural phenomenon. Theres nothing wrong with their child, she said. Its natural for children to remember up to a certain age. And if we can recognize these memories, and talk a child through what happened before. Phobias can go awayeven physical symptoms.

We can heal emotionally and even physically from recalling past lives, Bowman said.

The Soul Wants to Heal

There are therapists who specialize in past life regressions, which tends to involve hypnosis which helps guide the patient to recall past lives and gain catharsis in the experience.

But in the case of children, they recall these past life memories without prompting or hypnosis.

After Inge helped Chase Bowman, Bowmans then 9-year-old daughter said she wanted to try it too. Inge too asked her questions to guide her in recalling the memories, and the girl recounted a life where she had been a child on a farm, going to bed. A house fire had broken out and she was upstairs, not knowing where her parents were. Unable to get out, a fiery beam fell on her head.

She was very distraught, she was very emotional when she was remembering this, Bowman said. In some of the cases, the children remember the out-of-body portion of the death experience, and she seemed to, after she cried about that, realize that her parents had tried to save her.

After the cry, her daughter was fineand the phobia was gone. Bowmans daughter had had a terrible fear of their house burning down, and Bowman only found out after her daughter had a hysterical episode after seeing a movie with a big fire explosion at a friends house one night. It was then that her daughter disclosed this long-held fear, and the packed bag she kept under her bed in case she ever needed to flee.

Emotionally and literally, she was then able to unpack the bag stashed under her bed. It took 10 minutes for this whole process, and she was fine, Bowman said.

So are there opportunities for healing within these memories? Theres a reason why theyre coming up. And I think its because the soul wants to heal, Bowman said.

With children, there is no regression technique necessary. One only needs to be a good listener, Bowman added.

Ive found that in some cases, a child can have instantaneous healing of past life issues by just talking it through for a few minutes. In some cases, its more complicated, she said. Either way, the window for healing tends to be limited, because the memories fade.

A lot of kids will say, oh and then I came back, and Im now in a new body, and theyre very delighted to know that, she said. That is one of the things that parents can tell their child, that that was before, youre now safe, or give them whatever assurances they need, and youre safe in a new body.

That comes as a surprise to some of these kids, because theyre still on this continuum of consciousness, where they dont know the difference between something thats happened in their prior life, they perceive it as something thats just happened to them.

You have to help them realize they have moved on, using very simple language, and it can work wonders, she said.

A Very Hopeful Way of Seeing Things

These spontaneous recollections by young children seem to fall into their own category, Bowman has identified. Often, these souls seek resolution for trauma or unfinished business from their immediate past life.

In adults, and in other cases with children, there are cases of remembering even multiple past lives, sometimes of being around the world, or thousands of years ago.

We change, we can change culture, religion, genderwe experienced many things over millennia. I dont know how many, or what the averages of how many lifetimes we have. I think it varies from soul to soul, but we have many different experiences, Bowman said, And hopefully, it will give us some degree of acceptance of others, knowing that weve had lives and other culture, other skin color, and everything. So we are universal beings in that sense. And I know its made me more aware of whats the same in people rather than whats different.

Bowmans first realization that we are spiritual beings that live on after human life and death came years before her past life regression in therapy.

It was sunrise on the beach, and it just hit me, where I knew that we were all energy, and a part of us doesnt die, she said. It was a very profound moment, accompanied by some lightning on a clear sky, it was very dramatic.

There are a lot of cases out there, and for anyone whos open-minded, theres evidence in the cases. Give me another explanation that fits, thats as good as reincarnation. Theres something about consciousness surviving death, and even more than that, that this consciousness carries some kind of memory, or coding, or template, that informs our current lives, she said.

I think it can expand your awareness of other people, and what theyre going through, and maybe give us more empathy, she said. I think theres hope in this belief, and a sense of if we need to atone for anything, we have an opportunity. If we die conflicted, we can come back and make things right, or finished. So I think its a very hopeful way of seeing things.

With reporting from NTD News.
Soaring rent and a lack of affordable housing are taking a toll on those who earn less than the median income in Buffalo, according to human services officials who say Buffalo is in the midst of a "housing crisis."

But it's not just tenants at risk.

At the Buffalo Urban League, which provides foreclosure prevention assistance, the largest percentage of those the organization has seen so far this year are landlords in danger of losing their homes, said Edwin Jackson, the organization's director of housing and community development.

Housing Opportunities Made Equal works with tenants and landlords advising both about their rights and responsibilities under Fair Housing Law. Steven Haagsma, the organization's education manager, said many landlords who depend on rental income to pay their bills are struggling because tenants arent able to pay rent.

Nobodys winning," Haagsma said. "Theres no big, bad singular force thats profiting hugely from this. There are a lot of people on both sides of the aisle who are really struggling right now.

Jackson and Haagsma were among those at a panel discussion Thursday at Faith Tabernacle Church on Edison Street, sponsored by University Common Council Member Rasheed Wyatt regarding evictions, particularly in the 14215 ZIP code.

Residents are still recovering from the economic impact of Covid and cant make ends meet, the experts said. Evictions have become a problem, especially since the end of the state's Covid-related eviction moratorium, which expired January 2022.

One thing that I noticed that Ive been seeing: lots of evictions, said Michelle Scott, operations manager of 211 WNY.

But tenants are not necessarily being evicted for delinquent rent, she said.

The landlord wanted to take, claim back the property to rent it out elsewhere, probably raise the rent, she said. So were seeing rents increase, sometimes a 30% increase, in the cost of rent every month and from that we have an increased influx of homelessness.

Nico C. Soria sees the lack of affordable housing as a fundamental problem.

Its probably the biggest concern that I hear when Im representing a tenant, said Soria, assistant supervising attorney with Neighborhood Legal Services housing unit, which represents low-income residents in Buffalo City Court and five counties in Western New York.

He said the average rent has gone up in the area, up to about $1,400 for nonsubsidized units, which are the majority of the units available in the community.

"Thats far outside the capability for many of the people that we represent, Soria said.

For people earning 50% of the area's median income, theres about a 17,000 deficit of affordable housing units, he said. For those around 30% or below the median income, theres a 32,000-unit shortfall.

So when were dealing with the eviction crisis, were not only just dealing with those that are currently in the system itself, those who are proceeding through the court process, were dealing with nowhere for them to go once we get through the eviction process, Soria said.

Belmont Housing Resources for WNY receives phone calls and walk-ins from people looking for rental assistance and for emergency assistance, and there just isnt any, said Sandy Becker, the organization's senior housing program manager.

In the last three years, most rents have gone up anywhere from 20% to 30%, pricing out those people from the market, she said.

Jackson, of the Buffalo Urban League, said the housing crisis started before Covid and has become worse since the pandemic. Finding affordable places for people to live is difficult, he said.

I might be able to find somewhere for them, but the place is unaffordable, and they cannot get subsidizing for a few months with organizational funds, he said. Well, what happens when those funds run out and youre now in a place that is 11, 12 and $1,300 that you cant afford. Thats creating a worse situation because then that person has used up their assistance. There isnt any more for them. Now theyre really in places they are struggling.

Panelists and many of the 20 or so community members in attendance at Thursday's session talked about solutions, such as increasing fees and fines for bad landlords, rent control and strengthening laws to protect tenants.

When we look at this, we have to look at both sides of the aisle, said Ayat Nieves, a real estate agent and former property manager. "Not just, Oh, the landlords a bad guy. Theres some bad landlords. Hold them accountable. Enforce the laws. Educate tenants. Educate landlords about the housing rights and responsibilities.

Marie Cannon, commissioner of the Erie County Department of Social Services, said her agency will offer a rental assistance supplement program for people who are homeless. They will receive additional dollars to support the increased cost of rent, she said.

The agency also created a task force to develop a strategic, long-term housing policy that will make sense for everybody and to address the inequities in our community, she said.
More Than Half of Global Population Overweight or Obese by 2035: Report

This combination of file photos made in 2016 shows (from L) obese people in Los Angeles, Mexico City and Manchester. (Robyn Beck, Ronaldo Schemidt, Paul Ellis/AFP via Getty Images)

Fifty-one percent of the worlds people will be overweight or obese by 2035, with the most affected countries being in Asia and Africa, a new report estimates.

The World Obesity Federation report claims that overweight and obesity-related problems could cost $4.35 trillion annually by 2035 if prevention and support do not improve.

The report says its estimates will be realized if current trends continue.

Childhood obesity could more than double by 2035 from 2020 levels, the report says, adding that lower-income countries, all in Asia and Africa, will be hardest hit.

The report adds that 208 million boys and 175 million girls are expected to be obese by 2035.

One out of four people is predicted to be obese by 2035, compared with one out of seven today.

The report uses body mass index (BMI) for its assessments, a number calculated by dividing a persons weight in kilograms by their height in meters squared. In line with the World Health Organizations guidelines, a BMI score over 25 is overweight, and over 30 is obese.

Describing the data as a clear warning, Louise Baur, the federations president, said that policymakers needed to act now to prevent the situation from worsening.

It is particularly worrying to see obesity rates rising fastest among children and adolescents, she said in a statement.

Governments and policymakers around the world need to do all they can to avoid passing health, social and economic costs on to the younger generation.

The World Obesity Federation has a formal consultative status with the World Health Organization, according to its website.

The reports data will be presented to United Nations policymakers and member states next week.

American Obesity

In the United States, one of the major hurdles army recruiters now face is obesity, which has become a dominant health challenge for Americans. As of 2020, the prevalence of obesity in the adult population hit nearly 42 percent.

In addition, research shows that government food subsidies are a significant contributing factor.

One 2022 study found a link between receiving food assistance and a greater chance of becoming obese by consuming unhealthy foods. Thats especially true for participants in the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP).

Reuters and Autumn Spredemann contributed to this report.
Nebraska Governor Issues Order to Ban State Use of CCP Technology

Nebraska Gov. Jim Pillen on Thursday announced he issued an executive order to ban the state government and its contractors from using equipment and services produced by a list of companies linked to the Chinese Communist Party (CCP).

Pillen, a Republican, said in a statement the executive order will keep the CCP from using technology to infiltrate and influence Nebraskas infrastructure.

I will continue to find opportunities to improve Nebraskas infrastructure and technology grid while remaining vigilant in protecting our states security, he added.

The companies concerned are those listed on the Federal Communications Commissions (FCC) Covered Equipment or Services List that was first published in March 2021 as required by the Trusted Communications Networks Act of 2019, signed under the Trump administration. The list includes equipment or services deemed to pose an unacceptable risk to national security or the security and safety of U.S. citizens.

Companies on the list include Huawei Technologies, ZTE Corporation, Hytera Communications, Hangzhou Hikvision Digital Technology, and Dahua Technology, as well as their subsidiaries and affiliates.

The FCC in March 2022 added Chinas China Telecom (Americas) Corp. and China Mobile International USA to the list, and in September 2022 added China Unicom and Pacific Network/ComNet to the list.

Companies on the FCCs list are also unable to receive new equipment licenses, due to the Secure Equipment Act of 2021 President Joe Biden signed in November 2021. The FCC will no longer review or approve any authorization application for equipment to the companies on the covered list.

Each of these companies are owned or controlled by the Chinese Communist Party and are on the Federal Communications Commissions Covered List, which includes companies that are considered a risk to national security, Pillens office said in a release on Thursday.

The executive order (pdf) said the FCCs list is used to prohibit communications equipment deemed to pose an unacceptable risk to national security from being authorized for importation or sale in the United States.

It said that these communications equipment and services of the companies on the list, as well as their subsidiaries or affiliates, can be used to commit malicious cyber-enabled actions, including economic and industrial espionage, against Nebraska and its people.

The order took effect immediately upon its issuance on Feb. 22.

Many institutions in the United States continue to buy untrustworthy Chinese technology. According to a report from Georgetown Universitys Center for Security and Emerging Technology (CSET), published in October 2022, at least 1,681 state and local agencies purchased equipment between 2015 and 2021 that are prohibited under Section 889 of the 2019 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA).

The federal measure prohibits federal agencies from using equipment and services from the same five Chinese tech companies that were first flagged by the FCC on its list in March 2021.

According to the CSET report, at the time, only five statesFlorida, Georgia, Louisiana, Texas, and Vermonthave enacted measures to limit the procurement of foreign [information and communications technology and services] on national security grounds, and some of these existing policies contain loopholes that would allow untrustworthy technology to slip into government networks.

If the goal is to keep this untrustworthy foreign technology from entering our critical systems and networks more broadly, we need to have a more cohesive, nationwide approach that involves the federal government, as well as other levels of government and then private industry, Jack Corrigan, a research analyst at CSET and a co-author of the report, said on Jan. 18 at a webinar hosted by GCN, a media brand focused on public sector information technology.
Nevada Approves $330 Million in Tesla Tax Abatements Over Gigafactory Expansion

The new Tesla Gigafactory is seen during a media tour in Sparks, Nev., on July 26, 2016. (Rich Pedroncelli/AP Photo)

Tesla Inc. will receive more than $300 million in tax abatements over the next 20 years, a Nevada board approved on Thursday, commending the automakers investment in an existing manufacturing site in Storey County that is projected to create thousands of jobs.

In a statement on Mar. 2, Nevada Gov. Joe Lombardo announced the tax deal, which was approved by board members of the Governors Office of Economic Development (GOED), who praised the company for offering good-paying jobs and a nearly decade-long boost to the local economy around Teslas Nevada Gigafactory.

Tesla has far exceeded every promise they made going back to 2014, said Lombardo, who chairs the GOED board. To date, they have invested $6.2 billion in Nevada, built a 5.4 million square foot Gigafactory, which provided 17,000 local construction jobs and created more than 11,000 highly paid permanent jobs.

Nevada is honored to be the home of Teslas Gigafactory. Since 2014, @Tesla has invested $6.2 billion in our state and Teslas new $3.6 billion investment is going to continue to bring unparalleled innovation and economic growth to Nevada!#TheNevadaWay pic.twitter.com/okO6JN48EJ  Governor Joe Lombardo (@JosephMLombardo) March 3, 2023

The new tax deal comes after Tesla announced in January that it will make a $3.6 billion capital investment at the site in Storey County. The investment includes an expansion to its existing facility, which is projected to create 3,000 new jobs at an average hourly rate of $33.49.

Tesla plans to add four million square feet of production space at the site, which will include two new factories at the Truckee-Reno Industrial Center, about 20 miles east of Reno-Sparks along Interstate 80.

The new projects will create an estimated 9,275 construction jobs and 5,858 additional indirect and induced jobs through 2027, the GOED board stated. This level of construction activity could result in a one-time economic impact of $2.8 billion over the next six years. The Tesla expansion could create an annual economic impact estimated at $2.2 billion or $38 billion over the next 20 years.

One of the new plants will have the capacity to produce batteries for 1.5 million light-duty vehicles a year, Tesla said. The other will have the companys first production line for electric combination trucks. Tesla CEO Elon Musk has said the goal is a battery range of 500 miles when pulling an 82,000-pound load.

The Tesla Semi is on display at the Tesla Giga Texas manufacturing facility during the Cyber Rodeo grand opening party in Austin, Texas, on April 7, 2022. (Suzanne Cordeiro/AFP via Getty Images)

Members of the GOED board said the companys investment could generate an estimated $685 million in net state and local revenues over the next 20 years, assuming the company uses the $3.6 billion to invest in land, buildings, and equipment.

Assuming a capital investment of $3.6 billion in land, buildings, and equipment, the company could generate an estimated $21.8 million in gross average annual property tax revenues, $11.2 million in gross average annual sales taxes, $1.1 million in average annual business license taxes on utilities, and $2.1 million in gross average annual modified business taxes over 20 years, the board calculated.

The board also revealed that Tesla will start paying an annual minimum of $53 million in real and personal property taxes and modified business taxes related to Giga Nevada starting in July 2024, and in perpetuity thereafter, in relation to an initial $1.3 billion tax abatement deal that was agreed upon in 2014.

Tom Burns, executive director of GOED, said in a statement that Teslas Gigafactory has propelled the state manufacturing industry and established lithium-ion batteries as the states eighth-largest export.

Since the inception of GOED, the main goal has been to diversify Nevadas economy, said Burns. The Nevada-Tesla partnership cemented a new economic sector in Nevada for the manufacturing of electric vehicle battery packs and drive units, and energy storage products.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

From NTD News.
Florida Bill Would Force Democrats to Rename Party Over Past Support of Slavery

A view of the historic Old Florida State Capitol building, which sits in front of the current New Capitol, in Tallahassee, Florida, on Nov. 10, 2018. (Mark Wallheiser/Getty Images)

Republican Sen. Blaise Ingoglia has introduced a bill in the Florida Senate that would require any existing political party that supported slavery in its official party platform to reregister under a new name.

The legislation, filed on Feb. 28, 2023, does not mention any party by name but it is obviously directed at the Democratic Party because of its long history of enshrining the right to own slaves as personal property in its platform during the 1800s.

The bill requires that the new name must be substantially different from the partys existing name.

The measure titled the Ultimate Cancel Act (SB 1248) would also mandate the Florida State Division of Elections to cancel the partys registration filings and documentation, including the voter registration of nearly five million Florida Democrats.

Voters Can Reregister

The Division of Elections must also provide notice of the partys cancelation to every Floridian currently registered as a Democrat.

Under the terms of the bill, the voters designation as a Democrat would automatically be switched to No Party Affiliation and a simple procedure would be made available to the voter to reregister with the renamed party or any other active political party of his or her choice.

Officials of the canceled party would be able to continue in their positions in the renamed party.

A filing of reregistration must be submitted to the Division of Elections no later than six months before any election in which the political party seeking to reregister wants to nominate candidates for public office.

If passed by a simple majority vote of both houses of the legislature and signed by the governor, the law would take effect on July 1, 2023.

Voters in the rural North Florida town of LaCrossewith a population of about 300line up outside the town hall to cast ballots just after polls opened on Nov. 8, 2022. (Nanette Holt/The Epoch Times)

The Republican Party has comfortable majorities in the State Senate and House of Representatives.

The Florida Democratic Party was quick to respond to Ingoglias proposal with a statement ridiculing the idea saying, Presenting a bill that would disenfranchise 5 million voters is both unconstitutional and unserious.

In their statement, the Democrats called the proposal a publicity stunt, and urged Republican Governor Ron DeSantis and his party to concentrate their attention on reforming property insurance, addressing housing affordability, and combating climate change.

The sooner DeSantis and his puppets in the legislature learn that Florida is a Democratic Republic and not a Banana Republic, the better off it will be for all Floridians, they said.

In a press conference, the chairperson of the Florida Democratic Party, Nikki Freid, continued to zero in on DeSantis, describing the bill as the actions of a dictator.

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis speaks after being sworn in to begin his second term during an inauguration ceremony outside the Old Capitol in Tallahassee, Fla. on Jan. 3, 2023. (AP Photo/Lynne Sladky)

Ingoglia, who was elected to the Florida State Senate in 2022 after serving eight years in the State House of Representatives, told reporters that he authored the legislation himself and doubted DeSantis was aware of its recent filing.

The Florida Legislature is presently not in session and wont be until March 14.

In a press release, Ingoglia defended his bill as a fitting response to left-wing activists for their years of canceling individuals and businesses for things they have said and done in the past.

He said it was hypocritical for Democrats to be defacing and removing statues and renaming buildings that have any connection with slavery.

The hardball, hyper-partisan, atmosphere of Florida politics was further illustrated by recent online remarks by Chairman Chris Ziegler of the Republican Party of Florida.

Ziegler posted on social media, I believe we need to keep every Democrat out of office until they stop pushing socialism, the defunding of the police, open borders, and targeting my children with indoctrination, woke concepts, and sexual content.

The Governors Office did not respond to a request for comment by press time.
Nigerias Election of Bola Tinubu: Military Coups Have Been Better Received

Commentary

Nigerias 2023 presidential election statistically and overwhelmingly failed to represent the majority of Nigerian citizenslet alone votersand instead, delivered a new All-Progressives Alliance President in Bola Ahmed Tinubu.

The incoming President, who showed numerous examples during the campaign that he was severely health-challenged, is now expected to deliver four more years of the policies of the failed, highly-corrupt, outgoing Muhammadu Buhari All-Progressives Congress (APC) administration.

The APC team of Bola Tinubu and running mate Kashin Shettima was declared the winner of the Feb. 25, 2023, presidential election on March 1, 2023, despite having polled only 36.61 percent of the votes, and carrying only 12one-thirdof the 36 states, plus the Federal Capital Territory of Nigeria.

This ends the dream of Nigerians who had hoped for an end to the unremitting economic and security decline of the country over the past eight years. And it ends the hope that Nigeria would lead a continent-wide pattern of economic growth and stability. There are clear reasons why the system failed, but the immediate consequences should be expected to include protests, continued unrest and irregular warfare, and economic slippage on an increased scale.

The decline in foreign direct investment (FDI) in Nigeria over the past eight Buhari years was already profound. It is not likely to improve in the coming four years. FDI went from a high of $8.48 billion in 2011 to a low of $780 million in 2018, and rose marginally to $3.31 billion in 2021, but as a percentage of the gross domestic product (GDP) hovers around the 0.75 percent level. Moroccos percentage of GDP reflected in FDI in 2021, for example, was 1.5 percent, which is double that of Nigeria.

At this stage, as goes Nigeria, so goes much of Africa, given that most African states are in fairly depressed economic straits, and were looking to Nigeria, as the continents largest economy, to lead a revival.

Based on Nigerian public response to the results of the presidential electionas well as the statistics of the pollit is fair to say that most military coups in the country have been received more favorably than the March 1, 2023, announcement that former Lagos Governor (19992004) Tinubu had been declared President-elect.

In short, and regardless of any positive intentions President-elect Tinubu might have, the election statistics show that the new Administration does not have a mandate to govern, nor, in fact, does it have a clear strategy for the country.

People enter Teslim Balogun Stadium during a rally for the All Progressives Congress (APC) presidential candidate Bola Ahmed Tinubu in Lagos on Feb. 21, 2023 ahead of the Nigerian presidential election scheduled for Feb. 25, 2023. (Patrick Meinhardt/AFP via Getty Images)

Allegations of election mismanagement, fraud, and voter and official intimidation aside (and there have been numerous examples of all of these during and since the polling), the voter turnout itselfabout a quarter of registered voterswas unrepresentative of Nigerias 212-million population, however legal it was. Added to that was the reality that the governmental structure put in place after the collapse of the military government of Gen. Sani Abacha in 1998 did not account for the very different set of circumstances that arose in the 2023 election.

Gen. Abacha died of a heart attack on June 8, 1998, at the age of 54, enabling a transition back to democratic governance, but it was not a governmental form that replicated the pre-military structure. It moved to a situation that replicated the U.S. structure, dominated by only two parties.

In addition, voter turnout was very low. Only 26.71 percent of the 93,469,008 registered voters showed up, which was 8.04 percent lower than the lackluster 2019 voter turnout. As a result, President-elect Tinubu, the former Governor of Lagos State, failed to win a mandate to govern, considering that 63.39 percentessentially two-thirdsof those who bothered to vote did so in protest against the APC, which had governed Nigeria for the past eight years.

The election, then, far from unifying Nigeria after eight years of increasingly poor economic and security performance and widespread factionalism, only served to create additional challenges. The two major parties that contested the election against the APC slate were the national Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and the essentially regional new Labour Party. The PDP Presidential candidate, Atiku Abubakar, also carried 12 states and took 29.07 percent of the vote, while Labours Peter Obi took 11 states plus the Federal Capital Territory, and 25.4 percent of the votes.

Part of the problem lay in the fact that the 1999 Constitution, which created the (current) Fourth Republic, only demanded that the winning candidate receive a plurality of the vote, not a majority (more than 50 percent) of the votes cast. As well, the winning candidate must poll more than 25 percent of the votes cast in at least 24 of the 36 Nigerian states, plus the Federal Capital Territory (FCT). But in this election, essentially for the first time in the Fourth Republic, a third party developed into a major contender, splitting the vote, and a fourth major regional contender emerged to take a considerable further portion of the votes.

Placards are displayed on a vehicle as a group of people protest the outcome of the 2023 presidential election and the emergence of the candidate of All Progressives Congress (APC) Bola Tinubu as the president-elect, in Abuja, Nigeria, on March 1, 2023. (Kola Sulaimon/AFP via Getty Images)

It could be argued that this situation was not the fault of the winner, Bola Tinubu, and merely the result of a weakness in the Constitution. However, there is emerging evidence that the fourth major party (of 18 parties in total) that contested the Presidency, was a straw man, specifically designed to take votes from Tinubus primary challenger, Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) candidate Atiku Abubakar, a former Vice-President of Nigeria.

The fourth candidate was former Senator and Kano (APC) State Governor Mohammed Rabiu Musa Kwankwasoa Fulani, like outgoing Pres. Buhariunder the banner of the New Nigeria Peoples Party (NNPC). Kwankwaso carried only one statehis own, Kanotaking 1,496,687 votes (6.23 percent of the vote), in the full knowledge that he could not win the presidency. He and the NNPP did not have a national organization. Significantly, had he not run in the election, most of his votes would have gone to Atiku as he overwhelmingly dominated the northern states, where Kano is located. This, even without the surprise growth of the Labour vote candidate Peter Obi, would have made the race more level between the two major candidates.

There is widespread speculation that the incumbent President, Muhammadu Buhari, and the APC leadership, pushed Kwankwaso to become a straw man contender to take votes away from Atiku. That speculation has been reinforced by reports from within the Kano elite, and coupled with the fact that Kwankwaso was formerly the APCs Governor of Kano. He had, in fact, been the states governor twice, from 1999 to 2003 and again from 2011 to 2015. The first time, he was under the PDP banner, but when the APC was formed in 2013, he switched allegiance to that party.

The role of Peter Obi is also significant. He decided to contest the Presidency on his own when his bid to win the PDP nomination was defeated. Obi essentially then shopped around for another political party to use as his vehicle for a separate run for the Presidency. He was articulate and charismatic, and, importantly, younger than the other candidates, and thus appealed to the younger voter. This worked well up to a point, but essentially carried only the urban youth outside the North.

What defied the pundits was the fact that although the Independent National Election Commission had campaigned hard to sign up young people for their permanent voter cards (PVC), they did not turn out to vote. It was thought that this would be a critical voting group, given that Nigeria has one of the youngest average-age populations in the world; the median age is 17.

But it was Obis ego-fueled racegiven that his chances of winning the national vote with a small regional party were improbably smallthat turned the tide. His campaign was exceptionally well-run, and his rhetoric motivated crowds; but that was never going to be enough. It was strikingly reminiscent of the 1992 race for the U.S. presidency by businessman Ross Perot, who, like Obi, built a campaign cadre of passionate supporters. They could, however, only pull voters away from the two major-party contenders.

In that 1992 U.S. race, Perot won 19.7 million votes, and, given Perots basic conservative approach, took votes away from Pres. George H. W. Bushs attempts at re-election. Bush, as a result, polled 39.1-million votes, leaving Democratic Party contender Bill Clinton with 44.9 million. Without Perots titanic ego in challenging, with no real hope of winning, Bush would have been re-elected. Likewise, without Obi and Kwankwaso, Atiku would have won the election.

But that cannot be laid at the door, directly, of Tinubu. He won under the rules. But the fact that the rules enabled him to win when roughly two-thirds of the electorate voted very specifically against the APC/Tinubu agenda, augurs badly for Nigerias immediate future. Atiku and Obi offered credible visions for Nigerias improved future, and Atiku certainly had the detailed plan and long national experience to create a vibrant new Nigerian situation. Now, the prospect exists that a barely-articulate Pres. Tinubu will do little to strengthen Nigerias voice in African and world affairs.

So it is anticipated that the malaise in Nigerian governance will continue into the coming few years. And where in Africa, then, is the prospect of breaking the economic pall? Certainly, Morocco offers stability and economic/political dynamism; but the rest of Africa faces ongoing stress without the prospect of relief. That particularly applies to the other three major contenders: South Africa, Egypt, and Ethiopia.

Views expressed in this article are the opinions of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of The Epoch Times.
Nikki Haley Makes Appeal to MAGA Crowd at CPAC

Republican presidential candidate Nikki Haley speaks during a campaign event in the New Hampshire Institute of Politics at Saint Anselm College, in Manchester, N.H., on Feb. 17, 2023. (Michael M. Santiago/Getty Images)

Nikki Haley, who announced her run for the 2024 GOP presidential nomination last month, on March 3 addressed the annual Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC), which over the past several years has been a forum for the Make America Great Again (MAGA) movement led by former President Donald Trump, under whom Haley served as U.S. ambassador to the United Nations and who is running again.

About six in 10 Republicans identify more with the party than with Trump, according to an NBC News poll released in December. Nonetheless, the MAGA coalition of the GOP is a significant plurality and, lately, Trump leads in numerous polls. Therefore, Haley, a conservative who has both praised and criticized the populist Trump, had to appeal to the MAGA constituency.

And she came out swinging.

Throughout her speech, Haley fed the crowd red meat, starting with going after the left-wing media.

In case you didnt notice, the liberal medias heads are exploding about my run for president. And we all know why, she said. The media cant stand the fact that Im a conservative.

Think about it. Im a woman, Im a minority, and Im the daughter of immigrants. I am proof that liberals are wrong about everything they say about America!

Referring to old guard politicians as that crowd, she went after President Joe Bidens age, which is 80. Haley reiterated her call for politicians over the age of 75 to take mental competency tests. She called out Biden by name but did not do the same toward Trump in what appeared to be a pivot toward making age an issue when it comes to Democrats but not the 76-year-old former president.

When I launched my campaign, I said every politician over 75 years old should be required to take a mental competency test, she said. Have you seen DC lately?

Then, it was back to going after the media, namely CNN co-anchor Don Lemon.

Now Don Lemon  he claimed Im not in my prime.

To anyone who thinks that, I say Hold my beer, she said, eliciting laughter and applause.

Im 51. Thats younger than Don Lemon. Its also younger than Hunter Biden. And 30 years younger than Joe Biden.

Lemon is 57 and Hunter Biden is 53.

But Don says women have to be in their 20s or 30s to be in their prime, Haley said. And the left say were sexist?

Returning to her pledge of having mental competency tests, she expanded the requirement to judges and, in an apparent reference to herself, said she wouldnt even mind if the age requirement were lowered to 50.

Throughout her speech, Haley, the daughter of immigrants, touched upon socialism and countering wokeism, and the notion that America is a racist nation. She also mentioned other issues of interest to MAGA supporters including combating China and illegal immigration, standing with law enforcement, and protecting the integrity of U.S. elections.

Haley announced she would not allow U.S. taxpayer money to go to universities that receive money from China.

She was careful, however, not to alienate key constituencies such as suburbanites, who have increasingly voted Democrat in recent years, and she touched upon issues that are not front and center in the MAGA movement including the $31 trillion, and growing, national debt and earmarks.

She confronted the isolationism in that GOP branch by saying, A strong military doesnt start wars. A strong military prevents wars.

All in all, Haley got a positive reception. There was no wild cheering, but neither was there widespread booing, according to someone in the audience. Following her speech, a cluster of people, including young women, wanted to have their pictures taken with the candidate. Haley obliged them by coming off the stage.

Whether Haleys words to the MAGA crowd make a difference is to be determined. But her missiongoing to CPAC and then the Trump-critical Club for Growths donor retreat is clear: Make her coalition as broad as possible so she can win the Republican nomination and send Biden packing.
Norfolk Southern CEO a No-Show at East Palestine Town Hall, Angering Residents

Members of the community gather to discuss their safety and other environmental concerns at a town hall meeting following a train derailment that spilled toxic chemicals in East Palestine, Ohio, on Feb. 15, 2023. (Alan Freed/Reuters)

Residents of East Palestine, Ohio, were left visibly angered on Thursday when Norfolk Southern CEO Alan Shaw failed to make an appearance at a town hall meeting to discuss the February derailment of a train carrying hazardous materials.

Shaw, who was widely criticized for failing to show up at an earlier town meeting two weeks after the derailment, had met with local officials and some railroad employees last month, according to a press release from the rail company.

He is also set to testify about the derailment in Congress next week.

However, Thursdays meeting instead saw a lone representative for the train operator left to answer questions from residents who are growing increasingly frustrated at the companys recovery efforts amid concerns over the long-term health implications of the derailment on Feb. 3.

Wheres Alan? one individual yelled during Thursdays meeting, The New York Times reported. Another resident reportedly handed out T-shirts mocking the company, which had been rebranded as Nofolk sufferin and the logo of a horse had been replaced with a broken train.

As residents voiced their concerns over the future of East Palestine, Darrell Wilson, an official with Norfolk Southern, repeatedly apologized to the community, adding that the train operator feels horrible about the derailment, but his apologies were met with more anger from locals.

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)

Get My Grandchildren Out of Here

This has touched my family, this has touched my friends, this has touched my farm, this has touched my animals, this has touched my finances, and this has touched my home, one woman said. And it will touch me to the cellular level when I get diagnosed with cancer or ALS or whatever is going to come down the road if I stay in this contaminated, toxic town, and you all know it.

Evacuate us! a resident shouted.

Get my grandchildren out of here! another man yelled. If you care about us, get our grandkids out.

News 5 Cleveland published a video of full the meeting online.

About 38 rail cars on the Norfolk Southern Railroad train carrying hazardous materials including vinyl chloride, which can cause a rare form of liver cancer after long-term exposure, derailed last month.

The decision to perform a controlled burn of the chemicals has further exacerbated concerns among the town of roughly 4,700 people, who have since reported health issues such as rashes and a burning sensation in their lungs and eyes. Some claim to have been diagnosed with bronchitis associated with exposure to chemicals since the incident.

Health officials, including the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), say that testing shows the air and drinking water in the area are safe.

Thursdays meeting came just a day after a rail union representative said that workers who helped clean up the wreckage of the train derailment have been suffering from health issues such as migraines and nausea.

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)

Railway Workers Suffer Health Issues

Jonathan Long, a Norfolk Southern (NS) Railway employee for nearly 30 years and the general chairman of the unionthe American Rail System Federation of the Brotherhood of Maintenance of Way Employees Division of the International Brotherhood of Teamsters (BMWED)made the claim in a letter to Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine on March 1.

While the world was learning about the horrors occurring in East Palestine on television, NS officials assessed the damages and carried out their plans for rebuilding their track structure so that they could get trains moving again, Long wrote.

The union representative went on to claim that the workers had not been offered or provided with appropriate personal protective equipment by Norfolk Southern, including respirators that are designed to allow them to safely work around vinyl chloride, and protective clothing such as rubber gloves.

When some of the NS Workers inquired about the appropriateness of their personal protective equipment [PPE] and the safety of their working conditions, they would receive little or no response from NS officials, Long said.

Long added that many workers had since reported suffering from nausea and migraines and that they all suspect that they were willingly exposed to these chemicals at the direction of NS.

A Norfolk Southern representative told The Epoch Times in an emailed statement the company was on-scene immediately after the derailment and coordinated our response with hazardous material professionals who were on site continuously to ensure the work area was safe to enter and the required PPE was utilized, all in addition to air monitoring that was established within an hour.
Former high-profile lawyer Alex Murdaugh was sentenced to life in prison on March 3 for the murders of his wife and son after a jury declared him guilty on March 2.

President Joe Bidens doctor said that a lesion removed from the presidents chest last month was basal cell carcinoma, a common type of skin cancer.

The Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC)Americas largest gathering of conservativesis meeting in Washington, D.C. However, two prominent conservatives who may run for president in 2024 declined their invitations.

Attorney General Merrick Garland is the latest Biden administration official to make a surprise visit to Ukraine. Meanwhile, the United States announced an additional $400 million in military aid to the country.
A 12-person jury declared Alex Murdaugh guilty of murdering his wife and son. Find out what compelled their unanimous decision to convict him.

The Justice Department argued against former President Donald Trump having absolute immunity from civil lawsuits in connection with the Jan. 6, 2021 Capitol breach. This comes as Democrats push back against House Speaker Kevin McCarthy giving Fox News access to several hours of footage of the events.

South Dakota moves to ban ballot drop boxes in elections. A bill that aims to clean up absentee voting laws has already been passed in the States House and Senate. We have the details.

Topics in this episode include:

1. Alex Murdaugh Found Guilty of Killing Wife and Son

2. Democrats: Mccarthy Irresponsible for Handing Over Jan. 6 Footage

3. South Dakota to Ban Unmonitored Ballot Drop Boxes

4. Conservatives Share Thoughts at CPAC 2023

5. Walgreens Wont Sell Abortion Pill By Mail in 20 States

6. Tornadoes in Texas and Louisiana

7. US-S. Korea to Conduct Largest Combined Drills in Years

8. Nebraska Governor Bans State Use of CCP Technology

9. Canada to Probe Alleged CCP Meddling in Elections

10. Blaze Breaks Out in Hong Kong Skyscraper

11. Candy Shop Owners Act of Kindness

12. Noseprint ID for Dogs Could Mean No More Microchipping
Oceanic Administrations Fisheries Expert Raised Red Flags About Offshore Turbines

Warnings in 2022 letter ignored as work proceeds despite risks to endangered whales

A critical letter from a fisheries expert in May 2022 raised serious red flags about the siting of offshore wind turbines in southern New England waters.

Authored by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) Fisheries Chief of Protected Species Dr. Sean Hayes, the letter revealed the risks that offshore wind farms pose to the marine environment, emphasizing the threat to highly endangered right whales.

Right whales are one of the most endangered marine mammals, with fewer than 350 animals remaining in the population, Hayes states in the letter. Right whale distribution in the southern New England region occurs in and adjacent to offshore wind energy leases.

The letter came to light as dozens of whales have washed ashore along the mid-Atlantic seaboard in the past three months, the most recent in New Jersey on March 2.

Many are concerned that offshore wind projects are to blame, alleging that noise from the sonar used to map the ocean floor is confusing the whales and leading them to strand.

NOAA says the strandings are not unusual.

It has reportedly documented a high number of deaths of humpbacks, North Atlantic right whales, and minke whales dating back to 2016 in what it calls an unusual mortality event.

Officials deny that offshore wind development is a contributing factor.

At this point, there is no evidence to support speculation that noise resulting from wind development-related site characterization surveys could potentially cause mortality of whales, NOAA officials said in a public statement in February.

But that contradicts the Hayes letter, which was written in May 2022.

The development of offshore wind poses risks to these species  the letter states.

These risks occur at varying stages, including construction and development, and include increased noise, vessel traffic, habitat modifications, water withdrawals associated with certain substations and resultant impingement/entrainment of zooplankton, changes in fishing effort and related potential increased entanglement risk, and oceanographic changes that may disrupt the distribution, abundance, and availability of typical right whale food.

Opponents who were already skeptical were not surprised.

The letter from Sean Hayes [proves] that NOAA, Orstead, and Atlantic Shores [the wind development companies] knew that there was a problem but they didnt tell anybody, New Jersey Congressman Jeff van Drew told The Epoch Times. They lied and said there was no problem.

Three Republican congressmen and more than a dozen mayors whose coastal districts are near offshore wind energy sites are calling on the Biden administration to suspend offshore wind projects until a thorough investigation rules them out as the cause.

Scathing Report

Sent to Brian Hooker, lead scientist at the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) in May 2022, the letter only became public in November 2022.

Van Drew contends that the letter was intentionally suppressed so that offshore wind development could continue along the Atlantic seaboard.

It only became public after a journalist obtained it using the Freedom of Information Act, he said. I can see why. Theres nothing in that letter to be proud of.

According to the letter, the impact on marine life will persist for the lifetime of offshore wind infrastructure.

Unlike vessel traffic and noise, which can be mitigated to some extent, oceanographic impacts from installed and operating turbines cannot be mitigated for the 30-year lifespan of the project, unless they are decommissioned.

The letter has galvanized those opposed to what Van Drew calls the industrialization of the ocean along the eastern seaboard.

Whales and Wind

The unknown impacts of these offshore wind projects raise serious concerns, especially with whales washing ashore near where surveying is now taking place, Van Drew said.

He describes the whales as the proverbial canary in the coal mine.

Their deaths alert us to how offshore wind will harm not just whales, but all kinds of marine life and water quality, as well as hurting the tourism and fishing industries he added.

The scale and speed of these fast-tracked offshore wind developmentswith thousands of turbines slated to be installedcall into question whether due diligence was done to investigate their effect on the environment, fisheries, tourism, and other critical factors that make our Jersey Shore the unique treasure that it is, said Rep. Chris Smith (R-N.J.), speaking at a Save the Whales rally in Point Pleasant Beach, New Jersey, on Feb. 26.

The fact that these whale deaths are occurring concurrently with the ongoing sound surveys and the underwater noise generated by acoustic vesselseven before construction and pile driving begincannot be ignored, Smith said.

Smith noted that he is speaking with his colleagues in Congress to advance his bill requiring an investigation into the environmental review process for offshore wind projects.

BOEM has leased more than 1.7 million acres to offshore wind developers across the North Atlantic, with 1.7 million more planned in the Central Atlantic.

As Vice-Chairman of the Transportation and Infrastructure Committee, Van Drew plans to convene hearings on the matter in the coming weeks with the goal to place a moratorium on all existing projects and prohibit all future projects.

We need to slow these developments down until we can carefully investigate to make sure they dont cause more harm, he said.
An Amherst man charged in the attack on a police officer amid the Jan. 6 storming of the Capitol in Washington, D.C., pleaded guilty Friday to assaulting and robbing the officer of his police badge and radio.

Thomas Sibick, who initially faced 10 counts when indicted in April 2021, admitted to three charges in federal court in Washington: two counts of theft and a single count of assaulting, resisting or impeding an officer.

The assault charge carries a maximum prison sentence of eight years. His sentencing date was set for July 28.

Prosecutors have said Sibick "enthusiastically participated" in the violent mob attack at the Capitol and then bragged about it on social media, noting a photo he posted of himself holding a riot shield "like a trophy."

A video taken during the Capitol attack shows him screaming into his camera, Just got tear-gassed, but were going, baby, were going! Were pushing forward now!

Buffalo man charged in attack on Capitol officer, says he buried cop's badge in backyard Thomas Sibick, who was identified via the officer's body cam footage, is the second arrest of a Western New Yorker allegedly involved in the Capitol riots.

Sibick, 37, was charged with assaulting Washington, D.C., Metropolitan Police Officer Michael Fanone, who was dragged down Capitol steps into the mob of rioters. Fanone suffered a minor heart attack and a traumatic brain injury in the attack. He later resigned from the police force.

In interviews with federal agents, Sibick admitted to taking Fanone's badge and radio, burying the badge in his backyard, and then lying about it, according to previous court filings.

Facing serious punishment

Sibick faced the most serious charges among the seven Western New Yorkers charged in the riot, most of whom were sentenced to probation and home detention for their misdemeanor convictions. Sibick likely faces significant prison time for his role in one of the most chilling acts of violence during the Capitol attack.

He faces anywhere from 33 to 71 months in prison, depending on whether U.S. District Judge Amy Berman Jackson follows the estimated sentencing guidelines in the plea agreement and how she rules on aggravating and mitigating factors.

Amherst man who 'eagerly and tenaciously' participated in Capitol attack now called 'scared' Prosecutors say Thomas Sibick "enthusiastically participated" in the violent mob attack at the Capitol and then bragged about it on social media.

Jackson has already sentenced Kyle Young of Iowa and Albuquerque Cosper Head of Tennessee to more than seven years in prison for attacking the former D.C. officer.

Of the 15 Capitol defendants who have been sentenced so far for the same assault charge that Sibick admitted, nine received sentences of three years or more, and five of them were sentenced to five years or longer in prison, according to a Buffalo News review of Capitol riot cases. Most of the remaining defendants were sentenced to one to two years in prison.

Sibick's initial enthusiasm for what happened when thousands of people swarmed around and in the Capitol, with some attacking and injuring police officers, waned during his months in a Washington jail before his pre-trial release.

In a letter to the judge in October 2021, Sibick wrote that he was "consumed by the mob mentality."

"January 6th was a disgrace to our nation that left a scar Trump is ultimately responsible for, but we are strong and will heal from it," Sibick wrote to her requesting to be released from the D.C. jail. "While many praise Trump I loathe him."

Jailed Capitol rioter from Amherst now says he loathes Trump: 'January 6th was a disgrace' An Amherst man charged in the attack on an officer amid the Jan. 6 storming of the Capitol called his conduct "unequivocally an aberration" and that he was "consumed by the mob mentality."

Jackson released him in October 2021 into the custody of his father, with home-confinement restrictions.

What he told the FBI

On Jan. 21, 2021, two weeks after the riot, FBI agents in Buffalo interviewed a witness who provided a video of the riot that Sibick posted to his Instagram account.

About a week later, on Jan. 27, agents interviewed another witness who provided a photograph seen on Sibick's Facebook page depicting him with a U.S. Capitol Police shield.

Surveillance footage from Jan. 6 showed that around 3:08 p.m., Sibick moved to the mouth of the tunnel on the lower west terrace that led inside the Capitol building. At that time, a group of U.S. Capitol Police and Metropolitan Police officers had formed a police line at that entrance to the Capitol to prevent the mob from entering the building. Sibick entered inside the tunnel, then moved forward to the police line until he was no longer visible on camera. Around 3:11 p.m., Sibick turned around and moved outside the tunnel.

Lawyer: Amherst man charged in Capitol attack 'accidentally' ended up with beaten officer's badge and radio A video recording not yet shown to any court "seriously undercuts" the governments case that Michael Sibick intentionally assaulted and robbed a police officer of his police badge and radio amid the Jan. 6 storming of the Capitol in Washington, D.C., his defense lawyer said.

When FBI agents first interviewed Sibick on Jan. 27, he lied about his role during the attack on the police officer, according to previous court filings.

A March 2021 affidavit from a special agent with the Department of Homeland Security provided details of Sibick's early accounts of his actions.

Sibick said he saw Fanone being pulled down the steps and hit with a flagpole, and that at least two other people were beating the officer and attempting to get his gun.

Sibick told the agents he attempted to reach the officer to pull him away but was unable to get to him, and he feared for his own life. Sibick said he decided to leave because of the violence.

When shown the photograph of him holding the riot shield, Sibick said that the shield had been passed through the crowd and he asked a man next to him to take his picture with it.

On Feb. 2, 2021, about a week after that first FBI interview, Sibick contacted one of the FBI agents who had previously interviewed him and said he had been thinking about those who assaulted the police officer and that he was going to email the agent with more information. When asked if he had anything different to add to his previous interview, Sibick said no. When the agent asked Sibick if he had participated or was involved in any way in the assault of the D.C. police officer, Sibick replied no and reiterated that he had tried to pull the officer away, but was unsuccessful.

Then came the next FBI interview on Feb. 23, 2021, and agents showed Sibick still shots from Fanone's body-worn camera. Sibick then admitted to grabbing the officers badge and radio. Sibick told the agents he had reached in to try to help the officer, and that he remembered the badge coming off as he reached for him.

Sibick told the agents that he carried both items with him when he left and dropped them in a trash can on Constitution Avenue. Later in the interview, Sibick said he needed to recant his statement and that he brought the items to his hotel room and then back to his home in Buffalo.

Sibick said that the day after he returned to Buffalo, he was planning to turn the items in to the FBI. However, he was afraid of being arrested and instead threw them in a dumpster on North Street in Buffalo, in the back alleyway of the Lenox Hotel.

On Feb. 25, an agent sent Sibick a ruse email saying that the security cameras at the Lenox Hotel were going to be checked to confirm his statement that he threw the badge and radio in the dumpster. The next day, Sibick called the agent saying he was distraught and wanted to do the right thing. Sibick said he had buried the badge in his backyard.

Sibick said he threw away the $5,500 police radio, however.

Later that night, Sibick met the agent and gave him a bag containing mud and Fanone's badge.
Oil Leak From Sunken Philippine Tanker Prompts Swimming Bans

A coast guard personnel collects water samples from an oil spill in the waters off Naujan, Oriental Mindoro, central Philippines, on March 2, 2023. (Philippine Coast Guard via AP)

Oil leaking from a Philippine tanker that sank southwest of the capital has prompted at least seven coastal towns to ban fishing and swimming as authorities scramble to contain the spill, officials said Thursday.

The MT Princess Empress, which was carrying 20 crewmembers and a cargo of about 800,000 liters (210,000 gallons) of industrial fuel oil, sank Tuesday at Balingawan point off Naujan town in Oriental Mindoro province after its engine overheated while traveling to central Iloilo province, the Philippine coast guard said.

A passing foreign cargo ship rescued the crew and took them to shore, coast guard officials said.

The oil spill affected a stretch of sea about 6 kilometers (3.7 miles) long and 4 kilometers (2.5 miles) wide off Naujan town by Wednesday, according to the coast guard.

A provincial disaster response officer, Vincent Gahol, said by telephone that the spill had spread from Naujan to six other southern towns, where swimming and fishing up to 5 kilometers (3 miles) from the coast have been indefinitely banned.

A coast guard personnel collects water samples from an oil spill in the waters off Naujan, Oriental Mindoro, central Philippines, on March 2, 2023. (Philippine Coast Guard via AP)

Dozens of beach resorts line the affected towns, and 14 government-protected marine areas, which are off-limits to fishing to encourage spawning, were also under threat, he said.

The oil spill has reached the shoreline, Gahol said, adding that residents of some villages have complained of a foul smell from the spilled oil. These are not just traces. People are getting pails of black and sticky sludge in some places.

Seawater samples taken by authorities were contaminated by industrial fuel oil, which the tanker was transporting as cargo, indicating it is leaking in addition to the engine fuel used to run the vessel, the coast guard said. It said it was difficult to estimate how much of the oil had leaked.

It would be difficult for authorities to locate the sunken tanker to siphon off any remaining oil, Gahol said.

Coast guard personnel are placing oil spill booms and using chemical oil dispersants to protect the most vulnerable coastal villages, and Environmental Department personnel are helping in coastal cleanups to minimize the damage, officials said.
Paralyzed Former Servicemen Tell of Their Needs to House and Senate Veterans Affairs Committees

Charlie Brown, national president of the Paralyzed Veterans of America (PVA), spoke on the importance of long-term care and assistance for disabled veterans at a Joint House and Senate Veterans Affairs Committee on March 1.

In order to be here today, I had to have help from my paid caregiver, said Brown, who sustained a massive spinal cord injury in a diving accident in 1986 while serving in the U.S. Marine Corps in Cherry Point, N.C.

He helped me get dressed, get out of bed and into my wheelchair. He helped me take my medicine. He helped me groom. My storys not unique.

And then Brown said, Its the story of, and he gestured to people sitting behind him, Robert, of Tammy, and Josue.

Issues of Key Importance to Veterans

Robert Thomas, Tammy Jones, and Josue Cordova are, like Brown, paralyzed veterans; they also serve with Brown on the PVA executive committee.

Charlie Brown delivered his testimony at the Legislative Presentation of the American Legion and Multi VSOs.

VSOs stands for veterans service organizations.

The hearing was the second of three that the House and Senate Veterans committees hold every session of Congress to provide representatives of VSOs the opportunity to present to and field questions from lawmakers on their organizations public policy and legislative concerns and priorities.

As well, members of Congress ask the representatives questions on how government can better assist and support VSOs and the veterans they serve.

House Chairman Mike Bost (R-Ill.), a Marine Corps veteran, and Senate Chairman Jon Tester (R-Mont.) presided over the hearing.

In addition to the American Legion, the nations largest VSO by membership, and the Paralyzed Veterans of America, the following organizations participated in the hearing: Vietnam Veterans of America (VVA), Veterans Committee for the National Congress of American Indians, Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America (IAVA), Black Veterans Empowerment Council, National Guard Association, National Association of State Directors of Veterans Affairs (NASDVA), Fleet Reserve Association (FRA), and Student Veterans of America (SVA),

Sen. Jon Tester (D-Mont.) at a Senate hearing in Washington on Sept. 27, 2017. (Samira Bouaou/The Epoch Times)

VSO reps and committee members discussed a wide range of veteran issues and concerns.

The veterans and lawmakers gave particular focus to the staffing, level of services, and the physical and upkeep and conditions at Veterans Affairs Department (VA) hospitals; assisting and supporting active duty service members in their transition to civilian life; mental health services and suicide prevention; disability payments and compensation; the aging of the veteran population; veteran housing and homelessness; and education benefits.

Also included in the topics were improving the channels through which veterans can learn about benefits and services to which they are entitled, and speeding up the delivery of that help and support.

Protections From Predatory Law Firms

Another issue that received considerable attention in the hearing was the matter of unscrupulous businesses and attorneys representing veterans seeking compensation for injury and illness resulting from contact with toxins.

Congress passed, on Aug. 2, and President Joe Biden signed into law on Aug. 10, the Sergeant First Class (SFC) Heath Robinson Honoring our Promise to Address Comprehensive Toxics (PACT) Act.

The PACT Act increases and expands healthcare options and benefitsincluding $300 billion in new financial benefitsfor those who while serving in the U.S. armed forces were exposed to toxins.

Law firms have paid for a massive wave of advertising in search of clients.

Some of the firms are charging veterans they represent a fee of 40 percent or more of any payout secured.

Senator Dan Sullivan (R-Alaska), a U.S. Marine Corps Reserve colonel who has served in multiple deployments overseas, became emotional when talking about lawyers and companies exploiting the Camp Lejeune Justice Act, legislation folded into the PACT Act, to prey on veterans.

Sen. Dan Sullivan (R-Alaska) speaks during a Senate Armed Services Committee confirmation hearing in Washington on May 7, 2020. (Al Drago-Pool/Getty Images)

The Camp Lejeune Act compensates service members who became ill due to exposure to contaminated water at the Marine Corps base in North Carolina.

As many as 1 million veterans could have been affected.

Sullivan has lamented the influence of trial lawyers in establishing the Camp Lejeune Act, and the high fees that the lawyers charge veterans.

He is the co-sponsor of the Protect Camp Lejeune Victims Ensnared by Trial-lawyers Scams (VETS) Act, legislation that would cap fees lawyers can charge for benefits they secure for vets from the Camp Lejeune Act fund. The bill stalled in the previous senate, but Sullivan, along with Sen. Kevin Cramer (R-N.D.), reintroduced the act last month.,

Sullivan, pitching for his bill, said, For those who dont know what this is about, all you got to do is turn on the TV. Its really disgusting in my view. You got the trial lawyers of America who are working to rip off the veterans and families of sick Marines.

Its a choice. My bill is a choice between taking care of sick Marines and their families or enriching trial lawyers.
Philippines Says US Base Deal Meant for Defense, Not Preparation for War

A U.S. Navy hover craft prepares to hit the beach during the amphibious landing exercises as part of the annual joint U.S.-Philippines military exercise on the shores of San Antonio town, facing the South China Sea, Zambales Province, on April 11, 2019. (Ted Aljibe/AFP via Getty Images

The Philippines decision to grant the United States more access to its military bases is meant to boost defense capabilities, not to engage in war preparations, a top Philippine defense official said on Thursday.

Department of National Defense Secretary Carlito Galvez said the purpose of Enhanced Defense Cooperation Agreement (EDCA) projects is to bolster Philippine military readiness against external threats.

The geopolitical situation is becoming more precarious by the day. Our projects under EDCA and our other defense partnerships are not intended for aggression, Galvez said, according to state-run media.

We are not preparing for war; rather, we are aiming to develop our defense capabilities against eventualities and threats to our security, he added.

Last month, the Philippines and the United States struck a deal to grant American forces access to four new military bases in the Philippines on top of the five bases already granted under the EDCA.

The Philippine government has not yet publicly specified the new locations, but Cagayan Gov. Manuel Mamba believed that his province is one of the chosen locations, given its proximity to Taiwan.

Cagayan Province sits on the northern tip of Luzon island, which borders Taiwan. Mamba said that if U.S. troops were stationed in Cagayan, a Chinese attack on Taiwan may affect the province, Benar News reported.

U.S. (L) and Philippine navy personnel launch an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) from a speed boat west of Manila as part of joint exercises on June 28, 2013. The annual exercises were held off the west coast of the Philippines main island of Luzon, close to Scarborough Shoal, which China insists it owns. (Ted Aljibe/AFP/Getty Images)

We do not want to be an enemy to any country, nor do we want to be used to threaten any country. We will defend the Philippines from any enemy, even with sticks and stones, but we will not be fodder to a fight that is not our own, he told the Senate.

Solutions to regional tensions will only end badly for us not involved in this show of might between two superpowers. The only military forces we want in Cagayan are members of the armed forces of the Philippines, Mamba said.

Galvez said the government understands the concerns raised by some officials but the decision was made on account of the volatile environment, which highlighted the need for the country to bolster its defense.

We must consider the volatile situation in which we operate and not view our country in isolation, he said. The Philippines straddles a crucial location in the Pacific, and we have seaboards to the north, south, east, and west. All of these must be monitored and protected.

Galvez said the United States had allotted around $82.68 million for EDCA projects to date.

China Threats

China claims Taiwan as part of its territory and has vowed to conquer it by force if necessary. But any attack on Taiwan could threaten Philippine security because of its proximity to Taiwan, with which it shares a sea border off the Luzon Strait.

The Philippines and the United States are allies under the 1951 Mutual Defense Treaty, which dictates that the two nations will defend each other if either is attacked.

Philippine envoy Jose Manuel Romualdez said last year that U.S. forces will be allowed access to Philippine military bases during a Taiwan conflict if it is deemed important to national security.

Romualdez said they aim to secure new military bases already earmarked for U.S. troops over the next three years, but did not specify the new locations. He said the Philippines rejects any kind of war or confrontation.

We want to ask both countries to lessen the tension by having more dialogue and then trying to resolve all of these issues because its in our part of the world, he told Nikkei Asia.

The Philippines also seeks to counter Beijings military assertiveness in the South China Sea and has begun talks with the United States and Australia over possible joint maritime patrols in the disputed seas.

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.
Pittsburgh Woman Found Alive After Going Missing Over 30 Years Ago

A Pennsylvania woman who went missing in 1992 has been found alive almost 31 years later, according to Ross Township police.

Patricia Kopta, nicknamed the Sparrow, was often seen on the streets of Pittsburgh, preaching about the end of the world. She had developed mental health issues and one night when she was 52, she didnt come home, her husband Robert Kopta said Thursday during a press conference held by Ross Township Police.

Now 83, Patricia Kopta has been found living in an adult care facility in Puerto Rico. She had told her husband she wanted to go somewhere warm and had mentioned Puerto Rico. Robert Kopta said he advertised for her in the newspaper there but was not able to find her. Eventually he had her declared dead, but never remarried.

According to police, in 1999 Patricia Kopta was found wandering the streets in Puerto Rico and needed care. She was taken into the adult care home in June of that year.

She told people there that she came to Puerto Rico on a cruise ship from Europe, police said, and she would not talk about her personal life. It is unclear if she ever was in Europe.

Social Worker Makes the Connection

Now suffering from dementia, Patricia Kopta has begun talking more about her past. Some of her comments led a social worker, with the help of police, to piece together enough of her story to connect her with her family, a process that started about nine months ago.

Patricia Kopta, 83, in a Puerto Rico adult care facility. (Ross Township Police)

Interpol conducted a DNA test on Patricia Kopta and her sister Gloria Smith and confirmed the missing womans identity.

By all accounts, her family loves her and worried about her all those years. Robert Kopta said that when he saw news reports of bodies being found, through the years, he would wonder and worry if it was her. Smith said their mother always missed her and worried about her.

We really thought she was dead all those years. We didnt expect it. It was a very big shock to know that she was still alive, Smith said during the press conference. Were so happy and I hope I can get down to see her.

According to the National Missing and Unidentified Persons System (NamUs), 600,000 individuals go missing each year. Many missing children and adults are found quickly, alive and well, but others remain missing for more than a year. Many agencies consider cases cold after a year.

NamUs also reports that 4,400 unidentified bodies are recovered each year.
James A. Folger (18351889) was the second youngest of nine children. Born on Nantucket to a well-to-do family whose roots went back to the earliest of colonists, he would soon get the chance to make it on his own as a businessman. When word spread across the continent that gold had been found in California in 1848, he and his two older brothers, Edward and Henry, decided to make the voyage that would be approximately the same distance their forebears had made to reach America from England, if they went strictly cross country.

In the fall of 1849, the three decided to take a safer, though longer route to the West coast. They hopped a shipa form of transportation they were familiar with since their father owned twoand sailed down the Atlantic Ocean into the Gulf of Mexico toward the Isthmus of Panama. Arriving in the small Latin American country, the three rafted and then hiked their way into Panama City. Unfortunately, there was no ship arriving in the capital city that had a destination near San Francisco, so they were stuck there for some time.

Finally, on April 10, 1850, the three boarded the steamer ship, Isthmus, and sailed up the Pacific Ocean toward the California coast. On May 5, the three disembarked into the city of San Francisco. The lure of gold had brought them thousands of miles to what must have seemed like the other side of the world; indeed, it was the complete opposite end of their original home.

Edward, 20, and Henry, 16, compiled the remainder of their money to go work the mines, but James, 14, due to the limited amount of money left over, agreed to arrive later. He decided to remain in San Francisco, get a job, save his money, and then join his brothers. His plan would eventually strike gold.

He got a job as a carpenter to help build a mill for The Pioneer Steam Coffee and Spice Mills company. His entrepreneurial spirit would connect with that of the companys owner, William Bovee, which would lead to his position as a salesman. Bovee had the ingenious idea to revolutionize how people made themselves a pot of coffee. Coffee had typically been sold as whole beans, where the purchasers had to roast and grind it themselves. Bovee offered pre-packaged ground coffee.

Folgers Golden Gate Coffee advertisement, early 20th century. J.A. Folger & Co. (Public Domain)

Folger saved up enough money to finally join his brothers, but he told Bovee that he would continue to work for him in the mining communities. Folger took samples to store owners, jotted down their orders, and sent them back to Bovee in San Francisco, all while he and his brothers continued to pan for gold.

The income from both venturesgold mining and selling coffeeprovided Folger with enough capital to purchase his own store in a mining camp called Yankee Jims. After managing his store for four years, Folger decided to sell it, move back to San Francisco, and become a partner in Bovees business.

A few years later, Bovee decided to sell his interest in the company to James, who also bought out the rest of the partners. He then renamed the company J.A. Folger & Co. More than 150 years later, Folger, now known as Folgers, is one of the most well-known names in coffee and is currently a billion dollar business.
Qantas Plans Full Throttle Expansion

Aviation company wants to hire over 30,000, buy new aircraft, and build new engineering academy

Qantas chief executive officer Alan Joyce (2nd L) and chief financial officer Tino La Spina (2nd R) test out the premium economy seat for the airline's new 787-9 Dreamliner after a press conference in Sydney on Feb. 23, 2017. (WILLIAM WEST/AFP/Getty Images)

Australias largest domestic and international airline will hire more than 30,000 frontline workers over the next 10 years, purchase state-of-the-art aircraft and establish a new academy.

The hiring spree is considered Qantas most significant move to fill in the gaps after it slashed thousands of jobs during the pandemic.

The major Australian airline on March 4 revealed that it will have about 32,000 staff by 2033 compared with around 23,500 currently and create over 8,500 new high-skill jobs in Australian aviation.

This includes include 4,500 new cabin crew positions, 1,600 pilot roles, 800 engineers, and a further 1,600 in other operational positions.

Over the next 18 months, the airline is expected to increase headcount by up to 2,000 people plus replacing natural attrition.

Qantas is also preparing to boost the capabilities of its aircraft with the purchase of 299 narrow-body and 12 wide-body aircraft over the next decade.

The national carrier, which opened its first pilot academic in 2020, would also invest millions of dollars in building an engineering academy that is expected to open its doors in 2025.

The academy, which is looking to recruit about 200 new engineering students every year, would provide Qantas and the broader aviation industry with aviation engineers, defence contractors and general aviation, two areas that are highly sought after.

Qantas noted that the number of engineers retiring exceeds the current national supply of new aviation engineers each year, meaning a new training pipeline is needed.

Aviation is so important to a country like Australia, and you need a big skills pipeline to power it. Thats not just about the major airlines but also small regional operators, defence and general aviation, said Qantas Group CEO Alan Joyce on Friday.

Its a whole ecosystem that pilots and engineers, in particular, make their way through, and the long-term skills base required means it relies on constant renewal.

The Qantas boss noted that the airline ordered aircraft up to 10 years in advance, so a similarly long-term strategy should also be applied to people and the skills they need.

In the near term, were gearing up to meet the growth in all of the markets we serve. We have more aircraft arriving every month, and that means we need more pilots, engineers, cabin crew and others, he added.

We look forward to working with the industry, training organisations, unions and governments to finalise details for the engineering academy.

Criticised For Job Slash

The latest move came after the national airline cut 9,800 roles from its 30,000-strong workforce in the last three years. In 2020, the airline was found by the Federal Court to have illegally outsourced 1,700 baggage handlers to third-party air service providers like Dnata. Qantas is appealing the verdict.

The Transport Workers Union (TWU) said Qantas hiring spree wont replace the decades of experience lost when management used the cover of COVID-19 to gut the workforce and pay people less to do the same jobs.

The union alleged that Qantas overzealous redundancies had resulted in the vacating of 300 of the most experienced pilots, many of whom also held check and training duties authorised by CASA.

Qantas is attempting to bring back cabin crew on lower pay and conditions than they previously had at the airline, an echo of the inferior jobs advertised in Qantas Freight shortly after illegally sacking nearly 1700 ground crew to pay people less to do the same work.

Rebuilding aviation will take more than an announcement of inferior jobs but requires a return of experienced workers to the terms and conditions which were deliberately culled through Joyce-led managements opportunistic approach to COVID-19, TWU National Secretary Michael Kaine said in a press release on Friday.

Unless there is a meaningful shift in ideology and strategy under a new management team, Qantas will never return to the airline it once was. The Spirit of Australia was built by workers who held sought-after careers at Qantas, but those workers are gone and jobs are now lower-paid and insecure.

We Made People Redundant To Survive

But the Qantas boss defended the job slash, arguing it was a survival decision.

We made people redundant to survive, and a lot of people left the industry anyway because there was no work for nearly three years, Joyce told the Today Show.

So what were now doing is recruiting to fill that gap and to take up the growth were going to have because were going to have a lot of new aircraft flying new routes.

Federal Minister for Skills and Training Brendan OConnor said Australia had the second highest labour supply shortage according to the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD).

This is a major economic challenge. But it is also an opportunity of a lifetime for people to get the right skills for jobs that are in demand, he said on Friday.

Australia needs thousands of new workers and engineers to enter the aviation industry to ensure secure jobs and a thriving sector, and we welcome this investment by Qantas to help develop these future skills needs.
Race for Global Tech Dominance a Wake up Call for Democracies: Report

Chinese workers assemble electronic components at the Taiwanese technology giant Foxconn's factory in Shenzhen City, Guangdong Province, China, on May 26, 2010. (AFP/Getty Images)

An Australian think tank is urging democratic nations to step up their game in technological innovation and strategic competition if they are to compete with, catch up, and outdo Beijing.

According to a year-long study by the Australian Strategic Policy Institute (ASPI), Beijing is currently leading the world in 37 out of 44 technologies. These technologies cover a range of crucial technologies, including defence, space, robotics, energy, the environment, biotechnology, artificial intelligence, advanced materials and key quantum technology.

ASPIs report also found that the worlds top 10 leading research institutions are based in China and that the communist regime is collectively generating nine times more high-impact research papers than the second-ranked country.

Our dataset reveals a large gap between China and the U.S., as the leading two countries, and everyone else, the ASPI report states.

The U.S. is currently ranked second to Beijing in the majority of the 44 identified categories.

Meanwhile, the U.S. is leading the world in seven categoriesincluding high-performance computing, quantum computing and vaccines.

Australia is ranked among the top five countries for nine technologies: cyber security, critical minerals extraction and processing, electric batteries, hydrogen and 3D printing.

However, the report found that one-fifth of Beijings high-impact papers are being authored by researchers with postgraduate training in a Five-Eyes countrynamely the United States, UK, Australia, Canada and New Zealand.

Over the past five years, China generated 48.49 percent of the worlds high-impact research papers into advanced aircraft engines, including hypersonics, and it hosts seven of the worlds top 10 research institutions in this topic area, the report states.

Beijing is also leading the world in defence and space-related technologies, the think tank found.

ASPI said that Beijing could get a stranglehold on the global supply of certain critical technologies if the research becomes commercially available through its manufacturing base.

Such risks are exacerbated because of the willingness of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) to use coercive techniques outside of the global rules-based order to punish governments and businesses, including withholding the supply of critical technologies, the report states.

Chinas lead is the product of deliberate design and long-term policy planning, as repeatedly outlined by Xi Jinping and his predecessors.

Xi Jinpings Plan for Tech Domination

In 2018, the CCP unveiled a Made in China 2025 plan that sought to achieve self-sufficiency in 10 tech sectors by 2025. However, this was later switched to a new plan called the China Standards 2035.

Chinese President Xi Jinping is seen during the Second Plenary Session of the Fifth Session of the 13th National Peoples Congress at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing, China, on March 8, 2022. (Andrea Verdelli/Getty Images)

Under these standards, the CCP aims to dominate cutting-edge technologies such as artificial intelligence (AI), cloud computing, IoT (internet of things), and big data. The CCP also intends to accelerate efforts to develop technical standards, eventually exporting them to the international market.

The U.S. has accused Beijing of undermining fair competition while justifying the theft of foreign technology to serve the national interests of becoming a high-tech manufacturing powerhouse.

In 2021, Beijing surprised U.S. intelligence agencies when the regime tested a nuclear-capable hypersonic missile that travelled around the world, demonstrating its technological capabilities. However, Beijing denied that it tested hypersonic weapons.

Then in September 2022, the Biden Administration passed the U.S. CHIPS Act that would deny Beijing access to advanced semiconductors and chipmaking technologies, thus, escalating the U.S.China strategic competition.

Following the passing of the Act, the U.S. Department of Commerce released its Strategy for the CHIPS for America Fund (pdf)a $50 billion investment to catalyse long-term growth in the domestic semiconductor industry in support of the U.S. national and economic security.

Intelligence communities have a pivotal role to play in both informing decision-makers and building capability, the ASPI report states.

Governments around the world should work both collaboratively and individually to catch up to China and, more broadly, they must pay greater attention to the worlds centre of technological innovation and strategic competition: the Indo-Pacific.

What Democratic Nations Can Do

For Western democratic nations to catch up with China, a strategic critical technology step-up is required.

ASPI outlined 23 policy recommendations that democratic nations and their allies can act on collaboratively and individually to counter an aggressive Beijing.

Recommendations include innovations such as sovereign wealth funds to provide venture capital, technology visas and R&D grants between allies, and revitalising the university sector through specialised scholarships for students and technologists working at the forefront of critical technology research.

Intelligence communities have a pivotal role to play in both informing decision-makers and building capability. One recommendation we make is that Five-Eyes countries, along with Japan, build an intelligence analytical centre focused on China and technology, ASPI states.

While China is in front, its important for democracies to take stock of the power of their potential aggregate lead and the collective strengths of regions and groupings (for example, the EU, the Quad and AUKUS, to name just a few examples).

But such aggregate leads will only be fully realised through far deeper collaboration between partners and allies, greater investment in areas including R&D, talent and commercialisation, and more focused intelligence strategies.

The costs of catching up will be significant, but the costs of inaction could be far greater, the authors wrote.
Rep. Greene to Reintroduce Bill Banning Transgender Procedures on Minors

Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) at the Protect Children's Innocence press event outside the U.S. Capitol in Washington on Sept. 20, 2022. (Terri Wu/The Epoch Times)

Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) plans to reintroduce the Protecting Childrens Innocence Act sometime over the next week.

The bill, which Greene introduced in August during the last Congress, would bar sex transitions or other medical interventions on minors with gender dysphoria.

The summary of the bill reads that the bill places restrictions on the provision of gender affirming care. Gender affirming care includes performing surgery, administering medication, or performing other procedures for the purpose of changing the body of an individual to correspond to a sex that differs from the individuals biological sex.

Specifically, the bill makes it a felony to perform such procedures on a minor and allows those who do so to face civil liability.

Many reports have cropped up of people who surgically or chemically transitioned only to later regret their decision.

Several transgender procedures, including both surgery and drugs, are irreversible.

The process of surgically reshaping genitals into a rough facsimile of the opposite sex cannot be undone; nor can double mastectomies, the removal of breasts, which are popular among biological women who identify as men. Cross-sex hormones can also have the effect of permanently sterilizing a man or woman.

For instance, one of the most popular chemical solutions among men identifying as women is Lupron, a drug that until recently was used to chemically castrate sex offenders. Now, boys identifying as girls all over the nation are receiving the drug.

Transgender ideology, which is prevalent among those of Generation Z and their children, has also received increasing pushback from Republicans.

During the third day of the Conservative Political Action Committee (CPAC) conference, Greene said Republicans have a responsibility to fight against transgender ideology for the protection of children.

When it comes to kids, the Republican Party has a duty, Greene said. We have a responsibility to be the party that protects children.

Greene also referenced a video posted by the San Francisco Gay Mens Choir in which the group sang about how they were coming for your children.

The brains of young adults continue to develop until their mid-to-late 20s. Opponents of transgender ideology have insisted that the decision to transition is not one that a minor has the mental or developmental capacity to make.

Greene called it a lie that children could change their gender before theyre grown up, before theyve even finished puberty, before theyve developed into an adult, before theyre old enough to vote, before theyre old enough to graduate from high school; before theyre old enough to get a tattoo, put permanent ink on their skin; before theyre old enough to buy nicotine [or] alcohol.

During the 117th Congress, Democrats placed an effective gag rule on the use of biological familial terms like mother, father, sister, and brother.

Greene said, I ended up putting a sign up on my door that said, Theres only two genders, male and female. Trust the science,' Greene said to a burst of applause.

The victims of this industry are kids, Greene said.

Children often choose to transition, Greene said, due to self-esteem issues, which are common while growing up.

These are kids whore confused about who they are, Greene said.

She continued: Theyre confused about who they are because of what theyre seeing on the Internet, because of what theyre seeing on social media, and theyre also confusedmany of thembecause these victims of this billion-dollar industry that mutilates the genitals of children, many of them have diagnoses of autism, mental illness, they have depression, they have anxiety, they have psychosis.

Others, Greene noted, come from foster care homes, meaning that they have likely already faced abuse.

These victims come in thinking theyre gonna find happiness and theyre gonna find security in their identity because they think they can change their gender, she added.

Greenes bill will need the green light of Speaker of the House Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) to move through the House.

The measure will likely win broad GOP support and possibly a handful of votes from moderate Democrats in the lower chamber. However, it would face tougher hurdles in the Senate, where such legislation would need the support of at least 11 Democrats to advance.

Even if it overcomes this challenge, the bill would need the approval of President Joe Biden, who has long indicated that his administration supports transgender ideology.
Mr. Hao I-chin, the retired deputy commander and chief of staff at Republic of China Army and the current chairman of Shinping Natural Gas Company, attends Shen Yun Performing Arts at the Chih-The Hall of the Kaohsiung Cultural Center in Kaohsiung, Taiwan, on Mar. 2, 2023. (Dai Deman/The Epoch Times)

KAOHSIUNG, TaiwanA Taiwanese retired lieutenant general admired Shen Yun Performing Arts and appreciated the positive energy of the performance, after attending at the Chih-The Hall of the Kaohsiung Cultural Center on March 2.

Mr. Hao I-chin is the chairman of Shinping Natural Gas Company. The 64-year-old businessman is a retired lieutenant general and used to be the deputy commander and chief of staff at Republic of China Army (the Army of Taiwan).

The performance is very touching. I admire it. We could feel the show spreading a positive energy to us, he said. The performance is at a super high artistic level. Together with the classical Chinese dance, the dynamic backdrop transported us through time and space. Its very, very amazing!

Mr. Hao said he was surprised the theater was full when he arrived, because hardly ever saw a full hall when he attended performances. After watching Shen Yun, he understood why the theater was full, and was very happy that so many experienced the positive effect of Shen Yun.

I felt the show has been therapy for the soul. The dancers presented very positive values. All the aspects together worked to inspire us to be good. Its really wonderful to watch these programs one after another, he said. This is a very successful performance.

New York-based Shen Yun is the worlds top classical Chinese dance company, and has a mission to show audiences the beauty and goodness of China before communism.

Mr. Hao appreciated the fact that Shen Yuns programs present Chinas history as well as the current China.

The whole program is fantastic. It expressed the traditional culture and historical stories. It promotes the kindness and compassion and encourages people to be kind. At the end, the show revealed the truth of Falun Gong is suffering persecution in Mainland China.

According to the official website, Falun Gong teaches the three principles of truth, compassion, and forbearance. Such spiritual cultivation practices were once not uncommon in China, which was known as the Land of the Divine. But today, under the communist regime, these people of faith are subject to unprecedented human rights abuses, including live organ harvesting.

Actually, truthfulness, compassion, and tolerance are the values everybody should pursue. These are very good things, and should not be unjustly persecuted, he said. We should promote these values.

Mr. Hao believes that Shen Yun will be even more popular soon, because this show is really magnificent!

An Absolutely Splendid Artistic Feast

Ms. Chuang Pi-mei, the chairman of a construction company, said Shen Yun was superb and she enjoyed it a lot.

I couldnt stop smiling during the whole show. Watching this classical art, I was very happy, she said. This performance guided me into a purely beautiful world. This is an absolutely splendid artistic feast!

Ms. Chuang said that Shen Yun presents traditional Chinese culture and values, artistic culture, classical culture, and humanities, which made theatergoers like herself feel very happy and relaxed.

The dancers have super high techniques. Every step they made was very stable. I wonder how can they make this happen, its simply amazing, she said. In fact, their movements are very light. Its as if theyre flying in the air when they dance. They are magical and brilliant.

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.

My eyes were brightened by the high-tech backdrop, she said. The actors coordinated with the backdrop so well. Its hard to separate which is real and which is an illusion. The design is incredibly well matched.

Ms. Chuang said she admired Shen Yun for uplifting audiences.

Every story, every program of Shen Yun delivers inspiration. Its teaching people to be good. This is very good, she said. The dances made us very happy and encouraged us to think more of life.

Shen Yun is superb! she said. Shen Yuns artistic director did a great job.

Ms. Chuang Pi-mei, the chairman of a construction company, attends Shen Yun Performing Arts at the Chih-The Hall of the Kaohsiung Cultural Center in Kaohsiung, Taiwan, on March 2, 2023. (Cheng Shun-li/The Epoch Times)

Reporting by Epoch Times Staff in Kaohsiung, Taiwan.

The Epoch Times is a proud sponsor of Shen Yun Performing Arts. We have covered audience reactions since Shen Yuns inception in 2006.
Here is an excerpt from The Gentlemens Book of Etiquette, and Manual of Politeness by Cecil B. Hartley, published by Locke & Bubier in 1875.

MISCELLANEOUS.

WHEN you are walking with a lady who has your arm, be careful to keep step with her, and do not force her to take long, unladylike steps, or trot beside you with two steps to one of yours, by keeping your usual manly stride.

Never allow a lady, with whom you are walking, to carry a bundle, shawl, or bag, unless both your hands are already occupied in her service.

When you attend a wedding or bridal reception, it is the bridegroom whom you are to congratulate, offering to the bride your wishes for her future happiness, but not congratulation. If you you are acquainted with the bridegroom, but not with the bride, speak to him first, and he will introduce you to his bride, but in any other case, you must speak first to the bride, then to the bridegroom, then the bridesmaids, if you have any previous acquaintance with them, then to the parents and family of the bride, and after all this you are at liberty to seck your other friends among the guests. If you are personally a stranger to the newly married couple, but have received a card from being a friend of one of the families or from any other reason, it is the first groomsmans place to introduce you, and you should give him your card, or mention your name, before he leads you to the bride.

Always remove a chair or stool that stands in the way of a lady passing, even though she is an entire stranger to you.

You may hand a chair to a strange lady, in a hotel, or upon a boat; you may hand her water, if you see her rise to obtain it, and at a hotel table you may pass her the dishes near you, with perfect propriety.

In this country where every other man uses tobacco, it may not be amiss to say a few words on smoking.

Dr. Prout says, Tobacco is confessedly one of the most virulent poisons in nature. Yet such is the fascinating influence of this noxious weed, that mankind resort to it in every form they can devise, to ensure its stupifying and pernicious agency. Tobacco disorders the assimilating functions in general, but particularly, as I believe, the assimilation of the saccharine principle. I have never, indeed, been able to trace the development of oxalic acid to the use of tobacco; but that some analogous, and equally poisonous principle (probably of an acid nature), is generated in certain individuals by its abuse, is evident from their cachetic looks, and from the dark, and often greenish yellow tint of the blood. The severe and peculiar dyspeptic symptoms sometimes produced by inveterate snuff-taking are well known; and I have more than once seen such cases terminate fatally with malignant disease of the stomach and liver. Great smokers, also, especially those who employ short pipes and cigars, are said to be liable to cancerous affections of the lips.



Nothing is in worse taste in society than to repeat the witticisms or remarks of another person as if they were your own. If you are discovered in the larceny of anothers ideas, you may originate a thousand brilliant ones afterwards, but you will not gain the credit of one. If you quote your friends remarks, give them as quotations.

Be cautious in the use of your tongue. Wise men say, that a man may repent when he has spoken, but he will not repent if he keeps silence.

If you wish to retain a good position in society, be careful to return all the visits which are paid to you, promptly, and do not neglect your calls upon ladies, invalids, and men older than yourself.



GUARD AGAINST VULGAR LANGUAGE. There is as much connection between the words and the thoughts as there is between the thoughts and the words; the latter are not only the expression of the former, but they have a power to re-act upon the soul and leave the stains of their corruption there. A young man who allows himself to use one profane or vulgar word, has not only shown that there is a foul spot on his mind, but by the utterance of that word he extends that spot and inflames it, till, by indulgence, it will soon pollute and ruin the whole soul. Be careful of your words as well as your thoughts. If you can control the tongue, that no improper words are pronounced by it, you will soon be able to control the mind and save it from corruption. You extinguish the fire by smothering it, or by preventing bad thoughts bursting out in language. Never utter a word anywhere, which you would be ashamed to speak in the presence of the most religious man. Try this practice a little, and you will soon have command of yourself.

Do not be known as an egotist. No man is more dreaded in society, or accounted a greater bore than he whose every other word is I, me, or my. Show an interest in all that others say of themselves, but speak but little of your own affairs.

It is quite as bad to be a mere relater of scandal or the affairs of your neighbors. A female gossip is detestable, but a male gossip is not only detestable but utterly despicable.

A celebrated English lawyer gives the following directions for young men entering into business. IIe says:

SELECT THE KIND OF BUSINESS THAT SUITS YOUR NATURAL INCLINATIONS AND TEMPERAMENT.Some men are naturally mechanics; others have a strong aversion to anything like machinery, and so on; one man has a natural taste for one occupation in life, and another for another.

I never could succeed as a merchant. I have tried it, unsuccessfully, several times. I never could be content with a fixed salery, for mine is a purely speculative disposition, while others are just the reverse; and therefore all should be careful to select those occupations that suit them best.

LET YOUR PLEDGED WORD EVER BE SACRED.Never promise to do a thing without performing it with the most rigid promptness. Nothing is more valuable to a man in business than the name of always doing as he agrees, and that to the moment. A strict adherence to this rule gives a man the command of half the spare funds within the range of his acquaintance, and encircles him with a host of friends, who may be depended upon in any emergency.

WHATEVER YOU DO, DO WITH ALL YOUR MIGHT.Work at it, if necessary, early and late, in season and out of season, not leaving a stone unturned, and never deferring for a single hour that which can just as well be done now. The old proverb is full of truth and meaning Whatever is worth doing at all, is worth doing well. Many a man acquires a fortune by doing his business thoroughly, while his neighbor remains poor for life, because he only half does his business. Ambition, energy, industry, and perseverance, are indispensable requisites for success in business.

SOBRIETY. USE NO DESCRIPTION OF INTOXICATING DRINKS.As no man can succeed in business unless he has a brain to enable him to lay his plans, and reason to guide him in their execution, so, no matter how bountifully a man may be blessed with intelligence, if his brain is muddled, and his judgment warped by intoxicating drinks, it is impossible for him to carry on business successfully. How many good opportunities have passed never to return, while a man was sipping a social glass with a friend! How many a foolish bargain has been made under the influence of the wine-cup, which temporarily makes his victim so rich! How many important chances have been put off until to-morrow, and thence for ever, because indulgence has thrown the system into a state of lassitude, neutralizing the energies so essential to success in business. The use of intoxicating drinks as a beverage is as much an infatuation as is the smoking of opium by the Chinese, and the former is quite as destructive to the success of the business man as the latter.

LET HOPE PREDOMINATE, BUT BE NOT TOO VISIONARY.Many persons are always kept poor because they are too visionary. Every project looks to them like certain success, and, therefore, they keep changing from one business to another, always in hot water, and always under the harrow. The plan of counting the chickens before they are hatched, is an error of ancient date, but it does not seem to improve by age.
A judge this week threw out an Erie County elections commissioner's challenge of error-plagued boundary lines for county Legislature districts.

The decision  which affects all 11 Erie County Legislature seats up for election this year  blocks an effort to leave existing district lines unchanged after a special committee redrew the lines in 2021 with an eye toward the 2023 elections.

While legislators unanimously approved new district boundaries in late 2021, based on printouts of colored maps, no one closely checked the hastily written legal descriptions of the boundary lines before approving them. It later came to light that the new district boundary lines drawn a year ago were riddled with errors and technically sent some district lines into Antarctica.

Ralph Mohr, the Republican commissioner for the Erie County Board of Elections, responded by filing suit against the Legislature, Democratic Elections Commissioner Jeremy Zellner and County Executive Mark Poloncarz in January. He asked a U.S. District Court judge to declare the previously approved district maps unconstitutional.

Then last week, Mohr sought a preliminary injunction to have the previous district boundaries reinstated.

However, after hearing arguments last week, U.S. District Court Judge Lawrence Vilardo on Monday denied Mohr's request, saying Mohr doesn't have the standing to demand action from the court. Vilardo also pointed out that Mohr had months to raise his concerns but did not seek court relief until primary petitions were about to be circulated.

Erie County Legislature boundaries in Antarctica? Error-riddled descriptions of districts yield lawsuit Ralph Mohr, the GOP commissioner for the Erie County Board of Elections, said it's impossible to create a map with 11 contiguous districts with some descriptions sending boundaries into Antarctica, the Canadian waters of Lake Erie and Cattaraugus County.

Mohr argued in his original federal suit that it's impossible to create a map with 11 contiguous Legislature districts with some descriptions sending boundaries into Antarctica, the Canadian waters of Lake Erie and Cattaraugus County. In some cases, latitude and longitude lines appear to be transposed, and in other cases, boundary lines that are supposed to intersect run parallel to each other, he said.

Some residents appeared to live in more than one district, while other residents live in no district at all, according to the original legal descriptions, he said.

Those legal descriptions were not produced until close to the time the Erie County Legislature was expected to vote on the new districts. When The Buffalo News inquired about getting more detailed maps that would allow viewers to zoom down to street level boundaries, the response was that no such maps existed.

As one of two elections commissioners responsible for enforcing the county's election district boundary lines, Mohr said he had a vested interest in seeking court intervention.

"I mean, that's my job," he said Wednesday. "I disagree with the judges decision that I dont have a unique position when it comes to policing the boundaries."

New Erie County Legislature districts preserve the status quo The majority of legislature districts saw tweaks to their lines, though residents in Grand Island, Tonawanda, Concord, Springville, Marilla and Sardinia will see bigger changes in representation.

However, Vilardo agreed with the defendants, who argued that Mohr, a Lancaster resident, is personally unaffected by the district boundary dispute and that, even in his capacity as an elections commissioner, he is unlikely to suffer any material consequences that result.

In addition, the defendants argued that when the legal boundary descriptions are in conflict with the maps approved by the Legislature, the drawn map boundaries prevail. Craig Bucki, a Phillips Lytle law partner representing Zellner in the case, said the Board of Elections worked last month to reconcile the legal boundary descriptions with the maps approved by the Legislature and signed into law by Poloncarz.

Mohr also participated in efforts to correct the district boundary lines, said Bucki, who shared an affidavit from a Board of Elections staffer outlining how Mohr worked collaboratively with others to try to resolve all discrepancies between the district maps and the legal descriptions.

"The map that was before the Legislature is what is being followed, and what should be followed," he said.

Mohr and the defendants disagree on the accuracy of a few boundary lines, and the extent to which the newly corrected shape files accurately correspond to the maps approved by the Legislature. Mohr expressed concern about certain Legislature district boundaries affecting some resident in Lackawanna, the Village of Hamburg and the Town of Tonawanda.

Those disputes could hurt minor party primaries that typically feature low voter turnout, he said. The denial of his preliminary injunction request does not solve the fundamental problem of inaccurate boundary lines and confusion for voters and candidates, he said.

Bucki countered that the boundary issues raised by Mohr affect only about 50 voters out of 500,000 and that all legal boundary descriptions have largely been corrected to match the maps approved by the Legislature.

While Mohr's prior suit remains before federal court, it appears unlikely to succeed, based on Vilardo's ruling on Monday. However, while the judge denied Mohr's motion for a preliminary injunction, he did give Mohr 30 days to amend his complaint and further establish his standing to pursue claims in the case. Mohr said he is still deciding how and whether to move forward.
Russia Wont Be First to Test Nuclear Device: Deputy Foreign Minister

Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov attends a news conference at the Russian Mission after his speech at the Conference on Disarmament at the United Nations in Geneva on March 2, 2023. (Denis Balibouse/Reuters)

GENEVARussian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov said on Thursday Russia would not be the first to test a nuclear device, following Moscows suspension of the New START nuclear arms control treaty with the United States.

Addressing reporters at the Russian mission in Geneva after a disarmament conference, Ryabkov said Moscow would not carry out tests if Washington also refrained, but that Russia still had to prepare for the worst.

Ryabkov also accused the United States of providing intelligence on the location of strategic sites inside Russia to Ukraine, for it to attack them with drones.

In December, Russias Engels air base near the city of Saratov, home to part of its nuclear-capable strategic bomber fleet and at least 600 kilometers (370 miles) from Ukrainian territory, was hit by drone attacks. Ukraine did not claim responsibility for the attacks, but celebrated them.
San Francisco Opens the Door to Supervised Drug Consumption Sites

A homeless man lies passed out on the streets of the Tenderloin district of San Francisco on Feb. 23, 2023. (John Fredricks/The Epoch Times)

Supervised drug consumption sites may be coming to San Francisco despite California Gov. Gavin Newsoms veto of legislation with a similar plan by Democratic state Sen. Scott Wiener last year and widespread opposition to the idea.

The San Francisco County Board of Supervisors unanimously voted on Feb. 28 to allow nonprofit groups to run supervised injection sites with private funding. Because ordinances require two readings, the supervisors will cast their final vote on March 7.

San Francisco Mayor London Breed and Supervisor Hillary Ronen introduced the proposal last month to abolish a recently identified permitting barrier to proceed with an overdose prevention planwhile the city awaits federal guidance on whether it can legally fund such programs with taxpayer dollars, the mayor said in a statement.

The legislation opens the door for non-profits to operate drug overdose prevention sites in San Francisco, according to the statement.

San Francisco City Hall on Feb. 23, 2023. (John Fredricks/The Epoch Times)

The drug crisis in San Francisco has killed nearly 2,000 people since 2020, and the citys infamous Tenderloin district is known to be a hotspot for illicit drug deals.

This legislation is part of our work to bring down the number of fatal overdoses and tackle the challenges driven by fentanyl head on, Breed said. We will continue to work with our non-profit partners who are trying to open overdose prevention sites, fully implement our health strategies to help those struggling with addiction in our streets, and work with law enforcement to close the open-air drug markets.

Ronen said San Francisco needs overdose prevention sites to save lives and provide solutions to open-air drug use and chaotic conditions on the streets.

Negative Impacts

Jacqui Berlinn, co-founder of Mothers Against Drug Addiction and Deaths, whose son is addicted to fentanyl, said she opposes the creation of so-called safe injection sites.

Berlinn told the Epoch Times via text message on March 2 that the supervisors havent done their due diligence to research and visit safe injection sites in New York and Vancouver to see the negative impacts theyve had on surrounding communities.

Its also important to talk to community members, as well as those with substance use disorders and the people who love them, she said. Governor Newsom understood this when he vetoed Senate Bill 57 last year. The [San Francisco Board of Supervisors] incorrectly believes they know better even after witnessing the abject failure of the Linkage Center in [the Tenderloin district].

The Tenderloin Center for the homeless in San Francisco. (Courtesy of the City of San Francisco)

The Tenderloin Linkage Center, which provides services to the homeless, last year dropped the word linkage from its name after very few people were linked to drug recovery services and other programs connected with the site.

Wieners Senate Bill 57 would have permitted the creation of overdose prevention programs, including safe injection sites, where addicts could use illegal drugs at supervised facilities, in Oakland and cities in Los Angeles and San Francisco counties.

The unlimited number of safe injection sites that this bill would authorizefacilities which would authorize well into the later part of this decadecould induce a world of unintended consequences, Newsom said in his Aug. 22, 2022, veto message.

While it is possible that these sites would help improve the safety and health of our urban areas, the chance that they could fail and make Californias drug problem worse is not a risk we can take, he said in his veto message.

Homeless people gather near drug dealers in the Tenderloin district of San Francisco on Feb. 22, 2023. (John Fredricks/The Epoch Times)

Newsom said at the time that he would be open to discussion with local officials to come back to the table with a proposal for a truly limited pilot program and comprehensive plans for siting, operations, community partnerships, and fiscal sustainability that demonstrate how these programs will be run safely and effectively.

City Takes Matter Into Its Own Hands

Wiener issued a statement on Aug. 22, 2022, saying the veto was tragic.

With two successive Governors vetoing this bill, its crystal clear the State isnt going to step up. San Francisco needs to take matters into its own hands & open up safe consumption sites to save lives, Wiener wrote on Twitter.

But Berlinn disagrees.

The leaders of the city need to prioritize treatment and recovery before implementing sites like these that only perpetuate the open-air drug markets, she said. San Francisco cant even keep the area in front of methadone clinics clear of drug dealers and users. My own son has to walk through this toxic environment every day that he goes to the clinic for his treatment. He is actively trying to get well and free from his addiction, but the city isnt able to keep the route to these clinics safe.

Members of Mothers Against Drug Deaths hold a chain of posters in front of the Tenderloin Linkage Center in San Francisco on Feb. 5, 2022. (Cynthia Cai/The Epoch Times)

Recently, Berlinn helped form a new group called North America Recovers, a nonpartisan coalition of more than 20 American and Canadian community leaders, parents of the homeless, and recovering addicts seeking federal, state, and local actions that support addiction recoverynot addiction enablement, including untreated mental illness and homelessness.

Federal and state laws currently prohibit supervised injection sites from using government funds to operate. San Franciscos 2020 ordinance would allow them, but only with state approval, which the city hasso farfailed to achieve.

In 2021, New York established a privately funded overdose prevention site that allows addicts to bring illegal drugs such as fentanyl and heroin and use them under the supervision of trained staff. They also provide counseling.

The opioid epidemic continues to take an immense toll on our City and claim the lives of far too many San Franciscans, San Francisco City Attorney David Chiu said in a statement. To save lives, I continue to support a non-profit moving forward with New York Citys model of overdose prevention centers. Repealing this ordinance is one step towards that goal.
Saskatchewan Shutting Down Government Liquor Stores, Selling Off Permits

The Saskatchewan government is in the final stage of shutting down provincially owned liquor stores, marking the end of an era.

The permits for the 35 stores have all been sold at public auction, bringing in just over $45 million.

Some of the winning bids were surprisingly high. The top was in the northern town of La Ronge, where the successful bidder paid $3.27 million for a permit to run a liquor store. The lowest was in the town of Carlyle, where the permit went for $450,000.

One economics professor who studies liquor policy said he is surprised at some of the numbers.

Some of them I can see being quite valuable, but the majority of them not, said Jason Childs of the University of Regina. If theyve overpaid, theyll probably get squeezed out by competition.

Government liquor stores have been landmarks in many Saskatchewan communities for decades, although in 2016 the province significantly reduced their number, while increasing the number of private stores.

The last government stores will be closed on March 11.

Lori Carr, the minister responsible for the Saskatchewan Liquor and Gaming Authority (SLGA), called the sale of the permits a success.

The incredible amount of interest means that we will have additional revenue to put toward the high quality public services we all enjoy, she said in a news release announcing results of the auction.

The province maintains declining revenue prompted the change. The government says in 2018-19, profits from liquor retail reached $9.4 million, but by 2021-22, that had dropped to $3.2 million, and further declines were expected

However, the union representing the more than 400 workers who are losing their jobs said the incredible amount of interest referenced by Carr means the province could have made money by staying in liquor retail.

If the stores were losing profits, how could the auction permits alone bring in $45 million? said the Saskatchewan Government Employees Union (SGEU) in an emailed statement to The Epoch Times. By privatizing our public liquor stores, the SaskParty government is turning that income and those profits over to the private sector and large corporations.

Our members are experiencing the full range of emotions that come with this decision, the union added. This is a decision based on a misguided ideology.

The shutdown means Saskatchewan joins Alberta in having liquor retail completely private. Most provinces have a hybrid system, said Childs, where there is a mix of government and private stores.

Government Retail Challenging

When the move was announced, SGEU mounted a protest campaign, but Childs is not surprised the provincial government went through with its plan, although he suspects politics played a role.

I have no reason to believe that the government of Saskatchewan is better at running retail outlets than Sobeys, he said. Government retail is always really challenging, because costs tend to rise really rapidly in that environment.

And he pointed out the province is still going to make a lot of revenue from alcohol, through wholesale and distribution.

The bulk of the money from liquor is going to come in via the markup at the wholesale level.  so youre still going to see Saskatchewan SLGA make a lot of money and remit a lot of money to the provincial coffers, he said.

While there are now two provinces that have dropped the retail liquor business, Childs is doubtful other provinces will follow suit.

Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, P.E.I. are the ones that still maintain a really tight monopoly over alcohol sales, and I dont see them changing course anytime soon, he said. If there was going to be a next domino, I think it would probably be Ontario  but I think thats going to be a pretty big, fat domino thats going to be pretty hard to knock over.

Childs argued private stores do offer some advantages over small producers trying to get into the market.

Since Saskatchewan has opened up to private liquor retailers, selection has exploded, he said, adding small producers told him it was often easier to get their products into a private store than into the government stores.

So what are we doing? Why are we doing it? And does the government have a meaningful comparative advantage in running retail? he asked. And my answer is no.

SGEU, however, says the province is looking at the loss of 400 well-paying jobs that paid for themselves through alcohol sales.

The revenue from public liquor stores in turn has been used to pave our highways and invest in healthcare and education, the union said in its statement.

Meanwhile, the government says successful bidders still face a variety of steps before opening their stores.

Prospective retailers must meet all SLGA licensing requirements to hold a permit, it said in the release.

It says retailers also have to secure locations, hire staff, and make other preparations.

Successful bidders have 18 months to obtain their permit and open their business. Bid amounts must be fully paid before a permit is issued.
Seattle School District May Lay Off Employees Due to Dropping Student Enrollment

Seattles public school district will likely lay off employees because of financial problems caused by plummeting student enrollments, officials announced this week.

This week  weve issued some notifications to employees about theyre being considered for RIF and displacement so that is happening, said Dr. Brent Jones, the superintendent of the Seattle Public Schools, at a school board meeting on Tuesday. RIF refers to reductions in force, another term for layoffs.

Were in that phase right now, Jones added, according to reports.

The school district said in a recent update that its structural deficit has grown to $131 million for the fiscal year and noted that enrollment has decreased over the past decade or so while staff has increased. Whats more, it notes that enrollment is anticipated to continue to trend down.

Jones made note of the drop in enrollment, saying that data shows the student population is down 6.5 percent from 2019 to 2022. Enrollment numbers determine how much the citys schools get from the state.

We really have to be proactive around understanding our special education services, our English language learning servicestransportation, warned Jones, according to local reports. All of these. Were not gonna get enough funding this year.

School board members also reiterated Tuesday that they are planning on carrying out targeted reductions in schools and to consolidate into a system of well-resourced schools.

I know the idea of consolidating schools sounds really disruptive and scary, but I have yet to hear anybody say whats most important to me is my child attends school at this specific building no matter what, said Liza Rankin, Seattle School Board vice president, during the board meeting. What I do hear is whats most important is my child has access to this service, this instruction.

Rankin noted that we cant afford to have buildings that are half-enrolled, and it wouldnt provide what I consider to be a well-resourced school, according to a Seattle Times report, which stated that the school system is already notifying employees of layoffs.

According to figures provided by the Seattle district, the fund balance at Seattle Public Schools was $139.9 million as of December 2022, while the ending fund balance was $151.8 million for the previous year. Those figures also showed that revenue for this year is $317.6 million while expenditures for this school year are $353.5 million.

Possible Reasons Why

Neither Jones nor other school officials attempted to elaborate on reasons why enrollment is down in recent years. However, data provided by Arizona State Universitys Center for Reinventing Public Education show (pdf) that the number of homeschooled students in Washington state has sharply increased since 2019.

Since the start of the pandemic in 2020, declines are not uniform across all types of schools, the report noted. Private schools, charter schools, and homeschools gained more students since the start of the pandemic, while traditional public schools experienced two years of enrollment declines.

Homeschool enrollment nearly doubled, increasing by 91 percent (18,999 additional students) from September 2019 to September 2020 but then declined by 20% (7,787 fewer students) from September 2020 to September 2021, the researchers said. That resulted in a net gain of 11,212 homeschool students (27 percent average annual growth) over the two years.

Across the United States, the average math scores saw the largest declines ever across every state between 2019 and 2022. Scores dropped five points for fourth-graders and eight points for eighth-graders, respectively, between those years, according to a National Assessment of Educational Progress report released late last year.

Reading scores also dipped to levels not seen in about 30 years, decreasing 3 points for both fourth- and eighth-graders, it also found.

As the report was released, Education Secretary Miguel Cardona said the test results were appalling and unacceptable, while calling on teachers and officials to help students catch up following the pandemic.

A once-in-a-generation virus upended our country in so many ways, and our students cannot be the ones who sacrifice the most in the long run, Cardona told reporters. We must treat the task of catching our children up with the urgency that this moment demands.
Sen. Eric Schmitt Calls for Power to Be Returned to the People in CPAC Speech

Speaking at the Conservative Political Action Committees (CPAC) 2023 conference in Washington, Sen. Eric Schmitt (R-Mo.) warned that the United States is at a crossroads and that government overreach and media control represent the biggest threats to Americans freedoms.

Schmitt took issue with President Joe Bidens spending, which he said has crushed Americans. He also criticized investment companies that use ESG (environmental, social, and governance) to hold retirement captive to virtue signaling.

Another point of concern raised by the senator was China is rattling its saber and preparing for war. The senator asserted that Biden is disadvantaging the United States by allowing the nations spy balloons to fly over Missouri.

Schmitt reminded listeners that he was elected to represent the people of Missouri and promised to work to make the state energy-dominant again.

However, he warned that the biggest threat to Americans freedoms lies in the administrative state, which he called a threat to livelihood. Schmitt argued that unelected officials have unparalleled governance over peoples lives, and no one ever told them they could be in control.

State Attorney General Eric Schmitt speaks at an election-night gathering after winning the Republican primary for U.S. Senate at the Sheraton in Westport Plaza in St Louis, Mo., on Aug. 2, 2022. (Kyle Rivas/Getty Images)

The senator claimed that those on the left want to go so far as to regulate a dry creek bed or drainage because of climate change, and they want to control the information people receive through the media to control them.

Suing the Biden Administration

Schmitt did not shy away from touting his actions as the attorney general in his home state, where he filed Missouri v. Biden, suing the Biden administration and other agencies for colluding with social media giants to censor people on social media.

According to Schmitt, during the course of that case, they found direct, blatant, and brazen cooperation between the government and social media.

He said that government agencies had special portals to report posts they disagreed with, and prominent figures like Tucker Carlson and former President Donald Trump were in their crosshairs.

Schmitt also criticized Dr. Anthony Fauci for what he promoted as the responsible way to ward off COVID-19. The lawmaker claimed that when Fauci was privately messaged, he said masks were ineffective, even though he pushed for requirements that people wear them on planes and that kids had to wear masks in schools.

Schmitt warned, When Fauci speaks, Big Tech censored, and this can never happen again, and not on my watch.

Dr. Anthony Fauci, White House Chief Medical Advisor and Director of the NIAID, arrives for a Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee hearing to examine the federal response to COVID-19 at Capitol Hill in Washington on Jan. 11, 2022. (Shawn Thew/AFP via Getty Images)

The Missouri lawmaker also touched on government agencies meeting with social media companies regularly, telling them that misinformation could be anything, priming them to censor the Hunter Biden laptop.

If they can ban [former President Donald Trump] the president of the United States, imagine what they can do to you and I, Schmitt said, driving home his point about the dangers of government and Big-Tech censorship.

The Senate Republican said that if anyone can censor the flow of information, they can control people, which is the lefts goal in working with tech companies.

Schmitt, who claims to be the first AG in the country to stand up against OSHAs vaccine mandate, which he won at the Supreme Court, was one of the leaders to push back against COVID tyranny.

He also promised to be one of the leading senators in the country to fundamentally dismantle the administrative state. Were going to pry power and control away from elected bureaucrats and return it to We The People.

Schmitt believes that the people alone should have the freedom to decide whats best for their families, not unelected bureaucrats that work for an agency they may never have heard of.

The lawmaker vowed to work to claw power away from the government and give it back to the people: I dont know about you, but Im here, and Im ready to lead that fight  I wont be silenced. I wont be intimidated; this is the fight. Lets win this together.
Sen. Rick Scott Warns of the Dangers of Progressive Republicans During CPAC Address

Sen. Rick Scott (R-Fla.) speaks during a news conference on Capitol Hill in Washington, on May 26, 2021. (Drew Angerer/Getty Images)

Senator Rick Scott has told the Conservative Political Action Committees (CPAC) 2023 conference in Washington, on March 2, that America is being destroyed by various entities.

Those Scott pointed the finger at included President Joe Biden, the U.S. Senate, the news media, the Democrat Party, academia, Hollywood, and Wall Street.

He argued that while these groups are destroying the country, it is up to Americans to take it back by being aware of their actions.

The senator cited several examples of what he sees as destructive actions.

They include teaching children that the country was founded on bad principles and is bad, using the Department of Justice to target political advocates, and teaching young children about progressive gender ideology.

Lengthy List of Criticisms

Scott criticized the militarys focus on pronouns, leaving Afghanistan, leaving arms to enemies, increasing debt; opening borders to criminals and drug runners; and bringing socialism into the United States.

Some politicians who say they are on the GOP side are also destroying the country, he said.

Scott then turned his attention to the Republican Party, specifically the old Republican establishment.

He noted that some of its leaders need to remember why they came to Washingtonand they have to forget what they ran on in the interest of fitting in and being accepted in Washington.

These are the Republicans that progressive outlets like The New York Times call responsible Republicans, he said and argued that they give Democrats just enough assistance to pass progressive legislation.

Scott also emphasized the importance of renewing the countrys culture and moral health bringing back things like respecting the American flag, singing the national anthem, respecting God, and the force of good in human historythe American family.

He said that there is nothing to bring Americans together without strong families.

His Challenge the Beginning

Last fall, Scott committed what he called the unpardonable sin in Washington by challenging Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) to become the leader of the Senate.

According to the Florida legislator, everyone in Washington said he was nuts, but Scott believes that his challenge was not the end of something but the beginning of something.

I might be [nuts], but we cannot put up with his BS anymore, Scott said. Im seeking to become the least popular person in Washington, and Im happy to report that Im making a lot of progress.

The senator said he has received criticism from Biden, Rep. Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.), and White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre.

Additionally, many advised him to apologize for attempting to take McConnells position as the Republican head of the Senate.

Scott responded to those recommendations by saying, In the infamous words of Conner McGregor, Id like to apologize to absolutely nobody.

My message to you is this, Scott went on.

Reversing the Decline

These people in Washington who dont like me, theyre not very fond of you either. So lets go.

According to Scott, his challenge to McConnell was the beginning of taking the country back, and he believes the best days are not behind the nation.

He said Americans can turn the country around by reversing the decline, restoring economic health, defeating homegrown socialism, and building an open economy that creates new jobs.

Scott concluded by saying that the United States can win over China, renew Americas ability to lead, and defeat every tyrant in the world, saying the greatest way to have peace is to have a strong America.

Its time for a change within the Republican party and Scott called on the audience to let it begin with us.

His message ended on a hopeful note saying, Its always morning in America.
Legislator Zhijie Xu thoroughly enjoyed Shen Yuns evening performance at Chih The Hall of Kaohsiung Cultural Center, on March 2, 2023. (Shunli Zheng/The Epoch Times)

KAOHSIUNG, TaiwanOn March 2, Shen Yun Performing Arts concluded its fourth consecutive full-house performance at ChihThe Hall of Kaohsiung Cultural Center.

Though the company is warmly welcomed in cities around Taiwan, its artists face a stream of interference from an internet disinformation campaign by the Chinese Communist Party (CCP).

For its focus on reviving Chinese traditional culture and exposing the oppression by Chinas communist regime, Shen Yun is forbidden in China. Even abroad, the CCP frequently slanders Shen Yun attempting to stop audiences from attending the show.

However, these interference attempts did not affect Taiwan legislator Hsu Chih-chieh. He enjoyed the show thoroughly.

The performance was a perfect blend of music and drama! The whole show was so unified that it felt like all these artists had merged into one. They demonstrated the true spirit of teamwork, he said.

Mr. Hsu added that there was a lot of optimism presented in the show, and he found it inspiring.

We will all face hardships in life. So, we must learn to not just enjoy the good times but also happily accept the bad.

Shen Yun is the worlds premier classical Chinese dance and music company. The New York-based artists mission is to revive Chinas 5,000 years of divinely inspired culture destroyed by communist rule.

Presenting a brand-new set of dance pieces and solo performances each year, Shen Yun is sharing with the world the glory of China before communism.

Mr. Hsu was touched by artists commitment and thought, the principles of truthfulness, compassion, and forbearance are wonderful!

We should actively promote traditional values in our society and allow compassion to spread, he expressed. Only by doing so will our society change for the better.

Referring to Shen Yuns portrayal of Chinas organ harvesting crimes, Mr. Hsu said he was shocked.

The organs were taken from a perfectly healthy person. That made me very angryhow can a country hurt its own citizens like that! he exclaimed. The fact that we currently have no way of stopping them breaks my heart.

Mr. Hsu hoped that, through legislative amendments, people in Taiwan could help to expose and end these crimes. He said though there isnt much Taiwan can do across the border, we should try our best.

Societies nowadays dont really talk about moral values and traditional culture anymore. I feel like we really need to improve in this aspect. We are too focused on our own profits and gains nowthis is not a good sign, Mr. Hsu said.

We need to strengthen our spirit of generosity and help each otherjust like how its portrayed in the performance. After we have strengthened ourselves, we need to pay it forward and help those in need.

Reporting by Epoch Times Staff in Kaohsiung, Taiwan.

The Epoch Times is a proud sponsor of Shen Yun Performing Arts. We have covered audience reactions since Shen Yuns inception in 2006.
Socialite Murder Case: Another Man Arrested for Assisting, While Ex-Husband and His Father Both Had Outstanding Legal Issues

On March 3, 2023, the village house where Abby Chois dismembered body was found. The police believe that the killer(s) had planned the crime beforehand. (Benson Lau/The Epoch Times)

Abby Choi, a 28-year-old socialite and daughter-in-law of the founder of an international food group, was suspected of being killed by her ex-husbands family. The police arrested another man on March 2, suspected of assisting the ex-husband in his attempt to escape.

Hong Kong Police Superintendent Chung Nga-lun told the media that the arrested man is 41 years old and works in the yacht rental industry. He is suspected of receiving hundreds of thousands of Hong Kong dollars in remuneration for helping the deceaseds ex-husband, Alex Kwong, run away from Hong Kong to mainland China by boat.

Chung also believes that the entire case has been planned for a month, and the police would investigate the boat owner for evidence on March 4.

He said police have not yet found the body and arms of the deceased.

A Family of Suspected Criminals

Of the five people arrested thus far, many questions about the suspects backgrounds remain.

Chois ex-husband Alex Kwong Kong-chi was wanted for theft, while the ex-father-in-law, Kwong Kou, was a former police sergeant accused of sexual assault in 2005.

Neither incident was brought to conclusion.

Kwong Kong-chi tricked four people into buying gold in 2015, involving HK$5 million (US$637,000). Kwong was later arrested and charged with seven counts of theft.

The case was heard in court by the Kwun Tong Magistrate. But Kwong never showed up at court or reported to the police station. He forfeited his bail bond and was wanted by the court.

Additionally, Kwong was taken to court by American Express for owing a debt of HK$100,000 (US$12,700) in 2015, while he was also sued for HK$1.576 million (US$198 million) in 2016.

Although Kwong Kong-chi was a fugitive, Mrs. Pao, a close friend of Abby Choi Tin-fung, pointed out Kwong could still go back and forth from Hong Kong to China for many years.

Kwong Kous Sexual Assult Charge Went Cold

As for Chois ex-father-in-law, Kwong Kou, a former police sergeant, was arrested by the Regional Crime Squad for suspected sexual assault, resigned, and left the police force.

It seems that the case has since been left unresolved, as there have been no records of further arrests or charges against Kwong Kau.

Senior commentator Ng Chi-sum questioned what the Mongkok Police Station was doing, as the sexual assault complaint happened in 2005.

In 2008 another officer was accused of a similar offense and was sentenced to 12 years in prison. But the 2005 case was unresolved, had been dropped by the victim or forgotten.

Ng said when Kwong was released from the sexual assault, the police should have explained whether the charge was dropped due to insufficient evidence. Did The Department of Justice find the evidence inadequate to consider it a crime, or did the victim refuse to testify at the time?

Alternatively, did the police feel that sergeant Kwong had excellent relations with them, so he was let off? The police never clarified any of these questions, said Ng.

Ng asked if the police should come clean to the public.

Ming Pao, a local media, inquired of the Department of Justice and the police on Feb. 26 whether they had decided to prosecute the former police sergeant Kwong Kou for rape. But neither party responded before the deadline.

Ex-family Demanding

Choi still supported her ex-husbands family after their divorce, including purchasing a luxurious apartment for over HK$70 million (US$9 million). The entire family of her ex-husband moved into the Kadoorie Hill mansion. The property was under the name of her former father-in-law, Kwong Kou, causing further complications.

Choi had planned to sell the property and was looking for another place for her ex-husbands family to live. An argument took place and later led to the fatal murder of the 28-year-old Choi, according to the police.

Columnist Fung Kin-hei argued that if Kwong Kou had been prosecuted or jailed for sexual assault, he might have been more reserved about committing a murder.

If the Hong Kong police hunt down fraudsters as they do to the so-called national security offenders, Kwong Kong-chi would have been arrested when he returned from the mainland. Had the Hong Kong Police and Department of Justice upheld their duty, Abby Choi might not have died in vain, said Fung.
South Australia Seeks World Heritage Listing for Parklands and Hills

A four-year bid to secure World Heritage listing for the Adelaide Parklands, parts of the city and settlements in the Adelaide Hills has taken a step forward after winning state government support.

The City of Adelaide and the Adelaide Hills Council have been working on the bid and say backing from the state government will allow them to move forward with a submission to the World Heritage Centre.

The submission will outline every aspect of the bid, including the argument proposing the outstanding universal value of the regions involved.

Our parklands and city layout set our city apart, its what makes Adelaide truly unique, Lord Mayor Jane Lomax-Smith said.

Theres plenty of work ahead of us, this requires a strong commitment and combined effort from local government partners, state and federal governments.

Lomax-Smith said it was also important to engage with and secure consent from first nations people and to get input from world heritage experts and conservationists.

I hope we can all work together in partnership to help give our unique city the international recognition it deserves, Lomax-Smith said.

Adelaide Hills Council Mayor Jan-Claire Wisdom said it was hoped the listing would recognise the city and hills as living landscapes, whilst respecting heritage values and giving a voice to Indigenous perspectives of settlement.

Environment Minister Susan Close said as well as backing the bid, she had written to the federal government seeking its support.

Adelaide was a unique European settlement, and the government welcomes any effort to preserve this heritage and history and also explore the impacts the colony had on Aboriginal people, Close said.

The Naracoorte Caves National Park in South Australias (SA) southeast is the states only World Heritage site, with the state government also working on a nomination for the Flinders Ranges National Park.

The Adelaide Park Lands and the city Layout were listed on the National Heritage register in 2008.
Supreme Court May Back Out of Ruling on Doctrine Empowering State Legislatures to Regulate Elections

Republican speaker of the North Carolina House of Representatives, Tim Moore, speaks to the press in front of the U.S. Supreme Court in Washington on Dec. 7, 2022. (Olivier Douliery/AFP via Getty Images)

The U.S. Supreme Court signaled late on March 2 that its considering dropping a high-profile pending case in which Republicans are asking it to rule that state legislatures have greater power over federal elections.

The case, Moore v. Harper, court file 21-1271, is currently being deliberated by the justices after they heard almost three hours of oral arguments on Dec. 7, 2022, which The Epoch Times reported on at the time.

Republican Tim Moore, speaker of the North Carolina House of Representatives, is appealing a Supreme Court of North Carolina order redrawing the states electoral map against the wishes of the states Republican-majority legislature.

Moores side is asking the high court to recognize that state legislatures have preeminent authority under the U.S. Constitution to make the rules for presidential and congressional elections without interference from state courts.

State Supreme Court to Rehear Case

But on Feb. 3, the Supreme Court of North Carolina decided to rehear the underlying case, a move that could affect the case thats before the U.S. Supreme Court.

In its new unsigned order (pdf), the U.S. Supreme Court directed the litigants and U.S. Solicitor General Elizabeth Prelogar to file supplemental letter briefs addressing the effect on its jurisdiction after the North Carolina court granted rehearing in the underlying case and any subsequent state court proceedings.

The briefs, not to exceed 10 pages, are due no later than 2 p.m. on March 20, the order states. No justices dissented from the order.

When it was dominated by Democratic judges, the state Supreme Court blocked a Republican-drawn map of North Carolinas 14 districts in the U.S. House of Representatives, finding it unlawfully disfavored Democratic Party voters. But the partisan makeup of that court has changed, and its now dominated by Republican judges who could reverse the courts previous ruling.

Republicans now represent seven of the districts; Democrats represent the other seven districts.

Independent State Legislature Doctrine

Commentators have been speculating for months that the justices would find a way to avoid ruling on the once-obscure independent state legislature doctrine, under which Republicans argue that the Constitution has always directly authorized state legislatures alone to make rules for the conduct of federal elections in their respective states.

Democrats say this doctrine is a fringe conservative legal theory that could endanger voting rights, green-light partisan gerrymandering in the redistricting process, and cause upheaval in the electoral process.

One liberal law professor has called the doctrine the 800-pound gorilla of election law because of its potentially disruptive effect on election administration norms.

Conservatives, on the other hand, say the doctrine is derived from the plain text of the Constitution and would restore reasonable rules on the electoral playing field and allow elected state officials, instead of judges, to make election rules.

A Tough Case

Election law expert J. Christian Adams, president of the Public Interest Legal Foundation (PILF), said the high court may indeed be looking for a way to avoid ruling on the controversial appeal.

The new order is a signal it might happen, Adams told The Epoch Times by email.

Courts regularly look for reasons not to decide a tough case. If the State Supreme Court resolved the issue on a state level, then the SCOTUS [i.e. U.S. Supreme Court] wont want to take the case. They have limited jurisdiction to live real cases or controversies, Adams said.

PILF describes itself as the nations only public interest law firm dedicated wholly to election integrity. The nonprofit organization exists to assist states and others to aid the cause of election integrity, and fight against lawlessness in American elections.

PILF filed a friend-of-the-court brief (pdf) in September 2022 in Moore v. Harper supporting Moores position.

Ordered Liberty

The petitioners position is consistent with the allocation of power in the Constitution.

The Framers sought to protect ordered liberty by vesting state legislatures as the primary reservoir of power over elections. The Framers rejected placing powers over elections wholly in the national legislature, or wholly in the State legislatures and instead allocated power primarily in the latter and ultimately in the former, the brief reads, quoting Alexander Hamilton in Federalist 59.

The state legislature is the body closest and most responsive to the people, and thereby the most likely to preserve the liberties of the people. This explicit allocation of power to state legislatures preserves ordered liberty.

Veteran Supreme Court observer Curt Levey, president of the conservative Committee for Justice, also said the new order suggests that the U.S. Supreme Court is looking for a way out.

The question the Court asked for briefing on is an important and interesting jurisdictional question, Levey said in a text message to The Epoch Times.

Nonetheless, one wonders how much the question was also motivated by the justices possible post-argument hesitancy to decide the case on the merits, especially since the Court rather than either party raised the question.

Attorneys for both sides in the case and the U.S. Department of Justice didnt respond by press time to a request by The Epoch Times for comment.
ALBANY  National Grid revealed this week that its four substations that shut down during the historic blizzard that paralyzed Western New York in December, causing thousands to lose power, were designed to hold up against the worst of summer weather, but not unprecedented and extreme cold weather conditions.

The information was included in a report this week that is part of a state Public Service Commission review of the utility's performance during the blizzard. In it, National Grid stated that the substations shutting down was, in a sense, as designed."

What went wrong? A generational blizzard exposed fatal flaws and generates fierce second-guessing The blizzard that swept through Buffalo Niagara late last month caused widespread devastation and prompted serious questions about why, in key ways, the municipal response was lacking.

The report, which includes other recommendations for how National Grid might better respond to a winter weather emergency, broadly detailed the utility's response to the Christmas blizzard in which 47 people died in Erie County, including 12 in homes without power or heat. A broader loss of power for more than 108,000 customers in Western New York resulted both from downed power lines and the four substations.

Although much of the equipment at substations is fully enclosed, some equipment, such as transformers, is only partially enclosed for "cooling purposes, the report states, primarily to prevent their overheating during the hottest days of summer. But the company did not foresee the problems that having partially exposed substations would create during extreme winter weather in December.

When wind-driven snow and ice accumulated on and around the stations' externally exposed electrical equipment, the substations tripped, or shut off to avoid more significant damage to the system.

National Grid: Snow and high wind overwhelmed Buffalo substations, but power now restored "Weve never had this. Even though we get snow in Buffalo, from November to March, weve never had it blow to the degree it did," said Kenneth Kujawa, National Grid regional director for Western New York.

"Three substations had substantial accumulation of snow and ice and tripped entirely off-line to protect the equipment," a National Grid spokesman, David Bertola, told The News. "Those substations required the use of the tarps and heaters to remove the snow and ice to enable reenergization. A fourth substation was partially affected, and dropped part of its load. The fourth station required attention due to the snow, but not to the level that the other three had received."

The report states that National Grid is now looking into whether strategic placement of substation de-icing kits is warranted at various substations.

Bertola said that in the short-term, the company has provided substations with tarp coverings that can be used to prevent such icing during a future severe winter storm.

In the longer-term, the company is exploring solutions such as putting devices akin to a "rolling garage door" or "giant window shade" that can be pulled over substations as a means of preventing the type of shutdown that occurred in December.

In the storm's immediate aftermath, National Grid had said that five substations in the city were flat, after the heavy wet snow effectively short-circuited the equipment, triggering shutdowns. (The report, however, clarifies that only four stations shut down.) The outages affected large swaths of neighborhoods from North Buffalo and the Elmwood Village to the Old First Ward and the East Side.

National Grid has 43 indoor substations that are part of highly interconnected underground cable electrical network serving customers in Buffalo, and according to the report, the indoor substations are among the longest serving assets in the companys system.

As part of a long-term refurbishment program for these facilities, 30 of the substations have been rebuilt so far, with the remaining 13 included in future capital investment plans.

National Grid says there is no correlation between whether a substation faltered during the blizzard and whether it had been refurbished.

The substations impacted by Winter Storm Elliott included already rebuilt facilities, as well as facilities that have not yet been rebuilt, the report stated.

At the conclusion of its 58-page report, the utility included a brief summary of future steps it is exploring to prevent problems that occurred during the historic storm.

'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.

Another problem that emerged in December was that Erie County and Buffalo faced long delays in plowing the deep snow that accumulated over 37 consecutive hours of blizzard conditions.

That meant National Grids trucks and crews faced lengthy delays in getting to paralyzed substations in the city.

In a section of the National Grid report entitled Improved StateCountyCity Coordination, National Grid wrote that the storm brought to light instances when the utility needs to take the lead and provide direction to (Erie) County around what roads to clear. In its plowing requests in December, the companys top priority was specific streets and locations on Buffalo's East Side that needed to be plowed to enable it to restore service to customers.

"We provided regular updates to the snowplow coordination team that was based at the Erie County Emergency Operations Center," Bertola said. "In the future, if we have a major outage event where access is a problem due to snow, the framework is in place for us to work cooperatively."

National Grid also is exploring obtaining specialty equipment that would improve the utilitys access and mobility when roads are impassable due to snow. The company says it plans to complete a review of whether to purchase such equipment by July 31, 2023.

In its recommendations, the company additionally cited the need for coordination with the state Thruway Authority and wrote that National Grid has identified key contacts at NYS Thruway Authority who have pledged to work with us on a process for emergency travel on the Thruway when it is safe to access, but closed.

Bertola said that a few days into the storm, National Grid had wanted to bring in crews to Buffalo from the southwest portion of New York where restoration efforts had been completed. But with the I-90 and Route 219 closed, the company had to consider alternate routes, he said.

The company also outlined steps to better support National Grid employees when they are stranded on company property for an extended period, as occurred in December, including ensuring that proper sleeping, hygiene, and nutritional products are available.
Mr. Huang Huan-sung attends Shen Yun Performing Arts at the Chih-The Hall of the Kaohsiung Cultural Center in Kaohsiung, Taiwan, on March 1, 2023. (Li Ching-tai/The Epoch Times)

KAOHSIUNG, TaiwanSeveral business owners said they found the lost values in Shen Yun Performing Arts after attending at the Chih-The Hall of the Kaohsiung Cultural Center on March 1.

This is my first-time attending Shen Yun. I felt its pureness, beauty, and majesty, said Mr. Huang Huan-sung, a company president. Its mesmerizing! I was awed and moved. I feel my heart is full of happiness now. Im very excited.

New York-based Shen Yun is the worlds top classical Chinese dance company, and has a mission to show the beauty and goodness of China before communism.

Mr. Huang felt the story-based dances delivered the historical stories in a very vivid way, which brought him into the stories. He believed that the effect came from the coordination of the backdrop, dancers, and the live orchestra.

The dynamic backdrop is spectacular. The colors are very saturated and very well-matched. The dancers skills are superb. These all made us feel excited, he said. The live orchestras music is very impressive too.

The [dancers] movements are incredibly synchronized. Especially in the dance Water Sleeves (in which the female dancers dress in long, flowing sleeves), the dancers moved exactly together, which is perfect and very worthwhile to watch, he said.

Mr. Huang said he was very awed by the profound meaning he took from the show, and there were several times that he was moved to tears.

I felt positive energies. Shen Yun showed us a direction and gave us an indication. It helped us to correct our mindsets to think in the right way, he said.

Mr. Huang planned to attend Shen Yun again next year. I will tell all my friends that they would feel regret if they dont attend Shen Yun.

Shen Yun Presented a Paradise

Ms. Wu Hui-fang is the president of the Guanting Clinic, the founding president of the Kaohsiung Haomei Charity Association, the president of Chengmei Lions Club, and the president of China Excellent Womens Promotion Association.

Shen Yun presented a paradise in front of us, and brought happiness and joy to us. It purified our hearts and cured our souls, she said.

Ms. Wu has attended Shen Yun three times. She said she was very touched by Shen Yun.

I have different feelings every time. I felt the dynamic backdrop is better and the techniques are more advanced this year. I admire Shen Yun dancers dancing so synchronized and having perfect figures, she said. I believed that they must have been trained very hardly. Otherwise they cant be so extraordinary.

The music is very pure. It has just been therapy for the soul. Listening to Shen Yuns music, Im very calm, she said. Especially the traditional erhu (a two-stringed instrument), which sounds amazing. It played the melodies ups and downs. Its really enchanting.

Ms. Wu was touched by the values that Shen Yun delivered through the historical stories. She said these values were lost in Taiwan, but Shen Yun brought them back.

[After this], I felt that people will receive the consequences no matter what good or evil they do. The kind person looks like were bullied by a bad person, but they will be saved by divine beings in the end, she said.

A Christian, Ms. Wu said Shen Yun encouraged her to give more love to others.

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. Wu Hui-fang, the president of the Guanting Clinic, attends Shen Yun Performing Arts at the Chih-The Hall of the Kaohsiung Cultural Center in Kaohsiung, Taiwan, on March 1, 2023. (Li Ching-tai/The Epoch Times)

Mr. Wang Chien-sheng is the president of Huafan Information Company. He felt Shen Yun is pretty majestic!

Every artist tried all their best to perform. The whole choreography has our oriental character, as well as the virtues of our Chinese traditional culture, he said.

I felt Shen Yun is encouraging and inspiring. It uplifted us to be kind, he said. This is fabulous. I enjoyed it very much. I will introduce Shen Yun to my friends.

Reporting by Epoch Times Staff in Kaohsiung, Taiwan.

The Epoch Times is a proud sponsor of Shen Yun Performing Arts. We have covered audience reactions since Shen Yuns inception in 2006.
Taiwan Military to Get $619 Million US Arms Boost

Air force soldiers load a U.S. made AIM-120 Advanced Medium-Range Air-to-Air Missile at a combat readiness mission during a press invited event at the airbase in Hualien, Taiwan, on Aug. 17, 2022. (Ann Wang/Reuters)

TAIPEIThe United States has approved the potential sale of $619 million in new weapons to Taiwan, including missiles for its F-16 fleet, as the island reported a second day of large-scale Chinese air force incursions nearby.

The arms sales are likely to further sour already tense ties between Washington and Beijing, which has repeatedly demanded such deals stop, viewing them as unwarranted support for democratically governed Taiwan. The Chinese regime claims the island as its own, despite the fact that Taiwan is a de facto independent country, with its own military, democratically-elected government, and constitution.

The Pentagon said on Wednesday the U.S. State Department has approved the potential sale to Taiwan of arms and equipment that includes 200 anti-aircraft Advanced Medium Range Air-to-Air Missiles (AMRAAM) and 100 AGM-88B HARM missiles that can take out land-based radar stations.

The proposed sale will contribute to the recipients capability to provide for the defense of its airspace, regional security, and interoperability with the United States, it said in a statement.

Taiwans defense ministry said the missiles would help effectively defend the airspace to deal with threats and provocations from the Communist military and would bolster defense stockpiles.

Raytheon Technologies and Lockheed Martin are the principal contractors, it added. The Chinese communist regime has sanctioned both companies for selling Taiwan weapons.

Chinas Foreign Ministry said it was firmly opposed to the planned sale, adding that the United States should stop arms sales to and military contacts with Taiwan.

Chinese Air Force Incursion

Taiwan has complained for the past three years or so of stepped-up Chinese military activities near the island.

Taiwan reported on Thursday a second day of large-scale Chinese air force incursions into its air defense identification zone, with its defense ministry saying that during the last 24 hours it had spotted 21 aircraft.

Taiwans defense ministry said the aircraft, 17 J-10 fighters and four J-16 fighters, had flown into the southwestern corner of Taiwans air defencs identification zone, according to a map the ministry released.

The J-10s, an older model that entered service two decades ago, flew closer to the Chinese coast than Taiwans, while the J-16s, a much newer and more advanced fighter, flew northeast of the Taiwan-controlled Pratas Islands, the map showed.

The lightly defended Pratas are strategically located at the top of the South China Sea, and many of Chinas fly-bys happen nearby.

Taiwans forces monitored the situation, including sending up its own planes, the ministry added, using the normal phrasing for its response to such Chinese incursions.

The ministry on Wednesday reported 19 Chinese aircraft flying in Taiwans air defense zone.

None of the aircraft crossed the sensitive median line of the Taiwan Strait, which has served as an unofficial barrier between the two sides, but which Chinas air force has been flying over almost daily since staging war games near Taiwan last August.

Taiwan last reported a large median line crossing of Chinese aircraft on Feb. 24, when 10 planes were involved.

The Chinese regime has not commented on recent activities near Taiwan. In January, the Chinese regime said it staged combat drills around the island.

No shots have been fired and the Chinese aircraft have been flying in Taiwans ADIZ, not in its territorial airspace.

The ADIZ is a broader area Taiwan monitors and patrols that gives it more time to respond to any threats.

Taiwans government has repeatedly offered talks with the Chinese regime, but says the island will defend itself if attacked and that only the Taiwanese people can decide their own future.
KAOHSIUNG, TaiwanShengli Huang, the CEO of An Maw Enterprise, attended Shen Yun Performing Arts for the first time on March 2, at ChihThe Hall of Kaohsiung Cultural Center.

Exiting the theater at the end of the evening, Mr. Huang exclaimed excitedly that Shen Yun was wonderful and incredible!

After years of being an engineer, Mr. Huang said he constantly felt stressed and tense. However, that changed after spending just one evening at Shen Yun.

The overall presentation and the content of the performance were excellent. I was especially touched by the live orchestra, he said.

The feeling it gave me was so peaceful its hard to describeI felt very comfortable and relaxed. This is the first time Ive felt this way in decades.

In 2006, Shen Yun Performing Arts was established in New York by a group of leading artists longing to rediscover Chinas lost glory.

Since its founding, Shen Yun has been touring around the world every year to showcase through dance and music, the beauty of China before communism.

Mr. Huang absolutely loved the solo performance of the two-stringed erhu.

Even now Im mesmerized by that erhu performance. The movement of the musician as she played, her expressionall of it was incredible! So touching.

He added that although Shen Yuns performance was just over two hours, it brought me a whole new perspective. It strengthened me.

Right before attending the show, Mr. Huangs company was commissioned for a large project. Now that his heart and mind are clear and focused, Mr. Huang is sure that hell be able to really concentrate and handle it well tomorrow.

Chaoqian Wang (L) brought his family of 10 to attend Shen Yun Performing Arts at ChihThe Hall of Kaohsiung Cultural Center, on March 2, 2023. (Fang Long/The Epoch Times)

Also in the audience were Chaoqian Wang, the president of Weijyun Duo Agricultural Biotechnology, and his family of 10.

Ive brought my whole family here to see Shen Yun because the program is always different. Mr. Wang said. Its also very educational, thats why Ive brought the children as well.

Each year, Shen Yun presents a brand-new set of choreography and compositions. So, even returning audiences can expect a surprise every time.

The story dances were always very touchingespecially when they portrayed the dynamic between good and evil, the change in our society, and humanitys future, Mr. Wang added. These are all important topics for us to consider. Its what will improve our future.

For Mr. Wang, watching Shen Yun is like charging your batteries.

The optimism and positive energy Shen Yun delivered comforted our hearts. It was a great way to recharge, he said.

Reporting by Epoch Times Staff in Kaohsiung, Taiwan.

The Epoch Times is a proud sponsor of Shen Yun Performing Arts. We have covered audience reactions since Shen Yuns inception in 2006.
Tesla Says South Australia Represents the Future for Battery Production

South Australia will become home of the world's largest "grid-forming" battery as the nation's shifts from fossil fuels. (Malp/Adobe Stock)

South Australia is now on the world map after Teslas senior executive said the Australian state was the future for renewable energy technologies.

This comes as South Australia opened its first 12 out of 140 border-to-border electric car charging networks.

Australia is a little bit of a special case; they represent the futureSouth Australia in particularsolar and wind supplied 70 percent of South Australias energy in 2022, Andrew Baglino, Senior Vice President of Powertrain and Energy Engineering at Tesla, said at the companys Investor Day event on March 1.

Baglino also referred to data gathered from 5000 customers in South Australia to tout the benefits of the companys electrical products.

However, Baglino did not mention a court case in which, in 2021, the Australian Energy Regulator (AER) instituted proceedings against Hornsdale Power Reserve (HPR) for alleged breaches of the National Electricity Ruleswhere it was alleged that HPR failed to ensure frequency control between July and November 2019.

In 2016, Tesla created its first and then-biggest Powerwall 2 batteries, known as the Hornsdale Power Reserve, to power more than 5,000 South Australian homes. The system went into operation in November 2017 and was reported to have a positive impact on the local network in its first 100 days.

Warning signs adorn the fence surrounding the compound housing the Hornsdale Power Reserve, featuring the worlds largest lithium-ion battery made by Tesla, during the official launch near the South Australian town of Jamestown, in Australia, Dec. 1, 2017. (David Gray/Reuters)

South Australias wind and solar energies are also reported to have the highest penetration of local grid demand in the worldwhich is favourable for the companys plan to move towards renewables, reported Renew Economy.

The company has also used the achievements in South Australia to exponentially increase stationary battery storage to at least one terawatt-hour a year and beyond.

The Tesla big battery at the Hornsdale Power Reserve in South Australia costs around $172 million (US$116 million) and is capable of outputting 150 Megawatts for at most 77 minutes.

Musk Unveils Renewables Plan

Teslas Investor Day event in Texas was where CEO Elon Musk unveiled his companys plan to become the leading global driver in shifting from fossil fuels to renewable energy. The plan, known as Master Plan 3, is expected to cost the company approximately $10 trillion.

I really wanted today to be not just about Tesla investors who own stock, but really anyone who is an investor in Earth, Musk said.

There is a clear path to a sustainable-energy Earth. It doesnt require destroying natural habitats. It doesnt require us to be austere and stop using electricity and be in the cold or anything.

Musk said Tesla plans to construct new car and battery cell factories and produce more cars per year at its existing factories.

Meanwhile, Tesla says South Australia has a key role in using battery storage to replace fossil fuels one plant at a time, where the company plans to ultimately reach a grid on 100 percent renewables.

We have one grid operator thats utilising virtual machine mode, and they say they will not operate their grid at 100 percent renewables unless they have this feature unless they have virtual machine mode working, said Mike Snyder, the head of Tesla Megapack.

They tried (without VMM), and it didnt work very well. Virtual machine is like synthetic inertia where you turn the battery power plant  through software  into behaving like its a giant spinning machine, literally.

And that inertia stabilises the grid. You dont need a giant spinning machine. You dont need a huge fossil fuel power plant or a giant hydro turbine.

You just have the battery to it. And you can program it to whatever you need at that part of the grid. Or even have it be dynamically changing as the as the grid conditions change.

Company Touts Cost Cost-Benefit of Electric Products

Baglino said the average monthly cost for its South Australian customers was $140.

But this cost was reduced to $61 per month if customers had solar, a Powerwall, and proposed software operations that worked in an intelligent way.

Thats what happened in South Australia last year. This represents the future of South Australia, in particular, where solar and wind supplied 70 percent of South Australias energy in 2022, Baglino said.

That compares to 30 percent in Texas, and 35 percent in California, but this is an indication of where this is all headed in both centralised and distributed storage resources, providing the key to unlocking fully renewable grids.

Meanwhile, Canstar Blue reported that the cost of purchasing a Tesla Powerwall 2 would be upwards of $15,000 (US$10,118), plus an additional $1000-$2000 for supporting hardware or installation.

Additionally, Choice reported that while some households may wait around eight years to recoup their investment, others may have to wait up to 20 years.

Economic Appeal Varies

Damien Moyse, CEO of Renew, a sustainability nonprofit, said that while solar with battery systems are economically attractive to Australian households, the appeal depends on location, household type, and energy usage, reported Choice.

Its fair to say more homes would now be able to achieve a 10-year payback [than in 2015], but a lot of homes still wont, he says. The variation is huge  with larger, higher-usage houses getting better value out of a battery, Moyse said.

Meanwhile, battery prices havent fallen as fast as solar panels, which fell less 95 percent in less than 10 years.

While the cost of the battery technology has dropped significantly internationally, other costs associated with battery installation in Australia, including labour and other components, remain relatively expensive, Moyse said.

Additionally, MarketWatch reports that while the Powerwall system has a larger capacity than most batteries currently on the market, it cannot be purchased separately via Tesla and is more expensive than other solar storage options.
Jeff and Jill Dixon at the Shen Yun Performing Arts performance at Segerstrom Center for the Arts on March 2, 2023. (Alice Sun/The Epoch Times)

COSTA MESA, Calif.Although most of the world sees China and thinks of its communist regime, the reality is, the Chinese Communist Party rule is only two percent of the total Chinese history. From legends of Creation to the Qing Dynasty, China was once known as the Land of the Divine.

I didnt know about the spiritual aspect before the show. So Im definitely learning about the divinity and what the Creation story is in Chinese culture. So that was all very new to me, said Jeff Dixon, an IT executive.

Mr. Dixon and his wife Jill saw Shen Yun Performing Arts performance at Segerstrom Center for the Arts on March 2.

With 5,000 years of history to draw from, New York-based Shen Yun puts on a new production every year so that the countless stories Chinas vast civilization can have its moment under the spotlight. Shen Yun is the worlds premier classical Chinese dance company, using this ancient art form to tell these stories.

I thought it was great. I think it was phenomenal they are doing that. I think dance is a great way to sort of brighten out culture, and I thought they did phenomenal job doing that, said Mr. Dixon.

One of the dance stories takes the audience back to the period of the Three Kingdoms.

I like the story. I like the way the set changed a lot. I like the costumes in that one quite a bit. And I like the battle scene, sort of interesting to see how they integrated dance with fighting, expressed Mr. Dixon. Not only that, but also the costumes are so, so good at bringing out the culture of the country. Another example of that was the one in the Forbidden City, and all the women wore platform shoes. I thought it was so cool to see how they integrated that costume design into dance.

Apart from dances of ancient China, Shen Yun also enacts stories from present-day China. One story showed Falun Dafa practitioners in China are standing by their faith and not backing down the face of oppression by the Chinese communist regime.

I was really impressed by the Falun Dafa story. It was powerful. I thought it was a good enactment of current events, said Mrs. Dixon.

Shen Yuns digital backdrop allows effortless change of scene designs. Use of this technology is Shen Yuns very own patent.

Ive never seen such a technologically integrative performance. I thought that was very wonderful. Ive never seen that before in the United States, said Mrs. Dixon.

Reporting by Alice Sun and Maria Han.

The Epoch Times is a proud sponsor of Shen Yun Performing Arts. We have covered audience reactions since Shen Yuns inception in 2006.
The Ideas That Formed the Constitution, Part 20: Emer de Vattel and the Law of Nations

Commentary

Within the Constitutions text are meanings most purported constitutional experts never see. They fail to see those meanings because they dont take the trouble to learn enough about the environment in which the Constitution arose.

Suppose youre reading a novel in which a character says, I dug that. If the novel was published last year and has a contemporaneous setting, the character probably means he made a hole in the ground. But if the novel was published in 1973 or describes events around that timeparticularly if the character is young and hipthen he may well mean, I liked that or I understood that.

The Constitution was written 236 years ago. Its English is not 21st-century English, but the language of 1787. Moreover, its words arent to be read as if they appeared in a novel or a cookbook. They are to be read as components of an 18th-century legal document, the supreme Law of the Land.

You may have heard someone say the Constitution was written to be understood by ordinary people. Thats mostly truebut its true only in context. Most of the framers and leading ratifiers were lawyers, and the ordinary people they addressed were members of the American public during the late 1780s. That was a time in which the general public was far more conversant with law and policy than the public is today.

I dont want to suggest that understanding the Constitution is an exercise in obscurantism, performable only by a few experts. On the contrary, understanding the document is well within the abilities of the average literate American. But as is true with any specialized writing, you do have to acquire some background.

Many of the Constitutions expressions were terms of art derived from 18th-century law. In other words, they carried specific legal meanings. Sometimes, as in the case of the Writ of Habeas Corpus (Article I, Section 9, Clause 2), the legal nature of the term is obvious. Yet there are other words and phrases that look ordinary and innocent, but were intended to convey specialized meanings. Two illustrations are necessary in the Necessary and Proper Clause (Article I, Section 8, Clause 18) (pdf) and the freedom of speech in the First Amendment.

The Constitutions legal terms are explained in my book The Original Constitution: What It Actually Said and Meant.

The Law of Nations

Legal terms of art also appear in what constitutional lawyers call the Define and Punish Clause (Article I, Section 8, Clause 10). This provision gives Congress power to define and punish Offenses  against the Law of Nations.

The law of nations was the usual 18th-century term for international law. Nations included not only sovereign countries, but also non-citizen, foreign ethnic groups within sovereign territories. The Law of Nations consisted of standards governing international conduct. To define and punish Offenses meant to enforce those standards against people who would violate them. The Define and Punish Clause empowers Congress to adopt laws punishing people who violate a treaty, assault an ambassador, cross an international boundary without permission, and so forth.

The Define and Punish Clause is one of several of the Constitutions references to foreign policy and international relations. This essay tells you more about them.

The Founders Sources of International Law

During the 17th and 18th centuries, five great scholars forged international law into its modern shape. In 1783, the Confederation Congress empaneled a committee consisting of James Madison of Virginia, Thomas Mifflin of Pennsylvania, and Hugh Williamson of North Carolinaall of whom were to serve at the 1787 Constitutional Convention. This committee recommended that Congress purchase the works of all five international law scholars.

The first of these scholars was Huigh DeGroot (15831645), more commonly known by his Latin name: Hugo Grotius. He published the Law of Nature and Nations in 1625.

For several years Grotius held high office in the Netherlands. But like Jean-Louis DeLolme, the subject of our last installment, he got cross-wise with the power structure. He was imprisoned, broke out of prison, and relocated to France. He continued his career of writing and diplomacy. Today Grotius is recognized as the father of modern international law.

The other four authors were Samuel von Pufendorf (16321694) and Christian Wolff (16791754) (both Germans), Jean-Jacques Burlamaqui (16941748), a professor at the University of Geneva, and Burlamaquis most famous student, Emer de Vattel (17141767). (Vattels first name sometimes is rendered erroneously as Emmerich.)

To the Founders, these men formed an international law pantheon. American lawyers and judges regularly relied on Grotius, Pufendorf, Burlamaqui, and Vattel, and, more rarely, on Wolff. Most of the five surfaced during the 17871790 constitutional debates. I documented some of their appearances in a recent article for the British Journal of American Legal Studies (pdf).

Emer de Vattel

Of the five, the one the American Founders most frequently consulted was Vattel. Like Grotius, Vattel was both a scholar and diplomat. His principal work, Le Droit des Gens (The Law of Nations), was published in French in 1758 and translated into English two years later. You can learn more about Vattels life at the Online Library of Liberty.

There were four reasons why Vattel was so congenial to the American Founders: First, he was the most recent of the five great authorities. Second, his book was comprehensive and readable. Third, he was a strong advocate for individual liberty. And fourth, he discussed issues that, while not always part of the law of nations, were very important to the Founders: the nature of confederations, the superiority of constitutions to legislatures, the need for one and only one person to supervise the executive branch, and so forth.

Vattel was referenced at the Constitutional Convention, primarily in a speech by Luther Martin of Maryland. He also showed up during the ratification debates. For example, at the Pennsylvania ratifying convention, James Wilson argued about Vattel with an Antifederalist delegate. In the South Carolina legislature, Charles Cotesworth Pinckney also debated Vattel with an Antifederalist. In New York, Gov. George Clinton relied on Vattel in a speech to his states ratifying convention.

Why These Five Great Authorities Matter

We must consult the Founders international law authorities to fully understand the Constitutions international law terms. Here are a few examples:

The Constitution says a state may not enter into a treaty. But with congressional consent a state may enter into an interstate compact. What is the difference?

The Constitution refers to Ambassadors, other public Ministers and Consuls. What exactly are these officials, and how do they differ?

Some writers wonder where Congress derives its power to regulate immigration. The Founders international law authorities tell us that its part of the power to define and punish Offenses  against the Law of Nations. (See my Aug. 29, 2022, Epoch Times essay for more information.)

The Constitution also grants Congress power to declare War, grant Letters of Marque and Reprisal  When must Congress declare war, and when is such a declaration unnecessary? What are Letters of Marque and Reprisal? The Founders international law authorities answer these questions as well.

The president is the nations leader on foreign policy issues. Commentators sometimes complain that the Constitutions list of presidential foreign affairs powers seems skimpy. But the Founders international law authorities tell us the list is much fuller than it first appears. For instance, the power to receive Ambassadors also includes the prerogative of refusing to see them and of bestowing, or refusing, recognition of foreign governments.

The works of these authors are available on the internet. Vattel in particular is useful to anyone who wants to know more about our Constitution.

Read prior installments here: first, second, third, fourth, fifth, sixth, seventh, eighth, ninth, tenth, eleventh, twelfth, thirteenth, fourteenth, fifteenth, sixteenth, seventeenth, eighteenth, and nineteenth.

Views expressed in this article are the opinions of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of The Epoch Times.
The Only Winner in Ukraine Is China

Beijing benefits economically, diplomatically, and militarily

Russian President Vladimir Putin speaks with Chinese President Xi Jinping before an extended-format meeting of heads of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization summit (SCO) member states in Samarkand, Uzbekistan on Sept. 16, 2022. (Sputnik/Sergey Bobylev/Pool via Reuters)

Commentary

Near the end of February, the G-20 finance ministers adjourned without a joint statement because two of them, from Russia and China, refused to condemn in the strongest terms Moscows aggression against Ukraine. Beijing likewise abstained a few days earlier from a similar U.N. General Assembly resolution.

Despite widespread global support for Ukraine, the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) thinks it can attract European countries that senior diplomat Wang Yi perceives as malleable: Germany, France, Italy, and Hungary. With the last of that list, under Viktor Orban, Beijing is actually making inroads.

The CCP sees the war as beneficial and as a distraction for the United States from the Chinese regimes own territorial ambitions in Taiwan, the South China Sea, and northern India. A poll published by Morning Consult on Feb. 23 found that Chinese citizens strongly believe that Russias war helps their country.

Diplomatically, Beijing seeks to use the war as a pretext to expand its influence in the Global South by appearing as a neutral peacemaker. But Beijings support of negotiations, when Russia still occupies large parts of Ukraine, effectively rewards Russia by pressuring Kyiv into concessions. That would pave the way for the CCPs future planned aggression against Taiwan.

Chinese leader Xi Jinping likely encouraged Vladimir Putin in their meeting just 20 days before the invasion. The two issued a joint statement expressing a no-limits friendship and new era of international relations, agreeing to $117.5 billion in oil, gas, and other deals that later mitigated the impact of sanctions.

Beijing demonstrated ideological alignment with Russia within days of the invasion by blaming the United States, rationalizing it as a legitimate expression of Russian national security, and repeating Russian disinformation that the United States financed a network of secret bioweapon labs across Ukraine.

Beijing didnt fool Kyiv. The only country who really benefits now from this  war in Ukraine, is China, noted Ukraines presidential economic adviser Oleg Ustenko in March 2022, two weeks after the invasion.

Zhang Jun, permanent representative of China, speaks during the U.N. Security Council meeting discussing the Russian and Ukraine conflict at the United Nations Headquarters in New York City on March 11, 2022. (Michael M. Santiago/Getty Images)

Russias pariah status and subjection to sanctions make it ever more reliant on Beijing.

Militarily, the two countries join for up to five major exercises annually. While the Biden administration repeatedly asserts that Beijing hasnt yet sent military materiel for Russias war in Ukraine, China has in fact supplied jet fighter parts, jamming technology, satellite imagery for weapons targeting, and dual-use items such as computer chips and civilian drones that have reached the front lines.

In February, Beijing released an anti-American manifesto titled US Hegemony and Its Perils. It blames the United States for Ukraines 2004 Orange Revolution and claims that in Ukraine and other countries, the United States is repeating its old tactics of waging proxy, low-intensity, and drone wars.

The CCPs support for Moscow comes at a price, including major discounts on oil and diplomatic subordination, as most recently illustrated by Beijings now-easy diplomatic access to Belarus.

Kyiv cautiously hopes that Beijing might stop Putins war. But the best one might realistically expect is that China opposes Russian nuclear threats, which could leverage the CCP into increasing conventional arms exports to Russia.

Beijings new peace proposal shows how the CCP favors Russia. It doesnt call for the withdrawal of Russian troops, instead denouncing alliance blocs such as NATO and the use of unilateral sanctions. However, Moscow quickly rejected even this pro-Russian proposal, saying it didnt recognize new territorial realities.

President Joe Biden responded to Chinas plan by saying Beijings involvement was not rational and that the plan only benefited Russia. He warned that if the CCP supported Moscows brutality with weapons shipments, then U.S. corporations would leave China.

With no negotiated solution in sight, the wars outcome still hinges on international sanctions and battlefield assets. On Feb. 26, Biden announced another $2.5 billion in aid to Ukraine, bringing the total to $113 billion.

Two days earlier, the United States sanctioned more than 200 entities linked to Russias war, including by prohibiting five Chinese groups from acquiring U.S. technologies. NATO and the G-7 responded with additional sanctions and threats, some against Beijing. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy warned of a third world war if China supplies Russia with weapons.

The risks are dire. Yet Ukraines partners cant allow military support or appeasement of Moscow. Beijing must be held to account for any support it gives, including through non-military trade. New territory for Russia would incentivize further invasions by other dictatorships, including one by the CCP regime of Taiwan.

Views expressed in this article are the opinions of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of The Epoch Times.
The Question of College

More and more people are challenging the goal of college for all

Commentary

Student debt debates have, among other things, enlivened conversation about the nations long-standing emphasis on college. With so many graduates unable to repay the cost of their education, questions naturally have arisen about whether college effectively serves the economys skills needs and, accordingly, whether many now in college might do better with some other sort of training and education.

Apart from onerous debt burdens, the waste in the long-standing college for all push is clear in figures on graduation and on who gets what jobs. The Department of Education reports that more than 60 percent of those who finish middle school will eventually attend either a four-year or two-year post-secondary institution, but only slightly more than half these will graduate. Meanwhile, more than 60 percent of these graduates will fail to get a job requiring their degree. In other words, only 16 percent of those involved achieve the promise of a degree for themselves and for society. For the rest, there is debt and little benefit, while the economy loses out on what they might have contributed with a different sort of training. This is hardly a good return on the national effort. It should be apparent, then, that the emphasis on college wastes public and personal resources while inducing many who dont belong there to forgo the vocational training that might serve them and society better.

It might seem on the surface that artificial intelligence (AI) and robotics will eventually preclude the need for vocational training. It is, after all, widely known that industry, because of AI and robotics, has less and less need of the unskilled millions who once manned assembly lines and did comparable tasks in activities outside of manufacturing. Robots and offshore placement to less-developed and lower-wage countries have reduced the need for these kinds of workers. But that is only part of the picture. In fact, the AI orientation of industry today, whether it builds highways or manufactures cars or produces medical supplies, has created a huge need for skilled techniciansnot quite engineers, but people of middle-skill levels, something that college doesnt produce.

Already, U.S. industry faces constraints because of a shortage of just this sort of training. That shortage became evident as early as 2011, even though the lingering effects of the great recession had left some 14 million Americans jobless. The Manufacturing Institute estimates that now more than seven in 10 American manufacturers have difficulty finding people with this sort of essential training. By 2030, the institute reckons, more than 2 million of these sorts of positions will be left unfilled. Siemens, the huge German conglomerate with a significant presence in the United States, has confirmed these calculations. It has announced that in 2022, more than half of all its job openings are at this level.

A line worker spot weld parts of the frame on the flex line at Nissan Motor Co.s automobile manufacturing plant in Smyrna, Tenn., on Aug. 23, 2018. (William DeShazer/Reuters)

Though college cant meet this need, this country continues to neglect such technical training. Certainly, all the public money goes to college. During the 30 years before the pandemic, the average college-bound student could expect the taxpayer to spend some $100,000 on him or her. For vocational training, that student can expect nothing after high school. Under the present system, college isnt a choice; its an ultimatum.

Yet, its clear that the endless expansion of college has failed to produce a supply of desperately needed middle-skill workers while injecting into the economy a surplus of people with questionable career credentials.

Meanwhile, U.S. apprenticeship programs presently involve a mere 800,000 or so workers. But there are signs of a developing change. German firms such as Siemens, as it strives to find the technicians it needs, have found a welcome reception for apprenticeship ideas, especially in depressed regions of the country. North and South Carolina have, for instance, partnered with Siemens and European firms to establish programs that combine on-the-job training with vocational courses in high school and community college. Colorado has made similar arrangements in its CareerWise program, as has New Hampshire. Under then-President Donald Trump, even Washington, always slow in the draw, entered the effort. The National Council of the American Worker, founded at that time, aimed to create a million apprenticeships. More recently, however, this program has lost support.

None can doubt that some careers demand the fruits of a good college education and more. But many jobs that otherwise require skill and intelligence dont. Employers have insisted on college for many jobs that really dont require it because they dont trust the quality of a high school diploma and, in the absence of a vocational track, have no other basis on which to judge. The nation could serve its economy, its employers, and its workers by offering an effective vocational alternative and reallocating some of the college-linked largesse to other sorts of training.

Views expressed in this article are the opinions of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of The Epoch Times.
The Woke Wrecking Machine

Sen. Joni Ernst (R-Iowa) talks to reporters following the weekly Senate Republican policy luncheon at the U.S. Capitol in Washington on Feb. 28, 2023. (Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)

Commentary

Almost everything that has followed from the woke mass hysteria gripping the nation since 2020 has proved disastrous.

Wokeism destroys meritocracy in favor of forced equality of resulthistorys prescription for civilizational decline.

If we continue with the woke hiring of administrators, air traffic controllers, ground crews, pilots, and rail workers, there will be even more news of disasters and near-miss airline crashes.

Wokeness demands a McCarthyite suppression of free expression. No wonder a woke FBI recently hired out social media censors to suppress stories it deemed unhelpful.

Soviet-style, wokeism mandates strict ideological party-line narratives under the cover of science. No wonder a woke government lied, saying that requiring vaccines would prevent both infection and infectiousness.

Woke substitutes race for class in its eternal neo-Marxist quest to divide permanently the nation along racial lines, between victims and victimizers.

Yet, wokeism recently has embarrassed itself as never before.

Take the COVID pandemic.

The Department of Energy has joined the FBI and is now attributing the origins of the pandemic to a leak of a likely engineered virus from the top-security virology lab in Wuhan, China.

Wokesters had long suppressed that reality, demonizing any who rejected its orthodox lies and spoke a larger truth: A dystopic China isnt our global partner in greening the planet. Criticizing Stalinist China isnt racist. China isnt building a progressive society thats a model for others.

The ongoing environmental catastrophe in East Palestine, Ohio, following the train derailment revealed more woke moral bankruptcy.

Ostensibly, the ensuing toxic spill and noxious plume have poisoned a poor and working-class small town. It should have galvanized the old Democratic Party that once voiced loud support for all green causes and championed the lower American classes.

But woke ended all thatsubstituting racial chauvinism for class concerns and ideology for genuine worry over the environment.

Woke dogma mandates that pollution and poverty are no longer concernsif they affect the white poor who are stereotyped collectively as privileged victimizers.

Wokesters insisted that California is the greatest casualty of climate change defined as permanent drought.

Purported climate change required radical new bureaucratic rules and antidemocratic mandates over irrigation supplies, groundwater, and contracted water deliveries from public reservoirs.

But then it rained. And it snowed. And it became terribly cold in supposedly scorching California. Southern California is blanketed in snow.

Even so, for much of this cold, wet winter, state officials continued to claim the manmade drought was in full force. But finally, the most recent frigid, wet weather strangled the woke droughtand with it, the credibility of our climate change Cassandras.

Americans sympathize with Ukraines plight as Russian President Vladimir Putin seeks to destroy its autonomy. But woke brooked no deviation from the party line that Ukraines Volodomyr Zelenskyy is a saint, while Russia is near bankrupt due to sanctions, and doomed to lose the war.

Accordingly, the United States was obligated to give Ukraine a veritable blank check, given Kyivs commitment to freedom. Zelenskyys team now even talks of a victorious Ukrainian armored counteroffensive into Moscows Red Square.

This week, however, were learning the Russian economy is nearly as strong now as it was before the war. It has mobilized 700,000 troops to ensure that eastern Ukraine becomes a Verdun-like killing field where tens of thousands more will be ground up.

Ukraine bars dissidents and maintains a government media monopoly. And the more President Joe Biden promises another $2 billion to $3 billion in biweekly aid, the more Zelenskyy acts as if its a pittance given what supposedly stingy Americans should be capable of supplying.

Meanwhile, at home, new woke protocols mandate race as essential rather than incidental to the human experience. Supposedly such fixations will heal racial wounds.

Under the new reparatory and compensatory diversity, equity, and inclusion rules, those deemed nonwhite were to be hired and admitted to colleges in greater numbers than their demographics. Even the old mandated proportional representation quotas were no longer enough.

But racial chauvinism, nonstop talk of reparations, and the new campus segregation havent resulted in better racial relations.

Polls show that there are greater racial tensions than ever before.

Data on interracial and hate crimes show even sharper racial disproportionalities. The incidence of both black violent criminal perpetrators and black crime victims is near historical highs.

Woke policies of no cash bail, downgrading felonies, and no jail time only spiked violent lawlessness.

Our elite universities are now fully woke. Almost weekly an embarrassing story further erodes their credibility and reputation.

Ridiculous lists of taboo words are issued on woke campuses, barring incendiary words like American and immigrant.

Bragging of segregated dorms, graduations, and safe spaces recalls Jim Crow, not woke racial utopias.

Grades and standards are deemed counterrevolutionary, even as incompetent graduates increasingly fail to impress employers.

Someday, wokeism will disappear because its inherently nihilistic and cannibalistic.

But in the meantime, Americans should end it now before it ends America first.

Views expressed in this article are the opinions of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of The Epoch Times.
Three Men Killed in Southeast BC Avalanche Were From Germany: News Agency

Backcountry skiers are dwarfed by the mountains as they make their way along a mountain ridge near McGillivray Pass Lodge located in the southern Chilcotin Mountains of British Columbia, Jan. 10, 2012. (The Canadian Press/Jonathan Hayward)

Three victims of a deadly avalanche in southeastern British Columbia have been identified as German citizens.

The German news agency Deutsche Presse-Agentur says the mayor of the municipality of Eging, east of Munich, has confirmed the three men were from Germany and two were residents of his small Bavarian town.

Mayor Walter Bauer told the news agency that the other man was from Munich.

RCMP say nine foreign visitors and their Canadian guide were engulfed by the avalanche Wednesday.

Police have not released the nationalities or hometowns of the six visitors who survived.

Avalanche Canada has warned about an extremely unstable snowpack across most of B.C. this season.

It described the avalanche as a class 3, meaning it was large enough to destroy a building and break trees.
WASHINGTON  A day after the downtown Buffalo blaze that claimed the life of a city firefighter, Senate Majority Leader Charles E. Schumer on Thursday warned that federal funding for programs that aid local fire departments is about to run out.

The funding authorization for the Assistance to Firefighters Grant Program and the Staffing for Adequate Fire and Emergency Response Program is set to expire on Sept. 30. But in a conference call with reporters, Schumer, a New York Democrat, said he is sponsoring legislation that would extend the programs to 2030.

"I'm here to sound the alarm and to announce my push to lead the effort to save these critical federal firefighter programs with a new bill," Schumer said.

The federal legislation has brought nearly $700 million to New York over the past 20 years.

Buffalo won a $10 million grant under the programs in 2019 to hire 50 additional firefighters. In 2021, the Niagara Falls Fire Department received $314,718 to purchase new breathing equipment for use by firefighters. And just last month, the Jamestown Fire Department was awarded $1.8 million to hire eight firefighters and $284,291 for new radios and other equipment.

City mourns Buffalo firefighter Jason Arno as investigation into fatal fire launches "He had his whole future in front of him, an exemplary firefighter and employee, just a great all-around person. No one ever had anything negative to say about firefighter Arno," Fire Commissioner William Renaldo said.

Schumer said he tried to renew the programs in an end-of-the-year spending package last year, but some Republican senators balked at that effort. That being the case, Schumer said he launched a new legislative effort, fearing the programs  which were created under legislation he got passed in 1999  would disappear.

"This would devastate upstate New York fire departments that uniquely depend on this program, ripping away millions from communities to hire new firefighters, purchase life-saving equipment and much more," he said.

"Now we're down to the wire to get this done, but I'm standing with our upstate firefighters and I'm promising them I will not stop until this passes," Schumer added. "When it comes to protecting the firefighters, we should spare no expense."

Calling firefighters heroes who "rush to danger every day to protect us, putting all else aside to help those in need," Schumer offered condolences to the family of Jason Arno, the firefighter who died fighting that blaze on Main Street on Wednesday, as well as the Buffalo Fire Department.

"Jason Arno was a wonderful man," Schumer said. "He's a hero who made the ultimate sacrifice and my prayers are with him, his loved ones and the entire Buffalo Fire Department, which is in mourning for this terrible loss."
TikTok Sets 60-Minute Screen Time Limit for Minors

The TikTok logo is displayed outside a TikTok office in Culver City, Calif., on Aug. 27, 2020. (Mario Tama/Getty Images)

Social media app TikTok, popular among teens, has announced that it will soon limit screen time to 60 minutes a day for any user under the age of 18 in an effort to curb young peoples time on the platform.

According to a statement on March 1, every account on the short-form video app belonging to a user who identifies as under 18 will be set to a 60-minute daily screen time limit.

Once the time limit is reached, the user will get a prompt to enter a passcode in order to continue scrolling, requiring them to make an active decision to extend that time, the company said.

While theres no collectively-endorsed position on the right amount of screen time or even the impact of screen time more broadly, we consulted with the current academic research and experts from the Digital Wellness Lab at Bostons Childrens Hospital in choosing this limit, Cormac Keenan, TikToks head of trust and safety, said in the statement.

The 60-minute time limit for minors is a default setting, the announcement explains, which users can opt out of if they choose.

In that case, the platform encourages them to set a daily time limit with a prompt that sends a notification after 100 minutes of screen time has passed.

This builds on a prompt we rolled out last year to encourage teens to enable screen time management, which a study that TikTok conducted found helped increase the use of our screen time tools by 234%, the statement said.

In addition to an optional prompt, the company said it will send every teen account a weekly notification to their inboxes that recaps their screen time for the week.

The statement outlined the features that already exist for teen users, such as a default private setting for kids aged 13 to 15, which was introduced in 2021, with direct messaging only being available to users over 16, according to Digitaltrends.com.

In addition, the social media platform detailed new features that will be added to its already existing Family Pairing, which allows caregivers to use a dashboard to view their childrens current screen time and customize daily limits, including scheduling when notifications are to be muted.

Every teen is different, and so is every family, the statement said. We hope these features will continue to help families establish an ongoing dialogue about safety and well-being in our digital world.

The update mirrors a similar limitation that China imposed two years ago on users of the Chinese version of TikTok, Douyin, where children under 14 are only permitted 40 minutes of screen time and are unable to access the platform from 10 p.m. to 6 a.m.

Concern Over TikToks Addictive Properties

The announcement came as TikTok, owned by Chinese tech company ByteDance, faces growing scrutiny from parents and health care providers who worry that social medias addictive properties may bring harm to children.

According to an August 2022 Pew Research report, 67 percent of teens use the app, with 16 percent of teen TikTok users saying that they are on it almost constantly.

Breaking the habit wont be easy, Pew found. Fifty-eight percent of girls and 49 percent of boys admitted that it would be difficult to give up social media.

Another report released in late 2022 by the nonprofit Center for Countering Digital Hate suggested that TikToks algorithms are promoting videos about self-harm and eating disorders to vulnerable teens, The Associated Press reported.

Because of such findings, Republican and Democratic lawmakers are proposing nationwide bans on TikTok.

Rep. Mike Gallagher (R-Wis.) called TikTok digital fentanyl in a December 2022 statement about legislation (pdf) introduced by Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) in the Senate and a companion bipartisan measure that Gallagher, along with Rep. Raja Krishnamooorthi (D-Ill.) introduced in the House to ban TikTok from operating on any device in the United States.

Bans from Western Countries

TikToks announcement also comes as the app has had negative pushback from governments globally.

Last week, the European Commission, the executive arm of the European Union, told staff that they have until March 15 to delete TikTok from any work or personal devices to protect the Commission against cybersecurity threats and actions.

On Monday, the White House issued guidance (pdf), ordered by Congress in late 2022, requiring that within 30 days all federal agencies must eliminate TikTok from phones and systems.

And on Feb. 28, the Canadian governments ban of the app went into effect, requiring its removal from official electronic devices, according to a statement by President of Canadas Treasury Board Mona Fortier, which cited cyber security concerns presenting an unacceptable level of risk to privacy and security.

TikTok Chief Executive Shou Zi Chew is due to appear before the U.S. Energy and Commerce Committee on March 23 after having met with both Republican and Democratic lawmakers last month on Capitol Hill.

From NTD News
Trudeau Says He Shares Canadian Publics Concerns About Chinese Election Interference

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau says he shares the concerns about Chinese election interference that a recent poll found a majority of Canadians hold, adding that he understands the publics desire for government accountability in investigating the matter.

I very much share the concerns of Canadians around interference from the Chinese government or other foreign governments, and I have shared those concerns all the way back to 2015, Trudeau told reporters in Winnipeg on March 3.

A recent Nanos Research poll commissioned by CTV News found that over 90 percent of Canadians are either concerned or somewhat concerned about Chinas interference in Canadian society, with 59 percent of individuals surveyed holding the former position.

The research found that only 3 percent of Canadians were not at all concerned about Chinese interference in Canada, while 1 percent were unsure about it.

Furthermore, over 90 percent of survey respondents said they believed the Chinese governments attempts to interfere in Canadas 2021 federal election represented a threat to Canadian democracy, with over 70 saying it was a major threat and 23 percent calling it minor.

Trudeau said election interference has become a greater issue across the entire globe since his government first took power in 2015, saying that countries like France, the United States, and other foreign democracies have become subject to foreign interference.

He added that his government has created a number of mechanisms to detect and stop foreign interference in Canada, naming the Critical Election Incident Public Protocol formed in 2019 as an example.

Not only do I share the preoccupations of Canadians, we have taken action significant actions over the past eight years to increase our ability to [counter interference], Trudeau said, adding that its an ongoing challenge.

Public Inquiry Calls

All federal opposition leaders have called on Trudeau to initiate a public inquiry into foreign election interference following recent reports by the Globe and Mail and Global News citing Canadian Security Intelligence Service (CSIS) documents and sources showing widespread election interference by Beijing in Canadas 2019 and 2021 federal elections.

Reporters asked Trudeau on March 3 about his hesitancy to call such an inquiry after he has ruled it out on more than one occasion.

I absolutely hear that Canadians want to be reassured that independent experts are looking at this issue. They want to make sure that all the right questions are being posed of our intelligence and security agencies in a rigorous way to make sure theyre doing everything possible, he said, adding that Canadians want a level of public accountability from those officials.

The prime minister said there are already mechanisms in place to investigate the interference allegations, such as the National Security and Intelligence Committee and the House of Commons Standing Committee on Procedure and House Affairs (PROC).

However, MPs on PROC voted 65 on March 2 in favour of a motion to call on Trudeau to launch a public inquiry into election interference reports.

Andrew Chen contributed to this report.
US Citizens Arrested for Illegally Exporting Tech to Russia

Signage is seen at the United States Department of Justice headquarters in Washington, on Aug. 29, 2020. (Andrew Kelly/Reuters)

Two men from Kansas were arrested by U.S. authorities on Thursday, accused of being involved in a scheme to circumvent U.S. export laws that included illegally exporting aviation technology to Russia, after stricter restrictions on exports to Russia were imposed following its invasion of Ukraine.

The two men, Cyril Gregory Buyanovsky, 59, of Lawrence, and Douglas Robertson, 55, of Olathe, are charged with conspiracy, exporting controlled goods without a license, falsifying and failing to file electronic export information, and smuggling goods contrary to U.S. law.

They face a maximum penalty of 20 years in prison for each count of exporting the controlled goods without a license.

They also face up to 10 years in prison for each count of smuggling, and up to five years in prison for each count of conspiracy and falsifying export information.

According to the Department of Justice, the men owned and operated KanRus Trading Company. It supplied Western electronics installed in aircraft (avionics equipment) to Russian companies, and also provided repair services for equipment used in Russian manufactured aircraft.

Since 2020, the men conspired to evade U.S. export laws by concealing and misstating the true end users, value and end destinations of their exports and by transshipping items through third-party countries, the DOJ stated.

One example, the department said, was between November 2020 and February 2021 when the two U.S. men received equipment for repair from a Russian company.

One of the equipment was a computer processor bearing a sticker identifying Russias Federal Security Services (FSB). But in their invoice to the shipment company, the men concealed the true end user and end destination, identifying the end destination as Germany.

The department also noted that in May, June, and July of 2022, the men illegally transported the avionics equipment through Armenia and Cyprus to Russia without obtaining required licenses to export them, even though they were notified about the need for such licenses back in February 2022.

The investigation was coordinated through an interagency task force called KleptoCapture, dedicated to enforcing the sweeping sanctions the United States and foreign allies imposed in response to Russias Feb. 24, 2022 invasion of Ukraine.

The FBI and the Office of Export Enforcement under the Department of Commerce are investigating the case.
US, Norwegian Officials Concerned Russia Could Deploy Nuclear Weapons in Response to Ukrainian Counteroffensive

Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskyy addresses the U.S. Congress at the U.S. Capitol in Washington, on Dec. 21, 2022. (Mandel Ngan/AFP via Getty Images)

A U.S. State Department official and two Norwegian defense-focused politicians are concerned that Russian President Vladimir Putin might deploy a nuclear weapon in response to Ukraines planned spring counteroffensive, set to begin in weeks.

The Ukrainian military plans to go on the offensive as soon as Western tanks and long-range rockets arrive, which could be as soon as April, according to Kyivs minister of internal affairs Anton Gerashchenko. Its primary regional target will be Russian-occupied Crimea, which Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy vowed to take back on Feb. 26.

Speaking at the Norwegian Embassy, Deputy Assistant Secretary of State Douglas Jones and Norwegian Parliament member Asmund Aukrust told The Epoch Times there is a real possibility of nuclear escalation in Ukraine and that both NATO members are concerned.

The officials spoke at the Atlantic Councils Looking North: Conference on security in the Arctic event on Thursday, along with Norways Chair of the Standing Committee on Foreign Affairs and Defense Ine Eriksen Sreide, who echoed the uneasiness of her peers.

The Sum of All Fears

Jones said he was worried. The comments [Russia] has made about nuclear escalation have been really irresponsible, he said.

Jones threatened serious consequences for Russia if it were to cross the atomic line, though he would not specify what these repercussions would look like. He said non-NATO countries like China and India have made statements in alignment with the United States on this issue.

U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken revealed on Feb. 23 that the United States worked behind the scenes to encourage foreign powers to preemptively urge Putin against the use of nuclear weapons. While successful, this effort occurred in spring of last year, and ChinaRussia relations have strengthened since.

U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken speaks during a news conference on the sidelines of the G-20 foreign ministers meeting in New Delhi, India, on March 2, 2023. (Reuters/Amit Dave)

A nuclear war cannot be won and should never be fought, Jones concluded.

Joness Norwegian counterpart Aukrust, the vice chair of the Standing Committee on Foreign Affairs and Defense, acknowledged the severity of the nuclear threat.

It still might happen, and even just to say that shows how extremely dangerous this is, he said. Its important that we dont underestimate Russia.

Putin recently pulled out of the New START Treaty, the last remaining nuclear arms treaty between Russia and the United States.

Drawing attention to the Arctic region, Sreide pointed out that much of Russias fissile weaponry is housed in the North.

The high North is most of the home bases and the operational areas for their nuclear capabilities, she said, implying that these facilities may be engaged if Russian infantry continues to suffer losses. [This] is a huge strategic challenge to NATO that Im not sure weve fully taken into account what that will mean because we are now staring at how much they are losing on the ground in Ukraine.

A recent Norwegian intelligence report alleged that ships within Russias North Fleeta bastion of the countrys naval forcescarry nuclear warheads. Moscows only aircraft carrier and the flagship of the North Fleet departed from its dock on Feb. 22, the first time the vessel has been deployed since 2016.

Risks of Targeting Crimea

Putin stated in September that he will respond with a nuclear strike if there is a threat to Russias territorial integrity. He considers Crimeathe southern peninsula currently in the sights of the Ukrainian militaryto be Russian territory.

Russian forces annexed Crimea in early 2014 in retaliation to the U.S.-backed ousting of former Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych, who was removed after snubbing the European Union for a multi-billion-dollar trade deal with Russia.

Russias President Vladimir Putin (R) and his Ukrainian counterpart Viktor Yanukovych exchange documents at a signing ceremony after a meeting at the Kremlin in Moscow, on Dec. 17, 2013. (Sergei Karpukhin/File Photo/Reuters)

Most of the peninsulas current residents consider themselves Russian and support Moscows leadership.

A 2015 poll conducted by the German data intelligence firm GfK found that 93 percent of the respondents endorsed Russias annexation.

On Tuesday, MSNBCwith correspondent Keir Simmons on the groundreported Crimeans view themselves as Russian and see de-occupation as unrealistic. Simmons warned that a Ukrainian siege of the peninsula would mean NATO weapons could soon be used against Russian civilians, a severe escalation to the one-year conflict.

Simmons added that Putin would do pretty much anything to avoid losing the Crimean port of Sevastopol, which provides crucial access to the Black Sea and is Russias only warm water portmeaning it does not freeze over in the winter.

According to Politico, Blinken said in February that Crimea is Putins red line but refused to make a determination, saying the decision to retake the peninsula lies with Kyiv.

Venture capitalist and outspoken critic of the Ukraine war David Sacks responded to the MSNBC segment, saying it exposes the Biden administrations total lack of foreign policy vision.

This is a huge admission because it means that Bidens policy of only the Ukrainians can decide the objectives of the war makes no sense, he wrote on Twitter on Wednesday. Were effectively delegating our foreign policy to Zelensky, who is pursuing objectives that we dont agree with.
Washington Restricts US Exports to 28 Chinese Entities, Citing Alleged Ties to Iranian Military

The seal of the Department of Commerce is pictured in Washington, on March 10, 2017. (Eric Thayer/Reuters)

The U.S. Commerce Department on March 2 announced export restrictions for a string of Chinese entities.

The United States added 28 Chinese firms and individuals to its Entity List (pdf), citing concerns regarding national security risks, including through their alleged dealings or attempted dealings with an Iranian electronics company, Paradazan System Namad Arman (PASNA), which has been sanctioned by the United States for its alleged ties to Tehrans military.

These actions include acquiring or attempting to acquire U.S.-origin items in support of programs for the Peoples Liberation Army and providing goods and services to customers on the BIS Entity List, leading to the possibility for diversion, the department said.

BIS is the Department of Commerces Bureau of Industry and Security.

In response, foreign ministry spokeswoman Mao Ning called on Washington to stop abusing various excuses to unreasonably suppress Chinese enterprises.

Mao said Beijing would firmly safeguard the legitimate rights of its companies but didnt elaborate further on what actions Beijing might take.

China Surveillance

Other security threats cited by the Commerce Department include alleged contributions to Pakistans ballistic missile program and surveillance equipment to Burmas military regime, which has been sanctioned, enabling it to carry out human rights abuses through the tracking and identification of target individuals and groups.

U.S. companies are banned from exporting goods to the listed entities without first gaining prior government approval, effective March 2.

The entities listed include server maker Inspur Group Co. AI tech firm 4Paradigm Technology Co, Loongson Technology, National Research Center for Parallel Computer Engineering and Technology, Qingdao National Laboratory of Marine Science and Technology, Wuxi Institute of Advanced Technology, and several other electronics firms.

They also include Chinese genetics company BGI Research and biotechnology company BGI Tech Solutions Co., which the department says is based upon information that indicates their collection and analysis of genetic data poses a significant risk of contributing to monitoring and surveillance by the government of China, which has been utilized in the repression of ethnic minorities in China.

BGI has previously denied accusations it provided technology used for surveillance of Uyghurs and other Muslim minorities in Chinas northwest.

The Epoch Times has contacted BGI for comment.

Relations Tense Between Washington, Beijing

The move comes amid increasingly frail relations between Washington and Beijing following the downing of the Chinese surveillance balloon last month. The balloon was shot down on Feb. 4 by the Air Force the next day off the coast of South Carolina.

China denies it was being used for surveillance.

However, amid a crackdown on alleged Chinese surveillance, the House Foreign Affairs Committee earlier this week voted to advance a bill that would empower President Joe Biden to ban TikTok, the Chinese-owned video-sharing app, in the United States.

Experts believe the app can be used by the Chinese Communist Party to spy on Americans or to promote pro-China influence campaigns or disinformation. TikToks owner ByteDance denies this.

Elsewhere, tensions between the United States and China have been further exacerbated amid Beijings pledge for a deeper comprehensive strategic partnership with Russia last month during Chinese diplomat, Wang Yis visit to the Kremlin.

During a United Nations General Assembly on Feb. 23, China was among a handful of nations to vote against a resolution calling on Russian troops to immediately withdraw from Ukraine.

Chinese communist leader Xi Jinping is also set to visit Moscow in the coming months, Russian President Vladimir Putin has confirmed.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.
We Have to Pay Our Sins: Lawmakers Must Negotiate Way Out of US Debt Crisis: Sen. Manchin

Senator Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.) has called on Republican and Democrat lawmakers to work together and resolve the debt crisis facing the United States, pointing out that both Trump and Biden have contributed to ballooning the countrys debt.

Americas debt has hit the $31.4 trillion ceiling and it now needs to be raised, which requires lawmakers from both parties to negotiate a deal. However, Democrats and Republicans have been at an impasse, a situation Manchin criticized in his speech at the Senate chamber on March 2.

My Democratic friends dont want to say a word about our out-of-control spending and outright refusing to even talk to republicans about reasonable and responsible reforms. All we hear is about we have to have a clean debt ceiling  We have to pay [for] our sins of the past but cant we at least sit down and discuss, just discuss how did we get here so fast? Manchin said.

My Republican friends refuse to offer any specifics and some have threatened default which is absolutely not on the table, cannot be on the table, and will not happen. I can assure you. Well never solve the problems by each party running in opposite directions and well only be able to change course by coming together, embracing common sense, and finding common ground.

Manchin said that the United States government added an estimated $7.5 trillion to projected debt levels during the four years under the Trump administration, including $4 trillion not directly related to COVID.

Under President Joe Biden, more than $5 trillion has already been added to the projected debt levels, including over $2.5 trillion unrelated to the pandemic, he said. So, whoever you want to blame, were all at fault.

Massive US Debt

At the Senate chamber, Manchin pointed out that federal spending in 2013 was less than $3.5 trillion. But today, it has ballooned to $6.2 trillion. In ten short years, less than ten. Thats an 80 percent increase, Manchin stated.

The total revenue for 2022 was only $4.9 trillion, with the country registering a deficit of $1.4 trillion, he pointed out. For every single year in the past 21 years, weve been spending more than we bring in in our government  And the debt that has resulted is absolutely crippling.

At $31.4 trillion, the U.S. public debt is equivalent to $94,000 in debt for every single American citizen. In 2023 alone, over $600 billion will be spent just on basically servicing the debt of the nation.

All you can do is pay the interest. You cant even touch the principal because youre barely able to pay the interest. But think about this. Just the interest on our debt is more than $5,000 per household in America, Manchin said.

If we continue down the path that were on, we will have accumulated by 2050 nearly $130 trillion of public debt. Were $31.46 trillion right now. Just to service the interest on the debt will be $5 trillion a year.

Performing Duties

The Democrat senator asked President Biden and Congress to do their jobs right now, no exceptions or excuses.

What Im going to be telling now is something weve not practiced since Ive been here for 12 years. We need to pass a budget on time. Pass a budget on time. Thats by September 30. The president is already a month behind schedule when he submits his budget next week. It was due on February 6.

By April 1, the Senate Budget Committee needs to report their budget resolution. By April 15, the House and Senate must reconcile differences with regard to their budgets. And by September 30, all spending bills must be approved, Manchin said while laying out the timeline.

If we dont pass a budget, we as the elected leaders from the president all the way down, we shouldnt get paid, period. Think about this. The American workers, they dont get paid if they dont get their job done. They dont get paid if they dont work. And neither should any of us, he said.

The continued weaponization of the debt and deficit and the political games we all play need to stop. They need to stop.

The current debt ceiling of $31.4 trillion was set by Congress in 2022. That limit would have been breached on Jan. 19. But the Treasury took extraordinary measures to keep the nation solvent until June.

Phillip Swagel, director of the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) has warned that the governments ability to borrow using extraordinary measures will be exhausted between July and September if the debt limit remains unchanged.

During his State of the Union address on Feb. 7, President Biden asked the 118th Congress to raise the debt limit with no preconditions. A day earlier, House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) said that he only supports a responsible increase in the debt ceiling.
WHO Aspires to Control and Manipulate Peoples Behavior in the Next Pandemic: Trevor Loudon

Trevor Loudon, author, filmmaker and public speaker, speaks at the event "Exposing Democrats' Marxist/Socialist/Communist Ties" at the National Press Club in Washington on May 20, 2019. (Samira Bouaou/The Epoch Times)

The World Health Organization (WHO) is dominated by communist and socialist sympathizers and is studying how to manipulate peoples behavior, according to anti-communist activist, researcher, and EpochTV host Trevor Loudon.

The WHO has a behavioral modification unit, Loudon said in an interview with The Epoch Times on Thursday. Loudon explained that the behavioral modification unit means to use psychology to manipulate people into following mandates, accept vaccines, etc.

He explained his misgivings about the WHOs mass-manipulation efforts, as well as his concerns that the organization is led by socialists, communists, and ideological allies of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP).

[WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus] was a former leader of Ethiopias pro-Chinese Communist Party, who got involved with the Chinese through the Belt and Road initiatives in Ethiopia, Loudon said. Ghebreyesus served as Ethiopias health minister under Prime Minister Meles Zenawi, a leader of the communist Tigray Peoples Liberation Front (TPLF).

Loudon also pointed out the involvement of Susan Michie, a WHO official and a member of the Communist Party of Britain.

Michie is the chair of the WHOs Technical Advisory Group (TAG) on Behavioral Insights and Sciences for Health. TAGs stated mission involves designing and implementing national health policies and programs informed by behavioral insights and sciences.

[Michie] advised [former British Prime Minister Boris Johnson] and Britain during the British lockdowns and she was masks all the waywere going to have to wear masks forever, maximum lockdowns, zero COVID. She was part of the zero-COVID policy group, which was set up by the British Communist Partys Morning Star newspaper  thats where she comes from, Loudon said.

Behavioral Modification

The WHO has expressed considerable interest in figuring out ways to overcome peoples skepticism of public health recommendations.

Providing evidence-based advice is central to WHOs mission, but for that advice to produce results and save lives, we need to better understand the biases and triggers that affect whether or not people act on it, Ghebreyesus said in a September 2020 statement announcing the formation of the TAG.

In addition to her position with the WHO, Michie is also on the Behavioral Science Policy Research Unit at the UKs National Institute for Health Researchwhich advises the United Kingdoms Department of Health and Social Care.

Loudon said Michies past work in behavioral science has included work on smoking cessation programs in China, and that she had attended psychology conferences in Cuba.

Her job is to monitor peoples responses and manipulate peoples responses for the next pandemic, Loudon said.

While Ghebreyesus described the TAGs effort as one to understand what causes people to oppose the WHOs health advice, Loudon accused the WHO of playing on peoples fears to get them to embrace policies favored by the Chinese communist regime while ignoring other health advice.

Youve got to sell enough fear, have enough carrot, enough stick, to move people in the right direction to accept vaccines, Loudon said. So you play on their social conscience.

Loudon said the WHO goal was to get people to adopt the policies demanded by the government, but ultimately by the CCPthe CCP is the originator of the zero-COVID policy. They were always against natural therapies, vitamin D, etc. They were always about vaccinations. They were always about lockdowns.

NTD News reached out to the WHO for comment, but the organization did not specifically respond to the accusations raised by Loudon.

WHOs Relationship With China

The WHO has come under increased scrutiny following its response to the COVID-19 pandemic.

During the initial COVID outbreak, then National Security Advisor Robert OBrien alleged that China was slow to provide information about the risks posed by the virus, and it took weeks before a WHO team was allowed to enter the country. However, the WHOs initial report then praised the Chinese responsewhile making little mention of the Chinese governments efforts to suppress critics and whistleblowers.

Loudon accused Ghebreyesus and the WHO of being a tool of the Chinese Communist Party.

And now Susan Michie is going to be controlling the whole world, behaviorally, in the next pandemic, he said. The WHO has set policies in place to go around national sovereignty in every country, so that [Ghebreyesus] and Michie can basically dictate health policy to the whole planet in the event of a future health emergency.

From NTD
Why the WHO Pandemic Treaty Is a Horrible Deal

The logo of the World Health Organization (WHO) is pictured on the facade of the WHO headquarters in Geneva, Switzerland, on Oct. 24, 2017. (Fabrice Coffrini/ Getty Images)

Commentary

FBI Director Christopher Wray has finally acknowledged that COVID-19 may have leaked from the Wuhan Institute of Virology.

Wray has even gone so far as to conclude that there may have been some cover-up involved from the Chinese authorities and the Chinese Communist Party (CCP).

Of course, these things were reported here at The Epoch Times and elsewhere what feels like decades ago, but a bit of honesty for once is always appreciated.

We didnt get much of that when it came to lockdowns (useless and destructive), masks (completely discredited), and vaccines (largely discredited).

Given all this, it boggles the mind that our administration is playing into the hands of the CCP by participating in a deal currently being negotiated to give the World Health Organization (WHO) some form of international hegemony in the event of future pandemicsreal or imagined.

But never fear, our fact-checking friends at The Associated Press have stepped forward to correct the record.

CLAIM: A legally-binding World Health Organization pandemic treaty will give the organization the authority to control U.S. policies during a pandemic, including those on vaccines, lockdowns, school closures and more.

APS ASSESSMENT: False. The voluntary treaty, which is in draft form and is still far away from ratification, does not overrule any nations ability to pass individual pandemic-related policies, multiple experts, including one involved in the draft process, told The Associated Press. The treaty lays out broad recommendations related to international cooperation on pandemic prevention, preparedness and response. Nowhere in the 30-page document are lockdowns, closures or specific citizen surveillance systems mentioned.

But why would lockdowns, closures, or citizen surveillance need to be mentioned specifically? Arent they the very things we have seen employed in the pandemic prevention, preparedness and response, to horrific results nationally and internationally that are the putative reasons for this deal?

As is often the case, a game of semantics is being played here.

I reached out to 2024 presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy for his response, which, it turned out, explained the dangers of that game quite accurately.

This is shameful, Ramaswamy responded. President [Joe] Biden again cedes American self-governance to a corrupt globalist organization and bends the knee to the World Health Organization, which is in the pocket of communist China. If Biden prevails, the U.S. would be bound to hand over 20 percent of its medical supplies to WHO for global distribution. America would no longer be able to prioritize treatments for its own citizensWHO will call the shots on which countries get what supplies. America is always last in the name of equity.

The candidate hits the nail on the head here by pointing to equity, that mendacious woke termhe is the author of Woke, Inc.used to invoke sympathy for the impoverished and correct supposed unfairness by equalizing outcomes.

This is a masquerade, a deliberate lie. Most often the reverse is true. When it comes to who would really profit from an agreement like the one on offer, its almost always the pharmaceutical companies and the aforementioned CCP, which long has had a great friend in WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus.

Third-world countries would get the products of Big Pharma shoved down their throats.

I had an eye-opening personal experience in that regard. In the midst of the pandemic, some friendsan American and Bolivian couplecame to visit us from their home in Cochabamba. They recounted the problems their poor country, unable to afford vaccines, had been having with many dying. Then the Bolivian government decided to distribute free ivermectin with an antibiotic, and all was well. Or so I was told.

On March 31, 2021, the WHO advised that ivermectin only be used to treat COVID-19 within clinical trials. After all, its virtually free.

Such restrictions on medical freedom advocated by the WHO and our CDC have led to egregious totalitarian acts such as one just reported by The Epoch Times Roman Balmakov: Police Forcibly Remove Doctor From Hospital After He Endorsed Ivermectin.

The worst part of the WHO deal is that its a rather obvious backdoor into global communismand not an inconsequential one.

A few years ago, considerable internet discussion revolved around whether Vladimir Lenin actually said: Socialized medicine is the keystone to the arch of a socialized state.

Apparently notat least no one has found it so farbut that doesnt mean it isnt true. It is. Indeed, Lenin, cognizant of this fact, instituted full free socialized medicine at the very outset of the Soviet Union under the Right to Health. (Sound familiar?)

The result, however, wasnt great. Dr. Yuri Maltsev, an adviser to the last Soviet government on health care and currently a college teacher in Wisconsin, writes:

In contrast to the impression created by the liberal American media, health-care institutions in Russia were at least fifty years behind the average U.S. level. Moreover, the filth, odors, cats roaming the halls, and absence of soap and cleaning supplies added to an overall impression of hopelessness and frustration which paralyzed the system.

Still want to put your health care in the hands of the WHO?

Views expressed in this article are the opinions of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of The Epoch Times.
Woolly Mammoth Statue Defaced By Climate Protestors at Royal BC Museum

The Royal B.C. Museums woolly mammoth is shown at the museum in Victoria in this undated handout photo. (The Canadian Press/HO, Royal B.C. Museum)

Victoria police have arrested three individuals after Woolly the mammoth at the Royal BC Museum was defaced with bright pink paint by protesters who said they wanted to draw attention to climate change.

The defacement of the museums centrepiece took place just before 11:15 a.m. PT on March 1, according to a statement by the Victoria Police Department. Police said other visitors, including children and families, were present at the time of the incident, which remains under investigation.

Activist group On2Ottawa took credit for the incident in a video posted on Twitter on March 1.

Laura throws paint at the Royal BC Museum Woolly Mammoth to announce On2Ottawa, a new campaign to mobilize Canadians to go to Ottawa to press government to form a Citizens Assembly to kick-start action on the ClimateCrisis, said the Twitter post.

The accompanying video shows a woman sitting in front of the three-metre-tall woolly mammoth replica statue, the fiberglass tusks covered with bright pink paint, her right hand covered in paint, and a teal-coloured can sitting beside her with paint splotches on the can and on her shoe.

If the government does not enact the Citizens Assembly to tackle the climate and ecological crisis in the next one to two years, then we will be travelling to Ottawa to demand one, says the woman in the video, identified as Laura.

On2Ottawa says the stunt used washable paint and was intended to protest criminal inaction by the federal government on the climate emergency.

The exhibit was closed for around 90 minutes while staff restored the artwork.

During todays On2Ottawa launch action 3 people were arrested by Victoria police, Laura and the two people who were supporting her. They have since been released, said a Twitter post by On2Ottawa.

Art Defacement

In a separate incident last November, two women claiming to be climate activists allegedly vandalized an Emily Carr painting titled Stumps and Sky at the Vancouver Art Gallery on Nov. 12. They later issued a press release on Twitter saying it was to demand an end to the Coastal GasLink Pipeline in Northern B.C.

Two females from a group called Stop Fracking Around were videotaped throwing maple syrup on the glass-encased 1934 painting and then apparently gluing their hands to the gallery wall.

The International Community of Museums (ICOM) issued a joint statement on Nov. 9, 2022, signed by almost 100 museum directors, saying, In recent weeks, there have been several attacks on works of art in international museum collections. The activists responsible for them severely underestimate the fragility of these irreplaceable objects, which must be preserved as part of our world cultural heritage.

The signatories include directors from the Met and the Guggenheim Museum in New York, the Louvre and Musee dOrsay in Paris, the Museo Nacional del Prado in Madrid, the British Museum and The National Gallery in London, and the Berlinische Galerie in Berlin.

The Canadian Press contributed to this report.
WASHINGTON  Six Air Force officers who were in charge of caring for the infrastructure, fuel and logistics support for a North Dakota nuclear missile base were relieved of command due to a loss of confidence in their ability to carry out their responsibilities, the Air Force said.

The officers include two commanders and four subordinate officers at Minot Air Force Base, including 5th Mission Support Group commander Col. Gregory Mayer and 5th Logistics Readiness Squadron Maj. Jonathan Welch, a defense official said. The four subordinate officers were not identified.

The official said the dismissals were based on non-compliance with safety regulations for vehicles and equipment, and while the decision to relieve the officers of command was based on the results of one safety inspection, the units had not been compliant for some time. The official was not authorized to discuss details of the firings publicly and spoke on condition of anonymity.

The official said the dismissals reflect the tougher line the Air Force has taken on discipline within its nuclear ranks, which have weathered a series of safety concerns and controversies.

In 2007, a B-52 Stratofortress took off from Minot mistakenly loaded with six nuclear-armed AGM-129 cruise missiles and flew across the country to Barksdale Air Force Base in Louisiana. In 2014, a nuclear safety inspections cheating scandal at Malmstrom Air Force Base in Montana embroiled scores of missileers and officers, and in 2016, investigators busted an LSD drug ring at F.E. Warren Air Force Base in Wyoming. Minot, Malmstrom and F.E. Warren are home to a total of 450 silo-based Minuteman III intercontinental ballistic missiles.

In a statement about the firings, Maj. Gen. Andrew J. Gebara, commander of 8th Air Force, said the responsibilities for the nation's warheads were a no fail mission.

We have very deliberate and disciplined inspection protocols and we expect 100% compliance. It's that important to us and anything below that threshold is unacceptable, said Air Force Col. Brus Vidal, a spokesman for Global Strike Command, which is responsible for silo-based and bomber-launched nuclear weapons.

U.S. Air Force history from the year you were born U.S. Air Force history from the year you were born 1920: Air Service becomes a branch of the Army 1921: Project B sinks the battleship era 1922: Second Bombardment Wing activated 1923: A special bond in the sky 1924: A shield for the First Pursuit Group 1925: A very public fight with the Navy 1926: Air Corps Act replaces Air Service with Army Air Corps 1927: The birth of John Boyd 1928: A special handoff 1929: A blind flight 1930: A new world record 1931: Betsy Ross Air Corps is born 1932: The P-26 Peashooter debuts 1933: Depression-era budgetary maneuvering 1934: The Air Corps takes over airmail service 1935: Establishing GHQ Air Force 1936: Arguing for a base in Puerto Rico 1937: The first jet engine 1938: Oscar Westover dies in an airplane crash 1939: Ramping up for war 1940: Selective Training and Service Act of 1940 1941: United States Air Force gets its name 1942: Air Force on equal footing with Army and Navy 1943: Bombing munitions factories in Germany 1944: Andersen Air Force Base is born 1945: Dropping atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki 1946: Demobilizing old aircraft 1947: The Air Force becomes a separate service 1948: The Key West Agreement 1949: Desegregation comes to the Air Force 1950: Deployments over South Korea 1951: An uptick in recruitment 1952: Operation Christmas Drop is born 1953: The last US ground soldier is killed by an enemy airstrike 1954: Creation of the US Air Force Academy 1955: A dishonorable discharge 1956: A crash to live in infamy 1957: A new headquarters for the Pacific Air Forces 1958: The Lebanon Crisis of 1958 1959: The First Air Force Academy graduation 1960: The first female chief master sergeant 1961: Mobilization over the Berlin crisis 1962: The Cuban Missile Crisis 1963: President Kennedy's final transport 1964: The 1 millionth recruit 1965: First planes over South Vietnam 1966: Last forces leave France 1967: Operation Rolling Thunder in Vietnam 1968: Mobilizing reserves for combat in Southeast Asia 1969: A daring theft 1970: A glamorous portrait of life in the Air Force 1971: A terrible mistake at Cheyenne Mountain Complex 1972: The Easter offensive 1973: Operation Homecoming 1974: A high wire meeting over Damascus 1975: Operation Babylift 1976: Two tragic crashes 1977: Deactivating the 76th Airlift Division 1978: A secret unit flies captured Soviet pilots 1979: Intrigue in East Germany 1980: Operation Eagle Claw 1981: Bombs at Ramstein Air Base 1982: The birth of Air Space Command 1983: Operation Urgent Fury in Grenada 1984: The KC-10 opens to women 1985: A winning football season 1986: Operation El Dorado Canyon 1987: Air Force demo goes awry 1988: New uniforms for trainees 1989: Operation Just Cause in Panama 1990: A buildup in Iraq 1991: Operation Desert Storm 1992: A reorganization for a Post-Cold War World 1993: Operation Deny Flight in Bosnia 1994: The other Black Hawk Down in Iraq 1995: Operation Deliberate Force in Bosnia 1996: A spate of airstrikes in Iraq 1997: Operation Northern Watch 1998: Operation Desert Fox targets Iraq's weapons of mass destruction 1999: Strikes in Serbia during Kosovo War 2000: Adapting to new technologies 2001: Fighting the Taliban in Afghanistan 2002: The Return of NORAD 2003: Operation Iraqi Freedom 2004: Fatal crash at Luke Air Force Base 2005: Religious intolerance at Air Force Academy 2006: A harrowing confrontation in Sudan 2007: A nuclear accident 2008: A scandal spreads 2009: Accidental NYC panic with jet flyover 2010: Considering the use of neuroweapons 2011: Bombs over Libya 2012: Air Force sex scandal 2013: Air Force espionage in Iran 2014: Budget cuts and reductions 2015: Targeting the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria 2016: Most new Air Force recruits since Vietnam 2017: A new tattoo policy 2018: Serious questions about coffee cups 2019: The first F-35 airstrikes 2020: Air Force retention reaches 20-year high 2021: Air Force chief of staff pushes accelerate change agenda
LITTLE ROCK, Ark.  It was pharmacist Gwendolyn Herzig's first time testifying before a legislative committee when she spoke to several Arkansas lawmakers in a packed hearing room this month about a bill restricting gender-affirming care for minors.

Herzig, who is transgender, spoke out against the legislation and told the panel that one of the biggest obstacles trans people face is a lack of empathy. Only a few minutes later, a Republican lawmaker asked her an inappropriate question about her genitalia.

It was horrifying," she said.

The exchange, which was livestreamed on the Legislature's website and has since been widely shared on social media, is an example of the type of demeaning questions and rhetoric that transgender people meet when they show up to statehouses to testify against new bills targeting their rights.

In South Dakota, a lawmaker invoked furries"  people who dress up as animals  when talking about gender-affirming care. In Montana, a legislator compared parents supporting their children in finding treatment to asking doctors to carry out medically assisted suicide.

Advocates worry that increasingly hostile rhetoric about transgender people could have a chilling effect on those who want to speak out against new restrictions and could do lasting damage to a community of trans youth that is already marginalized.

I feel like that's what they're trying to do, to keep us from coming and exercising this right that we have," said Rumba Yambu, executive director of Intransitive, an advocacy and support group for transgender people in Arkansas. Because who wants to go and be asked about their genitalia in front of a bunch of strangers? Especially strangers in power."

So far this year, at least 150 bills targeting transgender people have been introduced, which is the highest in a single year, according to the Human Rights Campaign.

Bans on gender-affirming care for minors have already been enacted this year in South Dakota and Utah, and Republican governors in Tennessee and Mississippi are expected to sign similar bans into law. Arkansas and Alabama have bans that were temporarily blocked by federal judges.

The push has included efforts in some states to restrict gender-affirming care for adults and proposed bans on drag shows that opponents have warned would also discriminate against transgender people.

Herzig came to the state Capitol to testify against a bill attempting to reinstate Arkansas' ban on gender-affirming care for minors by making it easier to file malpractice lawsuits against providers. In her testimony, Herzig talked about working with transgender patients who are on hormone replacement therapy.

Bills like SB199 are designed to hinder, not help, Arkansans by creating barriers to evidence-driven health care they deserve under the guise of helping the young and innocent," she said, later saying a vote for the bill was unpatriotic, and casts doubts on our own health and research institutions who have worked through health care fields to improve the lives of Americans.

During follow-up questions, Republican Sen. Matt McKee asked Herzig if she is transgender.

When she said yes, he asked: Do you have a penis?"

The question was met with jeers and audible gasps in the packed committee room.

That's horrible," Herzig responded, telling McKee that asking her such a question was inappropriate and noting she was testifying as a health care professional.

I had never been so publicly humiliated in my life, Herzig told The Associated Press in an interview days later.

McKee did not respond to an email or phone call, but defended his question in a written statement.

As a father of 4 daughters, I will do everything in my power to protect my children and the children of Arkansas, especially from the woke mob who intend to push their agenda and beliefs down our throats and destroy our families," McKee's statement said.

People opposed to gender-affirming care for minors argue that children are too young to make decisions about their futures, sometimes comparing such treatments to child abuse. That's despite medical experts saying the care is safe when administered properly.

Nearly every major medical group, including the American Medical Association, has opposed the bans on such care for minors.

Republican Texas Gov. Greg Abbott last year ordered the states child welfare agency to investigate reports of gender-affirming care for kids as abuse, but a judge has since blocked those investigations.

Amber Briggle, the mother of a transgender teenager in Texas whose family was investigated after Abbott's order, said she gets frustrated when speaking before lawmakers in her state who she thinks already have made up their minds on the issue. But Briggle said she plans on returning to Texas' Capitol this year and that Herzig's encounter motivates her even more to show up and speak out.

They should not have to fight this alone," Briggle said of transgender people testifying in statehouses. They should know they have loving, supporting allies in their corner."

Herzig said she probably would not have testified had she known she was going to be asked about her genitalia.

I felt like I was pretty much prepared for any combative question," she said. Except that."

Videos: Some testimony before the House committee about bills to criminalize transgender health care 'It makes me feel hated. It really does,' transgender teen testifies House representative calls puberty blockers child abuse; transgender woman says that's offensive 'This bill will harm me,' transgender child tells Missouri House committee 'Will our kids and grandkids see that we were on the side of love or hate?' Parent asks committee
China backs grey business crackdown

BANGKOK: The Chinese embassy in Bangkok said it will support the Thai governments efforts to deal with Chinese citizens who are involved in illegal activities in the kingdom.

Chinesecrimecorruptionpolice

By Bangkok Post

Friday 3 March 2023, 09:29AM

Police arrest 10 Chinese nationals for allegedly operating a call centre scam and online gambling during a raid on two condo units in Bangkok on Jan 20, 2022. Photo: Bangkok Post

China has always required its citizens and companies to strictly abide by the laws and customs of the country where they reside and actively give back to local communities, the Bangkok Post reports the Chinese embassy as saying yesterday (Mar 2).

We support the Thai side in dealing with the suspected illegal activities of some individual Chinese citizens in Thailand in accordance with the law, it said.

The law enforcement agencies of China and Thailand have cooperated closely in combating cross-border crimes, such as online gambling and fraud. It should be made clear that the suspected illegal acts are only committed by a small number of individuals and by no means represent all Chinese citizens and enterprises in Thailand.

The police and Interior Ministry have been cracking down on illegal associations that are suspected to be fronts for illicit Chinese businesses nationwide after a whistleblower brought them to the publics attention.

Former massage parlour tycoon and politician Chuvit Kamolvisit has been urging the police to take action against Chinese gangs and illegal associations in the country, supplying investigators with evidence to back his claims.

One of the first major grey business operations exposed by Mr Chuvit was said to be headed by Chaiyanat Tuhao Kornchayanant, a Chinese national who also holds Thai citizenship.

Mr Chaiyanat has been in custody since Nov 23, when he turned himself over to deputy national police chief Pol Gen Surachate Hakparn. He was wanted for colluding in the illicit drug trade and illegally possessing a psychotropic substance with the intent to sell.

Meanwhile, Mr Chuvit yesterday appeared at the Metropolitan Police Bureau (MPB) after learning Santhana Prayoonrat, an ex-policeman, was about to petition MPB chief Pol Lt Gen Thiti Saengsawang to speed up investigations into drug abuse and other violations at Mr Chuvits hotel. A confrontation broke out when they met.

Earlier, they had a war of words outside Mr Chuvits hotel and Thong Lor police station.
Fake goods workshop raided in Kathu

PHUKET: Officers led by Region 8 Police raided several commercial units in Kathu yesterday (Mar 2) where trademark logos of companies such as Adidas, Nike, Under Armour and RVCA, owned and operated by Billabong and Quiksilver, were illegally produced on shirts.

crimepolicetourism

By The Phuket News

Friday 3 March 2023, 10:54AM

Officers arrived at the row of commercial unit shophouses located near Kathu Waterfall armed with a warrant issued by Phuket Provincial Court.

Leading the raid was Region 8 Police Deputy Commander Maj Gen Saksira Phuak-am. Joining him were officers from the Phuket Intellectual Property Violation Suppression Center, Provincial Police Region 8, representatives of the copyright owners and Kathu Police.

At the first unit raided officers found the workshop where the trademark logos, including ,Boss and Gucci, were screen-printed onto the shirts.

At another unit about 100 metres away officers found shirts already screen-printed with the logos being prepared for distribution.

Three people found working at the units, and were taken to Kathu Police Station to be prosecuted, Maj Gen Saksira confirmed.

This inspection is the result of a complaint and the investigation has resulted in the arrests and seizure, Maj Gen Saksira said.

As you can see, there are a lot of tourists coming to Phuket, causing the trademark logos to be copied and brought out for sale in large numbers. This causes a lot of damage to the copyright owners and the country, he added.
Over 50 airlines confirmed to fly to Phuket from abroad in March

PHUKET: International flights to Phuket airport are expected to continue growing in numbers on March as more carriers get permissions to add the island to their networks of routes. The official schedule, released earlier this week by the Phuket branch of the Airports of Thailand (AoT Phuket), lists 3,710 inbound and outbound flights by 52 carriers in March.

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By The Phuket News

Friday 3 March 2023, 05:34PM

Phuket airport has 3,710 international and 3,760 flights scheduled and confirmed for March. Photo: TAC Phuket

Domestic flights to Phuket airport are expected to reach 3,760 in March. Overall six carries will be flying to the island during the third month of the year with Bangkok being the city boasting the best connectivity with the countrys top resort province, according to the AoT schedule. The top 12 air carriers to perform international flights to and from Phuket in March include: Singapore Airlines  56 flights per week; Qatar Airways  56 flights; AirAsia Berhad  56 flights; Aeroflot Russian Airlines  54 flights; Azur Air  52 flights; Go First Airlines  52 flights; Juneyao Airlines  40 flights; Scoot Tiger Airways  32 flights; Etihad Airways  28 flights; Emirates Airlines  28 flights; Indigo Airlines  28 flights; Spring Airlines  28 flights; The number of Chinese flights might increase further during the month as several carriers are still waiting for approval of their applications to perform flights to Phuket. So far China has two carriers in top-12  Juneyao Airlines and Spring Airlines. Russia, which remains Phukets most significant source market for tourism, also has two carriers in the top-12  Aeroflot and Azur. The six airlines scheduled to perform domestic flights to Phuket are: Thai AirAsia  252 flights per week; Bangkok Airways  197 flights; Thai Smile  154 flights; Thai Viet Jet  143 flights; Nok Air  98 flights; Thai Lion Air  36 flights. On average, Phuket airport will be servicing 120 international and 121 domestic flights a day during March, according to the current schedule.
Patong Police respond over attack on Canadian tourist

PHUKET: Patong Police have responded to accusations of lack of action taken regarding a Canadian tourist being attacked and robbed on Patong Beach in the early hours of one morning last month.

patongviolencecrimepolice

By The Phuket News

Friday 3 March 2023, 10:02AM

Police have investigated the incident and prosecuted three suspects  all youths  resulting in a fine of B4,000, Patong Police reported yesterday (Mar 2).

According to the report, the investigation was ordered by Patong Police Chief Col Sujin Nilabadee following complaints posted on the Hot Jung Phuket () Facebook page.

The complaints posted online accused Patong Police of taking no action to investigate the assault on 28-year-old Canadian tourist William Lamarche, who had reported that he had been attacked and robbed by a group of men on Patong Beach who made off with his watch and cash, said the report.

However, the report by Patong Police yesterday failed to mention that Phuket Provincial Police Commander Maj Gen Sermphan Sirikong had already come forward to explain that he had ordered officers to investigate the attack.

The incident occurred on Patong Beach in the early hours of Feb 11, Patong Police reported.

Officers confirmed through CCTV that Mr Lamarche was in McDonalds on Bangla Rd at 2:22am, and CCTV at the police box at the end of Bangla Rd confirmed that he walked from Bangla Rd to sit and drink with a group of friends on the beach at 2:40am, police said.

At about 2:51am Mr Lamarche was drinking with a group of friends on the beach when he became involved in an argument and a fight with the perpetrators.

At about 3:03am Mr Lamarche walked back along Bangla Rd, and at about 3:15am entered Clinic Bodrum to receive medical treatment.

Recognised by Provincial Police Commander Maj Gen Sermphan in the initial response to the incident, Mr Lamarche had suffered a broken nose and multiple contusions in the affray.

Patong Police yesterday reported that three youths had been held responsible for the attack, named only as Kantsak, 18; Sittisak, 13; and Tan Chin Huai, a Myanmar national whose age was not reported.

The report by Patong Police yesterday noted that the prosecutions had resulted in a fine of B4,000, but did not clarify whether the amount was the fine in total or the fine for each offender.

The report made no mention of the Rolex watch and B50,000 cash reported stolen by Mr Lamarche.

The report also made no mention of claims by Thai witnesses that the attack was not a mugging, but an incident after an argument at a local restaurant where the Canadian allegedly refused to pay the bill.

The report by Patong Police also made no mention of any action taken over Mr Lamraches complaint that he had reported the incident immediately after the attack to a Patong Police officer on patrol, who did nothing.

However, the report posted online by Patong Police yesterday was marked, Patong Police take action!.
Phuket Immigration Chief to ask for red card system to be made national

PHUKET: Phuket Immigration Chief Col Thanet Sukchai left Phuket for Bangkok, where he hopes to ask Pol Lt Gen Pakpoompipat Sajjapan, Commissioner of the Immigration Bureau, to make the red card system introduced in Phuket national.

tourismcrimeimmigrationpolice

By Nattha Thepbamrung

Friday 3 March 2023, 06:20PM

Phuket Immigration Chief Col Thanet Sukchai. Photo: Radio Thailand Phuket

Pol Maj Gen Praphansak Prasansuk, Commander of the Immigration Region 6 Office, announced the new system of yellow cards and red cards for foreigners caught breaking the law in Phuket at a press event on Wednesday (Mar 1).

Under the system, foreigners will be given a yellow card warning for minor offences. The relevant embassy will be notified and once the foreigner is found committing the offence twice, a red card will be given.

A yellow card is a warning. A foreigner who receives one can still stay in Thailand. But after the two yellow cards, there will be a red card, and the foreigners visa will be revoked and the person will be deported, Col Thanet told The Phuket News.

Red cards will be issued for crimes of a serious nature, Col Thanet continued.

However, Col Thanet was unable to further clarify breaking specifically which laws would constitute a yellow card or a red card offence.

The actions need to be considered case by case and the main standard of consideration is maintaining the peace in public areas, he said

For example, with the foreign motorcyclists in Patong who rode the bikes made loud noises and disturbed people in many ways, all of the motorcyclists have already received yellow cards, he continued.

We have just started the project so we have to look into the offences case by case. In any case, if we see that it causes trouble to society, we will give them an official warning. The standard is that whatever affects the peace of living of local people as well as other tourists is prohibited, he explained.

Phuket is Thailands first and only province with this regulation. Once a foreigner is designated a yellow card, the foreigner can remain in Phuket until the current stay is complete or choose to travel or move to other provinces, Col Thanet noted.

Those who receive a red card can return to Thailand and Phuket, but this will be relevant to the offences they committed. However, it would be more difficult [sic] for them if the immigration officer at the airport finds the record of a red card in the system, he said.

Col Thanet did not explain what more difficult would entail, including whether the foreigner qwould be refused entry at the airport.

The purpose of creating the yellow and red cards is to strengthen the laws in Phuket and to warn foreigners if their behaviour causes trouble to society, he said.

Col Thanet did not clarify whether a court verdict was necessary for a card to be issued, or whether a law-enforcement officer pressing a minor charge was sufficient.

He did say that some burden of proof would be required.

The behaviour needs to be proven whether it really was disturbing the public, he said.

The Immigration Bureau is authorised to allow the length of stay for each visa considering the behaviour in the record, so the yellow card and red card system will help make foreigners respect Thai law more, Col Thanet said.

Immigration must offer services and accommodate foreigners while also maintaining the security of society. We have to balance the two sides, he said.

According to Col Thanet, Phuket Governor Narong Woonciew supports the initiative.

From social topics that foreigners behave inappropriately and disrespect Thai law, the law enforcement must be done concretely to make Phuket safe by designating yellow and red cards to foreigners to behave well and not cause trouble to others, Col Thanet cited the Governor saying.

The previous operation already suppressed 20 trouble-maker foreign motorcyclists. Three of them were designated with yellow cards and the rest have already flown back to their home countries. Phuket Immigration has also filed the case with their embassy, he said.
Russia accuses Ukraine of cross-border incursion

MOSCOW: Moscow yesterday (Feb 2) claimed that Ukrainians had crossed into southern Russia and killed two civilians, an allegation dismissed by Kyiv as a deliberate provocation.

RussianUkraineviolencedeathpoliticsmilitary

By AFP

Friday 3 March 2023, 09:43AM

Russian President Vladimir Putin said neo-Nazis and terrorists had crossed the border from Ukraine. Photo: AFP

Russia says its regions bordering Ukraine are routinely shelled by Ukrainian forces, but the alleged incursion, if confirmed, would be a rare instance of fighting inside its territory.

Russias FSB security service said in a statement that the Ukrainian nationalists had later been pushed back over the border and targeted with a massive artillery strike.

It comes as Ukraine orders the mandatory evacuation of vulnerable residents from the frontline city of Kupiansk and adjacent northeastern territories, with fears mounting that Russia will retake the key city and rail hub.

The conflict has also spilled into the G20 meeting of foreign ministers in New Delhi, with US Secretary of State Antony Blinken saying he had urged Russias top diplomat Sergei Lavrov to end the military campaign in Ukraine.

President Vladimir Putin denounced the attackers accused of the incursion as neo-Nazis and terrorists, saying they had penetrated the border area and opened fire on civilians.

Ukrainian presidential advisor Mykhaylo Podolyak quickly dismissed Moscows claims.

The story about (a) sabotage group in Russia is a classic deliberate provocation, he said. Russia wants to scare its people to justify the attack on another country and the growing poverty after the year of war.

The FSB said the incident had happened in the Klimovsky district of the Bryansk region, which borders Ukraine, and that a large number of explosives had been found.

AFP could not independently verify the reports.

Sabotage group

Earlier in the day, Alexander Bogomaz, governor of the Russian region of Bryansk, said a reconnaissance and sabotage group had crossed the border near a village called Lyubechane.

Bogomaz said two people were killed and a child wounded in the attacks.

He said the boy was taken to hospital and had a bullet removed during surgery.

However, a different account was put forward in two videos on social media. They showed four men in military uniform claiming to be from a Russian volunteer group in the Ukrainian army.

The men said they were in Russia and made statements against the Russian government, denying reports that they had taken hostages or killed anyone.

Governor Bogomaz also said a Ukrainian drone had attacked the village of Sushany, leaving a residential home in flames, and that mortar fire had damaged two homes in Lomakovka, also in the region of Bryansk.

Roman Starovoyt, the governor of another Russian border region, said Ukrainian shelling on the village of Tetkino had left one dead and one injured.

He said the shelling damaged three houses and cut power in the village.

Evil will not reign

Ukraines evacuation order in the northeast came as Kharkiv regional governor Oleg Synegubov said Russia had shelled several settlements in the area, including Kupiansk.

Russian troops retreated from key cities in the region in September, but locals fear Kupiansk could be recaptured.

Mandatory evacuation of families with children and residents with limited mobility began in Kupiansk community, the Kharkiv regional military administration said on its website.

The decision was made... taking into account the unstable security situation due to constant shelling of the territory of the community by Russian troops, it added.

Some 300 kilometres (185 miles) further south, a Russian strike on an apartment block in the southern city of Zaporizhzhia killed at least three people, Ukrainian officials said.

The terrorist state wants to turn every day for our people into a day of terror, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said.

But evil will not reign in our land. We will drive all the occupiers out and they will definitely be held accountable for everything, he added.

G20 farce

Ukraine tensions disrupted the G20 meeting in India, with Lavrov telling the assembled foreign ministers that Western representatives had derailed the meeting, calling it a farce.

His US counterpart Blinken said he had told Lavrov to end this war of aggression, engage in meaningful diplomacy.

Also on the diplomatic front, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz said Germany and its allies were in talks with Kyiv over future security guarantees in preparation for a sustainable peace for Ukraine.

We are speaking with Kyiv and other partners over future security guarantees for Ukraine, Scholz said in a speech to the German parliament.

Such security guarantees, however, come with the presumption that Ukraine successfully defends itself in this war, said Scholz, who will travel to the United States for talks with President Joe Biden today.

The White House announced that Biden would also host European Commission chief Ursula von der Leyen for talks in Washington next week.
You could call it killing two  actually, three  birds with one stone, but a program that stands to improve national security, bolster American manufacturing and meet the needs of families has more to do with nourishing birds than it does in dispatching them.

What is more, President Bidens plan to link the new chip-manufacturing law to a requirement for child care stands to directly benefit New Yorkers. Indeed, Albany should be watching.

The Commerce Department made the groundbreaking announcement that any semiconductor manufacturer seeking any part of nearly $40 billion in new federal subsidies must essentially guarantee affordable, high-quality child care for workers who build or operate a plant.

The bipartisan CHIPS Act, passed last year, devotes $39 billion to directly boost U.S. semiconductor factories as part of $52 billion in subsidies for the industry. The idea is to make the United States more independent and less reliant on foreign suppliers  read: China  for chips that power computers, video games, cars and other items.

Micron, headquartered in Boise, Idaho, a leading producer of memory and data storage chips, is planning a $100 billion investment in a semiconductor plant near Syracuse. It could be among the companies affected by the requirement.

In an interview with The New York Times, Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo noted that the rule would help companies cope with a tight labor market in which potential workers cant find high quality care for their children. Only about 3% of U.S. manufacturing workers are women, according to the Times article. But there should be more.

The focus on child care in the manufacturing of chips should extend to other industries and levels of government.

In New York State, for instance, the Empire State Campaign for Child Care applauds efforts by Gov. Kathy Hochul and the State Legislature for including historic child care investments and policies in the 2022-23 New York State Budget and legislative session. The group is calling for more in the pending budget, specifically steps towards universal child care. It also wants New York State to stabilize child care providers who are still reeling from the impact of the pandemic. That budget is due by April 1.

State lawmakers should evaluate how the Biden administrations mandate on child care factors into its effort to shore up its work force against global competition and, by extension, national security.

  

Whats your opinion? Send it to us at lettertoeditor@buffnews.com. Letters should be a maximum of 300 words and must convey an opinion. The column does not print poetry, announcements of community events or thank you letters. A writer or household may appear only once every 30 days. All letters are subject to fact-checking and editing.
Heartbreaking.

Hopes were dashed all over Western New York when it was finally confirmed that 37-year-old Buffalo firefighter Jason Arno gave his life while battling a four-alarm blaze at 745 Main St. Wednesday afternoon.

Arno was assigned to Engine 2, stationed at Elmwood Avenue and Virginia Street, probably the nearest station to the conflagration.

The firefighter leaves his wife, his child and other family members behind. They have our deep, heartfelt sympathies as the city attempts to fathom and, if possible, share in their grief. Its a terrible loss  the kind that the families of firefighters and police must live with, and fear, every day. It cant make it any easier.

Tragedies like this reverberate through communities, first sending waves of shock, then horror and, finally, deep sadness.

There is, perhaps, some consolation in the knowledge that if not for the selfless efforts of Arno and his fellow firefighters, this blaze could have engulfed adjacent structures, possibly causing even more heartbreak and damage. As it is, 745 Main is a complete loss. But it could have been worse, much worse.

Those who run into burning buildings know this. Their determination to lessen the damages and prevent loss of life to others becomes paramount to a degree thats almost impossible to imagine. This is what needs to be remembered when a fire truck or police car speeds by, sirens blaring. The public servants in those vehicles are in the process of doing something that they may have come to take for granted, but that the rest of us never should. Theyre putting themselves in harms way so that others may remain safe.

We dont know the exact circumstances that left Arno inside when a deadly backdraft apparently caused an explosion that partially collapsed the structure.

What we do know is that his loss has devastated not just his family but also his fellow firefighters and other public safety officers throughout the community.

Thats why flags are flying at half-staff this week. Thats why hearts are correspondingly low and a region that has suffered more than its share of trauma over the past 12 months feels like this is yet another blow against an unhealed wound.

In the meantime, the questions keep coming. Why did this happen? Could it have been prevented? Are there lessons to learn? As with all such events, there will be an investigation, and the exact causes will be pinpointed as much as possible.

That this event happened in the middle of a weekday afternoon makes it somewhat more disturbing. People were walking by the unoccupied building as they went about their business. Fortunately, no one was hurt.

There is some speculation that the fire might have been smoldering for hours before it became visible. Its also been said that work being done on the structure with blowtorches may have sparked an eventual blaze. These are questions that need to be answered.

The answers will come, perhaps slowly, but they will emerge. When all the circumstances that led to the explosive blaze at 745 Main are known, it will be somewhat easier to process the tragedy, if not to accept it.

In the meantime, public emotion is mostly directed toward the loss of this young man, who was only in his third year as a firefighter, and his equally young family. May their hearts be healed as much as can be and may the memory of his bravery be a blessing in years to come.

  

Whats your opinion? Send it to us at lettertoeditor@buffnews.com. Letters should be a maximum of 300 words and must convey an opinion. The column does not print poetry, announcements of community events or thank you letters. A writer or household may appear only once every 30 days. All letters are subject to fact-checking and editing.
Bob Foley is a Sun Chronicle columnist. His essays are published here each Friday.
Scranton, PA (18503)

Today

Mostly cloudy skies early, then partly cloudy this afternoon. Slight chance of a rain shower. High 78F. Winds SSW at 5 to 10 mph..

Tonight

Showers this evening becoming a steady light rain overnight. Low 56F. Winds SE at 5 to 10 mph. Chance of rain 70%.
The first session of the 14th National People's Congress will be held soon. Recently, the deputies to the National People's Congress in Anhui have arrived in Hefei. On March 3, the Anhui delegation will leave for Beijing to participate in the session. Zhao Wanping, deputy to the National People's Congress As a re-elected deputy, Zhao Wanping, an NPC deputy and vice president of the Anhui Academy of Agricultural Sciences, is full of expectations for the upcoming first session of the 14th National People's Congress. "This is the first NPC session held after the 20th National Congress of the Communist Party of China. It is an important meeting held at an vital historical moment. We will fulfill the sacred duty of people's representatives." "I will also bring a lot of suggestions on rural revitalization, personnel training, and food security to this session." Zhao Wanping said that through this session, he and the deputies can learn from each other, and his ability to perform duties will be further improved. Cheng Tao, deputy to the National People's Congress Cheng Tao, Chief Quality Improvement Engineer of Xingrui Stamping and Welding Plant of Passenger Car Company of Anhui Jianghuai Automobile Group Co., Ltd. (JAC Motors) who was just elected as a deputy to the National People's Congress this year, said that as a new deputy to participate in the National People's Congress session, he was very excited. "To be honest, it's the first time I participated in such a high-level meeting, and I'm very excited." Cheng Tao told reporters that being elected as a deputy to the National People's Congress is an honor, and he feels a great responsibility on his shoulders. "Since the people have chosen me, I will make my due contribution. As a deputy to the National People's Congress, I will do my best to bring the people's voice to the two sessions and fulfill my duties."

Reported by Zhang Yipu Edited and translated by Zheng Chen
Dora construction, working on an affordable housing project shown in Dartmouth, is part of Nova Scotia's delegation to Jordan, where it hopes to hire about 25 workers. (Brian McKay/CBC - image credit)

A Nova Scotia construction company is joining an official delegation to the Middle East as the province steps up its recruitment of skilled refugees to help fill some key jobs.

It's one of the strategies being used to address a labour shortage that has been affecting some essential services.

The latest recruitment trip follows a visit to Kenya last fall, after which the government announced conditional job offers to 65 health-care workers.

Dora Construction is hoping to hire as many as 25 workers at the Global Refugee Labour Mobility Summit in Jordan's capital Amman that opens on Monday, March 6.

The five-day event includes a job fair.

"There is a well-documented labour shortage throughout the construction industry across Canada and in Nova Scotia," said Betsy Sisco, who is part of the delegation as a recruiter with Dora Construction.

Concrete workers needed

The company is still trying to hire workers from within Canada but has found that difficult in the current labour climate.

"Jobs can get delayed and project deadlines can be hard to meet," Sisco explained.

With a particular shortage of concrete workers, she is hoping to hire formwork carpenters to support the company's projects around the province.

Candidates' resumes have already been examined, she said.

They have also been pre-screened, to make sure they qualify for the federal Economic Mobility Pathways Pilot program which speeds up the candidates' permanent residence applications and offers loans for resettlement.

"I will be interviewing 25 or so people. They're mostly Syrian refugees with strong skill-sets," she said.

Many have been living at the Za'atari Refugee Camp in Jordan, Sisco said, alongside more than 80,000 others.

The majority of those at the camp are Syrians who fled the conflict in their home country, according to the United Nations Refugee Agency.

Michelle Gagnon/CBC

Dora is a part of the trip that also includes McLeod Group Health Services.

McLeod made a number of job offers for people to work in long-term care, after going on the earlier trip to Kenya.

Story continues

"It's a really exciting opportunity. We're in an area where we're competing for talent not only across Canada but across the world," said Jennifer L'Esperance, a senior executive director of immigration and population growth with Nova Scotia Labour Skills and Immigration, who will be on the trip.

L'Esperance said the delegation will meet with a range of much needed health-care workers from registered nurses to pharmacist technicians.

Those offered positions in Nova Scotia's construction sector are in demand to help build housing, that is also another priority she said.

"The employers are meeting with about 70 candidates and then there is an opportunity for us to see a few other health-care candidates as well," L'Esperance said.

The province also hopes to make contacts that may lead to future hiring opportunities.

The candidates that receive conditional offers plan to move to Nova Scotia with their families when they are approved as permanent residents.

It's expected the immigration process will take between six and nine months to complete.

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Leonardo DiCaprio, Jho Low, and Kim Kardashian. Bertrand Rindoff Petroff/Getty Images; Bellocqimages/Bauer-Griffin/GC Images

Leonardo DiCaprio and Kim Kardashian were interviewed by the FBI in 2018 and 2019, Bloomberg reported.

The stars had received gifts from Jho Low, who is accused of masterminding the 1MDB scandal.

Earlier, DiCaprio had to return a number of gifts given to him by Low, including an Oscar won by Marlon Brando.

In 2013, Leonardo DiCaprio starred in "The Wolf of Wall Street," a film about a convicted fraudster, which was financed by a man later embroiled in a scandal surrounding Malaysia's sovereign wealth fund, 1MDB.

Jho Low, prosecutors say, masterminded the scandal which saw billions of government dollars channeled through shell companies and offshore bank accounts, and into the pockets of Low and his associates.

On Thursday, Bloomberg revealed previously undisclosed documents which show the FBI interviewing DiCaprio in 2018 about his relationship with Low.

Low lived a lavish lifestyle and rubbed shoulders with several celebrities. In 2018, The New York Times reported that DiCaprio had returned a number of gifts to authorities, including Marlon Brando's $600,000 Oscar, and a $9 million painting by Jean-Michel Basquiat, per ArtNet, which Low had given him.

That same year, DiCaprio told the FBI he'd been led to believe Low's money came from an unknown "whale of whales" in Abu Dhabi, per Bloomberg. The documents show the actor was sure his managers must have vetted Low before he helped finance "The Wolf of Wall Street," but the two still became friends.

FBI agents collected thousands of emails and BlackBerry messages between DiCaprio and Low, building a spreadsheet of all the gifts the actor received across five years, Bloomberg reported. The documents even note that Low called DiCaprio "L-Dizzle."

Kim Kardashian was also interviewed by the FBI about her interactions with Low in 2019. Kardashian recalled staying up until 5:00 a.m. in a Las Vegas casino with Low, and he refused her attempt to return $350,000 of winnings, which she later picked up in trash bags of $100 bills, the documents show.

Story continues

On another occasion, Low offered to give Kardashian a Basquiat painting, but her then-husband Kanye West made her ask for a Monet instead. "Both Kardashian and West found Low to be very fickle when giving gifts and never expected to actually receive a painting from Low," the FBI document reads.

Representatives for Kardashian and DiCaprio did not immediately respond to Insider's request for comment, sent outside normal working hours.

Read the original article on Business Insider
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The Jerusalem District Court on Thursday convicted four minors who took part in the 2015 hate wedding, in which the participants celebrated an arson attack that killed a Palestinian couple and their toddler, of incitement to violence.

The courts decision accepted the appeal filed by the State and overturned the decision of the Magistrates Court in 2021, which acquitted five minors involved in the case of the charge of incitement. The court left the acquittal of one minor intact due to doubt.

The Honenu legal aid organization responded to the courts decision by saying: The court has set us back as a society to a situation in which children who committed a stupid prank at a private wedding stand trial and are convicted at the end of a lengthy legal process, while thousands who distribute candy after terrorist attacks and celebrate in mosques after Jews are murdered roam freely among us.

Attorney Moshe Pulaski, who represented the defendants, said, Contrary to the verdict of the lower court, which was shocked by the aggressive enforcement activities taken against the defendants only because of the sector to which they belong, the district court made life easy for itself and decided to convict the minors without delving into the intricacies of the case solely because of their sectoral affiliation.

This verdict illustrates once again how much reform is needed in the entire judicial system. The court adopted the prosecutions premise, even though the lower court rejected it outright.

In April 2022, the Jerusalem Magistrates Court convicted the chassan and six guests from the wedding on charges of inciting violence and terror.

(YWN Israel Desk  Jerusalem)




120 professors, including senior academics, signed a petition in support of the judicial reform being advanced by Justice Minister Yariv Levin and chairman of the Knessets Constitution, Law and Justice Committee MK Simcha Rothman.

The petition states: Comprehensive reform of the judicial system is essential due to the constitutional revolution led by Prof. Aharon Barak which upset the balance of powers between Israels branches of government.

The violation of the balance between the branches and the strengthening of the power of the court was achieved through various means: judicial review of primary legislation and in particular its extension even to Basic Laws; the expansion of the principle of legal standing [allowing anyone to bring a lawsuit even if their own interests are not affected]; the expansion of the doctrine of judicial review, the expansion of the use of the principle of reasonableness; the use of a purposive and objective interpretation, and the powerful strengthening of the authority of the Attorney General and the governments legal advisers. All of these have led to the excessive violation of the balance of powers mentioned above.

The petition continues by saying that the reform should be achieved through negotiations and broad agreements as much as possible, but we must not detract from the essential process of correcting the judicial system, which in recent years has greatly overstepped its limits and encroached on the powers of the other branches of government.

Among the signatories are Israel Prize winner Israeli-American Prof. Yisrael Aumann, Bar Ilan University Rector Prof. Amnon Albek, former Bar Ilan University Rector Prof. Yossi Yeshurun, Prof. Amos Altshuler, a former member of the Higher Education Council, physicists, mathematicians and professors of computer science from the Weizmann Institute and the Technion, and researchers and professors from the Haifa, Bar Ilan, Hebrew, Tel Aviv, and Ben-Gurion Universities.

The organizers of the petition noted that the list of signatories is only a preliminary one and that in the coming days, many more professors and others are expected to sign.

(YWN Israel Desk  Jerusalem)




The House Ethics Committee announced Thursday it is launching an investigation into embattled Republican Rep. George Santos, the New York congressman whose lies and embellishments about his resume and personal life have drawn deep scrutiny.

The investigation appears to be far reaching. It seeks to determine whether Santos may have engaged in unlawful activity with respect to his 2022 congressional campaign among other actions, the committee said in a statement.

The panel will also investigate whether Santos failed to properly disclose required information on statements filed with the House, violated federal conflict of interest laws in connection with his role in a firm providing fiduciary services, and/or engaged in sexual misconduct towards an individual seeking employment in his congressional office, the statement said.

Santos had already removed himself from his committee assignments but otherwise has refused calls from Republicans in New York to step down from office. On Twitter, his office said that he is fully cooperating with the Ethics probe and would not comment further.

Ethics committee members David Joyce, R-Ohio, and Susan Wild, D-Pa., will lead the probe, with two other lawmakers from each party. The panel had voted unanimously to establish a subcommittee to investigate the allegations.

The Committee notes that the mere fact of establishing an Investigative Subcommittee does not itself indicate that any violation has occurred, Thursdays statement said.

The committee could take an array of actions, from a letter of reprimand to recommending censure and a fine.

It can also recommend expulsion, the sternest form of punishment the House can impose, an action it has used only five times in more than two centuries and never when it comes to conduct that took place before a member was sworn into office. At least two-thirds of the House must vote for expulsion for it to occur.

Any recommendation would be part of a committee report that states the evidence supporting its findings and an explanation of the reasons for the recommended sanctions.

A Long Island prosecutor has already been investigating whether Santos defrauded supporters. The Federal Election Commission has repeatedly flagged problems with Santos campaign finance reports.

Santos admitted that he lied about key parts of his background, including his job experience and college education, after The New York Times raised questions in December about the life story that he presented during his campaign.

My sins here are embellishing my resume. Im sorry, Santos told the New York Post in the wake of the Times story.

Santos said he obtained a degree from Baruch College in New York, but the school said that couldnt be confirmed. Santos had also said he had worked for Citigroup and Goldman Sachs, but neither company could find any records verifying that.

A Jewish news outlet, The Forward, questioned a claim on Santos campaign website that his grandparents fled Jewish persecution in Ukraine, settled in Belgium, and again fled persecution during WWII.

I never claimed to be Jewish, Santos told the Post. I am Catholic. Because I learned my maternal family had a Jewish background I said I was Jew-ish.

Perhaps the most serious questions facing Santos involve the personal fortune he claims to have used to finance his campaign.

Since announcing his candidacy in 2021, Santos has reported loaning his campaign organization $705,000, accounting for nearly 25% of its receipts over the last two years.

The underlying question remains how Santos earned the money. Despite his false claims of having worked for big, international banks, he was having financial problems up until a few years ago that led to multiple eviction proceedings from New York City apartments.

When Santos first ran for Congress in 2020, his financial disclosure form listed a modest $55,000 salary from a financial company and no significant assets.

After he lost that race, he took a job selling investments in a company that the Securities and Exchange Commission later accused of being a Ponzi scheme.

Last summer, Santos filed a financial disclosure report suggesting an explosion in his personal wealth.

Santos reported he was making $750,000 per year from his own company, the Devolder Organization, had $1 million to $5 million in savings and owned an apartment in Brazil worth up to $1 million. Santos has yet to fully answer questions about how he got so rich so quickly. In an interview with Semafor, Santos said he worked as a consultant for high net worth individuals, helping broker the sale of luxury items like yachts and planes.

(AP)




U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov talked briefly Thursday in the highest-level in-person talks between the two countries since Russias invasion of Ukraine. But there was no indication of any movement toward easing the intense tensions between their two nations.

The short encounter came as relations between Washington and Moscow have plummeted over Russias war with Ukraine and tensions have soared amid a myriad of disagreements, complaints and recriminations on other matters ranging from arms control to embassy staffing and prisoners.

U.S. officials said Blinken and Lavrov chatted for roughly 10 minutes on the sidelines of the G-20 conference of foreign ministers in New Delhi. But there was no sign of any progress and the conference itself ended with the grouping unable to reach consensus on the Ukraine war.

Still, with relations at perhaps their lowest point since the Cuban Missile Crisis during the Cold War, the mere fact that the two men met showed that, at least for the moment, lines of high-level communication between Washington and Moscow remains open.

At a news conference, Blinken said he told Lavrov that the U.S. would continue to support Ukraine for as long as it takes and would push for the war to end through diplomatic terms that Kyiv agrees to.

End this war of aggression, engage in meaningful diplomacy that can produce a just and durable peace, Blinken said he had told Lavrov. But, he noted that President Putin has demonstrated zero interest in engaging, saying theres nothing to even talk about unless and until Ukraine accepts and I quote the new territorial reality.

Blinken said he also urged Russia to reverse its irresponsible decision and return to participation in the New START nuclear treaty.

Mutual compliance is in the interest of both our countries, Blinken said he told Lavrov. He added that no matter what else is happening in the world, in our relationship, the United States is always ready to engage and act on strategic arms control, just as the United States and the Soviet Union did even at the height of the Cold War.

Blinken said he also urged Moscow to release detained American Paul Whelan and that the United States has put forward a serious proposal. Russia should take it.

Earlier, Blinken had told the G-20 meeting that Russias war with Ukraine could not go unchallenged.

We must continue to call on Russia to end its war of aggression and withdraw from Ukraine for the sake of international peace and economic stability, Blinken said. He noted that 141 countries had voted to condemn Russia at the United Nations on the one-year anniversary of the invasion.

Yet, several members of the G-20, including host India, China and South Africa, chose to abstain in that vote and despite appeals from top Indian officials to look beyond their differences over Ukraine and forge consensus on other issues, the foreign ministers were unable to do so or agree on a final communique.

Indian Foreign Minister Subrahmanyam Jaishankar said there were divergences on the issue of the war in Ukraine which we could not reconcile as various parties held differing views. If we had a perfect meeting of minds on all issues, it would have been a collective statement, Jaishankar said.

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi had earlier appealed for all members of the fractured G-20 to reach consensus on issues of particular concern to poorer countries even if the broader East-West split over Ukraine could not overcome.

We all have our positions and our perspectives on how these tensions should be resolved, Modi said. We should not allow issues that we cannot resolve together to come in the way of those we can.

China and Russia objected to two paragraphs taken from the previous G-20 declaration in Bali last year, according to a summary of Thursdays meeting released by India. And Blinken lamented that Russia and China were the only two countries that made clear that they would not sign off on the text.

The paragraphs stated that the war in Ukraine was causing immense human suffering while exacerbating fragilities in the global economy, the need to uphold international law, and that the use or threat of use of nuclear weapons is inadmissible.

Despite the failure to achieve full consensus, Blinken said it was positive that 18 of the 20 nations had agreed on a statement calling for an end to the war and immediate steps to improve energy and food security that have been badly affected by the conflict.

Lavrov, who did not mention speaking with Blinken when he held a news conference after the G-20 session, told reporters that Moscow would continue to press its action in Ukraine. He shrugged off Western claims of Russias isolation, saying we arent feeling isolated. Its the West that has isolated itself, and it will eventually come to realize it.

He said Russia remains open to talks on ending the conflict in Ukraine, but he accused the West of effectively blocking such talks.

They are calling on us to have talks, but I dont remember any Western colleagues calling on Ukraine to have talks, he said. They are encouraging Ukraine to continue the war.

Lavrov also mocked U.S. threats against China, which has presented a peace plan for Ukraine that has been applauded by Moscow but dismissed by Washington and its Western allies.

Our Western colleagues have lost self-control, forgotten their manners and put diplomacy aside, switching exclusively to blackmail and threats. he said.

Russia had no immediate comment on the substance of the conversation, but Russian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Maria Zakharova said Blinken had asked to speak to Lavrov.

It was their first contact since last summer, when Blinken talked to Lavrov by phone about a U.S. proposal for Russia to release Whelan and formerly detained WNBA star Brittney Griner. Griner was later released in a swap for imprisoned Russian arms dealer Viktor Bout, but Whelan remains detained in Russia.

Whelan, a Michigan corporate security executive, has been held for four years on espionage charges that his family and the United States government have said are baseless.

His brother David said the family is grateful that Blinken took this high profile, rare opportunity to include Pauls freedom in his discussions with Kremlin representatives. But he noted that Paul Whelan turns 53 on Sunday, his fifth birthday in custody. Hes held in a prison in the Mordovia region in sub-zero Celsius temperatures with heat turned off, David Whelan said in an email.

Paul continues to sufferSo for all the statecraft and stonewalling, our brother languishes for another birthday and however many more milestones as a Russian hostage, he said.

The last time Blinken and Lavrov met in person was in Geneva, Switzerland, in January 2022 on the eve of Russias invasion. At that meeting, Blinken warned Lavrov about consequences if Russia went ahead with its planned military operation but also sought to address some complaints that Russian President Vladimir Putin had made about the U.S. and NATO.

Those talks proved to be inconclusive  Russia moved ahead with its plans to invade and Blinken then canceled a scheduled follow-up meeting with Lavrov that was set for just two days before Moscow eventually invaded on Feb. 24, 2022.

(AP)




Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis and former President Donald Trump are each headed to Iowa in the coming weeks, making their first trips of the year to the leadoff Republican voting state as the 2024 campaign ramps up.

DeSantis has scheduled events on March 10 in the eastern Iowa city of Davenport and the state capital, Des Moines, to promote his new book, The Courage to be Free. His plans were confirmed by two aides to Republican officials who spoke on condition of anonymity Thursday because they were not authorized to preempt DeSantis announcement.

Trumps campaign announced Thursday that the former president would be making an education policy speech in Davenport on March 13, his first Iowa visit since he launched his 2024 campaign in November.

Its going from ground zero right to the moon, said Gloria Mazza, the Republican party chair in Polk County, Iowas most populous county. It sure gets us excited.

Although DeSantis is not yet a candidate, his trip is a significant step for a governor who has positioned himself as a top alternative to Trump. Until now, he has largely been content to lead conservative cultural fights on cable TV and from the Florida statehouse, where he is focused on expanding his rightward agenda in the legislative session that runs through May.

The closely timed Iowa visits would draw the two leading Republicans closer toward direct competition. Trump has escalated his attacks on DeSantis in recent months as he increasingly views him as a major threat, deriding the governor on social media and trying out insulting nicknames. For his part, DeSantis responded to questions about one such Trump jab last month by saying he does not spend his time trying to smear other Republicans.

Trump attended events last month in early-voting states New Hampshire and South Carolina, and this months Iowa visit would be his first trip to the state as an official 2024 candidate.

He would face pressure to do well in Iowa next year, having finished in second place in the 2016 caucuses en route to the Republican presidential nomination and carrying Iowa by healthy margins in the 2016 and 2020 general elections.

After a quiet start to the year, Republican presidential prospects have been flocking to Iowa in recent weeks and making plans for future visits.

Former United Nations Ambassador Nikki Haley, who announced her candidacy last month, was in Iowa in late February and plans to return next week to host two town halls and participate in a foreign policy event with Republican Sen. Joni Ernst in Des Moines.

Former Vice President Mike Pence, who is considering a bid, was in the state last month rallying conservative parents against a gender-affirming policy in an eastern Iowa school district at issue in a federal lawsuit. Pence is expected back in Iowa on March 18.

Sen. Tim Scott of South Carolina, another likely 2024 candidate, was in the Des Moines area last week to deliver a speech at Drake University and headline a Polk County Republican Party fundraiser.

(AP)




The arrival this week to Rio de Janeiro of two Iranian warships that Brazils government authorized to dock has prompted rebukes both from Israel and the U.S.

Israel sees the docking of Iranian warships in Brazil a few days ago, as a dangerous and regretful development, the spokesperson of Israels foreign relations ministry, Lior Haiat, wrote Thursday on Twitter. Brazil should not grant any prize to a malign state.

Haiats comments followed others the day before by U.S. State Department spokesperson Ned Price. In response to a reporters question about the ships reaching Brazil, Price said that Washington is discussing the issue with Brazilian partners and that it wants to ensure Iran is not able to acquire a foothold, is not able to take advantage of others in our hemisphere.

It is certainly not the case that the Brazilian government, the Brazilian people would want to do anything that would assist, that would aid a government, a regime that is responsible for a brutal crackdown and violent repression against its own people, he added.

On Thursday, one of the two ships was spotted offshore Rios world-famous south zone of beaches, while the other was docked downtown. The IRIS Makran and IRIS Dena ships are authorized to stay in Rio until March 4.

The U.S. Department of the Treasurys Office of Foreign Assets Control last month designated both ships for sanctions.

Brazils foreign ministry didnt immediately respond to the Associated Press request for comment on the statements from the Israeli and American officials.

The trip by the Iranian navy comes amid heightened tensions between Tehran and the West over the collapse of its 2015 nuclear deal with world powers and as the Islamic Republic enriches uranium to its closer than ever to weapons-grade levels.

Iranian officials have portrayed the trip as challenging Americas influence in its own backyard  long a point of contention as Tehran continually criticizes the presence of the U.S. Navys 5th Fleet in the region, which patrols the Persian Gulf and its narrow mouth, the strategic Strait of Hormuz.

The state-run IRNA news agency quoted Iranian navy commander Rear Adm. Shahram Irani in January as saying that the Islamic Republic is not present in two strategic straits on the planet, but in the current year, the Iranians plan to have a presence in one of them, which is the Panama Canal. State media has described the trip as challenging American hegemony.

Iran also faces nationwide protests and anger after the September death of Masha Amini, a woman who died after being detained by the countrys morality police. In the time since those demonstrations, Tehran has tried to flex its military elsewhere as well. Tehran has supplied drones to Russia that killed Ukrainian civilians, run drills in a border region with Azerbaijan and bombed Kurdish positions in Iraq.

Brazils President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva made international diplomacy a feature of his second presidential term, which ended in 2010. That included attempting to broker a nuclear deal between the U.S. and Iran during his second presidential term that same year, though talks ran aground.

Elected in October to return to the presidency, Lula quickly traveled to Washington last month as a means to demonstrate his alignment with President Joe Biden. Bidens special climate envoy John Kerry was also in Brazils capital this week to discuss collaboration to protect the Amazon rainforest.

In a statement on Tuesday, U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz noted that the U.S. has already sanctioned the two Iranian warships, and Rio de Janeiros port and any Brazilian service providers are now at risk of sanctions.

The Biden administration is obligated to impose relevant sanctions, reevaluate Brazils cooperation with U.S. antiterrorism efforts, and reexamine whether Brazil is maintaining effective antiterrorism measures at its ports, Cruz wrote.

(AP)




A frum father and two of his sons were tragically taken from us in a late-night residential home fire near 35th and Northern avenues in Phoenix on Wednesday night.

The victims were identified as Shimon Boyer zl, 7-year-old Dov Ber zl, and 8-year-old Nachman zl.

Firefighters arrived at the scene to find the townhome filled with smoke and flames emanating from the windows. After extinguishing the fire, they discovered Shimon and four children during their search of the condo.

Shimon zl was declared deceased at the scene, and three boys and one girl found by firefighters were rushed to a nearby childrens hospital in critical condition. Sadly, Dov Ber and Nachman passed away at the hospital, while the other two remain in critical condition, aged between 5 and 12.

Firefighters found no indication that the fire was intentionally set, and the Phoenix Police Department has taken over the investigation.

Please daven for Tamar Tzadika bas Yael Miriam and Shevach Tzion Yisroel ben Yael Miriam bsoch shear cholei Yisroel.

(YWN World Headquarters  NYC)




By Rabbi Yair Hoffman for 5tjt.com

404 Pages. 2023, Artscrolls Shaar Press

There is no storyteller like Nachman Seltzer. And there is no story like that of the development and growth of Roy and Leah Neuberger. Put them together in a manner that only Artscroll knows how to do, and you have a winning combination of proper Torah hashkafah, Mussar, biography, all wrapped in one.

Reb Nachman employed an interesting literary device  when discussing incidents and stories that happened before his exposure to Torah, our subjects are called Roy and Linda. But when they transpired after they came close to Torah, Reb Nachman calls them Reb Yisroel and Leah. It is a brilliant device.

What had personally grabbed me, were the certain words that reverberate in Reb Yisroels mind  words that were said to him before he had returned to the Torah way of life. The example that comes to mind is from when he had visited an individual to seek advice about publishing a newspaper. That person was watching the news of the outbreak of the Yom Kippur War. The pre-Torah Roy seemed to be unaffected by the what the news was showing. That person, who was Jewish, looked aghast at the pre-Torah Roy and asked, What kind of a Jew are you??

Those words echoed and reverberated again and again within Reb Yisroels head for years, and still do.

The book is 404 pages of pure inspiration in Torah growth and avodas Hashem. This, accompanied with incredible vignettes of fellow travelers in Avodas Hashem, and others. The book is divided into seven parts  the first, was their life before they were gifted with Torah. The latter parts are their life after.

As far as their early life, think elite schools, a country home, holiday vacations around the United States. Gashmius, and no ruchnius. Their wedding? Virtually no Hebrew. No eidim and no Kesuvah.

Roy Neuberger senior, Reb Yisroels father was known as the Wizard of Wall Street and the inventor of the No-Load Mutual Fund. He was a man who knew the ins and outs of the market like the Talmudic sage, Shmuel, who knew the streets of Nahardeah. Roy Senior knew Wall Street from before the 1929 crash until the modern era  the late eighties. Roy Senior knew to go short before the crash and to go long at other times. We also see Reb Yisroels description of his father. He was man of complete integrity. Never greedy and happy when others did well. It is a description filled with kivud av vaim  notwithstanding the fact that Reb Yisroels parents were not observant. (And this is quite important, because, ledavoneini, some who are new to a Torah life-style do not always model themselves in this manner and it leads, rl to chillul Hashem.

A Vignette: Fast forward a little bit where Reb Yisroel is starting a job at a Wall Street investment house. The firms owner tells him that they do not permit Yarmulkahs. Reb Yisroel is about to quit. Enter Rebbitzen Esther Jungreiss. She advises him not to quit, but rather to go to.. [reader: Prepare for impending shocker] her sheitel-macher, Claire. Apparently, Claire is also rather adept at making toupees for men. And, once again, Rebbitzen Esther Jungreisss sagacious advice saves the day.

Along the journey, we encounter great Roshei Yeshiva, along with the great leaders of the generation: Rav Yechiel Perr shlita of Yeshiva of Far Rockaway, Rav Naftoli Jaeger shlita of Yeshiva Shor Yashiv, Rav Shmuel Kamenetsky shlita, Rav Malkiel Kotler shlita and discover warm facets of their personalities.

In this book, we become privy, step by step, to a transformation before our eyes. Reb Yisroel and his Akeres HaBayis, Leah, become bastions of Emunah and Bitachon themselves. They are mechazek others in so many ways. We learn to deal with other family members who are not yet frum. And we learn to do so in a kinder, gentler way. And speaking of kinder and gentler, we also meet President Bush (whos father coined that very phrase).

Reb Yisroel exemplifies the Torah way even when he stands up for Torah ideals when it is socially awkward to do so. His genteel and pleasant manner (a product of his parents midos and his Torah learning after his Torah journey).

Another Vignette: Reb Yisroel and his wife are shopping in Gourmet Glatt. They see an older gentleman eating from the grapes he is about to be purchasing. Reb Yisroel, (like Yaakov Avinu when he chided the shepherds for being lazy and stealing from their employer), cannot contain himself and remarks to the man that he is stealing those grapes, because they will weigh less upon his purchase! Later, at the counter in line to pay, they encounter the gentleman again, and Reb Yisroel anticipates a reaction to his previous words of Mussar. Instead, the anonymous grape pilferer thanks Reb Yisroel for his previous mussar. Mi Kaamcha Yisroel!

[As an aside, and with apologies, when I read this short little vignette, the question did come up as to what the grape taster was initially thinking. Was there an underlying Talmudic debate unfolding here before our eyes between Reb Yisroel Neuberger and the anonymous GG shopper? The Tosfos near the end of the first chapter of Kiddushin came to mind. Rabbeinu Chananel understands the Talmudic principle of ochel bashuk domeh lkelev as referring to one who tastes food in the marketplace. The Baalei Tosfos ask why is this not to be subsumed under regular theft? The Baalei Tofos answer that Rabbeinu Chananel is referring to food that the owner would not care about  such as less than a shaveh prutahs worth (see Shulchan Aruch 259:2). What then is the value of one grape? Is it the value of a Prutah? Silver now hovers at about $21 per troy ounce. A Prutah is equal to the price of a troy ounce of silver divided by 1244. This is generally between 1.7 cents and 2 cents. Small grapes have a bout 90 grapes per pound. So, the grape pilferer is not a thief when grapes are less than 1.80 per pound. So perhaps the anonymous GG shopper was thinking it was less than 1.7 cents per grape, and Reb Yisroel was correcting him as to the true price. Or perhaps, Reb Yisroel felt that since he was eating them one after the other, it is full-fledged theft. Or perhaps the debate between them was a restatement of the Yiush shelo midaas debate of Abbayeh and Ravah, but I digress.]

This book is both an excellent and inspirational read. We can also admire the tremendous and uncanny energy that Reb Yisroel and wife have. It is no wonder that they produced such wonderful Torah families and have changed so many lives for the better. The book is available in all seforim stores and on artscroll.com.

The reviewer can be reached at [email protected]




By Rabbi Yair Hoffman for the Sefas Tamim Foundation

Parshas Tetzaveh is somewhat unique. It is the only parshah after Bereishis in which Moshe Rabbeinus name is strangely absent. Bereishis, of course, all took place before Moshe Rabbeinu was born. (In Dvarim, the entire sefer begins with, These are the words that Moshe spoke, so that counts for the entire sefer.) What is the reason that Moshes name does not appear in this weeks Parsha?

To help us answer the question, let us discuss an interesting Midrash. The Pasuk tells us (Exodus 28:1), And you, bring close Aharon, your brother, and his sons to serve as priests for me. The Midrash Rabbah explains that when Hashem told Moshe to appoint Aharon as the High Priest (Kohein Gadol), he was displeased to a certain degree. Hashem saw his displeasure and responded, The Torah is Mine, and I have given it to you. What is Hashem trying to tell Moshe with this response and why was Moshe displeased to begin with? Was Moshe jealous that Aharon was chosen to be the Kohein Gadol instead of him?

Rav Nissan Alpert ZTL, one of the foremost students of Rav Moshe Feinstein ZTL, provides us with a remarkable explanation in his commentary, Limudei Nissan. Rav Alpert explains that Aharons defining character trait was that of absolute kindness (Chessed). As an example, regarding the Golden Calf, Aharon did not protest Bnei Yisraels desire to fashion an idol, because he knew that if he would have protested, they would have killed him like they killed his nephew Chur. If he would have been killed, there would have been severe consequences for Bnei Yisrael which Aharon sought to avoid in his great kindness and love for them. He chose kindness over truth and strict justice, which would have dictated that he protested the fashioning of the idol and if Bnei Yisrael killed him, then they would have deserved whatever punishments they were to receive.

Moshe Rabbeinus defining character trait, however, was that of truth and strict justice and he felt that, at least in regards to worshiping Hashem (Avodas Hashem), the proper method of conduct is only with the path of strict justice and absolute truth. Accordingly, he believed that one who has sinned and has not done complete repentance (Teshuva), should not be deemed to be fit to serve in the Bais HaMikdash and bring an offering to Hashem to repent for others when he himself has not fully repented for his own sins. Doing so would not be just and appear to be insincere and hypocritical.

Once Moshe saw that Hashem chose Aharon to be the Kohen Gadol, he saw that it was the Divine Will that even Avodas Hashem (e.g. the service in the Beis HaMikdash) should be done with the method of Aharon rather than the method of Moshe (i.e. kindness over truth and strict justice) and therefore, even someone who has not completely repented for his own sins may bring offerings to Hashem to repent on behalf of others.

Moshe was not jealous of Aharon. The degree of displeasure that he felt came from realizing that he was wrong in his belief that his defining characteristic of truth and strict justice is not correct when it comes to servicing Hashem.

And this is what Hashem is responding to when He says as the Midrash states above, The Torah is Mine, and I have given it to you. This means that The Torah is Heavenly  fit for the angels themselves who function through truth and strict justice, but I have given it to you  mankind, and it is made to be kept through kindness, to accommodate the frailties of man. In other words, for man to keep the Torah as it is intended, one needs to balance between its Heavenly nature  truth and strict justice, and kindness  to accommodate the frailties of man.

It is for this reason that Hashem asks Moshe to bring Aharon close in the Pasuk referenced above. Now that Hashem has chosen the path of Aharon (kindness), it requires careful oversight  by Moshe (truth and justice) and that is why Aharon needs to be brought close to him. In a similar vein, the Sages of the Torah who, like Moshe, value the principles of truth and justice are to oversee the use of kindness and be the arbiters of when we may compromise and deviate from truth and strict justice due to the weakness of man.

To return to our original question, why was Moshes name specifically not mentioned in this weeks Parsaha, let us recall that (Exodus 32:32) Moshe himself had begged Hashem to forgive Bnei Yisrael for their sin of worshiping the Golden Calf  that Hashem should judge them with kindness and mercy and if not, Hashem should erase me from his Sefer. Hashem is now erasing Moshe from his Sefer so to speak, by erasing him from this weeks Parsha which contains Moshes disappointment that his defining character trait was not chosen over Aharons. He did this to gently remind him that he should not be displeased, because he himself used Aharons characteristic successfully to bring atonement for Bnei Yisrael.

Why not subscribe to the Emes parsha sheet written by Rabbi Yair Hoffman? Each week there are four columns: One on the parsha, one on inspiration, one on halacha and one a translation of classical texts on Emes. Just send an email with the word subscribe to [email protected]
Amid the blame game going on over SoftBank's decision to float Arm in New York rather than London lies one irreducible fact which is not receiving enough attention: over the last 20 years or so British investors have fallen out of love with British equities.

The numbers from the New Financial think-tank speak for themselves.

UK pension funds used to own 39 per cent of all London Stock Exchange-listed companies and today own just 6 per cent.

Sinking feeling: Over the last 20 years or so British investors have fallen out of love with British equities

UK insurance funds once invested 27 per cent of their portfolios, today it is 5 per cent, while UK asset managers now only invest 10 per cent of their allocation, rather than 26 per cent two decades ago.

This huge shift from equities to bonds  actively encouraged by the authorities and which indirectly led to the explosion over Liability-Driven Investments (LDIs)  has had several devastating impacts on the growth of British companies, the way that capital is allocated to them and the depth of London's capital markets.

More critically, it has also shifted the mood and culture within the investing environment, making all UK investors risk-averse.

This, in turn, has led to much lower valuations being put on companies compared to their US, and even European, peers.

So you can't blame those high-growth or more mature companies, particularly those in the tech sector, which are looking longingly across the Atlantic to see the multiples being achieved by their peers.

Indeed, the climate here has dried up so badly that several chief executives in some of the most exciting, cutting-edge UK life science and biotech tell me they go straight to the US funds to raise money because venture funds here don't want to know.

If great British companies can't get domestic investors from their own pension funds to back them, then why would overseas investors want to follow?

Everything else being flagged by the Arm debate as an explanation for why the City is losing out to New York  the UK's tough listing requirements, criticism of high pay or even ESG concerns  is a distraction.

While attempts to improve and reform London's capital markets, such as the Chancellor's Edinburgh Reforms and the Hill review, are worthy, they do miss the bigger picture.

One City figure put it more baldly: there are no domestic equity investors here, everything else is a symptom. He said global investors look to domestic investors for the signal for validation, 'and that local signal has simply flickered out'. Some might say the power supply has been switched off too.

So it's important that London Stock Exchange chief executive David Schwimmer raised the collapse in domestic funds investing in British companies when asked his reaction to Arm's move to New York, saying the switch out of equities raised some 'really interesting questions'.

It certainly does, and it would be interesting to learn more from the American Schwimmer on how this can be changed.

It's not for the lack of capital: the UK has the second biggest pool of long-term capital in the world after the US.

It's only by tempting those pension funds into backing British companies again that the City has any hope of creating a healthier climate for growth and innovation, and show companies such as Arm why they should choose London  as well as New York. (Authorities on both sides of the Atlantic should also look at changing the rules to make dual listings easier and cheaper).

Persuading pension funds to fall in love again with equities will be harder than the falling out: it always is. It will require serious thought  and big structural change  by the industry, working together with the authorities. But admitting there is a problem is a good starting point.

There is another issue: the ease with which successive governments have given the thumbs-up to overseas bidders taking out British companies on the cheap.

SoftBank's original takeover of Arm in 2016, and the more recent bid by Schneider Electric for electronics firm, Aveva, come to mind. Which is why it is so ironic to hear former chancellor, Philip Hammond, lament that London has become a less attractive venue because of listing criteria and lack of deep pools of capital.

It was under Theresa May and Hammond that the Arm bid was waved through despite a huge outcry, intense lobbying by the founder and fears over security.

How short-sighted and what hypocrisy!
Just a fraction of funds make investors Isa millionaires - but a weighting towards investment trusts might help boost your chances, according to research by AJ Bell.

Of the 472 funds and trusts with a performance record stretching back to 1999 when Isas launched, just 50 would have made you a millionaire from investing your full allowance each year.

Investment trusts account for 35 of the 50, with the remainder open-ended funds, and all are actively managed.

Secrets of an Isa millionaire: Pick investment trusts over trackers to build your savings pot

Private equity trusts top the list, with HgCapital Trust and 3i delivering total Isa values of 1.8million and 1.5million respectively.

Despite a poor performance in recent months, Scottish Mortgage remains in the top 10 funds with a value of 1.5million if you invested your full allowance every year.

By comparison, saving a full Isa allowance every year since 1999 into an average global stock fund would have netted 684,891.

'Trusts as a whole tend to be more equity focused than funds, including in more niche areas like private equity,' says Laith Khalaf, AJ Bell's head of investment analysis.

'They can also use gearing, borrowing money to invest, which over a 24 year period can provide a substantial tailwind to returns. The closed-end nature of investment trusts also means they can trade at a discount or premium to the value of their underlying assets.

'This amplifies volatility, but can also lead to higher returns if the change in discount or premium is favourable between purchase and sale.'

> Typical stocks and shares Isa fund fell over the past 12 months - while cash Isa savers saw returns edge up

Best funds often invested in riskier areas

The best performing funds and trusts over the period are invested in riskier, often niche, areas of the market, as well as smaller companies funds.

'It's notable that many of these funds and trusts have fallen in value in the last year - some of them quite considerably,' Khalaf says.

'The fact they have still banked enough good performance to produce Isa millionaires shows your final investment ranking is a reflection of returns from start to finish, not just in the final furlong.'

The lack of passive trackers in the top funds is notable, but is likely because they were not as widespread in 1999 so there are very few that have a long enough track record to make it into contention.

The HSBC American Fund index is knocking on the door of the millionaire fund list though, delivering 991,986 since 1999.

TOP 10 INVESTMENT TRUSTS Sector 2023 Isa value Value 2023 vs 2022 HgCapital Trust Private Equity 1,864,097 -12.95% 3i Private Equity 1,580,468 25.15% Pacific Horizon Asia Pacific 1,536,908 -10.24% Scottish Mortgage Global 1,519,568 -27.47% Allianz Technology Trust Technology & Media 1,476,636 -14.94% abrdn Asia Focus Asia Pacific Smaller Companies 1,457,424 0.39% Scottish Oriental Smaller Companies Asia Pacific Smaller Companies 1,389,359 15.10% Polar Capital Technology Technology & Media 1,363,386 -12.16% Blackrock World Mining Trust Commodities & Natural Resources 1,306,910 1.82% Blackrock Throgmorton Trust UK Smaller Companies 1,213,157 -14.10%

Secrets to being an Isa millionaire

Other than opting for investment trusts, there are some other secrets to help you boost your savings pot.

Khalaf says the first is to fund your Isa with as much as you can, and try to max out the full 20,000 allowance each year if possible.

The second is to take some risk by investing in the stock market, because if you opt for safer assets producing lower returns it will take longer to hit the 1million mark.

The lower your portfolio volatility is, the lower growth you can expect over the long term.

An investment in the average global equity fund would have built up a pot of 684,891, while the average UK fund trails at 539,840, although this is still an almost doubling of the money invested in the Isa.

The UK gilts sector hasn't made huge headway above 283,440, which is the maximum total Isa contribution between 1999 and 2023.

Finally, time in the market beats timing the market, so the saying goes. Starting as early as possible will help you edge closer to becoming an Isa millionaire.

TOP 10 OPEN ENDED FUNDS Sector 2023 ISA value Value 2023 vs 2022 Janus Henderson Glb Tech Leaders Tech and Tech Innovation 1,213,033 -7.07% CT American Smaller Companies North American Smaller Companies 1,208,671 6.61% Janus Henderson European Smaller Cos European Smaller Companies 1,176,653 8.00% Baillie Gifford Pacific Asia Pacific Excluding Japan 1,172,940 -7.01% abrdn Indian Equity India/Indian Subcontinent 1,165,278 -6.95% Baillie Gifford American North America 1,128,495 -23.99% AXA Framlington American Growth North America 1,124,372 -4.19% Liontrust UK Smaller Companies UK Smaller Companies 1,121,107 -9.77% CT European Smaller Companies European Smaller Companies 1,105,161 -0.26% Schroder US Smaller Companies North American Smaller Companies 1,104,530 9.66%

'Isa millionaires have generally had to save hard, take risk, and get a bit lucky to build up such a big pot of money,' says Khalaf.

'While it's always interesting to consider the investing habits of ISA millionaires, we shouldn't get too fixated on the 1million mark.

'Isa savings can of course be extremely valuable at more modest levels. For instance, if you're able to build up a 200,000 Isa pot, that could provide you with a tax-free income of 8,000 a year in retirement without even drawing down on your capital (assuming a 4 per cent yield).

'When added to your private pension and the state pension, that could be a welcome boost to your retirement income that could ensure you don't spend your golden years counting the pennies.

'It could also help you ride out any unexpected financial shocks, like the current spike in energy prices. For savers with more immediate financial goals, a Lifetime Isa pot of 30,000 will go a long way to securing a first home.'
Revolut is close to receiving a UK banking licence despite its auditor highlighting major problems with its accounts.

In a long-delayed report, the 28billion firm said it made its first profit in 2021 as turnover tripled in the cryptocurrency boom.

But in a huge embarrassment for the financial services giant, auditor BDO said 477million of revenues  three-quarters of its 636million turnover  could not be verified and may have been mis-stated.

In the spotlight: Revolut is close to receiving a UK banking licence despite its auditor highlighting major problems with its accounts

Despite that, Revolut believes it will still be granted a UK banking licence imminently, potentially within days, by regulators at the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) and Prudential Regulation Authority (PRA).

The news  first revealed by The Mail on Sunday last week  sparked concern among MPs and industry experts.

Baroness Altmann, a former pensions minister, said: If the regulators decide not to press the pause button on granting a licence, they need to give a clear public explanation of why they have confidence in going ahead.

Will Wragg, Conservative MP and co-chairman of the all-party parliamentary group on banking, said: It is extraordinary that a firm of Revoluts size, and a financial technology company, has had questions raised about its internal IT system and that its auditor is unable to verify the source of three-quarters of its profits.

Being granted a banking licence comes with huge responsibility and failing to account for almost 500million is not exactly small fry.

I would urge the regulators to think very carefully about this.

Revoluts accounts for 2021 were due to be published by the end of September. This was delayed until December 31, a deadline it missed.

Yesterday, BDO said the groups IT and accounting systems were not sophisticated enough to track its revenues for most of 2021 when the company was growing rapidly.

This meant the auditors could not confirm which parts of the business three-quarters of the revenue came from  putting it at risk of material mis-statement.

The error was put right in late 2021, a source said, and it is not expected to be a problem again. The source said regulators were well aware of the issues.

Finance boss Mikko Salovaara said Revolut outgrew its IT systems, adding: Its a one-off. We dont expect further delays on an ongoing basis in our accounts.

Revolut was launched in 2015 by former Lehman Brothers and Credit Suisse trader Nikolay Storonsky, 38, and Vlad Yatsenko, 39. I

t is now a sprawling digital finance group with 27m customers worldwide offering everything from holiday home rentals to stock trading.

It has a full banking licence in the EU but can only offer some services in the UK. A licence would allow it to take deposits and lend money.

Revolut said it made a 40million profit in 2021, up from a loss of 221million in 2020. In an update on current trading, it said revenues had jumped by another third to 850m in 2022  and were far less dependent on crypto.

Storonsky, who is also the chief executive, wants it to be the Amazon of banking.

Angela Eagle, a Labour MP on the Treasury Select Committee, said: I would certainly worry about what on Earth had gone on in an organisation which cant account for where three-quarters of its income has come from trying to become a bank.

BDO is working on the 2022 accounts, expected to be released before this years September deadline.

Revolut has been on a hiring spree, taking on around 300 people a month since last summer, boosting its total headcount from 2,900 people at the start of 2022 to around 6,000.
Profits at Schroders plummeted by almost a quarter as the 218-year-old firm became the latest money manager to come under pressure.

The FTSE 100 asset manager pointed to challenging markets and lower performance fees, as it unveiled full-year profits.

It comes amid a tumultuous time  just days after Stephen Bird, boss of Abrdn, said 2022 was one of the hardest investing years in living memory.

Schroders pointed to challenging markets and lower performance fees, as it unveiled full-year profits

Schroders shares tumbled 3.7 per cent, or 18.7p, to 481.5p yesterday. Its share price has lost 22 per cent of its value over the past year.

Profit slipped to 586.9million, for the full-year to December 31, a 23 per cent fall from the 764.1million in 2021.

Falling markets across all asset divisions hammered management and performance fees across its core investment management business.

Assets under management declined 4 per cent to 737.5billion from 766.7billion, after being dragged down by market and foreign exchange movements.

Chief executive Peter Harrison, who was paid 8.5million in 2021, said 2022 was a stress test for its strategy.

The businesses we have been building  across wealth management, private assets and solutions  performed strongly, he added.

The firm has been diversifying as it looks to move towards more longer-term revenues, with its private assets business Schroders Capital netting a record 17.5billion of fundraising, particularly in property and private equity.
Londons status as a top financial centre suffered a double blow yesterday as chip designer Arm and building materials giant CRH both set their sights on listings on Wall Street rather than in the City.

The two global companies, with a combined valuation of more than 80billion, will become the latest to pick America over the UK as the venues for their shares to be traded.

Losing Arm to New York will be a particularly bitter blow after ministers campaigned for the Cambridge firm, whose chips underpin the global smartphone industry, to list in London.

American dreams: Chip designer Arm and building materials giant CRH will become the latest firms to pick America over the UK as the venues for their IPOs

It comes after UK-listed Paddy Power owner Flutter said in February that it was considering an additional listing in America and a report this week that oil giant Shell explored moving to the US before eventually deciding against.

London Stock Exchange group boss David Schwimmer said that, despite reforms to UK financial rules, there was no silver bullet to reverse the trend.

Arms Japanese owner SoftBank has reportedly chosen to float the company  said to be worth 50billion  solely on Wall Street, snubbing the idea of a dual listing on both sides of the Atlantic.

It has not ruled out the potential for a secondary listing in the future for Arm in the UK, though that is not likely, according to a Bloomberg report. Arm declined to comment.

Irish-based CRH, valued at around 30billion, has been listed in London since 2011. But it is increasingly focused on America, where it has a booming business supplying building materials for major public infrastructure projects such as roads, railways, tunnels and bridges.

The US represents three-quarters of its earnings  expected to rise to 90 per cent in coming years  and executives believe an American listing will make it easier to win publicly-backed contracts and use stock to acquire smaller companies as it expands.

Those close to the company say it is that opportunity which is prompting the switch to New York rather than any shortcomings of the London market.

Yet it will still be seen as part of a stampede across the Atlantic which has seen a series of UK firms from used car dealer Cazoo and electric vehicle company Arrival list in New York.

Tweaks to UK stock market rules and proposed reforms aimed at unleashing vast sums of cash held by the pension industry have apparently not been enough to arrest the trend. Schwimmer said: Theres no one silver bullet in terms of dramatically changing the market environment.

There are a number of opportunities to continue to improve the environment.

Reforms have included allowing dual-class share structures  where some stock owners have a disproportionately higher voting rights than others  as well as a cut in the minimum free float requirement for shares.

Those are incrementally helpful but on their own theyre not going to be dramatically transformational, Schwimmer said.

He insisted that London was the most attractive international financial capital market.

The comments came as the London Stock Exchange group reported better-than-expected financial results. Schwimmer noted that only 4 per cent of revenues at the group, which also includes a major data and analytics business, were represented by the London Stock Exchange itself.

And he rebutted the suggestion that it might do better by being spun-off, insisting: It is a core part of our business. Its a great business, were very proud of it, we put a lot of resources into it.

Russ Mould, investment director at AJ Bell, said: Efforts to relax the listing rules to attract more companies to London come across as a bit desperate.

It should be a badge of honour to list in the UK, but that reputation is dwindling fast.
The Financial Conduct Authority has launched an enforcement investigation into the London Metal Exchange's controversial decision to halt nickel trading early last year.

Chinese-owned LME faces hundreds of millions of dollars worth of lawsuits from investors like hedge fund giant Elliot Associates and Jane Street after it suddenly suspended trading and cancelled all trades of the metal on 8 March.

The City watchdog was scant on details when confirming the probe on Friday, but said it would cover 'some of the LME's conduct and systems and controls in place in the period between 1 January 2022 and the time of suspension on 8 March 2022'.

The LME's 'the Ring' is one of the few open-outcry trading floors still operating

It added: 'The FCA has confirmed an investigation in light of the public interest in these matters and will not make any further comment in line with normal policy'.

LME came under fire when a giant short squeeze resulted in the closure of the market for a week and the cancellation of billions of dollars worth of trades.

The decision to cancel the trades caused uproar among investors, and left the 146-year-old LME's credibility in tatters. Senior management was lambasted for its handling of the crisis.

Its chair Gay Huey Evans, who became the first woman to chair the LME in 2019, recently said she would not seek re-election this year.

In April last year, the FCA, Prudential Regulation Authority and Bank of England issued a joint statement promising 'reviews' of LME's operations.

LME itself appointed management consultants Oliver Wyman to carry out a review of the nickel trading debacle last June.

On Friday, the FCA said: 'Since the suspension the FCA has made clear its expectation that the LME should consider carefully how the events of March 2022 should shape its future approach on market structure, including the role of transparency in facilitating effective risk management.

'The LME has implemented changes to its control framework and committed to a wider package of market reform, informed by the recommendations of an external review LME and LME Clear jointly commissioned.

'The FCA is encouraged by the LME's focus on increasing the transparency of OTC [over the counter] trading to support robust risk management in its on-exchange trading.

'The oversight exercised by the LME Board to drive the effective and timely execution of this programme is being monitored closely by the FCA. The proposed changes to the LME Board will enlarge the skills and experience available to it. The FCA will also work closely with the Bank of England as the programme progresses.'

In response to the FCA, LME chief executive Matthew Chamberlain said: 'The LME notes that the FCA has opened an enforcement investigation into some of the LME's conduct and systems and controls in place during the period between 1 January 2022 and the time of suspension on 8 March 2022.

'The LME will cooperate fully with this process and will continue to take the appropriate steps to ensure the long-term health, efficiency and resilience of its market.'

In a separate statement the BoE, which is responsible for regulating LME's clearing house, said its own reviews had 'pointed to several shortcomings across LME Clear's governance, management and risk management capabilities'.

It added: 'In response, LME Clear will need to strengthen its governance arrangements, increase independence in management and governance at the CCP, and improve on its wider risk management.

'The Bank expects LME Clear to appropriately address all of the findings from the reviews and welcomes LME Clear's stated commitment to the publication of its implementation plan and timely execution thereafter, which the Bank will monitor closely.'

The BoE added that it intends to appoint 'a skilled person' to 'to independently monitor, assess and report to the Bank regularly on LME Clear's implementation progress against remedial actions'.

In response to the BoE, Mr Chamberlain said the group 'acknowledges that the Bank expects LMEC to strengthen its governance arrangements, increase independence in management and governance at the CCP, and improve on its wider risk management capabilities'.

He added: 'To this end, LMEC intends to incorporate all additional findings from the Bank's feedback into the implementation plan that LMEC has already announced.

'This is to be communicated at the end of Q1 2023, setting out how LMEC proposes to deliver against the recommendations of the Oliver Wyman review, and outlining, in addition, the initiatives that are already underway to strengthen its business and markets.

'LMEC welcomes the Bank's intention to appoint a skilled person with respect to the implementation progress, and will continue to take the appropriate steps to support the long-term health, efficiency and resilience of the market as a whole.'
Kim Kardashian and Leonardo DiCaprio were quizzed by the FBI over links to a fugitive billionaire playboy.

Kardashian flew home with $350,000 (292,000) given to her by Jho Low after gambling in Las Vegas.

And DiCaprio said he and Low were so close they partied together and called each other 'my man' and 'Ldogg'.

Party-goers: Leonardo DiCapro and Jho Low were so close they partied together and called each other 'my man' and 'Ldogg

The details are in newly released FBI documents about Low, who is accused by the US of embezzling billions of dollars from Malaysian sovereign-wealth fund 1MDB.

He was charged by the Department of Justice in 2018 with money laundering, bribery and other crimes, and is a fugitive, thought to be in China.

According to Bloomberg Businessweek, Kardashian, a reality TV star, told the FBI that Low gave her $100,000 (83,000) for fireworks for her wedding in 2011.

One night in Las Vegas she was playing baccarat in a private room and ready to leave but was persuaded to stay by a pal who said they had 'heard stories of Low giving people chips at the end of the night', the documents state.

Kardashian won a hand. As she tried to turn her winnings over to Low he told her to keep it. She said she went to the casino counter and was given $250,000 (208,000).

Questions: Kim Kardashian

FBI agents wrote: '[She] put the trash bag full of cash in her carry-on bag and boarded a flight'. She collected the rest in a bin bag on a later trip to Vegas

DiCaprio's ties to Low, who briefly dated supermodel Miranda Kerr, were deeper. Low helped finance his movie The Wolf of Wall Street. The star met Low in 2010, and said he was told Low was a 'Mozart of the business world'.

They introduced their mothers to each other and talked about starting a $1bn (830m) fund to pay for DiCaprio's films and a theme park in Asia based on his movies. DiCaprio received freebies from him, including an Oscar won by Marlon Brando. Low has denied wrongdoing. The US has returned more than 1bn of allegedly misappropriated funds to investors.
A former chancellor said London has become a 'less attractive place to list' as ministers were urged to speed up market reforms following Arm's decision to float in the US.

The Cambridge chip designer's decision to pick Wall Street over the City for its 50billion public offering prompted soul searching in the City and Westminster.

It was described as a 'kick in the teeth' by one analyst while Philip Hammond  Chancellor when Arm was sold to Japan's SoftBank in 2016  said: 'London has become a less attractive place to list and that's largely because of listing criteria and the lack of deep pools of capital in London.'

Julia Hoggett, chief executive of London Stock Exchange, urged ministers to pick up the pace of reform. 'The announcement demonstrates the need for the UK to make rapid progress in its regulatory and market reform agenda, including addressing the amount of risk capital available to drive growth,' she said.

'We are working with regulators, government and wider market participants to ensure UK capital markets provide the best possible funding environment for UK and global companies.'

Cloudy: Arm's decision to pick Wall Street over the City for its 50billion public offering prompted soul searching in the City and Westminster

Anthony Browne, the South Cambridgeshire MP whose constituency includes Arm's HQ, said the decision was a 'big blow' and voiced fears over jobs and research  though Arm said it was expanding its UK presence and would open a site in Bristol.

The decision to list in New York came as London-listed building materials giant CRH also decided to seek a New York listing.

Rishi Sunak met Arm boss Rene Haas last month to woo the company back to London, where it was listed for 18 years before being snapped up by SoftBank.

Britain's Financial Conduct Authority was said to be ready to bend rules to persuade Arm, whose technology underpins the global smartphone industry, to return to the UK. But Arm said: 'Softbank and Arm have determined that pursuing a US-only listing of Arm in 2023 is the best path forward.'

It said it would continue to add jobs in the UK, insisting it was 'proud of its British heritage'. It also 'intends to consider a subsequent UK listing in due course'.

The Government said: 'We continue to attract some of the most innovative and largest companies in the world and note Arm's commitment to expanding its presence in the UK, providing a boost to growth, jobs and investment.'

But Tory MP Browne said: 'It is a big blow. The problem with listing overseas is that where the investors are, jobs and research often follows. The Government has tried its best to get Arm listed in the UK but money talks: even the UK government cannot resist the powerful gravitational pull of the US stock markets.'

Victoria Scholar, at Interactive Investor, said: 'Arm's abandonment of London is another kick in the teeth for the Square Mile's attractiveness among international investors.'

Bankers set to miss fees bonanza Arm's decision deprives City investment bankers of tens of millions of pounds. After a threadbare 2022 in the Square Mile and Wall Street a London float would have delivered a fees fillip at a time when global investors remain wary of Britain. Mark Freebairn, partner at recruitment firm Odgers Berndtson, said companies were being put off floats in London by 'beyond aggressive' scrutiny and regulation.

Pearson eyes Wall Street switch

Educational publisher Pearson said it could not rule out a move to Wall Street, raising alarm bells that London could lose another firm.

The FTSE 100 company makes more than 60 per cent of its revenue in the US and has been expanding its courses in North America. Sally Johnson, chief financial officer, said: 'We don't have any plans at the moment but where anything makes sense for our stakeholder groups, of course we consider it.'

It came after British chip designer Arm said it will list in New York, and not London. Plumber Ferguson moved its primary listing to New York last year, saying North America was now its natural home.

Pearson said: 'We're proud of our FTSE heritage and we've got a very supportive and long-standing shareholder base via our listing here in London.' It said sales climbed 5 per cent to 3.8billion last year, while profits jumped 11pc to 456m, smashing analysts' expectations.

Leah Montebello

...but Melrose backs City

Melrose laid out official plans for the bumper 3.9billion float of GKN's automotive arm in London.

The FTSE 100 turnaround specialist said Dowlais will join the stock market as 'the UK's premier listed automotive business' next month. Melrose, which buys struggling industrial companies, improves them and sells them on, bought GKN for 8.1billion in 2018.

It is splitting off its automotive business, to be called Dowlais, a nod to the Welsh village that was home to one of GKN's founders.

Dowlais, which has more than 24,000 staff, makes parts for electric and petrol and diesel cars. One in five cars in the UK has parts it makes. RBC Capital markets analysts valued the spin-off at 3.9billion.

Boss Liam Butterworth is in line to make up to 5.3million a year running the business. Melrose will hold on to a 3 per cent stake.
Two attorneys with a liberal law firm have filed an ethics complaint against Michael Gableman, who led the taxpayer-funded review of Wisconsins 2020 election, accusing the former state Supreme Court Justice of waging a shambolic, dishonest, and destructive campaign against Wisconsins democracy at taxpayer expense and in the guise of a public official.

Law Forward attorneys Daniel Lenz and Jeffrey Mandell filed the more than 100-page complaint Thursday with the Office of Lawyer Regulation, which regulates attorneys in Wisconsin, to take possible action against Gablemans license to practice law.

The attorneys accuse Gableman of lacking competency to lead the election review; conducting the probe with a lack of honesty and truthfulness; pursuing legal actions despite knowing those actions served to harass or maliciously injure their targets; failing to abide by rules governing the lawyer-client relationship; and violating the basic rules of legal practice, as well as his oath as a Wisconsin attorney.

Throughout the course of his investigation, Gableman ran roughshod over the law, the facts, and the core democratic principles that bind our state and nation together, the lawyers state in the complaint. Instead, he sowed discord and distrust in the electoral process, amplifying the lies and conspiracy theories that have done so much damage in the last two years.

Gableman had not responded to a request for comment Friday.

Lenz and Mandell represented several individuals in cases related to subpoenas issued as part of Gablemans probe. They note that they filed the complaint not on behalf of any client, but rather pursuant to our ethical obligations to report professional wrongdoing.

Beginning immediately after the election and continuing through to the present day, Gableman has embraced conspiracy theories, spread lies, rejected facts, impugned the character of people he perceives to be his adversaries, and abused the legal process, Lenz and Mandell wrote.

The subpoenas, which demanded in-person meetings with several state and local officials as part of the GOP-ordered review of Wisconsins 2020 election, were rescinded last year by Assembly Speaker Robin Vos after he fired Gableman in August.

Other complaints

Thursdays filing is the third known complaint filed against Gableman with the Office of Lawyer Regulation.

Dane County Circuit Judge Frank Remington last June filed a complaint with the agency following what the judge described as Gablemans sneering conduct in Remingtons courtroom.

The circus Gableman created in the courtroom destroyed any sense of decorum and irreparably damaged the publics perception of the judicial process, Remington wrote of Gablemans refusal to answer questions under oath about whether the Office of Special Counsel had violated a court order to stop deleting requested documents.

In July, former Milwaukee attorney Kevin Kelsay, whose own law license has been suspended, filed a similar complaint with the office alleging Gableman broke rules for attorneys by making false claims related to his probe, including accusations that members of the Wisconsin Elections Commission helped steal the election for President Joe Biden.

The Office of Lawyer Regulation sent Kelsay a letter later that month notifying him that the office would not be pursuing his complaint as the agency was already in receipt of information regarding the matter.

There are limits to the public availability of complaints filed against lawyers, which are confidential until the Office of Lawyer Regulation, which investigates the complaints, asks the state Supreme Court to act, and the court later issues some form of discipline.

Discipline can be anything from a private reprimand to revocation of a lawyers license to practice.

Gablemans review

Gableman was hired in 2021 by Vos following pressure from Trump based on the former presidents false claims of a stolen 2020 presidential election. A recount, court decisions and multiple reviews have affirmed that Biden defeated Trump in Wisconsin by almost 21,000 votes.

Gableman was initially paid $11,000 a month when the review began, but after about a year into the effort, Vos halved his pay to $5,500 a month. Gableman was paid more than $100,000 to lead the review.

Dane County Circuit Court Judge Diane Schipper last month ordered Vos to pay more than $135,000 in legal fees to liberal watchdog group American Oversight for the organizations lawsuit seeking records related to Gablemans probe.

How surprising that a liberal Dane County judge would agree with a liberal organization funded by unions and liberal activists, Vos said in a statement. We will likely be appealing the order because the fees are outrageous.

While the review was initially allocated $676,000 in taxpayer funds, legal fees and other court costs have pushed the price tag to nearly $2.5 million, according to a review by WisPolitics.com. All costs associated with the review will ultimately fall on taxpayers.

While his review found no evidence of fraud in the 2020 election, Gableman in March 2022 recommended the Legislature take the legally impossible step of decertifying the results. Two weeks later he described the proposal as a practical impossibility in a private memo to Vos.

Vos paused the probe two months later to allow time for pending lawsuits related to the review to play out in court.

Gablemans firing came three days after Vos narrowly defeated his opponent Adam Steen, who was endorsed by both Gableman and Trump, in last years primary.

Elections 101: Video series explains how elections are carried out in Wisconsin The Wisconsin Elections Commission put together the following series of instructional videos and accompanying lesson plans for use in high school civics classes and the general public. Elections overview An overview of elections administration in Wisconsin. Voting Security Let's take a look at how we maintain security and integrity with all of our elections. Nuts and bolts The ins-and-outs of voter processes like registering to vote and requesting a ballot to vote absentee. A Day at the Polls See what it is like to go to the polls and vote.
Benchmark Hosts Grand Opening of New Precision Technologies Facility Published: 03 March 2023 by Tyler Hanes by Tyler Hanes

TEMPE, AZ  Benchmark Electronics on Friday celebrated the grand opening of its new Precision Technologies facility in Mesa, Arizona. The company plans to invest around $20 million into capabilities and technology at the new facility, in addition to hiring 100 people to support this facility as the company ramps up with customers.

The facility is designed to provide a number of key engineering and manufacturing solution services, most notably supporting the production of semiconductor capital equipment building blocks and solutions. It significantly expands the existing cleanroom capacity across its Precision Technologies group with additional opportunity for the vertical integration of key processes. These processes will include unique metal joining applications such as TIG welding and electron beam welding, precision cleaning and other chemical finishes. The expanded capacity will also bring new job opportunities in the region to support the growth of the industries Benchmark serves.

"Benchmark is a key solution partner to the capital equipment market worldwide and this new facility will enable us to support our customers in the U.S. and across the globe with next generation manufacturing and engineering solutions," said Jeff Benck, Benchmark president and CEO. "The investments we're making to serve these customers will be critical to meeting the increasing demand for semiconductor capital equipment, especially with the growth in demand for semiconductors and new domestic fabs being built supported by the CHIPS Act incentives."

Benchmark celebrated the grand opening alongside Arizona Governor Katie Hobbs, Mesa Mayor John Giles, ACA President and CEO Sandra Watson, Benchmark customers, and Arizona dignitaries across the technology and economic development sectors.

"We are proud to celebrate the grand opening of Benchmark's new facility alongside the best and brightest technology leaders in Arizona," said Governor Katie Hobbs. "Since joining Arizona's thriving technology community, Benchmark has been an incredible partner, creating skilled jobs and advancing Arizona's innovation reputation. We look forward to seeing the great work done here at Benchmark Mesa to further enhance our growing semiconductor industry."

Benchmark retains one of the largest U.S. electronics manufacturing footprints, with major production facilities in California, Minnesota, Alabama, New Hampshire and Arizona. In addition to its global headquarters in Tempe, the company now boasts three other manufacturing facilities in the valley including Phoenix, Tempe, and now Mesa.
The solution to illegal drone activity at Dublin Airport is reasonably easy, Ryanair boss Michael OLeary has said.

Mr OLeary said the airport needed to have the power, which already exists at several other European airports, to disable drones.

On Thursday evening three flights were diverted after operations were suspended due to a drone sighting.

The airport suspended operations at the airport from 18.27pm until 18.59pm and notified Gardai.

It is the latest in a series of delays at the capitals airport caused by drone incidents.

Airport authorities have called for tougher sentencing for people who illegally fly drones over Irish airfields, and for new technology that would bring drones down.

Despite the airport having a drone detection system in place, which gives early warning of illegal drone activity, there is no system to bring the drones down.

Mr OLeary told RTE that around 20,000 people had been affected by the disruption on Thursday.

He said: This is completely unacceptable. Dublin Airport is the only major EU airport that for six times in the last six weeks has been shut by illegal drone activity.

The solution to this is reasonably easy, he added.

We dont want 15-year jail sentences. We want Dublin Airport to have the power to disable drones.

Most European Airports  Gatwick, Heathrow, Stansted, Schiphol  all have anti-drone technology. Its not expensive.

It costs about 100,000 euro and it is operated by airport police.
March 03, 2023





Situated in the Rocky Mountains, New Mexico is the 36th most populous U.S. state, with just over 2.1 million people. In a state where one-third of the land falls under federal government protection, it is no wonder that federal agencies make up one of the most significant employers.







Economic activities in New Mexico include a military presence with three air force bases, oil and gas drilling, and tourism. Data from the Office of the Advocacy of the U.S. Small Business Association indicate that the 158,844 businesses in New Mexico constitute 99% of all business activities and contribute to almost 55% of employees.

New Mexico  The Business-Friendly State

Across several industries, including the significant tourism sector that attracts 30 million annual visitors to the breathtaking scenery of the Rockies and the historical sites, businesses agree that New Mexico is a business-friendly state.

The state has a rational tax environment, low-regulation demands, easy registration, and charges reasonable rates for business licenses. Furthermore, New Mexico has a low cost of living, making it affordable. It also provides quick access to several important consumer markets. All-in-all, the state encourages businesses from local, international, and immigrant entrepreneurs, leading to steady growth in small business numbers.

Interestingly, the top business industry in New Mexico are providers of professional, scientific, and technical services. Construction, health and social services, retail, and real estate follow in order of importance.

Business Names and Choosing a DBA

One of the best ways a business defines its brand is through its company name. An original and memorable business name can help a company stand out from its competition, create customer loyalty, increase sales, and even attract and retain talent.

As in most states, New Mexico allows business owners to run their business under a different name than the one they used to register their company with the state. Giving the business a DBA is not unusual, but if you are still unsure about this, carry on reading for more information.

What Does DBA Stand For?

DBA stands for the term Doing Business As. One can also call it a trade name, which is the name you can choose for your business to trade under if you prefer not to use the name you used to register your new company with the state.

Why Choose a DBA?

There are several reasons why people choose DBAs. One of the first is that it protects their personal information since when you have a sole proprietorship or general partnership, the default name used on these business entities is yours or your partners. Therefore, you can get the right protection from others knowing your name by registering a DBA.

Furthermore, other purposes for choosing a DBA include the option of using it to open a business bank account and to protect your products and services from legal liabilities like trademark infringements.

Choosing a DBA for your business also gives you more branding and marketing flexibility, allowing you to gain customer loyalty.

Registering a New Mexico DBA

If you want your New Mexico business to operate under a separate trade name, you need to file for a DBA with the New Mexico Secretary of State.

After deciding on the perfect DBA for your business, you must check the state corporate entity base to ensure the name is available. If taken, you will have to choose another name for your entity.

Furthermore, if your business is a foreign corporation, when you file for DBA, the name chosen must clearly indicate its purpose as set down in its governing documents. In addition, always ensure that the name does not deceive others into thinking it is a pre-existing business with a similar name. Finally, when your business is a legal entity like an LLC or Corporation, the DBA must include a word or abbreviation that indicates its company status.

In New Mexico, you cant register a DBA on a state level, but you can reserve a DBA for up to 120 days to help create a business banking account or trademarking.

Remember, a trademark is entirely different from a DBA. So, if you want to protect your brand name, you need a trademark registration.

Protecting Your Business In New Mexico

Trademarking is the best way to guard your business name in New Mexico since the states business name reservation process is not viable. Whatever your reasons for needing a DBA for your business in New Mexico, including if you want to create an LLC and corporation, you should first consult an attorney or registered agent.

Remember, a DBA cannot provide a business with liability protection for your personal assets and cannot replace a legal entity like an LLC. On the other hand, forming a legal entity allows you to separate your business from its owner and provides you with privacy, pass-through taxation, and more.

When you have a business registered in another state, you probably need to register it with the Secretary of State before you move your business to New Mexico. Addtionally, the same applies to foreign companies.

Like all states, New Mexicos local laws governing your particular industry or business operations differ from others. Consult a knowledgeable agent to learn your businesss regulations and licensing requirements in New Mexico.

Bottom Line

New Mexicos beauty in a unique corner of the country makes it a well-visited state by tourists. However, increasingly several factors contribute to more businesses showing an interest in the state from elsewhere. Companies choose New Mexico for its lower corporate taxes, low business registration costs, low cost of living, and its proximity to some big consumer markets. Whatever your reasons for wanting to open or move your business to New Mexico, you will need to decide on the best type of business formation and name to ensure the best protection for you, the owner, and the company.

Finally, remember you can create a DBA for 120 days to trademark and open a bank account. However, since a DBA does not offer you legal protection, you should first consult a lawyer or a registered agent to consider options like creating an LLC or corporation.
[March 02, 2023] Singapore-based Rewardz, one of the Leading Players in Digital Rewards and Recognition Industry Celebrates 10th Year Anniversary

Focused on adopting cutting edge technological capabilities including artificial intelligence (AI) powered solutions such as GPT3 into its product line

into its product line Rewardz further enhances its offerings via a collaboration with local startup EngageRocket to provide a comprehensive employee engagement solution SINGAPORE, March 3, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Singapore-headquartered Rewardz, one of the leading players in the digital rewards and recognition industry across Asia and Middle East, celebrated its 10th year anniversary last night at The Atelier, The Capitol Kempinski, marking a monumental milestone in continuing its objective to empower businesses to reward their employees, customers and distribution partners with ease. The event was graced by Guest-of-Honour, Norio Shiraishi, CEO and President of Benefit One and the keynote address was delivered by Mr Sam Liew, President of Singapore Computer Society. Benefit One Inc., a prominent player in the incentives and benefits industry in Japan, had in 2016 acquired a significant stake in Rewardz thus resulting in them being the first acquisition Benefit One made beyond Japan. Rewardz is now the primary technological solutions provider for Benefit One's global operations. Their products have an updated UI/UX aligned with the company's vision of creating moments of joy - with deep focus on providing a delightful user journey. CERRA has been rebranded and is now available in four variants - Applause, Flex, Wellness and Incentives. CERRA Applause streamlines the employee recognition process and allows extensive personalisation of recognition in the workplace. It is also the first recognition platform to integrate the much talked about GPT3 capability helping employees express their praise for their peers in a more eloquent and seamless manner. Speaking on the occasion of their 10th anniversary, Sudhanshu Tewari, CEO and Co-Founder, Rewardz said, "As we celebrate our 10th anniversary, I reflect on the remarkable evolution of the rewards and recognition space. Gone are the days when transactions were the sole focus; now it's all about enhancing the employee and customer experience. In particular, there has been a shift towards ease of integration with apps across complementary domains, a trend that has gained significant traction in Asia. What was once a fledgling industry in 2013 has since matured into a thriving market, with numerous global companies now operating in Singapore and other Southeast Asian countries."



He added, "At Rewardz, we are committed to staying ahead of the curve by continuously refining our solutions and striving to bring joy to our customers. That's why we are proud to announce that we are the first rewards and recognition provider in the world to fully integrate GPT3, enabling users to create content seamlessly on our platform. We are also partnering with esteemed organisations such as EngageRocket and Joye to create an ecosystem of partners that can effectively address the diverse needs of our customers in a single platform." During the celebration, the firm also hosted a panel discussion themed "Managing Employee and Customer Engagement during an Economic Downturn". The panel comprised industry experts, Genevieve Godwin, Chief People Officer of PropertyGuru, Mehul Rajparia, Digital Health Solutions Leader, Asia Pacific, Mercer Marsh Benefits and Jitesh Malik, Director, Digital Payments & Rewards, Pulse, Prudential, with Jaya Maru, Co-Founder and CEO Middle East of Rewardz, as the moderator.

Rewardz also announced the collaboration with local startup EngageRocket, focused on employee experience and performance, to assist companies in the Asia-Pacific region in improving employee engagement and retention. The partnership between Rewardz and EngageRocket aims to provide businesses with an end-to-end solution for measuring, managing, and improving employee engagement. Rewardz's platform provides businesses tools to reward and recognise employees, and EngageRocket's software allows them to analyse the impact of these programmes on employee engagement and performance. "Rewardz's reward and recognition platform - CERRA Applause is a great complement to our software," said Mr. Leong Chee Tung, Co-founder of EngageRocket. "We believe that our collaboration will provide companies in the Asia-Pacific region with the tools they need to create a productive, engaged workforce." "This collaboration will allow both companies to combine our respective strengths, drive innovation, and provide our clients with a comprehensive employee engagement solution," further added Tewari. About Rewardz Founded in 2012, Singapore-headquartered Rewardz is a mobile-first technology company offering SaaS solutions for businesses to reward their employees, customers and distributors with ease. Leveraging a marketplace across 30 countries with 1,000+ partners offering incentives and perks, Rewardz drives positive behaviours in a sustainable manner for its clients. Their rich rewards marketplace allows companies to effectively scale recognition programs worldwide, providing an extensive range of relevant, local rewards for global teams. Rewardz has established themselves as a leading global player in the digital rewards and recognition space with two flagship products - CERRA and SPUR. It provides a buffet of solutions ranging from employee recognition and well-being, flexible benefits, customer loyalty, and dealer incentives. Clients are also empowered with rich and intelligent analytics to measure the impact of their recognition programs and make data-driven decisions to drive positive business outcomes. To-date, Rewardz has served more than 1,500,000 users and 250+ clients. In 2016, Japan's leading player in the incentives and benefits space, Benefit One Inc., became a major stakeholder of Rewardz. Benefit One provides employee benefits services, incentive point management, CRM solutions and healthcare services. For more information on Rewardz, please visit their Website | LinkedIn SOURCE Rewardz

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WALTERBORO, S.C. (AP)  Disgraced South Carolina attorney Alex Murdaugh was convicted of murder Thursday in the shooting deaths of his wife and son in a case that chronicled the unraveling of a powerful Southern family with tales of privilege, greed and addiction.

The jury deliberated for less than three hours before finding Murdaugh guilty of two counts of murder at the end of a six-week trial that pulled back the curtain on the once-prominent lawyer's fall from grace.

Murdaugh, 54, faces 30 years to life in prison without parole when he is sentenced, which in South Carolina is typically right after the verdict but can be delayed if a judge chooses.

Through more than 75 witnesses and nearly 800 pieces of evidence, jurors heard about betrayed friends and clients, Murdaugh's failed attempt to stage his own death in an insurance fraud scheme, a fatal boat crash in which his son was implicated, the housekeeper who died in a fall in the Murdaugh home, the grisly scene of the killings and Bubba, the chicken-snatching dog.

In the end, Murdaugh's fate appeared sealed by cellphone video taken by his son, who he called "Little Detective" for his knack for finding bottles of painkillers in his father's belongings after the lawyer had sworn off the pills.

Testimony culminated in Murdaugh's appearance on the witness stand, when he admitted stealing millions from clients and lying to investigators about being at the dog kennels where the shootings took place but steadfastly maintained his innocence in the deaths of Maggie and Paul Murdaugh.

"I did not kill Maggie, and I did not kill Paul. I would never hurt Maggie, and I would never hurt Paul  ever  under any circumstances," Murdaugh said.

Murdaugh's 52-year-old wife was shot four or five times with a rifle and their 22-year-old son was shot twice with a shotgun at the kennels near at their rural Colleton County home on June 7, 2021. Read the full story here:

Photos: Scenes from the Alex Murdaugh murder trial
[March 02, 2023] [email protected] Closes Deal with Swiggy for the Acquisition Of its Access Kitchens Business

Swiggy will become a stakeholder in [email protected] through this all-equity transaction BANGALORE, India, March 3, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- [email protected], a leading player in the rapidly growing cloud kitchen industry today announced the acquisition of Swiggy's Access Kitchens business through a share swap deal, effective as of 1st March 2023. Swiggy pioneered the cloud kitchen model with the launch of Swiggy Access in 2017. The Swiggy Access program allows restaurant partners to establish kitchen spaces in neighbourhoods where they do not currently operate, with the goal of offering more variety and shortening delivery times for consumers. These 'delivery-only' kitchen spaces align with [email protected]'s own cloud kitchen model. By leveraging Swiggy's analysis of local demand and selection of high-performing partners, [email protected] can diversify food options and meet customers' needs in specific areas. [email protected] has long been focused on organizing the supply side of the food industry, utilizing its state-of-the-art cloud kitchen infrastructure, optimized supply chain network, culinary expertise, and cutting-edge technology. The company's aggregator-neutral approach enables high-throughput brands to have an efficient online presence, driving hygiene and operational efficiency at scale. The acquisition brings Swiggy on board as a stakeholder in [email protected], emphasizing the strength and stability of the company's financial performance and operations. i>"The addition of Swiggy's Access kitchens will bolster the reach and operations of [email protected] in four cities across 52 locations and 700+ kitchens, providing customers with more convenient and efficient food delivery options," said Junaiz Kizhakkayil, Founder & CEO of [email protected] "Our goal has always been to make fresh food accessible by powering a super-efficient food delivery ecosystem," added Kizhakkayil.



"Swiggy Access was started with the aim to bridge hyperlocal gaps in restaurant supply and solve for variety, quality, and convenience of food. Since its inception, Access has enabled several restaurant partners to innovate and expand their reach to new customers in a cost-effective manner. We are confident that [email protected] is fully equipped to nurture this ecosystem by innovating and building more supply. Swiggy continues to believe in the potential of this space and remains invested as a stakeholder in [email protected]," said Rahul Bothra, CFO of Swiggy The current transaction enables a combined annual GMV of $65 million (?520 Cr) for [email protected] The company aims to reach $100 million in revenue within the next 6 months and has already secured Letters of Intent with over 40 national and international brands to partner with it using a Master Franchise Model. As it continues to expand, the company will focus on scaling operations across key demand areas in India through 'clusters.' These clusters will comprise kitchen hubs that cater to specific micro-markets within cities, allowing them to reach a wider customer base.

About Swiggy: Founded in 2014, Swiggy is India's leading on-demand convenience platform with a vision to elevate the quality of life for the urban consumer by offering unparalleled convenience. It connects consumers to over 200,000 restaurant partners in hundreds of cities. Its quick commerce grocery service Instamart is present in over 25 cities. Swiggy's latest addition, Dineout, offers users experiences in high-use categories like dining out and events in 24 cities across the country. Using innovative technology, Swiggy provides a hassle-free, fast, and reliable delivery experience. Every order delivered by Swiggy's delivery executives, ensures a host of customer-centric features like lightning-fast delivery, no minimum order value, live order tracking, and 24/7 customer support. For Loyal Hospitality Private Limited

Mr. Junaiz Kizhakkayil

Founder & CEO

[email protected] Photo: https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/2014638/Junaiz_Kizhakkayil.jpg

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[March 03, 2023] Quest Global is Great Place To Work Certified in India, for the Second Year in a Row

BANGALORE, India, March 3, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Quest Global, one of the world's fastest-growing engineering services firms, today announced it has been Great Place To Work Certified in India. It is the second time that the organization has earned this recognition. The organization last received this recognition in January 2022. Quest Global fared well on the five critical dimensions of Trust Index - credibility, respect, fairness, pride, and camaraderie. The company remains committed to promoting and sustaining a High-Trust, High-Performance Culture, and guiding the firm towards strengthening its aim to be a centenary organization. The successful participation and vote of confidence in the assessment held across the organization by Great Place To Work anonymously helped Quest Global benchmark the people practices in India. Speaking on the occasion, Ms. Colleen Doherty, Chief People Officer, Quest Global, said, "It truly is a proud feeling to be Great Place To Work Certified. The excitement is more this year as our extraordinary people once again ensured the Certification stays with us second time in a row. It says a lot about the culture we have fostered for over 25 years and continue to nurture. Our culture unites us on our journey. It is deeply rooted in everything we do and shines brightest in our behaviours, attitudes, and values." She elaborated, "We believe our inclusive work environment is one we each contribute to and can be proud of. We remain committed to prioritizing every employee's health, safety, and well-being. This esteemed title is an important step towards acknowledging our efforts to embrace diversity and inclusivity in the ever-changing wrkplace culture."



Great Place To Work Certification is the gold standard that organizations around the globe aspire to accomplish. The recognition is a testament to the organization's consistent efforts to build and sustain a High-Trust, High-Performance Culture. Great Place To Work is the global authority on workplace culture. In India, the institute partners with more than 1,400 organizations across 22+ industries annually to help them build a High-Trust, High-Performance Culture designed to deliver sustained business results. The institute's research shows great workplaces are characterized by outstanding leadership, consistent employee experience, and sustainable financial performance. These organizations can deliver the same experience to all of their employees irrespective of their role, gender, tenure, or level.

About Quest Global We are Quest Global. We're in the business of engineering, but what we're really building is a brighter future. It's not just what we do, but why we do it that makes us different. We believe engineering has the unique opportunity to solve the problems of today that stand in the way of tomorrow. For 25 years, we have strived to be the most trusted partner for the world's hardest engineering problems. As a global organization headquartered in Singapore, we live and work in 17 countries, with 56 global delivery centers & offices, driven by 17,000+ extraordinary employees who make the impossible possible every day. Quest Global brings deep industry knowledge and digital expertise to deliver end-to-end global product engineering services. We bring together technologies and industries alongside the contributions of diverse individuals and their areas of expertise to solve problems better, and faster. This multi-dimensional approach enables us to solve the most important and large-scale challenges across the Aerospace & Defense, Automotive, Energy, Hi-Tech, Healthcare, Medical Devices, Rail, and Semiconductor industries. Read more. About Great Place To Work Certification This Certification is the gold standard that organizations around the globe aspire to accomplish. Great Place To Work is the global authority on workplace culture. In India, the institute partners with more than 1,400 organizations annually across over 22 industries to help them build a High-Trust, High-Performance Culture designed to deliver sustained business results. The institute's research shows that great workplaces are characterized by outstanding leadership, consistent employee experience, and sustainable financial performance. These organizations can deliver the same experience to all of their employees irrespective of their role, gender, tenure, or level within the organization. Photo: https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/2010380/Quest_Global_GPTW_Certified.jpg

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[March 03, 2023] HONOR Magic5 Series Honored as "Best of MWC" by Numerous Media

As a global market debut, the foldable HONOR Magic Vs also won multiple media awards at MWC 2023 BARCELONA, Spain, March 3, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Global technology brand HONOR announced the global availability of the new HONOR Magic5 Series and the foldable HONOR Magic Vs at the ongoing Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, providing users around the world with a true flagship smartphone experience. With numerous leading global media outlets naming both new flagship smartphones as "Best of MWC" this year, the innovative engineering and premium features of the new HONOR flagships have been well recognized. This year, HONOR received a grand total of 42 awards from media at MWC, with the debut HONOR Magic5 Pro winning 18 awards in different categories. Android Authority said that, "the HONOR Magic5 Pro pulls out all the stops to compete against the industry's best, and does it with style." Trusted Reviews also commented, "the HONOR Magic5 Pro is a flagship Android smartphone that's absolutely packed with top-drawer tech." Tom's Guide, a tech media with full reputation for product reviews, named the HONOR Magi5 Pro the Best Phone, saying "the Honor Magic5 Pro is, by far, the best phone to come out of MWC 2023."



In addition to the HONOR Magic5 Pro, the HONOR Magic Vs, the latest HONOR foldable phone debuting in the global market, has also received a great amount of attention. XDA Developers said, "it's easily one of our favorite foldable phones on the market." MakeUseOf, one of the largest online technology publications, said in its review, that "with a handset that looks and feels every inch a luxury device, the Magic Vs offers genuine innovation in the folding smartphone field." The HONOR Magic5 Pro and the HONOR Magic Vs will get 3 years of Android upgrades and 5 years of security patches.

The HONOR Magic5 Pro will be available from Q2, 2023, starting at 1199 (12G+512GB). The HONOR Magic Vs will be priced starting at 1599 (12GB+512GB). Availability will be announced in due course. About HONOR HONOR is a leading global provider of smart devices. It is dedicated to becoming a global iconic technology brand and creating a new intelligent world for everyone through its powerful products and services. With an unwavering focus on R&D, it is committed to developing technology that empowers people around the globe to go beyond, giving them the freedom to achieve and do more. Offering a range of high-quality smartphones, tablets, laptops and wearables to suit every budget, HONOR's portfolio of innovative, premium and reliable products enable people to become a better version of themselves. For more information, please visit HONOR online at www.hihonor.com or email [email protected] https://community.hihonor.com/

https://www.facebook.com/honorglobal/

https://twitter.com/Honorglobal

https://www.instagram.com/honorglobal/

https://www.youtube.com/c/HonorOfficial SOURCE HONOR

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[March 03, 2023] Dayton-Based Faruki Adds Jack Greiner & Darren Ford to Expand in Southwest Ohio

Faruki PLL, an established Dayton-based business litigation firm with a presence in Cincinnati, announces the addition of Jack Greiner and Darren Ford, two well-known, high-profile media law attorneys. Greiner and Ford will be integral to Faruki's growth strategy in Southwest Ohio, aiding the firm in growing its already strong media practice, as well as supplementing the firm's expertise in commercial litigation, employment & labor law, and consumer class action law. "Highly respected and with the highest levels of integrity, Jack and Darren bring not only expertise, drive and experience, but they are both dedicated to excellence - one of our firm's core values. They couldn't be a better fit for Faruki's culture and our growth plans," noted Erin E. Rhinehart, Co-Managing Partner, Faruki. Founded in 1989, Faruki employs a staff of nearly 40, including 19 attorneys. With more than three decades of experience, Jack Greiner is a highly sought-after authority on governmental transparency, having argued and successfully won numerous First Amendment cases in the Ohio and Kentucky Supreme Courts for clients including The Cincinnati Enquirer, The Associated Press and ESPN, among others. Most recently, Greiner successfully petitioned the court presiding over the Pike County murder trial of George Wagner (Ohio's largest and most expensive murder investigation) to allow media access to key pieces of evidence presented in the courtroom. He has repeatedly been named to The Best Lawyers in America and recognized as "Lawyer of the Year". Greiner served as an Adjunct Professor of Media Law at the University of Cincinnati College of Law for over fifteen years, and regularly contributes to various publications on media law topics. Darren Ford's practice spans more than a decade and focuses on communications and media law, labor and employment litigation, and consumer class action defense. He has represented numerous local and national media organizations, as well as clients in the restaurant, manufacturing, healthcare, financial services, and hospitality industries, suh as Denny's and Columbia Sussex Corporation. Ford has partnered with Greiner on numerous high-profile media and government access cases over the last decade, including the Pike County murder trials; defense of media outlets in lawsuits brought by Covington Catholic student, Nick Sandmann; and the Ray Tensing murder trials. He has been repeatedly recognized as a Super Lawyers Rising Star; and is a graduate of Leadership Northern Kentucky and the Cincinnati Academy of Leadership for Lawyers (CALL) program. Ford is also a frequent guest lecturer at the University of Cincinnati College of Law on public records and First Amendment law issues. Ford is licensed to practice law in both Ohio and Kentucky.



To learn more about Faruki's Media and Communications legal practice, go to https://www.ficlaw.com/practice-areas/media-communications or on Twitter @FarukiMediaLaw. About Faruki

Faruki PLL is a litigation firm with offices in Dayton and Cincinnati that handles complex disputes, including intellectual property, class actions, competition-based litigation, employment, antitrust, privacy, commercial litigation, and arbitration. You can find Faruki PLL on LinkedIn or Twitter at @FarukiMediaLaw. Also, visit the business litigation blog site, for the latest developments in business litigation, intellectual property, data security, communications and media, class actions, and employment. To learn more about Faruki, visit https://www.ficlaw.com. For media: download high-resolution headshots of Jack Greiner and Darren Ford at:

https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fo/tljo6xl4gt4jhtzdyzz6o/h?dl=0&rlkey=bs7c4rnldlz1i9rw0t4mdd3da View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20230303005042/en/

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[March 03, 2023] Your Voice is Power Returns to Engage Thousands of Canadian Students in Coding Education

Computer science program that builds technology skills while promoting social justice returns for 2023 with an enhanced curriculum for middle and high school students Twin Flames joins First Nations Artists Jayli Wolf, Dakota Bear, and Samian in lesson plan and Amazon Music playlist TORONTO, March 3, 2023 /CNW/ - Amazon Canada and TakingITGlobal are proud to launch the 2023 edition of Your Voice is Power, an educational program and remix competition that teaches coding skills to middle and high school students using music from Indigenous artists. After engaging more than 5,000 students in its inaugural year, Your Voice is Power has expanded for 2023 to include new songs from artists Twin Flames and an enhanced curriculum that leverages music and technology as vehicles to promote social justice. Your Voice is Power is a flagship initiative of Amazon Future Engineer Canada, a computer science and STEM education program that seeks to afford all young people the opportunity to explore their potential. A 2020 report from the Conference Board of Canada in partnership with Future Skills Centre estimates that less than 2 per cent of people working in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) occupations are Indigenous. "At Amazon, we are committed to empowering children and young adults to learn new skills that will give them more opportunities," said Cynthia Caglar, Head of Amazon Future Engineer Canada. "Your Voice is Power gives students and teachers an introduction to coding while demonstrating how music and computer science can be tools to advance social justice. Our goal is to help more young people  especially those from underrepresented backgrounds  develop a passion that can lead to exciting academic and career opportunities over the long term." "Your Voice is Power surpassed all expectations in 2022, as thousands of teachers and students across Canada shwed tremendous enthusiasm for the opportunity to blend a unique technology learning experience with reflection on Indigenous and Canadian histories," said Anishinaabe educator Christine M'lot, who led curriculum development on behalf of TakingITGlobal. "The goal in 2023 is to add new stories, experiences and music from First Nations, Inuit and Metis artists to engage new participants while allowing our previous cohort to continue to build their skills and discover the potential of computer science for their future education and career."



The Your Voice is Power curriculum is available at no cost to teachers and students in grades 7 through 12. The curriculum was built by TakingITGlobal with extensive year-long collaborations that involved hundreds of hours of consultation and review. The Cloud Innovation Centre at the University of British Columbia (UBC), which is a private/public collaboration between Amazon Web Services (AWS) and UBC, facilitated connections to Indigenous experts, students and alumni as well as to UBC faculty. The Your Voice is Power lesson plan features eight modules that teach the basics of coding while engaging students in discussions on the First Nations, Inuit, and Metis experience in Canada, including topics like Residential Schools, the Sixties Scoop, and the Truth and Reconciliation Commission's 94 Calls to Action. Students will remix music from Indigenous artists Jayli Wolf, Dakota Bear, Samian, and Twin Flames using EarSketch, a free online code editor that will be available in English, French, Ojibwe, and Inuktitut. All participants will be encouraged to submit their remixes to a competition in which two winners  one Indigenous, one identifying as an ally  will receive $5,000 (CAD) scholarships, donated by Amazon.

Amazon Music 'Your Voice is Power' Playlist Amazon Music subscribers in Canada are able to stream an exclusive Your Voice is Power playlist featuring songs by artists including Twin Flames, Jayli Wolf, Dakota Bear, Samian, and many others featured in the program. This playlist features music celebrating themes of perseverance and determination, showcasing foundational moments in music spanning 30+ years of music making. Quotes: "It's an honour to have our music included in Your Voice is Power. By connecting young people with different perspectives on the Indigenous experience in Canada, the program shares our goal of using music to build bridges across cultures and with history. Your Voice is Power is an opportunity to build important skills while reflecting on powerful stories, and we wish all participants a wonderful learning experience." - Chelsey June, Twin Flames "I am so excited to be a part of Your Voice is Power again this year. It's vital that we close the gaps in the STEM economy for Indigenous people. The program pushes Indigenous youth forward by focusing on education through the creative process of coding with music." - Jayli Wolf "The goal of the UBC Community Health and Wellbeing CIC, powered by AWS, is to work on projects that provide a material benefit to society. Increasing representation of Indigenous students in coding professions is one such benefit, and we look forward to its realization. We've already received inquiries for best practices on how to adapt the curriculum to other indigenous groups in other geographies." - Marianne Schroeder, Director, Cloud Innovation Centre, The University of British Columbia About Amazon Amazon is guided by four principles: customer obsession rather than competitor focus, passion for invention, commitment to operational excellence, and long-term thinking. Amazon strives to be Earth's Most Customer-Centric Company, Earth's Best Employer, and Earth's Safest Place to Work. Customer reviews, 1-Click shopping, personalized recommendations, Prime, Fulfillment by Amazon, AWS, Kindle Direct Publishing, Kindle, Career Choice, Fire tablets, Fire TV, Amazon Echo, Alexa, Just Walk Out technology, Amazon Studios, and The Climate Pledge are some of the things pioneered by Amazon. For more information, visit amazon.com/about and follow @AmazonNews. SOURCE Amazon Canada

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[March 03, 2023] ISS India targets revenue of 2500 Cr by 2025; Announces multiple initiatives toward Growth, Skilling, and Sustainability

Unveils First of its kind Facility Management Experience Center at new 100% green office; Rolls out New Education Policy for employees  'ISS Education for All' ISS India Headquarters shifts to a new 100% green energy office

The new office also has a first-of-its-kind Facility Management Experience Center; A workplace with more than 50-in-house tech innovations to define the future of work

ISS announces ' Education for All ' policy to uplift the lives of its employees

policy to uplift the lives of its employees Recent collaboration with TATA Power Renewable Energy Limited (TPREL) with a shared vision of promoting Net-Zero Carbon emission MUMBAI, India, March 3, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- ISS Facility Services India, a subsidiary of the global facility management services and workplace experiences leader ISS A/S (ISS Group) and one of India's leading integrated facilities management companies, today announced aggressive growth plans in the country on the sidelines of the India visit of Jacob Aarup-Andersen, Group CEO of ISS A/S. The company, which is one of the most preferred Facility Management partners, is targeting to touch a revenue of INR 2500 Cr by 2025. The company is focusing on sustainability, innovation, and skill development as its key growth drivers. It has rolled out multiple initiatives to achieve these goals in the field of Green Energy, Facility Management, Tech Experience center, and Education. The company has relocated its headquarters to a new, state-of-the-art office building in Mumbai. This 100% green office runs on renewable energy sources and incorporates sustainability practices that result in zero emissions. In addition, the office boasts a state-of-the-art Facility Management Experience Center that sets a new standard for the industry. The center showcases its technology capability with a demonstration of its various features and functionalities. ISS India also announced a new education policy for its frontline staff (referred as placemakers in ISS). The policy provides an opportunity for these employees to complete their formal education and advance their careers. Many of ISS's frontline placemakers have limited formal education and this policy will help them to achieve their full potential. "India is a strategic market for ISS Group and a major player in the Asia Pacific region with immense growth potential," said Jacob Aarup-Andersen, Group CEO of ISS A/S. "We are committed to making a meaningful impact in India by focusing on innovation, sustainability, and skilling, which are critical to achieving our environmental, scial, and governance (ESG) goals. Our growth strategy and new milestones in India are centered around these key areas, and we are excited about the opportunities for growth and impact in the region. I am delighted with the rollout of 'ISS Education for All'. This initiative has a transformative ability, and is part of our global commitment to provide more than 100,000 of our employees or their family members a recognised qualification by the end of 2025."



Elaborating on the group's vision, Aksh Rohatgi, CEO and Country Manager, ISS India said, "Our goal of doubling revenue in the country by 2025 is more than just a financial target; it is an expression of our commitment to sustainable growth that is aligned with the growth story of India as it marches towards being a USD 5 trillion economy by 2025-26. As a dynamic company with a wide-ranging impact, our growth strategy has to be meaningful; hence, it revolves around the pillars of innovation, sustainability and skilling. We are integrating sustainability as a core service across all our offerings and within our organization. This is not only key to achieving our revenue goals but also our ESG objectives." "With more than 50 technological innovations, our new office is the first of its kind workplace: a completely new experience for the Indian workforce. Our new education policy is another significant step toward our nation-building efforts. We look forward to many more initiatives in the future," added Aksh Rohatgi.

ISS also believes that the Green Strategic Partnership between Denmark and India is crucial in developing solutions to mitigate and adapt to climate change and tackling environmental challenges, especially water and energy-related issues. The two countries with ambitious climate goals are demonstrating to the world that delivering ambitious climate and sustainable energy goals is possible. ISS's recent MoU with TATA Power Renewable Energy Limited (TPREL) is a step forward in its sustainability mission and will help ISS guide its clients toward a more sustainable future and provide them with access to smart, eco-friendly solutions. ISS India's new office space is a testament to the company's commitment to reducing its carbon footprint and creating a more sustainable future. The new office building is designed to meet the highest (best) energy efficiency standards and features a range of cutting-edge technologies and systems that minimize its environmental impact. This includes the use of Technical data monitoring (TDM), Winnow  AI enabled food waste management tool, and other applications such as Smart Energy & water flow metering, IAQ etc to ensure employee wellbeing. At the FM Experience Center, the dashboard and reporting feature gives users real-time access to critical data and performance metrics. The news feed section keeps users up-to-date with the latest industry news and trends. The data analysis feature provides deep insights and helps decision-makers make informed choices. Furthermore, the virtual reality experience offers a unique and immersive way to explore and understand how the facility management system works. With such cutting-edge features, the Facility Management Experience Center ensures that ISS India stays ahead of the curve in the industry. ISS's 'Education for All' policy aims to uplift the lives of its placemakers by instilling education, upskilling & training for their future growth. Through this policy, ISS will fund the tuition fee of school education - SSC & HSC, and fund/provide scholarships for graduation for all needy employees. This education policy will be linked to the Integrated Career Program in which upon successful completion of the formal education, ISS's placemakers will be able to explore new career opportunities within ISS and move up the ladder, supporting their career aspirations. About ISS A/S (ISS Group) ISS is a leading workplace experience and facility management company. In partnership with customers, ISS drives the engagement and well-being of people, minimises the impact on the environment, and protects and maintains property. ISS brings all of this to life through a unique combination of data, insight and service excellence at offices, factories, airports, hospitals and other locations across the globe. ISS has more than 350,000 employees around the globe, who we call 'Placemakers'. In 2022, ISS Group's global revenue amounted to DKK 76.5 billion. For more information on the ISS Group, visit www.issworld.com About ISS Facility Services (India) ISS Facility Services India, headquartered in Mumbai, is a subsidiary of the Denmark-based global facility management services and workplace experiences leader ISS A/S (ISS Group). The company started its operations in India in 2005 and today has over 43,400 employees managing more than 180 Mn. Sq. Ft. of area for over 1,000 clients across the country. ISS's unique Integrated Facility Services (IFS) model, high standards of compliance and self-delivery, have helped create a huge differentiation in the marketplace. ISS also implements industry-leading IFS solutions to deliver savings, compliance, experiences, strategy innovation, impact, value, and enhanced brand reputation for its customers. Its industry capabilities and customer communities in India focus primarily on three broad areas, including Financial Services, Technology & Professional Services, and Industry & Manufacturing, which also includes Heavy Engineering, Healthcare, Pharma, and FMCG. Photo: https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/2015412/ISS_India_Photo.jpg View original content to download multimedia:https://www.prnewswire.com/in/news-releases/iss-india-targets-revenue-of-2500-cr-by-2025-announces-multiple-initiatives-toward-growth-skilling-and-sustainability-301761980.html

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[March 03, 2023] Organon Canada receives the Women in Governance (WiG) Parity Certification SME, further demonstrating its commitment to gender parity in the workplace

The WiG evaluation, which comprises over 75 quantitative and qualitative criteria, showcases Organon Canada's consideration for the multiple impacts of diversity and intersectionality on career advancement opportunities for women KIRKLAND, QC, March 3, 2023 /CNW/ - Organon Canada, a subsidiary of Organon (NYSE: OGN), a global women's health company, is excited to share that in line with National Employee Appreciation Day on March 3, it has received the Women in Governance Parity Certification SME 1. The WiG Parity Certification SME is a national benchmark recognizing notable organizations for their ongoing efforts and commitments to gender parity in the workplace. Through integrating numerous programs and policies across the organization, Organon Canada has successfully achieved an industry-renowned standard of excellence for continued progress and work to date in moving the needle around enhancing and sustaining gender parity in the workplace. "This recognition is a strong testament to our ongoing commitment to gender equity in the workplace and beyond," says Michael Casia, President and Managing Director at Organon Canada. "At Organon Canada, our mission is to deliver impactful solutions which help to envision a better and healthier every day for everyone, with a focus on women. This includes supporting and amplifying the voices of women while maintaining a continued focus and emphasis on opportunities for their leadership and advancement at all levels of the organization. For me, attaining the WiG Parity Certification SME signifies that Organon Canada is on the right track  which is certainly something to celebrate this National Employee Appreciation Day. As we continue to strive for balanced gender representation across our entire organization by 2030, we will seek to further strengthen our longer-term roadmap, ensuring future efforts on this front fall closely in line with the UN's Sustainable Development Goal around gender equality." WiG's Parity Certification SME provides a holistic assessment of an organization's endeavors by reviewing several primary drivers which directly assess its current position on gender parity, including its strategies around culture and commitments to enable more progressive and equitable representation. From there, WiG also reviews an organization's actions to date around communications, policy and programs in place which work to facilitate progress and drive meaningful results related to diversity, equity and inclusion. "Women are at the centre of and represent the heart and soul of our organization," mentions Litsa Spiridonakos, Director of Human Resources at Organon Canada. "The journey to improve women's health is fundamental to achieve gender equity in our communities and within our own walls. We're proud that 66% of Organon Canada's employees are women, 54% of our people managers are women, and our global Board of directors is composed of 69% women. We aim to maintain a gender balance coinciding with diverse and intersectional representation amongst our employee base, while actively working to increase the number of women in mid- and senior leadership roles throughout our organization by creating an environment where they can thrive." For Organon Canada, establishing itself as a partner of choice for women's health and gender equity is a foundational goal that is critical to the success and endeavours of the organization. With International Women's Day quickly approaching, and this year's global campaign theme being Embrace Equity, Organon Canada is proud to be demonstrating its value of embracing gender equity as a top priority, not only on this celebratory day, but every day. To learn more about Organon Canada's vision and values as it relates to diversity, equity, inclusion and belonging, visit organon.com/Canada-en/mission-vision-values/ .







_________________________________ 1 Women in Governance, The certification that is closing the gender parity in the workplace. Online, accessed February 2023.



About Organon Organon is a global healthcare company with a focus on improving the health of women throughout their lives. Organon has a portfolio of more than 60 medicines and products across a range of therapeutic areas. Led by the women's health portfolio coupled with an expanding biosimilars business and stable franchise of established medicines, Organon's products produce strong cash flows that will support investments in innovation and future growth opportunities in women's health. In addition, Organon is pursuing opportunities to collaborate with biopharmaceutical innovators looking to commercialize their products by leveraging its scale and presence in fast growing international markets. Organon has a global footprint with significant scale and geographic reach, world-class commercial capabilities, and approximately 10,000 employees with headquarters located in Jersey City, New Jersey. For more information, visit https://www.organon.com/canada-en/ connect with us on LinkedIn . SOURCE Organon Canada Inc.

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[March 03, 2023] Radiopharm Theranostics Partners With Next Generation Preclinical Platform for Therapeutic Radiopharmaceuticals

SYDNEY, Australia, March 03, 2023 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Radiopharm Theranostics (ASX:RAD, Radiopharm or the Company), a developer of radiopharmaceutical products for both diagnostic and therapeutic uses, is pleased to announce that through its wholly owned subsidiary, Radiopharm Theranostics (USA) Inc., it has entered into a binding agreement to acquire Pharma15 Corporation (Pharma15), a private US-based venture which is developing next-generation therapeutic radiopharmaceuticals for Prostate Cancer. Pharma15 was founded by leading radiopharmaceutical scientist Professor David Ulmert and CEO Suzanne Dance.

Pharma15 is developing assets which seek to overcome resistance to prostate-specific membrane antigen (PSMA) targeting cancer therapies currently available or in late-stage development. In each case, the technologies exhibit highly specific targeting of receptors expressed on cancer cells, but not in healthy tissues. This selectivity may further limit toxicity in the new approaches to targeted radiotherapy in prostate cancer. Together with Pharma15s scientific co-founder Professor Ulmert, KOL Professor Ken Herrmann will join RADs Scientific Advisory Board (SAB) and spearhead the development of the acquired technologies. Consideration for the acquisition has been structured to minimise impact on RADs cash flow. It comprises the issue of ordinary shares and cash up-front, with some consideration deferred and some subject to the achievement of significant clinical milestone. Under the direction of the founders, the development of the technology will not be a drain on RADs management team. Riccardo Canevari, CEO and Managing Director of RAD, said: Targeted Radiopharmaceutical Therapies (TRT) in PSMA-expressing tumor in prostate cancer represent a major innovation and they are transforming the clinical approach. With this agreement, we are looking at the potential next generation of radiopharmaceuticals in prostate cancer to go beyond PSMA and to continue innovation for patients suffering from this disease. We are in early preclinical stage with these technologies, but we wanted to secure them in our pipeline, before other competitors may have, and we are excited by the underlying potential of going after those two new targets. Additionally, we will benefit from gaining access to the Pharma15 team of experienced scientists, clinicians and radiochemists and their deep experience in preclinical and translational TRT development. Paul Hopper, RAD Founder and Executive Chairman, added: Professors David Ulmert, Ken Herrmann and their colleagues from Pharma15 are broadly recognized as pre-eminent subject matter experts in cancer therapy development. In addition, through the Pharma15 acquisition, RAD further improves its access to strong academic networks in Europe and USA. Professor David Ulmert, MD PhD, Assistant Professor and Director in the Preclinical Theranostics Program at the University of California at Los Angeles and Project Investigator at Department of Clinical Sciences, Lund University, Lund, Sweden, said: Since the licensing of my PSA monoclonal antibody technology by RAD in 2021 and the subsequent IPO of the Company, I have become increasingly involved with the RAD senior team. I am impressed with their knowledge and expertise and believe that the Pharma15 technology is in very safe hands and will e driven into the clinic at the earliest opportunity. Further, for Ken Herrmann and I to remain embedded in the development of these two drugs has been of critical importance to us.



Professor Ken Herrmann, Chair in the Department of Nuclear Medicine at the Universitatsmedizin Essen, Germany and a globally recognized leader in radiopharmaceutical Research and Development, said: I have watched RADs progress since IPO and the skill with which their portfolio is being developed. The decision to merge Pharma15 into RAD was supported by the quality of the joint assets and the commercial and scientific experience of the team. It is a pleasure to not only join RADs SAB, but also to remain deeply involved in the translation of Pharma15s technologies. About the Pharma15 Purchase Agreement

Radiopharm, through its wholly owned subsidiary, Radiopharm Theranostics (USA) Inc., has entered a stock purchase agreement (Agreement) to acquire 100% of Pharma15 shares effective 3 March 2023 AEDT. The purchase price under the Agreement is US$4 million (A$5.9 million), which is to be paid 50% in cash and 50% in shares, split between two equal instalments, the first instalment upon completion scheduled for 3 March 2023 and the second instalment on the first anniversary following completion. 10.4 million Radiopharm ordinary shares will be issued in the first instalment as part of the purchase price, determined by the volume-weighted average price (vwap) of RAD shares traded on ASX during the seven consecutive trading days ending at the close of normal trading three trading days prior to the instalment. The seven day vwap for the first instalment is $0.1431. The number of shares to be issued for the second instalment on the first anniversary following completion will vary according to the exchange rate at that time and the seven consecutive trading days volume weighted average market price ending at the close of normal trading three trading days prior to the instalment. The consideration will be funded from existing cash reserves, and the estimated share issue is within the Companys existing 15% share issue capacity. In addition to the purchase price, the Agreement sets out contingent consideration, subject to successful attainment of the significant value-adding clinical milestone of an Investigational New Drug Application with the U.S.A. Federal Drug Administration (FDA) for Pharma15s product. The milestone is unlikely to be achieved before CY 2025. The contingent consideration under the Agreement, should the milestone be achieved, is US$2.3 million (A$3.4 million), to be paid in shares (to be determined by the volume-weighted average price of RAD shares traded on ASX during the seven consecutive trading days ending at the close of normal trading three trading days prior to the milestone event). Shares issued to satisfy the contingent consideration are subject to a floor price equal to the volume-weighted average price of a RAD shares traded on the ASX during the 20 consecutive trading days ending at the close of normal trading immediately preceding the date of this Agreement, being $0.139. Using the same seven day vwap as the initial instalment of the purchase price and the current exchange rate, approximately 24 million shares would be issued if the milestone is achieved. The Company has no obligation to issue more than 47,000,000 shares in total under the Agreement, which is within the Companys existing 15% share issue capacity. Any contingent consideration not satisfied by the issue of shares will be settled by transfer of funds. The Agreement is binding and effective immediately, with the anticipated Closing Date on or before 6 March 2023. Title passes on the Closing Date. The Agreement may be terminated for failure to meet usual conditions precedent, including any material adverse change in the circumstances of Pharma 15; otherwise only in the event of a material breach of the Agreement or by mutual consent. Authorised on behalf of the Radiopharm Theranostics board of directors by Executive Chairman Paul Hopper. For more information: Riccardo Canevari

CEO & Managing Director

P: +1 862 309 0293

E: [email protected] Timothy McCarthy

LifeSci Advisors, LLC

P: +1 917 679 9282

E: [email protected] Paul Hopper

Executive Chairman

P: +61 406 671 515

E: [email protected] Media

Matt Wright

NWR Communications

P: +61 451 896 420

E: [email protected] Follow Radiopharm Theranostics:

Website  https://radiopharmtheranostics.com/

Twitter  https://twitter.com/TeamRadiopharm

Linked In  https://www.linkedin.com/company/radiopharm-theranostics/



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[March 03, 2023] Media Alert: Socure Talks First-Party Fraud in Merchant Services with Leading Fintechs at MRC 2023 Conference

Socure, the leading provider of digital identity verification and fraud solutions, will demonstrate how retailers and payments organizations are driving growth at scale with frictionless and highly-accurate identity verification and fraud prediction at this year's MRC 2023 conference, which will be held in Las Vegas, NV, March 6 - 9. Socure will host demonstrations and discussions in its booth #201, as well as lead a panel discussion on first-party fraud. Featured at the event, Johnny Ayers, Founder & CEO of Socure, along with notable fraud executives from Chime and Green Dot, will discuss "First-Party Fraud: What It Is, and What It Isn't." First-party fraud is difficult to classify, pinpoint, and ultimately combat. Ayers will lead the panel in a discussion on how companies differentiate between a consumer's intent to commit a dishonest act versus making an honest mistake, along with trends in first-party fraud. They'll also discuss what approaches have been used to combat first-party fraud in the past, and whethr there is an opportunity to collaborate to better address the problem.



Panel details are as follows: Title: First Party Fraud, What It Is and What It Isn't

Date: March 8, 2023

Time: 11:45 am to 12:30 pm

Location: Bristlecone 9 Ballroom, Aria

Moderator: Johnny Ayers, Founder & CEO, Socure

Panelists:

Uma Coppa, VP of Risk Policy & Innovation, Chime

Phillip Lerma, Chief Risk Officer, Green Dot Established in 2000, the Merchant Risk Council is a global non-profit membership association for ecommerce payments and fraud prevention professionals around the globe. Its flagship conferences are multi-day, in-person events showcasing several tracks of educational content, workshops, and an exhibit hall. The content is focused on trends in payment fraud, payment optimization, technology and innovations, security and law enforcement, trust and safety, regulations and compliance. To learn more about how to join Socure at MRC or to book an on-site meeting with an industry expert, visit https://offers.socure.com/meet-socure-mrc-vegas.html About Socure Socure is the leading platform for digital identity verification and trust. Its predictive analytics platform applies artificial intelligence and machine learning techniques with trusted online/offline data intelligence from physical government-issued documents as well as email, phone, address, IP, device, velocity, date of birth, SSN, and the broader internet to verify identities in real time. The company has more than 1,500 customers across the financial services, government, gaming, healthcare, telecom, and e-commerce industries, including four of the top five banks, 13 of the top 15 card issuers, the top three MSBs, the top payroll provider, the top credit bureau, the top online gaming operator, the top Buy Now, Pay Later (BNPL) providers, and over 400 of the largest fintechs. Marquee customers include Chime, SoFi, Robinhood, Gusto, Public, Poshmark, Stash, DraftKings, State of California, and Florida's Homeowner Assistance Fund. Socure customers have become investors in the company including Citi Ventures, Wells Fargo Strategic Capital, Capital One Ventures, MVB Bank, and Synchrony. Additional investors include Accel, T. Rowe Price, Bain Capital Ventures, Tiger Global, Commerce Ventures, Scale Venture Partners, Sorenson, Flint Capital, Two Sigma Ventures, and others. View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20230303005079/en/

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[March 03, 2023] Chatmeter to Present on the Power of Brand Intelligence at Six Conferences in March

SAN DIEGO, March 03, 2023 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Executives from Chatmeter, the only reputation management and brand intelligence company to combine AI-powered deep listening with real-time CX agility, will lead discussions at six upcoming conferences in March 2023, across the retail, finance, restaurant, and healthcare industries. The Company will discuss how brands can use AI as a force for good by connecting with -- and listening to -- consumers, and tap into hyper-local brand intelligence to create a competitive advantage.

Chatmeter will be speaking at the following events throughout the month: Future Stores , March 5-7 in Miami Chatmeter will host a roundtable on March 6 at 4:15pm EST on harnessing the power of unstructured data to drive reputation & brand intelligence, leading to agile, meaningful CX. Future Digital Finance , March 6-7 in Austin, TX Chatmeter will host a digital innovation roundtable on March 6 at 1:15pm CST on harnessing the power of unstructured data to drive reputation & brand intelligence, leading to agile, meaningful CX. Millenniu m Alliance: Transformational CMO , Mrch 7-8 in Charlotte, NC Chatmeter will be the exclusive leader of a 60 minute roundtable discussion on March 8 at 8:50am EST. Millennium Alliance: Digital Healthcare Transformati on , March 9-10 in Austin, TX Chatmeter will be the exclusive leader of a 60 minute workshop on March 10 at 11:50am CST. Restaurant Franchising & Innovation Summit , March 20-22 in Coral Gables, FL Chatmeter will participate in a 15-minute session to present a case study of working with a restaurant operator on March 21 at 3:45pm EDT. VIVE 2023 , March 26-29 in Nashville, TN Chatmeter will host two 10-minute presentations on How AI-powered deep listening drives patient loyalty and growth for multi-location healthcare enterprises on March 27 and March 28.



Shoptalk , March 26-29 in Las Vegas (booth 1950), where it will be hosting demos of its powerful, end-to-end platform. For more information or to schedule an in-person meeting with Chatmeter at one of the upcoming events, please email [email protected] .

About Chatmeter

Chatmeter is the only reputation management and brand intelligence company to combine AI-powered deep listening with real-time CX agility to drive customer loyalty and growth for multi-location enterprises. Chatmeter understands the challenges of multi-location, and omnichannel reputation management, and has created a scaled platform that enables end-to-end visibility for everyone, from local owners to executive leadership. With a 93% customer retention rate, Chatmeter is the brand reputation partner of choice across the retail, restaurant, healthcare, and financial services industries, and more. For more information, visit www.chatmeter.com . Media Contact:

Alyson Kuritz

[email protected]

(908) 892-7149



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[March 03, 2023] ROSEN, A TOP RANKED LAW FIRM, Encourages BlockFi Interest Account Investors with Losses to Secure Counsel Before Important Deadline in Securities Class Action Against Zac Prince, Flori Marquez, Amit Cheela, David Olsson, and Samia Bayou

WHY: Rosen Law Firm, a global investor rights law firm, announces the filing of a class action lawsuit on behalf of investors in BlockFi Interest Accounts ("BIAs") between March 4, 2019 and November 28, 2022, inclusive (the "Class Period"), against Zac Prince, Flori Marquez, Amit Cheela, David Olsson, and Samia Bayou (together, "Defendants"). A class action lawsuit has already been filed. If you wish to serve as lead plaintiff, you must move the Court no later than May 1, 2023. SO WHAT: If you invested in BIAs during the Class Period you may be entitled to compensation without payment of any out of pocket fees or costs through a contingency fee arrangement. WHAT TO DO NEXT: To join the BlockFi class action, go to https://rosenlegal.com/submit-form/?case_id=12656 or call Phillip Kim, Esq. toll-free at 866-767-3653 or email [email protected] or [email protected] for information on the class action. A class action lawsuit has already been filed. If you wish to serve as lead plaintiff, you must move the Court no later than May 1, 2023. A lead plaintiff is a representative party acting on behalf of other class members in directing the litigation. WHY ROSEN LAW: We encourage investors to select qualified counsel with a track record of success in leadership roles. Often, firms issuing notices do not have comparable experience, resources or any meaningful peer recognition. Be wise in selecting counsel. The Rosen Law Firm represents investors throughout the globe, concentrating its practice in securities class actions and shareholder derivative litigation. Rosen Law Firm has achieved the largest ever securities class action settlement against a Chinese Company. Rosen Law Firm was Ranked No.1 by ISS Securities Class Action Services for number of securities class action settlements in 2017. The firm has been ranked in the top 4 each year since 2013 and has recovered hundreds of millions of dollars for investors. In 2019 alone the firm secured over $438 million for investors. In 2020, founding partner Laurence Rosen was named by law360 as a Titan of Plaintiffs' Bar. Many of the firm's attorneys have been recognized by Lawdragon and Super Lawyers.



DETAILS OF THE CASE: According to the lawsuit, the Defendants made false and misleading statements to promote BIAs, including that BIAs were a secure method of collecting interest. In addition, the Complaint alleges, among other things, that the Defendants omitted and concealed material information concerning the risks associated with BIAs, including through BlockFi's exposure to FTX Trading, Ltd. ("FTX") and Sam Bankman-Fried's trading firm Alameda Research ("Alameda"), both of which collapsed in the wake of revelations that FTX and Alameda were engaging in fraud on a massive scale. In the wake of the FTX collapse, the lawsuit alleges that BlockFi froze withdrawals in BIAs, harming BIA investors. Further, investors in BIAs were not aware of conflicts of interest and self-dealing between BlockFi and other entities, such as Gemini Trust LLC, controlled by Tyler and Cameron Winklevoss. The Complaint further alleges BlockFi and the Individual Defendants engaged in the unlawful offer and sale of securities in violation of Sections 5, 11, 12(a)(2), and 15 of the Securities Act of 1933 by selling BIAs to investors. The lawsuit also alleges claims for violation of Section 10(b) and 20 of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 and Massachusetts General Law Chapter 110A. To join the BlockFi class action, go to https://rosenlegal.com/submit-form/?case_id=12656 or call Phillip Kim, Esq. toll-free at 866-767-3653 or email [email protected] or [email protected] for information on the class action.

No Class Has Been Certified. Until a class is certified, you are not represented by counsel unless you retain one. You may select counsel of your choice. You may also remain an absent class member and do nothing at this point. An investor's ability to share in any potential future recovery is not dependent upon serving as lead plaintiff. Follow us for updates on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/the-rosen-law-firm, on Twitter: https://twitter.com/rosen_firm or on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/rosenlawfirm/. Attorney Advertising. Prior results do not guarantee a similar outcome. View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20230303005322/en/

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[March 03, 2023] GigNet Names Karl Perman as Chief Security Officer

GigNet, a Digital Transformation company that provides high-speed broadband and advanced value-added services to enterprise clients and residential communities based on its extensive fiber-optic network from Cancun to Tulum, announced today that Karl Perman will join its senior leadership team as Chief Security Officer. Mr. Perman will lead security functions and cyber security offerings to further strengthen GigNet's unmatched network monitoring, support, and security. Working closely with GigNet enterprise clients and real estate developers in the Mexican Caribbean region, he will further the development and implementation of strategic, value-added security solutions to advance the protection of clients' operations. This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20230303005294/en/ Karl Perman Joins GigNet, Inc. as Chief Security Officer (Photo: Business Wire) Mr. Perman has served critical infrastructure sectors as a senior advisor to assess and transform security and compliance programs for numerous clients throughout the world. Prior to entering the private sector Mr. Perman served as a law enforcement professional at municpal and federal levels. He also served in roles in military intelligence and military police for the United States Army.



Mr. Perman earned a Masters Degree in Public Safety Administration from Lewis University and a Bachelor of Science in Public Law and Government from Eastern Michigan University. He also holds graduate certifications in Labor Relations from Cornell University, Human Resources from the University of Michigan, and Executive Security Leadership from Northwestern University. An active member of the security field, Mr. Perman's professional affiliations and appointments include: Community Vice President for ASIS International, National Sector Chief - Dams for Infragard National Members Alliance, member of the Board of Advisors of the National Electric Sector Cybersecurity Organization, NERC Security Working Group member and Security Magazine Editorial Advisory Board member. He is the author of four books on critical infrastructure protection and numerous articles pertaining to security and management in leading security trade publications, including Security magazine, Security Technology Executive magazine, and Security Management magazine. In 2011, he was named to Security magazine's "Most Influential People in Security."

Mark Carney, OBE and President of GigNet Mexico, stated, "We successfully launched our cyber security and cyber risk management products late last year and are serving clients. As one of the world's leading tourism destinations, data security is at the forefront of hotel and resort operations in the Cancun region, both for internal use and to protect the financial and personal information of the region's millions of annual visitors. At GigNet we have earned the trust of our clients as their technology partner. We believe Karl Perman's experience will help us build on that trust to expertly assess client needs and design cyber security and risk management applications that make optimal use of our advanced fiber-optic network." ABOUT GIGNET GigNet is the Mexican Caribbean brand of GigNet, Inc., a U.S. based international Digital Transformation company specializing in Fiber-to-the-Home (FTTH) and Fiber-to-the-Premises (FTTP) for enterprise customers including hotels, resorts, retailers, offices, large commercial operations, governmental offices, and medical and educational facilities, as well as fiber-optic transport services for mobile phone operators in the region. Through its Mexico operating subsidiaries, GigNet, S.A. de C.V., and Sanalto Redes Peninsular, S.A.P.I. de C.V., the Company is a fully licensed telecommunications provider in Mexico. GigNet is actively adding customers to its extensive regional broadband network in the Mexican Caribbean, one of the largest and fastest growing tourism and new residential development destinations in the world, with over 30 million annual airport passengers achieved in 2022. GigNet is a leader in the Digital Transformation of the region. View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20230303005294/en/

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[March 03, 2023] DSM - delivery of shares

This is a press release by Koninklijke DSM N.V. (Royal DSM), pursuant to the provisions of Sections 13 paragraphs 1 and 2 of the Dutch Decree on Public Takeover Bids (Besluit openbare biedingen Wft) (the Decree) in connection with the public offer by Danube AG (to be renamed DSM-Firmenich AG) for all the issued and outstanding ordinary shares in the capital of DSM (the Exchange Offer). This press release does not constitute an offer, or any solicitation of any offer, to buy or subscribe for any securities. This press release is not for general release, publication or distribution, in whole or in part, in or into, directly or indirectly, the United States or any other jurisdiction where such release, publication or distribution would violate applicable laws or regulations. HEERLEN, Netherlands, March 3, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Following the Offering Circular published on 22 November 2022, Royal DSM is required to announce transactions relating to the ordinary shares in its capital in accordance with the Dutch public offer rules. This includes the delivery of treasury shares to employees in view of settling the vesting of share units or the exercise of stock options. Pursuant to commitments entered into prior to issuing the Offering Circular, DSM has on 3 March 2023, delivered 60 ordinary shares to employees in view of settling the exercise of an equivalent number of stock options granted under the respective DSM Incentive Plan (average exercise price 112.00). On the date hereof, the total number of issued and outstanding DSM ordinary shares is 173,144,802. As a consequence of the delivery included herein, the number of outstanding DSM ordinary shares increased by 0.0000%. DSM

Royal DSM is a global, purpose-led company in Health, Nutrition & Bioscience, applying science to improve the health of people, animals and the planet. DSM's purpose is to create brighter lives for all. DSM's products and solutions address some of the world's biggest challenges while simultaneously creating economic, environmental and societal value for all its stakeholders  customers, employees, shareholders, and society at large. The company was founded in 1902 and is listed on Euronext Amsterdam. More information can be found at www.dsm.com. Or find us on:

LinkedIn: http://www.linkedin.com/company/3108

Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/DSM

Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/DSMcompany

YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/user/dsmcompany For more information







DSM Media Relations Gareth Mead tel. +31 (0) 45 5782420 email [email protected] DSM Investor Relations Dave Huizing tel. +31 (0) 45 5782864 email [email protected]

Forward-looking statements

This press release may contain forward-looking statements with respect to DSM's future (financial) performance and position. Such statements are based on current expectations, estimates and projections of DSM and information currently available to the company. DSM cautions readers that such statements involve certain risks and uncertainties that are difficult to predict and therefore it should be understood that many factors can cause actual performance and position to differ materially from these statements. DSM has no obligation to update the statements contained in this press release, unless required by law. The English language version of the press release is leading. Logo - https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/329419/dsm_logo.jpg View original content:https://www.prnewswire.co.uk/news-releases/dsm---delivery-of-shares-301762509.html

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[March 03, 2023]

Governments of Canada and Ontario invest over $61 million to bring high-speed Internet access to more than 16,000 homes in Ontario

Rural communities to benefit from increased connectivity to high-speed Internet

OTTAWA, ON, March 3, 2023 /CNW/ - All Canadians need reliable and affordable high-speed Internet, no matter where they live. The governments of Canada and Ontario are taking action to bring high-speed Internet access to unserved and underserved communities.

Today, both federal and provincial governments announced over $61 million in combined funding for six projects by Bell Canada, the Northwestern Ontario Innovation Centre and Keewaytinook Okimakanak. This investment will bring high-speed Internet access to more than 16,000 homes in 47 rural Ontario communities and 3 First Nations communities in Northern Ontario.

The projects being announced today are part of an existing partnership between Ontario and Canada. On July 29, 2021, the governments announced a CanadaOntario broadband partnership to support large-scale, fibre-based projects that will provide high-speed Internet access to more than 280,000 households and businesses across the province. This historic agreement was made possible by a joint federal-provincial investment totalling more than $1.2 billion.

On April 19, 2022, the governments announced an additional joint federal-provincial investment of more than $56 million for six new projects that will bring reliable high-speed Internet access to over 6,500 homes and businesses in Northern and Southwestern Ontario.

Today's announcement builds on the Government of Canada's progress toward ensuring that 98% of Canadians have access to high-speed Internet by 2026, and 100% by 2030. The announcement also brings the Government of Ontario closer to achieving its goal of bringing reliable high-speed Internet access to every community by the end of 2025.

Quotes

"We all know that Internet is no longer a luxury in this day and ageit's a necessity. Having fast, reliable Internet helps rural Canadians by levelling the playing field to access essential services like health care and education, participate in the digital economy, or simply connect with loved ones. Our government will continue to work side by side with our partners to achieve our connectivity targets and ensure every Canadian, no matter where they live, has access to high-speed Internet."

 The Honourable Gudie Hutchings, Minister of Rural Economic Development

"High-speed Internet service is essential to the success of everyone living and working in rural communities across Ontario. Today's investment will help create jobs, improve access to health care and online learning services, and keep people connected to their family, friends and loved ones. We will continue to make investments like these to help connect every Ontarian to the high-speed Internet they need."

 The Honourable Patty Hajdu, Minister of Indigenous Services and Minister responsible for the Federal Economic Development Agency for Northern Ontario

"Our government is making significant progress on our plan to bring reliable high-speed Internet access to every community by the end of 2025. Through these projects, we are expanding high-speed Internet access to more communities across Northern Ontario. In doing so, we are ensuring that people in these communities will have access to critical health services and will be able to learn and work online, participate in the agriculture sector, and connect with their loved ones."

 The Honourable Kinga Surma, Ontario's Minister of Infrastructure

"Through more than $61 million in combined federal and provincial funding, we are expanding access to high-speed Internet to over 16,000 homes and businesses across 47 rural Ontario communities and 3 First Nations communities in Northern Ontario. This ill help build a stronger Ontario for families, workers and businesses and is part of our government's comprehensive plan to ensure that no community will be left behind in today's digital world."









"We are proud to partner with the Government of Canada and the Province of Ontario to expand our all-fibre broadband network to even more communities in Ontario. Our fast and reliable Internet connections help people in rural and remote communities stay connected at home and at work. Through our own fully funded investments and through partnerships like this, Bell continues to deliver on our goal of advancing how Canadians connect with each other and the world."

 Bruce Furlong, SVP Network, Bell Canada

"This announcement is the culmination of many years of work, consulting with municipalities, government, businesses and the telecom industry. The challenge has always been finding ways to make it economically viable to provide high-speed Internet in rural locations. Despite the economic barrier, we must find ways to get our communities online with fast, reliable Internet service, and that does not happen without the generous funding programs provided by our federal and provincial governments. Our rural communities deserve the same access to Internet services as their urban counterparts, and this is a significant step in closing the digital divide. I couldn't be happier for these communities, their residents and businesses, and the region as a whole. This is a generational opportunity."

 Jeff Coull, Northwestern Ontario Innovation Centre

"Lac Seul First Nation has owned and operated its sustainable Internet service provider, with an innovative and experienced technical team, for over 10 years. K-Net is pleased to partner with Lac Seul through this project by building on its community-owned infrastructure to upgrade broadband access throughout the First Nation."

 Jesse Fiddler, Director, Keewaytinook Okimakanak

Quick facts

Canada's Connectivity Strategy aims to provide all Canadians with access to Internet speeds of at least 50 megabits per second (Mbps) download / 10 Mbps upload.

The Universal Broadband Fund is a $3.225 billion investment by the Government of Canada designed to help provide high-speed Internet access to 98% of Canadians by 2026 and achieve the national target of 100% access by 2030.

investment by the Government of Canada designed to help provide high-speed Internet access to 98% of Canadians by 2026 and achieve the national target of 100% access by 2030. Today, 93.5% of Canadian households have access to high-speed Internet or are targeted to receive access through existing program commitments, compared to just 79% in 2014.

On July 29, 2021 , the governments of Canada and Ontario announced a CanadaOntario broadband partnership. This agreement will bring high-speed Internet access to more than 280,000 households across Ontario with a total investment of more than $1.2 billion , co-funded equally by both levels of government.

, the governments of Canada and announced a CanadaOntario broadband partnership. This agreement will bring high-speed Internet access to more than 280,000 households across with a total investment of more than , co-funded equally by both levels of government. The Ontario government is investing nearly $4 billion to bring access to reliable high-speed Internet to every community across the province by the end of 2025. This is the largest single investment in high-speed Internet in any province, by any government in Canadian history.

government is investing nearly to bring access to reliable high-speed Internet to every community across the province by the end of 2025. This is the largest single investment in high-speed Internet in any province, by any government in Canadian history. As of February 2023 , Ontario has finalized agreements totalling more than $2.2 billion for nearly 200 high-speed Internet and cellular projects across the province.

, has finalized agreements totalling more than for nearly 200 high-speed Internet and cellular projects across the province. In 2021, Ontario passed the Supporting Broadband and Infrastructure Expansion Act, 2021 to help speed up construction of high-speed Internet projects. To build upon this legislation, the Ontario government passed the Getting Ontario Connected Act, 2022, which further reduces barriers, duplication and delays.

Associated links

Stay connected

Follow Innovation, Science and Economic Development Canada on social media.

Twitter: @ISED_CA , Facebook: Canadian Innovation , Instagram: @cdninnovation and LinkedIn

Follow Ontario's Ministry of Infrastructure on social media.

Twitter: @ONinfra, Instagram: @oninfrastructure and LinkedIn: @Infrastructure | Infrastructure

SOURCE Innovation, Science and Economic Development Canada
Lucidea to Bring Argus CMS to CAM 2023

Lucidea, developer of the Argus Web CMS and leader in innovative museum collections management software, will participate in the California Association of Museums conference on March 8-11, 2023. Their powerful software is a perfect fit for attendees focused on moving forward in collaboration with their peers.

Visit Lucidea in the Exhibit Hall during the conference. When you do, they will demonstrate why they are a trusted technology partne in the museum community. Learn about capabilities that enable expanded curation to educate your visitors, as well as innovative options that go beyond traditional collections management as you share your collections online.







Lucidea's Argus CMS offers comprehensive collections management capabilities, and takes museum professionals further-offering community curation/co-curation, a dynamic online presence, and full multimedia support for an engaging and immersive digital visitor experience.

Argus is flexible, extensible, and always up-to-date-solving today's collections management challenges, and supporting museums of all sizes and budgets.

For further information about Argus, visit https://lucidea.com/argus, phone 604 278 6717, or email [email protected].

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20230303005394/en/
Trade sanctions are for realz despite a great deal of partisan and culture war whining . . . Here's proof with a connection to the metro . . .



The pair are charged with conspiracy, exporting controlled goods without a license, falsifying and failing to file electronic export information, and smuggling goods contrary to U.S. law.

Read more via www.TonysKansasCity.com link . . .

Feds accuse Olathe, Lawrence men of illegally exporting aviation technology to Russia KANSAS CITY, Mo. - Federal prosecutors have charged two Kansas men, one from Olathe and another from Lawrence, with violating U.S. export laws to transport aviation-related technology to Russia. Cyril Gregory Buyanovsky, 59, and Douglas Roberston, 55, co-own and operated KanRus Trading Company, which has supplied Western aircraft equipment to Russian companies.

Kansas men indicted for illegally repairing, exporting airplane parts to Russia KANSAS CITY, Kan. - Two Kansas men are accused of illegally exporting aviation-related technology to Russia after the country invaded Ukraine. Cyril Gregory Buyanovsky, 59, of Lawrence, and Douglas Robertson, 55, of Olathe, are charged with conspiracy, exporting controlled goods without a license, falsifying and failing to file electronic export information, and smuggling goods contrary to U.S.

Developing . . .
The courthouse perspective on this controversial topic that SHOULD remind us to stay away from sweets and eat something decent for dinner tonight . . .



Jackson County Executive issues statement in response to Eli Lilly insulin price cap



KANSAS CITY, Mo.  Jackson County Executive Frank White, Jr. has issued the following statement in response to todays announcement that pharmaceutical manufacturer Eli Lilly will cap its out-of-pocket insulin prices at $35/month:



This is welcome news to me and the residents of Jackson County, which is in the highest quartile of Missouri counties with adults diagnosed with diabetes. I strongly urge other drug makers to follow Eli Lillys price adjustment so we can put an end to the insulin price-gouging that is forcing many to choose between buying their life-saving medication or food to eat.



The County continues its lawsuit against insulin manufacturers and pharmacy benefit managers, which alleges they engaged in unlawful rebate schemes that unnecessarily increased the price of insulin for consumers and healthcare payors. We remain committed to holding them accountable for the harm theyve caused and fighting on behalf our residents until insulin prices are affordable.

###

Read more via www.TonysKansasCity.com link . . .
This time around the response is heartfelt and honestly hopes to correct misapprehensions spread by the big city honcho.



Here's the word . . .



This is the second time the Mayor of New York City has minimized the people of Kansas in public remarks, this time with a direct mention of Topeka, Padilla said. The comments made by the Mayor at a Prayer Breakfast, are concerning and unprofessional, and there is no need to repeat what was said. He could make his points without trying to diminish our great city, and I wish he would. As Topekas Mayor, and as a lifelong member of this community, I am so proud of who we are, and what we stand for.

Read more via www.TonysKansasCity.com link . . .

NYC mayor takes aim at Topeka, city claps back on Twitter "This is the second time the Mayor of New York City has minimized the people of Kansas in public remarks, this time with a direct mention of Topeka," Padilla said. "The comments made by the Mayor at a Prayer Breakfast, are concerning and unprofessional, and there is no need to repeat what was said.

What did Kansas ever do to hurt NYC Mayor Eric Adams? KANSAS CITY, Mo. (KCTV) - The answer is nothing. New York City's mayor seems to have an odd obsession with the Sunflower State, particularly comparing situations in NYC to Kansas. In September, Adams discussed trips to Puerto Rico and the Dominican Republic, saying that in both locations, people welcomed him because they recognized New York City and its "brand."

Developing . . .


Once again Kansas City suffers historic violent crime stats threatening neighborhoods across the metro.

Locals are desperate for answers . . . Here's what will have to suffice . . .

INSTEAD OF DOING ANYTHING WITH ANY HOPE OF SUCCESS . . . KANSAS CITY PASSED 30 MILLION BUCKS WORTH OF FUNDING TO BE DISTRIBUTED IN AN EPIC ELECTION SEASON GIVEAWAY!!!



Here's a glimpse at the official language . . .



"The resolution directs the City Manager to present a funding plan for the Blueprint for Violence Prevention, using $30 million from the Unappropriated Fund Balance of the General Fund, before the start of the public budget meetings."



However . . . Here's how it's really going to go down and this is an off-the-record comment from an insider about the disaster in the making . . .



"We have absolutely no idea where it's going or how much. This was the MOST irresponsible ordinance I have seen."

The only no votes came from Council ladies Shields, Loar & Hall. That means EVERY COUNCIL INCUMBENT thinks that throwing money at the crime crisis with no accounting is going to fix it.



Let's be clear about what's happening here . . .

This is sloppy legislation with no checks and balances and no unique system to gauge effectiveness, methodology or even accounting as basic as an audit.

Don't worry it gets worse . . .

This money comes right of the top of the General Fund so local anti-crime social clubs groups will enjoy their slice of the pie ahead of anyone else.

Allow us a personal aside tonight . . .

Here's what's really upsetting . . .

Imagine that you live somewhere that suffers constant crime, gunfire & homicides . . . Whilst your busy working and trying to survive . . . Leadership from this part of the community is OBVIOUSLY LOOKING TO GET PAID FIRST before they do anything to improve the lives of their constituents.

We already know this plan isn't going to work because KCMO has spent MILLIONS on Aim4Peace, COMBAT and so many other groups that have NEVER shown any effectiveness at reducing crime.

This is a grift and what's most upsetting is that it has proven effective by capitalizing on murder, suffering and the destabilization of our local institutions.



Read more via www.TonysKansasCity.com link . . .

Council Members, community groups request $30 million in funding for violence prevention Abby HooverManaging Editor Last week, nine Kansas City Council Members introduced legislation to appropriate $30 million over the next five years for violence prevention programs across the city. The council members are now calling on the City Manager to budget the allocation of funding for $6 million each year.

Why Chicago matters for the Democratic debate on crime Chicago's mayoral runoff is about to provide an early test of how Democrats are redefining their public safety platform ahead of 2024. Why it matters: Deep-blue cities are leading a real-time transformation of the Democratic Party in a post-pandemic world where voters demand more forceful answers on public safety solutions.

Developing . . .


Forgive our paranoia . . . But we've seen 12th & Oak pass a great many unpopular efforts despite public outcry.

And for that reason . . .

Whilst they have public attention and momentum . . . Many neighbors plan to continue their efforts in Jeff City to help provide more binding protection against a landfill.



Still here's the aftermath of this week's resolution . . .



The KCMO City Council gave the city manager six months to complete a report on the city's solid waste needs.



KCMO Mayor Quinton Lucas told the council the report could take up to 18 months and involve experts from the Mid-America Regional Council.

Read more via www.TonysKansasCity.com link . . .

KCMO City Council votes to oppose any proposed landfill for at least 6 months KANSAS CITY, Mo. - The Kansas City, Missouri, City Council voted Thursday to oppose any proposed future solid waste or demolition material landfill until the city manager's office completes a report on the city's landfill needs. The council vote was 11-2 in favor of the moratorium.

Kansas City votes to oppose all landfills until further study KANSAS CITY, Mo. - Kansas City's City Council voted on a six month moratorium Thursday of approval of any landfill permits or zoning changes expressed opposition to any potential new landfill for now until a study can be completed.

Developing . . .
The Borough of Newville has created a series of checks and balances to avoid future financial discrepancies as officials and residents await results of an investigation by the Cumberland County District Attorneys Office.

Meanwhile, the boroughs application for a state grant has been approved.

The borough council fired Borough Manager Fred Potzer in January after the December discovery of discrepancies in borough finances. That discovery also prompted the investigation to determine if a crime has been committed. The probe includes a forensic audit of borough and Newville Water and Sewer Authority finances, both of which Potzer managed.

The $200,000 grant from the Pennsylvania Department of Community and Economic Development will become accessible upon completion of a contract between the department and borough, said Marcus McKnight, the borough solicitor, at Tuesdays council meeting. McKnight anticipates that contract to be completed in the coming days.

McKnight said borough officials will work with Community and Economic Development to determine how the grant will be used. He said the funds could help pay for a temporary or permanent borough manager and someone to aid in long-term financial planning.

The council on Tuesday also created a committee consisting of Borough Secretary Jody Hoffman, council Vice President Edward Sinkovitz and Councilor Jack Ericksen to prioritize short-term financial needs and bills, and it hired a law firm to serve as bond counsel.

During Tuesdays meeting, resident Vicki Witter asked about checks and balances the borough had in place under Potzer.

Over the course of years, Fred is such a doer that we didnt really have in place the normal checks and balances that you would have the committees looking over your shoulder, McKnight said. And the person in charge of getting the audits done was Fred. ... The reality is Fred was such a warm personality and well respected throughout the borough and was willing to step in and do the hard work for various activities and events, that in terms of managing the finances, he was unquestioned.

He said Potzer didnt take vacations or days off, describing this as the biggest tell that we didnt pick up on. Potzer had to be hospitalized in December and McKnight said the discrepancies were discovered shortly thereafter.

A system of checks and balances have since been implemented, ensuring that multiple people look at original documents like bank statements and authorizing payments, McKnight said.

It helped to answer as many questions as I expected that they were going to be able to answer, Witter said of the meeting. So given the ongoing investigation, I didnt expect a lot only because they cant and I get that, its just, you just wanted to know what happened. Where was the breakdown? It sounded like ... they just trusted him and I guess that appears to be a mistake at some point in time.

McKnight said Potzer had not paid principal on the boroughs tax loans in three years. Late in the year into the first quarter of the following year, the borough typically experiences revenue shortfalls, meaning revenue isnt coming in during that time, so a revenue loan can help provide funding to pay bills during those months, he said. The idea is to pay the loan the same year that tax revenue has been committed to do that.

What Fred Potzer was doing was just using a new tax loan to pay off the old tax loan and he wasnt paying any principal during the year, which surprised us because we thought he was doing that, McKnight said. In fact, we thought he had paid off some loans early, but it turned out he was just rolling over one tax loan to pay off the next one and thats not really the purpose of short-term loans based on revenue.

The borough hired Jonathan Cox of Eckert Seamans, a law firm in Harrisburg, to serve as bond counsel.

There are limited ways in which boroughs can transform short term debt into long term debt, and thats why you have bond counsel, who is sort of an expert in doing that, McKnight said.

I like to describe myself as public finance counsel, Cox said. So I represent municipalities and school districts and counties all over the commonwealth. This is all I do. So I specialize in helping municipalities with financing transactions.

Cumberland County District Attorney Sean McCormack said he is not sure how long the forensic audit will take due to the number of records involved.

McKnight said the audit will help determine where funds are and where theyve gone, and that conclusions drawn before the completion of the audit would be pure speculation.

Any speculation on amounts of money is horribly premature, he said. I know that people have been digging and looking and trying to find things out and they have estimates, but theyre not accurate.

McKnight said the Newville Water and Sewer Authority, which operates under a separate fund from the Newville Borough, sent out its quarterly bills around the time the discrepancies were discovered and has begun to receive funds. The authority released a statement Feb. 2 saying its financial condition bordered on insolvency, but McKnight said as he sees it, the organizations balances dont indicate this.

The Sentinel reached out to the authority but did not receive a response in time for it to be published.

McKnight pointed out during Tuesdays meeting that all members of the Newville Borough Council were present and expressed an interest in continuing Newvilles various festivals, events and programs.

Instead of running away from the problem theyre running towards it, which is good, he said.  ... We dont have a large staff, but the staff we have have been committed in hard times.

Inside Look: Photos of Newville's Laughlin Mill
Right now we round up more than a few stories that we didn't have time for today but STILL DESERVE ATTENTION.

As always we check police action, ongoing court fights and search for some nicer news toward the end of the compilation.



Check TKC news gathering . . .

Man killed in shootout with KCPD officers identified; search warrant provides new details KANSAS CITY, Mo. - New court documents shed light on the warrant service Tuesday night that triggered a shootout between police and a suspected drug trafficker , which left three Kansas City, Missouri, police officers hospitalized and one man dead . The Missouri State Highway Patrol, which is handling the investigation, identified the man who died as Matthew L.

2 critically injured after gunfire exchange during robbery at south Kansas City home KANSAS CITY, Mo. - Two people were critically injured after gunfire was exchanged during a robbery at a home in south Kansas City, Missouri, on Thursday. According to police, officers responded to a shooting call in the 5800 block of E. 100 Street at around 1 p.m.

18-year-old charged following fatal gas station shooting in 2022 KANSAS CITY, Mo. (KCTV) - A man has been charged following fatal shooting that happened at a gas station in January of 2022. Shyrone H. Daniels, an 18-year-old from Kansas City, has been charged with second-degree murder and armed criminal action.

Johnson County teenager sentenced in Black Bob Park murder OLATHE, Kan. - A Johnson County teenager is expected to spend seven years in custody for his involvement in a man's murder in an Olathe park last year. A Johnson County judge sentenced 15-year-old Brandon Banks to 155 months, or nearly 13 years, for the death of Marco Cardino on Wednesday.

Police pursuit involving U-Haul truck entered Missouri, went back into Kansas and wrapped up in Miami County A lengthy police pursuit involving a U-Haul truck ended Thursday evening in Miami County, Kan. The local sheriff's office was alerted to a pursuit entering the county from Linn County, Kan. Miami County sheriff's deputies engaged in a pursuit, one that extended into Drexel, Mo., at one point and came back into Miami County.

Man died by suicide after Kansas City drug raid where 3 cops were shot: Authorities A Kansas City man whose body was found inside the home where three KCPD officers were shot and wounded on Tuesday night died by suicide, according to the Missouri State Highway Patrol. Matthew L. Carrell, 62, was found dead by tactical teams with MSHP and the FBI on Wednesday afternoon inside a home in the 2300 block of Blue Ridge Boulevard.

Jury convicts man of 3 counts of murder following shootings in 2019 KANSAS CITY, Mo. (KCTV) - A second person has been convicted of murder following fatal shootings in October of 2019, which left three people dead in Kansas City. According to the Jackson County Prosecutor's Office, a jury convicted 47-year-old Victor Sykes of three counts of first-degree murder and three counts of armed criminal action.

KC homeless man charged in fatal stabbing A Kansas City man experiencing homelessness has been charged in the Feb. 25, 2023, fatal stabbing of James Perry inside a homeless camp near 1st Street in Kansas City, Jackson County Prosecutor Jean Peters Baker announced Wednesday. Tracy E. McKee, 58, faces Murder 2nd Degree and Armed Criminal Action charges.

FBI threat tag created after Supreme Court's Dobbs ruling 'shifted' to focus on pro-lifers, whistleblower says EXCLUSIVE: The FBI created a threat tag following the Supreme Court's decision to overturn Roe v. Wade last year, but it later "shifted" to focus on pro-life individuals, an agent-turned-whistleblower told the House Select Subcommittee on the Weaponization of the Federal Government.

New reward offered for missing Prairie Village mom PRAIRIE VILLAGE, Kan. - The daughter of a missing Prairie Village woman hopes new attention will help discover what happened to her mother. Steve Ridge, a private investigator from Iowa, is offering a $25,000 reward for information leading to information about what happened to Angela Green.

Liberty police have been in touch with person of interest in William Jewell College threat KANSAS CITY, Mo. - The Liberty Police Department is in contact with the person of interest related to threatening social-media posts directed at William Jewell College deemed credible Monday. The campus was closed and classes were virtual Tuesday in response to the threats posted by the suspect.

Long-Time Supervisor Flourishes, For The Record As supervisor, Cutchlow oversees a team which is responsible for valuable KCPD assets, its records. They include court-ordered subpoenas, Sunshine Law requests, orders of protection, the entry of state warrants, and the entry of the repossession of vehicles. Due to the nature of many documents, Cutchlow and team work heavily with the Office of General Counsel.

Developing . . .
Tribute to one of our favorite funny ladies along with another quick peek at pop culture, community news and top headlines . . .



Check TKC news gathering . . .

Homecoming For Fave

Big Slick Adds Heidi Gardner as a New Host in 2023 - In Kansas City When Eric Stonestreet, Rob Riggle, Paul Rudd, Jason Sudeikis, and David Koechner take the stage in Kansas City from June 2-3 for Big Slick, they'll be joined by a new co-host. SNL star Heidi Gardner will join as a Big Slick host for the first time.

Along For The Ride

Tractor trailer drags SUV along Kansas City interstate KANSAS CITY, Kan. - A terrifying situation on a Kansas City interstate Thursday afternoon. Kansas Highway Patrol troopers said a tractor trailer dragged a black SUV along the northbound lanes of Interstate 635. Troopers said a driver called for help around 4:15 p.m.

Building Car Of The Future

KC's Ford plant will supply USPS with thousands of E-Transit vehicles - Kansas City Business Journal The United States Postal Service picked Ford Motor Co. to supply it with 9,250 electric vans, which are manufactured by Ford's Kansas City plant. Ford's Kansas City Assembly Plant in Claycomo makes the E-Transit van, which debuted in 2020 and rose to 10,000 orders by early 2022 as it began testing the car.

Forgetting The Past

History of KCI: For retired TWA employees, turning the page on the old KCI isn't easy The old Kansas City International Airport started much like the new one. There was a recognized need that the previous airport, Kansas City's Downtown Airport, had outlived its time. "I think everybody was thrilled to have it," said Pam Blaschum, a forer TWA flight attendant.

Flush It Down

Water main break leaves some in Kansas City with brown water, flooding in homes KANSAS CITY, Mo. - Brown drinking water and flooding. People in one Kansas City, Missouri neighborhood said they've been dealing with it for days. They believe it all started with a water main break the city has not been able to permanently fix.

Culture War Gets Personal

White House says Biden's words 'mischaracterized' by Rep. Majorie Taylor Greene The White House on Thursday hit back at Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) when asked why President Biden chuckled during remarks he was making about being blamed for the death of a woman's two sons to fentanyl. Biden addressed the House Democratic caucus during its issues retreat in Baltimore on Wednesday night when he sarcastically brought...

BLOGGER CRACKDOWN COMING SOON!!!

Florida bill would require bloggers who write about governor, legislators to register with the state A Republican state senator in Florida has introduced a bill that, if passed, would require bloggers who write about Gov. Ron DeSantis, his cabinet or state legislators to register with the state. Sen. Jason Brodeur's bill, entitled "Information Dissemination," would also require bloggers to disclose who's paying them for their posts on certain elected officials, and how much.

MAGA Confronts Civil Lawsuit Fight

DOJ: No immunity for Trump in Jan. 6 lawsuits Welcome to The Hill's Defense & NatSec newsletter {beacon} Defense & National Security Defense & National Security The Big Story Trump can face civil suits tied to Jan. 6, DOJ says The Biden administration declined to back the former president's argument that he should be immune from those lawsuits.

Fear Of Russian Flex

Russia-Ukraine war live: Putin's nuclear war threats 'unacceptable' say quad ministers; Biden and Scholz to meet Putin's nuclear war threats 'unacceptable' say quad ministers Foreign ministers of the so-called Quad group denounced Russia's threat to use nuclear weapons in the Ukraine war as unacceptable, according to a statement issued after a meeting on Friday.

Actress Reports Tragic Shaming

Porn star Riley Reid says she was made to feel 'disgusting' by ex-boyfriend because of her job Adult actor Riley Reid says she was made to feel 'disgusting' by her former partner who did not support her career. The 31-year-old star, who is now happily married to freerunner Pasha Petkuns, has previously spoken about her struggle to find a man who was comfortable with her job.

Sound Of The Not-So-Distant Past

The Chicks | T-Mobile Center The Chicks announced their return to the global stage with The Chicks World Tour 2023. The 37-date mega tour visits T-Mobile Center on Aug. 29. Additional Ticket Information Tickets for The Chicks World Tour in Kansas City go on sale Thursday, Feb. 16 at 10 a.m. at T-MobileCenter.com.

Testing Toy Train

KC Streetcar plans emergency drill this weekend KANSAS CITY, Mo. - Don't be alarmed if you see something strange happening with the KC Streetcar Saturday morning. It's only a drill. The KC Streetcar A uthority says it will hold a full-scale emergency exercise to test its coordination and preparedness plan, involving crews that would respond if anything would ever happen.

Local Toes Twinkle

Kansas City Ballet Strives to Achieve Artistic Growth - KC Ballet Giving dancers the opportunity to create their own choreography on their fellow dancers... it's part of KCB's New Moves experience. All of the choreographers have also danced and most are near the start of their choreography journey.

Pounding It Out Inside The Loop

Voo Lounge is downtown KC's newest piano bar Photo by Anna Petrow Voo, a "new" piano bar and lounge, has opened in the historic Hotel Muehlebach building at 12th and Baltimore in downtown Kansas City. Thursdays through Sundays, Voo serves creative cocktails and food alongside resident pianist Will O'Keys.

Overnight Forecast . ..

First Alert: Kansas City will see rain, any snow accumulation unlikely The colder air never arrived into the core of the system, meaning it's unlikely Kansas City will see any significant snow accumulations on Friday. Kansas City will see periods of rain and perhaps a few snowflakes mixed in.However, the ground will only be wet and not white.

And this is the OPEN THREAD for right now.
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.
A former Cumberland County woman has been sentenced to 30 months in prison for making false statements relating to health care matters.

The U.S. Attorneys Office for the Middle District of Pennsylvania announced Friday that Shelley Noreika, 49, formerly of Lower Mifflin Township, was sentenced to 30 months in prison by U.S. District Judge Sylvia H. Rambo. The U.S. Attorneys Office news release lists Noreikas current residence as Dillsburg.

In addition to the prison sentence, the court ordered Noreika to serve three years of supervised release following incarceration, and to pay a fine of $500 and restitution of $137,710.86 to the victims.

U.S. Attorney Gerard M. Karam said in the news release that Noreika fabricated serious illnesses and made fraudulent statements to health care providers in connection with her 5-year-old adoptive daughter. As result of those false statements the child was subjected to unnecessary medical treatment and insurers incurred six-figure financial losses.

Prosecutors also said Noreika no longer cares for the minor child, and she faces related state charges.

The Sentinel reported previously that the incidents took place between December 2017 and January 2021.

Noreika admitted to federal investigators that she told her daughter to pretend and fake having a seizure while Noreika videotaped her, according to the news release. Noreika then emailed the video of the fake seizure to her daughters pediatric neurologist, along with false statements about the childs medical condition.

On multiple other occasions, Noreika falsely reported to medical providers that her daughter experienced seizures. At no point did Noreika ever witness her daughter have an actual seizure, prosecutors said.

Prosecutors and Noreikas defense said her conduct is consistent with factitious disorder imposed on another, formerly known as munchausen syndrome by proxy, a mental illness in which a caregiver makes up or causes an illness or injury to a person under their care, to gain attention and sympathy for themselves.

However, prosecutors told the court there was also a financial motive  Noreika received enhanced Medicare and adoption subsidiaries for taking care of an ill child, according to the U.S. Attorneys Office news release. She also used the childs purported conditions to seek donations from local organizations and through online fundraising.

Todays sentencing sends a strong message that protecting children is a top priority, said Special Agent in Charge Maureen R. Dixon of the Health and Human Services, Office of Inspector General Philadelphia Regional Office. HHS-OIG will continue to work closely with our law enforcement partners to thoroughly investigate allegations of abuse against children and ensure claims submitted to federal and state programs by caregivers are truthful and accurate. We would like to thank the Pennsylvania State Police and the U.S. Attorneys Office for their partnership and commitment in this investigation.

The case was investigated by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Office of Inspector General Harrisburg Field Office, and the Pennsylvania State Police. Assistant U.S. Attorney Samuel S. Dalke prosecuted the case.
For many of his loved ones, the death of Chaguanas Businessman Rishard Ali came as a shock. 
A state Department of Health investigation into a complaint in November found a pattern of insufficient staffing, significant medication errors and inability to meet the minimum hours for direct resident care at Claremont Nursing and Rehabilitation Center in Middlesex Township.

The nursing home, which Allaire Health Services purchased from Cumberland County last March, has since filed a plan of correction to be in compliance with department requirements. But another survey in January found that staff didnt adequately administer epilepsy drugs to a resident at the home.

In the December survey detailing the November issues, the departments inspectors labeled their findings as a pattern that could lead to serious harm and found the home did not meet requirements in nurse staffing, medication distribution, quality of care and license requirements for nursing services.

In the category the department labeled with minimal harm, inspectors discovered that though the home was required to provide a minimum of 2.7 hours of direct resident care for each resident in a 24-hour period, the numbers at Claremont on Nov. 24 and Nov. 26 were at 2.64 hours and 2.37 hours, respectively. The survey said that despite the home knowing of its staffing challenges, it still continued to admit new patients.

The survey detailed more concerning findings for the other three requirements it discovered was out of compliance. In reviewing clinical records and conducting resident and staff interviews, the departments inspectors found that Claremont failed to provide adequate and sufficient nursing staff to provide medication administration for all 14 residents it studied on the Transitions unit.

The department said these staffing failures on Nov. 6 and Nov. 24 resulted in 269 missed medication doses, which includes insulin, antipsychotics, antibiotics, antihypertensives, seizure medications, heart medications and pain medications. The department said these missed medications had the potential to cause residents discomfort or pain, in addition to exacerbating conditions, including blood pressure, cardiac and diabetic issues, as well as increasing the potential for seizures and jeopardizing the health and safety of residents.

Some interviews with employees placed blame on agency aides who reportedly did not do the work they were supposed to do, but inspectors listed in their report that insufficient staffing was likely to blame for missed medications. On Nov. 6, only one licensed practical nurse was responsible for medications and treatments of 32 residents, and on Nov. 24, one licensed practical nurse was in charge of 28 residents and their medications during the day, and the registered nurse house supervisor was the only one assigned to medication responsibilities during the night shift.

The department also listed interviews with residents who said Claremont was unable to keep good staff employed, with nurses leaving the home.

In Claremonts plan of correction, which the department accepted on Dec. 6, the nursing home said it will better communicate vacant shifts to employees, re-educate supervisors about unforeseen staffing emergencies, and work on scheduling out staffing.

Claremont at the time said it would also hold new admissions temporarily until the departments Quality Assurance Performance Improvement Committee deemed that its licensed staffing supports resuming admissions. Claremont also reported that it will offer bonuses and have a comprehensive recruitment and retention plan that will include sign-on and referral bonus offerings.

Though Claremont said it has signed three block agreements with agency nurses in December, it also said the agency employees who were mentioned by nurses in the report have not worked at the nursing home since those days and will not be used again. The nursing homes plan also included self-audits of medication administration to validate compliance with each shift.

Photos: The 2016 Claremont Veterans Holiday Dinner
Germany has transferred nine Biber armored bridgelayers, which are based on the Leopard 1 tank chassis, to the Armed Forces of Ukraine.

The Embassy of the Federal Republic of Germany in Ukraine said this in a Facebook post, Ukrinform reports.

"Germany provides comprehensive support to the Armed Forces of Ukraine. The Biber (Beaver) armored bridgelayer is an engineering combat vehicle, with the help of which combat units overcome rivers, anti-tank ditches and other obstacles. Nine such vehicles have already been handed over to the Ukrainian military," the report says.

Biber can deploy and retract a 22-meter bridge consisting of two eleven-meter elements in a matter of minutes. Biber is based on the Leopard 1 tank chassis. It is equipped with a bridge laying system instead of the turret.

Unlike many similar engineering machines, the Biber lays its bridge horizontally, leaving the machines contours small and unnoticeable. Due to modern technology, this machine can be operated by only two crew members.
Ukraine and Spain will cooperate in the field of green investment development, as well as Ukraines involvement in the work the Sevilla process.

This was reported by the press service of the Ministry of Environmental Protection and Natural Resources on Facebook, Ukrinform reports.

"The Ministry of Environmental Protection is interested in joining the work within the Sevilla process. After all, becoming a part of the Sevilla process means exchanging experience and best practices in implementing EU directive 75, studying the procedures for drafting Best Available Techniques (BAT) and implementing an integrated environmental permit. In fact, our team has already started this process, so far at the level of a trainee," said Minister of Environmental Protection and Natural Resources Ruslan Strilets.

It is noted that at a meeting on March 2, Strilets and Ambassador of the Kingdom of Spain to Ukraine Ricardo Lopez-Aranda Jagu discussed cooperation in the field of development of "green" investments and the involvement of Ukraine in the work within the Sevilla process.

In particular, Ukraine's participation in the Sevilla process will make a significant step towards the development of a high-quality industrial pollution policy and encourage business entities to implement the best available techniques and management methods.

As reported, Germany is ready to help Ukraine in preparing for the next Climate Change Conference COP28 and to start relevant consultations right now.

The Sevilla Process is designed to agree upon what constitutes the Best Available Techniques (BAT) for pollution prevention and control.

Photo: Ministry of Environmental Protection
Indias Prime Minister Narendra Modi held talks with his Italian counterpart Giorgia Meloni in New Delhi on Thursday to discuss, among other things, Russias ongoing war on Ukraine.

Thats according to ANSA, Ukrinform reports.

"Modi is aware of Italy's position of giving full support to Ukraine," Meloni said. "We share the hope that India, in its role as G20 president, can have a role in facilitating a path towards the end of hostilities and a just peace."

In turn, Modi said India, which has remained neutral on Ukraine, is "ready to contribute to any project for peace".

As Ukrinform reported earlier, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday called on the G20 foreign ministers to find a common position on global problems. He spoke while opening the meeting, which is likely to be dominated by the topic of Russia's war against Ukraine.

India, which chairs the G20 this year, refused to blame Russia for the war in Ukraine and called for a diplomatic solution. In addition, the country has sharply increased purchases of Russian oil.
President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky and President of the Republic of Latvia Egils Levits discussed the priority needs of Ukrainian defense, the creation of an international tribunal, and European integration issues.

"During the meeting with my Latvian colleague, we discussed how allies can support Ukraine in the future to speed up the victory and outlined the priority needs of Ukrainian defense," Zelensky said at a joint press conference with the President of Latvia in Lviv, an Ukrinform correspondent reports.

The President stressed that Latvia had helped Ukraine with weapons ahead of Russias full-scale invasion, in particular, by sending Stinger MANPADS.

The leaders also discussed the creation of an international tribunal and cooperation with the International Criminal Court.

Zelensky thanked Latvia for supporting Ukraines peace formula.

In turn, Levits reaffirmed Latvia's full support for Ukraine.

"We will help as long as it takes because you are fighting for our freedom and our values. Ukraine must win this war, it is obvious, and now all Western NATO and EU member states say that Ukraine's victory is the main goal of this war, and there is no doubt about Ukraine's victory," said the President of Latvia.

He added that Latvia's support from the government, as well as from municipalities and civil society, for Ukraine was discussed during the talks with President Zelensky.

In this context, Levits stressed that Latvia's security assistance to Ukraine had already exceeded one percent of the countrys GDP.

"This is a priority for us because Ukraine will face decisive combat operations in the coming months and we certainly support Ukraine in these times. We continue to work towards supplying various units of military equipment. We also communicate with allies and convince them of the need to ensure quick deliveries of what they promised. We are training Ukrainian service members through the EU training mission," the President of Latvia said.

Levits also pledged Latvia's political support for Ukraine in the EU, NATO, UN, and other international platforms.
President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky and President of the Republic of Latvia Egils Levits signed a joint declaration confirming Latvias support for Ukraine's full European and Euro-Atlantic integration.

The signing took place following the negotiations between the two leaders in Lviv, an Ukrinform correspondent reports.

"Together with Egils Levits we signed a joint declaration confirming Latvia's support for Ukraines full-fledged European and Euro-Atlantic integration," Zelensky said.

The President is convinced that its only with Ukraine in its composition that the European project will become truly complete, and its only with Ukraine in its composition that NATO will become a truly strong defender of the European nations and all common values.

Zelensky thanked the President of Latvia and the entire Latvian people for the continuous support for Ukraine on its path towards the European Union and NATO.

In the signed declaration, the parties reaffirm their support for the principles of international law, the inviolability of borders, and the right for each state to choose its own path and security arrangements; reiterate their demand that the Russian Federation immediately, completely, and unconditionally withdraw all of its military forces from the territory of Ukraine within its internationally recognized borders; appreciate the continued support by Latvia, comprising the efforts by the Government, municipalities, civil society and NGOs, to help Ukraine withstand the Russian aggression and to assist with the reconstruction and fast recovery, notably, in the Chernihiv area; note the readiness to remain fully committed to the policy of non-recognition of illegal annexation of Ukraines territories by Russia; recognize the importance of cooperating at the UN General Assembly and other UN bodies, in view of the extensive work done at the level of the UN in addressing the Russian aggression against Ukraine.

The parties also deplore the dire human rights and humanitarian consequences of the Russian Federations aggression against Ukraine, including the continuous attacks against critical infrastructure across Ukraine with devastating consequences for civilians, and express grave concern at the high number of civilian casualties, including women and children, the number of internally displaced persons and refugees in need of humanitarian assistance, and violations and abuses committed against children.

The parties underline their firm commitment to bring to justice those responsible of war crimes and other serious crimes committed in connection with Russias war of aggression against Ukraine, and to support the establishment of an ad hoc international tribunal to ensure accountability for the crime of aggression; emphasize the need to establish a legal basis for the use of frozen and immobilized Russian assets to support Ukraines reconstruction and for the purposes of reparation.

In addition, the parties underline Ukraines sovereign decision on the peace process and highlight their support to a Global Peace Summit to be convened when conditions allow; emphasize the importance of Ukraines consistent efforts of continuing the Black Sea Grain Initiative and the Grain from Ukraine humanitarian program, aimed at enhancing the global food security.

Ukraine and Latvia also confirm their commitment to strengthen joint efforts to ensure further progress towards the implementation of EU and NATO standards and the integration of Ukraine with the European Union and the North Atlantic Alliance.

At the same time, it has been declared that the Republic of Latvia will continue to promote the EU and Allies strong and effective political and material support for Ukraine aimed at ensuring the ability of the Ukrainian state to effectively defend its territories on land, at sea and in the air. It is stressed that the Republic of Latvia supports Ukraine to become part of the North Atlantic Alliance as soon as conditions allow.

Ukraine and the Republic of Latvia express readiness to hold bilateral consultations on addressing Ukraines security concerns prior to NATO membership; following the 2022 Three Seas Initiative (3SI) Summit and Business Forum in Riga, Ukraine and the Republic of Latvia emphasize the importance of multi-layer involvement of Ukraine as a partner in 3SI activities. The Republic of Latvia, as a 3SI Participating State will promote Ukraines involvement in different projects in order to facilitate the post-war recovery, particularly, in the areas of energy infrastructure, transport and digitalization.

Ukraine and the Republic of Latvia commit to coordinate closely on these matters by intensifying bilateral consultations.

As reported by Ukrinform, in Lviv, President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky and First Lady Olena Zelenska, together with President of Latvia Egils Levits and his wife Andra Levite, honored the memory of Ukrainian warriors fallen during the war.
In Lviv, President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky met with Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Netherlands Wopke Hoekstra and Minister of Foreign Affairs of Estonia Urmas Reinsalu.

This was reported by the presidents press service, according to Ukrinform.

The Head of State expressed gratitude for the significant defense, financial, energy and legal support provided by the Netherlands and Estonia to Ukraine since the beginning of the full-scale invasion of Russia, the report says.

Volodymyr Zelensky briefed the Dutch Foreign Minister about the situation on the frontline and the needs of the Ukrainian defense forces, emphasizing the importance of prompt decision-making by the partners.

The interlocutors noted the commonality of approaches between Ukraine and the Netherlands that the establishment of sustainable and just peace in Ukraine is impossible without bringing to justice all those responsible for the crime of aggression.

Zelensky expressed gratitude for the decision of the Dutch government to establish the International Center for the Investigation of the Crime of Aggression against Ukraine in The Hague.

"This is an important step towards establishing a Special Tribunal for the crime of Russian aggression," he said.

Zelensky also praised the recent decision of the Dutch government to locate the office of the International Register of Damage in The Hague.

"We consider this register as an integral part of the compensation mechanism proposed by Ukraine," the President said.

The interlocutors exchanged views on the implementation of Ukraine's initiative on the Peace Formula and the preparation of a global summit on its implementation.

The meeting also focused on current issues of Ukraine's European and Euro-Atlantic integration.

Zelensky outlined Ukraines expectations from the NATO Summit in Vilnius and the launch of negotiations on Ukraine's accession to the EU by the end of this year.

In addition, the Ukrainian president thanked Estonia for its leadership in providing comprehensive assistance, for its effective and timely support for Ukraine in protecting its territorial integrity and independence.

He noted Estonia's substantial defense and humanitarian assistance.

"Ukraine especially appreciates the medical and rehabilitation assistance to our wounded, the training missions for the Ukrainian military, as well as the support for Ukrainians who left for Estonia because of the war," the Head of State said.

The parties emphasized the importance of further increasing sanctions pressure on Russia.

As reported, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky is on a working visit to Lviv, where met with President of the Republic of Latvia Egils Levits.
President Volodymyr Zelensky met with attorneys general and prosecutors general from partner states of Ukraine and international institutions.

According to Ukrinform, Zelensky said this in a post on Telegram.

An important meeting with the prosecutors general of Ukraine's partner countries and international institutions. Unfortunately, our country is now a large battlefield. And we have to win on different fronts. The most important is the real battlefield where our soldiers are fighting. Other fronts are diplomatic and legal, Zelensky noted.

He stressed that Ukrainian society strives for justice.

True justice will come when all those responsible for the crimes of aggression are held to account under the law, Zelensky wrote.

According to the presidents press service, the meeting was attended by: U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland, U.S. Ambassador at-Large for Global Criminal Justice Beth Van Schaack, European Commissioner for Justice Didier Reynders, International Criminal Court Prosecutor Karim Khan, Head of the European Public Prosecutor Office Laura Kovesi, Attorney General of Spain Alvaro Garcia Ortiz, Attorney General of the UK Victoria Prentis, Prosecutor General of Estonia Andres Parmas, Prosecutor General of Latvia Juris Stukans, Prosecutor General of Lithuania Nida Grunskiene, and UN Special Representative on Sexual Violence in Conflict Pramila Patten.

Zelensky said that bringing to justice those guilty of the crime of aggression would be an important signal for Ukrainians and all peoples on the planet that there is justice in the world.

"And that there is no chance after this war for any aggressor to repeat something like that or even think about it. That's why we need justice, we need a tribunal to see all the guilty people behind bars," he said.

As reported by Ukrinform, 29 states have already joined the coalition on the creation of a special tribunal for Russias crime of aggression against Ukraine, according to Minister of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine Dmytro Kuleba.
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Published March 3, 2023

MONROE, LA The Speech-Language Pathology Program and the Kitty DeGree Speech and Hearing Center at the University of Louisiana Monroe invite the public to attend the 35th Annual Spring Conference on March 9-10 at Bayou Pointe Event Center. Dr. Amanda Stead, Associate Professor, Speech-Language Pathologist, and Coordinator of Simulation Education at Pacific University in the School of Communication Sciences and Disorders, will be speaking on Evidence-Based Tools for Working in Dementia Care and in End-of-Life Care.

Dr. Amanda Steads earned her Ph.D. from Louisiana State University in 2011 with a focus on the relationship between language, assessment, and Alzheimer's Disease. Her passion for working with dementia patients comes from personal family experience and from her experience in long-term care settings. It is her personal goal to educate students and the community about the important role speech-language pathologists play in the care of patients with dementia and in end-of-life care.

In addition to teaching a course in progressive illness and dementia, Dr. Stead teaches graduate courses in communication and aging, counseling, and aphasia. She received a teaching award from the Oregon Speech-Language and Hearing Association (2013), the President's Award for Excellence in Graduate Teaching at Pacific University (2019), and the Certificate of Recognition for Special Contributions in Higher Education from the American Speech-Language and Hearing Association (2022). Her current research examines the pedagogy that best prepares future clinicians for work with geriatric patients and the development of high-quality healthcare simulations. She is also credentialed as a Certified Healthcare Simulation Educator (CHSE).

Professionals and community members are invited to attend one or both days (Thursday, March 9, 8:00 a.m. - 4:00 p.m.; Friday, March 10, 8:00 a.m. - 12:30 p.m.). Attendees can register through Eventbrite at 35th Annual ULM Speech-Language Pathology Spring Conference or onsite beginning at 7:30 a.m. each day.

Speech-Language Pathology Program Director, Dr. Judy Fellows said, Speech-Language Pathologists and caregivers for individuals with dementia or for those who require long-term care will benefit from Dr. Steads practical and evidence-based approaches. It is a privilege to host Dr. Stead and share her expertise with our colleagues and the community.

For additional information, call (318) 342-1392 or email fellows@ulm.edu.
| By Heide Aungst

Claire Fraser, PhD, a pioneer and global leader in genomic research, will step down from her position as director of the Institute for Genome Sciences (IGS) in the University of Maryland School of Medicine (UMSOM) effective immediately. She will continue as the Dean E. Albert Reece Endowed Professor and professor of medicine and microbiology and immunology at UMSOM and scientist at IGS through the end of 2024, at which time she will retire.

Jacques Ravel, PhD, professor of microbiology and immunology at UMSOM, will continue in his interim role as acting director of IGS.

Dr. Fraser founded IGS in 2007 when she brought 60 researchers and staff with her from The Institute for Genomic Research (TIGR) in Rockville, Md., at the invitation of Dean E. Albert Reece, MD, PhD, MBA. IGS celebrated its 15th anniversary of groundbreaking genomic and microbiome research at UMSOM last October.

Dr. Fraser made scientific history at TIGR by pioneering high-throughput DNA sequencing for human gene discovery, and in 1992 published the first complete genome sequence of Haemophilus influenza, a bacterial pathogen that causes ear infections and meningitis in young children. This accomplishment demonstrated the power of shotgun sequencing and assembly for whole genome analysis and launched the field of microbial genomics. Scientists today have access to more than half a million prokaryotic genome sequences in public databases because of this groundbreaking study.

TIGR researchers, led by Dr. Fraser, achieved many firsts in the history of genomics: the first archaeal genome sequence; the first plant genome sequence; the first parasite genome; and the first insect genome. They also contributed to the first draft of the human genome released in 2001  along with contributions from the National Human Genome Research Institute. In 2001, Dr. Fraser and colleagues helped U.S. law enforcement identify the source of the deadly anthrax attack.

At IGS, Dr. Fraser led a team that has grown to more than 100 faculty, staff, and students. She has continued her research in the role of the microbiome in health and disease, publishing recently on how a mothers HIV status, breastfeeding, and the infant microbiome impacts the health of newborns.

The field of genomics would not be as advanced as it is today without Dr. Frasers groundbreaking research in sequencing and microbial genomics, said Mark Gladwin, MD, dean, UMSOM, vice president for medical affairs, University of Maryland, Baltimore, and the John Z. and Akiko K. Bowers Distinguished Professor. We will greatly miss her leadership not only at IGS, but in all she has done for the University of Maryland School of Medicine, as well."

Dr. Fraser served as president of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) in 2020 and as chair of the organizations Board of Directors in 2021. She has published more than 320 scientific articles, edited three books, and served on committees of the National Science Foundation, Department of Energy, and National Institutes of Health. She received her PhD in Pharmacology from the State University of New York-Buffalo.

In retirement, she plans to continue her advocacy work for women in STEM fields, K-12 science education, climate change, and health equity.

For a deeper dive into Dr. Frasers career, watch this video from the IGS 15th Anniversary Celebration.

About the University of Maryland School of Medicine

Now in its third century, the University of Maryland School of Medicine was chartered in 1807 as the first public medical school in the United States. It continues today as one of the fastest-growing, top-tier biomedical research enterprises in the world  with 46 academic departments, centers, institutes, and programs, and a faculty of more than 3,000 physicians, scientists, and allied health professionals, including members of the National Academy of Medicine and the National Academy of Sciences, and a distinguished two-time winner of the Albert E. Lasker Award in Medical Research. With an operating budget of more than $1.3 billion, the School of Medicine works closely in partnership with the University of Maryland Medical Center and Medical System to provide research-intensive, academic, and clinically based care for nearly 2 million patients each year. The School of Medicine has nearly $600 million in extramural funding, with most of its academic departments highly ranked among all medical schools in the nation in research funding. As one of the seven professional schools that make up the University of Maryland, Baltimore campus, the School of Medicine has a total population of nearly 9,000 faculty and staff, including 2,500 students, trainees, residents, and fellows. The combined School of Medicine and Medical System (University of Maryland Medicine) has an annual budget of over $6 billion and an economic impact of nearly $20 billion on the state and local community. The School of Medicine, which ranks as the 8th highest among public medical schools in research productivity (according to the Association of American Medical Colleges profile) is an innovator in translational medicine, with 606 active patents and 52 start-up companies. In the latest U.S. News & World Report ranking of the Best Medical Schools, published in 2021, the UM School of Medicine is ranked No. 9 among the 92 public medical schools in the United States and in the top 15 percent (No. 27) of all 192 public and private U.S. medical schools. The School of Medicine works locally, nationally, and globally, with research and treatment facilities in 36 countries around the world.

Visit medschool.umaryland.edu

About the Institute for Genome Sciences

The Institute for Genome Sciences (IGS) at the University of Maryland School of Medicine has revolutionized genomic discoveries in medicine, agriculture, environmental science, and biodefense since its founding in 2007. IGS investigators research areas of genomics and the microbiome to better understand health and disease, including treatments, cures, and prevention. IGS investigators also lead the development of the new field of microbial forensics. IGS is a leading center for major biological initiatives currently underway including the NIH-funded Human Microbiome Project (HMP) and the NIAID-sponsored Genomic Sequencing Center for Infectious Diseases (GSCID). Follow us on Twitter @GenomeScience.
Chinese Foreign Minister Qin Gang attends the Group of 20 (G20) Foreign Ministers' Meeting in New Delhi, India, March 2, 2023. (Photo by Javed Dar/Xinhua)

Chinese Foreign Minister Qin Gang said G20 members should promote the development of globalization, reject unilateralism and protectionism, and ensure the smooth operation of global industrial and supply chains.

He called for efforts to make global development "more inclusive, resilient and beneficial for all," adding that the China-proposed Global Development Initiative has offered a new option for stepping up the implementation of the UN 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.

NEW DELHI, March 2 (Xinhua) -- Chinese Foreign Minister Qin Gang on Thursday called on the Group of 20 (G20) members to conduct closer cooperation in enhancing multilateralism and promoting global development.

Qin made the remarks while addressing a session at the G20 Foreign Ministers' Meeting here on Thursday.

In his address, the Chinese foreign minister urged G20 members to commit to multilateralism, consensus-building and globalization, and to deliver the outcomes of the G20 Bali Summit held in November 2022.

Qin said that faced with a volatile international situation and rising global challenges, the G20 must enhance cooperation and contribute its share to global development and prosperity.

G20 members need to practice true multilateralism, uphold the UN-centered international system and the international order based on international law, and observe the basic norms of international relations underpinned by the purposes and principles of the UN Charter, he said.

Qin highlighted the principles of dialogue on an equal footing and consensus-building through consultation in dealing with global affairs.

"No one should engage in power politics or even bloc confrontation," he noted.

G20 members should promote the development of globalization, reject unilateralism and protectionism, and ensure the smooth operation of global industrial and supply chains, Qin said.

He called for efforts to make global development "more inclusive, resilient and beneficial for all," adding that the China-proposed Global Development Initiative has offered a new option for stepping up the implementation of the UN 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.

To better deliver the outcomes of the Bali Summit, Qin called for enhancing macro-economic policy coordination, safeguarding food and energy security, improving global economic governance and bolstering international development cooperation.

"China has suspended more debt service payment than any other G20 member, and participated in the debt treatment under the Common Framework," he said.

"We hope that multilateral financial institutions and commercial creditors will be actively involved in the debt treatment of developing countries."

On global economic governance, he said that it is important to complete the 16th General Quota Review of the International Monetary Fund as scheduled, and conduct the shareholding review of the World Bank.

China also supports the African Union in joining the G20, and looks forward to an early decision by the G20, Qin said.

To increase international development cooperation, G20 members need to support the Sustainable Development Goals Summit of the United Nations, tackle climate challenge, and act on the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework.

"The consensus of the Bali Summit on preventing illegal cross-border traffic of waste must be earnestly implemented," he said.

China has put forward the Global Security Initiative, and issued a position paper on the political settlement of the Ukraine crisis. "China will always stand on the side of peace, actively promote peace talks, and play a constructive role," Qin said.

Qin introduced the decision of the 20th National Congress of the Communist Party of China on pursuing a Chinese path to modernization, emphasizing that the Chinese modernization is rooted in China's realities and in keeping with the global trend.

It is a modernization of peaceful development, and of harmony between man and nature, which will provide new opportunities for cooperation between China and other countries, Qin said.

He noted that China will continue to actively participate in all G20 agendas and make greater contributions to promoting world peace and development, and building a community with a shared future for mankind.

The G20 foreign ministers had in-depth discussions on multilateralism, food and energy security, development cooperation and counter-terrorism among other topics.

The participating parties expressed shared concern about the current international situation, and believed that global governance needs to be improved, sustainable development lacks driving force, and strengthening multilateralism is more important than ever.

They also agreed that the G20 should play a key and special role, and all parties should demonstrate political will, seek the greatest consensus, take practical actions on promoting inclusive cooperation and enhancing economic resilience, and join hands to address global challenges.
The Richmond, Va., Police Department demanded a police accountability website pay $7,873.14 as a fee deposit in response to a Freedom of Information Act request for the department's general policies.

A representative in November asked Richmond police for a copy of their policies, commonly called "general orders," and made the same request of more than 40 other police agencies in Virginia.

Many police departments already post their policies on their websites, and others provided them at no cost.

Some agencies opted to require a fee deposit, which is allowed under the Virginia Freedom of Information Act. But Richmond was a high outlier.

Sharon Carr, the Richmond Police Department's general counsel, wrote that it would take her 151 hours to read the policies for possible redactions under FOIA. At a rate of $52.14 per hour, she wrote to OpenOversightVA, the department would need a deposit for $7,873.14 before continuing work on the FOIA request. And the costs could end up being higher, Carr warned.

Virginia FOIA says public bodies can make "reasonable charges" for the actual cost of supplying public records, but the law also says they must supply records at the lowest possible cost.

Transparency and accountability under scrutiny

Andrew Bodoh, a Richmond attorney specializing in FOIA, noted that the time Carr estimated it would take her to review her department's policies was far longer than it takes to read the entire series of Harry Potter books out loud. He called Carr's fee estimate "absurd."

Public bodies sometimes "weaponize" their right to charge fees by demanding a deposit, he said.

There aren't that many discretionary exemptions in the state's FOIA law that would apply to police general orders, he said. He noted that the documents have already been studied and approved by police leadership.

"If it takes their counsel 150 hours to review general orders that are currently in place, how is any officer supposed to understand and follow those general orders," Bodoh said. "If it takes trained counsel that long to look through and understand the policies, there's no way the law enforcement officers are truly going to be able to understand and act according to those policies, which is a serious concern."

Transparency and accountability of the Richmond Police Department is especially under scrutiny following the department's use of gas on peaceful protesters on June 1, 2020, a falsehood the department made about the use of gas, and a former police chief's exaggeration of facts last year to falsely claim that two men had plotted to commit a mass shooting at a Fourth of July celebration in Dogwood Dell.

Bodoh represented plaintiffs in a lawsuit settled last year in which Richmond police agreed to turn over protest materials, documents and video footage to the Library of Virginia from the 2020 incident and retract the department's false claim about the use of gas.

In charging fees for FOIA requests, Richmond police have cited a mayor's administrative policy that requires the city of Richmond to charge for all public records requests. While state law makes charging a fee optional, the regulation mandates that Richmond charge.

The response from Mayor Stoney

Asked by email if he stood by the police department's $7,873 fee estimate, Mayor Levar Stoney responded through a city spokeswoman: "If the $7,873.14 represents 'the actual cost incurred in accessing, duplicating, supplying, or searching for the requested records,' in Va. Code  2.2-3704(F)s words, it certainly would be considered appropriate."

Bodoh disputed that legal analysis, saying an actual cost still might not be "reasonable."

Asked why he maintains a policy that the city must charge for all FOIA requests when state law makes charging a fee optional, Stoney, through spokeswoman Petula Burks, said that the policy has been in place for over 20 years and the City Council has signed off on it. (Stoney has been mayor more than six years). "Each second that a City employee spends on fulfilling a FOIA request is an opportunity cost to other essential functions of the City that the employee could have been performing for the taxpayers at large, as opposed to just for the requester."

State law, however, says providing public records is one of the many duties required of public officials, and says the people of Virginia should have "ready access" to public records: "The affairs of government are not intended to be conducted in an atmosphere of secrecy since at all times the public is to be the beneficiary of any action taken at any level of government."

Burks added the Acting Richmond Police Chief Rick Edwards is now taking a look at whether Richmond police could post their policies online.

A minority of agencies demanded a high fee from OpenOversightVA in response to requests for their policies. Virginia State Police said they'd need a deposit of $1,664.60 in order to review and redact their policies.

Chesapeake police asked for a similar amount (including $58.80 for paper), while Albemarle County Police said they'd need $661.70.

Asked about the fee estimate for this news story, both the Chesapeake and Albemarle police said they're now working to get their policies online.

The Hanover sheriff wanted $1,360.

"Please be advised our Standard Operating Procedures have never been reviewed and redacted for FOIA exemptions," a Hanover deputy sheriff wrote to OpenOversightVA. "At this time, we determined it would take approximately 80 hours to review and redact the 1600 pages of our Standard Operating Procedures."

Roanoke County estimated $4,692.80, saying it would take two people well over a week to review police policies for discretionary redactions.

Patrick Wilson (804) 649-6061
Contest Guidelines

Authors may enter one entry in each of the three categories: poetry, short story and essay.

Each entry must relate to the theme Dreams.

Short stories and essays must each be 3,000 words or less.

Entries will be judged on quality of writing, content, focus, originality, form, structure, organization, style, language and use of conventions.

Content should be appropriate to be read in a family-oriented setting.

Entries must be typed, double-spaced in 11-point Times New Roman font.

Handwritten entries are not accepted.

Entries must be unpublished or strictly self-published works.

Entries must be submitted with the official entry form.

Entries cannot include the authors name or age. This can only appear on the entry form.

Entries must be received by March 17.

Entries that are emailed must be sent as a PDF and received by 4 p.m. at MACOACreativeWriting@MineralArea.edu or mailed to MACOA, P.O. Box 1000, Park Hills, MO 63601.
A state Senate committee debated Tuesday whether an expansion of charter schools would benefit Missouris students.

Sponsored by Sen. Bill Eigel, R-Weldon Spring, the legislation seeks to allow charter schools to open in municipalities with a population greater than 30,000 people or in a county with a charter form a government. His bill does not require a public school districts sponsorship of the charter school.

A charter school is a school that receives government funding but operates independently of the established state school system. Currently, state law allows charter schools to open in St. Louis and Kansas City.

Eigel said introducing charters to new locations would encourage accountability because parents would have more choices.

But Sen. Elaine Gannon, a De Soto Republican and former public school teacher, questioned Eigels conclusion.

Do charter schools have more accountability than public schools? she asked.What about the charter schools that have been shut down because of, not just lost money, but because of theft?

She didnt pause long enough for him to answer.

Ive been up here for 11 years, and its just been, slam public schools. Slam public schools. Slam public schools, she said.

Eigel said he wanted to empower parents with more options.

Im looking at this through the lens of We dont want any competition for their government-run monopoly. Thats not a very efficient system, he said.

Gannon said Eigels proposal would take more money away from public education.

I dont think you can tie outcomes to dollars, Eigel said. I dont necessarily think that throwing more money at something leads to better outcomes.

Conservative lobbyists and groups that advocate for public funding of private schools tesified in support of Eigels bill.

Cathy Jo Loy, a commissioner for the Missouri Charter Public School Commision, compared schools to providing meal options to her grandchildren and told a story about going to two fast-food restaurants.

I think when were talking about choices, that were not necessarily disparaging the choices that are there, she said.

Those in opposition included Mike Wood, a lobbyist for the Missouri State Teachers Association.

If there is a charter school, it should be sponsored by the local school board so theres accountability and an election for tax dollars spent in that school, he said.

Sen. Doug Beck, D-Afton, estimated that over half of charter schools in the state have closed.

[Students] go back to the public school after the charter school fails, he said. The public school is still there after we bleed them dry.

Sen. Andrew Koenig, R-Manchester, asked what happens to failing public schools.

What happens when a charter school fails, and what happens when a public school fails? he asked.

Wood said the district becomes unaccredited.

So you tell me whats more accountable: If a school gets shut down thats failing kids or school stays open thats failing kids, Koenig said.

Lawmakers also asked Tammy Henderson, who works in community relations at the North Kansas City School District, about underperforming school districts.

She testified about watching the emergence of many high schools across the river from her district.

What is the reasoning why we even went down the road of charter schools? Sen. Rick Brattin, R-Harrisonville, asked her.

She said Kansas City public schools were unaccredited.

How many kids have to fail, graduating not being able to read, before we do anything to figure this out? Brattin said.

Thats why we leave it in the areas that are struggling, Henderson said. Dont apply it to all of us.

Gannon said she agreed with Hendersons statement.

I dont think charter schools are going to solve the problem, Gannon said. I think it comes down to the family, and how are we going to fix the family?

The committee did not take action on the bill during its hearing Tuesday.
(@FahadShabbir)

YANGON, Mar 3 (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 3rd Mar, 2023 ) :Burmese layer ducks farm owners face loss due to the rocketing feed price.

Layer ducks farm owner Ko Naing from Yangon Region put his ducks up for sale at 5,000 kyats (about 2.38 U.S. Dollars) per head for an outright sale.

"The feed cost is exorbitantly high. The price of broken rice as animal feed went up 33 per cent. Besides, the production rate has declined," he said.

"The quality of the feed is changed to an inferior state. Although the layer ducks fed well, the egg production plunged compared to the previous record," added another duck farmer Ko Kyaw Swar.

Meanwhile, the price of duck eggs is headed for a decrease.

The fishery sector is also facing burdens of high feed costs. Entrepreneurs have requested government efforts on the price stability of raw materials.

However, U Khin Hlaing, vice chair of the Myanmar Livestock Federation, said layer poultry farms are financially doing well, and the federation has a plan to conduct awareness courses to boost production for the livestock breeders.
(UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News / WAM - 03rd Mar, 2023) DUBAI, 3rd March, 2023 (WAM)  H.H. Sheikh Hamdan bin Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Crown Prince of Dubai and Chairman of The Executive Council, attended competitions in the Battle of Communities and Battle of Government- Mens categories on the second day of the fourth edition of Gov Games being held in Dubai.

The Organising Committee of the tournament announced that four international teams that participated in the preliminary round yesterday have qualified for the finals of the Battle of Cities. The qualifying teams include Copenhagen from Denmark, Brisbane from Australia; Gdansk from Poland; and Kutna Hora from the Czech Republic.

H.H. Sheikh Hamdan bin Mohammed said: The Gov Games 2023 represents the values of teamwork, determination and excellence and our steadfast commitment to constantly raising our performance that have driven our mission to be one of the best governments in the world. Through the Gov Games, we seek to bring together teams from across the UAE and the world to share this spirit and celebrate these values, which have enabled us to surmount all challenges to achieve our strategy to deliver world-leading government services.

During the second day, the challenges presented at the Gov Games were a true test of human will, physical strength, and mental focus. With participating teams demonstrating inspiring commitment and dedication, the Gov Games 2023 continues to push the boundaries of sportsmanship.

Organised from 2nd to 5th March in partnership with the official sponsor DP World and in cooperation with the Dubai sports Council, the event continued to see incredible displays of resolve and skill from participants. The contesting teams displayed exceptional levels of coordination and teamwork, and outstanding persistence in tackling challenges that tested their ability to maintain their composure and focus, and think under pressure.

Marwan bin Issa, Director of Gov Games, said: Today, we have witnessed a remarkable demonstration of physical and mental abilities, teamwork and determination from the participating teams. Their commendable performance reflects the competitions ability to challenge the teams to bring out their best skills and capabilities. The intensity of this years Gov Games has surpassed that of previous ones, raising competitiveness to unprecedented levels.

We are grateful to all our partners for their steadfast support for this global event. Our partners have been instrumental in this success story, with each year's event building on the previous edition. Gov Games 2023 is the culmination of years of hard work and experience, he added.

The exceptional performances in the Battle of Community competitions reflect growing community awareness about the importance of adopting a healthy lifestyle. The tournament is also another example of the growing participation of the community in sporting events in Dubai. The event highlights the importance of teamwork in government and promotes the close bonding and collaboration needed to achieve goals.

The teams that qualify for the final round of the Battle of Government categorys all-male challenges will be announced at the end of the third day after the completion of three heats.

The fourth edition of Gov Games is supported by multiple partners including Golden Sponsor, Emirates General Petroleum Corporation (Emarat) and Silver sponsor Dubai Electricity and Water Authority, which is supporting the event for the fourth time. Other partners include First Abu Dhabi Bank (FAB), Emirates Telecommunications Company Integrated (du), Lululemon, Dubai Media Incorporated, and the Arab Radio Network (ARN).


WELLINGTON, Mar 3 (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 3rd Mar, 2023 ) :Treated nuclear wastewater from Japan's damaged Fukushima power plant, which, if released into the Pacific Ocean as planned will ultimately reach the High Seas, is "capable of producing cancers," New Zealand scientists said on Friday.

Japan has planned to release treated nuclear wastewater from the damaged Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant into the Pacific Ocean.

Jamie Quinton, head of school of Natural Sciences, Massey University, said that in this original unprocessed wastewater, radioactive isotopes of concern were iodine-131 and caesium-137, and that they are used in nuclear medicine radiotherapy means that they have sufficient energy to cause cell death and mutation.

"In other words, they are capable of producing cancers," Quinton said.

International law expert Duncan Currie told Xinhua that Advanced Liquid Processing System (ALPS) treatment at best does not remove tritium, and there is next to no scientific information of the effects of tritium on the marine environment, including on different species.

Currie noted that the planned target in the treatment of Fukushima nuclear wastewater is only to remove other radioactive isotopes to "regulatory," rather than detectable, levels.

Tests of ALPS treatment systems have not been encouraging, Currie said.

"There were several other radioactive products in the unprocessed water that are hazardous to live species and ecosystems. As organisms consume other organisms, more of these radioactive products accumulate in their bodies, which can, in turn, end up in humans.

So these radioactive elements must be kept out of natural ecosystems as much as possible, especially the ocean," Quinton said.

David Krofcheck, senior lecturer in Physics at the University of Auckland, agreed by saying the danger of indiscriminately releasing nuclear fission products into the ocean is that the products can find their way into the food chain.

"Once in the food chain the long-lived nuclear fission heavy nuclei like cesium-137, strontium-90, and iodine-131 tend to concentrate in human muscle, bones, and thyroid, respectively. Cancers can be the result," Krofcheck said.

New Zealand should be concerned over nuclear wastewater effects on the Pacific, Currie said, citing modeling that shows the movement of radioactive water to the North Pacific, including for instance through uptake in highly migratory fish and marine mammals.

Currently, an independent panel of global experts on nuclear issues are supporting Pacific Islands Forum nations in their consultations with Japan over its plans to discharge treated nuclear wastewater into the Pacific Ocean.

Quinton noted that if the release of wastewater into the ocean is to proceed, "getting the process correct and within regulations is of particular importance to Japan's aquaculture-based industries."It is in Japan's economic interest to ensure that waterways remain below internationally acceptable levels for background radiation so that food safety is assured, and their capacity for international trade remains unaffected, he said.
(@FahadShabbir)

Panama City, March 3 (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 3rd Mar, 2023 ) :A global conference to save the world's oceans kicked off Thursday in Panama with urgent calls to adopt an international protection treaty, along with billions of Dollars in US and EU pledges for research, monitoring and conservation.

Political and business leaders, environmental activists and academics at the two-day conference are grappling with how best to address a multitude of threats facing the oceans -- from climate change and pollution to overfishing and mining.

The Our Ocean Conference is "so incredibly important because it is a conference that is focused on action, not on talk. It's about real commitments and real solutions," White House climate envoy John Kerry said at the meeting's opening.

The former secretary of state announced US commitments of nearly $6 billion across 77 projects to protect the high seas in 2023, including technical cooperation to facilitate "green shipping corridors".

In a similar spirit, the European Union announced it would dedicate 816.5 million Euros ($865 million) to ocean-related projects this year.

A large slice of the EU money -- 320 million euros -- will go towards research to protect marine biodiversity and address the impacts of climate change on the seas, while another 250 million euros will help launch the Sentinel-1C satellite to observe ice melt and monitor climate change effects.

"The ocean is part of who we are, and it is our shared responsibility," EU environment, oceans and fisheries commissioner Virginijus Sinkevicius said in a statement.

Panama President Laurentino Cortizo on Thursday signed a decree to enlarge the Banco Volcan Marine Protected Area (MPA) from 14,000 to 93,000 square kilometers (about 5,400 to 36,000 square miles).

Panama will now conserve more than 54 percent of the ocean that falls inside its exclusive economic zone, said the country's environment minister, Milciades Concepcion.

On the eve of the conference, representatives of the European Union, the United States, Latin America and the Pacific Islands called for a treaty on the high seas, which has been under discussion at the United Nations for more than 15 years, to be signed as soon as possible.

Delegates have been meeting in New York since February 20 to conclude a text in the latest round of talks due to end Friday.

The high seas, which are not under the jurisdiction of any country, represent more than 60 percent of the oceans and nearly half of the planet.

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres called Wednesday for negotiators to conclude a "robust and ambitious" treaty on the high seas.

"Our ocean has been under pressure for decades. We can no longer ignore the ocean emergency," he said.

Other topics on the Our Ocean agenda include expanding Marine Protected Areas and developing a sustainable ocean-derived "blue economy." Covering three-quarters of the Earth, the oceans are home to 80 percent of all life on the planet, and provide nourishment for more than three billion people.

Since the first Our Ocean conference in 2014, participating nations have committed more than $108 billion and protected five million square miles of ocean, according to organizers.

Observers say Our Ocean is the only conference to address all ocean-related issues under one roof.

It also serves as a public stage for governments to show their political will.

Conference delegates do not adopt agreements but rather announce voluntary "commitments" to ocean protection.

The meeting occurs as multinational companies eye minerals on the ocean floor.

These include so-called manganese nodules, settled on the seabed, that contain metals critical in battery production.

Environmentalists say harvesting them could devastate deep-sea ecosystems.

NGOs are also concerned about overfishing, pushing at the conference for satellites to monitor fishing fleets.

"A third of commercial (maritime) species are over-exploited," said Monica Espinoza of the NGO Global Fishing Watch.

Governments must "require that their fishing fleets... are traceable full-time by satellite so that we know that they are fishing honestly," Andrew Sharpless, executive director of the NGO Oceana, told AFP.

Kerry announced that the United States, Panama and Fiji are in talks to create "green shipping corridors."These would be reserved for low-carbon or zero-carbon vessels, according to experts, while also combating illegal catches and overfishing.
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The PM has constituted a committee headed by former Secretary Home Shahid Khan to probe into the incident and examine its every aspect.

ISLAMABAD: (UrduPoint/UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News-March 3rd, 2023) Prime Minister Muhammad Shehbaz Sharif has taken strict notice of the incident took place during the construction of Bhara Kahu Bypass Flyover in Islamabad.

The PM also constituted a committee headed by former Secretary Home Shahid Khan to probe into the incident and examine its every aspect.

The committee has been directed to determine the responsible and prepare an inquiry report on emergency basis and submit it to the Prime Minister.

The Prime Minister said no laxity will be acceptable in the construction of Bhara Kahu Bypass Flyover project.

Earlier, Minister for Privatization Abid Hussain Bhayo called on Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif in Islamabad on Friday.

During the meeting, they discussed prevailing political situation of the country.

They also discussed matter pertaining to privatization division.
(@ChaudhryMAli88)

Federal Minister for Climate Change Senator Sherry Rehman on Friday said that on this World Wildlife Day, it was very important to create awareness among the public and all stakeholders about the importance of wildlife conservation and take steps to protect them

ISLAMABAD, (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 3rd Mar, 2023 ) :Federal Minister for Climate Change Senator Sherry Rehman on Friday said that on this World Wildlife Day, it was very important to create awareness among the public and all stakeholders about the importance of wildlife conservation and take steps to protect them.

In her message on World Wildlife Day, the federal minister said that public awareness and stakeholder engagement were a must in order to ensure the survival of these valuable resources and assets for future generations.

Senator Sherry Rehman said World Wildlife Day was being celebrated all over the world including Pakistan. The purpose of the day was to spread awareness about wildlife conservation and their rights, she added.

The conservation of nature and wild areas and wildlife was the duty of every person living on earth, she added.

The Minister underlined that World Wildlife Day was very important for Pakistan. "Pakistan is home to wildlife that includes rare snow leopards, Indus dolphins, deer, birds and countless other species," Sherry Rehman added.

Unfortunately, she said due to various factors like increasing population, construction, poaching, illegal wildlife trade and pollution, wildlife in Pakistan was facing threats.

"We have taken many steps to protect our wildlife. These include the establishment of protected areas and enforcement of laws and regulations to prevent illegal hunting and trade in wildlife," Senator Sherry Rehman said.

She added that more needed to be done to ensure the survival of wildlife and their habitats.
WASHINGTON (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 03rd March, 2023) US President Joe Biden said in a statement that he applauds the bipartisan Railway Safety Act, a new bill aimed at strengthening safety requirements for trains carrying hazardous materials in the United States following the recent train derailment incident and subsequent disaster in Ohio.

"I applaud the bipartisan group of senators for proposing rail safety legislation that provides many of the solutions that my administration has been calling for. This legislation provides us with tools to hold companies accountable to prevent terrible tragedies like the Norfolk Southern derailment in East Palestine and to make those communities whole," the statement said on Thursday.

According to Biden, if passed, the new legislation will phase in newer, safer tank cars over the next two years instead of the next decade and increase safety by requiring hotbox detectors every 10 miles to prevent derailments similar to the one in East Palestine, Ohio.

The legislation is also expected to increase fines for safety violations from the current cap of $225,000 to the greater of $1 million or 1% of a railroad's annual operating income, the statement added.

To date, Biden has not visited East Palestine following the derailment and became the object of harsh criticism from Republican lawmakers and journalists for his trip to Kiev against the backdrop of what happened in Ohio.

Earlier in the day, while speaking to media following the Senate Democratic luncheon, the US President said that he "will be out there (in East Palestine) at some point," but did not clarify when exactly he is going to visit the small village in Ohio.

On February 3, a train hauling 20 cars from Norfolk Southern with hazardous materials derailed in East Palestine, Ohio. A big fire erupted due to the derailment, leading to officials burning 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.

The CEO of Norfolk Southern has been heavily criticized by the residents and political leaders for the lack of engagement following the disaster. The company's president visited East Palestine, Ohio, but Norfolk Southern representatives did not show up at a public meeting last week where residents gathered, citing fear of physical threats.

Despite repeated assurances that the air and water are safe, residents in the area have told Sputnik of recent health impacts, including headaches, burning skin and irritated eyes as well as anxiety about long-term health risks such as cancer. The Ohio Department of Natural Resources told Sputnik in mid-February that approximately 3,500 fish had died in waterways near the train derailment site.
(@FahadShabbir)

The European Union is aware of reports about Hungary allegedly indenting to relocate its embassy in Israel from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem, but the bloc has not received any "formal announcement" from Budapest yet, EU spokesman for foreign affairs and security policy Peter Stano said on Friday

MOSCOW (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 03rd March, 2023) The European Union is aware of reports about Hungary allegedly indenting to relocate its embassy in Israel from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem, but the bloc has not received any "formal announcement" from Budapest yet, EU spokesman for foreign affairs and security policy Peter Stano said on Friday.

Earlier in the day, the Times of Israel newspaper reported that Hungary would move its embassy in Israel to Jerusalem in April "in a special gesture" to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu from his Hungarian counterpart, Viktor Orban.

"We are aware about indications in some media that this is going on. We have not seen any announcement, we have not received any formal announcement, so we would not be commenting on an issue that is being discussed or speculated on in the press," Stano said during the European Commission midday briefing.

Stano also said that the EU's longstanding position has been that it "called on all member states of the UN to withdraw their embassies or diplomatic missions from Jerusalem."

Relations between Israel and Palestine have been adversarial since the founding of Israel in 1948. Palestinians seek diplomatic recognition of their independent state on the territories of the West Bank, including East Jerusalem, which is partially occupied by Israel, and the Gaza Strip.

The Israeli government refuses to recognize Palestine as an independent political and diplomatic entity, and builds settlements in the occupied areas despite objections from the United Nations.
MOSCOW (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 03rd March, 2023) The data from the black box of the crashed helicopter of Ukraine's Internal Ministry was deciphered in France and transferred to Ukraine, Ukrainian Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal said on Friday.

On January 18, a helicopter belonging to the Ukrainian state emergency service crashed near a kindergarten and residential buildings in Brovary. According to police, Ukrainian Interior Minister Denys Monastyrsky and his first deputy Yevgeny Enin, who were on board the chopper alongside with another seven people, died in the accident.

According to the emergency service of Ukraine, as a result of the helicopter crash, 14 people were killed, including a child, and 25 people were injured, including 11 children.

"The investigation is ongoing. The black box was found, sent to France for the necessary decryption. The data has been received, the investigation team has them. The investigation is continuing," Shmyhal said at a press conference, adding that it is necessary to wait for the results of the investigation.
MOSCOW (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 03rd March, 2023) The UN Human Rights Office described the prison sentence handed on Friday to Nobel Peace Prize-winning activist Ales Bialiatski and his associates in Belarus as "deeply troubling."

Bialiatski, the head of the Viasna human rights charity, was sentenced to 10 years in prison on smuggling and extremism-related charges. Three other members of his unregistered organization were given lesser jail terms, one of them in absentia.

"The lack of independence of the judiciary and other violations of fair trial guarantees have resulted in human rights defenders in Belarus being criminally prosecuted, convicted and sentenced for their legitimate human rights work," OHCHR spokeswoman Ravina Shamdasani said.

The United Nations' rights agency estimates that 1,458 people are being held in custody in Belarus on what it describes as politically motivated charges.

Bialiatski was awarded the Nobel Peace prize in 2022 alongside the Russian human rights organization Memorial and the Ukrainian human rights organization Center for Civil Liberties for promoting "the right to criticize power and protect the fundamental rights of citizens."
Belleview R-3 School in Iron County had not had a music program or band program for years due to lack of funding and no music/band teacher on staff. The school has announced that retired music teacher Judy Taylor is bringing back the schools band program.

People are needed to donate a new or used band instrument for the use of the band students. Financial donations for purchasing, repairing, and upkeep of the instruments will also be accepted. For donations or additional information, contact the Belleview R-3 School office at 573-697-5701.
WASHINGTON (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 04th March, 2023) US Attorney General Merrick Garland made an unannounced visit to Ukraine on Friday, the Justice Department said.

"On Friday, March 3, the Attorney General made an unannounced trip to Liviv, Ukraine, at the invitation of the Ukrainian Prosecutor General to join President Zelenskyy and international partners at the 'United for Justice Conference," the Justice Department said in a statement, as quoted by ABC.

During the trip, Garland held a number of meeting and reaffirmed Washington's determination to "hold Russia accountable," it added.
In a message aimed squarely at China, foreign ministers of the Quad grouping expressed concern Friday at the militarization of disputed territories in the South and East China Seas.

The top diplomats of the United States, Australia, India and Japan met in New Delhi, as Beijing pushes claims to disputed maritime areas, sparking concerns about its growing assertiveness in the Indo-Pacific region.

Without naming China, a joint statement issued after the Quad meeting said, We express serious concern at the militarization of disputed features, the dangerous use of coast guard vessels and maritime militia and efforts to disrupt other countries offshore resource exploitation activities.

Emphasizing the importance of adherence to international law to meet challenges to the maritime rules-based order, the ministers said that we strongly oppose any unilateral actions that seek to change the status quo or increase tensions in the area."

China claims sovereignty over almost the entire South China Sea and has disputes with different countries in the region, such as Philippines, Brunei, Malaysia and Vietnam. It also has established military bases on islands it has constructed in the disputed waters.

The Quad calls itself a strategic forum, but Beijing sees the grouping as an effort by Washington to encircle it with strategic and military allies.

China repeated its criticism of the Quad on Friday, with Beijings foreign ministry spokesperson, Mao Ning, saying that "cooperation among countries should conform to the trend of the times for peace and development and should not engage in exclusive cliques.

We hope the countries concerned will do something that is conducive to enhancing the security and mutual trust of regional countries and to maintaining regional peace and stability, Mao said.

Speaking at a separate forum in New Delhi, the Quad foreign ministers sought to allay concerns it is a military grouping and underlined that it is focused on enhancing cooperation in non-military areas in Asia, such as democracy, good governance, global health and disaster relief.

Asserting the group is engaged in working together to help countries, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said, This is not a military grouping, its not that kind of alliance." He said the Quad does not ask countries to choose between them and Beijing.

Similar messages came in from the Japanese and Australian foreign ministers. The Quad is not for security issues, nor military issues, Japanese Foreign Minister Yoshimasa Hayashi said.

As long as even China abides by the laws and international norms, and also acts under the international institutions, standards and laws, then this is not a conflicting issue between China and the Quad," Hayashi said.

Australian Foreign Minister, Penny Wong, said the group was focused on practical cooperation among members as they work on development initiatives in Asia.

The grouping has picked up momentum in recent years as both Washington and New Delhi have seen tensions spiral with China. The four countries have held joint naval exercises and three summit meetings since 2021.

In his address in New Delhi, Blinken also said Russia cannot be allowed to wage war in Ukraine. "If we allow with impunity Russia to do what it's doing in Ukraine, then thats a message to would-be aggressors everywhere that they may be able to get away with it too," the top U.S. diplomat said.

Referring to Russias threats of using nuclear weapons in Ukraine, the Quad foreign ministers statement said, The use or threat of use of nuclear weapons is inadmissible, and they called for a comprehensive, just and lasting peace in accordance with international law.

The meeting of the Quad took place in the Indian capital a day after foreign ministers of the Group of 20 countries failed to issue a joint statement condemning Russias war in Ukraine following objections by China and Russia.
Every morning since 2021, 26-year-old Sabira Saidi would wear her black hijab and face mask and go to work accompanied by her father or brother.

Saidi, who worked as a case worker for London-based Children in Crisis in Kabul and Maidan Wardak provinces, put up with all the restrictions imposed on women after the fall of Kabul into the hands of the Taliban to keep her job and support her family of 10.

But things changed for Saidi and thousands of women working with nongovernment organizations after the Taliban barred women from working with national and international NGOs on December 24 of last year.

The Talibans Ministry of Economy sent a letter to NGOs ordering them to suspend Afghan female employees until further notice.

In the letter, the Taliban said that the ban was imposed because female employees of NGOs were not wearing the hijab properly.

Saidi and other women working with NGOs, who spoke to VOA Afghanistan, say they abided by the Talibans dress codes.

They say the Talibans ban on women working in NGOs was part of the Talibans strategy to erase women from public space.

A few days before the NGO ban, the Taliban ordered universities to suspend female students access to the universities. The group had already banned girls secondary education.

After returning to power in August 2021, the Taliban steadily imposed some repressive measures against women, including banning them from secondary education, working in the government, traveling long distance without a close male relative and going to parks and gyms.

The U.N. special rapporteur on the situation of human rights in Afghanistan, Richard Bennett, in a report released February 9, considered these measures as an attempt to erase women from all public spaces.

The report added that the cumulative effect of the Talibans systematic discrimination against women raises concerns about the commission of international crimes.

Lost hope

Saidi said that now she spends all day at home, which has taken its toll on her.

We suffer psychologically and financially, she said.

Saidi said for now her organization pays her, but she is not sure for how long it will continue.

My work as a case worker was to visit them [children] to see their lives from near and assess their living conditions. And then to see how we could provide them services, said Saidi. How can I do my job from home?

She talks to her colleagues daily to see if there is a change in the Talibans policies, but no one knows how long we will have to stay at home.

I lost my hopes, said Saidi, adding that, If I had my passport, I would not stay for a day in Afghanistan.

Humanitarian crisis

Last month, the U.N. deputy special representative and humanitarian coordinator for Afghanistan, Ramiz Alakbarov, told journalists that 28 million people in the country depend on humanitarian aid for survival.

Since the Talibans return to power, the gross domestic product [GDP] declined by up to 35 percent, the cost of a basic food basket rose by 30 percent and unemployment by 40 percent, according to Alakbarov.

The Talibans restrictions have made it difficult for aid organization to work in Afghanistan, said Janti Soeripto, president and CEO of Save the Children, U.S. adding that the country is facing a humanitarian crisis.

Operationally, its really impossible to do our work well and effectively without women. Women help us reach women and children in particular, said Soeripto.

She said Save the Children has made it clear to the Taliban that we will not work without our female colleagues, adding the organization abided by the Talibans dress codes and female employees were accompanied by a mahram, a close male relative.

Save the Children has been in Afghanistan since 1976, working in 17 out of 34 provinces, with 5,000 employees in the country and half of them are women, according to Soeripto.

She added that among the 55,000 people working with NGOs in Afghanistan, one-third of them were women.

Soeripto told VOA that though her organization was able to start back its activities in the health and in the education sectors, they must get authorization not only at national but provincial level as well.

She said the Taliban gave them more assurances, but we want to see actions not just the words.

International pressure

Shinkai Karokhail, a former member of the Wolesi Jirga, the lower house of Afghanistans parliament, told VOA that the international community should increase pressure on the Talibans leaders.

It should not be something that the people of Afghan pay the cost. ... It should be sanctions on those Taliban who are making decisions, said Karokhail.

But the world should not remain silent, said a 27-year-old woman, who asked VOA to use the pseudonym Arizo for security reasons.

Arizo was the only breadwinner of her family and lost her job with an international NGO after the Talibans ban on women working with NGOs.

The world should not recognize the Taliban as they have imposed restrictions on women and violated human rights, she told VOA.

Arizo, Saidi and thousands of other women working with NGOs, now staying home after the Taliban ban, are worried about what the future holds for them.

Under the Taliban, I see a bleak future for me and my family, said Arizo.

This story originated in VOAs Afghan service.
More information is coming out regarding Chinas attempts to influence the past two Canadian elections. Pressure is building for the government of Prime Minister Justin Trudeau to launch an independent investigation.

The most recent revelations indicate Canadian security officials repeatedly warned the Liberal government of Prime Minister Justin Trudeau that the Chinese government was making concerted efforts to influence the 2019 and 2021 general elections in his favor.

The latest information is emerging from intelligence reports uncovered by The Globe and Mail newspaper and Global Television.

Beijing has strongly denied all the allegations, calling them "purely baseless and defamatory. Trudeau has downplayed them by saying it is nothing new that foreign governments try to interfere with Canada.

Canadian intelligence says that it found no major foreign election interference in those two elections but an investigation into Chinese influence is underway.

Former government officials are joining opposition parties calling for Trudeau to create an independent inquiry.

One of them is Jean-Pierre Kingsley, who served as Canadas chief electoral officer from 1990 to 2007, and who says that the current House of Commons committee investigating the revelations will not give an independent review of the issue.

Where are you trying to get to the basic facts? Whether it favors one part or disfavors another is of no consequence if it's an independent inquiry. And this is beyond the scope of a parliamentary committee, to be honest with you, Kingsley said.

The uncovered documents, originating with the Canadian Security Intelligence Service, Canadas spy agency, reportedly say China was pressuring its consulates to leverage Chinese community members and associations in Canada to help elect Trudeau. They then covered up any links to the Chinese government. However, Beijing wanted to keep Trudeaus power in check by having him win only a minority government, which happened.

They also say that China developed disinformation campaigns in Vancouver and Toronto against specific candidates it did not like. Both cities have large immigrant communities from China.

Vancouver-based political scientist Stewart Prest says allegations of China trying to cultivate Canadian political candidates is not new, but the recent revelations are disconcerting.

I think this is the latest indication, and perhaps the clearest indication yet, that this is an issue that ought to be taken seriously," he said. "And really, as difficult as it is, something that needs to be dealt with in a nonpartisan way.

Artur Wilczynski is a former director general of intelligence operations at the Communications Security Establishment, which provides the country with information technology security and foreign signals intelligence.

There are a number of hostile foreign actors that have been engaged in this kind of activity," Wilczynski said. "And the People's Republic of China is by far the biggest threat.

He says going forward, there also needs to be a transparent review of the activities of Canada's national security intelligence agencies as they relate to Canadas future elections.

I think that in order to restore confidence in Canada's democratic institutions  which I believe have been damaged by the disclosures and the debate around those disclosures  I think we do need to have conversations about, does Canada have the right instruments to mitigate the risk posed by foreign interference in our democratic systems?," Wilczynski said.

In the last election, Trudeau was successfully reelected, but only with a minority government, with 158 members of parliament in Canadas 338-seat House of Commons.
U.S. officials say they are alarmed by a wave of arrests of opposition figures in Tunisia, including reports they are being targeted because they were in contact with U.S. diplomats in Tunis.



"We are alarmed by reports of criminal charges against individuals in Tunisia resulting from meetings or conversations with U.S. embassy staff on the ground," State Department spokesman Ned Price told reporters on Thursday.



"This is the work of diplomacy  it is a practice that should not be subject to persecution of a source, said Price



Earlier this week, Tunisias foreign ministry urged diplomats not to interfere in Tunisias internal affairs.



The opposition has called for a protest demonstration Saturday, but Tunis governor said he will not grant permission and accused opposition leaders of conspiring against state security.



Leaders of the opposition National Salvation Front coalition say at least 12 of their members have been arrested on politically motivated charges.

The arrests are the biggest crackdown on President Kais Saieds opponents since 2021.
In a White House ceremony Friday, U.S. President Joe Biden presented the Medal of Honor  the U.S. military's highest decoration  to retired Army Colonel Paris Davis for his bravery during the Vietnam War, 58 years after he was recommended for the honor.

Speaking before a capacity White House East Room audience that included Davis, U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin and previous Medal of Honor winners, Biden called Davis an incredible man, a true hero of our nation and referred to the event as perhaps the most consequential of his presidency.

Davis was honored for his actions in Vietnam during a battle that took place over 20 hours in July 1965 near Bong Son. Then an army captain and commander of a special forces airborne group, he led an inexperienced South Vietnamese force along with other U.S. soldiers on a nighttime raid against a vastly superior North Vietnamese fighting force.

Davis led an assault that included him personally engaging in hand-to-hand combat with the enemy, successfully destroying enemy gun placements and capturing enemy soldiers.

Wounded at least twice in the action, Davis helped regroup his men, called in artillery and air support, and rescued two U.S. soldiers incapacitated and trapped by enemy gunfire. He also helped evacuate the wounded and refused medical attention for himself until all members of his company were extracted.

Davis, now 83, had previously received the Silver Star, Bronze Star, the Purple Heart and other recognitions for his actions. But though his commanding officer immediately recommended him for the medal, Biden told the audience, the paperwork for the medal was inexplicably lost  not just once, but twice, the president said.

Biden said Davis, who is Black, returned from Vietnam to a nation at the height of the U.S. civil rights movement and a time of heightened racial tensions, as Blacks across the U.S. were protesting segregation and demanding equal rights.

Friends and family of Davis have long said his race contributed to the disappearance of the medal recommendation papers. But the president said when Davis received word that he was finally receiving the medal, his response was, America was behind me.

Biden said this showed Davis never lost faith, which the president called astounding. He said Davis never stopped believing the founding vision of America, that all men and women are created equal, a vision Paris fought to defend 58 years ago.

Weve never fully lived up to it, the president said of that vision, but weve never walked away from it. This is evidence were still not going to walk away from it, said Biden, referring to Davis long-delayed recognition

Some information for this report was provided by The Associated Press.
China is slamming a decision by the Biden administration to approve a $619 million potential arms sale to Taiwan that includes hundreds of missiles for F-16 fighter jets. Tensions are high between Washington and Beijing, amid Western fears that Beijing may supply weapons to help Russia win its war in Ukraine. White House Bureau Chief Patsy Widakuswara has this report.
The Regal theater at the Shops at Stonefield has survived a round of closures that threatened to shutter the Charlottesville areas only IMAX movie house.

Tennessee-based Regal Cinemas said earlier this year it would be closing the theater, and 38 others, on Feb. 15, according to legal documents filed as part of the bankruptcy proceedings of the chains parent company, U.K.-based Cineworld.

They have been removed from the list, Stonefield General Manager Kendra Walston confirmed to The Daily Progress on Thursday. It was definitely a concern, but were ecstatic that theyre going to be staying here at Stonefield.

Since Jan. 20, 25 Regal theaters across the country have been removed from a register of Regals official locations, according to internet archives.

Walston had previously said that Stonefields landlords were in ongoing discussions with Regal to keep the location operating. She has not divulged what those conversations included.

We know there has been conflicting information around Regal Stonefield ScreenX & IMAX being closed, Stonefield announced in a Facebook post on Wednesday. We are pleased to announce that nothing has changedREGAL is open and is officially off the list of closures!

It is unclear what conflicting information the post refers to.

Walston said she could not discuss any information regarding Regals lease at the shopping center.

Anything that has to do with their lease I will not be able to disclose, she said. That would have to come from Regal.

Regal has not responded to multiple requests for comment from The Daily Progress since the original list of planned closures was announced.

Cineworld, the worlds second-largest cinema chain, said in its legal filings earlier this year that it planned to close Stonefield theater and 38 other locations nationwide in a move that would save the company roughly $22 million annually.

Cineworld, which filed for bankruptcy protection in Texas in September of last year, had less than $4 million in cash on hand at the time and owed more than $5 billion in bank and private placement loans.

Cineworld said Friday that it expected its shareholders would be wiped out entirely and that they should not expect to recover any funds from a restructuring or sale of the business.

The company said it had received some nonbinding proposals to buy some or all of its business. None of those, however, were an all-cash bid for the entire company.

Based on the proposals received to date, it is not expected that any sale transaction will provide any recovery for the holders of the companys equity interests, it said.

The same goes for any proposed restructuring, it added, in light of the level of existing debt that is expected to be released under any plan.

The company has blamed COVID for its financial struggles.

The pandemic was an incredibly difficult time for our business, with the enforced closure of cinemas and huge disruption to film schedules that has led us to this point, CEO Mooky Greidinger said in a statement at the time the company filed for bankruptcy protection.

Regal remains the second-largest cinema chain in the U.S., with roughly 480 theaters in operation, according to its website. Kansas-based AMC Theaters is No. 1, with nearly 600 theaters in operation, according to the company.

The Regal Stadium 14 in Stonefield houses 14 projection rooms, an IMAX screening room and stadium seating. It was one of the first retail tenants to open at Stonefield in November 2012.
A new U.S. military aid package for Ukraine, including for the first time, armored vehicles. UN leaders are meeting about Russian human rights violations in Ukraine. The war has forced thousands of African students in Ukraine to flee leave the country and their pursuit of a degree.
From compulsory classes on national security to uncertainty over what can be discussed about Hong Kong's new laws, journalism students and media professors are navigating a difficult landscape.

Some journalism students have said that a National Security Law passed in 2020 is like "the elephant in the room" when it comes to class debates and discussions.

The Chinese government said it introduced the law to bring stability after anti-government protests in 2019. It criminalizes secession, terrorism, and collusion with foreign forces and carries hefty sentences.

Already more than 100 protesters, journalists and lawmakers have been detained under the act.

Hong Kong's national security bureau told VOA last year the city's government is firmly committed to safeguarding press freedom.

But reporters say ambiguity about the law's reach makes it hard to find people willing to go on record. And some students and media professors are seeing a similar effect  even inside the classroom.

The risk of running afoul of the law led the students and one of the professors who spoke with VOA for this article to ask for anonymity.

One of those students, who is at the University of Hong Kong, said the law created a void in some journalism classes.

"In classes when teachers go up, it seems a normal classroom, it seems nothing has changed but the elephant in the room is never addressed," the student said. "It's lingering, like a tension, and we want to ask, 'Can we do this? Can we do that?' But nobody is going to ask it, nobody is going to answer it. So, it never comes up."

Several Hong Kong universities offer media studies but figures show that the number of journalism students has dropped in recent years.

Data from a joint admissions system showed a drop in media students at four public universities, according to analysis by the South China Morning Post.

Its October 2021 report found that Hong Kong University's journalism school had 865 applicants in 2021, down from 1,726 in 2016. The CUHK school had 1,541 applicants in 2021, down from 2,071 in 2016.

And as of 2022, students must pass a mandatory national security course on Basic and National Security Laws.

A spokesperson for the Education Bureau told VOA that the regional government "attaches great importance to upholding academic freedom and institutional autonomy."

The spokesperson said via email, "These specific and clear safeguards have not been altered in any way and remain in full force. As such, it is a matter for the institutions and academics to choose their topic of study."

The spokesperson added that "safeguarding national sovereignty, security and development interests, is an indisputable duty" and that the Hong Kong region is "no exception."

The email added, "With proper respect to institutional autonomy," the Education Bureau maintains close communication with the institutions on issues relevant to the promotion of national security education.

One of the students who spoke with VOA said the change in the media environment, while not surprising, was still disappointing.

The individual, who is in their early 20s and from mainland China, said even student journalists find it hard to get sources to go on record for school assignments.

"We were supposed to interview people about certain government development projects, it's nothing sensitive, but people were very hesitant to give their full name," the student said.

Professors in media say they had to change some of their programs or teaching methods to include the law.

Jeffrey Timmermans, who oversaw the undergraduate program at the Hong Kong University until 2021, said that while the university did not change how it approached its courses, "we had to radically redesign our media law program."

"It was so new at the time, the content came as quite a surprise, it was much more aggressive than any of us in the department thought," said Timmermans, who currently teaches at the Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communication at Arizona State University.

Despite that, Timmermans said, they decided as a faculty to keep doing what they previously done.

Another lecturer, who teaches media law, said teachers are careful in how they approach the subject: "We do present the position of other jurisdictions in terms of the national security law, [but] with a warning, that we're not presenting to say other places [have a] fundamental logical flaw of comparison, [but] to show students what people accept as a national security issue is different depending on where you are."

But, the professor said, they try to approach the security law like any subject.

"We have to be clear to them we're not telling them to be advocates or go break the law  they need to understand what the powerful difference is. I have to allow them to draw their own conclusions," the lecturer added.

Still, the Hong Kong-based lecturer said, the topic is almost a non-discussion: "The deafening silence comes from the student side. In that class, we do not have questions. Blank faces."

Even when the lecturer created an online document so students could anonymously ask questions, no one touched it.

Keith Richburg, director of journalism and media studies at the University of Hong Kong, said that his school's courses haven't changed.

"We're teaching the nuts and bolts of how to be a journalist and none of that is pushing up to these areas of terrorism, secession or colluding with foreign forces, we're just nowhere near that," Richburg told VOA.

The journalist, who is also president of the Hong Kong Foreign Correspondents Club, said he hadn't seen a drop off in applicants to the school. "In fact we've seen the opposite, we've seen how a lot more students recognise how important journalism is." Richburg told VOA.

One concern however, he said, is whether student journalists will be careful enough in their reporting.

"If students are going to do stories about activists who have fled or anything like that, I would just tell them be absolutely careful, you're doing factual reporting. You're not appearing to promote or advocate any kind of positions that get you in a trouble, you're not taking a side, you're just reporting," he said.

Concerns over how to walk that line were raised by one of the students who spoke with VOA.

Asked about covering Hong Kong, the student said, "I'd rather not at all. I will only do it on a very broad base. ... I've done barely any reporting politically about Hong Kong coverage but that thought still enters your mind, 'Can [the authorities] come and bite me tomorrow or five years later?'"
Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi blamed the nation's "enemies" on Friday for the recent series of incidents in which noxious fumes have sickened hundreds of schoolchildren, particularly girls, across the nation.

In a speech to a crowd in southern Iran that was carried live on state television, Raisi said the nation's "foes are trying to create unrest in the various fields in the country."

He said Iran's "enemies said seek to cause problems on the streets, markets, and in schools to disappoint the Iranian nation."

Iran's state-sponsored news agency IRNA reported earlier this week that Raisi ordered an immediate investigation of the schoolgirls' poisoning in more than 30 schools in at least four cities going back to November, including in Iran's Shi'ite Muslim holy city of Qom.

It was the first time the Iranian president has publicly addressed the suspected poisonings affecting the schoolchildren.

Some estimates say as many as 900 schoolgirls have been affected by the suspected poisonings, prompting international observers to suggest the incidents were attacks on educating young women.

Asked about the incidents in an interview with VOA on Friday, Coordinator for Strategic Communications at the National Security Council John Kirby called the situation "deeply disturbing," though he stopped short of blaming Iran for the poisonings.

"I'm afraid we don't have more information now about these reports of poisonings," he said, noting that the Iranian government is investigating.

"We want that investigation to be thorough, complete and transparent with the Iranian people, as well as the rest of the world," Kirby told VOA. "Little girls should not have to worry about their safety when they go to school, they should only have to worry about their grades."

He would not say whether the United States is prepared to offer help to solve the incidents.

The U.N. children's humanitarian agency, UNICEF, offered Thursday to help Iran solve the incidents.

In a statement posted to its Twitter account, UNICEF said, "School is a safe haven for children and teenagers to learn in a safe and supportive environment. Such events can have a negative impact on the high rate of education of children, especially girls, which has been achieved in recent decades."

The statement noted, "UNICEF stands ready to provide any support needed."

Some of the students have been sickened to the extent they needed to be hospitalized. Children have complained about feeling lethargic or unable to move, while others have said they have headaches and heart palpitations. Some have described smelling tangerines, chlorine or cleaning agents.

The poisonings follow months of nationwide anti-government protests, sparked by the death last September of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini, while in the custody of the morality police. She had been arrested days earlier for allegedly violating Iran's strict Islamic dress code by improperly wearing her hijab.

Hundreds of protesters, and some security personnel, have been killed in street demonstrations targeting the government's treatment of Amini.

VOA White House Bureau Chief Patsy Widakuswara contributed to this report. Some material in this report came from The Associated Press, Reuters and Agence France-Presse.
A prominent Iranian Azerbaijani civil rights activist freed from prison last week in Iran is publicly defying his court-ordered sentence of internal exile in an act of civil disobedience.



Abbas Lisani served more than four years in prison after Iran's Revolutionary Court in Tabriz convicted him in 2019 of "forming groups with the purpose of disrupting national security."



The verdict cited his speeches, media interviews, and participation in protests as evidence of activities to disrupt national security. The long-time activist has spent nearly 10 years total in prison for his civil campaigns, such as taking part in cultural gatherings to mark International Mother Language Day.

When he was released from prison last week, a court imposed an additional two-year-long punishment of internal exile. Police escorted him to the central city of Yazd. He has since traveled back to his home city Ardabil, in northwest Iran, where he was welcomed by fellow civil rights activists and relatives.



Iranian authorities have not yet commented on his public rejection of the courts sentence.



In an October 2020 report, Amnesty International said it considered Lisani's imprisonment politically motivated, pointing out his long history of activism for the rights of Iran's Azerbaijani-Turkish community. The rights group has named him a prisoner of conscience on several occasions since 2006.



"Lisani is known for his disobeying and not complying with regressive and strict laws. He stood up and did not comply with the cruel and inhuman flogging sentence in the past years, and now, he does not accept the additional sentence of living in exile in the city of Yazd," Sina Yuousefi, an attorney from the city of Tabriz, wrote in a Twitter post.



Many of Irans Azerbaijani Turks speak a dialect that the Iranian government does not allow to be taught in schools. Irans Islamist rulers have long feared that permitting the official use of Turkic dialects in the country could promote separatism among minorities.

Azerbaijani Turk activists have criticized the ban, saying it violates Article 15 of Irans constitution, which allows for the use of regional and tribal languages in the press and mass media, as well as for teaching of their literature in schools.



Abbas Lisani has been a longtime vocal opponent of government policies both inside and outside of prison.



Ammar Maleki, an Iranian political analyst currently working as an assistant professor of comparative politics at Tilburg University, traces Lisanis outspoken defiance to a 2007 incident when he was ordered to receive 50 lashes as part of a prison sentence.



Lisani had been sentenced to 18 months in prison and 50 lashes for taking part in mass demonstrations in May 2006. The protests, which took place in Iranian Azerbaijan and some other Turkish-populated regions, were sparked by a caricature that was published in state-run Iran newspaper.



The professor said Lisani challenged the sentence as illegal and that conscripts who were ordered to whip the man refused. Maleki wrote about the incident in an article and said he was later interrogated by Iranian authorities for publishing it.



While in prison, Lisani went on hunger strikes several times to defend his legal rights.



In May 2016, when Abbas Lasani started a hunger strike in Adel-Abad prison in the city of Shiraz, 11 other activists went into their own hunger strikes in different prisons in the cities of Tabriz, Ardabil and Karaj to support Lisani, according to the U.S.-based rights group, HRANA.



In March 2017, when he was being tried in the Ardabil province on charges of "acting against national security" and "propaganda against the regime," Lisani refused to defend himself in Farsi, Iran's only official language.



Lisani, who was serving an eight-year sentence in Ardabil prison, was released last week after serving more than half of his jail term. He is believed to have been released as a result of a government amnesty aimed at appeasing critics of the Islamic Republic following months of anti-government protests. According to AFP, the amnesty resulted in the release of several dozen well-known prisoners across the country.

Editors note: This story has been updated to clarify that Lisani is an ethnic Azerbaijani and prominent human rights activist in Iran.
A group of African lawyers is calling for the release of a South Sudanese rights activist allegedly taken by security forces last month from his family's home in Kenya's capital, Nairobi.

The family of Morris Mabior believes he was forcibly deported to South Sudan, where he was an outspoken critic of official abuses and corruption. Both South Sudanese and Kenyan authorities have refused to comment on his alleged abduction, raising fears for his safety.

The Pan African Lawyers Union has filed a complaint against the Kenyan and South Sudanese governments in connection with the disappearance of Mabior.

The union's chief executive officer, Donald Deya, told VOA a complaint was filed at the East African Court of Justice for the unlawful abduction and rendition of the South Sudanese refugee.

"So for us, what we are going for is a court order for the same that he be produced immediately and be medically examined and that he be released and if not, he should be immediately charged if there is any offense of which they are holding him, immediately be charged in a court of law where his rights will be able to be protected," Deya said.

Mabior was allegedly taken from his home in Nairobi on February 4 by men dressed in Kenya's police uniform.

His sister-in-law, Ajak Mayen, said Mabior was targeted because he criticized the South Sudanese security sector and bad governance.

"He was talking about human rights violations and all these corruption cases, especially how the national security is running their affairs, the disappearances of people, the assassinations and all the corruption," Mayen said. "He started mentioning names and you know we don't have that freedom of expression. So, if you expose someone in power, they will immediately come after you."

Local and international human rights organizations have condemned Mabior's disappearance and urged authorities to locate him.

Rights groups have also accused Kenya of violating refugee rights and U.N. and African Union conventions that call for the protection of people fleeing conflict and persecution.

Deya said Kenya and South Sudan violated the rights of the asylum-seeker.

"He was in refuge in Kenya because he was being threatened back home by the national security service. So unfortunately, at the beginning of this month, in a joint operation of Kenyan and South Sudanese security, they were able to abduct him from Nairobi and most probably delivered him to the Blue House in Juba," Deya said.

Blue House is a detention center run by South Sudan's National Security Service. Human Rights Watch says it is a place where critics of the government are held indefinitely, tortured and forcibly disappeared.

Mayen said the family believes her brother-in-law is still held there.

"Someone has reached out to us that he had met him during interrogation, and he was asking about his wife," Mayen said. "He has left one of the wives here in Nairobi and reached out to me to ensure that he is safe, though he was tortured on the first days when he was taken to Juba but I believe he is still in the Blue House.

Mayen said her family has contacted Kenyan police to inquire about Mabior's disappearance but has yet to receive an answer.

Kenyan and South Sudanese officials declined to respond to VOA requests for comment on Mabior's disappearance.
Malawi's high court has sentenced a former information minister and a subordinate to six years in prison for stealing computers and generators meant for a state-owned news agency. The punishments come the same week a presidential adviser and a ruling party spokesman resigned over corruption in the current government.

The sentences spotlight the government's crackdown on corruption and concerns that its being used to weed out rivals.

Former information minister Henry Mussa and his director of information Gideon Munthali, both members of the opposition Democratic Progressive Party or DPP were sentenced this week, more than five months after their conviction on corruption charges.



They join several officials of the previous government jailed over various corruption-related cases, in a crackdown that the administration of President Lazarus Chakwera launched soon after winning the 2020 election.

This includes the arrest last November of the countrys vice president, Saulos Chilima, who allegedly took payments amounting to $280,000 and other items from British businessman Zuneth Sattar in return for Malawi government contracts.

DPP spokesperson Shadreck Namalomba applauds the crackdown, but said the problem is that the effort is marred with selective justice. He said most of the arrested are officials of the former ruling party rather than the current ruling party Tonse Alliance.

Senior people in the Tonse [Alliance] government are resigning and are mentioning that there is gross corruption in the Tonse government, Namalomba said. Now what is ironic is that there is no one who has been arrested in the Tonse government, anyone who is answering a case of corruption in court and anyone who is imprisoned within the Tonse government.

Namalomba said a good example of selective justice in the fight against corruption is the six years custodial sentence given to Mussa and Munthali although they returned the property they stole.

We hear that people now, the Cashgaters, are being pardoned because they have returned money, Namalomba said. This is laughable. While others, like the case of honorable Mussa, they returned the money but he has been jailed while people who also defrauded the government are being forgiven. This is selective justice and it must not be condoned.

Cashgaters is the name given for people who defrauded the Malawi government of an estimated $30 million during the administration of former president Joyce Banda, from 2012 to 2014.

Bandas Peoples Party is among nine parties that form the Tonse Alliance.

Local media reported last week that five Cashgate suspects recently dodged imprisonment after paying back the money they stole while three others were negotiating with the government to reimburse the funds and be discharged.

Attorney General Thabo Chakaka Nyirenda told a local daily this week that he believes that amnesty remains the most viable way to recover public assets from suspects convicted of defrauding the government.

Political analyst George Phiri said the problem is that the Malawi government is mixing the fight of corruption with politics.

Because if you look at all the people mentioned, they belong to the opposition Democratic Progressive Party, Phiri said. But what about these cases that we have seen from the Tonse Alliance? And there are many other things within the country which the suspects are not taken to court.

VOA could not get immediate reaction from government authorities on the allegations of selective justice in dealing with corruption in Malawi.

However, President Chakwera told parliament Tuesday this week that delays in hearing corruption cases would end soon, following the establishment of a special anti-corruption court.
Officials say the search for survivors at the site of Greeces deadliest train crash has ended. At least 57 bodies and human remains have been removed from the wreckage, but an undisclosed number of passengers remain missing. VOA reports on the growing anger and frustration across the nation as protests come with the end of a three-day period of national mourning.

Firefighters and volunteers say a final inspection of mangled passenger rail cars would be completed by the end of Friday, before fleets of cranes and heavy machinery moved to clear wreckage and restore the operation of Greeces railway network.

The carriages were thrown off the tracks, crushed, and engulfed in flames when a high-speed passenger train packed with some 350 people, mainly university students, collided head-on with a freight train late Tuesday.

Rescue crews say all forensic evidence had been gathered from the rail cars, but a final sweep of the wagons would be conducted before they were moved. A final batch of black bags with forensic evidence, mobile phones, ruck sacks and personal belongings were delivered to police late Thursday to assist in ongoing investigations.

But frustration and anger is growing among grieving relatives and Greeks altogether.

A Greek government spokesman said the stationmaster on duty near the site of Tuesday's train collision has admitted to being guilty of negligence.

On Friday, railway workers walked off their jobs for a second day, complaining of a train network that remains outdated, underfunded and dangerous because of lacking security systems that Greek taxpayers paid for decades ago, but have yet to see installed.

In Athens and Larissa, near the site of the crash, students protested in the streets, accusing authorities of waging what they called a cover up. They vowed in massive banners they hoisted during their protests to become, as they put it, the voice of the dead.

The demonstrations took place as scores of parents and relatives remained gathered outside a hospital near the site of the crash, waiting for the results of DNA tests that could identify their loved ones. By Friday, only 24 of the remains collected by crews from the wreckage have been identified, bringing painful closure to relatives.

For dozens more, the agony continues, especially for those whose relatives remain missing and unaccounted for.

Dimitris Bournazis, who lost his father and 15-year-old brother, is among them.

No one has told us anything, he told television crews. I've called the railway company four times to get some sort of information about my relatives, and I have been placed on hold with a machine-operated message system telling me how to enjoy Greece's safest travel.

The government of conservative Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis has vowed to set up a cross-party committee to investigate the causes of the crash, afford speedy justice and remedy longstanding flaws in the country's railway system.



Critics say the action is late by 57 lost lives.
Since the launch of a U.S. government program called Uniting for Ukraine in April 2022, more than 113,000 Ukrainians have arrived in the US, according to the Department of Homeland Security. Karina Bafradzhian met with one Ukrainian family who arrived as part of that program. Camera: Alexander Bergan
American journalist Nate Thayer, known for his coverage of the end of the Khmer Rouge regime and the emergence of modern Cambodia, died in early January at the age of 62. A unique group of Southeast Asian refugees gathered in late February to honor him. VOAs Chetra Chap was there. Camera: Sisovann Pin
One month after a freight train derailed in East Palestine, Ohio, sending tons of toxic chemicals into the air and prompting a temporary evacuation of the town, the fallout from the accident continues, both on the ground where local residents complain of lingering effects, and in Washington, where the Biden administration is under assault from conservatives over the federal response.

There were no injuries reported as a result of the accident, but residents of the area nearby are complaining of a mix of symptoms that may be related to chemical exposure, including headaches, breathing difficulties and skin rashes. This is despite assertions by state and federal environmental officials who say they have tested air and water samples and have found no evidence of harmful levels of dangerous chemicals.

Contractors have removed millions of gallons of toxic liquids and hundreds of tons of contaminated solid waste from the crash site and affected areas. However, some experts have questioned the thoroughness of the testing being conducted, and have warned that a larger and more extensive effort is necessary.

In Washington, Republicans have used the accident to lash out at the Biden administration and its officials, calling the federal response to the disaster insufficient, despite Ohios Republican governor, Mike DeWine, saying publicly that he has no complaints about the federal response, and that his state is getting the help we need.

In a more conspiratorial vein, members of conservative media organizations, including popular Fox News host Tucker Carlson, have worked to inject the issue of race into the response to the disaster. Carlson and others have insinuated that the Biden administration would have mounted a stronger response if the disaster had occurred in a community of color, rather than in the majority-white East Palestine.

Timeline of events

Shortly before 9 p.m. on Feb. 3, a 150-car freight train operated by railway firm Norfolk Southern was passing through East Palestine when about 50 cars derailed in a fiery crash that officials have speculated was caused by an overheated brake bearing on a single car.

Of the dozens of train cars that went off the rails, 11 contained hazardous materials, including five that were carrying vinyl chloride, a highly combustible gas. Others carried a variety of toxic chemicals, some of which the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the National Institutes for Health say may cause cancer in people exposed to them.

Officials from the federal Environmental Protection Agency were on the ground in East Palestine within hours of the crash, the agency has said, with some 17 workers in place and performing air and water safety tests within the first 24 hours.

On Feb. 5, with state and federal agencies working to control the burning wreck, Governor DeWine ordered a mandatory evacuation of everyone within one mile of the site, warning that temperatures had risen drastically in one of the affected cars, making a catastrophic explosion possible.

The following day, the radius of the evacuation was expanded to two miles, as safety officials initiated a controlled burn of the vinyl chloride, meant to prevent an explosion. The result was an hours-long conflagration that sent plumes of dark black smoke into the air.

On Feb. 7, federal officials sampled the air and water in East Palestine and deemed it safe for residents to return to their homes. The mandatory evacuation order was lifted Feb. 9.

Norfolk Southern blamed

The train that crashed was owned and operated by Norfolk Southern, as were the tracks on which it was traveling when the crash occurred. In the weeks since, federal authorities, including the Department of Transportation and the Environmental Protection Agency, have blamed the company for the accident and said that it will be liable for cleanup and remediation costs.

Let me be clear: Norfolk Southern will pay for cleaning up the mess they created and for the trauma theyve inflicted on this community, EPA Administrator Michael S. Regan said in a news release issued Feb. 21.

Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg released a letter to the company, accusing it of resisting tougher safety regulations in the past and demanding reforms. "In this context, Norfolk Southern and your industry must demonstrate that you will not seek to supercharge profits by resisting higher standards that could benefit the safety of workers and the safety of American communities, like East Palestine," he wrote.

For its part, the company has said that it is committed to cleaning up the town and compensating residents. In an open letter, Norfolk Southern President and CEO Alan Shaw, who visited the crash site, said that his company was aware of residents concerns and would work to address them.

"I hear you, we hear you," Shaw said. "My simple answer is that we are here and will stay here for as long as it takes to ensure your safety and to help East Palestine recover and thrive."

Residents frustrated

In the weeks since the crash, residents of East Palestine have expressed frustration with government agencies and Norfolk Southern. At one point, representatives of the railroad refused to appear at a public meeting, citing unspecified safety concerns.

Local officials have complained about what they see as insufficient attention being paid to their town. East Palestines mayor, Trent Conaway, took particular exception to the fact that President Joe Biden had visited Ukraine in February without coming to his town first.

That was the biggest slap in the face, Conaway said in an appearance on Fox News. That tells you right now he doesnt care about us. He can send every agency he wants to, but I found out this morning that he was in Ukraine giving millions of dollars away to people over there and not to us  so I'm furious.

Biden on Thursday told reporters that he has been working closely with every official in Ohio to respond to the crash. He seemed to suggest that he would eventually visit, saying, I will be out there at some point.

Researchers concerned

Professor Andrew J. Whelton, a professor of civil engineering and environmental and ecological engineering at Purdue University, told VOA the residents have ample justification for their concerns about the health risks they face.

Whelton, who has consulted on numerous toxic spill cleanups, has personally traveled to East Palestine with a team to collect soil and water samples and said he experienced physical symptoms of toxic chemical exposure himself.

He said that in his view, federal and state officials have not communicated the severity of the danger facing the community there and appear not to have taken some basic preliminary analyses necessary to adequately clean things up.

"After you remove the acute health threats from the area, then the cleanup process will take years. But they haven't removed the acute health threats from the area," he said. "People are being exposed, still. That poses an immediate danger to life and safety."

While officials have allowed people to return to their homes, saying that air and water tests show no harmful levels of dangerous chemicals, he said, "There are definitely areas in Palestine where it is unsafe to be, and officials have failed to notify people about those unsafe places."

Political response

Republicans in Congress have used the disaster in East Palestine as fodder for attacks on the Biden administration, particularly Buttigieg.

Speaking on the Senate floor, Minority Leader Mitch McConnell said, Even amidst a catalog of crises on his watch, from this and other recent train derailments to the meltdown in air travel back during the holiday season, Secretary Buttigieg has seemed more interested in pursuing press coverage for woke initiatives and climate nonsense than in attending to the basic elements of his day job.

However, the response of lawmakers has not been completely partisan. Democratic and Republican senators from Ohio and Pennsylvania, the two states most affected by the crash, came together with other lawmakers to jointly sponsor the Railway Safety Act of 2023. The bill would broaden safety requirements for rail transportation, particularly for trains carrying hazardous materials.

Next week, the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee will hold a hearing at which Norfolk Southern CEO Shaw is expected to testify, as are officials from the EPA and the state of Ohio.

Conspiracy theories

The East Palestine disaster has provided material for commentators on the far right, who claim that there has been a conspiracy of silence from the mainstream media that has kept the disaster from receiving the level of attention it deserves. Many are focusing on the fact that East Palestine is a majority-white community, and attributing malevolent motives to the Biden administration.

Carlson, on his program, said, East Palestine is overwhelmingly white, and its politically conservative  That shouldnt be relevant but as youre about to hear, it very much is. He went on to suggest that the administration would have acted differently if the disaster had affected a community of color. But it happened to the poor town of East Palestine, Ohio, whose people are forgotten, and in the view of the people who lead this country, forgettable.

Charlie Kirk, leader of the conservative organization Turning Point USA, described what he characterized as insufficient media coverage of the disaster as part of a war on white people.

If this train derailment happened in downtown Atlanta in the densely populated Black neighborhoods, this would be the No. 1 news story, he said.

Prominent Ohio Democrat Tim Ryan, a former member of Congress who lost a run for the Senate last year, ridiculed the attempt to inject racial politics into the story. You guys want to talk about a train accident as an attack on white people? Ryan said of Republicans, in an interview with The Washington Post. We want to talk about how we rebuild these communities.
The Charlottesville School Board has voted unanimously to approve a collective bargaining resolution that covers all Charlottesville City Schools staff.

The Thursday night vote made the city school division the fourth in Virginia to grant its employees collective bargaining rights. Richmond, Arlington and Prince William County have already won those rights.

This is historical, and its been a journey, School Board Member Lisa Larson-Torres said during Thursdays meeting.

The agreement makes the Charlottesville Education Associations contract one of the strongest in the state, according to the union itself.

The Charlottesville agreement covers two bargaining units: one that includes licensed school staff  such as teachers, nurses and librarians  and another for school support staff  including cafeteria workers and custodians.

Under the terms of the agreement, those two units can choose two topics to negotiate during the three-year span of the contract from a list including wages, benefits, discipline procedures and health and safety conditions, among others.

The Charlottesville Education Association hasnt decided yet what topics it wants to negotiate over.

Pay is always an issue, union organizer Bekah Saxon told The Daily Progress during Thursdays meeting. But were also looking at how we get resources to help support students.

In neighboring Albemarle County, school staff have also moved closer to a collective bargaining agreement of their own.

In February, the Albemarle Education Association made its second bid for collective bargaining rights. Albemarle School Board Chair Katrina Callsen told the county Board of Supervisors on Wednesday to expect a collective bargaining agreement of some kind to pass.

In May 2022, Albemarle County Public Schools voted against a resolution that would have allowed most division employees to negotiate a collective bargaining agreement. At the time, county school board members said the state law allowing collective bargaining did not provide sufficient guidance for how the process would work.

Still, the fights not over. Dave Koenig, a teacher at Lugo-McGiness, pushed the school board to make negotiations open to the public. That isnt the norm, but schools in Chicago, Illinois, and Brookline, Massachusetts, among others, have moved toward open negotiations.

As we enter this new world, weve got to bargain together. Lets do this the right way for everyone to see, Koenig told the school board.

School Board Member Jennifer McKeever disagreed.

I want to see thoughtful, deliberate negotiation, McKeever said. For her, that means conversations cant be open in order to build trust.

The collective bargaining agreement also requires funding from the city. School officials said they hadnt yet determined how much it would cost to implement a resolution.

The specifics matter, City Council Member Brian Pinkston told The Daily Progress in February when city schools initially announced support for collective bargaining. I supported collective bargaining for the city, so I should support it for the city schools.

But, Pinkston said, for all this stuff, were going to have to look at our total budget.
A report this week said Ethiopia wants to terminate a U.N.-backed investigation into abuses committed during the two-year Tigray war.

Reuters news agency said Ethiopia is lobbying governments to back a resolution that would end the mandate of the commission conducting the investigation. Rights groups say stopping the probe on alleged war crimes would deny justice and undermine the credibility of the U.N. Human Rights Council.

Human Rights Watch this week published a letter signed by 63 rights groups to the U.N. Human Rights Council, expressing concern about Ethiopias plans to introduce a motion to end the commission probing the war in Tigray region.

Amnesty International, one of the groups to sign the letter, says terminating the mandate of the commission would have serious consequences.

Amnestys Horn of Africa Campaigner Suad Nur says it would only serve what she calls Ethiopias deeply embedded culture of impunity.

It will also deny justice for victims and survivors of gross human rights violations," Nur said. "This is including sexual violence from a highly atrocious conflict.

The U.N. commission was established a year after war broke out between Ethiopias government and forces in the countrys Tigray region, in November 2020.

Rights groups say both sides are guilty of atrocities, including torture, mass executions, detentions, and rapes.

Ethiopias government has from the beginning opposed the commissions investigation and tried a year ago to block funding for it, calling it politically motivated, but failed to get enough votes.

But diplomats this week told Reuters that Ethiopia is seeking support for a motion it plans to introduce at the U.N. Human Rights Council to end the commissions mandate six months early.

Ethiopias government has not commented directly on the Reuters report.

But in prepared remarks at the opening of the African Union Summit on February 15, Ethiopias Deputy Prime Minister Demeke Mekonnen confirmed the plan.

This commission could undermine the AU-led peace process and the implementation of the peace agreement with inflammatory rhetoric. It could also undermine the efforts of national institutions," Mekonnen said.

The printed speech, given to some media, went on to say that Ethiopia prepared a resolution for terminating the commissions mandate that will be presented at the councils upcoming session.

It then called on the African Union to endorse our resolution and assist us to terminate this unwarranted mandate.

But Demeke did not read that part of the written speech during his remarks.

Reuters quoted Western diplomats saying they were urging Ethiopia to back off its plan to submit the motion, saying it would set a terrible precedent.

At an AU summit press briefing, VOA asked U.N. Secretary General Antonio Guterres to comment on the deputy prime ministers attack on the U.N. commission.

The only thing I can testify is that the U.N. rights work of the U.N. system is a work that is always positive in relations to the peace process," said Guterres.

The African Union brokered a November peace deal between Tigrayan forces and the Ethiopian government after fighting that killed tens of thousands, with some estimates in the hundreds of thousands.

Suad Nur of Amnesty International says for peace to be sustainable there must be justice and accountability.

The Ethiopian government rejected the U.N. commissions September report, which found widespread violations by both sides, including the governments using starvation as a method of warfare.
The United States announced Friday a new package of military aid for Ukraine that totals about $400 million, Secretary of State Antony Blinken said.

"This military assistance package includes more ammunition for U.S.-provided HIMARS and howitzers, which Ukraine is using so effectively to defend itself, as well as ammunition for Bradley Infantry Fighting Vehicles, Armored Vehicle Launched Bridges, demolitions munitions and equipment, and other maintenance, training and support," he said.

The package will be funded using the presidential drawdown authority, which authorizes the president to transfer articles and services from U.S. stocks without congressional approval during an emergency, Blinken said in announcing the aid.

The Armored Vehicle Launched Bridge is a portable, 60-foot folding metal bridge that is carried on top of a tank body. Providing that system now could help Ukrainian troops as they launch an expected spring offensive, making it easier for them to cross rivers to battle Russian forces.

Including this latest package, the U.S. has now provided more than $32 billion in military aid to Ukraine. The vehicle bridges and ammunition in the package can be delivered quickly to the front lines because they will be taken from existing Pentagon stocks.

European Union countries also are working to deliver thousands of shells to Ukraine under a $1 billion program.



Particularly significant will be the delivery of 155 mm NATO-standard howitzer rounds that are urgently needed in advance of an intense spring campaign, according to the Financial Times, citing anonymous EU officials. This ammunition, according to the FT report, is critical to keep Ukraine in a fight in which Russia fires on average an estimated four shells for every Ukrainian shell fired.

"We need as much ammunition as possible. There are many more Russians here than we have ammunition to destroy them," Volodymyr Nazarenko, a deputy commander in the National Guard of Ukraine, told Ukrainian NV Radio.

Leaders meet in Ukraine

U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland made a surprise visit to Ukraine on Friday to attend a conference on justice and war crimes.

The U.S. Justice Department said Garland held several meetings at the conference in the western city of Lviv to reaffirm our determination to hold Russia accountable for crimes committed in its unjust and unprovoked invasion against its sovereign neighbor.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, who met with Garland as well as top European legal officials at the conference, called for Russia to face international prosecution for its crimes.

We are doing everything to ensure that the International Criminal Court is successful in punishing Russian war criminals, Zelenskyy said during his evening video address Friday.

Zelenskyy accused Russian forces of committing more than 70,000 war crimes and said, the main issue of all these meetings and the Lviv conference is accountability.

Russia denies committing war crimes or targeting civilians in Ukraine.

Along with Garland, other officials at Fridays conference included British Attorney General Victoria Prentis, Spanish Attorney General Alvaro Garcia Ortiz, and European Commissioner for Justice Didier Reynders.

Fighting on the front line

On the battlefield, heavy fighting continued in the besieged eastern Ukrainian city of Bakhmut.

Ukrainian commander Nazarenko said the situation in the city was critical, with fighting going on around the clock.

Of the Russian offensive, he told Ukrainian NV Radio, "they take no account of their losses in trying to take the city by assault. The task of our forces in Bakhmut is to inflict as many losses on the enemy as possible. Every meter of Ukrainian land costs hundreds of lives to the enemy."

Bakhmut is being blasted to ruins as Russian troops and mercenaries shell the citys last access routes to prevent Ukrainian troops from entering or leaving the city. A bridge in the adjacent town of Khromove was damaged by Russian tank shelling.

As Russian forces inch closer into Bakhmut, the head of Russia's Wagner Group mercenaries, Yevgeni Prighozin, said the city was almost surrounded, with only one road still open for Ukraine's troops. He spoke in a video recorded about 7 kilometers north of Bakhmut. "Only one route [out] is left," he said. "The pincers are closing."

He called on Zelenskyy to order a retreat from Bakhmut to save his soldiers' lives.

Ukrainian soldiers, however, were working to repair damaged roads, and more troops were heading toward the front line indicating Ukraine was not yet ready to relinquish the city. To the west, Ukrainians were digging new trenches for defensive positions.

Victory in Bakhmut would be a steppingstone to capturing the surrounding Donbas region, an important strategic goal. Ukraine says the city has little intrinsic strategic value but notes huge losses there could determine the course of the war.

Accusations of hypocrisy

Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov accused the United States of hypocrisy after Blinken said Russia cannot be allowed to wage war in Ukraine with impunity, during a security forum they attended Friday in New Delhi.



Lavrov said it was a double standard to question Russias action in Ukraine when the U.S. cited a threat to its national interest to justify military intervention in various parts of the world, including the war in Iraq, airstrikes on Libya, and the bombing of Yugoslavia during the Kosovo conflict in 1999.

Meanwhile, Russian defense companies are showcasing their products at major international arms fairs, Britains Defense Ministry said Friday in its daily update about the Russian invasion of Ukraine.

The companies are displaying the Arena-E active protection system, designed to improve the survivability of armored vehicles.

There is no evidence the system has been installed on Russian vehicles in Ukraine, where Russia has lost more than 5,000 armored vehicles, according to the British ministry.

That is likely due to Russian companies inability to manufacture high-tech systems at scale, the defense ministry said, a problem which is exacerbated by the effect of international sanctions.

Some information in this report came from The Associated Press.
U.S. companies no longer regard China as the primary investment destination it once was, according to an annual survey of American businesspeople operating there who, for the first time in 25 years, no longer see China as a top-three market.

Most of those surveyed by the American Chamber of Commerce in China (AmCham China) say they are pessimistic, given 2022 revenue and profits, China's economy, the overall outlook for investment and business environment, and the future of U.S.-China relations.

According to the 2023 China Business Climate Survey, released Wednesday by the American Chamber of Commerce in China (AmCham China), only 45% of the surveyed American companies regard China as their primary or among their top three investment destinations, which is the largest drop in the survey's 25-year history.

Michael Hart, president of AmCham China, said Wednesday at a news conference, "A year ago, 60% of people said China was either their top priority or their top-three priority. And this year, that's fallen to 45%."

The survey was conducted from October 19 to November 16 last year, before Beijing lifted its draconian zero-COVID policy, but AmCham China conducted a flash survey in February to monitor changes as China emerged from lockdowns and other controls.

VOA Mandarin asked the Chinese Embassy for comment on the AmChamChina report.

Hesong Shao, an embassy representative, referenced another document, the 2023 White Paper on the Business Environment in China, published by the American Chamber of Commerce in South China on February 27.

He pointed to its finding that more than 90% of the participating companies select China as one of the most important investment destinations and 75% of the companies plan to reinvest in China in 2023.

He also referred to U.S. trade figures, saying, According to statistics from the US Department of Commerce, total trade in goods between the US and China hit a record $690.6 billion in 2022."

Factors affecting plans

Executives from 319 American multinational companies participated in the survey, accounting for about 47% of the total member companies of AmCham China. Of the respondents, 55% reported no plans to expand or decrease investment in China operations in 2023.

The factors fueling American companies' bearish views include the impact of the three-year pandemic and severe lockdown, the difficulty of business travel for Americans, the challenge of supply chain disruption, and the overall downturn in the business atmosphere, according to Hart.

Affected by the zero-COVID lockdowns, 68% of the American companies participating in the survey predicted that their company's revenue in 2022 may be flat or lower than that in 2020. COVID was first reported in humans in late 2019 in Wuhan, China.

Hart said that in order to diversify risks, most of the member companies have begun to invest in other countries and establish alternative production lines. Their overall confidence in China has begun to decline, especially after the 20th National Congress of the Communist Party of China last year when the Chinese government discussed establishing domestic champions or state-controlled companies in various industries, making 65% of the American businesspeople question China's commitment to continued foreign investment.

Of the AmCham China members surveyed, 49% said they feel less welcome than a year ago; that rises to 56% in the consumer sector.

However, when asked if they planned to withdraw from China, as many as 74% of the American companies said they would not consider relocating manufacturing or sourcing outside China, compared with 12% who had begun moving their businesses out of China, and another 12% who remained on the fence.

Warning sign

According to AmCham China's survey, the increasing number of companies that are relocating or considering relocation is a warning sign worth watching.

Colm Rafferty, chairman of AmCham China, called on the U.S. and Chinese governments to face up to the challenges the foreign business community is encountering. He addressed a news conference Wednesday through a prerecorded video.

"Last year was particularly challenging for our member companies, as they dealt with China's economic slowdown, zero-COVID control measures, and ongoing efforts to ensure compliance with various new U.S. and China-related regulations," he said.

According to the survey, the increasingly tense U.S.-China relations topped the challenges facing U.S. businesspeople in China for three consecutive years, far ahead of COVID-19 prevention measures, inconsistent regulatory interpretation and unclear laws and enforcement, rising labor costs, and regulatory compliance risks.

Moreover, American businesspeople are pessimistic about the future trend of U.S.-China relations. Forty-six percent of those surveyed believe the relationship between the two countries will continue to deteriorate, and as many as 72% have felt political pressure from the governments of the two countries, asking them to make political statements.

Tensions between the U.S. and China have affected the hiring progress of U.S. companies for the first time. The survey found that 51% of companies reported their top expatriates are unwilling to relocate to China. This may also be related to China's strict pandemic prevention measures.

Wang Zhangcheng, professor of human resources management at Guangzhou City University of Technology, told VOA Mandarin that the tensions in U.S.-China relations may affect the employment choices of Chinese employees, but that most workers will make employment choices without considering U.S.-China relations.

He said a small number of Chinese workers may refuse to work for foreign companies or use foreign products because they see patriotism trumping livelihood.

Geopolitical effects

He Jiangbing, a Chinese economist in Hubei province in central China, told VOA Mandarin that the survey results reflect geopolitics such as the war in Ukraine and tensions over Taiwan.

He said that China's tightening control of foreign and private enterprises is not conducive to attracting investment. He predicts the pace of economic decoupling between the United States and China may accelerate in the future.

"Overall, the business environment will deteriorate in the future, and it will not improve," he said. "I personally predict that this trend will not be reversed within five to 10 years."

Adrianna Zhang contributed to this report.
Belgium's Constitutional Court on Friday upheld a prisoner exchange treaty with Iran that could lead to the swap of a convicted Iranian diplomat for a jailed Belgian aid worker.

Belgian lawmakers cleared the treaty in July, but it has been held up by legal challenges from an exiled Iranian opposition group.

"The court rejects the action for annulment," the Constitutional Court said in a press release.

However, the judges also specified that the victims of any detainee being proposed for transfer must have the right to contest the specific case in court.

"Thus, when the government takes a decision to transfer, it must inform the victims of the relevant convicted person in such a way that they can effectively seek a review of the legality [of the transfer]," it said.

Aid worker Olivier Vandecasteele, arrested while on a visit to Iran in February 2022, was sentenced in January to 40 years in prison and 74 lashes on charges including spying. Brussels has said the charges are fake.

His distraught family has appealed to the government to do its utmost to get him released.

Following Friday's judgment, campaigners for Vandecasteele's release tweeted there was "still a [long] way to see Olivier free but tonight there might finally be a light at the end of the tunnel!"

Convicted in bomb plot

Iran has called for the release of Assadollah Assadi, sentenced to 20 years in prison in Belgium in 2021 over a foiled 2018 bomb plot. His was the first trial of an Iranian official for suspected terrorism in Europe since Iran's 1979 revolution.

The exiled National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI), whose rally near Paris had been the bomb plot's target, has insisted that Assadi remain in jail.

The NCRI said it would make use of the Constitutional Court's stipulation that any proposed transfer must be open to legal challenge.

"While the court did not annul the transfer agreement between Belgium and Iran, it has provided the plaintiffs with the opportunity to seek legal redress," Shahin Gobadi, a member of the group's foreign affairs committee, said in a statement.

"The National Council of Resistance and the plaintiffs are exercising this right to prevent the release of this terrorist."

Iran has called the Paris attack allegations a "false flag" stunt by the NCRI, which it in turn considers a terrorist group.

Some Belgian lawmakers have voiced concern that the treaty might lead to "hostage diplomacy" and put other Belgians at risk of detention.

It is not clear when a prisoner exchange might happen.
The Office of the U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights has denounced as illegal the Nicaraguan government's move to strip hundreds of political opponents of President Daniel Ortega of their citizenship.

"These arbitrary and disproportionate actions and measures, including those imposed retroactively, violate Nicaragua's international human rights commitments," said Assistant Secretary-General for Human Rights Ilze Brands Kehris, who presented the high commissioner's latest update on Nicaragua to the U.N. Human Rights Council on Friday.

She noted that a first wave of 222 people, who "had been arbitrarily deprived of their liberty," had been "deported" from the country on February 9 and rendered stateless the same day.

The action, she said, came after the National Assembly of Nicaragua approved a law declaring that those sentenced as "traitors to the homeland" should lose their Nicaraguan nationality.

A week later, on February 15, a second wave of 94 individuals were exiled, stripped of their nationality, and declared "fugitives."

Kehris said that those affected include human rights defenders, journalists, activists, and social and political leaders in exile and in Nicaragua.

"They have a chilling effect on many Nicaraguans both within the country and in exile," she said.

The report also condemns the lengthy imprisonment, without trial, of the bishop of Matagalpa, Monsignor Rolando Alvarez, who refused to be deported from the country and was stripped of his Nicaraguan nationality.

The report documents other serious human rights violations since the beginning of this year, including acts of violations of indigenous people's rights, such as the "persistent illegal occupation of their territories and the exploitation of natural resources without their free, prior, and informed consent."

Wendy Carolina Morales Urbina, Nicaragua's attorney general, "firmly and totally" rejected what she called "this malicious and persistent use of this mechanism of oral update."

She said the only purpose of this mechanism was "to harm our sovereignty and independence" by presenting "biased and subjective information" aimed at undermining our ability to achieve the "well-being of our nation as pillars of human rights."

Coinciding with the high commissioner's oral update, the three-member Group of Human Rights Experts on Nicaragua has just issued a report, which accuses the government of Daniel Ortega of "widespread and systematic human rights violations that amount to crimes against humanity and are motivated by political reasons."

Jan-Michael Simon, chair of the Group of Experts, said the violations include "extrajudicial executions, arbitrary detentions, torture, arbitrary deprivation of nationality and violations to the right to remain in one's own country."

"They are not isolated incidents," he said, "but the product of the deliberate dismantling of democratic institutions and destruction of civic and democratic space."

Nicaragua did not grant the investigators access to the country. Consequently, the group gathered its information from available documents and hundreds of interviews and testimony from officials, victims, witnesses, and civic and human rights organizations in areas near Nicaragua.

The report finds high-level authorities have used the executive, legislative, judicial and electoral branches to repress fundamental freedoms and persecute "opposing persons."

"The objective is to eliminate, by different means, any opposition or dissenting voices in the country," said Simon. "This has resulted in the Nicaraguan population living in fear of the actions that the government may take against them."

Since December 2018, the report notes at least 3,144 civil society organizations have been shut down as well as virtually all independent media and human rights organizations.

Human rights expert Angela Maria Buitrago said the situation continues to worsen.

"All these actions are possible because the state has been used as a weapon of persecution against the population," she said.

The group concluded that "President Daniel Ortega and Vice President Rosario Murillo have put into practice patterns of these crimes and continue to do so as of the date of the report."

The three investigators said they shared the report with Nicaraguan authorities before its release but have received no response.
Editor's note: Here is a fast take on what the international community has been up to this past week, as seen from the United Nations perch.

Cindy McCain named new World Food Program chief

American Cindy McCain will take over as executive director of the United Nations World Food Program when current director David Beasley steps down next month. Ms. McCain, a champion for human rights, has a long history of giving a voice to the voiceless through her humanitarian and philanthropic work, said U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres and Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) Director-General Qu Dongyu in a statement Thursday announcing the appointment. McCain is a prominent Republican Party member who is currently U.S. ambassador to United Nations agencies in Rome, which include the FAO, the WFP and the International Fund for Agricultural Development.



American Cindy McCain to Head UN World Food Program



UNICEF offers to assist Iran probe cases of possible gas poisoning of hundreds of school girls

UNICEF offered Thursday to help Iran investigate a series of incidents in which noxious fumes have sickened schoolchildren, particularly girls, in what some officials suspect is an attack on womens education. Hundreds of girls at about 30 schools have become ill since November, some requiring hospitalization. After months of downplaying the poisonings, the state-run IRNA news agency filed multiple stories on the subject on Sunday in which officials acknowledged the scope of the incidents.

UNICEF Offers Help to Iran in Noxious Fume Incidents Affecting Schoolchildren

Russian invasion under spotlight at U.N. rights body



At the opening of the U.N. Human Rights Councils current session on Monday, Secretary-General Antonio Guterres condemned what he called the carnage unleashed by Russias invasion of Ukraine, which he said, has triggered the most massive violations of human rights we are living today. Globally, the U.N. chief presented a gloomy assessment of the state of human rights, saying the document that enshrines and protects rights is under assault.

Russias Ukraine Invasion Dominates at UN Human Rights Council



In brief

 Secretary-General Guterres visited Iraq this week for the first time in six years. He said with a new government in place, there is a window of opportunity for progress. He discussed with Prime Minister Mohammed Shia Al Sudani the governments reform agenda aimed at tackling corruption, protecting human rights, diversifying the economy away from oil dependence, and creating jobs for youth. Guterres also went to Irbil, the capital of the Kurdistan Regional Government, where he met with President Nechirvan Barzani, Prime Minister Masrour Barzani and other officials.

 International Atomic Energy Agency chief Rafael Grossi arrived for meetings in Tehran this week at the invitation of officials there. New concerns have arisen after reports that the nuclear watchdog agency found traces at the Fordow fuel enrichment plant of uranium particles enriched to 83.7%  just below the weapons grade threshold of around 90%. Iran denies seeking a nuclear bomb and says it is only seeking to use the resource for civilian purposes.

 Relief efforts continue to scale up in parts of war-torn Syria hit by the February 6 earthquake. As of Friday, the U.N. says 557 trucks carrying supplies have crossed into opposition areas of northwest Syria through three border crossings from Turkey. A nearly $400 million appeal for earthquake assistance is now just over 40% funded, at $173 million. World Health Organization chief Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus visited northwest Syria this week. He told reporters Friday in Geneva that the Syrian people have suffered more than most people ever will, or ever could. He said the WHO has so far distributed more than 200 tons of aid to health facilities in the northwest. Some 6,000 people died in northern Syria and thousands more were injured and made homeless in the massive quake, which was centered in southern Turkey. More than 40,000 people were killed in Turkey.

 U.N. Special Envoy for Syria Geir Pedersen briefed the Security Council on Tuesday. He said he had just returned from Moscow, where he met with Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov on Monday. Russian troops have been supporting the regime of President Bashar al-Assad in Syrias civil war since 2015. Speaking of the recent earthquake that struck Turkey and Syria, he said there had been a relative lull in violence in its aftermath, but that there had been some concerning incidents, including exchanges of shelling and mortar fire between areas under government, opposition and terrorist control; reported Turkish drone strikes; and an airstrike in central Damascus attributed to Israel. He said violence should stop immediately to facilitate relief efforts.

 The U.N., its partners and the government of Ethiopia, launched an appeal for nearly $4 billion to reach more than 20 million people in Ethiopia this year with vital assistance, including food and health services. Aid access has improved in the north since a cessation of hostilities was agreed to in November. The U.N. says working with other NGOs and the government, they have delivered nearly 180,000 tons of food and other relief supplies into the Tigray region. Humanitarian workers are seeking to reach more than 8.5 million people in Afar, Amhara and Tigray.

Did you know?

The World Health Organization has a free app that you can use to test your hearing. Your reporter downloaded it and gave it a try. You will need earphones for your smartphone. To test, you listen to a series of numbers clouded in noise that sounds a bit like the public announcements in a busy subway station. At the end, the app assesses your hearing on how many you heard and entered correctly. You can also store your results and check changes over time. hearWHO is available in English, Spanish and Mandarin. Explore the app here.



What we are watching next week



On Monday, the 67th session of the Commission on the Status of Women will get underway at U.N. headquarters. More than 4,000 delegates are expected to attend in person. This years theme is Innovation and Technological Change, and Education in the Digital Age for Achieving Gender Equality and the Empowerment of All Women and Girls. The two-week-long session brings together diplomats, government officials and civil society to discuss how to improve the lives of women around the world.
Maintaining transatlantic unity in supporting Ukraine and handling Beijing's potential arming of Russia were two key agenda items in U.S. President Joe Biden's meeting Friday with German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, amid still minor but growing anti-war sentiments in Europe that in the long run could threaten a unified front against Moscow.

The working visit at the White House was devoid of ceremonial fanfare and designed to get down to the business of projecting an image that the two key NATO allies are in lockstep when it comes to stopping Russian President Vladimir Putin's expansionist ambition.

Scholz last visited the White House in February 2022 as Putin was amassing troops on the Ukrainian border.

"We made it clear that if he moved, we would both respond. And together we made good on that promise," Biden said, thanking the chancellor for his "strong and steady leadership" that drove "historic changes" domestically, including increasing Germany's military spending and moving to diversify from Russian energy sources.

Berlin is the second-largest donor after Washington, committing almost $15 billion in support to Ukraine and Ukrainian refugees since the start of Russia's invasion.

"At this time, I think it's very important that we give the message that we will continue to do so as long as it takes," Scholz said.

Both leaders highlighted their strong partnership in support of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy's effort to defend his country despite a growing sense of urgency to find a road map to end the conflict a year after it started.

While most Germans support Ukraine, last week more than 10,000 demonstrators took to the streets of Berlin to protest the war and the sending of arms to Kyiv  amid economic difficulties due to high energy prices.

"U.S. domestic initiatives such as the Inflation Reduction Act will likely exacerbate Germany's economic troubles," said Suzanne Loftus, research fellow at the Quincy Institute's Eurasia program, referring to a recent law designed to shelter U.S. companies from the impact of rising prices and subsidize climate-friendly investments.

"It favors U.S. industry, threatens the German auto industry and incentivizes European businesses to move to the [United] States with its provision of high green-energy subsidies," she told VOA.

White House officials dismissed concerns about German domestic political pressure.

"The president is not at all concerned about a crack in allied unity," said John Kirby, National Security Council coordinator for strategic communications, in an interview with VOA on Friday.

Kirby said that throughout the year the allies had been "incredibly resilient, resolved and unified" toward Ukraine. Fresh off his trip to Kyiv and Warsaw in February, where Biden met with Zelenskyy, Polish President Andrzej Duda and leaders of the Bucharest Nine of NATO's most eastern flank, the president is "even more convinced that allied unity will continue," Kirby added.

Washington also announced a new military aid package for Ukraine worth $400 million that includes ammunition and tactical bridges to move tanks and armored vehicles.

Weapons and endgame

In January, both leaders ultimately agreed on sending tanks to Kyiv. They are aligned on holding off sending F-16 fighter jets for now, said Jackson Janes, a resident senior fellow at the German Marshall Fund.

"The questions to be confronted involve the speed and the quantity with which these supplies can be delivered to enable a Ukrainian spring offensive," Janes told VOA. "Time is short."

Neither leader is indicating he is seeking an immediate endgame to the conflict, nor succumbing to domestic political pressures, including from some Republican members of the U.S. House of Representatives, to press Kyiv to negotiate.

"This is not a time to emphasize the potential endgame scenarios before we see how the battle lines unfold this year into next," Janes said, adding that Putin is not willing to negotiate and will concede only if Ukraine makes headway in regaining territory.

However, the longer the conflict continues, the more potential there is for war fatigue to settle among their citizens, and sooner or later the leaders will need to focus more effort on finding a road map to end the conflict, he said. Within a year or so, the pressure to envision a cease-fire, not a peace treaty, will likely increase.

"But this year has to be a full-throttle push to give Kyiv all the tools it needs," he said.

There have been reports that Germany, France and the United Kingdom are considering the possibility of a defense pact with Ukraine to boost their security amid future potential peace talks with Russia.

China factor

Biden and Scholz share concerns that China is considering providing lethal weapons to Russia, and both have publicly urged Beijing not to do so.

"We have been very honest about the fact that there will be ramifications for doing that," Kirby said, without outlining what those consequences might be. "Clearly, at the very least one of them is a blow to China's standing in [the] international community."

A focus between Biden and Scholz, and with European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, who will be visiting next week, is whether Europe will join Washington to impose sanctions on China in the event that it sends arms to Russia.

Whether the calls will deter Beijing depends on their cost-benefit calculus, said Liana Fix, fellow for Europe at the Council on Foreign Relations. Particularly significant is how convinced Beijing is that Europeans are serious about joining U.S. sanctions.

"So far, Beijing perceives Europeans as weak geopolitical actors, interested primarily in business, and especially Germany," Fix told VOA.

Public pressure alone on China to refrain from delivering weapons to Russia will likely not work, she added. "A joint effort to strengthen ties within the global south areas, with other nations engaged with China, can help increase leverage with [Chinese President] Xi [Jinping]."

Jeff Custer contributed to this report.
Wayne Shorter, an influential jazz innovator whose lyrical, complex jazz compositions and pioneering saxophone playing sounded through more than half a century of American music, has died. He was 89.

Shorter died Thursday surrounded by his family in Los Angeles, said Alisse Kingsley, a representative for the multi-Grammy winner. No cause of death was given.

"Visionary composer, saxophonist, visual artist, devout Buddhist, devoted husband, father and grandfather Wayne Shorter has embarked on a new journey as part of his extraordinary life  departing the earth as we know it in search of an abundance of new challenges and creative possibilities," a statement released by Kingsley said. It called him a gentle spirit who was "always inquisitive and constantly exploring."

Shorter, a tenor saxophonist, made his debut in 1959 and would go on to be a foundational member of two of the most seminal jazz groups: Art Blakey's Jazz Messengers and the Miles Davis Quintet.

Over the next eight decades, Shorter's wide-spanning collaborations would include co-founding the '70s fusion band Weather Report, some 10 album appearances with Joni Mitchell and further explorations with Carlos Santana and Steely Dan.

Many of Shorter's textured and elliptical compositions  including "Speak No Evil," "Black Nile," "Footprints" and "Nefertiti"  became modern jazz standards and expanded the harmonic horizons of jazz across some of its most fast-evolving eras.

Herbie Hancock once said of Shorter in Miles Davis's Second Great Quintet, "The master writer to me, in that group, was Wayne Shorter. He still is a master. Wayne was one of the few people who brought music to Miles that didn't get changed."

Hancock praised Shorter for his musical expertise and leaving a special mark in his life.

"Wayne Shorter, my best friend, left us with courage in his heart, love and compassion for all, and a seeking spirit for the eternal future," Hancock said in a statement. "He was ready for his rebirth. As it is with every human being, he is irreplaceable and was able to reach the pinnacle of excellence as a saxophonist, composer, orchestrator, and recently, composer of the masterful opera ' Iphigenia'. I miss being around him and his special Wayne-isms but I carry his spirit within my heart always."

As a band leader, Shorter released more than 25 albums and won 12 Grammy Awards. In 2015 he was given a lifetime achievement Grammy. Last month, he won a Grammy in the category of best improvised jazz solo for "Endangered Species" with Leo Genovese.

Shorter's work has been performed by several popular symphonies including Chicago, Detroit and Lyon along with the National Polish Radio Symphonic and Orpheus Chamber orchestras.

In his career, Shorter has had more than 200 compositions and was a Kennedy Center honoree in 2018.

"Maestro Wayne Shorter was our hero, guru, and beautiful friend," said Don Was, president of Blue Note Records, the label where Shorter recorded several albums. "His music possessed a spirit that came from somewhere way, way beyond and made this world a much better place. Likewise, his warmth and wisdom enriched the lives of everyone who knew him. Thankfully, the work he left behind will stay with us forever."
U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov talked briefly Thursday at a meeting of top diplomats from the Group of 20 nations in the first high-level meeting in months between the two countries.

U.S. officials said Blinken and Lavrov chatted for roughly 10 minutes on the sidelines of the G-20 conference in New Delhi. The short encounter came as relations between Washington and Moscow have plummeted while tensions over Russia's war with Ukraine have soared.

A senior U.S. official said Blinken used the discussion to make three points to Lavrov: that the U.S. would support Ukraine in the conflict for as long as it takes to bring the war to an end, that Russia should reverse its decision to suspend participation in the New START nuclear treaty and that Moscow should release detained American Paul Whelan.

The official, who spoke to reporters on condition of anonymity to discuss the private conversation, said Blinken had "disabused" Lavrov of any idea they might have that U.S. support for Ukraine is wavering.

The official declined to characterize Lavrov's response but said Blinken did not get the impression that there would be any change in Russia's behavior in the near term.

Russia had no immediate comment on the substance of the conversation, but Russian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Maria Zakharova said Blinken had asked to speak to Lavrov.

It was their first contact since last summer, when Blinken called Lavrov by phone about a U.S. proposal for Russia to release Whelan and formerly detained WNBA star Brittney Griner. Griner was later released in a swap for imprisoned Russian arms dealer Viktor Bout but Whelan remains detained in Russia after being accused of spying.

The last time Blinken and Lavrov met in person was in Geneva, Switzerland, in January 2022 on the eve of Russia's invasion. At that meeting, Blinken warned Lavrov about consequences Russia would face if it went ahead with its planned military operation but also sought to address some complaints that Russian President Vladimir Putin had made about the U.S. and NATO.

Those talks proved to be inconclusive as Russia moved ahead with its plans to invade and Blinken then canceled a scheduled followup meeting with Lavrov that was set for just two days before Moscow eventually invaded on Feb. 24, 2022.

The two men have attended several international conferences together since the war began, notably the last G-20 foreign ministers' meeting in Bali, Indonesia, last year, but had not come face-to-face until Thursday.
WASHINGTON DC - A senior United States official says his country will support institutions and organizations that are promoting the interest of citizens at time the southern African nation is preparing for crucial elections expected to be held sometime this year.

Speaking to journalists in Harare today, Robert Scott, the United States Deputy Assistant Secretary in the Bureau of African Affairs, also expressed his countrys reservations of the Private Voluntary Organization Bill, which would cripple many non-governmental organizations if it is passed into by President Emmerson Mnangagwa.

Specifically here obviously in front of everybodys minds currently is the elections in Zimbabwe. Our embassy is also looking at them and we will support institutions that will make the elections successful. We do not support politicians, we do not support parties. We support institutions and processes and so Im partly here to talk and indeed I did speak with the Minister of Foreign Affairs, with the Minister of Justice, with other government representatives.

Scott noted that the United States in concerned about the PVO Bill.

We had a meeting yesterday, covering also the election process, covering the PVO Bill (Private Voluntary Organizations Bill), in which we shared some of the concerns that have been expressed by others and I also expressed our thinking about the PVO Bill.

Observers say the PVO Bill, if passed into law, will give the government power to dissolve non-governmental organizations.

Scott further said his country is also part of the efforts being made by the African Development Bank (AFDB) to find ways in which Zimbabwe can start getting loans from financial institutions like the International Monetary Fund, Paris Club, World Bank and others.

Our embassy here is participating in the current AFDB debt arrears process which is potentially a very powerful tool for the government to engage and is also a powerful too for civil society and other organizations to be pulled into a process which will be fundamental and important for the economy of this country to re-engage, reopen to international lending. It will basically create space for businesses and investors to come in. Its a very positive potential and its very important to have a broader selection of this actor of this country as possible engaged in this process.

He prased the AFDB for coming up with the proposed debt process.

It also happens that many of the goals of the AFDB process are also the goals of the United States in engagement in this country  The opening of political space, the creation of the economy that has many options so that the people of this country benefit is something that we join in as far as U.S. government goes.

He said there is need for a free press in Zimbabwe as the country inches close to a crucial election.

 It needs participation by citizens, civic society organizations that come together to bring people to express their views and interests. And we certainly support that as well.

He futher noted that the mechanics of an election are important  Observation, to ensure that the people go to the polls, represent and observe the polls and report back to their fellow citizens about how the polling went. We certainly support that.

Scott was on a four-day official visit to Zimbabwe, a few days after Jill Biden, the wife of President Joe Biden, visited Namibia and Kenya.

The United States and its allies imposed targeted sanctions on some Zanu PF officials and companies over alleged human rights abuses and election rigging.

The U.S. extended the sanctions this week.

VOA Correspondent Rutendo Mawere contributed to this article
WALTERBORO, S.C. (AP)  South Carolina attorney Alex Murdaugh was sentenced to life in prison without parole Friday, a day after he was convicted of murder in the shooting deaths of his wife and son.

Murdaugh maintained his innocence when addressing the judge before sentencing.

I would never hurt my wife Maggie and I would never hurt my son Paul Paul, he said.

Keep scrolling for a collection of photos from the trial

Prosecutor Creighton Waters said none of the victims of the crime  members of Murdaughs family and the parents and relatives of his wife  wished to speak on behalf of the prosecution before sentencing.

The depravity, the callousness, the selfishness of these crimes are stunning. The lack of remorse and the effortless way in which he is, including here, sitting right over there in this witness stand  your honor, a man like that, a man like this man, should never be allowed to be among free, law abiding citizens, Waters said.

Prosecutors asked for a life sentence to hold Murdaugh responsible for what they say are decades of lying, stealing and using his family's considerable clout in their tiny county to his advantage. Any sentence would have no chance of parole.

As Murdaugh stood before the judge to learn his fate, he was in the same courtroom on the circuit where his father, grandfather and great-grandfather tried cases as the elected prosecutor for more than 80 years. His grandfathers portrait hung in the back of the room until the judge ordered it taken down for the trial.

Instead of the dress shirt and sport coat he wore through the six-week trial, the attorney who made millions suing big companies on behalf of people injured in wrecks arrived at court in a jail jumpsuit the day after he was convicted of two counts of murder.

Photos: Scenes from the Alex Murdaugh murder trial
ST. PAUL  The Minnesota Department of Public Safety Bureau of Criminal Apprehension (BCA) today released the name of the trooper who discharged his weapon during an officer involved shooting incident earlier this week just east of Moorhead in Clay County. Trooper Mark Peterson has been with the Minnesota State Patrol since 1999. He remains on standard administrative leave.

The two occupants of the vehicle have also been identified.

 Domonique Maurice Crayton, 29, of Milwaukee.

 Melody Victoria Gray, 30, of Milwaukee.

Crayton and Gray were driving westbound on I-94 shortly before 10:30 a.m. Monday when Gray lost control of the vehicle and spun out just east of County Highway 336. The vehicle came to a stop facing east against the median barrier. Trooper Peterson came upon the vehicle in his squad and stopped to assist. When he learned that the vehicle had been reported stolen in Germantown, Wisconsin, he positioned his squad to prevent the disabled vehicle from driving away. Trooper Peterson then asked Mr. Crayton to exit the vehicle.

According to the BCAs preliminary investigation, as Trooper Peterson attempted to handcuff Crayton, Ms. Gray exited the vehicle and pointed a handgun at the trooper. Trooper Peterson pulled Crayton behind the vehicle, put him to the ground, and then fired at Gray, striking her in the right arm. She fled across north the westbound lanes of I-94 into a field.

A snowplow clearing the westbound lanes stopped approximately 50 yards past the incident scene. Trooper Peterson handcuffed Crayton and left him on his stomach behind the car. The trooper ran to the snowplow and recovered a gun, which was under the plow.

Mr. Crayton got back onto his feet just as an off-duty 911 dispatcher came upon the scene. She ordered Crayton back to the ground and prevented him from getting up until the trooper could return.

Gray collapsed in the field. Additional responding officers from the State Patrol, the Clay County Sheriffs Office and the Moorhead and Dilworth police departments arrived at the scene and secured Gray. They removed her from the field and provided medical attention until the ambulance arrived.

Ms. Gray was taken by ambulance to Essentia Health Hospital in Fargo for treatment of a gunshot wound. She remains hospitalized. Charges against Ms. Gray related to the incident are pending with the Clay County Attorneys Office.

Mr. Crayton was charged earlier today in Clay County District Court with felony damage to property, receiving stolen property, and other charges. He is in the Clay County Jail.

Trooper Peterson was not injured. The shooting incident was captured on squad video. There is no body camera video of the incident.

This remains an active and ongoing investigation. When the investigation is complete, the BCA will present its findings to the Clay County Attorneys Office for review.
Gov. Glenn Youngkin's job approval ratings are rising, but he lags far behind former President Donald Trump and Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis as Virginia Republicans' first choice for the party's presidential nomination, according to a new survey.

Youngkin's Virginia job approval rating hit 57% in February - five points better than in February - and his disapproval rating was 35% - down six points from three months ago, according to a poll out Thursday from Roanoke College.

But a sizable majority of respondents think he should not run for president. Among Republican respondents, 42% said he should seek the Republican presidential nomination, down 10 points from November.

When Republican respondents were asked their first choice for president, 39% chose Trump and 28% picked DeSantis. Youngkin finished a distant third with 6%, just ahead of Nikki Haley, the former South Carolina governor and ambassador to the United Nations, and "someone else," each at 5%.

When the poll takers asked Republican respondents their second choice for the GOP nomination, Youngkin received 25% of the tally, followed by DeSantis at 21% and Trump at 18%.

Neither DeSantis, nor Youngkin has announced a presidential bid, which makes the questions theoretical at this stage, though DeSantis appears to be building toward a potential summer announcement, with stepped-up travel and a book release.

Kristin Davison, vice president of Axiom Strategies and political adviser to Youngkin, highlighted his job approval rating in the survey, which dealt chiefly with state issues.

"Governor Youngkin has hit his highest approval rating at 57% in a state that Joe Biden won by 10 points because he hit the ground running and got to work for Virginians starting on Day One," she said in a statement.

"His approval is up 5 points from November because the Governor delivered big wins for Virginians in this last session, standing up to Dominion to ensure low cost of living, standing up for parents' ability to be involved in their children's education, protecting Virginia from the Chinese Communist Party, and making it easier for experienced and skilled professionals to join Virginia's workforce.

"This poll should be a stark reminder to the liberal politicians who have been standing in the way of progress that they will find themselves at a disadvantage in the elections this fall."

All 40 Senate seats and all 100 House seats are up for election this fall. The fight for control of the legislature will be crucial for Youngkin's agenda.

Youngkin continues to say he is flattered to be asked about a national race, but that he has a big job in Virginia. Yet the governor has not publicly ruled out a presidential run.

He reportedly met with donors this week in New York. While fundraising could target his push to boost Virginia GOP legislative candidates in November, Youngkin is also making a series of national television appearances that revive questions about whether he plans to seek national office.

While in New York Wednesday, Youngkin appeared on CNBC to discuss his efforts to limit the Chinese Communist Party's influence, as through restrictions on purchases of farmland.

In an interview with Fox, Youngkin criticized President Joe Biden for not having visited East Palestine, Ohio, where a Norfolk Southern train derailed.

"You have to lead when you're president, and he is a follower," Youngkin said. "And unfortunately, the Ohio situation particularly screams for leadership. He has not done it."

On March 9, Youngkin will take part in a nationally televised CNN town hall on education issues.

In a statement Thursday the Democratic Party of Virginia criticized Youngkin for renewing his out of state travel. It noted that Axiom founder and CEO Jeff Roe, another political adviser to the governor, worked this week to walk back his comments to Fox that the GOP nomination contest is a two-person race between Donald Trump and Ron DeSantis.

Governor Youngkin has never really been all that invested in actually being Governor of the Commonwealth, said Liam Watson, press secretary for the Democratic Party of Virginia. From the outset, hes treated Virginians as though theyre just a steppingstone on his self-interested road to higher political office. He has shown his commitment to making decisions based on a different kind of litmus test: not what will help the Commonwealth, but what will help himself.

Biden's Virginia job approval ratings have gotten worse since the college's November survey. In February Biden's job approval was at 38%, down from 41% in November. Fifty-six percent of respondents said they disapprove of the president's job performance, up one percentage point since November.

The survey found that just 27% of respondents think the nation is on the right track and 69% think it is on the wrong track. As for Virginia, 55% of respondents said the state is moving in the right direction and 39% said it is on the wrong track.

The governor did get a White House endorsement of sorts on Thursday. During a Youngkin appearance at a Louisa County school to highlight Read Across America Day, a second grader asked if he was the president.

The Institute for Policy and Opinion Research at Roanoke College in Salem interviewed 680 people between Feb. 12 and Feb. 21. The survey has a margin of error of plus or minus 4.23 percentage points.
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The boss of Deutsche Telekom AG says his biggest mistake was a 2015 deal to take a stake in BT Group Plc. Many fund managers with shares in the UK telecoms firm probably feel the same way. But Tim Hoettges, in his 10th year running the German company, wasnt just giving the Financial Times a confession. His stated ambition to recoup losses on the holding looks like a strategic shift.

Rewind to the original deal. BT was looking to get back into mobile telephony, regretting the 2001 spinoff of its mmO2 network. It bought EE from joint owners Deutsche Telekom and Frances Orange SA at a valuation of 12.5 billion ($14.9 billion).

Orange received mainly cash, plus a 4% stake in BT. By contrast, Deutsche Telekom took mostly BT shares, representing a 12% stake. BT has since lost roughly two-thirds of its value. Chief among the raft of reasons are doubts over whether the heavy cost of upgrading its broadband network will ever deliver returns.

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Its a worse look for Hoettges. Sterling weakness exacerbates Deutsche Telekoms hit in euro terms. Theres also the unflattering comparison with Oranges decision to grab the cash and then sell all its BT holding.

For Deutsche Telekom, taking a stake was a strategic and financial decision. It was a believer in BTs convergence strategy combining fixed-line telephony, mobile, internet and pay television. The holding could make any future takeover of BT easier, or at least obstruct another bidder getting its hands on the company. Hoettges was also acting like a fund manager in betting the shares would rise. Thats not his job.

Deutsche Telekom later transferred the BT holding to its pension fund, as if it had become a non-core holding. But Hoettges preoccupation with it suggests its more than a passive financial investment. Referring to the losses, he told the FT he will get that money back (an apparent allusion to comments once made by former UK premier Margaret Thatcher to the European Council).

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BTs share price was 423 pence just before the EE deal was inked. The stock ended Thursday at 141.50 pence. The average analyst target is 188 pence. For Deutsche Telekom to get close to being made whole, the shares would have to surpass that level and a bidder would have to pay a premium on top. This looks far-fetched. Billionaire entrepreneur Patrick Drahi has an 18% stake and is seen as a possible buyer. But it would be brave to bet on him assembling a consortium to make a generous offer, and the UK would be wary of letting the asset fall to a foreign private equity bid.

The alternative for Hoettges is to double down and buy more shares, or even make a full takeover offer, potentially with Drahi as a junior partner. BTs cash burn on its fiber network will end in a few years. If the UK firms expanded broadband customer base then started throwing off cash, that could support a strong dividend stream and rapid returns. Small wonder that Hoettges told the FT his options include increasing the BT holding or partnering with another big shareholder.

Of course, a full-blown Deutsche Telekom-BT tie-up would also face a UK national security review. Any deal would effectively be a political partnership, given the German state is Deutsche Telekoms lead shareholder. As a cross-border transaction, its far from clear what the synergies would be.

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Even if taking BT shares remains a regret, Hoettges can afford to be frank about it. The pain of calling the UK wrong is outweighed by the gain of getting the US right. T-Mobile US Inc., of which the German company owns almost half, has been a stellar performer. Deutsche Telekom is one of the worlds top telecom investments during Hoettgess tenure  especially impressive given it was a big company to start with.

But if Hoettges wants to do a full combination with BT, it will have to be predicated on more than his hunch that its cheap. Hell need to articulate some clear industrial logic. Otherwise hell be acting like a fund manager all over again.

More From Bloomberg Opinion:

 Vodafone Is an MBA Case Study of Messed-Up M&A: Chris Hughes

 Billionaire Drahi Enters the FTSE Hotel California: Chris Hughes

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This column does not necessarily reflect the opinion of the editorial board or Bloomberg LP and its owners.

Chris Hughes is a Bloomberg Opinion columnist covering deals. Previously, he worked for Reuters Breakingviews, the Financial Times and the Independent newspaper.

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The 2015 accord limiting Irans nuclear program in exchange for sanctions relief was designed to slow Irans nuclear program to the extent that, if it were to ditch the agreement, it would have needed a year to produce enough fissile material to fuel a nuclear weapon. That so-called breakout time had been estimated at a few months before the deal went into effect. Following the US withdrawal in 2018 under then-President Donald Trump, Iran has gradually accelerated its own violations of the agreement. Now, its thought to need only weeks to produce a bombs worth of the necessary enriched uranium. Iran would still have to master the process of weaponizing the fuel before it would have an operable nuclear device that could hit a remote target.

1. How has Iran gotten closer to having the makings of a bomb?

In exchange for the lifting of economic sanctions imposed because of suspicions around its nuclear program, Iran agreed that for 15 years it would not enrich uranium beyond 3.7%  the concentration of the fissile isotope uranium-235 needed for nuclear power plants. Iran also pledged to limit its enriched-uranium stockpile to 300 kilograms (661 pounds), or about 3% of the amount it held before the deal was struck. But starting a year after the US left the accord and reimposed sanctions, which denied Iran the economic benefits the deal promised, Tehran began to ramp its program back up. Iran has accumulated enough enriched uranium to construct several bombs should its leaders choose to purify the heavy metal to the 90% level typically used in weapons. Moreover, it not only returned to enriching to 20% but for the first time progressed to 60%, a level of purity the International Atomic Energy Agency says is technically indistinguishable from weapons-grade fuel. Inspectors reported in February that Iran had accumulated 87.5 kilograms of uranium enriched to 60%. Whats more, they said they detected uranium particles enriched to 84% purity, a finding Irans government dismissed as a technical matter.

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2. Why is enrichment so important?

Obtaining the material necessary to induce atomic fission is the most difficult step in the process of making nuclear power or bombs. Countries need to develop an industrial infrastructure to produce uranium-235 isotopes, which comprise less than 1% of matter in uranium ore but are key to sustaining a fission chain reaction. Thousands of centrifuges spinning at supersonic speeds are used to separate the material. The IAEA keeps track of gram-level changes in uranium inventories worldwide to ensure the material isnt being diverted for weapons. Iran has always maintained it was pursuing nuclear energy, not nuclear weapons, but world powers have doubted that claim.

3. What else is needed for a nuclear bomb capacity?

In addition to the fissile material, theres the bomb and the means of delivering it. Iran likely already has the technical knowhow to produce a simple gun-assembly implosion device such as the one the US dropped over Hiroshima in 1945. An Iranian pilot would have to survive an incursion into enemy territory to dispatch it, or conceivably such a device could be delivered inside a container packed aboard a ship. To strike a remote target, Iran would still need to design and build a device that was miniaturized sufficiently to ride atop a missile and could survive re-entry into the earths atmosphere. Estimates for how long it might need for this task range from four months to two years. Iran already has ballistic missiles to deliver such a device. Its most powerful missile has an estimated range of as much as 5,000 kilometers (3,100 miles), putting all of Europe within reach.

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4. Does Irans nuclear potential increase the risk of war?

After entering the nuclear deal with Iran in 2015, then-President Barack Obama said the alternative might have been a military conflict with major disruptions to the global economy. Israeli officials have repeatedly implied that their military will strike Irans nuclear infrastructure if it reaches the brink of weapons capability. An alignment taking shape between China, Russia and Iran could raise the stakes on armed intervention by potentially opening new fronts for conflict.

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One of the most influential businesses in the tech industry is unknown to most consumers: Arm Ltd. The UK-based company designs key parts of the chips that power almost every smartphone on the planet. Its strategic importance is so great that when owner SoftBank Group Corp. decided in 2020 to sell the company to US chipmaker Nvidia Corp., it sparked an outcry from Arms customers that eventually killed the $40 billion deal. SoftBanks Plan B is to sell Arm shares in New York in what could be the chip industrys biggest-ever initial public offering.

1. What does Arm do?

Arm doesnt own factories or produce its own chips. The company designs core semiconductor components and licenses the blueprints to other firms in exchange for a fee based on how many are produced. The arrangement brings in more than $700 million in quarterly revenue, making Arm one of the UKs largest tech businesses. Thats still a fraction of the sales that tech giants like Nvidia and Intel Corp. generate, and Arm has a relatively small workforce of about 6,000. Yet few companies reach so far across the tech ecosystem: More than 240 billion chips have been made with Arm technology. The company estimates that, soon, 100% of the worlds digital data will be processed by that technology at some point during its life cycle.

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2. Where would I find Arms products?

Theyre used in everything from the tiniest sensor to the most powerful data center. Amazon.com Inc., Samsung Electronics Co. and Apple Inc. are among Arms most important customers. Arms instruction set  the basic code used by software to communicate with semiconductors  is in billions of devices, and the effort required to switch to another companys code would be enormous. Devices that work on batteries need chips that can get by with relatively little power; Arms designs prioritized that from the outset. When smartphones came along and demanded more processing horsepower, the technology evolved into more computer-like chips. There are about 1.4 billion of these pocket computers sold every year, with more than 90% using Arm. More recently, major tech names such as Apple and Amazon have been seeking to supply their own chips. Many of those new components rely on Arm too, and thats beginning to threaten Intels lucrative hold on high-end computing processors. Intel owns the so-called X86 instruction set, the basis for a type of processor thats the most widely used in computers. Advanced Micro Devices Inc. is the other major user of that technology.

3. Why was the Nvidia deal scuppered?

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Critics said a takeover would threaten a cornerstone of Arms success: its neutrality. Arm has been used across the $550 billion semiconductor industry on the understanding that no one would get privileged access to its technology. The transaction unraveled after the US Federal Trade Commission sued to block it, and Nvidia walked away in February 2022. Arms industry reach was further underlined in August, when it sued Qualcomm Inc. for breach of contract and trademark infringement. The conflict centers on Qualcomms acquisition of chip startup Nuvia Inc. in 2021. Nuvia developed chip designs using Arm licenses and they cant be transferred to Qualcomm without permission, according to a statement announcing the suit filed in the US District Court in Delaware. Nuvias licenses were terminated in February after negotiations failed to reach a resolution, Arm said.

4. So what about SoftBanks Plan B?

SoftBank is expected to list a minority stake in Arm in New York. It also weighed a listing in London. Despite Arms British roots, SoftBank dropped the idea, dealing a blow to a UK government that had lobbied hard to land the deal. SoftBanks $32 billion takeover of Arm in 2016 came with promises that the Japanese company would create more jobs in the UK and leave the headquarters where it was.

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5. Whats Arm really worth?

When SoftBank announced plans to take Arm public last year, the company was considering a valuation of about $60 billion for the business. Later, when tech valuations fell, SoftBank decided to sell a smaller portion of Arm than previously planned and retain a controlling stake in the hope of obtaining a higher valuation for the remainder later. Supply-chain problems and concerns that the industry may be making too many chips have made it hard to put reliable valuations on semiconductor companies.

6. Does an IPO solve the neutrality problem?

The wide and diverse investor base typically secured via an IPO could help to ensure Arm doesnt fall under the sway of any single industry player. That may still not be enough to reassure some of its most important customers. Qualcomm CEO Cristiano Amon has said his company wanted to buy a stake in the business alongside its rivals and create a consortium that would maintain Arms neutrality.

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President Joe Bidens pick to lead the World Bank will head to Ivory Coast and Kenya early next week as he kickstarts his campaign to shore up support for his nomination from nations around the world. Ajay Bangas trip to Africa marks the first leg of a three-week journey to both creditor and borrower nations, with further stops planned in countries in Europe, Latin America as well as China, the largest bilateral lender to developing economies. The choice of Africa as a first stop was a deliberate one aimed at showing his commitment to the World Banks core development goals, a US official said.

During his time in Abidjan and Nairobi on March 6-8, Banga will meet with government officials, leaders of multilateral organizations and civil society to discuss the the World Banks key goals including alleviating extreme poverty and combating climate change, the US Treasury said.

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The next World Bank leader will take over at a pivotal time, amid a growing clamor for reform of multilateral development banks and international financial institutions to unlock more climate finance in the developing world.

Bangas trip comes as Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen is pushing the development lender to evolve from its traditional focus on country-specific lending, to global challenges like fighting climate change, and to more aggressively extend its balance sheet.

One of his key challenges over the coming weeks will be to appease critics who have questioned whether hes the right pick for the job. While Bangas nomination drew praise from high-profile climate allies including the US special presidential envoy John Kerry, it also raised eyebrows among groups that view him as someone who hews too closely to the typical mold of male World Bank presidents with deep ties to Wall Street and corporate America.

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Banga has sought to address such concerns, highlighting earlier this week his upbringing and education in India, as well as his commitment to climate science and his belief that poverty alleviation and environmental issues are intertwined.

While in Nairobi, Banga will tour the Kenya Climate Innovation Center, a World Bank-backed project that helps small- and medium-sized businesses developing innovations to address the challenges of climate change. In doing so, hell seek to highlight how achieving development goals can be intertwined with efforts to address climate change, the US official said

The former Mastercard Inc. chief executive officer was tapped last month as the US choice to lead the anti-poverty lender. That came after current head David Malpass, picked by President Donald Trump, unexpectedly announced plans to step down by the end of June, almost a year before the scheduled end of his term.

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Malpass came under fire last year after appearing to dodge questions on whether he accepted the scientific consensus that climate change is driven by the burning of man-made greenhouse gas emissions.

While the official nomination process to replace Malpass opened just a week ago  and the bank has signaled that the final selection may not come until early May  Washingtons candidate has traditionally taken the top spot at the World Bank, where the US is the largest shareholder.

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The shocking rise in murders that began in the summer of 2020 looks as if it may have played out. In the nearly complete tally of 2022 homicide statistics from 93 US cities compiled by AH Datalytics, murder and non-negligent manslaughter was down 5% from the year before. Wp Get the full experience. Choose your plan ArrowRight In the absence of full national data from the Federal Bureau of Investigation, which may never be available in reliable form given the continuing debacle that is the agencys new National Incident Based Reporting System, such partial accounts are all we have to go by. At least they all more or less agree: For the 70 US city and county law enforcement agencies that report to the Major Cities Chiefs Association, the 2022 homicide decline was 5.4%. In national mortality data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention that appears to be complete through July, homicides were down 4.6% in the first seven months of the year from the same period in 2021.

There were still many more people murdered in the US in 2022 than before the pandemic in 2019  going by the AH Datalytics estimates it was 4,764, or 28.7%, more. Murder rates are also much, much higher in the US than in other wealthy nations. But with weekly crime statistics from the three biggest US cities showing a continuing and possibly accelerating murder decline so far in 2023, it does look as if a return to the awful conditions of the 1970s through early 1990s probably isnt in the cards.

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Explaining why murders went up in 2020 and why theyre going down now is something I dont think anyone should do with great confidence at this point, but the 2022 decline does lend credence to the argument that the pandemic, and all the disruption that accompanied it, was a leading cause. Sorting through other possible explanations such as a Ferguson effect from police brutality and protests against it, reductions in police presence because of funding cuts, or changes in sentencing laws and prosecutorial approaches requires looking at individual cities. Here is what has happened in the 50 largest.(1)

One thing that stands out is that some of the cities that have received the most national attention for their recent crime problems  New York, Los Angeles, San Francisco  have relatively low murder rates. Much of that attention, especially in San Francisco, has been on crimes other than murder, and all three cities did experience homicide increases in 2020 that were higher than the national average. But Los Angeles and San Francisco have remained on the safe side for large cities, and New York is on the safe side relative to the entire US.

Among the cities experiencing the biggest murder-rate increases since 2019 are several  Colorado Springs, Milwaukee, Minneapolis, Oakland, Portland, Raleigh  that had especially long-running or contentious Black Lives Matter protests in the wake of George Floyds murder by a Minneapolis police officer in May 2020. This echoes earlier research showing that highly publicized (and protested) police killings tend to be followed by pullbacks in policing and increases in crime. Meanwhile, Austin, with a 99% increase, is the large city that probably did the most to defund its police department, although it has since reversed course. Examining which cities have experienced significant changes in sentencing and bail rules and prosecutorial attitudes since 2019 and which have not is a project for another day (and probably another person), although I would guess that any impact is more likely to show up in rates of crimes other than murder.

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By far the largest percentage rise in homicide rates since 2019 has been in the giant Phoenix suburb of Mesa, which was classified by the Pew Research Center in 2014 as the most conservative US city of more than 250,000 residents, is led by a Republican mayor and did not defund its police. Part of the explanation there is simply that it doesnt take all that many murders (26, to be precise) to cause a 285% jump from 2019s rate of 1.8 per 100,000 residents, the citys lowest on record.

The biggest murder-rate decline over the course of the pandemic was in the Texas border city of El Paso, whose already-low homicide rate fell an additional 30%. The huge recent inflow of Rio-Grande-crossing migrants may be overtaxing the city in many ways, but it isnt causing murders to go up. This echoes earlier research showing that both documented and undocumented immigrants are much less likely to commit crimes than native-born Americans.

Several high-profile US cities arent on the above list because they dont have enough people  either theyve lost population over the years or are hemmed in by suburbs. Here are 10 that report crime data to the Major Cities Chiefs Association:

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New Orleans has the worst homicide rate of all the cities considered here and experienced one of the biggest increases since 2019, and things kept getting worse there in 2022. St. Louis hasnt experienced much of an increase but still has the second-highest homicide rate.

Perhaps the most encouraging numbers here are Newarks. The citys homicide rate fell during the pandemic and is now half what it was in 2010. Like many of the cities at or near the top of the homicide rankings, Newark is poor and has a large Black population (in 2021, Black people accounted for 13.6% of the US population and 55.9% of the homicide victims, according to the CDC). Unlike a lot of them, it has been succeeding in making its residents lives safer.

Still, in 2022 most big US cities did at least succeed in turning the murder tide. Murder isnt the only crime that matters, of course, but it is the one that is most consistently and reliably measured across jurisdictions and over time. Its still not entirely clear, for example, whether non-homicide crime even rose nationwide during the pandemic.

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It definitely rose in some places, among them the countrys three biggest cities: New York, Los Angeles and Chicago. All three report crime statistics weekly, and as already noted they are experiencing continued declines in homicides in 2023, with a 16.9% drop as of late February in New York, 24% in Los Angeles and 18% in Chicago. In Los Angeles, every other category of crime is declining, too. In New York, the picture is more mixed but mostly positive, with rape, robbery, grand larceny and transit crime down and assault, auto theft and petit larceny up. In Chicago, every crime but homicide is still on the rise. Im not even going to try to explain those differences.

More From Bloomberg Opinion:

 In Chicago, High Crime Leads to a Mayors Downfall: Editorial

 For Effective Police Reform, Start Small: Stephen L. Carter

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 Stolen Guns Are Fueling Violent Crime: Francis Wilkinson

(1) Ive used 2021 Census Bureau population estimates to calculate 2022 homicide rates for the simple reason that the 2022 city population estimates arent out yet, and April 2020 population numbers for 2019 because the 2019 population estimates for some cities were shown to be way off when the 2020 Census results came out. Some of the 2021 rates used in the calculations are different from those in a chart I published in November because here Ive taken 2021 numbers from the Major Cities Chiefs Association wherever possible. For 2019, I used data from the FBIs Crime Data Explorer, except for Philadelphia, where the FBIs numbers are so much lower than those reported by the city police department that I assume theyre wrong. Finally, I followed the Bloomberg News stylebook to determine which cities needed to be accompanied by state abbreviations and which did not.

This column does not necessarily reflect the opinion of the editorial board or Bloomberg LP and its owners.

Justin Fox is a Bloomberg Opinion columnist covering business. A former editorial director of Harvard Business Review, he has written for Time, Fortune and American Banker. He is author of The Myth of the Rational Market.

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UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen have announced a new agreement to modify the Northern Ireland Protocol  one of the most defective aspects of the Brexit settlement (which is saying something). With luck, the Windsor Framework can help restore friendship and cooperation between the UK and the European Union and begin to undo some of the harm this misadventure has caused.

Northern Ireland posed a severe test for the Britains future outside the EU. All the parties recognized that reinstating a border between Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland would jeopardize the Good Friday Agreement, which brought peace to the north 25 years ago. But this meant Northern Ireland had to remain part of Europes single market, which required in turn a customs border between the north and the rest of the UK. Thanks to former prime minister Boris Johnsons haste to get Brexit done, combined with his pathological inattention to detail, the protocol intended to manage this arrangement was a disaster from the start.

Unionists in the north found the results intolerable and shut down the provinces power-sharing government in protest. This is the impasse that the new agreement aims to break.

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The proposed solution is so straightforward that one has to wonder: What took so long? It proposes that goods moving to Northern Ireland from the rest of the UK will be divided between red and green channels. If registered trusted traders attest that their goods are for final sale in the north, the shipments wont require the usual extensive paperwork and customs checks. The EU will also accept UK public-health standards for sensitive products such as fresh meat, so long as the products are labeled not for sale in the EU. The economic border in the Irish Sea will be mostly removed.

Under the plan, UK subsidies affecting companies in the north will in most cases no longer need to be approved in Brussels. When Britain alters its rates of value-added tax, the changes can apply in the north (so long as they conform to EU minimums). The deal addresses many other niggles and irritations. No customs paperwork for parcels sent to the north from friends, family or online sellers in Britain; take your dog from Liverpool to Belfast without a pet passport; medicines approved in Britain can be sold in the north even if the EU hasnt yet approved them.

In the most surprising EU accommodation to Britains wishes, a so-called Stormont brake will allow Northern Ireland to query the introduction of new EU rules in the province. Instead of automatic implementation, a bipartisan quorum of the norths legislature can direct London and Brussels to take another look at the changes. If agreement cant be reached and the north refuses to comply, Europe can adopt targeted remedial measures.

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Granted, the plan isnt perfect from the unionists point of view. The European Court of Justice still has the last word on what EU law requires  but this could hardly be otherwise. The fact is, the plan gives more ground than the unionists and most Brexiters had expected, and they should welcome it as such. Leaders of the Democratic Unionist Party are considering their response.

Europes other governments should welcome the deal as well. The EUs generous concessions will cost them next to nothing, and restoring friendly relations with the UK is very much in their own interests. Once this agreement is in place, the outlook for mutual advantage through renewed cooperation across a range of issues should be greatly improved. Brexit cant easily be reversed, but some of the damage can be mended. Sunak and von der Leyen have done a good job.

More From Bloomberg Opinion:

 Can Brexiters Finally Take Yes for an Answer?: Therese Raphael

 The UKs Political Fever Dreams May Finally Be Over: Martin Ivens

 Northern Ireland and Scotland Are on a Long Road Out of the UK: Max Hastings

The Editors are members of the Bloomberg Opinion editorial board.

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The misstatements are part of a pattern that has raised questions about how the justice views his obligation to report details about his finances to the public.
The easiest decision for Anthony Albanese this week would have been to play it safe and stick to the spirit of his assurance to Australians last May when he said he had no intention of making any changes to superannuation. The prime minister could have totally buried the idea of a small increase in super taxes.

The extreme caution would have won the day in federal cabinet on Tuesday morning for a simple reason: like him, many of his ministers are rightly anxious about any breach of faith with voters.

Illustration: Simon Letch Credit:

Yet, the prime minister crossed the Rubicon, with Treasurer Jim Chalmers racing ahead of him, because a hard decision on super had to be made. A government has to be able to govern. And a government too scared to adjust super tax breaks worth $50 billion a year would not be much of a government.

Albanese and Chalmers now stand with the river behind them and dozens of pathways ahead  some leading to more ambitious tax reform if they believe Australians would endorse tough choices at the next election.
Kumi Taguchis first Dateline report, The Church and the Assassin, which investigates links between the 2022 assassination of former Japanese prime minister Shinzo Abe, and the Unification Church, aka the Moonies, opened her eyes to a side of her ancestral homeland she hadnt seen before.

On family trips, and while filming her 2019 ABC documentary, Kumis Japan, in which she sought to understand her fathers last wishes, the Insight host came to know only a peaceful, harmonious country.

Kumi Taguchis investigation into Japans Moonies opened her eyes to a side of her ancestral homeland she hadnt seen before.

It was the first time I have dug into a current, controversial story, and it felt different being there, says Taguchi. It was such a privilege, and a great way in which to look at my own sense of that country, still with these gentle, polite, lovely people, but theres a lot going on beneath the surface.

In the potentially explosive documentary, Taguchi meets with investigative journalist Yasuomi Sawa at the Yokohama Archives of History in Tokyo to learn about Abes connections with the Unification Church. (Abes alleged killer told investigators he was motivated by a grudge he held against the church over his mothers bankruptcy.) Bizarre footage is also shown of Abe and Donald Trump at a Church event.
Blinken said he also urged Moscow to release detained American Paul Whelan and that the United States has put forward a serious proposal. Russia should take it. Earlier, Blinken had told the G20 meeting that Russias war with Ukraine could not go unchallenged. President Putin has demonstrated zero interest in engaging, saying theres nothing to even talk about unless and until Ukraine accepts and I quote the new territorial reality. US Secretary of State Antony Blinken We must continue to call on Russia to end its war of aggression and withdraw from Ukraine for the sake of international peace and economic stability, Blinken said. He noted that 141 countries had voted to condemn Russia at the United Nations on the one-year anniversary of the invasion. Yet, several members of the G20, including host India, China and South Africa, chose to abstain in that vote and despite appeals from top Indian officials to look beyond their differences over Ukraine and forge consensus on other issues, the foreign ministers were unable to do so or agree on a final communique.

Indian Foreign Minister Subrahmanyam Jaishankar said there were divergences on the issue of the war in Ukraine which we could not reconcile as various parties held differing views. If we had a perfect meeting of minds on all issues, it would have been a collective statement, Jaishankar said. Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi had earlier appealed for all members of the fractured G20 to reach consensus on issues of particular concern to poorer countries even if the broader East-West split over Ukraine could not overcome. US Secretary of State Antony Blinken speaks at the G20. Credit: AP We all have our positions and our perspectives on how these tensions should be resolved, Modi said. We should not allow issues that we cannot resolve together to come in the way of those we can. China and Russia objected to two paragraphs taken from the previous G20 declaration in Bali last year, according to a summary of Thursdays meeting released by India. And Blinken lamented that Russia and China were the only two countries that made clear that they would not sign off on the text.

The paragraphs stated that the war in Ukraine was causing immense human suffering while exacerbating fragilities in the global economy, the need to uphold international law, and that the use or threat of use of nuclear weapons is inadmissible. Despite the failure to achieve full consensus, Blinken said it was positive that 18 of the 20 nations had agreed on a statement calling for an end to the war and immediate steps to improve energy and food security that have been badly affected by the conflict. Loading Lavrov, who did not mention speaking with Blinken when he held a news conference after the G20 session, told reporters that Moscow would continue to press its action in Ukraine. He shrugged off Western claims of Russias isolation, saying we arent feeling isolated. Its the West that has isolated itself, and it will eventually come to realise it. He said Russia remains open to talks on ending the conflict in Ukraine, but he accused the West of effectively blocking such talks.

They are calling on us to have talks, but I dont remember any Western colleagues calling on Ukraine to have talks, he said. They are encouraging Ukraine to continue the war. Lavrov also mocked US threats against China, which has presented a peace plan for Ukraine that has been applauded by Moscow but dismissed by Washington and its Western allies. Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov walks on the sideline of G20 foreign ministers meeting in New Delhi. Credit: Russian Foreign Ministry Press Service Our Western colleagues have lost self-control, forgotten their manners and put diplomacy aside, switching exclusively to blackmail and threats, he said. Russia had no immediate comment on the substance of the conversation, but Russian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Maria Zakharova said Blinken had asked to speak to Lavrov.

It was their first contact since last summer, when Blinken talked to Lavrov by phone about a US proposal for Russia to release Whelan and formerly detained WNBA star Brittney Griner. Griner was later released in a swap for imprisoned Russian arms dealer Viktor Bout, but Whelan remains detained in Russia. Loading Whelan, a Michigan corporate security executive, has been held for four years on espionage charges that his family and the United States government have said are baseless. His brother David said the family is grateful that Blinken took this high profile, rare opportunity to include Pauls freedom in his discussions with Kremlin representatives. But he noted that Paul Whelan turns 53 on Sunday, his fifth birthday in custody. Hes held in a prison in the Mordovia region in sub-zero Celsius temperatures with heat turned off, David Whelan said in an email. Paul continues to suffer ... so for all the statecraft and stonewalling, our brother languishes for another birthday and however many more milestones as a Russian hostage, he said.
Sow the wind, wrote the prophet Hosea, and then reap the whirlwind. I was thinking about those words when I read about some astonishing revelations in an American courtroom this week. There, a company that marketed voting machines is suing one of the largest media companies in the world. The media company is Fox News, Rupert Murdochs baleful, partisan and dishonest news channel.

The voting machine company is called Dominion Voting Systems. In 2020, it supplied electronic voting machines to various jurisdictions in about two dozen US states. After Donald Trump lost that November, he and a lot of his nutty myrmidons set about trying to overthrow the election. Caught in the crossfire was this little-known company, which, to hear a lot of crazies talk about it, was a brainchild of the late Venezuelan strongman Hugo Chavez  and it allowed nefarious anti-Trump forces secretly to alter voting totals.

Fox News prime-time host Tucker Carlson with former president Donald Trump last year. Credit: New York Times

There was no evidence of any of this, but Fox News became a welcoming home for the espousal of it all. Dominion sued Fox and a lot of other people for destroying the companys reputation.

Libel cases of this type in the US turn, in crude terms, on the basic issue of good-faith reporting. The courts recognise that news organisations can make unintentional mistakes, and they would be severely hampered, and cowed, if they were punished for each one. Its really hard to win a libel or defamation case against a media outlet in the US.
One of the most interesting aspects of a global community of shared future is its continuity. The basic concept of the global community of a shared future hasnt really changed fundamentally from the outset, said David Ferguson, English Editor of Xi Jinping: The Governance of China, during an exclusive interview with Guangming Online. The sound basis from which China sets off allows it to stay on the right path and focus on the most important and change-making part of its work. Chinese leaders dont have to engage in crowd-pleasing antics in order to buy votes. Instead, they can focus on the long term, Ferguson noted. As Ferguson observed, China is able to learn from the past, and look to the future. Its able to build long-term plans, pilot initiatives, and rule them out when they arent successful. And its able to unite and mobilize huge resources and pursue its strategic initiatives. And this is also very important in terms of a global community of shared future. In the prospect of the global community of a shared future, Ferguson pointed out that the most important aspect of it is that its not some new thing, and its not going to be some subject to major changes even if circumstances change. Circumstances will change, but the fundamental concept doesnt change, and I think its that continuity is that one of the strengths of Chinas system as well as one of the reasons behind Chinas success in multiple aspects, the promotion of the inclusive concept of a global community of shared future included, said Ferguson. However, this concept is not without its challenges, and its not always greeted with welcoming, cooperative will. Ferguson cited an article written by a Telegraph representative headlined China is Like a Terrorist Threat, and, in analyzing the rhetoric of this article, Ferguson lamented how even the supposedly intelligent people in the west can easily fall victim to misconceptions about China. These are people who are supposedly intelligent, educated people. They must have heard of the Thucydides Trap, and they must know what it is. Instead of doing everything they can to avoid the world falling into the Thucydides Trap, they seem to be doing exactly the opposite. Rushing headlong towards it, whooping, hallooing in glee. Now the point about Thucydides Trap is, it only takes one to drag us in there. It takes two working together to stay away from it, said Ferguson. Ferguson also pointed out that to better promote the concept of a global community of shared future, China inevitably needs to counter such unfair smearing from the west and offer people in the west a faithful portrait of Chinas role in todays international community. In order to make this happen, one fundamental thing that China has to do is to engage with the mass audiences there. They have to learn to talk to ordinary people who are being given a narrative about China, who are being taught to feel hostile to China. That way they will know the hostility that they feel is not a rational hostility. And you can only do that by engaging with people on a human level, on an emotional level, said Ferguson. Despite all the aforementioned obstacles, when asked about his view on the prospect of a global community of shared future, Ferguson believed that this concept has already become an international consensus among people who represent the majority of the population across the world. In developing countries, in Central Asia, in South America, in Global South, people already understand and look forward to a global community of shared future. They watch it attentively whats happening in China. They marvel at Chinas success,and they want to know what can be applied to their own situation, Ferguson noted.
On 3 March, the World Customs Organization (WCO) joins the international community in marking the United Nations (UN) World Wildlife Day, celebrating all the world's wild animals and plants, the contribution that they make to our lives, and the health of the planet, as well as honouring the people who make a difference in protecting the environment.

World Wildlife Day 2023, under the theme Partnerships for wildlife conservation, falls on the 50th Anniversary of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES) which was signed in Washington, D.C. on 3 March 1973. On this occasion, the WCO reiterates its pledge to protect wildlife and its continuing support to one of its partner organizations - the CITES Secretariat.

We need a collaborative approach among all relevant stakeholders  law enforcement agencies, the public and private sectors - to share data, information and intelligence, dismantle criminal networks and prosecute criminals, without which we cannot win this war, said the WCO Secretary General Dr. Kunio Mikuriya. The Customs community remains committed to its mandate for the recovery and preservation of key species and the restoration of ecosystems, in line with UN Sustainable Development Goal 15 - Life on Land, added Secretary General Mikuriya.

The WCO wishes to amplify the call for cooperative action and raise awareness of the imperative need for the conservation of the most critically endangered species of wild fauna and flora. It aims to play its part in addressing the rapid decline of biodiversity, reflected in the critically endangered status of over 8,400 species of wild fauna and flora, with almost 30,000 more considered to be endangered or vulnerable. The continuing loss of species and habitats is severely threatening ecosystems, which in turn threatens the sustainability of the planet. Restoring and protecting these resources is essential for the survival of all, at all levels.

In line with the UNs theme for World Wildlife Day 2023, Customs continues to forge partnerships and strengthen interagency collaboration with public and private actors along the global supply chain in the fight against environmental crime. Leveraging public and private partnerships to achieve impact at scale is in line with the WCOs approaches to the fight against illicit wildlife trade; the WCO is partnering with the CITES Secretariat, INTERPOL, the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) and the World Bank, through the International Consortium on Combating Wildlife Crime (ICCWC).

The Thunder series of operations targeting illegal wildlife trade, which are jointly organized and coordinated by the WCO and INTERPOL and supported by the CITES Secretariat, are concrete examples of the strong partnership between our agencies. The latest Thunder operation saw the participation of 125 countries (the largest number since the inception of the Thunder operations in 2017), with over 2,200 seizures, 934 suspects identified and 141 companies suspected of engaging in illegal sales profiled.

Over the years the WCO, through its Environment Programme, has been at the forefront of the discussions on environmental protection, highlighting the important role played by Customs in enforcing CITES at borders as the first line of defence against cross-border illegal wildlife trade. Through vigilant controls at borders and data-driven risk profiling techniques, Customs is an essential partner in efforts to restore and maintain ecosystems and ensure that wildlife is traded legally and sustainably, as envisioned under the CITES multilateral treaty.

The WCO also supports its Members in combating illegal wildlife trade through various projects under the Environment Programme, such as INAMA, ICCWC and Sida. These Projects provide comprehensive training and support to enhance the CITES enforcement capacities of beneficiary Customs administrations in Africa, Asia and South America, while strengthening international and interagency cooperation regionally and globally.

The WCO calls on its Members to strengthen their role in order to achieve these objectives, and intensify their enforcement and conservation efforts towards the sustainability of ecosystems, so that collectively we can promote the wellbeing of our planet.
Indosat Ooredoo Hutchison (Indosat) president director and CEO Vikram Sinha (pictured) said the operator proved doubters of its US$6 billion mega-merger wrong, and the company is poised to achieve growth in Indonesia.

In a media roundtable at Mobile World Congress Barcelona this week, Sinha highlighted how industry financial institutions Fitch Ratings and Moodys lowered their credit rating of the operator, expressing a lack of confidence in the operators outlook. The merger was sealed just over a year ago (February 2022).

He pointed to the companys recent financial results. Total revenue increased by 49% to IDR46.7 billion (US$3.05 billion), net profit soared by 76% to IDR1.5 billion, and data traffic nearly doubled among its 102.2 million subscribers (this was up by 3.6 million).

"We have defied expectations and become the successful merger in the world. Indosat is not just good for the industry; it's good for Indonesia. We will continue to drive the digital revolution and create value for all our stakeholders," concluded Sinha.

Sinha revealed ambitions to connect 21 million unconnected Indonesians from remote areas, to drive new revenues. Another key driver for growth will be in engaging with the millions of small and micro enterprises of Indonesia.

Indosats strategy here will not involve only laying out the necessary coverage but also enhancing and providing services such as money lending and banking services.

The first step is connecting them to a good experience. Help them make US$10, they will be happy to give us $2. People in Indonesia are almost willing to pay three to four times more for connectivity tools that aid their productivity, which shows the demand, said Sinha.

Looking ahead to 5G, Sinha said Indosat is preparing to purchase spectrum in the C-band when regulators hold an auction, highlighting the airwaves as integral to its 5G strategy. Indosat currently possesses 400 live 5G sites across eight urbanised and densely populated locations such as Jakarta and Bali.

It is not easy to build fibre to sites because of the unique terrain of Indonesia. The key learning here is that 5G is not a speed game. We have to be ready to monetise with the right ecosystem to ensure it actually benefits the country, helping solve real challenges in industries, said Sinha.

He noted Indonesia has 77 million households but only around 11% have home broadband, a potential point for growth through 5G for the operator.

When asked about its recent tower deals when Indosat sold around 1,630 tower sites this year, with 997 going to Mitratel and 600 to dhost in a 10-year leaseback. Sinha revealed the net value of the towers was around US$118 million, but Sinha stated there are no immediate plans to spend the cash as of yet.

In other news from Indosat, the operator signed a memorandum of understanding with the GSMA to increase Indonesia's environmental and economic resilience by developing mobile-led mitigations for a range of climate change issues.

The agreement will see the industry body and operator conduct conservation programmes on mangroves, to boost the productivity of shrimp and crab farmers using the Internet of Things (IoT) technology in North Kalimantan, Indonesia.

Sinha said: "Indonesia continues to play an important role in promoting the control of world climate change. The priority issues discussed at the Climate Sustainability Working Group (CSWG) as part of the G20 series form the basis of our cooperation with the GSMA. We believe that this concrete action utilizing digital technology will increase the environmental and economic resilience of the surrounding communities in North Kalimantan. This sustainable program will also positively impact Indonesia's nature conservation while improving the nation's economy in the future."

GSMA chief regulatory officer and president mobile for development foundation John Giusti, added: The GSMA is reinforcing its commitment to addressing global climate challenges by supporting concrete programs that leverage digital innovation to tackle climate impacts. We undertake this work alongside our broader support of the mobile industrys efforts to achieve Net Zero.

The collaboration between Indosat Ooredoo Hutchison and GSMA Mobile Innovation Hub is a great example of how mobile can play a vital role in connecting vulnerable communities to digital solutions that enable them to improve climate resilience. Mangrove forest conservation is a global need across many coastal communities, and pilot programs such as this bring invaluable learnings that can be applied and scaled.

The chief executive also highlighted close collaboration with infrastructure vendor partners for its success, a partner first approach he described. This has enabled the operator to complete integration processes in 12 months instead of two years as initially predicted.

We did it with a partner-first approach, at the highest level we discussed with our vendors that we need to get together to make it (the merger) successful and how they can support us in this, said Sinha.

Sinha also pledged the operator will deliver Indonesia a gross merchandise value, a measure of the digital economy, of up to US$400 million in three to five years on the back of its connectivity.

"We have defied expectations and become the most successful merger in the world. Indosat is not just good for the industry; it's good for Indonesia. We will continue to drive the digital revolution and create value for all our stakeholders," concluded Sinha.

To learn more about Indosat Ooredoo Hutchison, please click here.
Ericsson has signed a reseller agreement with South African service provider Comsol to provide the Ericsson Private 5G solution; this will enable Comsol to expand its enterprise business within South Africas mining industry.

Comsol, which describes itself as a leading provider of guaranteed, dedicated and high-speed, last-mile connectivity and private networks, will receive the right to resell the high-speed wireless networking solution to customers across South Africas mining industry.

With Ericssons high-end connectivity solution and Comsols expertise in mining and systems integration, this collaboration is set to help the nations mining industry improve worker safety, increase operational efficiency, and realize its sustainability goals.

Ericsson Private 5G is Ericssons next-generation private network solution providing secure and reliable 4G and 5G connectivity through its single server dual mode core. Built for business operations, the solution comes pre-integrated to ensure rapid time to use and turning on advanced and intelligent operations in any environment.

Helping the mining industry gain robust 4G/LTE and 5G standalone (SA) connectivity, the solution will also help Comsols customers optimize and simplify business operations through data creation, collection, and analysis. This solution will enable Comsol to provide reliable and secure communication while connecting people, industrial sites and devices.

Ericsson has successfully delivered a proof of concept (PoC) implementing the Ericsson Private 5G solution as a pre-packaged standalone implementation of the Ericsson Dual Mode Core, which supports end-to-end cellular data-only services focusing primarily on enterprise applications.

The Ericsson Private 5G solution enables 5G standalone (SA) connectivity with a low carbon footprint and low lead time. Comsol will utilize the PoC solution to experiment and test various use cases for mining and other industries, including augmented reality, autonomous vehicles, and fixed wireless access.

Private 5G rollout seems to be something of a trend in South Africa lately. Among recent announcements, we reported late last year that operator MTN plans to build private 5G networks for mines and ports.
If you know of local business openings or closings, please notify us here.

PREVIOUS OPENINGS AND CLOSINGS

- Air Products & Chemicals Inc. plans to invest a half-billion dollars to produce environmentally friendly hydrogen in New York state.

- The Trexlertown Chick-Fil-A plans to add a second drive-thru lane as part of a plan to reduce traffic congestion.

- The Harrisburg-based Mid Penn bank has opened its first full-service branch in the Lehigh Valley in South Whitehall.

- The Allentown Planning Commission put off a decision on a new Popeyes Louisiana Kitchen at the site of the former Nostos Greek restaurant.

- The former Star Crete concrete plant at the intersection of Farmersville Road and Easton Avenue has been sold for $1.58 million, and that may clear the way for a medical office building.

- The local business SuperSets Gym will open its third location in Allentown's South Mall, with no opening date set yet.

- The jewelry boutique Versant will close later this year, but the business will be consolidated at Gary Werkheiser's other location in Saucon Valley Square.

- The DSW Woodmill Commons has moved to Berkshire West, 1101 Woodland Road in Wyomissing.

- Trainer Michael Melendez has opened his new Reading Extreme Boxing Club where PacSun used to operate in the Berkshire Mall.

- Frackville NAPA Auto Parts held a grand opening with the Schuylkill Chamber of Commerce and Frackville Business & Professional Association.

- Fyzical Therapy & Balance Centers in North Manheim Township held a grand opening, in conjunction with the Schuylkill Chamber of Commerce and Pottsville Business Association.

- PDC Machines, a maker of hydrogen compressors, showed off a new plant in Lower Salford.

- Maya Capital Partners has acquired Amwell Valley Self Storage, a 265-unit storage business on Route 31 in Ringoes, New Jersey.

- Norwescap is buying the former Sullivan's on the Main restaurant in Phillipsburg to renovate the building and then use it for programs to help educate and feed people.
Reading, PA (19601)

Today

Clouds and some drizzle or fog possible early, then clouds break for sun..

Tonight

Mostly cloudy and breezy with a round of showers overnight and perhaps a thunderstorm.
READING, Pa. - A lawsuit filed against the City of Reading and Mayor Eddie Moran is settled.

As part of the agreement, the city has to pay the woman who filed the case against the mayor and the law firm representing her.

The lawsuit began in late 2021 after a former solicitor for the city, Elizabeth Kraft, accused Moran of sexually harassing her.

According to a joint statement released by both parties, the original lawsuit was filed by Kraft in good faith, but she says during the course of the case, it became clear that she misunderstood the mayor's words and actions.

The original lawsuit claimed Moran made regular and repeated requests of a sexual nature to Kraft, allegedly calling her beautiful, requesting hugs, and inviting her to Puerto Rico with him.

Kraft claims she declined all of the advances, court documents show.

The original suit also alleged retaliation by Moran and that Kraft was ostracized after declining the supposed advances, resulting in her removal from the position.

The statement went on to say it's now clear that the claims would not succeed, and that's why Kraft has voluntarily withdrawn them.

The city and Moran, meantime, assert that their insurance carrier made a business decision and forced them to settle in order to save the city the cost of defense, despite the fact that the city and Moran wanted to "try the case and vindicate themselves."

Previously, Moran has denied the claims.

The new settlement states that the city must pay $124,000, split between Kraft and Weinstein Law Firm LLC. Of that amount, $89,166 must be payable to Kraft, and $34,834 must be made payable to the law firm.

Court paperwork states the funds are coming from Reading's insurance carrier and not taxpayer dollars.

A spokesperson for the City of Reading says neither the city nor Moran have further comment at this time. Meanwhile, as of Thursday evening, 69 News has not heard back from the Weinstein Law Firm.

Court documents state the mutual statement is to be the only one made by either party.
BERN TOWNSHIP, Pa - As another airport in our region made a crucial catch, those responsible for safety and security at Reading Regional Airport in Bern Township say it's their number one priority.

We take that very seriously for the reasons that arose yesterday, said Chief Wesley Waugh with Bern Township Police Department.

Bern Township PD, TSA and the airport are working closely to update and reaffirm security and safety plans.

"Reading Regional Airport has a federally approved security plan and Bern Township Police Department has created its own procedures and directives in concert with airport personnel in support of that plan, Waugh explained. We work together."

Especially as the airport says business and traffic have returned to pre-pandemic levels.

"At Reading Airport, we have a commercial service operator that comes in, Southwest Airlines for Boscov's Travel, and those passengers go direct from Reading to Orlando, and we have an approved TSA airport security program for that operation, said Zackary Tempesco, director of Reading Regional Airport.

Body scanners, metal detectors, plenty of warning signs and those big machines you put your bags through are just some of the safety protocols TSA has in place to keep passengers safe.

"We have a continuing presence at Reading Regional Airport whenever a commercial or charter flight is boarding, and that is in support of the TSA, Waugh said.

Officials say, for its size, Reading Regional is a very adaptable airport, handling thousands for events like World War II Weekend while also dealing with day-to-day business.

It ramps up and then kinda comes back down depending on the level of security needed for that day, Tempesco said.

Based on need and best practices locally and nationally, plans can be adapted.
HELLERTOWN, Pa.  The American Civil Liberties Union is saying it could take legal action against the Saucon Valley School District after the district rescinded its approval for the After School Satan Club to use district facilities.

In a letter sent Friday to the Saucon Valley School District, the ACLU of Pennsylvania and the ACLU says the decision to deny the After School Satan Club access to school facilities violates the First Amendment, according to a news release by the ACLU.

The letter asks the district immediately reinstate the previously agreed upon meeting dates for the club. The letter asks the district to comply with its request by noon on March 7.

"The discrimination here was pretty blatant, said Heather Weaver, an attorney with the ACLU.

The district superintendent had said the club had failed to meet all district requirements and therefore violates policy.

The district had initially granted approval to the club. It rescinded the approval days after a threat was made against the district by a man who referenced the After School Satan Club. Ceu Uk, of Charlotte, North Carolina, is accused of making the threat, and is now behind bars.

The ACLU says once the district mentioned that threat as a reason for nixing the club, it's looked at as a "Heckler's Veto," something that goes against the First Amendment.

"If anyone could call in a threat because they didn't like the speech someone was trying to engage in or someone's religion it would open the door for anyone to be silenced, said Weaver.

"Although the district initially approved TSTs [Satanic Temple, Inc.] application, it rescinded the approval after receiving complaints and a violent threat. As explained in the ACLUs letter, however, the First Amendment prohibits the government from denying access to school facilities based on the objections or reactions of others to the clubs speech or religion," the ACLU said in its news release.

"The letter notes that the reason cited for the districts decision to rescind approval for TSTs application  that TST failed to make clear that the club is not sponsored by the district  is pretextual and discriminatory. Not only has TST included a disclaimer on its introductory letter to parents and permission slip, but other organizations using district facilities, including a Christian after-school club, have not done so and are still permitted to meet at district schools," the ACLU said.

Under the First Amendment, the government cant treat one religious group less favorably than another, and it cant give objectors or hecklers a veto over unpopular speech by denying groups like the After School Satan Club access to a public forum, said Sara Rose, deputy legal director of the ACLU of Pennsylvania. The district made the right decision by initially granting TSTs application, and we urge officials to do the right thing now.

June Everett, director of TSTs ASSC programming, said: We have done nothing, other than merely existing and exercising our religion, to cause the threats made against the district. The districts suggestion that we are to blame is deeply offensive. Theres often a misconception about our religious beliefs and practices, but we will not accept discrimination by government officials. The After School Satan Club is a vital resource for children and families, and we will continue to defend its right to meet.

The district says it is still reviewing the letter.

"The School District has relied on its long standing facilities use policy to address both the approval and rescission of approval of the After School Satan Clubs use of School District facilities," the district said in a statement after the ACLU sent the letter.

"We are extremely disappointed that advocates for the After School Satan Club would attempt to make this something that it is not. The decision to rescind the approval of the After School Satan Clubs facility use was directly related to its violation of the Districts policy and was in no way related to any discriminatory motive."

Jessie Meilinger and her 8th grade son Trenton shared their thoughts.

Theyre a Saucon Valley School District family.

"I don't think any religious-based clubs or thoughts should be placed in our school, said Jessie.

They say while they accept everyone's beliefs, bringing them into the schools is bound to cause some uproar.

It can cause controversy, bullying, and fights, said Trenton.

"Make a club for something you like, like a hobby, but not religion. The school should try their best to focus on children's hobbies."
LEHIGH VALLEY, Pa. - Greater Valley YMCA's President and CEO is retiring.

David Fagerstrom will step down from that role after 36 years of service to the YMCA, according to a news release from the organization.

He has served in various leadership roles at YMCAs throughout the country, the organization said.

Fagerstrom has led the Greater Valley YMCA since August 2016. He was originally tasked to create one strong organization from the six once-independent YMCA Branches located in Allentown, Bethlehem, Catasauqua, Easton, Nazareth and Pen Argyl.

Fagerstrom will transition to a consultant role effective September 2023.

Peter Dent, Chief Volunteer Officer and President of the Greater Valley YMCA Board of Directors, said that Fagerstrom will stay on in the consulting role to ensure that several major projects and partnership projects, such as the Saucon Creek YMCA Branch, will come to fruition.

Since Dave joined us in 2016, the Y has transformed into something our community can rely on now and for future generations. Our staff and volunteer teams have bloomed," Dent said.

"We've pivoted our strategic focus to include more social programs such as food insecurity, housing, and childcare. Weve established some great strategic partners. Were also currently completing $15,000,000 worth of building renovations. While we are sad to see Dave leave this role, the Board also understands that we were fortunate to benefit from his leadership during some very critical and difficult years. We also want to assure our community that we have a good process in place to find a new leadership to serve with the same passion."

I have had the privilege of being part of the YMCA movement for the last 35+ years, the last twenty as a YMCA CEO. It has been quite the journey, made possible by working with great coworkers, dedicated volunteers, amazing community leaders, and inspiring Y-peers,, said Fagerstrom.

Together, we all make up a wonderful fraternity of people that are making our planet a better place to live, one community, one family, one person at a time. My sincere thanks to all who have helped advance our Ys Mission these past years. Weve come such a long way together.
Allentown, PA (18103)

Today

Clouds and some drizzle or fog possible early, then clouds break for sun..

Tonight

Mostly cloudy and breezy with a round of showers overnight and perhaps a thunderstorm.
ALLENTOWN, Pa. - Prosecutors provided a first glimpse of the explosive that a Carbon County man was accused of trying to sneak onto a plane at Lehigh Valley International Airport.

Marc Muffley had his bags in tow Monday and was supposed to be heading to Florida, but instead of a toothbrush and extra clothes, the TSA found what investigators called an explosive device.

The 41-year-old was arrested and given a first-class seat in federal court on Thursday.

Now, Muffley faces charges of possessing an explosive in an airport and attempting to have placed an explosive or incendiary device on an aircraft.

But his his attorney disagrees with the second charge. He explained that Muffley just wanted to light fireworks off at a beach in Florida, and since it was wrapped in plastic and saran wrap, it never would have gone off.

We talked with someone with the Allentown Bomb Squad, who said that's not necessarily true.

"It's a sensitive explosive so it definitely could've," said Chad Ege.

"Its an explosive, you can never be too careful with an explosive. Especially when you're putting it in a confined space like an aircraft," said Ege.

Muffley ultimately admitted to the FBI agent who interviewed him that he knew he was doing something wrong, authorities say.

In fact, he changed his cell phone number after he left the airport, knowing he was in deep water, according to prosecutors, and wanting to avoid being tracked down.

After all, this isn't Muffley's first run-in with the law.

His defense admitted that he uses marijuana and meth regularly and has a warrant out for not paying child support. He also has a rap sheet in Pennsylvania and Florida for minor offenses.

A federal judge denied bail for Muffley, calling him a flight risk and a danger to the community.
Musikfest is considering selling $5 wristbands to offset carbon emissions, the head of the festival's parent company said Thursday.



Kassie Hilgert, chief executive of ArtsQuest, said the wristbands are sold at other festivals and each sale results in 10 trees being planted. ArtsQuest runs Musikfest, the Bethlehem festival that started in 1984.



Hilgert discussed Musikfest's economic and environmental impact with a Northampton County Council committee Thursday.



Hilgert also said bands that perform at Musikfest are not interested in helping reduce the "carbon footprint."



"You can't tell Live, 'We want to be carbon-neutral.' They don't care," Hilgert said of the band from York, Pennsylvania. She quickly caught herself and noted that she did not mean to pick on Live.



Bands require certain lighting, she said. They also do not care for glass containers, instead of plastic, in the hands of rowdy fans.



"Artists worry about glass," Hilgert said. "It becomes a projectile."



When asked by Economic Development Committee Chairwoman Tara Zrinski if new buildings planned for South Bethlehem would be LEED-certified, Hilgert said that would be costly.



"LEED certification is to, be honest, very expensive and I think it would break the budget," she said. A planned cultural center may cost $23 million, though Hilgert suggested Thursday that it might cost more.



LEED is an acronym for Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design, a designation that is bestowed on environmentally friendly buildings.



Zrinski, an advocate for renewable energy, also brought up the placement of solar panels on the new buildings. Hilgert indicated that would not be part of the plan.



The wristbands would be a carbon offset, which are used by companies in place of reducing emissions. The idea is that the trees planted would absorb carbon dioxide. CO2 is a greenhouse gas that has been linked to global warming.
EASTON, Pa.  Northampton County Council approved spending a total of $103,980 on studies of how county employees are paid and how Gracedale Nursing Home operates.

The studies have been a point of contention between council and County Executive Lamont McClure, who has said the reviews would be wastes of money. After votes, vetoes and more votes, requests for bids went out and preferred bidders were presented to council last month.

The pay study went to Bolton, a Maryland-based company that will need about 12 weeks to review county pay versus that of similar organizations. Bolton will be paid $64,000.

The study will cover only non-union employees, which some council members have taken issue with, while McClure has said those workers are covered by collective bargaining and should not be included.

Commissioner John Goffredo wanted union workers covered, even at additional cost. That idea did not prevail.

The studies are just that: reviews that are not binding.

"All we're doing is gathering information," Commissioner Lori Vargo Heffner said (councilmembers are known as commissioners).

"It's been a long time coming," Vargo Heffner said of the approval of both studies.

The vote for Bolton was unanimous among those present: Council President Kerry Myers, Vice President Ron Heckman, Goffredo, Vargo Heffner, Thomas Giovanni, John Cusick, Kevin Lott and Tara Zrinski. John Brown was absent.

The vote for a review of Gracedale was also 8-0. That $39,980 contract went to Affinity Health Services of Indiana, Pennsylvania.

McClure objected to that study earlier on the grounds that the Upper Nazareth Township nursing home is already scrutinized by state and federal regulators.

Cusick noted that council approved McClure's plan to spend $15 million to, as the executive put it, "save Gracedale."

Commissioner Cusick said the $39,980 is a small price to pay to monitor how $15 million of federal Covid-19 aid will be spent at Gracedale.

Among issues to be considered at Gracedale are its ideal population, known in nursing home jargon as its "census." The home can accommodate 688 people if some rooms are used to house four people. Gracedale has been operating well below that capacity.

Party status

Council also approved a resolution to seek "party status" in the legal proceedings over the proposed expansion of the Bethlehem Landfill, which is on Applebutter Road in Lower Saucon Township.

Many township residents have objected to the expansion, which will extend the useful life of a facility that provides a big chunk of Lower Saucon's operating budget.

Recognition of service

Also Thursday, McClure recognized the service of Becky Bartlett to the county. She recently retired as deputy director of administration, and she was McClure's point person with the media.

McClure said Bartlett had to deal with problems related to the 2020 election and the COVID-19 pandemic.

"We were transparent" during difficult times, he said, crediting Bartlett for being "the great communicator."

Bartlett left county government Jan. 27.
(Editors note: This is the third article in a three-part series on the U.S. Army Aviation Museums patch collection.)

FORT RUCKER  Army shoulder sleeve insignias tell a story about the soldiers who wear them and the soldiers who came before them.

Walking around Fort Rucker, soldiers wear many different patches, either current unit or combat patches. But according to Bob Mitchell, curator at the U.S. Army Aviation Museum, if people want to see some stranger insignias that tell different stories, they need to look back at the history of Army Aviation.

During WWII, one of the theaters was the China Burma India Theater, said Mitchell.

That was a particularly harsh place to fight. It was the jungles and was very mountainous and rugged. We had basically three large units that were assigned there. One was the First Air Commandos  there are many stories about their exploits with helicopters, he said. They were the Aviation side that supported the unconventional warfare troops on the ground. The troops on the ground were General Merrills Marauders, and Brigadier Wingates Chindits. A Chindit is a Burmese mythical lion. This patch was given to one of the air commandos who was supporting the campaign in Burma.

The museum maintains a collection of over 160 aircraft, many with unit insignias painted on or accompanied by unit patches in the historical property collection, Mitchell said.

There are lots of great stories in these patches, and there are a lot of people all over the world who collect them, he said. Just go on the internet and there are groups who post photos of patches they find to share information and trade patches.
EASTON, Pa.  Northampton County will seek to join the debate over the Bethlehem Landfill expansion in Lower Saucon Township.

Northampton County Council voted Thursday to seek "party status" in the legal process reviewing Waste Connection Inc.'s proposed expansion of the landfill off Applebutter Road. If the hearing officer grants party status, the county can participate in public hearings about the landfill plan.

County Executive Lamont McClure, an attorney, will be the party under the resolution approved by council. The resolution was approved by an 8-0 vote.

Voting in favor were Council President Kerry Myers, Vice President Ron Heckman, Lori Vargo Heffner, Thomas Giovanni, John Goffredo, John Cusick, Kevin Lott and Tara Zrinski. John Brown was absent.

Goffredo initially indicated he might vote no. He said he lives a mile from the Waste Management landfill in Plainfield Township, and that he had to be consistent in his approach to landfill issues.

He ultimately voted in favor, noting, "It's going to pass."

Cusick said Lower Saucon's council should have pressed Waste Connections for more money before voting to move the expansion forward. He compared that to "giving up your wallet before you get mugged."

"I hope Mr. McClure goes and fights like hell," Myers said.

The county has no authority over zoning issues in Lower Saucon Township, but the resolution presented by McClure noted the expansion's potential effect on environmentally sensitive areas and open space. Much of the acreage Waste Connections plans to use for the expansion is wooded.

At the start of the meeting, 11 people  Lower Saucon residents and others  asked council to seek party status. Residents have objected to the potential for more traffic, pollution and odor from trash.

The resolution to seek party status was not on council's agenda for Thursday. Council voted to amend the agenda to consider the issue.

The landfill has been around since the 1940s and was once owned by the City of Bethlehem.

Lower Saucon's Town Council approved steps toward the expansion by a 3-2 vote in December, but hearings continue. Fees from the landfill provide about a quarter of the township's operating budget, and the expansion will allow it to stay open for additional years.

The tentative date of the next landfill hearing is March 9.

Owner Waste Connections, a Texas-based company, is traded on the New York Stock Exchange under the ticker symbol WCN. The closing price Thursday was $133.69. Based on that price, the company's market value is $34.4 billion.

There are three landfills in the Lehigh Valley. In addition to Waste Management and Waste Connections, there is the Chrin landfill in Williams Township.

Also Thursday, council approved contracts for studies of employee pay and of the operations of the Gracedale nursing home.
WASHINGTON - Lehigh Valley Congresswoman Susan Wild will help lead a House Ethics Committee investigation into Republican Congressman George Santos.

The committee will look into Santos's lies and embellishments about his resume and personal life.

The investigation seeks to determine whether he may have engaged in any unlawful activity.

Wild will help lead the probe as the ranking Democrat.
U. MACUNGIE TWP., Pa.  The Upper Macungie Township Board of Supervisors granted preliminary/final land development approval for a proposed warehouse Thursday night at the township building.

The plan, offered for 1001 Glenlivet Drive, involves a 39,870-square-foot warehouse featuring five loading docks, three loading spaces and 25 parking spaces. The parcel rests in the Light Industrial zoning district.

A township ordinance requires at least 50% of the site's woodlands to be preserved. However, during a May 18, 2022, planning commission project review, the applicant's engineer, Nicole Galio, said the property's unique shape required that some of the woodlands be removed and then replaced elsewhere on the property to comply with the ordinance.

Commissioners had two options Thursday night. One was to have the developer plant 55 replacement trees. The second option was for the township to collect an "in-lieu-of fee" totaling $22,000.

After reviewing the matter, supervisors opted to charge the $22,000 fee and then earmark the money for planting mature trees at Grange Park.

Firefighter tax rebate

In other business, Lehigh County Executive Phil Armstrong addressed the board during the meeting. Armstrong noted that his administration will be introducing an ordinance providing a $150 tax rebate to any volunteer firefighter.

"We know in the county there are so many shortages of volunteer firemen," Armstrong said. "...This is the county's way of saying 'thank you.'"

Parks and recreation plan

In other news, the board approved a resolution seeking a Pennsylvania Department of Conservation and Natural Resources grant for the township's parks and recreation master plan, which will "look at everything in our parks and recreation department," from facilities and equipment to programming, according to township officials.

The township's last parks and recreation plan was done in 2011. A plan is typically drafted roughly every 10 years.

Appointments

In other business, supervisors appointed Matthew Bernard to the community fund committee and Neeraj Sharma to the parks and recreation board.
Patricia Kopta from Allegheny County has been found after she went missing nearly 31 years ago.

Patricia was a street preacher known as "The Sparrow."

Her husband Bob says he came home one night and she was just gone.

He struggles to talk about the journey to find his missing wife.

He says she had some mental health issues and would talk about leaving for Puerto Rico where it was warm.

Bob did everything in his power to find his missing wife.

"It's been bad," said Bob. "It cost me a lot of money. I even put advertisements down in the paper in Puerto Rico looking for her."

Eventually she was found exactly where Bob thought she might be.

Interpol police and a social worker contacted Ross Township Police with information about a woman they believed was Patricia living in an adult care home in Puerto Rico.

Now, Bob and the rest of the family can rest easy knowing Patricia is safe.

Patricia's sister Gloria says they all thought Patricia was dead all these years.

She says she it was a total shock but she's so happy and hopes to visit her sister in Puerto Rico soon.
WALTERBORO, S.C. (AP)  Disgraced South Carolina attorney Alex Murdaugh was convicted of murder Thursday in the shooting deaths of his wife and son in a case that chronicled the unraveling of a powerful Southern family with tales of privilege, greed and addiction.

The jury deliberated for less than three hours before finding Murdaugh guilty of two counts of murder at the end of a six-week trial that pulled back the curtain on the once-prominent lawyer's fall from grace.

Murdaugh, 54, faces 30 years to life in prison without parole when he is sentenced, which in South Carolina is typically right after the verdict but can be delayed if a judge chooses.

Through more than 75 witnesses and nearly 800 pieces of evidence, jurors heard about betrayed friends and clients, Murdaugh's failed attempt to stage his own death in an insurance fraud scheme, a fatal boat crash in which his son was implicated, the housekeeper who died in a fall in the Murdaugh home, the grisly scene of the killings and Bubba, the chicken-snatching dog.

In the end, Murdaugh's fate appeared sealed by cellphone video taken by his son, who he called "Little Detective" for his knack for finding bottles of painkillers in his father's belongings after the lawyer had sworn off the pills.

Testimony culminated in Murdaugh's appearance on the witness stand, when he admitted stealing millions from clients and lying to investigators about being at the dog kennels where the shootings took place but steadfastly maintained his innocence in the deaths of Maggie and Paul Murdaugh.

"I did not kill Maggie, and I did not kill Paul. I would never hurt Maggie, and I would never hurt Paul  ever  under any circumstances," Murdaugh said.

Murdaugh's 52-year-old wife was shot four or five times with a rifle and their 22-year-old son was shot twice with a shotgun at the kennels near at their rural Colleton County home on June 7, 2021. Read the full story here:
Moe Bar-El and Hanna Khogali

( Pamela Raith)

Cairo is in a state of becoming We just don't know what it's becoming yet. Daniel Joseph Montis quote about the Egyptian capital stood precariously between the Western contemporary world and more traditional Islamic culture, rings like a siren through You Bury Me. Winner of the Women's Prize for Playwriting, Ahlam's drama follows six Generation Zs as they explore coming of age in a city that is both changing rapidly and stuck in an iron grip. The Arab Spring may hint at the possibilities of a brighter future but choices arent simple in a world where being yourself can lead to sinister ends.

Ahlams writing conveys the hustle and bustle of a teething city both ancient and modern. Her characters face the usual trials attached to the young; of first love and sexual encounters, of emerging sexualities, of finding a political pulse. In many ways, her whip-smart characters could be found in the likes of Netflix bangers Sex Education or Heartstopper. The difference here though is that taking a virginity or using Grindr may result in criminal charges. They may sing along to Nina Simones "Feeling Good", or throw TikTok shapes at house parties but there is something more subversive in discoveries about themselves. This is a city not quite prepared to accept deviations from the status quo.

Yet for all the pep in the characters, there is something a little schematic in the plays episodic structure. Perhaps because each character is an archetype; the blogger, the promiscuous one, the one struggling to accept themselves, etc; you can see where these journeys are going long before we get to their crux. The play makes its points, but they thud heavily upon the stage and so it doesnt land the full emotion. We empathise with their issues but we dont feel them. Its climax (not helped by a short show stop on the night I saw it) doesnt land with the gut punch it could.

Katie Posners production for Paines Plough, opening in Bristol before continuing to Edinburgh and Richmond, also has a slight overemphasis in production which means that although she elicits likable performances from her six actors, they can occasionally be overwrought with a slight soapiness slipping in. As Sara Perks pillars begin to come down from above, it feels like the metaphors are being thrust upon its audience.

Still, I particularly enjoyed the work of Yasemin Ozdemir as the confident party girl who eventually begins to realise her true feelings for her best friend, Eleanor Nawals shy, unsure Lina. Meanwhile, Moe Bar-El and Hannah Khogali generate sweetness and laughs as soulmates who find moving their relationship to the next level difficult in a culture that still censors the salubrious moments in Titanic.

At a little over 90 minutes, it never offers more than a snapshot of this world and arguably its trying to convey too much in that running time. Yet You Bury Me remains engaging, an exploration of a city always in transition, but finding its still not running quickly enough.
The comedy musical prepares for its West End bow

The cast of Operation Mincemeat

( Matt Crockett)

Complete cast and creative team members have been confirmed for the upcoming West End premiere of Operation Mincemeat.

Based on the true story of a plan to fool the Nazis using a dead body and a dossier of fake plans, the hit show got a glowing review when it first opened, being described as "two acts of glib glamour that glow with theatrical invention".

Directed by Rob Hastie, the production features choreography by Jenny Arnold, musical direction by Joe Bunker, set and costume design by Ben Stones, lighting design by Mark Henderson, sound design by Mike Walker, orchestrations and vocal arrangements by Steve Sidwell, associate direction by Georgie Staight and casting direction by Pearson Casting.

Hastie commented: Im a big fan of SpitLips work, and fell in love with Operation Mincemeat from the start. Im thrilled to have been working with the team to help develop the show since its run in Hammersmith, and were all looking forward to the next stage of its evolution as we share this joyous story with the West End. Im delighted to be getting back into the room with SpitLip and the company. Theyre everything you hope a gang like that will be - innovative, creative, collaborative, daring, excellent taste in rehearsal snacks.

Joining the previously announced David Cumming, Claire-Marie Hall, Natasha Hodgson, Jak Malone and Zoe Roberts will be understudies Sean Carey (returning from the Hammersmith Studios run), Geri Allen, Christian Andrews and Holly Sumpton.

Following previous runs at the New Diorama Theatre in 2019 and Southwark Playhouse in 2020, 2021 and 2022, as well as an extended run at Riverside Studios last summer, SpitLip's celebrated musical is heading to the Fortune Theatre. The Woman in Black is scheduled to play its final performance at the venue on 4 March 2023, following a 33-year tenure.

Operation Mincemeat is scheduled to run from 29 March to 8 July in the West End, with press nights set for 9 and 10 May. Tickets are on sale below.
How law officers can better interact with deaf drivers during traffic stops was information Amanda Spears brought to a Level Plains Police Department training session held at the citys community center Tuesday evening.

The Spring Hill woman gave the education and awareness presentation to the law officers as part of a college sociology class she is taking towards earning her masters degree from Walden University in Minnesota.

One of the class requirements was to take action towards a social change that a student is passionate about and to write a letter to a law maker who is in a position to help make that change, she said. Deaf in one ear since she was a junior in high school and with about 40 % hearing in the other, Spears said bridging the gap between the deaf community and law enforcement officers is her chosen topic.

Through a friend, Spears was introduced to Level Plains Police Chief Johnny Summers who is a self-described strong advocate for community policing and who welcomed the opportunity to provide awareness education for the department in this Dale County town. We welcome any kind of community interaction we can get, he said.

The 1990 American with Disabilities Act prohibits discrimination against people with disabilities and guarantees them the same opportunities as everyone else, Spears said. While it saddens me to see members of my community mistreated because of their lack of hearing, I feel the same towards the officers involved because often they lack the training on interacting with the deaf community.

Spears said she uses American Sign Language as a communications tool but also lip reads. I was raised to use my voice, not my hands, she said.

She provided tips to the law officers on interacting effectively with a deaf person during a traffic stop. Before speaking, get the persons attention with a wave of the hand, face the person and dont turn away while speaking because they may be communicating with you through lip reading, she said. Try to converse in a well-lit area but realize that if a light is being shined in their face, they will not be able to read your lips.

Dont assume a person can hear you well just because they are wearing a hearing aid, she said. Dont assume that all deaf people can read lips. Communicating through written notes on a tablet is what Spears suggested. Use visual aids whenever possible, such as pointing to printed information on a citation or other document. If a deaf or hard of hearing person cannot understand you, write a note to ask them what communication aids or services are needed.

Please understand that sign language is a language and people who use sign language as their primary communication need interpreters just like non-English speakers do. If a sign language interpreter is requested, ask which sign language the person uses. When using an interpreter, look and speak directly to the deaf or hard of hearing person and not at the interpreter, Spears said. Dont ask a family member or companion to interpret for you because they might be emotionally compromised, take sides and give you a biased translation.

It is important to know that all deaf or hard of hearing individuals are not the same and not all read lips or sign, Spears said. It is my goal to bring the deaf community together with law enforcement to provide a safe environment for not only others like me, but for the law enforcement officers as well.
The show closes in the West End this weekend  but the spooks won't be away for long!

Matthew Spencer in the West End production of The Woman in Black

( Tristram Kenton)

Just as it prepares to end its record-setting West End run, The Woman in Black has announced it will embark on a UK tour.

Based on Susan Hill's thriller, the show follows a man who believes his family has been cursed by a mythic and terrifying presence. The intimate show, which played over 33,000 performances in the West End over the course of 33 years, will conclude its run at the Fortune Theatre tomorrow.

Opening in Wolverhampton on 6 September 2023, the tour will visit Cardiff, Billingham, Buxton, Aylesbury, Southend, Richmond, Poole, Nottingham, Liverpool, Norwich, Truro, York, Birmingham, Bradford, Brighton, Ipswich, Glasgow, Milton Keynes, Dartford, High Wycombe and Crewe. Further tour dates and casting are to be announced.

The Woman in Black is directed by Robin Herford, with designs by Michael Holt and lighting by Kevin Sleep.

The producers said today in a statement: "Throughout the productions run in the West End and during its many tours we have been determined to keep ticket prices within the range of students and young people. This policy will continue in whatever form the play and production take in the future."
MONTGOMERY  Laptops, office furniture, vehicles and more are among the lots up for bid in the next online state surplus property auction starting this Saturday.

The Surplus Property Division of the Alabama Department of Economic and Community Affairs is hosting the auction via GovDeals.com starting at 7:30 a.m. Saturday, March 4, with bidding running until 6 p.m. on Sunday, March 12. For information on becoming an authorized bidder, visit www.adeca.alabama.gov/online-auctions. The auction items will be listed here starting Saturday: www.GovDeals.com/AlabamaSurplus.

In addition to property no longer needed by state and federal agencies, ADECA acquires items abandoned voluntarily at several airports in the Southeast.

Auction items can be inspected on-site at the Surplus Property Divisions Montgomery warehouse at 4590 Mobile Highway, from 8 a.m. to 3 p.m. on Thursday, March 9 and Friday, March 10.

ADECA conducts online public auctions periodically each year, but surplus items are available at any time to municipal and county governments, state agencies and qualified nonprofit organizations. Most items are used and may contain hidden defects. All known information per item lot is included in the asset description. Items are sold as is with no warranty and all sales are final.

In addition to the surplus property program, ADECA administers an array of grant programs for law enforcement and traffic safety, economic development, energy conservation, water resource management and recreation development.

For more information about the online auction, visit www.adeca.alabama.gov/surplus or call (334) 284-0577.
The young woman from Baraboo was a spy. The UW-Madison student was spending her holiday break terrified. The valedictorian of the Baraboo High School class of 1957, whose commencement speech was My Elephants Are Not Pink; who was Baraboos first National Merit Scholarship winner; walked the streets of Havana nervously.

She had a pad of paper and a pen. Those were her chosen weapons against the Communist front brought violently to light by Fidel Castro. She took notes. She wrote. She, frightened as she was, knew how important her assignment was. She knew it was important for people to know the facts and to know how news events, like Castros rise to power, can affect lives, no matter how far away those lives are.

She was there, in Cuba, during the height of the Cold War, the young woman from Baraboo. She was there because she was asked to be. Don Anderson, publisher of the Wisconsin State Journal, sent her to go to Cuba with the Fairplay for Cuba Committee to see if Cuba was Communist; to see if a dictatorship was in place, in a country a stones throw from America.

The young woman from Baraboo wrote seven articles for the paper on her Cuba trip. It was scary, she said. The government controlled everything. Her first article, appearing in the January 9, 1961 edition of the Wisconsin State Journal read, in part, Others of us were horrified by the governments complete stranglehold on all business, especially on newspapers. Those of us who expressed such opinions, she wrote, refrained from voicing them until we were safely back on United States soil.

The patch of United States soil Brenda Rotzoll, that young writerly spy in Cuba, cherished most, and still cherishes most, is Baraboo. The 83-year-old, now residing in town at SSM Health St. Clare Meadows, has lived and written about people and places the world over: from Rome to Australia; Africa to London; New Hampshire to New York, but, she said, my heart has always been right here in Baraboo.

She said, now legally blind and who asks others to read stories for her (like this one), Ive had marvelous opportunities and wrote about them. A proud journalist, having worked from June 1961 to November 2004, she said, I dont think Ive missed very much.

She had thoughts of becoming other things: a trapeze artist, a civil engineer, a nurse. It was her mothers death, when young Rotzoll was only 14 years old, that she changed her mind and began focusing on journalism.

It made sense. She had always loved reading. She checked out most of the books from the Baraboo public library, read them, and then, turned around and checked them out again. She was keen, as a girl, to learn as much as she could about as many things as she could. She loved the library. She loved school.

Though she enjoyed the who-done-its, and read Sherlock Holmes voraciously, she wanted to learn about the real world; she wanted to see how it came to be the way it was; wanted to see how it was shaped, and by whom.

I was born to be a service reporter, she said.

But, first, she was still learning the ropes as a teenager in Baraboo. Though she wrote for the school paper, her big break came in 1957 when she covered a fire at McGanns Furniture Store. Her article appeared on the front page of the Baraboo News Republic.

The February 4, 1957 article began, The boys were standing on the sidewalk near Thompsons when the night exploded in fury.

Her career, indeed, her lifes trajectory, though she didnt know it then, was sparked, in part, by McGanns Furniture store going up in flames.

After graduating cum laude from UW-Madison, she worked at United Press International (UPI). She worked first in their Milwaukee office, then to Chicago, then to England, then to Rome, then to New Hampshire, then back to Chicago to work for the Chicago Sun-Times until her retirement.

She liked covering all manner of stories though she particularly liked the hard news. Its got to be todays news today, she said. Being a woman in a predominantly male profession didnt faze her. I baked a lot of homemade cookies and brought them into the office.

A lot of her work was in fashion, covering the Vatican, covering presidential races, covering the Indianapolis 500. An article she wrote for the Chicago Tribune reads, Tiziani launched a fluttery feminine look for summer 1972 yesterday with a collection of flared pants, fluttering skirts, and frilly petticoats peeping out from top-of-the-knee hemlines.

In an article she wrote in 1969, it reads, Pope Paul VI meditated on the joys of Easter and the sorrows of man in the quiet privacy of his chambers today.

While in Rome, Rotzoll covered fashion and a great deal of time covering the goings-on at the Vatican. A lifelong Episcopalian, she said, I was not impressed. Nor did she want to kiss the popes ring. Its an extremely unsanitary practice. She relented, however. She has kissed a popes ring.

An article from Indianapolis in 1980 reads, The shouts of cheerleaders and the grunts of the worlds largest male hog got the 129th Indiana State Fair off to a brisk start Thursday despite rain that postponed the hot air balloon race.

Rotzoll has not missed very much.

Shes traveled the world and written about a lot of it: strikes and sports; traffic fatalities and Fred Astaire; presidents and petticoats. She wrote about a hijacking and took the last voyage of the Queen Mary. Shes written about murderers and wrote one article entitled The potato scones of Anworth: their justified fame lives.

Shes lived so she could share the lives of others through sentence and paragraph. People need to know things, she said. Its important. She continued, The more journalists there are, the better our country will be.

As her writing career wound down, and her blindness made it difficult to work, she wrote obituaries in Chicago. Asked what she would like written in her obituary, she paused. I wanted to see the world and tell the truth about it.

Her heart still beats strong, though her writing beat ended years ago. No matter, theres still so much more to learn, and so much of the world to explore, and so many people to meet and get to know.

Having written about people for decades, she knows a thing or two about them; about humanity itself.

Most people are decent, she said. Most of them want to do the right thing.

For Rotzoll, in her life, what was right was to write.
A Poynette man has been charged with multiple counts of possessing child pornography following an investigation by the Wisconsin Department of Justice.

Drew M. Gunderson, 20, is facing 10 counts of possession of child pornography in Columbia County. If convicted he faces 15 years in prison, followed by 10 years of extended supervision for each count.

Columbia County court documents allege the child pornography was found on Gundersons cell phone and included images and video of prepubescent children obtained with encrypted instant messaging services.

At his initial appearance on Feb. 28, a signature bond was set at $1,000. Columbia County Circuit Court Judge Troy Cross set the signature along with standard felony conditions: Gunderson is not allowed to initiate contact with anyone under the age of 18 and cannot use the internet unless for work purposes. Online records show Gunderson is no longer in custody.

According to the criminal complaint filed on Feb. 28:

A special agent with the Wisconsin Department of Justice, Division of Criminal Investigation spoke with Gunderson on Feb. 24 in Arlington. Gunderson gave the SA permission to search his cell phone.

The SA reported finding six images and four video with prepubescent females with varying sexual situations including sexual intercourse. The complaint alleges it is clear the females in the images and video are not over the age of 18.

When Gunderson spoke with authorities he admitted to receiving the images and video of child pornography with the two encrypted instant messaging services. He allegedly sent and received child pornography using these encrypted services. He admitted to having as many as 35 videos and images of child pornography on his phone.

Gunderson is scheduled to be in Columbia County Court later this month for a pre-trial conference.
A voter registration group is sending Dane County residents misleading mailers featuring pre-filled applications for absentee ballots that often dont include the recipients correct information, according to the Madison clerks office and other election officials.

The Washington, D.C.-based Center for Voter Information says on its website that its vote-by-mail ballot applications are tailored to each state and accepted by state and local election authorities. The groups stated goal is to increase voter registration and turnout.

But Madison-area officials and residents are telling a different story about the organization  one of astounding levels of ineptitude, in the words of Dane County election management specialist Rachel Rodriguez.

Just astounding levels of ineptitude https://t.co/kpFNw03gFh  That Clerk Rachel  (@badachie) March 1, 2023

The organization, which has spent tens of thousands of dollars to elect Democrats, according to ProPublica, said the commercial printing company it uses caused the recent error. Many of the forms in the Madison area list one name on the mailer envelope and another name on the actual absentee ballot application.

We deeply regret this printing error and will do everything we can to ensure impacted Wisconsin voters have the information and resources they need to participate in the April 4th election, Center for Voter Information president and CEO Tom Lopach said.

A spokesperson from the printer, Westerleigh Press, said a quality control sensor that experienced an electrical failure caused the error.

Because of the sensor failures, we cannot accurately detail the scope of the mismatches, Westerleigh Press chief operations officer Misha Pavlov said.

Dane County Clerk Scott McDonell said the groups mistakes go back further back than the recent incident. The group, which has been sending similar mailers for years, uses terrible data, sometimes sending forms to people who have been dead for a long time, he said.

They cause more harm than good, he said. They dont seem to care about the damage theyre doing and peoples faith in the clerks and the election system as a whole.

Despite the mailers coming from the Center for Voter Information, the forms return addresses are from the local clerks offices, causing voters to think their local election officials are sending the forms, McDonell said. Thats leading to clerks receiving an influx of angry and confused calls.

McDonell said hes received complaints from clerks in McFarland and Fitchburg about the mailers. Madison deputy clerk Jim Verbick said he has received dozens of calls about the mailers, both from people who received forms with incorrect information and those who received forms with correct information but were still confused about their origin.

Questions raised

Since Wednesday about 20 people have called, emailed or visited the Fitchburg city clerks office about the mailer, Fitchburg city clerk Tracy Oldenburg said. A couple of them said the mailer appeared to be voter fraud because of the different names on the mailer and form.

WEC staff have received numerous calls from voters  chiefly in Dane County  notifying us of the issue, Wisconsin Elections Commission administrator Meagan Wolfe said in a letter to clerks around the state Thursday, adding that Wisconsin law doesnt prohibit private organizations from sending out request forms.

Some of the request forms the group is sending out do include accurate information, Verbick said. And those forms can be used to request an absentee ballot. But even those correct forms are sometimes causing confusion because in many cases theyre going out to people who already requested an absentee ballot, Verbick said.

Stoking the fires

The mailers are causing a dramatically negative effect for the citys election workers, Verbick said.

Its sort of stoking the fires of confusion and misinformation as far as what exactly it is theyre getting and why theyre getting it, Verbick said.

One of the local residents who received a mailer from the Center for Voter Information was UW-Madison political science professor Barry Burden. The mailer he received was addressed to a family member of Burdens but had the name and number of a neighbor on the form itself, he said.

Our voters can feel free to disregard the mailings, Verbick said.

Wisconsinites can request absentee ballots at myvote.wi.gov and selecting Vote Absentee By Mail.
Pawnshop chain F88 has received $50 million from two foreign investment funds, Vietnam Oman Investment and Mekong Enterprise Fund IV managed by Mekong Capital.

Phung Anh Tuan, chairman and CEO of F88, said that the company will use the funds for developing technology as well as building its brand and attracting skilled staff.

This is Mekong Capitals third investment in F88. Chris Freund, the CEO of the Vietnam-focused equity firm, said that he considered this a sound investment as while in 2018 F88 had only 15 offices, it is now one of the biggest financial services companies in Vietnam with 830 offices.

Nguyen Xuan Giao, investment director of Vietnam Oman Investment, said that the fund spent nearly a year researching F88 and its potential.

The company, which was established in 2009, has so far disbursed over $300 million in different areas such as renewable energy, clean water, health, education and agriculture.

F88 was established in 2013. In 2017-2018 it received its Series A investment from Mekong Enterprise Fund III and later Granite Oak. Last year it raised $70 million from Hong Kongs CLSA Capital Partners.
A farmer examines durians in Long An Province in February 2023. Photo by VnExpress/Hoang Nam

Competition in exporting durian to China is rising between long-time player Thailand and newbies Vietnam and the Philippines as the worlds largest market for the fruit reopens after Covid.

In the southern province of Tien Giang, Nguyen Van Dong has invested VND800 million ($33,649) in growing 200 durian trees that are expected to fruit from next year.

The 50-year-old used to grow rice and jackfruit on the land, but with their prices plunging four years ago and failing to recover, he decided to chop them off and replace them with durian, and hopes to increase his income 10-fold.

Growing durian has become the latest trend in southern Vietnam following the rise in the price of the fruit, especially after China began to allow its official import from Vietnam last September.

The country planned to have 75,000 ha under durian by 2030, but the figure has already exceeded 80,000 ha and is growing, and this has alarmed the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development.

Last year durian exports were worth nearly $400 million, including $300 to China.

But to put it in perspective, Chinas total imports of the fruit were worth $4.2 billion, a seven-fold increase from 2017, according to its customs.

Thailand, the first and biggest fresh durian exporter to China, has been working to increase output in response to this growing demand.

In 2021 its exports to China grew 68% to 875,000 tonnes. It harvested 1.29 million tons that year, 30% higher than in 2019.

Nikkei newspaper quoted an unnamed official at the Thai embassy in Beijing as saying: "China's imports are already high, but per capita consumption is expected to grow further. Thai farmers are highly motivated to expand production."

But the new competition from Vietnam seems to be of concern to Thailand.

Vietnams farmers have an advantage because they could afford to pick their durian for export later than their Thai counterparts since shipments take less time to reach China, SCMP quoted Thai academic and agriculture specialist Sakda Sinives as saying.

"Even without any clear difference in terms of taste ... the riper fruit from Vietnam will slowly get higher prices, while the price of durian from Thailand will fall."

Besides, Vietnam will not be Thailands only competitor after the Philippines recently became the third country to get approval to export durian to China.

The Philippine News Agency quoted a local agriculture official as saying durian exports to China are expected to be worth $150 million in the first year and create 10,000 direct and indirect jobs.

The country plans to export 7,500 tons to China in March.

Malaysia, which grows the "best durian in the world," Musang King, is also seeking to meet Chinese hunger for the fruit.

The Malaysia International Durian Industry Development Association is eyeing increased exports of the fruit and related products to China through better branding and quality control.

Its chairman, Fang Ming, had said in December that while Malaysia boasts the worlds best durian, exports are affected by its lack of a streamlined process, causing it to lose market share in China.

"Although Musang King has the best taste, it is facing tough competition from Thailand and Vietnam, and maybe other markets in the future," New Straits Times quoted him as saying.

Malaysia is the worlds second largest exporter of durian after Thailand, and China accounts for 79% of its frozen durian exports.

In November Malaysias PLS Plantations Bhd signed a deal with a Chinese agri-product distributor to export durian.

It hopes to achieve 30% annual growth in exports in the next three years, and plans to distribute the fruit in Chinas most populous cities and provinces like Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou, and Shenzhen.

With ASEAN and China being each others biggest trade partners last year with a total of $975 billion, it is expected that more Southeast Asian countries will eye durian exports.

Quality vs quantity

Though it took four years for Vietnam to negotiate the durian trade protocol with China, it has lots to do to strengthen its farming and distribution to meet the latters quality requirements.

"Our exports need to meet Chinese consumers standards and we need to respect their desires and regulations," To Ngoc Son, deputy head of the Asia and Africa division at the Ministry of Industry and Trade, said.

"That is how we can ensure a sustainable export channel to this market."

However, quality does not seem to be the top priority for Vietnamese farmers, who are instead seeking to increase export volumes by growing more.

In the last three years the area under durian in Tien Giang Province has expanded by 21% to 17,600 ha. Neighboring localities such as Can Tho City and Hau Giang Province have been witnessing a similar trend, with thousands of hectares added in recent years.

Farmers say durian prices have tripled in Tien Giang since the end of 2021 to VND75,000 per kilogram now.

Durian is said to be the most profitable export fruit fetching VND1-2 billion per hectare, higher than other popular items such as dragon fruit and green skin pomelo.

As farmers chop down coffee, pepper and rice crops to farm durian despite warnings that unsuitable soil would hit yields and quality, the agriculture ministry has recently issued a warning to slow down the expansion.

"The reckless surge in durian farming could lead to oversupply," it said in a statement targeted at farmers in the south and Central Highlands.

It also called on local authorities to make plans to cope with the loss of rice paddies and apprise farmers about which areas are suitable for growing durian.
NANNING  For generations, the longest distance that many villagers in Zhadong, South China's Guangxi Zhuang autonomous region, could fathom was that of the journey between their village and Nanning, the regional capital. In 2018, the arrival of a man from Luxembourg 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," recalls Hansen Nico Rene, a 63-year-old retired policeman. "But when we entered the houses, we found people were poor. There was a fireplace, a table, and some chairs. The bathroom, if there was one, was in the pigsty. There was very little to suggest that they were living in the second millennium." The village Hansen visited is in a remote mountainous area in Guangxi's Hechi city. Tucked away in the mountains, Zhadong village was known not only 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 for 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 ($331.7) at 2010 constant values, or $2.3 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 road. 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 had seen 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 to see what was going on. Xie introduced himself as the first Party secretary and explained that they were preparing to grow passion fruit to help people out of poverty. "We will never forget the first moment (we met) because this changed my whole life. I met the first Party secretary, and he was working for the government for poverty alleviation. That was amazing. I said if you need help, I have time," Hansen recounts. Since then, he became known by a new identity  the village's first Party secretary's assistant. Across the hills and rivers, the duo worked closely, day and night, to explore a path toward prosperity for the village residents. They visited each household, asking about their income and taking careful notes. "I know everyone in the village," Hansen says. "We first thought he was a tourist, as he was carrying a camera with him," Bi says. "But later, we learned he was a volunteer. He is a warmhearted and hardworking man, always giving a hand to the villagers on their farms 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 that the village use the land behind it to build a farm, and he also participated in the construction work himself. "It was 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 says. Today, this farm brings over 100,000 yuan 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. By November 2020, the whole of Zhadong village had successfully eradicated poverty. Now local authorities are leading the villagers on a new journey to rural vitalization. Hansen is 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, he maintains a deep attachment to Zhadong, and often goes back to the village to see his old friends and promote 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," says Xie, who has now returned to his original work as an official at a government 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 adds. "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 says. Lei, an ordinary young Chinese soldier in the 1960s, is a household name in China known for his devotion to duty. 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 serve the people wholeheartedly. In 1963, Chairman Mao Zedong called on the nation to learn from Lei, and 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 pantheon of "living Lei Fengs" now includes a foreign face.
Two cruise ships carrying 700 tourists have docked at Vietnamese ports and two others with 3,500 passengers are set to arrive soon, heralding a busy year of cruise tourism.

On Wednesday the Malta-flagged Azamara Quest arrived in Saigon Port with 300 tourists from the U.K., the U.S., Germany, and Australia, who will visit the city and the Mekong Delta.

The vessel will go on at Tien Sa Port in Da Nang City on Sunday for the passengers to visit hotspots such as Hoi An and Hue before leaving Vietnam the same day.

On Friday another Malta-flagged vessel, the Europa 2, with 400 German tourists docked at Hiep Phuoc port in HCMC. Its next ports of call are Da Nang on March 6 and Ha Long on March 8.

Bahamas-flagged Resort World One with 1,500 passengers will arrive at Phu My Port in the southern province of Ba Ria-Vung Tau on Sunday.

The visitors will make brief tours of HCMC and the Mekong Delta town of My Tho, famous for its traditional craft villages.

A day later the Malta-flagged Mein Schiff 5 will bring 2,000 German tourists to Ha Long in northern Vietnam.

Vietnam has received a number of international cruise ships in recent months, presaging a busy year for its tourism industry, which targets eight million arrivals.
If you are a fired Dana worker, or if you would like to join the rank-and-file committee to fight against the mass firings, text or call the WSWS Autoworker Newsletter at 2486020936 today.

The United Auto Workers and auto parts manufacturer Dana Inc. are carrying out a mass firing at the transnational corporations Toledo Driveline Plant in northwestern Ohio. In recent months, dozens of workers have been fired in a systematic effort to purge the plant of anyone who has spoken up against corporate abuse in the past. The firings are ongoing, and workers still in the plant report they are walking on eggshells.

This act of corporate dictatorship takes place as prices for food, gas and other necessities surge and workers and their families cannot afford to lose their jobs. Workers with years at the plant and clean records are being replaced with lower-paid temps in order to increase profits for wealthy shareholders. The World Socialist Web Site learned that the labor contractor Manpower is currently hiring temp workers at the plant for $17/hr.

The cause for the firings goes much deeper than the new HR official Dana has brought in to carry them out. It is part of a systematic corporate policy to lower labor costs and terrorize workers into accepting worse exploitation in the coming year.

On February 21, Dana reported record sales for 2022 of $10.2 billion and operating cash flow of $649 million, though workers have again received no profit sharing. Dana made its wealthy investors even richer by forcing workers to tag through breaks to keep the line running at all times and work 7 days a week for 19 days straight. The company is also not allowing workers to flex out, that is, leave early if the line is full.

Dana Senior Vice President Timothy Kraus told investors: Looking forward to 2023 the company will ensure ongoing cost recoveries to drive up profits. In other words, unless workers take action, they will look forward to working even harder under more dangerous conditions for lower pay this year. This is the reality of life under capitalism, where all corporations profit from workers exploitation and hardship.

The UAW is playing a critical part in helping the company carry out this attack on workers. Workers report that UAW officials are not only allowing this illegal mass firing, they are even telling the company who to fire, using loopholes and tricks to fire workers for material violations of the contract, even when workers have far below the threshold of points required to be dismissed.

One inside source told the World Socialist Web Site that leading union officials give each other high fives when they have successfully orchestrated another workers firing on false pretenses. When one worker asked the UAW to defend her from corporate abuse, UAW leader Lakesha Self reportedly said, Im not helping that bitch.

This crass statement epitomizes the attitude of the UAW bureaucracy to the rank and file. The UAW has hoarded $1.6 billion in workers dues money, which it uses to pay 450 bureaucrats over $100,000 in salaries. In recent years, two past UAW presidents and many leading officials were jailed for robbing workers of their dues money and accepting bribes from the corporations in exchange for selling workers out.

So many workers have been fired at Dana Toledo that HR claims they are receiving death threats. As a result, HR has been allowed to work from home, but workers have been forced to keep working despite the alleged danger.

The World Socialist Web Site demands the immediate rehiring of all fired workers, with full back pay. From now on, rank-and-file workers must have control of all hiring and firing.

Here are some of the workers who have been fired:

Teaonna Campbell, age 25, was fired in December 2022 after taking two days off to travel out of town to identify the body of her 21-year-old cousin who was murdered. Letter Number 17 of the UAW-Dana contract states that Dana workers get three days for bereavement of deceased relatives, and Campbell only took two. She later called off one day to attend the funeral, and was fired.

Teonna Campbell, 25-year-old worker fired from Dana [Photo by Teonna Campbell]

Campbell showed the World Socialist Web Site a locket she wears around her neck with a picture of her deceased cousin, and became emotional.I was lied to, she said. I was brought into the union office by [UAW official] Cherita Walker who told me not to worry. As soon as we got into the room with the company they fired me, and the union said nothing. Cherita asked me if I wanted to file a grievance, and I said yes. I havent heard anything since. I was extremely close to my cousin. They knew what I was going through; they would see me crying.

Locket of Teonna Cambell's recently-deceased cousin. [Photo by Teonna Campbell]

Campbell provided the UAW and Dana with the phone numbers of police investigators to whom she spoke, as well as the number for the mortuary. She also sent them her cousins obituary and photos from the crime scene, but the UAW said her grievance was denied because she failed to provide a statement from the owner of the funeral home. Campbell said, We give so much to Dana, and we pay $800 in union dues every year, but for what?

Dasmin McClain, age 22, was fired in early November 2022, two weeks after announcing she was pregnant. McClain told the WSWS, I dont have any write-ups, I was an honor roll student, I was on the principals list.

But McClain was getting picked on by another worker with a long record of harassment, and this worker assaulted her by pushing a heavy part into McClains stomach, even though the worker knew she was pregnant. McClain reported this to management and the UAW, but instead of taking action to protect her, McClain was fired for harassing the other worker. Many workers report the UAW plays favorites, allowing some to break the rules and get away with it as long as they do not criticize the UAW or Dana.

Dasmin McClain, 22-year-old worker fired from Dana. [Photo by Dasmin McClain]

A few weeks before this, McClain had stood up to a supervisor who was harassing another worker for wearing yoga pants to work. McClain believes she was fired both because she spoke up against the supervisor and because the company did not want to pay her for maternity leave. The UAW did nothing to protect her, she said. They dont go to bat for us. We pay union dues, and they dont do anything for us.

Maijoy Wooten, age 21, a skilled quality technician, was fired on January 9, 2022, after a male employee harassed her outside the womens bathroom at work. Wooten had previously reported supervisors four times for acts of sexual harassment. One supervisor said he was going to get her ass, and she reported it. Every time I reported him, he harassed me more, she said.

Maijoy Wooten, 21-year-old worker fired from Dana. [Photo by Maijoy Wooten]

When Wooten stood up for herself after the latest incident, she was fired. She asked her union representative to stand up for her, but the UAW did not submit a grievance until it was contractually too late to get her job back. She explained, I was told my grievance was submitted on January 18. They waited nine days, but if you dont submit a grievance seven days after your dismissal, you miss the deadline. I wrote a three-page grievance citing contract language, but they ignored it. The union is the company. We are all getting fired, and the UAW isnt helping anyone.

Maijoy Wooten's grievance form, signed by UAW Representative Kesha Self stating issue was resolved when in reality Wooten remained fired. [Photo by Maijoy Wooten]

Brandon Hineline, age 23, was fired after Christmas break 2022, when workers had a week off. He took a vacation day for January 3, and when he came back the next day, he was called into a meeting by HR, who told him he was suspended. The next morning, he was told he was fired, after being informed that someone close to the UAW said he had made a racist comment, which was not true.

Brandon Hineline's repeated attempts to solicit a response from the UAW were greeted with silence. [Photo by Brandon Hineline]

Multiple African American workers vouch for Hineline, but the UAW ignored his appeals for help and instead allowed the company to slander him as a racist, dividing workers against each other. Hineline said, I tried texting and calling the UAW but they ignored me. I dont even know if the grievance ever got filed. Nobody from the union ever even asked me to fill out a grievance form, and thats in the contract. Hineline had not even been written up before this incident. He was not allowed back on the premises and was fired over the phone.

Corvon Williams, age 23, worked at Dana Driveline for nearly four years [Photo: Corvon Williams/WSWS]

Corvon Williams, age 23, worked at Dana Driveline for nearly four years, almost since the plant opened. He rarely had more than two points on his record, far below the threshold for dismissal.

One morning in February 2023, he arrived at the plant at 6:55 for his 7:00 shift, with plenty of time to park and clock in on time. But on this morning, the company had parked a delivery truck in front of the entrance, which caused a long line of traffic and led him to clock-in a minute or two late. I come to work every single day, Williams said. I literally only have a point-and-a-half. Im never late, Im always on time. He marked 6:59 on his time clock.

Later that day he was called into a meeting with HR, who fired him on the spot for lying on a company document. Several UAW officials were in the room when this happened, and none stood up to defend him. The UAW called him two days later to say his grievance was denied at the first stage, and he never heard back after emailing them. He told the UAW and Dana to check the cameras outside the plant to show that it was the companys fault he was late, but they did not review any tapes. Williams said, The UAW takes my money but they got me fired. Ive worked jobs that are non-union, and it was the same as Dana except for the dues.

Other incidents

These stories are just the tip of the iceberg. Workers reported hearing of other incidents of serious abuse:

One Dana worker said, I know a woman who gave birth to a baby who tragically died in the hospital. The worker tried to file for a vacation day so she could bury her child. They wouldnt give it to her. She cant afford to lose her job so she didnt take off work.

Another reported, My co-worker had a close family member test positive for COVID-19, and the rule was that if your immediate family tests positive, you cant get in trouble for taking off work. This worker took a photo of the positive test, and the company fired him because they said he used a photo from the internet. In reality he was at risk of infecting all of us.

The firing of Keaira Marsenburg

The first major firing at Dana Toledo took place in 2021, when the UAW and Dana conspired to fire a militant worker, Keaira Marsenburg, who had worked at the Dana Driveline plant in Toledo and was an active member of the Dana Workers Rank-and-File Committee, which was set up to oppose the 2021 contract and mobilize the workers against the company and the pro-company union. The World Socialist Web Site campaigned against her firing and mobilized support on her behalf among autoworkers across Dana plants and at the Big Three.

Keaira Marsenburg, fired from Dana in 2021. [Photo: WSWS]

There is now further evidence that it was the UAW which fired Keaira. One UAW official who was present when Keaira Marsenburg was fired told the WSWS:

I was there when Keaira was fired. Keaira posted something on Facebook about the rank-and-file committee. [UAW official] Gayle Jackson said it was about her, but it wasnt just about her. The union didnt like that she stood up when something wasnt right. UAW Chair Lakesha Self put her hand up to me for a high-five and said, We got that bitch, referencing Keaira being fired. I went to HR and asked Cory Jones, who was then Danas HR person, and he said he got an anonymous call about Keaira. I told him that I know the union did it. And he looked at me and said, The UAW are dirty motherfuckers. But Keaira was fired. The union set her up. It was totally bullshit. They told on her.

Enough is enough! All wrongfully fired workers must be rehired with full back pay. The only way to prevent this from happening is for Dana workers to have democratic rank-and-file control over hiring and firing. Dana workers have the power to change the situation by coming together in a rank-and-file committee, which will share information, give workers the right to democratically discuss their demands for change, and ensure workers are united in common action, free of control from the pro-corporate UAW officials.

If you are a fired Dana worker, or if you would like to join the rank-and-file committee to fight against the mass firings, text or call the WSWS Autoworker Newsletter at 2486020936 today.
A mass outpouring of anger in the working class and among youth has been unleashed in response to the devastating loss of life in Greeces worst-ever train disaster.

A 24-hour nationwide strike by rail workers which began on Thursday to protest at least 57 passenger deathsincluding at least 10 rail workerswas extended to Friday. Later Friday, a 48-hour strike was announced extending the strike across the weekend.

University students chant slogans during a protest as they head to the headquarters of private operator Hellenic Train, in Athens, Friday, March 3, 2023. The message on the visible banner reads, "I dont want to live through luck". Demonstrators marched through the city center to protest the deaths of dozens of people late Tuesday, in Greece's worst recorded rail accident. [AP Photo/Petros Giannakouris]

Thousands of workers and youth have protested daily in Athens outside the headquarters of Hellenic Rail, Greeces privatised rail network, and the parliament building. More demonstrations have been held in many of Greeces main town and cities. Around 5,000 gathered at Hellenic Rail Friday, with the word murderers daubed on the building.

The protests are a repudiation of the New Democracy (ND) government and the medias attempts to solely blame human error by a station master in the city of Larissa, begun within hours of the disaster. Greeces rail network is unsafe, damaged by years of budget cuts, understaffing and then privatisation. The country is the only one in the European Union (EU) which does not have a national automated train protection system in place.

The deaths were caused when a passenger train, on route from Athens to Thessaloniki with more than 350 people on board, crashed head-on into a freight train shortly before midnight Tuesday, outside the town of Tempi in central Greece.

Almost 40 survivors remain in hospital, seven of them in intensive care. Some on the passenger list are still missing but the exact number is not known. Three days after the crash, some parents still dont know the fate of their children. The Independent reported that on Friday, Panos Routsi  and his wife waited with anguish for confirmation of what had happened to their 22-year-old son Denis. Expressing widely held sentiment, Deniss father said, They killed him, that is what happened. They are murderers, all of them.

The first funeral of one of the victims, Athina Katsara, a 34-year-old mother of an infant boy, took place in her home town of Katerini on Friday. Her husband who was injured in the crash was in hospital and unable to attend.

The common response of millions of workers is that the Tempi crash is not only a tragedy, but a great crime, bound up with savage austerity imposed on the population by the ruling elite for well over a decade.

Young people in particular have turned out in large numbers at the protests; the majority of the dead were young students returning to university after a holiday for Greek Orthodox Lent. Schoolchildren and students are protesting nationwide in schools and universities. Universities remain closed again in Athens on Friday, due to ongoing rallies.

People take part in a silent protest in front of the parliament, in Athens, Friday, March 3, 2023. Thousands gather to protest the deaths of dozens of people late Tuesday, in Greece's worst recorded rail accident. [AP Photo/Yorgos Karahalis]

The third day of official national mourning saw large demonstrations in Athens, Thessaloniki, Larissathe nearest city to where the crash occurredand other towns and cities including Patras and Volos. Thousands took to the streets in Athens, chanting Their profits, our dead. Many came with black balloons in memory of the victims and unfurled a large black banner. In the evening a march of over 1,000 took off from the Propylaia, the central gateway to the Acropolis, and a silent protest of at least 3,000 was later held outside the parliament building in Syntagma Square.

Another march of thousands of young people took place in the centre of Larissa (see video below). They chanted, This crime should not be covered up, let us be the voice of all the dead. In reference to the governments narrative of attracting investment for growth and jobs, and selling off state assets such as the railway system in the name of development, another chant was, The rails of development were drenched in blood, we will never forget the crime on the trains.

In the city of Karditsa in central Greece, hundreds of schoolchildren, students and their teachers demonstrated. They marched from the main square to the rail station, where flowers and placards were placed on the rail tracks. A period of silence was held.

A selection of video and photos of the protests in Karditsa can be viewed here.

Throughout Karditsa prefecture, at least 13 secondary schools were under occupation, with pupils arriving holding banners and placards and shouting slogans denouncing the authorities and Hellenic Rail for murder.

A cover-up of how and why the deaths occurred has already begun. The government has appointed what is described as an independent committee to investigate the deaths. Minister of State George Gerapetritis has appointed Athanasios Ziliaskopoulos to the body. He served as chairman of the state-owned TrainOSE for five years, before privatisation. He later became chairman of TAIPED, Greeces privatisation fund. TAIPED is overseeing the ongoing privatisations of billions of euros worth of Greeces state assets.

This year, Greece is expected to sell off a long-term concession for its longest highway and a gas company for almost 2 billion. Reuters reported that Greece must meet an annual 2.2 billion ($2.49 billion) revenue target from state assets Athens has raised a total of 7.6 billion from privatisations since 2011, a key plank of its three international bailouts which ended in 2018.

All the parties of the ruling elite are implicated in the deaths, having overseen an unsafe rail system for years. Prior to its privatisation, in 2017, TrainOSEs budget was slashed in order to make it a viable entity for the corporate profiteers who bought it, Ferrovie Dello Stato Italiane.

Successive governments were frenzied in imposing austerity. In 2010, the ruling social democratic PASOK government launched a plan to cut TrainOSEs workforce by nearly 40 percent, from more than 6,000 to around 3,700. In the decade since, the New Democracy and SYRIZA governments slashed that even further to leave the national rail network with just 750 workers today.

A 2019 tweet by Kostis Hatzidakis, the Minister of Labour and Social Affairs and Vice President of ND, boasted, OSE was the most troubled company in Europe. We implemented a consolidation plan that saved hundreds of millions and made TrainOSE profitable. Thanks to our interventions, the subsequent privatisation of the company was achieved.

SYRIZA played the most significant role, swept to power in 2015 promising to oppose the austerity offensive being demanded by European Union, International Monetary Fund and European Central Bank, widely reviled as the troika. SYRIZA betrayed this mandate and stepped up the imposition of austerity. TrainOSE and rolling stock maintenance company EESSTY were privatised by the SYRIZA government in 2017 and 2018.

Profits were reaped while basic safety measures were sacrificed. Citing a rail union leader, the Times reported Friday, a state-of-the-art security system had been purchased by the government before the 2004 Athens Olympics but was never installed, leaving Greeces rail system operating blind. The Guardian reported Thursday, A Greek magistrate called for an urgent inquiry into allegations [by the Federation of Railroad employees] that a long stretch of track leading to Athens international airport, used by millions of foreign tourists every year, is operated with inadequate signalling.

On Thursday, the station master, who has not been named by the authorities, appeared in front of a local prosecutor in Larissa and was accused of pressing the wrong button then failing to stop the two trains from colliding. The Times reported that in his first testimony, he said he realised his mistake 12 minutes after authorising the passenger train to leave the station despite a red warning signal. The station master requested three more days to provide testimony.

His lawyer Stefanos Pantzartzidis said, My client has accepted responsibility, but he alone is not to blame. There is a forest of blame that has to be probed. There is also neglect from officials too.
Revenue from tourists reaches over $3.6B in two months

Foreign tourists arrive in Hoi An ancient town on January 1, 2023. Photo by VnExpress/Dac Thanh

Total revenue from domestic and foreign tourists in the first two months of 2023 reached VND85.6 trillion ($3.6 billion), according to the Vietnam National Administration of Tourism (VNAT).

The number of foreign tourists to Vietnam reached nearly 933,000 in February, most of them were from the Republic of Korea, the US, Taiwan (China), China, Cambodia, Thailand, Japan, Malaysia and Australia.

The number of domestic tourists during the month was estimated at 7 million, about 4.6 million of them had at least one night's stay.

On a two-month calculation, Vietnam served 1.8 million foreign tourists and 20 million domestic visitors.

As China reopened outbound tours from January 8, 2023, VNAT launched a number of activities to welcome Chinese holidaymakers to Vietnam.

On the sidelines of the ASEAN Tourism Forum in Indonesia, VNAT leaders held a working session with a delegation from the Chinese Ministry of Culture and Tourism, during which they proposed that China consider adding Vietnam to the list of pilot destinations for Chinese tourists to travel in groups.

Before the Covid-19 pandemic, China was the largest source of tourists to Vietnam, recording over 5.8 million arrivals in 2019.

VNAT is actively working with the Vietnam Tourism Development Support Fund and the Vietnamese Embassy in Germany to best prepare for its participation in the ITB Berlin 2023  the worlds leading travel trade show, from March 7-9, 2023.
The first round of the Chicago municipal elections on February 28 led to the defeat of current mayor Lori Lightfoot. Lightfoot, formerly a US Attorney, was appointed by her predecessor Rahm Emanuel to head the Chicago Police Board. She later led an accountability task force that whitewashed the citys responsibility for the police murder of teenager Laquan McDonald.

Eight candidates challenged Lightfoot, who was widely unpopular, for the mayors office. The main contenders were Democratic Representative Jesus Chuy Garcia; Brandon Johnson, a Cook County Commissioner and the Chicago Teachers Unions legislative official; and Paul Vallas, a former Chicago Public Schools CEO and city budget management official. Vallas in particular oriented himself to the police and the far-right in the Chicago region.



The two mayoral candidates with the most votes, Vallas, endorsed by the Fraternal Order of Police, and Johnson, endorsed by the Chicago Teachers Union (CTU), SEIU and United Working Families, now advance to an April 4 run-off election.

Lightfoots time in office was marked by the ruthless pursuit of the interests of ruling class and brutal acts of police violence, including the murder of 13-year-old Adam Toledo, the beating and intimidation of protesters, the shutting down of the city center during protests, and later the imposition of a curfew on youth in the wealthy downtown area.

Lightfoot also attempted to block the release of footage of a 2019 police raid made in error on the home of social worker Anjanette Young, who was forced to stand naked in her living room as police ransacked her home. She defended the Chicago Police Departments decision to keep two officers on the force who are involved with two different far-right extremist groups, the Proud Boys and Oath Keepers.

Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot [AP Photo/Jim Young]

The first mayor to go down to defeat after one term since 1983, Lightfoot joins two other elected mayors ousted after their first term, Michael Bilandic and Jane Byrne.

While early voting was reportedly higher than in the past, total voter turnout overall was extremely low. Residents cast about 600,000 ballots, accounting for roughly 32 percent of eligible voters. This was even lower than in 2019, when 35 percent turned out. Older residents turned out in the highest numbers, with more than 51 percent of total votes coming from people over the age of 55. Just 16.9 percent of votes came from residents under 34 years old.

Notably, the lowest turnout was in the predominantly working class sections of the city.

Vallas received 33.77 percent, or about 172,000 votes; Johnson received 20.29 percent, or about 103,300 votes; Lightfoot 16.89 percent, or 86,900 votes. Chuy Garcia, the former darling of the Democratic Socialists of America turned Democratic Party machine hack, took 14 percent or 70,000 votes.

Democratic Party leaders behind the candidacies of Vallas and Garcia, along with the corporate media, made every effort to portray the election itself, as well as the foreseeable defeat of an unpopular sitting mayor, as a popular rebuke of insufficiently aggressive policing by her administration.

The most significant aspect of the 2023 election is its profoundly right-wing character, with overwhelming emphasis placed on crime and public safety. Reports indicate this is expected to intensify in order to create conditions more favorable to Vallas election, which is supported by sections of the financial aristocracy and the Chicago Tribune.

The relentless hammering on crime, and warning of the fiscal cliffs facing pensions, crumbling transit system and a school district battered by privatization, corruption and neglect, only further alienates wide sections of the population blasted by decades of deindustrialization, austerity, police violence, and then ravaged by the COVID-19 pandemic.



A fight back is under way, and the real target of the howling for law and order is the intensifying class struggle.



All nine candidates accepted as central to their campaigns that crime is the number one issue. Johnson, who also enjoys support from the Democratic Socialists of America candidates in the city council races, claimed he will be tough and smart about crime. He has promised to raise funds from businesses in order to increase social services that go to the root causes of crime.

Chicago mayoral candidate Cook County Commissioner Brandon Johnson addresses supporters, Tuesday, Feb. 28, 2023, in Chicago. Johnson and Paul Vallas will meet in a runoff to be the next mayor of Chicago after voters denied unpopular incumbent Lori Lightfoot a second term. [AP Photo/Paul Beaty]

Johnson has proposed a $4 per month corporate head tax to raise $20 million, as well as a $1 to $2 tax on securities trading, and returning $100 million in the enormous tax increment financing schemes that siphon off city tax revenues reserved for mayors pet projects. He has also proposed a number of regressive taxes, including on hotel rooms, suburban commuters to the city through a regional rail transit surcharge, and user fees for areas frequented by tourists. He has suggested getting serious about selling Chicagos water.



Johnson has distanced himself from any association with political radicalism, comparing himself to Lightfoot before her election, saying, Everything she pretended to be in 2019 is everything we truly are, today.



Johnson told the media, Tonight is about building a Chicago that truly invests in our people. The most radical thing we can do as a city is to love the people of Chicago. Loving people and investing in people that is the way my father raised me. The finances of this city belong to the people of the city. So, were gonna invest in the people of the city.



For his part, Vallas served as city budget director under former mayor Richard M. Daley. He was a central figure in the Democratic Party-led school turnaround and privatization efforts throughout the 2000s. He worked in several public school districts after leading Chicago Public Schools, including Philadelphia, New Orleans and Bridgeport, Connecticut, before being removed by a judge for lacking sufficient credentials to serve as superintendent.

Former Chicago Public Schools CEO Paul Vallas participates in a forum with other Chicago mayoral candidates hosted by the Chicago Women Take Action Alliance Saturday, January 14, 2023, at the Chicago Temple in Chicago. [AP Photo/Erin Hooley]

Both Vallas and Johnson are promising job training and hiring programs through public schools, with Vallas claiming that Chicago Public Schools will remain open at night and on weekends.

After the initial election results were announced Vallas said, Public safety is the fundamental right of every American. It is a civil right, and it is the principle responsibility of government. We will have a safe Chicago. We will make Chicago the safest city in America.

Whatever their tactical differences, both Vallas and Johnson are political representatives of the ruling class, the former basing himself on the most right-wing forces, including the Fraternal Order of Police, and the latter seeking to rely more on the trade union apparatus as a critical instrument for the suppression of the class struggle.
Britains Daily Telegraph has begun publishing The Lockdown Files, a series of articles based on over 100,000 WhatsApp messages between former Health Secretary Matt Hancock and other leading figures in the government during the first two years of the pandemic.

The messages were given by Hancock to journalist Isabel Oakeshott in an act of supreme political idiocy. He wanted her help writing his autobiography, The Pandemic Diaries, presenting himself as an advocate for public health measures to control the spread of COVID-19rather than the criminal responsible for tens of thousands of unnecessary deaths.

Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, Matt Hancock gives a live press conference from number 9 Downing Street. 19/05/2021. London, United Kingdom. [Photo by Tim Hammond/No 10 Downing Street/Flickr / CC BY-NC-ND 2.0

But Oakeshott was one of the most vocal anti-lockdown campaigners in the UK and is the partner of Richard Tice, leader of Reform UKthe former Brexit Party relaunched, in the words of Nigel Farage in November 2020, to fight this cruel and unnecessary lockdown. In an interview with the right-wing GB News platform last March, she described protective masks as completely unnecessary symbols of fear and repression.

Oakeshott writes in the Telegraph that she released the messages to short-circuit the UKs never ending inquiry into the pandemic response and avoid a whitewashby which she means anything which does not condemn such restrictions as were implemented as a disaster. Her primary target is the closure of schoolsThose responsible for school closures should now admit their mistake  and vow never to inflict such harm in the future.

Allister Health, editor of the Sunday Telegraph, sums up the purpose of The Lockdown Files, insisting that governments should never again panic, dig out their catastrophically flawed Covid playbooks, and seek to terrorise us into another lockdown, guaranteeing our final moral and financial degradation.

But the conclusions Oakeshott and the Telegraph want to be drawn are far removed from those the working class will draw from these messages. They so far provide more detail of the decisions which turned care homes into killing fields and reveal the constant efforts of sections of the Tory party to pursue an even more socially murderous course than that which has produced a death toll of over 200,000 people. All that stood in their way was fear of popular opposition.

Nearly 46,000 care home residents were killed by COVID during the first two years of the pandemic, close to a quarter of the total. On March 17, 2020, the government ordered the discharge of thousands of patients from hospitals into care settings. There was no requirement to test for COVID before doing so until April 15. But no policy of blanket testing of care home residents and staff was implemented, despite Hancock being advised to do so.

One of his messages dated April 14 reads, Chris Whitty [the UKs Chief Medical Officer] has done an evidence review and now recommends testing of all going into care homes, and segregation whilst awaiting result. Later the same day, he set out a policy which limited testing only to those coming into a care setting from hospital, not the community: I do not think the community commitment adds anything and it muddies the waters.

Testing for those entering from the community was only recommended on August 14. There was no recommendation to care homes to segregate incomers from the community until given the all-clear. Testing of asymptomatic staff and residents only began at the end of April, with regular testing of staff only getting underway in early July.

The brutal ideology underlying this and other failures is made clearest by the leaked messages from Prime Minister Boris Johnson. His words fill in the details of the anti-public health policy he championed, and which were summed up by his angry declaration in October 2020, No more f**ing lockdowns! Let the bodies pile high in their thousands!

In one chat with Whitty and the Chief Scientific Officer Sir Patrick Vallance on August 26, 2020, Johnson misreads an article from the Financial Times as saying the overall fatality rate of COVID was 0.04 percent (in fact this was a probability figure, equating to 4 percent). He writes sneeringly that this is about one in two thousand. And I seem to remember that when the plague began we thought the fatality rate was one in a hundred.

He goes on stupidly, So if all 66 m[illion] people in the UK were to be infected we could expect 33,000 deaths. And we have already had 41k. Is that why the death rate is going down? Is it possible that covid is starting to run out of potential victims?

Informed that the overall mortality rate was between 0.4 and 1 percent, rising to 6 percent for older age groups, Johnson is unmoved. If I were an 80 year old and I was told that the choice was between destroying the economy and risking my exposure to a disease that I had a 94 percent chance of surviving, I know what I would prefer.

The callous disregard for the lives of thousands of elderly people was a running theme. Earlier in the month, Johnson had written exasperatedly, If you are over 65 your risk of dying from covid is probably as big as your risk of falling down stairs. And we dont stop older people from using stairs.

He made this point to argue for an article published in the Spectator, Herd immunity is still key in the fight against Covid-19, written by the anti-lockdown advocate and Great Barrington Declaration (GBD) signatory Martin Kulldorf, who later that year defended President Trumps let it rip COVID adviser Scott Atlas.

Johnson had met with other signatories to the pseudo-scientific, anti-public health GBD in September 2020Professor Sunetra Gupta and Swedens state epidemiologist Anders Tegnell. The messages show he stayed in close contact with these circles. In November that year, he sent a note that he was on a call with Carl Heneghan, who sits with GBD authors Gupta, Kulldorf and Professor Jay Bhattacharya on the scientific advisory board of the anti-lockdown Collateral Global.

Johnson used their authority in an ultimately failed attempt to stop the November lockdownthough it was limited to the point it allowed a massive winter wave of infections to develop immediately afterwards. Over 56,000 people died in the two months from December 2020 to the end of January 2021.

It might have been even worse. With cases skyrocketing at the end of December, Education Secretary Gavin Williamson was, in Hancocks words, fighting tooth and nail and going absolutely gangbusters to have schools open for the new term. The health secretary worried about a policy car crash when the kids spread the disease in January.

In the end, schools were closed after just one partially attended day when it became clear educators would overwhelmingly refuse to go in, and many parents refuse to send their children. Williamson and Hancock had complained to each other a few months before, What a bunch of absolute arses the teaching unions are-I know they really really do just hate work after battles over school reopenings and delaying A-Level tests.

Messages refer to polling showing more than 50 percent of the public want the same *or stronger* lockdown in April 2020, and that 80 percent of the public support the lockdownthere is no public clamour to start lifting measures, in January 2021. When Johnson pushed to relax the first lockdown in the summer of 2020, he was warned the whole package will be too far ahead of public opinion.

The Telegraph cynically reports on concerns raised in government about the hardships caused by lockdownsparticularly to the elderly left isolated and children who education and social development was impededusing these to decry the measure.

But the leaked messages show that these costs of implementing restrictions were exacerbated precisely because the government was so determined to avoid any public health measures at all, meaning those that were forced to be enacted by catastrophic rates of infection were poorly implemented and under-resourced. Schools had to be repeatedly closed because the government never took the necessary action to fully suppress and control the virus.
Starting February 21, 2023, California has been battered by an unusually powerful series of winter storms. Blizzard conditions forced the closure of major north-south and east-west highways over the mountains surrounding Los Angeles. Winds gusting up to 65 miles (105 kilometers) per hour affected trucking and transportation throughout the region. Heavy rain in the lowlands and several feet of snow in the mountains have caused floods and blocked the movement of people, trapping many in their homes. So far there have been at least 22 confirmed casualties.

A worker plows snow along State Route 138 near Hesperia, Calif., Wednesday, March 1, 2023. Emergency crews are scrambling to shuttle food and medicine to residents of California mountain communities stranded by back-to-back winter storms. (AP Photo/Jae C. Hong)

Conditions have become particularly dire in Los Angeles County and the surrounding counties, where such harsh winter weather conditions are extremely rare. Democratic Governor Gavin Newsom declared a state of emergency Wednesday night to aid residents of the San Bernardino Mountain communities who have been trapped in their homes for days.

Federal climate scientists currently estimate that the cost to the state of a wave of storms that began in late December 2022 will exceed $1 billion in damage to public infrastructure (roads, bridges, water facilities, etc.). There have been 700 landslides across the state just since the start of the year. Thousands of homes are scheduled to be red tagged, declared uninhabitable, under conditions in which less than 2 percent of homeowners have flood insurance.

The storms have exposed economic and social inequality across the state. People are living in very unsafe conditions, declared Oakland homeless advocate Talya Husbands-Hankin, interviewed by BBC News. People do not have appropriate access to sanitation, to clean drinking water, to electricity.

Many are disabled, most are medically vulnerable as a result of living outside, she added.

For much of this week, customers of the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power (DWP) were without electricity, and over 40,000 households serviced by the Southern California Edison (SCE) company have been affected.

Only a few days before the storms hit, Culver City, an upscale community on Los Angeles west side associated with the early days of filmmaking, imposed stringent prohibitions on so-called homeless camps, joining cities and counties across the state in making life even more miserable for the unhoused.

On January 4, San Francisco conducted homeless sweeps in the midst of a major storm. Many had their few belongings trashed.

Last year eight homeless people froze to death in Sacramento, the state capital, and two others, aged 40 and 61, died when trees fell on their tents. Local officials ordered the towing of SUVs that were being used by unhoused people as shelter. They picked the worst day to do this, said Joe Hill, a homeless person whose belongings were drenched by the rain, to the Sacramento Bee.

According to recent estimates, there are 170,000 unhoused people in California. One-third live in Los Angeles County. Confronted daily with the lack of housing, and under the impact of the storms, recently elected Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass asked that citizens provide shelter to the homeless during the storms.

Also vulnerable are low-income older adults, farm workers, the working poor and those who live in flood plains prone to flooding where housing costs are lower. The combination of low temperatures and natural gas shortages have caused heating bills to soar.

This is the second wave of winter storms to hit the state since the beginning of the year. In all, some 40 trillion gallons of water (in the form of snow and rain) have dumped on the state by so-called atmospheric rivers, long and wide moisture currents, low pressure systems drawing moisture from the Artic. Similar conditions have not been seen since 1989.

According a January 19 article in Nature, the magnitude and potential damage in lives and dollars of winter storms in the western United States are increasing as a result of climate change, both because of a rise in the number of storms and an increase in the moisture-carrying capacity of the atmosphere. Under a high emission scenario, precipitation volume from the top 20% of winter storms is projected to increase by up to 40% across the region by mid-century. The average increase in precipitation volume (31%) is contributed by 22% from increasing area coverage and 19% from increasing storm intensity, the article said.

The studys author, Ruby Leung, a climate scientist at the US Pacific Northwest National Lab explained, It could be even worse. We need to start planning how would we be able to deal with this. The sharpening of storms (higher precipitation in the center, less on the edges) may change the overall impact somewhat, but the western United States and California, in particular, are expected to get higher increases in peak rain and snow fall compared to the South and Northwest regions.
This article was originally posted as a thread on Twitter.

In his book American Fascists, Chris Hedges denounced negotiations with the fascist right. He wrote that they are beyond reasoning with, hostile to democracy, and bent on our destruction. Now Hedges justifies his capitulation to neo-Nazis as political maturity.

On January 16, 2018, Hedges and I held an hour-long online discussion on the issue of Internet censorship and the political crisis in the United States. Watch this to see how far to the right he has moved during the last five years.

Full video of the webinar Organizing resistance to Internet censorship

At about the 55-minute mark in the discussion, I proposed united action by socialists and progressive forces on the left against war, censorship and all attacks on democratic rights. Hedges agreed with this proposal. He even urged the reading of Marx and Trotsky!

Following this discussion, Hedges invited me to appear on his program On Contact. But after that interview, Hedges, increasingly demoralized by the apparent power of the right, began to orient himself toward the reactionary MAGA movement.

So now he has reached the point of advocating joint action with the fascists. What a pathetic degeneration of a talented and formerly left-wing and principled journalist.
Canada is in the grip of a massive COVID-19 surge that is going virtually unreported. According to figures from Tara Moriarty, Associate Professor at the University of Toronto, one in 43 Canadians was infected as of February 26. This equates to almost 900,000 people.

Moriarty is co-founder of COVID-19 Resources Canada, a group of Canadian researchers, clinicians and community members that has provided logistic and scientific support since the start of the pandemic. The groups weekly forecasts and estimates are the only reliable source of information on the pandemic in Canada, which has been ignored and declared over by the corporate-controlled and state-funded media alike.

Moriarty warned in her weekly forecast for February 12 that a surge of infections was imminent. The COVID-19 forecast for Feb 19-25, 2023 stated that the current infection rate is about one in 43 people. Compared to the lowest point of the pandemic in Canada, waste water indicators, infections and Long COVID cases were about eight times higher; hospitalizations were about six times higher; and deaths were about four times higher.

The organizations Hazard Index is calculated from three equally weighted categories: Current infections and spread; health care system impact; and mortality. It rates provinces in categories: Severe; very high; high; elevated; moderate; and low. For February 19, New Brunswick and Nova Scotia were in the severe classification, with Nova Scotia experiencing about one in every 31 people infected. Waste water indicators, infections and Long COVID cases were about 11 times higher; hospitalizations were about six times higher; and deaths were about 13 times higher compared to the lowest point in the pandemic.

By the time of the February 26 report, Canadas overall risk on the scale rose to very high. Significantly, not a single province or territory fell into the low or moderate categories, the two lowest on the scale. Only one province, Newfoundland, was categorized as having elevated risk.

Based on data gathered by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) in the United States, Moriarty noted that one in five people now has a health condition that might be related to a previous COVID-19 illness. The official death toll from COVID-19 in Canada is now over 51,000. As of February 25, the seven-day average for deaths was 34 every day.

The response by the ruling elite to the renewed flood of infections is to try and cover it up and remove the limited services they provided earlier in the pandemic. The CBC reported Thursday that the federal Liberal government suspended the shipment of rapid test kits to the provinces at the end of January. This criminal decision, which prevents even the most basic tracing of infections, was taken without any public discussion. Health Canada blandly noted in an email to CTV News that it still has 90 million test kits in its inventory. Eighty thousand of these will expire within six months and over 6 million within the year.

This decision by the federal government is in keeping with the Liberals embrace of a strategy of forever COVID. As soon as the infectious Omicron variant emerged in late 2021, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau oversaw the abandonment of almost all public health mitigations. After the fascistic Freedom Convoy occupied downtown Ottawa for three weeks and blocked border crossings with the US in January and February 2022, Trudeau gave the go-ahead for the dismantling of all remaining measures by provincial governments across the country.

Governments and health authorities insist that the population must now learn to live with the virus. Vaccination clinics are closing, data collection and reporting are ending and specialized pandemic services are being withdrawn.

The staffing situation in hospitals remains dire. Nurses continue to leave the profession due to burn-out from mandated overtime caused by high vacancy rates. Three years of a pandemic emergency on top of decades of underfunding from all levels of government have placed an unbearable burden on the health care system.

According to the Manitoba Nurses Union, in Winnipeg alone, a city with a population of 750,000, nurses worked nearly 650,000 hours of overtime in 2022. Province-wide, Manitoba nurses logged over 1 million overtime hours in 2022.

With the health care system already overwhelmed and collapsing, governments of all political stripes are winding down specialized services for those seriously affected by the virus and shifting everything to primary care.

In British Columbia, the New Democratic Party governments Provincial Health Services Authority (PHSA) announced the closure of its four post-COVID recovery clinics in Vancouver, Victoria and the Fraser Valley. The interdisciplinary program, which also offers educational resources and classes, currently includes doctors, nurses, social workers, and physiotherapists. At the end of March, the four regional clinics will transition to one centralized, virtual program, which will only provide educational resources and self-management tools. The program will no longer offer access to a doctor. Instead, those who were referred to the clinics have been informed that they will have to visit a family doctor or a walk-in clinic.

BCs NDP health minister, Adrian Dix, claims there is no longer the same demand for the regional clinics as there was two years ago. BC has a notorious record for systematically under-reporting cases and deaths.

Hotel-Dieu Grace Healthcare in Windsor, Ontario, also offered a COVID Recovery Program until it was scrapped due to lack of funding in July 2022. The program included consultations with occupational and physiotherapists, and a support group led by a social worker. However, the resources to fund the initiative were all borrowed from existing assets, with no additional support provided by the provincial Tory government. When the hospital could no longer sustain the extra burden, many people were left with nowhere to go for support.

Advocates and those suffering from Long COVID stress that access to doctors specialized in their condition is crucial to recovery because general practitioners are not always knowledgeable about the potential long lasting effects of COVID-19. A major issue for those seeking treatment for Long Covid is the recognition from health care providers that the condition is both real and serious.

The drive to shift the burden of post-COVID care from hospitals and dedicated clinics to a desperately under-resourced health care system underscores the contempt for the lives of working people felt by the political establishment. Telling those recovering from COVID to visit their primary care physician ignores the well-known fact that 6 million adults in the country currently do not have access to a family doctor. That number is only expected to increase as Canada continues to fall behind its peers in the OECD, with the number of doctors per capita already well behind countries such as Germany and France. A recent report by the Royal Bank of Canada predicted that the current shortfall of 17,000 doctors in the country will rise to approximately 44,000 before the end of the decade. This lack of access to doctors creates pressures and outcomes that cascade throughout the entire health care system.
President Joe Bidens ending of the public health emergency declaration related to the COVID-19 pandemic on May 11 will take a catastrophic toll on the already precarious state of rural hospitals and obstetric care.

Traffic passes the publicly owned Greenwood Leflore Hospital, in Greenwood, Miss., Friday, Oct. 21, 2022. The hospital closed its labor and delivery unit on Nov. 30, 2022. The closure means the area's women will need to travel about 45 minutes to give birth at a hospital, and without focused hospital support, the city's only OB/GYN clinic could struggle to provide maternity care. [AP Photo/Rogelio V. Solis]

Millions of Americans will abruptly lose their Medicaid health insurance, which means that many rural hospitals across the US that serve poorer, underserved populations will lose the federal assistance that has kept their doors open and theirs lights on, and helped pay their skeleton crews of health care workers.

At present, more than 600 rural hospitals, or about one-third, are at risk of closure due to receiving less reimbursement than the cost of delivering their life-saving services. Over 200 such facilities are poised to close in the next two to three years. Administrators, trying to keep their systems afloat, are curtailing or discontinuing unprofitable services like maternity care, endangering the reproductive health of these communities, such as in the Southeast, rural Ohio and Appalachia, where chronic poverty is systemic.

In all, 36 percent of US counties, mostly rural, are considered maternity care deserts, defined as a county without a hospital or birth center that offers obstetric care and has no obstetric providers. More than 7 million women live in areas where there is limited or no access to such obstetric services.

A survey of hospital administrators before the COVID-19 pandemic found that 20 percent had indicated their system would not be providing labor and delivery services in the next five years. The onset of the pandemic accelerated the shutdown of obstetric services.

In particular, lack of access to prenatal care and follow-up care with their doctors or midwives after the end of their pregnancies has serious health consequences for women and their infants. Chronic health issues like high blood pressure can go unrecognized, leading to severe complications such as preterm delivery, preeclampsia and even massive life-threatening hemorrhage.

Not surprisingly, a 2018 investigative study on the loss of hospital-based obstetric services and birth outcomes in rural counties published in JAMA found higher rates of out-of-hospital and preterm births, as well as low utilization of prenatal care.

Expectant mothers in rural areas typically drive close to 25 miles to see their doctor for a prenatal visit. With the closure of obstetric services, that distance will usually double to 60 miles on average. Studies have shown that the longer the distance to prenatal care, the higher the chance of developing high blood pressure, which remains one of the leading causes of maternal mortality.

This leads in turn to complications for infants, who will most likely need to stay longer in the hospital after delivery under a higher level of care, such as in a neonatal ICU. This also means that the medical costs of pregnancies can skyrocket. The average cost of preterm and low-birthweight care and deliveries is above $76,000, but can exceed $110,000. According to the Kaiser Family Foundation, in 2023 the average cost of pregnancy, delivery and postpartum care in the US is $18,865.

Driving the abandonment of obstetric services are low Medicaid reimbursement rates, an epidemic of staffing shortages, as well as the declining birth rates experienced in these areas. According to Beckers Hospital Review, at least 89 obstetric units were shuttered in rural hospitals across the country between 2015 and 2019. Since 2020, the number of US counties that are categorized as maternity care deserts has increased by 2 percent.

The American Hospital Association noted that in 2020 only half of rural community hospitals were offering maternity care. Yet one in 10 babies are born in rural community hospitals, which has significantly contributed to the disproportionate rates of maternal mortality in rural America compared to the rest of the country.

Dr. Anne Rossier Markus, PhD, chair of the Department of Health Policy and Management at the Milken Institute School of Public Health at the George Washington University, explained that she had reservations about the term maternity care deserts. As a visual representation of the issue, it implies that theres nothing there, which isnt true. The community is living there. Theres history, there are relationships, there are practices there.

The rural and urban divide was recently placed into context by a National Center for Health Statistics study published in May 2022 by Lauren M Rossen et al., which found that in 2017 rural women had a maternal mortality ratio (MMR) 45 to 65 percent higher than other women. (Rural MMR 34.4 per 100,000 live births versus medium/small urban MMR 23.7 per 100,000 live births and urban MMR 20.9 per 100,000 live births.) While rates of MMR were relatively stable from 1999 to 2017 in urban regions, they have increased by 60 percent in rural areas during this period, according to the authors.

As an aside, while it had appeared that maternal mortality rates in the US had been climbing over the last two decades, the implementation of a pregnancy checkbox on death certificates after 2003but adopted by states in a staggered fashionmade it seem that trends in MMR were rising when in fact these rates were already much higher than previously thought.

The authors summarized in their conclusions, Currently, we are unable to determine how much of the increase in rural MMRs during 1999-2017 was due to true increases in maternal mortality, increased identification of maternal deaths (i.e., under-ascertainment after the checkbox), or false positive deaths (i.e., over-ascertainment before the checkbox). True increases in maternal mortality in rural areas are plausible given recent trends in rural mortality overall, and documented barriers to maternal and obstetric care in rural areas, which could contribute to inadequate obstetric care for rural women.

They also stated that it was possible that many of these deaths were misclassified. They called for initiatives to improve the National Vital Statistics System.

With respect to the Rossen et al. report, a 2021 US Government Accountability Office (GAO) report noted that many rural counties lack hospital obstetric services, meaning those hospitals or emergency rooms lack trained staff or the necessary equipment to manage prenatal care. This occurs in part due to difficulties recruiting and retaining maternal health providers in rural areas.  When hospitals and obstetric units close, rural and underserved areas lose the infrastructure that supports providers, like obstetrician-gynecologists, specialists, and licensed midwives. Pregnant women living in rural areas face delays in necessary care due to the long distances they need to travel and the associated prohibitive costs.

Not frequently mentioned is the fact that maternal deaths rose by 25 percent during 2020 and 2021 due to COVID-related deaths. The state of pregnancy compounds the risks associated with SARS-CoV-2 infection. While maternal deaths not related to COVID-19 remained on par with pre-pandemic years754 in 2019, 759 in 2020, 777 in 2021there were 102 COVID deaths among pregnant women in 2020 and 401 in 2021. In 2021, COVID caused 34 percent of all maternal deaths.

Also significantly aggravating maternal mortality in rural US regions was the overturning of Roe v. Wade in June 2022. States like Kentucky, Indiana, Kansas and Nebraska, which have some of the strictest abortion laws, also have some of the worst maternal and child health outcomes and the lowest investment in at-risk populations, according to National Public Radio (NPR).

Dr. Anne Banfield, an OB-GYN with experience working in rural West Virginia, told NPR, The post-Roe situation, and the issues we have with maternal mortality, and the issues that we have with access to care in rural areas in the United States  are all coming together in a way that is going to make our battle against maternal mortality 1,000 times worse.

The United States, which spends more on health care than other high-income countries, both on a per capita basis and as a share of GDP, has one of the highest maternal mortality rates among these nations. This is attributable to high rates of cesarean section, inadequate prenatal care and social factors of poverty that drive obesity, diabetes, heart disease and other chronic illnesses that are increasingly affecting younger populations.

The US maternal mortality rate is currently three times higher than in other high-income countries. These atrocious rates reflect in large part reliance on a profit-driven system of health care delivery that disenfranchises the well-being of the US population on the basis of simple economics.

The maternal mortality rate functions as a sentinel indicator of the state of public health in any country. Given the advances that have been made in the last century in obstetric and neonatal care, persistently high maternal mortality rates reflect systemic socioeconomic inequalities that restrict working class access to such quality health services. Public health is a fundamental universal right that the working class must fight to assert through the eradication of capitalism, the real disease afflicting humanity.
The Sri Lankan trade unions are desperately seeking to suppress and contain rising working-class struggles against the harsh International Monetary Fund (IMF) measures being carried out by the Wickremesinghe government.

This was very much evident on March 1, when half a million public and private sectors workers across the island took industrial action in protest against the governments social attacks. The actions were in defiance of anti-strike essential services orders.

Sri Lankan port workers protesting against the newly increased PAYE income tax outside the entrance to Colombo port in Sri Lanka, Wednesday, March 1, 2023. [AP Photo/Eranga Jayawardena]

The unions are fearful that the rising wave of strikes and protests will replicate the sort of movement that last year ousted then President Gotabhaya Rajapakse and lead to major revolutionary confrontations with the Wickremesinghe regime and the bourgeois state.

These concerns were openly voiced by Federation of Health Professionals (FHP) president Ravi Kumudesh who told a press conference yesterday that his union was suppressing workers demands for unified industrial action to fight the governments social assault.

Every health worker in one voice has demanded we go on strike [but] what would happen if everybody engages in a strike? Does anybody think that we cannot do that? No we can do that, Kumudesh said.

If we call on workers to participate in a joint struggle, everybody would come onto the streets. Weve been keeping people under suppression, saying that we cannot do this sort of strike, he stated.

Ravi Kumudesh [Photo: WSWS]

Kumudeshs remarks are a clear admission not just that workers want united action against IMF austerity, but that their demands are being deliberately suppressed by the unions. When the unions call strikes and protests it is in order to keep control while limiting these job actions to one-day or half-day strikes. Such protests are invariably restricted to a single issue. On March 1, Kumudeshs union, along with the other health sector unions, limited industrial action to a four-hour strike.

Likewise, the FHP and most of the unions covering professional workers have centred all their protests on the governments new regressive Pay as You Earn (PAYE) tax rates which have severely impacted the take-home pay of thousands of workers.

The new rates, which were announced in last Novembers budget, are just one of the brutal demands being made by the IMF. Others include the restructure, privatisation and destruction of tens of thousands of state-sector jobs, wage and overtime cuts, higher electricity tariffs, and the elimination of various social subsidies.

The unions separation of the PAYE tax rates from the IMF program is no accident. It is in line with their support and that of their affiliated parties for the IMFs demands. Last June, when an IMF team visited Colombo to demand that the then government impose an austerity program, the unionssome openly and others silentlyagreed.

Not surprisingly, Kumudesh is an explicit advocate of the IMF dictates. In an interview last June with the World Socialist Web Site, Kumudesh said he personally supported going to the IMF for emergency funds, even while admitting that harsh conditions would be attached.

Under pressure from its members, the Ceylon Bank Employees Union (CBEU) called a one-day strike on Wednesday. CBEU chairman Channa Dissanayake demagogically declared, If the government does not positively respond to their demands, the CBEU and trade unions within many other sectors have already decided to take stricter actions in coming days.

Early last year, however, Dissanayake told the Morning that Sri Lanka faced a possible banking-sector crisis and urged the government to seek IMF assistance.

Rather than demanding the abolition of the tax increase, the unions are now begging the Wickremesinghe government for a fair tax system. Leading these calls are the Government Medical Officers Association (GMOA) and the Federation of University Teachers Association (FUTA).

The GMOA, along with other health unions, restricted industrial action on Wednesday to a four-hour strike, with its secretary Dr Haritha Aluthge telling the media: If the government continues to ignore us, we will launch stricter trade union actions at any moment after 8 March.

These threats, however, are desperate appeals for the government to make some cosmetic changes. They are a warning that unless the unions are provided with something to sell to workers, they will not be able to contain the rising unrest.

There is ample evidence of how the trade union leaders worked to prevent unified action on March 1. Last month, the All Ceylon General Port Employees Union (ACGPEU), which is affiliated to the Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP), threatened the government, declaring that unless the tax measures were modified, there would be strike action in the ports on March 1. On Wednesday, however, its strike threat was turned into a so-called go-slow.

To justify its capitulation to the governments essential services strike ban, ACGPEU secretary Niroshan Gorakana manufactured a fairy story, saying: The government had planned to deploy a group of persons trained in operating various machinery in the Colombo Port to carry out operations if port employees went on strike. According to Gorakanas twisted logic, the unions go-slow action defeated the governments strikebreaking plans!

Early this week, when the unions realised that it would be too difficult to stop workers from protesting, they kept their membership in the dark over what kind of actions would be taken on Wednesday. Colombo Harbour workers told the WSWS that when they approached the union, wanting to know what action was planned for March 1, they were rebuked and silenced by the union leadership.

Likewise, the Joint Trade Union Alliance of the Ceylon Electricity Board (JTUACEB) limited the March 1 action to a sick note protest.

JTUACEB convenor Ranjan Jayalal [Photo: WSWS]

JTUACEB convener Ranjan Jayalal, a leading member of the JVP, declared during a strike in February that if Wickremesinghe did not withdraw the tax policy by April, We will chase away the government If the government requires a general strike, then we will do it and it is certain this fight will end up with a victory.

The manoeuvres and empty posturing of Gorakana and Jayalal are in line with the open capitalist policies of their party, the JVP, which is committed to the IMFs entire program.

While unions in railways, postal departments, teachers and school principals, claimed that they supported the national action on Wednesday, they refused to call their members to strike and instead held limited protests. The teachers and principals' unions asked their members to report to work wearing black clothing or arm bands.

These unions played the same role during last years mass uprising against the Rajapakse government. The unions called one-day general strikes on April 28, May 6 and 10, only after workers began joining the mass protests independently of the unions. These strikes, moreover, were aimed at diverting the mass movement into demands for an interim governmenti.e., an alternative bourgeois governmentas advocated by the opposition parliamentary parties such as the Samagi Jana Balawegaya and the JVP.

Thus, the unions, backed by the pseudo-left organisations, such as the Frontline Socialist Party (FSP), betrayed the mass movement, paving the way for Wickremesinghe to come to power. Now, as the working class is coming back into struggle against the Wickremesinghe governments IMF measures, the unions are playing the same treacherous role.

As an SEP statement distributed to workers on Wednesday explained: The trade unions and pseudo-left groups are tied to the capitalist system, its parties and the state, and are hostile to the independent mobilization of the working class against the government and employers attacks on social and democratic rights.

Workers should take the struggle for their social and democratic rights into their own hands. The SEP urges workers to form their own action committees independent of all capitalist parties and trade unions in every workplace, factory, plantation and neighborhood. Similar steps to build such committees should be taken by the rural poor.

The SEP is fighting for an independent political movement of the working class, supported by the rural masses. The action committees should facilitate this mobilization around basic demands addressing the social and democratic rights of the workers, youth and rural poor.

The statement explained the SEPs call for building a Democratic and Socialist Congress of Workers and Rural Masses, which will be based on these action committees. The SEP began advancing this program in July last year during the mass uprising. Its purpose is to develop an independent movement of the working class, rallying the rural poor, to establish a government of workers and peasants committed to socialist policies, as a part of a broader struggle for socialism in South Asia and internationally. We urge workers to join with the SEP in that struggle.
On February 19, in Washington D.C., the Libertarian Party and Peoples Party, along with disoriented middle class elements and outright fascistic individuals, organized what was marketed as the Rage Against the War Machine rally.

Nick Brana of the "People's Party" (left, knit hat) on stage at the "Rage Against the War Machine" rally. To the right of Brana is Jackson Hinkle (sunglasses) and Angela McArdle, chair of the Libertarian Party. Behind McArdle in the baseball cap with the water bottle is Jason Page, an affiliate of the Oath Keepers and Stewart Rhodes. [Photo: People's Party]

The event, billed by organizers Angela McArdle of the Libertarian Party and Nick Brana of the Peoples Party as an attempt to bring the left and right together in opposition to the war in Ukraine was, the World Socialist Web Site noted, a reactionary political freak show.

The World Socialist Web Site will be further analyzing the main organizers and speakers at the event, confirming its thoroughly reactionary character. This article focuses on the Libertarian Party and its overt orientation to the fascistic right.

Libertarian Party, the Mises Caucus and Unite the Right

The central political perspective behind the rally was provided by the Libertarian Party, which was listed as the main organizerabove the Peoples Party on the official Rage website.

Libertarian Party Chair Angela McArdle moderated the Rage rally along with Brana. Of the 19 speakers, three were or are currently members of the Libertarian Party: Ron Paul, Scott Horton and Daniel McAdams.



Commenting on the leading role of the Libertarian Party in organizing the event, Max Blumenthal of the Grayzone, in a February 16 podcast promoting the rally with fellow speaker Scott Horton, noted that the event was substantially planned by the Libertarian Party.

Besides providing the political perspective, the Libertarians also financed much of the rally. The Mises Caucus donated at least $1,000 to be one of five Silver Sponsors for the rally.

While Libertarians have always advanced a far-right hyper-capitalist economic program, following the election of Donald Trump in 2016 and a further shift to the right by the American ruling class as a whole, members of the party, chiefly represented in the Mises Caucus, have made a marked turn toward fascist militias and anti-Semitic forces.

The Mises Caucus is the largest faction within the Libertarian Party and took control of the national apparatus in 2022 following the national convention in Reno, Nevada. McArdle was the California organizer for the caucus and a former board member.

As part of her campaign to seize the chair of the party last year, McArdle, with the backing of the caucus, spearheaded efforts to overturn limited vaccine mandates in Los Angeles County.

After earning the support of the anti-vaccine contingent of the party, McArdle shored up her candidacy when she refused to condemn vicious anti-Semite Bryan Sharpe, also known as Hotep Jesus, at the Libertarian Partys Alabama State Convention in March 2021.

Sharpe had previously been invited to the Conservative Political Action Conference and been interviewed positively on Fox News.

On his blog, Sharpe previously praised the far right for not being afraid to call out the Jews. He also defended the Unite the Right rally in Charlottesville, Virginia in 2017, writing that the Blacks are so removed from reality... this is not a demonstration against blacks. This is a dispute between right and leftLiberal versus Conservative. Maybe even White vs. Jew.

At the 2021 Alabama convention, a Libertarian Party member asked McArdle how she could have invited Sharpe to the national convention given his history of anti-Semitic views.



McArdle responded, I reject the premise of your question. I dont actually think that someone whos trying to be a truth-seeker and understand whats going onand asked the question about whether or not Jews run Hollywood is an anti-Semite. (Emphasis added)

The Mises Caucus, the Mises Institute and Jeff Deist

An early indication of this shift to fascistic politics within the Libertarian Party was expressed in the takeover of the party by the Mises Caucus.

The Mises Caucus, named after the Mises Institute, which is currently led by Jeff Deist, was founded by Michael Heise on August 20, 2017. Several leading Libertarian Party members, including current chair McArdle, have been board members of the Mises Caucus, and many are trained by the Institute, located in Auburn, Alabama.

The Ludwig von Mises Institute, named after the reactionary Austrian economist, was founded by Llewellyn Rockwell Jr. in 1982, with financial backing from Ron Paul. A 2000 report by the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) categorized the Mises Institute as Neo-Confederate.

In a January 11, 2023 interview on Reason.com, Heise pointed to the Rage rally as an example of the new type of outreach the Libertarian Party was undertaking under the leadership of the Mises Caucus in an attempt to grow the party.

Heise explained that the anti-war rally would be an example of the first harvest reaped of the new fruits cultivated under the far-right Mises Caucus leadership.

Jeff Deist, the president of the Mises Institute, is close to both Heise and McArdle, appearing on podcasts and right-wing events with both of them.

Deist has been at the Mises Institute since at least 2014. Before he was the president of the Institute, Deist, as he explained in a recent interview with fascist Patrick Casey, a co-organizer of the Unite the Right rally, worked on Capitol Hill with Ron Paul.

Casey was one of the leaders of the neo-Nazi group Identity Evropa and assumed leadership of the organization following the Unite the Right rally, which Identity Evropa played a main role in organizing. After Casey took control of the organization, in an attempt to distance the group from Charlottesville, he tried to rebrand the group as the American Identity Movement. However, this was not successful, and Casey stopped actively organizing within the group in 2020.

In 2019, Casey teamed up with Hitler-lover Nick Fuentes to promote the groyper army and launch the America First Political Action Conference. Leading up to January 6, the pair backed Trumps Stop the Steal campaign by mobilizing their followers in support of the coup. Both Fuentes and Casey were at the Capitol on January 6, though neither have been charged.

Fascist Patrick Casey (left) interviews president of the Mises Institute Jeff Deist on his podcast, February 23 2023. [Photo: Patrick Casey]

For their role in the coup, both Fuentes and Casey were interviewed by the January 6 Select Committee. In his deposition to the Committee, Casey admitted that he had an unofficial leadership position in the America First movement with Nick Fuentes, and that in the lead-up to January 6 he spoke at state capitals and at multiple events in support of Trumps efforts to overturn the election.

In his friendly interview with Casey last week, Deist explained, I met Ron Paul and began working for him... joining his staff in Washington D.C. Deist added that he met Lew [Rockwell], and a few years later I joined the Institute.

In the over hour-long interview with Casey, the pair defended the capitalist system and private property and attacked immigrants, civil rights legislation and trans people.

Calling for the entrepreneurs to get involved, Deist said, We need some of the wealthiest people in this country, some of those who it is awfully hard to cancel. If you are worth $5, $10, $20... $100 million or $200 million you have to be out there fighting this stuff in a way that that $40,000 grand a-year guy is not. If you care about this country, you really owe it to yourself to be fighting this stuff and striking a blow for reality. That is what it is going to take.

Appealing to Caseys fascist audience, Deist declared, We cant expect it to be bloodless, thats not how it works. People are going to have to pay a price.

Absolutely! Casey responded with a smile.

From Unite the Right to Rage Against the War Machine

There is no question that the relationship between Casey and Deist goes back several years. In a 2017 speech titled For a New Libertarian and delivered two weeks before the Unite the Right rally, Deist called for a deeply pragmatic approach to organizing society, which includes strong... elite... wealthy families and for libertarians to seize on the rise of nationalism and reject universalism.

Deist ended his speech with an explicit call for libertarians to remake themselves in the image of the Nazis. Blood and soil and God and nation still matter to people, he said. Libertarians ignore this at the risk of irrelevance.

After Deists speech, current and former members of the Libertarian Party, such as neo-Nazi Christopher Cantwell, went on to participate in the fascist rampage in Charlottesville, which ended when another neo-Nazi, James Alex Fields Jr., drove his car into a crowd of counter-protestors, murdering anti-racist activist Heather Heyer.

On the day Fields murdered Heyer and injured dozens of others, neo-Nazi Shandon Simpson was photographed standing behind Fields Jr.

Last month in Washington, Simpson, along with neo-Nazi Matthew Heimbach, were photographed at the Rage rally by journalist Molly Conger.

In 2020, Unicorn Riot revealed that Simpson was a member of the Ohio National Guard and had deployed to Washington D.C. as part of Trumps fascistic efforts to suppress anti-police violence protesters.

In Telegram posts uncovered prior to deploying to D.C., Simpson told fellow neo-Nazis: They activated my unit and were getting real ammunition to shoot and kill. Rahowa. [RaHoWa refers to the neo-Nazi conception of Racial holy war.]

Heimbach has been a fascist his entire adult life. He has founded several neo-Nazi organizations, including the now-defunct Traditionalist Worker Party.

For his leading role in organizing the Unite the Right rally, on November 23, 2021 a jury found Heimbach and the organization he founded guilty of civil conspiracy.

In an article published the day of the Rage rally, ItsGoingDown.org reported that in a live-stream prior to the event, Simpson revealed that the appearance of Heimbach and himself at the Rage rally would not be a shock to organizers of the event. Simpson said that Heimbach has had more communications with some of the people involved...

At the Rage rally, Heimbach and his followers were allowed to set up a table and share their fascist propaganda.

The Center for Political Innovation (CPI), which is run by RT correspondent Caleb Maupin, was one of the Bronze Sponsors of the Rage rally.

After the Rage rally, Heimbach was photographed handing out fascist propaganda at an after-party organized by the CPI.

Benjamin Rubinstein, formerly of the CPI, confirmed on Twitter that Heimbach and his crew were invited to the event by CPI without the knowledge of other organizers.

Rubinstein noted that Heimbach and Simpson are avowed Nazis controlled by an Atomwaffen member and that is not a woke talking point.

There is not only a close political kinship but a direct line of communication connecting outright Nazis to the Libertarian Party, the principal organizer of the Rage Against the War Machine rally. Those supposedly on the left who participated in the rally served primarily to lend these far-right forces political credibility and legitimacy.
The Biden administration has mounted a campaign urging Congress to renew provisions of a US law that legalizes secret, warrantless surveillance of individuals and organizations all over the world on the grounds of national security interests.

President Joe Biden [AP Photo/Patrick Semansky]

On Tuesday, senior White House officials called on Democrats and Republicans in Congress to reauthorize Title VII of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA), especially its Section 702, before it expires on December 31, 2023.

Although the American political and media establishment will not say so, it is well known that FISA Section 702 was passed in 2008 to provide a legal fig leaf for secret US intelligence and FBI surveillance of the electronic communications of people both inside and outside the country.

This secret spying activity, which compels the cooperation of communications service providers and internet and social media platforms in a conspiracy against fundamental Constitutional rights, was exposed in detail for the first time by Edward Snowden in 2013.

As explained by the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF), Section 702 authorizes the US government to routinely collect and search the online communications of innocent Americans without a warrant through what are commonly called upstream and PRISM (now called downstream) surveillance. These activities violate Fourth Amendment rights against unreasonable searches and seizures.

The details of PRISM were disclosed by Snowden in a series of documents that indicated it is the number one source of raw intelligence used for NSA analytic reports. The program enables the National Security Agency (NSA) and Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) to gather targeted electronic communications from the major internet service providers on demand without a warrant, store them in massive databases and search through them as they see fit.

In a letter dated February 28 to the four leaders of the Senate and House, Attorney General (AG) Merrick Garland and Director of National Intelligence (DNI) Avril Haines say the prompt renewal of the surveillance law is urgent because it has proven invaluable again and again in protecting American lives and U.S. national security.

However, the examples given by AG Garland and DNI Haines of the effectiveness of Section 702 are taken straight from the propaganda list of enemies of US imperialism such as conventional and cyber threats posed by the Peoples Republic of China, Russia, Iran and the Democratic People's Republic of Korea.

While the examples provided contain no details of the lives that were supposedly saved through illegal spying, the joint letter does say that Section 702 was used to carry out the successful operation against Ayman al-Zawahiri in 2022. That is, the extrajudicial targeted drone assassination of al-Zawahiri in a suburb of Kabul, Afghanistan by the CIA in the early morning of July 31, 2022.

The letter reads like a public relations statement and includes the obligatory justification of the FISA law due to its comprehensive system designed by Congress to ensure this irreplaceable intelligence tool protects the privacy and civil liberties of U.S. persons has worked.

It says that US citizens need not worry about the illegal surveillance because, Section 702 can only be used to target individual non-US persons located outside the United States, it may not be directed against Americans at home or abroad, or any person, regardless of nationality, known to be located in the United States.

However, given the nature of electronic communications as a global phenomenon, such assurances are completely irrelevant, and specifically targeting individuals from other countries, even if it were technically possible, is also a violation of their basic rights in any case.

The Biden administration officials give a sketchy description of the procedures of the FISA law, including the functioning of the secret Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court (FISC) and its annual comprehensive review of the program. FISC almost never denies a request for warrantless surveillanceafter nearly 40 years of its existence, the court approved 99.998 percent of the applicationseffectively making it a rubber stamp for the intelligence agencies.

The letter goes on to say that FISC has consulted with outside advisors on multiple occasions as it exercises its rigorous and ongoing oversight of the U.S. Governments implementation of and compliance with these procedures. AG Garland and DNI Haines also claim that their respective offices scrutinize all Section 702 collection decisions, review U.S. person queries, and evaluate and take remedial action to address identified incidents of non-compliance.

However, as numerous oversight and compliance reports have shown, those performing the surveillance have routinely violated the procedures of the FISA law and continued to carry out queries and electronic spying on US citizens, claiming that such crimes were an inadvertent mistake. No one has ever been charged or prosecuted for these violations of the US Constitution.

There is no doubt that the urgency behind the White House campaign for Congress to act on the renewal of Section 702 is motivated by the geostrategic aims of the Biden administration and connected with the war against Russia in Ukraine, and the intensification of the military provocations against China.

The first version of the FISA law was passed in 1978 following the revelations of the domestic spying operation carried out by the White House of Richard Nixon in the years prior to and during the Watergate crisis that began in 1972. Forty-five years later, the FISA law has been converted into its opposite and has become an indispensable element of the US imperialist military-intelligence apparatus both at home and overseas.

One need only review the biography of White House intelligence director Haines to see that those who are requesting reauthorization of illegal spying under the cover of Section 702 are themselves criminals who belong behind bars.

Before President Biden nominated Haines for Director of National Intelligence, the first woman to hold the position, she had built up a resume of lawlessness as a legal hack for the US State Department during the Bush administration (2003-2006) and then with the Obama Administration (2008-2010).

In 2013, Haines was selected by Obama as Deputy Director of the CIA where in 2015 she protected the intelligence personnel involved in the hacking of the computers of Senate staffers who were writing the Intelligence Committees report on CIA torture. Haines played a major role in redacting the Senate report, allowing only 525 of the 6,700 pages in the document to be released to the public.

During her years in the CIA, Haines worked directly with then-Director John Brennan in selecting individuals for targeted drone killings. She wrote the legal policies, guidelines and procedures for carrying out the drone attacks that resulted in the murder of innocent civilians.
Last week, various media reports indicated that publisher Puffin Books, an imprint of conglomerate Penguin Random House, had made hundreds of changes in the texts of childrens books by author and scriptwriter Roald Dahl (1916-1990). The affected books included James and the Giant Peach (1961), Fantastic Mr Fox (1970), The Twits (1980), The Witches (1983), Matilda (1988) and other well-known and much-loved works.

After an outcry from readers and prominent writers, including novelists Salman Rushdie and Joyce Carol Oates, Puffin announced last weekend that while it would follow through on its censorship, it would also publish an unexpurgated edition of the books later this year.

Roald Dahl, photographed by Carl Van Vechten in 1954

As part of its plan to put out a new edition of Dahls works, Puffin Books hired a firm, Inclusive Minds, complete with Inclusion Ambassadors. (One cannot make this kind of thing up.) With the help of the latter, Puffin, for example, replaced gendered terms in Dahls books with what it viewed as ungendered ones. In Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, for example, the Oompa Loompas were originally small men, but Puffin changed that to small people. The Cloud-Men in James and the Giant Peach have been transformed into Cloud-People. In Matilda, the phrase mothers and fathers is changed to people and heroine replaced with hero.

The censors also went to absurd extremes to change what they regard, apparently, as unacceptable racial terms, innocuous as some of them might be. In James and the Giant Peach, his face white with horror becomes his face agog with horror.

And so on, to the extent of hundreds of such changes.

In the currently polluted cultural atmosphere, it is not surprising that thousands of people on Twitter and other social media platformsmost of them not right-wing ideologues, but simply fans of Roald Dahls workcalled out this narrow-minded act of censorship. Rushdie commented on Twitter, Roald Dahl was no angel but this is absurd censorship. Puffin Books and the Dahl estate should be ashamed. Joyce Carol Oates tweeted that if Dahl is so egregious as to require such wholesale whitewashing (sic) why republish him at all.

While Dahl in his lifetime worked with editors to modernize the language in his works, eliminating certain racial stereotypes, for example, and was accused of anti-Semitism, nothing like this level of censorship, or even this kind of censorship, has been attempted in the modern era. Harriet and Thomas Bowdler, thanks to their publishing The Family Shakespeare (1807), an expurgated edition of the playwrights works, gave birth to the generally insulting verb to bowdlerize.

Openly right-wing attacks on literature, by religious bigots, ultra-nationalists, fascists and others, proliferate in the US and elsewhere.

The Dahl case is part of a growing wave of attacks on literature by the proponents of upper middle class identity politics. Authors works are now often scrutinized by sensitivity readers hired by publishers to weed out terms or phrases that might potentially be objectionable on grounds of race, gender or sexual orientation. This is a form of self-censorship, with damaging implications.

As has been the case in the #MeToo witch-hunt, careers have been destroyedand works even pulpedon the basis of unsubstantiated allegations and gossip. Infamously, in 2021, this happened to Blake Bailey and his authorized biography of novelist Philip Roth.

James and the Giant Peach

Publishers, concerned only with social approval and profits, are now on the alert for books written by a person of the wrong ethnic background or gender, that might be attacked by racialists, feminists or anyone else from the identity politics industry. This holds especially true when a book publisher plans to back a book with an expensive publicity campaign. Macmillan faced this sort of situation in 2020 with Jeanine Cumminss novel American Dirt. The author of the best-selling work about Mexican immigrants came under attack for not being an actual Latino, but white, and for therefore having produced an inauthentic book.

These forces are active in all corners of the book world. The partisans of #DisruptTexts seek to exclude or reduce the emphasis on the works of Shakespeare and other authors such as F. Scott Fitzgerald (The Great Gatsby), Arthur Miller (The Crucible) and Harper Lee (To Kill a Mockingbird) from university and high school classrooms.

Not all by far of the objections to the censorship of Dahls work were made in good faith. Media outlets such as Britains right-wing Daily Telegraph trumpeted the case to pursue their own reactionary agendas, against the supposed woke left.

A spokesman for UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak, whose commitment to democratic rights runs so deep he wants to ban strikes, commented, When it comes to our rich and varied literary heritage, the Prime Minister agrees with the BFG [Big Friendly Giant, a Dahl character] that we shouldnt gobblefunk around with words. For her part, Camilla, Queen Consort, contributed to the British monarchys centuries-long commitment to freedom of speech by telling a group of authors to resist those who may wish to curb the freedom of your expression or impose limits on your imagination.

More insidious, however, is the commentary by PEN America CEO Suzanne Nossel, whose remarks have been widely promoted in the media. In response to the news of the sensitivity censorship of Dahls works, she wrote a long tweet that read, in part, 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 continued, So much of literature could be construed as offensive to someonebased on race, gender, religion, age, socio-economic status or myriad other factors. Such portrayals are vital topics for discussion and debate, leading to new insights.

These banal and scripted remarks need to be placed in their proper context.

Nossel is a particularly noxious advocate of human rights imperialism, with a lengthy and filthy history behind her. From 1999 to 2001, Nossel was Deputy to the Ambassador for UN Management and Reform at the US Mission to the UN under Richard Holbrooke, a longtime diplomat-gangster steeped, as the WSWS pointed out in an obituary, in the commission and cover-up of bloody crimes from Vietnam to the Balkans to Afghanistan.

Suzanne Nossel in 2014 (PEN American Center)

In the Obama administration, Nossel served as Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for International Organization Affairs under Hillary Clinton. At the State Department, Nossel helped initiate groundbreaking human rights resolutions on Iran, Syria, Libya and other targets of American policy at the UN Human Rights Council. In other words, her specialty was expounding on democratic and womens rights, as part of creating the proper political climate for bombings, invasions and other military operations.

At PEN America, where she has held leading positions since 2013, Nossel has played an atrocious role over the past year in promoting cultural-militarist propaganda in the US-NATO proxy war in Ukraine.

Nowhere on PEN America or Nossels twitter feed will one find the slightest objection to the destruction of statues of the great Russian poet Alexander Pushkin throughout Ukraine by nationalists and fascists. PEN America has nothing to say about the pulping of tens of thousands of Russian works or the tens of thousands more that have been removed from Ukrainian libraires by order of the Ukrainian parliament.

PEN America, in fact, has been little more than the cultural arm of anti-Russian chauvinism in the US. It has held several functions in support of the war in Ukraine such as its Voices of Ukraine: Readings in Support of Ukraine, held in Manhattan last year.

PEN Americas Twitter feed is filled with comments such as, Russian forces in #Ukraine have looted tens of thousands of pieces, including avant-garde oil paintings and Scythian gold. Experts say it is the biggest art heist since the Nazis in World War II, intended to strip Ukraine of its cultural heritage. The tweet compares the Putin regimes actions to the vandalism in the ancient city of Palmyra in Syria by ISIS in 2016 (though not the looting of the Iraq Museum under the auspices of the US military in 2003) and the bombing of Guernica in 1937 by the Luftwaffe during the Spanish Civil War.

In December, Nossel and other PEN America representatives traveled to Ukraine, where they met with Tetyana Teren, the Executive Director of PEN Ukraine. Teren is the former head of the government-run Ukrainian Book Institute, which calls, along with PEN Ukraine, Lviv International Book Forum, and the Book Arsenal in Kiev, for a total international ban on Russian literature.

After Nossel returned from Ukraine, PEN America published a lengthy report entitled Ukrainian Culture under Attack: Erasure of Ukrainian Culture in Russias War against Ukraine, in which the purpose of Russias invasion is portrayed as the deliberate destruction of Ukrainian culture. While the Russian military has no doubt breached international conventions in destroying cultural centers, the article is a piece of US-NATO war propaganda, designed to demonize everything Russian. The report quotes one Ukrainian museum official as saying, Destroying our culture is the purpose of everything the Russians are doing. Culture and language strengthen our nation.

These are conceptions that are not simply right wing, but are a direct product of the fascist current in Ukrainian politics. They flow from the ideas promoted by figures such as Nazi collaborator Stepan Bandera in the 1930s and 40s.

The outcry over the correcting of Dahls work succeeded in preserving at least one version of the original works. It also did a service to contemporary culture by exposing Nossel and PEN America as pro-militarist hypocrites and propagandists who have no right to lecture anyone about artistic freedom.
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In order to make progress, Haiti must address a number of serious problems, particularly the countrys humanitarian crisis and cholera epidemic.
Secretary of State Antony Blinken recently met with Chinese Communist Party Central Foreign Affairs Office Director Wang Yi on the sidelines of the Munich Security Conference.

It was the first high-level in-person meeting between U.S. and PRC diplomats since the United States discovered and downed a PRC high-altitude surveillance balloon in U.S. territorial airspace. In an interview on NBC after meeting, Secretary Blinken said he took the opportunity with Director Wang to speak very clearly about the fact that China sent a surveillance balloon over our territory violating our sovereignty, violating international law. And I told him quite simply that that was unacceptable and can never happen again.

Secretary Blinken noted that as the PRC surveillance balloon traversed the United States, it attempted to surveil very sensitive military sites. In some cases, he said, it loitered or returned to them as it progressed east. So there's no doubt in our minds at all that, A) this was a surveillance balloon, and, B) it was attempting to engage in active surveillance.

Secretary Blinken pointed out that more than 40 countries have had their airspace violated by the PRCs balloon program, and that the recent incident over the United States has exposed the program to the world.

Another issue Secretary Blinken raised with Mr. Wang involved the focus of this years Munich Security Conference: Russias full-scale invasion of Ukraine. Secretary Blinken voiced concerns that the PRC is considering lethal support to Russia in its ongoing aggression.

China is trying to have it both ways, Secretary Blinken said. Publicly they present themselves as a country striving for peace in Ukraine, but privatelyweve seen already over these past months the provision of non-lethal assistance that does go directly to aiding and abetting Russias war effort. Now, he said, there are indications they are strongly considering providing lethal assistance to Russiato include weapons.

Secretary Blinken emphasized that we have not seen them cross that line  I made clear the importance of not crossing that line, and the fact that it would have serious consequences in our [bilateral] relationship.

Finally, Secretary Blinken underscored to Director Wang the importance of maintaining direct and open lines of communication and continuing to engage in diplomacy. This is something that the world expects of us, declared Secretary Blinken. They expect us to manage this relationship responsibly.
The United States government is determined to protect the rights of American citizens from the hostile reach of rogue regimes.

That determination was on display when officials from the Department of Justice recently announced charges against three individuals who plotted to murder a human rights activist and U.S. citizen of Iranian origin in New York City.



Although not named in the announcement or the indictment unsealed on January 27, Iranian American journalist and outspoken critic of the Iranian regime and its human rights abuses, Masih Alinejad, later identified herself as the target of the attempted assassination.

U.S. Justice Department officials charged three men belonging to an Eastern European crime group with ties to Iran, with money laundering and murder-for-hire. All three defendants, the would-be hitman Khalid Mehdiyev, of New York, as well as his co-conspirators Rafat Amirov, of Iran, and Polad Omarov, of the Czech Republic and Slovenia, are currently in custody.

At a press conference, Deputy Attorney General Lisa Monaco said, Increasingly, we are seeing national security and criminal threats blend, as rogue nations and criminal organizations make common cause and share capabilities. From ransomware groups targeting critical infrastructure to facilitators of sanctions evasion, these criminal actors embolden our enemies and threaten our national security.

This is not the first time that Masih Alinejad has been the target of a criminal plot. As Attorney General Merrick Garland noted, In 2021, we charged an Iranian intelligence officer and three Iranian intelligence assets with plotting to kidnap the Victim from within the United States for rendition to Iran and likely execution, in order to silence the Victim. Ms. Alinejad previously identified herself as the intended target of that earlier plot.

In a statement, National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan said the attempted assassination follows a disturbing pattern of Iranian Government-sponsored efforts to kill, torture, and intimidate into silence activists for speaking out for fundamental rights and freedoms around the world.

We will not tolerate this belligerent and criminal conduct, said Deputy Attorney General Monaco. We will hold accountable those who seek to silence voices for human rights and womens rights.

The United States, declared Attorney General Garland, will stop at nothing to identify, find, and bring to justice those who endanger the safety of the American people.
RENO  ITS Logistics, one of the fastest growing logistics companies in the United States, and the University of Nevada, Reno this week announced a new Supply Chain & Transportation Management Program at the College of Business.

ITS fully funded the program during a time when the supply chain industry is experiencing historic growth and labor shortages.

This is a program that is for the industry and by the industry, said Mike Crawford, chief operating officer of ITS Logistics. ITS is intertwined with both the community of Reno and the success of the University of Nevada, and this program is designed to cultivate and support future supply chain leaders in an exciting time in the industry.

The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported last year that the manufacturing and transportation industries saw a combined opening of 1.3 million jobs. Overall, as of August of 2022, in the U.S. there were 5 million more job openings than there were unemployed people. Supply chain managers significantly contributed to that number of job openings, as they quit their jobs in 2021 at the highest rate since 2016. This resulted in the separation rate increasing by 28% last year alone. Despite these challenges, logistics made the U.S. News multifaceted list of the Best Business Jobs for 2022, coming in at number eight.

Northern Nevada is a hub for the transportation and logistics industry, continued Crawford. Global supply chain companies like FedEx, Amazon, Google, and UPS have locations here and 62% of graduates from the University of Nevada remain in Reno to contribute to the overall growth of this economy. ITS wants to be a part of increasing that number and encouraging the industry leaders to aid in being a resource of knowledge and professional expertise to the next generation.

ITS will provide industry expertise in many areas including transportation, distribution, and technology for the supply chain & transportation management curriculum. The program is independently funded by ITS Logistics, and an Executive Advisory Board ensures that the curriculum of the program continues to remain aligned with relevant industry topics.

As a result of the contribution and input from ITS Logistics, we were able to work closely with the Council of Supply Chain Management Professionals (CSCMP) to skill map the university classes to their specific certifications, said Robyn Brunscher, Director of Supply Chain & Transportation Management. When a student takes, for example, the transportation course, they are then fully prepared to take the CSCMP certification test. This is paid for in full by the university and students also obtain a CSCMP membership. These two attributes alone better prepare students for their transition into the industry upon graduating.

The program also offers internship opportunities for enrolled students at companies like ITS Logistics, speaking engagements with industry professionals, and tours of some of the most profound logistics facilities. Courses in the program are taught by industry experts with first-hand professional knowledge in areas such as operations, big data analysis, analytics, marketing, and business development.

To learn more about ITS Logistics and the Supply Chain & Transportation Management Program at The College of Business, visit the University of Nevada, Reno. Classes will begin to be offered in the spring of 2023.
SPRING CREEK  Looking for a toga party? Join the Spring Creek High School drama and music departments for laughs and songs set in ancient Rome.

When In Rome starts its three-night run March 6 in the Spring Creek Multipurpose Room. Show starts at 7 p.m. and tickets cost $6 for adults and $4 for students.

The musical follows three Roman peasants  Gladius, Minimus and Julia  who stumble into a royal palace and meet a princess, leading Gladius to become a gladiator to save Rome by fighting Brudis.

Drama director Marie Binger promises that good things happen at the end.

Hilarity ensues between songs that range from Broadway to blues to country.

All the songs hit every genre of music. Theres a country one with a line dance, one that has a Hairspray feel and one with a circus theme, she said.

Thats what is really unique about this show, the music is really fun, she added.

She is joined by music director Jody Hansen. Theyre coming along great with the music, Binger said of the casts singing.

Although the plot is in ancient Rome, the dialogue is sprinkled with modern references.

One scene gathers senators wives who brainstorm fundraising ideas, coming up with ideas no one has heard of such as lizard on a stick and programs handed out at events. Things were very accustomed to as a society.

Binger said this would be the last musical production at SCHS due to the new four-day week schedule that will start in the fall.

Some things are going to have to give because theres not enough space and time to fit everything in one day, she said.

Meet the cast and crewMany members of the cast have performed in theater and have family members who have been involved in the arts. Some are brand new to the stage, while others have dancing, acting and behind-the-scenes experience.

Abigail Davis, who plays Julia, one of the peasants, has participated in drama throughout high school. Ive done all the musicals since my freshman year so Im really passionate about it. Im really excited for the show. Its really good and really funny.

Same as Abby, Ive done theater forever, said Xiomara Ward, who plays the Princess and serves as choreographer. The musical is very extravagant. They carry me in a chair. Youll have to see it.

Like the others, Rachel Phipps has performed throughout high school. She fell into theater because of Mrs. Binger. Ive loved drama ever since. Phipps plays Verbalina, a senators wife who doesnt shut up.

Weston Petersen said he has been in theater for a couple of years, landing the part of Gladius, the peasant turned gladiator. When In Rome is his first musical.

I wanted to expand my horizons, one could say. Ive never been into this sort of thing, but I was told by a teacher that I should do this, so here I am.

For those who are a few months from graduation like Kalob Wyhms, who plays the high senator of Rome Altilis, and Ajay Taylor who portrays Minimus, performing in Spring Creeks annual musical fulfills goals they set to make their senior year memorable.

This is the first musical Ive been in because I made a promise to myself that I would be in a musical before high school is up, and its my senior year, so here we are, Whyms said.

I did this musical because I wanted to keep myself busy my senior year, Taylor explained, adding he has never been in this type of production before. Ive got my three good friends here, so I knew it was going to be a blast.

Dalia Speith, who performs as a maid and a muse, said she wanted to have one last experience on the stage before graduation. I did a couple plays in middle school which I enjoyed, so I thought I might as well do it my senior year before I have to leave.

Joining the musical was an exciting experience for sophomore Grace Dicus, who plays Sisilla. Having performed in musicals in the first and second grade she said she didnt remember much and was eager to join the production, even though it drew her out of her comfort zone.

Its an amazing play and I work with amazing people and Im so excited to see the outcome, Dicus said.

Freshman Lauren Heckman has been on stage in various forms since she was 3 years old. This is my favorite production that I have ever done.

Aiden Boyle said he was roped into joining the musical by his friend. Ive never done any sort of production before, and it was a lot more fun than I expected. We put a lot of effort into this and its hilarious. You should come watch it.

First-time actor sophomore Gabe Lopez said he was encouraged to audition for the musical by his mother and is playing the Emperor.

Ive never been in any sort of production before, I just thought I might try it for once, Lopez said, agreeing with Boyle that the students have poured a lot of effort into the production.

All of us have outstanding parts, he added. I think you would definitely enjoy it.

Crew members like freshman Brianna Davis, the sound technician, have watched the musical come together over the last few weeks of rehearsals. I think its going to be a show that knocks your togas off, Davis said.

Music sound technician Dylan Hargus added that the humor and style of When In Rome is like the Disney movie Hercules. Its very similar in its concept.

Maddie Brown and Emily Ortez are also first-time actors in musicals. Brown, who plays Impelia, was a member of the stage crew in previous productions and this is her first turn at acting in a musical.

Brown encouraged people to come and enjoy the experience. You should come because its an amazing time.

Ortez said her family has been involved in the arts, but this is her first time acting in a musical, and she is performing in the non-speaking role of Laffina.

The humor is a big part of When In Rome, Ortez added. Its very funny.

Muses Ellie Bradley, Sam Fransen, Cassie Thompson and Aurora Werner said they also looked forward to audiences watching the musical.

Its a lot of practice and I feel like its going to be worth it to see, Fransen said.

Werner said she has been singing and dancing my entire life. He parents have been involved in theater since they were in college. I think the show is very fun, so its a great way to spend your time.

Like Werner, Bradley said she has always loved to act and has been in quite a few plays. She said its a fun musical and is very funny, too. ... It will be great.

Thompson was in middle school plays and has enjoyed her time in When In Rome. I absolutely love it. Its so much fun.

Ward, Petersen and Taylor agreed.

I believe putting support in the arts is very, very important because weve tried so hard and its a journey, Ward said.

Theres a lot of talent here and I think that a lot of people dont get to see it all the time. This is a perfect place for that to be exposed, Petersen said.

Its going to be good, Taylor said. Mrs. Binger is directing it, so you know its going to be good.
How important is the snowpack in Nevada to area fisheries? Nevada has few natural lakes at lower elevations with most of them occurring in some of the many mountain ranges in Nevada, especially the Ruby Mountains. Nevadas streams are primarily dependent upon snowmelt from the higher elevations in these mountain ranges throughout the summer.

It is not uncommon for snow to stay year round in the Ruby Mountains and East Humboldts, feeding the many small streams flowing out of them. In mountain ranges that arent as tall, the many springs that feed perennial streams get their water from the snowpack of the previous year as summer and fall rain is minimal.

The snowpack across Nevada is well above normal with snow water equivalent values ranging from 120 percent of the long term media in the Snake River Drainage to a whopping 342 percent in the Spring Mountains of Southern Nevada.

In our area the best snowpack is in the Eastern Nevada basins around Ely which is at 217 percent, followed by the Clover Valley and Franklin River basins at 205 percent and the Upper Humboldt Basin (includes the Ruby Mountains) at 170 percent. Northern Elko County has the lowest snowpack in the area but it is still well above normal at 120 and 134 percent for the Snake River and Owyhee River basins respectively.

Its also not just the mountains that are getting the snow as the lower elevation sagebrush steppe is also a blanket of white. This is good news as both streams and reservoirs in Nevada are suffering from the effects of long-term drought. Most area reservoirs should be at capacity this summer and streams will definitely be flowing. The hope is that the snowmelt is gradual and not all at once, which could cause some severe flooding in our small high desert streams.

If you are reading this early on Saturday, there is still time to get out to Wildhorse Reservoir for the sixth annual Compston Fishing Derby. Registration goes from 6:30 a.m. to 10 a.m. at Amys Bar and Grill with final measurements and weigh-in at 4 p.m. One hundred percent of the registration fees will be paid out in prize money and there is a raffle for great prizes. Money raised through the raffle will be donated to a local 28 year old who has had a stroke.

WILDHORSEVery little change here. The ice at Wildhorse is ranging from 15 to 20 inches with up to a foot of snow on top depending where upon the lake you are. Ice closer to the dam is a bit porous and there is open water between the old and new dams so anglers should stay away from the dam. Slush pockets can be found, mostly where others have drilled holes allowing water up on the ice underneath the snow. Fishing continues to be good for 18 to 20-inch trout that are fat and chunky. Fish up to 25 inches are also being reported. Perch fishing has been slow with few taken. Anglers on the ice should stay far away from the bridge over the Hendricks Arm as recently there was open water there and it has become ice covered with unsafe ice due to recent cold temperatures. Dead sticking worms or PowerBait and jigging gold Kastmasters, jigs, or small spinners tipped with worms or PowerBait three to four feet below the ice in water that is seven to 13 feet deep has been productive for trout. If trout fishing is slow in the spot fishing moving to a different spot often makes a difference. If fishing for perch, look for water ranging between 25 and 35 feet deep and fish just off the bottom using a small piece of worm on a small soft plastic jig. Lift the rod tip up few inches every minute or so in a jigging action to entice the perch. Often there will be a bite as the bait settles down. However, expect fishing for yellow perch through the ice to be extremely slow due to the fishery recovering from the spring 2022 die-off.

SOUTH FORK RESERVOIRThe main boat ramp cove and the east side of the reservoir is covered with seven to eight inches of ice with a pressure ridge at the mouth of the cove that should be avoided. Jet Ski Beach and the east side of the lake has ice averaging 12 to 14 inches. The south end where the river enters the reservoir has unsafe ice and should be avoided. Anglers report fair fishing for 14 to 18-inch fish with an occasional 20+ inch fish along Jet Ski Beach and slow fishing on the east side. Most anglers were having success with worms, PowerBait or corn, though jigging small jigs and spoons is also producing a few fish. The fish are being caught in spurts with several fish being caught in about a half hour and then a slow period for an hour or two. Fish appear to be hanging in water that is 10 to 12 feet deep or shallower hanging three to six feet below the ice.

WILSON RESERVOIRNo report on the lake itself, but expect very poor road conditions starting at the IL mailboxes and anglers should expect 4WD driving conditions from the mailboxes all the way to the lake. Water conditions here are generally similar to South Fork so there may be ice of variable thicknesses with the good possibility safe ice. Anglers can expect fair to good ice fishing this winter for 12 to 16-inch trout. Use the same techniques and baits as at Wildhorse and South Fork.

RUBY LAKE NWRAt this time, travel to Ruby Lake NWR is not recommended due to continued snow and drifting. Much of the valley is single lane driving and there isnt any off road parking for fishing. Even if you get there, there is no access off the main road and anglers will find deep snow to walk through to the collection ditch. The collection ditch is mostly ice at the north end starting at Bressman cabin. The south end of the ditch has some areas of open water for fishing but lots of snow on the ground making walking difficult. No recent report from anglers due to travel conditions, but at last report (early February) fishing was good in the collection ditch. Chironomid patterns such as zebra midges, red butt buzzers, chironocones and ice cream cones should catch fish. Other flies such as copper Johns, leech patterns, balanced leeches, crystal buggers, #14-16 hares ears, and #16-18 PT nymphs fished under an indicator are recommended. Expect fair to good fishing for Spin anglers should be using small spinners in black or olive with contrasting yellow or red colors as well as small minnow imitations. With the colder water temperatures anglers should slow down their presentations as the fish are moving slower this time of year. The collection ditch is artificial lures only, no bait. Wading is not allowed in the ditch.

JAKES CREEK/BOIES RESERVOIRJakes Creek has approximately 14 inches of ice with snow on top. Anglers report fair fishing for 10 to 12-inch chunky trout using worms or PowerBait jigged slowly a few feet below the ice. The road is snow packed and may have drifting. Expect 4WD conditions to the reservoir.

COLD CREEK RESERVOIRAccess to the lake is poor due to snow conditions and the road around the lake wasnt plowed as of last week. The lake is only 50% covered in ice and is variable in thickness and considered unsafe. Ice fishing is not recommended but if anglers do decide to try their luck they should drill test holes before venturing onto the ice. Anglers can expect to catch eight to 10-inch rainbow or tiger trout.

CAVE LAKE

Cave Lake is lowered to minimum and unfishable. Fish stocking will resume once the dam repairs are completed. Cave Lake is closed to fishing due to shorelines that are very soft and dangerous due to the complete saturation of the soil. For more information on Cave Lake, please contact the NDOW Ely Field Office.

COMINS LAKENo change here as Comins Lake is 100% covered with ice with approximately 19 to 20 inches of good ice in most areas with a few small areas of weak ice. Fishing continues to be good on both the north and south lakes for 14 to 18-inch rainbow trout through the ice with an occasional brown or tiger trout. Nightcrawlers and plastic jigs have consistently produced trout. Northern Pike and bass are also showing up in the creel by jigging Rat-L Traps, flashy spoons, and even nightcrawlers. Please note that NDOW has placed radio tags in several Northern Pike. These pike will have an orange Floy tag near their dorsal fin and a small antenna (~ 7 inches long) coming from their stomach. Please return these fish to the water for research purposes. All other pike should be humanely dispatched. There is no limit on the pike.

ILLIPAHOn Thursday, February 23, the road into Illipah was snowed and drifted in. With the past weeks weather chances are it is just as bad if not worse. Access may be possible with 4WD and chains, but travel isnt recommended at this time. NDOW personnel couldnt reach the lake in late February but at last report the reservoir was covered with 10 to 12 inches of solid ice with snow on top. Anglers should expect to catch 8-to-12-inch Rainbow Trout and the occasional Brown Trout. Nightcrawlers, a variety of jigs, and PowerBait are all producing trout.

ANGEL LAKE

The road is closed for the winter and the lake is ice covered. There will be no reports until late spring or early summer depending upon weather and snow conditions.

ALPINE LAKES

Those wanting to hike into the Rubies will find very deep snow conditions, very cold temperatures and only experienced back country trekkers should attempt to get away from the roads. The lakes are ice covered and there will be no more fishing reports until late next spring or early in the summer depending upon snow conditions this year.

STREAMSAccess to the fishable parts of streams is very difficult due to road conditions and very deep snow in most areas. Travel is not recommended at this time as Elko Countys Search and Rescue Team have been busy this winter helping back country travelers. Carry chains and a shovel and be prepared to spend the night. Please leave a trip plan with someone responsible so that if you dont return home at the expected time someone can start looking for you. If anglers get to the streams expect ice and deep snow making fishing difficult. With cold water temperatures the fish are moving slower and anglers should slow their presentations down. Lamoille Canyon access is by snowshoe, skis or snow mobile due to snow which is still almost six feet deep at the Snotel site in the canyon. Access to both the Bruneau and Jarbidge Rivers is now through Idaho due to snow conditions and even then, it is difficult to impossible to travel into the Bruneau by anything but a snowmobile and travel is not recommended. Access the Jarbidge through Rogerson, Idaho north of Jackpot. As of March 3, the East Fork of the Owyhee was flowing at 3.19 cfs below Wildhorse dam, while the station near Mountain City was flowing at 73.4 cfs. The Jarbidge River at 7.12 cfs, the Bruneau River flowing at 22.2 cfs, Salmon Falls Creek at 63.0 cfs, Lamoille Creek at 7.47 cfs, the South Fork of the Humboldt at 20.0 cfs but mostly ice covered, Cleve Creek showing ice, Steptoe Creek at 1.67 cfs and Kingston Creek at 3.13 cfs.
Off Broadways historic, if long financially beleaguered, Cherry Lane Theatre has been purchased by The Whale and Everything Everywhere All at Once film studio A24.

The 179-seat mainstage venue, located on one of the most picturesque side streets of Manhattans West Village neighborhood, is a central part of Off Broadway history, founded as a playhouse in 1923 and eventually providing a home space for such major theatrical figures as F. Scott Fitzgerald, Samuel Beckett, Harold Pinter, Edward Albee, Clifford Odets, Tennessee Williams, Harold Pinter, Eugene Ionesco, LeRoi Jones, Sam Shepard, Lanford Wilson, Joe Orton and David Mamet.

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Recent years have seen the small, tucked-away venue hitting one financial brick wall after another, most recently when executive director Angelina Fiordellisi agreed to sell the theater to the Lucille Lortel Theatre Foundation for $11 million in 2021. According to The New York Times, that deal fell through over the selling price.

A deed filed today  and first reported by the real estate website Curbed  indicates A24 has purchased the venue (which also includes a smaller 60-seat theater) for $10,026,428.

As reported by Deadline a year ago, A24, currently riding high with Oscar nominees Everything Everywhere All at Once and The Whale, had secured a $225 million equity investment to fund a strategic growth plan, with stated plans to use the capital to expand production and distribution worldwide and develop high-quality initiatives beyond the screen.

Though A24s plans for the Cherry Lane have not yet been detailed, the purchase dovetails nicely with the studios previously announced desire to develop non-film projects.

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ELKO  The Elko Bomb Squad was called to out to Spring Creek on Thursday afternoon.

According to the Elko Police Department, the unit joined Elko County Sheriffs Department and the FBI in responding to an address on Licht Parkway on a report of the discovery of what appeared to be a military munition that had been stored for some time. 

The munition was found to not pose a threat to the public and was safely removed from the residence for disposal, stated police.

The bomb squad was also called out last November after dynamite was found in a north-side Elko neighborhood. Mountain View Elementary School was briefly closed while the explosives were transported out of the area.

Found explosive of various types are quite common in rural Nevada, where for many years citizens could legally purchase such explosives for legitimate purposes, said an EPD statement at the time. It is not uncommon for remnants of those explosives to be found when the original possessors have passed away and surviving family members start cleaning up the property.

In March 2021, the bomb squad was called after explosives were found in a barn in Lamoille. In that incident they determined it was unsafe to move the dynamite, and detonated it with minimal damage to the building.
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King Charles III and Queen Camilla are gearing up for their first royal tour since Charles ascended the throne.

On Friday, Buckingham Palace announced that Charles and Camilla will travel to France and Germany ahead of the coronation for the first overseas visits of the new reign. The five-day visit will take place from March 26 to March 31.

While Charles has officially traveled the world for decades in his role as the Prince of Wales while supporting his late mother Queen Elizabeth, this is his first landmark tour as head of state and King.

"The visit will celebrate the U.K.'s relationship with France and Germany, marking our shared histories, culture and values," a palace spokesperson said. "It is also a chance to look forwards and show the many ways our countries are working in partnership, whether that be to tackle climate change; respond to the conflict in Ukraine; seize trade and investment opportunities or share the best of our arts and culture."

"As well as speaking to the strength of the United Kingdom's bilateral relationships with France and Germany, Their Majesties' visit will include engagements highlighting the importance of sustainability and community  key themes which have been embraced by citizens of all our countries. There will also be opportunities to reflect on the sacrifices and challenges of our shared past, out of which has come an enduring legacy of cooperation and reconciliation," the spokesperson continued.

The tour, which kicks off with the couple's arrival in France on Sunday, March 26, will see Charles and Camilla take on between 25-30 different engagements across the two countries.

King Charles III and Britain's Camilla, Queen Consort leave after visiting Bolton Town Hall

OLI SCARFF/AFP via Getty Images King Charles and Queen Camilla

In France, highlights will include a spectacular state banquet at Chateau de Versailles, hosted by President Emmanuel Macron and his wife Brigitte Macron, and a ceremony of Remembrance and wreath laying at the Arc de Triomphe.

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Charles, 74, will speak at the national assembly in Paris, while Camilla, 75, and the First Lady will visit and officially open the new Manet and Degas exhibition at the Musee d'Orsay. The royal couple will also head to Bordeaux for part of their stay in France. There, the couple will tour an organic vineyard, which has pioneered a sustainable approach to winemaking, while Charles will also witness some of the devastation caused by last summer's wildfires on the outskirts of the city.

In Germany, where they will visit Berlin and Brandenburg and Hamburg from March 29, some of the standout moments include a ceremonial welcome by President Steinmeier and Frau Budenbender at the Brandenburg Gate (the first time any visiting head of state has received such a welcome at the site). The couple will also be guests of honor at a State Banquet. Like in Paris, Charles will address the federal legislature, the Bundestag.

Camilla and Frau Budenbender are set to visit the Komische Oper in Berlin to learn more about the opera company's outreach projects and community engagement. While in Brandenburg, King Charles will meet representatives from a joint German/U.K. military unit and see a demonstration of their bridge-building amphibious vehicles.

Camilla, Queen Consort, joined by King Charles III, speaks as she hosts a reception at Clarence House for authors, members of the literary community and representatives of literacy charities, to celebrate the second anniversary of The Reading Room on February 23, 2023 in London, England.

Jonathan Brady-WPA Pool/Getty

In Hamburg, Charles and Camilla will visit the St. Nikolai Memorial, the remains of a church that was destroyed when the Allies bombed the city during the Second World War. Charles and the German President will lay remembrance wreaths. This year marks the 80th anniversary of the bombing. The palace said that Charles will also be shown more about the port of Hamburg's adoption of green technologies.

Some royal watchers had speculated that Charles and Camilla would concentrate on one of the countries of the Commonwealth for the new monarch's first official tour. However, the two European capitals have apparently been chosen to underscore historical links with European neighbors in the aftermath of the U.K. leaving the European Union and the war on Ukraine. Palace officials point out that all travel is at the request of the British government and follows invitations from the two countries as well. There is clearly an enthusiasm among the two neighbors to be the first destinations of Charles's reign.

RELATED: King Charles III's Coronation: Everything to Know About the Ceremony and Celebration

Officials do point out, however, that the first incoming state visit of Charles' reign was from a Commonwealth country when the South African president visited last fall. Charles also met with the leaders of the 54 nations within the Commonwealth at the funeral of his late mother and will do so during Commonwealth Day later this month and at his coronation in May.

Despite a couple of egg-throwing incidents, Charles and Camilla have been enthusiastically welcomed during outings around the U.K. During a visit to Bolton in January, when they stepped out in the wake of Prince Harry's memoir, Spare, they went on a walkabout for 20 minutes shaking hands with many of the 3,000 people who turned out to greet them.

King Charles III and Camilla, Queen Consort arrive at Bolton Town House

Christopher Furlong/Getty Images King Charles and Queen Camilla at Sandringham recently

Suzanne Hartop from St. James's Daisy Hill primary school told PEOPLE about the "once in a lifetime opportunity" of meeting the King. "He had a lot of people to get through but he shook hands and spoke to as many as he could," she said.

SANDRINGHAM, NORFOLK - JANUARY 01: (EMBARGOED FOR PUBLICATION IN UK NEWSPAPERS UNTIL 24 HOURS AFTER CREATE DATE AND TIME) Camilla, Queen Consort and King Charles III are greeted by The Reverend Canon Dr Paul Williams as they attend the New Year's Day service at the Church of St Mary Magdalene on the Sandringham estate on January 1, 2023 in Sandringham, Norfolk. (Photo by Max Mumby/Indigo/Getty Images)

Max Mumby/Indigo/Getty

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The palace said that Charles has made 35 official visits to France, and 29 to Germany, while Camilla has been on eight official visits to France, and three to Germany. They last visited France in 2019 to mark the 75th anniversary of the Normandy Landings and traveled to Germany (Berlin) in 2020 to mark the country's National Day of Mourning for victims of war.
This commentary is written by staff opinion columnist Adam Van Brimmer.

Mistakes and misdeeds. Cover-ups. Retaliation.

Just another day at 208 Bull Street?

The Savannah-Chatham Public School System is in what aviators call a graveyard spiral. The superintendent is retiring just months after getting a new contract and saying she still had work to do. The public is questioning the disconnect between the graduation rate of 89% and the student readiness rate of 67%. Recently uncovered audit reports show a district top-heavy with administrative staff has long struggled with recording and applying disciplinary actions  and a former staffer is alleging in a lawsuit that leadership retaliated against her for sounding the alarm on the issue.

More on Savannah schools: Schools 'well prepared' for the future? Don't ignore superintendent's less flattering legacy

Police respond to Savannah High School Wednesday morning after a hoax 911 call reported a shooting at the school.

Now, the school systems police chief is withholding an assessment of the response to the Savannah High School active shooter hoax. Whats worse, Terry Enoch is retaliating against and trying to shame a journalist for requesting what should be public information.

What is the assessment?

Heres the background: Chatham County contracted with a third-party, the National Policing Institute, to evaluate and report on the swatting incident of Nov. 30, 2022 at Savannah High. A 911 call reporting an active shooter at the school prompted a rapid response from law enforcement and public safety personnel, which involved an evacuation and sweep of the school buildings.

The assessment was meant as an after-action or post-mortem report. It would tell Enoch, the district, the school board and the public what was done well but more importantly where improvement is needed.

Enoch talked with reporter Andrew Favakeh about the assessment Feb. 23 and told him the document was available on the National Police Institute website. But the report is not posted at PolicingInstitute.org, and when contacted, an institute official pointed Favakeh back toward the board of education. Favakeh then received a call from a Chatham County employee, and was told that the report would not be made public unless the county wanted it made public.

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Savannah Chatham Schools Chief of Campus Police Terry Enoch stands on scene after a Savannah High Student was shot after leaving the campus on Wednesday March 1, 2023.

Favakeh then did what members of the public are supposed to do in this situation: he requested the report via the Georgia Open Records Act.

In retaliation, Justin Pratt, emergency manager and school security coordinator for the school district, canceled what was to be an on-the-record meeting scheduled between Enoch and Favakeh to go over the report. Enoch told Favakeh in a phone conversation he should be ashamed for filing the records request and that its not a good idea to publish our vulnerabilities.

Youd think the district would already be addressing those vulnerabilities, especially in light of school massacres in Uvalde, Texas; Parkland, Florida; and Newtown, Connecticut. Taxpayers have spent millions to harden our school buildings and strengthen campus security over the last decade, and the Savannah High incident provided a real-world test for how that money was spent.

School security: School district guards against tragedy by reinforcing security efforts

By withholding the assessment, the district appears to have something to hide, and is citing exceptions outlined in the open records law regarding safeguards against criminal or terrorist acts. The school system has already incurred heavy criticism for its communication strategy during the Savannah High hoax.

What else didnt go perfectly? The report no doubt offers valuable insights.

Timeline: How Savannah first responders responded to the Savannah High active shooter hoax

Bullying the public

Meanwhile, Enoch seemed eager to trumpet the reports positive findings, agreeing to a meeting to discuss a document he is unwilling to share. He has the mistaken impression that this publications mission is to be a PR arm for the school system, not a public watchdog focused on holding taxpayer-funded government entities  such as the school district  accountable.

And Enoch is willing to bully a journalist as part of the process. In this situation the journalist is the publics representative, so Enoch is attempting to strongarm all of you.

Opinion Editor Adam Van Brimmer

Pretty sad  and not at all constructive. As Savannah Morning News reporters have demonstrated often in recent years, we dont back down when it comes to public records and watchdog journalism. The findings of this assessment will come out.

In the meantime, School Board members need to explore the disregard for transparency and the toxic culture exhibited by district administrators. Mistakes are permissible as they can be corrected. Cover-ups and retaliatory tactics, on the other hand, are unacceptable.

Contact Van Brimmer at avanbrimmer@savannahnow.com and follow him on Twitter @SavannahOpinion.

This article originally appeared on Savannah Morning News: Savannah-Chatham Public Schools withhold active shooter hoax report
The Philadelphia Wage Tax is the bane of many Bucks County residents who work for employers in the city, as well as officials who want those residents to pay earned income tax to the municipalities where they live in the suburbs.

Members of the Pennsylvania Senate Majority Policy Committee came to Middletown on Thursday at the invitation of state Sen. Frank Farry, R-6, to learn the impacts of the wage tax, which was established in the 1930s by the Sterling Act as an emergency measure to help Philadelphia through the Great Depression.

Philadelphia's long history of taxing wages

Participating in a hearing on the Sterling Act and its impact on suburban communities in Middletown are (from left) Sheila Fitzgerald Sterrett, executive director with the Pennsylvania Senate Republicans; State Sen. Dan Laughlin, R-49 of Erie; State Sen. Frank Farry, R-6, of Bucks; State Sen. Kristen Phillips-Hill, R-28 of York; and State Sen. Jarrett Coleman, R-16, of Bucks and Lehigh counties. State Sen. Devlin Robinson, R-37 of Allegheny County also attended the event.

Ninety years later, the tax on the wages of all workers in the city  both residents and non-residents  is still in place. The tax is set at 3.44% for non-residents and 3.79% for city residents.

Because they pay the wage tax, Bucks residents working in Philadelphia dont have to pay the earned income tax that most municipalities charge, or split with their school districts. In most locales, this tax is 0.5 or 1% and a worker pays it to the municipality and school district in which they live.

More:Who is paying earned income tax in Bucks County? Langhorne and Morrisville join other towns, districts

That is the rub of the Sterling Act, say those who attended the hearing.

Tax dollars are needed to fund the extra police, fire and street services now needed in Bucks County since much development has taken place over the past several decades. But Bucks residents who work in the city are still paying a tax on their income to Philadelphia but none to their home communities.

And since the pandemic, many are working from home yet owe the city's tax if their employer allows them the option to return to their jobs there, said former state Rep. Wendi Thomas of Northampton.

Millions of Bucks County tax dollars flow to Philadelphia

This act is not fair, said Northampton Township Manager Robert Pellegrino, who noted that his municipality has 2,600 residents working for Philadelphia firms who do not pay any tax (to Northampton). It puts it on other residents to fund the services ... As we grow, our services need to grow."

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He estimated Northampton was losing about $1.1 million annually by not collecting an earned income tax from these residents. That money, he said would be a huge help in meeting our goals to fund government services ... We desperately need additional revenue," he said, for more paid firefighters because of the difficulty in finding volunteers.

Joseph Lazzaro of the Keystone Collections Group which bills most earned income taxes in Bucks, said the Council Rock School District was losing $1.75 million and Bensalem, which borders the city and has the most residents working there is losing $2.5 million in tax dollars.

The Bucks County Association of Township Officials' data shows that 20,377 residents from dozens of Bucks County municipalities work all or part of the work week in Philadelphia.

"While that number may be a small percentage of our population, it represents a big loss of tax revenue ... Bucks residents working in Philly have no choice but to leave behind nearly $9 million in annual municipal earned income tax," said Stacey Mulholland, association executive director.

Philadephia needs revenue from wage tax

Bensalem Mayor Joseph DiGirolamo (right) talks with Pennsylvania Sen. Dan Laughlin of Erie as Bensalem Solicitor Joseph Pizzo watches following a hearing in Middletown on the effects of the Philadelphia wage tax on suburban communities.

Philadelphia Director of Finance Rob Dubow sent the committee a letter noting the city would oppose changes to the Sterling Act or a Local Enabling Act since the city would lose $190 million annually in tax funds if it couldn't tax its non-resident workers. The Republicans acknowledged this would have a devastating impact on the city.

But Dubow said it would also negatively impact the suburbs since a Wharton study shows the city is an economic engine for the entire region. "Philadelphia has a substantial portion of the five-county regions jobs. We are home to leading institutions for patient care, medical research, higher education, and legal services," he said.

Bensalem Mayor Joseph DiGirolamo testified that Bensalem feels the financial pinch of the wage tax the most of any Bucks municipality because it borders the city. Not only does it have the most residents working there  3,800, but it also must provide services to the many Philadelphians who come to Bensalem to work or to buy cigarettes and soda, which are heavily taxed in the city.

"Eighty percent of the crime in Bensalem comes out of Philadelphia. Were paying the price, he said.

Were not asking for anything thats unfair, DiGirolamo said.

He suggested the state allow local municipalities to collect from residents who work in the city the 1% earned income tax and the city keep the 2.44% more it charges them. He would implement this over five years.

State Sen. Jarrett Coleman, R-16, serving Upper Bucks and Lehigh counties, wants to see the wage taxes be returned to Bucks residents, putting money back in their pockets.

Pennsylvania Senate has a "tough" fight ahead to change city wage tax

State Sen. Dan Laughlin of Erie, chair of the Majority Policy Committee, said the Sterling Act needs to change but it will be "tough" to get the Democratic-controlled House with many members from Philadelphia, to go along.

Farry urged residents to write to their legislators to push for changes to the Sterling Act. He was able to gather senators from across the state and more than 40 municipal officials for Thursday's hearing. This is the most attention weve been able to get," he said.

This article originally appeared on Bucks County Courier Times: Philadelphia city wage tax should be reformed, hurting Bucks County towns: GOP
An endoscope inserted into the hidden corridor reveals that no artifacts are visible within the hidden void.

Cosmic rays and photos from an endoscope have revealed a "hidden" corridor inside the Great Pyramid of Giza 's north face, above the pyramid's ancient entrance, new research finds.

The Great Pyramid was built on orders of the pharaoh Khufu (ruled circa 2551 B.C. to 2528 B.C.) on the Giza plateau and today is about 456 feet (139 meters) high. It is the only surviving wonder of the ancient world and was the tallest building on Earth until 1311, when England's Lincoln Cathedral's 525-foot-tall (160 m) central tower was completed.

A new study reveals that, just above the ancient entrance to the pyramid, there is likely a horizontal chamber that runs for 30 feet (9 m) in length and is 6.6 feet by 6.6 feet (2 by 2 m) in width and height. It is located behind a chevron-shaped structure that is visible outside the pyramid, according to the study, published Thursday (March 2) in the journal Nature Communications .

To learn more about the void, the scientists inserted an endoscope into the corridor to peer inside on Feb. 24 , they announced in a statement. But so far, the team has not found any artifacts inside the corridor, they told Live Science.

"The first pictures taken with the endoscope seem to show there is nothing, but we cannot see all the room precisely yet," study first author Sebastien Procureur , a physicist with the French Alternative Energies and Atomic Energy Commission (CEA), told Live Science in an email.

Related: What did the ancient Egyptian pyramids look like when they were built?

Using dedicated laser surveys and photogrammetry data, researchers were able to create a 3D modelization of the Great Pyramid. This is an East-West cut view of the Great Pyramid and also the front view of the North face Chevron Area. Labels are as follows: a) Subterranean chamber, b) queens chamber, c) grand gallery, d) kings chamber, e) descending corridor, f) ascending corridor, g) al-Mamun corri[1]dor, h) north face Chevron area, i) ScanPyramids Big Void with horizontal hypothesis (red hatching) and inclined hypothesis (green hatching).

Procureur also refuted media reports that the team was close to a hidden burial chamber of Khufu, saying that the team hasn't found any evidence of a secret tomb.

Scientists discovered this corridor while analyzing so-called muon scans of the 4,500-year-old Great Pyramid. Muons are negatively charged elementary particles that form when cosmic rays collide with atoms in Earth's atmosphere. These high-energy particles constantly rain down on Earth but interact differently with stone than with air. For the past decade, scientists have been using muon detectors to search for hidden chambers in the Great Pyramid.

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"To our knowledge, this study is the first characterization of the position and dimensions of a void detected by cosmic-ray muons with a sensitivity of a few centimeters only," the researchers wrote in the study.

In their statement, the scientists added that ground-penetrating radar was also used to gather information on the corridor.

For several years, scientists have known that there was something hidden behind the north face of the pyramid. They announced the discovery of a "void" behind the north face of the Great Pyramid in 2016, but it wasn't until now that they were able to reveal this 30-foot-long corridor.

In 2017, scientists announced the discovery of a larger void, about 98 feet (30 m) long , located above the pyramid's "grand gallery," but a more precise analysis of this void has not yet been completed.

Zahi Hawass , Egypt's former antiquities minister, said during a news conference Thursday (March 2) that the 30-foot-long corridor was likely created to help relieve stress from the weight of the building material on the Great Pyramid. He noted that it is located behind a chevron-shaped structure that distributes weight, the Egyptian newspaper Ahram Online reported .

Procureur agreed that the corridor may be related to the construction of the chevron. "If I had to make a guess, I'd say it could have been a first test of the chevron structure" that was later used higher up in the pyramid, Procureur said.

Reg Clark , an Egyptologist at Swansea University in the United Kingdom who is not affiliated with the study, told Live Science in an email that "I am of the opinion that the small gabled roofed corridor was probably intended to act as a relieving chamber over the pyramid's original descending entrance passage." It's unlikely that the discovery of the corridor will lead to a major find inside, he noted.

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"I doubt whether the passage will lead to anything of any other significance. As with many of these structural innovations in the pyramids, which were developed for pragmatic reasons by the Egyptian tomb builders," Clark said. "They are often the victim of 'wishful thinking' by those looking for 'pyramid mysteries' and thus, sadly, frequently the subject of wild speculation in the press and media."
Warning: This story contains a graphic image.

David Cronenberg has made a short film featuring female wax corpses made during the 18th century in Italy. The wax figures were intended for medical studies, in order to train surgeons prior to operating on real bodies.

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The Canadian director, known as the father of body horror thanks to films such as The Fly, eXistenZ, and his latest pic A History of Violence, has been recruited by the Prada Foundation, the arts institution set up by the Italian fashion house, to shoot the short film. It features anatomical wax works from the La Specola museum in Florence, one of the oldest scientific museums in Europe. The museum is currently being renovated and is closed to the public.

The untitled Cronenberg short will be an integral part of an exhibition at the Prada Foundation in Milan titled Cere anatomiche: La Specola di Firenze | David Cronenberg that will run March 24-July 17.

The Milan exhibition includes one of the best-known works from La Specolas collection, the so-called Venus, a rare wax model with detachable parts.

Through his short movie, David Cronenberg will provide an alternative gaze on the four female wax models on display, liberating them from their academic function as medical demonstrations and educational tools, the Prada Foundation said in a statement. It added that the film will reveal the vivid and unexpected dimension of the female wax corpses that until now have been known for their static and severe nature.

Cronenberg in a statement pointed out that the wax figures were created primarily as teaching tools that unlocked the mysteries of the human body for medical students who centuries ago who could never access the relatively rare corpse dissection sessions of universities and teaching hospitals. The director also noted: In their effort to create certain partially dissected full figures whose body language and facial expressions did not display pain or agony, they also happened to produce living characters who seemed to be in the throes of ecstasy.

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It was this startling choice on the part of the sculptors of these figures that captured my imagination: what if it was the dissection itself that induced that ecstasy, that almost religious rapture? Cronenberg went on to say.

A spokesman for the Prada Foundation said it was not known if the Cronenberg short made with the ancient Italian wax corpses will be traveling beyond the exhibition in Milan.

Courtesy Fondazione Prada

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A dog named Alex is safe again after surviving 22 days trapped in the wreckage caused by Turkey's recent earthquakes.

"Surviving 22 days in that hole without eating or drinking anything is really a miracle," Haytap animal rescue worker Osman Polatsaid told Turkish news agency Anadolu, which USA Today also reported.

PEOPLE reached out to Haytap, but the organization did not immediately respond to a request for comment regarding the rescue.

Polatsaid, who personally retrieved the animal from the rubble, said that the husky had lost some weight but was in "good health" overall. The dog's owner called Haytap after reportedly hearing the dog's barks coming from the remains of a collapsed two-story building in Turkey's Hatay province.

Unfortunately, not all are as lucky as Alex. "There are lots of animals stuck inside the rubble, many have been trapped for a long time," 49-year-old rescuer Zinnet Patan shared with Haytap's website.

BBC reported that over 50,000 people were killed in the devastating quakes that hit Turkey and Syria in February, and thousands remain missing. Rescue missions for people and animals have not ceased since the first earthquake on Feb. 6.

RELATED: Animal Rescuers Still Saving Pets from Rubble in Turkey Over 2 Weeks After Deadly Earthquake

In the footage of Alex's rescue, rescuers can be seen reaching between two chunks of concrete to help the animal out of the tight spot. Alex receives water and cuddles immediately after he is free from the rubble.

Never miss a story  sign up for PEOPLE's free daily newsletter to stay up-to-date on the best of what PEOPLE has to offer, from juicy celebrity news to compelling human interest stories.

HATAY, TURKIYE - MARCH 01: A personnel caresses a dog, named "Aleks", who is received a treatment after 22 days of being rescued from under the rubble following 7.7 and 7.6 magnitude earthquakes hit multiple provinces of Turkiye including their trauma in Hatay, Turkiye on February 28, 2023. On Feb.6 a strong 7.7 earthquake, centered in the Pazarcik district, jolted Kahramanmaras and strongly shook several provinces, including Gaziantep, Sanliurfa, Diyarbakir, Adana, Adiyaman, Malatya, Osmaniye, Hatay, and Kilis. On the same day at 1.24 p.m. (1024GMT), a 7.6 magnitude quake centered in Kahramanmaras' Elbistan district struck the region. (Photo by Gokhan Balci/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images)

Gokhan Balci/Anadolu Agency/getty

A Humane Society International animal rescue and veterinarian team arrived in Antakya, Turkey, shortly after the Feb. 6 earthquake and its powerful aftershocks. The group is also helping locals find their pets amongst the collapsed buildings in the city, a mission that didn't stop even when the area was hit with a 6.3 magnitude earthquake on Feb. 20.

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"Every day here, our team is heading out to search for animals in the worst affected areas. We're bringing back rescued dogs and cats suffering with cuts, bruising, malnutrition, dehydration, and infections. We're working with an amazing team of local vets and volunteers in a veterinary field hospital tent, and the calls for help keep coming in," Kelly Donithan, HSI's director of animal disaster response, said in a statement obtained by PEOPLE.

Donithan added that pet owners forced to flee the area because of the destruction are worried about their pets. The director knows the animals could still be alive as rescuers continue to hear barks and meows coming from destroyed buildings.

RELATED: Dog Pulled from Rubble in Turkey 5 Days After Deadly Earthquake  Watch the Rescue

"People who evacuated are worried for their pets left behind, so wherever possible, we locate their apartments and find them," she said.

Dogs aren't only getting rescued in Turkey; they are also helping with the rescues. On Feb. 8, Mexico sent its beloved search and rescue dog team to Turkey to assist with recovery efforts. The canine team found international fame in 2017 for their heroic work following the Pubela earthquake.

To help earthquake relief efforts in Turkey and Syria, consider donating to these organizations: The International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies, Doctors Without Borders, GlobalGiving, Save the Children, and The Syrian American Medical Society.
At the start of Agatha Christies 1934 Murder on the Orient Express, a certain M. Bouc, contemplating the trains dining car and his fellow passengers, says to his tablemate, detective Hercule Poirot: If I had but the pen of a Balzac! I would depict this sceneIt lends itself to romance, my friend. That romance of high-end European rail travel, mothballed for decades, is having a major comeback. The Orient Express Company (part of Accor) will be launching newly built La Dolce Vita trains in 2024 (and is already taking bookings for one- and two-night trips from Rome). Belmond, meantime, which owns 17 of the original Orient Expresss carriages from the 1920s and 30s, is restoring them and adding itineraries. Heres what to expect on their Venice Simplon-Orient-Express:

Youll sleep in a deco dream.

Courtesy of Belmond.

The new suites are the handiwork of master French craftsmen, with fabrics, furnishings, and wood marquetry inspired by Art Deco designers like Majorelle, Dufrene, Leleu, and Lalique; the feel is entirely jewel box and one-of-a-kind. The marble bathrooms have mosaic floors (with underfloor heating) and hand-blown Murano sinks, and as in trains of yore, all the windows open: Youll not only be watching meadows, mountains, and forests scroll by, but smelling them, too. (There are six new Grand Suites, and eight smaller Suites coming in June.)



Youll be spoiled for choice.

Courtesy of Belmond.

The one-night ParisVenice run is the signature trip. The once-yearly ParisIstanbul five-nighter (starting August 25) is the extravaganza. And there are now routes that combine in various ways the Czech Republic, France, Italy, Austria, Hungary, Switzerland, Belgium, and the Netherlands. As of next December, you can also embark in Paris and disembark in Courchevelits enough to make avant-ski a thing.



Youll love the call button.

Courtesy of Belmond.

The cosseting begins before embarkation. If youve booked a Grand Suite, youre picked up at your hotel and escorted through the station to your carriage, where your luggage awaits, as well as a cabin steward (aka butler). He or she will familiarize you with your compartment, including, crucially, the location of the call button. Stewards, one per car, are on call 24/7. Cocktails? Midnight snacks? Breakfast in bed? Done. (Christies Princess Dragomiroff demanded chicken cooked without saucesalso some boiled fish. Chacun a son gout.) Your job until dinner is just to settle in. Or, if youre investigatively inclined, hang around Poirot-style in the corridor to see who else is boarding.



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Yes, you will dress for dinner.



Belmond, Christophe Coenan.

The motto of the train is You can never be overdressed. There are three dining cars and, on a one-night journey, two sit-down meals: a formal dinner the first night and a lunch the next day. (You can get suite servicebut why? )

BOBY

The menus are seasonal, prepared onboard, and designed by the French star chef Jean Imbert, who recently launched his second restaurant with Pharrell Williams and secured Dior as his next partner (its not all prewar nostalgia on this train). The bar carfor pre- and post-dinnerhas inventive cocktails and live piano music.



Courtesy of Belmond

While youre there, your suite will have been transformed for the night, the blinds drawn. Tip: Pull them up at once on waking and call for champagne; few experiences in the traveling life rival lounging in bed with a glass of bubbly watching the sun rise over Italy. And knowing that by 5 p.m. youll be in Venice.

This story appears in the March 2023 issue of Town & Country. SUBSCRIBE NOW

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House Oversight Committee James Comer angrily denied lamenting that Beau Biden, the late son of President Joe Biden, should have faced criminal charges over a campaign finance scandal in which he was found not to have committed any wrongdoing whatsoever.

Mr Comer, a Kentucky Republican, made the incendiary comments during an appearance on disgraced ex-Fox News host Lou Dobbs podcast last week, citing a years-old campaign finance scandal centered around a powerful Delaware beverage distributor, Christopher Tigani, who was sentenced to prison in 2012 for illegally funneling contributions to First State political campaigns. The investigation which led to his incarceration was led by David Weiss, a veteran prosecutor whom former president Donald Trump appointed as the US Attorney for Delaware in 2018.

Mr Weiss, who is also investigating the presidents surviving son, Hunter Biden, has been allowed to remain on the job by the elder Mr Biden in order to avoid the appearance of any political influence on the ongoing probe. The House Oversight chair implied that Mr Weiss failure to charge Beau Biden or his father for any crime arising from Tiganis illegal campaign donations indicates impropriety on the part of the prosecutor.

Mr Comers remarks drew a strong rebuke from veterans groups as well as the White House.

But when approached by The Independent at the Conservative Political Action Conference on Friday, the Kentucky Republican accused the press and the Biden administration of mischaracterising his comments.

You need to watch the tape, that is a lie the White House said that, that is not true, he said.

He claimed that all hed said was that Mr Weiss had an opportunity to look into Joe Biden for campaign contributions in response to a prompt from Dobbs, and argued that his only reference to the presidents late son was an observation that he was Delawares attorney general at the time of the probe into Tigani.

I just said he was attorney general during a case ... Lou Dobbs asked about the attorney, the US Attorney in Delaware. And I said, all we know is ... there was one opportunity..., he had an opportunity to look into Joe Biden for campaign contributions. He didn't, [and] the person that made the contributions was sent to jail, Beau Biden was attorney general at the time, and nothing happened. I never said anything negative about Joe Biden, and I never said Joe Biden should be indicted, which is what the White House said  that's a complete lie,

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But Mr Comers attempt to disclaim having ever suggested that Beau Biden should have faced criminal jeopardy doesnt match what he actually said on Dobbs podcast.

At the time, he said Mr Weiss had an opportunity to go after the Bidens years ago.

In fact, it was Beau Biden, the presidents other son, that was involved in some campaign donations from a person that got indicted as well, he said But, you know, nothing ever happened. So I dont know much about this U.S. attorney [Weiss] other than hes had an opportunity to investigate the Bidens before and he chose not to.

The Independent pointed out that Beau Biden had recused himself from any involvement in a state-level probe into Tigani and named a special prosecutor who later found that neither Beau Biden, Joe Biden, nor any of the other candidates who recieved illegal contributions had been aware of the donations illegality or committed any wrongdoing in relation to Tiganis scheme.

Mr Comer replied: So whats your point?

He later claimed that he never said anything negative about Joe Biden and certainly didn't suggest Joe Biden should have been indicted.

I just stated the obvious, that this US attorney who seems to be taking a long time in prosecuting Hunter Biden has been around a long time and there was one other opportunity when the Bidens were involved in something he was investigating, he said. I never suggested Joe Biden did anything wrong. I just stated the obvious  the guy that Joe Biden received campaign donation from ended up going to jail. That's all I know.
Cult-loved Swedish label EYTYS is gearing up for the warmer days with a denim collection dubbed "Love and Poison."

Arriving just in time for the Spring/Summer 2023 season, the range is comprised of staple jeans, ranging from the baggy Benz style to the Titan silhouette. The former is offered in a variety of washes and colors, while additional standouts include the Orion jeans -- a mid-rise style with a black laminate finish for the illusion of leather.

Aside from the trousers, "Love and Poison" features graphic tees and tank tops, as well as new colorways of the Santos sneakers that are constructed with nappa leather and suede overlays.

The accompanying campaign, shot by Alyssa Kazew in Llano, Texas, pictures models Miles, Mary and Olivia depicting a story of a love triangle. "In the nothingness of Texas, they felt as if they were alone in the world. Mary suggested they play dress-up while waiting for the crew," the press release reads. "'You watch us change,' they said to Miles, whod sat down in a chair. Making himself comfortable on the couch, he looked at the girls slowly undressing each other on the concrete floor in front of him. A buzzing phone in Marys pocket paused the performance. It was the producer texting that their flight had been canceled and they wouldnt arrive until the next morning. Mary read the text out loud. Would the three of them mind staying the night at the house?"

While EYTYS is more widely known for its footwear that launched in 2013, the label began rolling out unisex ready-to-wear garments officially in 2019. Benz was one of its first denim styles introduced in 2017, taking inspiration from '90s jeans.

Peep the "Love and Poison" campaign above and head over to EYTYS' website or physical stores to shop the range.
Eric Alonso - Getty Images

Aston Martin caught the eye during Formula 1 preseason testing in Bahrain amid widespread expectations that the team could lead the midfield group and hone in on F1s front-runners.

Come the end of Friday practice in Bahrain, location for Sundays season-opening race, Fernando Alonso and Aston Martin instead actually sat atop the timesheets.

Alonsos best time of 1 minute, 30.907 seconds put him 0.169 clear of reigning world champion Max Verstappen during a phase of the second practice sessionrepresentative due to evening conditions comparable to qualifying and the racewhen drivers carry out qualifying simulations.

Reinforcing Aston Martins pace was the presence of Lance Stroll, in sixth place overall, despite missing pre-season testing due to a wrist injury.

Is Aston Martin for Real?

Alonso, the most experienced Formula 1 driver in history, was fastest of all during the window in which drivers bolted on the qualifying-spec Soft tires and went for a hot lap.

Whats more encouraging is that during the later stages of the one-hour session, when drivers carry out longer runs to simulate race pace, Alonso was encouragingly close to Verstappen.



It feels good to drive, said Alonso. I would lie if I would say it is not feeling good, but everything is relative to what the other teams are doing and you can feel very good on one car and maybe there are three or four cars faster than you and it doesnt feel that good anymore. So lets see where we are.

ANDREJ ISAKOVIC - Getty Images





Alonso nonetheless downplayed the suggestion that he would be disappointed if he failed to convert his Friday pace into Saturday.

Alonso has not taken a pole position since his time with Ferrari in 2012.

Im not thinking that high, said Alonso. Actually, I dont know exactly what position will be a good one for us. After testing we were thinking to be in Q3 with both cars and score as many points as possible in these first couple of races and not make mistakes.

Stroll labelled the AMR23s pace as incredible and exclaimed that its looking amazing  and its feeling great in the car too, opting for a different tone to Alonsos calmer aura. He also moved to dismiss concerns over his wrist injury, after being seen massaging his hand during FP2, emphasizing it was precautionary.

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Aston Martins rivals were certainly taking note of the performance.

Yeah, quick, said Verstappen on Aston Martin. But you could see that in testing that they were very competitive. They had a great day.

Verstappens Red Bull team-mate Sergio Perez said we knew from testing already, they were going to be very strong, they were going to be very competitive. No surprises to be honest. I think it just confirms how strong they are.

Bryn Lennon - Formula 1 - Getty Images

What About Red Bull?

In spite of the pace displayed by Alonso and Aston Martin on Friday it is the current champions that remain the favorites for many in the paddock  with several expecting Red Bull to hold a sizeable performance advantage, at least in the race.

Verstappen was Alonsos closest challenger while team-mate Perez was just a couple of thousandths of a second behind in third spot.

That was despite neither driver being particularly happy with the RB19 compared to how it performed during pre-season testing.



Verstappen labelled FP1 as really bad and couldnt find a balance while at the start of FP2 it was a bit difficult, before the situation improved at the session developed.

I think if I feel happy in the car again and I can push like I want to push with the car on one lap, then for sure we are very fast, said Verstappen. But its also making sure the car doesnt fall out of the window for the long run.

Perez also had a far-from-simple Friday in the sister Red Bull.

Weve got some work to do over one lap, which will automatically put us in better shape for the long run, said Perez. I think we explored the car a bit for the today. We generally have a good idea on which direction to go for tomorrow. I was having some issues. I was playing around through my long run sim with it quite a bit, so its something we will sort out.

Anadolu Agency - Getty Images

Mercedes Off the Pace

Mercedes left pre-season testing pessimistic over its prospects of competing at the sharp end of the grid.

That attitude was conveyed in the lap times on Friday as Lewis Hamilton wound up eighth while George Russell was further back in 13th spot.

When asked about what Hamilton and Mercedes discovered on Friday the seven-time champion paused, before answering: I mean we found out were a long way off  we kind of knew that a little bit in the test, but its a big gap.

Im trying everything we can out there, it is what it is, we just have to work at it.

Hamilton added that on the long run were quite close to Ferrari, it looks like Aston [Martin] is second, then were between third or fourth.

So were kind of where we are last year or a little bit further behind. Its difficult for everybody, and not where anyone at the team wants to be, or where everyone at the team deserves to be because everyone works so hard and really is so courageous and thoughtful in their process but were just on the wrong track.

Weve got to continue to graft a way and find a way to get ourselves on the right track, but were a long way off the guys in front.

Intriguingly, Hamilton ended his media session by suggesting I believe we can close the gap at some stage, yes, but I think its quite hard with the concept we have, indicating a lack of trust with the W14s aerodynamic philosophy and its striking sidepod design.

Russell conceded that Mercedes has to find more downforce, find more lap time and while stressing its still early days clearly we want to be higher up the time sheets than we are.

picture alliance - Getty Images

Mixed Bag for Ferrari

Ferrari had a curiously subdued day for a team that harbors title ambitions and which left Bahrain 12 months ago with a 1-2 result in its pocket.

Charles Leclerc was fourth overall while Carlos Sainz, who had a wild spin through Turn 9 in the daytime FP1 session, finished only 14th.

I dont think we have the performance maybe for pole but we can be in the mix, said Leclerc.

Whenever we have races that are a bit more difficult we should be here and try to take every opportunity so thats what well try and do this weekend.

Leclerc agreed that the long run is where we have most work to do, but its very difficult to know what the others are running. We know theres a bit of margin but we need to wait and see for Sunday. Theres still things to improve.

Sainz outlined that after his FP1 spin he lost a bit of track time, rhythm, and probably paid the price in FP2.

Still the car doesnt feel how it did during testing, so were looking into what it could be. Im struggling a bit more with the balance and its a bit more out of place compared to where it was but were having a good look at it and expect to put it back together for tomorrow.

GIUSEPPE CACACE - Getty Images

Welcome Back, Hulk

Nico Hulkenberg was an eye-catching fifth for Haas during the short runs on his full-time return to Formula 1 after a three-year absence.

One lap pace is fine and its fun and its nice but if this is the thing on Sunday thats where the gold is, where it matters, and thats where we have homework and need to find pace, said Hulkenberg.

Kevin Magnussen was down in 16th place after a scruffy hot lap with a more experimental set-up as Haas applied some of the feedback from testing.

Weve been testing a bit today, tried some good things, some bad things, well put it together tomorrow, said the Dane.

Haas has traditionally been strong in Bahrain so it should be firmly in the midfield fight this weekend.

Dan Istitene - Formula 1 - Getty Images

What about the rest?

 Alpine has hopes of finishing in a stronger fourth than in 2022 and while Aston Martin stole the show Alpine had a quietly encouraging day in its heavily upgraded pink-liveried A523. Pierre Gasly was the lead Alpine driver in seventh.

 McLaren had Lando Norris in ninth spot and he outlined the MCL60 being the best it has felt all year and definitely moved in the right direction, and expects the team to be in the thick of the tight midfield battle.

 Alfa Romeo had Zhou Guanyu rounding out the top 10, with Valtteri Bottas 12th, with the squad expected to be joining McLaren in that fight.

 AlphaTauri and Williams brought up the rear, solidifying the suspicion that the two teams are likely to be scrapping to avoid the wooden spoon.

 American Logan Sargeant of Williams was last of the 20 drivers overall, though was just 1.8 second off Alonsos benchmark, raising preseason hopes that no team will be horrendously adrift of the pack in 2023. Very fine margins could split the Q3 tail-enders from the Q1 stragglers at some Grands Prix.
ELKO  COVID-19 cases have been surging in Battle Mountain over the past month, giving Lander County the highest case rate per capita in Nevada.

Elko County has seen an increase in cases as well, but numbers remain low. There is an average of two new cases per day compared with one per day in early February.

According to Nevada Health Response, Lander County has a case rate of 272 per 100,000 people over the past month compared with 66 in Elko and 102 in Eureka.

The current adjusted case rate in Clark County is 140, in Washoe County 168, and in Carson City 232.

No hospitalizations were reported this week in Elko, Lander or Eureka counties. There are three in Humboldt County, one in White Pine County, 10 in Carson City, 21 in Washoe County and 102 in Clark County.

Clark County cases declined last week, according to KLAS-TV in Las Vegas, But the Kraken variant is hanging around, and it now accounts for a larger share of cases in Clark County. Patients with COVID symptoms accounted for 9% of emergency room visits last week.

Lander has a much smaller population than Elko County but a higher death rate per capita. Since the pandemic began there have been 22 COVID-related deaths in Lander (population 6,253) and 152 in Elko (population 54,959), including two so far this year.

Eureka County (population 1,959) has the lowest death rate with two.

Catholic Charities of Northern Nevada will be offering free vaccines to senior citizens in Elko on March 11. Along with Pfizer and Moderna COVID shots, they will have COVID booster and flu shots available from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. at St. Josephs Catholic Church, 1035 C St.

More information on the vaccines is available from Nurse Tammy at 775-386-7049 or by visiting ccsnn.org/pages/wellness-and-vaccines.

Immunize Nevada, a statewide nonprofit organization, also sent out a notice this week on flu vaccines after the Centers for Disease Control & Prevention reported 115 pediatric flu deaths in the U.S.

According to the CDC weekly report dated February 24, seasonal influenza numbers are low, but the number of individuals seeking medical care is on the rise, said the announcement, which noted that Medicare dropped deductibles for those with Part D.
A Florida lawmaker has proposed a bill that would require bloggers who write about Governor Ron DeSantis or other elected officials to register with the state or face fines.

The legislation, proposed by State Sen. Jason Brodeur, a Republican, also would require that the bloggers disclose how much they are being paid for their posts.

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Brodeur did not immediately return a request for comment.

Under the terms of the bill  read it here  if a blogger posts to a blog about an elected state officer and receives, or will receive, compensation for that post, the blogger must register with the appropriate office within 5 days after the first post by the blogger which mentions an elected state officer.

It also requires that bloggers file monthly reports if a post is added to the blog. The reports must disclose the individual or entity that provided compensation for the blog post, the amount of compensation, the date of blog posts, and the website and website address. Fines are set at $25 per day per report for each day late, not to exceed $2,500.

The bill applies to bloggers who write about the governor, lieutenant governor, a cabinet officer or any member of the state legislature.

The bill defines a blogger as a website or webpage that hosts any blogger and is frequently updated with opinion, commentary, or business content. It excludes the website of a newspaper or any similar publication. Registration would have to be made to the Department of Legislative Services or the Commission on Ethics.

Brodeur also has proposed legislation to make it easier for plaintiffs to sue for defamation. Under the proposal, public figures in many cases would be able to prove defamation by showing negligence, rather than the current higher threshold of showing that a publication acted in malice or reckless disregard for the truth. Under the bill, anonymous sourced material would largely be presumed to be false. DeSantis held a roundtable last month in which he attacked the news media, while he reportedly is championing efforts to weaken journalists protections. Any of the new laws would likely face a First Amendment challenge, but the idea would be to get a case to the Supreme Court and ultimately overturn nearly 60 years of precedent.

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Bobby Block, executive director of the First Amendment Foundation, said about the defamation bill, Fox, Newsmax, conservative talk radio stations will all feel the sting of this new law as public figures across the political spectrum look to exact their vengeance against inconvenient news coverage and commentary. The fallout would just as likely crush Foxs Tucker Carlson as it would the NYTs Paul Krugman.

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Gold Rush: Parkers Trail

Discovery+

A massive flood, a medical emergency and tracing the footsteps of Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid are all part of the adventure in the new season of Gold Rush: Parker's Trail.

The Discovery series follows Parker Schnabel, 28, as he and his team head to South America in their search for $100 million in gold.

Exploring the high altitudes and jungle prospecting sites is a risk Schnabel is willing to take after the new mine he opened in Alaska during the current season of Gold Rush turned into a complete washout.

In the April 7 season premiere of his spinoff series, Schnabel heads to Peru with Tyler Mahoney, Danny Etheridge and Dr. Diego Lazarzaburu as the crew make their way through ancient jungles that were once home to the Incas.

RELATED: Hunter Lost in Amazon Jungle for 31 Days Survived by Eating Worms

Gold Rush: Parkers Trail

Discovery+

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The project has a promising start thanks to the help of a mining family who share their local insights, but it all starts to unravel when a powerful flood hits the region. The crew race against time as wild weather threatens to leave them stranded.

Flooding is merely the first major challenge Schnabel's team faces in the new season, which sees them prospect in one of the richest gold districts of the Amazon jungle, Madre Di Dios.

Gold Rush: Parkers Trail

Discovery+

Schnabel and his team will also mine with the indigenous Harakmbut tribe, blast gold in unventilated tunnels with hand-lit explosives and discover a modern-day gold rush in Bolivia.

The crew then follows in the footsteps of the legendary Butch Cassidy and the Sundance kid as they cross the high deserts during their quest to strike it rich.

Gold Rush: Parker's Trail airs on Discovery on Friday, April 7 at 9 p.m. ET.
WPA Pool - Getty Images

King Charles is reportedly rearranging housing arrangement for various members of his family. According to the Sun, Charles "offered" Prince Andrew the keys to Frogmore Cottage, which was previously the home of Prince Harry and Meghan Markle. The two were gifted the home by Queen Elizabeth, and refurbished the property through the Sovereign Grant, though subsequently repaid the cost.



After news broke, a spokesperson for Prince Harry and Meghan confirmed that "the Duke and Duchess of Sussex have been requested to vacate their residence at Frogmore Cottage."

The British tabloid reported that the Duke and Duchess of Sussex "are now drawing up plans to remove their belongings from the five-bed house and ship everything to Montecito, California." Yet, a profile of Meghan in New York Magazine from August 2022 said when Meghan and Harry returned to the U.K. for Queen Elizabeth's Platinum Jubilee weekend, they packed up their former homeso it's unclear what "belongings" the Sun references are still there.

Allison Davis wrote, "While there, Meghan had quietly seen to more personal matters, slipping back into their former residence, Frogmore Cottage, to pack up their belongings." Meghan told Davis, "You go back and you open drawers and youre like, Oh my gosh. This is what I was writing in my journal there? And heres all my socks from this time?" The Duchess also shared it was "surreal" to return to Frogmore.

Previously, it was shared that the Sussexes would be keeping Frogmore Cottage as a U.K. residence "so that their family will always have a place to call home in the United Kingdom." Buckingham Palace, too, said, Frogmore Cottage "will remain their U.K. family home." However, that seems to no longer be the case as Harry and Meghan seem to be full-time in Montecito, California.

"Home for me, now, for the time being, [is] in the States," Prince Harry told Hoda Kotb last year. "Weve been welcomed with open arms" in California, he said, saying they have "a great community up in Santa Barbara."

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Prince Andrew currently lives in the Royal Lodge in Windsor, a large 31-bedroom mansion where he's resided since 2002. Andrew stepped down as a working royal in 2019 after an interview he gave surrounding allegations that he had sexually assaulted Virginia Giuffre. He paid her an undisclosed settlement in February 2022 after she filed a civil suit in the United States. Reports in recent weeks suggest that King Charles is cutting Andrew's annual grant, "which could leave him unable to afford his home's running costs," per the BBC.

Buckingham Palace has not commented on the reports about Frogmore Cottage; Town & Country understands the housing is understood as a private family matter.

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Harry Styles is king of the road, and king of the charts as Harrys House returns to No. 1 in Australia.

As he winds his way around the country for a run of stadium shows, Styles third studio album returns to No. 1 on the national chart for a ninth non-consecutive week, ARIA reports.

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Harrys House first summited in May 2022 and stayed there for three weeks. Then, a four-week block at No. 1 in July and August, and another week-long stint in late August 2022.

Styles seven-show Love On Tour lap of Australia and New Zealand, produced by Live Nation, has also put heat on his sophomore album Fine Line, up 7-5, and a string of singles.

Gorillaz swing in at No. 2 on the ARIA Albums Chart, published March 3, with Cracker Island.

The album, which features collaborations with Perth, Australia producer and Tame Impala leader Kevin Parker, plus Bad Bunny, Stevie Nicks, Adeleye Omotayo, Thundercat and others, is the virtual bands eighth studio set and second leader after Plastic Beach, which reached the penthouse in 2010.

Also new to the latest albums survey is The Twin Sets Tines of Stars Unfurled, the solo debut from You Am I frontman Tim Rogers. Its new at No. 4. Also, U.S. pop artist Adam Lambert debuts at No. 7 with High Drama.

Over on the ARIA Singles Chart, Miley Cyrus Flowers locks down a seventh consecutive week at No. 1, equaling the reign of Mileys dad Billy Ray Cyrus, with 1992s Breaky Heart.

Following the release of fresh cut with Ariana Grande, The Weeknds 2016 track Die For You finds new life, blasting 41-3 to the national chart, for a new peak position.

The top debut on the latest tally belongs to Harry Styles former One Direction bandmate Niall Horan, with Heaven, opening at No. 30, while homegrown house producer Dom Dollar marks his first appearance on the ARIA Top 50 with Rhyme Dust. A collaboration with U.S. electronic producer MK, Rhyme Dust bows at No. 32.

Story continues

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The pups came from countries all around the world including Thailand, China, Hungary, and Kyrgyzstan.

Courtesy of Turkish Airlines

Rescue dogs who have contributed to the recovery efforts of the tragic earthquakes in Turkey were recently treated to first- and business- class seats on their journey.

It was the least we could do to show our appreciation for these heroic dogs sincere and heroic efforts. a Turkish Airlines representative said in a statement to Travel + Leisure, noting that the pups came from countries all around the world including Thailand, China, Hungary, and Kyrgyzstan.



Courtesy of Turkish Airlines

Turkish Airlines also recently shared that they have been additionally providing free flights for evacuees, as well as free cargo transportation for urgent medical supplies to aid in the recovery and rebuilding of areas affected by the earthquakes. The airline shared they have supported over 238,000 rescue personnel over 1,300 aid flights. The airline has also donated over $2 Billion Turkish Lira (or $100 Million USD) to rescue efforts.

The tragic 7.8 earthquake occurred on February 6, and affected Turkey and Syria. Over 42,000 people have died as a result of the earthquake, according to Turkeys Disaster and Emergency Management Authority. There have been over 7,000 aftershocks since the initial earthquake.

To help with the safe transportation of animals, the airline says they provided free carrying cases to airports so that other pets could be safely boarded onto aircraft for evacuation flights.

Courtesy of Turkish Airlines

We also wish to extend our gratitude to our friends from abroad for their overwhelming support and aid in response to the crisis along with our missions, embassies, and consulates for their coordination in order to deliver aid material from other countries to the affected region with our cargo flights," Prof. Dr. Ahmet Bolat, the Chairman of Turkish Airlines in a statement. "Our flag carrier will continue to be with our citizens in the future just like it has been with all of its capabilities.



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According to the carrier's website, Turkish Airlines' network spans 121 countries and 342 airports.





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Read the original article on Travel & Leisure.
I am a descendent of two Hoosiers who fought in the American Civil War. Two of my great-great grandfathers enlisted in Indiana regiments to preserve the United States.

When an emerging Republican congressional "leader"  U.S. Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia  used "Presidents Day" to call for a "national divorce," my first instinct was to take this offense personally.

We need a national divorce. We need to separate by red states and blue states and shrink the federal government, Greene said. Everyone I talk to says this. From the sick and disgusting woke culture issues shoved down our throats to the Democrats traitorous America Last policies, we are done.

The reaction from Indiana's Republican dominated congressional delegation was mute.

It would be easy to dismiss Rep. Greene's ranting as one more crazy thing she has said. A year ago, she called out "Nancy Pelosi's Gazpacho Police" (I think she had meant Nazi Germany's "Gestapo" as opposed to a force consisting of cold soup made of blended vegetables). She described the Jan. 6 U.S. Capitol insurrection as a "little riot" instead of the attempted coup d'etat that it was. She suggested on Fox News that joining the U.S. military is "like throwing your life away."

More:Howey: The defiance of President Biden

During the last war of secession, one of my great-great grandfathers, Harvey Hopping Platt, was a private in Infantry Company G, 7th Indiana Volunteers. The second was Jacob Wesley Main, who was a private in Company D, 104th Indiana Infantry. Both were born in 1838 and were 23 years old when 11 southern states formed the Confederacy.

Pvt. Platt was wounded in the head, on May 12, 1864, at Battle Laurel Hill, part of the Wilderness campaign near Spotsylvania Courthouse in Virginia. He received his discharge on Jan. 20, 1865, returning home with a steel plate in his head. A farmer near Aurora in Dearborn County, he wore a cork hat when working in the sun, and he died on June 27, 1873, from effects of the wound.

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Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga., speaks during a news conference at the Capitol in Washington on Nov. 17, 2022.

Jacob Main was a Ripley County farmer working the land carved out of a forest. He mustered in on July 10, 1863, one of six brothers who served in Indiana regiments. One of those brothers, Charles, was killed in the Battle of Mark's Mill in July 1864 in Arkansas, as a member of the 43rd Indiana regiment.

According to the Indiana Historical Bureau, Pvts. Platt and Main were two of the 196,363 Hoosier men served in the Civil War, the second highest among Union states.

Most recruiting was carried out at community meetings and by individuals like Benjamin Harrison and Lew Wallace. Companies generally assembled at county seats or other large towns. Fairgrounds were turned into military camps. The departures of companies were often marked by community celebrations or public meals.

Our family has scant information on why they chose to serve. Some ardently opposed slavery and its expansion to the western frontier. Theodore Upson expressed himself in this way, according to the Historic Bureau: This Union your ancestors and mine helped to make must be saved from destruction. Henry C. Marsh wrote: I miss home the Church and my friends very much but am willing to give them all up for my country in this great struggle for Liber[t]y.

Or as Ara Fraizer put it, I, with thousands of others . . . periled our lives for the sole purpose of putting down the rebellion, & to maintain this Government, the best that the world ever knew .

Secession has stalked this grand, but fragile, American experiment from the beginning. Founding fathers John Adams and Thomas Jefferson pondered a federal breakup reflecting their intense rivalry. U.S. Rep. John Quincy Adams  the former president  once introduced a petition demanding the dissolution of the United States.

"The trend is old in the sense that American politics is starting to look rather similar to the way it was in the beginning, which was extremely fractured, totally dysfunctional," said Richard Kreitner, the author of the 2020 book "Break It Up: Secession, Division, and the Secret History of Americas Imperfect Union."

In an interview with Elaine Godfrey in The Atlantic, Kreitner adds, That it keeps coming up suggests there is something to it. It represents an impulse that cannot be simply wished away or ignored.

Peter Wehner, a veteran of the Reagan and both Bush administrations, observes that Rep. Greene is now an influential ally of House Speaker Kevin McCarthy. He writes in The Atlantic, "My response to Greene is not 'I must remain united with this person at any cost,' but 'Why would I want to be part of a government where this person is a leading figure? Why would I want to remain loyal to a Constitution so patently broken that somebody like this ascends to the highest ranks of power?'

"Greene and McCarthy  one crazed, the other cowardly  embody a large swath of the modern-day GOP," Wehner continues. "Any party that makes room for seditionists and secessionists is sick and dangerous."

Founding Father Benjamin Franklin was asked if America was a republic or a monarchy. "A republic, if you can keep it," he famously responded.

When I was a young man, I believed that America was a relatively young empire that would last for centuries. Now, if I came face to face with Pvts. Platt and Main, I would have to admit to them that I no longer believe that to be the case.

The columnist is managing editor of Howey Politics Indiana/State Affairs at StateAffairs.com/pro/Indiana. Find Howey on Facebook and Twitter @hwypol.

This article originally appeared on Evansville Courier & Press: Howey: Losing the republic my ancestors fought to preserve
A Texas inmate sentenced to 25 years for assault was retaken into custody on Wednesday after being let go a day earlier due to a clerical error from the Harris County Jail, authorities said.

The Harris County Sheriff's office asked for the public's help on Wednesday through its social media accounts to help recapture the convicted inmate, 61-year-old Marcelo Perez Campos.

Authorities found Campos that night, according to a tweet from Sheriff Ed Gonzalez. The sheriff's office said he was taken in without incident in the southeast area of Houston.

"He will now be transferred to the Texas Department of Criminal Justice," a release said. According to ABC affiliate KTRK, in Houston, Campos was convicted of shooting a family member multiple times in February of 2021.

MORE: Texas death row inmates sue over solitary confinement

"An internal investigation will be conducted to determine if any possible policy or procedural violations occurred," the sheriff's office said on social media regarding the error.

Harris County jail has been subject to criticism in recent months. In a letter from Brandon S. Woods, executive director of the Texas Commission of Standards, the prison failed to meet standards during an inspection. According to the letter from September of 2022, violations included inmates being locked in cells for 48 hours and having a lack of provision in hygiene as well.

PHOTO: Convicted criminal Marcelo Perez Campos, 61, who was erroneously released from the Harris County Jail, in a photo posted on March 1, 2023, by the Harris County Sheriff Office in Texas. (HCSOTexas/Twitter)

"You are hereby notified that the jail in your county fails to comply with minimum standards established," the letter said.

There have also been a number of inmate deaths inside the Harris County Jail. According to custodial reports from January and February of 2023, at least 20 inmates have died from either suicide or law enforcement.

MORE: 2 escaped inmates, including convicted murderer, found after multistate manhunt

The Harris County sheriff's office didn't respond to ABC News for comment on the custodial reports or letter from the Texas Commission of Standards.

Inmate convicted of assault retaken into custody after accidental release from jail originally appeared on abcnews.go.com
Kerry Washington has no reservations about returning to her past restaurant job if Hollywood is only offering harmful roles when it comes to representation.

The Scandal alum has stood by her convictions for decades, and recently told Marie Claire in a cover story that she approaches her career fearlessly.

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Even in the beginning of my career, I would say Id rather work another shift at the restaurant than do a movie that is going to be bad for women or Black people, Washington said. Part of being an artist, being a creative person, is constantly being willing to be a beginner and do things youve never done, be in situations youve never been, stretch, grow. Im so attracted to that kind of work, but it is also so fucking scary.

Washington reflected on leading hit ABC Shonda Rhimes-produced series Scandal as being part of something transformative and culturally significant. The Simpson Street production company founder uses her producer status to greenlit projects that are trying to expand our vocabulary around what a protagonist looks like and is, and to upend the idea of other, adapting series like Little Fires Everywhere.

The American Son actress previously revealed on The Late Show With Stephen Colbert that aside from working in a restaurant and as a yoga teacher, she also returned to substitute teaching even after Save the Last Dance, despite it being her first big film.

It did not pay me a lot of money, Washington said, so after the movie came out, I went back to substitute teaching for a while. And then I had to make a rule that I wouldnt work in high schools. I could only do elementary schools because kids were cutting class to see Chenille teach French. So it was bad. I would go into a school and I would see all these kids outside the window trying to see that girl from Save the Last Dance.'

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The Django Unchained star addressed leading controversial Quentin Tarantino slavery revenge film in 2012, calling the script an intense, original, and important project at the time. I thought I had never seen anything like this before and that it had to get made. I didnt know if I was the right person to do it because it scared the crap out of me, Washington admitted to IndieWire. I was scared about the places I had to go emotionally and psychologically as an artist.

She added, I remember turning to Jamie [Foxx] one day and saying, If this movie goes on for one week longer, Im not going to survive it. My parents came down and my manager came down at some point because they were concerned. It was really tough. I guess one of the things I walked away with was more gratitude than I have ever had before for the people who were able to survive this period, because I feel like we barely survived it for pretend, for nine months. I got to go home and take a shower every night, eat a nice dinner and call my therapist.

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The oil that will anoint King Charles III and Queen Consort Camilla on Coronation Day is taking quite a journey before it will be placed on their bodies in May.

Ahead of the king's first state visits to Germany and France as monarch, the Chrism oil that will be used in his coronation later this year was in Jerusalem Friday to be consecrated by the Patriarch of Jerusalem, Theophilos III and Anglican Archbishop Hosam Naoum.

The Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby, who leads the Church of England, said in a press release Friday that he was "honored" and "grateful" that the patriarch and archbishop were able to consecrate the oil before May's ceremony.

"(The oil) reflects The Kings personal family connection with the Holy Land and his great care for its peoples," Welby said.

Chrism oil used for King Charles III's coronation has been consecrated in Jerusalem.

During King Charles III's coronation service, he will be anointed with the oil before receiving the orb, scepter and coronation ring, commemorating his title as king. The oil also has a special connection grandmother and late mother, Queen Elizabeth II.

What is in the Chrism oil used for King Charles III's coronation?

The chrism oil, or holy oil, that will be used at King Charles III's coronation is based from the same oil that was used in Queen Elizabeth II's coronation in 1953.

Queen Elizabeth II, Britain's longest reigning monarch, died in September; her death immediately put her son on the throne, giving Charles the title of King Charles III.

According to the Royal Collection Trust, the anointing is the "most sacred" part of the coronation.

Comprised of olives harvested from the Mount of Olives in Jerusalem, the oil was taken from groves located at the Monastery of the Ascension and the Monastery of Mary Magdalene, according to a statement from Buckingham Palace. The Monastery of Mary Magdelene is the burial place of King Charles III's paternal grandmother, Princess Alice of Greece.

"This demonstrates the deep historic link between the Coronation, the Bible and the Holy Land. From ancient kings through to the present day, monarchs have been anointed with oil from this sacred place," Welby said in a statement.

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Other additives that will be in the oil include a concoction of sesame, rose, jasmine, cinnamon, neroli, benzoin, amber and orange blossom essential oils.

When is King Charles III's coronation?

King Charles III will be crowned on May 6. His wife Camilla will also be crowned during the coronation.

The palace is planning the religious ceremony, known as Operation Golden Orb, that will be conducted by Welby in Westminster Abbey. Charles and his heir, Prince William, will seek to demonstrate that the monarchy is still relevant in modern, multi-cultural Britain.

After the ceremony, there will be a procession in which Charles and Camilla will be joined by other members of the royal family for a freshly-crowned appearance on Buckingham palace's balcony.

Contributing: The Associated Press

More about the royals, coronation:

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: King Charles III's coronation oil is the same as late Queen Elizabeth
masego

Today (March 3), Masego officially reveals his self-titled Masego album, a featureless body of work that shows off his eclectic sound. He led the way with previously released singles like You Never Visit Me and Two Sides, the latter of which he refers to as the Gemini anthem. On the song, Sego sings about the charm and fluidity that he possesses as an air sign:

Two sides, choose your fighter, Ill be your type, its a fine line, answer a Gemini, Gemini/ Who you tryna see tonight, see tonight? Drive me to your momma restaurant/ I like free food, so Ill just play the boyfriend part, Im not see-through, in and out of charm/ Im the key to, gettin momma off your arm, Im a real life villain/ Im slick with mine, but Im a good guy, every other night away/ Say otherwise, I aint never lie

In additional news, the Virginia-raised talent recently announced his extensive North American You Never Visit Me Tour. He will hit the road on March 13 at The Observatory in Santa Ana, CA and perform in cities like New York, Miami, Boston, and Dallas before wrapping up in Los Angeles in April.

On Instagram, Masego also shared a heartfelt letter to his fans to thank them for their support and promise them the forthcoming tour will be well worth the wait. Thank you to anyone that drives, flies, and journeys to watch me perform. Tour is my favorite part about being an artist. Pure artistry and I promise Ill give my all every night as I will with anything I pour myself into. My self-titled album is out Friday, my life in melody form, he said.

Be sure to press play on Masegos brand new album down below.

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125 YEARS AGO

February 26, 1898: Tracy Fairchild came down from Tuscarora Tuesday night and has been killing time ever since.



Elko has about the toughest looking Main street of any town of its size in the State, whereas it ought to have the best.



The fine weather the fore part of the week brought out the bicyclists in goodly number. The riding is pretty rough, however.



Mrs. Chas. Oliver and Miss Rose Gardner are up from Winnemucca. The school at Winnemucca closed for a week on account of the whooping cough, and Miss Gardner put in the vacation visiting Elko relatives.

100 YEARS AGOUNAVAILABLE

75 YEARS AGO

February 26, 1948: The Elko rodeo will be known as The Silver State Stampede. Members of the board of Directors of the Elko chamber of commerce made their selection today. The winning name was submitted by Mrs. Tom Duval of Elko. The directors chose The Silver State Stampede from a great number of suggested names. The winner will be fully outfitted in a rodeo outfit.

February 28, 1948: There were cub scouts all over the place last night at the biggest meeting in the history of the organization. Birthday cakes for the group no doubt had something to do with the turnout which approximated 200, as the lodge room of the Elks Home was practically filled with children and parents. William Mabee made the following awards: William Johns, Wolf and Gold Arrow; George McConkie, Silver Arrow; Enos Alacano, Wolf; Jerry Cable, Chan Griswold, Charles Peterson and Donald Taufer, Gold Arrows; Lynn Burns, Lion; Charles Armuth, Lion; Milton Burnett, wolf; Wayne White, Silver Arrow and Bear badge. C.W. Paul and Norman Traher, who helped direct the Cub scout activities, expressed themselves as being greatly pleased with the interest shown.

March 1, 1948: Elko is to have a Dutch Auction, with the W.C. Moell company trying the merchandise idea in this city. The basic idea of the Cutch Auction is to show a large collection of individually priced items on which the price is automatically reduced a certain percentage every day until sold  usually five percent. People attracted by the display will vacilitate back and forth between the desire to buy now and own the item and the bargain sense which urges them to wait one more day and hope that nobody else will buy the item. Both the dealer and customer have a lot of fun as a result of the Dutch Auction. The plan will be started on Wednesday for a period of 10 days.

March 4, 1948: The Time Shop will open in Elko tomorrow. This announcement was made today by Albert Orbe and Ed Cox. The shop will be opened at the Orbe Saddlery shop at 490 Commercial street. Cox is a repairman and manager of the shop. He has been repairing clocks and watches for the past seven years.

50 YEARS AGOFebruary 27, 1973: Several groups of Elko High School musicians will travel tomorrow to the five-state Western Convention of the Music Educators National Council in Tucson, Ariz. where they were invited to perform as a result of a tape audition. Selected were Woodwind Trio: Lori Gregory, clarinet; Diana Duke, flute; and Angie Rush, oboe. Clarinet Trio: Ginny Collett, Meg Glaser and Joni Rueckert. Miss Glaser also was recently chosen solo clarinetist with Nevadas All-State Band.

March 1, 1973: The annual Cooking School and Best Cook Round-Up which has been held in Elko for the past eight years will not be held in 1973: Ted Stookey of Nevada Power Company and coordinator of the event said there is no suitable hall in Elko where the school can be conducted this year. Last year this event was held in the convention center of the Stockmens Hotel, but this year the Stockmens will be undergoing extensive remodeling which will include the present convention center.

March 2, 1973: Linda Westlund of Lamoille is the winner of the Elko Lions Club speech contest and Gretchen Holbert of Elko is the finalist. Both girls, students at Elko High School, spoke on this years topic, Adulthood at 18, Its Responsibilities. The contest was held Tuesday evening following dinner at the Ranchinn Motor Lodge.

25 YEARS AGOFebruary 26, 1998: When the Nevada 4A League state basketball tournament tipped off today, the Elko High School girls basketball players began chasing a championship  not only for themselves  but for their coach. Lynette Davis, a Nevada State High School Basketball Hall of Fame coach in her 27th year  all in Elko County  could become the states first coach to win a state basketball title in all four leagues. If Elko wins the state championship, it would be Davis ninth title and eighth in Elko. She also won a state title in 1977 in Carlin. Davis already owns the record for a state title the 1A, 2A and 3A classifications and has more than 500 wins.

February 28, 1998: Our Legacy: The Land, The Family, The Cattle, was the theme of the Centennial Cattlemens Convention where Janice Connelley of Mountain City was installed as president-elect of American National CattleWomen. Connelley has been active in local, state and national CattleWomen organizations for more than 20 years. She has served a president of Elko County CattleWomen and Nevada CattleWomen. Connelley and her husband, Jim, manage a small cow-calf ranch in northern Elko County.
A close call! Matthew McConaugheys wife, Camila Alves, detailed a harrowing plane ride that resulted in an emergency landing  and left a handful of people in need of medical attention.

On Flight last night, plane dropped almost 4000 feet, 7 people went to the hospital, Everything was flying everywhere, Alves, 41, wrote via Instagram on Thursday, March 2, alongside video footage from the bumpy ride. To respect the privacy of those around me thats all I am showing but the plane was a CHAOS And the turbulence keep on coming. The @lufthansa flight you are seeing on the news today!!!! Yes  that one. Thank God everyone was safe and ok.

According to the Federal Aviation Administration, the flight  which was flying from Alves' home city of Austin, Texas, to Frankfurt, Germany  was flying around 37,000 feet over Tennessee when it experienced significant turbulence and diverted to Washington D.C., per NBC News. The plane landed safely at the airport at 9:12 p.m ET.

Lufthansa regrets the inconvenience caused to passengers. The safety and well-being of passengers and crew members is Lufthansas top priority at all times, the airline said in a statement to NBC on Wednesday.

The Just Try One Bite author revealed that the passengers were able to spend the night at a nearby hotel before taking a second flight out the following day. She added that the group made it to the bar with 1 minute before closing before she got a good night's sleep and continued on her journey.

Fans and famous friends were quick to send Alves their well-wishes following the scary event, including Tamera Mowry who wrote, Wow! Glad you are ok! . Rachel Zoe, for her part, replied, Omg dear friend thank gd everyone is OK. I am the worst flyer and not sure i would be as brave as you are right now  sending strength and safety." Kelly Rowland, meanwhile, commented with a series of praying hand emojis.

This isnt the first life or death scare the Women of Today founder has dealt with this past year. In November 2022, she took to social media to debut a neck brace after falling down the stairs.

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Ladies hold your long dresses up or lose pants up when going by down the stairs!! wind blew mine as I was midair, pant fabric wrapped around my shoe and down the floor I went, she captioned the Instagram post, which featured a selfie of her wearing the brace. A silly fall, turned into not so silly neck situation, recovery time ahead.

Prior to scary departure on Wednesday, Alves spent quality time with husband McConaughey and their two sons  Levi, 14, and Livingston, 10, who are both spitting images of their father  as the How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days star gave their kids at home haircuts.

Then this happened , the Brazil native captioned an Instagram photo on Tuesday, February 28, of McConaughey snipping the 10-year-olds long blonde locks.

The happy couple are also proud parents of 13-year-old daughter Vida  who shares her mothers dark features. Alves gave fans a glimpse into how much the teen had grown while the family celebrated her birthday in January.

How does this go people! Time flies  13! You are my ray of sunshine Vida!!!, she wrote via Instagram at the time. Your name explains everything about you life (#tb on celebrating her birthday on our family vacation trip January 3rd) .
Matthew McConaughey and wife Camila Alves had a second rough flight on Thursday.

After enduring severe turbulence aboard a Lufthansa flight that hospitalized seven passengers, the Brazilian model shared that their rescheduled plane ride would not be the relaxing journey they'd hoped for.

"Just my luck," Camila said in a video posted on her Instagram Story. "After last night, we just got on the rescheduled flight and the pilot is saying we have 45 minutes of turbulence getting out of Washington. Just my luck. Wish me luck."

The couple was originally heading for Frankfurt, Germany, when the incident occurred 37,000 feet above Tennessee, prompting an emergency landing at Dulles International Airport in Virginia.

RELATED: Matthew McConaughey, Wife Camila Were on Flight That 'Dropped Almost 4,000 Feet,' Hospitalized 7: 'Chaos'

Camila Alves McConaughey's turbulent flight

Camila Alves McConaughey/instagram

Camila documented the scary experience in an Instagram post on Thursday, sharing a video of food and various items scattered in the aisle.

"On Flight last night, I was told plane dropped almost 4,000 feet, 7 people went to the hospital, Everything was flying everywhere," she wrote in the caption. "To respect the privacy of those around me that's all I am showing but the plane was a CHAOS And the turbulence keep on coming."

She continued: "The @lufthansa flight you are seeing on the news today!!!! Yesthat one. Thank God everyone was safe and ok. I must say everyone @marriottbonvoy by the airport of Washington where we had to divert to and spend the night was so kind!"

RELATED: 7 Hospitalized After Lufthansa Flight Experiencing 'Severe Turbulence' Makes Emergency Landing

After they arrived safely in Virginia, the mom of three and her husband looked for a place to relax: "@officiallymcconaughey and I made it to the bar with 1 minute before closing  slept well, getting on new flight today. To the journey I continue  "

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RELATED: 36 People Injured After 'Severe Turbulence' on Hawaiian Airlines Flight: 'There Was No Warning'

Lufthansa Flight 469 was able to land at the Virginia airport "without incident" at 9:10 p.m., the FAA told PEOPLE in a statement.

The agency did not reveal additional details about the injuries passengers endured from the flight that took off from Austin on Wednesday.
Tonight on Next Level Chef, the contestants are challenged to make a dish from the most popular cuisine across the United States. They will have 45-minutes to create a next level Chinese-inspired dish. Which team will take the top kitchen and who will be eliminated in the all-new Rice Guys Finish Last episode of Next Level Chef airing Thursday, March 2 (8:00-9:01 PM ET/PT) on FOX. Follow our live blog below for a full recap.

Joined by two elite names in the food world, chefs Nyesha Arrington and Richard Blais, Gordon Ramsay and his co-mentors leave no stone unturned, as theyve scoured the country and hand-picked the best home cooks, social media chefs and professional chefs who will be on each of their teams. The winner will receive a $250,000 prize and a one-year mentorship.

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Here is the remaining roster of contestants (or scroll through the gallery above for more info on each chef):

Team Arrington: April Clayton, Nuri Muhammad, Omi Hopper, Pilar Moega, Shay Spence

Team Blais: Christopher Spinosa, Matt Groark, Mehreen Karim, Tineke Younger

Team Ramsay: Cassie Yeung, Mark McMillian, Michelle Calcgni, Preston Nguyen, Tucker Ricchio, Vinny Alia

SEE Everything to know about Gordan Ramsays Next Level Chef 2: Meet the 18 chef-testants competing

8:00 p.m.  Previously on Next Level Chef! Contestants were tasked with taking a humble sandwich and making it an upscale, Next Level Sandwich. All the ingredients packed between pieces of bread were expected to be loaded with flavor and look like a thing of beauty. Nuri won the challenge for Team Arrington. In the cook-off, Vinny defeated Darryl Taylor, sending the 52-year old professional chef from Memphis packing. Vinny also secured the middle kitchen for Team Ramsay in the next challenge, while Team Blais will head back to the basement. But enough about last week. Lets find out who makes the best Chinese dish!

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8:05 p.m.  The contestants are welcomed back to the studio and Richard warns his team they are down to four and cooking from the basement today. Gordon gloats that his entire team is still intact, but theyll be in the middle kitchen. Team Arrington will be on the top level for the first time this season, thanks to Nuris winning dish last week. Gordon tells everyone that in todays challenge they have 45 minutes to come up with a Next Level Chinese dish. Nobody is more excited about this than Cassie, who has struggled the last two challenges but feels this is her time to shine. Teams head up (or down) to their kitchens and its time to get cookin!

8:08 p.m.  In a spotlight on Omi, we learn a bit more about this Puerto Rican social media chef who know lives in Rhode Island. She has four boys and a husband and Omi learned to cook from her grandmother. Her extensive social media reach makes her feel like shes making an impact on her community, and even though shes not professionally trained, she cooks with love. Meanwhile, Chris is getting HEATED on the elevator, swearing up a storm and vowing that nobody from Team Blais will go home tonight. Next we learn a little more about Matt, a high school teacher who is also a social media chef on the weekends with over 5 million followers. His specialty is grilling and barbecuing, which stems from tailgating at Philadelphia Eagles games. Everything Matt has learned was in his backyard, but at the end of the day, its all about flavor!

8:10 p.m.  The platform descends and each floor will grab ingredients as quickly as possible. Team Arrington has never had this many choices before and they seem a bit overwhelmed, struggling to find basics like rice and garlic. On the middle level, Cassie cant believe her luck when she sees the quantity of Chinese flavors and sauces available to her. But before she knows it, the platform leaves before she ever decided on a protein. Come on, Cassie! Down in the basement, Chris is another chef that will be cooking without protein this challenge. Vegetarian it is!

8:25 p.m.  Cassie has a stroke of luck when an entire fish falls on the ledge of the middle floors platform. She carefully picks it up and breathes a sigh of relief while Chris watches in agony beneath her. On Team Arrington, we learn a bit more about Pilar, a private executive chef in Los Angeles. Everyone in her family cooks and she grew up around a lot of soul food and barbecue. Shes cooked for Wolfgang Puck at the Oscars and Emmys ceremonies and seems ready to put her stamp on this competition. Down on Team Blais we get an update on Chris, who is a professional chef from West Palm Beach, Florida. Growing up, he was a very shy band geek. After college he went to a culinary school in New York City. His colleagues have described him as an absolute psycho but still praise his cooking.

8:30 p.m.  Its time for some mid-round mayhem! The platform heads down each floor carrying 15 types of ginger. Everyone must incorporate ginger into their dish. Some contestants notice a gift of scallions also on the platform. Next, time winds down and each chef begins to plate their dish and place it on the platform. Or, in Shays case, throw it on the platform. His dish looks like a total mess, but thats a wrap! Its time for the judges to taste everything.

8:34 p.m.  Team Arrington is up first. Shays presentation is terrible, but his duck is cooked beautifully. Nuris stir-fry with steamed fish has delicious noodles, but Richard doesnt think the fish was cooked long enough. Aprils sweet and sour chicken has packed flavor and its delicious. Omis pork and shrimp stir-fry looks like an expensive dish. Pilars Mongolian beef is on a different level.

8:37 p.m.  Next is Team Ramsays level. Marks marinated sea bass is barely cooked at best and doesnt read Chinese. Prestons pork belly with lamb neck has nice citrus notes and is a fine dining dish. Tuckers pork chop is cooked perfectly and visually outstanding. Michelles ground pork inside mushrooms needs more to bind it but it has a fine dining presentation. Vinnys flank steak is bold and the beef is nailed. Cassies lucky fish dish has beautiful handmade noodles and packs so much flavor.

8:40 p.m.  Team Blais is last and Tinekes frogs legs are phenomenal. Mehreens chili broth with crispy squid looks breathtaking and perfectly cooked. Matts cod cheek and tofu fried rice has an embarrassing presentation and blows out Nyeshas palate. Chris vegetable fried rice has delicious eggplant, but the rice is undercooked.

8:45 p.m.  The judges deliberate. It seems clear that Cassie, Pilar and Tineke made the best dishes of the night. Receiving tough criticism are Mark, Matt and Shay. The judges return and Gordon announces that the best dish of the night belongs to Pilar! She has won Team Arrington safety and a second week on the top level. Next, Gordon puts Mark into elimination. Richard chooses to put Matt on the chopping block. Matt chooses to use his immunity pin and save himself from elimination. That means Richard must pick someone else  so he goes with Chris.

8:47 p.m.  Mark and Chris will now face off in the elimination. Nyesha informs them they each have 30 minutes to make their own versions of an international dumpling. Time starts now!

9:00 p.m.  Time has expired. Gordon and Richard return to judge these dumplings and have no idea which chef cooked which dish. They will each choose the best dumpling dish, which will lead to the elimination of the losing chef. They describe Chris as cooked beautifully, but a little bland. Marks is wholesome and looks inviting. Ultimately, Richard chooses to eliminate Marks dish because there are large bits of chunky onions. Gordon eliminates Marks dumpling as well because a bit of water had seeped in.

9:01 p.m.  Mark has become the fourth cook eliminated from Next Level Chef. This will send Team Ramsay into the basement for the first time next week. Team Blais will be in the middle and Team Arrington will be on top for the second week in a row.

Make your predictions at Gold Derby now. Download our free and easy app for Apple/iPhone devices or Android (Google Play) to compete against legions of other fans plus our experts and editors for best prediction accuracy scores. See our latest prediction champs. Can you top our esteemed leaderboards next? Always remember to keep your predictions updated because they impact our latest racetrack odds, which terrify Hollywood chiefs and stars. Dont miss the fun. Speak up and share your huffy opinions in our famous forums where 5,000 showbiz leaders lurk every day to track latest awards buzz. Everybody wants to know: What do you think? Who do you predict and why?

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Paramount Global has agreed to pay $122.5 million to settle a 2019 lawsuit by Viacom shareholders over the companys 2019 merger with CBS.

The settlement was disclosed Friday in an SEC filing. In the filing (read it here), the company details the chronology of the case brought in Delaware Chancery Court. After disclosing the settlement amount, it notes the company is pursuing legal action against insurance carriers related to the case, though a specific amount for damages being sought was not mentioned.

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The company is currently engaged in litigation regarding insurance coverage against certain of its insurance carriers in the Superior Court of the State of Delaware, the filing says. The company intends to pursue its claims vigorously. Pending recovery of any such insurance proceeds, the company will advance funds for the settlement when they become due.

The settlement requires the approval of a judge in Delaware Chancery Court.

In the suit, shareholders led by the California Public Employees Retirement Fund (CalPERS) had claimed that Paramount chairman Shari Redstone breached her fiduciary duty by pushing allies to ram through the Viacom-CBS merger at investors expense. Her motivation, the suit claimed, was to attain the status of media magnate like her father, the late Sumner Redstone.

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A Paramount rep declined additional comment beyond the material in the filing, including about the litigation against insurers.

A Delaware Chancery Court judge in December 2020 had rejected the companys request for the suit to be tossed out. Vice Chancellor Joseph R. Slights III, the judge in the case, said well pled facts regarding the plaintiffs past predations and her direct involvement in merger negotiations were enough to let the case proceed.

While boards of directors tend to get the benefit of the doubt in such cases, Sights noted that Delaware court is more suspicious when the fiduciary who is interested in a transaction is a controlling stockholder. The judge dismissed the allegations of breach of fiduciary duty against ViacomCBS CEO Bob Bakish (now CEO of Paramount), saying no evidence was presented.

Delaware Chancery Court, which does not use jury trials, is the venue for many corporate cases and shareholder suits given that most companies are officially incorporated there.

Paramount has operated as a unified entity for more than three years now, following the close of the CBS-Viacom merger in December 2019. However, it has not completely put the turbulent 2010s behind it. While Viacom and CBS were both controlled by National Amusements, the media entity built by Sumner Redstone and then run by Shari Redstone, the two companies were operated differently and their respective leaders frequently clashed. The final stages of the tenure of disgraced former CBS CEO Les Moonves laid those tensions bare and resulted in a flurry of litigation.

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FRAMINGHAM  A representative for the Tavern in the Square pub chain estimates that its planned Shoppers World location will open in about four months.

Steffani Boudreau, an attorney with RLAW, P.C., in Brookline, outlined the restaurant's plans this week before the Framingham Board of License Commissioners, which unanimously approved all-alcohol and common victualer licenses for Tavern in the Square.

The restaurant group is preparing for significant renovations to the property that will hopefully lead to a late spring opening," Boudreau said. "Construction is slated to begin soon, with a four-month estimated timeline."

The new restaurant, which will be Tavern in the Square's 14th, will open in the space previously occupied by John Harvards Brewery & Ale House, which closed three years ago, at the south end of Shoppers World, between a Marshalls and a Michaels craft store.

Framingham plans:Tavern in the Square plans new restaurant at Shoppers World site

What is Tavern in the Square's hours?

Tavern in the Square will cover 8,500 square feet and contain enough seating for 360 guests, as well as an outdoor patio section that can accommodate 30 additional diners, according to Boudreau. Its proposed hours are 11 a.m. to 1 a.m. Monday through Friday, and 10 a.m. to 1 a.m. on Saturday and Sunday.

In her presentation to the licensing board, Boudreau said Tavern in the Square will be a perfect fit for the former pub location.

A representative for Tavern in the Square said the pub chain expects to open its 14th eatery in about four months at the Shoppers World location formerly occupied by John Harvard's Brewery & Ale House.

The Tavern in the Square concept has been extremely popular in each of its locations, and we believe it will be a valuable addition to the updated Shoppers World development, she said. The Taven is unique in contrast to what currently exists in the city of Framingham, as they are locally owned and operated, as opposed to large chains. The owners are in the restaurant on a daily basis, creating a true neighborhood feel and the menu is from scratch, made in the restaurant each day.

Tavern in the Square, which is managed by a parent company called Boston Hospitality Group, opened its first restaurant in 2004 in Central Square in Cambridge. It has since expanded to 13 locations, including two in Rhode Island and one in Connecticut. It most recently opened last month in Tyngsborough.

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'Global cuisine':New Framingham restaurant takes inspiration from Silk Road

What food do they serve?

Its owners describe their business as "an evolution of the classic neighborhood joint," offering a mix of burgers, bowls and cocktails, according to Tavern in the Square's website.

Boudreau said the restaurant works with other local businesses in its operations, which could lead to similar benefits for Framingham businesses.

Tavern continues to source locally for its food, primarily works with local breweries with its draft lists, runs annual fundraising events for the city it's located in, and promotes local charitable organizations to host events at the restaurant, she said.

Stuart Pologe, who chairs the Board of License Commisioners, formally welcomed Tavern in the Square to Framingham during Monday's meeting.

I want to thank everyone for selecting Framingham to do your expansion," he said. "We appreciate you here and wish your newest location the best of success, and hope to visit you in the spring."

This article originally appeared on MetroWest Daily News: Tavern in the Square is opening in Framingham: Here are the plans
PORTSMOUTH  The City Council voted unanimously to increase the property tax credits that city veterans can receive from $500 a year to $750.

Veterans who are city property owners can receive either the Optional Veterans Tax Credit or the All Veterans Tax Credit, according to City Councilor Josh Denton, who served active duty in the U.S. Army.

The council voted to increase each of the tax credits during a recent meeting in support of a motion Denton made.

Denton pushed to increase the tax credits for city veterans because they earned these benefits and they should be proud to use them.

Josh Denton, Commander of VFW Post 168, center, takes part in the Veterans Day ceremony in Goodwin Park in Portsmouth as Rev. Ellen Quaadgras from South Church and Mayor Deaglan McEachern also take part Nov. 11, 2022.

Denton successfully pushed in 2017 to have the city approve the All Veterans Tax Credit because it broadened the number of people who could receive a tax credit for their service, he said.

I think its the most important thing Ive done on the council, he said about his advocacy for veterans.

The council last year also supported his request to increase the disabled veterans tax credit in the city to $4,000.

Portsmouth has now given the full extent by law that we can for veterans tax credits, he said.

City Councilor Vince Lombardi, a veteran of the Vietnam War, recused himself from voting on the tax credits.

Denton decided to vote because as a renter he cannot receive the property tax credits.

He pointed to a recent change in the law that allows servicemen and women on active duty to receive veterans tax credits.

If youre on active duty youre not technically a veteran even though youre serving, but you can now receive the tax credits, he said. A lot of veterans dont know about that.

During the recent council meeting, Mayor Deaglan McEachern credited Denton with working incredibly hard to advocate for veterans.

The mayor noted that Denton has made sure the service they (veterans) have given our city and our country is thanked in any possible way the City Council can.

Veterans must apply by April 15 to see if they qualify for tax credits for the 2023 tax year, Denton said.

To learn more veterans tax credits and how to qualify and apply, visit the Assessors website at https://www.cityofportsmouth.com/assessors/tax-credits-veterans.

This article originally appeared on Portsmouth Herald: Portsmouth NH council hikes veteran tax credits to top amount possible
Paris Davis and President Joe Biden

Sixty years after being recommended for one of Americas most significant military awards, retired Col. Paris Davis received the Medal of Honor at the White House today (March 3), saying, God bless you, God bless all, God bless America, as it was placed around his neck by President Joe Biden. According to The Associated Press, Davis, 83, was one of the first Black officers to lead a special forces team in combat during the Vietnam War. You are everything this medal means, Biden told Davis. Youre everything our nation is at our best. Brave and big-hearted, determined and devoted, selfless and steadfast.

In 1965, Davis was a captain and commander with the 5th Special Forces Group. He partook in almost everyday combat during a pre-dawn raid on a North Vietnamese army camp in the village of Bong Son in Binh Dinh province. President Biden described him as a true hero for his efforts as a soldier. Davis reportedly risked his life to save his wounded comrades amid heavy fire by their enemy. Per President Biden, when a superior told him to get to safety, the dedicated captain responded, Sir, Im just not going to leave. I still have an American out there. He went back into the line of fire to grab an injured medic.

Davis retired in 1985 as a lieutenant colonel and now resides in Alexandria, Virginia, just outside Washington. The delayed recognition came after the recommendation from Davis commanding officer for him to get the medal was lost, resubmitted, and then lost again. In 2016, half a century later, advocates recreated and resubmitted the paperwork. President Biden himself also noted that the honor should have occurred years ago. Somehow, the paperwork was never processed, Biden said. Not just once. But twice.

Davis was eventually given the Silver Star, the militarys third-highest combat medal. But Ron Deis, a junior member of the colonels team in Bong Son, revealed in an interview with the media outlet that skin color may have been a factor. I believe that someone purposely lost the paperwork, he said. However, Davis stated that the delay does not detract from the honor. It heightens the thing if youve got to wait that long, he said. Its like someone promised you an ice cream cone. You know what it looks like, what it smells like. You just havent licked it.

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The future king and queen of the United Kingdom just had a reunion with the future king and queen of Norway!

Today, Prince William and Kate Middleton welcomed Norway's Crown Prince Haakon and Crown Princess Mette-Marit at Windsor Castle, their first official meeting since the Waleses visited Oslo back in 2018.

For the occasion, Kate suited up in a sleek emerald green blazer and matching pleated trousers. Underneath the blazer, she wore a bespoke Burberry pussy bow blouse. Meanwhile, Mette-Marit wore a vibrant red midi dress with subtle puffy sleeves, paired with dark brown pumps.

The two heirs matched in navy blue suitsWilliam pairing his with a red tie and Haakon with a blue tie.

Kensington Palace

Rune Hellestad - Corbis - Getty Images

The purpose of today's meeting was to explore green energy solutions with representatives from leading Norwegian businesses, including Alex Grant, senior vice president and U.K. country manager of Equinor; ivind Eriksen, CEO of Aker ASA; and Brre Jacobsen, managing director of Northern Lights JV. Joining them at the roundtable was also Wegger Christian Strmmen, a Norwegian ambassador to the United Kingdom.

Getty Images

So far, William and Kate have had a jam-packed week of engagements. The couple attended the Wales vs. England Six Nations rugby match, visited the headquarters of the Wales Air Ambulance charity, and participated in a parade for St. David's Day.

This week, William was also announced as the royal patron of the Wales Air Ambulance charity. It is his first patronage since receiving the Prince of Wales title.

"The Prince has first-hand experience of working in the unique and often challenging air ambulance environment," Sue Barnes, chief executive of the Wales Air Ambulance charity, said in a statement. "We look forward to our new relationship with the prince as our charity continues to support a lifesaving service for the people of Wales."

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According to Randy Fenoli, there's no such thing as "designer's block."

The Kleinfeld Fashion Director and Say Yes to the Dress star, who's been in the wedding business for more than three decades, finds inspiration everywhere and loves being able to help brides find their dresses, season after season.

"There's always something new. There's so much room to keep designing. I have to say that I love that it's restricted to white because with many colors, I wouldn't know what to do," Fenoli, 59, tells PEOPLE.

"90% of my inspiration comes from brides. I see them. I listen to them. They put on a dress. I can say a few words to her," he explains. "I can totally and completely bring her at ease and say, 'Don't worry. I've been in this for 30 years, and I've never seen a bride walk down the aisle naked. She always finds a dress. We will find one for you.'"

Fenoli, who hails from a small farm in Illinois, is the youngest of seven children and got his start sewing at the age of nine.

His first muse? His mom, Jeanette.

"She went to work one day, and I got out a pattern and laid out the fabric and pinned down the pattern, cut it out, sewed it up, ironed it and cleaned up my mess and hung it in the doorframe," recalls Fenoli. "She came home from work. She was a nurse, a home health nurse. She was supposed to wear blues. She said, 'Where did the dress come from?' I said, 'I made it.'"

As Fenoli remembers, his mom went into the next room and tried the dress on. It fit perfectly, and she wore it to work the very next day.

"The day after that she brought me another pattern and said, 'Can you sew this for me?' That was really the start of my sewing career and fashion," he says.

Today, Fenoli is a world-renowned wedding gown designer in his own right, and he has dedicated his life to helping women  just like he did so many years ago for his mom  on their search to find that perfect dress.

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Reflecting on the success of his TLC show, Fenoli says: "22 seasons. For me, it's always about the story and about the person and about what people are going through, about really the humanity of it all. Especially girls and brides that never thought they were going to find love or find the one."

Randy fenoli designs a wedding collection

Courtesy Randy Fenoli

But, even after a lifetime of helping brides "say yes" to their dream gown, Fenoli never thought that he would get his own blissful wedding moment.

"Then I met Mete," Fenoli says of his fiance, Mete Kobal. "I never knew that somebody could truly love you unconditionally. It really just opened my eyes to what all these people have been going through for all these seasons and all my life, that I never really got to experience."

RELATED: Say Yes to the Dress Star Randy Fenoli Is Engaged! 'I Never Thought It Was Going to Happen for Me'

After first meeting at a bar in New York City, the pair have become inseparable ever since. And, while they haven't set a wedding date just yet, Fenoli has already taken care of their outfits.

"It was stressful!" he quips with a laugh. "Every bride I've ever met, it's like, 'All eyes are going to be on me.' Suddenly, I'm going to get married. I call myself 'The King of Bridal.' I can't just wear a normal black and white tuxedo!"

Of the final product, which Fenoli designed himself, he says: "It's classic, it hints at couture, but it's different. You're not going to see any other men wearing this."

Randy Fenoli Engagement . Credit: Clane Gessel Studio

Clane Gessel Studio

While he continues to plan his nuptials, Fenoli is focused on being the best he can for his brides at Kleinfeld's. Perhaps his greatest advantage when it comes to helping them say yes is what he calls his "sixth sense" for dresses.

"When you see the show, and it's like I always know what to pull, [that's] because most consultants work with about three or four brides a day," he explains. "I walk around and I work with a hundred a day. So I see, 'Oh, there's a bride with this silhouette, with that figure, with this budget, with this kind of setting for her wedding. This is the dress she chose.' I file it away, so I kind of have a Rolodex in my mind."

Then, when the time comes, Fenoli whips out that handy mental rolodex: "Oh, here's a bride. She kind of has the same look. She's got the same budget. I have a dress for her."

RELATED: Say Yes to the Dress Star Randy Fenoli Calls Matching Engagement Rings with Fiance 'a Little Ostentatious'

To this day, Fenoli remembers a trunk show he did in St. Louis in the nineties  a moment that truly solidified his dress-selecting super power.

"I was running around with dresses, from room to room. I waltz by the front desk. There's a woman standing there. I said, 'Oh my God. I have a dress for you. Don't say anything. When you get in the room, let me know, and I'll bring it in,'" Fenoli shares.

"She gets in the room. I bring in the sample. I said, 'Don't look at it. It's a wreck. It's been on photo shoots and down the runway and packed. It's wrinkled. Just put it on. I'll wait outside. Let me know what you think,'" he continues.

"I'm waiting outside the room, waiting outside, waiting outside. Nothing happens. I'm like, 'Oh, God. What's going on?' I knock on the door. They open the door and she's crying. I thought, 'Oh God, I didn't ask her budget.' I didn't know what's going on. I'm literally in full panic mode. She's just crying. She reaches down to her purse and pulls out a piece of paper and unfolds the picture of the dress and says, 'I came in for that dress.'"

Reflecting on his lifetime of work and all of the brides he's helped dress at Kleinfeld's, Fenoli gets choked up.

"What a roller coaster of a ride. I love the consultants. I'm so blessed and so lucky that I love what I do so much. It's about giving people hope," he says. "Every bride that comes in, I genuinely do care. I'm not there to make a sale. I'm not there to sell a dress. I'm there to dress a bride."

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Say Yes to the Dress returns Saturday, March 4 at 8 p.m. ET on TLC.
A section of Interstate 74 closed for a crash near the Montana Avenue on-ramp has reopened.

A 28-year-old man was killed following a Friday morning crash on Interstate 74, according to Cincinnati police.

The crash happened on I-74 near North Bend Road at the Montana Avenue on-ramp, according to the Ohio Department of Transportation. All lanes have since reopened.

Final update: All lanes open on 74 East at North Bend, the crash at Montana has been cleared.  ODOT Cincinnati (@ODOT_Cincinnati) March 3, 2023

The man, whose identity hasn't been released, was driving a 2015 Chrysler 200 eastbound on I-74 when he lost control of the vehicle and veered off the left side of the roadway.

The vehicle struck a guardrail and overturned onto its side, police said in a news release. He was taken to the University of Cincinnati Medical Center, where he died of his injuries.

The Cincinnati Fire Department said the driver was trapped inside the vehicle and emergency responders had to remove its roof to free him.

The Enquirer will update this story as more information becomes available.

A section of Interstate 74 was closed for a time so Cincinnati firefighter could free someone trapped it a car during a crash Friday. The highway has been reopened.

This article originally appeared on Cincinnati Enquirer: Police: Man dies in crash that closed eastbound I-74
GARDNER  Before the sludge landfill can expand, city officials are required to do an environmental impact report before a permit is approved by the Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection.

City officials submitted an environmental notice in December 2022 to the MassDEP. During the review the agency collected residents' comments which raised concerns on how the expansion project could affect water quality in the area and how odors could impact those living near the landfill.

In a one-mile radius of the landfill, there are 272 homes in Gardner and Templeton, 71 private wells, two major wetlands that connect with Otter River, and three vernal pools certified by the Massachusetts Wildlife Natural Heritage & Endangered Species (NEHS) program. The pools are seasonal wetlands filled with spring rainwater and melted winter snow that provide a habitat for animals and plants that are essential to the two wetlands' ecosystems.

Alan Rousseau, co-founder of Gardner Clean Air and concerned Gardner resident, said the sludge landfill is not sustainable and will continue to burden the city if an alternative is not considered.

Located at 744 West St., the landfill is currently 6 acres and has four years until it reaches its maximum capacity, according to city officials. All Gardner residents' human waste is transported from the city's Wastewater Treatment Plant and dumped into the landfill after it is treated.

The city's expansion plan proposes an addition to the landfill that is 4.3 acres with two stormwater retention facilities. The total cost of the project is $4.2 million, which includes the cost of capping the existing landfill. After the expansion is complete the landfill has 17 years until it reaches maximum capacity.

Landfill near an environmental justice community

The landfill is located outside a one-mile radius from an official environmental justice community, which led the Executive Office of Energy and Environmental Affairs Secretary Rebecca Tepper to require a detailed environmental impact report (EIR). An environmental justice community is a neighborhood that falls in the categories of low-income, racial and ethnic minorities make up 40% of the population, 25% or more of households are not proficient in English, etc.

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The Massachusetts Environmental Policy Act Office's (MEPA) environmental community protection regulation took effect on Jan. 1, 2022. This meant the sludge landfill construction plan did not have to follow the regulation, but Tepper chose to require the EIR on the project because of the close proximity to the EJ community.

Mayor Mike Nicholson said the enforced EIR will take approximately two months to complete, and they are working closely with MassDEP to get all of the required reports and open public comment periods done. The city and MassDEP are currently scheduling public meetings that soon will be advertised on the city website.

Opponents speak out: Gardner's human waste sludge landfill is nearly full. Here's why some oppose the expansion

Some Gardner residents seek alternative to sludge landfill

For many years residents neighboring the human waste landfill have complained to city officials about the odor and water contamination that the facility produces. Local environmental organizations have also advocated for a further detailed environmental impact report and an alternative to the expansion.

Ivan Ussach, director of the Millers River Watershed Council, said the decision is a step in the right direction to get the city to invest in a more sustainable alternative to the landfill.

"For the residents of the area, this means that there is hope for the city to consider an alternative to the landfill. An alternative that would end up being much better for the city, the environment, as well as for the local economy," Ussach said. "Right now, what it means is we can all sort of take a really deep breath and catch our breath because we've been working towards this for a long time."

This article originally appeared on Gardner News: Gardner sludge landfill must have environmental impact report
The U.S. Supreme Court asked lawyers in the case of Moore v. Harper to submit new briefs in the case by March 20 after the North Carolina Supreme Court granted a rehearing of the underlying redistricting case.

The high court has asked lawyers in the case to submit short briefs, no longer than 10 pages, on the effect on this Courts jurisdiction following the North Carolina Supreme Courts February 3, 2023 order granting rehearing, and any subsequent state court proceedings.

The request signals that the U.S. Supreme Court is considering declaring the case moot and dismissing it without issuing a decision since the North Carolina Supreme Court is hearing arguments that could alter the underlying facts. The high court originally heard arguments in the case on Dec. 7.

If the U.S. Supreme Court dismisses the case, it would save the justices from issuing a decision on the highly divisive independent state legislature theory.

North Carolina Republicans brought suit in Moore v. Harper after the North Carolina Supreme Court tossed their 2021 congressional redistricting plan as an unconstitutional partisan gerrymander. The state GOP argued that state courts have no right to judge actions made by state legislatures related to redistricting or election law because the U.S. Constitution states that the Legislature sets the time, place, and manner of federal elections.

Under this independent state legislature theory, state courts would have no ability to review election laws or redistricting plans passed by state legislatures. Since the U.S. Supreme Court already prevented federal courts from reviewing partisan gerrymandering complaints in a prior case involving North Carolina redistricting, this would mean that state legislatures would be unrestricted in their ability to gerrymander congressional districts. And they would only be bound by federal courts if they sought to greatly restrict voting rights or access. More extreme versions of the theory would even eliminate gubernatorial vetoes of election laws and district maps.

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Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.) speaks during a rally out in front of the Supreme Court of the United States during arguments in the Moore v. Harper case.

Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.) speaks during a rally out in front of the Supreme Court of the United States during arguments in the Moore v. Harper case.

This theory has been widely panned by figures from across the ideological spectrum, including retired conservative judge Michael Luttig, former Attorney General Eric Holder, conservative Federalist Society co-founder Steven Calabresi, Democratic Party lawyer Marc Elias and ex-Republican National Committee lawyer Ben Ginsburg, among many others.

The case came to the U.S. Supreme Court after conservative Justices Clarence Thomas, Samuel Alito, Neil Gorsuch and Brett Kavanaugh signaled their interest in the theory in the final weeks of the 2020 election.

But Republican-aligned judges won two seats on the North Carolina Supreme Court in the 2022 midterm elections, flipping control from liberals to conservatives. State GOP legislators asked the reconfigured court to rehear their case challenging the prior courts decision striking down their congressional district map, and the new court agreed.

That put the U.S. Supreme Court in a bind. How could justices rule on a case when the underlying facts are being reheard at the same time? Or it gave the court an easy out on a thorny issue.

If the high court dismisses this case, it does not reverse the four conservative justices prior statements of interest in the theory. Thats enough justices to take up a similar case in the future.
Three women across the country are reeling from a scam that held their loved ones ashes hostage.

Kari Ide wanted to do something beautiful in her mother's memory, so the woman from Maryville, Tennessee, sent her mothers ashes to an address in Woodstock, Georgia, after a TikTok artist said hed incorporate the ashes into a painting  free.

It was December, and Ide thought the artist's offer was aligned with the spirit of Christmas giving. They began lengthy conversations about her moms personality, colors and the design for the painting.

A week later, she checked in with the artist, who went by the name Chad. He told her he got a big contract to work in Cambodia. Later that day, she got an alarming email.

Kari Ide received this email purportedly from Cambodian customs demanding $3,576 in exchange for her mother's ashes. It was a scam.

The subject line read, PACKAGE CLEARANCE. The Google email claimed to be from Cambodian customs and said that a package containing a portrait and ashes needed to be cleared.

If she wanted it, shed have to pay $3,576.

It was a scam. Ide was heartbroken.

And she wasnt alone. The hoax included two victims from other states, the real artist whose online identity had been stolen, and a Georgia man confused about why ashes began showing up at his door.

Also fooled  according to the victims  was the woman whose CashApp was being used to send money to the person possibly behind it all  a man in Nigeria.

Its unknown if there are more victims in this scam, but reports indicate scams have grown over time and affect every demographic of people. Though there are ways to protect yourself, advocates are calling on lawmakers to do more.

Kathy Stokes, director of fraud prevention at AARP, said that as more people headed online during the COVID-19 pandemic, scams grew. And scams can affect everyone, across demographic boundaries.

You can be the smartest person in the world, and that doesnt matter, she said. Because they get you with emotion. And all of us have emotion.

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And it would be hard to hold social media platforms responsible when it comes to scams and fraud. The Communication Decency Act Section 230 of 1996 protects social media platforms like TikTok from being liable for content users post on their platform.

TikTok did not return a request for comment about scams on the platform.

Though none of the victims sent the suspected scammer any money, two of the women are still missing their family's ashes. They filed reports with the FBI, their local police departments and the Woodstock Police Department in Georgia, where the ashes were sent.

Kari Ide at her home in Maryville, Tenn. on Monday, February 27, 2023 with a collage of family photographs. Ide sent her mother's remains to someone who would turn the ashes into a painting, but it was a scam. Her mother Kathy Jones died in July 2021.

In January, Ide warned people about the scam in a TikTok video.

My heart is really broken, because its kind of all I had, and for somebody to do this to me, its one of the most disgusting things you can do to another human being, she said while tearing up in the TikTok video. I just want my moms cremation remains back.

The comments came pouring in. There were two more victims.

A free offer in California

More than 2,500 miles away from Ide, Jocelyn Cronin of Petaluma, California, shipped her husbands ashes to the same Woodstock address in December after commenting on one of "Chad's" videos on TikTok.

A woman messaged her back, saying she wanted to gift Cronin a painting from the artist. All Cronin had to do was ship her husband's ashes. Cronin didnt think it was unusual. People often gave things to widows on TikTok, she said, and there was trust in the widower community.

Jocelyn Cronin stands in her window in Petaluma, California.

Jocelyn Cronin puts her hand on her husband's urn at the altar she made in his memory in her home in Petaluma, California.

Jocelyn Cronin holds a wedding photo of her and her husband in Petaluma, California.

I thought it was lovely, she said.

Cronin found solace in TikToks widower community after her husband, John, 61, died in 2019 of a heart attack.

Her husband was a longtime firefighter and paramedic in Redwood City, California. Theyd been married for 32 years and raised two children and two grandchildren.

I never doubted Johns love, she said. He always put me first.

A few days after she shipped her husband's ashes, Cronin got the same email as Ide, telling her a package was in Cambodia and shed have to pay $3,576 to clear it.

By the time Cronin found out about Ides TikTok warning, she also learned there was another victim.

Wendy Bailey, right, and her spouse Ajay Bailey pose at their home in Albertville, Ala., on Monday, Feb. 27, 2023.

In Albertville, Alabama, Wendy Bailey shipped her grandparents ashes to the same Woodstock address in December. Chad contacted her through TikTok as well, asking only for an online shoutout instead of money in exchange for the art.

A few days later, the artist messaged her on WhatsApp, asking for $200 to buy supplies. Bailey didnt have the money, she said, and asked Chad to return the ashes.

He said he sent the ashes to Cambodia, and if she wanted them back, hed need $1,000.

It didnt sound right to Bailey. So, she called the Woodstock Police Department in Georgia.

I wasnt going to pay

Woodstock resident James Turner, 62, had lived at his address for 14 months when the ashes started showing up in his mail.

He said he tried to return the first package of ashes that came his way but didnt have the money.

I wasnt going to pay for something I had nothing to do with, said Turner. He said there was no name on the package and he couldnt recall where it was from.

So he threw the ashes away.

A second package of ashes arrived in January, but this time a Woodstock police officer came asking for them and told Turner he might be caught up in a scam.

The officer kept Bailey's grandparents' ashes until she made the two-hour drive from Alabama.

Had she waited any longer, Turner would have thrown those ashes away, too.

Scammer offers a deal

The scammer would occasionally email Ide asking for money, but she stopped responding.

What is stopping you from getting you getting your ashes? read the email sent on Christmas Eve.

The scammer also reached out to Cronin via text, saying hed pay $1,500 to get the ashes back, but she needed to send him $2,000. He coaxed her to pay in installments and sent her a picture of ashes in a bag. He said he was losing his patience.

Cronin made another video on TikTok and mentioned she had more of John's ashes in an urn at home.

The scammer sent her a screenshot of her video and made a threat  she had two days to come up with the money.

Otherwise  I dont need to tell you what Ill do, he wrote.

Two weeks later, he told Cronin he would send a video of himself throwing the ashes away.

He would taunt Bailey, too.

I'll give you a deadline to pay, otherwise I'll throw them away, he wrote in a WhatsApp message. He promised to send her a video.

When Bailey got her ashes back, she sent Chad a picture and told him she was going to tell Turner.

Well, the owner of the place isn't aware, he said in the message. Fool.

Why do humans do this kind of stuff?

Federico Portalupi, the artist behind the legitimate work, displays his painting and process on TikTok. As he prepares his canvas, he tells viewers the story about the person he is memorializing and incorporates their ashes into bright colored resin paintings that look like the ocean waves or nebulas.

In January, Portalupi began to wonder why his videos werent getting the views they normally did. He had lost nearly 1,000 TikTok followers in a matter of days, he said. His art business depended on how well his videos did, he said.

Other users messaged him about multiple accounts impersonating him on the social media platform, but when he was told about the user account that convinced Cronin, Bailey and Ide to send ashes, Portalupi discovered that he had been blocked.

I am mind blown by this, he said. You gain popularity, and people abuse what you do. Why do humans do this kind of stuff?

TikTok Creator and memorial artist Federico Portalupi.

Paintings created by memorial artist and TikTok creator Federico Portalupi.

Cronin, Bailey and Ide said they banded together and devised a plan to find the culprit.

Cronin messaged the scammer and said she was ready to send money. He sent her a CashApp address.

To send large amounts of money on CashApp, users must use their full name, date of birth and the last four digits of their Social Security number, according to the CashApp website.

Cronin, Bailey and Ide thought they would be able to reveal the culprits identity, but they were further confused when a picture of a womans face popped up in the CashApp address.

The women said they spoke to the woman, an Alabama resident in her 50s. They believe she, too, had been duped by someone sitting halfway across the world.

Their trail ended there, leaving Ide heartbroken about the likely loss of her mother's ashes. Cronin also has resigned herself to the fact that she may never get her husband's ashes back.

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Cronin and Bailey gave USA TODAY two phone numbers they used to contact Chad  one was a Florida-based Google Voice number that shared the same area code as Portalupi's phone number, and another had a Cambodian country code. USA TODAY contacted both numbers but did not receive a reply.

Turner, in Woodstock, said he had no idea why his address was chosen. He has not been charged with any crime.

He has been vigilant, hoping no more ashes show up at his door. He intends to call the police if they do.

Im sorry whats going on with these ladies. This is just where the world is nowadays.

Amritpal Kaur Sandhu-Longoria is the consumer watchdog investigative reporter on USA TODAYs Money team. Send her your tips at asandhulongoria@usatoday.com, @AmritpalKSL, or on Signal at (279) 789-2462, or fill out a form here.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: TikTok artist scammed three women out of their loved ones' ashes
Anti-tank guided missiles and medium-range ballistic missile components seized by the United Kingdom Royal Navy sit pierside during inventory at a military facility in the US 5th Fleet area of operations, Feb. 26, 2023. US Army photo by Sgt. Brandon Murphy

UK forces recently intercepted a small boat illegally smuggling missiles from Iran to Yemen.

It's the latest incident to see the US and partner forces seize weapons in Middle East waters.

Western militaries have captured mountains of guns, ammunition, explosives, and missiles.

The British navy recently intercepted a small boat smuggling anti-tank guided missiles and ballistic missile parts from Iran to Yemen, the US military announced on Thursday.

It was the latest in a string of raids that have seen the US and partner forces capture mountains of weaponry, including guns and explosives, from vessels attempting to illegally transport the hardware to a brutal proxy war.

UK forces aboard the Royal Navy frigate HMS Lancaster seized Iranian-made versions of Russia's 9M133 Kornet anti-tank guided missiles and components used to make medium-range ballistic missiles, from the ship on February 23, US Naval Forces Central Command (NAVCENT) said in a Thursday statement.

NAVCENT added that the US military helped the UK carry out this interception by providing surveillance, reconnaissance support, and airborne intelligence, and described the incident as "coordinated efforts" among the two maritime forces.

Anti-tank guided missile tubes seized by the United Kingdom Royal Navy sit pierside during inventory at a military facility in the US 5th Fleet area of operations, Feb. 26, 2023. US Army photo by Sgt. Brandon Murphy

The seizure took place in the Gulf of Oman, a small body of water between Oman and Iran, along a route that has historically been used to smuggle weapons illegally to Yemen. There, Iran-backed Houthi rebels have been fighting a years-long civil war against Yemen's internationally recognized government, which is supported by a Saudi-led coalition. Experts have characterized the conflict as a proxy war between regional foes Iran and Saudi Arabia.

Western militaries have been regularly raiding boats trying to smuggle a massive amount of guns, ammunition, and explosives from Iran to the Houthis, which violates a United Nations arms embargo. While these interceptions have gone on for years, there have been several in the last few weeks alone.

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"This is the seventh illegal weapon or drug interdiction in the last three months and yet another example of Iran's increasing malign maritime activity across the region," Vice Adm. Brad Cooper, the commander of NAVCENT, US 5th Fleet, and Combined Maritime Forces, said in a statement. "We will continue to work with our partners in pursuing any destabilizing activity that threatens regional maritime security and stability."

A boarding team from patrol coastal ship USS Chinook (PC 9) approaches a fishing vessel in international waters of the Gulf of Oman, Jan. 6. U.S. naval forces seized 2,116 AK-47 assault rifles from a fishing vessel transiting along a maritime route from Iran to Yemen. US Navy photo

During these interceptions, the US military and partner forces have seized over 5,000 weapons, 1.6 million rounds of ammunition, 30 anti-tank guided missiles, medium-range ballistic missile parts, thousands of rocket fuses, and propellant used to make rocket propelled grenades, according to NAVCENT.

Once these weapons are seized, there are a handful of places they can end up  depending on what, exactly, was obtained during the raid. In some past cases, explosives have been detonated at sea while the rifles and ammunition were sent ashore to be destroyed.

Middle East experts previously told Insider that these raids are part of a coordinated effort among the US and its partner forces to try and apply pressure on Iran and curb its malign influence in the region.

Read the original article on Business Insider
Why Daisy Jones & the Six only has five band members on the show

Warning: This article contains spoilers from Daisy Jones & the Six episodes 1-3.

Perhaps one of the biggest differences between Daisy Jones & the Six and the novel it's based on is that the band doesn't quite live up to its name  in the Amazon Prime Video series, the legendary rock band is reduced to only five core members (not counting Daisy Jones, played by Riley Keough).

Originally, the Six is made up of frontman Billy Dunne (Sam Claflin), his brother, guitarist Graham (Will Harrison), keyboardist Karen Sirko (Suki Waterhouse), drummer Warren (Sebastian Chacon), rhythm guitarist Eddie (Josh Whitehouse), and bassist Pete Loving.

But in the series, Pete Loving  who speaks very little in the oral history that comprises the Taylor Jenkins Reid source material  is no more. Now, he's Chuck Loving (Jack Romano), a combination of Chuck Williams and Pete Loving from the novel. While Pete is technically there on the page, he barely speaks, and Chuck dies early in the book after being drafted into the Vietnam War.

In the series, Chuck Loving exits the band to study dentistry as the rest head to Los Angeles in search of a big break. But there's a very practical reason for that change.

"We got rid of Pete immediately," showrunner Scott Neustadter tells EW. "I was always thinking about the Pete Best version of somebody who  when you're really young and you're at the crossroads of your life  you can either take a huge risk and join a rock band and hope that something happens for you, or you can, like, not do that, because how frequently does that work out? Knowing that the band becomes huge, you can have fun watching somebody make the wrong choice."

Daisy Jones & the Six

Lacey Terrell/Prime Video Sam Claflin (Billy), Suki Waterhouse (Karen), Josh Whitehouse (Eddie), Will Harrison (Graham), and Sebastian Chacon (Warren) perform as Daisy Jones & the Six

"That's where that came from," he continues. "He has to still be alive in order to make the wrong choice."

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As for keeping the band's name even down a member, well, that was fairly non-negotiable.

"At one point, I did ask Taylor, 'What if we change the name of the band?'" says Neustadter with a laugh. "She and her manager who sent me the book were like, 'Please don't do that.'"

Instead, they found a creative way around it, interjecting Camila (Camila Morrone) more fully into the life of the band from the start. She's not merely Billy's wife and mother of his children, but also a photographer who believes deeply in the band. She's there at recording sessions with her camera, and she moves to L.A. with them from the get-go. In essence, she is the honorary sixth member of the Six.

"The Six was definitely not going anywhere," he says. "So then it was, let's justify it. They are all sitting in a booth and Camila is there, and Camila is the sixth member of the band. I thought that made sense, that Karen would look at that group and go, 'We are six people and we're a family.'"

Daisy Jones & the Six episodes 1-3 are now streaming on Prime Video. Episodes 4-6 drop March 10.

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Hippos near the former ranch of the drug lord Pablo Escobar in Colombia. RAUL ARBOLEDA/AFP via Getty Images

The drug lord Pablo Escobar imported hippos to live on his Colombian ranch. They've rapidly bred.

Now authorities want to send at least 70 hippos to Mexico and India, CBS News reported.

The proposed plan to curb the number of hippos follows failed sterilization efforts by authorities.

Colombia plans to deport at least 70 of the "cocaine hippos" that live in and around Pablo Escobar's former ranch, CBS News reported.

The drug lord illegally imported hippopotamuses to his Hacienda Napoles ranch, about 125 miles away from Bogota, in the 1980s. When he was fatally shot in 1993, four hippos were left at the ranch.

Decades on, however, environmental authorities estimate that there are now about 130 hippos in the area, with the group having rapidly reproduced and spread beyond the confines of the ranch, CBS News reported.

Authorities fear that the number of hippos could reach 400 within eight years, with the animals multiplying fast because of a lack of natural predators, favorable weather conditions, and ample food and water, CBS News said.

The growth of the region's hippo population has long been known.

"Within a couple of decades, there could be thousands of them," Jonathan Shurin, an ecologist with the University of California San Diego, told National Geographic in 2020.

The newly proposed plan would involve sending at least 60 hippos to Gujarat in India and another 10 to zoos and sanctuaries in Mexico.

It focuses on the animals living outside the ranch because those inside live in a controlled environment and don't threaten the local ecosystem, CBS News said.

The plan is to lure the hippos into iron containers before transporting them by truck to a nearby airport, where they would be flown to India and Mexico, the outlet reported.

The media outlet added that Ecuador, Botswana, and the Philippines have also registered interest in taking some.

Colombia last year declared the animals, which are sometimes referred to as "cocaine hippos" because of Escobar's role in the cocaine trade and the Medellin drug cartel, an invasive species that could displace some native species.

The country has sterilized some of the hippos in the past, but they continue to multiply at an unsustainable rate, Shurin told National Geographic.

Read the original article on Insider
Judge Clifton Newman addressed Alex Murdaugh at length during his sentencing hearing in a South Carolina courtroom on Friday, calling the case one of the "most troubling" he has seen and positing that "the monster" the former lawyer became while on drugs could have been the one responsible for the brutal murders of his wife and younger son.

Newman, 71, has presided over the high-profile trial, which after nearly six weeks of dramatic proceedings culminated in Alex Murdaugh being convicted by a jury on all charges -- two counts of murder and two counts of possession of a weapon in the commitment of a violent crime.

The judge imposed two sentences of life in prison, to be served consecutively for the murders of Margaret "Maggie" Murdaugh, 52, and Paul Murdaugh, 22, who were found dead from multiple gunshot wounds near the dog kennels at the family's hunting estate in June 2021.

PHOTO: Judge Clifton Newman places his gavel down after sentencing Alex Murdaugh to life in prison at the Colleton County Courthouse in Walterboro, S.C., on March 3, 2023, after Murdaugh was found guilty on all four counts. (Andrew J. Whitaker/Pool via USA Today Network)

Before imposing the sentence, Newman -- regarded for his calm, thoughtful demeanor on the bench -- told the court that this has been "one of the most troubling cases, not just for me as a judge, for the state, for the defense team, but for all of the citizens in this community, all citizens in this state."

The trial has documented the downfall of a once-powerful attorney from a family that for generations exuded power over the state's Lowcountry region. Alex Murdaugh, 54, comes from a legacy of prominent attorneys, where three generations of the family had been state prosecutors in the Hampton County area for more than a century. He was a partner at the family law firm before resigning and being disbarred amid money laundering charges.

"[You are] a person from a respected family who has controlled justice in this community for over a century -- a person whose grandfather's portrait hanging at the back of the courthouse that I had to have ordered removed in order to ensure that a fair trial was held by both the state and the defense," Newman said during Friday's sentencing hearing at the Colleton County Courthouse in Walterboro.

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The Post and Courier noted in a profile of Newman that finding a judge for the case without conflicts was difficult, given the legal reach of the Murdaugh family.

MORE: Alex Murdaugh sentencing live updates: Disgraced SC attorney gets life in prison

Addressing Alex Murdaugh, Newman further remarked on the convicted attorney's history as a "well-known member of the legal community."

"You've practiced law before me, and we've seen each other at various occasions throughout the years. And that was especially heartbreaking for me to see you go in the media from being a grieving father who lost a wife and a son to being the person indicted and convicted of killing them," Newman said.

"I know you have to see Paul and Maggie during the night when you are attempting to go to sleep," the judge said. "I'm sure they come and visit you."

Newman remarked that it was "unfortunate" that Alex Murdaugh's life has led up to this moment "because you had such a lovely family, of such friendly people, including you, and to go from that to this."

PHOTO: Alex Murdaugh is sentenced to two consecutive life sentences for the murder of his wife and son by Judge Clifton Newman at the Colleton County Courthouse in Walterboro, S.C., on March 3, 2023. (Andrew J. Whitaker/Pool via USA Today Network)

When prompted by the judge to make a statement, Alex Murdaugh maintained his innocence.

"I would never under any circumstances hurt my wife, Maggie, and I would never, under any circumstances, hurt my son, Paw-Paw," he said.

The judge responded that "it might not have been you," and pointed to Alex Murdaugh's admitted 20-year addiction to painkillers, of which he said he has been clean for over a year now.

"It might have been the monster you become when you take 15, 20, 30, 40, 50, 60 opioid pills," Newman said. "Maybe you become another person. I've seen that before. The person standing before me was not the person who committed the crime, though it's the same individual."

MORE: Key moments from Alex Murdaugh double murder trial

Newman has served as a circuit court judge in South Carolina for over 20 years. During that time, he has also presided over other high-profile cases, including the trials of Michael Slager, a former police officer who fatally shot Walter Scott, and Nathaniel Rowland, whom he sentenced to life in prison for the murder of Samantha Josephson, a University of South Carolina student who was killed after entering a car she mistook for her Uber.

In addition to the murder trial, the judge was appointed to preside over all other criminal matters related to Alex Murdaugh, according to the Post and Courier.

He faces about 100 other charges for allegations ranging from money laundering to staging his own death so his surviving son could cash in on his $10 million life insurance policy. He was also charged for allegedly misappropriating settlement funds in the death of his housekeeper, Gloria Satterfield, who reportedly died after a falling accident in the Murdaugh family home in February 2018.

Judge addresses Alex Murdaugh before sentencing him to life in prison originally appeared on abcnews.go.com
Saturday updates: Read the latest weather news here.

States across the Southeast and into the Midwest were facing strong winds that led to dangerous conditions on Friday, with gusts blowing down trees and causing power outages, leaving 10 people dead.

Some areas were also under tornado watches, including most of the Atlanta metro area.

At least 10 people were killed Friday due to the storms in the South: Three were killed by falling trees in Alabama; a woman was killed in her vehicle by a tree branch in Mississippi; a man drowned in Arkansas after driving into flood waters; fallen trees in high winds claimed two lives in Tennessee; and three people were killed in Kentucky, officials said.

More than 505,000 Kentucky customers, over 290,000 in Tennessee and more than 84,000 in Alabama were without electricity Friday evening, according to PowerOutage.us.

More than 15 million people were under tornado watches as of 4:30 pm EST, according to the National Weather Service. A total of 22 million people live where high wind warnings were in effect.

Meanwhile, a storm was also expected to bring snow to a 1,300-mile stretch of the United States from the Midwest to New England on Friday and into Saturday, potentially disrupting major travel hubs, according to AccuWeather meteorologists.

Snow was expected to extend from Missouri to Maine from Friday into Saturday, impacting Chicago, Detroit, Boston and other cities along the storm's route.

Most areas were expecting 6 to 12 inches of snow, and snow was in the forecast along the northern fringes of the storm, meteorologists said.

Much of Northern California and the Pacific Northwest were also under winter weather advisories and warnings Friday morning.

Heres what you need to know:

What is thundersnow and how does it form? Explaining how a thunderstorm can produce snow

What is lake effect snow?: Here's how it happens and how much snow it can bring with it.

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Tornado watches across the South

The NWS issued tornado watches that were in effect Friday for parts of the following six states:

Tennessee

Georgia

Virginia

Alabama

North Carolina

South Carolina

A tornado watch was issued for parts of several states on Friday, March 3, 2023.

Parts of Arkansas and Louisiana previously saw tornado watches earlier Friday morning. NWS Shreveport in Louisiana posted video of a tornado that formed in the city Thursday around 5:40 p.m. CT.

Here is footage of a tornado earlier in Shreveport near Bert Kouns around 5:40 p.m. Storms this evening will continue to be capable of producing short-lived tornadoes . Be prepared to take cover in advance of storms and when Tornado Warnings are issued. Credit: Jamey Bradshaw pic.twitter.com/FdE8IY8em6  NWS Shreveport (@NWSShreveport) March 3, 2023

Winds sweep across South; power outages expected

High wind warnings were in effect Friday in:

Winds were expected to gust up to 60 mph, and the National Weather Service warned that winds will blow down trees and power lines, with power outages expected throughout the region.

The weather service advised that people charge their phones and other devices on Thursday night to be able to reliably receive additional warnings.

Snow, sleet stretches from Midwest to New York and New England

Winter storm conditions extended from the Midwest to New England on Friday, with some areas expected to see a foot of snow.

A winter storm watch is in effect on Friday in northern Illinois, with rain changing to heavy wet snow, according to the National Weather Service in Chicago.

Winds could gust up to 35 mph in the area.

A winter storm warning is in effect from Friday evening into Saturday afternoon in parts of Vermont and New York. Some areas could see up to 12 inches of snow, with the heaviest snowfall expected early on Saturday morning.

Further south, a winter weather advisory is in effect beginning at 7 a.m. Friday in parts of western Maryland, northwest Virginia and eastern West Virginia. Residents of the area can expect a mix of snow, sleet and freezing rain, before changing to rain by Friday evening.

Winter storm tracker

US weather watches and warnings

National weather radar

Contributing: The Associated Press

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Tornado watches in South; 10 deaths reported: Friday weather forecast
How much more U.S. aid should be sent to Ukraine is emerging as dividing point among Republican presidential hopefuls, posing a new test of the GOP grassroots' appetite for overseas involvement and whether foreign policy is potent enough to move the needle in the race.

The debate is part of an early melee for support under a tent that includes a base transformed by Trump's isolationist-tinged "America First" ideology and a swath of voters still aligned with conservative orthodoxy on projecting strength abroad. But whether the fission makes an electoral difference remains an open question given history of foreign policy failing to move enough votes to change a national election outside of wartime.

"Well, we're gonna find out," veteran GOP pollster Whit Ayres said when asked about the impact the Ukraine debate will have on the primary. "It is a major story, but how that is going to shake out compared to domestic concerns remains to be seen."

Former President Donald Trump first upended the bedrock of GOP foreign policy during his 2016 presidential bid, railing against "forever wars" amid mounting frustration over U.S. involvement in Afghanistan and other battlefields. With his rise within the party, many ultimately came on board with his worldview, shedding advocacy for an omnipresent military and instead focusing on fixing domestic issues plaguing blue collar Americans.

MORE: A year into Ukraine war, bodies dug up in once occupied town

On one side of the debate are current and would-be contenders like Trump and Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis who voice skepticism over a supposed "blank check" to Ukraine and the broader danger posed by Moscow. On the other side are more traditional foreign policy conservatives like former Vice President Mike Pence and former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley who have advocated for muscular support for Ukraine and warn that Russia's military goals extend beyond Ukraine's borders.

Trump has lambasted Biden's policy of aiding Ukraine, warning that U.S. assistance could escalate to a broader conflict and maintaining that his method would help bring peace between Kyiv and Moscow -- without actually detailing what that method is.

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"If you watch and understand the moves being made by Biden on Ukraine, he is systematically, but perhaps unknowingly, pushing us into what could soon be WORLD WAR III," Trump wrote on his Truth Social platform.

PHOTO: President Donald Trump speaks to supporters from The Ellipse near the White House in Washington, Jan. 6, 2021. (Brendan Smialowski/AFP via Getty Images)

DeSantis, for his part, hasn't called for cutting off aid as some hard-liners in Congress have, but he too has bashed Biden's "blank-check policy."

"These things can escalate. And I don't think it's in our interest to be getting into a proxy war," he said on Fox News last month, warning Biden should instead focus on Chinese aggression.

Still, others haven't shed their traditional foreign policy bona fides.

"We are involved in a proxy war against the Soviet Union, the Ukrainians are fighting it," Pence said on Fox News last month. "[L]et's get them what they need, the tanks, let's get them the F-16s and support them as they finish this fight."

Others, like Haley and former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo have also advocated for keeping up the aid deliveries, suggesting that a defeat for Kyiv -- rather than the assistance -- risks letting violence spill over Ukraine's borders.

"If we win this fight for freedom, it will send a signal to every enemy we have. If we lose this fight for freedom, Russia has said Poland and the Baltics are next, and then we've got a world war," she said in February.

Some Republican operatives warn against reading too deeply into the rhetoric, noting that even hawks would favor some limits and are not that far apart from those warning of "blank checks."

"It's, 'sure, we don't want the Russians to encroach. We think what they did was wrong. This aggression was wrong. But we have to have limits on what we do, what we can do, and we sure don't want to send American troops to Eastern Europe.' I think that's kind of the plurality position," said GOP strategist Brendan Steinhauser.

However, with several candidates struggling to come up with domestic policy differences with Trump, even tonal disagreements on Ukraine could be one of very few chances for differentiation among the candidates.

"I think it's smart for Trump to also focus on issues like foreign policy and trade where he creates the most contrast with the rest of the field," said one longtime Trump aide close to his 2024 team.

"You're not going to differentiate yourself from the field by opposing critical race theory or sex changes or hormones for minors," the person said.

Those conflicting stances could pose an even greater contrast should one side of the war gain the upper hand or even win outright.

"If the Ukrainians have some success, it will tamper down some of the worries and concerns and criticisms. People will want to be on the side of the winner. I think if it goes really poorly, and  the Russians make gains, I think you'll see Republicans pick up their critique and say, 'we need to get to a negotiated settlement,'" Steinhauser said.

Whether those differentiations ultimately will matter electorally remains an open question.

Foreign policy's traditional failure to impact elections has become almost a cliche in politics. And even as the war in Ukraine emerges as a potentially history-altering struggle and one of the lone differentiators in the mushrooming primary field, strategists are forecasting that the fighting won't be top of mind when voters decide who to send to the general election next year.

That's already playing out in early endorsements, with both Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., a hawk, and Sen. JD Vance, R-Ohio, a skeptic of Biden's broad support for Kyiv, both endorsing Trump.

MORE: Russia-Ukraine live updates: Blinken talks to Russia foreign minister: 'End this war'

"I'm as engaged as I think just anybody is, but I can tell you this, the decision I make on who to support for president or senator or whatever is in no way going to be affected by their position on Ukraine," said Allegheny Country, Pa., GOP Chair and Marine veteran Sam DeMarco.

"I think it will be a differentiator. Whether it is used as the differentiator, I don't know. To me, the more important differentiators in some ways are just the strategic questions about who can actually win the election," Republican strategist Scott Jennings added.

Conversations with several attendees of this year's Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) back up those assessments.

Conferencegoers, who in recent years have largely fallen in line behind Trump, almost unanimously insisted on limits on aid to Ukraine in interviews with ABC News.

"I think we've given them quite enough, I really do," said Sandy Bellucci, a surgical coordinator from northern New Jersey supporting Trump.

Still, "I think there's other issues higher on the list," she said when asked how a candidate's Ukraine policy could impact votes. "I think what we have to worry about here is more important to people than what's going on somewhere else."

Ukraine aid debate fracturing the 2024 GOP field. Will it matter? originally appeared on abcnews.go.com
Ethan Melzer, the former Army private described as "the enemy within" because he plotted with a Satanic neo-Nazi group known as O9A to kill fellow soldiers, was sentenced Friday to 45 years in prison.

Melzer, 24, pleaded guilty last June to three counts: aiding and abetting the attempt to murder U.S. service members, providing material support and resources to terrorists, and illegally transmitting national defense information.

The charges accused him of attempting to plan a jihadist attack on his Army unit in the days leading up to a deployment to Turkey, by sending sensitive details to other members of the U.K.-based Order of the Nine Angles, known as O9A. The attack never came to fruition.

MORE: Ethan Melzer, accused of neo-Nazi ties and plotting to kill fellow soldiers, pleads not guilty to new charges

"At a time in May 2020, with the intent that U.S. service members be killed, I disclosed sensitive information about my Army unit's upcoming deployment to individuals I was communicating with on the online in the messaging app Telegram," Melzer admitted in court. "I'm sorry, and I regret every single thing I did."

At the time of his arrest, prosecutors said Melzer was inspired by "a diabolical cocktail of ideologies laced with hate and violence."

On Friday, uniformed troops filled the courtroom in lower Manhattan for the sentencing hearing to tell the judge of the harm Melzer caused to their deployment.

Melzer joined the Army in 2018 as part of what O9A referred to as an "insight role," and was assigned to the 173rd Airborne Brigade Combat Team.

PHOTO: Ethan Melzer is seen in a January 2020 photo from a court filing by the United States Attorney's office for the Southern District of New York. (U.S. Attorney's office for the Southern District of New York)

Assistant United States Attorney Matthew Hellman said Melzer's role was "to infiltrate the armed forces to gain personal training and experience while subverting the goals of the organization; here, the United States military."

"Ethan Melzer, a private in the U.S. Army, was the enemy within," Audrey Strauss, the U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York at the time, said when Melzer was charged.

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As part of Melzer's plea deal, prosecutors took a life sentence off the table but argued that he deserved 45 years in prison.

"Ethan Melzer infiltrated the U.S. Army in service of a neo-Nazi, jihadist, Satanist group and used his membership in the military to pursue an appalling goal: the brutal murder of his own fellow U.S. service members," assistant United States Attorney Sam Adelsberg said in a sentencing memorandum.

The defense sought 15 years, citing Melzer's remorse and a childhood of "neglect and abuse" by what they said was an alcoholic, mentally ill single mother .

MORE: US soldier, alleged member of white supremacist group, accused of plotting attack on own unit

"To be around him now is to know his palpable remorse, his guilt, his shame," defense attorney Jonathan Marvinny, an assistant federal defender, said in a sentencing memorandum. "They are always in the room."

Melzer confessed to his role in plotting the attack, according to court records, and admitted that he intended for the planned attack to result in the deaths of as many of his fellow service members as possible.

"Melzer declared himself to be a traitor against the United States, and described his own conduct as tantamount to treason," then-FBI Assistant Director Bill Sweeney said at the time of Melzer's arrest. "We agree. He turned his back on his county and his unit while aligning himself with members of the neo-Nazi group O9A."

US soldier Ethan Melzer, described as 'the enemy within,' sentenced for jihadist plot originally appeared on abcnews.go.com
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Riesling has made its way around the world from its home in Germany, first heading to neighboring countries Austria, France and Italy before boarding ships sailing to faraway ports in the New World. While it is not the most popular grape on the planettrailing among whites behind Chardonnay and Sauvignon Blancit is the favorite of many sommeliers and wine industry insiders. They love it for its bold acidity and rich flavors of peach, nectarine, citrus fruit and rose petal. That acidity which helps Riesling age for long periods also makes it a great pairing for sushi or seafood crudo or for dishes that combine sweet and spicy elements like General Tsos chicken or fried shrimp with Thai chili sauce.

More from Robb Report

Some wine lovers shy away from Riesling fearing it may be too sweet, but that depends on the style of Riesling youre drinking. Fortunately, its common to find a sweetness scale on the back label of many Rieslings from the United States, and terms like Late Harvest or Botrytized will also let you know that theres a high amount of residual sugar in the bottle. Besides, theres a time and a place where you want to reach for a sweet Riesling, because its especially good with creamy desserts and apple or pear tarts, and its a nice match with strong blue cheese too.

Riesling is grown in just about every winemaking country around the globe. In regions like Napa Valley or Australias Barossa Valley, producers of high-end red wines also release versions that are bargains compared to their darker hued siblings. Many of these are very small production and hard to get hold of because they sell out so quickly.

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Weve rounded up a variety of Rieslings from California, Australia, Washington and New York that are among the best the New World has to offer.

Smith-Madrone 2017 Spring Mountain District Riesling Napa Valley

Aromas of Granny Smith apple, apricot blossom and grapefruit pith draw you in to this intoxicating Napa Valley Riesling. The wine made by Charles F. Smith III has flavors of apricot, white peach and lemon zest with a silky, yet waxy, mouthfeel. There is a nice balance of minerality and salinity before the long finish that keeps inviting you in for another sip.

Buy Now: $38

Henschke 2021 Peggys Hill Eden Valley Australia

Made by one of Australias premier wine families better known for their highly collectable Hill of Grace red wine, this alluring white wine has intoxicating aromas of tropical fruits, honeysuckle blossom and lemon sorbet. It has flavors of honeydew melon, yellow peach and zesty lemon peel with bracing acidity and a strong backbone of minerality that carry into the long-lasting finish.

Buy Now: $39

Chateau St. Jean 2017 Late Harvest Riesling Belle Terre Alexander Valley

Chateau St. Jean 2017 Late Harvest Riesling Belle Terre Alexander Valley

Grapes for this captivating botrytized sweet wine are grown on the Dick Familys Belle Terre Vineyard located in Alexander Valley on the banks of the Russian River. It has enticing aromas of white peach, lemon zest, honey and dried apricot. It is rich and generous on the palate with ripe fruit flavors, especially apricot, peach, mango and guava. The acidity is well balanced with the sweetness so as not to be cloying at all. A very enjoyable dessert wine.

Buy Now: $60

Chateau Ste. Michelle & Dr. Loosen 2007 Eroica Single Berry Select Horse Heaven Hills Washington

This ethereal sweet wine is a joint project by Mosel winemaker Ernst Loosen and Chateau Ste. Michelle winemaker Bob Bertheau. It is made in the Trockenbeerenauslese style, which means the shriveled grapes have a very high level of sugar. Botrytized grapes harvested from the Horse Heaven Vineyard near the Columbia River remained on the vine for about two months after the dry wine harvest. Expect aromas of acacia honey, honeycomb and candied orange peel with good heft on the palate and flavors of orange blossom, apricot nectar and sweet spices.

Buy Now: $213

Grosset 2022 Alea Riesling Clare Valley Australia

Grapes for this fascinating Riesling are grown in the ACO certified organic Grosset Rockwood Vineyard in Clare Valley, Australia. The wine has aromas of dried savory herbs, white citrus blossoms and lime zest. It has flavors of tangerine peel, grapefruit pith and lemon zest and a strong current of minerality with a finish that just goes on and on.

Buy Now: $45

Pewsey Vale 2015 The Contours Museum Reserve Riesling Eden Valley Australia

This luscious single vineyard Riesling comes from 50-year-old vines grown in Eden Valley, Australia. It has aromas of citrus blossoms, lemon zest and sea air and is soft, yet dry upon entry into the mouth. There are flavors of lemon and lime zest, grapefruit pith, dried savory herbs and freshly picked white peach with a strong vein of minerality and pronounced salinity in the finish.

Buy Now: $36

Chateau Montelena 2021 Riesling Potter Valley California

Made by Chateau Montelenafamous for their 1976 award in the Judgement of Paristhis delectable wine offers a hint of sweetness in the bouquet, yet it is made in a dry style and has aromas of orange zest, Anjou pear and white flowers. There are flavors of tangerine and mandarin with a hint of lemon-lime in the palate and a crisp, clean finish.

Buy Now: $35

Dr. Konstantin Frank 2019 Margrit Dry Riesling Finger Lakes New York

Dr. Frank is one of the pioneer wine makers in New Yorks Finger Lakes region. Grapes for this engaging dry Riesling are grown on a single plot in the winerys Seneca estate vineyards. It is named for Willy Franks wife, Margrit, and has aromas of mandarin orange, tangerine and grapefruit rind. There are flavors of candied orange peel and lemon zest with sensations of wet river rocks and shale in the midpalate. It has great body and balanced acidity.

Buy Now: $35

Hermann J. Wiemer Vineyard 2019 HJW Bio Riesling Finger Lakes New York

Grapes for this tasty Riesling were grown and harvested according to the Biodynamic calendar. The wine is whole cluster pressed and allowed to undergo wild fermentation. There is no fining or filtering, and the wine is aged half in large oak barrels and half in stainless steel. It has aromas of tangerine, Valencia orange peel and grapefruit rind and offers lively lemon-lime flavors with balanced acidity and great mouthfeel.

Buy Now: $40

Red New cellars Riesling

This dry Finger Lakes Riesling is produced with grapes from The Knoll, a block in the Lahoma Vineyard on the west bank of Seneca Lake. It has aromas of lemon blossom, lime zest and orange peel. In the mouth there are flavors of lemon zest, grapefruit juice and candied tangerine peel with bracing acidity and excellent minerality that are evident on the post palate.

Buy Now: $36

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Around 120 French artists signed a Le Monde op-ed that decries a new European Union tax directive that threatens to dramatically raise the cost of selling art in France.

Some will no doubt be surprised to see artists take up the pen on the occasion of such a measure. It is because this directive, if it is transcribed as such into French law, is a threat to the French artistic scene, wrote the signatories.

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Among the signatories are Zineb Sedira, who recently represented France at the Venice Biennale, and Gerard Garouste, who has a Centre Pompidou retrospective now on view. Daniel Buren, Orlan, Fabrice Hyber, Julian Charriere, JR, Annette Messager, Matthew Lutz-Kinoy, Ugo Rondinone and Martial Raysse were also among those who signed the letter.

The letter continues: It is indeed an entire ecosystem that is in danger, in which the institutions, the market and we, the artists, participate. For what? In a globalized system where our works are sold at the same price in Paris, Brussels, London, Hong Kong or New York, the multiplication of this VAT by four would discourage any purchase of works in France, and thereby their circulation and ultimately their presence in Europe and France.

The new EU tax directive, adopted unanimously by European Commission on April 5, 2022, would raise the import sales tax of goods, including artworks, from 15 percent to 20 percent for all 27 EU members. The directive would also curtail a margin scheme used by French dealers to curb the amount VAT paid for individual works. The passing of the VAT escaped wider notice until the French financial daily Les Echos published a report late last month exploring its outsize implications for the Frances art and antiquities market.

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The report stated the VAT would have a catastrophic impact on Frances resurgent art market, which enjoyed a rise in global art sales, from 3 percent of all transactions of the sort in 2001 to 7 percent in 2021. Within the last decade, mega-enterprises David Zwirner and Hauser & Wirth have established outposts in the French capital, while Art Basels inaugural Paris+ last yaer attracted some 40,000 attendees during its run.

Frances market success can be partly credited to its implication of the EUs lowest import tax on art and antiquities, which stands at 5.5 percent. This is drastically lower than the tax adopted by EU countries with comparable art economies, such as Germany (19 percent) and Spain (21 percent).

In February, Frances Comite Professionnel des Galeries dart (CPGA) announced that it would lobby the French government for an exception from the new VAT. In a press release, the organization said it was alerting the Ministry of Culture to obtain an exception for works of art from Bercy [the Ministry of Finance], or for France to negotiate a moratorium at European level. The organization added in its press release that the directive would inordinately benefit Frances direct art market competitors, the United States, Switzerland, Hong Kong and the United Kingdom (which was positioned pre-Brexit as the entry point for international buyers into the EUs market).

Culture needs to circulate, to be shared in order to shine in France, in Europe and in the world, the artists wrote in Le Monde. At a time when all the great powers are implementing powerful strategies of cultural soft power, how is it that Europe and our country, the one that invented the cultural exception, are giving up their wealth?

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Editors Note: This story has been updated to clarify that the two men were cited by authorities.

STANTON COUNTY, Neb. (KCAU)  Two men have been cited for killing an American bald eagle and planning to make a meal of it, Nebraska authorities say.

According to a release from the Stanton County Sheriffs Office, officials were called around 4 p.m. to investigate a suspicious vehicle at the main Wood Duck Recreation Area near Stanton, Nebraska.

Officials said they found the vehicle in a field, where the two men had a dead eagle with them.

According to the release, officials said Ramiro Hernandez-Tziquin and Domingo Zetino-Hernandez, both 20, had shot the eagle, a protected species, and planned to cook and eat it.

These US bird species face a tipping point as populations decline sharply, report finds

Officials cited the two men, both of whom are Honduran nationals who needed an interpreter, for the unlawful possession of an eagle. Herneanez-Tziquin was also cited for not having a drivers license.

Nebraska Games and Parks took the bird and the rifle allegedly used to shoot it.

The investigation is ongoing, and more serious charges are possible.

According to the National Audubon Society, the number of bald eagles had been in serious decline  due largely to shootings  during most of the 20th century. However, their numbers have been seeing a gradual increase since the 1970s.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to The Hill.
Around the world in 80 drinks.

Courtesy of TCS World Travel

This just might be the most luxurious bar crawl to ever exist.

Leave it to TCS World Travel to put together yet another extraordinary itinerary. Regarded for its signature around-the-world journeys, the tour operator and private jet expedition company has now curated an experience for travelers interested in visiting some of the best distilleries in North America, South America, and Europe.

Courtesy of TCS World Travel

The 34-day trip kicks off in New York City and moves on to nearly a dozen destinations. The itinerary covers an extensive array of spirits and combines renowned names alongside small producers. Majority of the journey will take place west of the Atlantic, which includes an exploration of bourbon in Louisville, Kentucky, with a stop at Makers Mark; a mezcal immersion in Oaxaca, Mexico; Pisco tastings in Peru with a visit to La Caravedo, one of the oldest continuously operating distilleries in the Americas; and a jaunt to Martinique for a lesson in rhum agricole.

Courtesy of TCS World Travel

After crossing the pond youll make a pitstop in Portugal's Azores for a couple nights to relax and learn about Portugese wines before moving on to Scotland where Scotch whisky tastings abound. For whiskey enthusiasts, this portion of the trip is a real treat. Private tours will take place with stalwarts such as The Macallan, Glenfarclas, and Glenmorangie in addition to younger distilleries like Ardnahoe , where youll have the chance to sample a yet-to-be-released expression straight from the cask. From there, youll start to wind down in Poland with vodka before concluding in London with a dive into the citys gin history.

Courtesy of TCS World Travel

But the itinerary isnt just about alcohol. The trip is rounded out with cultural activities, highly sought-after restaurant reservations, and luxurious accommodations that will appeal to even the most discerning travelers. Wander around Lima with a local guide, dine at the lauded Eleven Madison Park in New York City, and stay in a sumptuous suite at the iconic Claridges in London. The distilleries may be the initial draw, but its the extras that will undoubtedly make this a memorable vacation.

Rates start from $270,000 per person for a group of six travelers. For more information or to book, connect with a TCS World Travel advisor at 888.723.4480. This trip is not tied to a specific date.





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Alex Murdaugh is led to the Colleton County Courthouse by sheriff's deputies for sentencing. Chris Carlson / AP

Alex Murdaugh, the scion of a prominent legal family in South Carolina, was sentenced to life in prison Friday after being found guilty of murdering his wife and son in a closely watched trial that captivated true crime enthusiasts around the world.

Dressed in his brown prison jumpsuit, Murdaugh addressed the court before his sentence was handed down, continuing to deny he was a murderer.

Im innocent," Murdaugh said. "I would never hurt my wife, Maggie, and I would never hurt my son Paw-Paw."

Murdaugh received the maximum sentence for his crimes  two consecutive life sentences, one for each murder charge. As he handed down the sentence, Judge Clifton Newman, who oversaw the six-week trial in Colleton County, called the case one of the most troubling ones hes ever presided over, particularly due to Murdaugh and his familys long history as lawyers.

I don't question at all the decision of the state not to pursue a death penalty. But as I sit here in this courtroom and look around the many portraits of judges and other court officials, and reflect on the fact that over the past century, your family  including you  have been prosecuting people here in this courtroom, and many have received the death penalty, probably for lesser conduct, Newman said.

Speaking directly to Murdaugh, Newman said he is certain Maggie and Paul come and visit him every night when he's trying to fall asleep.

"All day and every night," Murdaugh replied.

Jurors deliberated for just about three hours before convicting Murdaugh of the fatal shootings of his wife, Maggie, and son Paul in June 2021 after hearing testimony from more than five dozen witnesses, including the defendant.

In the end, the jury found him guilty on all charges  two counts of murder, and two counts of possession of a weapon while committing a violent crime. He faced a minimum sentence of 30 years in prison and a maximum of life in prison without the possibility of parole.

Alex Murdaugh stands in the courtroom on March 2, 2023 Andrew J. Whitaker/The Post And Courier via AP

According to one juror, who spoke to Good Morning America ahead of sentencing, nine of the 12 jurors initially believed Murdaugh was guilty when they began deliberating. The others  two who believed he was not guilty, and one who was unsure  changed their minds after about 45 minutes of discussion, the juror, Craig Moyer, said.

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"The evidence was clear," Moyer said, specifically citing the video recovered from Paul's phone, which placed Murdaugh at the scene of the crime. "You could hear his voice clearly, and everybody else could too."

Though much of the evidence that the prosecution relied on was circumstantial  and Murdaugh, an admitted liar, denied that he would ever harm his family  prosecutors managed to prove to the jury that he killed his wife and son to divert attention away from himself amid a  gathering storm . At the time of the murders, multiple upcoming events threatened to expose his many alleged financial crimes and bring ruin and scandal to the legal empire his family had built over generations.

The entire illusion of his life was about to be altered  he couldn't live with that, prosecutor Creighton Waters told the jury in his closing statement . He's the kind of person for which shame is an extraordinary provocation.

The double-murder case, and the question of whether the wealthy good old boy from a long line of powerful South Carolina attorneys had murdered his wife and son to protect himself from the consequences of his financial misdeeds, fascinated true crime enthusiasts, the media, and everyday people nationwide. Tens of thousands of people tuned in to the court proceedings, which were livestreamed, and two documentaries about the case were produced before the trial even began.

Outside the courthouse on Thursday night, state Attorney General Alan Wilson said it was a "great day for the people of South Carolina."

We got to bring justice and be a voice for Maggie and Paul Murdaugh," said Wilson, the state's top prosecutor.

The jury's decision to convict Murdaugh served as proof that no one  no one, no matter who you are in society  is above the law," he added.

A lot of people doubted that this process would work, Wilson said, and hopefully for those who did doubt the process, hopefully we have instilled and put a little bit of faith back into you and your lives as you view this process as it unfolds.

In a press conference Friday following the sentencing, the defense said they would appeal the conviction, saying they believe it was an erroneous decision for the judge to allow evidence about Murdaughs financial misdeeds to be admitted.

Going into the trial, Murdaugh had been somewhat pessimistic about his chances, defense attorney Jim Griffin said, adding that the judges sentencing decision didnt come as a surprise.

We could have had Mother Teresa up there speaking on behalf of Alex at sentencing, but he was getting a double life sentence, Griffin said. That was expected.

In spite of his conviction, Griffin said Murdaughs family still believes hes innocent.

The family came to trial every day for six weeks, expecting to hear proof positive that he killed Maggie and Paul, something that they had not heard before, he said. After six weeks of trial, they came away more convinced that he did not do this, and they are steadfastly in his camp and support him.

Asked what effort they would make to find the real killer, defense attorney Dick Harpootlian chuckled.

Not our job to find the real killer, Harpootlian said, calling the forensic investigation a comedy of errors.

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This is a great step forward!

Animal activists around the world are celebrating the recent ban on animal testing in Brazil, which sat stagnant in the Senate for nearly a decade. The Brazilian Senate finally passed the federal ban in December and on Feb. 28 it was signed.

A clip from TikTok user @vegan.f.t.a shares that this passing means all animal testing on cosmetics in the country is banned. Plus, the clip gives us insight into just how many people were in support of this ban, which ultimately gave the Senate motivation to act quickly on this ban. Let's hope the trend of banning animal testing continues throughout the rest of the world!

View the original article to see embedded media.

Wow! We can't stop smiling at this news! It's a step in the right direction to protect animals. And as @annahemmanuelleprincess wrote, "Good. The world next." Exactly! Why stop here?! It's time to get the whole world on board with banning animal testing!

Brazil now joins over 40 other countries that have also banned animal testing, according to the Humane Society of the United States. "Thats wonderful! Now we need to follow suit," said @rosebarton860. Every country needs to follow suit now!

We can't believe there were over 1.6 million signatures on this petition, which was delivered to the Senate President. Let's get more petitions started on this topic and share it with other countries! Let's save all the animals!

Looking for more PetHelpful updates? Follow us on YouTube for more entertaining videos. Or, share your own adorable pet by submitting a video, and sign up for our newsletter for the latest pet updates and tips.

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PEORIA  After months of preparation for a possible strike, Caterpillar has reached a tentative agreement with members of four United Auto Workers locals in Illinois and Pennsylvania.

Neither the UAW nor Caterpillar released any details about the tentative six-year labor agreement. A vote will be scheduled soon and workers will continue to be covered by their old agreement, which expired March 1, until the new contract is ratified, according to news releases from both Caterpillar and the UAW.

More:Caterpillar's fourth-quarter 2022 report shows continued growth

The union had previously said that benefits, 401(k)s, and vacations were among the biggest concerns when union members were surveyed last year. More than 98% of UAW members voted to authorize a strike in January. That includes the locals in the Peoria area, Decatur, Pontiac, and York, Pennsylvania.

Both the union and the company were preparing for a strike. The UAW recently increased strike pay to $500 a week, while Caterpillar was training salaried employees to take over operations in the factories.

The last strike ran from June 20, 1994, to Dec. 3, 1995. It was the longest in Caterpillar/UAW history.

This article originally appeared on Journal Star: Caterpillar and the UAW reach an agreement; vote to be scheduled
MILAN  Following the unveiling of the Unica Furla Earth limited-edition bag during Milan Fashion Week, and six months after taking on the role of chief executive officer of the Italian accessories brand, Giorgio Presca is mapping out the next steps, enthusing about the latest accessory.

The bag was introduced at Milans Triennale museum and is billed as the first Made in Italy bag in biodegradable leather. It follows a circular production model and the materials are byproducts of the food industry, vegetable tanned with wastewater from oil production, said Presca, in his first exclusive interview.

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Beeswax or specific salts are used for the finishings on the crossbody model, available in a palette ranging from pink to green, as well as black and white. The style is a reinterpretation of a 90s Furla bag, reflecting the consistency of the brand, which Presca underscored.

The Unica Furla Earth bag was unveiled in the presence of Irina Shayk, who fronts images and a video lensed by photographer Koto Bolofo.

Furlas owner, Giovanna Furlanetto, has long been experimenting with sustainable production processes and Presca was quick to praise her entrepreneurial spirit, her strategy in defining the democratic brand, offering quality, Made in Italy bags at an accessible price with a glamorous use of color, and for creating an impressive global retail network over the years.

Her book A String of Pearls is fascinating, and she clearly expresses her vision there. There is a mission, a purpose. She is an extraordinary entrepreneur and very realistic, said Presca, who joined the Bologna-based company from Clarks, where he was CEO. Furla has always been very clearly positioned, retailing at between 300 and 500 euros.

He previously held the role of CEO of Golden Goose, Geox and Citizens of Humanity through his 30 years in the fashion industry, starting at the now-defunct giant manufacturing company GFT. He has also held executive positions at brands including Diesel and Levis.

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He succeeded chief operating officer Devis Bassetto, who also temporarily held the position of CEO at Furla after the exit of Mauro Sabatini in April 2022.

Furla is a brand that has an exceptional past, with a stellar positioning in one of the most difficult markets and a strong brand awareness in key markets such as Japan and China, Presca said. I am passionate about the brand and my goal is to revisit its strong cornerstones in a contemporary way but in line with its heritage.

He admitted that the COVID-19 pandemic impacted the performance of the brand given its strength in China, but said that revenues in 2022 show more than 10 percent growth compared with 2021, with a more than proportional impact on earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization, Presca said.

Full year-end figures have not been approved and audited yet, so the latest available refer to the first half of 2022, when sales amounted to 155.3 million euros, boosted by a strong performance in North America and in the Europe, Middle East and Africa area. In 2021, revenues totaled 305.8 million euros, up 7.6 percent compared with 2020, as reported.

At the time of Prescas arrival at the company, Furlanetto said the appointment signalled the familys willingness to continue with the full control of our business and lead it into the future. She characterized Furla as a real democratic brand, the only Italian brand in its category.

The comments were made after several sources speculated that the Furlanetto family was considering a sale of a stake in the company, tapping Lazard as its adviser.

In 2016, owner Giovanna Furlanetto set in motion plans to take Furla public, but this project never materialized. Furla was founded in Bologna in 1927 by Aldo Furlanetto, Giovannas father.

Asked about any potential development, Presca said the intention was for Furla to remain a private company. I was tasked not with a sale but to strengthen the company with a strategic plan. Nor is the family looking at an IPO, he added.

Presca, speaking from the Milan showroom and ahead of a planned trip to Japan and China, is aiming at upping the ante in Furlas story telling, in its communication, assortment, service and visual merchandising. The product alone today is no longer enough to build business. The world has changed, he explained, citing the impact of social media, too.

He is also redefining the Furla woman, after so much general attention was paid to Gen Z and streetwear. I am convinced we must be loyal to our brand and our customer, while being innovative. Problems arise when rather than putting the real consumer at the center, one follows the consumer that is trendy at the moment. It is important to give a very clear direction, Presca said. Furlas customer, he thinks, is an elegant working woman, who follows fashion but is also interested in culture and art.

The executive was pleased with the reaction to the first ad campaign launched under his watch, for spring 2023. It was well-received, we got a good feedback, he said.

An image from Furlas spring 2023 campaign.

Presca said it was important to stage the ad campaign taking us on an idyllic holiday set in an Italian villa in Alassio on the Mediterranean.

It features Italian DJ and producer Anfisa Letyago, and is lensed by American filmmaker and director Belle Smith, offering a dynamic, colorful and joyful mood.

There is also a focus on footwear in vivid hues and on eyewear. Presca said the goal is to add more accessories to Furlas offer. Shoes have an incredible potential, he said. Mens accessories are not an immediate priority but one of the next steps, he added.

With the ad campaign, Furla is supporting She Is the Music, the nonprofit organization founded by Alicia Keys in 2018, which funds training courses for the new generation of female music producers. Starting in February, Furla will give a chance to upcoming female DJs to play during in-store events and encourage them to produce dedicated retail store playlists, which will be available on Furlas new Spotify channel.

Fabio Fusi, who joined in 2010, remains creative director of Furla, and Presca said he found strong talent in the design team.

Furla has 438 stores, of which 262 are directly operated. In Japan alone, one of the main longtime markets for the brand, there are 94 directly operated points of sale.

The locations are also key, noted Presca, citing the boutique in London on Regent Street, Milans store near the Duomo cathedral and the sprawling unit in Rome near the Spanish Steps.

In 2018, Furla took control of longtime producer Effeuno, which is based in Tavarnelle Val di Pesa, a 40-minute drive from Florence. The takeover was part of Furlas strategy to invest in Italy and to strengthen the groups supply chain, boosting production.

Giorgio Presca

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Ukraine plans to attract specialists from USA to advise on corporatization of Energoatom  Ministry of Energy

Ukraine plans to attract specialists from the United States to advise on the corporatization process of Energoatom, the Ministry of Energy of Ukraine has announced.

According to a message of the Ministry of Energy on the Telegram channel, in particular, this issue was discussed at a meeting between Energy Minister of Ukraine Herman Haluschenko and U.S. Secretary of Energy Jennifer Granholm as part of a meeting of the Partnership for Transatlantic Energy and Climate Cooperation in Zagreb on March 2.

"Given the experience and prospects for cooperation with the United States, it is very important that the best specialists join the consultation of the corporatization process. And Energoatom would become the most efficient, transparent company, the world leader in nuclear energy," the Energy Ministry said, citing the results of the meeting.

The parties also discussed the deepening of cooperation in the nuclear sphere in general, the report says.

The Minister of Energy, for his part, thanked Granholm for helping the energy sector of Ukraine, in particular, a gas turbine mobile power plant, recently provided to the Ukrainian side by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID).

"The installation of such gas turbines in different regions of Ukraine will help decentralize generation and ensure uninterrupted supply of electricity to critical infrastructure and consumers," the Minister of Energy said.

Haluschenko also indicated that the Ukrainian side is counting on U.S. proposals for an updated Energy Strategy of Ukraine until 2050, which prioritizes clean and safe energy, based on a decentralized energy system.
Iowa Rep. Brad Sherman

Iowa was only the third U.S. state to legalize same-sex marriage, thanks to a unanimous state Supreme Court ruling in 2009. Now some Republican legislators want to undo that.

Eight GOP state representatives have introduced a bill that would amend the Iowa constitution to define marriage as an opposite-sex institution only.

In accordance with the laws of nature and natures God, the state of Iowa recognizes the definition of marriage to be the solemnized union between one human biological male and one human biological female, House Joint Resolution 8 reads in part. It was introduced Tuesday.

The resolution is unlikely to pass; legislative leaders have said it likely wont get a hearing. And the process of amending the state constitution is lengthy. An amendment has to be approved in two consecutive legislative sessions, with an election in between, and then go before voters, The Des Moines Register explains. It also would conflict with the federal Respect for Marriage Act and the U.S. Supreme Courts 2015 marriage equality ruling, and federal law supersedes state.

Eight Republican representatives, including six who are sponsoring HJR 8, have also filed a separate bill, House File 508, that would permit Iowa residents to deny recognition to same-sex marriages if they have religious objections.

The state of Iowa also recognizes the deep historical and religious roots that uniformly defined and understood marriage to be the union between one male and female, it says. Therefore, no resident of Iowa shall be compelled, coerced, or forced to recognize any same-sex unions or ceremonies as marriage, notwithstanding any laws to the contrary that may exist in other states, and no legal action, criminal or civil, shall be taken against citizens in Iowa for refusal or failure to recognize or participate in same-sex unions or ceremonies.

This measure is unlikely to go anywhere either, but thats not keeping anti-equality forces from trying. Rep. Brad Sherman, a first-term legislator and founder of a conservative Christian church, is a sponsor of both, and he denies that either of the bills would interfere with the civil rights of LGBTQ+ people.

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HR508 does not redefine or erase any existing state law regarding same-sex marriage, he wrote in an email to fellow House members that was obtained by Iowa Starting Line. The bill does not seek to tell same-sex couples what to believe. If they want to call their relationship a marriage, they are free to do so; that is freedom. But by the same token, people who do not define same-sex unions as marriage must not be forced to do so. HR508 protects them from prosecution and their religious liberty.

He also wrote, Neither HR508 or HJR8 seek to define or redefine marriage. They simply recognize what has been established by nature for all of history. The definition of marriage was defined as being between male and female for 5000 years of world history. Marriage has been defined as a model of Christ and the church for 2000 years (see Ephesians 5:31-32. This, of course, ignores the fact that many people have different religious beliefs.

Some have opposed these bills saying the definition of marriage is not governments business, he added. I would agree. What people do in private is their business. It is not my business nor governments business. But it was the gay community who made it governments business, resulting in the 2009 Supreme Court decision legalizing same-sex marriage in Iowa which forced the general public to accept that definition. This ignores the fact that many government-recognized rights and benefits come with legal marriage.

This is just kind of the latest salvo in a long string of attacks that continue to get more and more extreme every single day, Keenan Crow, director of policy and advocacy at LGBTQ+ group One Iowa, told NBC News. Now were saying that we dont have to follow what the federal government says, what the federal courts say, because we want to harm LGBTQ people so much that we are willing to destroy our federal system in order to accommodate the biases of these legislatures.

From the other side, Democrats in the legislature have filed a bill to put a gender-neutral definition of marriage into state law, making it align with the 2009 Iowa Supreme Court ruling. Our code still does not reflect that, one of the sponsors, Rep. Elinor Levin, told the Register. The bill was not scheduled for a hearing in this years session, but Levin said supporters will bring it up again.

Iowa lawmakers are considering other anti-LGBTQ+ bills, including a dont say gay bill, largely mimicking the one that became law in Florida last year; one banning gender-affirming care for transgender youth; and one that would essentially out transgender and nonbinary students to their parents. Students across the state held walkouts Wednesday in opposition to the bills.
Henry Berg-Brousseau and his mother Kentucky State Sen. Karen Berg

Republican lawmakers advanced a bill on Thursday intended to limit drag shows in Kentucky, leading to one senator, Karen Berg, invoking the memory of her late transgender son, transgender rights activist Henry Berg-Brousseau, to shame GOP lawmakers for the bigotry their votes enabled.

Under Senate Bill 115, drag shows would not be allowed on public property or in places where children could glimpse a queen.

During a hearing on Thursday, Republican lawmakers continued to dismiss the concerns of LGBTQ+ people who urged them not to move forward with their prejudice, but those calls fell on deaf ears, northern Kentucky news site Link NKY reports.

GOP lawmakers settled on a bill that did not include a thousand-foot distance requirement for how far from homes, schools, and parks any performance conceivably considered drag would be illegal.

Democratic Kentucky state senator Karen Berg, a physician, and mother of Henry Berg-Brousseau, a transgender man who worked as deputy press secretary for the Human Rights Campaign and died by suicide recently, invoked her son's memory to explain her no vote.

"I really do want to apologize for the hate that you have received," she said to witnesses who had spoken to the GOP-led panel. "Because the hate you give is the hate you get."

She continued, "I can tell you from my personal experience on the day I buried my child here in Kentucky  my proud trans child  the last thing he did at work before he went home and killed himself was to send out a press release to the country from the Human Rights Campaign, warning us of what was coming."

Berg added that before she could make it home from the cemetery after burying her son in December, she'd received hate messages from those who claimed she had killed her child.

Berg-Brousseau was 24.

"The hate that is coming out of this country is disgusting. It is scary. It is undemocratic, and [this bill] is unconstitutional," she said.

Republicans disagree and claim that they are the saviors of kids. They argue that the existence of transgender people and acceptance of trans kids is a manifestation of a "woke agenda" being pushed by liberals.

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"This bill is not anti-LGBTQ," Republican Sen. Lindsey Tichenor, the bill's lead sponsor, said, according to an Associated Press report. "This bill is pro-children. For some reason, people want this type of content in front of children. And I would dare ask, why? Why do we need to sexualize our children?"

A violation of the bill's provisions could result in losing a business license and an alcohol license. In addition, first-time violators would be punished with misdemeanor charges, while repeat offenders would be charged with felonies.

"This bill not only compromises or asks me to explain my humanity, but it also brings into question my livelihood," drag performer Poly Tics told senators before they voted to advance the measure.

In February, Berg made an impassioned plea before her colleagues, asking them to recognize that transgender people are not a philosophical debate.

"There is no religious or ideological conflicts with children being trans. You need to find it for me in your Bible. You need to show me where this is such a deeply held belief that it is incontrovertible in your mind," Berg said.

"These are the children that have trouble fitting in, the ones who are just a little different from their peers, the ones who historically we have allowed to be bulliedhalf of the suicides in age 15 to 24 years of age in this country. The second leading cause of death in that age group is from our vulnerable, marginalized children," she said.

"Either you believe that trans children do not exist, or you believe that trans children do not deserve to exist. I can tell you, these children exist," Berg concluded.

The radical Republican-controlled state legislature in Tennessee recently passed, and on Thursday, Republican Gov. Bill Lee signed into law an almost identical law criminalizing drag queens, making it the first state in the nation to do so.

In their criticism of these laws, Democrats, LGBTQ+ advocates, and critics all point out that the words of these measures are intentionally vague in such a way as to restrict the lives of transgender people. While the target appears to be drag queens today, activists warn that Republicans actually want to legislate transgender Americans out of existence.

Far-right activists and GOP politicians across the country falsely claim that drag queens are "grooming" or "sexualizing" children at kid-friendly Drag Queen Story Hour events in libraries or at family-friendly drag brunches, popular at restaurants on weekends nationwide.

On Thursday evening, after the vote, Berg tweeted a warning to supporters of LGBTQ+ rights.

"Total ban on all gender affirming care for minors bill passed the KY House today. Another Senate Bill essentially makes it illegal for a man to dress as a woman or a woman as a man in public spaces. Guys, pay attention! The hate is being kindled. Our work is not over!!!" she wrote with a clip showing her speech from earlier that day.

\u201cTotal ban on all gender affirming care for minors bill passed the KY House today. Another Senate Bill essentially makes it illegal for a man to dress as a woman or a woman as a man in public spaces.



Guys, pay attention! The hate is being kindled. Our work is not over!!!\u201d  Karen Berg (@Karen Berg) 1677797964

If you are having thoughts of suicide or are concerned that someone you know may be, resources are available to help. The 988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline at 988 is for people of all ages and identities.



Trans Lifeline, designed for transgender or gender-nonconforming people, can be reached at (877) 565-8860. The lifeline also provides resources to help with other crises, such as domestic violence situations.

The Trevor Project Lifeline, for LGBTQ+ youth (ages 24 and younger), can be reached at (866) 488-7386. Users can also access chat services at TheTrevorProject.org/Help or text START to 678678.
Restaurant kitchens are notoriously high-pressure environments in which to work. Michelin-starred kitchens can be on a whole other level.

Because of that, the Michelin Guide has started telling chefs when theyre about to lose a star, The Washington Post reported on Thursdaya demotion that can cause tears, strife and even soul-searching (sometimes even lawsuits). The guide has become attuned to those feelings, making sure that it takes the care to address chefs as human beings, rather than just names on a list.

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We are fully aware of the impact of our decisions for the restaurants concerned, a spokesperson for the Michelin Guide told the Post. Its really important for us to take the time to do it properly, they added, about reaching out to chefs.

In just one example of the guides commitment to breaking the news gently, its international director, Gwendal Poullennec, drove five hours from Paris to La Rochelle, France, to talk with the chef Christopher Coutanceau, whose eponymous restaurant is receiving just two stars in the countrys forthcoming guide. (The list will be announced on Monday.) The group is also in the process of getting in touch with two dozen other chefs who will lose a star in the 2023 guide.

While receiving a Michelin star is some chefs biggest dream, it can be a heavy weight for others. Two Michelin-starred chefs have died by suicide in the past 20 years: Bernard Loiseau in 2003 and Benoit Violier in 2016. Those who knew them have floated the idea that trying to keep their stars may have played a role in their deaths. And in 2017, the Michelin-starred chef Sebastien Bras asked the organization to get rid of his ranking. Maybe I will lose notoriety but I accept it, he said at the time. I will be able to feel free.

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In the past, the Michelin Guide has also faced criticism for its process, with some claiming that the rankings are rather opaque. But it wants transparency to become part of its regular operations. We dont want to surf on a trend [of mental health], the spokesperson told The Washington Post.

That may be one reassuring step toward a more holistic organization, but it doesnt completely put an end to questions about how helpful the guide really isto both diners and those working in the industry.

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With less than two weeks left until free agency opens, our friends at the Draft Wire released another three-round projection that includes San Franciscos three selections at the end of the third round.

Free agency could change San Franciscos list of needs, but this early three-round mock draft has the 49ers touching on perhaps their three biggest needs going into the offseason.

Lets dive into the picks:

S Jammie Robinson, Florida State

Vasha Hunt-USA TODAY Sports

Robinson is one of the prospects the 49ers held a formal meeting with at the combine. Hes a versatile player capable of filling a Jimmie Ward-type role where he can line up at safety, but has the coverage skills to slide down into the slot and cover there. If the 49ers wind up needing to replace Ward, Robinson might be a player worth trading up for if they believe in his skill set. He intercepted seven passes and broke up 16 while racking up a whopping 318 tackles in 47 games in two years at South Carolina and two years at Florida State.

DL Keondre "Snacks" Coburn, Texas

BRYAN TERRY/THE OKLAHOMAN / USA TODAY NETWORK

His nickname is Snacks. No additional notes. (He had 15.0 tackles and 6.5 sacks in 39 games over his last four years at Texas. Coburn would fill the nose tackle role in the middle of San Franciscos defensive line since they dont have a traditional nose on their roster heading into free agency).

OL Olusegun Oluwatimi, Michigan

Vasha Hunt-USA TODAY Sports

Oluwatimi is a popular mock draft choice for the 49ers, and it makes a ton of sense. He was a five-year college starter at center and played in 50 games during his career. If San Francisco wants to find a long-term answer beyond free agent OL Jake Brendel, Oluwatimi could conceivably step in right away in the middle of their offensive line.

Story originally appeared on Niners Wire
The man is so rich, it's scary.

Stephen King's net worth shouldnt exactly shock younot like one of his novels at least! The King of Horror has become one of the most prolific writers in modern history. In fact, you would be hard-pressed to name a more well-known or successful horror author out there.

In addition to the millions of books hes sold, many of Kings novels have been turned into film and TV adaptations, earning him paydays along the way. With book sales topping 350 million worldwide and counting, we have to knowhow much is Stephen King worth?

Here is everything you need to know about Stephen Kings net worth.

Related: The Best Reading Quotes for Book Lovers

How did Stephen King become famous?

Its hard to think of a world where Stephen King wasnt famous. Unless youve been living on a different planet, it probably wont surprise you to find out that King is famous for being a horror novelist. In 1967, he sold his first professional short story to Startling Mystery Stories, a short called The Glass Floor.

He continued to sell short stories to make a living after he graduated from the University of Maine with a certificate to teach high school but failed to secure a position. In 1971, King did manage to find a position at Hampden Academy in Hampden, Maine, but he continued selling short stories in his free time.

Kings fourth novel, Carrie, was his first to be published when it was accepted by the publishing house Doubleday in 1973. Early on during the process of writing Carrie, King actually tossed the first three pages in the trash and had them fished out by his wife, Tabitha. She encouraged him to finish the story and offered her help with the novels female perspective.

Carrie went on to be a huge hit, making its mark in the horror world. It was even adapted into a now-classic movie in 1976. Following Carries success, King successfully published Salems Lot in 1975, The Shining in 1977 and The Stand in 1978. With these novels, he secured himself as the master of horror as we know him today, a title he still holds as he continues to write new novels.

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Related: From English Teacher and Dry Cleaner to Author! 17 Things You Didn't Know About Stephen King

What is Stephen King's net worth in 2023?

In 2023, according to Celebrity Net Worth, Stephen King has a net worth of $500 million. He has earned this fortune through his highly successful career as a novelist, in addition to his work as a screenwriter, TV producer, actor, writer, columnist and film director. King has successfully sold the rights for several of his books and stories to have them made into film and/or TV adaptations, which is also a lucrative source of income.

Related: The Best Thriller Novels of All Time

How much does Stephen King make a year?

It has been reported that Stephen King earns as much as $20 million a year. Of course, this amount depends on the number of projects he has undertaken and their respective successes and paydays.

Related: 75 Quotes About Writing

How much does Stephen King make per book?

It is not known exactly how much Stephen King makes per book or has been paid as advances for publishing his books. It has been estimated that King earns between $1 and $3 for each of his book copies that are sold. As he has sold over 350 million copies of his books worldwide, it would make sense that he has such a large net worth.

Related: The Best Books of All Time, As Chosen By Your Favorite Authors

How much does Stephen King make per movie?

It has not become public knowledge how much Stephen King earns per movie or TV adaptation of his work. It has been said that many authors earn up to $50,000 a movie for adaptations of their world. However, because King is so well-known and so successful, it is likely he earns a lot morepotentially in the millions with a possible share of the backend profits in his contract.

King also has his Dollar Baby program where he sells the rights to his short stories for just $1under a very specific set of circumstances. The program does not allow for distribution, for instance. Frank Darabont actually began his career by making a "Dollar Baby" movie out of The Shawshank Redemption.

Here is what King had to say about the program.

"Over the objections of my accountant, who saw all sorts of possible legal problems, I established a policy which still holds today. I will grant any student filmmaker the right to make a movie out of any short story I have written (not the novels, that would be ridiculous), so long as the film rights are still mine to assign," he said. "I ask them to sign a paper promising that no resulting film will be exhibited commercially without approval and that they send me a videotape of the finished work. For this one-time right, I ask a dollar. I have made the dollar deal, as I call it, over my accountants moans and head-clutching protests 16 or 17 times as of this writing.

Stephen King holds the distinction of having had more books adapted or optioned than any other living author.

Related: You Won't Believe What You See on Netflix's Supernatural Series Midnight Massor Which "King of Horror" Gave the Show His Seal of Approval!

How much did Stephen King make from Carrie?

Sissy Spacek in the movie "Carrie," based on the Stephen King novel of the same name SILVER SCREEN COLLECTION/GETTY IMAGES

For his first published novel, Carrie, in 1973, King received an advance of $2,500. The paperback rights to the book later sold for $400,000, which was split between publishers, King and others. It is not known how much he was paid for the right to adapt the novel into a film. It is likely he earned anywhere from $50,000 to several hundreds of thousands for the film rights.

Related: How to Read Anne Rice's Mayfair Witches Books In Order

How much did Stephen King make from The Shining?

Jack Nicholson in the movie adaptation of "The Shining" Archive Photos/Getty Images

It is not known publicly how much Stephen King was paid as an advance for the novel The Shining or how much he earned through the sales of the book. Its also not known how much he was paid for the film rights, specifically for 1980s The Shining. It is known that King was initially less than thrilled with the results of the Stanley Kubrick film adaptation of the work.

King has warmed to the movie, but still has his criticisms. In 2016, he said of the film, I think The Shining is a beautiful film and it looks terrific and as Ive said before, its like a big, beautiful Cadillac with no engine inside it. In that sense, when it opened, a lot of the reviews werent very favorable and I was one of those reviewers. I kept my mouth shut at the time, but I didnt care for it much.

Related: The Best and Worst Stephen King Movies, Ranked

How much did Stephen King make from The Shawshank Redemption?

Tim Robbins and Morgan Freeman in the movie "The Shawshank Redemption," based on Stephen King's short story "Rita Hayworth and the Shawshank Redemption" Castle Rock Entertainment/Getty Images

Stephen King sold the movie rights to his novella Rita Hayworth and The Shawshank Redemption under his Dollar Baby program for $1 to a then-unknown filmmaker named Frank Darabont, but that did not include distribution. It was adapted into 1994s The Shawshank Redemption.

Darabont was offered $3 million for the film rights by Rob Reiner, but refused in order to make the film himself. King had agreed to give Darabont the film rights for $5,000, but King never cashed the check given to him by the fledgling filmmaker. Instead, several years after the film came out, King had it framed and sent to Darabont with a note inscribed, In case you ever need bail money. Love, Steve.

King said the adaptation, When I first saw it, I realized hed made not just one of the best movies ever done from my work, but a potential movie classic. That turned out to be the case.

When all is said and done, it is not known how much King has made from the sales of the novella and/or the film adaptation.

Related: Willie Nelson's Net Worth

How much did Stephen King make from the book It?

It is not public knowledge how much Stephen King has made from his book It. The amount he was paid as an advance is not known, nor is the amount he has earned from the books sales. It is likely he received quite a sizable advance as he was already successful when he sold the novel. It went on to become the best-selling hardcover book of that year, 1986, in the United States. We can imagine he made millions from the book alone.

Related: Dr. Phil's Net Worth Revealed

How much did Stephen King make from It?

Bill Skarsgard as Pennywise the Clown in "It" Warner Bros.

As is said above, it is not known exactly how much Stephen King has earned from the book It. It is also not known how much he was paid for the TV rights for the famous It miniseries starring Tim Curry or the two recent film adaptations, 2017s It and 2019s It Chapter Two.

Both of the theatrically-released It movies were hits, with It earning over $700.3 million globally, making it the highest-grossing horror movie in history as of September 2022. It has been estimated King earned $60 million for the movie series, but this is unsubstantiated.

Next, find out Ozzy Osbourne's net worth.
Tracy McCarter and her daughter, Ariel Robbins (left).

[Editorial Note: This is the fourth part of an exploration into the legal issues surrounding domestic violence survivor Tracy McCarter. Please check out Parts I, II, and III here if you missed them.]

In November, by the time District Attorney Alvin Bragg announced his decision to end his prosecution, outrage over Tracys case had reached a fever pitch.

Tens of thousands of New Yorkersincluding prominent doctors, nurses, domestic violence survivors, respected domestic violence organizations, and celebritieshad thrown their support behind the #StandWithTracy movement.

Read more

How Did the World Learn About Tracy McCarter?

Initially, there was no in-depth coverage of Tracys case outside of vague references to a stabbing on the Upper West Side in the New York Post back in March 2020. According to Siobhan Dingwall, a communications specialist and volunteer with the advocacy group Survived and Punished (which pushed for Bragg to drop Tracys charges), thats typical of a case like Tracysespecially when they involve Black women.

Sharing Tracys story in a way that centered her and her family, and made connections to the stories of other criminalized survivors, was critical early on, says Dingwall.

Because this occurred at the start of the pandemic, it was hard to host the kind of rallies that would become more commonplace later on in the effort to free Tracy. Social media, op-ed, and letter-writing campaigns featured heavily in the groups early efforts, and one of those social media posts caught the attention of then-Gothamist reporter Victoria Law.

I do cover criminalized survivors quite a bit, but usually I dont cover them until after theyve gone through trial and then imprisoned, says Law. Because most of the time their lawyers dont want them talking to media.

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Tracy was still incarcerated at Rikers, so Law did the only thing she could: she wrote her a letter.

I said, Ms. McCarter, my name is Victoria Law. I write about these things... heres my phone number. Feel free to get in touch, says Law. I assumed I was just shouting into the void.

But to her surprise, Tracy responded.

It started with phone calls once a month. They never discussed what happened the night Tracy was arrested; they mostly just chatted about the notoriously horrendous conditions at Rikers and how Tracy was holding-up. At this point, Law still wasnt sure if shed be able to write about Tracys story. Tracys lawyers were wary of these phone calls and hadnt agreed to anything on the record. As time went on, Tracy stopped calling entirely. But while sitting on the beach at Coney Island the Friday before Labor Day, enjoying a beach read, Law got a call she wasnt expecting.

Survived and Punished reached out and said, Will you cover this? Her grand jury hearing is next week, Law says. And so I typed out a pitch to my editor on my phone sitting on the beach... and so thats how I ended up writing the first [detailed] story about Tracy.

The Story That Impacted the District Attorneys Race

Law didnt know how big of a splash her initial articlepublished on Sept. 9, 2020would make. The day after her story ran, several of the Manhattan District Attorneys race candidates had tweeted out her story, including Alvin Bragg:

I #StandWithTracy. Prosecuting a domestic violence survivor who acted in self-defense is unjust. https://t.co/WPWfdmcAQG  All In for Alvin (@AlvinBraggNYC) September 11, 2020

The words would come back to bite him later, but at the time, he proudly tweeted, I #StandWithTracy, along with a link to Laws article.

All the men running for District Attorney wanted to signal, Oh, we are going to treat domestic violence survivors differently than our predecessor, rationalizes Law, hinting at the unpopularity of the previous District Attorney Cy Vance, who indicted Tracy.

After Laws article, the dam broke among national outlets. Days later, the Wall Street Journal ran a story with the punchy sub-headline: As jailed New York City nurse awaits trial, some say law has ignored years of physical abuse by husband. Shortly after the article was published, the District Attorney stopped fighting Tracys request for bail and she was released on electronic monitoring and remanded to her Harlem apartment.

Other news outlets noted the extent to which coverage of Tracys case was impacting the actions of the current and potential district attorneys.

Advocates Push for More Media Coverage

Behind the scenes, the New York wing of Survived and Punishedwho werent strangers to the press or the justice systemcontinued to push Tracys story to media outlets. For years, Dingwall had worked as a communications specialist. Shed had prominent roles working for the city of New York before deciding to work for herself. That experience came in handy when organizing the massive media campaign.

Siobhan wasnt going to let yall forget [about Tracy], jokes Janie Williams, an attorney, and volunteer with the core group of Tracy supporters Survived and Punished.

Part of what allowed them to be so unrelenting was that they werent beholden to anyone. They werent getting paid for their work (they all have day jobs), and none of them were after celebrity, explains Williams.

Having been in other spaces where advocacy is what youre paid for, and youre accountable to a boss whos accountable to a board or mayor or whoever, said Williams. We didnt have that where we couldnt say the truth.

From a Hashtag to a Movement

Media werent only one part of Survived and Punished strategy, says Dingwall. The group raised funds, made phone calls and sent emails to the DAs office, participated in social media power hours, wrote op-eds, and so much more, she says.

But to wage the kind of campaign necessary to get a District Attorney to drop second-degree murder charges, it would take more than a relatively small group of local volunteers, which is where Color of Change entered the picture. The well-known civil rights group had donated to Braggs campaign, but theyd also voiced their support for Tracy. At the time, it wasnt a conflicting stance.

Bragg had tweeted his support of Tracy during the primary, but as time passed and his office continued their prosecution and, worse, continued to fight against her requests for bail, the tables turned. At that point, Color of Changes had no choice but to hold his feet to the fire.

What @ManhattanDA is claiming is impossible is, in fact, possible.



The demand is clear. Drop the charges against Tracy McCarter NOW. Stop prosecuting survivors.



Accountability matters, and we must hold DA Alvin Bragg accountable for keeping his promise to #StandWithTracy.  pic.twitter.com/1vqXiqN7qr  ColorOfChange (@ColorOfChange) October 25, 2022

We worked with Survived and Punished... on our #StandWithTracy campaign for 10 months to hold Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg accountable to dropping Tracys case when he became DA, says Sakira Cook, Vice President of Campaigns for Color of Change.

The group took out an advertisement in the New York Times, produced videos about Tracys plight, and organized a petition that garnered over 21,000 signatures. (Color of Change did not disclose how much they spent on these efforts.)

What Actually Freed Tracy McCarter?

Both Color of Change and Survived and Punished credit organizingincluding the behind-the-scenes work from Tracywith Braggs decision to drop the charges.

Without the thousands of activists who showed support and without Tracys courage to share her story, Tracy would have likely faced an unjust sentence, says Cook. This is the part of the system we are trying to change.

Law, who attended nearly every hearing, says she believes Bragg didnt want to fight a challenging case in front of the public eye.

Every misstep in a trial would have been scrutinized and covered, says Law. He would have been slammed from all sides had he continued.

From the perspective of Emily Sack, a law professor at Roger Williams University School of Law, the case wasnt a slam dunk in one direction or the other.



Before announcing he was dropping the charges, Bragg went on the record with the court stating he did not believe Tracy murdered Murray. The fact that if they went to trial, Bragg would be arguing for a murder charge hed publicly denounced wouldnt have looked great. But Sack says that Tracy would be facing a ton of bias against her if she went to trial.

Theres a lot of gender and racial bias in the criminal justice system, says Sack, who represented a domestic violence survivor in the 90s on murder charges. But theres specifically that bias in self-defense laws, which make it very difficult to successfully defend a battered woman.



To claim self-defense in a case like this, you have to prove that the person believed their life was in danger and only used reasonable and proportional force to defend themselves. The fact that Tracy had a knife (although incredibly common in cases where abused women defend themselves) would have hurt her in a trial.

The difference between prison sentences handed out to men versus women is telling of the sort of gender bias Sack describes. According to the ACLU, the average prison sentence for a man who kills his female partner is two-to-six years. On average, women who kill their partners spend 15 years in prison.

[The law] is built on a historical male paradigm of two men fighting each other, says Sack. The law is really not geared toward understanding that a woman in that would reasonably use some other type of force.

The Judge Weighs In on Tracys Case

Whether it was because of advocacy, media, Tracy, political maneuvering, or a shoddy case, Bragg officially declared the end of his prosecution of Tracy McCarter in November. A week later, Judge Diane Kiesel begrudgingly signed off on the decision.

I must call an end to the prosecution, announced Kiesel in her lengthy decision.The Law that gives the Court power, in the end, leaves it powerless. The court finds no compelling reason to dismiss the indictment, but for the District Attorneys unwillingness to proceed.

Kiesel clearly felt the media, advocacy, and public pressure were responsible for Braggs decision, a point she emphasized by citing several news articles and advocacy campaigns in her decision. But at the end of the day, Bragg had left her with very little wiggle room. She could either drag everyone to trial and preside over a sullen, silent courtroom since Bragg would, in all likelihood, refuse to present a case, or she could drop the charges.

Naturally, she chose the latter.

For the people whod fought to get Tracys charges dropped, the result was somewhat bittersweet.

If the DA who ran on freeing [Tracy] becomes DA, and we still have to fight this hard to get him to do the thing he said he was going to do, then this system really is as bankrupt as we knew, says Williams.

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Everybody wants their own Yellowstone, and the folks at Amazon are turning to a big name for theirs.

According to The Hollywood Reporter, Amazon has tapped True Detective creator Nic Pizzolatto to develop a Western drama series for the Prime Video streaming service that sources describe as the streamers answer to Taylor Sheridans megahit Yellowstone franchise.

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The as-yet-untitled series is described as an ensemble Western about a former outlaw who must reckon with a threat from his past in order to keep the life and family he has worked so hard to build. He sets out on an epic journey that unites a formidable gang of indelible figures to face an even greater danger, in an epic saga of adventure and romance that forces this former criminal to become the hero hes been pretending to be.

Pizzolatto made a name for himself with the first season of the anthology series True Detective in 2014, an influential season that earned him an Emmy nomination for Outstanding Writing for a Drama Series. Since then, his career has had ups and downs, with True Detective getting a poorly received second season in 2015 and a better-regarded third season in 2019. (Pizzolato has no creative involvement in Season 4, which is coming to HBO later this year.) He signed an overall deal with FX in 2020 and exited it early the following year after the collapse of Redeemer, a series he was writing for Matthew McConaughey. The Amazon project will be his first TV series since True Detective. Breaking Bad and Interview with the Vampire executive producer Mark Johnson is also on board as an EP.

He has some previous experience in the Western genre. He contributed to the script for HBOs Deadwood: The Movie, which came out in 2019. And hes passionate and knowledgeable about the genre, as evidenced by his memorable 2020 appearance on the podcast Bonanas for Bonanza, a show about the classic Western series that ran from 1959 to 1973.

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This will be Amazons second ongoing Western series, following the Josh Brolin-led sci-fi hybrid Outer Range, which starts with a Yellowstone-esque premise about a Wyoming rancher trying to fight off threats to his land before going off in unpredictable directions.

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Netflix

Content warning: This article contains references to murder some may find upsetting. Reader discretion is advised.

Netflix's new true crime series, Murdaugh Murders: A Southern Scandal, examines a deadly boating accident that killed 19-year-old Mallory Beach and a murderous crime spree that left Paul and Maggie Murdaugh shot and killed and teenager Stephen Smith and Murdaugh family housekeeper, Gloria Satterfield, dead under mysterious circumstances. Throughout the series, Netflix introduced Anthony Cook, who was dating Mallory at the time of her death and was present during the boating accident. His testimony played a significant role in a lawsuit against Paul's father, Richard Alex Murdaugh, who was convicted in March 2023 for murdering his wife and son. Read ahead to discover where Anthony Cook is now.

Who is Anthony Cook?

Netflix

On February 24, 2019, Anthony and Mallory planned to attend a house party on Paukie Island, near their hometown of Low Country, South Carolina. The couple planned to meet with Anthony's cousin Connor Cook, his girlfriend, and Mallory's best friend, Miley Altman, Paul Murdaugh, and his girlfriend, Morgan Doughty.



Paul, who was 19 then, drove his family's boat to the party and used his older brother Buster Murdaugh's ID to buy alcohol at a neighboring convenience store. The group of six left the party at midnight, and then Paul and Cooner decided to go to a bar in Beaufort, South Carolina, where they had more drinks before heading back to the boat.

The group headed home around 1:00 am. According to the surviving victims, Paul, who was three times over the legal blood alcohol limit, got behind the wheel of the boat despite being visibly intoxicated. According to Anthony, Paul refused to let anyone else drive the boat. He even considered taking an Uber home with Mallory but decided against it because he didn't want to leave the rest of their friends.

Things got so intense on board that Anthony grabbed Mallory and put her in his lap while they sat at the bottom of the boat. Paul, who was arguing with Morgan, put the boat at full speed and crashed into a bridge near Parris Island, South Carolina, ejecting himself, Anthony, and Mallory. Both Paul and Anthony managed to make it to the surface, but Mallory remained missing for a week before she was found dead.

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Netflix

Paul was later charged with three counts of driving under the influence, but due to his father's close ties to law enforcement in their community, there was speculation that there were delays in the investigation. Paul would never have the chance to answer for his crimes. In June 2021, the 22-year-old and his mother, Maggie Murdaugh, were shot and killed on their property.

Where is Anthony Cook now?

Anthony filed a lawsuit against Paul's father, Alex, the convenience store where Paul purchased the alcohol, and the clerk who sold it to him in December 2021. According to Paul, Alex knew that Paul had falsely used his big brother's ID and that he was still drunk before permitting him to drive the boat.

Per a screenshot obtained by Daily Mail, Anthony posted about the tragic loss of his girlfriend nearly one month after the incident. "I have to live the rest of my life with the memory of getting thrown into the freezing pitch black water with the love of my life in my arms," he allegedly wrote on Facebook. "I had to swim against that current for 15 minutes in a panic screaming her name begging her to answer me. I had to swim to shore without her to save my own life and live in regret of that forever."

He has maintained a relatively low profile after the accident and subsequent murders. According to ABC News, Anthony suffers from painful symptoms similar to a PTSD diagnosis. While he reportedly went through a party phase after the accident, Anthony is believed to be employed as an electrical lineman in Southern USA.

WATCH MURDAUGH MURDERS: A SOUTHERN SCANDAL NOW

Murdaugh Murders: A Southern Scandal can be streamed on Netflix, with subscription plans starting at $9.99 per month.

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State lawmakers in Florida are being slammed for a "downright authoritarian" bill introduced to the legislature that would ban the state's Democratic Party under the ostensible pretence of disenfranchising political parties that supported slavery in their national platforms.

The bill, called "The Ultimate Cancel Act," was filed on Tuesday by GOP state Senator Blaise Ingoglia, and would require the state's Division of Elections to "immediately cancel" any filings originating from a political party whose platform "previously advocated for, or been in support of, slavery or involuntary servitude."

The bill doesn't explicitly name the Democratic Party, but critics claim it was crafted specifically to target the Republicans' political opponents.

In the mid-1800's, Democrats  and Southern Democrats in particular supported slavery. In the 19th and 20th centuries, both the Republicans and the Democrats underwent a realignment during which their values and policies drastically changed. This change reached a head following the stock market crash of 1929 and the ascension of Democrat Franklin D Roosevelt to president.

After his predecessor, Republican President Herbert Hoover, chose not to intervene after the crash, Mr Roosevelt's platform of government intervention in the markets, financial support for the impoverished, and a renewed focus on public welfare reshaped the Democratic Party's focus and values, while Republicans' opposition to his goals  in particular the growth of the federal government  set the foundation for the modern GOP.

The Florida Democratic Party has accused the state GOP of using a "publicity stunt" as a way to disenfranchise the party and its voters, according to NBC News.

Presenting a bill that would disenfranchise 5 million voters is both unconstitutional and unserious. Under Ron DeSantis, Senator Ingoglia is using his office to push bills that are nothing more than publicity stunts instead of focusing on the issues that matter most to Floridians, the Florida Democratic Party said in its statement.

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Blaise Ingoglia (AP)

Mr Ingoglia himself all but admitted to the true nature of the bill in a news release, claiming it was designed to target Democrats and "leftist activists" who he said were trying to "cancel people and companies for things they have said or done in the past," including the "removal of statues and memorials and the renaming of buildings," NBC News reports.

It is often Republican lawmakers who fight against the removal of Confederate statues and object to the renaming of public places if they are named for Confederates or slave owners.

Using this standard, it would be hypocritical not to cancel the Democrat Party itself for the same reason, Mr Ingoglia said. Some people want to have uncomfortable conversations about certain subjects. Lets have those conversations.

Social media commenters noted the naked attempt to undermine democracy in the state.

"Members of the Maga GOP once again showing that if they ever take power again, they would do all they can to destroy democracy," a Twitter user using the handle Patriot1960 wrote.

Members of the Maga GOP once again showing that if they ever take power again, they would do all they can to destroy democracy. https://t.co/pDVIqbJh1v  Btech (@Patriot1690) March 1, 2023

Blaise Ingoglia seems mighty confused. Over the years, the postbellum Southern Democratic Party swapped roles with the Republican Party. Today's Republicans would loathe Abraham Lincoln and call him "woke." https://t.co/734l677L8X  Michael Mechanic (@MichaelMechanic) March 1, 2023

Michael Mechanic, an editor at Mother Jones, noted Mr Ingoglia's selective history, suggesting the modern Republican Party would dismiss President Abraham Lincoln as "woke."

"Blaise Ingoglia seems mighty confused. Over the years, the postbellum Southern Democratic Party swapped roles with the Republican Party," he wrote. "Today's Republicans would loathe Abraham Lincoln and call him "woke."

If adopted by Florida's Republican-led legislature, the bill the bill "would require Florida officials to notify all registered voters who belong to any canceled parties that their parties no longer exist. It would also change their voter registrations to 'no party affiliation' and 'provide procedures' for those voters to update their affiliations to 'an active political party.'"
lutheran church denounces nazi - Credit: DiggPirate/Getty Images

On Ash Wednesday, the First Lutheran Church in Knoxville called the cops on a parishioner who was attempting to attend services. Corey Mahler  a white nationalist who has sought to transform the Lutheran Church into a bastion for young fascists  was removed from church grounds for causing what his pastor called harm and division to the body of Christ.

The move against Mahler in Tennessee was set in motion a day earlier in St. Louis. The president of the nations second-largest Lutheran denomination posted a denunciation of agitators propagating radical and unchristian alt-right views and advocating the destruction of the churchs leadership. Addressing what he termed the most bizarre development of his tenure, Pastor Matt Harrison declared: This is evil.

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Harrison is president of the Lutheran ChurchMissouri Synod; its midwest branding aside, LCMS is a nationwide denomination for 6,000 congregations and nearly 2 million members. Harrison insisted that LCMS churches categorically reject the horrible and racist teachings of the so-called alt-right, and that the punishment for those that refuse to renounce its ideology must be excommunication.

The LCMS is a bastion for conservative Christians. It takes an activist role against reproductive rights, condemns gay marriage, and does not allow women pastors. Yet this same veneration of traditional values has made LCMS vulnerable to infestation by reactionaries who believe the bible justifies their hate. The churchs struggle is increasingly common in our extremist age: How do you stop a conservative space from becoming a fascist one?

The LCMS fight against the alt-Right has burst into the open on the heels of the mid-February publication of a damning research dossier by Machaira Action, a new anti-fascist group, that details Mahlers role the rise of Lutheran fascism  or what it dubs Lutefash.

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Mahlers views are not covert. Hes is an unabashed white-Christian nationalist who  among other deplorable views  insists that Hitler went to heaven. As detailed in the dossier, Mahler has longstanding ties to Jason Kessler of Unite the Right, which sponsored the deadly, racist rally in Charlottesville Virginia in 2017. Mahler reportedly raised money for Kesslers legal defense, and was slated to be a speaker  along with former KKK Grand Wizard David Duke  at short-lived Unite the Right II, which was drowned out by counter protestors.

In an interview with Rolling Stone Mahler insists that hes at his core a monarchist  and that the fascism he promotes is just the off ramp from democracy back to traditional government. Monarchy is the goal. Mahler, 37, balks at being labeled neo Nazi but admits that he wants America to be a white ethnostate  suggesting that it is Gods will.

Raised in California, Mahler attended Chapman University law school, where Trumps infamous election lawyer John Eastman used to teach. Mahler has a been an active member of the state bar since 2013.

In recent years, Mahler moved to Tennessee, where hes led far-right agitation within LCMS  at one point becoming webmaster for the Book of Concord, the Lutheran Churchs manual of doctrine. Mahler has used that clout to build relationships with what he calls faithful pastors, while dreaming of cleaning house of the churchs current leadership, and leading an influx of hardline young men into LCMS congregations.(He claims to have personally recruited dozens.)

Mahler tells Rolling Stone hes attempting to save LCMS by getting these young men back in the church. But hes also described these recruits as pawns a larger plot: The Millennials who will replace the feckless, spineless, degenerate boomers will be sure to settle accounts and amend the errors of the past century, hes written, adding: The LCMS will continue to get more and more conservative and more and more traditional  very soon, we will expel the liberals.

The Machaira Action report argues that modern fascists are attracted to fundamentalist Lutheranism, in part, because of Martin Luthers own vehement antisemitism. (Luther famously sparked the Protestant Reformation. But in less-reckoned-with with history he also called on Jewish schools and synagogues to be set ablaze in honor of our Lord and of Christendom.) Evoking the language of Hitlers Germany, Mahler writes of Lutheranism as the ancestral faith of my Volk and insists LCMS has been in decline since it gave up its explicitly German character.

Mahler spews his repulsive ideology on Twitter and Telegram. A review by Rolling Stone finds Mahler claiming that Jews worship Satan. He weaves Jesus into his white supremacy: Hatred of Whites is virtually always thinly veiled hatred of Christ. And he insists that his racism is an essential component of conservatism: Anyone who is not explicitly pro-White is not actually a member of the Right, but an enemy agent. Mahler also writes that fascism is a response to the Marxism of modern society: You will be Fascist or your will be Marxist, he writes. There are no other options.

The Machaira expose appears to have sparked LCMS thunderous condemnation of alt-right members. But the church has been grappling with Mahlers corrosive influence for months. In a blog post where he details his side of recent events, Mahler reproduced a June, 2022 complaint letter by three LCMS pastors to the leader of the Knoxville church Mahler attended, sounding the alarm about Mahlers sinful behavior.

In the letter, the pastors warned: Mr. Mahler engages in regular hateful and racist behavior and promotion of Nazi Germany and its ideals. He does so in a manner than makes him appear as a sanctioned representative of the LCMS. It records that Mahler had been booted from his webmaster role (the Synod saw fit to remove him from oversight of the bookofconcord.org) but noted that this in no way has deterred him.

Mahler claims that his pastor took no action at the time, and that Mahler remained in good standing within the church. The pastor did not respond to an interview request; neither did LCMS president Harrison. Since that time, Mahler and his followers continued to wield significant clout in the broader LCMS  including waging a successful campaign to stymie an update to the churchs statements of doctrine that Mahler & Co. lambasted as too woke.

In his February excommunication warning, Harrison explained that alt-right individuals were at the genesis [of that] controversy over doctrine, which theyd used promote their own absolutist racist and supremacist ideologies.

Mahler has created such a stench that even arch-conservative LCMS voices are eager to see his ilk cast out of the church. Ive been disheartened in recent weeks to encounter posts from LCMS Lutherans expressing admiration for Nazi Germany, tweeted Rev. Chrisopher Neuendorf, an LCMS hardliner from North Dakota.

I had always thought the neo-Nazi menace was largely a fantasy concocted by Communists to justify extreme measures against the Right, he added. Turns out there are at least some who are exactly what the Communists need them to be.

Best of Rolling Stone

Click here to read the full article.
First Vice-President of the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) Jurgen Rigterink this week led a high-level delegation from the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development to Lviv, western Ukraine, to discuss further increasing the bank's commitment to Ukraine as the country enters a second year of war., the press service of the EBRD has reported.

Accompanied by EBRD Managing Director for Eastern Europe and the Caucasus Matteo Patrone and Lesya Kuzmenko, the Bank's Deputy Head of Ukraine for Industry, Commerce and Agribusiness, First Vice-President Rigterink met Lviv Mayor Andriy Sadovy to discuss present and future investments.

As noted in the press release, Lviv and western Ukraine lie close to the border with several European Union countries. With the war putting in question Ukraine's ability to import and export via its Black Sea ports, road and rail links leading west from Lviv are crucial for maintaining the economy. The area is also seen as a likely starting-point for future reconstruction efforts.

At the same time, as the biggest population centre in western Ukraine, Lviv has proved a natural destination for internally displaced people, whose presence has put key municipal services under pressure at a time when the city is struggling for revenue. Last December, the EBRD lent EUR 25 million to Lviv and its municipal companies, with credit support from the United States of America covering half the loan, to provide liquidity to adapt.

EBRD representatives, together with Sadovy, visited a municipal hospital and the Unbroken initiative being built in Lviv  a rehabilitation ecosystem where Ukrainians with war injuries have access to multidisciplinary teams of surgeons, traumatologists, prosthetists, psychotherapists and rehabilitation experts.

The delegation also looked at several EBRD projects in and around Lviv and held talks with clients on existing and potential projects. Among clients was Bank Lviv, recipient of a EUR 10 million syndicated loan last August for on-lending to small and medium-sized enterprises to help them withstand shocks caused by the war.

The EBRD group also visited the M10 Lviv Industrial Park project, 60 km from the Polish border, an ambitious project to develop a major industrial park creating warehouse and manufacturing space that will help Ukraine expand access to vital services and products. The EBRD committed last December to invest up to $24.5 million in taking a 35% stake in the project, whose first phase  construction of a 14,400-square-metre warehouse complex - is close to completion.

According to the bank's press service, other client meetings included a trip to new production facilities recently built, with EBRD support, by yeast plant Enzym, and discussions with representatives of pet food producer Kormotech, petrol station operator Galnaftogaz (GNG), air ventilator producer Prana and IT firm Softserve.

While in Lviv, the EBRD officials also visited the Superhumans rehabilitation centre, a humanitarian project set up by EBRD client Andriy Stavnitser, owner of one of the largest container terminals in Ukraine, TIS. The centre provides prosthetic limbs to adults and children.

The delegation inspected a small company that is a marker of Ukrainian business resilience  a car wash operation destroyed by a rocket attack last April but rebuilt and back in operation within a month.
U.S. Border Patrol agents found 171 migrants hidden in four stash houses throughout El Paso County, officials said.

Agents with the Border Patrol's Anti-Smuggling Unit, along with troopers from the Texas Department of Public Safety, received information Feb. 26 about a possibly stash house near Fairbanks Drive and U.S. 54 in Northeast El Paso, U.S. Border Patrol officials said.

U.S. Border Patrol agents found 171 migrants between Feb. 26, 2023, to March 2, 2023, hidden in four stash houses throughout El Paso County.

Agents found 50 migrants from Guatemala, Mexico and El Salvador inside the car garage at the house. The migrants were being kept in "deplorable conditions," officials said.

The migrants were found to be in good health and were detained to be processed for deportation, officials said.

Two Mexico citizens were detained on suspicion of smuggling and will face prosecution in Texas state court, officials said.

Agents received more information Tuesday about a stash house in Central El Paso.

Agents found 25 migrants at the stash house located near Pershing Drive and U.S. 54, officials said. The migrants were from Mexico, Ecuador and Colombia.

An unaccompanied juvenile from Mexico also was found in the group, officials said.

More:Colorado murder suspect detained at El Paso port of entry

The migrants were medically evaluated and found in good health, officials said.

On Wednesday, agents who had received information through a previous stash house investigation found 78 migrants crammed inside a small house near Paisano Drive and Frutas Avenue in South-Central El Paso, officials said.

The migrants were from Guatemala, Honduras, Mexico and El Salvador. The group included three unaccompanied juveniles from Guatemala. The migrants were found in good health.

The "smuggling facilitator" was detained and will face federal prosecution for smuggling, officials said.

Agents also raided a stash house Thursday in Horizon City where they found 18 migrants who had been smuggled into the U.S., officials said.

The migrants were from Mexico, Ecuador, Honduras and Guatemala.

U.S. Border Patrol agents found 171 migrants between Feb. 26 and March 2, hidden in four stash houses throughout El Paso County.

The investigation into the stash house revealed one of the migrants from Ecuador had a prior conviction for second degree rape of a child from New York in 2014, officials said.

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The Ecuadorian will face charges for the illegal re-entry, officials said.

All migrants detained in the four stash house busts will be deported to Mexico under Title 42 or transported to theCentral Processing Center to be processed under Title 8.

U.S. Border Patrol El Paso Sector agents have busted 95 stash houses, resulting in the discovery of more than 1,200 migrants illegally in the U.S. in the 2023 fiscal year, which started in October, officials said.

Our multi-layer and whole of government approach, in collaboration with our law enforcement partners has been crucial to our border security mission," U.S. Border Patrol El Paso Sector acting Chief Patrol Agent Peter Jaquez said in a statement. "We will continue to work together to disrupt Transnational Criminal Organizations and their illicit activity in this border region. I am grateful for our community and local law enforcement support and partnerships.

U.S. Customs and Border Protection officials urge community members to report suspicious activity to the U.S. Border Patrol by calling 1-800-635-2509. Community members can remain anonymous.

Aaron Martinez may be reached at amartinez1@elpasotimes.com or on Twitter @AMartinezEPT.

This article originally appeared on El Paso Times: Border Patrol in El Paso County busts stash houses, finds 171 migrants
About 90 students walked out of classes Thursday at Colorado Early Colleges Fort Collins High School to protest the recent firing of principal Collin Turbert.

Turbert was fired last week, along with CEC Fort Collins Middle School principal Jeb Holt, for violations of the Colorado Early Colleges employee code of conduct, the schools chief executive administrator wrote in letters emailed Feb. 22 to staff and parents of students at both schools. As CECs head of school for Fort Collins, Turbert was Holts supervisor.

Led by junior Eilee Vichosky, the students walked out the front doors of the school in south Fort Collins to a small piece of undeveloped land behind Kruse Elementary School across the street and took turns with a megaphone to express their support for Turbert while also calling for the resignation of CEC Chief Executive Administrator Sandi Brown.

A handful of CEC middle schoolers joined the protest and spoke, but none referenced Holt in their statements.

Step down, Sandi Brown, they chanted between the testimonials. Signs were distributed that showed support for Turbert, called for Browns removal and pointed out that CEC is a public charter school and not a private school.

My two objectives of this are to get Sandi Brown to step down from her CEA position because I feel like she has abused it for years now, Vichosky told the Coloradoan. And I feel like a second objective is I want there to be a formal apology released to Mr. Turbert because I do feel like his reputation has been damaged by this without proper justification and reasoning. I think the intentionally vague information being released and the intentionally harmful insinuations being made are hurting his reputation. Releasing an apology could help repair that some.

Turbert has declined comment in emails to the Coloradoan.

Brown stood in the background, along with Larry Mohr, the Fort Collins/Windsor representative on the CEC governing board, for the first hour of the walkout before heading back into the school. She did not acknowledge students offers to come forward and speak to them as a group.

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CEC Fort Collins High School student Madison Hansen, center, holds a sign and looks toward Chief Executive Administrator Sandi Brown during a walkout on Thursday. The walkout was a protest of the recent firing of principal Collin Turbert and what they say is corruption in the Colorado Early Colleges system.

Students were told by two staff members who were making sure they stayed off private property and public streets that they were free to come and go from the school to leave or join the protest throughout the day, and many went back inside after about 90 minutes. Others, though, were coming back to rejoin the group just before noon.

Brown said she was proud of the students for exercising their right to peacefully protest the principals dismissal and that there would be no repercussions against those who participated.

Its understandable, because they dont know the details, Brown said. We are a school that really tries to protect the dignity of everyone. I try to give the least amount of information. Its one thing to be terminated; its another to have your name drug through the mud. I really try hard not to do that with our staff.

A letter from Brown that was emailed to parents and staff Wednesday noted that she was aware of the planned walkout, supported students right to speak out peacefully on matters that concern them and that she would be on campus to support our students, staff and community during this time of transition.

It went on to note that CEC, as a general practice, does not share the specific details of complaints or investigations. She did, though, offer some additional information.

CEC has a legal obligation to hold all of its employees to certain standards and takes that obligation very seriously. This practice ensures a healthy school climate and culture. If any employee, especially an employee in a leadership position, violates the legal rights of another employee, CEC must act accordingly. Regarding Mr. Turbert, CEC followed the required course for employee complaint investigations. The investigation found several substantiated accounts of violations under the CEC Employee Code of Conduct, including violations of federally protected rights.

Protesting students and Travis Mitchell, a parent of three CEC students who was watching, believe the firing of Turbert was politically motivated. Fourteen current staff members, three former staff members and two other parents, all speaking anonymously for fear of retribution, have also reached out to the Coloradoan since the firings to express their support for Turbert and belief that he was fired for political stances that didnt align with Browns.

CEC Fort Collins High School student Sam Daniels, 14, prepares remarks on a piece of paper during a walkout on Thursday. The walkout was a protest of the recent firing of principal Collin Turbert and what they say is corruption in the Colorado Early Colleges system.

Student Sam Daniels said about half the students in his English class left in the middle of class to join the walkout. He told the crowd that he believes Turberts opposition to converting CEC to a classical school, with curriculum similar to Poudre School District charter schools Ridgeview Classical and Liberty Common, was behind his firing.

I want to show justice for our principal who was wrongly fired for expressing his political beliefs privately, if you could even call them political beliefs. So, I think its great that students are standing up for what they believe and seeking justice, Daniels said.

Another student, Jackson Singleton, estimated that about half the students who were in school Thursday morning participated in the protest.

It makes me feel really good, said Vichosky, president of the schools Gay Straight Alliance, vice president of its Key Club and a member of the National Honor Society. One of my biggest fears while planning this walkout was that only five people would show up and it would fall through.

CEC Fort Collins High School student and event organizer Eilee Vichosky speaks into a megaphone during a walkout on Thursday. The walkout was a protest of the recent firing of principal Collin Turbert and what they say is corruption in the Colorado Early Colleges system.

Some students were opposed to the walkout or hesitant to participate because they did not have enough information, she said. Staff members, she said, were very supportive but afraid they would be disciplined or fired for participating.

A communication from Brown to staff Thursday morning and shared with the Coloradoan read: Staff are expected to be in their classes with their students according to their teaching schedule but may exercise their right to speak out peacefully if they have a period not assigned to being with students or other obligations pertaining to their job.

It went on to note: Staff should not speak to media.

CEC teachers and staff are at-will employees without the same legal protections as licensed teachers working at schools in public school districts.

CECs charter to operate as a public school in Colorado is issued through the authority of the Charter School Institute, not a specific school district, a Colorado Department of Education spokesperson said. CEC operates 10 schools in the state, including the two in Fort Collins and a combined middle-high school in Windsor.

Brown reiterated that the actions that led to Turberts firing involved interactions with staff, not students, and that it was not related to a U.S. Department of Education Office of Civil Rights complaint filed against CEC last spring.

Sara Neel, an attorney with the American Civil Liberties Union of Colorado, confirmed that there was no connection to the case she was involved with at the school last spring regarding concerns raised by the schools Gay Straight Alliance.

Brown said there was a lot of good Turbert brought to CEC. But theres also things that these kids will never know about, and thats unfortunate. Mr. Turbert was with me from tutor to head of school, and it breaks my heart, as well.

No one wants to terminate mid-semester. That is not good for anybody involved, correct? So, when you do something like this, its for very good reasons.

Reporter Kelly Lyell covers education, breaking news, some sports and other topics of interest for the Coloradoan. Contact him at kellylyell@coloradoan.com, twitter.com/KellyLyell or facebook.com/KellyLyell.news.

This article originally appeared on Fort Collins Coloradoan: Colorado Early Colleges students walk out over principal's firing
Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga., takes a selfie with the newly elected House Speaker Kevin McCarthy on Jan. 6, 2023.

Its tempting to ignore the ravings of U.S. Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Georgia.

Even when her rantings are a spectacular combination of insanity and ignorance.

Maybe especially when her rantings are a spectacular combination of insanity and ignorance.

The problem, though, is that shes no longer a marginal player in American politics, no longer a sideshow freak performing far away from the main stage of U.S. power.

Her party now controls, however tenuously, the U.S. House of Representatives. She has the ear of the House Speaker, U.S. Rep. Kevin McCarthy, R-California. And shes a possible 2024 running mate for former President Donald Trump, should Trump become the Republican nominee for president in the next election.

Thus, what Greene says  even when what she says is completely bonkers  now matters.

Particularly when its about something as serious as civil war.

A few days ago, Greene tweeted:

We need a national divorce. We need to separate by red states and blue states and shrink the federal government. Everyone I talk to says this. From the sick and disgusting woke culture issues shoved down our throats to the Democrats traitorous America Last policies, we are done.

Well set aside the fact that divorce may be foremost on Greenes mind these days, given that her own split following 27 years of marriage and several allegations of marital infidelity on her part, traditional values exemplar that she is, was finalized at the end of last year. Well also ignore her shaky grasp of basic grammar.

Instead, lets focus on what shes trying to say and examine its sheer lunacy.

We Americans tried what shes suggesting from 1861 to 1865. It resulted in one of the bloodiest  if not the bloodiest  civil war in human history.

One quarter of the men in America between the ages of 18 and 45 died during that period, devastating families so thoroughly that many required decades to recover from their losses. An entire region of the country  the South from which Greene hails  saw its economic fortunes so derailed by the conflict that it spent almost a century clawing its way back to prosperity.

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Even though it is often romanticized in American memory, our civil war was a cataclysm, a near-death experience for the experiment in self-government that Abraham Lincoln  to whose party Greene claims to belong  called the last best hope of earth.

Before that huge tragedy occurred, there were voices as delusional as Greenes saying separating the republic would be a simple thing.

As the resulting body count demonstrated, it turns out that it wasnt.

If anything, things would be both more complicated and worse now.

In the 1860s, the divide over slavery could be accounted for in regional terms between north and south. Even so, the split was horrific, with many families in the border states and here in the Midwest  mine included  torn apart by the fighting.

Now, though, red states and blue states live side by side. Even assuming we could do this act of separation peacefully  a huge and unrealistic assumption  how would it work?

Indiana, for example, is a red state with blue states Illinois and Michigan to the west and north, respectively. Do we stop trading with them  or will they have the right to impose tariffs on us and us on them?

I have a sister in upstate New York, in-laws in Manhattan and Connecticut and cousins with whom Im close in Minnesota, blue states all. Would I have to use my passport to visit them and they to visit me?

And what do we do about the purple states, such as Greenes own Georgia, where the will of the people is not easily determined?

For that matter, what do we do about the military? The blue states pay the most in taxes and thus provide the greatest support for the federal government and the armed forces. Do they get to call the shots, or do we have two armies?

I point all this out not to educate Marjorie Taylor Greene.

She and her followers  including some members of the Indiana General Assembly  lack the capacity to learn from history, much less acknowledge when theyre confronted with contrary facts.

There are, though, many rational members of the Republican Party.

Its time for them to speak up and distance themselves from her incendiary looniness.

Either that or start calling their annual political gatherings Jefferson Davis Day Dinners.

John Krull, director of TheStateHouseFile.com

John Krull is director of Franklin College's Pulliam School of Journalism and publisher of TheStatehouseFile.com, a news website powered by Franklin College journalism students. The views expressed are those of the author only and should not be attributed to Franklin College.

This article originally appeared on The Herald-Times: Marjorie Taylor Greene's divorce from reality can no longer be ignored
Stephanie Clark now. Stephanie Clark

For years, Stephanie Clark experienced pain, fatigue, strange body shape changes, and low libido.

Clinicians dismissed her symptoms and referred her to a weight-loss program and therapy.

She was later diagnosed with a desmoid tumor, a rare growth that can wrap around body structures.

Stephanie Clark had a lot to be excited about leading up to 2020.

The mom of an elementary-school-aged son had gotten married in 2018 and bought a house in Lewiston, Maine, in 2019. She had also enrolled in a program to become a certified nurse assistant  an upgrade from her administrative job at a family medical practice.

And yet, Clark, now 34, had lived with an "impending feeling of doom and gloom" since 2017. She had back, neck, and shoulder pain, became uncomfortable sleeping on her left side, and noticed her breasts were fuller. She also developed a lump on her back.

Clark had an unusually low libido for a newlywed, seemed to sweat excessively, and lacked the energy to keep up with her workload.

Doctor visits didn't yield satisfying answers. Clark's primary care doctor referred her to a weight and wellness program and to a psychologist for anxiety and depression. A dermatologist dismissed the back bump as a "harmless lipoma," or a fat-filled growth that sits between the muscle and skin.

"I was so hard on myself  I played the blame and shame game," Clark told Insider. "I thought, 'I'm just fat. Maybe I just suck at adulting. Maybe I just can't handle the stress of everyday life.' I thought that I was just a loser."

Then in August 2020, Clark drove to the ER in excruciating pain. "I couldn't stand for more than a minute or so without feeling like a hot knife was sticking out of my back," she said. A CT scan revealed a grapefruit-sized tumor on her rib cage. Doctors told her it was likely stage 3 bone cancer.

"I was just stunned," said Clark, who was alone due to pandemic-era hospital rules. "I remember having this overwhelming sensation, at 32 years old, that I wanted my mom."

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Clark later learned she has a rare type of tumor

A week later, Clark got a call from a doctor congratulating her on her biopsy results: She didn't have cancer, but did have a desmoid tumor, a rare growth with tendril-like growths that can wrap around nearby structures, causing pain and other symptoms, according to the National Cancer Institute (NCI).

In rare cases where they wrap around vital organs, the tumors can be fatal, research shows.

Though benign, they're unpredictable, and can shrink on their own or grow aggressively. There's no FDA-approved therapies for the growths, which the NCI says can be difficult to remove and, when they are removed, often grow back.

"This is hardly something I would congratulate anyone on," Clark said. "What I've been through, it's nothing worth celebrating."

Stephanie Clark holding her newborn nephew in 2021, when she was undergoing IV chemotherapy. Stephanie Clark

Clark first underwent three months of oral chemotherapy, but the tumor continued to grow. "I felt like it was mocking me," she said. She then endured five months of IV chemo, which shrunk the tumor in half. Clark also underwent several procedures to freeze of parts of the tumor off.

Today, Clark still deals with the tumor she named "Hank." It has eroded six of her ribs and grown a tendril that pushes against her backbone, causing excruciating pain.

One day in the future Clark may undergo a surgery to try to remove most of the tumor, but that would be a complicated procedure involving multiple surgeons and the replacement of some of her ribs with titanium. Plus, "it's a gamble," Clark said, since her tumor could grow back.

Clark's parents look after her now-teenage son, and she and her husband divorced. She can't work, takes about 27 different medications a day, and meets with her oncology team every few weeks.

Prior to her diagnosis, Stephanie Clark's favorite hobby was fishing. Stephanie Clark

"I've had to dig deep and become my own advocate to deal with the members on my team who I don't feel give me the time of day," she said. "I've had to learn how to stick up for myself and demand better care. And that's a challenge, especially when you don't feel well when you're already in pain."

Clark advocates for rare disease awareness and support online

Clark has found comfort in creating a Facebook page to raise awareness of desmoid tumors and support others with rare diseases. She posts about advocating for yourself in the healthcare system, how wearing lipstick and dressing up boosts her mental health, and even writes poems about Hank.

"Will an effective treatment or cure be found before my desmoid tumor gets the best of me?" she said. "I don't know. I hope so, but I've made the choice to not sit back idly while this desmoid tumor continues to invade my healthy tissue."

Instead, she'll volunteer for clinical trials, mentor those who are newly diagnosed, and speak out on occasions like the NIH's Rare Disease Day.

"For me, the question is not, 'Why did this happen to me?'" Clark said. "The question I ask myself now is, 'What am I going to do about it?'"

Read the original article on Insider
Former Roman Catholic Cardinal Theodore McCarrick, who was defrocked after years of sexual abuse allegations, said in an exclusive interview that he did not assault a New Jersey man he is charged with abusing, though he did acknowledge knowing his accuser.

Once one of the most high-profile Catholic leaders in America, McCarrick, the former archbishop of Newark and bishop of Metuchen, has been reclusive in the four years since he was expelled from the clergy by Pope Francis. As of 2021, he was living in a Missouri rehabilitation center for troubled priests, court documents say.

McCarrick, also the former archbishop of Washington, D.C., was a prominent voice and prodigious fundraiser for the Vatican for decades. But he fell from grace amid multiple sexual abuse allegations, including one from a Bergen County native, James Grein, that has prompted a criminal prosecution in Massachusetts.

Grein, who now lives in Virginia, has filed a pair of lawsuits against McCarrick. But his role in the criminal case has been unreported until now. Prosecutors in Massachusetts say McCarrick assaulted Grein, then a teenager, during a 1974 wedding at Wellesley College.

On Monday, the former cardinal's lawyers filed a filed a motion in the case arguing that McCarrick, now 92, isn't competent to stand trial because of what they called irreversible dementia.

A brief interview

A day after the filing, a reporter for NorthJersey.com and the USA Today Network New Jersey reached McCarrick on his private phone line. The conversation was brief, lasting less than 10 minutes. The former prelate sounded calm and composed throughout.

"Do you remember James Grein?" the reporter asked. "Yes. I remember him," McCarrick answered.

He denied the accusations, which involve 20 years of abuse that allegedly started when Grein was 11 years old.

"It is not true," McCarrick said. "The things he said about me are not true."

"If you want more information about it, you can talk to my lawyers," he added.

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According to Grein, who grew up in Tenafly and now lives in Virginia, McCarrick was a close family friend who baptized him but then went on to abuse him for years, starting when he was 11 years old. In a separate interview this week, Grein, now 64, said McCarrick would attend the family's gatherings and vacations and was so close that he was given the nickname "Uncle Ted."

"He sexually and spiritually abused me," said Grein, who alleges that the abuse took place in his home, in hotels around the country and during confession.

In this 2019 file photo, James Grein, 61, speaks at his house in Sterling, Va. Grein says Cardinal Theodore McCarrick's exalted place in the family over three generations created pressure on him to visit with McCarrick during weekends away from boarding school and visits when he would be molested. If I didn't go to see Theodore I was always going to be asked by my brothers and sisters or my dad, 'Why didn't you go see him?'"

The conversation with McCarrick on Tuesday came after several unanswered calls to his phone. Eventually, he returned the calls.

After asking about McCarrick's well-being, this reporter identified herself as a journalist and made it clear she was asking about his accuser.

McCarrick said he was home in Missouri. He said he was "feeling well, considering that I am 92 years old. It's not like I'm 40 or 50 anymore."

'I don't want to speak of these things'

McCarrick answered questions about Grein politely but made it clear he didn't want to discuss the case.

"I don't want to speak of these things," he said. "You can speak to my lawyer."

"I hope you will not do a snow job on me," he added, before hanging up.

McCarrick is charged with three counts of indecent assault and battery on a person over the age of 14. He faces up to five years in prison for each charge, according to Mitch Garabedian, Grein's attorney. His client has also filed lawsuits against McCarrick in New York and New Jersey.

McCarrick pleaded not guilty to the criminal charges in 2021. In Monday's filing, his lawyers cited a report by a professor of psychiatry and behavioral sciences at Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine that said McCarrick has "a severe cognitive disorder" and "everyday functional disability" that classifies as dementia, most likely due to Alzheimer's disease.

More: A timeline of ex-Cardinal Theodore McCarrick's rise and fall

Investigation: Here's what we uncovered this year about Cardinal McCarrick, beach houses and sex abuse

Massachusetts prosecutors said they will bring in their own experts in April to assess McCarrick's competency to stand trial.

Garabedian said McCarrick's motion to dismiss the case also concedes that the former cardinal can still be "intelligent and articulate." The dementia claim was "conveniently deceptive," he said.

He said it could take months for the court to rule on McCarrick's competency.

McCarrick's attorney, Barry Coburn, declined to comment.

Deena Yellin covers religion for NorthJersey.com. For unlimited access to her work covering how the spiritual intersects with our daily lives, please subscribe or activate your digital account today.

Email: yellin@northjersey.com

Twitter: @deenayellin

This article originally appeared on NorthJersey.com: Ex-Cardinal Theodore McCarrick denies sex abuse charges in interview
Key safety equipment on tank cars carrying cancer-causing toxic chemicals in last month's East Palestine, Ohio, train derailment may have been compromised, "possibly degrading" their ability to protect the public from catastrophic tank failure under fire conditions, according to an investigative update from the National Transportation Safety Board.

Despite concerns about the equipment, so far, there is no indication the cars carrying vinyl chloride were breached, NTSB spokesman Keith Holloway said, but the investigation remains ongoing.

The Norfolk Southern train derailed Feb. 3 after a railcar's wheel bearing overheated and a subsequent fire broke out. Worries about increased temperature in a vinyl chloride tank car and possible explosion led the company to undertake a "controlled release" of the chemicals in the tank cars. That required thousands of the rural town's residents to evacuate for days, amid concerns of air and water quality.

Norfolk Southern did not immediately reply to a request for comment.

The environmental toll: East Palestine train derailment killed more than 43,000 fish and animals, officials say

What did federal transportation safety investigators discover?

NTSB investigators found that three of the five vinyl chloride carrying tank cars were equipped with aluminum protective housings manufactured in the 1990s. Investigators were "concerned" to learn that these protective covers "melted or were consumed" when the pressure relief devices (PRDs) housed beneath them vented burning gas to relieve tank pressure.

"Preliminary examination suggests that melted aluminum may have dripped into some PRDs, possibly degrading their performance," the NTSB said in their update. The safety agency is now trying to determine the numbers of tank cars in operation that are still equipped with such housings, which are crucial to protecting pressure relief devices from damage.

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One of the chemical tankers has "NTSB HOLD" sprayed on its side at the East Palesine train derailment site on Saturday, February 25, 2023. What appears to be smoke rising behind the tanker is dust from an excavator working on the site. A Feb. 3 train derailment has had toxic ramifications for the Columbiana County community. "NTSB" stands for the National Transportation Safety Board, which investigates transportation accidents.

The pressure relief devices are supposed to help regulate internal tank pressure by releasing small amounts of material and closing back up once conditions return to normal.

When was the move from aluminum to steel for tank car protective housings?

Holloway said investigators are still gathering information about when the industry transitioned to steel for such protective housings but early information indicates it was in early 2000.

"NTSB investigators of course will review the history of the requirements to see if the current status is sufficient for the industry," Holloway said in an email. He said the agency can make recommendations to review standards, procedures and guidelines, if necessary.

New safety advisory notice for hazmat railroad workers

Also Thursday, the U.S. Department of Transportation's Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration (PHMSA) issued a safety advisory notice urging "all hazmat tank car owners and offerors to survey their fleets for any tank cars currently equipped with aluminum protective housing and consider replacing this equipment with carbon steel housings, which we understand to be current industry practice."

A black plume rises over East Palestine, Ohio, as a result of a controlled detonation of a portion of the derailed Norfolk Southern train on Feb. 6, 2023.

In the safety notice, the agency's associate administrator, William Schoonover, said that PHMSA and the Federal Railway Administration could take more action in the future if the investigation shows that the destroyed covers "significantly contributed to improper functioning of the pressure relief devices."

In other accidents, investigators have found that carbon steel protective housing covers survive fires and prolonged "pool fires," where fuel is evaporating, likely because it has a higher melting point than aluminum.

Follow Tami Abdollah on Twitter at @latams or email her at tami(at)usatoday.com

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Update: East Palestine train derailment involved older tank equipment
Photos of the Caviola family dogs Cimo, right, and Lieben, left, on a poster outside Danbury Superior Court on Wednesday, March 1, 2023, in Danbury, Conn. Michael Konschak is facing charges after he allegedly killed, beheaded and skinned Caviola's family dogs. Konschak, a hunter who told authorities he killed and skinned what he thought were two coyotes, but later discovered they were a Connecticut family's pet German shepherds, has been criminally charged.

A New York hunter is facing multiple hunting charges after skinning two dogs he thought were coyotes.

The two German shepherds escaped from their family's home in late November, weeks before hunter Michael Konschak made what he called a "split second" decision to shoot the dogs with a crossbow.

The Connecticut Department of Energy and Environmental Protection arrested Konschak, 61, in February and charged him with:

Tampering with evidence

Forgery

Interfering with an officer

Hunting on private land without written consent from a landowner

Violating wild game hunting regulations

According to Danbury State's Attorney David Applegate, the case is still being investigated and Konschak could be hit with more charges.

Konschak applied for a probation program that could've erased the charges but a judge rejected his request Wednesday, the Associated Press reported.

Montana: Montana woman who killed, skinned Husky puppy cited for animal cruelty

Dogs and wildlife: Dog famed for living with coyotes in Nevada desert has emotional reunion with family

What happened to the dogs?

According to court documents from the Superior Court of Connecticut, two German shepherds named Leiben and Cimo went missing on Nov. 18.

They escaped from their family's yard in Ridgefield, Connecticut, about 45 miles west of New Haven. According to the documents, an animal, possibly a black bear, had damaged the family's six-foot high fence, allowing the dogs to escape. Neither dog had a collar on.

Between Nov. 18 and Dec. 12, the family searched for the dogs; then on Dec. 12, a family member received a text from someone with a photo of the two dogs deceased.

The sender said he got the information from a friend and said a hunter killed the two dogs thinking they were coyotes.

The Ridgefield Police Department and an animal control officer launched an investigation.

Hunter says he is ashamed: 'It was never my intent'

During a hearing in Danbury Superior Court on Wednesday, Konschak said he is ashamed of what he did.

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"Please know that it was never my intent that morning to harm the victims pets, he said.

Erin Caviola, of Ridgefield, talks with the media outside Danbury Superior Court on Wednesday, March 1, 2023, in Danbury, Conn. Michael Konschak is facing charges after he allegedly killed, beheaded and skinned Caviola's family dogs. Konschak, a hunter who told authorities he killed and skinned what he thought were two coyotes, but later discovered they were a Connecticut family's pet German shepherds, has been criminally charged.

Erin Caviola, who owned the dogs, said the family "lives with the emotional pain as we think about what they felt in their final moments lying beside each other dying."

How did authorities get involved?

According to the documents, Konschak sent a photo of the dead dogs to someone asking to have their pelts tanned. When the person realized they weren't coyotes, an investigation was launched.

Officials contacted Konschak on Dec. 13 to tell him about the investigation. He "reluctantly" agreed to go to the Ridgefield Police Department on Dec. 16 to give a statement but never showed up, police said.

During the investigation, Konschak told investigators he encountered the animals on Nov. 18 while hunting on private property. He said he had permission to hunt on the property and had done so for 30 years.

He saw the animals chasing deer and thought they were Eastern coyotes. When one of the dogs ran into his line of sight, he "put it down" with a crossbow. When he went over to the dead dog, the other one approached him despite him trying to wave it off, he said.

Konschak said he was in a "split second situation" and shot the second dog.

He drove back to New York with the dogs and skinned them.

He said he didn't like the way they turned out, calling them "unsatisfactory," so he threw the pelts away and took the remains to an area called "Ridgebury Slope" in Connecticut.

Holes in Konschak's story

Michael Konschak reads a statement during an appearance in Danbury Superior Court Wednesday, March 1, 2023, in Danbury, Conn.

Investigators later spoke to a taxidermist Konschak contacted, who told the hunter he was certain they were not coyotes.

"If you need to make a quick decision, a person could make a mistake, but up close you could tell they were German Shepherds," the taxidermist told investigators.

In January, Konschak and his attorney met an investigator at Ridgebury Slope to point out where he dumped the remains, but the remains weren't found during the visit.

When asked, he showed a copy of his private land consent form, which wasn't filled out correctly and contained a signature dated Sept. 15, 2023.

Investigators spoke to the landowner where the dogs were shot, who confirmed Konschak had hunted on her property for 30 years but said the signature was not hers.

Investigators later asked Konschak about multiple red flags in his story, including his failure to acknowledge that a taxidermist told him the animals weren't coyotes and date discrepancies.

He told investigators he threw the pelts away on Nov. 18 but a taxidermist says he asked about having them tanned on Dec. 3.

He said the skinnings were "unsatisfactory" but professionals in taxidermy said they were done well so there would be no need to throw them away.

He said he threw the remains away on Ridgebury Slope but no remains were found there.

When investigators asked Konschak about the signature, he said the dates were typos and admitted the property owner did not sign the form.

Were the remains ever found?

Konschak and his lawyer later called investigators and told them he left the remains in Ridgefield and also near his home in Carmel, New York, court documents show.

He said he threw them out "a couple of weeks ago," which led investigators to believe he threw them out once he found out about the investigation.

On Jan. 10, he took officials to a spot in Ridgefield and pointed out where he left one of the pelts.

He admitted tucking the pelt under a rock and placing a tree in front of it. Once the tree was moved, investigators found the pelt and determined it did belong to one of the missing dogs.

He also took officials to an area in Carmel, New York, where he pointed out the skeletal remains of two canines.

Lastly, he drove to Hopewell Junction, New York, where he said he pulled off the road and threw a pelt down an embankment. The pelt was never found and was likely taken by other animals, court records show.

Konschak has another court date next month.

Contributing: Associated Press

Saleen Martin is a reporter on USA TODAY's NOW team. She is from Norfolk, Virginia  the 757  and loves all things horror, witches, Christmas, and food. Follow her on Twitter at @Saleen_Martin or email her at sdmartin@usatoday.com.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: NY hunter shot Connecticut family dogs, thinking they were coyotes
Embattled Freshman Rep. George Santos (R-NY) Recuses Himself For Committee Assignments

U.S. Rep. George Santos (R-NY) leaves the Capitol Hill Club as members of the press follow him on January 31, 2023 in Washington, DC. Credit - Alex WongGetty Images

Republican New York Rep. George Santos, who last year helped his party gain control of the House by flipping a battleground congressional district, has quickly become one of Congress most controversial members.

Since the publication of a bombshell New York Times report in December, he was caught lying about key parts of his biography and campaign, ranging from whether he ever worked at the Wall Street firms he said he did to whether he is Jewish. In the ensuing months, the sources of his campaign funds have come under scrutiny. Additionally, a man who briefly worked as an aide to Santos has accused him of sexual harassment. Santos denied the allegations to CNN, calling them comical.

Multiple inquiries have been launched into Santos history, from federal probes to state reviews to a criminal investigation in Brazil. The latest in the growing list was announced on Thursday, when the House Ethics Committee said it had opened an investigation into Santos.

Here is what to know about all the inquiries into Santos.

Federal officials

The House Ethics Committee will broadly examine the charges against Santos, following a complaint by two Democratic congressmen from New York. The members of the committeesplit evenly between Democrats and Republicansvoted unanimously to create a subcommittee to investigate Santos. The committee could fine Santos or issue a report urging the House to take action against him, including by calling for his removal. House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy has previously said Santos will be removed from Congress if the committee discovers he broke the law.

Outside of Congress, several federal bodies appear to be examining Santos as well. In late December, prosecutors with the U.S. Attorneys Office for the Eastern District of New York reportedly began a federal probe into Santos finances. The office has not confirmed whether it is investigating him. However, a man who accused Santos of improperly keeping funds that were raised to save the mans dying dog told Politico that two FBI agents contacted him on behalf of the office in early February.

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In January, a D.C.-based nonprofit filed a complaint with the Federal Election Commission alleging Santos filed false fundraising and spending information and used campaign funds for personal expenses, including rent. The FEC does not comment on ongoing investigations, but could hit Santos with a fine if it finds a violation. The Justice Department asked the FEC to hold off on any enforcement action against Santos as it conducts a criminal probe, according to the Washington Post.

The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) also interviewed two people this year about Santos involvement with a firm that shut down in 2021 after the SEC accused it of running a classic Ponzi scheme, the Post reported.

New York state officials

New York State Attorney General Letitia James said in late December that her office was looking into Santos, but did not specify whether it had launched a formal investigation.

Around the same time, the District Attorney for Nassau County, where Santos district is centered, said it was reviewing the congressmans conduct. Republican District Attorney Anne Donnelly said that the numerous fabrications and inconsistencies associated with him were stunning and that if a crime was committed in this county, we will prosecute it.

Queens District Attorney Melinda Katz, a Democrat, also said her office was reviewing whether Queens County has jurisdiction over any potential criminal offenses. There isnt much public information about the scope and intensity of state attorneys reviews.

Brazilian authorities

The investigations arent confined to American shores. Brazilian officials in the Rio de Janeiro state prosecutors office announced in January that they are again pursuing fraud charges against Santos. Officials previously suspended the case in the early 2010s because they could not find Santos.

The charges center on the allegation that Santos stole a checkbook from his moms purse that belonged to a man she worked for and used it to buy clothing under a fake name in 2008. He previously admitted to the incident, Brazilian prosecutors said. Late last year, however, Santos denied that he is a criminal in Brazil or anywhere else.

Santos faces a maximum of five years imprisonment, plus a fine, if hes found guilty.
Photo Illustration by Elizabeth Brockway/The Daily Beast/Handout

The Navy SEAL who admitted to killing a Green Beret in Mali in 2017 has hired one of former President Donald Trumps lawyers to help reduce his 10-year prison sentence.

Navy SEAL Tony DeDolph pleaded guilty to involuntary manslaughter in the strangulation death of Army Staff Sgt. Logan Melgar, a Special Forces soldier assigned to the 3rd Special Forces Group. DeDolph also pleaded guilty to hazing, conspiracy, and obstruction of justice for trying to cover up the cause of Melgar's death.

A military jury sentenced DeDolph, a member of the elite SEAL Team 6, to 10 years in prison, and he was also hit with a reduction in rank to E-1, forfeiture of his pay and allowances, and will be dishonorably discharged.

But an appeals court overturned the sentence in 2022 after it came to light his defense team didnt know one of the witnesses asked for clemency as part of his deal to testify against DeDolph. In anticipation of a new sentencing hearing, DeDolph has called in high-profile defense attorney Tim Parlatore to help with his case.

Navy SEAL Who Choked Green Beret to Death Sentenced to 10 Years

A white-collar defense attorney, Parlatore represents former President Trump in the special counsel investigation into his handling of classified material and the investigation into the January 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol. He has also represented organized crime figures, Bernard Kerikthe former New York City police commissioner who plead guilty to tax fraudand two daredevils who parachuted from the World Trade Center. But his most high-profile military client was Navy SEAL Edward Gallagher, who was accused of war crimes. Gallagher, a former member of SEAL Team 7, faced a court martial for war crimes charges including murder but was only convicted of posing for a picture with a dead body.

Obviously I've built a reputation within the special operations community of winning, said Parlatore, a graduate of the Naval Academy who served in the Navy before earning his law degree from Brooklyn Law School.

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Parlatore confirmed DeDolph is out of prison while awaiting a new sentencing but would not disclose his location. It is unclear how DeDolph, who was reduced to the Navys lowest rank when he pleaded guilty and has already served some of his sentence, has the money to pay for a New York criminal defense attorney. When asked, Parlatore declined to discuss finances but confirmed he is working at a discounted rate.

Am I getting paid full freight? Absolutely not, Parlatore said. Am I in this to make money? No. This is not the case that is going to pay my rent.

DeDolph was part of the Naval Special Warfare Development Group, commonly known as Seal Team 6. He and Melgar were part of an intelligence operation in Mali supporting counterterrorism efforts against al Qaedas local affiliate, known as al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb, in 2017.

DeDolph told a military judge he and the other men were avenging a perceived slight after Melgar left them to attend a party at the French Embassy in Malis capital city of Bamako. DeDolphs job during the hazing incident was to place Melgar in a rear naked choke that restricts blood flow in the neck.

DeDolph said the attack was intended to be a joke and the severity escalated during a night of drinking. But Michelle, Melgars widow, was one of the first to alert authorities about inconsistencies in the SEAL's statements, including lying about her husband being drunk.

Slain Green Berets Widow Speaks: I Knew They Were Lying

DeDolph was the third of four defendants to plead guilty in the case. Navy SEAL Adam Matthews, 33, pleaded guilty to hazing and assault charges and attempts to cover up what happened to Melgar. Before he was sentenced, Matthews hit on Melgar's widow at a Las Vegas gun show. He was sentenced in May 2019 to one year in military prison. Marine Raider Kevin Maxwell, 29, was sentenced to four years of confinement after pleading guilty to negligent homicide, hazing, and making false official statements in June 2019. The fourth defendantMarine Raider Mario Madera-Rodriguezwas convicted and sentenced in 2021 to six months in confinement, hard labor, and a reduction in rank.

But a military appeals court last year overturned DeDolphs 10-year sentence after Navy prosecutors failed to disclose that Maxwell, who took part in the hazing and later testified against DeDolph, had asked for clemency in exchange for his testimony. Specifically, Maxwell asked for two years instead of the four he got. The SEALs defense attorneys missed the chance to question Maxwell about a potential motive to misrepresent events, according to the appeals court. His sentence was later reduced from four years to three years. The fact that (Maxwell) sought additional clemency... in exchange for his testimony is clearly information that tended to demonstrate (his) bias, and bore on his credibility, the appeals court wrote. (T)here is a reasonable possibility that the outcome of the trial would have been affected by the disclosure of the clemency request.

Parlatore is focused on reducing DeDolphs sentence.

This case at this stage is all about making sure that he gets an appropriate sentence, he said. There was no intent to kill. This was unfortunately an incident that went badly. So, what is there to win? Making sure that a good man who is involved in a mistake doesn't lose the rest of his life by spending 10 years in jail. Getting him back with his family and getting him back to a position where he could be a good contributing member of society.

The re-sentencing is currently docketed for the first week of June, according to a Navy spokesperson, but Parlatore says it is unlikely to be held that quickly. He is still working to gain a security clearance that will allow him to review court records and evidence.

There are complicating factors, Parlatore said. We're of course negotiating to see if we can work out a deal to do it in a much simpler manner. But to the extent that it's going to be a full contested hearing before Christmas, maybe.

Melgars widow, Michelle, rejected the idea that DeDolph should get a lesser sentence, arguing in a statement to The Daily Beast that it is her husband who suffered an injustice.

Tony and his wife will have a chance to live life together again, while Logans life and our time together, on Earth, was cut short, Michelle Melgar said. Tonys situation is temporary. Our situation is permanent.

Read more at The Daily Beast.

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Cashay Henderson, a Black transgender woman fatally shot in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, is remembered by her family as "a jokester," "independent," "unapologetic," and someone who "walks to the beat of her own drum."

And though she's remembered as a strong, bright presence in the lives of many, her family told ABC News that the discrimination Henderson felt she and other transgender people faced took a toll on Henderson.

"She's like, 'I don't wish this life on anyone,'" said Veronica Beck, her cousin, recalling a conversation they had about the LGBTQ community.

"I knew things weren't easy. But that wasn't the first time that I just knew that, man, she was really struggling. It was a shocking comment, because, you know, she's always so strong, confident and smiling," Beck said.

Henderson, 31, was found dead on Sunday when the Milwaukee Fire Department responded to a fire at the building. Her death is being investigated as a homicide, officials say, after she was found with a fatal gunshot injury.

PHOTO: Elle Halo speaks during the vigil for Cashay Henderson, a transgender woman who died by homicide, on March 1, 2023. (Ebony Cox/Milwaukee Journal Sentinel via USA Today Network)

She is at least the fourth known transgender woman in Milwaukee to be killed in the past year. Brazil Johnson was killed in June 2022, Toi Davis was killed in July 2022 and Regina Allen was killed in August 2022. These killings have not yet been deemed hate crimes by officials.

Still, transgender people are over four times more likely than cisgender people to be victims of violent crime nationwide, according to a study by the Williams Institute at UCLA School of Law.

Beck said that it seemed like every week, Henderson would post on social media about transgender and queer friends who had lost their lives.

"She even said that she was happy she didn't have [Rest in Peace] in front of her name, like a week or two" before her death, said Beck.

Diverse & Resilient, a local LGBTQ advocacy group Henderson was involved with, said they're in mourning.

MORE: Map: Where gender-affirming care is being targeted in the US

"While we are filled with grief, we are also filled with anger," the group said in a statement posted on Facebook. The group hosted a vigil Wednesday in honor of Henderson's memory.

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The group criticized conservative legislators for recent inflammatory rhetoric against transgender people and the LGBTQ community.

"The continued attacks by right-wing elected officials to remove safety and rights for trans people are causing an increase in vitriol and hatred toward people of Trans experience. We call for an immediate halt to the hateful rhetoric and the dangerous bills that are written as a result of transphobia and lies," the statement read.

Roughly 350 anti-LGBTQ bills introduced or advanced nationwide this year, according to the ACLU.

Henderson's hometown of Chicago has also long been plagued by violence against transgender people, activists have told ABC News.

"I remember her saying all the issues she would have," Beck said. "She was a teenager, I remember her saying about a friend getting beat up or something, or they would walk around and people would yell out at them and harass them as they're walking around, because they were dressed like women."

PHOTO: Jaxon Seeger displays photos of transgender women and LGBT individuals who have died by homicide, during the vigil for Cashay Henderson, on March 1, 2023. (Ebony Cox/Milwaukee Journal Sentinel via USA Today Network)

Beck said that when Henderson began openly identifying as a woman when she was a young teen in Chicago, her family accepted her for who she was.

Henderson, known for "doing her own thing" and not worrying about what others had to think of her, became a well-known figure in the LGBTQ community in Milwaukee, where she lived and Chicago, where she was born and raised. The family say they have received support from several local LGBTQ organizations that Henderson was a part of.

They say Henderson prioritized fostering a supportive community, and found that in her family and in the organizations she was active in.

MORE: Two teens charged in Brianna Ghey's death set to go on trial

"I'm proud of her. I'm proud that she made an impact on our community," said Levette Whitlock, Henderson's cousin. "I'm proud people are standing up for her. I love that her community is coming and helping us."

Now, her family is demanding justice as they wait for charges to be filed in Milwaukee police's investigation into her death. A person of interest, a 33-year-old man from Neenah, Wisconsin, was recently arrested in connection to this homicide, police said. The person of interest has not yet been charged.

Police have not released any information about a motive or whether she was targeted because she was transgender.

"As adults  we live our lives, we just get so tangled up, and we didn't really get a chance to really, like, sit down and be with each other and hug each other, and I'll never get to do that," Whitlock said.

In honor of Henderson's memory, her family urges others to embrace who they are fully and unapologetically.

"Love yourself and surround yourself with people who support you," said Beck.

Killing of Black transgender woman in Milwaukee prompts calls for justice originally appeared on abcnews.go.com
President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyy held a regular meeting of the Headquarters of the Supreme Commander-in-Chief on Thursday, in particular, the Russian missile attack on residential infrastructure in Zaporizhia was discussed.

"Held a meeting of the Headquarters, purely on the frontline situation and the security situation... On today's brutal Russian missile attack on Zaporuzhia will be our response, both military and legal. The occupier will inevitably feel our strength. The strength of justice  in every sense of the word," the president said in a video address.

According to him, within the Headquarters meeting, Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of Ukraine Valeriy Zaluzhny and intelligence representatives presented general reports. In addition, there were detailed reports from the commanders of the groupings of troops in specific combat areas. In particular, in Donetsk, Zaporizhia, Kherson and separately in Bakhmut.

"Surely, we do not disregard the north of our state, the border. The commanders are well aware that their task is to do everything to suppress the fire of terrorists. And we are constantly working with partners to increase the range of our capabilities," Zelenskyy said.
Ron DeSantis and Maura Healey

One of the nations first out lesbian governors has ripped into another governor for his anti-LGBTQ+ and racist actions.

Massachusetts Gov. Maura Healey, interviewed Thursday on Boston Public Radio, said Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis is seeking to take the U.S. backwards with his states dont say gay and Stop WOKE laws, and his rejection of a course on African American history.

This whole dont say gay nonsense, his positions around education, the canceling of coursework on African American history, Healey said during the interview, according to the Boston Herald. I think its really shameful, and it certainly does a disservice to the residents of Florida, ultimately.

The dont say gay law, officially titled Parental Rights in Education, bans instruction in public schools on sexual orientation and gender identity in grades K-3 and stipulates that it be age-appropriate thereafter. Opponents say it further marginalizes LGBTQ+ students, teachers, and families.

When Healey, a Democrat, was attorney general of Massachusetts before being elected governor last year, she and several other state AGs filed a friend-of-the-court brief challenging the law, which took effect July 1 after being signed by DeSantis, a Republican with presidential ambitions.

On the radio show, she talked about her commitment to diversity and inclusivity. She has the most diverse cabinet in history, she said, contrasting her position to the disdain by the likes of Ron DeSantis and others for the members of the LGBTQ community.

She also critiqued DeSantiss stances on race. The Florida Department of Education recently rejected an advanced placement course in African American studies. DeSantis objected it its inclusion of queer theory and said it violated the states Stop WOKE Act, which bans the discussion of anything that might make white and straight students uncomfortable.

Black history is American history, Healey said in the interview. We are going to be proud and grateful to our Black community here in Massachusetts and find ways to celebrate and support.

She said her state is serious about democracy and civil rights and protecting freedoms  and thats what we will continue to live by and aspire to in the face of some out there who want to take us backwards, and that includes the likes of Gov. DeSantis.
Photo Illustration by Elizabeth Brockway/The Daily Beast/Photo Courtesy of Detcom

DONETSK, UkraineThe wrath of Russias army is on full display in Bakhmut, with the majority of surviving civilians having fled the ongoing bloodbath while Ukrainian soldiers fight to save the city. Now that Vladimir Putins forces are closing in, those who have been pulled out fear what is at stake for their fellow soldiers.

One soldier, who goes by the name Detcom, spoke with The Daily Beast hours just after leaving the terrorized Bakhmut after a month of fighting.

Detcom is in the 206th battalion of the 241st brigade of Ukraines territorial defense. Throughout January, he had been stationed in the city of Vovchansk, just under six miles from the Belograd Russian border, working to secure any advances from the enemy country. On Jan. 25, the daunting news came: they were being sent to Bakhmut.

We were supposed to go to the village of Krasna Hora, [North]. But. while we moved, new orders came in, so commandment of the [higher] brigade designated us to work on that piece of land covering the main road from Soledar to Bakhmut, said Detcom.

The first two weeks were easier for Detcoms brigade, they held back Russian infantry with ease. It was pretty easy. It's true what they say in the news. These new Russian mobilized soldiers, badly trained, badly equipped, and they were sending them towards us, like just waves of meat, he said. This was for the first two weeks. After that they started using artillery and tanks. This is the place where it got ugly.

Russian Officials Demand Assassination of Zelensky in Leaked Texts

The 241st brigade only had grenade launchers and mortars, nowhere near the caliber of weapons to match the Russians artillery and tanks. Though they successfully held the lines at times, Russian soldiers made advances. They just pushed and pushed and pushed and pushed with tanks and all that stuff, said Detcom.

Detcoms fellow soldiers hid in the trenches and covered themselves as Russian troops fired above. Though they survived, the attack left Detcom and five others shell-shocked, a form of post-traumatic stress disorder.

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It then became harder to fight off the enemy forces. They have a load of ammo for artillery from the Cold War era, he said. They don't count the shells. [But] high brigades use western weaponry, high precision weaponry, and it costs a lot so they don't fire just to fire.

Detcom driving in Bakhmut. Courtesy of Detcom

The situation in Bakhmut became so severe for Detcoms unit that he was ordered to drive to Kyiv to look for a new car for them. While he was there, he went to visit a medic who was admitted into the military hospitaland found out that men he knew had died in Bakhmut.

He told me two guys died, said Detcom. The next morning I got a messagea drone pilot was killed. Then, on his way back on Feb. 16, Detcom got the message that the head sergeant of my platoon was killed by a direct hit in a dugout.

Reflecting on the emotional toll of losing his higher up, Detcom said that he started the whole thing with this guy. His name was Maxim, and we met on Feb. 24, a year ago. We had our first assignment, and later we were in one platoon. Recently he got promoted to sergeant of my platoon that's kinda hard.

The men who fought alongside Detcom over the past year are more than just his co-workers, and the loss of even a single soldier is a huge blow.

We tied up together, we become friends, you know each other, says Detcom.

So far, Detocms unit has lost just six soldiersfour in Bakhmut, and two over the summer in Kherson, which was liberated from Russian occupation in November.

Its only six deaths, but we have a lot of wounded people, and shell shocked. My squad commander, my gun machine gunner, and my driver from my squad, and another gunner, four guys all wounded in hospital because of debris from shells, he said.

When asked about the future of Bakhmut, Detcom said that in the bigger perspective, like in the next few months, if nothing will change in our tactics they will eventually just overwhelm us because they have a shitload of ammo for artillery, and they have enough manpower just to send us towards our position as meat waves.

Read more at The Daily Beast.

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The Davenport-based Genesis Health System has officially joined the MercyOne network.

After months of exploring a formal partnership, MercyOne, one of Iowa's largest regional health systems, has become the parent organization of Genesis. The organizations have received state and federal regulatory approval, and integration of their operations is underway, officials announced Wednesday.

"Our organizations have existed in different forms for well over 150 years each, and today, we take a step further to solidify our ability to continue our mission into the future for a long time," said Bob Ritz, CEO of MercyOne. "We believe together, we're stronger. We believe together, we'll be able to serve our communities better."

Here's what you need to know:

Who are the main players?

Genesis Health System operates six medical centers in Eastern Iowa and Western Illinois. With more than 5,000 staff members, it's the third-largest employer in Scott County.

West Des Moines-based MercyOne is one of the largest hospital companies in Iowa, alongside UnityPoint Health. It operates 16 medical centers, 27 affiliate organizations and hundreds of health and wellness sites.

MercyOne is also a member of Trinity Health, one the nation's largest not-for-profit Catholic health systems. Based out of Michigan, the system operates 88 hospitals across 26 states.

What does this mean for Genesis Health System and its employees?

Genesis will officially become part of the MercyOne umbrella Thursday, hospital officials told reporters.

There are no layoffs planned as part of this new agreement, Ritz said. However, because of the precarious position facing health systems in Iowa and across the country, he said this new partnership will look to shore up its financial standing, including cost reductions.

"Organizations like ours come together to be able to create more efficiency and take advantage of the scale of the organization and the skills and talent of the organization," Ritz said.

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Genesis will not be rebranding at this time, though leaders will be pursuing a name change over the next two years, said Doug Cropper, Genesis Health System president and CEO.

What does this merger mean for patients?

Clinical services that Genesis has traditionally offered will continue, so patients will not feel an immediate change, said Dr. Kurt Andersen, chief medical officer for Genesis Health System.

However, it opens the door for Genesis to expand its services. Both health systems are grappling with a shortage of health care workers, and the ability to collaborate and share clinical resources to meet the needs of patients, officials said.

"Now with the advent of telehealth and virtual care, we are able to share resources that, if we were not aligned, would be more difficult to share," Ritz said.

What does this mean for Genesis' philanthropic operations?

Genesis Health System also oversees the Genesis Health Services Foundation, which will join the new unified health system.

Genesis Philanthropy, a nonprofit focused on improving health in the area, will be independent of the newly merged health system. Beginning July 1, it will operate under a new name, the Better Health Foundation, in the Quad Cities area.

As part of this split, Genesis Health System has agreed to provide the new foundation with $40 million in funds, "ensuring its future as one of the region's preeminent granting organizations," according to the news release.

How long have the health systems explored a merger?

Genesis had announced in December 2021 that officials were looking for a partner to expand its services, stating then that the system was working to enhance its services in the region and to better address challenges it faced, such as workforce recruitment and retention.

Genesis accepted proposals from dozens of health care systems  and found its winning bid with MercyOne.

The two Iowa-based health organizations signed a letter of intent, signaling publicly of their plans to develop a partnership. Wednesday's announcement is the conclusion of that months-long process.

Michaela Ramm covers health care for the Des Moines Register. She can be reached at mramm@registermedia.com, at (319) 339-7354 or on Twitter at @Michaela_Ramm.

This article originally appeared on Des Moines Register: MercyOne announces acquisition of Genesis Health System
Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel

Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel, who is lesbian and Jewish, was one of the state officials threatened by a man who vowed to kill all the Jews in Michigan government if they dont leave office.

The FBI has confirmed I was a target of the heavily armed defendant in this matter, Nessel tweeted Thursday. It is my sincere hope that the federal authorities take this offense just as seriously as my Hate Crimes & Domestic Terrorism Unit takes plots to murder elected officials.

\u201cThe FBI has confirmed I was a target of the heavily armed defendant in this matter. It is my sincere hope that the federal authorities take this offense just as seriously as my Hate Crimes &

Domestic Terrorism Unit takes plots to murder elected officials. https://t.co/RsUY5xMrxx\u201d  Dana Nessel (@Dana Nessel) 1677756838

A federal court in Detroit unsealed a criminal complaint Wednesday against Jack Eugene Carpenter III of Tipton, Mich. He is charged with transmitting an interstate threat, the Detroit Free Press reports. If convicted, he faces a maximum prison sentence of five years. He is being held without bail in Detroit.

Carpenter had tweeted February 17 from Texas that he was heading back to Michigan now threatening to carry out the punishment of death to anyone that is jewish in the Michigan govt if they dont leave, or confess.

Besides Nessel, Jewish government officials in Michigan include U.S. Rep. Elissa Slotkin and several state legislators, according to the Jewish Telegraphic Agency.

Carpenter had previously been charged with assault and has been accused of stealing a gun from his girlfriend. His mother told authorities he was in possession of several firearms, including three handguns, a 12-gauge shotgun and a military-style hunting rifle, JTA reports.

His Twitter feed is peppered with anti-Semitic remarks and right-wing conspiracy theories. He was a computer systems administrator at the University of Michigan for 10 years and was terminated in 2021. The university would not disclose why he was fired, citing privacy of personnel matters, but Carpenter himself tweeted that he was fired for refusing to take experimental medication, which seems to be a reference to the COVID-19 vaccine, JTA notes. He apparently believed Jews had developed the vaccine to help them achieve world domination.

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He called himself King of Israel and said he was forming a new state, New Israel. Any Jewish person holding a public office on my land  is subject to immediate punishment for their participation in an unlawful war of aggression using a biological weapon against me, he tweeted.

He also tweeted threats against law enforcement officials, several University of Michigan employees, and various well-known people, including Dr. Anthony Fauci, Twitter head Elon Musk, Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer, Pfizer CEO Albert Bourla, and former CNN anchor Chris Cuomo. And he said he did not believe President Joe Biden was legitimately elected.

The Advocate has sought comment from Nessel but has not received a response. In 2018, when first elected attorney general, she became the first out member of the LGBTQ+ community to hold statewide office in Michigan, and she was reelected last year. She was formerly a county prosecutor and an attorney in private practice. In the latter role, she handled one of the marriage equality cases that was consolidated with others for consideration by the U.S. Supreme Court, resulting in the 2015 ruling that took marriage equality nationwide.
lost cat found

Prairie Village Police Department

One little kitty is living up to their name after ending up a long way from home!

On Saturday, the Prairie Village Police Department of Kansas shared on Facebook that a resident recently came across an orange tabby cat. According to KMOV 4, the local found the cat alone in the cold and called Prairie Village's Animal Control Unit for help.

Animal control officers picked up the feline and scanned it for a microchip  an implant the size of a grain of rice that often contains the contact and health info for the pet with the microchip.

The authorities discovered a microchip on the animal that listed the feline as a cat named Lucky from Miami, nearly 1,500 miles away.

"I've never heard of anything like this in my 20-plus years of service," said Captain Ivan Washington of the Prairie Village Police Department, per KMOV4.

RELATED: New Mexico Dog Missing for 7 Years Found 1,700 Miles Away Walking Down South Carolina Road

According to the Prairie Village Police Department's Facebook post, animal control officers "contacted the owner in Miami" and found out that the pet parent was still holding out hope Lucky would come home after disappearing in Florida two years ago.

KMOV4 reported that Lucky's owner filed a police report when the cat went missing because they thought Lucky was stolen.

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.

It is unclear how the feline ended up in Kansas, but the Prairie Village Police Department will continue to care for the cat through the Great Plains Pet Adoption Center until Lucky's reunion is arranged.

"Lucky was lucky. We have Lucky. They are ecstatic. They're happy, obviously," Washington added to KWOV4.
An Ohio man accused by Erie police of holding a woman and a 6-year-old boy against their will and beating the woman repeatedly over several days in October 2021 has agreed to plead guilty to an aggravated assault charge and could face several years in prison, according to prosecutors.

Matthew A. Pavilisin, 35, of Conneaut, waived a second-degree felony count of aggravated assault to court at his preliminary hearing on Wednesday under an agreement in which he is expected to plead guilty to the charge at a later date. Prosecutors withdrew counts of kidnapping and kidnapping of a minor, along with counts of terroristic threats, simple assault and recklessly endangering, under the agreement.

As part of the agreement, prosecutors will recommend that Pavlisin receive an aggravated range sentence of three to six years in prison for aggravated assault with a deadly weapon when he is ultimately sentenced after entering the guilty plea, Erie County Assistant District Attorney Emily Downing said.

She said the victim in the case is happy with the resolution.

Pavlisin remained in the Erie County Prison Thursday.

More:Ohio man accused of kidnapping woman and 6-year-old, beating female who escaped in Erie

Pavlisin was jailed Feb. 16 on charges that Erie police filed against him on Oct. 14, 2021. Detectives in Pavlisin's criminal complaint accused him of holding a woman and a 6-year-old boy against their will for several days after the group left a residence in Ohio. The woman told police that Pavlisin beat her repeatedly and threatened to kill her as they drove around parts of New York and Pennsylvania.

The woman said the group eventually ended up in Erie, where she said Pavlisin crashed the car and threatened to burn it with the woman and the child inside, according to information in the criminal complaint.

Erie police found the woman and the child when officers were sent on the early morning of Oct. 13, 2021, to investigate a disturbance call on Arlington Road. Investigators said the woman had substantial bruising to her face, arms, midsection and legs, injuries to her legs and two black eyes.

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Police did not reveal in Pavlisin's criminal complaint his relationship with the woman and the child.

Contact Tim Hahn at thahn@timesnews.com. Follow him on Twitter @ETNhahn.

This article originally appeared on Erie Times-News: Kidnapping charges withdrawn against Ohio man in Erie assault case
Cleanup efforts and testing for toxic chemicals continue in East Palestine one month after a fiery train derailment.

The crew of the derailed Norfolk Southern train became aware of an overheated wheel bearing just moments before the wreck and tried to stop the train, the National Transportation Safety Board said last week. The wreck impacted 38 train cars, 11 of which were carrying hazardous materials. Vinyl chloride in five cars was released and burned after the derailment to prevent an explosion.

Weeks later, East Palestine residents remain concerned about their long-term health and some officials have voiced concerns about dioxins, a type of toxic substance that can stay in the environment for long periods of time. Here's what to know about the derailment this week.

East Palestine train derailment:Did dioxins spread after the Ohio train derailment?

'It's all a bunch of whodunit': East Palestine caught in politics of Ohio train derailment

Work to remove train tracks near derailment starts

The effort to remove the train tracks near the derailment began Friday, CNN reported. The process started on the south track and will begin with removing the track, digging out and sampling the contaminated soil underneath and finally replacing the track.

Trains will continue to run on the north track, where there are tank cars that still need to be inspected, Norfolk Southern representative Darrell Wilson said.

Norfolk hopes to start the same process on the north track March 28 and said the entire removal process for both tracks should be done by the end of April.

Cleanup efforts continue in East Palestine one month after a fiery train derailment released chemicals into the environment.

EPA orders Norfolk Southern to test for dioxins

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency ordered Norfolk Southern to begin testing for dioxins on Thursday. Ohio Sens. Sherrod Brown and J.D. Vance sent a letter to the states environmental protection agency last month expressing concern that dioxins, a group of toxic chemical compounds, could have been released when vinyl chloride was discharged from the damaged railcars.

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So far, testing for indicator chemicals has suggested theres a low chance that dioxins were released, the EPA said.

Residents, Norfolk Southern gather for town hall in East Palestine

Norfolk Southern officials attended a town hall in East Palestine on Thursday and were met with questions, concerns and criticism from residents.

"DON'T LIE TO US!": Residents of East Palestine, Ohio clashed with Norfolk Southern representatives at a town hall meeting Thursday night. ABCs Derricke Dennis has the details. pic.twitter.com/l2QSVZRWS6  ABC World News Now (@abcWNN) March 3, 2023

Solid and liquid waste shipped to other states

Approximately 2.1 million gallons of liquid wastewater have been hauled out of East Palestine since the derailment, according to the Ohio Environmental Protection Agency, Gov. Mike DeWine said Thursday.

All of the wastewater will be disposed of through deep well injection. Here's where:

Around 190,000 gallons were shipped to Vickery Environmental in Vickery, Ohio.

Around 1.6 million gallons were shipped to Texas Molecular in Deer Park, Texas.

Around 300,000 gallons were hauled to Detroit Industrial Well in Romulus, Michigan.

Around 1,400 tons of solid waste have also been shipped out. Here's where:

Around 140 tons were hauled to Ross Incineration Services in Grafton, Ohio, to be incinerated.

Around 370 tons were hauled to Heritage Thermal Services in East Liverpool, Ohio, to be incinerated.

Around 440 tons were shipped to U.S. Ecology Wayne Disposal in Belleville, Michigan, to be put in a landfill.

Around 440 tons were hauled to Heritage Environmental Services in North Roachdale, Indiana, to be put in a landfill.

Train derailment:Indiana landfill receiving toxic waste from Ohio train wreck has past violations

Ohio Senate holds first hearing on East Palestine train derailment

The Ohio Senate held its first train derailment hearing on the East Palestine disaster on Wednesday. Senators questioned Ohio EPA officials about the cleanup effort and testing for toxic chemicals in the air, water and soil. The Ohio Department of Public Safety also spoke about the emergency response to the derailment.

State and federal agencies are conducting weekly tests on the village's municipal water system and continue the cleanup effort in contaminated creeks.

East Palestine derailment: Ohio Senate holds first train derailment hearing on East Palestine disaster

U.S. Sens. Sherrod Brown, J.D. Vance introduce rail safety bill

Sens. Brown and Vance introduced a bipartisan bill, The Railway Safety Act of 2023, Wednesday, which aims to prevent train derailments and address issues found in the aftermath of the East Palestine wreck. The proposal came after Gov. DeWine said the train that derailed in the village was not considered a high-hazard flammable train, and called on Congress to examine these classifications.

The federal bill would:

Require trains carrying hazardous materials to give advance notice to states, even if they aren't high-hazardous flammable trains.

Require trains with these materials on board to be scanned by hot bearing detectors every 10 miles.

Update inspection rules and ensure they're conducted by qualified rail car inspectors.

Require two-person crews.

Increase the maximum fine for railroads that break the rules to 1% of their annual operating income, instead of $225,000.

Increases HAZMAT registration fees paid by railroads to fund grants for emergency response training.

Rail unions: Workers have fallen ill at Norfolk Southern derailment site

Jonathan Long, general chairman of the American Rail System Federation of the International Brotherhood of Teamsters, said rail workers have continued to experience migraines and nausea after working to clean up the train derailment site.

In a letter addressed to U.S. Secretary of Transportation Pete Buttigieg, Long also claimed Norfolk Southern failed to provide appropriate personal protective equipment to workers at the site and said the railroad uses a "cost-cutting business model that disregards the sanctity of human life for the sake of more record profits."

Rail union:Workers are ill at derailment site

Leaders from 12 unions met with Buttigieg and Amit Bose, administrator of the Federal Railroad Administration, in Washington, D.C., Wednesday to discuss the derailment and necessary safety improvements.

Norfolk Southern CEO Alan Shaw to testify in Congress

Norfolk Southern CEO Alan Shaw has agreed to testify on the East Palestine train derailment in Congress, the company said Wednesday. Shaw will appear before the Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works on March 9.

Who is Alan Shaw? 6 things to know about the CEO, Norfolk Southern

EPA opens office near site of derailment in East Palestine, Ohio

The EPA opened an office near the train derailment site on Tuesday where East Palestine residents can sign up for home air monitoring and cleaning services, as well as ask questions about the cleanup effort. Testing has found no signs of contamination from the derailment in the air or village water supply, state and federal officials have said.

On Thursday, the EPA said it has conducted 589 home re-entry screenings and continues constant air monitoring at 16 stations throughout East Palestine. The agency said there have been no exceedances for home air quality standards and outdoor air quality has remained normal.

This article originally appeared on Cincinnati Enquirer: Ohio train derailment: Updates on East Palestine cleanup, testing
Wikimedia Commons

We still dont know for 100 percent sure if a Belarussian opposition group managed to damage a valuable Russian A-50 Mainstay aircraft using explosive-laden commercial drones to blasts its fuselage and huge pancake-shaped radar antennas.

But its looking more likely now that the Belarussian resistance group, known as BYPOL, has released footage of it landing a copter-drone directly on the aircrafts huge Vega Shmel-M (Bumblee) radar dish, while parked near the Belarussian capital of Minsk, without anyone appearing to notice.

The video shows a quadcopter drone as it approaches the airbase on a sunny winter day, its rotors whining, and leisurely comes to a landing atop the radar dome of an A-50. The intrusion produces no apparent reaction, and the drone eventually lift off and flies away.

A post by BYPOL on the Telegram social media platform states:

Belarusian partisans for 2 weeks with the help of civilian drones purchased in the store, conducted aerial reconnaissance at Machulishchy air base. During one of the successful reconnaissance operations, the drone not only flew into the protected area of the specified airfield, flew near the Russian military aircraft AWACS A-50U, but even landed on its radar station (dish). So, how did the regimes vaunted counter-drone system perform, the development and production of which tens of millions of rubles of budget funds were spent? The answer is obviousnot at all. And was information about these incidents reported to the self-appointed ruler? Of course not.

The video therefore shows one of several claimed reconnaissance flightsnot the kinetic attack against the Mainstay aircraft the group claims took place on Sunday (February 26) using two DJI quadcopter drones, each armed with just under a half-pound (.44 lbs) of TNT-equivalent explosives enhanced with roughly 200 metal balls of shrapnel each.

Earlier on Tuesday, February 28, The Drive obtained Planet Labs satellite imagery of the airbase that day that showed an intact A-50 at Machulishchy without discernible major damageimplying if a kinetic attack took place, its results were too limited to be apparent in satellite imagery.

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Satellite Photos from MAXAR that show the Russian A-50 Mainstay at the Minsk airfield. There is no visible damage from these images but that does not mean there isn't any. Russia moved the aircraft to a new parking spot. The main take away is the aircraft was not destroyed. pic.twitter.com/ay22klKVXT  NWE War Reports (@NWEWarReports) February 28, 2023

To be fair, without fuel or armament on landed A-50, there would likely be limited external effects from a blast equivalent to that of a small hand grenade. However, a blast might still cause meaningful damage if it manages to shred the sensitive internal electronics of the radar or satellite uplink just under the skin; or cause melting of internal electronic wiring. A discolored patch on the radar domes front edge visible in the post-strike satellite photo isnt evident in the new, pre-strike footage.

Overall, if the group managed to literally land a drone on top of the aircraft during a scouting run, it seems a lot more credible that they were able to repeat that feat using two similar DJI drones with light explosive payloads. Such an attack might still cause meaningful damage, even if its not externally obvious.

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Russias Mainstay Eyes in the Sky

Like the U.S. Air Forces E-3 Sentry and Navys E-2 Hawkeye airborne early warning and control aircraft, the Beriev A-50 has a huge pizza-dish radar-dome mounted atop its fuselage, which provides 360-degree radar coverage for hundreds of miles around it. Based on the big Il-76 four-engine transport jet, the A-50 has a flight crew of five, supplemented by 10 specialists who operate a host of sensors, radios, and datalinks to coordinate air and ground forces in response to what its sensors can see.

Russia has only a small fleet of 16 A-50 aircraft, which are in high demand to support wartime operations. Only seven of the Soviet-era jets have been modernized to the A-50U model, which has liquid crystal displays, a satellite uplink and longer range radios (250 miles UHF, 1,242 miles HF), the improved Bumblebee-M radar, a crew lounge and kitchen, and increased fuel capacity.

The Bumblebee-M is better at detecting low-flying and stealth aircraft, and has detection range boosted generally by 20 to 33 percent: claimed capable of detecting fighters and warships at 250 miles and launches of land-based missiles at over 600 miles. It can track 300 object simultaneously, and has datalinks to coordinate 40 intercepts at a time.

A successor, the A-100 equipped with the Vega Premier AESA-class radar, has been stalled in development for years with two prototypes built, in part hampered by inability to obtain components due to sanctions.

Airborne early warning radars particularly have a better vantage than ground-based radars for detecting low-flying aircraft that would otherwise be masked by terraina tactic Ukrainian pilots rely upon to close with Russian aircraft equipped with much better radars.

The A-50 over Belarus, though unarmed, has thus constituted a persistent menace orbiting for many hours at a time on the northern flank of Ukraines air defenses as they come under daily attack by drones and cruise missiles.

The aircrafts systems help locate Ukrainian surface-to-air missile sites for attack, and arranging long-range air-to-air missile attacks by Russian MiG-31 and Su-35 jets on Ukrainian fighters trying to defend western Ukraine. Overall, support from A-50s has further reinforced the substantial technical edge of Russian fighters in air-to-air combat.

Therefore, damaging mission-critical systems on a single A-50U would represent a blow degrading Russias overall air effort.

It also could imply a larger, persistent threat to other Russian aircraft based in Belarus, which may force the diversion of valuable ground-based air defenses or electronic warfare specialists to protect the base. It could also generally impede the tempo of flight operations thatjudging from what we see in the videowas deemed completely safe from attack.

Though Belaruss military has not directly joined Putins invasion of Ukraine, its longtime ruling strongman, Alexander Lukashenko, has permitted Russian ground and air forces to train and stage from there. Russian forces from Belarus led the western prong of Russias ill-fated drive towards Ukraines capital of Kyiv in the first weeks of the war, supported by warplanes flying from Belarussian airbases.

Since Russia withdrew those troops from that disastrous campaign at the end of March 2022, there havent been more cross-border ground offensives originating from Belarus. Lukashenko has also resisted pressure from Moscow to directly join hostilities with his countrys small military. But the Russian air component in Belarus remains activeincluding the A-50 jet.

However, since a rigged election in 2020, former members of Belaruss law enforcement agencies formed an activist group called BYPOL. Initially focused on exposing crimes and corruption through its social media presence, in March 2022 the group announced it had participated in successful sabotage of railways used by Russian forces.

While BYPOLs new video doesnt confirm a successful kinetic attack on an A-50, it makes BYPOLs claim that one took place seem more likely given the apparent lack of security near the A-50. It also suggests Belarussians are willing to risk their lives approaching military bases with short-range commercial drones in a bid to trip up Russias war machine as it continues prosecuting its war with Ukraine.

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President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyy noted the resumption of contacts with Brazil at the highest level.

"Just spoke to the President of Brazil. Helpful conversation. We are resuming contacts between our states at the highest level," he said in a video address on Thursday.

"I informed about Russian attacks against our people, about the killing of children, about attacks on our civilian infrastructure. Thanked Brazil for supporting our resolution on peace and territorial integrity for Ukraine. We discussed diplomatic efforts that can stop Russian aggression and restore peace to our country, region and the whole world," he said.

According to Zelenskyy, in a conversation with the President of Switzerland, he "thanked for the support package for Ukraine, for our people. We discussed further bilateral cooperation and possible interaction on international platforms.

"I heard that Switzerland is interested in implementing our peace formula. This is a great signal," he said.
Telegram / Investigative Committee of Russia

A prominent scientist who helped develop Russias COVID vaccine, Sputnik V, was killed in his apartment in Moscow on Thursday, according to the Investigative Committee of the Russian Federation.

Andrey Botikov, who worked as a senior researcher at the Gamaleya National Research Center for Ecology and Mathematics, was found dead in his apartment on Thursday. His death is being investigated as a murder, the committee said in a Telegram statement.

According to the investigation, on March 2, 2023, in an apartment building located on Rogova Street in Moscow, a 29-year-old young man, during an argument, strangled the 47-year-old owner of the apartment with a belt and fled the scene, the committee said in a statement on Friday.

A suspect was arrested shortly after Botikovs body was found, the federal investigative agency said in the statement. In the shortest possible time, the location of the attacker was established. During the interrogation, he admitted his guilt, he was charged. Previously, the defendant was prosecuted for committing a serious crime.

Russian media has identified the suspect as Alexei Z, a former convict who spent 10 years in prison on charges of providing sex services. Local media reports, including from Russias Mash outlet, said that the incident appeared to have been the result of a money dispute between the scientist and the suspect.

Putins Vaccine Really Works but Russians Dont Believe it

The body of the 48-year-old man was found with strangulation marks, several stab wounds and abrasions were found on his body, Mash reported.

Botikov was one of 18 scientists who developed the Sputnik V vaccine in 2020. According to The Moscow Times, Russian President Vladimir Putin had honored the virologist with the Order of Merit for the Fatherland award for his work on the COVID vaccine in 2021.

Read more at The Daily Beast.

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Senior Buscador, who ran in last year's Breeders' Cup Mile, runs Sunday at Sunland Park Racetrack & Casino.

Senor Buscador burst onto the national scene in 2022 with a win at Lone Star Park, a third-place finish at Del Mar in California, a Grade 3 win at Churchill Downs and eventually a spot in the Breeders' Cup Mile.

On Sunday, the talented 5-year-old Kentucky-bred son of Mineshaft will begin his quest for another trip to the Breeders' Cup when he makes his 2023 debut in the $75,000, 1 1/16th miles Curribot Handicap for 4-year-olds and older at Sunland Park Racetrack & Casino. It'll be the first race for Senor Buscador on the Sunland Park oval.

"He's doing well," said trainer Todd Fincher of Senor Buscador. "We're hoping for a good return to the track. It's great to see a good horse run. We're looking at four to five races before taking another shot at the Breeders' Cup."

Senior Buscador, who is owned by Joe R. Peacock, Jr., has won four of eight and owns a third in eight starts. He is the 4-5 morning-line favorite in the seven-horse field. Alfred Juarez, Jr. will be aboard.

The field features eight-time winner Sheriff Brown, nine-time winner Limonite and five-time winner, Goddard. Goddard and Sheriff Brown are also trained by Fincher.

The Curribot Handicap is race No. 7 on the day with a projected post time of 3:04 p.m. The first race of the day begins at 12:25 p.m.

More: Henry Q wins MTB Derby Henry Q rolls to demonstrative win in $100,000 Mine That Bird Derby

Felix F. Chavez can be reached at fchavez@elpasotimes.com; @Fchavezeptimes on Twitter

This article originally appeared on El Paso Times: Talented Senor Buscador to make debut at Sunland Park Racetrack
United Nations  The U.S. and other global powers are grappling with how to respond to the recent discovery of uranium particles in Iran that were enriched up to almost 84%  very close to the purity required to make nuclear weapons. A team of inspectors from the United Nations' International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) found the tiny amount of high enriched uranium at one of Iran's nuclear facilities during a scheduled visit and included it in their report.

The IAEA report, obtained by CBS News, noted the discovery of some particles enriched to 83.7% at the Fordow nuclear plant, but did not conclude that Iran was stockpiling uranium enriched above 60%, which the world already knew Iran was doing. Any uranium refined to over 60% purity is considered high enriched, and at any such level it is a relatively short technological step to achieve the 90% required for weapons.

Iran has long said it does not intend to build nuclear weapons and insisted that its atomic work is entirely for civilian medical and research purposes. The country explained the latest findings of the IAEA team as the result of "unintended fluctuations."

A student looks at Iran's domestically built centrifuges in an exhibition of the country's nuclear achievements, in Tehran, Iran, Feb. 8, 2023. / Credit: Vahid Salemi/AP

Iran has methodically ramped up its enrichment program for several years  without hiding the moves  as a response to the U.S. government, under former President Donald Trump in 2018, unilaterally withdrawing from the Iran nuclear deal (known by the acronym JCPOA) that imposed limits on its atomic work.

Negotiations to strike a new deal or revise the one the U.S. walked away from have foundered, and various signatories to the pact, which include Iran, Russia, China, France, Germany, the U.K. and U.S., have been alarmed by every one of the steps forward by Iran in the interim. The discovery of even trace amounts of uranium enriched so close to 90% set alarm bells ringing yet again this week.

"We are highly concerned by the IAEA Director's General confirmation of the presence of high enriched uranium (HEU) particles containing up to 83.7% U-235 at the Fordow facility," Peter Stano, lead spokesman for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy of the European Commission, told CBS News.

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Stano said discussions between the IAEA and Iran to clarify the matter were ongoing and expected to conclude "soon," but he didn't speculate on their outcome.

Some JCPOA signatories including the U.S. argue there is no legitimate need in a civilian nuclear program for uranium enriched to even 60%, which they note is well above the limit that had been imposed by the agreement. The pact limited Iran's uranium stockpile to 661 pounds and its enrichment level to 3.67%, which is what's needed for the country's nuclear power plants.

Next step: Censuring Iran?

A report in The Wall Street Journal cited diplomats involved in the discussions as saying the U.S. and its European nations were split on how to respond to the findings in the latest IAEA report. A high-ranking U.S. official familiar with the talks told CBS News, however, that there was "no split," but the U.S. was concerned by the revelation.

Israel, a staunch foe of Iran, has said it will not allow the Islamic republic to achieve weapons-grade enrichment of uranium, laying it down as a "red line."

"At this point, the question is whether there should be a censure resolution against Iran at the IAEA's Board of Governors next week," Ali Vaez, of the International Crisis Group thinktank, told CBS News, referring to the mechanism within the agency by through which its global members can lodge a formal complaint.

IAEA Director-General Rafael Grossi arrived Friday in Iran, and Veaz said if he manages to resolve at least some of the concerns during his one-day visit, "especially the 84% enrichment issue, then it [a formal censure of Iran] can be avoided."

Vaez said the only "disagreement" among the Western powers was that the "U.S. prefers to wait for the outcome of the trip before it decides about censuring Iran, whereas the Europeans seem keen on doing it anyway."

The IAEA said in its report that it would "increase the frequency and intensity of agency verification activities" at Fordow given the discovery of the high enriched uranium particles.

The European Union has been pushing hard to wrap up the ongoing talks about reviving the 2015 nuclear deal with Iran.

Spano, of the European Commission, which is the EU's executive branch, said the new concerns about Iran's enrichment activities "only underlines how important it is to conclude the talks about reviving the JCPOA as soon as possible, since this deal provides an international oversight of Iran's nuclear program and would bring Iran back to respecting and fulfilling its commitments."

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U.S. and South Korean forces later this month will hold the largest joint military drills in the Korean peninsula in five years, as tensions remain high with neighboring North Korea.

The 11-day exercises will start March 13 and will include simulations as well as live demonstrations in the sea, air and on land, U.S. Forces Korea and the Republic of Korea announced on Friday.

The drills are likely to anger North Korea, which has historically seen similar exercises as provocative and a threat to its nation.

North Korea has often responded by test-firing ballistic missiles in the region, setting off alarms in both South Korea and Japan.

The U.S. and South Korea said a military exercise called Freedom Shield, a computer-simulated command exercise, will include representatives from the United Nations Command, along with civilian personnel and representatives of the United Nations, according to a press release.

Troops will also engage in another joint drill called Warrior Shield FTX, which will involve air, land, sea, space, cyber and special operations exercises.

The last major drill of comparable size that the U.S. and South Korea held in the Korean peninsula was Foal Eagle in 2018.

Negotiations between former President Trump and North Korean Leader Kim Jong Un, and later the COVID-19 pandemic, largely suspended military exercises, but the U.S. and South Korea began resuming operations last year.

Fridays announcement comes about a week after North Korea test-fired cruise missiles that traveled more than 1,000 miles and traced a figure-eight pattern before they landed in the Sea of Japan.

The missile test was in response to joint U.S.-South Korea naval drills a day earlier.

North Korea test-fired an unprecedented number of missiles last year, and Kim ordered an exponential increase of the nations nuclear arsenal at the beginning of this year.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to The Hill.
Six years ago, as Donald Trump was settling into the White House, my editor told me to take a road trip.

Get away from the Blue State bubble of New Jersey and New York, he said. Drive out to the farms of Pennsylvania, the coal mines of West Virginia, the rusty steel mills of Ohio. Talk to Trump supporters. Find out what the mainstream media missed.

So began my trek into what I have come to describe as Trump Nation.

That first journey to document Trumps remarkable rise led to other trips in each of the years of the Trump presidency  all culminating in the historically consequential 2020 election.

Fox News host Tucker Carlson

It turns out that Americas media  including me  missed plenty. America was clearly hurting in places like the faded steel town of Mingo Junction, Ohio, where the loss of jobs that were sent overseas turned a once-bustling community of white and Black residents into an empty hulk. Or Keyser, West Virginia, where far too many young people struggled with opioid addiction and a lack of health care. Or Hazleton, Pennsylvania, where the older ethnic white families wondered how they will get along with new Dominican immigrants. Or Pottsville, Pennsylvania, where generations of coal miners lamented the loss of their jobs amid the push for clean energy.

In some ways, it was a tragedy that cut across class, ethnic, religious and racial lines. And yet, distinct lines emerged.

Trump voters told me they resented being called "deplorables" by Hillary Clinton. They said they felt that "coastal elites" looked down at their religious faith, their desire to own guns, their feeling that America was no longer "great." Those trips I took were a window into middle-class grievance  a loss of hope in the American Dream.

But something else emerged, too. These varied narratives and the enthusiastic Trump supporters were connected by a common thread: Fox News.

More Mike Kelly:Trump makes moves to return LIV  and 9/11 grief  to New Jersey

A right-facing Bible

Across Trump Nation, Fox News had become a Bible of sorts  a cable TV message board in an echo chamber that hungered for news that a once-great nation was in decline or at least being forced to change in ways that threatened old-fashioned values.

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Every coffee shop seemed to have a TV tuned to Fox News. Every bar. Every motel lobby. Every gym.

The cable network had become a unifying voice, a cultural hub that brought together the stories that gave credence to an increasing belief among Trump supporters that Americas well-educated progressives were taking over the nation and pushing an agenda that demeaned religion, hard work and traditional families while promoting gender equality, high taxes, lax immigration rules and an ever-expanding welfare state geared to non-whites.

But now we know that voice  that echo chamber  was filled with lies.

Fox News' all-star lineup of anchors, including the hugely popular and influential weeknight triad of Tucker Carlson, Sean Hannity and Laura Ingraham, all promoted the false belief that massive voter fraud propelled Democrat Joe Biden to victory over Trump in the 2020 presidential election.

Such was their on-air message, anyway. In private, Carlson, Hannity and Ingraham harbored all sorts of doubts that the election fraud story was true. They were joined by no less than Fox Chairman Rupert Murdoch.

And yet, all these doubts were kept private. Fox News' executives feared that the Trump Nation audience of viewers would bolt for more conservative networks if Fox News expressed serious doubts about election fraud. In other words, Fox News promoted lies to keep high TV ratings and profits.

Indeed, while many Fox News stars felt that Trump was wrong and reckless to keep telling the false story of election fraud, they continued to essentially act on camera as cheerleaders for this comedy of errors.

And even when some Fox News journalists raised concerns about the truthfulness of Trumps claims, the networks executives and anchors did not speak up for the truth. The goal seemed to be to keep the profits rolling in.

More Mike Kelly:Are Democrats listening? Five lessons from Trump voters

'Please get her fired'

Consider what took place when Fox News White House correspondent Jacqui Heinrich fact-checked one of Trumps claims of election fraud and found that the former president was circulating lies. Instead of supporting Heinrichs dogged research  or at least reporting it  Tucker Carlson sent a text message to his partner-in-lying, Sean Hannity.

Please get her fired, Carlson wrote to Hannity. Seriously  what the f**k? Im actually shocked  It needs to stop immediately, like tonight. Its measurably hurting the company. The stock price is down. Not a joke.

Sadly, it wasnt a joke. Heinrich was not fired. But her tweet reporting her fact-checking was deleted. Simply put: Fox News promoted the false tales of election fraud so its audience of Trump supporters would not get upset and the stock price would not plummet.

Later, when Fox News host Neil Cavuto cut away from a Trump White House press briefing where election falsehoods and misinformation were being promoted, Fox News leaders were told such a move presented a brand threat.

Adding to the mystery is the fact that some Fox News executives complained behind the scenes about the promotion of falsehoods.

Fox News President Jay Wallace said the North Koreans did a more nuanced show than then-host Lou Dobbs, who barely disguised his support for Trump. Jerry Andrews, the executive producer of Justice with Judge Jeanine, referred to host and former Westchester County Prosecutor Jeanine Pirro, another Trump supporter, as nuts.

In page after page of court filings, released as part of a lawsuit in which a firm that manufactures computerized voting machines accused Fox News of defamation, the networks most famous players seemed intent on lying to keep its audience  and revenues. This wasnt journalism. It was consumer fraud at its worst. The desire for money trumped truth.

If Ford or General Motors lied about the brakes in their cars to bolster profits or stock prices, the federal government would intervene with all sorts of regulatory complaints, perhaps even criminal charges. But because Fox News calls itself a journalistic enterprise, the best that can be done is a $1.6 billion defamation lawsuit by Dominion Voting Systems. The lawsuits trial is expected to begin next month in a state court in Delaware.

Amid the pressure of deadlines and our own human foibles, journalists make mistakes  sometimes too often. We mess up the math on budget reports. We misspell names of criminals, star athletes  even historical figures. We predict good weather, then realize a hurricane is looming. We sometimes offer misguided context. Certainly, this columnist is guilty of his share of miscues over the years.

But credible news organizations correct themselves.

Fox News hasnt taken such a step.

Some members of Trump Nation regularly write to me when I offer any sort of criticism of their man. In recent months, Ive taken to merely telling them to stop watching Fox News.

Some have done exactly that.

Theyve moved on. But many gravitated to even more misguided right-wing platforms such as Newsmax or Breitbart News Network, which traffic in all sorts of falsehoods about the 2020 election, not to mention the COVID-19 pandemic and the Jan. 6, 2021, insurrection.

Welcome to Trump Nation.

Sadly, this is America.

Mike Kelly is an award-winning columnist for NorthJersey.com as well as the author of three critically acclaimed non-fiction books and a podcast and documentary film producer. To get unlimited access to his insightful thoughts on how we live life in New Jersey, please subscribe or activate your digital account today.

Email: kellym@northjersey.com

This article originally appeared on NorthJersey.com: Fox News Rupert Murdoch admits 2020 election lies Trump Nation
The Rev. Clyde Talley is senior pastor at Belmont AME Zion Church.

BOSTON - Monday, Gov. Maura Healey signed an executive order creating and naming members of the Advisory Council on Black Empowerment. The 30-person body, which includes four members from Worcester, will advise the governor on issues related to the economic prosperity and well-being of the Massachusetts Black community including education, health care, housing and workforce development.

Massachusetts Black residents make tremendous contributions to our state, but far too often they face systemic barriers that hold them back from opportunity, said Healey. We look forward to working closely with our Advisory Council on Black Empowerment to explore how we can best support our Black community, reduce inequities and expand opportunity for all.

Healey was sworn in Jan. 5, and the fact that such an action was taken so early in her administration was not lost on new council member Rev. Clyde Talley, senior pastor at Belmont AME Zion Church in Worcester. I applaud the governor for putting this council together in the first place, he said. Shes being proactive to effect a positive change.

The four members from Worcester are Talley; Fred Taylor, business representative/organizer with the North Atlantic States Regional Council of Carpenters and president of the Worcester NAACP chapter; Che Anderson, vice chancellor for city and community relations at UMass Chan Medical School; and Moses Dixon, president/CEO of the Central Massachusetts Agency on Aging Inc.

Right people for the right time

The council met for the first time Monday at the Statehouse in Boston, where each member introduced themselves and shared their goals and hopes as members. There was a vast majority of representation of people from different industries, regions and backgrounds, said Taylor. Shes very intentional. Just by assembling that group of people, she's showing shes keeping her word of making equity one of her top priorities.

Both the variety of members and the governors attitude at the meeting had Taylor feeling hopeful for real change, he said. Im not used to being in a room with that many Black people in a position to help shape policies and make decisions, he added.

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Healey encouraged members to hold her accountable and to ask the tough questions, he recounted. You dont hear that often from elected officials.

Fred Taylor is business representative/organizer for the North Atlantic States Regional Council of Carpenters.

Talley shares the optimism, saying, Its the right group of people at the right time to effect change across the commonwealth.

Working beyond Worcester

For Anderson, having a cohort from Worcester demonstrates a different approach from the new administration. Were seeing opportunities expand outside the bounds of Boston, he said. Shows the administration wants equity for all.

As the second-largest city in Massachusetts, its important to have a delegation from Worcester, said Talley. Im glad that there are delegates from Worcester without us having to beg or petition, but were invited to be at the table. Talley hopes in turn to be a voice for those who have yet to find a place at the table.

One of the things thats most important is that while there are four people from Worcester on the council, that doesnt mean that only four voices will be speaking from Worcester, Anderson said. He said he hopes to be accessible for open and honest conversations with community members and to pass along ideas or concerns.

Theres a stigma that Worcester only cares about Worcester, Anderson said, adding that he sees the advisory council as a chance to dispel that, and show that were looking at the state as a whole for opportunities and we dont have to work within silos, but work collaboratively to uplift the whole commonwealth.

Its very good to have Worcester representation in the room but I dont want it to be a regional thing, said Taylor. (The Black community) shouldnt be thinking regionally. We need to consolidate and all work together.

Moses Dixon

Listening and learning

I got to Worcester when I was 17 years old and spent nearly half my life in this community, said Anderson. That has provided me an opportunity to work with different populations, different perspectives and to learn how to listen. And to achieve their goals on the council, listening and learning will be essential for the Worcester delegation.

Listening to the other people as part of the council and their different perspectives, one thing that amazed me was hearing some business owners didnt know about available government funding, said Talley, who now has made it a new goal to make sure businesses and organizations in the Black community are educated on the resources available to them.

Similarly, Taylor learned that civic engagement was not as high as it should be. One of the women there, her thing is educating people on voting, he said. Such a small percentage of people that participate in voting, and thats how you make change.

Coming from UMass Chan Medical, Andersons first thoughts went to public health, which inevitably connects to education and employment opportunities for the Black community. They all fall under social determinants of health: workforce opportunity, food security and education, he said.

Working with his colleagues with a variety of backgrounds and skill sets, he hopes to affect these wide-ranging quality-of-life improvements.

I want to open doors for Black people in the commonwealth, said Taylor. Help Black people produce generational wealth for them and their families. When we benefit, everyone benefits.

This is a big piece of the pie and that pie is big enough for all of us.

This article originally appeared on Telegram & Gazette: Clyde Talley Che Anderson Fred Taylor Moses Dixon on Mass. Black council
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.
South Korea has not yet decided whether to supply Ukraine with lethal weapons, Prime Minister Han Duck-soo said in an interview with CNN on Friday.

"Whether we will go into some lethal weapons support, we are not yet decided on that issue," he said.

"Not now. I think," the South Korean prime minister said.

Duck-soo said Seoul nevertheless provides support to Kyiv in other ways.

"But we are quite supportive of Ukraine, and this year we decided that we will increase our support in the amount of $130 million, and we are trying to support them in terms of electricity generation capabilities and so on," he said.
The United States will announce on Friday about a new package of military assistance to Ukraine worth about $400 million, consisting mainly of ammunition, Reuters writes, citing its own sources.

"The package, the sources said on Thursday, is expected to contain more Guided Multiple Launch Rockets (GMLRS) for HIMARS launchers, ammunition for the Bradley Fighting Vehicles, as well as armored vehicle launched bridges. The equipment would be funded using Presidential Drawdown Authority, or PDA, in which the president can authorize the transfer of articles and services from U.S. stocks without congressional approval in response to an emergency," the report notes.

Speaking to reporters earlier at a briefing, White House spokesperson John Kirby did not put a price tag on the new aid package, saying more details would be released shortly.

"Aid for Ukraine is expected to be a major topic when President Joe Biden and German Chancellor Olaf Scholz meet at the White House on Friday," Reuters said.
The Government of Ukraine has approved a draft agreement between the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine and the International Criminal Court (ICC) on the establishment of the ICC Office in Ukraine, the press service of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine has said.

"The agreement is aimed at facilitating the process of establishing and proper functioning of the Office of the International Criminal Court in Ukraine, the key focus of which is the investigation of cases pending before the Court since the beginning of Russia's armed aggression against Ukraine in 2014," the ministry said.

It is noted that the competence of the International Criminal Court is the prosecution of specific persons responsible for war crimes, the crime of genocide and crimes against humanity. Ukraine recognizes the jurisdiction of the Court for the purpose of identifying, prosecuting and trying the customers and accomplices of acts committed on the territory of Ukraine during the Revolution of Dignity, as well as crimes committed on the territory of Ukraine since February 20, 2014 in accordance with the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court.
The Tesla Supercharger stations will no longer provide free electricity at its e-car charging stations from March 8, the carmaker, which operates the chargers, informed car owners in an e-mail.

According to the letter, charging fees will vary from location to location, and a so-called idling fee will be introduced, which will be charged when a Tesla car continues to occupy a charging station more than five minutes after it has been charged and the station is at least 50% percent full.



Tesla did not say what its car-charging fees will be.



As a result of the significant rise in electricity prices in recent months, queues have been forming at the charging stations.
YORK  The York community traveled back in time Wednesday evening when historian Jeff Barnes presented the, The Mad Queen of the Prairies: The Frenzied First Years of the Nebraska Territory 1854-59. The talk, sponsored by Humanities Nebraska, gives a deep dive into the unconventional first years of Nebraska.

Barnes is a past chairman of the Nebraska Hall of Fame Commission, a former marketing Director for the Durham Western Heritage Museums, and has worked as a reporter for the Nebraska City News-Press and Midlands Business Journal of Omaha.

Barnes said hes fascinated by the early stories of Nebraska before it was named a state.

My first interest in history was learning about the Indian Wars in the Great Plains, said Barnes. Then, studying that topic led me to a greater appreciation for what was happening in Nebraska. The more I learn about my own states history, the more I get excited about sharing that with others.

His first book, Forts of the Northern Plains: Guide to Historic Military Posts of the Plains Indian Wars concerns the historical land markers and monuments of Nebraska.

Most of Barnes research comes from subscribing to several newspaper services and visiting old book stores across Nebraska.

I love to hunt old book stores, said Barnes. Ive picked up quite a few publications either put up by the Nebraska State Historical Society or from historians from long ago. Thats what feeds the talk, finding these published books from 150-plus years ago. You dont see a lot of people going to old book stores anymore, but its kind of fun to crack these books open that havent been read in so long.

He said hes always been focused on the question How did we get here? What people may not know is how the seat of the government shifted from town to town in the early days or how many times the governors changed year after year, sometimes every few months before Nebraska became a state and where the banks printed their own money.

Barnes said, I get more and more curious about those times because theres not a whole lot of research about that history. Most of the history of Nebraska focuses on when we came into the Union, the Transcontinental Railroad and the first big settlement taken after we became a state.

At his presentation, Barnes retold the story of Native American chief William Walker, a member of the Wyandotte tribe, becoming the first governor of the Nebraska Territory.

Walker spoke eight languages and could read five, said Barnes. Walker was a great middle man for those that were Indian and the early settlers.

Barnes also talked about military officer and politician Thomas B Cuming, who was acting governor from 1854 to 1858. During his time as acting governor, Cuming was a part of taking the first census of the Nebraska Territory and prepared Nebraska to have its first legislative session. He was also the first to establish Omaha as the first capital of the state.

Barnes talked about fashion advocate Amelia Jenks Bloomer who came from New York. She was the editor and publisher of the first newspaper dedicated to women called The Lily, addressing temperance and womens rights. In the early 1850s, Bloomer traveled across the Midwest, giving lectures. After giving a speech in Omaha, she was invited to speak to the legislative body about womens suffrage.

Barnes said, Women in Nebraska nearly won the right to vote for the first time.

He concluded his presentation by showing burial sites of famous Nebraska individuals and several landmarks from the territorial times that are still standing today. A few of those landmarks mentioned were the William Hamilton House in Bellevue, the Florence Mill in Omaha, Mayhew Cabin and the Rulo historical landmark.

Barnes has presented in nine different states and will complete over 800 appearances by the end of the year.

Barnes said, I enjoy it and I enjoy sharing it with people. Its been a lot of fun!

The Mad Queen of the Prairies: The Frenzied First Years of the Nebraska Territory 1854-59 is one of approximately 300 programs offered through the Humanities Nebraska Speakers Bureau. The more than 165 available speakers include acclaimed scholars, writers, musicians, storytellers and folklorists on topics ranging from pioneer heritage to ethics and law to international and multicultural issues, making it the largest Humanities Speakers Bureau in the nation.
Seven passengers on a Lufthansa flight that experienced "significant turbulence" were sent to nearby hospitals after the aeroplane was diverted to Washington Dulles International Airport, according to officials. According to Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority spokesman Michael Cabbage, flight 469 from Austin, Texas, intended to land in Frankfurt, Germany but made a safe landing in Virginia on Wednesday night instead.

Seven people were sent to hospitals with injuries that were thought to be minor when crews responded to the flight, according to Reports. The Airbus A330 reported severe turbulence at an altitude of 37,000 feet (about 11,300 meters) while flying over Tennessee, the Federal Aviation Administration said in a statement. The agency is investigating.

Also read: Pune-Bound Air Asia Flight Suffers Bird Strike, Makes Emergency Landing in Bhubaneswar

"It was shocking," passenger Susan Zimmerman told ABC News. "It was kind of like you're in slow motion, that you just see everything, like in a movie, where you just see everything lift, and all of a sudden, it just comes right back down."

Turbulence continues to be a major cause of accidents and injuries during flight, according to a 2021 NTSB report. Turbulence accounted for 37.6 percent of all accidents on larger commercial airlines between 2009 and 2018.

Turbulence is essentially unstable air that moves in an unpredictable fashion. Most people associate it with heavy storms. But the most dangerous type is clear-air turbulence, which can be hard to predict, often with no visible warning in the sky ahead.

Storms moved across areas of Tennessee on Wednesday night, creating strong winds in the upper atmosphere, said Scott Unger, a senior forecaster with the National Weather Service in Nashville. "It was very windy aloft, which could easily lead to the possibility of turbulence with any flight," he said.

With PTI Inputs
A bird strike incident on Thursday forced an Air Asia flight with a destination of Pune to make an emergency landing at the Biju Patnaik International Airport in Bhubaneswar, according to the Airport Authority. The plane suffered a bird hit soon after taking off from the airport. However, all the passengers were safe after the emergency landing, and the damage sustained by the plane after the incident is being assessed by the airline.

The Air Authority informed in a statement that "Pune bound Air Asia flight made an emergency landing at Biju Patnaik International Airport in Bhubaneswar after a bird-hit incident, soon after the take-off. The aircraft is being assessed, and all the passengers are safe." Reacting to the incident, Air Asia said that the flight has returned to Bhubaneshwar for detailed inspection after suffering a bird hit.

Also read: Massive Turbulence on Germany-Mauritius Flight With 272 Onboard, 20 Passengers Injured

"VT-ATF, operating from Bhubaneswar to Pune, suffered a bird hit after takeoff and returned to Bhubneshwar for detailed inspection. We are attending to guests and taking steps to minimise the impact on other scheduled operations," the Air Asia spokesperson said.

He further added, saying, "We are attending to guests and taking steps to minimise the impact on other scheduled operations. We regret the inconvenience caused due to circumstances beyond our control."

The incident comes a month after Aviation Minister said necessary steps are being taken to take care of bird strike incidents. In his statement, the minister said, "As far as bird hits are concerned, we have put in place all measures at airports, which includes the bird dispeller, sound guns, and other methodologies that will keep birds away from airport areas."

"...Why do birds come to certain places, especially airports. It is not because they make their homes there but more because the fact that they are attracted to some objects in that area. Therefore, to keep areas clean and make sure that birds do not cluster around areas of transportation through which there may be a threat to airlines, it is very important for us," he added.

(With ANI Inputs)
Russian invaders keep 13 ships on combat duty in the Black Sea on Friday, including two submarine launchers with a total salvo of eight Kalibr cruise missiles, while the previous day there were four, the Pivden (South) task force said on Facebook.

According to the statement "the surface missile carriers brought to the base points are ready for use and can be put on a combat course quite quickly."

As reported, on February 25 and 27, there was one enemy Kalibr carrier in the Black Sea, and not a single one on February 26.

On Tuesday, February 28, the Russian naval grouping was significantly increased: 17 ships of the Russian invaders went on combat duty at sea, including five carriers of Kalibr cruise missiles with a total salvo of 32 missiles. The same number of Kalibr carriers in the Black Sea remained on Wednesday, March 1.

On Thursday, March 2, in the Black Sea on combat duty in the Black Sea there were four carriers of Kalibr cruise missiles with a total salvo of 24 missiles.
New Delhi: Bollywood superstar Salman Khan has done it again! His latest song 'Billi Billi' from his upcoming movie 'Kisi Ka Bhai Kisi Ki Jaan' has taken the fans and the internet by storm. The peppy track, written by Kumaar and sung and composed by Sukhbir, has become an instant hit among fans and is trending on every streaming platform.

What's more, the on-screen chemistry between Salman Khan and Pooja Hegde in the song is simply sizzling which has made the song even more appealing to the fans. The two actors share an electrifying chemistry in the music video, and the fans can't stop raving about it.

The catchy beats of the song are sure to make it a staple on every party playlist. With its upbeat tempo and fun lyrics, 'Billi Billi' is the perfect dance number for fans of all ages.

Salman Khan's fans have always been eager to see him in action, and with this song, the superstar has once again proven why he's the Sultan of Bollywood. His charisma and energy are infectious, and he has once again managed to captivate his audience with his latest offering.

Overall, 'Billi Billi' is a fun and entertaining song that is sure to get you on your feet. It's no surprise that it's already a fan favorite, and we can't wait to see what other treats Salman Khan has in store for us with 'Kisi Ka Bhai Kisi Ki Jaan'.

Netizens comment on social media to cheers their favourite superstar's chartbuster song. "Salman Khan looks all time hottest" Another user liked the chemistry between Salman and Pooja, written, "Salman and Pooja is a fresh pair but in this song it looks as if they made for each other," One more user commented "the vibe of the song is so amazing that I have this song on loop."

A Salman Khan Films Production, produced by Salma Khan, Kisi Ka Bhai Kisi Ki Jaan, is directed by Farhad Samji. The film stars Salman Khan, Venkatesh Daggubati, Pooja Hegde, Jagapathi Babu, Bhumika Chawla, Vijender Singh, Abhimanyu Singh, Raghav Juyal, Siddharth Nigam, Jassie Gill, Shehnaaz Gill, Palak Tiwari and Vinali Bhatnagar with all the elements of a Salman Khan film  action and romance. The film is slated to release on Eid 2023 and will be a Zee Studios worldwide release.
New Delhi: Amid concerns over banks' exposure to the crisis-ridden Adani Group, the Reserve Bank on Friday said India's banking sector is resilient and stable, and the central bank maintains a constant vigil on the lenders. Responding to media reports expressing concern about the exposure of Indian banks to a "business conglomerate", the Reserve Bank said in a statement that it is constantly monitoring the banking sector.

However, the RBI did not name the Adani Group in the statement. Stocks of Adani Group firms have taken a massive beating on the bourses after US-based short-seller Hindenburg Research made a litany of allegations in a report, including fraudulent transactions and share price manipulation at the Gautam Adani-led group. (Also Read: Elon Musk No Longer World's Richest Person: Billionaire Loses Title In Just 2 days)

Hindenburg released the report on January 24 -- the day on which Adani Enterprises' Rs 20,000-crore follow-on share sale opened for anchor investors. In its statement, the RBI said as per the current assessment, "the banking sector remains resilient and stable. Various parameters relating to capital adequacy, asset quality, liquidity, provision coverage, and profitability are healthy." (Also Read: Will ChatGPT Take away Your Job? Here's What Infosys Founder Narayana Murthy Think)

"As the regulator and supervisor, the RBI maintains a constant vigil on the banking sector and on individual banks with a view to maintain financial stability. The RBI has a Central Repository of Information on Large Credits (CRILC) database system where the banks report their exposure of Rs 5 crore and above which is used for monitoring purposes," the central bank added.

The RBI, the statement said, remains vigilant and continues to monitor the stability of the Indian banking sector. It further said banks are also in compliance with the Large Exposure Framework (LEF) guidelines issued by the RBI.

The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) earlier this week sought details about lenders' exposure to the Adani Group. On Wednesday, Swiss lender Credit Suisse stopped accepting bonds by Adani group companies as collateral for margin lending.

Three leading public sector banks have already disclosed their exposure to the Adani Group. The country's largest lender State Bank of India (SBI) has an exposure of Rs 27,000 crore, while that of the second biggest Punjab National Bank (PNB) is at Rs 7,000 crore.
New Delhi: Will ChatGPT eliminate your employment? Since the chatbot was created in the latter part of last year, that has been a persistent question. Many have praised it for its ability to clarify numerous complex subjects. Nonetheless, ChatGPT has received a lot of flak for its possible effects on schooling. But, Infosys founder Narayana Murthy allayed worries on Thursday about ChatGPT or AI replacing human workers.

In remarks made on the sidelines of the NASSCOM Technology and Leadership Forum 2023, the founder of Infosys praised ChatGPT. He described their meeting with the chatbot in full and stated, "I've employed ChatGPT. It was introduced to me a few months ago by my son. It gives you the information, which you can then apply in new ways according to your imagination." (Also Read: Elon Musk No Longer World's Richest Person: Billionaire Loses Title In Just 2 days)

Murthy clarified that it won't eliminate jobs, adding, "Even in 19771978, there were programme generators that had entered, so everyone was afraid about jobs, but that didn't happen. since the human mind is the most adaptable tool. With the help of technology and human imagination, it was then employed to solve larger issues. (Also Read: PM-Kisan Yojna: How Farmers Can Change/Edit Name As Per Aadhar-- Check Step-by-step Guide Here)

It follows that "ChatGPT is a nice one, but we must use it as a base and then utilise it to demonstrate our creativity and solve greater problems, but be it ChatGPT or AI, it will never replace humans," he said in his conclusion.
India is a diverse land of cultures and traditions where the festival of colours, Holi, which is already knocking on our doors, is celebrated with jubilation and festive cheer all across the nation. All Holi enthusiasts have started their preparations for celebrating the festival, which will be observed this year on March 8. The festival begins on the evening of Purnima (full moon day) in the month of Falgun. Holi is also celebrated as a 'spring festival' in different parts of India.

Holi 2023: Significance Of The Festival

With one of the most vibrant festivals in India fast approaching, an atmosphere of excitement can be perceived all around. In mythology, the festival is celebrated as 'Holika Dahan' or 'Choti Holi' on the first evening, followed by a grand celebration on the next day. It is a day worth spending with your friends and family. On Holi, during the day, people celebrate with colours and in the evening, they show love, respect, and gratitude towards their close ones. The ritual for Holi involves lighting up a bonfire one day before Holi as it signifies the victory of 'good over evil'. People also consider this a 'goodbye' to winter days and a welcome to summer.

Holi 2023: Story Behind Holi Festivities

In Hindu mythology, Holi is best known as the killing of 'Hollika'. Mythology states that when Prahalad refused to accept the orders of his father Hiranyakashyapu and kept praying for Lord Vishnu, Hiranyakashyapu took the help of her sister, Holika to kill him. Holika took Prahalad in her lap and sat in a bonfire as she had immunity to fire. Even after that, she burned alive while Prahlad was unaffected. Hence, 'Holika Dahan' is celebrated a day before Holi.

Also read: 7 Bollywood-Inspired Looks to Celebrate Holi 2023

Holi 2023: Places To Visit

Here are some of the popular places where you can visit before or during the Holi festival:

Mathura: Mathura is very famous for Holi. People from all over the world visit Mathura to witness a grand celebration as the city is known to be the birthplace of Lord Krishna. People have a lot of fun playing with flowers and colours during the festival here, which lasts for 9 days. There, Holi is celebrated with a lot of dry colours, water balloons, and water guns. You would be glad to be a part of the grand celebrations around the 'Banke Bihari Temple' in Mathura.

Barsana: Barsana is another place which you can add to your list of destinations to witness the grand celebrations of Holi. The town of Barsana celebrates 'Lath Mar Holi', where women have a tradition of beating men with sticks while men protect themselves with shields. This can be quite interesting to witness.

Udaipur: Holi celebrations in Udaipur make the city look royal. People, including members of the royal family, wear traditional Rajasthani clothes and take turns around the bonfire. This signifies the triumph of 'good over evil'. There are traditional folk dances and folk songs followed by a lavish dinner and wonderful fireworks. There is no doubt that Udaipur is one of the most popular places to celebrate Holi in India.

Punjab: Holi in Punjab is very different from Holi in the entire country, which is celebrated by Sikhs in their own style. There, they call it 'Hola Mohalla'. Locals shout their hearts out as a tradition. On this day, they also show their martial arts, especially 'kushti', and celebrate with colours. Delicious halwas, puris, gujias, and malpuas are prepared and served to others. It is definitely one of the finest places to visit during Holi.

Other places: In West Bengal, Holi is celebrated as 'Dol Jatra' with singing and dancing. In South India, people worship the God of love, Kamadeva, on Holi. In Uttarakhand, Kumaoni Holi is celebrated with the singing of classical ragas. Meanwhile, in Bihar, people traditionally clean their houses and then attend the festival.

Holi is a time when Indian households make special sweets such as thandai, gujiya, malpua, and dahi vada. Hence, sweets are a vital part of this festival.

Holi Melas: Traditionally, Holi Melas are held in villages with a strong sense of cultural and traditional values. People from different parts of the country come here to celebrate this colourful festival. Each stall has its own theme to represent its state. A variety of Holi sweets like gujiya and malpuas are available at the stalls that attract maximum attention, especially from kids. So, if you want to experience the festive fervour of Holi in India then you must visit these places where a grand celebration can be witnessed.
International Womens Day (IWD) is celebrated annually on March 8th to honor the social, economic, cultural, and political achievements of women worldwide. It is also a day to raise awareness about the challenges that women still face in achieving gender equality and to advocate for women's rights and empowerment.

IWD has been observed since the early 1900s and has become a global movement that transcends borders, cultures, and ideologies. It provides a platform for women and their allies to come together, share their stories and experiences, and work towards a common goal of gender equality.

In this essay, we will explore the history and significance of International Womens Day, the progress made towards achieving gender equality, and the challenges that remain.

History of International Womens Day

The origins of International Womens Day can be traced back to the early 1900s when women across the world were fighting for their rights, including the right to vote, better working conditions, and an end to gender discrimination. In 1908, 15,000 women marched through the streets of New York City, demanding better pay, shorter hours, and the right to vote.

The following year, the first National Womens Day was celebrated in the United States on February 28th. In 1910, Clara Zetkin, a German activist, proposed the idea of an international day to honor women's achievements and advocate for their rights at the International Conference of Working Women in Copenhagen. The proposal was unanimously accepted, and the first International Womens Day was celebrated on March 19th, 1911, in Austria, Denmark, Germany, and Switzerland.

Since then, International Womens Day has been celebrated annually on March 8th, and it has become a global phenomenon. It is a day that recognizes the struggles and sacrifices of women throughout history and celebrates their achievements in various fields, including politics, science, literature, art, and sports.

The Significance of International Womens Day

International Womens Day is a day to celebrate women's achievements, but it is also a day to raise awareness about the challenges that women still face in achieving gender equality. Despite significant progress in recent years, women still experience discrimination and inequality in various forms, including unequal pay, limited access to education and healthcare, gender-based violence, and underrepresentation in leadership positions.

According to the World Economic Forums Global Gender Gap Report 2021, it will take another 135.6 years to close the global gender gap fully. The report also found that the COVID-19 pandemic has widened gender gaps in several areas, including employment, education, and healthcare. Therefore, there is an urgent need to accelerate progress towards gender equality, and International Womens Day provides an opportunity to do so.

International Womens Day: Women's Leadership in a COVID-19 World

The COVID-19 pandemic has been a challenging time for everyone globally. Women, however, have been disproportionately affected by the pandemic. The pandemic has exposed pre-existing inequalities and magnified them. Women, particularly those from marginalized communities, have faced increased financial instability, mental health issues, and domestic violence during this time.

Despite the challenges, women have demonstrated incredible leadership qualities during the pandemic. Women have been at the forefront of the fight against COVID-19, working as frontline healthcare workers, caregivers, and essential workers. Women have also taken on leadership roles in governments and organizations, leading the response to the pandemic.

New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern is an excellent example of women's leadership during the COVID-19 pandemic. Her leadership style, which emphasized empathy and compassion, helped New Zealand successfully contain the spread of the virus. She also made sure that vulnerable communities were taken care of and had access to necessary resources.

Similarly, Taiwan's Vice President Chen Chien-jen, who is a public health expert, played a crucial role in Taiwan's response to the pandemic. She led the government's response to the pandemic and was instrumental in containing the spread of the virus.

These are just two examples of women's leadership during the pandemic. Women globally have shown incredible resilience and strength during this difficult time.

International Womens Day: Challenges Facing Women in Leadership

While women's leadership during the pandemic has been commendable, there are still several challenges that women face in leadership positions. Women continue to face discrimination and bias in the workplace, including unequal pay and limited access to leadership positions.

The pandemic has also highlighted the burden of unpaid care work that falls disproportionately on women. Women are more likely to take on caregiving responsibilities for children, the elderly, and family members with disabilities. This unpaid care work can limit women's opportunities for career advancement and leadership positions.

Women from marginalized communities face additional barriers to leadership positions. They often face discrimination and bias based on their race, ethnicity, or religion. These barriers limit their opportunities for career advancement and leadership positions.

International Womens Day: Solutions for Achieving an Equal Future

Achieving gender equality is a complex and ongoing process that requires action from all levels of society. While progress has been made in recent years, there is still a long way to go. The following are some solutions that can help us achieve an equal future for International Women's Day.

Educate and Raise Awareness

One of the most important steps towards achieving gender equality is to educate and raise awareness about the issue. This includes educating young people about gender stereotypes, challenging harmful norms, and promoting positive examples of gender equality. This can be done through school curricula, media campaigns, and community programs.

Address Gender Stereotypes and Discrimination

Gender stereotypes and discrimination are major barriers to achieving gender equality. Addressing these issues requires changing attitudes and behaviors at all levels of society. This can be done by challenging harmful norms and practices, promoting positive role models, and implementing policies that support gender equality.

Ensure Equal Access to Education and Employment

Access to education and employment is crucial for achieving gender equality. Girls and women must have equal opportunities to access education and training programs, and must be able to pursue careers of their choice without discrimination or bias. This requires the elimination of gender-based barriers such as early marriage, gender-based violence, and lack of access to education and training.

Promote Women's Leadership and Political Participation

Women's leadership and political participation are critical for achieving gender equality. This requires increasing women's representation in leadership positions and promoting women's participation in politics and decision-making processes. This can be done by implementing policies that support women's political participation, including quotas and gender-sensitive electoral systems.

Address Gender-Based Violence and Harassment

Gender-based violence and harassment are major barriers to achieving gender equality. This requires addressing the root causes of violence and harassment, including harmful gender norms and power imbalances. This can be done by implementing policies and programs that prevent violence and provide support to survivors.

Ensure Equal Pay and Economic Opportunities

Equal pay and economic opportunities are essential for achieving gender equality. Women must have equal access to jobs, training, and promotions, and must be paid equally for equal work. This requires the elimination of gender-based pay gaps and the promotion of policies that support equal pay and economic opportunities for women.

Foster Partnerships and Collaboration

Achieving gender equality requires partnerships and collaboration between governments, civil society organizations, and the private sector. This requires the development of partnerships and collaboration models that leverage the strengths and resources of different stakeholders.

Achieving gender equality is a complex and ongoing process that requires action from all levels of society. By implementing the solutions outlined above, we can work towards an equal future for International Women's Day. Together, we can create a world where all women have the opportunity to reach their full potential, free from discrimination and bias.
New Delhi: The World Bank and India on Friday signed two complementary loans of USD 500 million each to support and enhance the country's healthcare infrastructure. Through this combined financing of USD 1 billion (about Rs 8,200 crore), the bank will support India's flagship Pradhan Mantri-Ayushman Bharat Health Infrastructure Mission (PM-ABHIM), launched in October 2021, to improve the public healthcare infrastructure across the country, the multilateral funding agency said in a statement.

In addition to the national-level interventions, one of the loans will prioritize health service delivery in seven states including Andhra Pradesh, Kerala, Meghalaya, Odisha, Punjab, Tamil Nadu, and Uttar Pradesh, it said. The agreement was signed by Rajat Kumar Mishra, Additional Secretary, Department of Economic Affairs and World Bank India country director Auguste Tano Kouam, it said.

The COVID-19 pandemic brought to the fore the urgent need for pandemic preparedness and health system strengthening around the world and was a stark reminder that pandemic preparedness is a global public good, said Auguste Tano Kouam.

The two projects are supporting India's decision to increase the resilience and preparedness of the country's health systems against future pandemics, it said, adding, this will be of great benefit for the population of the states participating in the projects and will generate positive spillovers for other states.

India's performance in health has improved over time. According to the World Bank estimates, India's life expectancy?at 69.8 in 2020, up from 58 in 1990?is higher than the average for the country's income level. The under-five mortality rate (36 per 1,000 live births), infant mortality rate (30 per 1,000 live births), and maternal mortality ratio (103 per 100,000 live births) are all close to the average for India's income level, reflecting significant achievements in access to skilled birth attendance, immunizations, and other priority services.

Despite these advances in the health of the Indian population, COVID-19 has underscored the need for revitalizing, reforming, and developing capacity for core public health functions, as well as for improving the quality and comprehensiveness of health service delivery, it said.
New Delhi: Aam Aadmi Party's Manish Sisodia who was arrested by CBI in the Delhi excise policy case has moved a Delhi court for bail after his plea was dismissed by the Supreme Court. According to ANI, he filed a bail plea at the Rouse Avenue Court on Friday (March 3) and the matter is likely to be heard on Saturday (March 4). The former Delhi cabinet minister has been in CBI remand since February 26.

Sisodia, on February 28, had moved Supreme Court against his arrest by the CBI, however, his plea was junked as the apex court urged him to approach the High Court before the Supreme Court.

A special court had on Monday sent Sisodia to five-day CBI remand in the excise policy case to allow the agency to get "genuine and legitimate" answers to questions being put to him for "a proper and fair investigation".

According to reports, the judge said that though the accused had joined the investigation of this case on two earlier occasions, it has also been observed that he has failed to provide satisfactory answers to most of the questions put to him during his examination and interrogation. Thus, he has failed to legitimately explain the incriminating evidence which has allegedly surfaced against him during the investigation conducted so far.

Also Read: 'If Manish Sisodia, Satyendar Jain Join BJP Today...': Arvind Kejriwal Makes Big Statement

It is true that he cannot be expected to make self-incriminating statements, but the interests of justice and of a fair investigation require him to come up with some legitimate answers to the questions which are being put to him by the investigating officer (IO).

Coming to the Delhi excise policy case, CBI officials have claimed that the AAP govt allegedly committed irregularities including modifications in the Excise Policy, extending undue favours to the licensees, waiver/reduction in licence fee, and extension of L-1 license without approval.
Rahul Gandhi is in a fresh controversy yet again over his speech at Cambridge University. Rahul not only claimed that Indian democracy is under attack but also heaped praise on China. One of the presentation slides as seen in his speech video shared by the Congress party, shows him referring to China as a 'Force of Nature' and 'Aspiring Superpower'. The slide also mentions the Belt and Road Initiative which passes through Pakistan-Occupied Kashmir and is opposed by the Government of India.

Gandhi, who gave a presentation, noted that in the Constitution, India is described as a Union of States and that Union requires negotiation and conversation. He also showed slides on the screen of him being confronted by police officers outside Parliament in New Delhi. "It is that negotiation that is coming under attack and threat...You would have also heard about the attack on the minorities and press," he said, adding that protecting and defending Indian democracy is more than just about India but about defending the "democratic structure and democratic system on the planet".

"As the Opposition, it is very difficult to communicate with people when you have this type of an assault on the media, on the democratic architecture," he said, explaining the motivation behind his Bharat Jodo Yatra, a 4,081 km walk through 14 Indian states from September 2022 to January 2023 to draw attention to "prejudice, unemployment and growing inequality in India".

Gandhi recalled his student days at the university, which he said had given him a lot "in terms of knowledge and understanding".

The second strand of his lecture focussed on the "two divergent perspectives" of the US and China since World War II and the final strand was around the "Imperative for a Global Conversation", as he knitted the different strands together in a call for a new type of receptiveness to various viewpoints.

During his speech, Rahul Gandhi claimed that Indian democracy is under attack and several politicians, including himself, are under surveillance, former Congress chief Rahul Gandhi alleged during a lecture at Cambridge university, drawing sharp reactions from the BJP that accused him of maligning the country's image on foreign soil after facing successive electoral setbacks.

Gandhi delivered the lecture 'Learning to Listen in the 21st Century' at the Cambridge Judge Business School on Tuesday evening as a Visiting Fellow, a video recording of which was posted on Twitter by Congress leader Sam Pitroda, ex-adviser to former prime minister Manmohan Singh.

The BJP on Friday also made light of Rahul Gandhi's allegation that he was being snooped upon, saying that the Congress leader was "hallucinating" and makes such claims as he wants to create headlines wherever he goes.

Hitting back on Gandhi, Union Minister Anurag Thakur wondered what prevented Gandhi and other Congress leaders from submitting their phones to a Supreme Court-appointed technical committee that probed the Pegasus snooping issue.

"We can understand his hatred towards the Prime Minister, but the conspiracy to malign the country on foreign soil with the help of foreign friends raises questions on the agenda of the Congress," Thakur, the Information and Broadcasting minister, told reporters in Delhi.

Addressing a press conference, BJP spokesperson Tom Vadakkan said Gandhi was "hallucinating" and makes such claims as he wants to create headlines wherever he goes.

"What we can say for Rahul Gandhi's hallucinations. If he makes his (Congress) MoU with China public, we will be interested and the people of India will also like to know. Who is interested in his telephone conversations," he said. (With PTI Inputs)
Rahul Gandhi's Cambridge University Speech: Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma today launched a scathing attack on Rahul Gandhi accusing him of denigrating India and insulting Pulwama martyrs. In a long Twitter thread, Sarma criticised statements made by Rahul Gandhi during his speech at Cambridge University. Sarma said that first foreign agents targeted India and now the country's own leader targeted India on foreign land. He said that Rahul Gandhis speech at Cambridge was nothing but a brazen attempt to denigrate India on foreign soil in the guise of targeting PM Narendra Modi.

"Rahul says Indian democracy is under threat because he can't freely express himself. FACT: He travelled 4,000 km in his yatra incident-free under the protection provided by Modi Govt. Do we need to remind him how yatras led by BJP leaders were sabotaged when Cong was in power?...Rahul says Pegasus was found on his phone and an officer warned him regarding it. FACT: He refused to submit his phone for investigation when Supreme Court asked for it. Following extensive investigation, SC concluded that there was no evidence of Pegasus," said Sarma.

Rahul says in Kashmir militants saw him, but he knew they wouldnt target him.



Why was this not reported to security agencies? Was there some understanding Cong had with these militants to protect Rahul? pic.twitter.com/muUYF35p5g  Himanta Biswa Sarma (@himantabiswa) March 3, 2023

Slamming Rahul Gandhi over his statement that Indias minorities are unsafe and treated like second-class citizens, Sarma said that since May 2014, communal violence in India has been the lowest ever and prosperity of minority families the highest ever. He said that many minority leaders have reposed their faith in Modi Government.

Also Read: At Cambridge, Rahul Gandhi Heaps Praise On 'Aspiring Superpower' China, Its Belt And Road Initiative

"Rahul praises China as an aspiring superpower, cites Belt and Road initiative (BRI) as an example. FACT: BRI is solely responsible for the debt crisis facing several countries today. Uncle Pitroda should have told him this....Rahul even admits he is fascinated by China and Communist party members have shaped his thoughts. Such rich praise for the Chinese is understandable. Gandhi family is trying to pay off its debts for the donations they took from them!" said the Assam CM.

He further said, "Rahul says in Kashmir militants saw him, but he knew they wouldnt target him. Why was this not reported to security agencies? Was there some understanding Cong had with these militants to protect Rahul?...Rahul described the Pulwama attack as a car bomb that killed 40 soldiers. How dare he insult our jawans? It wasnt a bomb sir, but a terror attack. No surprises that he refused to name Pakistan behind Pulwama attack. Is this part of the understanding Cong had with militants?"

Rahul Gandhi delivered the lecture 'Learning to Listen in the 21st Century' at the Cambridge Judge Business School on Tuesday evening as a Visiting Fellow.
NEW DELHI: Former Congress president and UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi has been admitted to Delhi's Sir Ganga Ram Hospital, said reports on Friday. Unconfirmed reports initially said that she has been hospitalised due to acute bronchitis. The hospital has issued a statement in which it said her condition is stable. She was admitted to the hospital on Thursday, it added.

She is said to be under the supervision of Arup Basu, senior consultant, Department of Chest Medicine, and his team, "on account of fever". "Sonia Gandhi is under observation and undergoing investigations. Her condition is stable," the hospital said in a bulletin.

This is the second time that she has been admitted to the hospital this year. In January, the 76-year-old former Congress chief was admitted to Sir Ganga Ram Hospital for treatment of a viral respiratory infection. Then, her daughter and Congress general secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra accompanied her to the hospital. According to the party sources, Sonia Gandhi has been suffering from a respiratory infection. Sources then said the admission was for a routine check-up.

Sonia Gandhi was last seen in the 85th Congress Plenary Session held recently in Raipur. She had earlier participated in the Bharat Jodo Yatra on December 24 last year in Delhi. According to Congress sources, Sonia Gandhi has not been keeping well for some time.

While addressing the 85th plenary session of the party, Sonia Gandhi said that she was happy that her innings have "concluded with the Bharat Jodo Yatra," triggering speculations about her retirement from active politics. During her speech, Sonia Gandhi also launched an all-out attack on the BJP government, accusing it of "fuelling the fire of hatred" and "viciously targeting minorities, women, Dalits and tribals".

A Resolution of Appreciation was also passed in her honour after the plenary marked a formal end to her 25-year stint as the Congress president - the longest ever in the party. However, Congress spokesperson Alka Lamba later clarified that she has not retired, but will continue to bless and guide the party leaders and workers.
The presidents of Ukraine and Latvia, Volodymyr Zelenskyy and Egils Levits, signed a joint declaration in Lviv on Friday.

"We signed a joint declaration with Egils Levits ratifying Latvia's support for full-fledged European and Euro-Atlantic integration of Ukraine. It's only with Ukraine in its composition that the European project will become truly complete. It's only with Ukraine in its composition that NATO will become a truly strong defender of the European nations and all our common values," Zelenskyy said on the Telegram channel.
Shillong: Conrad Sangma, the leader of the National People`s Party (NPP) and the incumbent Chief Minister of Meghalaya, submitted his resignation letter to the Governor on Friday and also staked a claim to form the new government in the state.





Taking to Twitter, Sangma said: "Submitted the letter of resignation as Chief Minister of Meghalaya to Hon`ble Governor, Sh. Shri Phagu Chauhan Ji, also staking a claim to form the new government."BJP MLAs accompanied the NPP chief to the Governor`s House in the state capital of Shillong. On Thursday, BJP state president in Meghalaya Ernest Mawrie had sent the letter of support to the NPP for the formation of the government to Sangma.The letter stated: "In inviting a reference to the above-mentioned subject, I am to apprise you that as per directions from the National President, Bharatiya Janata Party, J.P. Nadda hereby formally communicates with you and submits `A leet of Support` for the institution of the new government as an outcome of the results of the just concluded Meghalaya Legislative Assembly Election 2023."In response, the NPP chief thanked the BJP for "extending your support to our party to form the government". We will continue to work together to serve Meghalaya and its people," he said in a tweet late Thursday night.In the February 27 Assembly elections, the NPP won 26 seats, while the BJP got two. Another coalition partner in the NPP-led previous government United Democratic Party bagged 11 seats.
New Delhi: The Delhi High Court on Friday directed the All India Medical Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) to constitute a medical board to examine the woman who has sought permission to terminate 27 weeks of pregnancy. The woman has said that the foetus is suffering from cardiac abnormality. Justice Prathiba M Singh said, "considering the nature of abnormality let a medical board be constituted by the AIIMS."

The court directed the petitioner to appear before the medical board at 3 pm tomorrow. The bench has also directed AIIMS to file a report and listed the matter for Monday at 10.30 am.

The petitioner is a 32-year-old married woman who is currently at a 27 weeks gestational age and by way of the instant petition, she has sought the intervention of the High Court in passing directions to conduct medical termination of her pregnancy under Section 3(2B), Medical Termination of Pregnancy Act, 1971 (as amended by the MTP Amendment Act, 2021).

Given the fact that time is of the essence in the present case and also owing to the substantial fetal abnormalities, the Petitioner has approached this Court through advocate Anwesh Madhukar and Prachi Nirwan for enforcement of her `Right to life` under Article 21, Constitution of India, and has sought directions against the Respondents qua medical termination of her pregnancy under Section 3(2B), Medical Termination of Pregnancy Act.

The court noted that after the report of the ultrasound done on February 17, some abnormality was found in the foetus. Thereafter the case was referred to a foetal medical expert. The abnormality was found in the subsequent examination on February 25.

The court perused the report of February 25 wherein a cardiac abnormality with the foetus was found. It is also stated that no abnormality was found in the ultrasound done earlier on January 5.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi yesterday launched a scathing attack on the Opposition claiming that while they raise the 'Mar Ja Modi' slogan, people say 'Mat Ja Modi'. PM Modi made the remarks while addressing the BJP workers at the party headquarter in New Delhi after the saffron party's victory in three northeastern states that went to polls. However, his remarks did not go well with the Congress as it questioned the intention of PM Modi behind making such remarks.

Hitting out at the BJP and PM Modi, Leader of Opposition in Karnataka Assembly and former state chief minister Siddaramaiah said that it's unfortunate that despite being in power at the Centre and the state, PM Modi is not able to ask for votes based on his government's achievements and claiming that Congress is chanting slogans 'Mar ja Modi' simply to gain sympathy.

"PM Narendra Modi should reveal who said 'Mar Ja Modi' and where? When the intelligence, police and investigation agencies are all in their hand, what is the hindrance to dragging out those who chanted such slogans and put them in jail?," said the Congress leader.

Siddaramaiah said that if a Prime Minister is not safe in this country, how can the government protect the common people? "Why action has not been taken against those who shouted the 'Mar Jaa Modi' slogan? All these are gimmicks to gain sympathy. People are not stupid, they understand BJP's game," he said.

Hitting out at the BJP over Union Home Minister Amit Shah's statement that Congress should learn to respect elder leaders from the way PM Modi honoured BS Yeddyurappa, Siddaramaiah alleged that Narendra Modi sidelined not only senior leaders like Atal Bihari Vajpayee, Lal Krishna Advani but also Murali Manohar Joshi, Jaswant Singh and Keshubhai Patel.

"It should be remembered that BS Yeddyurappa, who was the Chief Minister, went to jail when there was a BJP government in the state. Who made him leave the party? Who humiliated and tortured those who left the BJP? Aren't they all disciples of Narendra Modi?...From Narendra Modi to the state BJP leaders, everyone is now singing the praises of BS Yediyurappa, not out of love for him but to win Lingayat votes. The Lingayat community has the power to understand this game," alleged Siddaramaiah.

The Congress leader also alleged that PM Modi mistreated Karnataka MPs. Karnataka will go to polls this year.
New Delhi: Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) MP Manoj Jha on Friday said that phone tapping is happening and no one can deny this fact. While speaking to ANI, RJD leader Manoj Jha said "Pegasus or no Pegasus phone tapping is happening". RJD leader further stated that BJP leaders fear talking to him over the phone. "Many of my friends in BJP say to me let's talk on signal not on a phone call as calls are getting tapped so this reality has to be accepted," he said.

"BJP leaders are blaming a Deputy Chief Minister of some state that their phone calls are getting tapped, so again this reality has to be accepted" he added. Earlier Congress leader Rahul Gandhi while speaking at an event at Cambridge University in London stated that intelligence officers had told him that pegasus software is installed in his phone and he should remain cautious.

Rampant intimidation of media, judiciary and opposition in India makes communication with people tough. I have been warned by intelligence officers about phone conversations, I too had Pegasus on my phone.



:Sh. @RahulGandhi at Cambridge



Full video here: https://t.co/WnhH6QMVTr pic.twitter.com/e4sF5ra9Ui March 3, 2023

Countering Rahul Gandhi's allegations of phone-tapping, Minister of Electronics and IT Ashwini Vaishnaw said, "Rahul Gandhi is struck on word Pegasus but he needs to learn about pegasus."

When asked about Vaishnaw's remark on Rahul Gandhi`s statement, Manoj Jha attacked the BJP-led Centre and said, "Learning is a lifelong process and the government of which you are a minister has all features of an authoritarian state and people know about this.

"When asked about the opposition not achieving much success in the Supreme court on the Pegasus matter Manoj Jha said " One thing I will tell you there are various instances where the decisions of today and the things which happen later there is always a difference".

Also Read: I Had Pegasus On My Phone, Indian Democracy Under Attack: Rahul Gandhi At Cambridge Lecture

Lashing out at Congress leader Rahul Gandhi over his claim of being snooped on through Israeli spyware Pegasus, Union Minister Anurag Thakur on Friday said it is his habit to raise unfounded allegations and `defame` India on foreign shores.

The Union minister's statement comes in the wake of Rahul Gandhi claiming, in a lecture at Cambridge University, that his phone was being spied on through Pegasus, and that he was warned by Intelligence officers to be "careful" about what he says on the calls.
New Delhi: Congress Leader Rahul Gandhi on Tuesday evening gave a lecture on 'Learning to Listen in the 21st Century' at United Kingdom's Cambridge University. "Indian democracy is under attack and several politicians, including himself, are under surveillance," said Gandhi during his address. His statement drew sharp reactions from the BJP which accused him of maligning the country's image on foreign soil after facing successive electoral setbacks. The Wayanad MP is a visiting fellow of the Cambridge Judge Business School. Gandhi is on a week-long tour of the UK and is scheduled to hold some closed-door sessions on Big Data and Democracy and India-China relations at Cambridge University.

Rampant intimidation of media, judiciary and opposition in India makes communication with people tough. I have been warned by intelligence officers about phone conversations, I too had Pegasus on my phone.



:Sh. @RahulGandhi at Cambridge



Full video here: https://t.co/WnhH6QMVTr pic.twitter.com/e4sF5ra9Ui  Congress (@INCIndia) March 3, 2023

Here are the ten points from Rahul's address:

Gandhi referred to the controversial Pegasus snooping issue and alleged that the Israeli spyware was installed on the phones of a large number of politicians, including him.

The former Congress president listed five key aspects of the alleged attack on Indian democracy --Capture and control of media and judiciary; surveillance and intimidation; coercion by federal law enforcement agencies; attacks on minorities, Dalits and tribals; and shutting down of dissent.

The 52-year-old former Congress chief said that the institutional framework which is required for a democracy: Parliament, a free press, the judiciary and just the idea of mobilisation, these are all getting constrained.

Rahul Gandhi, who gave a presentation, noted that in the Constitution, India is described as a Union of States and that Union requires negotiation and conversation. He also showed slides on the screen of him being confronted by police officers outside Parliament in New Delhi.

"It is that negotiation that is coming under attack and threat... You would have also heard about the attack on the minorities and press," he said, adding that protecting and defending Indian democracy is more than just about India but about defending the "democratic structure and democratic system on the planet".

"I have got a number of criminal liable cases for things that should under no circumstances be criminal liable cases, but that's the story and that's what we are trying to defend.

"As the Opposition, it is very difficult to communicate with people when you have this type of an assault on the media, on the democratic architecture," he said, explaining the motivation behind his Bharat Jodo Yatra ? a 4,081 km walk through 14 Indian states from September 2022 to January 2023 to draw attention to "prejudice, unemployment and growing inequality in India".

Gandhi recalled his student days at the university, which he said had given him a lot "in terms of knowledge and understanding?.

The second strand of his lecture focussed on the "two divergent perspectives? of the US and China since World War II and the final strand was around the "Imperative for a Global Conversation", as he knitted the different strands together in a call for a new type of receptiveness to various viewpoints.

Gandhi is on a week-long tour of the UK and is scheduled to hold some closed-door sessions on Big Data and Democracy and India-China relations at Cambridge University. Later in the week, he will interact with representatives of the Indian Overseas Congress (IOC) UK chapter and also address an "Indian Diaspora Conference" planned over the weekend in London.
New Delhi: Union Minister Anurag Thakur criticised Congress leader Rahul Gandhi for allegedly "defaming India". Thakur was referring to Gandhi's speech at Cambridge University wherein he alleged that his phone was being monitored using the Pegasus spyware and that he had been cautioned by intelligence officials to be cautious about what he said on the phone as his conversations were being recorded.

#WATCH | Rahul Gandhi has a habit of lying and defaming India. This raises questions on the agenda of the Congress party: Union minister & BJP leader Anurag Thakur pic.twitter.com/3yTFgtlvTW March 3, 2023

Sam Pitroda, an ex-advisor to former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, shared a link to the video of Rahul Gandhi's lecture on Twitter, where Rahul spoke about the importance of listening in the modern era. Rahul claimed that many politicians, including himself, had been targeted by the Pegasus spyware. Replying to this, Thakur said, "Rahul Gandhi has a habit of lying and defaming India. This raises questions on the agenda of the Congress party."

Indian Intelligence officers have told me, please be cautious of what you speak, we are recording the stuff. Many political leaders have Pegasus Spyware on their Phone. Unnecessary cases are registered against us: Rahul Gandhi in Cambridge pic.twitter.com/EBXX7p1s20  Megh Updates (@MeghUpdates) March 3, 2023

Last August, a committee appointed by the Supreme Court was tasked with investigating claims that the Indian government had used Pegasus spyware to spy on people. The committee found that while no evidence of Pegasus was discovered on 29 mobile phones that were examined, the malware was detected on five of them. However, the committee stated that it could not definitively confirm that Pegasus was responsible.

Rahul Gandhi also alleged that the Indian government was imposing restrictions on Parliament, the press, and the judiciary, which was putting a strain on Indian democracy. As an opposition leader, he was concerned about the limitations being placed on democratic institutions and the freedom of movement in the country.
The chief accountant of Bengaluru Water Supply and Sewerage Board (BWSSB), Prashanth Madal, was caught red-handed by the Karnataka Lokayukta officials while accepting a bribe of Rs 40 lakh on Thursday. Prashanth is the son of sitting BJP MLA from Channagiri Assembly constituency, K Madal Virupakshappa. With Karnataka set to go to the polls later this year, the development is seen as a serious setback for the ruling BJP. The incident came to light at a time when the opposition is attacking the BJP government in Karnataka over 40 per cent `commission` and kickbacks in government tenders.

According to sources, Prashanth had demanded Rs 80 lakh as bribe to clear a tender process. He was caught red-handed while accepting Rs 40 lakh at his office.

Prashanth has been taken into custody by the Lokayukta police who are now verifying the documents.

#Bengaluru

Lokayukta raided & trapped son of BJP MLA Madal Virupakshappa, accused Prashanth works as Chief accountant in BWSSB, he was collecting bribe on behalf of his father/chairman KSDL for raw material procurement tender

Raids were at crescent road office

40 lakh was caught pic.twitter.com/k5iyZDmvP6  Kamran (@CitizenKamran) March 2, 2023

The complaint was filed regarding allotment of tender for providing raw materials to the Karnataka Soaps and Detergents Limited (KSDL). Prashath`s father is the Chairman of KSDL. The authorities are likely to question BJP MLA Virupakshappa as the bribe money was received on behalf of the KSDL Chairman for raw material procurement tender.

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Bengaluru: A day after BJP MLA K Madal Virupakshappa's son Prashanth Madal was caught red-handed while accepting a bribe of Rs 40 lakh, Lokayukta officials on Friday recovered unaccounted cash of more than Rs six crore from his house. Reacting to raid conducted by the anti-corruption wing of Lokayukta at the house of BJP MLA Madal Virupakshappa`s son Prashant Madal, Karnataka Chief Minister Basavaraja Bommai on Friday said that Lokayukta is independent, and let free and fair investigation happen. Prashanth, the chief accountant of the Bangalore Water Supply and Sewerage Board, was caught red-handed on Thursday evening while accepting the bribe from a contractor Shreyas Kashyap of Chemixil Corporation at the Karnataka Soap and Detergents Limited (KSDL) office.

Lokayukta Justice B.S. Patil had stated that "during the raid Rs 2.2 crore was recovered. Rs 6.10 crore was recovered from the residences later."

Bengaluru | When Lokayukta police raided the office they recovered Rs 2.2 crore, they raided residence & recovered Rs 6.10 crore. Five persons apprehended, FIR registered. Whosoever has role in this matter, it will be revealed: B.S. Patil,Karnataka Lokayukta on Lokayukta raid pic.twitter.com/8AFsBzJgNy  ANI (@ANI) March 3, 2023

The development is seen as a serious setback to the ruling BJP. The incident has come to light at a time when the opposition is launching attacks with regards to 40 per cent commission and kickbacks in the government tenders.

Virupakshappa, MLA from Channagiri constituency in Davanagere district, is the chairman of KSDL and Prashanth was allegedly receiving 'first installment' of the bribe on behalf of his father, according to Lokayukta sources.

Facing the heat, Virupakshappa earlier today tendered his resignation from the post. In his resignation letter to the Chief Minister, he said there is no "relation" between him and the Lokayukta raid which he termed as a 'conspiracy' against him and his family.

"Despite that since an allegation has been levelled against me, I am taking moral responsibility and submitting my resignation from the post of KSDL Chairman", he said.

CM Bommai Says Those Guilty Will Be Punished

In his reaction, Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai said the trap was proof that the Lokayukta has been "revived" to check corruption unlike the previous Congress regime which created a separate anti-corruption bureau apart from the Lokayukta institution to cover up their wrong deeds.

"Our motive is to punish culprits, all details are with Lokayukta, whose money was that, where it comes from, everything must come out," he added.

"Earlier (during Congress regime) Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB) closed many corruption cases and stopped investigations. Let everything be investigated and the truth come out, we will investigate all those cases," he added.

Former Chief Minister and senior Congress leader Siddaramaiah said the MLA' s son demanding bribes is "proof of the 40 per cent commission government functioning in the state".
New Delhi: Congress Leader Rahul Gandhi on Tuesday said that he encountered militants during his Bharat Jodo Yatra in Jammu and Kashmir. Rahul was narrating an incident from Kashmir leg of his Bharat Jodo Yatra during a lecture at United Kingdom's Cambridge University. The Wayanad MP said that security forces cautioned him to not take the yatra by foot in Kashmir as there was a fear of terror attacks but he continued to do so. "I spoke to my people and informed them that I wanted to continue the walk," Gandhi said. The Congress leader further said that an unidentified man came up to him and questioned him whether the Congress leader had travelled to the UT to listen to the problems of the people. "Then, the guy pointed to certain bystanders and claimed they were all terrorists," he added.

"I believed I was in danger because militants would murder me in such circumstances. But, they didn't harm me as a result of the power of listening,'' the 52-year-old former Congress chief said.

The sea of Indian flags everywhere around us in Kashmir is a testament to peace, love and trust. The roughest districts of Kashmir bestowed on all of us immense love and taught us the need to trust.



:Sh. @RahulGandhi at Cambridge



Full video here: https://t.co/WnhH6QMVTr pic.twitter.com/HttYZrhGNR  Congress (@INCIndia) March 3, 2023

"As the Opposition, it is very difficult to communicate with people when you have this type of an assault on the media, on the democratic architecture," he said, explaining the motivation behind his Bharat Jodo Yatra.

Congress Leader Rahul Gandhi on Tuesday evening gave a lecture on 'Learning to Listen in the 21st Century' at United Kingdom's Cambridge University.

Gandhi referred to the controversial Pegasus snooping issue and alleged that the Israeli spyware was installed on the phones of a large number of politicians, including him.

"Indian democracy is under attack and several politicians, including himself, are under surveillance," said Gandhi during his address. His statement drew sharp reactions from the BJP which accused him of maligning the country's image on foreign soil after facing successive electoral setbacks

The former Congress president listed five key aspects of the alleged attack on Indian democracy --Capture and control of media and judiciary; surveillance and intimidation; coercion by federal law enforcement agencies; attacks on minorities, Dalits and tribals; and shutting down of dissent.

Gandhi is on a week-long tour of the UK and is scheduled to hold some closed-door sessions on Big Data Democracy and India-China relations at Cambridge University.
New Delhi: The AAP will be conducting 2,500 nukkad sabhas across Delhi to reach out to people and inform them about BJP's authoritarianism, following the arrest of its senior leader and former minister Manish Sisodia by the CBI in the excise policy case. On Thursday, an organisational meeting was chaired by Delhi state convenor Gopal Rai and the state unit decided to organise mohalla sabhas and nukkad sabhas to reach out to the residents and inform them "about the misuse of central agencies by the Modi government", the AAP said in a statement.

Rai said on March 3, a volunteer meeting will be held in all 70 assembly constituencies in Delhi to 'expose' the BJP. Subsequently, on March 4, the party will hold mohalla sabhas at the state level and on March 6 and 7, meetings will be organised in every polling station of Delhi. Eventually on March 10, nukkad sabhas will be organised in every neighbourhood of Delhi to reach out to the residents.

"The AAP will hold mohalla sabhas in more than 2,500 neighbourhoods of Delhi, where the people will be informed about the BJP's authoritarianism," the statement said.

Rai, who is also the environment minister in the city government, said Prime Minister Narendra Modi has "adopted an authoritarian approach and arrested the country's best education minister Manish Sisodia and also misused the central agencies to keep Satyendar Jain in jail".

"On Wednesday, Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal held a meeting with all the MLAs and councillors and asked them to reach out to the people and inform them of the truth of the case. It was decided at the meeting that every plot and conspiracy of the BJP will be given a strong answer.

"We will organise nukkad sabhas in every neighborhood of Delhi and reveal to the people the conspiracy organized by the prime minister to stop the Aam Aadmi Party. Our leaders have been arrested for these reasons and we will inform the people about it, he said.

The senior leader said at the moment the initiative is being held at the state level, but soon the party will also carry out the program at the national level. On Wednesday, Kejriwal had said senior leaders of the party will hit the ground to tell people what is happening.

"There was a time when (former Prime Minister) Indira Gandhi had gone to the extreme, today PM Modi is going extreme. When the extreme happens, nature takes its course. The Almighty uses His force. This is not right (what is happening). People are watching and they are angry," he had said.
Prime Minister of Ukraine Denys Shmyhal stated the high expectations of the Ukrainian side from the NATO summit, which will be held on July 11-12 in Vilnius (Lithuania).

"We are actively preparing for the summit in Vilnius. We expect and are doing everything to make important announcements at this summit. We don't have enough open doors anymore, this phrase has been sounding for Ukraine for many years," Shmyhal said at the annual press conference on the results of the government's work in Kyiv on Friday.

The Prime Minister stressed that Ukraine expects specifics from partners.

Shmyhal also noted that the government continues to work on the preparation of draft laws that are necessary for Ukraine's integration into NATO standards.
NEW DELHI: In a big upset for BJP, its Meghalaya unit chief Ernest Mawrie, who had grabbed eyeballs by saying he eats beef and everyone in the northeastern state eats too, was defeated in the assembly elections, as per the results declared by the Election Commission. Mawrie was defeated in the assembly election 2023 from the West Shillong constituency. He secured around 20.07 per cent of the vote, according to the Election Commission of India.

The Meghalaya BJP chief had created a sensation last month by claiming that if the BJP came to power in Meghalaya, it would not impose any restrictions on the people consuming beef. He went on to say that Meghalaya is a Christian-majority state and if the BJP came to power, it would provide more security to the Christians.

I cannot make a statement on the resolution adopted by other states. We are in Meghalaya, everybody eats beef, and there is no restriction. Yes, I eat beef too. There is no ban in Meghalaya. It is the lifestyle of the people, no one can stop it. There is no such rule in India also. Some states have passed some acts. In Meghalaya, we have a slaughterhouse, everybody takes a cow or pig and brings it to the market. It could be a hygienic one. So the people they have the habit, Mawrie had said, according to news agency ANI.

After the declaration of results, Mawrie said the saffron party will submit a letter of support to the NPP on Thursday night to form the next government in the state.

BJP, which contested the assembly elections alone and won two seats despite being in an alliance government with the NPP during the last five years, would have bagged more seats had the two allies fought in partnership, he said.

"Today, around 6 pm, I got a call from our national president J P Nadda. He asked me to convene a meeting of the state BJP and extend support to the NPP in government formation," Mawrie was quoted as saying by PTI.

The National People's Party in Meghalaya emerged as the single-largest party in the state on Thursday, clinching 26 seats out of the 59 constituencies that went to polls on February 27, the Election Commission said. "... We are going to submit the letter of support to (CM) Conrad Sangma tonight itself," Mawrie said.

When pointed out that the NPP and BJP together will also not cross the magic number of 31, he expressed optimism all the partners of the last regime will join hands to form the next government.

On BJP's performance in the elections, Mawrie said: "In the morning, we were leading in 10 seats, but we started trailing after the fourth round. Though the number of seats didn't increase, our vote share went up. "We worked very hard and lost many seats narrowly," the BJP state unit chief claimed.

In 2018, the BJP contested 47 seats and won two. Asked if the results would have been different had the BJP and NPP fought together, he said: "Maybe you're right. We probably would have won more seats in that case. But, as a national party, we need to follow instructions from the central leaders.
SHILLONG: National People's Party (NPP) president Conrad K Sangma on Friday called on Meghalaya Governor Phagu Chauhan and staked claim to form the government in the northeastern state. Sangma, the outgoing chief minister, claimed that he has an "absolute majority with more than 32 MLAs" on his side in the 60-member assembly but refused to give details of supporting parties.

Addressing a press conference before going to Raj Bhawan, Sangma said, "We have an absolute majority. The BJP has already extended its support. Some others have also given their support."

State BJP president Ernest Mawrie told PTI that NPP has the support of 34 MLAs as the party has the backing of legislators of Hill State People's Democratic Party (HSPDP), People's Democratic Front (PDF) and Independents, besides those of the saffron party.

The NPP emerged as the single-largest party in Meghalaya on Thursday, bagging 26 seats out of the 59 constituencies that went to polls on February 27. The BJP, HSPDP and the PDF won two seats each, while two Independent candidates also emerged victorious.

The UDP, which was NPP's ally in the Conrad K Sangma government, emerged as the second-largest party, winning 11 constituencies.

Asked if the NPP will seek the support of any other party, the state BJP chief said that it is unlikely as the required number to form the government has been achieved.

Mawrie also claimed that the new government will take oath on March 7 and Prime Minister Narendra Modi will be present at the programme.

The Congress and the Mamata Banerjee-led TMC won five seats each.

The newly formed Voice of the People Party (VPP) won four seats, while the Hill State People's Democratic Party (HSPDP) and the People's Democratic Front won two seats each. Two Independent candidates also emerged victorious.
India, March 3, 2023: Lakshmikumaran & Sridharan (LKS), a premier full-service Indian law firm specializing in taxation, has in a comprehensive white paper analyzed the proposed TDS changes announced for the Online Gaming Industry in the Union Budget 2023. The white paper welcomes the Governments initiative to provide clarity on direct taxation of online gaming and highlights the potential challenges, their impact on users and industry and proposes solutions to address the same.

The online gaming industry till now was deducting TDS on winnings under section 194B, which had a threshold of INR 10,000 per game post which the tax was deducted at the rate of 30%. In the Union Budget 2023, the Finance Minister announced a separate new section 194BA for TDS on online gaming. Under the new section, the Online gaming platforms are expected to deduct 30% TDS on net winnings. The computation of net winnings shall be prescribed separately.

While this has been a welcome move for the industry, it has posed a conundrum as well. This is because the current section 194B is being amended and while the amendments in the section 194B come into effect starting April 01, 2023 the new section 194BA comes into effect only on July 01, 2023.

This essentially means that for a period of 3 months between April 01- June 30th, 2023, the online gaming industry will have to comply with the amended 194B and undergo two different compliance framework changes within three months. This can cause a lot of confusion for the users and pose a huge compliance challenge for the industry.

Commenting on the report, L Badri Narayanan, Executive Partner, LKS, said, "While the new proposed TDS changes bring in the much needed recognition for online gaming, the compliance complexities do pose a challenge. The application of two different tax deduction changes within the same financial year may result in massive confusion for players who may inadvertently not be able to comply or end up losing money. It may also lead to a mismatch between the winnings reported by OGIs and actual taxable net winnings of the users. Additionally, it would require significant education of the 20+ crore online gaming players, which would be an arduous task.

He added, Historically, when such changes are carried out, only one regime change is prescribed to allow for sufficient time to implement. The Government should ideally conduct industry consultations to understand their concerns and notify the rules accordingly.

According to the whitepaper, the proposed solution to these probable issues would be that threshold amendments to Section 194B should be brought into effect from July 1, 2023 for a smooth transition as has been the practice for earlier amendments. It is also crucial that the tax return filing process for users at the end of the financial year remains seamless. The report also proposes certain principles that may be adopted for calculation of net winnings, reflecting upon the intent of bringing these amendments.

The government and the industry can reap the benefits of this sunrise sector, provided all the concerns are addressed in a holistic manner. India has emerged as a pioneer in the online gaming industry, contributing over INR 22,000 crore in revenue to the exchequer. With a projected Compound Annual Growth Rate (CAGR) of 38%, the industry has the potential to empower the "Make in India" and "Brand India" vision.

About Lakshmikumaran & Sridharan

Lakshmikumaran & Sridharan (LKS) is a premier full-service Indian law firm specializing in areas such as corporate & M&A/PE, dispute resolution, taxation and intellectual property. The firm, through its 14 offices across India, works closely on litigation and commercial law matters, advising and representing clients both in India and abroad. The firm has handled more than 30,000 litigation cases before various forums including 2,000 cases before the Supreme Court of India. Over the last 37 years, the firm has worked with over 15,500 clients which range from start-ups, small & medium enterprises, to large Indian corporates and multinational companies.

The professionals within the firm bring diverse experience to service clients across sectors such as commodities, automobile, manufacturing, healthcare, IT/ITeS, FMCG, hospitality, real estate, petrochemicals, e-commerce, fintech, big data, renewables, cryptocurrency, gaming and sports. The firm takes pride in the value-based, client-focused approach that combines knowledge of the law with industry experience to design bespoke legal solutions.

The firms driving principles to achieve our vision are integrity, knowledge, innovation, and collaboration.

(An Innovation Studio Feature Article)

The information is provided for general informational purposes only and should not be relied upon as legal advice
The National Investigation Agency (NIA) on Friday attached the property of a Hizbul Mujahideen commander based in Pakistan, Basit Reshi located in the Sopore area of north Kashmir, officials said.

Basit, affiliated with the Pakistan-based terrorist organization - Hizbul Mujahideen and a resident of Hardshiva in Sopore was declared as a designated 'terrorist' under the UAPA by the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) recently. The NIA stated that Basit is currently working for The Resistance Front (TRF).

An official said, "The immovable property (Agriculture land) around 09 marlas falling under the Khasra No. 1962, 1945 at Edipora in Zaingeer Tehsil was attached by the National Investigation Agency (NIA) who were accompanied by the Jammu and Kashmir Police by the order of Ministry of Home Affairs, Government of India."

Also Read: 'Made Eye Contact With Militants During Bharat Jodo Yatra In Kashmir': Rahul Gandhi At Cambridge University

Basit, who as per the officials, is currently in Pakistan was involved in subversive activities and coordinated target killings in Jammu and Kashmir. " Basit had planned and executed an attack on a police guard post at Tujar Sharief on August 18, 2015, in which police personnel and a civilian were killed", they said.

Reshi presently manages and supplies arms/ammunition as well as funds for TRF from across the border, they added.

A day before such action, the NIA teams were seen in Srinagar where they attached the property of Mushtaq Ahmad Zargar alias Latram - founder and chief commander of Al-Umar Mujahideen in the Nowhatta area of Srinagar.

Meanwhile, a statement released by NIA reads that NIA has almost attached 5 properties of 5 designated terrorists. Besides, NIA recently under UAPA, attached the Hurriyat Office in Srinagar, which was owned in part by Nayeem Khan, an accused chargesheeted by the NIA in the Hurriyat Terror Funding case.
New Delhi: Congress leader Pawan Khera who was arrested by Assam police over remarks against Prime Minister Narendra Modi has been granted an extension of his interim bail till March 17 by the Supreme Court. Earlier, the apex court had extended protection to Khera against any coercive action till March 3. There are several cases filed against him for allegedly insulting PM Modi's father. The Assam and UP governments have also received time to file replies to Pawan Khera's plea.

Congress leader Pawan Khera was arrested at the Delhi Airport on February 23 over his alleged remarks against the prime minister. Khera was at the airport and was about to fly to Raipur to attend Congress' 85th plenary meeting.

During the hearing, Singhvi told the bench that multiple FIRs have been lodged against Khera over his alleged remarks against the prime minister. "He (Khera) has made statements in a press conference. He has made certain statements which I cannot say in the court but I personally would not have made," Singhvi said.

He said due to the statements, multiple FIRs have been lodged against Khera in different states and, currently, Assam Police are at the airport to take him into custody. Khera, against whom a case has been registered in Assam, was asked by the Delhi Police to deplane. After Khera was asked to deboard from the plane, several Congress leaders protested by sitting on the tarmac and demanded an explanation of the situation.

Later, at the Congress' 85th plenary session, Khera was asked if he regretted his remarks over which he was arrested. He answered with a dialogue from a Hindi movie, "Hum bolega to bologe ki bolta hai", and added that, "Is liye hum kuch nahi bolega (that is why I will not say anything).

"Will speak when the time comes. A legal process is on and it is not proper to comment on it," he added.

At a presser during the Congress meeting, Khera bashed the BJP and accused them of 'undemocratically' selecting a party chief and on the other hand, praised his own party for holding a vote to elect its chief.
New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Friday extended till March 13 the protection from arrest granted to independent Assam MLA Akhil Gogoi in connection with a case related to anti-CAA protests and suspected Maoist links. The lawmaker, who has allegedly been vocal against the Central government during the anti-Citizenship Amendment Act protests, had moved the top court against the February 9 order of the Gauhati High Court allowing the special NIA court in Assam to proceed with the framing of charges against him in one of the two cases.

A bench of justices V Ramasubramanian and Pankaj Mithal deferred the matter to March 13 after noting that the counsel for the petitioner was not available. "Interim protection to continue till next date," the bench said.

The National Investigation Agency (NIA) had earlier told the top court that bail cannot be granted to Gogoi as he is an alleged kingpin of Maoist activities in the state even as the lawmaker said cases against him were a result of "political vendetta".

Earlier, the high court had permitted the NIA to seek framing of charges in the special court against Gogoi and three of his associates in connection with anti-CAA protests and suspected Maoist links. The high court's order had come on an appeal of the NIA challenging the order of a special NIA court giving clean chit to the four.

A high court division bench comprising Justices Suman Shyam and Malasri Nandi had asked the agency to go ahead with framing charges after reopening the case. "The high court has accepted NIA's plea to reopen the case and frame charges against the four persons. The case will be heard again in the Special NIA Court," Gogoi's counsel Santanu Borthakur had said.

The MLA has come to the apex court against the order. The other three accused were Dhaijya Konwar, Bittu Sonowal and Manash Konwar, all of whom got bail in the NIA case and were released from jail.

Gogoi was the only one whose bail was rejected by the court and he was released after spending 567 days in jail once Special NIA Judge Pranjal Das cleared him along with the three others of all charges.

The NIA is investigating two cases against Gogoi related to anti-CAA protests. In one of those, the special NIA court granted him bail, which was upheld by the Gauhati High Court too in April 2021 after the probe agency challenged it.

The RTI activist continued to be in judicial custody as he was rejected bail in the second case related to anti-CAA violence and was being investigated by the NIA. Later, the special NIA court on July 1, 2021 released Gogoi and his three associates for their alleged role in the violent anti-Citizenship (Amendment) Act stir in the state in December 2019 and observed there was nothing to indicate that the "talk of blockade" threatened the country's economic security or was "a terrorist act."

The NIA then moved the Gauhati High Court appealing it to allow the agency to frame charges under various sections, including sedition, of the IPC and the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act, 1967.
Shillong: The Congress party has termed Meghalaya's NPP seeking the support of its erstwhile partner BJP to form the next government in the state as a "paradox" after the saffron party's central leadership described the Conrad K Sangma dispensation as one of the "most corrupt" in the country. Congress MLA Ronny V Lyngdoh, who won from the Mylliem assembly constituency, said the opposition will continue to work with like-minded parties despite facing a defeat.

"There lies the paradox. Union Home Minister Amit Shah says that this (NPP) is the most corrupt government. How can they work with the same party?" Lyngdoh mentioned. Addressing a poll rally in the North Tura constituency, Shah had on February 16 said the BJP broke its alliance with the NPP before the elections in Meghalaya so that it could contest all the assembly seats and emerge stronger.

The National People's Party (NPP) emerged as the single-largest party in the state on Thursday, bagging 26 seats out of the 59 constituencies that went to polls on February 27. As the party fell short of the magic figure of 31 in the 60-member assembly, Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma said Sangma sought the support of Shah in forming the new government.

The United Democratic Party (UDP), which was the NPP's ally in the Sangma government, emerged as the second-largest party, winning 11 constituencies. It had won only six seats in the 2018 polls. The Congress and the Mamata Banerjee-led TMC won five seats each, while the BJP secured two assembly segments.

"Was not the BJP part of the NPP-led government for the full five years? When you are saying that it is the most corrupt government, are you not blaming yourself? Their party was part of the alliance from the beginning to the end. If corruption was there, they are also equally to be blamed and responsible," Lyngdoh said.

He also said that Congress will continue to work to remove economic inequality. "We will work with like-minded parties. We will work with those parties which believe in pluralism, secularism, rule of law, uphold the Constitution and democracy," Lyngdoh added.
New Delhi: With the BJP-led alliance managing to keep all three northeastern states  Tripura, Nagaland and Meghalaya - under its belt with the help of allies after the declaration of assembly election results, Prime Minister Narendra Modi has taken a swipe at the Opposition, saying the harder his rivals to try to oust him from power, the people of India bring him back every time. Addressing a gathering of BJP workers at the Bharatiya Janta Party (BJP) headquarters, PM Modi came down heavily on his political rivals and said that some people are aspiring to dig "Modi`s grave" saying "Mar jaa Modi" while the country is chanting "Mat jaa Modi" (Don`t go Modi).

The Prime Minister was given a rousing welcome at BJP headquarters in the national capital after the results of assembly polls of three northeastern states were declared on Thursday. PM urged the workers gathered at the occasion to turn on the flashlight of their phones in honour of the people of the northeast.

Launching a scathing attack on the opposition, the PM said, "Some people are aspiring to dig Modi`s grave. But wherever there is a chance, the lotus keeps on blooming...It keeps on blooming. Some people are engaged in identifying fanatics...They also do dishonesty with fanaticism. These fanatics say - `Mar Jaa Modi...Mar Jaa Modi...Desh keh raha hai Mat Jaa Modi."

WATCH PM MODI REPLY'S TO MAR JAA MODI JIBE

#WATCH | These kattar people do every work with extreme dishonestythey say Mar Ja Modi but the country says Mat Jaa Modi: PM Modi at BJP headquarters, Delhi (02/03) pic.twitter.com/9RVO3ZbeQ3  ANI (@ANI) March 2, 2023

PM Modi said that the election results depict people`s faith in democracy, adding that the Northeast is neither far from Delhi nor from the heart. Addressing party workers at BJP headquarters, PM Modi said, "The Northeast is neither far from Delhi nor from our hearts. The election results depict people`s faith in democracy. I humbly thank the people of Tripura, Nagaland and Meghalaya. These people have blessed the BJP and its allies. Besides, I congratulate the BJP workers of these three states. It is not easy to work in the northeast, and therefore a special thank is due to them.

"Today`s results, the PM said are the outcome of the hard work of all BJP workers. Today`s election and these election results have many messages for the country and for the world, he said. In reference to earlier times, PM Modi said, "There was not much discussion in Delhi and other parts of the country when the results were out from the northeast region. The discussion was about the violence during the elections."

The PM said winning the heart of the people of the northeast is a big win for him. He said the time has come for the northeast region`s peace, prosperity and development."

Attacking the Congress party, PM Modi said, "The results have exposed Congress`s thinking about the northeast. Congress claimed that these are small states and insignificant. It is an insult to the mandate and the people of the northeast states."

With the declaration of results for the Tripura Assembly polls on Thursday, Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) returned to power in the state by winning an absolute majority. According to the Election Commission of India, Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) won 32 seats with a vote share of around 39 per cent. Tipra Motha Party came second by winning 13 seats. Communist Party of India (Marxist) got 11 seats while Congress bagged three seats. The Indigenous People`s Front of Tripura (IPFT) managed to open its account by winning one seat. The CPI (M) and the Congress, arch rivals in Kerala, came together in the Northeast this time in a bid to oust the BJP from power. The combined vote share of CPI(M) and Congress remained around 33 per cent. Chief Minister Manik Saha defeated Congress` Asish Kumar Saha from the Town Bordowali seat by a margin of 1,257 votes.

Tripura

In the 60-member Tripura assembly, the majority mark is 31. The BJP, which had never won a single seat in Tripura before 2018, stormed to power in the last election in alliance with IPFT and ousted the Left Front which had been in power in the border state for 35 years since 1978. The BJP contested on 55 seats and its ally, IPFT, on six seats. But both allies had fielded candidates in the Ampinagar constituency in the Gomati district. The Left contested on 47 and Congress on 13 seats, respectively. Of the total 47 seats, the CPM contested 43 seats while the Forward Bloc, Communist Party of India (CPI) and Revolutionary Socialist Party (RSP) contested one seat each.

The CPI(M)-led Left Front ruled the state for nearly four decades, with a gap between 1988 and 1993 when the Congress was in power but now both parties joined hands with the intention to oust BJP from power.

Nagaland

In Nagaland, BJP secured 12 seats, Nationalist Democratic Progressive Party (NDPP) won 25 seats and Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) bagged seven seats. National People`s Party (NPP) won five seats. Naga Peoples Front, Lok Janshakti Party (Ram Vilas) and Republican Party of India (Athawale) won two seats each. Nitish Kumar`s Janata Dal (United) got one seat. The majority mark in 60 seat Nagaland Assembly is 31.

Meghalaya

In Meghalaya, the National People`s Party (NPP) won 26 seats, United Democratic Party (UDP) bagged 11 seats and Trinamool Congress got five seats. BJP, People`s Democratic Front and Hill State People`s Democratic Party bagged two seats each. Congress managed to get five seats while the Voice of the People Party got four seats. Two seats were won by independent candidates.
New Delhi: Photos and videos of a saffron-clad woman speaking at a United Nations public meeting in Geneva have gone viral after fugitive godman Nithyananda, who claimed to have founded the United States of Kailasa, posted her images and stated that Ma Vijayapriya Nithyananda represented Kailasa at the UN. Vijayapriya can be seen in the images and videos wearing a saffron saree with rudraksha adorning her neck and maang-teeka on her forehead.

Who is Vijayapriya Nithyananda? Here are 5 things to know about her

The permanent ambassador of the United States of Kailasa to the United Nations is designated as Vijayapriya Nithyananda.

According to reports, she lives in the United States and graduated from Canada's University of Manitoba with a degree in Microbiology in 2014.

'Kailasa' also has a website, where it is stated that Vijayapriya Nithyananda enters into agreements with organisations on behalf of the country.

Vijayapriya has the position of a diplomat in Kailasa, Nithyananda's virtual Hindu country.

As seen in the images and videos, Vijayapriya has a Nithyananda tattoo on her right arm.

Vijayapriya stated at the UN that India had persecuted her guru Nithayananda. Subsequently, Vijayapriya clarified that the United States of Kailasa regards India highly. "We urge the Indian government to take action against these anti-Hindu elements who continue to attack and incite violence against The SPH and KAILASA. It is important to note that these actions do not reflect the values or beliefs of the vast majority of the Indian population," Vijayapriya said in a video statement, as per the reports.

I would like to clarify that I stated that the SPH Bhagavan Nithyananda Paramashivam is persecuted in his birthplace by certain anti-Hindu elements.

The United States of KAILASA holds India in high regard and respects India as its Gurupeedam.

Thank you

Ma Vijayapriya Nithyananda pic.twitter.com/s5TYGJtSnM  KAILASA's SPH Nithyananda (@SriNithyananda) March 2, 2023

The UN human rights office said Thursday that any contributions made by representatives of the so-called "United States of Kailasa (USK)," created by Indian fugitive Nithyananda, at last week's public hearings in Geneva were "irrelevant" and would not be incorporated in the final conclusion documents.

The UN emphasised that the delegation attended the public event as a non-governmental organisation (NGO). Nithyananda, a self-styled godman from Tamil Nadu, departed India in 2018 after two of his disciples were arrested on kidnapping allegations.
New Delhi: The BJP created history on Thursday by returning to power in three northeastern states  Tripura, Nagaland & Meghalaya - that went to polls recently and managed to keep them under its belt with the help of its allies. While the saffron party created history In Tripura, it swept the polls in Nagaland with the help of its alliance partner NDPP. The BJP is also part of the sweepstakes to form government in Meghalaya having decided to extend support to Chief Minister Conrad Sangmas National People's Party which emerged as the single-largest party with 26 seats. BJP and NPP were partners in the outgoing government but had contested the polls separately.

What Does This Victory Mean For BJP And 3 NE States?

BJP`s stellar performance in the assembly polls in the three northeastern states also shows its continued dominance in the region, which was once a Congress stronghold. The outcome means that there will be no change of government in the three northeastern states after the assembly election results were declared by the poll panel on Thursday. Assembly polls in the three states were held last month. Interestingly, a few opposition parties opposed to BJP did relatively better in the northeast assembly bypolls.

However, with this victory, the saffron party has once again proved that it is no longer a party with strong roots in the Hindi heartland only. Thanks to PM Narendra Modis continuous focus on the northeast, the majority of Christian and tribal voters here are now more connected with Delhi and the party ruling at the Centre. There is a remarkable change in the perception of northeast voters under the Modi regime, which was not the case during the Congress-led UPA rule. This victory also means that the northeastern states are now more confident and assured of Central assistance and monetary support needed for growth and development under the Modi government and would no longer feel alienated as they were under the previous governments.

It may be mentioned that PM Modi has repeatedly said that the ''northeast is neither far from Delhi (Dilli) nor his heart (dil)'' and, possibly for this reason, the seven sisters of the northeast are treated like Ashtalakshmi for the ruling BJP since it stormed to power in 2014. For the Narendra Modi-Amit Shah-powered BJP, seven sister states, which send 25 MPs to Lok Sabha, are not separate states, but an electorally significant big bloc.

Another reason behind the blooming of lotus (BJP's election symbol) in the northeast is Assams firebrand Chief Minister and BJPs main face in the region  Himanta Biswa Sarma, who is also the head of the crucial North-East Democratic Alliance (NEDA). Himanta - a son of the soil - who joined BJP after a bitter fallout with Rahul Gandhi - and hard-boiled RSS exponent Ram Madhav - are believed to have played a crucial role in expanding and strengthening the saffron partys footprints in the region.

Taking assembly polls in North-East seriously, the BJP also managed to stitch regional alliances needed to ensure victory just well in time. The BJPs apparent softening of its stance on the highly controversial Citizenship Amendment Bill (CAB) and its focus on community, land, home possibly worked in its favour and struck a chord with the northeast voters.

Further, the construction of the Bogibeel Bridge and several road projects across the region as part of the Modi governments 'Act East' policy also bore rich electoral benefits for the ruling party at the Centre. The Narendra Modi government has sanctioned Rs 1,66,026 crores for building 10,000 km of roads in eight states under the National Highways Infrastructure Development Corporation Limited.

Tripura

The BJP which had created a big splash in the 2018 elections by ousting the Left parties from power in Tripura, returned to power in the state with an absolute majority. Its ally Indigenous People`s Front of Tripura (IPFT) won one seat of the six it contested. Tipra Motha, which fought the polls on its demand for `greater Tipraland` made a mark by winning 13 seats. The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) won 32 seats with a vote share of around 39 per cent. The Left parties and Congress had forged an alliance to keep the BJP out of power in the border state but it did not yield results as in West Bengal earlier. CPI-M and Congress are arch-rivals in Kerala. Together polled around 33 per cent votes in Tripura and bagged 14 seats (CPI-M 11, Congress 3). The Left had contested on 47 and Congress on 13 seats. The Left Front had been in power in Tripura for 35 years since 1978. The BJP tally is marginally lower than its number in the 2018 election when it had won 36 seats in Tripura and IPFT had also done well. Chief Minister Manik Saha defeated Congress` Asish Kumar Saha from the Town Bordowali seat by a margin of 1,257 votes.

Nagaland

In Nagaland, BJP secured 12 seats, Nationalist Democratic Progressive Party (NDPP) won 25 seats. Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) bagged seven seats, the National People`s Party (NPP) won five seats, Naga Peoples Front, Lok Janshakti Party (Ram Vilas) and Republican Party of India (Athawale) won two seats each. Nitish Kumar`s Janata Dal (United) got one seat. BJP had earlier won a seat uncontested in the 60-member Nagaland assembly. Nagaland Chief Minister and NDPP candidate Neiphiu Rio won the Northern Angami seat.

Meghalaya

In Meghalaya, the National People`s Party (NPP) led by Chief Minister Conrad Sangma surprised its rivals by winning 26 seats. The party is poised to lead a second successive government in the state. Election was held on 59 seats in the state. United Democratic Party (UDP) bagged 11 seats. Congress won five seats. Trinamool Congress, which had inducted all Congress MLAs in the previous assembly, also got five seats. BJP, People`s Democratic Front and Hill State People`s Democratic Party bagged two seats each. Voice of the People Party got four seats.
Only Ukraine can talk about peace acceptable to it  President of Latvia

Only Ukraine can formulate the conditions of a peace acceptable to it, Latvian President Egils Levits said at a briefing in Lviv on Friday after talks with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.

"Only Ukraine can talk about a world acceptable to it. Long-term peace will mean full territorial integrity of Ukraine. Russia must return to internationally recognized borders," Levits said.

Levits noted that Latvia is helping Ukraine with the support of European integration reforms. "We support negotiations on very specific aspects of Ukraine's obtaining full membership in the EU," he said.

Levits, according to him, will "promote the idea of a special tribunal, since no other international court can consider a case on the crime of aggression."

At the same time, according to him, "it is necessary to create legislative legal grounds for the use of frozen assets of Russia with their use for the restoration of Ukraine."

The President of Latvia expressed support for Zelenskyy's peace plan. "The peace formula is what will create a long-term peace based on the norms of international law," Levits said.

He also stressed that "Ukraine has the full right to join alliances, which means NATO. Latvia supports Ukraine's inclusion in NATO when conditions allow it."
ADO Admit Card 2023 Date: The Life Insurance Corporation of India (LIC) is expected to release the LIC ADO Admit Cards on March 4, 2023. The corporation will release the Apprentice Development Officer (ADO) Prelims exam hall ticket on its official website- licindia.in. Candidates who have applied for the LIC ADO Exam 2023 can follow the simple steps given below to download the LIC ADO Hall Ticket once it is available on the official website of LIC.

Here's how to download LIC ADO Admit Card 2023

Step 1: Visit the official website of LIC- licindia.in.

Step 2: On the homepage, click on the link that reads "Recruitment of Apprentice Development Officer 22-23"

Step 3: Now, click on LIC ADO Admit Card 2023 Link

Step 4: Etre your credentials like, Registration Number/Roll Number and D.O.B./Password.

Step 5: Click on submit and your LIC ADO Prelims Admit Card will appear on the screen.

Step 6: Download LIC ADO Admit Card 2023 and take a printout.

LIC ADO Prelims 2023 Exam Date

The corporation will conduct the LIC ADO Prelims Exam 2023 on 12 March 2023 (Sunday) for a total of 9294 vacancies for the post of ADO (Apprentice Development Officer). The candidates are required to carry the printout of their admit card in order to appear for the exam.
Mumbai: Days after he made the alleged "thieves" and the "house of thieves" remarks for MLAs and the Maharashtra Assembly, Shiv Senas Uddhav Thackeray faction leader Sanjay Raut has once again challenged the Eknath Shinde government in the state to hang him if they want. Talking to reporters, the Shiv Sena Rajya Sabha MP said that they (the Shinde govt) had jailed him earlier, now they can hang him if they so desire but they cant stop him from saying whats correct.

He also said that he and his faction leaders are ready to make any sacrifices if required, but their voices cant be muzzled by those in power in Maharashtra.

Raut also took to Twitter and tweeted that 'Freedom Comes With Sacrifice.''

In view of his objectionable remarks, Maharashtra Assembly`s privilege committee will hold a meeting today and discuss what action can be taken against Raut. "The Assembly`s privilege committee will hold a meeting today and discuss what action to take. There is a high chance of decisions that can increase difficulties for Sanjay Raut. A notice was issued to him over the controversial remark," said Yogesh Sagar.

Maharashtra Legislative Assembly Speaker Rahul Narvekar had on Wednesday ordered an inquiry into the alleged "thieves" and the "house of thieves" remarks made by Sanjay Raut. BJP leader Atul Bhatkalkar submitted a breach of privilege notice to Speaker Rahul Narwekar against Raut. Responding to it, Narvekar said he would inquire into the matter and adjourned the House for the day as chaos prevailed over Raut`s remarks.

The Maharashtra Legislative Assembly has also sought Shiv Sena (UBT) MPs reply to the breach of privilege notice moved by the ruling ally Bharatiya Janata Party members, by Friday (March 3) evening. However, Raut, who is currently touring Sangli, told media persons that he has "not received any notice" so far, adding that this is a legal matter and he would require time to file his reply. "I have already been to jail... If I don`t submit the reply, shall I be hanged?" countered Raut, who is under fire for his purported 'chor mandal' remarks that enraged the state`s legislators.

On Thursday, the Maharashtra Legislative Council Deputy Chairperson Dr. Neelam Gorhe directed him to file his reply to a similar notice from the Upper House within seven days.

The Opposition Sena (UBT) Leader of Opposition in the Council Ambadas Danve has moved a separate breach of privilege notice against Maharashtra Chief Minister Eknath Shinde for his remarks calling the Opposition as 'anti-nationals' (desh-drohi) after they boycotted his session-eve tea-party last Sunday.

The Chief Minister on Thursday clarified that his statement was intended for the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) MLA Nawab Malik, who is currently in jail for alleged deals with the mafia.

Quickly reacting to this, Raut said that even his statement ('chor mandal`) was directed at the CM Shinde`s Shiv Sena MLAs and not at the entire legislature. A day before, Nationalist Congress Party President Sharad Pawar expressed his reservations on the formation of the committee excluding Sena (UBT) members, but including the complainant on the panel, besides the legality and guidelines for such a move since Raut is a Member of Rajya Sabha.
NEW DELHI: Pakistani TikToker Hareem Shah has got herself in the headlines and not for some good reason. According to a Times Now report, her private naked video has been leaked and circulated on the internet. Her private video was leaked on social media on March 1. Reacting to the development, she released a statement stating that her video was leaked by her female friends - Sandal Khattak and Ayesha Naz. As per Hareem, her friends leaked her videos because of the differences that emerged between them, and the clips were aimed to denigrate her character.

The Pakistani influencer started trending after her private video got leaked online and took over the internet. In the clips, she was seen taking a bath and engaging in comprising acts with an unidentified man, who also recorded the video. She can be heard saying in the video, "We used to spend ample time together; we had lived in the same house for a period of time. So, naturally, they had access to my mobile phone and knew my passwords."

In her statement, Hareem clarified that her friends were living with her and that the two threatened her of leaking the videos before they went viral. According to her, they wanted to create a rift in her married life.

Shah has now filed a complaint with Federal Investigation Agency against Naz. She said, "FIA didn't take action against her but I had my doubts. Ayesha had also informed my other friends that she will leak my videos. But I don't really care about these videos."

For the unversed, Hareem Shah got married only recently to Bilal Shah. Bilal too reacted to the controversy and expressed his disappointment with the actions of her friends, whom they allowed in their homes - a private space. He said he didn't expect that they could do such a thing with their friend. "They violated and smeared the character of a woman despite being women themselves," Bilal was quoted as saying by Thenews.com.pk.

He said, "In my eyes, they have done a very ungraceful thing. After we land in Pakistan, we will take every legal action which could be taken against them. A lot of people have been calling and texting him about being an honorless person and that he should leave his wife Those who are calling me names are themselves dishonourable and ignoble. I am only answerable to Almighty Allah if I leave her it would be an injustice to her. I will never leave her in this hour of extreme need."





Hareem Shah Controversies

In October 2019, Hareem Shah's video filmed inside Foreign Office sparks backlash and Prime Minister Imran Khan ordered a probe into how she was allowed. She received backlash for her comments regarding federal minister Sheikh Rasheed after a video recording of her conversation with him was leaked.

In December 2019, she was harassed at an opening ceremony at a mall in Dubai.

In January 2021, Hareem Shah slapped Mufti Qavi over 'dirty' and 'vulgar' conversation and claimed that Mufti Qavi physically harassed her and her cousin. In March 2021, Hareem Shah filed an FIR against a friend for attempt to murder and physical assault.
New Delhi: Several farmers have benefited from the introduction of the Pradhan Mantri Kisan Samman Nidhi (PM-KISAN), which offers financial support to all landholding farmer families in the country who have arable land.

Benefits of PM Kisan Yojna

The funds are disbursed in three equal installments of Rs 2000 each, one every four months from April to July, August to November, and December to March of each fiscal year. (Also Read: "Please Do Not Believe..., Maria And My Knowledge About Stocks Are Zero": Arshad Warsi Replies After SEBI Ban)

The Direct Benefit Transfer (DBT) technique is used by this programme to deposit a 6000 rupee award into the bank accounts of farming households all over the country.

How to edit name as per Aadhar?

Beneficiaries of PM Kisan may change their names in PM Kisan to match their Aadhaar.

Here's a step-by-step guide to change the PM-Kisan beneficiary name as per Aadhar

- Visit the official website of PM-Kisan

- Click on the farmers corner option

- Click on the change beneficiary name as per aadhar

- Seed your Aadhar number

- Click on the e-KYC link

- Complete your KYC

- Fill in the name as per your aadhar card

What is PM-Kisan Scheme?

PM KISAN Scheme was launched by PM Narendra Modi in 2019, aims to provide income support to all landholder farmer families across the country with cultivable land, subject to certain exclusions. Under the Scheme, an amount of Rs 6000 per year is released in three-monthly installments of Rs 2000 each directly into the bank accounts of the beneficiaries.
New Delhi: Apple Inc's iPhones will soon be assembled at another site in the southern Indian state of Karnataka and 300 acres have been aside to set up a factory, the state government said on Friday. Bloomberg News had earlier reported that Apple partner Foxconn Technology Group planned to invest about $700 million in the Karnataka site to ramp up local production. The state's investment promotion division said in a tweet that the move would generate 100,000 employment in the next 10 years. Apple and Foxconn did not immediately respond to Reuters' requests for comment on the Bloomberg report.

Currently, iPhones are assembled in India by at least three of Apple's global suppliers - Foxconn and Pegatron in Tamil Nadu, and Wistron in Karnataka. Apple has been shifting production away from China after the country's strict COVID-related restrictions disrupted the manufacturing of new iPhones and other devices in the country and also to avoid a big hit to its business from tensions between Beijing and Washington. In January, India's trade minister said that Apple, which began iPhone assembly in the country in 2017 through Wistron Corp and later Foxconn, wants India to account for up to 25% of its production from about 5-7% currently.
New Delhi: Which is the toughest exam? Maybe, its UPSC Civil Service Exam. Even though, the powerful chatbot ChatGPT also failed to crack the toughest exam of India. According to the reports, AI bot only answered 54 correctly out of 100 questions, which meant it didnt cross the exam cut off in the general category. The questions were diversed and spanned topics such as Economy, Geography, History, Ecology, General Science and Current Affairs.

The UPSC test of ChatGPT was taken by Analytics India Magazine (AIM). When asked by ChatGPT before the exam if it could crack the exam or not, it answered that it was going to be difficult. It provided wrong answers for topics such as Economy and Geography that arent current affair specifics.

Chai Sutta Bar CEO Anubhav Dubey has taken a swipe and said "don't give up ChatGPT, it's only the first attempt". He said it's not a cup of tea for everyone to crack UPSC exam in the first attempt. His comments are in reference to the hardship of the exam as people don't usually pass the exam in their first attempts.

Pehla hi attempt hai ChatGPT, lage raho!



Pehle attempt me UPSC nikla sabke bas ki baat nhi h pic.twitter.com/1gDaQomqfk  Anubhav Dubey (@tbhAnubhav) March 3, 2023

ChatGPT Cleared Several US Exams

Nothing remained untouched for the viral chatbot ChatGPT since its launch last year in November 30. It has taken the internet by storm and upended many things all at once. Seeing as a disruptor, AI bot is seen to change several things at how we work, study and live in a near future. Several reports in the past claimed that ChatGPT cracked some toughest exams of the United States.

ChatGPT cleared the final exam for the Master of Business Administration (MBA) programme at the University of Pennsylvanias Wharton School. It also cleared the US medical exam and managed to clear Google Coding Interview for Level 3 engineers.

ChatGPT limited to September 2021

Before assuming anything, it is necessary to know that ChatGPT knowledge is limited to September 2021. So it couldnt answer current affair answers.
The descents of the four illegally brought hippopotamuses brought from Africa by Colombian drug kingpin Pablo Escobar in the 1980s are posing problems for Colombia now. Around 70 of the hippos may be moved to India and Mexico to control their growing population. As per an AP report, these hippos, which are very territorial and can weigh up to 3 tons, have reproduced and spread beyond the Hacienda Napoles ranch and could reach a population of 400 in eight years.

Why do they need to be relocated?

Scientists warn that they are a potential threat to biodiversity and that their feces could impact the habitat of other animals in local rivers, reported AP. The scientists had warned that they don't have a natural predator in Colombia and hence pose a threat to the other animals.

The plan to move the hippos has been in the works for more than a year, and they would be lured into large containers with food and then transferred by truck to an airport in Rionegro, where they would be flown to sanctuaries and zoos in India and Mexico. Sixty hippos would go to the Greens Zoological Rescue & Rehabilitation Kingdom in Gujarat, India, and 10 would be sent to sanctuaries and zoos in Mexico.

Hippos may be sent to Greens Zoological Rescue & Rehabilitation Kingdom in Gujarat

This relocation would help control the hippo population and is considered more humane than exterminating them as an "invasive" species. The relocation plan is focused on the hippos living in the rivers surrounding the Hacienda Napoles ranch, not those inside the ranch. Other countries, including Ecuador, the Philippines, and Botswana, have also expressed their interest in relocating the Colombian hippos.

David Echeverri Lopez, a spokesman for Cornare, the local environmental authority that would be in charge of the relocations told AP, "It is possible to do, we already have experience relocating hippos in zoos nationwide."
New Delhi: United States State Department Secretary Antony Blinken has issued a big warning to Beijing that if it supplies weapons to Russia it will affect the relationship and there will be "consequences." While addressing a press conference here, Blinken said, "With regard to China and its support for Russia`s aggression in Ukraine, as we said from the start and... going back to the very beginning of Russia`s aggression was China engaged in lethal material support for Russia`s aggression or was engaged in systematic evasion of sanctions to help Russia that would be a serious problem for our countries."

"When I saw senior foreign policy official Wang Yi (China)... I raised with him our concern on information that Chinese is considering supplying weapons to Russia, I said it would be a serious problem in our relationship with China and there would be consequences," he added. Blinken, who arrived in India on Wednesday evening, attended the G20 Foreign Ministers` Meeting and also met External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar.

Jaishankar and Blinken reviewed ties and discussed global issues. Meanwhile, in the presser, Blinken also confirmed that he briefly had a conversation with Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov. "I spoke briefly with Russian FM Lavrov today," said Blinken on the sidelines of G20 in New Delhi.

"I urged Russia to reverse its irresponsible decision and return to implementing the New START, which places verifiable limits on the nuclear arsenals of the United States and the Russian Federation. Mutual compliance is in the interest of both our countries. It`s also what people around the world expect from us as nuclear powers," Blinken added.

"I told the foreign minister that no matter what else is happening in the world or in our relationship, the United States will always be ready to engage and act on strategic arms control, just as the United States and the Soviet Union did even at the height of the Cold War," he added.

The meeting was the first face-to-face meeting between the two foreign ministers since the conflict between Russia and Ukraine began over a year ago and which triggered a rift between US-led Western countries and Russia.

He said that every country continues to bear the cost of Russia`s aggression. "Every country continues to bear the cost of Russia`s aggression; A war that President Putin can end tomorrow if he chose to do so. We worked hard to prevent it," said Blinken in New Delhi.

Blinken also reaffirmed Washington`s support for Ukraine`s peace proposal that maintains the country`s territorial integrity. He also lauded Prime Minister Narendra Modi, saying "PM Modi is right that there are challenges to the multilateral system. And those challenges in many ways are coming directly from Russia which is violating the principles that lie at the heart of that system."
New Delhi: The United Kingdom Home Secretary Suella Braverman, during a counter-extremism conference, said that 'political correctness' has created a blindspot for 'Islamic terrorism' to thrive. She claimed that there was a "highly coordinated" Islamist network in the UK veiled under a "perfectly respectable" disguise. However, she said, this network held extremist views internally.

As per reports, Braverman said, "We have a blind spot in the system. It has allowed certain Islamist groups to operate under our radar. There can be no place for political correctness in our national security. In fact, I would like to banish it altogether."

Braverman was speaking at the UK-led Prevent programme against terrorism when she raised concerns about 'Islamic radicalisation' in the country. She even hit out at Muslim advocacy groups such as MEND (Muslim Engagement and Development) and CAGE, and accused them of spreading "dishonest narratives."

"Groups like Mend and Cage have persistently pursued harmful and dishonest narratives, which until now have gone largely unchallenged. Their members have repeatedly been involved in the demonisation of Muslims who cooperate in counter-extremism efforts," Braverman said.

"Extremism is not only dangerous because it can lead to violence. It is dangerous in its own right. And unless we deal with it comprehensively, we should not be surprised when it continues to endure and grow  with disastrous consequences for our shared norms, values, basic rights, and freedoms."

Earlier, in November 2022, Suella Braverman had sparked a row after she referred to migrants crossing the English Channel in small boats as an "invasion of our southern coast." She made these remarks in response to questions about the overcrowded conditions at a processing centre for new arrivals in the country.
BEIJING: China on Friday reaffirmed its criticism of the Quad grouping comprising the US, India, Australia and Japan, saying the state-to-state interactions should pursue peace and development and contribute to mutual trust and regional stability rather than exclusivity. The Quad foreign ministers carried out a comprehensive review of the situation in the Indo-Pacific at a meeting in New Delhi on Friday. Presided over by External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar, the meeting was attended by US Secretary of State Antony Blinken, his Japanese counterpart Yoshimasa Hayashi and Australian foreign minister Penny Wong.

The meeting came against the backdrop of growing global concerns over increasing Chinese assertiveness in the strategically-vital region.

A joint statement issued after the meeting reaffirmed the four-nation grouping's commitment to a free and open Indo-Pacific and said it strongly supports the principles of rule of law, sovereignty and territorial integrity and peaceful settlement of disputes.

Responding to the Quad statement at a media briefing here, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Mao Ning said China believes that state-to-state interactions should be in line with the trend of the time which is peace and development rather than exclusivity.

"We think that countries should do more to contribute to regional mutual trust, peace and regional stability," she said, reaffirming Beijing's oft-repeated opposition to Quad that it is an exclusive bloc aimed at containing China's rise.

In November 2017, India, Japan, the US, and Australia gave shape to the long-pending proposal of setting up the Quad to develop a new strategy to keep the critical sea routes in the Indo-Pacific free of any influence.

US President Joe Biden hosted the first-ever summit of the Quad leaders in the virtual format in March 2021 that vowed to strive for an Indo-Pacific region that is free, open, inclusive, anchored by democratic values, and unconstrained by coercion, sending a subtle message to China.

Beijing claims almost all of the 1.3 million square miles of the South China Sea as its sovereign territory. China has been building military bases on artificial islands in the region also claimed by Brunei, Malaysia, the Philippines, Taiwan, and Vietnam.

On China's reluctance, along with Russia, to endorse a joint statement on the Ukraine war at the G20 Foreign Ministers meeting in New Delhi on Thursday, spokesperson Mao said G20 is a premier forum for international economic cooperation.

The G20 foreign ministers' meeting in New Delhi was unable to come out with a joint communique due to a bitterly increasing rift between the US-led Western powers and Russia over the Ukraine conflict despite consistent efforts by host India to bridge the differences.

Mao said the leaders of all 20-member bloc at the Bali summit last year made it clear that G20 is not a forum to resolve security issues and China believes that the grouping should follow through on leaders' common understanding and focus on this responsibility and make contributions to promoting stable, inclusive and sustainable economic recovery.

"Some G20 members hold different views on the Ukraine crisis. We hope the members can respect one another and show solidarity and cooperation rather than division and mutual accusation," Mao said.

About China's views on the outcome of the New Delhi meeting of the G20 Foreign Ministers, she said: "We believe the G20 Foreign Ministers meeting is an important forum especially given the international background and challenges".

"We hope G20 can show responsibility and make due contributions for the world economic recovery and development," she said.

Chinese Foreign Minister Qin Gang took part in the meeting.

The G20 or Group of 20 is an intergovernmental forum of the world's major developed and developing economies. The members represent around 85 per cent of the global GDP, over 75 per cent of the global trade, and about two-thirds of the world population.

The grouping comprises Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Canada, China, France, Germany, India, Indonesia, Italy, Japan, the Republic of Korea, Mexico, Russia, Saudi Arabia, South Africa, Turkey, the UK, the US and the European Union.
Artillery and shells in large numbers are a priority military need of Ukraine in the war to stop Russia, President Volodymyrr Zelenskyy has said.

"Artillery is the number one of what we need. Both systems and ammunition, as well as shells in large quantities, to stop Russia. Not to shoot at their territory, but to throw them out of ours," Zelenskyy said at a press conference with Latvian President Egils Levits in Lviv on Friday.

Answering journalists' questions about what Ukraine needs to do to speed up the supply of weapons for the Armed Forces of Ukraine, the Head of state noted: "To speak publicly about what we lack."

In addition, according to him, the states that help Ukraine can also absolutely publicly support the supply of this or that weapon.

"Also about airplanes. There is also a deficit with planes and its difficult to start training. We have said this and we have confirmation from the UK and Poland. Today we talked about where our partners from Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia can help us in training missions. We need planes. Just not to say and promise something there, but just to train our guys and transfer planes," he said.

Speaking about the situation with the supply of tanks, Zelenskyy expressed confidence that Ukraine will soon receive its tank army. Constant coverage of the shortage in equipment by partners will be able to accelerate this process.

"Anyway, we will get a tank army. I am absolutely sure of it. We are already seeing how our Armed Forces, our guys are being trained. It will be all over soon. But, nevertheless, there is a corresponding deficit. To close [with the help of partners] just all these holes - a constant shortage - that's what can help us. And believe in victory, as we do. And then we will win," the president concluded.
There can be no compromises on the issue of imposing sanctions by Ukraine's partner states against Russia for its full-scale invasion, President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyy is confident.

"There can be no compromises on sanctions. We see that this happens all the time... We are working with analytics: how the Russians circumvent sanctions, and who helps them. Unfortunately, there are states and even EU members that are not ready to act powerfully. Therefore, they find compromises in some sanctions steps," Zelenskyy said at a press conference with Latvian President Egils Levits in Lviv on Friday.

He said that compromises "make a quick victory impossible" since the functioning of Russia's military infrastructure depends on them.

"We must do everything to prevent them [Russia] from producing the number of weapons with which they came to us and can still come. But the sanctions are in place. It is important to "put the squeeze" on partners both in the EU and around the world. It is where we need Latvia's help," the President of Ukraine said.

At the same time, he expressed gratitude to Latvia, as well as Lithuania, Estonia, and Poland for the fact that these states support Ukraine to the utmost in the EU on sanctions issues.

In addition, according to Zelenskyy, Latvia's assistance is very important and needed by Ukraine on international platforms, in particular at meetings of NATO or Ramstein member states, where military assistance is provided to the country and issues of accelerating its provision are being resolved.
After war Ukraine to be one of most powerful states in terms of military potential, this will deter Russia  Levits

After the end of the war, Ukraine will be one of the most powerful states in the world in terms of military potential, which will be a deterrent to Russian aggression, Latvian President Egils Levits has said.

"Ukraine will definitely win this war. The whole free world should support Ukraine militarily. Now we are doing everything possible to provide it with the promised weapons in an accelerated mode. So that we can get a new security architecture. Not the way it used to be with Russia, but against Russia if it does not change its aggressive policy," he said.

"And after the war, Ukraine will join the NATO member states, because it will be one of the most powerful countries in terms of military potential. In fact, today Ukraine has the only armed forces that have a powerful military experience. And this will be a very important asset for NATO and an asset that will serve as a deterrent for Russia," the Latvian leader added.

At the same time, according to Levits, Ukraine's victory in the war will only be a short-term stage in the global issue of deterring and minimizing Russian aggression.

"But if we talk about the long term, Russia's deterrence can be carried out at the expense of the real military capabilities of NATO countries. This means that NATO must have sufficient military capabilities on the eastern flank as well. Finland's accession will mean that the borders and their length will increase. As a result, the powerful potential of NATO can restrain the Russian Federation. As it will know that any attacks will not make sense, because Russia will be defeated," Levits is sure.
Presidents of Ukraine and Latvia, Volodymyr Zelenskyy and Egils Levits, confirmed their firm support for the principles of international law, the inviolability of borders and the right of each state to choose its own path and security measures.

As stated in the joint declaration published on Friday, signed in Lviv, they reiterate their demand that the Russian Federation immediately, completely, and unconditionally withdraw all of its military forces from the territory of Ukraine within its internationally recognized borders.

The declaration notes the readiness to remain fully committed to the policy of non-recognition of illegal annexation of Ukraines territories by Russia; the importance of cooperating at the UN General Assembly and other UN bodies, in view of the extensive work done at the level of the UN in addressing the Russian aggression against Ukraine; deplore the dire human rights and humanitarian consequences of the Russian Federations aggression against Ukraine.

The Republic of Latvia will continue to promote the EU and Allies strong and effective political and material support for Ukraine aimed at ensuring the ability of the Ukrainian state to effectively defend its territories on land, at sea and in the air, the text reads.

Ukraine and the Republic of Latvia express readiness to hold bilateral consultations on addressing Ukraines security concerns prior to NATO membership; following the 2022 Three Seas Initiative (3SI) Summit and Business Forum in Riga, Ukraine and the Republic of Latvia emphasize the importance of multi-layer involvement of Ukraine as a partner in 3SI activities, the declaration says.
President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyy has held a meeting with prosecutors General from Ukraine's partner states and international institutions in Lviv.

An important meeting with the prosecutors general of Ukraine's partner countries and international institutions. Our country is now a large battlefield. And we have to win on different fronts. The most important is the real battlefield where our soldiers are fighting. Other fronts are diplomatic and legal, the president said on his Telegram channel Friday.

The meeting was attended by: U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland, U.S. Ambassador at-Large for Global Criminal Justice Beth Van Schaack, European Commissioner for Justice Didier Reynders, International Criminal Court Prosecutor Karim Khan, Head of the European Public Prosecutor Office Laura Kovesi, Attorney General of Spain Alvaro Garcia Ortiz, Attorney General of the UK Victoria Prentis, Prosecutor General of Estonia Andres Parmas, Prosecutor General of Latvia Juris Stukans, Prosecutor General of Lithuania Nida Grunskiene, and UN Special Representative on Sexual Violence in Conflict Pramila Patten, the official website of the president reports.

"Of course, the compensation mechanism is important. But true justice is when all the people who are guilty are brought to justice according to the law. It is very important," Zelenskyy said.

The Head of State said that bringing to justice those guilty of the crime of aggression would be an important signal for Ukrainians and all peoples on the planet that there is justice in the world.

"And that there is no chance after this war for any aggressor to repeat something like that or even think about it. That's why we need justice, we need a tribunal to see all the guilty people behind bars," the President of Ukraine said.
Ukraine will receive grant assistance of $170 million from Japan for the implementation of the Ukraine Fast Recovery Plan, the agreement was signed by Japanese Ambassador Matsuda Kuninori and Deputy Prime Minister for Reconstruction, Minister of Communities, Territories and Infrastructure Development Oleksandr Kubrakov on Friday.

According to the Ministry of Communities, Territories and Infrastructure Development, a day earlier, the Deputy Prime Minister also signed a memorandum, according to which the United Nations Development Program (UNDP) will independently oversee the use of funds for the restoration of housing in Kyiv region.

"Transparency and accountability are the basic principles of the approach to recovery. Without these conditions, the involvement of international partners and, in general, effective restoration of the destroyed is impossible... We plan to scale up our successful experience of supervision and cooperation with UNDP in matters of independent supervision to other recovery projects in different regions of Ukraine," Kubrakov said.

According to him, such cooperation is planned to be built with other international organizations  financial or expert.

In addition to independent oversight, UNDP will support the digitalization of recovery, development and monitoring processes in the field of regional development, work to increase the capacity of local governments to implement infrastructure projects, access communities to international donor funding and energy efficiency of social infrastructure.

In addition, the UNDP will provide technical support to Ukraine in recovery.
The United States of America has announced another package of military assistance to Ukraine in the amount of $400 million, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken has said.

"Pursuant to a delegation of authority from President Biden, I am authorizing our 33rd drawdown of U.S. arms and equipment for Ukraine since August 2021, valued at $400 million," Blinken said in a statement posted on the official website of the U.S. State Department on Friday.

"This military assistance package includes more ammunition for U.S.-provided HIMARS and howitzers, which Ukraine is using so effectively to defend itself, as well as ammunition for Bradley Infantry Fighting Vehicles, Armored Vehicle Launched Bridges, demolitions munitions and equipment, and other maintenance, training, and support," Blinkens statement reads.

The U.S. Secretary of State stressed that the United States continues to unite the world in support of Ukraine. We have seen incredible commitment from our allies and partners. We applaud the more than 50 countries who have come together in solidarity with Ukraine to provide support as it defends its sovereignty and territorial integrity.

Russia alone could end its war today. Until Russia does so, for as long as it takes, we will stand united with Ukraine and strengthen its military on the battlefield so that Ukraine will be in the strongest possible position at the negotiating table, the U.S. Secretary of State added.
Estonian Foreign Minister Urmas Reinsalu has called for accelerating the supply of 155 mm artillery shells to Ukraine, on March 7-8, EU defense ministers will discuss a mechanism for joint purchases of 1 million ammunition for Ukraine.

We also discussed Ukraine's ammunition needs. We are very grateful to all the countries that promised to supply shells to Ukraine. But we know that there are much fewer shells than needed, especially 155-mm. Many countries have promised to deliver them, but the fulfillment of promises must be urgently accelerated. On Monday, EU ministers will discuss a proposal to create a joint procurement mechanism for the supply of 1 million 155-mm shells for Ukraine, Reinsalu said at a joint briefing with Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba and Dutch Foreign Minister Wopke Hoekstra in Lviv.

He reiterated that Estonia fully supports the idea of creating an international Tribunal for the crime of Russian aggression against Ukraine.

But it should be a tribunal that is really capable of punishing the guilty. This tribunal should be created by a vote at the UN General Assembly. It is by the vote of the UN General Assembly that immunity to prosecution, including Putin and his entourage, should be lifted, the minister said.

In addition, the ministers discussed the NATO summit in Vilnius in the summer. According to the Estonian Foreign Minister, Ukraine should definitely become a member of the Alliance.
President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyy has said that Vladimir Putin and his accomplices should receive legal sentences.

"Vladimir Putin and all his accomplices have the right to receive lawful and fair sentences. For everything they've done. In the name and memory of all whose lives they took, whose destinies they destroyed. For the aggression they started," he said on Friday, speaking at the United for Justice conference in Lviv.

According to the President, "the real rule of law at the global level, which means that effective international justice will protect the world from such wars and their terrible consequences."

Zelenskyy called for the adoption by the UN General Assembly of a resolution on the creation of a Special Tribunal on aggression against Ukraine. "Our association for the sake of justice should become a powerful impetus for the adoption by the UN General Assembly of the draft Ukrainian resolution  a resolution that will contribute to the creation of a Special Tribunal for the crime of Aggression of Russia against Ukraine, the Tribunal will be the link that will solve the problem of the impossibility for the International Criminal Court to bring to justice precisely for the crime of aggression," he said.

The President announced his intention to strengthen cooperation with the International Criminal Court (ICC). "And we will further strengthen our relationship with the ICC, which will help bring to justice the citizens of the terrorist state guilty of crimes attributed to the jurisdiction of the ICC," he said.

According to Zelenskyy, "special attention should be paid to the crimes committed and being made by Russia in relation to Ukrainian children. We are talking about the deportation of children, about kidnapping and an attempt to erase the national and family identity of our children."

"The national justice system and all its institutions should work at full capacity. We understand that the majority of Russian crimes on Ukrainian soil and against Ukrainian citizens will receive a fair response precisely within our national jurisdiction. And I thank everyone who is already helping to implement each of these three large-scale tasks," the President said.

He called on the conference participants to "determine the correct priorities in this work of ours." "Doctrinally and terminologically, politically and practically, we must give answers to questions about how to pass flawlessly the entire path of bringing the Russian occupiers to justice  from collecting evidence and identifying each culprit to passing guilty verdicts, from making the necessary decisions to actually ensuring justice for Ukraine, for our people, for all victims of the Russian aggression and for peace," Zelenskyy said.

"Let everything that we still lack be heard and supported here in Lviv today, so that one day we can say exhaustively: murderers are punished, dignity and honor of people are protected, harm is compensated, justice has won," he said in conclusion.
International Centre for Prosecution of Crime of Aggression to start work this summer in The Hague  Kostin

An international center for the collection of evidence of aggression will start its work in The Hague in the summer of 2023, Prosecutor General of Ukraine Andriy Kostin has said.

"The first practical step towards this [to the creation of the Special Tribunal for Crimes of Aggression] will also be taken here. Together with Eurojust, the European Commission, and members of the Joint Investigation Group, we are creating the International Centre for Prosecution of the Crime of Aggression in The Hague," he said in Lviv on Friday, while opening the international conference "United for Justice".

The prosecutor general also said that it is planned to sign a relevant agreement within the framework of the Joint Investigation Team.

"We hope this center, which will collect evidence of the crime of aggression, will start its work in The Hague this summer," Kostin said.

"Today, here in Lviv, we are discussing the tribunal for [Russian President Vladimir] Putin. I consider this an unconditional progress and our joint achievement," he said.
On Monday, March 6, at 12.00, the press centre of the Interfax-Ukraine News Agency will host a discussion entitled "Domestic policy amid martial law: stabilization or increased turbulence." Participants include political analyst Kostiantyn Matviyenko; political scientist, co-founder of the National Platform for Sustainability and Cohesion Oleh Sahakian; partner of Ukraine Economic Outlook Hryhoriy Kukuruza (8/5a Reitarska Street). The event will be streamed on the YouTube channel of Interfax-Ukraine. Admission of journalists requires registration on the spot.
Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah El-Sisi called on Saturday on Sudanese sides to prioritise the language of dialogue and national consensus, and to uphold the supreme interests of the brotherly Sudanese people.
The city of Sharm El-Sheikh is going to host in March the upcoming round of talks between the Palestinian National Authority and the Government of Israel with the participation of Egypt, Jordan and the United States to follow up their Aqaba meeting, a joint statement said on Sunday.

A security meeting between the officials from the Palestinian Authority and the Israeli government in attendance of officials from the United States, Jordan and Egypt took place earlier Sunday in the Jordanian city of Aqaba where the two sides affirmed their commitment to all previous agreements between them, and to work towards a just and lasting peace.

The joint statement issued at the meeting stated that both the Israeli and Palestinian officials reaffirmed the necessity of committing to de-escalation on the ground and to prevent further violence.

The five parties recognise the importance of upholding unchanged the historic status quo at the holy sites in Jerusalem in word and practice and emphasises in this regard the Hashemite Custodianship / special role of Jordan, the joint statement said.

The statement said that the Israeli government and Palestinian Authority confirmed their joint readiness and commitment to immediately work to end unilateral measures for a period of three to six months.

The joint statement also added an Israeli commitment to stop the discussion of any new settlement units for four months and to stop authorisation of any outposts for six months was reached.

The five parties agreed to convene again in Sharm El-Sheikh in March to achieve and follow up on the goals listed above.

The participants also agreed to pursue confidence-building measures and strengthen mutual trust in order to address outstanding issues through direct dialogue, the statement said, adding that the Palestinians and Israelis will work in good faith to assume responsibilities and to enhance mutual trust through this arrangement.

The Aqaba meeting is the first meeting of its kind in years according to a statement released by the US Department of State.

The statement also revealed that participants agreed to continue meeting under this formula and expand this agreement towards a wider political process leading to a just and lasting peace.

The statement added that the participants thanked Jordan for organising and hosting this meeting and for its efforts to ensure it produced positive results. It also thanked Egypt for its support and essential role and active participation.

They also thanked the United States for its important role in efforts to reach understandings that led to this agreement in the meeting.

Sources with knowledge of the meeting told AFP that the Palestinian Intelligence Chief Majed Faraj and the head of Israel's Shin Bet domestic security agency Ronen Bar were set to be in attendance.

US National Security Council coordinator for the Middle East and North Africa Brett McGurk, as well as Jordanian and Egyptian security officials were also expected to be present, the sources added on condition of anonymity as they were not authorised to speak to the media.

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As Egyptian, regional, and international efforts to stem Israeli violence against Palestinians continued into a third week, flare-ups between Palestinians and Israelis spread from Gaza to the West Bank.

Last week began with an Israeli military raid in Nablus that killed 11 Palestinians, including a child and three elderly men. This week began with the violent rampage of dozens of residents of illegal Israeli settlements who tore through the Huwara area, setting fire to Palestinian houses, shops and cars, leaving one dead and several injured.

The same day, Egyptian, Jordanian, and US security officials and two representatives from the Israeli government and the Palestinian National Authority (PA) met in the southern Jordanian city of Aqaba to try to restore calm. According to a joint communique, the parties agreed to a number of de-escalatory measures, including an Israeli commitment to freeze the construction of illegal settlement units for four months and to halt authorisation of new outposts for six months. The participants also agreed to maintain the positive momentum and meet again in Sharm El-Sheikh on 7 March to pursue further confidence building measures.

The following day, Monday, the violence escalated further following the killing of an Israeli settler near Jericho. Israeli occupation forces deployed a fourth battalion, cordoned off the Huwara district entirely, and sealed the Jericho area. Palestinian observers described the measures as a deliberate attempt to undermine the agreement struck in Aqaba.

The Israelis have reneged on everything they agreed to in Aqaba and tensions have risen across the West Bank, political analyst Shadi Zamaara told Al-Ahram Weekly by phone from Ramallah.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and senior officials in his government had been quick to dismiss the results of the Aqaba meeting. What happened in Jordan will stay in Jordan, said the ultra-right National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir.

Zamaara believes Israeli officials are actively encouraging settler violence.

The extremist Israeli government wants to kill Palestinian youth, he says. It is protecting the settlers as they burn down peoples homes. It ties the hands of the PA and holds it responsible at the same time.

The situation has spun beyond the control of politicians on both sides, an Arab source in Israel told the Weekly. The source believes that even if Palestinian and Israeli officials wanted to contain the violence in the face of outside pressures from the US and Egypt, any momentum is now firmly in the hands of the street. Israeli settlers escalate and Palestinian youth counter-escalate. So volatile has the situation in the West Bank become that it is impossible to predict what will happen.

The Israeli government, itself, is in uproar even as Netanyahu attempts to keep it under control. Addressing the Knesset on Monday, he said: [We] will not accept anarchy. We will not accept a reality where people set homes on fire, burn cars, intentionally harm innocent people. This is exactly what our enemies want to see: a loss of control and a never-ending cycle of blood, fire, and smoke. Netanyahu blamed his National Security Minister Gvir for encouraging the settlers to set fire to Palestinian homes.

Said Okasha, an expert on Israeli affairs at the Al-Ahram Centre for Political and Strategic Studies, doubts that the discord in the government is strong enough to bring down the Netanyahu coalition given the Israeli opposition is more divided than the government, as Mondays Knesset session showed. Also, he said, history illustrates that Israelis tend to set their differences aside and unite whenever violence breaks out in the West Bank or war erupts in Gaza. The reverse is the case when the situation is calm, so the current situation benefits the Netanyahu government.

Nor are time or the balances of power in favour of the Palestinians. Even if there is pressure to sustain the Aqaba course, the settlement freeze is of limited duration.

It would be best to raise the bar, Okasha argues, rather than let events lead inexorably towards higher tensions and, ultimately, the killing of large numbers of Palestinians, sending de-escalation efforts back to square one.

Mustafa Barghouti, secretary-general of the Palestinian National Initiative (PNI), holds a different opinion. In a statement to the press he said that chasing after negotiations with Israel will do nothing to change the current situation.

It is better, he argued, to try to change the balances of power.

The US State Department has called on Israeli authorities to rein in settler violence against Palestinian civilians and hold the perpetrators to account. The State Department stressed that its opposition to settlement activities remains unchanged, intimating that it will not look kindly on Israeli attempts to backtrack on the commitments it made in Aqaba.

Tor Wennesland, UN special coordinator for the Middle East peace process, holds the Israeli army responsible for deteriorating conditions in the West Bank. There can be no justification for terrorism, nor for arson and acts of revenge against civilians, he stressed. All perpetrators of violence must be held accountable. Violence, provocations and incitement must stop immediately and be unequivocally condemned by all.

On Monday evening, the UAE called for a closed UN Security Council session on Tuesday to discuss the situation in Palestine. A source in Cairo familiar with developments said that Egypt is communicating with all parties and will intensify its efforts to halt Israeli provocations, especially on the part of settlers in the West Bank. The source added, however, that there is not much hope for the prospect of stopping the tit-for-tat violence given the extent to which the situation has spun out of control.

* A version of this article appears in print in the 2 March, 2023 edition of Al-Ahram Weekly

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After multiple earthquakes in Turkey and Syria, Egyptians worry they are next, reports Reem Leila

Egypt experienced a 4.1 magnitude tremor earlier this week. According to the National Research Institute of Astronomy and Geophysics (NRIAG), the earthquakes epicentre was 27 km north of Suez. NRIAG officials assured the public there was no need to panic as Egypt is often hit by earthquakes which vary in strength from weak to medium.

The National Seismic Network (ENSN), affiliated to NRIAG, recently issued a press release stating that ENSN recorded more than 1,000 intangible earthquakes throughout the past year on Egyptian territory, in addition to recording more than 50 tangible earthquakes.

Abbas Sharaki, a professor of geology at Cairo University, told Al-Ahram Weekly that the source of most of the earthquakes in Egypt is the Mediterranean Sea from the Greek and Turkish regions. Among the weakest zones in the recurrence of earthquakes are the Red Sea and Suez Canal in Egypt, the Gulf of Al-Aqaba and the Dead Sea, Sharaki said, adding the Mediterranean is the area most exposed to earthquakes which is why Egypt felt the tremor of Turkeys quake.

Greece is one of the worlds most earthquake-prone countries, but among the thousands of quakes recorded each year they rarely cause severe damage or fatalities, Sharaki said. This is a very seismically active area that has seen more powerful quakes in the past, but none has seriously affected Egypt, he noted. NRIAG is monitoring the post-earthquake activity, which so far is not intense, he added.

According to Sharaki, Egypt is affected by two earthquake belts: the Horn of Africa Belt in the Gulf of Aqaba is a low-activity area 390 kilometres from Cairo. The Hellenic Belt in the west Mediterranean affects Egypts northern coast. It is more than 700 km from Cairo and has almost no effect on Upper Egypt, he noted. Most Egyptian territories are safe, confirmed Sharaki.

No one can predict when an earthquake will strike, Abdallah Allam, a professor of geology at Kafr Al-Sheikh University, pointed out. Science cannot specify where, when, and how strong a quake will be.

Allam understands the publics concerns regarding the repeated exposure to earthquakes in Egypt as the memories of the 5.9 magnitude earthquake that struck the country in 1992 still frightens people.

It was this centurys largest earthquake in northern Egypt with related destruction in the city of Cairo, the Nile Valley, and the Nile Delta areas, said a study titled The 1992 Cairo earthquake: A case study of a small destructive event.

The earthquake of that year was centred near the village of Dahshour, 18 km south of Cairo. It killed more than 500 people, injured 6,500, left 50,000 homeless and damaged or destroyed 8,000 buildings.

A major cause of the destruction is likely the poor state of construction of the Cairo buildings, the study said.

According to Allam, Egypt is located outside seismic belts and activities in general, but it is exposed from time to time to some weak or medium-sized earthquakes, especially those whose centre is located in the Eastern Mediterranean region and the northern Red Sea, where destructive earthquakes happen at a steady rate but with relatively long return periods. The nature of the earths plates in Egypt and Turkey differ, Allam said.

Besides 1992, Egypt had earthquakes in 2011, 2013, 2017, and 2019 where the magnitude ranged from 3.5 to 4.5 on the Richter scale.

Last month, more than 51,000 deaths were confirmed when a 7.8 earthquake struck southern and central Turkey and northern and western Syria.



* A version of this article appears in print in the 2 March, 2023 edition of Al-Ahram Weekly

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IN A MOVE that indicates thawing relations, Egypts Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukri visited Syria and Turkey to express solidarity after the two countries were rocked last month by devastating earthquakes that took the lives of over 50,000 people.

The aim of Shoukris meeting with Syrian President Bashar Al-Assad in Damascus, along with Egyptian and other Arab parliamentarians and their counterparts in the Syrian capital, was to show support in a move that could lead to Syrias further political reintegration in the Arab world. Syria was suspended from the Arab League in 2011 after the start of the Syrian civil war.

After his brief visit to Damascus, Shoukri headed to Turkey for the first time since 2016 and met top Turkish diplomat Mevlut Cavusoglu in Adana. The ministers then travelled to Turkeys Mediterranean port of Mersin where a second Egyptian ship carrying humanitarian relief docked.

It is important to agree on a roadmap for the speedy normalisation and restoration of relations between the two countries, Shoukri said.

He stressed that political will for the restoration of ties was strong in both countries and that it was important to set up a strong foundation that restoration work would rise upon.

Cavusoglu said the two top diplomats discussed concrete steps to improve relations, adding that ties could be carried to a much higher level.

Egypt has been among several Arab countries to send aid to Syria and Turkey in response to the earthquake.

* A version of this article appears in print in the 2 March, 2023 edition of Al-Ahram Weekly

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Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry, the President-Designate of the last UN climate change conference (COP27), spoke in a radio interview on Friday about international climate action.

The interview was held on the sidelines of the Raisina Dialogue in India, foreign ministry spokesman Ahmed Abu Zeid said.

Shoukry talked about the Egyptian vision for international climate action, highlighting the great challenges it faces with regards to the global energy crisis and geopolitical tensions.

In this context, the Egyptian presidency of COP27 set a range of goals to be achieved during the conference, including maintaining climate action as a priority while taking into account the conditions and concerns of developing countries.

These goals were reflected in the outcomes of the conference and the Sharm El-Sheikh Implementation Plan that was approved during the event, he noted.

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Many Egyptians have fallen victim to an apparent online Ponzi scheme through a platform called HoggPool, which has reportedly ripped off billions of pounds from tens of thousands of Egyptians.

MP Hisham El-Gahel called for an extensive investigation into the matter on Thursday and asserted the need to tighten monitoring of social media platforms.

El-Gahel called for the Ministry of Communications and Information Technology to ban ads by unlicensed platforms to protect citizens.

Dozens of victims of the scam have filed complaints with the police, and many on social media claim to have lost tens of thousands of pounds to the scammers.

What was HoggPool?

Appearing in August, HoggPool was an online platform that claimed to offer cryptocurrency mining and trading services for a fee.

It promised high returns on investment and attracted hundreds of Egyptians who deposited money into its account.

HoggPool offered different plans for customers depending on their budget and goals by buying or renting cryptocurrency mining machines starting from $10 with a daily profit of 10 percent.

The platform allowed Egyptians to send the money in pounds instead of dollars at prices that were lower than the official exchange rates by more than 30 percent.

This meant that users would transfer EGP 200 to the platform instead of over EGP 300 in order to rent a mining machine worth $10.

The platform earned users trust by posting an image of an alleged Egyptian commercial license on Facebook.

It claimed to use advanced technology and algorithms to mine various cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin, Ethereum and Dogecoin.

It also claimed to have a team of experts who could help customers trade their coins on different exchanges.

However, on 24 February, the platform suddenly stopped paying its clients.

Many users tried to contact the platform to no avail.

Scam victims

In recent weeks, YouTubers and online content creators had warned the public against HoggPool.

Some pointed out several elements on the platforms website and mobile app that indicated it was a scam.

I bought [mining] machines with EGP 85,000 and only received EGP 8,000 [in return], Nasr Helal, one of the victims, told Malaffat TV programme on Heya Channel on Thursday, saying he joined the platform in mid-February.

Helal said that he and his sons subscribed to the programme and that they would receive the funds via electronic wallet.

Some customers also said on social media that they had invested their life savings or borrowed money from relatives or friends to join the platform.

Ponzis

This is not the first large-scale online Ponzi scheme to take place in Egypt.

In recent years, many Egyptians have fallen victim to similar scams, losing significant amounts of money in the process.

The country's economic crisis has made people more susceptible to these types of scams with some looking for ways to make quick and easy money.

Scams like HoggPool are not uncommon in the cryptocurrency world.

Some criminals use fake websites, emails or apps to trick people into giving them money or personal information.

Dealing in cryptocurrency is illegal in Egypt and is punishable by prison and a fine of up to EGP 10 million.

The Central Bank of Egypt has previously warned the public against dealing in cryptocurrencies.

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Egypts Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry discussed on Thursday ways to boost economic and trade relations with South America and Egypt in meetings with his counterparts from Brazil and Argentina on the sidelines of the G20 Foreign Ministers Meeting in New Delhi, India.

According to the Egyptian foreign ministry, Shoukry discussed with his Argentinian counterpart Santiago Cafiero the importance of boosting bilateral economic and trade ties, especially since Argentina is Egypt's second trade partner in Latin America.

The two ministers discussed the strenuous efforts being exerted to prevent interrupting global food supply chains as well as efforts to achieve fair and sustainable development for all countries around the world, foreign ministry spokesman Ahmed Abu Zeid said.

They also stressed the necessity of meeting the future needs of labour markets in a way that goes in line with the latest technological trends and secures labour rights.

The two officials also highlighted the importance of paying greater attention to the issues of climate change and education, the spokesman added.

Shoukry also lauded the ongoing coordination between the two countries at international forums, underscoring the importance of joint action to help improve the global economy and meet developing countries' needs, he added.

The spokesman said that Shoukry and his Argentinian counterpart also exchanged views on ways to address current global challenges, including the crises of the coronavirus pandemic and global food shortages.

In a separate meeting on the sideline of the G20 foreign ministers meeting, FM Shoukry and his Brazilian counterpart Mauro Vieira called for strengthening trade exchange and advancing the free trade agreement between Egypt and the South American trade bloc (Mercosur).

Mercosur is a sub-regional bloc that promotes free trade and the free movement of goods, people, and currency between Uruguay, Brazil, Argentina and Paraguay.

Shoukry lauded Brazil's keenness to restore its role in the international arena and return to its commitment to international law, especially with regard to Middle East issues.

The Egyptian FM expressed appreciation for the participation of Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva in COP27, saying that the new president of Brazil heralded a positive change in his country's climate policy.

The pair exchanged views on a number of regional and international issues of mutual concern, notably the food crisis and the fallout from the Russian-Ukrainian crisis on the world's economy.

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Egypt condemned on Friday an Israeli ministers call to wipe out the Palestinian village of Huwara as a dangerous and unacceptable incitement to violence.

The Israeli ministers remarks contradict with all laws, customs, and moral values and lacks the responsibility that any official holding a formal position should have, the Egyptian Ministry of Foreign Affairs said in a statement.

The foreign ministry said that Egypt calls for a cessation of provocative actions against the Palestinian people and an end to unilateral measures.

The ministry added that this would achieve calm and create an environment conducive to the resumption of the peace process on the basis of the two-state solution.

It stressed that the resumption of the peace process is the only way to achieve comprehensive and just peace in the region.

The ministry also highlighted the need for the establishment of an independent Palestinian state on the June 1967 borders with East Jerusalem as its capital.

Israels Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich said on Wednesday that he thinks the state of Israel should wipe out the village of Huwara in the West Bank in the wake of the killing of two Israelis residing in a nearby Israeli settlement.

Smotrichs remarks has triggered a wave of international condemnation, including by the US, which described the comments as irresponsible, repugnant, and disgusting.

The Israeli ministers comments also come amid heightened Israeli violence in the Palestinian lands, especially the occupied West Bank, over the past weeks.

Last week, hundreds of rampaging settlers  300 to 400 people, according to the Israeli occupation army  set homes and cars ablaze in Huwara village, while a Palestinian man was killed in the nearby village of Zaatara.

After the attacks, Palestinian envoy to the United Nations Riyad Mansour called for the Security Council to protect Palestinian civilians and Israeli Defence Minister Yoav Gallant warned that Israel "cannot allow a situation in which citizens take the law into their [own] hands."

The West Bank is home to about 2.9 million Palestinians as well as an estimated 475,000 Jewish settlers, who live in state-approved settlements that are considered illegal under international law.

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Germany is keen to import larger quantities of liquified natural gas (LNG) from Egypt to be used in homes, German Ambassador to Cairo Frank Hartmann said in a press conference this week after a five-day visit to Upper Egypts Aswan.

During the presser, Hartmann said Germany share the same interests as Egypt regarding the production of renewable energy to protect the environment.

Germany supports Egypt's goal of raising the renewable energy component in the production of electricity to 42 percent, he said.

The ambassador added that Germany is interested in importing LNG from Egypt to use in German homes, underscoring that Egypt has great potential in the field of producing natural gas.

Germany has intensified cooperation with Egypt in renewable energy, including solar and wind power, and will cooperate with Egypt in green hydrogen in the future, Hartmann said.

Last November, Egypt and Germany signed two MoUs to enhance cooperation on the production of green hydrogen and trade in LNG, under which Germany will help Egypt build up a sustainable green hydrogen value chain.

Egypt seeks to become a hub for green hydrogen production and has agreed on cooperation with European countries to produce hydrogen.

Decent Life

Germany supports the Egyptian presidential initiative Decent Life (Haya Karima), Hartmann said, hailing the governments work on this initiative and infrastructure projects.

Germany can support the initiative by further contributing to education in Egypt, especially in the countryside, in order to reduce the number of students in each classroom, Hartmann said.

Germany can also provide better training for teachers in order to build capacities and enhance teaching methods, he added.

Additionally, Germany can help the Egyptian government in environmental protection with regard to the use of plastic and plastic waste.

Decent Life, which was launched by Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah El-Sisi in 2019, seeks to develop more than 4500 villages across the Egyptian countryside that are home to 58 percent of Egypts 104-million population.

Civil Society

In the presser, Hartmann stressed on the need to ensure freedom of expression and opinion and allow civil society to operate freely.

The ambassador said that Germany continuously communicates with the Egyptian government on this issue.

Aswan visit

Hartmann said the programme of his visit to Aswan addressed all forms of cooperation between Egypt and Germany, including in the fields of development, women empowerment, culture, agriculture, academic cooperation, and pre-university and university education.

The UN World Food Programme's (WFP) activity in Aswan, and in Egypt in general, is of great interest to Germany, Hartmann said.

Germany is the largest supporter of the programme in Egypt because its activity includes vital areas such as agriculture, community education, womens empowerment, and school meals.

Impressive

The ambassador said he also visited the Magdi Yacoub Heart Foundation in Aswan, to which Germany has donated some equipment, adding that he was impressed by the institution.

The Magdi Yacoub Heart Foundation, which was founded by renowned Egyptian-British heart surgeon Magdi Yacoub in 2008, provides free medical services for the less fortunate as well as provide scientific, medical and nursing training.

Impacts of Ukraine-Russia crisis

Hartmann said the world, including Egypt and developing countries, has been heavily affected by the Russia-Ukraine crisis, which triggered a global food crisis and a rise in commodity prices.

He added that Germany has worked on alleviating the severity of the economic, financial, and food crises that Egypt has gone through due to the Ukraine war by increasing the German contributions to the WFP.

Palestinian cause

Hartmann said the German government is concerned about the recent escalation between the Israeli and Palestinian sides and rejects Israeli plans to build 10,000 settlements.

The ambassador said Germany talked to Egypts Minister of Foreign Affairs Sameh Shoukry regarding the desire to hold a meeting for the quartet group, which comprises the foreign ministers of Egypt, France, Germany, and Jordan, to discuss the Palestinian cause.

He added that the meeting could not be held as Shoukry had to travel to Addis Ababa to partake in the African Union summit in February.

The Munich group was established on the sidelines of the Munich Security Conference in February 2020 with the aim of discussing efforts to revive the Israeli-Palestinian peace process.

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Egypt's President Abdel-Fattah El-Sisi has announced on Thursday the raising of the minimum wage for government employees to EGP 3,500 and pensions by 15 percent - as part of a wide-ranging social package to alleviate ramifications of global economic situation on the public - starting 1 April.

The president also ordered raising the minimum wage for those government employees who hold a Master's degree to be EGP 6,000 and for those who hold a PhD to EGP 7,000.

The minimum wage for government employees was last raised in October 2022 from EGP 2,700 to EGP 3,000.

President El-Sisi also announced raising tax exemptions from EGP 24,000 to EGP 30,000 annually, effective 1 April.

He also announced raising Takaful and Karama benefits for the neediest citizens by 25 percent, effective 1 April.

"This social package is meant to alleviate the ramifications of the global economic circumstances, El-Sisi said during an event in Minya to honour outstanding Egyptians as part of his tour of Decent Life projects in the Upper Egypt governorate.

"The economic reform program that the government started to implement since 2016 has cushioned the economy against some of the impacts of the Russia-Ukraine war and the coronavirus pandemic before that," the president added.

The president said that the Russian-Ukrainian war, which erupted over a year ago, has had double the impact on the global economy which had not yet recovered from similar effects caused by the coroanavirus pandemic.

Egypt, like other countries, was impacted by the rise in energy and food prices and the disruption of global supply chains as a result of the war, he added.

The president stressed, however, that the economic reforms implemented by the state since 2016, and the steps the state took to maximize its assets and develop the infrastructure, and the social protection schemes have all contributed significantly to cushioning the blow of the global crisis on the country.

The state has also developed its economic plan to localise industries, reduce the import gap, expand self-sufficiency in food, and shift to attract foreign investments, he added.

"Throughout a decade we have managed to overcome crises and challenges together  our will has not been sapped by challenges or campaigns of skepticism or broken by terrorism," the president stressed.

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UN nuclear watchdog chief Rafael Grossi arrived in Tehran Friday for discussions with officials after his agency's inspectors in Iran found uranium particles enriched to just under weapons-grade level.

The visit by the head of the International Atomic Energy Agency comes with the Vienna-based organisation seeking to get Iran to increase cooperation over its nuclear activities.

Grossi was greeted at the airport by Behrouz Kamalvandi, the spokesman for the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran and is due to meet its head, Mohammad Eslami, as well as other Iranian officials during his two-day visit.

A confidential IAEA report seen Tuesday by AFP said uranium particles enriched up to 83.7 percent -- just under the 90 percent needed to produce an atomic bomb -- had been detected at Iran's underground Fordo plant about 100 kilometres (60 miles) south of the capital.

Tehran denies wanting to acquire atomic weapons, and last week said it had not made any attempt to enrich uranium beyond 60 percent purity, noting that "unintended fluctuations... may have occurred" during the enrichment process.

The discovery came after Iran had substantially modified an interconnection between two centrifuge clusters enriching uranium, without declaring it to the IAEA.

The IAEA tweeted on Thursday that Grossi would "travel to Tehran for high-level meetings at the invitation of Iran's government".

A diplomatic source told AFP that Grossi would also meet President Ebrahim Raisi to "relaunch the dialogue" on Iran's atomic work and to "reset the relationship at the highest level".

During the visit, the IAEA director general will try to find out more and obtain "strengthened access to the (Fordo) site and an increase in the number of inspections", the sources added.

On Thursday, France, a signatory to a 2015 deal that promised Iran relief from biting economic sanctions in exchange for curbs on its nuclear activities, described the new enrichment development "unprecedented and extremely serious".

The IAEA chief's visit comes amid deadlock in negotiations on reviving the landmark accord, known formally as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action or JCPOA.

- 'Greater cooperation' -

These restrictions, including the 3.67 percent enrichment threshold set out in the deal, were intended to prevent Iran from developing a nuclear weapon.

However, the United States unilaterally withdrew from the deal in 2018 under then president Donald Trump and reimposed sanctions, prompting Iran to suspend the implementation of its own commitments under the accord.

Negotiations aimed at reviving the deal started in 2021 but have been stalled since last year due to a number of diplomatic as well as geopolitical reasons.

Grossi's visit is being seen in Iran as another indication that a dialogue-based approach to resolving the nuclear standoff is possible.

"It is hoped that this trip will form the basis for greater cooperation and a clearer horizon between Iran and the IAEA," said Kamalvandi before Grossi's arrival.

Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian said in an interview with CNN that "the window for an agreement on negotiations to lift sanctions is still open, but this window will not be open for ever".

Depending on the outcome of Grossi's trip, the United States and the E3 -- European powers Britain, France and Germany -- will decide whether submit a draft resolution censuring Iran to the IAEA board of governors, which is due to convene next week in Vienna.

In November 2022, Iran was criticised for its lack of cooperation regarding traces of enriched uranium found at three undeclared sites.

Grossi's last visit to Iran took place in early March 2022, and was focused on the three undeclared sites.

The IAEA said Grossi would hold a news conference upon his return to Vienna late Saturday afternoon.

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Israeli troops fired stun grenades and tear gas on Friday to block busloads of Israeli left-wing activists from staging a solidarity rally in a Palestinian town that was set ablaze by radical Jewish settlers earlier this week, protesters said.

The soldiers shoved protesters to the ground in the occupied West Bank town of Hawara, activists said, pressing their knees into their necks and backs before briefly detaining them.

According to Sally Abed from the group Standing Together, at least two protesters were briefly arrested. The army threw them to the ground, kicking and handcuffing them, she said.

In another case, a group of soldiers violently pushed former Israeli parliament speaker, Avraham Burg, until he stumbled to the ground.

The Israeli army said it had decided to declare Hawara a closed military zone because of the soaring tensions following Sunday's settler-led attack. When Israeli and Palestinian activists attempted to violate the military order, security forces used tear gas and other means to disperse the crowds and maintain order, the military said.

Spokesperson Lt. Col. Richard Hecht said that the military would pursue a de-escalation policy in the region after this complex and tragic week for all sides. He did not elaborate.

Hundreds of settlers, some armed with knives and guns, rampaged through Hawara on Sunday and torched dozens of homes and businesses after two Israeli brothers were shot and killed nearby. One Palestinian was killed in the mob assault.

It is ridiculous that the army allows settlers to enter Hawara as we speak, but we  Israeli Jews and Arabs who wish to show our solidarity  are told that there is no entry, Standing Together said. The group said the rally was coordinated with the local council and residents.

On Friday, some 500 people holding signs of solidarity and Palestinian flags  mostly older men and women, both Jews and Arab citizens  stepped off buses that were stopped by Israeli soldiers and headed down the highway toward Hawara.

Palestinian motorists honked in support. The protesters chanted, No to occupation and End Jewish terror. Facing the mass of police and troops deployed to halt their peaceful protest, they shouted, Where were you when Hawara happened?  referring to the intense rampage that went largely unchecked and unpunished.

Unlike Palestinian cities like Ramallah which are under the control of the Palestinian Authority, Hawara is mostly under Israeli security control. The Israeli army has said that the ferocity and scope of the settler mobs earlier this week caught them by surprise. The Defense Ministry has sent two suspected ringleaders of the violence to administrative detention.

A town of 7,000 Palestinians surrounded by ideological settlements, Hawara has long been a flashpoint for violence between Israelis and Palestinians

Earlier on Friday, a delegation of European diplomats toured the town to survey the damage and denounce the mayhem.

A chorus of condemnations over the rampage has poured in from around the world, particularly after Finance Minister and settler leader Bezalel Smotrich said Wednesday that Hawara "should be erased." Smotrich, whose party wants Israel to formally annex large parts of the West Bank, later backtracked on the comment.

Egypt's Foreign Ministry on Friday lambasted Smotrich's remarks as a dangerous and unacceptable incitement of violence.

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Clashes erupted between Palestinians and Israeli occupation forces in different parts of the occupied West Bank on Friday as fall out from Israeli raids and Jewish settlers attacks on Palestinian towns continue.

Scores of Palestinians suffered from suffocation during the clashes with the Israeli troops in Bayt Dajan village and the villages of Beita and Huwara near the city of Nablus, said Palestinian security sources.



Meanwhile, two Palestinians were wounded by rubber bullets and scores suffered from suffocation after the Israeli army quelled an anti-settlement march that sets off every week to condemn the crimes against the Palestinian people and support Palestinian prisoners in Israeli jails.

Earlier today, Israeli troops fired stun grenades and teargas to block busloads of Israeli left-wing activists from staging a solidarity rally in Huwara - the town that was set ablaze by Jewish settlers earlier this week

Meanwhile, the Egyptian Ministry of Foreign Affairs issued a statement on Friday condemning an Israeli ministers call to wipe out the Palestinian village of Huwara as a dangerous and unacceptable incitement to violence.

On Thursday, Israeli troops shot dead a 15-year-old Palestinian boy and critically wounded another child in the town of Azzun in the West Bank.

The boy, Muhammad Nidal Salim, was laid to rest after a massive public funeral today after Friday prayers.

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A Belarusian court on Friday sentenced Ales Bialiatski, Belarus top human rights advocate and one of the winners of the 2022 Nobel Peace Prize, to 10 years in prison.

Bialiatski and three other top figures of the Viasna human rights center he founded were convicted of financing actions violating public order and smuggling, Viasna reported Friday.

Valiantsin Stefanovich was given a nine-year sentence; Uladzimir Labkovicz seven years; and Dzmitry Salauyou was sentenced to eight years in prison in absentia.

Bialiatski and two of his associates were arrested and jailed after massive protests over a 2020 election that gave authoritarian President Alexander Lukashenko a new term in office. Salauyou managed to leave Belarus before he was arrested.

Lukashenko, who has ruled the ex-Soviet country with an iron fist since 1994, unleashed a brutal crackdown on the protesters, the largest in the countrys history. More than 35,000 people were arrested, and thousands were beaten by police.

During the trial, which took place behind closed doors, the 60-year-old Bialiatski and his colleagues were held in a caged enclosure in the courtroom. They have spent 21 months behind bars since the arrest.

In the photos from the courtroom released Friday by Belarus' state news agency Belta, Bialiatksi, clad in black clothes, looked wan, but calm.

Viasna said after the verdict that all four activists have maintained their innocence.

In his final address to the court, he urged the authorities to stop the civil war in Belarus. Bialiatski said it became obvious to him from the case files that the investigators were fulfilling the task they were given: to deprive Viasna human rights advocates of freedom at any cost, destroy Viasna and stop our work."

Exiled Belarusian opposition leader Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya denounced the court verdict on Friday as appalling. We must do everything to fight against this shameful injustice (and) free them, Tsikhaouskaya wrote in a tweet.

The Norwegian Helsinki Committee, a non-governmental organization working to ensure that human rights are respected in practice, said that it was shocked by the cynicism behind the sentences that were just issued to our Belarusian friends in Minsk.

The trial shows how Lukashenkas regime punishes our colleagues, human rights defenders, for standing up against the oppression and injustice," Secretary General Berit Lindeman said in a statement.

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Hong Kong: Combined jab incident probed

The Centre for Health Protection (CHP) today said it is investigating and following up on an incident in which a healthcare worker administered a combined measles, mumps, rubella and varicella (MMRV) vaccine with a higher-than-normal concentration to a primary student.

The centres school immunisation teams provided the outreach vaccination service for students at S K H Yan Laap Memorial Primary School on the morning of February 27.

When the centre conducted checks on the records of the vaccine administered before finishing the outreach activity that day, it found a discrepancy in the number of MMRV vaccine vials used. An investigation was carried out immediately.

After reviewing all the records, documents and logistics, it was noted that the immunisation teams had vaccinated more than 230 students that day, of which about 110 received the MMRV vaccine.

In preparing an MMRV vaccine dose, a healthcare worker did not follow the centres dilution procedure properly.

As a result, when providing vaccination to two Primary 1 students, one of them was injected with a dose of higher-than-normal concentration, while the other student received a normal dose.

The centre contacted the school on February 28 after a preliminary investigation to explain the incident and approached the parents of the affected students.

According to literature and the opinions sought from a paediatric expert, administering vaccines with a greater than recommended dose to an individual will not usually affect the overall immune response or protection afforded by the vaccine.

However, this may lead to an increased risk of an adverse reaction, such as a chance of discomfort in the injection site or a higher fever.

As the incident involved one of the two students, the centre has contacted the parents to explain the situation. As a prudent approach, a medical consultation by an expert has been arranged. The two students went back to school as usual without serious physical reactions.

After a thorough investigation, the CHP confirmed that it was a single incident caused by human error.

Having reviewed the whole procedure of the school outreach activity, the immunisation teams reminded staff members to strictly follow the vaccination guidelines and working procedures at all times, so as to provide vaccination services to students in a vigilant manner.

Meanwhile, the staff member who failed to follow the protocol in diluting the vaccine has been suspended from discharging further duties.

The centre apologised to the school, students and parents for the inconvenience caused.

A review of the incident has been conducted and frontline staff training has also been strengthened to prevent a recurrence of similar incidents, it added.

This story has been published on: 2023-03-03. To contact the author, please use the contact details within the article.
Checks of all the human remains recovered so far from the scene of the deadliest train crash in Greece's history indicate the number of people killed in this week's rail disaster still stands at 57, authorities said Friday.

Recovery teams spent a third day scouring the wreckage in Tempe, 380 kilometers (235 miles) north of Athens, where a passenger train slammed into a freight carrier just before midnight Tuesday.

The force of the head-on collision and the resulting fire has complicated the task of determining the death toll. Officials are matching parts of dismembered and burned bodies with tissue samples to establish the number.

The remains were returned to families in closed caskets following the identification of victims through next-of-kin DNA samples.

Relatives of passengers still listed as unaccounted-for waited outside a hospital in the central city of Larissa for news. Among them was Mirella Ruci, whose 22-year-old son, Denis, remained missing.

"My son is not on any official list so far and I have no information. I am pleading with anyone who may have seen him, in rail car 5, seat 22, to contact me if they may have seen him, Ruci, who struggled to stop her voice from cracking, told reporters.

Health Ministry officials said all victim identifications would be carried out by cross-matching DNA samples from relatives due to the condition of so many of the bodies.

Police and civilian forensics specialists set up teams to run the complex, round-the-clock identification process, which involves two stages: Matching body parts to each individual victim and then establishing identities using DNA samples from relatives of missing passengers.

Flags at the ancient Acropolis, parliament, and other public buildings in Athens remained at half-staff on the third day of national mourning, while national rail services were halted by a strike for a second day.

Anger against authorities in the wake of the tragedy grew over reports that the rail network lacked adequate safeguards to reduce the impact of human error. Not far from the hospital in Larissa, several thousand schoolchildren gathered in protest in a central square, chanting You never arrived, we will avenge you!

A demonstration organized by student groups was also underway in Athens, where hundreds of protesters chanted Murderers! and held up white balloons for the victims, blocking traffic in the center of the capital.

Police early Friday searched a rail coordination office in Larissa, removing evidence as part of an ongoing investigation.

The facility's 59-year-old station manager, who was arrested and charged with multiple counts of negligent manslaughter, is due to testify before a public prosecutor on Saturday.

Stelios Sourlas, a lawyer representing a 23-year-old victim of the collision, said the responsibility for the deaths went beyond the station manager.

The station manager may have the principle responsibility ... but the responsibility is also broader: There are the rail operators and public officials whose job it was to ensure that safety measures and procedures were properly in place, Sourlas said.

Rail unions say the network was poorly maintained despite rail service upgrades to provide faster trains in recent years.

Greece's center-right government had been expected Friday to call national elections for early April, but the announcement and likely date was likely to be delayed.

The passenger train involved in the crash was traveling along Greece's busiest route, from the capital to the country's second-largest city, Thessaloniki.

Two of the victims were identified Friday as Cypriot students Anastasia Adamidou and Kyprianos Papaioannou. Cyprus President Nikos Christodoulides said the state would covers all costs relating to their repatriation and funerals.

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Wayne Shorter, the storied saxophonist considered one of America's greatest jazz composers and among the genre's leading risk-takers, died on Thursday in Los Angeles. He was 89.

Shorter's publicist Alisse Kingsley confirmed his death to AFP, without specifying the cause.

The enigmatic jazz elder performed with fellow legend Miles Davis and went on to become a leading bandleader on both soprano and tenor sax, including with his group Weather Report.

He was one of the last living jazz greats to have cut his teeth in the genre's 1950s heyday when it was both the soundtrack at dance halls and gained ground in intellectual circles.

He won 12 competitive Grammys over his long career, the last of which came just last month, as well as a lifetime achievement award from the Recording Academy.

Tributes quickly poured in, with keyboardist Herbie Hancock -- one of Shorter's best friends and regular collaborators -- calling him "irreplaceable."

"I miss being around him and his special Wayne-isms but I carry his spirit within my heart always," Hancock said in a statement released by Shorter's publicist.

Trumpeter and composer Wynton Marsalis hailed Shorter as a "giant of saxophone regardless of register" and a "jazz messenger," while jazzman Jon Batiste chimed in: "Truly one of one."

Early musical talent

Born on August 25, 1933 in Newark, New Jersey, Shorter expressed early interest in music and took up clarinet as a teenager.

He picked up the saxophone -- which became his instrument of choice -- shortly thereafter.

Shorter and his brother would play bebop, calling themselves "Mr Weird" and "Doc Strange" for their antics like wearing dark sunglasses in a dimly lit club.

"And we had wrinkled clothes, because we thought you played bebop better with wrinkled clothes," Shorter told The Atlantic in 2004.

"You had to be raggedy to be for real."

He attended New York University, where he graduated with a degree in music education in 1956, and spent two years in the army, where he played with jazz pianist Horace Silver.

"I knew that people start on instruments when they're five years old, so I did think I had a lot of catching up to do," he told The Washington Post before receiving the prestigious Kennedy Center Honor, celebrating the best in American arts, in 2018.

"But when things started to move, opportunities came at a pace I hadn't seen."

'Real composer'

In 1964, Shorter left Art Blakey's Jazz Messengers -- with which he found international fame, touring for four years and becoming the band's musical director -- to join trumpeter Davis.

It was with Davis' Second Great Quintet -- which included Hancock -- that Shorter began flexing his composing muscles, channeling his innovative spirit within the traditional rules of jazz.

Davis often described the group's ethos as "time, no changes" -- allowing free jazz without completely scrapping strictures.

The collaboration delivered some of the 20th century's best known jazz, including the songs "E.S.P.," "Nefertiti" and "Footprints."

"Wayne is a real composer" with "a kind of curiosity about working with musical rules," Davis said in his autobiography.

"If they didn't work, then he broke them, but with musical sense; he understood that freedom in music was the ability to know the rules in order to bend them to your own satisfaction and taste."

'Eternity in composition'

In 1970, Shorter co-founded Weather Report, where he played a leading role in the development of jazz fusion -- which combined the harmonies and improvisation of jazz with developing forms of rock, funk and R&B.

Over the band's 16-year career, it adopted a new way of playing that dropped the standard format of soloists playing with accompaniment to instead encourage all band members to improvise simultaneously.

Weather Report also showed an interest in music's technological innovations, experimenting with electronic elements.

Already famous in his own right, Shorter's crossover collaborations with acts including Joni Mitchell, Steely Dan and Carlos Santana brought his talent to a wider audience.

His partnership with Mitchell was particularly poignant: Shorter worked on every album she released between 1977 and 2002.

"Just to hear them talking, my mouth was open. They understand each other perfectly, and they make these leaps and jumps because they don't have to explain anything," Hancock said of their work.

Mitchell also lavished praise on Shorter, saying the way he worked was "the difference between genius and talent."

A lover of comics and a long-time practicing Buddhist, Shorter in 2018 dropped "Emanon," a triple-disc tucked inside a 74-page fantasy graphic novel he co-wrote that details the adventures of a "rogue philosopher" who fights evil with truth.

"I'm looking to express eternity in composition," he had said more than a decade before, in his 2007 biography.

Shorter continued to tour well into his golden years, though chronic health issues eventually slowed his pace. He composed an opera with bassist Esperanza Spalding, which premiered in 2021.

As he struggled to pay medical bills, Hancock spearheaded a series of all-star tribute shows to fund the expenses.

Shorter is survived by his third wife Carolina, two daughters and a newborn grandson, his publicist said.

His second wife Ana Maria was killed aboard TWA Flight 800, which exploded and crashed off Long Island in 1996.

"To me, the definition of faith is to fear nothing," Shorter told The New York Times in 2018.

"I think that music opens portals and doorways into unknown sectors that it takes courage to leap into."

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When Jassim Al-Assadi, a leading campaigner for the preservation of Iraqs famed southern marshes, was kidnapped by unidentified gunmen last month, many Iraqis felt shocked by the drama playing out in their streets.

Al-Assadi, 65, is head of Nature Iraq, an environmental NGO dedicated to protect, restore, and preserve Iraqs natural environment and the rich cultural heritage it nourishes.

Al-Assadi was freed two weeks later after he was tortured by his kidnappers who tried to force him to abandon his environmental work. The incident was a stark reminder of the conflicts and misery still troubling Iraq.

Another hideous reminder of the forces that are shaping Iraqs political and security scene came on 21 February when a Sunni family was a target attacked by rival Shia tribesmen in Diyala, a volatile ethnically and religiously mixed province east of Baghdad.

The two incidents rekindled fears of the violence that has become a fixture of Iraqi life. It was a harrowing phenomenon in Iraq, following the US-led invasion that ushered in years of sectarian conflicts and the appearance of the Islamic State (IS) terrorist group, Shia armed factions, power struggles, and tribal clashes.

This month will mark 20 years since the US-led coalition sent 160,000 troops into Iraq in what was the start of a full-blown invasion of the country which toppled the regime of former dictator Saddam Hussein and the onset of its protracted occupation.

Though Iraq has miraculously survived as a sovereign nation, it continues to suffer from dysfunctional state institutions after the US placed collaborators in key positions and enriched its cronies, paving the way for what seems to be an endless tragedy.

There are no celebrations planned in Baghdad or Washington to mark what was dubbed by the administration of former US president George W Bush and Saddams opponents as a war of liberation that would bring democracy to Iraq.

Hundreds of thousands of civilians have been killed and wounded in Iraq since the 2003 US-led invasion in occupation-related violence, attacks by terrorist groups, or extra-judicial acts by armed factions, some of them state-affiliated.

It has not only been loved ones who have been buried under the rubble, but also the promises of good governance, a corruption-free country, and a state that is responsive to the needs of its people.

Instead, misrule, widespread corruption, an incompetent political system, factional divisions, and unresponsive state institutions under successive governments have led to a perpetual cycle of conflicts and chaos.

Many analysts expected the invasion from planning to occupation to go badly wrong. But to turn into a fiasco on such a large scale for most seemed unthinkable.

Yet, it soon became abundantly clear even to the fervent war hawks and those who supported Saddams ouster that the invasion was profoundly mistaken and its outcome would be staggering.

The US-led invasion left misery and inexorable crises behind it. Democracy has not come to Iraq, and nor has stability and the reconstruction of the war-ravaged nation.

The US-led occupation authorities dissolved key state institutions, placed hirelings in key positions, and enriched its cronies to create a small circle of proxies who were later empowered as Iraqs ruling oligarchs.

The culmination of this mischief paved the way for the crumbling of the foundations of the Iraqi state and later for the tragedy that struck the country. Long after the invasion, Iraqs political system is still dysfunctional and tensions remain high as all the post-Saddams crises have been left unresolved.

As the 20th anniversary of the invasion looms, Irans rising influence in Iraq, one of the dire consequences of the occupation, stands out and threatens to strengthen the dominance of pro-Tehran factions in the countrys politics.

Iran-backed parties succeeded in consolidating their power in the political system after the disputed elections in 2021, becoming key partners in the ruling Shia Coordination Framework in Iraq.

Among these Iran-backed groups that joined Iraqi Prime Minister Mohamed Shia Al-Sudanis government are the Badr Organisation, the Kataib Hizbullah or Hizbullah Brigades, and the Asaib Ahl Al-Haq, while their military wings maintained their participation in the Popular Mobilisation Force (PMF) designated as part of the Iraqi armed forces in 2016.

Since Al-Sudani came to power last October, the frameworks leaders have been playing a key role in steering national politics, and its pro-Iran groups have reinstated their members in key government and security posts.

To boost their chances in the next polls, the framework has introduced a new election law designed to increase its number of seats in the next parliament. The draft, which covers provincial elections and passed its first reading in parliament last month, has stirred opposition from independent parties and is expected to spark further divisions.

Meanwhile, hardline Shia factions in the government and judiciary have been pushing for tougher measures to control the Internet in Iraq. They are working on a new cyber-security law that critics warn would infringe on freedom of expression.

Earlier, the Iraqi Ministry of the Interior formed a committee to monitor social media for violating public morals, containing negative and indecent messages, and undermining social stability. It referred several bloggers to court on charges of publishing indecent content.

To many in Iraq, the empowerment of the militias and the draconian measures that have been taken, including a ban on alcohol, are aimed at reshaping the country into an Iranian-style Islamic republic.

History has already made its judgement on the US-led invasion, which will be remembered as a tragedy for Iraq and a catastrophe for the wider Middle East.

Volumes could be filled with the disasters the invasion brought upon Iraq. If the stupidity of the occupation is not clear, then at least the failure to rebuild an inclusive, fair, and stable political system after Saddam indisputedly ranks as Americas top sin in Iraq.

The biggest question now is what is going to happen to Iraq and whether the US Biden administration will be able to start on a new course in order to correct the terrible mistakes of its predecessors who missed all opportunities to bring Iraq back to its feet.

The Biden administration appears poised to shift its focus in the Middle East and assume more responsibility for containing Irans influence in Iraq following the formation of the Al-Sudani government, which is backed by pro-Iran factions.

This unleashed a wave of concern in the US, which seems to have been irritated by Irans defeating its attempts to bring the government of Al-Sudani closer to the US and its allies while continuing to navigate the US-Iran tensions playing out on Iraqi soil.

There are increasing signs that the US administration has been resorting to new proactive policies by targeting Iran and its local proxies using a carrot-and-stick strategy with Al-Sudani to curtail the Islamic Republics activities in Iraq.

This strategy was partially outlined in a joint statement by the US-Iraq Higher Coordinating Committee that met in Washington last month. The Biden administration offered Al-Sudanis government a partnership in exchange for closer cooperation in several fields.

These include economic cooperation, the energy sector, water management, fighting corruption, addressing the climate crisis, and assisting in government reforms.

More significantly, the US has started targeting Irans influence in Iraq by helping the country to impose tighter controls on the flow of hard currency from Iraq that offers a lifeline to the cash-strapped Islamic Republic.

These controls are being reinforced by measures to restrict Iraqs access to its own dollars in the US Federal Reserve in order to halt the siphoning off of dollars to Iran.

Thus far, the mechanism seems to be working in stamping out the flow, though it has also impacted the value of the Iraqi currency, which has dropped significantly on the international markets.

The administration has also named Amos Hochstein, a top US diplomat, as its special presidential coordinator for Global Infrastructure and Energy Security in Iraq after he emerged as a key interlocutor on Iran-related dealings.

To follow up on previous decisions to blacklist the leaders of pro-Iran groups such as PMF leader Faleh Al-Fayyad, the US Embassy in Baghdad has also been monitoring Iraqi government ministers and officials connected to the militias.

Ratcheting up the pressure on Al-Sudani to take concerted steps to stifle Irans activities in Iraq, US Ambassador in Baghdad Alina L Romanowski told a local satellite TV station on 18 February that he should take the responsibility to ensure that he has full control of Iraqs sovereignty.

Some two decades after its invasion of the country, it is clear that the US has no clear strategy in Iraq and that it is relying instead on pressure diplomacy and the threat of sanctions, along with swagger and intimidation.

On the face of it, the new approach seems to be designed to keep Iran in check, while giving Al-Sudani breathing room to reform his government. However, all previous attempts to contain Irans influence in Iraq have failed because Washingtons policymakers have relied on over-the-counter solutions that lack the merit of being taken seriously.

Meanwhile, the invasion will forever be interpreted as simply another chapter in the US arrogance of power. The Biden administrations conflation of grandiose ideas about cooperation on climate change, the economy, and combating corruption to help bring Iraq back to normal cannot be interpreted any differently.

* A version of this article appears in print in the 2 March, 2023 edition of Al-Ahram Weekly

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Western countries including France and the US are increasingly intervening in political life in Tunisia against a background of growing polarisation.

Tunisia is witnessing a growing wave of arrests of opposition voices that have included politicians, judges, media personalities and former ministers.

Last week, Tunisian police arrested National Salvation Front founder Jaouhar bin Mbarak, a prominent critic of Tunisian President Kais Saied, and judicial investigations were opened into several leaders of the Ennahda Movement whose leader, Rashid Al-Ghannouchi, is being investigated on terrorist charges.

The clampdown is one facet of the sharpening political polarisation in the country. On 23 February, Saied proclaimed a tougher war on corruption, which gnaws at the country like cancer, while at the same time taking the opportunity to lash out at the Tunisian General Labour Union (UGTT), saying that the real problems of the Tunisian people were misery, poverty, and marginalisation and that these would not be treated by the dialogue demanded by UGTT officials.

The UGTT, a powerful political force, responded with a call to all its members to rally for a protest march in the capital Tunis on 4 March. On 3 February, it launched a series of protests against the economic situation in the country and attempts to target union activity.

In this increasingly fraught climate, international players have also begun to intervene, with Esther Lynch, head of the European Trade Union Confederation, flying to Tunis earlier in February to take part in a protest demonstration in the southern Tunisian city of Sfax organised by the UGTT.

On 16 February, Saied ordered her to be expelled from the country for blatant interference in Tunisias internal affairs.

A number of foreign ambassadors also met with officials of the Tunisian Journalists Syndicate at its premises in Tunis. On 23 February, the international rights group Amnesty International called on Saied to stop the prosecution of civilians in military courts and to cease what it said were attacks on the right to a fair trial.

It stressed the need to refrain from enacting laws that threaten the freedom of expression and reported that a military court in Tunisia was prosecuting Shaimaa Eissa, a political activist and Salvation Front leader, under Decree-Law 54/2022 that concerns crimes related to information and communication systems. She has also been barred from travelling abroad.

In a press briefing on 24 February, the French Foreign Ministry expressed its concern regarding the recent waves of arrests in Tunisia and urged the Tunisian authorities to ensure that individual liberties and civil liberties are respected, in particular the freedom of expression.

Since 2011, Tunisia has made considerable progress with regard to the rule of law and civil liberties. These democratic advances must be preserved, it said.

There is nothing new about the behaviour of foreign powers towards the crisis in Tunisia. In mid-February, US State Department Spokesman Ned Price said that we are deeply concerned by the reported arrests of multiple political figures, business leaders, and journalists in Tunisia in recent days.

Last August during a meeting in Stuttgart, Germany, on changes to the US AFRICOM Command, US Secretary of Defence Lloyd Austin said his government was concerned by the headwinds against the democratic aspirations of the Tunisian people.

He said that Tunisias dream of self-government was in danger in the course of what he described as a battle between those who support democracy and freedom and the rule of law and the forces of autocracy, chaos and corruption.

The Western powers are justifying their interventions in the Tunisian crisis on the grounds of what they describe as a worrisome backsliding in democratic standards and basic rights and freedoms in the country. They note the 11 per cent turnout in the last legislative elections in Tunisia in December 2022 and the consolidation of powers in the executive.

The Western actions, deemed flagrant interventions in Tunisias domestic affairs by the Tunisian authorities, extend beyond expressions of concerns over the course of democracy. Some foreign parties have spoken in terms of notching up the pressure on Saied to compel him to respond to the demands of the Tunisian opposition.

The effect of such interventions has been to deepen the polarisation in Tunisia and arouse anger in official circles and public opinion. Saied himself said in mid-February that we are not under colonial rule. We are an independent sovereign state, and we know very well what we are doing in the framework of the respect for the law.

The Tunisian Foreign Ministry has also denounced unwarranted interventions in Tunisian domestic affairs as have a number of political parties and sectors of society that support Saieds policies. They argue that the West does not understand the situation in the country or appreciate the efforts the government has made since 25 July 2021 to reestablish political life on secure foundations.

Political forces opposed to the foreign interventions have denounced the meetings that some Tunisian political forces have had with Western parties, saying that they are designed to legitimise foreign meddling in Tunisian affairs. They also accuse the opposition political parties and forces of using the interventions to present the Tunisian authorities as authoritarian.

As Tunisia appears to be heading towards greater tension and uncertainty, President Saied may succeed in increasing his popularity by capitalising on the theme of Western meddling in his countrys affairs, regardless of how this might affect Tunis relations with the Western powers.

The opposition forces, meanwhile, might try to use the Western involvement in order to turn up the heat on the government and distract it from implementing the provisions of the roadmap it introduced in July 2021.

* A version of this article appears in print in the 2 March, 2023 edition of Al-Ahram Weekly

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Western powers say they have intercepted another illicit shipment of Iranian weapons, the seventh such seizure in the past three months. The seizure, announced Thursday by Britain, took place last month in the Gulf of Oman.

Britain's Defense Ministry said it began tracking the Iranian vessel on February 23 when it noticed the ship traveling at high speeds under the cover of darkness. Royal Marines then boarded the ship after the suspected smugglers initially ignored calls from Britain's HMS Lancaster and tried to return to Iranian territorial waters.

The United States said Thursday that it provided airborne surveillance during the operation, which took place "along a route historically used to traffic weapons unlawfully to Yemen."

Both Britain and U.S. Naval Forces Central Command, based out of Bahrain, said the Iranian ship was carrying Iranian versions of Russia's 9M133 Kornet anti-tank guided missiles and medium-range ballistic missile components.
A deepening rift between Western countries and Russia over the Ukraine war has prevented a consensus from emerging at a meeting of foreign ministers of the Group of 20 countries, as both sides blamed each other for the crisis.

An outcome statement issued by India at the end of the meeting on Thursday said that "most members strongly condemned the war in Ukraine and stressed it is causing immense human suffering and exacerbating existing fragilities in the global economy."

India's foreign minister, Subrahmanyam Jaishankar, said the meeting in New Delhi had been unable to firm up a joint declaration owing to "very polarized views" over the war in Ukraine. "On the issue, which very frankly concerned the Ukraine conflict, there were divergences, there were differences, which we couldn't reconcile between various parties," Jaishankar told reporters. "We tried, but the gap between the countries was too much."

Amid soaring tensions over the Ukraine war, the U.S. and its Western allies underlined the need for member countries to maintain pressure on Russia to end the conflict and respond firmly to its aggression, while Moscow blamed the West for the global political and economic crises.

U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said the G20 meeting was marred by Russia's "unprovoked and unjustified war against Ukraine and deliberate campaign of destruction against civilian targets." He said that "we must continue to call on Russia to end its war of aggression for the sake of international peace and economic stability."

Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said that Western delegations "turned the work on the G20 agenda into a farce, wanting to shift the responsibility for their failures in the economy to the Russian Federation." He accused the West of "burying" a deal to allow some Ukrainian grain exports.

Blinken also met with his Russian counterpart Lavrov briefly on the sidelines of the G20 meeting, where he underscored Washington is prepared to support Ukraine in defending itself for as long as it takes, according to a U.S. State Department official. The first one-on-one meeting in person between the top American and Russian diplomats since the Ukraine invasion lasted less than 10 minutes.

Blinken also called on Russia to reverse its decision to suspend participation in the New Start nuclear arms treaty and to release detained U.S. citizen Paul Whelan. The Russian foreign ministry said Lavrov and Blinken spoke "on the move" but did not hold negotiations or a meeting, Reuters reported, quoting Russian news agencies. Russian President Vladimir Putin had suspended participation in the treaty last week after accusing the West of being directly involved in attempts to strike its strategic air bases.
Korean Air is another step closer to taking over ailing Asiana Airlines as the U.K.'s Competition and Markets Authority gave the green light to the planned merger of the two flag carriers.

The takeover has already been approved by Korea's own Fair Trade Commission and 11 countries including China and Australia. But the EU and Japan have yet to approve it after demanding some changes to allay monopoly concerns.

A Korean Air staffer said, "The remaining merger authorization process is expected to be completed in the first half."

Korean Air has proposed measures to quell monopoly concerns, but there are fears that Korea's airline industry could take a hit if some overlapping flight slots and routes are ceded to foreign carriers in order to get the merger approved.

For example, Korean Air offered to cede Asiana's slots on the Incheon-London route to Virgin Atlantic. Korean Air has 10 slots a week at London's Heathrow Airport and Asiana seven.

The EU has now started the second phase of its approval process. Together Korean Air and Asiana account for 60 percent of markets in Paris, Frankfurt, Rome and Barcelona, so there is a strong chance that the flag carriers may hand over some of their routes to European airlines. They also have overlapping routes to New York, San Francisco and other U.S. cities.
KYODO NEWS - Mar 3, 2023 - 20:32 | All, Japan

Japan's government decided Friday to enable courts to order the use of GPS trackers to prevent international bail jumping in the wake of the case of former Nissan Motor Co. CEO Carlos Ghosn and other incidents of criminal defendants escaping the country.

While some have voiced concerns about a potential invasion of privacy through utilizing GPS devices in such a way, others are hopeful that it may allow for an increase in the number of people granted bail and curb excessive detentions, something for which Japan is notorious.

By revising the country's criminal procedure law, the government plans to criminalize suspects who fail to appear in court and those who leave their mandated residence or remove their tracking devices without permission.

The government aims to pass the bill through parliament during the current session. The use of GPS devices will begin within five years from the promulgation of the law.

The move comes after a series of cases in which individuals have escaped while on bail, including Ghosn, 68, who fled to Lebanon from Japan in 2019 after being arrested for allegedly underreporting remunerations and misusing Nissan's funds.

The GPS monitors are expected to be used for business executives with overseas connections.

"It is extremely difficult to ensure that a person will appear before court once they have fled abroad," Justice Minister Ken Saito told a press conference on Friday.

"This is the first time Japan has put forward a legal framework for enabling the use of GPS for tracking defendants, and it is important not to allow the system to become muddled," Saito said.

Those who take their monitors off without permission or enter a prohibited area, such as air or seaports, may be detained and subjected to imprisonment for up to one year -- a punishment to be introduced by 2025.

Additionally, a new "supervisor" system will require those designated with responsibility for a defendant to show up to the trial with them, and be responsible for producing reports on how the suspect is faring.

A defendant may be denied bail if the supervisor fails to pay a guarantor's deposit separate from bail money.

Under the plans, those on bail will be sentenced to up to two years in prison if they fail to appear when summoned by a court, or if they leave their residence for an extended period without permission.

While suspects are currently not required to appear in court during an appeal, the reforms will require them to if they have been indicted for a crime mandating a minimum prison sentence.

Suspects will also be unable to leave the country if they are sentenced to time in prison.

The Japanese government also decided the same day to establish measures in its criminal law reforms that will render victims' identity anonymous if they are alleged to have been subject to a sexual crime, to protect them from their assailant.
KYODO NEWS - Mar 3, 2023 - 18:22 | All, Japan

Former Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga will become the next head of a cross-party group of lawmakers promoting friendly ties between Japan and South Korea, the group decided Friday.

The appointment of a former premier is aimed at facilitating lawmaker-level exchanges at a time when Tokyo and Seoul are stepping up efforts to resolve disputes over wartime labor by Koreans that have strained ties. Suga will replace former Finance Minister Fukushiro Nukaga.

"South Korea is an extremely important neighbor in economic and security terms," Suga said in a meeting of the group in Tokyo, vowing to work to "improve friendly relations between both countries."

Nukaga held the post for about 10 years. Suga, a ruling Liberal Democratic Party lawmaker, will be the first former prime minister to take the position since Yoshiro Mori held it between 2001 and 2010. His appointment could be formally approved as early as later this month.

Suga, who was prime minister from 2020 to 2021 after serving as chief Cabinet secretary for former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe from 2012, was approached for the positon due to his involvement in the negotiations leading to the 2015 agreement with South Korea to resolve the issue of "comfort women" procured for Japanese wartime military brothels.

Speaking at a press conference, Keiichi Ishii, secretary general of the LDP's junior coalition partner Komeito and deputy chair of the cross-party group, hailed Suga's appointment as "one that will be seen by South Korea as an indication of the importance Japan places on our bilateral ties."

Tokyo's disagreements over wartime compensation and other long-standing issues with South Korea's previous administration caused ties to sink to their lowest point in years.

But President Yoon Suk Yeol has repeatedly expressed his readiness to improve relations since taking office last year. He said in a speech Wednesday that Japan had transformed from a "militaristic aggressor" to a "partner that shares the same universal values" as South Korea.

Related coverage:

South Korea's Yoon says Japan changed from aggressor to partner
KYODO NEWS - Mar 3, 2023 - 08:02 | All, World

U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said Thursday he spoke briefly with Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov on the margins of a multilateral meeting, telling him that Moscow must end its war against Ukraine immediately.

In what is believed to be the highest-level face-to-face conversation between the United States and Russia since the invasion started more than a year ago, Blinken said he urged Moscow to "engage in meaningful diplomacy that can produce a just and durable peace."

Their unscheduled encounter, which lasted less than 10 minutes according to a U.S. official, came as Washington's relations with Moscow, as well as with Beijing, grow tenser over the war and a number of other issues.

At a press conference following the Group of 20 foreign ministers' meeting in New Delhi, Blinken regretted that China and Russia had refused to endorse a joint statement condemning the war and reaffirming the need to uphold international law. The two countries were the only holdouts.

When asked about signs seen by the United States and NATO that China plans to provide lethal military aid to Russia, Blinken said that many countries expressed concern over the matter during the G-20 meeting.

He suggested the United States together with its partners would consider imposing sanctions against China should it decide to supply lethal weapons to Russia for its war effort.

During the conversation with Lavrov, the top U.S. diplomat said he also urged Moscow "to reverse its irresponsible decision" and rejoin the New START treaty. Moscow recently withdrew from the pact, which was the only remaining nuclear arms control treaty with Washington.

"Mutual compliance is in the interest of both our countries. It's also what people around the world expect from us as nuclear powers," Blinken said.

"I told the foreign minister that no matter what else is happening in the world or in our relationship, the United States will always be ready to engage and act on strategic arms control, just as the United States and the Soviet Union did even at the height of the Cold War," he added.

Russian media reported that Blinken had requested contact with Lavrov. Tass quoted Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova as telling the news agency, "But there were no negotiations, no meeting or so on."

U.S. State Department spokesman Ned Price said in a press briefing in Washington on Thursday that the United States is not expecting any more official dialogue at a senior level in the near future.

"Of course, we're always going to remain open to dialogue," Price said, given that the bilateral relationship has grown particularly tense. "But there was no agreement or consensus coming out of that brief encounter for any sort of follow-up discussion."
KYODO NEWS - Mar 3, 2023 - 17:47 | World, All

Cambodian opposition figure Kem Sokha was sentenced to 27 years in prison Friday for treason in a case criticized by the United States as a miscarriage of justice.

The Phnom Penh Municipal Court banned the 69-year-old head of the now-dissolved Cambodia National Rescue Party from conducting political activities, including voting and traveling overseas, allowing him to stay under house arrest until legal procedures are over, including a possible appeal through the Supreme Court.

Kem Sokha was arrested in September 2017 at his home in Phnom Penh on suspicion of attempting to topple the government of Prime Minister Hun Sen, who has been in power since 1985. Kem Sokha has denied the allegations, saying he has not conspired with foreign powers, and called for the charges to be dropped.

Following his arrest, Kem Sokha's opposition party was forcibly dissolved in November 2017. In a lower house election in July 2018, the ruling Cambodian People's Party won all 125 seats, allowing Hun Sen to extend his rule for another five years.

His trial began on Jan. 15, 2020, and it took more than three years for the court to complete dozens of hearings before presiding judge Kouy Sao handed down the ruling.

U.N. human rights experts have expressed concerns about the trial, saying the entire process of his arrest and detention has been "tainted" by irregularities.

Following the ruling, U.S. Ambassador to Cambodia Patrick Murphy issued a statement saying the United States is "deeply troubled" by the conviction of Kem Sokha.

"His trial, built on a fabricated conspiracy, was a miscarriage of justice," it said.

During the trial, prosecutors submitted, as proof of Kem Sokha's alleged collusion with foreign powers, a short video clip of him telling party supporters in Australia in 2013 he had received advice from Washington on building an opposition movement.

Kem Sokha and his defense team repeatedly argued that the full video footage should be relied upon instead of edited clips.

Both prosecutors and lawyers representing the government have refrained from naming the foreign states allegedly involved.

The United States said it has provided $3 billion in assistance to Cambodia in recent decades, including transparent assistance to strengthen institutions and political parties in line with Cambodia's Constitution.

"Our programs have been available for all political parties, including the governing CPP party, and many government institutions," Murphy has said.

"We do, however, support freedom of expression, an active civil society," he added.

Chan Thoeun, a supporter of Kem Sokha who waited outside the court, said the ruling was regrettable, and suggested that the charges against Kem Sokha be dropped and his release granted.

"By doing so, a national reconciliation can be achieved, which is in the interests of the nation and its people," he said.

Following his arrest, Kem Sokha's opposition party was forcibly dissolved in November 2017. In a lower house election in July 2018, the ruling Cambodian People's Party won all 125 seats, allowing Hun Sen to extend his rule for another five years.
KYODO NEWS - Mar 3, 2023 - 08:07 | All, World

A hidden corridor has been confirmed inside the Great Pyramid of Giza with imagery taken by an international team of scientists, the Egyptian antiquities ministry said Thursday.

Measuring some 9 meters in length and some 2 meters in width, the corridor was discovered in the pyramid of Pharaoh Khufu (2589-2566 B.C.), the largest among the three pyramids in the suburbs of Cairo.

The ScanPyramids project's team of experts, including those from Nagoya University of Japan, began detecting a possible open space from outside the ancient structure in 2015, using muons emitted from cosmic rays that can penetrate several kilometers of solid rock.

The scientists, including Kunihiro Morishima from the Japanese university, released a report the following year saying there was a hidden space inside the pyramid.

Ahmed Issa, minister of tourism and antiquities of Egypt, commended the discovery as well as the endoscope imagery of the corridor, calling them "the result of an important scientific project" during a press conference Thursday.
KYODO NEWS - Mar 3, 2023 - 20:48 | All, World, Japan

The foreign ministers of India, Japan, the United States and Australia pledged Friday to address maritime challenges in the South and East China seas, in a display of solidarity against Beijing's military assertiveness in the region.

The four Indo-Pacific democracies, collectively known as the Quad, also voiced their concern about "the militarization of disputed features" and "the dangerous use of coast guard vessels and maritime militia" in the area, according to a joint statement issued after their gathering in New Delhi.

The meeting came amid the Communist-led government increasing its military presence in disputed areas in the South China Sea and repeatedly intruding into Japanese waters around the Senkaku Islands, controlled by Tokyo but claimed by Beijing, in the East China Sea.

The top diplomats also spoke on Russia's war in Ukraine, which entered its second year last week, saying the use or threat of nuclear weapons is "inadmissible." But they fell short of condemning Russia, possibly reflecting India's amicable ties with Moscow.

Indian External Affairs Minister Subrahmanyam Jaishankar, Japanese Foreign Minister Yoshimasa Hayashi, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Australian Foreign Minister Penny Wong attended the talks, the first since they met in September in New York.

The participants will support the "peaceful settlement of disputes" in the Indo-Pacific region and oppose "any unilateral attempt to change the status quo," the statement said.

The gathering, the first hosted by non-U.S. ally India since the Quad foreign ministerial session was launched in 2019 in New York, paved the way for an upcoming summit, reportedly being arranged in Sydney in late May or early June.

The four ministers renewed their commitment to the realization of a "free and open Indo-Pacific" which is "inclusive and resilient." The vision has been mainly advocated by Tokyo and Washington in a veiled counter to Beijing's increasing clout in the region.

Chinese Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Mao Ning criticized the Quad meeting at a press conference Friday, saying states should not form "exclusive and closed circles."

"We think countries should focus more on things that contribute to enhancing security and mutual trust, as well as maintaining regional peace and stability," she said.

As for the Russian invasion, the ministers "continued to discuss" their responses to the situation and "underscored the need for a comprehensive, just and lasting peace in Ukraine in accordance with international law," the statement said.

The Group of Seven industrialized countries, including Japan and the United States, alongside other like-minded democratic nations such as Australia, have been strengthening economic sanctions on Russia over its war in Ukraine, a former member of the now-collapsed Soviet Union. Japan holds the G-7 presidency in 2023.

India, which is traditionally friendly with Russia and highly dependent on it for military and energy supplies, has refrained from implementing punitive measures against Moscow.

The Quad foreign ministers, meanwhile, condemned North Korea for continuing to launch intercontinental ballistic missiles. Pyongyang fired an ICBM last month.

The ministers also vowed to make further efforts to prevent the "proliferation of nuclear and missile technologies related to North Korea."

Among other fields, the group discussed plans to further cooperate on building more resilient infrastructure, enhancing the clean energy transition, and creating more transparent and fair lending and financing practices, as well as working together on cybersecurity and disaster relief activities, according to the statement.

In the Indian capital, Blinken and Wong took part in a foreign ministerial meeting of the Group of 20 economies, held for two days from Wednesday, while Hayashi skipped the gathering to join a parliamentary session in Japan.

Later Friday, Hayashi and Blinken held a bilateral meeting and stressed the importance of deterring third parties from providing Russia with military aid, the Japanese Foreign Ministry said.

The United States has alleged that China has been considering supplying weapons to Moscow for the Ukraine war. Beijing has strongly denied the claim.

The two ministers agreed that they should gain more support from countries considered part of the "Global South," or developing nations in areas such as Asia, Africa and Latin America, which have sought to avoid taking sides over the Ukraine crisis.

Hayashi also held bilateral talks with Jaishankar, confirming that Tokyo and New Delhi will closely cooperate on shared priorities as the chairs of the G-7 and the G-20 this year, respectively, the Japanese ministry said.

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Vocational trainer Yang Denghui poses for a photo at Guangdong Machinery Technician College in Guangzhou, south China's Guangdong Province, Feb. 14, 2023. (Xinhua/Deng Hua)

by Xinhua writers Hong Zehua, Zhou Ying and Li Jiale

GUANGZHOU, March 2 (Xinhua) -- At a symposium held in February in the southern Chinese city of Guangzhou, Yang Denghui, a vocational trainer, spent a few hours with vocational teachers and students, company workers and experts. The experience gave Yang a wealth of ideas and suggestions that he jotted down in his notebook.

Yang works at Guangdong Machinery Technician College. As a deputy to the 14th National People's Congress, he has been busy preparing suggestions for the upcoming "two sessions."

"I will grasp every chance I get to speak for the skilled workers," the 26-year-old said.

Born in east China's Jiangxi Province, Yang has had a passion for craftsmanship since childhood. After graduating from middle school, he studied at a secondary vocational school in Shenzhen, a manufacturing and tech hub, where he mastered the technology of computer numerical control (CNC) mills.

The technology can be used to produce components and has been widely adopted in the manufacturing industry.

It has been utilized to produce various items including aluminum alloy frames for mobile phones, molds for plastic cups, and auto parts, Yang said.

Learning that the Guangdong Machinery Technician College focuses on the cultivation of world-class technicians, Yang decided to further his study at the institute to perfect his skills.

Computer-aided design and coding software demand specific skills from CNC milling operators, whose precision in controlling the machine and knowledge of the part's structure will significantly influence the accuracy of the final product.

In 2017, at the age of 20, he participated in the 44th WorldSkills Competition and won the gold medal in CNC milling, earning him the title of the country's best player.

The WorldSkills Competition, also known as the "Olympics for technicians," is a global professional skills promotion event held every two years.

After the match, Yang decided to stay at the college and became a teacher, devoting himself to vocational education. "I hope to teach students my skills and experience unreservedly so that they can use these skills to serve society."

Under Yang's guidance, some of his students won gold medals in the WorldSkills Competition, while many more secured good employment opportunities.

In the eyes of Yang, skilled personnel are crucial for the high-quality development of China's manufacturing industry, while vocational education is an important platform to cultivate skilled talents.

"The government should increase support and investment in vocational education and train more high-quality skilled personnel for the industry," he suggested, adding that improving the social status and treatment of skilled workers is also one of his concerns. 

Vocational trainer Yang Denghui (R) instructs a student to operate a machine tool at Guangdong Machinery Technician College in Guangzhou, south China's Guangdong Province, Feb. 14, 2023. (Xinhua/Deng Hua)

Vocational trainer Yang Denghui walks at Guangdong Machinery Technician College in Guangzhou, south China's Guangdong Province, Feb. 14, 2023. (Xinhua/Deng Hua)

Vocational trainer Yang Denghui (R) explains the differences of various cutter heads to a student at Guangdong Machinery Technician College in Guangzhou, south China's Guangdong Province, Feb. 14, 2023. (Xinhua/Deng Hua)

Vocational trainer Yang Denghui measures the parts processed by students at Guangdong Machinery Technician College in Guangzhou, south China's Guangdong Province, Feb. 14, 2023. (Xinhua/Deng Hua)
BEIJING, March 2 (Xinhua) -- A Chinese mainland spokesperson on Thursday expressed firm opposition to the United States' arms sales to China's Taiwan region.

The move by the United States seriously violates the one-China principle and the three China-U.S. joint communiques, particularly the August 17 Communique, said Ma Xiaoguang, a spokesperson for the State Council Taiwan Affairs Office, in response to a press inquiry on the decision of the United States to sell arms to Taiwan.

The move connives at and supports separatists seeking "Taiwan independence," and undermines peace and stability across the Taiwan Strait, Ma added.

"We urge the United States to abide by the one-China principle and the three China-U.S. joint communiques, and to cease arms sales to and military contact with Taiwan," Ma said.

Ma also warned Taiwan's Democratic Progressive Party authorities that any attempt to use force to resist reunification or collude with external forces to seek "Taiwan independence" is doomed to fail. 
A staff member checks servers in Guizhou Information Park of China Telecom Cloud Computing in Gui'an New Area, southwest China's Guizhou Province, April 9, 2020. (Xinhua/Ou Dongqu)

GUIYANG, March 2 (Xinhua) -- The newly revised regulations on information infrastructure for southwest China's Guizhou Province officially went into effect on Wednesday, the provincial government said at a press conference.

According to the regulation, the provincial government's big data and communications authorities should provide data storage and computing support for the development and application of major scientific and technological infrastructure, such as the 500-meter Aperture Spherical Radio Telescope nicknamed "Tianyan" in Guizhou.

The regulation proposes that Guizhou strengthen international exchanges and cooperation in information infrastructure, support the development of digital trade, and prioritize providing data services for countries along the Belt and Road.

As the country's first national big data comprehensive pilot zone, Guizhou has been promoting the big data industry as a mainstay of its high-quality social and economic development. 
About 2,340 metric tons of blue carbon was auctioned off in Ningbo, east China's Zhejiang Province on Tuesday, in an effort to help improve the marine environment in the area.

The item of the auction, the first of its kind in the country, is the annual total carbon sink of a fishery in Xiangshan county, with the starting price at 30 yuan (about 4.4 USD) per ton.

The winning bidder was Zhejiang Yiduan Precision Machinery Co., Ltd., which bought it at 248,000 yuan (about 35,900 USD).

Blue carbon refers to carbon dioxide that is captured by marine activities and marine organisms, and stored in the marine ecosystem.

The auction helped facilitate the development of local blue carbon resources, which are expected to generate substantial economic and ecological benefits for the region.





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TAIYUAN, March 3 (Xinhua) -- Sometimes walking leisurely in the lake, sometimes playing with one another, three flamingos dressed in pink and reddish plumage have attracted dozens of shutterbugs in camouflage coats to a feathery photo shoot at a salt lake in north China's Shanxi Province.

After two days, Li Zhongyou was finally satisfied with a photo of two flamingos cuddling up. In order to get the photo, he traveled more than 1,000 km to the lake in suburban Yuncheng City.

Wild flamingos mainly live on large, shallow water bodies like pans and saline lakes in temperate and tropical zones and are found in Africa, North and South America, and the Mediterranean region, among others. No fixed habitat for the birds had been found in China before 2014.

Zhang Weiping, one of the first people to take photos of flamingos in Yuncheng, recalled that in the summer of 2014, he was told that several unrecognizable birds had arrived at the salt lake, and only after arriving at the lake did he recognize them as flamingos.

However, some of them had drooping wings, and some were sluggish and did not look in very good condition.

"There were enough artemia, which is favored by the flamingos, in the lake, plus people's protection efforts, and so the birds gradually recovered after a few months," said Zhang, who revealed that the improvement could be seen by looking at the color and brightness of feathers when the flamingos spread their wings.

The recovered flamingos left the lake soon after, and it was thought that the "rare visitors" had just stopped by. However, a few months later another batch of flamingos was spotted. Since then, the salt lake has become a stopover site during the flamingos' annual migration, with the total number of birds reaching as high as eight.

Photos of the flamingos in the salt lake went viral online, attracting enthusiastic photographers from across the country. Meanwhile, these shy creatures no longer just remained in the middle of the lake, but started getting closer to people, sometimes moving to just a few dozen meters away from them.

"Besides flamingos, another 100 species of wild birds can be spotted here, such as black storks and whooper swans, and the salt lake has become one of the must-visit places for bird photographers in the country," Zhang said.

The reasons why the flamingos first landed in Yuncheng are still unknown, but the significant improvement in the ecology of the lake, which was once a chemical production site, is undoubtedly an important one.

The salt lake has seen human activities since ancient times, and its mining history can be traced back to 4,000 years ago. After the 1950s, the development of local chemical enterprises reached a peak, which damaged the surrounding environment of the lake.

At one point, there were 15 work sections around the lake that were mining and manufacturing chemicals, with tall chimneys constantly releasing black smoke into the sky. "At that time, you could smell the smoke when you walked around the lake," recalled Lyu Guoyu, a photographer who worked for a salt lake ecological protection and development center.

During his field research, Lyu met many photographers, and under their influence, he fell in love with bird photography.

"Talking to them gave me a deeper understanding of ecological protection, which helped make our work more target-oriented," Lyu said.

In order to better protect the ecology of this salt lake, industrial production activities around the lake were completely terminated in 2020, and restoration work on mountains, forests, and lakes was also carried out.

"Birds are the 'elves' of the salt lake, and photos can help more people know them and fall in love with them, thus calling on everyone to protect our environment," Lyu said. 
BEIJING, March 3 (Xinhua) -- China's Ministry of National Defense on Friday voiced firm opposition to the United States' arms sales to China's Taiwan region.

Tan Kefei, a spokesperson for China's defense ministry, made the remarks in response to a press inquiry on the U.S. State Department's approval on Wednesday of a new round of arms sales to Taiwan.

Noting that the U.S. move has flagrantly interfered with China's domestic affairs, Tan said China is strongly dissatisfied and has lodged stern representations with the U.S. side.

The move has seriously breached the one-China principle and the three China-U.S. joint communiques, especially the August 17 Communique, severely undermined China's sovereignty and security interests, and posed a severe threat to peace and stability across the Taiwan Strait, Tan said.

"We urge the United States to cease arms sales to and military contacts with Taiwan, and stop meddling in the Taiwan question and raising tensions across the Strait," said Tan.

"The Chinese People's Liberation Army is always well prepared to take countermeasures against all sorts of provocations seeking 'Taiwan independence' and external interference, and to resolutely safeguard China's national sovereignty and territorial integrity," Tan said. 
NEW DELHI, March 3 (Xinhua) -- U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov held here Thursday their first face-to-face interaction since the escalation of the Ukraine crisis over a year ago.

The brief encounter took place during the G20 Foreign Ministers' Meeting held in New Delhi under India's presidency. It lasted for about 10 minutes, said media reports on Friday.

"Lavrov spoke to him, standing, as part of the second session of the G20. No talks or real meeting took place," The Times of India quoted a Russian official as saying.

According to the U.S. Department of State, during the conversation, Blinken urged Russia to end the special military operation and engage in meaningful diplomacy, return to implementing New Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty, and release Paul Whelan, a former U.S. Marine who is serving a prison sentence in Russia for espionage.

During a brief conversation with Blinken on the sidelines of the G20 Foreign Ministers' Meeting, Lavrov "in his usual manner, speaking in diplomatic language" deflected all calls from the American side, Russian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Maria Zakharova told a local TV program on Thursday.

Zakharova denied on Friday the top Russian and U.S. diplomats' discussion about Whelan's swap, calling it a "lie" and the U.S. administration's behavior "unbelievable," according to TASS news agency. 
This photo taken on March 3, 2023 shows the opening ceremony of a seminar at the Cambodia-China Friendship Preah Kossamak Hospital in Phnom Penh, Cambodia. Held in a hybrid format, the seminar is part of a project carried out by the Second Affiliated Hospital of Anhui University of Traditional Chinese Medicine to train senior talents of acupuncture and Tuina remedial massage in developing countries. (Photo by Van Pov/Xinhua)

PHNOM PENH, March 3 (Xinhua) -- Hem Sreynet, a 21-year-old nurse at the Cambodia-China Friendship Preah Kossamak Hospital, pricked up her ears when traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) experts delivered a presentation on acupuncture and Tuina remedial massage here on Friday.

Sreynet is one of 20 medical personnel at the hospital taking part in a three-week seminar for senior talents of acupuncture and Tuina remedial massage, held at the hospital's Chinese Medicine Clinic in Phnom Penh.

"I want to learn about traditional Chinese medicine for a long time and now I have a chance to study it," she told Xinhua while attending the seminar on the first day. "I hope to gain a better insight into the acupuncture and Tuina remedial massage after this seminar."

She said the TCM has been used to diagnose, cure and prevent illness and it also reduces the use of modern medicine.

"It is efficacious to treat patients because there has been a remarkable increase in the number of patients coming for TCM treatment, and many of them have recovered," Sreynet said.

Held in a hybrid format, the seminar is part of a project carried out by the Second Affiliated Hospital of Anhui University of Traditional Chinese Medicine to train senior talents of acupuncture and Tuina remedial massage in developing countries.

Koeurng Raksmiy, a Cambodian doctor at the friendship hospital's Chinese Medicine Clinic, said the TCM could heal a number of diseases such as osteoporosis, insomnia, infertility, pain, chronic cough, bronchial asthma, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, and interstitial lung disease.

"The TCM, which includes therapies such as gua sha massage treatment, acupuncture and cupping, is very useful in curing diseases," he told Xinhua. "Through this seminar, we expect to gain an insight into TCM treatment methods, particularly acupuncture techniques."

Raksmiy said since it was launched in March 2022, the friendship hospital's Chinese Medicine Clinic has received more than 6,000 patients.

"In general, they have recovered, and some patients said that the TCM treatment has helped them reduce the use of modern medicine," he said.

Wu Zhaomei, a member of the TCM anti-COVID-19 pandemic team in Cambodia, said the seminar focused on basic theories and operational methods of acupuncture, moxibustion and Tuina, as well as TCM nursing techniques.

"We are very happy to find that doctors and nurses in this hospital are interested in the TCM, that's why we want to improve their knowledge and technology of practicing in the TCM," she told Xinhua.

Wu said more than a dozen of TCM experts, who are experienced in both clinic and teaching, would give lectures during the three-week seminar.

"The TCM treats many common diseases effectively, and we want to share this with them," she said. "We expect that doctors and nurses at the friendship hospital can learn more about how to practice in acupuncture and Tuina, as well as nursing techniques."

She said the trainees will also have chances to visit the Chinese Medicine Clinic, where they can not only observe, but also practice after learning theories. 

Cambodian medical personnel attend the opening ceremony of a seminar at the Cambodia-China Friendship Preah Kossamak Hospital in Phnom Penh, Cambodia, on March 3, 2023. Held in a hybrid format, the seminar is part of a project carried out by the Second Affiliated Hospital of Anhui University of Traditional Chinese Medicine to train senior talents of acupuncture and Tuina remedial massage in developing countries. (Photo by Van Pov/Xinhua)
WASHINGTON, March 3 (Xinhua) -- The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) said on Thursday that it will require railroad company Norfolk Southern to test directly for dioxins in East Palestine, Ohio.

The announcement came nearly a month after a Norfolk Southern train carrying hazardous chemicals derailed in East Palestine. Responders later conducted a "controlled release" of some of those chemicals to avert a larger explosion at the site, raising concerns of pollution in the region.

"If dioxins are found at a level that poses any unacceptable risk to human health and the environment, EPA will direct the immediate cleanup of the area as needed," the agency said in a release.

In addition, the EPA said it will require Norfolk Southern to conduct a background study to compare any dioxin levels around East Palestine to dioxin levels in other areas not impacted by the train derailment.

"Over the last few weeks, I've sat with East Palestine residents and community leaders in their homes, businesses, churches, and schools," EPA Administrator Michael Regan said in a statement. "I've heard their fears and concerns directly."

The EPA said that, as of Feb. 28, it has collected at least 115 samples in the potentially impacted area, which include samples of air, soils, surface water, and sediments.

"To date, EPA's monitoring for indicator chemicals has suggested a low probability for release of dioxin from this incident," it said. "EPA's air has detected only low levels of 1,4-dichlorobenzene typical of ambient background concentrations."

Dioxins may be found in any urban or rural environment as a result of common processes such as burning wood or coal, according to the EPA. Dioxins break down slowly in the environment so the source of dioxins found in any area may be uncertain, it noted.

The incident, which occurred on the night of Feb. 3, involved 11 tank cars carrying hazardous materials that subsequently ignited, fueling fires that damaged an additional 12 non-derailed railcars.

First responders implemented a one-mile evacuation zone surrounding the derailment site that affected up to 2,000 residents. There were no reported fatalities or injuries, according to a report issued by the National Transportation Security Board (NTSB) last week.

Responders mitigated the fire on Feb. 5, the NTSB report stated. But five derailed "specification tank cars carrying 115,580 gallons of vinyl chloride" continued to concern authorities because the temperature inside one tank car was still rising.

The NTSB said responders later scheduled a "controlled venting" of the five vinyl chloride tank cars to release and burn the vinyl chloride and dug ditches to contain released vinyl chloride liquid while it vaporized and burned.

The controlled venting began on Feb. 6, which discharged toxic and potentially deadly fumes into the air.

While residents were allowed to return to their homes in East Palestine two days later, they remain concerned about the handling of the incident as well as the health impact of exposure to those chemicals.

U.S. President Joe Biden said on Thursday that he will visit East Palestine "at some point."

"I've spoken with every official in Ohio, Democrat and Republican, on a continuing basis, as in Pennsylvania," Biden told reporters as he was exiting a caucus lunch with Senate Democrats on Capitol Hill.

"I laid out a little bit in there what I think the answers are and we will be implementing an awful lot to the legislation here," he said. "I will be out there at some point."

Biden has been under political pressure from Republicans who have lashed out at his administration's response to the incident and pointed to his absence from East Palestine as a failure, which Democrats have rejected.

Biden issued a statement on Thursday, talking about new legislation that "provides us with tools to hold companies accountable to prevent terrible tragedies like the Norfolk Southern derailment in East Palestine and to make those communities whole." 
Photo taken on Jan. 19, 2023 shows the U.S. Capitol building in Washington, D.C., the United States. (Photo by Ting Shen/Xinhua)

Washington must be aware that its stance on the Ukraine crisis goes against the will of the international community. Stop the blame game, and do something that really helps cool the situation.

BEIJING, March 3 (Xinhua) -- Committed to promoting peace talks on the Russia-Ukraine conflict, China has recently released a paper stating Beijing's position on the crisis. While the fair and constructive document has been widely welcomed across the world, some Western countries led by the United States have smeared the proposal as "unfair."

Labeling China's support for peace talks as "unreasonable," Washington is suggesting that the only right stance on the issue is to stand by the United States to keep fueling the crisis. What an absurdity.

The root cause of Washington' slander against China's position is that the United States does not want an early end to the conflict. "Behind a mind-set that invites the burden of policing a rules-based global order is a conventional assumption: War, though tragic, is a boon for economic vitality and patriotic vigor," said an opinion piece titled "Straight Talk on the Country's War Addiction" published last month by The New York Times.

That is the case. From reaping arms orders to replacing Russia in energy supply to Europe, the United States has indeed energized its economy through the conflict. What's more, by waging "a proxy war" to weaken Russia and forcing Europe to further rely on America in security, the United States has consolidated its hegemony.

Besides, discrediting China is Washington's old trick to contain the country. Since the escalation of the Ukraine crisis, certain U.S. and Western politicians, together with some media outlets, have spread disinformation about China, saying "China may provide weapons to Russia."

Photo taken on Aug. 4, 2022 shows the White House and a stop sign in Washington, D.C., the United States. (Xinhua/Liu Jie)

In this way, the United States is attempting to shift the blame for fanning the flames in Ukraine. As most countries in the world hope for peace, the United States is eager to shy away from its responsibility and divert the public's attention from the truth that it is Washington that is aggravating tensions.

Meanwhile, using the Ukraine crisis as an excuse, Washington has pointed the finger at China-Russia ties, depicting the relationship as a threat. In fact, the China-Russia comprehensive strategic partnership of coordination is built on the basis of non-alliance, non-confrontation and non-targeting of third countries, which is within the sovereign right of any two independent states. The relationship tolerates no third party interference or coercion.

The U.S. rhetoric has exposed the mindset of confrontation long held by the United States and its Western allies when dealing with international disputes. From the failure in Iraq to the hasty withdrawal of troops from Afghanistan, American politicians should have given up their obsession with military force and power politics.

At the recent Munich Security Conference, the United States and some other countries from the Western world tried to continue fueling the crisis, while some leaders of developing countries believed that the ongoing conflict delayed the resolution of other pressing issues.

"We don't want to go on discussing who will be the winner or the loser of a war," said Colombia's Vice President Francia Marquez. "We are all losers and, in the end, it is humankind that loses everything."

Washington must be aware that its stance on the Ukraine crisis goes against the will of the international community. Stop the blame game, and do something that really helps cool the situation. 
Chinese Ambassador to Kyrgyzstan Du Dewen (L) meets with chairman of the Committee on International Affairs, Defense, Security and Migration of the Kyrgyz Parliament Ulan Primov in Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan, Feb. 28, 2023. (Chinese Embassy to Kyrgyzstan/Handout via Xinhua)

BISHKEK, March 3 (Xinhua) -- The Kyrgyz parliament is ready to strengthen exchanges and cooperation with China's top legislature, the National People's Congress, chairman of the Committee on International Affairs, Defense, Security and Migration of the Kyrgyz Parliament Ulan Primov said.

In a recent meeting with Chinese Ambassador to Kyrgyzstan Du Dewen, Primov said that Kyrgyzstan and China are friendly neighbors and comprehensive strategic partners, which are connected by mountains and rivers. Cooperation between the two countries in various fields is developing rapidly, with closer personnel exchanges, he added.

"Inter-parliamentary cooperation is an important part of Kyrgyzstan-China relations," Primov said.

Du noted that the China-Kyrgyzstan comprehensive strategic partnership is at a historical high.

Practical cooperation in various fields between the two countries has maintained sound momentum, as evidenced by progress made in the China-Kyrgyzstan-Uzbekistan railway and other major projects under the Belt and Road Initiative, Du said.

"China is ready to continue developing inter-parliamentary ties with Kyrgyzstan, strengthen the traditional friendship between the two peoples and advance the building of a China-Kyrgyzstan community with a shared future," the diplomat said.

Du also raised issues including taxation and insurance that are of concern to Chinese enterprises in Kyrgyzstan, hoping that Kyrgyzstan will create a good business environment for foreign investors. 
The Chinese community in Mozambique on Wednesday donated a batch of relief supplies to people affected by floods following days of heavy rainfall in the southern region of the country.





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Chinese Foreign Minister Qin Gang meets with Spanish Foreign Minister Jose Manuel Albares (L) on the sidelines of the Group of 20 (G20) Foreign Ministers' Meeting in New Delhi, India, March 2, 2023. (Xinhua/Javed Dar)

NEW DELHI, March 3 (Xinhua) -- China and Spain have pledged to take the 50th anniversary of establishing diplomatic ties as an opportunity to strengthen friendly exchanges and open up new prospects for bilateral relations.

Chinese Foreign Minister Qin Gang and his Spanish counterpart Jose Manuel Albares made the remarks on Thursday during their meeting on the sidelines of the Group of 20 Foreign Ministers' Meeting held in India's capital New Delhi from Wednesday to Thursday.

Qin said the two sides should speed up the resumption of exchanges between government departments, legislatures and local governments, and prepare for meetings such as the China-Spain joint commission on scientific and technological cooperation, the joint commission on economic and industrial cooperation, and the China-Spain Forum.

The two sides should expand cooperation areas and strengthen industrial partnership in green energy, electric vehicles and digital economy, Qin said, adding that China is ready to import more quality Spanish products and hopes that the Spanish side continue granting fair and equitable market treatment to Chinese companies.

The two sides should also strengthen communication and cooperation in international affairs and enrich the strategic connotation of bilateral relations, he said.

For his part, Albares said Spain and China are important economic and trade partners with fruitful results in mutually beneficial cooperation. Spain is ready to work with China to provide convenience for companies from both sides to invest in each other's countries.

The two sides will jointly hold a series of activities for the Spain-China Year of Culture and Tourism, set up more Spanish cultural centers in China, and enhance the friendship between the two peoples, Albares said.

Spain will take over the rotating presidency of the European Union (EU) in the second half of this year and is ready to actively promote the development of EU-China relations, he said.

Albares noted that the Spanish side appreciates China's position paper on the Ukraine crisis, attaches importance to China's status and influence as a major country, and looks forward to China's help in restoring peace in Europe.

Qin said China always supports the European side in upholding strategic independence and welcomes Spain to play the role of the rotating presidency of the EU to promote the sound and stable development of China-EU relations.

China is committed to the political settlement of the Ukraine crisis and promoting talks for peace, Qin said, adding that under the current circumstances, all parties should be calm and rational, and find a solution that truly respects the legitimate security concerns of all countries and is conducive to long-term peace and stability in Europe. 
Employees work at a company producing solar modules in Dongying, east China's Shandong Province, Feb. 24, 2023. (Photo by Liu Yunjie/Xinhua)

RIYADH, March 3 (Xinhua) -- China serves as a strong driving force for the growth of the global economy and an important contributor to supply chain stability, a Saudi Arabian businessman has said.

The COVID-19 pandemic had disrupted supply chains in many countries, but China's proper response to the pandemic allowed its supply chains to run in an orderly manner, said Mohammed Al Ajlan, chairman of the Saudi Chinese Business Council in a recent interview with Xinhua.

China, through maintaining its supply to the world, contributed to the continuous availability of products in the market, said the Saudi entrepreneur, who is also deputy chairman of Ajlan & Bros Holding Group.

A staff member works at a workshop in an engineering machinery company in Xintian County of Yongzhou City, central China's Hunan Province, Feb. 13, 2023. (Photo by Liu Guixiong/Xinhua)

This reflects the willpower of the Chinese people and the management capabilities of the Chinese government, he said.

The optimization of China's COVID-19 pandemic response benefits both China and the rest of the world, and it will have positive effects on the global economy, said Al Ajlan.

In an update to its World Economic Outlook report, the International Monetary Fund revised its projection of Chinese growth in 2023 up to 5.2 percent, a 0.8-percentage-point rise from the 2022 forecast.

With its large population, and enormous industrial and economic potential, China provides strong motivation for the growth of the global economy and the continuity of supply chains, he said.

A signing ceremony of cooperation agreements is held during an event promoting China's Hainan free trade port in Jakarta, Indonesia, on Feb. 17, 2023. (Xinhua/Xu Qin)

As an attractive country for investment, China supports foreign investment and offers incentives to overseas companies, he said, adding that Chinese corporations also go abroad for business opportunities.

"We aspire to receive greater support and help from Chinese companies, and to serve the industry and the exports," said the business insider.

The veteran businessman believed that cooperation between major and emerging economies is the best approach to the growth and prosperity of the global economy. 
ANKARA, March 3 (Xinhua) -- Turkiye's nationalist IYI Party (Good Party) broke ranks with the opposition alliance on Friday ahead of key elections in May, a move likely to favor Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan.

IYI Party leader Meral Aksener said the five other parties in the alliance chose Kemal Kilicdaroglu, leader of the main opposition Republican People's Party (CHP), as the candidate to challenge Erdogan in the upcoming elections scheduled for May 14.

The proposal was an imposition on IYI Party, the second biggest in the alliance, to force the party to choose Kilicdaroglu, Aksener added.

A joint candidate should be designated according to public survey results, she noted, adding either Ankara Mayor Mansur Yavas or Istanbul Mayor Ekrem Imamoglu could perform better against Erdogan.

The alliance of six opposition parties no longer represented the national will, the party leader told reporters.

Aksener's statement came a day after the six opposition party leaders held a meeting where they discussed the joint presidential candidate for the elections in May.

"Our demand was rejected," she said.

IYI Party and the CHP formed an alliance in the 2018 elections and their cooperation in the 2019 local polls led to the opposition's control of major municipalities, including Istanbul and the capital Ankara, from Erdogan's ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP). 
UNITED NATIONS, March 2 (Xinhua) -- A United Nations spokesman on Thursday said the world body is joining hands with Costa Rica to fight hate speech using artificial intelligence (AI) and also develop the first national AI strategy in the Central American region.

UN team continues to support the country's efforts to combat hate speech through AI, leading Costa Rica to launch the region's first national plan to combat hate speech, said Stephane Dujarric, the spokesman.

"As part of their joint work, and also using AI, the team launched three major investigations on hate speech, discrimination against women, and xenophobia, working with civil society, the private sector, and authorities to help identify trends," he told a regular press briefing.

In partnership with UN team, Costa Rica will be the first in Central America to have a national artificial intelligence strategy, Dujarric added.

Costa Rican government has reached an agreement with the UN Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) to develop the national strategy with an ethical approach to artificial intelligence, promoting innovation that fosters sustainable development and human rights, said the spokesman. 
NANCHANG, March 3 (Xinhua) -- Greeting high-speed railway passengers to Ganzhou, east China's Jiangxi Province, are rolling hills covered with arrestingly luxuriant oil-tea camellia trees.

These plants were not as ubiquitous years ago as they are today, although local people have been planting them since 2,000 years ago.

The change in the local landscape took place thanks to a letter addressed to Chinese President Xi Jinping in 2015 by a centenarian named Wang Chengdeng. In the letter, the veteran Red Army soldier expressed his hope that the government would scale up support for local people in planting the camellia trees and other poverty alleviation industries in southern Jiangxi.

Ming Jinghua, a Ganzhou deputy to the National People's Congress (NPC), China's national legislature, carried the letter when she went to Beijing to attend the annual session of the NPC that year.

Xi, also general secretary of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee and chairman of the Central Military Commission, received the letter and read out part of it when he joined a group discussion of the Jiangxi delegation.

Xi told leading officials of related departments who were present at the deliberation to conduct research on the development of oil-tea camellia industry.

The well-being of people living in old revolutionary bases like Ganzhou has been on the mind of Xi. "Old revolutionary bases are the roots of the Party and the people's army, and we should never forget where we came from," Xi said. He has, on multiple occasions, called for efforts to expand support to accelerate the development in old revolutionary bases and make sure all the people in these areas live a happy life.

A few days after the deliberation, the related departments called and told Ming that a team would be sent to Ganzhou to make research and offer advice and suggestions on the development of oil-tea camellia industry.

With policy support and the help of agricultural experts, the oil-tea camellia industry has ushered in rapid development in southern Jiangxi. More than 200,000 people have escaped poverty by participating in the development of the industry, with per capita annual income increasing by over 800 yuan (about 115.08 U.S. dollars). Oil-tea camellia has also been used to produce skincare and health products, extending the industrial chain and increasing the industry's annual output to more than 10 billion yuan.

"The oil-tea camellia industry has brought tangible benefits to local people," said Ming.

In May 2019, Xi came to Jiangxi on an inspection tour. His first stop was Ganzhou. Xi stressed efforts to ensure that people in old revolutionary bases live a happy life and to revitalize the countryside.

"These remarks warm the hearts of people in old revolutionary bases," Ming said.

Ming has many stories to tell about the camellia trees. Ming said during the years of revolutionary war, local people traded then precious oil made from the plants for medicines and other supplies to support the Red Army led by the CPC; in the fight against poverty, camellia trees help local people get rid of poverty.

"On the new journey, the camellia trees will be the 'trees of happiness ' for local people," Ming said. 
Physician Wang Yi (R) from the Chinese Medical Team examines a patient during a free medical treatment activity in Taza, Morocco, Jan. 12, 2023.

Since 1975, China has been assigning medical teams to Morocco to provide medical services for local people.

By the end of 2022, about 2,000 Chinese medical workers have been dispatched to the African country in 195 batches, receiving 5.78 million patients' visits and performing nearly 530,000 surgeries. (Chinese Medical Team in Morocco/Handout via Xinhua)

Surgeon Chen Ji (1st R) from the Chinese Medical Team performs an operation for a patient in Errachidia, Morocco, Feb. 3, 2023.

Since 1975, China has been assigning medical teams to Morocco to provide medical services for local people.

By the end of 2022, about 2,000 Chinese medical workers have been dispatched to the African country in 195 batches, receiving 5.78 million patients' visits and performing nearly 530,000 surgeries. (Chinese Medical Team in Morocco/Handout via Xinhua)

Ophthalmologist Jin Xi from the Chinese Medical Team checks the eyes of a child during a free medical treatment activity in Taza, Morocco, Jan. 12, 2023.

Since 1975, China has been assigning medical teams to Morocco to provide medical services for local people.

By the end of 2022, about 2,000 Chinese medical workers have been dispatched to the African country in 195 batches, receiving 5.78 million patients' visits and performing nearly 530,000 surgeries. (Chinese Medical Team in Morocco/Handout via Xinhua)

Acupuncturist Shen Hanbing from the Chinese Medical Team examines a resident before doing acupuncture therapy in Mohammedia, Morocco, Feb. 27, 2023.

Since 1975, China has been assigning medical teams to Morocco to provide medical services for local people.

By the end of 2022, about 2,000 Chinese medical workers have been dispatched to the African country in 195 batches, receiving 5.78 million patients' visits and performing nearly 530,000 surgeries. (Xinhua/Sui Xiankai)

Otolaryngologist Gao Yiling from the Chinese Medical Team examines the nose of a girl during a free medical treatment activity in Chefchaouen, Morocco, Jan. 19, 2023.

Since 1975, China has been assigning medical teams to Morocco to provide medical services for local people.

By the end of 2022, about 2,000 Chinese medical workers have been dispatched to the African country in 195 batches, receiving 5.78 million patients' visits and performing nearly 530,000 surgeries. (Chinese Medical Team in Morocco/Handout via Xinhua)
Chinese Foreign Minister Qin Gang meets with External Affairs Minister Subrahmanyam Jaishankar of the Group of 20 (G20) President India on the sidelines of the G20 Foreign Ministers' Meeting in New Delhi, India, March 2, 2023. (Xinhua/Javed Dar)

NEW DELHI, March 3 (Xinhua) -- Chinese Foreign Minister Qin Gang met with Indian External Affairs Minister Subrahmanyam Jaishankar here on Thursday, with both sides vowing to improve bilateral ties.

The duo held the meeting on the sidelines of the Group of 20 (G20) Foreign Ministers' Meeting held from Wednesday to Thursday.

Qin said during the meeting that as neighbor countries and major emerging economies, China and India have far more common interests than differences.

The development and revitalization of China and India display the strength of developing countries, which will change the future of one-third of the world's population, the future of Asia and even the whole world, Qin noted.

The two sides, said Qin, should view their bilateral relations in the context of the once-in-a-century changes in the world, understand bilateral cooperation from the perspective of their respective national rejuvenation, and be partners on the path to modernization.

He said the two sides should implement the important consensus of the leaders of the two countries, maintain dialogue and properly resolve disputes, and promote the improvement of bilateral relations and the steady moving forward of the relations.

The boundary issue should be put in the proper place in bilateral relations, Qin said, adding that the situation on the borders should be brought under normalized management as soon as possible.

China is willing to speed up the resumption of exchanges and cooperation with India in various fields, resume direct flights at the earliest date and facilitate people-to-people exchanges, said the Chinese foreign minister.

He said China and India have shared interests in many areas including safeguarding the rights and interests of developing countries, promoting South-South cooperation, and addressing global challenges such as climate change.

China supports the Indian side in fulfilling its chairmanship of the G20 and is ready to strengthen communication and cooperation to safeguard the common interests of developing countries and international equity and justice, so as to inject stability and positive energy into the world, Qin said.

Jaishankar said for his part that India and China are both great ancient civilizations and important partners of each other. Thus the two countries have and can continue to achieve positive results in areas such as economic and trade cooperation and people-to-people exchanges.

The Indian side, Jaishankar said, agrees that bilateral relations should be understood and improved from a historical perspective and strategic height, and more cooperation platforms should be established to promote India-China relations along the right track.

Jaishankar said the current situation on the borders is gradually stabilizing, and both sides should work together to maintain peace and tranquility in the border areas.

He expressed gratitude for China's support for India's chairmanship of the G20, and willingness to maintain communication and coordination in multilateral affairs. 
BEIJING, March 3 (Xinhua) -- Over the past five years since 2018, procuratorial agencies across China have offered judicial assistance to over 190,000 people, granting more than 2.3 billion yuan (about 333 million U.S. dollars) to those in difficulties, the Supreme People's Procuratorate (SPP) said Friday.

The SPP said that in 2022, such assistance programs aided over 81,000 people.

Zhang Zhijie, an SPP official, explained that in many prosecution cases, specifically criminal actions, the defendants' insolvent situation has rendered the victims unable to get compensation. Judicial assistance is there to help such victims deal with their urgent needs and restore regular life.

The SPP statement cited rural revitalization and assisting women in difficulties as two major fields in future judicial assistance efforts. 
BEIRUT, March 2 (Xinhua) -- Lebanese caretaker Agriculture Minister Abbas Hajj Hassan on Thursday called for boosting partnerships among Arab countries to achieve agricultural security.

"We call for an Arab partnership to ensure Arab agricultural security, and from the gate of food security, we call for Arab rapprochement where we can achieve in agriculture what we failed to achieve in politics," the National News Agency quoted Hassan as saying.

He made the remarks during an event in Beirut to launch the farmers' registry. The event, which was held by the agriculture ministry in cooperation with the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), aims at promoting agricultural development and protecting the country's food security in light of food security threats and Lebanon's financial crisis.

Hassan said the project, which is funded by the European Union, aims to register people practicing agricultural work and targets, in the first stage, 50,000 farmers across Lebanon.

"The registry will provide us with accurate knowledge of all the details in the agricultural sector, the cultivated areas, and the quality of the crops, and thus improve our ability to determine the quantities of production ... and match needs with capabilities," he said.

For her part, Nora Ourabah Haddad, FAO Representative in Lebanon, said the register will constitute a reference for the development and organization of the agricultural sector and will be used to manage the data of about 170,000 farmers in Lebanon. 
BEIJING, March 3 (Xinhua) -- The counter of a post office in downtown Beijing has been very busy these past few days, serving buyers of Lei Feng-themed stamp products featuring commemorative postmarks. This post office branch was designated as an interim station to sell the themed philatelic items in honor of the Chinese hero this month.

This year marks the 60th year since revolutionaries of the older generation, including Mao Zedong, wrote inscriptions for comrade Lei Feng, a late ordinary soldier and a role model in China celebrated for selflessly helping others.

The outlet of China Post at Baiwanzhuang Street is the designated station to sell the Lei Feng-themed philatelic items from March 1 to 31. This is the second time the company has set up an interim station to sell the themed stamps of the hero. Back in 2013 this was also done to "carry the public's commemorative feelings towards Lei Feng."

Lei Feng, an ordinary young Chinese soldier in the 1960s, has become a household name in China, and his deeds of selfless service to the needy still resonate with the public.

Geng Zheng, head of the Baiwanzhuang post office, told Xinhua that buyers' enthusiasm for the themed philatelic items exceeded expectations on the first day. Most buyers are stamp collectors.

Hou Yuechuan is not a stamp collector, but the 20-year-old student of the Beijing Union University came to buy 50 sets of the commemorative stamp products as prizes to encourage students to "learn from comrade Lei Feng."

"I saw students from two classes in our school go to a nearby park to pick up garbage. My class plans to design and draft posters to promote the Lei Feng spirit on campus," he said.

"As a major in normal education, my understanding of learning the Lei Feng spirit is to borrow his 'perseverance' and 'nail' myself to the podium of the classroom, which is the position where teachers pass on knowledge to the children," he said.

An old woman surnamed Yin, who is in her 70s, became aware of the Lei Feng campaign during a shopping trip, and decided to visit the post office to buy a set of the products for her grandchildren, aged 6 and 15, respectively.

"They both learned about Lei Feng from school activities and from their parents. I am sure they would love the gifts," she said.

In her view, continued education in the country highlighting the Lei Feng spirit is an effective way to sustain awareness of this role model for generations. Both her grandchildren are keen to help others, such as voluntarily escorting the elderly to cross the road.

"I bought the gifts to encourage them so that they will continue to learn from Lei Feng," she said. 
BEIJING, March 3 (Xinhua) -- China's continued economic recovery will provide solid support for stabilizing employment, a spokesperson said Friday.

With the optimization and adjustment of epidemic prevention policies and further implementation of various measures to stabilize the economy, the Chinese economy will continue to recover and provide solid support in stabilizing employment, said Guo Weimin, spokesperson for the first session of the 14th National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC).

CPPCC National Committee members have put forward many good suggestions on how to promote employment, Guo said when answering questions at a press conference.

Some CPPCC National Committee members believe that only when enterprises are stable can employment be stable, and only when enterprises grow can employment grow. Therefore, it is necessary to sustain and develop existing enterprises.

Some other members pointed out that it is necessary to speed up the development of new industries, and increase supportive and preferential efforts in such areas as finance, taxation and social security for micro, small and medium-sized enterprises in order to maintain and create more jobs, Guo said.

Some believe that the protection of the rights and interests of employees in industries including express delivery, take-away service and online ride-hailing should be strengthened, and the development of new employment forms should be actively promoted and guided, according to Guo.

Stabilizing employment still faces many difficulties and challenges, according to Guo, given that it is estimated that there are more than 11.5 million college graduates this year. At the same time, there is a gap between workers' skills qualification and job requirements, and structural contradictions are prominent.

Some CPPCC National Committee members suggest that it is necessary to innovate working ideas and methods for the employment of college graduates and introduce practical and effective measures to help them, which requires the joint efforts of the government, enterprises and relevant institutions as well as individuals. 
BEIJING, March 2 (Xinhua) -- Chinese Vice Premier Liu He on Thursday urged efforts at the government and market levels to promote the development of the integrated circuit industry.

Liu made the remarks during a tour of investigating the development of integrated circuit enterprises in Beijing.

A relatively complete integrated circuit industrial chain has formed in China, and a group of outstanding companies and entrepreneurs have emerged, Liu said, emphasizing the country's huge consumption market for chips and rich application scenarios.

He urged the government to formulate industrial policies in line with national conditions and new situations while supporting enterprises in coordination and problem-solving.

The government should also guide long-term investment in the industry, adopt equal preferential policies for domestic talent, and treat foreign experts the same as Chinese nationals to help companies accelerate work to attract and nurture talent.

He called for great importance to be attached to the roles of the market and industry. He said work should be done to form a research mechanism with enterprises as the main body, and full play should be given to leading talents with strong technical and organizational skills.

The country should always adhere to international cooperation, make more friends, promote wider opening-up, and resolutely maintain the stability of global industrial and supply chains. 
BEIJING, March 3 (Xinhua) -- China plans to launch a new interplanetary mission targeting a small near-Earth asteroid, said the country's space agency.

The scheduled Tianwen-2 mission will sample an asteroid called 2016 HO3, return to Earth, and then head out again to a main-belt comet 311P.

The China National Space Administration revealed the plan in a notice on Thursday, saying that the mission has obtained official approval, and scientists will hold an academic seminar about Tianwen-2 scientific exploration and its data processing technologies in April.

Tianwen-2 is the second mission in China's Tianwen series of planetary endeavors. Launched on July 23, 2020, Tianwen-1, comprised of an orbiter, lander, and rover, arrived on Mars.

Over the past two years, the Tianwen-1 has relayed a torrent of data to Earth, making contributions to many interplanetary exploration discoveries. It will continue to perform multiple tasks related to the red planet, according to the administration. 
The file photo shows local residents reading The Herald in Harare, Zimbabwe, on Oct. 14, 2021. (Xinhua/Zhang Yuliang)

Zimbabwe's leading state-run newspaper, The Herald, has accused the United States of openly declaring an interest in the country's forthcoming elections.

HARARE, March 3 (Xinhua) -- Zimbabwe's leading state-run newspaper, The Herald, on Thursday accused the United States of openly declaring an interest in the country's forthcoming elections.

The paper said while the United States appeared to be keen on just ensuring that the elections, most likely to be held in August, were free and fair, its intention was to engineer a preferred outcome.

"After arriving in Zimbabwe yesterday, visiting United States deputy assistant secretary of State in the Bureau of African Affairs, Ambassador Robert Scott, said he is here to influence the forthcoming elections," the paper charged.

The paper said Scott had given little in terms of the purpose of his visit, adding that there were indications that he was also seeking "an unprecedented meeting" with Priscilla Chigumba, the chairperson of the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission (ZEC), in a bid to influence the electoral body.

According to the paper, western countries, including the United States, have set aside 37 million U.S. dollars to sponsor the opposition and non-governmental organizations (NGOs) "in a fresh attempt to subvert the will of the people of Zimbabwe."

It further alleged that two NGOs had already received a total of more than 1 million U.S. dollars from the U.S. Agency for International Development to run parallel voter tabulation, which they called Sample Bases Observations during the elections.

"Meanwhile, some western-sponsored organizations, who are behind the treacherous plot, have already captured some individuals in the election management system and plan an audacious capture of ZEC using the compromised officials," the paper said without mentioning its sources. 
NEW DELHI, March 3 (Xinhua) -- Chinese Foreign Minister Qin Gang on Thursday rejected the fallacy that the Chinese embassy in Canada attempted to interfere in Canada's elections.

Qin made the remarks when meeting with his Canadian counterpart Melanie Joly on the sidelines of the Group of 20 (G20) Foreign Ministers' Meeting in the capital of India, which holds the presidency of the bloc this year.

Voicing China's firm opposition, Qin said the claims are groundless, adding that China has never meddled with other country's internal affairs, and opposes such attempt by any country.

China's embassy in Canada has abided by the Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations, and is committed to promoting the China-Canada relations, as well as exchanges and cooperation in various fields, he said.

The Canadian side should take concrete measures to ensure the performance of the Chinese diplomatic missions in Canada and prevent rumors and hype from disturbing bilateral ties, Qin said. 
Villagers pick strawberries in a greenhouse in Tai'an, northeast China's Liaoning Province, March 2, 2023. Strawberries have entered the harvest season in Tai'an County. Villagers are busy picking strawberries to meet market demands. (Xinhua/Yao Jianfeng)

A villager picks strawberries in a greenhouse in Tai'an, northeast China's Liaoning Province, March 2, 2023. Strawberries have entered the harvest season in Tai'an County. Villagers are busy picking strawberries to meet market demands. (Xinhua/Yao Jianfeng)

Villagers arrange freshly-picked strawberries in Tai'an, northeast China's Liaoning Province, March 2, 2023. Strawberries have entered the harvest season in Tai'an County. Villagers are busy picking strawberries to meet market demands. (Xinhua/Yao Jianfeng)

Villagers pick strawberries in a greenhouse in Tai'an, northeast China's Liaoning Province, March 2, 2023. Strawberries have entered the harvest season in Tai'an County. Villagers are busy picking strawberries to meet market demands. (Xinhua/Yao Jianfeng)

Villagers pick strawberries in a greenhouse in Tai'an, northeast China's Liaoning Province, March 2, 2023. Strawberries have entered the harvest season in Tai'an County. Villagers are busy picking strawberries to meet market demands. (Xinhua/Yao Jianfeng)
TEHRAN, March 2 (Xinhua) -- Director General of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) Rafael Grossi will travel to the Iranian capital Tehran on Friday evening leading a high-ranking delegation from the agency, the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran (AEOI) reported on its website on Thursday.

Grossi's visit was at the official invitation of AEOI President Mohammad Eslami, it added.

During the two-day visit, the IAEA chief will meet the AEOI president as well as other senior Iranian officials, IRNA said, adding Grossi will leave Tehran for Vienna on Saturday.

Over the past months, the IAEA has criticized Iran for its lack of cooperation with the agency. On Nov. 17, 2022, the IAEA's Board of Governors passed a resolution proposed by the United States, Britain, France, and Germany that called on Iran to collaborate with the agency's investigators regarding the alleged "traces of uranium" at a number of its "undeclared" sites. Iran has repeatedly rejected such allegations.

On Feb. 19, Bloomberg cited two senior diplomats as claiming that IAEA inspectors in Iran had detected uranium enriched to levels "just below that needed for a nuclear weapon." On the same day, AEOI spokesman Behrouz Kamalvandi was quoted by IRNA as saying that the Bloomberg report was a "distortion of the facts" and part of a smear campaign. 
A drill on rescuing stranded animals, organized by the BlueRibbon Ocean Conservation Association (BROCA), is conducted in Sanya, south China's Hainan Province, on May 22, 2021. (Xinhua)

HAIKOU, March 3 (Xinhua) -- When Pu Bingmei failed to save the life of a stranded pilot whale named Yaya in 2019, she cried like a child.

"The medical team and their equipment were prepared already that night and they were planning to fly to Hainan the next morning. But Yaya didn't make it," said Pu in tears, as she recalled the woeful loss of the whale.

"I'll try my best and make more contributions to the protection of wild marine animals like you," Pu said when she bid farewell to Yaya.

Pu, 36, is the secretary general of the BlueRibbon Ocean Conservation Association (BROCA), a non-profit organization based in Sanya City, south China's Hainan Province. For more than a decade, she has been dedicated to the protection of marine species such as stranded dolphins and whales.

Over the years, she has not only been helping with the protection of marine species, but also raising public awareness of environmental protection.

Pu came to the coastal resort city of Sanya in 2007, when she entered college. Hailing from northwest China, she had never seen the ocean in person before.

"I was so excited when I saw the clear seawater," she said. "I could see little fish swimming around, and I just wanted to dive in."

As years went by, however, she gradually found that the condition of the seawater began to worsen and that it "smelt bad."

"I accidentally got to know about BROCA and started doing volunteer work such as picking up garbage at the sea," she said. After graduation, she became a full-time volunteer for BROCA, engaging in all kinds of environmental work.

On June 6, 2019, when she was celebrating her daughter's birthday, Pu received an emergency call about a pilot whale that was found stranded in Sanya. She immediately set off to go to the scene.

The whale was later transferred to the Institute of Deep-sea Science and Engineering, under the Chinese Academy of Sciences, for better treatment.

"She couldn't swim by herself and wasn't able to sense the presence of obstacles when she was found," said Pu. To prevent the whale from knocking into hard objects and getting hurt again, it had to be monitored around the clock. BROCA started recruiting volunteers online to join the rescue operation.

Soon, a WeChat group of volunteers was set up. Scientists, veterinarians, and volunteers worked in shifts to provide medical treatment and supervise the physical and mental condition of the whale.

"I couldn't sleep at all after Yaya was rescued. We also contacted medical groups with knowledge of marine animals from other places, and spared no efforts to find available medical equipment for her."

But the joint efforts failed to save the whale's life.

A sense of self-blame and helplessness overwhelmed Pu when she heard the news of the whale's death.

But she knew that losing Yaya was not the end, but the start of more dedication to the protection of marine animals.

Yaya's passing inspired Pu to form a cooperation network for rescuing stranded wild marine animals.

For years, together with others at BROCA, Pu has been dedicated to raising public awareness of ocean protection and offering education programs to volunteers on how to save and assist wild marine animals.

In 2021, BROCA invited professors and scientists from marine biological research institutes in China to give lectures detailing the correct procedures for saving stranded marine animals to fisherfolk living in coastal villages, civilian rescue teams, divers and sailors, as well as volunteers from universities.

But Pu was fully aware that lectures alone were not enough.

"We also carried out some drills on rescuing stranded animals during the training," Pu told Xinhua.

Pu's persistence and hard work is now finally paying off.

Last April, a tourist spotted an injured Indo-Pacific bottlenose dolphin stranded in a bay in Hainan. This time the first witness took the right action -- calling BROCA as soon as she found the dolphin and keeping an eye on it until the rescue team arrived.

Volunteers named the dolphin "Chess" because it was discovered in the Bay of Chess, in Hainan.

After almost a year of intensive care in a marine biological base in Hainan's Danzhou City, "Chess" recovered and was released into the sea on Wednesday.

"This is our first successful case of saving a stranded dolphin and helping it get back to the sea," said Pu. "I'm thrilled to see 'Chess' back in its home. It gives my colleagues and me more confidence in our efforts to protect such wild animals."

These days, what makes Pu especially pleased is people's rising awareness of the need to protect wild animals in China.

In the past, she used to hand out gifts on the streets to attract people's attention to ocean protection needs and efforts. At that time, people were far more interested in the gifts than in what she was trying to promote.

"But now, more and more netizens find us online and call us to get details about our activities," she said.

In addition, people's knowledge of saving wild animals is improving in the country, according to Pu.

"There are various causes that lead to dolphins or whales being stranded. Such animals are most likely injured or sick. So the best choice is to call volunteers or relevant local officials," she said. "I'm glad that people are starting to realize this."

"The protection of wildlife cannot only rely on a single person or a single group," she said. "That's why our slogan is 'Unite all forces to protect the beautiful ocean.'" 

An injured Indo-Pacific bottlenose dolphin stranded in a bay in Hainan is released into the sea after recovery in Danzhou City, south China's Hainan Province, on March 1, 2023. (Xinhua)

A stranded pilot whale is transferred to the Institute of Deep-sea Science and Engineering, under the Chinese Academy of Sciences, for better treatment in Sanya, south China's Hainan Province, on June 7, 2019. (Xinhua)
Members of the 21st Chinese medical team dispatched to Djibouti pose for a group photo in Djibouti City, Djibouti, March 1, 2023. The 21st Chinese medical team dispatched to Djibouti has been providing medical services at the Peltier General Hospital since January 2022. By the end of February 2023, the medical team had provided 14,658 outpatient services, 576 emergency services and completed 1,168 surgeries. (Xinhua/Han Xu)

Lian Xingang, a member of the 21st Chinese medical team dispatched to Djibouti, provides medical treatments for a patient at the Peltier General Hospital in Djibouti City, Djibouti, Feb. 28, 2023. The 21st Chinese medical team dispatched to Djibouti has been providing medical services at the Peltier General Hospital since January 2022. By the end of February 2023, the medical team had provided 14,658 outpatient services, 576 emergency services and completed 1,168 surgeries. (Xinhua/Han Xu)

Hou Wei, a member of the 21st Chinese medical team dispatched to Djibouti, provides medical treatments for a patient at the Peltier General Hospital in Djibouti City, Djibouti, March 1, 2023. The 21st Chinese medical team dispatched to Djibouti has been providing medical services at the Peltier General Hospital since January 2022. By the end of February 2023, the medical team had provided 14,658 outpatient services, 576 emergency services and completed 1,168 surgeries. (Xinhua/Han Xu)

Wang Xufeng, a member of the 21st Chinese medical team dispatched to Djibouti, provides medical treatments for a patient at the Peltier General Hospital in Djibouti City, Djibouti, March 1, 2023. The 21st Chinese medical team dispatched to Djibouti has been providing medical services at the Peltier General Hospital since January 2022. By the end of February 2023, the medical team had provided 14,658 outpatient services, 576 emergency services and completed 1,168 surgeries. (Xinhua/Han Xu)

Han Junying, a member of the 21st Chinese medical team dispatched to Djibouti, tests blood samples at the Peltier General Hospital in Djibouti City, Djibouti, Feb. 28, 2023. The 21st Chinese medical team dispatched to Djibouti has been providing medical services at the Peltier General Hospital since January 2022. By the end of February 2023, the medical team had provided 14,658 outpatient services, 576 emergency services and completed 1,168 surgeries. (Xinhua/Han Xu)

Zhou Naizhong, a member of the 21st Chinese medical team dispatched to Djibouti, provides medical treatments for a child at the Peltier General Hospital in Djibouti City, Djibouti, Feb. 28, 2023. The 21st Chinese medical team dispatched to Djibouti has been providing medical services at the Peltier General Hospital since January 2022. By the end of February 2023, the medical team had provided 14,658 outpatient services, 576 emergency services and completed 1,168 surgeries. (Xinhua/Han Xu)

Zhou Naizhong, a member of the 21st Chinese medical team dispatched to Djibouti, provides acupuncture treatments for patients at the Peltier General Hospital in Djibouti City, Djibouti, Feb. 28, 2023. The 21st Chinese medical team dispatched to Djibouti has been providing medical services at the Peltier General Hospital since January 2022. By the end of February 2023, the medical team had provided 14,658 outpatient services, 576 emergency services and completed 1,168 surgeries. (Xinhua/Han Xu)

Zhao Peng (2nd R) and Zhang Shu(2nd L), members of the 21st Chinese medical team dispatched to Djibouti, perform a surgery at the Peltier General Hospital in Djibouti City, Djibouti, March 1, 2023. The 21st Chinese medical team dispatched to Djibouti has been providing medical services at the Peltier General Hospital since January 2022. By the end of February 2023, the medical team had provided 14,658 outpatient services, 576 emergency services and completed 1,168 surgeries. (Xinhua/Han Xu)
Guo Weimin (2nd R, rear), spokesperson for the first session of the 14th National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC), attends a press conference at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing, capital of China, March 3, 2023. (Xinhua/Jin Liangkuai)

BEIJING, March 3 (Xinhua) -- China's national political advisors believe that the country's economy remains resilient and is full of potential and vigor, a spokesperson for the first session of the 14th National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC) said Friday.

China has solid strength in market size, industrial system and human resources despite a complex and severe environment for development, Guo Weimin said when answering questions at a press conference.

While cautioning of headwinds including continuous turmoil in the international political and economic landscape, spillover from policy adjustments in other major economies and a domestic economic recovery yet to be consolidated, Guo urged firm confidence in doing a good job in the economic work in 2023.

"We should make it a top priority to stabilize growth and seek to effectively upgrade and appropriately expand the economy," he said.

China's economy expanded 3 percent last year, overcoming the impact of factors beyond expectations such as a complicated global environment, COVID-19 and natural disasters.

It was a hard-won achievement for the country to maintain overall economic stability and withstand pressure to elevate the economy to a new stage, the spokesperson said.

"The national political advisors have suggested taking concrete reform moves to improve expectations and boost confidence," he told reporters.

Citing advice from the CPPCC National Committee members, Guo said the country should continue to implement a strategy to expand domestic demand to accelerate recovery and spur consumption.

Efforts should be made to promote stable and healthy development of the property sector and advance the industry's transformation to a new development model, he noted.

He also suggested stronger policy guidance to facilitate digital transformation of traditional industries and small and medium-sized enterprises, as well as deepened reforms to allow financial institutions to better serve small and micro-sized businesses and innovation. 
TEHRAN, March 3 (Xinhua) -- Iran on Friday rejected as "baseless" Britain's claim of "having seized a shipment of Iranian arms" in the Gulf of Oman likely heading toward Yemen.

The British navy on Thursday claimed to have "seized anti-tank missiles and fins for ballistic missile assemblies during a raid on a small boat heading from Iran likely to Yemen" in the Gulf of Oman, in a joint operation with U.S. forces.

Iranian Foreign Ministry Spokesman Nasser Kanaani responded in a statement that those countries that have sent weapons worth billions of U.S. dollars to the "coalition" cannot exonerate themselves by accusing others.

These countries, which are among the biggest exporters of weaponry and military equipment to conflict zones, seek to "mislead global public opinion through making unfounded claims and spreading false news," read the statement published on the ministry's website.

Kanaani called on these countries, instead of avoiding their responsibility regarding the imposed war on the Yemeni people, to end their "opportunistic and profiteering" approach toward the "cruel" war in the Arab country.

Yemen has been mired in a civil war since late 2014 when the Iran-backed Houthi militia seized control of several northern provinces and forced the Saudi-backed Yemeni government out of the capital Sanaa. 
BEIJING, March 3 (Xinhua) -- The following are the schedules for the first session of the 14th National People's Congress (NPC) and the first session of the 14th National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC) on Saturday.

-- At 3 p.m., the first session of the 14th CPPCC National Committee will hold its opening meeting at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing.

-- Wang Yang will deliver a report on the work of the Standing Committee of the CPPCC National Committee.

-- The spokesperson for the NPC session will give a press conference at noon. 
UNITED NATIONS, March 3 (Xinhua) -- The UN peacekeeping mission in Mali commends the national transition authority for the unanimous, swift adoption of amendments to the electoral law, a UN spokesman said on Friday.

"Our colleagues say that this is an important step toward the operationalization of the new body in charge of managing elections in the country, the Independent Authority for the Management of Elections," said Farhan Haq, deputy spokesman for UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres.

Haq said the amendments include a shorter deadline for setting up electoral management branches, introducing a biometric national ID card to serve as a voter card and allowing early voting for the Malian defense forces.

The mission, known as MINUSMA, "welcomes this new development and stands ready to support the organization of free, credible and transparent elections, conducted in a peaceful environment," said Haq.

The spokesman added that MINUSMA also encourages prompt action toward defining the boundaries of the new administrative and electoral constituencies, in line with recently adopted legislation on Mali's territorial reorganization.

One of the poorest landlocked countries in the world on the Sahara desert, Mali has been rocked by deadly jihadist raids and political instability. However, the military government that ousted the civilian government in 2021 has set March 2024, after a series of ballots, for a return to constitutional order. 
Photo taken on Dec. 8, 2022 shows an exterior view of the headquarters of the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC) in Stockholm, Sweden. (Photo by Wei Xuechao/Xinhua)

The Stockholm-based agency de-escalate variants BA.2, BA.4 and BA.5 "as these parental lineages are no longer circulating."

STOCKHOLM, March 3 (Xinhua) -- The European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC) de-escalated on Friday three COVID-19 lineages from its list of variants of concern (VOC).

Variants BA.2, BA.4 and BA.5 were de-escalated "as these parental lineages are no longer circulating."

In November 2021, the ECDC categorized Omicron (B.1.1.529) as "the most highly mutated SARS-CoV-2 variant to-date." It quickly became dominant globally and resulted in a surge of COVID-19 cases. Subsequently, a number of Omicron sublineages have emerged (BA.1, BA.2, BA.3, BA.4 and BA.5).

Currently, the BA.2 and BA.5 descendent variants are circulating, whose properties differ from their parental lineages and which require individual assessment, the ECDC said.

Photo taken on Dec. 8, 2022 shows an exterior view of the headquarters of the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC) in Stockholm, Sweden. (Photo by Wei Xuechao/Xinhua)

The ECDC currently lists the most prominent of these under the categories of "variant of interest" and "variant under monitoring."

The absence of SARS-CoV-2 variants categorized as "of concern" reflects the current stable epidemiological situation in the European Union and the European Economic Area, the ECDC said, emphasizing, however, that "it does not signal the end of the threat posed by SARS-CoV-2 and possible future variants that may emerge."

The center encourages countries to remain vigilant by reinforcing their surveillance systems, sequencing capacities and reporting practices.

A closed testing centre is seen in Heathrow Airport in London, Britain, March 18, 2022. (Xinhua/Li Ying)
UNITED NATIONS, March 3 (Xinhua) -- UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on Friday called for more efforts to protect wildlife.

In a message for World Wildlife Day, which falls on March 3 every year, Guterres called on all stakeholders to turn commitment to action.

"On World Wildlife Day, we reflect on our responsibility to protect the magnificent diversity of life on our planet. And we recognize our abject failure. Human activities are laying waste to once-thriving forests, jungles, farmland, oceans, rivers, seas, and lakes. One million species teeter on the brink of extinction due to habitat destruction, fossil fuel pollution and the worsening climate crisis," he said.

"We must end this war on nature," said Guterres.

The good news is that human beings have the tools, the knowledge, and the solutions. This year marks the 50th anniversary of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species, which has helped protect thousands of plants and animals. And last year's agreement on the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework marked an important step toward putting our planet on a path to healing, he noted.

"As this year's theme -- Partnerships for Wildlife Conservation -- highlights, we need to work across governments, civil society, and the private sector to turn commitment into action. And we need much bolder actions now to cut emissions, accelerate renewables, and build climate resilience," said the UN chief.

He also stressed the need to place the voices of local communities and indigenous people -- the most effective guardians of biodiversity -- front and center.

"Today and every day, let us all do our part to preserve natural habitats and build a thriving future for all living beings," he said. 
UNITED NATIONS, March 3 (Xinhua) -- Twenty-two truckloads of aid from the World Food Programme and the UN Children's Fund (UNICEF) crossed into Northwest Syria from Turkiye on Friday, bringing the total of cross-border delivery to 557 trucks since Feb. 9 in the wake of massive earthquakes, said a UN spokesman.

The United Nations has carried out 18 inter-agency cross-border missions to Northwest Syria since the first interagency visit to Idlib on Feb. 14, said Farhan Haq, deputy spokesman for UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, at a daily press briefing.

On Thursday, a joint delegation by the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs and UNICEF carried out a mission focused on gender and accountability to affected people, including a field visit to a site for internally displaced persons in Kelly Mountain and to Al-Iman hospital in Sarmada, Idlib, he said.

"Our humanitarian colleagues also tell us that over 105,000 households have reportedly been displaced following the earthquakes. Many are staying with host communities or going back to their inhabitable homes, making it very difficult to estimate the total number of displaced," said Haq.

The world body is currently supporting structural damage assessments of affected buildings to help facilitate families' return. Longer-term shelter operations are also being identified for families that cannot return to their homes due to the scope of the damage, he said.

The 400-million-U.S. dollar appeal in response to the Feb. 6 earthquakes has so far received 173 million dollars, or 43.5 percent of the funding required, he said. 
NAIROBI, March 3 (Xinhua) -- Steven Ogweno, alias Stivi Stivi, was in his element at the Kenyan National Theater in the capital, Nairobi, while performing an original composition in his native language. His song titled "Bunga" is an imploration to the public not to withdraw wildlife from forests and domesticate them but to preserve and protect them.

"I love wildlife very much. That is why I often visit national parks just to be in their presence. I am advocating for their protection through art because I want them to continue thriving in the wild," Ogweno told Xinhua during a recent interview.

Ogweno is among several Kenyan artists who have come together to harness arts to champion wildlife conservation in Kenya. The artists drawn from different disciplines are using art to send messages of preservation, admonition, and empathy to the general public as Kenya joins the rest of the world in commemorating World Wildlife Day, which falls on Friday this year.

"Using art is the way to go in terms of evoking compassion and raising awareness on the importance of protecting wildlife. Wildlife has the right to live in the wild and not in cages as pets or to be used for medicinal purposes," said Edith Kabesiime, Wildlife Campaign manager at World Animal Protection, an international animal welfare lobby.

Kabesiime noted that wildlife is valuable to every nation, referencing the significant economic gains it holds for host countries. Kabesiime, however, said a lot more needs to be done to decisively address the illegal trade of animal species like pangolins, snakes, and parrots which continue to make their way out of Kenya's borders.

For the past three years, 23-year-old Dancan Shear has been using cardboard waste to curve out intrinsic images of human beings, animals, and more. Shear ventured into corrugated artwork in 2020 after he lost his job as a chef owing to the COVID-19 pandemic.

"My message is to tell people to minimize waste by reusing cardboard so that it does not end up in the parks. And remind people that animals have feelings like you and I," he said. His innovative venture began when he made a toy cardboard and sold it to the children in his Kasarani neighborhood for 50 Kenyan shillings (about 39 U.S. cents).

Soon enough, his business boomed after he shared his work on social media. His art involves using computer software to print out desired images and the painstaking job of curving out the images on the cardboard.

The youthful artist said his interest in wildlife conservation stems from his desire to protect the country's rich heritage. Kenya is home to a rich array of wildlife. "I think it is important that we protect our ecosystems so that we can continue having many visitors in the country," he said.

Tourism is among the leading revenue earners for the East African nation, with official data reporting that earnings rose to 2.13 billion U.S. dollars in 2022 compared to 1.16 billion dollars in 2021. 
ABUJA, March 3 (Xinhua) -- At least 12 people were killed early Friday following an explosion from an oil pipeline in Nigeria's southern state of Rivers, the police said.

The explosion in the Rumuekpe community in the Emuoha local government area of Rivers occurred as local residents were scooping oil from an oil pipeline passing the community, said Grace Iringe-Koko, the spokesperson for the police in Rivers, in a statement.

"So far, at least 12 persons were believed to have been burned to death. The identities of the victims are unknown," Iringe-Koko said.

Some five vehicles and four tricycles, which were to be used by local people in the area to siphon fuel from the pipeline, were burned to ashes at the explosion site, said the police spokesperson.

According to reports by local media, the incident occurred in the early hours of Friday as a bus loaded with crude oil siphoned from the pipeline went up in flames while heading to an illegal refining point in the area, resulting in the explosion.

Oil pipeline vandalism and oil theft are frequently reported in Nigeria. Illegal oil refineries operate by tapping crude oil from pipelines and distilling it into products in improvised tanks. 
ADDIS ABABA, March 3 (Xinhua) -- Achieving Africa's sustainable growth requires leveraging the power of science, technology and innovation to fight multidimensional vulnerabilities, experts have emphasized.

They made the call during a session on science, technology, and innovation (STI) on the margins of the 9th African Regional Forum on Sustainable Development that was held in a hybrid format in Niamey, the capital of Niger on Thursday, the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa (UNECA) said in a statement issued Friday.

According to the UNECA, the experts emphasized the crucial role of STI as a key driver and enabler for ensuring economic growth, improving well-being, mitigating the effects of climate change, and safeguarding the environment.

They underscored the need to strengthen national and regional STI ecosystems by fostering innovation, promoting entrepreneurship, and investing in research and development.

The experts agreed that Africa can harness the potential of STI to accelerate its socioeconomic progress and achieve the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) by 2030 and the African Union's Agenda 2063.

"We need a clear political will from governments to ensure science, technology, and innovation is a reality. By doing so, our education systems will be capacitated to deliver knowledge that is vital to solving Africa's sustainability challenges," the statement quoted Mamoudou Djibo, Niger's Minister of Higher Education and Research.

The experts highlighted that despite advances in STI, significant gaps remain in bridging the scientific and technological divide between developed countries and Africa.

The highly uneven global distribution of scientific capacity and access to knowledge threatens to derail the goal of leaving no one behind, which is the central and transformative promise of Agenda 2030, the experts noted.

Emma Theophilus, Deputy Minister of Information and Communication Technologies of Namibia, on her part, underscored the need that national systems need to be strengthened.

"Strengthening our national systems for STI is a key game changer for rapid structural transformation in Africa. Leveraging digital transformation can achieve a stronger, smarter, and more inclusive recovery," she said.

According to the UNECA, over the last decade, Africa has embarked on a trajectory to strengthen its science, technology and innovation capacity. 
MOSCOW, March 3 (Xinhua) -- The diesel-electric submarine Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky of the Russian Pacific Fleet test-launched a Caliber cruise missile from the Sea of Japan, the Russian Defense Ministry said Friday.

As part of a combat training plan, the submarine secretly arrived at the designated area in the Sea of Japan and launched the missile from underwater, which successfully hit a coastal target located over 1,000 km away in Russia's Khabarovsk region, the ministry said in a statement.

Ships and aircraft of the Russian Pacific Fleet closed the missile firing area in advance, the ministry added. 
MEXICO CITY, March 2 (Xinhua) -- Electric vehicle manufacturer Tesla's planned gigafactory in Mexico will create 5,000 to 6,000 jobs and attract an investment flow of up to 5 billion U.S. dollars, the Mexican Ministry of Foreign Affairs said Thursday.

In a statement, the ministry welcomed the company's Wednesday confirmation that its next gigafactory will be built in Santa Catarina, a town in northeastern Mexican state of Nuevo Leon.

The factory will contribute to the company's electric car production and help develop technologies for clean energy storage, said Tesla's CEO Elon Musk.

Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador announced on Tuesday that Tesla's new plant agreement includes a series of commitments to address the problem of water scarcity in the northeastern state.

The plant will be constructed near the state capital Monterrey, the president said, noting that it represents a "considerable" investment that will create many jobs. 
ISTANBUL, March 3 (Xinhua) -- The efforts to preserve an utterly unipolar world order lie behind America's savage pursuit of hegemony in all areas of life, retired Turkish Admiral Turker Erturk told Xinhua in a recent interview.

"At the end of the Cold War, the U.S. emerged as the largest and only global power. Today, it plans and conducts operations to maintain a unipolar world order. Our experiences are manifestations of this," said Erturk, who served as commander of the Turkish Naval Academy between 2008 and 2010.

He said the Ukraine crisis is an excellent example of U.S. efforts to maintain its political hegemony, blaming Washington for consciously prolonging the conflict.

"The U.S. had invested much in this crisis to get Ukraine away from Russia," said Erturk.

The conflict "might not have started and could have been prevented," but the United States "didn't want to prevent it," said Erturk, adding that the United States could end the conflict tomorrow if it wanted.

According to Erturk, the United States forbids any country to challenge its hegemony, intending to destroy all nation-states that can potentially jeopardize a unipolar order, and Russia was among them.

"Especially since the beginning of the 2000s, the United States aspires to reduce the number of nation-states even more by exploiting ethnic, religious and sectarian fault lines," Erturk said.

"So you know what this means? Let there be no power to resist the hegemony of the United States. Because nation-states are the power that can resist this the most," Erturk said.

Despite U.S. intentions in the long term, a multipolar world order would best serve the interest of all, the expert said.

"I think there will be an evolution towards multipolarity over time, and the world's interests and security depend on it," he said.

"In other words, if the equilibrium is broken at a certain point when there is only one power, it will not be possible to establish peace and create prosperity," Erturk said. 
WASHINGTON, March 3 (Xinhua) -- A cancerous skin lesion had been removed from U.S. President Joe Biden's chest, White House physician Kevin O'Connor said on Friday.

O'Connor wrote in a memo that the tissue was removed as part of Biden's health assessment at a military hospital last month and sent for a traditional biopsy.

"As expected, the biopsy confirmed that the small lesion was basal cell carcinoma. All cancerous tissue was successfully removed," O'Connor revealed. "No further treatment is required."

Basal cell carcinoma is the most common form of skin cancer and the most frequently occurring form of all cancers, according to the Skin Cancer Foundation.

Basal cell carcinoma lesions do not tend to "spread" or metastasize, O'Connor said, adding that "they do, however, have the potential to increase in size, resulting in a more significant issue as well as increased challenges for surgical removal."

"The site of the biopsy has healed nicely and the President will continue dermatologic surveillance as part of his ongoing comprehensive healthcare," the White House doctor noted.

Biden, 80, had his annual physical exam two weeks ago. O'Connor announced later that he "remains a healthy, vigorous, 80-year-old male" who is fit to carry out the duties of the presidency. 
In this piece, we will take a look at the twelve fastest growing countries in Latin America. For more countries, head on over to 5 Fastest Growing Countries In Latin America.

Whether it's the developed Western world or the developing continents, the last couple of years have been full of nothing but turmoil. 2019 was the last normal year that anyone in the world witnessed, and since then, it's been one crisis or the other. The onset of the coronavirus pandemic pummeled economies as lockdowns and industrial shutdowns cut gross domestic product (GDP) outputs, and just as things were starting to recover, the Russian invasion of Ukraine shook energy and food supply chains and placed burdens on nearly every country.

Against this backdrop, 2023 is an important year as it will be the first when populations and economies will have had time to normalize the economic shock of the Ukraine invasion. For the U.S., it's a constant tussle between high inflation and low growth, or roaring stock markets and low interest rates. Right across the American southern border, Latin American countries face their own set of problems.

When compared to other regions of the world, such as Asia, Latin America fared better in 2022. According to Deloitte, the region as a whole surpasses pre-pandemic levels of GDP growth in 2021, as a global reopening increased commodity prices and spurred economic development. In 2021, the Latin American GDP grew by 6.8%, and Deloitte believes that the region will stay on the growth trend in 2022 as well, with growth tapering down to 3.4% last year. At the same time, it points out that the region's three largest economies are underperforming the world economically, and that the tough economic conditions in the U.S. and Europe will also have a spillover effect into Latin America.

The region's primary exports are commodities, as countries such as Brazil known to be the world's breadbasket for goods such as coffee, and others such as Mexico rely heavily on U.S. demand for manufactured and assembled goods like vehicles and electric appliances. Therefore, Latin America swings with the world, and as economic conditions tighten in America, Latin America's growth also slows down. This conclusion is also mirrored by Deloitte's estimates, with the firm reducing its GDP growth estimate for the region in January 2023 to bring it down to 1.7%.

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Like in the U.S., inflation in Latin America is also causing problems, and the Federal Reserve's aggressive monetary policy tightening is creating trouble for local currencies. Data from the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean shows that by the end of the first quarter of last year, the trailing twelve month capital inflow into the region had dropped by 13% from the prior three month period. At the same time, all kinds of debt issuances in Latin America, whether these were corporate, sovereign, or others, were down in the first four months of the year. However, since by then the aggressive U.S. interest rate hikes had not changed capital market structures, these debt issuances were enthusiastically subscribed.

Estimates from S&P Global Market Intelligence also concur with the assessments that the Latin American economy will slow down this year. It adds that currency volatility will continue for the region as well, with low commodity prices and tight financial conditions making it harder for countries to raise capital on the financial markets. S&P Global explains that there are significant risks for protests in the region as well, since high inflation, unemployment, and low economic growth will aggravate populations - which when combined with potential subsidy removals from governments creates the perfect storm. These protests are economically damaging too, such as the protests in Mexico in 2021 which caused almost $4 billion in damages. However, the S&P is also positive for investment growth in the region, believing that increased competition between the U.S. and China and growth in renewable energy will unlock business opportunities in the area.

Speaking of which, the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development believes that Latin America is also one of the most vulnerable regions in the world to climate change, with a 2.5 degree rise in temperature having the potential to cost the region as much as 5% of GDP. The OECD estimates that renewable energy production is already quite strong in the area, as 33% of all Latin American energy comes from renewable sources, more than double the global average of 13%. By investing in renewable energy, Latin America can create 10.5% more jobs by 2030 - a crucial addition especially since not only is 14.9% of the Latin American population expected to be in extreme poverty by 2022 end but also since the inflation experienced by them is often 3.6% higher than the average rate of inflation.

Today we will take a look at which Latin American countries are the fastest growing, a surprising compilation that leaves the region's heavy lifters - Brazil and Mexico - out of the picture. But, as is also the case with companies, the biggest aren't always the fastest growing, and the same appears to be true for countries too.

12 Fastest Growing Countries In Latin America

Pixabay/Public Domain

Our Methodology

We used estimates from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) to compile our list. The IMF has some of the most accurate data on the global economy since its responsibility is to primarily aid distressed nations to manage their fiscal pressures before a potential implosion with painful consequences. The growth estimates come from the IMF's World Economic Outlook report published in October 2022, and all GDP estimates are provided in purchasing power parity estimates.

Fastest Growing Countries In Latin America

12. Republic of Peru

2023 Projected Real GDP Growth Rate According to IMF: 2.6%

The Republic of Peru is a South American country with a $513 billion GDP in purchasing power parity. Like some other Latin American countries, Peru also relies significantly on commodities for its foreign exchange earnings. The country's biggest exports are of copper, zinc, lead, iron, and petroleum products. It also produces significant amounts of food commodities such as avocado, asparagus, rice, fish, and chicken meat. Peru's largest trading partner is China, highlighting the growing competition between the U.S. and China in the region particularly since America is the second largest importer of Peruvian products.

11. Republic of Ecuador

2023 Projected Real GDP Growth Rate According to IMF: 2.7%

The Republic of Ecuador is a South American coastal nation with a GDP of $229 billion and a per capita income of $12,763. Petroleum products are its largest export, alongside considerable sales of refined petroleum. Additionally, Ecuador also exports bananas, flowers, fish, and other seafood. The U.S. is Ecuador's largest trading partner and buys and sells a significant proportion of products from and to it.

10. Republic of Costa Rica

2023 Projected Real GDP Growth Rate According to IMF: 2.9%

The Republic of Costa Rica is a Central American country. Its GDP is $129 billion, ranking at the bottom of the first hundred countries, and the country has a per capita income of $24,837 which ranks higher than the economy. Unlike some other Latin American countries, Costa Rica exports manufactured products such as medical instruments alongside considerable exports of agricultural products such as bananas, coffee, and fruits. The U.S. is Costa Rica's largest trading partner, accounting for close to half of its exports.

9. Republic of Nicaragua

2023 Projected Real GDP Growth Rate According to IMF: 3%

The Republic of Nicaragua is the largest Central American country, located smack in the middle of the region joining South America to North America. The country has a GDP per capita of $5,683 which is one of the lowest in the world. Nicaragua relies primarily on the textile industry for its exports, as it sells a variety of products such as shirts, sweaters, and suits on the global market. At the same time, it also exports significant amounts of gold, coffee, and beef.

8. Republic of Guatemala

2023 Projected Real GDP Growth Rate According to IMF: 3.2%

The Republic of Guatemala is another Central American country and one that shares a land border with Mexico. The country has a $185 billion GDP and a per capita income of $4,880. It is primarily a food products exporter, with products such as bananas, coffee, sugar, and palm oil accounting for large portions of its exports. The U.S. is its largest trading partner, and as a whole, agriculture also accounts for more than half of Guatemalan exports.

7. Plurinational State of Bolivia

2023 Projected Real GDP Growth Rate According to IMF: 3.2%

The Plurinational State of Bolivia, or Bolivia, is a central South American country with a $118 billion GDP. Mining plays a crucial role in its economy, with more than half of its products extracted from the ground. These include gold, oil, zinc, and lead among other products. Brazil and China are Bolivia's largest trading partners.

6. Republic of Honduras

2023 Projected Real GDP Growth Rate According to IMF: 3.5%

The Republic of Honduras is a Central American nation that is one of the poorest in the world since it has a small GDP of $30.5 billion. Textiles play a crucial role in its exports, as they represent more than one third of the total products. The U.S. is Honduras' largest import and export partner.

Click to continue reading and see 5 Fastest Growing Countries in Latin America.

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Disclosure: None. 12 Fastest Growing Countries in Latin America is originally published on Insider Monkey.
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Global ADAS Market

Global ADAS Market

Dublin, March 03, 2023 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- The "ADAS Market by System (ACC, DMS, IPA, PDS< TJA, FCW,, RSR, LDW, AEB, BSD), Component (Camera, LiDAR, Ultrasonic, Radar), Vehicle Type, EV Type, Vehicle Class, Level of Autonomy, Offering, Sales Channel and Region - Global Forecast to 2030" report has been added to ResearchAndMarkets.com's offering.





The global ADAS market size is projected to grow from USD 27.2 billion in 2021 to USD 74.9 billion by 2030, at a CAGR of 11.9%. Safety features are an important prerequisite for automotive customers across the world. Governments across the world have mandated the incorporation of features such as lane departure warning (LDW) and automatic emergency braking (AEB). Different types of safety features have, therefore, been developed to assist drivers and lower the number of accidents.

Growing demand for safety and driving assistance systems likely to drive the growth of the ADAS market during the forecast period

The automotive industry is witnessing a rapid evolution of safety features, which is expected to increase exponentially in the coming years to provide a safer and more convenient driving experience. Major OEMs such as Toyota and Honda are launching vehicles with features such as blind spot detection, rear cross traffic, lane keep assist, forward collision warning, and automatic emergency braking as a standard. OEMs such as Cadillac, Tesla, Nissan, Honda, and Audi are currently developing L3 driving systems for their upcoming models. The increasing demand for sophisticated cruise control and driving comfort features has also fueled the safety systems market. Transforming a vehicle into a self-driving one could help reduce errors caused by drivers.

As per the NHTSA, the total number of fatalities due to road accidents in the US was 38,680 36,560 in 202018. ADAS could play a crucial role in reducing this number and lead to a safe, productive, and efficient driving experience. Active safety systems such as blind spot detection (BSD), automatic emergency braking (AEB), and lane departure warning (LDW) play a major role in automated driving technology today.

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Demand for luxury vehicles will further strengthen the demand for ADAS during the forecast period. Several economies around the world have recovered from the 2008 recession. Higher growth rates have been observed in developing countries such as China and India, among others. The standard of living has also improved in developing countries, with a considerable rise in spending power. German auto brands such as Mercedes-Benz, BMW, and Audi dominate the global luxury car market.

The change in consumer preferences has increased the demand for better products, which has positively affected the sales of premium cars across the globe. For instance, major BMW's automotive division recorded growth in 2019, despite the slowdown in the global automotive market. The division registered a growth of 6.8% in 2019 due to increasing deliveries in the luxury cars segment. Its subsidiary, Rolls Royce, sold 5,100 units, an increase of 21.6%, compared to 4,194 units, a year earlier, while the production volume increased by 25.3%. Similarly, the group sold more BMW-branded vehicles in 2019 than in 2018. Safety innovations are first introduced in the luxury and premium car segments, and this rise in sales will act as a driver for the ADAS market.

North America is projected to play a major role in the ADAS market during the forecast period

The North American region has been studied for the US, Canada, and Mexico. The ADAS market in the region is projected to witness significant growth during the forecast period due to the higher penetration of ADAS features in most vehicles here. North American OEMs such as Ford Motors Co., General Motors Co., and Fiat-Chrysler Automotive, along with established European and Asian OEMs such as Toyota (Japan), Nissan (Japan), Honda (Japan), Hyundai/Kia (South Korea), BMW (Germany), and Volkswagen (Germany) offer ADAS features in vehicles.

The automotive industry, largely dominated by the US, is one of the most advanced. The US is considered one of the most lucrative markets for ADAS, as it has always been an innovation hub for global automakers. The country houses domestic OEMs such as General Motors and Ford as well as foreign automakers such as FCA Group, Volkswagen, Toyota, and Nissan. These OEMs invest heavily in megatrends, such as connected mobility and autonomous vehicles. Major automakers in the US offer ADAS as standard in most vehicles. According to the NHTSA, 12 OEMs already mandated AEB in 75% of their new passenger car vehicles for the period September 1, 2018, through August 31, 2019. Just 2 years ago, penetration was only 30%. More active initiatives by OEMs would further increase the demand for AEB systems in the country.

Market Dynamics

Drivers

Increased Safety of Vehicles

Comfort Features Associated with Adas

Increasing Interest of Customers in Luxury Vehicles

Integration of Radar and Cameras in Modern Cars

Restraints

ADAS Infrastructure at Developing Stage

Consumer Acceptance of Autonomous Cars

Opportunities

Increasing Demand for Autonomous Vehicles

Emergence of 5G Technology for Vehicles

Increasing Adoption of IoT and GPS in ADAS

Increasing Adoption of Electric Vehicles

New Trends in Shared Automotive Mobility

Huge Investments in Lidar Startups

Challenges

Hight Cost of Integration

Environmental Constraints and Security Threats

Maintaining Balance Between Cost and Quality

Lag in Real-Time Image Processing in Multi-Camera Systems

Report Attribute Details No. of Pages 478 Forecast Period 2022 - 2030 Estimated Market Value (USD) in 2022 $27.2 Billion Forecasted Market Value (USD) by 2030 $74.9 Billion Compound Annual Growth Rate 11.9% Regions Covered Global



Key Topics Covered:

1 Introduction

2 Research Methodology

3 Executive Summary

4 Premium Insights

5 Market Overview

6 Adas Market, by Vehicle Class

7 Adas Market, by Level of Autonomy

7.1 Introduction

7.2 L1

7.3 L2

7.4 L3

7.5 L4

7.6 L5

8 Adas Market, by Vehicle Type

8.1 Introduction

8.2 Passenger Cars

8.3 Light Commercial Vehicles

8.4 Trucks

8.5 Buses

8.6 Key Primary Insights

9 Adas Market, by Electric Vehicle Type

9.1 Introduction

9.2 Battery Electric Vehicles

9.3 Fuel Cell Electric Vehicles

9.4 Hybrid Electric Vehicles

9.5 Plug-In Hybrid Electric Vehicles

9.6 Key Primary Insights

10 Adas Market, by System Type

10.1 Introduction

10.2 Adaptive Cruise Control

10.3 Adaptive Front Light

10.4 Automatic Emergency Braking

10.5 Blind-Spot Detection

10.6 Cross-Traffic Alert

10.7 Driver Monitoring System

10.8 Forward Collision Warning

10.9 Intelligent Park Assist

10.10 Lane Departure Warning

10.11 Night Vision System

10.12 Pedestrian Detection System

10.13 Road Sign Recognition

10.14 Tire Pressure Monitoring System

10.15 Traffic Jam Assist

11 Adas Market, by Component

11.1 Introduction

11.2 Camera Unit

11.3 Lidar

11.4 Radar Sensors

11.5 Ultrasonic Sensors

11.6 Infrared Sensors

12 Adas Market, by Sales Channel

12.1 Introduction

12.2 OEM

12.3 Aftermarket

13 Adas Market, by Offering

13.1 Introduction

13.2 Hardware

13.3 Software

14 Adas Market, by Region

15 Competitive Landscape

16 Company Profiles

17 Analyst's Recommendations

18 Appendix

Companies Mentioned

Aisin Corporation

Aptiv

Autoliv

Blackberry

Continental Ag

Denso

Ficosa International Sa

Hella

Hitachi Automotive

Hyundai Mobis

Infineon Technologies Ag

Intel

Magna International

Microsemi Corporation

Nvidia

Nxp Semiconductors

Renesas Electronics Corporation

Robert Bosch

Samsung Electronics

Texas Instruments

Valeo

Voxx International Corp

Xilinx

Zf Friedrichshafen

For more information about this report visit https://www.researchandmarkets.com/r/xibmmx

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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CONTACT: CONTACT: ResearchAndMarkets.com Laura Wood,Senior Press Manager press@researchandmarkets.com For E.S.T Office Hours Call 1-917-300-0470 For U.S./ CAN Toll Free Call 1-800-526-8630 For GMT Office Hours Call +353-1-416-8900




AGF Management Ltd.

TORONTO, March 03, 2023 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- AGF Management Limited (TSX: AGF.B) will release its financial results for Q1 2023 on Wednesday, March 22, 2023 at approximately 8:00 a.m. ET. AGF will hold a conference call and webcast to discuss these results at 11:00 a.m. ET.



The discussion will feature remarks by Kevin McCreadie, Chief Executive Officer and Chief Investment Officer, and Jenny Quinn, Vice-President and Interim Chief Financial Officer. Judy G. Goldring, President and Head of Global Distribution, will also be available for the question and answer period with investment analysts following the presentation.

The live audio webcast with supporting materials will be available in the Investor Relations section of AGFs website at www.agf.com or at https://edge.media-server.com/mmc/p/ovjgdyso. Alternatively, the call can be accessed over the phone by registering here or in the Investor Relations section of AGFs website at www.agf.com, to receive the dial-in numbers and unique PIN.

A complete archive of this discussion along with supporting materials will be available at the same webcast address within 24 hours of the end of the conference call.

ABOUT AGF MANAGEMENT LIMITED

Founded in 1957, AGF Management Limited (AGF) is an independent and globally diverse asset management firm delivering excellence in investing in the public and private markets through its three distinct business lines: AGF Investments, AGF Private Capital and AGF Private Wealth.



AGF brings a disciplined approach focused on providing an exceptional client experience and incorporating sound responsible and sustainable practices. The firms investment solutions, driven by its fundamental, quantitative and private investing capabilities, extends globally to a wide range of clients, from financial advisors and their clients to high-net worth and institutional investors including pension plans, corporate plans, sovereign wealth funds, endowments and foundations.



Headquartered in Toronto, Canada, AGF has investment operations and client servicing teams on the ground in North America and Europe. With nearly $42 billion in total assets under management and fee-earning assets, AGF serves more than 800,000 investors. AGF trades on the Toronto Stock Exchange under the symbol AGF.B.

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AGF MANAGEMENT LIMITED SHAREHOLDERS, ANALYSTS AND MEDIA, PLEASE CONTACT:

Courtney Learmont

Vice-President, Finance

647-253-6804, InvestorRelations@agf.com




Arezzo & Co. is stepping up its game.

The 50-year-old Brazilian conglomerate behind brands such as Arezzo, Schutz and Alexandre Birman has acquired a majority stake in hip Italian footwear label Paris Texas, WWD and FN have learned.

More from Footwear News

Arezzo & Co. has invested 25 million euros to take over 65 percent of the brand that Annamaria Brivio launched in 2015, which generated sales for around 15 million euros last year.

Paris Texas spring 2023.

Marking the groups first international acquisition, the deal will be officially revealed Friday morning at a joint event during Paris Fashion Week.

Zooming in from Tuscany before departing for Paris, Alexandre Birman, Arezzo & Co.s CEO, underscored that the operation is just the first move toward a new, ambitious direction for the company.

This moment is very important and beyond just one acquisition. Its the beginning of a new era of Arezzo & Co. and of a transformation that we have been studying and planning for years, he said. The real business of luxury shoes is made in Italy. Thats the reality and that will always be the case So for our company to really become international in the luxury womens footwear landscape, its crucial to have an Italian relevance, said Birman, who founded his namesake brand in 2008, after already establishing the Schutz label at only 18 in 1995.

A knack for shoemaking runs in his family since his father Anderson, chairman of Arezzo & Co., and uncle Jefferson founded the namesake brand Arezzo in 1972. Five decades later, the company evolved into a multibranded group that includes also Anacapri, Fiever, Alme, My Shoes, Baw Clothing, Carol Bassi and the lifestyle arm AR&Co, which counts brands such as Reserva. In 2019, Arezzo & Co. revealed an agreement to be the exclusive distributor of the Vans brand of footwear, apparel and accessories in Brazil, too.

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Paris Texas spring 2023.

Listed on the Sao Paulo Stock Exchange since 2011, in the first nine months of 2022, the company reported sales up 57.4 percent to 3.6 billion Brazilian reals, or roughly $700 million, compared to the same period in 2021.

Birman underscored the unique positioning of the group, pointing to the market share Arezzo & Co. has in Brazil, which he said is around 38 % for the womens shoe market of footwear above $100. He also highlighted how the new Italian focus will build on the firms international expansion kickstarted a decade ago and that has so far resulted in a strong presence, especially in the U.S., a market that accounts for 10 percent and around $100 million out of the total business.

Finding the right partner in Italy was the first step in Birmans expansion plan. My kind of assessment in the brand started in September of 2022. I spoke with eight companies, and although I appreciate and admire the other seven, it was not the right timing [for them], he said.

Conversely, the connection with Brivio and Paris Texas co-founder and CEO Massimo Baltimora was natural. After first meeting them at the Four Seasons hotel in Milan during fashion week in September, Birman visited the brands showrooms both in the Italian city and Paris. Ten days later, Brivio and Baltimora traveled to Brazil and got to see up-close Arezzo & Co.s product development center and few of its factories in the Southern part of the country. A meeting in New York a few months later sealed the deal.

I really believe a lot in Paris Texas. The brand is plural, It has a very strong positioning, said Birman, referencing the duality between the super feminine and evening side  and the more everyday approach in its offering. The way they started was very unusual because they were owners of a store and the showroom. Annamaria is a talent, she has a very high level of taste, said Birman.

Paris Texas spring 2023.

In particular, Brivio began her career as a fashion buyer for a multi-brand store in Milan before teaming with business partner Baltimora to create the showroom Baltimora Studio. In 2012, they launched luxury fashion boutique Norrgatan in Monza, just outside of Milan. They launched Paris Texas, homing in on their knowledge of running both these businesses and after finding a gap in the market for fashion-oriented, good-quality designs at competitive price points.

Their highly photogenic styles include fierce stilettos and crystal embellishments sitting alongside chunky cowboy boots. Knee-high and slouchy boots in metallic, croc and python-effect leathers or in bright colors are still the brands signature, even though the offering has expanded to a wide array of designs, such as mules, platforms, wedges and strappy sandals.

After building a strong base in Italy, the brands visibility exploded internationally on social media and among influencers and celebrities. Through the years, Paris Texas shoes have been seen on the feet of Emily Ratajkowski, Selena Gomez, Dua Lipa, Alicia Keys, Ashley Graham, Nicola Peltz Beckham, Chiara Ferragni, Gigi Hadid and the whole Kardashian-Jenner clan, to name a few. In 2019, Brivio was also honored with the Emerging Talent Award at the annual FN Achievement Awards.

When we were looking for a partner, we knew we had to have a value match  someone who has similar attitudes to work and life, said Brivio. Alex is that person. He is a self-starter and has grown his business to a globally-renowned behemoth, and has an incredible amount of knowledge when it comes to running a business, from conception to production and execution.

We dont see Arezzo as an investor with a speculative objective but as a strategic partner who shares our vision and entrepreneurial spirit, added Baltimora. We want the brand to continue to grow and have longevity, and we feel like we are at the moment where the right partnership can help us accelerate the vision we have for Paris Texas. This isnt just an opportunity for a financial investment into the company  we get to work with the Arezzo team and use their global expertise and knowledge to bring Paris Texas to the next level and make it a truly global, top-tier brand.

Both Brivio and Baltimora will retain their roles at the company and sit on a newly-created board along with two of Arezzo & Co.s executives and Birman, who will be executive chairman of the board.

The strategy Birman outlined for the brand is centered on a big distribution push rather than product tweaks, as the executive said he is committed in not changing anything in the styling, branding and positioning. Its perfect. We believe theres a huge space for it.

The U.S. will be the primary focus of Paris Texas new phase, as Arezzo & Co. is planning to capitalize on the know-how built in the last decade, as well as showroom and three distribution centers in the market. These will be instrumental in boosting the direct-to-consumer strategy of the brand, which today is mainly sold through wholesalers.

To this end, Birman revealed plans to open a flagship store in New York this year, aiming for launching it between September and November, after setting a dedicated showroom in the city, too.

The freestanding store will be the first of a focused, directly operated rollout that will see the brand opening four other units in strategic locations globally, which will enhance the branding side while doubling as local distribution centers.

This direct network will add to the enhancement of the Paris Texas distribution in multi-brand stores and department stores. There is very little penetration in Asia as well, so we want to help the brand get awareness there, said Birman, adding that the five-year business plan also includes becoming more budget-driven and helping with the sourcing.

This will be a maturity check for us. We will be able to leverage a top-notch operational and commercial structure that is led by a person who shares our vision and passion, echoed Baltimora.

Last week, Birman teased that a focus on Italy was ahead, when he presented his namesake brands main fall 23 collection in Milan. A few days before the showcase, he also unveiled a capsule collection with the citys luxury multi-brand store Antonia, when he hinted big projects were in the pipeline by stating that Arezzo, which was born in Brazil and inspired by Italy, after 50 years will have a foot in the country.

(L-R): Massimo Baltimora, Alexandre Birman and Annamaria Brivio.

In addition to the Paris Texas deal, Birman revealed the group will acquire a shoe factory in Tuscany  hence the quick detour in the region, where he was accompanied by Brivio and Baltimora. This wont support just Paris Texas growth, but well also to start the production of Alexandre Birman shoes  made in Italy, he said.

Im Brazilian and that makes me proud of course, but I would never, ever try to compare it to the Made in Italy. Im Brazilian with Italian roots, he continued, quickly switching to Italian when he recalled his experience living in Florence and attending all the editions of Lineapelle since 1993.

So now, I also own an Italian business and thats for me is very important as individual and businessman, Birman added, realizing his journey came full circle. Imagine taking the founder of Arezzo, my father, to Arezzo [the city] in the moment that we are doing our first international acquisition of a Italian brand: Its something very meaningful But we believe in an Italian phrase, which is piano piano, si va lontano [slowly slowly, you get far, in English]. Its going to be like that: step by step.
RCE-3 producing from the C7-A and the C7 Stringer

Calgary, Alberta--(Newsfile Corp. - March 3, 2023) - Arrow Exploration Corp. (AIM: AXL) (TSXV: AXL) ("Arrow" or the "Company") is pleased to provide an update on the Rio Cravo Este-3 well ("RCE-3"), an appraisal / development well on the Tapir Block in the Llanos Basin of Colombia.

RCE-3

The RCE-3 well was spud on February 8, 2023 and reached target depth on February 16, 2023. RCE-3 targeted a three-way fault bounded structure with multiple high-quality reservoir objectives on the Tapir Block in the Llanos Basin of Colombia. The well was drilled to a total measured depth of 8,880 feet (8,087 feet true vertical depth) and encountered seven hydrocarbon bearing intervals totaling 58 net feet of oil pay.

The well was completed in the C7-A and C7 Stringer zones and the well is currently producing from those zones. A submersible pump has been inserted but not turned on. The well flowed naturally at rates equivalent to 2,000 BOPD gross for four hours after unloading kill fluid. The well is currently being choked back with a 18/168 choke and, in the last 24 hours, it has produced at a rate of 968 BOPD gross (484 BOPD net) of oil at 28.5 API and with a 0% water cut. The Company will provide a further update on production rates in due course.

Initial production results are not necessarily indicative of long-term performance or ultimate recovery.

Marshall Abbott, CEO of Arrow commented:

"We are very encouraged by the initial production of RCE-3, the fourth well on the Tapir block. The well was completed in the C7-A and C7 Stringer zones with additional zones currently behind pipe."

"RCE-3 is currently flowing better than expected. The Company is choking the well back in an effort to manage the reservoir and discourage premature water production. Arrow plans to engage the pump and slowly increase production once the well has stabilized."

"The continued strong production rates from existing tied-in wells combined with the encouraging results from new wells in Colombia continues to provide us with confidence that our objective of achieving a production rate of 3,000 boe/d within 18 months of the AIM listing can be achieved. This is an exciting time for Arrow, and we look forward to providing further updates on our progress."

Story continues

The RCE-3 well costs came in under budget and was the quickest well drilled to date on the block.

RCE-4 and RCE-5 Wells

The RCE-4 well was spud on March 1, 2023 and is currently drilling. Expectations are that the RCE-4 well will be complete and brought on production towards the end of March. Plans are then to skid the rig to the RCE-5 location and begin drilling.

Capella Field

The Capella field continues to be shut in and discussions between the government, protesters and the operator are ongoing. The Company hopes for a quick resolution of the protesters' concerns.

For further Information, contact:

Arrow Exploration

Marshall Abbott, CEO

+1 403 651 5995

Joe McFarlane, CFO

+1 403 818 1033

Brookline Public Relations, Inc.

Shauna MacDonald

+1 403 538 5645

Canaccord Genuity (Nominated Advisor and Joint Broker)

Henry Fitzgerald-O'Connor

James Asensio

Gordon Hamilton

+44 (0)20 7523 8000

Auctus Advisors (Joint Broker)

Jonathan Wright (Corporate)

Rupert Holdsworth Hunt (Broking)

+44 (0)7711 627449

Camarco (Financial PR)

Georgia Edmonds

Rebecca Waterworth

Billy Clegg

+44 (0)20 3781 8331

About Arrow Exploration Corp.

Arrow Exploration Corp. (operating in Colombia via a branch of its 100% owned subsidiary Carrao Energy S.A.) is a publicly traded company with a portfolio of premier Colombian oil assets that are underexploited, under-explored and offer high potential growth. The Company's business plan is to expand oil production from some of Colombia's most active basins, including the Llanos, Middle Magdalena Valley (MMV) and Putumayo Basin. The asset base is predominantly operated with high working interests, and the Brent-linked light oil pricing exposure combines with low royalties to yield attractive potential operating margins. Arrow's 50% interest in the Tapir Block is contingent on the assignment by Ecopetrol SA of such interest to Arrow. Arrow's seasoned team is led by a hands-on executive team supported by an experienced board. Arrow is listed on the AIM market of the London Stock Exchange and on TSX Venture Exchange under the symbol "AXL".

Forward-Looking Statements

This news release contains certain statements or disclosures relating to Arrow that are based on the expectations of its management as well as assumptions made by and information currently available to Arrow which may constitute forward-looking statements or information ("forward-looking statements") under applicable securities laws. All such statements and disclosures, other than those of historical fact, which address activities, events, outcomes, results or developments that Arrow anticipates or expects may, could or will occur in the future (in whole or in part) should be considered forward-looking statements. In some cases, forward-looking statements can be identified by the use of the words "continue", "expect", "opportunity", "plan", "potential" and "will" and similar expressions. The forward-looking statements contained in this news release reflect several material factors and expectations and assumptions of Arrow, including without limitation, Arrow's evaluation of the impacts of COVID-19, the potential of Arrow's Colombian and/or Canadian assets (or any of them individually), the prices of oil and/or natural gas, and Arrow's business plan to expand oil and gas production and achieve attractive potential operating margins. Arrow believes the expectations and assumptions reflected in the forward-looking statements are reasonable at this time, but no assurance can be given that these factors, expectations, and assumptions will prove to be correct.

The forward-looking statements included in this news release are not guarantees of future performance and should not be unduly relied upon. Such forward-looking statements involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors that may cause actual results or events to differ materially from those anticipated in such forward-looking statements. The forward-looking statements contained in this news release are made as of the date hereof and the Company undertakes no obligations to update publicly or revise any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, unless so required by applicable securities laws.

Neither TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.

Glossary

API: A specific gravity scale developed by the American Petroleum Institute (API) for measuring the relative density of various petroleum liquids, expressed in degrees.

Bopd: barrels of oil per day

boe/d: barrels of oil equivalent per day

Qualified Person's Statement

The technical information contained in this announcement has been reviewed and approved by Grant Carnie, senior non-executive director of Arrow Exploration Corp. Mr. Carnie is a member of the Canadian Society of Petroleum Engineers, holds a B.Sc. in Geology from the University of Alberta and has over 35 years' experience in the oil and gas industry.

This Announcement contains inside information for the purposes of the UK version of the market abuse regulation (EU No. 596/2014) as it forms part of United Kingdom domestic law by virtue of the European Union (Withdrawal) Act 2018 ("UK MAR").

NOT FOR RELEASE, DISTRIBUTION, PUBLICATION, DIRECTLY OR INDIRECTLY, IN WHOLE OR IN PART, IN OR INTO OR FROM THE UNITED STATES, AUSTRALIA, JAPAN, THE REPUBLIC OF SOUTH AFRICA OR ANY OTHER JURISDICTION WHERE TO DO SO MIGHT CONSTITUTE A VIOLATION OF THE RELEVANT LAWS OR REGULATIONS OF SUCH JURISDICTION.

To view the source version of this press release, please visit https://www.newsfilecorp.com/release/156967
DENVER, CO / ACCESSWIRE / March 3, 2023 / Arrow Electronics executives from around the globe took a break from recent business strategy meetings to build 150 bikes for charity. The local employees then donated the finished bikes to second graders in schools that qualify for federal aid - and even helped some students ride for the first time.

"We believe in making a difference in the lives of many and giving back to our communities. Through our leadership team-building event, we did just that," said Rick Marano, president of Arrow's Americas components business.

The bike-building project was an initiative with Wish for Wheels, a Denver-based non-profit. Since 2004, they have distributed new bikes and helmets to 75,000 second-graders in underserved schools across the United States.

"Our mission to empower 2nd graders starts with amazing companies that show commitment to their communities by engaging their teams to build bikes and engage at the heart level by directly connecting with the kids they are supporting. Arrow truly understands community engagement through action," said Brad Appel, CEO & Founder of Wish for Wheels.

About Wish for Wheels:

Wish for Wheels is a 501C3 that engages companies to fund, build and give bikes to 2nd graders in Title I schools in their communities. This double touch point engages the companies' teams, bringing them closer, while the second touch point engages communities and empowers the kids who grow into the bikes for 2nd, 3rd and 4th grade.

About Arrow:

Arrow Electronics guides innovation forward for over 210,000 leading technology manufacturers and service providers. With 2022 sales of $37 billion, Arrow develops technology solutions that improve business and daily life. Learn more at fiveyearsout.com.

Arrow Electronics, Friday, March 3, 2023, Press release picture

View additional multimedia and more ESG storytelling from Arrow Electronics on 3blmedia.com.

Contact Info:

Spokesperson: Arrow Electronics

Website: https://www.3blmedia.com/profiles/arrow-electronics

Email: info@3blmedia.com

SOURCE: Arrow Electronics





View source version on accesswire.com:

https://www.accesswire.com/741949/Arrow-Electronics-Employees-Give-Back-by-Building-Bikes-for-Denver-Students-in-Title-I-Schools




Fortune Business Insights

The global audiobooks market is exhibiting a huge growth with steady CAGR. Driving factor includes increasing acceptance from different demographic age groups. Technology advancements will further boost the global market.

Pune,India, March 03, 2023 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- The global audiobooks market size is expected to gain momentum during the forecast period, 2023-2030. Fortune Business Insights publish this information in an upcoming report, titled, Audiobooks Market Forecast, 2023-2030. From novels and compact albums with streaming media players in the early 2000s to mobile phones becoming popular in the current period, the business has smoothly grown by adopting new listening modes. In recent years, the expansion of the internet has also aided in gaining traction among a wide range of viewers.





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Moreover, the increasing use of smart home technologies has opened up the lucrative potential for the audiobook industry.

Key Industry Development:

Storytel purchased an 80 percent share in Earselect. Earselect is a production firm situated in the Nordics specializing in a cloud-based platform for remotely generating audiobooks.

List of Key Players Profiled in the Global Market for Audiobooks:

Amazon

Storytel AB

Google

Scribd

OverDrive

LMBPN Publishing

Hoopla

Drivers & Restraints:

Increasing Demand in Kids Segment to Stimulate Growth

Audiobooks are presently being consumed by a younger and growing audience and are expected to boost the global audiobooks market growth during the forecast period. This is a very hopeful sign for the industry's long-term prosperity. Younger consumers are projected to have an impact on their increasing families, converting non-listeners into listeners. In recent years, audiences have mostly engaged with platforms for educational and leisure genres for children. The numerous advantages for youngsters, such as increased visuals, complex vocabulary, enhanced narrative structure, and various other abilities associated with improved reading skills, are expected to provide profitable growth potential.

Story continues

Segments

By device type, the market is segmented into smartphones, tablets, laptops, and others. On the basis of enterprise size, the market is segregated into small, medium, and small enterprises. Finally, by geography, the market is divided into North America, Europe, Asia Pacific, South America, and the Middle East & Africa.

What does the Report Include?

The report's purpose is to give readers a high-level summary of the audiobooks industry and extensive segmentation by type and channel. During the market growth, the worldwide market is expected to grow rapidly. The research includes major issues and opportunities in the industry and key statistics on the changing trends of the leading market players.

Regional Insights

Increasing R&D Investment to Promote Growth in North America

North America is expected to hold the largest global audiobooks market share during the forecast period. Manufacturers in this region are increasing their market presence and technological hub to create products related to it. The United States and Canada are the two primary countries in this region that drive the industry. The region's reliance on digital commerce is a big factor and is inexpensive and easy to store.

Over the projected period, Asia Pacific is expected to hold a considerable profit share, with Japan and China dominating regional development. The availability of books in non-English and several regional languages is expected to boost growth in this region.





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Competitive Landscape-

Manufacturers to Focus on R&D Investments to Offer Advanced Products

New arrivals are putting a lot of pressure on the established players. In comparison to global participants, countries in the region provide lower membership pricing to users. On the other hand, global players continue to hold sway in this market since their product portfolios have been improved to include a diverse number of options.

Key Points from TOC:

1. Introduction

1.1. Research Scope

1.2. Market Segmentation

1.3. Research Methodology

1.4. Definitions and Assumptions

2. Executive Summary

3. Market Dynamics

3.1. Market Drivers

3.2. Market Restraints

3.3. Market Opportunities

4. Key Insights

4.1 Global Statistics  Key Countries

4.2 New Product Launches

4.3 Pipeline Analysis

4.4 Regulatory Scenario  Key Countries

4.5 Recent Industry Developments  Partnerships, Mergers & Acquisitions

5. Global Audiobooks Market Analysis, Insights and Forecast

5.1. Key Findings/ Summary

5.2. Market Analysis  By Product Type

5.3. Market Analysis  By Distribution Channel

5.4. Market Analysis  By Countries/Sub-regions



11. Competitive Analysis

11.1. Key Industry Developments

11.2. Global Market Share Analysis

11.3. Competition Dashboard

11.4. Comparative Analysis  Major Players

12. Company Profiles

12.1 Overview

12.2 Products & Services

12.3 SWOT Analysis

12.4 Recent developments

12.5 Major Investments

12.6 Regional Market Size and Demand

13. Strategic Recommendations

TOC Continued.





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Fortune Business Insights offers expert corporate analysis and accurate data, helping organizations of all sizes make timely decisions. We tailor innovative solutions for our clients, assisting them to address challenges distinct to their businesses. Our goal is to empower our clients with holistic market intelligence, giving a granular overview of the market they are operating in.

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Pune, India - (NewMediaWire) - March 3, 2023 - "Automobile" Size, Scope, and Forecast 2023-2030 report has been added to the Market Research Archive of Absolute Reports. Industry experts and researchers have offered an authoritative and concise analysis of the Global Automobile with respect to various aspects such as growth factors, challenges, restraints, developments, trends, and opportunities for growth. This report will surely be a handy tool for market players to come up with effective strategies with the aim of strengthening their positions in the market.

What is the Automobile growth?

Southeast Asian countries in the report include Singapore, Thailand, the Philippines, Malaysia, Indonesia, Vietnam, Myanmar, Brunei, Laos and Cambodia. By the end of 2021, the population in Southeast Asia had exceeded 600 million. The overall economic growth rate is higher than global average level and it becomes a major driving force of world economic development.

According to Researchers's research, significant gaps in economic development remain among the 10 countries in Southeast Asia. Singapore is the only developed country, which had the GDP per capita of approximately USD 60,000 in 2020, while the GDP per capita was less than USD 2,000 in Myanmar, Laos and Cambodia. The population and minimum wage vary greatly among Southeast Asian countries. Brunei is the least populated country with less than 500,000 people, while Indonesia is the most-populous country with a population of over 270 million in 2016. Singapore, the most developed country in Southeast Asian region, does not set the legal minimum wage. The actual minimum wage is over 400 USD per month (foreign maidservant). In comparison, the minimum wage in Myanmar is only 60 USD per month.

The development of the automobile industry differs greatly among the Southeast Asian countries. According to the analysis, Thailand is the most developed country in terms of automobile manufacturing. Some world's leading automobile manufacturers, such as Ford, Honda, Toyota and BMW have built factories in Thailand. In 2020, the production volume of automobiles was 1.4 million. The export volume of automobiles in Thailand was about 740 thousand units. There are a lot of whole vehicle manufacturers in the Philippines, Malaysia, Vietnam and Indonesia. Myanmar has a small-scale automobile assembly industry. Singapore, Brunei, Laos and Cambodia do not have the automobile manufacturing industry. Generally speaking, automobile markets in most Southeast Asian countries are highly dependent on import. The imported products include whole vehicles and auto parts.

Story continues

In general, the sales volume of automobiles in Southeast Asia presents an upward trend in recent years. Especially, the constant economic development in the Philippines and Vietnam stimulates the sales growth of automobiles.

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Due to the outbreak of COVID-19, many auto parts or complete vehicle factories in Southeast Asian countries had to reduce or stop production, making the global supply chain suffer a new blow. It is expected that in 2022, COVID-19 is expected to be effectively controlled, and the Southeast Asian auto manufacturing industry will show restored growth.

According to Researchers's forecast, the Southeast Asian automobile industry will grow rapidly in 2022-2030. On the one hand, the lower labor costs in Southeast Asian countries will prompt global automobile vehicle and component manufacturers to transfer production capacity to these regions. On the other hand, the rising demand of Southeast Asian automobile market will prompt global automobile vehicle and parts manufacturers to increase exports to these countries.

Browse Detailed TOC, Tables and Figures with Charts which is spread across 60 Pages that provides exclusive data, information, vital statistics, trends, and competitive landscape details in this niche sector.

Client Focus



1. Does this report consider the impact of COVID-19 and the Russia-Ukraine war on the Automobile?



Yes. As the COVID-19 and the Russia-Ukraine war are profoundly affecting the global supply chain relationship and raw material price system, we have definitely taken them into consideration throughout the research, in Chapters, we elaborate at full length on the impact of the pandemic and the war on the Automobile Industry

Final Report will add the analysis of the impact of Russia-Ukraine War and COVID-19 on this Automobile Industry.

TO KNOW HOW COVID-19 PANDEMIC AND RUSSIA UKRAINE WAR WILL IMPACT THIS MARKET - REQUEST SAMPLE

This report provides a pin-point analysis of changing dynamics and emerging trends in the Global Automobile. Additionally, it provides a futuristic perspective on various factors that are likely to fuel the growth of the Global Automobile in the coming years. Further, the authors of the report have shed light on the factors that may hinder the growth of the Global Automobile.

Automobile - Competitive and Segmentation Analysis:



2. How do you determine the list of the key players included in the report?



With the aim of clearly revealing the competitive situation of the industry, we concretely analyze not only the leading enterprises that have a voice on a global scale, but also the regional small and medium-sized companies that play key roles and have plenty of potential growth.

Top Key Players of the Global Automobile

1 Ford

2 Mazda

3 Mitsubishi

4 BMW

5 Honda

6 Nissan

7 Toyota

8 Daewoo

9 KIA

10 Proton Auto

11 Perodua

12 Benz

13 Volvo

14 Suzuki

15 Audi

16 VMC

17 MEKONG

18 VINASTAR

19 TMV

20 VIETINDO

21 VISUCO

22 HINO Vietnam

Short Description About Automobile:

The Global Automobile is anticipated to rise at a considerable rate during the forecast period, between 2023 and 2030. In 2023, the market is growing at a steady rate and with the rising adoption of strategies by key players, the market is expected to rise over the projected horizon.

This report studies the Automobile, covering market size for segment by type, by application, by sales channel (Direct Channel, Distribution Channel), and by region (North America, Europe, Asia-Pacific, South America and Middle East & Africa).

This report provides detailed historical analysis of global market for Automobile from 2015-2020, and provides extensive market forecasts from 2023-2030 by region/country and subsectors. It covers the sales/revenue/value, gross margin, historical growth and future perspectives in the Automobile.

Moreover, the impact of COVID-19 is also concerned. Since outbreak in December 2019, the COVID-19 virus has spread to all around the world and caused huge losses of lives and economy, and the global manufacturing, tourism and financial markets have been hit hard, while the online market/industry increase. Fortunately, with the development of vaccine and other effort by global governments and organizations, the negative impact of COVID-19 is expected to subside and the global economy is expected to recover.

This research covers COVID-19 impacts on the upstream, midstream and downstream industries. Moreover, this research provides an in-depth market evaluation by highlighting information on various aspects covering market dynamics like drivers, barriers, opportunities, threats, and industry news & trends. In the end, this report also provides in-depth analysis and professional advices on how to face the post COIVD-19 period.

The research methodology used to estimate and forecast this market begins by capturing the revenues of the key players and their shares in the market. Various secondary sources such as press releases, annual reports, non-profit organizations, industry associations, governmental agencies and customs data, have been used to identify and collect information useful for this extensive commercial study of the market. Calculations based on this led to the overall market size. After arriving at the overall market size, the total market has been split into several segments and sub-segments, which have then been verified through primary research by conducting extensive interviews with industry experts such as CEOs, VPs, directors, and executives. The data triangulation and market breakdown procedures have been employed to complete the overall market engineering process and arrive at the exact statistics for all segments and sub-segments.

Get a Sample Copy of the Automobile Report 2023

3. What are your main data sources?



Both Primary and Secondary data sources are being used while compiling the report.



Primary sources include extensive interviews of key opinion leaders and industry experts (such as experienced front-line staff, directors, CEOs, and marketing executives), downstream distributors, as well as end-users.Secondary sources include the research of the annual and financial reports of the top companies, public files, new journals, etc. We also cooperate with some third-party databases.

Geographically, the detailed analysis of consumption, revenue, market share and growth rate, historical data and forecast (2023-2030) of the following regions are covered in Chapter 4 and Chapter 7:

North America (United States, Canada and Mexico)

Europe (Germany, UK, France, Italy, Russia and Turkey etc.)

Asia-Pacific (China, Japan, Korea, India, Australia, Indonesia, Thailand, Philippines, Malaysia and Vietnam)

South America (Brazil, Argentina, Columbia etc.)

Middle East and Africa (Saudi Arabia, UAE, Egypt, Nigeria and South Africa

Please find a more complete list of data sources in Chapters

1.To study and analyze the global Automobile consumption (value) by key regions/countries, product type and application

2.To understand the structure of Automobile by identifying its various sub segments.

3.Focuses on the key global Automobile manufacturers, to define, describe and analyze the value, market share, market competition landscape, Porter's five forces analysis, SWOT analysis and development plans in next few years.

4.To analyze the Automobile with respect to individual growth trends, future prospects, and their contribution to the total market.

5.To share detailed information about the key factors influencing the growth of the market (growth potential, opportunities, drivers, industry-specific challenges and risks).

6.To project the consumption of Automobile submarkets, with respect to key regions (along with their respective key countries).

7.To analyze competitive developments such as expansions, agreements, new product launches, and acquisitions in the market.

8.To strategically profile the key players and comprehensively analyze their growth strategies.

Customization of the Report

4. Can I modify the scope of the report and customize it to suit my requirements?



Yes. Customized requirements of multi-dimensional, deep-level and high-quality can help our customers precisely grasp market opportunities, effortlessly confront market challenges, properly formulate market strategies and act promptly, thus to win them sufficient time and space for market competition.

Inquire more and share questions if any before the purchase on this report at - https://www.absolutereports.com/enquiry/pre-order-enquiry/19819230

Detailed TOC of Automobile Market Insights and Forecast to 2030

1 Analysis of Automobile Industry in Singapore

1.1 Development Environment of Singapore Automobile Industry

1.1.1 Geography

1.1.2 Population

1.1.3 Economy

1.1.4 Minimum Wage in Manufacturing in Singapore

1.2 Operation Status of Singapore Automobile Industry, 2005-2020

1.2.1 Production Status of Automobile Industry in Singapore

1.2.2 Sales Status of Automobile Industry in Singapore

1.2.3 Import and Export Status of Automobile Industry in Singapore

2 Analysis of Automobile Industry in Thailand

2.1 Development Environment of Thailand Automobile Industry

2.1.1 Geography

2.1.2 Population

2.1.3 Economy

2.1.4 Minimum Wage in Manufacturing in Thailand

2.2 Operation Status of Thailand Automobile Industry, 2005-2020

2.2.1 Production Status of Automobile Industry in Thailand

2.2.2 Sales Status of Automobile Industry in Thailand

2.2.3 Import and Export Status of Automobile Industry in Thailand

2.3 Major Automobile Manufacturers in Thailand

2.3.1 Ford

2.3.2 Mazda

2.3.3 Mitsubishi

2.3.4 BMW

2.3.5 Honda

2.3.6 Nissan

2.3.7 Toyota

3 Analysis of Automobile Industry in the Philippines

3.1 Development Environment of Philippines Automobile Industry

3.1.1 Geography

3.1.2 Population

3.1.3 Economy

3.1.4 Minimum Wage in Manufacturing in Philippines

3.2 Operation Status of Philippines Automobile Industry, 2005-2020

3.2.1 Production Status of Automobile Industry in Philippines

3.2.2 Sales Status of Automobile Industry in Philippines

3.2.3 Import and Export Status of Automobile Industry in Philippines

3.3 Major Automobile Manufacturers in Philippines

3.3.1 Toyota

3.3.2 Honda

3.3. 3 Nissan

3.3.4 Mitsubishi

3.3.5 Daewoo

3.3.6 KIA

4 Analysis of Automobile Industry in Malaysia

4.1 Development Environment of Automobile Industry in Malaysia

4.1.1 Geography

4.1.2 Population

4.1.3 Economy

4.1.4 Minimum Wage in Manufacturing in Malaysia

4.2 Operation Status of Malaysia Automobile Industry, 2005-2020

4.2.1 Production Status of Automobile Industry in Malaysia

4.2.2 Sales Status of Automobile Industry in Malaysia

4.2.3 Import and Export Status of Automobile Industry in Malaysia

4.3 Enterprise Profile of Major Automobile Manufacturers in Malaysia

4.3.1 Proton Auto

4.3.2 Perodua

4.3.3 Toyota

4.3.4 Honda

4.3. 5 Nissan

4.3.6 KIA

4.3.8 Benz

4.3.9 BMW

4.3.10 Volvo

5 Analysis of Automobile Industry in Indonesia

5.1 Development Environment of Indonesia Automobile Industry

5.1.1 Geography

5.1.2 Population

5.1.3 Economy

5.1.4 Minimum Wage in Manufacturing in Indonesia

5.2 Operation Status of Indonesia Automobile Industry, 2005-2020

5.2.1 Production Status of Automobile Industry in Indonesia

5.2.2 Sales Status of Automobile Industry in Indonesia

5.2.3 Import and Export Status of Automobile Industry in Indonesia

5.3 Major Automobile Manufacturers in Indonesia

5.3.1 Toyota

5.3.2 Mitsubishi

5.3.3 Suzuki

5.3.4 Honda

5.3.5 Nissan

5.3.6 BMW

5.3.7 Benz

5.3.8 Audi

6 Analysis of Automobile Industry in Vietnam

6.1 Development Environment of Vietnam Automobile Industry

6.1.1 Geography

6.1.2 Population

6.1.3 Economy

6.1.4 Minimum Wage in Manufacturing in Vietnam

6.2 Operation Status of Vietnam Automobile Industry, 2005-2020

6.2.1 Production Status of Automobile Industry in Vietnam

6.2.2 Sales Status of Automobile Industry in Vietnam

6.2.3 Import and Export Status of Automobile Industry in Vietnam

6.3 Major Automobile Manufacturers in Vietnam

6.3.1 VMC

6.3.2 MEKONG

6.3.3 VINASTAR

6.3.4 Ford Vietnam

6.3.5 Mercedes Benz Vietnam

6.3.6 TMV

6.3.7 VIETINDO

6.3.8 DAEWOO

6.3.9 VISUCO

6.3.10 HINO Vietnam

7 Analysis of Automobile Industry in Myanmar

7.1 Development Environment of Myanmar Automobile Industry

7.1.1 Geography

7.1.2 Population

7.1.3 Economy

7.1.4 Minimum Wage in Manufacturing in Myanmar

7.2 Operation Status of Myanmar Automobile Industry, 2005-2020

7.2.1 Production Status of Automobile Industry in Myanmar

7.2.2 Sales Status of Automobile Industry in Myanmar

7.2.3 Import and Export Status of Automobile Industry in Myanmar

8 Analysis of Automobile Industry in Brunei

8.1 Development Environment of Brunei Automobile Industry

8.1.1 Geography

8.1.2 Population

8.1.3 Economy

8.1.4 Minimum Wage in Manufacturing in Brunei

8.2 Operation Status of Brunei Automobile Industry, 2005-2020

8.2.1 Production Status of Automobile Industry in Brunei

8.2.2 Sales Status of Automobile Industry in Brunei

8.2.3 Import and Export Status of Automobile Industry in Brunei

9 Analysis of Automobile Industry in Laos

9.1 Development Environment of Laos Automobile Industry

9.1.1 Geography

9.1.2 Population

9.1.3 Economy

9.1.4 Minimum Wage in Manufacturing in Laos

9.2 Operation Status of Laos Automobile Industry, 2005-2020

9.2.1 Production Status of Automobile Industry in Laos

9.2.2 Sales Status of Automobile Industry in Laos

9.2.3 Import and Export Status of Automobile Industry in Laos

10 Analysis of Automobile Industry in Cambodia

10.1 Development Environment of Automobile Industry in Cambodia

10.1.1 Geography

10.1.2 Population

10.1.3 Economy

10.1.4 Minimum Wage in Manufacturing in Cambodi

10.2 Operation Status of Cambodia Automobile Industry, 2005-2020

10.2.1 Production Status of Automobile Industry in Cambodia

10.2.2 Sales Status of Automobile Industry in Cambodia

10.2.3 Import and Export Status of Automobile Industry enter in Cambodia

11 Forecast on Automobile Industry in Southeast Asia, 2022-2026

11.1 Analysis on Factors Influencing Development of Automobile Industry in Southeast Asia

11.1.1 Favorable Factors

11.1.2 Unfavorable Factors

11.2 Forecast on Supply of Automobile Industry in Southeast Asia, 2022-2030

11.3 Forecast on Market Demand of Automobiles in Southeast Asia, 2022-2030

11.4 Covid-19 Impact on Automobile Industry in Southeast Asia

Selected Charts

Chart Singapore's GDP per Capita, 2015-2020

Chart Sales Volume of Automobiles in Singapore, 2005-2020

Chart Thailand's GDP per Capita, 2015-2020

Chart Minimum Daily Wages in Thailand, 2014-2020

Chart Production Volume of Automobiles in Thailand, 2005-2020

Chart Sales Volume of Automobiles in Thailand, 2005-2020

Chart Export Volume of Automobiles in Thailand, 2015-2020

Chart Import Value of Automobiles in Thailand, 2015-2020

Chart the Philippines's GDP per Capita, 2015-2020

Chart Minimum Daily Wages in the Philippines, 2014-2020

Chart Sales Volume of Automobiles in the Philippines, 2005-2020

Chart Malaysia's GDP per Capita, 2015-2020

Chart Minimum Monthly Wages in Malaysia, 2017-2020

Chart Production Volume of Automobiles in Malaysia, 2005-2020

Chart Sales Volume of Automobiles in Malaysia, 2005-2020

Chart Relevant Policies on Import and Export of Automobiles in Malaysia

Chart Indonesia's GDP per Capita, 2015-2020

Chart Minimum Wage in Indonesia, 2014-2020

Chart Production Volume of Automobiles in Indonesia, 2005-2020

Chart Sales Volume of Automobiles in Indonesia, 2005-2020

Chart Import of Whole Vehicles in Indonesia, 2015-2020

Chart Export of Whole Vehicles in Indonesia, 2016-2020

Chart Vietnam's GDP per Capita, 2015-2020

Chart Minimum Monthly Wage in Vietnam, 2014-2020

Chart Production Volume of Assembled Automobiles in Vietnam, 2005-20200

Chart Sales Volume of Automobiles in Vietnam, 2005-2020

Chart Import Volume of Automobiles in Vietnam, 2015-2020

Chart Myanmar's GDP per Capita, 2015-2020

Chart Sales Volume of Automobiles in Myanmar, 2005-2020

Chart Brunei's GDP per Capita, 2015-2020

Chart Sales Volume of Automobiles in Brunei, 2005-2020

Chart Laos's GDP per Capita, 2015-2020

Chart Minimum Monthly Wage in Laos, 2014-2020

Chart Sales Volume of Automobiles in Laos, 2005-2020

Chart Cambodia's GDP per Capita, 2015-2020

Chart Minimum Wage in Cambodia, 2014-2020

Chart Sales Volume of Automobiles in Cambodia, 2005-2020

Chart Forecast on Production volume of Automobile Industry in Southeast Asia, 2022-2030

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TipRanks

There are conflicting signals coming from the markets lately. We all know the accumulated headwinds; rising interest rates, the banking failures, and the Fed, in the minutes from its last FOMC meeting, indicated that a mild recession is highly likely in the second half of this year. Yet, the markets have seen sound gains year-to-date, with the S&P 500 up 7.5% and the NASDAQ an even better 15%. Looking at the current market conditions, Jeremy Siegel, a Wharton economic professor and a long-time
OKLAHOMA CITY, March 2, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Beta Shale, LLC ("Beta"), an Oklahoma City based oil and natural gas company who owns 1,000,000 shares of PHX Minerals Inc. ("PHX" or the "Company"), has reached out to the PHX Board of Directors to express Beta's concern with the performance of the Company and its proposed future path under the direction of current management.

Derby Energy, LLC

Beta sent an initial letter on February 3, 2023, which was followed by a meeting between Beta's CEO and the Independent Director of PHX. After the meeting, Beta sent a follow up letter of concern on March 2, 2023.

As a significant shareholder of PHX, Beta is voting against the majority of current proxy materials presented by PHX management.

Both letters can be found at www.betashalenews.com. Beta encourages all PHX shareholders to review these materials and to assess PHX's performance and future potential under existing management.

About Beta Shale, LLC

Beta Shale, LLC, established in 2004, is a privately-owned opportunistic investor in oil and gas, primarily focused on non-operated working interests with assets in the Arkoma and Delaware Basins under management of Derby Energy, LLC.

About Derby Energy, LLC

Derby Energy, LLC, headquartered in Oklahoma City, OK, is the administrative management company for the following six entities: Derby Exploration, LLC (Operated - Anadarko Basin E&P); Thoroughbred Gathering, LLC (Operated - Anadarko Basin Midstream); Bakken HBT, LP (Non-Operated  Williston Basin); Bakken HBT II, LP (Non-Operated  Williston Basin); SCOOP I, LP (Non-Operated  Anadarko Basin); and Beta Shale, LLC (Non-Operated  Arkoma and Delaware Basin).

For further information, please visit www.derbyenergy.com

Contact

Mike Weatherholt, Vice President of Finance, 405.708.2875

or

Jake Long, Vice President of Administration, 405.401.8517

Cision

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SOURCE Derby Energy
Vast Resources PLC

Vast Resources plc / Ticker: VAST / Index: AIM / Sector: Mining

3 March 2023

Vast Resources plc

(Vast or the Company)

Board Update

The Board of Vast Resources today announces that Craig Harvey, Technical Director, has notified the Board of his intention to step down as a director of the Company which will become effective immediately.

Andrew Prelea, CEO of Vast, commented:

On behalf of all the board, I would like to thank Craig for his contribution to the Company during his tenure as a director. We wish him well for the future.

Market Abuse Regulation (MAR) Disclosure

Certain information contained within this announcement is deemed by the Company to constitute inside information as stipulated under the Market Abuse Regulations (EU) No. 596/2014 as it forms part of UK Domestic Law by virtue of the European Union (Withdrawal) Act 2018 (UK MAR) until the release of this announcement.

**ENDS**

For further information, visit www.vastplc.com or please contact:

Vast Resources plc

Andrew Prelea (CEO)

Andrew Hall (CCO)



www.vastplc.com

+44 (0) 20 7846 0974 Beaumont Cornish  Financial & Nominated Advisor

Roland Cornish

James Biddle



www.beaumontcornish.com

+44 (0) 20 7628 3396 Shore Capital Stockbrokers Limited  Joint Broker

Toby Gibbs / James Thomas (Corporate Advisory)



www.shorecapmarkets.co.uk

+44 (0) 20 7408 4050 Axis Capital Markets Limited  Joint Broker

Richard Hutchinson



www.axcap247.com

+44 (0) 20 3206 0320 St Brides Partners Limited

Susie Geliher www.stbridespartners.co.uk

+44 (0) 20 7236 1177

ABOUT VAST RESOURCES PLC

Vast Resources plc is a United Kingdom AIM listed mining company with mines and projects in Romania, Tajikistan, and Zimbabwe.

In Romania, the Company is focused on the rapid advancement of high-quality projects by recommencing production at previously producing mines.

The Company's Romanian portfolio includes 100% interest in Vast Baita Plai SA which owns 100% of the producing Baita Plai Polymetallic Mine, located in the Apuseni Mountains, Transylvania, an area which hosts Romania's largest polymetallic mines. The mine has a JORC compliant Reserve & Resource Report which underpins the initial mine production life of approximately 3-4 years with an in-situ total mineral resource of 15,695 tonnes copper equivalent with a further 1.8M-3M tonnes exploration target. The Company is now working on confirming an enlarged exploration target of up to 5.8M tonnes.

Story continues

The Company also owns the Manaila Polymetallic Mine in Romania, which the Company is looking to bring back into production following a period of care and maintenance. The Company has also been granted the Manaila Carlibaba Extended Exploitation Licence that will allow the Company to re-examine the exploitation of the mineral resources within the larger Manaila Carlibaba licence area.

Vast has an interest in a joint venture company which provides a share of revenue generated from the Takob Mine processing facility in Tajikistan. The Takob Mine opportunity, which is 100% financed, will provide Vast with a 12.25 percent royalty equivalent over all sales of non-ferrous concentrate and any other metals produced.

In Zimbabwe, the Company is preparing for the release of its diamonds previously mined by the Company and preparing for their marketing. Upon the finalisation of the process the Company will recommence its focus on the finalisation of the mining agreement on the Community Diamond Concession in the Marange Diamond Fields.




Marianne Harrison to Retire After Twenty Distinguished Years at Manulife and Five as President and CEO of John Hancock

TSX/NYSE/PSE: MFC SEHK: 945

BOSTON, March 3, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Today, John Hancock , a unit of Manulife (NYSE: MFC), announced that Marianne Harrison has decided to retire after twenty distinguished years with the company and that Brooks Tingle will become President and CEO of John Hancock, effective April 1st, 2023. Mr. Tingle will join Manulife's executive leadership team and report to Roy Gori, President and CEO of Manulife.

Ms. Harrison has led numerous leadership positions throughout her tenure, including as President and CEO of John Hancock since 2017. Before that, she served as President and CEO of Manulife's Canada division, President and General Manager of John Hancock's Long-Term Care business, and Manulife's Corporate Controller. She has been a constant champion for colleagues, a valued member of Manulife's executive leadership team, a strong DEI advocate, and successfully led John Hancock through the complexities of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Mr. Tingle currently serves as President and CEO of John Hancock Insurance and as the global leader of behavioral insurance for Manulife. Notably, he led John Hancock to embrace and implement the company's now market-leading position in behavioral insurance, which offers customers significant savings and rewards for living healthy. Prior to his current role, Mr. Tingle held various leadership roles across Marketing, Strategy, and Operations for John Hancock Insurance, building strong advanced analytics and overseeing new business, underwriting, claims, information technology, policy administration, customer service, and reinsurance administration.

Mr. Tingle serves on the boards of John Hancock's insurance companies, including John Hancock Life Insurance Company and John Hancock Life Insurance Company of New York. He is a member of the Board of The Partnership, Inc., LL Global, and the Tufts Nutrition Council for the Gerald J. and Dorothy R. Friedman School of Nutrition Science and Policy. He received an MBA from Boston University and a B.A. in Economics from the University of New Hampshire.

Story continues

Roy Gori, President and CEO of Manulife said: "Marianne's strong passion for our people has been a hallmark of her tenure. Throughout her time leading John Hancock, she has helped transform the business with an unwavering focus on our customers, shareholders, and the communities in which we operate. I'm confident that she and Brooks will smoothly transition leadership of John Hancock, given their shared passion for our mission. Brooks is a highly respected leader in our industry who brings a deep passion for the work we do. Thanks to his creativity, Brooks has led the evolution of our approach to behavioral insurance and introduced innovations to our product line, like our recently announced collaboration with GRAIL. I'm excited to welcome him to the Executive Leadership Team, and on behalf of our entire organization, wish Marianne the best in retirement."

Ms. Harrison said: "It has been an honor working with my colleagues across Manulife over the last twenty years, and to have led John Hancock these past five years. I can't think of a better person than Brooks to lead John Hancock. He has a bold vision for our industry and an unsurpassed commitment to customers. I'm confident he will make John Hancock an even stronger organization poised for future success."

Mr. Tingle said: "It's a privilege to be John Hancock's next President and CEO and join Manulife's leadership team. I am grateful to have learned so much from Marianne and look forward to working with her on a seamless transition. As a life insurer, we have a unique opportunity and responsibility to help people live longer, healthier, better lives. Doing so means we can create shared value between our shareholders, customers, and society  all aligned to improved longevity and better health outcomes. This is a concept we believe in so fundamentally that it is now a cornerstone of how we do business, and one that we intend to help shape the future of our company and industry."

About John Hancock and Manulife

John Hancock is a unit of Manulife Financial Corporation, a leading international financial services provider that helps people make their decisions easier and lives better by providing financial advice, insurance, and wealth and asset management solutions. Manulife Financial Corporation trades as MFC on the TSX, NYSE, and PSE, and under 945 on the SEHK. Manulife can be found at manulife.com .

One of the largest life insurers in the United States, John Hancock supports more than ten million Americans with a broad range of financial products, including life insurance and annuities . John Hancock also supports US investors by bringing leading investment capabilities and retirement planning and administration expertise to individuals and institutions. Additional information about John Hancock may be found at johnhancock.com .

Cision

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SOURCE John Hancock
C-Suite Network

New CEO to Drive Disruption with Executive Community Ecosystem

MIAMI, March 03, 2023 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Jeffrey Hayzlett, chairman and founder of C-Suite Network, and former Fortune 100 Global CMO, appoints Tricia Benn as Chief Executive Officer, ushering in the Executive Community Ecosystem of the C-Suite Network to disrupt the current model of executive networking and deliver a digital platform to accelerate business success. Benn replaces Hayzlett as the companys CEO and he will remain Chairman focusing on strategic capital partners and larger partners.



The implementation of the Executive Community Ecosystem brings together all key components -- community, content, counsel, and commerce ensuring that purpose-driven business leaders around the globe gain access to the financial, social, technical, and operational tools necessary to deliver profitable and scalable growth and drive real and meaningful impact to their communities.

As CEO, Benn will be responsible for leading the development and implementation of the C-Suite Network's new "Executive Community Ecosystem" platform while working closely with Hayzlett to see that success through the thousands of C-Suite Network leaders, to millions of executives that encompass their monthly reach.

Old school, hand-to-hand business card swap isnt enough to deliver business success in todays fast-paced digital world, said Hayzlett. Our model will become an indispensable requirement for sustainable and profitable growth among all purpose-driven business leaders. We are committed to building the C-Suite Network platform to create efficiencies that deliver growth in the digital and virtual era."

Before her appointment as Chief Executive Officer, Benn served as the C-Suite Networks Chief Community Officer and has been transitioning into the new role and responsibilities over the past two years.

Having worked with some of the most successful leaders in every industry and sector over the course of my career, and Jeffrey Hayzlett for the past decade, I am honored to assume the role of CEO. I am committed to continuing to build on the C-Suite Network brand promise of accelerated success for great business leaders through our platform of community, content, counsel, and commerce. We are upleveling our commitment to inspiring, educating, and providing the tools needed to succeed for mission-driven business leaders in North America and around the world, said Benn.

Story continues

Benn offers a 25-year track record of industry disruption, building and scaling businesses, and consulting to thousands of top-level executives, business owners, influencers, government, and not-for-profit organizations. She served as a senior executive for three enterprise-level organizations in market research, telecommunications, media, marketing, and advertising. As a Global Chief Marketing & Strategy Officer and U.S. Managing Director within a $3 billion global holding company, driving double digit growth year-over-year.

For additional information about the C-Suite Network, https://c-suitenetwork.com/.

About C-Suite Network

C-Suite Network is the worlds most trusted network of C-Suite leaders, with a focus on providing growth, development, and networking opportunities for business executives with titles of vice president and above, owners, investors and influencers with what they need to achieve professional success.

C-Suite Network offers invitation-only events as well as custom-tailored content through all its entities: C-Suite TV, C-Suite Radio, C-Suite Book Club, and C-Suite Network Advisors. Learn more at www.c-suitenetwork.com, or connect on LinkedIn, Twitter and Facebook.

Media Contact:

Keira Rodriguez

Director of Content

C-Suite Network

Keira.rodriguez@c-suitenetwork.com

914.830.3241




MISSISSAUGA, ON, March 3, 2023 /CNW/ - Today, the Honourable Ahmed Hussen, Minister of Housing and Diversity and Inclusion, alongside Iqwinder Gaheer, Member of Parliament for Mississauga-Malton, and Julia Deans, President and Chief Executive Officer, Habitat for Humanity Canada, announced a federal investment of $25 million to build 500 new affordable homes across Canada over the next three years.

Gouvernement du Canada Logo (CNW Group/Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation)

This new investment joins previous investments of $55.8 million by the Government of Canada in Habitat for Humanity to support the creation of 617 affordable housing units across Canada. Those previous investments include an initial investment of $32.4 million to create 417 homes in 2019, a top-up investment of $3.4 million in 2020, and a $20 million investment to support equitable access to homeownership for Black Canadian families announced in 2020.

These investments by the Government of Canada were made possible thanks to the National Housing Co-Investment Fund (NHCF), a key component of the National Housing Strategy (NHS).

Habitat for Humanity homes are energy-efficient and one in every five homes is built to meet accessibility standards. Contributions from federal, provincial, and municipal governments, and hundreds of donors and volunteers, enable Habitat for Humanity Canada to serve vulnerable populations including single mothers and their children, Indigenous peoples, Black families, recent immigrants, persons with disabilities, seniors, and veterans.

Quotes:

"Every Canadian deserves a safe and affordable place to call home. We are pleased to continue our partnership with Habitat for Humanity Canada to help more Canadians achieve their dream of homeownership. This partnership has already had a positive impact on the lives of those families who now have an affordable home. We are committed to working with our partners to create more affordable housing options for Canadians from coast to coast to coast. This is just one of the many ways our government's National Housing Strategy continues to ensure no one is left behind."  The Honourable Ahmed Hussen, Minister of Housing and Diversity and Inclusion

Story continues

"Our government believes that all Canadians deserve a safe place to call home. Across the country, we are working with our partners to build the affordable housing needed to create healthy, sustainable communities. Thanks to today's announcement and our partnership with Habitat for Humanity Canada, hundreds of families will be able to enjoy a safe and stable environment across the country, leading to better outcomes, greater community engagement and cohesion."  Iqwinder Gaheer, Member of Parliament for Mississauga-Malton

"Habitat for Humanity Canada is committed to ensuring that more families can build strength, stability, and independence through affordable homeownership. Tackling the housing crisis needs an all-in approach that includes non-profits and governments working together. Thanks to investments through the National Housing Co-Investment Fund, we continue to increase our impact from coast to coast to coast, creating opportunities for people facing barriers to access."  Julia Deans, President and CEO, Habitat for Humanity Canada

Quick facts:

The National Housing Co-Investment Fund (NHCF) is a program under the National Housing Strategy (NHS) that gives priority to projects that help people who need it most, including women and children fleeing family violence, seniors, Indigenous peoples, people living with disabilities, those with mental health or addiction issues, veterans, and young adults.

In 2019, the Government of Canada announced a $32.4 million financial commitment over three years (2019-2021) to Habitat for Humanity Canada and its affiliate organizations. With this commitment by the National Housing Co-Investment Fund (NHCF), a pillar initiative of the National Housing Strategy (NHS), and the work of Habitat for Humanity and its affiliate organizations, 417 new homes will be supporting lower income families in communities across Canada.

In 2020, the Government of Canada announced a $20 million investment through the National Housing Co-Investment Fund (NHCF) to create 200 homeownership opportunities across the country for Black Canadians.

Budget 2022 proposes to advance $2.9 billion in funding under the NHCF to accelerate the creation of up to 4,300 new units and the repair of up to 17,800 units.

The Government of Canada's National Housing Strategy (NHS) is an ambitious, 10-year plan that will invest over $82+ billion to give more Canadians a place to call home.

Related links:

As Canada's authority on housing, CMHC contributes to the stability of the housing market and financial system, provides support for Canadians in housing need, and offers unbiased housing research and advice to all levels of Canadian government, consumers and the housing industry. CMHC's aim is that by 2030, everyone in Canada has a home they can afford and that meets their needs. For more information, please visit cmhc.ca or follow us on Twitter, Instagram, YouTube, LinkedIn and Facebook.

To find out more about the National Housing Strategy, visit: www.placetocallhome.ca.

Check out the National Housing Strategy Housing Funding Initiatives Map to see affordable housing projects that have been developed across Canada.

For information on the National Infrastructure Contribution Program (NICP), visit: https://www.csc-scc.gc.ca/publications/005007-4500-2020-2021-03-en.shtml

For more information on Connective Support Society, visit: https://connective.ca.

Backgrounder

Since 2019, CMHC projects in the following communities have been completed or are currently underway.

Local Habitat Communities supported Funded units Total CMHC Investment since 2019 Camrose Alberta: Camrose 6 $ 363,944 Cornwall & The

Counties Ontario: Cornwall 5 $ 315,000 Edmonton Alberta: Edmonton,

Grande Prairie, Leduc

and Spruce Grove 26 $ 2,368,355 Fredericton Area New Brunswick:

Edmunston,

Fredericton, Minto,

Oromocto and Verette 16 $ 1,030,973 Greater Ottawa Ontario: Ottawa 5 $ 500,000 Greater Ottawa &

Habitat

Thousand

Islands Ontario: Kemptville 15 $1,014,750 Greater Toronto

Area Ontario: Brampton,

Georgina, Oshawa,

Pickering and Toronto 92 $ 9,142,700 Greater

Vancouver British Columbia:

Mission 8 $ 800,000 Halton-

Mississauga-

Dufferin Ontario: Mississauga 3 $ 225,000 Hamilton Ontario: Hamilton,

Waterdown 10 $ 838,250 Heartland

Ontario Ontario: Brant

County, Brantford,

Drumbo, London,

Simcoe, St. Thomas

and Tillsonburg 55 $ 4,240,333 Huron County Ontario: Goderich and

Hansall 2 $ 131,212 Kingston

Limestone

Region Ontario: Kingston 29 $ 1,700,000 Manitoba Manitoba: Brandon,

Portage la Prairie,

Selkirk, Winkler and

Winnipeg 88 $ 7,594,522 Mid-Vancouver

Island British Columbia:

Duncan, Nanaimo 14 $ 900,000 Moncton New Brunswick:

Dieppe 3 $ 165,000 Newfoundland &

Labrador Newfoundland &

Labrador: Bonavista 2 $ 118,597 Niagara Ontario: Niagara

Falls, Welland,

Thorold 9 $ 670,745 Northumberland Ontario: Baltimore,

Bewdley, Coburg and

Hastings 13 $ 881,721 Nova Scotia Nova Scotia: Oxford

and Stellarton 2 $ 123,903 Okanagan British Columbia:

Lake Country 12 $ 1,000,000 Ontario Gateway

North Ontario: Midland and

Pointe au Baril 3 $ 300,000 Peterborough &

Kawartha Ontario: Peterborough 54 $ 4,750,000 Prince Edward

Island Prince Edward Island:

Lennox Island First

Nation 7 $ 347,367 Prince Edward-

Hastings Ontario: Trenton 4 $ 350,000 Quebec Quebec: Montreal and

Sherbrooke 11 $ 713,058 Red Deer Alberta: Blackfalds 12 $ 870,600 Saint John

Region New Brunswick: Saint

John and Quispamsis 2 $ 186,187 Sarnia-Lambton Ontario: Sarnia and

Forest 4 $ 200,000 Saskatchewan

(Regina) Saskatchewan:

Moose Jaw and

Regina 6 $ 508,159 Sault Ste. Marie

& Area Ontario: Sault Ste.

Marie 4 $ 293,077 Southeast BC British Columbia:

Castlegar 4 $ 260,000 Southern Alberta Alberta: Brooks and

Calgary 73 $ 5,827,829 Sunshine Coast British Columbia:

Sechelt 4 $ 260,000 Thunder Bay Ontario: Thunder Bay 1 $ 50,000 Vancouver Island

North British Columbia:

Campbell River and

Courtenay 19 $ 1,511,800 Victoria British Columbia:

North Saanich and

Saanichton 11 $ 1,100,000 Waterloo Region Ontario: Cambridge

and Kitchener 30 $ 1,833,650 Wellington-

Dufferin-Guelph Ontario: Guelph,

Fergus 50 $ 3,155,832 Windsor-Essex Ontario: Windsor and

Kingsville 12 $ 879,200 Yukon Yukon: Whitehorse 2 $ 198,846

Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation Logo (CNW Group/Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation)

SOURCE Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation

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Pune, India - (NewMediaWire) - March 3, 2023 - "Cement" Size, Scope, and Forecast 2023-2031 report has been added to the Market Research Archive of Absolute Reports. Industry experts and researchers have offered an authoritative and concise analysis of the Global Cement with respect to various aspects such as growth factors, challenges, restraints, developments, trends, and opportunities for growth. This report will surely be a handy tool for market players to come up with effective strategies with the aim of strengthening their positions in the market.

What is the Cement growth?

In 2021, Vietnam's GDP increased by 2.58%, reached 3626.19 billion USD. Considering the spread of COVID-19 in 2020-2021, the annual GDP growth rate of 2.58% is already a good figure in the world. Vietnam's economy has been increasing rapidly for many years, but wages of the manufacturing are still at a low level, which were less than 50% in China and far below that of the developed countries in 2021.

Vietnam cement and clinker production volume reached 101.22 million tons in 2021, increased 1.1% YOY.

According to Researchers analysis, compared to China or other developed countries, low labor cost is one of advantage of Vietnam cement industry. Besides, Vietnam possesses rich ore resources, which are raw materials of cement. The production cost of cement is mainly influenced by coal price.

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Construction of infrastructure and booming property industry contributed to increasing domestic consumption of cement in Vietnam in recent years. Several large infrastructure projects are also underway. However, urbanization rate of Vietnam is still very low, only less than 40.4% by the end of 2021, which means the consumption of cement is not currently at the peak.

Cement designed capacity in Vietnam is expected to surge in the next three to five years thanks to aggressive expansion of local manufacturers including Tan Thang, Vissai, and Xuan Thanh. In conclusion, Vietnam is expected to face with continuous supply surplus before reaching equilibrium. In other words, export volume of cement is estimated to keep rising in the future.

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According to Researchers analysis, Vietnam's cement production will maintain growth from 2022 to 2031. The drivers of rising cement production volume in Vietnam include (1) the rising demand for cement in the domestic market with the development of Vietnam's real estate industry and infrastructure (2) the export volume will also grow year by year due to the low-price level of cement in Vietnam.

Browse Detailed TOC, Tables and Figures with Charts which is spread across 60 Pages that provides exclusive data, information, vital statistics, trends, and competitive landscape details in this niche sector.

Client Focus



1. Does this report consider the impact of COVID-19 and the Russia-Ukraine war on the Cement?



Yes. As the COVID-19 and the Russia-Ukraine war are profoundly affecting the global supply chain relationship and raw material price system, we have definitely taken them into consideration throughout the research, in Chapters, we elaborate at full length on the impact of the pandemic and the war on the Cement Industry.

Final Report will add the analysis of the impact of Russia-Ukraine War and COVID-19 on this Cement Industry.

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This report provides a pin-point analysis of changing dynamics and emerging trends in the Global Cement. Additionally, it provides a futuristic perspective on various factors that are likely to fuel the growth of the Global Cement in the coming years. Further, the authors of the report have shed light on the factors that may hinder the growth of the Global Cement.

Cement - Competitive and Segmentation Analysis:

2. How do you determine the list of the key players included in the report?



With the aim of clearly revealing the competitive situation of the industry, we concretely analyze not only the leading enterprises that have a voice on a global scale, but also the regional small and medium-sized companies that play key roles and have plenty of potential growth.

Top Key Players of the Global Cement

1 Vietnam Cement Industry Corporation

2 The Vissai Cement Group

3 Xuan Thanh Cement Joint Stock Company

4 Nghi Son Cement Corporation (NSCC)

5 Luks Group (Vietnam Holdings) Co. LTD.

6 Tan Thang Cement Joint Stock Company

Short Description About Cement:

The Global Cement is anticipated to rise at a considerable rate during the forecast period, between 2023 and 2031. In 2023, the market is growing at a steady rate and with the rising adoption of strategies by key players, the market is expected to rise over the projected horizon.

This report studies the Cement, covering market size for segment by type, by application, by sales channel (Direct Channel, Distribution Channel), and by region (North America, Europe, Asia-Pacific, South America and Middle East & Africa).

This report provides detailed historical analysis of global market for Cement from 2015-2020, and provides extensive market forecasts from 2023-2031 by region/country and subsectors. It covers the sales/revenue/value, gross margin, historical growth and future perspectives in the Cement.

Moreover, the impact of COVID-19 is also concerned. Since outbreak in December 2019, the COVID-19 virus has spread to all around the world and caused huge losses of lives and economy, and the global manufacturing, tourism and financial markets have been hit hard, while the online market/industry increase. Fortunately, with the development of vaccine and other effort by global governments and organizations, the negative impact of COVID-19 is expected to subside and the global economy is expected to recover.

This research covers COVID-19 impacts on the upstream, midstream and downstream industries. Moreover, this research provides an in-depth market evaluation by highlighting information on various aspects covering market dynamics like drivers, barriers, opportunities, threats, and industry news & trends. In the end, this report also provides in-depth analysis and professional advices on how to face the post COIVD-19 period.

The research methodology used to estimate and forecast this market begins by capturing the revenues of the key players and their shares in the market. Various secondary sources such as press releases, annual reports, non-profit organizations, industry associations, governmental agencies and customs data, have been used to identify and collect information useful for this extensive commercial study of the market. Calculations based on this led to the overall market size. After arriving at the overall market size, the total market has been split into several segments and sub-segments, which have then been verified through primary research by conducting extensive interviews with industry experts such as CEOs, VPs, directors, and executives. The data triangulation and market breakdown procedures have been employed to complete the overall market engineering process and arrive at the exact statistics for all segments and sub-segments.

Get a Sample Copy of the Cement Report 2023

3. What are your main data sources?



Both Primary and Secondary data sources are being used while compiling the report.



Primary sources include extensive interviews of key opinion leaders and industry experts (such as experienced front-line staff, directors, CEOs, and marketing executives), downstream distributors, as well as end-users.Secondary sources include the research of the annual and financial reports of the top companies, public files, new journals, etc. We also cooperate with some third-party databases.

Geographically, the detailed analysis of consumption, revenue, market share and growth rate, historical data and forecast (2023-2031) of the following regions are covered in Chapter 4 and Chapter 7:

North America (United States, Canada and Mexico)

Europe (Germany, UK, France, Italy, Russia and Turkey etc.)

Asia-Pacific (China, Japan, Korea, India, Australia, Indonesia, Thailand, Philippines, Malaysia and Vietnam)

South America (Brazil, Argentina, Columbia etc.)

Middle East and Africa (Saudi Arabia, UAE, Egypt, Nigeria and South Africa

Please find a more complete list of data sources in Chapters

1.To study and analyze the global Cement consumption (value) by key regions/countries, product type and application

2.To understand the structure of Cement by identifying its various sub segments.

3.Focuses on the key global Cement manufacturers, to define, describe and analyze the value, market share, market competition landscape, Porter's five forces analysis, SWOT analysis and development plans in next few years.

4.To analyze the Cement with respect to individual growth trends, future prospects, and their contribution to the total market.

5.To share detailed information about the key factors influencing the growth of the market (growth potential, opportunities, drivers, industry-specific challenges and risks).

6.To project the consumption of Cement submarkets, with respect to key regions (along with their respective key countries).

7.To analyze competitive developments such as expansions, agreements, new product launches, and acquisitions in the market.

8.To strategically profile the key players and comprehensively analyze their growth strategies.

Customization of the Report

4. Can I modify the scope of the report and customize it to suit my requirements?



Yes. Customized requirements of multi-dimensional, deep-level and high-quality can help our customers precisely grasp market opportunities, effortlessly confront market challenges, properly formulate market strategies and act promptly, thus to win them sufficient time and space for market competition.

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Detailed TOC of Cement Market Insights and Forecast to 2031

1 Development Environment of Vietnam Cement Industry

1.1 Economic Environment

1.1.1 Vietnam's Economy

1.1.2 Minimum Wage Standard in Vietnam

1.2 Policy Environment

1.2.1 Preferential Policies on Foreign Investment

1.2.2 Policies Related to Imports and Exports

1.3 The impact of COVID-19 on Vietnam's cement industry

2 Analysis on Market Status of Vietnam Cement Industry

2.1 Supply of Vietnam Cement Industry

2.1.1 Output of Vietnam Cement Industry

2.1.2 Capacity of Vietnam Cement Industry

2.2 Production Cost of Vietnam Cement Industry

2.2.1 Raw Material Cost

2.2.2 Electricity Cost

2.2.3 Coal Cost

2.2.4 Human Resources Cost

2.3 Demand on Cement in Vietnam

2.3.1 Consumption of Cement in Vietnam

2.3.2 Infrastructure

2.3.3 Real Estate

3 Analysis on Import and Export of Cement

3.1 Overview of Cement Imports and Exports in Vietnam

3.2 Major Export Destinations of Vietnam Cement

4 Major Cement Manufacturers in Vietnam

4.1 Vietnam Cement Industry Corporation

4.2 The Vissai Cement Group

4.3 Xuan Thanh Cement Joint Stock Company

4.4 Nghi Son Cement Corporation (NSCC)

4.5 Luks Group (Vietnam Holdings) Co. LTD.

4.6 Tan Thang Cement Joint Stock Company

5 Prospect of Cement Industry in Vietnam

5.1 Factors influencing Vietnam Cement Industry

5.1.1 Market Driving Force and Opportunities

5.1.2 Threats and Challenges

5.2 Forecast on Production and Export of Vietnam Cement, 2022-2031

5.2.1 Forecast on Production

5.2.2 Forecast on Demand

5.2.3 Forecast on Export

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SkyQuest Technology Consulting Pvt. Ltd.

SkyQuest has produced a comprehensive report on the cloud analytics market, utilizing a robust methodology to provide an in-depth industry analysis. The report encompasses a SWOT analysis, technology assessment, economic evaluation, product benchmarking, recent developments, and accurate forecasting to offer reliable and precise insights into the market. This report is beneficial in comprehending the present market situation, identifying key players operating in the market, and analyzing their market share, strategies, and key developments.

Westford, USA,, March 03, 2023 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- The cloud analytics market is witnessing significant dominance by North America, followed by Europe, due to businesses' growing adoption of digital platforms and the rising demand for data connectivity through cloud environments. With the widespread availability of cloud-based solutions, companies can now easily access and analyze vast amounts of data, enabling them to gain insights into customer behavior, market trends, and other critical business metrics. As businesses continue to focus on improving their operations and gaining a competitive advantage, the importance of cloud analytics will likely continue to increase, driving further growth in the market.

The neo bank market is expected to exhibit tremendous growth in the coming years, with projections indicating that it will reach USD 927.12 billion by 2028. This expansion will positively impact the cloud analytics market as neo banks increasingly turn to cloud-based solutions to power their operations. Furthermore, as neo banks continue to gain popularity, they are likely to generate ever-larger volumes of data, which will drive demand for cloud analytics solutions.

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Browse in-depth TOC on "Cloud Analytics Market"

Pages - 274

Tables - 125

Figures - 68

Cloud analytics tools have emerged as a game-changer for businesses that rely heavily on data-driven insights. These tools provide businesses with a powerful solution that connects to multiple data sources and updates automatically to provide the latest results. In addition, with cloud analytics tools, businesses can access various processing applications to help uncover unexpected patterns, insights, and novel uses.

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Prominent Players in Cloud Analytics Market

Oracle Corporation

Alphabet Inc.

Hexaware Technologies Limited

SAS Institute Inc.

The Hewlett Packard Enterprise Company

Salesforce.com, Inc.

Teradata Corporation

Atos

Alteryx, Inc.

SAP SE

TIBCO Software, Inc.

MicroStrategy Incorporated

Sisense

Public Cloud Segment to Drive Tremendous Growth as It Helps Businesses to Reduce Costs and Improve Operational Efficiency

As per industry reports, the public cloud segment has captured the largest share of the cloud analytics market in 2021, and this trend is expected to continue in the coming years. As more businesses embrace digital transformation and remote working practices, the demand for cloud analytics solutions is predicted to rise. As a result, the public cloud segment will likely remain the preferred choice for many from 2022 to 2028. As a result, the public cloud market is predicted to garner swift growth in the coming years, with industry experts predicting that it will reach over USD 649.62 billion by 2028. This projection comes from SkyQuest, a leading market research and consulting firm specializing in analyzing technology sector trends.

The cloud analytics market has witnessed significant growth in recent years, with the North American region emerging as the leading revenue contributor in 2021. The regional progress can be attributed to the increasing adoption of advanced technologies and numerous large-scale businesses in the region. In addition, the need for automation has also played a significant role in driving market expansion, as rising labor costs and labor shortages have prompted businesses to seek more efficient and cost-effective solutions

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BFSI Segment to Generate Higher Sales as Cloud Analytics Platforms Enable BFSI Companies to Make More Informed Decisions

In the cloud analytics market, the BFSI industry reigns supreme as the largest vertical, holding the lion's share of the overall market in 2021. And it's not just a one-time thing - this trend is expected to continue from 2022 to 2028. The industry is witnessing a continuous increase in the reliance of enterprises on web-based solutions in recent years. As a result, the demand for cloud-based analytics solutions has also skyrocketed. In addition, the fin-tech sector has seen a surge in growth in recent years, with many new start-ups popping up to offer innovative financial solutions. Often built entirely on the cloud, these start-ups require robust analytics tools to operate effectively.

The cloud analytics market has grown significantly in recent years, with Europe emerging as a promising regional force in 2021. According to market research, Europe is expected to become one of the prominent players in the market by 2028. Europe's emergence as a key player in the market is due to several factors. Firstly, the region has a large and diverse economy with various industries that can benefit from cloud analytics. Secondly, there is a growing demand for data-driven insights across Europe as companies seek to improve their decision-making processes and gain a competitive edge.

A new research report has recently been published, focusing on the global cloud analytics market. The report provides a key analysis of the market size, share, and key players operating in the industry, as well as an in-depth assessment of the current market scenario and the impact of significant events and market conditions across various regions. In addition, SkyQuest's report highlights the key trends affecting the growth rate and valuation estimates of the global market and how these trends impact the market's overall performance.

Key Developments in Cloud Analytics Market

Sonata Software, a leading global technology company, has recently signed a definitive agreement with Quant Systems Inc., a prominent enterprise data analytics and cloud modernization firm. The agreement will enable Sonata Software to leverage Quant Systems' expertise in data analytics and cloud modernization to enhance its capabilities and provide its clients with cutting-edge solutions. The partnership is a positive development for the technology industry, as it brings together two leading players with complementary strengths and expertise.

Teradata, a leading data analytics and cloud solutions company, is focusing on expanding its partnerships with hyperscalers and system integrators (SI) in its push toward cloud-based solutions. The company is looking to leverage the expertise and resources of hyperscalers like Amazon Web Services, Microsoft Azure, and Google Cloud, as well as system integrators, to offer its clients more comprehensive and integrated solutions. By partnering with hyperscalers and SI, Teradata seeks to capitalize on the rapidly expanding cloud market.

Amazon Web Services (AWS) is set to invest $6 billion in Malaysia by 2037. The investment, part of AWS's plan to expand its cloud services in Southeast Asia, will focus on developing local talent, supporting the country's digital transformation initiatives, and establishing new cloud regions in Malaysia. The partnership between AWS and the Malaysian government will also enable local businesses to access world-class cloud technology, allowing them to scale and grow their operations.

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Key Questions Answered in Cloud Analytics Market Report

What are the key factors driving or hindering the growth of the target market, and how are these factors affecting the market's performance in terms of valuation estimates and growth rate?

Which sub-segments within the target market are expected to outperform overall, and what are the main factors driving their growth?

How do the top players in the market differentiate themselves from their competitors, and what are the primary factors contributing to their success or challenges in the market?

How do demand and supply vary across different regions within the target market, and how does this impact revenue growth in each region?

Related Reports in SkyQuests Library:

Global Cloud IT Service Management (Cloud ITSM) Market

Global Tax Management Market

Global Neobanking Market

Global Cloud Security Market

Global Audiobooks Market

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NEW YORK, March 03, 2023--(BUSINESS WIRE)--CohnReznick, a leading advisory, assurance, and tax firm, today announced the partners and employees of Daszkal Bolton (DB), a prestigious, regional South Florida accounting, tax, and advisory firm, have joined CohnReznick effective March 1. This is the latest strategic expansion for CohnReznick to support geographic and client growth. CohnReznick now has approximately 350 Florida-based team members with offices in Boca Raton, Fort Lauderdale (Sunrise), Jupiter, and Miami.

DBs managing partner Tim Devlin will continue to lead the Boca Raton, Fort Lauderdale, and Jupiter offices in collaboration with CohnReznicks Mike Micholas who leads the Miami office and the Mid-Atlantic Region for CohnReznick. Fellow DB Executive Committee members, Teri Kaye, Scott Walters, and Brett Burgan will continue to lead in their respective practice areas. CohnReznick has robust growth and hiring plans to expand the Florida team across advisory, assurance, and tax disciplines.

"Weve been invested in Florida for a long time supporting our clients in the public and private sectors. Florida is a critical market for our clients, we are thrilled to be adding the talented DB team to our firm so we can meet the demands of the market, support our clients investment and expansion throughout South Florida with our deep industry expertise and specialized services, and continue to attract and retain world-class talent. We share the same values when it comes to our culture, creating an environment where our people can thrive personally and professionally," said CohnReznick CEO David Kessler.

Devlin added, "Daszkal Bolton just celebrated its 30th anniversary as a firm. As we look to build upon our legacy and create the best opportunities for our clients and team members in the future, we are confident CohnReznicks culture, leadership, and capabilities will accelerate our success."

Allan D. Koltin, CEO of Koltin Consulting Group, who advised both firms on the combination commented, "CohnReznick is quickly becoming the preferred firm for high performing, entrepreneurial CPA and Advisory firms to combine with.

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Daszkal Bolton is one of the most prominent and respected CPA firms in South Florida and was courted by many regional and national firms. In the end, they picked CohnReznick based on similar cultures, depth of resources, technology advancements, and tremendous growth opportunities for Daszkal Boltons people.

From a client perspective, CohnReznicks depth of technical expertise, industry specialization, and their broad array of advisory and consulting services were a key differentiator."

In addition to an impressive two-year organic growth trajectory, CohnReznick has been expanding its presence in several strategic markets, recently adding the team from BKM Sowan Horan in Dallas, TX and before that, extended its Northeast footprint in Massachusetts with the addition of the team from Kevin P. Martin and Associates.

Highlights of CohnReznicks reputation include:

For the second consecutive year, the firm was recognized by Newsweek as one of its 100 Most Loved Companies  the only public accounting firm on the list

The firm was recently certified as a Great Place to Work

CohnReznick was recognized by Global M&A Network as the Transactions Advisor of the Year for 2022

CohnReznicks Florida offices include:

2401 NW Boca Raton Blvd., in Boca Raton

490 Sawgrass Corporate Parkway, in Sunrise

4455 Military Trail, in Jupiter

1221 Brickell Avenue, in Miami

About CohnReznick

As a leading advisory, assurance, and tax firm, CohnReznick helps forward-thinking organizations achieve their vision by optimizing performance, maximizing value, and managing risk. Clients benefit from the right team with the right capabilities; proven processes customized to their individual needs; and leaders with vital industry knowledge and relationships. Headquartered in New York, NY with offices nationwide, the firm serves organizations around the world through its global subsidiaries and membership in Nexia International. For more information, visit www.cohnreznick.com.

About Daszkal Bolton

Founded in 1992 in Boca Raton by Michael Daszkal and Jeff Bolton, Daszkal Bolton has a long history of standing alongside clients and working with them to grow and develop. What began with two partners has grown into a leading accounting and advisory firm in South Florida, serving clients in Miami-Dade, Broward and Palm Beach, as well as around the country and world. With approximately 250 people and offices in Boca Raton, Fort Lauderdale (Sunrise) and Jupiter, Daszkal Bolton continues to work with growth-oriented companies and their principals, as well as high-net-worth families.

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20230301006173/en/

Contacts

Julie Murawski

Director, Corporate Marketing

CohnReznick LLP

julie.murawski@cohnreznick.com

973-364-6693
CALGARY, AB, March 3, 2023 /CNW/ - On March 3, 2023, the Board of Directors of Servus Credit Union and connectFirst announced an intent to merge the two organizations to benefit members, employees, and our Albertan communities, subject to satisfactory due diligence as well as member and regulatory approval.

bank where you belong. (CNW Group/Connect First Credit Union)

The announcement was made following initial discussions that commenced in late 2022 between the two boards and subsequent signing of a Memorandum of Understanding which charts the course for continued evaluation of this opportunity for each organization's members. The evaluation would explore how a merger could leverage combined expertise to deliver economies of scale, with an objective to propel both organizations forward in the provision of world-class financial products, services and member experience. The new entity's relative size would see over $31 billion in assets under administration.

"We're excited at the potential of joining forces with Servus, which would create one of the leading credit unions in Canada," says Andrew Eberl, connectFirst's Board Chair. "For both organizations, our members are at the heart of everything we do, and this opportunity would enable us to deliver the elevated financial services members expect while also growing our collective reach and impact.

Servus' Board Chair, John Lamb, says, "In today's rapidly shifting financial landscape, scale matters. This opportunity would favourably position our organizations to respond to shifting competitive pressures, affording both the opportunity for further investment into things like digital innovation and preparation for open banking. This will ensure we can bring our collective, best-in-class member experiences to more people for years to come."

Ian Burns, President and CEO of Servus Credit Union, who the boards intend to appoint as leader of the joint entity says, "We're delighted by what we see as a clear opportunity to build on both organizations' strengths to deliver a leading member experience across the province. This is good news for Albertans, our members and our employees. This is an opportunity to ensure the power and principles of cooperative banking continue to benefit Alberta communities for generations to come."

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"Our two credit unions have a shared mission in positively impacting the lives of our members and the communities in which we live," says Don Coulter, CEO of connectFirst. "We look forward to working together to create a stronger and more competitive financial institution that is driven by purpose and dedicated to creating lasting positive impacts for our local communities."

Both credit unions will now embark on independent due diligence assessments of the merger opportunity with further details and next steps to be addressed after completion. The intended merger is subject to regulatory approvals and a member vote.

ABOUT SERVUS CREDIT UNION

Servus Credit Union has served Albertans for over 80 years with a full line of secure financial services. The financial institution has more than 100 branches in 59 communities throughout the province as well as options for online, mobile and telephone banking. Servus' noble purpose is to help members reimagine their financial fitness so that they feel good about their money. For more information about Servus, call 1.877.378.8728 or visit servus.ca.

ABOUT CONNECTFIRST CREDIT UNION

connectFirst Credit Union, one of the largest and most successful credit unions in Canada, is a full-service financial institution with over $7 billion in assets under administration. connectFirst employs 750 Albertans who provide a wide range of financial products and advice in more than 40 communities across central and southern Alberta. It serves over 125,000 members through a community-focused approach to banking.

SOURCE Connect First Credit Union

Cision

View original content to download multimedia: http://www.newswire.ca/en/releases/archive/March2023/03/c4216.html
JACKSON, Miss., March 3, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- EastGroup Properties (NYSE: EGP) (the "Company", "EastGroup") announced today that its Board of Directors declared a quarterly cash dividend of $1.25 per share payable on April 14, 2023, to shareholders of record of Common Stock on March 31, 2023. This dividend is the 173rd consecutive quarterly distribution to EastGroup's shareholders and represents an annualized dividend rate of $5.00 per share. EastGroup has increased or maintained its dividend for 30 consecutive years. The Company has increased it 27 years over that period, including increases in each of the last 11 years.

EastGroup Properties, Inc. logo. (PRNewsFoto/EAST GROUP PROPERTIES, INC.) (PRNewsFoto/) (PRNewsFoto/)

EastGroup Properties, Inc. (NYSE: EGP), a member of the S&P Mid-Cap 400 and Russell 1000 Indexes, is a self-administered equity real estate investment trust focused on the development, acquisition and operation of industrial properties in major Sunbelt markets throughout the United States with an emphasis in the states of Florida, Texas, Arizona, California and North Carolina. The Company's goal is to maximize shareholder value by being a leading provider in its markets of functional, flexible and quality business distribution space for location sensitive customers (primarily in the 20,000 to 100,000 square foot range). The Company's strategy for growth is based on ownership of premier distribution facilities generally clustered near major transportation features in supply-constrained submarkets. EastGroup's portfolio, including development projects and value-add acquisitions in lease-up and under construction, currently includes approximately 56.9 million square feet.

EastGroup Properties, Inc. press releases are available at www.eastgroup.net.

Cision

View original content to download multimedia:https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/eastgroup-properties-announces-173rd-consecutive-quarterly-cash-dividend-301762265.html

SOURCE EastGroup Properties
PARIS  Arezzo & Co. is stepping up its game, opening a new chapter in its 50-year-long history.

The Brazilian conglomerate grouping brands such as Arezzo, Schutz and Alexandre Birman has acquired a majority stake in hip Italian footwear label Paris Texas, WWD and Footwear News have learned.

More from WWD

In particular, Arezzo & Co. has invested 25 million euros to take over 65 percent of the brand Annamaria Brivio launched in 2015, which generated sales of around 15 million euros last year.

Marking the groups first international acquisition, the deal will be officially revealed Friday morning at a joint event during Paris Fashion Week.

Zoom-calling from Tuscany before departing for Paris, Arezzo & Co.s chief executive officer and footwear designer Alexandre Birman underscored that the operation is just the first move toward a new, ambitious direction the company is taking.

This moment for us is very important and beyond just one acquisition. Its the beginning of a new era of Arezzo & Co. and of a transformation that we have been studying and planning for years, he said. The real business of luxury shoes is made in Italy. Thats the reality and that will always be the case So for our company to really become international in the luxury womens footwear landscape, its crucial to have an Italian relevance, said Birman, who founded his namesake brand in 2008, after already establishing the Schutz label at only 18 in 1995.

A knack for shoemaking runs in his family since his father Anderson, chairman of Arezzo & Co., and uncle Jefferson founded the namesake brand Arezzo in 1972. Five decades later, the company evolved into a multibranded group that includes also Anacapri, Fiever, Alme, My Shoes, Baw Clothing, Carol Bassi and the lifestyle arm AR&Co, which counts brands such as Reserva. In 2019, Arezzo & Co. revealed an agreement to be the exclusive distributor of the Vans brand of footwear, apparel and accessories in Brazil, too.

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Listed on the Sao Paulo Stock Exchange since 2011, in the first nine months of 2022 the company reported sales up 57.4 percent to 3.6 billion Brazilian reals, or roughly $700 million, compared to the same period in 2021.

Paris Texas spring 2023

Birman underscored the unique positioning of the group, pointing to the market share Arezzo & Co. has in Brazil, which he said is around 38 percent for the womens shoe market of footwear above $100. He also highlighted how the new Italian focus will build on the firms international expansion kick-started a decade ago and that has so far resulted in a strong presence, especially in the U.S., a market that accounts for 10 percent and around $100 million out of the total business.

Finding the right partner in Italy was the first step to set in motion Birmans expansion plan. My kind of assessment in the brand started in September of 2022. I spoke with eight companies and although the other seven I appreciate and admire, it was not the right timing [for them], he said.

Conversely, the connection with Brivio and Paris Texas cofounder and chief executive officer Massimo Baltimora was natural. After first meeting them at the Four Seasons hotel in Milan during fashion week in September, Birman visited the brands showrooms both in the city and Paris. Ten days after, Brivio and Baltimora traveled to Brazil and got to see up-close Arezzo & Co.s product development center and a few of its factories in the southern part of the country. A meeting in New York a few months later ultimately sealed the deal.

Massimo Baltimora, Alexandre Birman and Annamaria Brivio.

I really believe a lot in Paris Texas. The brand is plural, it has a very strong positioning, said Birman, referencing the duality between the super feminine and evening side and the more everyday approach in its offering. The way they started was very unusual because they were owners of a store and the showroom, and shes very creative. Annamaria is a talent, she has a very high level of taste, said Birman.

In particular, Brivio began her career as a fashion buyer for a multibrand store in Milan before teaming with business partner Baltimora to create the showroom Baltimora Studio. Together, in 2012 they launched luxury fashion boutique Norrgatan in Monza, just outside of Milan. They launched Paris Texas, homing in on their knowledge of running both these businesses and after finding a gap in the market for fashion-oriented, good-quality designs at competitive price points.

Paris Texas spring 2023

Their highly photogenic styles include fierce stilettos and crystal embellishments sitting alongside chunky cowboy boots. Knee-high and slouchy boots in metallic, croc and python-effect leathers or in bright colors are still the brands signature, even though the offering has expanded to a wide array of designs, such as mules, platforms, wedges and strappy sandals.

After building a strong base in Italy, the brands visibility exploded internationally on social media and among influencers and celebrities. Through the years, Paris Texas shoes have been seen on the feet of Emily Ratajkowski, Selena Gomez, Dua Lipa, Alicia Keys, Ashley Graham, Nicola Peltz Beckham, Chiara Ferragni, Gigi Hadid and the whole Kardashian-Jenner clan, to name a few. In 2019, Brivio was also honored with the Emerging Talent Award at the annual FN Achievement Awards.

Paris Texas fall 2021

When we were looking for a partner, we knew we had to have a value match  someone who has similar attitudes to work and life, said Brivio. Alex is that person. He is a self-starter and has grown his business to a globally renowned behemoth, and has an incredible amount of knowledge when it comes to running a business, from conception to production and execution.

We dont see Arezzo as an investor with a speculative objective but as a strategic partner who shares our vision and entrepreneurial spirit, echoed Baltimora. We want the brand to continue to grow and have longevity, and we feel like we are at the moment where the right partnership can help us accelerate the vision we have for Paris Texas. This isnt just an opportunity for a financial investment into the company  we get to work with the Arezzo team and use their global expertise and knowledge to bring Paris Texas to the next level and make it a truly global, top-tier brand.

Both Brivio and Baltimora will retain their roles at the company and sit on a newly created board along with two of Arezzo & Co.s executives and Birman, who will be executive chairman of the board.

The strategy Birman outlined for the brand is centered on a big distribution push rather than product tweaks, as the executive said he is committed in not changing anything in the styling, branding and positioning. Its perfect. We believe theres a huge space for it.

Paris Texas spring 2023

The U.S. will be the primary focus of Paris Texas new phase, as Arezzo & Co. is planning to capitalize on the know-how built in the last decade, as well as showroom and three distribution centers in the market. These will be instrumental in boosting the direct-to-consumer strategy of the brand, which today is mainly sold through wholesalers.

To this end, Birman revealed plans to open a flagship in New York this year, aiming for launching it between September and November, after setting a dedicated showroom in the city, too.

The freestanding store will be the first of a focused, directly operated rollout that will see the brand opening four other units in strategic locations globally, which will enhance the branding side while doubling as local distribution centers.

This direct network will add to the enhancement of the Paris Texas distribution in multibrand stores and department stores. There is very little penetration in Asia as well, so we want to help the brand get awareness there, said Birman, adding that the five-year business plan also includes becoming more budget-driven and helping with the sourcing.

This will be a maturity check for us. We will be able to leverage a top-notch operational and commercial structure that is led by a person who shares our vision and passion, echoed Baltimora.

Paris Texas spring 2023

Birman teased a focus on Italy was ahead already last week, when he decamped from Paris to present his namesake brands main fall 2023 collection in Milan  attended by Brivio too, among many guests. As reported, a few days before the showcase, he also unveiled a capsule collection with the citys luxury multibrand store Antonia, when he hinted big projects were in the pipeline by stating that Arezzo, which was born in Brazil and inspired by Italy, after 50 years will have a foot in the country.

In addition to the Paris Texas deal, Birman revealed the group will acquire a shoe factory in Tuscany  hence the quick detour in the region, where he was accompanied by Brivio and Baltimora. This wont support just Paris Texas growth, but well also to start the production of Alexandre Birman shoes  made in Italy, he said.

With all due respect to my home country, Im Brazilian and that makes me proud of course, but I would never, ever try to compare it to the Made in Italy. Im Brazilian with Italian roots, he continued, quickly switching to Italian in recalling his experience when living in Florence or attending all the editions of Lineapelle since 1993 for inspiration.

So now I also own an Italian business and that for me is very important as individual and businessman, Birman added, realizing his journey came full circle. Imagine taking the founder of Arezzo, my father, to Arezzo [the city] in the moment that we are doing our first international acquisition of a Italian brand: Its something very meaningful But we believe in an Italian phrase, which is piano piano, si va lontano [slowly slowly, you get far, in English]. Its going to be like that: step by step, concluded Birman.

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BEIJING, March 3, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- A news report from Beijing Review:

The Great Hall of the People in Beijing, the venue of the annual full session of the National Peoples Congress, Chinas top legislature (WEI YAO)

Qin Yanbei, general manager of a private company, attended a special meeting in China's capital where he met Premier Li Keqiang in February. Li chaired the seminar, soliciting opinions on the draft government work report, which reviews the government's performance in 2022 and outlines priorities for the coming year.

Qin's company, in Ningbo, Zhejiang Province, manufactures and sells household items such as toys, festive decorations, candles and lamps. During the gathering, he shared his suggestions drawn from the perspective of his work, such as further relieving the financial difficulties of small and medium-sized companies, and increasing subsidies for research and development projects of these enterprises.

Noting the challenges private companies face in China, Li urged more efforts to stabilize the economy and boost economic recovery.

Aside from Qin, representatives from a range of other fields also expressed their thoughts and opinions. Similar gatherings take place every year in the lead-up to the annual session of the National People's Congress (NPC). This year's session will get underway on March 5 in Beijing. The NPC is China's supreme state authority, composed of deputies elected by provinces, autonomous regions, municipalities, special administrative regions and armed forces.

There is an online opinion-seeking campaign as well, inviting the general public to offer advice and suggestions. All suggestions will be considered or included in the government work report to be delivered by the premier at the session's opening meeting. This is a way people, regardless of social or professional status, can participate in their country's decision-making process.

"I have served as a representative of construction workers, especially migrant workers from rural areas, in the hopes of further improving their living and working conditions. I will continue to do so at the upcoming NPC session," Zou Bin, an NPC deputy and a quality control manager at China Construction Fifth Engineering Bureau in Hunan Province, said.

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Approximately 30 percent of NPC deputies are officials, while workers and farmers account for less than 20 percent, but their proportion has been on the rise.

China's major policies and decisions are not rubber-stamped during the annual legislative session; they need to undergo several rounds of public solicitation, discussion and revision, Chai Baoyong, head of the Institution of Intraparty Rules and Regulations and State Supervisory Studies at the University of Chinese Academy of Social Sciences (UCASS), told Beijing Review. "It's a long incubation process," he said. "The reports presented to the public at the NPC session are relatively mature. But still, modifications will be made after deputies have discussed them."

NPC deputies serve as a link connecting government and public. Part of their role includes regularly carrying out field research to gain understanding of economic and social development, performance of duties by government agencies, as well as public opinion. Based on this insight, they formulate suggestions, which they then submit to the NPC. Government agencies are obligated to consider these suggestions and give feedback. As legislators, deputies can also put forward motions on making, amending and interpreting laws.

The proposed agenda items for the First Session of the 14th NPC this year include routine tasks such as reviewing the government work report and deliberating on the annual plan for social and economic development, as well as the plans for central and local budgets.

Lawmakers are also slated to review a draft amendment to the Legislation Law, which regulates the legislative process. In addition, the 14th NPC is expected to elect and appoint leaders of state institutions during this session.

The Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference National Committee, the country's top political advisory body that usually holds its annual session in tandem with the NPC, will also elect a new leadership this year.

Zhou Shaolai, Deputy Dean of the UCASS School of Government, believed one of the focuses at this year's sessions will be on the economy. "Following a three-year-long battle against COVID-19, economic recovery and employment are the government's top priorities," he said.

In February, the International Monetary Fund projected that China's economy will grow by 5.2 percent in 2023, 0.8 percentage points higher than its forecast in October last year.

"Boosting consumption is a key issue. It is crucial to boost consumer and market confidence and improve overall expectations for the future," Chai said.

Cision

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SOURCE Beijing Review
FLYPLAY HF

The following individuals have declared their candidacy to the board of directors of Fly Play hf. at the Annual General Meeting 2023 at Ino, on March 7, at 16:00.



As the Annual General Meeting elects five members to the board of directors and one alternate board member, these candidates will be elected to the board without a ballot at the meeting.

Einar Orn Olafsson, current Chairman

Einar Orn Olafsson is the current chairman of the board of PLAY. He is also the chairman of the board of Terra hf. and the CEO of the investment company Gnitanes hf. Einar was previously the CEO of Fjaralax and CEO of Skeljungur, and before that, he held various management positions in finance.

Einar holds an MBA from NYU, Stern School of Business, and an industrial engineering degree from the University of Iceland.

Einar Orn is considered to be independent of the Company and its management team but is not considered to be independent of large shareholders in the Company.

Elias Skuli Skulason, current Vice Chairman

Elias Skuli Skulason (Skuli) is the vice chairman of the board of directors of PLAY.

Skuli has over 25 years of aviation and airline operations experience. Elias Skuli was one of the founders of Airport Associates (est. in 1997) and Bluebird Cargo (est. in 1999). Skuli served in multiple key management roles at Bluebird Cargo, including CEO from 2007-2014. Skuli is an investor whose investments include a shareholding in FEA ehf.

Elias Skuli is considered independent from large shareholders of the Company and its management team but is not regarded as independent of the Company.

Guny Hansdottir, current Board Member

Guny is currently a member of the board of PLAY. She has over 15 years of experience in the airline industry. Guny served as a Managing Director of cabin crew for Icelandair. She served as VP of Human Resources at Air Atlanta for five years. Other previous positions include Foreign Marketing coordinator at Penninn Officeday and VP of Human Resources for Skeljungur and Innnes.

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Guny holds an MBA from the Florida Institute of Technology and a BS in Marketing from the same school. Guny has been vetted through an eligibility assessment by the Financial Supervisory Authority in Iceland. Guny sat on the boards of Parlogis and Mjoll Frigg. She is currently a board member of Frumherji and VIS Insurance and on the latter's Remuneration Committee and Auditing Committees.

Guny is considered to be independent of the Company, its management team, and large shareholders in the Company.

Maria Runarsdottir, current Board Member

Maria Runarsdottir is currently a member of the board of PLAY. She is an independent investor. Maria previously worked as the CFO of real estate company SMI ehf. and Korputorg ehf., a consultant at KMPG Consultants and CFO of Svar technologies. She was also one of the founders of MINT Solutions ehf. Maria currently sits on the board of numerous companies, including Arctica Finance hf., MINT Solutions BV., Umbra ehf., Uniconta Iceland ehf., NMR ehf., and EA14 ehf.

Maria has an MBA from MIT (Massachusetts Institution of Technology) in the United States and a BSc in Business from Reykjavik University.

Maria is considered to be independent of the Company, its management team, and large shareholders in the Company.

Valentin Lago, new board member

Valentin Lago will be a new member of the board of directors of PLAY. Valentin has 30 years of experience in Aviation & Aerospace. He has held several management, executive & board positions in; regional airlines (Quality, Maintenance Director of Air Nostrum 1998-2011), low-cost airlines (Founder & COO of Iberia Express 2011-2016, COO of Vueling 2016-2019), and transatlantic airlines (CEO of Air Europa 2021-2022). Currently, Valentin has his own Consultancy firm.

Valentin holds a degree in aerospace engineering and a Ph.D. in Economics.

Valentin is considered to be independent of the Company, its management team, and large shareholders in the Company.

Alternate Board Member: Sigurur Kari Kristjansson,

Sigurur Kari is currently an alternate member of the board of PLAY. He is an independent attorney at law and a partner of the law firm Logmenn Lkjargotu, where he has practiced law since 2011. Sigurur Kari was a member of parliament from 2003-2009 and served intermittently as an alternate member of parliament until 2011.

Sigurur Kari is considered to be independent of the Company, its management team, and large shareholders in the Company.

Further information:

ir@flyplay.com








SkyQuest Technology Consulting Pvt. Ltd.

The functional cosmetic market is witnessing an accelerated growth rate and is expected to continue its expansion in the coming years. SkyQuest's research report is a comprehensive market analysis that provides valuable insights for all the stakeholders involved in the industry. The report covers various market aspects, including production costs, key players, supply chain analysis, product lines, and market segmentation. As a result, it serves as a reliable resource for businesses and investors seeking to make informed decisions based on a thorough understanding of the market trends and dynamics.

Westford USA, March 03, 2023 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- The functional cosmetic market has seen Europe emerge as the dominant player, closely followed by Asia Pacific. This can be attributed to a growing awareness of the benefits of ageless beauty, male grooming, and the growing pattern towards natural and organic products. The rise of digitalization has also played a significant role in boosting revenue across the market, from advertising to online sales. Organic products have particularly gained popularity due to their lack of side effects, resulting in a rapid increase in demand. This has opened up numerous opportunities for the market to expand and diversify its product offerings, catering to a wider range of consumers.

As per SkyQuest's analysis, the organic skincare industry is forecasted to exhibit substantial growth in the coming years, with an estimated market value of more than USD 17.57 billion by 2028. This growth in the organic skincare industry is anticipated to impact the functional cosmetics market positively. In addition, the increasing consumer preference for organic and natural skincare products will likely fuel demand for functional cosmetics in the coming years.

Browse in-depth TOC on the "Functional Cosmetic Market"

Pages - 278

Tables - 107

Figures - 72

Functional cosmetics refer to skincare and beauty products that provide both aesthetic and functional benefits to improve skin health and address specific skin concerns. Unlike traditional cosmetics that cover up imperfections, functional cosmetics are designed to work on a deeper level, targeting specific skin concerns such as dryness, wrinkles, acne, and hyperpigmentation.

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Prominent Players in Functional Cosmetic Market

Murad Inc.

Azelis

Lancer Skincare

Sinerga S.p.A.

Sollice Biotech

Perricone MD

Greentech

Alchemy Ingredients

Algosource

Adeka Corporation

Zuplex

Essencia AG

Dr. Brandt

Davos Life Science Pte Ltd.

Get a sample copy of this report:

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Skincare Segment Turn Out to be the Key Revenue Contributor as Consumers Preferring Skincare Products with Natural and Organic Ingredients

The skincare segment registered a higher revenue share for the functional cosmetic market in 2021 and is estimated to exhibit a high CAGR from 2022 to 2028. The global industry is experiencing a surge in demand due to the growing awareness of the benefits of skincare products. As a result, the skincare market is experiencing rapid growth, and according to a report by Skyquest, it is projected to reach USD 207.22 billion by 2028. This growth is expected to benefit the demand for functional cosmetics. Furthermore, the demand for functional cosmetics is predicted to continue to propel in the coming years as consumers become more knowledgeable about the benefits of using skincare products with active ingredients.

One region that has emerged as a major player in this market is Europe, which held the largest share of the functional cosmetic market in 2021. Skyquest's research has revealed that the usage of beauty and personal care products is prevalent among 74% of consumers in Europe, irrespective of their age group. This statistic indicates that people strongly believe using such products is essential to maintaining good hygiene and overall health. Furthermore, the high adoption rate of beauty and personal care products in Europe suggests a promising growth potential for functional cosmetics in the region. With consumers placing great emphasis on the functionality of the products they use, there is a growing demand for cosmetic products that enhance one's appearance and provide additional health benefits.

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Male Segment Emerges as the Fastest Growing End-Use Category Thanks to Changing Societal Attitudes towards Male Grooming and Personal Care

The male segment emerged as the promising category in the functional cosmetic market in 2021 and is projected to capture a substantial share from 2022 to 2028. The rise of the male segment in the market can be attributed to several factors. Firstly, changing societal norms have led to a greater emphasis on personal appearance and grooming for men. In addition, the availability of a wide range of specialized products has made it easier for men to find cosmetics that cater to their specific needs. From anti-aging creams to beard oils, a growing variety of functional cosmetics are designed for men's unique skin and hair types.

Functional cosmetics have gained widespread popularity in recent years, and the Asia Pacific region has emerged as a prominent market for these products. As a result, the Asia Pacific region registered a high CAGR in the functional cosmetic market in 2021. Furthermore, according to a report by Skyquest, the per capita expenditure on household products in China has been on the rise. In 2021, this figure increased to USD 3,458, marking a significant increase of 12.5% from the previous year. This surge in household and personal care product spending points towards a positive outlook for functional cosmetics in the region. In addition, the region's large population and diverse demographics have created a significant market for these products.

SkyQuest, the most trusted market research company, has recently published an extensive report on the functional cosmetic market. This in-depth report provides valuable insights into the industry, analyzing the market and its competitive landscape. Furthermore, the report offers detailed information on each player in the market, such as their market share, product portfolio, revenue, and recent developments.

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Key Developments in Functional Cosmetic Market

Caldic, a company specializing in food ingredients, functional solutions, and specialty chemicals, has recently merged with Connell, allowing it to expand into the Asia-Pacific market. The merger will enable Caldic to broaden its product portfolio and strengthen its position in various industrial end markets, including personal care and pharmaceuticals. The company's focus on specialty chemicals and functional solutions aligns well with Connell's expertise in distributing specialty chemicals and ingredients across the Asia-Pacific region.

Ashland has launched a new natural bio-functional product called Sclareance through biotechnology to address dandruff effectively. This innovative product has been developed using artificial intelligence (AI) and is the second bio-functional product for scalp care introduced by Ashland. The product has been developed using advanced biotechnology processes and is specifically designed to provide effective and long-lasting relief from dandruff. The use of artificial intelligence has allowed Ashland to develop a bio-functional product that is not only effective but also safe and natural.

VAV Lipids, a biopharmaceutical company based in India, has announced its plan to expand its presence in Spain's cosmetics industry by creating a pipeline of COSMOS-certified ingredients. These new ingredients will include high-quality phospholipid and lecithin-based functional cosmetic ingredients suitable for skincare and haircare products. With their versatility, safety, and compatibility, cosmetics manufacturers can incorporate them into all cosmetic formulations. Furthermore, COSMOS-certified ingredients ensure these cosmetic products are manufactured using environmentally sustainable practices.

Key Questions Answered in Functional Cosmetic Market Report

What are the key factors projected to bring substantial growth in the global market, and how do they compare regarding their potential impact?

Which regions are predicted to experience the highest levels of growth in the global market, and what specific factors contribute to this growth?

How are the leading industry players shaping the future outlook of the global market, and what strategies are they using to drive growth and maintain their market positions?

What are the most significant challenges facing the global market, and how are businesses and other stakeholders responding to these challenges?

Related Reports in SkyQuests Library:

Global Cosmetic Packaging Market

Global Teeth Whitening Market

Global Beauty Devices Market

Global Neurocosmetics Market

Global Essential Oils Market

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SkyQuest Technology is leading growth consulting firm providing market intelligence, commercialization and technology services. It has 450+ happy clients globally.

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NEW YORK, March 3, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- As per Zion Market Research study, The global serverless apps market size was worth around USD 3215 Million in 2022 and is predicted to grow to around USD 17350 Million by 2030 with a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of roughly 23.45% between 2023 and 2030.

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Serverless Apps Market: Overview

Serverless refers to a form of independent, small, and loosely coupled cloud services or also known as a cloud-native development model allowing information technology (IT) professionals to build and run applications without having to worry about managing physical servers. It does not mean that the applications do not have servers of any form, but in this case, they are far away from the applications. A third-party cloud service provider is the one responsible for setting up the IT infrastructure, monitoring, and maintaining it.

App developers are only responsible for developing the code, packaging it in containers like Linux, and deploying it. Once the code is live or deployed, serverless apps can automatically respond to the demand by either scaling up or down as required. Public-cloud serverless services typically are chargeable only on demand and hence it does not cost anything when the serverless function is not being used. Serverless is different from other cloud services and the key point of differentiation is the responsible authority for the scaling up & down of apps.

For instance, in other forms of cloud-based services, the third-party vendor is responsible for managing the scaling as well as the entire cloud infrastructure. However, serverless technology allows deployment in containers that do not require external help for the scaling process and can do this on their own. The infrastructure-as-a-service (IaaS) cloud computing model is widely used in this regard where users have to purchase capacity units which means that public cloud providers can be prepaid to buy always-on server components that help in running the application.

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The users have the authority or the control to up the server capacity in case of increased demand and to downgrade the capacity when the demand is less. Although a noteworthy point is that the cloud infrastructure is always active even when the app is not in use.

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2023 Updated Report Introduction, Overview, and In-depth industry analysis

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Zion Market Research methodology

Key Industry Insights & Findings of the Serverless Apps Market Reports:

As per the analysis shared by our research analyst, the global serverless apps market is estimated to grow annually at a CAGR of around 23.45% over the forecast period (2023-2030).

In terms of revenue, the global serverless apps market size was valued at around USD 3215 million in 2022 and is projected to reach USD 17350 million, by 2030.

The global serverless apps industry is projected to grow owing to the rising interest and investments by world leaders in deploying serverless apps and the technology in general in the healthcare sector.

Based on services segmentation, the professional was predicted to show maximum market share in the year 2022

Based on end-user method segmentation, IT & Telecommunication was the leading revenue-generating end-user in 2022.

On the basis of region, North America was the leading revenue generator in 2022.

Zion Market Research published the latest report titled "Serverless Apps Market Segmentation By Services (Managed, and Professional), By Application (Web Application Development, Real-Time File/Stream Processing, IoT Backend, and Others), By End-User (BFSI, IT & Telecommunication, Government, Retail, and Industrial), and By Region  Global and Regional Industry Overview, Market Intelligence, Comprehensive Analysis, Historical Data, and Forecasts 2023  2030" into their research database.

Industry Dynamics:

Serverless Apps Market: Growth Drivers

Rising interest in adopting serverless technology in healthcare to propel market growth.

The global serverless apps market is projected to grow owing to the rising interest and investments by world leaders in deploying serverless apps and technology in general in the healthcare sector. The medical industry has moved toward digital transformation at an accelerated rate in the post-pandemic world. As per a 2021 article by TechMagic, there is an increase of around 19.3% in cloud migration in the healthcare industry. This can be attributed to an exponential rise in workload during and post Covid-19.\

The vast amount of data cannot be handled by normal servers and require advanced technology for a smooth flow in the processes. This is also coupled with the rapid changes that are present in normal medical apps making them difficult to access all at once. With the deployment of serverless technology, developers can alter, fix, or update the app as quickly as possible without affecting the app's performance. Since serverless apps help in reducing latency periods owing to asynchronous data processing and scalable storage. These factors are the main reasons why one of the largest and fastest-growing industries, the healthcare segment, is keen on moving toward serverless apps which are projected to aid global market expansion.

Serverless Apps Market: Restraints

Serverless technology being relatively new to restrict the market growth

The serverless apps industry has witnessed a tremendous amount of technological advancements in the last few years. Many individuals or companies that are not very well endowed with technical knowledge find it difficult to keep up with the ever-advancing IT sector. There are a lot of businesses and organizations that are still in the initial phase of deploying older technologies and are not at par with current trends in the IT segment which has resulted in a lack of knowledge about serverless apps thus restricting the global market growth. However, with every passing year, more companies are accepting IT in their infrastructure, and the global market is expected to gain from these events.

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Serverless Apps Market: Opportunities

Government undertakings aided by aid from private companies to provide market growth opportunities

Owing to the vast potential that serverless technology holds, government sectors like the military and other services are deploying and investing in this cutting-edge science. The high adoption rate is further propelled by aid provided by private creators of serverless apps to help them navigate through the processes. These factors are expected to contribute to the creation of multiple growth opportunities for the global serverless apps market since other sectors may be encouraged to adopt the systems in their working scenario.

Serverless Apps Market: Challenges

Limitations of the technology to challenge the market expansion.

Since third-party vendors are involved in the process, there are certain limitations when it comes to running high-operation computing. Even in the absence of these limitations, certain types of applications may find serverless technology as cost-ineffective. There are also some security concerns since server-security responsibility is on a third party and the user. These factors may challenge the serverless apps industry expansion

Report On LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/serverless-apps-market-share-analysis-trends-demand-ronald-morton/

Global Serverless Apps Market: Segmentation

The global serverless apps market is segmented based on services, application, end-user, and region.

Based on services, the global market segments are managed and professional. The global market may witness high growth in the professional segment since many large-scale corporations are focusing on deploying in-house products and features, to be used on their premises. For instance, Netflix, a world leader in providing online streaming services, is regarded as a pioneer in serverless architecture. The company has managed to provide 7 billion hours of video programs to more than 60.5 million customers across the globe.

Based on Application, the global market is segmented into web application development, real-time file/stream processing, IoT Backend, and others. Currently, web application development leads to segmental growth. JavaScript and python are the most widely used languages with over 30 to 40% of developers using the coding language. Java holds between 10 to 15% of the market share.

Based on end-user, the global market is divided into BFSI, IT & telecommunication, government, retail, and industrial. The global market generated the highest revenue in the IT & telecommunication sector owing to increased resource utilization of resources by app developers resulting in higher user use of serverless apps. As per Amazon Web Services (AWS), more than 75% of businesses plan to adopt serverless technologies in the coming years.

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List of Key Players in Serverless Apps Market:

IBM Corporation

Microsoft Corporation

Amazon Web Services Inc.

Alibaba Group Holding Ltd.

Google LLC

Oracle Corporation

Rackspace Inc.

Cisco Services Inc.

TIBCO Software Inc.

Platform9 Systems Inc.

Key questions answered in this report:

What are the growth rate forecast and market size for Serverless Apps Market?

What are the key driving factors propelling the Serverless Apps Market forward?

What are the most important companies in the Serverless Apps Market Industry?

What segments does the Serverless Apps Market cover?

How can I receive a free copy of the Serverless Apps Market sample report and company profiles?

Report Scope:

Report Attribute Details Market size value in 2021 USD 3215 Million Revenue forecast in 2030 USD 17350 Million Growth Rate CAGR of almost 23.45% 2023-2030 Base Year 2020 Historic Years 2016  2022 Forecast Years 2023  2030 Segments Covered By Services, By Application, By End User, And By Region Forecast Units Value (USD Billion), and Volume (Units) Quantitative Units Revenue in USD million/billion and CAGR from 2023 to 2030 Regions Covered North America, Europe, Asia Pacific, Latin America, and Middle East & Africa, and Rest of World Countries Covered U.S., Canada, Mexico, U.K., Germany, France, Italy, Spain, China, India, Japan, South Korea, Brazil, Argentina, GCC Countries, and South Africa, among others Companies Covered IBM Corporation, Microsoft Corporation, Amazon Web Services, Inc., Alibaba Group Holding Ltd., Google LLC, Oracle Corporation, Rackspace Inc., Cisco Services, Inc., TIBCO Software Inc., and Platform9 Systems, Inc. Report Coverage Market growth drivers, restraints, opportunities, Porter's five forces analysis, PEST analysis, value chain analysis, regulatory landscape, market attractiveness analysis by segments and region, company market share analysis, and COVID-19 impact analysis. Customization Scope Avail of customized purchase options to meet your exact research needs. https://www.zionmarketresearch.com/custom/7115

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Recent Developments

In November 2021, Microsoft launched Azure Container Apps, a brand new completely managed serverless container service that complements the company's already in-place container infrastructure services, for instance, the Azure Kubernetes Service (AKS). The company has mentioned that the new container apps are designed especially for microservices while also providing quick scaling capabilities based on HTTP traffic.

In May 2022, Microsoft announced the general release of Azure Container Apps. This news comes along with additional features like configuring integrated Authentication and Authorization for external ingress-enabled apps along with the provisions for app security by deploying them to a different virtual network. For accessing Azure Active Directory (AD) protected resources, users will have to use managed identities.

Regional Dominance:

North America to dominate the market during the projection period.

The global serverless apps market is expected to generate the highest revenue from North America owing to increased investments in cloud-based services along with an extremely high adoption rate. The technological advancements in regions like the USA and Canada are expected to generate high regional revenue. A large section of key market players is present in North America which may also assist in occupying a huge section of the global market share owing to the strategic decisions undertaken by these entities to expand their global footprint.

The digital transformation of the healthcare sector is expected to become a leading contributor to regional revenue. For instance, as per a 2015 article by HealthAffairs, more than 77% of leading healthcare providers spent more than USD 20,000 on their respective systems.

Asia-Pacific may also grow at a high CAGR due to increased government spending on technological upgradation in countries like Japan, China, and India. As per a CNBC report in 2021, China spent over USD 378 billion on research & development activities in 2020 breaking all of its records. Japan on the other hand houses the world's largest IT sector in the world. In 2019, the software industry in the country generated a revenue of 16 trillion Japanese Yen.

Global Serverless Apps Market is segmented as follows:

Serverless Apps Market: By Services Outlook (2023-2030)

Managed

Professional

Serverless Apps Market: By Application Outlook (2023-2030)

Web Application Development

Real-Time File/Stream Processing

IoT Backend

Others

Serverless Apps Market: By End User Outlook (2023-2030)

BFSI

IT & Telecommunication

Government

Retail

Industrial

Serverless Apps Market: By Region Outlook (2023-2030)

North America

The U.S.

Canada

Europe

France

The UK

Spain

Germany

Italy

Rest of Europe

Asia Pacific

China

Japan

India

South Korea

Southeast Asia

Rest of Asia Pacific

Latin America

Brazil

Mexico

Rest of Latin America

Middle East & Africa

GCC

South Africa

Rest of Middle East & Africa

Press Release for Serverless Apps Market: https://www.zionmarketresearch.com/news/global-serverless-apps-market

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SOURCE Zion Market Research
VANCOUVER, BC / ACCESSWIRE / March 3, 2023 / Gama Explorations Inc. (CSE:GAMA)(FSE:N79) ("Gama" or the "Company") is pleased to announce the purchase of a further 41.8 km2 of mineral claims contiguous to the current project footprint of its Tyee Nickel Project in the Havre St. Pierre Anorthosite Complex ("HSP Complex") in south-eastern Quebec. The purchase of these additional claims brings GAMA's aggregate land position to 547.1 km2.

Mick Carew, PhD, CEO of GAMA, noted, "These additional claims add to our dominant land position in the HSP Complex, and add further scale to our planned exploration efforts in the area for 2023. We are excited about the prospectivity of this region and have aggressively added additional ground through staking and acquisition efforts. The first major phase of exploration on the Tyee project will be our SkyTEM airborne geophysical survey, which we are planning to initiate in May. The results of this survey are expected to lead to further follow-up mapping, prospecting, and rock-chip sampling of priority targets that will form the basis of our maiden drill program."

Figure 1. Gama's mineral claims, including newly acquired claims, in the HSP Complex

All figures are in Canadian dollars unless otherwise denoted.

Through an asset purchase agreement (the "Agreement") with 1380749 BC Ltd., an arm's-length party, Gama has agreed to acquire an additional 78 mineral claims, covering a total of 41.8 km2, for a cash payment of $50,000 and the issuance of 60,000 common shares of Gama. The acquisition of these additional claims brings the footprint of the Company's Tyee Nickel project to 547.1 km2.

The securities issued pursuant to the Agreement are subject to a four month and one day hold period in accordance with applicable Canadian Securities Laws.

Investor Relations and Marketing Engagements

The Company also announces the retention of investor relations and marketing service providers, to improve the Company's visibility and prominence in the capital markets in both North America and Europe. Other than as outlined below, none of the service providers have an equity interest in the Company. No stock options or other securities were issued to any of the service providers under the engagements and all parties and their principals contracted are arm's-length to the Company.

Story continues

Swiss Resource Capital AG ("SRC")

On March 1, 2023, the company entered into an agreement, commencing immediately, with SRC, an independent contractor with a business address at Poststr. 1, CH-9100, Herisau, to perform investor relations and marketing services for an initial term of twelve months. The nature of the investor relations and marketing services to be provided by SRC include, but are not limited to, the publication of a feature report, dissemination of Company news, creating video interviews, and managing corporate roadshows in Europe. The Company paid an upfront fee of $11,900 and will pay 5,000CHF monthly to SRC for a twelve-month term.

SRC is an investor relations and communications firm based in Zurich, Switzerland who performs investor relations services focused on the German-speaking financial community in Europe. Jochen Staiger is the CEO of SRC. To the knowledge of the Company, at the time of entry into the agreement, neither SRC nor Jochen Staiger held any securities in the Company.

Blue Summit Ventures Inc. ("BSV")

On February 20, 2023, the Company entered into an agreement with BSV, an independent contractor with a business address at 5809-88 Harbour St., Toronto, ON, M5J 0C3, to perform investor relations services for an initial term of six months commencing on February 21st, 2023. The nature of the investor relations services to be provided by BSV include, but are not limited to, developing, and improving the Company's presence within the capital markets, advising the Company on investor relations strategies, introductions to the capital markets community, and advising the Company on operational performance metrics to aid investors in evaluating the Company's progress. The Company paid an upfront fee of $150,000 for the six-month term. No stock options or other securities were issued to BSV as part of this engagement.

BSV is an investor relations firm based in Toronto, ON with a focus on North American strategy and contact leads. Tyler Thornburn is the President of BSV. To the knowledge of the Company, at the time of entry into this agreement, neither BSV nor Tyler Thorburn held any securities of the Company.

LFG Equities Corp. ("LFG")

On February 23, 2023, the Company entered into an agreement with LFG, an independent contractor with a business address at 402-9140 Leslie St., Richmond Hill, ON, L4B 0A9, to perform investor relations and marketing services for an initial term of six months commencing on March 6, 2023. The nature of the investor relations and marketing services to be provided by LFG include, but are not limited to, creating online awareness and investor engagement for the Company via digital platforms and community-driven mediums. The initial term of six months includes potential payments of up to $150,000 to be paid via tranches at intervals to be agreed upon between the Company and LFG.

LFG is a Toronto, ON based company which provides marketing and promotional services to public companies. LFG is wholly owned by Ernest Chuang through his holding company, Gestion EHC Inc. Gestion EHC Inc. owns 111,111 common shares of GAMA at a cost of $0.45, as well as 55,556 common share purchase warrants of the Company with an exercise price of $0.80 that were purchased via private placement which was announced by the Company on January 19th, 2023.

TD Media LLC d/b/a Life Water Media ("LWM")

March 1, 2023, the Company entered into a digital marketing services agreement with LWM, an independent contractor with a business address at 2144-5826 New Territory Blvd., Sugar Land, TX, 77479, to perform digital marketing services for an initial term of up to 2 months commencing on at a date to be set mutually by LWM and the Company. The nature of the digital marketing services to be provided by LWM include, but are not limited to, raising online awareness for the Company via a comprehensive digital media marketing campaign. The initial term of up to two months includes payments of up to US$100,000 of which the Company has paid an upfront payment of US$25,000 with the remaining amount to be paid via 3 follow-up tranches of US$25,000.

LWM is an investment media firm based in Houston, Texas. David Pena is the CEO of LWM. To the knowledge of the Company, at the time of entry into this agreement, neither LWM nor David Pena held any securities of the Company.

Lakefront Enterprises Inc. ("LFE")

On March 2, 2023, the Company entered into an agreement with LFE, an independent contractor with a business address at 27th Floor, 595 Burrard St., PO Box 49123, Vancouver, BC V7X 1J2, to perform investor relations and marketing services for an initial term of one month commencing on March 13, 2023. The nature of the investor relations and digital marketing services to be provided by LFE include, but are not limited to, content and web development, campaign reporting and optimization, lead generation and management as well as media distribution via a subcontractor, Market 365 LLP, doing business as SmallCap Canada for an initial period of one month. The Company paid an upfront fee of $60,000 for the initial one month term.

LFE is a firm based in Vancouver, BC that provides consulting services. Matt Shull is the owner of LFE. To the knowledge of the Company, at the time of entry into this agreement, neither LFE nor Matt Shull held any securities of the Company.

About Gama Explorations Inc.

Gama is a Canadian company listed on the Canadian Securities Exchange (CSE: GAMA), and on the Frankfurt Stock Exchange (FSE: N79). The Company is a mineral exploration company focused on the acquisition, exploration, and development of mineral properties containing metals used in green technologies and the renewable energy sector. The Company recently announced the addition of the Muskox Pegmatite Lithium Project situated within the Yellowknife Pegmatite Province in the Northwest Territories, to complement its existing portfolio consisting of the Big Onion Copper-Molybdenum Project located a short 20-minute drive from the town of Smithers in northern British Columbia (option to earn 100%). Further, GAMA owns 100% of the Tyee Nickel-Copper Massive Sulphide Project located in North-Eastern Quebec. The Company continuously evaluates opportunities to acquire interest in additional exploration stage mineral properties in stable jurisdictions.

ON BEHALF OF THE BOARD,

Mick Carew, PhD|CEO and Director

Email: mick@gamaexplorations.com

For further information please contact:

Focus Communications

Tel: +1 647 689 6041

Email: info@fcir.ca

Forward-Looking Statements

This press release contains certain forward-looking statements as well as historical information. Readers should not rely on information in this summary for any purpose other than for gaining general knowledge of the Company. The words "expected", "will" and similar expressions are intended to be among the statements that identify forward-looking statements. Although the Company believes that its expectations as reflected in any forward-looking statements, are reasonable, such statements involve risks and uncertainties and no assurance can be given that actual results will be consistent with these forward-looking statements. Except as required by law, the Company undertakes no obligation to update these forward-looking statements if management's beliefs, estimates, opinions, or other factors should change.

The Canadian Securities Exchange has not reviewed this press release and does not accept responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this news release.

SOURCE: Gama Explorations Inc.





View source version on accesswire.com:

https://www.accesswire.com/741993/Gama-Acquires-Additional-Land-Holdings-in-the-Havre-St-Pierre-Anorthosite-Complex-in-Quebec-and-Announces-Investor-Relations-Agreements




Teresa Tung, a chief cloud technologist at Irish American consultancy firm Accenture. Accenture

Generative AI will empower industries beyond Big Tech, according to Accenture's data lead.

"It is not just on the onus of a couple of really strong tech companies to unlock it," Teresa Tung said.

Tung is also working with industry bodies to establish responsible AI frameworks.

Big Tech will lose some of its stranglehold on breakthrough technologies thanks to the rise of generative AI, which will empower smaller companies, according to the data lead at consultancy firm Accenture.

Generative AI, the name for a range of tools that can create computer-generated content based on large pools of data, has become enormously popular since the release of ChatGPT late last year. OpenAI's buzzy language-generation tool is trained on 570 GB of data taken from books and the internet.

Its terms of engagement are simple: Ask a question or give it a prompt, and it will reply. The viral bot has been a hit with internet users, with many generating books or simply tormenting it for fun. Generative AI companies have secured over $1.7 billion of venture capital investment over the last three years, according to Gartner. The wider AI market is tipped to reach $134.8 billion by 2025.

Generative AI can be fed with examples of business documents, proposals, and code, amongst other things, to generate fresh assets. Its ease of use and ability to churn out content, which actually considers the context of queries, makes otherwise complex technology like AI accessible to small companies.

"The big thing is, it's democratized," Teresa Tung, a chief cloud technologist at Irish American consultancy firm Accenture, told Insider during an interview at Mobile World Congress 2023. "It is not just on the onus of a couple of really strong tech companies to unlock it."

This allows businesses to grow in a new way; before generative AI, the pace and scale at which companies could implement AI may have been restricted by headcount as specialist employees, such as data scientists, were required.

Story continues

"You see how easy it is to apply ChatGPT; the application becomes the new pivot in terms of focus," Tung, who has over 220 patents and patent applications in her name, said.

"So rather than having to scale by having lots and lots of data scientists, maybe you have more and more domain experts and people who are getting the data ready for the data engineers."

In healthcare, for example, doctors should be able to pinpoint what data they have and how to apply it. "I don't necessarily need a whole bunch of data scientists to be able to create a model now that is used for predicting patient outcomes," she said. Instead, doctors could do this using generative AI. "That's really exciting. Having the data, [and] having the domain experts becomes more important than having the data scientists."

This pivot gives power back to industries outside of tech, Tung said, as they are the ones with both domain data and expertise. "The challenge is their ability to, one, figure out how to apply this responsibly, and then, two, be able to engineer it within their human processes in big central use cases."

The technologist stressed that there should always be a human in the loop to check if the AI-generated information is correct. Tung is also working with industry bodies to establish responsible AI frameworks.

Read the original article on Business Insider
ReportLinker

Global Hospital Infection Therapeutics Market 2023-2027. The analyst has been monitoring the hospital infection therapeutics market and is forecast to grow by $3106.6 mn during 2022-2027, accelerating at a CAGR of 4.98% during the forecast period.

New York, March 03, 2023 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Reportlinker.com announces the release of the report "Global Hospital Infection Therapeutics Market 2023-2027" - https://www.reportlinker.com/p03348513/?utm_source=GNW

Our report on the hospital infection therapeutics market provides a holistic analysis, market size and forecast, trends, growth drivers, and challenges, as well as vendor analysis covering around 25 vendors.

The report offers an up-to-date analysis regarding the current market scenario, the latest trends and drivers, and the overall market environment. The market is driven by increase in incidence and prevalence of respiratory disorders, growing geriatric population, and special drug designations.



The hospital infection therapeutics market is segmented as below:

By Drug Class

 Antibiotics drugs

 Antifungal drugs

 Antiviral drugs



By Type

 Respiratory tract infections

 Surgical site infections

 Bloodstream infections

 Gastrointestinal infections

 Urinary tract infections



By Geography

 North America

 Europe

 Asia

 Rest of World (ROW)



This study identifies the increasing hospital visits as one of the prime reasons driving the hospital infection therapeutics market growth during the next few years. Also, unmet needs in developing countries and increasing demand for infection control committees in hospitals will lead to sizable demand in the market.



The analyst presents a detailed picture of the market by the way of study, synthesis, and summation of data from multiple sources by an analysis of key parameters. Our report on the hospital infection therapeutics market covers the following areas:

 Hospital infection therapeutics market sizing

 Hospital infection therapeutics market forecast

 Hospital infection therapeutics market industry analysis



This robust vendor analysis is designed to help clients improve their market position, and in line with this, this report provides a detailed analysis of several leading hospital infection therapeutics market vendors that include Abbott Laboratories, AbbVie Inc., Achilles Therapeutics plc, AstraZeneca Plc, Basilea Pharmaceutica Ltd., Bayer AG, Bristol Myers Squibb Co., Cipla Ltd., F. Hoffmann La Roche Ltd., Gilead Sciences Inc., GlaxoSmithKline Plc, Johnson and Johnson, Merck and Co. Inc., Novartis AG, Pfizer Inc., Sanofi SA, Spero Therapeutics Inc., Sun Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd., Teva Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd., and Viatris Inc. Also, the hospital infection therapeutics market analysis report includes information on upcoming trends and challenges that will influence market growth. This is to help companies strategize and leverage all forthcoming growth opportunities.

The study was conducted using an objective combination of primary and secondary information including inputs from key participants in the industry. The report contains a comprehensive market and vendor landscape in addition to an analysis of the key vendors.



The analyst presents a detailed picture of the market by the way of study, synthesis, and summation of data from multiple sources by an analysis of key parameters such as profit, pricing, competition, and promotions. It presents various market facets by identifying the key industry influencers. The data presented is comprehensive, reliable, and a result of extensive research - both primary and secondary. Technavios market research reports provide a complete competitive landscape and an in-depth vendor selection methodology and analysis using qualitative and quantitative research to forecast accurate market growth.

Read the full report: https://www.reportlinker.com/p03348513/?utm_source=GNW



About Reportlinker

ReportLinker is an award-winning market research solution. Reportlinker finds and organizes the latest industry data so you get all the market research you need - instantly, in one place.



__________________________

Story continues

CONTACT: Clare: clare@reportlinker.com US: (339)-368-6001 Intl: +1 339-368-6001




ReportLinker

Global Online Premium Cosmetics Market 2023-2027. The analyst has been monitoring the online premium cosmetics market and is forecast to grow by $9,515.73 mn during 2022-2027, accelerating at a CAGR of 4.78% during the forecast period.

New York, March 03, 2023 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Reportlinker.com announces the release of the report "Global Online Premium Cosmetics Market 2023-2027" - https://www.reportlinker.com/p05207177/?utm_source=GNW

Our report on the online premium cosmetics market provides a holistic analysis, market size and forecast, trends, growth drivers, and challenges, as well as vendor analysis covering around 25 vendors.

The report offers an up-to-date analysis regarding the current market scenario, the latest trends and drivers, and the overall market environment. The market is driven by rise in the aging population, growing trend of premium brands, and rapid urbanization.



The online premium cosmetics market is segmented as below:

By Product

 Skincare

 Makeup

 Haircare

 Others



By End-user

 Women

 Men



By Geography

 APAC

 North America

 Europe

 South America

 Middle East and Africa



This study identifies the growing preference for organic cosmetics and cosmeceuticals as one of the prime reasons driving the online premium cosmetics market growth during the next few years. Also, increasing online retailing and increasing r and d activities will lead to sizable demand in the market.



The analyst presents a detailed picture of the market by the way of study, synthesis, and summation of data from multiple sources by an analysis of key parameters. Our report on the online premium cosmetics market covers the following areas:

 Online premium cosmetics market sizing

 Online premium cosmetics market forecast

 Online premium cosmetics market industry analysis



This robust vendor analysis is designed to help clients improve their market position, and in line with this, this report provides a detailed analysis of several leading online premium cosmetics market vendors that include Amorepacific Corp., Avon Products Inc., Clarins Pte Ltd., Dambiro de, Hermes International SA, Johnson and Johnson, Kao Corp., Kose Corp., LOccitane Groupe SA, LVMH Moet Hennessy Louis Vuitton SE, Manash Lifestyle Pvt. Ltd., PUIG S.L., Shiseido Co. Ltd., CHANEL Ltd., LOreal SA, Oriflame Holding AG, Revlon Inc., The Procter and Gamble Co., The Estee Lauder Co. Inc., and Unilever PLC. Also, the online premium cosmetics market analysis report includes information on upcoming trends and challenges that will influence market growth. This is to help companies strategize and leverage all forthcoming growth opportunities.

The study was conducted using an objective combination of primary and secondary information including inputs from key participants in the industry. The report contains a comprehensive market and vendor landscape in addition to an analysis of the key vendors.



The analyst presents a detailed picture of the market by the way of study, synthesis, and summation of data from multiple sources by an analysis of key parameters such as profit, pricing, competition, and promotions. It presents various market facets by identifying the key industry influencers. The data presented is comprehensive, reliable, and a result of extensive research - both primary and secondary. Technavios market research reports provide a complete competitive landscape and an in-depth vendor selection methodology and analysis using qualitative and quantitative research to forecast accurate market growth.

Read the full report: https://www.reportlinker.com/p05207177/?utm_source=GNW



About Reportlinker

ReportLinker is an award-winning market research solution. Reportlinker finds and organizes the latest industry data so you get all the market research you need - instantly, in one place.



__________________________

Story continues

CONTACT: Clare: clare@reportlinker.com US: (339)-368-6001 Intl: +1 339-368-6001




Company Logo

satellite-modem-market-size.jpg

satellite-modem-market-size.jpg

Dublin, March 03, 2023 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- The "Global Satellite Modem Market Size, Share & Industry Trends Analysis Report by Channel Type, Technology, End-user, Regional Outlook and Forecast, 2022-2028" report has been added to ResearchAndMarkets.com's offering.



The Global Satellite Modem Market size is expected to reach $952.2 million by 2028, rising at a market growth of 15.5% CAGR during the forecast period.

Key Market Players

List of Companies Profiled in the Report:

Comtech Telecommunications Corp.

Datum System

Gilat Satelite Networks Ltd.

Hughes Network Systems, LLC (EchoStar Corporation)

Orbcomm, Inc. (GI Partners)

NOVELSAT

ST Engineering iDirect, Inc. (Vision Technologies Electronics, Inc.)

Teledyne Technologies, Inc.

Viasat, Inc.

WORK Microwave GmbH

Additionally, satellite antennae and frequency converters are required for the establishment of a satellite link. Data to be communicated are transmitted to modems from data terminal equipment. The intermediate frequency (IF) output of the modem is typically 50-200 MHz; however, the signal is occasionally modulated straight to the L band.



In the majority of instances, the frequency must be transformed with an upconverter before amplification and transmission. Depending on the modulation technique employed, a modulated signal is a sequence of symbols, or forms of data conveyed by a corresponding signal state, such as a bit or a few bits.



Recovering a symbol clock (synchronizing a local symbol clock generator with a distant one) is one of the most essential responsibilities of a demodulator. Similarly, a signal received from a satellite is initially down-converted, followed by demodulation by a modem, and finally handled by data terminal equipment. The LNB is typically supplied with 13 or 18 V DC through the solution providers by the modem.



COVID-19 Impact Analysis



The COVID-19 pandemic has had a substantial influence on the expansion of this sector. During the pandemic, the demand for this market was greatly bolstered by the increase in demand for satellite communication solutions across several industries. In addition, the worldwide telecommunications industry has begun deploying satellite modem solutions, which is anticipated to boost the expansion of the satellite modem market study post-pandemic.



Market Growth Factors

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Data Connectivity at High Speeds Is Becoming More Important



Numerous end-user sectors, including those in the maritime, oil and gas, transport, communications, and education, among others, have increased their need for real-time and high-speed communication, which has led to an increase in the demand for sophisticated high-speed satellite modems.

Users are now able to send massive quantities of data effectively due to the satellite modem industry's ongoing advancements. The speed and data connectivity rates that are also available onshore are not available to offshore teams.



Increasing Leo Satellite and Constellation Launches



A lot of businesses in this industry have suggested or are putting into practice plans to create satellite constellations, while CubeSats and other tiny spacecraft are also gaining popularity. The rising popularity of GPS is a key factor in the expansion of LEO and MEO satellites. It is now a crucial component of the satellite communications system.

To supply GPS, a large number of MEO satellites are deployed into orbit. More MEO satellites will be required as the demand for GPS connection rises. For effective signal transmission, this will lead to a necessity for several satellite modems to be placed throughout base stations. The massive launches of the satellites surge the growth of the satellite modem market.



Market Restraining Factors

Satcom Equipment's Susceptibility to Cyberattacks



For the majority of enterprises installing IoT systems and, more recently, 5G networks, which include numerous connected devices across networks, platforms, and devices, security is the most important technical challenge.

IoT growth implies a bad actor might potentially control a vast network of linked devices if just one unencrypted device or the communication between them isn't safeguarded. Every step of the data transmission process must be secured, not only the devices themselves.

The satellite-space industry is now under threat from network hacking and cyberattacks, which is creating an increasing challenge to satellite operators.

Scope of the Study

Market Segments Covered in the Report:

By Channel Type

SCPC Modem

MCPC Modem

By Application

IP-trunking

Mobile & Backhaul

Enterprise & Broadband

Media & Broadcast

Others

By Technology

Satcom-on-the-move

Satcom-on-the-pause

VSAT

Others

By End User

Military & Defense

Telecommunications

Marine

Oil & Gas

Transportation & Logistics

Others

By Geography

North America

US

Canada

Mexico

Rest of North America

Europe

Germany

UK

France

Russia

Spain

Italy

Rest of Europe

Asia Pacific

China

Japan

India

South Korea

Singapore

Malaysia

Rest of Asia Pacific

LAMEA

Brazil

Argentina

UAE

Saudi Arabia

South Africa

Nigeria

Rest of LAMEA

For more information about this report visit https://www.researchandmarkets.com/r/swo8ws

About ResearchAndMarkets.com

ResearchAndMarkets.com is the world's leading source for international market research reports and market data. We provide you with the latest data on international and regional markets, key industries, the top companies, new products and the latest trends.

Attachment

CONTACT: CONTACT: ResearchAndMarkets.com Laura Wood,Senior Press Manager press@researchandmarkets.com For E.S.T Office Hours Call 1-917-300-0470 For U.S./ CAN Toll Free Call 1-800-526-8630 For GMT Office Hours Call +353-1-416-8900




Polaris Market Research & Consulting LLP

[115+ Pages Research Study] According to Polaris Market Research, the global cross-laminated timber (CLT) market Size & share was valued at USD 1.11 Billion in 2021 and is predicted to increase at a CAGR of 14.54%, to reach USD 3.72 Billion By 2030. The market in the United States is predicted to expand due to increasing demand from the end-user sector. High spending power and a diverse product offering are projected to drive market expansion in the area. Some of the key playes covered are B&K Structures, Stora Enso, Eugen Decker & WebMan, Structurlam Mass Timber Corporation, SmartLam NA and others.

New York, NY, March 03, 2023 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Polaris Market Research has published a new research report titled Cross Laminated Timber Market Share, Size, Trends, Industry Analysis Report, By Type (Adhesive Bonded, Mechanically Fastened); By Industry; By End-Use; By Region; Segment Forecast, 2022 - 2030 in its research database.

According to the latest research study, the global cross-laminated timber (CLT) market size & share is anticipated to be valued at approximately USD 1.11 Billion in 2021 and is projected to hit a revenue of around USD 3.72 Billion By 2030, at a CAGR of around 14.54% between 2022 and 2030.

What is Cross Laminated Timber (CLT)? How Big is Cross Laminated Timber (CLT) Market Size & Share?

Overview

Cross-laminated timber is an engineered wood panel consisting of at least three layers of solid-sawn lumber. CLT is quick and simple to install and has outstanding acoustic, fire, seismic, and thermal properties. It is also lightweight but highly robust. The manufacturing process of CLT includes selecting the lumber, removing flaws, cutting, applying adhesive, stacking the panels, and assembly pressing.

CLT can be used in place of concrete to make a building's walls, roof, floors, and ceilings. It can also be used for making cantilevered floors and balconies, load-bearing elevator shafts, and stairs. The increasing demand for cross-laminated timber from the residential sector and the adoption in flexible designs and stylish architecture are majorly driving the market growth. Various characteristics of cross-laminated timber involving durability, stability, design variety, lightweight, strength, enhanced insulation, and fire resistance are boosting the cross-laminated timber market demand.

Story continues

Request Sample Copy of Cross Laminated Timber (CLT) Market Research Report @ https://www.polarismarketresearch.com/industry-analysis/cross-laminated-timber-market/request-for-sample

(The sample of this report is readily available on request. The report sample contains a brief introduction to the research report, a Table of Contents, a Graphical introduction of regional analysis, Top players in the market with their revenue analysis, and our research methodology.)

Our Sample Report May Includes:

2032 Updated Report Introduction, Overview, and In-depth industry analysis.

115+ Pages Research Report (Inclusion of Updated Research).

Provide Chapter-wise guidance on Requests.

2023 Updated Regional Analysis with Graphical Representation of Size, Share & Trends

Includes Updated List of tables & figures.

Updated Report Includes Top Market Players with their Business Strategy, Sales Volume, and Revenue Analysis.

Highlights of The Report

All-inclusive information on the product portfolios of the top players in the market.

An in-depth assessment of the geographic and business segments of the market.

Market segmentation on the basis of the type of product, application, and region.

It offers a forward-looking perspective on the developing elements driving or controlling the business areas development.

The recent research and development projects performed by each key player.

A thorough analysis of the markets value chain and assess the effect of Porters five forces.

Some of the Top Market Players Are:

B&K Structures

Stora Enso

Eugen Decker & WebMan

Structurlam Mass Timber Corporation

SmartLam NA

& Others

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Market Dynamics

Key Growth Driving Factors

Growing building and construction sector to drive the market growth

The rising popularity of cross-laminated timber in countries like Europe and North America is expected to fuel the cross laminated timber market size . The use of mass timber and prefabricated wood structures is anticipated to lower costs for developers as well as encourage the generation of new jobs and economic growth. Over the past few years, the building and construction sector experienced tremendous growth which is accelerating the cross-laminated timber industry expansion. An increasing shift from cement concrete towards cross-laminated timber due to environmental concerns is expected to propel the market growth.

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Recent Trends Influencing the Market

Increasing shift from concrete-based to wood-based construction is boosting the industry's expansion

The market is also benefiting from global government programmers that are encouraging the shift from concrete-based to wood-based construction. The rise in consumer awareness of the damage that the manufacture of bricks and concrete causes to the environment is pushing the demand for cross laminated timber.

Furthermore, compared to other conventional building materials, the product provides greater design flexibility and installs more quickly. Thus the factor is expected to create growth opportunities for cross laminated timber market in developing nations like North America.

Cross Laminated Timber (CLT) Market: Report Scope

Report Attribute Details Revenue forecast in 2030 USD 3.72 Billion Market size value in 2022 USD 1.26 Billion Expected CAGR Growth 14.54% from 2022 - 2030 Base Year 2021 Forecast Year 2022 - 2030 Top Market Players Stora Enso, Pfeifer Group, HASSLACHER Holding GmbH, Mayr-Melnhof Holz, Binderholz GmbH Segments Covered By Wallet Type, Industry, End-User, By Region Customization Options Customized purchase options are available to meet any research needs. Explore customized purchase options

Segmental Analysis

The adhesive-bonded CLT was dominating the market in 2021

Based on type, the adhesive-bonded CLT segment held the largest cross laminated timber market share in 2021 and is expected to continue to dominate the market during the predicted period. Due to the requirement of less machinery, the manufacturing process of CLT requires less cost as compared to mechanical fastened CLT. Preservative treatment of CLTs may adversely affect the adhesive bonding at a microscopic level and is predicted to weaken the connection, resulting in delamination.

The residential segment witnessed the greatest revenue share

On the basis of industry segmentation, the residential category captured the highest revenue share in 2021 and is expected to retain its dominance throughout the foreseen period. The extensive usage of CLT in the construction of office buildings in North America and the Asia Pacific is fueling segment growth.

By end-use, the nonstructural segment witnesses the fastest growth

Nonstructural category is growing at the fastest rate due to the increasing urban residential sector. CLT panels can be used in constructions for floor, wall, and roof applications that are both non-load bearing and load bearing. The materials were initially employed to construct low- and mid-rise buildings. However, in recent years they have become a preferred option for high-rise structures.

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Geographic Overview

The demand in the Asia Pacific is projected to experience a significant growth

Based on geography, Europe accounted for more than 50% of revenue share in cross laminated timber market in 2021 and is anticipated to maintain this revenue share during the foreseen period. But, North America is also a highly competitive market because there are good green construction regulations there for the product. The rise in demand for CLT from the United States is fueling the cross laminated timber market growth in North America.

Moreover, the adoption of green building regulations by different governments around the Asia Pacific region is anticipated to accelerate market expansion. Also, the Asia Pacific market is expected to grow owing to the demand from countries like Australia, Japan, China, and India, where it will be used to build wood-based structures with improved seismic performance characteristics.

Browse the Detail Report Cross Laminated Timber Market Share, Size, Trends, Industry Analysis Report, By Type (Adhesive Bonded, Mechanically Fastened); By Industry; By End-Use; By Region; Segment Forecast, 2022 - 2030 with in-depth TOC: https://www.polarismarketresearch.com/industry-analysis/cross-laminated-timber-market

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Recent Developments

In 2022, With an investment of EUR 79 million, Stora Enso opened a new CLT production facility in the Czech Republic. The increased demand for affordable, environmentally friendly, and recyclable construction materials will be satisfied by the new location's greatly increased capacity for CLT production.

Important Questions Answered by Report

What is the present size of the market?

What are the names of key players working in the market?

What are trending strategies utilized by market enterprises to expand their businesses?

What are the key regions of the market?

Which region of the market is expected to show promising expansion avenues in the assessment period?

Which product type of the market is in high demand?

What is the projected size of the market at the end of the forecast period?

What are the opportunities and threats to which players are exposed in the market?

Polaris Market Research has segmented the cross laminated timber market report based on type, industry, end-user, and region:

By Type Outlook

Adhesive Bonded CLT

Mechanically Fastened CLT

By End-Use Outlook

Structural

Non-structural

By Industry Outlook

Residential

Commercial

By Region Outlook

North America (U.S., Canada)

Europe (France, Germany, UK, Italy, Netherlands, Spain, Russia)

Asia Pacific (Japan, China, India, Malaysia, Indonesia, South Korea)

Latin America (Brazil, Mexico, Argentina)

Middle East & Africa (Saudi Arabia, UAE, Israel, South Africa)

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About Polaris Market Research

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Company Logo

Dublin, March 03, 2023 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- The "Global Social Commerce Market Intelligence and Future Growth Dynamics Databook - 50+ KPIs on Social Commerce Trends by End-Use Sectors, Operational KPIs, Retail Product Dynamics, and Consumer Demographics - Q1 2023 Update" report has been added to ResearchAndMarkets.com's offering.



Global social commerce industry is expected to grow by 17.3% on annual basis to reach US$661033.6 million in 2023.



The social commerce industry is expected to grow steadily over the forecast period, recording a CAGR of 12.7% during 2022-2028. The global social commerce GMV will increase from US$661033.6 million in 2023 to reach US$1,353,208.7 million by 2028.



With the shift in consumer shopping behavior and changing marketing strategies, social media channels have emerged as a leading growth driver for retailers globally. Social shopping, while extremely popular in China, the trend is also gaining steady momentum in many other nations around the world. More brands are working with platforms such as TikTok to build new customer relationships and drive incremental revenue through fun and engaging content.



Amid the rapid growth achieved by TikTok in the space, more players in the online commerce space are increasing their investment to launch social shopping features onto their platforms. This coupled with the emergence of innovative startups is driving the competitive landscape of the global social commerce market. The growing market size has also resulted in increased investment from private equity and venture capital firms in the sector, and the publisher expects the trend to further continue over the next three to four years.



Chinese social commerce firms are seeking to expand their operations globally to accelerate growth



Social shopping is a mainstream phenomenon in China. Consumers across demographics are buying products through live stream events and social platforms. The trend is also gaining momentum in other nations, and as a result, to capitalize on the growing trend and accelerate their growth, China-based firms are expanding their geographical footprint.

Story continues

SuperOrdinary, the Chinese social commerce firm, facilitates deals between brands and influencers, helping both to find consumers. Four years after its launch in China, the firm is now taking the business model to the global market, with an initial focus on the United States creators. The firm owns an array of sites and platform that allows creators to earn when they share products on their platforms and profiles.

Kuaishou, another Chinese social commerce firm, is seeking to expand its global footprint as it competes for market share with TikTok, one of the leading players in the global social commerce segment. The firm is targeting expansion in the Brazilian market and has adopted a localization strategy to better its retention rate and drive increased traffic to the short video-sharing mobile application.



While both SuperOrdinary and Kuaishou are seeking to expand their international footprint, TikTok is also making an increasing investment in the global market to further strengthen its position as the market leader.



Social commerce firms are raising funding rounds globally to scale and grow their business



Amid the growing market size and demand for the innovative social commerce shopping experience, many startups have emerged in the global market. These startups are now raising funding rounds to further accelerate their growth as well as scale their business.

In October 2022, Elenas, one of the leading Latin American social commerce startups, announced that the firm had raised US$20 million in its Series B funding round, bringing the total fund raised to US$28 million, as of October 2022. The firm allows women in the region to sell products from the digital catalog to consumers through social channels. Between Series A and Series B rounds, the firm recorded revenue growth of 5x and is looking to further scale its business by increasing its seller network in Mexico and Colombia.

In December 2022, Kapu, the Kenya-based social commerce startup, announced that the firm had raised US$8 million in a Seed funding round. The firm is planning to use the capital to scale its business and operations across Kenya, before launching in other regional markets. Like Elenas, Kapu is also planning to increase its seller network, thereby further expanding its reach among the consumers. From the short to medium-term perspective, the firm is also expected to offer support for WhatsApp orders, which will simplify the shopping process for both sellers and buyers.

As more innovation takes place in the growing social commerce segment, the publisher expects an increasing amount of venture capital and private equity funds to flow into the global market over the next three to four years.



E-commerce retailers are making further inroads into the social commerce sector amid growing competition



With social platforms becoming a preferred shopping channel for some consumers, e-commerce marketplaces are losing market share to social commerce platforms, such as TikTok and Facebook. Consequently, e-commerce retailers are investing in the space to build their presence in the social commerce sector.- Amazon and Walmart, two of the leading retailers in the United States, are increasingly investing in the space. While Amazon has launched a TikTok-inspired shopping feature, Walmart has launched a platform for creators to sell products, in a major push in the social commerce sector in the United States.

With big giants investing in the space, the publisher expects the competition to further intensify over the next three to four years, which also supports the growth of the global social commerce industry.



Scope



Ecommerce Industry Market Size and Future Growth Dynamics by Key Performance Indicators, 2019-2028

Social Commerce Industry Market Size and Future Growth Dynamics by Key Performance Indicators, 2019-2028

Social Commerce Industry Market Size and Forecast by Retail Product Categories, 2019-2028

Clothing & Footwear

Beauty and Personal Care

Food & Grocery

Appliances and Electronics

Home Improvement

Travel

Hospitality

Social Commerce Industry Market Size and Forecast by End Use Segment, 2019-2028

B2B

B2C

C2C

Social Commerce Industry Market Size and Forecast by End Use Device, 2019-2028

Mobile

Desktop

Social Commerce Industry Market Size and Forecast by Location, 2019-2028

Domestic

Cross Border

Social Commerce Industry Market Size and Forecast by Location, 2019-2028

Tier-1 Cities

Tier-2 Cities

Tier-3 Cities

Social Commerce Industry Market Size and Forecast by Payment Method, 2019-2028

Credit Card

Debit Card

Bank Transfer

Prepaid Card

Digital & Mobile Wallet

Other Digital Payment

Cash

Social Commerce Industry Market Size and Forecast by Platforms

Video Commerce

Social Network-Led Commerce

Social Reselling

Group Buying

Product Review Platforms

Social Commerce Industry Market Size and Forecast by Consumer Demographics & Behaviour,2022

By Age

By Income Level

By Gender

For more information about this report visit https://www.researchandmarkets.com/r/tdns81

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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VANCOUVER, BC / ACCESSWIRE / March 3, 2023 / Gold Terra Resource Corp. (TSXV:YGT)(Frankfurt:TX0)(OTCQX:YGTFF) ("Gold Terra" or the "Company") is pleased to announce the first assay result from its winter drilling program on the Con Mine Option ("CMO") Property in Yellowknife, NWT. Drill hole GTCM23-042, the first hole of the program, intersected 5.3 g/t Au over 6.43 metres. The drilling program is designed to expand the Yellorex North gold zone between surface and 300 metres below surface (see February 24, 2023 press release). The CMO property is under option from subsidiaries of Newmont Corporation and is acquirable by the Company upon fulfillment of certain conditions set out in the CMO agreement, as reported in the Company's news release dated November 22, 2021. To date, the winter drilling program has completed ten (10) holes for a total of approximately 4,000 metres, of which eight (8) holes were on Yellorex North.

Yellorex North Zone drill core from hole GTCM23-042 will be on display at the Gold Terra Booth #2304, The Prospectors & Developers Association of Canada Convention (PDAC) at the Metro Toronto Convention Centre (MTCC) on Sunday, March 5 to Wednesday, March 8, 2023. Please join us at our booth to speak with management about the drilling program, future objectives and to see the core.

Chairman and CEO, Gerald Panneton, commented, "The Hole GTCM23-042 initial assay result is very encouraging as the intersection is 150 metres below surface, and fulfills our objective to expand the current near surface mineral resources on the CMO. We look forward to additional results as all eight holes have hit the targeted Campbell Shear and show significant intersections of visible multi-meter veining and sulphide mineralization. The Campbell Shear structure is our highest priority target as the Con Mine produced historically more than 5 million ounces of high-grade gold (16 g/t Au)."

Hole GTCM23-042 Highlights

GTCM23-042 intersected 5.3 g/t Au over 6.43 metres and was designed to verify and add depth extension to historical high-grade mineralization encountered in the Yellorex North zone of the Campbell Shear, as shown in Figure 1 below. The Campbell Shear was intersected at approximately 150 metres below ground level.

Story continues

The main intersection is between 236.5-242.93 metres down hole and contains approximately 6.5 metres of smoky quartz veining, strong sericite alteration, and strong pyrite and arsenopyrite mineralization. Veining, alteration, mineralization, and width are the most important factors for assessing zone potential as drilling occurs.

A cross-section with hole GTCM23-042 is shown in Figure 2 further below.

Figure 1 - Long section showing 2023 drilling, historic drilling, and hole GTCM23-42

Figure 2 - Cross-section showing hole GTCM23-042

The focus of the winter drilling program is to expand the September 2022 initial Mineral Resource Estimate ("MRE") (see September 7, 2022 press release) along the Campbell Shear immediately south of the Con Mine. The initial mineral resource estimate from drilling in 2022 is 109,000 Indicated ounces of contained gold and 432,000 Inferred ounces of contained gold between surface and to a depth of 400m below surface along a 2 km corridor. Please see the October 21, 2022 technical report, titled "Initial Mineral Resource Estimate for the CMO Property, Yellowknife City Gold Project, Yellowknife, Northwest Territories, Canada" with an effective date of September 2, 2022, by Qualified Person, Allan Armitage, Ph. D., P. Geo., SGS Geological Services, which can be found on the Company's website at https://www.goldterracorp.com and on SEDAR at www.sedar.com.

The eight holes were drilled near surface on Yellorex North as this represents one of many under explored targets in the area. The target area is only 1 kilometre south of existing infrastructure, and tested only by one hole in 2022, GTCM22-039, (see August 3, 2022 press release) which returned two mineralized zones returning 3.31 g/t Au over 6.00 metres from 306.0 to 312.0 metres and including 5.39 g/t Au over 2.0 metres from 309.00 to 311.00 metres, and 2.18 g/t Au over 5.0 metres from 324.00 metres to 329.00 metres.

Qualified Persons

Joe Campbell, P. Geo., Senior Technical Advisorfor Gold Terra is a Qualified Person within the meaning of NI 43-101 and has reviewed and approved the technical information contained in this news release.

About Gold Terra

The YCG project encompasses 800 sq. km of contiguous land immediately north, south and east of the City of Yellowknife in the Northwest Territories. Through a series of acquisitions, Gold Terra controls one of the six major high-grade gold camps in Canada. Being within 10 kilometers of the City of Yellowknife, the YCG is close to vital infrastructure, including all-season roads, air transportation, service providers, hydro-electric power, and skilled tradespeople. Gold Terra is currently focusing its drilling on the prolific Campbell Shear, where 14 Moz of gold has been produced, and most recently on the Con Mine Option claims immediately south of the past producing Con Mine (1938-2003).

The YCG and CMO property lie on the prolific Yellowknife greenstone belt, covering nearly 70 kilometers of strike length along the main mineralized shear system that host the former-producing high-grade Con and Giant gold mines. The Company's exploration programs have successfully identified significant zones of gold mineralization and multiple targets that remain to be tested which reinforces the Company's objective of re-establishing Yellowknife as one of the premier gold mining districts in Canada.

Visit our website at www.goldterracorp.com.

For more information, please contact:

Gerald Panneton, Chairman & CEO

gpanneton@goldterracorp.com

Mara Strazdins, Manager of Investor Relations

Phone: 1-778-897-1590 | 604-689-1749 ext 102

strazdins@goldterracorp.com

Neither the TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.

Information Concerning Estimates of Mineral Resources

Mineral Resources that are not Mineral Reserves do not have demonstrated economic viability. Therefore, investors are cautioned not to assume that all or any part of an Inferred Mineral Resource could ever be mined economically. It cannot be assumed that all or any part of "Measured Mineral Resources," "Indicated Mineral Resources," or "Inferred Mineral Resources" will ever be upgraded to a higher category. The Mineral Resource estimates contained herein may be subject to legal, political, environmental or other risks that could materially affect the potential development of such mineral resources. Refer to the Technical Report, once filed, for more information with respect to the key assumptions, parameters, methods and risks of determination associated with the foregoing.

Cautionary Note to United States Investors

The Company prepares its disclosure in accordance with the requirements of securities laws in effect in Canada, which differ from the requirements of U.S. securities laws. Terms relating to Mineral Resources in this news release are defined in accordance with NI 43-101 under the guidelines set out in CIM Definition Standards on Mineral Resources and Mineral Reserves, adopted by the Canadian Institute of Mining, Metallurgy and Petroleum Council on May 19, 2014, as amended ("CIM Standards"). The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (the "SEC") has adopted amendments effective February 25, 2019 (the "SEC Modernization Rules") to its disclosure rules to modernize the mineral property disclosure requirements for issuers whose securities are registered with the SEC under the U.S. Securities Exchange Act of 1934. As a result of the adoption of the SEC Modernization Rules, the SEC will now recognize estimates of "Measured Mineral Resources", "Indicated Mineral Resources" and "Inferred Mineral Resources", which are defined in substantially similar terms to the corresponding CIM Standards. In addition, the SEC has amended its definitions of "Proven Mineral Reserves" and "Probable Mineral Reserves" to be substantially similar to the corresponding CIM Standards.

U.S. investors are cautioned that while the foregoing terms are "substantially similar" to corresponding definitions under the CIM Standards, there are differences in the definitions under the SEC Modernization Rules and the CIM Standards. Accordingly, there is no assurance any Mineral Resources that the Company may report as "Measured Mineral Resources", "Indicated Mineral Resources" and "Inferred Mineral Resources" under NI 43-101 would be the same had the Company prepared the Mineral Resource estimates under the standards adopted under the SEC Modernization Rules. In accordance with Canadian securities laws, estimates of "Inferred Mineral Resources" cannot form the basis of feasibility or other economic studies, except in limited circumstances where permitted under NI 43-101.

Cautionary Note Regarding Forward-Looking Information

Certain statements made and information contained in this news release constitute "forward-looking information" within the meaning of applicable securities legislation ("forward-looking information"). Generally, this forward-looking information can, but not always, be identified by use of forward-looking terminology such as "plans", "expects" or "does not expect", "is expected", "budget", "scheduled", "estimates", "forecasts", "intends", "anticipates" or "does not anticipate", or "believes", or variations of such words and phrases or statements that certain actions, events, conditions or results "will", "may", "could", "would", "might" or "will be taken", "occur" or "be achieved" or the negative connotations thereof.

All statements other than statements of historical fact may be forward-looking information. Forward-looking information is necessarily based on estimates and assumptions that are inherently subject to known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors that may cause the actual results, level of activity, performance or achievements of the Company to be materially different from those expressed or implied by such forward-looking information. In particular, this news release contains forward-looking information regarding the current drilling on the Campbell Shear, potentially adding ounces to the Company's current YCG mineral resource, and the Company's objective of re-establishing Yellowknife as one of the premier gold mining districts in Canada.

There can be no assurance that such statements will prove to be accurate, as the Company's actual results and future events could differ materially from those anticipated in this forward-looking information as a result of the factors discussed in the "Risk Factors" section in the Company's most recent MD&A and annual information form available under the Company's profile at www.sedar.com.

Although the Company has attempted to identify important factors that would cause actual results to differ materially from those contained in forward-looking information, there may be other factors that cause results not to be as anticipated, estimated or intended. The forward-looking information contained in this news release is based on information available to the Company as of the date of this news release. There can be no assurance that such statements will prove to be accurate, as actual results and future events could differ materially from those anticipated in such statements. All of the forward-looking information contained in this news release is qualified by these cautionary statements. Readers are cautioned not to place undue reliance on forward-looking information due to the inherent uncertainty thereof. Except as required under applicable securities legislation and regulations applicable to the Company, the Company does not intend, and does not assume any obligation, to update this forward-looking information.

SOURCE: Gold Terra Resource Corp





View source version on accesswire.com:

https://www.accesswire.com/741803/Gold-Terra-Intersects-53-gt-Gold-over-643-Metres-on-Yellorex-North-Zone-Con-Mine-Option-Property




Greenberg Gross LLP

L.A.-based Claire-Lise Kutlays rapid ascension to Partner is a testament to her extraordinary skillset, talent, and drive

Claire-Lise Kutlay

Claire-Lise Kutlay named Partner at Greenberg Gross LLP

LOS ANGELES, March 03, 2023 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Greenberg Gross LLP, an elite litigation firm, is pleased to announce the elevation of Claire-Lise Kutlay to Partner. Ms. Kutlay handles trial and arbitration matters for companies, law firms, and high-level executives. Her practice focuses on complex business litigation and employment matters in state and federal court, including fraud, business torts, real estate, contacts, whistleblower retaliation, discrimination, and wrongful termination claims.



Since joining Greenberg Gross in 2015, Ms. Kutlay has worked on many groundbreaking matters, including high-stakes employment cases on behalf of the former head of Broadcoms labor department, and a former partner of Ogletree Deakins, a large labor law firm. I take great pride in representing top professionals in employment matters that make a difference, said Claire-Lise Kutlay. It is one of the many reasons I love being at Greenberg Gross, and am now thrilled to be a Partner.

In addition to her outstanding work on behalf of executives in employment matters, Ms. Kutlay has established that she is equally adept at defending companies and law firms in their most significant matters. For example, Ms. Kutlay, in 2018, served as a key member of a trial team defending an AmLaw 200 law firm, which had been sued for alleged malpractice, fraud, and RICO violations. At trial, the plaintiffs sought in excess of $150 million in compensatory damages, as well as a separate award for punitive damages. At the conclusion of the two-month trial, Ms. Kutlay and the defense team won a directed verdict on the issue of punitive damages. The remainder of the case went to the jury, which returned a complete defense verdict for the law firm, rejecting all claims against it and requiring the plaintiffs to reimburse the firm for various costs of defending the lawsuit. Perhaps there is no greater badge of excellence for a lawyer than to be called on to represent a law firm unfairly sued and in need of top representation, said Co-Founder Wayne Gross. Claire-Lises assignment to such cases reflects our absolute confidence in her.

Story continues

Over the past several years, Claire-Lise has established time and again that she is one of the brightest rising legal stars in Southern California, added Co-Founder and Managing Partner Alan A. Greenberg. She has more than earned the admiration of our clients, and we could not be more pleased about her addition to the partnership.

Ms. Kutlay earned her law degree from the University of California, Irvine School of Law, cum laude, and she is admitted to practice in the State of California, District of Columbia, U.S. Supreme Court, U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit, and U.S. District Court for the Central District of California.

About Greenberg Gross LLP

Greenberg Gross LLP is an elite litigation firm that handles high-stakes matters for plaintiffs and defendants across the country. The firm is routinely listed as one of the countrys Best Law Firms by U.S. News Media Group for commercial litigation. The firm has offices in Los Angeles, Orange County, Las Vegas, and New York.

Los Angeles



601 S. Figueroa Street

30th Floor

Los Angeles, CA 90017

Main (213) 334-7000

Orange County



650 Town Center Dr.

Suite 1700

Costa Mesa, CA 92626

Main (949) 383-2800

Las Vegas



One Summerlin

1980 Festival Plaza Dr.

Suite 300

Las Vegas, NV 89135

Main (702) 777-0888 New York



250 Park Avenue

7th Floor

New York, NY 10177

Main (212) 402-0900







Contact: Wayne Gross Greenberg Gross LLP (o): 949.383.2810 wgross@ggtriallaw.com



A photo accompanying this announcement is available at https://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/0d02e0f1-7381-4f86-b287-dd96c7824327






BEL AIR, Md., March 2, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Harford Mutual Insurance Group, a Ward's 50 top performing commercial property and casualty insurance company headquartered in Maryland, announces its plan to merge into the Group, ClearPath Mutual Insurance Company, a monoline workers' compensation carrier in Louisville, Kentucky.

Harford Mutual Insurance Group

"We are constantly seeking opportunities that complement our strategic goals and provide our policyholders and independent agents with the products and services they need," says Steve Linkous, President & CEO of Harford Mutual Insurance Group (HMIG). "ClearPath Mutual perfectly complements our product line offering while expediting our plans for geographic diversification. We look forward to welcoming ClearPath's employees, agents, and policyholders into HMIG as we fulfill our mutual vision of being a carrier of choice."

ClearPath Mutual, formerly KESA of Kentucky for over 40 years, was created in 2018 and currently provides monoline workers' compensation coverage in Indiana, Kentucky, Georgia, Tennessee, and West Virginia. Through an independent agency plant and relationships with local chambers of commerce and associations, ClearPath has steadily grown and writes over $52 million in direct written premium across nearly 7,000 policies. ClearPath will continue to operate under its company name, and the office in Louisville, Kentucky will remain in place and serve as HMIG's Midwest Regional Office.

"Since 2018, the mission of the ClearPath board and leadership has been to chart a path to sustainable success. We are financially strong and committed to the communities we serve," says Jeff Borkowski, President & CEO of ClearPath Mutual. "This merger into Harford Mutual Insurance Group will provide us with the scalable infrastructure and regional reach to meet our strategic goals of providing community-first workers' compensation coverage to our policyholders."

The transaction is expected to close once customary reviews and approvals are received.

Story continues

About Harford Mutual Insurance Group

Harford Mutual Insurance Group, founded in 1842 in Harford County, Maryland, provides commercial property and casualty insurance products and services to a regional market. Harford Mutual is a Ward's 50 top performing insurance company that ended 2022 with $327 million in direct written premium sold through nearly 450 independent agents in Delaware, Maryland, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, Tennessee, Virginia, and Washington, D.C. Harford Mutual contributed nearly $490,000 in community support in 2022. Harford Mutual is rated A (Excellent) by A.M. Best, the leading credit rating organization dedicated to serving the global insurance industry. For more information, visit www.HarfordMutual.com.

For more information, visit https://www.harfordmutual.com/better-together-announcement/

CLEARPATH MEDIA CONTACT:

Hilary Alvey

HAlvey@clearpathmutual.com

502-315-4245

HARFORD MUTUAL CONTACT:

Stacey A. Rebbert

AVP, Marketing & Corporate Communications

443-640-2348

SRebbert@hm1842.com

Cision

View original content to download multimedia:https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/harford-mutual-insurance-group-announces-merger-plan-with-clearpath-mutual-301761693.html

SOURCE Harford Mutual Insurance Group
ReportLinker

Summary. This report includes an assessment of the disease epidemiology and 10-year patient-based forecast (PBF) across the 8MM for marketed and pipeline therapies with established mechanisms of action and cell & gene therapies by class, including early to late clinical stage pipeline products, with a launch date assessment by market for Head and Neck Squamous Cell Carcinomas (HNSCC).

New York, March 03, 2023 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Reportlinker.com announces the release of the report "Head and Neck Squamous Cell Carcinomas (HNSCC) Market Size and Trend Report including Epidemiology and Pipeline Analysis, Competitor Assessment, Unmet Needs, Clinical Trial Strategies and Forecast, 2021-2031" - https://www.reportlinker.com/p06426799/?utm_source=GNW

In addition to PBF sales data for the 8MM, this report contains sales forecast extrapolations for an additional 7 geographical markets (7M), totaling 15 major markets (15MM).



These sales forecast extrapolations leverage data on pharmaceutical sales and drug availability from World Markets Healthcare (WMH) and POLI Price Intelligence databases.



The report also analyzes the clinical and commercial landscapes of GBM, with pricing assumptions based on currently marketed products by class of cell & gene therapies, accompanied by a transparent forecast methodology.



Additionally, the report evaluates indication-specific unmet needs and competitive assessment, and identifies key future players in the cell therapy market.



Cell and gene therapy (CGT) is not an established therapy area in HNSCC, but there is an active clinical pipeline.Gene therapies dominate the HNSCC CGT pipeline with 10 agents in Phase II and 13 agents in Phase I.



Autologous T-cell receptors (TCRs) follow close behind with 3 agents in Phase II and 7 agents in Phase I of development. However, CGTs only constitute a modest proportion of the overall HNSCC pipeline, reflecting the unproven efficacy of these modalities in this cancer type.

Cell and gene therapies are expected to capture a combined total of 8% of the HNSCC market by the end of the forecast period in 2031, reaching $262 million in 8MM sales (US, France, Germany, Italy, Spain, UK, Japan, and China).

Sales forecasts for the 7M (Australia, South Korea, Belgium, Denmark, Switzerland, Israel, and Canada) assessed in this analysis show the overall HNSCC market (cell therapies and established/traditional therapies) is expected to reach $163 million by 2031.

CGT agents show promise for partially meeting unmet needs in HNSCC and can provide the most value by producing more therapeutic options for patients with locally advanced HNSCC. CGTs are not expected to address the unmet need of identifying new druggable targets, with the top 5 targets in the HNSCC already being well-established targets.



Key Highlights

Forecast includes 8 countries

Forecast covers 2021-2031

Seven markets are extrapolated, obtaining a 15-market value for all GBM therapeutics



Scope

- This report includes disease epidemiology, a 10-year patient-based forecast for marketed and pipeline therapies with established mechanisms of action and cell & gene therapies by class, including early- to late clinical stage pipeline products with launch date assessment by 8MM market.



Reasons to Buy

- OBTAIN CELL & GENE THERAPY SALES FORECASTS ACROSS MULTIPLE REGIONS

- GAIN INSIGHT INTO PROMISING EARLY STAGE APPROACHES

- Our indication specific forecast models answer questions such as:

- What is the target patient pool for cell & gene therapies in each cancer indication?

- Which patient groups are more likely to receive these therapies?

- What does the cell & gene therapy clinical stage pipeline look like in each cancer indication

- What is the anticipated breakdown between autologous and allogeneic cell therapies?

- When will cell & gene therapies launch in eac h market?

- What is the total market value projected for the forecast end, in 2031?

Read the full report: https://www.reportlinker.com/p06426799/?utm_source=GNW



About Reportlinker

ReportLinker is an award-winning market research solution. Reportlinker finds and organizes the latest industry data so you get all the market research you need - instantly, in one place.



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CONTACT: Clare: clare@reportlinker.com US: (339)-368-6001 Intl: +1 339-368-6001




When the Beverly Hills jeweler Martin Katz started loaning vintage jewels to celebrities in the early 1990s, he worked from a penthouse apartment in a high-rise building on Wilshire Boulevard called the Diplomat.

Wed sit at a bar in the living room, Katz tells Robb Report. Id open the drawers and instead of a corkscrew, youd get a pair of earrings.

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In 2002, a decade after Hollywood had discovered him, Katz moved his business from his apartment to a boutique on Brighton Way, in the heart of Beverly Hills, and stayed there until the pandemicand a harrowing Covid-19 experienceconvinced him it was time to go private again.

This is my return to the penthouse, Katz says as he greets a reporter at his new 1,500-square-foot showroom at the top of the bright yellow Fred Hayman building on Canon Drive. The salon opened to visitors this week.

I started my career in a penthouse, and now Im back to being private, he says.

The space is a showcase for Katzs extraordinary gem-set jewels. There are diamonds galoreunusual hexagonal-cut gems set in paddle-style rings, sunny yellow diamonds in cheerful floral-inspired earrings, or pave stones on sophisticated opera-length chainsbut where he truly shines is in his use of color. Multimillion-dollar pigeons blood Burmese rubies, Windex-blue Paraiba tourmalines from Brazil, fine black opals from Australiathe displays brim with rings, earrings, bracelets and necklaces featuring spectacular colored stones.

Katz famously got his start on the red carpet in 1992, when he was asked to visit an unknown Sharon Stone on the set of Basic Instinct, and then promptly declined her request to borrow his jewelry for the films red carpet premiere.

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Sorry, I dont loan jewelry, he recalls telling Stones people. I take all the risk and get no reward. When shes ready to buy something, have her call me.

A persuasive follow-up call from one of the films producers changed Katzs mindand his fortunes. He agreed to loan Stone his jewels with one caveat: That she wear the jewelry in photo shoots for the magazines that were clamoring to feature her, and give him credit.

Ultimately that publicity brought such awareness to my brand, Katz says. My phone was ringing off the hook from clients and public relations people who wanted me to loan to their clients.

By 2002, when he was designing his own jewelry rather than simply curating vintage pieces, the flood of visitors to his penthouse apartment was so great that he realized he needed to move to a commercial space.

I didnt want to be on Rodeo Drive. I was a private jeweler, no one knew me, Katz says. Brighton Way spoke to me. Its the Madison Avenue to Fifth Avenue. A little more subtle and out of the way.

For 20 years, he catered to celebrities and the high-society women who loved them. As the business of the red carpet became more heated, however, Katz noticed that many global brands had begun to pay celebrities to wear their jewels during awards season.

One day, at the Beverly Hills Hotel, someone casually asked him who he was paying to wear his jewelry. I thought he was joking, Katz says. Why would you pay? Its such a privilege to get to wear the jewelry.

The red carpet requests have dwindled over the years due to the pay-for-play phenomenon that Katz refuses to take part in, but he is happy to continue catering to loyal longtime clients, including Rebecca Gayhart, Angela Bassett, Sally Field and, of course, Sharon Stone.

We still have plenty of big celebs that come to us, and we do enough to keep us in the mix, he says.

Actress Christina Ricci wearing a pair of Martin Katz earrings.

The slowdown in red carpet requests is not necessarily a bad thing. In March 2020, Katz was admitted to the hospital with a severe case of Covid-19. Fifty-nine days later (including 11 spent on a ventilator), he was released to a rehabilitation facility. His wife, Kelly, whom he began dating when he was still doing business at the Diplomat, managed the store while he was in recovery.

I had to close the boutique and yet clients were calling with all these requests, she recalls of those early months in lockdown. Can you bring some studs? My wifes going crazy. Id drop them off with gloves in the driveway. I had to make every sale that was coming my way.

It took Katz a year and a half to regain basic skills, like penmanship, because his muscles had atrophied during his time at the hospital. In all that, my lease was coming up, he says. I thought, I dont really need the activity of the boutique anymore. If only I could find another boutique in a penthouse and return to my roots as a private jeweler.

On one of the couples walks around the neighborhood, they spied a for lease sign advertising the penthouse space in the Fred Hayman Building. The couple signed the lease in January 2021 and waited two years for the renovation to be completed, owing to the home remodeling fever that struck during the pandemic, and the subsequent supply chain issues.

Every contractor, cabinet maker, you name it, everyone was remodeling their homes, says Katz. There was nobody available. I kept getting ghosted.

The space still needs a few finishing touches, but it is officially open for appointment-only visitors. People will come, well order lunch and sit outside, Kelly says, motioning to the sun-lit balcony. Itll be a hangout.

We went from oxygen in every room of our house to this, Kelly says. Were so blessed.

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Beleaguered Indian billionaire Gautam Adani is trying everything to win back investors confidence after a massive stock rout eroded over $140 billion of his groups market value in a month. The efforts through road shows and negotiations seem to have paid off as the conglomerate has now reportedly managed to sell stakes in its firms to GQG Partners for $1.9 billion.

This share sale to the Australia-listed GQG marks the first major investment in the Adani group since the short-seller Hindenburgs explosive report published on Jan. 24.

Read more

GQG has, through block deals, bought the Adani family trusts shares in Adani Enterprises, Adani Transmission, Adani Ports, and Adani Green Energy, a regulatory filing showed. The deal was brokered by Jefferies.

datawrapper-chart-4mC05

GQG, co-founded by Rajiv Jain, manages assets worth $88 billion in global equities funds. Jain is quite optimistic about the Adani groups prospects, according to Australian Financial Review (AFR).

Adani Green Energy is by far the fastest and the largest private sector green energy company in India. Theyre rolling out almost 3 gigawatts annually. So, I think some of their assets are fantastic, Jain told AFR.

Who is Rajiv Jain?

Born and raised in India, Jain moved to the US in 1990 to pursue an MBA at the University of Miami. He began his career at Vontobel Asset Management in 1994 as a portfolio manager, his LinkedIn profile shows.

Jain went on to become Vontobels chief investment officer and head of equities. Between 2014 and 2016, he even served as its co-CEO.

In 2016, Jain founded GQG Partners and took up the role of its chairman and CIO. He plunks down huge sums of money on individual stocks and, in a heartbeat, can bail on an entire positionthe sort of bold moves most in the industry avoid. Moreover, in talking with him, it quickly becomes clear that he doesnt make much of his rival stock-pickers, Bloomberg wrote about him in a profile last month.

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Jain is touted as a more cautious growth manager than others, according to Gregg Wolper, a senior analyst at Morningstar, a US-based financial services firm. His portfolio consists of defensive stocks, but he is a risk-taker.

We try to take less absolute risk, Jain told Bloomberg. The businesses we own generate a lot of free cash flow. So the risk of us losing on an absolute basis is a lot lower. But sometimes that means you have to take more relative risk.



Also, Jain invests in only 40-50 large-cap stocks, compared to the benchmarks more than 2,000.

The post-deal movement of Adani and GQG shares

Following the announcement of GQGs investment in Adani, stocks of the Indian conglomerates seven listed firms surged today, a few even hitting the upper circuit.

Since Jan. 24, the Adani stocks have lost 57% ($122 billion) of their market value. A four-day rally this week, however, has taken the 10 Adani group scrips overall market cap to $101 billion.

datawrapper-chart-gF7wj

GQG Partners was listed on Australias stock exchange in October 2021, raising $794.97 million, making it the countrys top listing of the year. Today, the stock fell by up to 3% in reaction to the Adani investment news.

Jain, who holds a 68.8% stake in GQG Partners, told Reuters that his company had carried out a deep dive into Adani and disagreed with Hindenburgs report.



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TORONTO, March 3, 2023 /CNW/ - With Environment Canada predicting heavy snowfall in combination with strong easterly winds across the Greater Toronto Area and parts of Southern Ontario tonight, Insurance Bureau of Canada (IBC) is sharing tips to help you keep your family and property safe.

Insurance Bureau of Canada / Bureau d'assurance du Canada - Logo (CNW Group/Insurance Bureau of Canada)

"As we've seen in the past, winter storms have the potential to cause extensive damage. Being prepared for any severe weather event is important for your personal safety and financial security," said Kim Donaldson, Vice-President, Ontario, IBC. "We encourage residents to take a few simple steps now to help protect their property from damage."

IBC's Top 10 Winter Storm Tips

Avoid driving if possible. If you have to drive, clear all snow and ice from your vehicle before you start out. Drive according to the road conditions and give snowplows and other vehicles plenty of space. Create an emergency preparedness plan for your family and assemble disaster safety kits for your home, car and office. Make sure you have extra windshield cleaner. Prepare for power outages. Have flashlights and portable lighting ready. When using candles, always be mindful of fire hazards. Charge electronics and have backup power sources available. Once the snowfall has ended, keep your sidewalk and the front stairs of your house clear of snow and ice. Keep snow away from gas meters, gas appliance vents, exhaust vents and basement windows. Park vehicles in a garage, if possible. Inspect your attic for frost accumulation, and check your eavestroughs and roof for potential ice dams or icicles. Move valuable items out of your basement to higher levels in your home, in case of flooding. Have someone check your property if you are away.

Rest Easier. Know What's Covered.

Talk to your insurance representative to make sure you have appropriate coverage. Now is a good time to remind yourself of the policy that you have in place by reviewing the list below.

Water damage in a basement due to a sewer backup is only covered if you have purchased specific, optional sewer backup coverage.

Overland flood damage, which occurs when bodies of water such as rivers overflow onto dry land, is only covered if you have purchased specific, optional overland flood coverage. However, if you live in a known flood plain, this coverage may not be available.

Damage to homes caused by wind is usually covered. This includes damage caused by flying debris or falling branches or trees, or damage caused by water entering through openings.

If you have purchased comprehensive or all perils automobile insurance coverage, damage to vehicles from wind is usually covered. This coverage is not mandatory, so check your policy.

In certain circumstances, homeowners who are unable to return home due to insured damage are entitled to additional living expenses.

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Resources

Anyone with questions about their individual policy should contact their insurance representative.

For general insurance information, contact IBC's Consumer Information Centre at 1844-2ask-IBC (1-844-227-5422 ext. 228) or visit IBC.ca/disaster.

About Insurance Bureau of Canada

Insurance Bureau of Canada is the national industry association representing Canada's private home, auto and business insurers. Its member companies make up the vast majority of the property and casualty (P&C) insurance market in Canada. For more than 50 years, IBC has worked with governments across the country to help make affordable home, auto and business insurance available for all Canadians. IBC supports the vision of consumers and governments trusting, valuing and supporting the private P&C insurance industry. It champions key issues and helps educate consumers on how best to protect their homes, cars, businesses and properties.

For media releases and more information, visit IBC's Media Centre at www.ibc.ca. Follow us on Twitter @InsuranceBureau and like us on Facebook. If you have a question about home, auto or business insurance, contact IBC's Consumer Information Centre at 1-844-2ask-IBC.

SOURCE Insurance Bureau of Canada

Cision

View original content to download multimedia: http://www.newswire.ca/en/releases/archive/March2023/03/c8837.html
MAXIMIZE MARKET RESEARCH PRIVATE LIMITED

Intravenous Infusion Pumps Market was worth US$ 4.96 Bn. in 2021 and total revenue is expected to grow at a rate of 7.9 % CAGR from 2021 to 2029, reaching almost US$ 9.11 Bn. in 2029.

Pune, March 03, 2023 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- A global Engineering Equipment business-consulting firm, Maximize Market research, has published a market intelligence and competitive landscape report on the  Intravenous Infusion Pumps Market . The report is a combination of primary data and secondary data and domain expert has analyzed the Intravenous Infusion Pumps Market from a local as well as a global point of view. As per the report, the North America region dominated the global Intravenous Infusion Pumps Market in 2021. Over the forecast period, Maximize Market research expects, the market to grow from USD 4.96 Bn in 2021 to USD 9.11 Bn in 2029 at a CAGR of 7.9 percent.



Intravenous Infusion Pumps Market Report Scope and Research Methodology

Market Size in 2021 USD 4.96 Bn. Market Size in 2029 USD 9.11 Bn. CAGR 7.9 percent (2022-2029) Forecast Period 2022-2029 Base Year 2021 Number of Pages 278 No. of Tables 116 No. of Charts and Figures 114 Segment Covered Product, Diseases and End-User Regional Scope North America, Europe, Asia Pacific, Middle East and Africa, South America Report Coverage Market Share, Size & Forecast by Revenue | 20222029, Market Dynamics, Growth Drivers, Restraints, Investment Opportunities, and Key Trends, Competitive Landscape, Key Players Benchmarking, Competitive Analysis, MMR Competition Matrix, Competitive Leadership Mapping, Global Key Players Market Ranking Analysis.

Request For Free Sample Report: https://www.maximizemarketresearch.com/request-sample/123539

Intravenous Infusion Pumps Market Report Scope and Research Methodology

The report on Intravenous Infusion Pump Market provides an in-depth analysis of the market structure and the competition prevailing in the industry. Key insights of the report include the Intravenous Infusion Pump Market size and growth rate over the forecast period. Key insights of the report include the market dynamics that are the market drivers, challenges to growth, restraining factors and opportunities.

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To gain insights on the untapped potential of the market growth, a regional analysis is included in the report. The Intravenous Infusion Pump Market is divided among various regions to understand the region-wise dominance and market penetration of the product. For the segment-wise analysis of the market, the market is divided into Technology and End-User. A thorough competitive analysis of the Intravenous Infusion Pump Market includes major players and new entrants in the market. Key players are gathered based on critical indicators such as the revenue generated, types of infusion pumps, geographical presence, growth rate of the company, marketing tactics, mergers and acquisitions, joint ventures and partnerships. Such a report helps key players understand their competition better while aiding new entrants grasp the Intravenous Infusion Pump Market dynamics and type of competition.

Data for the analysis is collected using primary and secondary data collection methods. A mix of qualitative and quantitative analysis is used in the report. Research tools such as SWOT, PESTLE and Porters Five Force analysis is used for the analysis of the Intravenous Infusion Pump Market.

Get a Sample Copy of the Report: https://www.maximizemarketresearch.com/request-sample/123539

Intravenous Infusion Pumps Market Overview

Infusion pumps are the devices that are used in CCUs, ICUs and emergency departments. Intravenous Infusion Pumps are majorly used in transferring accurate dosage. The Intravenous Infusion Pump Market is driven by the increasing adoption of ambulatory infusion pumps that are cheaper compared to other infusion pumps and easier to use.

Intravenous Infusion Pumps Market Dynamics

The major factors driving the Intravenous Infusion Pumps Market growth are the increasing incidences of chronic diseases, increasing demand for ambulatory infusion pumps, the growing geriatric population and the rising number of people undergoing surgical procedures. During the forecast period, technological advancement is expected to create lucrative growth opportunities for the key players. The factors that are expected to restrain the Intravenous Infusion Pumps Market growth are medication errors and patient safety risks related to infusion pumps.

Intravenous Infusion Pumps Market Regional Insights

In 2021, the North America region dominated the global Intravenous Infusion Pumps Market accounting for 49.3 percent of the market share. This growth of the market is majorly attributed to the well-developed and increasing research and development and the adoption of advanced technology.

Get the Sample PDF of the Report: https://www.maximizemarketresearch.com/request-sample/123539

During the forecast period, the Asia-Pacific region is expected to grow at a CAGR of 8.4 percent. the growth of the market is attributed to the dense population with the increasing burden of chronic diseases like cardiovascular illnesses, cancer and diabetes.

Intravenous Infusion Pumps Market Segmentation

By Product

Volumetric Infusion pumps

Insulin Infusion pumps

Syringe Infusion pumps

Enteral Infusion pumps

Ambulatory Infusion pumps



The Insulin Infusion Pumps segment is expected to grow at a rate of 8.5 percent during the forecast period. In 2021, the Volumetric Infusion Pumps segment earned the most revenue and is expected to retain this dominance in the Intravenous Infusion Pumps Market during the forecast period.

By Diseases

Chemotherapy

Diabetes

Gastroenterology

Pediatrics/Neonatology

The Pediatrics/Neonatology segment is the largest segment followed by the Gastroenterology segment in the Intravenous Infusion Pumps Market.

By End User

Hospitals

Ambulatory surgical centers

Homecare settings

Diagnostics centers

Others



The Diagnostics centers and Homecare settings are the major segments of the Intravenous Infusion Pumps Market.

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Intravenous Infusion Pumps Market Key Competitors include:

Baxter International

B. Braun Melsungen AG

Medtronic

Micrel Medical Devices SA

Boston Scientific Corporation

CareFusion Corporation

Fresenius Kabi

Smiths Medical

ICU Medical (Hospira Inc.)

iRadimed Corporation

Zyno Medical

Medtronic Plc

Terumo Corporation

Nipro Corporation

Summit Medical Products, Inc

Ambu A/S

Gamastech S.R.L

vTitan, Acromed AG

Key questions answered in the Intravenous Infusion Pumps Market are:

What is Intravenous Infusion Pump?

What is the global Intravenous Infusion Pumps Market structure?

What is the CAGR of the Intravenous Infusion Pumps Market?

What are the global trends in the Intravenous Infusion Pumps Market?

What are the upcoming industry applications and trends for the Intravenous Infusion Pumps Market?

What is the revenue generated from the sales of Intravenous Infusion Pumps across the world?

What are the recent industry trends that can be implemented to generate additional revenue streams for Intravenous Infusion Pumps Market?

What growth strategies are the players considering to increase their presence in Intravenous Infusion Pumps Market?

Who are the leading players and what are their portfolios in Intravenous Infusion Pumps Market?

What are the major challenges that the Intravenous Infusion Pumps Market could face in the future?

Who held the largest market share in Intravenous Infusion Pumps Market?



Key Offerings:

Past Market Size and Competitive Landscape (2018 to 2021)

Past Pricing and price curve by region (2018 to 2021)

Market Size, Share, Size & Forecast by different segment | 20222029

Intravenous Infusion Pumps Market Dynamics  Growth Drivers, Restraints, Opportunities, and Key Trends by region

Intravenous Infusion Pumps Market Segmentation  A detailed analysis by Product, Diseases, End User and Region

Competitive Landscape  Profiles of selected key players by region in a strategic perspective Competitive landscape  Market Leaders, Market Followers, Regional player Competitive benchmarking of key players by region

PESTLE Analysis

PORTERs analysis

Value chain and supply chain analysis

Legal Aspects of business by region

Lucrative business opportunities with SWOT analysis

Recommendations

Maximize Market Research is leading Engineering Equipment research firm, has also published the following reports:

Infusion Pumps Market - The market size is expected to reach USD 17.91 billion by 2029 at a CAGR of 8.8 percent during the forecast period. The market is expected to be driven by the increasing number of surgical operations conducted across the world and increasing technological developments.

Infusion Pump Software Market - The market size is expected to reach USD 1.3 billion by 2029 at a CAGR of 8 percent during the forecast period. The market is expected to be driven by the increasing demand for advanced infusion pump software and the increasing prevalence of chronic diseases.

Veterinary Infusion Pump Market - The market size is expected to reach USD 316.89 million by 2029 at a CAGR of 3 percent during the forecast period. The market is expected to be driven by the increasing prevalence of various animal diseases and increasing awareness about animal healthcare.

Home Infusion Therapy Market - The market size is expected to reach USD 59.75 billion by 2029 at a CAGR of 11 percent during the forecast period. The market is expected to be driven by the growing elderly population and a larger frequency of long-term ailments.

Industrial Pumps Market - The market size is expected to reach USD 88.76 billion by 2029 at a CAGR of 4.3 percent during the forecast period. The market is expected to be driven by the increasing demand for energy and fuel across developing economies and advancements in infrastructure in the power generation sector.

About Maximize Market Research:

Maximize Market Research is a multifaceted market research and consulting company with professionals from several industries. Some of the industries we cover include medical devices, pharmaceutical manufacturers, science and engineering, electronic components, industrial equipment, technology and communication, cars and automobiles, chemical products and substances, general merchandise, beverages, personal care, and automated systems. To mention a few, we provide market-verified industry estimations, technical trend analysis, crucial market research, strategic advice, competition analysis, production and demand analysis, and client impact studies.

CONTACT: Contact Maximize Market Research: 3rd Floor, Navale IT Park, Phase 2 Pune Banglore Highway, Narhe, Pune, Maharashtra 411041, India sales@maximizemarketresearch.com +91 96071 95908, +91 960736565




BARCELONA, Spain, March 3 (Xinhua) -- Chinese companies are crucial to the ecosystem of the entire mobile industry, experts from GSMA, an industry group representing the world's biggest mobile phone operators, told Xinhua in recent interviews.

During the Mobile World Congress (MWC) 2023 in Barcelona, some media questioned whether Chinese companies such as Huawei and ZTE were eligible to participate following the "entity list" issued by the United Stats.

A spokesperson for GSMA, organizer of the congress, told Xinhua that the association was fully allowed to conduct activities with companies such as Huawei and ZTE.

"Part of our role, as a global industry association, is precisely to align technological developments for the benefit of people, industries and the society in a fragmented geopolitical environment," the spokesperson said.

Companies such as Huawei "have always been important partners of GSMA and an important part of our ecosystem. We will not shut out Huawei and ZTE," said Lara Dewar, chief marketing officer (CMO) for GSMA.

"China is a leader in 5G and related applications," she said, adding that the country is not just an important market but also plays an important role in how people think, discuss and exchange ideas about how to build the digital world of the future.

John Hoffman, GSMA's CEO, said the number of Chinese attendees during this year's MWC, from Feb. 27 to March 2, reached about 5,000.

Hoffman said that he was very impressed by the huge crowds visiting the stands of the Chinese companies including Huawei, ZTE and Xiaomi.

Mats Granryd, director-general of GSMA, said the huge exhibition areas of Huawei and ZTE at the conference site showed the importance of Chinese enterprises to the industry's ecosystem.

Chinese enterprises could bring innovation, scale and advanced technology, which is crucial to the whole industry, he noted. 
The President of Georgia, Salome Zourabichvili, called for the banning of the activities of parties that are in conflict with the Constitution.Zourabichvili explained that the supreme law of the country obliges the constitutional bodies to take all measures to ensure the full integration of Georgia into the European Union."It is alarming for a member of the parliament to make statements against the constitution.The supreme law of the country obliges the constitutional bodies to take all measures to ensure the full integration of Georgia into the European Union.Full integration into the European Union and the North Atlantic Organization is the goal declared by the Constitution of Georgia.The activities of all those political parties that contradict the principles of the Constitution, the path chosen by our country and its population should be declared unconstitutional and banned," the President said.On March 2, Mikheil Kavelashvili, who formally left the 'Georgian Dream', said that their goal is not joining the European Union.Parties "Droa", "Strategy Agmashenebeli" and "Girchi - more freedom" will start a campaign "Million signatures for the European Union" and collect signatures.According to them, Georgian people want Euro-Atlantic integration, and as a sign of this, they will present the collected signatures to political circles in the West."Georgian Dream" violates the Constitution of Georgia, where the realization of the idea of a strong Georgia is indicated to join the European Union and NATO. Not only do they not fulfill the 12-point reform plan, but they also initiate the Russian bill, which the whole civilized world tells us is against the issue of Georgia's move towards Europe.Therefore, the only way is to start talking directly with our European and American partners with a common mandate, the mandate of the Georgian people. We will start a campaign to collect a million signatures. These million signatures will arrive in Washington, European capitals, Brussels.With this, we clearly express the opinion of the Georgian people, ours, everyone, that Georgia deserves to be a member of the European Union and NATO, Georgia stands next to the civilized world, and no government, no political group, no matter how tied to Russia, can change our minds about fulfilling this important mission" Giorgi Vashadze said at the briefing.
Allied Market Research

Rise in demand for IoT in aviation across all industries due to technological advancements in wireless network technologies, expansion of business processes and data gathering, and surge in connectivity to improve experience of passenger drive the global IoT in aviation market. By application, the asset management segment held the highest share in 2021. By region, on the other hand, Asia-Pacific would showcase fastest CAGR by 2031.

Portland, OR, March 03, 2023 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- According to the report published by Allied Market Research, the global IoT in aviation market was estimated at $1.34 billion in 2021, and is expected to hit $8.55 billion by 2031, registering a CAGR of 20.5% 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 Research Report - https://www.alliedmarketresearch.com/request-sample/6790

Aviation IoT Market Report Coverage & Details:

Report coverage Details Forecast Period 2022-2031 Base Year 2021 Market Size in 2021 $1.34 billion Market Size in 2031 $8.55 billion CAGR 20.5% No. of Pages in Report NA Segments covered Component, End-user, Application, Region Drivers Rise in demand for IoT in aviation in all industries due to technological advancements in wireless network technologies. Expansion of business processes, and data gathering. Surge in connectivity to improve experience of passenger Opportunities



Reduction in operational expenses and automated aircraft monitoring and reporting Restraints



Concerns related to multiple stakeholders in the aviation industry and data privacy and cyber security

COVID-19 Scenario:

The outbreak of COVID-19 resulted in domestic and international lockdowns with reduced traffic through major transport hubs. There was a significant drop in the number of operational planes due to the reduction in business travel, which impacted the market negatively.

However, the use of artificial intelligence algorithms, IoT sensors, and mobile apps in the aviation industry has increased post-pandemic, which will boost the market growth during the forecast period.

For instance, airports are focusing on utilizing IoT sensors such as LIDAR sensors, 3D stereoscopic sensors, video cameras at the airport to analyze physical distancing, crowd planning and others.

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The research provides detailed segmentation of the global IoT in aviation market based on component, end-user, application, region. The report discusses segments and their sub-segments in detail with the help of tables and figures. Market players and investors can strategize according to the highest revenue-generating and fastest-growing segments mentioned in the report.

Based on component, the hardware segment held the largest share in 2021, accounting for more than two-fifths of the global IoT in aviation market and would maintain its dominance in terms of revenue through 2021. Also, the same segment is estimated to witness the fastest CAGR of 21.3% during the forecast period. The report also discusses software, and services segments.

Based on end-user, the airport segment accounted for the highest share in 2021, contributing to nearly three-fifths of the global IoT in aviation market, and is expected to maintain its lead in terms of revenue during the forecast period. This segment is expected to manifest the fastest CAGR of 21.3% during the forecast period. The report also discusses airlines, MROs, and manufacturers segments.

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Based on application, the asset management segment accounted for the highest share in 2021, contributing to around two-fifths of the global IoT in aviation market and is expected to maintain its lead in terms of revenue during the forecast period. The passenger experience segment is expected to manifest the fastest CAGR of 22.8% from 2022 to 2031. The report also analyzes, ground operations, air traffic management segments.

Based on region, North America held the largest share in 2021, contributing to nearly one-third of the global IoT in aviation market share. The Asia-Pacific region is expected to maintain its lead in terms of revenue during forecast period. Also, the same region is expected to manifest the fastest CAGR of 22.8% during the forecast period.

Leading market players of the global IoT in aviation market, analyzed in the research include Cisco Systems, Inc., Aeris, Huawei Technologies Co., LTD., Honeywell International Inc., Amadeus It Group Sa, IBM Corporation, Happiest Minds Technologies, SITAONAIR, Tata Sons Private Limited., Walkbase.

The report provides a detailed analysis of these key players of the global IoT in aviation market. These players have adopted different strategies such as new product launches, collaborations, expansion, joint ventures, agreements, and others to increase their market share and maintain dominant shares in different regions. The report is valuable in highlighting business performance, operating segments, product portfolio, and strategic moves of market players to showcase the competitive scenario.

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Similar Reports We Have on Aviation Industry:

5G Distributed Antenna System in Aviation Market Research Report 2023-2035

5G Small Cell in Aviation Market Research Report 2023-2035

5G in Defense Market Research Report 2023-2035

5G in Aviation Market Research Report 2023-2035

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We are in professional corporate relations with various companies and this helps us in digging out market data that helps us generate accurate research data tables and confirms utmost accuracy in our market forecasting. Allied Market Research CEO Pawan Kumar is instrumental in inspiring and encouraging everyone associated with the company to maintain high quality of data and help clients in every way possible to achieve success. Each and every data presented in the reports published by us is extracted through primary interviews with top officials from leading companies of domain concerned. Our secondary data procurement methodology includes deep online and offline research and discussion with knowledgeable professionals and analysts in the industry.

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LEXINGTON, Mass., March 3, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Thea Pharma, Inc. ("Thea"), the U.S. subsidiary of Europe's leading independent pharmaceutical company, Thea, dedicated to the research, development, and commercialization of ophthalmic products, announced the presentation of Phase III data on IYUZEH (latanoprost ophthalmic solution) 0.005% by Jason Bacharach, MD at the 2023 American Glaucoma Society (AGS) Annual Meeting. The large, pivotal clinical trial demonstrated comparable efficacy of preservative-free IYUZEH (latanoprost ophthalmic solution) 0.005% over brand-name Xalatan (Pfizer Inc., New York, NY, USA) (latanoprost ophthalmic solution) 0.005%, containing the preservative benzalkonium chloride (BAK), in patients with POAG or OHT.

Thea Logo

"We compared IYUZEH to Xalatan in 334 patients over 84 days," said Dr. Bacharach, Founder and Director of Research at North Bay Eye Associates in Petaluma, California. "IYUZEH demonstrated similar clinically meaningful reductions in IOP from baseline (18 mmHg) with fewer ocular adverse events (13.9% vs. 22.5%). Less than 2% of patients in the IYUZEH group experienced instillation site pain, pruritis or conjunctival hyperemia."

"The harmful effects of preservatives on ocular surface health are well documented," Susan Benton, President of Thea Pharma, Inc, added, "We have solved the challenge of creating a room temperature-stable, efficacious, and preservative-free latanoprost eye drop. IYUZEH brings the IOP-lowering efficacy of latanoprost and eliminates the exposure to preservatives for patients with glaucoma or ocular hypertension."

IYUZEH has been marketed outside of US under the brand name MONOPROST in 46 countries. About 1.5 million patients12 are currently treated with MONOPROST, which was launched 10 years ago. Ophthalmologists and optometrists in the U.S. market can thus be confident in the efficacy, safety, and tolerability of prescribing IYUZEH to their patients with POAG or OHT when we launch later this year.

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AGS 2023 attendees and virtual registrants may view Dr. Bacharach's presentation as part of the poster on-demand section of the meeting.

About IYUZEH

IYUZEH (latanoprost ophthalmic solution) 0.005%, an opalescent, white to slightly yellow ophthalmic solution, is a topical formulation of latanoprost that is indicated for the reduction of elevated intraocular pressure (IOP) in patients with open-angle glaucoma (OAG) or ocular hypertension (OHT). IYUZEH does not contain a preservative  it is the first and only preservative-free formulation of latanoprost, the most prescribed prostaglandin F2 analogue (PGA) in the United States. The recommended dosage of IYUZEH is one drop in the affected eye(s) once daily in the evening. If one dose is missed, treatment should continue with the next dose as normal. Reduction of the IOP starts approximately 3 to 4 hours after administration and the maximum effect is reached after 8 to 12 hours. IOP reduction is present for at least 24 hours.

In the two clinical trials conducted with IYUZEH (latanoprost ophthalmic solution) 0.005%, the most frequently reported ocular adverse reactions were conjunctival hyperemia (34%) and eye irritation (19%) compared to XALATAN, the preserved 0.005% latanoprost reference product which reported conjunctival hyperemia (37%) and eye irritation (31%).

IMPORTANT SAFETY INFORMATION

CONTRAINDICATIONS

Known hypersensitivity to latanoprost or any other ingredients in this product.

WARNINGS AND PRECAUTIONS

Pigmentation: Topical latanoprost ophthalmic products, including IYUZEH have been reported to cause changes to pigmented tissues. The most frequently reported changes have been increased pigmentation of the iris, periorbital tissue (eyelid), and eyelashes. Pigmentation is expected to increase as long as latanoprost is administered.

The pigmentation change is due to increased melanin content in the melanocytes rather than to an increase in the number of melanocytes. After discontinuation of latanoprost, pigmentation of the iris is likely to be permanent, while pigmentation of the periorbital tissue and eyelash changes have been reported to be reversible in some patients. Patients who receive treatment should be informed of the possibility of increased pigmentation. The long-term effects of increased pigmentation are not known.

Iris color change may not be noticeable for several months to years. Typically, the brown pigmentation around the pupil spreads concentrically towards the periphery of the iris and the entire iris or parts of the iris become more brownish. Neither nevi nor freckles of the iris appear to be affected by treatment. While treatment with IYUZEH can be continued in patients who develop noticeably increased iris pigmentation, these patients should be examined regularly.

Eyelash Changes: Latanoprost ophthalmic products, including IYUZEH may gradually change eyelashes and vellus hair in the treated eye; these changes include increased length, thickness, pigmentation, the number of lashes or hairs, and misdirected growth of eyelashes. Eyelash changes are usually reversible upon discontinuation of treatment.

Intraocular Inflammation: IYUZEH should be used with caution in patients with a history of intraocular inflammation (iritis/uveitis) and should generally not be used in patients with active intraocular inflammation because inflammation may be exacerbated.

Macular Edema: Macular edema, including cystoid macular edema, has been reported during treatment with latanoprost ophthalmic products, including IYUZEH. IYUZEH should be used with caution in aphakic patients, in pseudophakic patients with a torn posterior lens capsule, or in patients with known risk factors for macular edema.

Herpetic Keratitis: Reactivation of herpes simplex keratitis has been reported during treatment with latanoprost. IYUZEH should be used with caution in patients with a history of herpetic keratitis. IYUZEH should be avoided in cases of active herpes simplex keratitis because inflammation may be exacerbated.

Contact Lens Use: Contact lenses should be removed prior to the administration of IYUZEH and may be reinserted 15 minutes after administration.

ADVERSE REACTIONS

The following adverse reactions have been reported with the use of topical latanoprost products: iris pigmentation changes, eyelid skin darkening, eyelash changes (increased length, thickness, pigmentation, and number of lashes), intraocular inflammation (iritis/uveitis), and macular edema, including cystoid macular edema.

DRUG INTERACTIONS

The combined use of two or more prostaglandins, or prostaglandin analogs including IYUZEH is not recommended. It has been shown that administration of these prostaglandin drug products more than once daily may decrease the IOP lowering effect or cause paradoxical elevations in IOP.

For more information about IYUZEH, please visit https://www.iyuzeh.com.

For Full Prescribing Information, please visit https://iyuzeh.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/12/IYUZEH-Full-Prescribing-Information.pdf

About Primary Open-angle Glaucoma

The American Glaucoma Society (AGS) states that glaucoma is a common ophthalmic disorder characterized by typical optic nerve damage and vision loss. It is most associated with elevated or dysregulated intraocular pressure (IOP), although there is evidence that other factors contribute to the disease.1 Glaucoma is a leading cause of irreversible blindness worldwide. Its prevalence in the United States is approximately 1,900 per 100,000 persons over age forty, and the condition is responsible for upwards of 9 million clinic visits each year.2- 4 In the United States, where annual spending on optic nerve disorders is estimated at $5.8 billion annually,5 glaucoma is a significant public health concern.

About Ocular Hypertension

Mean IOP slowly rises with increasing age. Age older than 40 years is considered a risk factor for the development of OHT and POAG.6 OHT, a common condition, is a leading risk factor for the development of OAG.7 OHT is defined as IOP consistently greater than 21 mmHg (in at least one eye) and the absence of clinical signs of glaucoma.8 The risk of developing glaucoma increases with increasing IOP.9 Population studies such as the Framingham, Beaver Dam, Baltimore, Rotterdam, Barbados, and Egna-Neumarkt studies estimate that 4-10% of the population older than 40 years will have IOP levels of 21 mmHg or higher without detectable signs of glaucomatous damage. OHT has a 10-15 times greater prevalence than POAG.10 The use of topical IOP-lowering medications reduced the risk of glaucoma development from 9.5% in the control group to 4.4% in the intervention group.11

About Thea Group

Thea is an independent pharmaceutical company specialized in the research, development, and commercialization of eye-care products. Based in Clermont-Ferrand, France, it has thirty-five affiliates & offices in Europe, North and South America, North Africa, and the Middle East. Today, its network includes more than 1,600 employees, and its products are available in 75 countries around the world. In 2021, Thea had global revenues of approximately $773 million. The independent and family-owned and run group, founded from a Research and Development start-up by Henri Chibret, has been chaired since 2008 by Jean-Frederic Chibret, his nephew.

To learn more about Thea Group, visit https://www.laboratoires-thea.com/en/Group

About Thea Pharma, Inc.

Established in Lexington, Massachusetts in 2019, Thea Pharma, Inc., is the United States subsidiary of Thea. Its product offering is comprised of a portfolio of seven leading eye-care products that are regulated or approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA), including Zioptan, AcellFX, Cosopt, Cosopt PF, Azasite, Akten, and Betimol, iVIZIA dry-eye drops and eyelid hygiene products, and now IYUZEH. By focusing our passion and expertise within the U.S. market, Thea Pharma's goal is to deliver uncompromising care that allows all stakeholders to envision the future of ophthalmic treatment with eyes wide open.

To learn more about Thea Pharma, Inc., visit https://theapharmainc.com.

Thea Pharma, Inc.  US Media Inquiries Please Contact:

PRECISION effect

Katey McCarthy

katey.mccarthy@precisionvh.com

+1 802.598.3408

Thea Group  Global Media Inquiries Please Contact:

Thea

Julie Ahmed

julie.ahmed@theapharma.com

+33473989521

References:

1. The American Glaucoma Society (AGS). Unmet needs in the detection, diagnosis, monitoring, treatment, and understanding of primary open angle glaucoma. 2021; 11. https://www.americanglaucomasociety.net/about/statements. Accessed March 1, 2023.

2. Friedman DS, Wolfs RC, O'Colmain BJ, et al. Prevalence of open-angle glaucoma among adults in the United States. Arch Ophthalmol. 2004;122(4):532538. doi:10.1001/archopht.122.4.532.

3. Schappert SM. Office Visits for Glaucoma: United States, 1991-92. Vital and Health Statistics, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention / National Center for Health Statistics. 1995; March, No. 262.

4. Lee PP, Walt JG, Doyle JJ, et al. A multicenter, retrospective pilot study of resource use and costs associated with severity of disease in glaucoma. Arch Ophthalmol. 2006;124(1):1219. doi:10.1001/archopht.124.1.12.

5. Leske MC, Connell AM, Wu SY, et al. Distribution of intraocular pressure. The Barbados Eye Study. Arch Ophthalmol. 1997 Aug. 115(8):1051-7.

6. Wittenborn JS, Zhang X, Feagan CW, et al. The economic burden of vision loss and eye disorders among the United States population younger than 40 years. Ophthalmology. 2013;120(9):172835. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ophtha.2013.01.068.

7. Kass MA, Heuer DK, Higginbotham EJ, et al. Assessment of Cumulative Incidence and Severity of Primary Open-Angle Glaucoma Among Participants in the Ocular Hypertension Treatment Study After 20 Years of Follow-up. JAMA Ophthalmol. 2021;139(5):558566. doi:10.1001/jamaophthalmol.2021.0341

8. Burr JM, Botello-Pinzon P, Takwoingi Y, Hernandez R, Vazquez-Montes M, Elders A, et al. Surveillance for ocular hypertension: an evidence synthesis and economic evaluation. Health Technol Assess 2012;16(29):1-271, iii-iv.

9. Burr JM, Mowatt G, Hernandez R, Siddiqui MAR, Cook J, Lourenco T, et al. The clinical effectiveness and cost-effectiveness of screening for open angle glaucoma: a systematic review and economic evaluation. Health Technol Assess 2007;11(41):iii-iv, ix-x, 1-190.

10. Chihara E. Assessment of true intraocular pressure: the gap between theory and practical data. Surv Ophthalmol. 2008 May-Jun. 53(3):203-18.

11. Kass MA, Heuer DK, Higginbotham EJ, et al. The Ocular Hypertension Treatment Study: A Randomized Trial Determines That Topical Ocular Hypotensive Medication Delays or Prevents the Onset of Primary Open-Angle Glaucoma. Arch Ophthalmol. 2002;120(6):701-713. doi:10.1001/archopht.120.6.701.

12. Thea Internal sales 2022

0300-AP-01

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SOURCE Thea
JCtrans

PATTAYA , March 03, 2023 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- The 2023 12th Global Freight Forwarders Conference has been successfully concluded on March 1st. The conference attracted 1,207 companies from 104 countries with a total of 2,206 logistics industry elites attending.

1. Former Deputy Prime Minister of Thailand attended and delivered a speech

Mr. Korn Dabbaransi, former Deputy Prime Minister of Thailand, attended the conference and delivered a speech. He said that global integration has accelerated exchanges around the world, and the logistics industry has developed rapidly as the most important part. JCtrans, the organizer of this conference, will empower the industry with digitalization and accelerate the development trend of technology in the industry.

2. More connections and higher efficiency



Mr. Qiu Junjie, Chairman and CEO of JCtrans, said that the global pandemic has not only impacted the economic stability but also posted great challenge to the resilience of the global supply chain in the past three years. How global freight forwarders can continuously strengthen their own advantages and move through the economic cycle more smoothly is a topic of concern to everyone, and it is also the mission of JCtrans. He also introduced the brand-new and upgraded service concept.

Firstly, JCtrans will provide more connections! JCtrans proposed the concept of "community". Compared with traditional freight organizations and alliances, the concept of "community" is more open, inclusive and diverse. JCtrans will provide with more business opportunity links, safer cooperation guarantee, better freight forwarding resources and more accurate service matching. At present, the number of paid corporate members amounted to 10,000 and the annual active paid users amounted to 20,000! JCtrans has become the largest freight forwarding community in the world.



Secondly, JCtrans will provide higher efficiency! As an industrial Internet platform, JCtrans has built a community-based global freight platform by increasing investment in technology research. JCtrans will continue to promote the digital transformation of the industry, so that the dividends of new technologies can benefit global small- and medium-sized freight companies to develop the market and the overall high-quality development of the industry.

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3. JCtrans Community: Build the world's largest freight forwarding community to help global freight companies continue to make profits

Ms. Zheng Jiening, President of JCtrans Global Freight Forwarding Community, also mentioned that JCtrans is committed to building the world's largest freight forwarding community, including three core business segments: membership system, freight related services and global conferences. In terms of membership products, JCtrans not only provides with services such as financial protection, marketing, cargo canvassing, and business opportunity matchmaking, but also helps freight companies make sustainable profitability by upgrading and revising the international website platform, building a reputation and evaluation system for the industry, and integrating high-quality upstream and downstream supplier resources in 2023; In terms of freight related services, on the basis of existing freight insurance, liability insurance, and FMC/NVOCC, more value-added services will also be provided for freight companies.

It is worth mentioning that JCtrans Event, a brand-new global conference brand, made its debut at this conference, covering offline cooperative trade fairs, expos, port clubs, forum salons, online conferences, and live streaming meeting rooms.In 2023, JCtrans Event will be held frequently with high quality to build the top conference brand.

4. JCtrans team: professional, diversified, international and youthful

The JCtrans team is also a highlight at this conference. When asked what kind of team JCtrans is, Ms. Li Yida, Vice President of JCtrans Global Freight Forwarding Community, said that JCtrans is a professional, diversified, international and youthful team.

The team consists of industry experts with more than ten years of experience in international logistics, as well as product R&D talents from former Internet giants. Internet operation, marketing, business development, customer success manager, risk control, finance and other talents are also available. In addition, many of JCtrans' partners have overseas education backgrounds and even foreigners. Employees of all ages quickly integrate into the passionate and entrepreneurial atmosphere of JCtrans, which is full of youthful vitality.

5. The highlight of the conference, "One-on-one negotiation"

The scene was packed with people, with no empty seat. Through face-to-face communication, participants found effective customers, expanded more resources and contacts, established trust and reached cooperation intentions.

6. JCtrans works with global members to build the most influential freight trading platform

Founded in 2003, JCtrans adhering to the tenet of "customer first" and innovative development, it provides comprehensive services such as marketing and cargocanvassing, online transactions, payment, cooperation risk guarantee, and online insurance.

Now, the dual-center development strategy of "Shanghai" + "Dalian" has been formed, covering all port cities in China, and making concerted efforts from the north to the south to lay out the global market. The members cover 200 countries around the world, with an average of more than 300,000 visitors per month, an average of 30,000 active paid users per month, and a cumulative amount of online payment and settlement exceeding USD 10 billion. JCtrans is committed to integrating scientific and technological concepts into the traditional logistics industry, building an industrial Internet ecosystem and cooperating with global members to build the most influential logistics trading platform.

CONTACT: Baichang Luo Dalian JCtrans Network Co., Ltd. luobaichang at jctrans.net




Latvijas Gaze

JSC Latvijas Gaze Groups net profit for 2022 is 39 million EUR, and net turnover reached 689.7 million EUR, which is 31% higher than in 2021.

The 2022 financial year was full of challenges for JSC Latvijas Gaze Group, and passed in high uncertainty: natural gas prices exceeded the 200 EUR/MWh threshold, the impact of geopolitical events, regulatory changes on both Latvian and European Union levels. Despite this, JSC Latvijas Gaze continued its operations, ensuring an uninterrupted supply of gas to its customers, including fulfilling its obligations as Public Trader towards household clients.

Taking into account that the amount of natural gas consumed in Latvia decreased by more than 30% in 2022 compared to 2021, the amount of natural gas transmitted in the distribution network significantly decreased. This adversely affected the financial results of JSC "Latvijas Gaze" subsidiary JSC "Gaso" - JSC "Gaso" ended the year 2022 with a loss of EUR 1.8 million, as opposed to a profit of EUR 11.5 million in 2021.

In 2022, JSC Latvijas Gaze (Company) sold 6 993 GWh of natural gas to customers in Latvia and abroad. Compared to 2021, sales volumes have decreased by 53%. Sales volume decrease is attributable to some market participants choice against buying Russian-origin gas already before 1 January 2023, as well as customers have reconsidered their consumption habits of natural gas amid high price environment, including switching to alternative energy resources.

In 2022, the Companys shareholders adopted a decision on launching the Companys reorganisation process or the reduction of its share capital. The Board started and continued working on the assessment of multiple scenarios of further governance of JSC Gaso. As a result, a decision has been made to sell the JSC Gaso, with the process set to be completed in 2023. In the consolidated and Companys standalone financial report for 2022, the investment in subsidiary and accordingly the subsidiarys assets and liabilities are presented as assets and liabilities of assets held for sale. In the statement of profit or loss, the operations of the discontinued natural gas distribution segment are presented separately from the continuing operations of the trading segment. In order to present the assets and liabilities of the assets held for sale at net realisable value, the Companys and consolidated statement of profit or loss includes an impairment of 72 million EUR.

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JSC Latvijas Gaze Group will publish its audited consolidated financial statements for 2022 on 19 April 2023.

JSC Latvijas Gaze

Chairman of the Board

Aigars Kalvitis

www.lg.lv

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Still photos released from the upcoming "The Secret to My Health and Beauty" advertising campaign, pairing flagship K-herb brand Korea Ginseng Corp. with Arden Cho, the star of Netflix's Partner Track.

CERRITOS, Calif., March 2, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Korea Ginseng Corp., the world's no.1 ginseng brand and K-herb brand, has teamed up with Hollywood star Arden Cho to promote its place in the U.S. market. To tease the debut of their upcoming advertising campaign, entitled "The Secret to My Health and Beauty", the company has released snapshots of Arden at work in her new position.

Korea Ginseng Corp., the Worlds No. 1 Ginseng Brand, selects Hollywood actress Arden Cho to be their brand ambassador. (PRNewsfoto/KGC (Korea Ginseng Corp.))

"We believe Arden Cho's energetic and healthy image, in tandem with CheongKwanJang's rapid US market growth, create the perfect synergy," noted Korea Ginseng Corp. CEO Heung-sil Lee.

Korea Ginseng Corp., which aims to parlay its 123-year-old legacy as the world's no.1 ginseng brand into a major position as a global healthy lifestyle company, made its first splash in the U.S. market last year with Koreselect, a product line specifically tailored to the American consumer's needs. This year, the company plans to build on that launch with the introduction of HSW, five brand-new Korean red ginseng-based beverages, at New Product Expo West 2023. What's more, Korea Ginseng Corp. established an American R&D center as a key part of its bid to transform itself into a comprehensive American health brand.

Korean American actress Arden Cho began her Hollywood career in 2006 and quickly gained recognition for her stellar work in The Honor List, Teen Wolf, Chicago Med, and CSI: NY. She most recently starred in the Netflix drama Partner Track, garnering acclaim for her portrayal of a confident, young Asian lawyer trying hard to break through the glass ceiling at her male-dominated New York law firm. Cho will make even more headlines this year with her part in the much-anticipated new Netflix series, Avatar: The Last Airbender.

The new "The Secret to My Health and Beauty" campaign was filmed in mid-February and will debut in mid-March. Its goal is to dramatically increase awareness of the Korea Ginseng Corp. brand throughout the U.S.

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About Korea Ginseng Corp.

Korea Ginseng Corporation (KGC) is the world's number one ginseng brand and herbal dietary company. Established in 1899, it is one of the most proven and trusted herbal dietary supplement manufacturers, providing the highest quality, traditionally harvested Korean Red Ginseng products to support health and well-being. KGC runs four regional headquarters in the United States, China, Japan, and Taiwan, in addition to South Korea, and exports products to over 40 countries. With over 40% world market share, its presence spans Asia, Europe, the Middle East region and the U.S. KGC's family of brands include KORESELECT, CheongKwanJang, Good Base, and Donginbi. The KGC brands, inclusive of over 250 products, use the most exceptional ginseng combined with the finest herbs and ingredients to deliver superior products to meet everyone's needs.

(PRNewsfoto/KGC (Korea Ginseng Corp.))

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SOURCE KGC (Korea Ginseng Corp.)
Lavras Gold Corp

The news release should be read in conjunction with our audited consolidated financial statements and managements discussion and analysis for the year ended December 31, 2022. Both are available under our profile at www.sedar.com.



All monetary amounts are in Canadian dollars unless stated otherwise.

TORONTO, March 03, 2023 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Lavras Gold Corp. (TSXV: LGC) set out its short- and long-term goals as it reported results for the year ended December 31, 2022 today. The Companys singular vision is realizing the economic potential of the LDS Project, Lavras Golds advanced gold exploration property in southern Brazil.

We achieved all of our 2022 goals, said Michael Durose, Lavras Golds President and Chief Executive Officer. We completed our share consolidation, doubled our consolidated gold resources, and made three new gold discoveries. In 2023, we will carry on with our exploration program, and are very excited to continue to learn more about the complex system at LDS.

As we move into our second year since launching in April 2022, our short-term goals are to:

complete our 16,000-metre drilling program at LDS by drill-testing priority targets aimed at making new gold discoveries and expanding our existing gold endowment

foster relationships with our local stakeholders as we begin the permitting process

sustain our relationships with existing shareholders and attract new shareholders by marketing Lavras Gold to the investing community.



Two rigs have completed 7,000 metres of our 16,000-metre drill program at LDS, with results consistently demonstrating that LDS is a unique, large, and complex mineral system. Returned assays are a mix of bulk tonnage and high grade, a combination that yields scale and economics in producing assets. And, we made three new gold discoveries at the Matilde, Matilde Extension, and Zeca Souza targets, and reinterpreted historical results from a fourth target, Caneleira.

The Matilde gold discovery lies along a portion of a coincident 3 kilometre gold-in-soil anomaly centred on an east-west trending magnetic-low anomaly that is interpreted to be a major gold-hosting structure. Gold mineralization at Matilde begins at surface, has been traced over a strike length of at least 250 metres, and extends to a minimum vertical depth of 483 metres. It remains open for expansion along strike and at depth.

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Results from Matilde includes long intervals of moderate-grade gold that include higher grade intervals. For example, drill hole 20MT002 returned 144.6 metres at 0.69 g/t gold from 117.0 metres, including 27.0 metres at 1.04 g/t gold from 184.0 metres.

Drilling from Matilde also returned bonanza gold grades, usually associated with visible gold. Examples include 30.9 g/t gold over 0.60 metres in hole 20MT002 from 261.0 metres and 13.10 g/t gold over 0.66 metres from 419.34 metres in hole 22MT034. Drilled to a vertical distance of 483 metres, Hole 22MT034 bottomed in gold mineralization, suggesting that Matilde has deep roots.

The Matilde Extension gold discovery, announced after year-end, is 675 metres northeast of the Matilde gold discovery. It is a new blind discovery that was made by drill-testing a coincident gold-in-soil anomaly overlying the intersection of a northeast-southwest trending structure and an east-west trending structure. Multiple intervals of gold mineralization were intersected in all holes drilled at Matilde Extension, and high-grade gold, silver, and copper mineralization was encountered in three holes.

The best hole, 21MT020, intercepted three intervals of mineralization. The third intercept was the most important, as it was characterized by a thick interval of continuous mineralization featuring very high-grade gold, silver, and copper. It assayed 10.00 metres grading 13.21 g/t gold, 22.94 g/t silver, and 0.22% copper from 345.00 metres, including:

5.00 metres grading 23.15 g/t gold, 42.75 g/t silver, and 0.41% copper from 347.00 metres

a 1.00 metre sub-zone that yielded grades as high as 63.70 g/t, more than 100 g/t silver, and 0.63% copper from 347.00 metres.

The Zeca Souza gold discovery supports our thesis that there are many, possibly connected, gold deposits at LDS. Drilling at this target included bonanza gold grades of more than 10 g/t gold, including 28.2 g/t gold over 3 metres in drill hole 22MT011 within a broader zone of 5.8 g/t gold over 15 metres. Equally important is that long intervals of moderate gold grade such as 36.40 metres grading 0.47 g/t gold in hole 20ZS003 have been found.

All 14 holes drilled at Zeca Souza hit at least one but more typically multiple intercepts of gold, and many holes bottomed in gold mineralization. Other highlights of the results included visible gold, high grades and good widths, long intervals, and holes open at depth.

There also may be a genetic relationship between Zeca Souza and Caneleira, which is about 600 metres to the southeast. A gold-bearing structure discovered in 2007-2008 thats been defined over 900 metres, Caneleiras assay results include near-surface gold grades across widths like 36.1 metres grading 1.42 g/t gold just 70.4 metres down the drill hole, several holes that bottomed in mineralization, and high-grade results such as 14.1 g/t gold over 1.0 metre.

Locally, we are working hard to foster strong relationships with our stakeholders. Most of our employees live in and are from the town of Lavras do Sul or surrounding region, and we work with local suppliers wherever possible. After year end, we launched the Rota do Ouro, or Gold Trail, a route that highlights the historical importance of gold mining to the development of the town of Lavras do Sul.

At the corporate level, we continued to raise our profile in the investment community. In February 2023, we listed on the OTCQB under the symbol LGCFF, which will make it easier for U.S.-based investors to trade our shares and possibly lead to increased liquidity. We also participated in selective conferences, continued to meet with existing shareholders, and targeted potential new shareholders. We made progress toward launching our new website and building our social media presence, and hosted webinars as appropriate.

Qualified person

Michael Durose, our President and CEO, is a qualified person as defined by NI 43-101. He has reviewed and approved the scientific and technical information contained in this release.

About Lavras Gold

Lavras Gold (TSXV: LGC, OTCQB: LGCFF) is a Canadian exploration company focused on realizing the potential of a multi-million-ounce gold district in southern Brazil. Its Lavras do Sul Project is located in Rio Grande do Sul State, and is primarily an intrusive hosted gold system of possible alkaline affinity. More than 23 gold prospects centred on historic gold workings have been identified on the property, which spans more than 22,000 hectares.

Follow Lavras Gold on www.lavrasgold.com, as well as on LinkedIn, Twitter, and YouTube.

Contact information

Michael Durose Annemarie Brissenden President & CEO Investor Relations 416-844-6284 416-844-6284 investor@lavrasgold.com investor@lavrasgold.com

DISCLAIMER

Neither the TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of the content of this news release.

FORWARD-LOOKING INFORMATION

This news release contains certain forward-looking information within the meaning of applicable securities laws. Forward-looking information is frequently characterized by words such as plan, expect, project, intend, believe, anticipate, estimate, may, will, would, potential, proposed and other similar words, or statements that certain events or conditions may or will occur. These statements, including those on planned exploration activities and goals, are only objectives and predictions.

Forward-looking information is based on the opinions and estimates of management at the date the information is provided, and is subject to a variety of risks and uncertainties and other factors that could cause actual events or results to differ materially from those projected in the forward-looking information, including the risks and factors that generally affect exploration and the uncertainty of exploration results and the ability to obtain regulatory approval for the Consolidation. For a description of the risks and uncertainties facing the Company and its business and affairs, readers should refer to the Companys Managements Discussion and Analysis and Listing Statement recently filed under the Companys profile on www.sedar.com. The Company undertakes no obligation to update forward-looking information if circumstances or managements estimates or opinions should change, unless required by law. The reader is cautioned not to place undue reliance on forward-looking information.




An AI robot and a cat. Yuichiro Chino/Getty Images; AndresLopezFotopets /500px/Getty Images

Dr Stephen Thaler's says his AI machine invented a food container and a flashing light.

But the patent was rejected, and in subsequent appeals judges said inventors have to be human.

The IPO's lawyer argued if AI can be an inventor, then pets and "cosmic forces" could be as well.

A lawyer argued it is "plainly ridiculous" to classify AI as an inventor, amid an ongoing legal battle in the UK's Supreme Court, per Bloomberg.

Stuart Baran, representing the Intellectual Property Office (IPO), added "my cat Felix," "cosmic forces," or "134.87" would "all have simply to be waved through" as patent inventors as well if it was ruled that AI could be classed as the creator of an invention, in court filings cited by The Independent.

The case was first brought forward in 2019 by Dr Stephen Thaler, who is challenging the rejection of his patent applications which named his AI machine  called DABUS  as an inventor for a food container and a flashing light.

Thaler's appeal has now risen to the top of UK legal system, having previously been dismissed by the High Court and Court of Appeal. Courts in the US, as well as the European Patent Office, have rejected identical applications.

While Thaler believes he is entitled to the patents over inventions by his AI system  of which he is the sole creator and user  judges have so far said that a human must be named as the inventor.

And the IPO's lawyer, Baran, argues that if AI can be classified as an inventor, then it could open the floodgates to let pets or nebulous ideas be listed as inventors as well.

The Supreme Court heard the case on Thursday, but Insider understands the IPO doesn't expect a decision until sometime afterwards. The ruling could have a big impact amid an increasing number of intellectual property disputes surrounding the rise of AI software.

Per Reuters, Thaler's lawyer told the Supreme Court that he is "entitled to the rights of the DABUS inventions" because there is no UK requirement that an invention "must have a human inventor to be patentable."

Story continues

Following a consultation in 2021, the UK government accepts that AI-made creations can be patent-protected, although a human still qualifies as the inventor. In Thaler's previous appeals, judges interpreted the Patents Act 1977 to require an inventor to be a "natural person."

The IPO declined to comment, citing ongoing court proceedings. Thaler did not immediately respond to Insider's request for comment.

Read the original article on Business Insider
NEWARK, DE / ACCESSWIRE / March 2, 2023 / Global medical loupes market size is predicted to reach US$ 588.9 million in 2033 with a projected CAGR of 5.6% during the forecast period. The rise in minimally invasive surgeries has driven the demand for medical loupes. As the aging population increases and the prevalence of chronic diseases rises, there is an increase in surgeries and procedures that require enhanced visualization and precision, which medical loupes provide.

Flip-up and TTL medical loupes are some of the latest products gaining popularity in the market. Manufacturers are leveraging advanced materials and technologies to drive the growth of the market. The growth of the medical loupes industry is being driven by the increase in demand for minimally invasive surgeries.

Request a sample report @ https://www.futuremarketinsights.com/reports/sample/rep-gb-11128

Medical loupes provide surgeons with the necessary magnification and clarity to perform such procedures with ease, which can reduce the risk of errors and complications during surgeries, leading to better patient outcomes. In addition, the growing preference for outpatient surgeries is also expected to drive the demand for medical loupes during the forecast period.

AR systems, a hybrid magnification approach that allows physicians to perform suturing procedures accurately, are being leveraged in the healthcare sector. AR systems not only improve the vision but also track the movement of tools, and manufacturers are launching loupes equipped with AR to augment the growth of the market.

Despite prospects, there are likely challenges that stay ahead for the industry. Limited awareness regarding the usage of medical loupes in emerging economies and highly advanced medical loupes that are considered more complex and expensive.

Technological advancements in the design and functionality of medical loupes are expected to bode well for the market. Manufacturers are launching loupes with AR technology, flip-up, and TTL medical loupes, and are leveraging advanced materials and technologies to drive the growth of the market. The growing adoption of medical loupes in restorative dentistry and endodontic practices are likely to continue pushing sales over the forecast period.

Story continues

Key Takeaways from the Medical Loupes Market:

With a share of 74.1% throughout the projected period, the United States is expected to be an appealing medical loupes sector.

In 2022, India accounted for 46.5% of the medical loupes market.

The demand for medical loupes in dentistry is predicted to increase in the United Kingdom. According to the analysis, the medical loupes industry in the United Kingdom accounted for 19.8% of the total market share in 2022.

In 2022, Germany's medical loupes industry held a 23.7% share.

In 2022, China's medical loupes sector held a 55.4% share.

In recent years, the medical loupes industry has expanded significantly, with the flip up loupe segment emerging as a dominating player, accounting for 61.3% of sales.

The surgical application segment accounted for 59.9% of the medical loupes market in 2022.

In terms of sales channels, the offline category is likely to grow rapidly during the forecast period.

Ask an Analyst@ https://www.futuremarketinsights.com/ask-question/rep-gb-11128

Who is Winning?

The medical loupes industry is highly competitive with a large number of players operating in the market. Some of the key players in the market include Carl Zeiss Meditec AG, Orascoptic, Surgitel, SheerVision, Univet Optical Technologies, Keeler Ltd., and Enova Illumination.

These companies are actively engaged in research and development to improve the quality and functionality of their products. They are also expanding their distribution networks to reach a wider customer base, including online channels.

The market is also witnessing the entry of new players, which is intensifying the competition further. These new entrants are leveraging advanced technologies to offer innovative products that can meet the changing needs of customers.

In addition, mergers and acquisitions are a common trend in the market as companies seek to strengthen their market position and expand their product portfolios. For example, in 2019, Danaher Corporation acquired the dental business of Envista Holdings Corporation, which includes the brands KaVo Kerr, Nobel Biocare, and Ormco.

Overall, the competition in the medical loupes industry is expected to remain intense, and companies will need to focus on continuous innovation, quality, and customer service to stay competitive in the market.

Future Market Insights, Inc., Thursday, March 2, 2023, Press release picture

Medical Loupes Market By Category

Product Type:

Through The Lens (TTL)

Flip Up Loupe

Lens Type:

Galilean

Prismatic

Application:

Dentistry

Surgical

Sales Channel:

Online

Offline

Region:

North America

Latin America

Eastern Europe

Western Europe

Asia Pacific excluding China & Japan

Japan

China

Middle East & Africa

Ask For Customization @ https://www.futuremarketinsights.com/customization-available/rep-gb-11128

Table of Content

1. Executive Summary | Medical Loupes Market

1.1. Global Market Outlook

1.2. Demand-side Trends

1.3. Supply-side Trends

1.4. Technology Roadmap Analysis

1.5. Analysis and Recommendations

2. Market Overview

2.1. Market Coverage / Taxonomy

2.2. Market Definition / Scope / Limitations

3. Market Background

3.1. Market Dynamics

3.1.1. Drivers

3.1.2. Restraints

3.1.3. Opportunity

3.1.4. Trends

Complete TOC with Report Preview: https://www.futuremarketinsights.com/reports/medical-loupes-market

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About Future Market Insights, Inc.

Future Market Insights, Inc. is an ESOMAR-certified business consulting & market research firm, a member of the Greater New York Chamber of Commerce and is headquartered in Delaware, USA. A recipient of Clutch Leaders Award 2022 on account of high client score (4.9/5), we have been collaborating with global enterprises in their business transformation journey and helping them deliver on their business ambitions. 80% of the largest Forbes 1000 enterprises are our clients. We serve global clients across all leading & niche market segments across all major industries.

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Vantage Market Research, The North Star for the Working World

WASHINGTON, March 03, 2023 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- According to the latest research study, the global Medical Plastics Market size & share is anticipated to be valued at approximately $45.1 Billion in 2021 and is projected to hit a revenue of around $68.8 Billion by 2028, at a CAGR of around 7.3% between 2022 and 2028.



Medical Plastics Market Overview

The medical plastics market is a growing sector that provides a variety of plastics used in medical devices, drug delivery systems, and packaging for medical products. The market is driven by various factors such as the increasing demand for cost-effective medical devices, the growing aging population, and the rise in chronic diseases.

The use of medical plastics is beneficial as they offer several advantages such as high durability, resistance to chemicals, lightweight, and easy moldability. They also offer a high degree of flexibility, making them ideal for use in complex medical devices.

The medical plastics market is segmented by type, application, and region. The types of medical plastics include polyvinyl chloride (PVC), polypropylene (PP), polyethylene (PE), polycarbonate (PC), and others. Applications of medical plastics include medical bags, tubing, implants, syringes, diagnostic instruments, and drug delivery devices.

Get Access to the In-depth Free Sample Report @ https://www.vantagemarketresearch.com/medical-plastics-market-1665/request-sample

Medical Plastics Market Dynamics

Increasing Demand for Cost-Effective Medical Devices: There is a growing demand for cost-effective medical devices, and medical plastics offer an ideal solution. Medical plastics are lightweight, durable, and easy to mold, making them a preferred material for the production of medical devices. As the demand for cost-effective medical devices continues to increase, the demand for medical plastics is also likely to increase.

Aging Population and Rise in Chronic Diseases: The aging population is increasing worldwide, and this has resulted in a higher incidence of chronic diseases such as cancer, diabetes, and cardiovascular diseases. The increase in chronic diseases has resulted in a higher demand for medical devices, such as drug delivery devices, implants, and diagnostic instruments. Medical plastics are used extensively in the production of these devices, and as a result, the demand for medical plastics is expected to increase.

Story continues

Technological Advancements: There has been a significant increase in technological advancements in the medical industry, and this has resulted in the development of new and innovative medical devices. Medical plastics play a critical role in the production of these devices, and as the industry continues to grow and develop, the demand for medical plastics is also likely to increase.

Stringent Regulations: The medical industry is highly regulated, and there are stringent regulations governing the use of medical plastics in the production of medical devices. These regulations ensure the safety and efficacy of medical devices and prevent any potential harm to patients. As a result, companies in the medical plastics market need to comply with these regulations to ensure that their products are safe and effective.

Environmental Concerns: There is growing concern about the impact of plastic waste on the environment. This has resulted in a shift towards more sustainable and eco-friendly materials in the medical industry. As a result, companies in the medical plastics market are focusing on developing sustainable and eco-friendly medical plastics to meet the growing demand for environmentally friendly materials.

Scope of the Report:

Report Attributes Details Market Size in 2021 USD 45.1 Billion Revenue Forecast by 2028 USD 68.8 Billion CAGR 7.3% from 2022 to 2028 Base Year 2021 Forecast Year 2022 to 2028 Key Players SABIC, BASF, Celanese, Evonik, Solvay, Covestro Customization Options Customized purchase options are available to meet any research needs. Explore customized purchase options

Key Highlights from Report:

The global medical plastics market is expected to grow significantly in the coming years, driven by factors such as increasing demand for cost-effective medical devices, rising aging population, and growing prevalence of chronic diseases.

Polyvinyl chloride (PVC) is the most widely used medical plastic due to its low cost and high flexibility. However, there is growing demand for other medical plastics such as polypropylene (PP) and polyethylene (PE) due to their durability and resistance to chemicals.

The medical bags and tubing segment is the largest application segment of the medical plastics market, followed by diagnostic instruments and drug delivery devices. The demand for these applications is driven by factors such as the increasing need for safe and effective drug delivery systems and the growing demand for diagnostic instruments.

North America is the largest market for medical plastics, followed by Europe and Asia Pacific. The growth in these regions is driven by factors such as the increasing demand for medical devices and the growing prevalence of chronic diseases.

The key players in the medical plastics market are investing heavily in research and development to introduce innovative products in the market and gain a competitive edge. Companies are also focusing on developing sustainable and eco-friendly medical plastics to meet the growing demand for environmentally friendly materials.

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Regional Overview

North America: North America is the largest market for medical plastics, primarily due to the increasing demand for medical devices and the presence of a large aging population. The United States is the largest market in the region, followed by Canada and Mexico.

Europe: Europe is the second-largest market for medical plastics, driven by factors such as the increasing prevalence of chronic diseases and the growing demand for medical devices. Germany is the largest market in the region, followed by the United Kingdom and France.

Asia Pacific: Asia Pacific is the fastest-growing market for medical plastics, primarily due to the increasing demand for medical devices and the rising prevalence of chronic diseases. China is the largest market in the region, followed by Japan and India.

Latin America: Latin America is a growing market for medical plastics, driven by factors such as the increasing demand for medical devices and the growing aging population. Brazil is the largest market in the region, followed by Mexico and Argentina.

Middle East & Africa: The Middle East & Africa is a developing market for medical plastics, driven by factors such as the increasing demand for medical devices and the growing prevalence of chronic diseases. The United Arab Emirates is the largest market in the region, followed by Saudi Arabia and South Africa.

Overall, the medical plastics market is expected to continue to grow in all regions due to the increasing demand for medical devices and the rising prevalence of chronic diseases.

Top Players in the Medical Plastics Market:

SABIC (Saudi Arabia)

BASF (Germany)

Celanese (US)

Evonik (Germany)

Solvay (Belgium)

Covestro (Germany)

For Additional Information on Adhesives and Sealants Market Players and Detail List, Download a Report PDF Brochure@ https://www.vantagemarketresearch.com/medical-plastics-market-1665/request-sample

Medical Plastics Market Segmentation

By Type

Engineering Plastics

High Performance Plastics (HPP)

Standard Plastics

Silicone

Others



By Application

Medical Disposables

Prosthetics

Medical Instruments & Tools

Drug Delivery

Others



By Region

North America

Europe

Asia Pacific

Latin America

Middle East & Africa



Browse Market Data Tables and Figures spread through 141 Pages and in-depth TOC on Medical Plastics Market Forecast Report (2022-2028).

Some of The Key Questions from Our Customers Are:

What are the different types of medical plastics available in the market, and what are their properties and applications?

What are the key factors driving the growth of the medical plastics market, and what are the challenges faced by the industry?

Which application segment of the medical plastics market is expected to grow at the fastest rate, and what are the factors driving this growth?

Which region is the largest market for medical plastics, and what are the factors contributing to this growth?

Who are the key players in the medical plastics market, and what are their strategies to maintain a competitive edge?

What are the key trends in the medical plastics market, and how are they likely to impact the industry in the coming years?

What are the regulations governing the use of medical plastics in the production of medical devices, and how are companies in the industry complying with these regulations?

What are the latest developments in the medical plastics market, and what impact are they likely to have on the industry?

Read Full Report @ https://www.vantagemarketresearch.com/industry-report/medical-plastics-market-1665

Browse More Reports from Vantage Library:

Transparent Plastics Market - Global Industry Assessment & Forecast: https://www.vantagemarketresearch.com/industry-report/transparent-plastics-market-1964

Medical Carts Market - Global Industry Assessment & Forecast: https://www.vantagemarketresearch.com/industry-report/medical-carts-market-1882

Medical Imaging Market - Global Industry Assessment & Forecast: https://www.vantagemarketresearch.com/industry-report/medical-imaging-market-1826

Medical Electrodes Market - Global Industry Assessment & Forecast: https://www.vantagemarketresearch.com/industry-report/medical-electrodes-market-1669

Electronic Medical Record Market - Global Industry Assessment & Forecast: https://www.vantagemarketresearch.com/industry-report/electronic-medical-record-market-1433

Thermoformed Plastics Market - Global Industry Assessment & Forecast: https://www.vantagemarketresearch.com/industry-report/thermoformed-plastics-market-1925

Top Companies in Medical Plastics Market | Key Players Comprehensive and In-depth Analysis Forecast Research Report: https://v-mr.biz/medical-plastics-market



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DUBLIN, March 3, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- The "Mexico Social Commerce Market Intelligence and Future Growth Dynamics Databook - 50+ KPIs on Social Commerce Trends by End-Use Sectors, Operational KPIs, Retail Product Dynamics, and Consumer Demographics - Q1 2023 Update" report has been added to ResearchAndMarkets.com's offering.

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According to the publisher, social commerce industry in Mexico is expected to grow by 29.8% on annual basis to reach US$2066.1 million in 2023.



The social commerce industry is expected to grow steadily over the forecast period, recording a CAGR of 21.0% during 2022-2028. The social commerce GMV in the country will increase from US$2066.1 million in 2023 to reach US$6488.4 million by 2028.



This report provides a detailed data centric analysis of social commerce industry, covering market opportunities and risks. With over 50+ KPIs at country level, this report provides a comprehensive understanding of social commerce market dynamics, market size and forecast, and market share statistics.



The research methodology is based on industry best practices. Its unbiased analysis leverages a proprietary analytics platform to offer a detailed view on emerging business and investment market opportunities.

Reasons to buy

In-depth Understanding of Social Commerce Market Dynamics: Understand market opportunities and key trends along with forecast (2019-2028).

Insights into Opportunity by end-use sectors - Get market dynamics by end-use sectors to assess emerging opportunity across various end-use sectors.

Develop Market Specific Strategies: Identify growth segments and target specific opportunities to formulate social commerce strategy; assess market specific key trends, drivers, and risks in the industry.

Scope



This report provides in-depth, data-centric analysis of social commerce in Mexico. Below is a summary of key market segments:



Mexico Ecommerce Industry Market Size and Future Growth Dynamics by Key Performance Indicators, 2019-2028

Mexico Social Commerce Industry Market Size and Future Growth Dynamics by Key Performance Indicators, 2019-2028

Mexico Social Commerce Industry Market Size and Forecast by Retail Product Categories, 2019-2028

Clothing & Footwear

Beauty and Personal Care

Food & Grocery

Appliances and Electronics

Home Improvement

Travel

Hospitality

Story continues

Mexico Social Commerce Industry Market Size and Forecast by End Use Segment, 2019-2028

B2B

B2C

C2C

Mexico Social Commerce Industry Market Size and Forecast by End Use Device, 2019-2028

Mobile

Desktop

Mexico Social Commerce Industry Market Size and Forecast by Location, 2019-2028

Domestic

Cross Border

Mexico Social Commerce Industry Market Size and Forecast by Location, 2019-2028

Tier-1 Cities

Tier-2 Cities

Tier-3 Cities

Mexico Social Commerce Industry Market Size and Forecast by Payment Method, 2019-2028

Credit Card

Debit Card

Bank Transfer

Prepaid Card

Digital & Mobile Wallet

Other Digital Payment

Cash

Mexico Social Commerce Industry Market Size and Forecast by Platforms

Video Commerce

Social Network-Led Commerce

Social Reselling

Group Buying

Product Review Platforms

Mexico Social Commerce Industry Market Size and Forecast by Consumer Demographics & Behaviour,2022

By Age

By Income Level

By Gender

For more information about this report visit https://www.researchandmarkets.com/r/ekkrv1

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ResearchAndMarkets.com is the world's leading source for international market research reports and market data. We provide you with the latest data on international and regional markets, key industries, the top companies, new products and the latest trends.

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SOURCE Research and Markets
CCTV: The two-day G20 Foreign Ministers Meeting just concluded in India. Representatives of 40 countries and multiple international organizations, including the foreign ministers of China, the US and Russia, attended the event, making it the largest G20 foreign ministers gathering in history. It was also the first G20 Foreign Ministers Meeting attended by Foreign Minister Qin Gang. Do you have more to share on that?

Mao Ning: On March 2, Foreign Minister Qin Gang attended the G20 Foreign Ministers Meeting in New Delhi.

Foreign Minister Qin sent out the following three key messages. First, faced with a volatile international situation and rising global challenges, the G20 must rise to the occasion, enhance cooperation, and contribute its share to global development and prosperity. Second, we need to practice true multilateralism and follow the principles of dialogue on an equal footing and consensus-building through consultation. No one should engage in power politics or even bloc confrontation. Third, we need to promote the sound development of globalization, reject unilateralism, protectionism and attempts to decouple or sever supply chains, and make global development more inclusive, resilient and beneficial for all.

Foreign Minister Qin also proposed to enhance macroeconomic policy coordination, improve global economic governance, and bolster international development cooperation. He stressed that China will continue to take an active part in the G20 agenda, and contribute more to promoting world peace and development and building a community with a shared future for mankind.

Kyodo News: According to reports, the foreign ministers meeting of QUAD was held today in India. The statement that came out of the meeting noted that the use or threat of use of nuclear weapons is inadmissible, and reiterated the importance to meet challenges to the maritime rules-based order. Whats your comment?

Mao Ning: China has stated our position on QUAD on multiple occasions. We believe that state-to-state cooperation needs to be consistent with the trend of peace and development, rather than be about putting up exclusionary blocs. We hope certain countries can do more things that contribute to security and mutual trust between regional countries and that help to maintain regional peace and stability.

Global Times: It was reported that Homeland Security Advisor to US President Elizabeth Sherwood-Randall said that the US needs to invest China in work to diminish nuclear threats, especially given Chinas growing arsenal, the production of fissile material, and Chinas deployment of civil nuclear power at scale. She said, We need to find ways to do so with them and invite them to make meaningful contributions. Do you have any comment on this?

Mao Ning: Calling China a nuclear threat is a convenient pretext for the US to expand its own nuclear arsenal and keep its military hegemony. Let me underscore once again that China has always been extremely prudent and responsible about our nuclear policy. We follow a defensive nuclear strategy and a policy of no first use of nuclear weapons, and keep our nuclear capabilities at the minimum level required by national security. China has strictly fulfilled its obligations on nuclear nonproliferation and followed a rational, coordinated and balanced approach to nuclear security. We are committed to the peaceful use of nuclear energy, and help the world benefit from nuclear energy as much as possible. China values international cooperation on the peaceful use of nuclear energy, and has made important contribution to protecting the security of nuclear facilities and reducing the risks of nuclear proliferation.

The US, as the most powerful nuclear weapon state, is supposed to follow a responsible nuclear policy. However, the US has in recent years invested heavily to upgrade its nuclear triad, heightened the role of nuclear weapons in its national security policy and built up a network of military alliance around the globe. The US has also built small blocs reminiscent of the Cold War by bolstering extended deterrence and conducting nuclear submarine cooperation. It is the US who is the primary source of nuclear threat in the world. The US should fully reflect on its nuclear policy, step up to its special and primary responsibilities of nuclear disarmament, and reduce the role of nuclear weapons in national security policy. The US needs to take meaningful, practical steps to reduce nuclear risks and act responsibly to maintain the strategic stability of regional and global peace and security.

NBC: Its reported that China has a stunning lead in 37 out of 44 critical and emerging technologies as Western democracies lose a global competition for research output, the Australian Strategic Policy Institute said. The study, funded by the US State Department, found the US was often second, according to a Reuters report. Do you have any comments or do you agree to these findings?

Mao Ning: Chinas efforts and achievements in scientific and technological innovation are for all to see. Chinas scientific and technological progress contributes to global technological advancement. We have been engaged in cooperation with all countries on innovation and sharing development benefits with the rest of the world. We oppose hegemonism in science, decoupling and breaking of industrial and supply chains. We believe that the ultimate purpose of technological advancement is to serve the interests of all humanity. Politicizing scientific and technological issues, using them as weapons for ideological confrontation and patching up coteries harm the interests of the whole world.

AFP: You just mentioned the three-point response that Foreign Minister Qin Gang gave at the G20, but Im wondering if the Chinese delegation declined to agree at any joint communique and it was also the only country other than Russia that did not condemn the war in Ukraine at the G20 meeting? Does the foreign ministry have any explanation on the reasoning behind those decisions?

Mao Ning: Chinas position on the Ukraine issue remains consistent and unchanged.

The G20 is the premier forum for international economic cooperation. Leaders of member states made it clear in the G20 Bali Leaders Declaration last year that the G20 is not the forum to resolve security issues. China believes that the G20 should work to follow through on the leaders consensus, focus on its mandate and main function, and contribute to promoting stable, inclusive and sustainable economic recovery.

We also noted that G20 members have varying views on the Ukraine issue. We hope that G20 members will respect each others concerns and send a message of solidarity and cooperation instead of division and mutual recrimination.

AFP: The US Commerce Department has added new Chinese entities to its trade blacklist, including units of genetics firm BGI and cloud computing firm Inspur. Does the foreign ministry have any comments on this?

Mao Ning: The US is once again cracking down on Chinese companies under false pretexts through unfair means. China strongly deplores and firmly rejects this.

We urge the US to respect basic facts, abandon ideological bias, stop suppressing Chinese companies under false pretexts, and provide Chinese companies with open, just, and non-discriminatory treatment. China will continue to firmly defend the legitimate and lawful rights and interests of our companies and support them in defending their rights and interests.

PTI: Further to what you said earlier about the G20 Foreign Ministers Meeting in New Delhi, how does China view its outcome at the end of it?

Mao Ning: The G20 Foreign Ministers Meeting was an important event, especially considering the uncertainties and challenges facing todays world. China hopes that the G20 will demonstrate its sense of responsibility and contribute to global development and prosperity.

AFP: A White House spokesperson in the US said on Thursday that although they dont have an indication right now that China has decided to provide weapons to Russia, they do believe its still a possibility. So is there any update on this matter from the foreign ministry?

Mao Ning: We have made clear Chinas position several times over the past few days.

On the Ukraine issue, Chinas position has all along been objective and fair. We are committed to promoting talks for peace and working for the political settlement of the crisis. The US has been pouring lethal weapons into the battlefield in Ukraine and heightening tensions, while spreading false and malign accusations against China. We do not accept coercion or pressure from the US. What the US should do is facilitate deescalation and promote talks for peace rather than fuel the flame or point fingers at other countries.

Reuters: Reuters has reported that Australia recently received strong protests from China after a Chinese investor had been prohibited to increase his share in an Australian rare earths group. Are you aware of relevant reports and do you have any comment?

Mao Ning: The Chinese government always encourages Chinese businesses to invest overseas in accordance with market principles, international trade rules and local laws. At the same time, we will always safeguard the legitimate and lawful rights of Chinese companies that are investing and operating overseas. It is our hope that the Australian side will provide a fair and non-discriminatory environment for Chinese companies in Australia.
NORTHAMPTON, MA / ACCESSWIRE / March 3, 2023 / Comcast Corporation



Comcast Corporation, Friday, March 3, 2023, Press release picture

KEY TAKEAWAYS

The US workforce has a high demand for digital skills, yet many workers - particularly workers of color and those without higher education - lack these skills. Federal funds should increase access to digital skills training, by providing vital support to small businesses, drive economic mobility for individual workers, and benefit the broader economy. Prioritizing upskilling, especially within entry-level jobs, can close digital equity gaps and create business growth.

The digital divide is a complex issue that includes barriers to digital adoption and access. However, there is another key element of the issue that is too often ignored: the digital skills gap.

Earlier this week, the National Skills Coalition (NSC) released a report in conjunction with the Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta on the task at hand and what it means to close the digital skills divide in the workforce.

Here are the key numbers:

92%

92% of jobs available today require digital or likely digital skills - yet nearly one-third of US workers lack opportunities to build these skills.

23%

Jobs that require even one digital skill can earn an average of 23% more than jobs requiring no digital skills - an increase of $8,000 in annual income.

$27K

Businesses can save more than $27,000 per position when they offer upskilling opportunities, versus the cost of replacing a worker who departs.

What does this report tell us?

Across every industry and firm size, the US labor market shows an incredible demand for digital skills and workforce development. This is the reality we face today - not a projection of where jobs will be in the future. When we close the digital skills divide, we can create big payoffs for individuals, businesses, and the overall economy.

What should we do?

The answer lies in partnerships. Both the public and private sectors must work together to equip workers with digital skills. These skills must be both fundamental, like using a computer, and industry specific, like using bookkeeping software.

Story continues

With an unprecedented federal investment in broadband deployment and adoption, there is no better time for government, private companies, and community organizations to collaborate.

Policymakers can use federal Digital Equity Act and Broadband Equity, Access, and Deployment (BEAD) funds to supercharge free or low-cost digital skills training programs. Such programs include Digital Navigators, in which local experts help folks understand the importance of digital skills and how to access available resources, like the Affordable Connectivity Program (ACP). Across the nation at Comcast, we've launched a network of Digital Navigators who are breaking down barriers to digital literacy and helping more people get and stay online.

As these federal funds are distributed, we have a special opportunity to bring digital skills resources to the communities that need them the most. This includes workers of color as well as small businesses and education providers, many of which rely on publicly funded programs to upskill employees.

The NSC's findings reiterate why I am so proud of the work Comcast has been doing for so long and why we are proud to call NSC a valued partner. Over the last decade, we have grown our Internet Essentials program, the largest and most successful broadband adoption initiative in the industry. Through that program, more than 10 million individuals have become broadband subscribers.

And through Project UP, our $1 billion commitment to help advance digital equity, we're partnering with organizations like CodePath, Hispanic Federation, NPower, and Per Scholas to create equitable access to skills and training so more people secure good jobs and climb the economic ladder.

One of the featured states in the NSC report is Illinois, which Comcast is proud to serve. 90% of the jobs in that state require digital skills. That's why we're working with local organizations like City Colleges of Chicago to ensure students can build critical digital skills.

The pandemic accelerated digital transformation. The importance of not only digital access but also digital skills is clear, and so is the path forward. The NSC's report lays out a roadmap to close the digital skills divide, through increased public investments in digital skill-building.

With this knowledge in hand, let's continue to build and nurture partnerships across the public and private sectors to give everyone the opportunity to succeed in today's digital world.

Broderick Johnson is Executive Vice President, Public Policy & Executive Vice President, Digital Equity.

View additional multimedia and more ESG storytelling from Comcast Corporation on 3blmedia.com.

Contact Info:

Spokesperson: Comcast Corporation

Website: https://www.3blmedia.com/profiles/comcast-corporation

Email: info@3blmedia.com

SOURCE: Comcast Corporation





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MUMBAI, India, March 3, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Netcore Cloud, a profitable SaaS company and global leader in customer communication, engagement, and retention, today announced the release of its third edition of Email Benchmark Report 2023. The report analyzes over 100 billion emails and showcases an in-depth, multi-metric analysis of emails across 20 major industries, including BFSI, Retail and eCommerce, Beauty, Food, Entertainment, and Media.

Netcore Cloud Logo

The report highlights how email has prevailed to be one of the most effective ways to connect with consumers across brands. It also reveals proven strategies to overcome email marketing challenges in different verticals and the key areas to focus on for improvement.

Speaking about this launch Kalpit Jain, Group CEO, of Netcore Cloud said, "Despite the rise of other messaging platforms, email is still the real deal for reaching and meaningfully connecting with your audience. 2022 witnessed a global rise in adopting AMP emails that work as powerfully as a website or an app. The wave will continue and interactive AMP emails, hyper-personalized by the power of zero-party data, will take center stage. To help marketers prepare for the uncertain times ahead, we have created the Email Benchmark Report 2023. Brands have a clear direction to benchmark their email marketing performance against global peers."

Key highlights of the Email Benchmark Report 2023:

95% of users do not click on website redirect links placed inside emails

Static emails with CTA links are a thing of the past. Most users look for instant task completion with minimal effort.

Best practices to improve opens

In the mobile dominant world, the optimum subject line length with the highest open rates is 30-35 characters with spaces. Lines beyond 36 characters get automatically truncated and abruptly break the description.

Best practices to improve clicks

Adding images, GIFs, or videos in emails is a time-tested method to improve engagement.

Story continues

Read the full report here

About Netcore Cloud

Netcore Cloud is a bootstrapped SaaS company that helps B2C brands and marketers create AI-powered new-age customer experiences at every touchpoint of a customer's journey. Netcore Cloud's full-stack marketing platform enables highly personalized digital experiences that are easily scalable and provides actionable analytics, real-time reporting, and quick-to-implement solutions across channels. Brands using Netcore Cloud can have a unified view of their customers and optimize their user experience.

Headquartered in Mumbai, India, with 11 offices across the USA, Singapore, Malaysia, Nigeria, Indonesia, UAE, UK, and Germany, Netcore Cloud serves over 6500 customers across the globe. It delivers over 20 billion emails and 15 billion+ push notifications a month. It also manages a scale of 120 trillion user events a year. Netcore Cloud is a trusted partner across industries with some of the most respected brands like MaxLife Insurance, ICICI Bank, Standard Chartered, Flipkart, Myntra, Miss Amara, Airtel, Disney Hotstar, Canon, Puma, Tobi, EaseMyTrip, PizzaHut and McDonald's. For more information, visit https://netcorecloud.com/

Contact:

Simone Pious

simonepious@netcorecloud.com

+91-9930354205

SOURCE Netcore Cloud
Acquisition Represents: First acquisitions located in Livingston, Lufkin, and Porter, Texas; Seven franchise dealerships and one pre-owned supercenter; Four stores in three locations

LIVINGSTON, TX / ACCESSWIRE / March 3, 2023 / Newly formed Kramer Automotive and Kimberly Eakin Automotive, two of the newest automotive retail groups in the U.S., just completed the acquisition of Premier Chrysler Dodge Jeep Ram and Premier Chevrolet Buick GMC in Livingston, Texas, as well as Premier Kia in Lufkin, Texas, and the Pre-Owned Express Supercenter in Porter, Texas.

Kramer Automotive & Kimberly Eakin Automotive Acquire Premier Auto, Texas

"We were very fortunate to represent Karl Williams' Elm Creek Auto Group with the sale of three dealerships to Kramer Automotive. The transaction was an ideal fit for both organizations which will continue to focus on developing their core businesses. We expect that these acquisitions will serve as a strong first step as Chuck Kramer and his team build another successful automotive group. Special thanks to Tim Smith, Christine Bennett and the exceptional Elm Creek staff," said Brian Evans, Principle with Ozog Consulting Group.

"Our teams are excited about these acquisitions and look forward to expanding on the Premier heritage and foundation created by the Karl Williams' Elm Creek Auto Group," said Chuck Kramer, Principle of Kramer Automotive. "Kramer Automotive is proud to be locally owned. Thus, we will be hiring and helping the economy and supporting all local businesses. We look forward to expanding on the opportunities Premier provided to their employees, their families, and the community," continued Chuck.

"We look forward to providing these dealerships and customers with even higher levels of exceptional service, community and charitable support, and a family atmosphere. Our employees will be our true partners," said Kimberly Eakin, Dealer Principle of Kimberly Eakin Automotive and Managing Partner in Kramer Automotive. As the active Dealer Principle and Managing Partner of all Kramer and Kimberly Eakin stores, Kimberly will be in charge of all day-to-day operations to include hiring, processes and all other operational decisions. She is actively hiring for all stores. Please send employment interests to EastTXAutogroup@gmail.com.

Story continues

Kramer Automotive and Kimberly Eakin Automotive believe in 100% employee satisfaction. Customer satisfaction will be their #1 mission. Additionally, they believe in sharing profits with their employees and their communities. The auto groups will dedicate resources to supporting local charities and community involvements such as:

Schools and School Boards

FAA

Local Rodeos and Events

Mothers Against Cancer

Local Chambers of Commerce

First Responders

Police and Firemen

Local City and County Sheriff and Judges

Local Food Banks

We have huge support for all the current and retired military members and their families.

To support their mission, the stores will feature customer satisfaction programs to include:

The ability to deliver vehicles anywhere in the United States

Seven-day guarantee on all pre-owned vehicles - if you are not satisfied, bring the vehicle back

Offer over 200 quality pre-owned vehicles

About Chuck Kramer

Chuck has had a passion for the automotive industry that spans over four decades. His career started in 1983, in the trenches, as a lube technician. He was quickly recognized as capable of doing more. He moved into sales and rapidly became the #1 salesperson at his dealership. The promotions that followed swiftly moved him up the ranks. He eventually rose to be Managing Partner with Randall Reed, Planet Ford and was also General Manager at Lawrence Marshall Ford Hyundai Chevrolet Cadillac and the Pre-Owned Supercenter.

Chuck is also the former COO of Foundation Automotive and the Dealer Principle of Henson Ford and Henson Chevy Buick GMC in Madisonville, Texas, Foundation Kia in Wheat Ridge, Colorado, Castle Rock Ford and Castle Rock Dodge Chrysler Jeep Ram in Castlerock, Colorado, Foundation GMC Buick and BMW of Wichita Falls, Kramer Chevrolet in Mandan, North Dakota, Jones Chevy and Jones Buick GMC in Savannah, Tennessee.

He brings to the organization a multitude of operational turnaround and growth skills, team development knowledge, and intimate automotive experience in variable, fixed, and financial operations. He has successfully managed over 1,500 employees and has been blessed to be a part of the employees' lives and their families.

Chuck has been married to his wife, Claire, for 24 years and together they have six beautiful daughters and five grandchildren.

Chuck's passion for the community includes his involvement in many charities such as Mothers Against Cancer, Houston Livestock and Rodeo-Calf Committee, Village Learning Center, Family Time Charity, and the Humble ISD Education Foundation.

About Kimberly Eakin

Kimberly Eakin is the Managing Partner/General Manager for Dennis Eakin Kia in Killeen, Texas. Kimberly began her automotive career 20 years ago as a salesperson for her family-owned auto group. After several years in sales, she worked in various roles in other departments and learned and understood the complexity of operating a dealership. Every day, Kimberly looks forward to coming to work, knowing there will be a new challenge and opportunity for growth waiting for her. She enjoys spending time in the showroom and service department, interacting with customers and team members, and empowering employees. Kimberly said it has been a privilege to work for her father over the years and to ensure that his community and family core values continue at Dennis Eakin Kia.

Kimberly graduated from NADA Dealer Academy, attended Texas Christian University and has a degree in nursing from Central Texas College. She is a nominee in the 2022 class for Women in Retail.

Kimberly has been married to her husband Sean for 14 years and together they have two young and very active boys. They actively support the military and veterans in their community through Wreaths for Veterans and Korean War Veterans Association, as well as Toys for Tots, and the Central Texas Special Olympics.

About Kramer Automotive & Kimberly Eakin Automotive

Kramer Automotive & Kimberly Eakin Automotive offer an extensive range of automotive products and services, including new and used vehicles; parts and service, which includes vehicle repair and maintenance services, replacement parts and collision repair services; and finance and insurance products, including arranging vehicle financing through third parties and aftermarket products, such as extended service contracts, guaranteed asset protection debt cancellation, and prepaid maintenance.

KramerAutoplex.com

Contact Information

Brenda Finch

Marketing Dir.

brenda@4040group.com

713-478-2093

SOURCE: Kramer Automotive & Kimberly Eakin Automotive

.





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Contrive Datum Insights Pvt Ltd

According to a market research study published by Contrive Datum Insights, China buys the most electronics of any country in the world. Several recent steps have also been taken in the business to boost production.

Farmington, March 03, 2023 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- The global NOR flash memory market is estimated at USD 28.7682 Million in 2022 and is projected to register a CAGR of 5.79% during the forecast period 2022-2030. NOR flash memory is a type of non-volatile electronic computer memory that can be erased and changed with electricity. The market is growing because there is a growing need for NOR flash in applications that need to write and read single bytes of data and need random access and execution location access. The main thing about NOR flash devices is that they can store between a few hundred megabits and a few hundred gigabits. NOR flash memory has also gained more customers over the years because of how reliable it is and how well it keeps data.

Request Sample Copy of Report  NOR Flash Market - Global Industry Analysis, Size, Share, Growth Opportunities, Future Trends, Covid-19 Impact, SWOT Analysis, Competition and Forecasts 2022 to 2030 , published by Contrive Datum Insights.

The NOR flash market is growing because more and more people want consumer electronics and communication devices, and more and more electronics are being used in automotive and industrial uses. Additionally, applications of NOR flash memory are increasing in technologies such as Internet of Things (IoT), Active Matrix Organic Light-Emitting Diodes (AMOLEDs), and Liquid Crystal Displays (LCDs), as well as automotive, industrial and medical applications. ) will lead the market over the forecast period.

NOR Flash Market Recent Developments:

September 2022 Wuhan Xinxin Semiconductor Manufacturing Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as Xinxin), one of the leading NOR suppliers, launched XNOR-XM25LU128C, an ultra-small size, low-power SPI NOR Flash product, widely used in Vietnam Smaller and smaller IoT and wearable devices.

August 2022 - Micron announces plans to invest $40 billion in multiple phases by the end of the decade to create cutting-edge memory manufacturing in the United States. This investment is expected to enable the world's most advanced memory manufacturing in the United States. Micron expects to start manufacturing in the second half of this century, gradually increasing overall supply based on industry demand trends.

August 2022 - Macronix International Limited, one of the leading integrated device manufacturers in the non-volatile memory (NVM) market, announces that its eight-flash memory MX66UW1G45GXDI00 provides critical flash memory for Renesas Electronics' development platforms. Designers can develop advanced products by taking advantage of Macronix's high-speed flash memory and Renesas' latest cost-effective RZ/A3UL microprocessor (MPU) available on the new evaluation board. This cooperation will benefit the company's future growth in the NOR Flash business.

Story continues

NOR Flash Market Segmentation Analysis:

Since more code and data must be stored, the number of industrial applications employing NOR flash memory is increasing. Developers of electronic devices seek embedded memory options with a high storage capacity and a low price per gigabit. This is increasing the demand for built-in serial NOR flash memory. Numerous industrial devices, including security systems, military systems, and retail management products, utilize NOR flash memory to store data. Industrial manufacturers are exerting significant effort to implement IIoT in their factories so they can control the machinery there. This technology enables businesses to remotely monitor each machine during production. Internet of Things (IoT) and artificial intelligence (AI) are gaining prominence, thereby increasing the demand for intelligent processors and devices.

Regional Outlook:

China buys the most electronics of any country in the world. Several recent steps have also been taken in the business to boost production. For example, the Chinese government said in January 2021 that it wanted to grow the home market for electronic components to RMB 2.1 trillion (327 billion USD) by 2023. Also, the area is home to some of the biggest market players, like GigaDevice. China is one of the most hopeful places for the market because of all of these things. The area that was looked at is growing by NOR Many digital goods use flash memory to store the information about how they are set up. China's electronics business is one of the biggest and has made a big difference in the country's overall economic growth.

Buy this Premium Research Report@

https://www.contrivedatuminsights.com/buy/51997/

Scope of Report:

Report Attributes Details Growth Rate 5.79% from 2023 to 2030 Market Size in 2022 USD 28.7682 Million By Type Serial NOR Flash

Parallel NOR Flash By Density Less than 250Mb

250Mb-1Gb

More than 1Gb By Applications Telecommunication

Networking, Industrial

Automotive

Smart Grid Space By Companies Cypress Semiconductor Corporation, Integrated Silicon Solution Inc., Micron Technology, Inc., Winbond Electronics Corporation, Microchip Technologies, Inc., Macronix International Co., Ltd, JSC, Elite Semiconductor Microelectronics Technology Inc., Dialog Semiconductor, GigaDevice, and Others Base Year 2022 Historical Year 2017 to 2021 Forecast Year 2023 to 2030

Market Growth:

The rapid development of technology and the enormous amount of data being generated have significantly increased the demand for flash memory solutions that can readily manage large amounts of data. NOR flash memory satisfies nearly all of the requirements of the end user because it can be read and operates more rapidly than other memory technologies. NOR flash memory is one of two storage types that retain data when the power runs out. It is most frequently used in programs that must write and retrieve single bytes. Additionally, it is utilized in random access and execute-in-place access. The market for consumer electronics is expanding rapidly in both developed and developing nations.

NOR Flash Market Key Segments Covered:

Top Market Players:

Cypress Semiconductor Corporation, Integrated Silicon Solution Inc., Micron Technology, Inc., Winbond Electronics Corporation, Microchip Technologies, Inc., Macronix International Co., Ltd, JSC, Elite Semiconductor Microelectronics Technology Inc., Dialog Semiconductor, GigaDevice, and Others.

On the Basis of Type:

Serial NOR Flash

Parallel NOR Flash

On the Basis of Density

Less than 250Mb

250Mb-1Gb

More than 1Gb

On the Basis of Application:

Telecommunication

Networking, Industrial

Automotive

Smart Grid Space

Regions and Countries Covered

North America: (US, Canada, Mexico, Rest of North America)

Europe: (Germany, France, Italy, Spain, UK, Nordic Countries, Benelux Union, Rest of Europe)

Asia-Pacific: (Japan, China, India, Australia, South Korea, Southeast Asia, Rest of Asia-Pacific)

The Middle East & Africa: (Saudi Arabia, UAE, Egypt, South Africa, Rest of the Middle East & Africa)

Latin America: (Brazil, Argentina, Rest of Latin America)

Rest Of the World

Check out more related studies published by Contrive Datum Insights:

Aviation Actuator System Market - The Global Aviation Actuator System Market Is Projected To Grow From USD 2.02 Billion In 2018 To USD 3.06 Billion By 2030, At A CAGR Of 5.24% From 2022 To 2030. Emerging countries such as China, India, and Brazil are expected to create new growth opportunities for prominent players operating in the market. For instance, according to the Commercial Aircraft Corporation of China, Ltd. in September 2019, the Chinese market is expected to witness strong demand for commercial aircraft over the next 20 years.

Electronic Access Control System (EACS) Market - The Global Electronic Access Control Systems (EACS) Market Was Estimated At USD 9.9 Billion In 2022 And Is Projected To Reach A Revised USD 22.4 Billion By 2029, Growing At A CAGR Of 12.4% During The Analysis Period 2022-2030. North America is expected to hold the largest market share during the forecast period due to rising terrorist threats and security concerns, which are the major factors driving the growth of the EACS industry in the region.

Industrial Control System (ICS) Security Market - The Global Industrial Control Systems (ICS) Security Market size surpassed USD 5 Billion in 2022 and is poised register 20.0% CAGR from 2022 to 2030. North America dominates the industrial control system (ICS) security market due to the prevalence of improved infrastructure and adoption of advanced technologies in the region.

Flight Information Display Systems (FIDS) Market - The Global Flight Information Display Systems (FIDS) Market Is Expected To Grow At A CAGR Of 7.5% From 2022 To 2030. North America dominated the global flight information display system market in terms of revenue share of over 35.0%. This growth can be attributed to the presence of many airlines and airports using FIDS, high adoption rates, and increasing demand for technologically advanced products.

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Guardian Capital Group Limited

TORONTO, March 02, 2023 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- We are advised by Guardian Capital Group Limited that journalists and other readers should disregard the news release, "Guardian Capital Group Limited (TSX: GCG; GCG.A) Announces 2022 Second Quarter Operating Results" issued March 02, 2023 at 17:05 ET, over GlobeNewswire.

The press release has been re-issued here: https://www.globenewswire.com/news-release/2023/03/02/2619936/0/en/Guardian-Capital-Group-Limited-TSX-GCG-GCG-A-Announces-2022-Annual-Operating-Results.html




Future Market Insights Global and Consulting Pvt. Ltd.

Food Manufacturers Develop Healthy Organic Food Items that Lessen Heart-related Diseases. The hypermarkets/supermarkets distribution channel drives the organic foods market.

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates, March 02, 2023 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- The organic foods market is projected to secure a valuation of US$ 176.51 billion in 2023 and is anticipated to rise to US$ 553.13 billion by 2033. The market is likely to register a CAGR of 12.1% during the forecast period.



The rising urbanization, population, and changing consumer preferences are driving market growth during the forecast period. Increasing consumer awareness of a healthy lifestyle and government initiatives to promote organic farming fuel market opportunities. In addition, the popularity of novel products and clean-label food items is increasing the adoption of organic foods.

Several food & beverage manufacturers innovate food production by adopting organic foods, including bakery products, snacks, infant formulas, and confectioneries. Consumers' growing popularity of processed, frozen and packed foods is advancing the market share. In May 2022, Cocos Organics announced the new launch of dairy-free yogurt with the addition of Bifidobacterium BB-12.

Checkout Report Sample @ https://www.futuremarketinsights.com/reports/sample/rep-gb-16722

Endorsement of Companies' Brand Drive the Market Growth

The top companies present innovative products through organic foods that attract consumers' requirements. In addition, these companies are promoting their product to enhance their brand reputation. Adding several organic foods such as traditional, organic, and vegan, these company vendors upgrade a healthy lifestyle.

Famous personalities are advertising newly launched products to get a maximum engaging audience which is further flourishing the market size. In November 2021, Amara Organic Foods collected a fund of around US$ 12 million to expand its business for infant organic food products.

Story continues

Key Takeaways:

The organic foods market is expected to have a valuation of US$ 553.13 billion by 2033.

With a CAGR of 12.1%, the global market increasing from 2023 to 2033.

The United Kingdom organic foods market is anticipated to secure a maximum share through 2033.

In the historical period, the market secured a CAGR of 11.2% between 2017 and 2022.

In the historical period, the market captured US$ 172.06 billion between 2017 and 2022.

Who is Winning ?

The presence of prominent vendors around the globe fragments the market. These vendors invest a massive amount in research & development activities to innovate various innovative products through their marketing knowledge and unique ideas. In addition, key players are focusing on consumers' requirements and developing the products accordingly to attract them.

Several marketing tactics and advanced technologies are adopted to acquire maximum output and upsurge the market to another height. These marketing methodologies include mergers, acquisitions, partnerships, agreements, and collaborations.

Talk to Analyst @ https://www.futuremarketinsights.com/ask-question/rep-gb-16722

Other Prominent Players in the Market:

Eden Foods Inc

General Mills Inc

Organic Valley

Danone S.A.

Amys Kitchen Inc

Hain Celestial Group Inc

SunOpta Inc

Arla Foods Amba

Dole Plc

Organic India Pvt Ltd

Recent Developments in the Organic Foods Market are:

In June 2020, Sprout Organic Inc signed a partnership with Amazon to provide a plant-based formula for infants in Australia.

In May 2020, Barry Callebaut announced its new dairy-free organic chocolate to expand its business in North America.

In April 2022, Nestle S.A. announced new plant-based products for babies, which are available on Amazon.

In May 2022, Organic India launched organic tea products such as Tulsi Detox Khawa, Moringa Hibiscus, and Peppermint Refresh.

In January 2021, L.T. Food Limited announced its acquisition with a 30% of stake in Leev. Nu. Company. The company promotes organic-label food products in the Netherlands.

More Insights into Organic Foods Market

In its latest report, FMI offers an unbiased analysis of the global organic food market, providing historical data from 2017 to 2022 and forecast statistics for 2023 to 2033. For a comprehensive understanding of the global market potential, growth, and scope, the market is segmented on the basis of category, product type, distribution channel, and region.

According to the same reports, based on segmentation, the supermarket/ hypermarket distribution channel will contribute substantially to the overall market growth. This segment will account for a sizeable portion of the market share due to the availability of a large variety of products.

Based on region, the organic food market in the US will likely demonstrate strong growth and account for a large portion of the overall market share. The target market in this region is shaped by growing health consciousness, heightened focus on eating healthy, and rising demand for clean-label products. Rising organic farming also promotes the organic food market growth in the US. Additionally, the U.K, and India will also make considerable contributions to the global growth of the organic foods market.

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Key segments

By Category:

Dairy

Frozen & Processed Foods

Fruits & Vegetables

Cereals & Grains

Meat

Fish & Poultry

Others



By Product Type:

Unprocessed

Processed

By Distribution Channel:

Online Retail Stores

Supermarkets/Hypermarkets

Convenient Stores

Specialty Stores

Others

Table of Content

1. Executive Summary | Organic Foods Market

1.1. Global Market Outlook

1.2. Demand-side Trends

1.3. Supply-side Trends

1.4. Technology Roadmap Analysis

1.5. Analysis and Recommendations

2. Market Overview

2.1. Market Coverage / Taxonomy

2.2. Market Definition / Scope / Limitations

3. Market Background

3.1. Market Dynamics

3.1.1. Drivers

3.1.2. Restraints

3.1.3. Opportunity

3.1.4. Trends

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Explore FMIs related ongoing Coverage on Food and Beverage Domain

Organic Snack Food Market Share: The Organic Snack Food Market is expected to expand at a CAGR of 4.1%. The industry's estimated value will increase from US$ 9.1 Bn in 2023 to US$ 13.5 Bn in 2033.

BRIC Organic Baby Food Market Size: The BRIC organic baby food market is anticipated to be worth US$ 5.5 billion in terms of revenue in 2023. The market is projected to expand at a CAGR of 16.1% to reach a market size of US$ 24.5 billion by 2033.

Fortified Foods Market Analysis: The fortified foods market value is expected to reach US$ 234,253.7 Mn by 2031, exhibiting growth at healthy CAGR of 6.3% for 2021-31.

Whole Grain & High Fiber Foods Market Forecast: The sales of whole grain & high fiber is estimated to be valued at US$ 50,872.6 Mn in 2022. As per Future Market Insights (FMI), the overall market value is expected to reach US$ 105,379.4 Mn by 2032, rising at a CAGR of 7.6% for 2022-32.

Functional Foods and Natural Health Products Market Value: The global functional food and natural health products market size was valued at US$ 22.4 bn in 2022, and it is expected to grow at a CAGR of 5.1% from 2022-2032. The market is expected to reach a valuation of US$ 37.5 bn by 2032.

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Contrive Datum Insights Pvt Ltd

According to a market research study published by Contrive Datum Insights, The market for Peak Flow Meters is the largest in the globe in North America, and Europe is the second largest market for Peak Flow Meter

Farmington, March 03, 2023 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- The global Peak Flow Meter Market was valued at US$ 68.3 Million in 2022 and is projected to reach USD 104.3 Million by 2030, growing at a CAGR of 4.4% from 2023 to 2030. For asthma patients, a peak flow meter is a device comparable to a thermometer. This instrument is used to assess lung function within the body. It is a portable device that measures ventilation or respiratory flow measurement (PEFR) in order to detect asthma attacks, monitor the treatment of chronic asthma, and provide information on changes. The device aids in allergy diagnosis and the prevention of respiratory infections. However, high-flow radiation necessitates additional care and cleansing procedures in order to treat asthma and reduce the incidence of respiratory infections.

Request Sample Copy of Report  Peak Flow Meter Market - Global Industry Analysis, Size, Share, Growth Opportunities, Future Trends, Covid-19 Impact, SWOT Analysis, Competition and Forecasts 2022 to 2030 , published by Contrive Datum Insights.

Peak Flow Meter Market Recent Developments:

In January 2022, London-based company Smart Respiratory presented at Arab Health 2022 the first fully integrated 'smart' peak flow meter that allows patients to conveniently manage their asthma.

In April 2017, Teleflex Incorporated, a leading global provider of medical technology for critical care and surgery, introduced the AsthmaMD Peak Flow Meter to help monitor and measure lung function in people with asthma.

Peak Flow Meter Market Dynamics:

Since spirometers and other more advanced devices are replacing peak flow meters, our analysts think that the market isn't growing at all. They also think that North America and Europe hold a big share of the global peak flow meter market. More and more people want digital peak flow meters instead of mechanical ones because technology is becoming more and more important. Digital peak flow meters are becoming more popular because they are easy to find and give accurate readings. Since peak flow meters are easy to move, they are often used in homes.

Story continues

Regional Outlook:

The market for Peak Flow Meters is the largest in the globe in North America due to the high prevalence of asthma, high patient awareness, and high healthcare expenditure per capita. Early disease detection and treatment are propelling the medical biotechnology market, which is anticipated to grow to become the largest Peak Flow Meter market in North America. According to the Asthma and Allergy Foundation of America, approximately 24 million Americans have asthma, making it one of the most prevalent and expensive conditions in the region. Due to favorable government policies concerning healthcare infrastructure and awareness programs, Europe is the second largest market for maximal flowmeters. Europe is likely to have the largest Peak Flow Meter market due to the impact of climate change on the health of children and the elderly, which causes asthma, the common illness, etc. This is expected to be the largest market for Peak Flow Meters. The Asia-Pacific market is anticipated to expand at a quicker rate due to population growth, rising asthma mortality rates, lifestyle changes, rising patient awareness, and rising spending per capita. These factors contribute to the expansion of the Asia-Pacific peak flow meter market.

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Scope of Report:

Report Attributes Details Growth Rate 4.4% from 2023 to 2030 Market Size in 2022 USD 68.3 Million Revenue Forecast by 2030 USD 104.3 Million By Type Electronic Meter

Mechanical Meter By Applications Peak Expiratory Flow Measurement

Forced Expiratory Volume Measurement By End User Hospitals

Clinics

Diagnostic Centres

Homecare Settings By Companies ResMed Corp., Becton, Dickinson, and Company., Siemens., Vitalograph Ltd., Medline Industries, Inc., Hoffer Flow Controls, Inc., Haag-Streit Holding AG, Koninklijke Philips N.V., JSB Health & Fitness Pvt Ltd., Esko Industriesa, John C. Ernst Co., Inc., and Others Base Year 2022 Historical Year 2017 to 2021 Forecast Year 2023 to 2030

Peak Flow Meter Market Key Segments Covered:

Top Market Players:

ResMed Corp., Becton, Dickinson, and Company., Siemens., Vitalograph Ltd., Medline Industries, Inc., Hoffer Flow Controls, Inc., Haag-Streit Holding AG, Koninklijke Philips N.V., JSB Health & Fitness Pvt Ltd., Esko Industriesa, John C. Ernst Co., Inc., and Others.

On the Basis of Type:

Electronic Meter

Mechanical Meter

On the Basis of Application:

Peak Expiratory Flow Measurement

Forced Expiratory Volume Measurement

On the Basis of End User:

Hospitals

Clinics

Diagnostic Centres

Homecare Settings

Regions and Countries Covered

North America: (US, Canada, Mexico, Rest of North America)

Europe: (Germany, France, Italy, Spain, UK, Nordic Countries, Benelux Union, Rest of Europe)

Asia-Pacific: (Japan, China, India, Australia, South Korea, Southeast Asia, Rest of Asia-Pacific)

The Middle East & Africa: (Saudi Arabia, UAE, Egypt, South Africa, Rest of the Middle East & Africa)

Latin America: (Brazil, Argentina, Rest of Latin America)

Rest Of the World

Check out more related studies published by Contrive Datum Insights:

Cloud Services Brokerage Market - The Global Cloud Services Brokerage Market size was valued at USD 10.59 Billion in 2022 and is projected to reach USD 42.13 Billion by 2030, growing at a CAGR of 16.58% from 2022 to 2030. Asia Pacific is the fastest-growing region in the market study, owing to exponential growth in adoption of cloud services across all types of businesses.

Online Corporate Meeting Services Market - The Global Online Corporate Meeting Services Market Size Reached US$ 5.0 Billion In 2022, Expects The Market To Reach US$ 7.1 Billion By 2029, Exhibiting A Growth Rate (CAGR) Of 6.04% During 2022-2029. 40% of the market growth will occur in North America during the forecast period. The United States and Canada are major markets for North American online corporate meeting services. However, market growth in this region will be slower than that of the APAC market.

HVAC Services Market - The Global HVAC Services Market stands at US$ 71.1 billion in 2022 and is anticipated to progress steadily at a CAGR of 6.2%. Asia Pacific dominates the HVAC systems market with a revenue share of over 40.0% in 2021. Increasing urbanization, growing population, and increasing disposable income of consumers are the key success factors behind the region's tremendous growth over the years.

Pipeline Maintenance Services Market - The global Pipeline Maintenance Services market size is expected to reach close to $34.8 Billion by 2030 with an annualized growth rate of 7.9% through the projected period. With the largest hydrocarbon pipeline infrastructure, the United States has been leading the market for several years. The market is expected to grow further at a healthy rate due to the expansion of oil and gas fields in the country. Thus, North America, accounting for 1.44 billion units in 2020, is expected to lead the pipeline and process services market going forward.

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Market.Us

The pet insurance market is projected to surpass USD 27.8 billion by 2032, and it is poised to reach a CAGR of 11.9% from 2023 to 2032, Owing to Increasing Pet Adoption Worldwide

Pune, March 03, 2023 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- According to Market.us, the global pet insurance market accounted for USD 9.3 billion in 2022 and is projected to reach USD 27.8 billion by 2032, exhibiting a CAGR of 11.9% in the forecast period (2023-2032). Pet protection is a policy that pays in full or partly for the veterinary treatment of an insured individual's injured pet. It helps cut down the cost of expensive vet bills and may cover their passing in the event of misfortune.



Global-Pet-Insurance-Market

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Pet Insurance Market Key Takeaway:

By coverage type , the accident & illness pet insurance segment dominated the market in 2022.

By animal type , the cat segment is anticipated to dominate the market during the forecast period.

By sales channel , the direct sale channel sub-segment dominated the market in 2022.

In 2022, Europe was the dominant market, with a 30% market share.

North America is expected to have the second-largest revenue during the forecast period.

Asia Pacific is expected to have the highest CAGR during the forecast period.

Furthermore, rising costs in veterinary medication and the increasing need to hold onto expensive clinical strategies and medicines have fueled the growth of this market. The increase in pet adoptions worldwide is expected to help market growth significantly during the forecast period.

Factors affecting the growth of the Pet Insurance industry?

Several factors can affect the growth of the Pet Insurance industry. Some of these factors include:

Increasing pet adoption: The increasing pet adoption is immensely helping the market.

Increasing incidences of diseases: The increasing incidences of diseases like zoonotic diseases among pets is a crucial issue that is making people have insurance for their pets.

Rising costs: The rising veterinary care costs are one of the major drivers of the market growth.

Technological advancements: Technological advances make getting and following up on insurance easier, helping the market grow.

Story continues

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Top Trends in Global Pet Insurance Market

Pet insurance is expected to be in high demand in the near future. It covers blood tests, urinalysis, x-rays, lab work, CT scans, ultrasounds, specialty, and emergency care procedures. Pet owners can purchase an extended accident or illness package covering more than just accidental road accidents, poisonings, and other illnesses. Due to the increasing number of cross-breed pets, pet owners spend more on annual checkups. Most pet insurance markets are offering an optional wellness package that provides savings on routine stuff such as an annual physical, heartworm test, fecal tests, and annual parasite evaluation tests. It also includes vaccines, blood work, and other preventive services.

Market Growth

The global pet insurance market will grow due to the increasing awareness of pet insurance plans in emerging economies. A growing number of companies entering the pet insurance market is another factor that will drive corresponding market competition. This has led to significant players offering concessions and profits to maintain a strong market position.

Regional Analysis

Europe has a maximum revenue share of 30% and will continue to lead market growth over the forecast period. The main market drivers are the increasing government efforts to encourage pet approval in European countries. The idea of pet insurance was first developed in Sweden. The UK is the largest user of pet insurance according to the number of animals covered. This is why the UK has seen an increase in startups entering the European market for pet insurance.

The North American market for pet insurance has the second-largest revenue over the forecast period. Profitable growth opportunities are also available because only 1% of pets in the US have insurance. The Asia-Pacific region will experience rapid growth. The reason for high growth is the increasing concern of pet owners about their pets' health. These countries have a large market share due to their health improvement and disposable income. The Middle East and South America regions will see a significant increase in sales due to increased awareness about the many benefits of pet insurance. This will lead to a boost in global market growth.

Competitive Landscape

The market for pet insurance is highly competitive and fragmented. Major companies and key market players participate in various market share initiatives, including new policies, partnerships, collaborations, mergers & acquisitions, strategic initiatives, and regional expansion. As more businesses enter the pet insurance market, it is expected that there will be even more competition. A few examples are, Trupanion and Vetter Software (a provider of technology solutions to the healthcare of animals) entered into a partnership. This partnership included Trupanion's software which allows for payment to the veterinarian at check-out, and Vetter Software's cloud-based platform for veterinary training. Also, AXIS Insurance is a specialty section of AXIS Capital Holdings Limited established through a partnership between Management General Underwriter Petplan. To support its growth, the company established a planned collaboration through Petplan, an innovative company that operates through its Accident and Health division. Private companies and players tend to offer insurance policies with maximum coverage and low premiums.

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Pet Insurance Market: Scope of the Report

Report Attribute Details Market Value (2022) USD 9.3 Billion Market Size (2032) USD 19.15 Billion CAGR (from 2023 to 2032) 11.90% Europe Revenue Share 30% Historic Period 2016 to 2022 Base Year 2022 Forecast Year 2023 to 2032

Market Drivers



According to the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty Animals, a rise in pet adoption is one of the key factors driving product demand and increasing market growth. Increasing pet ownership has led to an increase in the demand for pet insurance policies. This has led to an increase in cat adoptions across developed countries. The increasing permeation between different European countries is an important factor in increasing product demand. The market is also being developed due to the growing prevalence of zoonotic diseases among companion animals.

This market is driven by the growing pet population, rising veterinary care costs initiatives by key companies, and the humanization of pets. Pet insurance is in high demand due to rising vet costs and the increased use of costly medical techniques and pharmaceuticals. In addition, technological advances have helped the pet insurance market grow. Market drivers include increased government efforts to encourage pet adoption and the growth of animal adoption in European countries. The key drivers of the global pet insurance market are increasing pet adoption and the launch of new pet insurance programs. Pet insurance is in high demand due to rising medical costs and the availability of different treatment options.

Another important factor driving the market growth is the increase in the number of companies. Increased competition among players has allowed new pet insurance policies to be introduced. Multiple companies offer multi-insurance policies that allow one pet to be enrolled. To retain customers and expand their market, many other players offer pet insurance companies special offers.

Market Restraints

Nearly all pet owners in developed countries don't know about pet insurance policies. This is due to a lack of knowledge and poor facilities for animal care. The high price of pet care products and the lack of awareness about pet insurance are reasons for the increase in the maximum cost decline of pet insurance sales. High costs, poor customer knowledge, lack of standards, and government regulations hinder market expansion.

Market Opportunities

The global pet insurance market is growing due to increased demand and development. The growth of the market is also positively influenced by the presence of more veterinary centers. The market development will be possible through the implementation of technology in existing products as well as government initiatives regarding pet insurance policies. Market opportunities can be created by pet adoption.

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Report Segmentation of the Pet Insurance Market

Coverage Type Insight

The largest segment of the global pet insurance market is the accident & illness segment. The accident and illness segment is also expected to dominate the pet insurance market during the forecast period. These policies provide flexible coverage for injuries and illnesses, as well as hospitalizations, surgeries, medications, and other issues. The accident and illness pet insurance market may be cost-effective to avoid unexpectedly large bills. The other part is expected to be fundamental due to the expanding enhancement of pets and improvements in pet strategies that include new types of pets, such as turtles, which are expected to provide ample opportunities for development.

The market growth for the accident insurance segment is expected to be positive. Animals over 15 are not covered for full accident or illness coverage. The accident-only policy is available to pets over 15 years of age. Segment growth will be accelerated by increasing safety and health concerns among their owners.

Animal Type Insight

Due to the increasing acceptance of cats in many countries, the cat segment is expected to hold the largest market share over the forecast period. According to The American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (ASPCA), more than a million cats are currently owned in the US. Segmental growth will be influenced by increasing cat adoption in both developed and developing countries. The market's dominant animal, the dog, accounts for the highest revenue share over the forecast period. The growing acceptance of dogs as pets across many regions around the world is responsible for the increase in growth. Pet insurance is more popular among dog owners. According to Japan Food Association, Japan is home to millions of dogs. Insurance policies for dogs can be offered by companies that cover a wide variety of breeds. The forecast period predicts an increase in the rate.

A supportive approval of pet insurance is also possible due to the increasing number of animal disorders insurance. The above factors will likely boost the growth of the dog segment during the forecast period. Most pet insurance companies offer both accident and illness policies. In addition, there is a rise in demand for veterinary healthcare services due to the increase in companies.

Sales Channel Insight

The direct sales segment is the sub-segment that will generate the most revenue in the global market over the forecast period. This is due to the high-sales strategy of major pet insurance companies.

For more insights on the historical and Forecast market data from 2016 to 2032 - download a pet insurance market sample report at https://market.us/report/pet-insurance-market/request-sample/

Pet Insurance Market: Market Segmentation

By Coverage Type

Accident Only

Accident & Illness

Others

By Animal Type

Dogs

Cats

Others

By Sales Channel

Broker

Direct

Agency

Bancassurance

By Provider

Public

Private

By Geography

North America The US Canada Mexico



Western Europe Germany France The UK Spain Italy Portugal Ireland Austria Switzerland Benelux Nordic Rest of Western Europe

Eastern Europe Russia Poland The Czech Republic Greece Rest of Eastern Europe

APAC China Japan South Korea India Australia & New Zealand Indonesia Malaysia Philippines Singapore Thailand Vietnam Rest of APAC

Latin America Brazil Colombia Chile Argentina Costa Rica Rest of Latin America

Middle East & Africa Algeria Egypt Israel Kuwait Nigeria Saudi Arabia South Africa Turkey United Arab Emirates Rest of MEA



Key Market Players

Trupanion, Inc.

Nationwide Mutual Insurance Company

Healthy Paws Pet Insurance, LLC

Embrace Pet Insurance Agency, LLC

Anicom Holdings

Figo Pet Insurance LLC.

Agria Pet Insurance Ltd.

24PetWatch

Pets Best Insurance Services, LLC

Pet Plan Insurance

MetLife Services and Solutions LLC

Petfirst Healthcare LLC

Ipet Insurance Co, Ltd.

Hartville Group

Animals Friends Insurance Services Limited

Progressive Casualty Insurance Company

Other Key players

Recent Development of the Pet Insurance Market

June 2021 -Trupanion announced the plan to increase its overseas growth by transferring Wheeler, Agria Pet Insurance, Ltd. Wheeler is expected to help Trupanion grow through new markets in the UK, Brazil, Japan, and Western Europe.

March 2021 -Waffle, Crum Foster Pet Insurance Group created a corporation with ASPCA Pet Health Insurance to offer pet owners customized and high exposure in the US.

Browse More Related Reports:

Pet Wearable Market : is expected to be worth around USD 14.54 Billion by 2032 from USD 2.9 billion in 2022, growing at a CAGR of 17.9% during the forecast period from 2023 to 2032.

Pet Kennels Market : is set to grow at a CAGR of 6.2% over the forecast period, The market is estimated at USD 1630 Million in 2023

Recycled PET Chips Market : isvalued USD 10.7 Bn and is expected to be reach USD 17 Bn in 2032, with a CAGR 5.1% from 2022 to 2032.

Super Absorbent Pet Pad Market: is expected to grow at a CAGR of 6% over the next ten years and will reach USD 5.57 Mn in 2032.

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Fortune Business Insights

Pharmacy Automation Devices Market Size, Share and Analysis By Product (Automated Dispensing Cabinets, Dispensing Robots, Pill Counting, Packaging & Labeling Systems, and Others), By End-user (Retail Pharmacies & Drug Store, and Hospital Pharmacy), and Regional Forecast, 2023-2030

Pune, India, March 03, 2023 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- The Pharmacy automation devices are used for reducing the risk of the errors, and improve the workflow across the retail and hospital pharmacies. The increase in medication errors is one of the factors, driving the growth of the market. According to a study by published by John Hopkins, in February 2018, around 250,000 deaths occurred in the U.S. owing to medical errors. Moreover, with the increase in the geriatric population, there has been increasing incidence of chronic and life-threatening diseases, and the increasing dispensation of medications.

For instance, according to the article published by the Economic analysis of the prevalence and clinical and economic burden of medication error in England in June 2021, around 237 million medication errors occurred in England annually, leading to adverse drug reactions (ADRs) and caused hundreds of deaths. Thus, to prevent medication errors, several hospitals, and pharmacies are focusing on adopting new and advanced pharmacy automation devices to reduce operating costs, and improve patient safety.

This information is given by Fortune Business Insights in an upcoming report, titled, Pharmacy Automation Devices Market 2023-2030.





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Industry Developments-

In March 2022, the Walgreens Boots Alliance opened robot-powered micro-fulfillment centers across several states of the U.S. to dispense medicines. This is expected to change the role of pharmacists.

In February 2022, Capsa Healthcare acquired Humanscale Healthcare. The acquisition helped the company in expanding its offering for pharmacy-automated devices.

Story continues

In 2021, Omnicell, Inc. acquired ReCept Holdings, Inc., along with its specialty pharmacy management services for health systems, provider groups, and federally qualified health centers (FQHCs), to expand its Advanced Services portfolio.

In 2021, Swisslog Healthcare entered into an innovation agreement with Centre Hospitalier - Le Mans to synergize their expertise in the pharmacy field through the automated packaging, and dispensing system, TheraPick.

The report covers the following key insights:

New Product launches  For Pharmacy Automation Devices.

Technological Advancement in Pharmacy Automation Devices.

Impact of COVID-19 on Pharmacy Automation Devices.





To get to know more about the short-term and long-term impact of COVID-19 on this market, please visit:

https://www.fortunebusinessinsights.com/pharmacy-automation-devices-market-106938





The report consists of the profiles of key players, which include several players, including :

BD

Baxter

Omnicell Inc

Parata Systems LLC

KUKA AG

ScriptPro LLC

TOUCHPOINT MEDICAL INC.

The pharmacy automation devices market is driven by several factors, including:

Growing need to reduce medication errors: Pharmacy automation devices help in reducing medication errors by automating various processes such as prescription filling, dispensing, and inventory management. As medication errors can lead to serious consequences such as patient harm, hospital readmissions, and increased healthcare costs, the demand for pharmacy automation devices is increasing.

Increasing demand for advanced healthcare facilities: The increasing demand for advanced healthcare facilities is driving the adoption of pharmacy automation devices. These devices help in improving the efficiency of healthcare operations, reducing costs, and enhancing patient care.

Rising adoption of electronic health records (EHRs): Pharmacy automation devices are often integrated with electronic health records (EHRs), which enable real-time tracking of patient health information. This integration can help in reducing medication errors, improving patient outcomes, and increasing efficiency in healthcare operations.

Technological advancements in pharmacy automation devices: The introduction of new and advanced pharmacy automation devices such as automated medication dispensing systems, robotic prescription filling systems, and automated inventory management systems are driving the market growth. These devices offer several benefits such as improved accuracy, enhanced patient safety, and increased efficiency.

Increasing pressure to reduce healthcare costs: The increasing pressure to reduce healthcare costs is driving the adoption of pharmacy automation devices. These devices help in reducing the need for manual labor, streamlining workflow, and reducing errors, which can lead to cost savings for healthcare providers.

Overall, the pharmacy automation devices market is driven by the need to improve patient safety, increase efficiency, and reduce healthcare costs, which is leading to the adoption of advanced automation solutions in the healthcare industry.





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Pharmacy automation devices Market Segmentation :

By Product

Automated Dispensing Cabinets

Dispensing Robots

Pill Counting

Packaging and Labeling System

Others

By End-user

Retail Pharmacy and Drug Store

Hospital Pharmacy

By Geography

North America (U.S. and Canada)

Europe (U.K., Germany, France, Italy, Spain, the Rest of Europe)

Asia Pacific (China, Japan, India, Australia, Southeast Asia, and the Rest of Asia Pacific)

Middle East & Africa (GCC, South Africa, and the Rest of Middle East and Africa)

Latin America (Brazil, Mexico and the Rest of LATAM)

The global pharmacy automation devices market can be analyzed regionally based on several factors such as market size, growth rate, and demand. The following is a regional analysis of the pharmacy automation devices market:

North America: The pharmacy automation devices market in North America is expected to grow significantly due to the rising demand for automation in the healthcare industry, increasing adoption of electronic health records (EHRs), and the need for reducing medication errors. The US and Canada are the major countries contributing to the growth of this market in this region.

Europe: Europe is also a significant market for pharmacy automation devices. The market is primarily driven by the increasing adoption of automation in the healthcare industry, rising demand for advanced healthcare facilities, and the need for improving patient safety. The UK, Germany, and France are the major countries contributing to the growth of this market in this region.

Asia-Pacific: The pharmacy automation devices market in the Asia-Pacific region is expected to witness significant growth due to the rising awareness about the benefits of automation in the healthcare industry, increasing investments in healthcare infrastructure, and the need for reducing medication errors. China, Japan, and India are the major countries contributing to the growth of this market in this region.

Latin America: The pharmacy automation devices market in Latin America is expected to witness moderate growth due to the increasing demand for advanced healthcare facilities and the need for reducing medication errors. Brazil and Mexico are the major countries contributing to the growth of this market in this region.

Middle East & Africa: The pharmacy automation devices market in the Middle East & Africa region is expected to witness significant growth due to the increasing investments in healthcare infrastructure, rising demand for advanced healthcare facilities, and the need for reducing medication errors. Saudi Arabia, UAE, and South Africa are the major countries contributing to the growth of this market in this region.

In summary, the pharmacy automation devices market is expected to witness significant growth in all regions, driven by the increasing adoption of automation in the healthcare industry, rising demand for advanced healthcare facilities, and the need for improving patient safety.





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Table Of Contents :

Introduction Research Scope Market Segmentation Research Methodology Definitions and Assumptions

Executive Summary

Market Dynamics Market Drivers Market Restraints Market Opportunities

Key Insights Global Statistics  Key Countries New Product Launches Pipeline Analysis Regulatory Scenario  Key Countries Recent Industry Developments  Partnerships, Mergers and Acquisitions

Global Analysis, Insights and Forecast Key Findings/ Summary Market Analysis  By Product Type Market Analysis  By Distribution Channel Market Analysis  By Countries/Sub-regions

Competitive Analysis Key Industry Developments Global Market Share Analysis Competition Dashboard Comparative Analysis  Major Players

Company Profiles Overview Products and Services SWOT Analysis Recent developments Major Investments Regional Market Size and Demand

Strategic Recommendations

TOC Continued!





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Pancreatic Cancer Treatment Market Size, Share, Growth 2029





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LISBON, Portugal, March 3, 2023 /CNW/ -- PORTUGAL CERAMICS, a brand created to promote Portuguese ceramics, will be attending "The Inspired Home Show" in Chicago from 4-7 March. Bordallo Pinheiro, Byfly, Ceramirupe, Costa Nova, Jomaze, Loucicentro, Matceramica, Mesa Ceramics, Nosse Ceramics, Porcel, Proceramica and Vista Alegre are the companies that will be representing Portuguese ceramics at the event, presenting pieces inspired by PORTUGAL CERAMICS' motto: "The Art of Possibility".

PORTUGAL CERAMICS attends The Inspired Home Show"

With a contemporary and minimalist stand, with white as the chosen background to highlight the ceramic pieces, PORTUGAL CERAMICS will be exhibiting the very best Portugal has to offer in the "Tabletop, Kitchen Essentials & Home Decor" area, through a collection of innovative and authentic Portuguese decorative and tableware ceramic pieces, showcasing the positioning of Portuguese ceramics - The Art of Possibility - which in turn reveals its true essence, i.e., the distinctive and unique ability of Portuguese companies to positively address customer challenges, even those that seem impossible. The Art of Possibility manifests itself in the ability to deliver the exceptional each and every day.

The space will also be supported by graphic, audiovisual and multimedia materials, including a promotional video conveying the positioning and value proposition of PORTUGAL CERAMICS.

Note that the brand PORTUGAL CERAMICS was recently distinguished in the German Design Awards with an honorable mention in the category of 'Excellent Communication'. After "The Inspired Home Show", the brand will be attending a number of trade fairs in Europe to continue promoting Portuguese ceramics. More information about PORTUGAL CERAMICS is available at www.portugal-ceramics.com.

PORTUGAL CERAMICS PRESS KIT HERE

PORTUGAL CERAMICS IN THE SOCIAL MEDIA

Instagram: @portugalceramics

Facebook: @portugal.ceramics.official

Pinterest: @portugalceramicsofficial

Linkedin: @company/portugal-ceramics-official/

Youtube: @portugalceramics8812

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Photo - https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/2015511/Portugal_Ceramics_IHShow.jpg

Logo - https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/2015512/PORTUGAL_CERAMICS_logo.jpg

PORTUGAL CERAMICS logo

Cision

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SOURCE Apicer

Cision

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New Pray for Ukraine Song and Video

Star of Hope provides essential aid to Ukrainian refugees







NEWS PROVIDED BY

Star of Hope

March 3, 2023



KANSAS, USA, March 3, 2023 /Standard Newswire/ -- Almost forty years ago, in 1986, a nuclear power plant located in north Ukraine was involved in an accident that was rated as a maximum severity level. The disaster, which resulted in the meltdown of a reactor core followed by a fire that raged for about a week, released radioactive contaminants into the air to land in other countries as well as the surrounding community. Since then, Ukraine has faced numerous challenges, including a recent military invasion by Russia, forcing thousands of refugees to flee to neighboring countries. Among those offering aid is Star of Hope, a Kansas-based international organization with a focus on children.



Star of Hope has been working in Ukraine since the Chernobyl disaster, providing assistance to affected children and their families. They started sending shipments to the hospitals treating these children, and camps were developed to help the affected children become part of the world around them. Specialized facilities were also developed, especially in Romania, for helping children with disabilities.



Through years of experience in Romania, Star of Hope has developed processes and methods of effective help for those who are struggling during this time of uncertainty. A five-point program has been developed to provide essential aid to Ukrainian refugees, which has included emergency shipments of trucks to the heart of Ukraine with a priority of including small wood-burning stoves to help during the winter, turning Romanian children's centers into shelters, emergency transportation and support of refugees to the Star of Hope retreat in Sweden, medicine for those children who have lost their thyroid gland due to cancer, and caring for the Ukrainian refugees. Mark Presson, CEO says "every day since the start our staff has been at the border offering assistance." One worker on the borders front line says, "The help you give your fellow human beings can leave shimmering rings on the water decades later."



To help fund their efforts, two prominent European musicians have recorded a song titled "Pray for Ukraine." The proceeds from the song's release on February 24, the anniversary of the Russian invasion, will go towards Star of Hope's work in Ukraine.



See or hear here:

https://www.starofhope.us/pray-for-ukraine-song-and-video



Link to the music video:

https://youtu.be/NeMwBM9PBm8



Link to the sound file:

https://on.soundcloud.com/YS3jq



Star of Hope is asking for support at the borders, feeding the refugees, fuel for the transportation of goods and people, medicines, and support for traumatized families from Ukraine. They urge everyone to spread the word of the need and visit their website, www.starofhope.us, to donate or learn more.



SOURCE Star of Hope



CONTACT: Mark Presson, 620-204-1865, info@starofhope.us



Related Links



www.starofhope.us


VANCOUVER, BC / ACCESSWIRE / March 3, 2023 / The Power Play by The Market Herald has announced the release of new interviews with Else Nutrition, Pelangio Exploration, Silver Bullet Mines and Avrupa Minerals discussing their latest news.

The Power Play by The Market Herald provides investors with a quick snapshot of what they need to know about the company's latest press release through exclusive insights and interviews with company executives.

Else Nutrition (TSX:BABY) triples production capacity

The Market Herald, Friday, March 3, 2023, Press release picture

Else Nutrition (BABY) has more than tripled its production capacity in line with increasing demand. The company reached the milestone by adding a second U.S. powder production facility, while initial commercial European production is slated for later this month. Hamutal Yitzhak, Else's CEO and Co-Founder, sat down with Sabrina Phillips to discuss the news.

For the full interview with Hamutal Yitzhak and to learn about Else Nutrition, click here.

Pelangio Exploration (TSXV:PX) to commence a 1,000 metre drill program at Manfo

The Market Herald, Friday, March 3, 2023, Press release picture

Pelangio Exploration (PX) will begin a 1,000-metre diamond drill program on its Manfo Project in Ghana. Starting this month, the program follows the drilling conducted at Pokukrom West in late 2021 and is the latest phase in a larger planned diamond drilling program of 3,700+ metres. Ingrid Hibbard, President & CEO, sat down with Sabrina Phillips to discuss the program.

For the full interview with Ingrid Hibbard and to learn about Pelangio Exploration, click here.

Silver Bullet Mines (TSXV:SBMI) encounters further silver mineralization and returns to processing material at its mill

The Market Herald, Friday, March 3, 2023, Press release picture

Silver Bullet Mines Corp. (SBMI) is again processing mineralized material at its 125 TPD pilot plant. The Company has one outstanding order for 50 kilograms of silver, including credits for any contained copper or gold. Peter Clausi, VP Capital Markets at Silver Bullet, spoke with Sabrina Phillips about this news.

For the full interview with Peter Clausi and to learn about Silver Bullet Mines, click here.

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Avrupa Minerals (TSXV:AVU) partners with Western Tethyan Resources to advance Slivova Gold Project

The Market Herald, Friday, March 3, 2023, Press release picture

Avrupa Minerals' (AVU) partner, Western Tethyan Resources (WTR), has completed its detailed due diligence study of the Slivova Gold Project. WTR found that the project has the potential for low initial capex, moderate operating costs, and attractive NPV and IRR in the current estimated mine life. Avrupa Minerals CEO and Director Paul Kuhn sat down with Sabrina Phillips to discuss the news.

For the full interview with Paul Kuhn and to learn about Avrupa Minerals, click here.

Interviews for The Power Play by The Market Herald are released daily. To learn more about the companies featured in The Power Play or to explore our other interviews visit The Power Play by The Market Herald.

About The Market Herald

The Market Herald Canada is the leading source of authoritative breaking stock market news for self-directed investors. Our team of Canadian markets reporters, editors and technologists covers the entire listed company universe in Canada. We cover over 3,985 businesses, their people, their investors, and their customers. We write the stories that move the Canadian capital markets.

DISCLAIMER: Report Card Canada Media Ltd. ("Report Card") is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Market Herald Limited, an Australian company ("Market Herald"). Report Card is not an advisory service, and does not offer, buy, sell, or provide any other rating, analysis or opinion on the securities we discuss. We are retained and compensated by the companies that we provide information on to assist them with making information available to the public. All information available on themarketherald.ca and/or this press release should be considered as commercial advertisement and not an endorsement, offer or recommendation to buy or sell securities. Report Card is not registered with any financial or securities regulatory authority in any province or territory of Canada, will not be performing any registerable activity as defined by the applicable regulatory bodies and do not provide nor claim to provide investment advice or recommendations to any visitor of this site or readers of any content on or originating from themarketherald.ca. Market Herald and/or its affiliates and/or their respective officers, directors or employees may from time to time acquire, hold or sell securities and/or commodities and/or commodity futures contracts in certain underlying companies mentioned in this site and which may also be clients of Market Herald's affiliates. In such instances, Market Herald and/or its affiliates and/or their respective officers, directors or employees will use all reasonable efforts to avoid engaging in activities that would lead to conflicts of interest and Market Herald and/or its affiliates will use all reasonable efforts to comply with conflicts of interest disclosures and regulations to minimize any conflict. All the information on this document and/or the website - themarketherald.ca - is published in good faith and for general information purpose only. Report Card does not make any warranties about the completeness, reliability, and accuracy of this information. Any action you take upon the information you find on this document and/or website (themarketherald.ca) is strictly at your own risk. Report Card will not be liable for any losses and/or damages in connection with the use of our website. From our website, you can visit other websites by following hyperlinks to such external sites. While we strive to provide only quality links to useful and ethical websites, we have no control over the content and nature of these sites. These links to other websites do not imply a recommendation for all the content found on these sites. Site owners and content may change without notice and may occur before we have the opportunity to remove a link which may have gone 'bad'. Please be also aware that when you leave our website, other sites may have different privacy policies and terms which are beyond our control. Please be sure to check the Privacy Policies of these sites as well as their "Terms of Service" before engaging in any business or uploading any information.

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AstuteAnalytica India Pvt. Ltd.

Predictive maintenance utilizes advanced technologies such as machine learning, artificial intelligence, and the internet of things (IoT) to predict and prevent equipment failures. Its growing popularity across various industries is due to its potential to save time and costs associated with unplanned downtime, reduce maintenance expenses, increase productivity, and improve safety.

New Delhi, March 03, 2023 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- The global predictive maintenance market was valued at US$ 5,934.2 million in 2022 and is expected to reach US$ 60,368.8 million by 2031, growing at a CAGR of 29.4%. The increasing adoption of Industry 4.0 and the digitalization of manufacturing processes are driving the demand for predictive maintenance solutions, making it a critical component of businesses' strategies.

Get Free sample copy of this report @ https://www.astuteanalytica.com/request-sample/predictive-maintenance-market

The market is highly competitive, with major players such as IBM, SAP, and Microsoft dominating the market, but emerging players such as Uptake, Fluke Corporation, and Senseye are offering innovative predictive maintenance solutions. The expected growth in demand for predictive maintenance solutions creates significant opportunities for both established and emerging players in the market.

To Seize Growth Opportunities, Service Providers in predictive maintenance market Must Forge Long-Term Strategies and Partnerships, Finds Astute Analytica Study

Astute Analyticas analysis of the predictive maintenance (PdM) market highlights the installation base of IoT enabled devices is projected to increase substantially by 2025, creating an opportunity of USD 18.65 billion in IT Services for IoT. This will drive the adoption of PdM solutions in industries such as oil and gas where vendors like Siemens, General Electric, ABB, and Honeywell provide critical equipment together with predictive maintenance services. To capitalize on the growth opportunities, technology and service providers must develop long-term strategies and partnerships to ensure sustainable revenue.

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They should focus on building partnerships with data owners to get access to the required data, developing platforms that can integrate with other third-party applications and open APIs, and investing in custom data analytics solutions that can leverage the data collected for predictive maintenance.

Furthermore, vendors in the predictive maintenance market should also look into the potential of leveraging artificial intelligence and machine learning capabilities to further enhance the accuracy, reliability and scalability of their predictive maintenance solutions. In addition, they must pay special attention to addressing the security challenges associated with the collection and storage of data generated from IoT devices. Ultimately, Gartners analysis emphasizes the importance of predictive maintenance solutions for companies to remain competitive in todays market and recommends that technology and service providers develop strategies and partnerships that are tailored to the specific needs of their customers.

Predictive Maintenance 2.0: Exploring the Latest Trends Revolutionizing Equipment Maintenance Market

Adoption of Artificial Intelligence (AI): Predictive maintenance systems that incorporate AI, Machine Learning (ML), and other advanced analytics are becoming more popular. AI-powered predictive maintenance systems can analyze large amounts of data, identify patterns and anomalies, and make accurate predictions about equipment failure.

Edge Computing: Edge computing involves processing data at the device or sensor level instead of sending all the data to a central server for analysis. This allows for faster analysis and response times, which is particularly important in predictive maintenance.

Predictive Analytics Software: Predictive analytics software is becoming more sophisticated and easier to use. This makes it easier for maintenance teams to analyze data, identify patterns, and make predictions about equipment maintenance needs in the global predictive maintenance market.

Predictive Maintenance-as-a-Service (PMaaS): Many companies are now offering predictive maintenance as a service, where third-party vendors handle the data analysis and maintenance planning for customers. This can be particularly beneficial for smaller companies that don't have the resources to develop their own predictive maintenance systems.

Integration with Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) systems: Predictive maintenance systems are increasingly being integrated with ERP systems. This allows for a more streamlined approach to maintenance planning and scheduling, as well as more accurate budget forecasting.

Augmented Reality (AR): AR technology can be used to provide maintenance technicians with real-time data about equipment performance, as well as instructions for repairs and maintenance tasks. This can improve efficiency and reduce downtime.

Browse summary of the report and Complete Table of Contents (ToC): https://www.astuteanalytica.com/industry-report/predictive-maintenance-market

Rapid Adoption of AI-Based Predictive Maintenance Systems Across Industrial Sectors: Astute Analytica's Projections and Findings

Out study indicates that there is a rapid increase in the adoption of AI-based condition monitoring and fault detection systems in industrial organizations. The research suggests that this adoption rate will increase from less than 1% in 2018 to 25% by 2023. Moreover, the report on the global predictive maintenance market highlights that by 2024, 30% of new commercial aircraft will have embedded health monitoring systems that leverage AI-based predictive analytics for real-time troubleshooting and maintenance alerts. Furthermore, the study suggests that 60% of electric utilities will be using big data and AI offerings for predictive maintenance across their distribution networks by 2023, which is a significant increase from 5% in 2019. Finally, the report predicts that by 2031, 70% of process manufacturers will be using advanced process control solutions that include machine learning capabilities for predictive maintenance purposes, up from 10% in 2020.

Vibration Monitoring to Hold More than 22% Revenue Share of Global Predictive Maintenance Market

The report also highlights that the increasing adoption of Industry 4.0 and the Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT) is a major factor driving the demand for predictive maintenance solutions. Wherein, vibration monitoring systems are the most commonly used predictive maintenance solutions, accounting for over 22% of the market share. This is due to the fact that vibration monitoring can detect a range of equipment issues such as misalignment, unbalance, bearing defects, and gear damage.

Moreover, it has been found that most of the end users are making use of predictive maintenance systems to alert maintenance teams to take appropriate action, optimizing maintenance schedules and improving equipment performance. These findings suggest that the use of predictive maintenance systems that monitor vibrations is becoming increasingly popular among end users who aim to enhance equipment reliability and efficiency.

IBM Leads the Global Predictive Maintenance Market with More than 13% Revenue Share

IBM is a leading player in the global predictive maintenance market due to its expertise in advanced analytics, artificial intelligence, and the Internet of Things (IoT). With over a century of experience in the technology industry, IBM has a deep understanding of advanced analytics and data science. It has invested heavily in developing predictive maintenance solutions that can help organizations reduce downtime and improve equipment reliability.

IBM recently acquired Envizi, a leading data and analytics software provider, in February of 2022. Envizi specializes in predictive maintenance, analytics, and machine learning, and provides solutions for enterprise asset management, asset optimization, and asset performance management. This acquisition is part of IBM's broader strategy to expand its presence in artificial intelligence and analytics, and further its leadership position in the predictive maintenance market.

Some of the Top Market Players Are:

Fujitsu Limited

Hitachi, Ltd.

Toshiba Corporation

Mitsubishi Electric Corporation

Google Llc

IBM Corporation

Microsoft Corporation

Oracle Corporation

SAP Se

Software Ag

Onyx Insight

Amazon Web Services, Inc.

SAS Institute

Hakunamatata Solutions

Other Prominent Players

Directly Purchase a copy of report with TOC @ https://www.astuteanalytica.com/inquire-before-purchase/predictive-maintenance-market

About Astute Analytica

Astute Analytica is a global analytics and advisory company which has built a solid reputation in a short period, thanks to the tangible outcomes we have delivered to our clients. We pride ourselves in generating unparalleled, in depth and uncannily accurate estimates and projections for our very demanding clients spread across different verticals. We have a long list of satisfied and repeat clients from a wide spectrum including technology, healthcare, chemicals, semiconductors, FMCG, and many more. These happy customers come to us from all across the Globe. They are able to make well calibrated decisions and leverage highly lucrative opportunities while surmounting the fierce challenges all because we analyze for them the complex business environment, segment wise existing and emerging possibilities, technology formations, growth estimates, and even the strategic choices available. In short, a complete package. All this is possible because we have a highly qualified, competent, and experienced team of professionals comprising of business analysts, economists, consultants, and technology experts. In our list of priorities, you-our patron-come at the top. You can be sure of best cost-effective, value-added package from us, should you decide to engage with us.

Contact us:

Aamir Beg

BSI Business Park, H-15,Sector-63, Noida- 201301- India

Phone: +1-888 429 6757 (US Toll Free); +91-0120- 4483891 (Rest of the World)

Email: sales@astuteanalytica.com

Website: www.astuteanalytica.com

CONTACT: Contact us: Aamir Beg BSI Business Park, H-15,Sector-63, Noida- 201301- India Phone: +1-888 429 6757 (US Toll Free); +91-0120- 4483891 (Rest of the World) Email: sales@astuteanalytica.com Website: www.astuteanalytica.com




PITTSBURGH, March 3, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Rally House takes great pride in being Pittsburgh's go-to sports and merchandise retailer, which is why the company is excited to open yet another storefront in this market. Rally House North Hills Village is located off McKnight Road, just north of downtown. Here, shoppers will find friendly associates, one-of-a-kind local apparel, and stylish gear for many well-known pro and college teams.

Rally House is a specialty sports boutique that offers a large selection of apparel, gifts and home decor representing local NCAA, NFL, MLB, NBA, NHL and MLS teams. We also carry local novelties and regional-inspired apparel, gifts and food. With locations in the Midwest, South and Northeast, we bring stylish sports apparel and unique team gifts to cities where fans live, work and cheer. (PRNewsfoto/Rally House)

Fans throughout Pittsburgh rely on Rally House for team gear and local merch, and the company is happy to build upon this strong connection with the city by adding a new storefront. "Our Rally House North Hills Village staff is eager to work with Pittsburgh fans," explains District Manager Sarah Hyde. "This city is always showcasing its team spirit and hometown pride, and our store has all the apparel, accessories, and gifts to put that passion on display."

Customers who shop at Rally House North Hills Village will find various respected brand names, like Mitchell & Ness, New Era, Nike, and Adidas. Additionally, the store carries gear for a wide variety of professional and college organizations. Some popular teams include the Pittsburgh Steelers, Penguins, Pirates, Pitt Panthers, Penn State Nittany Lions, and more.

Pittsburgh is home to many famous teams and numerous iconic brands, businesses, and attractions. Thankfully, Rally House North Hills Village offers an incredible selection of local apparel and gifts inspired by this unique city. Patrons can browse merchandise for area favorites like Pittsburgh Brewing, Primanti Bros, Pittsburgh Pickle, and others.

Rally House North Hills Village strives to provide a top-tier customer experience during every visit. Still, fans can explore a vast inventory of apparel and accessories online at www.rallyhouse.com, which can ship to any of the 50 states.

Customers can stay up to speed on the latest store news by visiting the Rally House North Hills Village Store Page or following the store on Facebook (@RallyHouseNorthHills) and Instagram (@rallyhousenorthhills).

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About Rally House

Rally House and Sampler Stores Inc. is a family-owned specialty boutique that offers a large selection of apparel, hats, gifts and home decor representing local NCAA, NFL, MLB, NBA, NHL, and MLS teams in addition to locally inspired apparel, gifts and food. Proudly based in Lenexa, Kansas, Rally House operates 140+ locations across 14 states.

CONTACT:

Sarah Hyde, District Manager

media@rallyhouse.com

Cision

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SOURCE Rally House
A.I.S. Resources Limited

VANCOUVER, British Columbia, March 03, 2023 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- A.I.S. Resources Limited (TSX.V: AIS, OTCQB: AISSF) (the Company or AIS) congratulates Recharge Resources (Recharge, CSE: RR) on signing an option agreement with Spey Resources Corp. (Spey) whereby Recharge may acquire up to a 100% undivided interest in the Pocitos 2 Project.



AIS retains a 7.5% royalty of the FOB price of lithium carbonate or other lithium compounds sold on Pocitos 1 & 2 pursuant to AIS' underlying Option Agreement with Spey Resources. If the Pocitos 1 and 2 options are exercised AIS will receive $1,000,000 and $732,000 respectively on or before June 30, 2023. Both Pocitos 1 and 2 have been optioned by Recharge from Spey.

Martyn Element CEO, stated, I congratulate Recharge on successfully acquiring the Pocitos 2 Option and increasing the size of its potential resource. AIS looks forward to continuing to facilitate exploration work with Recharge as it proceeds with its 2023 Pocitos drilling program. This is another great result for AIS in Argentina.

About Pocitos 1 & 2

Pocitos 1 and Pocitos 2 are 800 hectares and 532 hectares contiguous lithium brine projects on the Pocitos Salar located just outside of Salta, Argentina.

Previous surface sampling, trenching and VTEM Geophysics carried out in 2018 suggest the continuity of the targeted lithium brine aquifer continuing from the Pocitos 1 block through the Pocitos 2 block with Pit 10 from trenching on the Pocitos 2 block having the highest trench sample at 181 PPM lithium, the highest lithium value found on the Pocitos salar to date.

Drilling from the Recharges 2022 drill campaign at Pocitos 1 assayed 169 PPM and over a two-week period averaging 161 PPM Lithium. The 2022 well exceeded Recharges technical teams expectations and that of the measured lithium content of the 2018 discovery wells. Pocitos 2 is permitted to drill two additional wells immediately at Recharges go ahead (see Recharges news release dated February 27, 2023).

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About A.I.S. Resources Limited

A.I.S. Resources Limited is a publicly traded investment issuer listed on the TSX Venture Exchange focused on lithium, gold, precious and base metals exploration. AIS value add strategy is to acquire prospective exploration projects and enhance their value by better defining the mineral resource with a view to attracting joint venture partners and enhancing the value of our portfolio. The Company is managed by a team of experienced geologists and investment bankers, with a track-record of successful capital markets achievements.

AIS has a 20% joint venture interest with Spey Resources Corp. in the Incahuasi lithium brine project in Argentina. AIS has further options to acquire four lithium concessions in the Pocitos Salar and one lithium concession in the Cauchari Salar in Argentina. AIS has granted the option to acquire the Pocitos 1 and 2 licences to Spey Resources by June 30, 2023 (subsequently optioned by Spey to Recharge). If exercised AIS will retain a 7.5% royalty. AIS has granted an option to acquire an 80% interest in the Pocitos 7 and 9 licences to C29 Resources by June 30, 2023. AIS owns 100% of the 28 sq km Fosterville-Toolleen Gold Project located 9.9 km from Kirkland Lakes Fosterville gold mine, a 60% interest in the 57 sq km Bright Gold Project (with the right to acquire 100%), a 40% interest in the 58 sq km New South Wales Yalgogrin Gold Project, and 100% interest in the 167 sq km Kingston Gold Project in Victoria Australia near Stawell and Navarre.

On Behalf of the Board of Directors,

A.I.S. Resources Limited

Martyn Element

President, CEO, Chairman

Corporate Contact

For further information, please contact:

Martyn Element. Chairman

T: +1-604-220-6266

E:melement@aisresources.com

Website:www.aisresources.com

Neither the TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.

ADVISORY: This press release contains forward-looking statements. Although the Company believes that the expectations reflected in these forward-looking statements are reasonable, undue reliance should not be placed on them because the Company can give no assurance that they will prove to be correct. Since forward-looking statements address future events and conditions, by their very nature they involve inherent risks and uncertainties. The forward-looking statements contained in this press release are made as of the date hereof and the Company undertakes no obligations to update publicly or revise any forward-looking statements or information, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, unless so required by applicable securities laws. Neither TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.




VANCOUVER, BC / ACCESSWIRE / March 3, 2023 / Sassy Gold Corp. ("Sassy" or the "Company") (CSE:SASY)(FSE:4E7)(OTCQB:SSYRF) continues to expand the 4Amigos Vein along strike and to depth and has drilled into a new high-grade vein parallel to 4Amigos at the Company's Westmore Gold Discovery, part of its 100%-owned Foremore Project in Northwest British Columbia's prolific Eskay Camp, 45 km northeast of the Eskay Creek mine.

Drilling Highlights:

Eighteen of 19 drill holes in the 2022 program, totaling 3,740 meters (m), intersected mineralization at Westmore, the highest percentage of "hits" since Westmore drilling began in 2020;

Drill hole WM22-033 resulted in the discovery of a new vein 20 m north of 4Amigos, highlighted by 74.6 g/t Au over 0.35 m starting just 27.65 m downhole with numerous flecks of VG (visible gold) noted;

Sassy now has 19 drill hole pierce points into the 4Amigos Vein. A higher-grade section of the vein >150 meters in strike, and approximately 90 meters below surface, has grades that range from 1.1 g/t Au over 0.60 m to 86.4 g/t over 0.70 m;

Drilling successfully intersected the quartz stockworks system that defines the south cliff of Westmore with intercepts up to 11.55 g/t Au over 0.59 m within this structure. The Company has also developed a new vein corridor, the South Cliff vein corridor;

One of the last drill holes of the 2022 campaign (WM22-035) cut three separate mineralized intervals, including two at depth with grades as high as 5.82 g/t Au in quartz veining, to confirm that gold mineralization occurs at the Westmore intrusive over ~470 m in the vertical dimension;

Gold occurring in quartz veins, in granodiorite at depth, suggests the Westmore intrusive continues south of the southern cliff exposure and possibly deep under the More Creek Glacier to the south and east.

Mr. Mark Scott, Sassy President and CEO, commented: "The Westmore discovery is in its early stages and continues to impress our geological team. Extensive surface mineralization has now been traced to a depth of nearly 500 meters in drill core after a successful program in 2022, with over two dozen veins now identified, yet the source of this mineralization remains unknown."

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Mark Scott concluded: "As our understanding of this Eskay Camp system evolves through continued drilling, we would expect to see wider intercepts and high grades typical of other deposits in this prolific district. Just a few years ago, Westmore was an unknown target without a single drill hole into it. The systematic process we have followed over three short Eskay field seasons is how important discoveries are made in this region."

Westmore Discovery Highlights:

Sassy has now drilled 36 holes or 7,908 meters at Westmore and continues to better define the high-grade mineralization associated with numerous quartz veins first recognized in a surface discovery late in the 2019 field season;

It is now apparent that the quartz veins occur in individual quartz vein corridors. Within these corridors occur the dominant east-west striking veins which are supplemented by veins that are oblique to the east-west strike;

As demonstrated by the 4Amigos vein corridor, gold grade distribution is erratic and nuggety which is not uncommon in these types of vein systems;

The 2022 and 2021 drilling did intersect zones of significant quartz vein thickening, which are auriferous and geochemically anomalous;

A geochronology study has put the time of the emplacement of the Westmore intrusive at 189.6 Ma (Early Jurassic). Notable examples of gold deposits in the Eskay Camp of a similar age are Brucejack and Snip;

Geochemically, the high-grade veins occurring in the intrusive and the encompassing mafic volcanic rock at Westmore are similar;

The associated Au-Ag-Cd-Pb-Te-Zn geochemical signature is recognized in veins occurring within the mafic volcanic unit that flanks the west-northwest side of the Westmore intrusive and on the southeast side of the intrusive where mafic volcanic hosted and very steeply dipping quartz veins have a measured thickness at surface of up to 7.7 m;

Importantly, this geochemical signature can be utilized to vector to potentially favorable quartz veins within the intrusive and surrounding country rock;

Structural interpretation of the Westmore vein corridor settings is ongoing. LiDAR results collected in 2022 have provided an excellent platform to do structural interpretation at Westmore and on the Foremore property as a whole;

Preliminary interpretation of the setting of the Westmore Intrusive is that of a possible tight, anticlinal fold structure. The axis of this fold is oriented slightly north of an east-west direction. The vast majority of the gold bearing veins mapped and sampled at Westmore conform to the interpreted orientation of the fold axis. There is a noticeable increase in quartz vein thickness in some veins mapped on surface and intersected by drilling to the south, away from the interpreted fold axis. This is a possible indication of a more ductile setting within the outer limbs of the fold as opposed to a more brittle deformation occupying the area of the fold axis. A more ductile setting may be more amenable to a vein thickening scenario within the limbs of the interpreted fold. Fold structures and zones of possible dilation are excellent conduits for fluid flow and traps for gold deposition.

Sassy continues to map and interpret the vein corridors recognized at the Westmore intrusive. The corridors highlighted in this news release (Herve, 4Amigos and South Cliff) are all open along strike and to depth. It is also important to note that exploration; prospecting and drilling at Westmore has thus far been focused in areas of maximum exposure. The eastern half of the intrusive remains very underexplored and drilling does suggest the intrusive and the vein corridors continue underneath the More Creek Glacier to the south and most likely to the east.

2022 Drill Intersection Highlights - 2022 Westmore Discovery Zone

Drillhole Id From (m) To (m) Length (m) Au (g/t) Ag (g/t) Vein WM22-019 50.94 52.20 1.26 3.52 29.75 WM22-019 65.55 67.96 2.14 3.14 14.04 Including 65.55 66.14 0.59 11.55 20.70 WM22-019 269.41 269.71 0.30 2.21 9.89 WM22-020 106.48 106.78 0.30 2.99 8.17 WM22-020 116.10 128 11.90 0.52 3.88 South Cliff Vein Including 118.00 122.00 4.00 1.16 3.84 South Cliff Vein Including 118.00 120.00 2.00 1.78 5.52 South Cliff Vein WM22-021 75.00 75.45 0.45 0.38 76.40 WM22-021 102.98 110.93 7.95 1.01 0.97 South Cliff Vein Including 104.19 110.26 6.07 1.24 1.17 South Cliff Vein Including 107.60 110.26 2.66 2.13 1.54 South Cliff Vein WM22-021 150.70 151.60 0.90 0.24 51.00 WM22-021 261.08 262.56 0.30 4.87 0.88 WM22-022 38.96 39.79 0.83 3.94 8.79 4Amigos Including 38.96 39.49 0.53 5.98 13.55 4Amigos WM22-023 48.14 48.95 0.81 5.56 13.25 4Amigos WM22-024 23.53 25.55 2.02 2.02 15.27 Herve Vein Including 25.25 25.55 0.30 11.05 14.60 Herve Vein WM22-024 42.76 43.15 0.39 1.41 3.54 4Amigos WM22-024 165.18 166.00 0.82 1.48 12.85 WM22-025 12.93 13.23 0.30 3.88 27.50 Herve Vein WM22-025 44.91 45.58 0.67 10.55 9.54 4Amigos WM22-025 86.35 86.77 0.42 0.66 37.20 WM22-025 130.84 131.49 0.65 2.31 26.13 WM22-026 81.90 85.56 0.66 1.21 9.52 WM22-026 97.75 99.07 1.32 1.71 3.05 4Amigos Including 98.38 99.07 0.69 3.12 5.06 4Amigos WM22-027 123.34 124.81 1.47 0.06 0.59 WM22-028 108.14 110.15 2.01 0.18 1.20 WM22-029 108.10 108.80 0.70 12.10 21.50 4Amigos WM22-029 204.00 205.55 1.55 1.10 5.43 WM22-029 216.70 217.00 0.30 0.81 33.70 WM22-030 26.09 26.49 0.40 14.70 20.10 Herve Vein WM22-030 43.20 43.75 0.55 1.10 26.20 4Amigos WM22-030 60.19 60.81 0.62 6.45 3.36 WM22-030 121.38 121.98 0.60 1.03 19.25 WM22-031 32.60 33.00 0.40 2.46 4.85 Herve Vein WM22-031 56.15 56.65 0.50 5.61 85.90 4Amigos WM22-032 44.88 45.92 1.04 0.33 3.36 4Amigos WM22-032 63.57 66.71 3.14 1.35 2.53 Including 63.57 64.00 0.43 9.36 7.67 WM22-032 97.60 98.10 0.50 1.90 22.20 WM22-033 27.65 28.00 0.35 74.60 47.30 Herve Vein WM22-033 45.45 46.80 1.35 4.48 9.49 Including 46.00 46.80 0.80 7.38 14.15 4Amigos WM22-034 No significant results WM22-035 79.90 80.20 0.30 3.52 5.91 WM22-035 194.50 198.50 4.00 0.64 2.05 Including 196.65 198.50 1.85 1.25 4.04 Including 196.65 197.60 0.95 2.11 7.66 Including 197.30 197.60 0.30 5.82 13.20 WM22-035 207.00 207.30 0.30 1.26 16.25 WM22-036 153.50 154.24 0.74 2.05 29.30

Note: Above intercepts are drill hole lengths - true widths unknown at this time.

2022 Westmore Drill Hole Location Map

Sassy Gold Corporation, Friday, March 3, 2023, Press release picture

Westmore 2022 Drill Hole Location Details

Drill Hole # Easting (UTM) Northing (UTM) Elevation (ASL_m) Azimuth () Dip () Depth (m) Start Date End Date WM22-019 6325305 378419 1421 175 -50 322 07/22/22 07/26/22 WM22-020 6325299 378462 1404 156 -50 258 07/26/22 07/29/22 WM22-021 6325299 378462 1404 168 -50 303 07/29/22 07/31/22 WM22-022 6325534 378354 1533 180 -45 219 08/01/22 08/03/22 WM22-023 6325534 378354 1533 180 -60 176 08/03/22 08/04/22 WM22-024 6325534 378354 1533 195 -53 175 08/04/22 08/05/22 WM22-025 6325534 378354 1533 165 -53 157 08/05/22 08/06/22 WM22-026 6325584 378383 1519 180 -45 177 08/06/22 08/07/22 WM22-027 6325584 378383 1519 180 -60 204 08/07/22 08/08/22 WM22-028 6325584 378383 1519 170 -53 210 08/09/22 08/10/22 WM22-029 6325584 378383 1519 190 -53 222 08/10/22 08/11/22 WM22-030 6325543 378295 1548 180 -45 151 08/11/22 08/12/22 WM22-031 6325543 378295 1548 180 -60 169 08/12/22 08/13/22 WM22-032 6325543 378295 1548 195 -53 184 08/13/22 08/14/22 WM22-033 6325543 378295 1548 170 -53 166 08/14/22 08/15/22 WM22-034 6325254 378666 1277 215 -45 181 08/15/22 08/16/22 WM22-035 6325254 378666 1277 230 -50 226 08/16/22 08/18/22 WM22-036A 6325254 378666 1277 200 -45 15 08/18/22 08/18/22 WM22-036 6325254 378666 1277 200 -45 225 08/18/22 08/20/22 Total 3740

Westmore Drilling 2020-2022

Sassy Gold Corporation, Friday, March 3, 2023, Press release picture

Sassy at PDAC - Booth #3246

Sassy Gold looks forward to meeting investors at PDAC 2023, the world's premier mineral exploration and mining convention, in Toronto from Sunday, March 5 through Wednesday, March 8.

Visit us at Booth #3246.

Quality Assurance/Quality Control

Sassy implemented an industry-standard QA/QC program for all field samples and drill core samples collected during its 2022 exploration program. The company inserted QC blanks and standards at pre-determined intervals. Drill core samples were cut in half by rock saw. Half of the core remained in the labeled interval in the core box, the other half was placed in clear plastic sample bags together with pre-numbered sample tags and remained on site until transportation to the lab. Samples were transported and submitted directly by Company personnel to the ALS prep lab at Terrace, B.C., when there was capacity. Some shipments went directly to ALS facilities in Kamloops and North Vancouver. Initially, all rock and drill core samples were crushed to 70% passing 2mm, split to 500g, and pulverized to a pulp with 85% passing 75 micrometres. The pulps were then shipped/processed at ALS facilities in Kamloops and Vancouver where they were fire assayed for gold by 50g fire assay with atomic absorption finish (AAS), 48 elements by multi-element ICP-MS, 4-acid digestion. Over-limit analyses for Ag, Cu, Pb, Zn were performed utilizing the Ore Grade, 4-Acid, ICP-AES procedure. ALS is an accredited lab independent of Sassy Gold.

Qualified Person

The technical information in this news release has been reviewed and approved by Ian Fraser, P.Geo., Vice-President of Exploration for Sassy Gold. Mr. Fraser is the Qualified Person responsible for the scientific and technical information contained herein under National Instrument 43-101 standards.

About Sassy Gold Corp.

Sassy is an exploration stage resource company currently engaged in the identification, acquisition and exploration of high-grade precious metal and base metal projects in North America. Its focus is the Foremore Project located in the Eskay Camp, Liard Mining Division, in the heart of Northwest B.C.'s prolific Golden Triangle. Sassy is also earning up to a 100% interest in the Highrock Uranium Project in the Key Lake region of Saskatchewan. Sassy also holds significant equity positions in Gander Gold Corp., Galloper Gold Corp., and MAX Power Mining Corp.

Contact Information:

Mark Scott

Chief Executive Officer & Director

info@sassygold.com

Terry Bramhall

Corporate Communications/IR

1.604.833.6999 (mobile)

1.604.675.9985 (office)

terry.bramhall@sassygold.com

Adrian Sydenham

MarketSmart Communications Inc.

Toll-free: 1-877-261-4466

Email: info@marketsmart.com

Caution Regarding Forward-Looking Statements

This news release contains "forward-looking statements" and "forward-looking information" (collectively referred to herein as "forward-looking statements") within the meaning of applicable securities legislation. Forward-looking statements are statements that are not historical facts and are generally, but not always, identified by the words "expects", "plans", "anticipates", "believes", "intends", "estimates", "continues", "projects", "potential", "budget" and similar expressions, or are events or conditions that "will", "would", "may", "could" or "should" occur or be achieved. This news release contains forward-looking statements pertaining to: the closing of the Transaction and the ability for the Transaction to enhance shareholder value.

Although the Company believes that the material factors, expectations and assumptions expressed in such forward-looking statements are reasonable based on information available to it on the date such statements are made, undue reliance should not be placed on the forward-looking statements because the Company can give no assurances that such statements and information will prove to be correct and such statements do not guarantee future performance. Since forward-looking statements address future events and conditions, by their very nature they involve inherent risks and uncertainties.

Actual performance and results could differ materially from those currently anticipated due to a number of factors and risks. These include, but are not limited to known and unknown risks, including those set forth in the Company's Management Discussion and Analysis (a copy of which can be found under Sassy's profile on SEDAR at www.sedar.com). Accordingly, readers should not place undue importance or reliance on the forward-looking statements. Readers are cautioned that the list of factors is not exhaustive. Statements, including forward-looking statements, contained in this news release are made as of the date they are given and the Company disclaims any intention or obligation to publicly update or revise any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, unless so required by applicable securities laws. The forward-looking statements contained in this news release are expressly qualified by this cautionary statement. Additional information on these and other factors that could affect the Company's operations and financial results are included in reports on file with applicable securities regulatory authorities and may be accessed under the Company's profile on SEDAR at www.sedar.com.

The CSE has neither approved nor disapproved the contents of this news release. Neither the CSE nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the CSE) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.

SOURCE: Sassy Gold Corporation





View source version on accesswire.com:

https://www.accesswire.com/741837/Sassy-Discovers-New-High-Grade-Gold-Vein-at-Westmore




Nusuk is the first integrated digital official platform that makes it easier than ever for pilgrims to travel for Umrah and visit Makkah and Madinah

Enhanced Umrah+ packages welcome Malaysian visitors to discover the authentic home of Arabia

KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia, March 3, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- The Saudi Tourism Authority (STA) hosted a successful roadshow today with 22 partners including DMCs, hoteliers, Umrah companies and travel associations in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia to announce the launch of Nusuk (nusuk.sa), the new Umrah integrated digital platform which welcomes pilgrims globally to experience Umrah.

Saudi Tourism Authority Launches Nusuk and Umrah+ in Malaysia

Nusuk, an initiative launched by the Saudi Tourism Authority in collaboration with the Vision 2030 Pilgrim Experience Program was announced in the presence of the Minister of Hajj and Umrah, His Excellency Dr. Tawfiq bin Fawzan Al-Rabiah. Nusuk will expand the range of choices and enhance the overall experience for Muslims visiting Saudi and enable simpler arrival procedures for visitors to perform Umrah.

The Minister of Hajj and Umrah, His Excellency Dr. Tawfiq bin Fawzan Al-Rabiah, said, "As we open our doors to welcome back the largest group of pilgrims from around the world to Saudi post the pandemic, we look forward to providing an enriching and seamless booking experience, with expanded travel options that will take them on a spiritual journey across different Islamic attractions and offerings between Makkah and Madinah to experience this life changing moment and to discover Saudi's rich cultural and heritage offerings

Fahd Hamidaddin, CEO and Member of the Board at Saudi Tourism Authority and Managing Director of Nusuk said, We are committed to making Saudi more accessible to all visitors. For pilgrims we have launched the digital platform Nusuk designed for pilgrims and visitors to plan their spiritual journey seamlessly. Pilgrims from Malaysia can apply for an e-visa on the Nusuk platform and can book special packages to Makkah, Madinah and beyond. We are also working with our partners to encourage pilgrims to also explore our beautiful country and experience its many facets through our Umrah+ programs. Saudi is welcoming the world to visit the fastest growing new destination and the last unexplored leisure tourism frontier. This presents incomparable new business opportunities for partners looking to offer experiences in Saudi that will capture the hearts, minds, and imaginations of travelers."

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Alhasan Aldabbagh, Nusuk President-APAC, said, "We are on a journey of continuous innovation and today's launch of the Nusuk platform in Bahasa Melayu is a showcase of our agility to respond to market needs. We look forward to welcoming more travelers from Malaysia than ever before. Nusuk will make it easier and more accessible for pilgrims as to plan and book their trip, encouraging them to discover Saudi beyond their spiritual journeys."

Malaysia is already a key tourism source market for Saudi that is deepening relations with partners and is committed to investing and working closely with local players to ensure experiences are relevant and appealing to the Malaysian market. Last year, Saudi welcomed 312,000 Malaysian visitors and this year the aim is to double visitor numbers.

To deliver on its ambitious goals, Saudi Tourism Authority announced two key initiatives at the Malaysian roadshow: enhanced Umrah+ packages and the Stopover Visa.

The enhanced Umrah+ packages are designed to enable travelers to discover Saudi as a great holiday destination with rich cultural and historical offerings, pristine nature and diverse landscapes. Saudi is home to 6 UNESCO World Heritage sites and over 10,000 archaeological sites that are waiting to be explored including Al Balad in Jeddah and Turaif in Diriyah - the birthplace of Saudi together with the mountains of Aseer and little towns offering heritage and cultural experiences  giving visitors the opportunity to experience the true home of Arabia.

The recently announced Stopover Visa is open to all leisure, business and religious travelers flying on SAUDIA and flynas. Travelers can experience a stopover in Saudi for up to 96 hours and enjoy a complimentary one-night hotel stay with Saudia. This makes Saudi a perfect destination for Malaysians traveling to Europe, UK and US

Saudi has invested in several giga-projects such as Qiddiya, Neom and the recently announced new Murabba in Riyadh called 'The Mukaab' which will be the world's largest modern downtown.

Find out more about Saudi's tourism offerings on the Visit Saudi website or explore Nusuk at www.nusuk.sa .

About Saudi Tourism Authority

Saudi Tourism Authority (STA), launched in June 2020, is responsible for marketing Saudi's tourism destinations worldwide and developing the destination's offering through programs, packages and business support. Its mandate includes developing the country's unique assets and destinations, hosting and participating in industry events, and promoting Saudi's destination brand locally and overseas. STA operates 16 representative offices around the world, serving 38 countries.

To learn more please visit www.VisitSaudi.com

About Nusuk

Nusuk, Saudi's first-ever official integrated digital platform, offers all pilgrims and visitors an easy-to-use planning gateway for their journeys to Makkah and Madinah, and beyond. With Nusuk, travelers from all over the world can easily organize their entire visit, from applying for an e-visa to booking hotels and flights. At a later stage, Nusuk will also be used to schedule visits to important sites, find transportation, curate itineraries and interactive maps.

To learn more please visit www.Nusuk.sa

SOURCE Saudi Tourism Authority
SkyQuest Technology Consulting Pvt. Ltd.

The silicone coated fabrics market report by SkyQuest is an essential resource for businesses and investors seeking a comprehensive understanding of the industry's dynamics. The study employs advanced methodologies, including technology assessment, SWAT analysis, economic evaluation, product benchmarking, player positioning, and innovative developments. In addition, the report provides a detailed analysis of the major players in the market and their market positioning strategies. It also includes recent developments, mergers and acquisitions, and collaborations in the industry.

Westford USA, March 03, 2023 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Asia Pacific to take a leading position in the silicone coated fabrics market owing to increasing consumer awareness regarding the environmental impact of conventional materials has led to a high surge in requirement for sustainable and eco-friendly alternatives. Silicone coated fabrics are considered eco-friendly as they can be recycled and reused, thus reducing the carbon footprint of industries. In addition, the ability of silicone coated fabrics to withstand high temperatures and extreme weather conditions has led to their increased use in industrial applications, such as insulation covers, expansion joints, and welding blankets. Another significant factor driving the market is the growing demand for lightweight and high-performance materials.

According to recent market research, the global architectural service market is expected to reach USD 474.36 billion by 2028. This projected growth in the architectural industry is expected to impact the demand for silicone coated fabrics positively. Silicone coated fabrics are widely used in the architectural industry for various purposes, including roofing, shading, and insulation.

Browse in-depth TOC on the "Silicone Coated Fabrics Market"

Pages - 256

Tables - 93

Figures - 66

Silicon coated fabric is a highly durable and reliable material that possesses an impressive range of properties. This versatile fabric is known for its toughness, thinness, and dimensional stability while remaining flexible. Its long-lasting performance makes it an ideal choice for various applications. Despite its toughness and dimensional stability, this material is still highly flexible and can be easily shaped and molded to fit various applications.

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Prominent Players in Silicone Coated Fabrics Market

3M Company (US)

Newtex Industries, Inc. (US)

Suntex Composite Industrial Co. Ltd. (China)

KAP AG (Germany)

Om Industrial Fabrics (India)

Serge Ferrari Group (France)

Shree Firepack Safety Private Limited (India)

Elkem (US)

Precision Coating & Coated Fabrics (US)

Nott Company (US)

Trelleborg AB (Sweden)

Auburn Manufacturing Inc. (US)

Compagnie De Saint-Gobain S.A. (France)

Mid-Mountain Materials, Inc. (US)

Get a sample copy of this report:

https://skyquestt.com/sample-request/silicone-coated-fabrics-market

Fiberglass Segment to Bring Higher Sales Growth as Industries Continue to Demand High-Performance Materials

Fiberglass has emerged as a popular choice for industrial applications owing to its impressive performance, versatility, and cost-effectiveness. Its unique properties, including heat, water, and UV resistance, make it a suitable material for various industries. Due to its low cost and high performance, fiberglass contributed significantly to the silicone coated fabrics market in 2021. The use of silicone coating not only enhances the durability of the fiberglass but also provides additional benefits such as increased resistance to chemicals, abrasion, and extreme temperatures. As a result, silicone coated fiberglass fabrics have become increasingly popular in various applications, including insulation, protective clothing, and aerospace.

The silicone coated fabrics market is set to experience rapid growth in the Asia Pacific region in 2021, with a predicted fast CAGR development. The region's progress can be attributed to the rising rate of automotive production in the region, resulting in a higher demand for silicon coated fabrics. A recent report by SkyQuest has predicted that the Asia Pacific region will continue to dominate the construction and real estate market, accounting for nearly 40% of the global industry's output value by 2030. This projected growth is expected to positively impact the demand for silicone coated fabrics in the region. Silicone coated fabrics are widely used in the construction and real estate industry for various applications.

Browse summary of the report and Complete Table of Contents (ToC):

https://skyquestt.com/report/silicone-coated-fabrics-market

Industrial Sector to Capture Higher Revenue Share owing to Rising Use of Silicone Coated Fabrics to Meet Demand for High-Performance Materials and Energy Efficiency

According to market research, the silicone coated fabrics market has experienced significant growth, with the industrial sector leading in revenue generation in 2021. This trend is expected to continue from 2022 to 2028. This growth can be attributed to the establishment of various manufacturing facilities in different industrial verticals, such as automotive, steel, electrical, and electronics, particularly in developing economies. This trend is largely due to these countries' increased foreign direct investment and rapid industrialization. As a result, the demand for silicone coated fabrics, which are used in numerous applications within the industrial sector, has increased.

In 2021, North America and Europe demonstrated a significant potential for expansion in the oil and gas industry, owing to the United States' increased oil and gas activities and presence in these regions. This has contributed to the growth of the silicone coated fabrics market in these areas, further fuelled by the presence of some of the world's most renowned automakers. The oil and gas sector has always been a major sector for economic growth, and the United States' expanded activities have made it a leading player in this field. In addition, the availability of abundant natural resources in North America and Europe has further added to the industry's growth potential in these regions.

The silicone coated fabrics market is fiercely competitive, and businesses operating in this industry must be aware of emerging opportunities and trends to stay ahead of the curve. SkyQuest's report offers valuable insights to companies looking to grow and expand their operations, equipping them with the knowledge to make informed decisions to drive success in this dynamic market. With the help of report, companies operating in the market can gain a deeper understanding of the industry and make strategic decisions that enable them to take a major lead in the market.

Speak to Analyst for your custom requirements:

https://skyquestt.com/speak-with-analyst/silicone-coated-fabrics-market

Key Developments in Silicone Coated Fabrics Market

Dow, a prominent player in materials science, has recently unveiled a revolutionary product named Dowsil IE-8749 Emulsion. This new offering is a cutting-edge water-repellent finish (DWR) for fabrics that utilize silicone chemistry, making it highly durable and long-lasting. Silicone chemistry is the driving force behind the remarkable properties of Dowsil IE-8749 Emulsion. This technology allows the product to form a strong bond with the fabric, creating a durable, long-lasting finish that can withstand wear and tear.

Supreen Performance Fabric is a game-changing innovation that combines state-of-the-art woven and coated technology to create a one-of-a-kind liquid-barrier textile. It boasts a luxurious appearance and a supple feel, making it a popular choice among high-end consumers. This composite material comprises a proprietary silicone blend that renders it virtually impervious to any liquid, repelling liquids reactively and effectively preventing future stains. The result is a highly durable and resilient fabric, maintaining its premium look and feel even after multiple uses.

PANGAIA, a well-known sustainable fashion brand, has recently launched its first product treated with DROPEL technology. This cutting-edge technology provides an invisible coating to protect the garment from water-based stains, making it a game-changer in the fashion industry. DROPEL technology is a revolutionary solution that produces a partly biobased polymer as a stain-repellent finish. It is compatible with natural fibers and helps extend the garment's life by preventing stains from setting in.

Key Questions Answered in Silicone Coated Fabrics Market Report

How do the driving and hindering factors of the global market impact the growth of specific industries?

What are some specific examples of successful strategies and tactics that top companies employ to overcome challenges and capitalize on opportunities?

Which geographic regions are projected to experience the highest growth rates in revenue and sales within specific sectors of the global market?

What are some of the most significant obstacles and opportunities facing vendors operating within specific global market segments?

Related Reports in SkyQuests Library:

Global Ammonium Sulphate Market

Global Bio-based Polypropylene Market

Global Ethyl Acetate Market

Global Lyocell Fiber Market

Global Dimethyl Carbonate DMC market

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SLGI Asset Management Inc. logo (CNW Group/SLGI Asset Management Inc.)

TORONTO, March 3, 2023 /CNW/ - SLGI Asset Management Inc. ("SLGI Asset Management") announced today changes to its Sun Life Milestone 2025 Fund.

Effective March 3, 2023, at 4:01 pm EST, SLGI Asset Management closed the Sun Life Milestone 2025 Fund to new accounts. Existing accounts already holding units of the Sun Life Milestone 2025 Fund may continue to hold, purchase, or switch-in additional units and existing pre-authorized contributions (PACs) may continue.

About SLGI Asset Management Inc.

SLGI Asset Management Inc. is a subsidiary of Sun Life Financial Inc. It offers Canadians a diverse lineup of mutual funds and innovative portfolio solutions, empowering them to pursue their financial goals at every life stage. We bring together the strength of one of Canada's most trusted names in financial services, Sun Life, with some of the best asset managers from around the world to deliver a truly global investment platform. As of December 31, 2022, SLGI Asset Management Inc. manages $33.98 billion on behalf of institutional and retail investors from coast-to-coast and is a member of the Sun Life group of companies. For more information visit www.sunlifeglobalinvestments.com .

About Sun Life

Sun Life is a leading international financial services organization providing asset management, wealth, insurance and health solutions to individual and institutional Clients. Sun Life has operations in a number of markets worldwide, including Canada, the United States, the United Kingdom, Ireland, Hong Kong, the Philippines, Japan, Indonesia, India, China, Australia, Singapore, Vietnam, Malaysia and Bermuda. As of December 31, 2022, Sun Life had total assets under management of $1.33 trillion. For more information, please visit www.sunlife.com.

Sun Life Financial Inc. trades on the Toronto (TSX), New York (NYSE) and Philippine (PSE) stock exchanges under the ticker symbol SLF.

Note to editors: All figures in Canadian dollars

Media Relations Contact:

Laura Torchia

Manager, Corporate Communications

T. 416-818-5613

laura.torchia@sunlife.com

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SOURCE SLGI Asset Management Inc.

Cision

View original content to download multimedia: http://www.newswire.ca/en/releases/archive/March2023/03/c5302.html
(Bloomberg) -- SoftBank Group Corp. founder Masayoshi Son will join Indias prime minister and Asias richest man at the wedding of Oyo founder Ritesh Agarwal next week, a rare social outing for a billionaire whose ties to the country run deep.

Most Read from Bloomberg

Its a sign of the Japanese billionaires enduring relationship with India, where SoftBank has invested billions into startups and solar power. Son, who is the biggest backer of affordable stays firm Oyo parent Oravel Stays Ltd., has been a mentor to the 29-year-old Agarwal since 2015. An early investor in Oyo, Son provided a personal guarantee in 2019 to Agarwals $2 billion loan from Japanese banks allowing the younger entrepreneur increase his stake in Oyo to over a third.

Sons presence is creating complexities for organizers of the New Delhi wedding reception, however. The 65-year-old, who increasingly prefers Zoom calls to in-person meetings even in his home base of Tokyo, has asked for Covid-negative tests from those hes meeting, people familiar with the matter said.

Wedding ceremonies of Indias rich and upwardly-mobile are extravagant affairs with guest lists often running into the thousands. Entertainers like Beyonce have been flown in, contributing to costs sometimes ballooning to tens of millions of dollars. At these celebrations, lines to greet the couple can run a mile long, with wait times growing to an hour or more.

It was at the wedding of Nikesh Arora, the former SoftBank president, that Son met figures such as Rajeev Misra and Alok Sama, who later spearheaded the companys overseas expansions through the Vision Fund and the acquisition of chip architect Arm Ltd., people familiar with the matter said.

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Its not clear how Son will greet the couple at the reception, but one person said hes unlikely to do so in a public setting. Son is also meeting Indias Prime Minister Narendra Modi along with a Japanese business delegation and will host a round table for a group of entrepreneurs, including the founders of Paytm, Firstcry and OfBusiness, which are all backed by SoftBanks billions-wielding Vision Fund, according to one person. Those meetings will also require Covid-negative test results.

Reliance chairman and Asias richest man Mukesh Ambani is expected to attend the festivities, as well as executives from SoftBank and other Oyo backers including Airbnb Inc. and Lightspeed Commerce Inc.

An Oyo spokesman declined to comment on the guest list while a SoftBank representative did not respond to an email seeking comments.

The SoftBank chief executive was diagnosed with chronic hepatitis in his youth and has since been vigilant about his health. In financial filings, SoftBank lists unforeseen situations affecting Son as a significant risk factor that could impede the companys overall activities.

Most Read from Bloomberg Businessweek

2023 Bloomberg L.P.
Qabil Ashirov

The State Oil Fund (SOFAZ) has publicized its income from the Azeri-Chiraq-Guneshli (ACG) oil and gas field in the Azerbaijani section of the Caspian Sea in January-February 2023.

The Azeri-Chirag-Guneshli block of fields, the largest oil field in the Azerbaijani sector of the Caspian Sea, accounted for $1.3bn of the revenue.

The funds revenue from the Shah Deniz field, which is among the worlds largest gas-condensate fields, amounted to $534.8m, including $58m from condensate.

Established in 1999, SOFAZ is a sovereign wealth fund, which accumulates and preserves Azerbaijans oil and gas incomes for future generations.

The contract for the development of the ACG oil fields was signed on September 20, 1994, and came into effect in December. The contract for the development of the ACG block was extended by 2050 in September 2017. The shareholders in the ACG project are BP (operator, 30.37 percent), SOCAR (25 percent), MOL (9.57 percent), INPEX (9.31 percent), Equinor (7.27 percent), ExxonMobil (6.79 percent), TPAO (5.73 percent), ITOCHU (3.65 percent), ONGC Videsh Limited (OVL) (2.31 percent).

The contract for the development of the Shah Deniz gas field was signed in 1996. Shareholders of the Shah Deniz project are BP (operator, 29.99 percent), LUKOIL (19.99 percent), TPAO (19 percent), SOCAR (14.35 percent), NICO (10 percent), and SGC (6.67 percent).
Company Logo

Dublin, March 03, 2023 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- The "South Korea Social Commerce Market Intelligence and Future Growth Dynamics Databook - 50+ KPIs on Social Commerce Trends by End-Use Sectors, Operational KPIs, Retail Product Dynamics, and Consumer Demographics - Q1 2023 Update" report has been added to ResearchAndMarkets.com's offering.



According to the publisher, social commerce industry in South Korea is expected to grow by 21.2% on annual basis to reach US$18,163.5 million in 2023.



The social commerce industry is expected to grow steadily over the forecast period, recording a CAGR of 15.0% during 2022-2028. The social commerce GMV in the country will increase from US$18163.5 million in 2023 to reach US$42082.1 million by 2028.



This report provides a detailed data centric analysis of social commerce industry, covering market opportunities and risks. With over 50+ KPIs at country level, this report provides a comprehensive understanding of social commerce market dynamics, market size and forecast, and market share statistics.



The research methodology is based on industry best practices. Its unbiased analysis leverages a proprietary analytics platform to offer a detailed view on emerging business and investment market opportunities.

Reasons to buy

In-depth Understanding of Social Commerce Market Dynamics: Understand market opportunities and key trends along with forecast (2019-2028).

Insights into Opportunity by end-use sectors - Get market dynamics by end-use sectors to assess emerging opportunity across various end-use sectors.

Develop Market Specific Strategies: Identify growth segments and target specific opportunities to formulate social commerce strategy; assess market specific key trends, drivers, and risks in the industry.

Scope



This report provides in-depth, data-centric analysis of social commerce in South Korea. Below is a summary of key market segments:



South Korea Ecommerce Industry Market Size and Future Growth Dynamics by Key Performance Indicators, 2019-2028

South Korea Social Commerce Industry Market Size and Future Growth Dynamics by Key Performance Indicators, 2019-2028

South Korea Social Commerce Industry Market Size and Forecast by Retail Product Categories, 2019-2028

Clothing & Footwear

Beauty and Personal Care

Food & Grocery

Appliances and Electronics

Home Improvement

Travel

Hospitality

Story continues

South Korea Social Commerce Industry Market Size and Forecast by End Use Segment, 2019-2028

B2B

B2C

C2C

South Korea Social Commerce Industry Market Size and Forecast by End Use Device, 2019-2028

Mobile

Desktop

South Korea Social Commerce Industry Market Size and Forecast by Location, 2019-2028

Domestic

Cross Border

South Korea Social Commerce Industry Market Size and Forecast by Location, 2019-2028

Tier-1 Cities

Tier-2 Cities

Tier-3 Cities

South Korea Social Commerce Industry Market Size and Forecast by Payment Method, 2019-2028

Credit Card

Debit Card

Bank Transfer

Prepaid Card

Digital & Mobile Wallet

Other Digital Payment

Cash

South Korea Social Commerce Industry Market Size and Forecast by Platforms

Video Commerce

Social Network-Led Commerce

Social Reselling

Group Buying

Product Review Platforms

South Korea Social Commerce Industry Market Size and Forecast by Consumer Demographics & Behaviour,2022

By Age

By Income Level

By Gender

For more information about this report visit https://www.researchandmarkets.com/r/35leo0

About ResearchAndMarkets.com

ResearchAndMarkets.com is the world's leading source for international market research reports and market data. We provide you with the latest data on international and regional markets, key industries, the top companies, new products and the latest trends.

CONTACT: CONTACT: ResearchAndMarkets.com Laura Wood,Senior Press Manager press@researchandmarkets.com For E.S.T Office Hours Call 1-917-300-0470 For U.S./ CAN Toll Free Call 1-800-526-8630 For GMT Office Hours Call +353-1-416-8900




VANCOUVER, BC / ACCESSWIRE / March 3, 2023 / Spark Energy Minerals Inc., ("Spark" or the "Company" (CSE:EMIN)(Frankfurt:M1N)(OTC PINK:MTEHF) is pleased to announce that it has closed on a mineral claims purchase agreement dated February 1 , 2023, with Talisman Venture Partners, Ltd. ("Talisman") of Victoria B.C., pursuant to which it acquired a 100 percent ownership interest in 12 (twelve) exploration permits comprising approximately 22 thousand hectares (22k ha) of surface area in Minas Gerais, Brazil.

Talisman retained a 1% N.S.R. The Company can purchase %0.5 from Talisman at any time for $1,000,000.

The Company paid a total of $300,000 and 10 million common shares at a deemed price of $0.08 per share. Shares issued pursuant to this transaction are subject to statutory trading restrictions until June 24, 2023.

About Spark Energy Minerals Inc.

Spark Energy Minerals, Inc., is a Canadian company pursuing battery metals and mineral assets with newly acquired interests in Brazil and Canada. The Company has acquired assets in some of the world's most prolific mining jurisdictions, Brazil's growing lithium and provinces and in the Newfoundland, Canada region which is gaining recognition as a world hot spot for lithium and rare earth mineral exploration.

FOR ADDITIONAL INFORMATION SEE THE COMPANY'S WEB SITE AT

https://sparkenergyminerals.com

Email to info@sparkenergyminerals.com

Contact: Peter Wilson, CEO, Tel. +1-604-649-0945

Spark Energy Minerals' Minas Gerais Property Map

Spark Power Group Inc., Friday, March 3, 2023, Press release picture

Neither the Canadian Securities Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the Canadian Securities Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.

Further information about the Company is available on www.SEDAR.com under the Company's profile.

Certain statements contained in this release may constitute "forward-looking statements" or "forward-looking information" (collectively "forward-looking information") as those terms are used in the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995 and similar Canadian laws. These statements relate to future events or future performance. The use of any of the words "could", "intend", "expect", "believe", "will", "projected", "estimated", "anticipates" and similar expressions and statements relating to matters that are not historical facts are intended to identify forward-looking information and are based on the Company's current belief or assumptions as to the outcome and timing of such future events. Actual future results may differ materially. In particular, this release contains forward-looking information relating to the business of the Company, the Property, financing and certain corporate changes. The forward-looking information contained in this release is made as of the date hereof and the Company is not obligated to update or revise any forward-looking information, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, except as required by applicable securities laws. Certain statements contained in this release may constitute "forward-looking statements" or "forward-looking information" (collectively "forward-looking information") as those terms are used in the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995 and similar Canadian laws. These statements relate to future events or future performance. The use of any of the words "could", "intend", "expect", "believe", "will", "projected", "estimated", "anticipates" and similar expressions and statements relating to matters that are not historical facts are intended to identify forward-looking information and are based on the Company's current belief or assumptions as to the outcome and timing of such future events. Actual future results may differ materially. In particular, this release contains forward-looking information relating to the business of the Company, the Property, financing and certain corporate changes. The forward-looking information contained in this release is made as of the date hereof and the Company is not obligated to update or revise any forward-looking information, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, except as required by applicable securities laws.

SOURCE: Spark Power Group Inc.





View source version on accesswire.com:

https://www.accesswire.com/741901/Spark-Energy-Minerals-Inc-Announces-the-Closing-of-Additional-22-Thousand-Hectares-of-Brazilian-Lithium-Valley-Exploration-Properties-Increases-Portfolio-by-700




Picture 1

The Break Free smartphone application, which is expected to be available on Apple and Android handsets in the United States, can potentially assist adult smokers in taking control of their relationship with nicotine.

LAS VEGAS and VANCOUVER, British Columbia, March 03, 2023 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- TAAT GLOBAL ALTERNATIVES INC. (CSE: TAAT) (OTCQX: TOBAF) (FRANKFURT: 2TP) (the Company or TAAT) is pleased to announce that it has entered into a definitive agreement dated December 14, 2022 and as amended by amending agreement dated March 1, 2023, with Boksburg Ventures Inc. (Boksburg), an arms-length party, to acquire Break Free (the "Proposed Transaction"). Break Free is a smartphone application (the "App" or "Break Free") utilizing multiple patent-pending mechanisms to holistically analyze the behaviours of adult smokers for the purpose of providing cessation strategy recommendations. No finders fee is payable in connection with the Proposed Transaction. The Proposed Transaction is subject to the approval of two-thirds of the votes cast at the Boksburg shareholders meeting to be held on April 10, 2023. The Proposed Transaction is not subject to TAAT shareholder approval. The Company anticipates that Break Free could play a strategic role in the marketplace positioning of its flagship product TAAT, a nicotine-free and tobacco-free alternative to tobacco cigarettes. TAAT is presently sold in thousands of retail stores across the United States, as well as online through the TryTAAT.com shopping portal.



Break Free Summary

Break Free is an iOS and Android based mobile application that uses a holistic approach to rst monitor and track smoking related habits of adult tobacco users, analyze the habits, and then suggest customized changes that are specic to each adult smoker to ensure personalized care and attention. The Break Free mobile app uses state-of-the-art technologies, including a companion diagnostics module to help adult smokers personalize and customize the use of currently available FDA-approved smoking cessation devices, augmented and virtual reality mental health simulations, and circadian rhythm sensors to monitor actigraphy, sleep/wake cycles, and snoring to help adult tobacco users quit smoking.

Story continues

The App has not been made available to consumers for use at this time, and remains subject to further development. Upon completion of the Proposed Transaction, TAAT plans to complete the development of the App for use by consumers on the Android and iOS smartphone platforms by integrating additional features that are currently under patent applications (the "Pending Patents") with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office. The schedule of development of the App remains subject to the progress of the Patents applications and budget requirements.

The App is currently at the prototype stage of development. Alpha testing is currently being performed by the software development team. The App developers are nearing the midpoint phase of Alpha testing. The Alpha testing includes running all the operational modes of the App one at a time and debugging and correcting any discovered errors. Outside contractors are being used to proofread content and perform some functionality testing.

Below is a summary of the Pending Patents, which may or may not be integrated into the final App version:

Patent Pending Serial No. 17/857,095 covers a nicotine tobacco cessation digital device mobile application configured to assist a smoker in breaking a nicotine addiction and tobacco habit using a holistic approach with interactive connectivity to vital signs, social media group support and virtual reality gaming mental health tools.

Patent Pending Serial No. 17/857,097 covers a nicotine tobacco cessation digital device mobile application configured to assist a smoker in breaking a nicotine addiction and tobacco habit using companion diagnostics with personalized assistance for FDA approved products.

Patent Pending Serial No. 17/857,100 covers a nicotine tobacco cessation digital device mobile application configured to assist a smoker in breaking a nicotine addiction and tobacco habit using a holistic approach with interactive connectivity to circadian rhythm wake and sleep patterns.

Proposed Acquisition

Subject to approval by at least two-thirds of the votes cast at Boksburg's shareholders meeting scheduled on April 10, 2023 ("Boksburg Shareholder Approval"), the Company has agreed to issue to Boksburg on closing an aggregate of 17 million common shares of TAAT (the "Consideration Shares") at a deemed value of $0.3225 per Consideration Share as consideration for Break Free and $3.6 million of working capital. The Company is not assuming any liabilities of Boksburg and is assuming the Break Free asset free and clear of any liens or encumbrances. In determining the fair market value of Break Free, an independent valuator applied the Multi-Period Excess Earnings Method (MPEEM), an income-based approach.

The Consideration Shares are comprised of: 1) 11,162,791 Consideration Shares which shall be issued on the closing of the Proposed Transaction (the "Closing Consideration Shares") and be subject to a four (4) month and one (1) day hold period from the date of issuance, and 2) 5,837,209 Consideration Shares which shall be issued on the closing of the Proposed Transaction (the "Milestone Consideration Shares"), but subject to escrow. The number of Milestone Consideration Shares and milestones applicable to the escrow releases are as follows:

1/3 of the Milestone Consideration Shares shall be released on the later of: (i) 6 months from the closing date; and (2) the launch of the BreakFree mobile application in either the Apple or Google App stores and the completion of a minimum of 1,000 downloads (the " Milestone #1 "). In the event Milestone #1 is not achieved within 36 months from closing, then the Milestone Consideration Shares allocated for Milestone #1 shall be returned to the TAAT treasury for cancellation.

Next 1/3 of the Milestone Consideration Shares shall be released on the later of: (i) 6 months, from the closing date; and (ii) the receipt of a minimum of 1 out of 3 US patents surrounding intellectual property and filed (the " Milestone #2 "). In the event Milestone #2 is not achieved within 36 months from closing, then the Milestone Consideration Shares allocated for Milestone #2 shall be returned to the TAAT treasury for cancellation.

Remaining 1/3 of the Milestone Consideration Shares shall be released on the later of: (i) 6 months from the closing date; and (ii), the achievement of a minimum of CAD $600,000 in revenue directly from the app (the "Milestone #3"). In the event Milestone #3 is not achieved within 24 months from closing, then the Milestone Consideration Shares allocated for Milestone #3 shall be returned to the TAAT treasury for cancellation.



The Company is relying on the Asset Acquisition Prospectus Exemption, pursuant to Section 2.12 of National Instrument 45-106. The closing of the Proposed Transaction remains subject to Boksburg Shareholder Approval among other standard closing conditions set out in the definitive agreement. With respect to the Company, neither a fundamental change, change of business, nor change of control (as those terms are defined in Canadian Securities Exchange Policy 8) will result upon closing of the Proposed Transaction.

Although the Company expects the Proposed Transaction to close shortly after Boksburg obtains Boksburg Shareholder Approval, until such approval is obtained, the CSE is satisfied with Taat's disclosure of the Proposed Transaction, and other closing conditions are satisfied, there can be no assurance that the Proposed Transaction will be completed.

The Break Free smartphone application, which is expected to be available on Apple and Android handsets in the United States, can potentially assist adult smokers in taking control of their relationship with nicotine.





The Break Free smartphone application, which is expected to be available on Apple and Android handsets in the United States, can potentially assist adult smokers in taking control of their relationship with nicotine.

Readers using news aggregation services may be unable to view the media above. Please access SEDAR or the Investor Relations section of the Companys website for a version of this press release containing all published media.

On behalf of the Board of Directors of the Company,

TAAT GLOBAL ALTERNATIVES INC.

Michael Saxon

Michael Saxon, CEO and Director

For further information, please contact:

TAAT Investor Relations

1-833-TAAT-USA (1-833-822-8872)

investor@taatglobal.com

THE CANADIAN SECURITIES EXCHANGE (CSE) HAS NOT REVIEWED AND DOES NOT ACCEPT RESPONSIBILITY FOR THE ACCURACY OR ADEQUACY OF THIS RELEASE, NOR HAS OR DOES THE CSES REGULATION SERVICES PROVIDER.

About TAAT Global Alternatives Inc.

TAAT is a vertically integrated consumer product and distribution company, generating more than CAD $90 million in overall gross revenue annually. TAAT is strategically expanding its product categories including tobacco and reduced-risk alternatives, hemp, kratom, and other emerging CPG segments. TAAT has facilities to include a processing plant in Nevada as well as a distribution centre in Canton, Ohio, leveraging existing retail shelf space and pipelines into national wholesale channels.

For more information, please visit http://taatglobal.com .

Forward-Looking Statements

This news release contains forward-looking information within the meaning of applicable Canadian securities legislation. Often, but not always, forward-looking information and information can be identified by the use of words such as plans, expects or does not expect, is expected, estimates, intends, anticipates or does not anticipate, or believes, or variations of such words and phrases or state that certain actions, events or results may, could, would, might or will be taken, occur, or be achieved. Forward-looking information in this news release includes statements regarding the anticipated performance of TAAT in the tobacco industry, in addition to the following: Anticipated completion of the Companys acquisition of the Break Free smartphone app and corresponding intellectual property from Boksburg Ventures Inc., anticipated development schedule of the App, potential success and impact of the Break Free smartphone app as an offering under the TAAT brand, and potential benefits to the Companys financial position as a result of the acquisition. The forward-looking information reflects managements current expectations based on information currently available and are subject to a number of risks and uncertainties that may cause outcomes to differ materially from those discussed in the forward-looking information. Although the Company believes that the assumptions and factors used in preparing the forward-looking information are reasonable, undue reliance should not be placed on such information and no assurance can be given that such events will occur in the disclosed timeframes or at all. Factors that could cause actual results or events to differ materially from current expectations include: (i) adverse market conditions; (ii) changes to the growth and size of the tobacco markets; (iii) changes to the regulatory landscape applicable to the Company's business; and (iv) other factors beyond the control of the Company. The Company operates in a rapidly evolving environment. New risk factors emerge from time to time, and it is impossible for the Companys management to predict all risk factors, nor can the Company assess the impact of all factors on Companys business or the extent to which any factor, or combination of factors, may cause actual results to differ from those contained in any forward-looking information. The forward-looking information included in this news release are made as of the date of this news release and the Company expressly disclaims any intention or obligation to update or revise any forward-looking information whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, except as required by applicable law.

The statements in this news release have not been evaluated by Health Canada or the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. As each individual is different, the benefits, if any, of taking the Companys products will vary from person to person. No claims or guarantees can be made as to the effects of the Companys products on an individuals health and well-being. The Companys products are not intended to diagnose, treat, cure, or prevent any disease.

This news release may contain trademarked names of third-party entities (or their respective offerings with trademarked names) typically in reference to (i) relationships had by the Company with such third-party entities as referred to in this release and/or (ii) client/vendor/service provider parties whose relationship with the Company is/are referred to in this release. All rights to such trademarks are reserved by their respective owners or licensees.

Statement Regarding Third-Party Investor Relations Firms

Disclosures relating to investor relations firms retained by TAAT Global Alternatives Inc. can be found under the Company's profile on http://sedar.com .

A photo accompanying this announcement is available at https://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/b1b6d1fa-cf8c-486c-a30a-59f006c16678




(Removes Arctic Voyager, Ribera Duero Knutsen, Minerva Chios after they leave ports; shows BW Pavilion Aranda, Eduard Toll, Woodside Rees Wither are docked; adds Sonangol Etosha, Marvel Pelican, Rioja Knutsen, LNG IMO; updates arrivals of ; removes LNG Phecda) March 3 (Reuters) - The following liquefied natural gas (LNG) tankers are expected to arrive in Britain, Belgium, the Netherlands and Germany in the coming weeks. Estimated arrival dates, often revised by port authorities and AIS Live ship-tracking data on Refinitiv Eikon, are updated below. Some tankers heading for Belgium and Britain may be loading at the terminal. Those expected to load are indicated with an (L). Those likely to perform ship-to-ship transfers are indicated with (STS). Tankers that have docked are indicated with (A). Floating storage and regasification unit (FSRU) terminals are added to the table when they near deployment. As of Dec. 27 2022, this includes the Eemshaven terminal in the Netherlands, the Wilhelmshaven, Brunsbuettel and Lubmin terminals in Germany. For the Reuters LNG guide, click here: LNG TANKER CAPACITY in EXPECTED ARRIVAL FROM PORT cubic metres BRITAIN BW Pavilion Aranda 171,000 March 2 (A) United States Isle of Grain Soyo 158,000 March 3 Angola Isle of Grain Woodside Rees Wither 170,000 March 3 (A) United States South Hook LNG Prosperity 171,000 March 3 Peru Dragon Wilforce 153,000 March 5 United States South Hook Marvel Crane 178,000 March 7 United States Milford Haven Kool Boreas 167,000 March 7 Egypt Dragon Global Sea Spirit 170,000 March 9 United States South Hook LNG Enterprise 174,000 March 10 United States Isle of Grain BW Cassia 171,000 March 14 United States Isle of Grain LNG Imo March 15 Nigeria Isle 145,000 of Grain Corcovado LNG 157,000 March 18 United States Isle of Grain BELGIUM Eduard Toll 172,000 March 2 (A) Russia Zeebrugge Gaslog Hong Kong 174,000 March 4 (L)(STS) Norway Zeebrugge Vladimir Rusanov 169,000 March 5^ Russia Zeebrugge LNG Megrez 174,000 March 6 Qatar Zeebrugge Vladimir Rusanov 169,000 March 7^ Russia Zeebrugge Ejnan 144,000 March 7 Qatar Zeebrugge Al Kharaitiyat 212,000 March 9 Qatar Zeebrugge NETHERLANDS Kool Firn 174,000 March 2 Equatorial Guinea Gate Lngships Athena 174,000 March 6 United States Eemshaven Rioja Knutsen March 14 United Gate 174,000 States Sonangol March 17 Angola Gate Etosha 158,000 Marvel March 24 United Pelican 155,000 States Eemshaven GERMANY Seapeak Meridian 163,000 March 1 (A) United States Lubmin LNG Rosenrot 177,000 March 3 United States Wilhelmshaven Sources: Ports, AIS Live ship tracking, Refinitiv Eikon data. (^) Partial unload (*) Arrival date estimated based on flows data (Reporting by Nora Buli in Oslo)
Company Logo

Dublin, March 03, 2023 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- The "Taiwan Social Commerce Market Intelligence and Future Growth Dynamics Databook - 50+ KPIs on Social Commerce Trends by End-Use Sectors, Operational KPIs, Retail Product Dynamics, and Consumer Demographics - Q1 2023 Update" report has been added to ResearchAndMarkets.com's offering.



According to the publisher, social commerce industry in Taiwan is expected to grow by 34.2% on annual basis to reach US$1865.4 million in 2023.



The social commerce industry is expected to grow steadily over the forecast period, recording a CAGR of 22.5% during 2022-2028. The social commerce GMV in the country will increase from US$1865.4 million in 2023 to reach US$6318.7 million by 2028.



This report provides a detailed data centric analysis of social commerce industry, covering market opportunities and risks. With over 50+ KPIs at country level, this report provides a comprehensive understanding of social commerce market dynamics, market size and forecast, and market share statistics.



The research methodology is based on industry best practices. Its unbiased analysis leverages a proprietary analytics platform to offer a detailed view on emerging business and investment market opportunities.

Reasons to buy

In-depth Understanding of Social Commerce Market Dynamics: Understand market opportunities and key trends along with forecast (2019-2028).

Insights into Opportunity by end-use sectors - Get market dynamics by end-use sectors to assess emerging opportunity across various end-use sectors.

Develop Market Specific Strategies: Identify growth segments and target specific opportunities to formulate social commerce strategy; assess market specific key trends, drivers, and risks in the industry.

Scope



This report provides in-depth, data-centric analysis of social commerce in Taiwan. Below is a summary of key market segments:



Taiwan Ecommerce Industry Market Size and Future Growth Dynamics by Key Performance Indicators, 2019-2028

Taiwan Social Commerce Industry Market Size and Future Growth Dynamics by Key Performance Indicators, 2019-2028

Taiwan Social Commerce Industry Market Size and Forecast by Retail Product Categories, 2019-2028

Clothing & Footwear

Beauty and Personal Care

Food & Grocery

Appliances and Electronics

Home Improvement

Travel

Hospitality

Story continues

Taiwan Social Commerce Industry Market Size and Forecast by End Use Segment, 2019-2028

B2B

B2C

C2C

Taiwan Social Commerce Industry Market Size and Forecast by End Use Device, 2019-2028

Mobile

Desktop

Taiwan Social Commerce Industry Market Size and Forecast by Location, 2019-2028

Domestic

Cross Border

Taiwan Social Commerce Industry Market Size and Forecast by Location, 2019-2028

Tier-1 Cities

Tier-2 Cities

Tier-3 Cities

Taiwan Social Commerce Industry Market Size and Forecast by Payment Method, 2019-2028

Credit Card

Debit Card

Bank Transfer

Prepaid Card

Digital & Mobile Wallet

Other Digital Payment

Cash

Taiwan Social Commerce Industry Market Size and Forecast by Platforms

Video Commerce

Social Network-Led Commerce

Social Reselling

Group Buying

Product Review Platforms

Taiwan Social Commerce Industry Market Size and Forecast by Consumer Demographics & Behaviour,2022

By Age

By Income Level

By Gender

For more information about this report visit https://www.researchandmarkets.com/r/wqqbyv

About ResearchAndMarkets.com

ResearchAndMarkets.com is the world's leading source for international market research reports and market data. We provide you with the latest data on international and regional markets, key industries, the top companies, new products and the latest trends.

CONTACT: CONTACT: ResearchAndMarkets.com Laura Wood,Senior Press Manager press@researchandmarkets.com For E.S.T Office Hours Call 1-917-300-0470 For U.S./ CAN Toll Free Call 1-800-526-8630 For GMT Office Hours Call +353-1-416-8900




Tampa General Hospital is ranked among the Nation's top 100 hospitals on the list.

TAMPA, Fla., March 2, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Tampa General Hospital (TGH) has been named the number one hospital in Tampa Bay and the number three hospital in Florida as well as one of the top 100 hospitals in the United States, according to Newsweek. The 1,040-bed academic medical center was recently ranked as one of the news magazine's "World's Best Hospitals 2023" and was listed among the Best Hospitals for Infection Prevention.

The USF Health and Tampa General Hospital pulmonary and critical care medicine program earned two national designations: as a founding member of the Foundation for Sarcoidosis Research Global Sarcoidosis Clinic Alliance and selection as a Pulmonary Fibrosis Foundation Care Center Network.

"This recognition is a true testament to our exceptional team at Tampa General Hospital, who tirelessly deliver world-class patient care every day," said John Couris, president and CEO of Tampa General Hospital. "I am honored to lead and work side by side with such dedicated health care professionals who work relentlessly to ensure that Tampa General Hospital is one of the safest and most innovative health systems in the nation."

The "World's Best Hospitals 2023" list recognizes the best medical institutions across 28 countries: the United States, Germany, Japan, South Korea, France, Italy, the United Kingdom, Spain, Brazil, Canada, India, Australia, Mexico, the Netherlands, Austria, Thailand, Switzerland, Sweden, Belgium, Finland, Norway, Denmark, Israel, Singapore, the United Arab Emirates, Colombia, Saudi Arabia, and Taiwan. The countries were selected based on multiple comparability factors, including standard of living/life expectancy, population size, number of hospitals, and data availability.

Hospitals were selected based on four data sources:

Over 80,000 medical experts  Doctors, hospital managers and health care professionals in 28 countries were invited to participate in the online survey. Participants were asked to recommend hospitals in their own country as well as in other countries. Recommendations for a participant's own employer/hospital were not allowed.

Results from patient experience surveys  Publicly available data from existing patient surveys was used to analyze the patient experience. Patient surveys are typically conducted by insurance companies following hospital services. Examples of survey topics include general satisfaction with the hospital, patients' recommendation of the hospital, satisfaction with medical care and satisfaction with the service and organization.

Hospital quality metrics  Hospital quality metrics from a variety of public sources were collected for most of the countries. Some examples of indicators include data on the quality of care for specific treatments, data on hygiene measures and patient safety, and data on staffing, such as the number of patients per doctor/per nurse.

Patient-reported outcome measures  For the first time, Statista and Newsweek surveyed hospitals regarding the implementation and use of patient-reported experience measures to assess the quality of health care experiences, focusing on patients. Patient-reported outcome measures are defined as standardized, validated questionnaires completed by patients to measure their perception of their functional well-being and quality of life.

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"Among the hallmarks of great hospitals, however, are not just first-class care, first-class research and first-class innovation. The very best institutions also share another quality: consistency. The world's best hospitals consistently attract the best people and provide the best outcomes for patients as well as the most important new therapies and research. Of all the hospitals in the world, relatively few can do all those things year in and year out. The best belong to a very exclusive club," said Nancy Cooper, Global editor-in-chief, Newsweek.

Newsweek compared scores among hospitals in the same country because different sources for patient experience and medical Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) were examined in each country. The U.S. ranking listed 414 participating hospitals with Tampa General at No. 84.

ABOUT TAMPA GENERAL HOSPITAL

Tampa General Hospital, a 1,040-bed, not-for-profit, academic medical center, is one of the largest hospitals in America and delivers world-class care as the region's only center for Level l trauma and comprehensive burn care. Tampa General Hospital is the highest-ranked hospital in the market in U.S. News & World Report's 2022-23 Best Hospitals, and is tied as the third highest-ranked hospital in Florida, with seven specialties ranking among the best programs in the United States. Tampa General Hospital has been designated as a model of excellence by the 2022 Fortune/Merative 100 Top Hospitals list. The academic medical center's commitment to growing and developing its team members is recognized by two prestigious Forbes magazine rankings  first nationally in the 2022 America's Best Employers for Women and sixth out of 100 Florida companies in the 2022 America's Best Employers by State. Tampa General is the safety net hospital for the region, caring for everyone regardless of their ability to pay, and in fiscal year 2021, provided a net community benefit worth more than $224.5 million in the form of health care for underinsured patients, community education, and financial support to community health organizations in Tampa Bay. It is one of the nation's busiest adult solid organ transplant centers and is the primary teaching hospital for the USF Health Morsani College of Medicine. With six medical helicopters, Tampa General Hospital transports critically injured or ill patients from 23 surrounding counties to receive the advanced care they need. Tampa General houses a nationally accredited comprehensive stroke center, and its 32-bed Neuroscience, Intensive Care Unit is the largest on the West Coast of Florida. It also is home to the Jennifer Leigh Muma 82-bed neonatal intensive care unit, and a nationally accredited rehabilitation center. Tampa General Hospital's footprint includes 17 Tampa General Medical Group Primary Care offices, TGH Family Care Center Kennedy, TGH Brandon Healthplex, TGH Virtual Health, and 21 TGH Imaging powered by Tower outpatient radiology centers throughout Hillsborough, Pasco, Pinellas and Palm Beach counties. Tampa Bay area residents also receive world-class care from the TGH Urgent Care powered by Fast Track network of clinics. To see a medical care professional live anytime, anywhere on a smartphone, tablet or computer, visit Virtual Health | Tampa General Hospital (tgh.org). As one of the largest hospitals in the country, Tampa General Hospital is the first in Florida to partner with GE Healthcare and open a clinical command center that provides real-time situational awareness to improve and better coordinate patient care at a lower cost. For more information, go to www.tgh.org.

Media Contact: Beth Hardy

Senior Communications Specialist

(813) 844-7322 (direct)

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Cision

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SOURCE Tampa General Hospital
Transparency Market Research

The rise in prevalence of cardiac disorders globally is anticipated to create lucrative opportunities in the thrombectomy devices market

Wilmington, Delaware, United States, March 03, 2023 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Transparency Market Research Inc.  The global Thrombectomy Devices Market is projected to expand at a CAGR of 7.3% from 2023 to 2031, as per the market outlook report by TMR.



Mechanical thrombectomy devices have gained popularity in the healthcare industry in the past few years, as these devices help in the removal of blood clots from blood vessels using mechanical techniques. A clot is fragmented or suctioned, in order to remove it easily, using mechanical thrombectomy devices, which find applications in the treatment of strokes. As per market trend analysis by TMR, the mechanical/fragmentation thrombectomy devices segment accounted for a large share of the global market in 2022. This is ascribed to the rise in cases of cardiovascular disorders across the globe.

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Thrombectomy Devices Market: Key Findings

Cardiovascular diseases, or CVDs, refer to a group of diseases that impact the normal functioning of blood vessels and the heart. These happen due to lifestyle changes, such as adoption of sedentary lifestyles, unhealthy food choices, and tobacco addiction. Prevalence of several disorders, such as heart failure, stroke, and coronary artery disease, has increased in the past few years. The World Health Organization (WHO) notes that CVD is the leading cause of deaths globally; a projected 17.9 million deaths occurred in 2019. Risks of CVD increase if an individual is suffering from disorders, such as high cholesterol, high blood pressure, obesity, and diabetes, and a family history of heart diseases. As per American Heart Association (AHA) statistics, the U.S. witnesses one death per 36 seconds due to CVD. This number accounts for about 655,000 deaths every year, or 1 in every 4 deaths. Moreover, around 121.5 million individuals in the U.S. are suffering from some form of CVD. Prevalence of CVDs has increased in the developing countries across the globe in the past few years. As per WHO estimates, sedentary lifestyles and tobacco consumption are key reasons for the death of about 80.0% of CVD patients in the middle- and low-income countries across the globe. Thus, rise in prevalence of CVD presents significant business opportunities for manufacturers of thrombectomy devices.

Automated thrombectomy devices have gained significant popularity in the past few years. These devices are increasingly utilized in suction-based or mechanical technologies owing to the ability to help in removing blood clots in the blood vessels in a minimally invasive manner. Increase in usage of these devices in the treatment of deep vein thrombosis, stroke, and other conditions caused due to blood clots is propelling market growth. Key advantages of automated thrombectomy devices over conventional surgical techniques include reduced recovery time, improved patient outcomes, high level of control and precision during clot removal process, and decreased invasiveness. As per the market report by TMR, surge in usage of automated devices globally is likely to drive the global industry in the next few years.

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Thrombectomy Devices Market: Growth Drivers

Increase in prevalence of cardiac diseases is expected to boost demand for thrombectomy devices in the next few years

Rise in number of older people across the globe is anticipated to propel industry growth during the forecast period.

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Regional Analysis

North America held 30.0% share of the global industry in 2022. The market in the region is anticipated to expand at a rapid pace during the forecast period. This can be attributed to rise in incidence of cardiovascular disorders, such as cardiac arrest and high blood pressure.

The market in Asia Pacific is likely to expand at a high CAGR during the forecast period due to increase in population, rising modernization of healthcare infrastructure, and growth in cases of cardiovascular conditions.

Thrombectomy Devices Market: Competition Landscape

Leading players are investing significantly in R&D activities in order to develop technologically advanced devices. Companies in the thrombectomy devices industry are also focusing on the development of rapid tests. They are adopting strategies, such as product launches and mergers & acquisitions, to increase market share.

Thrombectomy Devices Market: Key Players

Boston Scientific Corporation

Stryker Corporation

Terumo Corporation

Medtronic plc

Teleflex Incorporated

Johnson & Johnson

Edwards Lifesciences Corporation

Argon Medical Devices Inc.

Penumbra, Inc.

Koninklijke Philips N.V

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Thrombectomy Devices Market Segmentation-

Product Type

Aspiration Thrombectomy Devices

Mechanical/Fragmentation Thrombectomy Devices

Coil Retrievers

Basket/Brush Retrievers

Stent Retrievers

Rheolytic/Hydrodynamic Thrombectomy Devices

Ultrasound-assisted Thrombectomy Devices



Device Type

Automated

Manual

Application

Cardiovascular Thrombectomy

Neurovascular Thrombectomy

Peripheral Vascular Thrombectomy



End-user

Hospitals and Specialty Clinics

Ambulatory Surgery Centers

Others



Region

North America

Europe

Asia Pacific

Latin America

Middle East & Africa



About Transparency Market Research

Transparency Market Research, a global market research company registered at Wilmington, Delaware, United States, provides custom research and consulting services. Our exclusive blend of quantitative forecasting and trends analysis provides forward-looking insights for thousands of decision makers. Our experienced team of Analysts, Researchers, and Consultants use proprietary data sources and various tools & techniques to gather and analyses information.

Our data repository is continuously updated and revised by a team of research experts, so that it always reflects the latest trends and information. With a broad research and analysis capability, Transparency Market Research employs rigorous primary and secondary research techniques in developing distinctive data sets and research material for business reports.

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Thumzup Media Corporation

Available in the App Store and Google Play, Thumzup Enables Virtually Everyone to Earn Cash Rewards for Posting on Social Media about the Brands They Love



Los Angeles, CA, March 03, 2023 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Thumzup Media Corporation ("Thumzup" or the "Company") (OTCQB: TZUP) is thrilled to welcome Hinano Cafe, situated on the picturesque Venice Beach Pier at 15 Washington Boulevard, Venice, CA 90292, to its innovative digital social media marketing platform where users can earn cash rewards.





The Thumzup mobile app, which is available for download in the App Store and Google Play, incentivizes everyday customers with cash for posting on social media in support of their favorite brands and local businesses. By encouraging everyday customers to become advocates for the brands and establishments they enjoy, Thumzup offers an easy way for users to earn money while promoting products and services they love.

Were thrilled to extend a warm welcome to Hinano Cafe, Jim Morrisons beloved hangout in Venice, to the Thumzup community, stated Robert Steele, Founder and Chief Executive Officer of Thumzup. Thumzups users can now earn cash while enjoying an outstanding selection of beers served in frosty mugs while earning cash in this serene and cool haven steps away from the beach and hot sun. We look forward to helping bolster Hinano Cafes customer base and increase their sales with our unwavering commitment.

For more information, please visit https://www.thumzupmedia.com and https://www.hinanocafevenice.com/.

About Thumzup

Thumzup Media Corporation (Thumzup) is democratizing the multi-billion dollar social media branding and marketing industry. Its flagship product, the Thumzup platform, utilizes a robust programmatic advertiser dashboard coupled with a consumer-facing App to enable individuals to get paid cash for posting about participating advertisers on major social media outlets through the Thumzup App. The easy-to-use dashboard allows advertisers to programmatically customize their campaigns. Cash payments are made to App users/creators through PayPal and other digital payment systems.

Story continues

Thumzup is a publicly traded company (OTCQB stock ticker: TZUP). For more information, please visit https://www.thumzupmedia.com

Forward-looking Statements

This press release contains certain forward-looking statements within the meaning of the safe harbor provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. These include, without limitation, statements about its potential growth, impacts on the advertising industry, and planned expansion. These statements are identified by the use of the words "could," "believe," "anticipate," "intend," "estimate," "expect," "may," "continue," "predict," "potential," "project" and similar expressions that are intended to identify forward-looking statements. All forward-looking statements speak only as of the date of this press release. You should not place undue reliance on these forward-looking statements. Although we believe that our plans, objectives, expectations and intentions reflected in or suggested by the forward-looking statements are reasonable, we can give no assurance that these plans, objectives, expectations or intentions will be achieved. Forward-looking statements involve significant risks and uncertainties (some of which are beyond our control) and assumptions that could cause actual results to differ materially from historical experience and present expectations or projections. Actual results may differ materially from those in the forward-looking statements and the trading price for our common stock may fluctuate significantly. Forward-looking statements also are affected by the risk factors described in our filings with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. Except as required by law, we undertake no obligation to update or revise publicly any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, after the date on which the statements are made or to reflect the occurrence of unanticipated events.

Contact Info:

800-403-6150

investors@ThumzupMedia.com




Vancouver, British Columbia--(Newsfile Corp. - March 2, 2023) - Tincorp Metals Inc. (TSXV: TIN) (OTCQX: TINFF) ("Tincorp" or the "Company") is pleased to announce that it has received the first two batches of assay results of historic core samples from its Porvenir tin-zinc-silver (Sn-Zn-Ag) Project (the "Project"), located in the west-central region of Bolivia, 65 kilometers ("km") southeast of the city of Oruro. The highlight results were received from hole PV-41 with an intercept of 60.20 meters ("m") grading 0.66% g/t tin, 1.44 g/t zinc, and 6.30 g/t silver totaling 322.8 g/t AgEq.

As previously reported (see news release dated August 31, 2022), the Company has the rights to acquire a 100% interest of the Porvenir Project. The Property was subjected to some small-scale, historic mining and was explored and drilled by Japanese mining company, Dowa Metals and Mining Company ("Dowa"), from 2007 to 2011. In total, Dowa completed 88 diamond drill holes totaling approximately 25,000 m of core based on the data acquired by the Company from an independent source. However, only 918 m of core had been sampled and assayed by Dowa previously.

Samples were collected from recovered historic core, and the newly received assays have confirmed historic mineralization intercepts (Table 4 and Table 5) and further indicated that the mineralization is more extensive down-hole. From October to December 2022, over 1,300 m of historic core from 37 holes have been recovered, relogged and sent for assay, including 1,391 samples. There remain another 679 assays for the company to report.

Mr. Gordon Neal, CEO of the Company, stated, "The results of our sampling and assaying program to date are encouraging, as Tincorp's results closely correlate with the historic assays and has shown tin mineralization is more extensive in each hole sampled than was indicated in the historic data. The relogging and assaying program on historic core was completed in 2022 and we are expecting more assays in the next few weeks."

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The most encouraging results are from holes PV-41 and PV-26.

PV-41 has a total hole length of 355 m. 82.20 m of core have been recovered and assayed, including the intervals between 220-235 m and 265-332.2 m. High-grade mineralization intervals in this hole are composed of massive sulfides of sphalerite, pyrrhotite and pyrite, along with silicification. The new assays revealed a 60.2 m wide continuously mineralized interval grading 0.66% Sn and 1.44% Zn and another 10.6 m wide interval grading 0.24 % Sn and 2.57 % Zn.

Table 1. Composited analytical results for hole PV-41

Hole ID From m To m Interval m Sn % Zn % Ag g/t AgEq g/t PV-41 223.40 234.00 10.60 0.24 2.57 9.6 219.9 PV-41 272.00 332.20 60.20 0.66 1.44 6.3 322.8 Incl. 310.00 331.40 21.40 1.35 2.60 9.6 640.9



Notes:

Drill intercepts are core lengths, and grades are length weighted. True width of mineralization is unknown at this time. Silver equivalent [AgEq] is used for illustrative purposes only, to express the combined value of tin, zinc and silver as a grade of silver. AgEq is calculated using US$0.67 per gram of silver, US$3115.5 per tonne of zinc and US$25334.0 per tonne of tin. Metal recoveries are not yet known.

PV-26 has a total hole length of 250.75 m, and 39.00 m of core have been recovered and assayed (from 133.70 to 172.70 m). High-grade intervals are composed of patches of sulfide (pyrrhotite-sphalerite) hosted in bleached sandstone. The new assay results have revealed a 16.7 m wide continuously mineralized interval of 0.64 % Sn and 0.70 % Zn.

Table 2. Composited analytical results for hole PV-26

Hole ID From m To m Interval m Sn % Zn % Ag g/t AgEq g/t PV-26 156.00 172.70 16.70 0.64 0.70 12.3 286.9 Incl. 161.00 169.70 8.70 1.02 0.91 16.8 444.8



Notes:

Drill intercepts are core lengths, and grades are length weighted. True width of mineralization is unknown at this time. Silver equivalent [AgEq] is used for illustrative purposes only, to express the combined value of tin, zinc and silver as a grade of silver. AgEq is calculated using US$0.67 per gram of silver, US$3115.5 per tonne of zinc and US$25334.0 per tonne of tin. Metal recoveries are not yet known.

Other noted mineralized intervals are shown in Table 3.

Table 3. Composited grades of other noted mineralized intervals

Hole ID From m To m Interval m Sn % Zn % Ag g/t AgEq g/t PV-17 203.00 213.60 10.60 0.16 1.18 2.1 117.4 PV-24 270.10 277.95 7.85 0.36 1.53 14.8 222.0 PV-28 284.00 293.35 9.35 0.38 0.56 9.5 179.3 PV-29 116.00 125.50 9.50 0.18 0.84 8.4 115.5 PV-32 218.10 229.00 10.90 0.24 0.85 11.6 141.9 PV-33 116.12 138.20 22.08 0.14 1.44 8.6 128.5 PV-40 255.55 263.50 7.95 0.14 3.64 34.5 256.7 PV-56 186.00 196.82 10.82 0.42 1.93 13.8 262.3 PV-86 397.70 419.45 21.75 0.28 1.45 10.0 183.3



Notes:

Drill intercepts are core lengths, and grades are length weighted. True width of mineralization is unknown at this time. Silver equivalent [AgEq] is used for illustrative purposes only, to express the combined value of tin, zinc and silver as a grade of silver. AgEq is calculated using US$0.67 per gram of silver, US$3115.5 per tonne of zinc and US$25334.0 per tonne of tin. Metal recoveries are not yet known.

The newly received assays are consistent with the historic Dowa assays, which suggests the historic assays data are reliable to provide guidance for future exploration. The comparison of historic Dowa assays and the newly received assays of PV-41 and PV-26 are shown in Table 4 and Table 5.

Table 4. Comparison of historic Dowa assays and 2023 new assays on PV-41.

Hole ID From m To m Length m Historic Assay 2023 Assay Ag g/t Zn % Sn % Ag g/t Zn % Sn % PV-41 224.90 226.00 1.10 4.30 1.10 0.00 4.26 0.95 0.31 PV-41 226.00 226.60 0.60 12.70 4.37 0.22 8.53 4.23 0.16 PV-41 227.10 227.80 0.70 8.95 7.73 0.00 9.06 7.99 0.14 PV-41 227.80 229.00 1.20 8.27 6.76 0.00 7.44 7.49 0.05 PV-41 229.00 229.85 0.85 10.75 4.04 0.00 9.43 2.97 0.08 PV-41 229.85 230.45 0.60 69.20 5.84 0.80 87.00 8.59 0.91 PV-41 272.50 273.20 0.70 9.82 4.90 0.00 10.65 6.60 0.72 PV-41 274.25 274.90 0.65 9.28 1.76 0.00 8.23 1.58 0.07 PV-41 275.00 275.70 0.70 12.90 2.41 0.00 11.20 2.13 0.34 PV-41 275.70 277.00 1.30 6.86 0.93 0.00 6.51 0.71 0.09 PV-41 277.00 277.90 0.90 4.43 0.29 0.00 4.29 0.31 0.18 PV-41 277.90 278.50 0.60 13.45 1.08 2.55 12.55 1.58 2.05 PV-41 279.95 280.70 0.75 5.83 0.36 0.00 5.92 0.41 0.06 PV-41 280.70 281.50 0.80 17.10 1.19 0.30 13.00 0.70 0.27 PV-41 286.40 287.50 1.10 8.10 1.33 0.72 8.53 0.99 1.55 PV-41 291.50 292.50 1.00 4.25 0.61 0.00 5.11 0.69 1.04 PV-41 293.00 294.00 1.00 9.21 3.63 1.95 7.93 3.42 1.47 PV-41 296.00 296.60 0.60 14.40 6.88 0.00 14.20 6.18 0.18 PV-41 306.00 306.90 0.90 15.64 4.11 0.00 12.20 4.30 0.52 PV-41 310.00 310.60 0.60 14.90 2.23 0.00 17.50 2.44 0.66 PV-41 310.60 311.50 0.90 13.90 3.34 0.92 11.95 3.48 0.59 PV-41 311.50 312.10 0.60 22.80 7.54 0.67 25.20 7.82 0.68 PV-41 312.10 312.80 0.70 27.80 8.22 0.05 24.80 8.20 0.33 PV-41 316.35 317.00 0.65 14.15 6.36 7.32 11.20 5.56 5.69 PV-41 317.00 317.70 0.70 19.10 4.18 7.34 13.85 4.18 4.28 PV-41 317.70 318.40 0.70 15.30 5.54 5.86 13.95 6.23 4.61 PV-41 323.80 324.70 0.90 12.40 2.54 0.00 10.85 2.33 0.31 PV-41 325.40 326.00 0.60 10.00 3.82 2.05 9.64 4.51 2.17 PV-41 326.00 327.00 1.00 19.95 8.14 10.15 17.40 8.45 5.47 PV-41 327.00 328.00 1.00 10.95 2.83 3.34 9.95 3.69 5.14 PV-41 328.00 328.90 0.90 10.70 3.78 1.37 8.50 3.38 1.31 PV-41 328.90 329.50 0.60 46.20 4.09 0.62 20.00 5.35 0.70 PV-41 329.50 330.60 1.10 21.00 2.78 0.33 17.55 2.72 0.25 PV-41 330.60 331.40 0.80 31.10 0.88 0.00 23.70 0.72 1.00 Length-Weighted Average 14.62 3.53 1.33 13.09 3.65 1.25

Table 5. Comparison of historic Dowa assays and 2023 new assays on PV-26.

Hole ID From m To m Length m Historic Assay 2023 Assay Ag g/t Zn % Sn % Ag g/t Zn % Sn % PV-26 140.35 141.65 1.30 20.50 1.02 0.00 14.75 0.60 0.06 PV-26 142.70 143.60 0.90 11.05 0.11 0.00 9.94 0.32 0.02 PV-26 150.40 151.20 0.80 7.18 0.50 0.00 10.65 1.00 0.06 PV-26 151.20 151.85 0.65 22.70 2.85 0.00 19.05 2.78 0.08 PV-26 151.85 152.55 0.70 46.50 5.90 0.00 41.20 4.69 0.10 PV-26 167.50 168.45 0.95 59.70 0.50 2.49 48.70 0.97 2.56 PV-26 168.45 169.70 1.25 29.20 1.60 1.76 27.00 0.59 1.22 Length-Weighted Average 27.92 1.57 0.70 24.10 1.32 0.64



Quality Assurance and Quality Control

Dowa assays were on  core. Tincorp resampled another  core for direct comparison. On unsampled Dowa core, Tincorp used  core - all of which were obtained with a diamond-impregnated core saw.

All Porvenir core samples were collected by staff geologists and were shipped in securely sealed bags by Company staff in the Company's vehicles, directly from the field to ALS Bolivia Ltd., in Oruro, Bolivia for preparation, and ALS Peru laboratory in Lima - Peru for geochemical analysis.

The global quality program includes internal and external inter-laboratory test programs and regularly scheduled internal audits that meet all requirements of ISO/IEC 17025:2017 and ISO 9001:2015. The ISO 17025 Accreditation proves a laboratory has an acceptable quality management system in place, and it has the ability and competence to provide testing and calibration results. All samples are prepared using the ALS code: PREP-31; analyzed by ME-MS41 - multi-elemental by aqua regia - ICP-MS - Ultra Trace Levels; for tin: Sn-XRF15B: Fusion Lithium Metaborate - XRF termination. For over limits, digestion in aqua regia is used and finalization by ICP-AES (OG 46 series).

Two types of certified reference materials (standards) are inserted: one, from CDN Resource Laboratories Ltd., and another from OREAS - Ore Research & Exploration P/L; additionally, control samples such as thick white samples and duplicate samples are inserted into normal sequences of drill core samples before sending to the laboratory for preparation and analysis. The overall ratio of quality control in sample sequences is minimum ten percent.

Qualified Person

The scientific and technical information contained in this news release has been reviewed and approved by Donald J. Birak, independent consultant geologist who is a Qualified Person for the purposes of National Instrument 43-101 - Standards of Disclosure for Mineral Resources ("NI 43-101"). The qualified person has visited the Porvenir property and is not aware of any significant risks and uncertainties that could be expected to affect the reliability or confidence in the information discussed herein.

About Tincorp

Tincorp Metals Inc. is a mineral exploration company focusing on tin projects in Bolivia and a gold project near Whitehorse, Yukon, Canada. The Company has signed agreements to acquire up to a 100% interest in the Porvenir Project and SF Tin Project, which are 70 km southeast of Oruro, Bolivia. The Company's 100% owned Skukum Gold Project is approximately 84 km south of Whitehorse by road. An independent mineral resource estimate update in respect of the Skukum Gold Project was completed in October 2022.

On Behalf of Tincorp Metals Inc.

signed "Gordon Neal"

Gordon Neal, CEO & Director

For further information, please contact:

Investor Relations, Tincorp Metals Inc.

Phone: +1 (604)-336-5919

Email: info@tincorp.com

www.tincorp.com

Neither the TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this news release.

Cautionary Note Regarding Forward-Looking Statements

This news release contains forward-looking statements and forward-looking information (collective, "forward-looking statements") within the meaning of applicable Canadian and U.S. securities legislation. All statements, other than statements of historical fact included in this release, including, without limitation, statements regarding the terms of the Agreement, the payment of a finder's fee and the approval of the TSX Venture Exchange are forward-looking statements. Estimates of mineral reserves and mineral resources are also forward-looking information because they incorporate estimates of future developments including future mineral prices, costs and expenses and the amount of minerals that will be encountered if a property is developed. Forward-looking statements are often, but not always, identified by words or phrases such as "expects", "is expected", "anticipates", "believes", "plans", "projects", "estimates", "assumes", "intends", "strategies", "targets", "goals", "forecasts", "objectives", "budgets", "schedules", "potential" or variations thereof or stating that certain actions, events or results "may", "could", "would", "might" or "will" be taken, occur or be achieved, or the negative of any of these terms and similar expressions. Forward-looking statements are based on the opinions, assumptions, factors and estimates of management considered reasonable at the date the statements are made. The opinions, assumptions, factors and estimates which may prove to be incorrect, include, but are not limited to: whether the Company will acquire up to a 100% interest of the Porvenir Project; market fundamentals will result in sustained precious metals demand and prices; that there are no significant disruptions affecting operations, including labour disruptions, supply disruptions, power disruptions, security disruptions, damage to or loss of equipment, whether due to flooding, political changes, title issues, intervention by local landowners, environmental concerns, pandemics (including COVID-19) or otherwise; that the Company will be able to obtain and maintain governmental approvals, permits and licenses in connection with its current and planned operations, development and exploration activities, including at the Skukum Gold Project; that the Company will be able to meet its current and future obligations; that the Company will be able to comply with environmental, health and safety laws; and the assumptions underlying mineral resource estimates and the realization of such estimates.

Forward-looking statements involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors which may cause the actual results, performance or achievements of the Company to differ materially from any future results, performance or achievements expressed or implied by the forward-looking information. Such risks and other factors include, among others: the risk that the Company will not acquire up to a 100% interest of the Porvenir Project; social and economic impacts of COVID-19; actual exploration results; changes in project parameters as plans continue to be refined; results of future Mineral Resource estimates; future metal prices; availability of capital and financing on acceptable terms; general economic, market or business conditions; uninsured risks; regulatory changes; defects in title; availability of personnel, materials and equipment on a timely basis; accidents or equipment breakdowns; delays in receiving government approvals; unanticipated environmental impacts on operations and costs to remedy same; and other exploration or other risks detailed herein and from time to time in the filings made by the Company with securities regulators. Although the Company has attempted to identify important factors that could cause actual actions, events or results to differ from those described in forward-looking statements, there may be other factors that cause such actions, events or results to differ materially from those anticipated. There can be no assurance that forward-looking statements will prove to be accurate and accordingly readers are cautioned not to place undue reliance on forward-looking statements.

Readers are cautioned not to place undue reliance on forward-looking statements. The Company undertakes no obligation to update any of the forward-looking statements in this news release or incorporated by reference herein, except as otherwise required by law.

Additional information in relation to the Company, including the Company's most recent annual information form, can be obtained under the Company's profile on SEDAR at www.sedar.com and on the Company's website at www.tincorp.com.

CAUTIONARY NOTE TO US INVESTORS

The technical and scientific information contained herein has been prepared in accordance with NI 43-101, which differs from the standards adopted by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (the "SEC"). Accordingly, the technical and scientific information contained herein, including any estimates of mineral reserves and mineral resources, may not be comparable to similar information disclosed by U.S. companies subject to the disclosure requirements of the SEC.

To view the source version of this press release, please visit https://www.newsfilecorp.com/release/157009
U.S. Rep. Vern Buchanan will be visiting the train derailment site on Thursday with Manatee County Commission Chair Kevin Van Ostenbridge, Commissioner Mike Rahn and other county officials.

Southern Manatee Fire Rescue responded to the train derailment at 11:20 a.m. Tuesday. Six rail cars had completely derailed and were on their sides  five of them carrying drywall and one carrying 30,000 gallons of liquid propane gas.

A total of 21 fire service personnel responded to the derailment with assistance from Manatee County Emergency Medical Services and Emergency Management. Personnel are working to clear and repair the train track, and in the meantime, they have created a bypass to remove the railcars.

The derailment took place on a track that's a part of the Seminole Gulf Railroad, which spans 100 miles of track throughout Bradenton, Sarasota, North Naples and Arcadia. Its responsible for hauling the region's liquid propane gas, lumber, building materials, plastics, steel and recycled materials.

Off the tracks:Train carrying thousands of gallons of liquid propane gas derails in Manatee County

In case you missed it:Train carrying thousands of gallons of liquid propane derails in Manatee County

Derailment investigation in Ohio:Ohio Senate holds first train derailment hearing on East Palestine disaster

A train carrying sheetrock and thousands of gallons of liquid propane gas derailed at 301 Boulevard East and 16th street on Tuesday, Feb. 28, 2023. There were no injuries reported and there has been no evidence for a leak, officials said.

Where did the derailment happen?

The train derailment was east of 7425 15th Street East in Bradenton.

'There was panic': Stationmaster arrested, transport minister resigns after Greek train wreck kills 43. Live updates.

What caused the derailment?

Southern Manatee Fire Rescue Chief Robert Bounds said he was unable to share details on what caused the derailment and that the investigation will be conducted by the Florida Department of Transportation or the Federal Railroad Administration.

A train carrying sheetrock and thousands of gallons of liquid propane gas derailed at 301 Boulevard East and 16th street on Tuesday, Feb. 28, 2023. There were no injuries reported and there has been no evidence for a leak, officials said.

Were there any leaks?

Manatee County emergency crews monitored the air for leaks, and it was determined that the railcar carrying the liquid propane wasnt leaking.

Story continues

A train carrying sheetrock and thousands of gallons of liquid propane gas derailed at 301 Boulevard East and 16th street on Tuesday, Feb. 28, 2023. There were no injuries reported and there has been no evidence for a leak, officials said.

Were there any injuries?

There were no injuries, and representatives with the Seminole Gulf Railway said that the liquid propane railcar didnt pose a threat to the public or environment.

A train carrying sheetrock and thousands of gallons of liquid propane gas derailed at 301 Boulevard East and 16th street on Tuesday, Feb. 28, 2023. There were no injuries reported and there has been no evidence for a leak, officials said.

How has railway traffic been impacted?

Bounds said that a section of the railway will be closed, impacting railroad traffic.

"It will be impacted, but I'm not sure to what degree," Bounds said.

Seminole Gulf Railway will be working with vendors to make repairs to the train track and right the derailed cars. They're expecting the derailment to be cleared in the next five to seven days.

This article originally appeared on Sarasota Herald-Tribune: Florida train derailment in Bradenton draws federal investigation
Vancouver --News Direct-- Transition Metals Corp

Transition Metals CEO Scott Mclean joined Steve Darling from Proactive to share news about the company's plans for the 2023 field season at its Pike Warden gold-silver-copper property, southwest of Whitehorse in Yukon.

Mclean told Proactive the company is looking to engage in prospecting, mapping, and hand trenching across the property to follow up on results from 2022. He also shared with Proactive the results from synchrotron mineral cluster analysis which was performed by LISACAN Analytical Solutions.

Contact Details

Proactive Canada

+1 604-688-8158

na-editorial@proactiveinvestors.com

View source version on newsdirect.com: https://newsdirect.com/news/transition-metals-provides-update-on-2023-exploration-plans-at-pike-warden-project-in-yukon-267874119
Globex Mining Enterprises Inc.

ROUYN-NORANDA, Quebec, March 03, 2023 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- GLOBEX MINING ENTERPRISES INC. (GMX  Toronto Stock Exchange, G1MN  Frankfurt, Stuttgart, Berlin, Munich, Tradegate, Lang & Schwarz, LS Exchange, TTMzero, Dusseldorf and Quotrix Dusseldorf Stock Exchanges and GLBXF  OTCQX International in the US) is pleased to provide a short update regarding two royalties that Globex has on the Kewagama Gold Mine and New Alger Gold Mine, both assets owned by Radisson Mining Resources (RDS-TSXV, 2RX-Frankfurt). Globex holds a 2% Net Smelter Royalty on the Kewagama Gold Mine and a 1% Net Smelter Royalty on the New Alger Gold Mine.



Radisson has published an update dated March 2, 2023 ( click here to access the Radissons press release ) in which they disclosed Significant potential to expand resources with additional drilling as currently modeled high-grade trends drilled since 2019 in the current resources areas are wide open. This includes Trends #2, #3 and #4 which all plunge steeply (80 to 85) on Globexs Kewagama Gold Mine royalty asset. Refer to longitudinal sections on Radisson press releases to visualize these trends and their potential.

In the Radisson press release, they announced a significant increase in Indicated and Inferred Resources without breaking down the distribution of the gold resources in the various mineralized trends although, they do indicate that gold Trends #2, #3 and #4, which plunge eastward on our Kewagama Gold Mine royalty asset, remain open below 900m, 500m and 500m respectively. Previous Radisson press releases provided more detail regarding these trends showing high-grade gold intersections and multiple areas of definable mineral resources.

In addition, Radisson states that Mineral resources are open for an additional 750 m to the east indicated as Trend #5, where Globexs Kewagama Gold Mine royalty asset abuts against the 100% owned Central Cadillac-Wood Gold Mines property to the east.

Radisson also disclosed that Modeling and re-interpretation of drilling data available on the LLCB (Larder Lake-Cadillac Break) portion of the New Alger Gold Mine property has allowed (Radisson) to establish Inferred Resources totaling 293,000 tonnes grading 7.59 g/t Au for 72,000 ounces. The New Alger Gold Mine is part of what Radisson calls OBrien West and they state that with approximately 2.5 km of ground along the prolific Larder Lake-Cadillac Break having seen limited exploration work in recent years, OBrien West remains open in all directions.

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Globex is pleased with the progress by Radisson on Globexs Kewagama and New Alger Gold Mine Royalty assets and looks forward to their additional efforts to expand their resource base thereby increasing the asset value and potential of Globex two royalties.

This press release was written by Jack Stoch, Geo., President and CEO of Globex in his capacity as a Qualified Person (Q.P.) under NI 43-101.

We Seek Safe Harbour. Foreign Private Issuer 12g3  2(b) CUSIP Number 379900 50 9

LEI 529900XYUKGG3LF9PY95 For further information, contact: Jack Stoch, P.Geo., Acc.Dir.

President & CEO

Globex Mining Enterprises Inc.

86, 14th Street

Rouyn-Noranda, Quebec Canada J9X 2J1



Tel.: 819.797.5242

Fax: 819.797.1470

info@globexmining.com

www.globexmining.com



Forward Looking Statements: Except for historical information, this news release may contain certain forward looking statements. These statements may involve a number of known and unknown risks and uncertainties and other factors that may cause the actual results, level of activity and performance to be materially different from the expectations and projections of Globex Mining Enterprises Inc. (Globex). No assurance can be given that any events anticipated by the forward-looking information will transpire or occur, or if any of them do so, what benefits Globex will derive therefrom. A more detailed discussion of the risks is available in the Annual Information Form filed by Globex on SEDAR at www.sedar.com .




DUBLIN, March 2, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- The "UAE Online Gifting Market | Size, Industry, Revenue, Growth, Size, Share, Value, Outlook & COVID-19 IMPACT: Market Forecast By Types, By Non-Combo Types, By Applications, By Regions And Competitive Landscape" report has been added to ResearchAndMarkets.com's offering.

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UAE Online Gifting Market size is projected to grow at a CAGR of 16.7% during 2022-2028.

UAE Online Gifting market report comprehensively covers the market by types, applications, and regions. UAE Online Gifting market report provides an unbiased and detailed analysis of the on-going trends, opportunities/high growth areas, market drivers which would help the stakeholders to devise and align their market strategies according to the current and future market dynamics.

UAE Online Gifting Market Synopsis

UAE Online Gifting market is anticipated to grow significantly on the back of rapidly growing residential sector. Also, presence of government initiatives such as Dubai Digital Strategy and rapidly increasing tourism industry would boost the demand for online gifting market in the region.

Furthermore, during the outbreak of COVID-19 pandemic online gifting market witnessed significant growth on account of increasing online consumer base. The growing trend of personalized gifts among the consumers would boost the demand for online gifting in the market.

During the outbreak of coronavirus in 2020, which impacted the supply chain disruptions and difficulties in sourcing products online gifting market seen a sharp upsurge. Additionally, the high internet penetration and increasing government support towards growth and strengthening of digital eco-system and e-commerce would accelerate the demand for online gifting market.

Market by Types

Non-combo gifting type dominated the market revenue share in 2021, owing to growing personalized gift culture among consumers across the country. The growth in e-commerce sector and the expanding corporate sector are expected to fuel demand for non-combo gift types in the region, and the segment is expected to continue to lead the market in the coming years.

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Market by Applications

The Residential/personal segment captured the market for the year 2021 owing to high number of gifting occasions such as birthday, anniversary, religious festivals, private events, and parties, etc.

Government efforts to strengthen the digital sector on account of pandemic also contributed to the rise in the application of online gifts in the residential sector. In the coming years, the residential sector would continue to maintain a dominant position in the market on account of increasing applications in birthdays, office events, religious festivals.

Key Highlights of the Report

UAE Online Gifting Market Overview

UAE Online Gifting Market Outlook

UAE Online Gifting Market Forecast

Historical Data and Forecast of UAE Online Gifting Market Revenues, for the Period 2018-2028F

Historical Data and Forecast of UAE Online Gifting Market Revenues, By Product Types for the Period 2018-2028F

Historical Data and Forecast of UAE Online Gifting Market Revenues, By Online Gifting Types for the Period 2018-2028F

Historical Data and Forecast of India Online Gifting Market Revenues, By Sales Channels for the Period 2018-2028F

Historical Data and Forecast of India Online Gifting Market Revenues, By Regions for the Period 2018-2028F

Covid-19 Impact on UAE Online Gifting Market

UAE Online Gifting Market Drivers

UAE Online Gifting Market PESTLE Analysis

UAE Online Gifting Market Porter's Five Forces

UAE Online Gifting Market Industry Life Cycle

UAE Online Gifting Market -Consumer Analysis

UAE Scent Market Consumer Analysis

UAE Online Gifting Market Consumer Analysis

UAE Online Gifting Market Opportunity Assessment

UAE Online Gifting Market Revenue Ranking, By Companies

Competitive Benchmarking

Company Profiles

Key Strategic Recommendations

Companies Mentioned

Ferns N Petals

JOI Gifts

Tinas

Blooming Box

Mange Tout Gifts Trading LLC

Giftbag

Jasani

1800 Gift Portal

Giftshabibi

Market Scope and Segmentation

By Types

Non-Combo

Combo

Digital Gifts

By Non-Combo Types

Flowers

Cakes

Cards

Jewellery

Toys

Perfumes & Fragrances

Books and Stationery

Personalized care & Gifts

Others

By Applications

Residential/Personal

Corporate

By Regions

Abu Dhabi

Dubai

Sharjah

Ajman

Umm Al-Quwain

Fujairah

Ras Al Khaimah

Al Ain

For more information about this report visit https://www.researchandmarkets.com/r/rzq9pf

About ResearchAndMarkets.com

ResearchAndMarkets.com is the world's leading source for international market research reports and market data. We provide you with the latest data on international and regional markets, key industries, the top companies, new products and the latest trends.

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SOURCE Research and Markets
Russia's invasion of Ukraine divided the Group of 20 foreign ministers' gathering in New Delhi on Thursday, with no consensus statement produced at the end of the summit - pointing to a deeper rift compared with last year's meetings.

At his news briefing, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken confirmed that Russia and China refused to sign the ministers' statement, which reaffirmed the declaration G20 leaders issued last year in Bali. That declaration condemned the war in Ukraine for "causing immense human suffering and exacerbating existing fragilities in a global economy".

"Russia and China were the only two countries that made clear that they would not sign on to that text," Biden said.

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.

India's foreign minister Subrahmanyam Jaishankar told reporters that the second high-level ministerial meeting under India's G20 presidency would have culminated in a "collective statement" if there had been a "perfect meeting of minds on all issues".

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken during a news conference at the US embassy in New Delhi on Thursday. Photo: Bloomberg alt=US Secretary of State Antony Blinken during a news conference at the US embassy in New Delhi on Thursday. Photo: Bloomberg>

"There were differences on the Ukraine issue which we could not reconcile between various parties who have differing positions," he said.

Blinken did not have a one-on-one conversation with Chinese Foreign Minister Qin Gang on the sidelines of the summit, but reiterated that "based on information we have", China was considering supplying lethal military assistance to Russia.

"We have sanctions of various kinds," Blinken warned, claiming that potential Chinese support to Russia in Ukraine was a "shared concern".

Story continues

Many other G20 members had this apprehension, Blinken said, "not just raised this with us, but it's my understanding have raised it directly with China, including here today".

The Russian foreign ministry said that Sergey Lavrov, the Russian foreign minister, and Qin had met in New Delhi, and expressed "unanimous rejection" of the West's "attempts to interfere in the internal affairs of other countries" and "impose unilateral approaches through blackmail and threats".

Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov and his Chinese counterpart Qin Gang on the sidelines of the G20 meeting in New Delhi on Thursday. Photo: Xinhua alt=Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov and his Chinese counterpart Qin Gang on the sidelines of the G20 meeting in New Delhi on Thursday. Photo: Xinhua>

Blinken confirmed that he had briefly met with Lavrov. In a 10-minute exchange - their first one-on-one meeting since Russia invaded Ukraine a year ago - Blinken said he urged Russia to reverse its "irresponsible" decision to walk away from the only remaining nuclear non-proliferation treaty with the US.

"I told the foreign minister that no matter what else is happening in the world or in our relationship, the United States will always be ready to engage and act on strategic arms control, just as the United States and the Soviet Union did even at the height of the Cold War," Blinken said.

Blinken also met with Jaishankar, with the two sides addressing shared efforts to elevate and expand strategic technology and military and industrial cooperation.

According to a statement by the US State Department, Blinken and Jaishankar also discussed their countries' cooperation in the Indo-Pacific and ways to mitigate the global impacts of the war in Ukraine.

After regarding the US with suspicion for decades, India has aligned more closely with Washington and its allies in recent years as China's military might and economic influence have grown.

India is a member of the Quad, a US-led security bloc cooperation in the Indo-Pacific that also includes Japan and Australia and is aimed at countering China.

The Quad foreign ministers are set to meet on Friday in New Delhi. Blinken said that the key areas of focus would include "protecting the free and unrestricted movement of goods and people across our seas, and boosting cooperation around humanitarian assistance and disaster relief".

On Thursday, Qin also met with Jaishankar for about 45 minutes, discussing the challenges in the "abnormal" bilateral relationship, "especially on the peace and tranquillity in the border areas", Jaishankar said in his news briefing.

India has maintained friendly ties with Russia dating from the Cold War era. Russia is India's leading supplier of arms and munitions, and India is a major buyer of Russian oil.

India has so far avoided criticising Russia for its war on Ukraine and instead talked about other difficulties facing developing countries on major international platforms.

Katja Gloger, author of Putin's World: The New Russia, Ukraine and the West, said that Russia has portrayed its invasion of Ukraine as a "righteous war" to defend the Russian civilisation against the collective West and the global politics of the US while also presenting itself as a "sort of partner of the Global South, defending a new multipolar world".

"I think this is the view from Moscow that meets quite some interest in countries in the Global South, who also blamed the collective West of hypocrisy," she said.

Susan Ariel Aaronson of the Elliot School of International School at George Washington University reckoned the divide was "not a complete cleavage".

She said that the US must keep communication lines open with Russia on "wicked problems, such as the global spread of disease, poverty and climate change" that also affect the developing world.

Addressing the G20 foreign ministers on Thursday, Indian Prime Minster Narendra Modi said that India's G20 presidency had "tried to give a voice to the Global South", advising "we should not allow issues that we cannot resolve together to come in the way of those we can".

India assumed its one-year rotating presidency of the Group of 20, the world's 20 largest economies, from Indonesia in December. Last week, G20 finance ministers also failed to adopt a joint communique, as Russia and China opposed any reference to the war in Ukraine.

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.
MONTREAL, QC / ACCESSWIRE / March 3, 2023 / Vior Inc. ("Vior" or the "Corporation"), (TSXV:VIO)(OTCQB:VIORF)(FRANKFURT:VL51) is pleased to announce some preliminary results for its global data compilation program at its flagship high-grade Belleterre Gold project ("Belleterre" or "Project") located in the Abitibi-Temiscamingue region of Quebec. Vior welcomes all shareholders and supporters to the PDAC convention at Booth 2613 March 5th and 6th to meet with management, and further discuss the exciting exploration potential that its new Belleterre geological model presents.

Mark Fedosiewich, President and CEO of Vior, states "Our global data compilation effort is well advanced, and we are extremely pleased with the initial results. Based on structural interpretation, surface mapping and the known gold distribution on the project, these results have helped to redefine the geological framework and understanding of the area. Further, the geochemistry interpretation and the digitization of over a thousand historic drill holes will be fully integrated into Vior's comprehensive database. This has strengthened the preliminary interpretation and lays the foundation for our next high-priority exploration targets."

In conjunction with recent field exploration and validation programs, Vior launched a global data compilation and digitization program for all historical exploration activities at Belleterre dating back to 1936. The objective was to identify and prioritize the next high-potential drill targets in the Belleterre gold camp. Since consolidation of the Project, Vior has reconfirmed and expanded the strong gold potential through a systematic exploration approach, which includes: a high-definition magnetic geophysical survey with magnetic inversion, several field exploration programs, and two small drill validation programs. From these initial exploration programs, Vior has demonstrated:

a significant high-grade gold footprint at surface in the camp that extends over 12km in length;

a vertical continuity at depth of known high-grade gold structures outcropping at surface, with wider and more intense deformation, and a well-distributed gold mineralization; and

the recognition of multiple new multi-kilometre gold structures that were not previously known, thus introducing the significant potential for additional new gold discoveries in the Belleterre camp.

Story continues

The maps in Figure 1 shows the geological interpretation of the camp before and after Vior implemented its systematic exploration strategy that includes a global data compilation program. Vior has identified further extensions to known gold zones and new high-potential structures based on a more comprehensive understanding of the geology and the structural continuities of the area. This newfound knowledge trends towards significant value creation for Vior's shareholders.

Vior Inc., Friday, March 3, 2023, Press release picture

Figure 1: Belleterre's geological map before and after Vior's global data compilation program.

About the Belleterre Project

The project is located near the town of Belleterre in the Abitibi-Temiscamingue region of Quebec, 95km south of Rouyn-Noranda, QC. The property consists of 1,017 claims over an area of 57,220 hectares (572.2 km2), forming a district-scale exploration package. The Project includes the option to acquire the former high-grade Belleterre Gold Mine that produced over 750,000 oz gold at 10.73 grams per tonne (g/t) and 95,000 oz silver (Ag) at 1.73 g/t between 1936 and 1959 (Source: Sigeom MERN). The property has been under-explored over the the past 60 years and has never been the subject of such significant consolidation until now. Further, this property has never been explored for its lithium potential, and only limited previous work was dedicated to Ni, PGE magmatic mineralization and other critical metals. The Belleterre Project benefits from its advantageous location within the Abitibi-Temiscamingue region, providing competitive exploration costs and exceptional access to key resources. Within close proximity to two major mining towns in Quebec, it provides a comprehensive mining infrastructure that includes an extensive road network and access to power, as well as a readily available and skilled workforce. The past gold production at the Belleterre gold mine, the highly prospective future gold targets generated by Vior, as well as the advanced lithium project at Tansim are testament to the exploration potential of this area. Vior holds a dominant land position in the region and controls a highly prospective multi-commodity exploration project that can advance quickly with fieldwork expected to start early Spring of 2023.

About Vior Inc.

Vior is a hybrid junior mining exploration company based in Quebec, whose corporate strategy is to generate, explore and develop high-quality projects in proven and favourable mining jurisdictions in North America. Through the years, Vior's management and technical teams have demonstrated their ability to discover several gold deposits and many high-quality mineral prospects.

Qualified Persons

The technical content disclosed in this press release was reviewed and approved by Laurent Eustache, Vior's Executive Vice-President and Christian Blanchet, Operations Manager for Vior, both Qualified Persons as per National Instrument 43-101.

For further information, please contact:

Mark Fedosiewich

President and CEO

613-898-5052

mfedosiewich@vior.ca

Laurent Eustache

Executive Vice-President

514-442-7707

leustache@vior.ca

www.vior.ca

Neither the TSX Venture Exchange nor its regulation services provider (as that term is defined in the Policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.

Forward-Looking Statements

This news release contains forward-looking statements. All statements, other than of historical facts, that address activities, events or developments that the Corporation believes, expects or anticipates will or may occur in the future including, without limitation, the planned exploration program on the Belleterre project, the expected positive exploration results, the timing of the exploration results, the ability of the Corporation to continue with the exploration program, the availability of the required funds to continue with the exploration and the approval from the Ministere de l'energie et des ressources naturelle ("MERN") of the request for abandonment of the two mining concessions filed by 9293-0122 Quebec Inc. are forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements are generally identifiable by use of the words "will", "should", "continue", "expect", "anticipate", "estimate", "believe", "intend", "to earn", "to have', "plan" or "project" or the negative of these words or other variations on these words or comparable terminology. Forward-looking statements are subject to a number of risks and uncertainties, many of which are beyond the Corporation's ability to control or predict, that may cause the actual results of the Corporation to differ materially from those discussed in the forward-looking statements. Factors that could cause actual results or events to differ materially from current expectations include, among other things, failure to meet expected, estimated or planned exploration expenditures, the possibility that future exploration results will not be consistent with the Corporation's expectations, general business and economic conditions, changes in world gold markets, sufficient labour and equipment being available, changes in laws and permitting requirements, unanticipated weather changes, title disputes and claims, environmental risks, the refusal by the MERN to approve the request for abandonment of the two mining concessions held by 9293-0122 Quebec Inc. as well as those risks identified in the Corporation's annual Management's Discussion and Analysis. Should one or more of these risks or uncertainties materialize, or should assumptions underlying the forward-looking statements prove incorrect, actual results may vary materially from those described and accordingly, readers should not place undue reliance on forward-looking statements. Although the Corporation 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. The Corporation does not intend, and does not assume any obligation, to update these forward-looking statements except as otherwise required by applicable law.

SOURCE:





View source version on accesswire.com:

https://www.accesswire.com/742006/Vior-Releases-New-Geological-Model-at-Its-Belleterre-Gold-Project




A roundup of the most newsworthy press releases from Cision Distribution this week

TORONTO, March 3, 2023 /CNW/ - With thousands of press releases published each week, it can be difficult to keep up with everything on Cision. To help journalists and consumers stay on top of the week's most newsworthy and popular releases, here's a recap of some major stories from the week that shouldn't be missed.

Cision Canada - The Weekly Round-Up (PRNewsfoto/Cision Canada)

The list below includes the headline (with a link to the full text) and an excerpt from each story. Click on the press release headlines to access accompanying multimedia assets that are available for download.

Story continues

Read more of the latest releases from Cision, see our resources for journalists, and stay caught up on the top press releases by following @cnwnews.

About Cision Canada

Cision is a comprehensive communications platform enabling more than 100,000 public relations and marketing professionals around the world to understand, influence and amplify their stories. As the market leader, Cision enables the next generation of communication professionals to strategically operate in the modern media landscape where company success is directly impacted by public opinion. Cision has offices in 24 countries through the Americas, EMEA and APAC, and offers a suite of best-in-class solutions, including Newswire, Brandwatch, Cision Communications Cloud and Cision Insights. To learn more, visit www.cision.ca and follow @CisionCA on Twitter.

SOURCE Cision Canada

Cision

View original content to download multimedia: http://www.newswire.ca/en/releases/archive/March2023/03/c7124.html
Tesla (TSLA) stock jumped Friday after the automaker reported strong China sales.

Teslas wholesale shipments for February from its China factory rose 32% from a year ago to 74,402 vehicles, according to Chinas Passenger Car Association (CPCA). That also figure represents a 13% jump month over month from January.

Shares of the EV maker were up nearly 3.6% Friday.

The increase in February shipments is not surprising given that CPCA said February sales of new energy vehicles, which include battery electric and hybrid sales, rose by 30% overall. And it noted last month that January would be a weak month for overall sales in the region due to the Chinese New Year.

Nevertheless, stronger sales in February for Tesla is a positive development as competition rises in the important Chinese EV market, where Tesla is getting an increasing amount of its global sales.

"Teslas continued growth in China should come as no surprise," Chandan Kumar, head of products at index provider Indxx, said. "As a logical result of this Tesla, despite what many Americans may think, only gets roughly 31% of its total sales from the US, with the rest essentially all from China and Europe."

A visitor checks a Tesla Model 3 car at a showroom of the U.S. electric vehicle (EV) maker in Beijing, China February 4, 2023. REUTERS/Florence Lo

Recent price cuts in January of the Chinese-made Model 3 and the Model Y  which were cut by 13.5% and 10%, respectively  are clearly giving Tesla a boost in the region, despite competitors like BYD outselling them in February. BYDs new energy vehicle sales jumped by over 100% to 193,655. Meanwhile, Teslas share of the new energy market in China slipped to 9% from 10% while BYDs share rose to 37% from 27%, according to the CPCA.

Tom Zhu, Teslas head of global manufacturing (and likely heir apparent to CEO Elon Musk), addressed concerns about demand in China earlier this week at Teslas Investor Day.

As long as you offer a product with value at an affordable price, you dont have to worry about demand, Zhu said during the Q&A portion of the event late Wednesday evening. Zhu noted the price cuts in China generated huge demand, more than we can produce, really. Tesla also cut prices in Australia, Japan, and South Korea in order to gin up demand.

Story continues

Tesla's China website (3/3/2023)

The price cuts of course were cheered by new Tesla buyers in China but were met with deep resentment and protests by recent buyers who were not given a refund or other forms of compensation, such as free charging, when the price cuts were announced.

According to Teslas China website, the current wait time for all versions of the built-to-order Model 3 stands at one to four weeks, and the wait time for the Model Y SUV (RWD and dual motor) is two to five weeks.



Pras Subramanian is a reporter for Yahoo Finance. You can follow him on Twitter and on Instagram.

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2 arrested in thefts, chase, crash

Two Florida men are facing a slew of charges following a series of incidents that began with thefts in Fredericksburg and included a police pursuit during which the suspect crashed into a police cruiser, authorities said.

Fredericksburg police spokeswoman Sarah Morris said city officers went to Alum Springs Park about 2 p.m. Wednesday after receiving reports about several cars being broken into.

While officers were speaking to the victims, one victim received a bank alert that their credit card was used at the Target in Central Park. Morris said loss prevention personnel at the store obtained video footage of the person who used the card and a description of the vehicle that he left in.

City police relayed that information to surrounding jurisdictions and a Virginia State Police trooper spotted the vehicle heading north on Interstate 95 in Stafford County. The driver refused to stop and the resulting pursuit ended up in the area of Courthouse and Wyche roads in the Stafford courthouse area.

In the parking lot of the Rappahannock Juvenile Detention Center, police said, the suspect vehicle smashed into a state police cruiser. At that point, the driver and his passenger fled on foot. The trooper was not injured.

Stafford Sheriffs spokesman Ryan Wilbur said off-duty Sgt. G.A. Haney happened to be at a nearby Sheetz and assisted the trooper in catching the fleeing driver.

Deputy S.M. Eastman and his police dog, Ruby, tracked the passenger through the woods for more than a mile. That suspect came out of the woods at U.S. 1 and was finally apprehended.

The driver, 21-year-old Jerome Jeffrey Wilson Jr., and Leskeil S. Richards, 27, were both charged with six counts of credit card theft, two counts of credit card fraud, vandalism of a vehicle and obstruction of justice.

Wilson was also charged with felony eluding, hit and run and two counts of reckless driving. Richards was additionally charged with identity theft, giving false identification to law enforcement and two counts of forgery.

Both men are being held in the Rappahannock Regional Jail.

Man convicted for child porn

A Spotsylvania County man who solicited sexual contact with who he thought was a 10-year-old girl was convicted of 36 felony offenses Wednesday.

Matthew Tobias Erickson, 42, was convicted by a Spotsylvania Circuit Court jury of 26 counts of solicitation of a minor and 10 counts of possessing child pornography. He was acquitted of multiple other charges.

The solicitation convictions each carry mandatory minimum sentences of at least five years in prison, meaning Erickson would receive at least 130 years when he is sentenced May 8.

According to evidence presented by prosecutors Ryan Mehaffey and Jeremy Thiesen, a private group that goes online in search of predators had a profile picture of a 10-year-old girl. A woman from Indiana was online pretending to be the child.

Erickson reached out to the girl via Instagram during the latter part of 2021, telling her she was beautiful, and eventually had a number of explicit online conversations with the woman pretending to be a child. Among the messages he sent were videos of him performing a sex act on himself.

At one point, the child wrote about coming to Virginia to visit her aunt. Erickson tried to arrange meeting the child in person when she came, Mehaffey said.

Members of the predator identification group eventually showed up at Ericksons home with a camera and got him to confess to his activities. Police were called, and child pornography was recovered from Ericksons phone.

-Keith Epps
The Spotsylvania County Board of Supervisors has been wrestling with a proposed new sidewalk for students of three neighboring schools, even though federal funding is targeted for the project.

The problem is the cost, and how much the county might have to pay.

The Virginia Department of Transportations estimated cost for the 1,688-foot sidewalk totals $4.1 million, nearly twice the original $2.3 million estimate, Paul Agnello, the countys transportation planning director, told supervisors at Tuesdays board meeting.

The project has been awarded $2 million in federal funds, with the county paying a $500,000 match. The county plans to apply for another $1.6 million through the federal grant program. If that money is awarded, the countys obligation would total $766,749.

Geared toward student safety, the project calls for the sidewalk to be built along Chancellor Park Drive, running from Harrison Road Elementary School to Willow Pond Drive.

The preliminary plans place the sidewalk on the same side of the road as the elementary school. Chancellor middle and high schools are on the other side of the road.

There are six neighborhoods, with 368 houses, along the route.

Supervisor Deborah Frazier, the principal at Chancellor Middle, said she worries about student safety and has wondered for years why there was no sidewalk for them to use.

With three schools there, we do have students who walk. And there is nothing except the road to walk on, she said. One life lost, one child injured for the rest of their life, is a lot to bear.

Supervisor Tim McLaughlin said the county has about $30 million in needs and the sidewalk, while important, is not the highest priority.

The cost of the project bothers McLaughlin, who said the estimated price tag equals $2,437 per linear foot.

Thats insane, he said. This is not good use of taxpayer money.

McLaughlin also noted there is no guarantee the project would earn more federal funds in the second application, meaning the county could be on the hook for the rest of the project cost.

The supervisor asked if the county could back out of the federal funding if the board approved it.

Agnello said the county could back out with minimal costs related to engineering work.

He also said the project cost could decrease, since supply chain problems are easing and the county may expand its transportation engineering department, which could handle some of the work.

Agnello added that the $4 million project estimate by VDOT is a worst case scenario and highway department officials have said they dont think the project will cost that much.

The board seemed poised to vote, but Supervisor Chris Yakabouski asked why the sidewalk was proposed on the side that includes more private property. He wondered if the project cost would drop if the sidewalk were built on the other side of the road, where the middle and high schools are.

Agnello said he could ask VDOT to look into that option, and the board decided to delay the vote until next month.
Christian Womens Noon Connection will gather for a noon luncheon on Monday, March 13, at the Midland University Dining Hall, Ninth and Pebble streets, in Fremont.

Jodi Guill with House of Color will present information about discovering what colors you should wear.

Deb Pedrick will provide music and speak on Who Will Never Let You Go? Have you ever felt out of control by lifes circumstances? Pedrick has two daughters and three grandchildren. She works with at-risk youth.

Cost of the luncheon is $15. Call Pat at 402-720-3847 by March 8 to make a reservation. Honoring your reservation is necessary.
Qabil Ashirov

Azerbaijans Deputy Economy Minister Sahib Alakberov met with the Deputy Prime Minister of Belarus, co-chairman of the Azerbaijan-Belarus Intergovernmental Commission, Igor Petrishenko, Azernews reports citing Azerbaijans Economy Ministry.

According to the information received from the ministry, sides exchanged opinions on the expansion of economic and trade relations between Azerbaijan and Belarus, the participation of Belarusian companies in the restoration of territories freed from occupation, the promotion of investments, and other issues of mutual interest.

At the meeting, it was emphasized that Azerbaijan-Belarus relations based on the principles of mutual respect and reliable partnership are developing, and a multi-faceted legal framework has been created between our countries.

According to the ministry, the deputy minister gave detailed information about the economic reforms carried out in Azerbaijan and pointed out that there are great opportunities for expanding cooperation in the fields of trade, investment, industry, energy, agriculture, pharmaceuticals, transport, as well as in the restoration and construction works carried out in Karabakh and Eastern Zangezur.

Touching on the economic relation between Azerbaijan and Belarus, Igor Petrishenko spoke about the current state and prospective directions of mutual economic cooperation.

He noted the successful activity of Belarusian companies in machine-building, transport, agriculture, and other fields in Azerbaijan and emphasized that they are interested in expanding economic-trade relations between Azerbaijan and Belarus.

The parties exchanged views on investment promotion and other issues of mutual interest.




A hoax 9-1-1 swatting call reporting a non-existent school shooting claim was reported to the Fremont and Dodge County emergency dispatch center on Thursday morning, March 2, but officials quickly realized it was fake, officials said in a series of press releases.

The fake call in Fremont was similar to many others that were made to schools across Nebraska on Thursday, including in Columbus and Omaha, among other districts.

Hope Pierce, coordinator of communications and public relations for Fremont Public Schools, said in a press release that no threat existed and a resolution of the incident has occurred.

Fremont Public Schools and the Fremont Police Department are announcing a resolution to a hoax situation that has been making the rounds in Colorado, Kansas, and now here in Nebraska.

A trend of hoax active shooter calls have been hitting 9-1-1 call centers this week. The caller, with background noise consistent with a call center, claims to be in a school building witnessing a shooting, district officials stated in a press release. Weve also received word that a similar phony call was received at several other Nebraska school districts across the state as well. Fremont/Dodge County dispatch received a call this morning regarding an active shooter at the high school.

The release stated further that: The information the caller shared did not rise to the level of concern necessitating a more aggressive response because the information was not in line with our staff, building structure or other specifics related to our school.

Pierce wrote in the press release that the fake calls, are unsubstantiated and phony. She also stressed that school district officials are working closely with law enforcement agencies including the Fremont Police Department to investigate the incident and also be on alert for safety concerns.

Out of due diligence, Fremont Police responded to the (Fremont) High School this morning and informed us of the call to affirm their support of our safety efforts. All of our students and staff at our schools are safe, FPS officials stated in the press release. No learning has been disrupted and business is operating in our buildings as usual.

Pierce reiterated the FPS safety motto, which is: If You See Something, Say something. If You Know Something, Tell An Adult.

FPS Superintendent Mark Shepard stated in the press release, We are fortunate to have a partnership with local law enforcement to keep our schools and the community safe.

According to a press release from officials at the Nebraska State Patrol, the agency has received reports of, several false reports of school shootings that have been placed to 911 call centers across Nebraska, Thursday morning.

There is no credible information that any such school shooting has taken place in Nebraska today, officials stated in the press release. Earlier this week, the Nebraska Information Analysis Center (NIAC), a division of the Nebraska State Patrol, provided a bulletin to law enforcement agencies across the state and the Nebraska Department of Education regarding a trend of swatting calls that had been reported in several other states this year, including Arkansas, California, Colorado, Florida, Idaho, Massachusetts, Minnesota, Texas, and Vermont.

State patrol officials urged anyone with information regarding the origin of these calls to telephone the NIAC at 888-580-6422 or submit an online tip at the NIAC Suspicious Activity Report site sars.nebraska.gov.

- Information in this article was compiled from press releases.
When the phone rang at 5:45 a.m., Bart Mruz thought the hospital was calling to say his 95-year-old mother had died.

But he got a different message.

A nurse said Jean Mruz was still living, but wanted her family to come to the hospital as soon as possible, because she wanted to die.

Mruz and his sister, Mary Granger, were the first to arrive. Mruz had figured his mother was near death, but saw something very different.

We walked into her hospital room and she was sitting up in bed, Mruz said. She looked fine.

Thats when Jean began sharing a heavenly experience shed had the night before.

This account along with stories of her life are now part of a new book called, All My Clothes Were White  The Spirited Life, Pre-Heaven Visit and Peaceful Death of My Mom, Jean Mruz.

Bart Mruz wrote the book, which is available at www.AllMyClothesWere White.com and Amazon.com and can be ordered from retailers worldwide.

The public was invited to a book signing and author meet and greet from on March 4 in Fremont.Mruz told why he wrote the book.

Up to her passing, as well as the night before, the story was so full of God and miracles that I thought this story had to be told, he said.

Originally from Fremont, Bart Mruz is a licensed realtor in Arizona and Nebraska. He lives in Phoenix, where he works for Coldwell Banker Realty.

He comes to Fremont monthly, typically staying at least a week, and works for Nebraska Realty.

Mruz described his mother as someone whod had an interesting life. She was young when her parents divorced in the 1930s.

She came from a very tough background and her goal in life was to be a mom and raise kids that did not go through what she did. That was very important to her, he said.

Jean and Walt Mruz married in 1948 and had five children: Helen, Bart, Bernie, Bill and Mary.

Bart Mruz said his mother loved Fremont and St. Patricks Catholic Church. Her faith was very important to her.

God was first in everything, Mruz said.

A few months before her death, Jean Mruz would enter what Bart described as a meditative state.

There was a night where she talked to somebody next to her bed for probably 10 or 15 minutes and we think it was my father (whod died in 1995), because she was giving an update on all of us kids, Mruz said.

Mruz and his siblings knew their mothers time on earth was growing short.

Jean Mruz had a lung infection, but medical personnel said she was responding to medications she was receiving.

Then the next morning, Mruz said the nurse called, encouraging family members to come to the hospital.

Thats when Jean began sharing her heavenly experience.

Mruz said his mom talked about rising along with five other dying people in what she described as a tube.

While in the tube, Jean said, All my clothes were white.

I knew right there that shed had an out-of-body experience, Mruz said. She told us the whole story and she was the only one out of the six of them that was allowed to come back. The others had to stay. She was talking in a way where it was like a small child telling you the story. She was in wonder and awe.

Mruz said his mother shared many other things before her death on March 12, 2022.

He was able to confirm things shed told them by people, who are still living.

Mruz believes he was guided to write the book.

I feel like I was led by God to write this story just to bring a little more light into the world, he said.

The book already has been well received.

I think everybody, right now, is looking for something that gives them hope, he said.

Mruz believes the book will help people understand that life on earth is just a pause and, one day, they will see their loved ones again.

The biggest compliment we can give our loved ones who have died is to keep living and glorify God while were here, Mruz said.

Mruz believes people heal from loss on their own schedule and notes that its important to grieve.

But our loved ones really want us to be happy, he said. I kind of feel guilty a little bit in some ways, because theres a lot of people who dont get to say goodbye to their loved ones. But this experience had to be told to give others hope.

Mruz said books will be available for sale at the coffeehouse.

He believes several people already have bought books on Amazon.

Hes heard positive feedback from readers who laugh, cry and relate to the book.

If anything, it will help people heal from their losses and realize theres more to life than this world, Mruz said. Theres somewhere else that will be more amazing and magical than we could ever expect.
The Japanese admiral wanted to create a diversion.

So during World War II, he sent a small task force to attack Dutch Harbor in the Aleutian Islands of Alaska.

Admiral Isoroku Yamamoto figured the Americans would send forces to defend that part of their country. When they realized it was a ruse, theyd rush back to defend Pearl Harbor, which had been bombed the previous December.

With American military diverted to Alaska then Pearl Harbor, Yamamoto believed his forces could neutralize the U.S. at Midway Island  which lies almost directly in between the United States and Japan.

But it didnt work.

U.S. Naval Intelligence broke the Japanese naval code and U.S. Admiral Chester Nimitz learned about the plan. The U.S. won a decisive victory during the Battle of Midway, which historians believe turned the tide of the war in the Allies favor.

Something else helped U.S. forces.

I learned about this from tour guide Tom Phelps at the National Naval Aviation Museum in Pensacola, Florida.

While in the Aleutians, a Japanese Zero fighter crashed on Akutan Island, killing the pilot.

Two other Japanese pilots mistakenly thought their comrade had survived and left without destroying the plane.

Tom said U.S. forces transported the enemy aircraft via ship to San Diego, where it was restored to flying condition.

U.S. test pilots discovered the planes capabilities.

Pilots learned the agile plane could make tight turns.

But the plane couldnt suddenly be turned to the right when its big engine was pulling it to the left.

U.S. pilots used this to their advantage.

When a Japanese plane went into a dive, reaching about 250 mph, the pilot had to turn it to the left.

Thats when a U.S. plane would fire bullets down the side of the Japanese aircraft.

The bullets would hit the Zeros fuel tank, causing an explosion.

One of the things that neither the Japanese nor the Germans ever did was to copy our self-sealing fuel tanks, Tom said.

Inside the aluminum fuel tanks of U.S. planes was a big rubber bag (called a bladder).

If a bullet went through the rubber bladder, it would open, but then close instantly so fuel wasnt lost.

Thats important, because when fuel was lost in the tank, it created vapors.

Those vapors could be ignited by the burning chemicals of a tracer bullet.

If a tracer hits the vapors, it will explode and blow the tail of the airplane off, Tom said.

Japan built 10,449 Zeros. By the end of the war, it had fewer than 300 planes.

It sounds like the lack of a rubber bag inside the aluminum fuel tank had much to do with that.

The rubber bladders provided a layer of protection inside Allied fuel tanks that their enemy didnt have.

That protection reminds me of a shield we read about in the Bible.

The Apostle Paul wrote about this shield when urging ancient Christians to put on what he calls the full armor of God.

We find his words in the sixth chapter in the book of Ephesians.

Put on the full armor of God, so that you can take your stand against the devils schemes, Paul writes.

Paul says our struggle isnt against flesh-and-blood people, but spiritual forces of evil.

He tells Christians to put on the armor so they can stand their ground and resist the enemy.

Paul describes the armor, which includes the belt of truth, buckled around the waist  the bodys core. It includes the breastplate of righteousness. For shoes, he says to put on the peace that comes from the Gospel.

He says to put on salvation as a helmet and take up the sword of the spirit, which is the word of God.

In addition, Paul says to hold up the shield of faith to extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one.

Kind of like those rubber bladders, the shield protects those who use it.

Unlike the rubber bladder, the shield doesnt absorb the projectile.

It extinguishes it  so it bounces off useless.

In her wonderful Bible study, The Armor of God,* author and speaker Priscilla Shirer talks about this protective gear in inspiring and insightful ways.

She says Roman soldiers had wooden shields with iron in the center. The big shields were covered in canvas and then leather to deflect the enemys fiery arrows. Soldiers soaked the shields in water to extinguish the arrows flames.

Our shields of faith can extinguish the enemys flaming arrows of fear, doubt and insecurity.

And like the rubber bags inside the aluminum fuel tanks, our shields can prevent a lot of damage.

How do you get a shield of faith?

Ask God to show you how hes been working in your life.

Remember when you prayed about a tough situation  only to see it resolved in an amazing way?

I believe thats God at work.

Our faith grows as we remember how God has helped us and others in the past.

We can ask God to help increase our faith, too.

Some might say if we pray this, then God will put us in nail-biting situations where we must learn to trust him.

Dont let fear keep you from asking for more faith.

Instead, trust that God loves you more than anybody else ever could and hell guard, guide, help and protect you.

Im glad I had the opportunity to visit the museum with my pals, Kathy Stolinski and Martha Hartman, recently. Im grateful to Kathys brother, Butch, for getting us into the museum, which currently has limited access.

And Im glad about something else.

After the Japanese surrendered and the war ended, the U.S. helped Japan rebuild.

Today, the U.S. and Japan are strong allies.

I had the awesome privilege of working with a young Japanese woman, who graduated from Midland University and worked at the Tribune years ago. I enjoyed her friendship and appreciated her hard work and dedication to the job.

Ive lost touch with her, but hope someday well see each other again.

In the meantime, Im grateful for our allies and our military personnel, whove sacrificed so much for our country.

Most of all, Im grateful to God, who:

Sent his only son to die and pay the penalty for our sins.

Loves us despite our weaknesses.

And says in Jeremiah 29:11: I know the plans I have for you. Plans to help and not harm you. Plans to give you hope and a future.
Gov. Jim Pillen and assorted state law enforcement officials joined together on Thursday afternoon at a press conference to address reports received from across Nebraska regarding false claims of school shootings.

According to Nebraska State Patrol officials, in every instance, there was no credible information or evidence that a shooting had taken place. It was confirmed that there was no danger to Nebraska schools and each school went back to normal operations Thursday.

Led by NSP Col. John Bolduc, the conference included Pillen; Lt. Monty Lovelace, director of NSPs Nebraska Information Analysis Center (NIAC); Jay Martin, Nebraska school safety and security director at the Nebraska Department of Education; and Dr. Mario Scalora, director of the University of Nebraska Public Policy Center.

A number of hoax calls had been received by 9-1-1 call centers across the state, Bolduc explained, with some regarding active shooter situations, or something similar, at 10 different schools. Schools and law enforcement agencies in those areas responded to the calls accordingly, he added. Such calls are being categorized as swatting calls.

Bolduc said there is an investigation into the incidents. The calls were all similar in nature, but it is unclear at this time if it was the same person or party responsible for all fake reports. Calls like this are difficult to track, Bolduc added, but not impossible to trace.

When law enforcement officials received the hoax calls on Thursday morning, law enforcement responded to schools across the state as though it were an active shooter situation. Many schools, teachers and students went into lockdown  barricading themselves in their rooms and students were said to be sending text messages to their parents about the situation, Bolduc said. All of which are appropriate responses, he noted.

The fear and trauma that resulted from this criminal action is almost incomprehensible, he said. Fortunately our schools and law enforcement agencies across the state responded appropriately. There was a disruption in learning today, but the good news is our kids are safe, learning is continuing, we will gather as much information as we can from these incidents and conduct a thorough investigation to see if we can determine from where these calls originated and hold people accountable.

Lovelace explained that the swatting calls that happened Thursday morning followed a pattern that law enforcement has been seeing across the nation in 2023 and earlier. This past Monday, NIAC issued a situational bulletin to all Nebraska law enforcement agencies and the Nebraska Department of Education regarding these trends regarding swatting calls. The bulletin asked agencies to be on alert for such events as other states including Arkansas, California, Colorado, Florida, Idaho, Massachusetts, Minnesota, Texas and Vermont have experienced them this year.

When it comes to preparing for a real situation like this, Martin emphasized that the department of education works with all community partners to ensure the best outcomes. Law enforcement and first responders are all involved in training that the department hosts across the state.

Scalora, in particular, travels around the state to help with threat assessment teams. He ensures that those at schools and in law enforcement are prepared for these types of incidents.

Because of these trainings, Martin said everything was handled appropriately Thursday.

Every school had a different situation and responded to the information they were given in an appropriate manner (which) really reflects on training that we have done again through the Nebraska Department of Education working with our partners, Martin said.

There is continual training on safety, Martin said, which includes a reunification training coming up. This is for parents where those doing the training set up a threat situation and it focuses on how the child is reunified after the threat using standard response protocol (SRP).

Being part of the same training also helps different entities have common language using SRP in situations like these, Martin said. And every agency and group in the state is invited to be involved including first responders, teachers, counselors, mental health professionals, threat assessment teams and more.

All these different entities are coming together to basically get the message across about what are the best practices, what are the best things we can do to educate our public and to make sure were protecting our children in our communities as best as possible, Martin said. Thats our goal at NDE  is to always educate and were doing a good job at that.

Although there was a disruption to education, Scalora said that in the past the incidents would have caused more of a disruption than today. Researchers at the University of Nebraska continue to learn from every situation and learn from what is going on here and else where, he added.

Pillen emphasized that law enforcement and teachers across the state executed what needed to be done to protect students perfectly. He continued saying he is proud of all those in education and those in law enforcement for keeping the communities safe, especially the kids of Nebraska.

Our kids are our future, and we do everything in our power to protect our kids, Pillen said. I think what took place today a lot of families, a lot of kids , a lot of teachers have been victimized. Its 100% unacceptable behavior.

Nebraska is the greatest place to live. Its the greatest place for kids to live, and todays outside attacks trying to disrupt us were obviously unsuccessful. I think its really, really important as Colonel John Bolduc said that justice will be served and that there will be extraordinary work ahead to make sure who(ever) is the perpetrator is held accountable.

Pillen said he would like the discussion about school safety to continue and to bring everyone together on this topic as everyone plays a role in this.

Hopefully what can come from today is we are able to make our schools safer tomorrow than they were today for all of our kids, Pillen said.

The Nebraska State Patrol is assisting local law enforcement that received these calls. State patrol is asking that anyone with information about the swatting calls contact NIAC at 888-580-6422 or submit a tip at the NIAC Suspicious Activity Report at sars.nebraska.gov.
The Legislature on Friday broke through a filibuster that had trapped a bill to allow concealed carrying of handguns in Nebraska following eight hours of debate and sent it on to second-stage consideration on a 36-12 vote.

The earlier motion to invoke cloture and end the debate was approved on a 36-10 vote.

Friday's action marked a major victory for Sen. Tom Brewer of Gordon, who championed the gun rights proposal, arguing that the U.S. Constitution's Second Amendment bestows a fundamental right to "keep and bear arms" without government intrusion in the form of required permits, fees and gun safety training.

The bill (LB77) is expected to encounter additional filibusters waged by its opponents along its continuing journey with legislative rules allowing four hours of debate at second-stage consideration before a cloture motion could be invoked and an additional two hours of debate at the third and final stage of consideration prior to a climactic vote to give final approval to the bill.

Brewer's earlier efforts to enact so-called "conceal carry" legislation fell victim to a filibuster in 2022.

On Friday, Brewer said gun advocates are preparing to offer gun safety training at no cost to gun owners throughout the state as a replacement for the current requirement which is accompanied by a fee.

That declaration followed on the heels of a question posed by Sen. Wendy DeBoer of Bennington as to whether Brewer would support a proposal to "offer free training on gun safety for Nebraskans."

In urging a subsequent vote to end the filibuster and move the bill forward, Brewer said the proposal is designed to allow Nebraskans "to protect yourself, your family and your business."

Friday's vote marked a fundamental division between registered Republicans and registered Democrats serving in the nonpartisan Legislature, although four Democrats joined all 32 Republican senators in voting to advance the bill.

They included Sen. Anna Wishart of Lincoln and Omaha Sens. Mike McDonnell, Terrell McKinney and Justin Wayne.

Sen. Lynn Walz of Fremont, a Democrat, did not cast a vote.

Twelve Democrats voted no.

Sen. Jane Raybould of Lincoln said the legislation "puts children and law enforcement more at risk" and questioned whether it might lead to more suicides.

"A generation of people are asking that we do something to make the world a little safer," Sen. George Dungan of Lincoln said.

While the proposal has wide support outside the state's two largest cities, Lincoln and Omaha police chiefs oppose the legislation.

Brewer is a retired Army colonel who served six tours in Afghanistan, where he was severely wounded. More recently, he has made trips to Ukraine to provide humanitarian assistance in the wake of the Russian invasion.

Photos: Judiciary Committee hearing on concealed carry bill
The unintentional shooting death of cinematographer Halyna Hutchins in 2021 on the set of the film Rust in New Mexico is tragic. But not all tragedies translate to criminal behavior and being accused of a crime.

The Santa Fe County district attorneys decision to charge actor Alec Baldwin (who is also one of several producers on the film) with involuntary manslaughter is part of a troubling trend in American law, where everything bad that happens, even if unintentional, is treated as a crime.

Criminal Law 101 teaches that two critical requirements of criminal law demand that the government prove two things: that the defendant committed a wrongful act, and that the defendant acted with criminal intent, known in Latin as a mens rea  a guilty mind.

The power to prosecute and imprison a person is the greatest power that the state routinely exercises over its citizens. Because of the harshness of criminal penalties, criminal laws almost always seek to avoid prosecution of people who did not intend to do anything wrong. With few exceptions, unintentional conduct is not a crime.

There appears to be no doubt that Baldwin shot Hutchins. But the power given to a prosecutor is the ability to use a commonsense approach in determining if it is a criminal act. This includes asking if there is evidence that he was aware that his actions would result in her death. The evidence indicates that not only was Baldwins conduct not intentional, but it was also likely not even careless. He carefully followed the trusted advice of the sets armorer and directors that the gun was cold  that is, not loaded, according to reports. Baldwin did not have a mens rea, a guilty mind.

Our legal system has in place a comprehensive and robust system of appropriately compensating people harmed by unintentional, but negligent, conduct: civil lawsuits that seek monetary compensation for those losses. Thankfully, in this case, that system of laws has already worked. Hutchins family reached a financial settlement with the films production company and Baldwin in October 2022, according to reports.

This was the right way for this case to be resolved. There is an essential difference between civil lawsuits for injuries that rightly compensate the affected parties and criminal laws that seek to punish people needlessly for accidental conduct.

This case is sadly similar to the death of actor Brandon Lee, son of the actor and martial artist Bruce Lee, who was killed in 1993 on the set of the film The Crow after being unintentionally shot by fellow actor Michael Massee with an improperly prepared prop gun. In that case, the parties reached a civil settlement. But thankfully, Massee was not charged with any crime.

The result should be the same in this case. Our country has a problem with mass incarceration. The United States incarcerates more people per capita than almost any other country in the world. Many people are in jails and prisons in the United States as in China, even though the latter is an openly authoritarian country with four times the population. One way to put a small dent in our countrys era of mass incarceration is to enforce stringently the mens rea requirement in criminal laws and to stop treating every tragedy as a crime.
When Rita Carrasco and her family were the victims of a drive by shooting at their home, she called her landlord to inform them of what happened. That same day, Carrasco said, her landlord told her she was being evicted, giving her only two days to move out.

A single mother of four, Carrasco sent her older children to move in with her ex-husband, while she and her 2-year-old youngest child lived out of a car for a month.

That was the hardest month of my life, Carrasco said. Any one of us could have been killed and after reporting this crime, now we have to leave.

Carrasco and dozens of other renters who said theyve experienced unfair evictions shared their stories with Colorado lawmakers Wednesday, during a committee hearing on House Bill 1171.

If passed, the bill would prohibit landlords from evicting residential tenants or refusing to renew leases unless they have just cause. Just cause includes a tenant failing to pay rent, violating lease agreements, committing illegal activity, refusing to let the landlord enter the property with advanced notice, and refusing to sign a new but substantially similar lease, among other conditions.

Under the bill, landlords could evict tenants or terminate leases in certain no-fault circumstances, such as to renovate or demolish the property or to move themselves or their family into the property. However, in these cases, the landlord would have to give the tenant 120 days notice and pay the tenant two to three months worth of rent to help them pay for new housing.

Evictions have devastating consequences, said bill sponsor Rep. Javier Mabrey, D-Denver, an eviction defense attorney who himself was evicted as a teenager. It is up to us to do everything in our power to prevent unnecessary displacement and new cases of homelessness.

The House Transportation, Housing and Local Government Committee advanced the bill on Wednesday, voting 9-4 to send it to the full House for consideration. The vote came after more than five hours of debate and testimony among residents and lawmakers.

Groups including the Colorado Apartment Association and Colorado Bankers Association argued that the bill goes too far by treating the decision not to renew a lease as an eviction, saying it essentially forces landlords into endless leases. They also noted that the 120-day notice for terminating leases makes single-month leases functionally impossible to enforce.

The issue is that if you want people to rent a property to another, you have to give them a contractual mechanism to ask for the property back, said Andrew Hamrick with the Colorado Apartment Association.

Proponents of the bill said it is intended to prevent landlords from discriminating or retaliating against tenants by evicting them or terminating their leases.

Mabrey and other housing attorneys testified that landlords had refused to renew their clients leases after calling them racial slurs or propositioning them for sex. Mabrey said these actions dont matter to the court, as state law currently allows landlords to not renew leases for any reason, or for no reason at all.

Erika Reyes, a Commerce City single mother of three, said her landlord tried to evict her from her low-income apartment because she repeatedly asked them to improve the living conditions, saying the apartment had cockroaches, mold and water damage. Reyes said her landlord gave her three days to pay $600 or be thrown out, alleging that she didnt pay her total rent in April 2021. Reyes then provided receipts proving she did pay the full rent.

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We are extremely vulnerable, Reyes said. HB 1171 will protect tenants like me from landlord retaliation for advocating for repairs and our legal rights. Help us hold our corporate landlords accountable.

Other states including New Jersey, California, New Hampshire, Washington and Oregon have their own versions of just cause eviction laws, and the White Houses blueprint for a renters bill of rights includes requiring justified cause for evictions and notice if a lease will not be renewed.

However, the blueprint doesnt include landlords providing financial assistance for tenants to relocate  which was one of the biggest points of contention during Wednesdays debate.

Gary Jones, a 70-year-old landlord of two multi-unit-converted houses in Greeley, said he could not afford to pay thousands of dollars to tenants to terminate their leases. He added that hes previously chosen not to renew leases for reasons that would not qualify under the bill, saying some tenants have been obnoxious and unsavory without breaking the lease or without proof of their behavior.

It puts the burden on people like me, Jones said. Im not rich, Im just a single guy and I cant afford it.  It feels like youre trying to punish me for being an honest landlord and keep me from making a living.

Under the bill, landlords would have to pay tenants two months rent to evict them or terminate their lease under the no-fault circumstances. Landlords would have to pay three months rent if the tenant is low-income, has a disability, is younger than 18 years old or is 60 years old or older.

Mabrey said he is considering amending the bill to potentially exempt small landlords from having to pay the relocation assistance to tenants. However, he said the relocation assistance is an essential part of maintaining housing stability for tenants.

On Wednesday, Mabrey amended the bill to exempt short-term rentals and landlords who live on single-family properties with their tenants  the latter of which includes Mabrey himself, who said he is a landlord to a tenant who lives in his basement.

We don't feel that what we're doing here is unreasonable," Mabrey said. These sorts of evictions are not actually incredibly common. I would say it's probably about 10% of the evictions that we see. However, when they happen, they're devastating.  It's time the tenants have a fighting chance in court to remain in their homes.

Nearly two dozen organizations are backing the bill, including Denver Public Schools, ACLU of Colorado, the Colorado Children's Campaign, Mental Health Colorado and the Community Economic Defense Project, where Mabrey works as a staff attorney.

Groups opposing the bill include the Colorado Association of Home Builders, Colorado Landlord Legislative Coalition, Rocky Mountain Home Association and the chambers of commerce of Denver and Colorado Springs.

During Wednesdays committee hearing, all Democratic committee members voted in favor of the bill while all Republicans voted against it.

The bill will next head to the House floor for a full chamber vote. If passed, the bill will need approval from the Senate and Gov. Jared Polis to take effect.
While most Coloradans opt for the standard license plate with white mountains and green sky, more than 50 other plate options exist.

Here's a look at 7 plates that are rarely seen, but pretty cool:

1. The 'Support Pollinators' plate:

This one requires a donation to the People and Pollinators Action Network. Find out more information here.

2. The 'Mesa Verde National Park' plate:

This one requires a donation to the Mesa Verde Foundation. Find out more information here.

3. The 'Support the 10th Mountain Division' plate:

This commemorative plate recognizes those of the 10th Mountain Division that fought in the Italian Campaign of 1945. A donation of $45 to the 10th Mountain Division Foundation is the requirement for this one.

4. The 'Raptor' plate:

This one requires membership dues paid to the Raptor Education Foundation.

5. The 'Aviation' plate:

There are no special requirements to qualify to get this plate.

6. The 'Pikes Peak Hill Climb' plate:

There are no special requirements to qualify to get this plate.

7. The 'Pueblo Chile' plate:

There are no special requirements to qualify to get this plate.

8. The 'Greyhound Lovers' plate

There are no special requirements to qualify to get this plate.

9. The 'Electric Vehicle' plate

People must have a plug-in electric vehicle for this one.

10. The 'Pioneer' plate

There are no special requirements for this plate.

11. The 'Ski Country USA' plate:

Alright  you've probably seen this one before, but it's too cool not to include. No special requirements to get this one.

Interested in creating a specialty plate for your non-profit organization. According to the DMV, "requirements include, but may not be limited to, petitions of 3,000 Colorado registered vehicle owners, proof of nonprofit tax exempt status, design prepayments and others that the Department will discuss with you prior to providing the application."
Laman Ismayilova

An exhibition "Delicate Observations" has opened its doors at YARAT Contemporary Art Space.

Delicate Observations is a traveling group exhibition with works by young Azerbaijani artists in Azerbaijan's Saatli district, Azernews reports.

Head of the Saatli Executive Power Elmir Bagirov, head of the YARAT Public Relations and Communications Department Hokuma Karimova, the art project participants and many others took part in the opening ceremony of the exhibition. The works of the artists aroused great public interest.

The exhibition is inspired by the poetics of everyday life. The art project offers another point of view on what is experienced in contemporary daily life through the artists eyes. Amid overwhelming information fog, it is possible to go astray and lose track of things.

The art project showcases the ordinary moments, topics that could be peripheral, but that are essential to notice. To cherish a day is enough to delicately observe your surroundings and situations. The artists are considered to be the ones who habitually notice and highlight forsaken themes, allow it to be the notions of time and space, memory and identity, simple human emotions and their stories, and cultural and vernacular values. In the context of the temporality of every day, the exhibition proposes a humanistic approach to observe, reflect, and change for the better.

In his photographs, Dadash Adna highlights the poetics of ordinary - people and their surroundings, the natural landscapes of his rural hometown, and the delicate nuances of human desires.

Mehrin Alili applies the same technique while observing her surroundings in her "What if" video installation: she examines existing and parallel realities by juxtaposing the scenes from the metropolis and country life. The artist reflects on her thoughts on how her life could have been different if her ancestors had not migrated to the city. Human habits, which are manifested in the portrait of the city, are also closely observed in Elturan Mammadov's photo series: unfitting colors, replaced objects, and banality can be seen in the most unexpected ways.

Ramal Kazim's works depict solitary struggles and anxieties that have become integral parts of contemporary living. The artist represents the complexity of seemingly simple human emotions and feelings in grotesque and highly exaggerated ways to evoke strong sensations.

Nadir Eminov's "Okay, boomer" installation is an irony to postmodern society and its coping mechanisms. The artist observes how media influences human perception, creating a delusional view of the majority. As if life is being observed from the other side of the screen, the artist constitutes a secluded and firm atmosphere, alluding to the escapism and abyss between reality and perception.

The exhibition also accentuates the importance of universal topics to reflect on.

Soltan Soltanli explores the existential questions of human life and social behavior in his work. Through his paintings, he references themes such as love, labor, death, and human relationships, titling the artworks to give insight into his intention, which reveals his nuanced understanding of life.

Some things are universally unpleasant to think about such as the truth that everybody we know and love is eventually going to die one day. These truths are always around but people usually try to chase them away.

Habib Saher's installation "Waiting for Godot" muses on the subject of loss and ponders upon the reconciliation with the past through continuous renewal.

Rashad Babayev's "Darvish" represents the meditative state of being consciously free from space and time. In asceticism associated with mystical Sufi traditions, darvish contemplates wisdom for future generations.

The artist illuminates the power of cultural and religious roots in shaping todays regional culture.

Traditionally, based on the exhibition, the YARAT team and artists will hold education programs.

Lectures and master classes on contemporary art are being organized within the project.

The exhibition is organized with support by the Azerbaijan Culture Ministry Sabirabad Regional Culture Department and Saatli State Art Gallery.
An El Paso County judge ruled on Thursday that the majority of a detective's four-hour interview with Deka Jean Simmons, who is accused of killing 48-year-old Daxcimo Ceja and hiding his body, would be admissible at her trial in May.

The prosecution alleges that Simmons, 39, shot and killed Ceja on April 7 in a garage in north Colorado Springs because she believed he was a child molester, and because Ceja was a registered sex offender for an incident that took place in 1999 in California involving a minor. Ceja's body has yet to be recovered.

Judge David Gilbert broke the interview into three segments. During the first two hours of the interview, Simmons speaks to Colorado Springs police Detective Nicole Black about her background and her life. Portions of the first segment were played in court where Simmons could be heard telling Black that she was looking for her child, who she believed was a victim of sex trafficking; her several years spent in prison; her drug use; and more.

Simmons has been in and out of prison her entire adult life, including being sentenced to 12 years behind bars for accessory to murder in the shooting death of Donna Oliveto, a former inmate with her in the El Paso County jail.

During the next two hours of the interview, Black advises Simmons of her Miranda rights and Simmons tells the detective that she will speak to her. This portion of the interview was not played in court, but prosecuting attorney Jennifer Viehman said Black only begins asking Simmons questions about the homicide investigation after her Miranda rights had been read.

The third and final portion comes roughly 30 minutes after Simmons' Miranda rights had been read where she informs Black that she is "done talking," but despite that, she continues talking to Black. The third portion was also not played in court on Thursday.

Both the prosecution and defense said that at no point during the interview did Simmons confess to killing Ceja.

Simmons' defense attorney David Lipka argued that the entire interview should be suppressed at trial because Black used "coercive" tactics to get Simmons to speak on subjects related to the case.

Lipka argued to the court that Black used "subtle psychological confusion" to get Simmons to talk about things relevant to the case  such as her hatred of child molesters and if she knew two key witnesses in the case  without her realizing the importance of the statements being given. Additionally, Lipka argued that Simmons not being informed that she had been detained on a first-degree murder warrant until two hours into the interview with Black was a violation of her rights and a way to "build a profile" without her knowledge.

Lipka alleges that if his client knew why she had been detained  for the first two hours Black only disclosed to Simmons that she was being held on a burglary warrant  she wouldn't have spoken in as much detail to Black.

Viehman argued that there were no coercive tactics on the part of Black, but rather that all statements provided by Simmons during the first portion of the interview were provided voluntarily, and that Black asked no "leading questions" pertinent to the investigation.

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For the second portion of the interview, Viehman argued that Black gave Simmons her Miranda rights in a clear manner and there was no attempt to downplay its importance.

Lipka said the insertion of Simmons' Miranda rights two hours into the interview was done consciously by Black in an attempt to downplay the importance of the Miranda rights and to get Simmons to keep talking without knowledge that what she was saying could be used against her.

Gilbert ruled in favor of the prosecution for portions one and two of the interview. Gilbert said during his ruling that he did not find that there were any attempts at coercion on the part of Black, that all statements provided by Simmons were done so voluntarily, and that Black's reading of the Miranda rights was done in good faith by Black.

As a result of Gilbert's ruling, the first two portions of Simmons' interview with Black will not be suppressed at trial. However, Gilbert noted that there may be further objections from the defense to the admission of the first portion of the interview on the grounds of relevance at trial.

Gilbert ruled that the third portion of the interview after Simmons tells Black she is "done talking" will be suppressed at trial because he viewed that statement as Simmons invoking her right to silence. The prosecution had no objection to suppressing the third portion of the interview.

Following her arrest, Simmons filed a civil lawsuit against Black claiming that Black had falsely arrested her in connection with Ceja's murder, and that she is being unlawfully imprisoned as a result. Court records show that the lawsuit, filed in the U.S. District Court of Colorado on Oct. 21, was recommended to be dismissed by Magistrate Judge Gordon Gallagher on Feb. 16 because of a "failure to satisfy federal pleading standards for municipal liability."

As of Thursday, the lawsuit against Black has not been dismissed. Simmons' murder trial is slated to begin May 1.

At Simmons' preliminary hearing in October, Black testified that a confidential informant told her that Simmons had killed at least three other people besides Ceja. During Black's testimony, Viehman briefly mentioned that Simmons is connected to the disappearance of 27-year-old Santino "Tino" Cardella, who was reported missing in April.

As of Thursday, Simmons has yet to be charged in any additional homicides.

Simmons is due in court on April 14 for a pre-trial readiness hearing. She remains in custody at the El Paso County jail on a no-bond hold.
An Alamosa man who allegedly committed five robberies over the course of six days in Colorado Springs was arrested last week, according to the Colorado Springs Police Department.

Eric Garcia, 31, who was previously convicted in El Paso County of felony crimes including robbery in 2015, allegedly entered five stores on the east and southeast sides of the city last month, displayed a weapon and demanded cash and cigarettes.

While investigating the robberies, which occurred between Feb. 17-22, detectives identified a vehicle of interest connected to the crimes. The vehicle was spotted around 2:30 p.m. on Feb. 23 in a parking lot in the 3200 block of East Platte Avenue.

Detectives surveilled the suspect and developed probable cause for his arrest. Police said detectives believed that Garcia was armed and dangerous and requested the assistance of additional special units to take the suspect into custody.

Law enforcement attempted to contact Garcia in his parked vehicle, but he attempted to flee, driving into three civilian vehicles. Officers moved their vehicles around Garcia's vehicle, but he tried to push through the law enforcement vehicles for several minutes, ignoring officer commands to exit his vehicle, according to police.

Police said the suspect surrendered after officers deployed pepper spray. The Metro Vice Narcotics and Intelligence unit and CSPD's Tactical Enforcement and K-9 units were involved in the arrest. Police said no one was injured during the incident.

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Before his arrest, Garcia allegedly robbed three Loaf 'N Jugs: 4770 Drennan Road on Feb. 17; 3705 Drennan Road on Feb. 18; and 5375 Airport Road on Feb. 22. He also allegedly robbed the Family Dollar at 3765 Verde Drive on Feb. 18 and the Circle K at 3805 Maizeland Road on Feb. 20.

Court records show Garcia faces charges in El Paso County of aggravated robbery with intent to kill, maim or wound with a weapon, for which he is being held on $200,000 bond. A second case was filed with arrest only charges including vehicular eluding, reckless endangerment, resisting arrest, obstructing a peace officer and criminal mischief between $5,000 and $20,000.

Court records show Garcia has been convicted of other felony crimes in El Paso County, including aggravated motor vehicle theft and robbery that occurred in February 2015, escaping custody after a felony conviction in December 2014 and burglary in June 2014. He was also guilty of meth possession over 2 grams in 2010.

Garcia received two 12-year sentences in the department of corrections for the robbery and escaping custody charges and 16 years for the burglary charge, according to court records. It is not immediately clear whether those sentences were served or why Garcia was in the community during the robberies last month, eight years after those three sentences were imposed.
Highway 67 in Divide has reopened after being closed for several hours Thursday following the discovery of a body near the highway, according to Gazette news partner KKTV.

The Teller County Sheriff's Office said it was investigating a "suspicious death."

Lt. Renee Bunting with the Teller County Sheriff's Office said investigators are not yet releasing any information related to the deceased.

The Sheriff's Office has declined to release a statement, but will provide updates when more information is received, according to an email.

CO 67 South from US-24 in Divide going to Cripple Creek was closed for around five hours starting shortly before noon on Thursday. Drivers were asked to avoid the area.

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The Sheriff's Office said parents who live off of Highway 67 and needed to pick up their children from schools Thursday afternoon had to travel south on Highway 67, through Cripple Creek, then north on Teller County Road 1.

KKTV reported Colorado State Patrol is assisting the Sheriff's Office with the investigation.

This article will be updated as more information becomes available.
High school women are eligible for thousands of dollars in cash and scholarships  but first they'll need to showcase their talents and accomplishments.

Distinguished Young Women of Colorado, the Colorado sector of a national nonprofit scholarship organization, is accepting applications for its Class of 2024 scholars. The nonprofits mission is to encourage young women to reach their full individual potential and prepare them for success after college. Scholarships are granted through competitions.

Participants must be juniors in high school to apply to the free program, and they are eligible to earn scholarships at each of three competition levels: local, state and national. Locally, the nonprofit awards eight cash scholarships, including fitness, talent, academics, interview, self-expression, spirit, the first runner-up and overall winner.

DYW gave me opportunities to help save money for college, while also helping me gain confidence to talk in front of people in an interview setting. I will take the skills I learned from this program everywhere I go, Distinguished Young Woman of Colorado 2023 Evelyn Lee said in a news release.

Total cash scholarships awarded by Distinguished Young Women of Colorado vary by year depending on sponsorship and fundraising efforts, according to spokesperson Alison Reed, but the class of 2023 received $5,000.

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Participants are also eligible for scholarships granted directly from 25 colleges and universities across the nation. Reed is studying at the University of Alabama on a Presidential Scholarship totaling $112,000 after being named the 2021 Distinguished Young Woman of Colorado.

An average year sees 15 participants, Reed said, and each walks away with at least one college-granted scholarship.

Five local Colorado events will be held this spring. A Colorado Springs event will take place on April 16, and there will be a virtual event on March 25. Students can apply at co.distinguishedyw.org.
Operation of the Metsamor Nuclear Power Plant in Armenia poses a big nuclear threat to Azerbaijan, Turkiye, Armenia, and the whole region, Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev told a meeting with Director General of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) Rafael Mariano Grossi, Azernews reports via Azertac.

The president underlined that the plant is using outdated technology and has serious technical problems and expressed concern over the illegal trade of some nuclear materials originating from the Metsamor Plant.
By Azernews





Azerbaijan's initiatives initiated during its chairmanship of the Non-Aligned Movement (NAM) are of special importance, Zimbabwean Deputy Foreign Minister David Musabayana said in Baku while addressing a plenary session of the Summit-level Meeting of the Non-Aligned Movement Contact Group in response to COVID-19.

"We highly appreciate Azerbaijan's initiatives on combating consequences of the pandemic as the chairman of the NAM," he said, underscoring the importance of the Baku summit and voicing support for the goals of the organization.

The deputy minister said the complete post-pandemic recovery of the world is not expected soon and the NAM should further adhere to its values.
With more than 8 million acres facing high or very high wildfire risk, Colorado is in the midst of a wildfire crisis. Since 2020, over 700,000 acres have burned in the state. Much of the debate has understandably focused on the role of federal lands, but expanding the use of forest management tools like prescribed fire on Colorados state, private, and tribal land would significantly benefit community protection and forest resilience.

Controlled burns, of course, entail risk, too. New Mexicos Hermits Peak Fire of 2022 was the consequence of an escaped burn and resulted in over 340,000 acres scorched and a 90-day nationwide halt on the practice. While this fire was tragic and understandably left many feeling uneasy about the use of prescribed fire, the Forest Service has found that more than 99.8% of its controlled burns go according to plan.

The benefits of proactively treating our forests with prescribed fire vastly outweigh the risks, as was made clear in recent high-profile wildfires. When a raging wildfire meets forest land treated with mechanical thinning and prescribed fire, the fire behavior changes, and the flames drop from the canopy to the forest floor, becoming more manageable and less destructive. For this reason, there is now broad consensus among ecologists and fire scientists that prescribed fire is necessary to tackle the wildfire crisis.

While federal lands make up the bulk of forested acres in Colorado, private lands still have an essential role in fostering more resilient forests. Thirty-five percent of Colorados forests are found on state and private lands, making private landowners a key player in addressing this crisis. And state policy plays a key role in how controlled burns take place on private land.

Private lands often serve as buffers between developed areas and more remote public lands  the wildland-urban interface  or within a patchwork of fire-prone wildlands. Improving fire resilience on private lands through prescribed burns can provide valuable firebreaks that slow down or weaken large fires. State policymakers and private land managers have the opportunity to accelerate the pace and scale of prescribed fire use. This is important for a high-risk state like Colorado.

As a new report we co-wrote makes clear, overly burdensome, complex, or unclear policies make the use of controlled burns in the Centennial State limited, scattered, and inconsistent. The challenge for Colorado is to adopt policies that mitigate risks without being so onerous that they discourage landowners from using prescribed fire.

To its credit, Colorado was the first western state, by nearly a decade, to recognize the need for controlled burns and develop a voluntary certification program to give landowners and entrepreneurs opportunities to learn how to apply prescribed fire. Voluntary certification is an effective way to make private landowners more confident using prescribed fire and the public more comfortable that they can do so safely.

However, Colorados certification program offers few and infrequent training and practice opportunities to scale up prescribed fire in the time and to the levels needed.

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For instance, Colorado is currently advertising only one training opportunity under its certification program, scheduled for February 2023 with the specific date TBD. With only a few days left in the month, this training is presumably not going to take place.

To make its certification program more effective, the state should support the development of private, voluntary training programs and count their completion toward certification. It should also provide a streamlined path for certified burners from other states to qualify under Colorados program. These reforms could help the state train and certify burners at the pace required to tackle the wildfire crisis.

In the meantime, Colorado should clarify the liability standard that applies to landowners and entrepreneurs who have not yet had an opportunity to become certified. Surveys show fear of legal liability is a major deterrent to the use of controlled burns.

In Colorado, this fear is especially significant because the state has no clear standard for determining liability for burners that are not yet certified by the state, leaving landowners to fear the worst.

There is strong evidence that adopting a clear standard that only holds prescribed burners responsible for escapes caused by their carelessness can significantly boost adoption of this tool.

Colorado has a significant opportunity to build on its early leadership, recognizing the positive role private landowners can play in mitigating the wildfire crisis. Clarifying the states liability standard would incentivize more landowners to use controlled burning to help reduce Colorados overall wildfire risk and protect our communities and forests.

Jonathan Wood is the vice president of law and policy at the Property and Environment Research Center. Morgan Varner is the director of research at Tall Timbers. They are the authors of Burn Back Better: How Western States Can Encourage Prescribed Fire on Private Lands.
Gov. Jared Polis, joined by 14 Democratic lawmakers, announced a package of five new bills intended to reduce the cost of health care for Coloradans.

The package also includes four measures already moving through the legislative process.

As first reported by Colorado Politics early Thursday, a bill to modify the state's prescription drug affordability board, created under Senate Bill 21-175, is among the bills. The measure would allow the board to annually review any number of expensive drugs, instead of the dozen capped by the legislation.

The board hasn't actually conducted those reviews yet nor has it reported its progress to the governor or the legislature. That report isn't due until July 1.

However, according to Commissioner of Insurance Michael Conway, each drug being reviewed may have different dosage levels and hence different costs, so the board needs authority to look at more than a dozen.

House Bill 1201, which was introduced on Feb. 14, would bar pharmacy benefit managers (PBM), which act as go-betweens with health insurers and drug manufacturers, from charging employers more for a drug than what the PBM pays a pharmacy for the same drug. It's known as "spread pricing," and allows the PBM to keep the difference.

Another bill that has not yet been introduced would increase oversight and transparency over PBMS "by requiring them to register with the state," as well as "bolstering enforcement" of practices prohibited by law.

The hospital community benefit legislation would hold non-profit hospitals accountable for their investments in community needs as a condition for non-profit status, although that's a status granted not only by the state but by the Internal Revenue Service.

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During the Thursday news conference, the governor repeatedly claimed hospitals overcharge patients, which has been based on reports by the Colorado Department of Health Care Policy and Financing. The Colorado Hospital Association has pointed out that the data from the state is based on profits pre-pandemic that no longer exist.

Denver Health, a nonprofit, safety net hospital, recently got $35 million from the General Assembly in an effort to keep its door open. The hospital said it had less than 100 days of operating funds when it made the request in January.

Out of the 108 hospitals in Colorado, 42 percent are nonprofit.

A bill on Colorado Option, the state-designed health insurance plan, seeks to "limit excessive profit and administrative expense," and put more teeth into the 2021 law's requirement that private health insurance providers cut premium costs by 5% per year over three years.

On the issue of hospital transparency, lawmakers will introduce legislation to "shed light on the underlying drivers of high hospital costs," including improved data collection on the financial health and performance of Colorado hospitals.

Policymakers also identified three other bills, including measures introduced on the session's first day back in January, in the package, including Senate Bill 2, which seeks authorization from the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services to provide Medicaid reimbursement for community health worker services; Senate Bill 4, which makes it easier for health professionals to work in schools; and, Senate Bill 93, which deals with medical debt.

While no Republican lawmakers attended Thursday's press conference, four of the bills announced Thursday received bipartisan sponsorship.
By Dr. Mehmood-ul-Hassan Khan

The Chinese One Belt & One Road Initiative (BRI) has entered its 10th year during which it has succeeded in winning the hearts and minds of the people living around the globe. However, forces of hegemony are also active to derail the project in Central Asia through false and fake propaganda.

Actually, they tried to start another end-game to sabotage the socioeconomic and geopolitical development in these countries. Even before the scheduled visit of US Secretary of State Antony Blinken to India, Kazakhstan, and Uzbekistan, US Assistant Secretary for South and Central Asian Affairs Donald Lu showed his countrys serious concerns about the Chinese loans and projects.

On the contrary, the BRI has been a connecting hub and bridging force between the continents, communities, and corporations, working jointly to achieve the dreams of greater regional connectivity through world-class infrastructure development, immense socio-economic integration, and last but not the least formation of middle corridors. In this regard, the formation of the Middle Corridor (MC) has further enhanced the BRI connectivity and potential utility.

The MC is a trade route that spans the Central Asian green fields, the Caspian Sea, and the Caucasus Mountains, and the dawn of the BRI has further enhanced its trans-regional connectivity. The route is part of Chinas Belt and Road initiative. It is known as the China-Central Asia-West Asia Corridor which links China and the regional markets of East Asia with Georgia, Turkey, and the European markets.

The Russia-Ukraine conflict has opened a new window of opportunity for the regional countries. Leaders of Azerbaijan, Georgia, and Central Asian States have grasped the emerging opportunity and initiated inter-state cooperation through regular bilateral visits and the signing of memorandums on the minimization of tariffs and border crossing hurdles and jointly working for the development of the MC. In this regard, Turkey first conceived the corridor in the late 2000s, creating the necessary ferry, port, railway, and road infrastructure across Central Asia and the Caspian Sea.

There have been lots of meaningful projects launched for the further strengthening of the MC. The Trans-Kazakhstan Railway was opened in 2014. The completion of the Baku-Tbilisi-Kars Railway was another milestone completed in 2017. It enabled rail passage through the Caucasus Mountains for the first time since the 1990s.

Seemingly, Azerbaijan, Georgia, Kazakhstan, and Uzbekistan in particular, actively collaborated to turn the MC into a reality. Together with China and Turkey, these countries have held a series of conferences and ministerial meetings to improve their cross-border rail links and reduce trade friction between them.

Azerbaijan holds the geographical advantage in the MC and is situated on the East-West trade route, connecting Europe and China, opening up a lot of opportunities. It has enhanced its potential for transit shipments, transport, and logistics sectors.

In November 2022, Kazakhstan, Azerbaijan, Georgia, and Turkey signed a roadmap for the simultaneous elimination of bottlenecks and the development of the Middle Corridor for 2022-2027. The implementation of the agreements will allow increasing the capacity along the corridor to 10 million tons per year by 2025

At the same time, the MC promises to become a regional power center. Even Uzbekistan has supported the development of the MC and tries to build its own railway networks that would connect to the corridor. According to Uzbekistan Railways (December 2022), Uzbekistan organized a train bypassing Russia in December 2022.

For the further strengthening of the MC Azerbaijan, Turkiye, and Uzbekistan signed the Tashkent Declaration to reshape the cooperation of the participating countries in multiple spheres from economy to trade, transportation, and energy, as well as address the regional and global security challenges.

To conclude, CPEC Phase II has the potential to further enhance the prospects of greater regional connectivity between the South Asia, Central Asia, and South Caucasus regions. In this regard, there is an urgent need to further improve regional trade with all the Central Asian countries and Azerbaijan. Pakistan, Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, and Uzbekistan's trade and economic relations are constantly on the rise which should be further expanded because the potential of trade between both regions is much greater than the current level of trade volumes.

Azerbaijans superior and supporting economic policies, befitting a trade model with lots of custom exemptions, direct flight connectivity, and strategic partnership has become a role model for other regional countries for achieving desired goals of greater regional connectivity.

Kazakhstans rigorous and diversified in-person approach has given it a comparative advantage in this regard. It follows holistic and comprehensive innovative diplomacy to increase bilateral relations in the diverse sectors of the economy i.e. pharmaceutical, civil aviation (April 2023 direct flights), SMEs, energy, real estate, oil & gas, agriculture, and last but not the least joint ventures in sports, surgical instruments and textiles with Pakistan and its private companies.

Uzbekistans systematic and supportive policies of greater regional connectivity have surpassed all the regional countries. The trans-regional railway project (Pakistan-Uzbekistan-Afghanistan) would be a game changer in the context of greater regional connectivity and trade in the days to come. Pakistan-Uzbekistan bilateral trade, economic, business, and trade activities have been further increased because of its pure but simple economic diplomacy.

There is an immense potential for enhancing trade in the field of agriculture and agro-products, which needed to be tapped. Maximum facilitation should be provided to the investors of all Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, and Uzbekistan to help set up their businesses in the already established Special Economic Zones across Pakistan.

There is huge scope for higher education cooperation through joint degrees and student and faculty exchange programs. The Virtual University of Pakistan is offering online education, which is cost-effective for students of these countries.

Most recently, the 8th Session of the Pakistan-Uzbekistan Inter-governmental Commission (IGC) on Trade-Economic and Scientific-Technical Cooperation was held in Uzbekistan. It was mutually agreed to extend cooperation in priority areas like transport and logistics. Moreover, the growth of mutual trade, investment, industrial cooperation, and banking was also discussed. It was decided to further increase bilateral trade which reached $240 million in 2022 (the highest among CIS). Both countries mutually supported the adoption of concrete measures to accelerate the practical implementation of the Agreement on Preferential Trade and Diversification of Transport Corridors in order to create prerequisites for increasing the volume of mutual trade.

An agreement was also inked to accelerate the progress of the trans-Afghan railway construction project. Moreover, MOUs to increase the volume of multimodal cargo transportation, and the creation of terminals on the territories of both states for further joint export of products to the markets of third countries were also signed. Furthermore, the interbank partnership was also discussed to implement the mechanism of SWAP operations between central banks, and the development of correspondent banking relations between the financial institutions of the two countries. The closure of banking connections should be halted and immediately restored.
An Elma man is facing up to 25 years in prison after being accused of sexually abusing a child beginning when they were two years old.

According to court documents, 61-year-old Randy Lee Nibaur has been charged with second-degree sexual abuse, a class B felony.

The affidavit states that between November 2018 and August 2021, Nibaur abused the child while babysitting them in Charles City. The child reported the abuse to a forensic interviewer with the Anoka County Sheriff's Office in Minnesota. The child reported the abuse happened three separate times.

The criminal case was opened Jan. 23 and an arrest warrant was served Wednesday. He is being held in the Floyd County Jail on $25,000 bond. No court date has been set as of Thursday morning.

North Iowa history in photos: Mason City street scenes of the early 1900s 1937 Downtown MC.jpg Cigar and peanut wagon on Federal 1909.jpg Parade for the July 4th 1910.jpg 1920 Ford dealeship in Mason Cityr.jpg 1901 Uncle Tom's Cabin Parade MC IA.jpg 1910 Fire Department MC.jpg 1920s Birdsall's Ice Cream Store same location today..jpg 1910busy intersection standard oil wagon.jpg 1920 Commercial Bank on Federal with parked motorcycle.jpg 1915 Charles Hotel at Central Park with Trolley.jpg 1930 2nd St SE and Federal facing North Best.jpg 1915 Iowa Hardware Mutual Office Bldg old metalcraft bldg.jpg 1930s Jefferson Lines buses at the downtown depot MC.jpg 1915 State st North of delaware facing NE2.jpg 1930 East side Federal to State street.jpg 1915 Street scene at Charles Hotel with Trolleyand Olympia Billboard.jpg 1934 buildings being torn down Federal Ave 1.jpg 1918 North Iowa Fair 19th SW at Federal (Southport Mall site.jpg Mason_City_1212.jpg 1919 White Motor Cars on Federal MC.jpg
A warrant was served in Cook County, Illinois, on Thursday on a man who allegedly shot into car with a gun in Charles City near three individuals.

According to court records, 23-year-old Romel Allen Price was charged with intimidation with a dangerous weapon in June of 2020 after allegedly firing the weapon multiple times into a parked vehicle in the 600 block of North Iowa Street. He faces up to 10 years in prison if convicted.

Another man, 20-year-old Calvin Tillman Edwards of Waterloo, was charged with committing the same crime on the same day and in the same location. It is unclear if authorities believe both men shot into the parked vehicle. An arrest warrant was served on Edwards in Black Hawk County on Sept. 2, 2022.

A trial for Edwards has been scheduled for April 4. He also faces up to 10 years in prison. No trial date has been set for Price as of Friday morning.

North Iowa History: More police photos Statzer and Stephens with pig at old station. Scuba divers under ice 363 969 MPA 0308 MCPD training equipment.jpg Auto theft school Countyjailold.jpg Police 1912 Police use hand held radar Highway Patrol Office Map Monroe Kids visit police station police 1918 Jail break photo Old Arizona peace officer IHP VASCAR device New breath tester at P.D. Police use hand held radar.jpg Police car wreck Police car wreck New police radio Buchanan.jpg Buchanan Buchanantrouble.jpg Buchannan Buchannan Dillinger film JBuchannan motorcycles New Speed meter Police 1928 Wolfe and Risacher 2 boys in jail 2 boys at Sheriff's Office Alcohol seized near Kensett Boy Patrol Safe at Piggly-Wiggly broken into Fingerprinting school Drunk in alley Accident
Baoning sweet steamed bun: Time-honored staple food flourishes in SW China's Sichuan

People's Daily Online) 14:04, March 02, 2023

Baoning sweet steamed bun is a traditional staple food of Langzhong ancient city (formerly known as Baoning) in Nanchong, southwest China's Sichuan Province. With a history of more than 200 years, the special bun is without doubt a testament to the ingenuity and skill of Chinese cuisine.

Using high-quality white flour as the main ingredient, the buns are produced according to 21 complete procedures, and finished with a red edible seal to prove their authenticity.

As white as snow with a mellow and sweet flavor, the specialty is nothing short of divine  its soft and non-sticky when eaten hot and turns crisp and refreshing when it cools. The buns can also be shaped into various forms and shapes to give all kinds of visually stunning appearances.

After being passed down for generations, Baoning sweet steamed buns have become an iconic food of Langzhong that is loved by locals and tourists from around the country. In 2006, it was recognized as one of the first batch of "China Time-honored Brands", and in 2013, the technique for making Baoning sweet steamed buns was listed as an intangible cultural heritage of Nanchong city.

(Web editor: Xian Jiangnan, Du Mingming)
A final session of the Summit-level Meeting of the Non-Aligned Movement Contact Group in response to Covid-19, chaired by Azerbaijani Foreign Minister Jeyhun Bayramov, ended in Baku, Azernews reports.

The head of the New Caledonia delegation in Baku, Mickael Forrest, addressed the session and lashed out at France's colonial position. Despite the Covid-19 pandemic, France pressured New Caledonia to hold a third referendum on the status of the island in December 2021, Forrest said.

He underscored the importance of creating, within the framework of the decolonization committee, the conditions for dialogue with a view to restoring the full sovereignty of the local population.

"As you know, the Pacific region is also a geostrategic zone for the major states of the world. The Non-Aligned Movement is an important platform for us in terms of continuing to inform the countries of the world about the situation in our country. We hope that the day will come when New Caledonia regains sovereignty and independence," Forrest said, highly appreciating the successful chairmanship of Azerbaijan in the NAM.

Ambassador of Mexico to Azerbaijan Maria Victoria Romero Caballero, Executive Secretary of the UN Economic Commission for Europe Olga Algayerova, Director General of the International Organization for Migration Antonio Vitorino, Director General of the International Atomic Energy Agency Rafael Grossi, Secretary General of the Meeting on Interaction and Confidence Building Measures in Asia (CICA) Kairat Sarybay, Secretary General of the Organization of Turkic States Kubanychbek Omuraliev, Secretary General of the Economic Cooperation Organization Khusrav Noziri, and Chairman of the NAM Youth Network Ordukhan Gahramanzade noted that the Covid-19 pandemic demonstrated the importance of multilateral cooperation.

All states are called upon to ensure the sustainability of such cooperation, therefore the Non-Aligned Movement is a favorable platform for discussing global issues.

The consequences of the pandemic were brought to attention, and it was stated that a third of the worlds population still hasnt received their first dose of the Covid-19 vaccine.

In addition, it was pointed out that the world is not immune from new pandemics in the future, so humanity must be prepared for potential pandemics and their possible consequences.

The speakers highly appreciated Azerbaijans chairmanship and underscored that numerous initiatives were put forward during Azerbaijan's chairmanship in the movement

The minister, expressing his gratitude to the participants, stressed that the member states of the movement, regardless of history, politics, and culture, consolidated around common principles.

Jeyhun Bayramov said that the summit became a real example of solidarity, cooperation, and multilateralism.

He mentioned that productive meetings and discussions on important issues on the agenda were held within the framework of the summit. Moreover, the minister noted that Azerbaijan demonstrated leadership in solving a number of urgent tasks during the period of chairmanship in the NAM.

He emphasized that despite the term of Azerbaijan's chairmanship in the organization ending this year, Azerbaijan will continue to assist the NAM and cooperate with it.

In conclusion of the Baku summit, a final document was adopted. With this, the Summit of Non-Aligned Movement (NAM) Contact Group on fighting against Covid-19 came to an end.
GREENSBORO  One person died after being shot Thursday night in Greensboro, the city's second fatal shooting this week.

Officers responded just after 10 p.m. to the 3700 block of Peterson Avenue and located Robert Starr Pennix Jr., 62, of Greensboro, who was hospitalized in serious condition.

Police said Friday morning that the victim had died. The department has not released any details about what may have led to the shooting.

This is the city's 12th homicide in 2023, which came just days after another Greensboro resident died from gun violence.

Police identified Lanceford Ross Williams, 37, of Greensboro, as the person who died Wednesday after a shooting earlier that day.

Officers responded just after 5 a.m. Wednesday to an area near the intersection of Martin Luther King Drive and Carolyn Coleman Way and found Williams suffering from a gunshot wound, police said in a news release.

Authorities ask anyone with information to call Greensboro/Guilford Crime Stoppers at 336-373-1000. Residents can also download the mobile P3tips app for Apple or Android phones to submit a mobile tip, or go to P3tips.com to submit a web tip. All tips to Crime Stoppers are anonymous.
The truth is finally getting out. UNC-Greensboros ongoing budget crisis threatens to leave the university a shell of its former self. Since 2019, fueled in part by the coronavirus pandemic, UNCG has lost 11% of its enrollment (2,218 students), leading all campuses in the UNC System in total losses. With state funding tied to enrollments, the administration is slashing budgets and hiring consultants to advise the university on program elimination.

Chancellor Frank Gilliams recent comments to North Carolina Public Radio acknowledge that the budget deficit will mean people will lose their jobs as more academic programs and services are cut.

Everythings on the table, Gilliam said. At base, were talking about people and their livelihoods.

For several years, UNCGs administration has not been willing to admit this grim reality outside of closed meetings where they project enrollment losses and budget reductions to continue at least for another two years. For UNCG to survive this crisis with its reputation and academic standing intact will require the aid of everyone who appreciates the universitys unique economic and social contributions to the region and its diverse student body.

How this happened

Much could be said about how we got here. Although many headwinds are national and statewide, UNCG has been among the hardest hit in the UNC System because of its unique mission. It has been consistently ranked No. 1 in the state for achieving social mobility for its students  a metric that speaks to the economically disadvantaged backgrounds of the students who enroll and graduate from the university. Now, the UNC Board of Governors (BOG) has announced a new funding formula for UNC campuses with punitive effects on campuses enrolling these same students. This new formula drastically reduces funding for graduate education and punishes campuses that have high student-debt rates and longer time-to-graduate rates. This is the case for UNCG, a university that enrolls large numbers of students who need to borrow money and/or hold jobs to pay for school.

Despite the enrollment drop, the UNCG budget crisis is, ultimately, an artificial one created by the state and the BOG. North Carolina has a $3.25 billion surplus in addition to a $5.9 billion reserve fund for fiscal emergencies. UNCGs $12 million shortfall under the new funding formula might easily qualify as a very small emergency if the General Assembly, or the BOG, prioritized UNCGs educational mission.

An opaque process

At UNCG itself, critical details about the budget are deliberately kept from view. The administration has informed its faculty that cutting programs and instructional staff is necessary while new initiatives seem to find funding, and the provost and chancellor spend through special projects funds that have no accountability. Virtually all endowment funds are declared restricted and untouchable  although an independent audit of UNCG by endowment expert Howard Bunsis in 2015 suggested there is far more flexibility in such funds. Episodes of gross mismanagement have occurred in recent years in the Information Technology Services and (now disbanded) UNCG Online departments. What happened to the federal pandemic relief (HEERF) funds that were not targeted at students remains a mystery. Moreover, highly paid administrators continue to receive bonuses and raises despite their poor performance in recent years.

While the administration has verbally affirmed its commitment to preservation of UNCGs core mission of research and teaching, its actions suggest that these commitments are shaky at best. All indicators suggest that money will guide all future decision-making, with little thought given to preserving the values of an educational institution with a unique mission to serve diverse North Carolinians and its surrounding community. Despite promises to establish a fair process to review programs with substantial faculty participation, the process for fulfilling these promises remains opaque, and lack of trust in the administration threatens to sidetrack any fair and inclusive process. External consultants have been hired to collect quantitative data that will be used as the basis for deliberations, despite admission by those same consultants that such data is flawed and incomplete.

Who suffers cuts?

Nonterminal masters programs have been singled out for across-the-board defunding without any program review or consultation with program directors to consider possible far-reaching consequences of such action. International programs are being cut at a university that prides itself on training global citizens. In addition, UNCGs administration has made moves to make professional-track faculty, who do the bulk of the teaching for less pay and dont have the protection of tenure, easier to fire by only giving them one-year contracts. Many of them are beloved teachers whove worked at UNCG for decades. Its safe to assume that they will soon join the droves of tenure-track faculty and staff who have left UNCG in the past few years, disheartened by the constant budget cuts and top-down decision-making.

Theres much that can and must be done to turn the tide. If the UNCG administration wants to restore the confidence and trust of the faculty, the first step will be to refrain from all future cuts until faculty and staff have agreed on a process through which to chart a vision for the future of the university. Greater budget transparency is desperately needed, and the administration should cooperate with independent audits paid for by the UNCG chapter of the American Association of University Professors (AAUP).

Its also time for alumni, community members, students, faculty and staff to join Chancellor Gilliam in raising awareness of the harms that are being inflicted on the university by the state. If the North Carolina legislature and the BOG persist in defunding institutions that serve disadvantaged students, UNCG will continue to suffer. This is an all-hands-on-deck moment in which everyone who cares about UNCGs mission must raise their voices.

Its not too late, but time is running out.
Returned Peace Corps volunteers gathering set

All Helena-area Returned Peace Corps Volunteers (RPCVs) and their guests are invited to a social gathering Monday, March 6, at 5:30 p.m. at Mt. Ascension Brewing at 317 Cruse Ave.

The event will be a special time to meet others who have served in the Peace Corps overseas, to hear their stories, and to share your experiences.

The Peace Corps was created by President John F. Kennedy in March 1961 as a new opportunity for Americans to serve their country by living and working in the developing world.

AARP driver safety classes

AARP Driver Safety has single classes scheduled in Helena during February and March. Participants receive updates on the rules of the road and learn driving strategies to adapt to the effects of aging and to reduce chances of having a crash. The course was developed for participants age 50-plus, but is open to all ages. The course fee is $25 ($20 with AARP membership card). Auto insurance companies in Montana provide a multi-year discount to participants 55 years of age and older.

March 10 (Friday) at First Interstate Bank; 2728 Colonial Drive; 12:30 p.m. until about 5 p.m.

April 13, (Thursday) at First Interstate Bank; 2728 Colonial Drive; 12:30 p.m. until about 5 p.m.

To register for a class call: 406-457-4712. Find additional classes at aarp.org/driversafety.

Red Cross seeks blood donations

The American Red Cross urges eligible donors to help end the ongoing critical need for blood with a blood donation. The Red Cross needs donors of all blood types to give now and help ensure lifesaving transfusions are on the sidelines for those who rely on them.

Appointments can be made by downloading the Red Cross Blood Donor App, visiting RedCrossBlood.org, calling 1-800-RED CROSS (1-800-733-2767) or enabling the Blood Donor Skill on any Alexa Echo device.

Fort Harrison3/3/2023: 10 a.m.3 p.m., V. A. Hospital, 3687 Veterans Drive

Helena3/8/2023: 10 a.m.-3:30 p.m., Blue Cross / Blue Shield, 3645 Alice St.

3/9/2023: noon-5:30 p.m., Helena Donor Center, 3150 North Montana, Suite B

3/13/2023: 11:30 a.m.-4 p.m., Vans Thriftway, 306 Euclid Ave.

3/14/2023: 10 a.m.-3 p.m., Mitchell Building, 125 N. Roberts

3/15/2023: 9:30 a.m.-3 p.m., Helena Blood Donation Center, 3150 N. Montana Avenue, Ste. B

3/15/2023: 9:30 a.m.-3 p.m., Dept. of Environmental Quality, 1520 E. 6th Ave.

Helena Nar-Anon Group meeting

Nar-Anon is an anonymous 12-step program for family and friends of addicts.

The Helena Nar-Anon Group meets Mondays and Wednesdays from 5:30 to 6:30 p.m. in the library (Room 101) of St. Pauls Methodist Church, 512 Logan. The library is located on the ground floor; please use the front entrance of the main church building.

Bank scholarship deadline approaching

The deadline for scholarship applications from Farmers State Bank is Wednesday, March 15, 2023. A $10,000 Scholarship is available to a qualifying student in Darby, Hamilton, Corvallis, Victor, Stevensville, Florence, Missoula, Helena and Kalispell  nine scholarships total. Access the application requirements and apply online today at farmersEbank.com/scholarship.

The awards are for $2,500 each and renewable for up to three years, for a total of $10,000 per student. Preference will be given to high school seniors with a 2.5 to 3.5 grade point average, who are active in school and community activities and plan to attend an accredited two- or four-year college, university or technical-vocational school full-time in the upcoming academic year.

For more information and scholarship eligibility requirements, visit www.farmersebank.com/scholarship.

Student newsMelissa Wong, of Helena, was named to the Deans List for the fall semester at University of Maryland Global Campus (UMGC). To be eligible for the honor, a student must complete at least six credits during the term, earned a grade point average of at least 3.5 for the term, and maintained a cumulative GPA of 3.5 at UMGC.



Cameron G Holston, of Helena, was named to the Wichita State University fall 2022 deans honor roll.

To be included on the deans honor roll, a student must be enrolled full time (at least 12 credit hours) and earn at least a 3.5 grade point average on a 4.0 scale.



Rebekah Fleury, of Helena, graduated from Bethel University, St. Paul, Minnesota, following the fall 2022 semester. Fleury earned a Bachelor of Arts in Psychology. She is the daughter of Deborah Fleury of Helena.

Honor society inducts new members

The following MSU students recently were initiated into The Honor Society of Phi Kappa Phi, the nations oldest and most selective collegiate honor society for all academic disciplines.

Heath Caldwell of Clancy; Erik Callery, Meghan Giovenco, Sarah Kirby, Jasper LaClair, Lucy Lantz, Jarod Lilletvedt, Haley Moseman, Joseph Triem, Augustine Tupper and Michelle VanderMars, all of Helena.

They are among approximately 25,000 students, faculty, professional staff and alumni to be initiated into Phi Kappa Phi each year. Membership is by invitation only and requires nomination and approval by a chapter. Only the top 10 percent of seniors and 7.5 percent of juniors are eligible for membership. Graduate students in the top 10 percent of the number of candidates for graduate degrees may also qualify, as do faculty, professional staff and alumni who have achieved scholarly distinction.
Sabina Mammadli

Newly-appointed US Senior Advisor for Caucasus Negotiations Lewis Bono will travel to the region next week, Azernews reports, citing US State Department Spokesperson Ned Price.

He will visit all three South Caucasus countries as part of his visit. He will travel to Baku, Yerevan, and Tbilisi as well, in that order, Price noted.

The official stressed that these will be the first of what is expected to be regular travels to all three countries of the South Caucasus. He also added that Bono plans to meet with senior leaders to support the Armenia-Azerbaijan peace process and United States' sustained commitment to Georgias sovereignty and territorial integrity.

We are encouraged by recent efforts by Armenia and Azerbaijan to engage productively in the peace process. And Mr. Bono hopes to be in a position to build on that effort and to see that progress continue. In all three of these cities, Mr. Bono will emphasize that the United States is committed to promoting a peaceful, democratic, and prosperous future for the South Caucasus region, Price added.

Notably, the last Senior Advisor for Caucasus Negotiations Philip Reeker announced his retirement on January 5, 2023.

To recap, the recent joint meeting between Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken, and Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan was in Munich on February 19.
Several Republican-backed bills to limit abortion access in Montana are on track to clear the state House.

Between Wednesday and Thursday in a landslide of legislation and with the support nearly entirely Republicans, who hold a supermajority, the House gave initial approval bills to ban the most commonly used abortion procedure after 12 weeks gestational age, ban abortions after 24 weeks, create a law similar to the born-alive ballot proposal voters defeated in 2022, require pre-authorization for abortions covered by Medicaid and require additional reporting for medication abortions.

Democratic legislators repeatedly spoke against the bills and attempted to revive one of their bills to codify the existing abortion landscape in Montana, but saw their efforts summarily thwarted.

Abortion is legal in Montana. A 1999 state Supreme Court decision known as Armstrong found the Montana Constitutions right to privacy ensures access to pre-viability abortions. Republicans have long aimed to legislate where possible around the ruling, and following the fall of Roe v. Wade at the federal level last year asked Montanas high court to revisit Armstrong.

The GOP has also legislated abortion in ways courts have deemed unconstitutional, such as a parental consent law a Helena judge this week struck down. Another three laws passed in 2021, including one to ban abortions after 21 weeks, are under a preliminary injunction while a lawsuit plays out challenging their constitutionality.

House Bill 721 from Speaker of the House Matt Regier, a Republican from Kalispell, would ban the most commonly used abortion procedure after 12 weeks of pregnancy.

That's known as dilation and evacuation. The American Congress of Obstetricians and Gynecologists has said D&E "is evidence-based and medically preferred because it results in the fewest complications for women compared to alternative procedures.

Regier told lawmakers his bill does not stop a woman from obtaining an abortion; the choice before you is about a procedure and one procedure only. He added there were multiple other ways a woman could access an abortion, including mifepristone, misoprostol and other options he listed including a cesarean section.

Regier also disputed a legal note attached to the bill that raises constitutional concerns. The note reads HB 721's prohibition on dismemberment abortion procedures infringes upon a woman's right to seek and obtain a pre-viability abortion.

I just stated a whole list of multiple other ways that are still available for women to obtain an abortion. Under this act, the killing of an unborn child and then dismembering it is permitted. Killing of an unborn child by dismemberment is not.

Democrats spoke in opposition, including Rep. Marilyn Marler of Missoula, who said that the language in the bill describing a dismemberment abortion, which is not a medical term, is meant to shock and shame people and to perpetuate abortion stigma.

But Rep. Kerri Seekins-Crowe, R-Billings, countered Marler, saying abortion also hurts people.

Rep. Laurie Bishop, D-Livingston, argued that the bill will not stand up in court.

The bill passed a second reading with all Republicans voting for it and all Democrats opposed.

House Bill 575 from Rep. Lola Sheldon-Galloway would ban abortions after 24 weeks or if a fetus is determined viable as defined in the bill. Gestational age calculations must include a margin of error and the abilities of a medical provider or facility to sustain the life of an infant is not taken into account. If gestational age is uncertain, a fetus must be assumed viable.

I hope on my tombstone it says I fought for the unborn, Sheldon-Galloway said earlier in the week when introducing the bill in committee.

Democrats who spoke against the bill pointed out Montana law already has protections for a fetus after viability is determined and argued that doctors, not lawmakers, are best suited to decide if a fetus is viable based on the specific medical situation of the pregnant person and fetus.

This is one of those policies that the greatest impact will be on people who are (navigating) the heartbreak in wanted pregnancy, said Rep. Laurie Bishop, D-Livingston.   Viability is a moving target no matter how we think about it.

Rep. Ed Stafman, D-Bozeman, asked Sheldon-Galloway if, under her bill, a fetus that developed without kidneys would be considered viable. Fetuses with this condition, known as renal agenesis, are not compatible with life. About 40% are stillborn and those that are born alive live only a few hours.

A baby born is a viable child, no matter what health conditions it comes in. It is viable, Sheldon-Galloway responded.

The bill passed a second reading on Wednesday by the same party lines as Regiers.

Another bill that passed a second reading on the same party-line vote was House Bill 625 from Seekins-Crowe.

Called the "Infant Safety and Care Act," it would say an infant born alive following an attempted abortion in an abortion clinic, medical facility, or other facility is entitled to the same protections under the law that would arise for any newborn infant or for any person who comes to a medical facility or other facility for screening or treatment.

It is similar to legislation from 2021 that put a so-called born-alive infant protection act before voters, who defeated the measure by a 53%-47% margin.

Seekins-Crowe said a new provision in her bill, however, would alleviate concerns from past opponents to the legislation that families would not be able to spend time with infants who were not going to survive. The previous bill asked voters to decide if health care providers must take all medically appropriate and reasonable actions to preserve the life and health of the infant.

In support of her bill on the floor Thursday, Seekins-Crowe said, Every human life is valuable, precious and worthy of full legal protection. A civilized society should never deny life-saving medically necessary care to any child born alive, including one who survives an attempted abortion.

Bishop again spoke against the bill, pointing out there are already protections in law for any infant born alive. Bishop also said that policies like HB 625 scare away medical providers from the state, which also has the effect of diminishing care for pregnant women.

Bishop disputed the idea that the bill is different enough from the act voters defeated.

Montana voters, they're pretty smart. And they just told us in the last election that policy very much like this, I don't care how much we think we've caught the perfect nuance, this isn't a policy they want. They voted it down, Bishop said.

Seekins-Crowe countered by saying the campaign against the referendum was well-funded and swayed voters over concerns a parent would not have the right to decide what kind of care to provide a non-viable infant, and that her bill addressed that.

This bill does not prevent an infants parents from refusing consent to medical care that is not medically necessary or reasonable when the care will do no more than temporarily prolong the act of dying, Seekins-Crowe said.

House Bill 544, from Rep. Jane Gillette, R-Bozeman, also cleared on a party-line vote. It would put into law an administrative rule proposed by the state health department to require pre-authorization for medication abortions and tighten what qualifies as a medically necessary abortion.

House Bill 786, from Rep. Lola Sheldon-Galloway, would increase reporting requirements around medication abortions. It also passed on a nearly party-line vote.
The Montana Legislature is considering changes to regulations on short-term rentals, which some blame for exacerbating the already-scarce affordable housing market in many of the states cities.

Legislation to shield short-term rentals from local restrictions failed to clear the Senate Wednesday, while another bill making it harder for localities to regulate them advanced.

Senate Bill 467 would have prohibited counties, cities and towns from enacting restrictions on rental periods for Airbnb-style lodgings, or from banning them outright. Bill sponsor Sen. Jeremy Trebas, R-Great Falls, said those restrictive ordinances can stand as a barrier to residents being able to make extra money by renting out a room on their property.

Local government, to me, has only usually served to be an impediment to being able to support myself, and many others are in the same boat, Trebas said. They certainly like to raise taxes, but what are they doing to allow me to pay those taxes?

Yet both Republican and Democratic lawmakers argued it should be up to local governments to make decisions on short-term rentals, which some blame for exacerbating the lack of affordable and workforce housing in the state.

Sen. Carl Glimm, R-Kila, said hes seen short-term rentals displace what could otherwise be much-needed affordable housing stock in Columbia Falls, a gateway community to Glacier National Park that lies within his district.

Usually Im pretty everybody-do-what-they-want, but in this regard I think we need to leave it up to the localities, because its not a one-size-fits-all throughout the state, Glimm said.

Democrats have bemoaned a steady parade of GOP legislation this session that limits the power of local governments. Republican Sen. Russ Tempel, of Chester, echoed those complaints in a moment of frustration during the floor debate.

I think what we should do, is we should just eliminate all counties and cities, he suggested sarcastically, prompting laughter from the chamber as is neared the tenth hour of an all-day floor session. Referring to his tenure as a Liberty County Commissioner, Tempel added, I spent 18 years fighting some of this stuff and trying to make local government work. And it looks to me like were fouling it up.

The bill failed to pass a preliminary vote, 18-32.

But Senate Bill 268, creating some barriers for local governments imposing regulations on those types of rentals, cleared the chamber on a party-line vote on the final day before the transmittal deadline.

Sen. Greg Hertz, R-Polson, said his bill is aimed at allowing families struggling to afford homeownership to use a residence on the same parcel as their home as a short-term rental. The measure would prohibit local governments from passing regulations that prevent property owners from doing so on their primary residence, and would apply in the same way to homeowners with an Airbnb on an adjacent property.

The measure further restricts localities by requiring them to complete an extensive process to justify regulations on short-term rentals. That includes local covenants.

They cant just say, Oh, were gonna ban short-term rentals, we dont like them, theyre getting into our rental property, Hertz said. You really have to dig down and provide evidence that there is a need to eliminate these.

All but three Republican senators voted for the measure, while Democrats were united against it.

And another measure working through the house, House Bill 430, seeks to tax short-term rentals to fund a proposed rent local program to incentivize property owners to rent to local employees. Its sponsored by Rep. Jane Gillette, a Republican from Bozeman, where the lack of affordable workforce housing has been especially acute.

To participate in the program, counties and other local jurisdictions would need to enact a 0.25% sales tax on short-term rentals to fund it. HB 430 was heard in committee last month, but because it is expected to incur an additional cost to the state to oversee the program, it doesnt need to pass the House until later in the session.
Bills from the 'election integrity' select committee

The Senate, on broad bipartisan votes, endorsed several bills Thursday that emerged from a special select committee to review the state's election processes.

House Bill 498 would require the absentee voter rolls be checked more frequently to ensure those voters are still at the address listed. Local election officials would still need to reach out to those voters to attempt to update their address, and eventually move them to the inactive voter list if they cant.

Senate Bill 481 would require each county that uses machine tabulators to count ballots to generate a cast vote record report. Those reports are digital summaries of each ballot scanned by the tabulator.

Senate Bill 482 similarly requires counties using tabulators to perform a test, known as hash validation, to ensure the code running the machines hasnt been altered since they were first certified for use.

Both bills create potentially large costs for counties, without appropriating any money for them. The Montana Association of Counties opposed the bill, estimating the cost of compliance would be a minimum of $15,000 per county, and in some cases more than $25,000.

All three bills need a final vote before they can advance to the House.

Workers' compensation laws

A bill favored by workers' compensation insurance companies went down in a landslide in the House, failing to pass second reading 10-90 after lawmakers from both parties panned the measure.

Rep. Steven Galloway, R-Great Falls, noted that House Bill 678's sponsor, Rep. Nelly Nichol, R-Billings, works for one of the companies that were backing the bill.

The bill sought to shift the burden of proof in workers' comp claims to injured workers, limit the effect of testimony by the patients doctor and allow insurance companies to use their prior medical history as evidence.

Rep. Jonathan Karlen, D-Missoula, said the bill would also remove penalties for insurers that dont make a timely determination on a claim.

So while the injured worker is trying to put food on the table, the insurance company can just delay, delay, delay with no penalty, Karlen said.

Nicol defended her proposal as one intended to get people back to work more quickly, and said it was supported by the Montana Chamber of Commerce.

The people that were opponents to this bill were claimant attorneys, Nicol said. This bill is going to make it harder for them to make money, make it harder to muddy the waters, make it harder to put off peoples claims.

Several of Nicols bills dealing with workers compensation have failed to pass muster this session. Shes an employee of her fathers workers' compensation company, Victory Insurance. The state auditors office leveled a $2.7 million fine against Victory in late December for making misrepresentations to its customers about their policies. In January, she sponsored House Bill 277 to defund two regulatory positions in that agency.

That bill failed to emerge from committee, as did House Bill 506, which would have allowed state agencies to shop for other workers' compensation insurance policies beyond the Montana State Fund. There are only two workers' compensation firms located in Montana, the State Fund and Victory Insurance.

Constitutional sheriffs bill goes down

The House on Thursday rejected a long-circulated proposal to require federal law enforcement to seek permission from county sheriffs before operating in local jurisdictions.

House Bill 604, carried by Rep. Jennifer Carlson, R-Churchill, was the latest attempt at the far-right Constitutional Sheriffs legislation at the Montana Legislature. The proposal has passed twice by the Legislature since the 1990s, and both times those bills were vetoed due to its conflict with the Supremacy Clause of the U.S. Constitution.

Rep. Wayne Rusk, a freshman Republican from Ravalli County, said supporting the bill would be to violate his oath of office, which according to its title, sought to reject federal laws and regulate federal agents.

Supporters said the bill would prevent federal agents and local law enforcement from bumping into each other and inadvertently starting a shootout. Even creating a dialogue by passing the bill would foster better relationships between sheriffs and the feds, said Rep. Jedediah Hinkle, R-Belgrade.

Rep. Bill Mercer, a Billings Republican and former U.S. Attorney for Montana, said the bill would quickly collapse under a constitutional challenge in court.

If we go down this road it will be a short trip, Mercer testified on the floor.

The practical challenge to enacting such a law, he added, would be stifling federal law enforcements ability to carry out arrests, searches and seizures of high-level crimes under the jurisdiction of agencies like the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives.

The whole reason that infrastructure exists is because the U.S. Constitution authorizes it, he said.

The bill went down on a 32-68 vote.

Lethal injection bill fails, again

An attempt to broaden the lethal injection statute failed to pass the Senate on Thursday, marking the second effort to fail in as many legislative sessions.

Montana has been unable to carry out a death penalty since 2015, when a judge ruled the specific substance allowed by state law acted too slowly. Sen. Barry Usher, R-Laurel, this session carried Senate Bill 439, to open the laws language for what the Department of Corrections could use in an execution to the word substances.

Usher said he was trying to address an issue identified by the judge, who said the issue was the Legislatures to fix.

Despite Ushers attempts, the debate on the Senate floor Thursday quickly veered into the debate about the practical effect of passing the bill, which would set the death penalty back in motion in Montana. Two people are currently facing the death penalty in the state.

Sen. Brad Molnar, R-Laurel, rejected the Senate chairs attempts to keep the debate off the merits of the death penalty, which he maintained was still related to the bill at hand. His brief debate on the matter drew rebuke from another Republican senator, John Esp, who asked Molnar be ruled out of order.

This bill is about will we use compounds .. that will end the life of someone, and they cannot appeal? Molnar said.

Democratic Sen. Jen Gross, vice chair of the committee that voted to advance the bill, urged the Senate to look at the broad substance definition and the limited public disclosure about the execution process.

How can the news media or others, any of us, find out what the substances used actually are? she asked.

The bill went down on a tie, 25-25, vote. Usher tried to get the Senate to reconsider its vote later in the day, but that effort failed on another tie vote.
1:15 p.m. update: I-72 lanes near Niantic are clear. The semitruck is on the right shoulder so State Police are asking motorists to continue to use caution in this area.

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NIANTIC  The eastbound lanes of Interstate 72 near the Niantic exit are temporarily blocked due to a jackknifed semitruck, the Illinois State Police said.

Motorists are encouraged to seek an alternate route.

According to the National Weather Service in Lincoln, Central Illinois remains under a high wind warning until 7 p.m. Friday. The damaging winds will blow down trees and power lines, causing widespread power outages and make travel difficult, especially for high profile vehicles, officials said.

Notable weather events from the year you were born Notable weather events since 1930 1930: Washington D.C. heatwave 1931: Yangtze River flood 1932: Southeast tornado outbreak 1933: The Great Black Blizzard 1934: One of the hottest years on record 1935: Black Sunday 1936: Coldest winter in North Dakota history 1937: The Ohio River flood 1938: The Great Long Island/New England Hurricane 1939: El Cordonazo 1940: Armistice Day blizzard 1941: A 'hurricane' in the Great Lakes 1942: Palm Sunday storm 1943: The Black Hills temperature rise and fall 1944: A break in the summer storm 1945: Deadly October gales 1946: The Tampa Bay hurricane 1947: The Great Blizzard of 1947 1948: Gloomy summer weather for the London Summer Olympics 1949: The Blizzard of 1949 1950: Hurricane Baker 1951: Hurricane Charlie 1952: London's Great Smog 1953: Hurricane Barbara 1954: Hurricane Hazel 1955: Tahoe's storm of the century 1956: Hurricane Flossy 1957: Hurricane Audrey 1958: The six-and-a-half-foot snowstorm of 1958 1959: The Manzanillo Hurricane 1960: The Great Blizzard of 1960 1961: Hurricane Carla 1962: The Ash Wednesday storm 1963: New Year's Eve snowstorm 1964: The Rameswaram cyclone 1965: Palm Sunday tornado outbreak 1966: The Blizzard of 1966 1967: The Chicago Blizzard of 1967 1968: Hurricane Low Q 1969: Hurricane Camille 1970: The Bhola Cyclone 1971: Quebec's storm of the century 1972: Rapid temperature spike in Loma, MT 1973: The Great Southeastern Snowstorm 1974: The Sygna Storm 1975: The Super Bowl Blizzard 1976: Britain's worst drought 1977: Blizzard of '77 1978: The Great Blizzard of 1978 1979: Hurricane Frederic 1980: The Western Wisconsin Derecho 1981: The Friday the 13th windstorm 1982: The Love Creek mudslide 1983: The Los Angeles tornado 1984: Lightning sets fire to York Minster 1985: Hurricane Gloria 1986: Deadly hailstones hit Bangladesh 1987: The Great Storm of 1987 1988: 20-foot waves hit Redondo Beach 1989: Hurricane Hugo 1990: Burns Day Storm 1991: Lightning kills fan at U.S. Open 1992: A monster nor'easter hits New Jersey 1993: Superstorm '93 1994: The South Canyon fire 1995: Queen Elizabeth II hit by giant rogue wave 1996: Heavy snow along the Central Gulf Coast 1997: Hurricane Danny 1998: Northeast ice storm 1999: Bridge Creek-Moore Tornado 2000: Hurricane Keith 2001: Deadly floods in Algeria 2002: New Year snow 2003: Hail falls in Los Angeles 2004: Hurricane Catarina 2005: Hurricane Katrina 2006: British Columbia windstorm 2007: Millers Ferry Tornado 2008: Super Tuesday Tornado Outbreak 2009: Hurricane Ida 2010: Snowmageddon 2011: Super Outbreak 2012: Hurricane Sandy 2013: Typhoon Haiyan 2014: Bomb cyclone hits the Bering Sea 2015: Oriental Star Ferry capsizes 2016: Hurricane Matthew 2017: Hurricane Harvey 2018: Tsunami hits Sunda Strait 2019: Flooding across the Midwest 2020: Super Typhoon Goni 2021: Cold Snap 2022: Arctic Bomb Cyclone
DECATUR  A Macon County judge has declared that Illinois' semiautomatic weapons ban violates the state's constitution, a ruling that will likely set up a final showdown before the Illinois Supreme Court.

Judge Rodney Forbes' ruling came in response to a lawsuit filed by state Rep. Dan Caulkins, R-Decatur, and a group of area gun owners. Forbes had previously issued a temporary restraining order halting the state from enforcing the ban on the plaintiffs.

Forbes, in his ruling, said that the law was "facially unconstitutional," which would apparently strike down the law in its entirety pending appeal.

Unlike temporary restraining orders that have been issued in a handful of state courts, which have only shielded named plaintiffs from the law's enforcement, this ruling appears to apply statewide.

Gov. J.B. Pritzker's office has disputed this notion, however.

"We expected political grandstanding from those more beholden to the gun lobby than to the safety of their constituents and todays ruling comes as no surprise," said Pritzker spokesman Alex Gough. "It does not apply statewide."

Gough added that "the governor is confident the constitutionality of the Protect Illinois Communities Act will be upheld."

Attorney General Kwame Raoul's office, on behalf of himself and Pritzker, filed an appeal to the Illinois Supreme Court late Friday afternoon to "reverse and vacate the circuit courts order."

"We filed our notice of appeal today, and we expect the Court to accept it on Monday," said spokeswoman Jamey Dunn-Thomason. "We will ask the Court for an expedited schedule, and we look forward to defending the Act in the Illinois Supreme Court."

Attorney Jerry Stocks, representing the plaintiffs, said that Forbes' ruling "represents a victory in one battle that is not, necessarily, the end of the war against the subject legislation."

The Legislature passed and Pritzker signed the legislation banning semiautomatic weapons and high-capacity magazines in January, and it took effect immediately. Illinois is the ninth state in the country to enact such a measure.

But a slew of legal challenges, including Caulkins', immediately followed. Cases in federal court argued that the ban violated the Second Amendment right to keep and bear arms.

Caulkins' lawsuit, however, alleged that the process by which the law was passed violated requirements from the Illinois Constitution that legislation get three public readings on three separate days in both houses, and that each bill be limited to a single subject. He also argued that the law violates the constitution's guarantee of equal protection under the law by exempting certain classes of people, such as corrections officers and retired police.

Forbes ruled in favor of Caulkins and his fellow plaintiffs on the latter subject, but in favor of Pritzker's administration on the former, citing appellate court rulings in both instances.

In a hearing last month, Stocks and Darren Kinkead, an attorney representing Pritzker and the attorney general, acknowledged that Forbes' hands were essentially tied by the higher court's ruling.

However, Kinkead asked that Forbes not extend protections from the order to the entire state  a request that the judge apparently did not grant.

Raoul's office has appealed the initial appellate court ruling to the state Supreme Court as well.

During a hearing early Friday afternoon, Forbes said he wanted to delay issuing a ruling until he had a chance to further review the case and said he would do so quickly, and to expect a ruling in "a couple of days."

But the ruling ultimately came in only two hours.

"I'm sure the (Illinois) attorney general is ready to file an appeal," Caulkins said, speaking after the hearing but before Forbes issued his decision.

Other plaintiffs in the case are Decatur Jewelry & Pawn owner Perry Lewin and those under the banner of "Law-Abiding Gun Owners of Macon County." A list provided to the court included about 2,000 names of people who are members of the association.

Though the three state court lawsuits filed by unsuccessful attorney general candidate Tom DeVore are similar in their arguments, Caulkins' lawsuit took a different approach to the process in forgoing the extensive discovery process in the former cases in favor of an expedited ruling that would get gun owners across the state out from under the law.

Their likelihood for continued success is uncertain, however, once it leaves friendly downstate circuits to the high court, which has a 5-2 Democratic majority.

The state challenges were viewed by many has the fastest way for gun owners to get relief from the law. But in the long run, the real battle is expected to play out in federal court, where Second Amendment arguments will be heard.

READ THE RULING

Staff Writer Valerie Wells and the Associated Press contributed.

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Citing a classified intelligence report provided to members of Congress, The Wall Street Journal reported Sunday that the Energy Department has now concluded with low confidence that the COVID-19 pandemic most likely began after an unintentional laboratory leak in China.

The opinion comes from the government department that oversees a network of National Laboratories and Technology Centers and has the study of health as part of its jurisdiction. Its not a definitive designation, even if the FBI has made the same declaration, albeit with moderate confidence. The origin of COVID-19 is a matter of crucial import to the world, not just vital to the assessment of culpability but to the cause of trying to prevent the recurrence of something similarly catastrophic. It remains an unanswered question.

But the statement from the Energy Department should be cause enough for much of the U.S. media to conduct a painful post-mortem on why it was so reluctant to credit this clearly logical theory with any status beyond a fringe view held by supporters of Donald Trump and other so-called outliers.

Whatever eventually proves to be the truth of the COVID-19 beginnings, here is evidence of just how partisan and unhinged much of the media coverage of the pandemic became, especially when combined with a cadre of often self-anointed and dubiously qualified public health experts who had been seduced by the chance to make their names, and in some cases a buck or two, from their personas on social media.

We are no fans of the former president and see his influence on our democracy as chaotically pernicious. Still, the collective hatred of Trump and the scorn with which his pronouncements typically were greeted meant that many in the media suspended one of journalisms most crucial creeds: to check everything out.

Just because a person lies or talks nonsense some of the time does not mean that they are not wise or truthful at other moments. And too many journalists failed to see that substituting a kind of collective groupthink certainty as a weapon against Trump was deeply problematic. Thats especially true given the lack of any evidence that Trump was actually wrong when he called on an obfuscating China to come clean, to investigate its research activities and to make its findings available to the wider scientific community.

In the early days of the crisis, both The New York Times and The Washington Post added the adjective fringe to a mention of the lab leak theory, especially when espoused by a Republican, such as the widely ridiculed Sen. Tom Cotton. The writer Jonathan Chait has pointed out the many problems with an April 2020 National Public Radio story that boldly asserted in its lead paragraph that virus researchers say there is virtually no chance that the new coronavirus was released as result of a laboratory accident in China or anywhere else. Thats a piece of journalism that has not aged especially well.

New York magazine published a piece that purported to debunk COVID-19 conspiracy theories, including the one that the Department of Energy now supports. A pair of editors notes have now been appended on the piece.

Welp, wrote Nate Silver on Twitter Sunday. The behavior of a certain cadre of scientists who used every trick in the book to suppress discussion of this issue is something Ill never forget. A huge disservice to science and public health. They should be profoundly embarrassed.

In fairness, reporters can only report what they know at a given moment and, given all the ongoing chaos surrounding COVID-19, its surely not surprising that more now is known. And its worth repeating that, even now, the lab leak theory is far from proven. Low confidence is low confidence, and not all branches of government agree.

But we can say this with at least moderate certainty: The media got a whole lot wrong in the early days of COVID-19, often allowing ideological bias, and a specific disdain for Trump, to influence reporting. And a lot of public health professionals jumped on the same zealous train, seduced by talk-show appearances, op-ed column offers and a growing cadre of social media followers, all desperate for information, rather than biased opinion.

Next time, everyone should be more careful. But lets hope there is no next time, at least in all our lifetimes.

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Wilderness Mountain Water Company is preparing to create 55 new jobs as part of a multi-million-dollar expansion of its water bottling operation in Bland County.

Wilderness Water will make significant modifications and upgrades to the former 3300 Artesian Bottled Water Company facility purchased in February 2022, including new beverage equipment that will allow the company to create new products, increase production and engage in product innovation and research development, according to a written statement from Gov. Glenn Youngkin's office.

The facility is based around a century-old artesian well that produces pure mountain water for use in a variety of premium beverages.

We are thrilled that Wilderness can build on the assets of the former 3300 Artesian Bottled Water Company and expand product offerings that take advantage of the premium natural resources available in Bland County, Youngkin said. Virginias accessibility to some of the countrys most populated metro areas makes it a prime location to get product to market quickly, and our success in food and beverage processing is evidenced by companies like Wilderness that have located here and continue to expand in the Commonwealth.

Business partner Shane Emmett said the location is ideal.

Virginia is rapidly solidifying its place as the leading location nationwide for food and beverage brands. It has a fantastic business climate, strong local and statewide government support, highly engaged universities and community colleges and is proximate to 75% of the U.S. population with one-to two-days freight," Emmett said.

We are thrilled about this partnership with Wilderness. Their vision, which will build on the treasured assets of Bland County, is exciting and will strengthen an already stout local economy, said Nichole Hair, Mount Rogers Regional Partnership Executive Director.

The acquisition and deployment of capital will also further solidify the Mount Rogers Region as a leader in beverage manufacturing. We would like to thank Shane Emmett, Eric Workman, the Hunton team, and our partners at VEDP for helping bring this project to the finish line," she said.

The Virginia Economic Development Partnership worked with Bland County and the Mount Rogers Regional Partnership to secure the project for Virginia. Youngkin approved a $90,000 grant from the Commonwealths Opportunity Fund to assist Bland County with the project. Funding and services to support Wildernesss employee training activities will be provided through the Virginia Jobs Investment Program.

This reinvestment in the former 3300 Artesian Bottled Water facility by Wilderness is a testament to the strong performance of the Bland County operation, said Sen. Travis Hackworth. We have the talent, work ethic, and commitment to make things happen in this region. To be recognized and valued by Wilderness only confirms this fact, as will the additional 55 jobs."
The Confederate soldier statue in Morganton has been a point of contention for three years. The issue was again front and center at a meeting this week of the Burke County Board of Commissioners.

Multiple people spoke during the public comments portion about the Confederate statue that stands on the Old Burke County Courthouse square.

Bert Moncrief asked commissioners to form some type of formal venue so the people or the board can discuss the Confederate statue. He went on to talk about growing up in Georgia and the symbolism that remains with the statue.

Southern white boys like myself cant change the fact that our parents and ourselves were awash in The Lost Cause narrative, the glory of the Confederacy and the oppression of Jim Crow. But now I believe what most of us have learned better, its time to do better.

He went on to ask the board to take a step in discussing the statue.

Allen Fullwood told the board it has been two years since he spoke at a county commissioner meeting asking for the statue to be removed from public grounds. That same night, the commissioners also heard from people opposed to removing the statue, he said.

I ask, what voices were heard, Fullwood said. You and I know that the monument could be removed. There are avenues in which we could take. And I think we qualify for possibly two of those criteria that the monument could be removed from the public ground.

He said other monuments have been removed from other places in the state.

You have veiled your decision-making behind the existing state statute. Those that erected that monument and statue veiled behind white supremacy, he said.

Kevin Frederick, a retired minister and religious affairs coordinator for the NAACP, told commissioners there is a coalition of ministerial alliances, the NAACP and equity groups in Burke County who plan to hold a Symbols of the South symposium at 7 p.m. March 9 and 23 at First Presbyterian Church in Morganton, and invited commissioners to be part of it. He said the symposium will include Dr. Cameron Lippard, speaking about how people within the same society interpret symbols differently.

Fredrick said representatives of the NAACP and Sons of Confederate Veterans also will attend the event.

And we would like to have a dialogue so that we listen to each other effectively, that we learn to hear each other effectively, and that we move forward as a unified community, Fredrick said.

The Rev. Wesley Hendrick also spoke about the Confederate monument in Morganton and told the board that his mother taught him when he was young that there is a difference between hearing and listening.

I am certain without a shadow of a doubt that you have heard our sound. But I am not convinced that you have listened to our words, Hendrick said. The monument represents pain for many individuals. While it may not represent your pain, we simply ask that you take and make it your purpose to show empathy to this pain. We understand that you hear us but the question is, are you listening?

Alicia Connelly, president of the Burke County NAACP branch, read a resolution that read, in part, the statue is illegal because state law and its constitution that prohibits government action that denies equal protection and racial discrimination. The resolution, Connelly read, that the North Carolina State Conference of the NAACP condemns the failure by the Burke County law enforcement agencies to enforce the law and protect residents and asserts that residents should feel safe in their communities and reaffirms its support of the local branch in its efforts to remove the Confederate soldier monument.
Sabina Mammadli

Azerbaijan has relocated another group of IDPs to the brand-new smart village of Aghali in Zangilan District, which saw liberation from Armenia's nearly 30-year-long occupation following the 44-day second Karabakh war.

The relocation to the first smart village in the Eastern Zangzur economic zone of Azerbaijan, being implemented in several stages, saw the return of over 20 families, or a total of 94 people.

Of the total number of families, 10 households (50 people) were relocated on February 28, while the other 10 families (44 people) will be relocated today.

Besides that, Deputy Chairman of Azerbaijan's State Committee for Refugees and Internally Displaced Persons Fuad Huseynov said that a total of 86 families (420 people) have been relocated to the Aghali village so far within the program.

Residents will be provided with jobs by appropriate institutions in accordance with their professional qualifications and skills. They will work in various government agencies, catering facilities, construction, and industrial companies.

All infrastructure conditions have been created for the relocated people: a public services center, a school, a kindergarten, a bank, a post office, catering facilities, etc.

The resettlement process is planned to continue in the coming months.

On November 16, Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev endorsed the "1st State Program on the Great Return to Azerbaijan's Liberated Territories".

Under the state program, Azerbaijan has identified a number of grandiose goals as it envisages the resettlement of 34,500 families to the liberated territories by 2026. The relocation of families to houses to be built in stages is planned to be carried out in accordance with the scheduled restoration work.




HICKORY  Catawba Valley Community College shined a spotlight on past, present and future African-American leaders on its campus during the 20th annual Black History Celebration held Tuesday at the colleges East Wing Auditorium.

It was the first face-to-face Black History Celebration held on campus since the COVID-19 pandemic.

Here at CVCC we just dont celebrate Black history on one night, but we have celebrated it all month long  from social media posts, podcasts, interviews, institutional topics and professional development, said Felicia Simmons, Vice President of Diversity and Engagement. We celebrate all day and all year long. We wont stop celebrating after this evening. We at CVCC acknowledge and recognize not just Black history, but all diversity and equity, and practice inclusivity throughout the year to ensure that everyone feels valued.

Two African-American leaders from each of Catawba Valley Community Colleges past, present and future were honored during the ceremony. A video interview was shown of each honoree, and each person was presented with a special plaque.

Sam Hunt  one of CVCCs first African-American students  and Iris Barrett, who was the first female African-American to serve on the CVCC Board of Trustees, were both honored as two of CVCCs African-American past leaders.

We believe in acknowledging the trailblazers, said Johnny Scott, Minority Community Liaison of Diversity & Engagement. They took part in history at CVCC or came to CVCC. It probably wasnt the safe thing to do, but they came nonetheless. We want to acknowledge the history and the memory of those who were here in the past, acknowledge the history makers of those who are here now and acknowledge our future history as well.

Two long tenured CVCC employees  Carolyn Brandon, Director of Scholarships & Financial Aid, and Teresa Ray, Director of Career Advising  represented the present African-American leaders on CVCCs campus.

To our present, we thank you, Simmons said of Brandon and Ray. We value you and we appreciate all of you. We thank you for what you do for not only our students, but for our faculty and our staff and even the parents. We say thank you.

Current CVCC students Latasia Gross and Jerron Turner-Clark were honored for representing the future of African-American leaders from CVCCs campus.

Gross is a U.S. military veteran and Student Leadership Academy member who plans to study law after graduating from CVCC, while Turner-Clark is a computer-integrated machining student and president of CVCCs Minority Males on the Move (M3) Club.

To our future, what a bright shining star that you are to all of us, Simmons said. We look forward to seeing you flourish. We look forward to seeing great things in you. We thank all of our award recipients.

Tuesdays ceremony also included the singing of the musical selection Lift Every Voice and Sing and a performance from CVCC student Dior Scott.

For more information on the Office of Diversity and Engagement at CVCC, visit https://cvcc.edu/About_Us/Diversity_and_Engagement/index.cfm
" " Frances Willard stands behind her mother, Mary Thompson Hill Willard, seated at left, and Anna B. Gordon, who worked as a secretary and lived in the Willard household. Library of Congress/Corbis/VCG/Getty Images

As younger adults opt for "wellness" products, many are practicing alcohol abstinence. Sometimes referred to as "sober curious," this trend of often forgoing alcohol has forged public conversations on the health benefits of abstinence.

Few, however, reflect on its connections to the temperance movement, one of the major social movements of the 19th and early 20th centuries.

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Its leaders not only believed that alcohol abstinence would lead to better health, but they saw it as a way to create a just society. This movement laid a foundation for the successful campaign for an amendment to the U.S. Constitution. Enacted in 1920, the 18th Amendment barred the sale and distribution of alcoholic beverages.

Because of the difficulties of legal enforcement, and following a national campaign waged against Prohibition, the amendment was repealed in 1933. That repeal still casts aspersion on how the temperance movement is remembered today. Many Americans see it as a moralistic crusade dominated by religious zealots. However, temperance became an international movement, with many of its leaders being women.

A historical figure who sheds light on this movement is Frances Willard. In a recent biography, I discuss how Willard came to lead the temperance movement.
Twenty children died in Cabarrus County in 2021 (latest official date available), according to the State of Our Children: A 2022 Report, which will be discussed by Cabarrus County Commissioners at their work session Monday, March 6, at 4 p.m. at the Governmental Centers Multi-Purpose Room.

The report was submitted to the commissioners by Paula Yost, JD, LPCA chair, Cabarrus County Child Protection and Fatality Team. The numbers in the report show a high demand for efforts to protect children in Cabarrus County.

Death of children

The fatalities are broken down this way:

Death by illness: 1-Leukemia, 1-Cardiomegaly, 1-Secondary Pulmonary Hypertension, 1-Disease of Stomach, 1- Chronic Respiratory Failure, 1-Cardiomyopathy

Premature births: 4

Accidents: 2-Car accident, 1-pedestrian hit by car when crossing road to check mail, 2-skateboarder hit by car when crossing road, 1-unsafe sleep (no known substances)

Substance affected: 3-unsafe sleep (marijuana use in home)

Abuse: 0-The district attorneys office is reviewing two cases.

The deaths are consistent with recent years: 2015, 23 children died; 2016, 22; 2017, 21; 2018, 24; 2019, 23; and 2020, 18.

Numbers and needs

Here are more statistics and notes in the report from Cabarrus Department of Human Service:

Investigations worked with 4,717 children, an increase from 4,470 in 2021, and 3,728 children from 2020.

Cabarrus County accepted 1,721 cases, up from 1,038 cases in 2021. Of those accepted cases, 484 were forensic cases, which is down from 506 forensic cases in 2021. Forensic cases involve physical or sexual abuse.

Out of the total amount of cases accepted, 204 had substance abuse allegations and, out of those, 27 cases alleged opiate use.

Cabarrus County has completed 554 assist requests from other counties, up from 423 in 2021. DHS probably needs more social workers.

The county also had 57 substance abuse impacted infants, 158 domestic violence cases, and three human trafficking cases.

Due to crime increases, we need your support in requesting additional Assistant District Attorneys from the legislature.

44 families per month in in home services as opposed to last years 54.

158 (2022), 161 (2021) children in foster care as opposed to last years 152 (2020), 133 (in 2019).

Prevention efforts in 2022

The Prevention Unit received a total of 453 referrals from January to December 2022.

The Prevention Unit served 197 families that year. A total of 155 families were successfully diverted from repeated maltreatment reports. (Did not need follow up.)

The Parenting Specialist received a total of 33 referrals. Fifteen families participated in Parenting with the Parenting Specialist. (Due to a wait list, many families were referred outside the agency)

The Prevention Team invited 217 Cabarrus County churches to partner with the sponsorship of families for Thanksgiving and Christmas; 91 families were fed for Thanksgiving; 158 children were sponsored for Christmas with gifts.

Watch meeting from home or office

Mondays commissioners meeting will be broadcast live on Channel 22, https://www.youtube.com/cabarruscounty and https://www.cabarruscounty.us/cabcotv. Previous meetings are also available online.
An arrest has been made related to the bomb threat made at the Chewy Warehouse in December, according to the Rowan County Sheriffs Office.

According to a RCSO news release, Demitrius Dennelle Cannon, 30, of Granite Quarry, was arrested on warrants obtained by RCSO detectives stemming from the Chewy incident in December. On Dec. 15, a call was received by the human resource department of the Chewy Warehouse at 255 Front Creek Road outside Salisbury. Staff reported a woman called and made a threat to blow the place up and then disconnected shortly after. The building was evacuated while deputies searched the facility for explosives, but found none.

Detectives were able to trace the phone call made, which led them to an application on the cellphone of Demitrius Cannon, an employee of Chewy. Cannon was scheduled to be at work, but she did not show up for her shift. She was found at her residence, where investigators questioned her, but she denied making the threat. Electronic devices were seized from her residence and after a search was conducted, evidence was found confirming investigators beliefs that Demitrius had made the threat, the RCSO said.

Warrants were obtained for her arrest on Jan. 26 for making a false bomb report and communicating threats. Attempts made to locate her went unsuccessful until she was pulled over by the Granite Quarry Police Department and taken into custody. She was given a $5,000 secured bond and has since posted it and has been released from jail.
The operator of the National Broadband Network, NBN Co, says it is committed to increasing female representation in the workforce under an initiative to raise female participation in science, technology, engineering and maths (STEM) roles.

The company has today announced that it has joined the Australian Academy of Sciences Women in STEM Decadal Plan Champions  the first Government Business Enterprise to champion the initiative.

NBN Co says the commitment aligns with nbns target of achieving 40 per cent female representation in management positions, and it cites a reporti into STEM gender equity in Australia which found women filled just 23 per cent of senior management and eight per cent of CEOs in STEM industries.

Academy Chief Executive Anna-Maria Arabia welcomed nbn as a Decadal Plan Champion. nbns achievements towards gender equity show its committed to positive and sustainable change for women in STEM, said Arabia.

We are excited to see one of Australias major corporations take the next step in its journey to achieve gender equity and greater diversity in the workforce.

NBN Co Chief People and Culture Officer Sally Kincaid said nbn has lifted the percentage of women in management roles, with more than 34 per cent in December 2022.

But we need to do more  and were working hard to reach our goal of 40 per cent, Kincaid said.

As a major telco employer we have a responsibility to demonstrate the personal, professional and industry-wide benefits of recruiting and retaining top female talent.

Joining the Women in STEM Decadal Plan formalises our commitment - ultimately, we accept we will be judged by our actions, not what we say.

An inclusive culture drives innovation and enables the business to fulfil its purpose of lifting the digital capability of Australia.

NBN Co says the Women in STEM plan encourages organisations to work towards gender equity through leadership and cohesion, evaluation, workplace culture, visibility, education and industryaction.
The opening line of "Can't Is Not An Option," Nikki Haley's 2012 autobiography, is a forthright proclamation of her South Asian roots: "I am the proud daughter of Indian parents, who reminded us every day how blessed we are to live in this country." It was with those words, wrote Haley, who was then in her first term as South Carolina's governor, that she had begun every speech she delivered during her gubernatorial campaign. It was with similar words that she addressed the Republican National Convention in 2020, describing her childhood in the small town of Bamberg, S.C. "My father wore a turban; my mother wore a sari," she told the delegates. "I was a brown girl in a Black and white world." And it was with those words that Haley launched her bid for the 2024 Republican presidential nomination, repeating them in her formal announcement video and at her kickoff rally in Charleston, S.C., on Feb. 15. If there is one thing about herself that Haley has constantly emphasized, it is her pride in being the daughter of Ajit and Raj Randhawa, who emigrated from India in the 1960s. And yet because she goes by "Nikki" she has repeatedly been accused of trying to whitewash her ethnic identity and downplay her Indian background. Of all the reasons for which Haley can be criticized, that has to be the stupidest and most contemptible. Haley's first name is Nimarata, a Punjabi word meaning "humility." Nikki, which means "little one" in the same language, is her middle name. She has gone by that name all her life, and when she married Michael Haley, she took his last name. Nothing about that is unusual, of course. Millions of people have always been called by their middle names. Among them: Willard Mitt Romney, Olive Marie Osmond, James Paul McCartney, and Rachel Meghan Markle. But to some chauvinists and haters, Haley's preference for "Nikki" has long been grounds for attack. During her first run for political office in South Carolina, her opponent  a 30-year incumbent named Larry Koon  ran ads deliberately mislabeling her as "Nimrata N. Randhawa," depicting her alongside her father in his turban, and labeling her a "Buddhist." (In fact, Haley's father is Sikh; she converted to Christianity decades ago and attends a Methodist church).

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In case anyone missed the point, the ad dismissed her as not a "REAL Republican." Voters weren't swayed by such xenophobia. Haley trounced Koon in the final by 10 percentage points.

More frequent, however, has been the malice aimed at Haley from progressives, who sneer that she uses "Nikki" to hide her origins and win favor with white supremacists.

"Are you afraid the white folks you're kowtowing to won't vote for someone named Nimrata?" tweeted Talbert Swan of the Greater Springfield NAACP when Haley announced her presidential bid. "You not only want to erase the history of Black people to satisfy racists, you want to erase your own. You're a disgrace."

On ABC's "The View" last fall, cohost Sunny Hostin described Haley as one of those "chameleons" who "decide not to embrace [their] ethnicities" so that they can "pass" for white. She asked, mockingly: "What's her real name again?"

What especially seems to trigger the poisonous barbs about Haley's name is her conviction that America is not a racist nation. When Haley repeated that message during her campaign kickoff last month, the popular podcaster and The Atlantic writer Jemele Hill taunted: "So why did she change her name then?"

Such boorish attacks are more than just another example of the ugliness to which public discourse has descended. They also reflect a resentment toward non-white Americans who reject left-wing dogma. Like those who slur Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas as "Uncle Clarence" and Senator Tim Scott as "Uncle Tim," the Haley-haters regard her as illegitimate because she makes her political home on the right.

Happily, there are liberal Democrats who reject such bigotry. "I think the fact that she got to be the governor of South Carolina with brown skin is a very impressive accomplishment," Paul Begala, the longtime Democratic Party strategist, said on CNN last week. "I don't think it's something people ought to be attacking or ridiculing her about."

Whatever else may be said about Haley, jeering her for her name is juvenile and shabby. She has shortcomings aplenty, but they don't include hiding from her Indian identity. As a candidate for office, her record and her views are certainly fair targets. Her foes have every right to aggressively challenge her ideas. But when they go after Nikki Haley's name, they demean only themselves.

Jeff Jacoby is a columnist for The Boston Globe, from which this is reprinted with permission."
Our society has experienced plenty of disruptive technology over the past couple of centuries, but nothing has been as disruptive as artificial intelligence promises to be.

Ever since ChatGPT was released to the public in November, people have been scrambling to figure out what the social and economic ramifications will be. The potential benefits and harms are so varied, so significant and so speculative, that one can find opinions ranging all the way from doomsday scenarios to ushering in a future filled with vast improvements in every area of human life.

Most expert predictions, however, fall somewhere between those two extremes, depending largely on how the companies designing and implementing AI models deal with a number of ethical concerns. Those concerns are focused on things like who will have oversight, the transparency with which they operate, the guidelines programmed into the systems and the amount of autonomy AI may develop over time.

Several of these concerns were highlighted recently when advance testers with access to Microsofts Bing AI chatbot reported alarming conversations. Since those results have been so widely reported, I wont describe them here. Lets just say they were creepy. Microsofts response was to pull the chatbot from public use and to send it back for further development.

But what happens next? What if companies such as Google, Microsoft and Amazon are able successfully to address the chief ethical concerns with AI? What if a version of AI is able to integrate seamlessly into our personal and professional lives, making it easier to find and use information, to process that information into useful documents, laws, policies, research papers, letters, designs, contracts, artworks, and who knows what else? And what if we are able to do that without manipulating, deceiving, exploiting or otherwise harming anybody? Will that be good for humanity?

Consider the stated aim of the company that developed ChatGPT: OpenAIs mission is to ensure that artificial general intelligence (AGI)  by which we mean highly autonomous systems that outperform humans at most economically valuable work  benefits all of humanity.

Imagine all the things that implies, all the ways in which human beings put words and images together to communicate with one another. And then imagine that much of that is done by some kind of entity that has no self-awareness, no personhood, but is capable of precisely imitating the full range of expressive activities that, up to this point in worlds existence, have been the exclusive province of human beings.

Imagine that in the future an AI bot will be capable of writing letters to a friend, composing a note of condolence to comfort someone in sorrow, writing a speech to motivate people to support a cause, creating a sermon to be preached on Sunday, vows to be spoken at ones wedding or a prayer to be said at a parents funeral.

Dont suppose that people will not use AI for such things. Of course they will. Once AI is advanced enough to simulate the subtleties of a wide range of human expression, it will certainly be called upon to help people on those occasions when expression is difficult, when it is most important to find just the right words for the occasion.

We had a glimpse of such a use recently when an administrator at Vanderbilt University used ChatGPT to compose an email to students in response to the mass shooting at Michigan State. The email called for promoting a culture of respect and understanding and urged members of the community to continue to engage in conversations. It closed with a plea to come together as a community to reaffirm our commitment to caring for one another.

Vanderbilt students were predictably outraged. We want to know that the words spoken to us, especially words used to move us  to comfort, console or encourage us  are sincere. We want assurance that what someone says to us is what they really mean.

The truth is, human beings have always wrestled with the question of whose words to trust. That is especially evident today when so many of our social relations are tainted by a deep and pervasive skepticism.

The assurance of sincerity, which is essential to so much we take for granted in our society, is acquired incrementally, through a willingness to engage earnestly with others in a thousand little gestures of mutual respect and attention.

Will AI help us do that? Will AI help us find our way into deeper, more meaningful relationships with others? Will it help us to love our neighbors more genuinely? Or will it drive the wedge of skepticism deeper into the heart of our relationships, causing us to doubt the sincerity of all our interactions and become even more distrustful, suspicious, and lonely?

People working in technology fields tend to restrict what they call ethics to problems of implementation. They dont ask whether the technology is inherently unethical. How will it shape our understanding of our lives together? Does the best, most well-intentioned and effective use pose the greatest threat?

Those are the questions I wish more people would ask.
CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla.  SpaceX launched four astronauts to the International Space Station for NASA on Thursday, including the first person from the Arab world going up for an extended monthslong stay.

The Falcon rocket bolted from Kennedy Space Center shortly after midnight, illuminating the night sky as it headed up the East Coast.

Nearly 80 spectators from the United Arab Emirates watched from the launch site as astronaut Sultan al-Neyadi  only the second Emirati to fly to space  blasted off on his six-month mission.

Half a world away in Dubai and elsewhere across the UAE, schools and offices broadcast the launch live.

Also riding the Dragon capsule that's due at the space station on Friday: NASA's Stephen Bowen, a retired Navy submariner who logged three space shuttle flights, and Warren "Woody" Hoburg, a former research scientist at Massachusetts Institute of Technology and space newbie, and Andrei Fedyaev, a space rookie who's retired from the Russian Air Force.

"Welcome to orbit," SpaceX Launch Control radioed, noting liftoff occurred four years to the day after the capsule's first orbital test flight. "If you enjoyed your ride, please don't forget to give us five stars."

The first attempt to launch them was called off Monday at the last minute because of a clogged filter in the engine ignition system.

"It may have taken two times, but it was worth the trip," Bowen said.

NASA's space operations mission chief, Kathy Lueders, said Thursday's launch enhanced a night sky already showcasing a conjunction of Venus and Jupiter. The two planets appeared side by side all week, seeming to grow ever closer.

"We added a bright new star to that night sky tonight," she told reporters.

The newcomers will replace a U.S.-Russian-Japanese crew that has been at the space station since October. The other station residents are two Russians and an American whose six-month stay was doubled, until September, after their Soyuz capsule sprang a leak. A replacement Soyuz arrived last weekend.

Al-Neyadi, a communications engineer, thanked everyone in Arabic and then English once reaching orbit. "Launch was incredible. Amazing," he said.

He served as backup for the first Emirati astronaut, Hazzaa al-Mansoori, who rode a Russian rocket to the space station in 2019 for a weeklong visit. The oil-rich federation paid for al-Neyadi's seat on the SpaceX flight.

The UAE's minister for public education and advanced technology, Sarah al-Amiri, said the long mission "provides us a new venue for science and scientific discovery for the country."

"We don't want to just go to space and then not have much to do there or not have impact," said the director general of the UAE's space center in Dubai, Salem al-Marri.

The Emirates already have a spacecraft orbiting Mars, and a mini rover is hitching a ride to the moon on a Japanese lander. Two new UAE astronauts are training with NASA's latest astronaut picks in Houston.

Saudi Prince Sultan bin Salman was the first Arab in space, launching aboard shuttle Discovery in 1985. He was followed two years later by Syrian astronaut Muhammed Faris, launched by Russia. Both were in space for about a week.

Al-Neyadi will be joined this spring by two Saudi astronauts going to the space station on a short private SpaceX flight paid for by their government.

"It's going to be really exciting, really interesting" to have three Arabs in space at once, he said last week. "Our region is also thirsty to learn more."

He's taking up lots of dates to share with his crewmates, especially during Ramadan, the Muslim holy month that begins this month. As for observing Ramadan in orbit, he said fasting isn't compulsory since it could make him weak and jeopardize his mission.

Bowen, the crew's leader, said the four have jelled well as a team despite differences between their countries. Even with the tension over the war in Ukraine, the U.S. and Russia have continued to work together on the space station and trade seats on rides there.

"It's just tremendous to have the opportunity to fly with these guys," Bowen said.

Space discoveries that will blow your mind Space discoveries that will blow your mind Super-Earth Ice volcanoes Potentially habitable planet Liquid-filled canyons on Titan Ultramassive black holes Collision of neutron stars Tsunamis on Mars Alcohol-spewing comet Planet-building clumps Cosmic microwave background Possibility of life on Jupiter's moon Star-sucking black holes Sun twins Ice deposits on Mars Small stars The synestia theory Water on the moon Supermassive black hole Buckyballs Fiery exoplanet Cold spot in the universe Iron and titanium outside the solar system Halloween meteor Monster galaxy Oil and gas on Saturns moon Magnetic turbulence in space 79 moons around Jupiter Ice cliffs on Mars 7 Earth-size planets First interstellar object in solar system First photograph of a black hole
Q: Is true that if you have Bradford pear trees in your yard, you can get free trees if you cut it down?

B.F.

Answer: Yes, it is true. The N.C. Bradford Pear Bounty is a program that is sponsored by N.C. State Extension, N.C. Urban Forest Council, N.C. Wildlife Federation, and N.C. Forest Service. The bounty is replacing Bradford pears with a native tree.

The program will give you one native tree in exchange for each Bradford pear you show you have cut down. You can receive up to five replacement trees.

Upcoming exchange events are Oct. 28 in Sanford and in Wilmington on a date to be determined. The events are first come/first served. The first two exchange events in the town of Wake Forest and Newton are full.

Here are the rules:

Preregistration is required and can be made at treebountync.com.

Tree removal is the homeowners responsibility.

This is an event-based program. Participants must attend at the location and date/time of the event to pick up their trees.

Only the homeowner can register and receive replacement trees.

Any North Carolina resident is eligible.

A before and after photo must be brought to the event (i.e., a picture of the tree standing and a picture of the tree on the ground/cut). If the tree was not flowering when cut, an additional photo with a close up of the leaves or bark is required.

Why are Bradford pears being replaced?

Leslie Rose, an agricultural-horticulture agent with N.C. State Cooperative Extension Forsyth County Center, explains why Bradford pears are not good trees to have in your yard.

Bradford pears are considered invasive. They are on this list from the NC Invasive Plant Council. Bradford pears will produce seeds that spread and generate more tree seedlings.

The species has escaped the areas where it has been planted by humans and is now found growing in areas that arent managed, she said.

They can be seen growing on the sides of roads and natural areas where they are displacing native plants that normally would grow in those areas.

A second reason why Bradford pears are bad is that they have poor structure. The branches tend to come out of one central point on the tree and often are growing at very small angles relative to one another.

This results in a weak crown structure and the trees are very prone to breakage. Bradford pears are often damaged in storms, which shortens their lifespan and also results in dangerous situations, for instance when the trees are planted close to houses or parking areas, Rose said.

Another reason to replace Bradford pears is because they smell bad.

The replacement trees that are available are Pawpaw, Boxelder, Red maple, Silver maple, Serviceberry, Flowering dogwood, River birch, Eastern redbud, American beech, Tulip-poplar, Swamp blackgum, Sycamore and Swamp white oak.

Shredding on Saturday

Cherry Street United Methodist Church, 117 N. Cherry St., Kernersville, will have Royal Shredding, formerly Shamrock Shredding, onsite from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. Saturday. Donations will be accepted to support local ministries.
Forsyth County commissioners presented a wish list adding up to over $50 million to area lawmakers on Monday, and while the state representatives didnt make any promises, they didnt say no, either.

Representatives in attendance were Kamika Brown, Kyle Hall and Jeff Zenger, while staffers for Amber Baker and Donny Lambeth took part remotely. State senators Paul Lowe and Joyce Krawiec were not able to attend.

The countys ask from the state includes $5 million for workforce development, and $10.3 million for the planned multi-use agricultural event center on new county park land near Tobaccoville.

The biggest request from the county is for $39.5 million to make improvements at Smith Reynolds Airport designed to magnify its importance as a driver of economic growth.

If that seems like a lot of money, its not that far from the $23 million the airport got in 2021 from the North Carolina General Assembly for the 2022 and 2023 fiscal years. The appropriation included money for terminal improvements, hangar maintenance and construction, and taxiway and ramp projects.

This time around, the airport is wanting $4 million to rehabilitate the south ramp, which is near Forsyth Technical Community Colleges aviation technology lab off Fairchild Road.

The plans call for adding hangars for single-engine planes, helicopters and electric vertical take-off and landing aircraft that are seen as a potential growth industry for the airport.

The airport would use $12 million to develop 64 acres of vacant property on the east side of the airport, although any aviation uses would have to be quiet ones since the area is beside a residential neighborhood. Again, electric vertical take-off and landing uses are considered ones that would fit on the site.

Speaking of the neighbors, the airport wants $1.5 million to put up noise and security barriers around the airport similar to noise walls that are seen on the sides of interstate highways.

For job creation, the airport wants $2.5 million to use county-owned land at the intersection of Akron Drive and Liberty Street to construct a building with flexible uses including business incubation and job creation.

The airport would use $4 million for hangar construction to replace the Quonset-style hangar that has become unfit for use, and $15 million to develop a hangar to house maintenance, repair and overhaul work. One of the intended uses of that hangar would be to create jobs for students graduating from the FTCC aviation lab.

We need your help on the state level, Airport Director Mark Davidson told the lawmakers.

The airport is already building two new corporate hangars of 20,000 square feet each on the northern side of the terminal.

While the $5 million request for workforce development is a much smaller request than the one for the airport, it struck a chord with Zenger, a construction company owner, who said that his industry has a terrible manpower problem.

I dont know of a single person in this industry who could not hire someone today, Zenger said. Anything we can do  we have to get in front of the curve on this because it is a huge problem. We are going to have all these industries and jobs, and we cant fill them.

The workforce development money would include $900,000 to buy two mobile labs that could be moved from school to school to offer hands-on science, technology, engineering and math experiences for students in upper elementary grades.

Some $1 million would go to create an annual multi-day event showcasing career and technical education opportunities to eighth-grade students, in an effort that would involve local employers and the creation of virtual reality experiences.

Another $1.9 million would go to expand a Learn and Earn apprenticeship program in targeted economic sectors. And $150,00 would expand Greater Winston-Salem Inc.s workforce readiness program for high school juniors and seniors.

Rolling Hills park

With a projected total cost of $21.8 million, Forsyth County officials are saying that a $10.3 million appropriation could be used alongside $11.5 million in county dollars to make the plan a reality.

Plans call for a 40,000-square-foot covered arena, a 20,000-square-foot headquarters for the Cooperative Extension Service, horse trails, stables, walking trails, a playground, a shelter and other improvements.

The plan is a modification of one that was proposed as an event center at Tanglewood Park in Clemmons, a plan that was rejected in the face of massive opposition from neighbors.

Other initiatives supported for state action by commissioners included:

*Support for a study on expanding the scope of an extension of Macy Grove Road already planned for construction on the north side of Kernersville. The currently planned extension would connect Macy Grove Road to the east end of Linville Springs Road. The study would look at a further extension west of Linville Springs Road toward N.C. 66.

*Commissioners support efforts to complete the Piedmont Greenway between Winston-Salem and Greensboro by way of Kernersville.
Sabina Mammadli

Azerbaijani Foreign Minister Jeyhun Bayramov and his Kuwaiti counterpart Sheikh Salem Abdullah Al-Jaber Al-Sabah discussed the agenda of bilateral ties in different fields, as well as issues of mutual activity on multilateral platforms.

According to Azernews, the Azerbaijani foreign minister noted the high-level political dialogue between the two states and spoke about the prospects of expanding cooperation. He also expressed satisfaction with the mutual support between the countries within the framework of the UN, NAM, and OIC.

The sides also mulled the activities within the framework of the "Joint Commission for cooperation between Azerbaijan and Kuwait".

In turn, the Kuwaiti minister expressed his gratitude to Azerbaijan's Non-Aligned Movement for its successful chairmanship. Noting that relations are increasingly developing, the official added that regular meetings between the two countries serve to strengthen relations.

The parties also discussed possible cooperation prospects in tourism, science, education, culture, and other fields.

Meanwhile, the Azerbaijani official also discussed the prospects for the development of bilateral and multilateral relations within international organizations with Foreign and Cooperation Minister and Cooperation of the Democratic Republic of Timor-Leste Dionisio Babo Soares.

A mutual agreement was expressed on the issue of further strengthening cooperation within the framework of international organizations, especially the United Nations, as well as the UN.

Soares noted that his state attaches importance to cooperation with Azerbaijan and is interested in developing bilateral economic cooperation. At the same time, he expressed gratitude for the successful organization of the National Assembly Summit.

The meeting also discussed other issues of mutual interest.

The meetings were held on the fringe of the Summit-level Meeting of Non-Aligned Movement Contact Group in response to COVID-19 held in Baku on March 2.




A man upset about his order at a Little Caesars Pizza restaurant in Winston-Salem fired a gun Thursday at an employee, authorities said. The bullet missed the employee, and no one was injured.

Winston-Salem police responded at 3:24 p.m. to a reported shooting at the restaurant at 1401 Silas Creek Parkway, police said. When officers arrived, they learned no one had been shot.

An employee at the restaurants drive-thru window told police that a suspect had become upset with his order, police said.

The man then displayed a gun and fired once into the drive-thru window in the direction of the employee.

The bullet struck an interior wall of the business, police said. The suspect then left, driving a tan or brown quad cab Dodge pickup.

Officers searched for the suspect and the vehicle, but they couldnt find the man or the vehicle, police said.

Officers are investigating the incident.

Anyone with information about this incident can call Winston-Salem police at 336-773-7700, Crime Stoppers at 336-727-2800 or its Spanish line at 336-728-3904.

Crime Stoppers of Winston-Salem/Forsyth County is on Facebook.

The Text-A-Tip program at 336-276-1717 allows people to text tips, photos and videos to the police.
Winston-Salem police arrested an adult and three juveniles Friday morning after their vehicle struck a police car, and then the driver led officers on a chase that ended in Kernersville, authorities said. No injuries were reported.

Officers saw a stolen vehicle at 6:10 a.m. in the 2900 block of New Walkertown Road, police said. Police then attempted to stop the vehicle at the intersection of Lake View Boulevard and East Drive.

The vehicles driver intentionally crashed into a police car and left the scene, police said.

Officers then chased the suspect vehicle through Winston-Salem and into the Kernersville city limits, police said. Officers then successfully stopped the vehicle at the intersection of Main Street and Cherry Street.

Police then arrested David Juan Agama-Noyola, 18, of Voss Street and three juveniles, police said. Police didnt identify the juveniles because of their age.

Agama-Noyola is charged with possession of a stolen vehicle, contributing to the delinquency of a minor and possession of hashish, police said.

A juvenile is charged with possession of a stolen vehicle, felony fleeing to elude arrest and assault with deadly weapon on a law enforcement, police said.

Authorities are considering additional charges in this case.

Anyone with information about this incident can call Winston-Salem police at 336-773-7700 and its Spanish line at 336-728-3904.

Crime Stoppers of Winston-Salem/Forsyth County is on Facebook.

The Text-A-Tip program at 336-276-1717 allows people to text tips, photos and videos to the police.
The newest version of a bill aimed at resolving a stalemate over a vacancy on the Guilford County Board of Education has some major changes.

A previous version of the bill aimed to clarify that school board members must vote in favor of appointing the partys executive committee nominee to the position.

But in the new version of the bill, sponsor Jon Hardister, a Republican from Whitsett, said the intent is school board members wouldnt vote at all. Instead, the nominee would just take the oath of office.

The changes to the bill came after lawmakers read a recent opinion piece in the News & Record by Chairwoman Deena Hayes-Greene and signed by the five other Democrats on the Guilford school board. In the editorial, board members made it clear they werent willing to support the current Republican nominee Michael Logan and asked the GOP to consider other candidates.

In the column, Hayes-Greene condemned Logan for social media posts that she said showed bigotry and racial prejudice.

Hayes-Greene wrote: It is hard to believe the local Executive Committee of the Guilford County Republican Party has put forth a man who shared and liked the following: Derek Chauvin immediately stood and calmly placed his hands behind his back yesterday. Imagine where wed be had George Floyd done the same.

Logan, a Southern Guilford High School teacher, has stood by that post and others highlighted in the opinion piece.

Logan was tapped to fill a District 3 seat that has been vacant since December when Pat Tillman resigned to join the Guilford County Board of Commissioners. As prescribed by state law, the Guilford County GOP executive committee members who live in the affected district, in this case District 3, are charged with choosing a successor.

State law also says the school board must appoint that nominee to the vacancy.

But school board members havent been willing to do that.

It appears at this time the board is dug in, said Hardister, who expects the new bill to be heard by a Senate rules committee next week. If we passed the bill in the original form, I think the likely outcome would have been litigation.

Hayes-Greene confirmed Thursday that the earlier version of the bill would not have changed her vote.

I would have still voted no, she said.

As far as this new version of the bill where board members wouldnt get to vote, Hayes-Greene said shes disappointed.

If thats the law, I dont agree with it, but I respect the process, she said.

Hardister thinks that Board of Education members who voted against Logan are out of step with state law. He said this is a ministerial duty for the board  namely a vote that is a required formality, not a choice or matter of opinion.

But Hayes-Greene thinks the school board has been following the process. In her view, state lawmakers supporting this bill are upending the procedure in place, potentially using a Republican majority in the legislature to overrule the will of the Democratic majority on the school board.

The pattern is when the party doesnt get what it wants, it changes the rule, she said.

In 2018, the school board originally voted down Democratic Party nominee Winston McGregor before some members changed their minds, allowing her to join. That disagreement took less than an hour to resolve versus the current situation which has lasted for months.

Hayes-Greene suggested the next step is for the Guilford County GOP to put forth someone else. She said she knows of a District 3 Republican who has expressed interest in the position, someone members of the Democratic majority have conveyed they would be willing to accept.

The bill, which passed out of the N.C. Senate Redistricting and Elections committee on Wednesday, is now combined with several other bills that relate to other localities.

During that Senate committee hearing on Wednesday, state Sen. Michael Garrett, a Greensboro Democrat who opposed the bill, read past Facebook posts from Logan.

We have a dispute between the Board of Education and the local party, he said. We have a system  its called the judicial branch  that is there to referee disputes. I dont think we should be weighing in personally, but since we are I think its important for the record to show why there are objections to this particular member being appointed.

As part of a Facebook post on Wednesday, Logan wrote: And another committee down. Sorry, Michael Garrett. If you would like to sit down and discuss the statements I am available.
The Forsyth County Board of Commissioners approved incentives of up to $563,338 on Thursday to encourage a specialty textiles manufacturer based in Kernersville to expand here.

The company, Tex-Tech Engineered Composites LLC, is considering an expansion that would create 59 jobs at a new plant that would be built on Old Lexington Road in Winston-Salem.

Winston-Salem isnt alone: The company is also considering a location in Maine.

If the company comes to Winston-Salem, it plans to invest $18 million to buy land and construct its building, and invest another $23.7 million in machinery and equipment.

The new jobs would come with an average annual wage of $64,200 per year, plus benefits.

Kyle Haney, the countys community and economic development director, said Tex-Tech makes products that are used in the aerospace, defense and automotive industries, and also makes medical materials, protective apparel and filtration materials.

Tex-Tech has 265 employees scattered across North Carolina, South Carolina, Utah and Maine, and has offices in Europe. The expansion is coming about because of the companys acquisition of a West Coast company.

In addition to the county incentives, the company may get incentives of up to $555,000 from Winston-Salem, $125,000 from the state of North Carolina and customized training for workers at Forsyth Technical Community College valued at $100,000.

County officials said the incentives to Tex-Tech are based on the amount of county taxes the company would pay. Over 10 years, the county will net over $1.3 million above the amount of incentives paid to the company.

Commissioners approved the incentive payments by a unanimous vote.
News of a potential compromise on state Medicaid expansion Thursday yielded mostly positive and cautiously optimistic responses from public-health advocates.

North Carolina would become the 40th expansion state if the state House approves of major changes to House Bill 76 that adds several certificate-of-need reforms sought by Senate Republican leaders.

However, there remains some criticism about the potential growth in the Medicaid program amid concerns that the provider network wont be able to handle the projected additional 450,000 to 650,000 beneficiaries.

Those who might be eligible under an expanded program are those between the ages of 18 and 64 who earn too much to qualify for Medicaid coverage, but not enough to purchase coverage on the private insurance marketplace.

This is obviously a big announcement and it represents a dramatic change in position for Republican legislative leaders, said John Dinan, a political science professor at Wake Forest University who is a national expert on state legislatures.

House speaker Tim Moore, R-Cleveland, cited Thursday the availability in 2022 of the Healthcare Access and Stabilization Program (HASP) as a key element in the expansion pursuit.

According to the N.C. Healthcare Association, HASP would allow North Carolina hospitals and health systems the opportunity to receive up to $1.8 billion in federal dollars to improve access to care for Medicaid patients.

Dinan said Berger, Moore and other key Republican legislative leaders were presumably persuaded to do this now by the promise of a significant amount of additional federal money coming to the state in the next few years as a result of legislation passed in the last Congress.

Dinan said he would reserve judgment on HB76s chances of clearing the House with the inserted CON reforms.

That is the next thing I will be poring over the details for, Dinan said.

NCHA on board

The N.C. Healthcare Association has been among the chief prodders of Republican legislative leaders and Democratic Gov. Roy Cooper reaching a Medicaid expansion agreement.

That includes Steve Lawler, NCHAs president and chief executive, who in August called out Cooper, Berger and Moore for being willing to let Medicaid expansion die because you are looking for a deal.

At that time, the NCHA, as well as the N.C. Medical Society and the Old North State Medical Society, strongly opposed the Senates CON reform priorities and preferred the House version because it has a much lower financial and regulatory impact on health-care systems and hospitals.

Lawler stressed in his letter that NCHA members are not elected to office, and therefore we are not the ones standing in the way of passing legislation. That burden, and opportunity, lies with your branches of government.

On Thursday, Lawler praised Berger and Moore and Democratic legislative leaders on reaching an agreement to support expansion legislation, particularly the HASP component.

Members of all political parties want communities that are healthy and hospital doors that are open, Lawler said.

This legislation will go far to strengthen the health of people in our state and to support maintaining access to health care, especially in rural communities.

We look forward to working with elected officials to support getting this historic legislation passed into law soon.

Mixed views

The conservative think tank John Locke Foundation  as expected  vigorously opposed the Medicaid expansion compromise agreement.

The foundation claims the states health-care network and economy will be hurt by expansion, citing the additional 450,000 to 650,000 beneficiaries.

It had stated concerns that expanding Medicaid will remove eligible individuals from private insurance on the federal health insurance exchange, and shrink access to care for current Medicaid recipients if the provider network is not increased substantially.

The announcement by the legislative leadership is disappointing, said Donald Bryson, the foundations president.

The largest expansion of entitlements in state history is about to take place under Republican control of the General Assembly. The move is even more perplexing when you consider that most states that have expanded have had significant cost overruns on expansion beyond projections.

These overruns put pressure in several budget areas, including education and public safety, Bryson said. Republican assertions that expansion will end if it becomes fiscally untenable is a pipe dream.

Among the more vocal public-health advocacy groups for Medicaid expansion has been the 166-member Care4Carolina coalition.

The announcement is a giant step toward making affordable health-care accessible to hundreds of thousands of North Carolinians who are currently in the health-care coverage gap, including working parents, small businesses and 14,000 of our veterans, said Abby Emanuelson, the coalitions executive director.

Expanding Medicaid will improve the health of our people, our economy and our entire health care system.

Proponents

The American Cancer Society Cancer Action Network said expanding Medicaid will give thousands of North Carolinians a fighting chance against the states leading cause of death with the health coverage they need to be able to receive an early screening or treat a cancer diagnosis and countless lives will be saved.

NC Child said the expansion agreement is incredible news for North Carolinas families.

When this measure becomes final, over 100,000 parents and caregivers in our state will finally be able to get the health coverage they need to stay healthy and care for their children.

Medicaid expansion will mean better health for North Carolinas kids and their parents. When parents and caregivers have health coverage, children are more likely to be covered as well.

Research has found that states that expanded Medicaid have significantly lower rates of uninsured children.

The left-leaning N.C. Justice Center called the agreement a huge win for North Carolina.

While we celebrate that the two chambers have finally reached this historic agreement, we are disappointed that the fate of Medicaid expansion will be tied to the passage of a state budget.

Over half a million North Carolinians need to access lifesaving healthcare now, and we urge the General Assembly to make Medicaid expansion effective immediately upon passage of House Bill 76.
Two children barely escaped being struck by a car at a bus stop Thursday morning and authorities are seeking information on the driver.

The Iredell-Statesville (N.C.) School System said the bus was traveling on Old Mountain Road at approximately 6:16 a.m.

The car in question passed two stopped cars before running through the stop arm of the school bus where two students had to run to avoid getting hit. The North Carolina Highway Patrol is seeking information on anyone that owns a light-colored Kia Soul with black wheels. If you have any information, please contact the Highway Patrol by dialing *HP(*47).

"We want to remind our community to slow down and pay attention. Driving distracted is not worth someones life. If you see a stopped school bus with red flashing lights and extended stop arms, this indicates the bus has stopped and children are getting on or off the bus. Drivers must stop their cars and wait until the red lights stop flashing, the extended stop arm is withdrawn, and the bus begins moving before they can start driving again," the school system said.
No more scurrying from floor to floor, or even from store to store.

Dillards is expanding and reorganizing its store in Gateway Mall after acquiring the vacated Younkers space next door.

The second floor is going to be anything our female customers need to complete an entire wardrobe, said Julie Johnson Guymon, director of investor relations for Dillards. When the remodeling is complete, ladies apparel, shoes, accessories, cosmetics and intimate apparel will all be together.

Dillards acquired the local Younkers space in 2020 for $1.3 million. Younkers closed its Lincoln department store in 2018 and the space at the northwest corner of Gateway was mostly empty until Dillards began a $9.9 million remodeling project, which also included renovations on the existing Dillards store.

Dillards had 150,000 square feet and added another 102,000 square feet with the acquisition. The remodeling is expected to be completed by the end of March.

Dillards had a very strong presence in the marketplace to begin with. Adding the additional square footage should make them one of the most dominant anchor stores or department stores in the market, said Chad Becwar, general manager of Gateway Mall.

So with all that added space, longtime customers have raised questions. Was it going to be something entirely different in the new section? Or was it going to be bigger and easier to get around with larger selection?

Its going to be all that. Having more square footage enables us to put our best foot forward, allowing us to create a more pleasing shopping experience for our Lincoln customers, said Guymon. We will also present some brands that are new to the market and to our customers there in Lincoln and Gateway Mall. It will be a more complete array of brands, along with more luxury brands.

The renovations in the former Younkers space are nearly complete, with just the escalator installation remaining and work to remove the wall between the two spaces, creating one wide-open second floor.

On the first floor of the new addition are kids, juniors, home and gift wrap. An opening allows customers to move between that area and the first floor of the original Dillards, which houses the expanded mens department.

Men's clothing grew into the space that formerly included housewares and bedding.

The mens department is greatly enhanced, with more square footage to present mens apparel and accessories, said Guymon.

Brands new to the mens section at the Lincoln Dillard's include Hugo Boss, Lacoste, Psycho Bunny and Original Penguin.

Guymon said new brands added to cosmetics include a M-A-C counter and Bobbi Brown, along with the Edge shop, which is a collection of smaller, high-profile luxury brands.

We completely remodeled the ladies shoe presentation that is featuring our latest design enhancements and ladies footwear, she said.

In ladies accessories, the Kendra Scott collection will be expanded along with the James Avery collection and Versace sunglasses. A new exclusive brand to Dillards, A Love A, is being added to ladies apparel, along with Eileen Fisher and Bryn Walker.

We are proud that 23% of the brands that we present are exclusive to Dillards. We have our own designers and we work with the factories to get them produced, Guymon said. We do the marketing and the sales.

We can work with anyone by style and budget.

This isnt the first time the company has acquired a large space in a mall in which Dillards was already an anchor store.

We call those dual-anchor formats and we have had them for decades, Guymon said.

In Overland Park, Kansas, Dillard's has for years operated separate men's and women's stores on opposite ends of Oak Park Mall.

Expanding into an adjacent space adds to the efficiency for the store and its customers.

The importance of the dual-anchor format is that we really believe in the market and we believe in our customers there so much that we want to put our best foot forward and present as much of an assortment as possible," Guymon said.

Dillards has stores in 30 states and has been in Gateway since 1988, when they acquired the former Miller & Paine space.

What better way to celebrate our 35-year anniversary than with a brand new store, Guymon said.

Becwar agreed.

This should say a lot to Lincoln about Dillards and Gateways commitment to our community, he said. Weve always taken great pride in working with national retailers as well as local and regional retailers and entrepreneurs to create a shopping environment that has a really great mix of retail that the community wants to see.
The attorney for the family of a 71-year-old Niobrara man killed in 2019 when the Spencer Dam collapsed asked the Nebraska Supreme Court to revive their lawsuit against the Nebraska Department of Natural Resources.

"We're here asking you to send the case back so we can have our day in court," Omaha attorney Mike Coyle said Thursday.

The dam's failure March 14, 2019, sent a torrent of water and ice downstream, sweeping away homes and washing out farmland in its path.

Kenny Angel lived just downstream from the dam and is believed to have drowned when floodwaters washed away his home and business.

His body never was found, but in June 2019 a judge declared him dead.

That same year, his wife, Linda Angel, sued the Nebraska Public Power District and the Nebraska Department of Natural Resources later that same year, alleging the state agencies were to blame for the dam's failure, which led to his death.

NPPD owned the 92-year-old dam and, along with the Department of Natural Resources, was responsible for its operation and maintenance.

NPPD reached a $2.5 million settlement with the family, leading to that agency's dismissal from the case.

The Nebraska Attorney General's Office, representing the Department of Natural Resources, argued it was immune from suit under the Safety of Dams and Reservoirs Act, that the state tort claims act barred the action and that Angel's family hadn't established its negligence.

In 2022, Holt County District Judge Mark Kozisek dismissed the case, citing the Safety of Dams and Reservoirs Act and state statute 46-1639.

Under the state law, he said, the Legislature's granting of immunity applies to any action brought for the recovery of damages caused by a total failure of a dam caused by the agency's control and regulation of the dam.

Arguing before the state Supreme Court on Thursday, Coyle said the Angels' property is in the shadow of the Spencer Dam, so close that operators said when the Angels' had a party, they could hear the music and see the people.

The night the dam failed operators "had absolutely no idea what to do," he said, saying if the dam had been rated correctly as a high-hazard dam, they would have had to have had an action plan.

"So why isn't there immunity?" Justice Jeffrey Funke asked him.

Coyle said the Legislature adopted the act in 2005.

"It didn't reset the clock," he said. "It was still a 75-year-old dam, so it doesn't apply."

Coyle also argued that the Department of Natural Resources was in control of the dam, an exception to immunity.

On the other side, Assistant Nebraska Attorney General Maegen Woita argued Kozisek's order was correct.

"All the appellant's claims are barred by the department's immunity in the Safety of Dams and Reservoirs Act," she said.

Woita said the department has broad immunity, including for failing to act, and the exception for any negligent acts of the department in assuming control in an emergency doesn't apply.

On rebuttal, Coyle called it a case of significant public interest, given there are 2,900 dams in the state, and said it was ridiculous to think that the entity responsible for their safety only could be sued for doing something poorly.

"Therefore, they're not going to do anything, and this is going to happen again," he said.

The Supreme Court took the case under advisement.

In a report released in 2020, the Association of State Dam Safety Officials said the dam had a history of unaddressed ice issues and had no formal emergency plan because regulators wrongly assumed that no one would die if it failed.

The independent panel said a more thorough examination of the earlier events may have led to mitigation of the ice risk.

However, the panel ultimately concluded there was nothing the dam's operators could have done in the early morning of March 14, 2019, to prevent Spencer Dam from failing after unusually intense snow and rain created a raging flood on the Niobrara River.

Close Nebraska's losses from 2019 flooding, blizzard exceed $3.4 billion Nebraskas disastrous weather in 2019 caused more than $3.4 billion in losses, according to a recently released federal report. Read more The Spencer Dam collapse A 92-year-old dam that collapsed March 14, 2019 amid had been classified by state inspectors last year as having a significant risk of causing damage. A man who lived in a home below the dam, Kenny Angel, was swept away in the collapse and is presumed dead, and a quarter mile section of U.S. Highway 281 was washed out. Read more Spencer Dam: What went wrong? A four-member team from the Association of State Dam Safety Officials, a national nonprofit organization, will conduct an independent review of the Spencer dam. The review will focus on what can be learned about the dam collapse to guide future dam construction, according to Lori Arthur, a spokeswoman for the Natural Resources Department. Read more Offutt Air Force Base couldn't stop the floodwaters Even the U.S. Air Force couldnt stop the Mighty Missouri River from flooding Offutt Air Force Base. Between March 16 and 17 sandbagging efforts were called off as flood waters began to rise. Read more Offutt Air Force Base flooding repairs close to $1 billion Six months after what 55th Wing officials describe as historic and disastrous flooding swamped one-third of Offutt Air Force Base and destroyed 137 structures, the expected costs of rebuilding continued to mount. Lt. Col. Chris Conover, who spearheaded the recovery and reconstruction project, said in September that the figure stood at $790 million in September. He warned the cost most likely would rise further  perhaps even hitting $1 billion. Read more As the Platte River swelled into Fremont, the city became an island The Platte River swelled into Fremont, turning the city into an island. Shelters in Fremont alone counted up to 1,100 people, with more evacuees expected from Snyder, Nebraska. And those numbers dont capture the swaths of people riding out the flood in hotel rooms or crashing on the couches of family and friends. Those who decided to evacuate left by plane, train line and automobile. There were departures by boat, by airboat and by massive military vehicles with jacked-up frames capable of cruising through waterlogged roads. Read more Hundreds gather in Fremont for flood-risk briefing Hundreds of people filled Christensen Field Arena in Fremont to hear a National Weather Service update on this years flood risk Feb. 4. The crowd received a nuanced, but somewhat reassuring, explanation from National Weather Service hydrologist Dave Pearson. Read more Paradise Lakes community residents deal with mixed messages Before the water even reached the community, Paradise Lake residents were sent mixed messages. Law enforcement officials went door to door encouraging residents to evacuate, Paradise Lakes residents received a different message from their landlord: Your homes are safe. Read more Paradise Lakes community's imminent demolition The Bellevue City Council voted to condemn the community and told residents that they had until the end of July to take action on removing their homes. The remaining structures were expected to be razed by a city-hired company in early August. Jim Ristow, Bellevues city administrator, said in August that officials are now taking a cautious approach moving forward because they dont want taxpayers to be on the hook for the estimated $1.2 million needed for demolition. Paradise Lakes owner, Howard Howdy Helm, has told the city that he cant afford the cost of demolition. Read more Floods cut off access to Plattsmouth water treatment plant The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers sought bids to close the breach in the south bank of the Platte River that had stranded the citys water treatment plant during the March flooding. For months, the plant was accessible only by boat. Now, the water is gone, but Plattsmouth officials have wondered for how long. Read more Plattsmouth's water treatment plant back up and running Plattsmouth notched a major victory in September when its flood-battered water treatment plant got back up and running, ending months of water rationing. But the citys ongoing battle with the waters of the Platte River isnt over. Read more Winslow: a town considers relocating Winslow floods. One in 1996 brought water inside town and into basements, but it was nothing like the surge of water that clobbered Winslow in mid-March, when historic flooding struck parts of central and eastern Nebraska. So the residents of this little village  where the population that hovered around 100 before disaster struck  are pondering a pivotal question about its future. Go should they stay or should they go? Read more Winslow: A town ready to relocate A group of state and federal officials who met in Winslow in January said plenty of hurdles stand in the village's way. Those obstacles include state law, the likely millions of dollars needed to put in new streets and utilities in Winslow 2.0 and its dwindling population. "We all want what's best for Winslow, I want to make that abundantly clear," said Molly Bargmann, a recovery supervisor for the Nebraska Emergency Management Agency. "We want to get to yes, but there's a lot of no's right now." Read more Camp Ashland hit hard by flooding On St. Patricks Day weekend 2019, a violent chute of water raged through a gash in the levee that for decades protected the Nebraska National Guards main training site from the Platte River. Floodwaters surged into classrooms, barracks and offices, wrecking furniture and tools and leaving a muddy watermark 5 feet high on inside walls. Nebraska National Guard receives full funding for repairs to Camp Ashland The Nebraska National Guard learned in January that it will receive full funding, totaling $62.3 million, to fully rebuild the Camp Ashland training site, according to a statement released Wednesday by the states adjutant general, Maj. Gen. Daryl Bohac. Read more Floods came to Nebraska farmland and left tons of sand behind Tons of sand, sediment and silt  some in dunes as high as 10 feet  were scattered across the eastern half to two-thirds of the state by the March flooding. In some areas, washed-out cornstalks are 3 to 4 feet deep. Tree limbs are in piles and topsoil was washed away. Read more A King Lake family returns home in time for Christmas Trish and Salvador Duran hosted Christmas this year for their extended family, an act of hospitality that once seemed impossible after almost 4 feet of floodwater swept into their house in King Lake in March. King Lake is an unincorporated area, a secluded neighborhood of 1 square mile that sits next to the Elkhorn River and not far from the Platte River, east of Valley and north of Waterloo. During historic flooding in March, the Elkhorn spilled out of its banks, sending water into almost all of the 111 homes in King Lake. Read more Pacific Junction in Mills County, Iowa was hit hard when levees failed Pacific Junction, with a population of less than 500, was hit hard by levee failures in March that sent floodwaters streaming into town, filling every structure with feet of water. It wasn't until mid-April that the last batch of residents could return to their homes and businesses and start clearing out flood-soaked possessions. Read more Flooding has taken a toll on Mills County, Iowa; even when it comes to caucusing Mills County Democrats worried all month whether many of the 470 former residents of this flooded town would attend a caucus Monday. Last March, the Missouri River inundated all 210 homes and businesses here, and a caucus day drive through town showed the extent of damage 10 months later. Most local homes, storefronts and gathering spaces remain boarded up. Only about 20 households have moved back so far, officials say, and the only evidence of the presidential race was a single campaign sign in front of the rebuilt home of Rick and Cherry Parham. Read more Flood of 2019: The aftermath and the recovery As Nebraska and Iowa brace for the possibility of spring flooding here's a look back at the devastating floods of 2019. Nebraska's losses from 2019 flooding, blizzard exceed $3.4 billion Nebraskas disastrous weather in 2019 caused more than $3.4 billion in losses, according to a recently released federal report. Read more The Spencer Dam collapse A 92-year-old dam that collapsed March 14, 2019 amid had been classified by state inspectors last year as having a significant risk of causing damage. A man who lived in a home below the dam, Kenny Angel, was swept away in the collapse and is presumed dead, and a quarter mile section of U.S. Highway 281 was washed out. Read more Spencer Dam: What went wrong? A four-member team from the Association of State Dam Safety Officials, a national nonprofit organization, will conduct an independent review of the Spencer dam. The review will focus on what can be learned about the dam collapse to guide future dam construction, according to Lori Arthur, a spokeswoman for the Natural Resources Department. Read more Offutt Air Force Base couldn't stop the floodwaters Even the U.S. Air Force couldnt stop the Mighty Missouri River from flooding Offutt Air Force Base. Between March 16 and 17 sandbagging efforts were called off as flood waters began to rise. Read more Offutt Air Force Base flooding repairs close to $1 billion Six months after what 55th Wing officials describe as historic and disastrous flooding swamped one-third of Offutt Air Force Base and destroyed 137 structures, the expected costs of rebuilding continued to mount. Lt. Col. Chris Conover, who spearheaded the recovery and reconstruction project, said in September that the figure stood at $790 million in September. He warned the cost most likely would rise further  perhaps even hitting $1 billion. Read more As the Platte River swelled into Fremont, the city became an island The Platte River swelled into Fremont, turning the city into an island. Shelters in Fremont alone counted up to 1,100 people, with more evacuees expected from Snyder, Nebraska. And those numbers dont capture the swaths of people riding out the flood in hotel rooms or crashing on the couches of family and friends. Those who decided to evacuate left by plane, train line and automobile. There were departures by boat, by airboat and by massive military vehicles with jacked-up frames capable of cruising through waterlogged roads. Read more Hundreds gather in Fremont for flood-risk briefing Hundreds of people filled Christensen Field Arena in Fremont to hear a National Weather Service update on this years flood risk Feb. 4. The crowd received a nuanced, but somewhat reassuring, explanation from National Weather Service hydrologist Dave Pearson. Read more Paradise Lakes community residents deal with mixed messages Before the water even reached the community, Paradise Lake residents were sent mixed messages. Law enforcement officials went door to door encouraging residents to evacuate, Paradise Lakes residents received a different message from their landlord: Your homes are safe. Read more Paradise Lakes community's imminent demolition The Bellevue City Council voted to condemn the community and told residents that they had until the end of July to take action on removing their homes. The remaining structures were expected to be razed by a city-hired company in early August. Jim Ristow, Bellevues city administrator, said in August that officials are now taking a cautious approach moving forward because they dont want taxpayers to be on the hook for the estimated $1.2 million needed for demolition. Paradise Lakes owner, Howard Howdy Helm, has told the city that he cant afford the cost of demolition. Read more Floods cut off access to Plattsmouth water treatment plant The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers sought bids to close the breach in the south bank of the Platte River that had stranded the citys water treatment plant during the March flooding. For months, the plant was accessible only by boat. Now, the water is gone, but Plattsmouth officials have wondered for how long. Read more Plattsmouth's water treatment plant back up and running Plattsmouth notched a major victory in September when its flood-battered water treatment plant got back up and running, ending months of water rationing. But the citys ongoing battle with the waters of the Platte River isnt over. Read more Winslow: a town considers relocating Winslow floods. One in 1996 brought water inside town and into basements, but it was nothing like the surge of water that clobbered Winslow in mid-March, when historic flooding struck parts of central and eastern Nebraska. So the residents of this little village  where the population that hovered around 100 before disaster struck  are pondering a pivotal question about its future. Go should they stay or should they go? Read more Winslow: A town ready to relocate A group of state and federal officials who met in Winslow in January said plenty of hurdles stand in the village's way. Those obstacles include state law, the likely millions of dollars needed to put in new streets and utilities in Winslow 2.0 and its dwindling population. "We all want what's best for Winslow, I want to make that abundantly clear," said Molly Bargmann, a recovery supervisor for the Nebraska Emergency Management Agency. "We want to get to yes, but there's a lot of no's right now." Read more Camp Ashland hit hard by flooding On St. Patricks Day weekend 2019, a violent chute of water raged through a gash in the levee that for decades protected the Nebraska National Guards main training site from the Platte River. Floodwaters surged into classrooms, barracks and offices, wrecking furniture and tools and leaving a muddy watermark 5 feet high on inside walls. Nebraska National Guard receives full funding for repairs to Camp Ashland The Nebraska National Guard learned in January that it will receive full funding, totaling $62.3 million, to fully rebuild the Camp Ashland training site, according to a statement released Wednesday by the states adjutant general, Maj. Gen. Daryl Bohac. Read more Floods came to Nebraska farmland and left tons of sand behind Tons of sand, sediment and silt  some in dunes as high as 10 feet  were scattered across the eastern half to two-thirds of the state by the March flooding. In some areas, washed-out cornstalks are 3 to 4 feet deep. Tree limbs are in piles and topsoil was washed away. Read more A King Lake family returns home in time for Christmas Trish and Salvador Duran hosted Christmas this year for their extended family, an act of hospitality that once seemed impossible after almost 4 feet of floodwater swept into their house in King Lake in March. King Lake is an unincorporated area, a secluded neighborhood of 1 square mile that sits next to the Elkhorn River and not far from the Platte River, east of Valley and north of Waterloo. During historic flooding in March, the Elkhorn spilled out of its banks, sending water into almost all of the 111 homes in King Lake. Read more Pacific Junction in Mills County, Iowa was hit hard when levees failed Pacific Junction, with a population of less than 500, was hit hard by levee failures in March that sent floodwaters streaming into town, filling every structure with feet of water. It wasn't until mid-April that the last batch of residents could return to their homes and businesses and start clearing out flood-soaked possessions. Read more Flooding has taken a toll on Mills County, Iowa; even when it comes to caucusing Mills County Democrats worried all month whether many of the 470 former residents of this flooded town would attend a caucus Monday. Last March, the Missouri River inundated all 210 homes and businesses here, and a caucus day drive through town showed the extent of damage 10 months later. Most local homes, storefronts and gathering spaces remain boarded up. Only about 20 households have moved back so far, officials say, and the only evidence of the presidential race was a single campaign sign in front of the rebuilt home of Rick and Cherry Parham. Read more
A 60-year-old Lincoln man was sentenced to prison Thursday for a crime the prosecutor described as "every parent's worst nightmare."

Initially charged with kidnapping, Mensah Gozo pleaded no contest to first-degree sexual assault and child enticement for picking up a 12-year-old girl on the side of the road on the morning of July 24, taking her home and sexually assaulting her and taking photos of her in his bed.

"In essence he took her innocence," Deputy Lancaster County Attorney Julie Mruz said. "The question before this court today is whether or not Mr. Gozo can ever be trusted to return to society and not perpetrate on other children. It is the state's position that the answer to that question is a resounding 'No.'"

Mruz said Gozo preyed upon a 12-year-old complete stranger, who is intellectually delayed and suffers from epileptic seizures, making her a member of one of the most vulnerable populations he could have victimized.

And she called his behavior upon returning the girl to her home two hours later "appalling."

In a victim impact statement, the girl's mother said he acted as if he were a hero by returning to her home in northwest Lincoln.

Mruz said this will haunt the mother and daughter for the rest of their lives.

She said while Gozo tried to take responsibility for his actions, he wasn't apologetic and didn't express sympathy to his victim. Instead, he spoke of letting down his own children and not being able to sleep.

Gozo asked for leniency and to be sentenced to probation.

Mruz called the request inappropriate and said the girl and her mother deserve justice.

"And frankly, the residents of Lancaster County deserve to feel safe in this community. It's the state's position that this cannot be possible without Mr. Gozo's incarceration," she said.

Through an interpreter speaking the West African language Ewe, Gozo said he had nothing to say, then added, "I'm sorry to the family."

In the end, Lancaster County District Judge Darla Ideus called it a "heinous crime" involving an innocent child.

She said she had to consider the seriousness of the crime and the risk to the community.

"In this case, you saw a vulnerable child and your immediate response was to victimize her," the judge said.

Ideus said Gozo took steps to cover up his crime, telling the girl not to tell anyone.

She said she thinks he was counting on three things: that she wouldn't immediately tell anyone what happened, that no one would immediately believe her and that it wouldn't immediately be investigated.

He was wrong.

Ideus sentenced Gozo to 43 to 53 years in prison. He also will be subject to a possible civil commitment upon release and will have to register as a sex offender.

Who are they? NE children reported missing as of February 25 These are recent reports of missing children made to local law enforcement. If you think you have seen a missing child, contact the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children at 1-800-THE-LOST (1-800-843-5678).
The parents of a Prescott Elementary School student who brought a loaded handgun to school last week will not face criminal charges, the Lincoln Police Department announced Friday.

The 10-year-old boy who allegedly flashed a handgun in a backpack while threatening another fifth grader while the two were in a hallway Feb. 24 is too young to be adjudicated even as a juvenile in Nebraska, Lancaster County Attorney Pat Condon said earlier this week.

Condon had left open the possibility that the student's parents could face child neglect charges if they were found to have stored the handgun unsafely.

But investigators found that there were measures in place to secure the firearm, including a cable gunlock, but the student circumvented the safeguards, the Police Department said.

"The investigation revealed insufficient probable cause to cite the parents of the student who brought the weapon to school," Lincoln Police Capt. Todd Kocian said in a Friday afternoon email, which came after a full week of relative silence on the investigation.

The Police Department had repeatedly declined to answer questions on the incident  including questions regarding who owned the firearm, whether it was stored at the boy's house and whether the handgun had been locked away  throughout the week.

Lincoln Police Chief Teresa Ewins declined to answer similar questions at the state Capitol on Friday, pointing to the ongoing investigation.

In a statement Friday evening, Condon said he agreed with the Police Department's determination that the parents shouldn't be charged.

I have reviewed LPDs investigation and agree with their determination that there is insufficient evidence to support a criminal charge. He said the circumstances simply didn't amount to criminal negligence as defined by Nebraska's child abuse statute.

"In this incident, LPDs investigation determined that the parent had taken appropriate steps to properly secure the firearm, including the use of a cable gun lock," Condon said in the statement. "While no criminal charges will be brought, this incident still should serve as a reminder to all adults about the importance of ensuring firearms are inaccessible to any unauthorized users."

Police responded to the school at about 12:30 p.m. Feb. 24 after the student who was reportedly threatened told a teacher, who then alerted administrators at the school near 20th and South streets.

Staff located the backpack hanging from a coat rack in the hallway and took it to the office before calling police, who responded and found a loaded handgun inside the backpack, the district said.

This could have had a very different result, no question about it, Lincoln Public Schools Superintendent Paul Gausman said at a news conference last week, where he praised the response by school staff and law enforcement and the student who reported the threat.

Only a couple of minutes passed from when the threat was reported to when the gun was secured, according to the school district.

The boy will still face consequences at school. Students who bring a firearm onto school grounds are automatically expelled for one calendar year, according to the school district's student handbook.

Most dangerous cities in Nebraska Dangerous Cities in Nebraska 6. South Sioux City 5. Scottsbluff 4. North Platte 3. Lincoln 2. Grand Island 1. Omaha A note about the numbers
Azerbaijani Foreign Minister Jeyhun Bayramov will visit Israel on March 29, Azernews reports.

The purpose of the foreign minister's trip will be his participation in the opening ceremony of the first-ever embassy of Azerbaijan in Israel.

At the same time, the minister is expected to hold a number of meetings.




SIOUX CITY  A Whiting, Iowa, man in prison for a fatal shooting has sued Woodbury County Sheriff Chad Sheehan and several jail staff members, saying officers allowed him to be assaulted by other inmates while he was held in the Woodbury County Jail.

Marvin Hidreth Jr. also alleges in the federal lawsuit that officers retaliated against him for filing complaints about his treatment, denied him visits with pastors and illegally searched his mail. The jail officers actions led him to fear for his safety and sign a plea agreement so he could leave the jail sooner rather than remain there and stand trial, violating his right to a fair trial, Hildreth said.

He is seeking $1.5 million in punitive damages and $1,262 to reimburse him for medical costs from the assault. Hildreth filed the lawsuit himself Monday in U.S. District Court and is not currently represented by a lawyer.

Sheehan said he has not yet seen the lawsuit and had no comment on it.

Hildreth, 22, is serving a 20-year prison sentence after pleading guilty in Woodbury County District Court in May to voluntary manslaughter and going armed with intent for the May 31, 2021, shooting death of Russell Mohr at a Luton, Iowa, home, and intimidation with a dangerous weapon and eluding in an unrelated Monona County case.

Hildreth was arrested the day of the shooting and was held in the Woodbury County Jail until his sentencing.

He alleges in the lawsuit that on July 22, 2021, after his cell was locked down for the night, he heard his door buzz to unlock, and two inmates entered his cell and assaulted him with a toilet plunger, causing bruising to his face and a cracked tooth. Hildreth said two jail officers watched the assault. After filing a complaint with the Iowa Office of Ombudsman, Hildreth said Capt. Todd Harlow called the unlocking of Hildreths cell a mistake. Harlow, who oversees the jail, and at least seven other jail staff members are named as defendants in the lawsuit.

Hildreth said he filed religious discrimination complaints with the ombudsmans office about staff denying his visits with a pastor and withholding delivery of a religious book. He said the complaints were substantiated by the ombudsmans office, but led to harassment from jail officers who illegally opened his correspondence with the office and read the complaints. State administrative rules state that correspondence with the ombudsman is privileged and can be opened only by the inmate or in the inmates presence.

Bert Dalmer, senior deputy ombudsman, said he wouldnt deny any of Hildreths references to the complaints, but they are confidential and hes prohibited from discussing any details, findings or discussions his office might have had with Woodbury County officials about Hildreths complaints.

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OMAHA  A 21-year-old Hastings woman is being held in the Douglas County Jail after Omaha Police said she assaulted a 36-year-old man and threatened to maim police officers early Thursday morning.

At about midnight, two officers responded to a reported assault at North 11th and Nicholas streets. A Council Bluffs, Iowa, man told officers the woman hit him in the neck and shoulder multiple times with a stick, according to the police report. The man told officers the woman  who he did not know  then proceeded to hit his vehicle. The man suffered no apparent injuries and refused medical attention. He reported his vehicle was not damaged.

Although the officers took the woman into custody without incident, the police report stated that she threatened to cut off the officers fingers and "castrate" them if the officers touched her tablet. The report said the woman also threatened officers by telling them she would have "associates murder them" upon her release.

The woman was arrested for suspicion of assault and battery and disorderly conduct.

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Nearly a quarter of Nebraska's registered voters would gain new access under a proposed bill to arguably the most important part of the state's elections: the primaries.

LB776, introduced by Sen. Eliot Bostar of Lincoln, would make all Nebraska elections nonpartisan, except for presidential elections. Instead of holding partisan primary elections, voters could vote on all candidates running for that office, and then the top two candidates would advance to the general election.

The bill was the subject of a public hearing in the state's Government, Military and Veterans Affairs Committee on Thursday.

Many of Nebraska's elections are already nonpartisan, including elections for legislative seats. However, some races  including those for governor and various state offices, Congress and many county offices  are partisan. Candidates are chosen in the primaries by party, and they are identified on the ballot by their party affiliation. Those practices would change under LB776.

Some in the Legislature want to go in the opposite direction. Sen. Steve Erdman of Bayard has introduced a constitutional amendment that would make legislative elections partisan. It also would change the Legislature's structure from a unicameral to a more traditional bicameral. That amendment's hearing is on March 9.

Bostar said the partisan nature of primary elections exclude a large portion of Nebraska voters. In Nebraska, Republicans have nearly twice as many registered voters as Democrats, meaning that the winners of Republican primary elections typically go on to win the general elections.

"Regularly, our general elections are over before they even start," Bostar said.

Supporters of LB776 also argued that both Republican and Democratic primaries leave out voters that don't want to register to either party. According to Nebraska's March voter registration statistics, more than 23% of registered voters (over 286,000) are neither Republicans nor Democrats.

Bostar and others said that putting all candidates on one ballot in primary elections, then selecting the top two candidates to advance to the general election, ensures that the winning candidate represents a clear majority of voters.

Jeremy Gruber, senior vice president for the national group Open Primaries, said the Nebraska Legislature's nonpartisan structure makes elections more competitive, and its work is historically more productive than other state houses.

"As a non-Nebraskan, I urge you not to take this system for granted," Gruber said.

In Nebraska's last general election, only three of the 25 nonpartisan legislative races went uncontested. In contrast, many partisan races for state and county offices, including the secretary of state race, had no competition.

Several supporters argued making all elections nonpartisan would decrease the political polarization taking place across the U.S. However, opponent Steve Davies countered that making elections nonpartisan is no guarantee of less divisiveness, and argued that party affiliation is important information for voters to know.

Bostar said elections shouldn't be determined on whether a candidate has a "D" or an "R" next to their name.

"I want people to vote for the individual," Bostar said.

Sen. Megan Hunt of Omaha, a committee member, echoed Bostar's sentiment. During her first legislative race in 2018, Hunt ran against a fellow Democrat in a nonpartisan race. Because both candidates were from the same party, the focus of the election was on each candidate's position on key issues.

Committee member Sen. Steve Halloran of Hastings expressed concern that removing party affiliations would shift Nebraska to a one-party control, disenfranchising Democrats and independent voters. He indicated that the proposal would likely mean two Republican candidates would be the ones making it to the general election ballot.

When he asked several supporting testifiers about this, they largely responded that they didn't feel the change would disenfranchise voters. Rather, they said LB776 would make sure all voters had an equal voice in all parts of the election process.

Photos: Nebraska goes to the polls in 2022 general election
MOMBASA, Kenya  An ongoing row between the European Union and coastal Indian Ocean nations over sustainable tuna fishing continues to simmer after a resolution in early February temporarily banned the use of destructive driftnets despite opposition from the European bloc.

Civil society organizations sent a petition recently to the EU's oceans and environment commissioner, Virginijus Sinkevicius, accusing fisheries lobbies of exerting undue pressure on Brussels to object to the ban, which applies to fisheries devices used by some corporations in the bloc.

The much-criticized driftnets are at the heart of the European fleets in the Indian Ocean, said Claire Nouvian, who heads the scientific non-governmental organization Bloom and is one of the signatories of the petition.

The EU is a major consumer of tuna, and its powerful fishing fleets trawl distant oceans to meet the continental demand.

Over 90% of tuna sold in the EU comes from the Indian Ocean and is caught through controversial fisheries aggregating devices, according to the Indian Ocean Tuna Commission.

The EU said it had sent a comprehensive proposal on the driftnets that addressed concerns on usage, plastic pollution and marking gear. It added that it is supportive of the adoption of a strong management measure for yellowfin tuna and other tropical species.

Susan Jackson, the president of the International Seafood Sustainability Foundation, urged regional fisheries management organizations to cooperate, communicate and collaborate and to turn to the science to cool down tensions between negotiating blocs.

In an interview with The Associated Press, Jackson said science could help depoliticize decision-making and in turn improve the sustainability of global tuna fisheries and the ecosystems that support them.

Remembering the Indian Ocean tsunami catastrophe of 2004 Dec. 26, 2004 Dec. 26, 2004 Dec. 26, 2004 Dec. 27, 2004 Dec. 27, 2004 Dec. 27, 2004 Dec. 27, 2004 Dec. 28, 2004 Dec. 28, 2004 Dec. 28, 2004 Dec. 28, 2004 Dec. 28, 2004 Dec. 28, 2004 Dec. 29, 2004 Dec. 29, 2004 Dec. 29, 2004 Dec. 30, 2004 Dec. 30, 2004 Dec. 30, 2004 Dec. 30, 2004 Dec. 31, 2004 Dec. 31, 2004 Jan. 1, 2005 Jan. 1, 2005 Jan. 3, 2005 Jan. 4, 2005 Jan. 6, 2005 Jan. 8, 2005 Jan. 8, 2005 Jan. 8, 2005 Jan. 9, 2005 Jan. 9, 2005 Jan. 10, 2005 Jan. 30, 2005 Feb. 17, 2005
RACINE  An 18-year-old man has been charged in connection to a rollover crash that resulted in the death of a pregnant woman.

Ramiro Esteban Baca, of the 1800 block of Holmes Avenue, was charged with felony counts of knowingly operate a motor vehicle without a valid license causing death, homicide by intoxicated use of a vehicle, homicide of an unborn child by intoxicated use of a vehicle and intoxicated use of a vehicle causing great bodily harm, and two misdemeanor counts of operating while intoxicated causing injury (first offense).

According to a criminal complaint, at 10:38 p.m. Tuesday, an officer was sent to Mead and 18th streets after a report of a rollover wreck.

Upon arrival, the officer saw a red GMC Acadia with no plates and heavy damage.

Inside the SUV was an 18-year-old woman who had sustained extreme trauma to her face and head. She was pronounced dead at the scene.

The officer reported that four other occupants of the SUV were standing outside the vehicle. The driver was identified as Baca.

Two other vehicles that were parked on the east side of the road also showed signs of damage.

According to the complaint, one of the passengers said the group had gone to buy alcohol and that Baca was the driver.

The passenger reportedly told the officer that he was not gonna lie, we was speeding and I told him to slow down, and then we hit a bump somewhere and caught a little bit airborne.

When asked how fast the SUV was going, the passenger reportedly said, I dont even (expletive) know, maybe like 40, probably 40 or 35.

According to the complaint, the passenger was the boyfriend of the woman who died and she was around 27 weeks pregnant.

Baca reportedly told an officer that he had been drinking that night and had consumed two 12-ounce Modelo beers at 7:30 p.m.

Inside the vehicle were several empty bottles, and two cases of Michelob Ultra beer reportedly were found.

At the hospital, Baca was treated for a broken nose and needed 14 stitches to his face.

One of the passengers had minor injuries and another was in critical condition with a brain bleed.

The complaint said that nurses told officers that Baca reeked of booze and that he had a blood alcohol concentration of of 0.136.

Baca was given a $250,000 cash bond in Racine County Circuit Court on Thursday. A preliminary hearing is scheduled for March 8 at the Racine County Law Enforcement Center, online court records show.

Mugshots: Racine County criminal complaints, March 2, 2023 Today's mugshots: March 2 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. Joshua J. Kroack Joshua J. Kroack, 5900 block of 10th Avenue, Kenosha, threat to a law enforcement officer, disorderly conduct, operating a motor vehicle while under the influence (3rd offense, general alcohol concentration enhancer), misdemeanor bail jumping. Curtis A. Robison Curtis A. Robison, 1300 block of Rapids Drive, Racine, misdemeanor battery (domestic abuse assessments), disorderly conduct (domestic abuse assessments), criminal damage to property. Stanley McNutt Stanley McNutt, 400 block of Parkview Drive, Racine, misdemeanor battery, criminal trespass, disorderly conduct. Ramiro Esteban Baca Ramiro Esteban Baca, 1800 block of Holmes Avenue, Racine, knowingly operate motor vehicle without a valid license (cause death), homicide by intoxicated use of a vehicle, homicide by intoxicated use of a vehicle (unborn child), intoxicated use of a vehicle (great bodily harm), operating while intoxicated causing injury (1st offense). Darelle Tristan Mitchell Darelle Tristan Mitchell, Milwaukee, Wisconsin, operating without a license (3rd or subsequent offense within 3 years), misdemeanor bail jumping. Marvin Brown Marvin Brown, 1700 block of Warwick Way, Mount Pleasant, burglary of a building or dwelling, felony bail jumping.
RACINE  A man charged with 28 felonies for filming himself performing a sex act on a woman while she was unconscious was convicted of all counts in Racine County Circuit Court on Thursday.

Shane Stanger, 48, was convicted of six counts of second degree sexual assault/unconscious person with domestic abuse assessments, seven counts of capturing an image of nudity without consent, five counts of capturing an intimate representation without consent, five counts of invasion of privacy, stalking and intimidating a victim.

Stanger was also convicted of three counts of misdemeanor invasion of privacy.

The jury deliberated for more than four hours before bringing back the guilty verdict.

A sentencing hearing was scheduled for 1:30 p.m. on July 14.

Case history

The investigation began on Feb. 28, 2021, when a woman in Rochester reported to the Racine County Sheriffs Office she had discovered a video on Stangers computer that showed him engaging in sexual contact with her while she was unconscious.

The woman was a former partner of Stangers, but the two were just friends at the time the video was found.

The woman told investigators she was not aware nor awake during the alleged assault and would not have consented to either that particular sexual act or the filming of it.

Jennifer Tanck-Adams, assistant district attorney, told the jury a person has to be awake to consent.

The video of the alleged sexual assault was played for the jury.

Tanck-Adams encouraged the jury to observe the woman in the video never reacts, never moves and there is no interaction between the two.

That is because the accuser is either deeply asleep or passed out, according to Tanck-Adams.

In fact, the accuser appears to be snoring, Tanck-Adams told the jury.

Stanger was also charged with stalking and intimidating a victim in connection to three letters he sent from jail to the woman.

In one of the letters he encouraged her to recant her testimony, telling her his life depended on it.

Stanger did not testify at the trial. He was interviewed by the Racine County Sheriffs Office, and portions of that video were played for the jury.

In the video, Stanger told investigators he and the woman had sex and sometimes filmed their acts.

However, he also appeared to acknowledge there was one video the accuser did not know about.

During closing statements, Clare Kathleen Schum, who represented Stanger, raised the possibility that the woman had simply forgotten about the video over time.

She challenged the states assertion that the woman is not reacting in the video and said there appears to be moaning.

Schum also noted that Stanger continued to stay at the accusers house after the discovery of the video, illustrating that she was not afraid of him.

The woman told the jury she did not contact the police right away after finding the video because she wanted to get more evidence.

Student loan forgiveness gets its day in court: What to know Intro Who qualifies for Biden's student loan forgiveness? How is the Supreme Court expected to rule on student loans? How do I know if my student loans will be forgiven? Will the pause in student loan payments continue? Is it possible Biden's student loan forgiveness won't happen at all? How should I prepare for student loans payments to restart? Can I set up a payment plan for my student loans? How can I reduce costs when paying off my student loans? Are student loans forgiven after 10 years? Ethical Life: Is student loan forgiveness program helping the right people? Listen now and subscribe: Apple Podcasts | Google Podcasts | Spotify | Stitcher | RSS Feed | Omny Studio
The trial of the Mequon man accused of killing a Kenosha man inside his apartment in 2020 continued Friday with testimony from a forensic scientist who said blood found in the apartment and in a van belonged to Gutierrez.

Lisa Treffinger, a longtime analyst and crime scene team leader of the Wisconsin State Crime Laboratory, testified in the trial of Zachariah J. Anderson.

Anderson, 42, is accused of killing Rosalio Gutierrez Jr. on May 17, 2020, inside of his Wood Creek apartment on the citys north side. Anderson is charged with first-degree intentional homicide, a Class A felony that carries a sentence of life in prison if he is found guilty. Anderson is also charged with hiding a corpse and two counts of stalking.

Prosecutors allege Anderson killed Gutierrez because he was upset Gutierrez began having a romantic relationship with Sadie Beacham, his ex-girlfriend and mother to his three children.

Gutierrez went missing on May 17, 2020, and his body has never been recovered.

Gutierrez, a 40-year-old father of two young children, was reported missing May 19, 2020, after Beacham, who had been unable to reach him, went to his first-floor apartment in the 3700 block of 15th Street, found the patio door open and blood splattered on the floor and furniture, according to prosecutors.

Police focused on Anderson after Beacham reported that Anderson  her former partner  had been stalking and harassing her in the weeks after she began developing a relationship with Gutierrez.

Treffinger said the blood found on numerous items inside Gutierrezs apartment tested positive for the presence of Gutierrezs DNA, including a toothbrush, a door handle and hair.

Treffinger said she also examined the inside of a vehicle brought to a crime lab and found a tiny and reddish-brown speck of blood that tested positive for Gutierrezs DNA.

Prosecutors allege Anderson transported Gutierrezs dead body from his apartment to another location with a work van. The speck of blood was found on a panel on the rear passenger side.

Inside the van a patch of carpet was removed, along with the seats, and the interior appeared to have been scrubbed with bleach. Treffinger said a tech who examined the van noticed the smell of bleach.

A photo of the empty van was shown to the jury Friday.

Remains in custody

Nicole Muller, one of Andersons defense attorneys, maintains the police investigation was flawed from the start and detectives failed to look in places that shouldve been looked into and instead zeroed in Anderson.

Anderson is being held on a $750,000 cash bond at the Kenosha County Jail. He has been in custody since shortly after Gutierrezs disappearance, initially charged with stalking.

The homicide charge was added in December 2020 after an investigation reportedly found evidence that indicated Anderson may have moved Gutierrezs body in his vehicle.

Authorities also indicated that burn pits were found on property belonging to Anderson or his family, with evidence that the clothing Anderson was wearing at the same time Gutierrez went missing may have been burned.

Kenosha County Circuit Court Judge Bruce Schroeder is presiding over the trial that is expected to last at least another week.
BURLINGTON  A manufacturing plant on the citys south side is recovering from a chemical spill that forced evacuation of the plant and brought hazardous-materials responders to the scene.

Lavelle Industries Inc., 665 McHenry St., was evacuated Wednesday afternoon after a 500-gallon drum of sodium hydroxide overflowed, requiring hazmat responders to contain the spill.

Officials at Lavelle Industries could not be reached for comment.

According to the companys website, Lavelle manufactures plastic and rubber products for use in healthcare, food and beverage, electronics and other industries.

The Burlington Fire Department reported the incident Thursday, saying that the sodium hydroxide spill occurred about noon Wednesday when an aluminum plate caused a chemical reaction in the drum.

No injuries were reported.

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, sodium hydroxide, also known as lye or caustic soda, can burn a persons eyes or skin if exposed, depending on the length of exposure.

The Racine County Hazmat Team was activated and helped Burlington firefighters combat the spill.

The plant was deemed unsafe for responders to enter, but work continued from a safe perimeter.

Burlington Fire Chief Alan Babe said in a prepared statement that Lavelle workers were allowed to re-enter the plant about 3:30 p.m.

Air quality was monitored, showing no danger to the public. The spill was contained and encapsulated, Babe said. Lavelle Industries building was ventilated, metered and monitored, indicating no further air quality concerns.

Also assisting on the scene was the Burlington Police Department, the Lyons Fire Department, Rochester Fire Department and Town of Burlington Fire Department.

The hazmat team is managed by South Shore Fire Department.

Tom Stuckart, division chief of special operations for South Shore, said the sodium hydroxide spilled from the 500-gallon drum when an aluminum plate was placed in the vat.

Stuckart said he was unsure how the aluminum plate ended up in the drum.

It also was unclear how many workers were inside the Lavelle plant when the incident occurred.

Stuckart said Lavelle had an environmental cleanup contractor who gathered the hazardous material and handled disposal.

Stuckart applauded the efforts of the company and other emergency responders who assisted.

Everything went very, very well, Stuckart said.

Close Jake Hansen, a firefighter and hazmat tech with the Racine Fire Department, lifts a leaky barrel into an upright position while he is outfitted with a protective chemical clothing ensemble during the Racine Fire Department's monthly hazmat training on Wednesday at the Racine Fire Department's training grounds near Island Park. Hansen was sent to simulate entry into a "hot zone" to stop a barrel that was leaking arsenic trichloride, a highly poisonous substance. The monthly training addressed the appropriate training responses and diagnostics needed to identify and secure a variety of dangerous chemicals using a team-based approach. / Scott Anderson scott.anderson@journaltimes.com After his work is done, Jake Hansen, a firefighter and hazmat tech with the Racine Fire Department, steps into a portable decontamination shower while he is outfitted with a protective chemical clothing ensemble during the Racine Fire Department's monthly hazmat training on Wednesday at the Racine Fire Department's training grounds near Island Park. Hansen was sent to simulate entry into a "hot zone" to stop a barrel that was leaking arsenic trichloride, a highly poisonous substance. The monthly training addressed the appropriate training responses and diagnostics needed to identify and secure a variety of dangerous chemicals using a team-based approach. / Scott Anderson scott.anderson@journaltimes.com Jake Hansen, a firefighter and hazmat tech with the Racine Fire Department, exits the scene while he is outfitted with a protective chemical clothing ensemble during the Racine Fire Department's monthly hazmat training on Wednesday at the Racine Fire Department's training grounds near Island Park. Hansen was sent to simulate entry into a "hot zone" to stop a barrel that was leaking arsenic trichloride, a highly poisonous substance. The monthly training addressed the appropriate training responses and diagnostics needed to identify and secure a variety of dangerous chemicals using a team-based approach. / Scott Anderson scott.anderson@journaltimes.com Jake Hansen, a firefighter and hazmat tech with the Racine Fire Department is outfitted with a protective chemical clothing ensemble during the Racine Fire Department's monthly hazmat training on Wednesday at the Racine Fire Department's training grounds near Island Park. Hansen was sent to simulate entry into a "hot zone" to stop a barrel that was leaking arsenic trichloride, a highly poisonous substance. The monthly training addressed the appropriate training responses and diagnostics needed to identify and secure a variety of dangerous chemicals using a team-based approach. / Scott Anderson scott.anderson@journaltimes.com Jake Hansen, a firefighter and hazmat tech with the Racine Fire Department, takes a litmus test of a spilled chemical while he is outfitted with a protective chemical clothing ensemble during the Racine Fire Department's monthly hazmat training on Wednesday at the Racine Fire Department's training grounds near Island Park. Hansen was sent to simulate entry into a "hot zone" to stop a barrel that was leaking arsenic trichloride, a highly poisonous substance. The monthly training addressed the appropriate training responses and diagnostics needed to identify and secure a variety of dangerous chemicals using a team-based approach. / Scott Anderson scott.anderson@journaltimes.com PHOTO GALLERY: Racine Fire Department hazmat training This monthly Racine Fire Department training near Island Park addressed the appropriate training responses and diagnostics needed to identify and secure a variety of dangerous chemicals using a team-based approach. Jake Hansen, a firefighter and hazmat tech with the Racine Fire Department, lifts a leaky barrel into an upright position while he is outfitted with a protective chemical clothing ensemble during the Racine Fire Department's monthly hazmat training on Wednesday at the Racine Fire Department's training grounds near Island Park. Hansen was sent to simulate entry into a "hot zone" to stop a barrel that was leaking arsenic trichloride, a highly poisonous substance. The monthly training addressed the appropriate training responses and diagnostics needed to identify and secure a variety of dangerous chemicals using a team-based approach. / Scott Anderson scott.anderson@journaltimes.com After his work is done, Jake Hansen, a firefighter and hazmat tech with the Racine Fire Department, steps into a portable decontamination shower while he is outfitted with a protective chemical clothing ensemble during the Racine Fire Department's monthly hazmat training on Wednesday at the Racine Fire Department's training grounds near Island Park. Hansen was sent to simulate entry into a "hot zone" to stop a barrel that was leaking arsenic trichloride, a highly poisonous substance. The monthly training addressed the appropriate training responses and diagnostics needed to identify and secure a variety of dangerous chemicals using a team-based approach. / Scott Anderson scott.anderson@journaltimes.com Jake Hansen, a firefighter and hazmat tech with the Racine Fire Department, exits the scene while he is outfitted with a protective chemical clothing ensemble during the Racine Fire Department's monthly hazmat training on Wednesday at the Racine Fire Department's training grounds near Island Park. Hansen was sent to simulate entry into a "hot zone" to stop a barrel that was leaking arsenic trichloride, a highly poisonous substance. The monthly training addressed the appropriate training responses and diagnostics needed to identify and secure a variety of dangerous chemicals using a team-based approach. / Scott Anderson scott.anderson@journaltimes.com Jake Hansen, a firefighter and hazmat tech with the Racine Fire Department is outfitted with a protective chemical clothing ensemble during the Racine Fire Department's monthly hazmat training on Wednesday at the Racine Fire Department's training grounds near Island Park. Hansen was sent to simulate entry into a "hot zone" to stop a barrel that was leaking arsenic trichloride, a highly poisonous substance. The monthly training addressed the appropriate training responses and diagnostics needed to identify and secure a variety of dangerous chemicals using a team-based approach. / Scott Anderson scott.anderson@journaltimes.com Jake Hansen, a firefighter and hazmat tech with the Racine Fire Department, takes a litmus test of a spilled chemical while he is outfitted with a protective chemical clothing ensemble during the Racine Fire Department's monthly hazmat training on Wednesday at the Racine Fire Department's training grounds near Island Park. Hansen was sent to simulate entry into a "hot zone" to stop a barrel that was leaking arsenic trichloride, a highly poisonous substance. The monthly training addressed the appropriate training responses and diagnostics needed to identify and secure a variety of dangerous chemicals using a team-based approach. / Scott Anderson scott.anderson@journaltimes.com
WATERFORD  Library supporters have been filling up the in baskets of Waterford village officials with pleas to restore taxpayer funding of the Waterford Public Library.

Members of the Waterford Village Board have received significant public feedback about the boards decision to reduce funding for the library by $100,000, forcing layoffs and program cuts.

The overwhelming sentiment being delivered to village email accounts is that people want the villages budget-cutters to leave the library alone.

Don Bray, a former president of the Waterford Library Board, has joined about 20 others in pushing village officials to reconsider their decision to cut funding for the library this year from $300,000 to $200,000.

In a letter shared with all Village Board members, Bray wrote that village officials for years have been diminishing the librarys importance to the community and trying to cut its funding.

You feel the librarys value is greatly overrated and possibly irrelevant in todays age, Bray wrote. It should come as no surprise to anyone that the librarys budget was cut as dramatically as it was.

Another library backer, Lisa Trudeau, suggested that her family might consider moving out of the Waterford area if library funding is not restored.

Trudeau listed the characteristics of a community that she finds appealing, including diverse businesses, natural beauty and a village that is served by well-kept facilities.

We are considering a move in the next year, and community is highly important to me and my family, she wrote. Right now, we have very little of that, except for the library.

The Village Board in November approved a $16.5 million village budget for 2023 that raises property taxes by $300,000  from $2.6 million to $2.9 million  while reducing funding for the library, as well as capital spending and other operations.

Village leaders say the library has been overfunded and overstaffed, and that some of the facilitys spending decisions have been questionable.

Located at 101 N. River St., the library operates in a village-owned building  next door to Village Hall  but it functions separately and is governed by its own board of directors. The budget of $800,000 includes village and county funding, as well as private support.

The facility is open six days a week and has 16 employees, most of them part-time. The library records about 52,000 visitors a year, or more than 100 a day on average.

Faced with a $100,000 cut in village support, the library board has approved plans for laying off as many as 10 employees and eliminating yoga, book clubs and other programs.

While some village trustees have defended the funding cut, others have been unavailable for comment.

The Journal Times requested public village records related to the issue under Wisconsins open records law, including emails sent or received by Village Board members.

Among the village trustees whose correspondence was reviewed, no email received between Dec. 1 and Feb. 1 came from anyone who expressed support for cutting the librarys funding.

Most were along the lines of what Suzanne Pettit wrote when she told village trustees that she moved to Waterford about a year ago, and that she is distressed to learn about the funding reduction for the library.

This library is an amazing asset to our community, Pettit wrote. It deserves your full and continued support.

Another community member, Barb Warras, wrote that the funding cut has left residents few options to sustain the library. She added: We dont think a bake sale is going to suffice.

In response to one library supporter, Village Board member Andrew Ewert wrote on Jan. 16 that the $100,000 trimmed from the librarys budget remains in the villages general fund and that it could be allocated if needed.

With most things, this can change, Ewert wrote of the funding cut. The $100,000 is not disappearing.

Other village leaders have insisted that the library funding could not be restored, because the village budget for 2023 has been set.

Many community members writing to village officials are specifically requesting that the Village Board revisit the library funding issue.

Janice Loebel, who described herself as a longtime volunteer at the library, wrote that the library has many worthwhile programs for the community, including those that help children learn to read.

This beneficial institution should be allowed to expand their efforts, not face reducing their offerings, Loebel wrote.

Rick and Joanne Scheffel, who wrote village trustees together, stated that they have lived in Waterford for 40 years and have always been regular users of the library.

We both would respectfully ask you to reconsider the drastic cut to the librarys funding, they wrote. We feel that such a cut will have a negative impact on those things we love about our library.

Only 20 women have won the National Book Award for fictionhere's who they are Meet the 19 women have won the National Book Award for fiction Susan Choi Sigrid Nunez Jesmyn Ward Louise Erdrich Jaimy Gordon Lily Tuck Shirley Hazzard Julia Glass Susan Sontag Alice McDermott Andrea Barrett Annie Proulx Ellen Gilchrist Alice Walker Eudora Welty Mary Lee Settle Flannery O'Connor Joyce Carol Oates Katherine Anne Porter Tess Gunty
Elnur Enveroglu

The Summit-level meeting of the Non-Aligned Movement Contact Group in response to Covid-19 in Baku on March 2 under Azerbaijan's chairmanship will incontrovertibly go down in the history of the world's second-largest global institution with projects implemented to relieve pains of nations under the strain of Covid-19 pandemic and initiatives made by the rotating chairman to elevate NAM to the level deserved and status anticipated by member nations.

The summit with delegations from over 70 nations also heard Azerbaijan's clear-cut crystal position on and denunciation of France's neo-colonial policies in the XXI century.

The Azerbaijani leader in his epigrammatic and pungent comments on France's dubious roles at home and abroad as well the mistreatment of its own colonies, including unwarranted and unwished intrusion in the processes unfolding in the South Caucasus between Azerbaijan and Armenia, urged neo-colonial Paris to learn a proper lesson from the inglorious past.

"Unfortunately, nowadays, we observe a rising tendency towards neo-colonialism. NAM, which came into existence due to the historical decolonization process, should unify its efforts toward completely eliminating this shameful page of mankind. NAM always strongly supported the unquestionable sovereignty of the Union of Comoros over the island of Mayotte, which continues to be under the colonial rule of France. As reflected in fundamental NAM documents, we call on the French Government to respect the rights of the New Caledonian people and other peoples in French overseas communities and territories. The French-administered territories outside Europe are nasty remains of the French colonial empire. We also call on France to apologize and admit its responsibility for its colonial past and bloody colonial crimes and acts of genocide against NAM member countries in Africa, South-East Asia, and other places," Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev said on March 2.

France is one of the five permanent UNSC members and though in this capacity its mandate calls for fair and just protection of other non-UNSC members' rights, Paris has long forgotten the significance of the mandate and is dancing to Armenia's pipe. Since Azerbaijan's independence, the relations between Baku and Paris have experienced ups and downs but have never reached the current level to trigger the sharpest criticism but fact-based.

France was one of the states that recognized Azerbaijan's independence in January 1992 and even opened its embassy in Baku second after Turkiye.

Now the major question is what is behind France's anti-Azerbaijani policies and prejudice? Why has official Paris always defended the aggressor Armenia irrespective of the occupation of Azerbaijani lands by Armenia?

Indeed, the fact that France never demonstrated this urgency when Azerbaijans territorial integrity was violated for 30 years raises questions about the true nature of Frances approach to the Armenia-Azerbaijan conflict and the implications of Paris policies for the future of the relations between the two South Caucasus countries. These are well-grounded questions as France  along with Russia and the United States  was one of the three co-chairs of the OSCE Minsk Group, and thus, was legally obliged to show neutrality and coordinate peace negotiations between Baku and Yerevan.

Apparently, unlike previous French leaders, the sweat shed by current President Emmanuel Macron for Armenia is not in vain. Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan's meme with a telephone receiver that went viral waiting for France's Macron is an illustrative example of intimacy and chemistry between the two that goes against other interests since they are deprived of respect for respect third-party interests demand.

For instance, the majority think that Macrons statements were more linked with the existence of a large Armenian community in France, whose votes were also necessary for his next shot in his latest presidential elections back in 2022, and as such, should not be taken seriously. This interpretation misses the fact that his hasty support to Armenia in the border dispute was by no means an isolated case. This has been, in fact, an integral part of Macrons policies since the beginning of his presidency and, more fundamentally, is just another episode in Frances historically biased position on the Armenian question.

Of course, this should not be surprising if the matter is with France. The extensive experience in prejudice, defending the wrong against the right, and most importantly, colonialism relies on its deep historical background. Hence, the Azerbaijani president's address at the NAM Contact Group meeting saying - The French-administered territories outside Europe are nasty remains of the French colonial empire - also made Frances past exposed.

If not for its position in the Minsk Group or different platforms, this bias would not require any criticism as such support could be seen as inherent to any alliance between states. With this, France has not only turned Azerbaijan, which has a leading position in the South Caucasus, the Union of Comoros over the island of Mayotte which is still under its colonial rule, and New Caledonia against itself but unfortunately, has negatively affected Armenias relations with its Turkic neighbors (Azerbaijan and Turkey) with its immense support.

By supporting the wrongdoings of Armenians, refusing to pressure Armenia to stop its illegal occupation of Azerbaijani territories, and by attempting to downplay  if not justify  this illegality, France has emboldened Armenias nationalist groups and acted as a catalyzer by encouraging them to a more radical position. As a historic example, Frances policies in the 1980s vis-a-vis members of the Armenian Secret Army for the Liberation of Armenia (ASALA), an Armenian terrorist organization, were long criticized for being lax and were even seen to appease the group, despite them having committed terrorist attacks against Turkish diplomats in France and around the world.

In a nutshell, the current French state policy is not balanced but openly pro-Armenian, and with Macron in power, Paris is uninsured against fresh debacles both domestically and externally and with slaps on his face from French citizens in protest at his unpopular policies, and Azerbaijan's president's Ottoman style slap will make him lose his bearings forever as a young and promising politician he was once tipped.




WATERFORD  A teachers aide under scrutiny after being accused of reporting to work intoxicated answered no when asked by Waterford school officials whether she had any prior criminal convictions, school district records show.

Amy Francisco, who was hired for a position working with special education students at Trailside Elementary School, was convicted in 2003 on a misdemeanor charge stemming from a drunken driving arrest in Michigan.

Her job application in Waterford shows that Francisco provided no answer when asked why she left her most recent previous job with the Burlington Area School District. She resigned effective Oct. 10 after colleagues called police to report that she was under the influence of alcohol at work.

Francisco also told Waterford school officials that she had no currently pending criminal charges against her.

Francisco, 44, was arrested on suspicion of drunken driving Oct. 10 after reportedly refusing a ride home from colleagues at Waller Elementary School in Burlington. The drunken driving charge is pending in Racine County Circuit Court as a non-criminal municipal ordinance violation.

Francisco has been placed on unpaid leave from her current job in Waterford  for reasons that have not been disclosed  and state education administrators are investigating her Wisconsin license to work as a teachers aide, which expired last summer.

Public records released by the Waterford Graded School District also show that the parent of a special education student has expressed anger and disappointment about the Francisco situation.

The parent, whose name is redacted from the disclosed records, wrote to Waterford Graded School Board members and others Feb. 23 that procedures should be intensified for screening potential new employees in the school district.

The parent reported feeling a pit in my stomach upon learning about Franciscos background.

Something slipped big time through the cracks, the parent wrote. My trust of Waterford Graded is damaged, but I have faith and hope that the next time this isnt swept under the rug.

Waterford Graded School District Superintendent Tony Spence could not be reached for comment.

On Feb. 22, the same day The Journal Times first reported the circumstances surrounding Francisos resignation in Burlington and her hiring in Waterford, Spence sent notices to both Waterford school staff and parents.

He directed school staff not to discuss the matter with anyone outside of our organization, and he assured parents that the school district is committed to providing a safe and healthy environment for all students and staff.

Francisco has been on unpaid leave at Trailside Elementary and under investigation by the school district since December.

Neither Francisco nor her attorney, Robert Keller, could be reached for comment.

Waterford Graded School Board President Mandy Fiehweg and Vice President Ryan Koncki also could not be reached for comment. Fiehweg and Koncki both have previously declined to discuss the situation involving Francisco.

Spence has said he contacted the Burlington school district during the hiring process for Francisco, and that he knew nothing about her allegedly reporting to work under the influence of alcohol.

Burlington police arrested the teachers aide Oct. 10 after allegedly finding her driving home from work around 10 a.m. with a blood alcohol content of 0.26  more than three times the legal limit. Police reported that Waller Elementary School officials had contacted police after finding Francisco intoxicated on the job, also as a special education teachers aide.

The police report noted that Francisco had a previous conviction in a 2003 drunken driving case.

Michigan court records show that she pleaded guilty in November 2003 to a reduced misdemeanor charge of having an unlawful blood-alcohol content. Convicted under a previous name of Amy Haaksma, she was sentenced to 25 days of community service and two years of probation.

Francisco resigned her position in Burlington effective the same day as her arrest, and she was hired two weeks later as a teachers aide at Trailside Elementary.

Her job application to the Waterford school district was dated Oct. 18  eight days after her arrest and citation on suspicion of drunken driving.

Asked why she was interested in the Trailside position, she wrote, Ability to make an impact on a childs education and to become a role model for the children in the classroom.

In two previous positions, Francisco listed her reasons for leaving both jobs  first to relocate from Michigan to Wisconsin in 2007, then to become a stay-at-home mother in 2013.

In reporting further that she had just resigned after five years in the Burlington school district, Francisco left the reason blank.

Her application included job references, but those are redacted from the disclosed public records.

In summarizing her experience in Burlington, Francisco wrote: I demonstrated patience, empathy and have come up with new strategies to reach and engage the students I supported. I receive multiple compliments and praises from both the teachers I supported and the parents of the students I interacted with.
Attorney Jim Troupis, who was involved in the 2020 scheme to put Republican electors in place in several states, including Wisconsin, to deliver Electoral College votes for former President Donald Trump, has been reappointed by the Wisconsin Supreme Courts four conservative justices to a second term on the committee that advises judges on judicial conduct.

The state Supreme Courts four conservative justices  Annette Ziegler, Patience Roggensack, Rebecca Bradley and Brian Hagedorn  approved Troupis reappointment on Thursday, according to an order provided to the Wisconsin State Journal. The courts three liberal justices  Ann Walsh Bradley, Rebecca Dallet and Jill Karofsky  dissented.

Troupis first term on the Judicial Conduct Advisory Committee was slated to expire Tuesday. With the courts reappointment, he will remain on the committee through March 7, 2026. Members of the nine-member advisory committee are limited to two successive three-year terms.

Its unfortunate four of my colleagues have signed off on such a divisive pick, Dallet said Thursday.

We dissented because Mr. Troupis is a partisan who appears often in court and was just before us in a widely reported, highly controversial case, which resulted in an attempted weaponization of the disciplinary process against Justice Karofsky and me, Dallet added. One would think there would be less divisive leaders we could come together to agree to appoint to these roles.

The Associated Press reported last month that a judicial oversight commission dismissed a complaint against Karofsky, who accused Troupis of making racist contentions and trying to protect his king in a case challenging the 2020 election results in the battleground state.

Members of the state Supreme Court appoint the members of the advisory committee, but former Wisconsin Supreme Court Justice Janine Geske said the decision to reappoint Troupis was a very bad decision, particularly at this point in time in history, with our Supreme Court races becoming so obviously partisan and involving both political parties, but also political issues such as elections.

Jim Troupis is a very able lawyer, but he clearly represents the Republican Party and was involved in trying to have the election changed, said Geske, who is a member of the Wisconsin State Journal editorial board.

Troupis had not responded to a request for comment Thursday.

Point of origin

The advisory committee was created to render formal advisory opinions and give informal advice to judges and judicial officers governed by the Code of Judicial Conduct concerning the compliance of their contemplated or proposed conduct regarding the code, according to the Wisconsin courts website.

Troupis reappointment comes roughly a month before the April 4 spring election, where liberal candidate Janet Protasiewicz will face conservative former Supreme Court Justice Dan Kelly in a race for a pivotal seat on the states seven-member Supreme Court, now controlled 4-3 by conservatives. The winner will likely be the deciding vote on a range of issues, including abortion rights and the states legislative maps.

Wisconsin Supreme Court elections are nominally nonpartisan, but political parties on both sides of the aisle contribute millions of dollars and hundreds of workers to support their preferred candidates. With five weeks left until the April 4 election, the race has already become the most expensive judicial contest in American history.

I dont think its an actual conflict, but I think its a really horrible move because it just kind of confirms that the majority are supportive of the Republican Party and Republican viewpoint, and I would think the court would want to be backing off of that so that they can try to counter what is going on in the election, Geske said of Troupis reappointment.

2020 scheme

Troupis, a former Dane County Circuit Court judge, received a memo roughly two weeks after the 2020 election from Boston-area lawyer Kenneth Chesebro detailing the scheme and rationale for installing an alternate slate of electors in several states, including Wisconsin, where Trump was trying to overturn his loss to Joe Biden.

The slate of 10 Republicans met at the state Capitol on Dec. 14, 2020, to sign official-looking documents asserting that Trump won the state. The meeting took place on the same day that the Democratic slate of Wisconsin electors convened in the Capitol building to deliver the states 10 electoral votes to President-elect Biden. It also occurred after the Wisconsin Supreme Court ruled that Biden had won the election and a month after Wisconsin county clerks canvassed the presidential election results.

Documents have underscored efforts by those in Trumps inner circle to circumvent the Electoral College process in several states, including Wisconsin, following the 2020 election, despite recounts and court decisions affirming that Biden defeated Trump in the battleground state by almost 21,000 votes.

The Republicans have said the meeting was to preserve their legal options amid litigation surrounding the election.

Laughable move

Jim Troupis was an eager collaborator in Donald Trumps failed fake elector plot to overturn the results of Wisconsins 2020 election, and the notion that he would be reappointed to a committee responsible for advising judges on their conduct as officers of the court is laughable, Democratic Party of Wisconsin spokesperson Joe Oslund said in a statement.

Troupis and Chesebro, along with the 10 Republicans, are also the target of a lawsuit filed last year by liberal law firm Law Forward seeking more than $2.4 million in damages, including $2,000 fines for the Republicans and their attorneys, and up to $200,000 in punitive damages for each plaintiff.

The lawsuit, filed on behalf of a handful of Democrats, including two official presidential electors, alleges the Republicans and their attorneys broke multiple laws, including counterfeiting public records, illegally interfering with official procedures, defrauding the public and engaging in conspiracy.

Elections 101: Video series explains how elections are carried out in Wisconsin The Wisconsin Elections Commission put together the following series of instructional videos and accompanying lesson plans for use in high school civics classes and the general public. Elections overview An overview of elections administration in Wisconsin. Voting Security Let's take a look at how we maintain security and integrity with all of our elections. Nuts and bolts The ins-and-outs of voter processes like registering to vote and requesting a ballot to vote absentee. A Day at the Polls See what it is like to go to the polls and vote.
1. Yes. Switching back and forth every spring and fall is cumbersome and annoying.

2. Yes. It makes sense, although it would take a bit of getting used to at first.

3. No. The bill isnt enforceable. The federal government would have to approve the switch.

4. No. If other states dont follow suit, it could make long-distance travel problematic.

5. Unsure. Its hard to say without knowing all the impacts of the proposed change.

Vote

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The US Departments of Commerce, the Treasury, and of Justice have issued a trilateral note on the specifications of the signs of attempts to circumvent sanctions against Russia.

According to the document, one of the most common tactics is the use of third-party intermediaries or transshipment points to avoid restrictions.

So, it was revealed that Armenia is used to illegally redirect goods to Russia or Belarus, thus, bypassing West sanctions.

Meanwhile, the US Department of Commerce imposed export restrictions on 37 companies that may be involved in "actions contrary to the interests of national security and US foreign policy" on March 1.
KEARNEY  A rising pop country foursome, The Hall Sisters, will perform March 13 at the Merryman Performing Arts Center for the Kearney Concert Association.

Jessica Hall said she and her sisters were tomboys, but they grew up in North Carolina in a very musically-inclined home.

We had music playing all the time. We were always singing and goofing around, Hall said in a release.

The Hall Sisters performance is among the final three shows for the Kearney Concert Associations 2022-23 season. Tickets to those three shows can be purchased at a steep discount, said KCA President Angela Wright.

Adults can purchase tickets to the remaining shows for $36. The price is $18 for students and $78 for families.

The final three shows of the KCA season may be the biggest three shows weve ever had back to back, Wright said in the release. So no matter when the ground hog says it will warm up, it will be smoking hot inside the Merryman during the next few months.

Jessica Hall said she and her sisters played outside and worked and cut grass, but their paths eventually led them to the stage.

When the sisters were about 10 or 11, they individually started casually taking instrument lessons. Then in 2005 they started to attend a music camp.

And in 2008, when the youngest of us was only 8, they needed four girls to sing an a cappella song for the finale of the camp show. So we sang Nearer My God to Thee, Jessica Hall said, and the people who ran the camp told us, Yall need to take some lessons and start singing as a group.

In 2012 they moved to Nashville for two years and trained intensively with the family that ran the camp.

Then we moved back home to North Carolina in 2014 and have been performing professionally ever since, Hall said. Eclectic would be a good word to describe our musical style. Our dad was really into the music of the 40s and 50s with the crooners and sister acts. Mom was into the music of the 60s, 70s and 80s.

The parents introduced the sisters to many different styles of music, which had a major influence on how the sisters developed their style.

As we grew as a group our sound kind of morphed. In the beginning it was more 40s and 50s style, because we loved all the four-part harmonies and sister stuff, and simultaneously our skills with instruments were coming along, Jessica Hall said.

Weve never been able to narrow ourselves down to a specific genre since our style is very distinctive, but we are basically under the blanket of pop country, Hall said.

In 2019, Hall said they had an incredible experience touring Eastern Europe.

Albania had just been hit by a massive earthquake that devastated some of the places.

Yet it was really impacting to see the joy and love these people had as we came to perform for them even though their lives had been totally disrupted, Hall said.

KCAs Wright said that after The Hall Sisters perform on March 13, Jeremy Stolle will bring his classical Broadway style to the Merryman on April 20, followed on May 12 by Beginnings, the ultimate Chicago tribute band.

The May concert will be at Kearney High School since the KCA Endowment is sponsoring a free afternoon student performance of the show at KHS.

Memberships, information and video clips of the shows are available at www.KearneyConcerts.org, by calling 308-627-2717 and at the door the night of the show.
Plans for affordable housing and addressing homelessness were unanimously approved by the city of La Crosses finance and personnel committee Thursday evening.

The plans will go before the full council for approval March 9. The city is seeking community input on both plans by March 6.

Each respective plan will utilize about $1 million in federal grant money from the Department of Housing and Urban Development.

The city plans to use the bulk of its HOME-American Rescue Plan funding  about 60% or $650,000  for the development of affordable housing targeted toward homeless people.

Another 30% of funds would be used for support services to help the individuals stay housed. The last 10% is to be used for the administration of the program and funding.

I just want to take the opportunity to state how health focused our community has been on addressing housing and homelessness issues in our community, said Councilmember Rebecca Schwarz. Theres no one way to solve this problem in our community or any community and were doing everything we can with every tool possible to get at the multiple roots that lead people to not having a safe, regular place to sleep at night.

In regard to affordable housing, the city will utilize federal funding from the Community Development Block Grant program and the HOME program, both a part of the Department of Housing and Urban Development.

The plan focuses on the development of multi-family affordable housing units, income restricted for people who make 80% or less of the county median income. There is also a focus on the rehabilitation of homes with severe housing problems.

The finance committee also approved using $75,000 from the American Rescue Plan Act to conduct a housing study for the area.

Diane McGinnis, community development administrator with the city, said the study will help the city identify what the people of La Crosse need and want in regard to housing. McGinnis doesnt know when or if the city has conducted a study like this in the past.

Its really critical as we really are looking at this need in our community and the vastness of it and we want to be sure that were building what the next future generations are going to need, McGinnis said. Do we need more single family (homes)? Do we need more multi-family? Do we need something the market doesnt even have today?

The study will also help developers feel more confident when proposing ideas because they will know exactly what type of housing the community needs.

Housing at River Point

More housing is coming to La Crosse soon. The first housing development for the River Point District redevelopment received approval from the finance committee as well.

The Driftless Apartments and Townhomes, by MSP development based outside of Minneapolis, needs one last approval by the full council before the project can start construction.

The apartment complex will include 100 units of affordable senior housing and 20 three-bedroom townhomes available for purchase.

Additionally, the plan features 48 units for residents at or below 80% of the county median income, 48 units for residents at or below 50% and 24 units for residents at 30% of the county median income.

The projects budget is $11.7 million, much of which is a hodge-podge of public investment. Private funding accounts for 32% of the projects budget.

Public funding includes a tax increment financing loan from the city that will be paid back with the revenue generated from the apartments. The project also has received a Low Income Housing Tax Credit from the Wisconsin Housing and Economic Development Authority and an acquisition and development grant of $100,000 from La Crosse county.

Other developments for the River Point District are still in the planning stages. Julie Emslie, economic development administrator at the city, said the city has exclusive rights to negotiation with three other developers.

Only the MSP Driftless Apartments include income-restricted affordable housing.
Equal rights is a well intentioned sentiment, but for International Womens Day, individuals worldwide are urged to step things up.

The 2023 theme of event, Embrace Equity, distinguishes the differences between equality and equity, and why the latter is the key to success for women, and those identifying as women, across the globe.

Embracing equity involves eliminating sources of oppression and promoting the fair treatment of women throughout the world, Sister Michele Pettit said on behalf of the local International Womens Day committee. More specifically, it involves the just distribution of resources and access to educational, occupational, economic, political and health-related opportunities.

Equality, or giving everyone the same thing, only works when everyone is starting from the same point, with the same background and situation. Equity-based solutions factor in the diverse experiences and circumstances of individuals and communities, tailoring services, opportunities and policies to balance social systems for the long term.

Achieving equity will mean creating a level playing field for individuals of all genders, sexes, sexual orientations, gender identities, ages, abilities, backgrounds, finance levels, race and religion. Schools may give each child a laptop, but everyone will need reliable internet access in order for it to be equitable. Vaccine clinics may be open to the public, but only those who can find transportation can take advantage. In some countries, girls may be allowed to attend classes, but traditional gender roles or expectations might mean they are expected to prioritize helping at home over doing homework. A business may be up for sale, but only those who can obtain a loan have the opportunity to purchase it.

During the local International Womens Day event, three panelists will talk about their experiences in the U.S. and their countries of origin, discussing how women are celebrated but also what equity issues they face. There will be time for audience questions.

If you go WHAT: International Women's Day WHEN: 5:30-7 p.m. Wednesday, March 8 WHERE: Bluffs Room of the Student Union at University of Wisconsin La Crosse

The celebration, sponsored by the American Association of University Women, the League of Women Voters of La Crosse, UW-L, Franciscan Sisters of Perpetual Adoration, the Womens Fund of Greater La Crosse, Viterbo University and the International Womens Group, will be celebrated from 5:30 to 7 p.m. Wednesday, March 8, in the Bluffs Room of the Student Union at University of Wisconsin-La Crosse, as well as live streamed over Zoom.

The free event is open to the community, with parking available in lot C-12. For more information, email Miranda Panzer at mpanzer@uwlax.edu.

Meet the panelists

Edith Ben-Eboh is a senior at UW-L, studying public health/community health education. She was born and raised in Lagos, Nigeria, and moved to the U.S. in 2019 to further her education. At UWL, Ben-Eboh has been involved with the Office of International Education and Engagement and tutoring for the TRIO Upward Bound program. Post graduation, Ben-Eboh aspires to attend medical school and ultimately work for an international health organization.

Raghad Al-Khazraji, MBA, is the program coordinator for Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion at Viterbo University. From Baghdad, she moved to La Crosse five years ago and is graduating with her second masters degree in Servant Leadership while working to grow multicultural and international programming at Viterbo.

Dina Zavala, Ph.D., is the interim vice chancellor for Diversity and Inclusion at UW-L, leading campus initiatives related to access, equity, diversity, inclusion and belonging. Through her research, Zavala, whose home country is Honduras, highlights grassroots movements of rural women in Central America.

In advance of the event, the Tribune invited the panelists to answer the following questions. Ben-Eboh and Al-Khazraji offered these responses, in their own words. Zavala declined an advance interview.

What does the theme Embrace Equity mean to you, and how have you embodied this sentiment?

Ben Eboh: For me, the theme embrace equity means coming to a realization that all women have unique qualities and experiences and that being different is something to celebrate rather than look down on. It means being confident in our femininity, in whatever way we define that for ourselves. And I try to live by those terms by pushing myself beyond the boundaries that society has set for me in terms of expectations regarding gender roles.

Al-Khazraji: For me, embracing equity means we are embracing humanity. It is in our human nature that we are called to help and uplift the ones around us who need us. The only way for me to embrace equity is by acknowledging that each persons personal story and struggle is as valuable as if it was my own. From that lens, we can see that it is our duty to break down barriers and provide necessary support that leads to success, even when the success is not for our own personal benefit. Ultimately, embracing equity is an act of love.

In what ways are women celebrated in your home country, and in what ways are they discriminated against?

Ben Eboh: Women in Nigeria are celebrated as strong builders and connectors of homes and communities. They are embodiments of strength, courage and resilience. They are also well-respected in society, especially older women, and have achieved feats locally and globally in various fields, despite the challenges they face because of discriminatory laws, societal norms and gender stereotypes. In many parts of the country, women are still considered subordinate to their male counterparts, and there are disparities in educational attainment, employment opportunities and political representation. Despite all this, I have hope for future generations. People are becoming more aware of womens value in society and are actively taking steps to ensure that young girls have the resources they need to be successful.

Al-Khazraji: In all sectors of life, from public service to business, from science and technology to arts and heritage, Iraqi women play a critical role in ensuring a better future for themselves, their families and the nation as a whole. Unfortunately, Iraqi women are also some of the worlds most disempowered women. Whether its domestic violence, forced marriages or crimes of honor, Iraqi women face a multitude of threats due to the structural discrimination that lies at the heart of gender inequality.

What do you appreciate, and what needs to be improved, in terms of equity in the U.S.?

Ben-Eboh: I appreciate that there are quite a few policies aimed at improving equity, and I know that policies do not always translate to peoples realities, but I feel like it is a first step. Based on my experience, I also feel like there is less stigma attached to women pursuing professional careers, especially in STEM, and generally more support in terms of resources to pursue higher education.

Intersectionality is a huge factor in the U.S., especially with the diverse population. And I feel like that impacts gender equity efforts because without dealing with issues like racism, for example, a woman from a minority group here in the U.S. will still deal with discrimination despite efforts to improve equity. And so, gender equity efforts need to be more holistic.

Al-Khazraji: Since I moved to the U.S., I have had the opportunity to exercise my freedom of speech and expression, and my own free-will to make my own decisions. This exercise of freedom is not common for most women back home, unless you are willing to challenge your family, society and sometimes the law. In order to improve equity in the U.S., we must continue to find opportunities to develop and empower underrepresented groups.
The Midwest has an impending power problem, though experts dont agree on how big the problem is.

Recent reports from both regional and national grid organizations raise concerns about vulnerabilities in the electric infrastructure system. At its core, they say, supply of electricity is dropping while demand is on the rise. They worry there wont be enough energy to meet consumers needs, especially during extreme weather events such as winter storms or prolonged high heat.

A report from the North American Energy Reliability Corp. said it is concerned that some areas are highly vulnerable. It identifies parts of the Midwest and Southeast power grid, of which Wisconsin is part, as one of those areas.

The Midcontinent Independent System Operator, or MISO, manages the grid across 15 states spanning the north, central and southern parts of the country, as well as a Canadian province.

The operator is not shy about the fact there are some potential problems on the horizon if no changes are made.

MISOs top priority is the reliability for the 45 million Americans who count on us, spokesman Brandon Morris said. The power system is undergoing significant change, and that presents both challenges and opportunities.

Reports warn about reliability risks

Those changes are being driven by a transition away from fossil fuels such as coal and toward renewables like wind and solar. Reports from both MISO and NERC raise questions about the future reliability of the grid amid that transformation.

More than 4 gigawatts of nuclear and coal-fired generation has been retired across the MISO grid since winter of 2021, according to NERC, and not many resources have been added in its place.

As supply has dropped, consumers demand for electricity has continued to increase with expanding territories and a push for electrification such as electric vehicles and furnaces.

That presents significant risks.

Reports have warned about potential outages in both the winter and summer. But one commonality is that the risk is even greater during extreme weather events, whether thats prolonged cold or soaring temperatures. That kind of weather causes demand to spike at the same time generation sources are at higher risk of complications and failure.

More renewables continue to be built to fill those gaps: Wind and solar generation are projected to serve 60% of MISOs annual load by 2041, the operator said. But solving the problem is not quite that simple. A separate report released by MISO at the end of last year said that as more solar and wind is brought online, it becomes more complicated and difficult to plan and operate the power grid.

MISO is agnostic on fuel and resource types, but we have been vocal in stating that accelerated retirements of highly available resources  is a growing risk, Morris said.

In Wisconsin, three of the states largest coal plants are expected to operate longer than originally planned because of supply constraints. Thats after Madison-based Alliant Energy and Milwaukee-based We Energies announced last June that they would delay retirements and push back deadlines to roll out new renewable energy projects.

Upgrading the grid is key

Renewables might not be dispatchable  meaning they cant be turned on or off whenever needed  but they are schedulable. Based on weather patterns and modeling, operators of solar panels and wind turbines can fairly accurately predict when those sources will produce electricity.

As technologies to capture and store excess electricity continue to improve, experts say renewables will soon be able to meet much of the regions power needs.

The bigger issue is upgrading infrastructure, according to Michael Goggin, vice president at Grid Strategies, a power sector consulting firm. The grid is used to power coming from big centralized plants, but with more renewables the power supply is more dispersed, so transmission needs to catch up.

There are hundreds of pending renewable projects across the region waiting to get the green light to connect to the MISO grid, and dozens have pulled out after seeing little progress or costs skyrocket.

We cant bring on new resources quickly enough, Goggin said. The transmission barriers are the only real obstacle with bringing renewables and storage online.

Upgraded and expanded transmission not only helps more renewables connect, but it also makes the grid more resilient to better move electricity where its needed most.

MISO said its focus is on ensuring the pace of fleet transformation aligns with the demand for power. To make that happen and update the grid system, MISO has announced major transmission investments. The price tag for the first phase is more than $10 billion, and an additional $20-plus billion is expected to be announced in the coming years.

Wind reigned supreme during winter storm

Some consumer and environmental advocates worry that the reports and concerns about grid vulnerabilities are being used to push the narrative that renewables arent reliable and fossil fuels are.

In Indiana, for example, several pieces of legislation have been proposed that would add a step before a coal plant could be retired or would expand incentives for utilities to build large natural gas plants.

Kerwin Olson, executive director of the consumer advocacy group Citizens Action Coalition, said he agrees that the uncertainties raised in the MISO and NERC reports shouldnt be ignored. He also doesnt want them to be overblown in a way that slows the transition to cleaner energy.

Is it really dire and the lights will go out, or is everything OK? I think its somewhere in the middle, Olson said. We need to be cautious and thoughtful and make sure we do this transition right, but we cant lose sight of moving away from fossil fuels for our economy and environment.

In fact, during the recent Winter Storm Elliott, which brought record-cold temperatures and blizzard conditions across much of the country just before Christmas, millions of customers were forced to endure outages and the eastern power grid was stressed  just as the NERC report had warned.

But MISO actually fared pretty well, Goggin said. There was a major drop in the gas supply during that time, the grid analyst said, but wind output was very strong with the cold air coming in  that helped, and for MISO it was very significant.

MISO was even able to export some of its power to other impacted grids, including the Southeast: They were literally keeping the lights on in the Tennessee Valley, Goggin said. Some wind plants actually had to reduce their output because the transmission wasnt capable of moving it, he added.

A changing climate continues to cause more severe weather events of all kinds, experts said, and most people agree that emphasizes the need for a reliable energy system. Goggin said there is no one-size-fits-all solution.

Having a diverse power supply is important, he said, and a key part of the solution is renewables and storage plus transmission, that gives you a very reliable supply of power.

Jim Malewitz of Wisconsin Watch contributed reporting. Call IndyStar reporter Sarah Bowman at 317-444-6129 or email at sarah.bowman@indystar.com.

Midwest blackout concerns pit renewable energy against fossil fuels is a post from Wisconsin Watch, a nonprofit investigative news site covering Wisconsin since 2009.
The US imposed a new round of sanctions on companies it accused of involvement in Irans petrochemical and petroleum trade, the State Department announced on Thursday.

Secretary of State Antony Blinken said the sanctions targeted six entities based in Iran, China, Vietnam and UAE that were involved in transporting or selling Iranian products. The sanctions also include blocking 20 vessels identified as property of the sanctioned entities.

These designations underscore our continued efforts to enforce our sanctions against Iran, Blinken said.
Azerbaijan to mark 100th anniversary of renowned theater director

03 March 2023 [16:23] -

Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev signed a decree on the celebration of the 100th anniversary of the country's well-known theater director, actor, and teacher Tofig Kazimov. to be updated

Views: 972
EIR LEAD EDITORIAL FOR FRIDAY MARCH 3, 2023

U.S.A. Countdown: 14 Days Remain for House Vote on H.Con.Res.20 To Remove U.S. Forces from Syria

March 2, 2023, 2022 (EIRNS)The world war machine bloc of nations, otherwise known as Global NATO, presented itself in certain special ways this week, but all part of the same NATO dynamic of promoting war and perpetrating genocide. At the same time, the forces gathering momentum against thisas seen in the past two weeks of mass demonstrations in the Trans-Atlantichave the mighty strength to defeat the evil, because of the commitment to truth, and love for humanity. The stakes include preventing a nuclear holocaust.

On the war-making front, in Washington, D.C. on Feb. 27, a depraved vote succeeded in the U.S. House of Representatives to extend the duration of the U.S. sanctions against Syria, passed in 2019, known as the Caesar Sanctions (the name given for an anonymous source of purported photos of atrocities committed by the government of Bashar al Assad, with no proof).

Continuing these sanctions, in the face of the earthquake disaster, continues the subversion, impoverishment, and occupation of Syria, which has gone on for 12 years. The House vote is a continuation of the Obama/Trump/Biden policy of sanctions, warfare, and occupation against that country for all this time, and the vote affirms the use of sanctions at large. The vote was 414 to 2 (for House Resolution 132), with Rep. Thomas Massie (R-TN) and Marjorie Taylor-Greene (R-GA) voting no.

On the war-making front, in New Delhi, at the Group of 20 Foreign Ministers meeting today and yesterday, the Group of Seven and aligned NATO nations, tried to bully other G20 nations to get in line with Global NATO, to condemn Russia over the issue of Ukraine. The foreign envoys of the U.K., U.S.A., and the Netherlands were outspoken. U.S. Secretary Antonio Blinken blustered before the meeting began that China dare not continue to remain on both sides of the Ukraine issue, but must condemn Russia.

However, the new Global Majority is overriding these particular instances and expanding by the minute. In New Delhi, Prime Minister Narendra Modi of India, the G20 Chair Country at present, said today that he speaks, and will continue to speak, in the voice of the Global South. He focussed his remarks, and todays agenda, on the need for all nations to tackle crises in basic needsfood, energy, debt relief, and other areas; and secondly, to collaborate against terrorism, narcotics and other common threats. No joint statement condemning Russia could materialize. Instead a chairmans statement, was released.

Turning to the United States, the way to fully understand the disgusting pro-sanctions vote by the Congress earlier this week, is that orchestrating this vote was a direct response to the worldwide, escalating condemnation of the sanctions in Syria (and elsewhere,) and rejection of Global NATO itself. The role of the Schiller Institute and collaborators is critical in this mobilization.

Among the latest actions, mass demonstrations are planned for this Saturday, March 4, by the End the Siege campaign, in at least 13 nations, and for more nations soon, for the goal of ending the conditions in which Syrians are suffocated by these sanctions, with the lack of fuel, electricity, water and even food. An originating group in this drive is the Jordanian Peoples Committee for Relief.

An immediate target for our mobilization in the U.S. is to give orders to Congress to pass the bill introduced in February to get all U.S. Armed Forces out of Syria. This is House Concurrent Resolution No. 20, filed by Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-FL), which some time in the next 14 days must come up for a vote, under the protocol of being a privileged resolution, for rush-vote, under the War Powers Act.

Join the mobilization now. A personal message sent out by an American Pax Christi organizer today stated, We know U.S. troops are in 800+ camps around the world and it has to change. There is now an opportunity to remove U.S. troops in war-devastated Syria. Please read this report [attached] and take the opportunity to force Republicans and Democrats to get our troops out of Syria. Please do not be turned off by any sense of pragmatism of either party or those individuals calling for this act to happen. The vital need is to help end foreign occupation, remove U.S. troops and lift sanctions so Syrian people can get food and materials now being blocked by the U.S..

This atrocity cries to Heaven for resolution and intervention. Demand the U.S. elected officials withdraw troops and end sanctions to save the Syrian people and culture.
An international group based in Paris says the world produced a record amount of carbon dioxide last year.

The International Energy Agency (IEA) said Thursday that the amount of carbon dioxide gas produced around the world rose by 0.9 percent in 2022.

Burning fossil fuels, such as oil, natural gas and coal, releases carbon dioxide. The gas is also produced by life on Earth and plants use it to grow.

Scientists believe carbon dioxide traps heat and increases the worlds temperature. Some experts say high temperatures can cause bad weather events such as a lack of rain and storms.

Climate scientists are concerned about the IEA report. They say people around the world must cut carbon emissions to reduce the worlds temperature.

Rob Jackson is a professor of earth system science at Stanford University. Any emissions growth  even one percent  is a failure, he said, adding that even keeping emissions the same year to year is a problem.

Its cuts or chaos for the planet. Any year with higher coal emissions is a bad year for our health and for the Earth, he said.

Increased use of coal for energy has caused some of the emissions growth. Many countries switched from natural gas to coal as gas prices rose in 2022. Natural gas became more costly as many nations stopped buying gas from Russia because of the countrys invasion of Ukraine.

Emissions from oil also went up but were lower than the years before the COVID-19 pandemic. Much of the increase came as people returned to airplane travel after staying home for much of 2020 and 2021.

While 2022 set a record, experts said the amount of carbon dioxide was lower than expected. They said pandemic restrictions in China, the increase in electric vehicles, solar power and new heating systems prevented emissions from rising higher.

Fatih Birol is IEAs executive director. Birol said without clean energy, the growth in carbon dioxide emissions would have been nearly three times as high.

Birol said the use of fossil fuels is still too high and oil companies are making a lot of money. The fossil fuel companies, Birol said, need to take their share of responsibility, in line with their pledges to meet climate goals.

John Sterman leads the Sloan Sustainability Initiative at Massachusetts Institute of Technology. He said it is still possible to reach climate goals.

He said countries around the world must stop cutting down trees, continue to help people buy electric cars and pay for new home heating systems. He argued that renewable energy needs government payments to support it and businesses that produce carbon dioxide should face increased costs.

He called it a massive, massive undertaking.

Im Dan Friedell.

Cathy Bussewitz reported this story for the Associated Press. Dan Friedell adapted this story for VOA Learning English.

____________________________________________________

Words in This Story

emission n. (often pl.) something that is released into the air, such as gasses

chaos n. a state of complete disorder and uncontrolled behavior

pledge n. a promise

massive adj. very large in amount, size or weight

We want to hear from you. Do you think emissions will go down in 2023?

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A new tool called Take It Down promises to remove explicit pictures that young people have put on the internet before they were 18 years old.

The National Center for Missing and Exploited Children (NCMEC) is a non-profit organization that operates Take It Down. The tool is partly funded by Meta Platforms, which owns social media services Facebook and Instagram.

"Once you send that photo, you can't take it back," is a warning that teenagers who upload photos to the internet often hear from adults. But some young people feel pressure to take and send explicit photos of themselves. They might not fully understand the bad things that result from sending such pictures.

Without uploading any actual images and staying private, users of the site can create a digital fingerprint of the image. The fingerprint is a unique set of numbers called a hash. The numbers go into a database. Technology companies that take part in the program then remove the images from their websites.

But there are already a few problems with the tool.

There are only a few social media platforms joining in the program. So far, only Metas Facebook and Instagram and another site called Yubo have joined. Two adult sites are also taking part.

Another problem happens if the image or video is changed in any way. For example, if a person changes the size or turns the image into a meme. The new image gets a new hash number. A photo that has a filter on it will have a similar hash that is usually different by only one letter or number.

Gavin Portnoy is a spokesperson for the NCMEC. He said Take It Down is made for teens who think their images could be or are already out on the internet. The release could have happened through sharing, or the young person might have felt forced to put it on the internet.

Portnoy described it this way: "You're a teen and you're dating someone, and you share the image. Or somebody extorted you

Portnoy said the privacy of the site helps teens feel more at ease than if they go to law enforcement, which would not be private.

"To a teen who doesn't want that level of involvement, they just want to know that it's taken down, this is a big deal for them, Portnoy said.

NCMEC said it has seen a 35 percent increase in the number of reports of internet abuse of children from 2020 to 2021. The group operates a tipline, called CyberTipline, where people can report internet child abuse. NCMEC said it received 29.3 million reports in 2021.

Similar tools have been created and used, but with less success.

In 2017 Facebook released a similar tool for adults. The site asked people to send their encrypted explicit photos to the company. The service was tested in Australia for a short period of time, but people did not trust the site or Facebook.

In 2021, Facebook helped launch another tool for adults call StopNCII, or Stop Nonconsensual Intimate Images. A British non-profit group operates the website, but anyone in the world can use it.

Since then, online sexual abuse has gotten much worse for children, teens and adults.

Many tech companies already use the hash system to remove and report images of child sexual abuse. The goal is to have more companies sign up for the program.

Portnoy said, "We never had anyone say no.

Two companies have not yet joined the project, Twitter and TikTok. Neither company had commented to the Associated Press as of Sunday.

Metas global head of safety, Antigone Davis said that Take It Down is just one of many tools the company uses to prevent and report child sexual abuse and exploitation.

Davis said Meta has supported the development of the tool as well as taken several steps. Davis said the company does not permit unconnected adults to send messages to children under the age of 18.

She also said that the site works with real images and ones created using artificial intelligence called deepfakes. Deepfakes are pictures or videos that show real people saying or doing things that they did not actually say or do.

Im Faith Pirlo.

Barbara Ortuntay wrote this article for The Associated Press. Faith Pirlo adapted it for Learning English.

_________________________________________

Words in This Story

explicit  adj. showing or talking about sex or violence in a very detailed way

fund  v. to provide with money for a particular purpose

fingerprint  n. a distinctive or identifying mark or characteristic

unique  adj. one of a kind; like no other

meme n. a picture, video or other kind of image spread widely through the internet that people find funny, interesting or to have some meaning

filter  v. a tool for selecting or removing a particular kind of information

extortion  n. to get money or something from someone by threatening harm

dating  v. to make a usually romantic social arrangement to meet with someone; to have a date with

encrypt  v. to change (information) from one form to another to hide its meaning

nonconsensual  adj. without the willing agreement of all the people involved

intimate  adj. marked by a warm friendship and close physical or sexual connection

What do you think about the new technology tool for teens?

We want to hear from you. We have a new comment system. Here is how it works:

Write your comment in the box. Under the box, you can see four images for social media accounts. They are for Disqus, Facebook, Twitter and Google. Click on one image and a box appears. Enter the login for your social media account. Or you may create one on the Disqus system. It is a blue circle with D on it. It is free.

Each time you return to comment on the Learning English site, you can use your account and see your comments and replies to them. Our comment policy is here.
Episode 79: Artificial intelligence has been one of the most talked about topics so far this year  and with good reason. In just the past two months, there has been a flood of news stories talking about the amazing possibilities of this new technology, along with plenty of worries about what this all could mean.

ChatGPT is at the center of this debate. This software, which was launched in November, is a natural language processing tool that can answer questions, write essays or even construct computer code.

AI has raised plenty of questions about ethics, and it seemed like an overwhelming topic for this podcast. So we deiced to ask ChatGPT this question:

"I am looking for topics for an upcoming podcast about ethics and AI. What topics should I cover?"

In seconds it provided a list of topics.

Hosts Richard Kyte and Scott Rada take a critical look at the many ethical questions raised by AI, and whether the world is ready for this huge technological shift.

About the hosts: Scott Rada is social media manager with Lee Enterprises, and Richard Kyte is the director of the D.B. Reinhart Institute for Ethics in Leadership at Viterbo University in La Crosse, Wis.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Steven J. Heyman (Chicago-Kent College of Law - Illinois Institute of Technology) has posted Hate-Speech Bans Are Consonant with Liberal Principles - Chapter (The Oxford Handbook of Hate Speech, edited by Eric Heinze, Natalie Alkiviadou, Tom Herrenberg, Sejal Parmar and Ioanna Tourkochoriti (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2024-25)) on SSRN. Here is the abstract:

Modern liberal-democratic nations are divided over whether the right to freedom of expression should extend to hate speech  expression that abuses, degrades, or promotes violence or discrimination against others based on traits like race, nationality, religion, sex, sexual orientation, and gender identity. Most liberal democracies outlaw certain forms of public hate speech in order to protect the dignity, equality, and security of the targeted groups. By contrast, the United States rejects this position and holds that public hate speech generally should receive constitutional protection, although the law may impose some restrictions on private hate speech, such as epithets hurled in face-to-face confrontations.

In this essay, which is a contribution to the forthcoming Oxford Handbook of Hate Speech, I argue that bans on public as well as private hate speech can be consonant with liberal principles. Of course, there are many varieties of liberalism. This essay focuses on the writings of John Locke, which did much to lay the theoretical foundations of the modern liberal state. Moreover, Locke directly addressed the problem of speech that denies the equal status and rights of others. For these reasons, his thought offers one valuable starting point for considering how liberal principles should apply to hate speech.

The essay begins by sketching the main outlines of Lockes political philosophy. I then draw on this discussion, together with our contemporary understanding of rights, to present a general theory of free expression which I call liberal humanism. On this view, free speech is based on respect for human freedom and dignity. But these same values also support other essential rights, ranging from bodily security to personal dignity to equality of citizenship. In general, the right to free speech does not entitle one to infringe the rights of others. I then use this approach to grapple with the problem of hate speech. In cases where that speech targets particular individuals, it may be restricted on the same grounds as other kinds of wrongful speech, such as threats, incitement, and fighting words. Although hate speech that occurs within public discourse poses a more difficult problem, I contend that this speech may be restricted on the ground that it violates the most basic right of all: the right to be recognized and treated as a human being and a member of the community. This position dovetails with the position that Locke took with regard to expression that sought to deny freedom and equality to religious minorities. Expression of this sort, he contended, should not receive legal protection because it invaded the rights of its targets and undermine[d] the foundations of society, which was held together by language, reason, and mutual recognition. The essay concludes by responding to two of the leading liberal arguments against hate-speech bans: that they violate individual autonomy and that they undermine democratic legitimacy.

Highly recommended.
UAE-based boutique real estate brokerage Phoenix Homes said it has begun the year with a bold move to a 4,000 sq ft office space in Barsha Heights I-Rise Tower in Dubai as part of its aggressive growth plans.

The brokerage launched by local real estate veterans - Myles Bush, Padraic Hickey and Martin Hyre in 2021 - said it aims to grow by 100% this year, backed by continuing positive market sentiment, post-pandemic, which has seen a flurry of new buyers heading to the emirate, attracted by quality, low prices and economic growth.

Now, just two years on, the company has outgrown its existing offices, with a 35-strong team, set to grow as sector pundits predict real estate market growth of some 13% in 2023 as reported by HSBC and Bloomberg.

The companys move to the iconic I-Rise tower comes after two years in a 2,000 sq ft office, said a top official.

"Our company is growing so fast, weve had to seek out larger premises. And our rapid growth reflects the monumental growth in real estate sales weve witnessed postpandemic," remarked Bush, one of the company directors.

The trio offers unrivalled experience in Dubais dynamic real estate sector, all having worked together for many years previously.

"Not only are clients drawn to Phoenix Homes because of our deep experience, knowledge, transparency and trustworthiness, but real estate agents are keen to join Phoenix because of our market-leading commission model. More and more brokers are leaving the traditional 50/50 commission model behind and gravitating towards our 80% split," he stated.

According to Bush, the demand is outstripping supply in terms of apartments, as the price point and lifestyle offered in Dubai continues to attract expat buyers in their droves.

"Prices, however, are expected to rise by up to 46% in the most popular areas, with Hyre warning wavering buyers to commit to a purchase sooner rather than later," he added.

"Many people thought our different commission model would be unscalable. But the move to larger premises and our rapid growth goes to show how we have turned this company into a huge ongoing success story," remarked Hickey.

"It's also lovely to see Dubai brokers finally taking a larger slice of the pie rather than accepting the usual 50-60% commission offering," he added.-TradeArabia News Service
Buc-ee's, a chain of gas station convenience stores based in Texas, is planning a Madison-area location, its first in Wisconsin, according to a proposal that went before the DeForest Planning and Zoning Commission on Tuesday.

The 73,400-square-foot travel center is planned for north of Highway V, east of Highway I and west of Interstate 39/90/94.

The DeForest Buc-ee's would have 120 fueling positions under two large canopies, 613 parking spaces and 20 dedicated EV charging spaces, according to the proposal.

Buc-ees, which touts the world's cleanest restrooms, has 57 locations, mainly in Texas. "Buc-ees does not accommodate truckers and does not include any restaurant," the plan said.

"Ever since our inception in 1982, we have been committed to providing a clean, friendly, and in stock experience for our customers," Buc-ee's website says. "Regardless of where you may find us, if the store is big or small, near or far, the mission remains the same."

The proposal references a preliminary traffic review that "suggests that 85% of the proposed Buc-ees traffic was assumed to come from I-39/90/94 and return to I-39/90/94 after visiting Buc-ee's."

DeForest Village President Jane Cahill Wolfgram said she's excited about the proposal. Buc-ee's will draw people to the area, she said, and has "a proven record of being good corporate citizens with an exciting array of products and foods."

Alex Allon, DeForest's community development director, said Buc-ee's plans to add 200 jobs with its DeForest location. He said he's been most impressed with how the company treats its employees. Buc-ee's pays well for the type of business it is, he said, with most of the entry-level positions paying $16 to $19 an hour.

The company also offers 401(k)s, paid time off, and other benefits, Allon said. "For the kind of facility that they are, that was something that really stood out to me."

Allon said the village hopes to have the permitting and approval process done by the end of March or early April. State and county agencies are involved regarding transportation access, he said.

Buc-ee's director of real estate has said that Buc-ee's is a strong community partner wherever it goes, and likes to offer some local products, Allon said.

He said Buc-ee's merchandising team will come in and look for local goods to sell, "connecting with local vendors, kind of that mom-and-pop-level feel to bring those into their sales facility."

Buc-ee's will also bring a lot of traffic, with people from all over coming into the DeForest community, he said. "So, it kind of has a reverberating economic development effect as well."

Allon said the average Buc-ee's customer stays in the store for about 45 minutes.

"So they're not like a quick in-and-out type of travel center or convenience store," he said. "They have people who are staying there on site for a while, and that gives them an opportunity to come in and see the rest of DeForest and see what our community has to offer."

36 Madison-area restaurant, bar, bakery, coffee shop openings in 2022 Taqueria Los Atlantes Golden Nest Pancakes & Cafe Hot Lunch Zippy Lube Coffee, Donuts, and Fried Chicken Tacos El Capi Good Co. at Pioneer Pointe The Bubbling Teapot Sabores Fusion Grill Nori Sushi & Grill North Shore Pizza and Subs Sookie's Veggie Burgers Turn Key La Pollera Colombiana Restaurant Eno Vino Waunakee BigSur Cantina Amara SASS Sauce + Shells The Borough Beer Company & Kitchen Taza Swagat Sun Prairie Little John's Lunchbox AzTec Taqueria Mishqui Peruvian Cuisine Dirty Dog Taphouse Ollie's Forward Craft & Coffee Jacknife The Ready Set FreshFin Poke Hilldale Mom's Bar Prost! Tucuma Northstreet La Taguara Far Breton Bakery Dagu Rice Noodle
A man kicked in the back door after a woman evicted him from an East Side home Thursday night, Madison police reported.

The woman served the man an eviction notice for the home in the 2200 block of Winnebago Street  he lives in the upper flat of her house  and that made him upset, police spokesperson Stephanie Fryer said.

The man then broke into the womans home by kicking in the back door about 7:20 p.m. Thursday, Fryer said.

Police are reviewing digital evidence and have probable cause to arrest the man, who was not named, for disorderly conduct, criminal trespassing to dwelling and criminal damage to property, Fryer said.

The cities with the most break-ins and burglaries Cities With the Most Break-Ins / Burglaries Over the past decade burglary and larceny rates have declined Daytime break-ins of homes are most common Southern states experience the most property crime Small and midsize cities with the most burglaries 15. Dallas, TX 14. Houston, TX 13. Las Vegas, NV 12. Columbus, OH 11. Minneapolis, MN 10. Milwaukee, WI 9. Wichita, KS 8. Kansas City, MO 7. Oklahoma City, OK 6. Bakersfield, CA 5. Seattle, WA 4. Baltimore, MD 3. Detroit, MI 2. Tulsa, OK 1. Memphis, TN
For Madison artists Issis Macias and Rodrigo Carapia, being Latino means they can laugh over shared experiences.

For instance, as a Latino, it wouldnt be uncommon in the middle of a party roaring past midnight to see at least one child asleep on a couch, under a pile of coats or balanced on two fold-up chairs. Especially since, odds are, it was a childrens party to begin with.

My mom would take me for picnics in the park, but (in Mexico City) they were between these extremely busy highways. Shed just wave it off, Im coming with you, youll be fine, Carapia remembered, laughing.

The laugh, for Latinos, is paired with appreciation for how much effort the community always put into celebrating their children.

An appreciation of these shared experiences is currently hung in front of the Overture Centers State Street windows, uniting Macias and Carapias experiences in their first-ever collaborative exhibit.

Macias would first paint an abstract background, picking her colors intuitively. Then Carapia would paint an inspired image on top of it.

Translating to Under the Same Sky, Macias and Carapias Bajo el Mismo Cielo will be on display in the Overture Center for the Arts first-floor Rotunda Gallery until March 13.

It will run coincide with the ninth annual Latino Art Fair from 5:30 to 7:30 p.m. Friday, also at the Overture Center.

A combination of colorful abstract paintings that feature drawings with hieroglyphic-like details between its line work, Bajo el Mismo Cielo may serve to inspire vendors to continue with their craft or inspire guests to start creating  especially those like Macias and Carapia, who are self taught.

Needed exposure

Sponsored by Latinos Organizing for Understanding and Development (LOUD) and the Overture Center, the Latino Art Fair has evolved from a small event that sold creative trinkets and prints into one that centers on the artist behind the merchandise, giving artists an opportunity to sell their work, gain a new audience and meet other artists going through similar experiences.

As an artist, it takes a little while to build the level of work, enough things to sell, and build your confidence, where you would want to put yourself out there, said Oscar Mireles, LOUD founder and a former mayoral appointee to the Overture Center board of directors.

Mireles became involved in the Latino Art Fair by participating as a poetry performer before joining in as a key organizer with LOUD, hoping to find new artists unsure of where to begin in an already limited market.

Theres a finite number of days (an exhibit might run), Mireles said. Theres a finite number of spaces. Theres a finite number of venues.

The fair serves as an avenue for both well- and less-known Latino artists to showcase their work to new audiences, regardless of their medium  canvases, prints, stickers, jewelry, pottery, photography, even music.

Finding opportunity

Were all born artists and evolve as artists, but as kids start reaching a certain age, they start hearing, OK, its time to put away the crayons, Carapia said.

Thats when the art flow gets cut. After that you can take lessons, but the instinctive art flow is gone. Other skills are prioritized.

Despite each being well known now, Macias, an abstract artist, and Carapia, a muralist, vividly remember feeling insecure with where they stood as artists.

Having grown up in a neighborhood with plenty of mural art in Mexico City, Carapia was inspired by the Aztec art style and has worked as a mural artist in Madison for the past 15 years.

Carapia always had confidence in his natural-born talent, but his art style lacked novelty in Mexico and seemed to be too unfamiliar in Wisconsin.

I think theres been positive change in the last couple of years. At first, I didnt really see a lot of opportunities, especially for artists based in a cultural style. It was very complicated, Carapia said.

Tiny little fish

Macias first became interested in the art world while in Los Angeles, while simultaneously developing her previous career in water resource management. But she felt like a tiny little fish in comparison to some artists.

I was like  doing this as a hobby, a creative outlet, Macias explained.

Then, in 2016, Macias moved with her partner to Madison, where her hidden talent would soon be discovered.

In Madison, I met new friends. We went to my house and saw some of my paintings. They were like, Oh, wow, I didnt you know you paint!

One friend liked her work so much he asked Macias for a new piece, which led to his now-wife asking Macias to sell her artwork on the walls of her restaurant walls, La Kitchenette, on Williamson Street.

I sold my first piece there, Macias said.

Ive been very fortunate actually, to maintain my hand in my culture, she said. One of five daughters, Macias fondly remembers taking several family road trips from Los Angeles to Mexico, visiting authentic flea markets, celebrating with extravagant parties and shopping for local specialties such as leather and fabrics.

The collaboration

Having met through weekly art parties Mireles hosts for Madison art communities, Macias and Carapia formed a friendship before first collaborating last year.

We first experimented last year with two small pieces, Macias said.

But despite having only general ideas even then, their visions instantly clicked.

So, that was the connection with Rodrigo. He stirred up all those memories, I could have conversations that he understood, and understand the humor.

Together, their work shares themes of grief, youth, migration, motherhood and Mexican culture.

I wanted to capture as much depth as possible. I wanted layers of culture to come through, but I mostly wanted to use emotion, have a different feeling for each, Carapia said. It could be evocative images, like the experience of immigrating, or something tender, like the love of a mother.

I think whats most special is that the Latino community can now come to a place like the Overture, and say, Hey look, they have a luchador (a Mexican wrestler), a sugar skull or a Xolo dog, Macias said.

The Latino Art Fair serves to expand this welcome, providing a full promenade hall and terrace full of Latino artists and vendors.

The artisans, theyre going back to the communities where the art was created, theyre getting a certain authenticity, Mireles said. Theres almost a level of tradition, which has a nice feel, but with a 21st-century kind of spin-off.
Patience Clark, left, with Palate Pleasures Catering, prepares an order of barbecue and lemon pepper chicken wings at FEED Kitchens in Madison on Thursday. FEED Kitchens is one of the first stops on Dane Buy Local's new tour series.
BURLEY  A defense attorney for a Rupert man charged with vehicular manslaughter has asked for a continuance.

The trial for Jacob Michael Goffinet, who is also charged with a felony count of aggravated driving under the influence, was to begin this week.

Goffinet was charged in July 2022 after a one-vehicle crash on April 30, 2022, at Land Ranch Road and 100 West, northeast of Oakley, where his passenger, Shelbbi Bean, 29, died at the scene.

At the time of the crash, Cassia County Sheriff George Warrell told the Times-News that Goffinet was flown to Portneuf Medical Center in Pocatello for his injuries.

According to court records, Goffinet submitted two blood-alcohol tests at the hospital; blood-alcohol levels came back at 0.201 percent and 0.197 percent, more than double the legal limit in Idaho.

Warrell said that Goffinet failed to stop at a stop sign. His vehicle struck the roads shoulder and flew into the air and over a small stream.

Goffinets attorney asked for the continuance because older cases were set for trial at the same time and date.

The court has not reset the trial date yet, according to records.
Twin Falls Reservoir to be lowered for dam inspection

The water level above Idaho Powers Twin Falls dam and power plant will be lowered on Monday for a routine inspection, the company announced in a news release.

The Twin Falls Park boat ramp will be closed during the inspection, which will require the water level to drop about 18 inches below its normal level, according to the release. The reservoir will gradually refill overnight.

In 1935, Idaho Power built the original Twin Falls Power Plant, now one of 17 hydroelectric projects operated by the company on the Snake River. It was updated in 1995 with a diversion structure and two powerhouses.

Hailey council OKs 2 pathway project bids

The Hailey City Council accepted two bids this week for a pair of pathway projects, including one with additional funding through the Idaho Local Highway Technical Assistance Council.

The city plans to begin construction on both projects in the spring, the city said in a news release.

The McKercher Parkway pathway will fill a missing link and connect River and Main streets with the south side of McKercher Boulevard. The bid was awarded to B&G Dirtworks for $282,320.

The other project, the Croy to Quigley Pathway, was at risk when a single bid exceeded grant funds. The technical assistance council stepped in and offered a one-time increase to fund the gap.

Pathway completion is one of our top goals, Hailey Mayor Martha Burke said in the release. It is through partnerships such as this that we bring quality-of-life amenities to our community and make it safe to walk and bike around Hailey.

The project will connect the Croy pathway from the Wood River Trail east of the Sunbeam Subdivision. The bid was awarded to Intermountain Construction for $563,888.

Ketchum library wraps up Winter Read

Award-winning author Kali Fajardo-Anstine will give the keynote presentation at the closing of Winter Read at The Community Library in Ketchum on Thursday at 6 p.m.

The presentation will be inside the librarys Lecture Hall. The event is free but registration is required.

This years Winter Read, a collaborative effort between the libraries in Ketchum, Hailey, Bellevue and Stanley, includes Fajardo-Anstines Sabrina and Corina, a moving narrative of Latina characters of indigenous ancestry and the land they inhabit in the American West, according to a news release.

The book will be for sale at the event, and Fajardo-Anstine will be signing copies.

Also:

The 30th annual Glanbia Nutritionals Charity Challenge is accepting applications from Magic Valley non-profit organizations with 501(3) status through May 12 at glanbiacharitychallenge.com. The challenge donated $200,000 in 2022. For more information, email Jayde Wilson at jaywilson@glanbia.com.
When we invest in a strong start for our kids, we build strong foundations that yield dividends down the road. Children who participate in preschool, compared to control groups, are more likely to graduate high school and enroll in college, and less likely to be involved in the criminal system, both as juveniles and adults.

This is why $1 invested in quality preschool yields up to $16 in taxpayer benefits.

Idaho Democrats consistently support wise investments in early learning. And voters of all political stripes overwhelmingly agree with us. Unfortunately, a majority of Idahos Republican politicians have repeatedly put far-right ideology over the needs of children. Whether Idaho kids have had critical opportunities in recent years has depended on whether there are enough Democrats to override Republican votes.

OUR VIEW: Idaho has another opportunity to boost funding for early childhood education. Take it. OUR VIEW: Idaho needs to invest more in early childhood education  not give in again to convenient but unfounded conspiracy theories and politically motivated buzzwords.

In 2021, Idaho was in a fantastic position. We won a federal grant to support early learning collaboratives across the state. Local communities had been planning their homegrown approaches to early learning for months. The bill to simply approve the $18 million, three-year grant died by a single vote.

A majority of House Republicans opposed it, with some making false claims that the locally-designed programs amounted to indoctrination. It was heartbreaking to watch baseless hysteria win, while our children lost. Those funds were reallocated to states that value their childrens learning.

On a brighter note, that same month, we approved mini-grants to child care businesses with COVID-19 relief funds. A majority of House Republicans still opposed the move, but the hysteria wasnt quite so fervent and enough of them voted with Democrats. Child care providers are vital to employers and families alike because they allow parents to work. The challenge is that they operate on extremely thin margins. This support was a lifeline to our economy that didnt cost the state one penny.

Today, Idaho is not only failing to move forward, but just took a giant step backward. With employers loudly lamenting the dire shortage of child care, it was disheartening to see the actions of Republican legislators on the budget-setting committee this week. They rejected $36 million in American Rescue Plan Act funds to continue the successful support for child care providers. Adding insult to injury, they also rejected $2 million for child abuse prevention.

Idaho is one of only a handful of states that does not invest any state resources in early learning. When Republican politicians reject Idahos share of available federal dollars, our children fall even further behind.

The research and public support for early childhood investments is very strong, but the political will of Republican legislators is weak, when not downright hostile. Its urgent we elect leaders who will put our kids first.
The French ambassador to Angola, Daniel Vosgien said Thursday that the presence of French businessmen in Luanda shows the commitment of his country to take advantage of investment opportunities, especially in the agricultural and agri-food sectors.

The French diplomat noted that his country has a vast experience in the agricultural sector and many companies, with international experience, are determined to establish partnerships with Angolan companies linked to agricultural production.

The presence of these actors here shows that they will already take advantage of the opportunities in investing in Angola, several actors are committed to agricultural production in Africa, but also in Angola, it is essential that they become aware of the existing opportunities and the willingness of the authorities to engage in a real bilateral partnership in this sector, he said.

Daniel Vosgien, who was speaking at the opening of the Angola-France Economic Forum, which addresses partnerships in the agricultural and agri-food sector, as part of the French Presidents state visit to Angola, admitted that the French can explore the agricultural potential of the African country.

I welcome the commitment of all the Angolan and French companies present, the success of this forum by the number of participants and quality of the speakers, clearly demonstrates the shared ambition between the two countries and strengthen the partnership between France and Angola and also economic and trade links, he stressed.

The launch of the production partnership between France and Angola in the agricultural and agro-food sector is the motto of the forum, which brings together Angolan and French businessmen, and which ends on Friday with a speech by Emmanuel Macron.

According to Daniel Vosgien, the agricultural and agri-food sectors are key sectors in which Angola and France can work together strengthening the diversification of the Angolan economy and stimulating development opportunities for French companies.

The alignment of an inventory of Angolas opportunities and needs in agricultural matters should constitute, in the French diplomats view, one of the main objectives of the meeting.

It is an opportunity for Angolan companies to present to their subsidiaries what are the priority needs of this focus on partnership, Angolan companies can identify together the opportunities for partnership and also take stock of the constraints on the development of projects, he emphasized.

The great objective of the forum is also to present proposals in the French private sector in response to the needs of the Angolan part and the development of agricultural subsidiaries in Angola and to value the partnerships with valid and priority interlocutors for Angola, concluded the French diplomat.

Emmanuel Macron, who arrived in Angola yesterday, is due to speak on Friday at the close of this forum before meeting his Angolan counterpart, Joao Lourenco.
Say hello to spring with kites in S Chinas Guangdong

People's Daily Online) 16:32, March 02, 2023

Teenagers dance under a sky decorated with colorful kites at a park in Shantou, south Chinas Guangdong Province. (Photo/Yang Xiangkun)

A kite-flying activity, themed on marine species, was recently held at a park in Shantou, south Chinas Guangdong Province.

A blaze of kites in the shape of sea life, such as dolphins, whales, and octopuses, flew in the air. Under the sky, tourists posed for pictures against the colorful background and strolled or jogged on the lawn, while teenagers danced with vigor and vitality to greet spring.

(Web editor: Chang Sha, Du Mingming)
Beijing will overtake Paris within the next decade to become the worlds largest travel & tourism city destination, said the World travel & tourism Council (WTTC) in a new report.



The Cities Economic Impact Report, sponsored by Visa and researched in partnership with Oxford Economics, analysed key indicators such as travel & tourisms contribution to GDP, employment and traveller spend.



But while long term the outlook for a number of Chinese cities looks positive, prolonged travel restrictions and border closures slowed down the recovery in the short term.



WTTC studied the impact of the travel & tourism sector in four major cities across China; Beijing, Chengdu, Guangzhou, and Shanghai and found a mixed picture across the four city destinations.



In all four cities the sectors GDP contribution last year almost fully recovered back to 2019 levels. The GDP contribution from the sector to Beijing and Chengdus economy in 2022 was just 4% and 2% below 2019 levels respectively ($34 billion and $5.4 billion), compared to $31 billion and $5.5 billion.



Last year, the travel & tourisms GDP contribution in Guangzhou and Shanghai was around 7% below 2019 levels. In Guangzhou the sector contributed $13.2 billion in 2022 compared to $14.1 billion pre-pandemic, while in Shanghai, the sector contributed $29.7 billion compared to $31.5 billion in 2019.



Julia Simpson, WTTC President & CEO, said: China has long been a world-favourite holiday destination and after more than two years of disruption, its great to see tourists heading back. Tourists provide a massive boost to both the economy and job creation.



It is crucial that the national and local governments continue to recognise the importance of travel & tourism for the local and national economies, jobs and businesses.



Jobs on the rise

In 2019, there were 1.35 million people employed by the travel & tourism sector in Beijing. But in 2020 this figure dropped to 1.16 million (-15%). In 2021, employment grew by more than 5% and is expected to have grown a further 4% in 2022 to reach 1.27 million jobs.



Before the pandemic, there were 1.32 million travel & tourism jobs in Shanghai, but this number fell to 1.13 million in 2020 (-14%). A 10% rise in 2021 saw the number increase to 1.25 million and it was predicted to see a slight increase to 1.26 million in 2022.



In Guangzhou there were just over 603,000 jobs in 2019 but this dropped by 23% to just over 464,000. A slight 4% rise in 2021 saw jobs increase to just under 481,000 and WTTC is expecting a 16.5% increase in 2022 to bring the total jobs to over 560,000.



Chengdu is seeing an even stronger return to pre-pandemic levels. In 2019 there were 336,000 jobs in the city which dropped by 12% to just under 297,000 in 2020. The following year saw a small 5% increase to 311,000 jobs and last year the global tourism body is predicting a 6% increase to 329,500 jobs  just 2% below pre-pandemic levels.



Visitor spend struggles as borders have remained closed

Due to the prolonged border closures imposed by the government, international visitor spend is taking longer to recover than in other countries around the world.



But light is at the end of the tunnel. Whilst international visitor spend is still on average 53% lower in 2022 than it was in 2019, all of the cities analysed are showing modest year-on-year increases.



International visitor spend in Beijing is just 41% what it was in 2019, with visitors spending a predicted $5 billion in 2022 compared to $12.1 billion in 2019. In Chengdu, international visitor spend is performing better than the capital with recovery at 61% of 2019 levels. Travellers spent $1.5 billion in Chengdu in 2022 compared to $2.5 billion in 2019.



Both Shanghai and Guangzhou have seen international visitor spend drop to 44% of 2019 levels. In Shanghai it went from $11.9 billion before the pandemic to $5.2 billion in 2022, while in Guangzhou it went from $4.3 billion in 2019 to $1.9 billion in 2022.  TradeArabia News Service
The Cape Verdean trade balance was negative by 71 million euros in January, a worsening of more than 50% compared to the same month in 2022, according to data released Thursday by the National Statistics Institute (INE).

According to the Cape Verdean INEs Foreign Trade Statistics report, this performance was aggravated by the increase in imports, which grew 57.5% in January, year-on-year, to PTE 8,295 million (75.3 million euros). Exports grew 280% in the same month to PTE 464 million (4.2 million euros), while re-exports increased 36.7% to PTE 2,368 million (21.5 million euros).

With this performance, Cape Verdes trade balance was again negative in January  as in all previous months  at 7,831 million escudos (71 million euros), against the deficit of 5,146 million escudos (46.7 million euros) in the same month of 2022 (+52.2%).

Cape Verde imports about 80% of the food it consumes, according to previous government data, due to the drought that has affected the archipelago over the last four years, and the production of 80% of electricity is still dependent on fossil fuel plants, which requires the import of refined fuels.

In the first month of the year Europe remained as the main customer of Cape Verde, absorbing about 94.7% of total Cape Verdean exports, including Spain (78%) and Portugal (10.6%), and mainly prepared and canned products (85.2%), according to the INE.

In imports, the European continent also continues to be the main supplier of Cape Verde in January, with a weight of 74.5% of the total, mainly from Portugal (40.4%) and Spain (19.5%), and Taiwan (4.4%).

Cape Verdes imports increased 25.5% in the whole year 2022, while exports decreased 3%, compared to the previous year, INE released earlier.
Nigerias presidential candidate Peter Obi, who came third in the Feb. 25 election won by the ruling partys Bola Tinubu, announced Thursday that he would take legal action to challenge the results.

We will explore all legal and peaceful options to get our mandate back. We won the election and we will prove it to Nigerians, Obi of the Labour Party (LP) said at a press conference in the capital Abuja.

According to the Electoral Commission (Inec), Bola Ahmed Tinubu, 70, won the presidential election with more than 8.8 million votes, i.e. 36% of the vote, at the end of a poll contested by the opposition which denounced massive fraud.

The candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC), the former governor of Lagos, will succeed the outgoing president Muhammadu Buhari, 80, who has been criticized from all sides for his deplorable record and his two terms marked by an explosion of poverty and insecurity.

Peter Obi, 61, a youth favourite, came third with 25% of the vote, a first in Nigerias democratic history for an outsider from the two main political groups. The second place winner is former vice-president Abubakar (29%) of the main opposition party (PDP).

The election, which was generally peaceful, was marked by delays in the counting of votes and major failures in the electronic transfer of results, angering many voters and opposition parties who say the votes were massively rigged.

This election will go down as one of the most controversial ever held in Nigeria, Obi said. The Nigerian people have once again been robbed by our supposedly trusted leaders. In the past, elections in Africas most populous country have often been marred by allegations of fraud and violence.

On Wednesday, Mr. Tinubu called on his opponents to team up together: I ask you to join us so that we can start rebuilding our national home together.

Nicknamed the godfather, the kingmaker or the boss for his considerable influence, Mr. Tinubu has been repeatedly accused of corruption during his career, but never convicted. Candidates who want to contest the election have 21 days after the results are announced to take their case to court.
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Credit: Dr Christabel Enweronu-Laryea, University of Ghana.

Researchers at UCL and University of Ghana have successfully predicted whether children have anemia using only a set of smartphone images.

The study, published in PLOS ONE, brought together researchers and clinicians at UCL Engineering, UCLH and Korle Bu Teaching Hospital, Ghana, to investigate a new non-invasive diagnostic technique using smartphone photographs of the eye and face.

The advance could make anemia screening more widely available for children in Ghana (and other low- and middle-income countries) where there are high rates of the condition due to iron deficiency, as the screening tool is much cheaper than existing options and delivers results in one sitting.

The paper builds on previous successful research undertaken by the same team exploring use of an appneoSCBto detect jaundice in newborn babies.

Anemia is a condition causing a reduced concentration of hemoglobin in the blood, which means oxygen is not transported efficiently around the body.

It affects two billion people globally and can have a significant impact on developmental outcomes in children, increasing their susceptibility to infectious diseases and impairing their cognitive development.

The most common cause of anemia globally is iron deficiency, but other conditions such as blood loss, malaria and sickle-cell disease also contribute.

First author, Ph.D. candidate Thomas Wemyss (UCL Medical Physics & Biomedical Engineering) said, "Smartphones are globally popular, but research using smartphone imaging to diagnose diseases shows a general trend of experiencing difficulty when transferring results to different groups of people.

"We are excited to see these promising results in a group which is often underrepresented in research into smartphone diagnostics. An affordable and reliable technique to screen for anemia using a smartphone could drive long-term improvements in quality of life for a large amount of people."

Traditionally, diagnosis of anemia requires blood samples to be taken, which can be costly for patients and health care systems. It can create inequalities related to the expense of traveling to hospital for a blood test. Often families need to make two trips, to have a blood sample taken and then to collect their results, due to samples being transported between the clinic and the laboratory for analysis.

In the 1980s a handheld device, the HemoCue, was developed to provide more immediate results, but this carries significant upfront and ongoing costs, as well as still needing a finger-prick blood sample.

The researchers knew that hemoglobin has a very characteristic color due to the way it absorbs light, so aimed to develop a procedure to take smartphone photographs and use them to predict whether anemia is present.

They analyzed photos taken from 43 children aged under four who were recruited to take part in the study in 2018. The images were of three regions where minimal skin pigmentation occurs in the body (the white of the eye, the lower lip and the lower eyelid).

The team found that when these were evaluated together to predict blood hemoglobin concentration, they were able to successfully detect all cases of individuals with the most severe classification of anemia, and to detect milder anemia at rates which are likely to be clinically useful.

Principal investigator Dr. Terence Leung (UCL Medical Physics & Biomedical Engineering) said, "Since 2018, we've been working with University of Ghana on affordable ways to improve health care using smartphones. Following our success in screening neonatal jaundice, we are so excited to see that the smartphone imaging technique can also apply to anemia screening in young children and infants."

Senior author Dr. Judith Meek (UCLH) added, "Anemia is a significant problem for infants, especially in low- and middle-income countries, and we hope this sort of technology will lead to earlier detection and treatment in the near future."

More information: Feasibility of smartphone colorimetry of the face as an anaemia screening tool for infants and young children in Ghana, PLOS ONE (2023). DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0281736 Journal information: PLoS ONE
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SHAP analysis of the MPXV-CNN. Photographic images of MPXV skin lesions (top) are shown with the corresponding SHAP analysis (bottom) overlaid on the original image to highlight the discriminative image regions used for detection (ag). The MPXV lesions shown represent different stages as follows: early-stage vesicle (a), small pustule (b), umbilicated pustule (c), papule with central necrosis (d), hand with one ulcerated skin lesion (e), pubic region with multiple ulcerated skin lesions (f) and late-stage crusted plaques (g). Positive SHAP values, shown in red, indicated areas of the image that contributed to the prediction of MPXV skin lesion, whereas negative SHAP values, shown in blue, indicated areas that detracted from the prediction. All MPXV lesions shown in ag were part of the testing dataset and were classified correctly by the MPXV-CNN. Photo credit (ag): UK Health Security Agency, licensed under the Open Government License 3.0. Credit: Nature Medicine (2023). DOI: 10.1038/s41591-023-02225-7

A new app developed by scientists at Stanford Medicine and other institutions can detect skin lesions caused by mpox, previously known as monkeypox, in images with an accuracy of 90%, the researchers found in a study. To analyze images, the app uses a type of artificial intelligence that was trained and evaluated on a large data set of about 130,000 images of various skin conditions.

The free, open-source app, called PoxApp, allows users to take pictures of skin lesions using their smartphones, answer a few questions and receive a risk score with recommendations, such as mpox testing or post-exposure vaccination, in less than five minutes.

"It's a quick, easy and anonymous way to get a first assessment," said Alexander Thieme, MD, the lead developer of the app and a visiting scholar in the Department of Medicine from ChariteUniversitatsmedizin Berlin and Berlin Institute of Health. "We are hoping to increase the likelihood that someone sees a doctor due to their skin lesions rather than ignore it."

Although the app has a high accuracy, it can give false negatives. It's not a substitute for a physician, Thieme stressed. But the app could reach communities with less access to care and encourage people to visit a doctor.

"Many people seek out medical information on the internet, and much of that may be inaccurate," Thieme said. "With this app, developed with guidance from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the World Health Organization, we hope to encourage people to seek out care."

The artificial intelligence methods and the findings of the app were published online in Nature Medicine March 2. The project is a joint effort of the labs of Olivier Gevaert, Ph.D., Tina Hernandez-Boussard, Ph.D., and Pascal Geldsetzer, MD, Ph.D., at Stanford Medicine as well as collaborators at ChariteUniversitatsmedizin Berlin and Toronto University Hospital. Thieme is the lead author.

PoxApp analyzes photos of suspected mpox lesions and, in less than 5 minutes, gives a risk score with recommendations. Credit: Marina Demidiuk/Shutterstock

Optimizing results

To calculate your risk score, the app considers whether you have a skin lesion, are experiencing symptoms or had close contact with someone who may have been exposed.

Thieme said the app is anonymous: All the data is analyzed on your device and not sent to an external server. The app gives advice on how to take the best photo to reduce the likelihood of a false negative.

Researchers have found that the app can detect mpox at various stages of the disease. There are four stages of lesions, progressing from flat without fluid, to raised with clear fluid, to deep rashes filled with white fluid, before the lesion scabs over, usually in two to three weeks.

The app offers five different levels of advice, ranging from no action to seeing a doctor immediately. Thieme said that if someone has had contact and symptoms, they should see a doctor.

Users have the option to submit results for research data. Using this data, scientists like Thieme hope to predict future surges in mpox infection and employ an early warning system.

The researchers plan to publish updated versions of the app as users upload more photos. With more data, they anticipate the accuracy of the photo recognition will improve. Because the app is open-source and free, Thieme hopes it will be used around the world, particularly in Africa, where mpox was first identified in the 1970s.

More information: Alexander H. Thieme et al, A deep-learning algorithm to classify skin lesions from mpox virus infection, Nature Medicine (2023). DOI: 10.1038/s41591-023-02225-7 Journal information: Nature Medicine
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Credit: Pixabay/Pete Linforth.

Although investigators have made strides in detecting signs of Alzheimer's disease using high-quality brain imaging tests collected as part of research studies, a team at Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) recently developed an accurate method for detection that relies on routinely collected clinical brain images. The advance could lead to more accurate diagnoses.

For the study, which is published in PLOS ONE, Matthew Leming, Ph.D., a research fellow at MGH's Center for Systems Biology and an investigator at the Massachusetts Alzheimer's Disease Research Center, and his colleagues used deep learninga type of machine learning and artificial intelligence that uses large amounts of data and complex algorithms to train models.

In this case, the scientists developed a model for Alzheimer's disease detection based on data from brain magnetic resonance images (MRIs) collected from patients with and without Alzheimer's disease who were seen at MGH before 2019.

Next, the group tested the model across five datasetsMGH post-2019, Brigham and Women's Hospital pre- and post-2019, and outside systems pre- and post-2019to see if it could accurately detect Alzheimer's disease based on real-world clinical data, regardless of hospital and time.

Overall, the research involved 11,103 images from 2,348 patients at risk for Alzheimer's disease and 26,892 images from 8,456 patients without Alzheimer's disease. Across all five datasets, the model detected Alzheimer's disease risk with 90.2% accuracy.

Among the main innovations of the work were its ability to detect Alzheimer's disease regardless of other variables, such as age. "Alzheimer's disease typically occurs in older adults, and so deep learning models often have difficulty in detecting the rarer early-onset cases," says Leming. "We addressed this by making the deep learning model 'blind' to features of the brain that it finds to be overly associated with the patient's listed age."

Leming notes that another common challenge in disease detection, especially in real-world settings, is dealing with data that are very different from the training set. For instance, a deep learning model trained on MRIs from a scanner manufactured by General Electric may fail to recognize MRIs collected on a scanner manufactured by Siemens.

The model used an uncertainty metric to determine whether patient data were too different from what it had been trained on for it to be able to make a successful prediction.

"This is one of the only studies that used routinely collected brain MRIs to attempt to detect dementia. While a large number of deep learning studies for Alzheimer's detection from brain MRIs have been conducted, this study made substantial steps towards actually performing this in real-world clinical settings as opposed to perfect laboratory settings," said Leming. "Our resultswith cross-site, cross-time, and cross-population generalizabilitymake a strong case for clinical use of this diagnostic technology."

More information: Matthew Leming et al, Adversarial confound regression and uncertainty measurements to classify heterogeneous clinical MRI in Mass General Brigham, PLOS ONE (2023). DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0277572 Journal information: PLoS ONE
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Credit: Unsplash/CC0 Public Domain

Baby formula manufacturers are marketing their products in ways that contravene guidance from the Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC), according to a new study by UCL researchers.

The study, published in the journal Public Health Nutrition, analyzed the wording and images on 71 formula products available in UK supermarkets and pharmacies.

Text and images on baby formula are regulated to ensure they do not discourage breastfeeding. The legislation is set out in broad terms, and more detailed DHSC guidance is intended to help companies comply with this regulation.

In the study, researchers found that two-thirds (67%) of infant formula packs (for babies from birth) showed images that the DHSC guidance advises against, because they may idealize the use of formula. These include images of baby animals, toys, cots and graphics representing nursing mothers.

Meanwhile, a large minority of packs displayed health claims (18%) and nutritional claims (41%) not permitted under the guidance.

Examples of non-permitted images and text found on infant formula packs:

Images of teddy bears, baby elephants, baby polar bears, a stork carrying a bundle in its beak;

Health claims such as "contains all the nutrients your baby needs to grow strong and healthy." (Only wording taken from a specific approved list of health claims is allowed.)

Nutritional information such as "2'FL" and "LNnT"these are not permitted as they are highly technical and are unlikely to be understood by consumers.

The researchers also found messages that were not clear health claims but could be understood in a similar way, for instance that a company had been leading research in baby nutrition for 100 years and that their formula had been "expertly created with nature in mind".

Companies are not required to follow the DHSC guidance, and the research team called for underlying legislation to be updated to prevent companies from inappropriately promoting formula milk.

Lead author Dr. Rana Conway (UCL Behavioral Science & Health) said, "Current legislation is too vague and leaves companies to interpret the rules as they wish. The lack of detail means it was difficult for us to establish clear breaches in the packaging we analyzed. However, we found many examples of companies marketing their products in ways that the DHSC guidance considers inappropriate, as well as using sophisticated marketing techniques to get around the rules."

"Previous research shows parents generally trust marketing claims and that these beliefs shape infant feeding decisions, increase formula use and can undermine advice or decisions to breastfeed. Our results add to concerns that marketing techniques are being used to mislead caregivers about the similarity of formula to breast milk and the superiority of expensive products over cheaper ones."

Senior author Dr. Clare Llewellyn (UCL Behavioral Science & Health) said, "The legislation needs to be far more specific to prevent companies from bypassing guidance to promote infant formula. Parents must be supported in making infant feeding decisions based on their own and their family's needs, without commercial influence."

Exclusive breastfeeding is recommended for the first six months of a baby's life. Although the health benefits of breastfeeding are well established, the UK has one of the lowest rates of breastfeeding in the world (1% of babies are exclusively breastfed for the first six months, compared to 19% in the US and 18% in the Netherlands).

Health and nutritional claims about formula milk are not permitted, to ensure that products are not seen as equivalent or superior to breast milk. The ingredient and nutrient content of formula is also strictly controlled, and as a result there are no significant nutrient differences between brands.

The researchers also found that infant formula and follow-on formula (marketed for use from six months of age) packs were highly similar, despite legislation stating these should be clearly distinguishable to avoid misuse. The two products are supposed to look different because firms can advertise and promote follow-on formula, but this must not cross-promote infant formula through similar branding.

They found that, based on DHSC guidance, 72% of infant and follow-on formula packs were categorized as showing a high degree of similarity. The legislation currently does not define "similarity," so there are no criteria to determine if breaches have occurred.

In addition, the study found that marketing practices not covered by current legislation were widespread. For example, 94% of infant formula packs included advertisements for follow-on formula or growing-up formula.

As well as facilitating cross-promotion, this helps convey the message that infants should progress from one product to the next, which is not consistent with healthy eating guidelines to breastfeed or use either infant formula up to one year of age or cow's milk from one year of age.

The findings support the World Health Organization's call for loopholes in Breast Milk Substitute legislation to be closed as a matter of urgency. The study was conducted for the Obesity Policy Research Unit.

DHSC guidance is intended to "facilitate adherence to and assessment of adherence to the legislation," but the DHSC says it "should not be taken as an authoritative statement on how the law should be interpreted."

More information: Rana Conway et al, Content analysis of on-package formula labelling in Great Britain: use of marketing messages on first infant, follow-on, growing-up and specialist formula, Public Health Nutrition (2023). DOI: 10.1017/S1368980023000216 Journal information: Public Health Nutrition
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Credit: Ministry of Health

A preclinical study evaluating a Kiwi-made COVID-19 vaccineKiwi Vaxhas shown its unique formulation induces a safe and highly effective immune response to SARS-CoV-2 variants of concern, making it a promising booster vaccine candidate.

Published in iScience, the study findings show that Kiwi Vax, developed by Vaccine Alliance Aotearoa New ZealandOhu Kaupare Huaketo (VAANZ) as part of the Government's COVID-19 vaccine strategy, is highly immunogenic, robustly expressed, and has a strong stability profile. The vaccine was independently tested at the National Institutes of Health in the United States and at the University of Melbourne.

"These findings not only show we have developed a promising booster vaccine candidate, but that we have the expertise, capability and experience within New Zealand to make our own vaccinessomething that stands us in good stead for future pandemics," says the Malaghan Institute's Dr. Kjesten Wiig, Executive Director of VAANZ.

"COVID will be with us for many more years to come, so having safe and effective booster options, particularly for vulnerable populations, will help keep more people safe from the virus."

Kiwi Vax is a protein-based vaccine which works in a similar way to many traditional vaccines, using genetic information from the virus's distinct spikes.

Dr. Lisa Connor, head of VAANZ's Vaccine Evaluation team says their subunit vaccine combines two different parts of the spike proteinthe receptor binding domain and the N terminal domain. These specific regions have been identified to contain "hot-spots" that trigger potent immune responses against critical areas of the SARS-CoV-2 virus required for infection.

"Kiwi Vax has a unique set of attributesits clean design does not attract extraneous immune responses, and it is designed to be specific to the virus. It elicits a broad antibody and T-cell response to all variants of concern, including Omicron, providing complete protection against disease and preventing the virus from replicating in mice exposed to it.

"The immune response generated by the vaccine is also very durable and long-lasting and results to date indicate that Kiwi Vax is stable at refrigerator temperature for several months and at room temperature for at least one month. These are important advantages over current vaccines," says Dr. Connor.

With philanthropic funding, the Malaghan Institute is planning to take Kiwi Vax through to a local phase I safety clinical trial later in 2023 using internationally recognized GMP accredited New Zealand vaccine manufacturer, South Pacific Sera.

Dr. Wiig says preclinically, Kiwi Vax is looking promising as a new potential COVID-19 vaccine booster vaccine, but human clinical trials are required to confirm efficacy.

"We'd need a significant industry, philanthropic or government partner to progress to later stage clinical trials and regulatory approval. But wherever this lands, what we've set out to achieve here has been achieved. We've proven that New Zealand has the expertise and skills to develop a novel and effective vaccine against a pandemic virus and have built the capability, knowledge and connections to lay the foundations for New Zealand's response to future pandemics."

More information: Isabelle Montgomerie et al, Incorporation of SARS-CoV-2 spike NTD to RBD Protein Vaccine Improves Immunity Against Viral Variants, iScience (2023). DOI: 10.1016/j.isci.2023.106256 Journal information: iScience

Provided by Vaccine Alliance Aotearoa New Zealand
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When a parent needs to cook dinner or take a shower, often they will place their baby in a bouncy seat, swing, exersaucer, or similar seating device intended to protect the baby and grant a degree of independence to both the parent and infant. For many parents, these devices represent a helpful extra set of hands; for babies, the freedom to safely explore their immediate surroundings.

As useful as these devices are to both parents and infants, they may present trade-offs regarding their effect on infant's exposure to adult language, which is critical for language development. That's according to a new study published in Infant and Child Development by researchers at the Stress and Early Adversity Lab at Vanderbilt Peabody College of education and human development.

Within infants' natural environments and daily routines, the study explored interactions between their exposure to adult language and their placement in seating devices, which support posture and promote the infant's ability to play with objects or observe their surroundings without direct support from a caregiver.

The researchers found that infants were exposed to fewer words when spending time in seating devices compared to when spending time in other placements. They also found that infants who spent the most time in seating devices heard nearly 40% fewer daily words compared to infants who spent the least amount of time in seating devices. Infants with more, compared to less, seating device use also had less consistent exposure to adult language throughout the day.

Sixty mothers and their four- to six-month-old infants participated in this study. For three days, a Language Environment Analysis audio recording device (i.e. "talk pedometer") captured language exposure. The mothers inserted the audio recorder into the pocket of a vest their babies wore. Automated software estimated from the recordings the total number of adult words spoken to or near the infant over the course of a day. To record real-time behaviors of infant placement, the mothers responded to 12 brief surveys per day about their infant's current location and use of seating devices.

Caregiver reports of their child's placement in seating devices accounted for 10% of an infant's daily exposure to adult words, which the researchers say is a striking finding due to the complex nature of language exposure and how many other factors may influence children's exposure to speech (e.g., caregiver's talkativeness, presence of other siblings).

"Infants are learning all the time, including from spoken language. Our findings suggest that infants' opportunities to learn from adult speech may be influenced by use of seating devices. This gives us an important clue about how contexts may support and hinder early language-learning," said first author and doctoral student, Lauren Malachowski.

Kathryn Humphreys, assistant professor of psychology and human development and expert in infant and early childhood mental health, is the senior author of the study. She notes that infant seating devices can provide a convenient way to keep infants safely contained while caregivers attend to other tasks. However, given the potential for frequent and prolonged use of these devices, she says that parents may want to be intentional about interactive opportunities while the infant explores their surroundings as well as consider wearing or otherwise carrying their infant on their body as much as possible to create more opportunities for engagement through speech.

"While we need more research to be certain that seating devices reduce the richness of infants' language environments, these findings are influencing my own decisions about intentional placement with my six-month-old," Humphreys said. She suggests that safe and convenient places are a boon for both infants and their caregivers, but that there is a risk for reduced levels of interactions when infants are stationary and not moving to where their caregivers are active.

More information: Lauren G. Malachowski et al, Infant placement and language exposure in daily life, Infant and Child Development (2023). DOI: 10.1002/icd.2405
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Prostate cancer takes a greater toll on Black men than on men of other races. In the United States, one in six Black men will get prostate cancer in their lifetime, compared to one in eight men overall. Black men are also more than twice as likely to die from the disease.

While past studies have identified nearly 270 genetic variants linked to prostate cancer risk, researchers have yet to find a clear explanation for the disproportionate risk among men of African ancestry. Genetic research thus far has also failed to predict which men face a high risk for aggressive prostate cancer, versus those who may get less deadly forms of the disease.

New discoveries from the largest-ever study of prostate cancer in men of African descent are now addressing those long unanswered questions. The meta-analysis, led by researchers at the Keck School of Medicine of USC, includes genome-wide association study data from more than 80,000 men.

The study identified nine new genetic risk factors for prostate cancer, seven of which are found either largely or exclusively in men of African ancestry. For the first time, researchers also found that genetic differences can help determine which men are most likely to develop aggressive prostate cancer. The study was just published in the journal European Urology.

"The ability to differentiate between the risk for aggressive and non-aggressive forms of the disease is of critical importance," said Christopher Haiman, ScD, AFLAC Chair in Cancer Research at the USC Norris Comprehensive Cancer Center and senior author of the study. "Until now, risk scores haven't been able to do that."

These findings can be used to refine polygenic risk scores, tools that assess a person's risk for a condition based on the combined influence of multiple genetic factors. More accurate polygenic risk scores for men of African descent could help in identifying high-risk patients early on.

"Prostate cancer survival is significantly lower among men diagnosed with aggressive disease," said Fei Chen, Ph.D., an assistant professor of clinical population and public health sciences at the Keck School of Medicine and the study's first author. "Our findings suggest that these polygenic risk scores could be useful for identifying men who may benefit from earlier and more frequent screenings."

Nine new variants

For the meta-analysis, researchers pooled data from 10 genome-wide association studiesvirtually all of the existing data on genetic risk for prostate cancer in men of African ancestry. That includes data collected in the United States, Africa and the Caribbean on 19,378 men with prostate cancer and 61,620 healthy controls.

Haiman, Chen and their colleagues found nine previously undiscovered genetic variants that increased the risk for prostate cancer among men of African descent. Seven of those variants are found primarilyor even exclusivelyin this population, which underscores the importance of including diverse populations in large-scale genetic studies, Chen said.

One new variant in the 8q24 region, long known to influence prostate cancer risk, is only found in men of African ancestry. "This particular variant is influencing the risk of aggressive disease in this population," said Haiman, who also co-leads the USC Norris Cancer Epidemiology Program and is the director of the Center for Genetic Epidemiology at the Keck School of Medicine.

The researchers also detected some of the same patterns seen in previous studies, including that genetic influence plays a bigger role in cancer risk for younger men compared with their older counterparts.

Better screening for prostate cancer

The newly identified variants can be incorporated into genetic tests that help patients understand their cancer risk and decide how early and often to get screened, Haiman said.

Through the RESPOND initiative, he and his colleagues are continuing to study the disease among African American men, including how social determinants, access to care and other factors affect prostate cancer recurrence, progression and survival rates. One of their long-term goals is to develop a widely available genetic screening test that can help men of all ages assess their risk levels.

"Through the Robert F. Smith-PCF Special Challenge Award for the Smith Polygenic Risk Test, the Prostate Cancer Foundation is proud to invest in the critical work of the RESPOND investigators to understand and address the reasons why African American men disproportionally experience aggressive prostate cancer, and ultimately advance our shared mission to end death and suffering from this disease," said PCF Executive Vice President and Chief Science Officer Howard R. Soule, Ph.D.

Earlier research by Haiman's team identified many genetic risk factors for prostate cancer and offered early insights on risk among men of African ancestry. Evidence of risk factors specific to this population points to the importance of continuing to collect data from diverse groups, including men of African, Asian and Hispanic descent.

"The vast majority of studies to date have been conducted in populations of European ancestry, which creates a huge bias in our understanding of genetic risk for disease," Haiman said.

More information: Fei Chen et al, Evidence of Novel Susceptibility Variants for Prostate Cancer and a Multiancestry Polygenic Risk Score Associated with Aggressive Disease in Men of African Ancestry, European Urology (2023). DOI: 10.1016/j.eururo.2023.01.022 Journal information: European Urology
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Each of the illustrations boxes contain an example of a sentence in which the model detected a relevant keyword (highlighted in color). The 167 text features predictive of food insecurity episodes are grouped into 12 categories of risk factors indicated in the legend and mapped into a network. A nodes size is proportional to the text features frequency in news articles, and an edges width encodes the semantic proximity between nodes. Credit: Samuel Fraiberger and Alice Grishchenko

A team of researchers has developed a machine learning model that draws from the contents of news articles to effectively predict locations that face risks of food insecurity. The model, which could be used to help prioritize the allocation of emergency food assistance across vulnerable regions, marks an improvement over existing measurements.

"Our approach could drastically improve the prediction of food crisis outbreaks up to 12 months ahead of time using both real-time news streams and a predictive model that is simple to interpret," says Samuel Fraiberger, a visiting researcher at New York University's Courant Institute of Mathematical Sciences, a data scientist at the World Bank, and an author of the study, which appears in the journal Science Advances.

"Traditional measurements of food insecurity risk factors, such as conflict severity indices or changes in food prices, are often incomplete, delayed, or outdated," adds Lakshminarayanan Subramanian, a professor at the Courant Institute and one of the paper's authors. "Our approach takes advantage of the fact that risk factors triggering a food crisis are mentioned in the news prior to being observable with traditional measurements."

Food insecurity threatens the lives of hundreds of millions of people around the world. According to the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, the number of undernourished increased from 624 million people in 2014 to 688 million in 2019. Conditions, the paper's authors note, have deteriorated since then due to the COVID-19 pandemic, climate change, and armed conflictsin 2021, between 702 and 828 million people worldwide faced hunger. Moreover, severe food insecurity increased both globally and in every region in 2021.

Despite the acute and widespread nature of this affliction, current methods to detect future food crises rely on risk measures that are insufficient, hindering efforts to address them.

In working to develop a better model, the paper's authors, who also included Ananth Balashankar, a Courant doctoral graduate, considered the possibility that news coverage, which offers real-time, on-the-ground accounts of local developments, could serve as an early-warning system for impending food crises.

The researchers collected text from more than 11 million news articles focused on nearly 40 food-insecure countries that were published between 1980 and 2020. They then developed a method to extract particular phrases in these articles related to food insecurity and in ways that capture journalistic assessment in notable detail. Specifically, the tool accounts for nearly 170 text features in order to correctly gauge the semantics of the phrases pertaining to food insecurity and to mark when the articles appear. The following is an example from South Sudan, which outlines both location and risk factors: "Famine may return to some parts of the country, with eastern Pibor county, where floods and pests have ravaged crops, at particular risk."

They then considered data on a range of food-insecurity risk factorssuch as conflict fatality counts, rainfall, vegetation, and changes in food pricesto determine if there was correlation between news mentions of these factors and their occurrence in the studied countries and regions. Here, they found a high correlation between the nature of the coverage and the on-the-ground occurrences of these factors, indicating that news stories are an accurate indicator of the studied conditions.

But to determine if news articles were, in fact, a good predictor of subsequent food crises, the team needed to know if the nature of the coverage was a viable indicator of future crises and if these stories did so more accurately than traditional measurements. Using a smaller set of news stories, the researchers found that from 2009 to 2020 and across 21 food-insecure countries, news coverage yielded more accurate predictions at the local level of food insecurityand did so up to 12 months ahead of timethan traditional measurements that did not include news story text. Notably, they also found that supplementing traditional predictive measures with news coverage further improved the accuracy of food-crisis predictions, suggesting the value of "hybrid" models.

The researchers also see potential larger uses for their work.

"News indicators could be extended to the prediction of disease outbreaks and the future impact of climate change," observes Balashankar.

More information: Ananth Balashankar et al, Predicting food crises using news streams, Science Advances (2023). DOI: 10.1126/sciadv.abm3449. www.science.org/doi/10.1126/sciadv.abm3449 Journal information: Science Advances
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Choosing thresholds for declaring a high polygenic score. Credit: BMJ (2023). DOI: 10.1136/bmj-2022-073149

Testing a population for multiple genes at once will be limited in its ability to accurately predict disease risk, argues a new paper involving UCL's Professor Aroon Hingorani.

DNA sequence commonly varies between individuals at many different points throughout the genome. Some of these genetic variants influence individual risk of common diseases such as dementia, cancer, diabetes, and cardiovascular disease, through effects on the expression or function of the encoded proteins. The effects of these variants on disease risk in any individual can be summarized by generating a polygenic risk score.

Strong claims have been made about the transformative potential of polygenic risk scores for prediction, prevention, and early detection of disease and such testing has attracted the interest of policy makers and the commercial sector.

However, in an analysis article in the British Medical Journal, clinical researchers from UCL, The Institute of Cancer Research, London, and the University of Oxford argue that the predictive performance of such tests is limited.

Co-author Professor Aroon Hingorani (UCL Institute of Cardiovascular Science), who is also Cardiovascular Theme Lead for the UCLH NIHR Biomedical Research Center and a Consultant in Internal Medicine at UCLH, said, "Population-wide 'polygenic scoring' is inherently limited because many cases of disease occur among people who do not have high polygenic scores and many of those with high polygenic scores do not develop disease."

NHS genetic testing currently focuses on a small number of well-understood disease mutations which strongly raise the risk of diseasesuch as BRCA1 and BRCA2 in breast and ovarian cancer.

Polygenic scoring is a different type of genetic test which instead looks across thousands of common variants in a person's DNA, each of which will individually have only a small impact on risk, to gain a collective assessment of the genetic risk of disease.

Two recent Government reports show marked enthusiasm for polygenic scores in health care and assert that they offer a "step change"' in screening for disease.

The NHS is now partnering with the UK's largest research program, Our Future Health, to offer risk information based on polygenic scores to five million people in the UK population. Such information is expected to inform clinical decision-making including access to screening.

Polygenic scores should be 'carefully evaluated' in large studies

The authors argue that the risks and benefits of genetic testing must be carefully evaluated in large studies. Their analysis concludes that initiatives which use polygenic scores to screen for people at risk of common illnesses such as cancer and heart disease will miss most cases in the population.

When screening the population for a disease using polygenic scores, many have advocated for using a high polygenic score to target screening or preventative strategies for disease. According to the researchers doing so would miss most of the disease in the population and result in a sizeable number of healthy individuals undergoing invasive tests and therapies who will never go on to develop the disease.

For example, NICE uses a 17% lifetime risk of breast cancer as the threshold for deeming women at "moderate risk." But in a polygenic risk score study which also used this threshold, only 39% of women who will go on to develop breast cancer have moderate or high-risk scores, meaning the majority of breast cancer cases are missed using these scores. Meanwhile, 22% of women who will not develop breast cancer will have a high polygenic risk score and will therefore be a "false positive."

Putting scores in context

The scientists argue that since polygenic risk scores only indicate a small proportion of overall disease risk, that they should be presented in context, with the normal background disease risk communicated for comparison to patients and clinicians.

For example, women in the top 5% of polygenic scores for breast cancer have a 19% lifetime risk of developing the disease, compared with a population risk of 11.8%.

For prostate cancer, those with a polygenic risk score in the top 5% carry a 22% risk compared with a 12.7% population risk.

The differences become even more modest in less common cancers. For example, people in the top five% of polygenic scores for ovarian cancer have a lifetime risk of 2.1%, compared with a population risk of 1.6%.

The authors outline various additional concerns with widespread use of polygenic scores to inform clinical decision makingincluding the cost and complexity of screening and diagnostic pathways, and the risk that they will expose large numbers of people with "high" polygenic scores to often unnecessary follow-up tests.

Lead author Dr. Amit Sud, Academic Clinical Lecturer in Genetics and Epidemiology at The Institute of Cancer Research, London, said, "There is a huge amount of enthusiasm about polygenic scores, and they do have the potential to improve our ability to predict who will or will not develop a disease, albeit rather modestly.

"But we argue that the benefits and harms surrounding the use of polygenic scores are carefully evaluated before they are widely implemented. Given most of the disease in a population occurs in people who are not at high polygenic risk, these scores should not detract from effective population-wide screening and interventions to address modifiable and impactful risk factors like smoking and socioeconomic deprivation."

More information: Amit Sud et al, Realistic expectations are key to realising the benefits of polygenic scores, BMJ (2023). DOI: 10.1136/bmj-2022-073149 Journal information: British Medical Journal (BMJ)
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Deaf homesigner in Guatemala. Credit: The authors (2023)

Different languages may seem different on an instinctual level"hello," for example, does not sound like "ni hao." But the work of many psychological scientists suggests that the thousands of languages spoken throughout the world draw on many of the same fundamental linguistic abilities and reflect universal aspects of how humans categorize events.

Some aspects of language may also be universal to people who create their own sign languages, according to new research published in Psychological Science. For the study, the researchers compared how young homesignersdeaf children without access to an established sign languageand English-, Spanish-, and Chinese-speaking adults describe the use of tools such as paintbrushes and knives.

"We found broad similarities across these groups, indicating ways of thinking about the worldand describing the world through languagethat are common to all people," wrote researchers Lilia Rissman, Laura Horton (University of Wisconsin-Madison), and APS William James Award recipient Susan Goldin-Meadow (The University of Chicago). "These results help us understand which aspects of our thinking and communication are a product of being human rather than a product of our particular cultures and experiences."

Most children learn to speak their first language through immersion in the linguistic culture around them, but this is not the case for deaf children without access to an established sign language.

"[Deaf homesigners] give us a unique window into this question of 'are there universals for how people use language to talk about ideas?'" said Rissman in an interview. That's "because homesigners are creating language from the ground up through their gestures; they aren't learning an established linguistic system from a community." Rissman and colleagues dug deeper into the universal constraints on language by comparing the tool-related language use of 43 hearing adult speakers of Chinese, Spanish, and English and 10 deaf homesigners ages 3 to 11 from Guatemala, Nicaragua, the United States, Taiwan, and Turkey.

Because there are relatively few children with these unique circumstances, it took Rissman and colleagues several decades to collect data from the homesigning children. Each child was filmed during one to four sessions while looking at a picture book with a researcher, family member, or friend and being asked to describe what was happening in different scenes using their own version of homesign. The illustrations included images of tool events, such as a pig painting and a rabbit cutting fruit, as well as stand-alone images of tools like paintbrushes and knives that were not being used.

Upon reviewing the footage, the researchers coded the homesign for each tool-related action or object according to whether it was an instrumental sign that reflected the shape of the tool, a handling sign that reflected the shape of the hand holding the tool, or an ambiguous sign.

A group of 24 online participants were also tasked with judging how well, on a scale of 1 to 5, the instrumental signs most commonly used by the deaf children to describe each event reflected the shape of the tool being used. For events that the children described with handling signs, the participants were asked to rate instrumental signs from various global sign languages.

The English-, Spanish-, and Chinese-speaking adults completed a similar task online in which they were asked to describe what was happening in the tool-event images and, for the images of stand-alone tools, to indicate the action most commonly associated with each tool. A separate set of online reviewers fluent in each language judged the verbs the participants used in their descriptions to determine if the verbs used highlighted the tool or the action in question. For example, 97% of English-speaking online respondents perceived "cut" as tool-oriented because of its close association with tools like scissors and knives. But just 3% of online reviewers had this perception of the more general verb "make," which any number of tools (or none at all) can do.

Overall, Rissman and colleagues found that when online reviewers perceived the verbs that English, Spanish, and Chinese-speaking participants used to describe an event as more tool-oriented, the homesigning children were also likelier to use instrumental signs to describe the same actions.

"This correspondence suggests universal constraints on the interface between conceptual event knowledge and language because we observed this common pattern across children and adults, across different cultures, and across individuals who had learned a conventional language from birth and individuals who had not," the researchers wrote.

On the other hand, when describing stand-alone images of tools, hearing participants' use of tool-oriented verbs did not predict deaf children's use of instrumental signs. This suggests that these findings are specific to universal constraints on how humans describe tool-use events, not tools in general, Rissman and colleagues wrote.

Similarities in how people describe tool-use events may reflect the extent to which a tool is perceived to "mold" the object it is being used on, such as when a shovel leaves a similarly shaped indent in the ground, the researchers suggested.

In future work, Rissman would like to explore the extent to which universal constraints on how people describe tool use may influence the perception and recall of those events.

More information: Lilia Rissman et al, Universal Constraints on Linguistic Event Categories: A Cross-Cultural Study of Child Homesign, Psychological Science (2023). DOI: 10.1177/09567976221140328 Journal information: Psychological Science
The Miami University Center for Community Engagement recently won the Society for Applied Anthropologys Robert A. and Beverly H. Hackenberg Prize for its continued excellence working in Community, Advocacy, and Education and Engagement.

A team of Miami students won the regional Venture Capital Investment Competition (VCIC). Students who participate in the VCIC are required to complete the Department of Entrepreneurship's 10-week Venture Capital Immersion program that immerses them in venture capital concepts, terminology, and practices. The Venture Capital Immersion Program is led by Theresa Sedlack, visiting assistant professor of Entrepreneurship.

Todd Stuart, associate teaching professor of Arts Management and Entrepreneurship, and Lisa Martin-Stuart. visiting assistant professor of Theatre, worked on the film Rachel Hendrix, which had its premiere at the Santa Barbara International Film Festival in February.

Tammy Schwartz, director of the Urban Cohort, and Ganiva Reyes, associate professor of Teaching, Curriculum, and Educational Inquiry, received $39,000 from Wright State University, pass-through funds from the University of Cincinnati, the Ohio Department of Higher Education, and the U.S. Department of Education, of which $26,377 supports the project entitled "I Educate Montgomery County Yr. Two."

Kevin Yehl, assistant professor of Chemistry and Biochemistry, received $100,000 from PhRMA Foundation for a project entitled "A Generalizable Biomineralization Strategy for Improving Formulation and Delivery of Phage Therapies."

Jessica Sparks, Kumar Singh, and Keith Hohn in the College of Engineering and Computing, and Jennifer Blue in the College of Arts and Science, received $42,499 from the Ohio Department of Higher Education for the project entitled "Choose Ohio First  Biotechnology, Bioscience, and Assistive Technology Scholars."

Scott Kenworthy, associate professor of Comparative Religion, received $40,000 from the National Endowment for the Humanities for a project entitled "Patriarch Tikhon and the Orthodox Church in Revolutionary Russia."

Joel Malin, associate professor of Educational Leadership, received $49,369 from the University of Delaware, pass-through funds from the Wallace Foundation, for the project entitled "A Critical, Ecological Perspective on Wallace Foundation Research Production, Diffusion, and Use."

Malin also received $64,052 from the University of Missouri, pass-through funds from the National Science Foundation, for the project entitled "WTG: Diffusion of Research on Supporting Mathematics Achievement for Youth with Disabilities through Twitter Translational Visual Abstracts."

Jeff Johnson, director of Environmental Health and Safety, received $129,419 from the Ohio Department of Health, pass-through funds from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, for the project entitled "Campus Wastewater Monitoring Miami University Campus."

Leah Janssen, assistant director for academic programs and research support, and Bob Applebaum, director of the Ohio Long-Term Care Research Project, of the Scripps Gerontology Center, received $30,000 from the Council on Aging of Southwestern Ohio for the project entitled "Evaluation of the Positive Choices Program."

Jeong-Hoi Koo, professor of Mechanical and Manufacturing Engineering. received 30,000,000 Korean Won (approximately $23,600 USD) from the Korea Institute of Oriental Medicine for the project entitled "The Effect of Skin Deformation Induced by Wrist Postures on Radial Pulse Measurements."

Want to see your news in The Wrap-Up? Email us at newsinfo@MiamiOH.edu
What can you make with clay? Finely designed coffee cups, a 6-foot-tall sculpture of a hand, colorful end tables and provocative sculptures.

Those are some of the works on view as the Radius Gallery opens a new space, Radius Clayworks, thats dedicated exclusively to the medium.

Pottery is the main access point, said co-owner Lisa Simon. That's what people know and love.

Part of the gallery will elevate what they think of as a handmade pot while showing off larger sculptures.

Of these vertically ambitious works, gallery manager Megan Escene said theres not a lot of places in Missoula or Montana that show this ceramic work.

Weve never had this many big pieces in one show before, so its really nice to be able to say to the artists who live here that they dont have to go out of state to show their work. They can show it here in Montana, she said.

The doors open at 11 a.m. Friday, March 3, and the reception runs 5-8 p.m. during First Friday. The first exhibition, which stays on view through the start of May, includes many Missoula and Montana artists for a total of 30. The initial show is designed to show the full expanse of the medium.

Later, theyre planning an alumni show for the Clay Studio of Missoula along with solo exhibitions. Brett Kern, an artist who makes sculptures that look like colorful dinosaur balloons, will have a solo exhibition.

Kelly E. McLaughlin's The Feminine Left, a hand thats a little big above 6 feet tall, its index finger raised, the others curling toward the palm and downward, seemingly defying gravity. McLaughlin, who works out of Studio 740 in Helena, wrote on her Instagram that it challenges a traditional Western notion that associates the left hand with feminine sensibilities and weakness.

Escene said that its purely a ceramic sculpture with a hollow interior. In the front window, another one of McLaughlins sculptures keeps watch. Also around 6 feet, its a figure in a bathrobe, comforted by a small flock of pigeons. Sometimes, You Just Need the Company, which is lifesize and lifelike, includes internal support.

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Radius originally opened in 2014 in a rental space on East Main Street. In 2019, they moved into a purpose-built, glassy new building on Higgins Avenue, built by Brian and Karen Sippy. In 2022, the Sippys bought the building next door to the north and renovated it. They opened it as Relic Gallery, a storefront for a fine art and antiques business, and through conversations with Neal and Simon, made plans to hand it over as a ceramics-specific gallery.

Over the years, Radius began curating more and more work by ceramicists.

The city doesnt lack for them. Due to the long history of the Archie Bray Foundation for the Ceramic Arts in Helena, the artform has deep roots here. Rudy Autio came back to Missoula from the capital city and spread ideas through teaching at the University of Montana.

Montana State University has a program, too. The state is home to a network of nonprofit ceramic centers in Missoula, Red Lodge, Helena and more, which bring in artists for residencies that last a few months or several years. Many stay afterward.

That gives the gallery a deep roster of artists to exhibit. Many of them are well known in the field nationally  University of Montana professor Julia Galloway was named the 2023 Artist of the Year by Ceramics Monthly. For her Endangered Species Project, shes spent years researching species and crafting urns and plates dedicated to them. A few of these vessels are on view in Radius  a rare instance of her use of black clay, in which shes carved the Meltwater Lednian Stonefly and Western Glacier Stonefly.

Ceramics was originally one of many mediums that the gallery exhibited, growing over time. Other sculptors like Trey Hill (another UM professor), Adrian Arleo and Beth Lo (a retired UM professor), have displayed work there and gradually it grew over time.

The medium can lend itself to ambitious sculptures. Crista Ann Ames, who got her MFA at UM and is now based in Washington, is showing a larger-than-life piece modeled on Rodins The Thinker. It would likely be prohibitively expensive to produce in bronze or marble, Simon said.

Now you can do these things in ceramic, so it has made it more accessible, she said.

Another factor is that Montana has two kilns large enough to make this kind of work  one at UM and another at the Archie Bray. Galloway said the universitys kiln draws students who want to work at that scale.

Off-campus, the options have expanded, too. In addition to the Clay Studio, the longest-running space, Wildfire Ceramic Studio opened, offering space for its artists, plus an exhibition space and classes. Throw Ceramics did likewise at the start of the year, with rental space and classes. Other outlets offer paint-your-own-pottery options.

To Galloway, these newer outlets are opening and succeeding because of the public interest.

They fill a demand from people who want to learn how to work with clay, a community-based art form. They get to explore new creative avenues while meeting and working with interesting people.

The new gallery is reinforcing the strength of contemporary ceramics in Montana, Galloway said.

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Richard Notkin, who lived in Montana for decades before moving to Washington, sent over a number of sculptures made with his intricately sculpted tiles. Simon said he's an example of an artist who works in extreme detail in a small scale. One centers on a reproduction of a horse from Picassos Guernica, surrounded by layers of human ears with yellow and black colors. (Its titled Echoes of A Million Unheard Screams: Guernica No. 1.)

Tip Toland is showing a set of three busts titled Three Sisters from Auld. The realist construction, with furrowed brows and laugh lines, accentuates their expressions.

Peter Pincus contributed a colored porcelain urn. Its spherical main chamber is decorated with a range of blue stripes, crisply rendered, that all join in the center. Escene said hes very well-known for his techniques, including slip-casting  a mold-based form of construction.

Alison Reintjes of Missoula, whos a Bray resident alum, is showing functional works with her signature geometric designs and surfaces. (Also look out for her end tables.)

Its so intimate at the level of a cup or a vase, she said before gesturing to the 6-foot-tall hand. Look at that."
The bridge across the coulee didnt look like much from the road at first.

Kristi Hager, a painter by trade, was there to photograph what she called a very humble structure in an undramatic spot between the highway and a south frontage road outside Vaughn in Cascade County.

Once she found the right angle in the viewfinder, the Antelope Coulee Bridge became something else.

There was a reality that was being created within that frame that sort of transcended whatever I was just looking at without the camera, she said.

She told a friend whod come along as an assistant, you just have to take my picture, taking this picture. Because it's just too much, she said.

For decades, Hager supported herself within the niche industry of historic preservation photography. Shes well-known for her paintings and drawings, which have been displayed at the Missoula Art Museum and the Montana Museum of Art and Culture, and participation in the Pattee Canyon Ladies Salon.

The public has rarely seen these historic photographs, even though theyre technically in the public domain. The collection is held in the archives of the Library of Congress.

Now, the photos are on display at the Missoula Art Museum in For the Record: Photographing Montanas Historic Bridges, Powerhouses, and Missile Sites, Inside and Out.

They range from elegant, large-scale spans like Heron Bridge, which crossed the Clark Fork River before it was demolished in 2010, to the interiors of missile alert facilities at Malmstrom Air Force Base that the public has certainly never visited.

Its a side career, one that now includes hundreds of photographs in the government record.

I didn't make this a goal in my life, she said. "I was just trying to find a way to keep painting and have a job that I enjoyed."

Hager studied architecture as an undergraduate, which was her way into the field. The drafting skills landed her a job to support herself at a firm in Butte. After their in-house photographer left in 1991, she picked up that work as well. Six years later when she moved to Missoula, she set up her own business, Light Room, in the niche industry of historic preservation photography.

Shooting bridges around the state, spending hours at a time finding the right angles, she became far more attached to these things. The work, which took her around the state, has been a great adventure.

The exhibition itself will travel the state through the Montana Art Gallery Directors Association for the next two years. A grant from the Foundation for Montana History paid to get the photographs printed and framed.

Brandon Reintjes, the MAMs senior curator, first discovered Hager's work years ago when he ran into her on a shoot.

It was such an interesting approach to thinking about where we live and what were surrounded by, and that infrastructure, he said.

Preserving history

Companies were not hiring Hager out of kindness  the work on the museum walls was created due to a government mandate. According to the National Historic Preservation Act, if a historic structure is going to be altered or destroyed through a federal project or a project with federal funds, it must be documented, according to the NPS website. Hagers work fell under the Historic American Building Survey and the Historic American Engineering Record. She was often contacted by consulting firms and went out to a site on her own, or with a friend as assistant.

Her camera suits the subjects she was shooting. She uses a large-format camera, complete with a bellows, to shoot black-and-white images on a minimum 4-by-5-inch negative, as the government requires. Hager said that monochrome images on a physical storage media are also a rule. Among other considerations, they have a longer and less expensive potential shelf life than digital copies.

Her 1995 copy of the photographic specifications from the NPS lay out some of the rules. A notable one: artistic judgment is necessary and must be exercised by the photographer.

And yet, there are stipulations one would never ponder when snapping photos on a road trip: All photographs must be composed to give primary consideration to the architectural and/or engineering features of the structure with aesthetic considerations necessary, but secondary.

Shrubbery and other undesirable intrusions should be removed. All areas of the picture must be in razor-sharp focus, it reads.

Hager said the rules might require her to pay particular attention to the bridges underlying structure, as a reference for future engineers.

Traveling to sites

The work sent her to somewhere between 60 and 70 bridges. Each would require a full days work  reaching a site in the morning, scouting all the necessary angles and figuring the daylight and angles, moving a heavyweight camera around.

When I was doing the work I had to be totally, totally concentrated on the job, she said.

Some of the pictures in the MAM exhibition were taken for a book by Jon Axline, historian at the Montana Department of Transportation, titled Conveniences Sorely Needed: Montanas Historic Highway Bridges, 1860-1956.

She said shed get attached to a particular bridge over the course of a long day studying and shooting it, knowing that it would be torn down. That became a source of motivation.

I knew this place means something to the people who live here, this bridge has memories, she said. Its their fishing access; it's some bridge they cross every day on their way to town, you know, every season of the year. I just want to make it look good. Because, you know, a year from now, it's going to be gone.

She spent weeks photographing the original Rainbow Powerhouse in Great Falls, ending up with 150 photographs. The structure, built in 1910, was demolished in 2021.

I took it seriously in terms of trying to get as visually dramatic, you know, pleasing a shot as I could, given the circumstances of the situation, she said.

While powerhouses might sound on paper less romantic than photographing a bridge, she saw a sense of grandeur in their technology. They also werent accessible to the public.

I feel really honored to have been able to do this photography, and get in these places, she said.

The old turbines, for instance, are massive compared to the smaller, more efficient ones that replaced them.

Theyre like temples to industry, she said. Its a work of art, really.

She also spent several weeks in someplace the public truly will never get to see: missile alert facilities at Malmstrom Air Force Base, ahead of their decommissioning.

The capsules are 50 feet underground, where the missileers work 24-hour shifts.

As an effort to make that space more enjoyable and less claustrophobic, some of them had big murals at one end of the capsule, she said. The forest scenes, juxtaposed with the workstations covered with buttons, recalls a Cold War-era science fiction film. Another shot includes a lengthy poem about the vigilance and importance of the teams work, written by a captain.

Reintjes said that as a whole, the range of subjects Hager photographed reminds him that the infrastructure of our society, and in some cases energy and defense systems, have expired and dont further humanity.

Exiting a niche job

Hager never anticipated this particular field would consume so much of her life. However, because of the standards requiring film, she became a fairly rare commodity.

It has demands, like any other work. Shooting on film allows for no such thing as instant gratification. If a necessary shot for a site didnt turn out, she wouldnt learn until weeks later when the negatives came back. It could mean a 400-mile round-trip, paid out of pocket.

During the first phase of COVID, when traveling with an assistant no longer felt safe, she stopped. As the pandemic dragged on, she decided it was a good time to retire.

Shes excited the traveling exhibition can remind people that these photographic records exist, and are in the public domain.

I feel so attached to so many of those photographs, because every one of them  I can tell you what motel I stayed at, and what the options were for dinner. Theres just a story in my mind about what it was to go and live in Conrad, Montana, for two weeks photographing those missile silos, she said.
A bill to bring the states Medicaid reimbursement rates in line with a recent study commissioned by the state won a substantial, bipartisan endorsement in the House.

The preliminary vote on House Bill 649 followed an impassioned debate about the states role in ensuring adequate health care for the elderly, disabled and other vulnerable populations in Montana. The bill cleared a second reading by a 65-35 margin.

This policy before you affects 20,000 jobs and tens of thousands of Montanans. It affects children who are chained to an oxygen tank, Rep. Mary Caferro, D-Helena, the bills sponsor, said. It affects women who are caring for their loved ones who has Alzheimer's or dementia. It affects the physically disabled man who is waiting for someone to show up in the morning to help him bathe, get dressed and drive him to work so that he can have the freedom of economic independence.

One of the top Republican lawmakers also working on the issues, Rep. Bob Keenan, R-Bigfork, argued the study done by a consultant called Guidehouse was flawed, pointing to what he said were inaccurate numbers describing nursing home closures in the state in 2022.

We need accurate data, Keenan said. We dont need to be deceived.

While noting he came into the session with the goal of fixing the issue, Keenan appeared to largely argue against passage of the bill. He suggested at one point that the Legislatures main budget bill, House Bill 2, could serve as the vehicle for an appropriation to fix the reimbursement rates. Keenan is the chairman of the budget subcommittee focused on health and human services issues within HB 2.

This bill creates more problems down the road than it fixes, he said of Caferros bill.

But he ultimately voted in favor of the legislation.

A pair of GOP lawmakers spoke in support of the bill, including Rep. James Bergstrom, of Buffalo, who cited the example of a nursing home in his district that is losing money each day.

We dont have time to work on this, he said. I guarantee you that there are nursing homes all over the state that are watching what we do here, literally today, and theyre going to make decisions on whether theyre gonna get out of business or stay, based on what we do here.

Reimbursement rates for Medicaid providers has fallen short for years, pushing them into financial crisis once the pandemic hit.

During the last legislature, nearly $3 million was set aside for a provider rate study to look at a discrepancy between the cost of delivering services and the reimbursement rates meant to cover the cost of care for a Medicaid recipient.

Guidehouse, the outside consulting company that carried out the rate study, provided a recommended or benchmark rate that more accurately reflected the cost of care. But the governors proposed budget fell woefully short of the benchmark.

While the subcommittee voted to move the needle somewhat higher for Medicaid funding, some lawmakers felt it was still insufficient.

Caferro drafted her bill before the committee took executive action, saying that relying on appropriations to address the funding shortfall wasnt enough.

Her bill to fully fund the benchmark rates carries a price tag of $12 million, but lawmaker supporting the bill said that the funds would join those already voted on in the subcommittee.

It will take $27.7 million from the state to fund Medicaid to the recommended amount. But since Medicaid is also funded with federal money, the state investment would bring in $54.3 million in federal match.
PHILIPSBURG, Mont.  On a recent day in this 19th-century mining town turned tourist hot spot, students made their way into the Granite High School lobby and past a new filtered water bottle fill station.

Water samples taken from the drinking fountain the station replaced had a lead concentration of 10 parts per billion  twice Montanas legal limit for schools of 5 parts per billion for the toxic metal.

Thomas Gates, the principal and superintendent of the small Philipsburg School District, worries the new faucets, sinks, and filters the district installed for roughly 30 water sources are temporary fixes. The high school, built in 1912, is likely laced with aged pipes and other infrastructure, like so much of this historic town.

If we change faucets or whatever, lead is still getting pushed in, Gates said.

The school in Philipsburg is one of hundreds in Montana grappling with how to remove lead from their water after state officials mandated schools test for it. So far, 74% of schools that submitted samples found at least one faucet or drinking fountain with high lead levels. Many of those schools are still trying to trace the source of the problem and find the money for long-term fixes.

In his Feb. 7 State of the Union address, President Joe Biden said the infrastructure bill he championed in 2021 will help fund the replacement of lead pipes that serve 400,000 schools and child care centers, so every child in America can drink clean water.

However, as of mid-February, states were still waiting to hear how much infrastructure money theyll receive, and when. And schools are trying to figure out how to respond to toxic levels of lead now. The federal government hasnt required schools and child care centers to test for lead, though it has awarded grants to states for voluntary testing.

During the past decade, nationwide unease has been stirred by news of unsafe drinking water in places like Flint, Michigan. Politicians have promised to increase checks in schools where kids  who are especially vulnerable to lead poisoning  drink water daily. Lead poisoning slows childrens development, causing learning, speech, and behavioral challenges. The metal can cause organ and nervous system damage.

A new report by advocacy group Environment America Research & Policy Center showed that most states fall short in providing oversight for lead in schools. And the testing that has happened to this point shows widespread contamination from rural towns to major cities.

At least 19 states require schools to test for lead in drinking water. A 2022 law in Colorado requires child care providers and schools that serve any kids from preschool through fifth grade to test their drinking water by May 31 and, if needed, make repairs. Meanwhile, California leaders, who mandated lead testing in schools in 2017, are considering requiring districts to install filters on water sources with high levels of lead.

As states boost scrutiny, schools are left with complicated and expensive fixes.

As it passed the infrastructure bill, Congress set aside $15 billion to replace lead pipes, and $200 million for lead testing and remediation in schools.

White House spokesperson Abdullah Hasan didnt provide the source of the 400,000 figure Biden cited as the number of schools and child care centers slated for pipe replacement. Several clean-water advocacy organizations didnt know where the number came from, either.

Part of the issue is that no one knows how many lead pipes are funneling drinking water into schools.

The Environmental Protection Agency estimates between 6 million and 10 million lead service lines are in use nationwide. Those are the small pipes that connect water mains to plumbing systems in buildings. Other organizations say there could be as many as 13 million.

But the problem goes beyond those pipes, said John Rumpler, senior director for the Clean Water for America Campaign at Environment America.

Typically lead pipes connected to public water systems are too small to serve larger schools. Water contamination in those buildings is more likely to come from old faucets, fountains, and internal plumbing.

Lead is contaminating schools drinking water when there arent lead pipes connecting to a municipal water source, Rumpler said. Because of their complex plumbing systems, schools have more places along the way where lead can be in contact with water.

Montana has collected more data on lead-contaminated school water than most other states. But gaps remain. Of the states 591 schools, 149 havent submitted samples to the state, despite an initial 2021 deadline.

Jon Ebelt, spokesperson with the Montana Department of Public Health and Human Services, said the state made its deadline flexible due to the covid-19 pandemic and is working with schools that need to finish testing.

Greg Montgomery, who runs Montanas lead monitoring program, said sometimes testing stalled when school districts ran into staff turnover. Some smaller districts have one custodian to make sure testing happens. Larger districts may have maintenance teams for the work, but also have a lot more ground to cover.

Outside Burley McWilliams Missoula County Public Schools office, about 75 miles northwest of Philipsburg, sit dozens of water samples in small plastic bottles for a second round of lead testing. Director of operations and maintenance for the district of roughly 10,000 students, McWilliams said lead has become a weekly topic of discussion with his schools principals, who have heard concerns from parents and employees.

Several of the districts schools had drinking fountains and classroom sinks blocked off with bags taped over faucets, signs of the work left to do.

The district spent an estimated $30,000 on initial fixes for key water sources by replacing parts like faucets and sinks. The school received federal covid money to buy water bottle stations to replace some old infrastructure. But if the new parts dont fix the problem, the district will likely need to replace pipes  which isnt in the budget.

The state initially set aside $40,000 for schools lead mitigation, which McWilliams said translated to about $1,000 for his district.

Thats the one frustration that I had with this process: Theres no additional funding for it, McWilliams said. He hopes state or federal dollars come through soon. He expects the latest round of testing to be done in March.

Montgomery said Feb. 14 that he expects to hear any day now what federal funding the state will receive to help reimburse schools for lead mitigation.

Back in Philipsburg, Chris Cornelius, the schools head custodian, has a handwritten list on his desk of all the water sources with high lead levels. The sink in the corner of his office has a new sign saying in bold letters that the water is not safe to drink.

According to state data, half the 55 faucets in the high school building had lead concentrations high enough to need to be fixed, replaced, or shut off.

Cornelius worked to fix problem spots: new sinks in the gym locker rooms, new faucets and inlet pipes on every fixture that tested high, water bottle fill stations with built-in filtration systems like the one in the schools lobby.

Samples from many fixtures tested safe. But some got worse, meaning in parts of the building, the source of the problem goes deeper.

Cornelius was preparing to test a third time. He plans to run the water 12 to 14 hours before the test and remove faucet filters that seem to catch grime coming from below. He hopes that will lessen the concentration enough to pass the states thresholds.

The EPA recommends collecting water samples for testing at least eight hours after the fixtures were last used, which maximizes the likelihood that the highest concentrations of lead will be found.

If the water sources lead concentrations come back high again, Cornelius doesnt know what else to do.

I have exhausted possibilities at this point, Cornelius said. My last step is to put up more signs or shut it off.

KHN correspondent Rachana Pradhan contributed to this report.

KHN (Kaiser Health News) is a national newsroom that produces in-depth journalism about health issues. Together with Policy Analysis and Polling, KHN is one of the three major operating programs at KFF (Kaiser Family Foundation). KFF is an endowed nonprofit organization providing information on health issues to the nation.

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Here's some business news in the Missoula area:

Missoula Montana Airport is the fourth airport in the nation and the only airport in the state to be certified as a "sensory inclusive facility" through KultureCity.

This is a continuation of the airports overall initiative to create a facility that is welcoming, intuitive and easy to navigate for individuals of all abilities. said Tim Damrow, Missoula airport's deputy director, in a press release.

People with autism, dementia, PTSD and other similar conditions can experience challenges with sensory regulation, the press release said, and airports can often be noisy and over-stimulating.

Through the free KultureCity app, Missoula airport clients can view what sensory features are available and where to access them, the release said. The app also includes a feature called "Social Story," which provides a customized visual preview of what to expect visiting the Missoula airport.

One of the goals of the design of the new airport terminal was to make it easier for travelers to navigate the airport," said Larry Anderson, Missoula airport board chair, in the release. "With the help of KultureCity, airport staff have taken the extra initiative and training to help those travelers with hidden disabilities to reduce their stress when visiting the airport."

The training included all airport staff, from administration to passenger-facing employees.

The increased awareness of hidden disabilities that the KultureCity training has provided our front-line staff supplements the airlines existing regulatory training and has empowered us with the necessary tools to better assist all passengers flying in and out of MSO, said Stacy Gow, Ground Handling Customer Service supervisor.

The airport's next step is to gain "Sunflower Program Certification," which will offer additional education for staff for assisting individuals with dementia, Damrow said in the release. "With the encouragement of Dementia Friendly Missoula, we are pursuing our Sunflower Program Certification (a separate initiative). This program will offer additional education for staff and provides a sunflower lanyard to individuals wishing to identify themselves as potentially needing additional assistance.

Dementia Friendly Missoula representative Marjorie Doyle added, we were honored to partner with the entire Missoula Airport team on how to make MSO more accessible to persons with non-visible disabilities. The airport planned for, and implemented, many of our recommendations for policies and practices in their beautiful new terminal. Thanks to them for making the airport a more functional and welcoming gateway to Missoula!

Missoula's Flywheel Consultancy was named the 2022 regional "Customer First" winner in the HubSpot Solutions Partner Impact Awards.

HubSpot is a leading customer relationship management platform for scaling companies, according to a press release. The award recognizes HubSpot partners who meet specific criteria and contribute to growth in customers

Were incredibly grateful to be recognized as HubSpots 2022 NAM Regional Customer First Winner," said Ronald Berry III, CEO & Founder of FlyWheel Consultancy, in the release. "This award embodies our belief of putting the customer and their HubSpot CRM in the forefront of any engagement, with the sole focus on driving efficiencies and usability for all members of an organization.

Spiker Communications announced Jeff Avgeris has become the majority shareholder and CEO of the agency beginning on March 1.

Avgeris is the founder and CEO of On the Fly Productions, a Missoula-based digital media agency, which will be kept separate from Spiker Communications for the time being, according to a press release.

"Chris and Wes Spiker, founders of Spiker Communications, have been active in Missoula's arts scene, the local business community, and several philanthropic endeavors for over 40 years, ranging from Loyola Sacred Heart Foundation to Play Ball Missoula to Montana Special Olympics, to name a few," the release said.

Spiker has worked with Stockman Bank, Allegiance Benefits Management, Montana Snowbowl, The North Face, Simms, Montana Power Company, Rocky Mountain Log Homes, Stock Farm Club, Arnold Palmer Enterprises, Trump National Bedminster, and Brighton Ski Resort.
The president and vice president of the Flathead chapter of the Pagan's Motorcycle group were arrested in connection to a massive brawl earlier this month.

Michael A. Murphy was identified by the Flathead County Sheriff's Office and federal agents as the president of the group, and Kyle M. Johnson as the vice president of the chapter.

On Feb. 11, a roughly 50-person fight broke out at the Majestic Valley Arena. On Feb. 28, Flathead law enforcement went to a Kalispell residence to contact Murphy for an active parole violation and warrant for his arrest, the press release stated. Murphy allegedly ran from officers but was arrested shortly after.

According to the release, several other people were at the house and obeyed officers' directions. Johnson reportedly remained at the house and at first didn't follow authorities' commands. After 30 minutes, he came out of the residence. He was on probation and had several active warrants for his arrest.

One officer was injured during the arrest, the release stated.

"Authorities first learned of the club after several individuals displaying the club's 'colors' (uniform decals) were involved in an assault on Feb. 11, 2023, at the Majestic Valley Arena," the release stated. The fight is still under investigation.

Both Murphy and Johnson are in custody at the Flathead jail with court dates scheduled for next week.

The Pagan's club has a documented history of initiating violence across the U.S.

On Feb. 3 of this year, the leader of the Pagans club was sentenced to 900 months in prison on federal drug trafficking, firearm and money laundering charges, according to the U.S. Department of Justice website.

In 2021, two Pagans members were indicted in New Jersey for allegedly shooting at members of Hells Angels, a rival biker gang known to frequent Montana.
For veterans pursuing higher education directly after active duty, navigating a university setting can be a challenge. Going from the structure and regimen of military service to a free-form campus lifestyle can sometimes require guidance and advice from others with shared experiences.

For first-year law school student and former Navy Nuclear Engineering Technician Kimberly Torheim, helping fellow vet students settle into life at the University of Montana is not only her job, its a passion.

Torheim has a work-study internship through the Department of Veterans Affairs and spends 15 hours a week at UMs Military and Veteran Services Office.

Each university is different in how they interface with military benefits, Torheim said. We help veterans navigate through UMs processes.

The Military and Veteran Services Office provides a supportive experience for military-affiliated students as they seek associates, bachelors and masters degrees, as well as technical certificates. The office helps active-duty members, veterans, military spouses and dependents maximize their educational benefits, including the GI Bill, Yellow Ribbon Program, military tuition assistance, financial aid and more.

Patrick Beckwith, director of UM Military and Veteran Services, said the department can be the first point of contact for students using their military benefits.

We act as a liaison between the military and university, he said.

There are currently over 280 student veterans going to school at UM. There also are over 1,000 military-affiliated students, all being helped by the UM Military and Veteran Services Office.

People come in and ask, What do I do? and How do I do that? Torheim said. We help point people in the right direction.

Torheim grew up in the small farming community of Marblemount, Washington. As a teenager, she knew that she wanted to see the world. The Navy became that outlet. After signing up at 17, she tested into the nuclear program and did two years of focused training.

I come from a middle-class family, and my parents didnt have the money to send me to college, explained Torheim. I tested well enough to get into a top program within the Navy, so I went with it. It was a great way to pay for school.

After graduating as a Navy Machinists Mate Nuclear Technician, Torheim was deployed to the USS Dwight D. Eisenhower, a nuclear-powered aircraft carrier in service since the 1970s. Her job included chemistry and radiation control. It was like working at a nuclear power facility, just on the water, she said.

Torheim was part of Operation Inherent Resolve in 2016. She was stationed in Bahrain, Dubai and Marseille, France.

Getting to see other cultures gave me a larger world view, Torheim said. This experience helps me relate to others and gives me an understanding of how many places and situations people come from.

After finishing her service to the country, Torheim used her military benefits to enroll in UMs Alexander Blewett III School of Law.

The Navy taught me how to learn and study, she added. Now I know how to apply myself and memorize things quickly.

Initially, Torheim thought she would pursue criminal law, mirroring her major as an undergrad.

This last semester sparked my interest in environmental law, which was surprising to me, said Torheim. I am excited to learn more and get into the community practicing law.

Torheim said she appreciates the flexible schedule offered by the Veteran Services Office, which allows her to focus on her studies while still being able to advocate for others who share similar experiences.

Student workers are the best conduit between veterans and the campus, Beckwith said. Kimberly is able to relate to the wants and needs of students coming from similar situations as herself and has a great ability to help veterans navigate the university system.

It feels really good to help out other vets, Torheim said. No matter the branch of service, there is a commonality, we get each other.
The Missoula Family YMCA will unveil plans next Thursday for its new Youth Innovation Center, which will house a science and technology center, e-gaming lab and a digital arts studio next year.

The new center was made possible through Spectrums Digital Education Grant Program, in which the YMCA received $30,000. The donation from Spectrum was made in support of the YMCAs $15 million Here for Good capital campaign, which seeks to revitalize the Russell Street campus.

With more than 7,000 western Montana kids utilizing the campus regularly, building a new Youth Innovation Center to increase access to high-quality, out-of-school learning experiences and expand our STEAM (science, technology, engineering, art and math) programming is an exciting component of our campus revitalization project, said Heather Foster, Missoula Family YMCA CEO.

The Youth Innovation Center will house the YMCAs programs in computer literacy and coding, as well as early engineering, consumer sciences, arts and digital media for teens and adolescents.

In anticipation of the new center, the YMCA is working with the local technology sector, the University of Montana and local robotics teams to design a makerspace, teaching kitchen, green screen room and an engineering lab.

We applaud the YMCA for their education initiatives and for helping us support efforts that promote digital literacy in the Missoula community, said Rahman Khan, vice president of Community Impact at Spectrum. Through this partnership with the YMCA, Spectrum is able to bring essential resources to those in need and we look forward to working with them on this transformative project.

In addition to the $30,000 from Spectrums grant, more funding has been secured from local companies and foundations for the construction of the center as well as the equipment that will be used after its completed.

However, the fundraising goal for the capital campaign has not been met. So far, the YMCA has raised $12 million and is still seeking support to raise the remaining $3 million to begin construction this summer.
ST. LOUIS  Former St. Louis reality TV star James Tim Norman was sentenced to two life sentences Thursday for orchestrating a plot to kill his nephew that featured fraudulent life insurance policies, cash payouts and years of coverups.

U.S. District Judge John A. Ross sentenced Norman to life sentences on two murder-for-hire counts Thursday morning, calling the evidence at trial "overwhelming" proof that Norman masterminded the March 2014 St. Louis killing of his 21-year-old nephew Andre Montgomery.

"It was a cold-blooded, incredibly premeditated, planned execution of your nephew," Ross said before sentencing.

A jury found Norman guilty in a September trial that captured national attention. Both Norman and his nephew starred in Welcome to Sweetie Pies, a long-running OWN reality show about the popular soul-food business founded by Robbie Montgomery  Normans mother and Andres grandmother  in the St. Louis area.

Several of Montgomery's family members, including his mother Michell Griggs, asked in court Thursday that Norman be sentenced to life.

"His greed has hurt so many people," Griggs said. "Not just my family."

Witnesses during the trial testified Norman hired his nephew's shooter, Travell Anthony Hill, for $5,000 and paid $10,000 to an exotic dancer, Terica Ellis, to lure Montgomery to his death in north St. Louis.

Prosecutors presented evidence that Norman then attempted to cash out up to $450,000 in a fraudulent life insurance policy he took out on Montgomery and told Ellis to stay quiet.

Norman declined to speak on his own behalf in court Thursday, but he claimed his innocence in a recent social media post. His attorneys submitted several letters from family and friends asking for leniency on his behalf before sentencing, including from Norman's mother and founder of the Sweetie Pie's restaurants Robbie Montgomery.

"I am writing to you to ask for mercy for my son. As a mother, I am devastated that my son has been accused and convicted of the crimes," Robbie Montgomery wrote the judge.

She added that her older son was killed when Norman was 15 years old. Norman's father was also killed when he was a child.

"I dont know whether Tim did what he was accused and convicted of," she wrote. "He is still the baby that I bore, and I love him as every mother involved loves their child."

Norman broke into tears several times during four hours of trial testimony, telling the jury he enlisted Ellis and Hill to find his nephew, but not kill him. He said he wanted to confront Montgomery about a recent burglary at his mothers home.

Ellis was sentenced to three years in prison last month after pleading guilty to conspiracy to commit murder for hire in the case. Hill pleaded guilty to two murder-for-hire counts and was sentenced to 32 years in prison in October.

Normans defense attorney Mike Leonard argued in court Thursday that a life sentence for Norman would be disproportionate.

He will serve "double or more the time of the individual who said he shot Andre of his own accord," Leonard said.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Angie Danis responded that Hill would not have killed Montgomery if it wasn't for Norman.

Norman presented a successful face to the public, Danis told the judge, but was "far more sinister underneath."
The state House on Thursday gave initial approval to bills that would clarify what role religion can play in public schools and possible competing bills on notification requirements for sexual education.

Two bills from Rep. Greg Kmetz, R-Miles City, would say students are not prohibited from initiating or participating in conversations about religion with another student or teacher and allow the use of religious books during free reading time or for self-selected reading requirements.

The legislation would also permit prayer on school grounds and at school-sponsored events, though people cannot be compelled to pray. Schools were already allowed to start the day with a prayer under existing law.

Kmetz told legislators his bills were not Christian bills. This bill applies to any faith and any religion, he said.

Opposition came from Rep. Eric Matthews, a longtime educator and Democratic legislator from Bozeman. He said he wasnt fundamentally against the bill but said it was trying to solve a problem that does not exist.

Our teachers are professionals. We want what's best for kids. And, frankly, right now, I miss being in middle school a little bit, Matthews said.

Rep. Ed Stafman, D-Bozeman, asked if the bill would allow for proselytizing, and while Kmetz said he didnt know the answer, Rep. Lee Deming, R-Laurel, said it would.

Saying the bill was not inclusive of Montanas Native American population, which do not follow religions but rather a way of life, Box Elder Democrat Rep. Jonathan Windy Boy spoke against it.

Rep. Scot Kerns, a Great Falls Republican who is a member of the Christian clergy, said the bill would protect a students ability to freely express their religion.

House Bill 744 cleared a second reading on a 71-28 vote, capturing some Democratic support.

House Bill 745, also from Kmetz, clarifies students can read religious materials in schools and have the freedom to pray, which is already allowed in state law.

Matthews again opposed the bill, saying that students already have the ability to engage in prayer and that hes been able to accommodate students prayer schedules. But he said he was concerned that the bill called out the Bible but not other religious books.

The bill also passed a second reading 69-31, a party-line vote.

Two bills cleared the House to build onto sexual education requirement laws passed in 2021. Both are carried by Republicans and could be in competition, though Rep. Fred Anderson, of Great Falls, said he would aim to work with Rep. Kerri Seekins-Crowe to coordinate their legislation.

Anderson said his bill will give clarity as to what situations and when schools are required to notify parents about when sexual education will occur.

After last session, Anderson said the law "has been interpreted in a variety of ways by schools."

Some notified parents annually, others sent much more frequent notifications on any topic that may broadly be related to sexual education.

But Seekins-Crowe said she was concerned that Anderson's bill didn't have the same specifics about the timeline for notification as her bill, which would require parents to be informed between 48 hours and 10 days before the event or dissemination of curriculum materials.

Anderson said he would support coordinating the bills, though Seekins-Crowe said there were other things that troubled her in his bill.

While she said she agreed with a provision in Anderson's to post the curriculum online so parents can review it themselves, she thought it did not cover enough possible situations she said might concern parents.

Seekins-Crowe's House Bill 502 passed on a 68-32 mostly party-line vote, while Anderson's House Bill 566 passed 66-33. Both need a final vote before moving to the Senate.
Spread some huckleberry jam on the peanut butter sandwich of life that was Jimmy Carter.

Not fancy, but nourishing. Often derided as ineffectual, Carters single term as president of the United States was also prophetic. His reaction to the Arab Oil Embargo was to place solar panels on the White House roof.

Today, Carter said at the June 20, 1979 dedication ceremony, in directly harnessing the power of the sun, were taking the energy that God gave us, the most renewable energy that we will ever see, and using it to replace our dwindling supplies of fossil fuels.

The panels stayed up for seven years, until 1986 when President Ronald Reagan approved some roof repairs that required their removal, and they were never re-installed. Reagan also allowed tax credits for homeowners installing solar power to expire about the same time.

The peanut farmer visited Missoula that same year, brought in on private jet by Missoula businessman Dennis Washington. He came for the dedication of the Mike Mansfield Center at the University of Montana. Carter was also responsible for appointing Mansfield ambassador to Japan, after the Missoula resident completed a record-setting stint as Senate Majority Leader.

In another far-seeing instance, Carter told the UM audience he asked Mansfield to remain in service at a crucial point of the globe: (In Mansfields) quiet, inimitable way, he brought a great deal of order out of chaos (in the Pacific Rim). Carter also remarked on Mansfields dedication to moral values, dignity and diplomatic competence.

Paul Lauren was the founding director of the Mansfield Center. He recently recalled Carters visit.

He was an example of high ethical values in public affairs, Lauren said. We had asked Carter to lecture on moral values in American foreign policy. He was an unapologetic advocate for respecting the rights of all men, women and children, for nondiscrimination against race, gender or religion. And although he was strongly religious himself, he had deep respect for the faith traditions of other people.

And although Carter was ostensibly in town for a suit-and-tie reception at the Mansfield conference and a lecture before about 4,000 people in the Adams Center fieldhouse, he also carved out time for students. Lauren said the initial plan was a seminar with 30 or 40 participants. That quickly expanded to a packed room in whats now the Dennison Theater.

People wanted to sit in the aisles, Lauren recalled. It was a whole hour of students asking him questions and him responding about faith, career advice, politics  just a wide, free-flowing session. Then he spent time meeting hundreds of students. As we walked across campus, students would stop and shake his hand, accompanied by Secret Service. He was extraordinarily generous with his time.

Last week, Carter announced he was close enough to death that hed decided to enter hospice care. Thats prompted a lot of historical reviews of his career, accomplishments and failures. His presidency is often derided as a placeholder between the cesspool of Richard Nixons self-destruction and the Morning in America of Reagans two terms. The recollections illuminate a life lived much larger than just four years in the White House. From his willingness to physically lead the shutdown of a failing nuclear reactor during his Navy service, to his receiving the Nobel Peace Prize in 2002 (after helping Anwar el-Sadat and Menachem Begin win theirs in 1978 for the Egypt-Israeli Peace accord he brokered), to his work hammering nails with Habitat for Humanity, Carter inspired.

Perhaps true to form, he downplayed his own ambition to do good.

But at a May 4, 1974 Georgia Law Day appearance, Carter gave an impromptu speech many credit with launching his presidential campaign, even though he hadnt announced his candidacy yet. Its since been transcribed and considered authentic.

In it, Carter describes what made him different from most politicians  a grounding in life where change was constant and courage to change was demanded.

As a scientist, I was working constantly, along with almost everyone who professes that dedication of life, to probe, probe every day of my life for constant change for the better. Its completely anachronistic in the makeup of a nuclear physicist or an engineer or scientist to be satisfied with what weve got, or to rest on the laurels of past accomplishments. Its the nature of the profession.

As a farmer, the same motivation persists. Every farmer that I know of, who is worth his salt or whos just average, is ahead of the experiment stations and the research agronomist in finding better ways, changing ways so to plant, cultivate, utilize herbicides, gather, cure, sell farm products. The competition for innovation is tremendous, equivalent to the realm of nuclear physics even.

In my opinion, its different in the case of lawyers. And maybe this is a circumstance that is so inherently true that it cant be changed."

Jimmy Carter said he was not afraid to change. We should be so brave.
Companies throughout the digital assets industry distanced themselves from Silvergate Thursday after the crypto-friendly bank delayed the filing of its annual 10-K report with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC)

In its notice to the SEC filed yesterday, the bank signaled its financial health could be different than previously disclosed, having sustained more losses during its fourth fiscal quarter of last year than it initially reported in January.

In response, Silvergates stock price more than halved on Thursday, cratering 53% to $6.35 as of this writing. The decline represented over a 93% decrease from the stocks all-time high of around $222, set in November 2021 during cryptos previous bull run.

Cryptocurrency exchange Coinbase Tweeted it would no longer facilitate payments using the La Jolla, California-based bank in U.S. dollars. The decision was made in light of recent events [and] an abundance of caution, the exchange explained.

At Coinbase all client funds continue to be safe, accessible & available. In light of recent developments & out of an abundance of caution, Coinbase is no longer accepting or initiating payments to or from Silvergate.  Coinbase (@coinbase) March 2, 2023

Crypto.com, an exchange based in Singapore, told Decrypt the company would reject funds transferred to and from its platform via Silvergate as well. Deposits and withdrawals via Silvergate have been temporarily suspended, a company spokesperson said.

The Luxembourg-based crypto exchange Bitstmap stated it would temporarily pause its support for bank transfers conducted via Silvergate in a blog post, saying its U.S. dollar payments moving forward would be facilitated using Signature Bank, another bank popular among firms within the digital assets industry.

Cryptocurrency exchange Gemini, founded in 2014 by the Winklevoss twins, said it has stopped accepting customer withdrawals and deposits or fulfilling wire transfers via Silvergate on its platform.

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Circle, the company that owns and issues the stablecoin USDC, stated it was also backing away from Silvergate. On Twitter, Circle disclosed it was currently in the process of unwinding certain services with [Silvergate] and notifying customers.

1/ We maintain relationships with several banking partners. We are sensitive to the concerns around Silvergate and are in the process of unwinding certain services with them and notifying customers. Otherwise, all Circle services, including USDC are operating as normal.  Circle (@circle) March 2, 2023

Paxos, another firm involved in issuing stablecoinsdigital assets that are pegged to the price of fiat currencies like the U.S. dollarindicated it had also discontinued transfers to its account with Silvergate, adding it would continue to process all outgoing payments.

The CTO of stablecoin Tether stated on Twitter that the firm had no exposure to Silvergate as well.

Cboe Clear Digital disclosed it was pausing all transactions with Silvergate bank, according to a notice published by the company Wednesday. Mike Novogratz's investment firm Galaxy Digital also warned it has stopped accepting or initiating transfers to Silvergate.

1/2 In light of recent developments, Galaxy has stopped accepting or initiating transfers to Silvergate. As a firm, we continue to have no material exposure to Silvergate, and this action was taken out of an abundance of caution.  Galaxy (@galaxyhq) March 2, 2023

Silvergate previously reported that its bank deposits had fallen significantly amid the collapse of cryptocurrency exchange FTX, reporting a 68% drawdown of $8.1 billion in January that took place during the final fiscal quarter of last year.

In order to satisfy the avalanche of withdrawals it faced during that time, the crypto-friendly bank secured a $4.3 billion loan from the Federal Home Loan Bank and sold around $5.2 billion in debt securities.

The bank drew ire from members of Congress including Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass), who penned an open letter addressed to Silvergate CEO Alan Lane. The lawmakers claimed that Congress and the public deserved insight into the role that Silvergate potentially played in FTXs implosion.

Last month, the Department of Justice disclosed it was examining the banks relationship with the now-bankrupt exchange founded by disgraced crypto mogul Sam Bankman-Fried, whos been charged with a series of financial crimes in the wake of his exchanges implosion.

Investors on Wall Street, including the hedge fund of billionaire George Soros, have recently piled on bets against Silvergate, making it one of the most shorted stocks among publicly-traded companies in the U.S. Of all the shares in Silvergate that are available for trading, 71% are currently being sold short, according to data from MarketWatch.
Bryan, Bulloch and Chatham County each have a Hyundai supplier committed to building a facility in their county.

It would only be a matter of time before Effingham County joined them.

On Tuesday, Gov. Kemp announced Sewon America would invest more than $300 million into a new manufacturing facility in Rincon. The move will bring more than 700 jobs to the county.

Today we not only celebrate delivering on our promise to create jobs in all four counties in the JDA but also the growth of a valued partner in our business community, said Gov. Brian Kemp. On my very first international trip as governor to Korea, I had the opportunity to congratulate Chairman Kim on the companys then-recent expansion and discuss how we could continue to work together. I am proud that those discussions have now led to this announcement as Sewon America continues to grow their Georgia operations.

More:Hyundai EV plant in Bryan County to be 3x size of Montgomery and other updates from SEDA

More:Hyundai is bringing jobs to Savannah. So are Hyundai suppliers. Here is who is coming.

More:World's largest auto supplier to invest millions in Hyundai plant, bringing thousands of jobs

Sewon America first came to the U.S. in 2008, setting up shop in Lagrange, Ga., and has since doubled in size. It is one of the biggest auto body parts plants in the U.S. Sewons newest facility will be at the Grande View industrial park in Rincon and will produce electric vehicle body parts. Production is slated to begin in 2025.

It is my pleasure to welcome Sewon America to our community, said Rincon Mayor Ken Lee. We commend our friends and partners at the Effingham County Industrial Development Authority for working diligently to bring what will be the largest employment and private investment project in the citys history. We look forward to working with Sewon to ensure their long-term success in our community.

Sewon America will invest millions into a manufacturing plant in Rincon.

Georgia Speaker of the House Jon Burns worked alongside Sewon America executives to secure the project.

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This is a proud day for Effingham County and coastal Georgia as we celebrate the creation of 740 new jobs in our area, said Burns. I want to thank our friends at Sewon America for investing in our community and our state. I also want to thank Governor Kemp and all of the public and private partners who have helped to make todays announcement possible.

More:Hyundai supplier to invest $205 million in manufacturing plant in Bulloch County

Nine months ago, the Savannah Joint Development Authority, Kemp and local officials celebrated the announcement of Hyundais $5.5 billion investment into an EV battery plant. Last fall, Hyundai held a groundbreaking ceremony in Bryan County and capped off the day with a community celebration at Enmarket Arena.

As suppliers begin to pour in, each county celebrates their partnership knowing it will provide careers and economic stability for future generations to come.

We are thrilled that Sewon America has selected Grande View industrial park as the best location to make a significant investment for their future growth, said Chairman of the Effingham County Industrial Development Authority Troy Smith. Sewon America and the IDAs investment in our community will allow current and future generations the ability to have a fulfilling, well-paying career without leaving Effingham County. We couldnt have made this happen without the help and leadership of our partners at the city of Rincon and the Effingham County Board of Commissioners.

Latrice Williams is a general assignment reporter covering Bryan and Effingham County. She can be reached at lwilliams6@gannett.com.

This article originally appeared on Savannah Morning News: Effingham County gets first Hyundai supplier for Bryan County megasite
The 150-acre foster community in Nebo, known as Southmountain Estates, experienced a captivating upgrade in late 2022, thanks to a bequest by the late Crystal Young.

Operated by Southmountain Children and Family Services, Southmountain Estates implements a one-of-a-kind model, hybridizing group care and traditional foster care.

The campus consists of eight neighborhood-style homes and the ability to serve up to 40 foster children. Professional parents are employed by the agency, eliminate the need for shift work and provide stability and love craved by children in foster care. Further, the parents have unique built-in support from Southmountain staff, consistent training and models of care to help with emotional and behavioral support.

Crystal Young, a native of Burke County, loved life. After graduating from college, she accepted a job with Cornings IT department and spent years flying between North Carolina, New York and New Jersey. A promotion in 2015 resulted in a permanent move to New York; however, five years later, during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, Crystal was presented with the opportunity to telework permanently. Crystal died shortly after returning to Burke County to be closer to her parents, sisters and large extended family.

Youngs estate was divided between causes she was deeply committed to, including the children at Soutmountain Estates. Southmountain used the funds donated from Crystals bequest to erect an 18-foot by 18-foot octagonal gazebo situated in the center of the neighborhood, adjacent to the playground.

Crystal Young was taken from this world too soon, said W. Chris Jernigan, Southmountain Children and Family Services executive director. I have learned about her faith and commitment to children through her sister Sherry Lail, and I regret never having the opportunity to meet such an extraordinary person. Ms. Youngs memory will live on in the laughter and memories made under this shelter. Whether its popsicle parties, hopscotch, or respite from the hot summer sun, children will benefit from this gift for years to come.

Rocking chairs flank the structures interior, a large ceiling fan provides comfort from the heat and a memorial plaque honors Crystals life and love of children.

A ribbon-cutting on Nov. 19, dedicated the gazebo to Youngs life and legacy. Loved by many, it was no surprise to Crystals family when friends from across the country attended her memorial service.

We wanted to memorialize this testament to her character and her love of humanity with a gift to Southmountain, said Shery Lail. Our family is proud and comforted to have a lasting legacy of our sister, daughter, aunt, cousin and friend at Southmountain Estates that will provide a place for children to play and relax in nature.

The work of Southmountain Children and Family Services relies heavily on charitable gifts. To further support the cause, make a secure gift online at www.southmountain.org/donate or by mail at P.O. Box 3387, Morganton, NC, 28680.

For information about the Burke County Childrens Advocacy Center, call 828-430-9949 or visit https://www.burkecac.org/.
On Saturday, Feb. 25, more than 60 educators from as far away as Greensboro gathered at the NC School of Science and Mathematics Morganton campus to network, explore teaching methods and share resources for expanding Science Technology Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) Education in the classroom.

Held from 8 a.m. to 1 p.m., the event was sponsored by NCSSM-Morganton, STEMWest and a leadership team made up of support personnel from six STEMWest partner school districts. Carol Moore, CEO and President of STEMWest called the event an Unconference.

The teachers will brainstorm what they want to learn about and talk about related to STEM Education, she said. And then I have some tech gurus on my leadership team that will throw those ideas into a schedule in less that 10 minutes, and boom, we have a conference.

Also known as an EdCamp, in these types of events, participating educators dont just decide the subject matter that will be covered, they also serve as the experts in the room.

We have no speakers, Moore said. If theyre interested in integrating STEM into the academic classroom, they all meet together and a facilitator will say, this is the topic, what have you done with it already and what questions do you have? And then a discussion ensues, and they take notes in Google Docs and then they can access those docs when they go home and have everybodys emails to boot.

She said the format is a perfect way to highlight STEMWests mission to advocate for and support STEM education through community partnerships.

Its very open, she said. Its whatever they need, thats what will be provided there.

After brainstorming early Saturday morning, participants engaged in topics such as AI in education, project-based learning (PBL), STEM on a budget, STEM and Literacy, Coding/Robotics and integrating content. Educators then shared their experiences, challenges and resources while adding notes and content information into the Google Docs.

They leave with each others emails because they are in the Google Doc, Moore said. So, if theres something you talked about that I want to learn more about, Ive got your contact information. Or, if Im really interested and you are too, we dont have to attend the next session. We can sit right down, have a snack and start planning together.

In addition to the sessions, exhibitors from NCSSM, the Catawba Science Center, N.C. Department of Agriculture, N.C. Department of Natural Resources, N.C. Division of Air Quality and Hickory Day School shared resources during the day. There were also over 20 donors who provided food and more than $1,700 in door prizes for participants.

Moore said STEMWest sponsored a STEM-focused event like this four years ago and, after a long hiatus due to COVID-19, she was excited to bring it back in 2023.

To my knowledge, this is the only STEM focused EdCamp in North Carolina, she said. I know it was the first one pre-COVID, but I think its still the only one in North Carolina, to my knowledge.
Montana veterans, National Guard, National Reserves, active duty members transitioning to civilian life and immediate family members can now take manufacturing technology courses at Highlands College with tuition paid for by Operation Next National and additional funding.

The program, Operation Next, is not new, but it is new to Montana and new to veterans, according to Joe Steele, vice president of Communications and Legislative Affairs at Lift, the originator of Operation Next.

Lift is a Detroit-based, Department of Defense-supported national manufacturing innovation institute, and one of many players that worked to bring Operation Next to Highlands and to Montana.

Steele said Operation Next is an important program because, according to a 2018 skills gap study from The Manufacturing Institute, 2.4 million jobs in the manufacturing technology field are projected to go unfilled between 2018 and 2028 due to lack of skills in the industry. Both former and current military members and dependents are in a unique position to fill those positions, he said.

Its one way for us to give back to those services members, Steele said.

Steele said Lift launched Operation Next as a pilot in 2017 at Fort Campbell, Kentucky and the program had a 90% success rate in participants moving immediately into careers.

He said Montana has a large population of veterans, making it a great place to implement Operation Next.

According to a report published in 2020 by the Housing Assistance Center, 10.4% of Montanas population are veterans, which makes it home to the third largest population of veterans in the United States, below Alaska and Virginia.

So many of these jobs (in manufacturing technology) are available across the country right now, Steele said. So its a great opportunity for us to help them and for them to move forward in their careers.

He said Montana was brought to the programs attention by Ben Kohler, director of Strategy and Innovation and Universal Technical Resource Services Inc.

Kohler said a staffer in Sen. Jon Testers (D-Mont.) Washington D.C. office brought to his attention funding available to bring to Montana for training in advanced manufacturing, such as welding and Computer Numeric Control machining.

Our parent company has always been engaged with supporting and hiring veterans and was excited to give back to veterans in Montana as well and service men and women at the same time, Kohler said.

After that, the non-profit NFAMI Montana, Next Frontier Advanced Manufacturing Institute, was formed to help transitioning members of the armed services and veterans. Kohler is its executive director.

Operation Next Montana is funded through Operation Next National with additional support for the current group of students coming through Accelerate Montana, a non-profit workforce readiness program, Kohler said. The second group starting in August may be funded differently.

Other than Accelerate Montana, Kohler said there are many local sponsors for Operation Next Montana, including hotel sponsors like the Best Western Plus and the Copper King Hotel and Convention Center, which reduce the cost for students coming to Butte for the class and needing to stay overnight.

He also said local businesses like General Distributing have donated welding tools for students.

There are so many wonderful key players and so much potential for us to grow, Kohler said.

He said the program also has a relationship with the Aluminum Extruders Council so that in the future, students nearing the end of curriculum will have opportunity to submit resumes to member companies of that group, with the hope that Operation Next Montana can develop the same type of relationship with Montana businesses.

Operation Next Montana is working on developing relationships with veterans groups in Montana to help students with things like building resumes, he added.

Kohler said he believes vets and other armed service members represent a powerful solution to underemployment in the manufacturing technology industry.

I think its very important to recognize they have a lot of skills to offer as a result of training and service experiences, Kohler said, explaining that the rigorous training they receive makes them highly motivated, and makes them strong leaders, hard workers, innovative, resilient and skilled problem-solvers, among other things.

The first courses at Highlands, which started in January, are in welding and machining. The students will receive their certifications in June and will be ready for the workforce. There are 12 students in the welding class right now, according to welding instructor Jim LeProwse.

The curriculum for the welding course was developed in conjunction with American Welding Society, Kohler said.

LeProwse said the students in his group go right to work, are really disciplined, really good listeners and ask a lot of questions.

He said three or four of the students in his class are veterans, and he thinks the rest are National Guard service members.

Were really excited to help them get higher-paying jobs and get a job they wouldnt be able to get otherwise, LeProwse said.

For Belt resident and traditional guardsman and combat vet Britney Hiatt, the program is an opportunity to return to something she loved.

She had experience with welding in high school, and even got into blacksmithing, she said. But, after she joined the service and became an adult, it faded into the background a bit.

Hiatt had been considering getting her welding certification for a while, so when she was told about the program, she jumped on it.

Its been a blessing, Hiatt said, and added shes looking forward to the opportunities the certification may present once she completes the program.

For any vet, military spouse or dependent  who makes trade a part of their lifestyle, Id highly recommend (the Operation Next program), she said.

Machining instructor Scott Davis said the course is streamlined for students to learn the basics rather than everything they would learn in an average, two-year course.

He said the course has been great to teach, and that the program offers former and current military service members and dependents a great opportunity to learn a skill that could serve them well in an industry that needs workers.

Its a blast, Davis said. I think its fun and interesting to see these guys learn a new skill set. Its a great thing to have a knowledge base to do some of this stuff.

One challenge, he said, is that many of the original 15 students had to withdraw from the course, many due to time conflicts from their military schedules. He said his class currently has eight students enrolled.

Jim Dauenhauer, a National Guard service member with a 32-year service record, said he enrolled in the machining course to give himself a plan B and to gain more experience in a skill relevant to his current field as owner of a maintenance shop in Helena.

Mostly, though, he wanted to get his 20-year-old son, Tanner Dauenhauer, enrolled.

My main thing was for him to pick this up so he can go far in this field, Jim said of his son.

Tanner said when he started the program he wasnt sure if he would be interested in machining, but was pleasantly surprised by how much he loves it.

When he finishes, he plans to further his machining education in Helena.

Kohler said the programs goal is to expand in January 2024 to colleges potentially in places around the state such as Missoula, Bozeman, Helena and Dillon to minimize travel.

Kohler said the August group is expected to be between 35 and 40 students.

Weve already raised as much money for that as well, Kohler said of the second group. Were excited to serve as many men and women in that as we can.

Those interested in learning more about the program can visit NFAMI.org, Opnextjobs.com or call Kohler at 406-565-0190.
More than three years after the crime and nearly a year after a jury convicted him, a judge sentenced a Butte man to 15 years in the Montana State Prison on Thursday for raping a young woman in late 2019.

District Judge Robert Whelan agreed with a recommendation by prosecutors and sentenced 32-year-old Dillon Patrick Pierce to 20 years in the state prison with five of those years suspended.

He also ordered Pierce to pay more than $7,500 in restitution, mostly for the victims therapy bills, and said he would not be eligible for parole until he completed both phases of a sexual offender treatment program in prison.

Whelan said the jury had spoken and his job was to make sure the punishment fits the crime, and he believed it did while meeting Montanas sentencing guidelines.

Prosecutor Mike Clague said Pierce knew the victim was very drunk that night but he went to her house and had sexual intercourse without her consent, then later said he didnt know what he was doing was wrong.

Certainly if you dont know that is wrong, then the community needs to be protected from you, Clague said.

Pierces defense attorney, Victor Bunitsky, said his client was a hard worker and good person and should be sent to an outpatient corrections treatment program, not prison.

Hes learned a serious lesson just from what he has been through in this case, Bunitsky said.

Pierce said he sympathized with the victim and never wished any of this on her or the pain his own family has endured, but said he was not a threat to the community.

Im not some monster that lies in wait, he said. Im a person who is very caring and cares for those around me.

Pierce has been in jail since the jury found him guilty last March. He was allowed to attend a relatives funeral one afternoon but has been jailed for 345 days and was returned there Thursday to await transfer to the Montana Department of Corrections.

Prosecutors say Pierce raped a young woman in her house on a December night in 2019. The woman testified she was too drunk to remember much that night but knows she awoke with a man on top of her and told him to stop.

The woman was in her 20s when the alleged assault took place. The Montana Standard is not naming her to protect potential victims of sexual assault.

Pierces defense attorney during trial, Suzanne Marshall Malloy, told jurors the woman invited Pierce into her home and consented to sex. But Clague said the victim drank so much alcohol, there was no way she could have given consent to sex.

But she could recall waking up, he said, and her accounts of what happened were consistent during two interviews with police and during a rape exam at the hospital. Pierce did not take the stand, and the defense called none of its own witnesses.

Sentencing was postponed several times after the trial and was delayed longer when Bunitsky filed a motion for a new trial in October. Public defenders had transferred the case to Bunitsky after the trial and he claimed jurors discussed the defendants decision not to testify in his own defense during deliberations. Whelan recently rejected the motion.

Christopher Quigley, a forensic examiner who does psychosexual evaluations for the state, told the court Thursday that Pierce indicated no insight, guilt or shame about the events that night and was a moderate risk to reoffend.

Bunitsky had asked for leniency in a recent court filing, saying that while his client does not admit guilt, he feels terrible about what happened and does not blame the victim.

But out of 11 relatives and friends who submitted letters to Whelan on behalf of Pierce, three accused the woman of making false accusations and cast blame on her  something that often angers prosecutors and judges after convictions.

One relative said the conviction was not fair to females who actually have been assaulted and another relative wrote there were a lot of holes in her story and, I just know this is some kind of bulls***.

Clague noted those letters Thursday and said their inclusion in a court filing by the defendant showed that he agreed with them.

The victim  she was concerned that people wouldnt believe her, Clague told the judge. She was concerned about how people would react.

Sure enough, he said, the statements from those relatives blame the victim in this matter.

Whelan did not reference the letters or give any lectures when imposing the sentence, but he had a grim expression during much of the hearing and he refuted a few of the claims Bunitsky made.
The Democrats killed two of my brothers. That was the reply my nine-year-old father received from his great-grandmother on her rural Iowa front porch when he asked her why she was such a strong Republican. Her comment reflected the bitter legacy of the Civil War. As it left the American South solidly Democratic for decades, it also made the Union upper Midwest just as solidly Republican.

My father couldnt remember ever knowing a Democrat until moving to Montana in his early teens.

My mothers family, on the other hand, was greatly benefitted by the New Deal Rural Electrification Administration, and the modernization that the federal government brought to the rural poor.

My dad was a veteran of the European theater in World War II, and a staunch admirer of General Dwight Eisenhower. My mom liked Ike, too, and so I was brought up from my earliest memory as a Republican.

We had no television at our remote farm-ranch northwest of Kalispell, and I became an avid reader. History was what most interested me, and it was then that I discovered my life-long heroes, Abraham Lincoln and Theodore Roosevelt. This was also the time when I was attracted to the square-jawed, straight-talking Republican presidential candidate, Barry Goldwater, whose book, Conscience of a Conservative, I devoured.

Goldwaters book was my first exposure to political theory. I adopted his philosophy that all humans desire to live in freedom, and so they are naturally attracted to free enterprise and repelled by the heavy hand of government control. After rereading "Conscience of a Conservative" again at the time of the rise of Donald Trump, I realized my personal philosophy had adapted and broadened from that of Barry Goldwater, but that at its core it is still much the same.

I also concluded that while Goldwater had a coherent conservative philosophy, Trump seemed to have none. He was all hot button bluster. He had no regard for either the truth or consequences of his performances, and he was not a pimple on the nose of a thinker. Goldwater was primarily a conservative in the classic sense. Trump was a classic demagogue whose only allegiance was to himself. Time has only confirmed that early characterization.

This is the conclusion that my longtime friend, Marc Racicot, and I both came to. In spite of our shared deep Republican ties, we both publicly rebuked Trump, and I declared my independence from the Republican Party at the same time.

While Marc and I were infants 75 years ago in Thompson Falls, we first became acquainted when, as college student leaders, we actively lobbied the legislature to lower the voting age. Weve continued in contact ever since, and we naturally think alike. I have been proud to support him in all his issue oriented and highly principled political campaigns. While anybody might sometimes disagree with Racicot, no one could remotely describe him as a demagogue.

Ive known many leaders in my long life, and Marc Racicot is one of a small handful I consider a great man.

I cant say I was surprised when the Montana Republican Party recently expelled Racicot for being his own man. All the Montana Republican leaders are lapdog-loyal to Trump. An independent thinker is what self-righteous ideologues cant tolerate.

The Republican Big Tent of Ronald Reagan is long gone now. Reagan knew that in a representative democracy, parties reach out for allies; they dont reject them. In a great and diverse democracy, party viability depends on being attentive to the people who make up the broad electorate. In a multi-party parliamentary system, political parties are narrowly focused and highly ideological. In a competitive two-party democracy such as ours, that cant work.

In nondemocratic systems that dont allow free elections, political party membership is selective. Only servile loyalists to the regime are allowed to be members.

Neither multi-party nor undemocratic systems are in the American tradition. Judging from the recent Republican reasoning in their rejection of Racicot, however, either one might be where future Montanans will find themselves.
On the heels of an election in which Montanans rejected putting more restrictions on abortion services, thats unfortunately exactly what the state government is poised to do. If a new rule goes into effect, hundreds of Montanans will see their reproductive freedom taken away, with harms to working families that will last for generations.

Under pressure from the governors office, the Department of Public Health and Human Services announced that they will soon make it virtually impossible for women to use their Medicaid insurance to cover the costs of an abortion. Instead, patients would need to come up with hundreds or even thousands of dollars out-of-pocket  far more than many working Montana families can afford.

Cutting Medicaid coverage for abortions will cause delays in medical treatment. Patients will spend critical time asking for money from friends or family with whom they wouldnt otherwise share their medical decisions, leading to more abortions later in pregnancy.

The rule will also cause serious financial hardship. In a research study I conducted with colleagues in Texas that was published last year in the American Journal of Public Health, we found that many women who had to pay for their abortion out-of-pocket were forced to skip paying for child care, rent, and even groceries so they could save enough cash to pay for an essential medical service.

Im an abortion provider in Montana, and I recently took care of a young woman with Medicaid coverage who lived in her parents home with her two small children. She worked two jobs but was barely making ends meet. She had gotten pregnant despite using birth control (which is common), and she opted to get a medication abortion through a telemedicine service, since that would allow her to avoid driving hundreds of miles to the nearest clinic. Over an encrypted video conferencing line, I determined that the abortion was medically necessary and ensured she met the criteria for telemedicine-based abortion care. She received the medications in the mail the next day, and she had the freedom to choose when to take them. She was able to end her pregnancy when it was still early in her first trimester, and that allowed her to get back to taking care of her family.

Making patients wait to get abortions, as the new DPHHS rule threatens to do, will put hundreds of women at risk of financial hardship and health harms. It also would raise costs for taxpayers, and would fly in the face of Montana voters. Just a few months ago, a majority of Montanans rejected LR 131, a ballot measure written by anti-abortion extremists, despite the fact that the proposal (the Born-Alive Infant Protection Act) was deliberately written to confuse voters.

Ever since the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe vs. Wade last June, every state bordering Montana has tried to ban abortion. (North Dakota and Wyomings abortion bans are currently held up in court, while Idaho and South Dakota have already implemented total bans.)

Fortunately, Montana has a history of protecting its citizens from government overreach. For decades, weve had stronger protections for abortion than our neighboring states, a testament to the importance we place on personal liberty. We shouldnt let a small group of anti-abortion extremists hijack our freedoms and put working families in Montana at risk.
A Davenport man has been sentenced to more than two years in federal prison for lying to a federal grand jury in connection with a weapons and drug trafficking investigation.

During a sentencing hearing held Tuesday in U.S. District Court, Davenport, Chief U.S. District Judge Stephanie Rose sentenced Kaleb James Bentley, 23, to 27 months, or two years and three months, in federal prison.

Bentley will be required to serve three years on supervised release once his prison sentence is completed.

On Oct. 13, 2022, Bentley pleaded guilty to two counts of false declarations before a grand jury.

The case began in May of 2020 as Davenport Police were investigating a number of shots-fired incidents, as well as the trafficking of narcotics in the city.

According to search warrants filed in Scott County District Court by Davenport Police Detective Seth Farley, the Tactical Operations Bureau of the Davenport Police Department was conducting a narcotics and weapons investigation involving Bentley, Leonard Deshawn Boyd, 30, and Leonard Paul Miller III, 31.

According to the search warrants, police used confidential sources to make three controlled buys from the men in February of 2021. The confidential sources purchased marijuana from the men.

Police also were investigating the men and their involvement in a number of shootings incidents in Davenport, including a shooting Dec. 4, 2020, at Kimberly Mart on East Kimberly Road, a Dec. 26, 2020, shooting at Deja Vu Showgirls and a March 9, 2021, shooting at the Dam View Inn.

According to U.S. District Court, Davenport, electronic records, during questioning in front of a federal grand jury on May 11, 2021, Bentley denied knowing Boyd. During questioning on May 13, 2021, he again denied knowing Boyd and then denied knowing Miller.

According to court documents, Bentleys false statements interfered with the grand jurys investigation into drug trafficking and weapons violations in the Iowa Quad-Cities.

On Oct. 2, 2018, Davenport Police arrested Miller in connection with the Sept. 29, 2018, shooting of a man in the 3500 block of Kimberly Downs Road. On April 5, 2019, Miller pleaded guilty to one count of being a felon in possession of a firearm, a Class D felony under Iowa law that carries a prison sentence of five years. He was sentenced to serve two years on supervised probation.

During a hearing May 25, 2021, Millers probation was extended to June 7, 2022. He was released from probation on June 15, 2022.

Boyd was arrested by federal authorities in November 2015 after he provided false information on ATF Form 4473 while attempting to purchase a firearm. According to the U.S. Bureau of Prisons website, Boyd is currently listed as an escapee.
DES MOINES  State lawmakers gave themselves a deadline extension, dragging the final day of action before their first legislative deadline of this years session into the wee hours of Friday morning.

Legislators work spilled over into early Friday as majority Republicans ensured all of their legislative priorities were advanced ahead of the funnel deadline.

From Thursday afternoon, to late Thursday evening, to early Friday morning Republicans passed Gov. Kim Reynolds sweeping state government reorganization bill, legislation impacting LGBTQ students and youth, and gun regulations, among others.

After this weeks legislative funnel, only bills that have passed out of at least one committee can be considered for the rest of the session. But there are exceptions: Budget and tax bills are not subject to the funnel, and leaders have ways to revive legislation later in the session if they want to bring it back.

House Democrats huddled for roughly nine hours to discuss the nearly 1,600-page government reorganization bill. When the meeting resumed, they introduced more than 40 amendments in what they viewed as attempts to improve the bill.

Each of the amendments was defeated on party-line votes, with only Democrats supporting and majority Republicans opposing. Ultimately  and just after midnight  House Study Bill 126 also passed along party lines, with Republicans supporting and Democrats opposing.

An identical bill is moving in the Senate, and both are now eligible for debate on the House and Senate floors.

Democrats expressed myriad concerns with some narrow proposals within the bill, but their overarching criticism was that it yields too much authority to the governor.

Reynolds proposal, which was designed with the help of a Virginia-based consulting firm paid nearly $1 million by the state, would reduce the number of state agencies with directors that answer directly to the governor from 37 to 16, in the process folding other state agencies under those fewer directors.

Tonight it didnt feel like there were three branches of government. Tonight it felt like the legislative branch is an extension of the executive branch, and thats not the way it works, Rep. Eric Gjerde, a Democrat from Cedar Rapids, said during the committee meeting.

Some Democrats argued they would have concerns regardless of who is governor or could be in the future, while others pinned their concerns on Reynolds.

This bill is an incredible overreach of the executive branch and our current sitting Gov. Kim Reynolds, said Rep. Amy Nielsen, a Democrat from North Liberty.

Reynolds issued a statement early Friday praising the bills advancement.

State government should be efficient and effective to best serve the needs of Iowans, Reynolds statement said. Right now, we have a state government that is difficult to navigate and bloated  hindering Iowans and our states growth. This legislation will streamline services, create a clearer path to new opportunities, and save hundreds of millions of dollars for taxpayers.

Reynolds added that she looks forward to seeing the bill pass the Iowa House and Senate soon.

Rep. Jane Bloomingdale, a Republican from Northwood, pledged to work on some of the concerns raised by Democrats and possibly make adjustments to the bill over the next several weeks.

Transgender health care

Bucking impassioned pleas from doctors and transgender youth over the last week, House lawmakers after midnight on Friday advanced a bill that would ban transgender youth from receiving gender-affirming health care.

The move runs contrary to the guidance of major American medical associations and state experts, who say the interventions used to treat transgender youth improve well-being and are often life-saving.

The bill, House Study Bill 214, would ban the use of puberty blockers, hormones and surgeries as a treatment for gender dysphoria for people under 18. Republicans said children should not be making what they call life-altering decisions and suggested transgender kids will abandon their gender identity.

But Democrats said the treatment is a careful decision that is made in conjunction with doctors, and the interventions used in the care, like puberty blockers, are safe.

Rep. Ross Wilburn, a Democrat from Ames and the father of a transgender son, said there is no fast track to the treatment and it is a carefully involved process.

Those of you who have never come across, to your knowledge, someone whos from the transgender community, I invite you between now and the time this hits the floor for debate, if you want to approach me and ask me some questions about the experience, I welcome the conversation, he told supporters of the bill.

The committee passed the bill, 12-8, with Republicans Megan Jones of Sioux Rapids and Brian Lohse of Bondurant joining Democrats in opposing the measure. Jones proposed an amendment that would have allowed the care with parents consent  a practice that already happens  but the amendment failed.

Bathroom bill

Iowa schools would be allowed to bar transgender students from using the bathroom that aligns with their gender identity under a bill the House Judiciary Committee advanced in the early hours on Friday.

House Study Bill 208 states that schools cannot be punished for restricting bathrooms and locker rooms to members of the same biological sex. A Senate committee advanced a bill this week that would enforce that requirement statewide, requiring students to use the school bathroom that aligns with their sex assigned at birth.

While the House bill makes the designation optional, it also allows a person to bring a civil lawsuit against a school if they encounter someone in a bathroom of the opposite sex who the school allowed to access the bathroom, and if they are required to share lodging with a person of the opposite sex.

Rep. Steven Holt, a Republican from Denison and the committees chair, said the bill was an attempt to restore sanity to an increasingly insane world.

Telling children they can choose their gender and use the bathroom with the opposite sex, completely ignoring the rights and concerns of young girls and boys, is an untenable and immoral place to be, Holt said.

Studies have shown transgender students who are denied access to a bathroom that aligns with their gender identity to be at a higher risk for sexual assault, and transgender people in general are far more likely than cisgender people to be victims of sexual assault.

Democratic Rep. Beth Wessel-Kroeschell of Ames said the bill, and others like it, are turning Iowa into a laughing stock and making it hard for businesses to recruit workers to the state.

LGBTQ Iowans are Iowans and we need to treat them fairly, Wessel-Kroeschell said.

The bill passed, 12-8, with Jones and Lohse joining Democrats in opposition.

Gun regulations

Republicans Thursday night also advanced a bill that would allow adults to have a gun in their car while on the grounds of schools and universities, corrections facilities and casinos.

Senate Study Bill 1168 passed out of committee on a party-line vote with Democrats opposed. It is now eligible for consideration and a vote by the full Senate.

The bill would make it permissible to transport and possess a firearm in areas where guns are currently prohibited. That includes:

 The parking lots of schools for people who are licensed to carry a firearm who are dropping off or picking up students, or employees who have other business at the schools.

 The parking lots of workplaces, jails and prisons if the gun is hidden inside a locked vehicle. The bill was amended to clarify that employers can prohibit firearms in an employer-owned vehicle.

 The parking lots of universities and community colleges if the gun is hidden inside a locked vehicle.

 The parking lots of casinos, as well as permitting casinos to allow firearms inside their buildings.

The bill would also allow retired peace officers to carry weapons on school grounds and would enable schools to authorize someone to have a gun inside a school vehicle that transports students.

Employers would be immune from liability for damages that result from any firearm or ammunition brought onto their property by an employee. The bill also includes a provision to prevent insurance companies from denying property or casualty coverage to schools based on the allowance of firearms on school property or in school vehicles, which insurance industry representatives opposed.

Sen. Jason Schultz, R-Schleswig, argued the bill makes more and more of Iowa safer by removing existing gun safe zones where good guys cant have a gun.

So, as we make Iowa more free physically, and stop regulating the law-abiding (gun owner) and not make us vulnerable to the non-law abiding, we will become safer, Schultz said.

Sen. Herman Quirmbach, D-Ames, who voted against advancing the bill, said its problematic to allow weapons on school campuses, noting the spate of school shootings that have occurred across the country over the last two decades, as well as recently in Iowa.

Allowing guns to be anywhere on any type of school is really asking for trouble, Quirmbach said.

Other Senate Democrats echoed those concerns.

We have had far too much gun violence in our state, and it continues to get worse and worse, said Sen. Janet Petersen, D-Des Moines. Im not opposed to people having guns, but I just have real concerns telling insurance companies what they can and cant do, and also not doing all we can to make sure our kids are safe and free from gun violence.

Lawmakers in the House Public Safety committee advanced a companion bill, House Study Bill 173, out of committee on Thursday, which also passed along party lines.

Victim restitution requirements

Judges would be granted some discretion over whether a victim must pay restitution under a bill that passed with bipartisan support out of the Senate Judiciary Committee.

Senate Study Bill 1069 was inspired by the November 2022 case involving a Des Moines woman and sex trafficking victim who killed the man she said had repeatedly raped her. Because of state law, the woman was ordered to pay $150,000 in restitution to the mans estate.

Under the bill, judges would be allowed to consider any criminal offenses committed by the victim against the offender before requiring the offender to pay restitution.

Sen. Brad Zaun, R-Urbandale, the committees chairman, said the bill likely will be amended to narrow its scope and avoid unintended consequences.

Surveying land

The House Judiciary Committee also advanced a bill that would require land surveyors to gain permission before entering land for surveying.

Under current law, surveyors engaged in surveying for buildings or utilities can enter land without gaining permission of the landowner, and the entry is not considered a trespass.

The bill, House File 299, addresses the concerns of some landowners as controversial carbon dioxide pipelines are in the early planning stages in the state. A disputed trespass charge against a surveyor for Summit Carbon Solutions is going to trial this month, and the company has filed lawsuits against landowners who refused entry to their land.

The committee passed the bill,12-6, with two members abstaining.
Bay Area residents and business owners now have until Oct. 16 to file their state and federal income taxes, after California on Thursday matched an extension granted at the federal level by the Internal Revenue Service.

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The IRS last month extended its deadline, for the second time, for California counties affected by severe winter storms. All Bay Area counties  Santa Clara, San Mateo, Alameda, Contra Costa, Solano, San Francisco, Marin, Sonoma, Napa and Santa Cruz  are included in the delay until Oct. 16.

On Thursday, Gov. Gavin Newsom announced that California would follow suit, with residents and business owners in the same counties, including all those in the Bay Area, qualifying for the extension until Oct. 16.

As communities across the state continue recovering from the damage caused by the winter storms, California is working swiftly to help recovering Californians get back on their feet, Newsom said in a news release.

The extension for California tax filing and payments applies to deadlines falling between Jan. 8 and Oct. 16, and covers 2022 individual income tax returns that had been due April 18 and quarterly estimated tax payments that had been due Jan. 17 and April 18.

Earlier extensions at the federal and California level had set a now-obsolete deadline of May 15 for residents of storm-affected counties.

At the federal level, the Oct. 16 deadline applies to 2022 individual income tax returns that had been due April 18 and to 2022 business returns typically due March 15 and April 18. The Oct. 16 deadline also applies to quarterly estimated tax payments previously due on Jan. 17 and April 18. Individual taxpayers paying quarterly estimated taxes can skip making the fourth-quarter payment previously due Jan. 17, and instead include it with their 2022 return due Oct. 16, the IRS said.
LOS ANGELES  Tremendous rains and snowfall since late last year have freed half of California from drought, but low groundwater levels remain a persistent problem, U.S. Drought Monitor data showed Thursday.

The latest survey found that moderate or severe drought covers about 49% of the state, nearly 17% of the state is free of drought or a condition described as abnormally dry. The remainder is still abnormally dry.

Clearly the amount of water that's fallen this year has greatly alleviated the drought, said Daniel Swain, a climate scientist at UCLA. It has not ended the drought completely but we're in a very different place than we were a year ago.

Just three months ago virtually all of California was in drought, including at extreme and exceptional levels. Water agencies serving millions of people, agriculture and industry were told to expect only a fraction of requested allocations.

The turnabout began with a series of atmospheric rivers that pounded the state from late December through mid-January, building a huge Sierra Nevada snowpack. After a few largely dry weeks, powerful storms returned in February. Water authorities began boosting allocations.

The monitor shows three regions have received the most benefit from copious precipitation, including snowfall measured in feet rather than inches.

The central Sierra and foothills are now free of drought or abnormal dryness for the first time since January 2020, the monitor said. The Central Coast from Monterey Bay to Los Angeles County is also now drought-free, along with two counties on the far North Coast.

The rain has improved California soil moisture and streamflow levels, while the snow has increased mountain snowpack to much above-normal levels, the monitor said. Most California reservoirs have refilled with water levels near or above average, but groundwater levels remain low and may take months to recover.

As of Thursday, the water content of the Sierra snowpack, which provides about a third of California's water, was 170% of the historical average on April 1, when it is normally at its peak, according to the state Department of Water Resources.

Swain said the snowpack could become the largest ever observed in parts of California. The outlook calls for a continuing wet pattern, particularly for northern parts of the state, and more feet of snow, he said.

The snowpack potentially could face threats such as early heat waves or, as some forecast models have hinted, a warm atmospheric river that could cause melting and flooding. Swain said California is expected to remain cold and the likelihood of the atmospheric river is very low.

I think that snowpack is going to take well through the summer to melt and ... some shaded patches might still be there next autumn, he said.

While reservoirs have been filling from shockingly low levels, recovery has not been uniform as demonstrated by the state's two largest water storage facilities. Lake Oroville, 65 miles north of Sacramento, is at 73% of capacity, 116% of average to date. Another 90 miles north, Lake Shasta is only 60% full, 84% of average to date.

Swain said he expects Shasta to get good inflows during snowmelt season because the snowpack there is slightly above average although not exceptional.

The U.S. Drought Monitor is a joint project of the National Drought Mitigation Center at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and the U.S. Department of Agriculture.
For five of the past six years, heavy smoke from nearby wildfires has engulfed vineyards full of grapes that Ashley Egelhoff depends on to produce her wine.

While some wine drinkers may enjoy a little smokiness in their Zinfandel, too much can render a bottle kaput. When grapes are exposed to wildfire smoke, they soak it up like a sponge. That creates a condition known as smoke taint, which can make a glass of wine taste like its been burnt  or worse, served directly from an ashtray, according to vintners and researchers.

Egelhoff, the winemaker at Honig Vineyard & Winery in Rutherford, has been forced to forfeit entire vintages and sell wine in bulk rather than bottle it, curtailing the companys overall inventory and earnings. To limit the fallout, Egelhoff is using her own process to gauge the smoke exposure in her grapes.

Egelhoffs team ferments a small sample of grapes in a mason jar for three days and then performs a taste test. Depending on the level of smokiness, theyll decide whether or not the grapes are too damaged to meet the brands standards.

It gives us as winemakers a comfort level, but the problem is that we dont have a common language to communicate that to a grower and you can run into issues with insurance and contracts, she said. What we really need is a better screening method that allows everyone to be in agreement.

As catastrophic wildfires become a norm across an extremely parched Golden State, vintners seek answers to help the California's famed grape and wine industry endure the effects of climate change. Specifically, theyre asking the state to invest in research to answer some of the industrys most pressing questions, including how to know which grapes have suffered damage, what level of harmful compounds can the grapes sustain before they become tainted, and whether there are any ways to prevent smoke taint ahead of a wildfire.

The industry is in urgent need of these answers, said Noelle Cremers, director of environmental and regulatory affairs for the Wine Institute. Helping maintain the viability of the industry and not having these significant losses from wildfires is important for the state.

Assemblymember Cecilia Aguiar-Curry, D-Winters, is hoping to help California vintners gain that clarity.

Aguiar-Curry has introduced Assembly Bill 54, which would require the states Department of Food and Agriculture to fund research on smoke taint in wine, including methods to alleviate and prevent damage to grapes and finished wine. The bill requests that the Legislature set aside $5 million in the budget to create a new funding source for this research.

The bill marks Aguiar-Currys second attempt at such legislation. Last year, her proposal died in the Assembly Appropriations Committee.

Were seeing those losses repeated with every new destructive wildfire, Aguiar-Curry said. Our grape growers need to know how to prepare and mitigate. If we have more data tools and research, it helps us get in front of the problem.

Research examines wildfire smoke impact on wine grapes

Some of this research is already taking place.

In 2021, a coalition of researchers at Oregon State University, Washington State University and UC Davis received a four-year, $7.65 million grant from the U.S. Department of Agriculture to study the impact of smoke exposure on grapes.

Anita Oberholster, one of the lead researchers, is training students to help examine grapes in Napa and Sonoma counties and analyze how much exposure to harmful compounds renders the grapes tainted. Although the federal grant may help answer some of the vintners questions, its not enough, she said, to cover them with the urgency deserved.

When you divide (the grant) across three states and four years, then suddenly its not that much money anymore, Oberholster said. It limits the amount of progress you can make.

With more funding, Oberholster said they could expand their trials beyond the Napa and Sonoma region  and likely speed up the time it will take to find solutions for vintners.

I know that there are a lot of very important issues out there but the wine and grape industry is an important one for California, she said. I think they deserve more attention.

The economic impact of Californias wine industry

California produces more than 80% of the wine made in the U.S. The states wine and grape sector contributes $73 billion annually to Californias economy, according to a 2022 report commissioned by the Wine Institute and the California Association of Winegrape Growers.

But the states wine regions, known for their ideal grape-growing climates, are now routinely facing threats of wildfires.

Damage caused by fires in 2020  when an unprecedented burst of August lightning strikes sparked catastrophic wildfires across the state  cost Californias wine industry as much as $3.7 billion, according to an estimate from former wine industry executive Jon Moramarco, owner of the market research firm bw166.

The re-introduction of Aguiar-Currys bill comes as the state is eyeing a projected $22.5 billion budget deficit, which means any new funding request will be scrutinized closely. Even so, the Assembly member said she will be working hard to educate her colleagues on the industrys value and the importance of additional research.

This industry employs thousands of people  the growers, producers, those trucking and shipping the products, she said. We want to help keep these people employed and give people the best-quality products.

Wine Shops in the Napa Valley
Pacific Gas & Electric Co. cleared a major hurdle Thursday in its bid to operate the Diablo Canyon nuclear plant beyond 2025, with a federal agency ruling that PG&E can keep the reactors humming while the company navigates a lengthy relicensing process.

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The decision by the federal Nuclear Regulatory Commission comes six months after California lawmakers overwhelmingly approved a bill aimed at keeping Diablo Canyon running until 2030  five years past its current scheduled shutdown date.

Gov. Gavin Newsom has argued the state still needs the nuclear plant  its single largest electricity source  to help keep the lights on as global warming drives higher demand for air conditioning, and as California increasingly relies on solar farms that stop generating electricity after sundown. Two evenings of brief rolling blackouts in August 2020  and several close calls since then  have highlighted the need for climate-friendly energy sources that can be counted on 24/7.

U.S. Sen. Dianne Feinstein, who previously supported Diablo Canyon's shutdown but changed her mind last year, praised the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.

"This decision will allow Diablo Canyon to serve as a bridge to a clean-energy future, maintaining a reliable source of carbon-free power as we continue to invest in renewable energy," Feinstein said in a written statement.

The California Energy Commission agrees. The agency ruled this week that keeping Diablo running through 2030 is needed to ensure electric reliability.

"As California confronts a rapidly changing climate, extraordinary heat events and record energy demand are becoming increasingly ordinary. The state needs to keep all options on the table to protect public health and safety," said Siva Gunda, the Energy Commission's vice chair, in a written statement. "This includes maintaining Diablo Canyon's operations."

It's not yet certain that the reactors will be allowed to keep humming past 2025. Under last year's Diablo Canyon bill, several state agencies still must sign off on the plant's continued operation, including the Public Utilities Commission, the Coastal Commission and the State Lands Commission. Final approved from the federal government isn't guaranteed, either.

But it's looking likely that nuclear power will remain part of the state's energy mix, at least through the end of the decade.

The Biden administration announced in November that it would give PG&E a $1.1 billion loan to help the utility cover the costs of federal relicensing, as well as maintenance, fuel purchases and additional on-site storage for radioactive waste.

A poll last year co-sponsored by the Los Angeles Times found that 39% of California voters opposed shutting down Diablo, compared with 33% who supported closure  a dramatic change from earlier decades, when the public largely opposed atomic energy.

Nuclear critics continue to argue that the technology is fundamentally unsafe.

They note that Diablo Canyon sits near several seismic fault lines along the Central Coast in San Luis Obispo County. PG&E says the plant would handle an earthquake just fine, but critics worry about the possibility of a meltdown spreading deadly radiation  a scenario that calls to mind previous nuclear disasters at Chernobyl in Ukraine, Three Mile Island in Pennsylvania and Fukushima in Japan.

Nuclear waste is another concern. In the absence of a permanent storage repository for spent fuel, radioactive waste is piling up at power plants across the country, including the shuttered San Onofre facility along the coast in San Diego County.

Three anti-nuclear groups  San Luis Obispo Mothers for Peace, Friends of the Earth and the Environmental Working Group  filed a petition with the Nuclear Regulatory Commission last month urging the agency to deny PG&E's bid to keep Diablo Canyon running after the plant's licenses expire. The groups wrote that completing a full relicensing review, including public hearings, "is essential to assure that continued operation of the reactors will be safe for the public and the environment."

"There is absolutely no precedent for the exemption requested by PG&E," Diane Curran, legal counsel for Mothers for Peace, said in a written statement last month. "The (Nuclear Regulatory Commission) has never allowed a reactor to operate past its license expiration dates without thoroughly assessing the safety and environmental risks. And it must do so in this case too."

Federal regulations normally require that nuclear relicensing applications be filed at least five years before a power plant's license expires. At Diablo Canyon, the license for one reactor expires in November 2024, and the other in August 2025.

But the Nuclear Regulatory Commission granted PG&E's request for an exemption, ruling the company can keep Diablo operating during the relicensing process as long as the company submits a sufficient license renewal application by Dec. 31, 2023.

The commission "determined that the exemption is authorized by law" and "will not present undue risk to the public health and safety," the agency said in a written statement. Commission staff also concluded that Diablo Canyon's continued operation "is in the public interest because of serious challenges to the reliability of California's electricity grid," the statement said.

The commission's license renewal process typically takes 22 months, the agency noted. That means at least one of the Diablo Canyon reactors could end up running for a full year while the commission decides whether to renew its license.

Keeping Diablo open "is critical in the context of making sure we have energy reliability," Newsom said last year, during a brutal heat wave. "That energy does not produce greenhouse gases. That energy provides baseload and reliability and affordability that will complement and allow us to stack all of the green energy that we're bringing online at record rates."

The nuclear plant supplies about 9% of California's total electricity and 17% of its climate-friendly electricity.

But atomic energy is far from the state's only option for keeping the lights on while phasing out fossil fuels. In 2021, the Public Utilities Commission ordered utilities and local governments to buy 11,500 megawatts of new clean power resources by 2026 to help replace Diablo Canyon and four Southern California gas plants. Those resources will include a large number of batteries to store solar power for after dark. Just last week, the agency ordered an additional 4,000 megawatts of new clean power.

Nuclear power critics say the state could shut down Diablo on schedule with more support for batteries and geothermal energy, as well as programs that pay homes to use less energy, and efforts to coordinate electricity supplies more closely with other states.

"This isn't a question of nuclear power versus renewable energy. This is a question about the safety and reliability of the California energy grid, and where it needs to go," Erich Pica, president of Friends of the Earth, told The Times last year.

Revisiting the decision to close Diablo Canyon wasn't PG&E's idea. In 2016, the company struck a deal with environmental groups to get out of the nuclear business  a deal the utility intended to keep until Newsom proposed throwing it out last year.

Since then, PG&E has endorsed the governor's efforts.

"We are proud of the role (Diablo Canyon) plays as the state's largest clean energy producer, providing reliable, affordable, carbon-free energy to the people of California," PG&E Chief Nuclear Officer Paula Gerfen said in a written statement.
Who stays with one employer for 50 years? Very few. Our society doesnt work that way these days.

People jump around. Better jobs, better pay.

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I guess I didnt get the memo. This week marks my 50th year drawing a Register paycheck. I did it for 48 years as a full-time employee, and now as a freelancer, producing this weekly column and the occasional business story.

When I came to the paper in March 1973 from the Fairfield Daily Republic, I didnt intend to stay forever. I would gain experience and move on to a bigger paper.

Only my plan was terribly vague. As an East Coast guy new to marriage, I was happy just being out of school, out of the Army and working in the Bay Area.

Napa reminded me of places Id lived back East. It had a strong sense of community. History was baked into downtown and the adjacent neighborhoods.

And the Register was awesome. The production plant covered an entire city block. The newsroom was chock full of reporters, designers and photographers. It felt like big-time newspapering to me, a guy whod never taken a journalism class.

I liked my early crime and education beats, but the best was yet to come: general assignment. For years I could basically go anywhere, do anything. Remember those Phantom Fork reviews? That was me.

Reporting is a sublimely wonderful job. You learn the news before anyone else. People high and low want to talk to you. Work is full of surprises.

And they even pay you!

Granted, the Register didnt pay me much. Fortunately, Ive had two wives who earned considerably more than I. Thanks to them, I could buy a house here, raise two children here, save for their college, plan for retirement  all without financial pressure to move up to a larger paper.

I did try to make the big time in those early years. Most particularly, I tried to get on with the Sacramento Bee.

When the Bee wouldnt pick me, I decided, what the heck, Ill stay put. This was not an anguished decision. There are a million worse places for a career than Napa.

Stated more positively, Napa was quite wonderful when I arrived and would remain so, the yoyo-ing fortunes of downtown not withstanding.

The days of local ownership had ended before I got here. I experienced being part of the Scripps family chain, the Pulitzer chain and now the Lee Enterprises chain. Its all meant very little to me, a reporter working a beat.

A bigger factor was the constant churning of the newsroom staff. I count eight editors, nearly two dozen city editors and more than 200 other cohorts over the five decades.

Several went on to stellar positions at major papers, but a high percentage eventually left the profession. They became public information officers, musicians, gamblers, cops, financial analysts, insurance agents, stay-at-home moms, professors and even a lifestyle guru.

As a left-behind, I was forever introducing myself to new hires who got younger as I got older. It was weird  and at times disconcerting.

One constant over the past half century were Mother Natures upheavals  fires, floods and earthquakes. For the community, the worst of times. For journalists, the most heroic. Gotta go, family. Id like to help sweep up the broken glass, but the paper needs me!

The 2014 Napa earthquake was the Registers finest hour. We had to evacuate our home at Second and Wilson  forever, as it turned out  and put out the paper for nearly two years from a cluster of trailers in the parking lot. The experience was stressful, but not to be avoided. We did ourselves proud.

The 21st century delivered a more insidious blow to all newspapers. The internet siphoned off classified advertising; readers turned to new online news sources. For the Register, this has meant downsizing and operating more strategically from new offices on Soscol Avenue.

Becoming city editor in these conditions was a great honor. My crew was asked to punch above their weight and generally did.

When my grandchildren are old enough, I must sit them down and talk about the old days, a time when households got the paper delivered six afternoons a week by youth carriers. (Sundays came later, as did the switch to morning publication.)

And the Register operated its own presses whose thunderous roar shook visiting adults and children to their very core.

And how gramps started out on a manual typewriter and a glue pot  the original cut and paste  and expected to move up to an electric, but instead got a plastic box put on his desk in the mid-1980s  an early word processor.

This was journalism at the dawn of the modern world. Co-workers still smoked at their desks and the Napa Valley name hadnt yet come to represent the pinnacle of the good life. I sensed the changes to come when the word Valley was shoehorned into the Registers historic name.

I shall close on an upbeat note. While the media landscape today is unrecognizable from what it was a half century ago, community journalism remains a priceless local asset. The press runs may be shorter, but the eyeballs attracted to Register stories at napavalleyregister.com is vast and expanding.

In short, journalists make a difference; the Register makes a difference.
Group brawl due to traffic accident

SK military prevent North Korean patrol chasing boat

Russian peacekeepers celebrate Easter in Artsakh

Traffic on Getap-Martuni road one-way due to risk of bridge collapse

RA Ministry of Finance delegation visits Washington

$230 million damage to Artsakh economy due to blockade

The Danish ambassador was summoned to the Turkish Foreign Ministry: Ankara has made a demand

Bloomberg: New pandemic possible in coming decade

44-year-old man found hanging from a tree

Yerevan Metro Police detain armed young man

Poland receives Bayraktar from Turkey

4.2 magnitude earthquake in Turkish Adana

Ukraine preparing a counteroffensive

Azerbaijani Armed Forces open fire at Sotk Gold Mine

Sudanese army blocks presidential palace entrances in Khartoum

No safety threat to Azerbaijani athletes nor could there ever be

Dozens of Tegh families in difficult social situation

12 patients transported from Artsakh to Armenia, 8  back in Artsakh

Azerbaijan and Iran FMs announce possible continuation of negotiations

Tigran Abrahamyan: Citizens of Artsakh remain alone in their worries

Azerbaijani athletes to leave EWF Championships

Suspect of Wakayama incident arrested

Macron signs pension reform bill

Aram Nikolyan: My only desire is to ensure that Azerbaijan's flag doesn't fly in Yerevan

IMF and World Bank unable to reach agreement on communique

Biden demands stricter protection of secret information

Moodys reaffirms "Export Insurance Agency of Armenia"s rating

The newly appointed Human Rights Defender conducted fact-finding activities in Tegh village

Armenia ambassador to Canada, newly elected mayor of Ottawa discuss cooperation

Investigative Committee: Criminal proceeding launched into wounded soldiers case

Woman who threw umbrella at Armenia premier is charged

Zakharova responds to Armenia parliament majority faction secretary: They probably mistranslated it to him

shamshyan.com: Man found dead, car found on train tracks in Yerevan

Matviyenko: Russia hopes Armenia-Azerbaijan peace treaty will be signed soon as possible

Armenia, Russia FMs discuss matter of Yerevan-Baku relations normalization

Smart solution from AraratBank: electric car loans at an interest rate starting at 9%

Armenian legislature speaker: We call on international community to clearly condemn Azerbaijan aggressive actions

Ameriabank CEO Artak Hanesyan sums up Triple Best campaign: We believe in potential of our team, Armenia

Armenia MOD: Soldier wounded by own weapon

Karabakh NSS deputy director, head of presidential Central Information Department are dismissed

Armenia official: I wouldn't call this a vector change, I would call it a search for certain security guarantees

Armenia parliament speaker expresses concern to Ashimbayev regarding Kazakhstan collaboration with Azerbaijan

Armenia, Russia FMs meet in Uzbekistan

GeoProMining Gold develops social cooperation with Ararat region

Armenia Security Council chief briefs OSCE Minsk Group US co-chair on Azerbaijan provocation near Tegh village

CIS FMs next meeting slated for October in Kyrgyzstan

Armenia Security Council secretary: International presence needed to resolve many security issues in Karabakh

Armenia ruling force lawmaker: PMs orders are mandatory for execution

Armenia police hand over Azerbaijani found in Kapan city area to National Security Service

Security Council head on CSTO: Not possible that Armenia be offered arms, ammunition help and it refuses

Armenia ruling force MP to Zakharova: If we hadn't fought, given casualties, Russia MFA could call as much as it wants

USD depreciating against several other major currencies

Armenia Security Council chief on Azerbaijan border stability: We expect Brussels to take appropriate steps

Armenia Security Council head: There were arrangements with Azerbaijan but most of them were broken

CIS FMs to hold meeting in Uzbekistan

Armenia Security Council chief: Azerbaijan is preparing for military escalation

Newspaper: Army General Staff chief admits that Tegh village incident was Armenian sides omission as well

Armenia MOD: Sanitary vehicle staff not hospitalized

shamshyan.com: Armenia MOD driver, 2 medical assistants hospitalized after truck, MOD sanitary vehicle collide

Brazil's president in China called for abandoning the dollar

Artsakh's Ombudsman expresses dissatisfaction to OSCE chairman for attitude of international community

Ararat Mirzoyan will go on a working visit to Uzbekistan

Police and demonstrators clash on the 12th day of demonstrations in France

Anahit Manasyan had a phone conversation with the Human Rights Ombudsman of Artsakh

The 12th protest against pension reform takes place in France

Russia MOD: No ceasefire violations recorded in Karabakh during last 24 hours

Lemkin Institute issues statement on Azerbaijan noncompliance with ICJ order to unblock Lachin corridor

MFA: Shushi is Artsakhs integral part in territorial, cultural, economic, historical aspects

An earthquake of magnitude 4.3 occurred in southeastern Turkey

Charles Michel explains his activeness in Armenia-Azerbaijan relations normalization process

Armenia PM to Bujar Osmani: This visit is good opportunity to get familiarized with complicated situation

South Korea bans its citizens from traveling to Armenia-Azerbaijan border region

Karabakh President convenes working consultation, security challenges discussed

OSCE Chairman-in-Office: I am here to find out if there is possibility to build bridges between Yerevan and Baku

Armenia PM chief of staff: Azerbaijanis are already in Yerevan, we have ensured their safety

Chairman-in-Office: OSCE toolkit provides mechanisms to assist peace process between Armenians and Azerbaijanis

Osmani: We are ready for any efforts to achieve positive dynamics between Azerbaijan and Armenia

Armenia FM: Replacing army with guards on Azerbaijan border should be part of final settlement

Armenia MFA: Rumors about OSCE Minsk Group activities termination are greatly exaggerated

168.am: Who is the Azerbaijani already rendered ineffective in Armenia? What does he say in video?

Armenia village youth tell how they caught Azerbaijani

Armenia Investigative Committee issues statement on murder of security guard, 56, in Syunik Province

Azerbaijani who crossed border into Armenia is caught by locals, found in Achanan village territory

2nd Azerbaijan soldier found, detained in Armenia

Armenian health minister: Wounded soldier in critical condition due to Azerbaijan provocation has stabilized

Which Armenia company is put on US sanctions list?

Premier: Armenia ready for reopening of transport links, delimitation of borders

Pashinyan: We are ready to withdraw troops to safe distance along Armenia-Azerbaijan 1991 border

Armenia to have trade attache in Germany

Azerbaijan MFA accuses France foreign ministry of smear campaign and unfair position

Armenia PM: It failed to deploy border guards without escalation of tension

Newly elected Armenia ombudsperson announces her priority objective in this capacity

Armenia deputy PM, US Deputy Secretary of Treasury acknowledge high level of cooperation between both countries

Newspaper: Karabakh soldiers who showed necessary resistance to Azerbaijan military are rewarded

Armenia FM, OSCE Chairperson-in-Office tete-a-tete kicks off (PHOTOS)

Armenia deputy PM, USAID official discuss opportunities for deepening cooperation

Mher Grigoryan, Todd Robinson exchange views on ongoing democratic reforms in Armenia

Armenia FM to Derek Hogan: Provocation near Tegh village was another manifestation of Azerbaijan aggressive policy

shamshyan.com: Murder in Armenias Syunik Province, 6 gunshot wounds found on body of security guard, 57

US State Department on Armenias Tegh village incident: Use of force to resolve disputes is unacceptable
We follow the economic numbers, but it is important for us not only to look at the comparisons, we hope that these principles are followed. German Chancellor Olaf Scholz announced this Thursday during the joint news conference with visiting Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan in Berlin, referring to the remark that Armenia's trade with Russia has increased, which may be part of circumventing sanctions against Russia.

Pashinyan also addressed this issue, stating: "Of course, according to our practice, as a democratic country for which transparency is very important, we have told all our Western partners and keep telling them that we are transparent in this matter. Yes, the numbers are changing, they are changing all over the world because the logistics chains, the relationships are changing. Not only the imports from the EU to Armenia have increased, but also the exports of Armenia to the EU countries because we are interested in establishing relations with the EU.

As for talk of circumventing sanctions, they are nothing but talk, the reality is just the opposite. Last spring, a western owner took an aircraft used by one of the Russian airlines from Armenia. I think this is a direct example when we have shown that respecting all our partners, the legality of actions and activities is of fundamental importance."

Pashinyan does not think that a country with such a case can be blamed for any other shady circumstances. On the other hand, the Prime Minister emphasized that they will follow the events with all their attention to help the private sector not to engage in such activities that could spoil Armenia's relations with any partner.
Artsakh (Nagorno-Karabakh) Minister of State Gurgen Nersisyan is concerned about the problems related to overcoming the consequences of Artsakhs ongoing blockade by Azerbaijan. The newly appointed state minister informed about this at the meeting with businessmen Thursday.

"Yesterday and today I spent the whole day studying the economic and also problems related to overcoming the consequences of the blockade created in Artsakh. During that time, many problems and concerns arose for me. I wanted to collect information from you, as the primary beneficiaries and economic entities most deeply informed about the problems, so it is possible to choose the most correct, most objective approaches and options in the shortest possible timein terms of speed and organization of work," said Nersisyan.

Businessmen presented their views on the created situation. Minister of State Nersisyan expressed his satisfaction with the establishment of the "Union of Artsakh Businessmen" NGO and emphasized the creation of a unit that consolidates the business environment.

The existence of that union will allow having more direct contact with businessmen, having a platform to discuss drafts of the government's acts related to entrepreneurship in that framework as well.

During the meeting, matters related to the support programs that are introduced to mitigate the economic and social consequences of the blockade were also discussed.
The Security Council of Artsakh (Nagorno-Karabakh) issued a statement on Friday regarding the meeting with the Azerbaijani side.

We inform that in accordance with the decision made at the session of the Security Council of the Republic of Artsakh on February 28, 2023, a working group has been established, the purpose of which is to discuss URGENT humanitarian issues with the Azerbaijani side. The head of the group is Samvel Shahramanyan, Secretary of the Security Council of the Republic of Artsakh. In accordance with the agreement reached through mediation of the command staff of the peacekeeping troops of the Russian Federation deployed in the Republic of Artsakh, on March 1, 2023, at 11 a.m., a meeting was held at the headquarters of the peacekeeping mission with participation of the commander of the troops, Major General Andrey Volkov, which was attended by a similar working group formed by the Republic of Azerbaijan, headed by Ramin Mammadov, member of the Milli Majlis of Azerbaijan. The following issues were on the meeting agenda:

1. Ensuring uninterrupted supply of natural gas to the Republic of Artsakh and excluding further disruption of the gas supply;

2. Ensuring the possibility of inspecting the section of the only high-voltage line entering Artsakh from the Republic of Armenia, which is under the control of the Azerbaijani armed forces, in order to carry out restoration works by the specialists of "Artsakh Energy" CJSC and restore the electricity supply to the Republic of Artsakh;

3. Conducting a one-time visual tour by an Azerbaijani specialized group on the territories of Kashen and Drmbon mines;

4. Complete opening of the Stepanakert-Goris highway.

In the opening remarks, the commander of the peacekeeping troops presented the participants of the meeting as parties of the Republic of Artsakh and the Republic of Azerbaijan. After that, the head of the Artsakh group clarified to the Azerbaijani side the powers of the group he leads, that is the discussion of the above-mentioned specific issues and finding solutions on them. At the beginning of the discussions, the head of the Azerbaijani group tried to lead the conversation towards the need for integration of Artsakh people with Azerbaijan, presenting prospects of obtaining possible socio-economic benefits in that case. However, the head of the Artsakh group called for discussion on clearly defined issues. The latter also emphasized that these contacts on urgent humanitarian and infrastructural issues cannot address the main issues of comprehensive settlement of the conflict, and for this it is necessary to establish a format with broad international support.

It should be noted that the other members of the Azerbaijani group were engaged in the discussion of the above-mentioned four specific issues and the search for solutions, accordingly, the subsequent course of the meeting was fully complied with the framework defined by the agenda. As a result of the discussion of all the above-mentioned issues, specific agreements were reached, which the Azerbaijani side undertook to report to the higher authorities, and in the coming days to inform the Artsakh side about the results through the peacekeeping mission. During the meeting, an agreement was reached on establishment of the stable two-way communication mechanism between the parties. At the meeting, the parties agreed to publish only general information for the time being, given that the process is still in the working stage. However, shortly after the meeting, the head of the Azerbaijani group gave interviews on various information platforms of his country, in which he spread disinformation, completely deviating from the actual content and process, in particular announcing that the meeting discussed "issues of the reintegration of the Armenian population of the Karabakh region into Azerbaijan." Unfortunately, some representatives of the Armenian media took this trick of Azerbaijani officials and media, thereby creating a false impression that issues related to the comprehensive settlement of the conflict are allegedly being discussed in Artsakh-Azerbaijani contacts. Meanwhile, as we mentioned, the meeting on March 1, in which the commander of the Russian peacekeeping troops participated as well, was dedicated only to the discussion of steps aimed at lifting the blockade of Artsakh and relating issues. Another misinformation of Azerbaijan, according to which the next meeting of the official representatives of the parties "may take place in Ganja or Aghdam" and without the participation of the Russian peacekeeping troops, is without substance as well. We urge the public not to succumb to the fabrications of the Azerbaijani propaganda machine and to be sure that the public will be given exhaustive information about the above-mentioned process and its results, the statement reads.
Leninsky District Court of Belarusian capital Minsk published the verdict of the defendants in the Viasna Human Rights Center case, BelTA.

The defendants, including 2022 Nobel Peace Prize laureate Ales Bialiatski, were sentenced to 7-10 years in prison. Bialiatski was sentenced to ten years in prison.

Viasna human rights center was established in April 1996 during the political crisis, which arose as a result of the confrontation of the Belarusian Supreme Council and the Constitutional Court with President Alexander Lukashenko.

The organization was headquartered in Minsk and controlled several regional offices. But in March 2021 it was investigated for "protest financing" after the 2020 presidential election. As part of the investigation, searches were conducted in the apartments of the members of the organization and in the offices of the regional departments of the center. The employees of Viasna were summoned for questioning, and later the Telegram account of the organization was recognized as extremist.

Ales Bialiatski, 60, was one of the founders of Viasna Human Rights Center and continued to be the president of the center for many years. After the 2020 protests, he was arrested within the criminal case of "organizing protests" and "tax evasion." Amnesty International recognized Bialiatski as a prisoner of conscience. Last year, the Nobel Committee noted that his work shows the importance of civil society for peace and democracy.

Ales Bialiatski received the Nobel Peace Prize last October, together with the Russian "Memorial" was recognized foreign agent and eliminated in Russiaand the Ukrainian "Civil Liberties Center." The Nobel Committee had explained its aforesaid selection by desiring to pay tribute to three outstanding fighters for human rights, democracy, and peaceful coexistence in neighboring countriesBelarus, Russia, and Ukraine.
Customs seize HK$15m worth of opium

Officers say they found the suspected drug in a shipment that arrived from Pakistan. Photo courtesy of the Customs Department

Customs officers on Friday said they have seized what they believe to be HK$15 million worth of opium from a shipment that arrived from Pakistan by air in January.



Authorities said they had found around 5,600 plastic bottles filled with the suspected drug inside boxes that were declared to contain "herbal products".



Around 130kg of drugs were seized, and officials say investigations are ongoing.



Separately, authorities said they're also probing a case involving around HK$9.8 million worth of suspected ketamine that was seized at the airport last November



They said the drugs, weighing about 16kg, were hidden inside a parcel of cables from Belgium.
The logistics impediments such as availability of containers, among others, have been smoothened out, the ministry said in a release Thursday.

India's tea exports have been competing strongly in the international markets and have been able to create a niche for themselves.

India is the second largest tea producer and largest black tea producer with production at around 1,350 million kg and is self-sufficient to meet domestic requirements and export obligations.

India is also the largest consumer of black tea and consumes around 18 per cent of the total world tea consumption.

Indian teas are exported to various destinations and are the fourth largest tea exporter catering to a large number of domestic consumers.

The Indian tea Industry employs 1.16 million workers directly and an equal number of people are associated with it indirectly.

India as a whole contributes 23 per cent to the global tea output. (ANI)
New Delhi [India], March 3 (ANI/PRNewswire): HarperCollins India is delighted to announce the acquisition of a 3-book crime thriller series by master storyteller and author of the bestselling Bharat series, Ashwin Sanghi. The series introduces the flawed but brilliant ex-cop Prakash Kadam, or 'Kutta' Kadam, as he is known among his fellow policemen and associates, and follows his exploits as he hunts down criminals on Mumbai's streets. The series will feature the enigmatic ex-cop 'Kutta' Kadam, with Book #1 slated for release in January 2024. Talking about the series, Ashwin Sanghi says, "My readers know me for my Bharat Series in the Indic space. While new books in the Bharat Series will continue to appear at intervals of every two years as usual, I will now also give my readers a series of books in an entirely new crime thriller series every alternate year, starting in 2024. As you know, I had co-written two crime thrillers along with James Patterson in 2014 and 2017. Both these titles became international bestsellers. The new series, titled 'Kutta Kadam', is my first solo outing in the crime thriller genre and I hope that these books and their future web series adaptations will keep my fans engrossed. I am truly delighted that HarperCollins India will be the publishing home for this exciting new series of books." Poulomi Chatterjee, Publisher at HarperCollins India, says, "We are delighted to announce a new series by Ashwin Sanghi, the author of the much-lauded and hugely popular Bharat series of books. When we got news of Ashwin's plans for a set of crime novels featuring a certain 'Kutta Kadam', we knew we had yet another winner on our hands. Baffling crimes, twisted minds, cat-and-mouse games, a flawed but spike-sharp investigator, and Ashwin's deft touch to make each book unputdownable - these thrillers promise it all! Watch this space for more!" ABOUT THE SERIES The series begins with a bizarre case of ritually slayed corpses piling up in Mumbai, driving law enforcers to their wits' end, until it falls upon disgraced former cop, Prakash Kadam, aka 'Kutta Kadam', to stop the madness. Assisting Kadam on these investigations are his daughter, Ketul, and his only friend in the police force, Sharad Rane. Navigating a rocky personal life, and a city rocked by crimes featuring all manner of perversions, 'Kutta Kadam' is the perfectly flawed yet precociously sharp investigator whose dogged pursuit of the twisted cases he encounters promises to keep readers hooked till the last page. The series will kick off with three books - each one focused on a different case and Kadam's investigation of it. Each book will be accompanied by a new season of a web series. ABOUT THE AUTHOR Ashwin Sanghi is among India's highest-selling English fiction authors. He has written several bestsellers in the Bharat Series (The Rozabal Line, Chanakya's Chant, The Krishna Key, The Sialkot Saga, Keepers of the Kalachakra, The Vault of Vishnu, and The Magicians of Mazda) and two New York Times bestselling crime thrillers with James Patterson, Private India (sold in the US as City on Fire) and Private Delhi (sold in the US as Count to Ten). He has also co-authored several non-fiction titles in the 13 Steps Series on Luck, Wealth, Marks, Health and Parenting. Ashwin has been included by Forbes India in their Celebrity 100 and by The New Indian Express in their Culture Power List. He is a winner of the Crossword Popular Choice Award 2012, Atta Galatta Popular Choice Award 2018, WBR Iconic Achievers Award 2018, the Lit-O-Fest Literature Legend Award 2018 and the Kalinga Popular Choice Award 2021. He was educated at Cathedral and John Connon School, Mumbai, and St Xavier's College, Mumbai. He holds a Master's degree from Yale University. HarperCollins India publishes some of the finest writers from the Indian Subcontinent and around the world, publishing approximately 200 new books every year, with a print and digital catalogue of more than 2,000 titles across 10 imprints. Its authors have won almost every major literary award including the Man Booker Prize, JCB Prize, DSC Prize, New India Foundation Award, Atta Galatta Prize, Shakti Bhatt Prize, Gourmand Cookbook Award, Publishing Next Award, Tata Literature Live! Award, Gaja Capital Business Book Prize, BICW Award, Sushila Devi Award, Sahitya Akademi Award and Crossword Book Award. HarperCollins India also represents some of the finest publishers in the world including Harvard University Press, Gallup Press, Oneworld, Bonnier Zaffre, Usborne, Dover and Lonely Planet. HarperCollins India is now the recipient of five Publisher of the Year Awards - In 2021 and 2015 at the Publishing Next Industry Awards, and in 2021, 2018 and 2016 at Tata Literature Live. HarperCollins India is a subsidiary of HarperCollins Publishers. For more information, please contact: Shabnam.srivastava@harpercollins.co.in This story is provided by PRNewswire. ANI will not be responsible in any way for the content of this article. (ANI/PRNewswire)
Tesla Chief Executive Officer Elon Musk on Friday lost the top spot on the Bloomberg Billionaires Index list after staying at the No. 1 position as the world's richest person for about 48 hours. According to the list available on Bloomberg Billionaires Index, the effervescent CEO of the tech company lost it to Bernard Arnault, the Chief Executive Officer of LVMH Moet Hennessy Louis Vuitton.Musk's net worth fell by nearly USD 8 billion to USD 176 billion on Friday after being bumped to the second spot.The shares of Tesla had apparently declined more than 6 per cent on Thursday, after the investors' meeting in Texas. This is a day after CEO Elon Musk and other executives discussed the path forward for the electric automaker at an investor day event. During the investor day event, Tesla said it spent around USD 28 billion to cement itself as the world's most valuable car company. Now, the company announced that it was now preparing to invest roughly five times that as it strives to meet the next objective: Becoming the world's largest car maker by volume, according to The Wall Street Journal. Chief Financial Officer Zach Kirkhorn said publicly for the first time on Wednesday that Tesla could need to spend nearly USD 150 billion more to achieve its long-term goals, which includes selling 20 million vehicles a year. According to WSJ, today's largest automaker sells roughly half that annually, while Tesla delivered around 1.3 million vehicles to customers globally last year. According to the billionaires' list, Musk on Tuesday had climbed to the top of the ranks after his USD 187-billion fortune surpassed that of Arnault. (ANI)
Dubai [UAE], March 3 (ANI/India PR Distribution): His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice President and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai, received Sustainable Livelihood Initiative India (SLII) Pvt. Ltd., in recognition of winning the 3rd cycle of the Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum Global Water Award. With a total prize of USD 1 million, the Award encourages research institutions, individuals and innovators globally to develop new technologies for producing, distributing, storing, monitoring, desalinating, and purifying water using renewable energy; to address the challenge of water scarcity. Suqia UAE supervises the award, under the umbrella of the Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum Global Initiatives Foundation. HE Saeed Mohammed Al Tayer, Chairman of the Board of Trustees of Suqia UAE, said that the Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum Global Water Award is a notable contribution from the UAE to provide drinking water to people in need around the world. For its work on highly sustainable and affordable 'Vardan Water Purifier', Sustainable Livelihood Initiative India (SLII) Pvt. Ltd won an award in the 'Innovative R&D Award - International Institutions' category. "A platform like MBRAM Global Water Award offers recognition at an international level. Winning such a prestigious international award makes us very emotional and satisfied that we are on the right track to big achievements. It has also given us more responsibility to contribute further to society," said Vardan Dinesh Rathi, Co-founder & CMO of SLII. Official video on SLII's Vardan Water Purifier can be found here: https://youtu.be/SGzW7kErCkI Vardan Water Purifier is an easy-to-use, domestic water purifier. Made for all kinds of homes, this purifier wastes no water, works without the need of any membranes, requires no complex mechanical parts or external energy and will purify water for at least 10 years or 150,000 litres (40,000 gallons) of water on DIY-maintenance. Water filtered through Vardan is completely fit for drinking and unlike several other filters, Vardan also takes care of viruses at an extremely affordable price point and at the same time being highly environmentally sustainable. "Vardan Water Purifier is a result of 9+ years of continuous research and development. Currently, we are raising funds as a startup entity to set-up an industrial-scale manufacturing unit. We are also in talks with a few prominent players of the industry and will be available soon in the retail market" said Abhimanyu Dinesh Rathi, Co-founder & CEO of SLII. This story has been provided by India PR Distribution. ANI will not be responsible in any way for the content of this article. (ANI/India PR Distribution)
Bengaluru (Karnataka) [India], March 3 (ANI/NewsVoir): Razorpay, India's Leading Full-Stack Payments and Banking Platform for Businesses, has ranked #11 in Y-Combinator's Breakthrough Companies 2023 List, making it the only Indian company to feature in the Top 15 range. Y-Combinator's Breakthrough Companies List recognises trailblazing companies on a global scale, and charts their significant growth trajectories. It showcases 40 high-growth companies from across the world, highlighting them as innovators in their respective spaces. Additionally, Razorpay has ranked #10 in Y-Combinator's Top Private Companies 2023 List, cementing its place among global behemoths such as DoorDash, Coinbase, and Stripe. Y-Combinator (YC) is an American Startup Accelerator that has funded over 4000 groundbreaking start-ups across the globe like Reddit, GitLab, Airbnb, and Twitch, since its inception in 2005. Every year, YC consolidates a list of high-growth companies which have received significant additional investment from YC. The startups are divided largely into four lists, namely YC's top Breakthrough, Private, Public, and Exited companies. YC's Top Companies are primarily headquartered in countries such as the United States, India, United Kingdom, amongst others. Commenting on being featured in this coveted list, Shashank Kumar, MD and Co-founder, Razorpay said, "We are elated and honored to be recognised as the only Indian company in the Top 15 Breakthrough Companies List. It's a humbling moment for us at Razorpay to be featured alongside some of the most innovative and successful companies across the world. Y-Combinator has always believed in our vision since the beginning and we're thankful for their continued support and having played a key role in our growth. We're committed to making a difference by changing how finance has been done traditionally in India and building a world-class product that powers small businesses to disrupt and scale." "This recognition motivates us to continue working towards that goal and make a positive impact on India's financial ecosystem," he added. Razorpay has witnessed an uptick in growth, and continues to rely on its technology and product-centric approach to offer innovative solutions that are aimed at bridging gaps in the market. The ranking in YC's Breakthrough List, as well as Top Companies List for the second time in a row is a testament to the company's impact-driven culture. Razorpay, a full-stack financial services company helps Indian businesses with comprehensive and innovative solutions built over robust technology to address the entire length and breadth of the payment and banking journey for any business. Established in 2014, the company provides technology payment solutions to over 8Mn businesses. Founded by alumni of IIT Roorkee, Shashank Kumar and Harshil Mathur, Razorpay is the second Indian company to be a part of Silicon Valley's largest tech accelerator, Y-Combinator. Marquee investors such as Lone Pine Capital, Alkeon Capital, TCV, GIC, Tiger Global, Sequoia Capital India, Ribbit Capital, Matrix Partners, Salesforce Ventures, Y-Combinator and MasterCard have invested a total of $741.5 Mn through Series A to F in funding. A few angel investors have also invested in Razorpay's mission to simplify payments and banking and redefine how finance works in India. This story has been provided by NewsVoir. ANI will not be responsible in any way for the content of this article. (ANI/NewsVoir)
Mumbai (Maharashtra) [India], March 3 (ANI/PRNewswire): On 20th February 2023, Zell Education, a Finance & Accounts focused EdTech firm announced its tie-up with Rishihood University, an upcoming social-impact university located in Sonipat, Haryana, offering multi-disciplinary education. Together, they have collaborated to provide BBA + ACCA and B.Com + ACCA integrated courses that will help students fast-track their professional learning journey. This agreement was entered by Mr Anant Bengani, Co-Founder & Director of Zell Education, and Dr L.K. Jain, Registrar of Rishihood University on behalf of Shobit Mathur, Vice Chancellor, Rishihood University for the period of 5 years. Courses offered by Zell Education x Rishihood University The collaboration between these learning providers will enable the aspirants to pursue ACCA along with their current B.Com & BBA programs, allowing them to avail multiple ACCA exam exemptions while boosting their skills and employability to stay ahead of the competition. While entering this partnership with Rishihood University, Anant Bengani - Co-Founder and ED, Zell Education, stated "This strategic collaboration will enable students to upskill while pursuing their graduation degree and level up the playing field for finance and accounting opportunities". During this process of forming a partnership, Mr Shobit Mathur, Vice Chancellor, Rishihood University, stated "Rishihood University is India's first and only Impact University where we nurture passionate learners of today to solve the big questions of tomorrow. School of Entrepreneurship focuses on developing the 'entrepreneurial mindset' amongst learners so as to better the lives of people they touch. We understand the constant need for skilling and upskilling to develop learners' competencies to meet corporate expectations. Partnering with Zell Education allows us to collaborate and integrate curricula with the needs and demands of industry in all its manifestations so that we can set forth individuals who become indispensable assets to society and the world." Founded in 2015 by enterprising professionals Pratham Barot and Anant Bengani, Zell Education bridges the gap between academic excellence and practical skill development. As a cutting-edge learning platform, Zell offers comprehensive training to aspiring finance and accounting students. Zell Education is a leading institute focused on preparing students with the necessary knowledge and skills to excel in finance and accounting in today's competitive world. Rishihood University is a Private University located in Sonipat, Haryana, India. It was established in 2020 after the Haryana Legislative Assembly passed the Haryana Private Universities (Amendment) Act, 2020. This university focuses on creativity, entrepreneurship, and leadership in the students. Rishihood has faculty from universities like Stanford, LSE, IITs, and many other top institutions globally. To know more about Zell Education and its course offerings visit www.zelleducation.com. You can also check out Zell's social media handles on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/zelleducation Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/zell_education/?hl=en Linkedin.: https://www.linkedin.com/company/7956495 For more information regarding this collaboration, please contact: Zell Education PR & Communications: pooja.wadagbalkar@zelleducation.com CONTACT Pooja WadagbalkarEmail: pooja.wadagbalkar@zelleducation.com This story is provided by PRNewswire. ANI will not be responsible in any way for the content of this article. (ANI/PRNewswire)
In the case of a young woman being duped of Rs 6 lakh, FedEx has said that it does not request personal information through unsolicited phone calls, mail, or email for goods being shipped or held, unless requested/initiated by customers. The company added, "If any individual receives any suspicious phone calls or messages, they are advised not to provide their personal information and instead should contact our customer service hotline at 1800-22-6161 or 1800-209-6161 for verification." The young woman in Delhi was apparently duped of Rs 6 lakh by fraudsters who were posing as Mumbai Police officers, ANI reported on Thursday. Victim Divya (28) is a resident of Munirka in Delhi. While speaking to the ANI, she said, "On Feb 1 2023 at around 10:30 Am, I received a phone call, the caller introduced herself as Princy Mathew from FedEx Mumbai. She told me that this call is in regard to a parcel having illegal things like Drugs Fake passports, illegal credit cards etc being sent in my name from FedEx Mumbai to Mr Jhang Lin in Taiwan. A parcel was sent on 28 Jan 2023 with 12,000/- cash payment with my name and Aadhaar details." She further stated that the caller suggested she complain to the Mumbai police in this regard. "She forwarded the call to someone who were sounding like Mumbai Police officers and they asked me if Aadhaar details were shared by me?" the victim said. Divya stated that impersonated police officials asked for her bank details to verify the transactions. They told her that there was previously one transaction that was blocked due to the illegal transactions being detected. "In order to investigate impersonated police officials further asked me to transfer Rs 4,99,999 to their Indusland Bank Account with Payee name Sajal. Then they asked me for another transfer of Rs 98,132 otherwise they would freeze the account," the victim said. After that victim did the IMPS transactions totalling Rs 5,98,132. The fraudsters promised her that the money will be refunded post their investigation. Divya told ANI that 'I transferred the amount in fear of account freeze and fraud activities'. In this regard, Delhi Police has lodged an FIR U/S 420 in the Cyber Police station of South West District and investigating the matter. (ANI)
The scheme will open for subscription between March 6-10, while the settlement date would be March 14, official sources said.

The government, in consultation with the Reserve Bank of India, has decided to allow a discount of Rs 50 per gram from the issue price to those investors who apply online and the payment is made through digital mode.

For such investors the issue price of gold bond will be Rs 5,561 per gram of gold.

--IANS ans/vd

( 119 Words)

2023-03-03-19:52:03 (IANS)
The first meeting of the G20 Anti-corruption Working Group (ACWG) that began on March 1, concluded on Friday with a call for strengthening law enforcement cooperation for action against corruption and related economic crimes. Rahul Singh, Additional Secretary, DoPT & Chair, G20 ACWG said that over the past three days, there have been intensive and productive deliberations on several key focal areas pertaining to asset recovery, fugitive economic offenders, formal and informal channels of cooperation for information sharing, institutional frameworks for combating corruption and mutual legal assistance, among others. This included presentations and interventions by country delegates and experts from UNODC, OECD, Egmont Group, Interpol and IMF. Rahul Singh along with Giovanni Tartaglia Polcini, Head of Task Force, Co-chair, G20 ACWG, Italy, addressed the media at the end of the ACWG meeting. The ACWG meeting was enriched by keynote addresses by dignitaries including Girish Chandra Murmu, the Comptroller and Auditor General of India, Praveen Kumar Srivastava, Central Vigilance Commissioner of India, Nitin Gupta, Chairman, Central Board of Direct Taxes, Sanjay Kumar Mishra, Director Enforcement Directorate and Subodh Kumar Jaiswal, Director, Central Bureau of Investigation. Rahul Singh further said that it has been the endeavour of the delegates during the deliberations to arrive at a consensus on the draft text of the High-Level Principles that are on the agenda for the ACWG during India's G20 Presidency. He said that considerable progress has been made in discussing the high-level principles on improving information sharing for fighting corruption and related economic crimes, strengthening asset recovery mechanisms related to corruption and related economic crimes, strengthening law enforcement cooperation for action against corruption and related economic crime, and promoting the integrity and effectiveness of public bodies responsible for Preventing and Combating Corruption. The official further said that on the first day of the ACWG, a side event was held on leveraging ICT to curb corruption in the public sector, an area in which India's recent initiatives like the GEM Portal and DBT have been globally recognised. During this event, leading experts from India showcased how India has adapted the power of the ICT to curb corruption in public service delivery. Over 90 delegates participating from 20 member countries, 10 invitee countries and 9 international organisations attended the first meeting of the G20 ACWG. An official said that India placed on record sincere appreciation and gratitude for the presence of Italy as the co-chair of the G20 ACWG. --IANS kvm/pgh ( 414 Words) 2023-03-03-21:18:02 (IANS)
Hollywood star Tom Cruise recently helicoptered onto a US aircraft carrier off the eastern coast of Italy to film sequences for his upcoming film 'Mission: Impossible - Dead Reckoning Part Two', confirmed the chairman of the Apulia Film Commission., reported Fox News, a USA-based news outlet. According to the outlet, Tom flew into the port of Bari on the country's southeastern coast where he spent the night at a five-star hotel before choppering to the floating set the next day, revealed Antonio Parente, Apulia Film Commission's chairman. Cruise is expected to depart from Bari at the end of the week, according to Parente, who told Variety, an American media company, that the ship was sailing north towards Croatia during the shoot. "We are proud that [the] Apulia [region] has been chosen as the operational base for this rather complex shoot," Parente told the outlet. The 60-year-old first played the franchise's protagonist, spy Ethan Hunt, nearly 30 years ago in 1996's 'Mission: Impossible'. 'Mission Impossible: Dead Reckoning: Part One' is slated to be released in July and in its trailer Cruise can be seen driving through European cities and riding a horse in the desert. He can also be seen getting ready to fly a warplane, running on top of a rushing train, and riding a motorcycle down a cliff in other scenes from the action-packed trailer. As per Fox News, 'Dead Reckoning: Part Two' is expected to be a direct sequel to 'Part One' and is scheduled to premiere in June 2024. Christopher McQuarrie has directed the movie which will also star Nick Offerman, Rebecca Ferguson, Vanessa Kirby and Hayley Atwell. (ANI)
Actor Chris Pratt found a supporter in Aaron Horvath, the co-director of 'The Super Mario Bros. Movie', after earlier facing fan backlash for being cast in the video game adaptation. According to Fox News, a USA-based news outlet, during a new interview with Total Film, Horvath, who is one half of the directing team behind the film along with Michael Jelenic, stood by the decision to cast Pratt as Mario. "For us, it made total sense... He's really good at playing a blue-collar hero with a ton of heart. For the way that Mario is characterized in our film, he's perfect for it," Horvath said. He continued, explaining that Mario and his brother Luigi, voiced by Charlie Day, are Brooklyn-based plumbers who are "blue-collar guys... from a family of Italian immigrants." In 2021, after Pratt was announced as the voice of Mario, the actor faced backlash from fans of the franchise. Some of them argued that Pratt wasn't right for the role as he's not Italian and believed that the part should be voiced by an actor of Italian descent, reported Fox News. As Charles Martinet, who has given the voices for Mario, Luigi, and other video game characters since 1992, was not chosen for the role, fans of Nintendo also expressed their displeasure. When the first trailer, which featured the actor's voice, was publicly revealed in October 2022, the criticism against him escalated. Many attacked Pratt for not using an Italian accent, stating that the voice he used for Mario was too similar to his own. Meanwhile, 'The Super Mario Bros. Movie' cast is rounded out by Anya Taylor-Joy as Princess Peach, Jack Black as Bowser, Seth Rogen as Donkey Kong, and Keegan-Michael Key as Toad, as per Fox News. (ANI)
Actor Hrithik Roshan is currently working on his upcoming aerial action thriller film 'Fighter'. For his role, the actor has been working very hard on his physique. On Friday, the 'Krrish' actor took to his Instagram account and shared a video from his workout session with his trainer Kris Gethin. As his trainer leaves for the US, the actor shared a long thankful note and wrote, "My friend and trainer Kris Gethin journeys back to his home in the US tom. With still 10 weeks more to go for the completion of our 2nd phase , and 6 months of intense hard work already behind us, I could not have been more satisfied, more charged , more driven and more at peace with the process than I am right now at this very moment. And that process by the way has very little to do with muscle and more to do with the heart and mind. And for that , I could not thank you enough Kris. Thank you for the integrity toward your work and the knowledge and wisdom you bring to the gym. The world needs more men like you. That's for sure. Frankly I don't know if I like working with you more for the transformations or more in hope that a little bit of that passion and energy rubs off on me. Be well my friend. Onwards and upwards.And I shall see you soon." https://www.instagram.com/p/CpT5_9Orydc/ In the video, Hrithik is seen doing arm exercises, while his trainer motivates him. Kris pushes him to do better and can be heard saying, "You got this Hrithik. Come on, let's go, drive." Soon after Hrithik dropped the post, fans flooded the comment section with red hearts and fire emoticons. His trainer, Kris commented, "Thank you, mate. And I hope some of your good looks, bicep peaks and dance moves rub off on me. It's always a pleasure and I can't wait to see the bar you set next." Actor Zayed Khan wrote, "Cant wait to see how chiseled you have become this time around brother." "Fighter is loading," a fan commented. Helmed by Siddharth Anand, 'Fighter' also stars Deepika Padukone, Anil Kapoor, Akshay Oberoi and Karan Singh Grover in pivotal roles and is all set to hit the theatres on January 25, 2024. The film marks Deepika and Hrithik's first on-screen collaboration. (ANI)
And the winning streak for 'RRR' continues. Actors Alia Bhatt and Jr NTR have been awarded the 'Spotlight Award' at Hollywood Critics Association 2023. The actors were not able to attend last week's ceremony in the US with the rest of the team. On Friday, the organisation revealed that they will be sending out their trophies next week. "Dear RRR supporters & fans, We would like to share with you the awards for N.T Rama Rao Jr. & Alia Bhatt. We will be sending them out next week. Thank you for all your love and support. The Hollywood Critics Association #RRRGoesGlobal #RRRMovie #AliaBhatt #NTRamaRaoJr," the organisers wrote on Twitter. https://twitter.com/HCAcritics/status/1631451619601809409 They also shared photographs of the trophies. Ram Charan, the star of RRR, also presented the award at HCA 2023. He posted photos from the event and wrote, "I'm honoured to be representing Indian cinema alongside @ssrajamouli and MM. Keravani garu at the Hollywood Critics' Awards. I am proud that we received tonight as team RRR. Thank you for having me as a presenter, and Angela Bassett, I hope to get a selfie with you soon. 2023 @RRRmovie @HCACritics". Now everyone is eyeing the big award ceremony that is Oscars. RRR is on the shortlist for Best Original Song for the dance song Naatu Naatu, which won the Golden Globe Award in the same category earlier this year. The 95th Oscars, hosted by Jimmy Kimmel, will be broadcast live on March 13 in India. (ANI)
It's been three years of Rishi Kapoor's death but the legendary actor still resides in people's hearts. His family members also keep sharing his unseen pictures with his fans on social media. On Friday, his daughter Riddhima Kapoor took a stroll down memory lane and dropped her childhood picture. In the image, the baby Riddhima is seen standing next to her father Rishi Kapoor. Riddhima added a red heart sticker to the picture. Rishi Kapoor passed away on April 30, 2020, succumbing to cancer after more than two years of battle with the deadly disease. He was diagnosed with leukaemia, a type of blood cancer, in 2018. He underwent his treatment for over 11 months in New York before returning to India in September 2019. Recently, Rishi Kapoor's fan got to see his last-ever interview in Netflix's docu-series 'The Romantics'. In the project, Rishi Kapoor spoke about his deep relationship with Yash Chopra and what made their combination one of the most cherished director-actor duo in Hindi cinema, especially the romantic classics. On conducting Rishi Kapoor's interview, director Smriti Mundhra said, "Rishi Kapoor was not only an iconic actor, he carried with him an encyclopedic knowledge of the Hindi film industry. On the day of our interview, which would be his last, he was characteristically charming, erudite, and eager to reminisce. His death represents the loss of a significant piece of cinema history, and I'll forever be grateful for the insights, anecdotes and perspective he shared." Rishi Kapoor had closely collaborated with Yash Chopra and then Aditya Chopra in cult hits like Kabhi Kabhie, Chandni, Jab Tak Hai Jaan (in which he was paired with his wife Neetu Kapoor), Fanaa, and Hum Tum among others (ANI)
The World Health Organization (WHO) has underlined the urgent need for countries in the Southeast Asia region and globally to strengthen health systems to prevent, detect, manage and care for birth defects to mark this year's World Birth Defects Day (March 3). Globally, an estimated 8 million newborns are born with a birth defect every year. Nine out of every 10 children born with a serious birth defect are in low and middle-income countries, said the global health body. The deformities are structural or functional anomalies that occur during intrauterine life. The most common severe birth defects are heart defects, neural tube defects and down syndrome, but there are many others, which can be caused by one or more genetic, infectious, nutritional or environmental factors. "In the Southeast Asia region, birth defects are the third most common cause of child mortality, and the fourth most common cause of neonatal mortality, accounting for 12 per cent of all neonatal deaths. Between 2010 and 2019, birth defects increased as a proportion of child mortality in the region, from 6.2 per cent to 9.2 per cent, and in four countries, birth defects now contribute to more than 20 per cent of under-five mortality," said Poonam Khetrapal Singh, WHO Regional Director for Southeast Asia. Singh said that birth defects contributed to at least 117,000 deaths in the region, equal to around 22 per cent of the global total in 2019. "Since 2014, WHO has supported all countries of the region to drive rapid, sustained reductions in maternal, newborn and child mortality, which has included targeted action to prevent, detect, manage and care for birth defects. All member states have initiated hospital-based birth defect surveillance and are implementing national action plans to prevent and manage birth defects," she added. Six member states - Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Maldives, Myanmar and Nepal - continue to support a WHO-developed online database to better track birth defects. All the countries have initiated routine rubella vaccination for girls, achieving an average coverage rate of 83 per cent. Maldives and Sri Lanka have eliminated rubella, while Bangladesh, Bhutan, Nepal and Timor-Leste have controlled congenital rubella syndrome, Singh said. --IANS avr/arm ( 375 Words) 2023-03-02-22:58:01 (IANS)
Videos depicting attack on Bihar migrant workers in Tamil Nadu are false, state Director General of Police C. Sylendra Babu said on Thursday, adding that police would take immediate action against those who were spreading such videos. "Someone in Bihar has posted a false and mischievous video that migrant workers were attacked. The videos showing attack on two labourers are both false. The two incidents occurred much earlier and the clash wasn't between migrant workers and locals in Tiruppur and Coimbatore," he said. "All are twisted and made to appear like Biharis are attacked. However law and order is maintained very well in the state and immediate action will be taken against those spreading false news." There were two attacks on migrant North Indian labourers recently, one in Tiruupur on January 14 and the second one in Coimbatore on February 14. The first incident was between migrant labourers and local people at a garment factory in Tiruppur and the second one was on the issue of food at a private engineering college canteen in Coimbatore. Both were settled with the intervention of local people and police. The Tamil Nadu DGP has issued a statement following Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar expressing concern over the safety of workers from his state in Tamil Nadu. Nitish Kumar, in a tweet, said: "I have come to know from newspapers about the attack taking place on people from Bihar who are working in Tamil Nadu. I have directed Chief Secretary and DGP to get in touch with their respective counterparts in Tamil Nadu and ensure safety and security of labourers from Bihar staying there." The BJP has also raised the issue in the Bihar Assembly on Thursday and targeted Deputy Chief Minister Tejashwi Yadav. BJP Bihar state chief Sanjay Jaiswal said: "The killing of labourers from Bihar in Tamil Nadu is a cause of concern and condemnation. What is more disappointing is the fact Tejashwi Yadav went to participate in the birthday celebration of Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M.K. Stalin and congratulated him... Tejashwi Yadav should apologise to the people of Bihar for going to a state which is encouraging hatred for people of Bihar." --IANS aal/vd ( 378 Words) 2023-03-02-20:40:04 (IANS)
Delhi Lt Governor V.K. Saxena has approved the constitution of a high level committee to suggest ways and identify means to address the issue of illegal telephone communication in the jails in the national capital. The committee will submit its recommendations within a month. The committee constituted under DG (Prisons) will explore suitable jamming solutions emerging in the market (in addition to the existing infrastructure) and their testing in prisons to check their effectiveness, in blocking calls, SMS and data services inside prison premises. A total of 31 mobile jammers were installed in the Tihar and Rohini jails between 2008-2012. These jammers were effective in blocking 2G & 3G mobile signals, but after the introduction of 4G services in the country, these jammers became ineffective in blocking mobile signals. Subsequently, a committee constituted under the then DG (Prisons), GNCTD, proposed an alternate solution in the shape of a "Harmonious Call Blocking System" (HCBS) for blocking 2G/3G/4G signals that could later also be used for 5G. This entailed installing one or more "Special Towers" inside the jail. These Towers for Harmonious Call Blocking System (T-HCBS), that follows a hybrid approach to jamming solutions were thereafter, installed in various prisons in Delhi, and despite being effective to a very large extent, could not prevent leakage in totality. While the telecom service providers could not provide a mechanism for real time monitoring of the effectiveness of the installed T-HCBS', these towers were also causing a problem of blocking calls and data services of ordinary citizens living in the residential areas around the jails. Apart from this, the functioning of T-HCBS was also affected by various other factors such as non-coverage of dark areas, shadow areas, multi-path propagation, fading and atmospheric conditions, etc. T-HCBS as a technical solution, while being effective, could not prevent unauthorized communications from prisons since it could not achieve 100 per cent blockage of signals due to these constraints. To address these concerns, a high level committee has been constituted under the DG (Prisons), Delhi as chairperson and the representatives of NTRO, Intelligence Bureau, DoT, Delhi Police, IIT-Delhi, CDOT, SPG and DRDO. --IANS avr/bg ( 368 Words) 2023-03-02-20:52:02 (IANS)
Intensifying its protest against 'police excess' on its youth wing workers, the BJP will lodge complaints in all police stations of Odisha on Friday. Notably, Bharatiya Janata Yuva Morcha (BJYM) activists were involved in a scuffle with the police force while they were marching towards the Assembly on Tuesday over an alleged deteriorating law and order situation, including the murder of minister Naba Das. Following the face-off, 22 BJYM activists, including state president Irasish Acharya, were arrested. Though the BJP has lodged a complaint before the capital police station on the same night, police have yet to register a case in this regard. Speaking to reporters here, Odisha BJP general secretary Prithviraj Harichandan alleged that the BJD government is making attempts to destroy democracy in the state. "The government has become so egoistic in power, it has restrained the opposition BJP from discharging its duty and responsibility," he said. The government has not only created a horrific environment but also brutally attacked the BJP activists during the protest. "It indicates the dictatorship of the government," alleged Harichandan. The BJP leader said that his party is going to lodge complaints against the DGP, the Cuttack-Bhubaneswar twin city police commissioner and the Bhubaneswar DCP at all the police stations on Friday. Similarly, the party will stage demonstrations in front of all SP offices across the state on March 4. If no case will be registered on the 'police excess', the BJP will knock on the doors of court with evidence, he added. Meanwhile, a delegation of the BJP led by Leader of the Opposition Jayanarayan Mishra visited the special jail Bhubaneswar to meet the arrested BJYM leaders and workers. Mishra alleged that the Odisha Police are acting like "BJD agents" and they have attacked their own staff and are trying to defame the BJP. "The DGP is saying it was a pre-planned attack by BJYM workers. If so, will they allow the police to show the eggs they have brought to attack the police?" asked the BJP leader. --IANS bbm/pgh ( 350 Words) 2023-03-02-21:40:01 (IANS)
After 31 years, Gaya's District and Sessions Judge Gaya Manoj Kumar Tiwari pronounced the quantum of punishment for Kirani Yadav, the area commander of Maoist Communist Centre (MCC).

Special Public Prosecutor Pramod Kumar had demanded stringent punishment for him.

"Kirani Yadav, on February 12, 1992 had slit the throats of 12 persons with his own hands. He has been lodged in Gaya central jail since 2007. The quantum of punishment was announced through video conferencing on Thursday," Kumar said.

In the 1990s, there were a number of caste-based massacres in Bihar, due to rivalry between upper castes like the Bhumihars and lower castes represented by MCC.

The Bara massacre was the sensational case of mass murder by the banned MCC who selected their victims on the basis of their caste and slit their throats.

Some of the deceased were identified as Haridwar Singh, Bhushal Singh, Sadan Singh, Bhuwaneshwar Singh, Sanjay Singh, Shiv Janam Singh, Gora Singh, Bali Sharma, Ashu Singh, Sri Ram Singh, Pramod Singh and others. The Lalu Prasad government, which faced severe criticism after this incident, had announced government jobs for family members of those victims but the promise was not fulfilled.

Following the Bara massacre, Bihar had witnessed several such incidents like Laxmanpur Bathe, Senari, Bathani Tola, and others.

--IANS ajk/vd

( 255 Words)

2023-03-02-21:48:04 (IANS)
Even as Opposition leader Siddaramaiah is vying for the Chief Minister's post if the Congress comes to power in Karnataka after the upcoming Assembly elections, ensuring his own victory in the polls has become a challenge for him, sources said. According to sources, Siddaramaiah, who hails from the Kuruba community, was finding it difficult to pick a 'suitable' assembly seat from where he could be confident of winning. Siddaramaiah represented Varuna constituency in Mysuru district and chose Chamundeshwari constituency to accommodate his son. After his term as the Chief Minister, Siddaramaiah chose to contest from Chamundeshwari and Badami constituencies. He took that decision following an intelligence report that he would suffer a humiliating defeat in Chamundeshwari constituency following backlash from the Vokkaliga community. The report turned out to be true and Siddaramaiah suffered a humiliating defeat in Chamundeshwari constituency. He managed to win narrowly in Badami constituency. Siddaramaiah, however, has emerged as a mass leader and the champion of the backward classes in the state. He enjoys the support of a good number of MLAs. Many have already started batting for him for the post of Chief Minister, all while embarrassing and challenging Karnataka unit Congress president D.K. Shivakumar. Siddaramaiah is the only leader to launch poignant attacks on Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Union Home Minister Amit Shah, RSS and Hindutva forces. His supporters proudly claim that, unlike others, "Siddaramaiah could not be targeted by the ED, CBI and other central government agencies". However, Siddaramaiah also has the image of being anti-Lingayat and anti-Vokkaliga in Karnataka, which, according to sources, is costing him dearly. The Congress leader is reportedly forced to find a constituency where OBCs and minority voters are more in numbers when compared to those of the Lingayat and Vokkaliga communities. Karnataka BJP legislator and former minister K.S. Eshwarappa has said that "Siddaramaiah's defeat will be ensured by his own party leaders in the upcoming assembly elections". "Has the high command asked Siddaramaiah to contest elections from the Kolar assembly segment? He (Siddaramaiah) has gone there fearing defeat," Eshwarappa stated. "You (Siddaramaiah) ensured the defeat of Dalit leader Dr. G. Parameshwar to rule him out from the CM's race. The defeat of K.H. Muniyappa, was ensured through former speaker Ramesh Kumar," he added. "The Vokkaliga community and Dalits are waiting to defeat Siddaramaiah... since both these communities have dumped him, he is in full appeasement of Muslims," Eshwarappa said. Former CM B.S. Yediyurappa had in the assembly suggested to Siddaramaiah that he should contest from Badami constituency, where he won, to prove his credentials as a leader. As assembly polls are nearing, the challenge of winning an assembly seat for Siddaramaiah is more challenging than ensuring numbers of MLAs to become Chief Minister if the Congress is voted to power, sources said. --IANS mka/pgh ( 480 Words) 2023-03-02-21:56:04 (IANS)
Farmers of Palacode in Tamil Nadu's Dharmapuri district are protesting against the heavy crop losses they are subjected to by a single wild elephant, which has recently killed a domestic cow also. Forest Department sources said that they were closely monitoring the elephant and will take action if necessary. According to Palacode farmer Balamurugan, the elephant has trampled around an acre of his farm land and destroyed paddy crops that were about to be harvested. The elephant, according to farmers, was staying close to human habitation in the forest area for the past two months since January 2023 and a 'Makhna' was also along with him. However Forest Department officials have tranquilized and darted the Makhna and relocated it but the single elephant is still adjacent to Palacode village and destroying paddy and even banana plantations. Murugan. M, a farmer who has banana plantations, told IANS that he is not able to sleep and was staying awake to ward off the elephant from his land. The Forest Department, however, said that as of now the elephant is not a problematic elephant and the death of the cow happened inadvertently. While farmers don't have any issue about herds of elephant coming near the farm land, the single elephants and Makhna's are dangerous as they would destroy the crops and attack human beings. --IANS aal/vd ( 237 Words) 2023-03-02-22:30:06 (IANS)
Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday hailed the performance of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in the Assembly elections in the northeastern states of Nagaland, Meghalaya and Tripura, saying even as fanatics are saying 'Mar Ja Modi', the country is saying 'Mat Ja Modi'. "The BJP's good performance in the assembly elections in three northeast states shows people's solid trust in democracy and the democratic process," Modi said after the results of the Assembly elections were announced on Thursday. PM Modi delivered a speech at the BJP headquarters here after the party secured a majority in Tripura while it bagged a lead against other parties in Nagaland along with its partner, the Nationalist Democratic Progressive Party. The BJP got a call from the National People's Party in Meghalaya, to prevent a hung house. PM Modi thanked the people of all three states, Meghalaya, Nagaland and Tripura, saying that their vote was for 'progress and stability'. The Prime Minister said that the secret of BJP's performance lies in a 'Triveni' -- a combination of three things -- 1. The work done by the BJP governments, 2. Ethics of the BJP governments, and 3. The helping nature of the BJP workers. "This 'Triveni' enhances the power of BJP by 1+1+1 which equals to 111 times," PM Modi said. The previous governments used to run away from hard work and tough tasks "but we chase challenges", the Prime Minister added. Taking a dig at the Opposition parties, Modi that no one has raised any questions related to the Electronic Voting Machines, so far. The Prime Minister further said "amid some people's talks on digging Modi's grave, the Lotus keeps blooming wherever there is an opportunity". Congratulating the BJP workers for the party's performance in the elections, he said that working in the northeastern states has not been easy for them. "They faced violence... but nothing is impossible when the party has dedicated workers," PM Modi said, adding: "We can see the region (northeast) moving towards a new direction." --IANS dr/stp/pgh ( 353 Words) 2023-03-02-22:56:01 (IANS)
Mahesh Kumar, 38, was trampled to death by a wild elephant in the early hours of Thursday in an agricultural field at Mangarai in Thadagam valley of Coimbatore district.

In another incident, a 67-year-old man, M. Maruthachalam, died in a suspected elephant attack near Aanaikatti in Coimbatore district.

A Forest Department official said that he hailed from Kalkadu village near Aanaikatti.

His body was found just a km away from the Aanaikatti South reserve forest.

There were three elephants in the area but it was not clear if one jumbo or the entire group attacked him.

His "brutally mauled body" was sent to Coimbatore district hospital for postmortem.

Forest Department officials told media persons that Maruthachalam had gone to the forest area to relieve himself in the early hours of Thursday.

--IANS aal/pgh

( 168 Words)

2023-03-02-23:20:02 (IANS)
The Telangana government has approached the Supreme Court seeking direction to Governor Tamilisai Soundararajan to give her approval to the Bills passed by the state Legislature. In a writ petition, the state government has brought to the notice of the Supreme Court that 10 Bills are pending with Raj Bhavan. While seven Bills are pending since September 2022, three Bills were sent to the Governor last month for her approval. The Secretary to the Governor and the Union Law Ministry have been made respondents in the case. The government stated that Bills like Common Recruitment Board Bill, Private Universities Bill, Motor Vehicle Tax Bill and Agriculture University Amendment Bill are pending with the Governor. A Bill to upgrade forest college and research institute in Mulugu to a forest university, the Azamabad Industrial Area Bill and some other Bills are also awaiting Governor's approval. The petition is likely to come up for hearing on Friday. This is the second time that the Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) has knocked the court's door against the Governor. Last month, the government moved Telangana High Court seeking direction to the Governor to give her approval to the state Budget for 2023-24. The court, however, had suggested both sides sort out the issue amicably. Counsel of both the state government and Raj Bhavan had agreed to a compromise formula. While the Government agreed to begin the Budget session of the Legislature with the Governor's speech, the latter came forward to approve the Budget. In November, the Governor had dismissed the allegations by BRS that her office was sitting on some Bills forward by the state government for her assent. She stated that she is taking time for assessing and analysing the Bills before giving her consent. Education Minister P. Sabitha Indra Reddy had subsequently met the Governor to clarify her doubts on the Common Recruitment Board Bill. --IANS ms/vd ( 324 Words) 2023-03-02-23:26:01 (IANS)
Rajya Sabha MP Joginipally Santosh Kumar released the Women's Day 'Green India Challenge' poster on Thursday and said, "Nature will flourish more if the same hands that raise children plant the saplings." Santosh Kumar called upon the women community to participate in the 'Green India Challenge' and plant saplings and protect them with the same affection they show to their children on World Women's Day on March 8. Chief Secretary Santhi Kumari, Education Minister P Sabita Indra Reddy, Chief Minister's Secretary Smita Sabharwal, and OSD Priyanka Varghese were also present on the occasion. Chief Secretary Santhi Kumari wished that all women would participate in the 'Green India Challenge' special program and plant saplings for nature conservation. Moreover, she exhorted all women employees to plant saplings in abundance on women's day. Education Minister P Sabita Indra Reddy said, "Women are more powerful and they will successfully accomplish the tasks taken up by them. The minister further stated that she will do her best to make every woman and student participate in the 'Green India Challenge' Women's Day special program. "Women are working tirelessly for the conservation of the Earth while excelling in all fields," Chief Minister's Secretary Smita Sabharwal said. With the inspiration of Salumarada Thimmakka, Sabharwal called upon every woman to plant a sapling on International Women's Day and make big success the 'Green India Challenge' programme. OSD Priyanka Varghese said, "The 'Green India Challenge' programme is a selfless programme embarked for the benefit of the next generation. She suggested that every woman should be a partner in the 'Green India Challenge.' In February, in support of Chief Minister K Chandrashekhar Rao, MP Santosh Kumar announced the adoption of more than 1,000 acres of the Kodimyala forest area in Kondagattu under the 'Green India Challenge initiative'. The MP announced the adoption in the wake of CM K Chandrasekhar Rao's birthday on February 17. Notably, Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao has announced to rebuild the famous Kondagattu Temple which is placed in the midst of dense forests and mountains. In this regard, MP Santosh Kumar took the key decision. Kondagattu in Jagityal district is synonymous with Lord Hanuman. MP Santhosh Kumar revealed that KCR, who fought tirelessly for a separate state, has been developing Telangana in all fields for the last eight years after the formation of Swarashtra, and he has taken this decision as a person who has seen his quest from the closest. (ANI)
The arrests happened a few days ago

Delhi Police tracked via CCTV visuals for 25 km the route taken by the snatchers.

"Delhi police arrested two inter-state snatchers after tracking their 25 km route through CCTV visuals. Snatchers were released from jail a month ago and had committed a crime again in Delhi," said Rohit Meena, DCP Shahdara.

A few days ago Delhi police launched an operation against the two snatchers and nabbed them from Shahdara district, police said

Further details are awaited. (ANI)
The Special Cell has arrested Sanjay Tiwari and his three accomplices in the case.

"Sanjay is accused of posing as a Union Minister and calling up a person, sitting in a Constitutional post," Delhi Police Special Cell said.

The police added that the imposter is being interrogated in detail jointly with an intelligence agency.

"Sanjay has a similar criminal record in the past and had posed as Sonia Gandhi's Personal Assistant (PA) in 2017," Delhi Police said further.

Police's investigation into this matter is underway. Further information is awaited. (ANI)
In a major breakthrough, a joint team of District Reserve Guard (DRG) and District Force (DF) arrested a Naxal couple carrying a cash reward of their head in Chhattisgarh's insurgency-hit Sukma district following an encounter, a police officer said. After an encounter that took place in the limits of Gadiras police station, the security personnel arrested a Naxal couple, said Additional Superintendent of Police (ASP) Kiran Chouhan, elaborating that the cadres were carrying cash reward on their head. The arrested Naxal cadres were identified as Muchaki Hidma and Kunjam Kosi, the officer said, elaborating that Hidma was carrying a cash reward of Rs 8 lakh on his head while Kosi was carrying a bounty of Rs 2 lakh. From the possession of the arrested couple, the team has recovered six electric detonators, five gelatine rods, wire, batteries, Naxal banners-posters and other materials, the officer elaborated. According to the officer, Hidma was associated with the banned organisation in 2015 as a member of Chetna Natya Mandali (cultural wing of Naxals), active as a member of platoon-25 under the Malger area committee from 2015 to 2017 and in 2018, he was elevated as deputy commander of military platoon-24. He was allegedly part of the ultras' team that blasted a mine-protected vehicle in 2015 in the Dantewada district leaving five security personnel dead. Similarly, he was allegedly indulged in exploding the vehicle ferrying security personnel in Dantewada in 2016 wherein seven jawans were killed. Hidma was alleged to be the part of Naxals' team that executed an attack in Dantewada's Aranpur-Nilawaya road in 2018 killing two security personnel and a journalist. After the attack, ultras looted the AK-47 of a jawan. Moreover, he was allegedly involved in the attack that killed seven jawans in the Kirandul area in Dantewada in 2018. Investigation revealed that Kosi had joined the banned organisation as 'Bal Sangham' in 2013 and was eventually elevated as a member of military platoon-31 under the Kanger valley area committee, said the officer, elaborating that she was involved in separate incidents that took place in the district. (ANI)
Rejecting the bail application of Atiq Ahmed's son Ali Ahmed in a 2021 extortion case, the Allahabad High Court observed that enlarging "such a criminal" on bail would be a threat "not only to the witnesses but also a constant threat to society". The order was pronounced by Justice Dinesh Kumar Singh who observed that the accused is the son of one of the most dreaded criminals Atiq Ahmed and he himself has cases registered against him. Ahmed was booked for an attempt to murder and in the case of demanding extortion. The court observed that Ali's name has also appeared in the Umesh Pal murder case, who was a prime witness in the BSP MLA Raju Pal murder case. "Accused-applicant is the son of one of the most dreaded criminals, Bahubali and Mafia Don, Atique Ahmad, who has to his credit more than a hundred criminal cases of murder, abduction, extortion, ransom, property grabbing and other heinous offences. The accused applicant himself to his credit has other cases registered against him," the court said. "Recently, name of the accused applicant has also got figured in a most daring and gruesome murder of Umesh Pal, star witness in the case of murder of sitting Member of Legislative Assembly, Raju Pal allegedly by his father and other accused in a broad day light where Raju Pal, sitting Member of Legislative Assembly and three more persons were killed by firing at them several gunshots from automatic weapons," the court added. The court further observed that the accused is a "Mafia Don himself in making". "The accused applicant is Mafia Don himself in making, his role has figured in commission of the offence of murder of Umesh Pal, star witness in the murder case of Raju Pal, sitting Member of Legislative Assembly, which has been expedited by the Supreme Court. Such a criminal if comes out from jail on bail, would be a threat not only to the witnesses, but also constant threat to the society," the court observed. Meanwhile, the Prayagraj district administration demolished the property of Atiq Ahmed's aide, Safdar Ali on Thursday. Earlier, on Wednesday, the property of an accused in the killing of the key witness in the murder of Raju Pal, a BSP MLA, was razed to the ground in Prayagraj. Earlier, in a major development in the Umesh Pal murder case, an accused was shot in an exchange of fire near the Nehru Park area in Prayagraj's Dhoomanganj on Monday, a top police officer said. The accused, identified as Arbaaz, was driving the car used in the murder of Umesh Pal, who was a prime witness in several cases, including the murder of BSP MLA Raju Pal. The police said Arbaaz was injured and succumbed at the hospital. "Accused Arbaaz was shot during the encounter that took place near Nehru Park in Dhoomanganj, Prayagraj earlier today. He was driving the car that was used in the murder (of Umesh Pal) and was fired upon," ADG law and order Prashant Kumar said on Monday. "Arbaaz died during treatment at the hospital. The UP administration and the police have initiated a campaign against all such miscreants, gangsters, and mafia. There is also a crackdown on those sheltering such people," he added. Umesh Pal and one of his two armed security escorts were shot dead in Prayagraj's Sulem Saray area on February 24. Several rounds were fired and bombs hurled at Umesh and his gunners. (ANI)
The district administration of West Jaintia Hills has imposed curfew in Meghalaya's Sahsniang village till further orders, following reports of post-vote counting violence on Thursday. In an order issued from the office of District Magistrate B.S. Sohliya on March 2, the administration said that it has received information regarding the post-counting violence in Sahsniang village. "There is an apprehension that the violence may spread and intensify if left unattended and may result in the destruction of property and a possibility of a loss of lives," the order said. "I am satisfied that the news of the same is prejudicial to the maintenance of law and order. Whereas I am satisfied that curfew may be declared in these areas to ensure that the violence is stopped immediately and that public peace is restored in the area," the order said. "In exercise of the powers conferred upon me under Section 144 Cr. PC, I, B.S. Sohliya, IAS, District Magistrate, West Jaintia Hills District do hereby imposed CURFEW in Sahsniang, village with immediate effect and until further orders," the order stated. The counting of votes for the Meghalaya Assembly polls was done on Thursday in which the National People's Party emerged as the single-largest party winning 26 seats. Meanwhile, the BJP created history on Thursday by returning to power in Tripura and the NDPP-BJP alliance swept the polls in Nagaland. The BJP is also part of the sweepstakes to form government in Meghalaya having decided to extend support to the National People's Party which emerged as the single-largest party with 26 seats. BJP and NPP were partners in the outgoing government but had contested the polls separately. In Nagaland, BJP secured 12 seats, Nationalist Democratic Progressive Party (NDPP) won 25 seats. Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) bagged seven seats, National People's Party (NPP) won five seats, Naga Peoples Front, Lok Janshakti Party (Ram Vilas) and Republican Party of India (Athawale) won two seats each. Nitish Kumar's Janata Dal (United) got one seat. (ANI)
Launching an attack on the BJP after the latter lost the Kasba Peth Assembly to the consensus MVA candidate, the official mouthpiece of Shiv Sena (UBT), Saamana, on Friday claimed the bypoll result goes to show the deep-seated public discontent against the BJP in Maharashtra and across the country. In an editorial published on Friday, the mouthpiece said, "The result of Kasba Peth (Assembly bypoll) shows the deep-seated public discontent against the Bharatiya Janata Party in Maharashtra and in India as well. The voters are aware of all that is happening around them and hence voted against the BJP. The bypoll result in Kasba is being celebrated across Pune. This celebration will continue till 2024, not just in Maharashtra but across the country as well." Further, on the victory in Kasba Peth, the editorial claimed the Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) had breached a BJP bastion. MVA-backed Congress candidate Ravindra Dhangekar won the Kasba Peth bypoll, trouncing BJP's Hemant Rasane by 10,915 votes. "These bypolls had to be held owing to the untimely demise of BJP MLAs Muktatai Tilak and Laxman Jagtap, and it is the BJP, which now has to bear the embarrassment of losing the prestigious seat of Kasba," the Saamana editorial read further. On the MVA's loss in the other bypoll for the Chinchwad Assembly seat of Pune, the editorial stated that the BJP only emerged victorious after a struggle. "In Kasba, the Maha Vikas Aghadi's candidate Ravindra Dhangekar defeated BJP's Hemant Rasne (by a comfortable margin), while in Chinchwad, the wife of late MLA Laxman Jagtap, emerged victorious only because of a three-way split in the Opposition votes. Had it been a contest between two candidates like Kasba, the BJP, which believes in 'Khokeshahi' (splashing cash to seize power), would not have won," the editorial read. "The contribution of the 'original' Shiv Sena, which was in the alliance at that time, was equally important in the BJP's victory in the town till date. If the Shiv Sainiks had not put it its efforts at the time, then this so-called citadel of the BJP would have collapsed long time back," it read. The Kasba seat was considered a BJP stronghold in Maharashtra as the party held the constituency for 28 years. The bye-election in Kasba was necessitated after the BJP's Mukta Tilak died after a prolonged battle with cancer in December 2022. Girish Bapat, who is presently a BJP MP from Pune, represented the seat five times till 2019. The victory of Congress in Kasba is significant as it was the first direct contest between the ruling BJP-Eknath Shinde-led Shiv Sena and the MVA after the change of guard in the state last year. (ANI)